[The briefest flicker of surprise comes across the connection between them in response to Matt’s question—because Demeisen has never been asked it before. He’s never had cause to be asked; everyone he ever met prior to coming here already knew what an avatar was, or at the very least what a Mind was. The Culture was famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) for its Minds, after all: the hyper-intelligent, unfathomably powerful machines that ran it and, if you were uncharitable or perhaps just melodramatic, ruled over it like gods.
But the feeling is short lived. Demeisen only raises his eyebrows, blithe as you please, and says,] Why on earth would I care about something like that?
[Even if the people who inhabited the place he came from all knew what he was, none of them really understood him, or the ship he represented. He was perfectly happy with that then, and sees no reason to feel any differently now.
A being that can’t or won’t make itself understood to people, remember? Emphasis on won’t.]
no subject
But the feeling is short lived. Demeisen only raises his eyebrows, blithe as you please, and says,] Why on earth would I care about something like that?
[Even if the people who inhabited the place he came from all knew what he was, none of them really understood him, or the ship he represented. He was perfectly happy with that then, and sees no reason to feel any differently now.
A being that can’t or won’t make itself understood to people, remember? Emphasis on won’t.]