#IOGUDFHGDUFHG THANK U!

[buriedwithit]

this whole real and not real dichotomy still doesn't make any sense to him, but he'll be lying if he says he's not interested in hearing more about it. "free will's a package deal in my faith. the one and only thing that's guaranteed! 'course, i don't usually get any requests for murder, either." god is not so interested in interfering with the lives of His people. either you get it, or you don't! growing up split between two sides of a similar coin, he's decided to take what he enjoys and leave the rest. what? everyone else does that, too... "but it sounds to me you've got it all figured out. if he's not real, then what does it matter if he's upset?" whatever feelings he should have, in that case, surely don't matter! but what does he know? he's traumatized both of his brothers, too... and he can't even blame it on a higher power. ezra's head swivels as he looks over the man in question. disappear? doesn't seem very likely, but... well, he's seen stranger things happen. "so what makes him different than anyone else?" he asks, turning back towards jess. "i can't tell any different." not that it really matters. he's willing to go along with whatever jess thinks is true, especially if it makes her more willing to collaborate with him! if it's true that there's no feelings in them to be had, then doesn't that just make it perfectly acceptable for him to do whatever he wants? this might be something he has to incorporate into his own belief system somehow...

"Well, ya know, I made the mistake of trusting my creator t' give me some free will and, see, the murder I had t' commit kinda upset and traumatized my brother. Not that he's real either, but he does have someone who makes him think he is, so he's got 'feelings' the same way we do." Their parents didn't, hence why Jess oscillated between feeling remorse for them and simply feeling remorse for Kiran ( and Dolly, but she didn't know Dolly was still alive yet ! ). In any case, she did still enter phases of being a little bitter at May for that one! But, ya know... that meant May wanted her to be bitter about it, so... "Someone whose creator didn't bother t' give 'em any story beyond what we do." NPC was the word, but did Jess know that? Well, one of the creators said it in a group chat, but Jess could only know so much! "Like that guy over there," Jess said, pointing to some random man behind the two who clearly only existed for the purposes of this interaction, "who's probably gonna basically disappear by the time we're done talking." (Sure, their creators could always pull another practical joke on them, but at least Jess knew some of the people who definitely had feelings!)