[ . . . . well, at least she's honest. Lili can appreciate that, even if the answer that was given isn't exactly an easy one to work with. Regardless there's a moment of hesitation before she nods.]
I see.
Then... we can run in spurts, hopefully we will be able to find someone stronger who can accompany us in that time... right now there are plenty of people in this world and some of them are... fake, though I can understand that it may be hard to fathom.
But others here are acquaintances of mine. I'm sure they're here too.
[Honest to a fault. That doesn't mean, however, that the limitations she knows she has aren't ones she's willing to challenge. There's a steady sort of determination in her eyes when she nods back.]
I'll do my best to keep up.
[Someone stronger, though - that would definitely be helpful, as much as she regrets having to rely on another's ability. (Hasn't it always been that way, though? It makes something in her chest twist uncomfortably to think of it.)]
If you have friends here, [which is apparently what 'acquaintances' translates to in her mind,] then I hope we find them, whether they're stronger or not. This... doesn't seem like to sort of place to be alone.
[A beat. It's not a question of fathoming, exactly, yet she shifts in place slightly as she backtracks to one particular word.] But what do you mean by... 'fake'?
[That's enough. Lili is willing to wait a few more moments before they start running again - and the other girl's question deserves a thoughtful answer regardless.
But first-]
They're not my friends.
[ . . . Lili, they're not even here, don't be embarrassed. But anyway.]
There's a world outside of here. A city type of place... and some of the people you see inside of here - it's called ViViD - they don't actually exist in the outside world.
[Those few moments will benefit Naminé, although she's recovered enough now that it's at least an option for her to continue on, and she shows no sign of a desire to ask for more time to rest.]
I see. My mistake.
[There's something in her tone that suggests, with a certain degree of subtleness, that she doubts it was a mistake at all. But there's no time for that, and the rest of it catches her focus more than well enough to cause her to move on from that thought, her expression almost grim for it.]
Don't actually exist? ... How do you mean?
['How,' not 'what,' because she knows so many ways to not exist that it's really only a question of what method of non-existence they're talking about, here.]
[But does that really mean they're fake? That's what she wonders; after all, most people never leave the worlds in which they're born. Is it a question of what they can do, or is it merely the circumstances?]
It is.
[Bemused; they looked real enough, before. Not that that means anything, exactly - but her standards for 'real' are skewed in a few different ways.]
They aren't... in other games, too? [The specific individuals, that is. It's one thing if they exist for the duration of a single game, but if they persist thereafter--] Are they really only in one?
[The girl hums, clearly very seriously considering the subject. Well, it'd be good to have more facts, but...]
... Where I come from, there are people who exist only inside data. But-- I don't think that necessarily makes them entirely not-real. [Not if they have hearts, anyway, or grow beyond their original limits, but that's something she's still iffy about, herself, given that she has not yet been made aware of the results of her own experiment in the matter. Remaining contemplative, she shakes her head.]
I'm not sure how it works here. Still, I... don't like the idea of fighting them. Not if it might actually hurt them.
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no subject
I see.
Then... we can run in spurts, hopefully we will be able to find someone stronger who can accompany us in that time... right now there are plenty of people in this world and some of them are... fake, though I can understand that it may be hard to fathom.
But others here are acquaintances of mine. I'm sure they're here too.
no subject
I'll do my best to keep up.
[Someone stronger, though - that would definitely be helpful, as much as she regrets having to rely on another's ability. (Hasn't it always been that way, though? It makes something in her chest twist uncomfortably to think of it.)]
If you have friends here, [which is apparently what 'acquaintances' translates to in her mind,] then I hope we find them, whether they're stronger or not. This... doesn't seem like to sort of place to be alone.
[A beat. It's not a question of fathoming, exactly, yet she shifts in place slightly as she backtracks to one particular word.] But what do you mean by... 'fake'?
no subject
But first-]
They're not my friends.
[ . . . Lili, they're not even here, don't be embarrassed. But anyway.]
There's a world outside of here. A city type of place... and some of the people you see inside of here - it's called ViViD - they don't actually exist in the outside world.
no subject
I see. My mistake.
[There's something in her tone that suggests, with a certain degree of subtleness, that she doubts it was a mistake at all. But there's no time for that, and the rest of it catches her focus more than well enough to cause her to move on from that thought, her expression almost grim for it.]
Don't actually exist? ... How do you mean?
['How,' not 'what,' because she knows so many ways to not exist that it's really only a question of what method of non-existence they're talking about, here.]
no subject
[ . . . and Lili just assumed that was part of the technology here-]
It... is rather odd, isn't it? I'm still not sure what to make of it myself.
no subject
It is.
[Bemused; they looked real enough, before. Not that that means anything, exactly - but her standards for 'real' are skewed in a few different ways.]
They aren't... in other games, too? [The specific individuals, that is. It's one thing if they exist for the duration of a single game, but if they persist thereafter--] Are they really only in one?
no subject
[So that's... possible? Maybe? This is such a weird, existential conversation.]
Perhaps their appearances are reused... this is presumably all just made from technology so.... maybe?
no subject
... Where I come from, there are people who exist only inside data. But-- I don't think that necessarily makes them entirely not-real. [Not if they have hearts, anyway, or grow beyond their original limits, but that's something she's still iffy about, herself, given that she has not yet been made aware of the results of her own experiment in the matter. Remaining contemplative, she shakes her head.]
I'm not sure how it works here. Still, I... don't like the idea of fighting them. Not if it might actually hurt them.