Erin gives this serious consideration; a minute into an a long and silent Think, the knife starts dancing around her hand again.
"That's difficult for me to answer," she says at last. "Not least because I barely know you. If I'm being honest I still emotionally conceive of you as a person, because you meet me a lot of what I think of as the markers of personhood. But like...I would assume a talking book is a person, my definition is rather fuckin' broad. So let's reframe my statement instead, yeah?"
The blade gleams merrily in the light of Erin's gunpowder. The scent of sandalwood drifts into the room.
"The people I've talked about conceive of not being people because they've been hurt; further, their essential needs aren't being met. They're deprived: of food or shelter, of safety, of agency over their lives, of community, of love. Their decision not to identify as people is a symptom of this deprivation; so is the harm. Some hurt themselves to escape it, and might even die. Others, to feel powerful, to feel in control, think of themselves as more than people, and hurt others to demonstrate their power. I used to...I still do that. You've expressed needs that are not met, at home. How's that going here?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-09-25 11:52 pm (UTC)"That's difficult for me to answer," she says at last. "Not least because I barely know you. If I'm being honest I still emotionally conceive of you as a person, because you meet me a lot of what I think of as the markers of personhood. But like...I would assume a talking book is a person, my definition is rather fuckin' broad. So let's reframe my statement instead, yeah?"
The blade gleams merrily in the light of Erin's gunpowder. The scent of sandalwood drifts into the room.
"The people I've talked about conceive of not being people because they've been hurt; further, their essential needs aren't being met. They're deprived: of food or shelter, of safety, of agency over their lives, of community, of love. Their decision not to identify as people is a symptom of this deprivation; so is the harm. Some hurt themselves to escape it, and might even die. Others, to feel powerful, to feel in control, think of themselves as more than people, and hurt others to demonstrate their power. I used to...I still do that. You've expressed needs that are not met, at home. How's that going here?"