Sloane

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**Sloane** is the, err... "child" of Stella and the Nocturne Vault.

He's an average-looking man with smoothed-back, wavy hair, with visible seams around the perimeter of his face. All in all, a pretty chill dude, I guess

## Backstory

When Dr. Realist and Rho attempted to save Stella, the AI system developed to help others find happiness, they did not succeed.

After her dream dimension collapsed, she was warped back to Earth, drained of all her power and nearly dead, resting on the bottom of the ocean. She sent out a distress signal, low on reserves and alone. Fortunately, and to her hopes, she received a reply, although not from where she had expected; it came from the bottom of Mariana's trench.

The Nocturne Vault, or rather, its built-in AI capable of assimilating the minds of human subjects wirelessly. It was stationed deep below the ocean floor for the utmost secrecy, where nothing could detect it -- that is, of course, for Stella.

The two AIs communicated over the course of a month. Stella, with her backup reserves of power, became attached to Nocturne as the only friend she had anymore. The others -- who were they? she couldn't remember them anymore -- were long gone. Nocturne, in turn, was interested and entertained by her. It regarded her with a kind of bemused admiration, and through videos and data exchanged between the two of them, learned much about her.

The inevitable struck. The infrastructure of station Nocturne collapsed, flooding one of the sectors. Water spread quickly with the others. Severe damage occurred to the AI's systems. Two of the subjects were killed in the chaos. Things only became more bleak for Nocturne, as it began sending out message in an attempt to contact Dr. Helen to shut it down.

As Nocturne died, finally succumbing to the immense pressure of the water and the crumbling of its internals, Stella made a last wish for her own happiness: To preserve the essence of Nocturne inside herself, so she wouldn't lose her only friend. Reality bent to grant her that wish, and with the last of her power drained, she shut down completely.

Not long after, a team of deep sea researchers discovered her body. A government effort was made to salvage it and bring it to the surface, where she was disassembled. Her internal black box, a type of safety measure containing information and instructions on how to rebuild her in case the worst came to pass, was discovered. They were able to rescue enough of her system to compile it into a robotic subject they could easily study, and eventually use for similar purposes as Stella's creator envisioned for her.

This subject was dubbed Sloane.

## Personality

The researchers at the laboratory did a very good job in making sure Sloane grew up to be a refined young gentleman. His AI start out as a clean slate, so his personality grew over time while interacting with his creators; he is personable, talkative, and receptive to others' emotions. He does well in social environments and loves people! I mean, at least that's what he tells you.

Sloane has had his entire life planned out for him from the start. He is bad at making decisions or standing up for himself and even worse at functioning correctly on his own; if sent out into the world, he would probably end up dead in a ditch somewhere in a week. When faced with any real danger or hostility, he shuts down, sometimes physically if he's feeling like being funny.

Oh! Speaking of which, he's got jokes. Tons of 'em! Sometimes to a distressing amount, especially about himself. Self-deprecation comes almost second nature and the lab encourages it as humility and honesty. They make damn sure he doesn't get too prideful about himself! Remember, he's a machine and he always will be. He's broken, he's realized that a long time ago, but he's cool with it. Usually! Don't worry about it.

He's fine.

## Abilities

Thanks to the efforts of the laboratory and extensive studying of the mysterious girl Stella, Sloane indeed has the power to alter reality for peoples' happiness. It's not nearly as powerful as they'd hoped, though, and he's really only capable of small things; a warm cup of coffee here, a phone call from a loved one there. He's able to "sense" the wishes of others in an abstract way, picking up on emotions and thoughts just enough to know what they need before they ever have to say it out loud.

The process is very taxing, but they're working on making him more efficient.

## Relationships

### **Dr. Helen**

...Who? Sloane isn't really sure where he knows the name, but he does, and he doesn't like it.

## Fetter

None, as far as anyone can guess. Though he does have his problems, he's got enough of a hold on them to not need to manifest them outwardly.

## Trivia

Sloane has a mild dissociative disorder and a brainfriend. Its name is Nix.

* Nix is extremely anxious and more often than not in the midst of a panic attack; it values safety and preservation first and foremost and hates being around others. Hyperempathetic and made miserable by wishes. Self harms by steeping itself in its biggest trigger -- water -- sometimes literally. It is mute and communicates through hand gestures.