OOS 47

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 Notunoth 21, in the Burnett Estate after their adventures at the Mirage Temple. It occurred during session 23.

## Transcript

Ondo:

*After returning to the Burnett Estate, Ondo locks himself in his room and sets to work carving. He is nearing the last blocks of the wood taken from the toy shop. Eventually, with a command word, he summons Dolly and has her run about helping him.*

"Our people were *not* dishonourable. They built great cities, capable of *flight*. They built us, they created wonderous things. They valued nature! They -" *Sigh.* "They wouldn't have... He, Master Faethyn, wouldn't have ordered me to stand aside during that fight, would he?" *Dolly hands him a screw.*

"It was all just a test. To see if I would disobey or not. And I did. I was commanded by my emotions rather than my orders. Master Faethyn wouldn't really have - or - I don't know. It's not my place to question, is it?" He asks Dolly incredulously. Dolly stares at him blankly.

"Veggrek went through the same test and he... chose his Masters. So why couldn't I?"

*Ondo carves for a while in silence, the wood taking the form of a charm no bigger than his palm.*

"Why couldn't I... obey orders that day. Why *did* I abandon the front line?" *Ondo has stopped carving.*

"It wasn't something I remember doing with intention. I just... did. I just knew that I had to keep them safe."

"Do... do you think any of the other sentinels did the same?

"I know that most of them must have stayed and fought in the battle. They had their orders. They knew what they were meant to do."

"If I hadn't left... would any of them..."

"Meyrin couldn't have meant that my actions alone swayed her decision. That's insane. And that's *cruel*. To... To have power and to save only a few, because of another's decision. What if I had obeyed orders? Would she have left them all to die?"

"She says the People abandoned the gods. Well, maybe then the gods didn't deserve worship! I don't know."

*Dolly stares at him, and then when he doesn't issue an order she starts dancing.*

*Ondo pauses again, leaning his elbows on the desk and his mask in his hands.*

"Why... did I leave the frontline. Why was that even something I was *capable* of. They built us to be intelligent so that we could be useful. They didn't build us to *want*. Why would they?"

"Was I... malfunctioning before? I don't remember."

“My people could have the answer. Though, it is likely they will not have a solution. If I go to them, and behave as I have been, do you think they’ll dismantle me?” *Dolly stops dancing.*

*Ondo pops open a small canister of paint, and swirls the brush around.* “Could they build a new sentinel using my parts? If not that would seem rather a waste."

*There's something itching at the back of his mind, that he can't quite reach.*

“It must be… malfunction. Sentinels were deactivated for deviant behavior before, so, maybe I have just been… showing the same signs. It could have been something that started before the Calamity. Something made worse by, being crushed and buried and put back together again.”

“Does that make sense?”

*Dolly shrugs. Ondo stares at her.*

“I don’t know if it does. Why would we spontaneously gain the ability to want things?” *He begins to paint a flower.* “If we did…”

“Was it alright for us to be taken apart? Is *that* what she meant by squandering the gift of life? Hm. No, I -” *He sets the brush in the paint.* “Maybe it was merciful. Our people stopped us before we began to feel too strongly. We had our purpose.”

"I have two options. I can go, and I can put aside everything that I feel, everything I've become, and pretend that I am what I am meant to be. Or, I can go to them and be honest, whatever... the outcome."

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