[Funny, isn't it? That one minute he can feel like he's found some old ground to tread and common threads to tease out, and then in the next something completely new and extraordinary comes along to obliterate more of his worldview.]
... To distinguish you from human?
[In spite of being no more human than the man in front of him, he has no color-changing LED to denote when his mental processes are all in a buzz; what light he does have is in his eyes--burning interest as realization sets in, and only growing more intense, the next head-to-toe inspection aimed back at Connor taking him in with renewed attention to the details.
Had he not already met a timespinning witch from 2018 and then unexpectedly spun off into the empyreal unknown himself, he might've been in for a double dose of surprise contemplating the march of time. The dram is plenty strong just considering the changes that have gone on within. Before, he'd fought for so much as a firm year, Matthew determined to keep events concealed within a cloud of vaguery, no doubt to avoid just this very thing: the gears of Kit's mind, given a scrap of information to work with, beginning to furiously turn, grinding apart the unfamiliar words to get at the kernels within. 2029. Even further ahead.]
That would make it 438 years between us, exactly, give or take a calendar shift here and there. [God, and that's not even the most momentous part. He takes a step closer, absently folding the tops over his arm--the better to study Connor's face and all the minuscule imperfections of the "human" features that had convincingly fooled him at first glance.] Obviously much has changed. If I am to understand you correctly, you mean to say you, too, are simulating a human appearance?
[insert 10000 hours of philosophical debate here]
... To distinguish you from human?
[In spite of being no more human than the man in front of him, he has no color-changing LED to denote when his mental processes are all in a buzz; what light he does have is in his eyes--burning interest as realization sets in, and only growing more intense, the next head-to-toe inspection aimed back at Connor taking him in with renewed attention to the details.
Had he not already met a timespinning witch from 2018 and then unexpectedly spun off into the empyreal unknown himself, he might've been in for a double dose of surprise contemplating the march of time. The dram is plenty strong just considering the changes that have gone on within. Before, he'd fought for so much as a firm year, Matthew determined to keep events concealed within a cloud of vaguery, no doubt to avoid just this very thing: the gears of Kit's mind, given a scrap of information to work with, beginning to furiously turn, grinding apart the unfamiliar words to get at the kernels within. 2029. Even further ahead.]
That would make it 438 years between us, exactly, give or take a calendar shift here and there. [God, and that's not even the most momentous part. He takes a step closer, absently folding the tops over his arm--the better to study Connor's face and all the minuscule imperfections of the "human" features that had convincingly fooled him at first glance.] Obviously much has changed. If I am to understand you correctly, you mean to say you, too, are simulating a human appearance?