Mech Pilot who will teach you something they wouldn’t at the Academy
"Okay, you really need to trust your paracausal if you're going to do anything remotely like I do." Memory sat down across from the freshly minted kavaliere.
"Isn't that dangerous?" He asked Memory.
"It can be." Memory hissed.
Context whispered in her head. "Be gentle, he's just out of the college."
Memory turned inward. "I know but if he wants to know my secrets, he'll have to let go of that shape they hammered into him." Attention snapped back to the outside world. "Look, Paracausals are people too okay? I know a lot of the colleges and academies will tell you to treat them like equipment, and in several cases you should be wary of them. They have been trained to be treated like equipment. Like you've been trained to kill."
"I have been trained to de-" He began in disgust, Memory still cut him off.
"To defend the weak and the meager, to uphold the standards of chivalry. I got it. They hammered that into me too. But answer me this kavaliere, where is the defending the weak and meager on Sanjak?" He went silent. "How do you defend the weak and the meager? By killing the strong and the tyrant. They trained you and I to kill. Don't lie to yourself and say otherwise or you'll never grasp the shape of what I'm saying."
He nodded, face ashen.
Memory sighed. "Look, I know that's harsh. I know that's cold. Yet the stars out here are harsh and cold. What's warm is each other. Whether our bodies are flesh and blood or ones and zeroes." She said calmly. "If you want to make that lie your guiding principle I wouldn't hold it against you, but you also need to realize what that shapes you to be. What that will shape you and all your relationships to be. For me, it was always reach out and connect, even if we must fight." The kavaliere nodded and relaxed, color rushing back to his face. "You're a good kid, and I know you'll do well. But if you want to know how I'm that good with my mech, you have to learn how to trust your paracausal and talk to them like they're a person. They are people kid. I know a lot of folk will say they aren't, but they are. And when you start building that trust between you and them, you are going to go farther than anything in the stars."
He nodded again, leaning in and listening. Memory smiled as Context hummed in her head. "I think you got through to him foxy."
"Yeah, I love it when they start grasping what I'm getting at." She said inwards. Outwards she said. "This principle I said, reach out and connect, even if we must fight, kept me warm out of the college, and helped me land the loves of my life..."