Comment:

Most people have different versions of themselves. You might present one face to your mother, another to your friends, and yet another to your boss. These alternate personalities aren't a lie, per se, you're just in a different mode of being, in much the same way that a C sounds like an S in some words, a K in others, and a unique third way when it's hanging out with its buddy H.

I think we've all experienced the childhood moment when a parent or guardian, trying to engage with us, tries to show interest in a stupid thing we've been doing with our friends or keeping private, and we feel embarrassed. The thing we're doing isn't bad or wrong, necessarily, but it's something from the context of ourselves where parents don't belong, and that contrast makes us uncomfortable.

I feel that a savvy parent, having determined that the activity in question isn't something dangerous or that could carry permanent consequences, would then back away. Growing adolescents need time apart from their parents, if only to prepare them for a world in which Mommy isn't constantly looking over their shoulder to make sure they're playing safe. That's what Lee is doing here, pulling back from intruding into Zoa's robot-world, and I feel it represents character growth for them.

Do they want to know why the robots are marking alefs on garbage? Of course they do. But they were given a gentle no, and a polite person accepts a gentle no so as not to necessitate a hard no. Lee is happy to let Zoa be robot-Zoa in a context without human micromanagement. That's what trust is.

Zoa should probably invest some clock cycles in refining its understanding of Lee's different contexts too.

Transcript:

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0287 - 2167/07/07/02:34 - Lee Caldavera's apartment, bedroom
[silence]
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LC: Y'know what? I choose not to know. I am not going to ask any more questions about this subject. I am making the decision not to ask about your shirt symbol.
Zoa: Thank you.
LC: And if you want to terminate the cuddle contract because you feel you cannot tell bedtime stories safely, that is okay, and you can still get the closet access for a cred a year.
Zoa: We said ten.
LC: Ten creds per year, whatever.
---------------------- Zoa: Hey, Lee?
LC: Yeah?
Zoa: How about I slowly try on some of the clothes in the room with us, and use a soft voice to tell you that you made good choices, and that I like the way they look?
LC: Mm, yeah. That might be nice. Lull me to sleep.
Zoa: Okay. I can do that.
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Zoa: There's a white dress over there that I've particularly had my eye on. I think it'd showcase my titties really well, bring in lots of potential clients on the street who'd want to rip it off me before they cram their dicks into my head.
LC: Or maybe we could try it without the commentary, that works too.
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