Hmph. [ Not really the reaction he was hoping for, but what did he expect? They've discussed the concept of golems before; in both their worlds, the term refers to artificial beings that, through magic, are endowed with a crude imitation of life. Carlisle's always been outspoken about his distaste for them (as well as anything else he can lump under the same umbrella). "It is too akin to necromancy for my taste," he explained once, "bringing to life that which should not live."

Yeah, all right, fine. That's what Carlisle needed, one more thing to hate about the Plutonian. It's Qubit's turn to show some exasperation, briefly rubbing his forehead between his eyes. ]

Well, I'm sorry, that's the best way I can think to describe it.

[ He sighs and returns his hand to his forearm, drumming at his sleeve for a second. It resumes gesturing as he elaborates. ]

The idea that shaped him wasn't theirs. All they meant to create was a - a data-gathering tool. A shapeless probe with simple instructions - wander, observe, experience. The human emotional spectrum had caught their interest, so this was supposed to empathically sample that spectrum and emulate it. Like a ... a blank slate, if you will. [ A better analogy would be a neural network or learning AI, but Carlisle would definitely not understand those. ]