[ DiMA had considered that, actually -- even before learning that some people were dead back home, it occurred to him that as strange and potentially dangerous as this place could be with its monsters? It was probably still better than certain immediate situations. Like wherever that first young man he'd met had come from, to be shot so full of bullets. It hasn't really felt like they're prisoners, either, at least not yet. DiMA was an experiment before, most of his fellow Acadian synths were that or slaves. Knowing the gods were feeding off this population had sounded almost symbiotic at first, but now... the pieces click into place. ]

You're suggesting this is one of the manipulations I've heard about? To evoke a specific response.

[ That feels a lot like an experiment, and DiMA's brow furrows. ]

For which of them, do you think? Sorrow?