I know that how I was raised had nothing to do with whether I was male or female. I did not realize how differently men and women were treated until I left the lab. So we would be much the same. [She is quite confident in this. She knows, now, that she was not raised like someone human. The male version of herself, too, was named simply Sephiroth. No other name. A specimen's name. His gender did not matter.]

I do not run the same risk, Reeve. [Her gaze is quite level.] I do not connect to others in the same way. Only you would feel distressed. That is what I meant by saying that I am different.

What I do not want is to do what the Queen wishes, whether I am a subject being examined or providing her with emotion for some other reason. You seem to believe that you are acting of your own free will, but even the basic fact that we have been placed so closely together in this closed environment represents a psychological change caused by an outside source.