This scene’s mostly Phil, but it was important to me to fit at least one quip from Karmakat into the dialogue, as quipping was definitely part of the character, per the story notes. But he’s not the “improv Tourette’s” type: he can and will get serious when it counts.

So, the big problem with Phil’s idea, from the donor’s point of view, was Karmakat’s death scene. Some people would prefer their character get the chance to do Hamlet, so to speak, but the donor wasn’t interested in that. It was important to him, it was a dealbreaker, that in some manner his creation should live on after him… and his health was fragile enough that the idea of Karmakat living on was more urgent than it otherwise might be.

Once we understood that, our sense of duty shifted.

(To be concluded in the notes for page 7.)