"I don't… I don't buy it, friend. Not for, not for, for, one second. Not for one second."

She's not stuttering, which is itself a victory. The speech lessons paid off! Each syllable is precise, articulate, and enunciated clearly.

Multiple times, admittedly, but small steps.

"Because, see, let's say you're right, and there [i]do[/i] exist perfect, platonic ideals that Zeus warped the universe to [i]make[/i] perfect.

"Then why [i]bother[/i] with the step of making. King. Ing. Making middle managers?

"Think. If you were a perfect being, would you [i]want[/i] some imperfect being trying to interpret your desires in the way you'd want? Would you want [i]multiple[/i] of them? You gonna invent Azura [i]and[/i] humans?

"One, I could. Could see. After all, if you're a perfect being, then what do, do, do the normal things even interest you at all? Your best hope is to, to be left alone, right? Make your own projects. Then yeah, you'd arrange it so that you just fade into the background and you never think about it again.

"But [i]two?[/i] We have enough problems with two servitor species in the same ship as each other. You wanna pretend they set up two galaxy-spanning civilizations that have butted heads through their history? Naaaaaah, that. That. That's a mistake, or--"

She pauses, glass halfway to her lips.

"Or factions inside them. That's two perfect beings, thinking of different things they want, different projects they wanna build, and making servitors to do it for them so they can pursue passion projects. D'you think the Azura were built by the foxes, the cats, or the crabs? My money's on crabs. Gotta be."