[ Were Gilgamesh still in his own kingdom, it would be exceedingly strange for virtually any individual, with the few rarest of exceptions, to behave in such a familiar manner with him. His Friend, of course. Siduri, perhaps. He might even countenance such behavior from the visitors from Chaldea. But it's a testament to how different matters are in this world that he would, in the first of places, cooperate with another person at such a level and to such an extent. The forehead poke and subsequent setting of the hat elicit a nonchalant stare, save for a slight pinching of the eyebrows -- a visible, if slight, manifestation of what might be described as an "?" reaction.

Truly, how does one even respond? Though, after a moment, of course, Gilgamesh catches himself, making the familiar hmph sound beneath his breath. Then, perhaps taken by a sudden whim, he lifts the hat, taking the virtual item and holding it in his hands, arms outstretched. Seeing all that Lucy has done, Gilgamesh too has a mind to experiment with this world, but he must first think of what to convert the material into. His hands are accustomed to holding treasures and weapons, swords and grails. But here, that feels inappropriate: uncreative, simply item after item that is the same in some respect. ]

So, instead, Gilgamesh turns his thoughts towards the concept of a "lion," imagining it in his mind and projecting what he has learned of the code bases within this world. The hat becomes a papier-mâché lion, albeit one with imperfect features. ]

Is it the freedom that appeals to you? [ He glances around, still turning this virtual realm over in his mind. In truth, programming is still utterly new to him, let alone... the connection to the mind, pulling out some piece of knowledge of code and willing it into something, as seems common here. This feels like learning another language while entering an environs where one is forced to speak with the locals, a form of immersion, because they don't speak your native tongue. But Gilgamesh has been approaching programming as one would encryption/decryption, also treating it a bit like a treasure hunt in which one finds and thus learns the answer and one is constantly building upon what one has. ] A world which you can design yourself... framed thusly, I suppose I understand the appeal.

[ It's not that the world does not appeal to him, for that matter. Gilgamesh values novelty. It's more that it veers into an alien level surreal. Here they stand in a terrain built by invisible, unknown gods, forces and powers from "Beyond." Only those gods are, as Lucy references, giant supercomputers or skyscrapers' or whole districts' worth thereof lurking on some invisible horizon, dictating a life of entities not born of any organic means. ]

And what of these beings who are so populous within these cities? These fleshless entities? [ AI, robots, cyborgs, their various names and titles. They seemed virtually endless here. ] Did you also interact with those? In this city-state of Magisteria, they seem a society unto themselves.

We had no such... [ He hesitates, uncertain. ] ... peoples? In Uruk.

[ "Peoples" seemed accurate. They were citizens, and the general behavior of the populace, both from and with respect to them, would seem to suggest that they are virtually as sentient/feeling as humans. Though how was this possible? Even with Gilgamesh being from millennia earlier, his understanding of "modern" technology, phones or the sort, is that it possesses no such attributes of life. Curiouser and curiouser, and now, in this Vplane, seeing them walking around, feeling the weight of their gaze, it feels impossible not to contemplate this more deeply than he has thus far. ]