First Reply How to be Normal | Hosnian Prime

[Phy]

How to be Normal
Hosnian Prime
Tags: Open

Droid Body​

It had been a while since Phyla was in the Core since her time with the Exploration Corps in the Unknown Regions. She had enjoyed her time abroad but had grown to miss home, and between her guardians in Jasper and Marissa Shoda and a surprise new member of her little unit, Braze , had really helped her reconnect with what she had been missing. Or at least it mostly did. Still, there was a great deal that weighed on Phy's mind even as she returned to the Core. Her travels had brought her to a great deal of places and let her meet all kinds of people, yet the more she met the more frustrated she became.

Her exoskeleton was a farce. It wasn't really her, only a shell that was made to let her interact with the world. It was as though she had slipped into the body of someone else to walk around in their skin, even if it was a person of her own design. It was made to engage with a reality that simply wasn't made for her. A face to express emotion, hands to directly feel in a manner that was not natural to her. Yet these things didn't feel wrong. Phy's real self hardly did anything to begin with after all, little more than a useless gem that harbored an expansive mind. If all it did was nothing, what was truly a natural experience for her? She wasn't frustrated that she had to be in a mechanical body, rather it was the curiosity of how in all of her travels she couldn't find anything else like her.

Why did that bother her so much?

All of that in mind, Phy decided it was best to clear her mind. She found herself on Hosnian Prime late into the evening hours, settling down on the bench of a public park. She had set herself up with a drawing pad to sketch the various things she saw; plants, birds, starships and speeders as they passed overhead... It was therapeutic, at least for a bit. Gradually, however, her eyes began to wander. Food stalls with senses that would never pass through her synthetic nose, the occasional jogger with drinks she'd never be able to taste. And the senses she could replicate? How could she know that her feeling receptors were even close to the real sensation of touch? This was supposed to be an escape, yet here she found only more frustration. What was even making her feel this way now of all times? She hadn't thought about any of this when she was much younger, had she?

The young shard shook her head and continued to sketch. Tried to. It wasn't really going anywhere...

 

[Ariadne]

Humanity. The very word was a practice in bigotry. Oh, the humanity. ‘Be humane’. The cherished humanity of it all was a farce. Ariadne had played so many roles, fulfilled so many parts to the grander narrative at play, and yet she had found none of them worthy of her time beyond the mission.

She had been a security guard. Deana had meant nothing to her, a persona to use and discard. The child had been captured. She had done what she needed.

Vrese had got her inside the walls of the old E’Eeverwest Estate, and had helped her set up for the completion of her mission. But once the Sal-Soren‘s were dead, she had not needed Vrese anymore.

Over and over again she had inhabited humanity and found it all rather dull. Her approach to humanity had become overtly utilitarian. Her inquisitive ideations towards humanity had dissipated.

Fiola was her latest persona. One that she sought to test out on unsuspecting citizens. She had a mission upcoming, one that required her to play the role of a religious zealot. Some peace loving dreamer that partook of too much margoth weed.

She was dressed simply, in a colourful flowing dress. It competed with her long flowing hair for the title of ‘most wispy’. Her expression was soft, inviting and open. She had practiced that in front of mirror for hours and recorded to memory the different positions of facial muscles.

Tucking her dress between her knees as she sat on the end of a bench, Fiola cast a friendly smile to the being on the other end of the bench. “An artist?” She said, tone warm and inviting, “this park is full of talent this evening.” She nodded to the far end of the park where a busker sat beneath an old war time statue.

Phy

 

[Phy]

Hosnian Prime
Tags: Ariadne

Droid Body​

“An artist?” She said, tone warm and inviting, “this park is full of talent this evening.”

"Hm?"

Phy's head perked up as she found a stranger sitting beside her, one who seemed to be all to eager to engage in conversation. She hadn't been prepared for a conversation, but the shard was nothing if not cordual. She offered a formal dip of her head.

"Thank you, miss," she responded in a polite, airy tone. "Unfortunately the scale accuracy of some are off by a few degrees, but I find there are a lot of good subjects to sketch in places like this. Drawing teaches you a lot about how things function, at least if you're attempting to be anatomical."

The shard began to idly kick her mechanical legs as she continued to sketch, pondering why she even drew in the first place. It was enjoyable and taught her a lot, but was it natural? Without a body to inhabit a shard could not draw. Just another thing that made everything so fuzzy. Phy quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind, continuing to converse with the strange woman who had sat beside her.

Strange. The Force didn't seem to flow through her at all. What was she?

"It's rare to converse with strangers, especially at this time," Phy noted. "I'm sure it's because people are on edge after Coruscant. Trust is rather low with the Dark Empire afoot. I think it may be causing people to drift apart some."

Which was a shame. People needed connections. It was the only thing true across all forms of intelligence, at least that she had seen.

 

[Ariadne]

Fiola lifted her chin slightly and leaned just a tad. She got a slightly better view of the sketch. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, sincere and hopefully disarming. “Is art about accuracy of angles…or expression?” She mused, “you are doing far better than I could…and I dabble myself.“

She turned her head back into the breeze and closed her eyes. The character breathed deeply, savouring the scents of he nearby food vendors. The spices tickled her nose and awakened memories that did not exist. Yes, Fiola liked spicy food. She remembered eating it with her lover recently. That was a nice evening.

“Fear drives apart that which we desperately needed to stay together,” she said and then finally opened her eyes to look toward the artist, “You are very insightful…Miss…?”

The artist appeared to be inorganic, but then behaved in a very organic manner. If she was a droid, this would indeed be a rigorous test for the Fiola persona.

Phy

 

[Phy]

Hosnian Prime
Tags: Ariadne

Droid Body​

“You are very insightful…Miss…?”

"Phyla," she stated, "But you can just call me Phy. I'd like to think I'm insightful. The mark of a good engineer is to have the capacity to observe and understand the things around them. That's the purpose of my art, coincidentally, though I feel it expresses an important part of myself as well. These don't have to be things that are mutually exclusive."

Phy gave a tilt of her head, examining the woman for a moment longer before turning her head back to the park, continuing to kick her feet. She had it all figured out now.

"I'm an engineer first and foremost," Phyla explained. "The young lady you're speaking to is only really a shell, one of my own design. I'm still a young lady, mind you, just not one composed of... typical organic material. I don't believe Shards are very common in the Core given that my homeworld of Orax is deep within Sith Space. Not that many travel in the first place."

A gentle smile played about her face.

"It's certainly interesting that I'm not the only one who isn't as they appear," the padawan noted. "A rather eventful evening it seems."

 

[Ariadne]

"It is a pleasure...Phy."

What a curious creature she was. She appeared inorganic, but in her explanation of her being something called a 'Shard' insinuated otherwise. Ariadne found herself running databank checks but coming up blank. A Shard was not a species she recognised. The fact that she purposed to be from Sith space may have attributed to the gap in data. This was something that Ariadne would need to rectify.

"You created your own...body?" Said the Fiola persona. She was clearly impressed, her eyes lighting up with interest, "my...there are many that would give a small fortune for such flexibility in their appearance. You are certainly very talented."

The artist's next statement triggered certain concerns, though you would not tell from Ariadne's demeanour. The Fiola persona was retained, and her face was soft and inviting. Inwardly though, he assessment subroutines were firing. What had this 'Shard' intuited about the droid?

"Why...whatever do you mean by that? I have...said very little about myself," she said, her expression on the verge of offence.

Phy

 

[Phy]

Hosnian Prime
Tags: Ariadne

Droid Body​

"Why...whatever do you mean by that? I have...said very little about myself,"

"That's okay..." Phy shrugged. "I have a feeling it would likely not be true. The Force moves through organic things in a different way than non-organic. You're wearing a mask, much like I am, in a way."

She wasn't going to make a big scene, however. Phy projected no malice, nor did she seem all that bothered by her deduction. She simply continued to sketch, as though the words she had stated were in no way reality-shattering whatsoever. Her legs continued to kick idly as she did so.

"I don't really care," she admitted. "That's your own business. Still, you seem to be going through great lengths to have an organic identity, no? Letting you know where such attempts are lacking is far more productive than playing along and leading you astray."

 

[Ariadne]

“You are a Jedi,” she said, a statement not a query.

Her eyes grew cold, near lifeless. Her posture stiffened. With her ruse so plainly revealed, there was no longer need to maintain it.

Ariadne looked away. She scowled. That is what organics did when they were annoyed. She was not annoyed. She was glad for the revelation. Deceiving Force users was something that she was unsure she would be able to ever accomplish.

”I am exploring humanity through different personas,” she said, lying. Thankfully, what made her easy to pick as inorganic by Force users, also made it incredibly to determine if she was being truthful. Though, Phy had indicated that she was not assuming honesty. Wise shard.

Her eyes turned, without her head moving, and she cast a sidelong glance at the Jedi. “I was unaware that minerals could access the Force.”

Phy

 

[Phy]

Hosnian Prime
Tags: Ariadne

Droid Body​

“I was unaware that minerals could access the Force.”

"Minerals are organic," she noted, "though I suppose not in a way most people understand. Kyber is itself a crystalline manifestation of the Force. It's why Jedi and Sith alike favor it in their blades."

She didn't outright confirm she was a Jedi, but it was easier to just let the assumption hang. Phyla was a Jedi, after all, but not all Force users were Jedi. Far from it. Still, it was probably simpler for a stranger to wrap their head around the basics of Jedi and Sith.

"Exploring humanity through personas..." Phyla echoed with a frown. "Seems rather limiting. Humanity is a small sliver of the galaxy. But, I suppose you have your reasoning in any case."

Phyla paused for a moment before continuing.

"I can't sense your emotions whatsoever, so you could say anything to me really..." the young shard began again, "...but if I may, do you... actually find any of what you're observing to be interesting?"

Her tone was soft and earnest, not a hint of judgement present within it.

 

[Ariadne]

She wished to press more into the nature of kyber, but she felt that it might give too much away. Her handlers were exceptionally interested in matters of the Force. Bringing them any information, even those that only padded out their knowledge, would serve to ingratiate Ariadne with them. She needed all the help that she could get with that.

"I present as human. It seems reasonable to explore humanity so I can better integrate with the society my makers purposed me for. There is no need for me to explore the psyche's of the Bith. It is of no practical use to me," she said flatly. It was a clearly utilitarian approach. That was her way.

With Phy's question though, Ariadne paused. Her face contorted slightly, as if she was thinking it through. No. Not as if. She was contemplating the question. Interesting.

In the second it took for her to respond, Ariadne had explored not just the answer to the question, but also why she found the question so fascinating. Her exploration had come back with few useful findings.

"Humanity is complex, but also boringly predictable. Few truly embrace the fullness of their agency. Most live more robotically than the droids that serve them. Advertising dictates their fashion, their meals, their fantasies...the media programs them to play the role society requires. The ones I find even the remotest of interest in are the outliers...the cracks in the code...the true anomalies."

Phy

 

[Phy]

Hosnian Prime
Tags: Ariadne

Droid Body​

"Humanity is complex, but also boringly predictable. Few truly embrace the fullness of their agency. Most live more robotically than the droids that serve them. Advertising dictates their fashion, their meals, their fantasies...the media programs them to play the role society requires. The ones I find even the remotest of interest in are the outliers...the cracks in the code...the true anomalies."

"It sounds like you may be in the wrong profession then," Phy noted with a slight shrug. "This place is too comfortable. I find that individuals shine when they are amidst adversity. How they come together can be quite powerful. At the same time, I think you discount those who aren't human. We live in a vast, seemingly endless intergalactic world. Such a thing would be dull if it was only populated by humanity."

She tilted her head, giving a slight smile. There was nothing real to gain if there was no interest behind action. This was action simply for gain. It had to be, she reasoned. Phyla was, at least, pretty certain that the primary goal here was money.

"Is this what you'll do for the rest of your existance, then?" she asked.