nexus_crossings | Ghosts in the Machine

Ghosts in the Machine

There’s a young woman reading through one of the pamphlets in the plaza. She’s dressed head to toe in a rather odd black garment like a padded wetsuit - it looks like it’s all one piece, soft, elastic and form-fitting. Her hair’s a little disheveled and she has a frown of concentration as she reads, but her location doesn’t seem to worry her.

As far as she’s concerned, it’s obvious where she is. The last few weeks have been nothing but tests and interviews and assessment exercises of one form or another. More than a few have taken place using increasingly sophisticated simulation tech. This is just another program, and presumably somewhere above is the AI overseeing her progress.

Still, this is definitely a new one.

“Who comes up with these scenarios?” she wonders aloud in amusement. Then shoots a look at the tiny silver robot floating at a cautious distance. “No offense meant- and that wasn’t my question, sorry.” The Ghost bobs noncommittally, and she looks around, taking in the strange mix of people and aliens, the unrealistic architecture. “So does it matter what I ask?” The answer is murmured quietly, but presumably boils down to ‘no’. She rolls her shoulders and shifts on her feet, making thoughtful sounds for a minute. She really wants to ask something good. Insightful. Practical. Soldierly.

“Is there something around here you really need weapons for?” She had two when she started here - not to mention the ridiculous armor. The assisting ‘Ghost’ AI removed them for her, but that still leaves the question of why this simulation included them...

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"My co-pilot? He's my best friend." There's absolutely no hesitation to that answer. Maybe for a brief period of time Han was a little uncomfortable with the Wookiee following him around, but he pretty quickly came to realize how valuable Chewie was as a crewmate and then as an ally.

"I wish he was here."

Ultimately, Bryn is gonna miss out on getting the tour because of her little robot's instance they should hurry along.

With the layout of the Millenium Falcon largely circular, they have to walk around to the opposite side of the ship to get to the cabin. The cabin itself, which is little larger than a walk-in closet; has three sets of double bunks, a few footlockers and a small area to wash up. That's it. One can imagine life on his ship to be pretty spartan, just by the look of the living quarters.

He pulls a footlocker out from under his bunk and pulls out two jackets. One is lightweight and navy blue, something about the look of it reads as 'flight jacket' even though it doesn't have any insignia to speak of. Sort of like the blanks you would find in a military surplus depot. The second is a much heavier leather jacket. Brown. More in line with classic earth fashion and what people around the Nexus wear.

He lays them both out on his bed (which he's thankful that he generally makes when people end up in here) and lets her help herself to one of them. "Which one suits you, darling?"

She gives him a sympathetic look when he speaks of his friend, a remark about it being lonely dying in her throat. That might be her first hint of the man beneath the charm, and she's not about to prod a sore spot. "...I guess finding this place isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Bryn hangs back a bit when they reach the cabin, unsure what to expect and not about to just stroll blithely into someone's personal space. She lingers in the doorway, reaching up to push the Ghost firmly back. It means well, she's sure, but it's been intrusive enough for one day. At least it takes the point - and her meaningful look - and stays out in the hall while she follows Han in. It's just peeping anxiously.

Lacking proper boots, her tread is soft as she joins the captain and considers her options with a low 'hmm'. She moves to pick up the lighter blue jacket, then smiles ruefully at herself and switches to the leather one. Sure, it's not as formal, but it's warmer and tougher. "Better be practical, I suppose." She doesn't waste time shrugging it on once chosen, but then she pauses to touch Han's shoulder.

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I appreciate the help, even if my... companion seems like he has a few circuits crossed. I owe you one."

It's been interesting to be able to interact with Bryn. She came to him with no preconceived notion of who he is. Ready to believe what he was going to spin to her. Though he hasn't lied to her, he certainly has painted something of an inaccurate picture. More of the man who he'd have liked people to have seen him as and less of the man he (feels he) is.

"Forget about it." He says with a faint smile. "I get the feeling you would have done as much for me if things were the other way around."

A thank you is enough for a stand-up guy, right? The guy he should be more like. Still, he finds himself holding his gaze at her skin tight outfit a little longer than he thinks a 'nice guy' probably should.

"The jacket suits you." He says finally, as he aims his eyes back up towards her face.

There's an interesting conversation to be had there, should it come up. Whether with Bryn, or with her Exo counterpart. After all, there are things about herself even Blaze doesn't share freely. For that matter, Han may be unaware of it but the Ghost knows perfectly well he's omitting information: it's just choosing not to rat him out for reasons that go beyond its fears of rocking the boat.

"Thanks. I get the feeling I'm going to need it," Bryn says dryly. This time there are no distractions, and it would be hard for her to miss that lingering look from him. She lifts her chin, face flushing a little as she meets his gaze and reminds him quietly, "Eyes up, captain."

Ghost would stand to make it very difficult to not start tripping up over some of his own omissions if he blew in Han. And at that point, Captain Solo probably would suddenly realize the alternate identity of the woman before him. This is why this sort of thing gets people into trouble ...

And speaking of getting into trouble, he can't really play the most recent eye-grope off like it was anything other than what it was. He aims his eyes to a nonspecific point at the wall and nods. Eyes-up. That is where they belong. He doesn't apologize, but he does look a little sheepish at being caught.

He clears his throat.

"If you're still up for it, was gonna start guiding the two of us toward grub."

Tangled webs, indeed. Ghost already misses his partner's normal directness. Right now he's just worried about the way the two humans keep looking at each other, because if that goes any further he will feel obliged to warn the Captain, at least, of what's going on.

But at the moment, Bryn just holds her gaze on Han, studying his face a little longer. He's kind of cute when he's looking sheepish, even if the lack of apology doesn't totally escape her. She makes a low, thoughtful sound in her throat, dropping her gaze before she nods in return.

"Good plan." She flashes a smile his way. "Come on, I'm already curious to see what people eat around here. And I need someone to tell me what's actually edible for humans."

Han doesn't entirely realize how disrespectful it is to look at a woman like that. On some level he knows that it's impolite, but in his mind and in the crowds he runs with, it's dismissed as 'a kind of compliment.' Scoundrels. He's spent too many years around them for his own good.

While she hesitates, he finds himself thinking over how he's behaved and wondering what he should have done differently ... because he sort of expects her to turn him down. He actually has to call upon years of playing cards to mask his surprise at her eventual reaction.

"I am just the sort of man that's perfect for that." He insists. Really, he's not more qualified than anyone else who's only lived in the nexus for a few months to catch her up on regional cuisine, but he's naturally going to assure her she made the right choice. And smile back at her too.

He's got to start showing her the way, so he gets started leading her out of the Falcon. It only just occurred to him that her bot could have been snooping though his ship for part of that time, but with how possessive it was over Bryn and it's proximity to the entrance of the room, he's willing to believe it's more likely that it didnt.

Bryn isn't the type to change her mind easily. Sure, she might hesitate before she reaches a decision, but once it's settled she's not inclined to look back. Which is a large part of how she wound up as a recruit, in fact. It's a trait that the eavesdropping Ghost finds very familiar, much to its hopeful relief.

And speaking of the little bot, it's waiting to fall in with them when they emerge, clearly not having strayed far at all. It's unusual for a Ghost to miss the chance at examining a whole new ship of unknown design, and it did make a few perfunctory scans of its surroundings... but anxiety kept it circling back round to listen in on them.

On the other hand, one can tell it's cheered up now because it's taking the opportunity to flick its sensors curiously over everything they pass. Without straying from behind Bryn's shoulder, of course. You'd think it was attached with magnets. On the upside it's close enough that Bryn can tap it gently to stop when she notices it prying.

For her part, she matches Han's pace, sorry to leave the ship but eager to see what else is in store. Not that her curiosity about him is sated, by any means. "So you've been here for a while? What do you do when you're grounded like this?"

There is no cargo that he doesn't want to be found on board, so Han's guard is a little bit lax right now. He still wouldn't be happy if the little bot was noticing these strange areas of his ship that are resistant to scanning. That would be, more or less, discovering all of his prime hiding spots.

And frankly, he'd be pissed at the intrusion.

But ... he can't be mad about what he doesn't know and he'd appreciate that Bryn was trying to be a polite guest when she did notice Ghost trying to catch glimpses of what Han wouldn't want to be seen. If he noticed. Good thing he's in the front of the party right now.

"A few weeks." Probably closer to a few months, actually, but he's not been diligently keeping track of the passage of time. And time is such a funny thing in The Nexus, besides. "To be perfectly honest, when I'm on the ground I'm usually looking for a reason to get back in the air."

It won't take him long, but Han is not going to leave until The Falcon is closed up.

"I arrived here by accident like a lot of people do. Out of fuel was the first problem, which is a pretty easy thing to fix, but some overdue maintenance has been making things complicated."

Edited 2016-07-13 15:58 (UTC)

Ghost really doesn't see the problem. He's just staying aware of their surroundings like a good guide/companion/tactical advisor. And looking for hiding spots just in case he needs them. It's for the best he doesn't realize he could annoy Han by checking out his ship.

Bryn just figures the bot rates his mysterious objectives above 'trivial' things like human privacy, which... isn't far off from the truth.

She's kind of puzzled by how... well, manual the Falcon's operations seem to be. Maybe that's just how it works when you don't have a resident Shipmind? Either way it gives her something to watch curiously while she waits for him. Taking notes, of course. She has no idea what might be useful to know in the training ahead of her when she gets home.

"You'd think it would be easy to get repairs in a place like this," she remarks.

Well, making sure the ramp gets closed and his ship's defenses are up isn't the kind of thing he'd expect for her to find insightful, but she's welcome to watch. Although, not too closely, because it's largely entering a set of keystrokes into a nine button security panel.

Anyway, he'd balk at the idea of an AI flying the ship entirely on it's own. For one thing, he wouldn't trust it to make the right call in those moments that he thinks require human decision making. Taking people out of flying, he'd have to imagine, would make it a joyless ferry system all around the galaxy. Which sounds incredibly boring to him.

With a tip of his head, he indicates the way they need to walk to the diner and he starts leading them in that direction.

"Availability of materials and parts plays a factor." It does even in his galaxy with his ship being sixty-something years old. "So does having the capital to buy them. Broke my wrist too, that slowed everything down a bit."

She was raised properly - she's too polite to peep at people's passcodes, and she glances at Ghost to make sure he shows the same restraint. She's so used to AIs pervading her environment (albeit usually the small, semi-sentient kind) that even having one physically hovering behind her doesn't really stick out. It's safe to say she's a lot more tolerant of letting them run things... but she's still used to more independence than Ghost expects. ~~She probably even opens her own doors.~~

Speaking of human decision-making, though, her attention's back on Han as they walk. "How did you do that?" The touch of concern in her voice is genuine, though she can't help a little amusement as she adds, "Everyone tells me this place is so safe."

Oh.

Hrm. He probably shouldn't have brought that up considering the fact that he was fighting people for money. It doesn't really jive with that good guy image he was trying to project. Doubly so when his opponent was kidnapped and forced to fight him ...

"Well, it is pretty safe most of the time." He begins. "I have to be honest, that wasn't my proudest moment here. I got offered money to fight someone in front of some spectators - more than enough to cover the cost of the parts that I needed for my ship and ..."

He just shakes his head and lets the thoughts trail off. Some of these ideas he has in his head seem a lot better before he has to tell someone else about them out loud.

"You're kidding." She gives him a startled look. "People do that here?" What kind of uncivilized place have you found yourself in, young Venusian? And yet... there's the spark of something intrigued in her eyes as she hesitates over what to ask. Sure, the culture she was raised in may have been strictly fighting-as-a-last-resort, but she wouldn't be on the path she is if she were wholly opposed to violent solutions.

Or if she were opposed to getting paid for violence, for that matter. It's all about the right circumstances.

(Ghost, meanwhile, is rolling his optic because if Bryn is anything like her future counterpart he knows how this subject is going to go down.)

"So... what happened?" She's definitely looking at him differently. Perhaps not in a bad way. Better to leave out the whole kidnapping part though. "I mean- did you win?"

As far as Han has experienced? There are way, way more societies that have some form of combat sport than the number of ones that don't. The touch of embarrassment he feels over participating is largely do the fact that he thinks she'd want to see some remorse in him and the fact that he didn't realize they were gonna kidnap his opponent and chain the two of them together.

Thing is? There's not a lot that he wouldn't do for the right price. Even less if he thought it would help him take care of his ship. Han Solo loves his starship something fierce.

He tilts his head thoughtfully when Bryn asks her questions. He'd expected something like the initial reaction, but not the asking him if he won part ...

"They don't usually do things like that here. I think it took a lot of people by surprise." Understatement there. He can't help but have his lips curl into a smile at the memory of the victory, though. It wasn't a long fight, but damn if it wasn't ferocious. He certainly had to earn the win.

"I did end up winning."

Edited 2016-07-15 16:01 (UTC)

It's a smart tack he's taking. She's playing at her own act, for that matter, trying to balance what she's been taught is the responsible way to respond with... not looking completely new to the rougher side of society. It's not her fault she grew up on the super-intellectual colony.

And then she has to try not to act too interested in all the gory details. They shouldn't matter, after all, she just finds herself oddly curious.

"Hmm." She takes in that smile for a moment, has to remind herself to look away before it turns into a stare. Better watch where you're walking, Bryn. But she glances back a moment later, lightening her tone. "Not too bad for a guy with a broken hand. How is it now?"

Han's lips have likely settled into that self-satisfied look he so often has. Well, it's the look he usually has before things start going to hell on him. That happens far too often for his liking.

Still, you have to take the time to appreciate when things are working out and they have been with Bryn so far.

"Was more the wrist." Han clarifies. He waggles the fingers of his left hand idly and then rolls in a clockwise motion as well as a counter-clockwise motion. "A surgical droid put a plate in it and some screws. Fully healed, but still working on hand drills to regain speed and strength in the joints"

Which is archaic compared to what they can do at home, but he'd have to imagine there's no need for a huge amount of bacta in a place that has an AV field.

Her mouth twists at his description - she's kind of amused by how outdated that treatment sounds but... equally concerned by that. Sticking plates in people. Eesh. Still, his hand does look okay. And he looks satisfied enough with the outcome.

"Huh. That's some... pretty old-school medicine." She probably ought to keep an open mind here. She has no idea what level of tech is the average. And just because it's old doesn't mean it's necessarily ineffective. But probably a little bit crude. "I'm glad it worked, though."

Something about his expression leaves her thoughtful, though - touches on something lurking in the back of her mind. She doesn't take more than a moment to work up to it. "Can I ask you something? I don't know if it's a weird question, but- do you like it? Fighting, I mean. It's, uh... not something that comes up a lot back home."

Yeah. It did the job. The healing's been kind of on the slow side, but this was what he wanted done over magical healing. He's from the school of thought where if something can't be explained and seems too good to be true, then it likely is. He doesn't trust magic.

And while the plates and screws might perhaps be a bit ... invasive, it beats the hell out of having your parts replaced with cybernetic ones. At least this was still his hand and wrist.

"Do I like fighting?" He says again. As if hearing the question again made it somehow easier to answer. It's actually something the Captain has asked himself, on long trips while gazing out into the inky blackness of space and couldn't really come up with a well-defined answer then either.

"I like winning. I don't really think that counts as the same thing. Most times, if it's an option, I'd rather smooth things out with conversation."

That's the best answer he can offer. The most honest one he can think of, too. He's left people to die in places. Put smoking craters into the chests of people threatening him. It all seems like a waste in the end ... when the adrenaline finally wears off.

"Would you ever take a fight for money?"

Bryn nods slowly at his answer, thinking it over. Caring more for the end, not the means. She can get that, depending on said end. She's just looking at the future ahead of her and wondering, just a little, how well she's going to take to it. What it's going to be like...

"I suppose I'm technically doing that already," she remarks in response to his question. "But honestly..." She thinks it over, shakes her head. She's a little conscious of the Ghost's presence right now, unaware that it really isn't concerned about her answer.

"I think I'd need some reason besides the money. Something that mattered. If I knew that money meant my ticket home, say- that might be enough. Of course it'd still depend on who I was fighting. And who was offering."

It's a fine enough answer to Han. He doesn't seem particularly surprised or put off by what she's said, nor would he have any baseline for determining if she's being honest apart from his usual measures. The look in the person's eyes. The sureness of their voice. The likelihood they'd be telling the truth versus lying.

"The devil is in the details." He remarks with a slightly bitter smile. Ain't that always the way? He hopes she's not learned the lesson as hard as he has. Or as often. Since a bulk of her work doesn't come in deals with criminals, he figures not.

Captain Solo starts slowing their walk and guides them to a door. There's a name on the door painted in more than a dozen that says 'The Weary Traveler's Diner'.

Edited 2016-07-18 02:06 (UTC)

People don’t often go out of their way to trick her, and maybe that shows in the way questioning the offer itself is an afterthought to her. Likewise, she’s pretty sure of her conclusions, however much thinking out loud she does along the way. Even at this age she’s a pretty open book.

“I hear that a lot,” she notes, and though her tone is dry there’s a good humor to it that suggests her lessons have been a hell of a lot gentler than his. “But up to now it’s usually been from people complaining about technical write-ups.”

Bryn takes a minute to study the sign outside the door before they go in, as amused as she is unable to resist seeing how many she can recognize. Just a couple, as it turns out. “Hmm. That’s an auspicious name.”

She glances back to see if Ghost appreciates it, but the bot’s ducked right behind her back now, anticipating a room full of unknown quantities. Little guy’s strangely shy for an AI, she think. That just means Han gets her attention instead… after she’s swept a look round the inside of this place. She’s had a few hours to take in the Nexus’s brand of oddity, but the more it sinks in that this is all real the harder it is to look around without her eyes lighting up in interest. Good thing her spatial awareness is up to par: it mostly keeps her from bumping into anyone inside. Including the captain she’s following.

"Try not to stare at ... any of it" He murmurs quietly to her, not knowing how much exposure Bryn's had to kinds of places like this. It's not an insinuation or a comment on her sense of tact. It's said gently. In a way that is empathetic to the possible culture shock.

It's not as if walking into a den of sentients of all different worlds is unfamiliar to Han, though. If anything, there's a swagger in his walk that suggests confidence and a sense of belonging among the very mixed crowd. The gathered is about half human and half not; with only a third of the patrons, at most, native to where Han comes from. Likely one or two from her home as well.

There is also a concerted effort for him to project an image of togetherness between them. Not in an intimate way, but ... that the two humans are looking after each other, which he does by making she stays relatively close to him while the move through the eatery.

The place is mostly full. Which means they don't have much of a choice in terms of tables. Captain Solo being the kind of man that makes friends wherever he goes, picks a table where they can keep an eye on the door.

"...Right." She takes the advice in the spirit intended. It's more than reasonable, after all. Venus is a good place to encounter different kinds of (Earth-originating) human cultures, but even in her day that doesn't compete with scales and tusks and every combination of limb types and count that one might care to name. And she could swear she just caught sight of a guy with a peg-leg. An actual peg-leg-

Okay, forget that, Bryn reminds herself. Don't stare. She focuses on Han instead, and that's not hard to do. Nor is staying close. She can't help but envy his easy confidence, his sense of being right at home in the crowd. She's unafraid of it, finds the culture shock (though very real) an enjoyable sort of challenge. But it's easy to feel this isn't her turf.

She certainly doesn't recognize anyone from her system. Of course, the only ones she could recognize are the humans, and they all blend in pretty well no matter what their universe of origin. The best tell would likely be whether they double-take on seeing the Ghost with her, and at present the little guy's doing a remarkably good job of keeping low and out of sight for a bot of silver and blue light. It's never been subject to unwanted attention here before... but usually it's escorted by a fully-armed Titan.

As soon as they sit it's going to find the safest position from which to observe without being obvious to all and sundry.

Bryn thinks nothing of sliding into the seat opposite Han, heedless of cunning strategies in play. "Is it always this... interesting?" she asks as quietly as the noise allows. Okay, interesting is very subjective. "Although I suppose it's nothing unusual to you, hm?"

To be fair, it's a diner and Han isn't expecting things to be violent. It never hurts to take certain precautions, though. Not in the kind of crowds he so often finds himself in.

There's a small wire rack on the table with a couple of shakers of different seasonings. Recognizably, white table salt and black pepper is in there, along with offerings of many different colors and shapes. Some of them are small granules. Some look more like small, dried herbs. Some like seeds. Tucked behind them all are a few simple laminated menus. Han will offer one to Bryn before grabbing one for himself.

As her eyes drift over it, she'll see that the menu is not particularly expansive. There's about 15 offerings on the front and back, but a lot of words nonetheless. Like the door, several languages are recognizable on the card.

"One of the servers usually comes by after a couple of minutes." He murmurs. "You gonna have something other than water?"

That's true. Ghost can hang in a fight. He's like R2 and 3PO combined.

Combined and admittedly squashed a lot!

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