Ghosts in the Machine

[rekindledtitan]

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...

Comments

[bestdadinamestris]

With all the commotion today - from all the small children running around the Nexus - Hughes is more than happy to stop and help the new woman on the Plaza with her rather... odd question about weaponry.

"Not usually, though there has been the occasional need for them in the past." He offers a small shrug and a smile to her. "If you showed up here with weapons in hand, it seems likely you needed them for something on your own world rather than something here."

He hasn't noticed until this point - and he instantly shifts his focus to the little guy. Surely this is a different floating robot than the one he's used to seeing with his friend Blaze, right? ...right?

"Friend of yours?" He motions to the little Ghost floating around aimlessly.

[juststeverogers]

It's not that the woman is disinteresting, because her question and her demeanor are ones Steve would be drawn to try and help no matter what the situation.

Yet when he approaches, it's Ghost that has attracted the brunt of his attention.

"Ghost?" What's he doing here? Surely it can't be Blaze's companion, can it?

[pathfromdarknesstogray]

Compared to the young woman's mode of dress, this one's pretty much effectively the opposite: She wears loose robes of dark gray and black. A hood up, partially obscuring an aged face with an eternally tired expression. Faintly lit yellow eyes are visible within the hood's shadow, and she leans on a little on a metallic cane she holds in her left hand.

"Many come here with weapons in hand, and sometimes, yes, there are times you need them. Others hold onto the weapons for comfort. Security, as they might lack such at home, or they simply feel safer with them."

The older woman was certainly one of those in her younger years. Arguably still so now. After all, she might get older. She might get wiser. But she was still an Assassin and a Sith. Weapons are her comfort and her life.

That said, there's no visible weapon on her person at the moment, but you never know.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

It should be a bit of a comfort that not everyone in the Nexus has had the transformative talk with Doctor Hill, right? In fact, Han had been blissfully unaware that anything had changed at all considering most of the people he associated with were unaffected.

Except for Blaze.

Not that Captain Solo is expecting this attractive blonde lady could be the Exo he's had chats with and challenged to a race. Nope. That they could be the same person would be the farthest thing from her mind. Blaze knew her way around after all, helped acclimate Han when he arrived, even. This lady was asking the new person type questions ...

"Did you get your questions answered already, sweetheart?" He'd offer his observations, but sometimes he found that by the time he got around to these sorts of parties the info had been well distributed.