Intro Shenanigans

[pleiade]

WHO: Asterope and y'all
WHERE: Whale Comb Sent Her, the Bishop, Wildcard her
WHAT: Introductory nonsuch
WHEN: Late August
WARNINGS: None explicit yet, but Asti is a genetically modified human who had a Bad Upbringing


1. Whale Comb Sent Her
Whether one's here to make a Soup Lies request or use the replicator, it's likely you'll run into Asterope, who's found a place to sit (or possibly perch, up on a counter or table with legs dangling) as she works out the specifics of the shape of what she's requesting from the replicator. She's working with a chunky piece of charcoal on a large sketchbook, trying to map and math the curves of a violin, before she tries to spend one of her replicator uses on it. Lots of curves, a couple spirals...for someone who's working from memory, she seems to have a good start on it.

As she works, she's humming, not really paying attention to anyone else in the room, yet.

2. White Pawn Takes Bishop
Asterope seems a little awed by the ship. She's been told most people don't live on their ships, and in truth she doesn't understand why. Sure, it might be cramped quarters, but she's used to kind of being in small, institutional spaces.

The other members of the crew can find her settling in, either in the kitchen acquainting herself with the protein dispenser, or picking out a bunk to take a nap in.

3. Wildcard
Find Asti anywhere else learning the lay of the land. She's more active at night, and spends a lot of time stargazing (sketching it all out in her sketchbook), if you want an excuse to run into her.

Comments

1!

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra wanders into the room with the replicator with an approximately one liter sized tin tucked under his arm.

"Oh, hey, Asterope," he greets her cheerfully, then cocks his head. "Whatcha working on?"

[pleiade]

"Making sure the replicator can make a violin that's perfect. And the bow, separately. It's not practical or important, not really, so if you need the replicator first, go ahead."

She watches for a reaction, as if expecting to be told she doesn't need a violin.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra might not know what a violin even was, if he didn't have 18 years of memories from a version of Earth shoved into her head, but he does, so rather than being puzzled, his smile gets even bigger.

"You know, it didn't even occur to me to try to get it to make something that needs that much precision? That's really cool. I hope it comes out like you want it."

He squints thoughtfully. "I did play clarinet for a while." Again, in fake memories, mostly, of being in his high school's band. "Not sure that I ever paid enough attention that I could get the bore and pads exactly right. Maybe a simpler woodwind?" he muses.

He does miss having more music around.

[pleiade]

"If you try, maybe playing together sometime maybe might be kind of nice. Perhaps?" As uncertain as the words are, she blossoms at the very thought of having someone to play with. "With violin and clarinet, you could do a lot of klezmer."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra blinks as that word clicks into place in his memories.

"Wow, yeah, blast from the past there. Sideways blast? I know a few tunes from that traditions, and wouldn't mind learning a some more," he offers.

[pleiade]

"Could be fun. Perhaps--if the replicator's a no-go, maybe the supplies? Worth asking, the good neighbors might pass along a clarinet maybe." She looks hopefully at him, before adding a couple more lines to the sketch of the violin.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I don't think it can hurt to ask," Ezra agrees. "The Agrii just seem to ignore requests they don't want to deal with. And if you're still working on that - I was just gonna get some more tea leaves from the replicator," he adds, untucking the canister from under his arm.

"Not exactly practical, or really important, either, I guess. But it's a small nice thing, and I know my brother would miss it if we ran out, and I think Padme, too, so."

[pleiade]

"Padme? Not familiar yet with her. Or your brother. They're good people to know? Kind?"

Because Ezra seems to be, so far. Asterope wants to get to know more people here, but she hardly knows where to start.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Yeah! They're both those things. Me, and them, and Padme's infant twins, we live at Blue 21, if you look at the map on our communicators. You're welcome to come by. Obi-wan and Padme have been pretty busy with the babies, and renovating that space, and Obi-wan's been teaching on top of that," he explains, as he moves to open the canister a take out a sample of tea for the replicator to work from.

"Which means you're maybe a little less likely to just run into them on the street - or up a building. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't want to meet new people."

[pleiade]

There's a flash of a shy smile when he mentions not running into them up a building. "If you're sure they wouldn't mind visitors. Maybe getting around to seeing more places would be nice."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Well, running into any of the Jedi up a building wasn't out of the question. They have a tendency to fling themselves into unlikely spots.

"I'm sure. The whole point of the area of Obi-wan picked is there's room for private spaces, but there's also communal open space. Any who isn't being actively a jerk is welcome."

[pleiade]

"Passive jerks on a case-by-case basis?" Her eyes twinkle. She watches as the replicator makes Ezra's tea, folding her sketchbook closed for the moment.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Hmm, wouldn't be much of a Jedi temple, if we didn't allow for people trying to overcome their jerk tendencies."

He cocks his head thoughtfully. "Well, that's my opinion, anyway. Guess you have to balance that against things like babies living there." And babies that sometimes were extra sensitive to emotions, no less.

"Thankfully, no one really caused problems yet."

[pleiade]

"Well, definitely not looking to change that record here." Asterope is kind of the opposite of a jerk. She's a pushover. There's something emotionally fragile that Ezra can already get a sense of, in her. Like a stern look or a raised voice would make her crumple like tissue paper.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I didn't think you were," Ezra tries to reassure her - although the sense of steady calm he's trying to go for is probably ruined by the way he jumps then a relatively large pile of dried tea leaves just sort of...appears. He rushes to sweep them into the canister before some topples off onto the floor.

[pleiade]

She lets out a small laugh at the mildly frantic attempt to catch them all. "Do you need any help with all that? Back home, tea's usually sold in bags already--never seen the full leaves before."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I'm good!" Ezra says brightly, and he does indeed seem to be mostly successfully collecting the tea.

"Yeah, where I grew up you're much more likely to find the bags, too, but I guess the full leaves is more traditional? And Obi-wan and Padme didn't grow up on the same planet, but they both come from cultures that take tradition pretty seriously, including tea, it seems."

[pleiade]

"Tea has traditions?" She seems genuinely surprised to hear that. "Probably broke all the rules. It's just nice to have as something warm, when it's cold outside."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"There's whole Japanese tea ceremonies on Earth."

Then he pauses and squints. "I'm...pretty sure that's real."

Another beat. "Ok, full disclosure, I kinda have memories of two lives in my head. A number of us here do - it's a whole thing. So, I didn't grow up on Earth, not really. But I also I have pretty vivid memories of growing up in a version of America on Earth. Where Obi-wan was called Ben, and was my brother. And our mom was from Japan. And our dad was from Scotland, but also Jewish, which why I had any clue what you meant by klezmer."

[pleiade]

"That has to be confusing for you, living with two sets of memories. What do you do when they conflict with one another? Does it...how does your sense of who you are stand up to that?"

There's an undertone of concern with the words. Asti's resolved her own issues of failing to be who she was supposed to be by...sort of accepting that her self is meaningless, but she knows that's not a healthy method of treating selfness, not for anyone else. And Ezra seems to be okay with who he is.

She wants to understand that.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I'm pretty sure you'd get different answers from each person who went through that here," Ezra admits.

"I know Obi-wan's struggled some because the way Jedi were traditionally raised, like he was, is so very different from life as Ben. So for him, I think the main thing that he's, um, kept is that he's my brother. The details can fade away." He raises a hand and unfolds it, as it letting go of something.

"For me, a lot of the details can be useful. Because....I lost my parents young and mostly raised myself for years, and didn't do much formal school. But as Ben's brother, I did go to schools, good ones. And he was always there for me. But the practical stuff can sleep in the back of my mind until I need it, and I can just let that feeling of belonging, be a feeling."

[pleiade]

"It's definitely complex to synthesize, huh? But it sounds good, that you got that feeling to bask in."

It's a feeling she can't help but envy. She doesn't know what it'd be like, to belong. To feel loved.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Really good," he agrees.

"It's not...completely new. Back home, there were people who took me in as a teenage, eventually. My first master, Kanan, and the people he was close to. And I think the, um, spell, stuck Obi-wan and I together like that because we'd already decided to call each other family, too. But it helps the two of us talk about hard stuff, I think."

[pleiade]

"Do you two have a lot of hard stuff you need to talk about, between yourselves?" She tilts her head to one side, thoughtful, curious.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Um. Yes," Ezra replies with a slow nod.

"It's complicated and some of it's more private and personal, but the big picture isn't any kind of secret. Stuff like - how do you fight a totalitarian government bent on killing or converting people like you, and protect the other groups it targets? What lines shouldn't you cross? How did the head of that government even get in charge? How much of our traditions should change now that there's so few of us, and is how things should be when it's peace time a different question?"