( video - un: blacksquadron ) all the stars are laying at our feet

[xwings]

[ the video clicks on to a soft beep that ends in a worried trill, the sound mechanical and still managing to seem hushed. for a moment, the camera swings around, then it steadies, showing poe dameron in workout gear, hands and ankles taped, pummeling a punching bag. it's clear he knows what he's doing. it's equally clear that he's unhappy about something.

poe is clearly unaware of the video; this is bb-8's way of trying to get poe some company and comfort. there's a series of beeps that indicates as much, to anyone who understands binary.

eventually, poe stops, steadying the bag (and himself) and then glances at bb-8 -- and the comms device bb-8 is still pointing at him. poe runs a hand through his hair. ]

What're you doing that for, BB?

[ another series of noises from bb, i'm worried and maybe you shouldn't be alone right now. poe shakes his head, crossing the distance to bb-8 and holds out a hand. ] I'm all right, buddy. Give that here.

[ when bb-8 does, the video cuts off. ]

Comments

[centurian]

What's he do out there?

[ is it kinda rude to be talking around the droid and not to the droid? well... ]

I'm guessing it's common for you guys, then. Organic intelligences and synthetic intelligences working together.

[ because that would take some getting used to. sure, he knew a couple of AI's that he liked, but the rest were a little too murderous and genocidal for his liking. ]

[xwings]

Navigate, fix things on the go, plot a course -- anything and everything, really.

[ bb-8 is not only used to it, he gets it. he has a life independent of poe, too, so it's not like there's some weird co-dependency going on. even though bb-8's girlfriend hasn't made it to the planet yet. nor have very many other droids. ]

And yeah, it's normal. Not for you, I take it?

[centurian]

Not all that often.

We've got VI's-- virtual intelligences, but they aren't quite on the same level of sophistication, it sounds like. One race, the quarians, built their own AI called the Geth, one thing led to another, and they ended up losing their home world because of a synthetic uprising.

[ fun times. ]

Needless to say, the Countil-- our galaxy's governing body, forbids AI construction. It doesn't mean that some don't happen, but technically speaking, they're illegal.

[xwings]

Wow.

[ bb-8 lets out a sad whistle. ] Guess Geth wasn't all too happy about how things were going.

[ but all levity aside -- ] I'm sorry to hear that.

[centurian]

[ ...crap, did he make things awkward?

he's quiet for a moment. way back when, he'd have said the quarians had it coming, making them in the first place, but after actually being friends with two people from both races... ]

Yeah. But who knows? Maybe they'll eventually get a fresh start here. Not that I know that much about everything. Both races kinda just... keep to themselves, and the quarian and geth that I know are still up there in stasis... or standby mode, I guess.

[xwings]

[ only a little, and any awkwardness about this is better than awkwardness about the fact that poe's nearly exhausted himself hitting an inanimate object, if one designed for that purpose, over and over and over because it's an easier outlet for his feelings than most other things he could think about. ]

That wouldn't be so bad. Something good to come from this whole thing.

[ poe sighs, trying to swallow back some of the momentary bitterness he feels, that's crept into his tone. ] Sorry. I'm usually more optimistic.

[centurian]

[ don't worry, man. he knows the feeling all too well. ]

Bad day?

[ he can relate a little. even if he's not exactly the best person to talk to, and can be a little insensitive at times, he does try to listen. ]

[xwings]

Yeah.

[ and he knows everyone's more or less bearing the same weight here, so it feels bad unloading on anyone else. and yet -- maybe bb-8 is on to something. so he compromises by trying to keep his tone even but still explaining: ] A friend of mine went back into stasis.

[centurian]

Wait... really?

[ damn. ]

That sort of thing happens often?

[xwings]

I don't know if it's often, but it happens.

[centurian]

Well... that's not exactly a super fun thing to think about.

[ but... right. ]

Sorry for your loss. But at least they can still wake up again, right?

[xwings]

Yeah.

[ a sigh. ]

It's not the end of the world. [ ha. ha. that was the storm, after all. ]