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Post by Light on Jul 14, 2016 21:10:07 GMT -8
She smiled as she heard Aerandir walk up, then turned and nodded. She had been working on her body language to try to fit in more, and the practice was really healping.
"Yes. I'm just confused on something. Yesterday we celebrated. Why?"
While she was getting better with nonverbal communication, she still failed to incorporate blinking into her daily routines. So it was with that solid stare that Echoes were known for that she looked up at her adopted father.
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Aerandir Calmcacil
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 14, 2016 21:23:29 GMT -8
*Body language wasn't exactly something Light had possessed at first, but she was clearly progressing quickly enough. The lack of blinking though... Rogue had been the same. It was admittedly somewhat unsettling, but it was apparently natural for Echoes.
She asked him about the celebration, specifically why they had. It didn't seem likely the Corruption had any concept of celebrating birthdays, and Light hadn't figured them out herself already.* "Yesterday was Morgan and Jake's birthday," *he explained.* "They were born on that day, eleven years ago. They're eleven years old now. I... guess I just thought we'd include you in that, since you and Morgan are, well, 'twins,' sort of?" *Spotting a nearby bench, he took a few steps over to sit down and patted beside him, inviting Light to join him.* "I guess you technically might not have been born on the same day, though."
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Post by Light on Jul 14, 2016 21:50:37 GMT -8
"Ah."
She went over to where Aerandir had sat down. She sat with him and looked forward, staring into the distance.
"You are right. I wasn't created any number of years from yesterday ago."
She didn't explain further. Light seemed to have a habit of getting distracted easily, or not finishing trains of thought in general. It was just part of who she was and who she was becoming.
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 14, 2016 22:01:06 GMT -8
*He smiled at her as she took a seat beside him, but it became a slight frown when she stated he was right about her not being born on the same date as her template. The way she stated it though...* "Do you know when?" *he asked curiously, all the while running through his mind how he would handle it if she did know.*
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Post by Light on Jul 14, 2016 22:09:39 GMT -8
"One year ago today."
She smiled and nodded, her head tilting slightly.
"Yes. One year ago. On Haruun Kal."
Her smile disappeared a second after the mention of her homeworld.
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 14, 2016 22:20:25 GMT -8
"... for real?" *It was a somewhat stunned response, his head tilted to the side. That was one hell of a coincidence, that's for sure. For a moment, he also missed the sign of her sudden smile's disappearance, nearly attributing it to her not fully grasping human habits yet... but then the name clicked. Haruun Kal. Place of her birth... where Morgan had ventured twice, once losing someone she'd quickly grown close to, only to rescue him... and left part of herself behind, which became Light.
But she was here now. She was safely separated from the collective, and a part of his family. And he had the perfect means to take her mind off of it.* "Well, happy birthday, for real!" *he declared, before producing his gift and handing a sleek datapad to her.* "I was going to give this to you anyway, but if it's your birthday, well, then it's an on-time birthday present. It's a datapad. Morgan has one too. You've seen us use these, right? Do you know how they work?"
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Post by Light on Jul 17, 2016 21:14:29 GMT -8
"Oh! Um... Thank you!"
She hadn't expected even more gifts today, believing yesterday to be the extent of it. Clearly, she had been mistaken.
"I've seen you use these, yes, but I have never.. I haven't gotten the chance to really use one."
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 17, 2016 21:19:29 GMT -8
"Well, in that case." *Aerandir reached over to power it on, displaying a menu screen. He gestured to the screen with the same hand before withdrawing it, smiling encouragingly at her.* "Give it a shot."
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Post by Light on Jul 17, 2016 22:59:42 GMT -8
"Oh.. okay."
She pressed her finger against one of the buttons, and a list of .. songs? .. came up. Light looked back up at Aerandir, uncertainty in her eyes.
"..what are those?"
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 17, 2016 23:24:50 GMT -8
*Aerandir peered down at the datapad to see what she had brought up, then answered,* "That would be the music library." *He paused a moment, suddenly curious about her experience with music. Did the Corruption have any sort of music? And if they did, he couldn't imagine it was very uplifting. Or if it was, it couldn't have been anything but propaganda.* "Do you know much about music?" *he asked.*
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Post by Light on Jul 19, 2016 18:09:21 GMT -8
"I know it exists."
That was the truth of it. Light knew that the stuff existed, but neither she nor any of the collective's entities had ever been privy to it. She shrugged nonchalantly.
"I guess you could say I don't really know what I've been missing out on."
She pressed at the screen again, and the list closed down. She stared at it -- typical behaviour for her -- until she saw something about messaging. One more press, and that option was brought up.
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 20, 2016 17:42:59 GMT -8
*"I know it exists." That was all. Somewhat a relief in that her first experience with music wasn't tainted, and perhaps introducing her to music would be a nice experience, yet Aerandir still couldn't help but feel a little sad she wasn't familiar with it at all.
She then made a comment that he wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, so he maintained a neutral expression. When she brought up messaging, he began to explain,* "That's how we keep in touch, just write a message and send it. Yours already has the rest of the family's frequencies in contacts."
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Post by Light on Jul 21, 2016 21:45:50 GMT -8
Her response was a blank stare at the screen, scrolling through the list of contacts in the "Send To" tab. A tiny smile graced her lips as she typed in a simple "Hello" to Aerandir and hit send. Without a spoken word, she looked up at him, waiting for something it seemed. A few seconds later, she spoke.
"Is it fast?"
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 21, 2016 22:21:25 GMT -8
*He would have liked to have been surprised by her message, but he'd seen her select his name from the contacts, and—despite her inexperience with society—feigning shock seemed more suited to a child of a younger age. Regardless of Light's "actual" age. His datapad beeped with a message almost at the same time she asked her question, and he pulled his datapad out as he answered,* "Pretty quick." *He opened the message, noting the simple "Hello" on the screen, and smiled as he typed and spoke a reply.* "A call through the Force is quicker, but not everyone is close enough to sense intention so easily," *he explained, sending off the "Hi you" response on his datapad.*
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Post by Light on Jul 21, 2016 23:12:26 GMT -8
As the response left his datapad and hit hers, the tiny smile turned to one of sadness.
"It's not as.. efficient, as.. um.."
She let her voice trail off, her gaze dropping to the floor. The proper way to put this was that she wasn't sure what his experience with the species of her origin was, but that would be a falsehood. Everyone's experience with the Corruption was negative, and she doubted it was something he'd ever want brought up. So she shut her mouth, closing the messaging option and continuing to flick through screens, searching for a distraction.
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 21, 2016 23:39:45 GMT -8
*He read her emotions well, knowing what she had intended to stay, recognizing her actions as attempting to distract herself from the subject. Strangely, it didn't seem like she was the one uncomfortable with the subject. Gently, with a small smile, he put a hand on her back and assured her,* "You don't have to worry about talking about your past with us. As they say, 'knowledge is power,' and it helps me learn more about you still."
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Post by Light on Jul 22, 2016 21:10:54 GMT -8
"...well, it's not as efficient as we are. Were. I was. You know what I mean.."
It was a habit she had more or less broken, except when she was talking about her past. That was when the old terminology came back.
"Everything was.. instantaneous? We were all ourselves, but we were all one. Different facets of one giant gem. It was.. Well, it was home."
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 23, 2016 13:25:55 GMT -8
*While Aerandir was mildly amused at her stumbling over her words, he was also uncertain how to reply to her explanation. It seemed that, while Light enjoyed her new home and company, this little aspect of instantaneous communication was the only thing she missed about her old life. Putting an arm around her, he assured her,* "Well, in a way, that's what family is, all pieces of one whole. Sure, maybe you can't all be part of each other's minds, but..." *He trailed of briefly, carefully considering his words before concluding,* "look at it this way, when your thoughts are your own, they're yours, and not someone else's."
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Post by Light on Jul 23, 2016 14:01:30 GMT -8
The young girl couldn't help but chuckle in response.
"You have to realize, you speaking of thoughts of my own sounds as alien to me as the concept of a wholly collective mind must seem to you."
The smile that the chuckle had brought remained on her face as she continued.
"The only difference is that I've now experienced both. They're both... very different. Incomparable, really."
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Post by Aerandir Calmcacil on Jul 23, 2016 14:44:45 GMT -8
*Well, that hadn't been so successful; Light compared the concept of having her own thoughts as being as strange to her as a collective mind must be to him. At least she was treating it with humor. Once more, he wasn't entirely sure what to say, instead smiling and offering,* "Well, you'll get used to it. Different, yes, but even if we're not all in a 'collective,' we still have our own ways of knowing how the ones we love feel and think."
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