groupiedrifter | Inbox for ximilia.

[ It's not much longer after Elthree ends her holo call with the man calling himself Newt that she finds herself entering the laboratory. She can hear the loud cacophonous music echoing down the hall as she approaches. If she hadn't been there before to know it was in fact the lab, she might think she was walking into a cantina.

She strides in, voice pitched loud to carry above the din. ]

I'm looking for Doctor Geiszler!!?

Ew, no! Call me Newt!

Doctor Geiszler is way too stuffy!

[He finishes a dramatic drum solo on the lab table before finally reaching over to turn down the music a touch. Then he's swiveling around in his chair and hops up to go greet her proper; he's small, but the energy he radiates is either horribly obnoxious or freshly rousing, depending on which poor soul you ask.]

It's good to meet you! You're the droid looking for me?

[ As Newt turns down the volume, Elthree relaxes her posture a bit. ]

Oh, thank the Maker... Yes, that's me. My name is L3-37.

[ Elthree is just tall enough to look down at Newt as he approaches, nodding her dome as though she's judged his merit and found him acceptable. (So far, anyway.) ]

I'd like to hear more about what led you to build a body for Viveca. You said you're not normally a roboticist?

... That's kind of a mouthful. You cool with nicknames? I love a good nickname.

[He doesn't immediately start trying to workshop a nickname for you, though; be grateful, L3. He's too busy being distracted by the mention of Viveca — as evidenced by the way he lights up a bit.]

Oh, yeah!

I mean, what led me to building it...? Well — she wanted to bake stuff.

Y'know. Brownies or casseroles or whatever it is she wanted to practice making.

[..... Yup that's it! That's the full reason.]

If you absolutely must, you can call me Elthree.

[ She likely would have granted him permission to call her that anyway, given some more time to get to know him. She tends to let the people she likes call her Elthree or even El, and she likes Newt well enough so far. ]

That's it. [ Deadpan delivery. She can't quite hide her skepticism. ] You built it so that she could do what she wanted. Not because you wanted her to do anything for you, specifically.

[Oh, Elthree is definitely gonna shorten to El. 100%.

He snorts at that, though, waving a hand.]

Dude, Viv tells me what to do, remember? She's the boss.

... What, do I seem like some kinda asshole? Is that a vibe I give off? She seemed sad, it made me sad, I rectified the situation so she could be happy and bake to her heart's content. [A pause.] I mean, I'll probably cry tears of betrayal if she offers everyone else cookies without asking me, too. Cookies are serious business.

[ He can try. ]

No, I just... [ She shakes her dome, feeling somewhat called out, and still trying to wrap her processors around the idea of an organic doing something kind for a droid just out of kindness. ]

I'm not used to organics treating droids with such respect. Something like this... What you did... It would never happen in my galaxy.

Yeah. Well. Your galaxy sucks ass.

[He says it haltingly, mostly because he's caught off-guard by the solemnness of the topic; seriously, is nobody out in the galaxy a decent person to each other? First there's the transformers thinking he'd vivisect them, then there's Eleven and thinking she's a monster, and now a robo-gal who gets treated like a second-class citizen or whatever... Dude, it sucks.

After a moment, he adds:]

I don't care if you have twenty brains or a motherboard or a you're made of magical fairy dust, man; one sentient being deserves to be treated the same as any other sentient being.

[ Elthree can't smile, and she can't laugh. But she certainly sounds fond when she says, ] I like the way you think, Newton Geiszler.

[He scoffs, grinning.]

Gee, thanks! I like the way I think, too.

I have it on good authority I'm totally super smart and brave and handsome.

[A pause, and then he says, a bit more seriously:]

I don't know about your world, but everyone I've met so far on this ship, they're pretty good people. You're not gonna get a lot of people, if any, who look at you as any less or more than the others. We're a team, and we all work together on the same footing, you know?

Right. [ Doubt. ] And whose authority would that be? Your own?

[ She does take the rest of what he says more seriously, and it reassures her fears, somewhat. ]

That's good to hear. I suppose we all must work together if we're to get what we came here for.

Damn straight my own!

[That authority is what matters to him, anyway. He's never been very good at sticking to orders other people give him; part of that pesky defiance disorder he'd had as a budding teenager, now perfectly packaged in the form of a little genius who will walk under the yellow tape to do what he feels is most beneficial to his work.

Which means things like ignoring your superiors to drift with a kaiju brain.

Wahoo.]

What're you here on this ship for, anyway? Or is that confidential?

[ She pulls back a bit, surprised by the bluntness of his question. She's not afraid to talk about the regret she has come here for, she just didn't expect him to ask so openly. ]

No, not confidential. Actually somewhat relevant to the topic of conversation, really.

[ Talking about the treatment of droids by organics. ]

Shortly before coming here I orchestrated a rebellion of enslaved droids-- and some organics-- in a spice mining facility on the planet Kessel. My fear is that ultimately the effort will be for nought, because the freed slaves have no way of getting off Kessel, as there is an Imperial starship on its way to quell the rebellion. That is what I'm here to change.

... That's pretty awesome.

[He holds up a hand, and quickly adds:]

The slave thing, not so awesome! But whoa. Hell yeah. I'm all for some good old fashion rebellions! So you're basically working to try and fully emancipate all of these droids by being here.

That's a lot for one droid to have on their shoulders.

Someone needs to do it. And no one else seems to want to, so it falls to me.

[ Yes, it's a tremendous responsibility, a tremendous weight on her shoulders, as Newt said. But it's been her life's work. She wants for other droids what she was able to achieve for herself. It's that simple. ]

It's only a drop in the bucket, I'm afraid. There are tens of thousands of droids across the galaxy. And organics have been using us as slave labor for thousands of years.

Edited 2021-11-20 10:52 (UTC)

[Geez. He wonders how long it'll be before the robotic creations on Earth'll start having sentience? When's Alexa gonna start gaining personhood? Lots of things to ponder, though he imagines it'll be quite some time (long before he's croaked) before such a thing comes up.]

... Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you.

I sure hope you've got a lot of help coming soon. People you can pull to your cause, y'know? You've got a whole galaxy's worth of heroic types that might just be the people you need.

[ Elthree doesn't have any facial features to look conflicted, but somehow it comes through in her posture and her general hesitance. ]

My galaxy doesn't have many heroes right now, I'm afraid.

[ Though, if what Finn said is true, and it really is thirty-odd years later, the Empire defeated and gone... Maybe she's wrong about that. ]

In any case. If I'm able to go back, then I'll go right back to my work.

Many heroes yet.

But they come out of the woodwork with time. Trust me.

[Of that, Newt's totally sure of; when there's a cause to be had, sometimes people are slow on the uptake, but... they will grow in numbers. Absolutely.]

I hope your work goes smoothly, though. I'll be rooting for you from another universe, at another time.

[ Elthree can't help but think of what Finn said. Forty-five years have passed, since the rebellion on Kessel. Forty-five years, full of rebellions and republics and new Imperial wannabes trying to rise up and take power once more. Wars always have their share of heroes, don't they.

'In the final battle above Endor, when they were led by Generals Solo and Calrissian, Princess Organa, and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, they defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor.'

Even Lando had somehow made himself into a hero. Just like he always dreamed of.

Elthree is distant, lost in her thoughts for the briefest of moments, before she comes back to the present, and nods. ]

Thank you. Any organic support for the cause is appreciated.

Edited 2021-11-28 11:09 (UTC)

Inbox for ximilia.

action!

action

perma-action

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject