[ When it comes to what his domain looks like, Anakin hasn't really given it much thought as to what he wants it to be. He left it as it was after his first visit at first because of a lack of imagination. Then he didn't change it because anything he thought of relied so heavily on everything back home that it made him disgruntled to ponder it further. He does think the throne is pretty cool. It's easy for him to recognize the twisted yellow metal of what used to be his Eta-2 Starfighter, so he keeps it. The lightning overhead, and the constant threat of rain looming, is a perfect interpretation of his feelings lurking beneath the surface.
Honestly, no one idea has really settled for him, and he'd much rather explore someone else's domain than his own. Most tend not to visit and Anakin's always overcome with the need to move, the sedentary style of living that Thorne offers is a glacial pace compared to being in the midst of a war.
He's surprised, her twangy, light voice breaking up the rumble of thunder and the overall quiet of his domain. It's not a voice he's familiar with, nor a rhyme he knows. When she spots him, he's moved to the edge of his throne, his hands on his knees. Pushing himself up, he regards her with a quizzical tip of his head, trying to get a read on her. ]
Who has the time to waste here every day? Can't say I'm the biggest fan of this place.
[ Her appearance offers no shortage of clues, even if some of them might be misleading; her dress is short and flouncy, pink babydoll covered in sequins, with a sheer white jacket made from lace atop it. Her heels have butterfly wings on the back. It could come off innocent, in lockstep with the childlike skipping. But still, other pieces seem too sharp, too harsh -- her jewelry is all shiny silver angles dotted with diamonds, her nails filed into pointy claws before being painted and studded with little crystals. Her ring fingers have chains hooked into the nail tips. Her hair is a shade of pink that requires both confidence and devoted maintenance.
She looks at him with a raised eyebrow, though she is momentarily distracted by a beeping trash can that wheels by on its own. That's certainly an interesting touch, she's got to admit. Some people are very creative, but that's definitely a take on a Roomba that she's never seen before. ]
Depends on what you think a waste is, don't it? Time out there seems more like a waste to me. But then again, maybe you're way into their ren fair bullshit. Bet you can pull off a doublet.
[ Her attire is strange, and he hasn't really ever heard an accent like hers before. Anakin moves from where he's stationed to meet her halfway. Visitors are rare and honestly, he doesn't mind it. Sometimes it's easier to think when surrounded by droids and machinery. The distraction also happens to be a welcome one. ]
None of this is real, I'd much rather have what I know is actually there. All of this is nice as a distraction, sure.
[ He blinks in confusion, brow furrowed. ] I have no idea what a ren fair is.
[ Look, she thinks it's weird to wear a bathrobe while sitting on a trash throne, but she's not going to dwell on it. They're all (for the most part) strange to each other, that's what she's discovered during her time in this world.
Watching the little wastebasket putter off in the other direction, she then returns her gaze to him, head tilting curiously to one side, like he's said something she maybe doesn't fully understand. ]
How can you say it ain't real when we don't even really know where we are? The magic's real. The Horizon's real. The Singularity's real. They just aren't where your body is. Do you stop believin' in everythin' that ain't within your line of sight?
[ Hey, to each their own in their own spaces right? ]
Just because it feels real doesn't necessarily make it so. Yes, the magic is real and the Singularity is real, but that doesn't mean this isn't some shared delusion or something else. Like you said, we don't know where we are.
[ Anakin gestures to his throne, offering Julie a seat if she'd like. He can always conjure up something else. ]
What makes you assume that I don't believe in something simply because I can't see it? Our worlds are probably vastly different from one another.
I think "shared delusion" is more of a stretch than anythin' else, honestly. They had to take the first ones to the Singularity. The physical one, out there. It exists no matter how many of us there are. Changes we make stay until we change 'em or leave this world. The place is always the same size, it don't grow or shrink based on how many of us they drag into this world. People who never been within a hundred miles of each other have the exact same experience, see the same things. Shared delusion can't account for none of that.
[ She takes the offered seat like she belongs in it, legs crossed at the knee. Looking out from this position, it feels a bit like lording over nothing, given the level of destruction. Maybe that's what makes him feel like it's not real -- because he's spending his time in a wasteland. She doubts he has much more outside of the Horizon. None of them do. ]
I'm sure they are. But you think this place can't be real just 'cause it's on a different plane or whatever? You're in a different universe from your own. I'll bet you thought there weren't any other whole universes 'til you got here. We're way past "real or fake" at this point, sugarplum. What makes you trust the Horizon any less than Abraxas?
Is it? See, that fact is very interesting to me, and it doesn't change my point. Are you familiar at all with a hive mind? I've seen it before. A whole colony acts as one force the one in control. In this case, it was a queen, and once she had someone under her thrall, their thoughts were her thoughts and their actions were her by her will.
[ Instead of making himself a seat, he takes to pacing casually. Not-R2 trundles by again, very nearly knocking into his legs. There are a great many reasons why he doesn't trust it, but that might not be the debate to have right now. ]
You underestimate what I trust, but I trust the Horizon less because in order to get here, we have to meditate. Meditation is something I've done all my life, and it's never had this capability.
You didn't live here your whole life. You're judgin' things by the standards of your world, but that's apples to oranges, ain't it? My world didn't have magic. None. It was a fairytale for us. What d'you think my life would be like here if I tried to live by that idea? Don't you think that it could just be that this is somethin' you don't know?
[ Once Julie had simply accepted that there were things in this world she couldn't explain, couldn't reason into sense, couldn't force to fit the logic she was used to -- that was when the world really opened itself to her. She had been so convinced that there was no way she could possibly do magic, not in a million years. Maybe Nadine could learn, but she was certain that it was something she could never do. After all, she'd never done it. Didn't have a connection with the supernatural, not like others. She'd had a million reasons that it was simply impossible.
But when she just let all that logic go, everything changed. It came easy.
She points at the rolling trashcan, which, honestly, she is still flummoxed by. ]
You're right, I haven't lived here my whole life, and I can't imagine having to. However, I can't trust something that feels real but very clearly isn't. You can make anything your heart desires within a limited space save for one thing. Maybe something should be said about why it is that people aren't meant to be created in this space. Why it is they fall flat.
[ Anakin gives the droid an exasperated pat on his dome before nudging him toward Julie. ]
He's not.. whatever that is. He's a droid. This is R2-D2, and he's probably bored. [ Not that droids should even be able to be bored, but he's used to a livelier existence. ]
Is that so? Someone shoulda told the ones in my domain. There's only about a hundred of 'em. You wanna come back with me and tell 'em all how flat they are? How they don't belong? Oh, I bet Steven'll have a ball with that one.
[ One of her eyebrows is arched up high, and she is suddenly holding a glass of wine, which she takes a long drink from. Sure, she never outright says she created them, because she didn't, but they were created for her, and she takes offense when people imply that they shouldn't be here or are deficient in some way.
She certainly likes her people better than "real" folks like Goro or the queen.
Julie has a... vague understanding of what a droid is. Like, a very vague one. A future robot basically, right? She still doesn't understand how this trash can is one, but she's not going to argue with its owner. ]
Why don't you give 'im somethin' to do? And like, a real name?
Would they even recognize that they weren't? It's great for you that you have all these sentient beings just, what- hanging around your domain? That doesn't seem to be the norm anywhere else here, and it certainly doesn't feel real.
[ She doesn't need to say whether she made them or not, he's pretty unimpressed. The one time he'd tried to make his domain a little less bleak and bring in a familiar face, he'd been immediately disgusted with himself. As real as he'd wanted it to be, it was hard to look past the fact that it was just a comforting lie. A superficial one if he happened to look anywhere but surface level.
Wanting to steer the conversation away, he looks down at R2 doing... whatever it is he's doing. He can't be tamed and Anakin knows that. He does what he wants even if he's a fake copy. ]
He's a diagnostic and repair droid, he's used to repairing ships in a lot higher stakes than this. Uh, Artoo is his name. Which reminds me, I didn't get yours.
What would make 'em feel real to you? Knowin' 'em personally? In your old life? I've never met you outside the Horizon, does that make you fake? They know where they are. They know themselves. They ain't any less real than a fuckin' robot. There are things in the universe we ain't meant to understand. Things bigger than the human mind. Things that don't fuckin' like it when we stomp our feet and say we know better.
[ Things that fucking kill you over it, without giving you the chance to change your mind. Steven and her partiers are things she doesn't fully understand, but she doesn't need to. They haven't done anything to earn ire or being treated poorly. They take care of her. They're real even if they don't exist outside of this place.
She peers at the little garbage can. Honestly, she doesn't really understand how this thing could possibly diagnose or repair anything, and she doesn't understand spaceships. The extent of her experience with them was once being in Kylo's memory of his, and it was not exactly a stellar experience. But one thing she is familiar with is broken electronics.
In one of her hands, a device appears. An iPad. The screen is black. It has been intentionally bricked. She offers it to the Roomba. ]
Here, try an' get this to turn on, buddy. [ Arm still outstretched, she looks back up at him. ] Didn't get yours either. I'm Julie Lawry.
For one, having a sense of personhood and not just parroting a few placating phrases. The fact that we exist outside of the Horizon is enough proof that we're very much real. Here I trust even less. The difference is I know it isn't real. It's too uncanny and relies on memories in order to function. I don't need to understand it in order to be distrustful of it.
[ He waves a hand in dismissal. Clearly, neither of them is going to change their opinion on the matter, so it's best that they move on. He's not about to love this place enough to defend it tooth and nail. It's a place of communication and distraction to him, not a lifeline.
R2 toddles closer, a side compartment opening up and a three-pronged little arm coming out to grip the device. He makes a series of trills and beeps, the blue and silver dome twisting side to side, almost like a headshake. ]
What was it doing before it died? [ Anakin's attention pulls between what R2 is doing and Julie. ] Anakin Skywalker.
[ Which has come over time. Granted, Julie doesn't have in depth conversations with them about complicated subjects, but that's more a reflection of her personality than of their characteristics. Over the past year, the more time she spends with them and in the Horizon, the more individualized her people have become -- they have distinguishing traits and can converse with each other. To her, they are just as unique and real as the people she'd been surrounded with in Vegas, if not even more so.
And then there's Steven.
Julie's brow knits, and she shrugs, like this is not a question she expected to be asked. She made the iPad dead on purpose; it's something for the vacuum to do, not an actual item she needs to be fixed. ]
I dunno. I just made it broken, that's all. I don't know enough about spaceships to make one.
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no subject
Honestly, no one idea has really settled for him, and he'd much rather explore someone else's domain than his own. Most tend not to visit and Anakin's always overcome with the need to move, the sedentary style of living that Thorne offers is a glacial pace compared to being in the midst of a war.
He's surprised, her twangy, light voice breaking up the rumble of thunder and the overall quiet of his domain. It's not a voice he's familiar with, nor a rhyme he knows. When she spots him, he's moved to the edge of his throne, his hands on his knees. Pushing himself up, he regards her with a quizzical tip of his head, trying to get a read on her. ]
Who has the time to waste here every day? Can't say I'm the biggest fan of this place.
no subject
She looks at him with a raised eyebrow, though she is momentarily distracted by a beeping trash can that wheels by on its own. That's certainly an interesting touch, she's got to admit. Some people are very creative, but that's definitely a take on a Roomba that she's never seen before. ]
Depends on what you think a waste is, don't it? Time out there seems more like a waste to me. But then again, maybe you're way into their ren fair bullshit. Bet you can pull off a doublet.
no subject
None of this is real, I'd much rather have what I know is actually there. All of this is nice as a distraction, sure.
[ He blinks in confusion, brow furrowed. ] I have no idea what a ren fair is.
no subject
Watching the little wastebasket putter off in the other direction, she then returns her gaze to him, head tilting curiously to one side, like he's said something she maybe doesn't fully understand. ]
How can you say it ain't real when we don't even really know where we are? The magic's real. The Horizon's real. The Singularity's real. They just aren't where your body is. Do you stop believin' in everythin' that ain't within your line of sight?
no subject
Just because it feels real doesn't necessarily make it so. Yes, the magic is real and the Singularity is real, but that doesn't mean this isn't some shared delusion or something else. Like you said, we don't know where we are.
[ Anakin gestures to his throne, offering Julie a seat if she'd like. He can always conjure up something else. ]
What makes you assume that I don't believe in something simply because I can't see it? Our worlds are probably vastly different from one another.
no subject
[ She takes the offered seat like she belongs in it, legs crossed at the knee. Looking out from this position, it feels a bit like lording over nothing, given the level of destruction. Maybe that's what makes him feel like it's not real -- because he's spending his time in a wasteland. She doubts he has much more outside of the Horizon. None of them do. ]
I'm sure they are. But you think this place can't be real just 'cause it's on a different plane or whatever? You're in a different universe from your own. I'll bet you thought there weren't any other whole universes 'til you got here. We're way past "real or fake" at this point, sugarplum. What makes you trust the Horizon any less than Abraxas?
no subject
[ Instead of making himself a seat, he takes to pacing casually. Not-R2 trundles by again, very nearly knocking into his legs. There are a great many reasons why he doesn't trust it, but that might not be the debate to have right now. ]
You underestimate what I trust, but I trust the Horizon less because in order to get here, we have to meditate. Meditation is something I've done all my life, and it's never had this capability.
no subject
[ Once Julie had simply accepted that there were things in this world she couldn't explain, couldn't reason into sense, couldn't force to fit the logic she was used to -- that was when the world really opened itself to her. She had been so convinced that there was no way she could possibly do magic, not in a million years. Maybe Nadine could learn, but she was certain that it was something she could never do. After all, she'd never done it. Didn't have a connection with the supernatural, not like others. She'd had a million reasons that it was simply impossible.
But when she just let all that logic go, everything changed. It came easy.
She points at the rolling trashcan, which, honestly, she is still flummoxed by. ]
Um, does your Roomba want somethin'?
no subject
[ Anakin gives the droid an exasperated pat on his dome before nudging him toward Julie. ]
He's not.. whatever that is. He's a droid. This is R2-D2, and he's probably bored. [ Not that droids should even be able to be bored, but he's used to a livelier existence. ]
no subject
[ One of her eyebrows is arched up high, and she is suddenly holding a glass of wine, which she takes a long drink from. Sure, she never outright says she created them, because she didn't, but they were created for her, and she takes offense when people imply that they shouldn't be here or are deficient in some way.
She certainly likes her people better than "real" folks like Goro or the queen.
Julie has a... vague understanding of what a droid is. Like, a very vague one. A future robot basically, right? She still doesn't understand how this trash can is one, but she's not going to argue with its owner. ]
Why don't you give 'im somethin' to do? And like, a real name?
no subject
[ She doesn't need to say whether she made them or not, he's pretty unimpressed. The one time he'd tried to make his domain a little less bleak and bring in a familiar face, he'd been immediately disgusted with himself. As real as he'd wanted it to be, it was hard to look past the fact that it was just a comforting lie. A superficial one if he happened to look anywhere but surface level.
Wanting to steer the conversation away, he looks down at R2 doing... whatever it is he's doing. He can't be tamed and Anakin knows that. He does what he wants even if he's a fake copy. ]
He's a diagnostic and repair droid, he's used to repairing ships in a lot higher stakes than this. Uh, Artoo is his name. Which reminds me, I didn't get yours.
no subject
[ Things that fucking kill you over it, without giving you the chance to change your mind. Steven and her partiers are things she doesn't fully understand, but she doesn't need to. They haven't done anything to earn ire or being treated poorly. They take care of her. They're real even if they don't exist outside of this place.
She peers at the little garbage can. Honestly, she doesn't really understand how this thing could possibly diagnose or repair anything, and she doesn't understand spaceships. The extent of her experience with them was once being in Kylo's memory of his, and it was not exactly a stellar experience. But one thing she is familiar with is broken electronics.
In one of her hands, a device appears. An iPad. The screen is black. It has been intentionally bricked. She offers it to the Roomba. ]
Here, try an' get this to turn on, buddy. [ Arm still outstretched, she looks back up at him. ] Didn't get yours either. I'm Julie Lawry.
no subject
[ He waves a hand in dismissal. Clearly, neither of them is going to change their opinion on the matter, so it's best that they move on. He's not about to love this place enough to defend it tooth and nail. It's a place of communication and distraction to him, not a lifeline.
R2 toddles closer, a side compartment opening up and a three-pronged little arm coming out to grip the device. He makes a series of trills and beeps, the blue and silver dome twisting side to side, almost like a headshake. ]
What was it doing before it died? [ Anakin's attention pulls between what R2 is doing and Julie. ] Anakin Skywalker.
no subject
[ Which has come over time. Granted, Julie doesn't have in depth conversations with them about complicated subjects, but that's more a reflection of her personality than of their characteristics. Over the past year, the more time she spends with them and in the Horizon, the more individualized her people have become -- they have distinguishing traits and can converse with each other. To her, they are just as unique and real as the people she'd been surrounded with in Vegas, if not even more so.
And then there's Steven.
Julie's brow knits, and she shrugs, like this is not a question she expected to be asked. She made the iPad dead on purpose; it's something for the vacuum to do, not an actual item she needs to be fixed. ]
I dunno. I just made it broken, that's all. I don't know enough about spaceships to make one.