Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Shenmue654]

"Really, then?" says Jeffrey, turning back to the two of them and raising an eyebrow. "The hacker and the drunk who orders fresh off the farm bird demons? You could've fooled me." Jeffrey smirks. "...Just joking. I'm sure those of you who don't subscribe to the whole owning people shtick are fine. Not that I can really complain--- I practically own people."

Jeffrey puts his hands behind his head and tries to relax. The raptors are gone, a relationship is blossoming before his very eyes, that weird grigori guy has come back in looking fresher than ever...Nothing bad is going to happen. Of course, he didn't see many options for something good happening either, or for finding an explanation.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin nods a bit in response to Myitt and Dalik.  <There are some who choose to form a symbiotic relationship with their host.  Unfortunately there's no failsafe, it's all built on trust, and quite frankly, the host is the one who has to do all the trusting.  Until the Yeerk disengages without locking the host into some sort of imprisoning device.>  Ossanlin gestures at the two Yeerks.  <You see, despite the utter control a Yeerk has over a host after infesting them, they are relatively weak and defenseless in their natural form.>

<Sadly those who choose not to abuse their power over hosts, infesting only the willing, are the vast minority.  A race of trillions or more, and only a handful with scruples.  But they represent the seed.  The example that can grow.  One day they could show their people that they do not have to be monsters in order to have eyes.>  Ossanlin shakes his head a bit.  Something was wrong with his connection to the Ellimist.  His thought have started to grow slightly more abstract...likely the liquor has played a part in that as well.  But he simply feels...wrong.




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"Well, when you follow your base instincts, there are a few things that rocket right toward the top of the list.  Not to mention I'm male, so you know....stereotypes ."  Rathien grins and gently squeezes Merc's hand, sliding it up a bit higher on his thigh.  "You tend to go for things, and not look back."

"As for my people, well, I'd like to think I'm above planetary genocide.  Easier for me to just search for my pleasures elsewhere."  He smirks.

[Shenmue654]

Jeffrey starts his response with, "So basically, the tapeworms can't actually disengage, or at least it wouldn't matter if they did. There's no way to prevent them from lying about having full control, because it's all in the mind, yeah? But hey, if you're---"

Jeffrey twitches. He suddenly senses on some level that the blue deer is vulnerable--- It's probably the one thing his powers are good at detecting, precisely because he can feel less "resistance" when someone gets vulnerable. "...Hey. Uh, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright? Tell me if anything happened." The last statement was meant to be more felt than heard correctly, and he hopes his judgment on that one is accurate. He's not sure why he even cares how Ossanlin feels- Maybe it's just extreme curiosity. Everything about an alien that can change the past is weird and new to him.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

<They can.  They have to to feed once every three standard days.  If the host is involuntary, they must have others restrain the host, or lock the host into an imprisonment device which holds them in a position that will allow them to reinfest.>

As he finishes, he hears Jeffry's request about his condition.  <<I seem to be...losing control of my abilities.>>  Why in Sky had he shared such a private detail with this individual?  Jeffry's voice seemed to echo inside his head.  <<I used too much changing the timeline, more than my mortal body could handle.>>  He shakes his head again, looking straight at Jeffry, his main eyes narrowing.  At least he'd kept it all in private thought-speech.  But admitting weaknesses to a potential enemy was plain stupid.

[Myitt]

Myitt snorts laughter, the quivering in her hands still notable.

"Yes, yes," she says gravely, taking a small sip of clean water. "We do have our weaknesses. But, ah, I wouldn't say that host sympathetic Yeerks are a vast minority, Ossy." She eyes Jeremy hesitantly, clenching and unclenching her fists to shake out the tremors. "There are plenty of us hippies out there. Heh heh." She grins.

[Terenia]

Dalik glances at Myitt, frowning a little. Then she nods. "You've been listening to too much of your own propaganda, Ossanlin, if you believe the majority of Yeerks are abusive to their hosts."

She shakes her head. "First off, it's an absurd notion. Why would anyone want to share a head with someone who screams and carries on all day? It's incredibly distracting, not to mention depressing. True, the host has little say in their fate, but most of my people try to reach some sort of understanding with them." Her nose wrinkles as she turns to Jeffrey. "The Andalites would have you believe we whip our hosts like dogs and spend all day laughing as we replay their worst memories, forcing them to break to our wills."

Pushing away her empty lemonade glass, she waves a hand to push aside the holoscreens, evidently choosing to fully engage in the conversation. "The vast majority of Yeerks dread the day they are given a host. Huge quantities of us request pool-bound duties over infestation." She smiles, tilting her head at Ossanlin. "Did you know that? Most of my people would choose the pool over eyes any day. We are a peaceful race. The Empire is where the corruption lies."


William makes his way to the bar, but he doesn't order another ale. Instead, he slides his knife from his sheath, along with a small whetstone. Making no attempt to hide his eavesdropping, he settles onto a barstool, facing outward. His eyes flicker from the Andalite to the goat-like skeleton to the newcomer -- an enticingly feral looking creature speaking with Mercer.

"Gods this place is fascinating," he murmurs to himself, laughing quietly as he begins to sharpen his knife.

[Myitt]

"Yeah," says Myitt in a wavering voice. She nods her chin at Dalik's young female host. "What he said."

She frowns at the bar counter, and hugs her arms, shivering.

[Shenmue654]

"Uh oh, is that going to hurt the rest of us or just you?" says Jeffrey. "I mean this place is already weird enough as it is," says Jeffrey, rolling his eyes and taking another sip of his lemonade. He swirls the drink around in his mouth, enjoying the fresh flavor, before swallowing. He'd seen undeniable proof that the food was, frankly, a little too fresh. "We don't need your powers making it so that humans have always had five heads, or running the place backwards."

Jeffrey then listens to both Myitt and Dalik's assessment of the Yeerks, and compares them to Ossanlin's somewhat pessimistic description of the same race. Jeffrey smiles. "Sounds like you're both swimming in your own propaganda, and the drunk has it--- There's a good section of you that are host-sympathizers, and another section of you that are sorta friendly, but just can't shake the culture. You know what might be fun?" says Jeffrey, putting his hands behind his head laxadaisically.

"...if one of you got to see the inside of my head," says Jeffrey. "But you probably wouldn't risk that, eh? Then I could know for sure what it was like!" He giggles a bit.

[Myitt]

Myitt eyes Jeffrey skeptically.

"I don't make a habit of infesting strangers like it's a party trick," she mutters. "But you'll have to take Dalik's word for it. And mine. In fact, some of us actually like our hosts. Maybe, you know, actually treat them like people."

She sips her water. "Or friends," she adds, inconsequentially. She raises an eyebrow at Jeffrey again.

[guitarhero01234]

"Maybe I'm just crazy, then. I always have been a vindictive bastard," Merc says with a wink. "Doesn't really matter. Probably not gonna find my way home anytime soon, and honestly, I don't even give a ****. This place is a million times more interesting."

"You know," he says after a short pause. "It just dawned on me that I have no idea why I'm here. I mean, granted, I've been wondering how I got here, but maybe the why is a little more important."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

<Well, abstract figures are just that, abstract.  If you want to get into the pure semantics of the matter, the choice to abstain from having a host is not the same as treating a host with respect as a person and a free being.  Perhaps some of them choose to abstain from being hosted because of moral implications regarding slavery and forced will.  It's just as likely if not moreso that many of them choose to abstain simply because they don't want to deal so closely with the Empire.  Or they don't want to deal with the headaches of infestation.  Or they simply feel no need to infest a host at all.  Perhaps they prefer to have constant kandrona on their skin.  The list of possibilities goes on and on.  I can all but guarantee you that those who abstain from infestation purely due to a moral compass which abhors externally forced will upon sentient free beings is greatly in the minority.>

Ossanlin withdraws his hoof, sliding the bowl back under the bar, and doesn't order another.  <Thus my original statement affirming that those of you who are willing to infest and will only infest voluntary hosts, are vastly in the minority when assuming a one-hundred percent population segment of your people, is still quite true.>

He smiles at Myitt and gestures toward Dalik.  <But that only makes Yeerks of your persuasion all the more precious.  Those of you willing to coexist peacefully and in a dare I say mutually beneficial manner...you represent the greatness that Yeerk and sentient can reach together as a team.>

He glances at Jeffry, his smile disappearing.  <<Changing a timeline requires conscious effort.  I cannot promise I will not harm those in my immediate vicinity, but I assume you can rest easy about time continuity, assuming your universe is the same one as mine in the first place.>>



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"I flew here.  You know, in a space-ship.  After following the route I charted the first time I arrived here."  Rathien shrugs. "Those of you that just sort of...appear?  No idea.  That being said, I could almost certainly fly you to Terra, but it might not be your Terra from what I gather about this place.  Er...Earth I guess you call it."

[guitarhero01234]

Merc waves his free hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, man. I was kind of just thinking out loud. Like I said, I really don't give a damn about going back at the moment anyway. Nothing for me there, really." He takes another sip of his water, which he had almost forgotten. "Dunno where else I can go, but I'm sure I'll figure it out." He slides his hand up a little further on Rathien's leg, his fingertips nearly brushing against his waist, among certain other things. "But while I'm here? Well, you planted a little seed in my head, and I'm interested to see exactly what's gonna grow from it." He appears to think for a moment before looking somewhat disgusted. "God, that sounded a lot less stupid in my head."

[Myitt]

"A minority, huh? Alright, Ossanlin, we're friends here. I respect you, and I don't want to belabor the point with you. But when was the last time you were in a pool?" Myitt shakes her head. "You don't know how many of us abhor taking hosts for reasons of morality, against the subjugation of another living creature. You just...don't. If anything, we're at least skewed fifty-fifty, and--" She glances again at Jeffrey. "If you know me, you know I don't make up statistics on the spot."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin shrugs.  <Probability states otherwise, but I'm not going to argue the point, least of all with a friend.>  Ossanlin orders pure water from the BT and a new bowl slides underneath.  He dips his hoof in, gratefully drinking the non-alcoholic substance.  <There are more than enough Imperials to enslave entire planets of innocent, free peoples besides.>  He glances back at Jeffry.  <In any case, the Andalites are trying to stop the Empire at all costs.  After all, it was an Andalite who first supplied the Yeerks with the technology to escape their own enslavement to their Kandrona star.>



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"Hmm..." Rathien chuckles, grinning.  "Well, neither of us grows crops, but I'm sure someone would like to plant some seed somewhere.  It wasn't stupid at all."  He leans back a bit as if stretching, lacing his fingers in between Mercs', rolling his hips forward a bit as he stretches before settling back to his relaxed position on the stool.  He takes a sip of water as well, already feeling his mind start to clear.

[Terenia]

"Spoken like a true Andalite," Dalik says with a soft laugh. "The argument is moot. Until you spend extensive time with our people you won't truly understand how we feel about taking hosts." She taps her chest. "Cameron would hardly function without me. Were she to ask for her freedom, and I to give it, she would be dead within a week, and that's a generous estimate. I stay with her because we mutually benefit one another. If I were within the Empire I could be destroyed for even admitting that much."

She swirls her straw among the leftover ice in her glass. "Imperials don't talk about how they feel about their hosts," she continues. "Within the Empire we're subjected to regular memory dumps and controlled by numerous superior officers. Our comm links are watched, our conversations filtered, and our actions monitored. To talk about how much we abhor controlling another -- even to the host himself -- would be suicide."

Dalik shrugs, eyebrows pulled together in a frustrated furrow. "You can't claim to know the feelings of a people you only understand the edges of. Only those of us stationed off-ship, to places like Earth, are able to be alone with our opinions, simply due to the nature of infiltration. Why do you think the Peace Movement sprouted up so quickly after the Earth invasion began?" She glances at Myitt. "Or the rebellion, for that matter."