Learning new things(Open)

[Zatania Duvall]

OOC This is open to everyone. I'm trying to get my character more involved because I can't move on with a major RP I want to do unless she knows more people(enemies or allies or even nuetrals).

IC

The dark hearted woman curiously watched others from the side of the busy streets of Coruscant. From the ground, there were many afoot, but whenever she raised her eyes and tilted her head back she could see the many vehicles in the sky.

But today her attention was on ground, to the people, not the machines speeding by miles above her. She'd be paying attention to what they did, and why they did these things. How come? She wanted to.... learn. She had been told by a few that she was a lot like a proticol droid, speaking strangely, without feeling most of the time, and her actions were not what they were supposed to be.

Maybe it had something to do with what the old man had said before he had died. Something about the real her. Was this whole monotoned attitude, monotoned world of her's fake? Did she have a deeper meaning? But why? Why did she act like a child that knew nothing, yet have an intelligence to think deeply, and survive? Or was it just that she had grown up to feel that emotions were not needed to survive? But how would that explain this supposed "real her"? It was obvious that there was a 'real her", due to her reactions to Garmollo that one day. She had reacted without... thinking, and did not know why her reactions were the ones she had.

Learning from these other souls might prove useful to her.. So that maybe she could learn to deal with this "real her" or, to shove the "real her" out of existance...

[Taro]

Pride moved hastily through the riff raff of ground level Coruscant. Anger, hatred, sorrow, all of these hung thick in the slums of the ground level. And of all the people there, one caught his eye. She wasn't trying to pick pockets, or mug people, or huddle around a barrel of burning garbage for warmth. She was watching things. Standing perfectly still, watching the people. What idiocy.

[Zatania Duvall]

She only paid more attention to the hatred amongst the crowd, yet the sorrow and pain caused a bit of amusement in her heart. All these suffering masses, it was distracting.

And then she noticed someone staring at her. She turned to look at him and raised a brow. The look on his face seemed irritated, maybe from how busy the streets were. And by the same look on his face, his thoughts about her weren't very coture. But she didn't care. She needed to learn what she was doing wrong. She existed, and yet she acted like she didn't. As if people could walk through her. She wanted to find out how to get past this and no stranger would delay her by staring.

[Taro]

He moved rapidly up the sidewalk, dodging a vibroblade as he slipped between two pickpockets and deflected their hands. He shouldered Zatania aside.

"Move, girl! I have little patience for those who know not what they want in life."

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania narrowed her eyes and did not let her feet move very far. Her shoulders faltered, but her stance was steady.

"Why worry about patience when you will end up where you need to be anyways? You have picked the worse place to have a schedule to run late on, haven't you?"

Her voice, as always, was monotoned. She did not have any hint of anger, nor of apology or insult. She was just merely stating a point.

[Taro]

He stopped with an amused smirk.

"I have no appointments. Have you not been seeing the filth, the guttertrash you have been staring at? They believe themselves to be justified in their anger. They believe they have been obscenely wronged by society."

He gave low laugh.

"They have naught to blame but themselves."

[Zatania Duvall]

"I have seen them, yes. And I know that they are the trash of society. I am here for two reasons, to learn from their mistakes, and to enjoy their suffering."

Her eyes were no longer slits, yet she carefully watched him anyways. She knew that there would be two sides to learn from, the trash and the nobility. You had to know what went wrong with people and what caused success. She was here for what had gone wrong with these lost angry souls.

"Are you afraid of them?"

As she had said this, someone behind her passed by her, attempting to pick her pocket. The alien frowned as he found nothing, screaming at her in his native tongue, then scampered off. She had thought ahead, thinking not to bring anything with her, so she had nothing to lose but her life.

[Taro]

"I fear no man. But I will not tolerate these creatures."

He scanned the people around him.

"They do not realize that all they have is themselves. Thus, they ve given up on themselves."

He shook his head.

"Nothing is more pathetic than a being with no sense of self."

[Zatania Duvall]

"Then why are you in such a hurry if there is no deadline for you to meet and no one to fear here?"

She was definately learning something from this one, his interrpretations of these people were interesting and helpful. Yet she did not try to keep him in one place. He could leave at any time without answering her if he still wished to be in a hurry.

[Taro]

Pride sighed; clearly she had missed his explanation.

"These people sicken me. What sickens me worse..."

He turned and pointed at her.

"You have no self."

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania smirked faintly, tilting her head to one side. This was quite amusing.

"And yet you still waste your time on me."

Her voice wasn't as monotoned as usual this time when she spoke, since she was quite amused with this man. And yet, she wanted to know how she could fix this "sense of self".

"Maybe you can tell me how I can fix this."

[Taro]

"I 'waste my time' on you because you seek self. Unlike the rest of these bottom feeders who have given up on themselves. I cannot tell you how to fix your sense of self. The reason it is called self is because it is something no one else can give you. You must find it yourself."

[Zatania Duvall]

"But I do not understand."

She was being truly honest, which she would never admit to. After opening her eyes that one day, everything was a blank. All she knew how to do from that moment on was how to survive and how to speak and think. Her emotions weren't there, her reactions to things people normally reacted to were gone. It was a miracle that she even learned how to be amused on her own.

"You are helpless." The old man's voice whispered in her mind.

I don't wish to be..

[Taro]

"What do you not understand?"

[Zatania Duvall]

"Why people act like this. What it is to feel the need to do certain things."

She remembered when she had reacted without thinking when Garmollo surprised her that one time. And she still didn't know what that feeling was.

She'd been alone for most of the time since she had awaken, so no one could tell her what was sad, what was good, and what was dastardly and bad. She learned, yes, but she wanted to learn faster, so that maybe she could be like a normal woman instead of like the robot that people seemed to think she was.

"What is it to be 'human'?"

[Taro]

"One's behavior is determined by one's reactions to the environment. Self develops as one learns and grows. To be human is to know oneself."

[Zatania Duvall]

"Then I can never truly be human because I cannot remember where I come from or who I am?"

She was beginning to get frustrated, but with that emotion, she was satisfied with what she was learning. It was a new emotion she was feeling, so maybe she was closer to where she wanted to be.

[Taro]

"You remember nothing of your past? Then it has no bearing on your current self. Simply begin anew..."

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania thought for a moment, then nodded. But she could not think of how to start off with a new life if she didn't know how to live it. She saw all these other people living their lives and did not know how they did it. They took even the little things for granted that she wished she knew how to feel or even remembered if she ever did feel them.

Is this sadness? She thought.

"Thank you for the assistance."

She looked to him as she spoke, still in monotone, yet with a hint of something new... as if she was actually showing in her voice these new feelings of frustration and sadness in her tone. She had learned these from this environment and from what she had heard and thought of. She couldn't remember anything, she had no sense of self, and she had nothing. She was just like this people down on the ground level.

[Taro]

"I will at least start this for you. To begin, consider the needs of your body only. Food, drink, shelter, clothing. As you satisfy these needs, you will find that you prefer some over others, and thus begin to develop self. The fulfilling of these tasks will inevitably force interaction with others. From these encounters you will find many views on many subjects. Some you will disagree with, others you will agree with and take for yourself. These preferences and beliefs will mold your personality, shape who you are. Then, you will have self."

He turned and started to leave.

[Zatania Duvall]

She nodded again, smiling faintly at his advice. She already had a start with this. She prefered to wear black and didn't like fried foods. She watched him walk away for a moment, wondering suddenly why he was even down at ground level if he didn't like these sorts of people. But she had already asked him far too many questions, so she thought it'd be best to let him go on his way.

Instead, she thought maybe a stop at a club would help her learn further. She had gained quite a bit of good information from the unknown man she had just talked to, so maybe there was someone else that would help just as much.

She turned and started to take a step forward, but something in the back of her mind sparked, and caused her to feel suddenly weak. She stumbled forward, then fell face flat with her eyes shut.

[Taro]

Pride turned, hearing the thud on the ground. Seeing Zatania lying there, he walked over and lifted her onto his shoulder.

"You're in no condition to begin yet. We'll have to do something about that."

He carried her away, a determined light in his eyes. He had found many with no sense of self, and usually they had angered him to the point of killing them. But this one was a rare exception. He would monitor her progress in secret once she left. It would be interesting to see one of the lost find self...

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania's fainting spell wasn't normal. She never fainted before and she knew that. At least that she could remember. What caused this to happen?

In her mind, she was in a dark place. All she could see was a faint glow far ahead of her, and all she could her was some girl calling out for help. The light she was seeing looked like a spark of some sort, something like whatever it was that caused her to faint. And the voice was coming from it.

"Help me! Please! I don't belong here! YOU do! Now get me out!" the voice called.

Zatania frowned in her unconcious state, groaning slightly as Anger picked her up. She was whispering something barely noteable, but if one listened close enough, they would hear this. "Stop... meddle.... This.. my body.."

In her mind, the words were more clear. "Stop trying to meddle! This is my body! Not yours!"

"But it was mine before." The voice said.

Zatania went silent and the light disappeared. Now she was completely still in her unconcious state, no longer whispering anything at all.

[Taro]

He listened to her talk, paying no heed to the words. No doubt she was having a nightmare. It would pass. He carried her off the shuttle and out onto a walkway, leading to a towering building built to look like an ancient shrine or pagoda. He opened the door and went in, depositing her on a futon, basically a mattress on the floor. Pride threw a blanket over her and sat at the window, looking out. The rest would do her good, no doubt.

[Zatania Duvall]

It was not too long after he had placed her down on the futon that she began to stir. She was not awake yet, but it felt like she was. She was remembering something just as she was coming to. Something small, yet signifigant.

She was standing in the rain somewhere. The sky was dark and the land was destroyed all about her. She was laughing and bleeding out of the corners of her mouth. It was then that she realized there was a lightsaber impaled through her body, and then the memory blanked out as soon as she had hit her knees and whispered "I will be back.... Mark my words, Zatania will be back by the curse of Duvall!"

Her eyes shot open at that moment and she looked around. She didn't know where she was and this left her quite confused. It took a moment to remember what happened and a small twinge of fear rose up in her from the memory.

The girl caused this. If she can do that... then what are my chances of staying me? She thought.

She sat up slowly, then took another slow look around.

[Taro]

"Awake already?"

[Zatania Duvall]

"Yes."

She had lost the monotoned sound to her voice, yet still didn't use the usual daily slang that most people use(example: Yeah). She rubbed her head, feeling as if it had been crushed by huge fists.

"What happened and where are we?"

[Taro]

"You collapsed. We're at my house. Would you like food? Or a drink?"

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania nodded a bit, laying back down.

"A glass of water, please."

She winced, the pounding in her head not getting any better. It almost felt as if that girl was pounding her fists inside of her head.

[Taro]

Pride stepped into the nearby kitchen and got two glasses. One he filled with water, the other he set aside as he prepared his green tea. Once the kettle was set, he returned to Zatania with the water.

"Something troubling you?"

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania took the water from Anger and sipped at it in a lady like manner. When she placed the water down, she thought for a moment, wondering if it was wise to explain anything to him. It confused her and she didn't even know if it was real or not. She could just be crazy and imagining it... right?

"Just.... a strange dream is all. And a headache."

She was shocked to hear the obvious lying tone to her voice, let alone the actual life it had to it now.

[Taro]

"...if you say so."

He decided not to push the matter; besides, his tea was ready. Pride came back with the kettle and resumed his position in the window.

"Do you have a name?"

[Zatania Duvall]

"Yes. My name is Zatania Duvall."

She picked up her water again and sipped at it slowly with a thoughtful look on her face.

[Taro]

"Zatania..." he repeated. "Tell me, Zatania, what caused your fainting spell earlier?"

[Zatania Duvall]

"I don't know. I have never done that before."

She put her water down, noticing that she had a blanket over her. Why had he cared enough to put a blanket on her?

"And what is your name?"

She looked up at him, waiting for an answer.

[Taro]

"Pride." He said it without looking at Zatania and sipped his tea.

[Zatania Duvall]

"Well.. Pride, thank you for helping me. I will be on my way if I am intruding on your time."

[Taro]

"No intrusion. Go if you must, but you are also welcome to stay."

[Zatania Duvall]

Zatania smiled faintly and nodded. She was grateful for the invitation.

"Thanks."

[Taro]

"It's nothing."

She seemed to have changed since she'd fainted. A matter of multiple personalities perhaps? If that was the case, there would be multiple selves, no doubt conflicting with one another in search of a single self. Perhaps that's what she was searching for? Pride's stomach growled. He would think more on the girl later, for now, the needs of the body must be met.

"What do you like to eat, Zatania?"

[Zatania Duvall]

She nodded, feeling that she was in need of nurishment(spelling?) as well. But her stomach was more silent.

"Yes, I would."

[Taro]

"What would you like? I will prepare a meal."

[Zatania Duvall]

"It does not matter, as long as it isn't growing mold."

Even that faintest joke was strange for her, she had never made an attempt at humor, not even for a corny joke that was barely funny at all.

[Taro]

"A wide array of foods to choose from."

Pride walked once more the the kitchen, and removed from the pantry the necessary ingredients for a warm soup.

"Soup will do, I suppose."