Private Groving Minds

[Darth Strosius]

"My comfort is secondary to the results. I've dealt with far worse than a simple scan." It was a quick response, one made almost defensively. Reflexive. A move to save face and preserve pride, for whatever it was worth. His "wings" told a rather different story to His words however, tensing and clenching themselves into tight knots in a manner similar to what His gloved hands were doing. Everything about Him was surprisingly expressive without His heavy robes and helmet to mask it.

Especially given the visible full body twitch whenever Lady Madrona mentioned Him being apparently "remarkable." He scoffed and let out a humorless chuckle. "There's little to remark upon I'm afraid. I'm a patchwork. Years of trials and experiments and failures sitting atop a base form which was already drastically different from what it should have been." There was a palpable bitterness to His words, a cold sort of seething that infested His tone. "Remarkable it might be, but there's nothing positive to be remarked upon." He grew silent and still after that, gold gaze affixed to the floor as though in some form of shame. That He had said too much perhaps.

It wasn't until the beeps had finished that He moved or spoke again, letting the scan play out the rest of the way without any more input on His part. "You may remain focused, it won't take me but a minute to redon my attire." Without delay He stepped away from the scanner and began pulling His armor and robes back on with a surprising speed. Cleary a very rehearsed and practiced maneuver. Last to be plucked from the ground and back onto His person was His helmet, sliding back over His head with a slight hiss before He pulled the hood back over it.

Darth Strosius finally turned to regard the Neti as He idly smoothed out His robes. "Any initial thoughts thus far then?"

Madrona A’Mia

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

For a time, the woman went completely still. Alisteri's shut down of her initial comments, fueled by strong emotion no doubt, caused her to consider her next words more carefully. Though her statements were pointedly not based in emotion, she might need to appeal to such in order for her thoughts to land well with the man.

True to her word, the woman's gaze didn't waver after that one glance his way and she provided as much privacy as the situation allowed. A'Mia wasn't sold on the idea "he'd been through worse" because frankly, she understood that stress didn't work that way. Any organism experiencing duress was subject to the present moment.

Sure, Darth Strosius had died. At the hand of one he called brother, no less. The man had suffered countless wounds and agonies in his many years she knew, without needing every sworded detail. It didn't detract from whatever discomfort he now experienced, in fact A'Mia had a suspicion that his past merely compounded that pain.

These were hunches and variables that the neti wasn't able to easily calculate for though. Emotional matters were still by and large out of reach, a flaw within herself that she actively sought remedies for. In fact, that was a gap in her knowledge almost every research project she took on was aimed at addressing. Including this one.

"We will have results," she reassured him calmly as Alisteri stepped from the chamber.

The enthusiasm and exuberance of before was completely gone, hidden beneath red-brown bark and an impassive expression, the neti's posture statuesque before the panel and screens. A'Mia donned her mask as naturally as Alisteri did his. Still not turning her eyes upon him, the woman answered in a clinical cadence.

"I feel confident that your limb and this scan will procure a viable clone soon enough under my care. After that, our options will be limited only by imagination and your personal goals."

One of the screens showed a bizarre spidering map that appeared vaguely man shaped but with lines like latitude and longitude and illuminated by jagged arcs of what mimicked electricity. With one sweep of a hand, A'Mia zoomed in on Alisteri's wings and pointed.

"For example, we could heal your current form by grafting on new biomass and create functioning wings for you— or multiple new limbs, if preferred. Conversely, the option remains to create an entirely new form for you to inhabit. One with a protective exoskeleton, or perhaps with some of the added features I've mentioned before. Regardless, this all proves to me that there is vast potential."

Without turning, the woman added almost as if it were an afterthought, a cryptic comment.

"Like so many patchwork artforms, there is the potential for masterpiece. Quilting and stain-glass, masonry and steelwork— these things allow for humble, constituent parts to make up a stronger and more glorious whole."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Results were guaranteed regardless as Lady Madrona said, but Darth Strosius already had His suspicions on what results could be expected. None of them were at all pleasant. While this scanner was the most modern model that He had ever dealt with, He had undergone scans before during His more frequent modification periods and of course relatively recently after His resurrection. He never quite liked what He found when looking back on the reports from the scans.

His Sangnir nature had long since overridden the form that He was born with, leaving only physical expressions and echoes of some lingering inherited traits that didn't conflict with the enhancements and endowments that the Sangnir form provided. Layered atop and interwoven into that baseline Sangnir level was a myriad of Sithspawn additions, some more integrated and successful than others. Some weren't expressed at all, simply comprising a stain rather than anything advantageous or malevolent.

A tapestry of trial and error painted across cellular canvases which had been burned into His body forevermore. His "wings" were similar in that manner, extensions that had forcibly grown out of an already taxed form. One that did have some lingering metaphysical gaps as it were. Gaps which, while not physically present, did have signs of strain and stress that were left behind in various areas across His body. Strain that His natural regenerative ability was evidently attempting and failing to soothe.

It was good that Lady Madrona would have these results to herself, He was tired of looking at them.

Nevertheless Darth Strosius did linger by the displays as she spoke and showed off what must have been an initial scan of His form. A basic readout while the rest of the data was process no doubt. At the mention of His wings they subtly twitched and He made a quiet inhale through clenched fangs. He rose no immediate response however as she continued, seeming to somewhat rebuke His earlier statement about His form's state of being. A remark which earned her a cock of His head and what must have been a narrowed gaze behind His visor.

"Masterpieces of such methods require adept skill in weaving and manipulation of their materials and components. Thus far, such skill has eluded me." The masked man nodded back towards the display, slipping back into a more formal and leveled tone rather than the dour one which He had been speaking with. "I would much rather use new biomass to ensure that the...tendrils are rendered null and void. Same for an entirely new form. They are manifestations of a soul having overgrown its vessel, they can be mended and wiped away easily enough."

Madrona A’Mia