There was a world of difference between being escorted about the party as Synths in their armor, and wandering about on their own as mere civilians. As civilians, nobody paid them any attention. TO and DH were wearing their plain black clothes -the only clothes they owned- and compared to the extravagant clothing that the civilians were wearing, they felt almost invisible. At one point a civilian - human female, by the looks of it, with fake fairy wings on her back- passed DH an empty glass, assuming they were staff. DH was too busy staring at her, their ears back in awe and their eyes wide, to tell her they weren’t staff.
“… She’s pretty isn’t she.” TO muttered, glancing at her. TO didn’t know if they’d call her pretty themself, but from what they understood, human standards considered her pretty; lots of hair done up in an extravagant braided style, a waist that was clearly cinched by surgery, a clear face, and enormous eyes.
“Her dress… look at all the colors in it!” DH exclaimed, still staring after her, “Look, it’s all shimmery, and it looks like it changes color and glitters while she moves, and-” DH turned to TO, looking very excited but then caught how TO’s ears were low and ever so slightly pinned back. They looked at TO in confusion for a moment, then gave a low chuckle. “TO… Are you jealous?”
“Of what?!” TO said, huffing as they turned away. “Some human? Some civilian?”
DH grinned and slid their hand into TO’s. TO felt their ears dip back and flush as they looked around in panic, checking to see if someone was watching them.
“Nobody knows who we are here, TO.” DH said, “And they don’t even know our language, so they can’t understand us.”
“If we draw attention-“
“TO, I saw civilians behind a statue on the other side of the room, and they were practically fornicating.” Their ears twitched with mirth as they grinned. “One was wearing a dress, and the other was under the dress, and -“
“Ok ok, I get it.” TO said, their ears burning as they looked away, “I can’t believe civilians do that kind of stuff in public.”
A servAI strode past them, a tray of drinks balanced in one hand. DH let go of TO to grab them both a drink.
“I suppose if they drink enough of this stuff, it influences them; diminishes their reason and inhibitions.” DH said, “You can taste the alcohol on it. Thankfully, that won’t affect us-“
“Unless it has fruits like the ones that made us all weird last time.” TO muttered. They took out the communicator and snapped a picture of the drink. It took a moment, but their system could finally identify it as ‘Bubbly Rose-Apple wine’ based on not only the look of it but also the fragrance which was relayed to the system through the chip in the back of TO’s head. The communicator gave them the notification that it would have no adverse affects on them as the alcohol content was too low.
“Taste it TO!” DH asked after they took a sip. “It’s amazing; it’s sweet, and bubbly, and it’s a little like the stuff they gave us at the port, but so much better!”
TO took a hesitant sip; it was very sweet and crisp.
“I guess we should try to talk to someone...” DH said as they took another drink, but their ears dipped down. “I mean… That’s why we’re doing this, right?”
TO would have liked nothing more than to just relax with DH as they sampled the food and drinks, but they had a lot of work to do. If they could mingle successfully, then maybe they’d get some interesting information.
“I suppose.” TO said as they took another drink. They looked around, straining their mind to remember what they could of all the people they had met. They took up their communicator again and started subtly scanning it around the room it’s the notifications on. All they needed was a name, and they’d probably remember a lot about what the person had told them. Still, most of the people they saw were already engaged in conversation with others.
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“How do we just talk to someone?” DH asked. “How do we just join in a conversation? GiDi was on their own when we spoke to them, but here...”
“Come on.” TO said as they walked forward, scanning their camera around, “I’m sure we’ll find someone who’s on their own, or at least someone who-“ TO gave a yelp as they suddenly stumbled forward as they tripped over something. They didn’t fall, but their communicator tumbled out of their hand. When they looked to see what it was they had tripped over, they realized it wasn’t what, it was who.
“Minister Pholi!” TO ignored their phone as they reached over to help the diminutive minister up. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you!”
“No harm done, not really.” He said as he took TO’s hand. “Though you should-“ He stopped as he looked up at who had tripped over him, his eyes darting to TO’s ears, their eyes, and their wings. They suddenly smiled broadly, “I’m so sorry though, you seem to know me, but I don’t recall you?”
DH, who had run forward to get TO’s communicator, came back and passed the device to TO. “We only know of you.” DH said, smiling as their ears quirked forward, “I’m Dee, and this is Tio, my mate.” As they said that, they slipped their hand into TO’s.
TO felt their ears burn as they flicked down. What was DH doing just calling them their mate, just like that in public! “You can’t just call me that in public!” TO said, switching back to their synth-speak.
“Why not?” DH said, grinning, “They don’t know who we are, or what we are. Civilians don’t even know our language. If it ever comes up with Ark-1, then we’ll say we used it as a cover for why we’re together all the time in public.”
“Ah, you’re treating the party as a date then.” Philo said, “Very good, very good. It’s good to see young people enjoying themselves at these stuffy things.” He looked around, glancing at the nearby guests, who were all involved in their own conversations. “So… Tio and Dee, you said? Short for anything?”
“T-Tio is my name.” TO said, worried for a moment that their ears would give them away but of course civilians couldn’t see that, “And Dee is short for -”
“Demileigh.” DH said, “Dee is so much shorter and easier.” They glanced at TO, “See, I knew I’d remember the real name on the identification.”
“Demileigh… that’s from the third quadrant of the galaxy.” They said, “outer section, I believe. What brings you all the way here?”
DH’s ears flicked in confusion, then panic. They looked to TO with big, worried eyes.
“Apologies… am I wrong?” Pholi asked, tilting their head at them.
“Not quite.” TO said, “I don’t know about the origin myself but I think the name was just one that was liked.”
“Well, I suppose your parents liked more exotic names.” They said, shuffling closer, “Where are you both from then?”
“Second quadrant, central, originally.” TO said, reciting the line they had memorized. The second quadrant was the most diverse and the most clustered of all the quadrants, so it was very possible that one could travel all about that area and never meet all the different people there. “From a moon colony. We saw a movie that featured Arkane once, ‘The Rivers of the Crescent Isles’.”
“Oh, I know that one.” Pholi said, “Yes yes, it did paint Arkane in quite a romantic view, didn’t it?” They laughed.
“Well, we were so taken by the movie that we decided we wanted to come here… So here we are.”
“Ah, chasing the dream, I see, I see.” They tilted their head, “And your position here?”
“Merchants.”
“You must be rather prominent merchants to be invited here of all places.” He said with a laugh.
“Our... My parents were.” DH said, “They knew people who knew people; I don’t know who, but they got us an invitation.”
“I see…” They tilted their head again as they listened, then backed away, “Well, I’ll not intrude more on your date. Oh, and-” They took out their own communicator and held it out. TO and DH looked at them in confusion before fumbling for their own and holding them out as well. They all touched their communicators together and after a moment of processing, their names popped up on each other’s screens.
“There we go.” Pholi said, “A pleasure meeting you. I’d tell you to contact me if you need translation help, but I’d say you’re both linguistic savants!” They laughed, “Your Galactic Common is almost too perfect to be believed! Most people have some kind of accent, but yours is practically textbook common!” They tapped at a little device on the side of their head. “I recommend a translator, though. Not everyone speaks Galactic Common here, at least not outside of political circles, and even those that do, well..” They glanced about, “In merchant circles, you might find dialects and accents a little difficult to parse. A translator will help with that.”
“Do we need that?” DH asked TO in synth speak, “I mean, when we wear our helmets-”
“We won’t always do that; getting a translation device is a good idea.” They said. They gave a wider smile than they were used to; Civilians relied more on facial tells than ear movements, and would need to see a bigger, more obvious smile for it to register, “I will take that advice!”
“And what will you be looking into selling?” They asked, “You must have a plan?”
“N-not yet.” TO said, “We’re looking into that for now. Just doing research at the moment.”
“I see, I see.. Well, good luck with it!” They turned around. “And enjoy the party! There’re plenty of private rooms to relax in.” They winked and turned into the crowd.
They both kept their smiles, ignoring their burning ears at Pholi’s insinuation, until Pholi disappeared among the civilians. When they were certain that he was gone, they turned to one another.
“... We’re bad at this.” DH said. TO sighed and just nodded. Civilians were far more curious than they thought. TO took DH’s hand and hurried off.
They needed to regroup before anyone else asked them more questions.