Mobians, Shadow decided, were fascinating.
Seeing that he was half-Mobian himself, it was no wonder that he held underlying interest for the species. In many ways Mobians were outmatched by other alien races. They were outstripped in contests of speed, agility, strength, or even intelligence. However time and time again, Mobians, and the humans they lived with seemed to show signs of cleverness and unpredictability which made them hard to observe and judge.
They were also irrationally emotional, never able to think beyond a moment's notice or plan. In human terms, Shadow believed it was called 'thinking with your heart.' Considering the heart did not possess a higher thought process, Shadow found this to an illogical concept. It was far more efficient to ignore ones heart and think solely with ones brain.
He was a halfling by nature. A Black Arm by his father's side and a Mobian by his mother's. As he favored his father's physiology, Shadow lived upon a large world called "ARK" with the rest of his race, studying and working on higher forms of thinking. By the age of twelve, he would have been able to graduate college three times over. Control, logic, and intellect were the ways of Shadow's people. They followed the teaching of Chaos, finding serenity in the madness of that energy which poured through all of them like a volcanic spring. Finding peace in chaos helped them organized their thoughts and subdue their nature. They found that deviance from the path of Chaos would undoubtedly lead their race down a road of destruction.
The Black Arms were once a warlike race until they had nearly driven themselves into extinction by their arcane ways of thinking. They realized their emotions were too powerful to be expressed in a healthy way, so Black Arms chose to master them instead. Their emotions were controlled and the race was able to rebuild. In the absence of anger, there was no need to resort to violence. The teachings said as such.
Not all seemed to agree with this.
Shadow's father learned the teachings of Chaos in a different light than the rest of his race. He embraced the destructive side of Chaos, forgetting that there must be balance otherwise its power was possible of consuming worlds. It was a cycle, Life, Living, Death; Creation, Balance, and Destruction. Doom only fell for the intoxicating call of destruction, death. He became warlike once again and attempted to bring Shadow's mother, Maria with him and a few hundred Arms who shared his emotional philosophy.
She had refused, choosing instead to stay on the ARK with the Black Arm family. Doom was not pleased and was exiled from the world along with all of those who had followed his beliefs. Doom left, but not without vowing that he would one day return for his son to show him the true path of Chaos.
Shadow did not remember such events or even the face of his father. Even if he had recalled, it would make very little difference to him now. He was a child of two words, a mother that was Mobian, living on a planet of Black Arms, and a Father who was no longer around. This left Shadow susceptible to verbal attacks from his peers, all of whom seemed personally invested in provoking an emotional response from him.
He supposed breaking the nose of his tormentor was a Mobian, emotional response. His mother and grandfather had not been happy with him.
Shadow did not regret his action and doubted he ever would. They had made the mistake of calling his mother a whore. His lips pressed into a line, even as the memory of it struck him. Perhaps he had more of his father in him than he had originally realized as his attack on the bully had no ounce of logic.
It was about this time he realized no matter how much he attempted to please the Black Arm ways, he would never be accepted amongst them. Shadow chose to honor their ways, suppress all emotion and become one of them as much as possible. It was clear though... He would never belong.
So when it was time for him to choose a place for his higher education, Shadow denied a chance to study at the Black Arm school of Science. Instead, he passed the opportunity by for the chance study at Starfleet. He told himself it was logical to deny when the elders had called his mother a disability -- after all he would not be a part of any school that still believed in arcane thoughts. All that would do was hinder his education.
Starfleet by far, was the most logical choice.
He would study amongst human and Mobian peers. Rise quickly amongst the ranks and explore the wide reaches of space. A scientist's holy grail of sorts -- it was clear this was a wise choice.
Shadow still found himself studying Mobians like they were intriguing specimens he had found under a microscope. As he suspected though, the Mobians were more resistant to him, his formal way of speech and computer-like mind -- perhaps even more than the Black Arms were. At least he knew the Mobians expressed their dislike and distrust of him in a more open fashion, expressions showing clear on their face.
A child of two worlds would never belong on either worlds, but Shadow hoped -- an illogical, Mobian emotion he knew -- that perhaps he might find some place he belonged among the stars. After all, one world out of the unknown galaxies in the world could very well accept him.
The probability of finding such a place was roughly .000000000000001 percent, well outside of realistic goals he could obtain. Shadow went to search anyway, knowing full well it was far not within the realm of reality.
Perhaps it was the Mobian half of him that wanted to look for a ‘home’ – often times Mobians had the irrational desire to find a place they could “belong.” They had a habit of being more stubborn than was possible. That was what made them so unpredictable and...
...Fascinating.