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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2016 19:43:36 GMT -8
A bald, wrinkled Dressellian with yellow eyes, Kachada is visibly surprised, and more than a little terrified - as most would be upon seeing an armed Tusken Raider stalking towards them - when A'vimala approaches the desk behind which he sits, but, even though he slides off his stool and stands as though poised to either draw the blaster holstered on his hip or flee in terror, manages to both stand his ground and maintain bowel and bladder control as he clears his throat and holds a shaking finger aloft to squeak, "One moment please," before turning on heel and bolting off to find his commanding officer.
The Dressellian that emerges from the hall behind the desk is, naturally, just as bald and wrinkled as Kachada, but far more composed as his advanced years have given him a depth of experience that has left him with a quiet confidence and strength coupled with an open mind. Sicheii stops behind the desk, facing A'vimala with his hands clasped behind his back as he says, "I'm the officer in charge. How can I help you?"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2016 22:32:52 GMT -8
A'vimala is accustomed to the fright her visage can inspire, and therefore neither surprised by nor offended by it. Such visceral reactions to her appearance, in fact, have proven useful in A'vimala's line of work.
When another Dressellian, the highest ranking officer present if her instructions were obeyed to the letter, arrives, A'vimala remains as motionless and still as though she were an unmoving piece of sculpture rather than a living, breathing being prepared to move quickly, efficiently, and brutally if necessary while answering the officer, "I am here in pursuit of a lawful bounty known to have traveled to this world by passenger transport. Taking a datapad from a pouch on her belt without moving anything save the arm and hand that reaches for it, A'vimala sets it on the counter and brings up a law enforcement bulletin where the bounty for Kallas is posted before turning it to face the Dressellian as she says, I would like you to conduct a facial recognition search of your archived security camera feeds using the image included in the bounty posting. I would also like to be put in contact with your local law enforcement so that I can be granted access to the records I will need to continue my search for the bounty target."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2016 18:32:54 GMT -8
Sicheii tilts his wrinkled, bald head to the side as he examines the datapad the strikingly singular Tusken presents for his inspection, grunting when he recognizes the source of the bulletin as legitimate and relaxes inwardly slightly now that he knows the reason for the bounty hunter's presence. Still, Sicheii thinks to himself as he sighs and uses a finger to slide the datapad back towards its owner, there are the formalities and other red tape to be navigated to be considered, and so he points towards the waiting area as he says a bit wearily, "I imagine this isn't your first hunt, so you know there'll be some hoops to jump through before all you've requested can be arranged. Have a seat while I make some calls to get things moving."
After excusing himself, the Dressellian makes his way back to his office and, as promised, does his best to see that the bounty hunter is given what she needs to track her mark down. Security cam footage is searched, and Kallas arrival is verified, though her movements when leaving the spaceport are, naturally, difficult to trace. Sicheii has better luck when it comes to getting access to local census and other records for the bounty hunter to sift through to see if she can track Kallas down, and so after he has all the necessary arrangements finalized, the Dressellian escorts A'vimala to a dataterminal which she can use to conduct her search, offering her stim-caf before giving her his comm frequency so that she can contact him when she is finished.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2016 19:09:50 GMT -8
Declining the offer of stim-caf, A'vimala waits until the Dressellian has left to set her weapons down, resting them against the wall within easy reach of where she will be sitting in front of the dataterminal. As Sicheii had correctly guessed, A'vimala is no stranger to either the red tape to be navigated as often as not when one pursues legal bounties, nor the fact that there is often a great deal of rather unexciting data sifting and other leg work involved in the profession she has found herself in. It is not, A'vimala quickly learned in her first days of beginning her career, all throwing punches or trading blaster fire; sometimes a few hours in front of a dataterminal can be just as instrumental in bringing one's quarry down.
Kallas does not, fortunately for A'vimala, seem to be going to any great lengths to conceal her identity, making her employment records relatively easy to find. While she was not granted unlimited access to Breehara's records, A'vimala is a skilled enough slicer to, with the name of Kallas' employer, hack into their personnel files in order to get a physical address for her target.
As night falls on Breehara, A'vimala, from her perch atop a tall building that faces Kallas' apartment building, scans the apartment with a pair of electrobinoculars equipped with scanners capable of detecting lifeforms, weapons, and heat signatures so that she can determine whether or not Kallas' apartment is occupied currently, and if she can expect the woman to be armed when the time comes to confront her.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 17:16:14 GMT -8
Having no need to sleep, and with no need to maintain the appearance of being subject to that basic need given that she has forged no social ties that require her to conceal she is not what she seems, Cleite will appear to keep the odd hours of an insomniac as she and her small apartment are observed. As with most human replica droids, Cleite will appear humanoid on the bounty hunter's scanners, and, in fact, would appear so even if a routine autopsy were performed due to the materials used in her construction. Cleite's heat signature will be the only one present, and A'vimala's scanners will reveal that there are no energy based weapons on the premises; for, having believed that she has left her recent pasts and the violence so much a part of them behind her, Cleite calculated (or miscalculated) that there would be no need to have ready access to weapons in the new life she had set out to create for herself.
The apartment is located on the eleventh floor of the building, and is comprised of a small combined living and kitchen/ dining area, a single bedroom with doors opening onto a tiny deck, and a bathroom. The deck and bedroom are located on the western side of the building, which has no more challenging security to confront than a front entrance requiring a key card. When the bounty hunter begins her surveillance, Cleite is in the living and dining area, working on her laptop dataterminal, oblivious to that fact that one of her recent pasts has not been left behind after all . . .
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2016 19:08:56 GMT -8
Her custom being to observe a target for at least three days prior to moving on to planning an elimination or capture, A'vimala simply notes that Kallas does not appear to be ruled by the circadian rhythm which most species follow; filing the observation away for later verification or factoring into her plans. A'vimala does not confine her surveillance to Kallas alone, noting the patterns of comings and goings into and out of the apartment building as well, in addition to observing the foot and vehicle traffic in the immediate vicinity of the building as well in case there are any routing police patrols she will need to be mindful of when the time comes to make her move.
Not free from the needs for sleep and food that Kallas needs not attend to, A'vimala dispatches a small tactical observation probe droid as the first light of morning begins to dispel the dark of night; leaving it to continue the surveillance as she herself tends to the biological and physiological demands her body imposes.
Sleeping after checking into a nearby hotel and eating, A'vimala wakes in the early evening hours, stretching before beginning her routine exercise while watching the footage from her tactical observation probe to learn what can be learned from it before she sets out to make her own surveillance from a different vantage point than that which she had used the previous evening.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 18:40:43 GMT -8
Believing that she is free from the need to vigorously conceal the fact that she is not what she appears to be, Cleite has maintained only those routines required to prevent a casual observer from uncovering her true nature - she shops for food and other groceries only to be seen bringing them into her apartment by any neighbors that might be watching, and she even prepares food so that she is heard doing so by any that might listen, just as she showers and vacuums and does many other little things that are done only to prevent their absence from raising any suspicions - but which are not likely to prevent someone like A'vimala, who is scrutinizing her routines for openings to exploit, from noting that there is something not quite right with Cleite. The meals she prepares go uneaten, for example, with most of them disposed of in the sink so that only reasonable amounts are in what little trash she produces; Cleite also goes long periods without moving any more than is absolutely essential for her work or whatever small routines she maintains require of her; and while she turns her apartment lights off at the times one would expect, thermal scanners will show that Cleiete never actually sleeps in a bed, merely sitting or at times even remaining standing in an idle state when not working.
By the time A'vimala's observation period has ended, it should be quite clear that, whatever she is, Cleite is not likely to be a human at all.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2016 22:21:42 GMT -8
Some of the odd, conflicting things that she has learned about Kallas while tracking her to her current location - such as the former ballet student having worked on a smuggling crew as a medic, and having been reported to be the bodyguard of an Emperor in addition to having been witnessed with members of the now all but eradicated Dark Jedi of Muunilinst - begin to make more sense after A'vimala observes her prey for several days to try and learn her routines and plan how best to try and effect her capture. Clearly not human despite what A'vimala's scanners can tell her of the female appearing being, Kallas is something far different than what her mysterious employer had led her to believe, and A'vimala suspects that it will be exceedingly difficult to do so when catching Kallas, whatever and whoever she truly is, off guard would seem all but impossible given that she does not appear to require sleep and has none of the biological needs that can be taken advantage of in other targets A'vimala has pursued.
The fact that Kallas has no weapons that her scanners can detect means little when her martial capabilities have now been rendered a dangerous unknown, and so A'vimala decides to take advantage of what she can; primarily that Kallas' efforts to appear normal include some routines that make her more vulnerable than she otherwise seems. A'vimala's observation point, chosen for its proximity to Kallas' residence, will enable her to quickly move to capitalize on any opportune moment, and so, after deciding that she has learned as much as she is likely to learn, she waits and watches for the next time Kallas showers - the noise of the water hopefully enough to hide any noise A'vimala's breaching of the apartment might make, and the vulnerability of being caught during the activity ideally something that will hinder any effort to defend herself Kallas might be able to attempt.
Gaderffi and Cycler rifle at the ready, A'vimala watches and waits for the moment she has chosen to act to come about so that she can move to take advantage of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2016 21:46:11 GMT -8
Smiling as she greets an elderly female Dressellian neighbor passing her in the hallway, Cleite shifts a bag of groceries she does not need save for their purpose of making her appear to need them to her hip to take her keys from a jacket pocket and opens the door to her apartment, the animation leaving her face as she steps inside and closes the door behind her. With an economy and efficiency of movement that might seem strange to an observer, the human replica droid stores the items she has purchased in the refrigerator and pantry before, with the same lack of wasted motion or effort, going into the bedroom and sitting at the desk to dispose of the days work her employment as an actuary requires of her.
It is early in the evening when her work is completed and sent to the insurance company Cleiete works for, and after it has been sent she sits without moving for a time before, having determined that maintaining the appearance of an organic would be served by bathing, she rises and moves into the refresher to shower, thereby unknowingly signaling her hunter that an opportune moment to strike has arrived. . .
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 6:15:07 GMT -8
Were she still under the impression that Kallas was a typical humanoid, A'vimala would have first attempted to stun the woman in order to effect her capture; given what she has observed, however, A'vimala suspects that she will need to do something more along the lines of disabling Kallas if she is to successfully complete her mission, and so when she sees that the opportunity she has been waiting for at last presents itself, A'vimala abandons her observation point and moves out quickly for Kallas' apartment with the intent to first impair Kallas' ability to easily disengage or to defend herself.
Not wanting to attract any unwanted attention, A'vimala uses a grappling line to cross from the building she has been using as her observation point over to Kallas' apartment building, the trip from the window she has been watching from to the deck of Kallas' apartment a quick one due to the trolley she uses to quickly traverse the distance. Using her scanner to verify that Kallas is still in the shower after quietly entering the apartment's bedroom, A'vimala unslings her Cycler rifle from her back and walks towards the refresher door, nudging it open slightly with her foot after shouldering her rifle. Using her helmet's thermal imaging feature to enable her to select her target despite the steam filling the room, A'vimala sights in on Kallas' left kneecap and fires a powerful slug towards it. Her employer wants Kallas alive, not necessarily fully intact, and whatever Kallas is, a severely injured leg should make her more manageable.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2016 20:34:39 GMT -8
As the slug impacts with her synthetic left patella, shredding synthetic flesh and muscle, Cleite cries out in commingled surprise and pain even though she experiences neither, even initiating an imitation of collapsing to the floor of the shower as one would expect her to do while she calculates the optimal response to the attack she is subject to. Given that her attacker has elected to open with a non-fatal attack suggests that the objective is to capture her rather than terminate her, but the fact that there is not yet enough evidence to conclusively determine that her death is something her attacker will actively seek to avoid, Cleite knows that her response needs to be chosen with that uncertainty in mind. From what she can see of her attacker as she pitches back and initiates her entirely feigned collapse - the damage to her synthetic muscle and flesh not enough to impair her range of movement or left leg's weight bearing capacity - Cleite observes that she is facing what appears to be a lone attacker armed with a ranged weapon and a melee weapon close at hand. Factoring in her own lack of a weapon of any kind, and the current environment, Cleite calculates that her odds of escape or survival will both decrease exponentially if she completes the fall she has initiated to afford herself the possibility of luring her attacker closer by feigning the expected injury, and that the prospective surprise of going on the offensive is worth abandoning the pretense of being as weak as her appearance suggests.
With a fluid, silken grace, the HRD turns her fall into a forward leap from the refresher, diving from beneath the spray of water into the foggy bathroom and, silence replacing her feigned screams, rolling immediately towards her attacker after her feet hit the tiles; banking on the surprise the swift transition from feigned injury to going on the offensive with no evidence of injury to give her a brief opening to exploit. If her attacker does not renew her assault with the rifle, Cleite will rise from the forward roll in front of the Tusken reaching up with her right hand to grip the blaster rifle's barrel and tug it forward while launching her left fist for her attacker's solar plexus to try and knock their breath from them. . .
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 10:51:39 GMT -8
For one brief instant, as Kallas screams and begins to fall, A'vimala thinks that her assignment will be easier than her surveillance had suggested it was likely to be, and she even begins to take a step towards the refresher to complete her capture of the woman she believes she has wounded.
When Kallas launches herself through the shower curtain and, her movements revealing that there is no sign of her wound or the pain it would cause are affecting her in the least, A'vimala's surprise prevents her from successfully overcoming the natural inclination to step back from a threat, and Kallas is therefore able to clasp her rifle and pull it forward, requiring A'vimala to struggle to maintain her balance, which in turn and coupled with the novelty of the whole situation makes her overlook the fist that drives into her chest and causes her to stagger backwards. Unwilling to allow her target to disarm her, A'vimala keeps hold of her rifle with her right hand and, reaching back to pull her Gaderffii free from its scabbard swings her rifle out to her right side to try and unbalance Kallas, who she has concluded must be a synthetic of some kind based on her observation of the woman and the fact that the damage to her knee is not impairing her movements as it would those of an organic being.
Nearly all synthetics have their main operating systems housed in their heads, and those operating systems can typically survive the forcible removal of the head housing them; and so as A'vimala frees her Gaderffii she raises it overhead with the axe like blades angled to make the removal of Kallas' head more assured, and once she has swung her rifle, ideally with Kallas along with it, to her right side, A'vimala swings her Gaderffii down to try and behead her target. Her employer should have the resources to repair the synthetic, provided, A'vimala thinks in a distant corner of her mind not focused on the moment unfolding, she is correct in her assumption that Kallas is not an organic.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2016 18:57:13 GMT -8
Cleite does not initially resist the pull of the rifle, going along with it as it is swung outward until she observes that the Tusken woman is pulling her staff from her back and then lifting it overhead. Building upon the momentum already established, Cleite continues the swing of the rifle, attempting to use her superior strength to spin the Tusken around so that her attacker will have her back to the refresher door while also reaching up with her free hand to grab the staff below the axe head.
Should she succeed in her attempt to spin the Tusken around, Cleite will then execute a swift, powerful front kick intended to knock her attacker backwards and away, releasing her hold on both rifle and staff if the kick connects. . .
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2016 8:19:40 GMT -8
As she is whirled around and then sent sailing back towards the refresher, A'vimala is not sure who she should be curing mentally more: herself for having opted to engage Kallas directly after her surveillance clearly suggested the woman was more than she seemed, or her employer for having neglected to mention that her target was not only far more than a simple former ballet student, but also highly trained in at least unarmed combat.
As her back hits the wall of the shower, the warm water beginning to soak her hood and robes, A'vimala lets her Gaderffii drop from her hand and lifts her Cycler rifle to aim for Kallas's left knee once more, firing off a shot as quickly as possible in an attempt to disable her target; a single shot may have had little effect, but A'vimala believes a second successful shot should stand a decent chance of adding enough damage to the limb to render it relatively useless. If she can cripple Kallas, A'vimala believes there is a chance yet to successfully effect her capture . . .
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2016 16:50:57 GMT -8
As her assailant is kicked backwards, Cleite turns on her heel with balletic grace and begins to run for the sliding glass door leading onto the deck of her apartment as she has determined that disengaging from the conflict and putting some distance between herself and the Tusken is the most strategically sound course of action. The slug that is fired hits the back of Cleite's thigh rather than her knee due to the alteration in her position that her running effects, but does not slow her down; the only outcome being that the HRD does not pause to open the door, simply choosing to cover her face with her arms while charging right through it.
Not feeling the few shards of glass that pierce her forearms, Cleite does not slow as she reaches the deck, but continues to run until she reaches the railing, at which point she nimbly vaults atop it. Without a pause, Cleite steps forward and off of the railing, turning in midair as she falls so that she is facing the building once more. Reaching out to grab the railing of the deck five floors down from her apartment, Cleite successfully halts her fall, and then pulls herself up onto the deck. Pausing briefly to look upward to try and see or hear if the assassin will try and follow despite the difficulty an organic would face if attempting to do so, Cleite then moves towards the sliding doors and, using the strength her artificial limbs, bones, and muscles bestow upon her, wrenches the door open as quietly as possible.
Stepping into the apartment, Cleite pauses, her head tilted to the side at an inquisitive angle as she listens for any sounds of the apartments occupant or occupants and examines the room she has entered for anything she might find useful, such as keys to a vehicle, a closet or dresser from which she can procure clothing, or perhaps even a comlink which she could use to alert the local authorities if the sound of rifle fire has not caused other tenants to do so themselves . . .
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2016 15:04:55 GMT -8
Some change is subtle and gradual; like the flow of water which, over time, shapes the rocks and pebbles of a stream bed, or the ways in which who one spends their time with can influence one's thoughts, opinions, and tastes. Other change is sudden and violent; such as the storm that washes away a hillside or village, or the ways in which a terrible accident can alter one that suffers from it.
It is not always easy to recognize change as it occurs, whether it happens quietly and slow, or swiftly and loudly; and it is often the case that it is only later that one can re-trace the origins of the forces that have shaped them into who they have become. Elettra, who was once a boy named Eulalio, and who has devoted her life to the study of the causes and effects of diseases, likes to believe that she has been made more conscious of the potential forces of change that surround all things, but recognizes that such a thought is both arrogant and naive in light of how complex and unpredictable such forces can be. While Elettra believes, for example, that she can trace the genesis of her strong altruistic streak to the values both exhibited and taught by her parents, she recognizes that other facets of her personality such as her taste in literature or cuisine are far too intricate to untangle the origins of.
When she walks into her bedroom after a long night of grading research papers for her morning Xenobiology class to find a nude and wounded woman standing just in front of the glassine doors leading onto the deck of her apartment, Elettra feels, in addition to the expected surprise and alarm such a sight inspires, quite certain that a change of some kind is about to be visited upon her.
It does not occur to her until later that caution may have been a more appropriate response than concern, Elettra's first thought being instead of how she can help the injured woman, and after a brief moment of startled paralysis, she holds her hands up in the universal gesture of intending no harm and, fighting against the impulse to move closer to try and help to avoid appearing threatening to the woman she initially thinks must have fallen from another deck, says in what she hopes is a more soothing and reassuring tone than a shocked and alarmed one, "I won't hurt you, don't be scared. Thoughts racing as she struggles to adjust to the situation and respond most appropriately, Elettra offers, I can comm the hospital, and only then does it occur to her that the woman may be in some more immediate danger than simply being injured from a fall. Trying to look out onto her deck, Elettra asks with a worried expression, Did you fall, or is someone after you?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2016 15:18:32 GMT -8
Watching in commingled disbelief and frustration as her quarry, unimpaired despite yet another injury that would be debilitating for a non-synthetic being, disappears from view after crashing through the glass doors leading onto the apartment's deck and jumping over the railing, A'vimala lowers her Cycler rifle and, after leaning down to retrieve her Gaderffii, walks quickly out onto the deck. Slowing down as she nears the railing, every scene from a holovid where someone seems to leap from a ledge only to grab the arm or wrist of the being that inevitably peers over the ledge and pull them over, A'vimala lifts her Gaderffii over her left shoulder to be ready to swing it downwards and only then cautiously leans over to see if her prey is visible.
Releasing the breath she was not even aware she held upon seeing that there is no sign of Kallas clinging from the deck or otherwise, A'vimala uses the sensor and binocular features of her helm's HUD to search the street below for Kallas, unsurprised when she sees no evidence of the woman falling to her death or, assuming her synthetic form could survive a fall from such a height unimpaired, of her landing and damaging the street. A'vimala has had more inauspicious beginnings of a hunt, but cannot recall ever having been so blindsighted and unprepared for a target's capabilities, something she intends to mention to her employer when next they speak. Returning her Gaderffii to it's scabbard on her back, A'vimala lets her rifle hang from it's sling at her side as she opens a pouch on her utility belt and removes her liquid-cable launcher from it.
Turning and firing the grappling spike into the wall beside the shattered deck doors, A'vimala backs towards the railing and, after another glance over it, is soon rappelling down the side of the building, searching each deck or window she passes for any traces of blood, shattered glass, or other signs of her prey. When she reaches the deck five floors down, A'vimala smiles beneath her helmet when she sees blood on the floor of the deck, and then gently swings forward to leap cat-like onto the deck, landing in a crouch.
Shouldering her Cycler rifle slowly, spotting Kallas' bare back just inside of the doors leading inside from the deck, A'vimala sights in on the woman's left knee once more, banking on the fact another shot will render the limb useless or remove it below the knee. Once she is sure of her aim, A'vimala fires . . .
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 23:00:32 GMT -8
Cleiete is about to move towards the dresser she has spotted in the bedroom when the woman she assumes is the owner of the bedroom and dresser enters the room, causing her to remain standing where she had stopped after entering from the deck. The woman's reaction, with her concern for the welfare of a possible intruder apparently overriding other entirely logical responses, requires that Cleite weigh the merits of trying to present herself as the mere human the woman seems to believe she is met with or taking a more honest approach and sharing exactly who and what she truly is as well as what has led her to be in the woman's bedroom.
Unfortunately, Cleite has no time to reach a decision, the slug fired by her relentless pursuer shattering her left knee and damaging her leg severely enough that it is no longer able to support her. Not wanting to endanger the woman that had offered her help by allowing the Tusken to press her attack, Cleite pivots as, shouting for the apartment's owner to, "Run!" she falls as her damaged left leg gives out beneath her, reaching for the dresser nearby. Her face utterly devoid of expression, Cleite looks over her shoulder to see where the Tusken stands as, her fall halted as she grabs onto the top of the dresser and puts her weight on her right leg, she calculates the force required for what she has in mind.
Her calculations completed almost instantly, Cleite hops forward rapidly and, using her hand on the top of the dresser to keep her balance, turns in midair so that she is facing the Tusken from the side of the dresser furthest from the doors leading onto the deck. No sooner has her swift and graceful maneuver been executed than Cleite, dropping to her knees to take cover behind the dresser, lunges forward to launch the dresser towards her attacker with all of her considerable might in an attempt to send both dresser and Tusken sailing into or over the deck railing. . .
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2016 7:48:24 GMT -8
Sweeping her rifle barrel to the side to track Kallas' movements, A'vimala starts to stand after her quarry ducks behind a dresser. A'vimala has time to take a single step forward, intent on getting Kallas in her sights once more and believing that the fight has been all but won now that her prey has been wounded or damaged significantly. As she begins the second step, A'vimala feels briefly as though time freezes, and has just enough time to, letting her rifle drop from her grip to hang from its sling, begin tensing to spring to the side to avoid the dresser that is sailing towards her, and to start to raise her arms to protect her head and chest from the impact she correctly perceives is unavoidable. Before she can complete the movement to evade the heavy piece of furniture hurtling towards her, the dresser crashes into her and knocks her from her feet, carrying her in front of it as it continues sailing through the air, crashing through the glass doors leading onto the deck and then smashes though the railing with a resounding crackling and splintering. Knowing it would be better to be atop the dresser than beneath it when she and it hit the ground, A'vimala tries to remain calm as she scrambles to orient herself so that the dresser will absorb the majority of the impact with the street below.
The dresser crumples beneath her, shattering as it hits the ground, and A'vimala feels her left arm break in at least one place, the breath being forced from her lungs as she bounces up after landing atop the ruins of the furniture that has cushioned her landing. Her helmet protects her skull when it strikes the ground, keeping it from being cracked or worse, and A'vimala's vision swims as she fights to keep from losing consciousness. The last thing A'vimala hears before she loses the battle to stay awake is the sound of sirens approaching . . .
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2016 13:33:24 GMT -8
The answer to Elettra's question of whether the woman arrived due to an accidental fall from a higher floor or was being chased and fell or was perhaps thrown down is answered in a rather dramatic fashion when the harsh crack of a rifle sounds forth from behind the wounded woman. The typical response to experiencing or witnessing something that defies expectation or easy explanation is often to rationalize, and so when the woman has no discernible reaction to being shot for what would appear to be a second time, Elettra's first thought, after the instinct to seek cover from any further rifle fire compels her to leap towards her bed while attempting to grab the wounded woman so that she too is brought out of the line of fire since even when faced with danger Elettra's innate concern for the safety of others is not overriden, is that the woman must be in shock. So too, when the woman exhibits an unimpaired, remarkably keen athleticism when moving to behind the dresser with no evidence of being affected or impaired by the pain she must be feeling, does Elettra initially simply assume that adrenaline and instinct must be at work in addition to shock; for it seems to her that only a surge of panic fueled adrenaline could explain the strength with which the woman shoves the dresser towards her attacker.
Elettra, who only hears the sounds of the dresser crashing through the glassine doors since, after missing her grab for the woman, she is covering behind the bed, cautiously looks over the side of the bed after silence follows the tinkling and the sound of the bed and, presumably, the shooter breaking through the railing of the deck. Her experience as a medic in the Republic military informs her next actions, Elettra's mind seeking the familiar amidst the chaos that has been visited upon her in an attempt to create a temporary refuge from which she can begin trying to restore order to her life's interrupted rhythms, and so she focuses on what can be done for the woman's injuries as she gets up. Holding a hand up as she hears the sirens in the distance, Elettra tells the woman more calmly than she feels, "Don't move, just try and relax, I need to find something to staunch the blood flow. Her eyes flicker from the woman's injured leg to scan for other signs of injury, and Elettra relaxes a bit when she sees no other obvious wounds aside from the shallow looking gashes on the woman's forearms. It sounds like the police are on the way, Elettra says as she opens the linen closet beside the door leading into the refresher and begins grabbing towels to use as temporary bandages, and I'll comm an ambulance as soon as I do what I can for your leg. Grabbing a bin containing antiseptic and other common household medical supplies, Elettra moves to the woman, kneeling beside her and saying as much to her as to herself, It's going to be okay, just stay calm," and begins digging through the bin of medical supplies to find disinfectant to pour over the woman's leg wound while looking at the wound to gauge the extent of the damage.
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