Kent
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Be nice to me or I will drop 100 pounds of trash on you!
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Post by Kent on Jul 21, 2016 21:56:18 GMT -8
The fear in Kent's eyes was clear. Reality or not, in Kent's very nature she was terrified of of Eliana. The pushes were just as her blocking the shots from the defective remote were. Her feeling in danger and the Force flowing through her. She was responding to a survival instinct triggered by fear. Her eyes told everything.
Iella stepping between them put distance between Eliana and Kent, and that was enough for the immediate danger response to end. Kent was no longer in two minds, but once again the sensible logical one was in control.
I...
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Post by Eliana Shan on Jul 22, 2016 21:54:46 GMT -8
"I wasn't focusing on you at all, you dini'la child!"
The Jedi's insertion between the two of them was enough to break the lines of focus between each unwilling combatant. For Elly, though, the removal of her outlet caused her mind to slowly sink beneath the steadily rising tides. She closed her eyes and tried to stay afloat. As had been previously mentioned, her training had been very brief.
Of all the things you could have slacked on, girl...
For the moment, she was keeping it together. It was a step up from her usual. But even her stubbornness could only hold out so long against the weight of a world..
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Iella Dresari
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Lightsabers are the coolest weapon...search your feelings and you will know it to be true...
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Post by Iella Dresari on Jul 26, 2016 17:09:06 GMT -8
*Iella sighed as Ken't ceased her assault, relieved that the girl had held up once she had stepped in.*"Just take a deep breath, Kent. You're not in danger now." *Still so many unanswered questions, like how they had managed to wander into an area of the medical wing holding a potentially dangerous subject. Or why Kent had suddenly and totally lost her cool. Maybe someone here in the base had some answers?
She needed to get Kent out of here, away from this woman first. Finding answers could come later.*"I think we need to leave, Kent. Let's go somewhere else to talk."
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Kent
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Be nice to me or I will drop 100 pounds of trash on you!
Posts: 283
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Post by Kent on Jul 26, 2016 20:34:19 GMT -8
Kent held an icy stare at Elian, and spat at her is perfect dialect Mondo'a. Not because she knew the language well, but because she had memorized the phonetics of what she was saying. She didn't even know what it meant, just that it was meant to hurt Lan do er she boo er! She spit out with venom in her voice.
She takes a breath and turns to Iella That would be best I think...
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Iella Dresari
Member
Lightsabers are the coolest weapon...search your feelings and you will know it to be true...
Posts: 108
Affiliation: Jedi Order
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Post by Iella Dresari on Aug 1, 2016 17:27:25 GMT -8
*Iella had no idea what Kent had just said, but the delivery told her all she needed to know. Whatever this woman had done to her, it had clearly affected Kent deeply. With a nod, Iella began to usher Kent towards the door, stopping when she realized that the mysterious woman was still strapped to an overturned bed. Sighing, Iella quickly walked over and, with some effort and the aid of the Force, was able to turn it back right-side up. She then pushed the bed back to its original position.*"I'll have words with you later." *She wasn't sure what, if anything, the mysterious woman would tell her, but it might not hurt to have a chat with her later.
With that, Iella turned and quickly headed for the exit, ushering Kent out of the medbay.*
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Kent
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Be nice to me or I will drop 100 pounds of trash on you!
Posts: 283
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Post by Kent on Aug 1, 2016 21:34:55 GMT -8
Kent follows the older Jedi woman out, not looking back at the source of her great fear.
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 21, 2016 21:11:01 GMT -8
She was glad that the Jedi with Kent had taken the time to actually right her bed.
Her prison.
Her mind was a flurry, a commotion of analytical action and a slowly receding calm. What was it the street rat had said to her? ...had she been drinking anything, she would have spit it out in laughter. The child had been trying to curse at her in the tongue of her ancestors, and the attempt was clearly a recitation, not a fluent translation.
I need to keep better tabs on the docks. The Mando'ade hav-..
Oh yeah. She was in chains on Felucia, not enjoying the relative safety of her lair on Nar Shaddaa. She wasn't Alena Karso anymore, she was Eliana Shan.
There was another problem that needed to be addressed. Yes, her bed had been restored to its original position. But what hadn't been restored was the device keeping her safe. Her mother's lightsaber crystal remained in its containment device on the floor, far enough away that its effects were close to negligible.
Her fists clenched, her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath, holding it for as long as she could. As she let it out, the storm of thought turned its focus towards one goal: self-preservation. She had to beat back the tide, she had to hold her own, she had to...
You never did learn, did you?
She gasped at the familiar voice, her eyes opening in shock...
...and she wasn't in the med bay anymore, but standing in the flower garden. Except it wasn't as it should have been. The ground was soft and yielding, and as she looked down she saw water pooling up around her feet. She took a step forward, and her footfalls only caused more water to rise from the ground.
"You keep trying to run from your problems."
She whirled, and her .... waist-length brown hair?? whipped around in turn. Standing before her was the woman who introduced her to the Force: Vyra Amidala. Or Salicaire. Or whatever she went by.. the gal had gone through as many identity changes as the tech prodigy herself. Elly's hand came up to her ear, feeling a tickle..
The blue flower was there, just as before. Her hair was long and flowing, just as before. And as she looked down again, she was once more as she had been seven years ago when one of her lives had ended, and her most recent incarnation had begun.
Elly opened her mouth to speak, but in the blink of an eye the woman in white was standing before her, a slender finger pressing against the teenager's lips.
"Hush. You can't think your way out of this. Stop trying to analyze."
Somehow, the words resonated within her, feeling.. right. The effect was instantaneous, a calm settling over her. She could feel the water rising still, she could see it in her peripheral vision, but the mahogany islands of her old friend's eyes held her attention and focus.
Vyra smiled.
"I know there wasn't any quicksand back on Dantooine. But sometimes it's better just to stand still. Sometimes you have to take a few hits to know how to win."
Flashes of memories that weren't hers played out in the air around her. Her brother staring down a Sith Lord in a crumbling clearing on Haruun Kal, bleeding but grinning. Vidalu Na'an grabbing the tendrils of a violet lightwhip, taking the pain to seize victory. And'ru Kierra-Solo dying willingly against the Shield of the Corruption's Leviathan, reemerging to break the collective into factions.
"See?"
And she did. The water rose, but she rose with it, a sense of calm serenity surrounding her and keeping her safe. A sudden tide stirred, ripples growing into waves that broke upon her from all directions, but still she stood.
Still her friend smiled.
And the scared teenager who had spent her life trying to avoid her problems finally grew into the woman who stood against them in confident defiance. Wave upon wave tried its hardest to bring her down, but she didn't struggle. She didn't run.
She refused.
In the waking world, a soft glow surrounded her, an aura of stability emanating from her.
She was the rock against a storm. Unchanging, unmoving, unyielding.
And the peaceful smile that graced her lips was the first genuine one her face had held in half a lifetime.
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Post by Lanette Shan Terr on Aug 22, 2016 20:25:22 GMT -8
The two of them were walking at a brisk pace; Na'an must have been really excited to see this! Her artificial gaze was focused on Na'an's face as she spoke, a smile in every word.
"You know Mom had a crush on you?"
Lana giggled as they rounded the next corner. She kept looking up at the Jedi, her map of the facilities making navigation simple.
"Some days she just couldn't stop talking about you! It was cute to watch.. Ehh, you probably already know all this from my li'l sis. I bet you two missed her, huh?"
And then there they were, at the doors to the medbay. Her smile widened. It had been so long!!
"Are you two gonna get married?"
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Post by Vidalu Na'an on Aug 22, 2016 21:04:41 GMT -8
"I....what?"
Na'an stopped short just outside at the word crush, her hard look traded momentarily with confusion as she looked back at the child following her. This was the first she had heard about any kind of crush--Leigh never spoke of such things. Perhaps she knew it would muddy the waters of her memory, force them both to think of things that there was no point thinking about anymore.
Lana, though, she didn't seem to know any better. The girl--there was no way around it, this construct was just a little girl. A little girl with curly brown hair and big shiny eyes, who loved her Mom and thought that they'd fall in love some day and have some big gorgeous wedding. She was so excited to see her mother, and Na'an was about to give her what she wanted in the worst way possible.
"No," she said, as gently as she knew how at the moment. "We're not getting married."
She crossed into the medbay, spotting the table where Eliana Shan had been put down immediately. It was hard to miss, between the wild hair colors and the straps, not to mention the relative isolation. Na'an approached the bed slowly, keeping the child behind her all the time, swallowing to keep the hard knot of...something...down in her gut where it belonged.
The crystal that was suppressing her power had been knocked out of place, along with its mechanism. She knelt to pick it up without taking her eye off Eliana, weighing the whole device in her hand. It was still warm-- like a tiny sun resting in her palm.
"Hello, Elly."
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 22, 2016 21:20:12 GMT -8
The ocean rapidly fell back, and as the water sank, she noticed the cloverfield shining, the scattered orchids glowing.
Na'an.
Her eyes opened, sapphires shining for a brief moment with the glow of the Force.
"Su'cuy gar."
The smile of contentment fell away, one corner of her lips staying barely up in a tiny smirk. For a brief moment, perhaps, she could pretend they could still be friends..
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Post by Lanette Shan Terr on Aug 22, 2016 21:26:45 GMT -8
"Awww, why not? You two could be such cuti-.."
Then she heard her creator speak, and the sound of it triggered her processor to retrieve memory files of her "birth"..
Her face burst into a grin.
"Mama!!"
She ran forward, past Na'an, jumping up onto the bed to land on and proceed to hug her creator.
"I've missed you!!"
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Post by Vidalu Na'an on Aug 22, 2016 21:46:13 GMT -8
The blue met grey, and the grey did not smile back.
"Yeah, well. My being alive was never in question."
Na'an watched as Lana flung herself past her and onto the bed, somehow embracing Elly even through all the straps. Watching the girl gush, she felt the knot in her gut twist. "I've met another of your daughters, you see. She's sweet. How old is she supposed to be, Elly, ten, twelve?"
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 22, 2016 22:00:40 GMT -8
"Figure of speech."
This was said after Na'an's first statement. After her daughter ran to her, her smile widened, and she took the only option she had that could return the affection. She buried her face in her daughter's hair and nuzzled her, the smile stretching ever further as her eyes closed.
"Hey, 02."
The deduction of this LE's numerical designation was a much simpler one than the previous time, back on Kamino a decade ago.
"She's eleven. The age I was when I last saw Mom and Dad."
A glistening teardrop fell onto LE-02's chassis's head. She could feel herself broadcasting joy. It felt good.
It was a moment she was going to hold on to.
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Post by Vidalu Na'an on Aug 22, 2016 22:09:50 GMT -8
Na'an nodded impassively; almost idly, she rolled the mechanism containing the crystal around in both hands. The warmth seeped into her fingertips whenever it glanced across them. "And I assume she'll stay that way? Eleven forever? I mean, she's not much like Leigh for an older model."
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 22, 2016 22:14:55 GMT -8
"03 has this in her. Or at least she did when she was born."
Finally, she looked up from her daughter. Once more her gaze fell upon Na'an, only this time tears were brimming in -- nay, falling from her eyes.
"I don't know who she is now. But I know she's my daughter."
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Post by Vidalu Na'an on Aug 23, 2016 5:48:24 GMT -8
"So I've heard."
The air felt heavy on Na'an's skin, thick with the mixed smells of flowers and antiseptic. There was a chair nearby; she reached for it and pulled it over to the bedside, then sat down to rest with her elbows on her knees. Sinking into the seat, she sighed heavily, rubbing at her forehead with her hands.
"But that begs another question," she said slowly, not looking away again. The tears in Eliana's eyes were not matched with tears of her own, but with a weariness that seemed to run deeper than bone or blood. "Tell me. Or better yet, tell her. What will happen to your eleven-year-old daughter if you say that Mother needs her?"
Lana was still half-lying on the bed between her and her mother. If Elly said the words...Na'an tensed subtly as she waited for the words. This model was a child--small, wiry, lacking in physical strength. Subduing it would not be difficult.
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 23, 2016 18:02:39 GMT -8
The change in her expression was immediate. There was a second of disbelief followed by a glance downward. Her hands jerked as she tried to wrap her arms protectively around the child now nestled on her, but the shackles only allowed her an inch of movement. She looked back up, glaring at Na'an.
How dare you.
She didn't know if the thought was broadcast, nor did she care. She was a mother whose child had just been exposed to something offensive by someone else, and she was going to do her damnedest to protect her kid.
"Nothing. Because Mother doesn't need you anymore."
How DARE you bring her here for that.
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Post by Lanette Shan Terr on Aug 23, 2016 19:04:17 GMT -8
Lana looked up at her creator's face. That was a strange question Na'an had just asked, and she wanted to know how her maker responded to it.
...and that was an equally strange answer. But.. did she mean..
Inside the coding of her mind, an infinitely running if-check pinged as its conditions were satisfied. A process initiated, and a file in her archives was opened. A virus was installed and immediately made its way into her core.
..did Mama mean she didn't need her anymore?
The virus targeted the programming that contained the Mother protocol, purging it from her system. Its work completed, it self-terminated. Her system refreshed, cycling out the random burst of coding that seemed to serve no purpose..
Her eyes fluttered briefly as her system updated itself, but that didn't stop the thoughts spiraling out of their normal optimism.
"What.. do you mean, Mama?"
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Post by Vidalu Na'an on Aug 24, 2016 5:26:33 GMT -8
"Yeah, Elly, what do you mean?"
Na'an leaned forward, watching the child's brief spasm with the sharp focus of a laser. Leigh's weekly software diagnostics caused similar glitches, on the occasions when she ran them alongside her hologram. Lana must be going through some kind of update, which means that Elly just did something. Typical.
"You don't get to pretend you haven't done anything this time," she continued, and for the first time her quiet voice was tinged with real anger. "You don't get to be innocent. You and I both know what's going on and why you're here, and this kid deserves better than to be left in the dark by Mommy Dearest.
Tell her where you've been and what you did. Tell her about the protocol--or we will."
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Post by Eliana Shan on Aug 24, 2016 12:33:23 GMT -8
"I'M NO-.."
No. It was almost like Na'an wanted her to be mad. She had brought in 02 just to rub Elly's face in all her mistakes. She was being cruel without reason now, and if what she wanted was to watch her former friend explode.. Elly was just stubborn enough to deny her the satisfaction.
"I'm not pretending. And I'm not innocent. The Mother protocol is a backdoor. It shuts down a Life Emulator's emotional subroutines and puts them into an objective-oriented state; my commands become primary directives, followed without question or complaint. They will remain in this state until they reboot or I end it."
Are you happy now, you chakaar?
"I've been in hiding for years after faking my death. For the first four years, it was to keep things stable. You must have realized by now that I couldn't exist for you in the future you showed us. But I started.. enjoying myself. So I stayed. Maybe I could have found you sooner. Maybe I could have fixed things. But I liked being in charge. For once, I was running my own life. I wasn't a pawn in someone -- or something -- else's game. I was Alena Karso, genius billionaire playgirl philanthropist.
"But I guess I got caught up in the thrill of independence, huh? And now here I am. You're already my judge and my jury. You gonna be my executioner, too? Go ahead."
02 wasn't hugging her anymore. She was still on the bed, but she was listening in silence, listening and staring and Elly didn't even want to look to see what her daughter was feeling.
"You've got your confession. I kriffed up. 'Mother needs you' won't work on her, not that I would use that after ... well, after meeting you seven of my years ago. Three for you."
The clarification shouldn't have been necessary. But it was who she was.
"What more do you want from me."
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