[IC] SWS/DnD5, Star Wars the Old Republic – A Gathering Darkness

[Sezarious]

[IC] SWS/DnD5, Star Wars the Old Republic – A Gathering Darkness

Over the next two weeks, Jihahna worked busily on the weaponry and tools of her friends. Working on the ship in between, she stuck to a tight schedule in order to complete everything in a reasonable timeframe. She cleaned as she went, trying to learn as much about the ship as possible.

She serviced every part with an almost loving professionalism. Stripping away dust, rust and grime even on old bolts that had to be undone for servicing ventilation filters. Her logic; if something went wrong, she wanted easy access as soon as possible. Every microsecond counts.

In the evenings, she would eat, consult with Kacela when the Twilek was free and continued her training in regards to meditation and letting go of her negative feelings.

Towards the end of the second week, she also started a sort of.... custom made... meditation of sorts as she worked. She found it helped her to relax and let go of her stress more readily. Instead of cursing when something went wrong mechanically, she started analysing how she felt about it.... Frustration, self pity, a little anger... Then she'd simply apply the logic of her trade and fix the problem, then move on. She felt that being more strongly connected to the force now warranted a few changes in her way of thinking.

As she worked, she was beginning to envision herself as the ship. Her efforts in maintaining and cleaning it being the metaphor for her own improvements.

Once or twice, before the Sith had been sent away, she had attempted to go and see him, whether he was tranquillised or not, she went to sit and talk to him. She also tried the same with the bounty hunter too. No attempts to derive information from them, she just wanted to give them some company.

Jihahna avoided making any conversation with the Gand. Since dragging him out of that temple in anger, she had been embarrassed around him. When This Gand asked for her assistance with modifications, she reacted with enthusiasm that he had come to speak with her. Jihahna put aside all other tasks to work on it, doing her best not to miss a single detail. Otherwise, she pretended her outburst had never happened, just got back into her work.

When Reks left, Jihahna didn't know what to say. She would miss him, but she felt that in some ways, she didn't TRULY know him, like her friend had a wall up.... Just like her in a lot of ways.... All she could do was wish him well...

Cal was last person she approached in the two week period. Her friendship with the medic was sometimes a little awkward. Sometimes she and he had different ideas about what to do next in a situation and as a result, she wasn't sure how to befriend him, or if he even liked her. But there was something she needed his help with that she couldn't leave it. She remembered when she had first met him, that she had scoffed under her breath at his attempt to solve conflict peacefully and avoid bloodshed. Kinda strange that she'd be like that with him and befriend the Gand for the same reasons.... A bit of a double standard there maybe? Why? A thought Jihahna immediately shut out of her head...

At the end of the two weeks, when she approached Cal, she asked him to help show her the basics of medicine. She didn't know how he would react, but she had to try.... It was all a part of her hope to heal others, rather than to hurt them.

Finally, Jihahna had attempted to make routine calls with the Jedi Council throughout the two weeks for guidance and assessment. She did so after notifying Kacela and invited her to be a part of them if she wanted.

At the very end of the two weeks, once she constructed her lightsaber, the only thing Jihahna hadn't done was look at it activated... She only activated it with her eyes covered, but as for colour, Jihahna didn't want to know.... She had chosen the colour based on feeling, the force guiding her hand. She wanted to let the force decide... She'd find out soon enough what sort of Jedi she was going to be... But not quite yet...


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[Forged Fury]

[IC] SWS/DnD5, Star Wars the Old Republic – A Gathering Darkness

For two weeks following the team's success at preventing the destruction of Dathomir, Cal had spent his time working in the local clinic, tending to those wounded during the raider attack on the Spaceport, the Kwi uprising, and the spider attack at the mine camp. His steady hands were considered an asset by the medical staff. In thanks, they provided the supplies he needed to refill the team's depleted medikit at no cost. Cal also struck up a friendship with a wounded Gran spacehand named Squint for whom he was providing care. Squint must have been more than a spacehand as he provided the medic with rudimentary instruction in forgery after he had been discharged in thanks for his efforts. The medic was unsure when he would ever use the skill, but figured knowledge was never a bad thing.

While his mind focused on the work at hand, Cal kept a close eye on the holo-feeds describing the legal battle playing out over Kwi sovereignty. The news was hard to come by, given the efforts Czerka Corp made to keep their legal troubles from the headlines, but he managed to uncover enough that his hopes were high the Kwi would succeed. After having his own humanitarian research buried by Czerka in the past, he was hoping the creatures would prevail, if for no other reason than to stymie the efforts of Czerka Corp.

Along with the others, although Cal couldn't recall if the Gand had been there (the small alien had kept much to his/herself following the conclusion of their mission), he bid Reks farewell. The jedi had indicated he was returning to his master, which Cal quietly thought was a wise decision. He had never heard of jedi being as reckless and aggressive as Reks had been, hopefully his master could help him tread a more diplomatic path in the future.

Jihahna had approached him nearly two weeks after the team had concluded their work. He didn't quite know what to make of her. At first, she had seemed to be cut from the same cloth as most of the mercenaries who plied their trade in the war-torn areas of the galaxy. But over time, she had seemed to develop some semblance of a connection to the Force, not that Cal really had much of an understanding of what that meant. But there was no denying that, through the course of their efforts, she had developed some unexplained ability similar to the Jedi on the team. He worried about the blossoming power combined with her frequent flashes of anger, but figured Kacela would step in if she figured there were a threat. So it came as somewhat a surprise that the mercenary sought him out to learn about first aid and medicine. He was happy to help channel her abilities and talents into a benign pursuit. She even offered to modify his trusty blaster carbine. While Cal was never a fan of violence, he understood that it was sometimes required for the greater good. He figured her modifications would help him to more humanely deal with potential threats he may face. If you're going to shoot someone, you should do your best to kill them cleanly and quickly and not prolong their suffering

On the day the new transports arrived, Cal found himself on-board the Outlaw Gambit, tending to some of the minor maintenance needs an old freighter like the Gambit required. Idly, he wondered what he would do next. His work for the Republic was complete and he was unsure of his next move. Dathomir seemed to contain a wide variety of unusual flora and fauna that he could spend time researching, but he had no patron to fund his work. He could possibly sign-on as a medic at the medical facility in exchange for room and board, but now that the crisis on the planet had been averted, he was unsure if there would be sufficient need for his talents.

 

[Binder Fred]

JWhen This Gand asked for her assistance with modifications, she reacted with enthusiasm that he had come to speak with her. Jihahna put aside all other tasks to work on it, doing her best not to miss a single detail. Otherwise, she pretended her outburst had never happened, just got back into her work.

That time he came, the gand, on his way out, hesitates... then nods his head very low to the black-haired woman: jumble drone guttural clack mumble drone-click "This humble one is sorry for causing distress?"

She straightens, turning to go, not wanting to intrude.

 

[Sezarious]

Jihahna smiles at This Gand as he turns to go. She moves around to place her hand on her shoulder.

"Ummm... Your apology is accepted. But this, humble one is also sorry... She spoke on impulse."

Rather than tear up, she cocks her head to the side. "You just wait and see, when you get your carbine back, it'll be better than new! But you've gotta try harder to stay alive in order to benefit from it Gand!"


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[Binder Fred]

The small alien slowly mimics Jihahna's head cock, but on the other side.... clicketty "Why?"

(Carefully, as one approaches alien things...)

 

[Sezarious]

[IC] SWS/DnD5, Star Wars the Old Republic – A Gathering Darkness

Jihahna's bottom lip trembles. Composure lost, she begins to cry... Again.
"Because, whether you like it or not, you have others who need you around. But worse, your behaviour before just wasn't LOGICAL! You had a responsibility to share your findings with your people! You were instead just going to shut yourself away because you were too proud to take just a portion of the treasure as opposed to the whole."

Jihahna sniffs as she wipes her tears and takes a deep breath before continuing... Her speech calming a little.

"Look Gand, I.... This one is trying to respect your belief. This concept of being expendable, it's design is to help one to use logic in order to not feel fear no?

Gand, this... humble one is concerned that maybe in doing this, you're inadvertently casting others aside as expendable. That information you were gathering... It was meant to be for your people as a whole right?

Guaranteed death and an attempt to collect all the information there versus bringing what you could back to your people? Don't try to tell me they would have preferred you dying...

Jihahna's bottom lip trembles again out of fear she might offend her friend with her next words. She takes another deep breath and goes on. Her voice gentler still.

"As humble as you are Gand, This one believes you got greedy. In a desperate attempt to prove yourself to your people, you knew you couldn't both have all the information and live, so at least if you died in the attempt, you didn't have to bother anymore... You were too proud to just take what you could... Your death would have been pointless, a waste. To this one, that was not acceptable, so this one acted."



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[Binder Fred]

Jihahna's bottom lip trembles. Composure lost, she begins to cry... Again.

Her opposite orients and moves in until they touch, gestures suggesting they should maybe sit, side-by-side, on the Gambit's patched-up sectional...?

If they do, her subtle body heat gradually leaks through the points of contactn -- surprisingly warm, considering. Not unlike what she did in the speeder that first day on Dathomir...

[...]

"As humble as you are Gand, This one believes you got greedy. In a desperate attempt to prove yourself to your people, you knew you couldn't both have all the information and live, so at least if you died in the attempt, you didn't have to bother anymore... You were too proud to just take what you could... Your death would have been pointless, a waste. To this one, that was not acceptable, so this one acted."

That seems... puzzling to the gand. Shocking? Something else? It takes the time to digest, then:

jumble drone guttural whirr mumble CLACK "This one is gand, Jihahna Darut," as if explaining the colour of the sky to a small child.

A small (reassuring?) buzz, looking into her eyes from the side, clicketty drone, slur high-hum "And nothing is ever guaranteed."

 

[Sezarious]

Jihahna holds this Gands hands firmly; looking her in the eyes, she fires up once more! Her grip shakes as she talks.


"Don't tell me your cultural beliefs bypass your sense of logic! You've displayed far too much insight for me to think that possible! Your capacity in understanding others, your ability to show empathy, you know exactly what I'm talking about and why i'm upset. I'm calling your bluff!

Okay, there are no guarantees sure, but THAT can go both ways! Even if there had been a slim chance you could have escaped after the fact, there was no guarantee you would have been successful in gathering all the data from a system that was shutting down!

Furthermore, leaving with what you had meant you might be able to return someday. There's no guarantee the temple has to be sealed forever is there?

You could also decipher the star maps you found in the chamber and search out new ruins. There's no guarantee you'll find what you seek, but the possibilities are VERY real. I mean you might have the location of a more accessible Kwa library just sitting there in one of your star maps! There's no guarantee, but in the likelihood that you had died, so would that as a possibility and so many more."

She looks down a moment, her eyes going blank, her tears stopping, silent. When she spoke again, it was a whisper.

"You wanted to die".


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[Shayuri]

Being a Jedi was about more than study, more than exploring the ways of the Force. The Jedi Knights were diplomats and peacemakers, furthering the cause of harmony in more than simply metaphysical ways. Kacela found herself thrust into that role after the danger of the ancient Rakata weapon was ended. Especially once Reks left...and she had felt a pang for that, even as she acknowledged it was probably for the best...as she was the only Jedi left. Though Jihahna was learning quickly, had even built a lightsaber, she was not officially of the Order yet.

Kacela found herself speaking with the Council's voice therefore, and took it up with the same doggedness that she had pursued her other tasks as a Jedi. Her communication with her old master early on had yielded the best piece of advice she'd had, which was 'Never rush into anything when negotiating...always know you can call for a recess if you need time to think, or to research. They will try to press you, to get you to act rashly or without considering all the nuance. Don't let them.'

Czerka was an old hand at these types of agreements, and had a large team of experienced legal experts on hand. Kacela had...pretty much just herself. The Kwi could offer little support with the complex body of law and precedent that governed the Republic. Fortunately, that body of law heavily favored indigenous sentient populations. There was bad blood between the Kwi and Czerka, and it took time to convince the Kwi that they could benefit from an agreement, but the talks progressed. After the first couple of weeks a Republic team of contact specialists arrived and took over much of the work, with Kacela simply needing to convince the Kwi to place trust in them as they had with her.

It had felt good though. Saving the planet in a burst of violence with a band of companions was one thing...a personal victory...but there was something even better about knowing that she'd contributed to ensuring that the peace won through that violence would be lasting. That was, she felt, an important distinction between the Jedi and, say, a mercenary company. The Jedi would fight, would do violence and even kill...but they would also stay and help deal with the aftermath of it. Their knives were the knives of surgeons...used judiciously to remove something far worse, and the injuries caused by that excision were to be treated as well.

When Jihahna made her first call to the Council, Kacela was with her, offering her report as well. Thereafter she left those communications between she and they...it was no longer her place to insert herself. There was still a sore spot, a bruise on her ego, from when she'd realized she couldn't train Jihahna the way she needed. Part of her still wanted to believe that she...even though only newly risen from padawan...could take on a student immediately. Had she not defeated Sith? Had she not deciphered the ritual, and even blocked it?

The path of the Jedi was not easy. Sometimes the better one did, the harder it became. Was it any wonder that so many fell?

 

[GreenKarl]

Earlier this Gand had sent a message to his 'council' via an ancient and coded language unique to them. His only reply back was "Interesting. Contemplating implications. Stand by." That was two weeks ago but no follow up.

The morning was heavy with mist on Dathomir although the spaceport was mostly clear of it. As Kacela was working on some minor repairs outside the Outlaw Gambit and Jor Dan saw to the proper docking of his starfighter, a well dressed male Deraronian approached and called out to Kacela "Excuse me my dear. Might I assume that you are the captain of this fine vessel?"