EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei kept a firm grip on Sabine's shoulders, with just enough pressure to provide another reminder of Meesei's constant presence. "If that staff is as powerful as it seems, then it would be foolish not to use it against Vile. However, if you really are relying upon the staff as much as you say, then that is all the more reason to stay away from it as much as possible. The staff is just a weapon. A powerful weapon, but still just an object. It is not healthy to have your sanity bound to a lifeless object. I know it will not be easy, but you have to try to break yourself away from it. Sometimes, there has to be pain before there can be healing."

For a brief moment, Meesei looked back towards the Dragon. She would not want to diminish Sabine's accomplishment, but its body did serve as strong evidence of the staff's power. It allowed Sabine and the others to slay the Dragon with hardly an injury among them. It was understandable that the staff would give her confidence; the problem came in that Sabine seemed to have lost all of her confidence without it. "When we are back home among our clan, or not doing anything to involve ourselves in a fight, I would like for you to allow me to keep the staff securely locked away. We can use it against any danger, but I do not believe you should allow yourself to become accustomed to it always being around. Powerful artifacts such as the staff tend to be fickle, with something of a mind of their own. They can move on from their owners at their own will, according to old stories. I will be there for you every step of the way, and I promise you will have the time you need. Just because we now have the Axe does not mean we are ready to invade Vile's realm right away. We still need to take the time to gather all of our allies, resources, equipment, and everything else we will need to give us the best chance possible. Not to mention, we still need to have another Daedra empower the Axe. All of that will take time, so you do not have to worry about rushing into anything."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak climbed out of the carriage behind the others, a bit lethargically. Much like Lyn, he could not say that he was too fond of the cold. His body was meant for his volcanic homeland, where the very idea of a "chilly" day was a foreign concept. Apart from his helmet, he was wearing his full armor, much as he usually did when traveling.

"Yes, we do have much we need to report." Ssarak said in agreement with Leith. "But, I would not mind some time by a warm fire, personally."

Ssarak stood close beside Meirin. He felt eager to finally be able to relax within the safety of the College's walls with her. Although they had went on the same mission together, both of them were professional enough that they kept their focus on the tasks at hand, for the most part. The chances for them to spend personal time together were few and far between. However, he was not so impatient that he could not wait until they had dealt with other matters.

Star Wars - Jedi Exile

Breathing. Breathing had been the only other sound in the small room, aside from the constant hum of the servers lining the walls of the room, since Kresst received the news. He was almost grateful for the white noise that the computers created, else he would have been alone with only his own breaths, and his ever-quickening heartbeat. Outside of sleeping, this was likely the longest period of time that the Mrlssi had spent alone in the room without working on something. No inspecting artifacts, no cataloguing, no meditating, just his own thoughts. He was sat in his hammock, which was strung up near the top of two servers just to the right of the door. His large eyes were half closed, and looking down blankly at the hard floor that he was suspended above.

For a Jedi Knight with his years of experience, Kresst’s response may have been seen as odd. As opposed to being meditative, he was emotional. He felt the sadness, the loss, sharply in his chest. He had the capacity to rid himself of it, certainly. Like every Jedi on the ship, he had went through all of the same training to be able to center himself in peace, and to detach himself from pain, fear, and anything else that could draw out his emotions. However, that was not his choice. He allowed himself to feel what his mind naturally wanted him to feel. It was anger at the betrayal of the Republic, sadness at the loss of the Order he had known for all of his conscious life, and fear of the unknown to come. That was the natural order of his mind, and he was certain he had never felt anything so intense before.

Again, Kresst played the message aloud through his datapad. The voice of Master Kenobi filled the small room completely, with each word holding a kind of weight that Kresst had never felt in a simple recording. In his research, he had found similar recordings given by important men and women of long-dead civilizations. He had catalogued recordings of powerful warriors and inspiring leaders giving hope to their subjects. Sometimes they were successful, and many more were failures. For a moment, he wondered what some future scholar a few hundred years in the future might make of the recording he was hearing. Would it be another tale of the Jedi’s brush with extinction, or the final words of a dead Order?

He took another breath, in, and out. Kresst closed his eyes and, for a moment, had to make the conscious effort to clear his mind. Even he realized that the strength of his emotions in this moment were becoming worrying. Kresst did not fear emotion, but even he did not give into it unrestricted. He focused on another word of the message as Master Kenobi spoke it: hope. In such a dark time, the idea of hope almost sounded ridiculous. The Jedi Order that had existed for the last millennia had, by everything he knew at the moment, had been almost extinguished, along with the Republic it supported. But, perhaps somewhat ironically, Kresst felt that he could believe in the idea of hope even more strongly than most Jedi. He did not believe that it was the will of the Force for darkness to overtake the galaxy. Such a fate would upset the balance of the Force just as much as the light controlling the galaxy in its entirety. If darkness was rising now, then Kresst was confident that the light would have to rise to meet it in time. They needed only survive until that time could come.

Azure’s voice came over the intercom at seemingly just the right time. Kresst doubted that he, or any of the other Jedi would fully recover from what happened in any short amount of time, but right now, he understood the importance of action. Their new enemies would not allow them to wait around and grieve.

Kresst dropped down from his hammock, his claws tapping lightly against the floor as he used the Force to soften his fall. With a wave of his hand, he opened up the server room door and walked out down the hall, towards the main room. Despite his light frame, it was easy to hear him coming down the hall due to his claws tapping against the metal floor with every step that he took. By the time he reached the room and joined Azure, he had cleared his mind of the emotions that had filled his thoughts just minutes ago.

“Master Azure.” Kresst greeted, his tone serious and solemn. The texture of his voice was a bit harsh, since the vocalizations of Basic did not feel natural to produce through his physiology, but all the same, he was perfectly capable of conveying the full range of emotions through it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was difficult for Meesei to keep her composure. It was painful for her to see Sabine in such a panicked state, but if Sabine saw any doubt within Meesei, then it would only make it easier for Sabine to give in to her own doubt. If Meesei was going to tell Sabine that she believed she had the strength to recover, then she had to be able to say it with complete confidence.

"The Hist showed you everything you needed to cure your pain. Everything that you just described to me, it was not some otherworldly magic; it was your own resolve. The Hist are powerful beings that function outside of time as we consider it, so they were able to help you reach a patient solution right away. This is going to have to be solved in 'mortal' time, but I do think it will be easier to overcome than your childhood trauma. What happened, it is still fresh on your mind, but I do not believe that the pain is nearly as great as what you once faced. This time, it was out enemies who captured you and...did those things to you. They were monsters that you had no reason to trust. But, as a child, it was your sister who betrayed you, at least to your perspective. It was your own flesh and blood who gave you your scars. And yet, you were able to forgive her even before your encounter with the Hist. If you were able to recover from the pain of having your own family torture you, then I know you can overcome this." Meesei reached her arms around Sabine, giving her another hug.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Paradise

Sirka, upon leaving her meeting with Koren, rushed to try to accomplish as much as she could in the limited time she had. Koren had requested her presence in one of the hangers in half an hour, and she was not about to give up a potential job. She headed straight back to the bar she had just left before the meeting to pick up Delni, who was still quite engaged in her conversation with the strange droid. Delni did not want to leave so suddenly, but the fact that her sister told her it was important was enough to convince her to come along without much argument. At the very least, she did give the droid enough information to be able to contact her, should these “StarBlades” actually get into a position to be able to hire mercenaries.

Sirka explained the situation to Delni on the way to the hanger. She did mention that Koren had taken notice of Delni’s technical ability that he potentially could offer her a job, but Sirka also spent about twice as much time stressing to her sister that she did not have to accept a job from him if she did not want to. She repeated, quite a few times, that Delni should turn it down if it sounded dangerous, and that turning down the job would not affect Sirka’s employment in any way.

On her part, Delni was not completely sure how to feel about potentially being offered work. The idea of jumping into mercenary work, even of a non-lethal sort, had not seriously crossed her mind up to this point. She had always just been helping her sister to find the jobs. It seemed almost bizarre to think that she could get involved herself, though her recent experiences did perhaps help her to warm up to the idea.

Once in the hanger, Sirka followed Koren’s advice and sought out the weapons vendor, after having her own weapons brought to the hanger, E-Web included. Since they were outside of security, it was one of the few places on Paradise where one could actually have their weapons. She had not yet had too much time to examine the E-Web in detail, but she knew enough about blasters that she believed she knew what parts would be needed to fix it, and what was most likely to need replacing based on the damage she saw. Still, she did purchase a few extra parts, just in case the damage was more widespread than she had expected. Sirka was not sure if she would actually have time to fix the weapon before her next job, but she started on the project while she waited regardless.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei had to hold back a sigh when she saw Sabine's eyes on the staff. It was challenging to get her to focus on anything else except what happened to her, and the staff that had been used on her during her torture. It was frustrating, but Meesei was patient. Still, it was clear that the staff was going to be a problem. Meesei lifted up the staff in her hand and looked at it in silence for only a moment before, quite suddenly, turning back and throwing it with a fair amount of strength and just a slight bit of telekinetic guidance to make sure it landed where she wanted: out of sight behind the Dragon. Despite the Staff of Magnus being perhaps the most valuable item Meesei had held in her life, she tossed it with all the care of a worthless stick.

"Sabine, do not worry about the staff right now. It is not important right now; we are alone here, and we are safe here." Meesei said with complete confidence. "Just...stop a moment. Close your eyes, take a breath. I want you to try and think back many years, a long time ago. Back to when you were just a child in my pack. You had your pain then, your secrets, your scars. You have had those scars in your mind for as long as I have known you, but you have not had to carry their weight on your shoulders for well over a decade now. The Hist helped you, but they did not help you by erasing those memories. They helped you gather the strength to move past it. I want you to try to think back to the Hist, and your experience with them all those years ago. What do you think it was that helped you?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei felt fortunate that Sabine at least could not see her frown, or the rest of her worried expression. It now seemed clear that Sabine had been suppressing this since she had escaped from her captors. It was worrying, but at the same time, it did give Meesei some hope. Clearly, Sabine had been able to keep herself focused and motivated enough to go after the Rueful Axe on her own initiative, to help those who had helped her. The pain in her memories was not completely dominant.

Reaching down, Meesei moved aside Sabine's hands to uncover her face, then placed a hand on her cheek and lifted up her head so they could make eye contact. "It is okay, Sabine. You can do this."

This time, Meesei took the initiative in taking Sabine's hand and pulling her up to her feet. She had already looked around the area enough to know that she wanted to bring in others to help recover the spoils of the battle, but Meesei still did not want to leave just yet. "I can see there is more than just the dragon here. You should show me what you think might be useful to us, I think." Meesei suggested. Even if it was simple, Meesei wanted to give her some task to focus on.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei inspected the staff once she had it in her grasp. It was a bit easier to feel the power within once it was solely in her own possession, without Sabine's magicka to interfere. "It is easy to understand how Arinette was such a threat with this staff. The power inside it is incredible. I understand why it made you feel safe to have it. I hope with both of us working together to study it, we can unlock all of its secrets within at least the next few months. We just have to be careful; this kind of power is dangerous."

Meesei could easily see how shaken Sabine was. The kind of fear that she saw in her eyes was familiar, and painful for Meesei to see again. But, she had not been lying to Sabine in trying to console her. Meesei did truly believe that Sabine had the strength to recover, but she might require guidance in the right direction. It seemed to Meesei that it would be best if she kept Sabine away from the staff for a while. The artifact had essentially saved her when she claimed it, but now it seemed that she had become dependent on it for comfort. Sabine needed to be able to feel safe without it. Along a similar vein, as much as Meesei just wanted to sit and hug Sabine, Meesei knew that she had been giving her plenty of sympathy. What Sabine needed now was the encouragement to press on with her own strength.

Standing to her feet, Meesei offered Sabine her hand to help her stand as she glanced over to the dragon. "I think we should bring this body back to the clan. The dragon, I mean. It could be quite valuable to us, and seeing it could be impressive enough to the clan to help...persuade them to listen to you in regards to Do'rhajul. We will not be able to keep him hidden forever."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei remained just as firm, both in her tone and demeanor, though not aggressively so. "Yes you can, Sabine. The staff is a powerful tool, but you do not need it. You know you can keep yourself safe without it. To get past what happened, you are going to need to be able to let go of it all. I doubt you will ever truly forget what happened, but you will need to be able to leave it in your past. This staff...it is yours by right. There is no one who could look at what happened, what you did, and say that you did not earn the right to wield such a relic. But, you still have to be able to let it go. The staff serves you, but you are not dependent on it."

Again Meesei looked down to her hands still holding onto the staff. She tugged on it once more, again not being forceful enough to make it seem as if she were trying to steal it. "I do want to help you study this weapon and help you discover what it can truly do. But, you have to trust me with it. Do you believe that I am going to hurt you?"

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Delni observed each of the holograms that the droid projected, but each image it showed gained little reaction from her. They all looked like rather unique Imperials, if they all were indeed Imperial, but none of them were familiar to her. The only thing that did seem pretty certain from what she was gathering was that they were dangerous. "Sorry, I...don't know any of those people, unfortunately. Or perhaps fortunately; they all look like the kind of people I prefer to avoid. The Empire might be tearing itself apart, but as long as its proverbial legs are still kicking, I like to stay clear. Right now, they are a bad combination of dangerous and desperate. Some of them are flying around the galaxy like mynocks with their heads cut off, but there are others that seem to have a bit more...purpose with what they're doing. The ones in Hutt space are at least not destroying themselves, mostly."

The Togruta shrugged her shoulders. "It's hard to guess their plan when it seems like even they don't know what they're doing. But, if you are set on doing this, you will probably need more than just you, a Trandoshan, and a drunk Weequay. If you want my advice, I'd say to be patient. Maybe see if you can find some people to help you, or at least who want to hurt the Empire just as much as you. My sister, she is that giant lizard who was sitting here before. She's a mercenary, and she's worth at least over a dozen of anyone else you could hire. Thing is, she's meeting with the owner of this place right now, and I don't know if he has another job lined up for her. She might not be available in the short term, but you'd probably want more than just her anyways. Maybe I can give you my contact details, and maybe we can end up working together in the future."