Shadows of Bankor

Juri had posted up in the clinic, early on. She knew the rotations wouldn't begin yet, but she still managed to claim a small corner for herself. She had invited Vaya, and waited with the necessary materials.

Vaya had seen people do amazing things with the Force, but what Juri had explained to her seemed strange even by the standards of the Jedi and their enemies. She had studied ancient traditions while knowing, if only in theory, about what the Order was capable of, but the Jedi kept their own secrets, or at least didn’t answer questions to the satisfaction of scholars. Academic who looked at the remnants of more esoteric mystical traditions had tended to assume that anything that they claimed to be capable of that was different than what the Jedi were understood to be able to do was, depending on the scholar, rationalized, discounted, and generally explained away as metaphor, misunderstanding, trickery, or delusion.

In her professional work she had gone along with this consensus out of convenience and given the matter little thought. After a still-difficult-to-categorize moment in an ancient and sacred place, she hadn’t known what to think. She had seen people (mostly Inquisitors) move objects at a distance, and others claim knowledge of things unseen. Her conversations with Juri over the last several weeks had strained her conception of the world further, as Juri asked for and Vaya sought a variety of… things.

Mostly mineral (crystalline, metallic, native elements, oxides, silicates), but some animal or vegetable. Many were pricey or difficult to get, and Vaya struggled to understand the why without slowing down the process, giving offense, or prying too deeply into the things that Juri did not wish to share. She was reminded of her experience trying to figure out how to take care of the newly-gained TBD, except Juri was considerably nicer about it than some of the ship technicians she had consulted.

And now, here they were.

“Uh, what now?” she asked, sitting on one of the clinic’s tables with her hands on her knees.

ETA:

D7EM Valuable Etsy Facts (Lore): 2eP+2eA+2eD 1 success, 2 advantage


So, hanging Triumph, boost on a roll.

"Watch. Observe. You are about to see my speciality in what I was trained as." The Witch began the ritual. The resources that Vaya had gathered were truly valuable, perfect for such a task. Even as she was taxed by her own neural charm, the work was bolstered by the light.

She smiled, handing a small, blessed tiara over to the Balosar after only an hour of work. The materials were meticulously measured, and in the end, Juri now had detailed notes on the process.

"It does strain the body to use, but you will find your natural brilliance shines right through..." she whispered as she passed the Neural Charm.

EM7 - Space Etsy - Crafting Neural Charm (Intellect 4, Lore 2, +1eB boost from Vaya, +3eB Neural Charm, Daunting Difficulty, Secret Lore reduces Difficulty by 1. Hanging Triumph from VF): 2eP+2eA+4eB+3eD+1eF 6 successes, 2 threat, 2 Light Side
extra successes reduce time to 1 hour instead of 6. Triumph use to create a blueprint that permamently reduces the difficulty if crafting the Neural Charm by one (begins at Hard instead of Daunting.) 2 force pips for careful measuring, costs 50% of max base cost.

Two threat to Dapper.

Vaya took the thing in both hands. It looked like it was made of spun glass infused with starlight. It was by a large margin the most luxurious thing she had ever owned. She stared at it, unsure of what to think. The process she had watched was simultaneously burned in her memory, and impossible to fully grasp.

She opened her mouth, realized she was about to say wow and feel foolish, and closed it again. "Thank you," she said instead.

OOC: Sloppy Integration.

"I went a little extra on the flourishes." The power of the Force has flowed through her, and though she had been careful with her measurements, she thought that Vaya deserverd something spectacular. "Thank you for being a friend."

Ooc: Vaya covered the majority of the cost, Juri covered the remainder.

Vaya laughed, and smiled. "Sorry. I just thought that for some people somewhere, it's probably normal to get and give nice accessories to friends. But probably not... quite like this." She looked down again at it, still not quite sure what her eyes were seeing. "It's beautiful. I'm sure I don't have anything that goes with it, but, kriff it, right? I don't think any fashionistas got run out of Rygor to here to call me on it."

"And if they do, send them to me. I'll make them rethink giving you guff with naught but a touch!" She laughed a little, relaxing a bit, but slumping back, breathing out softly.

"It has been a long couple of weeks." She quietly continued, a slight sadness in her tone. "I've been grateful for the distraction of working here, supporting the cause." Biting her lower lip, chewing thoughtfully. "I'm glad to be able to talk to you. And Jenna and Sacha."

Juri Saizesh wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:14 pm

"And if they do, send them to me. I'll make them rethink giving you guff with naught but a touch!" She laughed a little, relaxing a bit, but slumping back, breathing out softly.

Vaya laughed along, haha, you have mystical powers and can kill with a touch! Juri was very different from the Padawans she had gotten to know (or “Academy types,” in the euphemistic code of the Karath family), but she had her own oddities. Vaya wondered where the cause and effect was between personality, ancient mystical orders, the secrecy and isolation they tended to operate in, the persecution they faced.

"It has been a long couple of weeks." She quietly continued, a slight sadness in her tone. "I've been grateful for the distraction of working here, supporting the cause." Biting her lower lip, chewing thoughtfully. "I'm glad to be able to talk to you. And Jenna and Sacha."

Vaya smiled at Juri, trying not to overexaggerate her expression. She was much quicker with a smirk or a falsely pleasant face than a genuinely warm smile, and she sometimes found it difficult to trust that her natural expression would communicate the right sentiment. She had grown more comfortable with Juri, though.

“Distraction?” she asked, carefully neutral.

"Just... had a lot on my mind." She continued, shaking her head. "Working has been letting me focus on other thjnts, which is good." Her hands folded into her lap, looking away from her friend just a moment. "I never thought I'd end up in a revolution."

"I sure didn't," snorted Vaya. "And if you [/i]ever don't want to be, you've got a berth on the TBD."

"I think a lot of people ended up here who didn't expect it," she said, and then decided to stop being coy. "How's your Nightbrother taking to it? He's maybe the last being I expected to see here."

She pursed her lips. "Well enough. I'm glad he's here, fighting the fight, but the reason isn't the same as mine. Which is fine." She thought back on his lightsaber, on what he had told her.

"This may help him forge his destiny. He's a very good warrior, and capable of so much. He will flourish. I can feel it." There was a hint of a smile.

"Hmm." Vaya chewed on that one for a minute. Daunt struck her, from that first blood-licking moment in the Salty Nerf, as capable of rather a lot, but not necessarily in a pleasant way. She realized that the length of time she had taken to weigh whether to respond or not had grown to the point where it might be taken as a commentary of its own.

"And what next for you?" she said instead. "I don't know what whatever committee is running this place is planning, but the writing's on the wall for the Sword. Talk about destiny? This place is destined for orbital bombardment." She shook her head. "Not to be bad for morale or anything. But I ended up here by chance when the Empire chased us all out of Rygor. I don't know if I plan to follow them to their next post-evacuation-under-fire rendezvous."

"I will trust in the Force. See where it takes me." She looked to the Balosar. "But I don't think I can walk away from this. These people will need help. They will need a Doctor. And who knows, maybe along the way, I build my coven. Rebuild what it means to be a Nightsister of Dathomir." Juri looked to Vaya's eyes.

"They could use someone like you. Your brilliant mind at a tactical station. Coordinating logistics and developing deployment schedules. Things like that, no?"

Vaya winced like Juri had just inserted an IV. "I don't think I'm cut out to be an insurgent. Life and death choices. Not just for the people on my side, by for the people on the other side." She looked Juri in the eye unsteadily. "I'd be careful getting your hopes up about how much you'll be able to build, sticking with this crowd. They're a lot smaller than the Separatists ever were, and the Separatists lost." She looked pained.

"And if they win? I saw some blowhard on the holonews during the Clone Wars, saying that some planet or other should rise up against its occupiers. Someone I knew at University, said that he had read that when people did that, they can expect one in ten people on the planet to die in the struggle." She looked back to the gift in her hands. "I'm not saying it's not the right thing to do. Or, that I won't help how I can. I just don't think I have the kind of faith in it that it'd take to live through the thick of it."

"Maybe. But hope springs eternal. And from what we've seen here..." she pursed her lips. "The attack on the Enclave. The way the Empire came down on everyone. Fear is a powerful motivator. But it isn't a strong one. Sentient beings have a history of finally standing up to things that scare them." The purple eyes focused on Vaya's own.

"It might only be really scary thinking that we are it. But what if we aren't? Who knows what happens if this is only the beginning. Can you imagine? What if small bands of resistances come together. In some kind of... alliance? Hope can bring people together. We can't lost hope, Vaya. Otherwise darkness will grind you down."

"It's hard to imagine," said Vaya. "And I'm not big on belief in things unseen." She was still looking at the gift in her hands, and she smirked, a joke at her own expense. "The talents of present company excepted." She shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought off. "I just don't know. I thought that, maybe, the you know, whatever had brought me to Bankor for a reason. I thought that that reason was... what I helped the Jedi find. Now I'm wondering if that was just another step on the road." She rolled her eyes at herself, and looked at Juri instead of the crown. "I don't know how you mystical types live thinking there's some kind energy field that controls your destiny. I managed to convince myself it's real, and now I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure out what it wants!"