[D5LN -- TBD] All-Nighter

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya thought back to her one and only interaction with the Sister, earlier that day, and gave a short, derisive, hah!

“How’d that go for you? Because last I saw her, she was about to push some poor slum-dwellers up against a wall and flash-fry them. I’m not great at meditation myself -- Petrus can tell you -- but that’s not usually how it leaves me feeling.”

[Verse Aura]

Verse handed over the cup, and listened for Qareme's answer to the question. Inviting her to meditate was almost as good a joke as any that Verse would've come up with, but maybe more effective at cracking that dark side armor.

[Qareme Torth]

"She sat with me, and we meditated" Qareme answered. What might sound like a joke from Verse sounded deadly serious from Qareme. "I talked with her through meditation, and felt the light that still resided within her."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya made a skeptical face, drank her coffee, and raised her antennapalps in a do go on expression (that she followed with more commonly interpretable hand-and-eyebrow prompts if it didn’t translate).

[Qareme Torth]

"When a person meditates, they reflect upon themselves. When she meditated, I could feel it. The light, clouded by fear, and a feeling of abandonment. It was a brief flicker, but I knew then she was not beyond redemption. She just needed to believe it for herself, and see the light hidden behind the blindfold of darkness."

Qareme closed her eyes, and took a calming breath.

"The same blindfold that can cover any of our eyes, if we allow it to. This is no different to Tirali. If we allowed her to be blinded by fear and greed, rather than guide her towards the path of freedom, we would be no different to those who bring fear. We are not here to judge one another, merely help one another find their destiny."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya listened with increasingly less doubt, and hid her retreated smirk behind the lip of her caf mug. She sipped and made a face at Verse, but didn't interrupt Qareme.

"That's..." her tired brain fumbled. "Nice. That's really nice, Qareme." She normally used much bigger words, but it didn't undercut her sincerity. "They teach you that at the Academy?"

[Qareme Torth]

"No."

Qareme shook her head, opening her eyes and looking at Vaya.

"Not exactly. I learnt it during my time there, but I did not truly understand it until I became Master Claflem's Padawan, so I do not consider it learnt before then."

[Verse Aura]

"Well, *I* totally learned it before becoming a padawan," Verse said with mock triumphant smirk. "Wait... we were talking about flips, right?"

She drank some of the kaf she'd made. "But yes... anyone can return to the Light if they want to. I'm not sure there's anything that could make someone so evil that there's not the slightest doubt in them. There's always a flicker of the Light left, hidden somewhere inside."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya smirked, looking at Qareme, not at Verse. "It's nice to think that everyone's redeemable. I only wish I could believe the same was true..." she took another sip, "...of every cup of caf."

[Verse Aura]

"Hey, blame the tools, not the brewmaster."

[Qareme Torth]

"Verse will continue to practice until her caf has achieved perfection, now she understands how the tools work" Qareme commented, not making it obvious she was joking because it was very hard to tell....