Don't stop believin'

[Danger Arceneau]

"You are not alone." Danger said simply. There was no judgement in her voice, just plain and simple fact. Alric Kuhn was not the only sentient in the galaxy that had their own clone; their insurance plan were something to go wrong. Some would consider it the method of attaining immortality, a way to continue on long before the original body would expire.

To a degree, one would wonder if this was any different than what the Sith would use with their hokey religions. Danger was not so naive as to be unaware of the methods Sith have used to transfer their life to another, albeit in a more horrendous and agonizing method. For them, they stole lives from those already having been lived.

But then again, that begged the question -- for those who had blank clones of themselves, were they doing the same?

It was a curious curio. Danger could understand the reasoning and the logic behind it. Mores and ethics were always a blurred line when it came to replicants.

"As do I." much in the same method Alric did his. Her own Dat'qah tattoo spanned the length of her spine in a series of an intricate tribal compass roses. Ironic really, considering her name.

Her green eyes would latch upon the blank visage of the clone trooper, and she would consider just what sort of life Saffron and Ashiin would have led had they not been awaken to live their own lives? What if they had be utilized for the purpose that they had been bred?

It certainly made one question when life began.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He stayed silent for a while after he made that revelation, not quite sure how to go on.

"I always wondered what it would be like." Alric continued finally. "He would know everything. All I've done. All I've been through. I think he would be confused at first. He would be thirty years youngers, every scar, every cut, every scrape, everything would be magically repaired."

For a second he stalled. "He could feel his back."

Danger would know the significance of that. It wasn't a physical hurt, at least not anymore, but it was still a painful emotional reminder of how foolish he had been. Even after all of these years it still stuck with him. His eyes slowly focused on the Clone Troopers blank face, watching the carved marble features and observing the subtle contours that ascribed absolute nothingness.

Alric wondered who had carved this.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Much like waking up from a dream." she'd say in an introspective tone, Alric still in her peripheral as they quietly spoke. "A long, foggy dream."

That is what she would imagine it would be. Consciousness would come in degrees, vision blurred and the heady sickly scent of bacta in the air. The beeping of medical monitors, the spike of a heartbeat. Perhaps even the light flash of light over the eyes as the medic's voice is the first to welcome the transferred conscious into a new body.

She gave a frown.

"But what will one wake to?" she said silently, taking a deep breath. Her's would be the same, were something to happen to her. It was a fallback. And much like Alric, her clone would have opportunities she in life did not. She would not have the internal scar tissue that would prevent her from giving birth. She would have a second chance to live.

But is stepping into the shoes of the Queen of Trade really having a chance at a new life?

If I were to die today... and wake up in a new body tomorrow. Do I really want to live through this again?

Would she make the same sacrifices? What would change?

Her expression would turn somber.

Was that really living?

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He stopped speaking for a few minutes. Alric stood quietly, staring at the statue. His eyes wandered to the droid and the rifle, then back towards the clones face. The inscription lingered wtihin his thoughts, the writings. His lips thinned for a few moments and thoughts rendered through his mind. It was as though he were playing the game again. Move after move plotted out within his mind, one event jumping to the next, an entire life played out within his mind.

Then it suddenly stopped.

It seemed like an age passed before he said anything.

"Freedom." Alric said quietly. "He won't do all this again."

For a moment more he looked at the statue, then back at Danger. "I won't do all of this again."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

At that, Danger would pan her verdant gaze over to [member="Alric Kuhn"]. Tipping her head back, she would let her eyes sink into his weathered visage. There she would see the lines of a weary life etched upon the angles of his face, among the faint mar of wrinkles by his mouth, along his eyes. Yet there sat the edge of determination, of decisiveness.

From under her wide brim hat, Danger slowly gave him a faint smile. It was one that understood the significance of the moment. The conviction behind it. Her right hand rose, coming to rest upon his bicep. She gave it a light squeeze of support, but the look in her eyes relayed a seriousness that she too had come to terms with.

"Then make it a life worth living."

He would have a new body, a new life. Live it outside the bureaucracy and responsibilities he had now. Let that die with his death, and instead wake up to a new dawn.

His freedom.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Again he stayed quiet again. Perhaps he was lost in thought, perhaps he was making a decision. It was always hard to tell with him. His face always turned to the same stone when he was deep in his own mind, when he was planning and plotting, when he was thinking of the future and the past all at once.

Alric felt her hand on his bicep, a small jump coursing through him as she caught his attention.

Her words struck him, though not hard as they might have.

A life worth living. That was a thought. Hadn't his life been worth living? Hadn't he gone through everything and gained so much? He had had a wife, loving for a time until she had left. He had his best friend back. He had two beautiful daughters that were slowly coming into their own. Hadn't he had a life worth living? Sure there were many mistakes, many pitfalls, but it had been worth it, it had all come together in the end, or was coming together.

Slowly Alric turned to Danger. He watched her for a moment more, eyeing her and observing every little piece of her. His lips thinned slightly as he looked beneath the brim of her hat. For a moment he considered, he thought about his life, about the mistakes he had made. The fallen Titan lingered for a moment more than slowly raised his hand, placing it upon Danger's cheek.

He stroked his thumb gently across her soft skin, then said two simple words. "We will."

Alric offered her a smile, then let his hand fall away as he walked passed her and towards the next painting.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

We will?

Her eyes would look at Alric in mild confusion as he stepped away. The lingering heat of the caress across her cheek was a solace as it was a promise. But what did that entail? He was harder to read now, she’d muse to herself, watching him walk off towards the next painting, clasping his hands at his back.

There had been something in his eyes there. Something between that stoic deadpan he reverted to when considering the vast possibilities. For a moment, a chill of apprehension ran down her spine. Could he read her? He had always had a knack of it, but even then, he had remained oblivious to one aspect either by choice or by her distance.

No, maybe she was thinking too much into it. A slight shake of her head was next, her head returning to the statue of the Clone Trooper with the blank visage. Words would drift with poignancy.

Forgotten, but immortalized.

With that singular thought, Danger began to step away from the statue, following in Alric’s footsteps. The future would be upon them soon enough, and with it whatever came their way. At the present time, she had this right now. For a smile they could share the rest of the day.

It was enough.