I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more (Zaren Bouqi & Lady Exedō)

[Brumhilda deWinter]

Tython

Brumhilda woke with a start, instantly knowing in every inch of her body that everything was wrong. To begin with, her last memories were of her being in Tython, going over the Alliance medical supply inventory, making sure they weren't missing more than officials had said they were. There was an expedition forming to go somewhere.

But this wasn't the Thyton she'd gone to sleep on. Or, maybe it was. She wasn't sure. But this certainly wasn't the pillow she'd put her head on,because that had been an actual pillow and not a rock. There was no ceiling over her head; not of metal, not of stone. Just sky. Everything smelled differently.

And worst of all was the emptiness in her hands, where Dante had been when she'd fallen asleep. Her little child, with his blue eye and green eye, snuggled closely to her as he had been for nearly every night of his life. He was gone. GONE!

The girl jumped up, looking around, fighting back the tears of panic, battling against herself the urge to scream, and failing miserably.

"DANTE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "DANTE!"



Zaren Bouqi & Lady Exedō

 

[Zion Krayt]

The Jedi Knight's speeder sped across the plains of the planet of Tython, the planet that he had been born upon. It was his home, it was a beautiful planet. He had grown up here, quite close to the nearby Jedi Temple. Relatively everyone in his family had the Force, except his mother which was odd, but the rest, his uncle, a Jedi Master, his father, a Jedi Knight, and his three younger brothers were all Jedi Padawans when he had last seen them.

His favourite out of all of them was Benjamin Bouqi, a light hearted six year old. He never understood why Zaren had to leave the temple upon a mission, but he'd always been the first one at Zaren's quarters when he had returned. He missed him, but he was in a different time now and he had to pass through these days of darkness if he wished to see him one last time.

When his speeder continued onwards, he felt something in the Force, surprise, confusion, even anxiety and he turned it around to the direction that it had come from. He had never felt such... Odd emotions upon Tython, he had always felt clear-minded, as if he always knew what his purpose was. But now, he felt someone else was in torment, and it was his duty to help them. Soon, he knew he'd be there and he increased the throttle of the speeder.

Soon, he saw a form in the distance...

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

She heard the speeder before she saw it. Turning around with near madness, Brumhilda's hand went for the familiar location of her blade. There had never been a lightsaber there, not in earnest. But the last years of her life, she'd spent so many hours in medbays and infirmaries, helping people, that she always had a few syringes there. An empty bubble of air into the veins was just as lethal as any weapon.

But there was absolutely nothing there.

With a gasp, her thin hands reached for the nearest tree, but being as short as she was, she could not even get to the lowest branches. By the time the speeder was close enough so that she could make out the facial features that she did not recognize, she was like a kitten with her back to the corner, her claws ready to jump out.


[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

When he finally saw the woman, he leapt off of the speeder, black robes blowing momentarily when he landed to his feet and he tilted his head to the side whilst he watched the woman. She seemed... A lot more anxious close up than when he had sensed her before at a distance, but he figured that was due to his senses.

"It's alright, I'm not here to hurt you." He said with his palms towards her, and his aura in the Force practically exuding honesty, and he took a few steps towards her. "What's your name?"

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

There was a peculiar presence in the area, one that was not quite not like an animal, and at the same time- wasn't, either. There was a clicking sound, as the wolf in the Mandalorians stood up. Somewhere, drums beat, and someone howled as Preliat began to move. Electrobinoculars scanned for a while, before the man moved. He was fast, and he had a goal in mind.

"Dha."

The sound of moving feet and breaking branches got closer.

"Werda."

Birds scattered.

"Verda."


And just like that, the animal was just that much closer to the two.


[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

Black robes. Black was the sign of Sith. Black and red. Danger. Brumhilda wasn't anywhere safe. She could feel the tiny tugs, the thoughts that this was someone who was honest in his claims of not wanting to hurt her.

And for a moment, it almost worked.The approach of [member="Preliat Mantis"] snapped her back to her fears, her stress. Her phobias.

"The Sith can pull these tricks as well," she almost spat at him, grabbing now a tiny branch from the ground, ready to... Well, it would do no good to hit him with it. Or the other one. But she felt safer for holding it. "Where is my baby?! Who sent you?!"

[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

He frowned for a moment, and when he sensed that she had been close to believing him, she didn't. He sighed to himself when he straightened himself out when he started to sense another being nearby.

"Don't imply that I am a Sith." He said and starrted to grind his upper and lower half of teeth upon each other in an irritated manner. He hated that more than anything. It had only happened once in his life when a Jedi Knight had called him a Sith, for how violent he had fought in a training duel. Simply because he had defeated his Apprentice and the Master one right after the other. Zaren had been arrogant way back then, but being called a Sith, brought that memory back to him.

"I don't know what baby you speak of, and I came here when I felt you in the Force."

Wow, that sounds weird.

"I am Jedi Knight Bishop, Protector of Tython. Now tell me, who are you?"

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"], [member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

Not a Sith. Not a Sith. Not a Sith.

Brumhilda's heart thumped so quickly in her chest that she thought it could burst at any moment. Not a Sith. wait. Tython!

"Thython," she gasped, almost falling to her knees as she said the planet's name. She was still on Thyton. So Dante would still be on Tyhton as well, right? Because they were just there and-

Protector of Thyton?!

"There is no protector of Thython!" she almost cried. What cruel joke was this? "If you're really a Jedi as you claim then you can take me to-" the grandmaster, she almost said. But there hadn't been a grandmaster yesterday either. "Stop asking me for my name!" she almost screamed after a short pause, waving her stick in the air.

[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Shinju]

"Where are you from?"

The screams came as Shinju stood there in the grotto her and Darma had created in the temple. The pound of flesh from Empress Teta comign out lovely while her blade slid along his chest.

"If you keep screaming I am not going to be able to hear you. Now where do I send your pieces?"

He screamed again and Shinju sighed sliding her gloves off as energy danced along her fingertips. She reached out to the man, gliding fingers through his hair and then gripping hard.

"Give me your secrets jedi."

He didn't cream his mouth was so hoarse it dided out as Shinju pulled at his thoughts letting the thoughts and memories flow into her. She saw the one she had fought with opn Empress Teta andd laughed pulling deeper. Locations or at least where she could go and give some toys. She did have to return them afterall they were broken, mangled and bleeding all over the floor. The thought made her laugh coming away and licking her lips Shinju spoke.

"How delicious, time to send you home, do you want to go in pieces or in one large crate? Ah no matter I am certain grandmaster [member="Kiskla Grayson"] will enjoy having you back, Now it is time to get dressed"

 

[Zion Krayt]

"It's pronounced Tython." He replied when she said the name wrong time and again. When she proceeded to tell him there was no Protector, he shrugged his shoulders and said. "there is now." But he felt as if something was off, in fact, he knew that was something was off. This woman wasn't in her right mind, and she continued to say that he was lying.

He never wanted to think of it, never would have dreamed of someone coming from another time, and then eh sat down in front of her with his palms to still out to her as if to show that he meant her no harm. He didn't, that much was evident within the Force. But he was uncertain as to how she'd react to him sitting. "What's the date?"

[member="Lady Exedō"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

He sat down. But Brumhilda didn't trust such tricks. Even if he would not try to launch at her with his body, he still knew enough about the Force. Or at least, he claimed he was a Knight, so he should have known enough to attack her even without needing his hands.

Brumhilda leaped back, her shoulder bouncing into the tree that was behind her, and instinctively, she dropped the branch and half hugged the tree like a child hiding behind her mother's skirts.

And then he asked for a date. Brumhilda knew she was supposed to know what that was. It was shortly after Dante was born that she'd started learning. Really learning. Reading and writing. Telling the time. Spelling.

"150ABY," she answered, though she was not completely certain anymore. Her voice wasn't shrieking anymore, but closer to a terrified whisper as she forced the last things she remembered of the state of the 'verse, "the Alliance is no more, Coruscant is barren wasteland. Where is my son?"

[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

521ABY?

He remained seated upon the ground, doing his best to stay calm as she leapt around to the other side of hte tree. He wasn't going to chase her, that is unless she actually tried to run away. He had to help her, he was determined, to make her understand. But he wasn't going to answer her question about her son, not just yet.

"It is true, the Alliance is no more. But, Coruscant is no wasteland. It is simply ruled by the Sith." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. He had yet to lay eyes upon Coruscant in this time period but he was certain that it hadn't changed that much. Even the people he figured would be the same. "The year is 835ABY." He said softly. He knew the reaction would be devastating, but he was determined to stay seated upon the floor, just like he knew his good friend Ray Markel would be... "I also do not know who or where your son is." He said with a cringing face.

Things were going to get ugly.

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

835ABY.

835ABY.

835ABY.

Brumhilda shrunk in her place.

"You're lying," she squeaked, "it can't be 835. If it was 835, I'd be dead. But I'm not dead. I'm alive. And I'm not... I'm not six hundred years old." Or... More. She'd never been entirely certain what her actual age was. Stories had reached her, yes. She knew her mother had increased her growth, making her appear as she was now when she was a mere two years old. She knew her mind and body had been tampered with the Force.

But... Not even that. None of that would explain this now.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" she whispered, her eyes fixed on the floor now, "this is a bad dream. Just a bad dream. And I'm going to wake up soon and Dante is going to be in my hands, and he's going to smile and make his little baby sounds and everything will be the same hell it always had been, because this is just a bad dream and nothing more."

She wasn't certain at what point she'd stopped talking to the other person and had just started talking out loud to herself. Still hugging the tree, she sank to her knees, thin pale hands still wrapped around it.

"They wouldn't... Not even they would do this to me. It would be too cruel. This is just a bad dream... A bad dream..."


[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Shinju]

Shinju sat aboard the Dark Desire now upgraded thanks to contracts and she was having fun with it. Letting the taozin amulet rest under the armed fireworm suit, her duster giving a nice look while she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. The ship setting course from the temple while the devourers huddled within the ship while she thumbed the can of meat. A wooden box for the woman there but more importantly her saber was hidden off to the inside of the coat. Force presence hidden away and she had even brought the gunbelt with blades. A pistol that made people forget when it hit them, an experimental phrik alloy blade between her twin derriphan's and a chainblade. Pelko barbs in a pouch and throughout all the pockets on the belt with shoulder straps there was some knives, some geltabs. "Come little jedi, come and play with me, I so missed out little game."

 

[Zion Krayt]

He only saw her hands poking around the tree as she slumped down to the ground. He had never experienced something like this, nor had he responded in such a way when Kiskla Grayson had found his own stasis pod, but it was odd to see it happening to someone else, a literal stranger. He could only wonder as to how she just appeared out of nowhere, it was certainly weird.

"You must have been in some form of sleep." He knew the Force could do things like that, but three hundred years in a Hibernation Trance? That was unheard of, you needed some form of sustenance he was certain. It was weird. "You're three hundred years old, actually." He just burst out not unkindly. He couldn't help himself, but then he got up to his feet and tentatively began to walk around the tree to the other side, staying clear of her by a few meters.

"This isn't a dream, this is real life, and you have to live it to the fullest. This baby of yours, Dante, will have grown up knowing that you loved him of course, he would have grown big and strong." He said, he was unsure if that's what parents, especially mothers wanted to hear, but he was only winging it. The Jedi Order never taught you how to deal with situations such as these. Not in the year 2014ABY, and not in 835ABY. "...Let me help you."

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Preliat Mantis]

[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Brumhilda deWinter"] [member="Lady Exedō"]


Preliat's hands slowly removed the tomahawk, pacing forward through the bushes. He was quiet, and he was a killer. A predator, in every sense of the word. He closed eyes, and then clambered up a tree, before leaping downwards. He landed with a heavy thud, between the Jedi, and the girl. He snarled like the animal he was, rising to his feet.

"Jedi."

He pointed out towards the forest."I can smell it approaching."

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

Dante growing up without her. The mere thought of it was impossible in her mind. Especially when... When... Oh, Force. Would he have thought she'd abandoned him like his his father had? Would he had been snatched into the dark side of the family? Oh, Dante... Her chin visible wobbled before the tears formed in her eyes. But there was no sound made now as she cried, lost in her own pain.

But she'd only let a sniff out before [member="Preliat Mantis"] landed between her and the Jedi. What he had to say though, had gone unheard.

Brumhilda screamed, her abilities in the Force finally kicking in as she grabbed whatever debris and branches lay on the floor, sending them all towards the beast. It wasn't much; it would probably not even tickle. Yet her mind operated on its instincts while she began to clamper back, still screaming.

[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

The Jedi Knight wondered what it had been that he was sensing, and it turned out to be [member="Preliat Mantis"], and he had landed in between him and the grovelling woman. He had stopped his advance, and was preparing himself to wave the creature away with the Force, but he had halted himself before he could actually go forwards with the attack. It was warning them about something, and he was wondering as to what it wanted.

Then it had told them, and she seemed to take no part in understanding what it wanted and instead reacted harshly. When that happened he raised a single hand to create a hasty force barrier that stopped whatever she had thrown at the beast and then he crouched in front of it and smiled. "Can you slow it down?" Whether it was a yes or no, the Jedi Knight practically exuded calmness and something that could be akin to duty and kindness as he slowly approached the woman upon the ground. "Let me take you to the Jedi Temple, and you can come to understand everything that is going on." He said with a bright smile, a genuine smile this time, and he extended his hand down to her.

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]

 

[Brumhilda deWinter]

This was far from the Tython she'd left behind. She'd never loved the planet or any bits of it, but this... This was something else all together. After her attempt to shield herself from the beast that had dropped from the trees had so miserably failed, Brumhilda was exhausted.

Her shoulders slumped as she leaned against the tree behind her now, the tears freely streaming down her face. And now the Jedi Knight wanted to take her to the Jedi Temple. A place that had always held horrors for her, a place she had never wanted to see again.

A place she had no choice but to go to now, even if it was just to bring this bad and cruel prank to a joke. No, she did not think it truly was a prank or a joke by now. But the alternatives were impossible to comprehend.

Brumhilda shook her head at the hand, not wanting to take it. She did not want to touch him, or anyone else. She rose to her feet instead, hugging herself. The tips of her fingers touched the fabric of the smock she wore, and she paused with realization.

"This is the same dress I was wearing yesterday," she said. It was a grey thing, covering her from shoulders to mid-thighs, mostly shapeless, hiding her body beneath the wool-like appearance of it.

[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Preliat Mantis"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

He had no response to say to her when she had spoken about her clothing. What did she want from him? A compliment? As if he even knew where to begin. Anyway, when she had shook her head at his hand he lowered it and pointed to the speeder. He looked around to make sure there were no hostile threat in visual range and indicated that she hurry onto it.

"Do you need me to do something for you?" He asked when he'd assume she'd get closer to the speeder.

[member="Brumhilda deWinter"]