Private Jungle Cruise

[Syn]

Asha Seren

"It is." He said it and looked towards her with the force fidning what he could... her scent... her presence in the force were very different then before but he could do what he was able to. "I came here to hunt down creatures like that... remnants of the different sith empires... their spawn.. their monsters." He said it and well he did just that is was easier to wander around the galaxy and make a sight of it all.. to train the few who came to him and maintain what was needed to be maintained. "What is it that has bbrought you here?" He said it and was looking at her while the jedi master moved now allowing himself to make some space and wipe off the smeared gore from himself to be able to take in everything around the pair of them.

 

[Asha Seren]

"Some things don't change, do they?" she remarked softly, remembering a time long ago when Syn had been doing more or less this very same task. Searching the Galaxy for corrupted remnants of bygone eras of Sith legacy, purging all that he could from existence. Evidently more were formed in the ashes of the former, for it was a task he still committed himself to even now.​

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It put things into perspective for her, provided her with a little more insight into the state of the Galaxy she'd awoken into.​

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"Chance," she replied, when he asked why she was here of all places, "A need to refuel brought us to Falleen Throne, and a need to breathe brought me out here into the wilds. I'm not so sure what willed me to follow this beast, though..." Was the Force trying to direct her even when she sought to reject it? It had been so long since she'd last reconciled with it that she frankly couldn't even know for sure.​

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Asha looked from man to corpse, then back again. It was still so impossible to believe that all of this was happening. "I have missed you" she breathed, words little more than a whisper on the wind. It was like staring at a specter in truth. One of the few beings that she'd longed to reach out for in death. Yet here he was before her in life, and it didn't feel even remotely real.​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

He listened to her and nodded his head when he looked back towards the beast for a moent. "Shadowfangs can be different, they rely on others attacking with energy their bodies absorb so their destructive power can become bigger. Maybe it tried to lure you in." He said it but stayed there while moving one hand to his belt getting a small compartment opened and pulling out some of the ration packs offering them and water. "And I have missed you, there are not many jedi whose company I have enjoyed and the Je'daii orders that kept being attacked or disappearing didn't bode well." He had worried but he was able to do what he could and clearing out creatures like this did leave the chance to open up temples that could be used if they were needed.

 

[Asha Seren]

"Shadowfangs," she mirrored, setting the name to memory as she stooped down some to get a proper look at the beast. If she ever came toe to toe with one again, she hoped she'd remember what he'd said about their absorbing energy. Perhaps that was why he'd had to shove his hand down its gullet in order to make use of his saber. Not that Asha had a saber of her own, nor any sort of energy weapon to speak of. Frankly, she didn't exactly have much of anything at present.​

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One day, though. She had faith that it would change... So long as the Vornskr did not see fit to wrap her up in a net once more and drag her back to Panatha to end this game of cathar and snowmouse.​

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"Might be it did. I wasn't even trying to feel for it, yet I could sense it all the same. It might have been foolish to follow, but I'm glad I did." Glad and horrified, though she wouldn't voice the latter half of that. For all she knew this was part of Kaine's plot, the reason he'd sent her out into the Galaxy. To find more of those she held near and dear, to use against her as he had so many others. He'd used her sons as pawns, why not the rest of her loved ones?​

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It was a paranoid train of thought that she couldn't shake, for all the trying she'd done. ​

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When he offered her sustenance, Asha bowed her head in thanks and moved to sit with her back against some of the craggy rock of the cave's inner surface. She took half of what was held inside one of the ration packs, and offered him back the other half. "Thank you."​

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What he said next had her raise her head in surprise. "The Je'daii?" A slow blink. "They still roam?" Well, he said they rose and fell several times over, but she could hold out hope that they still existed now right? Perhaps that meant Qae was still out there somewhere..-- No. She couldn't think on that. Couldn't drag anyone else into her chaotic sphere of being. It wasn't right.​

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"I heard there's no Republic anymore" she said, hoping to shift the topic away from thoughts of other friends, "And that there are numerous Jedi sects..." How that worked exactly she didn't rightly know. Before her death their schism had been regarded as unorthodox, some even claimed it was wrong of them to divide the Order at all, but it had been a necessity. Things had become too mudded, too corrupted. But having so many..? Yes, that was strange indeed.​

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"Who are you with?" Did it matter which of the Orders he belonged to? No... She reckoned it didn't. After all, Asha wasn't even sure she constituted as a Jedi these days. She was a woman out of time, who couldn't even grasp at the Force without succumbing to sickness. Beyond that, she was considered dead.​

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No, she was dead.​

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Yet here she sat.​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

"There has been a couple, someone always tries to rebuild and it falls... at this point the few constants in terms of galactic governments is.... no one. I just travel and check in from time to time at the temple of Omean." The jedi shadow temple was from Ahch-To and served to train shadows who served the jedi council... he avoided Silver shadows and their wanting to use the darkside because they gave themselves codenames.... it might have been amusing if they weren't so... basic. The jedi master took back the rations though and sat down next to her. "The Je'daii though yes they do, some roam around and try, others seem to disappear but there is always someone who wants to rebuild."

It factored itno the je'daii, the republic, and any number of jedi orders... he had seen a few as it were and barely worked with them. Tempest usually ran off to help Greyson and his crusades before he would disappear again. "Me though it is easier to just travel, the Jadeite just happen to from Ahch-To make all of the equipment and items one could need including ships."

 

[Asha Seren]

Resisting the urge to speak more on the Je'daii, Asha nodded her head some and bit down on some sort of protein bar as she mulled over the rest of his words. So he wasn't beholden to any Order in particular? At least not the larger ones she'd heard mention of from Cale. New Jedi, Silver Jedi, Ashlan Jedi... Was she missing one?​

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So many, rather dizzying in truth. Were she to return to the Galaxy in such a capacity, where would she even begin? Who would she find herself led to, if any at all?​

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Feeling the twisting of the Wound in response, she knew she couldn't be afforded the independent route. It had been too long, and her connection to the Force was ill-established. There was guidance required if she'd make that decision.​

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And truth be told, Asha wasn't so sure she would. A hermitage might be of more use to her, keep the Vornskr from tracking her to the rest of them.​

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"You travel alone?" she asked, not looking up as she glanced down at her hands with a soft frown of thought. That sounded... Lonely. Even as a Sentinel Asha had the likes of Josh Dragovalor for company, to help keep her sane. Now she had Cale, for as long as he and his boy could put up with her that was. Had she been truly alone, she might well have found herself scampering back to Darth Carnifex ... After all, that other option would there have been?​

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No money, no food, no contacts, yeah she'd have been back in his grasp in a heartbeat.​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

He looked at her well made a point to look towards her the benefit of not having eyes to make eye contact with was he didn't always have to be expected to make the gesture... but he did giving sort of a look of humor which for him it was a little. "You make it sound bad?" There was a moment but he didn't laugh orr chuckle she had gone through something or was still and so he would ease into it. "I am old, I will outlive most I know. Being by myself helps in some cases but thanks to some of the more... idealistic jedi.. lets call her that... my ship is actually not alone. It houses the spirit of another jedi who keeps me company enough and I can hopefully help them come to terms with their passing. A mutually advantages idea."

He was looking at the Alema and the ship was good with its force ghost in it who acted like pilot, security system and as Tempest and others had noted a mild irritant... to ones sanity if she didn't like you and then there was also Sera and Liber... Sera Inkari when she was looking to try and continue her redemption... Liber was just a strange one who appeared and disappeared from time to time. "Besides I don't mind being alone as much, it lets me move off and be able to do things like this... go after creatures who are more dangerous to the unsuspecting. Tempest Yore my padawan will sometimes travel with me as well when she is close by."

 

[Asha Seren]

So not quite so alone.​

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Asha nodded in response to all that he said, and seemed relieved to hear it. A soft exhale accompanied the action, before her mind drifted back to talks of the spirit. "Death is not so easy for some to accept," came her quiet, faraway reply. In that moment she seemed distant, lost within her mind, before she blinked and looked back toward him. "The pull of the Nether can be strong for some, but for others there can be resistance to it. Perhaps she has unfinished business here, something keeping her from passing over..."​

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For her part, she had chosen to embrace the Force that day on Panatha. A mother lost within her grief, a Jedi broken in the face of an enemy she could not bring down.​

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But there'd been no relief for her on the other side. The Nether had not been a realm of peace, she had suffered through what felt like eons of danger and misery, and before she could finally, truly, become one and accept her fate, just on the cusp of fading, he'd pulled her back.​

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Right back into this chaotic realm of life.​

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Death had been no escape for her. Mayhaps that was the same for the one who inhabited Syn's ship...​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

He sensed something from her... her mind distract with it before he just sat there. His instinct was to say she would be okay but whatever had happened to keep her away there was only so much one could do with hollow words such as that... she wasn't going to have him around her day and night. He remained there though and nodded to her accessment of Alema. "Perhaps but there is time, one can't be expected to not want to pass on. I will just have to be there to make sure she is okay and try to guide her towards it." The jedi master stayed where he was though and offered his shoulder. "BUt what made you disappear is different, you almost seem to be wearing it and thinking about it all of the time so should you need it my friend I am here."

 

[Asha Seren]

She smiled a soft yet somber smile when Syn expressed that he'd simply be there for the spirit, to support her. "It's good to know that she isn't being rushed," came her response, "It can be a difficult thing to accept, even when you see such a fate coming. I'm sure with time she'll find the peace and grace to move on."​

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Asha could only hope it wasn't some unpleasant realm of Chaos which awaited her on the other side. The Nether could be wrought with terror, after all.​

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When his attention turned back to her, Asha turned her gaze down to her hands and the half-eaten protein bar held within the left. She picked at it in thought, then let out the smallest of sighs. "She and I had a similar fate," she finally replied, though her gaze didn't lift up to meet his. Or more, where the blindfold sat. "I was struck down all those years ago, and the Nether was made my home. I know why she's reluctant to pass over, I've lived it."​

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No doubt she'd only cause more questions to be asked, but speaking on it wasn't so easy. She seemed drained having only uttered the basics.​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

He listened to her and didn't divert his attention... remaining for a moment as he thought upon it but there wasn't much to say as the jedi master finally rose up. His hand coming out and he looked upon her. "I don't know much on the subject but I do know a few other things and one of them is staying around here isn't always the best idea. Other things will be attracted to the body of the creature and they are just animals scavenging for food. We should move or go." He stood tall and ready for anything but the chance to explore a little in the jungle and move around was much more appealing then just sitting around in a cave.

 

[Asha Seren]

Silence.​

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Then he rose, and offered down a hand toward her. His words spoke no more on the path which had pulled them apart, nor what had brought them back together, and for that the woman was grateful. She took the hand, and rose up to her feet.​

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"Yeah, time to move..."​

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Besides, the darkness was too much of a reminder. The warmth of a Falleen afternoon was much preferred.​

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Alongside Syn, she began to make her way out of the cave and into the sunlight. Like a plant she seemed to uncurl and stretch in response to it, breathing in a long breath of fresh air. Then she turned to look upon him, to truly see him without all of the shadows formed within the depths.​

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"You look well" she finally remarked. Truly he didn't look a day older than when she'd last seen him.​

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Syn ​

 

[Syn]

Asha Seren

He walked and the feeling fo the sun on them and he was looking up as he could hear the jungle echo off sections of the cenote that he had lept down. The sights though were impressive and a climb back up to the city would be one thing but they might be. He was looking over towards the jungle itself and walking through it he listened to her talk about his age. "Thank you." He said it and wanted to try and add a blind joke... but there wasn't really a good setup given and he wasn't a big one when it came to jokes. THe jedi master was moving and the jungles opened up with sun and fresh air that wasn't choked with the scent of blood and meat. THe trees were rustling from different creatures before they checked out everything that they could. "It has been different in the years, I have raised my children." HE said it as she had largely been gone when they were born. "And even for a time gotten married but Kaine took and executed Iella." That was spoken with a note of sadness in most ways.