Private Memory Defrag

[Shanalex]

Location: Coruscant, Prison
Tags: Valery Noble | Iris Arani

The coldness of metal pressed firmly around her wrists stirred the once Sith Lord awake. How long was she out? What happened? Shanalex did not know, but she briefly recalled a face. A face that was nowhere in sight, and frankly Shanalex found herself in a less than ideal proposition. It was a circular room that was lit up by the panels along the walls. Up in the ceiling was a solid, smooth surface. Clapped around her wrists was a pair of shackles which kept her from standing up to her feet. The most she could do was be on her knees because the heavy chains that was attached to said shackles weighed her down. Who was she?

Shanalex Rayelou, or what a lot of people knew of her as Darth Rhis. The Mistress of Sith Alchemy and sorcery. A woman who clawed her way from slavery to the top, and it was done by blood and deception. Darth Rhis was a powerful sorceress who staked her own position of power through violence, fear, and hundreds of lives that were sacrificed in the name of her infernal rituals. She was infamous for capturing the weak and misguided only to turn them into her own pet Sithspawns. All in the name of research and experimentation.

Naturally Darth Rhis was hated by the Jedi and other folk who held an ounce of morality for various reasons. However, one of the problematic factors was that Darth Rhis had connections since unfortunately she developed quite the silvertongue and managed to align herself with other people. People that varied from other Sith, mercenaries, or businessmen. In short, she was protected with both her personal Sithspawn and influential prowess. Speculations were made that Darth Rhis plotted to turn the Sith’s attention towards conquering the galaxy as many attempted before, but through deception and a web of spies.

However, things went horribly wrong for unknown reasons. Shanalex had torn the fabric of space and basically teleported herself into the safety of Corellia. Unfortunately she was already injured, both physically with a puncture wound and mentally as she found it difficult to recall anything. The only thing she seemed to have remembered was her own name, but just the name alone warranted caution. Shanalex was discovered by Allyson Locke who applied healing to stop the bleeding. Of course, the once Sith Lord passed out due to blood loss, but she has since been patched up and shackled. That was before she was transported to Coruscant for interrogation and judgement by the Jedi. Many feared if Shanalex truly recalled her memories then she would turn back to the dark side.

The corruption had left her eyes back in Corellia, revealing a pair of vibrant green eyes that wandered around the cell that she was in. It was difficult to even lift her arms due to how heavy the chains were. The walls was cleverly smoothed out with no outlines of a door, and there was definitely no windows either. In the end, Shanalex sighed before she combed through the dark mess that was her hair. The mere touch of her hair made her frown as it felt like it hasn’t been taken care of lately. That thought process however, caught her off guard.

Why does it not feel right? She thought to herself for it felt familiar yet no clear memory could be summoned. Either way, she endured the stress the chains put on her arms to at least comb through the knots of her wavy dark hair. There was a familiarity, comfort even, as if she’s done this many times before. Minus the shackles to the floor of course.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Coruscant | Prison facility​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Shanalex Iris Arani ​

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"Come on, Iris. We can't be late." Valery said as she stood outside their temporary place of residence on Coruscant. After she was requested to handle the interrogation and analysis of the captured Sith, Valery had arranged a place for the two Jedi to stay at. She expected it to potentially be a rather lengthy process, especially if this memory loss problem was going to cause a lot of delays. ​

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She had taken her time to read through all the available information, and now she was finally ready to meet the prisoner. This meant she had to be on time for all security checks and procedures to gain access to the maximum-security facility. So when Iris came outside, she was immediately guided into the vehicle that was going to take them there. ​

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"I know this is rather unusual, but I hope you can learn a lot from being close to someone like this prisoner. But I'll warn you, it's likely not going to be the most pleasant experience." Valery said while she watched the buildings flash by, as she looked out through the window. "I want you to observe and you can ask me any questions you have. Of course, be aware of when you ask them." ​

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Valery then finally noticed that they were approaching the large prison facility. The vehicle first passed through a simple check-in point and then underwent a closer inspection before it was allowed passage. This process took some time but further showed how serious everything was handled here.​

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There was no playing around whatsoever.​

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"The prisoner is kept two blocks down, Cell 34-A." the guard said as he gestured for the elevator. Several more guards stood inside and waited for the two Jedi to enter the elevator - they would escort them all the way down towards the circular cell that was built specifically to hold Force-sensitives. ​

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"Alright Iris, I'm going to step inside but you must remain here. If you look through that panel, you can see us but we can't see you. There are hidden microphones inside the containment cell, so you can hear us too." Valery said as she turned to Iris. She then patted the girl twice on the shoulder and turned around to finally step into the cell, as one panel opened up to reveal the door for just a brief moment.​

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After Valery moved inside, she looked at the woman in chains and her orange gaze narrowed. While the corruption was far less visible, there was still... something. Now, a Jedi stood in front of her, dressed in her typical attire, and with both her lightsabers secured on her belt.​

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"Shanalex Rayelou?"​

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[Iris Arani]

There was a seriousness here Iris didn't think she'd ever get used to. Not from Valery Noble . But from the facility. The colors of this place were.. Dull. Reds and oranges peaked through the grey, but none of those colors made her feel safe. She stayed silent, simply giving her master a nod as they entered the prison. This was a lesson in on itself. One of importance for the young Jedi.

Down the hall they went, and it certainly didn't make Iris feel any more comfortable. The colors coming from the doors were.. Dark. Despair, hate, anger. All of them were on full display. But the door they were stopping in front of? She'd seen the result of the Sith. Their runes, the horrible lack of color the Dark gave out. Not just muted, but.. Dead. This room only gave out such colors.

She gulped, but nodded. This was part of her training. This was important. She turned her gaze to the screen, watching and listening.

Shanalex

 

[Shanalex]

Location: Coruscant, Prison Facility
Tags: Valery Noble | Iris Arani

It was one of two things, either this stranger waited until the exact moment Shanalex woke up which was kind of creepy, or it was one hell of a timing. The door slid open to reveal a tall woman with quite a mean look about her. In fact Shanalex felt like she was being sized up, or was that a search for something? Honestly, she couldn’t tell, but when the question came up. Shanalex felt an impulse, something akin to defiance, and unfortunately she did not catch herself as she immediately responded. Both hands withdrawn from her messy hair as she looked up to the Jedi.

”Depends on who’s asking. From you? Only people… wait, how does that go again?” Shanalex frowned as she had the line at the tip of her tongue, and yet it felt like something within her mind blocked the words from getting out. Or rather, she caught a glimpse, a shard of a memory, but it was such a tiny piece that she couldn’t make out exactly what the memory was or where it came from. Her eyes turned downward as Shanalex tried to remember, but when she failed the former Sith Lord sighed as she sat cross legged. The heavy chains lightly rattled along the floor albeit it was a dull, heavy sound.

”Yes, I am Shanalex Rayelou. And who are you? Why am I in these… things” It was ridiculous that she couldn’t even remember the term of being shackled or chained up. Frustrating even, but ultimately she didn’t understand what was happening or why she was in the cell. Frankly, on top of her reputation, when she was found Shanalex was only wearing her clothes that was imbued by the Force, a book that was filled in Ancient Sith writing with heinous drawings that no one has been able to decipher what the book contained yet, and a hilt of what was allegedly believed to be lightsaber, but the blue blade was incredibly short. Even shorter than a shoto as the beam was compressed to form a knife-like blade.

Now that she thought about it, the second the door opened, Shanalex began to hear something whisper. Like there was something distant and near at the same time. The whispers were incomprehensible as they melded together into a single voice. She just didn’t notice it until now as Shanalex began to cover her ears.

”Can all of you be quiet or speak one at a time? It’s hard to hear what you’re saying when you tumble each other to get your voice to be heard.” Maybe that wasn’t really the case here, but even covering her ears didn’t shut out the voices. In the end, the voices began to die down as Shanalex uncovered her ears. The former Sith looked back up to Valery Noble , whether it was out of curiosity, mockery, or contempt. Shanalex was a bit difficult to read on that front, but she was definitely confused on what was happening or why she was experiencing such things.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Coruscant | Prison facility​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Shanalex Iris Arani ​

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With narrowed orange eyes, Valery looked down at the woman, who seemed more confused than anything. Her initial act of defiance was quickly followed by her forgetting a phrase, not remembering why or how she had gotten here, and now she was hearing voices as well? This was an extremely peculiar situation, and all of it seemed genuine.​

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Something like this was so rare that there was no going 'by the book' here either. Maybe that's why they requested an experienced Jedi Shadow to handle the situation. But even Valery had to really think about her approach.​

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"Nobody is speaking, miss Rayelou," Valery said before taking a few more steps into the cell.​

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"For now, my name isn't important but I would like to talk more about you." Valery had plenty of enemies already, so she decided to keep her personal information to herself for now. And if Shanalex wanted to get out of this situation, she'd have to cooperate a little bit.​

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"You were found on Corellia, injured and confused." she then said, hoping that feeding the woman some information would help bring back memories."Do you remember how you got there, and what you were doing?"​

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She decided to start with a simple question, and test the woman's response. To get anywhere, she had to get Shanalex talking.​

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[Iris Arani]

Iris hadn't been aware as she watched the room, but Shanalex had glanced through her thoughts. For the most part, the young girl was just confused. Why didn't the Sith know what was going on? What thoughts were she hearing? Was this woman truly a threat? The padawan frowned as she watched the monitor, but she trusted Valery Noble more than anyone. If the woman was a threat, Valery would certainly do something about it.

If the woman wasn't, the Master would make sure she was okay. Honestly, she hoped for the later.

 

[Shanalex]

Location: Coruscant, Prison Facility
Tags: Valery Noble Iris Arani

It was strange when Valery stated that no one was talking. How could she not hear them? But as Valery stepped further inside the cell the voices that Shanalex was growing quiet. They were still there of course, but very faint. How strange it was, but perhaps that was something from either Valery herself or something else was at work. Either way for the time being Shanalex wasn’t going to press it any further.

The stranger neglected to introduce herself as the interrogator was the one who asked the questions and chose which direction to take this interrogation. The whole thing was turned back to Shanalex as there was questions regarding something about Corellia. The name didn’t ring any bells unfortunately, so after a brief pause Shanalex answered.

”I don’t know of any Corellia, and all I remember was some… tree? Forest? Jungle? No, not quite. Wild? Wilderness.” There was that period where it seemed like she was both asking and answering the questions to herself. Even verbally going down the list of words until she eventually settled for wilderness. That at least brought back another piece, but it was a piece of sorrow. A fragment of emotion during that time.

”I was in a wilderness with trees and sunlight. But uh… All I recall was that I felt like I was hurt. Not just physically, but emotionally I felt upset over… something… I don’t know what it was though.” Shanalex may not recall what Corellia was nor did she not recall what exactly she came for. However, as her face frowned due to the struggle of remembering.

”I… do remember that I had a purpose. To do something like a… I don’t know what it was exactly, but just the feeling of urgency before everything just went blank.”

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Coruscant | Prison facility​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Shanalex Iris Arani ​

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While the woman tried to explain as much as she could about her memories, Valery did her best to read the sincerity behind Shanalex's words without revealing that she was. It was her job to help Shanalex remember, but also to make sure she wasn't keeping important information to herself. The more she remembered, the more likely it was that she'd keep things to herself. Especially if she began to recall memories regarding the Sith.​

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"Take a look at these pictures, they may help you remember." Valery then said as she produced a datapad from her belt and offered it. The display contained images of the area where Shanalex was found, both day and night times. Perhaps it would trigger something, perhaps not - there was no way to force it, so patience was important.​

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This whole interrogation could become quite a process because of it, depending on how fast memories returned, and which ones. So in order to continue, Valery decided to show one more thing. It was riskier but she deemed it necessary.​

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"Now, take a look at this and tell me what you remember," Valery said before she held up the alchemical book that was found alongside Shanalex. Unlike the datapad with pictures, she did not offer it to the woman in shackles. All she got was a look from a distance while Valery studied her closely.​

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"Does it help you remember anything about yourself? About why you were on Corellia?"​

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[Shanalex]

Location: Coruscant, Prison Facility

Tags: Valery Noble | Iris Arani


Frankly Shanalex was so focused on the attempts to recall her memories that she doesn’t pick up Valery’s mistrust. Or rather, she has no memory of experience or what to look for in a person. Strange as it was considering that Shanalex had a way with people. Whether it was through negotiations, interrogation, or even bargaining. Most of the time, Shanalex got what she wanted in the end. Or was that pride doing the talking? What was pride?


Valery spoke once more about looking at some pictures and even pulled out some kind of device from her belt. Shanalex had the confused and perplexed expression as Valery handed the electronic to her. To which the former Sith Lord hesitantly took the device into her hands before her green eyes were illuminated by the screen. Shifting from day to night, the images weren't really triggering a memory. Was this Corellia that Valery spoke of? There was a sense of ease, a sense of wonder, as Shanalex’s hand gesture was relaxed as she went from image to image.


”This is Corellia correct?” In a way, Shanalex knew the answer already, just a matter of confirmation.


”I recall nothing of this place, but it is certainly a magnificent area is it not? It just seemed so… alive.” A sharp pain crossed her mind that made her visibly wince and grab ahold of her head. Fingers balled tightly until her knuckles turned white with her dark locks intertwining her fingers. An image of a giant spider, larger than a man, seething with heat that slumbered deep in a volcanic region. There was so much rage that it literally scorched the earth, and consequently scorched a memory of hers to which Shanalex painfully remembers.


She was breaking out into a cold sweat before the pain subsided as she felt herself hyperventilating. Fear? Absolutely. Pride? Strangely that fits the bill as well. The datapad was still in her grasp as well, but fortunately she doesn’t possess super strength or anything so Shanalex didn’t break it.


”There was something, but I don’t know what or where such a thing was. But I do know that whatever I was coming from, I sought after security. Safety. Anywhere to put enough distance between me and… oh what the ferek was it?” There was clearly something that drove Shanalex to retreat, but like before her memories were still shattered and out of order. Remembering even a piece was one thing, but putting them in order was another thing that Shanalex was forced to deal with.


When Valery pulled out the book, albeit the cover held some form of writing that Shanalex didn’t recognize, the book itself triggered a sense of familiarity. And with that familiarity came screams from more than one voice that echoed in her mind. Shanalex felt like part of her own might have been a part of it as well. Shanalex merely shook her head, but there was sadness in her eyes.


”No it doesn’t. All I hear from it are screams of the dying and tortured.” She answered meekly before she returned her attention to the pictures for a moment.


”Is there any water around here? Something to drink would be nice right now.”

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Coruscant | Prison facility​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Shanalex Iris Arani ​

​

Watching the woman closely, Valery noticed that while Shanalex studied the images, there seemed to be no initial response to them. She simply nodded in confirmation when the woman if it was Corellia, but then something changed. Cold sweat ran down her face, and powerful emotions began to echo through the Force - something Iris would likely be able to pick up on quite well, too. ​

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Similarly, the book didn't bring back any instantaneous memories, but she heard the effect it had on those around it. The screams of agony and despair that alchemical items of the Sith often brought forth.​

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"I see," Valery commented before her attention was drawn by a beeping sound in her pocket. Reaching for the device, Valery looked down at it and tilted her head.​

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"I'll arrange someone to get you some water, and for now, I believe you need some rest. I'll come back later with some more questions." Valery said before she turned around and left the containment cell, stepping up towards her Padawan instead, a slightly look of concern on her face.​

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"Iris, I just received an emergency call - they need me elsewhere. I'd like you to remain here, and I'll be back very soon. I'm sorry for how abrupt this is, but it's important." She placed her hand on Iris' shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She didn't like the idea of leaving her Padawan alone in a place like this, but if the message she got was true... she'd have to move quickly.​

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"Guards, can someone get her some water? The process is demanding, so treat her well if you want results." ​

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With that, Valery departed and left Iris behind in the room with the containment cell that held the prisoner.​

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[Iris Arani]

Iris blinked in surprise as she watched her master. Then looked to Shanalex . Iris was supposed to watch her? The Padawan's brow knitted together, but she nodded regardless. If there was a situation that needed Valery Noble 's attention, it wasn't something that could be ignored. She watched her master leave, waiting in the quiet for the guard to return with water as requested.

Soon as it was, she nodded, took the glass, and stepped to the table to give the 'Sith' something to drink.

"You hear screams..?" The question came out before she could stop herself. Concern knitted her expression, but she smiled after a moment. "I'm sorry that you do. It must be uncomfortable."

 

[Shanalex]

Location: Coruscant, Prison Facility
Tags: Valery Noble | Iris Arani

As Valery was beginning to leave the room, Shanalex began to sense something akin to anxiety. Concern? Worry? Or was it a mixture of concern and anxiety? Shanalex couldn’t put it in the right term, but the sensation was there all the same. She didn’t know what was being said nor what would cause Valery to feel anxious, and that got the former Sith Lord curious. With how chained up Shanalex found herself to be, it was impossible to really find out. Speaking of discovery, how could she remember more of herself here? Perhaps people would bring in items or images like Valerie had done, but there was surely other means to recover her memories right?

It wasn’t that much longer before someone else, a youngling, or apprentice? That term was familiar to Shanalex, but at any rate the girl came in with a glass of water and stepped to the table. As she was handed the glass, Shanalex discovered how parched she was when she restrained herself from drinking it too fast. Thankfully Iris began speaking, so with a half empty glass Shanalex looked to the padawan in silence for a moment. Shanalex pursed her lips as the chains slightly shifted with the movements regarding the drink.

”It’s not so much that it’s uncomfortable, but more like I feel something that had happened in the past regarding the book for example. There were… so many people screaming and whimpering that they drowned each other to be heard. I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I swore I heard and felt my own scream in the midst of them.” Frankly Shanalex did not grow up in an environment suitable for children. Born as a slave, and abused by the Sith masters. Something that Shanalex didn’t remember, but there were pieces, fragments of her memories of such a time. Mostly the emotion of misery, numbness, and fear. Shanalex took a sip of her water as her green eyes shifted to the table for a brief moment before looking into Iris’s eyes.

”What’s your name?” Shanalex asked, and as she asked this Shanalex felt innocence and compassion coming from this young girl. Perhaps a bit naive, but Shanalex didn’t necessarily feel any memories being pieced together here. That didn’t stop Shanalex from creating new ones however.