Private Remnants of the Forge

[Aris Noble]

"Form eleven. I cut down a dozen. Have you started having problems with counting?"

He flashed a grin right to Vera before he let his gaze travel around in turn. Up, was it? He wasn't too excited to keep heading up. If they fell, well, he wasn't too keen on testing if he could survive being dipped in lava. .. Though a race to the top? He glanced to Aadhir, then to Vera. And grinned all over again. Yeah, a race could be a lot of fun, though he imagined he'd be the one to win.

He would win, without a doubt.

"Let's race. Being quick could help us avoid problems with the local machinery."

Vera Noble | Aadihr Lidos

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Aris Noble Aadihr Lidos

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Vera's multicolored eyes narrowed playfully as Aris fired back about Form Eleven. She couldn't help the grin that tugged at her lips, even as she rolled her eyes dramatically. "You're such a nerd," she teased, her tone dripping with sisterly mockery.

When Aadihr mentioned the possibility of a race, Vera perked up instantly, her expression shifting into one of mischievous glee. She glanced between the two of them, a competitive glint in her eyes. "Oh, a race?" she echoed, the grin spreading wider. "Now it makes sense you want me to lead," she told Aadihr.

"If we're racing, I'll be ahead, anyway."

Without waiting for an answer, Vera turned toward the rickety staircase and the industrial maze ahead. The molten glow of the factory reflected in her eyes, making her look almost feral. Then, without warning, she shot forward, her voice echoing behind her.

"Too slow, little brother!"

Her Force-enhanced movements carried her up the first set of stairs in a blur, the sound of her boots clanging against the metal mixing with her laughter. She leapt over a broken section of the stairs with effortless grace, using the Force to push herself higher and faster.

"Better keep up!" she called down, glancing briefly over her shoulder before sprinting toward the next section of their climb.

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[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Field Attire | Sigil Bead Earring
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike | Legion Long Range Precision Rifle Mark I

Aaand they were off.

Aadihr immediately followed suit; without runes or bodily enhancement available, every second mattered. Aadihr ran up to the rickety staircase, only planting two steps before the grating began to rumble. The first gap he could cross a slight leap, the next would be challenging. The Miraluka hurled themselves off the stairs, stepping on the rough blackstone wall, using the friction of his boots on the vertical surface to fight gravity for just a few more feet then he lept again - not to the stairs next flight of stairs but fully perpendicular from the wall. using the tip of his staff, Aadihr pushed off from a freestanding ruin, altering his trajectory and dropping; he tucked into a roll below, on one of the conveyor belts crossing the chamber, one which was adjacent to an industrial chain lift carrying the molten contents from some pit far below.

Precise timing was required, too much force on one of the rising buckets would cause it to sway dangerously close to tipping over. The Jedi walked against the conveyor belt, waiting for one of the crucibles lifted from the magma below to cross by. right when it passed, Aadihr stepped onto the lip of the bucket-crucible, the molten mix within blisteringly hot and pungently sulfuric. the chain lift brought him straight upwards, with less effort than having climbed up the ruined stairs the whole way. He used his staff to balance himself, the chain much too hot to grab, and the swaying of the bucket was far more precarious than Aadihr had anticipated but the direct vertical distance gained was easy, steady progress.

"Don't wait on my account!" he shouted as he looked to the siblings' presence in the Force, through the smog. He wouldn't know which floor was his stop without Vera, after all.

Aadihr tried not to visualize himself falling into the molten bucket upon, the precarious lip on which he stood.

Aris Noble | Vera Noble​

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Forgot to roll the gargoyle ambush dice...

 

[Aris Noble]

They did not wait on Aadihr's account. Aris didn't even respond to Vera's taunt, instead immediately jumping forward. There was a wide as can be grin as he passed by Vera in that single bound. He was faster than her, given the nature of his body. He'd be able to clear this race with ease if he- A pause rushed through his mind as he landed, and promptly fell through the aged stair he landed on in a rip and screech of metal.

There was a faint gasp of surprise before he caught himself on the ruins with a hand, hastily dragging himself up. Just leaping wasn't going to work, it seemed. Crap.

Vera Noble | Aadihr Lidos

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Aadihr Lidos Aris Noble

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Vera's laughter echoed through the factory as she raced ahead, her multicolored eyes glowing with the molten light reflecting from below. Her heart raced with the thrill of competition, but as she heard the screech of metal and the unmistakable sound of her brother's gasp, she skidded to a halt.

Spinning around, she darted back to the jagged hole in the stairs where Aris had fallen through. Her hands went to her hips, and her lips curled into a devilish grin. "Nice one, little brother," she teased, leaning slightly over the edge to peer down at him. "Maybe there's a Form Twelve for avoiding falling through stairs? You should look into it." She pointed at him mockingly before bursting into a fit of laughter.

But she didn't linger long. With one final smirk, she turned on her heel and bolted ahead again, her boots clanging against the aging metal stairs. "Better hurry up, Aris! You've got some ground to make up!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Ahead, Vera could feel the heat intensify as she neared the top, the industrial hum of machinery growing louder with every step. She leapt across another gap in the stairs, her movements as fluid and graceful as ever, and shot a quick glance toward Aadihr's precarious position atop the molten crucible.

He'd be fine, right?

The finish line was close, and Vera's grin only widened as she pushed herself harder, her Force-enhanced agility carrying her closer and closer to victory.

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[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Field Attire | Earring | Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike | Slugthrower Rifle

From the look of it, Aadihr had rode the crucible too far; Vera was trending towards one of doors below. Aris's bulk had knocked the stairs out from underneath him, though he seemed to recover quickly enough.

For a second Aadihr worried if encouraging a race here was a mistake - his mind drawing up an image of Aris fading into the long dark pit below - but the boy had caught himself with a last-second grip.

A whooshing and gurgling sound above alerted Aadihr; the crucibles above were being poured into some type of gutter for a mould.

This may have been a mistake.

With little other option, Aadihr lept from the crucible, aiming for a pipe to grab onto, hoping for a chance to plan a route to Vera's location - only the pipe was just out of reach. Aadihr's fingers barely brushed it's rusted edge.

A cross-beam, however, was in position for him to land on, if he could manage to place his feet -

The beam struck Aadihr by the calf, sending him spinning into freefall, heels over head into a vertical mesh grating, which he roughly slammed into before hitting another pipe with his torso on the way down.

Several clangs and thuds sounded from above as Aadihr's pike landed directly next to Vera at a doorway - shortly followed by Aadihr's spinning body.

Vera Noble | Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris did not win the race. He grumbled as he landed beside Vera, his eyes shifting to watch somewhere else in a hopes he wouldn't have to listen too long for her bragging. At least there was a shift in it that'd pull them both out of their rivalry. Aadihr hit the ground hard, earning quite the confused blink from Aris. ".. You okay? You seem pretty- .. I mean-"

Even Aris, for all his blunt honesty, felt bad about trying to ask why Aadihr was always getting hurt like this. He just grimaced, hoping that Aadihr was at least alright enough to stand back up.

Vera Noble | Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

ambush threshold reduced by 1 for change in location

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Field Attire, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike | Slugthrower Rifle

".. You okay? You seem pretty- .. I mean-"

Aadihr wasn't sure himself, but a quick check was only bruises, thankfully. Groaning, he lifted his arm up with a 'thumbs up', mentally working up the energy to stand.

That was a dumb idea, but it worked - and Aadihr wasn't even last! Though the victory surely was going to go to Vera Noble 's head.

Still no sign of that droid, but they put some distance between them and where the alarm was triggered.

Aris Noble | Vera Noble​

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Aadihr Lidos Aris Noble

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The victory was definitely going to her head.

Vera grinned wide, practically glowing with smug satisfaction as she turned to face Aris, hands on her hips and her weight shifting with playful exaggeration. "Well, well, little brother," she teased, barely containing her laughter. "Looks like your big sis still has the edge. Maybe next time, huh?" She gave him a wink, her multicolored eyes sparkling with mischief.

But before she could really lay into her victory lap, Aadihr's pike came clanging down at her feet, followed immediately by the much larger sound of Aadihr himself hitting the ground with a thud.

Vera blinked.

Then blinked again.

...Well, that was dramatic.

She peered down at him, hands on her knees as he groaned and slowly lifted a thumbs-up. "That was some entrance," she said, amusement laced in her voice. "Next time, maybe try using the stairs?" But despite the joke, there was an undertone of genuine concern in her gaze — Aadihr was always getting himself into situations like this, and while he technically always walked away, it still made her stomach twist sometimes.

Aris, to his credit, almost called him out on it but seemed to rethink it at the last second.

She turned her attention to their surroundings, her grin fading into something more thoughtful. They had put some distance between themselves and the droid, which was good. But that also meant it was still out there. And they had no idea what else might be lurking deeper in.

Straightening up, she flicked her gaze toward Aadihr, the respect in her posture clear despite the teasing moments prior. "Alright, fearless leader," she said, crossing her arms. "Where to next?"

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[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Field Attire, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike | Slugthrower Rifle

"Next time, maybe try using the stairs?" But

"Har-dee-karkin-harr" Aadihr said as he rose to his feet and collected his pike. " For the record, I did use some of the stairs."

Aadihr looked through the haze in the force, spotting something like a ceremonial hall or grand ballroom a head, past a few doors. Inside the room, however, was a shadow, blackness that obscured all around it.

"If your senses are telling you to go that way" Aadihr pointed with the staff, " then we'd best be prepared. There's something dark there."

Aadihr brushed off the dust, rust, and soot that covered his robes and asked, "are you alright, Aris? Almost took a nasty fall, no scrapes or anything?" He didn't ask to tease, and was fairly certain Aris was unharmed, but the way Aris always emerged unharmed was beginning to stand out to Aadihr. Epicanthix were tough, sure, but Aris always seemed unfazed. Like a polar opposite of Aadihr's bruised self at this moment.

Aris Noble | Vera Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris's clothes were torn where metal absolutely shredded the cloth, but his skin underneath was eerily unscathed. He blinked after a moment as he saw Aadihr was being genuine in his concern. Confusion was all Aris had. The only blade he'd been cut by was one alchemized by the Force, much to his dismay, but otherwise it took the blunt strength of a Sith Lord to actually batter his body.

Not a set of stairs.

"So long as I have these aural dampeners to protect my ears, there's very little that can actually hurt me. You don't need to worry about me getting hurt." Zaiya Ceti had made them after their fight with the Sith Lord those years ago now, when the scream of that monster was more like getting hit by a sonic grenade. It'd shattered his ear drums and sent him right into unconsciousness. Even when he got up, he couldn't hear anything for several hours before his body had healed.

He looked ahead next though, nodding to Vera. If they were following her senses, good. He trusted them certainly. And Aadihr felt something dark there? Unironically that seemed to confirm that there was something there he needed to find. The pull was there in the back of his mind, the need to explore. The need to learn and understand. The need to know.

"Let's go."

Vera Noble | Aadihr Lidos

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Aadihr Lidos Aris Noble

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Vera shot Aris a look, her lips pressing into a thin line as he so casually brushed off the idea of being hurt. "Yeah, yeah, so long as you've got your fancy tech, nothing can hurt you," she muttered, crossing her arms. "But newsflash, little brother — you're not invincible."

She jabbed a finger at his chest, her expression serious despite the usual mischief in her eyes. "You keep acting like nothing can touch you, and one day, something will. And if you get yourself wrecked because you got too nonchalant, I'm going to personally kick your ass back to life, got it?"

There was no doubt she was being protective — maybe even a little overbearing — but she didn't care. Aris was tough, she knew that better than most, but that didn't mean he should act like he was untouchable. She had seen too many Jedi — too many people — get too comfortable with their own resilience, only for something bigger, meaner, and stronger to come along and prove them wrong.

Shaking her head, Vera exhaled sharply and turned away. "Whatever. Let's just keep moving."

With a flick of her hand, she pulled out her saber but didn't ignite it just yet. Instead, she strode forward, past the threshold of the door and into the darkness beyond.

The deeper they moved, the thicker the air felt — like walking into the stillness before a storm. The darkness wasn't just visual, but tangible, pressing in around them, thick with something unseen. Vera rolled her shoulders, keeping herself loose but ready.

"Alright, fearless leader," she murmured to Aadihr, glancing his way. "Lead the way, but let's stay sharp. Whatever's in here… it's waiting for us."

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