Sordid

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Blame? Never, cyattie." Oh, no, he got the game and in any other situation he might have played it with her. Play for keeps, negotiate and bargain until that thin line was in reach for the both of them. But- she got him compromised and every edge was dull. Julian didn't feel like it and so he didn't. A secret for a secret, now that was a bargain worth keeping, no?

"Oh, now no discussion about no needle was made by we."

Eyes on the point for a bit, leaning just a fraction back.

It wasn't the needle itself that scared him. Just what was inside and how it would work on him. They might have a bargain, yes, but- but Raj was not him. Did she understand the power of a bargain?

What it did? What it could do?

"Ya wan know about the Nether and me, me an' the Nether, yah yah yah, okay." A nod, a shrug followed as the shadow shifted just an inch. "I wanna see ya experience in return. Why the wonder, how ya entered, how ya left, I can smell it on ya, cyattie, an' it smells good."

 

[Kuzo]

She arched an eyebrow at his reaction to the needle.

"I am treating your injuries. You called me 'doctor bird' and you have no idea how accurate that it. I am, first and foremost, a doctor. Your scan said Kiffar, though I don't see clan tattoos," she said, her tone patient. "Which means nothing outlandish, biology wise. This is a combination of a very mild painkiller and anti-inflammatory- the sort I would not hesitate to give to a child, because I made an assumption, safely I believe, that you do not wish to be further compromised while on this ship with me. As I am actively hoping to gain your trust because it's entirely in my self interest to do so, it seemed the prudent course of action."

She spoke simply and matter of factly.

"The other aspect is a bacta derivative in a very low dose, one that is less prone to causing burning upon injection than the standard. Your scan indicated no bacta allergy, by the way. I have some concerns about the bruising on your liver and would prefer to nip any potential future problems for you in the bud. That is, again, in my best interest. Call it in this case professional pride. It would be one thing to leave something untreated deliberately for my own ends, but over looking it only to have it rear its head in the future would bruise my professional ego." She smiled, but it was thin and didn't reach her eyes.

"You can, of course, decline. Informed consent is an incredibly important aspect of my work, Mister and Shadow, but I would recommend the treatment."

She did not respond to his return offer yet. This business before that business. Not until he assented and she slipped the needle beneath his skin.

"I could, of course, have been lying to you," she said, once she had injected the contents of the needle. "As it happens I wasn't, but really, you shouldn't trust people with needles. So. Secret for a secret."

Through all of that, she had been mulling it over.

"My experiences in the Nether for yours. And his." The last was pointed. She considered it a package deal.

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

He let it wash over him.

Every part of the explanation. In truth it didn't tell him a lot, he caught some here an' there and that was about it. His craft were in different aspects- the wonders of nature and the perversion of the latter.

About it.

"Whatcha think, she on the level with us?" The silence spoke volumes before Julian shrugged. "Shadow says go for it." The going went rough and Julian actually hissed in pain as the needle stuck through skin and sank in. Then the flood of drugs came out, swarming over any residual pain that still remained in due course. Jul actually sighed out and relaxed a bit more.

Until she gave him a warning of hers.

Jul chuckled for quite a bit, before he glanced back up. "Ahhh, Anasi, you is smart, yes. But think'a dis way- what will happen to ya if my friend from the other side loses me, eh? Nah, I am safe in your capable hands."

That last bit might have explained why the Shadow had been okay with it.

He mulled that bargain over a bit. Shadow was annoyed by it, but in truth they were making the bargain that worked best. Because her experiences were worth far more to her than any sum of money. That gave it the value necessary to consider this worthwhile. Perspective and subjective opinion. A shrug then. "Spit on it than, lady la, bonds forged by parts of us."

"Remember though- you root in mine mind and I root in yours, equal terms, ya doc?"

 

[Kuzo]

She tutted when he hissed at the needle. "You're fine, you big baby. Not a flinch setting a bone but this for needle."

Stepping to the side and depositing the needle safely, she glanced over her shoulder at him.

"The reason you are safe in my care has nothing to do with your friend. I'll consider that a bonus however."

Washing her hands then, she paused, arching an eyebrow to look back over at him. Genuine confusion and a touch of disgust on her face.

"What possible significance does spitting have that words don't?"

Irajah dried her hands, turning back to him. She rested her hip on the edge of the counter.

"My memories and experiences in the Nether for both of yours. Stray a centimeter outside of those bounds and you'll wish what I had injected you with was acid."

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Setting the bone wasn't piercing the skin, eh?" Julian replied with a wave of his other hand. Pain was pain, yes, but there were different sorts of pain. The pain of a stab wound, bullet, blaster or burn- feeling of a wound being cleaned out or knit back together. All pain. All different and some of them were better handled than others. The small pierce of the syringe was right up there for him.

"Dontcha laugh, mister Shadow, ya think ya gonna enjoy cyattie rooting 'round ya brain?"

A thought there.

"Ya even have a brain?" He listened to the response before shrugging. "No need to pout, friend, us all got problems."

Julian noticed the glance of disgust from her and that got him to laugh. Hearty, heavy, even pinking away a tear at the sheer indignation. Considering she was a doctor it was really funny to him. "Words are wind, anasi, me tell ya a large Wookiee is I and how ya know the difference?" A crooked smile there. "Cus ya can see, feel da syringe sink into mah flesh."

A shrug there.

"Blood, spit, tears, they is part of us as surely as da soul is, no? Ya seal a deal with me, ya bind it with part of ya self or we ain't got none to talk 'bout."

 

[Kuzo]

She made a face and didn't even attempt to hide it. When the man spit on his palm and offered it, she rolled her eyes. But she copied the motion, pressing her palm to his and marking their bargain. She stepped to the side when their grasp eased, taking a sterile towel and wiping her hand on it.

Oh, she wasn't that sort of germophobe. Without a word, she crumbled it up as if it were trash and dropped it into one of the empty receptacles. Later she would retrieve it- and separate out the genetic samples. But that was a side project just because.

When someone gave you their genetics freely, well.

Waste not, want not.

"As a sign of good faith, you first then," she said as she turned back to him, offering him a towel as well. "I'll make them easily accessible. Stray past the lines and it will be unpleasant." A beat. "For you."

She settled, perching in the empty space beside his hip. "Are you ready?"

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Ahhh, me no need one of those, anasi, got my own here, ya see?" A lazy pull got a textile, flashy crimson, out of his jacket and rubbed the saliva off his hand before flashing her his crooked grin. "Hope ya have as much fun sorting mine as I yours."

Oh, Julian wasn't a doctor or a geneticist and wasn't going to go that route.

In the same vein he wasn't concerned about the good doctor owning his either. What was the worst she could do with it? Clone another one of him? Replicate some sort of virus that would only target him through the air or some other fancy? "Mmm, yah this good doctor could at that, mister Shadow, but why worry, eh? Shiv will take ya in the gut just as quickly out'ere." A shrug followed. "Painful pierce too, s'far as me know." He offered her a bit more space and relaxed there as she settled against his hip.

His finger stroked the line of her arm softly.

"Ya keep repeating ya self, tap a di tap, insult, eh? Bargain is bargain. Spit 'gainst spit, piece owned for piece. Only way, yah?"

A chuckle there.

Julian wasn't insulted. She didn't get it, but that was fine. None of them did unless they had spend as much time as he had on the other side.

 

[Kuzo]

Her slight smile turned up into a smirk and a shrug.

"Can't pull one over on you," she murmured, tone amused. A tease.

Oh, she didn't deny it. She also wasn't particularly trying to trick him. It wasn't her style. But if there were things she could get away with, she absolutely would. Take what you can.

Gaze flicked down to his hand where fingertips casually stroked her arm, then back up to his face. Leaving that arm there, she reached out with the other, thumb brushing against his temple.

"I like to make sure things are clear. Communication," she whispered, "Is very important to me."

And then she opened the gates wide.

She held back none of it. Starting with her death and ending with that first breath again. She spared none of it. The cut of the knife, skin parting and blood hot. Endless red sands, scouring flesh from bones. The cut of obsidian walkways into bare feet. The Keeper of Shrike Mountain. Those faces, those sins. Black words scrolled across eyes. The climb an eternity. The knowledge that each face she passed by was a chance at redemption and with each she had chosen not. There was no way to show it and not include her son. She did not attempt to edit, to remove that moment. Raw and desperation. Or the choice she made at the end. Tearing off a piece of her soul like a fox gnawing off the foot stuck in the cage.

And climbing.

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

He slowly leaned into her hand, closing his eyes.

The flood swarmed into his mind and for a moment Julian lost himself there in the flurry of emotions, feelings and life lived. It was only the intervention of shadow man that allowed Julian to regain a measure of control within the dream. Piece by piece he collected himself in that flood, climbing out of the storming river and onto the shore. There, settled down, Jul peered back down into the river. Watched the surface, the currents and the memories that flashed back.

A hand sank into the river and it was struck with obsidian texture.

There Jul shifted through them- staying away from the ones that didn't matter and focused on the ones that did. Enlarging, slowing down or moving forward. It felt like hours passed as Julian immersed and absorbed every shred of experience shared by Irajah.

Until eyes fluttered back open again and the man sighed contently.

"Ashidanza. I call you anasi, but no, you are more... and less." Julian murmured as he stretched slowly, letting the tension leave his bones and muscles. "No wonder He Who Walks hungers for ya. Hims got the taste for ya already... blood hound, soul hound."

 

[Kuzo]

He had stayed by the shore, and that was good. Especially toward the end, the weight started to drag. While it had looked effortless from the outside perhaps, the face off with He Who Walks Behind had taken a toll- too much energy. And when that was done she had not stopped. Twinned the Force with her own muscles to support him back to the ship. Cordoned off carefully the edges of this interaction. Drawn it up and let it over flow the banks. Irajah was strong yes, but her power was not limitless.

Dark circles had blossomed beneath her eyes as he had sifted through the waters, cold and pitch.

"More and less, hmm, you could say that yes."

If this had been someone with less respect for bargains, this could have been a mistake. Irajah was tired. If he reneged on his side of the bargain, she was unsure if she could have taken it from him. Oh, she could have reached out along that ever present line of tension that sang between her and Jairus. Especially with his Shadow.... but if she didn't have to she would prefer to very, very not.

"Your turn, Mister and Shadow."

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

Julian hummed there for a moment.

Still shifting through the impressions that her memories left within him- memories were not facts, they were colored, molded, manipulated by anything between feelings and emotions, but there was truth to be found there if you were patient enough to look deep. If there was one thing Jul was, it was a patient fella. The moment might have stretched on for a moment too long for Irajah- the tension rising for an inch, because Julian had certainly noticed just how much it had taken from her.

The dynamic of power had shifted between them.

More equal footing.

"Aye, madame Less is More, bargain done is bargain made." Jul's fingers brushed the line of her jaw, up her cheek and the tips of his index and middle finger rested easy on her temple. His eyes closed once more and he started to murmur.

Incantations and more- while Irajah could use the Force nilly-willy, Julian had to focus on something. Tap into a greater thing. Then the shadow curled around his wrist, rose up alongside his fingers and pierced the edge of her temple. Within the Force anyway. There the connection between them deepened out and Julian unleashed his own flood on her. Memories, sensations, knowledge, the things he had gathered and the ancientness of Shadow alongside it.

A lot.

Maybe too much.

But a bargain done... is a bargain made.

 

[Kuzo]

The man's alone would have taken her breath away. He had years of experience in the Nether. Where hers had been a dark river, his was a sea, and the tidal pull that much stronger. It did not rage the way a flooding riverbank did, but the tug was insidious and pervasive. The kind of pull that dragged on you, step by step, barely realizing you were drifting farther and farther from shore.... until you turned around and realized the depth of your mistake. Irajah recognized it, and accounted, keeping that mental shore in sight, in touch, but feeling that pull.

The call of the riptide.

Other than her own death, Irajah had been careful with her study of this place. She viewed it through the lens of others, or sometimes through a literal lens given to her by Cerbera. There was a layer of separation, a caution and respect. Partly because she knew from the very early stages that the Nether was hungry. It was jealous in its wants. People that belonged to it? Would always belong to it. It did not give up on that call easily or willingly, if it gave up at all.

So through his experiences, he still had the layer of separation that was him. Seen through his lens.

The Shadow was another thing entirely.

While she was keeping an eye on the shore the first of those waves crashed over her. Spun her, pushed her hard beneath the surface, made it impossible to tell up from down in black, roiling waters. She broke the surface, gasping, re-orienting to the shore-

Only to see the wall of the Shadow's experience looming over her. Cresting.

Breaking.

Irajah had never looked at the Nether through the lens of something that called it home.

Alien. Other.

There was no shore to cling to. The waters swept it all away.

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Bargain done.... is bargain made, anasi." Julian murmured softly as the Shadow gave her exactly the knowledge that she had asked for. There was no patience there, no effort to pull some of it away to let her digest it in a patient flow.

Just raw information flooding through.

In the distance something roared, but the pact had been made through free will and sealed with her spit.

It would be hours later, before Irajah woke again. Eyes fluttering open and the first thing that she would notice was the two black eyes studying her from above. Then- a cup being pulled to his lips, as Julian sipped from the caf he had taken from Irajah's reserves. Without permission granted but it had been a while and he figured she would be okay with it. Or at the very least more occupied with other affairs to make a problem out of it. He had poured her one as well.

"Ahh, Doctor Ven, got what you bargained for, ya did- but ya mind gon' sink under da weight. I buried it in ya... and piece by piece ya will remember when ya need to." a wink. "Never say one Jul Imani don't keep bargains made."

Then her cup was passed on over to her.

"How ya feel?"

 

[Kuzo]

Irajah moaned softly- her head throbbed with a splitting pain unlike anything she'd experienced since Gideon.

She tried to focus on the dark eyes peering down at her, but there was something far more pressing first. The first thing that was waiting for her was that familiar presence. Waiting at the edges because until that moment she had been entirely unconscious. Worry and fury that would not wait. She reached out, reassuring. She was safe, no, he did not need to come, she would be home soon. Rather than recede, the presence shifted, settling a breath away. The sensation of scales sliding against feathers. Questioning.

A deal with a devil came the reply.

She squinted up at him, irritated, even a little angry though it was difficult to tell in that moment if it was residual from Jairus. Always possible, she'd sort it out later. She couldn't be too angry. Lack of foresight on her part. She had gotten exactly what she had asked for, after all.

This one was dangerous in different ways than she had grown used to. A note jotted down in her mental ledger.

Jul Imani

*flash*

"A deal then..... Julian Imani?"

"A bargain made..... is a bargain done, Shadowman. Time to get outta here."

*flash*

"Sonofabitchthat's going to be annoying," she muttered, accepting the cup of caf and breathing in deeply. Hazel eyes kept his over the rim of the cup as she sipped, a touch more gratefully than she was happy with. "Like a herd of bantha's went stampeding around my head, which I suppose is approximately what happened, spiritually speaking just there." Her tone was dry and not particularly amused. But it also lacked the bite of fury. Of danger on the line between them.

He was telling the truth. She was aware of that even if she couldn't simply dip into the memories at her own willing. Ugh, very annoying but entirely within the bounds of their bargain.

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

The presence was thick in the air.

Just on the outskirts, waiting, but not resting. It breathed and it was the breath of a heartbeat. The only thing that had prevented that presence from trying to do him harm was Ven's slumber. The lack of connection in that moment enough to avoid trouble.

It seemed both of them had a friend on the other side.

" 'Bout dat, ya." Julian agreed with a nod, before leaning back in the chair and sipping again from the caf. Enjoying the taste, humming just a bit to himself as he kept her gaze with his. There was amusement in his eyes and she would see it plainly. He didn't hide it. In some ways it was the best joke he had been able to play in a long time. Bargains... treacherous little things if you weren't especially cautious about the way you framed it in the moment, no?

"Da caf good, anasi." A compliment there, before he shifted softly and slowly. "Now ya got what ya wanted, an' I got mine, ya can drop me off where me need to be, yah?"

A curious glance there.

Would she keep the entirety of her bargain now that she got what she wanted?

 

[Kuzo]

"Mmm, well, if you're going to do something, do it the best you can, hmm? You'll find nothing done here in half measures, Mister Imani."

She wasn't just talking about the caf.

She heard the unspoken quality of the question. It was there in the particular lilt, the look in his eyes. Technically, it had been her initial offer. They had agreed on nothing of the sort. He had, in fact, rejected the first choice in its entirety, as far as Irajah was concerned. Ultimately, they had agreed to the exchange and not one thing more.

Her eyes locked with his for a moment. A shift of encouragement through the connection. He would lend her the power if she wanted it.

Oh stop that, you know me better than that.

"You are lucky," she said quietly. "That I am the sort to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of a bargain, rather than only the letter."

She set the caf down, closing her eyes for a moment before pushing herself off of the table. Her head throbbed, pulsing with pain. Fortunately, Irajah was good at ignoring that.

"Where am I bringing you?"

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

Tilt of the head.

He ran back the conversation in his head and then- ah. Surely had fethed that one up, no? But Imani wasn't angry about it or at himself. In truth it was simply a matter of a new lesson learned. One that said not to smoke chit when you were conducting business. Though, even better would be to not consider business when in a metric feth ton of pain. No matter, what was done was done and she wasn't actually taking advantage of his minor slip-up in that moment.

"Ahh, luck has none to do with it, Doc Ven." A wink followed there after. "Stranger's kindess? All the more."

Would he have done the same thing in her shoes?

No, Julian would not.

There was a reason why the letter of a bargain had to be followed. It had to do with balance and purification of spirit. One did not read into the intent of another, just in what they said and specifically what they said. Her kindness was appreciated regardless.

"South, Lima District... Imani's Store. Mine... or it used to be."

 

[Kuzo]

"Mmm, something like," she murmured, not the first time she had expressed a similar sentiment since their paths had crossed.

Kindness of strangers? Hardly.

The entire reason Irajah was here was because she had followed the lines. It wasn't as simple as he'd had information she wanted. If it had been she might have lied, or simply taken it. Sometimes that route was the best one. But Irajah's goals were longer term. Viewed through Shatterpoint, this man had the potential to intersect with her again later- and if he did, he would have something that would benefit her. She didn't know what or when, only that the potential was there. So much better to let him out of her sphere of influence on good terms.

Kindness and generosity had nothing to do with it.

It was entirely self serving.

It was amazing how often altruism was merely selfishness in disguise. It had taken her years to realize that, to see through the lies she had told herself.

Do good feel good.

She did not deny that some people in the galaxy were altruistic in truth. But not Doctor Irajah Ven.

She disappeared out of the med bay, returning two minutes later.

"The droid knows where we are going, it won't be long," she said.

Since she had woken up, her voice had been low, the subdued softness of a migraine. It would last for some time, she suspected, but did not complain.

[member="Julian Imani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

The signs of a migraine were easy to tell- eyes peering just a bit against the flash of light, voice low and trying to avoid having sound beat against their head.

If they had been in his shop he might have offered some herbs, mixed just right it would annihilate her migraine in its tracks. Maybe not as efficient as bacta, but miles cheaper and easier to acquire if you knew exactly where to look and what to do.

"Da head hurt, ya?" A nod before he pulled out the dimmed cigarette. Plenty of it left, before they had flopped onto the table and got busy with his wounds. "Wan' some, Doc Ven? Is good, blunts da edge, it does." In sufficient quantities it would have completely removed her headache. But it wasn't like there was enough of the root out there in the Nether. The fact that he had been able to find any had come as a surprise to him as is. It hadn't been the first surprise however.

Wouldn't be the last either.

A stretch.

"Show me da cockpit, if ya will, anasi. I wanna see da sky again."

The real sky. Not what made it in the Netherworld.

Unless Irajah would protest they would slowly walk on over to the 'pit, where Julian flopped down in the co-pilot chair. His eyes roamed the skies, the clouds, he sighed softly and kissed the tips of his fingers before raising them up a fraction. Soft murmur there, eyes closed and he hummed there for a bit.

 

[Kuzo]

She eyed the cigarette for a moment.

"I believe I will decline, but thank you," she said after a moment, a faint smile flickering over her lips. "Smoking isn't one of my particular vices."

She had no objections, showing Julian the way to the cockpit. The droid in the pilot's seat reacted not at all to the lanky man dropping bonelessly into the chair beside it. The sky was the deep bruised purple of pre-dawn. Stars still dotted, but on the horizon, that single line of warmth glowed, promising. Promising a new morning, a new day. A new chance.

There were always chances, the question was only where they led.

She watched him for a moment, mulling.

"How long-" She started to ask.

*flash*

Years. Her eyes closed, and she shook her head, immediately regretting it.

"That," she muttered, "is going to get old fast."

[member="Julian Imani"]