Toys in the Attic

[Darth Caecus]

She nodded against his chest, tips of her fingers tapping once against his shoulder. It wasn't even a conscious motion, just what felt like long training, and was in fact a flashed impression. In situations where speaking wasn't possible, one tap for yes, two for no.

The icy air hit her like a thousand needles. Any idea that she would have been able to make more than thirty meters in this blizzard was dashed against the gelid strength of the storm. The windchill far below zero, in only moments she was shivering in his arms. What little she'd been able to find hardly insulated against the biting wind. Zee closed her eyes, curling in as tightly on herself as she could to conserve what heat was possible. In truth, very little, but she stuck her fingers under her arms and hoped the boots were enough to protect her toes.

It didn't take long for her to lose track of how far they had come. With nothing but the repetative, muffled clomp of his boots in the snow and the driving force of the wind, there was very little to differentiate one heartbeat from the last. The cold burn of the wind melded eventually into numbness, which was when she started to grow concerned.

Though even the concern slowly started to fade as drowsiness set in.

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

The flick of his finger on her nose would draw [member="Zee"] away from the drowsiness.

When there was only the storm and the snow and the woman to worry about it didn't take long for automation to set in for the sure walk through the ice. This meant that most of his attention was elsewhere, ensuring that his charge wasn't going to die on him just as they were almost safe.

It felt like seconds, but that was the cold numbing his thoughts.

After an hour or two Luca finally stumbled over the ramp into the hangar bay. The ramp closed itself behind them, cutting them off from the storm and leaving them in relatively darkness as Thorne settled down on the ground. The settling wasn't because he wanted to, but because he needed to.

Balance was lost and there was exhaustion running through his veins.

Anyone else would have probably died there, but even for someone like Luca it had been a close-call.

"You still among the living, Zee?"

 

[Darth Caecus]

The first time he flicked her nose she snarled at him. Just a little. It was, after all, ludicrously effective, and she recognized the intent behind it after one annoyed rawr.

Each time he did it after, the response was a little duller. A little slower. But it was always there. By the time they reached the ship, she'd gone long past the point of shivering from the cold. Nothing hurt, which she knew would change once she started to warm up, but for now, it took her longer to process his words and then answer them than she would have liked.

"Not sure if I ever was."

It was a strange response to his question.

In that moment, she had no interest in doing anything but staying curled right where she was. Moving seemed a monumental effort. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew she had to, knew she had to start forcing circulation back to her extremities, but it seemed like an awful lot of work when-

Move.

She opened her eyes, ice clinging to the lashes.

Move.

It wasn't until she actually followed that instruction, welling up from the very depths of her mind, that the pain started.

Zee grimaced, grunting as she slowly started to uncurl. The pain helped. It was grounding. Floating in a haze of numbness wasn't particularly conducive to anything, but pain reminded her that yes, she was alive.

And that was a small miracle, in and of itself.

"Good," she grunted, more to herself than him. Pain meant the nerve endings were not too damaged. She wasn't going to be walking yet, just the very idea of it was almost nauseating.

"You okay big guy?"

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Zee"]​

Thorne was in his own little world.

The ice clung to his shape, but was already slowly melting at the seams. It turned from frost to a soft trickle of water cascading from the several layers of armorweave, durasteel and other padding that shaped the suit of armor into tiny ribbons. The texture made the trickle bounce, up and down, up and down as the acceleration turned into gravitation and back. Every moment more energy was lost in the transition, but every moment it came closer to its goal.

Drip.

It fell to the ground and Luca blinked out of the chaos of his mind. He twisted slightly, letting the pressure of the suit shift his internals and put attention on the parts of his body that needed more blood in the moment. Little pricks of pain angled his flesh as blood started to circulate once more and the heat started to transfer through his body in response to the suit's directive. It was part of him, that suit, hijacking his internal systems whenever it was necessary and more efficient than letting his metabolism doing the heavy pulling. In the long run it would probably be a problem for him.

How long could a body keep being directed by external mediums, before it became complacent and unyielding to work on its own after all?

But that wasn't a concern of today.

"Yes." Luca finally responded to the query, before pushing himself off the floor and eyeing the figure up and down. "I am picking you up again."

The warning came only a second after the act was already completed. She wasn't capable of walking and they needed to get her into the warmth as soon as possible. They weren't out of the danger zone yet, if they didn't act decisively the distinct shifts from one state to the second to the third and the fourth could send her body into shock regardless.

His boots got them out of the small cargo bay and into an uniform corridor. Here the walls were neat and painted with a distinct onyx black, the durasteel flooring brushed with grating intertwined in the middle of it - a maintenance shaft that pushed its way through the entirety of the ship for easy access if any repairs needed to be made. Too small to fit him, but there was more than one occupant to this ship, even if not officially registered.

A turn was made to the left and they passed a door that hisssssed open. Zee might have picked up an aquarium occupying the left-most portion of the wall and a soft couch dominating the center, before it slid shut again once the proximity sensors noticed that the figure was leaving the area again.

Four more meters and they arrived at the end of the second corridor.

To their left another door hissed open and the smell of medical asepsis forced itself up through her nostrils. Several bacta tanks arrayed against one side of the wall, a plastoid table with a chair and a miniaturized computer to the other and in the middle of the room an operating table with assorted scanning equipment resting next to it.

A chair was settled in front of the plastoid table though and that was where Thorne put her, before getting out some warm blankets from one of the cabinets that slid easily back into the wall.

She was covered under them once he was done.

"Better?"

 

[Darth Caecus]

She didn't argue. Hadn't even been considering argue, truth be told. The warning came just in time for her to be ready for it- though it wasn't as if she had the strength to hit him, even if he'd taken her by surprise.

Somewhere between then and the med- bay (she thought it was somewhere around the room with the aquarium), Zee started to shiver. Which was in a way a good sign. But it wasn't the quiet, pathetic shiver of someone who was simply *cold*. It was a violent, teeth cracking shuddering that heralded the blood slowly working its way back through nearly frozen tissue. She was lucky it was only nearly frozen.

"Hy-hy-po-thermia's a b-queen," came the chattering reply from the small, bundled up form.

She was going to need more than warm blankets and she knew it.

A memory, like a half remembered dream welled up.

~*FLASH*~

It seemed like they had been in the frigid water for hours. Somewhere along the way, she'd completely lost track of time. Ayden crawled out onto the headland first, turning back to reach for Xyra. It took a moment, but his hand clasped around her wrist, and with his help, she was able to make it up on to shore. Shivering violently, she didn't even try to stand right away, but she knew that they couldn't simply wait here. The water had cooled down their core temperatures greatly, and now the wind would be wicking it away even faster as the water evapotated from their clothing.

"W-w-we have t-to g-get to the ro-cks," she said, teeth chattering. "There's a c-c-cave in th-there. W-we have t-to get ou-t of this w-w-wind."

The pair, helping each other, stumbled up to the outcropping. Indeed, as Xyra had said, there was a small opening, just big enough for Ayden to fit through. It cut the wind severely but not completely as they headed inside. The cave itself was only about two meters deep. Xyra knew that she could stand in it, but Ayden's head would be a few centimeters too high without crouching. But standing wasn't what she was looking for.

Without hesitation, she shuffled as far to one side as she could to give herself room to move. Her motions were jerky, slow, and fumbling as she tried to work numb fingers around the buttons of her shirt.

"S-strip fly b-boy," she stammered out, not looking up at him. "B-body w-warmth." She didn't have the energy to explain it, but she hoped he was as smart as she'd come to believe he was, and not argue with her over this. Now was not the time for shyness. Night would fall before the water receded, and they needed to get warm before darkness fell. Once the rain stopped, she knew that she could start a fire just outside of the cave. But without enough ventilation, a fire inside of the cave with them was simply not an option.

"W-w-well this is c-cozy." An amused chuckle escaped his lips despite himself. His eyes went back to the lashing rain outside. "It doesn't l-look like it's gonna let up any time soon." When he heard her speak, he turned around in mild confusion before he saw her peeling her own clothes off. It clicked then. Stripping for body heat was one way to stave off hypothermia. With a nod, Ayden set about peeling off his shirt. The wet black fabric clung to his skin. It was a struggle to get it off, but finally he pulled it off and threw it to one side. Next came a black muscle shirt. His shoes and socks soon followed. As his pants joined the pile, Ayden stood there in his boxers. For once, the Corellian was a little awkward. Did she expect them both to get utterly undressed?

She had pushed herself as far away from the opening as possible. Looking up at him, she frowned, but it lost a lot of its oomph with the teeth chattering.

"L-look. G-get down here. I w-w-won't take advantage of your lily white p-purity. L-leave them on if y-you want, but it's j-just going t-t-to wi-ck away body heat as it dries. Y-your call."

She looked away from him, giving him some modicum of privacy as she finished her own disrobing. Right now, survival far trumped pride or vanity. Really, if either of them was going to be embarrassed, it ought to be her with her rather slight figure. Fortunately, however, she didn't for the most part suffer from those sorts of concerns. She didn't look back at him until he'd joined her, and then didn't look past his face. No need to make this more uncomfortable than it really had to be.

~*FLASH*~

"W-warm w-water," she managed to get out. A tub, a 'fresher, something.

She wasn't about to tell the hulking behemoth in front of her to *strip*.

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

Stripping naked while he was comfortable in his warm suit would have seemed strange to Thorne anyway.

"I can do that." His mind raced across the possibilities. It was possible to bring a tub in here, one of the cargo boxes that he had been using to carry some additional arms for his last mission. Large enough to fit [member="Zee"] and then some, filled with warm water and then everything would hopefully get better for her.

It would take time to clear out the container though and in that time she would be still freezing to a degree.

That didn't seem like a wise decision.

Luca nodded, before once again scooping her up, but this time without warning.

By this point it seemed to be the standard between the two of them - he simply did what needed to be done and the little form in his arms did little to protest in exchange. It was a good thing she seemed to be aware of basic pragmatism and as such they once again entered the corridor. It took him a few corners, a stairs down and another corner cut, before he reached his own personal bedroom of the freighter.

In the distance Luca could still hear the insistent tick of the hailing wind slamming itself against the durasteel.

But they were relatively safe here for now, so he wasn't immensely worried about it all.

He immediately entered the bathroom, letting her slowly descend to the floor, where he studied the room and then her. The armor was still on, so she wouldn't see the frown dominating his brows.

"Do you need assistance with the shower?"

 

[Darth Caecus]

"I'm g-gonna s-sit right on the f-f-floor there," she managed to get out. It wasn't really an answer on it's own, but at least it was clear she wasn't stupid enough to try to stay standing up before she got warm.

"J-just st-stay in case I end up sm-smashing m-my silly lit-little head in anyway?"

While she'd been still a bit out of it then, she'd already been naked in front of him. And let's face it, this was not a time for modesty. Besides, there was literally nothing even remotely alluring about the situation. So she didn't hesitate to start pulling off the layers she'd done her best to wrap herself in. If she'd been sure of a change of clothes, she might have sat under the water fully clothed. But there was that pragmatism once again.

Her hands shook hard enough that it was difficult, but she persisted and managed it without asking him for help with that at least. After all, it wasn't like she had buttons or laces to worry about. Small blessings.

She'd been able to tuck her hands up and beneath her arms, but her feet had been less lucky. Despite the little walking she'd done in them, the stiff boots on flesh that had never even seen the light of day had left their mark. Torn, bloodless skin- pale and stiff, but not, she thought, the waxy unreal look of frostbitten flesh too far gone to save. She did wince, removing those boots, but otherwise didn't complain when she finally scooted under the pounding water he'd turned on for her.

Warm, not too hot. The shivering grew more violent as pain flooded into nearly frozen extremities. She pulled her knees up to her chest, pressing her chin against her legs to try to stop the teeth cracking chattering. At least enough so she didn't bite her tongue hard enough to bleed.

White flesh slowly shifted in hue and she squeezed her eyes shut as blisters rose where the warm water fell against her feet. Frostbite for sure, but the pain meant nothing had been permanently damaged and she gritted her teeth, keeping that knowledge in the forefront.

There was no not feeling it, or shunting the pain off. But she kept quiet, never uttering a sound.

*****

It took almost an hour for the shivering to pass completely. An hour before she finally crawled out and with clumsy but intent hands dried off with the towel he offered her. Glancing at the still chilly, damp layers in a pile beside the 'fresher, she managed a weak chuckle.

"Maybe the blankets are a better bet. At least till those dry."

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

The water poured in equal measures all around her.

It slipped around on skin and the warmth spread itself like a persistent aura from the limbs towards the solid mass itself. The first thing to go during moments like these were the limbs, the little fingers, hands and arms. The toes, feet and legs up. The body preserved itself according to the most important bits and pieces it had - the frame and the mainframe hitched together to that frame, because you could survive without a finger or more.

Heart? Brain?

That was another story entirely, but eventually Thorne was satisfied with the progress they had made. At some point the clinical gaze had left her body, instead opting to give her a measure of privacy as she tried to take over the duty. The feelings were already returning slowly to her limbs, but it would probably be an awkward handling regardless.

Not a surprise with the cold howling outside.

"Yep." Man of little words as he got the blankets from the table and handed it over. He was still in the suit at this point, but there hadn't been much room or time to get himself out of it. Not while trying to ensure the target of his mission would remain combat efficient for whatever the First Order would want from her.

"Sleep or food next?"

She would know better what her body needed.

Either way that would keep her busy with something while Luca slipped out of the armor and put something else on.

[member="Zee"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

"Food," she answered decisively.

Opting out of the stiff boots (her feet would just start bleeding again and like hell was she going to open up the frost bite blisters), she wrapped herself in the blankets and followed along behind him. Her movements were slow, still stiff and it was clear she was in pain, but it also wasn't really hampering her and she was just as happy to walk for now. How long she'd be able to manage it she wasn't sure, but the warm water had given her back *something* and she intended to make the most out of it.

Back through the ship, this time with her paying a little more attention to the twists and turns, what room was where, before reaching what could generously be called a galley. Honestly, Zee didn't even really care. A place to sit was a place to sit. And food was food. Even if it was dense, energy bars that tasted like damp cardboard.

How she knew that's what it tasted like, she had no idea.

Perhaps as a first meal it was lacking something. As far as new experiences, layered over old went, however, it was oddly comforting. Some things hadn't changed. And ration bars appeared to be one of them. The actual taste and texture filled in a certain hollowness that the memory had held up until that moment.

Neither of them had much to say, and Zee was fairly intent on filling an uncomfortable void in the pit of her being to be particularly keen on casual conversation. [member="Luca Thorne"] left her alone with the food, water with the acrid bite of vitamins, and her thoughts.

Chew chew chew swallow.

~*Flash*~


"I joined the Marines because they told me I'd be a hero. I'm guessing you press those buttons on my file and I'm dead as far as the Galaxy is concerned?"

"Never see my family again?"

She had nodded, watching him.

"No wife, two kids and a pet in the suburbs?"

She nodded.

"A billion new ways to die, every day?"

She nodded.

"When I do die, it'll probably be a cold dark room in excruciating pain and it'll be a closed casket funeral...if I even have one?"

She paused for a second...and nodded.

"Where do I sign?"


~*~ Zee, things just got interesting...I hate interesting! By the Force, Zee! Are you ok? How can I help? I've got medics... Zee...I, need to say something I probably should have said months ago. You're beautiful, I think I've always lo- Don't watch me, Zee! Watch where you're going!

​BANG

Oh, we're not mistaken Shiva. You can drop the act. Even in those clothes, you can see the way a killer walks. Death shadows you. You can't hide that. That's the point, isn't it? You saw him die. So I couldn't possibly be him, now could I? Now what? Now you come quietly... or not. It's up to you. You're under arrest. Or I can say you resisted and gun you down like a dog in the street.~*~

Jaedis....​

~*Flash*~

Zee stopped and looked down critically at the mostly finished bar in her hand.

"Is this gonna happen often?" She wasn't asking the rations necessarily. "Cause if so, I'd like it to make more sense when something is going to remind me of someone, okay?"

 

[Arage Bao]

A man walked back into the room two moments before she suddenly spoke again.

Brows furrowed in confused thought, but then Luca decided he needed some food before dealing with this particular brand of crazy in the late evening. He walked past her in silence, the scrap of leather boots against durasteel accompanying the heavy trend and suggesting that even without his armor Luca was still nothing to joke about in a fight. The roll of muscle beneath the fabric only underlined this trend and the easy walk of unassuming confidence sealed it.

Another energy bar was taken out of the drawer, before he started fussing around with the refrigerator and grabbing some of the milk that was still left over.

He smelled the package and didn't scowl or anything.

Good enough for his bones then.

"Flash-print memories acting up then?" Thorne finally addressed the elephant in the room, before pouring himself a tin can and looking over his shoulder with a suggestion. If she agreed another can was filled or otherwise it would be all stored back into the refrigerator and the drawers.

"Those can be a schutta."

[member="Zee"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Aware of his reappearance, but a little absorbed in unexpected sensory memories, she didn't look up right away. It wasn't until his actual voice- not the synthesized tones from through the helmet, but his actual voice, sounded that she looked up.

"Acting up like a sonofabitch," she confirmed.

The series of thoughts that contributed to her response happened so fast as to be entirely subconscious. Xyra had been a private woman, and one not prone to sharing things that might make her vulnerable. But she had already been far more vulnerable than that admission in front of this man. Naked. Shivering. And the way he had said it made it clear that it wasn't, in truth a question. He knew. Oddly, the combination of factors led to the mental agreement within the cogs of her mind that confirmation did not make her vulnerable at all. It was simply good sense and made the interaction cleaner than it would have been by keeping it close to her chest.

She nodded when he offered to pour her a glass of, well, whatever was in the carton. Her eyes traveled up and down for a moment when he turned away, a combination of appreciation and assessment. Even out of the armor, 'big guy' was an appropriate nick name.

A moment later, she nodded again, this time in thanks, accepting the glass from him and taking a sip.

​"What's this?"

It was the first thing that those self same flash-print memories wasn't supplying. Either it was something Xyra hadn't encountered herself, or something new to the galaxy in the last..... yeah, best not to think about how long right now....

In truth, it was the beginning of the hints that not all of the memories she needed had come through the ages intact. It was a small thing, minor. To forget milk? It meant next to nothing on its own. But the broader implications would become clear as more time passed and more gaps emerged.

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Zee"]

Through intense training burned into the very fabric of his being Luca was capable of keeping any overt expression from his facial structure.

But the desire to frown or raise his eyebrows in surprise was there. At least, until Thorne started to think about what he had exactly seen on those screens and the state of the facility, perhaps something had happened with the systems. Flash-printing wasn't exactly an exact science and more often than not the scientists were just playing around themselves. It wouldn't be completely out of the question that something could have gone wrong.

"Milk." Luca carefully supplied, before shrugging. It could also simply be that whoever made her hadn't thought it was necessary for her to know what milk was.

After all... does a weapon really need to know the difference between milk and orange juice?

Use it once or twice, then discard it once it gets too damaged and the efficiency takes a hit. Not that Luca really knew what what her purpose was - the data had been too corrupted to find out.

"Good for the bones, teeth, doesn't taste half bad either." He demonstrated it by taking a sip and nodding slightly. "You haven't asked the question yet."

The million credit question.

The one that burned on every clone's tongue the moment they got out of the pod. The one that must have been swirling around her head from the moment she caught her breath and wasn't feeling like her inside would burst out.

It came in many flavors, but in the end it all came down to one thing: What is to happen with me?

Maybe she would wanna know where he was taking her, why he was taking her, what would happen to her or how she would be used.

They would all lead up to the same equation though.

 

[Darth Caecus]

"Which question? 'What could possible make you think *this* tastes good?' "

Her face and tone were completely deadpan, and it wasn't clear at first whether she was joking or not.

She put down the cup slowly and turned fully to look at him.

"The way I see it is this," she ticked off the details on her fingers. "Imperial flavor, whatever the current iteration of that is. You came alone, so this isn't a large sanctioned mission by the top brass, but probably one digging around *just* within the bounds of propriety within current agreements, possibly with the long term goal of expanding just how far those can be pushed. So you're bringing me to a 'who', not a 'what.' Not a branch, but an individual. Someone who trusts you explicitly to not kark up, or else considers you expendable- I'd guess mostly a, but also a little bit of b, which is why it was just you with no back up, which also confirms the fact that this wasn't a branch op. It'd be supremely stupid for a branch op to only send one person, but makes sense if it's something else. I can only assume you weren't expecting to find me, ​however, now were you? Probably intel? Or was it just for curiosity? The facility *is* rather old after all, seems unlikely to hold much of interest to someone looking for more than ghosts out of the sheer pleasure of it."

She paused, cocking her head at him slightly.

"Unless the Imperial spirit has changed drastically since my time, you're bringing me to someone with influence, but in the background, rather than a fancy title. And I could ask you what happens then, but I don't think you'd be able to answer in a manner that's particularly satisfying to me. Though, I could be mistaken. That happens sometimes. You could tell me about your employer, though again, unless you are a certain kind of disloyal, which I doubt, you probably won't be able to tell me as much as I'd like to know."

Leaning back on the chair, it was a strange juxtaposition. Wrapped in blankets, still pale and weak, but grey-green eyes watched him evenly, and her words, while not perfect (after all, without complete data some details would be off), was surprisingly on the mark all things considered.

"However, if that is entirely off base. Then. Yes. I would like to know where we are going now."

[member="Luca Thorne"]

 

[Arage Bao]

The room was silent after her analytical summation.

Behind him the air blew from the duct: the blades circling about, cutting through the air and blasting the currents into the room to help with the flow. It was basically necessary when you were on a - relatively - small ship and the kitchen was an actual functional one, otherwise all the smells and scents would get everywhere.

Proper ventilation was the way to go.

He took a sip from his milk again and studied her for a moment. [member="Zee"] was good at analyzing things and if she bothered to observe his facial expression.... it was awfully neutral.

No anger, but neither did Thorne seemed awfully impressed with her.

"Oh, he's going to love you, alright." The tone spoke of bored resignation, before turning around to pick up the energy bar and get some chow in. "I am just a grunt, so I wouldn't be able to tell you anything helpful regardless."

A lie, of course.

"But my employer is a man of means and has decided that the First Order aligns with his interests for now."

Rather, he was screwing its de facto leader and decided that he didn't want to get bored, while doing that. So, a game would start and the Lord Carach played it well. A shrug of the shoulders followed, this was nothing that Zee wouldn't figure out the very moment she met with him, nor something that he wouldn't tell her straight-forward regardless.

It would probably spare both of them some time between the mental games, before they skipped straight to hate-karking each other's brains out.

"By the sounds of it, you will make it interesting for him."