A Helping Hand

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa turned her head slowly to give Kaili a long hard stare. "I think you've made your point Kaili." She said coolly, turning her attention back to the leader and taking a step forward.

"Everything you took from the Temple," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

The leader laughed, then spat atvthe ground between them. "Ain't yours, lady. Place has been abandoned for years. Ain't no temple neither." He took a few steps forward closing the gap between them. "I got men to pay, mouths to feed. That haul there will do us good for month, maybe two. No deal."

Rosa was acutely aware of the smell of cheap spirits on his breath and spice staining on his teeth. "Two months worth of food and cash to throw around? Is that all?" The leader made an odd growling noise, his weapon swinging up again level with her face.

Rosa simply smiled at him. "If you shoot me, not only will you be wasting charge but you will give my companion an excuse to do you harm. Trust me when I say she really doesn't need one and she's been hoping to strike at all of you since we discovered the mess you left in the control chamber."

She reached a hand up and pushed the blaster down so it was pointing at her chest. "If you return all the goods, I'll see you fed and watered for two months. Help us restore the temple and I'll hook you up with a heist that'll see you out of the skies for a year, perhaps longer if you are smart with your cash."

She cocked her head to one side. "What do you say?"

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Kaili returned the stare in kind. She didn’t negotiate with pirates and thieves, the fact that they still had their bodies intact and without bruises was a sign that Kaili was already offering a great extension to the hospitality she would have shown them if they had been alone. No part of Kaili liked this, no part of Kaili wanted this to be the way this trade went down. A heist for another heist? No, that wasn’t even remotely something she would be okay with.

The thug lowered his gun and looked at the rest of his crew members. They weren’t laughing this time, but the intent to do it was there. She had balls this one, the lady before them. She wanted the trash back if they surrendered their treasure trove and lived with her. Perhaps balls translated into insane as well they figured. The man stepped back and looked out across his crew for a second time with a small chuckle.

“You hear that?” He called out with a gloating smile. “The lady wants us to live here and rob others.”

Then he turned back to look at Rosa again, smile gone. “Well guess fething what.” His gun was raised for her head again. “Now that I know the place is hospitable again, why would I share?”

“Sorry to do this, toots. Shouldn’t have come for what was ours.” He flashed a wicked grin as his finger tensed up at the trigger of his gun. The crowd behind him all trained their rifles and guns at Kaili and Rosa both. The click of the first mechanism called out into the forest at a snail’s pace. At least to Kaili. Her own lips began to curve into a wicked grin of her own as the second mechanism malfunctioned from her previous sabotage.

A bright green explosion flashed before the two women as the plasma cell in the man’s pistol exploded. Flesh tore, limbs ripped and what remained was a man, a disfigured hand and a look of shock and horror as he looked at his hand. The pain hadn’t quite kicked in yet, he was vulnerable.

The same two-step malfunction sounded from both sides, the same sensation of pain and surprise did too. There wasn’t a single gun in the vicinity that Kaili had spared, and some of them would begin to realize that.

A hand sought the leader’s nose and a hand connected. An elbow swept back for his cheek and an elbow struck true. A foot connected to the leader’s knee to bring him to the ground proper before Kaili turned to his crew.

“I said drop your FETHING weapons or I will show you the same kind of mercy that I showed your boss.” Her eyes burned, her temper flaring up. “You have seen what I can do, you have seen what I am willing to do.”

“I do not negotiate with scum like you, this is a one time offer extended only because of my friend here.” She hissed now. “DROP THEM!”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Silence rang in Rosa's ears, the cries of pain and Kaili's he'll I'm teaching. She could hear only the sound of her heart hammering in her chest and the soft laugh echoing in the back of her mind.

I like this one, she's got potential. All that anger and pain just waiting to be used. Do you remember what that feels like Rosa? All that fear, makes one a little hungry doesn't it?

Rosa blinked, and licked her lips. Eyes falling to her hands staring at the like they were not her own.

Ah, so you do remember...

Fists closed tightly and the world came roaring back to her. Never again, she told Layil. Never again. "Kaili! That is enough!" Her voice was shaky, she swallowed forcing herself to regain her composure. "There is nothing more they can do now, you've made sure of that."

She knelt at the side of the leader, taking the stump in her hand. "Check which crates are ours." She told her, not looking up as she began to knit the flesh at the end of the leaders stump.

"I'm sorry." She muttered to him.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

It was nothing if not a well-calculated situation. Had Kaili insisted on the concept of sparing them the dignity of lost fingers she’d have been dead years ago. It was a concept born from the time she accidentally killed someone. It had been a hunting trip with the man who would soon come to be known as Mr. Mandalore himself, Vilaz Munin. Dxun wasn’t a very pleasant place when it phased with Onderon, so of course that was when Kaili had ended up there by mistake. She had killed a man by blowing up a cannister to cause a distraction at that point. It hadn’t been her intention, but the more she pondered it the more she had realized that it worked. An explosion would always distract someone, or throw them into a shock, or at the very least take fingers away. It turned into the ace card in her sleeve at that point. She didn’t like using it, most of the time, but when it came to odds like these when she’d be royally screwed without it, well, she couldn’t help but take at least a small measure of amusement in knowing how quick the odds would even.

The Gang Leader hissed for a second, but as Rosa grabbed his hand he would feast his eyes on the damage that the little blonde had caused. His stare turned into one of horror at what he saw. Where were his fingers? Why was his hand not burning and what was with the glow? Shock turned into fear, turned into anger and hate. His left hand had caught him on the way down. Loose dust having gathered in the surface of his palm he went for the left hook against Rosa’s temple with a near-primal scream in her face.

Kaili, having dropped the act was already on her way towards the crates. Too distant to react, too distant to intervene against the man’s attack on her friend.

… But not distant enough to retaliate nonetheless. Maybe not against him, but the others. She was focused on her job at this point. The job being to bring criminals like these to justice, and that she did. In her own way, at the very least. Leaning down towards the ground she picked up a handful of dust before looking over at the two nearest thugs. Head shaking she ran towards them, dust thrown in the eyes of the one before her, a kick sent into the other’s stomach. One of them was blinded, the other hunched in pain. Wasting no time Kail grabbed the one she had kicked, threw him into the blind man and looked over at the others.

All pistols and rifles had been dropped.

Knives and blades had come into play now.

A hand extended towards the blind man and the friend on top of him to stun them both.

This fight was getting exciting at this point. A lopsided grin spread on Kaili’s lips as she pondered who to pick next.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

She should have seen it coming, she cursed inwardly atvher own weakness in that moment, so caught up in her own fears that she'd number herself to the rising primal response in the leader. The first caught her hard, stars exploding across her vision.

She took the hit and rolled with it coming to a crouch and looking back at the leader whose face had become contorted with primal rage. He drew himself up, uninjured hand drawing a long curved blade from his belt. "KILL THEM BOTH!" He screamed at his men.

Let me...

"No!"

Instinct took over as two rushed her from either side. They fell four paces from her as she delved into their minds and forced them to sleep where the stood. Ivy snaked up from the ground cooling about the leaders legs at her command binding him.

Rosa turned away, anger burning in her eyes, Kaili had dropped two, three remained and they seemed a little more cautious now.

"You will stand down, or you will know fear like you've never felt it before." It snaked out from her, a choking paralyzing fear swirled around her, seemingly unstoppable and sparing no one, not even Kaili. It stretched across the sky and drawing away the light. A flash of red moved across her eyes and Layil's gleeful giggle rang in her ears.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Fear was a slowly creeping thing. Kaili picked her target and threw herself at it to tackle it on the ground. A fist connected to the side of their head and just like that they too were out. She remained on top of the unconscious body as a slight sense of unease began to infect her mind with a sense of doubt that she knew that she had no reason to feel. It came creeping form the corners of her eyes and spread across her entire field of vision like a shadow. A smell of burning flesh, of copper and iron — blood — clouded the girl’s mind with a haze.

No.

Her mind shut down as she closed her eyes and pushed the thoughts from her mind. Ever since the unfortunate night when a man had tried to exploit Kaili’s weak mental defenses she’d practiced it. Was it perfect? Far from it, but she had enough clarity to realize that this wasn’t just a spontaneous case of the heebie-jeebies. No signature other than her own would stand out beside Rosa. It was Rosa who was doing this. A hand extended for one of the non-vital crates, one most likely containing food and brought it up into the air.

It was a very far-shot, but she had to take it. Standing up she looked at Rosa who had gone from nonviolent to the biggest threat in the entire area.

“I’m sorry, Rosa. But no.” Kaili called out to her friend. Her arm jerked in the healer’s direction, and the crate followed suit. The force needed concentration, and when placed with the choice between spreading a metaphysical fear for life and self-preservation the latter would perservere. At least in most situations that Kaili herself had been in.

And in this case it wasn’t so much for Kaili’s sake as much as her friend’s.

Something didn’t feel right here. Not right at all.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Layil was clawing at the bars of her psychic cage, weakening it from the inside, her menace and desire to create fear seeping through the cracks she created with each push. She was hungry, oh so hungry for the souls that writhed around Rosa, their essence burning in the force. Rosa was paralysed by her own fears, memories of Alderaan, Coruscant and Charal blurring across her eyes. All those lives she'd taken...

Never again. Never again would she allow Layil to escape, to control her. A part of Rosa she may be, but that part would not rule her again. Layil's screams echoed inside her head, primal and desperate as Rosa began to seal the cracks.


Red, lilac, red, lilac.

The colour flashed in her eyes the darkness she created flickering, eyes fixed on Kaili but utterly unseeing lost in the internal battle of her own psych. Kaili was standing, her lips moving but the words were unheard. "Not today."

Red again. Danger sense made her look left, a hand raising to stop the crate, a feeble and hopeless movement.

Lilac again. "Not now." The crate connected with her hand, shoulder and then head, the sickening crack of breaking bone and a cry of pain echoed in her ears. The snaking fear retreated, light once more flooding the skies. Layil retreated back behind her prison bars, growling as Rosa lay flat on her back, breathing heavily.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Eyes remained fixed on Rosa, much like Rosa seemed fixed on Kaili. The fear that tried to invade her mind would disappear to the chorus of breaking bone. There was little Kaili could do but wince. She had thought Rosa would catch that, stop the crate before it hit her, but it seemed as if Rosa had no intention — or ability — to do so. She fell to the ground, injured but not dead. The grimace lingered on the blonde’s face as she shook her head at what she had caused to happen.

At least until the matter at hand was brought back to her forefront again. The two thugs would realize their moment to strike was now, but Kaili did not intend for them to seize it. Not at all. Blades in hand they went their separate ways, one for Rosa and the other for Kaili. Two men left to face two women, one of which was down and the other thrown off-balance by what she had just experienced. Regardless, Kaili swept for the man that went for her. She grabbed his arm as he stabbed for her, thrust it behind his back and kept on pushing it up until it threatened to pop out of its socket. The man writhed, dropped the knife to the floor and found himself promptly flung into the man that had approached Rosa.

The air was knocked out of him as his friends body soared into his waist, the knife in his hand falling out of reach as Kaili stepped up and gave them both a punch to knock their lights out.

That just left the one person to take care of. Wary eyes set on Rosa.

Was she…

No?

A hand called for the knife that had been knocked out of one of the thugs’ hands and latched on with a firm grasp as she approached Rosa.

“Rosa?” She asked at her approach. “Keep calm, alright? We need to talk.”

Boots tread carefully towards the healer, prepared to strike if she had to.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa lay perfectly still, eyes staring up at the skies above them, watching the dark clouds starting to roll in. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes as shame settled over her. They'd worked so hard, she and Seydon, to bring her alter ego to heel, to place her under lock and key in the recesses of Rosa's mind. She had allowed herself to feel Kaili's pain, to empathise with her plight and in doing so had weakened the barriers. After that, it was easy for Layil to leak through with so much negativity around her. She closed her eyes, drawing in a deep shuddering breath she exhaled slowly battling the overwhelming desire to let her sorrow consume her.

Kaili's voice drifted to her and Rosa lips were split with a laughing sob. "You have no idea." she replied, finally mustering up the willpower to bring herself to sit. Her unbroken arm reached for the side of her head, fingers coming away red. She gazed at the advancing girl, knife in hand, expression and stance incredibly cautious. "How would you judge me, Kaili? You who so harshly judges the lower echelons of our galaxy. Their crimes are nothing on what I have done." Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as thunder rumbled above them, her voice cracked with the effort of restraining the lump of emotion that threatened to spill out.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

The knife shifted in her grip at the approach. She wasn’t ready for it, but she knew the possibility was there and that she would have to stab Rosa to protect herself. Way of the jungle, right? Strongest survive? No? Kaili felt her hesitation bubble below her skin and as the woman sat up she came to a stop, knife held before her in a reverse grip and ready to attack. It was Protection Against the Dark Arts 101. Always have a shank, or something that served you better than just your fists.

Aela worked with this once, how hard could it be?

But the woman that sat up wasn’t a fear-spreading demon. It was just Rosa with a streak of tears running down her cheeks. It tore Kaili, it did. Rosa was a nice person, she had seen it with her own eyes and felt it. What the deal with the clouds of fear that had enveloped all in her surroundings was she did not know, but it was something she could talk to her about.

Kaili’s guard slowly dropped. Eyes set on the knife in her hand as she discarded it on the floor, hand instead extending to offer Rosa a leg up off the ground.

Eyes set on the men on the ground. Under most circumstances she’d have them tied up and set off a beacon for her contacts to come swipe them up, but this would be an exception. They had learned their lesson, they knew better than to try the temple again, and if they did they’d be in for a surprise once Kaili had put it back into working order.

“I bet you have.” Kaili offered little in the way of an ‘it's okay’ for what she had seen Rosa do or what for what she had experienced a mere minute ago. “But here is not the place to discuss this.”

“You, just like these people, have been taught a lesson today. A lesson that sometimes have to be learned through pain.” Finger pointed at the leader. “That man will have a permanent reminder of what his life brought him, as do those two.” She then pointed the unconscious men who also had tried to pull the trigger. “I don’t know what lesson you will learn today, but it is evident enough that you regret it. These men did not.”

The kid motioned at Rosa to follow her towards the loader where their crates were being kept. “They attacked targets because they seemed easy, they attacked you and me because we seemed weak. I showed them that we are not in the hopes that they’ll think twice the next time, or better yet be more open to your offer to drop the lives they’ve set up for themselves.”

“Now come on.” She said and stepped aboard the hovering platform. “We’ll talk once we’re further away from prying ears.”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa took the extended hand, hauling herself to her feet with Kaili's assistance. She cast a glance around her at the men, it didn't seem right to leave them, the healer in her wanted to go to work to set things right but she'd her own injuries to tend to. Cradling her arm she gave Kaili a watery chuckle in response. This wasn't a lesson, not in the sense that Kaili meant it.

This was a revelation. The fact that Layil had seeped out was unsettling, even more so because of what Rosa was planning to do with the Foundation. She stepped aboard the loader, seating herself upon a crate and letting Kaili drive. Rosa said noting on the journey back to the temple, so consumed by her thoughts. If she was to enter war zones to retrieve refugees, to empathise with them in order to help them, she was going to be exposed to a great deal of negative emotion. What was to stop Layil breaking down her prison further, if that was the case?

Did Rosa need to close herself off, shut out emotions in dangerous situations? She'd been able to do it before, but Isolda had broken down her walls and exposed her like a nerve ending, overly sensitive to it all. She'd only rebuilt a fraction of the strength she'd had before, that much was clear. But she couldn't withdraw from it all, exposure built strength...

She blew out a sigh as the temple loomed above them and felt soothed by its looming presence. For her it held only light a beacon of what she had been and what she could be again. Rosa called instructions to guide them up a precarious track that would bring them level with the hangar. Once inside Rosa disembarked. "I'll meet you in the atrium." She told Kaili, her feet carrying her towards her ship.

***

At least twenty minutes had passed before Rosa entered the atrium, eyes puffy and red from crying. Over her shoulder she'd slung a med kit, and in her hand she held a velvet drawstring bag. The object within it seemed to ooze with the dark side. It wasn't an alchemized object but it had seen a great deal of death, that much was clear. She set the bag on the edge of a flower bed, seating herself beside it and dislodging the medical kit from the bag.

"I need you to set my arm." she said to Kaili. "Please." she added, looking up at the girl.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

There was a ship stashed a bit further into the jungle. Kaili had felt its computers hum as she approached the loading platform that would take the two women back to the temple and she had caught sight of the very top of its hull when she the two had taken off. Of course they would have brought the men along had it not been there. Kaili could be considered cruel at times, but she wasn’t outright heartless. Rosa and Kaili would separate when they arrived. Where Rosa went she did not know, but Kaili would unload the crates from the platform and then send it back to its real owner. Or at least so she planned, but something got in the way. Hesitation, the idea that perhaps sending it back wouldn’t do them any good in the end. The thieves could be back again in no time, and as such, perhaps it was for the better if it remained here. At least for a little while.

Head shook to the increasingly familiar sound of sighing. A telekinetic hold wrapped around the crates as Kaili began to move crate for crate to the room in which the security console was stored in after which she made way towards the atrium and waited for Rosa.

The healer came in and Kaili watched her on her approach. She had cried. Kaili could recognize the signs, knew it well for herself and the times she had seen her own reflection in the mirror. It broke her heart.

Equipment was laid out, Kaili had to set an arm.

“I can do that.” She nodded and got down on her knees next to Rosa. “Just… Let me remember what they taught me at the academy.”

It took a short while, but the memory was there.

“So.” She began as the memory clicked and the work got put in. “What was that back at the camp?”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

For a long moment, Rosa said nothing, teeth gritted agaibstvthe pain in her arm as Kaili worked she stared with glassy eyes at the floor. There was no short story. No matter how she tried to simplify it, she couldn't.

"What you saw," she began finally, looking up as bandages were tightly wound about her arm. "Was...it wasn't...I...feth." She laughed bitterly at herself and her inabilityntonfind the right words to explain what Layil was. She'd never had to explain before, the only other person who knew was Seydon, and it had been he that helped conquer Layil.

"This is far harder than I ever imagined it would be." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried again. "I have a second personality. An alter ego. She was born from fear and pain, so fear and pain is all she knows."

Rosa opened her eyes, the tightness in her chest easing away, her shoulders relaxing now the words were out in the open. She looked at Kaili. "Her name is Layil."

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

The work was pretty rough around the edges but the skill was there. Kaili had graduated from the Levantine Astronautical Academy while having read three different subjects. Ship design, navigation, and Basic Medicine. The first of which was her major and the subject she had excelled at the most. Navigation was always handy and something she used quite often, and as for the basic medicine courses, well, they were paying off right now. Could she operate an arm? No, but she could treat wounds and infections like the best of them. She didn’t need much more, she had droids to do the rest.

Rosa began to explain herself and Kaili listened as she spoke, taking the occasional moment to listen to what the woman was saying and meet her with a probing nod. Brows furrowed with the intent to listen, small frown shown to let Rosa know Kaili wasn’t the greatest fan of what she had seen and experienced.

As Rosa gave the name, Kaili stopped her work and gave the raven haired master one last look.

“Can’t say I’ve ever had a second personality.” She said, continuing work. “Temper problems, absolutely, but never as a second personality.”

“I have mainly had, you know, the usual problems. Throwing temper tantrums, punching things, lashing out, wanting to murder someone, try to drown my brother in sand…” Kaili chuckled, just a little. “I was a problem child in that regard. It got me a very stern talking to by my mother.”

And then Kaili stopped again. “She said,” The job continued. “Kaili, only you are in control of your own emotions, and they will only be an obstacle if you let them. For as long as you’ll live, you will always be in control of them, always.”

“Can’t say if it applies to you too, but I think it might?” Kaili shrugged. “You showed restraint back there and suddenly this ‘other personality’ was gone.”

And then Kaili stopped again. “And, so, I guess what I mean is... Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe that other personality isn’t someone else?” Mouth opened, air seeped in with a big inhale to make sure Rosa knew she wasn’t done. Then it quickly exhaled as Kaili struggled to find the words. “I-I don’t mean that you are a fear-mongering, evil woman, but have you ever considered it?” And then, the girl groaned in agitation. “It's just- Look, I- That was- I didn't mean- I can’t quite explain what I mean, I’m sorry, I know it’s not in my place to ask. Just forget it.”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa managed a weak smile in response to Kaili"s stuttering. "She is far more than a fear mongerer, Kaili. She is the result of physical and mental torture by the One Sith. A psych created by a woman intent on seeing me suffer, because on my suffering I was something far more powerful and dangerous than I am now. Layil is me, she is the worst of me."

She looked away, eyes running over the the plants around them. "Its far more complicated than emotion. She is a prisoner in her own mind as I was. And just like me, she can find ways to get out."

Her expression darkened, she had too much work to do yo allow Layil and ground now.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Ah. That was certainly something that would do it. While Kaili wouldn’t claim to be an expert on torture, she would still pick up on what Rosa was saying. Layil was a part of Rosa that she liked to think of as something that was locked up inside of her. The fact that she acknowledged Layil as part of herself was the deal breaker for Kaili. While she wouldn’t claim to know what Rosa should do if she was in that seat, she could still try to approach the Layil subject as if she was talking about someone that wasn’t in the room.

“So why do you grant her the satisfaction, then?” Kaili perked her brow. “Sounds to me like she’s a bully that thrives on your pain to me.”

The arm was done. Kaili rose from the ground and brushed her hands on her knees for reasons she wasn’t quite sure why.

“Either way, we can talk about something else. Your arm is done, for example. What do you make of that?”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa laughed, she couldn't help it. To reduce Layil to the simple term of bully was laughable. "It's more complicated than that Kaili." She chuckled before looking down at her handiwork.

It was surprisingly neat. Tight enough to prevent Rosa doing anymore damage to it. "Very good, the academy taught you well." She smiled up at her, wishing there was a way to get her to understand. Perhaps she'd find the words another day. She looked at the velvet bag at her other side, imaging the whispers of the souls of the dead clinging to it. She reached for it, stopped and recoiled her fingers.

"Shall we look at the control chamber?"

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Kaili would have laughed back at Rosa if she had known why she laughed. They might not have seen eye-to-eye on what Layil seemed to be, and while it wasn’t in Kaili’s place to really judge or say what it was that Rosa felt, she was still as stubborn as they got at times. Layil to Kaili came across entirely as a part of Rosa. Born of hate, fear and torture or not, but for as long as you could control the force and your own emotions you could always keep your darker side under wraps. Maybe Rosa was just unwilling to think of it as such. Maybe the idea that everyone had a darker side was something that scared her, and for this reason alone Kaili had decided not to push the subject any further.

A small smile spread on the blonde’s lips at the compliment. She was directed towards the Control Chamber and nodded at the idea. “Let’s.” She said, dropping the subject of Layil altogether. The control chamber was why she had come here in the first place. It was best to just focus on that and let them get back on track again.

The crates were already there, and Kaili would get to work unpacking them.

“This should be everything.” Kaili said and popped the first crate open with a gentle handwave against its control panel. “I hope they didn’t expect a lock would keep me out.” She chuckled, tried to lighten the mood again. “I don’t do locks.”

“At least not visible ones.”

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Maybe Rosa was afraid of the darkness with her. For all she had lost over the years, for all that she had been through it was hard to believe that she could even be a Jedi. At least, not one so perfect as she so portrayed. Or perhaps Layil was a mental shield, a second personality her mind created in order to protects itself from the torment she had suffered. That personality had eaten souls, attempted to murder old friends, even attacked her own husband without knowing who he was, besides a monster that wanted to end her little reign of terror. She'd been split in two, into light and dark, with each half wishing to dominate the other.

"I suspect, in their infinite overconfident wisdom, that they did not plan for locks at all." she replied with a somewhat strained smile. She was till mulling over what had happened today and why. The smile slid away, her gaze distant for the briefest of moments before she snapped herself back to it. She tried to slide into the woman she'd been when Kaili had first arrived, but it didn't seem to quite fit. It had been natural then, no it seemed forced.

"This is your show, Kaili. Tell me what you need me to do."

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

There was no doubt about that. As much as Kaili wanted to slip back into what they had shared a few hours ago in the terms of mood, it wasn’t until you had seen someone at their worst that you could truly assess what kind of person they were. Rosa wasn’t a horrible person, and that was all that mattered. They would most likely share a few philosophical differences. But if Kaili would let something like that get in the way of who she dealt with she would be just about as bad as the religions she so often prided herself on being separate from. Rosa was troubled, but so was Kaili and just about everyone else. The difference being that Kaili had managed to find Rosa’s darkest secret by mistake, and in a sense by being herself.

There was a small measure of guilt in it but it was outweighed by an even greater sense of appreciation and if anything admiration. Rosa owned her mistakes and didn’t deny who she was. There were few who would ever do that. Especially when said part was — as Kaili would begrudgingly agree to in time — a separate identity from her own that lived within her body.

“Just open the crates.” Kaili smiled at Rosa and threw her a crowbar for some of the more robust crates. “I’ll install this in no time, you’ll see.”

There was grin there, one that would make it all the more obvious that Kaili had a plan. She went from crate to crate and swept her hands above them to force the lock open, closing her eyes at each of them to let in a deep breath while her mind mulled over what each part was.

“Two crates-” Kaili raised her hand towards a third. “Three crates…”

She approached it and once again closed her eyes and scanned them with her mind. There were two more crates that needed to be open, including the one Rosa may or may not have opened just yet.

“Are you ready to see a master technomancer at work?” The girl asked, her cockiness somewhat evident in the way her voice seemed to whistle with a confident undertone. “Just two more crates and we’ll get this machine up and running as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. Just give me…”

Brow quirked, grin rose towards her cheeks. “Two minutes. Tops.”