Private A shoulder to cry upon

[Maple Harte]

Came to Atrisia in: The Silent Erika

Wearing: Biker Leathers

Armed with: Maple's Staff


Objective: Seek counsel from Matsu Ike on recent revelations


Maple shakily awoke and unsteadily headed to the shower, forcing herself to bathe. Another Nightmare of The Brain Demon. It never stopped haunting her.

Nor did her heartbreak at the revelation at Kar Shian.

The otherwise beautiful looking young woman had a haggard appearance as she dressed, the lights on her ship dimmed low. She had been hiding on the Outer Rim, hiding from the Amalgam and her cult...

...and wrestling with her depression.

Maple had been beyond heartbroken that The Amalgam had turned out to be Ursula Sandraven.

Maple had loved Ursula...and hated Ursula.

Now...now it was just hatred. Her love had been cruelly ripped asunder and burned and she didn't know how to deal with it except to go sobbing into the arms of an old friend.

She had gotten a fix on Matsu's location and had asked Matsu to meet her on Naboo. She had spent the past hour trying to look presentable.

But it was clear, between her unsteady, hesitant look, and sulphur eye, made that way by an encounter with her hated nemesis, that Maple was not quite the same ill Bounty Hunter she had met previously. The skips were becoming more frequent and lasted longer.

Maple had had a different reaction to the Revelation than Laertia. Both had refused to fall, to break, but had coped in different ways. Or not coped.

Laertia had retreated into the arms of her android Mother and Sisters, had even, at last, started her first forays into having an actual lover (though Maple didn't know this yet. When she learned it, she would find out other things about Syd Celsius and be faced with a terrible choice).

Maple trotted out of her ship, chocolate hair matted to her scalp from frequent and endless anxiety attacks, her biker leathers frayed and torn in certain places, faded. She'd been hitting the Juma a lot. Running out of credits. Her black ship wasn't as polished.

She remembered the day she had landed it in front of Ursula, saw the glint of admiration and pride. Had that been when The Amalgam had started to 'champion' her? Ursula had paid more attention afterward, certainly...

Maple sat on a stump her weapon clutched in her hand, her past tainted beyond salvaging, waiting in the lonely grasslands for Matsu to confide her deep despair.

Ursula being a lie was a knife that would never truly leave her heart...

Maple wept bitterly as she recalled all their training sessions. She wanted to be sick at having everything she was combat wise come from such a depraved animal...

She could feel the monster even now in her head, hissing, pleading to be let in...

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

Naboo was a beautiful place and she had been friends with the former queen... one of the former queens Feena had been amazing in many things and she kept the world beautiful. The jedi master though was surprised about Maple asking to see her and she hurried over to try and meet her. Letting herself look presentable as they had done a few things before... mostly fighting lots of eldritch creatures and dangerous things. Still the jedi master walked through looking for the silent Erika and had her Kimono one as she looked a little older but the force worked well for her and she was still very youthful compared to many for her age. The richly black hair cut a little but still flowing down to her ankles, her skin still pale and eyes like jet that looked towards the one ship and she spoke bringing up the kirano interface with a small tap to the earring she had. "Maple I am here outside your ship."

 

[Maple Harte]

When Maple heard her voice on thie link, she warily rose from her tree stump and met Matsu Ike by going around the ship, and walking up to her. As she saw a genuine friendly face, she burst out into tears, dropping to the Jedi's feet and wept openly.

"Matsu..." Maple whispered through thick tears, staring at her with both her bright wet green right eye and her sulphurous left one. The Amalgam had done severe mental damage.

"It was a lie..." Maple choked out. "I just learned the truth on Kar Shian. There is no Ursula Sandraven. There never was. It was The Amalgam . It was 'always' her. Ursula Sandraven was nothing but a cruel lie to slowly twist and corrupt me and Laertia over the years..."

She felt sick as the full weight of the monstrous deception hit.

How many of those kills she had made over the years could still be justified? How many had even been necessary.

The Amalgam had created the perfect killers. One to carry on her ranged teachings, the other to bear the burden of her melee skill. Both to engage in slaughter. Neither possessing all of their Master's skillsets. Neither truly capable of beating her on their own. She had fostered resentment, competition so that they couldn't truly unite beforehand to pose a true threat to any of her plans. Then, when they HAD thought to unite, The Amalgam had in calculated fashion sprang the reveal to devastate the resolve of the two, and throw their motives and entire lives into doubt. Maple slowly, carefully relared all this horror to Matsu as she lay on her knees.

"I don't know what to do. She knows my every move, my every trick. I'm scared. I'm so scared..."

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

The jedi master turned when she felt her and then she saw her with a look on her face... first it was interest and then concern as she felt something more and wrapped her arms around Maple and she was holding the taller woman when she listened to everything she was saying and had her mind able to feel it... thoughts racing through her mind and Matsu focused on the force to allow the energies to calm her friend. "It can be... difficult." She said it and was unsure what exactly to say but she was leading the way for the two of them to sit down and be in a private area so that she would be able to listen to it in more detail and try to figure out what had happened. Maple thought things differently but she was clear headed for this which was an important thing as she looked at her eyes. "Sweetie, tell me everything." She looked at the sulfur eye and brought her hand up to touch her cheek while offering every ounce of soothing thoughts and energy.

 

[Maple Harte]

"Ursula Sandraven was The Amalgam all along..." Maple wept quietly as she led Matsu Ike back aboard the ship. "From the very moment I was recruited all those years ago, it was her. She was the one. The one who warped me into this machine that's only good for killing people..."

Matsu's energy was of barely any help at all with Maple's emotional turmoil.

"My entire life is a lie..." Maple whispered to her clutching at Matsu's robe to distract from the pain of a broken heart. Ursula, despite their disagreements, had taught her everything.

"I want to vomit whenever I think about Ursula and I have no idea what to do. It's like the I-Am-Your-Father-Moment from ESB but ten times more fethed up AND Vader is ALSO Obi-Wan!" she gasped, her insanity worsening as it was now allowing her to make Meta-OOC references. Skip. Matsu was Hela from Thor: Ragnarok. Skip. NOW SHE WAS SURTUR! Skip. Maple was secretly J. Jonah Jameson all along! Skip. Back to reality. Back to Matsu.

She looked up at Matsu.

"I don't know what to do. I don't know how to fight her! She disgusts me and...and...

Maple looked away in shame.

"...and I still love her..." the Bounty Hunter hissed in self loathing..."I want to kill her and I still love her, and I am confused. Help me...help me..."

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

She listened and raised an eyebrow when she spoke but she was also taking it in stride as it came to her what had been happening. She remained there listening to Maple and she thought about how best to approach this and she finally spoke as she understood it... "I know that feeling." She said it with a small sad look on her face. "I don't tell many people this... my first wife Chora went dark... her mind was poisoned and she tried to convince me to join her but I couldn't. We was evil and I hated how twisted she became but I still loved her and it was up to me to stop her by any means." She said it and looked at Maple hoping it helped a little she understood disliking... hating someone you loved and wanting to kill them but it was not easy... it was not quick and it was not meant to become. She offered a look. "I had to go to a place I never thought to find a way to beat her and it cost me a piece of myself but I didn't have friends at the time.. I didn't know people who could help me."

 

[Maple Harte]

"I used to be able to go to that place..." Maple whispered, holding Matsu.

"I ran away from her precisely so I wouldn't have to feel that pain, so I wouldn't have go that place anymore..." she spoke, the pain Matsu Ike confessed to making her heart twist in empathy for her.

Maple stood up, forced herself to, even though she felt sick.

"I hated and loved who I thought was a Jedi Master...at least, that is what I told myself...but it was mainly love..."

She went over to the mess area and prepared tea, tears still streaming down her face.

"She was like a Mother to me. She was everything I hoped to grow up as when I was younger...well, I got my wish..." she trailed, waiting for the water to heat.

She looked at Matsu.

"At least the person you loved was real...at some point at least..."

Maple shivered at how many times Ursula Sandraven had hid her smile of approval at her performance.

"What poisoned your Wife's mind, if its not too prying?" Maple asked respectfully, trying to control her emotions and not break from the weight of her burdens.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

The jedi master waited and looked at her for a moment letting her have her time.. it wasn't going to be easy it wasn't going to be quick or enjoyable.. it was going to be pain and feel like your insides were being ripped out. It was going to be... well yeah it was going to be a long road and sitting there she looked at Maple more when she asked the question. Bringing her to sit with her and wrapped an arm around her for two purposes to give comfort for both of them. "That is a long tale but it started when we were younger... I was brash and impulsive... one of the jedi infiltrators for the order." She said it an indicated the tatoo's that she had while she could easily have cleaned them up it was a record of where she had been.

"We infiltrated a prison, we weren't together back then but we were investigating corruption and she was taken and tortured. Something broke in her then and I hadn't realized it until much later but she became colder... cruel in some ways. The jedi master was looking at many of the things in her past and she knew all about it. She had seen it but she had chose to ignore it as she continued. "We got together you could say there though sharing a cell that would see us harmed and as we investigated were able to uncover the source of the corruption and what they had been doing. A network of slavers who took prisoners. After that were were together for years and eventually married in the order."

She said it before she was going around with it in her mind. "Some knowledge and many months later I figured out how to give us children which was a feat among the jedi but largely ignored. Where Chora found it resentful... i took it as mostly a sign of what you see now. Cliques within the order, circles within circles that benefit those who want to be popular and I chose a different path. One of detachment and learning... and it has made me stronger... much stronger compared to many of the others. It has honed my skills and given me that edge few others have but I am getting off track now." She said it with a small smile though looking at Maple.

"When she turned it wasn't in some great fashion there was no epic reveal. It happened on a mission and she attacked the jedi, led enemy forces and came after them with a number of others. It was something rather dangerous and when I fought her I resolved to stop her first by trying to redeem her but then I realized she did't want to be saved and I didn't want to kill her." She thought about it and offered a small look of amusement. "Though I think you would have liked our fight on Coruscant... they bombarded it and as the one tower was falling we fought along the side and jumping through the pieces using the force to move faster then most could see."

 

[Maple Harte]

"I'm sorry..." was all Maple could say to Matsu Ike as she told her tale.

Maple still felt horrible.

"She was like family...family I often got pissed at...but family..." Maple trailed.

Skip.

Uri Udinia stared up from the training mat at her master, Ursula Sandraven, who pointed a dark blue Lightsaber down at her student.

"That was terrible, Uri. Not even fifteen seconds. Hell, I had you at 007..." Ursula critiqued bluntly.

"You're too fast..." Uri breathed.

"Speed has absolutely nothing to do with it..." Ursula quietly rebutted. "It is the will to dominate in battle. To decide who lives and dies. As long as you let me be the decider, you'll never beat me..."

"How do I become the one deciding?" Uri breathed heavily. Her purple skinned Twi'Lek master in her white ceremonial robes didn't even look winded.

"Find wherever my will in the fight is weakest."

"Where am I weakest?" Uri asked, her viridian gaze staring into Ursula's piercing blue stare.

"Everywhere that matters. Remember. The cunning warrior attacks neither body, nor mind..."

(Cutaway of William Dafoe laughing insanely into a mirror.)

"Well...where are you weakest?" Uri asked.

Ursula only blinked before smiling and offering her hand to her Padawan. Uri took it, being lifted off the mat.

"The day you figure that out is the day 'you' are the one holding 'me' at blade point..." Ursula replied, before smiling again, causing Uri to smile back. She couldn't stay annoyed with her master for very long, especially when she was right.

"Enough training. You took a pretty nasty spill just now. Get some ice on that..." Ursula told her as they walked out of the training chamber

Skip.

"She's a monster! An absolute killer!" Maple hissed, breaking down a little.

"Everything I am, everything I know...everyone I've killed...its all because of her."

Maple looked at Matsu Ike with wet eyes.

"Do you think there was ever a possibility she ever cared about me? Or was I nothing more than a possession? A tool? I'll never know...because now I'll always be too scared to ask..." she whispered, sitting at a table drinking her tea, hands slightly shaken from anxiety and she couldn't stop. The shaking grew worse...

"So...@Laertia Io tells me you and her had a run in with that schutta yourself..." she said between falling tears...

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

She was looking at her and listening as she had to think about it and her mind was flashing back to her own experiences... somewhat. She could remember more of the happy moments compared to the sad but that was because what was bad was small compared to many other things and it was very much one big thing that drove problems to them... the jedi master herself though.. she spoke to Maple and had to look at her producing a small wipe from her fingers as she focused on the force but what she was doing was art of the small in a way few could master.. she was rapidly constructing the material from the air compared to having to focus giving the look that she literally materialized it.

"She might have in her own way, she has thought about you, she has obsessed over you. You might not be friends, you'll likely never be friends again. You'll think about her until it kills you, you'll fight and your weep and you'll both hate each other until it makes you quiver but you'll never be done with each other. Love and obsession isn't brains." Matsu looked at her and wiped at her eyes and tapped her head for a moment. "It is blood... blood screaming inside you to work its will and blood that will make you do this...will make you question yourself." She finished it and looked at her though as she stayed close to comfort her.

She just stayed there for a moment though and thought about her encounter wih her and yes there wa s an interesting aspect to it to say the least. "Yes I did and she was different... compared to many others but she was also very prideful believing she couldn't be beaten in her schemes... which is the biggest flaw I saw with her." She said it and had an idea or two about what to do if she managed to encounter her again. "Her pride and belief in her own superior planning will catch up with her." she tried to make it more comforting but was unsure what to really say. "We are going to have to think of something but the first step will be to get you back on your feet."

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple wiped tears away, let Matsu Ike hold her.

She really had failed at Mustafar in the long run. That first victory against a full on Sith had doomed her to a run in with The Amalgam.

What had all of it been for? Just to build them both up?

So much in retrospect made sense. Why she hadn't felt traces of Ursula on her ship, The Scarlet Phantom. Had she been leaving the old equipment of Ursula's for Maple to find?

Maple went to the armory of her ship, retrieving two cases. One large, the other small.

She opened the first case, revealing a Specialized Rifle. She stared at it, and the tears fell again. She opened the second Box, retrieving a pair of white pistols.

"She taught me using these weapons. They are devastating when used correctly. I hate them...and yet I can't destroy them. I can put a bullet in that Witch without thinking yet...I can't destroy these..."

Her hand glided over the rifle barrel. Meticulous machining. Well maintained.

"She first took me shooting with this. She never let me use it, but she let me take it apart and reassemble it..."

In retrospect, now that she thought about it, Ursula...no, that 'Beast'...had always been a lot warmer around her than Laertia, especially when on solo training.

Maple now realized why: Both she and The Amalgam were incurably insane. They saw things differently. No matter what she and Laertia had in common, their madness and mutual appreciation of guns (Lots of Guns) made the Monster feel more partial to her, to Uri's disgust. But even as she loathed her, a part of her still desired to end The Monster's suffering. For that was all her crimes were, an expression of her enslavement to the Darkness and her own unending internal suffering.

She took out the pistols, spinning them rhythmically in her hand.

"I think it was her that left these on the ship one day...her idea of a twisted gift. Maybe...maybe part of her wants me to kill her..."

Could The Amalgam really be that fethed up in the head? That all of this was just some elaborate cry for help from a sick dog begging to be put down. She didn't dare believe it. She wanted to though.

"Can you get some impression of these?" Maple asked Matsu Ike

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

The jedi master looked at her and at the weapons she had and they were certainly impressive. Something that could be used for any number of jobs. "She might want you to, in a twisted sort of way to complete our training. The way some darksiders will do but there is usually more to it then that. Just have to figure out maybe." She held out her hand though when it was presented to her and checked it over... hands sliding over as she reached out and into the force itself. The rifles seemed fine enough a little worse for wear but standard... the pistols were helpfula nd could do a lot. "These are finely made and with impressions off of them I can see some possibility but... you have worked hard to make them your own and perhaps we could make you new weapons to try and counter the influence these could hold."

 

[Nine Lives]

Meanwhile, at the Castle Morpheus...

Sawa Ike had been given a clearance to land on the Morpheus Hangar deck.

Nine had been taken for immediate medical treatment by Magnus, her personal physician and "secondborn" daughter. Standard medications were not good for Nine due to her sensitivity to poisons. So she had been immersed in a tank full of various, specially prepared enzymes that healed much slower than Bacta. She was a mess. Darth Rigor, mother to Karlie Lynn Destat was being held at an undisclosed location after her capture under extremely heavy guard in a Force Nullification cell. No one but Sawa knew where Nine had decided to keep her.

Nine herself was barely concious. As soon as she knew she was safe from The Amalgam's vicious torture, Nine had suffered a prompt mental breakdown and was declared medically incapacitated on a physical and mental level by all four daughters on the spot, and immediately sequestered into her private quarters for therapy.

Nine had been drifting in and out of consciousness, watching the reactions. Meier had been the most visibly distraught after Westenra Mina , whose near organic nature caused her to feel intense, almost blinding rage at the Amalgam. Even Vera, coldest and most murderous of Nine's daughter's, was visibly upset at the injuries her maker had sustained, and was openly promising to skin The Amalgam alive and eradicate her entire wretched cult with the same method.

Nine, in a moment of lucidity, had requested Sawa aboard the Morpheus. Not to discuss battle plans.

She needed someone to talk to, to tell about the horrors she had suffered.

Who better than the person who had done that to her slowly over the course of a century?

It was weird how they were "sorta back on" after all that. Than again, Nine had eaten a lot of Sawa's memories about tgeir time together after becoming a vampire (which seemed to have slowly restored by themselves but only after who knows how many centuries of living with partial fabrications from her own mind to fill the gaps)

It was almost like they were destined to be together.

(Cutaway of Laertia Io and Syd Celsius meeting at Golbah City)

Nine floated in a repurposed bacta tank filled with an amber liquid resembling honey, a breath mask attached to her face.

She was in her lavish quarters, Fourteen Westenra Copies in her Gladiator Configuration (Essentially making them all Gal Gadot expies) served as a personal guard, 007 on each side of her tank, all armed with Psychic Katanas, skin made to resemble a body wearing a skintight gold catsuit. Magnus, in her Doctor Configuration, an extremely pale woman with blood red hair done Princess Leia style in a long red gown checked her vitals with her X-Ray mode, as they awaited Nine's arrival. Other than that, the Morpheus was on lockdown as it orbited over Castagne, a silent guardian, a watchful protector.

(Dark Knight Theme Plays)

Nine was just healthy enough for a conversation. She waited for Sawa. She had much to share with her.

Nine missed the smell of her hair, her Lady Deathstrike looks, and the hot catsuits that went with them. Missed that short time when they had both been innocent, before life and circumstances drove them apart (And Xavier. Nine hoped she had made his death a painful one).

Nine needed someone who would understand, most of all.

A wine bottle of fermented tiger blood wine (A Li-Ves specialty) awaited her with an accompanying silver goblet when she arrived.

Nine, as she floated in the tank, started thinking of the first time she had seen her. A lovely prefect whose world was to be upended.

Darth Shojo may have helped create Nine Lives, but Ni-Ne Li-Ves had helped create Darth Shojo through her incautious attitudes to the Force. Maybe all this was their punishment.

If so, should they not bear it together.

After risking everything to come to Kaar Shian, Nine was prepared to ask for Sawa to marry her...

 

[Sawa Ike]

Nine Lives

The castle was something else and this time she was comign to it not o attack. She had been invited which after thousands of years was something... very different. Still she had been careful and thanks to Elise Ike and everything that had happened... she had recovered... her rage was there still as no one hurt her but there was something else. K1 had been injured in his fighting to protect them and the little droid was being rebuilt as K2... stronger, faster, more deadly... they had the technology. She was standing there in her fortress contemplating it... thinking about what could happen if she went to Ni-Ne and she was not certain. Maple was in pain and she could feel it but there was always something there.

She allowed her mind to drift back to what had happened when she thought about it but she wasn't going to rage... she was going to be in control of herself as she walked around and debated what she would be able to wear to go and see her. Her breathing steadied before she was walking to go to the escort shuttle... the Fortress of the Dawn would be more then able to function and Aoi was around at least for the moment.. she had heard what happened and wanted to make sure things were kosher as it were... Sawa stopped and looked at her as the woman didn't need to speak. She had been around for thousands of years and knew her mothers moods better then most.

"Do ou think it will be dangerous?" Aoi spoke watching her and her hair was over her scarred face... Sawa was checking out things before she was shrugging. "Perhaps but her children are not as dangerous as some... they might be difficult but not enough age and experience." With a look though she did have her sword and saber should it be needed. She reached out and touched the girls shoulder before she was speaking again. "ou know I can't abandon her... I can do a lot of things but... I do not know the gods are cruel in their sense of humor child." A snicker though was what she was presenting to her. "We've had thousands of years circling each other.... maybe several thousand more."

Aoi seemed to be thinking about that and she spoke looking at her mother. "She has been a big part of your life... of my life. I thought you cared more about her then any of us and maybe you do... even hate shows some emotion still. If you were indifferent about her then it would be so much easier but you care just don't show it for family." She said it and Sawa had to agree about family.. Ni-Ne was family even if she was at war with them from time to time and had... well with the benefit of hindsight they had both done things to each other... horrible things and all in the name of their feelings both for good or for bad.

Sawa would just have to figure it out as she sat in the transport that would take her and Chujo was looking at her. He had been around for thousands of years as well and knew Ni-ne... at least knew her when she was trapped. Maybe one of the few non family members she kept around because of his skills and experience. "You know what I am going to say master, be careful but don't miss this chance. Not many of us get what you have a chance for here." She looked at him as he spoke toher and crossed her arms. "And what do I have here Chujo?" She looked at him for a moment but she wasn't going to make him sweat.. she knew what he meant.

"You have her again or a chance after thousands of years... you have that nice girl Maple and Lady Elise has returned... maybe not to fully rejoin the family but at least she isn't trying to fight you on everything." He said it and looked at her crossing his arms while he walked over to stand next to her. "Don't let her go this time." His words eched as she sat there and wearing the form fitted black bodysuit she was looking when they approached the ship and she stood up with the transport arriving. Her nostrils flaring for the moment before the doors opened and Chujo stood there looking at the psy-pires who were there. "If ou need me, I will be there within moments mistress."

She stepped forward and looked at them radiating power as her face went impassive. stepping forward without so much as a look towards several as she followed her senses towards Ni-Ne's chambers where she was and stood there looking over at her. "Leave us." She said it and waited before approaching and kneeling just enough to be by her side. Hand searching and touching her hand for the moment as the sensation was there. "Ni-Ne... I am here." She said it and brought her other hand up to move some hair out of the way so she could have a good look at her. "I shoudln't have left you alone after we got back."

 

[Maple Harte]

A can exploded as Maple fired one of the two white pistols that had belonged to "Ursula".

They were outside the ship now, she and Matsu Ike . Maple had set up target practice in order to calm herself down. But it was clear she was still devastated.

She looked at the white pistol. She had seen her Master use it so many times. She had never seen her for what she really was...even when she left Ursula the first time, it was because she thought Ursula misguided rather than truly evil. She had gotten out just in time. Skip. Matsu Ike had turned to the Dark Side and was conquering the Galaxy. Skip. Back to reality. Dammit. Matsu had decreed libations for EVVVVVVVRRRRYYYYONE once she conquered a planet in that delusion. That had been a really sweet fifteen year gig in Maple's head.

She was thankful nonetheless to be back in reality. Matsu was best when she was Nice Matsu.

Maple began doing trick shots. The trick shots Ursula taught her. She loved Ursula. She loathed The Amalgam. She was heartbroken. What had it all been for?

She shot a ceramic target from the sky. Then two, then 007.

"She taught me all of this. That filthy, disgusting freak taught me how to do all of this. How do I reconcile that? I thought this whole time I was trying to honor my Master's memory. To avenge her..."

Maple shot 007 more targets out of the air, before placing the pistol down, grabbing the rifle and shooting another 007 from the air with crack shots.

"I don't even know what to do when I face her. I can't imagine how I will feel if I actually kill her..." Maple said gloomily, though her accuracy was as excellent as ever...

"I wish she had never told me...it hurts. It hurts even now. She knows it hurts...I feel sick and hot and cold just thinking about it..."

She stared at her hands for a moment, remembering how many times blood had soaked the skin. The Amalgam must have enjoyed watching her kill.

She put the rifle down. It felt too heavy suddenly.

"Laertia is devastated. I can feel her pain. Its like she is being stabbed. She loved Ursula even more than I did. I'm getting worried she'll go insane..." Maple trailed, turning back to Matsu.

"And this is coming from someone who already 'is'..."

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

The jedi master was watching and she looked at it seeing the trick shots as well as the skill that Maple had when it came to her abilities.. she was also listening to her asshe spoke and remained quiet and focused. Watching b not judging as she knew how dangerous it could be. She listened to her and took a seat outside of the ship offering a bow of her head. "Perhaps, while it is good to care for Laertia there is something to be said for making sure you are taken care of first. Even jedi know in the event of danger and failure make sure you are secure and able to function so you can help others." The jedi master said it and it would by some be taken callous but it was true in the event of danger running around without protective gear trying to get everyone into their own serves little help or purpose. "We will check on her, I met her and she might need some extra help but we should be able to help her. There will come a time and place for it." They were after all working on an initiative that would aid in something like that and maybe she could develop something for calming and focus.

 

[Nine Lives]

"Ohh...I'm so glad you're here Sawa..." Nine said to Sawa Ike as the tank was drained and she was clothed.

"My Daughters have made a medical decision and declared me unfit to lead for the moment...and they are right..."

Nine looked a Sawa's features. Wow, did she wear that Catsuit of hers well...

"The Amalgam messed me up bad...she tortured me for weeks...truly savage, that one. But I learned something...I have a living descendant!" Ni-Ne said excitedly.

"She's a friend of Maple's...Laertia Io...I had her looked up...holy chit, she's a badass, Sawa. I got my wish...The Li-Ves 'were' there to defend Atrisia from Mythos...she's not a vampire like you and me are, but she is definitely a direct descendant...had a blood sample acquired from her to verify it...and do not think I have forgotten what you did for me, Sawa...that...that meant a lot...you coming to rescue me..." Nine admitted.

"We've done such horrid things to each other...and yet none of it matters somehow...we've changed so much, left our old worlds behind to prevent our being shattered. You're here, and for the moment we are safe..."
Nine clutched Sawa's hand.

"I should have had you come over here a long time ago. It would have been such a Rom-Com. Us, kidnapping and drinking First Order Soldiers...waterslides, me, slathering you in cocoa butter as a prank, you, putting bullet ants in my hair as a counter-prank...and then there would have been a part where we made out on the beach like in a spy novel...oh, I hope we can still do some of that. Please stay with me a few days. We'll take the ship somewhere lovely, where there is no madness and murder, and forget a while. We'll still be kidnapping and drinking First Order Stormtroopers, but we'll make a game of who can kidnap and drink them in the silliest manner...we'll get you Ice Cream...just...lets be happy for a while, and pretend the universe didn't go insane and inject Bullet-Time into our lives..."

Nine stared at Sawa and for a split second, saw the girl she had been ready to throw down with Midori to win the heart of. How many times before the hate and betrayal, all Soap Opera quality, had they saved each other? Nine wondered if Sawa saw any of Nine's human self still in her...

 

[Sawa Ike]

Nine Lives

She looked at her and listened... something in her mind about it was different and she remained close as she was holding her hand. There was a great amount of baggage emotionally between them and more so when she didn't speak right away. Instead she was looking at her and a descendant of Ni-Ne was... well.... it was.... Important. A smile came to her though when she came closer and stayed there just wrapping an arm around her. Focusing on the force as she breathed in the scent of the woman and wrapped her arms around her. "It has been so long." She knew that was partially true... there had been a moment in the hot springs when they had managed to reconnect and fighting through the facility she had unleashed a lot of anger and hatred.

She just held her close and focused on the force pushing it outwards as she remembered their time together. She just rested her head against her neck and spoke. "That is wonderful news then." She allowed the force to radiate off of her and pulled back at it... memories coming wit it as she spoke with a smile on her face. "We have done so much, seen much more and in spite of it all even five thousand years later I still wish we could have just ran away together." She said it and pulled back a little so that she could look at her with a nod of her head and silvery eyes starring for a moment. as she just wanted to find a place to hole up for a few thousand years.

'BEEP....WHOOP BEEP" The sound came as Sawa turned and Chujo stood there for a moment. "Ah this little guy wanted to see you and wouldn't take no for an answer. Flew all the way here." He said it and was leaving quickly enough as the little droid spun around and came towards the two of them bringing out a blaster when one of the children came to try and stop it. "Oh my." The sleeker chassis was gleaming and radiated the force energies that Sawa had poured into it and weapon wise it was a beast even more so now. The droid whirred as it was coming forward and ejected spikes from the black frame getting a yelp before Sawa raised an eyebrow.

"Well okay." A smile was on her face though as she stood there and moved just so she and Ni-Ne could look at K2 who was there with them and she looked down for a moment. She brought her arm to Ni-ne's waist and she was checking at some of the things here... she looked around the ship and what they were talking about. "I have nothing too important happening so a few days would be nice and it would be nice to not have some life or death struggle that we have to face." Sawa said it and she was standing there wile she looked over bringing Ni-Ne's hand up and grazing her fang across the top of it with a smile.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple had cooked pasta with meat sauce. Her mind was all over the place by this point, and cooking was one of the few things still helping her stay relatively grounded. She served a bowl to Matsu in the main hold and began eating silently...

She stopped eating it about mid-way through, and stared at her meal. How many times had she and Laertia and "Ursula" had a meal together back at their old HQ? How many times, how many ways had Ursula and she acted as Mother and Daughter without outright saying it? Without even really thinking about it

Maple searched herself, trying to recall every joke she had shared with her, every time she got frustrated. Had all that frustration really been Maple having a crisis of conscience or because it was her being unable to please her parent figure?

No...Maple reassured herself fervantly as she ate. She had been having a crisis of conscience. She had left Ursula for good reasons...

(Cutaway Of Ursula and Uri Udinia doing Target Practice on Sleheyron)

"So how are things in your life, Matsu?" Maple asked in a tentative manner. "What's it like, having a family? A real family?"

 

[Matsu Ike]

Maple Harte

Matsu was sitting there and eating the food that had been made for her by Maple. There was a lot that they could discuss and she wanted to try and take her mind off of things... Maple dwelling on it would prove the most dangerous as anything can happen when all you did was dwell on the past... she would have to figure something out but not seeming like she was uncaring. No she cared a lot... she wanted Maple to be safe and happy because she deserved it.. she deserved someone who would take her out and just let her live a life of peace after everything. "What you need Maple is someone who can relate and you can heal each other... there is a lot of darkness but trust in the light... it won't be easy... it won't be simple and clear but the force does have a will at times and it does listen to its children."

Matsu stayed there though eating and let Maple find a moment to join her after composing herself. She breathed in and then she breathed outwards with the force to project a calming aura for the two of them... this was a heated topic but moving quickly the jedi master showed what she understood about bending space and movement speeds. She was right there next to Maple and holding her close while leading her over to sit down and kept an arm wrapped around her. "Eat and then we will try and find something happy to talk about... like puppies or something cute... I don't know.... You can tell me if that pretty twi'lek who seemed to really like you has any cool tattoos." She raised her eyebrows at Maple for a moment and grinned. "Maybe one that says biker chicks are hot."