Faction Arcane Restraint

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Braze , Eloise Dinn

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

“Well… I suppose it would have been too generous of the galaxy to leave them on dry ground.” His jade gaze lingered a moment longer on the water before shifting back toward the others. “I can go first and see whether the current proves too harsh and string a rope across ?”

"How deep is the water?"

Seven's question really was more to gauge if Braze was tall enough to keep his head above the water. She wasn't the tallest individual herself, but Braze was shorter than even that. She didn't want him to be struggling to make his way across. It was about then that another idea came to her mind.

"Can't you use your wind thing to..." she began, but then turned away to hide her sudden realization and embarrassment. Not that a blush showed much on her gray face. "Nevermind," Seven decided in her flat, monotone voice.

Assuming he could fly was probably stupid. When did she start thinking in such an odd way? She hadn't been like that under Kalrath...

It didn't make much sense.

 

[Eloise Dinn]

As the group reached a rushing river, Eloise studied their surroundings. Normally she would just jump across, using the Force to enhance the distance of her leap, but here the ceiling was too low for that. She'd have to duck her head just to walk across.

Braze offered to go first, testing the depth of the water and the strength of the current. Eloise was about to suggest she lead the way, but Seven spoke first.

"Can't you use your wind thing to... Nevermind."

Eloise blinked at her in confusion, then looked back at Braze. "What wind thing?" she asked.

Anyway... "I'm the tallest, so maybe I should go first if we're worried about the water being too deep. It's less likely to prove dangerous for me than for either of you." What was waist-high for Braze was more like knee-high for Eloise. She wouldn't be easily swept away.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Eloise Dinn
0-7

Braze glanced at 7, wondering if the moment they had first met had truly stayed with her.

“I think she’s implying that I could just fly across like a bird… because I’m particularly skilled with wind and air manipulation,” Braze offered, deciding he probably should not go into detail. Explaining the convoluted intricacies of his first meeting with 7, and how he had chosen to suffocate her by siphoning away her air supply, did not seem like it would make for polite conversation at all. Braze did not make a habit of killing his enemies once they no longer posed a threat, should they be defeated without bloodshed.

He had never proven, nor shown her, that his manipulation of wind allowed him to achieve flight… so perhaps she felt a little silly for suggesting it. While he was in fact capable of flight, it took a tremendous amount of energy and concentration to manage. This was only the beginning of their journey, and it would have been unwise to spend that much effort on something far more showy than practical.

He blushed, feeling a little insecure about his stunted height, though Eloise was right. Truth be told, her first suggestion made the most sense and would have been the most practical way to approach the problem.

Braze took the tether from his belt and unwound it, revealing a surprisingly long metal wire. He offered it to Eloise before moving to secure one end to a sturdy stalagmite.

“Take this in case it’s too strong and we need to pull you back out… if you make it to the other end, you can tie it off, so we can make our way across as well.”

 

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Eloise Dinn , Braze

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

“I think she’s implying that I could just fly across like a bird… because I’m particularly skilled with wind and air manipulation,”

Seven didn't say anything. She just stood there with her stoic, flat expression and didn't respond. It was fortunate that she was not yet to the expressiveness of a normal person, because a part of her really wanted to die when Braze explained all of that. Comparing it to a bird made it sound more stupid, and the lack of confirmation that he could certainly made it all worse.

Instead she decided she was going to turn to cover their flank, in case any creature came lumbering along. That was something more suited to her talents, wasn't it? If Braze was as scared of spiders as his strange behavior earlier indicated.

It gave her an excuse to pretend that the conversation about Braze's wind abilities had never happened.

Hopefully Eloise wouldn't take too long getting across...

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Eloise glanced between them one more time, noting the flushed cheeks and general air of embarrassment. They were acting weird about it, but it wasn't any of her business. Part of her wondered if it was best not to know.

Taking the metal wire from Braze, Eloise wrapped it around her waist and took her first step into the river. Cold water rushed past her boots and up to her pants legs. She kept going.

At its deepest, the current rose up to her mid-thigh, but no further than that. She made it to the other side, tied the cord to another stalagmite, and gestured for the others to cross.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Tags: 0-7 Eloise Dinn ​

Braze watched intently as the tallest of their little cadre crossed the water. Only after making certain the wire was secured did he go next. He dropped into the cold with a small splash, struggling for a moment before using the wire to steady himself and drag his way across.

By the time he hauled himself out, water had soaked through several good layers. He flopped onto the bank, tipped one boot, and poured out a miserable stream. A few faintly glowing fish slipped free with it, spilling back into the water.

He frowned, trying to wring what water he could from the cloth clinging to his person, then glanced back toward Seven.

For one brief moment, something slender uncoiled near the bank beside him. It dragged a dark curve through the water, then vanished back into the current before the eye could settle on its full shape.

 

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Eloise Dinn , Braze

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

For one brief moment, something slender uncoiled near the bank beside him. It dragged a dark curve through the water, then vanished back into the current before the eye could settle on its full shape.

Seven had turned to watch Braze cross, so she had seen the form of the creature that had briefly emerged from the water. One eye barely visible, and the visage of a tentacle. Of course it would show itself when it was her turn to cross. The young woman removed her cloak, using the Force to toss it to the other side of the river. Then, before the eyes of the other two, the Evereni began to multiply. One became two, then two became eight.

After she had conjured her illusions, all eight moved in unison and dropped into the water. Her eyes could see better than theirs in the dark. If she could get a glimps of it under water, Seven could track it and ward it off. She could hold her breath for a long time if she was prepared, thanks to her implants.

She didn't have anyone to take her air this time.

With the true Seven's hand secure on the wire, which was now pulled below the surface of the water, her head promptly vanished into the inky river. The heads of the illusions followed suit. Radiant lights began to shine in the water where they stood, a gradient of soft red to gold. All eight lights, distanced out a bit from each other, slowly began to move to the other side.

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Eloise kept watch as Braze crossed the river, ready to help if he slipped. He made his way to the other side unharmed, though very, very wet. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight of him dumping water and a few fish out of his boots like something out of a cartoon.

But her amusement was cut short as she spotted a creature sloshing in the water out of the corner of her eye. Facing the river, she adjust her grip on her lightsaber, ready to strike. Seven, on the other hand, decided that the best way to deal with this new turn of events was to... split herself into eight and waded into the river.

"What the--?" Eloise started to question their companion's unusual skill set, but was cut off as a tentacle snapped out of the water and coiled around her ankle. She swung at it with her blade, but the blow went wide as the creature yanked her off her feet and dragged her into the depths, her lightsaber hilt clattering onto the river bank a moment later.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Tags: Eloise Dinn 0-7 ​

Braze blinked as Seven made herself seem like many. For a moment, he couldn't understand what she was doing or why… and in that same instant, he realized what he had failed to see. Something surged from the dark water and coiled hard around Eloise Dinn 's ankle. To the creature, they must have looked like prey. The dianoga had strength enough to haul her toward the black churn of the cavern rapids.

Braze threw himself back into the water without hesitation, fro going returning his boot to his foot in the process leaving it on the bank as a small blade flashed to life into his grip. One hand reached for Eloise, seeking to catch and secure her leg before the current or the creature could drag her farther under; the other cut through the dark in search of the squid-like tendril cinched around her leg, aiming to sever it and pull her free.

So... that was why Seven had made so many images of herself. He would have to voice his annoyance with her later....

 

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Eloise Dinn , Braze

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

Seven was already on the offensive. Her hope had been to draw the creature towards her with her illusions, but instead it had gone for the purple one. That was enough to spur her into action even quicker. She had grown stronger in the Force while away from the dark cloud of her Sith Master, and she was quick to make use of it. A Force push propelled her through the water against the current of the rapids, all eight of her brandishing blades ready to strike the beast. The instinct came to her naturally, for better or worse. Survival often meant striking another down before they could strike you.

Maybe poorly viewed amongst Jedi, but she wasn't one of them. Not really. She'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

Braze would be aiming to cut Eloise free from the tentacles, but Seven was aiming to finish the job. Her illusions came at the creature from all angles, the true instance coming from the left flank of her target. With momentum behind her from her Force Push, the Evereni swung through the barrier of the flowing current to bisect the beast.

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Plunged into the depths, Eloise fought against the dianoga's grip. Yet while she struggled, she felt the same creeping sense of deja vu she had sensed earlier. This time it was stronger; an ancestral blood memory.

—she wrestled with the monster, her fury growing until it overflowed like a pot of water boiling over. Only the ryastraad could help her now. Seizing its tentacles in her fists, she tore and rent its flesh, ripping it apart—

Eloise came out of the vision to find her hands still gripping the shredded remnants of the dianoga's tendrils. She could taste blood in the water, acrid and foul. She could sense the creature's pain, distracting it.

On either side of her, Braze and Seven had each joined in the battle. She felt Braze's hand on her leg, trying to pull her out of the water, while Seven finished off the dianoga.

Breaking the surface, Eloise sucked in a deep breath of air. She flung herself onto dry land, coughing up water, more unnerved than she cared to admit. Not so much by the monster attack, but because for a moment there... What even was that?

She clambered farther up the riverbank, climbing to her feet. Her clothes and hair were soaked and dripping. Turning to her companions, she rasped, "Thanks." But she made no mention to them of the atavistic berserker rage she had experienced, or the fact that she had been moments away from ripping the dianoga apart with her bare hands.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Tags: 0-7 Eloise Dinn ​

Braze staggered back once she was free, then scrambled up onto the wet bank, panting hard from the effort. He was beginning to form a love-hate relationship with water from how often it seemed intent on killing him.

His gaze swept the area for 0-7 , making sure she would be following them out of the murky depths. He was all for leaving wildlife to its natural habitat… right up until the moment any of it decided to make a meal of him or his companions. He had little interest in ending his day as a snack for some overgrown sushi.

"Don't mention it," he coughed back to Eloise Dinn .

"You okay?" He called to Seven.

 

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Eloise Dinn , Braze

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

"Fine."

That was all the response that Braze would get. Distant, monotone, hollow. The bare minimum affirmation before it was back to business.

Seven hoisted herself out of the water and returned her lightsaber to her belt, silently moving over to scoop up her cloak where she had thrown it. She didn't say anything, but she saw the way that Eloise thrashed down there in the water. The trance-like state she had entered. That wasn't her business, she decides, but the Evereni made sure to make a mental note of that if it ever came up again. She couldn't help but wonder what had caused such a state...

The former assassin took a moment to put her cloak back on and check herself for any lingering debris. She made some distance from the group before she began to straighten out her damp hair. Seven still didn't like that sort of vulnerability feeling in groups.

She liked the distance when her guard was down.

"Let me know when you're ready to keep going..."

 

[Eloise Dinn]

With little else to do other than shake off the weirdness of what she'd just experienced, Eloise continued on as planned. Trekking along the river, it didn't take long for her to find a cluster of crystals growing along the cavern wall.

The crystal formations glowed green, yellow, and orange, humming with their own unique energy signatures. "How big of a crystal do you need?" she asked Braze, calling out to him over her shoulder. "And how many?" If he wasn't too picky (which she doubted - this was Braze they were talking about after all) then it would be easy to find enough for the warding.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Tags: Eloise Dinn 0-7 ​

"Oh… uh… maybe a small basket's worth will be more than enough? The neatness and precision of your work matter more than people think. They affect the spell's strength, its stability, and how long it lasts. Wobbly or careless lines tend to produce weaker effects, and those usually fade faster… sometimes they fail altogether.

But when the lines are clean and deliberate, the result is far more reliable. The spell holds its shape, lasts longer, and behaves the way it was meant to. In that sense, the quality of the drawing determines the quality of the magic.

Kyber crystals aren't exactly like batteries.... They don't store power so much as let it pass through.

They're more like... living conduits… or a lens for the Force. Because kyber is naturally attuned to it, the crystal gives that energy a point of entry into the physical world, then focuses it into something that can be shaped. A larger, clearer kyber can allow more power to pass through, but that also means it has to be handled with greater care.

Without control, that energy can spill, surge, or turn unstable… especially in a cracked crystal.

That's why the runes and glyphs matter so much. They give the Force structure to latch on to.... They anchor it to the item, shape its course, and keep it from bleeding out in every direction. Centering the sigil over the kyber, or as near to it as possible, helps bind that connection more securely....

If you wanted to think of the Force as power, then the kyber would be the lens that focuses it, while the glyphs would be more like circuitry and programming… directing the flow and telling it what shape to take, and effect.

The cleaner the glyph, the more efficient that binding becomes.... A sloppy job leaves gaps, and power escapes through them more easily... But a steady, confident mark can hold an effect for far longer, if the item is made well enough."

Braze chirped, perhaps going into excessive detail on the subject, though he offered what he had come to learn with open sincerity. He searched along his belt for a pouch, presumably to gather the crystals into.

"Is there anything specific you want to make? You can imbue typical techniques into items this way… it's been pretty useful when I've been too drained to guide the flow of the Force myself.... The Jedi is the crystal of the Force, after all…"

 

[Eloise Dinn]

"Oh… uh… maybe a small basket's worth will be more than enough?"

Eloise didn't have a basket, but she did have a backpack. Removing it from her shoulders, she unzipped it and began moving her stuff around, preparing a space for the crystals. All the while, Braze kept talking.

And talking.

And talking.

Eloise tried to ignore his rambling, but it was hard. Sure, she'd seen a better side of Braze lately, but he was still a certified yapper. Eventually, she had enough. "Braze," she interrupted. "Shut up and help me pick out the crystals."

"Is there anything specific you want to make? You can imbue typical techniques into items this way… it's been pretty useful when I've been too drained to guide the flow of the Force myself.... The Jedi is the crystal of the Force, after all…"

"I'm doing this for you, man. Or rather, I'm doing it so that your prisoner stays put." Reaching toward one of the Dantari crystals, her hand closed around the prism--

This was it. Her crystal. It called to her, and she would answer. With it, she would build a lightsaber of her own--

Eloise recoiled with a gasp, as if the gem had burned her. She looked from her hand to the crystal, brow furrowing. "Anybody else been having weird flashes or mini-visions since we entered the caves?" she asked.

Braze 0-7​

 

[0-7]

Dantooine
Tags: Eloise Dinn , Braze

NK-Witell-class Freighter, 0A-155, Songbird (lightsaber), Vibrosword
​

"Anybody else been having weird flashes or mini-visions since we entered the caves?"

"...No."

Seven was lying, though her monotone voice didn't indicate such a thing at all. She was seeing something else, not quite visions. Apperitions perhaps. Faces that flickered in and out of existance, reflected in the gleam of the gemstones like they were windows into another dimension. Faces she knew. It was hard to scrub those things from her mind when she had been the one that killed them. Her first kill was prominent amongst them, a Nautolan Sith Acolyte that had caused Kalrath trouble.

She must have been fourteen or so then. It was only an estimate. Kalrath's personal record on her was covered in black ink she couldn't fully clear up.

"Best we not linger..." Seven decided.

Before they wound up distracted by something else and drawn into further dangers. In her personal experience, visions never lead to anywhere good.

Or maybe that spoke more to her bad luck.

 

[Braze]

Tags: 0-7 Eloise Dinn ​

Braze lost that excited air when Eloise told him to shut up, the enthusiasm for sharing what he knew draining from his features. She did have a point. They had been attacked not too long ago, and that tended to put a damper on any attempt at a 'fun' outing.

He moved to collect a few more crystals, taking to quieting himself, perhaps embarrassed for rambling the way he had.

He blinked when Eloise posed her question, and an uneasy feeling settled over him, like watching a scary holovid during the long, breathless moment of anticipation before something terrible appeared. He went still, motionless, a crystal caught between his fingers. His gaze swept the immediate area as he tried to discern anything out of place, putting his eyes and ears to the test. He had been subjected to enough terrifying visions while delving deep beneath stone to know that such things were rarely a pleasant experience.

Finding nothing that felt off, or out of the ordinary, he settled his attention on the large crystal chunk in his hand.

"No… what are you seeing? Do you feel okay?" he finally asked, glancing briefly toward Seven's expression when she suggested that they should leave soon.

Braze seemed to have more than enough to create what he needed. He moved to pull his pack on and stepped back, only to accidentally plant his foot in some sticky, gossamer-like webbing....He just about jumped out of his skin. With a startled little sound, he began rubbing wildly at his clothes, trying to wipe the clinging strands away in frantic, jerky motions as he hurried closer to the girls.

"I think we're good," he squeaked, suddenly much more on board with leaving.

He moved back towards the watery bank and blinked seeing little semi transparent glowing fish having gathered in the murky waters below feasting on the create they had dispatched not too long ago. He looked back to the girls with an expression of concern.

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Seven answered no, and didn't seem much interested in continuing the discussion. Braze wasn't having visions either, though he showed some curiosity about what she was seeing.

"I dunno," she answered. "It's happened twice now. First time was when that thing attacked me in the river, second time was just now when I touched the crystal. Feels like I'm seeing through somebody else's eyes, watching someone else's life."

Seven suggested they leave, and Braze confirmed that they had what they needed. Nodding, Eloise stood up and hefted her pack over her shoulder. A presence gnawed at the edge of her perceptions, like an itch creeping along her skin. "Let's go," she said, heading back the way they had come. Whatever it was, they weren't alone in the caves.

Braze 0-7​

 

[Braze]

Tags: Eloise Dinn 0-7 ​

Watching someone else's life… That struck him as oddly familiar, enough to draw his thoughts back to a few strange experiences he had shared with Loomi .

"Maybe… you have a dyadic-like connection, or a Force bond, with someone else?" Braze offered as he made his way into the water, one hand keeping hold of the wire as he started across.

The current tugged at his clothes and pulled cold weight into the fabric, but he kept moving until his boots found the other side. Once he climbed up onto the bank, he wrung out his sleeves and the lower edges of his clothing, trying to shed some of the water before it dragged too heavily on him.