Floating in the Onsen

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Arenais"]

“And he will.” She said. “Once he’s no longer a representation of the trauma you’ve experienced, he should be gone for good.” Vanessa of course had no idea that there was in fact a real Mayhem - but this one was still an illusion that she would soon dispel.

She would secure Kay within the machine, waiting to see whatever sort of reaction she would get. Once Kay was restrained, she pointed to the screen. “Watch.” Moving in, she would boop Kay on the snoot, then watch as certain neurons were triggered relating to the sensation of getting booped. “See how that works? Those lights you saw relate to your sensation of touch, as well as to whatever you felt.”

She would get the helmet ready to stimulate Kay’s brain. “alright, this would take several minutes. Expect to feel, sense, and perhaps relive everything.” She said, turning the machine on. Kay would likely immediately begin to be bombarded with memories good and bad as the machine started to stimulate her brain.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay kept her eyes closed as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] strapped her in. She was both looking forward and not looking forward to this at the same time. It certainly was nothing that she had ever expected would happen.

It was the word 'watch' that got her to open her eyes. Getting her nose booped was unexpected. She blinked repeatedly in quick succession and then looked at the screen. The lights flashed on the screen in a jumbled pattern that she didn't understand. But Vanessa would.

Already she was nervous. Especially as she was told that she may relive everything. Her body tensed up as the machine was turned on. Kay shut her eyes quickly as her life flashed before her eyes. And it wasn't in any order. It was all over the place. Quick flashes of various events, even day to day stuff. She pulled against the straps, clenching her teeth as she tried to force away the bad memories, ones of torture, fear, death and loss. But they wouldn't go away.

 

[Onrai]

“Relax.” Vanessa wasn’t even sure if Kay could hear her given all the things she was experiencing right now - all the memorized sights, sounds, and sensations were likely overwhelming all five of her senses. Truthfully, Vanessa couldn’t help but feel invigorated by the suffering Kay was undergoing.

After several minutes, the process would finish. The map of Kay’s brain had been created, with a color code showcasing where the negative memories were located down to the smallest individual neuron. “Well... there goes stage one.” She smiled, playfully fiddling worn the restraints before letting Kay loose.

“It will take a few more weeks, but I can get the retrovirus done soon.” She replied. No more nightmares, no more hallucinations... soon Kay would be fine.

[member="Kay Arenais"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Relax? That was easy for [member="Vanessa Vantai"] to say. She wasn't the one going through everything at once. It was crazy. The voices in her head wouldn't stop. At times there was immense pain, yet other times there was immense joy.

When it was over, her heart kept pounding, beads of sweat running down her face. She got out of the chair as soon as she could, moving away from it like one would from a dangerous animal.

"How many stages are there?..I need some tea..."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

“We’ll need to do two more scans in order to ensure any irregularities are ignored.” She said. “Get some tea and come back.” She said, examining the holographic colored representation of the woman’s brain. “Amazing. Absolutely amazing.”

She really couldn’t help but pat herself on the back for this one.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Get some tea and come back? [member="Vanessa Vantai"] didn't know what she was saying. What made her think that Kay was going to come back so quickly? That'd be absurd.

While the Sith was busy looking over the scans, Kay made her way out of the lab. She hopped into the speeder that they had arrived on and took off straight to her shop. All the while she was thinking of how to fix herself. Maybe she could just pretend that Mayhem wasn't there? That was certainly a possibility.

Kay parked the speeder outside of her shop and jumped out. She quickly ran up the steps and went inside, bypassing the tables to behind the counter where her tea stocks were. But which tea would suit her? There were many to choose from. But as always she went with the classics...Sapir.

 

[Onrai]

While Kay was busy getting herself some tea, Vanessa was fine tuning the machine in preparation for another scan. The first one had for the most part revealed the problem areas, but Vanessa could not afford to rely on a single examination. What if she wiped out some important memory that was scrambled up? That would be bad.

She would wait, and send a quick telepathic message to Kay.

Would it be possible to get a large iced tea?

[member="Kay Larr"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay prepared the tea, pacing back and forth while she waited for the tea to steep. What she had gone through was horrible and there was more to come. That is if she allowed it. Right now that wasn't an option that she was considering.

The voice of [member="Vanessa Vantai"] reached her mind and it startled her. Did Kay leave herself so open? ~Iced tea?...Umm..I'll try.~ Why would someone want tea cold? It was to be enjoyed warm and soothing like a hug.

Speaking of which, her own tea was ready. So she picked it up and had a grateful sip. Kay then poured another cup of tea and just left it on the counter as she headed to the back of the shop and up the stairs to her room with her own cup still in hand. She could hear Mayhem's laughter echo from downstairs yet she ignored it. Her bed was her destination and she knew that it'd be warm, comfortable and comforting.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa sighed. She waited several minutes before returning to Kay’s shop, surprised at the lack of tea. Not realizing Kay had decided to get comfy after her ordeal, she looked around for the woman before sighing. “If you want to do something, I guess you have to do it yourself...”

She would deposit some more credits into Kay’s cash register before going to make herself an iced tea. This was going to be good - at least it would be if Kay wasn’t so stubborn. She was incredibly obstinate and it frustrates Vanessa to no end how unwilling she was to accept she had a problem she needed to fix.

[member="Kay Larr"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay entered her room and kicked off her shoes before climbing into bed. It was a much smaller room than she had had in her previous lives as an Empress, a Queen and a President. Despite being an owner of a moderately successful company, she decided to keep any semblance of wealth to a minimum.

She propped herself up against her pillows as she wrapped herself up in her big, puffy blanket and cradled her tea in her hands, completely unaware that [member="Vanessa Vantai"] was just downstairs.

Right now she needed to relax and recover. And that was fully what she was going to do.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

Vanessa would drink the iced tea she had made, waiting to see what Kay would end up doing, or rather, how long she would be incapacitated. The other scans would be necessary - and at the least, with the first scan Vanessa had made, she was sure of what memories and other neuron clusters to stimulate with the Force if she ever wanted to appropriately incapacitate Kay in order to give her another treatment.

In retrospect, maybe she should have used the collar.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay took out a datapad from her nightsand and turned it on. She opened up one of her mystery holobook files and began to read it. Losing herself in one of these stories always helped. She sipped her tea while she read and just took the time to forget everything but the story.

Maybe her stubborness will prevail? Who knows? All that she knew was that she was in no rush to get back to [member="Vanessa Vantai"] and her infernal machine.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

"You know, the sooner we get this done, the sooner you don't have to worry about doing anything relating to it anymore, right?" The illusory form of Vanessa would shimmer into existence over by Kay. "Look, I get it wasn't exactly pleasant, and you're being stubborn and whatnot because of the terrible sensations the process made you experience, but the fact of the matter is, once I'm done with helping to remove those memories, you won't ever have to worry about feeling this way again. Hell, the sensation might actually be enjoyable to have those parts of your brain appropriately stimulated."

She crossed her arms. "I have an eternity, Kay. Do you?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay frowned, slowly looking up as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] came into view in her bedroom of all places. This was her sanctuary away from everyone. The fact that she lived alone was besides the point.

"Of course it wasn't pleasant! I need time to recover! And what am I supposed to do in the future? Go to you everytime something bad happens to me again? I hate that machine. And there is NO way that I'd find the process enjoyable."

Again Kay frowned as Vanessa showed off her own stubborness. Was it going to be a battle of wills? She hoped not. "No, I don't habe eternity. Though I hardly expect to live as old as my ex-husband." Veiere was almost 10 years her senior, and Kay didn't believe that she'd live longer than a year from now.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

"If the bad memories are no longer present, the sensation is pleasurable as only good memories are triggered." She said. "But very well... You want to recover, and I want to ensure that we continue onwards with this. In a week's timespan, I'm going to come back for you so we can do treatment number 2, then a week after that, number 3." She said. "And a week after that, I'll be providing you with the necessary retroviral injections to eliminate those bad memories and replace them with good ones." She said, beginning to turn transluscent, then transparent.

"I'll see you then."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded a little as [member="Vanessa Vantai"] agreed to give her a break. Even a week seemed plenty right now. However she was sure that once that week neared it's end, she'd come to wish that she had more time.

"Okay...I should be here..."

Once Vanessa disappeared, Kay drew her blankets up around herself even more. She didn't like having her bedroom invaded. No one goes in there but herself.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

A week later, the scene would seemingly recur. Vanessa would appear at Kay's tea shop, ordering a drink. Once she had received the drink, sipping the delicious beverage, she would smile at the fallen empress. "It's been a week since our last meeting, Kay. It's time for the second scan." She expected a good deal more resistance rom Kay, and hoped she would not have to utilize harsher measures in order to coerce her.

There were a few, after all.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Seeing [member="Vanessa Vantai"] enter her shop instantly got her anxiety up. So after she gave the woman some tea, Kay fixed herself up a cup as well. "I was hoping that maybe you'd have forgotten...."

She sipped her tea, not making any moves to go to the door. Instead she just procrastinated some more. "I wish that there was some...different aproach to this." Veiere had told her that she was letting her fears guide her, and now she saw that too. But her fears protected her from harm. And what Vanessa wanted her to do was to relive torture. They both knew that she didn't want to do that.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Kay Larr"]

"As much as I'd love to say there's a less... tortuous way for you to experience this, the sad fact is, there really isn't." She said, taking another sip. "Unless you let me access your mind and find out for myself which neurons in that precious brain of yours contain the bad memories, and I know you aren't just going to let a Sith in after all that's been done to you in the past. This is the only way I can find out where bad memories are without knowing what the actual memories themselves are." She said, sighing.

"Unless you want to let me in, it's time for our second session. Hopefully you will have hardened up a bit."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay slowly shook her head. She didn't want [member="Vanessa Vantai"] inside of her mind. She didn't want anyone there. Even her ex-husband didn't know the extent of all that she had been through. She prefered to suffer alone and not be a burden.

After finishing her tea, Kay sighed a little as she set the cup down on the counter and began heading to the door. "Okay...let's go..." Was she hardened up for it? No. But she had to do it.