Identity Crisis

[Prennis Keeoli]

Aes'ona stumbled out of the hovercab and into the dressing room without a word, never more than a step behind the fashionista enchantress. When given her task, she gave a hurried nod before rushing over to a nearby rack of clothes. From it, she took the first article that she happened to see in her size; from a display nearby of shoes, she took a similar approach. Within the allotted ten minutes, she had changed out of her ruined outfit and into the Chrisyakova dress and sandal wedges, careful to stuff her matrix into her clutch purse.

Mental note to have that fixed later.

~ † ~​

[member="Marina DeVoe"], [member="Veronika Fleischer"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

The old federalist shuttle once more fired up it's drives and ascended back up a few hundred levels before making it way on over to the other dive Jagger's Slim Kin where she hoped her former contact Carru was still there. But that were many hours past already as she looked over to her crono. had she been in that metal duck-work THAT long?

Still, she had no other lead or clue as to where Mariya had taken Aes'ona. And for that matter; what the frak had gotten into Mariya? How'd she get so...so mean like that?
Marina wiped another tear that found it's way down to her cheek. It were difficult if not at all impossible to think that her bestie could do something like what she did to her. Well OK, maybe somethings were long coming to her, as Marina had indeed put her bestie through a lot, and I mean A LOT of trials and tribulations.

...and...and what was that dream or whatever it was that had happened during her stay in that duck-work? It were so real...
Then again, the woman, the castle, everything had seemed so familiar...like in a revisited dream.

Well, Marina was fully awake now, however occasionally getting a blurry tear that needed to be wiped away.
marina was determined to find Aes'ona and catch up with Mariya. maybe she could give her a good talking too for what she pulled.
..er, maybe not.
"Hmm....maybe the witch (not literally speaking, mind you) is on some hyper drug..." that was a possibility, as Mariya did have access to pretty much a lot of military weapons and enhancements...like the type of drugs that kept one's aggression up...a necessary evil that one needed in the battlefronts if they had any incline of surviving it.
Although Marina had never known Mariya to ever, ever take any of those enhancement drugs...ever.

The old shuttle finally came up on the bar she had first met Carru and had gotten the heads up as to where to find Mariya in Club Kasakar.
This time she didn't bother parking it on the side somewhere, she pulled right up front with it and stormed inside...past the bouncer and...and...where the frak was Carru?
Marina looked left..she looked right..."NO, not interested.."she slapped a hand away from her but-cheek and moved away.

Was she looking for someone or something, she were asked by the barkeep she finally went up to.
"Yes.. Carru..." she answered.

"Carru?" The bartender asked, wiping one of the dirty glasses dry.

"Yes, yes...Carru Bass. I don't see him. Do you know where he is?"

"Hmm...if you don't see him, then he must not be around."

"Sigh...Ok, let me try again..." She pulled out her cortosis card and placed it on the counter.
The man's eyebrow peaked and he placed the glass down with a thud next to the card.
"Straight shots are 500 credits." he said leaning toward her, resting his arm on the counter.

Marina kept her eyes steady staring into his dark orbs.. "Well? It ain't going to fill itself.."

​

​

~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

​

She walked out of there with just one half missed step. It had taken 4 shots to get Carru's probable whereabouts.
He were finishing his night at another bar, only this time near the upper levels of the Garment District..or as the upper crowd called it, 'The Fashion District'.

Marina found Carru just where the bartender had directed her to. Seemed everyone had a price.

"Well well... what bring you up from the bogs?...hahaha.." Carru asked when she got to where he were sitting.
"You found your lady friend?"

"Sigh...yea, found her alright." She definitely had a pissed off look on her features.

"Hmm...could of told you that if someone don't want to be found, they aren't going to be too happy when they are..."

"Can't argue that...
Listen..." She once more put her cortosis on the table. "...I need to find her again."

"Some folk could get pretty nasty, Marina. " He then said, sliding the card back over to her.
"Best you let this girl friend be... she's probably moved on with somebody already and you're just pestering her now. Listen to Carru...let her go."

"Sigh... I can't.
She...she took my other friend..." Ok wait a minute. It was sounding exactly like Carru was talking about..but really wasn't.
"I mean forcibly...I think she kidnapped her... my other friend, that is..."

"Hahahaha... oh you are so sweet, Marina...so sweet. " He laughed, finding her not only sweet, but naive.
"Really, let her be. You are much too classy for anyone like that, including this other friend of yours who probably is laughing along with the other. Let both be."

Marina slid the card back to him.
"What, you don't like credits anymore? I'll double what I paid the first time.
Now please...tell me where I can find her again."

Carru took a good long look at her, then took a puff of his stogie.
"If that is what you want..."

"It's what I want." She pushed the card another few centimeters closer to him.

With that, Carru took the card, drawing a reader from his breast pocket and scanned her card. It bleeped green..approved.
He then slid the card back to her and smiled.

"Well?...aren't you going to call on one of your informants to go look for her?" Marina asked, seeing that he were just now sitting there looking all fat and content.

"No, no need. Turn around." he then smugly said.

Marina turned, looking about the bar once..trice, before confusingly turning back over to Carru.
"She's not in here. Are you playing me?"

"Hahahaha...no, I'm not playing you. Well, a little. But Carru always delivers.
Now turn around and look with your eyes open.
I'm not playing.
Look out the glass..."

"Carru....you got your credits....what am I supposed to be looking at?" She asked, walking toward the large pane of glass overlooking the greater city...the Fashion District.
"...it's freakin Coruscant...building after building..spires, speeders..star-ships..more speeders..."

Carru did a face palm shaking his head before he got up and came up next to the blonde.
"See that glass building gleaming in the sunlight?...the third on the left over there." He pointed. "...the one next to the gold and silver spire..."

" That's the Chrisyakova building... it's their fashion headquarters..." She turned to Carru, not getting it.

Carru motioned for the gods to take him now...he could just die if he had to bear another minute with this blonde.

"Gasp!...You mean, Mariya works there?"





[member="Veronika Fleischer"]
[member="Prennis Keeoli"]

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

"Look at you..."

Veronika walked into the room promptly after ten minutes, holding a bottle of whiskey in her hand that was already open. Ten minutes was more than enough time to grab a bottle of alcohol from her own private collection. The blonde took a drink from the bottle itself, her eyes studying [member="Prennis Keeoli"] carefully under the bright lightning of the storage area. The doctor did not have the time to wash up much, but at the very least looked prim and proper again. It would last as long as the witch kept her hands to herself, who was certainly more than happy to get her hands dirty when it came to asking of information.

"Not bad, not bad at all. You do have a certain appeal, doctor "

She giggled, admiring the doctor's form for a moment before turning her attention back to important matters.

"Now, the doctor who ran away from the First Order. Let's say I believe you."

The witch took another swing of the bottle and waved her hand, causing two chairs to roll across the floor towards her direction. She sat on one of them comfortably, pushing the remaining empty seat next to Aes'ona.

"Tell me a good story as a start, darling. Perhaps a heroic medical service in one of the wars. You do have that, don't you? And try not to lie, because..."

She ended her statement with a giggle, letting the doctor fill in the blanks.


Tag: [member="Marina DeVoe"]

 

[Marina DeVoe]

The man's reflection on the glass showed him mercifully looking up. Most likely to the gods of his choice.
Marina just wasn't getting it.

"Yes...you could say that." He replied answering her inquiry as for her former friend working in the building. Caru sighed, shaking his head for he knew trying to enlighten this blonde was only going to frustrate him more. Oh if only the gods could take him now...

But no.
No, the gods didn't take Caru at this time, nor would anytime soon, for his atonement were here on Coruscant... dealing with this blonde.
Then again a parasite like Caru were like a gnat, insignificant in the whole of the Creator's plan. But just the same, one gnat does leave one scratching, and in Marina's case; got her mind on putting some puzzle pieces together. Hence, role and purpose of a gnat like Caru.

"Hmm...that could explain Mariya's new fashion style.
Unlike her really to glitter up as such..." She finally turned to Caru, index still pointing to the Chrisyakova building.
Ok, so a few of the puzzle pieces Marina were assembling in her head were not from the same box. But she were determined to find her ex-bestie again. If not to give Mariya a good piece of her mind or try to win her back; then for the sole reason of getting Aes'ona away from that witch.
Yes, Marina would need a rescue plan. She were going in!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

Two hours later, exiting Lady Stellar Boutique...

Marina had gone shopping, hitting up a local convenience market first and then a few high end fashion shops.

No, she weren't on a shopping spree.
She were ditching the slumming apparel she had gone down to the Underworld with for some upper fashion attire. And she knew enough not to fully wrap herself up with any one designer label. If she were to infiltrate Chrisyakova headquarters, she have to go with something totally original. Marina had to resort to mix and match...going as far as putting down some extraordinary credits to have those high end items altered on the spot.. in a manner that masked the designer's signature...that is, where they originally came from.

Yes, she were stepping out of the last boutique with some unique one of a kind design, her altered and unrecognizable fashion that she derived from using some originals. Marina were intending on infiltrating the Chrisyakova building and rescuing Aes'ona... and maybe confronting her former friend. She certainly had a beef to settle with her now.

Stepping back out on Coruscanti duracrete pavement, she she pulled out the No-hair dispenser, putting it in her new clutch purse, ditching the All-Mart bag in the refuge can. yes, that had been her first stop at the convenience market..a can of hair removal. A weapon of choice for any fashion ninja...and she were dressed as such, only that it were a runway fashion dress. One of her design or altered designed by her mind you.
True true, marina was a pacifist and despite her rage for her ex-bestie, she would not ever think of physically harming her, even if she were turned sith..or witch or whatever. But mess up her hair? Yea, THAT she could do!

"Excuse me...Miss?" The tall good looking security guy called to her.
Of course Marina had walked in through the double duraglass doors...one of several sets lining the front entrance of the Chrisyakova headquarters, and made for the turbo-lifts. Again, one of several in the massive lobby.

Marina didn't reply, just inconveniently stopped before the open lift doors, turned ever so slightly as it were only the help (security) and lowered the rim of her shades, eyeing the man like he just became an bore.

"Miss, you need to check in first?" The security guy stated, in a form of question.

"Excusez-moi?..." She made sure to roll her eyes as if she had better things to do than to sign in.

"All guests are required to sign in, Miss...you have an appointment?" The man then added. of course he would ask. He were security.

"Qui moi?..." Yes, that was some fancy language of fashion divas. She now fully turned and strutted the three steps over to the security guard, one hand firmly settling on her hip and the other jutting out her index to his features...waving it, like a no-no.

"Quelles moeurs etiez-vous enseignee?" She started to scold him like she were Chrisyakova herself. Of course that were just the designer name, but marina didn't know that it were a Veronika-something-or-other that owned it.

"Mademoiselle Chris m'attend!..." She continued with her guise.
Of course she went on to inform the man that she had never met with such insolence from the help, especially in her circles. Marina kept up her poise, overtaking in her fancy-smancy language that for the most part, the security's auto translator had difficulty in properly dubbing. But it were no doubt one of cultivation, high autocracy...like that of his boss Veronika.

Of course he were no lackey as Veronika certainly would not have employed him or had him working there in the front security desk if he were. The man got through as to who this Chris was that marina had mentioned. yes, he had gotten that much properly translated.

A look of shock...and a good one at that, she returned him.
How dare he not know whom she were to see here under invite?!
"Chris!...Mademoiselle Chris!... Chrisyakova, qui d'autre!" What, was he a moron? How did he not know who he were working for? It were about this time that she were realizing maybe...just maybe the owner's name was not the designer's name.
Could it be that Mariya who had stated she were now a Veronika be the owner's name? Well, what more could she loose as she may have already blown cover with the security guard.

"Arrrg!..." She pocked his chest with her index several times as she blurted out, "Veronika, toi idiot!"
She of course made sure to shout it at the man hard enough for the name to reverberate throughout the large lobby.

Well, to her surprise and relief, the man's eyes suddenly grew two sizes over, almost bulging out of his sockets. She had guessed it right....Yippie, she shouted silently to self.
...er, did she? Dis she guess it right?
Of course, she couldn't see who could be in back of her. Why would she even be concerned, as before she were stopped by this security guard it were just the empty turbo lift waiting with it's doors open.

Well, to her surprise the man's features seemed to indicate he were about to start the backstroke...was her guise working?
Marina stamped her foot down, both hands on hips, making like she were waiting for him to make one more blunder before she called in some bigger gun than himself.

"I...I am sorry, Miss..." He certainly was swimming backwards.

"Ses Madame!" she corrected him...nearly jumping up and down inside as he were swallowing the bait.

"I am sorry Madame." He replied, eyes not daring to look down into hers. he was taller.

"Madame DeVoooh.." Oh oh...now she got a bit ahead of herself. "..Ho Ho.." Shiet, she weren't to use her real name....

"M..Madame DeVohoho..." He met her eyes a moment.

"Oui... Y a-t-il un problème ?" She furled her brow..as much as it could be furled. Damn perfect skin. But the intended result were clearly read by the guard.

"N..no Madame DeVoho-ho. I apologize for my mistake. Can I assist you in any way...madame?" He stammered, but nevertheless he were on her line nice and taught. Berkana (God) it worked!









[member="Veronika Fleischer"] / [member="Prennis Keeoli"]

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

When the Mariya-lookalike appeared, Prennis looked from her slowly down to the open bottle in her hand, eyebrows knit, and then back up. Before she knew it, a padded armrest poked into her mid thigh, and she fumbled to sit down on the chair properly.

"A story," she began slowly, carefully. "Sure." At some point, the nervous lump stuck to the back of her throat had dissolved away. "But I sense you insinuate a fictitious one." The word 'story' had room for both truth and fiction, so maybe Prennis was simply being overtly cautious in drawing the distinction. Still, something told her that Veronika was not one to delve into wordplay.

If such a case was true, the doctor was not going to let herself easily loose this game by falling prey so early to minced verbage.

"This is a recollection, as close as I can remember." Not that she had trouble with this memory. "A commendation.

"I got it in the second invasion of Dagobah. As far as I know, the first had been conducted by the Empire. The Alliance gave them some trouble, so we came to the first's assistance, since we had been allied at the time." Prennis paused, momentarily reflecting on how the galactic power scales had tipped so drastically since then. "I'm not, I wasn't, a combat medic, but I volunteered to go boots to the ground. The medical evacuation needed hands, so that's what I gave them. I lead a team of a few medics and a squadron of stormtroopers..." Again, she paused, gazing down at her hand this time. Temp... No! Stop it, she though, quickly reprimanding herself and shaking her head. "We set up an extraction zone, but had yet to find wounded, so we pushed into the jungle.

"Soon enough, we picked up a weak distress signal. We thought it was friendly, so we started hiking towards it, but were met a group of Rebels first. I think they had a Jedi with them, but I didn't see him. Heard later from troopers. I went--"

It suddenly occurred to Prennis how practiced this sounded, not because she was lying, but because she had said much the same just about word for word before. With another blink, Veronika's feminine figure, though it physically stayed the same, mentally became the male presence of the Bureau agent who had run her debriefing-turned-inquest.

Hopefully, though, the emptiness behind Prennis's words was convincing enough that she was speaking her truth.

"I-I don't really know what I was thinking. Maybe that they had already killed the wounded, and had moved on from us. On our march, we spotted a transport come down near us. I went there." Maybe that bit, her reasoning for leaving the ensuing firefight, was a lie, but surely one that she wasn't telling to consciously deceive. To the contrary, it was probably just one she had told herself on Dagobah and cemented so well in the immediate aftermath that even she couldn't tell the truth of the matter anymore.

"Well, our assumptions had been wrong: These were Alliance men. But they were trapped men, injured men." With each adjective, Doctor Terrani's voice got more insistent, before dropping back to it usual cadence. "I helped them..." A breath. "A stormtrooper had followed me after I ran off. She... As soon as she saw the targets were Rebels, she wanted to shoot them.

"...So I killed her, in defense of my patients."

~ † ~​

[member="Marina DeVoe"] | [member="Veronika Fleischer"]​

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

The witch made herself comfortable in the seat, leaning against the soft leather cushion while taking another drink. She raised an eyebrow in amusement when the good doctor fumbled with the newly present chair and shook her head. A moment ago, [member="Prennis Keeoli"] looked all nice and ladylike in the new dress, but the fumbling definitely knocked off a few points of grace. It was perhaps for the best that the doctor was not one of the models in her runway show, despite having the looks of one.

"I'm waiting, doctor," she flashed a smile that was obviously fake. "I'm not interested in wordplay."

And so the good doctor told a story. It was one of professionalism in defending the patients. Veronika was hoping for something more juicy, but at the very least the story seemed real and the whiskey was decent.

"So you killed a Stormtrooper who wanted to kill the wounded. Isn't that betrayal? I think the First Order might not take things too lightly."

Veronika let her words hang in the air, eyes of emerald green studying Prennis intently and made a few taps on the portable datapad on the table. The room lights dimmed slowly, leaving a soft beam of light shining on the two ladies. The witch giggled and whispered a few words of incomprehensible gibberish. The darkness behind her slowly turned into a scene of Dagobah, with injured Rebels moaning softly. Behind the doctor stood a stormtrooper who was wearing a suit of armour marked with blaster shots.

"I was just following orders, Madam. Why did you shoot me? I was just following orders! My family moaned for my death!"

The illusion yelled at Prennis in anger, taking off her helmet and showing off a rotten skull.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Pft..." She stuck her nose up "...si je veux votre aide, je vais le demander."
Marina turned around and headed into the open turbo'lift.
"Maintenant, retourne à ta station!.." and with that, the lift doors snapped closed and-

...and fodder, she weren't going anywhere.
Where the frak was she to go and find Aes'ona? Her plan was half baked and a desperate one. She hadn't planned all the details. Then again, she never infiltrated a major designer headquarters before...or anything for that matter.

"Uhm... Mariya Fleischer's floor please?" She had nothing to really go by to know exactly where maybe her deranged bestie had taken Aes'ona. maybe she had an office up somewhere in the building?

'Ding...I'm sorry, a Mariya Fleischer is not registered on the premises'

"Oh..
Uhm...is a Veronika registered then?"

'Veronika Fleischer is registered.'

"Heh...So she did change her name..." Marina concluded.
"...Ok... Veronika's floor then." She replied, not having a clue as to what had possessed her bestie to do that. It..it didn't ring the same as her name....Marina-Mariya...they were like two peas in a pod. Besties, for heaven's sake!

'Ding...I'm sorry, that is not a valid destination, all floors are CEO floors." the lift announcement reported.
Then...
'Ding...what floor or party do you wish to visit?' It then asked her.

Marina was taken back a moment. All floors were Veronika's? Had Mariya come into some kind of inheritance to be able to acquire Chrisyakova franchise? She had to admit the designer line had some good styles. Not her prime choice, but Marina had indeed a few sweet items at home that she-
"Gasp!..." ...had indeed borrowed from Mariya...

...that...

...were...

...indeed Chrisyakova!

"OMG.... I knew I shouldn't have kept them!....never mind not asking to borrow them..." Oh oh...maybe Mariya had found some of her clothes had been lifted from her closet and...and, Oh Berkana (God), Mariya had gotten really really pissed off...like...
Marina's heart suddenly seemed to have stopped beating, much like it did when her bestie chocked her.
Had her bestie Mariya gotten so mad as to...unfriend her?

'Ding... what floor or party do you wish to go to?' the lift's control asked again, jarring the blonde from her panic attack.

"Uhm..
Ahem, Veronika Fleischer's floor... HER OFFICE, rather. Take me to her office."

'Ding... I'm sorry, that destination is by appointment only.'

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

Prennis sat back once Veronika began to speak, pressing her back into the back of the chair, trying to bury her need to tremble. That would probably please the witch, and so she would do all she could to keep that bit of power out of Veronika's hands.

She thought for a quick moment about responding, but didn't give in to that either. Instead, she looked right back at the witch, her expression blank of anything but a small measure of defiance.

But when the flickering emergency lights of the downed Allegiance shuttle suddenly surrounded her, Prennis all but jumped out of her seat and onto the metal floor, banging her knees on the way down. Biting down on her lip hard enough to draw blood, she was able to stay quiet.

She glanced around. The first Rebel she saw sat trapped by his seatbelt. Prenn somehow clamored to her feet and crossed the pod to him, leaving a trail of dark drops behind her. "Hey, shh, shhh, sh," she cooed as she neared him. "I'm gonna help you."

A modulated voice behind her caught her attention before she made it to the man. Ink. As she spoke, a shiver ran up Prennis' spine even before Ink tore off her sunbonnet. Prenn screamed, mostly involuntarily, before covering her mouth with a hand and taking a small step backwards.

For a moment, the wounded fell away and all that mattered was that dead stormtrooper.

'My family.' The phrase wouldn't stop echoing in her head. Though Prennis had managed to convince the FOSB that she was no traitor, as even she had naively thought of herself back then, and she knew that the Stormtrooper Corps was not overly concerned with the loss of one lowly rank, she found herself asking the question now:

What had she done?

Veronika was right, what she had done was betrayal, not just of the First Order, but of herself. She had been close to becoming a number in white herself and she, as she had recently come to know, had a family before Dosuun. Other than Taeir and Nileeta and Rache and Raaz. What if Ink had had that? Though she probably didn't know it for what it was before being kidnapped from Force knew where.

Maybe that meant Prennis Keeoli, her given birth name paired with a randomly selected pirate's surname, had been a mistake. One that she had no hope of coming back from. And, just like that, Prenn sunk to her knees, ignoring the pain of the raw wounds.

~ † ~​

[member="Veronika Fleischer"] | [member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"What..." One hand over the other, she pulled herself up and started to climb.
"...did darth Vader..." No, the turbo lift couldn't take her to Mariya/Veronika whatever she called herself now floor.
"...say when he..." the turbo shaft was vertical and quite extensively tall, not to mention how much more she had to climb.
"...walked into..." Although she were clever enough to get the turbo AI to divulge the floor. And the closest she could get to the 69th floor was the 66th.
"...a vegetarian restaurant." She stopped a moment to catch her breath. These weren't ideal climbing conditions.
Not with adjacent lifts suddenly whizzing by. The blast of air was close to the winds on Aiden pass on her home world. But she were a good climber..had climbed many faces of rock, even at acute angles away from vertices.

"I..." Marina took another breath, she had two more freakin floors to climb..
" ..find your lack..." again one hand, one foot up at a time she started her ascension toward the witch's floor.
"...of steak..." Yes, it were difficult this climb, even for her.
" ...disturbing." The poor girl was in stilettos and a near mermaid cut designer. Climbing in designer chic could no way be compared to prancing down a fashion runway. It was harder!
More reason to tell herself a few jokes to take her mind off the long drop down, if she slipped.

Marina was determined to find her friend Aes'ona who for some reason or other had seemed to be going through some kind of identity crisis herself. But Aes'ona was still Aes'ona, right?
"RIGHT!" She told herself out loud in the turbo-lift shaft. And no, she weren't worried that her voice as loud as she talked would echo or reverberate through the turbo shafts, no. The freakin shafts were bustling with turbulence from the lifts going up and down..up and down...

"Gah!" She took another firm hold and held on as another lift compressed the air around it like a whirl-storm once more passing her.

"Pft..." She blew her hair out of her eyes...Hey, she couldn't well do it while climbing now, could she?

Up.. up she continued to climb until reaching the 69th freakin floor number stenciled on the doors.
"Oh thank you, Berkana..." She finally breathed a sigh of relief, as she took to the narrow ledge on the side of the closed doors to the floor. Her arms ached..her feet ached in those silly stilettos..and her hair was a mess!
"Please...just stay with me a bit longer. " Marina at times talked with her God like they were best of friends, sisters sometimes and/or her Spiritual conscience.
This day, she needed Berkana to be her God...for Marina really knew not what she were doing. The blonde had no real plan, other than a notion to find Aes'ona and rescue her from her ex-bestie who somehow or other was either irked at her for borrowing clothes from her chalet without asking or that Mariya had decided to be a real queen of a witch.
"Hehe.." She chuckled as that thought came about in a pun.

"Ahem.." She then cleared her throat and and mind off the witch, looking over the closed lift door to the 69th floor.
How in blazes was she going to open it?


[member="Prennis Keeoli"] / [member="Veronika Fleischer"]

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

The witch stood there in the darkness, watching the illusions unfolding around the doctor. She had no idea how the dead stormtrooper looked like, merely using her own creativity to insert a talking skull. It was a jump scare, but the paleness of [member="Prennis Keeoli"]'s face was a clear indication of her success in pulling off the prank. She giggled silently in amusement, enjoying the fear that was radiating from the doctor's eyes and the scream that came along with it.

"Veronika, you are such a child."

Her guardian spirit whispered softly through her mind in mock disapproval, making her giggle again. The show needed to continue. The lead was the doctor and the acting was terrific. It would be a waste to call it quits. No, Veronika was more than happy to let the stormtrooper hover around a little longer. Perhaps she might get another little scream or two. More importantly, she wanted to read the thoughts from the doctor's mind. As the doctor sunk to her knees, Veronika tried to probe her thoughts mentally and was rewarded with little new information about the First Order.

"Sigh."

The blonde tapped gently on the datapad and the lights came back, vanquishing the darkness surrounding the room.

"You are no fun at all, doc. Why, I-"

Her words were cut short by the beeping tone from her datapad. Someone had been climbing through the lift turbo shaft. She raised her eyebrow and tapped on the camera controls. A small blonde figure with surprising agility and persistence was coming up.

"My gosh, isn't that our lovely little friend." She giggled and showed the datapad screen to Prennis. "Let's welcome her then."

Her fingers tapped on the datapad and the lift doors opened wide for [member="Marina DeVoe"]. Another tap and she was able to access the emergency communications line in the turbo shaft.

"Hello, little princess. Why am I not surprised that you are alive? Come in then, if you want your good friend to live."

She giggled aloud and tossed the datapad on the table, bending over to let her hand slide across Prennis' left cheek. Her fingers continued downwards to brush against the soft velvet neck, tilting the doctor's chin upwards and whispered softly. "Nice skin... hmm, I would love to hear about your skincare routine. Come on, darling... share it with me? We can be good friends."

Veronika broke into a flirtatious giggle.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

Prennis all but jumped out of her skin as, little by little, the familiar scene melted away into another, but she had steeled herself again when Veronika turned the datapad to her. Her own brown eyes swept over the miniature figure of Marina. The breath caught in the back of her throat, but not out of fright for her friend.

No.

In an instant, she remembered more of her past, but she didn't need a spell this time. Her mind hit replay all by itself. On the backs of her eyelids, in the gripping darkness of a prolonged blink that squeezed dry tears out of her eyes, she was back in the Atrisian palace. As she spoke in a hush to Marina just a step behind her cybernetic Grand Admiral, she noticed the disapproving glare she had chosen to ignore. And, in a flash, not the words but the emotions that she tried so hard to hide as he reprimanded her back aboard the FIV Malice.

All the blonde's form brought was pain, embarrassment. But also a little flutter hope.

Then? None. So she took that twisted bit of comfort offered in the witch's caress. She broke the contact when she had had her fill, limbs like lead as she shifted on her haunches. "Rose hip oil and a pinch of baking soda," she said, dropping Veronika's gaze. Her voice was relatively flat, though it had gained back hints of her natural Dosuunian accent. For being a doctor, her natural skin care routine might seem somewhat strange. "You wouldn't believe the counterproductive agents they put in most artificial cosmetics."

~ † ~​

[member="Veronika Fleischer"] | [member="Marina DeVoe"]​

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Arrrrghhhh...." She struggled and struggled to pry the closed lift doors open. Doors that were not only hermetically sealed to the floor, but fire and blast proof.
Still...

"Arrrrghhhh...gasp...pant...pant... ARRRRGHHhhh...." She tried again, with all her might. Not even a squeak, nor creek did they budge...the doors just wouldn't open.

"Berkana... THUMP!" she gave it a frustrating kick... Not a heavy kick, for she still needed a three point contact to not slip and plunge 60-something levels down the shaft, no. But a final plea to her Creator and a futile kick of desperation.

-SWISH- ... the doors complied to her god's demand.
Really?
Marina was as surprised as anyone that Berkana had actually responded to her and on cue too.
Usually her Creator would test her to the brink of total exhaustion and hope, before. But this time, her god Berkana had -

"Gasp." Marina's heart drooped.
Her Creator didn't have a sarcastic voice...right?
Damn it... it weren't Berkana at all. She held her breath a moment.

"Pleas-..." She then were about to say.
But no, Marina curbed her tongue. She would not beg, nor plea to let her other friend go. Marina knew it were what her ex-bestie wanted her to do. And even if she did that...even if she got down on her knees to the delight of her sick twisted friend...Marina knew it may delight this Veronkia alter ego to actually hurt Aes'ona more. No, she had to stay calm, alert and not have her tip the scales again to trigger whatever mechanism it was that was driving her once beloved Mariya to become this-..this monster.

Marina slid herself around the open doors and onto the lavishly decorated main hallway.

One..

Two ticks of the clock passed, and no henchman or what not came for her.
Ok..so what was she supposed to do now?

Her eyes looked about down the hallway.
Obviously her destination were straight ahead.
Straight through the two massive glass doors...gold trimmed. Nice really...Hell the entire hallway was way too nice for someone turned evil like that...

Marina shook those thoughts aside. She had to keep her focus on getting to Aes'ona and not admire the decor... Although maybe she could lift some ideas and redecorate her own mountain palace-

Aes'ona...You're here for Aes'ona...Stay focused, Marina. Come on!... she urged herself, feeling for her clutch. Yes, it was around her shoulder and the hair be gone spray still in there.

Taking a deep breath with every other slow cautious step she too, Marina finally got to the glass doors.
They effortlessly parted aside without so much as a whisper.
Her olfactories picked up that rare and outrageously expensive perfume she suddenly recalled in the lady's room.
She followed her nose to the private chambers of where she finally saw her friend Aes'ona seated. She stopped there at the threshold, almost quivering as much as her friend seated frighteningly in the chair. Remnants of tears, still glimmered on Aes'ona's features in the brightness of the room. She could make out no marks, no cuts or bruises...just a frighted friend, seemingly frozen to her chair.

Marina summed up all the strength she could, to get her left foot to enter..then her right...and so on and so on as she neared them both.
What were she to say? How were she to plead to let their friend go. Mariya had once been their friend..their best friend. Why were she so hateful of them now?
Marina didn't know, nor could come to terms to understand. None of this could be the result of her borrowing Mariya's clothes without asking...

"Y- you Ok?" She asked Aes'ona. of course she wasn't OK. Hell, Marina wasn't OK either with all of this. Still, she gave Aes'ona a small nod, a heads up that she were here with her, if not for her. Her friend were not alone in this.
Could she run to Aes'ona and embrace her to want to whisk her away from this mad woman?... yes yes YES! But she knew she couldn't. Marina had experienced the wrath of their wayward friend and it hadn't been at all pleasant, nor anything that she could counteract. Not with violence anyway. Marina were incapable of it... so she believed.

"Why you doing this to us?" She finally had the courage to look into her once bestie, Mariya's eyes. Berkana (God) they were not the emeralds she once could get lost in. they were envy greens, like venom itself. Still, her eyes made contact with them nevertheless and bared it's poison.



[member="Prennis Keeoli"] / [member="Veronika Fleischer"]

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

"Really? I'm flabbergasted."

Her tone was dripping with a mix of surprise and sacarsm. The witch could hardly believe the claim from the doctor. Baking soda seemed to be an old wives' tale. The skin, in her opinion, would require more nourishing supplements like liquid vitamin C or retinol. Yet the doctor had no reason to lie, unless she was devious enough to suggest something that could convince the witch to use and cause a pimple outbreak.

"Fine, let's say I believe you..."

Veronika smiled again. No, she had no reason to believe the doctor's words. She was more interested in having some fun with the ladies who were kind enough to hang around tonight. Her fingers stroked [member="Prennis Keeoli"]'s chin again before gliding down, gently wrapping her digits around the neck.

"Too bad we have a visitor, darling. I would love to spend more time alone."

She smiles again, bathing the doctor with a hint of her perfume before straightening herself. Her gaze turned towards the door which was flung open by a breathless newcomer. Veronika rolled her eyes at the sight of [member="Marina DeVoe"], who came in with a wonderful outfit that became ill-treated from the climb.

"Tsk tsk. You are looking haggard again, even with a new outfit."

Veronika allowed her grip on Prennis' neck to tighten just a little as a precaution. She was splitting her attention between the two other ladies and preferred to retain some control over the doctor.

"If I recalled correctly, you are the one who disturbed me in the toilet first. Ran towards me like a madwoman. You could have asked me nicely if you really wanted a hug. Manners, darling."

She recounted the little incident in the washroom to shut the little chatterbox up.

"Then you supposedly died, which made your little friend here all upset and traumatised and made me wasted my energy trying to revive you. And now you are invading into private property."

Her eyes shone brighter with each statement, filling with intense annoyance. Veronika flicked her free hand and summoned a little spark of lightning to strike the ground in front of Marina.

"Grab a chair and sit down. I will not repeat myself. Do it now!"

Her tone hardened as she grabbed Prennis by the neck and lifted the doctor up with a single hand. Veronika was a fan of the Force Choke. There was something spectular about seeing someone struggling for air as the grip tightened around the neck. For now, she was satisfied to just keep the doctor dangling in the air and keeping her grip comfortable enough for Prennis to breathe.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

It couldn't be helped... Marina jumped. It were more of a startle really as she had not in a million years thought her wayward friend could shoot lighting out of her freakin fingertips. HER FINGER TIPS!!!
It were unfathomable! Mariya could do that? really?
Marina did all she could to keep from loosing incontinence.

Who was this woman?!
Not a few months ago, they would both have laid their life for the other.
Now?...
Now Marina were not only fearing for her life, but that of their friend aes'ona...Oh poor Aes'ona, her heart were crying out.

"Ok...ok..." Marina expressed herself with her hands, in a calming fashion to Mariya.
"I get it...I get it... I came at you...yes..." Of course marina wasn't getting it, but just saying that to apease Mariya as she went off in a kind of tantrum about her trying to hug her like she had done so many countless times.
"My fault...all of it...my fault.."
She took a few step to one of the chairs and...and dragged it across and over to where Aes'ona chair was.

Unfortunately, her distressed friend were off her feet.
"No...no no...please..don't..." Marina sat as instructed, nearing hysteria as she watched Aes'ona getting what she had gotten from Mariya not a few hours ago. marina could still remember the feeling of the force choke.

What really could have caused Mariya to become this...this monster?
And why were she hurting Aes'ons like so when she showed up. Was it all her fault? Marina couldn't recount as to what she could have possibly done for her friend to turn on her and now Aes'ona.
Wait...
Was it her teasing Mariya with her brother that sent her over the edge? But she were only playing...

Ok, maybe not.
Marina in her wildest dreams had an on going fantasy that Mariya and her brother would get married and then Mariya would become her sister...forever and ever..

Shiet...maybe that were it. maybe Mariya did or maybe she didn't like her brother, but didn't want to be teased about it.
Marina then despaired, letting out a 'gasp'...

"Ok...Ok..you're right...right about everything. I'm a horrid friend. I am sorry...
Really.... so sorry.
Can't you let Aes'ona go and...and just...sigh...just take it out on me." Yes, she hadn't realized it before, but she were just as close to Aes'ona as she were to Mariya. Ok, so she didn't know Aes'ona for long and had actually been quite jealous that Mariya had another bestie besides her...Oh how she had loved her bestie Mariya. It had only been natural for her to feel threatened at first by Aes'ona. The girl were a doctor for Palpy's sake. She on the other hand were just a Duke's daughter who had not stepped up to her role. No, she had wanted to explore..find her own way to the stars. She really didn't think she could have compared equally to a healer, like Aes'ona.

Now?
Now poor Aes'ona was suffering because of her doing...her teasing ..her taking Mariya's clothes...

"Mariya... I am sorry...
Let her go." She blurted out, tears flowing down her checks. Good lord she had the common sense in not using water based mascara, otherwise-
Whoa..what the frak was she thinking?
Oh the hell with the mascara, her mind blocked those thoughts. She and Aes'ona were in deep water here and on account of her most likely.

I...I'll return all your clothes...I'll...I'll stop teasing you about Jerrid...I'll do anything you want...just please...please let her go...
Please, Mariya.." She pleaded to her spiteful friend.

Good lord, was Mariya spiteful. This was a side she had never ever dreamed of in her worst nightmares as to what her friend were capable of doing.

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

"Good."

The witch nodded her head curtly when the intruder decided to take a seat on a chair as instructed. But [member="Marina DeVoe"] had to keep on blabbering about the witch's sister. Veronika was tired of hearing Marina speak in the sobbing voice and her patience was running thin. Whoever the crying woman was, there was obviously something wrong with her little mind. The woman was a prime example of a dumb blonde and there was no doubt about it.

"I didn't ask you to talk."

Veronika's voice was surprisingly soft, despite her anger. Her words were a whisper as she let go of [member="Prennis Keeoli"]'s precious little neck. The doctor would survive the little choking experience by dropping back into the chair.

"I didn't ask you to talk."

The witch muttered under her breath, repeating the same words while her attention was drawn towards the drama queen who happened to be thick in the skull as well. Veronika raised her hand and made a small gripping gesture in the air, enough to start choking Marina by the neck. Finally, the only noise that the woman could probably perform was a gasping of air.

"Shhh. Silence."

Veronika willed her mind to concentrate, summoning the invisible energies around her and forming a mental probe. She could read surface thoughts with easy effort, but Marina's fake death had previously proven that there was something different about her. The witch decided the best way was to act quickly without warning, letting her psychic touch reach out towards Marina's mind. She saw the usual blank slate of grey, then slowly colours started to form and dance around. The colourful dots connected, millions of them joining up quickly and she pulled herself in. Images fluttered across her eyes, most of them blurred out but she could make out a few images of a gritty looking space outback filled with all sorts of aliens. The witch forced herself to pour more of her efforts in. She needed the information quickly before she is blocked. The images began to make more sense to her when she spotted the princess hanging out with another taller woman. The two hung out in a space station. No, they were in a shooting range. Or was it snow covered peaks?

"Ugh..."

Her concentration faded, forcing her to stop. The previous life saving spell cast to save an alive Marina had definitely wasted her more than usual. The witch let go of her grip on the sobbing princess and took a seat on one of the remaining chairs. She stared at the two women who were still sitting around and rubbed her throbbing forehead.

"I have a good urge to strangle you again if you keep mixing me up with another person."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

She almost reached it before she were feeling that paralyzing grip on her throat again. Marina had sat, placing her small designer purse to her side, between the chair arm and her thigh. But somehow or other, it seems a force choke also creates a kind of paralyzing side effect, preventing a victim from drawing out a weapon, much less than firing one.
In Marina's case, the hair removal spray (Hair-be-Gone) she had tucked into her clutch was at this time useless. Matter of fact it would have been a pathetic effort anyway, if she would have drawn it out in an attempt to frighten her bestie into letting Aes'ona and her leave in peace.
But this was Marina, a pacifist and threatening to ruin Mariya's hair was in her mind the worst she could ever do to anyone.

So, now gasping for air...although this time it weren't as intense as it were the last time... Marina sat there like a distressed subject, choking.
Somehow or other, the other blonde weren't as hyped up or on some kind of drunken/drug induced state as she had been before in that dive of a bar. The witch seemed more in control of her actions. Perhaps it were because both her and Aes'ona were in her lair...a place the witch felt safe in. Whatever the reason, Marina was paralyzed nonetheless.
Marina was being held a little more cautiously, so as not to have her slip into that insane coma she did before.
Then again, last time the witch were caught off guard and was in a sense warding off an attacker. This time she seemed to hold her subject so that she could probe into their mind... see for herself as to why this dumb blonde would have the brass to pester her as such.

As the witch sifted through the gazillion neural strings of what had been flashed captured by Marina's memory cells, she too were recalling what was being peered at.
memories...
memories that only the person who has them could be strung together to form a complete memory were being diced and skipped and jumped all over the map by the intruder, the witch. The witch could only put together some snippets and feelings that the blonde had of what was apparently the very woman in the witche's own dreams and subconscious; her counterpart, the doppelganger sister that the witch had insights through the force or some other subconscious means of knowing.
And it were obvious that this one (Marina) in particular, as the witch had not yet explored Aes'ona's mind on that matter (had been too busy playing around and tormenting Aes'ona) had a deep attachment to Mariya. It were as strong as one could feel in through the force, the feelings Marina had for her friend. Her double could just as well be marina's own sister strong.
The shards of emotions and feelings that were flashing about in those broken memories indicated this blonde was as loyal as one could be to her friends..like family.

Marina slung back into her chair. The force choke had not been as intense to cause her to panic like before. It had only been to hold her still as the witch intruded into her subconscious...and to shut marina up of course.

It took a moment for Marina to be able to swallow normal again...another minute to piece together what the witch had probed her for and what she herself recalled. It were like when REM sleep supersedes normal sleep, hallucinations...paralyzing dream cycle. And those, like intense REM dreams before awakening are well remembered.

Marina was speechless.
Not because her throat still felt the remnant clutches of the woman's force choke, but of a revelation she had just experienced.

Yes, her mouth were open but nothing was emitting from it, no sound, no nothing.
Her eyes were fixed on the witch's, before they dropped..before she slumped herself even more so on the chair. She were at a lost.
Marina had felt the witch, had seen what the witch was seeing, for the witch was the third party in those memory recalls... this witch was an outsider looking with both confusion and interest at her bestie Mariya.
Marina was now just realizing that this was not Mariya at all seated next to them, but a clone of sort.

This meant that her bestie was... "Sigh.." ....her heart sunk an ever so low...
Her Mariya was dead?

"Who...who are you?
What are you really?" She finally asked, lifted her head. Obviously she had been tearing over this new revelation.

No, she weren't asking this clone or look-alike as to where her Mariya was. This doppelganger had been as curious and surprised in finding Mariya in her head. And the witch unknowingly revealed she were looking at Mariya for the first time, outside her own reflection.
Marina had experienced the witch within her memory and had looked past her eyes. This woman was not Mariya.
She were an entirely different person.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

For the first time in the past few minutes, Prennis really seemed present. As she was dropping back into her chair, she gripped the armrests almost immediately as not to slide back to the floor. She scooted backwards to sit up straight.

Marina, she's-- A witch? Not Mariya? Where to start? Too many revelations came to the practitioner's tongue at once, mingling there into nothing. Despite the sudden lack of words, she so badly wanted to answer her friend for the stand-in, but she feared the consequences all the more, so she remained silent.

Watching on instead.

~ † ~​

[member="Marina DeVoe"], [member="Veronika Fleischer"]​

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

Her headache was definitely not getting any better despite her rubbing of her temple, but at least it was not getting worse. The blonde planted herself onto an empty chair and stared at Marina DeVoe and Prennis Keeoli who were all looking at her for answers.

At the very least, they were probably looking for an answer to who is she.

"Who am I? I thought I am already famous enough on holonet. Perhaps you don't follow the fashion scene..."

The witch rolled her eyes and shook her head. Perhaps she should have another talk with the marketing team to get herself modelling in some of the autumn collection. That should help in her publicity. But that would be a thought for later. For now, Veronika casually picked up the datapad that was lying around somewhere and tossed it in front of Marina. The datapad displayed the cover page of the prestigious Holo Vogue magazine with her on the cover, accompanied by the words "The Rise of Veronika: Reimagine Chrisyakova".

"You are dressed in Chrisyakova, by the way. My grandfather designed that. Consider it a gift."

She made a gesture at Prennis' outfit which was a form fitting dress with flower print.

"So, any more questions, blabber mouth? Or the good doctor who tries to save lives?"

 

[Marina DeVoe]

It had taken a while. More time than most would have taken to figure it out. Denial, perhaps? She loved her bestie..enough to die for if it came to it. It had been denial. Now both Aes'ona and her had to come to terms with it. This was not Mariya. Mariya was still missing somewhere out there among the vastness of the stars...

The blonde finally had to submit...face reality... her current reality.
Aes'ona had figured it out already. This were no ordinary force user.

"Fine..." Marina put it all together finally. And no, Marina had never followed main stream galactic fashion to have come across her bestie's mug on a Coruscant LED billboard. Sure, she knew of the label Chrisyakova, Marina didn't live in a third world system or in the outbacks like the Outer Rim. But she had her own style and that was mix and match different lines. Except for the current dress she were wearing. She had picked it out from a local shop to get herself into the building...a disguise...and a rouse.
Well, it worked good enough to get past security personnel downstairs. Worked good enough to get to this doppelganger's floor, for her to find Aes'ona. Just didn't work at all with-

"....Veronika..." Marina finally uttered her name. It had all sunk in now. Her bestie Mariya would never have done what this Veronika had.
"...your name, right?."
And to think... Marina even had a few of Chrisyakova's labels back on Mt Cetril, for Berkana's sake. Oh, how she now loathed ever wearing anything remotely associated with this witch's designs. She made a mental note to burn them all...if ever she made it back home. Marina were feeling so dirty now wearing something of the witch's, even if it were of her grandfather. It was evident, she were fidgeting in her dress now that the witch pointed that out.

"Right, you are Veronika then..." She spoke with her head down, not looking up at the witch. There was definitely a lot of despair and defeat in Marina's voice. And why wouldn't there be? Marina had spent months trying to find her bestie, only to bump into a look a-like, a twin?.. Could this even remotely be Mariya's sister? How opposite their moral standings, she were thinking.

"I believe you.
My mistake..." She swallowed, remembering the tightness of her throat. One which the witch reminded of her.
"I've been searching for my Mariya." she quietly. "...which you can't hold a candle to her..." the latter of course she uttered even lower, as for it were not really meant to be heard. It were something Marina couldn't help but utter what she were thinking.

"Now could you let my friend go? If all this was because of a mistaken identity thing, then I'm sorry." Her eyes met that of their captor.
Nope, the witch wasn't moved. It weren't going to as easy as that. Marina had figured that, but she had to give it a shot nevertheless. never hurt to ask, right? Well, she hoped not. Still, if the witch had wanted to kill them like she did the bouncer in the lady's room, then why hadn't she?
The answer was in the witch's eyes. Only Marina couldn't read them, for she were looking into her Mariya's eyes. It couldn't be helped...she missed her friend greatly.

"You don't have to hurt Aes'ona. I'm the trouble maker." No, she couldn't loose Aes'ona either. Marina had come to rescue her and if it meant a trade, then so be it.
"I'll stay...willingly. Just let her go." She pleaded into those familiar orbs. maybe somewhere, somehow there was a bit of her bestie's heart there...

"Please..." Yes, she then realized she could die for her too. It were what friends would do for another...


Prennis Keeoli Mariya Fleischer

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

The good doctor who tries to save lives.

That's the only type of doctor she was - or had ever been. That's why she refused to carry the title one more step. She couldn't trust herself with it.

"Marina, please...be quiet..." Prennis begged of her friend as she continued her ramble. Please, please. Prennis had imagined her death at least dozens of times at the hands of her First Order supervisors, but never had she entertained the possibility of a random killer happening upon her. True, even during and especially after Dagobah Prennis had been a poor, scared woman, all too willing to victimize herself to her environment. By giving it almost-exclusive control over her life, she could just as easily get away scot-free as not.

All outcomes were either a beneficial or malignant coincidence.

But not now. When the flygirl offered her life (certainly, that was the implication) again for the professional's, the latter refused to go quiet into the night. If she left, she was sure she would never see Marina DeVoe again. Instead of saying anything, Prenn leaned over in her chair to touch Marina's arm. If she glanced over, an expression of bedside comfort would follow.