Musings on Chaos

[Grace Darkson]

Cairyn had the thing's attention, at least for now. The beast looked between Cairyn and Daryl's mangled body, sniffing the air in either direction before slowly lumbering towards the teenager. It seemed that it would rather eat the still living Force user than the dying man whose only accomplishment had been writing a rather good thesis on the Effect of Dark Side Corruption and Exposure to Sith Artifacts on the Body and Mind. Good paper, really, although she disagreed with part of the man's premise. The Dark Side's dangerous and harmful potential was far outweighed by the power it offered. A power she intended to gain and keep. But that didn't matter now. A few more steps and the thing would be atop Cairyn.

Grace ran, her legs moving at speeds that shouldn't be possible for a normal person. Smiling, she dropped the rifle, drawing the saber to her hand. It sliced up as the passed the pillar, cleaving the stone and causing the whole cavern to shudder. She never stopped, kicking off the wall and turning to assess the situation in the room.

Mara held what looked like a concussion grenade in her hand, and was running up behind the creature. If she could get it into the thing's mouth, they could knock it out. But there was no way Mara could get close enough to do it. Cairyn was on his own, and she didn't have time to save him. She had to get him out of there.

[member="Cairyn Midore"]

 

[Cairyn Midore]

With the beast staring him down, advancing towards him, Cairyn waited but a moment more to steady himself. Then, with a telekinetic pull that'd leave him drained if not for the adrenaline pumping in his veins, he launched Daryl's form at the creature. He didn't stick around in one place long enough to see if the creature actually took the gift practically hand fed to it. Instead, he burst into a flurry of motion, running at the beast just as soon as he let physics run its course with Daryl. He propelled himself into the air, the Force guiding his limbs as they made contact with the beast, advising when to duck and when to hold on for dear life as he slowly but surely climbed up its person and on to its back. It was a difficult feat, the boy nearly losing his group and plummetting to what was almost assured destruction multiple times.

It wasn't until he was on top of the beast that he took a look at his surroundings. Catching only a glimpse of Chase among the destruction of pillars, only able to guess what she was doing, his eyes widened to almost comical sizes. The goal was to tame the creature, not kill them! Did she really think the Terentatek was so strong or had she forgotten their mission? Regardless, he tried speaking to the creature again.

"Hey, honey, I know we spooked you but I need you to calm down, okay?" He stopped, holding on for dear life as he noticed his balance starting to waver. "I need you to work with me here!" If the beast could hear him, it did not heed his pleas.

[member="Lady Psyona"]​

 

[Grace Darkson]

Whatever crossed the beast's mind as Cairyn spoke vanished within seconds as it lunged, massive claws swinging out to grab the boy, until Daryl's corpse slammed into the things face. Recoiling, the thing staggered a step back, confused. How Daryl had lept through the wall was beyond its comprehention. Clearly, this was a threat, and the beast turned, looking at the corpse and snorting loudly. It sniffed for a breif moment as Mara closed the gap. The woman managed to get close enough to throw before the thing saw her and roared, the thunderous noise echoing off the cavern walls and causing the woman to pause, only to catch the beast's claws and fly headfirst into the far wall.

Psyona noticed two things then: the woman had armed the detonator, and that she was carrying more. Kark.

Two seconds. She raced for Cairyn, the renewed burst of speed carying her across the expance in heartbeats. One second. She cleared the beast, shoving Cairyn so that the creature would stand between him and the blast. As the explosion rocked the cavern, she felt her feet leave the ground, the telekinitic blast sending her backwards, through the hole in the wall. She rolled, painfully. Each breath hurt to breathe.Part of her wondered if the cavern had collapsed. She couldn't tell. All she could do was roll onto her back and breathe.

[member="Cairyn Midore"]

 

[Cairyn Midore]

Things weren't going as planned, the poor beast just wasn't listening to his pleas. He struggled to maintain a grip on such a creature, having more than a couple close calls as it thrashed about. He had no idea of where the others were, having completely forgotten about the fourth member of their party. Suddenly, something hit him, knocking him even more off balance but also exposing the Terentatek to more danger.

As the explosion shook the area, Cairyn, at last, lost his grip entirely. By sheer luck or by the will of the force, his fall was relatively undamaging. He toppled to the floor, form rolling to a halt, narrowly avoiding being crushed. If he hit his head or anything else to cause problems later on, he couldn't tell. Everything hurt in a dull roar, the pain starting once again to build up in his hands. Once he did stop rolling, he didn't get up, laying amongst the ruins, his face hidden by hair and the ground itself.

[member="Lady Psyona"]​

 

[Grace Darkson]

Pain, fresh and painful, tore through Grace with every breath. Broken rib. Had to be. Slowly, gently, she reached for the medpac on her belt. Shaking hands wrapped around the casing. Tearing it open, she searched for the bacta. Had to be there. Had to be. She couldn't die here. So much more for her to do...

There! The raw bacta cylinder was cold to the touch. Slowly, she dragged her arms into sight, trying to get the life-giving substance to her without causing more damage. A cough tore through her, each rasp a new wave of torment. The vial fell, landing on her stomach. She had to reach it, had to get it to her damaged chest. It was painful the whole way.

As the bacta did its work, the Sith rolled her head to one side. Cairyn lay face down, probably unconscious. She'd check on him when she could. For now, she simply lay there. She'd have time.

[member="Cairyn Midore"]​