Private Obscured Sight And Fancy Dreams

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Naturally" he retorted with something of a smirk. It was easy to forget that the rest of the Galaxy was not wrapped up in the same brain he was, that it did not have access to the troves of knowledge afforded to him by Darth Empyrean and the various Archives of his past. That the Force was some unattainable, metaphysical entity which remained perpetually out of reach for most. And that even those who did delve into it were not quite so invested in its many facets as one such as he or his kind of Sorcerous counterparts.

When he was done with his all-too-basic explanation of the Force, she quipped back at him again. This time a chuckle rumbled free from him. Yes, well, if you'll forgive my saying, oversimplified is sort of the name of the game right now. Learn the building blocks before expanding upon them. It was like science class, you learned it one way only to find out the next year that you had to relearn it a new, but in more detail. The basics weren't a lie, not truly, they were just way too simplified to do the real thing any justice. Force and science converged on that.

Her question on the mindharp had him nodding his head some. In a way, yes. Her use of his own words thrown back at him was a welcome surprise, it was always nice to know that she was paying attention. Not that he'd ever gotten the feeling that she wasn't, of course. Even when things got a little confusing and hard to believe she was soaking it all in, and he appreciated her for that. Even if it meant she'd sat through her fair share of Arcturus ramblings.

But it was what he said on the cusp of leaving that really caught her interest. He had hoped it might, but part of him was worried she'd reject the idea outright. Set in her ways, stubborn perhaps, or maybe just afraid to know it was possible. But she was none of those things... She was receptive to it. Eager, even. If a little apprehensive.

He turned back to face her, and then approached her. With me, then, came his instructions, and he carefully led her up to the glass at the end of the room, beyond which a smattering of the jellyfish could be found. Once she was paused in place, he stepped around her and stood at her back, peering over her shoulder. In a way he was hoping to give her as natural a view as he could, as close to her seeing from her own perspective as humanly possible.

Then he brought his hands up, and touched his fingertips to either side of her head against her temples.

"Close your eyes, Tamiko" he whispered aloud, breaking his own rule about telepathic communication for the moment. What he was about to do required a lot of mental focus, after all. For his part he kept his eyes open, and once she'd done as he had bid he flowed the Force between them in a similar fashion to before, bridging that gap. Yet instead of words he pushed forth something all together more personal and intrinsic. For a moment it was hazy, like an old school television trying to focus in on a grainy picture brought forth by a faulty antenna. And then clarity began to set in.

Her minds eye would be filled with the sight of the tank and the jellyfish held within it. It was bright and brilliant and stretched on for the entirety of his perception, peripherals included. There was even the slightest reflection of the two of them in the glass, though Arcturus did his best to avoid focusing on that. No, he'd promised her the aquarium not his own visage, not her own. Just the majesty of the tank and its occupants.

And, well, he made sure to make good on that promise.

Tamiko Sabo​

 

[Tamiko Sabo]

His response cut through her coursing apprehension. Did she know what she was asking for? Was she seriously allowing a complete disruption of the way she'd grown to view life for nearly half a decade without any sign of serious deliberation? The force was a gateway to many nature-altering powers, of which projecting an image into someone's mind was considerably tame. But in that moment it felt like some monmentual step to understanding the design of the force. It's ability to correct damage. To replace, to rebuild.

Ultimately she wanted to topple the barriers surrounding her. It was that more than anything else that drove her to follow Arcturus.

Shadowing him across the room, the mass of jellyfish became an obvious presence weighing on the space. She hadn't known what to imagine at the description, her visual construct limited to whatever she could recall before her ailment. When she was still a young, uneducated kid with more than a skewed outlook on life.

Sensing Arcturus move, she subconsciously braced herself.

At first nothing, perpetual emptiness only undercut by the slightest hint of haze. Gradually that perception expanded, barely discernible for a moment before clarity focused the image until it enveloped her awareness entirely.

Her eyes shot open in disbelief, squinting in recoil a second later as she adjusted to the brightness. That did nothing to help of course, it wasn't her eyes she was seeing through. While her actual vision remained useless, she nonetheless scanned the space with all intention of seeing. She didn't immediately differentiate between the jellyfish, one giant mass of colors floating vapidly through the water. They held a tight grip on her attention, as more and more details surfaced. Bright expansive blue, occupied by translucent frills trailing behind umbrella-like forms in a memorizing fashion. Casting gently pulsating light on the two in a calm wash of movement. "It's gorgeous," An incredulous string of words loosened from her lips, spoken into the air out of fear of interrupting the connection.

Infatuated, the faint reflection of the pair went unnoticed for all of a few unspoken moments. It wasn't Arcturus intention to show her. She hadn't asked for it after all. But almost subconsciously she pushed towards the impression. Without questioning if she genuinely wished to see herself, to uncover the knowledge of what 7 years of unaccounted change would look like.

Unfocused as their appearances were, the glass still granted her plenty to grapple with. The apparent maturity lining her face, the newly won athelsitim of her figure wasn't lost on her. Too blurry to discern any details of note, she felt like she was looking out at a stranger. Attempting to draw up any recollection of what she'd looked like prior, the vulnerability of her thoughts was nearly forgotten. Vague images plucked from her childhood only gave her the idea of a naive and headstrong kid. Short hair, short stature, distant. Relatively unscarred with the exception of scraped knees and elbows originating from her own recklessness along with a myriad of bruises. All childish injuries won rough housing on the streets. Innocent and inconsequential compared to what now marred her face. Some twisted symbol of maturity. She hadn't looked like that in ages, hadn't felt that way for seemingly an eterinity longer.

A hand reached to brush against the aged scarring cut across her face. The one thing to rob her of her sight finally manifesting itself in ugly uncoordinated lines. There was no remorse present in her really, just a flurry of loss. Loss extending to her brother, to all things tying her to the only home she'd really ever known. Taken just as abruptly from her as her vision had been. It was an old wound to resurface however. Eased by time and acceptance it felt more so like some quiet reflection. Her pause was only momentary though as her attention flickered up towards the person behind her.

Arcturus.

Much younger than she pegged him to be, still with all the maturity of an adult. Though vital details were still obscured by the inherent lack of focus, that much she could gather. Someone shouldering responsibility from a young age. Probably still equally burdened.

"You look young." The silence was broken by the statement, a straightforward observation. Too young for how complicated your life seems.

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It was far more of an intimate moment than he'd been expecting.

The connection forged between the two of them afforded him brief snippets of her life as it came into the forefront of her mind, and though he did his best to respect her privacy and avoid focusing on any aspect of it small impressions drifted through all the same. A scraggly child at play with another, feelings of loss and surprise. He did not dwell on them, he made no judgements on them, he simply allowed them to wash over him like water off a pelikki's back.

She had described it all as gorgeous, and it was. It truly was. The varying hues of pink, red, blue, and purple which drifted through their visions, set within the almost green tones of the not-water, made for an almost psychedelic experience, and the languid fashion in which they bobbed around the tank was mesmerizing.

When the girl tried to focus in more on their reflection which was caught in the tank, Arcturus was initially resistant to the idea. But the more she tried for it, the more he turned his own sights to it. Still blurry and unfocused, as one would expect from a reflection in glass, but granting her a more central view all the same. He didn't say anything, verbally or otherwise, in fact it almost felt as though he was holding his breath.

And yet despite the more serious feel of the moment, when she thought of him, and spoke her words aloud, he could not help but fail at containing a light chuckle. He shook his head, trying to strengthen the connection which wavered after the fact, and then spoke quietly into the air.

"What, you thought I was some old man?" he inquired, still chuckling some. "I don't know whether to be offended..." Nah. No offense, that was obvious within their connection, just mirth. "You let me know when you're done," he added, voice barely more than a whisper though given the proximity of his face her ear that was probably not a bad thing. "There's no rush, though."

For his own part, Arcturus had remained dutiful in keeping his eyes upon the tank, as much as he'd been tempted to stare at her for a moment when she'd made her statement of age; this wasn't about him, after all.

Tamiko Sabo​

 

[Tamiko Sabo]

Her eyes flickered between the contents of the glass and the blurred reflection mirrored on its surface, soaking in every detail. Arcturus extended his patience, of which she almost selfishly took advantage of, consolidating a memory of the space. Everything washed in vivid colors, alluring and comforting. The swarm of jellyfish forming a refreshing bridge into her imagination.

The reflection materialized further with Arcturus' quiet acknowledgment, to which she responded with subconscious appreciation. She studied the pair of them briefly, fascinated by the change in herself. By how long she'd gone without solidifying that aspect of her identity. It was almost jarring to break that perception so abruptly, to experience so much change within an instant. The impression faltered as a laugh sounded from behind her.

In response she matched his amusement,"Just wasn't expecting some teenagar to be at the helm of the greater galaxy." Maybe not an accurate choice of words, he was definitely more of a young adult but still relatively young in the expanse of the universe."You can't be much older than me even." Exhaling a sharp laugh through her nose she continued, "Yet here you are commanding a small fleet of ships." The humor and slight exaggeration in her voice was evident. Some vagabond drifting through the universe on his own accord. How long had that been true before she'd met him? The independence and control he wielded, delegated or earned was uncanny. Something she admired to a degree.

Standing there a minute longer, she dipped her head, seceding from the connection on her own accord. No point in oversaturating the moment. With a small genuine smile she offered an appreciative look, and she was appreciative. "I see why you like this place."

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Had time flowed seamlessly around him, Arcturus could not help but wonder how old that would have made him. How old was he chronologically? Without his time in the Nether, without being trapped upon some wild timeless world? Quite frankly he did not know. There were no real records of his life before the Sith, and with how often the Empire fell there were likely none from then either. Meticulous as the Imperials were, when your Academies were razed there wasn't often much left in the aftermath.

Maliphant would have some idea, of course, he'd continued to age after all, but that man shrugged off the signs of ageing as though her were immortal. Hardly a good indicator.

"I have found," he explained, during talks of age, "That age rarely equates to expertise where the Force is concerned. I have met men and women who were bordering on senior who had only just learned of their sensitivity, and I have met mere children with so much potential that they draw upon bewildering techniques." He shrugged a loose shrug, and slowly began to fade back into his own self when she stepped back from their connection, content with all that she had seen.

"There is much I cannot claim to understand, but I do have my areas of knowledge and I can see how in discussing them I might come across as more than I am. In many ways your own maturity belies you too. It so often does for those of us who were given a rougher start in life. Forced to grow too quickly, to shoulder the burdens for ourselves. I'm sorry for all that you've had to experience, but you can breathe now. There's room for you to find yourself once more."

It was not so difficult to bear a burden when it was shared, after all.

He turned back toward the front of the room, where the door lay and the droid stood patiently beside, and set himself back in motion all at once.

"Come, I'm feeling a little peckish aren't you? Let's have a snack before you break in your new toys,"

If the protocol droid minded being referred to as such, he didn't say much in response.

Tamiko Sabo​

 

[Tamiko Sabo]

As he continued she blinked, a bit surprised by his openness. Usually she'd turn defensive at such an acknowledgement. Shake off the semblance of pity inherent in the words. But it was evident Arcturus spoke from a place of understanding, not superficial sympathy. She gave him a look of quiet mixed reflection, something behind her eyes uncertain, whispering you don't know me. Which was the truth, they may have eased into some familiarity their two weeks together, but there were still walls. Walls she intended to keep for the time being. She could catch herself slipping into a deeper sense of trust, as someone particularly good at being guarded and evasive, the notion sparked apprehension. Still he'd offered a pretty accurate summary of what her past had contested. He didn't need her to spell it out for him, he understood plenty well. No doubt familiar with life handing him the short end of the stick. Her eyes shifted for a moment, focused on the tank. Arcturus wasn't a stranger.

There's room for you to find yourself once more. Facing the mass of jellyfish she returned some vaguely thoughtful response, "You're right," with a loose shrug she glanced over,"It's a good feeling."

Some small burden lifted from her shoulder. Vulnerability easing.

Feeling him turn away, signaling the end of their session, she followed suit. With a relaxed shrug she found it easy to accept his invitation, "I'm always hungry." She exhaled a laugh at his mention of new toys, prompting her to look over at the droid with a feigned expression of guilt. "Bit impersonal no? I definitely need to think up a name."

Arcturus Dinn