Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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First Reply Sweet Dreams


"Follow your dreams, they know the way."

It was a day much like any other, except everything was brighter, cheerier, friendlier, as if to passively induce a sense of calmness. There was no reason to be alert, no reason to look behind one's shoulder, no reason to feel like one was being watched. It could have been just another dream, but it was not.

Suddenly, the calm was broken. An urgent request, an opportunity, a risk to a loved one. Its packaging mattered little nor did its content, all that mattered was that it was a reason to act.

A password here, a private thought there. It was oh-so-easy to slip up when you did not know you were being watched, when you did not know yourself to be surrounded by nought but layered lies.

Best of all, if everything went according to plan it would be remembered as little more than another fuzzy dream.

OOC: In case it wasn't sufficiently clear, the premise of this thread is your character's dreams being used to observe them; the why and the what is up in the air, it could be something a minor as observing people's behaviour in a carefully constructed environment or as major as attempting to steal vitally important state secrets.
 
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White padded walls covered in dried up blood and grime, faces behind a one-way mirror. A constant static rung through the cracked speakers accompanied by the mute mumbles of the observers beyond the confines of the cell. Eyna’s hands were covered in bandages, her feet as well. A deep fear pounded against her chest that only grew in intensity as she pushed out into the corridor that was set on fire, covered in glass and debris from the explosion that she had caused.

This was her awakening, and the moment had played over and over since Perl had helped out of it. Some nights she was spared, but for the most part they all ended up back in this place as if to fuel the hate that she already harbored.

This was the part where the cycle repeated. Iteration after iteration where Eyna fought her way to freedom parts of the route kept shuffling over and over again as if to teach her some sort of lesson she had no wish to learn.

She killed, she ran, and each time she thrust open the door to her salvation she was thrown back to the start all over again until she eventually grew so tired that she could not go on. Eyna had long since understood that this was part of how her father controlled her, but the machinations to make it stop was yet unknown to her. If she didn’t comply there was no waking, if she failed the course she was never granted the rest she needed, and if she remained successful she felt herself draw further from a source she did not want to draw from.

Under most circumstances she would have kept the balance between getting a restful night’s sleep and simply staying awake, but these were extraordinary days and she needed to remain at her best.

That meant rest, and rest meant willingly falling for her father’s machinations. Unbeknownst to her however, this time there was someone else alongside her efforts. A passenger on her trip down a quite literal corridor of memories.

A fellow sithspawn. Someone who just might have understood her strife.

Kal Kal
 
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Fear, anger, death. Her dreams - or rather, nightmares - flowed in predictable, almost chronic paths he was not comfortable altering overmuch without further information. He was, all things considered, an observer at heart.

Still, they could be pushed one way or another, its direction prodded to suit his fancy.

It started much like the others, but the walls seemed cleaner, the static overlaid with whispers of past and future. The pain and fear remained, but it was slightly muted as if something was hesitant to allow it, yet unsure exactly how to help. In all likelihood, the urge to escape remained, as did the obstacles in her path.

She was an odd one, this Eyna. Altered somehow, unless he was mistaken, but the details were beyond him - perhaps this little venture into her dreamscape would prove enlightening.

 
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The metal door swung open, the vertigo of her fall muted as she staggered into her cell again. Ragged breaths echoed around the room as she took in her surroundings and got her bearings once more. This time the room was clean. While nothing major, it was still something new. Her eyes scanned the room for anything else that seemed to be out of the ordinary and found nothing. Her ears listened to the speakers and found… Something? It was hard to hear, the voices were too quiet.

So what was the message this time? Cleanliness? Her hands tightened, balled up into fists as she slowly marched out of the room only to be met by an equally pristine hallway. Where there was debris and collapsed hallways there was now a monotonous, sterile white corridor of doors that seemed to lead nowhere. For each that she passed and failed to open she felt her nerves tangle.

A vision of her father appeared.

“Daughter. Listen to me.” He seemed almost worried. “Someone else is—”

A guttural growl of pure rage and hatred rumbled from her throat as she threw herself at the man to grasp at his neck to try and snap it in half.

“Insolent lit— Listen!” The man tried to speak before he too roared and threw her into the wall. A dull pain briefly throbbed against her back before she entered a free fall, still locked inside the momentum of her father’s throw. The world began to shift and change yet again until eventually she was spit out back in her cell again and things were back to normal.

The girl impacted against the floor with a roll. Her forearms pushed her off the ground as she gasped for air. This sensation was new, this whole situation was new. The fear in her chest began to get the better of her as she glanced at the charred floor beneath her.

“I will kill you, father.” She sobbed and rose with a groan. “I will end this game of yours and then I will watch you bleed.”
 
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There was another. That explained more than a few things, though it raised as many questions as it settled.

The other's resistance was met not by open defiance, but by insidious infiltration; a little change here, a minor detail there. Lies and misdirection, far closer to his forte than direct conflict. It did not hurt that the mind's owner seemed to resist the other without any encouragement - unsurprising given the role he played in her restless nights.

<He's a bit difficult, isn't he?>

Leaning against the wall of her cell was a shadowy copy of her own body, identical but for the lack of colour - and the pinpricks of bright white light that served as its eyes. Very different from anything pulled from her memories, certainly.

Not his usual approach, but this was an inherently unusual situation - never before had he met another outsider in the dreams of a stranger, let alone an outsider that seemed to have made itself at home.

 
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As the soles of her feet pressed against the ground again and clarity came back to her it was hard not to notice the shadow copy of herself. Was this another damned test of his? Her teeth gritted, fists tightened in wait for the attack this creature, this thing would strike her when she didn’t expect it.

“What sick game is it this time?” She growled at Kal. “Do you think I am afraid of killing myself, father?”

She practically seethed as she looked at the shadow.
 
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A mirror in appearance, but not in action, her shadowy clone remained unmoving even as Eyna readied herself for a seemingly inevitable confrontation. If anything, it seemed mildly amused.

"I'm afraid daddy dearest is otherwise occupied, at least for the moment."

These dreams of her were naturally confusing, shifting, it did not take much to make them more maze-like yet, nor to scatter other doppelgangers about, each engaging in their own escape attempt, each doomed to inevitably fail. There was little doubt in his mind that the other would eventually see through it, but it should hold for a while.

"This is your normal, huh? Nights filled with endless struggle? How unfortunate."

 
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Unfortunate? Try enraging. Eyna pushed herself against the shadow to press it against the wall with her forearm. For each second that passed she bared more and more of her teeth until she looked positively feral. This thing was her father’s creation and it was there to toy with her, that much she was certain of.

“You already know this is my normal so don’t even try.” She growled yet again. “Tell me what you are, tell me where he is!”

She bashed the shadow against the wall, if she could. “Now!”
 
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There was nothing preventing Eyna from slamming her shadow into the wall, though the sarcastic 'ouch' it uttered made it clear that the act did little more than inconvenience it, if that. It was not easy to hurt someone in a dream - even a trespasser - unless you knew what you were doing. It was clear as day that she had no such training.

Few mortals did, it was hardly as common a threat as conventional telepathy.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm your own subconscious?" If she answered in the affirmative, he would take that as proof that she was a far denser than he had initially assumed - or a lot craftier than he had given her credit for.

As for the more urgent inquiry, Kal snapped his fingers, walls folding outwards in a vertigo-inducing manner until they briefly beheld another Eyna, in another corridor, being examined by her father, or perhaps a mere mirage of the man. Even Kal could not be sure, the other might well be playing the same game as him.

His irate look made him seem genuine, at least.

As quickly as it had begun, it was over. "Swatting shadows, for the moment. Are your dreams usually this crowded?"
 
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“No.” She hissed in response to the question. Her forearm remained and pushed against the shadow’s chest until she backed off out of instinct as the walls began to quite literally unfold. She backed off, she glanced around as she tried to get a grip on her sense of being until finally the dizziness subsided and she found herself staring down an infinite row of hallways and infinite cells, all shaped in the exact same manner with a few key differences.

Test she had already run.

Her eyes opened wide at the sight and her balance failed her. She landed on her behind, shoulders sinking and rising in increasing fear as she glanced down at her father trying to locate her like a shadow sifting from one run to the other.

For a moment she had a reprieve.

“Who… Are you?” She asked and glanced up at… Herself? Something else? “Are— Are you really not his creation? How do I know I can trust you?”

And then, in the brief peace, a slight measure of brightness flashed across the hollow sky. Warmth. A third observer that whispered of security even if it was just fleeting.

“What do you want?”
 
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Her shadow's mouth opened as if to reply, only to clamp shut as the brief sensation of yet another presence made itself known. "Is this your mind or a thrice-cursed crossroads?" The words seemed annoyed, but his mannerisms seemed more intrigued than anything else. This was new, very new - he had never encountered anything like her.

"As for me, you may consider me a... well-meaning observer. Best not to get specific, given the circumstances." A brief glance towards the wall hopefully spoke volumes - he was antagonising an unknown entity whose influence was uncertain; best not make himself too identifiable. "Trust? Trust that I am better than the alternative."

Not a very high bar, given what he'd seen.

"I have a vested interest in seeing how this plays out. If that means helping you confound that rather rude man, if only for a night, I certainly don't mind." His behaviour so far had been decidedly offputting and Kal was not entirely spiteless.
 
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“My father destroyed my mind when he created me.” Eyna groaned yet again as she dragged a tired hand across her face. “For a while it was just him, until one day I felt another presence. Today, you are part of this whole sick experiment and I don’t even know what to make of that.”

She began to sit down, lean back against the floor as she stared into the abyss.

“This scene is my escape from his grasp played over and over again. For the first attempt, the real one, I was rescued by another—” The name ‘Yula Perl’ began to echo around them. “But in my dreams I have to struggle until I earn my freedom.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have been as open as she was, but this creature was already in her mind and could most likely gather this much from just a few glances anyway. As she mentioned her own freedom, more words that had previously been unintelligible began to echo louder and louder.

Power. Victory. Freedom. All parts of a mantra that had been imprinted in her mind at a very young age.

“Some days… I don’t even bother. I sit for weeks until he grows bored and lets me go.”

“... Other nights, I just fail on purpose to spite him.”
 
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Listening to her story with fascination, more than a few pieces of the puzzle clicked together.

Drastic mental (and potentially physical) manipulation could certainly give one the in needed to influence an individual in ways that would normally be unfeasible. In time, her mind may even be conditioned to accept the outside force without struggle - if it wasn't already. Very, very interesting, but also comparably distasteful.

Kal's relationship with mind control was complicated, but he would certainly not endorse this.

"I see. Is he trying to break you down or reshape you into... some sort of Sith?" Some variation on the latter seemed more likely, but it would be foolish to underestimate the depths of spite. Around them, the room briefly flickered aggressively, shifting its location within the mental maze Kal had jury-rigged. All the better to keep the other at bay.

"How long have you suffered this condition?"
 
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Kal Kal

“He is.” Eyna added with an exasperated sigh. Even in her dreams it seemed that she was tired. “At least for a while he did. I ran the circuits, I eliminated the targets he pointed me at. But then, one day, I snapped. I don’t know why or how but I woke up.”

“I have… Fragmented memories of that time.” The girl said and closed her eyes. “He kept trying to wipe my memories clear but they all returned with time. All the lives, the failures. Especially the failures.”

“I’ve never really known any other reality than this. Every night that I try to sleep, he sits at the ready to push me. Even amongst trained Jedi, I have to fear something so basic as getting a night’s sleep.” Yet as she tried to sleep within her dream she found nothing but a restless peace of mind. “We were experiments, my brother and I. Except I failed where my brother succeeded.”

“Now I’m starting to think he does it simply because he can. The man doesn’t have a shred of remorse within his shriveled up husk of a conscience.”
 
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Even amongst the Jedi, she was vulnerable. It was an open question whether they were simply unable to protect from such threats, having focused too much of their efforts on the very tangible Sith, or whether his influence was too deeply ingrained for them to interfere. Hells, he could not even be sure that her 'father' was truly present.

A solid imprint could do just as much damage as the real deal, under the right circumstances.

"I see. I can't say I'm surprised by the Jedi's inability to help - they are not particularly well known for delving into the inner workings of the minds of others." Neither was your average Sith, truth be told; the sculpting of minds was a rare art.

"Can I assume you've tried - presumably in vain - to strike back?"

If it truly had an external source, that might well be the only way to end it. Permanently.
 
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There was a brief moment of silence before Eyna gave her answer.

“I have.” She said and shifted on the ground as she continued to stare into the welcoming abyss. “But he usually never has this much of a presence, it’s usually felt but not seen.”

She scoffed with a chuckle. “Which means you must have scared him by intruding.” Eyna slowly rolled over to her side to look at the shadow again. “Won’t lie. Kind of jealous of that one.”

She pushed on the ground to stand up yet again.

“My father is a man of control and calculated precision. If something can go wrong, he has a plan for it.” Once more a dark chuckle rumbled in her throat. “I suppose he hadn’t considered that someone else might be interested in playing with his prize toy.”

“Why are you here, exactly?” Eyna finally asked as she stepped up to the shadow. “What do you seek to gain from all of this?”
 
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"What can I say, when it comes to intruding I'm a natural." Even that was the understatement of the century if some of the people he had interacted with were asked; only an invisible, bodiless spirit could hope to get away with his special blend of casual disregard for privacy and excessive curiosity. Kal himself found his behaviour quite acceptable, of course.

It was not as if human birdwatchers asked permission from the subject of their fascination. Same difference.

"I seek understanding if you can believe it - I find that few forums are better than dreams when it comes to observing the behaviours and beliefs of mortals. Everything is so raw and unedited." As an added benefit, he could safely interact with all but the most lucid of dreamers without them thinking much of it afterwards.

'Just a dream' was such an easy stance to take. Hell, it was the right one, more often than not.

 
Kal Kal

Who would intrude on minds? Eyna ran the list and came up awfully empty-handed. Her father was a clear member on said list, but beyond that… Nothing. Yet this shadow did not reek of him. Didn’t have that smell or presence in the force. He had spent her entire lifetime to build her up. Why would he suddenly tear at the seams?

No, this was… Something. The presence was too vivid to be a someone.

“Well, I don’t think you can get it much more raw, or ‘unedited’ than this.” Eyna shrugged. “So you just… Browse? That’s it? Just like to watch like some sort of voyeur of dreams?”
 
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"You make it sound so dirty."

Tapping his incorporeal chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness, the Shadow seemed more amused than offended. "I would rather compare it to anthropological - or zoological - observation! Think of me as a scholar in a lab coat, or a safari hat, or both. Just with less peer review, due to a no doubt temporary lack of interested colleagues."

Unfortunately, his Associates rarely invested much attention in such matters. Yet.
 
“I mean, you just admitted you like to study people in their most intimate moments — when they sleep.” Eyna responded dryly with an amused grin. “Wouldn’t you say that is at least a little bit more voyeuristic than a scholarly interest?”

“But… That doesn’t matter.” She said and stood up. “You are here, you are most likely somewhere near my unconscious body. At the very least on the same planet I’d wager. Coruscant is a big place… A lot of different sleepers.”

“But I am not just any sort of potential sleeper, am I?” She raised her brow. “Out of all the signatures you could have picked, you wanted to pick something that wouldn’t take notice of you, or at least not someone lucid enough to understand that you have access to the Jedi temple somehow.”

“I mean, I admire it more than anything.” She said and crossed her arms with another amused smirk. “Kind of ballsy actually.”
 

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