Private The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

[Ishani Dinn]

Tribunal Station

Crossing the bedroom of their apartment, Ishani whispered, “Arc, wake up.” She kept her volume low for the sake of the children slumbering in the next room over. It was quite early in the morning, around four o’clock. “Arc… come on…”

Arcturus wasn’t easily roused by noises. The man could sleep through an air raid and wake up well-rested. She used to sing to him in the mornings before he awoke, and he wouldn’t even stir.

Touching him, on the other hand, was different. Fumbling a little in the dark, Ishani reached out and gently shook his shoulder, then with a little more force. “Wake up, babe. Something very strange just happened to me, and I need to tell you all about it…”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ever since he'd been afforded comfort, Arcturus had slept like a baby. Or maybe it was because Ishani was here again... Either way, he slept. A deep and dreamless sleep which transcended his senses.​

​

As such when he was shaken back to existence he awoke with a start.​

​

"Huh?"​

​

He blinked and tried to focus on the woman who was hovering over him. "Ishani..?" Another slow blink, as the sleep faded. He yawned. "Chaos, what time is it? What's wrong?"​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“It’s four AM,” she replied, her tone urgent. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk. I took Neppy with me, and I figured I’d go to the gardens, let him hunt for a little while…”

Her owl familiar had ridden perched on her shoulder, and upon reaching the gardens he had immediately taken flight. She spun around slowly, watching him fly through shafts of pale artificial moonlight in search of prey, until her gaze fell upon the entrance behind her. A figure was standing in the doorway. The sight of him startled her, for she hadn’t sensed him approach. She gave a little gasp and froze in place, no longer focused on her owl.

For a moment the man also stood very still, as though he too had been startled. How silly, she thought to herself. We frightened each other. But then he started to walk toward her, slowly and cautiously, with his hands tucked into his pockets. She instinctively took a step back, but otherwise held her ground as he drew near.

“Excuse me,” he said. His voice was weak and raspy, as though he’d been a lifelong chainsmoker. “Are you Ishani Sibwarra?”

“Yes, that’s my name,” she replied. “Can I help you?”

“A friend said I should come and see you. I’ve got a very sick girl. She’s dying.”

She blinked. “Then you should take her to a doctor, or a hospital.”

“She’s already been to dozens of doctors and hospitals. None of them can help her.” Looking around, the man leaned in close, dropping to a whisper. “She’s sick with Sith alchemy, you see. It’s in her cells, in her DNA. It’s changing her into a tree. Her skin’s grown hard, like bark, and her legs are fused together, like a trunk. Her feet are like roots, and her arms as stiff as branches. It’s killing her.”

“I…” Ishani started to protest again, about to say that there was nothing she could do, but something stopped her. She was an alchemist, and she had some knowledge of plants and botany. What’s more, the man happened to arrive while Arcturus was here—two alchemist minds were better than one. No, she couldn’t claim there was no chance she could help. “Where, uh, where is she?” she asked instead. “Can she be moved?”

“I brought her on my ship,” the man replied. “She gets around with a hoverchair, or I carry her any places the chair can’t go.”

“Well, um…” There was one more moment’s hesitation before she took the plunge. “Let me tell my—tell my partner about it, and then if it’s all right with him, I’ll let you bring her to our place. Then we'll see what we can do.”

“Thank you,” the man said, his tone breathy with relief. “Here’s my contact info. Tell me as soon as you can, please.”

“... and then he just stood there, waiting for me to leave,” Ishani said, finished with the story. “I walked straight home after that, and woke you up. So—am I crazy for not saying no to a stranger who approached me asking for help saving a dying tree girl at four in the morning?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Arcturus stared at her.​

​

"And you're... sure this wasn't a dream?"​

​

Shifting himself in the bed, he forced himself to sit upright as he replayed the story over in his mind. A girl, sick, messed up with Alchemy, and turning into a tree? Was that the right of it?​

​

Chaos...​

​

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure, bring her here... Just, um. Make sure they're quiet. The twins, I -- they don't need to be privy to alchemy, Ish."​

​

He swung his legs over the side, rubbed the residual sleep from his eyes, and pulled back the covers. With just pajama pants on, his scars reflected in the pale light of the room. With a wave he set the overhead light into action, wincing slightly at how blinding it seemed in comparison, then hobbled over to the armoire to fetch a shirt from within.​

​

Drew it on over his head, not a button-up for once, something a little more casual given his sleepy state.​

​

"I'm gonna brew some caf. You wa--" No, no she didn't want caf. "Hot cocoa? If you contact him, ask him if he wants a hot drink. This... Could be a long one."​

​

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"And you're... sure this wasn't a dream?"

"No. I mean, yes, it wasn't a dream." Or was it no, it wasn't a dream? She hated when people phrased questions like that, the wording was confusing. "Is that a 'yeah, don't you know by now that you're nuts, Ish'?"

But Arc was already moving, stumbling out of bed and getting dressed. She watched him. He'd gone full casual ever since they got to Tribunal Station, was even growing a bit of a beard—though she didn't know how long that was going to last. Eloise hated the scratchy stubble and hadn't hesitated to tell him so.

"Wha—if we help this girl, is that really alchemy?" She waved her arms in the dark. "Or, uh, it isn't Dark Side corruption, at least." She assumed so, anyway. Then again, she had no clue how they were going to help. "If you're that nervous, maybe we shouldn't do it here at all. Where else could we go—your ship, maybe?" But then they couldn't leave the twins by themselves at the apartment, feth...

"No thanks," she answered his question about caf or hot chocolate. "I'm already wired as hell." She picked up her datapad and started to contact the man from the garden.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Huh?"​

​

Her question didn't make sense, he peered over his shoulder at her. "You're not nuts" he stated firmly, as he curled his toes and sighed - reaching for some socks to cover his feet with. "I don't know. Technically it has to be alchemy, right? We're going to have to alter her to stop this... tree process. Fight alchemy with alchemy. Not much more we can do beyond that. They could seek out some of the Jedi on the Station but they'd likely just wind up killing her, using Light or whatever it is they do to cleanse corruption."​

​

He wrinkled his nose at that, and shook his head.​

​

It didn't matter. They'd do what they could.​

​

"There's nowhere else" he stated plainly, "I won't take this to somewhere else in the Station and risk you and the kids being kicked out. Nor will I leave the kids here. So... Unless you know a sitter, this is how it's going to be."​

​

He supposed he could have roused Tamiko Sabo but the fact that she was temporarily stuck here with them at all was already enough of an inconvenience without being woken at 4am to watch two kids.​

​

Nope. They'd do it here.​

​

"Just, keep an ear out for the kids." Then he left the bedroom, stepping out into the main living space and approaching the caf maker. He didn't actually even really like caf but until he made some sort of sand that heightened senses and removed sleepiness from a person this was what he had to work with.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"You're not nuts."

“I am too, and don’t you try to tell me differently.” Why she had bothered to ask him in the first place then was a patented Ishani Mystery™.

Arc made a good point about using alchemy to fix alchemy. She’d have to ask the gentleman whether he had tried to take the girl to the Jedi and ask for their help, and how that had gone.

“I don’t know anybody here, sugar.” She sighed, then realized she’d begun to pace the floor. She really was wired. “A sitter at four AM would be hard to find anyway, and nanny droids have their limits.”

Having sent her message and received a reply, she followed Arc into the kitchen. “They’re on their way here,” she said. “...I thought you didn’t like caf. I could get you some Infinity?”

If he agreed to her offer, she’d head back into the bedroom and return with a small vial of Infinity for him. He might not have wake-up sand, but she did have wake-up perfume.

At some point she got antsy and drifted over to the door, peering out the window. As soon as she spotted someone coming, she opened it and let them in rather than give them a chance to knock. Once they were inside, she looked around to make sure nobody else was watching, then hurriedly shut the shades and turned on the light.

The man she had met in the garden stood before her. He was a rather bland, middle-aged fellow with a forgettable face and nondescript clothing. Accompanying him was someone in a hoverchair—the girl.

Ishani didn’t know what she was expecting, given the man’s description of her state, but she definitely didn’t look good. The tree-turning had begun in her extremities, probably starting with her feet, seeing as her legs were the worst area. Her arms were well on their way to becoming branchlike, and her skin had rough patches where it was hardening. All the same, she could still recognize that this was a human being. A girl, either in her late teens or early twenties, with light brown hair and blue eyes. She couldn’t walk, couldn’t bend her arms anymore, and breathing was clearly difficult for her, but there was a person in there, still alive. Gradually becoming trapped inside her own body.

Trying not to stare, Ishani ushered them into the living room, the furthest room from the kids. “Uh, hello,” she greeted. “We’re going to have to be quiet, since there are people sleeping. I don’t think I caught your names…”

“Her name is Claudia Aylmer,” the man said, pointing to the girl. “I’m Vir Marin.”

“And what’s your relation to her? How do you know each other?”

“She’s… a friend.” Vir hesitated. “Are you going to charge us for this? How much?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Arcturus had already begun the process of brewing the caf, and the idea of having something warm on hand was comforting, so when she suggested Infinity he just shook his head a little. "He might want some, anyway" he mumbled, "I can deal with the bad taste for one night."​

​

Ishani was restless. Arcturus felt that way too, only he didn't pace. He brought his dagger into his hand and span it this way and that between his fingertips, still sleepy eyes fixed on a spot on the wall. Then, when the machine was done prepping the caf, he traded dagger for mug and clung to it for dear life.​

​

He could sense their approach even before Ishani spotted them and opened the door for them. He took another sip of the caf', then walked toward the lounge. Waited.​

​

Introductions were made, and he listened to their names and their relation. Said nothing initially, at least until talks of price came up. It wasn't even something he'd thought about.​

​

Do we? he inquired of Ishani, it feels weird, like we're profiting off their misery... He blinked, and looked over at the girl and her strange state. Without a verbal word he moved closer to her hoverchair, and began to inspect. Visibly, through the Force, there was no facet unturned. He even made use of some of Celeste Demici 's teachings and focused in on her blood.​

​

Someone had meddled with her, that much was clear even without looking at her.​

​

"Who did this?" he inquired, for now ignoring the question of price. "I'm going to need a blood sample to start, is that okay with you?" He looked at the girl, not the man, as he asked, and lifted a hand to gently settle his fingertips against her right temple. If she couldn't speak, then he'd bridge the gap between them through the Force and seek answers from her mind.​

​

This was her body, after all.​

​

I'll consider the sample payment on my end, he decided all at once, speaking to Ishani and not the girl before him Unless you actually wanted something from this.​

​

Blood to study. To further his own experimentations. It would be helpful in understanding how other alchemists out there worked, and might assist them should they come across something like this in the future.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Arc’s “voice” in her head prompted Ish to look toward him. <I don’t think they have much to give anyway,> she replied telepathically.

"Who did this?"

“A Sith Lord named Messala,” Vir answered. “Her grandfather.”

“Was she born this way?” Ish asked.

“No. Or at least, it didn’t start to manifest itself until she hit puberty.”

Arc asked for a blood sample. Vir shrugged. “If you can find a soft spot with a vein.”

She did have a few fleshy parts left, including one in the inside of her right elbow. On the other hand, whatever was in her veins was too thick to be drawn through the needle. Ishani squinted at it. Her “blood” was amber in color, like tree sap. Feth, was it tree sap?

Were they going to have to tap her like they were harvesting syrup?

“Yoda on a speeder bike,” she murmured the curse under her breath. “How is she even still alive…” Glancing up at Vir, she remembered the question she had meant to ask earlier. “Did you ever take her to the Jedi, or any other Force User?”

“Yes. They tried to purify her. It didn’t work.”

Claudia was surprisingly responsive to Arc’s attempt at forging a mental connection—which is to say she immediately tried to fight him off. <What do you think you’re doing? Get out of my head!>

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Leaving Ishani to discuss matters with the man, Arcturus' attention became solely fixated upon the wooden woman.​

​

He tried to draw the blood from her in a standard manner, and when that didn't work he begrudgingly sighed through his nose and drew upon the Force; he felt the thrum of life as it traveled through her, thick and sap-like as it might have been, and grasped at it carefully. Gently. He eased some of it from the incision formed by the needle, and drew it into the syringe by his own hand. No easy feat, but it worked where regular methods would not.​

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A thin sheen of sweat formed on his brow in response, and he could only hope that Ishani did not notice precisely what he had done to get the sample he required.​

​

The girl's mental outburst was not unexpected, though it did serve to bridge that gap for him.​

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Forgive me he replied, his eyes meeting hers, But I'd rather speak to you than to someone who would speak for you instead. This is your body, Miss, and just because you cannot move it does not mean you don't retain autonomy. Please, I'm just trying to help. Work with me, and this will be a smoother process...​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani assumed he’d just used telekinesis like a normal person.

Definitely not… blood magic.

(Hiss.)

Claudia ceased her mental beatdown of Arc as he revealed his motives. <Oh. Well, why didn’t you just say so?>

Ishani continued to converse with Vir. “What can you tell me about Messala?”

“He was a Sith Lord. He had immense interest in alchemy, but he wasn’t very good at it. From what I know, he mainly leeched off the achievements of others. He was a member of something called the Primyn Group—they were part of the old Sith Empire. A group of alchemists who shared their discoveries with each other, and no one else.”

“And did he, uh… do this to anyone else?”

“To all his children and grandchildren. They were all adopted by him, and he conducted his experiments on them.”

Ew. “Do you know where any of the others are?” They might provide useful information.

Vir pointed to himself. “I am one of them. There are a few others that I know of. The rest are scattered.”

“Ah, but you’re not a tree person, I presume?”

“No.” Vir provided no more elaboration than that. “Out of all of us, her condition is the most severe.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

I didn't get much of a chance to he replied, the slightest bit of mirth coming through with his words. How long ago did this begin? he inquired, tilting his head to one side, and has it become more aggressive, or progressed at the same rate?​

​

Arcturus was utterly fascinated by the whole thing of course, how could he not be? Now that the connection was set he removed his hand from her temple, and rose up to his full height, moving around her in order to get a full look at the state she was in.​

​

Something that was being said beyond their telepathic communications stuck out to him, and he snapped his gaze toward the man. He was Sithspawn, too? There were a bunch of them, all experimented on by.... Some Father figure? Arcturus scowled.​

​

"I have tests to run" he muttered, not wholly in the present. Turning from them, he headed toward the main doorway which would take him out to the rest of the station. The connection with the girl remained, so long as she permitted it.​

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He says that there are others... What of the progenitor? Is he still living?​

​

Arcturus made his way toward the hangar bay, wherein his ship lay. After all, it wasn't as though he had any of his equipment here in their apartment.​

​

Ishani's apartment... It wasn't really his, now, was it? She was the one who was going to be staying,​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

<When it started, I guess I was about… twelve? I’m seventeen. It’s been slow, or else I’d be dead already.>

Ishani asked the same question at right around the same time Arc posed it: “Where is Messala now?”

“He is imprisoned in alchemized amber," Vir replied. "His enemies wanted to make sure he could not return from the Netherworld of the Force to take a new body.”

Claudia’s answer was more or less the same. <He pissed off the wrong people, and they got him good. I remember being upset at the time—I was just a little kid back then. But once I started changing, I realized he deserved it. In fact, he deserved worse.>

“Alchemized amber?” Ishani echoed, raising an eyebrow.

“One of his inventions. It was impractical, except in very special cases. They made him into a special case.”

“Yikes.” She sighed. “Well, amber is made from tree sap. Maybe there’s a connection between the amber and Claudia’s condition.” Probably not anything they could use, but at least it was something.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Arcturus wondered if it had been set off by puberty, and if so what else that could mean. What more could be inferred from such... He was also informed that the man was taken care of in some vague manner, if he'd bothered to pay attention to the rest of the room he might have found out how, alas.​

​

Thank you he said to the girl, for the information she had provided, and then he left. The sample was in his hand, and he made his way through the Station and toward Leviathan and soon enough he was aboard. First and foremost he ran it through a standard scanner, the kind which could read blood, midichlorian count, search for disease, that sort of thing, to find out what it might glean on a surface level.​

​

While that ran, he took some of the sample and set it to spin within a centrifuge to separate out the liquids from the cellular structure. It would make it much simpler to run further tests. Of course, this wasn't blood in its natural state so who knew what would happen.​

​

Thankfully there were plenty out there with abnormal, or he should say non-human, blood types. Zelosians, for example, had chlorophyl. How crazy was that?​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Is sap like blood? Sort of. It’s technically just the fluid found in certain tree cells, but it serves the same purpose as blood—transporting hormones, mineral elements, and other nutrients from the roots to the leaves.

The machinery read the sap as it would blood, and found it was filled with artifacts of lingering humanity, and a noticeably high midichlorian count. It was thoroughly contaminated by plant matter, however. Her blood cells had been modified, perhaps with a virus as the carrier of the replacement DNA.

The sheer thickness and viscosity of the “blood sample” made the spinning of the centrifuge largely pointless. It would not separate. All it did was clump together at one end of the tube, forming a glob of amber-colored syrup.

Perhaps a perusal of it with the Force was needed.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The initial scans were fruitful, the centrifuge was not.​

​

Lamenting the loss of some of his sample, he sighed and dropped whatever remnants he could from inside of it onto a petri dish and covered it with the clear lid, then held up the final bit that had yet to be tampered with.​

​

Arcturus sank to the ground then, immediately taking a meditative stance, and closed his eyes. Delved into the Force, and made his presence within it small, one might argue miniscule, just as he had once been taught to do. However he did not just go that far, the boy had been doing his research, he knew that he could drive the art further than a mere nullification of his presence.​

​

So he threw that focus out and into the sap-blood-cells, observing them on a molecular level through the Force. As he did so, his mouth began to move with some whispered incantation as he pooled resources from not just one mentor but another. A strange unison of Art of the Small and Blood Magic commenced therein.​

​

Laborious work, to be sure. Sweat beaded upon his brow, his muscles began to feel taxed and almost atrophied, and pure exhaustion washed over his mind, body, and spirit. But he did not relent.​

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Nor would he ever speak on just how far he'd succumbed to find out the truth, and search for a cure...​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Back at the apartment, Ishani went into the kitchen to get a snack. Keeping the lights down low, she gave a jolt when she turned around to find Vir standing in the hallway.

“Oh, you startled me,” she whispered. Frowning, she rested a hand on her hip. “How come I can’t sense you with the Force?”

“The ring I wear protects me from scrutiny,” Vir replied. “I carry the taint of the Dark Side. I hide it to avoid persecution.”

Ishani’s eyes drifted to the ring on his finger. It was silver with a purple gemstone, similar to amethyst. Thinking of Arcturus’ rings, her gaze softened. “Can it… prevent the corruption from spreading?”

“No. It only hides it from the perceptions of others.” Vir paused. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I know somebody who is convinced they corrupt everything they touch,” she said. “They think they can’t be around people for too long, or they’ll taint them. Especially the vulnerable, like children…”

He was quiet for a while, thinking. Then he said, “I can’t help you there. I’m sorry.”

Ishani said nothing, going back to her snack-making.

Aboard the Leviathan, Arcturus would be able to detect signs of alchemy in the sample. Sloppy alchemy. Or perhaps experimental is a better word for these unnatural cells, laced with the Dark Side. Unlike a cancer, they did not multiply out of control, but gradually replaced the healthy, normal cells as they died off. It was a slower process, but it ensured that she would not die before the end, keeping her alive long enough to finish the transformation.

For what purpose had this Messala sought to turn his granddaughter into a tree? The answer was not written in the DNA, nor could the cells reveal the mystery of his motives. Although, the samples certainly were hardening into resin at a rapid rate…

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

If nothing else, Arcturus was provided with a stable copy of her original DNA. It wasn't much, but with any luck he could see about using it to potentially revert the progress of the curse.​

​

The question was, how exactly?​

​

Running a hand along the length of his face, he let out a long sigh. Then he walked from his workspace into the main ship, and approached the holotable.​

​

It had been a long time since Folende, and frankly he wasn't even sure if the bat-guy was even around anymore, but all the same Arcturus would try to reach out to Khayyam. Maybe he'd have some advice for how to proceed.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

It took some time, but eventually the hologram of Khayyam appeared. Four years older but just as batty, the alchemist plucked a pair of spectacles from his pocket with a pink claw and perched them on the bridge of his nose, peering at Arc. “Arcturus Thesh…? My, it’s been quite some time. I didn’t think you survived the fall of Korriban. How are you holding up, young man?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Well, he still ran with the same frequency so that was something. Arcturus let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding, and smiled at the Alchemist. "Hey," he said, brushing a stray strand of hair back into place with the rest of the mess he'd failed to tame upon being abruptly awoken. "All good, all good. How about you guys? Any new projects?"​

​

Arcturus was never the type for being rude, he didn't like to just jump right into things with someone he hadn't spoken to in - for them - four years! Still, he knew that time was somewhat of the essence here, so once pleasantries were out of the way he let out a small sigh.​

​

"So uh, we have someone here who's struggling. They were experimented on by their Grandfather." That bit irked him perhaps more than anything else, but he pushed past it. "Can I send you a blood sample, see what you make of it? Ordinarily I wouldn't meddle with someone else's work but... Man, she's not going to survive much longer. I've managed to extract her original DNA, but I could use some pointers on how to revert the process... If it's possible, that is."​

​

So much all at once, he hoped he wasn't overloading the bat or taking up too much of his time.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​