First Reply The Catalyst Protocol: Strange Company

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

I did not plan to shop. However a conversation with Balun Dashiell led me to do so. Between the weapon vendors and spice peddlers was a narrow alley laced with the smell of incense and lit by bright neon lights. Something pulled at me here; not the Force of course. Just my instinct. And that has never failed me so far.

The vendor that caught my eye was hunched behind his table, draped in mismatched rags and surrounded by cages. Not durasteel cages, but ones made from wood and wire. Old-fashioned. How quaint. His voice crackled like static as he spoke. "Looking for companionship, Miss? Something soft for a soul that’s seen too much?”

I almost laughed but did not. Instead I merely gave him a small smile. He had no idea of what I have gone through. But perhaps that could be said about every one.Then I saw it. Curled up in the lowest cage was a Tooka. Small, adorable, absurdly fluffy, and it was watching me. Not like an animal watches a stranger, however. No. This creature did not blink. It's pupils narrowed, adjusted, and then it seemed to read me. I took a step back in surprise.

“She likes you,” the vendor rasped, leaning in closely as though he were telling me a secret.

“I am only browsing,” I said to him, but my voice betrayed me. I was already calculating a few things in mind. Could I keep it hidden within my laboratories? Would it interfere with the research protocols? Would it even be allowed?

The Tooka stood and padded to the edge of the cage. Then it did something that I could not ignore. In a near-perfect imitation of my own voice - faint, glitchy, but mine - it said:
“No one ever listens" My blood went cold. Why did it say that? And in my voice, no less? I do not believe that I had uttered that phrase out loud before, yet have done so only in my thoughts. And here is a little Tooka bringing those thoughts out for others to hear. I find that highly unusual to say the least. And unnerving.

The vendor chuckled. “Some of them pick up phrases. She’s clever, this one. Empathic. Rare type. I call her Whimsy.”

“That is quite fitting.” I leaned down to look closer at the Tooka, for something about it had caught my eye. There was tech under the fluff as evident by a shimmer near the neck. Was it a scar or? No it was not a scar. It was a seam. “I will take her,” I said, against my better judgment.

The Tooka purred loudly and deliberately as the vendor took my credits and unlocked the cage.​

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

"Excellent choice, Miss. She'll treat you well, that one."

No sooner did he open up the cage that the Tooka quickly stepped out of it. Her head was lowered, yet her eyes were fully upon me as though she was a predator and I was her prey. And then she stopped right at my feet and sat down on her haunches while staring up at me.

For a moment we just stood there staring at eachother. The vendor seemed to have a guess that I had never had a pet before. He just chuckled at me before he spoke again, giving me some instruction. "Well pick her up, Miss! Take her home. She's yours."

I was not quite sure of how to do so, yet the Tooka seemed to have sensed that. As I bent down to pick her up, she sat up on her haunches to help make it easier for me. I lifted her and straightened up. The Tooka then did the unexpected and climbed up onto my shoulders. She perched herself around me like some live furry shawl and then started to purr.

The vendor laughed again, this time louder than before. Not wanting anymore further embarrassment, I turned and left his booth. "No one ever understands me." Once again she speaks in my voice. It was broken, sounding very much like an old recording. But it was my voice nonetheless.

"I do not know if you are speaking for myself or for you, but try not to mimic my voice please. That is all that I ask." I am not even aware of how intelligent Tookas are. Does she even understand me? Either way she keeps quiet. Even her purring had stopped. At first I had thought that it was due to what I had said. But her body stiffened and her gaze remained very still. The Tooka's tail twitched at the tip, moving from side to side as she started to chirp or bark quietly.

Something had caught her attention.

I followed her gaze and caught a quick glimpse of movement up ahead. Someone had seemed to hide from sight. Had I been recognized here? I surely hope not. Without a word I turned on my heel to the right and began to weave my way through the vendor tents. If I am being followed, then this will surely prove it.

Tag: OPEN​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The market was alive with noise and color, sputtering signs, barked offers, perfume mixed with the grease of too many street kitchens. It was a lovely day, Rellik taking to using discrete outfits and shadows as a youth. Trained to be the assassin as a child before moving to more esoteric forms of force mastery. He moved without his cloak. Without his title.

He had come for a package, a quiet exchange of information tucked into a case of synth-spice cartridges. It was supposed to be quick.

But then he saw her.

Liin Tera Terallo.

Recently his brother Diarch Reign had spoken to him about her requesting aid with a laboratory. Rellik was unsure of the end of that dealing. Hopefully she deemed herself safe, seeing as she was now shopping in the open. Last he knew besides that, he was chasing her through a facility fighting beings of which he had never seen before.

She stood before a vendor, he couldn't hear her words, but her eyes narrowed toward something at the vendor's feet. Rellik stiffened in the dark, just beyond a curtain of hanging beads. Perhaps he should've turned away. Should've left her be. Instead, he lingered like some thief, watching as she lifted the animal. The vendor laughed. The Tooka curled around her neck like a question mark.

As Liin made her way towards where Rellik was he decided to approach. No longer hiding himself in the force as he was doing before. He did not want to scare her but it seemed he made an impression on the Tooka. It reacted, leading Liin to react. Her eyes swept the market. She seemed to still be on high alert.

With a reactionary move he ducked behind a vendor canopy, boots silent on the worn flooring. As he vendor looked at him in shock he simply raised a finger to his lips. Shhhhh

Yet it was to little to late. She had began moving the other way. He began to follow her. Not closely. Not directly. Just far enough to blend in. She weaved through the crowd with more purpose now, and he adjusted his path to match, slipping between groups of travelers, feigning interest in display racks and dried herbs. The Tooka on her shoulder shifted. Its ears perked.

He wasn't here to bring her in. He was here to keep her safe.

Liin "Tera" Terallo

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

I think that I am being followed. Or perhaps I am being paranoid. Or both! Either thought had a strong basis in reality. And the newly purchaded/adopted Tooka certainly picked up on that as well.

I tried not to draw anymore attention to myself as I took a rather zig-zagged pathway through the venders. I even double-backed on my route so that I was almost going in circles. Yet I knew that I could not stay in the market forever. So after nearly twenty minutes I exited the market and started walking down the street. Instinctively my left hand went up to scritch the Tooka under it's chin. "Are we still being followed?"

"They are always watching. But I am never seen." The Tooka's voice once again mimicked my own. It is as though she had refused my earlier request. Or she did not care. Instead her tail kept twitching from side to side while her ears swiveled towards every sound.

"Well perhaps it is time that I start watching them instead?" I stopped and did an about-face on my heel, turning myself completely around. One could have guessed that I may have forgotten something and was retracing my steps. But no. I wanted to see who was tailing me and to perhaps give them a piece of my mind!

Tag: Diarch Rellik

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[Diarch Rellik]

-

She was clever about it.

The way she doubled back, changed pace, took sharp turns that made no tactical sense unless one knew how to read a tail. If he hadn't spent a decade doing just that, ghosting through courtyards, warzones, palaces. He might have missed her completely. Liin had always been sharp, even evading NIHIL and Rellik together one time. The Tooka wasn't helping his case either now. It had the instincts of a scout and the attitude of a spy.

The market fell behind them. The noise dulled, replaced by the hum of passing transports and murmured street conversations. Rellik slipped between shadows cast by awnings, pausing now and again to glance at data on a wristband he wasn't reading. His pace was calm. Natural. But the moment she exited the market proper, he felt something in the rhythm shift.

She turned.

Not just a glance. A full about-face. Controlled. Sharp. A move that said: I see you now.

Beside a vendor cart peddling fruit he stood. Not hostile, not defensive. Just there calmy. Hands slowly coming together to clasp behind his back in his consular fashion he usually stood in. Rellik took a slow, deliberate step forward. Not fast enough to be threatening. Not distant enough to vanish. If she wanted to flee again, he would not stop her.

"Hello Liin, I promise I have no intentions of hurting you. Not now, nor the last time I might have broken into one of your facilities. You are an enigmatic person to me. You had mostly dealt with my brother when the Diarchy rose from nothing, in part due to your aid. I simply wished to check up on you and ensure you are okay..." Looking out to both sides there he gestured back to the fruit stand. Fresh food and drinks at the ready.

"Stop and have a little bit of food or drink with me. I will even by your Tooka something." He gave her a warm smile and hoped she would give him the time of day.

Liin "Tera" Terallo

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

And there he was. The man that was tailing me. And he was not what I had expected. On the contrary; he was one of the last!

I had seen Lord Rellik only once before; when I was there for a grand ceremony in my former life. The speech that both he and his brother had given were short and to the point. Such things are a blessing for no one wishes to be watch a long monologue. There were more important things to accomplish at such ceremonies.

I raise an inquisitive brow as he spoke of breaking into one of my facilities. I have little doubt that it was one of my decoys. So what was he there for? Surely not to check up on me? Otherwise he could have sent me word. Or he could of sent Varlo just as Diarch Reign had. But I do not know Lord Rellik personally, so I do not know of how he operates.

He invites me to stop and accompany him for a refreshment there. A part of me has no qualms in doing so. However the openness of the area and the fact that I am being hunted gives me pause.

"Thank you for the invitation, Lord Rellik. But it is not safe to do so here. I can already guess at the questions that you will ask of me, yet I am not comfortable at giving answers out in the open. A more private and secure location would be more suitable."

Tag: Diarch Rellik ​