Private The Dark Flower - Darkkoninn

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai Darth Carnifex Darth Ophidia
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

She awoke from the dark that had rolled like an all consuming wave through her mind. A devious wash of dark power that she still held inside of her. Promises made without being spoken to. Feelings of assurance that had never before existed as she struggled to comprehend where or when she was. All blurring together as her eye fluttered open. She remembered trying to tap into the force before something had altered her connection.

Before something had opened the doors to the flood gate more like.

She had taken on more energy than she had ever handled, her will only now able to maintain what she already was holding onto. A chalice overfull with it's prize. The tenuous bubble of control merely a haphazard tap of the hand to spill over and ruin everything. Exhausted and worn thin came to mind when she took stock of how she felt exactly. The place felt comfortable if only for the lack of environmental amenities.

The dark side had and continued to welcome the woman with open arms it seemed. Now though, it was akin to a safe haven. A home port in a storm rather than just a comfortable space to exist. Her senses were dulled, either by someone else or purely from effort to keep herself alive.

She had come in with gear, but wasn't entirely sure about the state of it. She was probably viewed as a threat, or at least an unknown by whatever that thing had been that appeared on-.

Her eye searched around her quickly, snapping to points of reference as she realized Vella had left her. The whole crew had been unable to lift a finger. The memory flickering across her mind as the realization solidified in her mind. She had made them unable to help her. She had secured her own fate with this. Hadn't resisted or fought back, unable to do either and incapacitating those that could have helped.

It was a bitter truth as the dark energy caressed the spurned portion of her mind with silent whispers of ease. Calming enough to let slip the idea that they had been waiting to abandon her. To supplant a false idea in it's place than allow her to think anything else. Intrusive thoughts in her opinion, though repetition had been the downfall of many a mind.

"Is anyone there?" She rasped, realizing to late how dry and parched her throat was. Coughing and gagging, she couldn't escape the dry tickle in the back of her throat.

 

[Onrai]

The Ablution

Indeed, Sasmay was held within one of the admittedly sparsely used cells within the greater structure of the ancient warship. By galactic standards of the day it certainly was - the vessel had been fabricated several decades ago on behalf of a CIS contract that was boycotted. Under innumerable flags, the ship was still flying through the galaxy, seemingly unable to be stopped despite every power it had belonged to at one time or another having been wiped off the face of the galaxy.

How persistent a ship was it.

“I am always here.” Said a familiar voice, the same voice of the entity that had brought her away from her vessel, snatched her through the void of realspace as though she were a more of dust in the wind. “This is my ship, and I will always have a presence here.”

The shadows of the room manifested into the wraith that had haunted her before, a wraith which reached into the inky blackness of its form and brought forth an unopened metal canister.

“Drink.”

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai Darth Carnifex Darth Ophidia
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

Down to her bare clothes, she was without the usual things she kept about her. It had been a long time since she had been made to be without them. Her own choice was one thing, as that meant she was actively trying to be pleasant. This was a foreign feeling however, being made to cooperate.

Even through the coughing and sputtering, she caught the voice that had spoken to her what felt like ages ago. But was more accurately only a short time passed. Her arm covered her mouth trying to be polite even if she felt that she had been stolen away rather than escorted. She'd been aboard some ship and then-

Pain was a dull reminder at the back of her head when the figure manifested before her.

"No point arguing that when you can just...appear." She coughed on the words, trying for humor.

The offered container received a wary eye, but the incessant coughing made her abandon caution. Taking the offered can, fiddling with the lid before slowly sipping from the contents. No hurried rush to guzzle the contents, a life of servitude before her freedom teaching her the lesson of savoring and saving.

"Appreciate that but uh, why am I here?" She held onto the container for the time being.

 

[Onrai]

"Why would you not be?" The spectre asked. "Severing a head from the body leaves it writhing in confusion, unable to function without the cognitive sense the brain possesses - and you very much were the brain of that vessel's entire command structure. As expected, without you they abandoned the field of battle and chose to crash-jump out of the system. Retreating from a fifty year old corvette... disappointing." She responded.

"Another question is what are you? Ordinary mortals do not do what you do, yet you were clearly not a Force user, not like those I have seen before." Perhaps she was some sort of forgotten experiment, something left over from one of the past Sith Empires.

"At least we won't be having to worry about any issues soon. We'll be in a place that I have more full control of." The Ablution itself was presently recharging its hyperdrive for the jump to Demonsgate and the planet in Otherspace Onrai's men and women were using as their new staging area. With maneuvering into the territory of the warlord-ridden Maw, a new point of operations closer than Nathema was going to be needed - and a place wherein a rift could be opened within Maw spacw.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

A brow rose, the lid of her other eye closed out of habit as a smirk formed on her face.

"The other two will do fine. I just came up with the bad ideas honestly." Shaking her head a little, she did add on with a small tone of defeat after. "I am a bit disappointed they didn't stick around...but she likely had her reasons."

The question of the force however drew her attention from looking around with a squinting stare.

"Been trying to figure that out myself. I thought I could only access the force when I was neck deep in the poodoo. Running for my life or fighting a horde of lizards bent on eating my soul." Her hand opening and closing around the container as she examined it.

"There was something on that planet. Something...helping me." The crimson eye tingled a bit as the same dark energy clouded the words and kept them to the back of her mind. Like a memory that tickled the tongue trying to find the right word.

"Where are you taking me? I don't have anything to offer. I'm not even that great a prize myself." She bothered to explain, the container sloshing as she emphasized her disarmed figure.

 

[Onrai]

"Kaine Zambrano." She said. "I would know that presence anywhere." She replied, without elaboration as to how she knew who or what a Kaine Zambrano was.

"The main reason for taking you elsewhere is to prevent others from... trying to determine what exactly it is you are." She said. "You are untrained. Undisciplined. Unable to fully reach your own potential. That explains your... spotty control of your abilities. What you need is someone to help you understand exactly how to do what it is you're capable of." That was the best way she could describe the circumstances, ones she could not clarify otherwise.

"So, are you one of Kaine's wayward experiments? You wouldn't be the first I've come across."

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

Confusion danced across her features, a slow turn to the shade with a small shake of her head in denial.

"No. No that can't be right." The idea of being tied to Kaine Zambrano wasn't appealing. The dark whisper in her mind wiggling the question of why into the back of her thinking as the reasons ran through themselves. Railed against the idea harsh and loud as that quiet question persisted.

Along with the idea of having a sense of purpose at the idea. It conflicted with tying oneself to the figure that the galaxy despised and loathed as a whole. Feared the mention of and could draw an entire war over. But the quiet whisper in her thoughts reassured her of the endless possibilities of finding out more, of revealing the unknown tie.

Taking another sip, she let the intrusive thought float around as her reasoning seemed to flail and ultimately silence in the path of that reassurance that wasn't her own.

"I can't draw on the force. Never made it easy to train. I don't think I can do it now either." As though that would be enough reason to drop the interest without question. But she had. And had nearly burnt herself out doing so. What remained however she had no idea of how to control, and that more than anything felt like an unsheathed blade ready to cut herself more than anyone else.

She had always heard the most dangerous thing on a battlefield wasn't the enemy, but friendlies.

"Even if I am, wouldn't we need Him to act on it?" She didn't want to repeat his name aloud. Even the thought was a strange feeling. Whether false or not, the sliver of hope tied to it was deeply unsettling.

In her entire existence, she had never encountered the Sith in their full capacity. Couldn't even say she hated the lot of them with her own wild tendencies. The closest she had come to them was perhaps skimming by in transit, or even at the tail end of a battle. But never face to face or even truly speaking with one. That she could have been an experiment let loose or escaped seemed far fetched in her mind.

 

[Onrai]

“I knew Kaine when he was just a plucky young Sithling trying to make a name for himself.” Onrai said, reminiscing about the good times she had experienced with the twice-Emperor of the Sith Empire - before all such fragments of emotion and the ability to feel anything resembling love had been expelled from his flesh in another of his steps towards apotheosis. Even the existence of Aristeia has elicited nothing from him. How disappointed was she as a mortal…

Perhaps becoming what she was truly was the best way to get over such.

“You say you can’t draw on the Force, and yet I felt it through you. Your body is strained because of what you felt.” She said. “You can learn. The process will be strenuous and painful, but I can open the doorway to this thing you know so little about. My ascension to the position of godhood has allowed me to become quite the unorthodox teacher.” She proffered.

“You feel great fear, do you not? Fear of the unknown or what I am.” She said. “I am Onrai, the goddess of humanity, and solely still venerated as I am by those on Seoul. Others know me under different names - the scorekeeper. Vahla. Just “the goddess.” And you have no need to fear me.” A shadowy hand came and gently ended up atop Sasmay’s head, moving side to side gently.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

Nearly balking at the idea of a young Kaine, she had to temper her reaction. The idea of Kaine being anything more than a galaxy feared threat was far-fetched in her mind. But she couldn't ignore the fact that every legend started somewhere, and there were those that kept an eye on such things.

"I have-wait." Her want to explain the amount of trouble she had gone through to train with what little connection she had was severely overshadowed the words ascension and god-hood in the same sentence.

The shade continued to explain. While she was hearing what was being said, even offering up a few shrugs and nods to affirm that she heard and understood, the words lingered. Even the dark little whisper in her ear didn't offer much on the idea.

"I have little fear of the mystical jedi-sith force stuff. Less fear for things I can touch. But little in the way of faith." She put a snap to her voice. The defensive tone appearing with the touch of her hair as she let anger bristle. She had been treated fairly so far in the shade's appearance. Though the butt of a gun had been a bit uncalled for in her own opinion.

Then again she might have done the same with someone channeling that much energy.

"God's and their type don't make themselves known often if it all. And those claiming such are either selling or buying. Those not trading favors are usually touched in the head. Or ego." Another intrusive thought, one attempting to placate and keep her calm in the situation. To let the other teach rather than fight. Her life experience however outshined the voice and the defensive tone slipped into one of passive but guarded calm.

An attempt at keeping the sharp lances of worry and fear hidden beneath the stony visage she had created over time. One still very young compared to what stood before her. The unknown was always terrifying, but the woman before Onrai would rather charge headlong into the dark abyss than sit beside it and fret over every little detail.

"So either you are selling something, or I have something you want. Which is it so we can cut straight to it." She was never a huge fan of beating around the bush, and the promise of pain through study didn't deter her from the idea. Pain was a life long ordeal, and some broke under the lightest mantle while others wore it like a broach. "As for learning, pain won't stop me long."

 

[Onrai]

"It's not a matter of faith, to be fair." She said. "Faith is often a suggestion in something that provides no evidence of reality. Thankfully, the Force is all too real." She said, smiling. After all, it was a deliberate reason to consider Force-wielders more of a threat, enough that at various times they had been rounded up and contained over various points in time.

"I'm neither buying nor selling. Only stating the facts. You have potential, and I am willing to help you touch that potential should you so wish." She said. It was certainly a tantalizing offer, if nothing else.

Whether it was accepted or not was the question.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Currently being Held Prisoner/Guest?

The shade made a fair point about faith. And while she didn't trust in there not existing some sort of payoff for the being, it was well out of her own sight to see what it might have been.

"I guess I accept then." Her singular eye fixed on the being.

"How should I address you then? Have never been a proper student." She informed the being, silently wondering about the training to be had.

 

[Onrai]

Joy and jubilation ran through the Force entity as she was clearly enthused at the prospect of having a student. Perhaps unlike all those she had run through her regimen before, none would ever turn out to be so… so disappointing. As she smiled, the darkness seemed to further solidify, the melt away to reveal a very much human-like figure underneath, familiar blonde hair and eyes looking over the woman who she was oh so slightly taller than.

“Call me Vanessa. Vanessa Vantai. And I know the perfect place for us to get to work.”

-

Training Room, The Ablution

It had been a long time since this particular room on board the ancient flagship of the Void Irregulars had been used. As the doors opened, dust fell from them onto the footpaths and the room itself, as mutable as it could possibly be, was covered in it.

“It’s been quite some time since I’ve had a student, Sasmay.” She said. “But since your connection and activities are ever erratic, what you require most importantly of all is focus. Every Force user, no matter whether they are on the sight of light or dark, must focus, draw in the power of the Force, and allow it to be wielded properly. Respect it and it will serve you well. Abuse it or doubt it, and your death will come at the hands of your own misgivings.”

Vanessa reached within the shadowy robes her avatar appeared to wear, seemingly crafted out of the very essence of the universe itself and providing her otherwise human form a distinctly ethereal quantity. From within she pulled a single metal sphere, almost perfectly spherical with a slight dent on it.

“This is a ball bearing.” She said. “Made out of solid metal. Its goal in life is simple - it supports the rotation of various different components for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. Smooth. Polished.” She sat it down on the ground between them, then sat on her knees across from Sasmay, motioning for her new apprentice to sit across from her.

“Focus on the sphere. Elevate it and float it between us.”

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Becoming the Student of Onrai

The shade made itself real, and she couldn't help but examine the form with surprise. It wasn't just a figure in the dark, but a seemingly human body that greeted her finally. Blinking a few times, she

"Vanessa it is then." She didn't know whether to be happy, or alarmed by the shift. She had seen many a things in her time, but never watching a person emerge from the shadows as she just had.

--Training Room--

The doors opened to a dusty room. Something she likely had waiting for her somewhere if she ever got back to it. Her gaze drifting over the space as her attention turned to Vanessa's instructions. She listened intently, moving her head to see as her hand slipped inside the robe and produced something from inside it.

Her eye squinted however at the command to make it float. Taking her seat across from the being, she frowned.

"Why I never relied on it. Couldn't seem to appease it or anything like that." She informed the being, falling silent before focusing her eye on the figurative prize. She breathed slowly, mentally reaching out to the small orb and willing it to rise.

The ball bearing to her credit, wobbled on the ground before making a small jump and landing back in the spot it was in. Making her draw in an irritated breath before attempting it again. Sadly to much the same effect but with more wobbling.

 

[Onrai]

“Relax.” She said. “Close your eyes. You know where it is, you know what it feels like - allow yourself to focus on the ball." She motioned to the ball bearing in question. "Focus. Don't force it. Let yourself feel the ball bearing, raise it, and keep it raised. It's not about appeasement. It's about control."

Her voice was soothing like silk, a deliberate attempt to keep disruptions out from Sasmay's mind. At the corners of Sasmay's vision the room seemed to darken more and more, until if she noticed, the room was an empty black void, within which the presence of the universe seemed to slowly fill as though they were within the void of space itself. The colors of nebulae and glistening stars in the distance seemed to fill the room.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Becoming the Student of Onrai

Their was a frustrated grunt from Sasmay as she settled into her seated position better. Her single good eye closing again as she let herself think of nothing. Having always found it difficult to truly relax, she took some time to let herself let go of things.

Things that were. Things that had been. Things that could never be. All things she had burdened herself with in order to try to gain control.

The silky tone her teacher had taken was a small step in to relaxing as she focused on her breathing. Pushing what thoughts she could to the side before letting her mind relax. She didn't open her eye just yet, letting herself feel the area better than she had before.

The ball bearing wiggled again, steadily as she calmed herself. The mental image slowly shifting to the ball bearing floating rather than her own hand raising it as the bearing wobbled slowly before circling a spot and beginning to spin upwards in a slow circle.

 

[Onrai]

"Good." She said, smiling as she observed the basic activity of the ball bearing following its traditional circular motion. Onrai paused for a moment, then grabbed the ball and herself moved in time with the bearing, as though she added no weight to it at all. Whether this was Sasmay's own doing or Onrai was merely contributing to the illusion was unclear, but regardless, it would be a good moment. "Now, open your eyes and see what you have done."

After a moment of allowing her to witness how she was at least seemingly lifting Onrai as well as the ball bearing itself, the false goddess let go and fell down to a seeming platform of stardust, dissolving into smoke before reforming once more with a flourish. "Focus. Deep inner focus is needed for the Force to do what you wish for it to do. But as the passive acts, so too does the active need to as well." She motioned to the bearing.

"Focus on the bearing and crush it now."

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Becoming the Student of Onrai

Her eye opened, at first glancing around at the shift in the room before watching the ball bearing and her new teacher attentively. She watched the show the being put on before being given instructions. A deep breath before clearing her throat, she scooted a little to get more comfortable and let herself relax again.

Knowing the dark was around her seemed to steady her rather than unnerve her as the bearing wiggled once more with intent.

Her breathing evened out, mind devoted to the task at hand as the bearing spun in place now, lifting briefly as what might have been a pin sized dent formed slowly, flattening one side before another formed and pressed inward. A thin disk floated briefly, an attempt to squash it further meeting some difficulty as it seemed to flatten into a strange lump while trying to drop back to the floor.

All transpiring in a somewhat timely manner as her breathing slowly became heavier with effort to focus.

 

[Onrai]

“Remember, focus on the metal as though it were wet sand. To be shaped to your whim.” She pointed out as she watched the process of transformation unfold. It was a lovely experience, one that made Onrai smile, though her lips were indistinguishable from the rest of her face and thus such a gesture was likely unnoticed if apparently at all. The mimicry by mortals of the process of creation and transformation, an attempt to emulate those who had molded them from the stuff of creation.

"You're doing fine. Stay focused. Crush the bearing." The fact that a hardened metal sphere had deformed in the grip of Sasmay's own Force powers was already surprising enough, but she wanted to see her apprentice go further and do more.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WEAPONS: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 'FAE/M-01' Energy Blade, 1 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannon, K914 SMG, (4) Elemental Grenades, (2) Impact Grenades, Phase X-E CryoSonic Heavy Pistol
EQUIPMENT: Armor with force mask atop UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit, Kirino Visual Interface
TAGS: Onrai
LOCATION: The Ablution, Training

The metaphor caused her to pause. Her efforts halted momentarily as her straining ceased. The disc hovered, unmoving as her face showed clear sign of speculation. She'd been focused on it as it was rather than what would be easiest to meld with her hands.

Or rather with the force.

Another deep breath and a slow dive into focus as she tried to shift her perspective from what she knew the object to be, to what she hoped it would be. No. Not what it would be. Allowing the thought to continue would make it difficult. Impossible even to do as she was instructed.

What it was.

Another deep breath as she turned her thoughts around, changing her idea of what was at the end of her thoughts from one difficult to shape item to a malleable and easily changed thing.

The crackle of metal struggling to keep its shape went unnoticed by her as she continued to think of the bearing as sand.

Pressed the idea further into her mind that the bearing could be changed as though it were wet sand rather than hardened metal. Another deep breath kept her from hearing another crinkle as the bearing shook between them, sharp divets appearing as though an unseen hand were grasping it.

A bead of sweat formed on her face, effort in channeling the force rather than forcing her idea on the item before her as it twitched and writhed mid air. A deeper breath as her mind formed the picture of sand instead of steel.

Another sharp crinkle as the bearing shrank a fraction, shaking in mid air violently as her chin dipped towards her chest in slow measure. Her presence in the force beginning to wane as she drew out and used what she had snatched from Him earlier.

 

[Onrai]

“Good.” Onrai coiled as she watched the bearing further and further deteriorate, cracking and crinkling in the ethereal grip of Sasmay herself before eventually the ball bearing had no more support and shattered into a million pieces, the apprentice having managed to successfully do what it was she had needed to at the behest of her new master.

“The Force is not about the way reality is put together. Allowing yourself to be limited by the apparent restrictions of the material world is what prevents you from achieving your full potential. Only by denying them, by refusing to accept such a limit, can you do the most fantastical things.” She said.

“For example, deny time.” Another voice poked up within their bubble and the scene shifted a bit as a woman with blonde hair in black robes joined the ethereal entity and her student. “If you deny that the essence of time is sequence, it is perfectly possible for you to exist in multiple places at the same time, even spanning across the entire galaxy.” She motioned to the shadowy Onrai. “For example, I exist where I stand, but I also exist here as well. It may be hard to believe, but it’s true.” She iterated.

After all, it wasn’t an illusion.

Sasmay Cull