The Godfather, the Girl, and the Barkspawn

[Ibaris Varanin]

LOCATION​

Residence of [member="Jared Ovmar"]​

Lianna​

​

Somehow it wasn't all that often that both Mama and Papa were indisposed at the same time - outside of their bedroom at home on Annaj - but when that happened there were a small number of options for the care of their daughter. One of these was her godfather and uncle, Jared Ovmar, and it was with him that she was staying for a little while. She'd seen him around from time to time, but most of her memory of the man was either fuzzy or nonexistent. Suffice to say it'd been a while.

Well, there she was in his home on a planet that... while it wasn't the furthest away from home she'd ever been - Korriban held that honour - it was still really far away from home, and was she scared? Nope! Homesick? Certainly not! This was a girl that held a perhaps unhealthy fascination, obsession, fixation with things that were as big as, if not bigger than her house and had many sharp teeth. Or sometimes they didn't, but it didn't exactly take big, sharp teeth to devour a little girl. A little girl that was most likely to call a terentatek 'Fluffy', and try to domesticate it. By that description, she didn't appear to fear much of anything.

This same girl was sitting on a couch, kicking her feet because they didn't reach the floor and idly stroking the head of her closest companion, Adas, whom was curled up on the couch beside her and looking less and less like a puppy and more like a dog every day. Well, as much as he looked like the average dog in the first place, and as much as he acted like the average dog. Which a Barkspawn wasn't, per se, considering the things it could do.

At least he'd stopped peeing on the floor... for the most part. That'd made Mama really happy.

"Sooooo..." she drawled out, "...I know what Papa can do, and Mama makes a pretty mean waffle..."

Well, she didn't really know all the things Papa could do, but she knew that people didn't usually mess with her, so there must be a reason because people died all the time! She peered at the man, wondering how much he knew about beasts (possibly less than her, she was fairly confident about that!), and the Force (without a doubt more than her). She peered at the older man, her face divulging absolutely nothing.

Older? Who was she kidding? Everyone was older than her. It's like kids didn't exist on Annaj, or anywhere else in the Fringe Confederation, because she rarely saw them! Well... had she seen any? She scratched her ear at that thought.

"...what can you do, Uncle Jared?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

Uncle Jared. It felt strange to be called that, even stranger to be the Godfather of this little kid, but Jacobs always had some strange humor. The Sith Lord had planned on leaving this plane for some time now, to go and hunt for that little Witch that had caused him so much grieve by exposing his hypocrisy to himself.

But every day… he was stopped and forced to look at things he had neglected, things that needed to be tied up, his quest for the many pebbles had made him forget what was truly important in life. Spencer, Ashin, Ibaris even.
They were his family and this realization still felt foreign to a degree.

For the longest time he had considered himself to be completely alone, but more and more… things turned out differently. The Mentalist raised his brow at her question, before leaning back in his couch and pondering the question.

It was a good question. Years ago he would have answered her that the Mind was his territorium, comparable to Spencer in that regard. But spending all that time in the Monolith had changed his perspective to some degree.

‘Mind and Matter.’ the former Sith Lord finally replied, before realizing that might be just a little too vague and mystique for a five year old. Jared scratched his beard and finally clarified. ‘I used to be pretty good at changing the way people regarded the world, be able to confront them with their worst fears and strongest moments of glory.’

He shrugged.

‘These days I have busied myself with a… different path.’

Oh Ovmar knew a lot about beasts, his archive, his legacy… it was grand and he had spend much of his time in the Monolith simply studying. Studying the research Merrill had left, studied the works of Plagueis and others. His eyes wandered across the space, until they finally settled on the Barkspawn.

Such an ingenious creation, Valik had truly outdone himself on that one. He reached out towards the pup, beckoning the beast towards him. Jared’s eyes glassed over as they studied the currents moving around and inside the sentient being.

Eventually he simply patted the head of the dog, and offered him a piece of bloody meat. Where did that come from? Huh.

‘A worthy guardian, niece.’

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

She said nothing to his answer for her question; not yet. Her canine guardian was something she had some pride in, how she had been training him all by herself (pretty much) and a more secretive pride over how the name she had given her furry friend months before had unsettled her mother. Making people react was fun, but she had to be choosy. She couldn't overdo it, and there were some things she had learned to just leave alone or not do. She still didn't get why some people were afraid of arachnoids, though. And snakes? Snakes were cute. Perhaps a bit too cute for her tastes, at any rate.

"Yes, Adas is fabulous, aren't you Adas?" She scritched behind his ears with her small fingers, and if not for the snack he'd just been given, he might have cocked his head at her, tongue lolling out as he tended to do when his favourite places were given a scratching, which she continued to do while her eyes went back to the old man that was her uncle, "Head stuff? You know Adas can get into people's heads? It scares the fe-"

She cut herself off right there. Mama'd already gotten after her for that word, and had already made judicious use of the parental controls on the holonet. She flashed Uncle Jared a cheesy grin, acting as if that hadn't just happened, and moved on.

"...yeah, he can howl right in your brain."

She nodded insistently. Moving right along.

"So, what kind of different path?"

Her? Nosy? Nahhhh. It was pretty cool to know that he used to probably be scary, though. He didn't look like what people would call scary, which was weird.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

Ovmar tilted his head slightly, almost as if listening to something only he could hear, something amusing which was demonstrated by the lazy grin spreading to his lips and staying there. It was a comfortable expression, a reminder to an old bygone era for some, but Ibaris wouldn’t realize that.
Few would these days.

‘It’s not their appearance that make things scary.’ her Godfather cautioned her gently, before trailing off almost wistful. ‘It’s what’s inside of them.’

And what had been inside of Jared Ovmar… well, it had been ugly, scary to some and intimidating to others. But that was in the past, at least that was what the Sith Lord wished to believe - he better than anyone knew though, that you can’t hide from your past and sometimes the amount of blood on your hands would never wash off. Not completely.

Again he pondered at the question, how much to tell, how much to share. She was a smart kid, but she was a kid still. It would be years before she could truly appreciate the danger present by the things they did, the things the men and women did surrounding her.

Hmm… the Monolith could fix that. Jared immediately threw away that suggestion, he could already picture the fury of Jacobs if he tried to come home with a twenty-year old Ibaris.

Shet would get awkward real fast.

‘Alchemy.’ Ovmar finally stated with a shrug. ‘The arcane manipulation of nature to suit the need.’

But which need, that was the question.

This was the point of being who Jared was. Even older, even with Merrill turning him away from what he had been, even with centuries spend in the Monolith coming to grip with everything that had happened - he was still Jared Ovmar.

Nothing would change that, nothing could change that. The path away from the Darkside was one of peril and many obstructions, some never found their way back, others needed a little push and most… got redirected many times before they were able to realize the full extend of their mistakes.

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Hearing him answer to what was going through her head made her hand stop moving across the head of the dog, made her eyes narrow to search his face for but a moment as the words of his unsolicited response worked over her consciousness, words chewed on by the mind of a girl that as yet knew so little, but by the same token knew more about things that other kids her age would probably never go near to begin with. A side-effect of the environment in which she was raised, coupled with her avid fixations.

"Different kind of monsters," she came up with, finally, "I can dig that."

Then she started stroking the hair of Adas again. The parallels between the sight of her with her closest companion to that of the archetypical evil mastermind could be amusing, if drawn. So far, she looked as cute as she was for the most part, but that opinion was surreptitiously on the move to change.

"Alchemy?" She was drawing a blank on that, and it showed on her face. That word was new, the concept complete in its unfamiliarity, and new made her eyes light up - arcane? That meant some sort of old. She'd picked that up somewhere. "What need? How does it work?"

Lots of questions - that was the one definitely typical thing for a kid her age.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

Every answer only made more questions, more question marks and blank faces. But for some reason Jared didn’t find it annoying, he settled himself into his chair, turning around slowly until he found just the right position. Feet on the table, head looking up, eyes closed he started talking.

He should have felt annoyed, should have been tired of answering her endless questions, yet Jared only experienced a strange giddiness. Implying that he was actually enjoying himself while playing teacher.

Xiangu and him had a different dynamic, ...very different. It was probably the age difference, Matsu had come to him when she was older, less malleable and entirely sure of her own reasoning and ability to make the right decisions.

Ibaris was different, younger, ‘course she too thought she knew what was best. But she was a kid, yeah… different.

‘Sith Alchemy is the alteration of life and non-life.’ the Sith Lord explained patiently. ‘In the most basic forms it allows you to forge swords which never dull, alter the molecular structure of beasts - creating new ‘life’, such as your Adas.’

Ovmar shrugged.

‘There are more applications, but that is the jist of it.’

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

When his head tipped back hers did in what might have been mimicry, but was actually curiosity at what was so interesting on the ceiling and more importantly, why he wasn't looking at her when he spoke. That was what she had learned and while she could pick on him for it, he started talking again, giving her the answers she constantly and thirstily sought which easily distracted her from what she viewed as a faux-pas (not that she knew that term). A veritable sponge, who thought that her uncle was climbing up the 'cool' chart.

"Wow," she mouthed, her hazel eyes latching onto Adas for a moment or two... or three in ponderous wonderment at his creation and furthermore, the other creatures she dreamed and daydreamed of collecting in a not-so-little menagerie, except for the moments that she considered they might eat each other; otherwise, whether or not there was any pain involved didn't seem to enter her mind. One thing did occur to her young mind, as it put two and two together: "and you can do that?!"

Almost as cool as a rancor. Almost.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

His head tilted slightly, again as if listening to something only he could hear. Again a smile spread across his lips, warming his old face with the grin of grins, before he finally spoke once again. Not in answer to her question, it had been a question with an obvious question - time was in short supply and sometimes you just gotta move on and on.

This was a truth he himself knew very well.

‘Would you like to ride a Rancor?’ the Sith Lord asked, yet again answering or referencing to what she was thinking. It was an unknown fact that Ovmar had been an avid collector of the most exotic creatures of the Galaxy.

Somewhere in the Universe was an archive of untold treasures, pebbles and as it seemed… animals.

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

She would have to know how he was doing that. No matter, the offer was a greater draw to her attention than the curiosity over his answering to the things she wasn't saying. Her face lit up like a Life Day tree, and she bounced in her seat on the couch; Adas, for his part, barked in concert with her excited, instantaneous impatience.

"Yesyesyesyesssss!" Then she remembered her manners, calmed down (though not without a smattering of giggles), laced her fingers together neatly and nervously in her lap, and looked at the old man again. "yes please, Uncle Jared!"

Would this give Mama a heart attack? WHO CARES?!

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

He was getting distinct vibes of himself being thrown out of a window, but seeing her enthusiasm made him impassive at that particular threat. Things would be fiiiiine. What was the worst that could happen? Okay... she could become Rancor-snack - but c'mon, it ain't like he couldn't just get her a new body after that ordeal, right? Right? ...he'd have to make sure everything was safe and that the rancor had gotten his meal before they'd try this, definitely.

What she didn't know was that they could probably go there right now. Slipstream and arrive at the zoo in under two minutes, but a man had a right to a few secrets. Neither Jacobs nor Varanin had to know about some of the skills he had acquired while spending a few centuries in the Monolith. Power had a cost, but man... sometimes it was darn cool anyway.

"It ain't here." The Sith Lord explained. "But we can leave whenever you'd like."

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Whenever she liked. To be given so much control was... well, she almost didn't know what to do with it. To be so indulged was a bit mind-boggling, but she went with it, flicking a glance to Adas.

"Now?" she said, as if to ask the barkspawn. Adas just lifted his head and looked at her, giving a toothy grin in response. A dopey toothy grin, which Ibaris shook her head at, sighing, "what do I ask you for, anyway?"

And a giggle, because whatever! She turned her hazel eyes back to the greyed man that was somehow her uncle when he looked way, way, way, waaaaaaaaay older than Mama and Papa put together. She gave him just about the calmest, most serious look she could attempt to muster, what with her excitement.

"Now?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

That calmest most serious expression was about the most hilarious thing the Sith Lord had ever seen in his life, and he had been around for a while now and seen a lot of things. So that really said something, didn’t it? He neglected to show much of his bemusement though, Jared still remembered himself when he was a little kid - different situation, but the same desire to be taken seriously by the adults.

‘So it shall be.’ Ovmar said with the sanctity and gravity of an Arch-Priest… or something.

He stood up and started to walk out of the room to handle things, before he left the Sith Lord called out over his shoulder. ‘Get ready, miss. Make sure you have everything packed. Gonna be one trip.’

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

She watched him go for the moment or two that he went, before telling her to get ready. She jumped off the couch and went about gathering her belongings. They weren't many, but they were hers. One of the most important ones lived around her neck. Well, at least when she wasn't sleeping. Something about choking? She had asked, and there had been some hesitance in the explanation, and worry, and she thought it was silly because there was no way she would do that to herself. It didn't even make sense!

Anyway, she gathered up her things and stuffed them into her knapsack, compass, Sithy Snax, stuffed ropo, and everything a kid would need on a daily basis aside from what her uncle could provide. She pulled the drawstring taut, and fixed the bob so the bag would stay closed and clipped the hood over the main opening, 'I'm ready, Uncle Jared!' Standing, she slung the bag over her shoulder and chased after him, Adas following in her wake.

Boy, it sure was exciting to be five.

[member="Vheissu Ireles"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Days had turned into weeks, those had again turned into months and finally months had turned into years. In all that time one [member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"] had missed her uncle dearly, a feeling that had been returned twice-over and more, but even a man such as Ovmar - a man who had always secretly wanted children of his own, a man who had ached for [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]family[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] - understood one simple thing when it came to growing up and the time it took.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Sometimes your presence could only work negatively for independent growth, this was a truth that the Sith Lord had realized a long time ago and that had been the reason why he had stayed away from his beloved niece. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Oh, he had been [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]there[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], out of sight but never out of mind. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Looking after her with one eye while cloaking himself within the fabric of reality itself. It was the last thing that he could do for [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]her[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] and her parents, but frankly Ibby never had any need for him, for her age? She was one of the most mature and independent souls he had ever encountered.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]He shouldn’t have worried.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Ibby.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]” a voice would reach out from ley lines, it was the voice of her uncle and yet… it was different somehow. Slightly more dignified, a bit hoarser too and yet the distinct smell of mischief could not and wouldn’t be missed by her. She would almost be able to [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]see[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] that grin of his, radiating through the veil of reality itself and shining at her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“I think it’s time we had a talk.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And it was then that she would [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]know[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] exactly where to go. It was even easier than using the autopilot of the Peregrine sometimes. [/SIZE]

 

[Ibaris Varanin]

Of the various reasons why she meditated as she did, daily as if maintaining faith to some god through prayer, the most significant of them all and the least proliferated amongst those who knew her well was her dogged search for the mere feeling of the presence of her godfather; her uncle Jared. She may not have needed him in a practical sense, but she had always felt that she needed him nonetheless, or wanted him for she so craved his guidance and approval no matter the face she put forward and the surety she broadcast.

Her search had become secondary, an unconscious thing as the silence grew greater over time, the dedication of her meditative time increased towards the end of focus, of strengthening the as-yet modest Force-granted skillset she carried. She had been toying with the expansion of her ability to bolster herself and allies when the voice rippled across her psyche in a gentle manner, a touch so deep in its familiar tone. Though it differed, the key markers were unmistakeable. This was [member="Jared Ovmar"].

The lower lip quivered.

A hand splayed over her mouth.

A single tear streaked down her cheek at the speed which artificial gravity and skin-given friction dictated.

U-uncle Jared…?

She felt it, then. A pull, undeniable, unmistakable, and as strong as the urge she felt at the endangerment of those closest to her. She wiped away the tear, nodding as if he could see her do so. A deep breath taken in and released, she rose from seiza, and left the small training room aboard the Peregrine to make her way to the cockpit, carefully checking for Liam who she was certain was still fast asleep at the foot of the bed; a routine had finally been achieved where she would wake early and soft-footed to get her meditations in before he woke, leaving her undisturbed.

She went for the controls and slipped into the pilot’s chair, the feeling begging action from her and she remembered the simple lesson of astrogation from Mara, knowledge that helped her go through with doing a thing she had not yet done. She used the small cube that dangled around her neck then, as she had countless times before, and searched the provided starmaps until she saw a sector, a star that resonated with the pull and took a few minutes more to refresh her memory on the space between here and there.

Coordinates were inputted, routes were reviewed, and a selection was made that best fit between knowledge and urge. Footsteps came padding up behind her as her fingers hovered over ‘go’. Her head craned around to look on [member="Liam Quez"], and she gave an apologetic smile - better to ask forgiveness than permission - as his face worked through the confusion while his head aimed to deliver words to his mouth.

“You’d better hold on, farmboy.”

And without looking, she punched it, and they blinked into hyperspace on a feeling.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Universe was a strange place.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]This was sentence that kept coming back to him the more he traveled and explored it, some people liked to pretend that it was all clinical, that it was all scientifical and researchable. But the truth was far more muddled than that, sometimes you couldn’t just explain away things with ‘science’, sometimes things happened that [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]were so weird that you just… didn’t know.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And that was okay.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was what made the place so interesting and fascinating, the idea that you could simply walk around and witness things that you hadn’t ever seen before - you just had to [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]want [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]it. You had to let go of the common conventions and realize there was a whole other dimension out there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Just had to grab it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Ibby’s destination was the Tarin System within the Unknown Regions, it wasn’t a system that was on any starmaps and funny enough it hadn’t been on her crystal either… but Ovmar had his ways, he always had and this hadn’t been too far off from the things he usually did.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The presence of Ovmar seemed to be all around her, it was different in many ways, but unmistakable to being him. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Mmhmmm.” the incorporeal hum would come. “Who’s the blondie?”[/SIZE]