Private Two Little Shadows

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

Dis was also relieved when it was revealed that there were no more such attempts. Or at least Zahra hadn't heard of it. The Shadowcat doesn't even want to go deeper into this matter, it was plenty that they had just heard now. They watched and examined the droid with great interest as it activated. The runes did not escape their attention, but did not recognize much of it, only a few.

Their ur-Kittât was not the most perfect either. And the runes didn’t stay here long enough to take a better look at them. And Kal's question was very reasonable and logical. Dis wanted to ask that too, or just who she was. Looked at Zahra for a moment to see if the girl was asking anything, but when she hadn't done so, the Shadowcat finally decided they would ask their question.

~ Who are you? ~ inquired, with a simple question.

"My name is Ruvae Duxia, the only daughter of one of the chieftains in Korriban. What do I remember? I don't know, everything is so vague. I remember the day of my wedding when the enemy tribe who were not happy that my father calls himself king attacked us. They took me away. Darkness… pain, another darkness. Then the pain ceased and… I remember my fiancé as he attacked me. Darkness again. What happened to me? I feel strange."

 

[Kal]

The daughter of some petty tribal warlord or another, one among many who might at one time have aspired in vain to rule the Sith people. Forgotten by history, most likely.

So many had tried, over the aeons. So many had bled and died for a hopeless cause.

That was not the detail that stuck out the most to Kal, however - the confirmation that her origins lay with the relatively primitive Sith of yore answered some questions but raised many more. Most prominently, they should not have such technology.

There was nothing in the records, nothing in the stories, nothing to indicate that they had ever possessed such an advanced understanding of mechanics and cognition.

"That's what we are trying to piece together. Does the name Adas mean anything to you?" Just how old was this thing - and how had it been made?

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

Dis listened with interest to the woman's response, as did Zahra. The age of the “princess” really seemed to reflect the time plane previously thought when there were still tribes on Korriban and they existed in such a hierarchy. The Shadowcat also noticed that something was wrong with that. The timeline was really weird, they had never heard of anyone having such advanced technology at the time. Certainly not the Rakata.

As Kal "uttered" the name Adas, a strong dark side "flare" could be felt from the droid. Her aura seemed to explode or glow with dark red flames for a moment. It seemed to Dis that the woman found the name very familiar. They probably even had a common past. If this is true, then at least there was a time of exactly what age it came from. When the droid spoke, from her voice the anger could be felt.

"Yes, I know that worm! He was there at the wedding as our ally. I remember as he cutting off my father's head. We trusted him, he was our ally, and he betrayed us. My father warmed a snake on his chest and that was the end of it! How do you know his name? And why not recognise mine?"

She asked newer questions. Dis looked at Zahra and Kal a little confused, not really knowing what to say. Compassion was not their strength nor to express it.

 

[Kal]

Visibly unimpressed by the droid's emotional reaction though he was, Kal seemed positively intrigued by its more mystical effects. In a flesh-and-blood Sith it would have been par for the course, but in a wandering hunk of steel and circuitry?

Fascinating, simply fascinating.

<It goes without saying that we will need to look into how this body conducts the Force so well.> A message for Zahra and due deference to her expertise.

"I see. That begins to establish the timeline, at least." For a moment he considered recommending it take a seat, but it seemed unlikely that a droid, however Sithy, could faint or display similar organic weaknesses as a reaction to shocking news.

"Adas united the Sith under his banner. He ruled over them for at least two centuries - accounts vary - and then he perished. That was almost thirty thousand years ago."

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

~ How is this possible? ~ they asked.

Dis also found the events very interesting, the fact that the droid was able to feel and definitely looks like someone who is able to use the Force. To the best of their knowledge, only one Force Ghost was capable of that, but that was something very different from that. But they had to agree with Kal's words that it would be really good to find out all this. They had never seen such an interesting and special droid, though the Shadowcat was not a fan of droids.

They then watched as Kal spoke to the droid. They have really reached the most delicate subject. Now, through the Force, quite a lot of mixed emotion could be felt from the direction of the princess. There was the usual anger and hatred at the same time, but it was mixed with the joy that Adas no longer existed. However, she was also surprised that he had achieved so many deeds. Finally, the shock was palpable when Kal stated how much time had passed while she was unable to sense the world and reality.

"How much time? Thirty… thirty thousand years?! How is this possible at all?"

It was as if she had realised then that she was not in her own body, raised her hand, looked at it, and then touched the machine parts, with a slightly clumsy and mechanized movement. Her confusion and incomprehension could also be felt through the Force.

"What is this body? What are these metal things? Who did this to me?"

 

[Kal]

<Hard to say. The timeline here is quite strange, we will certainly need to date the droid just to be sure.> The Rakatans in their prime might have been able to pull off feats such as this, but it did not resemble Rakatan artifice. Not that he had seen much of their work.

As far as he knew, all Greystone had of their once-great Empire was nonfunctional trinkets.

"That - and more - is something we are hoping to find out. We are certainly not responsible, we merely found you." It remained to be seen whether or not she was truly herself or merely a flawed copy - neural pathways rather than souls. It was often how technological solutions to immortality went; Kal found that thoroughly unimpressive.

The spirit, not the memories, was the being. Was a copy was either a nonperson or an entirely new individual and he was leaning towards the former.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

~ Yes, very strange. I don’t really know a single species from that time that could do that. One, but it doesn't look like their style. ~ they referred to the Rakata.

They didn’t know much about them, they just saw some droids and statues, maybe even knew something that they used stolen technology, but they weren’t sure about that anymore. Because of the present and the Creator, the Shadowcat was mainly interested in the Sith, and of course Jedi ruins, but they hadn't found much of the Jedi ruins and artefacts yet. Dis couldn't even guess if this droid could be a Rakata preparation or not, they were just sure they didn't look like them.

"I see. And do you have any idea who did it to me, how and why? I can’t imagine anyone would have been happy with this… or that was a torture?"

Zahra hadn't moved yet, she looked questioningly at Kal about what they were doing after this. After all, he was the one just talking to the “princess” at the moment. She was still examining herself, trying to step, to move her body. Apparently this was all strange to her, as if she were doing it for the first time.

"How would you like to find out what happened to me? Where am I at all?"

 

[Kal]

Zahra seemed content mainly to observe, but that was likely for the better; her skill lay with artifice, not diplomacy - not that Kal was being all that diplomatic at the moment. No, in this case, the Sith automaton's responses and reactions were far more important than her agreement. He was there to observe, not persuade.

"Torture or punishment seems unlikely. Yours is not a commonly seen or easy to create form, especially in your time." Even today such technology was beyond exotic.

A wonder of engineering, if you were interested in that kind of thing. To Kal it was a pitiable state of existence, but then his mind was intrinsically tied to his spirit above and beyond how organics function. He could understand more secularly-minded organics pursuing exotic paths to immortality, but this did not seem to be the case with her. A test subject, perhaps? Someone used to test the viability of a project that never kicked off?

"Analysis of your physical form and anything you remember, for one." An analysis best relegated to other, more specialised, beings. Zahra, for one, at least as far as the materials and technologies were concerned. "As for the where..."

"Welcome to the Netherworld. Chaos. The Land of the Dead. Ironic, really."

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

Dis also watched and listened further; they didn’t have much luck with diplomacy, so they also felt it might be best to entrust this to Kal. Until then, they were quiet, tilting their head right and left. The Shadowcat found the events fundamentally interesting.

Meanwhile, the princess began to move more and more with her arms and legs, taking further uncertain steps. It was as if she was really looking for and trying to learn how this works. The first steps were uncertain, she almost fell. She touched her metal parts again to feel herself. She touched things that were here in the workshop. In the meantime, of course, she was also watching and listening to Kal. It was visible that she could perfectly perceive the outside world around her.

"I have never seen this style of armor before. My body doesn't fit in either. I've never heard of such a thing."

Her voice mingled with shock, despair, and similar emotions. When she realized she didn't have a body, the princess stopped and looked at Kal.

"How is it possible to live without a physical body?"

And then she was really shocked when Kal mentioned the Netherworld.

"You mean, like, afterlife? Are we dead then?"

 

[Kal]

"Not quite. You might be, depending on how you would define death."

He was not yet sure whether she was the spirit, the soul, of a being that had once been biologically alive or merely a convincing imprint, a person frozen in time.

Whatever the case, a great deal of observation would be needed before they would know just what to make of her and just what to do with her. It might well be worthwhile placing a Shade on her, patiently watching until relieved of its duty.

"It is possible to transfer a spirit to another vessel, albeit usually another organic form, or to transcribe the contents of a mind, as it where, into a digital pattern."

He would not consider the latter the same person, but to each their own.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

"How would I define death?" she asked back; she had to think about this for a few moments. " This is a very interesting question… According to my faith, I am already dead by coming to the realm or land of the dead, because here there is no place for the living. But I assume they are also dead, who is no longer in their own body? But… based on how you react, it seems like it’s completely average if someone isn’t in their own body." stated in the end.

Since she derives from a fairly early period, it probably couldn’t have been too surprising that the Sith may have been more superstitious at the time. Dis didn't really know what to say, as it was really commonplace for them, it was enough to watch the Shadows or Valkyrja. So that should have been some good explanation, and Kal was still better at that.

After Kal's words, she was once again shocked and surprised as the Shadow said what methods existed. It was felt that the princess had never heard of such a thing before.

"What kind of sorcery is able to do so?! This is… unnatural! And very… very interesting!" the desire for knowledge and the desire for power was felt, through the Force. This was the first truly Sith manifestation on the part of the woman.

~ At least we really know she's a Sith… ~ the Shadowcat "said" to Kal and Zahra.

 

[Kal]

Kal could not but agree with Dis' impression - how very Sith of her.

Drifting forward, alien dots of light tracked her movements, revealing little of their owner's emotional state. After some consideration, he finally gave an answer. "Not average or normal, per se, but not unheard of either. There are various ways to detach a spirit."

Kal offered no comment as to whether that was how he had come to be. He had been given no reason to extend any trust towards this robotic Sith.

"Your specific case will require further study. It does not resemble any technique with which I am familiar." Not by him either, necessarily. He was only tangentially familiar with modern methods, let alone whatever this was. Perhaps Tyrants' Row could be consulted?

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

From the direction of the droid, or soul, the emotions, if the trio watched better, more strongly, were felt, “seen”. Since Kal had tried this, he could observe it all. The woman was still confused, finding everything too foreign, strange. There was suffocated anger, anger, and immeasurable helplessness in her, but she still tried to suppress them anyway. With that, she also had some fear for a while about what was going to happen to her now, what it was all about, what would happen if she possibly used the Force.

She turned to Kal again in curiosity as he began to speak. The princess had definite interest in this, what the Shadow told. Her next question once again testified to how she came from the early time of the Sith.

"If this is true, would it also be possible to look for an empty body without a soul so I have a living body again? Somebody that no longer has a soul but the body is still working?" she asked and tried to circumscribe the concept of the brain dead state.

After that, she also received an answer that her case was special, she nodded at it, although in addition to the possible chances, her impatience was felt.

"Tyrant's row?" she asked back. "Interesting name…"

~ That's a good idea, maybe someone should be called here from there, for the sake of simplicity, or should we take her there? ~ Dis asked Kal.

 

[Kal]

"Perhaps."

Possibilities, not promises. That was all she would be given - no more, no less. She was an unfamiliar element, an untrusted entity, worthy of study yet also careful handling. Who knew what she would do without a leash to restrain her.

<Better to bring her. Why call upon one for their assistance when the request can be broad enough to draw the attention and competition of several?>

Those who plied their trades on that fell street were ever eager to clamber over each other for the slightest advantage and therein lay opportunity; a challenge was difficult to resist, doubly so when paired with the fear that a rival might beat them to it.

Nevermind the actual reward for success, though that too could be arranged.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ] ​

"This is more than encouraging!" she replied.

Dis still found it interesting, especially because of his behaviour. It was Sith at once, and yet it wasn't. They assumed it was because she came from the very early ages when the usual Sith hierarchy and probably mentality did not yet exist, but it was still strange. They had a feeling that the woman would find the modern Sith strange. They nodded at Kal's response.

~ I hope it will succeed, I'm not afraid about she'll run away or try to do this… who doesn't know this place, won't get far. ~

They shared their own concerns. True, they weren’t worried about escaping, but about, if she does something, she will be destroyed, which would be unpleasant. Because then it is possible that nothing would emerge from what caused the experiment to begin. It would be unfortunate. Deciding to go out to Tyrant's row; the Shadowcat turned in the direction of the princess and spoke exceptionally loudly.

"Princess, you will come with us to Tyrant's row, if you are ready to go, we can go." they said.

"We can go!" she replied.

 

[Kal]

Would the Sith-machine follow or flee once outside? They'd know soon enough.

Cheerfully indifferent - either course of action would wield valuable information about her behavioural patterns and thus clues as to how she ended up in her current condition - Kal led the way outside, a plethora of lights, sounds, and sensations greeting them the moment the workshop's doors slid open. It was like stepping into a new world.

For the royal droid, the analogy was not entirely inaccurate.

<We are not in Tyrants' Row, but we will be soon.> If you asked the average spirit on the street, it was on the other end of the city, but Kal was a Shadow. His kind had made Masque and his kind knew its ins and outs like few others.

One narrow alley later, they found themselves in the middle of a rather more nefarious seeming crowd. If the princess turned around, she would see nothing but a dead end.

It was as if space itself had contorted itself to suit his fancy - an impossibly complicated feat in realspace, but a rather simple matter for a being such as him in a place such as this.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Zahra’s workshop
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ]
<"Galactic Basic"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ ​

The princess set off after Kal, followed by Dis. For Dis, the Masque was completely ordinary, in the sense that they were used to this place because they spent a lot of time here. Of course, the place always held surprises, but nonetheless, the Shadowcat felt completely at home here. This was not true of the princess, only that she did not want to escape.

She was surprised, amazed, looking around, through the Force it was perfectly felt how she was surprised and how the place impressed her. She was from a fairly old time, so everything was new to her here, too modern. The princess didn’t want to escape, in return she would stop at countless places to look at shop windows or just look at the stalls of street vendors. She was literally impressed by everything, and had countless questions about what it was, what it was for. Dis tried to answer her questions, the Shadowcat didn’t rush the woman, but if Kal did, she and Dis tried to keep up with him.

"How are so many miracles possible in one place?" she asked.

Since the majority didn’t know what a princess was, so they didn’t give any attention to the company, they probably thought of her as a strange-looking droid, no more, so no one stopped them. They didn’t speak to them except for the answers they answered to the princess’s questions. Finally, she had one more question:

"Is everyone dead here? They seem so real …" she said.

 

[Kal]

<One man's miracle is another man's everyday occurrence.> On one side a hooded oracle promised to foresee one's demise with dice wrought from the bones of the innocent, on the other a masked figure appeared to be having a conversation through a blazing brazier. <This place calls to the unusual, harbours and cultivates it.>

Even by Masque's standards, Tyrants' Row was unusual, of course, as were its inhabitants.

<Define dead.> Seemingly mildly amused by the question, Kal's luminous gaze drifted across the crowd, observing shades, walking corpses, flesh and blood bodies, and stranger things yet. <Some are very alive, some very dead... and some defy easy categorisation. Many would count you among the latter, you know.>

Perhaps they would know more, once they arrived at the destination he had in mind.

 

[Dis]

Dis the Shadow(cat)
Shadowcat, explorer and wanderer; Owner of the Cat’s Paw; Member of the Greystone Mercantile​

Location: Tyrant's Row
Equipment: N/A
Tag: Kal

[ Theme ]
<"Galactic Basic"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ ​

Dis was among those for whom Tyrant's Row was commonplace; they, too, was one of the strangest creatures, the cat figure was not traditional among the Shadows. The Princess was still walking here as if she were in some enchanted forest; and Dis followed the company as if they were just at home. They hovered high enough because otherwise it wouldn’t have seen anything, but here the company was still not very conspicuous.

The princess pondered the question and looked around here once more. Meanwhile, Dis greeted some acquaintances who recognized them. The Shadowcat used to come here a lot, trade, or just listen to stories. They loved this place. And the droid soon answered Kal's question.

<"This is not the simplest question. I suppose if the living is able to exist in the world of the dead, then the dead are also able to exist in the living. And then they are no longer explicitly considered dead. I don’t know if that makes any sense that way. All of this is hard to understand and believe."> she explained.

~ Who are we going to? ~ Dis asked Kal, because even the Shadowcat had no idea about it at the moment either.

 

[Kal]

It was clear that the Sith was used to thinking of death as a binary distinction, unlike the Shadow, who seemed to consider the distinction less important overall. A practical enough stance, for one who regularly dealt with the living, the dead, the in-between.

<Death is many different things, to different people. A beginning or an end, a medical diagnosis or a purely spiritual matter. Some even deny its existence.>

Giving no outward signs of their internal correspondence, Kal responded to the Shadowcat's question in a distinctly cheerful manner. <A witch that goes by Lady Rozri. Has a habit of snacking on wayward souls, much like some of the Netherworld's stranger predators - as a result, she has acquired relevant expertise, so to speak.>

Who better to identify a soul and its binding than a connoisseur?