Log:If Stones Could Speak
The jedi explore their new home on Tempes
OOC Date: November 6, 2015 (Optional)
Location: Tempes
Participants: Nora Frayus, Aryn Cortess, Sesti Greystorm, Jax Greystorm, Ban Iskender, Rune, Yuun
RP Rating and Summary
PG-13: Some Distressing imagery.
The Jedi have begun to explore the immediate surroundings of their new temple on Tempes. After an evening of searching homes for any information on those who used to live there, they decide to take a look at one last house before heading back to camp. Perhaps, being the last house on the way, the Jedi are inspired to look a little closer. Or, perhaps, something was compelling about this space in particular. Regardless the reason, the Jedi find themselves drawn into the mystery of the family that once lived here, and the story of the life they led within those stone walls.
Log
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If stones could speak, could you imagine the stories they might tell?
That stone that sits atop the lake, providing shade in the summertime and refuge in the winter. The bricks upon a mantle or, in the case of the house that the small Jedi (plus one senator!) search party have entered, the walls themselves. The mission of this particular voyage is paradoxically simple and entirely ephemeral. They are meant to simply... understand this place. Their new home, the buildings that surround it, and, perhaps, the people that once inhabited them. This is not the first home that the Jedi have toured, either. It is the last on the list for the evening, in fact. And so far, their search has been... inconclusive.
"It's as if the entire populace just... disappeared," Nora says thoughtfully as she pushes into the last home they are meant to search. Back in the direction they wandered from, a fire roars. Stews bubble and meat sizzles on skewers, breathing life into cold stone once more.
They enter the home through the ground level, and at first glance, it appears as all the others.
"Hmmmmhh," Nora says thoughtfully, shuffling into the living quarters a few more feet to make room for the others to shuffle in behind her.
[ Aryn Cortess (AC)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Aryn reluctantly leaves the sound of crackling fire and bubbling stews to tour the last place on the list. Melancholy sets in at Nora's words, though Aryn has nothing contrary to say that might stem a more positive spin on the matter. It simply was. Moving in after Nora, Aryn makes no effort to pause. She walks in one direction quietly, her hands tucked from view and resting beneath the confines of her cape, gloved fingers interlocked idly casual. "What have we learned thus far of our host and the previous tenants?" Aryn does not hazard a look back, she simply studies the stone in reverent regard.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The one Senator in the group has been quite relaxed during the tour. She had arrived on a scouting mission of sorts of her own, and already found the calming delights of the hot springs and the view from the edge. As little as needed to be said about anything outside Tempes, and she was at peace with that much while here. Sesti lightly touches Jax's hand as she slips past him into the first living are to glance around, looking first for windows and sources of light, as well as the size. She'd become more and more interested in what was left behind, and the clean, orderly belongings. With each one, she imagined more of what kind of family, if there were in fact families, might have been living here, or the hands that put each thing in its place.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jax had followed along with the group during the search. The jedi knight allowed the others to slip into the house before entering. "It is curious." He says in response to Nora's question. "If they were all associates of the jedi order, maybe they were recalled and it was nothing sinister but rarely do we get to be that lucky." He briefly takes Sesti's hand as she brushes against his. "I haven't learned anything, I'm not sure Crag has awoken from his nap."
[ Ban Iskender (ban)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ban Iskender meanders through the ruins with an unhurried gait, steady, even steps bearing the gentleman through the ancient house. A gloved hand rests idly for a long moment on a doorframe as he passes, green eyes going closed for a long moment before dark brows draw in a brief frown, and his hand recoils from the stone. 'Rarely do we get that lucky'? "Quite so," he agrees, dry in tone. "As to what has been learned, I may count only patience among the recent lessons of circumstance."
[ Rune (R)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
He can already feel the chill creeping in as they wander farther and farther away from the fire. Rune massages his arms rapidly, rubbing a bit of warmth through the fabric as they enter the newest location of their endeavor. "Jedi have been nomads in the past, moving from one place to another where ever the Force did call them. We ourselves have moved from home to home even in the short time I have been among... you, us?" The Ysannan stumbles over the correct categorization as he slips through the doorway into the rocky domicile.
"Regardless, it does seem a bit odd." Rune nods to Jax in his assessment, "I am certain that Crag will have more to say on that matter. He did say this was a light nap, I wonder if he will wake this century?" the Padawan says with a grin and a chuckle, in all likelihood a joke, but knowing this new contact and species, who really knows for sure.
[ Yuun (Yun)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yuun was eating and now here he comes, the last one. For a Jedi, a Jedi arrives exactly as they meant. Right? Still having come out of the eating area, Yuun sees the group, the cold air fills him but he's changed into warmer clothing. He moves to catch up with the others.
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Nora straightens up a little bit when Aryn poses her question, and she pulls up the datapad she has tucked beneath her arm that she's been using to record their observations up until this point. "An excellent question, Your Grace. Crag has said that this was once a home to the Jedi," Nora says, gesturing around the room but certainly referring to the entire surrounding area at large. "We have found scorch marks on some structures consistent with blaster fire, but with the erosion of time it is difficult to say. Some homes appear to be in pristine order, whereas others have signs of struggle or, at the very least, decay. And, as Lord Iskander would put it, a bit of patience as well," she says. And then sighs, switching off the data pad. She sets it beside her and places both of her hands on her hips.
To Jax, Sesti, Rune, and Yuun, Nora tips her head and gives them what can only be considered a flummoxed sort of expression. "I must admit I am puzzled. I know we are meant to solve a mystery, but in the absence of any clues, I simply canno--," she begins to say. As she does, there is a sound in the room. It's a subtle thing. Just a knock. But the strange thing about the knock is that it happens simultaneously in three places. Here. Above. Below. Looking around, Nora spies two sets of stairs, one moving up to a second story, and one moving down into a basement below. Her lips purse and she looks towards the other Jedi in some confusion.
The ground floor of the home is quaint, but comfortable. The Jedi stand in what looks to be a kitchen. A hearth, counter space, and what would serve as a dining table are left in fairly good condition. Past it and the staircases leading up and down are another chamber, though it, like the upstairs and downstairs, are dark and dimly lit.
"Perhaps I will have a look upstairs. I once locked myself in my Father's wine cellar and was trapped there for nothing short of an eternity. I care not to repeat it. Would anyone care to join me?" she asks, already rounding the far end of that stone staircase and beginning to step up.
[ Aryn Cortess (AC)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Patience is always the first step. One casts a line and hook to the water assuming a fish may bite. Yet, only patience reveals if there were even any fish at all. This.." Aryn gestures generously, turning back to face the others, "..is but the surface of the water. Cast your lines, and we may yet see what lurks beneath the surface. We need not eyes to see this story; the Force provides." Aryn spoke in a parable of sorts, but only for the analogy. The intent behind doing so was to prompt the Jedi to look beyond what they saw. 'Sometimes your eyes lie,' Master Kenobi once said.
To lead by example, Aryn brings forth her hands and pulls a glove free from one. A pale hand with painted nails lightly touches the wall in an effort of auramancy, using the Force to draw out the echoes of the past and show what memories still lurk here. From Aryn's perspective, her surroundings began to fade, both in sound and essence; the setting changed yet stayed the same. Standing in the echo, Aryn observed the room with new eyes as the walls and interior felt more lived in and warm. If nostalgia had a personality, it was this place, around the hearth. Where there had been no fire before, flames from the past licked the air and shades of those who were warmed by it move in various directions. Aryn hears an ancient language shared between lovers who fight, love, and experience life, bringing in new life at some point and sharing the hearth with those smaller shades (children.)
Aryn moves through the memory, picking up on ancient rhymes and benign conflicts. As she returns to her current reality, and the sounds grow distant and absent, she hums the ancient tune and utters that, "This once belonged to a family. A place of love, of hearth and joy. Long ago, perhaps as old as the stones themselves. So strong is it to persist in the Force even after this long; I ponder the significance.."
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sesti pauses and looks to the others to see if she was the only one to hear anything, or be hearing things possibly. From Nora's reaction, she gets the idea it's not just her, and she does a full turn looking about the room before she turns to her husband. "Perhaps we should go downstairs, I have a light on my goggles..." She pulls the ever present goggles out that she learned to keep on her after a particularly windy day on Tatooine. As she approaches the stairs, she taps a button on the side and a beam of light sweeps out in front of her. The beam goes down the stairs ahead of them, and the flows over shelves and rows of glass jars filled with pickled vegetables. She picks one up and inspects it, looking through the glass at the cubes floating inside in liquid of some kind. She hands it over to Jax with a grin, "dare you to try it..." before she continues on. She sweeps the light around the basement, then back. Going over to an overturned book case, she leans close to the wall where, presumably, the bookcase used to stand. "Jax... how old would you say these blaster burns are?" she asks, her finger about a centimeter from the wall tracing along in the air above one scorch mark.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jax had ended up down stairs in the dark. His eyes failing him and giving away to his vision in the force. As he steps into the basement. He stands there for a moment confused at what he was searing through the force. His mind having problems making things out of this picture before he starts to put it together. "Everything seems to be in place." He makes his way over to shelf with preserved food. He picks up a jar of pickles. "This seem to be still preserved." He frowns, "I'll pass. Rations still go bad." He seems to be speaking from experience there. "What blaster burns?" He says moving to join Sesti.
[ Ban Iskender (ban)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ban Iskender draws and lets out a slow breath through the nose as he regards the hearth and home about them. Hearing only the mundane sounds of a ruin following the curious resounding knock. Gradually, he ventures aloud, "Mayhap the folk themselves were of either power or importance, for their shades to ensure, so. Else, perhaps their scions. Can one's memory preserve such things?" Abruptly, he goes silent, head canting to listen. "I pray you, continue the song," he asks Aryn. "I hear the knock again, in time with your voice."
[ Rune (R)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"The mystery thickens..." Rune remarks, glancing around the room they're in quickly, as if he'd be able to locate the sound of the knock that easily. When Nora turns to head up the stairs, he lifts a hand to indicate his acceptance of her offer. "I am right behind you." Almost quite literally as the pair continue up the stairs to investigate the phantom sound from above.
Sadly, once they arrive, the cause of the knock is not readily apparent. There's no rock person or person otherwise simply standing about and tapping on the floor. Instead what they find, is clearly the bedroom of the family that Aryn mentioned, with three small beds lined up in a row and a larger bed positioned off to the side, flanking the stairs.
Rune lifts his hand to run through his hair, as if the action could improve on arranging the mop atop his skull. The Padawan moves over to the nightstands beside the master bed, shifting through some of the personal belongings before turning to the opened lockbox at the foot of one of the children's beds. With curious hazel eyes, he rummages through the items left behind, hoping to find some indication of who these people were and why they might have fled. "Not a lot to go on, so far. Any luck on your end?" He calls over his shoulder to Nora.
[ Yuun (Yun)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yuun looks at those who are moving off, shrugging a little, "I will come with you two." Yuun says as he walks over to where Sesti and Jax are and heads down into the basement. As he looks around, he quirks a brow as he takes in the basement. "I will try them later." he says. "Though, I agree rations do go bad but then again, these may be extra pickled." he starts to shake shis head, "Nevermind." he says as he looks at Sesti and Jax. Then his eyes catch sight of blaster burns and he starts to looking around more carefully, "We should look around further more down here, the angle of these shots tell me there is more then meets the eyes down here."
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When Rune moves towards the large bed at the top of the stairs, Nora moves towards those three little beds on the opposite wall. "They're so small," she says with a warmth and a fondness as she stoops herself down to kneel beside the small chest that has been left open. There are papers stuffed within it, as well as old wooden toys. Simple things that use nothing but form and physics to generate joy -- a far cry from some of the lavish things she used to play with when she was far smaller. She lifts one into her hand and tips her head to the side, holding it in her right palm.
When Rune moves to join her, she reaches back into the lockbox to retrieve the papers that have been scattered throughout. Drawings of children and adults. Animals, too. And things of a child's imagination as well.
"I like this one," Nora says to Rune, smiling at the man and showing him what looks to be a bulbous blue orb with rather silly eyes and a curly tail. It's funny... a child today could have drawn something just like this. There are more papers within the box, however. One in particular catches her eye, and she lifts it up to have a look. There are others to dig through as well.
[ Aryn Cortess (AC)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Aryn did as she was bid by Ban, and continued the song, humming it quietly as she walked toward the stair, her hand lightly touching the wall. To those who felt the ripples of the Force would have no trouble detecting that Aryn actively used her own connection. Using, again, a trick of auramancy she traveled the hall and stair of the home, arriving at the upper levels.
To Nora and Rune, Aryn's expression was vacant and some place else, looking /through/ them with a piercing gaze that traveled the room in near quiet regard. She hummed the distant hymn, whatever it was, and found the bedroom to be a place of many things. Shades rushed by her in a life-long collection of activities ranging from childhood tears and fights to intimacy. What stood out the most in the shade was not the nostalgia of home, or the feeling of love; it was of terror.
A shade near the floor begins to take the shape of a small girl who scribbles something on a paper, conveying the image she looks at from over her shoulder and toward a window. Aryn looks through the same window, then back down, to focus on the drawing and ascertain the source of this overwhelming fear. The shade may not detect her, but Aryn has stooped to a crouch beside them, looking on with an expression etched in concern.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sesti sits a little to let Jax see, then she leans in a little closer to the wall. Her finger presses a stone, then her head tilts to the side and her eyes follow a path up the wall, over the ceiling, and then down towards the shelves of pickles. Stepping over, she starts to carefully remove them, setting them to the side on the floor. "Can you help me?" she asks Yuun, looking towards him. "And tell me what the pattern of scorch marks means as we do, I am certain there is something... it is just..." her eyes go again to the ceiling, and she concentrates on pulling jars down a line from each of the shelves, rather than just one shelf in particular.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"You are a braver man than me or a hungrier man than me Yuun. You should eat some of Corto's stew." Jax says to his fellow knight. Then as Sesti beckons him over to examine the blaster bolts with her and Yuun. The Corellian reaches out with his hand and hovers just a few centimeters from the charred wall. Jax opening his senses to the flow of the force to let it tell him what it wants. As suddenly his expression curling up in a grimace of pain. "Violence. Confusion. There should be more blaster marks here. Yuun is correct... and so are you. I think it was an execution by a firing squad." Then something hits him, "Look to the floor, the ceiling, and other wall. If the residents were a jedi, there may be deflection from a lightsaber."
[ Ban Iskender (ban)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ban Iskender lowers to one knee near the long-cold hearth, idly inspecting the flagstones, and recalling the habits of his people to conceal belongings in such places, but none of the stones seem loose, nor unmortared, and after several moments, a gloved hand steadies his sword and he rises, turning to follow Aryn up the stairs..
Though something toward the back of the ground floor catches his eye, first. Booted steps bear him to a small door leading out to the home's back garden. Gloved fingers follow the abrupt bend forced into the metal latch, and green eyes narrow on the socket, where some awful force had broken the stone in smashing the latched door in. His voice is raised to calmly recount, "A great power was used in staving in this portal. Stone and steel alike were bent and broken."
[ Rune (R)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"These remind me of my youth." Rune remarks as she replaces one of the wooden toys in the opened footlocker, his eyes following the piece as it settles among its other kind. His hazel gaze flits over the papers as they're sifted through, the images of children's imaginings evoking different emotions as she goes. He idly wonders just how well they captured what their imagination conjured.
The art work she lifted gets a raised eyebrow, "A pet perhaps?" Rune muses while a smile slips over his lips at the darling imagery. His idle curiosity begins to spark an idea in his head, perhaps he can commune with the Force to see something that inspired these images, or perhaps even when they were created themselves. Focusing on the paper she lifted, he reaches out with his sixth sense, feeling for the past, for the life in this home, the strong echo that still exists in this place of love and peace...
The shade of Aryn's young girl materializes next to him, humming and doodling on the little blue blob Nora had found. Rune finds himself joining in on the song, his voice added to Aryn's and the girl's. As the little girl sings, she knocks gently on the floor, the knock, knock, knock of the sound they all heard before.
However, when the Lady Cortess ceases humming, the shade of the girl evaporates only to form a little closer, now with a sense of apprehension and fear at what she draws. The Ysannan's eyes lock onto the image that she creates, his own feelings of terror rising as he experiences the little girl's fear over the distance of time. Hazel eyes dance over the work she furiously brands on paper, and finds her creating the very piece of art that Nora now clutches in her hand...
[ Yuun (Yun)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yuun smiles, "Probably hungrier." he laughs. "I'm always eating." he says as he looks between the two. He turns his attention to Sesti as she asks him for help. He nods, "Sure." he says as he listens to Jax as he explains what he's sensing from the Force. His mind taking in the information, he helps removes the pickle jars and moves them aside so that they don't kick them over or anything. As he finishes, he quirks a brow a second. "I think." he says as he moves closer to the bottom shelf. "There are weights and pulleys. He studies the mechanism, "I think if we engage them...." he pauses. He shifts his attention a little, "It's pretty simple in fact." he points to where the rest of the mechanism connects to which is a line that Sesti was following along the ceiling. "It looks like it goes to that wall." he points at the far end.
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Nora looks over her shoulder at the sound of people moving up the stairs. That odd knocking seems explained, at least for a moment. She turns to look at the strange drawing that she'd retrieved from the old wooden footlocker by the bed. It is... different than the rest. It lacks that childlike whimsy, of smiling faces and silly caricatures. Instead it depicts what looks to be the sky and the stone buildings beneath them. Harsh, red scribbles streak from what look to be black blobs that mar that blue sky, and beneath it, whoever drew this took time to depict the forms of people running through the streets. The people are not smiling. Instead, large frowns smear themselves across their small faces, drawn across their heads instead of within. A childlike lack of precision, but one that succeeds in evoking an emotion.
Nora frowns and looks at the others. She doesn't need to say anything. It might be a simple drawing, but it communicates its point perfectly.
When Yuun engages whatever mechanism he meant to flip, the whole house begins to shake. There is a loud groan of stone against stone as that weight and pulley engages and draaaaaaaags that strange bit of stone from right to left, sucking it into a carved out space that had been dug into stone. Those in the basement can watch the process unfold, and see the new room that has been revealed.
"Well, that sounds promising," Nora says, folding that drawing up and tucking it into one of the poppy red sashes at her waist. It doesn't feel right to leave something so troubling within a space that should feel... different. Perhaps that's silly.
"I do not think I can resist seeing whatever that was," she says, moving past Aryn, Rune, and Ban so that she can join the others in the basement.
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The new room that opens up reveals itself to those in the basement first, though those who are joining them due to the commotion will be short behind them. All of the questions that those in the basement and, truly, those within this house, are answered almost immediately upon seeing this new space. Bodies lie on the floor, their skeletal remains long-since stripped of flesh and blood. Their armor is black and tattered, crumbled and brittled by age and slicked with dust.
The way the bodies have fallen indicate that they were oriented towards a set of stairs on the far wall leading up and out of the basement, and a hail of blaster scorches have charred what were grey stone walls black. One body remains that is not in armor. It is the body of an adult that lies at the foot of those stairs, looking as if it had fallen in defense of the way out.
[ Aryn Cortess (AC)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Aryn is drawn back to reality after sharing a glance with Rune. She rises back up and follows Nora's prompt to go below, only then does she hear the new bit of information from Ban about the forced entry. It seems this home was the victim of invasion, or so Aryn thinks.
Upon arriving at the basement, she sees the conclusion. Mise en scene taken into account, Aryn sees the last act of a loving parent, or who she assumes is a parent. A bit of emotion surfaces, but she pushes it back down by looking up to hold off tears from wet eyes. A bittersweet ending.
"I think I have seen enough, for now," Aryn says softly, turning to head back up the stairs and outside to find some air and find her center again.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sesti's lightly piqued curiosity turns dour at Jax's words. "Execution?" she asks, frowning at the definite dark turn. At his words, she looks up to the ceiling, distracted from Yuun's observations of pulleys and such. "But, what if not everyone in the village were jedi?" she asks, thinking of her own family. Then there's a grinding, and a room opens where she had seen the depression in the rock, and she stands transfixed, horrified, at the scene behind the door. She swallows the quick bile, and forces herself to calm and step forward. The one who defended, could they have been... she stoops down and looks around, finding only a small blaster that was not made to stand a chance against the weapons that would have made the scorch fire seen here.
After another moment, looking around, she stands. "They were heavily outmatched... why were the others not able to..." She turns, her eyes seeking Jax's. "Do you think there are other basements like this? In those houses that looked untouched?" There's a shadow of anguish in the gaze that has gone from a curious day exploring to a heavy realization of tragedy.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jax points a finger at Yuun after he triggers the door opening, "Good call. I didn't catch that." He stops to reach his utility belt for a pair of gloves pulling them on. He carefully examines the armor, "Military grade and function. I don't know this design. So it's not anything being produced by some of the older corporations. They turn out the same model with minor changes for way too long. Perhaps Aryn or Bizz will know. Ban? He knows military history. They were killed by a lightsaber." He points out on the armors where it was obvious a lightsaber had been used. "I believe we're looking at the fall out of a raid on the Outpost by a large contingent of opponents. If you want to take out jedi you overwhelm them with fire power. Perhaps this is the reason why no one is here. If there were survivors perhaps they were called back to Coruscant. Perhaps, it would be worth a closer search."
Jax looks up at hearing Aryn's arrival and that she needs to step out. "I take it there was a family here." He frowns looking to the fallen jedi. "Perhaps some air is a good idea." He says looking to Sesti. Maybe some thoughts going to his own family.
[ Ban Iskender (ban)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ban Iskender raises a black brow and looks to the stairs leading down as the old house shakes and rumbles. "Quite dramatic," in accord with Nora's 'promising' estimation. Leaving the smashed back door on it's battered hinges, Ban joins the others in the descending into the cellar. The macabre revelation awaiting them earns a long moment of silence, before he notes with grim approval, "They had an evacuation plan." A small gesture of respect to the long-dead in passing, and he steps past, to see where these hidden stairs surface. Pushing the rear door up and out, he finds the passage open near the broken door, above. "They must have been bare meters apart." His manner remains solemn, the long ago retreat from a besieged home striking a chord with the gentleman. To Jax, he agrees, "I daresay some air may precede further research, sir."
[ Rune (R)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A shiver runs down Rune's spine at the image discovered, the scene of brutality made extra chilling when conveyed by a child's hand. Hazel eyes narrow at the display before those same hazel eyes look to the staircase when the sound of grating and grinding of stone emit from below. "Seems we have discovered all there may be from up here, the true mystery may have been revealed downstairs." He admits, standing to follow the rest as they disappear toward the basement. He lingers for a second longer at the top of the stairs, his hand brushing idly over the banister before he makes his descent, a moment given to the innocence that was lost in this home.
Like the rest, he too finds the scene in the hidden space revolting, the result of the invasion and the fate of at least one of the family members lying forgotten long after the event took place. Rune sighs, the corners of his lips pulling down in a deep frown as he stoops to investigate the coat of the defender. Inside one of the pockets he finds a folded piece of paper, another drawing of those cute, fat little blobs...
It seems the Force is not done relaying their story, suddenly the girl is there again, her screaming and crying form being tugged away by her mother as the woman guides them and two other children through the doors beyond. As they disappear, Jedi rush in through both sides, their lightsabers brilliant as they leap to assist the father. Sadly, they are moments too late and the man falls in a hail of gunfire, his life given in defense of his family.
The images fade and Rune is left speechless with a pit of sadness heavy on his heart. As he rises, he collects the small blaster found by Sesti and, without a word, turns to make his way back up the stairs and to the mantle over the hearth. There, he sets the blaster in a place of honor for the one who gave his life, the one who sacrificed everything so his loved ones had a chance to live. After a moment of quiet and a respectful bow given to the weapon, Rune turns to head outside having had enough of this residence for now....
[ Yuun (Yun)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When the door opens and he looks in to see the bodies, he lowers his head. Yuun is quiet for a long moment, not really moving to do anything. From where he is, he's able to to hear Sesti and Jax as they speak. Never have he liked death, Yuun turns away and begins looking around the basement again trying to see what else he can find just in case there was another hidden wall or something. After a bit of searching, he stops. "There is nothing else here." he says as he looks to the others. He bows his head to Aryn as she comes down. "I think I need some air too, and then I will setup a pyre so we can burn what's left and give them a proper send off." he says gently.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sesti doesn't even look as Rune takes the weapon from near her. "The jedi were not in time for him," she notes sadly, a tip of her chin towards the parent on the floor. Her hand reaches out, and fingers lace tightly with his. She takes a step forward to rest her forehead momentarily against his chest, taking a deep breath, inhaling /him/, then she exhales with a nod at Yuun's proposal. "We should do that. Somewhere outside." she agrees, letting Jax choose the direction that they go. As they walk, her frown deepens. "Why did the jedi not give them a proper burial after it was all over? Someone had to close that door again..."
[ Nora Frayus (Nora)]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If stones could speak, could you imagine the stories that they'd tell?
These stones might tell the story of a young man and woman who met when they were in school. Of their long courtship, modest wedding, and time together just the two of them. It might tell the story of their three children, close in age (owing to that couple's shared passion) but vastly different. An artist, an athlete, and a scholar. These stones would not tell the story of that awful day, because a moment of tragedy pales in comparison to a lifetime, however brief, of joy. If these stones could speak, they would tell stories about love unconditional -- bed time stories, and laughter shared around a meal. If these stones could speak.
Nora watches Aryn move past her and offers the Princess a delicate touch on the shoulder. Fresh air, it seems, is becoming the commodity of the hour. Jax mentions it as well, and Sesti and Yuun are finishing putting the final pieces of the puzzle together. She watches Ban as he steps over the body to examine that far edge of the room while she clutches that drawing still resting against her hip. She thinks about how afraid they must have been, waiting there in the cellar. She exhales.
"So then we are in agreement that some fresh air might do us good. And an excellent idea, Yuun. Perhaps we could ask Crag if he knows of any proper... funeral rites," she says, and sighs again. "I think..." Nora begins, pausing to move out of the way as Rune climbs past her up the stairs to place that blaster on the mantle.
"I think tonight, we might tell their story. Together, at least. A best we can."
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