Log:Knights of Ren: From Hoth With Love
The Knights have escaped Hoth. Hoth, however, is not done with two of their number.
OOC Date: November 6, 2020
Location: Spearhead
Participants: Imani, Malik Ren, Syrus, Tamsin Cas, Tarq Najjic, Knights of Ren
[Tamsin Cas]
The commandeered smuggler's ship had returned to Spearhead some time ago. The Knights, who had all managed to make the trip back, thank the Force or their own cussedness had scattered. Most to rest and remind themselves of what it meant to be something that was 'not cold'. Also, possibly, to eat something that was 'not space slug'. Tamsin had refreshed herself, rested for as long as she felt was prudent, which was not long, and then the good doctor had ensconced herself in medical, making use of the facilities that were on offer to set up a impromptu research area where she had portioned out samples she had brought back from Hoth. The parasite, its fluids as well as its flesh, and samples from the diseased wampa. She had sent a message to both Malik and Syrus, requesting their presence, but given her status as well, the lowest rung on the ladder whether or not they actually turned up of their own volition was yet to be seen.
[Syrus]
"The pain of Hoth...still cuts at my bones and fills my mind. Visions of their deaths...sweet and wicked," remarks a hollow-sounding voice from the door. Still dressed in the entirety of his armor is Syrus, the Force's Favorite Son. His hand grips the doorway in an attempt to stabilize him. He's a big man and the paltry offerings found on Hoth were likely not enough to sustain him. That, coupled with the fever that now dogs him, have left him looking and feeling weak. "They cried out for their god to save them, but I had not yet been born. A tragedy that I came to them so long after their demise..." he rasps, his eyes fixed on a single tile in the med bay's floor.
[Malik Ren]
Malik is fine, guys. He's fine! Absolutely nothing to worry about! Just going to take a shower and get cleaned up and... well, not sleep this off, since he doesn't sleep, but rest it away while reading boring reports about Spearhead's supplies, status, and efficiency. It's a perfect plan. Except... everything just keeps getting worse.
At length, he does reappear in the medical bay, dressed down in simpler robes than usual. His warm brown skin is an unhappily paler shade; like Syrus, he's a little too weak and underfed. Plagued by a cold sweat, he's making a masterful effort to appear that he's got his shik together, and it absolutely is not working.
"I don't feel well," the Ren announces. God, what a headache he is feeling! Both eyes wince shut, and he scrubs his face with his hands... Then he abruptly steps away to go vomit in the closest sink. It cannot be done with dignity. It's the worst day.
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin, who was seated at a workstation, was in the midst of preparing a sample to be read by medical microscope. A slide, which held a sample of the cell tissue from the parasite sat clean, pristine, perfect, needing only the droplet of blood which waited, poised, above it. It fell with precision, the pool spreading out across the slide with exact precision. But it would be for the machine into which she set it after putting down the cover to determine the cells reactions as both of her prospective patients entered at once. Syrus, as he was both first and closest garnered her attention as she slipped down from the stool, "The left bed, if you would, Knight Syrus." She lifted a hand as if to offer her help, but she did not make any attempt to take him in hand. And then, before she could look that way, Malik was making a dash for the sink. She did not help Malik with that either, allowing him to keep at least some of his dignity. She did, though, pour a glass of water to allow him to rinse his mouth. "You, in the next bed."
[Syrus]
"The angels took their care, though..." Syrus says, shuffling slowly to the bed that's been indicated. "Their deaths were painful, but the angels ferried them to me. They were there...they were waiting. Their faces lit up when they saw that I had finally come," Syrus explains, having a slow, measured seat upon the bed. "I will take them to my breast. Their suffering, as beautiful as it was, is over. They can rest. They can sleep, now."
[Malik Ren]
Both patients' fevers are spiking, and although both should have at least some capacity to heal their own selves, they're not doing it. Or they tried and couldn't, hard to say. "If the Rebellion fails, they'll wipe our names from history, and post our heads on spikes outside the temples. We can't fail, we have to be ready, we have to --" This rambling pauses as he looks over at Syrus, and takes in THAT rambling. "What am I saying?" a disoriented Malik wonders. "What is HE saying?" Steered toward the bed, he sits on the edge of it, and admits, "My mind is in complete disorder..."
[Tamsin Cas]
"While I cannot verify whether or not angels of any variety are responsible for our success on Hoth, I can say that you are both, quite likely suffering from an affliction of demons." See? Tamsin knew how to play the game. "Perhaps that is partially responsible for the speaking in tongues." Well, alright, not really. "I had the opportunity to examine the rest of the knights before we made the trip to Nightfall base. Thank you Imani and her frostbite! "And I believe you are both suffering some manner of infection from the...parasite that infested that wampa. You worse than he." That was Malik worse than Syrus, as Tamsin's hand indicated. "It is why you are suffering from fever, weakness and disorientation. Malik you took the worse injury." Tamsin, all tact, did not also mention that where Malik was smol, Syrus was giant. Instead, she moved to assist Malik in lying back, before she would attempt to do the same with Syrus, if he did not threaten a boot to the head.
[Syrus]
"No; you're right, Malik. They would see our deeds forgotten. Everything we've sacrificed so much to do. They don't understand. They can't shake loose their chains as we have. There's not /talking/ to them, there's no changing their minds. We have to purge their fetid infestation from the Galaxy. It's the only way. The /only/ way, and our calling as their masters," Syrus explains, clearly very sane. Tamsin's words pull a frown from the Kiffar, but he does not resist her ushering him to lie back. "We have, for too long, blinded our eyes to their foolishness, Malik. We have returned, and we must set them along the path to righteousness."
[Malik Ren]
"There's no such thing as demons," Malik argues, but he doesn't sound as certain of it as he might normally be. "Stars' sake, I'm burning up in here." Watch out y'all, he's getting NAKED. Well, not really, but he does throw off the robe he was wearing, sitting on the bed in trousers only while he listens. "The wampa..." oh, okay, not good. She tries to make him lie down and he resists, looking down at his arms unhappily. He's looking strangely bruised around the joints, fingertips, flesh an unhealthy darker, purpley color that is not (for once) his lesai. "What's happening to us?"
Absolutely a good question, but he's floating in and out of proper awareness, and it's worth remembering that the wampa was dangerous as hell with that thing piloting it... though, of course, it was a much more advanced stage.
"The only way to save it is to destroy it all," Malik remarks conversationally, and looks around the medical bay in an assessing sort of way that definitely should be worrisome.
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin, who was well accustomed to taking things in her stride, took the robes Malik was pulling off, leaving them on one of the chairs that she had pushed aside. This was not a room visitors tended to congregate in and actually sit, was it? Though there was a series of beds, some chairs, and the makeshift lab that Tamsin ahd constructed for herself. "I have been running tests since we returned, using samples of human blood as well as my own, trying to discern how it interacts with different genetic markers." Tamsin made the frowny face, as she invaded Malik's personal space. She was polite about it though, light fingertips taking care as she examined the darkening at his joints, "It appears to have encapsulated itself, and it is feeding on the nutrients in the blood." With Syrus seeming happy enough to lie back, and with both patients now in the medical room, Tamsin could do the real work. "I will need to take samples from you both. There were no other Kiffar I could find for a control group, and you are both already well into the incubation period."
[Malik Ren]
"Incubation period?" Delirious Malik stares at Tamsin in disbelief. He's currently shirtless and half naked, and for Tarq's benefit, I will provide MR's naked desc:
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
jk jk. The Ren shakes his head, and moves as though he intends to get up from the bed and try to leave, which he's in no condition to do. "No," he wheezes, "I am sorry, but I do not have time to be the host for an invasive parasite right now. I have things to do, Doctor Cas."
[Tarq Najjic]
They may only have been back for half a day, but Tarq has wasted no time. The bruises on his face have cleared up extremely quickly with a proper medical facility's care last night, and then he left for the hangar. Now, the noon after, he returns to medical, in freshly laundered and repaired robes, carrying five cartons of some fibrous substance in one arm and two red-bulbed flowers in the other. He sets the flowers down gingerly on one of the unused beds, then uses a different section of the bed to hold the cartons. "Tarq Najjic bears takeout for everyone! Nerf noodles and bruskets. Get it while it iss fresh. Malik and Syrus, you look terrible." He first approaches Syrus and lays the flower gently atop his chest, then tries to approach where Tamsin is working and Malik is attempting weak defiance with his second flower.
[Tamsin Cas]
Oh no, mister. You were in her lair now. Just as Malik was making his bid for escape, Tarq swanned in. Such serendipity, as the tall Kuati winged his way over and Tamsin nipped the flower, holding it between her thumb and index finger as she spread the others flat and pushed Malik back down to the bed, so that he was now flat on his back, and bearing a flower that contrasted beautifully with the greyish purpled pallor of his skin. It was almost like a pinup calendar of the diseased and possibly soon to be deceased. Just the sort of thing for a medical ward, am I right? "Unless I begin treatment //now//, Malik, you won't have time for anything else." She paused for a moment, "Please."
[Malik Ren]
Malik is clearly in no condition to be eating take out bruskets, fighting against Tamsin's orders or... anything else, really. Tarq has just swanned in with take out food and flowers, of which he has artistically committed one each to Malik and Syrus. Syrus is passed out, and Malik is looking thin, bruised, sweaty, pale, clammy. Great look for him, here. Wildly off brand for the Ren, who is usually ALL ABOUT keeping anything messy, human, and personal tucked away where no one can see it. He's a control freak, and nothing is currently in control. "This is such a bloody stupid way to die," he mumbles, and collapses back against the table-like bed. "You will carry this on if anything happens. It's an order. Do you understand?"
[Tarq Najjic]
When Tamsin takes the flower, Tarq retreats, smiling his approval at putting the flower on the man, just as he intended. He hefts himself up onto the neighboring bed, opens one of the cartons, grabs a set of terrible-quality disposable chopsticks, and puts a piece of sauteed nerf, a small green pepper slice, and the beginning of a noodle in his mouth. Watching Malik, he draws the rest of the noodle into his mouth without chopsticks. His eyes half-close while he chews, a borderline-inappropriate "Mmmmmmm" escaping him. Can you blame him, after subsisting for a week on a diet of snow-slug and hope?
"Do you want me to hold him down, Tammie?" Tarq asks, tone casual, though he is staring intently at the Ren. Is that her nickname? Is that a thing? Do they have private pet-names?! No. But that still just happened. "We will carry on, yes. With you." The Kuati has the blase confidence of someone with zero medical expertise and high faith in someone else's abilities. "Because we need you to."
[Imani]
Imani doesn't swan in, but she does stroll in with a renewed swagger now that they're back on the base. She's rested, she's /showered/, she smells so much better. Really, so much better. Her curls are still damp and hanging just a little heavier than they usually do but still in the styled muss that look a little too nice to not be intentional. "Of course we would carry on," she assures their feeble leader, glancing at the sleeping Syrus before she makes her way over to Malik's bed. "So don't you worry about that. You focus on getting better so you don't have to worry about us carrying on. Because we will." She has some bandages around her hand where more bacta treatment had to be placed for the frostbite, and unseen bandages on her torso, but all in all she's looking largely recovered already.
[Tamsin Cas]
"I understand. But I am not allowing you to die, Malik." Whatever this thing was, Tamsin was determined to defeat it. "Who would keep Syrus from pontificating us all to our literal deaths if you left us now?" She could say that //now//, he was unconscious. "No, thank you, Tarq." She did not seem to much mind the nickname. "I can manage him, for now. Just take your own rest while I get both of them hooked up. I have some preliminary medications prepped and ready to go. It will relieve some of the symptoms while I analyze their samples." Tamsin stepped away from the bed, pulling over a medical cart which was already set by the bed Syrus had laid himself out on. As he was unconscious, it was easy enough to start the treatment on him, once she had secured a sample of his blood, "My preliminary results show that it appears to be a creature that is injected into the bloodstream of a potential host. It has a hard cystic case, which slowly breaks down, allowing the parasite to be released over time into the body." Hence why they have been growing increasingly sicker but still managing to maintain some semblance of self. "It infects the tissues first, before making its way towards the cerebrum." Because this was the perfect sort of talk for having over a light meal. Tamsin looked up as Imani stepped in, "You are looking better, Imani. Have you had a chance to be seen?" Tamsin was not the only medical staff on the base, so that was a good thing.
[Malik Ren]
Do you want me to hold him down? Somehow this statement prompts a brief burst of slightly deranged laughter from Malik, breathless and short lived. No actual comment on /why/ that was funny, but he does seem reassured by Imani's arrival and her cheerful, reassuring responses. She's the zealot he can count on! When Tamsin mentions Syrus pontificating them all to death, Malik closes his eyes, and smiles. "We've made each other what we are," he mumbles. "Isn't that awful?"
His eyes close, and he drops into unconsciousness.
[Syrus]
"Where am I!? What would you have done to me, nonbelievers!?" barks Syrus, jerking awake from his fever dreams and casting a hand about the area, the results of which send an inattentive medical droid crashing into a rack of tool, clattering them about the area. His breath is quick and shallow and, beneath that helm, his eyes are wild. "I'm...sorry. Mine is to be a benevolent rule...do not judge me on this action alone, but understand my love for you all. Such beautiful subjects, and kind. We will go far, and we will do terrible things, my friends," he rasps, looking over to the downed Malik. "What have you done?" he asks, looking to Tamsin.
[Tarq Najjic]
Continuing to eat, Tarq is intrigued by the description of the disease's progress, watching Tamsin draw blood from Syrus and Malik and the attachment of the medications' intravenous injection systems. He seems to be mostly following along, more is the surprise: "You are saying there is time to prevent irreparable damage, if you customize treatments to the parasite and each person, yes?" He frowns at Malik's laughter and final words before passing out. "What does that mean? Sounded almost lucid." He taps his carton three times with his chopsticks before pointing them at his temple and nodding knowingly. "But maybe that is what the fever-crazy wants us to think." When Syrus comes to while sweeping a droid away, Tarq's attention jerks to the former monk. "She is saving your lives," he snaps, eyes narrowing. More quietly, he says, "I hope your minds, too." He nods to Imani, and holds up a new carton. "Nerf noodles and bruskets. Very good! Fresh from Nar Shaddaa. I brought to share."
[Imani]
Imani settles in at Malik's side where there is space to do so, reaching out to take one of his hands if she can. She squeezes reassuringly, she IS a zealot he can count on. A true believer. "Yes, I was seen to, I'm fine now." Not fine, but as fine as one can be after that whole ordeal. There are still blisters on her feet, and tender spots on her arms and hands, and probably toes. She's not infected with a parasite though, so she's doing better than some people here. "Syrus, you're awake. How are you feeling?" she got an idea of how he's feeling, but she's trying to distract him with her steadfast cheer. The offer of noodles gets a shake of her head. "No. I've eaten as much fresh fruit as I can find right now, and I am perfectly happy with that."
[Tamsin Cas]
"Not entirely terrible," was Tamsin's reply, before Malik fell unconscious and Imani took up watch beside him. And then to Tarq, "Yes. Because each of their systems are slightly different, I cannot simply carpet bomb the parasite without risking damaging them more than their bodies can heal." Tamsin worked as she talked, making adjustments once the computer she had been running the control samples through was finished crunching its numbers. Tamsin who was already hard at work measuring and titrating chemicals and medical fluids of the patients up to the medical consoles through which she was feeding them the necessary fluids, looked up as one of the droids crashed rather spectacularly against the wall. "You are both suffering from an parasitic infection," Tamsin offered, following on from Tarq's more terse response, "I am attempting to destroy that infection. You are suffering more slowly than Malik." Who looked terrible. "But you are not immune."
[Syrus]
Realizing that his divine rule is not in any grave danger, Syrus reaches up to unsnap the locks of his helmet before he pulls the thing off and tosses it asie, the Kiffar taking in a huge inhale. He lays back slowly and wipes some sweat from his tired, aching brow. "Knight Imani, you are truly the best of our glorious servants, and your sweet inquiries are a balm in these trying times," he notes, his breath steadying, but still weak.
"She is wrong," he begins, his hands moving to begin the slow, difficult process of removing his armor; a task made even more complicated by his lying down. "There is no suffering here. I see them, Initiate. Their faces twisted in horror. But they love me...they can't help but love me. I am to be their deliverance..."
[Tarq Najjic]
For someone frequently in altered states of consciousness, Tarq exhibits little sympathy for Syrus's: "Yes, yes, the damned shall be freed by the something something yada yada whatever," he mutters, putting his carton down as he drops his feet to the floor and walks over to ensure that nothing Syrus does in messing with pieces of armor displaces what of the doctor's work is already done. "Free yourself, yes, but rest. What is a message without a messenger? Rest, Syrus," he croons, reaching out and concentrating. "Resssstttt. Rest...." Tarq blinks owlishly, takes a few steps back, and sits down when he bumps into another bed, rubbing his temples, and yawns a giant feline yawn. He shakes his head once, violently, but his eyes are still half-closed.
[Imani]
Imani's smile brightens her expression as she gets the kind reply from Syrus. "Thank you, that's nice to hear." There's a brief stretch of silence as she observes him struggling with his armor. "Do you need help?" Curious gaze slides from the bedridden knight to the one trying to make him sleep, studying Tarq with a sliver of uncertainty. "You look like you could use some more sleep yourself. Did you rest? I did. I don't think that bed has ever felt as soft as it did when I first laid down in it, and it was so warm." She sounds truly content in that last bit. Warmth, mmmm. "That whole incident has truly made me appreciate all of the things we have here on this station."
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin cast a glance over towards Tarq. It was one of those looks so full of expression it did not require words. The //bugs// were talking to him. This was bad. "I will need to speed up the treatment." Tamsin, who was the model of efficiency, made the required adjustments, before she moves over to assist Syrus, if he would allow it, by taking up the pieces of his armor as he set them aside and piling them up on a free chair. "The sooner you are resting and comfortable, the sooner they will be able to speak to you without interruption." Until modern medicine killed them all. Tarq's sudden sleepiness did not go unnoticed, even if Tamsin was unsure of its cause. "The bed's free, Tarq." Perhaps he had not had as much rest as he needed. "And actually quite comfortable." Imani was offered a smile and a, "Thank you." She was as much a help as anything that was being offered medically.
[Syrus]
The big Kiffar saw what Tarq tried to do there, despite it ending in a feedback loop within Tarq's own noggin. "Najjic, you are wise to use your powers. They may be the only hope you have against the divine. But take care in the future to lean on the things you excel at, my disciple," Syrus offers in a near-fatherly tone. He'll gladly accept the help that Imani and Tamsin have offered before he attempts to tear at the collar of the body-glove he wear beneath the plates. Either his strength fails him, or the aching of his muscles becomes too much to bear, because he quickly gives that up, his arms limply falling to his side. "My transformation...it..."
And he's out again.
[Tarq Najjic]
Tarq blinks again a few times. "Tarq Najjic will sleep when... when... yes." He nods once before swinging his legs up onto the bed, and nodding off. There is a small snore.
[Imani]
Imani turns to look around at the three beds containing three snoozing knights. "Well good, they all seem like they need their rest." After their last week, they all do. "So they have a parasite from that... thing? Please tell me they're not going to start smelling like that, because that was awful."
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin, having set aside the last of Syrus armor, set to work making certain that the pair were both getting the required medication. Tarq, well, he just got an extra sheet and blanket with a bit of precision tucking in. It was a fact of life as immutable as the rising and setting of the suns. One could never get warm enough in a medical ward. Extra blankets were always a win. With Syrus and Malik both unconscious, Tamsin settled into the routine of treatment. She needed the routine. It was, in its way, her form of meditation. She had found the problem. She was fixing the problem. But when Imani asked the question, she answered honestly, "They were both infected by the parasite. Syrus when the wampa carrying the host bit him, Malik when it slashed his chest. It has been growing inside of them ever since. Both of their samples show multiple creatures in their cystic stage. Some are beginning to break out. I believe we have caught it in time, and the treatment will kill the infection before we purge it from their systems. You can already see how it has been affecting not only their bodies but their minds.' Because self-proclaimed hotboi Malik was looking decidedly less than hot, and madboi Syrus was sounding even madder than usual. "It may have something to do with their different physiologies, that it struck Malik more severely physically, but Syrus mentally." Such was the fun of doctoring to many species.
[Imani]
Imani has remained beside the self-proclaimed hotboi Malik's bed, leaving Tamsin to see to what needs to be done. She'll stay where she is unless asked to do something. "Maybe how they got it, one was a bite and one was a claw, maybe claws are worse somehow?" She's pretty far from a doctor so this is wild guess in the dark about things she doesn't really understand, but her concern for both men is clear. "I'm relieved to hear it's been caught in time. We would march on without them, but that doesn't mean we don't need them."
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin, who continued her medical meditation, soon had everything running to her satisfaction, and soon settled back at her monitoring station, where she could see the treatment and make adjustments as necessary, "This is not how I would have liked to conduct this research, having to treat while I study, but we have no other choice." Imani's question brought a frown, as Tamsin considered, "There are a number of possibilities. It might be that the saliva of the infected wampa did not carry as much of the parasite as the blood which was splashed into Malik's wound. Or it could be something to do with their physicality. Syrus' increased height and weight might have helped him to stave off the physical effects more easily than Malik or forced the parasite to seek for his most vulnerable tissues." ie, his brain meats. "Or it may be to do with their genetic difference. The parasite may be responding to them differently. I have been working on multiple samples from myself and others of a different species to both of them." The signs were, in their way subtle, but it was clear that Tamsin was neither fully Human nor Kiffar.
[Imani]
It seems like most of the people here aren't fully human, so none of that appears to surprise Imani. "Well it's good we had you with us to know where it all came from," she decides. "We'd have all been a lot worse off if you hadn't been there to help mends us along the way. I don't know if I'd have all my fingers, so I'm pretty grateful that I still do." She holds up the hand not resting on Malik's arms to give said fingers a wiggle.
[Tamsin Cas]
"I am sorry that I did not catch that sooner," Tamsin offered to Imani's finger wiggle. "But I am glad that I was able to help as much as I could. I wish that I had thought to bring more than I did. That is not a mistake I will make again." Tamsin, settling back onto the stool she had been sitting on when Malik made his appearance frowned, looking over at the three sleeping knights. "When Malik made me his offer, I told him that I was a doctor first, before anything else. I have found myself capable of things I still do not understand. But medicine, that I understand." She looked over at Imani, "He told me that I might one day learn to heal with this...power inside of me. Is it selfish that that was what made me choose this over a lifetime in a detention cell?"
[Imani]
"How could you have? It was all covered," Imani doesn't seem the least bit upset that things got as far as they did. "When you knew there was a problem, you fixed it. That's all I can ask." She tilts her head to the side slightly as she looks Tamsin over. "I don't think it's selfish at all. We all have our own reasons for joining, as long as your reasons don't make you disloyal to the greater cause then I don't think it's a bad thing."
[Tamsin Cas]
"In medical school, they remind us of how important preventative care is. I should have been more aware." It was a statement of fact, not Tamsin's attempt to self-flagellate. A mark that she was making note of what she must do in future. "I have no reason to be disloyal. I agreed to Malik's offer. I made my choice. I will see it through." Tamsin looked over to where Syrus was sitting, "Imani, do you know much about he Jedi? I only know what I have seen in news, in history books. In the stories of the destruction their caused on my world. In the aftermaths of battles I have trated the injured and often innocent. When Syrus lectures us, he always seems to assume we all believe they are paragons of virtue, as if none of us have any other such experience. And..." Tamsin frowned, as if she were trying to find the right words, "I cannot tell if he is trying to convince US that they are indeed terrible, or himself. if he is trying to assuage some sort of guilt for having been one of them."
[Imani]
Imani makes no more effort to reassure or console, accepting Tamsin's words as they are intended. She lowers her eyes to rest on Syrus as he sleeps, studying the slumbering man until the doctor asks her question. "I think it is both. Maybe he finds it comforting to say it, or to know that we believe it as well? It can't have been easy to turn away from his entire life and come here, or to reach the conclusion that all like him, and him," she nods down at Malik. "And you. That you are a thing that should not be, and as long as any of you are it means this galaxy is in danger."
[Tamsin Cas]
"Are we? Something that should not be?" Tamsin's question was genuine and honest. She had, after all, only recently come to the knights, and had not been raised to the Force as perhaps others in the group had. "I did not choose to be as I am. No more than I chose to be female, or Firrerreo, or to have blonde hair or blue eyes. Though," Tamsin's smile tuned almost nostalgic, "I often wished, when I was very young, that I could be a Muun as my adopted father was. That if I wished hard enough, worked at my lessons long enough I would not be this odd, strange thing that did not fit into his world." Soon though, she returned to the present, "I simply have this thing inside of me, which is greater than me. If it has a mind then it chose me. As it chose all of us. All we can do is use those things that have been given to us. Malik tells me that if I had been found by the Jedi first, I would have been made to be one of them. Or perhaps they would have killed me, as he threatened to do. I would have been used for a purpose not my own in either case."
[Imani]
"Yes, but before we can turn our eyes to our own, we need to see to the others. The Jedi, the Sith, they need to be routed out first," Imani says with sincere belief. "We are trying to remake the galaxy so that it is better, but it is likely to be a place that none of us ever see." It's a fate that she has accepted for herself. "I can't speak to what the Jedi would do, but if what they did with Malik is any indication, they would not have killed you. I don't know that they would have let you go either, but I'm not one of them and much of this is very new to me."
[Tamsin Cas]
"So Malik said. And so Syrus has pontificated. That the Force must be equally balanced between light and dark." Tamsin, who was clearly turnign this over in her mind, continued, "Thank you for speaking with me, Imani. It is good to speak with someone who is not invested in this. You are not bound to the Force, you are free of it." At least, she assumed Imani was not sensitive to the Force, as she had never seen the knight use such powers as Syrus or Malik, even herself or Tarq had. "I think, you can see it with unclouded eyes." Because it was important to say thank you, when you meant it. "I will do the best to of use to the Knights. I am not sure what else I can do. Or how I will feel when I meet the Jedi. I know that the oldest of the Muun dislike them bitterly. But they mistrust nearly everyone who is not Muun."
[Imani]
"If you ask Syrus we're all bound to it, but only some of you can manipulate it," Imani replies, amused. She's heard Syrus lecture about this more than a few times. "But I am not like you all, so I see it from the outside." Tamsin's assumptions about her were correct, she isn't a force user, she's just a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Said force smiles again. "I know you will do what you can, I can see that in you. We are lucky to have you Doctor Tamsin."
[Tamsin Cas]
"Yes, he seems to enjoy lecturing, though he has shown, even in the terrible conditions we faced on Hoth that he has ability equal to his knowledge. I saw such things..." Tamsin frowned, that thoughtfulness returning to her expression, "I have no skill with the weapon they gave me. I am trying, but...it does not feel like a part of me. I do not know if it will some day or if I will always lack the skill. Even thinking of using it does not occur to me." She looked over to the monitors, before she returned to Imani, "Will you help me, when your duties allow?" And then she diped her head, "I am glad to be here. You are all a force in this galaxy. I will try to honour the faith Malik placed in me."
[Imani]
"He loves his tomes." Imani is clearly fond of Syrus, the words are full of warmth as is the look she gives him as she says it. "And he will talk about what he learned from them for hours if you let him." Her gaze goes back to Tamsin after that, head bobbing. "Yes, I'll help you. I trust that you'll be like the rest of them and take to it quickly, but I am happy to practice with you so long as it helps."
[Tamsin Cas]
"Yes, I can see why he would. The written word cannot fail you. It will always be the same, each time you go back to it, even if you change....though it can be incomplete." Tamsin too looked over at Syrus for a moment, "He was kind enough to allow me the freedom of the library and that has been a wonderful resource. I can read and make judgements for myself." Her smile was warm, as Imani agreed, "And if it does not help, then I hope you will tell me. There is so much to learn. If it turns out that I am hopeless in on area, I will know to focus my skills in another. I am growing more successful in force manipulation. I still fail often but...I am trying to do as Malik bid me do. Fail until I don't."
[Imani] "Fail until you don't," Imani agrees with that idea with a cheery nod. "That's all you can do." She drags a chair over so she can settle in beside Malik's bed more comfortably, apparently planting herself in the medbay for now to keep an eye on these people who are her makeshift family. "But I've found most people can develop at least some level of aptitude to fighting if properly motivated. Just takes time to get there." She sinks further into her seat, seeming a bit drowsy now. It was a really long week, and that week is catching up with her again as she begins to nod off.
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin slipped down from her stool, moving to retrieve another blanket, walking over to offer it to Imani. She should be comfortable as well. "I will try to make as little noise as possible. But you should also rest." It was clear that Tamsin did not mind the company, "They will be glad to see you when they awaken." Which they would. If not, Tamsin was in //big// trouble. Super big. "Thank you again, Imani." And then Tamsin returned to her monitoring, her measurements, her adjustments. Her medical meditation.
