thefinaljedi | Appointments

That is a most curious arrangement, Adele. Truthfully, I know little of the underworld back home, but I know most criminal rings keep doctors and medical droids on hand. Though, having bacta around makes treatment a lot easier.

[He sighs as he sips more wine, then laughs a bit]

I suppose you got into a bit of trouble, then?

Luke, need I remind you of what waits for me upon my return to my world?

[It's not spoken unkindly. Honestly, it's almost funny at this point.]

'A bit.' of trouble is something of an understatement.

You don't, but you know something? I don't entirely believe that its true. Something...doesn't feel quite finished with you, Nomi tells me.

[Luke smiles mysteriously now]

You've got a thread of destiny that neither one of us feels is...quite complete.

Perhaps I've important work yet ahead of me here. I doubt anyone will find me in time to prevent my dying, Luke.

[She shrugs and looks back out to the ocean. Pours a glass from the bottle of brandy and offers it to him.]

Who knows? I may yet learn to hope to return to something. Perhaps not. But while I am here? [She pours herself a glass.] I will make the most of it.

That's what I'm saying. Your thread is far too long to be cut so young. At home, or here. Though nothing is final here.

[Luke takes her glass and takes a sip. Its good. Strong and sweet, and he's beginning to feel a little warm inside. Not drunk, or even wobbly, as he's constantly suppressing the aftereffects with little effort]

This is good. What...is this?

Wouldn't that just be the thing they'd do to punish us. Stop reviving the dead.

[She doubts it'll ever come to pass, but. Adele shrugs off the morbid line of thought in favor of the nostalgic.]

Apple Brandy. It was my father's favorite. If he ever made a promise between friends or a deal between business associates, they were sealed with a glass of this. I thought it might be appropriate.

I gather that they don't have much control over the cycle of rebirth. There were points where dead people appeared outside the enclosure, so I think that theory is correct.

[Luke sniffs the brandy approvingly]

Your father was a man of good taste.

He was indeed. Discerning taste in literature, art, music, brandy- and an avid fan of Star Wars.

[She huffs a soft laugh.]

He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he met you.

Probably laugh and snark just like you, Adele.

[Luke grins]

In seriousness though, this battle...is going to be a big one. Have you found a place to lay low?

I do not know. I was under the assumption I would be needed for some portion of this plan but that does not seem to be the case.

...

I do not want to have to watch you or Lupin die, Luke. I do not think it will come to that, and I know both of you take the risks willingly but I simply don't. Want to know how erribly helpless I am, here.

Adele, you don't have to worry about that. I do not intend to die. And if I do, well...I have spent many, many years practicing a ritual. There will be no body, I will become one with the Force.

[And Luke offers that same mysterious Jedi smile, as his eyes swirl and become a familiar shade of green]

And I won't let him, Miss LeBlanc.

[It'll never be not unnerving. That second set of eyes, that other soul living within Luke. She manages a very faint smile all the same.]

I...thank you. It is a comfort to know this.

You do not have to be so unnerved. Nor do you need to worry. I've started gaining some of my own powers back. Skywalker's limits will not be taxed.

[In Adele's mind, Nomi projects an image of herself]

And perhaps you'll be a bit less bothered, knowing what I look like.

[That...made things worse, actually. Adele almost drops her glass as she scrambles back from something that isn't actually there. Blinks out at the horizon for a moment and scrubs her face, trying to lose the image.]

While the ...gesture. Is appreciated. I would thank you to ask before doing so in the future, Madame Sunrider.

[The image fades out within the span of a thought]

Calm yourself. I apologize, I guessed you would be more used to such oddities, with three Jedi for friends, and sorcerors for housemates.

[The image reappears, this time an illusion sitting in Luke's place]

Is this better?

You are altering my perception without my consent.

[Luke, Anakin, Ben. She knows them well, trusts them, Nomi? She doesn't know. Doesn't trust.]

I would thank you to ask, or stop. You've done neither.

Actually, I'm not.

[The construct takes a step sideways, leaving Luke there, smiling and separate. It picks up a glass and smiles.]

I'm merely projecting myself. As I said, my powers are returning. I am as physical as you are now, not some optical trick.

...that is so much more comforting. You've no idea.

[Very flat, fairly deadpan. Adele managed to blank her face as well, but. With a Jedi that counts for little.]

I apologize if my presence bothers you, but your comfort is not my primary concern. Skywalker's mental well-being is. I dislike being here as much as any of you, and I do not wish to burden Luke with my presence.

I am unarmed and incapable of hurting you. Why must you allow your fears and insecurities to prevent us from speaking cordially?

Edited 2012-06-25 04:02 (UTC)

...

[At that Adele huffs a soft laugh. Motions to herself with hand and a wry smile.]

Hello? Adele LeBlanc. Paranoid bitch. Not speaking cordially because I am paranoid and uncertain more or less sums up the entirety of my public relations. And it is not you that I fear, it is what your regaining of your powers represents. The attention it might gain from those best left unaware.

This, coming from the woman who so spectacularly revealed one of Skywalker's deepest, darkest secrets in a crowded room? When he was trying to get people to trust him enough to allow him to lead them into battle.

[Nomi laughs back, a gently melodic sound that echos across the shifting sands]

You are paranoid when it suits you, and blind in many other ways. Yes, my powers returning may mean that the Malnosso may recognize me as an anomaly. But that also suits our desires as well. Have you not thought that I wish to quit Luke's mind? Have you not considered that both of us believe the Malnosso may be able to separate us?

[The commentary on her mistake is ignored. That is between her and Luke. Nomi's an unwanted third party as far as she's concerned. She knows she fucked up. She is painfully aware of it. And she doesn't need to be reminded by this sanctimonious-

Nice thoughts around the mind reader.]

And then we've another powerful tool in our midst for their experimentation. Because all we need to find a way out is one more Jedi. Then again it would not surprise me, at least in a literary sense. Four is a solid number thematically. It would fit.

And you're just as, if not far more powerful than Luke. I wouldn't trust them to separate you without something going wrong, or right for them and terrible for the rest of us.

[Nomi Sunrider does not get angry. She remains placid, calm, and the very model of a Jedi Grandmaster. And a mother used to dealing with an impetuous, impatient, and snarky daughter. Her tone remains dead even. Its not that she wishes to offend the younger woman at all.]

Adele, calm yourself. Your concerns are not lost on me. Another Jedi, one you are unfamiliar with, and find difficult to trust. The Force only knows why my presence is so alarming to you. Do you find me so aberrant that this discussion is warranted? Tell me, why should it be any different than any other New Feather?

Preserving the rest of you is our primary motivation in separating one soul from the other. I don't think that you understand the seriousness of the turmoil in either of our minds. If we're not set apart, I will be permanently attached to Luke.

[Adele LeBlanc, however, does get angry. Often. It leaves her frustrated and impatient with others more often than not, and to quite a few verbal missteps that she realizes she simply cannot afford to make here. Not after the first this morning.

The fact that Nomi just told her to 'calm herself' in the same damn tone Robert would always use when they fought did not help in any way whatsoever.

But she calms all the same. Visibly, at least. Turns her eyes back to where Luke sits, wondering how it is he's taking this. If he's aware. The fact that she's not at all certain makes her all the more irritated but-. Not her problem. Beyond the scope of what she can fix. Spirits and souls and the Force, things she doesn't believe in and doesn't understand.

Voice even and face blank, she turns back to Nomi.]

Coming through the cycle is one thing. Stepping through the mind, body, and soul of one of my friends is something else entirely. I have come to accept the cycles as they are and have come to understand them. This? Came from nowhere. to my knowledge nothing induced it, save the stresses of Luke's life in the village.

[Which she hasn't helped with in the slightest as of late. She makes a mental note to keep things simple and easy around him for a long, long while. And to make up for her earlier fuck up. Somehow.]

And what is the time limit on this? How long before it is irreparable- and how would be best to see it does not come to pass?

Edited 2012-06-26 21:03 (UTC)

[Nomi knows, quite well, that you are indeed angry, and she finds it somewhat disheartening. How does Luke deal with such a person? What had changed that the doctor turned so voracious over something none of them understood or had any control over. And...her slip earlier was horrifically uncharacteristic.

Adele was truly a frustrating woman, and Nomi's patience was wearing thin.]

By my reckoning, we have another month with which to separate. I believe the Malnosso are our most likely candidates for rectifying this. However, Doctor, I'd like to remind you that the ways of the Force are not your ways. If I am willed to step through the mind of Skywalker into a strange existence here, then it is neither of our place to question it. Do not pretend to speak as though you are any less ignorant than I am as to the nature of this world. For all any of us knows, I came in dormant with Luke upon his arrival.

But I'm not the one causing stress to Skywalker. You are. These outbursts are childish, and its not making it any easier for him.

[Luke hasn't said anything during this exchange, not out of an inability to do so. He's been fully conscious since Nomi began projecting, but has elected to allow the two women to have their exchange.]

Appointments

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