[Video]

[out_of_order]

[The image moves slightly as though the tablet's been placed on something uneven before it steadies. The red-haired padawan gives a nod from where he stands by some tool bins, and he pauses from picking through them, raising a hand to give a thumbs-up.]

Hey- So I know there's been a lot going on between Temba and the other place, and what all's been happening. I was thinking of setting out to the other city again some time soon, have a better look at the power situation. I know we've already got one city to worry about, but if there's something important to find here, I figure maybe it couldn't hurt to at least get the basic utilities up and running.

Anyone else interested? I think we've got a fair amount of engineers so we shouldn't be running short at least. And if anyone's had a closer look and knows what specifically we might need, you're welcome to give a rundown.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my workshop while I get things together.

[He nods at the camera again with a 'Thanks BeeDee' and the tablet shifts towards the ceiling before BD-1's head pops up, and he raises a foot towards it before the feed ends.]

Comments

[noch]

[ Ah, why does his confidence that she would accompany him fill her with such warm and fuzzy feelings? Anyway. ]

You did not enjoy our last fight?

[ Everyone came out unscathed, so she can tease him about this. ]

[out_of_order]

Not sure that I'd call it a fight really...

[His grin quirks upwards on one side before he shakes his head.]

I'm more concerned about whoever else might be joining us. More people would complicate getting out of the same sort of situation.

[noch]

[ Her kind Jedi. Of course he's concerned about others. ]

There is a simple solution. I do not remember the power station well, but if we can go there, then I can move people there from the train station.

[ Supplies too—anything, really. She just needs to familiarize herself a little more with the train and power stations, and then she can teleport back and forth easily. ]

[out_of_order]

I don't think we'll be that many, but that option would definitely be helpful. We can do some scouting so you can familiarize yourself with the area if you want.

[A quicker way to bring supplies over from the station would be good too. It thankfully didn't seem like those large creatures traversed the area of the corridor all that often, but if they did happen upon them while weighed down with equipment, things would get pretty messy.]

[noch]

Yes, we will do that.

[ Somehow, "if you want" became "we will." Scouting it is. ]

This way, in the future, we can avoid an encounter that is not a fight. [ Yep, back to teasing him again. ]

[out_of_order]

All right then.

[He has to roll his eyes then. Back to that, is it?]

Not all encounters have to end up as fights.

Anyway, we won't be heading out for a good while, so you can start figuring out whatever you might need to bring along. I'm going to take one of the handcarts so we don't have to carry everything.

[noch]

[ She raises her eyebrows. Ironic of him to say, considering his rampage across Dathomir.

But alright, Cal. Her expression becomes thoughtful, head tipping slightly to the side, as she considers the things she'll need. ]

What is a good while?

[out_of_order]

[Things are different when everything wants to kill you!]

A couple of days at least.

[noch]

Then I will prepare.

[ Not that... she has too much to bring, really. But still. ]

If you intend to get the power station running, then you will need those crystals, yes?

[out_of_order]

Probably. I guess it's kind of strange to me to need something to power the power station, but it looks like they're still used there. Either way, we'd still need to bring some crystal rods along. ...making new ones would probably be best given how limited the ones we have here are.

[He sounds a little hesitant about that last bit.]

[noch]

[ Well. Good thing she didn't end up using that crystal for her spell, the one she... borrowed... from Cal's workshop unbeknownst to him. She'd wanted to examine it a little more, test it against her magick, but. ]

Something is wrong with making more?

[ Yeah, she picked up on that. ]

[out_of_order]

Nnnot necessarily. It's not a mystery where to get them- the caves by the beach have raw crystals deeper within. But they're power crystals of some sort, either drawn from the planet themselves or just something that develops within them as they form over time. Found out the hard way when I went wandering in there.

[He frowns a bit.]

I felt drawn to the caverns, so I went to investigate. The crystals...I guess they enhance power in their raw form, so long as there's energy going through it. Or in this case, if they're still attached to their source. My Force senses just...opened up, so much. I didn't have to even try to sense things, it was just there. And then the echoes kicked in...

1/2

[noch]

[ She has a frown of her own on her face, one that deepens the more she hears. When he trails off, she starts to stand, speaking quietly to the mothkitten offscreen: ]

Stay here, Voroka.

[ Then the video cuts off. ]

➜action

[noch]

For whatever reason, she doesn't like having these conversations over video, on the network. Not when they can be in person instead, and she can be... there. So a split second later, she materializes in Cal's workshop in a haze of green ichor, immediately searching for him, concern etched into her frown.

"You were forced to see the past of this place," she translates, approaching him. "What happened then?" Her voice is a little gentler, this time—she can already tell that this story isn't going to get better.

[out_of_order]

Given how abrupt Merrin's nature is to do things, Cal really should have expected what happens next. He's still confused when their conversation cuts off, but in the next moment he senses that shift and pop of another presence, a familiar one. The green flame-like trails make her hard to miss, but to have someone suddenly appear like that is still enough to startle him. He lets the spanner he'd had in hand fall from his grasp, bringing the same hand over his chest. The look on Merrin's face, the tone of her voice, cuts short any sass he might have tried to pack into a greeting.

"....yeah," he says, sighing as he leans against the counter. He combs his fingers through his hair, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling as though the memories would replay there.

"I saw the Agrii... I was there with them, when the storms first began." He closes his eyes. "When they were fleeing in terror, trying to find shelter from it. There was confusion. Pain. ...death. It was just one after the other, overlapping. I couldn't break out of it."

[noch]

Yeah, he really should've expected it. Maybe one day...

Regardless, she comes closer while she listens, arm brushing against the counter. Close enough to reach for him, or—her gaze flickers to his hand, resting on the edge of the counter—place her hand on top of his, which is an urge she's not sure she can resist. Not when he looks so... upset, and her heart is twisting inside her chest with sympathy.

So she doesn't. Her hand covers his, fingertips curling into his palm. For the first time, it occurs to her that when he sees the past, there's a part of it that might linger with him. If he's feeling their emotions... her Jedi is kind, compassionate. How could it not stay with him?

"You were trapped there?" she prompts softly.

[out_of_order]

His fingers tense slightly as he feels her hand alight over his own, the most he can do with his hand in that position, but perhaps acknowledgment enough. He brings his head forward again, opening his eyes to look off towards the floor. It's all too easy for those memories to come back, so vivid as they'd been, as clear as though they were his own.

"I would have been," Cal says. He turns his head just slightly, one corner of his lips doing its best to lift in a smile. "Thankfully BeeDee was with me. He was able to call for help. Echo found us, practically carried me out."

The little droid has been watching attentively from the counter across from them, giving a quiet hoot.

[noch]

Ah, Echo. You are now Merrin's favorite person on this planet, for good or ill. And BD-1 is her favorite droid—always has been, but still. She glances over at him, offering Beedee a small, grateful smile.

Her hand squeezes his briefly. "This does not happen to you every time you see into the past," she says, but there's an edge of uncertainty in her tone, as if it's partly a question. Sure, the crystals in the cave would've enhanced his power, but to the point where he couldn't escape?

[out_of_order]

The droid can't smile back, but he wiggles in place a bit. That had been a scary situation. At least the erratic energy within the cavern hadn't disrupted the signal to the communication devices.

Cal shakes his head. "No. Usually the moments I see are brief. It happens on contact, and usually I can get a sense that there's been an imprint of it through the Force," he explains, glancing down at his free hand in thought. "But I think there was so much that had happened in those caverns that I couldn't tell an ending from a beginning. Those memories all came at once, and I was so disoriented that I couldn't remove myself from the place to stop it."

[noch]

When they'd spoken about his power before, he hadn't told her too much about how it works—so she absorbs this information now, nodding her head as he explains. What must it be like to be able to look into the past? Like all things, there must be beauty, wonder—but also pain, sadness. And to be suddenly overwhelmed by that pain and sadness?

She squeezes his hand again, a little more firmly this time, hoping to draw his attention over to her as she sends him a small smile. "Then you will not go back there again," she says firmly, but with a lightness in her voice. That's the simple, easy solution, of course.

Then she pauses, a thought occurring to her, and she sounds slightly more accusatory as she adds, "You have not gone back, yes?" Cal might just be reckless enough to try, maybe. He did go back to Dathomir, after all, despite the many undead reasons why he shouldn't have.

[out_of_order]

Sure enough, Cal lifts his head to look towards her again at the insistence of her gesture. The solution she offers, the smile she grants, gains her one in turn. And then the look that she gives him almost immediately after is enough to draw a laugh, breaking up the heaviness that had crept up on him.

"I haven't," he says. "I figure I'd gotten what I'd needed to. I didn't have a lightsaber crystal at the time, but that's where I'd found a shard of a power crystal, though I couldn't say how with all that happening." But the Force works strangely. "And painful as those echoes were, I think it showed an important truth. If there'd been any doubt that the Agrii were suffering here..." He shakes his head.

"Many people here haven't experienced the storms yet. They don't affect us like they do the Agrii, but there are other things that do happen."

[noch]

Ah, good—her ploy to lift his mood worked, and she made him laugh. She can't help but feel... a little pleased about that, all in all, even if she has to purse her lips a bit to keep from smiling.

But it's good to know that he hasn't gone back there. She'll go harvest those crystals herself, if they really need them, if that means he doesn't have to return. "I have not experienced them," she says, probably unnecessarily—he would know that, wouldn't he? "What happens?"

[out_of_order]

"The crystals seem to have an affect on one's powers, I think. In its raw form I guess it's like it's unfocused. Making them into power rods stabilizes them into something that can store energy."

Cal unhooks the lightsaber from his belt, turning it around so the less ornate side is held upwards, and he thumbs the blade on, its color a yellow-tinged white. Notably BD-1 begins to glow, as well as anything nearby made of metal.

"That also happens," he notes with a crooked grin as he watches the little droid twirl around. "It boosts anything running on power so long as power is running through it. I also feel like it does a subtle boost to my Force senses. I'm not sure how it applies with other abilities that aren't quite passive, but if you decide to go to the caves, it's something to be mindful of. And maybe until you're sure things don't get out of hand in there, don't go alone."

[noch]

Her hand falls away from his when he moves to unhook his lightsaber—why would it not? He doesn't really need the comfort of it anymore—but she finds herself feeling that loss of contact, for some reason.

Of course. The crystals. She can subtly feel the power radiating through the crystal when he turns on his lightsaber, making her necklace and rings start to glow along with BD-1. Once again, she wonders how it would work alongside her magick—would it boost her power, like her talisman?

"Perhaps it is similar to my talisman," she says thoughtfully, watching BD-1 wiggle. "Many generations of Nightsisters before me have used it, leaving behind some of their power. It helps to strengthen and focus my magick," she explains, heading off any questions.

Then, it strikes her, that last part—she turns her head to look at Cal again, her eyebrows raised and voice deceptively mild. "You are worried about me?" It might not even be a question.

[out_of_order]

"Maybe. We haven't really figured out how the crystals work. Reeve's suggested it's similar to something from his homeworld, connected to the planet's life itself." And there's already so much they don't know about the world here. He thumbs the blade of light off, the glow fading from metal. BD-1 looks down at himself, then back up at the two.

As she gives him that look then Cal mirrors it slightly, brow arched as he meets her gaze with the question she poses. "Why wouldn't I be?"