revivalproject | open ☾ an arrival

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open ☾ an arrival

WHO: Merrin and YOU
WHERE: All over Temba
WHAT: One (1) very confused space witch makes her debut
WHEN: Right now?
WARNINGS: None yet, but will update if anything comes up!

A. YOU'VE GOTTA BE KITTEN ME

Despite the fact that Merrin is absolutely the type to hold grudges, she's somehow made peace with Voroka and the other mothkittens in spite of the terrible crime against her—at least judging by the fact that she's currently sitting cross-legged in the grass near the library while the kittens nap, lounge, and play in the sunshine around her.

A few bolder ones have already approached her, and she extends her hand towards one of them to let it curiously sniff her fingers. She's learned her lesson from last time, however, and she keeps her talisman, a palm-sized, halfmoon-shaped white rock, gripped tightly in her other hand to prevent another theft. That's the last thing she needs, now or ever.

"Hello, Voroka," she says to the mothkitten, though her voice doesn't sound welcoming so much as stern, like a disappointed parent. "Did you think I would not recognize you?"

B. LIFE'S A BEACH

It takes her a little while to find the path to the beach, but she eventually stumbles across it and—well, her home planet, Dathomir, is essentially a dry, harsh wasteland, and the largest body of water that exists there is a swamp, maybe a pond.

So nothing really prepares her for the sight of the ocean stretching out in front of her. It appears almost infinite to her, and she stands there on the beach for a long time, staring out across the water in wonder, her lips slightly parted. Her gaze keeps darting to the waves lapping against the shore as if she's... contemplating something.

(In fact, she's contemplating putting her feet in the water, though she doesn't know how safe it is, if at all. A lifetime on Dathomir has made her wary of everything, even if it looks harmless.)

C. SURPRISE! AT THE DISCO

After a few days of exploring, Merrin has finally started to get the lay of this place, and so she feels comfortable enough using her magick to teleport around—at least in the town center, where she's most familiarized, whether there are other people around or not.

The only thing that heralds her imminent arrival is a thick green fog that she materializes into, and then she's suddenly there, looking completely unperturbed, like she just stepped off a lift instead of blinking into existence halfway across the city.

D. WILDCARD

Of course, Merrin is still exploring. She can also be found in the hangar, inspecting all of the ships, including exploring her own assigned ship, the First Breath, at the inn, contemplating her food options and wishing she could eat Greez's steak, in the hotel, staking out an empty room (or not?) to claim, or pretty much anywhere else, seriously. Jedi and anyone who can sense Jedi will also be able to sense her—she feels pretty similar, actually, but definitively more... dark. Or sinister.

Or feel free to use any of her TDM prompts, if those speak to you more.

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"Voroka?" Jon can't help but ask aloud as he exits the library and not only catches sight of Merrin, but also overhears her words. The one adult mothcat around and obviously the mother of the present litter is taking a ride on the comparably short man's shoulders, flicking her tail lazily once upon spotting the scene and then fluttering down near the curious kitten to give it a quick nudge with her head and a lick over its head before turning towards Merrin to inspect the unfamiliar person.

Jon makes no move to stop the feline, having ceased any attempts at controlling her whims. "I didn't know people are giving them names already." He notes instead, looking down at Voroka and from that one over to its siblings. But speaking of names...

"I'm Jon, by the way. Jonathan Sims. I- I work on the former library building. I don't recall seeing you on Coruscant."

Merrin doesn't look remotely surprised by the interruption, though she does shift out of her sitting position so that she's crouched on the ground in front of the mother and her kitten—just in case she needs to make a quick getaway. She hasn't done anything to hurt the mothkitten, of course—it's just that she's (rightfully, in her opinion) cautious of mothers and their protectiveness over their children.

Since it seems like this isn't a hostile encounter, however, she turns her head to look at the man who just approached.

"I am Merrin. I have only recently arrived," she explains matter-of-factly, her gaze sweeping over him, curious and critical. These are her allies, she knows, but a lifetime on Dathomir has made her wary of strangers, and she can't quite shake the habit. After a pause, she adds dryly, "This little one has earned his name."

Jon raises a curious brow at her words, then looks down at the mothkitten in question. "Oh? I can't say I know what it means, but- It has a nice sound to it." He looks from the winged feline back to Merrin, offering a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you, Merrin. I hope Voroka hasn't caused you too much trouble."

Yes, he has accepted the name already. And maybe the little mothcat has as well. If it decides to adopt her... Well. There is very little he can do to prevent that anyway.

He looks over to the remaining lot of curious little eyes directed their way. "They are already very capable of taking care of themselves. I'm impressed with how quickly they grew up! But they keep the building free of other small animals." Just a bit of free trivia from Jon's gathering of mothcat information.

Would he still accept it if he knew it meant Little Thief? Too bad Merrin is wont to keep that information to herself, as she does most things. She really did mean it when she said Voroka earned his name, though, and believe it or not, she considers that a mark of honor.

"Not more trouble than I can handle," she says, not without humor, straightening out of her crouch. Immediately, Voroka rubs against her legs, which she watches with raised eyebrows but otherwise wordlessly allows. This is her idea of fondness.

Her gaze moves to Jonathan while he speaks, quietly assessing, her head tilted slightly to one side. He seems to have a lot of affection for the mothcats, which she finds kind of endearing, but it mostly reminds her of the conversation she had with Cal the other day, and recognition dawns on her face when she remembers the name he'd dropped.

"You are the one Cal spoke about. The one who named Countess." She has a funny way of making statements that sound more like promptings for information—this is one of those times.

He might actually be willing to agree that it's a quite suitable name for a mothcat. The mother still very much tries to snatch his glasses away from him every once in a while.

"An odd thing to be recognized by, but, yes. I suppose that would be me." Jon answers with a bit of bemusement in his voice. Oddly, enough Jon isn't unfamiliar with asking questions that aren't actual questions. He has developed a quite similar technique to avoid accidentally compelling those he talks to.

His amusement grows into a little chuckle. "You have met Cal, then. He is a good friend and- He actually helped me when I first ran into Countess and she was very set on taking away my glasses from me. They seem drawn to everything that shines. I assume that over in the forest it may be a trait of animals they consider prey."

She nods, glad to fit together that particular puzzle piece, putting a face to a name. It gives her a better picture of this situation she's found herself in, which she always appreciates.

"So I have experienced for myself." There's amusement in her voice, at least, even if it isn't entirely in her expression. That's how Voroka earned his name, after all—by stealing her talisman, the same object that she still has gripped in her hand right now, because she isn't about to make the same mistake twice.

"Yes, Cal is very helpful," she continues, bestowing a rare compliment. Or—not really a compliment, when she feels she's just speaking the truth, which is probably why it comes out so direct and matter-of-fact. "We were... allies, before I arrived."

Even... friends? She's not sure. She hasn't had a real friend in a long time.

"Oh! You are from the same galaxy as him?" Jon asks aloud before he can catch himself, his excitement about the realization only dampening down the compulsion of his words to a small, barely notable tingle. It's not really a question to begin with.

"I- I'm sorry." He is just as quick to apologize, blinking twice in response to his own outburst and nodding apologetically. "I didn't mean to be rude. But I- I just learned a lot about the galaxy you, Cal and several others here call your home and to be quite honest, I'm impressed by all these cultures and sciences. Where I come from, we only know a single planet inhabited by sentient beings - And that is humans."

He doesn't necessarily count the Fears as sentient beings. For the most part they hardly appear to be thinking for themselves after all.

His enthusiasm catches her a little off guard, her eyebrows raising, but not in a bad way. If anything, she finds it kind of amusing, actually, especially when he tacks on an apology. It would take a lot more than that to offend her.

"Your apology is unnecessary. We are from the same... galaxy," she confirms, still acclimating herself to this idea that there's even more beyond the universe she was just starting to explore. Everything outside Dathomir is so much larger than she would've ever imagined.

"Though I do not know much of it beyond my own planet, Dathomir," she admits, a genuine undercurrent of regret in her voice. He talks about all these cultures and sciences, but the truth is—he probably knows more about it than she does, since she only just left her homeworld not too long before coming here.

In fact, she can kind of relate to the idea of only knowing a single planet. It was her reality for most of her life.

"Ah, r-right. Not everyone travels that galaxy quite as freely as the Jedi do. I- Got that expression after talking to some of the locals. Still very intriguing. I do believe I saw Dathomir mentioned on a few maps while doing some research." Not that the maps of another galaxy were something he actually researched, but he did see a few and even checked them for any listings of Agra 10.

He offers a shrug that is almost apologetic. "I can tell you from experience that Agra 10 is a rather underwhelming planet to be the first other planet to find yourself on."

"You know of Jedi." This is more of a statement, her tone thoughtful. The fact that Jedi roam pretty freely across the galaxy is news to her, since all she ever heard from the sisters sent off-world by Mother Talzin were that they were an order of warriors—amended to peacekeepers, thanks to Cal—well-known across the galaxy, but little else.

Jon really does know more about her own galaxy than she does. A pang of regret lances through her, that she'd been so isolated on Dathomir—but it's not like she could've left anyway. What ship would she have taken? Where would she have gone?

"You are underwhelmed," she says curiously, her head tipping slightly to the side. "Your planet is more exciting?"

"Well, I know Cal." Jon offers with a small smile. "He told me a few things. And I saw some of his memories. And being able to visit their temple and use their archive proved very enlightening." Even though many of the Jedi were rather cautious towards him. For understandable reasons.

He waves off her conclusions about his Earth. "I wouldn't call it exciting. Just- More lively than Agra 10. And more intact. Cities, people... A bit of a mess." And a few monsters. "My planet is one without any heroes or actual super powers. We have a group of unpleasant entities competing about which one will bring its end about. But... Most people remain oblivious about that, fortunately."

That tidbit reveals something... kind of reassuring to know, actually. If he and Cal know each other well enough that Cal has... told him a few things about Jedi, then she figures Jon is reasonably trustworthy, which means a lot to someone (her) who doesn't really trust anyone by default. Experience taught her the hard way.

The rest of the tension in her body starts to relax, and she slowly extends her hand—a peace offering—towards the mothcat mother, allowing her to give it another exploratory sniff.

"Bring its end about?" she echoes, her eyebrows raising, and then adds dryly, "I would call that exciting. Dathomir was not so lively." In fact, it was... pretty empty and uneventful, all in all. Quiet, after the loss of her sisters. Any place with cities and people and mess sounds interesting to her.

The Archivist gives a small shrug and watches the Countess readily react to the nonverbal invitation to inspect the offered hand, then bodily rub against it. "I prefer calling it dangerous." Jon chuckles, his tone a response to the mothcat's reaction, and yet lending itself oddly to the words he has just spoken.

"I'd rather live in a world without an apocalypse looming over it. Peaceful enough to have a job and live an eventless life." But obviously that's not the lot he has been assigned to, much to his frustration.

The mothcat's reaction brings a small—very small, barely noticeable—smile to her face, and she turns her hand over and very gently pets the top of the Countess' head, right between her ears. Merrin's gaze stays on the mothcat while she both pets and absorbs this information, her expression thoughtful.

An apocalypse does sound like a bit much. Maybe she's just predisposed because peace, to her, only means silence and emptiness, a space where her sisters once were. But if she could have them back... if she had that kind of peace, the one from before the war came to Dathomir...

"Perhaps you are right," she says finally, tipping her head forward to acknowledge the point. "You are not oblivious to this like so many others. You are fighting against these... unpleasant entities?" she asks, echoing his phrasing somewhat awkwardly, her accent thick.

"In a way we are..." Jon shrugs and lets out a small sigh. "It's... A little complicated. We don't have any super heroes or Jedi to protect my world. It's humans and monsters that in most cases were human before. The only thing stopping these Powers, these... Fears... Is their competition among one another."

He pauses there, giving Merrin a moment to connect the dots herself while the Countess purrs loudly. After that moment has passed, Jon takes a deep breath. "The only reason I know of these things, the only reason I can attempt to fight them is because I was claimed by one of them and serve it as its avatar."

She's never heard of superheroes and her opinion on the Jedi is... complicated, to say the least, so forgive her if she looks a little skeptical. She gets the gist of it, at least, her expression contemplative while she continues to pet the Countess. The mothcat's purrs are so loud that Merrin can feel the vibrations through her hand, and she's... okay, she's endeared.

"Claimed?" She turns her head to look at Jon, her curiosity piqued. The Nightsisters have a similar spell, if she's understanding correctly—maybe. It allows them to command another person, to have their complete loyalty. "This serving—it is of your own free will?"

"I was told what happened to me is the result of all the choices I made. How much that makes it my own free will I can't say." It's frustrating. Especially with him being unable to do anything about it as far as he can tell.

His attention drops down towards the Merrin bestowing the Countess with attention, which the mothcat clearly enjoys. "She likes you." He points out the obvious, adding a little smile. "Don't be surprised if some of them visit you at your place." Sometimes they bring presents.

Ah, so a different sort of spell. That's good—being able to control someone else has its uses, but not so much when you're the person being controlled. She wouldn't really wish it on anyone.

"They are very friendly," she says, still petting the Countess and honestly? She shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. She moves her hand to scratch underneath the mothcat's chin. "I cannot imagine a beast from my planet being so... docile."

Let's just say that the wildlife on Dathomir is... hostile at best. Cal would even be able to back that up.

The magic behind these compulsions is a lot less directly cast and much rather consists of indirect effects. But it certainly is a kind of magic.

"Oh." Jon blinks in surprise, looking from Merrin to Countess, brows raised. "On Earth we have many domesticated animals. Including some that are rather similar to these mothcats. Our cats lack the feathers and wings, but are equally fond of having their heads scratched. But that's also the result of thousands of years of them being kept around humans as pets or to take care of certain duties."

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