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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Cobb searched his mind for a moment and no, he'd never heard of a nightsister. Magick sounded like the Force. Maybe they were an order of Jedi? He scratched at the back of his head as he studied her.

"... I've got no idea what that means," he admitted after a moment. "Can you move stuff with your mind?"

He held his hand out like he'd seen Obi-Wan do on Coruscant and mimed lifting something. It mostly made him look ridiculous but he was out of his element here. All that mystical shit didn't make any sense to him.

"Because that can be useful in movin' supplies around?"

She looks a little surprised to find someone who hasn't heard of her kind, though she isn't really sure why. It's not like she's met many people—okay, so she hasn't met anyone outside of Cal, Cere, and Greez, and while they might have already known some things about Nightsisters, a sample size of three isn't really enough to extrapolate from. She doesn't actually have any idea what's going on in the wider galaxy, what people know or don't know.

Her surprise quickly gives way to a more thoughtful expression, her eyebrows raised, as she watches him... gesture. Like... that. Something about it reminds her of Malicos and Cal, so she can only assume he's run into a Jedi or two.

"Yes, and much more," she says dryly. No offense to the Jedi, but... uh, Nightsisters are better, in her opinion. She gives it a second thought, and then adds, "I have spells for moving the earth, and growing plants. I can strengthen your animals, or heal them."

Is any of that... useful? Surprisingly, she wants to be useful.

"Huh." Cobb scratched at his beard as he considered her. "Can you use that earth moving stuff to dig holes? Could be good for putting up fencing. As for growing plants, I know there's a greenhouse around here. Don't have anything that grows animals? Some idiots bought baby banthas not knowing they take almost a whole generation to grow up."

And that made them mouths to feed with no return like milk, wool, or meat. Cobb wasn't thrilled about having to tend them. They didn't even buy enough for a healthy herd. He's got a lot of annoyances over the banthas that he was going to ignore for his own sanity.

If she was willing to do the work Cobb would absolutely find a way for her to be useful. Or she could find it for herself. He was trying very hard not to give orders and take over here even though he was slowly stepping that direction.

"It's your magick, kid, you get to decide how you want to use it around here." Cobb didn't want her to feel pressured into something. He just had ideas on how to put this place together.

That's... a lot of work she probably never would have considered, which might be obvious by the way her eyebrows raise. Back on Dathomir, she did what she could to help the Nightbrothers, and they provided a lot for her in addition to what she did on her own, but she was never actually a part of their community—that isn't how things work on Dathomir. Her community, at the end of the day, was one.

It occurs to her now that it actually takes a lot of effort to run a village.

"I will do what I can to help," she says finally, nodding slightly in her conviction. She resolves to do just that, with the... the digging and the fencing and the banthas and such.

After a pause, she narrows her eyes a little and adds, "Kid?"

He grins at her as he shrugs. "You're younger than me."

It was a habit. He called just about everyone who was younger than him 'kid' at some point. She was probably in her twenties just judging by her appearance. Unless she was one of those super slow aging alien races he figured she was younger.

"But I'll cut it out if you're bothered by it." Cobb doesn't want to insult her. It's actually something he does when he likes someone.

Merrin's clearly out of place here and trying her best. It's endearing in a way. He wants to help her get comfortable and confident. She's probably a force of nature when she's confident, he imagines.

Merrin thinks of Malicos—the only other real reference she has for an older man, at least until she met Greez—and how he would sometimes call her little witch, and not with any sort of endearment. She used to hate it when he did that, even though it was a small insult in the grand scheme of many other insults, because it just... rankled. Always condescending, that bastard.

This does not feel like that. In fact, it's kind of... nice? Definitely more like Greez.

"Yes, you are much older." It's genuinely not meant as an insult—she's just direct, and she's estimating his age to be around Malicos'. Pausing, she shifts her weight a little, her boots sinking into the sand while she considers his offer, maybe giving it a little more weight than it needs.

"You need not... cut it out," she says, slowly pronouncing the last few words. That's a new phrase for her. "I'll allow it."

Cobb drops his head forward and runs his tongue along the inside of his mouth. "Yeah, I'm much older. That's a lucky thing for me, you know."

He imagined she could guess he had a hard life. The scar at his temple has whitened with age but anyone who sees it can guess Cobb Vanth has not had an easy life.

"I'd be careful about going in," he warns with a little smile. "There are some pretty nasty things in the water according to others. I've been tempted to dip my toes in though."

And hadn't because of those stories of things lurking in the water. He's still weirded out by the water windows in Cayde's bar. Getting in dangerous water when he couldn't swim? No. He couldn't do that. Maybe if they went to somewhere with safe water...

She can guess, and it does make her wonder, privately, if this is also the Empire's doing, but she doesn't know enough about the Empire (yet) to really speculate beyond that. It seems like, even outside Dathomir, many of the galaxy's inhabitants also haven't had easy lives.

As for going into the water... so he'd caught her looking, hadn't he? She doesn't look too put out, though—at least that answers the question she'd been thinking.

"The warning is appreciated. I had wondered." She turns her head to glance at the water and sighs quietly, a little disappointed but not entirely deterred—if she could handle the Sleeper, the massive, ancient beast that lived in the pools underneath the Nightsister's lair, then she's pretty confident she can handle whatever's lurking in this ocean.

"Then I will have to prepare myself," she adds somewhat ominously, her expression almost thoughtful.

"Uh huh." Cobb wasn't exactly pleased with that response. It felt like an unnecessary risk to take. There was no reason to go in the water besides the fact that it was there.

At least she wasn't going to jump in right now.

"Well, when you're ready would you let someone know you're gonna do it? Just to be safe." He would feel a little bitter if she tried swimming with someone else there. It shouldn't be him because he couldn't do anything but watch from the shore. Someone who could swim, obviously, should help her out. "But if you're that confident about it I'm hoping you've got some experience with water."

Which he wouldn't have guessed given the way she stared out over the ocean at first.

She blinks at him, not quite understanding his concern—not the part about the danger, but the part where it's directed at her. She hasn't had someone to worry about her in—well, not since her sisters. Malicos certainly didn't care about her insofar as she was useful to him, and the Nightbrothers were more scared of her than anything else.

It's strange. But again... nice? Even if she isn't quite sure what to do with the feeling yet.

"Your concern is not necessary." It isn't meant to be dismissive—her wording could probably use a little work, but that was actually supposed to be reassuring.

"When I was a girl, I subdued the Sleeper, the ancient beast that lives in the pools below our village. I swam often in the lagoons on Dathomir." That's not an easy feat—literally everything on Dathomir is hostile, including whatever lives in the lagoons and swamps. "But," she adds belatedly, her expression softening a little, "if I do swim here, I will be careful."

Oh, her planet had standing water. Well, technically, his did too just in very few places that were tightly controlled by very dangerous criminals. As far as I knew though there wasn't enough to swim in.

"I think you've probably got a better chance with whatever's in there than I do." Cobb couldn't swim and he had no powers besides a quick draw so he wasn't going to find out how well he would fare. "But it'd be smart to have someone watching."

Cobb wasn't going to push the issue any more though. She could make her own choices.

"What's a sleeper?" Because he had never heard of something like that.

Ah, good. Now she gets to talk about arcane Nightsister rituals. This will go over well.

"The Sleeper," she corrects, putting a slight emphasis on the, but not unkindly. As far as she knows, there's only one like it on Dathomir—they have a lot of ancient, terrifying, one-of-a-kind beasts like that. The Gorgara is a whole thing with the Nightbrothers.

"It is massive and powerful. It has lived so long that even legend does not tell where it came from, or how it came to reside in the water underneath the mountain. When we are young, we dive into the water and use our magick to subdue the beast in order to harvest its flesh for our rituals." Her tone is conversational, like this is a completely normal thing to make young girls do, as though aspiring Nightsisters haven't been dragged into the deep and never returned.

"It is how we prove our strength and earn a place within the coven," she finishes.

Cobb's eyebrows slowly climbed higher and higher as she explained. That did not sound like something a young girl should do. That sounded like a damn good way to get a kid killed. But that she survived? She had to be one powerful Nightsister.

"That's... one way to do things I suppose." Cobb tried not to sound too skeptical. He did his best with the Tuskens when they talked. He could do the same for her. Respect other cultures and all that.

"But it definitely sounds like you don't need any protection from little ol' me," he said with a little chuckle. "Got magick and can swim. Two things I cannot do."

Still, he'd look out for her. He'd taken a liking to her and her awkwardness. Cobb would also remember that she absolutely did not need his protection.

Look, it doesn't strike her as strange... it's an old tradition! Maybe a little more dangerous than necessary... but the Nightsisters do need the creature's flesh for their magick. It's a key ingredient in the Water of Life.

But, well, she's starting to rethink it a little because of the expression on his face. Not that it really matters anymore, since she's the last surviving Nightsister to complete the ritual.

"You do not swim?" Almost as soon as she asks, though, she remembers that his planet—Tatooine—doesn't have any water at all. Where would he learn to swim? She quickly dismisses the question and continues, somewhat haltingly, "Then... you may call on me, should you need magick. Or swimming."

It's awkward, but definitely earnest. She even punctuates it with a small smile to match.

"Nope. Can't swim. Might be so full of sand I can't even float." It was an old joke on Tatooine which amused him to use now but he realized might not make sense to someone who had never been to the planet before. It wasn't a planet for anyone who hated sand. He hadn't found sand in his hair for weeks since coming here. He almost missed it.

He grinned at her offer for help even though it was clearly a hesitating offer. Merrin really didn't know quite what she was doing which made the offer more endearing.

"I'll keep that in mind though I've seen shadows of what might be in that water and I do not want to go in it." The temptation was strong but Cobb's sense of self preservation was stronger. "Maybe one day we'll end up on a planet with safer waters for me to try swimming in."

It takes Merrin, who is maybe a little bit too literal, a few seconds to catch the joke—she frowns, and it lingers for a moment on her face before realization hits. Ah. No one's bothered to joke with her in a long, long time.

"Do we travel often? To other planets?" There's a thread of hope in her voice underneath the curiosity. There were spaceships in the hangar, and even one she'd been assigned to, for some reason, but she's not exactly clear on where they're supposed to go with the ships, if anywhere at all. Or what they're supposed to do. It's all a mystery.

But she'd left Dathomir with Cal and his crew in order to see more of the universe, to... open herself up and find a new path. This might not be the exact universe she was expecting, but that desire to explore is still there.

"Don't know. I've heard stories of it but I've only experienced the one trip." He shrugged. "The ships can't fly on their own. We go places when they decide we go places."

The statement ended with a roll of his eyes. Cobb was not happy about having his chain yanked around like that. It felt too much like his past where he had no choice and he would not end up a slave like that again.

"But you'll get a chance. Give it time. I don't think they're done throwing us around." Cobb hoped they got a little time to settle in and fix things up before they got tossed into another mission for the Agrii.

We go places when they decide we go places. That's about what Cal had told her, and it doesn't make her any happier to hear it the second time around, judging by the way her expression visibly sours. She doesn't like having her will thwarted, probably because she has considerable will.

Still, she'd been hoping that the Agrii would... ugh, allow them to travel often, and to many different places, but it sounds like she'll just have to wait and see.

"Yes, so it seems," she says dryly, if not a little bitterly. She's really not looking forward to being thrown around, as he says—well, she supposes she already has, just by being here. After a pause, she voices the thought, adding, "I do not enjoy being... thrown around."

"Well, sister, neither do I," Cobb said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He spent most of his life on a leash, yanked from one place to another against his will. The sense of being trapped... of being owned itched at the back of his mind and made him restless. Made him angry.

Luckily, he kept himself busy so the anger wouldn't overwhelm him. Cobb felt he'd done a good job avoiding lashing out at the others even when they frustrated him.

"But, way I see it, we gotta make the best of what we've got. And figure this out together. Otherwise it's gonna be a rough imprisonment." He shrugged and looked at her with a rueful little smile. "Haven't told the others that. That this is a prison. They're... well, I don't think they've had it hard before. Don't want them gettin' discouraged. You... pretty sure you can handle hard."

It was the same sort of spirit he saw in Din. The galaxy hadn't gone easy on Merrin. She could handle the truth as he saw it and not get all poetic about helping and saving these Agrii.

A prison. Well, she's certainly not going to argue on that point—whatever her opinion of the Agrii and their intentions, she can still take issue with their methods, especially when they've trapped her here against her will, alongside so many others.

And especially when she can't help but think that if the Agrii had just put out a call for help, then someone would've answered, no imprisonment necessary. People like Cal, for example, who have maybe more kindness than sense, exist out there in universe, after all. Merrin would've even followed him, if she'd been given the choice. But she hadn't been.

But Cobb is right all the way down, from making the best of their situation to her being able to handle hard. Her brow furrows, and she wonders briefly when she became so transparent on that last point, but maybe it's just like calling to like—survivor calling to survivor, as the case may be.

She sighs, her expression subdued, and says quietly, "You're not wrong. This is not the worst I have... handled." There's a small pause while she considers him, her eyes searching his face. "You believe we can figure this out together?"

Hey, she had told him she had to swim and fight a big water monster. Cobb figured if that was her final test the rest of her life had to be just as hard. He was quick to reach his own conclusion on that one. Little details said more than most people thought.

"I believe we don't have a choice." It was as simple as that.

"We could focus on rebuilding and makin' lives for ourselves here and not bother with this Agrii business. Just live and ignore them but then we'd be stuck here." Cobb hated that idea. He hated being forced to solve the Agrii's bullshit for them but he'd rather do that instead of pretending none of it existed. "Best choice we all got to get home is to figure this out. So, we're gonna try."

In between they would build this place back up. The Agrii had asked. Might as well be comfortable while forced to deal with someone else's nonsense.

Well, when he puts it like that, it all makes complete sense to her, and pretty much cuts through all the noise of her new situation—the Agrii and their plight, this dying planet, their imprisonment, as Cobb puts it. When she'd first arrived, she couldn't help but think to herself: what do I do now?

On Dathomir, with Taron Malicos, she'd stagnated, held in place by her anger and vengeance. She'd fought hard to break free of it, to find her path forward with Cal and his crew—only to end up here, stagnant and subject to the whims of someone else. Again. But it's not the first time she's had to find a new path, and Cobb may have just shown her the way.

A sort of dawning realization crosses her face, her expression coming up thoughtful, even approving. "You are very practical, Cobb Vanth. I like that," she says plainly, and even though her tone is even there's no doubting her sincerity.

"I try to be," he said with a little laugh. The fanciest notions he ever had was purchasing Mandalorian armor for himself. Everything else Cobb did with the practical in mind.

"You wanna keep starin' at this water or you wanna come with me to the diner?" Cobb asked as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where he was headed before spotting here. "Because I was on my way to make a little somethin' to eat. You'd be welcome to join me and ask any questions you might have."

The best way to get to know someone and make them feel welcome was to share a meal with them. Old Tatooine custom. Or, at least, it was among Cobb's people. In some cases it was the only comfort they could offer a new slave just arrived in the commune.

"Otherwise, I can leave you to your contemplations." Cobb had sort of invited himself over to chat without really thinking if she wanted company or not. He did like her. Merrin was a good kid from what he could tell.

The laugh gets... not exactly a smile, since she isn't really predisposed to them, but at least the beginnings of one. She's pleased that he took it as the compliment it was intended to be.

"The diner?" she echoes, her eyebrows knitting at the unfamiliar word. Context tells her it's a place to eat, at least, and she pauses, her head tipping to the side and back, as if she's considering her answer. Which—she is. While her natural tendency is towards independence, she... already likes Cobb, and she is hungry after spending most of the day exploring her new... home, such as it is.

Finally, she nods her head. "Yes, I will go." With one last glance back towards the water, she trudges through the sand and over to Cobb.

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open ☾ an arrival

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poor cobb

he's just trying his best

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i'm feelin this a good place to wrap up?