Post by Marshall on Apr 17, 2019 10:09:44 GMT -5
Jujanaj Azair, recovering still from his work with three wakeks, now named, now tamed (however temporarily), hovered behind Liv, listening to all of this intently. He towered over Liv in her armor, but was wrapped nearly the same way the Mandals were. Parts of him peeked out here and there as tendrils that wrapped over and under his layers. Of all of them, he'd be the most difficult to suit up, because of his size and because of his double-kneed legs, but efforts had been made to donate extra material to him, at least, in attempts to help Skirix.
Solomon had gone quiet, listening, his expression one of thought. When mention of The Meld came up, Solomon's attention redoubled. He knew the technique could give insight, and had had the thing described to him. Once upon a time he'd even been invited to give it a try. He always denied. He always side stepped it. This was his first time in seeing it with his own eyes, of being aware of how it felt even on the outside of it.
Jeryndi had never done a Meld either... At least, not with anyone here. The only one he'd ever worked with like that had been Lepri... It had been a unique and impressionable experience that could've been interpreted as good or bad, depending on how cynical a person was. So he watched... And waited. Like Solomon, he focused on Olivia to see how she felt and what she felt through the Force.
Ava watched the focus center on her face as her shoulders began to relax. They didn't have long, only a short window between now and the time the ships repairs would be completed. "This... won't hold up things up, will it?" Ava inquired. Liv was of importance with the Hapans. What she did with her time mattered to what was being done around them. And before they attempted this, the Jedi knew she would have to make sure it wouldn't interfere.
"I don't know," Jeryndi said honestly. "I've never initiated one... But I've no objections," he told Ava. "If it helps us to all be on the same page and reinforce awareness.... I'm all for it."
To Ava's concern, Liv looked to Breis. "What time frame are we looking at for departure for the ship graveyard?"
Breis heard his name. He wasn't far off, but had been catching up with Dorara on Tal-Keb's status, and so had to ask Liv to repeat what she'd asked. When she did, he looked confused. He'd basically called the dreamer-situation secondary to the graveyard situation, and had balanced it on when Liv was ready to send her people out. Suddenly that seemed no longer relevant. He could well see the jetii and Trander and guess their focus. He closed the distance, watching his footing on the rough floor of the shelter. "I told them they had until we left to make headway. If you think the dreamers should be higher priority than that... then we can go and they can get to work on it."
Solomon was quiet. He had turned his head to look past the group toward where Breis was as the Mandal spoke. There was some ease here, some little bit of give -- a way to hedge himself against the prospect of the meld. It was a shakey option, but an option all the same.
"Liv presents us with an opportunity we did not have before." Ava explained to Breis. "She's been in the Red and as a Dreamer and came out of it. It might be a key we are missing in understanding what's happened to them."
"I'll take ten minutes to try the meld," Liv agreed, giving a nod to Ava's request while focusing on Breis. "If I can provide any information to help, it's worth the attempt. Any current dreamers' lives are at stake."
Jeryndi stayed quiet. He looked back and forth between everyone in the group, taking stock of various emotions and body languages.
Breis, who frankly had no clue what they were on about, turned his head to Dorara and muttered, "Mark that."
Solomon remained quiet, focused and aware. There was not so terribly much riding on what Liv might be able to tell them, he didn't think. Not in regards to the experiment that Jeryndi had proposed. The practicalities of what Trander wanted to do, still, by no means were outweighed by the risks that would be taken. So far, his concerns still stood, but he'd wait to see what could come of this.
With, what seemed to be, Breis' approval and the confirmation that the meld would not hold up progress with the graveyard, Ava gave a small nod to Liv. She'd participated in the meld before. And with Liv. But this was the first time with an audience.
She could feel the nervousness creep up. A normal reaction, Ava told herself. With one final little nod to the woman before her, the Jedi's eyes closed.
It was as if the air changed around Ava Azalee.
Her form eased into a relaxed, meditative posture. The nervousness stilled. The eagerness to find something quieted. Again, the Jedi felt the surrounding of life. The people gathered around her. Liv. Solomon. Jeryndi. Bries and any of the other Hapans and Mandalores who had not ventured off.
Ava could sense them in the Force - the life that thrummed to a rhythm of their heartbeats. All flowing simultaneously with each one holding a unique beat. She narrowed in on Liv's and reached for her through the Force as if extending a tether.
That small nod from Ava was returned with Liv's own, her own nervousness taking hold for a moment. Her relationship with the Force had not been consistent, nor constant in the time since the war had ended. Time between meditation sessions drew longer, the number of practices dwindled. But the Force was never far from those who knew it well... and with a single deep breath, she could feel it begin to flow through her once more. Eyes closed, attention focused on emptying herself of doubts, of concerns, of the audience gathered around them. Nothing else mattered in that moment but the Force, and the Jedi woman standing across from her.
The familiar pull of the meld was felt, a draw of another in a similar mindset and focus. It was a connection on a level beyond what she could feel elsewhere. There was no hesitation from her, no shields going up between them. She trusted the Force and she trusted Ava. Another deep breath, another step towards the meld bond. Already her mind was starting to go back days. The Hapan fort in the NotRed zone, Nikolaus and his team tirelessly testing and working, experiencing frustrations and renewed focus as various results came in.
The Red. Nothing could contain it. The strongest materials, force fields, nothing they could imagine would capture a single molecule of the Red and bring it out of the Cloak. Earlier test subjects who had been exposed were thoroughly tested with the best medical equipment the Fort could provide, and no answer could be found. Symptoms were present of a 'drug-like' effect, but no trace of it could be discovered. They needed someone to experience the Red past the point of consciousness. Olivia had volunteered immediately.
Oliva Tino's trust was not something taken lightly. It wouldn't be brushed aside or ignored. Ava took care of it and nurtured that trust to the best of her ability. She strove to help build Liv's confidence in the Force and in the meld. It was only through openness and credence that they could accomplish this feet together.
The seconds bled away as the Meld took hold and gained in strength.
It was similar to the memories she saw from Vikas - but the feel was different. Here, Ava could not participate in what happened around her. As the memories flashed, she stood off to the side like a bystander watching a holo-flick.
She could hear Niko's voice as if he stood next to her and watched the frustration flood his handsome features. All around him people moved in a flurry of work.
It was the Red.
They were working on solutions to contain the spreading.
Ava watched their progress. As Liv Tino volunteered to expose herself to the Red.
They asked Liv if she understood the risks. If she was sure she wanted to do this. The Captain agreed without hesitation. They were skeptical and a little concerned... but they needed this test, and so Niko authorized it. Within the meld, Liv's emotions could be felt in that moment. She was accepting the possibility of death. She was ready for that to be the end if was meant to happen. Part of it was to save anyone else from the risk... but another part, was simply ready to go.
A tear slipped from the physical Liv's eye as she observed and felt those feelings all over again. She took a deep breath and kept her focus on the scene, though Ava would be able to feel her unease at the revelation.
The scene continued playing out before them. The Corellian woman was escorted to the edge of the Cloak, where she was fitted with low tech cabled medical monitors going to a machine that would remain in the NotRed. Two armored medics walked with her into it, one at each side, ready to catch her when needed. They knew she would 'sleep', as the Mandal child had described. They needed to know what it really meant. Nikolaus stood with Catia and another medic at the monitors, ready to observe the effects.
Around them--now that Ava could see outside the Fort--the full scale of the Hapan operation could be seen. Dozens and dozens of Hapans worked around them, with various machines, scanners, and equipment. A vehicle bay was to one side, with multiple low tech ground vehicles being assembled. Shuttles landed and lifted off, with supplies and equipment constantly moving in and out. It was a full scale base of operations. The Hapans were taking this very seriously.
She felt the hidden desire and the revelation that followed.
Without ever realizing it. Without ever giving a singular thought to the motion… Ava’s gloved hand reached for Liv. Her eyes remained closed as her hand extended forward exactly where she knew Liv’s hand would be. It was a gentle embrace. Her small fingers clasping around another’s with her palm pressed flat over the top of Liv’s hand.
She continued to watch.
Solomon was still watchful. When the emotional tone shifted on Liv's face he moved closer. There was no reach for the Force Sensitive pirate, Sol not wanting to influence whatever may have been shared between Liv and Ava, but he was close. Close and quiet.
As the minutes ticked by, it was harder to interpret Liv as anything but a participant. Sure, Ava had said she'd gone into the red and been a dreamer, but how much did that actually explain? Breis was not the only Mandalorian who had stopped to watch this, and that was not because there was nothing to do. It also was not because he'd understood that there might be some "this" to watch. Instead, the stillness and silence that had fallen over the sensitives (including Liv, or was she merely their focus?) had crept up on the man, and only gradually had he gotten curious. He still had no idea what they were doing. He knew they weren't near the dreamers they'd brought from Tal Ruus, who had been stashed in the corner from which the Tal-Keb dreamers had disappeared. At one point, he murmured to the balking warrior next to him, "I dunno. Figured there'd be more chanting."
It was both premature and probably moot to wonder whether the Hapans were doing all of this out of selfless concern or an eye for their own survival. Liv's recovery after being retrieved from the Cloak had not happened in a single shot, but had been gradual over the course of two days. So while Ava, Medren, Solomon and Jeryndi had been slogging through changed crimson landscapes with low visibility, Olivia Black had been in a special ward rigged up on the Yelora Dowen, tended by physicians unwittingly determined to thwart her slide into death. It had never been a sure thing. Others in her group slipped into hallucination and were withdrawn. It folds upon itself, they said if they blinked themselves awake. When others reached coma stage, as Liv had, pulling them out of the Cloak had resulted in all sorts of lunacy--cardiac arrest, cessation of breathing, and other catastrophic factors that pointed to lack of self-regulation without providing hints as to why.
They'd learned quick to be fast in getting their volunteers to full-spectrum medical help. Liv had been rushed into the field ward immediately, stabilized there, and blasted up to the Yelora double-quick.
Jeryndi was... A little confused... But it was reflected in his Presence. It was a secondary or tertiary concern. He was focused on Liv and Ava... But that confusion came from... Why hadn't they been included in the Meld? Words failed to convey certain emotions and experiences. Which was the entire point of doing the Meld, right? But he didn't interrupt. Didn't say anything... He kept his Presence calm and unobtrusive. He watched with a detached curiosity. Paying close attention to their emotions and body language. He stood next to Ava, a few feet away, hands tucked behind his back, head bowed, but eyes open and watching the two women.
Jeryndi hadn’t been excluded.
Neither had Solomon.
The welcoming was there – open in the Force if they wished to grab hold of that tether.
It folds upon itself.
She could hear them speaking as she was there. And those who rouse from the Red did not awaken unscathed. But Ava wanted to go back. She tried to go back. Back to the time when Liv was beneath the slumber of the Red. What happened to Olivia Tino when she fell into unconsciousness?
What happened when she fell into unconsciousness? Well, she fell unconscious. She did not float. She did drift, perhaps, but not literally. Same feeling of suppression that accompanied the others.
Ava watched over Liv as she fell into the blackness. The suppression that she felt was not uncommon to the other Dreamers. It looked like the effects were the same for each one of them and that Liv's sensitivity played no part.
But as the Jedi observed, she realized that there were two other sets of eyes. Two other trained Force sensitives who could also see what she saw.
If they decided.
The invitation to join in the Meld was outstretched to both Solomon and Jeryndi. It was a kind and welcoming offer to see what she saw. To perhaps see what she could not see. So that they could better learn more about the Red and its effects.
The invitation was extended, but Solomon's response to it was not an open one. He didn't ignore it, but he did not join. This time would be no different than any other, even in the midst of the chaos around then. Or perhaps because of the chaos around them.
That invitation was felt to the others, but Liv was already starting to close off and separate herself from Ava. She released the Jedi's hand and stepped back, eyes opening and looking around to Breis. The Captain took a breath then stated simply, "I'm ready to depart for the graveyard."
Breis, murmuring to one of his warriors, broke off with a blink. "You are...?" How long had that been? With them... staring? Not long. Breis cleared his throat. "... Great. You can explain to me what that achieved on the way."
Solomon had gone quiet, listening, his expression one of thought. When mention of The Meld came up, Solomon's attention redoubled. He knew the technique could give insight, and had had the thing described to him. Once upon a time he'd even been invited to give it a try. He always denied. He always side stepped it. This was his first time in seeing it with his own eyes, of being aware of how it felt even on the outside of it.
Jeryndi had never done a Meld either... At least, not with anyone here. The only one he'd ever worked with like that had been Lepri... It had been a unique and impressionable experience that could've been interpreted as good or bad, depending on how cynical a person was. So he watched... And waited. Like Solomon, he focused on Olivia to see how she felt and what she felt through the Force.
Ava watched the focus center on her face as her shoulders began to relax. They didn't have long, only a short window between now and the time the ships repairs would be completed. "This... won't hold up things up, will it?" Ava inquired. Liv was of importance with the Hapans. What she did with her time mattered to what was being done around them. And before they attempted this, the Jedi knew she would have to make sure it wouldn't interfere.
"I don't know," Jeryndi said honestly. "I've never initiated one... But I've no objections," he told Ava. "If it helps us to all be on the same page and reinforce awareness.... I'm all for it."
To Ava's concern, Liv looked to Breis. "What time frame are we looking at for departure for the ship graveyard?"
Breis heard his name. He wasn't far off, but had been catching up with Dorara on Tal-Keb's status, and so had to ask Liv to repeat what she'd asked. When she did, he looked confused. He'd basically called the dreamer-situation secondary to the graveyard situation, and had balanced it on when Liv was ready to send her people out. Suddenly that seemed no longer relevant. He could well see the jetii and Trander and guess their focus. He closed the distance, watching his footing on the rough floor of the shelter. "I told them they had until we left to make headway. If you think the dreamers should be higher priority than that... then we can go and they can get to work on it."
Solomon was quiet. He had turned his head to look past the group toward where Breis was as the Mandal spoke. There was some ease here, some little bit of give -- a way to hedge himself against the prospect of the meld. It was a shakey option, but an option all the same.
"Liv presents us with an opportunity we did not have before." Ava explained to Breis. "She's been in the Red and as a Dreamer and came out of it. It might be a key we are missing in understanding what's happened to them."
"I'll take ten minutes to try the meld," Liv agreed, giving a nod to Ava's request while focusing on Breis. "If I can provide any information to help, it's worth the attempt. Any current dreamers' lives are at stake."
Jeryndi stayed quiet. He looked back and forth between everyone in the group, taking stock of various emotions and body languages.
Breis, who frankly had no clue what they were on about, turned his head to Dorara and muttered, "Mark that."
Solomon remained quiet, focused and aware. There was not so terribly much riding on what Liv might be able to tell them, he didn't think. Not in regards to the experiment that Jeryndi had proposed. The practicalities of what Trander wanted to do, still, by no means were outweighed by the risks that would be taken. So far, his concerns still stood, but he'd wait to see what could come of this.
With, what seemed to be, Breis' approval and the confirmation that the meld would not hold up progress with the graveyard, Ava gave a small nod to Liv. She'd participated in the meld before. And with Liv. But this was the first time with an audience.
She could feel the nervousness creep up. A normal reaction, Ava told herself. With one final little nod to the woman before her, the Jedi's eyes closed.
It was as if the air changed around Ava Azalee.
Her form eased into a relaxed, meditative posture. The nervousness stilled. The eagerness to find something quieted. Again, the Jedi felt the surrounding of life. The people gathered around her. Liv. Solomon. Jeryndi. Bries and any of the other Hapans and Mandalores who had not ventured off.
Ava could sense them in the Force - the life that thrummed to a rhythm of their heartbeats. All flowing simultaneously with each one holding a unique beat. She narrowed in on Liv's and reached for her through the Force as if extending a tether.
That small nod from Ava was returned with Liv's own, her own nervousness taking hold for a moment. Her relationship with the Force had not been consistent, nor constant in the time since the war had ended. Time between meditation sessions drew longer, the number of practices dwindled. But the Force was never far from those who knew it well... and with a single deep breath, she could feel it begin to flow through her once more. Eyes closed, attention focused on emptying herself of doubts, of concerns, of the audience gathered around them. Nothing else mattered in that moment but the Force, and the Jedi woman standing across from her.
The familiar pull of the meld was felt, a draw of another in a similar mindset and focus. It was a connection on a level beyond what she could feel elsewhere. There was no hesitation from her, no shields going up between them. She trusted the Force and she trusted Ava. Another deep breath, another step towards the meld bond. Already her mind was starting to go back days. The Hapan fort in the NotRed zone, Nikolaus and his team tirelessly testing and working, experiencing frustrations and renewed focus as various results came in.
The Red. Nothing could contain it. The strongest materials, force fields, nothing they could imagine would capture a single molecule of the Red and bring it out of the Cloak. Earlier test subjects who had been exposed were thoroughly tested with the best medical equipment the Fort could provide, and no answer could be found. Symptoms were present of a 'drug-like' effect, but no trace of it could be discovered. They needed someone to experience the Red past the point of consciousness. Olivia had volunteered immediately.
Oliva Tino's trust was not something taken lightly. It wouldn't be brushed aside or ignored. Ava took care of it and nurtured that trust to the best of her ability. She strove to help build Liv's confidence in the Force and in the meld. It was only through openness and credence that they could accomplish this feet together.
The seconds bled away as the Meld took hold and gained in strength.
It was similar to the memories she saw from Vikas - but the feel was different. Here, Ava could not participate in what happened around her. As the memories flashed, she stood off to the side like a bystander watching a holo-flick.
She could hear Niko's voice as if he stood next to her and watched the frustration flood his handsome features. All around him people moved in a flurry of work.
It was the Red.
They were working on solutions to contain the spreading.
Ava watched their progress. As Liv Tino volunteered to expose herself to the Red.
They asked Liv if she understood the risks. If she was sure she wanted to do this. The Captain agreed without hesitation. They were skeptical and a little concerned... but they needed this test, and so Niko authorized it. Within the meld, Liv's emotions could be felt in that moment. She was accepting the possibility of death. She was ready for that to be the end if was meant to happen. Part of it was to save anyone else from the risk... but another part, was simply ready to go.
A tear slipped from the physical Liv's eye as she observed and felt those feelings all over again. She took a deep breath and kept her focus on the scene, though Ava would be able to feel her unease at the revelation.
The scene continued playing out before them. The Corellian woman was escorted to the edge of the Cloak, where she was fitted with low tech cabled medical monitors going to a machine that would remain in the NotRed. Two armored medics walked with her into it, one at each side, ready to catch her when needed. They knew she would 'sleep', as the Mandal child had described. They needed to know what it really meant. Nikolaus stood with Catia and another medic at the monitors, ready to observe the effects.
Around them--now that Ava could see outside the Fort--the full scale of the Hapan operation could be seen. Dozens and dozens of Hapans worked around them, with various machines, scanners, and equipment. A vehicle bay was to one side, with multiple low tech ground vehicles being assembled. Shuttles landed and lifted off, with supplies and equipment constantly moving in and out. It was a full scale base of operations. The Hapans were taking this very seriously.
She felt the hidden desire and the revelation that followed.
Without ever realizing it. Without ever giving a singular thought to the motion… Ava’s gloved hand reached for Liv. Her eyes remained closed as her hand extended forward exactly where she knew Liv’s hand would be. It was a gentle embrace. Her small fingers clasping around another’s with her palm pressed flat over the top of Liv’s hand.
She continued to watch.
Solomon was still watchful. When the emotional tone shifted on Liv's face he moved closer. There was no reach for the Force Sensitive pirate, Sol not wanting to influence whatever may have been shared between Liv and Ava, but he was close. Close and quiet.
As the minutes ticked by, it was harder to interpret Liv as anything but a participant. Sure, Ava had said she'd gone into the red and been a dreamer, but how much did that actually explain? Breis was not the only Mandalorian who had stopped to watch this, and that was not because there was nothing to do. It also was not because he'd understood that there might be some "this" to watch. Instead, the stillness and silence that had fallen over the sensitives (including Liv, or was she merely their focus?) had crept up on the man, and only gradually had he gotten curious. He still had no idea what they were doing. He knew they weren't near the dreamers they'd brought from Tal Ruus, who had been stashed in the corner from which the Tal-Keb dreamers had disappeared. At one point, he murmured to the balking warrior next to him, "I dunno. Figured there'd be more chanting."
It was both premature and probably moot to wonder whether the Hapans were doing all of this out of selfless concern or an eye for their own survival. Liv's recovery after being retrieved from the Cloak had not happened in a single shot, but had been gradual over the course of two days. So while Ava, Medren, Solomon and Jeryndi had been slogging through changed crimson landscapes with low visibility, Olivia Black had been in a special ward rigged up on the Yelora Dowen, tended by physicians unwittingly determined to thwart her slide into death. It had never been a sure thing. Others in her group slipped into hallucination and were withdrawn. It folds upon itself, they said if they blinked themselves awake. When others reached coma stage, as Liv had, pulling them out of the Cloak had resulted in all sorts of lunacy--cardiac arrest, cessation of breathing, and other catastrophic factors that pointed to lack of self-regulation without providing hints as to why.
They'd learned quick to be fast in getting their volunteers to full-spectrum medical help. Liv had been rushed into the field ward immediately, stabilized there, and blasted up to the Yelora double-quick.
Jeryndi was... A little confused... But it was reflected in his Presence. It was a secondary or tertiary concern. He was focused on Liv and Ava... But that confusion came from... Why hadn't they been included in the Meld? Words failed to convey certain emotions and experiences. Which was the entire point of doing the Meld, right? But he didn't interrupt. Didn't say anything... He kept his Presence calm and unobtrusive. He watched with a detached curiosity. Paying close attention to their emotions and body language. He stood next to Ava, a few feet away, hands tucked behind his back, head bowed, but eyes open and watching the two women.
Jeryndi hadn’t been excluded.
Neither had Solomon.
The welcoming was there – open in the Force if they wished to grab hold of that tether.
It folds upon itself.
She could hear them speaking as she was there. And those who rouse from the Red did not awaken unscathed. But Ava wanted to go back. She tried to go back. Back to the time when Liv was beneath the slumber of the Red. What happened to Olivia Tino when she fell into unconsciousness?
What happened when she fell into unconsciousness? Well, she fell unconscious. She did not float. She did drift, perhaps, but not literally. Same feeling of suppression that accompanied the others.
Ava watched over Liv as she fell into the blackness. The suppression that she felt was not uncommon to the other Dreamers. It looked like the effects were the same for each one of them and that Liv's sensitivity played no part.
But as the Jedi observed, she realized that there were two other sets of eyes. Two other trained Force sensitives who could also see what she saw.
If they decided.
The invitation to join in the Meld was outstretched to both Solomon and Jeryndi. It was a kind and welcoming offer to see what she saw. To perhaps see what she could not see. So that they could better learn more about the Red and its effects.
The invitation was extended, but Solomon's response to it was not an open one. He didn't ignore it, but he did not join. This time would be no different than any other, even in the midst of the chaos around then. Or perhaps because of the chaos around them.
That invitation was felt to the others, but Liv was already starting to close off and separate herself from Ava. She released the Jedi's hand and stepped back, eyes opening and looking around to Breis. The Captain took a breath then stated simply, "I'm ready to depart for the graveyard."
Breis, murmuring to one of his warriors, broke off with a blink. "You are...?" How long had that been? With them... staring? Not long. Breis cleared his throat. "... Great. You can explain to me what that achieved on the way."