Among strangers, a familiar face

[skyggedal]

Dust was everywhere as Adella wrapped her headscarf tightly around her, adjusting her goggles for the fourth time since exiting the shady bar she'd spent the night at. The search for information had been fruitful, but she'd found a lot less than she had hoped for. People needed mechanics on Tatooine, so business was good, but they were tight-lipped even after paying for their drinks. It didn’t matter. She would find out, even if she had to fill every drunk this side of the planet to the brim with booze.

She located her grimy, busted-looking swoop in the parking lot just outside, and set off at a slow pace. Sure, she was good to drive, she hadn’t had that much… probably. But it was really kriffing dark. Only a few of the streetlights worked in this run-down place, and the constant dust on the wind dimmed them significantly. It was perfect weather to sneak around in, less perfect for swooping home.

It was normally a fifteen minute ride back to her shop, which was a pretty anonymous building, sand colored and worn like all the others. The modifications that had been made to the house were invisible from the outside, and it had a small shop counter where she could do business with the locals.

This early morning, a few hours before dawn, however, it was gonna take her longer. Because she was driving slow, because of the dust on the wind, and because... a building just blew up, throwing her swoop and her off their course. She rolled off the swoop before it could crush her, getting up into a crouching position thanks to her training with one hand shielding her eyes from the glare of the huge flames that stood out from the now completely destroyed dome of a nearby building.

Not even half a second after she hit the ground the first time, bruising her hip and hearing a cracking sound she hoped was the bottle in her side pocket and not a bone, a female human shape landed right at her feet, thrown there by a secondary explosion. Staring at the woman's face, she couldn't believe her own eyes. Dawn.

A great many emotions hit her all at once, only slightly dulled by the alcohol in her veins. Chiefly, however, she felt the need to get out of there in a hurry. This place was gonna be swarming with people soon. People asking questions.

Steadying her swoop, she realized her mind had already decided she couldn't leave the woman behind, and so she went over to lift her up and drag her to the swoop. It wasn't rational, one part of her argued, but she had lost the only other person she'd felt this kind of connection with and could not stand to lose the other too, not again.

Hurrying as best she could, a look over to where Dawn had landed revealed a small pool of blood and a few pieces of scrap metal, all in the process of being swallowed by the dust cloud that was billowing out from the structure. Adella left the scene in a hurry, adrenaline sharpening her senses enough that she dared increase their speed.

It was only after she parked the swoop inside her garage next to an old fixer-upper a neighbor was hoping would win him a ton of creds after she was done with it, and after the thick, blasterproof garage door closed with a heavy thud, that she finally took the time to look at the woman whose prone, unconscious body she had placed on the cleanest workbench she had.

They were inside a small mechanic’s workshop,with an impressive array of tools hanging on the walls, and a few unfinished projects lying around on tables or shelves. Dawn was on her favorite workbench, dressed in the remains of a slick, dark infiltration suit that looked like it fit her like a second skin. The explosions had not been kind to the suit nor to the woman underneath.

Adella’s eyes widened as she saw the partially destroyed mechanical arm prosthesis, noting that it was well maintained and of an expensive make. She tore her eyes from it to focus on the wounds in need of immediate assistance.

She knew a doctor who didn't ask questions, but she was aware of the bounty on Dawn’s head. It was significant. So she ran for her first aid kit and a pair of scissors, and started cutting away the suit and cleaning the sand out of the woman’s wounds.

@Taruna

 

[Taruna]

“This is gonna be a blast”

Jepp, that's what she said when she left the airport to find a lead on one doctor grell, who supposedly was once a doctor for a republic Senator. And a republic senator was exactly what Dawn needed right now.

Too bad she let herself being derailed mercilessly, as her investigation also revealed a local slave smuggler gang, who of couuurse happened to have the good doctor in their hands to deal with some injuries from their latest run in with the authorities.

So, long story short, Dawn ended up sneaking into their compound. But who would have guessed they decided to branch out and do in highly illegal and old, not to mention unstable weapons.

During her infiltration then she was caught freeing the slaves. She would at this point be far away already, but she had to go back in and remove the head of the operation, playing hero, doing the right and thus inheriting stupid things.

And thus she ended up almost being blasted to pieces as the big boss was a fan of dead man switches.

The last thing she remembered was saying something intelligent like ‘your Operation is going down’ or the like, then a loud noise and the feeling of flying and the sandy floor rushing towards her.

And now, aside of a heap load of pain and confusion she smelled oil, sand, metal and something small and hard pressing into her back to maximize the uncomfortability level.

Opening her eyes was akin to an heroic act already, but getting a clean vision.. oh boy. But she managed, even only for a moment a swoop bike and a woman cutting her clothes. This was no operation room, and the thugs would not bother to carefully remove her clothes. And who was she to complain? Dawn probably wouldn't be able to say anything anyway. Or could she? Worth a try..

“Hurghlrghrll

Okay, it WAS worth a try. Next time she would try to control her tongue before attempting communication.

 

[skyggedal]

"Please don't try to speak," Adella told Dawn as the latter attempted to do just that. "Your jaw has taken a hit, it's gonna be swollen for a bit."

She was working carefully but quickly, the explosion had made a lot of cuts which were all bleeding and which were all covered with that ubiquitous dust. "Don't worry," she said as she worked, washing off the worst dust with a clean sponge now that she had finished cutting off the ruined infiltration suit. It wasn't optimal, but it was what she had at hand. Luckily she had made sure to have a fully stocked medikit at hand when she set up her workshop.

"You're safe here." She said the words with ease, even though there was a turmoil of emotions going on within her. It had been five years since she had seen Dawn, but she had still not forgotten about their night together, not even when she had found the man of her life. That same man who was now dead.

She sighed, putting all her thoughts and emotions on hold. None of it would matter if she couldn't save Dawn from catching an infection or dying from blood loss. Satisfied that the sponge had gotten the dust away, she picked up the disinfectant spray. "This is gonna sting, I'm sorry," she said softly before starting to spray all the wounds. The workbench was soon covered with blood, ash and disinfectant.

@Taruna

 

[Taruna]

Dawn groaned.
She never understood why disinfectant were made specifically to add pain to an existing injury. Couldn't they make something that would hurt less? Or probably not.. At the end, it showed the injured woman that, and what exactly was still present enough to hurt.

Not surprisingly it turned out there was a lot. No further missing limbs. Hooray team Dawn and all that.

What harassed her the most was what ever was still pressing in her back. With an feeble effort, she tried to point at her back. At first naturally with her broken arm, until she realized that she was wailing around some junk formerly known as arm. So she changed tactics and used her other arm to try to get her message across. It did not help that the arm hurt as hell, she was out of strength and speaking was all out of the question as her yaw now cramped.

There was not much to do, and as she felt herself passing out, she attempted a desperate attempt of telepathy, at least trying to tell her "my back" before things went black..

 

[skyggedal]

"Please, stay still," Adella said as Dawn started twisting and turning. Initially thinking it was because of the discomfort caused by the disinfectant, she tried not to pay any heed to it.

The flailing grew worse, but also fainter, and suddenly she heard a voice in her head, as if someone stood right next to her and spoke. Your back? she thought, but had no idea if the communication was two-way. It didn't matter, though, because Dawn lost consciousness. Okay, so whatever was wrong with her back, perhaps it was an injury Adella hadn't seen. Setting aside the spray for a moment, she took hold and lifted Dawn's side up.

"Karking poodoo!" she swore loudly as she saw the sharp multitool poking into Dawn's backside. In her rush to get Dawn on the bench while her eyes still adjusted to the sudden bright light of the workshop, she hadn't seen it. "Okay, I'm gonna have to deal with this--" She stopped, as there was no point in giving instructions to an unconscious person.

Instead she prioritized working fast and accurately, getting the wounds disinfected and covered with bacta patches or self-sealing bandages. In the end her medikit was empty, and Dawn looked like a living, breathing bandage. Pale, struggling a little, but alive. All she needed now was time.

After cleaning the workshop, she sat down to work on the lower arm prosthetic that was almost completely ruined by the blast. She'd detached it from Dawn's elbow and placed it on a separate workbench. Some time later, still working on the prosthetic, she faded into sleep, having been up all night at the bar and then working most of the late night and early morning on saving Dawn's life.

 

[Taruna]

Dawn awoke due to the stinging of sunrays into her right eye. The left eye was fine, tho. May be because it was bandaged.

Anyway, Dawn was conscious. Yay! But right after this realization came the panic, as she felt unable to move for a few seconds. I just needed a little more effort and the strongwilled ignorance of the effing load of pain coming with it, but Dawn managed to sit up finally.

Looking around, she found herself in a... workshop of some sorts as it seemed. A swooper bike, another vehicle that really belonged into a museum and.. oh. Yes. Her rescuer, using HER OWN ARM as a pillow. Puffing a little on that affont (she could have as well use her, that at least would have been a lot more compfortable on both sides) she decided to get up.. or not. Too many bandages!

Looking down, she wondered if this was applied medical treatment due to many wounds or just an attempt to mummify Dawn prematurely. Considering she was just blown up and just barely escaped, the former had to be the case. So she began to remove the smaller portions, concentrating on healing them a little more with the force to not immediately start to bleed again and then stood up carefully.

Standing was a bad idea, but she managed to make two small steps before her strength left her and she tumbled quite unceremoniously against Adella, grabbing on to her in an desperate attempt to not lose the rest of her pride by face-planting right next to her. "Hrnghg!"

 

[skyggedal]

Adella woke with a start, being grabbed by an unknown assailant and dragged to the ground, twisting reflexively to not end up at the bottom of the pile. Her eyes were still focusing, pinpointing the attacker with the extreme precision that came with a high dose of adrenaline, at the same time her vibroknife-wielding hand reached the other’s throat. The knife vanished back to its hiding place when Dawn’s face, still half-covered with bandages, registered in her mind. The mechanic was really on edge lately, it seemed.

Having the wounded woman on the floor below her, Adella gave her a glare that carried a lot of mixed feelings. It had been five years, but she could still remember everything. It was like it was stuck in her mind. Emboldened by a mix of anger and the residual alcohol still in her blood, she leaned down and kissed the woman roughly on the lips. “Do you remember me, Dawn?” she asked as she let go, voice full of unspoken promises.

 

[Taruna]

Well, that did not really go as plannen. What she wanted was to tip her shoulder, not drag her down to the floor.

But lo and behold, there she was. Yet again. On the floor. Entangled with a stranger. There had to be a law against this happening that often for her, but Dawn somehow also believed that if there would be a 'chance police' it would not act, just to add insult to the injury. And back to the topic of injury. OW, DAMNED! Being a survivor of being blown up is not at all as cool as the action movies wanted to tell you. And the fact that the arm she needed to cushion her fall was just recently used as a mere pillow meant that the landing on the floor knocked out the air of her pretty good.

Nevertheless, her mind did still work pretty good, considering it was busy ignoring all the barking siren sounds sent by her entire nerve system. She did notice the reflexive movement bringing Dell on top. She did recognize her, mostly because of her eyes and mouth. She also remembered what she said to her and how she messed up in using her real name too. What she did not recognize was the kiss. Did she kiss Dell? Or tried to seduce her somewhere in the past? What exactly did she tell Dell at the time she was abducting the Senator?

When the kiss ended, and Adelle asked her, she used the moment to finally get some air back into her lungs and coughed a little. Painful, but at least she could breathe again. Now to the next thing at hand. She did notice the Vibroblade and the way Dell held it. Was there some.. training involved? How and where did she get that? Time to find out~

Putting up a bright smile, which actually came easy as she really enjoyed seeing Dell again she spoke up
"Hay dere. Kept you waiting, huh? Did you happen to find my arm, by chance? I seem to have lost it in the blast.."

 

[skyggedal]

So strange. There was a clear sign of recognition in Dawn's expression, but that was it. How was that even possible, everything considered? Adella frowned. Out of all possible reactions this was not even remotely close to any one she'd expected.

The smile seemed genuine, but only in a friendly way. Adella's mind unhelpfully replayed the whole scene from her old memories at the sound of Dawn's voice, causing the mechanic to close her eyes and groan, rolling over to the side and getting to her feet in one fluid motion. She'd seen this enough times. It kept popping up, especially as of late. "I need a drink," she growled under her voice before looking over to her workbench and back to Dawn.

"Yeah, it's been a few years, hasn't it," she answered, rubbing her temples with her left hand. "Your arm still needs another day's work, possibly more, before it'll be in any kind of useable state. Right now it's basically expensive scrap metal."

Instead of offering the other woman help to get up, Adella looked at her, arms on her hips. She was still angry, but punching someone who had just survived an explosion somehow seemed counter-productive. "You really don't... remember, do you." It was a statement, not a question.

 

[Taruna]

Oh, well! There goes the 'good deeds' of the Force.

That's what most Jedi instructors struggle the most with. Explaining how to change someone else's mind was the one thing. Having the Force user think more then a step ahead and think what damage this seemingly harmless and good action can do is subject of years of lecture.. and training. A luxury Dawn never really had to begin with. But she learned quickly, more out of neccessity then out of the want to train.

Staying down on the floor, because frankly: moving still hurt a lot she looked up to measure the other's expression and emotions. There was a lot of anger, agression and bitter dissapointment. But also Restraint, discipline and love, even under these circumstances. Adorable.

She decided to go with honesty. There was not much more left then that. "To be perfectly frank. No. But that's due to a very different reason that you may think. There's a lot to my mind you may not find normal, and albeit I remember you very vividly, the happenings of this night will be very different in my mind from the memories in your mind."

Groaning a little, she tried to sit up. It needed a little while but she managed. "What I remember, tho.. was that you are a unique woman with a unique smile and personality. Be angry at me, but I unfortunately can not change things this easily. Would you mind tell me how you remember things?"

 

[skyggedal]

Adella was puzzled at Dawn's words. Why would their memories be different? Was she saying that it had been just another night for her, or was there something else going on?

She resisted the urge to help Dawn sit up properly. "How I remember things..." She paused. It felt awkward to put it into words, telling something so private to a virtual stranger. That was what they were, wasn't it? She knew Dawn's name, knew every inch of her body from memory, and yet she knew nothing about her.

But in the end, they were here and they were going to talk about it, one way or another. Maybe it would help her put the night behind her at long last. "It was the most intense night of my life. The things we did... I've never experienced anything quite like that, before or since." Her lips curled into a shy smile, despite herself. It vanished pretty quickly.

Rubbing the left side of her head trying to soothe an impending headache, she grabbed a bottle of cheap beer from a nearby tool cabinet. That particular memory, it seemed, was always followed by a headache of some kind. "I don't know why it's so hard to explain. I can picture every little detail clearly in my mind." Frustration was clear on her voice.

Popping the bottle open with the multitool from her belt, she downed a mouthful of the terrible liquid she'd become so accustomed to in the past months that she almost didn't even sneer at the taste anymore. "It was incredible. I don't understand how you can't remember it. Were you on something?"

@Taruna

 

[Taruna]

There it was. The inevitable price for the inherit arrogance of all force users. It granted you the power to change lives. Usually the initial attempt is to do so for the better, but it could always backlash terribly, best of intentions or not.

In this case, the backlash was a two bladed sword as well. Should Dawn leave the memories as they where? They seemed to have developed to a good memory and possibly sparked something within her, as the woman's behavior seemed to indicate. On the other hand, she was living an illusion for five years now. Was not everyone entitled live their lives on their own accord? Without interruption, manipulation and, as it ultimately was, a forced change? Who was Dawn to swoop into her life, or anyones in that matter, change the memories at will just because she can, and dissapear?

Dawn realized she was staring inti eternity and blinked. What to do now? She did wrong to her, but she seemed to have liked it. Damn you, Force! Can't you do anything simple for a change?

"Yes, i indeed was on somethig," she then admitted "A mix on hubris, stupidity of the youth, megalomania and a rush of adrenaline. You need to know.. I am a force positive, trainied in a Jedi Temple for a while util I changed branches to a more... unfriendly occupation. They trained me a lot, but foresight and the ability to see that you are doing soethig stupid when you do it was not part of it, at least not enough."

While she spoke, she tried to concentrate a little on her Ability to heal herself, to at least close the biggest woundss and worst inner injuries, but also realized tat the process would probably require a few hours. Nevertheless she had decided that she would not trick her again and for the hell of it she would not contiue this based on a lie,