Ask Curiosities

[Miya Af Ath]

At Natalie's first statement, Miya snickered. Only once, though, and she was not facing the other woman, so no hint of a smile could be detected in that moment. She turned eventually, striding toward the Sentinel as she saw with the Force what was hidden and long forgotten. Her arms came to cross in front of her as she watched, and felt the Jedi's presence in the Force. It felt so much different than her own. She wondered if she was truly that different.

"There are only too many of those to count," Mi recounted, almost somberly. "Perhaps the answer lies deeper within? Or would you prefer to stay here and play in the water?" she asked pointedly, looking at Natalie perhaps in the way a student would look upon a peer of lesser learning. There were pathways in many directions from here, and all of them gave some sense of foreboding.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie cocked an eyebrow at Miya. "Is that a sense of humor, I'm hearing? Careful now, your bright side is showing," she mocked. She took one last look at the water she wouldn't want to play in even if it were the last thing to bathe herself in the galaxy. "Guess that means the real playground is deeper." The woman's looks of superiority only furthered Natalie's amusement at this encounter. She'd never admit it to the woman, but it was a lot more fun than taming a grove or convincing a hermit that a temple's ruins was in fact, not their home.

She walked with Miya through the far door, heading even deeper into the temple. Natalie was impressed by the sheer size of it. From the outside, it looked as if one could cross from one side of the temple to the other in less than a few minutes. It would realistically take hours, with the winding halls and large sub-structures. Maybe there would be one of those fancy old terminals for Natalie to slice. Or some old defense droids that she could reprogram.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"You aren't funny, if that's what you're asking," she replied dryly. Mi was quick to lead on from the chamber, and did not waste any time idling around the lesser chambers or smaller halls. This place was large, and she felt more pressed for time with a Jedi at her back. She kept her distance from Natalie, but was always close enough to see her; the Force was not necessary to know she did not trust the Sentinel.

In time they reached the end of the long corridor: Here, among the rubble and loose stones, it was plain to see that a great gate sealed the way. In two halves it shut from the sides, barring the ingress to the deepest depths of the temple. There were no signs of prior life here, but the narrow mouth of the chamber suggested a chokepoint, and that this place was not intended for the masses—perhaps even among the residents.

Miya came to a halt in front of the door. For a moment she observed the glyphs that were engraved there, before she turned back to face Natalie. "Help me open it," she directed, and then turned back to look at the massive stones once again.

 

[Natalie Hope]

"Fuck you, I'm hilarious," Natalie spat, following Miya. The chambers and halls the passed seem to blend together. The only difference between them all being how much vegetation has taken over the stones. There wasn't much interest from either of them in the passages in between. What were they going to say? That's a nice wall right there. Wish is had more color!

She could tell that Miya was keeping her distance, but it didn't mind her. If Miya was going to attack she'd have done it by now. Natalie kept herself ready if that were to change, but she had a feeling this darksider had a few morals still kicking around that benighted heart. Miya seemed to go straight for the chamber door while Natalie took her time, wandering around the outside edge of the room, taking in the discolored walls.

When Miya demanded she help her open the door, Natalie wanted to find a way to mock it, as she had the entire way through their journey so far. Instead, she swiftly walked over, raising her hands toward the door without touching it. She called the Force, let it flow through her limbs and into the door, and began slowly opening it. It would go a lot faster of Miya joined in, but it would eventually open with just Natalie.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"Mhm," Miya sounded simply, brushing off the comment with a roll of the eyes. She kept an eye on Natalie, not certain if she was unaware of the intricacies of this place, or if she simply did not care at all. She presumed that the Jedi was here more to keep an eye on her than the place. Either way, she had help, and was intent to use it to the best of her ability. When the stones began to move, she watched intently for a second or two without impeding, just to gauge the Sentinel's strength with the Force. When she was satisfied—which only took a moment—she threw forth a hand, and the stone opposite her began to move.

In a few seconds, the way had been cleared. The opened door was like a portal; from here, the stones weren't overgrown at all, and seemed in near-perfect condition. Age had taken their color, but not their shape. Curiously Mi stepped forward, but hesitated to enter the crypt-like hall in front of her where she could not see.

A light came.

To the side, Mi had brought her weapon, and with a swift sound it came alive in a bright glow. The way was illuminated, but only for as far as the light of her lightsaber would reach.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Ah, the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber. Was it time, now that they stepped into darkness, to give the ghosts that roamed this place a light show they'd never forget? Natalie turned, only to find Miya using her lightsaber like the most expensive lantern in the galaxy. The only surprise there was that the color was green. Maybe the girl wasn't as dark as she herself thought. That crystal would not be having a good time if she was.

Natalie raised her left hand, calling the Force into it, and making it shine bright. Force Light was being taught to many padawans these days, both the offensive and utility versions. The crypt lit up as if it had natural lighting, and Miya wouldn't be blinded if she looked in Natalie's direction. "Damn these practical things I can do with the light," Natalie quipped. A little more dangerous now that the woman was holding an active lightsaber, but with her on Natalie's right, and Natalie's hand hovering over her own lightsaber, she would be fine.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

The lightsaber was lifted high above Miya's head, carried as some form of spectral torch in order to light the way. For a moment or so, this was sufficient, until such time that its role was deemed superfluous by the light that had been called upon by Natalie. Turning to face her, the darksider scowled, retracting her blade and slipping her saber hilt back onto her belt. "Quiet," she hissed, clearly not caring for a lesson in morality right now. She folded her arms, and continued to search along the cut stone of the long hall.

The end of the hall was unceremonious. It had been unadorned outside of the small dome in the ceiling that rose above the ceiling, and a circular wall that wrapped anyone looking at the left of the hall back onto the right, and eventually out of the crypt-chamber. Everything was plain. Very plain, in fact, and perhaps so much so that one may have been left questioning why this wing even existed in the first place.

"Something is off about this," Mi said. "There should be something else there, no?" She looked at Natalie, now, seemingly curious for the Sentinel's take.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

There was nothing in the Force to indicate whether something was there or not. At least, Natalie couldn't sense anything. She'd honed the craft of being able to sense things pretty well, considering she made a habit of traveling about the galaxy as a padawan. Always needed to know when there was a bigger fish around. Pretty sure she learned that from a datacron labeled "Jedi Jesus" but her memory wasn't too good for book shit.

"Gimme a second," she said, walking over the smooth wall in front of Miya. "Quick, say something cryptic that sounds all official and vague." Even as she mocked, Natalie pressed her palms to the wall, feeding the Force through her limbs into it. For a moment, the large room turned to dark again, but slowly, luminescent blue symbols began to appear, as if flowing through cracks in the walls that weren't there. Within seconds the entire room was lit up with the symbols.

"And you called me a dolt," Natalie quipped, looking around at her handy work. She tested taking one hand off the wall and the symbols continued to glow, and then the other. She wouldn't need to use Force Light anymore. As for the symbols, they might as well have been a completely different language to her.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

So many memories, Miya thought, have passed from this place. It was a sobering thought. That once a temple so vast and intricate as this would one day be a ruin buried in the depths of some jungle, known only by the whispers of the bugs on Ruuria as a relic of a time where others shared this space. For a moment she wondered how Natalie had reached this place; whether by the same path as she, or by mere circumstance. She put the thought out of her mind for now.

Mi did not reply to her sarcasms. She merely stared, and waited as the Sentinel put to work her mind. She blinked when the room became dark, and then squinted when the light of the blue symbols took over. Curiously she looked upon the room from afar; blinking at each symbol and beginning to draw parallels between the more similar ones. In moments she was certain of it: she didn't speak this. Still, she observed them with the care and intrigue that a curator would a piece of art.

"No less true," she bit back, turning to look at Natalie for a moment with hard eyes. "But if you care, the victory is yours." After congratulating the Jedi on her manufactured win, Mi returned to her work at the wall. Gently her splayed hand came to rest upon one, and faintly she felt some latent memory left in the stone. She breathed once, stepping slowly across the floor as her hand came to each symbol in order.

"On the wall. Find the symbol that speaks the loudest; there the history tells of what is inside."

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie ignored the praise, feigned as it was. She was much more interested in the blue symbols, walking around the room with wandering eyes while her hands stay clasped behind her back. See? This was interesting. Instead of cold, dead stones they had vibrant, colorful, dead stones now. Still, Miya hadn't been wrong so far, despite seemingly being unable to do what is needed herself.

"I think I'll leave the talking stone part to our resident master hermit," Natalie said, continuing to enjoy the symbols that traced the way. Despite the place clearly being made and hidden with the Force, she couldn't sense anything. If Miya wasn't so close, she probably wouldn't even be able to sense her. There was something about this place that just seemed... empty.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"Fine," Miya huffed and removed her hand from her side of the wall. Deftly she drifted to the opposite side, and allowed her palm to meet one of the symbols that were glowing there. For a minute or so she took turns laying her hands upon the various markings, feeling their history and that thoughts that had been left there by the previous inhabitants of this mystical place.

Eventually she found one that felt promising to her, and here she stepped into the center of the small dome-room. With either hand she channeled what energy should could find in the Force to two symbols upon the wall that had the strongest echo to her. The blue of the markings flashed and became white, and a moment later the rest of the writing in the room followed their lead. There was a rumbling, now, and Mi stumbled back as she released her hold on the wall.

With the sound came the moving of the ground below them. It would appear that the room had been spinning, somewhat, until the floor below them drew downward, like an ancient elevator that carried them down into a larger chamber below. In this room there were many pedestals, each of which had a carved inscription of their own. Mi looked to Natalie, raising her brows. "Not bad, for a hermit, I'd say."

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie watched Miya work, walking about touching stones and symbols. It was amusing at first, and then impressive when it all worked. The chamber they were taken to was even more impressive, with the blue and white symbols around the walls and many smaller pedestals with the same sort of glyphs on them. Natalie didn't turn to Miya, instead fixation on one of the pedelstals.

"The most talented hermit I've ever met for sure," she said, her voice trailing as she began to sense something in the Force emitting from the stone in front of her. She gently placed her hand on the top of the pedestal, and a story began to play in her thoughts and emotions. One of thriving happiness, and then sudden cold, darkness. Only a small ember remaining of the warmth that once was. Natalie removed her hand, tilting her head in curiosity.

"They're like datacrons," she said loud enough for Miya to hear. "Archive chamber, maybe?" The chances of getting anything other than the history of a long forgotten people was pretty slim, but it was interesting that they fashioned stones into datacrons like this. Almost as if by the time they built this temple they knew they were going to be a distant memory.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"Probably," Miya answered simply as she strode from the platform in the center of the larger chamber, headed for one of the obelisks opposite Natalie. "But why hide them?" she asked. "Not merely for protection; the temple itself is well-fortified enough." She thought aloud, the math simply not adding. "There is still something here—there has to be." Certain as she was, the vagabond could think of no other manner of finding what may or may have once been kept here.

There were four stones in all. Curiously Mi reached out to one in the Force, and allowed her other hand to connect the one on the opposite side of the chamber. "The other two," she directed Natalie with a snap in her voice, like an owner would to get the attention of a pet. There was the presence of a rumbling, but nothing happened while only two of the stones had been linked together. She was expectant of the Sentinel's cooperation. Demanding, even.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

"People do strange things to stay hidden," Natalie said. Of course, that would have been too insightful. "Just look at you." There we go, much better. Natalie was about to touch a second obelisk when Miya called out. So demanding! It wasn't like Natalie wasn't invested in this journey now, so she did what was asked of her. She reached out with the Force, touching the last two obelisks.

Natalie wasn't too concerned about the rumbling, but it grew the moment she touched the obelisks. Her mind immediately went to how this would rank on a dumb ways to die scale. Out of one-hundred, she was guessing probably about a twenty. Meet some hermit of a darksider with an affinity for the word dolt, follow her into a temple of unknown origins, and then have the temple cave in around them. Yeah, definitely a twenty. Right behind flipping the anti-gravity switch in a pool.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

In a moment the rumbling stopped. The room became still, and the echoes that had been present, felt through the obelisks, faded to a dull murmur. There was quiet. Miya looked at Natalie, and opened her mouth as if to speak. She said nothing though, and a moment later the room began to move once more. The floor, separated into segments not unlike a tree's rings, began to move against each other. The sound of scraping stone took over—grating at the very least to Mi—until such time that the pieces of the floor had moved enough to allow a thin puddling of water to reach the bottoms of their boots.

Beyond the floor though, in the center where the platform had lowered, was a fifth pedestal. It was flat on top, and unadorned unlike the other four, where upon it sat an object in the shape of a tetrahedron. Mi took a step forward, peering upon the artifact with hard eyes. "A holocron," she remarked with some surprise, though the red color of the thing suggested something vastly different to the playful, happy-go-lucky feeling contained within the other obelisks.

Gently Mi took the object into her hand, looking it over before turning her gaze back to Natalie.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

If anyone had suggested that Natalie would be watching a temple turn into an intricate puzzle of moving parts and musical floors, she'd have told you that you were crazy. Yet here she was, watching the strange phenomenon with her own hazel eyes. The weirdest part of it all, so weird that Natalie couldn't even find a way to mock it, was that Miya was just as surprised as she was and showed it.

Then there was the ominous center pedestal with what Natalie recognized immediately as a holocron. Miya would see her tense up. A holocron by itself was no reason to start hostilities, though. It was the contents that mattered. "Well, open it," she said. It was a rare instance of Natalie not fucking around. Holocrons were left by Sith. With any luck, this would be a Sith trolling them with funny faces. Worst case, this holocron had designs for far darker things.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"Open it?" Mi raised a brow. "I wouldn't expect a Jedi to wish a holocron such as this to be tampered with." She peered at Natalie now, seeming to size her up in this terse moment. Looking up and down, and then back to the pyramid in her hand, she would allow the dark side to take hold over the holocron. The tips of the shape, gilded and still as brilliant as they day they were shaped, turned, and a crackling energy seemed as if to pulse through the object. To a Jedi, it would feel ominous. Dangerous. Frightening. To Miya, it was an object of some desire, and a curiosity to say the least. She had not activated it, but shot a glance at the Sentinel once again, to see if this was what she truly wanted. Given her expression, she was likely willing to back down.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

"For all we know it's a holo of a Sith shitting on another Sith's chest," Natalie said. Though her tone was full of sarcasm, the deadpan expression she hit Miya with told a very different story. "Open it." Natalie would do it herself if she could, but it took a darksider to open a holocron.

Miya would all but feel Natalie's intentions now. If there was something dark within that holocron, it would be destroyed. If it was deemed harmless, she could keep it. Natalie had entertained Miya until now, but actual evil was something she could not let through.

@tobographic

 

[Miya Af Ath]

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Miya asked, painfully simply. Her attention was turned back to the holocron, and here she channeled what little more of the Force she needed to in order to activate the opened device. It pulsed once, a flash of red light taking over the room, and before them was presented a translucent hologram of light red.

"Upon the old temple, where the Dark Side is strong," came the voice of the man, old and ragged through his almost sickly appearance. "This holocron is a key. Place it in the slot in the center stone of the great hall on that old planet. There you will be shown the depth of knowledge of the Bogan, and that which it is capable of—"

The hologram disappeared. Mi had severed her line of energy in the Force, and closed the holocron again. The dark side had flowed through her to keep it open, her eyes almost seeming bloodshot. They were a ragged mixture of red and gold, when she looked back at the Sentinel. "Just a fairytale, kept by the temple in fear."

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

"My therapist tells me it's the trauma," Natalie quipped, eyes still focused on the holocron. It was clear the only thing that mattered in that moment in time was what was inside the holocron. When the old man appeared in a reddish hue, Natalie's eyes narrowed. She listened. Old planet? Temple? Key? Bogan? She'd read something in a class about the Bogan before didn't she? Nope, she slept through that class too.

When Miya closed the holocron, Natalie relaxed. "Then I guess you get to keep it," she said. What the man within spoke of required knowledge that Natalie didn't have. Probably a saving grace for Miya. Maybe a saving grace for Natalie. "It's a shame they didn't save any food down here." Natalies stomach began to growl.

@tobographic