- Joined
- Dec 13, 2016
- Messages
- 319
- Reaction score
- 300
Had Hirani the ability to speak it aloud, it seemed her question might've hung in the air awhile. (Or perhaps hung in the bacta for these purposes.) Her new Jedi acquaintance came across as taken aback at first, before a moment passed and a look of something approaching understanding grew on her face. The question still probed at Hirani of course, and the longer the answer was delayed, the more her concern grew. Had no one else survived? What of her master, Master Goordayr—what of the woman she'd come to see as her mother? The other padawans? And what of Grandmaster Boan, that blaze of calm fire in the force which now seemed so distant and dim? All these questions and many more naturally bubbled out of the first, but she didn't rush to ask them.
Then, her new friend placed a hand on the glass separating them. In a strange way, this calmed Hirani. Looking out at a fellow Jedi—appearing to be of a similar people to her Zabrak Master no less—speaking to one another in the silent language of the Force... for a moment, everything seemed as it always was. For a moment, it was as though Ajan Kloss never happened, like a strange night terror that had no bearing on what was real. The padawan took hold of that moment, tight.
"Welcome back, friend.” Her muffled voice even warmed the quiet after the words themselves passed. And it was indeed quiet—through the liquid, she could hear only the patter of control panel noise, and the washed heaving of oxygen in and out of her mask. Another pause lent the Jedi's next words a deserved severity.
“Padawan...you’ve been in a coma. It’s...it’s been nearly a decade.”
Oh. A decade. Ten years. Almost twice her entire conscious life.
The bacta tank. The rebreather. The welcome back. That made sense.
But none of it made sense. Panic was setting in for Hirani once again.
There's no way... I, I surely...
Again her thoughts began to roll away from her, until something Master Goordayr once said rippled out from the corners of her memory.
Take care of your breathing, little one. The Force is as that very breath. It is as quiet, as ever-present, as vital. Because it is always with you, you are bound to forget it's there sometimes, but try to remember when you remember. To breathe, Hirani.
Slowly, she inhaled, and she exhaled. The Jedi outside the tank seemed to say something, but Hirani didn't hear it over the noise of the rebreather. The blue wetness clinging to her skin seemed to thin, as her connection to the Force remembered itself, as did the precision of her breath, in spite of the flushes of anxiety which threatened to overwhelm her. Only then did she realise the liquid was actually moving, the draining process beginning. Hirani's feet eventually set down in the bottom of the tank, the full weight of her own body coming down onto her legs gradually, as the fluid left. She struggled to stand, and had to lean most of her weight against the glass. Now that the tank was empty, though, she
could discard her rebreather, and hearing became significantly less difficult.
“Hold out your arms. This won’t hurt.”
Hirani nodded, and did as she was told automatically. Although strange and uncomfortable, being lifted out of the tank by the retrieval droid was the least of her worries at that time. "Nearly a decade" still stung in the back of her mind, no matter her attempts to assuage it, to try not to think about it's impossible implications. Once she was set down, she was finally able to get a good look at the first person she laid eyes on after waking up.
The other Jedi spoke.
“My name is Raz Citlali. You are on Yavin IV; I’ll alert the others to your awakening."
Yavin IV. The others. So Yavin IV is still safe for Jedi. Yavin IV. But... not Ajan Kloss? Not the world that had been her home for so many years? Where else had the Sith taken? Ryloth? She almost forgot to respond to Rav Citlali, but the silence was loud enough to quickly remind her.
[OOC: arni, short form of arni'soyacho, is Twi'leki slang similar to 'thank you'—i forgot how to do the hover-over-text thingy in bbcode lol.]
"Raz Citlali arni. One name of many my mother gave me is Iko Rssa'hiran." Her gratitude sincere, the Twi'lek gave a smile, unable to summon the strength to hide it's difficulty. Her body was shaking, unsure if from the cold, or something else like shock. She hoped talking might ease it. "But that is too formal. Twi'leks from Ryloth like myself do not differentiate given and family names much at all—in most cases, your given name is so enmeshed in your family's name that they disappear into one another. Twi'lek identity has always been about family in that way. But those I know by blood all died when I was terribly small, and my second family, they all—" Ajan Kloss flickered in her treasured memories, glowing, lively as moon-stained bonfire, "—my friends all knew me only as Hirani."
Despite her attempts to push them back, slim pools of glitter water lined the cups of her eyes. It seemed as if full-blown tears were inevitable.
And at that god-awfully-timed moment (at least as far as Hirani's ego was concerned) a quizzical-faced creature appeared in the doorway, rather too quickly to be among those Raz Citlali had only just alerted. "What's going on?" was what she'd blurted out the split second after her appearance, and instead of breaking down, Hirani composed a chuckle, her tears disappearing into the expression of amusement. The situation felt so ridiculous that giggling about it, although bittersweet, felt like something that helped her get a handle of herself. It seemed to work, as her shaking too was lost in the confused convulsion of her lungs.
What's going on? I just woke up from a ten-year sleep, I don't know anything about the galaxy as it is right now, and I think I'm having my mid-life crisis before my twenties. What's going on with you?
Hirani wiped away the wet from her eyes with a wrist and, through some deliberation, sat down cross-legged on the floor. She would have to try to walk later, but for now she just wanted to try to catch up on... everything. That said, it seemed clear to her that the new girl's question was directed more at Raz, so she let the other Jedi respond, and kept the source of her earlier humour to herself.
Once Raz had explained the situation to the newcomer, Hirani would introduce herself.
"It's nice to meet you. Really you're the first other padawan I've met since waking up here, and the first padawan I've met in almost ten years, I guess, so that must mean something, right? Maybe the Force wanted us to meet." Hirani smiled, and this time it wasn't so difficult. Somehow the new girl radiated an infectious innocence even in the first few moments of having met each other. But it was more than that. It was more than that.
Maybe, Hirani thought to herself, I'll be okay, if only for today.
Then, her new friend placed a hand on the glass separating them. In a strange way, this calmed Hirani. Looking out at a fellow Jedi—appearing to be of a similar people to her Zabrak Master no less—speaking to one another in the silent language of the Force... for a moment, everything seemed as it always was. For a moment, it was as though Ajan Kloss never happened, like a strange night terror that had no bearing on what was real. The padawan took hold of that moment, tight.
"Welcome back, friend.” Her muffled voice even warmed the quiet after the words themselves passed. And it was indeed quiet—through the liquid, she could hear only the patter of control panel noise, and the washed heaving of oxygen in and out of her mask. Another pause lent the Jedi's next words a deserved severity.
“Padawan...you’ve been in a coma. It’s...it’s been nearly a decade.”
Oh. A decade. Ten years. Almost twice her entire conscious life.
The bacta tank. The rebreather. The welcome back. That made sense.
But none of it made sense. Panic was setting in for Hirani once again.
There's no way... I, I surely...
Again her thoughts began to roll away from her, until something Master Goordayr once said rippled out from the corners of her memory.
Take care of your breathing, little one. The Force is as that very breath. It is as quiet, as ever-present, as vital. Because it is always with you, you are bound to forget it's there sometimes, but try to remember when you remember. To breathe, Hirani.
Slowly, she inhaled, and she exhaled. The Jedi outside the tank seemed to say something, but Hirani didn't hear it over the noise of the rebreather. The blue wetness clinging to her skin seemed to thin, as her connection to the Force remembered itself, as did the precision of her breath, in spite of the flushes of anxiety which threatened to overwhelm her. Only then did she realise the liquid was actually moving, the draining process beginning. Hirani's feet eventually set down in the bottom of the tank, the full weight of her own body coming down onto her legs gradually, as the fluid left. She struggled to stand, and had to lean most of her weight against the glass. Now that the tank was empty, though, she
could discard her rebreather, and hearing became significantly less difficult.
“Hold out your arms. This won’t hurt.”
Hirani nodded, and did as she was told automatically. Although strange and uncomfortable, being lifted out of the tank by the retrieval droid was the least of her worries at that time. "Nearly a decade" still stung in the back of her mind, no matter her attempts to assuage it, to try not to think about it's impossible implications. Once she was set down, she was finally able to get a good look at the first person she laid eyes on after waking up.
The other Jedi spoke.
“My name is Raz Citlali. You are on Yavin IV; I’ll alert the others to your awakening."
Yavin IV. The others. So Yavin IV is still safe for Jedi. Yavin IV. But... not Ajan Kloss? Not the world that had been her home for so many years? Where else had the Sith taken? Ryloth? She almost forgot to respond to Rav Citlali, but the silence was loud enough to quickly remind her.
[OOC: arni, short form of arni'soyacho, is Twi'leki slang similar to 'thank you'—i forgot how to do the hover-over-text thingy in bbcode lol.]
"Raz Citlali arni. One name of many my mother gave me is Iko Rssa'hiran." Her gratitude sincere, the Twi'lek gave a smile, unable to summon the strength to hide it's difficulty. Her body was shaking, unsure if from the cold, or something else like shock. She hoped talking might ease it. "But that is too formal. Twi'leks from Ryloth like myself do not differentiate given and family names much at all—in most cases, your given name is so enmeshed in your family's name that they disappear into one another. Twi'lek identity has always been about family in that way. But those I know by blood all died when I was terribly small, and my second family, they all—" Ajan Kloss flickered in her treasured memories, glowing, lively as moon-stained bonfire, "—my friends all knew me only as Hirani."
Despite her attempts to push them back, slim pools of glitter water lined the cups of her eyes. It seemed as if full-blown tears were inevitable.
And at that god-awfully-timed moment (at least as far as Hirani's ego was concerned) a quizzical-faced creature appeared in the doorway, rather too quickly to be among those Raz Citlali had only just alerted. "What's going on?" was what she'd blurted out the split second after her appearance, and instead of breaking down, Hirani composed a chuckle, her tears disappearing into the expression of amusement. The situation felt so ridiculous that giggling about it, although bittersweet, felt like something that helped her get a handle of herself. It seemed to work, as her shaking too was lost in the confused convulsion of her lungs.
What's going on? I just woke up from a ten-year sleep, I don't know anything about the galaxy as it is right now, and I think I'm having my mid-life crisis before my twenties. What's going on with you?
Hirani wiped away the wet from her eyes with a wrist and, through some deliberation, sat down cross-legged on the floor. She would have to try to walk later, but for now she just wanted to try to catch up on... everything. That said, it seemed clear to her that the new girl's question was directed more at Raz, so she let the other Jedi respond, and kept the source of her earlier humour to herself.
Once Raz had explained the situation to the newcomer, Hirani would introduce herself.
"It's nice to meet you. Really you're the first other padawan I've met since waking up here, and the first padawan I've met in almost ten years, I guess, so that must mean something, right? Maybe the Force wanted us to meet." Hirani smiled, and this time it wasn't so difficult. Somehow the new girl radiated an infectious innocence even in the first few moments of having met each other. But it was more than that. It was more than that.
Maybe, Hirani thought to herself, I'll be okay, if only for today.
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