Ask Staging Zone

[Vanya]

Vanya's bad vibes were only growing, and as they were confronted by a woman who looked like she hadn't gone outside in months - and this was coming from a pale Nightsister - Vanya had a feeling that there was something wrong here. For sure.

Go around the back, she agreed and promptly slammed her fist against the door again.

Open up! In the name of the law! she shouted. Was she the law? Close enough, yeah, probably.

Meanwhile, the woman was, in fact, trying to make her way out the back, tearing out of her garage in a speeder and - if Natalie didn't move - running the other Jedi over.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie was already in motion when Vanya said to go around the back. She had pulled many fast ones on pirates, thugs, police- just about anyone you could pull a fast one on, really. Even pulled some slow ones. The long-cons were some of the most entertaining, if Natalie could be honest. Now she was battle-nun, and forever unable to do any of her old antics. Aside from sarcasm, her credit trick with the vending machine was the last shred of her life before the Jedi that was still around. Well, that and the lessons she learned on the streets of Ord Mantell.

Lessons that played a particularly valuable role in this encounter. The moment Natalie heard a speeder engine whine to life, her lightsaber was in her right hand. The speeder, with Molly in the driver's seat, whipped around the corner like she was running from The Law. Natalie jumped, using the Force to hang in the air for a moment as the speeder passed beneath her, releasing the hold only when she was certain she'd fall into the back seat.

It wasn't the most graceful of landings, but it would do. Natalie was scrunched up, practically upside down in the back seat, but she had her lightsaber pointed at Molly really to ignite. "Stop the speedaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Molly did, in fact, stop the speeder, which sent Natalie out the open top like a missile of Jedi-ness and tumbling across the muddy ground. So much for keeping her clothes clean and dry.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya had already demonstrated herself to be that "aggressive" type of Jedi. "Aggressive negotiations" she thought it was called. Well Aggressive Negotiations put her lightsaber right through the hood of the woman's speeder.

She leapt up like some kind of cat as her saber plunged down into the hood that Natalie had just been thrown off of several moments earlier, and smoke began to rise from the hood of the now-wrecked speeder.

Vanya left no time for a retaliation by the woman who now had a blaster in hand.

Pew-pew went the blaster as Vanya batted orange bolts aside before just straight up cleaving the woman's arm off. Whoops. I mean, not really whoops, that was exactly where Vanya had been aiming, but wow there went another arm. Apparently Vanya was good at chopping off critical arms.

She was dragging the woman out of the speeder a moment later and screaming at her.

Get on the ground! Keep struggling and I'll knock you the kriff out! she shouted at the woman. Nightsisters didn't really do "arrests" but this was about as close as it came: submit or I'll beat you. Yup, sounded about right in this context. She had just tried to shoot Vanya, after all.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie scrambled to her feet, hoping to get in on the action only to find that Vanya was... Yeah Vanya was fine, and had it handled. One arm, two arm, something something blue twi'lek? That was the rhyme right? Natalie was so bored in classes she couldn't even stay awake listening to nursery rhymes as a kid. Go figure she was blocking blaster bolts for a man with a jawline that could stop galactic wars and getting thrown out of moving speeders for a woman who had a knack for removing limbs. All she needed was a good old fashioned "stop resisting" and Natalie could swear they'd be on the set of one of those law enforcement holos.

Molly, to her credit, did exactly what she was told. Whether or not that was because she was now missing the means to actually resist doing what she was told was a matter Natalie wasn't going to spend another iota of thought on. Instead Molly just limblessly starfished in the mud, gurgling screams and all. Natalie approached from behind Vanya, lightsaber hilt at the ready to ignite at a moment's notice, stopping just beside her fellow Jedi.

"Remind me to never throw you a surprise party that involves projectile confetti," Natalie said without looking at Vanya. Natalie's focus was on Molly, and not the good kind of molly either. Ooooh, bet the mud would feel real ni- NATALIE! Right. Focus. "Care to-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!"

"Will you-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!!!"

Natalie sighed, reaching out with the Force and using it to press the woman's lips together. The muffled screams were far better to navigate than the I-want-to-be-a-pirate-so-bad screams. Natalie kept her index finger and thumb pressed together as if she were physically pinching the woman's lips shut, keeping her attention on the Force use.

"Okay, now that we have all learned how to scream with some discipline, you're going to tell us why you were running away. You're also going to explain why you tried to turn my friend into Dantooine cheese with a blaster," Natalie said, her hazel eyes meeting rather intently with Molly's. Molly's eyes were glazed over though, either via pain or because no-body of substance was actually home behind them. Natalie released her hold of the woman's lips, hopefully to sound of explanation and not to the sound of more screaming.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

As it turned out, miss school person didn't want to answer any questions. As Natalie pinched her lips together, the woman bit down on something, and electric jolts shot through her mouth and head.

Vanya stepped back, eyebrows twisting down in a frown and mouth dropping open in horror. The woman was now very dead and not answering any questions.

What the kriff, she said with a sigh. This was starting to feel out of hand and Vanya just took a moment to look down at the dead woman.

I guess... I guess we go back and search her house for anything... useful? she asked, still not quite processing what she had just seen. That was one decisive way to end the fight.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Much to Natalie's disappointment, Molly decided death was a better alternative to answering questions. Natalie shifted her hazel gaze from the corpse of Molly to her left hand which had done the shushing maneuver and back again. That was one way to end a fight... she guessed? She shook her head and dropped her left hand. Clearly it wasn't her that had killed Molly; Molly had done that all by herself. Still didn't make it any less gruesome. A shock starting from the teeth? Natalie shivered. She'd rather take a lightsaber to the gut.

"Yeah, and hope that bug people talk in emails," Natalie sighed, glancing at Vanya for a second before turning to what had been Molly's home. "Any idea what we're looking for specifically?" It wouldn't do any good for them to stand outside. Natalie made her way through the back where the speeder had been driven out of, holstering her lightsaber hilt on the small of her back again and out of sight. Man, she didn't even get to ignite it! What a bummer.

If Natalie was a bug minded bugger, what kind bug thingies would she leave about? Maybe an antennae? A clutch of creepy-crawly eggs, maybe? Would a killik-brained person even have bug like characteristics aside from the whole bug brain thing? Uhg, bugs were so GROSS! Forgetting the whole thing and torching the whole house crossed her mind at least twice.

But she was a Jedi, and Jedi didn't do that... yet. Serious searches only, Natalie. She had no idea if Vanya was good with computers or not, but her own statement about emails had her curious. Cautious of traps, Natalie slowly made her way to a computer, sitting down in the chair. Natalie didn't know which was more horrifying, the fact that Molly had ended herself the way she did, or the fact that she actually had HoloNet Explorer as her main browser.

It took ages for the emails to finally pop up, and when they did, it was a bust. The only emails were from angry parents and romance novel author reading lists. Natalie leaned back in the chair with a deep sigh. It was never easy, was it?

Spoiler: OOC Roll

61/100 for if there's any evidence in the house. 21/100 for if the evidence is on the computer.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya only realized that she still had her lightsaber in hand after several more moments of standing there watching fry-brain. She finally realized the woman wasn't getting back up and hit the ignition on her lightsaber, turning it out and slipping it back onto her belt, though this time without the hilt being visible. No need to call anymore undo attention, it seemed.

She was still breathing heavily and felt somewhat... demoralized as she headed back to the house. She hoped they would find something here, though she was doubtful. The bugs - if she understood right - used pheromones and a shared consciousness to communicate. Perhaps there would be something left behind detailing their plans, though.

As Natalie rustled through the computer, Vanya wasn't too surprised to find out it turned up no messages. Instead, Vanya began to look through the various papers in the building. The room looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, and she guessed that no one had seen Molly precisely because Molly never left.

There were papers strewn all over the table and Vanya started rummaging through before wandering over to the closet and opening it... and her mouth dropped open.

Um... what is this? she asked. Inside were jars and jars and jars of... fluid. What she didn't know was that it was concentrated pheromones used by the Killiks to infect thralls and bring them under their control. There was easily enough here to infect the entire city, though fortunately, it was still here rather than having been distributed.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie did a quick search of the files on the computer after the emails proved less than useless, and finding absolutely nothing in the files either got up from the computer. She searched high and low throughout the house, trying not to touch anything. That was hard to do with everything well... everywhere. If there was one thing pointing to Molly being a bug brain, it was the fact that bugs were gross and so was her home.

That was until Vanya's voice came from the other room. Natalie stepped up beside her fellow Knight and gave a quick, knowing nod. "That it what we on Ord Mantell would usually call a 'Nope.' It's usually associated with the phrases 'ewwwwww' and 'what the fuck?" Natalie said. Humor was the only thing keeping the shivers that threatened her spine at bay, and kept what little snacks she had in her stomach down in her stomach.

"We shou-" Natalie paused, fighting down the vomit that wanted come out and say hello. Really Natalie? She'd been covered in beer, mud, riddled with drugs, all sorts of unhealthy foods, and jars of fluid is what gets her vomit motors turning? In her defense, they were particularly disgusting. "Should get these tested." The thought of picking up a jar made the nauseousness worse.

"Maybe we should call someone in to take a look at it. Probably not safe to touch," she said turning away from the jars and moving to the other end of the room. She pulled out her EZPhone and began typing a message. They'd realistically only need one or two Jedi that were well versed in sciences. The sure as hell wasn't Natalie.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Yeah... was all Vanya managed, her face grimacing as she looked at it, unable to resist the terrible urge to reach out and grab one of the jars of juice and swish it around a little.

This is so weird, she said, continuing to jiggle it in such a way that was going to make Natalie absolutely lose her mind in short order.

She decided to put the bottle back before she risked breaking it, and turned back to Natalie. Yeah, that's probably for the best, she agreed, looking over Natalie's shoulder as she started typing out a message.

Continued rummaging through the house didn't really seem to yield anything else, and the authorities showed up not much later with a whole bunch of questions.

It was probably several hours of answering the same questions before the two Jedi ladies were turned loose into the - now - night air.

We really need to deal with these Killiks once and for all, but I don't know how we're even going to get the manpower to raid the hive, she said. Not to mention they were talking about effectively genociding an entire planet. Sure they were mind controlling bugs, but she... wasn't sure.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie was practically squirming with disgust as Vanya kept playing with the jars of goo. Like honestly!? Who plays with the jars of goo!? So many horror holos started with jars of goo being played with, and none of them had happy endings. And the way the goo moved and jiggled inside the jar was- NOPE TURNING AROUND NOW THANK YOU! NO MORE LOOKING AT JARS OF GOO!

She was thankful when Vanya put aside her gooey curiosity, just in time for the authorities to arrive. Natalie displayed the best good girl she could display, even though authorities and her usually didn't mix too well. She'd already been thrown in the mud and gotten a scolding today, it was probably for the best not to anger the people that held their freedom in their hands. How awful it would have been to have saved the day from Molly only to be stuck on the planet for the next ten years for murder.

"Any day I get to squish a bug is a good day as far as I'm concerned," Natalie said, a visible shiver taking her body for a moment at the thought of the jars of goo. "The Order has been pretty stagnant hasn't it? I definitely prefer doing this sort of stuff than teaching classes in a temple." She gave Vanya a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest. Despite the mud caking it, her leather jacket did wonders to keep the cold at bay. Maybe they should think about getting dinner. Might as well try out the local cuisine. "Let's get something to eat before my hangry takes over and I suggest we take on the killiks ourselves."

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya thought about what Natalie said about how stagnant the Jedi had been. She, of course, wasn't wrong, and the attempts to pull them out of their apathy thus far had failed.

Vanya was tired of waiting. Patience had its time and place, but not at the expense of lives. It was time for something drastic.

I think it's time to start asking for forgiveness and stop asking for permission, she said. The thought made her uncomfortable, but she couldn't sit by any longer. She hadn't left Dathomir just to come out here and do nothing.

Yeah... I think we've still got a lot of work to do. But food first, she agreed.

@TheDudeMike /Thread