Discovering an Orphan

[Billbo Swaggins]

Athena followed Aileen out of the bath, not having to take as long on herself as she wasn't covered in oil (lol). She couldn't help but marvel at the child-like excitement that the young girl exhibited.

Starting the process of putting her armor back on, she spoke,
"Probably a good idea, your clothes do look a little worn out, and dirty for the matter. But for now, let's have some fun. You go on ahead and explore the area for now while I'm getting this stuff on."

As the child nodded her head and ran off to explore, Athena chuckled and shouted after her,
"Be careful not to slip on any oil!"

After her armor and helmet were on, she went to go look for Aileen. However, her goal was rather short-lived, as she passed by something that caught her eye.

It was a small statuette sitting at the very edge of a dusty bookshelf. Attracted to the figurine, she looked closely and examined it. She didn't recognize it, but it seemed to be of a man in early-era Mandalorian armor, standing in a noble-looking pose.

She tried to pick it up. It didn't budge. She tried harder. Still nothing. She pulled towards her with all her might and it eventually lurched forward, although she still couldn't pick it up.

Suddenly, Athena realized what the true purpose of the statuette was: it was a lever. She pushed it down the rest of the way and it slowly shifted itself back into its original position. As soon as it settled into place, the bookshelf swung open, revealing a dark stairway going downwards, underground.

Athena, sensing no danger, decided to go on down to see what was going on, calling out to Aileen that she was doing so.

She had to turn on her helmet headlamp in order to see anything, as there were no lights. Eventually, the stairway ended and she stepped into a simple room with a sleek crate and an old datapad lying on top of it. Curious as to what her discovery was, she picked up the datapad and attempted to turn it on. Luckily, it still seemed to have some power in it and the old device activated its screen, showing its contents to Athena.

Athena began to read.

 

[Aileen Jurir]

Aileen nodded to Athena and ran from the bathroom to go explore the house, laughing at Athena's warning not to slip in any more oil. She stumbled upon the kitchen, looking through the pantries and fridge to see if there was still any food left. Sadly, no food presented itself to her. Upon hearing Athena's faint call from a different section of the house, Aileen attempted to locate her.

On her way to the library, something caught her eye. It was an office-like area, and sitting on the center of the desk was a sword-looking thing on a small stand. Pausing to look around, Aileen stepped up to it and picked it up. It was incredibly light, with an initialy straight blade that then curved. I vibroblade with a unique design. Aileen left the room quickly, bringing the vibroblade with her to the library, following the now-open secret tunnel to Athena.
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[Billbo Swaggins]

Athena looked on in awe at the datapad in her hand. It had been written by her grandfather, before the clan had left Mandalore for Ziost. It was an account of almost every major event that occurred in the family while it had been under his leadership.

He wrote about his marriage to a Sith outsider and the outrage it had sparked. He wrote about why he had done it and his love for his wife. He talked about how he defended his honor by fighting his own clan members in single combat. Finally, he wrote about his wife's death and her subsequent burial underneath the his home. Then, there were no more entries: the Jurir Clan had left for Ziost, leaving their ancestral home behind.

She turned her back to the container to see Aileen enter the dark room with a strange bladed weapon,
"What's that you have there?"

 

[Aileen Jurir]

Aileen looked down at the weapon when Athena asked about it, studying it a little.
"It seems to look like a vibroblade. I found it in an office upstairs..."

She experimented with a few bottoms on the handle. One activated a high voltage electric current along the blade, another snapped a second blade out from the bottom, and the final one created an electric "string" connecting the blades. The secondary blade's curved edge faced the same direction as the first blade's curved edge, so that a "bow" was created.

"Hold on, I think I know how this would work...Athena, do you think there is mention of this in your datapad?"

While she said this, Aileen pulled a small glove made of an unknown fabric with small briskar plates covering the fingers. She placed it on her right hand and, holding the bow/vibroblade awkwardly with her left hand, pulled on the electric "string", then released it. This created a small bolt of lightning that shot out from the "string", striking the wall behind Athena.

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Athena watched as Aileen played with the vibroblade that she had found elsewhere in the house. It was interesting, and Athena did recall the datapad mentioning something about a weapon that her grandfather had designed.

"Interesting, the datapad mentioned something about it but it didn't go into details." Aileen seemed to be incredibly interested in the weapon, and so Athena decided not to mention that it was probably a family heirloom - she didn't have any use for it anyway and it would be an interesting weapon for Aileen to learn to use - might has well let her have it.

Turning back around, she inspected the container that the datapad had been lying on before she had picked it up.
"I wonder what's in here..."

It was a very long container, about the width of a shoebox but about as long as her arm, and Athena had no idea what could be in it. So, she opened it. Inside lay an extravagantly decorated vibrosword, with the blade tinted a slight blue. Along the spin of the blade was an engraving, written in Mando'a: Jurir.

It was probably the old family sword - wielded by one of the first members of the clan. It was mentioned in the datapad as well.
'Aileen can keep her toy, I'm calling this.'

OOC: Cool weapon design - although you are probably gonna have to submit a tech profile on that. PM me if you want any help on that front.

 

[Aileen Jurir]

Aileen finished fiddling with her newly discovered weapon as she looked up and noticed Athena staring inside a very long box as if there was an Emperor's crown or something inside. When Aileen walked up to her and peeked in the box, she gasped and realized why Athena was staring inside it with such intensity.

The elegant vibroblade inside was, to a Jurir, probably as valuable and as priceless as an Emperor's crown. Carefully made and probably as old as the Clan itself, there was no doubt Athena was the rightful owner of the blade, especially since she was the reigning head of the Clan and the blade was hidden in her house.

"Wow Athena. It's astounding. I just realized that my blade is probably rightfully yours, but...um...can I still keep it?"

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

With her eyes still fixated on the beautiful blade in front of her, Athena responded to Aileen's question,
"Of course, why would I withhold anything when it's just the two of us now?" She reverently bent down tentatively picked the sword up. It was breathtaking, and it took all of her effort to tear her eyes off the blade to look at Aileen.

"Just take care of it - as far as I know, it's one of a kind." She put the beautiful blade back into its box, closing it and picking it up.
"C'mon, I don't think there's anything else to see here, unless you want to see the tomb of my Grandmother."

 

[Aileen Jurir]

Aileen smiled at Athena for letting her keep the blade. She didn't really want to see a dead lady, so she followed Athena back out of the room and watched her reseel the hidden door with a statue on the bookshelf.

She wanted to ask Athena if they could spar or if she could start to learn some bladework but her cast wouldn't allow for it. Aileen called out to Athena as she started to run from the room,

"Last one to find the dining hall has to ---- prank call Ji'Kel!"

Aileen was determined to find it first; she really wanted to watch Athena prank call Ji'Kel.

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

As Aileen shouted her challenge to Athena and sprinted from the room, Athena laughed a little before she too sprung into action.

"Oh, good luck beating me!"

She sprinted after Aileen, exiting the house and heading in a random direction - the place was large, but not that large, so Athena would have a decent chance of just sprinting through the entire complex and eventually finding the mess hall. Hopefully, luck would be on her side and she would find it before Aileen.

The conversation with Ji'kel from a little while before still weighed heavily on her, and so she definitely did not want to prank call him.

Sprinting through corridors and passageways, Athena finally stumbled across the messhall. Pausing a bit to catch her breath, she entered.

 

[Aileen Jurir]

Aileen initially ran through the kitchen, looking for a direct route to the mess hall, which she did not discover. After about another minute of searching, Aileen finally found a side door into the massive hall.

Laughing, she burst through just as she saw Athena come through the main door. Aileen was a little disappointed; it was clear that they had arrived at the same time as each other, and she wouldn't be able to convince Athena otherwise.

"Well I guess neither of us win. It would have been hilarious to watch you prank call Ji'Kel. What do you want to do next?"

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

As Athena entered the mess hall, she looked around the room only to see Aileen enter at the exact same time as her. Phew, while Athena was slightly disappointed that she didn't emerge victorious, she was mainly relieved at the fact that she wouldn't have to try and prank call Ji'kel.

"Psh, you were lucky, I'll win next time." Athena chuckled and pondered their options, while they could explore the rest of the compound, it was probably a good idea to go shopping and get the necessary supplies for both Aileen and the complex. As it were, there wasn't even any food to eat in the messhall, nor was there water in the public bath, and the facility was lacking some other essentials as well.

"I think we should go shopping now, I'll get you some basic gear as well as order some essentials for the compound. How does that sound?"