Ask Washed Up Pasts

[Oren Zapan]

The sound of the ocean water crashing against the white sands of the shore were drowned out by the sound of massive boulders that circled and floated along in orbit around the empty beach shore. Each one seemed to pass by the ears of the former Jedi Council Member, wooshing with an intense fervor. The aging force user winced with each pass as he tried to steady his breath and center himself.

"Losing control you are..." The ancient apparition of the Grand Master Wyck's voice echoed through his mind, but the former Jedi tried to push them away. We can't think about that now...focus and clear your mind, empty your thoughts on even him...of them. He tried to tell himself as he felt the force begin flowing around him, but it was all too muddy and clouded. One of the boulders came rushing around his head with more speed than predicted and that's when he saw their faces, and heard their voices again.

Oren let out a bit of his anger and screamed out in pain, causing the boulders which had been floating to crash into each other and break into pieces. The ghostly image of the Grand Master frowned a bit towards Oren as he shook his head. "I have to do something about them...I have to go back." Oren called out towards the ghost which faded away.

"Fighting for them...or for the fear and guilt you fear...hmm?" The small green voice echoed along the empty shores. Oren thought on the words for a moment and huffed slightly. The Grand Master was right, even if he hated to admit it, and he couldn't. Instead he would rise up from the sandy beach and would kick a bit of the sand with his faded boots.

"Months have been spent here...and we're still no closer to finding out what you wanted from this place." He'd call out. But there was no response, the answer was deep inside him, he just had to uncover it again.

tag: @lizziie

 

[Jaesa Valerin]

Screams burst through the air, heat flashed against her skin, an mechanical noises alarmed on top of it all. She was rocked--no, thrown--back and forth and back and forth, bruised by the slate walls of her cradle. Her cries, shrill and terrified, attracted no attention from those around her. No one stopped to help her, and soon it was silent. Nothing but the cold, dead quiet of space. No one around. No one to comfort her. No one...

Jaesa woke with a start, cold sweat dripping from her brow and breathing in quick, shaky breaths. She sat up and stared blankly into her dark room. For a moment she remained like that, completely still other than the rise and fall of her chest, before her yellow gaze began to travel around her room. It moved first to the Mushling sapling in the corner of her room. The tree was native to Dathomir and was given to her by her mentor and old friend, Yvain. She continued to stare at it until her breathing slowed. Only then did she look away, just as the faintest light of dawn began to peek through her window. It was far too early for her to be rising for the day, but that had been the most intense night terror yet. She couldn't dream of returning to sleep when she could still feel the panic in her chest.

The Jedi knight got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, studying her face. Tattoos, presumably given to her as a child, marked her skin. Dathomirian. And her eyes, an unremarkable yellow color, something which was usually a signifier of someone's connection to the Dark side. Dathomirian. Her pale skin, not sick or hidden from sunlight, just smooth, healthy, and unmistakably Dathomirian. Her hand balled into a fist and struck the surface beneath her, sending pains up her arm as some unrecognizable feeling burned through her chest. Anger? Fear? Regret? Guilt? What is it? She could not tell. But looking at herself, with all the traits that defined her, she could not help but recall the names in which she had been called. Traitor, by the red zabrak she'd faced on Felucia. Witch, by the man who corned her in the temple on Telos V. It wasn't fair that she did not know her homeworld. It wasn't fair that her homeworld belonged to the Sith. It wasn't fair that her people were predisposed to the Dark side. It wasn't fair that she had to suffer from that.

She left her room and headed straight for her ship. There was a growing darkness in her. She knew it had to be true, because her terrors always got worse when she lacked control over her emotions. The knight was many things, but she was not someone to stand idle and let herself fall. She didn't know what she had to do, but she knew she had to do something and that something could not be found on Yavin IV.

Jaesa piloted with no direction, only following the faintest pulling of the Force as her ship jumped to hyperspace. She did not keep track of time as she flew, and because of this, she did not know how long she'd been gone when her ship dropped from hyperspace. A planet came into view, painted with vast amounts of blue and bits of earthy greens and browns. The knight shook her head and put her hand to her forehead as if something pained her. She could not recall anything between now and when she'd left Yavin IV, so far gone she'd been. No matter. The knight prepped her ship to land.

The light interceptor settled on the sandy ground, and its hood clicked open. The smell of saltwater flooded her nose, truly bringing the Jedi back to the present. She jumped out and took in a deep breath. Wherever she was, this was where the Force had led her. The planet had an aura about it in the Force. Was she supposed to remain here, meditating in solitude until she found a way to push the darkness away? What was she even doing on this remote-ass planet?

"Months have been spent here...and we're still no closer to finding out what you wanted from this place."

Jaesa, whose head had been buried in her hands out of frustration, lifted it at the sound of the shout. What? Was there someone else here? Her hand slipped down to the hilt of her lightsaber, but she did not unclip it as she moved toward the frustrated sound. Months? Her yellow eyes peeked out from behind a topical bush and settled on the back of a man standing on the shore. He was surrounded by various broken rocks, kicking sand from his boots. Something about him feel just vaguely familiar, but Jaesa had bad experienced with people who felt vaguely familiar. She turned to leave, letting the leaves fall back into place with a loud rustle.

@TWD26

 

[Oren Zapan]

Oren knelt down to pick up one of the broken stones, examining it with his metal hand. That anger and grief quickly subsided as he looked back towards the never ending oceans of this strange planet. There was an underlying connection to the force here that was long gone. He could feel it, but he felt something else -- another person.

The sound of branches rustled behind him, causing the former Jedi to turn around and barely catch a glance as the figure vanished into the brush. Oren would tilt his head a bit as he called out with a gentle and familial voice. "You don't have to hide." The feeling of the force felt vaguely familiar, he felt a rush of emotions coming from this person, but no intention on acting upon them.

"If you saw that..the rocks." He'd pause, "I'm neither a Jedi nor Sith, so you mustn't be afraid."

tag: @lizziie

 

[Jaesa Valerin]

Jaesa hesitated at his voice as she deciphered the meaning of them. Neither Jedi nor Sith? What was he then? She had not seen his practice, but she was now curious. The knight turned and stepped through the brush, letting her yellow eyes meet his. He looked all too familiar to her. She didn't like it; the last guy she knew she knew had fought her with anger on Felucia.

"If you are neither Jedi, nor Sith, then what are you?" Jaesa would ask. She didn't move any further toward him. Her Jedi robes would be enough for him to know that she was Jedi herself. Had the Force brought her here to meet this man of neither side?

@TWD26

 

[Oren Zapan]

Oren himself was dressed in a pair of modified Jedi robes. His normal black top had the sleeves removed, exposing the burns and robotic right hand, but it provided some comfort in the strange planet's warmth. His brown Jedi Pants and boots were worn and lacked the polish that he had kept during his time in the Jedi Order. Whatever vague image that the Jedi had once carried was most likely gone, and with each passing day the ideal image of what Oren thought was a Jedi seemed to slip from his mind.

He studied the woman as she appeared before him, his burned near-human face studied the woman with some curiosity. A Dathomiri, a rare sight, but it wasn't as uncommon within the Old Orders as one would expect.. He thought to himself as he offered a faint smile towards Jaesa. "I guess that's the question we all ask ourselves," the former master would offer a light chuckle.

Even with the ambiguity between his words, the light still seemed to radiate from the man, even if it was clouded with some uncertainty, "I'm just a man, though my name is Oren Zapan, former Jedi. And you might be?"

tag: @lizziie

 

[Jaesa Valerin]

Oren Zapan... the name was familiar enough that Jaesa might have seen the man before. She lowered her guard a bit; he didn't seem like he meant anyone any harm. "Jaesa Valerin," she would answer, now curious about who this man was. "Current Jedi," she would add moments after. "Is there a particular reason you're holed up on a backwater planet?" He could ask the same of her, but she had just arrived and she had no idea how long he'd been here. She wanted to know if this was a coincidence or not.

@TWD26

 

[Oren Zapan]

Oren bowed a bit towards the woman's greeting, so she was a Jedi. It was strange to see one so far away from the known regions of the galaxy, or so it would seem on an initial thought. You were always seeking out the strange depths and old history yourself. So..give her a chance. The former Jedi Council member would look out across the white dunes and towards the endless clear sea that surrounded them.

"I suppose that's another valid question," he'd say with a pause, "There is a history here...you can feel it in the force. Even if we're alone, the echoes vibrate around us. There is something here that could perhaps offer me a piece to better understand what faces the Galaxy, what faces the future, and what happened in the past."

He'd bend down to pick up a bit of the sand and run it through his hands, "Old faces like my own are better forgotten, left as a bygone relic like these various planets that etch across the limitless stars." He sighed as he took a deep breath, centering himself to the force with a quiet comfort.

"Not many remain from my time in the Order, I witnessed many of their deaths, and I felt it when friends such as Max had died. It was a pain that not even I could reconcile with. It was us, the Jedi Council, who had failed to defend the Jedi on Ajan Kloss, it was us who had failed to bring a practical education in the force, and it was these failures which I had partaken in that had lead us to begin to retread the same failures of the Old Jedi Order."

He unclipped his lightsaber and held it in his hand, feeling the crystal radiate and vibrate through the unlit hilt. "They desired that I become the Grand Master, but I had failed them so many times before. In truth, I struggled, and thus I left the order behind." He'd say with a pause as he looked back to her, one original, another blind with force sight.

"But, this is all old history, the galaxy moves on. Tell me, why are you here?"

tag: @lizziie

 

[Jaesa Valerin]

Jaesa listened quietly as he spoke, her brows furrowed just the slightest as she processed what he said. The planet having remnants of the Force? Yes, she could feel that. It would make sense, too, for him to have come here. The Force would mask his presence, as well as provide sustenance. But he had not come here to simply meditate.

"So when they needed you the most, you abandoned them." Jaesa leveled her yellow gaze with his as she said this. She just looked at him like that, for a moment, even for a bit after he asked her why she was here. She seemed to be contemplating something, but it vanished when she answered his question.

"I am here because the Force brought me here," she began. "I do not think it is in the nature of my people to embrace the Force in the way the Jedi do. I came to find...something, to help."

@TWD26