tellmejohn

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[Written]

[...Okay so two days in he is by now aware that something is up. He recalls what the good doctor had told him at the New Feather Party and, frankly, he's very interested in the idea of changed memories. Being too pointed in either doubting or disproving would be bunk for a study though. So... right now he's gather testimonies, make a case study.

In Luceti, it seems common for people to ask blatant questions over a public network like this. so. He'll just write this thing. If people resist for whatever reason, oh well. If they go for it, that'll be interesting.

And as such:]

Would any of the people here be willing to tell me about their childhoods? I confess I am curious about how the personal experiences of beings might be different between different realities.

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It would be simpler for me to come down than for you to come up. I'll only be a moment.

[Adele flips her journal closed and dusts herself off, making her way down to the teahouse. Once inside she offers Scorpius a nod and joins him.]

Might I ask about the exact nature of these tests?

Of course. [For the record he's sitting here with an iced tea. He even has a neat straw. For her he asked for more of the same and so that was waiting for her, but he could order something different of course. Either way, when she sits he folds his hands together.] I want to test your memories, obviously. Specifically, I wanted to see what more we could divine from the memories you have of your childhood. There is, after all, often far more to memories than just the mental recognition. Other senses, feelings. Emotions. I wanted to try to delve into those.

[As he says this, he is also watching her thermal read extra carefully for changes in mood/feeling/heartbeat/etc]

[Iced tea is an excellent idea, especially since she's spent the past hour or so lounging about on rooftops and is a little warm. She accepts the beverage with a half smile and a quick poke of the Force to check for anything in it that wasn't just tea. It seemed safe enough. No ill intent. She takes a sip and sits back, brow quirked.]

That seems fair enough. If I have changed as much as I have due to the shift, it'd be best to thoroughly check the validity of the altered perception of reality.

[All of this is said with utter calm, though she is genuinely curious.]

Then, when you are ready, if you would be so kind as to close your eyes, we can begin.

[this would be so much easier with the aurora chair he can't help but think, but... nah, he won't dwell on that. No ill intent at all. ]

...

[A soft sound of confusion but. She had ways of protecting herself if he tried to dig into anything she'd rather have hidden. Which, admittedly, wasn't that much. Adele lifts a shoulder and lets her eyes fall closed.]

[No special abilities, no anything really, just. Simple hypnosis-esque techniques. Which is why his voice is calm, steady, and keeps the same tone through this next part]

Let us begin with that courtyard you mentioned. Can you describe to me what it looks like? Simply tell me, Jedi, what does the courtyard look like... in as much or as little detail as you please. Take your time.

I'm not, actually. A Jedi. I left the order when I was twenty three.

[A verbally guided meditation? She can manage this. She lets herself relax and her mind trickle back to the courtyard in question.]

The Fountain's always going. It's a simple thing. Straight columns, three tiers, engravings of fish and flowers along the edges. Worn more on the bottom tier than the rest, because that was the one Aden and I could reach. [a half smile.] Our names carved just under the lip. Mine first, because I'm older. The rest...tiled.

Tan, always a little dusty, inlaid with mosaic directly around the fountain in a variation on a compass, four small potted plants at each of the cardinal points. Trellises along the walls most often covered in ivy, the air's sweet whenever it blooms. Smells a little like honey for most of the spring and summer. The south wall's made up of arches, also covered in ivy and flowering plants, to a balcony. It...extends over the lake. Aden would push me off into the water when I irritated him.

Ah, my apologizes. [He says that as she's getting in the zone. But now where to go... here. He wonders, actually, if "Aden" is a figment of her mind. Let's focus in on that. A location is interesting, but a person might be interesting too]

Could you tell me about Aden?

My younger brother. Adoptive; his family took me in. I remember more of him as an adult than I do of him as a child but- he was shorter than me. Children are. Blond. Had this laugh that gurgled out of him like water from an old faucet. Biggest eyes I've ever seen on a young boy. And he would follow me everywhere. The day I was sent away was hard on us both. I didn't see him or hear from him again until I left the order.

...

He was the first person I went to, actually. I didn't even know if he'd remember me, he was so young when I'd gone. But he did. He grew up tall. Filled out. Still laughed like a faucet, though. And his young boy, Maten, had the second biggest eyes I've ever seen. Sweet child, very curious.

[Hm...] Why did you leave the Order?

Philosophical differences. I'll always respect them, and how they choose to live it just...wasn't a good fit.

[Vague. too vague to help his test. He considers asking her to clarify, but no. He merely checks if her eyes are still closed to looks more carefully at her thermal read to see if there was some emotional reaction there before saying, slowly]

Is that something I ought not to touch?

It is something I'd rather not discuss.

[Sorting through all the details to explain to someone not of the Order, not of her galaxy? It's complicated, messy, and uncomfortable. It's easier to not; those that are here and care enough to know already understand. Her eyes are closed, and she does seem mildly distressed at the thought of elaborating. It had not been as easy a choice as most would have thought.]

[Very well... something else]

What about your parents?

They took me in; my mother kept her hair long...she'd let me braid it. My father fished off our balcony. I...do not remember them well, as they were not around that often. We had nanny droids and the odd caretaker, they all cycled through often enough that I don't have any solid memories of them.

Edited 2012-04-10 03:40 (UTC)

Can you describe them to me in greater detail at all? If you cannot, perhaps you could describe... the droids. Or the caretakers. Anything which stands out in your mind about who raised you.

I will try.

[She frowns a little, searching her memory. There were flickers, here and there, of her parents. Snippets of song. Fragrances. Soft hands and soft laughter. Most of her childhood was centered around Aden and the droids that cared for them. The odd nanny that put them to bed.]

She sang, sometimes. My mother. The droids would whistle the tune whenever Aden and I missed her, which was often. They were silver, bipedal. The newest available, from what I remember. Human enough in appearance for a child, but not so much as to be mistaken for anything other than what they were. The caretakers were...stuffy. Strict. All were brunette, I think they might have been sisters. With irritating, nasally voices.

Very good... [He lightly inhales, and then even more quietly exhales. He begins to drum his fingers on the table now, in a little beat. He's mostly waiting to see if she'll be able to get more out. He would try to hum or sing but tbh he's not good for that biologically]

I think...it was. One of them that found me healing a bruise on Aden's arm. I didn't even know what I was doing at the time; just that he was hurt and I wished him to be better. They're the ones that sent me to be tested. It was the first time I'd seen all four at once; until then I'd thought them all the same, dull, irritating woman.

...

Aden was devastated. I didn't want to go.

[In the course of this explanation he takes a sip of his iced tea before leaning over the table a bit towards her. So his voice is closer at this next part-]

Go on.

[About how you didn't want to go. About how you did go]

[His voice is closer, her voice goes quiet. There are many memories she doesn't care for, painful, lingering things. This was the first.]

I was tested for Sensitivity. And found to be talented enough to warrant training. I didn't understand at the time. I was frightened. Men I didn't know, asking me to tell them what I feel. To heal a bruise like I had Aden's. Putting me in a room with someone in pain to see how I would react- Empathy. On the level I have, is rare. The ability to heal rarer still. I had no choice. Neither did my parents. It's an honor to be chosen; and so they took me.

[He can see the discomfort in the movement of heat in her body ~~it's canon idek~~ he can feel how little he cares. Still, his voice is a touch sympathetic as he says]

And that honor saw you to the Order?

Another planet, another life entirely. One devoid of all attachment. Of all emotion- feel, but do not be ruled by them. Live to learn to use your talents for the betterment of The Republic, to protect those that cannot protect themselves. It...wasn't terrible. But it wasn't home. And after ten years training with the Order? Nowhere was home again. It's something of a nomadic organization.

I trained. Studied. Learned. Until I was twenty three. Just before the trials, tests Jedi take to prove they are worthy of knighthood. I would have passed.

...I simply didn't care to.

And, as we agreed, I shall not ask you why you did not. However, if we could continue the story to your time after you left, that would be... appreciated.

Thank you.

[She takes a moment to sort out her thoughts before she speaks again.] I went to Aden, first. I...could not think of anywhere else to go, once I'd left. I wasn't certain that he would remember me. He did. He had a son, Maten, and a wife. A life. And they welcomed me with open arms. I tried to live there, with them, for awhile. A few months but...nowhere was home. Nowhere was comfortable.

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