i won't leave any doubt [May, catchall, open]

[ruinsprofessor]

Characters: Raine Sage and OPEN
Date: May, most of it
Location: Keeliai. Healers' Guild, Earth Sector, assorted other
Situation: many, lots.
Warnings/Rating: None currently, will update if that changes


A | Healers' Guild | OPEN

Raine can be found at the Healers' Guild perhaps even more often now, even though she was supposed to be delegating to free up more of her time. With the recent loss of some personnel, and a recent brush with friends from home as well, she's been working as hard as she can, and possibly forgetting to take as many breaks as she should. At any point during most days she can be found tending patients, or in her office working at any number of administrative tasks, or making a beeline from point A to point B, walking briskly and with purpose. She's rarely in the entrance hall, but any kedan volunteer can point out where the head of the Guild has gotten to at most times.

Fairly generally, if she leaves on time, it's because someone else has reminded her to, whether it's Solomon coming to pull her away from things or one of her coworkers reminding her about the fine art of delegation.

There is only one instance in which she falls asleep on her desk.

After the seventh of the month, there will be one or two instances in which she can be found at the empty pool in the courtyard, looking visibly and unusually troubled.

B | markets | OPEN

Raine, mid-errands, has a basket under one arm and appears to have been sidetracked (yet again) by her questionable cooking choices. This is currently manifesting in the shape of a conversation with a shopkeeper about sea prunes.

She herself is intent, brow furrowed and questioning earnestly. The kedan appears somewhat more concerned. "No," he's saying, "you can't put sea prunes in cake."

Raine does not appear to believe him.

C | a particular tavern | closed to Lin and Pepper)

Finally following up on the lead Solomon uncovered for her regarding last month's anonymous donation, Raine goes from kedan orderly to a specific tavern where she has been told they usually drink, around the hours that would make sense for such a thing. She really should have made time for this earlier, but the practicalities of running the Guild combined with the pressures of the Milyn problems only made her busyness mount, instead of easing.

In contrast, it's almost pleasantly simple just to go out to a tavern with a friend. Even if there is an ulterior motive. Raine invited Pepper half because she really could use a second point of view on this problem, and half because she wanted an excuse to spend time with a friend, in the middle of everything else that's happening.

She's looking for a scrawny kedan with colourful hair and a stutter, and she'll head his way when she spots him.

D | wildcard | open

[ooc; if you have questions about the Healers' Guild, or questions in general, or want to plot, drop me a pm here or at makaricrow c: Or just throw things at me, that's cool too!]

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

"Supreme Leader," Raine echoed, unable to keep the skepticism from her voice. She raised her eyebrows at Kylo, not entirely at ease with the idea of someone who willingly used Supreme Leader as an address. It was several steps above 'Lord' in sheer arrogance alone. "...strength by numbers. All right. What else do you believe in?" Structure told her a number of interesting things, but not a great deal about Kylo Ren himself.

Pain fueling powers wasn't a concept she was unfamiliar with, though as a general rule it concerned her. Raine shook her head. "Focus and calm are more useful to me," she explained. "An arte can be disrupted, if the patterns are broken while the caster is putting them together. Maintaining focus no matter the situation -- and, in some contexts, trust in those who I'm fighting beside -- is what makes me most effective. Strong emotions of any sort?"

[no_light]

"Fair enough, if that's what your powers require," he said, nodding once. It wasn't ideal, especially in regards to him learning her artes, as Jedi calm had never come easily to him, but sometimes you just had to suffer unpleasantness for a greater goal.

"For the Force, yes, I suppose it could be strong emotions of any kind. I mostly use anger, and that's what is commonly associated with the Dark Side." He grew a bit more cautious again, thinking about his wording before he spoke. This was the part that was so easily misunderstood and twisted, after all. Wretched Jedi propaganda. "When Force users tap into the Dark Side for the first time, it's usually in a moment of sheer anger. Loss of control. But the greatest Dark Side users aren't out of control. They actually have perfect control over their anger. It's a tool to them. When I was blessed to meet Darth Vader here, he berated me for my lack of control."

Kylo shrugged, slightly chagrined. "I'm afraid I'm still... working on it."

[ruinsprofessor]

"Fascinating," Raine murmured aloud. "I'm more used to the idea of darkness as a cold thing, more calculating than not. Anger... hm." He had implied it had little to do with elements, but if that was the case then 'Dark Side' strayed into things Raine was much more wary of.

"Any strong emotion would test control, felt strongly enough." Raine was thinking out loud by this point, laying Kylo's ideas alongside those she was more familiar with and seeing where they intersected. "Few, if any, of which are ideal in the middle of a fight. Anger, however, strikes me as rather a volatile choice to focus on." Still, she supposed she could see how then mastering it became a tool for great power; but depending on it would grow exhausting or consuming, or perhaps both. "It might be interesting to experiment with others, though I suppose anger, at least, always has a ready focus in battle... Ah. Who is Darth Vader?"

oh no Raine now you'll have to suffer the full fanboy rant *giggle*

[no_light]

She did sound warier than he would have liked, but it was still a more receptive response than Kylo had expected before speaking to Raine. He thought of mentioning that he also used pain a lot, but before he could decide how that would color her first impression of the Dark Side, her new question distracted him.

"Darth Vader?" he asked, brightening again. "Of course... It's easy to forget nobody has heard of him here. He is..." He actually had to think for a moment, having never spoken of Vader to someone who had no clue at all about his universe's history. "He was first the most gifted Jedi, and then he became the greatest Sith in modern history. He was a guarantor for stability and order for decades, and helped build a great empire." There was a small actual smile tugging at his lips. "He's my grandfather. He died before I was born, but I got to meet him here."

[ruinsprofessor]

"Hm," Raine said, with some interest. "Luke reported something similar-- the chance to meet his parents, though they'd died when he was very young. Those from your world have quite a variance in timelines, don't they?"

Someone who had switched schools wasn't beyond comprehension, at least. "It's impressive that he was able to excel despite the difference in methodology, as I understand," Raine said after a moment, a little guarded but still undeniably curious. "Do you know what prompted the change? Is he still here?"

[no_light]

Caution showed in his face again, though he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Oh no, he hasn't been here for a while. I only had a couple of days with him, last month when all these people without soul gems were brought here. We were both among them. We didn't speak of his fall, or much of his past at all. He wasn't very eager to discuss these things."

Better not to mention that he was still here, as Anakin Skywalker. If Raine spoke to Anakin... No, he didn't want that.

Kylo tried for an easy smile, forced though it was. "My family has a long and complicated history, and the more I learn about it the more complicated it becomes."

[ruinsprofessor]

There was something in there that was telling: use of the word 'fall.' Perhaps Raine was reading too much into one word; and perhaps fall carried entirely too negative a connotation for a simple difference in elements.

Anger, she thought, and frowned slightly.

When she spoke, though, it was nothing to do with that. "History often does that," she offered, lightly neutral. "It's never as straightforward as it first seems, whether it's through intentional deception or because detail is simply lost over time. But it's always valuable to learn from, which is part of why I enjoy studying it."

Her fingers tapped for a moment, a steady beat against the wood of her staff, before stilling once more. "I'd like to establish if you can learn my artes, before you leave," she added.

[no_light]

"I'd like to establish that, too," Kylo agreed, nodding solemnly. He looked around, idly wondering if any of the objects laying around could be used to test him for these foreign powers. Unlikely. "I'm not quite certain how. In my world we do blood tests, but I doubt you do that." Her artes didn't seem quite so intertwined with technology as his Force was.

"Do you think it would help if you showed me some simple exercise of yours? Would you be able to tell if anything at all happens?" He snorted. "I realize I won't be able to... heal anything today." And here he couldn't help wincing. Healing. This place was truly dragging him down, that he would now be wasting his time on studying healing. And yet that remained the only hope for any training at all he had in this place, unless he wished to make peace with the Jedi. Even becoming a healer was preferable to that.

[ruinsprofessor]

"The technology exists, but it won't be useful in the way you'd think," Raine said, paused, and made the decision to elaborate. "Typically, the ability to use artes in the way I do is tied to a certain bloodline, which can be tested for. However, in this world, I've been able to teach those who cannot possibly share that bloodline. Therefore, I have a few simple exercises to run by you, which should answer that question. Here."

She leaned her staff against the wall, and cupped her hands in front of her, turning back to Kylo. Slowly, as she steadied her breath, a soft pale radiance grew between her fingers. "This is mana," she said after a moment, her focus down. "My own, concentrated enough to be brought into the visible spectrum." Doing that ensures that to anyone with a sense for that kind of energy, it will be perceivable. "First, I want to know if you can feel it at all."

[no_light]

"I..." Intensely staring at it didn't help much, the Force powers he were familiar with didn't glow like that, but, "let me try to sense it..." He felt into the Force, and then tried to reach beyond that which was familiar, for this source of power which should feel just slightly off such as other foreign powers he'd witnessed.

"There is... There it is!" He nodded sharply. "I can sense something. It feels odd. Not strictly speaking unpleasant, but... odd. Foreign." Disquieting, when he tried to think of it as something he would have or wield. He already had the Light infecting him, he didn't need more. "This is yours? Something that comes from within you?"

[ruinsprofessor]

Odd and foreign. Raine wasn't surprised, honestly; most half-elves felt that way, even to people who didn't quite know what they were sensing. "Well," she said aloud, brisk. "Theoretically, you should be able to learn my artes, then. Yes, it's mine-- mana is something like life force. Every living being has it within them, though whether or not they learn to manipulate it is another story. My own usually feels somewhat like light, since it's the element I use most often, but every person will feel different based on their race, their elemental inclination, and simply who they are as a person."

She spread her hands apart, keeping mana in each of them. "Close your eyes," she said, "give me a moment, and then tell me which hand it's concentrated in."

[no_light]

He scowled, for he had never enjoyed such exercises back when he was a padawan, and he didn't like being reminded of his Jedi training in the first place. And yet he closed his eyes and focused, much like he'd been taught to feel for the Force during meditation.

"My mana will feel very different from yours then," he muttered, brows knitting as he focused. "I can feel it in both hands, but now you're... There's more in... the left, the mana you hold in your left hand is growing stronger." He opened his eyes, not even waiting for Raine to confirm it.

"If you're going to teach me how to do that you'll know how my mana feels, and you'll learn a lot about me through it," Kylo said, frowning again.

[ruinsprofessor]

He was correct. Raine nodded to him when he was looking at her again, unsurprised. The test was diligence and thoroughness, not any real doubt.

"To some extent," she said. "Less than you might think. Race and element are rarely great secrets, after all. And yes, over time, it becomes possible to learn familiarity with someone's mana signature, the... unique pattern that makes them who they are. Even then, it's not a great breach of privacy, however; it's more like becoming familiar with the sound of someone's voice. You can pick the people you know well out of a crowd from a distance, correct? It's something like that."

She let go of the mana, allowing her hands to go dark and still once more. "I'd be concerned if your mana didn't feel different," she added, with a wry little smile. "You're human, after all." Once she would have been more reticent about her own race, but here things were different, and people from other worlds rarely had reason to care she wasn't entirely one or the other.

[no_light]

"And you are not," he said, a statement of fact more than a question. He sized her up again, looking for differences in her appearance now, but there was nothing as outstanding about her as the differences he was used to from alien species. No blue or green skin, no lekku growing from her head, and these would have been the least of differences.

Scrutiny becoming more blatant, he shifted, leaning against the bed with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "What are you? I have grown up surrounded by many alien races, but I can't even begin to make a guess." After a moment he added, "I wouldn't have known, if you hadn't pointed it out. I thought all feelings of foreign-ness were due to your magic being from a different world."

[ruinsprofessor]

"Not entirely, no." Raine sighed quietly. "I'm a half-elf; my father was human." And yet it seemed to her that the elven blood was all either side seemed to see. "Our oldest stories hold that the elves arrived on our world riding a comet, and weren't initially from Aselia."

She had theories about the origins of humans, as well, but nothing that could be substantiated. Instead of saying anything more she simply watched him in return, blank-faced under his scrutiny.

[no_light]

Further interest sparked in his eyes, though it was rooted more in her story than her own genetics. "A comet... that sounds like it could have been a space ship. It's too bad there is no way to learn more about your people's origin here. It would be intriguing research."

His stance became a bit slacker as Kylo relaxed more again. "I didn't realize you're a hybrid, you look astoundingly human. Where I'm from, humans are able to interbreed as well. With some species, anyway." He couldn't help wondering if interbreeding was acceptable where she was from, but it would have been a very rude question.

[ruinsprofessor]

"I've been to the comet," Raine said wryly. "It truly is that, but it has a city built into it-- it could certainly have been used as transport from one planet to another, with sufficient motivation. It was locked in orbit around our world, however."

Was.

She didn't plan to go into her viability as a hybrid with someone she'd just met, either, but some of the simpler nuances could be elucidated. "It usually leads to minor cosmetic mutations," she explained, tugging on an errant strand of white hair by way of demonstration. "That, and the ability to sense mana. Naturally, to humans, I look more elven, while to elves, I look more human. All the same, my own case is fairly mild. One of the Grand Cardinals had black sclera, for instance. I don't know if humans are capable of reproducing with dwarves." That was a different matter. Raine stopped there, looking thoughtful.

[no_light]

Kylo shrugged, nothing to do but admit to his mistake. "Well, in that case I'll have to concede defeat and admit it is indeed a come, won't I?" He sounded rather amused. If he had to be wrong about something, he'd like it to be such a minor thing. "I'd like to hear more about it, sometime, if you don't mind sharing. Both about the comet city, and maybe half-elves." And how they passed, or did not. There seemed to be a story to it, one which it was too early to dig for.

He pushed himself away from the bed he had been leaning against. "Even so, I think we have both been given many things to think about. Do you require more tests from me today?"

[ruinsprofessor]

"I don't mind. It's certainly interesting, talking about it with someone who has no context." He had no understanding of the thousands of years of racial tension that had shaped her world. Raine preferred it that way, in some respects. "And no, I don't need anything else from you today. The offer will remain open: let me know when you make up your mind."

[no_light]

"I will," he said, giving her another sharp nod. "I'll in touch with you when I'm ready." And then he would simply have to hope Raine was amenable to teaching him, too. "And if not, I would still like to hear more about the comet sometimes, and the elves who live on it."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine inclined her head, a careful nod of acknowledgment. "I'm not difficult to find," she said. "In either case. It's been interesting to meet you." Whether or not it was a pleasure she was still considering, but it had certainly been an educational experience.