Chapter 9: Parting Ways
"So you're a friend of Ahsoka's from the Temple days?" Leorna said, walking up to Barriss.
Barriss glanced at her and then away, looking out across the fields. "The term she used was 'colleague'," Barriss replied.
"Ooo, that's kind of icy. Were you two rivals? Steal one another's lightsabres?" Leorna smirked. "Did she give you a wedgie in the shared dorm?"
"It's complicated..." Barriss didn't look at her, not rising to the teasing.
"Okay, I get it. She's an ex-girlfriend."
"No!" Barriss snapped at her. Then blushed and looked away. "Jedi can't have attachments."
"Can't doesn't mean don't!" Leorna said in a sing-song voice. Barriss gave no reaction, so she sighed dramatically and leaned on her. "Come on! Give me some juicy gossip from the inside, I really want to know!"
"I'm afraid there isn't any."
"Boring." Leorna slumped onto the ground, putting her chin in her hands. "Me and my friends spent ages imaging all the weird, exciting stuff that happened inside the Temple. But you and Ahsoka have both independently confirmed it: you really are just a bunch of deprived monks."
Barriss looked down at her and smiled. Despite herself, she was warming up to her.
"So how did you get involved in all this?" Barriss asked, seating herself beside her.
"I transitioned out of fighting the Separatists," Leorna replied. "That's where I met Calcian. Our idiotic King joined the Separatists at the start of the war when he thought they would have a lightning victory and he'd be able to claim all the prestige. Then it dragged on, resources started draining and he was caught trying to open negotiations with the Republic." She shrugged. "He was executed, the occupation got underway. Some of us decided to resist. Then that transitioned naturally into resisting the Empire. Turns out they're all really the same."
"Yeah...I guess..." Barriss looked away. "Who else is part of your band?"
"That would be a need-to-know basis." Leorna tapped her nose conspiratorially. "Afraid we can't give away everything, you might be a spy."
Barriss laughed. "All right, all right. I won't pry."
Leorna grinned. "Nah, it's okay. If Ahsoka trusts you then I trust you."
Barriss raised an eyebrow. "You think she trusts me?"
"Sure. She took you here and let you on her ship. She wouldn't do that if she didn't, whatever she's saying otherwise."
Barriss frowned, thinking about it. I suppose that's true... she thought. But I guess 'trusting me not to give them away', is still a world away from 'trusts me'...
"So here we've got Grotu, she's a rodian and a tech wiz; there's Bashalar, a bothan. He's our intelligence broker, but he's also something of an all-rounder. The second in command after Calcian. And then, of course, there's Ashoka. The spiritual leader and adviser." She put her hand to her mouth and whispered conspiratorially, "She thinks she's in charge but isn't really."
Barriss giggled. "That sounds like her."
As if on cue, Ahsoka descended the ramp of Calcian's ship and marched towards her own.
"Hey, how did it go?" Leorna called.
"I'm going to take a shower, change clothes and do some repairs. Can you ask Grotu along?" Ahsoka said, passing by with barely a glance.
"Sure, I'll get her!"
Ahsoka nodded and strode up the ramp.
"Not so well then." Leorna sighed and got to her feet. "Better go find Grotu."
Barriss stood up as well and pointed towards the settlement, which could just be seen in the distance. "How long would it take to get to the town?" she asked.
"To Venor?" Leorna paused. "About an hour, hour and a half depending on how fast you walk."
"Do they have supply shops? Banks?"
"Yeah, not so many, but there are some good vendors around. If you go to the Abernen district, on the Eastside, there's a vendor there, Senti's it's called, who usually has mirialan clothes."
"Ah, you see what I'm getting at."
Leorna smiled. "I got used to the smell, doesn't mean I forgot it."
Barriss laughed. "All right, I'll wait for you to get Grotu."
"Why? You can go yourself?" Leorna was puzzled.
Now Barriss was puzzled. "I thought you were keeping an eye on me?"
"Well, Calcian said to make sure you don't cause trouble. The way I see it, you heading into town is far away from causing us trouble. Like I say, if Ahsoka trusts you then we all do. And I suspect you're not joining our merry band, so if you want to go off and start making your preparations for leaving we're not going to hold you here." She smiled and put out a hand. "It was nice meeting you. And if I don't see you again, then safe travels and..." She frowned. "What is it the Jedi say? The Force grant you good fortune?"
"It's 'May the Force be with you'." Barriss took her hand.
"Ah, I knew Beters was lying." Leorna smiled. "May the Force be with you." She stepped back and turned around, heading towards a large tent that was set up behind Calcian's ship.
Barriss smiled after her and then set her gaze on Venor. The bank, clothes, a place to stay and a ticket off-world, she thought, starting to walk towards the town. As she did she felt a twinge in her stomach. The bank, food, clothes, a place to stay and a ticket off-world, she amended.
"Ah, it looks very nice on you!"
Barriss studied herself in the mirror. She'd changed into a new unitard, one that covered her whole body, the colour a very dark purple so it almost looked black. It had a mirialan hood that she'd pulled up over her head, hiding her hair completely, and wore a pair of dark boots with a slightly raised heel. A long skirt almost draped to the floor, and it was split up the middle at the front.
She pressed her lips together and used her index finger to scoop out a bit of her hair, letting it hang like an apostrophe over her forehead. Then she tucked it back in.
With her hair shorter, wearing the hood made her look bald, which she wasn't sure about...but she also wasn't sure if the fringe looked silly.
She sighed. Guess I'll try it for a bit both ways before settling, she thought. Need to think about what would provide the better disguise.
She turned to the humanoid male, with red skin, the vendor in the small shop. "Do you have a hood that goes with this?" she asked, indicating to mean she meant a looser one she could remove.
"Oh yes. I have a cape with a hood if that would suit?"
No...that would be too close to how I used to look... she thought.
"Anything else?"
"I've got a shawl, that can be made into one?"
"That will be perfect, thank you!"
With the payment made, and the black shawl wrapped over her shoulders and pulled over her head, Barriss stepped out of the shop and wandered down the street. The town was not very large, but it had a decent array of shops, a market street and a variety of inns, bars and diners. She'd been to the only bank in town and had been able to withdraw some of her money, though she noted the payment for Sentarou hadn't come in. The client was obviously waiting for official confirmation before he paid, in case she'd died in the attempt. The usual practice, irritating though it was. After eating some noodles from one of the street vendors and purchasing her clothes she didn't have many credits left. Possibly not enough to buy a room for a night or two and a ticket for the shuttle.
That meant she'd be heading back to Ahsoka's ship...
She shook her head. No, she'd much rather sleep out in the fields than impose on her any longer. For a whole host of reasons...
She kept walking, past a set of Imperial Militias who she paid no mind to. She'd learned that not looking suspicious was the best way to not attract suspicion. As she rounded the corner she stopped. There was a small house along the street, which had a sign to show it was a medical clinic outside it.
Maybe... She considered it and then shrugged and walked over to it. The worst they could say was no after all.
She stepped through the door, which led into a small, bright, waiting room, which had a set of seats arrayed along the walls. A large crop of people of all different species were already sitting there; adults trying to look well; parents nervously accompanying distressed children. A droid was sat behind the reception desk and Barriss walked up to it.
"Hello," she said. "I was wondering if I could speak to the doctor?"
"Oh, I am sorry," the droid said, in soothing tones. "I'm afraid the doctor will require you to take a number and wait. His appointments are full unless you have something prearranged?"
Barriss smiled. "No, it's nothing like that. I have training from the Imperial Academy of Medicine." She held out her comm, and the (forged) credentials hovered in front of the droid. "I'm around for a couple of days and I hoped to offer my services."
The droid regarded her a moment and then glanced out at the patients. "It would be a help, though the doctor would not have anything to pay you with."
"That's fine, I need no payment. If he has a room to stay in to offer that would be acceptable."
The droid tapped at the buttons on its desk. "I have messaged the doctor and will let you through, he should just be finishing with a patient."
The droid tapped at the controls on the reception desk and the door at the back slid open. Barriss gave the droid a small bow and went through the door, which took her into a small corridor with three doors, the one in the middle marking the refresher. A man was just walking out of the door to the left and passed her towards the reception. She waited a moment and then a mon calamari man poke his head out of the door.
"Ah...are you the one Cee-Tee Seven has just messaged me about?" he said.
"Yes." Barriss held out a hand to him. "My name is Barriss and I thought I might be able to help?"
The doctor took her hand in his own. "Doctor Alarba. Cee-Tee said you would be willing to work... in exchange for a room, I see?" the doctor said, glancing at his datapad.
"If you can provide one. If not, I would still be glad to help. It seems you are quite overwhelmed."
"I can't deny it's been trying. Ever since the Empire privatised the main hospital, most people have come to me." He sighed. "I can't charge them, most of them are desperate and have little enough money as it is. But it's difficult to make room for the paying customers. I had to let my assistant go because..." He studied her and then nodded to the door on the right. "That room's free for you to use. I'll ask Cee-Tee to direct some of the patients to you."
"Thank you Doctor Alarba," Barriss said, with a bow. "I will be delighted to assist however I can."
"That's fine. Do a bad job though, and you can forget the room."
Barriss quirked an eyebrow at him and then saw the glint in his eye and they shared a laugh.
Ahsoka pulled herself out from under the pipes and took off her goggles, a set of tools in her hands. "Try that now!" she called.
Above her Grotu, wearing a beige jacket and trousers, and with a tech-scanner over her right eye, tapped at the console. They heard the engines fire slightly and the pipes Ahsoka was around made a rumbling noise, but without the gurgling sound they were making earlier.
Ahsoka sighed and wiped some of the grime from her face. "Looks like that's done," she said, easing herself up and then pulling herself out from the floor. They were in the Living Quarters of her ship, Leorna munching on a snack she'd pinched from the kitchen. Ahsoka was dressed now in a comfortable blue jumpsuit, something easy to work in that she didn't mind getting dirty.
"Yes, it looks like they're all going smoothly," Grotu said, examining the data running along the datapad screen. She touched at the scanner on her head and it retracted, leaving her eye clear. "I've been checking other things on this and I think one of your targeting arrays may be out of alignment."
"Oh right. Would you be able to correct that?"
The rodian's eyes sparkled at her. "Are you doubting me?"
Ahsoka grinned. "Not for a moment." She dropped her tools into the tray and grabbed up a hydro spanner from the set. "I think there was a pressurisation issue in one of the storage chambers downstairs."
"There was, I fixed it," Grotu said, tapping at the screen. "Minor issue, nothing that needs any real mechanical work."
"That's good." She put the hydro spanner back and put her hands on her hips. "I think that's everything then after you sort out the targeting array issues."
"Should be. It's the only thing that's still showing up on the comprehensive scan." Grotu dropped her scanner back over her eye and tapped at it, connecting to the ship, data pooling across the lens.
"Great, thanks Grotu. And thank you Leorna," she turned a raised brow on the woman, "for eating your way through my snack collection."
Leorna raised a hand in acknowledgement. "Least I could do!"
Grotu chuckled. "Well if you like, you can help me test if the targeting array is working again in a moment?"
"That sounds like fun," Leorna said, hopping off the table. "I have finished all my other chores."
"I thought you were supposed to be looking after Ahsoka's friend?"
Ahsoka's lekku twitched.
"She went into town. She's not our prisoner so it's not like we can keep her around if she doesn't want to be. She was definitely needing a change of clothes, so I told her where she could find a good vendor for mirialan stuff."
Ahsoka plucked up one of her lightsabres and made a show of cleaning it. "Did she say when she would be back?" she asked, casually.
"I think she was planning on finding a place to stay in town, so I'm not sure she will be back," Leorna said.
"That's a shame, I would have liked to have met her," Grotu said, returning her focus to the screen, as Leorna joined her.
Ahsoka carefully put down her sabre. She'd known Barriss would likely go stay in town. She would be heading off on the shuttle soon anyway, so it made more sense than hanging about. But that she just went off without saying anything...
Well...maybe it was better this way. It would spare them both any lingering awkwardness, after everything that had happened. And it would mean she wouldn't have to...it would be better. They could both just go back to their own lives and...
She realized she was clenching and unclenching her fingers.
"I'm going into town to stock up on some food supplies," she announced, grabbing up her utility belt and strapping it on. "Do you two want anything? Apart from more snacks to eat through?"
"No I'm good," Grotu said. "Thanks for asking."
"More of those meiloorun biscuits would be nice!" Leorna chimed in.
"Will do..." Ahsoka said through gritted teeth. Those had been her favourites...
She slung a pack over her shoulder and headed towards the exit ramp. Grotu glanced over at her as she was leaving and then looked at Leorna with a frown. "Did she seem...a little odd to you?" she asked.
"Yeah, a bit..." Leorna said. Then she grinned. "Great isn't it?"
Grotu shook her head and chuckled and then pointed out the issues to Leorna on the datapad.
Ahsoka hefted up her bag, now full of various foodstuffs from staples of rice and corn to salted and preserved meats, to an array of vegetables, fruits and snacks. She turned out of the market street and wandered along the central road running through the town. As she walked she let her senses run out along the town, through the various streets and houses, until she picked up on the signal that she had been adamantly telling herself she was not looking for.
I should just leave it, she thought. She's getting ready to leave, we're parting ways. That's all there is to it. I should just leave her be...that's what she wants and it's what I want. She thought all of this, as her legs took her in the direction of Barriss' presence, through various side streets. She took conscious control to stop herself and took in a breath.
What did she actually want? There were still some things unresolved...some questions she had...but did she really need to know the answers that badly? When they'd been together on the ship she thought she did, but she had enough answers now. She knew what had happened and why it had happened. It was time to leave things alone.
She started walking again.
I'll just check where she pitched up, see if it's a nice place. Then I can head back and...
She paused when she saw the sign for Doctor Alarba's clinic. Barriss' presence was coming from in there. She scrunched up her eyes rubbed her fingers into her forehead. Well, now I have to have a look to make sure nothing bad has happened! she thought, walking towards the clinic.
Intellectually, she knew Barriss was well trained in the Jedi arts so the idea that she was injured in some way from her excursion in town was ridiculous. Foolish really.
But still...it never hurt to just check...
She opened the door and stepped inside. There were only a couple of patients, none of whom were Barriss, who sat in the reception room, noticeably fewer than on previous occasions when Ahsoka had come in here. She walked up to the reception desk and the droid looked up at her.
"Oh, hello Ashla," the droid said, using the assumed name Ahsoka took around town. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yes I'm fine, Cee-Tee," she replied. Silently she cursed herself, as she had no idea what name Barriss might have used or not. "I'm just looking for...someone. A mirialan woman with diamond pattern tattoos?" Great, that doesn't sound suspicious at all...
"You mean Barriss?"
"Yes!" Ahsoka said, making a mental note to talk to Doctor Alarba about the confidentiality programme on the droid. "Is she here?"
"She is. She's been helping Doctor Alarba with his patients. A very good worker. I think she's with someone now, but I'll let you through."
"Thank you."
The droid opened the door and Ahsoka slipped through. She went to the door on the right, which she knew was the room that had been for Doctor Alarba's assistant, and felt the presence behind it. Barriss was there, along with two others. She turned her head and picked up on the voices coming from behind the door.
"You fell out of a tree?" Barriss asked, voice soft. "That was a silly thing to do wasn't it?"
"...Yes..." came a sniffly voice, belonging to a young boy.
"I imagine your mother had warned about doing such things?"
"I have indeed..." came the third voice, a mother trying to be stern but not quite keeping the concern out of her voice. "Several times."
"You've learnt your lesson then, haven't you?" Barriss asked.
"...Yes..." the boy said and threw in a sniff to earn sympathy for his dreadful plight. Ahsoka found herself smiling.
"Okay, I'm going to set the bone now. This might hurt a little, but if you relax it'll go smoother. Okay?"
"Okay..."
"One...two...three..." There was no sound from the boy. "There we go! Gosh, you're a brave boy aren't you?"
"Yes!" the boy declared confidently, no sniffles and cries in evidence now.
Ahsoka's smile grew wider and she had to work hard to stop herself from laughing. She'd picked up on the small ripple in the Force, as Barriss presumably used it to dull the pain when setting the bone.
"All right, well don't go waving anything about. I still need to put the cast on. Now if you put your arm into this little machine...careful, there we go. Now this will put the cast on your arm." There was a whirring noise.
"How long will he need?" the mother asked, relief evident in her voice.
"A couple of months maybe? If you bring him back in after a month, then Doctor Alarba will be able to check on it and give his recommendations." The machine stopped whirring.
"Oh? So you're not a new assistant?"
"No, I'm just here for a few days." Ahsoka's smile started to fade. "Okay, you can take your arm out now. That's cool, isn't it? You can get all your friends to sign it!"
"Thank you so much," the mother said. "What do you say?"
"Thank you!" the boy chimed.
"You're welcome. And remember, no more climbing trees!"
The door slid open and the humanoid mother and child walked out, the child now staring at his cast with wide eyes like he'd won some sort of prize. The mother spotted Ahsoka and steered her son out of her path. "Oh, excuse us," she said.
"Don't worry about it," Ahsoka replied.
"You can come in!" Barriss called. "What's your trouble?"
Ahsoka swung around the door, grinning. She pointed to one of her canines. "Do you do teeth?" she asked. "I've got a real problem with one of my fangs!"
Barriss looked up from her computer terminal, startled when she recognised the voice and then she relaxed. "I told you to keep brushing them regularly and use mouthwash," she chided.
"But mouthwash tastes like engine fuel," Ahsoka put on a whine, settling back into the well-rehearsed joke.
"That's because it is. But it also works."
They stared at one another and then laughed, and Ahsoka sat on the examination bed, pushed up against the opposite wall of the small room. She looked at Barriss, sat in a chair in front of a desk with a computer terminal on it, and a machine with an open port, which was presumably the one that built the cast. She'd changed her clothes, and now wore something resembling her old style, with a shawl pulled up around her head and hood underneath.
"You managed to get your change of clothes then?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yes. Not a bad deal either. What are you doing here?"
"I was in town, picking up some supplies. I passed the clinic and picked up on your presence, thought I'd swing by and see what you were up to. You seem very settled in this role."
"Oh I do this quite a lot," Barriss said. "Wherever I go I try and to help a little here and there. That's why I do...the other work. So I can do this stuff for free, or donation-based." She paused, gaze going distant. "One thing I did learn from my time in the underworld and with that group I told you about, was just how many people in the galaxy are so destitute they can't afford even the most minimal of care." She cast a small smile at Ahsoka. "So I try and do my bit to alleviate that."
Ahsoka nodded. "That sounds like something you would do."
"Oh..." Barriss widened her eyes at her, in mock shock. "Is this you conceding that I'm not a completely bad person then?"
"Well, I never thought you were completely bad..." Ahsoka replied, exaggeratedly turning her eyes away. She grinned. "And you use the Force to help? I sensed a little bit of it outside."
Barriss held her index finger and thumb about a centimetre apart. "A little bit. Enough to dull pain and maybe speed things up a bit, but that's all. Nothing that would look unusual. Can't really afford that risk for either myself or the patients." She dropped her hand. "It's fairly easy really, it's just like picking up an object. You just feel your way along nerve endings, organs, nudge a thing here, dull a nerve there, send a signal to the brain here. It's amazing what you can do when you sink into it and learn it."
"Like say, give someone a heart attack?" Ahsoka raised a brow.
Barriss slapped her hand to her chest, in mock horror and dismay. "Ahsoka! How could you suggest that I would put my talents to such monstrous purposes?" Then she grinned sheepishly. "Yes, you could do something like that."
They slipped into a silence.
"Have you found a place to stay?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yes, Doctor Alarba's letting me sleep in a spare room. I've got my ticket for the shuttle, so I'll be out of here in a few days." She looked over at Ahsoka. "Thank you for the offer of your room, but I just felt...well I didn't want to cramp your style with your new friends."
"That's okay, you don't need to explain yourself. I figured you'd probably want to be closer to the shuttle anyway. And not get mixed up in the resistance stuff."
Another silence. Then Ahsoka hopped off the examination table. "Right, well, I'd better be off," she said. "Don't want to get back too late. And also find out whether Leorna's managed to blow something up checking my targeting array..."
"Okay, but before you go, can you help me with something?" Barriss asked, standing up.
"Sure, what?"
Barriss flipped back her shawl and pointed at her forehead. "No hair?" she said, then reached up and plucked out a fringe of hair to form an apostrophe over her right eyebrow. "Or hair?"
"Hmmm..." Ahsoka studied her, finger and thumb cupping her chin. "Well I always liked your hair, so I'd say hair."
"Really?" Barriss looked up with her eyes as if trying to see her own forehead. "You don't think it looks silly?"
"I don't think it looks silly, but I couldn't swear that from an objective standpoint it doesn't."
"Well, that's good enough for me!" Barriss smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Ahsoka smiled back and then turned to the door, tapping the panel to open it. She halted in the doorframe. "Well...goodbye Barriss," she said, glancing over her shoulder with a smile.
"'Goodbye Barriss', and..." Barriss chimed, with a raised brow.
"Goodbye Barriss and...good luck to you," Ahsoka said, with a flicker at the corner of her mouth.
Barriss gave her a humorous smile. "Goodbye, then, Ahsoka. And good luck to you too."
The camera recording was from a lower angle, discreetly hidden among some papers on the table, but Luminara Unduli was still clearly visible, wearing her dark robes and hood. She looked lost, staring vacantly as if trying to process something that her mind just refused to grasp.
"I just...I don't understand...I've tried to..." she said, at last, her voice slightly tinny on the recording. "I've meditated, I've thought...but nothing..."
"It's all right, Master Unduli," Scorpious' voice came from off-camera. "This is confidential, you don't have to speak in such ways."
Luminara looked over, at someone above the camera, her expression pained...but trusting. She looked back down. "I...I can't talk about this...not with any of the Masters and..." Her composure broke and she put her face in her hands and started to sob.
Scorpious Holicron paused the recording and sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers. He was in a dark room, and the only light came from the ghostly blue-white of the screens in front of him. The screens held two paused images, the one on the left had been taken at his office at the Jedi Temple; the one on the right showed Luminara, hunched over in prison garb, in a cell.
He smiled to himself. Before the end of the Jedi, he'd taken to secretly recording some of his sessions, in the hopes that someone would say something of interest that would be a story worth selling to the media. He'd considered the one from Luminara, had been on the verge of doing so, when it all ceased mattering anyway.
But now...now it might serve a different purpose.
He heard the door to the room slide open, but he didn't bother turning around, as three figures in dark inquisitorial uniforms entered the room. One was a selonian, large and muscular with clawed hands and feet, his uniform kept to just an armour plate to allow his bristling fur out. Next to him came a female clawdite, with her reptilian features visible, lithe and wearing the full-body uniform. And trailing them was a third figure, a bit shorter than the clawdite, but similarly lithe and dressed, only she kept a helmet on obscuring her face.
"First Brother," the selonian rumbled, exposing his fangs. "The message has been sent, as you commanded."
"Good," Scorpious said. "Very good. Thank you Second Brother."
"We seem to be taking a lot of time with this," the clawdite said, irritation clear in her voice. "Why must we make all of this preparation," she gestured at the screens, "when we have no idea if our quarry will actually be present."
"Because, Second Sister," and Scorpious now swivelled around in his chair. "It always pays to be prepared for every eventuality, rather than being caught off guard. This is, after all, why Third Sister is here." He nodded at the other figure. "It may be that we only catch one of the flies in our web, but far better to be prepared to catch both is it not?" He grinned at them, and Second Brother peeled his lips back to expose his fangs.
"The hunt has begun?" he asked.
"It has indeed." Scorpious swivelled around again and looked up at the screens, a cruel smile twisting his features.
Oop...Scorpious is back and it looks like his evil plans of evilness are proceeding. What they are though...well we'll have to see (taps nose conspiratorially).
I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter. As you can probably tell we're heading towards the endgame now, but there's still a few more bits and pieces to go before we get there. More of the gang have been revealed as well, and I'm starting to really like Leorna and Grotu. I think they give a different perspective on things, something more akin to a 'normal' one, to provide a foil for Ahsoka and Barriss, who are kind of more stilted and withdrawn in some ways.
Regarding the Inquisitors - to avoid any confusion, I'm aware the Inquisitors work with titles like 'Fifth Brother' and 'Seventh Sister' (yes I am on to watching Rebels, why do you ask?) that are assigned to them. However, here I'm using the terms to designate hierarchy in the mission. So Scorpious is First Brother because he's the leader; the selonian is Second Brother because he's male and one back from Scorpious; the clawdite is Second Sister as she's female and one back from Scorpious; and Third Sister is one back from Second Brother and Second Sister. I hope that makes sense; it was designed to try to avoid confusion and contradictions with canon but I suspect I may be adding to it... I figure at this stage the Inquisition is still fairly new as well, so permanent titles aren't assigned yet.
NightStrike: (ive only read about the first half of the page thingy so far) I feel like I shouldnt be laughing thi smuch xD
Thanks! I hope that's laughing at the jokes and not the quality of the writing ^_^;
Thanks, everyone, for reading! Let me know your thoughts (comments and criticisms are always appreciated) - and I'll see you next time!