Ysanne Isard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iceheart_imperial) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2020-07-02 05:18 pm
iceheart_imperial) wrote in maskormenacelogs2020-07-02 05:18 pm
Entry tags:
Isard's Open July Log [Open to All!]
WHO: Whoever wants in! Especially maybe Jedi or other Star Wars peeps she hasn't run into yet. (Looking at you, Poe. :P)
WHERE: Various, see below
WHEN: Whenever in July, feel free to back/forward tag
WHAT: Isard goes around, does things. People and conversations happen.
WARNINGS: Will add if anything happens worth warning about.
Option A - At her P.I. Office
The paperwork was wearying. Not that she couldn't handle the volume - her day's total paperwork was still a fraction of what she'd have to deal with before. If she felt in the mood to share, she'd have told people: authority comes with a lot of paperwork, be prepared. No, it wasn't the paperwork. It was having to learn to write in English instead of Aurebesh. Mostly it was just signatures, but marginalia were a chore, still. Cursive was easier, thankfully. And more elegant.
She sighed, finishing off with that week's paystubs before moving onto the new reports she had to read. She re-rolled the sleeve on her dress shirt, sighing, then tapped the intercom.
"Mariam," she called for her assistant, "when you get a spare moment, some tea would be just lovely, thank you. And I'm free if anyone comes in."
She got up, putting the signed pay stubs into the office safe. The pay would happen automatically, of course, but this planet ran on records. And she was quite keen that everything here be above board.
Option B - Cafe
She'd found a small cafe near her home, and it was becoming something of a favorite haunt. It was small, a little run down, but it had a small stage. She stopped by, at irregular intervals of course, just to enjoy the people who claimed it as their own for a small time. Sometimes it was poets, other times musicians. A few people who, very charitably, might be deemed 'comedians' - but there seemed to be no guiding principle to any of it. You came, you performed, that was that. It was so wonderfully disorganized.
When she'd arrived, it had been a duo of a pianist and a violinist. She'd been there long enough only for their last song - a melody that she found haunting and beautifully sad.
Later, she was unable to entirely quantify their genre, but the music was very different indeed. But she listened with every sign of enjoyment. She was seated with a clear view of the door - some instincts died too hard - a rather overcomplicated coffee drink in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was. She'd just asked the barista for something interesting.
Option C - A Mastermind Stops a Criminal
She'd been walking past the bank when he'd come out. A man, wearing metal. That in itself wasn't unusual, but the shoddiness of it certainly was. Oh dear, someone thought he'd found a clever solution to the problem of imPorts being on guard, hadn't he? Someone who thought he had wit when he had only half of one.
He was yelling something about being 'the new Ned Kelly' or something she frankly wasn't paying attention. To that or the gun he was waving. Which was meant to look complicated and futuristic, but she was quite sure was actually some kind of painted prop. The man's 'armor' hung down over him past his waist, which had to be hampering his movement, surely. Had he converted a hot water heater, or...?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the man pointing the weapon at her and demanding her car keys.
"Oh, no, absolutely not," she replied, clenching a fist and allowing herself a small smile.
"Who the hell d'you think you are?! I'm the new Ned Kelly and I'll do what I-"
"They call me Iceheart," she interrupted, breaking into a grin, "and I've had about enough of this." With that, she threw her weight into an uppercut, enhanced strength hammering a dent into the metal and lifting him clear of the ground to land flat on his back with a very satisfying sound.
D - Relaxing at the Gym
She wore a blue one piece bathing suit, her hair done up in a tight ponytail aside from two strands of white hair that had escaped at the front. With a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, she crossed over to the gym's spa-class hot tub, easing herself into the water gingerly. She'd had a regular sparring session with Ryuko and it had gone...predictably badly. She knew one hip had an ugly bruise from a kick, that was for sure.
But she hadn't been run over by a freight train this time, at least.
She settled back into the water, submerging up to her chest with a sign, leaning back with both arms on the railing.
E - Create your own!
WHERE: Various, see below
WHEN: Whenever in July, feel free to back/forward tag
WHAT: Isard goes around, does things. People and conversations happen.
WARNINGS: Will add if anything happens worth warning about.
Option A - At her P.I. Office
The paperwork was wearying. Not that she couldn't handle the volume - her day's total paperwork was still a fraction of what she'd have to deal with before. If she felt in the mood to share, she'd have told people: authority comes with a lot of paperwork, be prepared. No, it wasn't the paperwork. It was having to learn to write in English instead of Aurebesh. Mostly it was just signatures, but marginalia were a chore, still. Cursive was easier, thankfully. And more elegant.
She sighed, finishing off with that week's paystubs before moving onto the new reports she had to read. She re-rolled the sleeve on her dress shirt, sighing, then tapped the intercom.
"Mariam," she called for her assistant, "when you get a spare moment, some tea would be just lovely, thank you. And I'm free if anyone comes in."
She got up, putting the signed pay stubs into the office safe. The pay would happen automatically, of course, but this planet ran on records. And she was quite keen that everything here be above board.
Option B - Cafe
She'd found a small cafe near her home, and it was becoming something of a favorite haunt. It was small, a little run down, but it had a small stage. She stopped by, at irregular intervals of course, just to enjoy the people who claimed it as their own for a small time. Sometimes it was poets, other times musicians. A few people who, very charitably, might be deemed 'comedians' - but there seemed to be no guiding principle to any of it. You came, you performed, that was that. It was so wonderfully disorganized.
When she'd arrived, it had been a duo of a pianist and a violinist. She'd been there long enough only for their last song - a melody that she found haunting and beautifully sad.
Later, she was unable to entirely quantify their genre, but the music was very different indeed. But she listened with every sign of enjoyment. She was seated with a clear view of the door - some instincts died too hard - a rather overcomplicated coffee drink in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was. She'd just asked the barista for something interesting.
Option C - A Mastermind Stops a Criminal
She'd been walking past the bank when he'd come out. A man, wearing metal. That in itself wasn't unusual, but the shoddiness of it certainly was. Oh dear, someone thought he'd found a clever solution to the problem of imPorts being on guard, hadn't he? Someone who thought he had wit when he had only half of one.
He was yelling something about being 'the new Ned Kelly' or something she frankly wasn't paying attention. To that or the gun he was waving. Which was meant to look complicated and futuristic, but she was quite sure was actually some kind of painted prop. The man's 'armor' hung down over him past his waist, which had to be hampering his movement, surely. Had he converted a hot water heater, or...?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the man pointing the weapon at her and demanding her car keys.
"Oh, no, absolutely not," she replied, clenching a fist and allowing herself a small smile.
"Who the hell d'you think you are?! I'm the new Ned Kelly and I'll do what I-"
"They call me Iceheart," she interrupted, breaking into a grin, "and I've had about enough of this." With that, she threw her weight into an uppercut, enhanced strength hammering a dent into the metal and lifting him clear of the ground to land flat on his back with a very satisfying sound.
D - Relaxing at the Gym
She wore a blue one piece bathing suit, her hair done up in a tight ponytail aside from two strands of white hair that had escaped at the front. With a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, she crossed over to the gym's spa-class hot tub, easing herself into the water gingerly. She'd had a regular sparring session with Ryuko and it had gone...predictably badly. She knew one hip had an ugly bruise from a kick, that was for sure.
But she hadn't been run over by a freight train this time, at least.
She settled back into the water, submerging up to her chest with a sign, leaning back with both arms on the railing.
E - Create your own!
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"By all means," she said, barely paying him any heed for the moment. But there was something niggling at the back of her mind. He looked vaguely familiar. As if she'd seen him somewhere, half-remembered.
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"How you finding the place?"
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He recognized her as an imPort, straight off. He must be, too. And something about him is setting off actual alarm bells in her mind. But she can't for the life of her think of what.
She's seen his face, but it could easily have been on the news. Or was it long ago...
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And his voice suggested he held an opinion, but was holding back.
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She sighed, sinking into the water a bit more, affecting an air that was more relaxed than she felt.
"But anywhere that has opera and theater like this planet does, has a good head start. How about you? Here long enough to make an informed guess?"
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Anakin himself was relaxed, even if his reflexes were fast enough that he wasn't worried about an attack.
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She shrugged, under the water.
"They'll advance. If they don't kill each other first."
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He missed the shrug, tipping his head back to lay against the edge of the tub.
"Probably both. A lot."
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And he has the right attitudes, at least. Though she can't shake the feeling she's seen him before. The missing limb does nothing - given the wars of her galaxy, artificial limbs are commonplace.
"And I've taken that on, as best I can. To try and quietly get them past some of the reasons they like to kill each other." And now it's time to put out a very careful lure, to try to sort things out. "If my experience under the Empire is anything to go by, it will involve correcting mistakes on both sides. There is a lot to learn from this planet."
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"Yeah, there is. Although I'm surprised you learned that under the Empire? No one I've spoken to, or read from, has had anything good to say about it. The Jedi however, did send me and Master Obi-Wan out on missions pretty often before the Clone War, and the misunderstandings were generally the same - mistakes, miscommunications, so one, from at least decades past if not millennia past, we had to try to correct."
One of his first real missions with Obi-Wan after he built his saber in fact.
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And then it hits her. That one image, preserved in the Emperor's private library. The only place records were allowed to survive. Two men, one a rather youthful looking Obi-Wan Kenobi. And the other...
It takes all of her control to not let her shock show on her face. And she is thankful beyond measure that she is, well...inscrutable on a mental level. A legacy of the Emperor, enhanced by her arrival here. Anakin Skywalker. She is sitting, chatting in a tub with Lord Vader before he became...by the stars.
Her brain immediately switches gears, and she mentally starts to handle him much like one would a uncovered WWII piece of ordnance - very, very carefully.
"I suspect you wouldn't," she replied, after a moment. "The people who ran it tended to know only one response. I believed in the mission, of course. Peace, order, safety for the Galaxy - but there are better ways. And by my time, responsibility for finding those ways has fallen to me."
It's a careful first step. His presence alters everything.
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He's glad he didn't interrupt her. "That's what I want too. For everyone, not just those in the Inner Core worlds. The Mid-Rim manages, but the Outer Rim?" He scoffs. "The Republic might as well not exist there and that's to speak nothing of the traitors that make up the Separatists." No, he didn't have opinions on the matter at all. "Cowards too, wanting to go to war, but using droids, not even willing to fight their own battles themselves. Meanwhile, my men are out there, every day, fighting, dying, to hold the Republic together." Not just his men, but it's his he cares most about, his he'll kill and maim to protect, his he'll fight and bleed with. His and you don't harm what's his.
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And oh, she remembers the 501st. She remembers his ferocious loyalty to them, even under another banner.
"The 501st are legends forever," she said, "I grew up in it. Someone like Captain Rex is a textbook example of heroism and duty, even in my time."
She sighed, leaning back. Now for the second push.
"The problem was the damnable Sith," she said, finally. "Too concerned with basic definitions of power to understand the value of infrastructure projects, generating commerce - instead leaving the Empire to just carry on as the Republic had, without making improvements to make it all viable. Which, of course, they couldn't do even if they wished - any improvements would lessen their control."
No need to get too specific, but just to sound the waters. His loathing of the Confederacy indicates a mutual enemy, but best to be sure. And best to ensure he knows where she's aimed at, from the start.
...now look what you started.
But her praise of his men soothes the temper that is threatening to climb until he's hotter than the water they are sitting in, and that's probably for the best. "I'm glad to hear it. They work hard, it has been the deepest honor to lead them. Having Rex as a captain was the best decision I could have made really." Loyalty meant everything to the clones - and to Anakin.
She was from the Empire. He probably shouldn't trash-talk Palpatine but - and it may be arrogance - he wasn't at all convinced he couldn't handle any offence she might take. "Palpatine likes to talk about what he'd do while blaming the corruption and beaurucrats, and now Dooku, has always spoken to me about what he would do if he had free run of power. Telling me what I wanted to hear, likely. Power for the sake of power - there's no point to having power if you can't or won't use it properly." Anakin's contempt for the man he once loved wasn't hidden. The lies were a betrayal Anakin would never forgive. "Sith refuse to understand the point of power. But. Many Jedi do too. They have the power to end slavery and handle the injustices in the Galaxy and they refuse to. In many cases won't even hear it."
Are you kidding this is like the best possible reaction for her. :P She's THRILLED. :P
"The Hutts...I was Director of Intelligence, you understand, and a field agent before that - I must have spent half my time ferreting out corrupt governors or senators. And what was at the bottom of the corruption nearly every time? Money from the Hutts or Black Sun. Leeching away at the Empire every single day. And I never had the resources to deal with it."
She arched her eyebrow at the latter. And she had been loyal - oh so loyal - to Palpatine. But now that he was dead, and now that she had been to the pinnacle of power herself and seen how it could be done better...strains of lèse-majesté had emerged. The secret even she hadn't realized was simple: in many ways, she was smarter than Palpatine in terms of exercising power.
"Again, we are in accord. The New Order was necessary, I believe, as the Republic was too far gone. But you are correct. Power merely...accumulated is meaningless."
She pauses for a moment, a slight smile coming to her face.
"It may surprise you to hear an Imperial criticize the Emperor, but...well. Events have attenuated by my time. The Sith and their toadies are gone from power, and in our galaxy...it was my job to make the Empire fulfill its promise. To create change, not just maintain power."
How alike are Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader: The answer may surprise you!
"I know so many people who want to save the Republic. Technically I do, I guess. It's why I'm fighting to do. But I don't honestly know that I can be saved, the political tangle that is the Senate. That would be a question better suited to Senator Amidala." And he knew she would defend the Republic - but she still might have answers. "Power is meant to help people who don't have it."
"It only surprises me in as far if Palpatine knew, I can't imagine you'd live long." He can only assume she never did where he could hear (so probably never aloud) or only did so after his death. "I have been trying to understand why I couldn't see what he was. Why I couldn't see what he was doing." He didn't have an answer.
"Change is needed, but it's not going to be easy."
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"If I'm honest, I don't believe the Republic could be saved. Not as it was. Reorganization was needed - and a strong hand to lift all of it out of the morass. I make no apologies for the necessity of the Empire - but as for methods..."
She trailed off, shrugging.
"I made my criticisms where I could, but in any event, it's all moot now. Save the presence of the Sith here, which concerns me greatly."
But since he brought it up, a remarkable opportunity glittered.
"But you mentioned Senator Amidala. Is she here?"
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Anakin had had more anger and passion when the Jedi found him than most of the adult Jedi ever imagined - no, Palpatine hadn't created them, he'd just fostered them.
And he's quiet as he considered what was said, thinking it over. Remembering the conversations Padmè and he had had, including their first. It makes his mouth draw downwards at the corners. Inhale and exhale slowly.
"It's a mess. How they handled the Invasion of Naboo showed me that, I thought it would better out of the Outer Rim but...even the Mid-Rim had to fight for their help and even then, in the end..." He bit his words and exhaled heavily. "Queen Amidala handled it without them. I know it's given her trouble in the Senate now that she's a Senator but. I'm glad she did, rather than allow her people to suffer. I don't understand why people find a problem with it. Especially given what was happening on Naboo. And even now they spend so much time infighting and arguing with each other rather than acting together. People should be made to reach an agreement if they aren't willing to. Letting the people you are supposed to starve isn't the answer." As he spoke he grew tenser, ending the little speech in punching the water, then pulled back, shoulders hunching a little. "Sorry. I. I should be in more control than that."
"Yes, she's here. We arrived within a few hours of each other."
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She smiled, nodding. "Oh for an alternative in which she had been Empress. With you and General Kenobi to round out a triumvirate...what changes could have been made. And please, make no apologies. There are good passions and bad, just like anything."
She was quiet thereafter, then nodded.
"But we could do something here. I have a proposition for you, if you want to make some positive changes, here and now."
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Still - at least he doesn't need to be completely on guard with his thoughts and emotions. Probably. Possibly.
"What kind of proposition?" It wasn't that he wasn't interested. He saw some of what was happening in this place, places that reminded him of Coruscant's lower levels. He couldn't turn away their pain then - he's not sure he can or even wants to now.
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In other words, what she was planning on, and had tried to transform the Empire into. But now for the careful work. She sat up a bit, adding an unnecessary look around to check for listeners.
"I've seen one Sith's rule, I don't fancy seeing another. And truces are such...fragile things. Subject to change, or disruption, at a moment's notice. I'd like to, shall we say, clear the boards. I'd like to make peace. Formal peace, between the Galactic Empire, and elements of the Republic and Rebellion. The Sith have already approached me as a potential ally against the Jedi - and I can assure you I have no intention of taking them up on it."
Her look practically radiated determination and sincerity. It helped when she could back it with reality.
"I'd like to ask for your help, and your wife's. As a go-between and mediator - and with her skills in crafting a formal treaty. I'm sure Captain Rex will be willing to help, as well. I've already promised a first step - a formal apology for the persecution of the Jedi Order. A promise made to...well, another Skywalker. But I intend to keep it. I won't let the Sith turn tensions to their advantage. And what is the course of action they would least expect?"
A rhetorical flourish. But, she thinks, a good one.
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"I would like something more concrete than words from people who are no longer here apparently delivered by people I don't trust." Which means he wasn't shocked at all to learn the Sith had already attempted to circumvent it.
"I'm pretty certain if you phrase it to her in that way - as just my wife - you'll have to regrow you head and hands." He's mostly teasing - mostly - she wouldn't take being reduced to just his wife even in name but her reaction was likely to be more verbal cutting than anything physically aggressive. Not that she was very capable of it. "However I'm sure Senator Amidala would be willing to work with you on the matter. Master Kenobi would be better as a mediator than me, but I will do my best to honor his teachings on the subject."
Still, there was a hitch in that plan. "However." Anakin's jaw tensed up, the muscles in his neck tightening like cords. "I can't promise to keep that truce personally. Not with anyone currently here - I might not trust the Sith here but I have no ready to engage them. But if a certain one were to show up..."
Because he's fully prepared to shove his lightsaber down Palpatine's lying throat.
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By all means, Anakin, kill every last Sith in sight - she'll be all the happier for it, frankly.
"As for the rest, Senator Amidala has a sterling reputation even in my time - there was no disrespect implied. I was merely avoiding the sort of flattering language you would find suspect. In truth, it is her reputation that could make all this work. There is nobody, Republican or Imperial, who would dare question her integrity. She is the definition of the 'honest broker', to use local political parlance."
"And whatever else you need from me, you merely have to ask. The formal apology will be my first act of good faith. If you require others..."
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Betrayal wasn't something Anakin forgave and wasn't something he was willing to engage in himself.
"She is yes. She always has been. Have you seen her speech to the Senate over the Invasion of Naboo?" His mouth pulled up into an admiring smile, and as he spoke of Padmè, his tension drained out, his voice lightened. Nearly a year into their marriage and months of being able to be able to live together and actually be a newlywed couple, Anakin was still as love-struck as he'd been at nineteen, seeing her again for the first time. "She genuinely only cares about the people, not securing power for herself and honestly not even for the Senate either. How she cares for her Handmaidens, their families, other Senators. Senator Amidala is resolute in her convictions, and they are unshakable." Unless she interrupted him, he was just going to ramble about her for a few moments.
Anakin coughed, the faintest touch of pink coloring his face as he got control of his mouth. "Sorry. I'm sure she'll be willing to put down something more concrete in terms of peace."
"I don't honestly know. It's our children that know the Empire, not us. It's them you'll have to convince."
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"Your son seemed willing, I've yet to approach your daughter. She was, indeed is, the heart and soul of the Rebellion. And the most likely sticking point as a result. If you could at least help get her to the table, I believe the opportunity is too much to pass up, regardless of any mutual suspicion."
"If and when the Sith make their move - that they are planning something is obvious - we could form a defensive front to oppose them. I am building strength towards that inevitable confrontation - to stand alongside the Jedi."
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cw: child grooming
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