The number one drama causer is at it again. He's not really sorry.

[nouskaiananki]

Who: Vader
What: Self-surgery, healing, dragging people into his mess
When: Early month, prior to the mini-missions
Where: A room in a rent-by-the-day building in the Magitech, Obi-Wan's hut, probably other places as things develop
Content Warnings: self-surgery, blood (lots of blood), to be updated as needed



Given the chip implanted into them was at the base of their skulls, what it did, and the experiences he had with implanted chips - both in his men and in himself - it probably shouldn't surprise anyone he decided to handle it himself.

Not that he hasn't taken done preparations. A field surgery kit, mirrors, some kind of healing gel and bandages, a tarp on the floor under a cheap chair, and furniture moved away. The room was paid for a couple of days. After thinking it over before he started, he sent a text message to Padmé and a message to Obi-Wan.

Then he washed his hands, the back of his head and his neck, and sat in the chair, prepared so the mirrors allowed him to see the back of his head and neck clearly, even when his hands were in the way. And started cutting. Peeling. The scar tissue was thick, tough, and hard to pull apart. But pull it apart he did, because he didn't want to cut nerves or large blood vessels - there wasn't a bacta tank here. It took time, to get down to muscle, to scrap it away from the implants in his spine without harming his implants or causing too much muscle damage (what he thought was too much anyway).

He didn't winch or flinch, only swore when a blade broke. Angerly threw the disposable ones across the room and set a blade into the reusable ones.

Comments

Visitors for Darth Paranoid?

[nouskaiananki]

Finally attempts this. Hopefully I'm not mis-interpreting what this thread is for.

[forceguided]

After some time passed, he would eventually get a visitor. One with a very unimpressed look on his face when he entered the room. There'd even been a knock, but he'd not actually waited for permission to enter. Welcome or not he was coming in. Deal with it.

Because maybe he didn't know the full story, but he'd heard enough to know roughly what had transpired. Though he'd known something was up even without being told, because he'd been able to Feel it. Which was saying something considering how Luke's grasp of anything Force related was about as clumsy as a baby's ability to hold onto things. Fumbling and often dropping it, because what are hands?

"I'm starting to see why Uncle Owen looked so dismayed every time Aunt Beru said I was a lot like you."

It was honestly a dig at them both, though clearly in this instance he wasn't too much like his father. Considering he'd had his chip removed properly by someone who knew what they were doing. It'd been nice, simple, and relatively pain free.

"Are you..." No, asking if he was okay was stupid. Luke stopped mid-question, changing his mind. "How are you feeling?"

[nouskaiananki]

He wasn't complaining about Luke visiting. In fact he was close to attempting a push at the issue, especially because he could (finally) feel Luke. It made him antsy and irritable.

"I suspect it's more to do with my choice of sport." Shmi had spoken often of it, he was sure. Both Clieg and Owen had spoken about it as well - both a little dismayed.

"Whole." That was the over-all feeling. Whole. Even if, he was aware, Luke probably could sense the cold of the Dark side. And, he was aware his eyes were golden, not blue. "So better." The wound to his head was hardly the worse he'd ever had, and was not even the worse this year. It wasn't really a problem as far as he was concerned.

[forceguided]

Well. No need to push or fuss, because he's here and he even showed up out of his own free will and everything.

"I'm willing to bet it's a combination of a bunch of things." Not that he has much to bet and no way to really prove it, but it seems like a pretty sure bet if he's ever seen one. "Which sport exactly?"

Because he's heard some things, but it's so much better hearing about it from the source.

"I can't imagine how Ben's kept his in for so long." Luke admits. It's easier for him, since he's got... so very little he can actively draw on. It's hard to miss what you'd barely even had. But knowing that he was missing it was almost as bad. He's been working on it, now that his chip is out and he's certainly a little better at Feeling things now, but it's still something that's not exactly the most reliable of senses. Though this close to Vader it's hard not to notice. Even for Luke.

"But there had to be better ways to go about it." Even if he didn't trust the locals, which is fair, surely someone else could have done it for him. With significantly less mess and hassle.

[nouskaiananki]

"Pod Racing. I was five or six when I started." That humans shouldn't have the reflexes for that, much less such a small child probably said a great deal about Vader's own natal prowess with the Force. Even if he was discovered then and there, the Jedi wouldn't have had him and it only would have made him an even more expensive commodity. One his mother would never have been able to hide or protect. He wasn't sorry he slid under their watch for so long - even if it proved just how little they really cared out about Outer Rim.

But that was the entirety of the Republic.

Vader shifted, mostly preventing that need-to-move itch from building. He'd never managed to sit still long. "Because he's closed himself off from the Force for years now. It's how I wasn't able to find him." He didn't need Obi-Wan to tell him. He knew, because the instant Obi-Wan had reached out, Vader had known and chomped down on him. Instantly, spanned by hundreds of thousands of lightyears, he'd known. He'd felt him.

"Such as? No Jedi would remove it even if they knew how, I'm far too dangerous. Sith aren't captured Luke, they are killed. Tech hasn't the knowledge as to how. Aphra could but she isn't here." Did he forget for the time being that Luke has no idea who Aphra is? Yes.

[forceguided]

"I used to pretend I was a pod racer." The words spilled out of Luke's mouth rather quickly. Fast enough that maybe he should feel a little sheepish about it, but he wouldn't. "Uncle Owen hated them, but I'd sneak away sometimes to watch."

The speed, the wrecks, the spectacle of it all was appealing to Luke as a child. Still was honestly, though he was perhaps a bit big to fit in the average pod these days. For all that people joked about his size, he wasn't that small in the galactic scheme of things.

Luke didn't notice, but that's because it didn't strike him as weird. He'd also never quite mastered the sitting still thing. "Oh. I guess that makes sense. He's probably used to hiding it." Because how else had he managed to live on Tatooine for so long? There hadn't been any rumors about anything mystical or Jedi-like related to the man, just a crazy old, desert hermit.

"Did you even ask anyone? There are a lot more people here than just a few jedi." Heck, maybe medical stuff isn't his field, but even Luke would have at least tried. After all, Vader was, as far as he could tell, a much bigger threat to the sylphid than he was to any of them right now. Though after the sylphid thread was another matter.

Though....

"Who's Aprha?" A new name. Curious. Tell him more.

[nouskaiananki]

"I loved to race. The speed, the danger. Mom hated them too, it carved away at her soul every time I was put into one. She aged every time she watched me in one, but she would always be there, always watched. She told me she felt if she watched me, I would be all right. To her credit, I was never badly hurt." That he'd suffered multiple concussions, minor burns, broken fingers, a couple of lost milk teeth, and a pair of bilateral femur fractures didn't actually strike him as 'badly hurt' - even though he'd been five when he started. "They are dangerous. Humans shouldn't be able to compete, unless they are very Force Sensitive. It would have at least clued the Hutts in as you being related to me. He wouldn't have been able to protect you from them."

"Stangers yes. Wow wouldn't have operated without stabilizing drugs to render me unconscious, without me being 'under', and them capable of doing whatever they wanted. We spoke yes, when I first arrived. No, they weren't an option." They had spoken about a great deal.

"Aphra is an archeologist in my employ. She's gotten her doctorate in ancient technology, and is quite talented at finding herself in places she shouldn't be able to access as well as finding artifacts of interest to us both. She's about your height, black hair," It could have been the environment, his recovering, his growing familiarity with Luke - but his speech was just slightly less formal, "brash and bold. Cheeky." Who would have thought he would have approved of that?

"Kix could easily as well. He's one of Tech's brothers. He was our medic, before he was lost in the Battle of Anexas." Lost he said, as if it didn't mean 'killed'. As if the weight of one of his men, killed again, didn't lay on him.

After a moment of moody silence, he gave himself a little shake and a wince. "Neither are here. So it doesn't matter."

sneaksneak

[tech_nically]

Overall, someone finds himself unsurprised as to what's happened. It by no means makes him feel any better for it, and in some ways, he wonders that this could have been avoided if he'd just made more progress in his researching. Realistically Tech knows he would have largely been unprepared for it. He's a soldier, not a surgeon, and even in the removal of their inhibitor chips, that had been mostly through aid of technology, and such equipment was not something readily available to him.

The sigh he greets his former general with isn't necessarily directed at Vader himself.

[nouskaiananki]

Had they had medical droids (their own medical droids) available, he would have asked Tech to oversee, solely so the chip wasn't damaged. It would have been a better idea, really.

It also would have necessitated waiting longer, and he'd been unwilling to do so. Vader did not enjoy the feeling of not having the Force at his fingertips. Here, one needed every advantage they had.

"I hope the chip wasn't damaged. There was a bit of a struggle with it." Also, he had certainly scraped bone several times. If Vader was paler than normal, it was almost impossible to tell, due to his scars and the Dark Side corruption giving him an unnatural pallour. "And I am grateful for your discretion as to who it came from. As well as all your work on this project."

[tech_nically]

The clone arches a brow at that. "A struggle. Well yes, I would imagine that would be an understatement for one performing delicate surgery on themselves." He shakes his head.

"It was relatively in one piece, however long deactivated once I received it. I've spoken to someone who's constructed a crude scanner that was able to pick up vague signals from our active chips, and I can only assume that only works so long as they're still wired in." He upturns his hands in a faint shrug. "This isn't necessarily how I anticipated getting a sample to study, but I'm doing what I can to delve further into this technology."

[nouskaiananki]

"The implants make it less foreign than you might suspect." Not less delicate, but delicate in a way he was used to and comfortable with.

"If I could examine the scanner, I should be able to increase its efficiency." That at least he had more than enough experience with. And was certain it wouldn't be something Padmé would worry over. "Planning on scanning them before they were removed?"

[tech_nically]

"Perhaps, but seeing as performing such duties is not part of my training, I would not attempt doing something to that degree without at least some oversight."

Tech shakes his head. "From what I gather, it's a tool based upon something of his own specifications, and scanning seems to be but one feature. But I'm fine-tuning my own version of a scanner, if you would like to have a look at that." He then nods. "That is the only way currently to get any active readings from them as I don't know how long they remain active once removed."

[nouskaiananki]

"I admit if Kix were here, I could not have imagined a better team to handle it." Even if he wasn't entirely sure Kix would have been willing.

"Ah. Building one for your own use is likely to be more advantageous in that case. Chips like these are not uncommon in the Outer Rim Tech, I've built scanners for them before." So yes, he would. "Do we know if the Slyphid retain their chips after they kill their hosts?"

[tech_nically]

Kix- ah yes. It takes Tech only a second to recall the clone medic from the 501st, brief a time as they'd worked with him. The last Tech had ever seen regarding records was that he was MIA some time before the end of the war, not that it helps them any here.

"Then your insight will be most valuable," Tech says on the subject of the scanner. He's heard that the general had been something of a mechanic prodigy. "I'll bring it over when I can. As for Sylphids... that is actually an excellent question. I am actually not sure how much of a host's ability that a Sylphid retains access to in general, or to what extent they make use of chip identifiers and locators."

[nouskaiananki]

Technically speaking, were there better medics within the GAR? Probably. The 501^st likely didn't have the best of everyone, even if Vader's thoughts on the matter were different. Was there anyone else he'd trust? A solid no.

"Please do. At the moment my focus has been on remaking my tools, as they were specialized." It was slightly less life-threatening to not have them, but his implants, his cybernetics, they all required upkeep. "I suppose we'll have to find out." By which he means, he'll find out if they have the chips. It's not like the dead would mind.

[tech_nically]

He looks quietly at Vader, such a statement sounding ominous, and Tech can only imagine what he means by that. It really doesn't take much of an imagination given what the man has done with his own chip, though.

"I do have this for you," Tech says as he reaches into his pack to produce a comlink of sorts. "I've pieced together several as you've specified wanting communicators independent of those provided by the rebels. Earcoms will not be far behind, but these will all require proper testing." And naturally since it's been a specifically requested private side project, there haven't been many options in whom to ask to help run them.

Setting this up catch-all style, open to separate or group conversations with Vader, Rey, Obi-Wan

[forcecalls]

Kylo, with all his regained senses, noticed the removal of Vader's chip the moment it happened. Even without having truly felt his grandfather's presence before, the surge of dark energy is impossible to miss, and easy enough to identify. Had that been all he had felt, he might have simply marked it as interesting to note and gone on his way.

But that was far from all. He wasn't sure what was happening to Vader, but he was immediately certain that it was something. Pain and anger and distress, all mixed together into a shockwave through the Force as his grandfather's presence came back online.

By the time Kylo found him, he was covered in blood and only half-conscious, in the process of being transported (with much difficulty) by two people he hadn't yet met. The two people turned out to be his grandmother and his namesake; it was probably best that Kylo was too busy being worried about his obviously injured grandfather for the awkwardness of the rest of the situation to entirely sink in. Probably also good that Kylo arrived when he had and was able to help in the process of getting Vader to Obi-Wan's hut.

Things are quieter now, somewhat. At least they've gotten Vader to a safe place to rest and patched him up as much as possible. Kylo isn't leaving any time soon.

[jedied]

Rey had been far enough away that she couldn't get there as soon as she felt Kylo's panic, but she dropped what she was doing and ran before she could truly understand why. Something was wrong in the Force; a presence so heavy, cold, and dark that for a moment she assumed the worst -- that Snoke had somehow arrived here, and that he was seeking revenge on his former student.

By the time she was near Obi-Wan's home she'd abandoned that thought, as her awareness of Kylo hadn't faded and yet what she felt from him had dulled to an intense concern more than that initial spike of fear.

She's flushed and breathing hard by the time she arrives, but she's gathered her wits enough to realize that whatever emergency there might've been had faded. Once she understands the overall shape of what had occurred, she imagines that she ought to just go home -- but she's come all this way, and despite their uncomfortable prior encounters she couldn't shake all of the concern she felt for Kylo. So she peeks into the room where the two men are located and clears her throat gently before speaking.

"Hello? Is everything -- I felt --"

She gestures a bit helplessly, unsure of what she's even doing here. Clearly she's unnecessary; even if her Force healing were up to the task of repairing whatever had happened, would it be remotely responsible of her to offer? Or even wanted in the first place?

[nouskaiananki]

Being transported had been a struggle - he'd finally calmed down and accepted help, mostly under Padmé's influence but Obi-Wan's desire to help him had given him reason to settle and allow Obi-Wan to finish removing the chip. But he'd still fought them on moving him. He wasn't steady, Padmé had been trying to help, and Vader had utterly refused to put his weight on her, since he was twice her weight. And Obi-Wan was trying, but couldn't call on the Force to assist his strength and Vader was both taller and heavier with his weight landing in awkward places.

It had taken him a few moments to realize the growing Dark presence was approaching them and then who it was. And he'd eventually been able to explain in the confusion who everyone was - Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Leia's son Kylo Ren. And he'd ready accepted being loaded against Kylo and (mostly) carried.

Once he'd been deposited in...something, something that radiated Obi-Wan and both itched against him and comforted him, spelled comfort while still making him uncomfortable. And once settled, his wife and his former master seemed to pull back - likely to collect themselves he thinks - and because he has Kylo there to watch over him.

Able to drawn on Force once more, he's able to somewhat stabilize himself, breathing still labored, heartbeat still too fast, but not in danger of bleeding out and the wound closed thanks to the bacta-like substance he'd had on hand for it. Obi-Wan, he assumed, had the chip, which Vader had refused to let go of, repeating over and over that it needed to go to Tech.

A growing presence glows on his senses, coming closer. It's enough to distract him, because he knows what it feels like - Palpatine, and yet, very much not. Palpatine himself was a sucking black hole of nothing, vastly cold and evil, and even if Vader would never admit it, one he feared. This presence is Light, heated and glowing - calling to mind a breaking dawn. But he can't shake that feeling of Palpatine, or what perhaps he should have felt like, was he not born without the capacity for goodness. It's confusing and distracting at a time when he doesn't have much focus.

It's when she comes in that he puts her face to her presence, matching what Kylo has previously told him. Rey.

"Your Rey." It's a statement towards his grandson, not a question, his voice lacking column due to his breathing. "He's all right." This was directed at Rey, thinking she sensed Kylo and thought Vader (or Obi-Wan) had harmed him.

[forcecalls]

Kylo is surprised for different reasons when he senses that familiar presence drawing near. He's been blocking her out as farther distance, much as she'd done to him for so much of the time they've known one another. The news of her tethering with the one person here that he can't remotely trust had stung too much to do otherwise.

And yet, here she is. He doesn't precisely have an explanation for that.

He does catch the way Vader identifies her, and he nods in reply. Yes, his Rey, much as he's less inclined to claim her as such right at this moment. She is the person he's bonded to through the Force, regardless of what either of them might feel about it at any given time.

The further comment inspires a frown. "I'm not the one she should be worried about." Despite saying that, he has no doubt that the underlying assumption is correct. Rey wouldn't have come here out of any concern for Vader.

[jedied]

She frowns lightly in response to Vader's identification of her; something about the way he'd said it didn't sit right even if she couldn't be certain of the possessive your. She hadn't offered a name at their last meeting, though she's not surprised Kylo has mentioned her.

None of that is why she's here, though she's left chewing the inside of her lip in thought for a few seconds before replying.

"I was already most of the way here before I could sort out what happened, and it was clear enough that someone had been hurt."

It's not concern for Vader, not exactly. But there were people here who cared about him, and she liked at least some of them unreservedly. And Kylo was... complicated, but she didn't want to see him suffer unnecessarily. Like it or not, she could feel how much Vader meant to him. And she could also feel that the damage to the older man was not insignificant, even with whatever help was available here. Still, she hesitates another moment before seeming to come to a decision.

"I know some Force healing. It's not enough to undo all of what's wrong, but I can help."

[nouskaiananki]

Depending on how much one decided to focus on Vader, it's not difficult to sense Vader's fondness and concern for Kylo either. Whatever relationship Kylo had attempted to have with Vader at home, it's certainly not one way here.

But it's her mentioning of Force-Healing that made Vader turn and look her over, examining her almost. "No, I don't expect it would be." As far as he knew, there was no replacing organs or limbs no longer present. No regrowing the discs in his spine which had been carved out make his spine stronger, or repair blown out discs. And most of the scar tissue he had was been formed too long ago to be smoothed away. But it would help replace the blood he'd lost, would speed the wound on his head and neck healing, and would erase the bruises and sore muscles he'd gotten from contorting himself in order to cut at the back of his head and in struggling with Obi-Wan earlier. "But assistance wouldn't be unwelcome." She'd made it clear how she felt about him - she'd offered, he'd accept. But he wouldn't hold it against her to decide not to.

[forcecalls]

The sense of deep possessiveness toward one another is likewise a two-way street. While Kylo's feelings right now still ring loudly of concern, he can't deny the undercurrent of satisfaction that he's the one who was able to bring his grandfather here, and that he's the one who'd been left to watch over him, at least for now, even if both were largely matters of convenience.

That offer is yet another surprise. He knows what Rey's feelings toward Vader are--but he also knows Rey's tendency to want to help, so perhaps that isn't as much of a surprise as her having come here in the first place.

He won't force the issue if Vader doesn't want it--the biggest danger of his injury has already passed, at least--but he's quick to confirm with a grateful nod toward Rey once he says he'll accept it.

[jedied]

Force healing requires enough empathy for the recipient to allow the transfer of energy to do what it's meant to, which means Rey can't focus on how she feels about Vader. But Anakin Skywalker had been a galactic hero, a Jedi Knight. The man in front of her cared about his children and grandson; that's more than her own parents had done, as far as she's aware. It's enough to put her in the right frame of mind to begin, and she returns Kylo's nod with one of her own, acknowledging -- something. That this was for him, perhaps, more than it was for Vader. That she'd help even if they couldn't see eye to eye.

As for the rest of it -- Rey tries not to stare as she gingerly approaches, though the extent of Vader's old injuries is such that she very nearly asks him how he's even alive to begin with. It's not difficult to feel compassion for someone who's spent a large chunk of their life in the kind of pain these injuries must've caused. For a moment there's a flicker of regret that all she can offer is a speedier healing of whatever he'd done to himself today.

She perches herself lightly next to Vader, still fighting her own instinct to maintain a distance between herself and a threat. But he's not a threat to her this instant. Maybe there's enough honor left in him that this means he won't be anytime soon.

"This shouldn't take long. If you're ready?"

She's fairly certain Vader being aligned with the Dark shouldn't cause any problems, but she still is a little hesitant of flooding his senses with Light energy without ample warning. It shouldn't hurt, but she has to wonder if the Light feels as strange and wrong to him as so much Dark feels to her.

[nouskaiananki]

A grandson is far more than he thought he's ever get. And even if he still denies the parts of him that are Anakin Skywalker, still claims the Jedi dead, long dead, he's can't help but feel that of all his progeny, Kylo is the one most like him. Like all of him.

There's always been something lurking inside him that scared him. Whispers and dreams he never told anyone. Not his mother. Not his wife. Not his old master. Not his beloved Padawan. No one. The true extent of what the Force had planned for him always scared him. Always felt like a storm, like a supernova about to rip him apart.

He felt that, at least some of that, in Kylo. It made him worry.

He also understood how much pain he was in. He wouldn't admit it, least of all now, but there's been times here he's passed out from it. Even now, even drawing on the Force if teeters on unbearable. There had been a reason he'd used a diluted neurotoxin to treat it. And even then, it had only lowered it 'bearable'.

He looks at the girl. At Kylo. For a split second his heart rate slips erratic and fast, the frantic beating visible with so much breastbone and ribs removed. The implant in his chest blinks and he diverts his attention to making his heart STOP THAT.

"What do you sense, when you heal someone? Is there feedback?" He's trying to warn her. You don't repay a favor with pain, and she's important to Kylo. It's reason for caution.