resnipstance | for my favourite hot mess // post-TWJ, but slightly AU

for my favourite hot mess // post-TWJ, but slightly AU

[ It takes a while for her to set up a meeting with Barriss. (It takes a while for her to even be certain she really wants to.) It's insanely difficult. She doesn't want to alert the rest of the Order to it-- if Anakin finds out, she's certain he'll blow a gasket. So she can't use her contacts in that direction.

But manage it she does, and two weeks after the trial sees her allowed into a special visitors room to wait for Barriss Offee. The woman who framed her for murder, sedition and terrorism, and Ahsoka's former best friend.

Ahsoka tries to quell her unease and uncertainty in the Force as she waits in the small room for the guards to bring Barriss. She figures they've chosen this room instead of the regular visitors room because they're not taking any precautions with a Force-wielding prisoner. There are too many variables in the regular room, too many people. It's ridiculous, she thinks. Barriss should be being held prisoner in the Temple, where there are people who know how to deal with her. Not here, in a military facility. Look what happened when they imprisoned Ahsoka-- it was easy enough for her to escape with only the slightest bit of help. Don't they learn from their mistakes? Or maybe they have, and that's why they're not taking Ahsoka directly to Barriss's individual cell. Maybe they suspect she'll try to break her out, and the less she sees of the prison the better. Fat chance of that, Ahsoka thinks.

But it is curious that Barriss hasn't already tried herself. A voice in Ahsoka's head helpfully comments that Barriss could probably do it, if she put her mind to it. After all, Barriss is still one of the most intelligent people she knows. That's what makes her so dangerous.

Ahsoka shakes her head as if to clear it of those thoughts. It's no good dwelling on any of that. She has business here to attend to, and she can't let emotion cloud her judgement. She takes a seat at the table provided, closes her eyes, and focuses on her breathing. Barriss will be here when the guards bring her, and not a moment sooner. In the meantime-- Peace. Knowledge. Serenity. Harmony. The Force. ]

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[ this time, barriss does take the piece in question, but only because ahsoka's expression has given her something else to work off of. it's familiar. she wants familiar, even if she knows she doesn't deserve it. ]

You're out of practice. [ it's an idle comment, not teasing like it would have been, before, but an odd obligation to say something as she sets the white piece off to the side of the board. ]

Maybe you're just missing what I'm planning.

[ Ahsoka moves another piece forward to threaten the queen, and this time, with Barriss having moved the other piece out of the way, there's now no easy way to take the new threat without moving her queen. Barriss can either move her queen out of the way, or move her queen to take the piece. Otherwise, Ahsoka will grab it on the next move.

Interestingly enough, if Barriss touches the queen piece on her next turn, she'll find something... odd, about it. The piece feels... heavier, than the others. ]

I suppose that has been known to happen.

[ this is the longest barriss has stared at the board yet, looking for another move, trying to determine what sort of test or trick this might be. when nothing presents itself for too long, though, she finally reaches out to lift her queen and- oh. ]

More than a few times. [ it's a little softer, her way of acknowledging that she knows something is different there, even if she isn't investigating it just yet, safely setting her queen down at least a pair of moves away from the next time ahsoka will have the piece cornered. it's more time to think and to study her old friend. ]

Anakin wasn't my only teacher, you know. I did learn some things from Master Kenobi.

[ But she plays the rest of the game normally and without incident. She gives it a good go, and the game goes on for another half an hour or so, but Barriss is able to put her in check without too much extra trouble near the end. ]

[ barriss is quiet as they play, not in itself unusual, but she has so many more reasons to be quiet now than before. when it's finished, she starts to collect the black pieces from around the board, pausing with the queen in her hand again. ]

We could play another round, if you would like. [ and it's not weird that she's running her thumb curiously along the bottom of the piece while she talks, not at all. ]

[ Ahsoka shakes her head. ]

I should be going. I only came because... I don't know. I wanted to face you again for myself. I think some part of me wanted to yell at you. Ask you why you did it, what you were thinking. ... But you already said all that stuff back at the trial. So there's not really much more to say, is there?

[ She pushes herself away from the table and stands. ]

I don't know if I'll be able to visit again. But they said you can keep the chess set and puzzle book.

[ She maintains eye contact with Barriss as she says that, like she's making sure Barriss hears it. ]

I very much appreciate that. [ her gaze is unwavering, tied to ahsoka's, her fingers curling around the oddly weighted queen to hold it in her palm. ] And your visit.

[ especially when she knows she doesn't deserve it, not the effort of ahsoka getting here or whatever hidden message she'll find when she looks over the gifts further. because it isn't malicious. she doesn't have to reach into the force to be certain of that.

ahsoka being morally better than her is something she's counted on and the togruta hasn't proved her wrong yet. ]

[ Ahsoka frowns. Something is weighing on her. ]

... Be careful. I was only able to get this to you because I called in a lot of favors. I can't do it again. And I can't step in if you get it taken away from you as punishment for bad behaviour. This whole prison is under round-the-clock surveillance, so-- just. Keep your head down. And maybe we'll be able to talk again sometime.

[ It's an... odd warning, coming from Ahsoka, though. She's not the last person to advise caution, but she knows Barriss well enough to know that she doesn't need the warning. Rather, there's something else in it. And just for good measure, to make sure Barriss gets it, Ahsoka lowers her shields for just a moment, and thinks in Barriss's direction.

You are being watched. Open the book first.

She doesn't know if Barriss will get the message. Trying to convey something through the Force is tricky even with someone she's as close to as Anakin. But Barriss is smart. She hopes she'll figure it out.

At that, the trooper escorts her from the room with an "All right. Time to go." ]

[ directed at anyone else, it would be wise advice for imprisonment. but barriss knows ahsoka should have no need to be quite so quick to caution her, despite everything. barriss has done terrible things, but she's not stupid.

so maybe she doesn't hear ahsoka's message, but she gets the right idea, just nodding in farewell, sitting patiently as her visitor is escorted out, tidying the set back up. waiting for her moment.

and then, back in the relative privacy of her cell, barriss finally opens the datapad to start looking for answers. ]

[ At first glance, the datapad really does just look like an ordinary book of chess puzzles for one. But perhaps that's to be expected-- she'd never have gotten it through security otherwise. There doesn't seem to be anything coded in the margins, no hidden messages.

But then at the back, there's a blank section for writing your own notes. At the top is just two words. "From Ahsoka." The name underlined. Like a... hyperlink? But that's ridiculous. This datapad is just a datapad. It's not like Barriss can have access to the net or comms in her cell, and the datapad wouldn't have cleared the security check if it was capable of that. Right? ]

[ barriss takes her time, working carefully through the pages of chess puzzles to be sure she doesn't miss anything. she's almost about to turn her attention to the board itself when that note catches her attention, a puzzle all its own and she hates how excited she is to have something to solve.

she checks the hallway and partially sets up the chess board on her desk - something innocuous for her to be focused on, if her guards do come by again - before she starts to go over her options, immediately reaching for that black queen again. ]

[ Now that Barriss is able to examine it more closely, here are the things she may notice about the queen:

- It is heavier than the other pieces. Not so significantly that a regular trooper just idly picking them up and checking them for inspection would notice. But enough so that someone detail-oriented and touch-sensitive like Barriss would notice. The other pieces do seem to be hollow, to make them as lightweight as possible. So it'd be easy enough to fit something in there. Though it's hard to imagine what, when the average chess piece isn't even that large. It couldn't be a weapon or an overlong note, that's for sure. Stranger and stranger.

- The piece doesn't rattle when picked up. So if something is inside it, someone has taken great care to ensure it doesn't get noticed by mistake.

- Barriss may wonder how Ahsoka was able to smuggle in anything contraband at all, if indeed there is contraband in here, even in a chess piece, when everything that comes in is scanned. The security here leaves nothing up to chance.

- On the bottom of the piece is the magnet that sticks the piece to the board. But on closer inspection, the colour and type of magnet is different. The old one has been removed at some point, and a new one fit in. Carefully glued so as not to come off. Perhaps that's how Ahsoka snuck something in past the scanners? A special kind of magnet?

- The very tiny knob on the top of the piece has, on closer inspection, been tampered with. Removed and then refitted to act like a button. It can be depressed, just ever so slightly. But nothing seems to happen when she presses it.

- All in all, it's typical of the sort of fine, meticulous handiwork one might come to expect from Anakin Skywalker... or Anakin Skywalker's wayward apprentice. No, in retrospect, this is far too cautious to be anything to do with Anakin. If Anakin were involved with this, it would be plenty evident by now. Cloak and dagger isn't at all his style. Whatever she's doing, Ahsoka is acting on her own. ]

[ there's a beautiful subterfuge with this and the fact that none of it screams skywalker is reassuring. she knows his handiwork and she knows what he would feel compelled to do to her if he ever gave into his anger, into those too-hot emotions he's had since the first time they met.

simultaneously reassured and curious, barriss lays the pad out to one side of the board, isolated from any of the other magnets, and sets the queen on one corner, near an input port for the device. then she presses that obviously modified top piece and observes.

if that doesn't seem to do anything, her next step will be trying that same action - essentially pushing the queen's button with the magnet downward - across various parts of the datapad. the back, too, if she must. ]

[ A small pop-up comes up on the datapad. It just reads, "Signal found. Connect to local network?" ]

[ that's an easy enough answer. barriss taps to confirm that she does, then waits. ]

[ Now connected, another message pops up. ]

Hello, Barriss.

At least, I hope it's Barriss reading this, and not someone else. I think I've been careful enough, though. So let's just assume you're Barriss and move on. 'Cause if it isn't, I've got way bigger problems, and continuing to do things in code at this point is only going to give me a headache. So I'll just be frank.

I wanted to find a way to speak to you that wouldn't be monitored, or get you in further trouble. Sure I could sneak you a commlink, but how would you talk into it without being overheard? Even if you managed it when there weren't any guards nearby, there's also random cell searches and security cameras to contend with. And any regular device that could get a signal out would be confiscated. So it had to be like this.

It took me ages to figure out how to smuggle in something with a signal that wouldn't be picked up by anything. The queen obviously holds the transmitter, and the inside is lined with a signal blocker that makes it look ordinary under scanners. The button completes the circuit, turning it on and off. It can't hide the signal while it's turned on, though, so you should probably only use it sparingly. I'm counting on the prison not expecting anyone to have a signal inside and therefore not looking for one. Hopefully it works and this doesn't get you in further trouble.

I should say, don't mistake all this for good will. This isn't a present or a kindness. You killed a lot of innocent people, and that isn't going to be something I can move past in a hurry. I'm still furious. But I'm trying to let that anger go, because there are more important things at stake right now. We need to talk.

There's a section in the back of this datapad for the owner to write puzzle notes in. If you press down on where I've written my name, it'll connect to a twin device I own. You can use that to send me messages. For the sake of safety, this message and any others that get sent from or to this device will wipe as soon as you click out of them.

I get why you might not want to talk to me. But I hope you do. There are a lot of things I need to ask you.

- Ahsoka.

[ barriss reads the whole thing through twice, then a third time, memorizing as she goes. and then, overwhelmed, she closes out of the application in favour of finding a chess puzzle to set up. something to do with her hands. something to think about that isn't ahsoka and what barriss has done.

but the distraction can't last and it's a few hours later that ahsoka gets her response: ]

Ahsoka,

I do not expect you to ever condone but I did and you would not be you if you forgave me in a matter of days. However, I am sorry for how things unraveled, for whatever little my apology is worth. I wish things had been different and I hope that, in time, you can at least come to terms with my reasons.

If there are questions I can answer for you, to make anything easier, I will.

Take care of yourself.

- B.

[ Ahsoka paces in her room all afternoon, waiting for Barriss to figure it out, waiting for Barris to respond. Hoping she will. Anxious that she's been found out already and that the jig is up.

When her datapad pings with a new message a few hours later, she's about to burst with nervous energy, and she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that it's Barriss. There's nobody on this Earth who could fake being Barriss that well.

She thinks for a few minutes about what to ask first, and how to craft her reply. She's not asking these questions just to satisfy her own curiosity, is the thing. But maybe she should let Barriss think so, for now. ]

Was there ever anyone else involved in the planning of your attack?

You don't have to worry about their safety, if that's a concern. If there was any sort of investigation, it wouldn't be me doing the asking, and it wouldn't be through a secret channel. I know what the official report says. That they caught everyone involved. But I know it's also like you to take full responsibility for something.

I'm not interested in seeking justice or vengeance. This is more of a personal concern.

[ this time, the response is relatively quick - just enough time for barriss to think her way through the message before she writes back. ]

Letta was the only other person with direct involvement. I did have some other contacts, but they were like-minded individuals, not co-conspirators. They're no one to blame.

[ She thinks about asking "Did Letta ever mention anyone else?" or "What about people without direct involvement?" but eventually throws those questions out. If Letta had been getting funding or help from anyone else, or if someone had been manipulating things behind the scenes financially, it would've come up in the second, more thorough investigation that was done after Ahsoka's trial. Those things leave paper trails.

Ahsoka frowns at her datapad for a moment, thinking. ]

Okay. I'm not after them. But if you think any of them would be capable of planning another attack like this, or struck you as suspicious in any way, I hope you'd tell me so I could at least have a chat with them. A real chat, not a fight. I don't want to turn anyone in to the police.

There's... something else. I think you should know.

There were rumours going around the Temple before I left. That you'd... turned.

[ She doesn't know if she believes that. It's possible, she supposes. When they were fighting, Ahsoka couldn't tell the difference between Ventress and Barriss. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. More importantly, she wants to see how Barriss feels about it, without giving any of her own thoughts away. ]

[ turned. force, it's a good thing that's at the end of the message or barriss would have had difficulty reading the rest of it. because she doesn't feel any less aligned with the light side of the force than she ever did, as much as she's isolating herself right now. she's just opposed to the way the jedi are doing things.

and maybe that's really all it takes to be a sith. ]

Rumours will spread about many things. Whatever other Jedi may think of me, that is their business. I'm hardly their concern now.

Of the other contacts I made when I met Letta, none of them seem overly revolutionary. Not any more dangerous than the average irritable citizen in lower Coruscant, at least. They're likely to formally protest, but none of them struck me as particularly bold.

Has nobody else been to visit you in prison? I mean other than myself and Master Unduli.

[ She knows Luminara has visited her. Where else would Ahsoka have started on her quest? ]

None of your old contacts? Other Jedi? What about journalists? Your public defender? They have to assign you one, right?

I have been assigned one, yes. He was here once, last week, for approximately an hour. I made a very public confession to treason; there's not a lot of defending to be done.

Otherwise, no. Just you and Master Unduli.

[ there are more hoops to jump through to visit her than the average prisoner after all, given her training as a jedi. and barriss just... hasn't made enough of an impact on anyone else who might be curious to talk to her. it's too much work. ]

I thought so. But I had to check.

[ Eliminate all the most likely and easiest leads first. ]

I have a another question.

[ Understatement of the century. ]

If someone powerful came to your cell and offered to reverse your sentence, in exchange for publicly standing against the Jedi, maybe even fighting against them-- would you take them up on it?

I wouldn't agree blindly, that much is certain. I would need to know what said individual hoped to achieve by openly condemning the Jedi. There would need to be a plan, a concrete one. Something better than I could ever come up with.

And how poorly would it look on me if I manipulated my way out of a military sentence only to wind up in some civilian one? I'm not exactly a hero to Republic anymore, am I? It may prove wiser to stay where I know exactly what the guards think of me.

[ it's blunt, far more so than any messages ahsoka would ever have gotten from barriss before this. historically, she's chosen her words carefully to come off... well, gentle. unfortunately, that doesn't suit her anymore and she knows that. ]

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