Resting (Hobgoblin)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

<center>Continued from <a href=http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13186>here</a></center>

De'Ville walked quickly to the Closet, and opened the door into the tiny room. She held Hob with the Force, and quickly moved the dresser, exposing the hole down into his lair.

She sighed and slid down, then carefully transported him down the steep slide, regulating his descent with the Force. "You try too much, Goblin."

He did not answer, deep in unconsciousness, and she carefully tucked him into the large four poster bed in the middle of the second chamber.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Some wounds are deep.

Hob's wound was, physically. His body required much healing before it would recover, but his mind was fine and the appropriate steps were already being taken by himself, and by the Force.

Some wounds are deep.

The psychological wound, however, was nonexistant. Hob had done what he needed, and so had bound Sorsha to the Hand. His success buoyed his spirit in a resolute way.

Buoyed it so much, in fact, that it hopped right out of his body.

It had to have been odd for De'Ville to see one Hob get right up from where the other was lying, but this Hob didn't much care.

"Vict'ry, vict'ry, twas Hob who won," proclaimed the illusory being. It stood and danced on the very sheets that held the solid Hob, hopping from one foot to another and eventually doing a little pirouette.

The illusion then did a flip overtop De'Ville's head and landed on the floor. In the illusion's eyes, she could see no recognition of her presence, except a temporary glimmer that might have been her imagination and the fact that it had flipped over her rather than simply going through her.

After it had landed, it resumed its' odd little dance of hopping and shuffling.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville jerked back from the appariation, and then calmed herself, and studied the physical body still lying in the bed. Hob was deep within a trance, or at least he appeared to be.

She slipped to the edge of the bed, and sat quietly on the floor, knees underneath her chin and her back against the matresses. The Hob illusion was pirouetting around the room, oblivious to her presence.

Lilaena spoke aloud. "I do not like their presence here. Sorsha has something she promised to me. But she has yet to make good on that promise." Tondry's soul. She wanted to make it her gift to her husband on their...no she'd missed their first anniversary. It would be close enough though, if she could just twist that Witch.....

She leaned her head back on the edge of the comfy bed, and closed her eyes, listening to the breathing of Hob.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"Vict'ry, vict'ry," proclaimed illusion Hob.

"Many vict'rys had, has Hob," it continued, now flipping around the room. "The key to them all be cleverness. Why, there were a time when Hob had to fight Sorsha, an' he won. Such a predator were she, that she ignored her circumstances until it began to rain."

This caused the illusion to pause in midflip, hanging upside-down. "Can circumstance truly be so important?" it asked itself. "Is it possible that sheer will can defy it?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena raised an eyebrow, staring at the upside down and hovering spectre. "Circumstance is what keeps sheer will from overtaking the galaxy." She clenched a fist and smoldered, her countanance darkening.

"By sheer force of will my parents could have overthrown the Emperor by themselves. But circumstance dictated that they had no power to do anything, and circumstance caused their will to perish under the iron fist of Palpatine." She waved her hand weakly.

"My will is not enough." Lilaena visibly deflated against the side of the bed.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The dwarven doppleganger abruptly pulled itself upright, into a crosslegged sitting position. It then began counting on its' fingers, as though trying to work out a mathematical problem. Some, but not all, of his mutterings were audible.

"...where one and one make five... times pi equals an earthquake... carry the one and the hand..."

As the illusion counted, its' image began to fragment and drift. One of its' arms severed and began to more upward, while the other elongated out. Its' legs began to sink, cut off at the belly.

Then, the real Hob gave a quiet whisper and snorted in its' sleep.

Abruptly, the illusion was back together, sitting in mid-air where it had been and stroking its' chin. "It is a matter that will require study and experimentation," it announced.

A pen and paper were plucked from the air, and Hob began writing on it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville rolled her eyes at the apparaition, and turned away from it, resting her head on her arms and her arms on the edge of the bed.

She stared at Hob's body. "Why do you speak in riddles, even while sleeping? Do you not tire of the endless madness?" She put her head down and closed her eyes, relaxing her spirit by feeling the steady ebb and pull of the Force through Hob's unconscious body.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Illusion Hob continued to scribble on his paper, pausing every so often to think or consider. At some point, he apparently ran into trouble because the look on his face became thoughtfully puzzled.

Then Hob stowed the pen and paper inside his robes and began to pace the floor. "Riddle, riddle, riddle me this," he said aloud. "Riddle me that, and riddle me this: what is it your soul must miss?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"What is it I must miss?" De'Ville lifted her head to stare at the illusion. "I do not understand your question." The pacing Hob offered no explaination, but made a silly face, and she grinned a little at its antics.

"I suppose my soul must miss itself. I hardly can believe I have one, these days."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob stopped and cocked an ear, as though listening. "Do you hear it?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

Lilaena looked at him, puzzled. "I hear it," Hob answered himself.

"The cries of one empty of purpose with things unfulfilled."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena waved a dismissing hand at the illusion, and turned so she sat facing it. "I have a purpose. I just choose...to keep it to myself." She sighed heavily, and placed her head in her hands. Her purpose for Sorsha had backfired on her more than once.

"I hate her! She has no place here among us! ...but she has something I need. For this reason alone I will tolerate the Witch."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"How to solve the puzzles of a tortured soul," Hob asked aloud. "How to solve them. I could force it not to feel harm, or I could calm it, or I could destroy it, or I could eat it. Or, I could give it purpose."

The illusion twirled around on one foot, then cartwheeled. "Dark Jedi mediation. Dark Jedi mediation. Mediation is the key, Dark Consulars on Bast there be. Guidance they will provide."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Meditation? I have meditated too long on this subject, with no answers in sight." Her anger grew, and she became very aware of everything around her. The room seemed to her to stretch inwards towards her, and then expand outwards, but in reality there was no change to her surroundings.

"I will take from Sorsha what I -" she paused, already on her feet and towering above the little image of the dwarf. "Dark Consulars? The spirits have nothing to show me."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"Mediation, mediation, mediation," the illusion continued. Then it stopped, and listened.

"Mediation," the real Hob mumbled beneath his breath. Then he coughed violently, spasms wringing his small form into consciousness. His eyes bulged and his face cringed.

He was injured.

The dwarf slumped back down into bed. "De'Ville? Where- my room? What has happened?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville put a hand on his forehead, and shushed him. "You are in your chambers...you had an encounter with the Witch, Sorsha Kasajian. I do not know what you did to her, but perhaps if you can tell me, then I can assist you with your injuries. Whatever it was, it seemed to backfire on you."

She sat on the edge of the bed, her cool hand still on the dwarf's forehead.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob simply smiled and rested his head on the pillow. "I put some of myself in her," he said. "When I returned her life force with her is when it happened. It is the beginning of a bond of some kind."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She sat back from him, disgust on her face. "A bond, with the Witch? Are you mad?" De'Ville grinned, "Wait, do not answer that. I am sure you have your own reasons, Goblin."

Lilaena sighed, "I only wish I knew what they were. What use is a servant of Chaos to our cause?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"What use is light without a shadow to extinguish it?" Hob quieried weakly. "The Hand must consist of those who know how to attack and kill, and how to defend and protect. Balance creates order, and a new order is our goal, is it not?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville blinked, and then stood up. "I highly doubt that any other member does not know how to attack and kill. But I will tolerate her presence, if only for the sake of peace within the Hand."

She walked a little ways away, "I will leave you to your rest."

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"De'Ville," Hob called. His body wracked him with coughs, and he was forced to delay his reply until they finished. "She will help bring about our change. Quiet your fears and concentrate on that."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She turned back to look at him, and raised an eyebrow. "Fears? I fear nothing." But she lied, and inside she was indeed afraid, although not of the Witch.

De'Ville left the room, leaving the Goblin to his rest. She had a score to settle with Sorsha. All in good time...all in good time.