The avatar standing to the side of the pair looks on anxiously, shaking her head. "I was hoping my sister's memories of you, Mother, in this respect would be inaccurate. This seems a bit of an overreaction," she approaches closer, a hand falling upon Seluj's shoulder-- and passing right through. "But there is little I can do to prevent it, it seems."
The true Tala would have answered similarly, but this new one then steps back, a finger to her chin-- "a new name, though? I had not considered it." She pauses, looking to her progenitor. "Perhaps I should shut down some non-essential systems for you? The shock you are about to induce will be significant!"
The suspended asari does little to fidget for now - focusing herself.
<"No. Keep it all on. I need...I need the shock and feedback to know where I'm cutting. Otherwise, it will be truly a blind effort.">
Letting out a long sigh, Oliviar pinches the bridge of her nose, somehow looking haggard beyond her years, despite her intensely youthful features. "You know, there was a time when I was actually looking forward to finding Lyonesse. The thrill of finding a lost colony, going where no one else ever has. Taetrus didn't get to me, Libertas didn't get to me. Nix getting speared though? That got to me. Julius got to me. Surrendering like we did got to me. Now here I am on the edge of the galaxy, Tala, or at least, the original version of her, is gone, and here I am holding my friend down while she rips her eyes out of their sockets."
Reaching out, Oliviar gently takes Seluj's wrists into her talons. Lifting them above the short asari's head, she pins them against the wall, her mandibles strained tight against her maw. "I'm sorry, Seluj. I should never of let this happen to you. It's my fault. All of it. My job was to keep everyone safe, but I failed and you're all paying for it. You didn't deserve this."
Taking a firm hold of the asari's hands, Oli clamps down like an iron vice. "Alright... if this is what you want, I'm ready."
<"You're wrong there. You didn't let happen to us. If you did, this journey would have ended long ago. We got caught in a gently-carressed situation. Do such simple words provide solace or shelter at this time? ">
Seluj's head tilts up, her chrome and violet features having the microforge's light dance among them. The aura she's concentrating leads up, diminishing until it focuses solely on her head. Her hands twist in the turian's grasp, the fragile metalwork of the synthetic arm already popping and straining as she forces the mnemonic through. The Lyonessian's gaze is unblinking, the cold fixing stare dying down from an icy cobalt to a dimmer turquoise.
<"No. That's what vengeance is for. That's what it resets for a starting point to begin anew. My daughter chose her path of her own volition, and despite our parting, I can't be prouder.">
Pain echoes, the biotic glow intensifying as she drives her weaker talents to their limits, nerves burning in exertion. Precise they were, but her own sphere of influence was a minor stretch. The asari's clasp binds into fists as she drives a pained grunt from her lungs. The prospects were grim, but the Captain had little choice, but to don the mask she had rejected from the Presence. However cracked it was in light of recent revelations in one last solemnity. In one shudder of her arms, Seluj draws a hard gasp in a sob, her head hanging as the fields cut the first of the connections.
<Maybe you're right. Maybe you're wrong. But I am coming for her nonetheless."> A bracing breath. Rivulets of purple start to drip down the seams of her eyes, starting slowly at first as the gap widens. At least it would hide the fractures. The last line is delivered with little echo, more organic as a peace is attempted, but not reconciled. <"Sometimes, all a mother can have is faith in her child, no matter how hopeless their task has become. ">
In one cry, the fingers release from the fists, before coiling again. The pull intensifies in a sudden tearing of mass effect fields, cutting the bioorganic tethers one by one, Seluj's own calm contralto splintered into seething syncopated shrieks of suffering. Despite the darkness, the mountain of feedback guides the process, nerve endings alight throughout her head. Unwanted, yes. Uncomfortable, definitely. But necessary. A last warning.
<"L-Look away, if you must. I-I can't judge you.">
Her head slams back against the wall as the eyes were extracted, disassembling the link, the blood at first following the tattoos below her eyes, torn away in tears. As each millimeter was fought for, the flow increased into steady streams, until at last freed. It's not a calm process, fleeting between forced stillness and involuntary recoil. Cobalt orbs of white plastic, metal and glass hover free of indigo sockets. At long last, the Captain's sight truly reflected the void that she had explored.
The eyes fall gently to the ground, stained, its stems still bearing small rivulets of the organic tissue it was attached to. Unlike the asari who's flailing was dying in the turian's grasp.