Anarchy Road

[Arage Bao]

It had been a few minutes after the training, muscles ached, shirt drenched in sweat and the only thing ya wanted to do was sit down for a bit. Which is what Khal was doing right now, the meeting had gone fairly well. A few bruises here and there, egos hurt, the usual spiel that happens when ya try to train a few upstarts in a field they had no experience in. Few more lessons and they would probably get the hang of it and Khal would be less worried about ‘em, probably.

Anyway, most of ‘em had filed outta there soon after the lesson, he probably should have left too, but there was something about the scene stretched before him. A lot could be said about Nar Shaddaa, filthy place, dirt, mud and blood all mixed together to form one unique set piece. But it was home and that was enough for him. Currently sitting on the ledge of a fairly tall building, he was smoking one up again and just pondering thoughts.

Ya know. The usual cliche thing to do as a teacher at the end of a lesson, but Khal had never claimed to be original or anything like that. Sometimes… a man just needed some time to enjoy the little things in life.

Another puff of smoke went out, throat burned, a sigh left him.

Yeah.

This was the good life.

[member="Olivia Durant"]

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

Her arms ached from all the climbing, wobbly as she checked a scrape along the inside of her forearm. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a few days time, but it was striking on her pale skin. Back home this would be disaster, a stain on her prized beauty. Here it was a mark of success. Other than the scrape and few bruises she'd dragged herself through the jungle of Nar Shaddaa with impressive grace and speed, not that she would ever credit herself with it.

When the lesson was over the others filed away, back to Masters or ships or homes, all seeming to have some sort of purpose in their departure. All except her. Since she'd left Hapes it seemed most transitions were like limbo for her, a few seconds of nothing, uncertainty for the next step went forward until it fell in her lap. In this case, it was when their mentor that day sat on the ledge of the roof they'd ended on and lit up, the smell of his cigarette wafting towards her to cut through the stink of Nar Shaddaa. It certainly said something about the planet when secondhand-smoke seemed more pure than the stink of the air itself.

Her Master hadn't given her any specific instructions about what to do when the lesson was over, and truth be told she couldn't remember getting the man's name at the beginning of the day.

She moved over slowly, a little worried she was intruding, but he seemed in a good enough mood, and she had a way of ingratiating people to her. She lowered herself down next to him, dangling long legs over the side and leaning back on her hands. "That was a fun lesson, thanks. My Master has been focusing a lot on the Force which is nice but...I liked parkour better," she complimented, turning to look at him. He wasn't like most of the men on Hapes though she couldn't put a finger on exactly why - maybe something a little more wild, at home in the urban jungle they found themselves in. She wasn't the girl that fell for the bad boy, but he was more than nice to look at. "I'm Olivia," she offered.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

A soft tilt of the head acknowledged her presence, he had heard her coming, footsteps and ragged breathing the tip of the matter. During the training she had been one of the better ones, not because of results - she had still some way to go in that regard, but there was something there. Just that distinct sense of her trying and wanting to accomplish the best she could.

Was a rare thing that, especially coming from a rich city girl. Truth to be told it had impressed Khaleel, he wouldn’t ever tell her that, but impressed nonetheless. He chewed on the cig, pondering on the dets she had just given him. In the end Malvern gave her a little shrug, puffed out some smoke and finally nodded.

‘Welcome to Nar Shaddaa, Olivia.’ gravel being churned to dust, deep, throaty and distinctly nonchalant in the way spoken. ‘Khaleel.’

Offering accepted and a counter-offer extended, from the depths of his pocket a little tin was revealed with cigarettes. Hand-rolled, one of his more satisfying pastimes besides dusting the criminals that were against him and his organization.

One of ‘em was put between them, a proposal and a raise. Would she fold or call?

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She nodded, sobered slightly by his demeanor. He didn't seem dismissive, but she was from a society of gregarious talkers. She was thankful for the welcome, if only because Nar Shaddaa felt like the kind of place diametrically opposed to her existence on it. "You're from here, then?" she guessed, thinking he certainly seemed the part, if less drunk and disorderly.

When he offered the cigarettes, she felt a moment of panic.

She'd never smoked in her life - it'd ruin her looks they'd warned, it wasn't worth it - and she didn't have any plans of starting. But at the same time it felt rude to refuse. She could have just one right? That wasn't diving in to the river, it was just dipping one's toes in to the current only to pull them back up.

After a moment's hesitation she plucked one from the tin, leaning over as he offered a light. This much at least she'd seen before and she inhaled as the flame touched the end, albeit a little too hard. She coughed - a surprisingly delicate, and lady-like spasm considering how emphatic it was - before she felt the characteristic buzz those not used to smoking got from a good drag.

Nice.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

Most of the time he was a pretty smooth sailor, a guy who could talk and talk; even make ya believe the planet was a disk, carried by a couple of elephants, carried by a big fecking turtle, who was swimming through an oceanic galaxy. But there are days and then there are days if ya get it, sometimes a man didn’t want nor needed to wax on and off about the subtle intensities of life, sometimes… a man just wanted to sit, relaxed with a smoke perched between the lips, while losing himself in the scenery.

Then again, the cough and hurtle of lungs unprepared for the burning sensation made him grin widely. Ah, this brought him back to the very first smoke he had gotten. Had been maybe fourteen, fifteen. These days he could afford visiting a clinic every once in a while, get his lungs checked out, ya know all that bluster. Coloured him surprised when his lungs were in perfect state, no decay or smog.

Turned out he truly was immortal, or something close akin to it. Anyway, Khaleel softly patted Durant on her back, taking another swig of his own cig and waiting for her to return to a semblance of propriety. The sigh at the end told him all he needed to know.

She got it.

‘Yeah, lived here all my life.’ smoke went out, air went in and then he added. ‘Accent… hmm, makes me think higher society, Teta? Nah, not aloof enough.’

He pondered on it for a while. Ah.

‘Hapes?’

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She could understand why people got addicted to these things. It was less demanding than a high, she imagined, no insistent tug on some part of her brain that pulled her somewhere frenetic. It was just relaxing, a moment taken out of the morning’s constant activity and the buzz of the city so alive beneath them.

Letting smoke curl out from between her lips, she nodded. “Yes, good – just left a little under a month ago.” She carefully avoided the reasons why as they reminded her of her parents. (The expression on her mother’s face, fingers wrapped around a jagged piece of metal that had bent off the ship and impaled her in her seat, as if she could move the world to save herself.) She blinked to clear the image, taking another drag.

Despite her disagreement with a lot of Hapan tenets, she was as well-mannered as they came. If she had stayed she would have made a wonderful dignitary, groomed for the highest offices. Her teaching dictated she didn’t ask the question that burned in the forefront of her mind, but she was sure she could find a way to frame the question without making it sound as if she was incredulous. “How did you end up becoming a Jedi?” She wasn’t asking because she couldn’t believe someone from this corrupt Hutt city could ever find the Light – she just wondered who’d discovered him if anyone, and how. So much of the Jedi way still eluded her, even the most basic of their lifestyles. Sometimes she felt overwhelmed by it.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

Jedi? Him? He supposed that a portion of his identity truly was that of a Jedi, the portion that still cared about those pretty values like justice, honor, duty; the distinguished holy trinity of heroes and heroines across time and space. Yet, it had turned muddled to him, spend long enough in the filth and everything does Khal supposed.

'Don't really see myself as a Jedi.' he shrugged, the barest expression of contemplation made apparent. 'Just a guy who tries to do what's right.'

What that was though... hard to say these days. But perhaps that was too arrogant of a conclusion to make, it implied that he had it harder than the men and women of yore, that their duties had been lighter in some ways. Not true and Khal sighed at that realization, still so much to watch out for.

'As to how... a Jedi wandered into a bar and tried to lay down the law, almost got shot in the head. Suppose I did what I always do, meddle. Saved his life, he sensed something in me and asked if I wanted to try my luck at something new.'

He waved his hand.

'And here we are. What about you?' The question was followed by him looking over to her, first time Khaleel allowed himself to really look. He smiled one of his smiles in an attempt to put her at ease.

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

Chance then. It always seemed to come back to chance. She'd asked several other students she'd gotten comfortable around at the Academy and back on Onderon where Master Karr did much of his work how they'd come to the Order. Some were born to Jedi, but they were in the minority. The rest were just like her, somehow found by a Jedi or stumbling across the Order by chance - fate, some would say. It made her feel like she really had a place - that she wasn't just some impostor, a woman who had no idea of her potential until three weeks before.

She felt a soft flutter of a smile when he said he was just a man trying to do what was right. She wouldn't pretend to know him even a little - he was far too complex for the kind of analysis five minutes allowed, she could sense that easily. But she liked to imagine his nonchalance was something of a front for sincerity.

When he turned his head and truly looked at her, offered a smile, she gave him an easy one in return. She wanted to ask how he'd gotten the scar. No one had scars where she came from, or if they did they hid themselves in shame, forced to the bottom of society. She liked his.

His question caught her off guard slightly. She should have known it might turn back on her, but she was never ready for the question. But she found herself answering honestly anyway. "My family and I left Hapes almost a month ago. We didn't really belong - we disagreed with too much of our own society. We were headed for Onderon when we...the ship had a mechanical failure and we crashed. They both died." She paused, taking a long, deep drag off the cigarette as if this were her 1,001st, and not her first one. "A Jedi master found me and took me as his apprentice. Now I guess I'm just trying to do the right thing too."

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

An orphan, in her own right, it gave some sort of kinship. Even if she had known her parents and he had not, for all intents and purposes both of them were lonely without family anchoring them down.

How curious life was sometimes. Khaleel didn't offer his condolences or told her how sorry he was for her, wasn't his way and he knew how he would have responded to such words.

Instead he nodded to her, the gesture conveyning understanding in its simplicity and Khal started talking. His eyes returning to the cityscape, tone wistful, relaxed and full confidence that all would be right in the world. Eventually. Maybe.

'Never knew my parents.' he admitted, one of those things he never really liked to talk about. But in this specific moment? At this point in time? It almost came natural. 'Spend most of my time on the streets, surviving and looking out for myself. Had some good moments, some bad. Life for ya.'

He took out the perching cigarette, tapped the ash off and simply pondered for a while. Perhaps reminiscing what had come before.

'Tell me about the good days, Olivia.'

It would be painful at first and maybe she wasn't yet ready for such a tale. But in the end it would settle her mind on that which was good, instead of dwelling on the bad or living with one foot in the future.

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

Tell me about the good days.

She didn’t want to. She’d done a very good job of pretending what had happened hadn’t happened up until this point. When she was forced to remember it she just brushed it somewhere else or she answered questions quickly before leaping in to another. It’d been such a short time, and between the crash and this rooftop she’d been shuffled to so many places and people and things she’d barely had the time to process. She hadn’t really. So this time, despite not wanting to, she talked about them. The more she shared, the more she felt like she’d just seen them again, that she was processing through some of the grief she’d barely been allowed to contemplate. She wasn’t talking for more than a few minutes, careful not to drone his ear off, but still grateful for the way he seemed to really be listening. Whether it was with real interest or just a very good caricature didn’t matter to her. He’d known what to ask.

Grinning sheepishly, she stopped herself before another story bubbled to the surface. “Hapan society dictates spending a good amount of time around your family. I could go on for days.” And there was the beauty of it. Memories on memories on memories. She had something to hold on to.

Finishing the cigarette, she ground the tip against the rooftop, tilting her head in question at him. “So, mind showing me around this city of yours?” If she wanted to be Jedi she better get used to all manner of people and situations.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

Khal didn’t ask any questions, didn’t bring it up anymore. Because this hadn’t been for him, it had been for her- a callback to the good ol’ days and the reminder that they wouldn’t ever disappear, unless she allowed them too. As long as she kept remembering those days her parents wouldn’t ever really die, they would always live with her in that strange way memories do.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t interested.

Just meant he knew when to pull himself outta the picture and give someone else a moment of the figural spotlight, few if anything had to be about him. Already the Gray Paladin could feel her aura heal, just a little bit; nothing all too amazing. But it was a start and a much needed one at that.

‘Hmm.’ Khal pondered.

Yeah, he could show her the sights.

‘Sure.’

Cig was flicked away into the night, a metaphor for what was to come, as Khaleel suddenly let himself drop down. In only a second his silhouette disappeared into the shadows. For a moment nothing else came, until the bastard called out- mirth apparent in his vocals.

‘Ya coming?’

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She watched him disappear over the side of the building, a feat she’d learned quickly was fairly common among Jedi, and therefore not quite as alarming as it might have been on Day One of her Jedi training. However down in the shadows she had no way of knowing if he’d survived, and after a moment or two her expression creased slightly in concern. Leaning slightly over the edge, she shielded her eyes from the sun, trying to pierce through the darkness made by the height of the buildings made worse by the rows of hanging laundry.

When she heard his sarcastic call her expression quickly changed from worry to exasperation. “What do you mean am I coming!?” she called down to the clearly crazed Jedi, pressing her lips together in thought. She'd asked for a tour, but not with a fee of two broken legs (at best).

You’ve got nothing to fear. The Force will guide you.

She didn’t know if that was true – for all she knew, the Force would have a good laugh as she bounced between clotheslines before falling in a heap on the ground. But she was willing to try. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to quiet her mind, windmilling her arms a little as if that might help – basically procrastinating for as long as possible without incurring another smart remark from the parkour expert below.

“Here goes nothing…” She took a step far out from the side of the building and fell, swallowing a scream as she concentrated on landing squarely on her feet.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

The Force will guide you.

Khal had never believed those words, to him it signified a belief that hinged on the removal of responsibility and the dodging of blame. Jedi who spend their days meditating in their bright marble temples with the audacity to think they knew enough to pass judgment on those living in the dirt. It had been the main reason why he had decided against living with them, instead opting to live with the animals and dirt he vowed to protect from themselves.

Durant seemed different though, not all that aloof just yet, but perhaps that was simply because she hadn’t been with the Order for all that long. Not enough time to be indoctrinated into the ancient ol’ mysticism that revolved so much of their practices. He was still happy that the Grandmaster had assigned him to Vaudin as a master, without him he probably would have left the Order all those years ago.

Funny how some things come together.

As Olivia fell strong arms would catch her, body crashed into his and together they slumped against the nearby wall. Racing hearts as the thrill of the moment took over, adrenaline coursing.

A throaty laugh bubbled up from the inside.

‘Now ain’t that an introduction.’ Khal mumbled, his eyes pondering between her lips and eyes, before reluctantly beginning to unarm her.

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She hadn’t really thought she’d die. Maybe just break a foot or a leg or something. But as the ground rushed towards her faster she began to rethink that particular confidence. She started reaching, trying to remember her training, but she couldn’t think of any techniques for ‘falling off a building’. Desperately visualizing the Force cushioning her feet and shins she tried to create some kind of cushioning, trying to find a peaceful center like she’d been taught to do in meditation.

Just when she thought none of it was working and this was definitely the time she’d become a human pancake, she fell smack in to the Jedi’s arms.

Though she didn’t fit in to Hapan society she was, in many ways, unavoidably changed by two decades in their company. There were fewer men in their society and all of them took special care not to look too closely at the women running the planet, or to in any way make an advance. Olivia had always been taught she was superior to men, and while she personally believed that was bull poodoo and followed a line of equality, that overall attitude of her people had left her with very little experience in the area of being in the arms of one. And a handsome one at that.

His laugh nearly startled her, a vibration from his chest that spread to her and seemed to drive home that she was in a precarious position, held there looking back just as ponderingly between his mouth and the curve of his jaw. She realized herself just as he was loosening his grip and she scrambled out as if her pants were on fire, clearing her throat and dusting off her shirt – a nervous habit, she was clean. “I um, thanks – you’ll have to teach me how to catch falling humans, that’s a trick.”

Desperate for something to make the fluttering in her stomach stop, she looked down the alleyway. A huge alien of a species she was completely unfamiliar with was passed out – or at least she thought he was passed out – in the middle of the mostly deserted backway. “Is he…dead?”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

Sadly the would-be Jedi was not entirely listening or paying attention to the big sleeping whiphid in the middle of the alleyway. Bodo was a regular of the streets, just one of the many homeless that wandered on Nar Shaddaa, begging sometimes, doing the odd jobs here and there.

The Exchange actually had him on a payroll or two, you would be surprised just how much a hobo learns when begging.

But Khal wasn’t paying attention to that, it was the distinct redness in the cheeks, and the brush of the shirt that indicated certain things. Ya learn a few things when living in the Underworld of Nar Shaddaa, one of ‘em was… life is too short to get caught up about shet like propriety.

Before Olivia could pull away completely, Khal grabbed her (gently) by the hand and pulled her back in. Sheltering them from the eyes in the walls with his coat, he gave her another look.

A look that told all tales, then he kissed her.

Or at least, that’s how it would go. If Olivia didn’t decide to kick him in the balls or something like that.

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She really was worried about the thing lying in the middle of the alleyway but her companion didn’t seem as concerned as she was. At first she took that as a good sign – he was Jedi right? He wasn’t going to let someone in need go without if he was standing right next to them, was he? At least that was her train of thought at first, but after a minute she wasn’t so sure when she caught the way he was looking at her.

It wasn’t a look she was familiar with.

Looking back on it she’d say it all went too fast for her to realize what he was doing until it was happening. Would she have stopped him if she did? Unequivocally, no.

She’d never done this before, and while she could have let herself panic about whether or not she was doing something wrong or if there was something she was SUPPOSED to be doing and wasn’t, she didn’t. Instinct was allowed to take over and she kissed him back. Again in hindsight she might have said maybe it was little longer than it should have been, a little more heated than it should have been, hands on his chest, his body far too close to hers, glad for the cover of the coat he held up before she leaned back against the wall. Pressing two fingers to her lips, she let out a short breath of laughter, narrowing her eyes at him though the expression was somewhat negated by the little grin.

“That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]His cheek brushed her as Khal gave her neck a soft nuzzle. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Few people get what they expect[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]***[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was a few months later and Khal had taken some time off from the Gray Paladins, put up one of the older guys in charge and let them go ham in the city. Which mostly meant that they would be running laps for the entirety of the week until they could traverse the entire sector in one breath and then some. It ain’t no fun being a Paladin sometimes, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Or so Khal believed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Aight, see that laddy over there?” the Underlord would mumble over his cigarette, nudging Durant with an elbow to get her attention. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They were perching on a nearby roof, overlooking the Promenade - one of the finer areas of Nar Shaddaa, and currently studying one of its denizens. The lad in question was nothing too special, about six foot nothing, patchy beard and a lazy eye.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Those were the obvious things.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Slightly less obvious was the twitch in his left leg, everytime he took a step, barely perceptible but it could suggest a thing or two. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The revolver hidden away beneath his coat.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But most importantly the edge in his look as he strolled past the alleyways and always took that brief of a second to take a sneak peak. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Now tell me what you [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]saw[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].”[/SIZE]

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

The death of her parents had left Olivia as clay. It wasn’t in her character to allow anything to break her, not even that…not even the image that still flashed behind her eyelids before she fell asleep. Instead she’d promised herself that she would get up and move, that she would do the things that her parents might have wanted.

It seemed it wasn’t in as traditional a format as originally supposed, but she was enjoying herself.

Somehow she’d never found her way back to Onderon and Karr, finding excuses upon excuses to stay on Nar Shaddaa and keep learning. She had no shortage of proof that she was progressing but in truth she thought maybe this city – this stinking, backwards city – was more like home than the Republic she’d sought so desperately. Some days she thought she never wanted to go back. This was the last place she would have imagined herself, but it increasingly felt like home, clay molded to something she’d never expected.

And then there was Khaleel.

She was admittedly confused where he was concerned. He was a busy guy, always orchestrating some move or another. There was admiration in that and when she was around him she watched him with an eagle eye, soaked up the way he talked to the men and women around him, how he instilled loyalty, why he made the decisions he did. She’d never called him Master but deep down it was how she thought of him, something she kept to herself for fear he might be unwilling. So she watched and learned and paid attention to the occasionally direct lesson with rapt attention. And she hadn’t forgotten that kiss.

The Promenade stretched out beneath them, her legs dangling over the edge of their perch. She managed not to react to his light elbowing – it would have been considered uncouth in her past lifetime and though she’d always carry that with her, she’d learned few had been brought up with such rigid guidelines. Some change was good.

“He’s looking to score,” she answered. It was entirely possible he was a mule for some drug lord, but she didn’t think so unless said lord was exceptionally stupid. Sending someone who twitched and glassy-eye glanced down every alley was a little conspicuous.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Olivia Durant"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“A reasonable assumption.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Probably the same assumption he would have made if hadn’t received a little nugget of information earlier on that tipped him off about Twitchy Tom right there. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]See, what the more reasonable people would assume was very obvious, wasn’t as obvious for dem people back at the Techno Union and their underworld-types. There was a new smell in the air, and it was a smell that came back towards one simple fact, one stupidly obvious thing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Ravens had overextended themselves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Pissed off every guy in town and then some.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]More friends than enemies, their leader killed and a man who they did not know was now calling the shots over all of them. Khal had never pretended to be their friend, instead he was the guy who had been trying to fix all their stupid mistakes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Can’t fix it all though.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]So their territories were crumbling all around them and Twitchy Tom was only the vanguard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A stupid vanguard from a gang that had more brawn than brains, but a vanguard all the same. A sign that things would be changing very soon and if they didn’t ride the storms… well, they would all sink no matter what happened.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Tommy over there[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]…” Khal smiled. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]is actually looking at the competition, sampling the wares so to speak and pondering how hard it will be to push us out[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A scratch of the chin.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Remember what I showed ya last night? Heavy left, followed by that uppercut? Whatcha say you go and say hello to the guy, knock him out cold so my guys can pick him up.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]This was only one of the first tests, because Khal had been giving her the tours, showing her around and expanding her views of the world. Even cut her into some of the jobs he had been doing around town, but never had he asked her to do something [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]directly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Mighta been too soon.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But shet was changing rapidly and it ain’t waiting on any one of ‘em. [/SIZE]

 

[Alkesh Vizsla]

She had the bruises to prove she remembered what he’d showed her last night – and no, not like that, dear reader. In most things he seemed to give deference to the fact that almost everything was culture shock to her, but sparring? There was never any give there. Maybe he could tell she enjoyed it or maybe it was just one of those times his tough streak came out in full, but she never walked away from a sparring without a harsh reminder of the fact that she had more work to do.

One day, she’d walk away with nary a scratch.

On another planet she might have worried about the consequences of cold-clocking a guy in public in broad daylight, but things on Nar Shaddaa seemed to be more fluid. Not to mention the guy that requested she beat the stranger up seemed to have ways of making things go as he pleased. She had about three seconds of hesitation before she nodded and dropped from their perch – this time with far more confidence than a few months back when he’d had to catch her.

Landing quietly, she cut her way through the crowd with enough of a casual aire not to draw attention to herself until she wanted the attention drawn. Twitchy seemed to flutter his gaze to her for a split second before going back to what he was watching down an alley, paying her no mind.

She assumed Khaleel had been speaking figuratively when he mentioned she should say hello, but it was only polite and she was nothing if not polite. “Hey, you look kinda lost. Me too – where are you trying to go, maybe we can find it together?” A pleasantly innocent lilt coated her tone, something that a few weeks ago might have been entirely genuine if she hadn’t been studying the underworld.

“Kark off lady,” Twitchy responded in an entirely different manner, scratching at his arm and brushing past her. Feigning surprise, Olivia followed.

“Excuse me, but that’s really rude you know! I was trying to be friendly and you tell me to kark off?”

Twitchy spun with surprising athleticism to face her, face screwed up in annoyance, taking a step to close the distance between himself and Olivia and jabbing her in the chest with one finger. “Listen, I’ll do a lot worse if you don’t go find somewhere else to be.”

It’d been a hard poke, the kind of stab that hurts more than a punch because it was just one little spot where her shoulder met her chest. This guy was just so…rude!!! Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around the offending digit and pushed backwards, satisfied when she felt a snap and heard his surprised howl. She still managed to remember the uppercut however, the force of the blow accentuated by the thug’s downward motion as he clutched and drew his hand towards himself in surprise. She’d snapped her fists back towards herself, held up in a guard, but she’d been successful. He fell backwards with a thud.

She waited the few seconds until Khal’s men materialized to pick up her newfound friend before running back towards the perch she’d left her secretly-chosen Master on. Settling next to him, she gave him a look of guarded excitement. “I forgot the left hook, but I think the uppercut was pretty good.”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​