Crashing and Burning (Darlyn Excron; Cassius Droma)

[Cassius Droma]

This guy could not be for real. Cassius could only stand there, mouth slightly agape, as the two exchanged conversation. He wasn’t used to being in trouble – he was usually the one doling out justice. Well, it was typically from the cockpit of a starfighter, but still. Taking a deep breath, he told himself that he would get this all straightened out. There was no way he was going to allow himself to go to prison.

Hands on his hips, Cassius stood his head, pursing his lips. “Alright, fine,” he breathed out, defeated. He waited to see where Darlyn would lead them. Cassius looked over to the blond girl. “I hope this was worth it,” he muttered to her. The young man was a Jedi – he was not supposed to let his emotions control him. However, he couldn’t help but feel the irritation and anger rising in his chest. Part of him wished he’d pulled the trigger and knocked her unconscious.

If only to wipe that stupid grin off her face.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

HOLY CRAP!!! This guy just made LIGHTNING in his HAND!!! He was totally a Force guy! Alessia watched him play with the lightning in awe, completely forgetting about how she could've gotten hurt from it being used as an EMP on the speeder.
"So COOL!!!" She exclaimed.
As they walked over to him, she looked at the other man. He didn't seem all that pleased. It was understandable she supposed. But come on, it wasn't the end of the world. Besides, he could've gotten into a lot more trouble if she'd been injured because of him. Alessia nudged his arm a bit with her elbow, giving him a grin.
"Don't look so down, dude. It's not the end of days or anything. Just a little paper work since no one got hurt. Maybe a citation. You'll probably be on your way sooner than you think."
Being near her always seemed to make people feel calmer. At least that's something she'd noticed. Not really sure why, but maybe whatever it was would rub off on this guy, too.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn was both taken back by [member="Alessia"] and her enthusiasm a bit, and bemused. How quick people's opinions could change. He motioned again to follow as he walked along the path, both towards the orphanage and the police department. They weren't neighbors but they were conveniently along the same line. "So Miss, would you like to share your name? I admit I'm curious who you are and why you wanted to take that speeder for a joyride. I'm Darlyn Excron, and thank you for giving today a little excitement. I am sorry about that lightning, it isn't the easiest thing to control."

He glanced back at [member="Cassius Droma"] as they walked. The boy was trying to stay calm, like a jedi, and he couldn't help but pity the boy. It must be difficult to suppress emotions, he couldn't imagine trying to live like that. So boring and dull, he much preferred the idea of indulging himself a bit safely. "You were pretty brazen too boy. Standing on a moving speeder you're driving, pretty gutsy."

 

[Cassius Droma]

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the young girl. Cassius could hardly remember a time he was so carefree, or perhaps naïve. He’d been raised to be a good citizen his whole life – you had to be, in such tight quarters where he was from. Honesty, loyalty, trust… they were all valued. Cassius was almost disappointed that all the girl would probably get was a slap on the wrist. Sure, no one got hurt… but what about next time? What if this happens again, and they weren’t so lucky? What would it take for this girl to learn that she couldn’t do stuff like this?

“Next time, it might be a little worse than a citation,” Cassius said, leaning over to her.

It could be worse, he supposed. He could be in handcuffs.

Darlyn had somewhat admonished and yet complimented him in the same breath. Raising his eyebrow, Cassius said, “Just trying to help out.” He’d been in some tighter situations before. The escape from Vjun, ejecting from his A-wing over Altier, the pirate attack on the starliner… he had to learn to push all of that fear aside and just jump into action. This time, it didn’t work out the way he’d thought.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

"My name's Alessia. No last name currently. I decided to test the baby out because it was shiny and new, and the douche-bag who bought it clearly needed something to rattle his bones. Also because I was bored and I'd never piloted before. So I thought 'why not' you know?"
She put her hands up behind her head as they walked, glancing up at the sky. Hm... It really was a nice day. It'd been raining for a couple days and before that it'd been hot as hell. But right now it was sunny, clear-skies and nice temperature. Going out to see the city was understandable today. Ms. Lerness couldn't truly blame her from wanting to be away from a crowded orphanage for a while anyway. Too many kids... Little to no privacy. Breathing room was required for a girl her age. At least that's what Ms. Lerness said to her the last time she was lectured. Required, but it shouldn't be followed by law-breaking and rowdiness. Right... Because just walking around and doing normal things was so interesting...
Alessia was never one for window shopping or talking about boys or reading romantic novels. She wanted to do things! Scrape her knee climbing into an abandoned building or smuggle free ice cream out of the big freezer in the small parlor down the street. Feel the wind on her face from the totally radical experience of driving a speeder for the first time ever!
Maybe the normal world didn't always like her idea of fun. But so long as she wasn't hurting anyone, why did it matter? That was the part that Alessia just didn't get.

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Why not? Darlyn couldn't help but laugh at her words, not the patronizing 'oh how cute and childish' she might expect from a rather rude adult, but rather genuinely amused laughter similar to her laughter upon taking the 'baby' for a ride. The kid was entertaining, reckless and bound to get someone seriously hurt (probably herself) but entertaining to say the least! Well, now was his time to entertain himself. He unclipped his yellow lightsaber, and turned to [member="Alessia"] with a smile, holding it out to her. "Go ahead, take it. Keep this end, the emitter, away from yourself and press this button here." He showed her with a grin. Of course, there was no way she could activate it.

Why? Well that's simple actually! The button didn't work. Or, well, it wasn't what it was advertised to be. The button, rather than activating the lightsaber, would trigger the trapped grip and give her a slightly painful controlled shock, like holding firmly to a handful of joybuzzers as they go off at once, or repeated, consistent static shocks in her hands. A second press of the button would disable the trap, but it would be amusing to see her reaction to the trick. As to any concern of [member="Cassius Droma"] and his almost certain objection, he shot him a look that said 'trust me on this' rather firmly.

 

[Cassius Droma]

When Cassius saw the ginger-haired man give a lightsaber to the blonde, he just about snatched it out of her hand. Instead, he gave Darlyn the most incredulous look he’d probably never given anyone in his entire life. Was he really giving a lethal weapon to a child? They had literally just established, minutes ago, that this girl was reckless. Who knows what she could do with a lightsaber?

“You’re kidding me, right?” he asked the man, letting it become very clear he was not okay with this. Just who in their right mind let this man get into any sort of position of power? It couldn’t have been Lady Kay. She was too smart for that.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

That was... Wait. No way. That could NOT be a lightsaber. Was it real?? Alessia stared at it curiously. Buuut... something seemed a little fishy. Sure, this guy seemed cool and stuff. But he was a cop. A cop who was escorting her home after breaking a law. A cop who'd shot lightning out of his hand to stop her. Even though his smile was friendly, something told her this thing was a fake. Might even be some kind of prank... She could see a twinge of amusement in his eyes.
Something in her gut told her to avoid doing what he asked. So, she shrugged.
"Meh. I don't really like holding weapons too much. Too risky. They might go off on you or something."
She casually shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans with a small smile.
"Would like to see the color though.You seem to know how to properly handle one, so why don't you show me? "
If he insisted she do it or just refused to comply, she'd know she was right. If he did it anyway and something weird happened, she'd also know she was right. And if she was wrong? She'd still get to see what the saber color was. Any scenario was a win for her in this case. So, she patiently waited for his response.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn chuckled and took the lightsaber back, pretending to press the button and causing the blade to ignite into its yellow glory. The blade thrummed with life and energy, as he showed off the weapon for the young girl. [member="Cassius Droma"] might have noticed the minuscule energy of the Force Darlyn had actually used to light the weapon, but it did take some attention to actually notice. Even then, it was hard to say if that was just him connecting with the crystal inside or some other explanation. For [member="Alessia"] it was even more unlikely she could notice the trick, as she wouldn't know what to look for.

When he was sure she would be satisfied, he looked back at the Jedi and tossed him the weapon. "Go ahead, press the button." His confidence would indicate there really was something amiss, and was the last clue he was giving Cassius about the trapped button. Whether he pressed it or not, if the man could put two and two together he would figure it out. If he did press the button, he'd certainly feel the shocking revelation first hand, and give no small measure of amusement to Darlyn.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius’s expression was slowly falling from incredulous and frustrated to annoyed and bored. Why were they doing this? Weren’t they supposed to be filling out paperwork? He glanced to Alessia as she took the saber in her hands. The young Jedi was ready to redirect her grasp if she tried to ignite the blade, but she ended up just handing it back. Smart. Darlyn’s strange excitement and amusement in trying to offer her the lightsaber was certainly suspect.

And now the ginger-haired man threw it to him. Cassius caught it, the hilt making a slap in his palm. His expression remained nonplussed. “No thanks,” he said, flipping it around so the pommel was facing Darlyn. “I’ve got my own.” He wasn’t going to ignite it here, in the middle of the street, possibly frightening those around him.

Whatever game Darlyn was playing, Cassius wasn’t interested in becoming involved in it.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

It was a really beautiful color. Alessia loved the yellow glow the blade gave off. Half of her was tempted to touch it... But she wasn't insane. She knew it was a weapon. Touching a blade of pure energy would probably be really painful. Might even lose her hand.
She could tell how annoyed the the other guy was getting. Jeez, he was acting like he was being forced to babysit or something. It wasn't like he had to be with them, right? If he had another escort he could just go to the station, do his paperwork and be grumpy somewhere else. But to be honest, she didn't want him to be so uptight. He looked like someone who was just... too serious. It must be really stressful to hardly ever smile and take everything this badly.
As strange as this was, she actually wanted to help him feel better. Call it a soft-hearted pursuit. Couldn't hurt to try, though, right? Well, she didn't think he was in the mood to laugh. Maybe just... be nice? She was already doing that though, wasn't she?
Alessia looked up at him.
"You have one? So does that mean you have the Force thingie too?"
She asked, smiling warmly.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Smart boy. A shame, watching your shocked expression would've been amusing." He laughed and continued their ever increasingly long walk. "The hilt is trapped. If you had tried to ignite it without knowing the secret you'd have been given a somewhat painful, but non-dangerous shock. It's useful if I ever drop my weapon and someone picks it up. I don't get it turned against me, and I get some amusement out of it. Win win as far as I'm concerned."

He listened to [member="Alessia"] speak to [member="Cassius Droma"] in an attempt to cheer him up. A good kid, if he didn't already like her (which he did) he certainly felt comfortable around her now. He decided to let them have their little talk and focus on guiding them down the streets, no matter how long Darlyn lived here he never fully got used to Chasin City's layout. Was it left or right? Ah well, what was the harm in guessing?

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius listened as Darlyn explained just what exactly would have happened if either one of them had tried to activate the weapon. Pretty much… exactly what Cassius had expected. The young Jedi had to remind himself yet again that this man was the Minister of Justice for Commenor. Perhaps Kay saw something in him that Cassius didn’t see. Or maybe the red-haired man lied in his interview.

They kept walking, and Cassius couldn’t help but think that this perp walk had suddenly turned into a more casual stroll. Maybe this whole thing was a ruse, just like the lightsaber. Either way, Cassius just hoped it would be over soon.

The young girl asked him about his lightsaber, and then queried about if he had ‘the Force-thingie’ like Darlyn. “Yeah,” Cassius nodded, gesturing to the lightsaber hanging from his belt. “I’m a Jedi. Or, at least, trying to be. I’m still in training.”

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

They were getting closer to the orphanage. A few more turns and they'd be gracing the front lawn. Alessia wasn't entirely enthused, of course. Then again, she only ever liked going back if she was hungry or tired. At least she had food and a bed. She studied the saber on the Jedi's hip, leaning down a little to get a better look.
Shiny. Always a plus in her book. Hmmm... She wondered how many times he'd used it since he was still in training. Did Jedi use training dummies, or did they go out on cool missions all the time? Maybe this guy had been off-world a lot. She personally had only ever left a couple times, but that was for a sort of field trip to the Commenor Space Station that orbited the planet. The orphanage school liked to use it to educate the kids about the planet and stuff. It was fun... Until they had to go back, anyway.
"What color's yours?"
She asked after her brief moment of silence. She knew that Jedi had a lot of different colors for their lightsabers. At least, that's what holovids and pictures suggested.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

“Blue,” Cassius said, in response to her query about the color of his blade. “It’s pretty old, though, so it shorts on me from time to time. Usually when I need it most.” He sighed, thinking of the times it had failed him in battle. Altier came to mind. He tried not to dwell on that too much. Regardless, after everything that had happened, he’d held onto it, and it stayed by his side. Even though he hadn’t crafted the weapon himself, he still felt a strong connection to it, as if it were trying to tell him something.

“Tell me,” Cassius said, looking to the young blonde girl. “Why do you always feel the need to run away?” It was something that had started to hit him as they walked. Clearly, this girl was in some type of emotional distress, and it was Cassius’s duty to figure out what it was, and whether there was anything he could do to help. “Is where you live not a safe place?”

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Because it's fun." He turned suddenly, walking backwards as he spoke to [member="Cassius Droma"] and @Alessia. "Because she has a hunter's spirit, craving adventure and excitement, not stagnate passivity. It's the same reason I was a bounty hunter before the Queen hired me. It just happens I find enough excitement as Minister to not get bored of it. She's also quite pretty, so I imagine that gets her more than a few adoptions despite her need to be active. And I'd bet that's why she gets sent back. Of course that's just a guess, I don't know her adoption record, teenagers don't tend to get adopted often as it is." He chuckled and spun around again, as if it were the most casual motion he could possibly do, and continued on his way.

"By the way, you can repair your lightsaber you know. With a little tinkering that short-circuit problem isn't going to be an issue. Even if you replace the internals the shell can be preserved if it has sentimental value to you."

 

[Alessia]

Alessia opened her mouth to reply... And then Darlyn explained it like he knew everything about her. Kinda funny. But he was a bit off.
"Close. But you missed the mark on a few things," She replied with a grin.
She wasn't going into details, though. Talking to strangers was bad and all that jazz. But also, it just didn't sit right with her to talk about stuff like that. Too personal.
The orphanage was big. It was already in view as the walked the last few blocks down. So, she knew the plan. Let Ms. Lerness see her go inside. While Darlyn and Cassius talked to her about the orphanage and the importance of family and discipline and puberty and other stuff, she'd just sneak out the back door. Easy-peasy.
No way in hell she'd be back in time for the interview with the Husters. One more hand-off to a family and she was running off for good. She started moving a little slower the closer they got.
There were younger children playing in the yard. Some were in the windows reading and drawing or just looking outside. There were lots of them. But none of them looked to be around her age.
As they walked up the path to the front steps, Alessia waved to two twin boys who were digging in a sandbox. Reech and Risch. Twi'lek boys, bluish-green and slightly dirty from playing outside most of the day. They waved back at her with a couple of big grins. They always found it funny when she got in trouble. Ms. Lerness was already waiting by the door.
She was a hearty-looking middle-aged woman with peppered brown hair down to her shoulders and wise-looking gray eyes. Her arms were crossed with a look of disapproval. This was not a new sight to see.

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Darlyn gave the easy answer – the answer you gave someone as a defensive mechanism so that you didn’t have to reveal your true feelings. Cassius wanted more than that. He wanted to go deeper, to the source of the issue. An ‘adventurer’s spirit’ didn’t cut it for the man who believed in cold, hard logic. Also, he wanted to hear it from Alessia.

“I’ve tried that,” Cassius told Darlyn, in response to his statement about fixing his lightsaber. “I’ve improved its performance marginally, but sometimes, for no reason, it just goes out on me. I might get a replacement soon – we’ll see.”

Just as he was about to press the young girl further on just what made her tick, they arrived at what appeared to be her home – the orphanage. She expressed familiarity with two of the residents already, and as Cassius turned his attention to the woman standing at the doorstep, he could feel a mix of emotions from her. Annoyance, disappointment, a twinge of anger… Cassius tried to discern just what she was thinking further, but his telepathic and empathic abilities only went so far.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn just chuckled, of course he had been wrong on a few points, but he'd just felt like deflecting Cassius's question. It wasn't an appropriate question to ask a young lady, not after meeting her, nor was he likely to get a genuine answer even if she did reply. So hopefully his would be a far better reply than what she would have actually said, no need to break the boy's heart in how futile attempts to gather information would be. [member="Cassius Droma"] seemed to think he could solve any problem she had, or at least that there was a concrete reason.

There wasn't always. Darlyn didn't always have a reason after all. "I'd do that if I were you son. Last thing we want a jedi to do is have his weapon cut out as he goes to block." He laughed, and turned his attention to the woman with a wide grin. Ahead of the group, he moved up to her, offered a small bow, and spoke loud enough that [member="Alessia"], Cassius, and the woman could hear. "Apologies, I seemed to have forgotten to tell you I'd accidentally taken Alessia while talking to her after seeing her outside. Terrible shame on my part, she was too distracted to notice we'd walked so far away. My name is Darlyn Excron, I'm the Minister of Justice... I was actually planning to take Alessia with me to show her something when I remembered we hadn't told you about everything. If Alessia is alright with joining me for the afternoon, I'd be very thankful if you would allow me to take her off your hands a while." He had done a little motion with his hand, as well, as he glanced back at Alessia with a sly smile.

A mind trick. Assuming Ms. Lerness wasn't exceptionally strong willed, sensitive to the Force, or one of the rare mind-trick immune species, it was almost certain she would believe him and agree.

And Alessia would get a pretty literal 'get out of jail free' card.

 

[Alessia]

Alessia was getting ready to dart past Ms. Lerness when Darlyn took the lead. What was that thing he did with his hand?...
For a moment she felt kind of weird. Like the air shifted a little or something. And then she saw her caregiver's expression go blank for a second or two. She came to her senses only seconds later, blinking a bit in surprise.
"Really? The Minister of Justice?" The woman put a hand on her chest. Honestly, what a shock. She was so used to Alessia being on the wrong end that to hear she'd been not only good, but getting along with a respectable person of society nearly made her faint.
"O-Oh my, well..." She had to take a moment to think of what to even say.
"W-Well she has a family coming in this afternoon..." She stated, looking past Darlyn a moment to eye Alessia.
Alessia's jaw was dropped. What the hell was going on??

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]