Private Double Trouble

[Kyra Perl]

It really was just suppose to be a normal assignment.

Go to Loka. Sniff out for information about a possible transport ship of Mandalorian. Return home with said information. Easy peasy, right?

Famous last words.

Kyra sat alone at a bar, trying to hold back a nervous tick as she waiting for the arrival of her assigned Master. They had split up in the town black market to try and cover more ground. Kyra had nearly questioned the need to stick together, but there had been a sense of judgement behind the master's words. She had suspected it was meant to be test, to see how she could handle things on her own. But the rendezvous was suppose to be hours ago, and he remained late. Very late. The babble of life around her was no longer exciting. Every laugh felt like acid on her nerves. Every glass slammed down brought her attention snapping over. Where was he? What was she suppose to do?

Was this a test too? Should she get up and try to find him?

The padawan had never felt so directionless before. The weight of her training saber felt deceptively light-- tucked out of sight under a leather jacket. She resisted the urge to check for it again, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she slowly scanned the room.

What was it Yula had once told her...? When lost, figure out your enviroment.

[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

Lok was always chock-full of unsavoury characters, but now it was that time of the year where a particular number of them from all over the galaxy congregated here for the annual Lok Marathon. Some of Rosario's friends had insisted that she needed to see this and should come with them. They had arrived only the other day, the races had not yet started, but it had been an eventful time already. Just earlier today they had got caught in the middle of a shootout in the streets started by an overeager bounty hunter - one of many who were here knowing or hoping that their quarry would be attracted by the event as well. It was apparently considered normal, and Rosario was equally shocked and fascinated by the nonchalance with which her friends treated the events and situation, even having lost one of their own not long ago to a kidnapping ordered by a rival... entrepreneur.

Eventually the instigator had been almost casually shot by a Mandalorian passing by who had been unable to further stand this lack of professionalism and wanted to cross the street without the risk of being hit by stray blaster bolt, but since people had forgotten who was supposed to be shooting at whom, a few more casualties ensued nevertheless. Rosario definitely preferred the clubs and smoky backrooms she was used to.

Rosario's mood was much lighter now as she was standing in a bar that claimed to be in the very same location where one as one supposedly famous or significant Brogar's had been, laughing arm in arm with a middle-aged human whom everyone in their circle called the 'Uncle', even people who were older than him, and who treated everyone accordingly. Rosario had no idea if he was actually anybody's uncle at all, but he was an affable fellow much beloved by the company. Some people had tried to dub Rosario as the 'Niece', but it hadn't stuck.

Rosario took a sip from the drink she held in her other hand, a liquid whose green colour conferred upon it a positively poisonous appearance, and felt, more than she looked, around the room. The atmosphere in the room was not nearly so pleasant as in more civilised places, people were certainly not in tune - some were amused and happy, especially those around her, others were simply dull, barely deserving of the predicate 'sentient', and a few were anxious or apprehensive, especially those who intended to participate in the races. Yet one presence stuck out like a sore thumb from all of them. Rosario turned to see who or what it was and her eyes widened in surprise when she spotted the girl with rosy skin, apparently a human, and much too small and, frankly, adorable to sit alone in this place. No wonder she was so worried. It was odd that she was dressed so unflatteringly, almost as if to make a point of it, in a rather bulky leather jacket.

The little Zeltron herself was wearing, next to a pair of tight-fitting black trousers, a top of rather complicated-seeming nature that combined tones of yellow, red and green in complicated-patterned fishnet sleeves, what amounted to little more than a bikini bra, and various pieces of cloth that were somehow attached to it all in a way that, altogether, made sense after all. The loose parts of the garment formed something like a short skirt which allowed her lightsaber, sitting in a sheath on her upper thigh, to be concealed or mistaken for a blaster.

Rosario extricated herself from her present company, announcing with a grin that she had something very important to attend to, and walked over to the girl. "Hello!" she said with a friendly curiosity and without a trace of shyness. "I'm Rosario. What's your name?"

[member="Kyra Perl"]​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra blinked up from her distracting panic, the shaking of her foot ceasing at once. She stared up at the woman uncomprehending for a moment, her blue eyes sharp yet lost. "H-Hi?" She reciprocated. Her mind raced, trying to understand what the stranger would want. Was she sent for her? Did she have information? ....Wassheworkingforhermother?

Kyra did not leave it past her mother to assign someone to keep an eye out for her. Joza was always protective of her children. It took another breath before Kyra was able to relax fully, and only then was she able to entertain the much more mundane idea that this was simply one zeltron curious about another.

"I don't work here," she clarified, eyes skimming the girl's outfit appreciatively.

"I'm just- stopping in for a drink," she over explained, lifting and dropping her glass onto the table with a clink. She then back peddled a little, realizing that amongst all her internal angst, she rambled.

"I'm sorry-- can I help you?"

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

The girl seemed rather unusually flustered by Rosario's approach, but the little Zeltron did not let that deter her. Without asking for permission, she simply sat down next to Kyra, apparently lacking much of a concept of personal space. The girl's skin colour made her wonder. It was not the consistent red or pink of a Zeltron, rather, she looked a bit like a very consistently, and badly, sunburnt human. Perhaps there was a kind of humans from some planet with this appearance?

"What's your name?" asked Rosario. "Where are you from? Are you waiting for someone?" She seemed naively interested in Kyra and was either oblivious of, or chose to ignore, the other girl's awkwardly confused failure to engage in anything like a polite, customary greeting.

[member="Kyra Perl"]​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Krya gave a guilty grimace, realizing that she wasn't doing much good at 'acting cool' or 'laying low' if this Zeltron was already seeing right through her.

"I'm Kyra," she confessed, her tone dropping to forlorn. She gave a heavy sigh and stirred at her glass, struggling to decide if she should just fess up or try to remain low until this was all resolved. She settled for a mix. "I lost a friend. I'm not from around here so.... guess you could just say I'm plain lost too. You haven't happened to see anyone with brown hair walking about... have you?" She jested, the grimace not leaving her features.

[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

"I've only seen 72 people who fit that description. Then I lost count", replied Rosario and giggled. Then she suddenly grew serious and put a hand on Kyra's back. "But losing a friend is a serious matter", she said concerned. "Are you set to meet here? If not, we should go look for him! Sitting around is no way to find someone - normally."

"How did you lose him, and where?"

[member="Kyra Perl"]​

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Wellllllll... That's the thing!" Kyra looked to the door, then her watch, then the door again. "I was suppose to meet him here hours ago. I don't know where he is. I don't know where he could be." Her shoulders dropped forward, a slight whine entering her tone.

"If I get up to go look for him I could miss him if he comes back. But if I don't go find him, he could be in trouble right now! They don't cover this in training," she complained, letting the hint about herself slip without noticing. "What am I suppose to do?" Her head fell into her arms dramatically, the girl digging her fingers into her hair.

[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

"Maybe he found someone like you and... got bogged down", joked Rosario light-heartedly and winked at the other girl.

"Well, normally..." She trailed off and fell silent, finding herself at a bit of a loss. She would certainly have known what she would have done in this situation. Master Zylah had told her often enough: listen closely into herself, see what thoughts and ideas came up, what her gut feeling was - and then just go with that - and you'd find what you were looking for - or something else that's good for you to find. Once you'd got the hang of it and didn't confuse yourself so much anymore, it was actually easy.

"Well, my gut is telling me that sitting around here is doing you no good", she eventually determined with resolve. She drank up what was left of the intensely green liquor in her glass, but it down, and got up, taking Kyras hand and pulling her with her.

[member="Kyra Perl"]​

 

[Kyra Perl]

If Kyra wasn't so stressed, she would have cracked up at the suggestion that her accompanying master had fallen into the thrall of a Zeltron. Force knows she had tried more than once to charm a master into seeing things her way. Catching them unawares was as impossible as catching a fly with her tounge.

She'd keep trying though. Definitely.

[member="Rosario Perlyn"] did earn a small crack of a smile, hidden inside Kyra's arms. She slowly raised her head, considering the stranger's words. She did not find it odd that the girl was willing to help her, she knew the nature of her people well, even if she was 2 generations departed from the planet herself.

But it was because she knew her people that she also questioned the source of this concern. She looked around for a boss that could be tainting Rosario's motivations.

"....Are you here alone?" She asked carefully, ever so gingerly feeling out with the force for the girl's intentions.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

“No. But I’m going to tell the others they’ll have to do without me for a bit”, announced Rosario, grinning.

“Hey, Uncle!”, she called out and waved to the group she had left earlier. “I’ll find you guys later.” Some shouts and signs of acknowledgement and facetiously dressed disappointment were returned.

“He’s not actually my uncle, of course”, explained Rosario earnestly and in a low voice, turning back to Kyra. “Or anyone else’s I know. Just everyone calls him that, they were doing it already before I met any of them. I don’t know why.” She shrugged, and smiled again.

“Now, this guy you were waiting for, what does he actually look like? And where might he have gone? Were you together earlier? What did you talk about when you parted… Well, you know what I mean. The sort of thing that helps find people. If I’m to help you, you’ll need to tell me”, she said encouragingly.

[member="Kyra Perl"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra didn't shy away from the swath of questions. Force knows she was guilty of barraging people with them in the past. Instead she took them head on, casting this 'uncle' a concerned glance before addressing Rosario.

"Uuuuuh, brown hair-- no really, he does! -- blue eyes. Andasabertuckedintocasualpants." She slipped in quickly. She skimmed the detail, moving onto the next. "He was suppose to be casing Liza Street." The notorious black market. "He wasn't suppose to get into anything-- I really can't believe he'd willingly get into anything. We were just looking for information on-" She caught her tongue. "...Things?"

While she trusted Rosario on first glance, her intentions did seem pure, she wasn't stupid enough to just go spilling things.

"He was suppose to meet me here 3 hours ago, now it just feels like he's in trouble," she whined, distressed. If she just followed the force, she likely could locate him on her own. However there was a small mental blockade that prevented her from going that route. She wasn't use to heading things solo.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

Rosario laughed out loud. "You're terrible at this!" she said good-naturedly and squeezed Kyra's arm. "Tall, short? Beard, no beard? What's he wearing? Details, girl!" All the while she was smiling widely. She was simply being excited and emphatic, not upset.

"Liza Street... That's a market area, right?" The morning's shoot-out had almost been forgotten, and not just by her, considering that her friends hadn't considered the possible danger, or maybe they hadn't realised that Rosario actually intended to go out into the streets. Now the memories came back, and Rosario suddenly grew more sombre. "Well then. When we're there, don't bump into people, don't touch anything, don't upset anyone. You wouldn't believe it, but they'd hurt even a cutie like you", she remarked, already more lively again. Perhaps the thought that she still had her lightsaber with her had reassured her. One person to explain this to, she could handle, if it came to that.

Rosario took Kyra's hand again and pulled her with her towards the exit out of the bar. Stepping into the street, she narrowed her eyes, expecting to be hit by bright daylight, but then realised that time had flown by and the day was leaning into twilight already.

[member="Kyra Perl"]​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Well now she was just treating her like she didn't know anything! Kyra huffed as she was dragged out, half tempted to tell the girl off then and there! She kneeeew what she was doing! ...Kinda!

This cutie wasn't incapable!

The indignation dissipated as the dull dusk light washed over them. Kyra swallowed hard, the encouraging night reminding her that she really, really wasn't suppose to be alone right now. Okay. Maybe she did need help!

She scrambled to keep pace to Rosario, her little frame pressing into the girl's back as if her thinly clothed form offered warmth. It didn't. In truth, numbers just always made her feel better. Especially when the other person acted like they knew what they were doing. "You really think people are gonna talk to us? What if something bad happened-- what if it's a traaap?"

They knew far too little to determine something like that. Still. She had sat inactive up until this point for a reason.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

Rosario had underestimated the difference between night and day and found that her clothes were not well-suited to the rapidly cooling evening air. She shivered briefly, but remained undeterred. Equanimity, her master had said. Simply be aware, and regard with equanimity. She tried.

As they walked, Rosario put her arm around the other girl's waist, partly perhaps for the illusion of warmth and to keep her close in the bustling streets, but mostly because she simply liked to touch people and it was natural. "What sense does a trap make when nobody knows we're looking for him?" said Rosario innocently. "But you really need to tell me how to spot him already, or I can't help you look!" She pinched Kyra gently and grinned at her.

Liza Street was only a handful of blocks away. At one corner, Rosario almost bumped into a Rodian and at a moment's notice innocently asked him for the way in Huttese. He was so confused that he simply answered the question, and the two little Zeltrons were on the way again before he could think of anything else. Liza Street was not a street bazar or anything of the sort, no - it was simply a street full of shops, often selling thoroughly everyday goods and services and looking perfectly unexciting at day when the low-quality neon-coloured signs before the stores and in the windows were largely switched off. But at night, it became colourful and lively, because everyone knew that what was ostensibly being advertised was not the only fare these shops sold.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra seemed to calm at the touch, some of her tension melting from her body as the little empath couldn't help but to take in some of Rosario's steadfast confidence.

Goosebumps speckled her skin as she walked besides the girl, her eyes wide and alert as she skimmed the crowd for a glimpse of brown hair. It really wasn't the best way to search for him, but Rosario seemed much better at this finding thing than her.

Kyra let out a huff as the colorful night life of the shops spilled over them. "Here, let me show you," came the frustrated announcement. And with little warning and no manners, Kyra was pressing against Rosario's mind, trying to project an image of a middle age man with brow hair, a hard-lined nose, and simple cotton clothing masking a saber at his side.

While Kyra only meant to impart an image, the padawan accidentally imparted other things as well. Like The concept of a mission, her status of a padawan, and the distinct and rising need to pee.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

Rosario stopped abruptly, but without letting go of Kyra, when images and ideas appeared in her head, indeed positively flooded her mind in a surprising display of openness, and she understood. “Oh. Ooooh!” She grinned happily, and pulled the other girl closer to give her a tight hug. “You’re one of us!”

“But...” She let go of Kyra and suddenly seemed pensive and insecure. “Why don’t you know where to go, then? I always know how to find my master.” She looked to be genuinely confused by the discrepancy.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"You do?" Kyra exclaimed, half pulling herself out of the hug. "How?!" This wasn't her own personal master. No, she didn't have one of those yet. But she was with a master, and Rosario was right to exclaim that Kyra should have been able to do this on her own.

Independent thinking was not yet a skill the padawan possessed.

And trusting in the force? Not her forte.

Kyra's grip was clammy on Rosario's skin, the girl's hands griping at Rosario's arms in a desperate bid for answers.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

"Well... I don't know." Rosario shrugged helplessly. "She always either finds me or I find her. I just go where it feels right to go. And then it always feels familiar when she's there. It feels... a bit like home, even before I see here. I can explain." She seemed embarrassed by this fact.

"But you're probably distracted right now, so let's fix that first." She took Kyra's hand firmly and once again pulled her with her - this time into a random establishment on the street, a small restaurant by the looks of it, with a rather tacky illuminated sign, mixing in neon colours all the hues of twi'lek skin - or at least that was Rosario's association with the spectrum.

She asked the waiter to allow them the bathroom for a moment, and despite an initially unwilling look, he grudgingly acquiesced when she looked at him pleadingly. While Kyra was gone, Rosario looked around curiously, and found that one part of the wall was actually a curtain. She stuck her head through and an altogether different view opened up, that of a bar much larger than the eatery upfront, and much different in character. In particular, there was a prominent stage where a human and a twi'lek girl were dancing. Rosario watched them for a while with the appraising air of someone who knew something about what they were seeing. The twi'lek was decent, though not stellar, but the human girl clearly felt awkward in a way that ruined her aura completely. She just didn't have any charisma in this role. Amateurs, thought Rosario, but at the same time pitied them.

When she returned, Kyra found Rosario standing there, bent slightly forward, and seemingly lacking a head, beheaded by the black curtain.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Rosario was right, that had been a distraction. So much so that she was hmming softly in relief once she finally exited the bathroom to find her companion... in a compromising position. A sly grin hit Kyra, who then took great efforts to creep silently up ... and squeeze Rosario suddenly on the sides. When the girl rejoined her beyond the curtain, she would find herself with a cackling padawan, Kyra ever so pleased over her joke.

"Got ya~" Her bell like laughter carried forward, regardless of Rosario's response. Kyra simply brushed over it, her attention fleeting.

"Whatcha watching?" She demanded just as quickly. She pulled back the curtain to peek out too.

 

[Rosario Perlyn]

"Eeeek!" squeaked Rosario, twisting away from the tickling hand and ending with her back against the wall. She grinned, suppressing a giggle.

"Nightclub.", stated Rosario nonchalantly in response to Kyra's interest in what was going on beyond the curtain. She joined the other girl and peered over her shoulder again.

The next moment, Kyra felt a hand slapping a body part on her backside that was well-suited to such an approach. "Ey, ladies! Gotta decide where you wanna be", complained a male voice behind them.