Private Flesh, and the Power It Holds

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra let out a long breath.

"Yeah. That a place to sta- yeah- thank you," she rattled, a mix between relieved and taken aback. She tried to gather her thoughts but found they remained scattered. Controlling her breath only controlled so much of her, but it was not a practice she released easily.

She took another deep breath in an out.

"I don't really know where to start, if I'm being honest. I know where my mom found her and I know what Nida said to me, that's it. Maybe... Maybe you could try talking to her?" She glanced sideways at him, the request gaining a skeptical edge.

"She's not... she's not here right, but she kept talking about family, family, family. I can't-- I can't reach her, but maybe... maybe you could? Someoneneedstoreachher," she confessed, her voice tight with the pain she kept from her face.

"And maybe-- maybe your sister would know something. How- how sith is she? Could we... capture and ... question her or.... something?" The words caught in her mouth, the girl clearly reaching for solutions that were not at hand.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // Jedi Temple // Rooftop Garden

​

His brow lifted with reluctance. "Talk to her? I could, but I doubt she'd know me. Our relation was complete news to me so-" The Padawan pursed his lips, bobbing his head side to side as he contemplated. "Yeah, actually, fuck it. I'll talk to her if you think it'll do some good." Scratching the back of his head was a clear indicator of how uncertain he was. "I dunno if I can reach her, but I can certainly try, at the very least."

Zhani was on topic again. Great.

"It's complicated. She's, uh, renounced the whole Sith thing for the most part." There was still great darkness in her, but Zaavik wouldn't mention it. "I doubt she would know anything, either. As for capturing her, that's a lot easier said than done. She's part of a corporate family, and I doubt messing around in Concord space would be a good look for me." Hadn't stopped him before, though.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Awkward. Awkward, awkward. Awkward.

That's all this felt like to her.

She felt the misunderstanding inside her request but she did not bother to correct it. Too much energy. Too much mindspace. Too much.

She took his agreeance to visit Nida and she went with it. He would learned about the state of her when he got there. He would understand what Kyra meant by 'reach her' then.

She felt his subtle distaste for the topic circling back to his sister. She listened, then pushed for nothing more. "I see," was all she said, feel no less enlightened than the moment his dna had been confirmed on the screen. She patted down her padawan braid, her palms damp.

"I'm starting to wonder if there even is an answer," she admitted after a long moment. "Or if this is all just as fecked up as the rest of the galaxy and there's really nothing to know. Chit happens. She fell. And I'm making something out of nothing because I just can't accept it."

She glanced over at him, emotions swimming in the shared hue of her eyes. "What then, you know?"

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // Jedi Temple // Rooftop Garden

"What then, you know?"​

"Sometimes there isn't an answer." Zaavik shrugged. "Sometimes you can never know for sure. But when and if you give up is when all the answers that could have been will cease to be." He took a moment to think back to one of those Jedi Philosophers that Auteme had convinced him to read. What was it he said? "It is a sad regret to have searched for the truth and settled for an answer." Was that applicable? He was really just trying to help, more than anything.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is; you gotta keep looking, no matter what. Never accept anything you don't have to."

A reassuring smile was offered. He could tell just how tense she was, and given what little he'd been able to read between the lines, he couldn't blame her. He couldn't begin to imagine how he'd feel in the same situation. If he and Zhani had reunited under different circumstances. It must have been hard. Zaavik stood, doing his best to remain in the pavilion's shelter. Reluctantly, he held out a hand. "You wanna go now?"

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

That was... surprisingly helpful.

She stared blankly at the smile, her own face unmovable to emotions that swirled chaotically within. Would she ever hit solid ground? She hoped so. She really... really... needed to.

The hand received a flickering glance. She nodded, standing abruptly and bonking herself on the umbrella he had set up over her. "Ouch," she hissed, catching his coat before it could slide off her shoulders and hit the ground too. She rubbed her forehead, shrugging the jacket off and placing it in his hand.

"You're gonna want to pack," she told him, closing up the umbrella to boot. "...Something warmer than this." Midvinter was far, and he... he was gonna need snow boots.

"You got gloves? We can stop along the way." Her off mood faded with the new path set in place, her ship's enter chip twirled around her hand. She started for the roof hatch, unhindered by the rain.

"Oh," she chirped, speaking over her shoulder. "Hope you're not allergic to cats."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // Jedi Temple // Rooftop Garden

"Warmer than this!?" Zaavik made a face. Aside from maybe his regular jacket, this was about the warmest set of attire he owned. It just had to be somewhere cold, didn't it? The rain and chill of WeatherNet didn't bug him too much, but real cold? Zaavik couldn't stand an actual winter. He hated it, in fact. His native area of Zeltros was warm all year round, far from the less popular temperate zones. He was nearly thirteen the first time he ever saw snow in person.

"I've got gloves but uh-" He grimaced. "Where are we going, exactly? Please don't tell me this is all on an arctic world or something," he pleaded vainly. To think, he was eager to help just a moment ago. The thought of frigid winds alone was enough to make him nearly reconsider; as if Korriban hadn't been cold enough.

In the face of his poorly founded reservations, he remembered the first Olys Corellisi phrases Allyson Locke had taught him. 'Ihn Corellisi nyeve min bhiq suman ehin nyiad.' A Corellian never turns his back on someone in need. It wasn't by birth, and hardly by blood, but moreso in his heart and soul that he'd adopted Corellia. He was not just a Corellian, but a Jedi too. Cold be damned.

"Yeah, fine, whatever, it doesn't matter," he sighed. "Lemme just swing by my place first, it'll be fine. I'll grab what I need."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

---

And Kyra thought her bunk was messy.

"Nice place," came the polite murmur, his umbrella clunked onto of a cracked counter top. She raised a brow, hefting her backpack on it too. "What happened there?" She ran her fingers over it, nosy to a fault. Memories bubbled to mind-- hands and bowls late at night-- a lash of anger and a 'crack' as sliver drove through metal surface.

She blinked hard, pulling her hand back.

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed back regret. Not because of what she had seen, she had felt anger in stride, there was nothing wrong to it. She was just suppose to be cutting out chit like that.

"Anyway," she dismissed brisky, jumping onto the counter and treating it like a seat. She was like the wind, there one place and snapping to another the next. Just before she was a defeated slump over the state of her sister. Now her feet swung as she keyed into her holopad.

She give him an inquisitive glance.

"You're a-- what-- medium?"

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // APARTMENT

"Nice place."

"Uh, sure, I guess," he replied wryly. An underhanded toss discarded the door fob onto the couch, followed shortly by the soaked vestment overcoat. "Honestly I don't really like it here. Beggars can't be choosers, and all that." It had never felt like home. Not even just the apartment, but Galatic City, even Coruscant. Limited space, and sharing a bedroom wall with his Master only served to make the living experience more grating. Though, in truth, it could have been much worse. This was the sweetest deal he'd ever had, so he endured.

Zaavik ignored the inquiry about the counter, looking around for something to pack things in. "Uh-" He looked up from looking under the couch, pulling a duffel bag out from beneath it. "Help yourself if you're hungry or something," he offered before reaching back under the couch again.

"You a-- what-- medium?"

A medium? Sure, he wasn't jacked by any means but not so scrawny and effeminate that he'd wear a medium. He winced as he stood back up, suddenly self-concious. "Large," he grumbled as he walked past her and disappeared through the open doorway of his bedroom, just beyond the kitchen.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

She placed one medium thermal set into her ecart.

"And a hat-" she murmured to herself, half sing-song as dropped it in too. "Gloves-- no, not that kind. Uhuuuuuuuuuh." Plop plop plop, the cart total ticked up. She held the holopad up as he reentered, biting on her lip as she squinted between the contents and him in the dimly lit space.

"No, not your color," she dismissed, hunching over as she skimmed through the catalogue for a balance of warm of style. She chewed on her lip, mindlessly biting off scabs as her hair fell to frame her face.

"You know I'm surprised they have you in here," she commented, dropping herself in a pair of thick socks that popped up on the side. "Aren't padawans suppose to be like-- in bunks in the temple? Do you even have a master?" If that came out wrong, she didn't notice. She held up her pad again, comparing him to the image, then gave a satisfied nod.

Purple it is.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // APARTMENT

Zaavik returned from the hidden obscurity of his room once he'd changed out of the traditional Jedi vestments. Tunic traded for a long-sleeved Ziggy Starborn and the Supernovas T-Shirt. Trousers from a pair of tight black jeans. An equally edgy leather jacket thrown on above it all. And, of course, the boots once out of place now seemed to fit like a glove with the ensemble.

He froze just outside the threshold, duffel bag over his shoulders as she held up the holopad.

"No, not your color."

An eyebrow raised, and then he quickly unfroze and walked by. He didn't really have a color, a contributing factor to his overwhelmingly black wardrobe. One would have been betrayed into thinking the rebellious young adult phase was the only factor. Circling around the opposite side of the counter island, he opened the cabinets beneath to dig around.

"Aren't padawans suppose to be like-- in bunks in the temple? Do you even have a master?"

A disfigured, red extremity raised from behind the counter and tapped on the fridge door with a pointed finger. A few inches above was a collection hardcopies of various holophotos stuck to the door with repulsormagnets. Himself, Ryv and Maynard Treicolt posing with a captured New Imperial Flag, held spread out and upside down, smug looks around. He and Auteme making identical squat and finger steeple poses in front of the galaxy's largest living bantha. Photobombing what was supposed to be a nice photo of Maynard Treicolt and Loske Treicolt with the most obnoxious face he could manage.

Closest to his tapping, though, was visibly the oldest photo in the bunch. A much younger Zaavik, fifteen possibly, posing for a self-taken photo in some nondescript location with an older woman, late twenties at most. "Yeah, Allyson," he confirmed absently. Another object was haphazardly shoved in the bag and he popped up from behind the counter. "She's my neighbor too, actually," or was, given that she was still MIA at the time. He didn't let any of that worry seep out where it might be detected. "Didn't want me having to be stuck in the dorms at the temple. Though, this place does come out of her stipend." He made a face, he wasn't really the biggest fan of the chairty. It made him feel like a freeloader. Part of the reason he didn't love it here.

"As soon as I'm knighted, though, I'll use my own to get out of here."


"Anyway, uh, think I'm good to go."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Submit Order
​

Kyra flickered her holopad off, the order placed for delivery in an hour or less-- plenty of time for her to order a proper refuel and supply drop. Midvinter was far away. Her shoulders dropped, equally relieved and stressed. While the problem of finding him was now resolved, his presence opened up a whole can of worms she wasn't sure what to do with.

One step forward, two steps back.

She hopped off the counter, distracting herself by skimming the pictures on the fridge. "Oh, Auteme. I know her." She followed him towards the door, her attention lingering behind her, before the apartment too, was locked away.

Did he ever wonder if he'd ever make it back?

She did. With every room she exited lately, there was the lingering thought... what if she never saw here again? What if she died?

Was she prepared to say goodbye?

Was he?

---

Sting Ray was simple in design, but her father had seen to it that the personal transport had been equipped with all the necessities for life in space. Kyra didn't picture herself a spacer, but lately more and more of her time had been spent inside these durasteel walls. They were starting to feel like home.

"I just need to tell my Master where I'll be," she commented, walking him through the common room equipped with basic necessities. The round space branched off into two halls. She pointed to the one on the right.

"There's a few bunks you can pick from. I'll be in the cockpit when you're ready." She gave him a tight smile, turning for a set of stairs for the aforementioned flight deck.

"Mr. Bumpkins, we have deliveries coming!" Her voice echoed.

The AI panel flashed in acknowledgement.

From around the corner, a fluffy face appeared.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // STING RAY

Duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Zaavik ducked through the entrance and scanned around in partial awe. Did she live in this? He hadn't really taken her as a spacer. A book by its cover, and all that, he supposed. Boots tapped against the durasteel floor panels as he followed her through the interior of the craft. There was a subtle tingling in his nostrils that evoked an odd, squirming expression, but he quickly brushed it off as she led him into the stateroom.

Picking the nearest bunk, he slung the duffel bag off his shoulder and shoved it onto the bedding. "Thanks," he offered, unzipping the bag to pull out the essentials. Mr. Bumpkins? Who the hell is Mr. Bumpkins? Side to side, his head oscillated in dismissal. Pillow, cover, extra shoes, several other things all placed neatly around the bunk. The rest disregarded, left in the bag for the time being.

The itch in his nostrils returned, and a pang of eyes watching him provoked him into turning around. Was that-? Was that Sand Cat? He sniffled. A minor allergy. Unlucky. Zaavik squatted, holding his hand out and letting the creature approach. A gentle stroke on the side of the face. Purring. A sniffle. The Sand Cat leaned into his hand with every obliging pet. It was only a matter of time before Zaavik scooped him up with an underhanded cradle.

He felt the urge to sneeze. He held it in.

The Zeltron ducked through the cockpit door. The Sand Cat's legs dangled off either side of his arm, its head held up and eyes half-closed, purring as a disfigured red hand scratched behind the ear. Zaavik looked up, down, and left to right once over. "Man, this is your ship?" Knees bent and back arched forward, releasing the cat onto the floor before he plopped down into the co-pilot chair. Another sniffle. He kicked off the floor and spun around on the swivel in a full three-sixty.

"Okay, so, where to exactly? Implications about it being cold doesn't really narrow it down."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra swirled in her own chair, her holomessage zipping across the screen as it was sent away.

Caedyn Arenais
I found the lead on Nida's cousin. I'm bringing him to Midvinter to see if she responds. Give me a week? I promise to read those texts while I'm away.
-K

"Ohey," she chirped, eyeing the content feline in his hand. "You found Popsicles." She leaned forward, offering the back of her palm for the cat to come sniff. She smiled a little as Popsicles smashed her face into her fingers, the force sensitive cat reaching up and streeeeetching against the chair.

Kyra bopped away her nails.

"Yeah. This is home." A heavy breath escaped her. She pulled her knees back, letting Za have the space to twirl unmolested. Heh. Comfy, huh? She huffed as Popsicles hopped onto her lap, nails digging into for balance.

"We're going to Midvinter. It's, uh. Other side of Sith space. Where Silver's use to reside," she offered for vague reference, reaching beyond Popsicles to pull up the profile on screen. "There. Cold. Archaic. A bit middle of no where. ... but quaint. Ever hear of it?"

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // STING RAY

"Midvinter," he echoed flatly. Why did it have to be a frigid planet? Once again he found himself internally lamenting. "Wow, that's-" Cold. "-far." It was going to be a much longer trip than he'd expected. "But, yeah, I've heard of it. Never been." Blue eyes scanned over the profile screen. Radius, climate, average temperatures. Well, if she's from there it certainly explained why she seemed so unbothered by the cold back at the garden. With what was on screen, it would seem that a cold day on Coruscant was still warmer than the worst of Midviterian Summer. If it even had a real summer.

"So, what, five days? A week?" He swiveled back to face forward, leaning back in the seat and huffing a long breath through expanded cheeks and puckered lips. Should've brought something to do or work on. He was starting to wonder if it was too late for a second trip home to pick some extra things up. Probably not worth the effort. Languid movements of his knees oscillated the chair back and forth.

Wasn't all bad, maybe he could see the edge of the Galaxy while he was there. He'd always wanted to stare into the expansive void beyond, speckled only by the light of other distant galaxies.

"Well, ready when you are, then."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Ehhhhh," came her cryptic reply. She reached into her pocket and tossed him over her holopad, the device flipping end over end for his lap. She simply expect him to catch it, picking up Popsicles and standing as she did so.

"Grab what you need." She placed down the feline in her seat, turning to leave the place and deal with the shipments that would soon start rolling in.

"Oooh, some games? I got a practice set for coding, see if you can find the new addition." She flicked a few switches, a display of door ports lighting up on her way out. "Take off's in 60, so expedite it if you have to."

She slipped through the door, an airy pep to her step as she left him as fast as he came. "Snacks too,"' she called out. "Produce only lasts so long!"

What had he signed up for? Clearly, time would only tell.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // STING RAY

Metallic fingers clattered against the holopad, a deft grip snatching it out of the air. Rolling it over in his fingers, the blue light of the screen washed over his face. Kyra's cart was open, filled with various spy and adjacent gear. But why? He hadn't really taken her for a Shadow, and if she was, what would she need all this shit for? "Hmmm," he hummed out loud, scrolling through the items within.

After a minute or two of being nosy, Zaavik closed out of the cart and began adding the required goods with some semblance of haste. Games, as suggested. Snacks, also as suggested. Little, if any of what was added to the cart were things he hadn't been told to put in. Spending someone else's money wasn't something he felt great about, even in this circumstance. Hitting the express deliver button and seeing the fee confirmation prompt almost physically hurt him.

She must be a rich kid, he thought. Strange then, that she'd end up a Jedi. Maybe it was circumstance? Zaavik knew he certainly hadn't chosen this life but had embraced it all the same. He shook his head to himself, no point dwelling on it, especially after being nosy in her shopping habits. It would probably all make sense when they got to Midvinter. Or, at least, he hoped so. Something in his gut told him he wasn't prepared for whatever waited for him.

━━━━━━
​

The ship fluctuated between rhythmic bursts of rumbling and sustained tremors while barreling through hyperspace. It'd woken Zaavik from a nap, and for a brief waking moment, he'd thought they were experiencing atmospheric turbulence. As it turned out, however, they were still neck-deep in a vacuum.

And so, he found himself in the bowels of the ship. Several floor panels removed so he could jump down into the maintenance cubby beneath. "Yikes. You said it'd been through a warzone, but-!" A band limiter snapped off a tensioner as if the added vibration from his shouting to Kyra broke the final leg it stood on. "Looks more like ten warzones!"

The outside of the ship was a facade of pristine working order. Easy enough to patch up the exterior, but the smaller and more nuanced bits often went neglected. Especially when people weren't learned or seasoned Spacers. Ships were big, with more moving parts than you could count. Keeping up with it all was a challenge. "When's the last time you ran diagnostics!?"

Maybe that was a dumb question. He could just do it himself. His hand reached out of the cubby and onto crept up into the main lounge area where the floor panels had been removed. His hand seized the factory-standard included maintenance box and heaved it down into the bowels with him. Scomp-link, check. Holopad, check. Now he just needed to find the central interfacing port.

Hopefully, it wasn't in some stupidly tiny compartment only accessible by a BD or Astromech droid.

Tucking the scomp and pad beneath his arm, he reached up to tie violent strands behind his head and out of his face. He squatted down, doing an awkward crouch-walk as his eyes scanned the techno-mechanical-maze for the interfacing port. The constant rumbling wasn't making it easy, but after a few minutes of strange shuffling, he managed to find it hiding behind a small panel.

A click sounded as he connected the wire out of the scomp into the holopad. Carefully, he slid the scomp into the interface and it began to spin and oscillate with a mechanical buzzing. There was a moment where the holopad remained blank, evoking dread-filled anticipation. Then suddenly, aurabesh characters flooded the screen, errors scrolling the screen down at near-epileptic speeds.

"Huh. So it's been a while?"

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Oh that's how you do that," Kyra murmured, her inquisitive look shifting to satisfaction as she watched the screen load.

Yeah. That long.

Her expression slowly turned concerned, the errors flashing by with unrelenting speed. "I wouldn't say ten. I mean there was Myrkr. Korriban. That time on Ziost..." Her padawan braid hung limply down, swaying with each shuffles she did to get comfortable as she peered down form above. She settled on her stomach, her hands coming up to cushion her chin.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

The storage room was packed with the shipments, only half unloaded. Kyra was independent, but follow through remained a distant concept. She usually had Thirdas Heavenshield for that. She swallowed hard, her thoughts slipping back to the emptiness that was his bunk... And the reason he was away.

Her smile crumbled, before it was promptly tucked away into the flat press of her lips.

"She's gonna have to be. Midvinter isn't really know for its tech, and we still have to hop through Sith space to even get there."

Because ultimatums clearly would fix the problem here. "I have duct tape?"

 

[Zaavik Perl]

CORUSCANT // STING RAY

"She'll be fiiiine," he reassured. Scomp was pulled from the interface, and then unplugged from the holopad. A flick of his finger on the screen sent the saved lines of aurebesh errors into an uncontrolled scroll. All at once, he stopped it, returning his finger to the screen. Luck, The Force, or Intuition willing, he'd stopped right at the diagnostic code for a Stabilizing coil issue. "It's a YT-1300, so if we've made it this far, I doubt it'll be an issue. Corellian ships don't quit."

Gripping a belt loop, he adjusted his pants around his waist and took a long step forward over a heatsink. "Hold this," he insisted, handing the holopad up before leaning down to grab an autospanner. Back over the heatsink he dropped to his stomach and began to wriggle his way underneath parts and pieces. A few moments later, the bottoms of his boots would finally disappear into the bulk of this ship's innards.

Out the other side, space opened up just big enough for him to crawl hands and knees on. They really didn't make this thing with maintainers in mind that weren't Pit Droids or BDs. A circular platform, raised around two inches, housed three separate stabilizing coils. One by one, he felt them with the back of his hand. All warm, but none too hot or too cold. No real indicator of which one was throwing off the internal equilibrium.

Red flesh and extremities wrapped around the center coil. Focus. Through the force, he could feel the spring working, expanding, contracting. That sensation returned from the left one, pinging his extrasensory awareness. The right, however, did nothing. Zaavik put his hand over it. There was nothing, like a corpse. Each bolt and screw, one by one were removed with the autospanner.

A yank heralded a loud snap and twang as the coil was abruptly ripped from the housing with both hands. Tremors shook the ship violently for several seconds, and alarm sounding in the distance. Just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. With no shot coil to ruin the stabilizer equilibrium, the system compensated for the lack of a coil and smoothed out. An occasional rumble was still present. Though, comparatively, the ride was now smooth enough to sleep in.

Zaavik's head would appear shortly after in the same place it'd disappeared. The coil was still in his hand as he slithered his way back into the maintenance cubby. "How long you been flying on this bum coil?"

Kyra Perl​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra watching him slip away, paying special attention not to notice his butt. It wasn't her fault it had been voted for the best butt award and it doubly wasn't her fault that she had enough zeltron in her to appreciate it. As far as the family tree was concerned, they weren't actually related!

And so she rolled away and left him to his crawling as she picked up the mess around them. Popsicles was quick to show on scene, the mouser more than keen to get into the ship innards and explore.

He would pop out to see a floating feline in the center of the grate-- the sand cat held suspended mid leap down. Rather than catch her continuously in her repeated attempts to sneak down, Kyra let her spin in painfully slow circle. She shot Za a deadpan look as he popped up.

"At least a day. Come, come, come on. Before we lose her again. -- We all set now?"