Private Foster's Home for Imaginary Acolytes

[Valeya]

BASTION | MORDECAI ZAMBRANO'S RESIDENCE
Mordecai Zambrano
♫

Teeth pressed down into the side of the Kiffar's cheek, a look of befuddlement overtaking the young girl as she stared upwards from the streets to the ginormous residence in front of her. It hardly seemed like the home of some kindly man that could help Val figure out how to recover her memories. Of course her frame for reference was limited to people in suspicious starships or ended up being Hutt cartel members.

There was unfortunately no end to people that tried to take advantage of a girl lost in the galaxy.

But the last place that she had found herself at felt different somehow, as if something pulled her to this lonely part of the galaxy. Of course when Valeya got into this corner of the Galaxy, it didn't take long to figure out who the Sith Empire were. But good and evil mattered little to the Kiffar, the only driving force behind her motivation was desperation and a desire for somewhere safe. Hopefully this looming mansion in front of her would be it.

Worse things worse, I get stabbed a few more times and find another place...

The humour in her mind doing little to actually hide how tired she was of moving from place to place, planet to planet. As she hiked her back up her shoulder once more, she hoped that this place could finally be the one.

"Excuse me. Is.... Mordecai here?" Her hazel eyes scrutinized the paper in her hands, the Devaronian that gave her the address truly had the worst fething handwriting.

A roll of the eyes was all that Valeya received in return from the Bastion native, a pout all that he allowed to be returned by the Kiffar before he began to shut the door. A bow staff would prevent him from making such a social mistake though. Honestly he should be thankful Val was so polite.

"Hey. I've come a long way, so if you could just like... NOT shove the door in my face, that would be great." The wooden staff was leveraged to swing the door open, knocking the attendant down to the floor.

Val felt a little bad.

"Alright, I'll just go find him myself."

Clearly not bad enough to stop her from running down the halls to find this mystery man.

 

[Mordecai Zambrano]

| M O R D E C A I |
| Location: | Zambrano Estate, Bastion
| Tag: | Valeya

"Anything new, honey?"

Mordecai's frown deepened as his eyes scanned the newspaper. The piece of flimsi only seemed to spell out the galaxy misfortunes, and today was just another testament to that fact.

"Yeah," the Sith Lord sighed, rocking back in his kitchen chair, "Lots of losses on Mygeeto and Muunilist. Lotta mothers and fathers missing their sons. I should've been with them."

Carly turned away from her cooking at that. Eyes full of concern, yet they knew the grief that her husband felt. "I'm glad you had to stay. You have an important job here while your brother traipses about, conquering worlds and whatnot. It may be selfish of me, but I don't care!"

The rising crescendo of her voice brought him back into reality. His "job" was to quell the rest of the insurrectionists now that the apostates had began separating from the Empire. They were on assault from all fronts - be they from a rival empire or internally, with all of the so-called true Sith abandoning their posts. Their order lacked structure, sure, but Mordecai was always shocked to realize they lacked spines too.

"Want some more nerf sausage? I bought a lot more than I should've last week." His darling wife offered, forcing him to wipe that listless look off of his face.

The Sith Lord snorted and shook his head. A firm hand came down to slap his stomach playfully. "You're just fattening me up, girl. I feel like all I do is eat and lay around these days."

"Sounds nice to me."

Mordecai had to give her that one. It was nice being able to just relax, be lazy, and get fat. Yet while he did that, thousands of soldiers perished without competent commanders.

"Yeah..." he breathed, "It is nice, isn't it?"

Their brief moment of silence was destroyed in an instant. Sounds of voices and a clamor echoed down the hallway connecting the front door to the kitchen and dining room. Then a louder sound, the firm and thundering smack of wood against wood. And a pain-stricken voice that quickly followed.

Mordecai was already on his feet. Robe and slippers be damned. His lightsaber was already tightly grasped, thumb ready to flick its blade into existence.

He found himself face-to-face with a young woman. She'd sprinted through the corridor the second Mordecai saw the front door swing ajar. Her footsteps were purposeful, as if seeking out something: and she knew exactly what she was looking for. Whether she found it or not, all she would come upon is an angry Sith Lord. Whose home was rudely entered.

"Who might this be?" A softer voice from behind. "Who are you?"

Carly had already set her things down, wiping hands against her apron as she moved to rest a hand in the crook of his arm.

"No idea." His grunting voice came, commanding, "Speak. Who are you?"

 

[Valeya]

| Mordecai Zambrano |

Robes and slippers weren't exactly what the Kiffar had been expecting when she barged into this man's home. She thought he supposed to be a Sith Lord, even if her sources said that he was one of the nicer ones out here. Still, she couldn't expect as much. Val was kind of the one breaking into his home right now.

But while his style was less than intimidating, the look on his face almost made Valeya turn back and run. She had managed to piss off more than her fair share of Sith in recent years, it had a tendency to end up poorly.

Her back foot pedaled with the purpose of running once again, clearly the information Dagroth gave her was wrong.

Just another failure to find help, the Kiffar could always find somewhere else to go. But if she ever got caught, that was it. The rest of her life spent in a cell somewhere dark and dusty.

All the panic quickly disappeared with the sight of a less intimidating figure. The white haired woman's disposition was significantly calmer, if a bit distressed by Valeya's sudden entrance. She definitely helped calm the situation down, though the bravado that Valeya came in with had definitely disappeared by this point.

"S-sorry for barging in... My Lord..?" Orphans didn't particularly learn the proper ways to introduce superiors, but Val's ran into quite a few Sith and their men by now and has hopefully picked up the right platitudes. "I didn't mean to barge in. The guy at the door just wouldn't let me in, so I had to...." Nervous rambling probably wasn't the best way to get her point across to the Sith.

"My name is Val... Valeya..." Her voice trailed off weakly one again as her eyes flickered between the man and his wife. "You're Mordecai right? A friend told me you might be able to help me."

The staff was set down gently, trying not to upset the wife or anger the man any more than she already had.

 

[Mordecai Zambrano]

| M O R D E C A I |
| Location: | Zambrano Estate, Bastion
| Tag: | Valeya

What else could you expect? Barging into a man's home in the waking hours of morning, especially on a weekend. No work, no responsibilities, and hardly any random errands. Sith had their brief reprieves as much as anyone else did - some of them just didn't care to use them for more... wholesome pursuits. Then again, not many of them had such a blossoming home life as he did. And he pitied them, he truly did.

Mordecai almost gripped his saber tighter. Almost. It's blood red had yet to snap into existence, yet the glint of fear and hopelessness in the girl's eyes made him hesitate. He felt a pang of anger as he recognized his own weakness then Carly stepped in to break the uneasy silence.

"That's alright," she grinned, "Mordy's new hires as of late have been rather off-putting. I told you Rictus was a terrible choice to watch the front door!"

The Sith Lord shrugged, eyes still on the girl. "I see that now. He couldn't even keep a kid outside." A flash of anger darkened his features as he caught a glimpse of the older man. Fear stricken, cleaning up the entrance as best as he possibly could - all while pretending he couldn't overhear their conversation.

Carly's smile never faded. "But yes, this is Mordecai. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to sit down and talk with you. Isn't that right?"

His lightsaber was already being tucked away in his robe pocket. With a free hand, he could properly pinch his nose and sigh now. "Sure. Fine."

"Would you like some breakfast?"

 

[Valeya]

| Mordecai Zambrano |

"To be fair, he did try his best." The words came out meekly a tint of humour trying to defuse the situation. "My Lord!" A polite bow with her head as she remembered the platitude. It wasn't something that came particularly naturally to the girl, but at least the effort was there. "Please don't be mad at him though! I'm just a tad bit more nimble than he is. I'm sure being old is tough on everyone." Emerald eyes quickly looked over the grey's that the Sith Lord had started to sprout before drastically moving back down to anywhere on the floor.

Vale had begun to wonder if her connection had somehow managed to mix up a bearded, generally angry looking and acting Sith Lord with the very kind and sweet woman that she supposed was his wife. One of them at least seemed far more keen on helping the Kiffar than the other.

As the girl trot on over, clutching her satchel nervously, she sat further away on the table from Mordecai than was probably socially proper. It was a bit scary, and being closer to was far more comforting.

"Oh I couldn't..." The Kiffar was a tad hungry, but taking a meal when barging into someone's home felt a little... ungrateful to the girl. "Thank you for the offer though!" A chipper attitude came through as she turned to address Carly fully, a task that was much easier than the man she had to address next.

"Well... I mean..." Teeth bit into her lip as she turned back to the Sith Lord, his fingers still pressed into his eyes. Still it was hard to look right at him, a vague feeling of guilt bouncing around in her head. "A friend told me... Well not a friend, just some slumlord I know..." A deep breath helped the girl focus as she finally mustered the courage to look him in the eyes. "He said that you might be able to help me with something..."