Private Home Again

[Inanna Harth]

Outskirts of Goshen, Lao-mon

It was broad daylight, yet the jungle had grown so thick that the trees blocked out the sun, creating an artificial dusk. Inanna rode her speeder bike over the rough terrain, barely recognizing the landmarks. Her old neighborhood had been overtaken by the wilderness, the abandoned homes and businesses green with vines, moss and lichen. All that was once familiar was now foreign and strange.

The Mawites had ravaged the planet for resources, yet the forests were vast and kept growing back. More lumber, they reasoned in that obnoxiously opportunistic way which allowed them to take advantage of every attempt at resistance against them. The trees fought for survival, rising up toward the sun, only to be cut down again and again. But they kept the Mawites busy. Their sacrifice meant other areas were left alone to grow lush and verdant.

But the invasion had been violent, and much was destroyed by bombs and explosives. With her mind full of survivors' tales of entire cities being razed, Inanna half expected to find an empty lot. But as she rounded the corner, letting her bike slow to a stop, she found home still standing.

Her great-grandfather had built the house centuries ago, designing it to disrupt the natural landscape as little as possible. It was structured to look almost like it was part of the mountain, blending in with its surroundings. That probably made it less of a target for bombers and the like. Not only was it fully intact, it was less overgrown than the other buildings she had passed along the way, whose architects had chopped down trees and dug deep into the earth to house their clients. Nature had not taken her vengeance upon the House of Hoole, for it had committed no crimes against her in the first place.

She parked her bike and swung her leg over, but couldn’t bring herself to take another step. It was crazy, what she was doing. What did she expect to find in there? It might look untouched, but she knew the halls and rooms were empty. It had probably been looted, too. What could she hope to gain from this visit, except more pain?

I have to know.

Inanna, still disguised as a Marauder Aspirant, eventually found the will to walk toward the front door.

Darth Mori​

 

[Vesta]

Narrow rays of light filtered in through the windows from the jungle canopy outside, dimly filling the interior of the unlit house despite the time of day due to just how much growth the forestry had seen since the carnage the Maw had caused on Lao-mon. It appeared to be the abandoned home of one of the natives, the shapeshifting species the galaxy had come to know as Shi'ido, left behind during the Maw's early raids on the planet and the battles it had seen since. It was home to the species that she belonged to, a people with whom she had nearly no ties to beyond genetic, as well as a favorite haunt for the headhunters in the Brotherhood for how difficult it was said to be to catch one of her kind on their lush planet.

It was suitable, then, for her to be there - like the inhabitants of the planet, she had no desire to be found and not a soul had been made aware of her unplanned trip to the world. This quaint abode, likewise, suited her plenty. It was only a matter of opening doors, a mere play with the force to ensure she could get inside without having to physically break in, and though it felt strange to intrude on someone else's home it was a certain kind of nostalgic feeling that reminded her of something she didn't realize that she had missed.

The feeling of being alone in a home, living in a small place with no expectations placed on her and nothing to live for besides the need to live comfortably, wore off rather quickly, though, and she was already slowly walking towards the door when Inanna Harth approached it from the opposite side. It was unusual for force sensitives to travel without picking up on unexpected arrivals, particularly organics, but so comfortable was Mori in believing there was nobody looking for her that could possibly give her the sort of trouble necessary to pose a risk that she paid no attention to her surroundings through the force. In fact when the door opened she was likely just as surprised to see Inanna on the other side as the woman was to see her.

"Oh."​

It was a simple response, one which made her shock clear. She expected to have been able to slink back out of the house, and off of the planet of Lao-mon for that matter, without any hurdles to slow her down or catch her unawares. The red mask she had been relatively fond of wearing since Tython was not pressed up against her face, either, and instead was dangling between her fingertips by her side. Milky-white eyes stared blankly towards the direction of Inanna, their strange appearance making the exact line of sight she had rather ambiguous. Contrary to the display she constantly put on, the Sith stepped back and out of the woman's way. She gestured further into the house, adapting to the unexpected arrival with a shift in demeanor. "I was just about to leave.. but I suppose I could entertain myself for a short while longer." Mori said, perhaps to Inanna but more than likely aloud to herself.

She didn't seem to consider whether or not she was unwelcome in a place that was most certainly not her own.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Despite her Force sensitivity, Inanna’s awareness of her surroundings was shockingly limited. So when the door opened to reveal a stranger standing on the other side, her golden eyes went wide with genuine shock.

The woman across the threshold seemed equally surprised. She was pale, corpselike by human standards, with milky white eyes and inky black hair. Dark robes hid her figure, and a shiny red mask dangled from one hand.

The fingers of Inanna’s right hand flexed instinctively, but no weapon appeared in her palm yet. While Lao-mon was largely unrecognizable to her now, and she wouldn’t trust anyone she encountered on a world conquered by the Maw, she knew a fellow Shi’ido when she saw one.

"I was just about to leave.. but I suppose I could entertain myself for a short while longer."

Entertain herself? Inanna raised an eyebrow. The woman spoke in Basic, so she responded in Basic.

“Who are you? What are you doing in this place?”

Darth Mori​