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 behind Cato over the rough terrain, barely recognizing the landmarks they passed. 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, but the jungles were resilient and kept growing back. They'd kept the Mawites busy, and now with the marauders gone they would be left alone to grow lush and verdant. Still, Inanna half expected to find an empty lot, her childhood home having long since been reduced to overgrown rubble by a bomb or turbolaser. But as they rounded the corner, the bike slowing to a stop, she found home still standing.

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 residents. Her great-grandfather had built the house centuries ago, designing it so as 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, at least.

She was noticeably silent as the bike came to a stop, swinging her leg over to stand on the stone pathway, but rooted to the spot. Just staring at the house.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

It seemed odd that they were only now traveling to Lao-mon. Then again, the occupation of a force as sinister as the Maw made it decidedly difficult to ever turn such a visit into a reality.

But the Maw was gone now. Too splintered to maintain a hold over their once-vast dominion, at least. Suddenly, Lao-mon wasn't such an impossibility.

What struck Cato immediately, was the sheer intensity of the overgrowth. Like the jungle had just been waiting for people to leave so that it take back what had been paved over. Even Kashyyyk's ecosystem had seemed so aggressive in his time there.

A ping indicated they found their destination. Cato slowed the bike to a halt in front of an abandoned home, almost camouflaged within the surrounding landscape, but not quite overtaken by it either. He watched silently as Inanna stepped off the bike, before doing the same. "This is it?" Cato approached quietly, resting a hand on her shoulder, "…How are you feeling?" It seemed the least intrusive way to ask. There was, evidently, a lot on her mind.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Yeah,” she answered, leaning back against him. “The last time I was here, I got disowned by my father. Now he’s dead, the planet’s gone to chit, and I’m the first member of my family to come back here.”

There were no speeders or bikes parked in the driveway. No signs of habitation. She assumed the place had been looted by survivors desperate for supplies, but they were long gone by now. “Wild animals and plants have probably gotten in by now,” she remarked. “On Lao-mon, you don’t trifle with the wildlife. So look sharp.”

Inanna led the way up to the front entrance, constantly looking around to make sure there wasn’t anything in the surrounding woods about to jump out at them. Only then did she dare to open the door and step inside the house.

Climate control had kept the jungle humidity outside from destroying the interior. But she could tell as soon as she walked in that something was up. There was an unfamiliar smell to the place, and a strange noise coming from the kitchen. She peered around the corner to see what it was, then ducked back into cover behind the wall, cursing under her breath.

“There’s an andesite fighting an urartu in the kitchen,” she muttered exasperatedly. “Translation: there’s a flying monstrosity with five mouths and a stinger tail fighting a blob of flesh-eating jelly in the kitchen.” Palming her lightsaber, she peeked around the corner again. The sound of wings abruptly ceased, replaced by disgusting wet slimy noises. Inanna made a face.

“... Aaaand the blob just engulfed the other one. After it’s done digesting the andesite, it’s going to come after us. Urartu are attracted to heat, but also highly flammable, and very, very stupid. Vulnerable to cold, too, and salt. Anything that dries them out, really...” Their lightsabers, while made of burning plasma, wouldn't be all that effective against the creature compared to actual fire...

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato nodded slowly, "…Yyyeah. It's a lot. I get it," It was about all he could offer in the moment. Inanna quickly shifted to business, noting that much like the flora, Lao-mon's fauna was likely reclaiming what had been abandoned, "I find that's good advice for most places, generally," He muttered, creeping up to the entryway alongside her.

"There's an andesite fighting an urartu in the kitchen,"

"…What?" Cato whispered harshly.

"Translation: there's a flying monstrosity with five mouths and a stinger tail fighting a blob of flesh-eating jelly in the kitchen."

The fact that they happened to run into two creatures fighting was exactly their luck. And given Inanna's descriptions, neither was really all that ideal for a run-in. "I don't suppose you have a flamethrower on you, then? Or maybe some salt in the kitchen?" Cato replied cheekily. He glanced around the corner to get a look for himself, and shrugged, "I'll distract it then, if it's so dumb. Give you some time to mount an offense." Without waiting for permission, he ignited his lightsaber and leapt out to get the creatures attention, whistling and waving at it to come for him.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Salt in the kitchen is a possibility,” she acquiesced. “A flamethrower, maybe in storage downstairs?” Her mother used it against such predators that wandered into her garden.

While Cato rushed out of cover to distract the creature, Inanna slipped into the kitchen. “It can’t hear you, Cato,” she said, searching for salt. “It doesn’t have ears…”

The urartu lurched toward him, hitting the floor with a wet slap, then slurping along. “Don’t let it get close to you!” Inanna warned, agitation in her voice. She couldn’t find the salt. Had someone really looted the table salt?...

“I’m going downstairs,” she announced, hurrying toward the side door. Pausing, she glanced back at him, and as a bout of genuine fear for his life seized her—he had no experience with these things, and they could kill a man in a matter of seconds—she reached out with the Force, seized Cato’s body, and dragged him outside the house with her.

She pulled him along the stone pathway down the slope to the utility rooms, which doubled as a storage area. To her amazement, the door was still locked; she input the code and found the contents inside untouched. A collection of gardening tools, holiday decorations, and other oddities typically stored in a garage lay within, like a time capsule of her family. But Inanna had no time to dwell upon the past as she waded into the junk, hunting for the flamethrower...

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“It can’t hear you, Cato,”

"Oh," Cato shrugged, the continued to wave his saber with a bit less unnecessary noise. He hadn't expected a bit of table salt to be a genuine solution, but Inanna had gone to search for some regardless. Ultimately, it was to no avail, and she opted to head downstairs, pausing a moment before pulling him along as well. Cato felt his body stiffen as he was whisked off, deflating a bit at losing his chance to fight a weird goop monster, "Uhhkay."

They found the storage room untouched, and the search began again, "Sorry, you literally have a flamethrower in your back room?" More surprising than the salt strategy. Just Lao-mon things, he supposed. "Is it this?" He asked several times, picking up peculiar objects, until finally one accidentally shot a small lick of flame from the nozzle, "This is it."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“If you lived on a planet with goop monsters, wouldn’t you also have a flamethrower on hand?” Inanna pointed out.

"Is it this?"

“No, that’s a speargun.”

"Is it this?"

“No, that’s a Life Day tree adjustor.”

Eventually he found the flamethrower, squirting out a gout of flame from the nozzle. “Okay good, it’s still working,” Inanna said, starting to head back outside. “We just need to—AHH!”

The urartu was waiting for her when she turned the corner, having slopped and slithered its way down the stone pathway after them. It reared up, ready to lunge at them.

Inanna hid behind Cato and screamed, “Set it on fire! SET IT ON FIRE!”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“No, that’s a speargun.”

"Damn."

“No, that’s a Life Day tree adjustor.”

"Damn it."

Finding the real deal brought a smug grin to Cato's face. He'd never used a flamethrower before, but they always seemed pretty rad. Inanna had only just opened the door again when the nasty blob jumpscared the two of them right on the other side. Cato stiffened, and pushed in front of her to spray the urartu with a gout of flame. The amorphous mass ignited like dry brush, quickly becoming entirely engulfed by fire. It lurched forward as if none the wiser to its current state, until it was ultimately destroyed. Cato watched in awe as the remaining fire dwindling, and lowered the weapon, "Whew. That was… something." He wiped off a bead of sweat, worked up from the sheer intensity of the heat.

"Is every creature on Lao-mon this troublesome?" Cato smirked, then began to creep past the black burn stain on the ground and back up top.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Cato did as requested, blasting the urartu with flames. It kept moving for a while afterward, unable to feel pain (and likely unaware it was even dying). Inanna backed away a little just to be safe, pulling Cato along with her by virtue of her arms being fastened around his waist.

“I forgot how much I hated living here.” She giggled nervously, her heart rate finally slowing down.

"Is every creature on Lao-mon this troublesome?"

“Yes.” She followed him as he inched around the charred grease smear on the walkway, sticking close. “Although urartu are the worst. Or at least, the second worst after the chernamila—little caterpillars that burrow inside you and use your body as a cocoon. It takes days for them to transform. You can’t feel it, because they mess with your mind while they’re in you, make you think you’re in a perfect dream world right up until they turn into a giant fething moth and burst out of you! It’s so twisted. Like something out of a horror holo…”

Re-entering the house, Inanna looked around. The first floor seemed clear, but there was still the second and third to worry about. With a sigh, she climbed the first step, then turned to look back at him with a tired smile. “Let's go up to my old room. Hopefully there won’t be any more native monstrosities hiding under the bed...”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato blinked. At least she was honest about it. Inanna then took it upon herself to describe an even more nightmarish creature as they returned to the house. He frowned, "Yeah, I think I saw a holo like that once. Kinda wish it just stayed a holo…" Horror became a lot less fun knowing there was a real monster out there that could be just as horrific.

The first floor was officially creature-free, prompting the couple to head up to the upstairs floors next, "And where is this room of yours?" Cato asked, peeking around the hall of the second floor.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Over there.”

Inanna pointed to a door at the far end of the upstairs hallway. She checked every room they passed along the way, scanning for signs of pests. It allowed her to delay the inevitable and kept her mind off the emotional intensity of seeing this place again. She opened closets, looked underneath beds, and checked behind various pieces of furniture until she was satisfied that each room was clear.

But she hesitated before crossing that final threshold. If the storage room had been a time capsule of her family, her bedroom was a vacuum-sealed portrait of her youth. The only thing missing was the colorful holographic posters which had adorned the walls—and that was only because the power had gone out.

A sliding glass door led out to a small veranda. It held only a hammock hanging between the two walls. “When I was younger, sometimes I preferred sleeping out there rather than on the bed,” Inanna said. “I’d pretend that I was somewhere else. It’s funny—I fantasized about leaving all the time, but I was terrified of being sent away. I didn’t want to be on my own out there. I even tried to hide the fact that I was Force Sensitive, because I knew my parents would send me to Coruscant for training…”

She laid on the hammock and folded her arms behind her head, her furrowed brow betraying a deep weariness. Still, she gestured for Cato to come over. “It’s big enough for two.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

They took their sweet time clearing each passing room, making certain there were no creepy crawlies lying in wait for them to get too comfortable. Cato had yet to quite pick up on her secondary motive, but he had understood from the start that there was some emotional weight in Inanna's return here.

After a moment's pause at the last door, they stepped through into a time capsule of her childhood. Cato remained silent, picking out the smaller details and assembling a bigger picture from them. Inanna finally spoke, and his eyes fell on her. She spoke of a fear he understood a bit himself; The idea of being left alone. Sent away. Abandoned, maybe. He watched her lie down in the hammock, and slowly climbed in to join her once the offer was extended. Cato raised an arm up and around her, and sighed, "…I felt the same way when my parents sent me and my sister off to Kashyyyk," He nodded, but said no more. This wasn't really about him, "…Where did you pretend to be? When you were out here?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

She repositioned herself to fit Cato's familiar shape, the fingers of one hand languidly stroking his black hair.

"…I felt the same way when my parents sent me and my sister off to Kashyyyk."

Thinking of the picture of him at his mother’s place, she kissed his forehead in sympathy. “At least you and your sister had each other.”

"…Where did you pretend to be? When you were out here?"

Her other hand reached up; seconds later, a small transparent sphere floated into her hand from elsewhere in her room. It looked a little like a snowglobe, but when she shook it, the clear surface became the image of a planet, glowing from within.

“Lots of places,” she said. “Naboo, for one. Very basic, I know. Everybody wants to go there. Alderaan was another one, and Coruscant…” The sphere changed as she spoke, taking the shape of a different world each time it heard a new name. “And Nar Shaddaa.” She bit her lip and wrinkled her nose as their favorite cesspool hellworld appeared. “Anywhere I thought I might find adventure. And cute boys—that became a priority around age forty.”

She did visit all those places eventually, but it was because she was running away. Instead of adventure, she got into all kinds of trouble, most of it not the sort of stuff that creates fond memories. And she was alone through it all.

“But my end goal was always the same. At some point I’d settle down with a family and write stories about all the adventures I’d had.” She spun the globe, holding it out to him. “What about you? Did you pretend to be somewhere else when you were a kid on Bonadan?”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

A holographic sphere appeared above them, and Cato curiously tilted his head to the side. Inanna regaled him with a presentation of her different dream worlds, each reasonable enough- except for the last. He shot her a high-reaching eyebrow and a smirk, but understood what she meant. Had it not been part of why he stayed on Nar Shaddaa, after all? The chance for adventure, the chance to leave an impact. It certainly offered the former in spades, if nothing else.

“Anywhere I thought I might find adventure. And cute boys—that became a priority around age forty.”

He scoffed a chuckle, "Well I guess that part worked out for you." Cato reached out to the globe himself, and pondered the question, "Sure. I figured pretty much anywhere would be better than home. Coruscant, like you said. I always pictured it as being what Bonadan should have been. Course at the time, I didn't realize how many of it's own problems there were," The deeper levels of the undercity were just as bad as Narsh, "Naboo, too. I always heard stories about its beauty. I could hardly even picture it myself. When I got to Kashyyyk, it was the first time I'd ever seen grass that green."

Cato moved the globe back towards her, "So I guess a couple thousand light years apart, we were sharing similar dreams," He paused, then smirked, "Aaand maybe a few dozen years apart, too."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"Well I guess that part worked out for you."

“Heh, yeah.” Inanna kissed him indulgently, then listened to his answer—though she was finding it somewhat difficult to keep her eyes open. She suddenly felt drowsy, though it was a pleasant sleepiness rather than bitter exhaustion.

“Did you ever go to Naboo? Or is that our next destination?” They could bring Serena. That would be a nice trip.

"So I guess a couple thousand light years apart, we were sharing similar dreams," He paused, then smirked, "Aaand maybe a few dozen years apart, too."

“Right, a few dozen.” Similar dreams. She closed her eyes, just to rest them for a bit, and cuddled up against him. “This may be a strange time to ask, but… would you like to adopt another kid? I mean, there are a lot of orphans out there who need parents. Including the Shi’ido, although they could be any species. Maybe a boy, so we can have a son and a daughter...” Her voice faded into a murmur as she drifted off.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato returned the kiss with equal indulgence, only pulling away after she did. He shrugged, "Nope, never been. We could make a trip out of it," What was there not to like about Naboo? It didn't fill your lungs with acrid smog. It didn't have flesh eating blob monsters making themselves at home in your kitchen. Sounded like a good time.

He felt Inanna easing up in his arms, and held her more snugly. The next question made him blink, and ponder it for a few moments, without even realizing that she had already drifted off, "…Well, sure. Probably, yeah. It'd be nice for Serena to have a sibling. And we'd be giving another kid a new home. Should probably wait until we're a little more stable though. We just got married, and we're still figuring out how to raise one kid, right?" Cato chuckled, and glanced down at Inanna, only now figuring out she probably didn't hear anything he said, "…Hm." He stared up blankly, lost in his own thoughts, taking much longer before he too drifted off.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna did not wake up, even after hours had passed. No amount of trying to rouse her could shake her out of it. She remained in a sleep too deep to be natural, her expression relaxed, almost smiling.

There were signs of what had put her in this state, if one knew what to look for. A small wound in her back had not healed. In the Force, there was an abnormality in her presence, a disruption in her aura. Inanna’s mind remained unprotected; a glimpse inside would reveal that she was locked in a dream she had no desire to awaken from.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

In time, Cato woke from his pleasant little power nap, to find Inanna still knocked out in his arms. "Hey…" He shook her shoulder gently at first, then a bit harder when there was no response. Except, there was still no response, "…Inanna? Hellooo?" It escalated until he was jostling her beyond what any normal person could sleep through, "Inanna?!" Cato quickly began to panic. But a quick check of her vitals proved she was still alive, "How…?"

He touched upon the Force, and found his first clue. No definitive diagnosis, but there was a faint hiccup in her aura. Decidedly not natural, but wholly unfamiliar to him. Cato gently touched his fingers to her temple, and read the surface-most thoughts of her mind, revealing a tranquil pleasance. Now theories were starting to come together. Good thing she had made mention of that worm thing earlier, or he'd have been well and truly lost.

Still, he was hesitant. Inanna had been resistant to mental intrusions in the past, understandably so. Doing so now made him feel uncomfortable, but their options were limited. And so, Cato strengthened their mental link, delving deeper into her thoughts. He needed to see what she saw, even inject himself into her little dream world, if possible.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Sunk in a state deeper than any dream, Inanna "awoke" at home. Pieced together from the best aspects of every place she had ever lived in, the bedroom was a mix of various different cultures and styles. Somehow it all made sense, remaining plausible without becoming uncanny or needing to obey any so-called dream logic.

Rubbing her eyes, she looked over at the clock. Then, smirking to herself, she rolled over, slipping underneath the covers until she reached her bedmate.

Truth be told, the chernamila would’ve conjured up a husband who, like the house, didn’t really exist—an amalgamation of past lovers, aiming to find some universal ideal. Once Cato slipped into Inanna’s unprotected mind, however, the moth was forced to adapt, slotting him into the elaborate hallucination and attempting to exert its influence over his mind as well. But like a piece from another puzzle, he didn’t quite fit in.

“Good morning,” Inanna whispered, beginning to kiss her way down the length of his torso. “It’s a little bit early. Plenty of time before the kids have to start getting ready for school…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato blinked several times, and each time it seemed like another detail seemed to construct around him. Until he fully completed the transition, and found himself intruding on Inanna's new dream world. From the get-go, it was a bizarre experience unlike any he had before. It looked genuine, but it didn't feel genuine. A sense of heightened reality that could only come from a dream.

He felt kisses against his skin, and laid a hand on Inanna's shoulder, "Hey. This isn't…" Cato scooted down to face her, "Listen to me. This isn't real. You need to wake up now before it goes too far," Better to just try and rip the band-aid off now, right?

Inanna Harth​