It's in the center (Xiangi)

[Jairus Starvald]

Imperial City, Dusk​

[member="Asaak Tey"]​

Her scent got caught between the here and now, eyes were drawn to her presence like mosquitos drawn to the only light source in a dark night. She was clothed to fit, no seem seemed out of place, and yet… while others accepted her within two seconds, my gaze kept its intensity as she finally found the courage to retreat further into the club.

The Skewered Sun, ain’t the best name for a club, but it does the trick. Most people that don’t belong here trundle right on by, searching for a more flashy establishment, for something less real and on the nose. I could understand that sentiment, had been part of it for the longest, until I finally found the upright beat for the moment.

She settled to the bar, our skin was practically touching and then she spoke the first words since she got here.

‘Hello?’ trying to get the attention of the barkeep.

I took a deep breath, smoke puffing out from under my nostrils and coughed softly.

‘Can I help ya, ma’am?’ I asked gently.

 

[Aeron Zambrano]

It would have been smarter to never come back here.

What was there to miss? The only thing on Coruscant for Asaak was memories – ghosts she missed, made even worse by the crawl of Sith over the planet. Her friends were gone, her Master was gone, he was gone. She refused to believe he’d died on Mindabaal, had convinced herself that she would have felt it if he’d fallen…she’d always felt him before, their force-bond strong despite time and distance.

She missed him.

The Skewered Sun was a place she was familiar with, a haunt from what felt like another life before the Order had found her and brought her home. It seemed the logical place to go to anchor herself when she felt increasingly out of orbit. And yet somehow it made it worse, the dead-hand of time changing what used to be so easy. She felt a flash of anger at how unsure she felt before quieting it, concentrating on pressing down her aura as she melted in to the club. She could take a break from Moroi’s ghost for a moment, from the endless search she refused to give up despite all evidence it would end exactly the way she didn’t want it to.

Pressed up against the bar she tried to find her voice, calling the bartender, getting frustrated, getting more frustrated trying to push said frustration down when she heard his voice and felt the brush of his skin, turning her head and – handsome, Atrisian, force he looks so much like him – finding herself frozen, watching the curl of smoke floating away from him.

She did the only thing she could do in the face of his question, in the face of a memory so strong it was strangling her. “Do I look like a ma’am to you?”

[member="Duan Xiangu"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Sadly doing the smart thing was out of fashion these days. The whispering voice at the back of your head, beckoning for you to simply close your eyes and allow yourself to be pulled on by the mighty current was simply too alluring for most. What’s the worst that could happen, they think to themselves, it can’t get any worse than this can it?

It was a thought they’d come to regret as time passed, when they realize that it, in fact, could get worse than they had thought. But by then it was already too late, you already stepped over the threshold and few if anything could give you the time back you spent in ignorant bliss.

The smart thing would have been to ignore this handsome man. The intelligent thing would have been to smile, nod and then walk out of there immediately, leaving the seduction where it was and simply go on with your life.

But as was said prior… few people did the smart thing.

‘No, but you do look like a woman in need of a strong drink.’ the Atrisian replied smoothly, his voice barely raised against the scene - just loud enough that one would have to lean in slightly to hear what he was trying to relate.

‘Xiangu.’ he continued. ‘Duan Xiangu.’ his hand extended itself, palm upwards as a resting place for her own hand.

Pitch perfect.

[member="Asaak Tey"]

 

[Aeron Zambrano]

Her expression was somewhere between a grimace and acquiescence when he mentioned she appeared to need a drink. What that must have looked like didn't really seem to matter - she knew she appeared tired, confused, and maybe just a little bit hopeless. However, she didn’t see how that separated her from most of the others in the room - hell, in three-fourth's of Coruscant - and worried she hadn't concentrated enough on quieting her signature.

She was so very much of the light, and on the planet this one had become it was a dangerous thing to be.

Nodding, she reached out slowly and took his hand, a light shake that left her feeling a trickle of unease she chalked up to the complete lack of physical contact she'd had recently. (It's not that there's something about him that makes her feel like she's being read, that she's the chosen one for some elaborate ritual. Just memories again, the echoes of trusting Nemene Talith in disguise only to be scarred by her.) "I suppose you're right," she admitted. "I'm Asaak Tey."

The drink he ordered her was good - strong, but not so much that she felt he was trying to get her wasted on purpose. She observed him casually, wracking her brain for why his name sounded vaguely familiar and letting her eyes settle where his jaw curved towards his neck before dragging her eyes back to his face.

"You don't look like you belong here. Did you lose something too?"

[member="Duan Xiangu"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Asaak Tey"]

Gently he pulled her hand to his mouth, hot breath brushing past her skin, his lips barely touching it and yet throughout the intimacy one was left to wonder if it had been in fact something special, or simply a relic of an ancient past where courtesy had still mattered.

‘A pleasure, miss Tey, truly.’ Duan said, while releasing her hand so she could take control over her drink on her own terms.

As the drink came and he let go of her there was a subtle change in his body language, something few if any people would even recognize consciously. Whereas it had been first inviting, welcoming and easing, Duan pulled himself back slightly.

Giving her the barest figment of personal space, allowing her subconscious see a way-out if that was needed. They needed that imagination of control, needed to feel in charge of their own destiny and have the chance to slip away at a moment’s notice.

It seemed paradoxical, but it would be in those few limited seconds that her subconscious might recognize that she… didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to put more distance between them.

Xiangu smiled and answered her casually, before returning his gaze to his drink, almost wistful.

‘I have lost much and many, and now I am simply… searching.’

 

[Aeron Zambrano]

Asaak could be called a few less than flattering things, but one of them wasn't stupid.

She was exotic even in a galaxy like this one, usually drawing humans or near-humans like this Duan, like flies to honey with an open, easy charm and the kind of looks that had been covetous back home. None of that had ever mattered to her, but it had made her accustomed to the kind of random attention she was being shown. In that sense she wasn't easy to manipulate, not even after the light press of his lips over her skin, the places the back of her hand felt light with his touch.

However, when he said he'd lost much...she paused.

She'd seen people cope in different ways: screaming, crying, retreating, avid denial, hope, cruelty...and silence. If this man had lost much and many he either didn't care or he'd found a way to silence his demons. She wanted to know how.

"Mmm, so mysterious," she said, managing a characteristic smile that seemed almost out of place within the confines of the Sun. "I wish I had your composure." She wasn't sure of the word for him. He had a quality like being blurred around the edges, like she could reach out to touch him and he wouldn't be there...and he'd feel exactly the opposite of what she expected.

[member="Duan Xiangu"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Some men wallowed in their loss, they lost themselves within the confines of their limited mind and never again were the person they had been before. Duan had felt much the same way when tragedy had struck, but things changed as perspective shifted and in the end Xiangu had found himself reforged to a certain degree.

What was he doing here? Why was he doing here? Good questions and the answer was very simple, he was bored, all around him he could sense the energy that made up their entire being, and it talked to him.

It had told him to wait here, for what reason? Duan didn't know, but it had never misled him before and that was enough reason to stick around.

'What troubles you, miss Tey?' A genuine question, few of those floated around in a dump like this one, was it a con or was it concern? Did Duan himself even know at this point in time? 'Perhaps I could lend you perspective.'

[member="Asaak Tey"]