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[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

Jo'Han sat under an awning as rain pitter-pattered across the canvas overhead, gurgling in a nearby gutter in this mid-rim cantina he couldn't care less about.

She's gone.

There's no changing that.

Jo'Han had done everything in his power to find Luka. No sightings of her on Coruscant, she hasnt been seen on Naboo, and the dead signal - the one he had hoped would lead him to her starship - had been dismantled and assimilated into something else entirely.

Where did his older sister run off to?

Jo'Han had nothing binding him to the core anymore. Nothing to guide him. Aadihr Lidos made it clear he's not interested in making amends. Luka's treatment of the boy and her stubbornness had spoiled the family name so thoroughly he could hardly enter a temple on any planet without a few judging glances.

Kriff 'em.

Let them assume what they like. He was not his sister, and he didn't need strangers to like him. The Lidos kid - no, Knight Lidos - was doing just fine now, Jo'Han's presence only threw things out of balance for the Miraluka.

Jo'Han sat still, reminiscing, watching the puddles in the street ripple with droplets.

He searched for a reason to stay. Any purpose to avoid returning to his crusade in the outer rim. The Hutt Cartel was already recovering - he needed to be back out there, stamping out their growth.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, he could return to his self-imposed duties. Tonight, he was just a stranger in a cantina. No sneers of disapproval or looks of recognition.

He flagged down a serving droid for a refill.

Something about tonight felt off. It could be the rain, or the swill, or even something in the Force. Jo'Han felt an air of finality.

He should have picked a better cantina.

Open - First Reply
​

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

Eventually, things quieted down, but Braze didn't leave the cantina. Instead, his attention lingered on Jo'Han... The way the man sat apart beneath the awning, wrapped in thoughts deeper than the rain puddling around him. Braze had kept his distance for a while; it was his own habit, after all, to pull away when something felt off. But he'd been learning lately that maybe isolation wasn't always the best way to handle things.

Rising quietly from his spot, Braze made his way over, taking the seat beside Jo'Han without ceremony. He leaned forward slightly, elbows resting lightly on the table, careful not to disrupt whatever fragile peace Jo'Han had found.

"You look like you could use some company," Braze offered quietly, gaze settling first on the rain, then gently back to Jo'Han. He didn't press...just left the invitation hanging there, open-ended, like the soft drizzle filling the silence between them.

​

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

"You look like you could use some company,"

Jo'Han flickered his eyes over noticing the teenager—Braze, if he recalled correctly—had come to check on him. The same boy who approached when things got heated on New Cov, who tried to include him on this Night Out, which might have settled things if not for a half-dead drunken Nautolan.

"Perhaps. Yeah." Jo'Han leaned back, pulling back from his internal musings to take the refill from the droid and adjusting his position to talk. The man found it difficult to pull his eyes from the puddle, a rhythmic dripping from one corner of the awning in particular.

"There was a time, not too long ago, that I was prisoner. Made to fight for entertainment - and for my survival."
Jo'Han sipped, taking up the kid on the unspoken offer to listen.

"It didn't last long, and somehow the force sent some guardian angel to rescue me, but..."

Drip. Drip. Drip.

"I find myself missing the simplicity of that arena. The choices were simple. Fight or die. Before then, even - sticking my nose into smuggling rings, doing what I could. There was danger, but also a simplicity of what is right and wrong."

He glanced in the Cantina, where Aadihr, Drystan, and the others had been a few hours prior. He had tried to un-crumple the beer-soaked mush of a napkin he had written some form of apology on, but it was a hopeless endeavor; the napkin and apology both.

"He seems to be doing well these days, at least," Jo'Han muttered — not out of spite but from a bittersweet happiness for the Lidos boy. **"Much better than
before."** Friends, purpose, and a place earned for himself. The time for Jo'Han to intervene, to help, was a decade past.

"At least that's one loose thread I don't have to worry about."

Braze​

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

Braze watched him still for a bit. He listened to his story and frowned at what he heard. He was listening to the sentiment too, trying to understand it. His head tilted slightly when he saw the crushed napkin.

"I think I understand..." he offered gently. "I've tried to offer my help to others before, where it just seemed... I wasn't needed. Or wanted. The rejection hurts in a strange way... not one that can be easily defined or pinned down in words. It was... very discouraging to even want to try helping anyone else after that. And every time I tried with that person, it just felt like I made things worse between us... But It sound sliek you were lucky to be pulled from a place like that... give syou a new chance to decide what you want to do...."

Braze glanced down, then added quietly, "Oh...I don't know if he's doing better. I think the person he's sweet on is missing, and that's taking a heavy toll on him."

He paused again, not rushing the rest.

"But I think, in one way or another, everyone in our Order has lost someone. That kind of sorrow... I think it's unfortunately one of the few things we all have in common. It leads to strong emotions that make us act irrationally. Makes us blame ourselves, even when there was realistically nothing we could've done. Blaming ourselves for things we couldn't control."

His gaze drifted toward the street, watching the puddles ripple.

"Looking back and regretting what's already done... it doesn't change anything. And the more we dwell there, the easier it is to miss the good that's here, now. Or forget that what we do in the present still shapes what comes next."

Braze shrugged a little, his voice softening.

"It's a cold way to look at things, maybe... And trying to calm down in the middle of it all, when everything's raw... it's unbelievably hard. But something that's helped me...sometimes...is thinking about how I might feel in three hours. Then in three days. Then three weeks. Months. Years. Decades. Somehow it helps me cope... gives the pain a shape I can sit with."

He glanced sideways, a small, lopsided smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.


"Not that you asked for any of this. I'm just... throwing advice out into the void, I guess. But I do think talking helps. It really does... and I think the fact that you've tried to help means you're a good person. It shows you care and have the sentiment and ability to consider other' feelings... And maybe... just maybe... that's enough ya know?"

Braze hesitated, then leaned forward a little before shifting gears slightly, "Have you ever heard the story about the old man the boy and starfish?"

​

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

The boy had a strange roundabout way of getting to the same emotion. The feeling of not being needed despite will to help was similar, Jo'Han supposed.

"I was needed, once. I could have done something. Should have. As you said, though, that's past and my window to be of use is long since closed. I am sorry to hear of the loved one as well."

The Lidos kid even had a crush. Jo'Han supposed there was a blind date joke to be made somewhere, but this was hardly the time or place for constructing one.

"Time heals all wounds, mmhm. I'm surprised someone so young has that learned already, that's one of those things you can't truly internalize without experience. Perhaps it's just the rain or the drink that has me pensive, but the sun will rise again regardless of what planet you're on. Maybe I'll cross paths with him again in a few years and we can reminisce without the pain of it."

He tried to think of something to fill the silence. Something other than the dripping.

"Have you ever heard the story about the old man the boy and starfish?"

"Considering you are much too young to be telling the joke that I'm thinking of, I don't think I have. What's it go like?"

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

"Maybe you could invite him to one of your celebrations…" Braze offered with a faint shrug. "You can't really force anyone to like you or accept you. And you can't expect everyone to, either."

He paused, then shifted with a softer tone. "Oh… uh, okay, so… it goes like this."

He leaned back slightly, voice easing into a storytelling rhythm, as if reciting something half-remembered from long ago.

"Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. Every morning before he began, he'd take a walk along the shore. One day, after a storm had passed, he came to find the beach covered in starfish. Thousands of them, stretching out as far as the eye could see in both directions."

Braze paused to take a sip of tea before continuing.

"Off in the distance, the man saw a small boy walking toward him. Every few steps, the boy stopped, bent down, picked something up, and tossed it into the sea. As he got closer, the old man finally called out, 'Good morning! May I ask what it is that you're doing?'"

As he spoke, Braze reached into his robes, pulling out a pen and starting to draw on a napkin. A crude sketch of a shoreline took shape, dotted with stars.

"The boy looked up and said, 'Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The tide brought them in and they can't get back on their own. If I don't help, they'll die once the sun gets too high.'"

He glanced at Jo'han as he kept drawing.

"The man frowned and said, 'But there are tens of thousands of starfish here. You'll never be able to make a real difference.'"

Braze added two stick figures to the napkin, then set the pen down.

"The boy just smiled, picked up another starfish, and threw it far into the waves. Then he looked back and said, 'It made a difference to that one.'"

He let the quiet hang for a moment, then offered a small, thoughtful smile.

"I think that's pretty true," he said, voice low but warm. A feeling stirred in his chest. Hope.

"We all get chances to help shape something better. Even if it's just one starfish at a time."

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

Tags: Braze

​

Jo'Han was unsure if he felt like the old man, the starfish, or the boy in this moment.

A bit of each, he figured. Braze's allegory did help to soothe his doubts. The Lidos boy didn't need his help, but there were others that did, every small part of his contribution against the cartel - every freed slave or press-ganged scum freed from his actions was worth it.

Better yet, he had the whereabouts of one of the Hutt Council member's Yacht's - he could thwart an entire Kadijic's operations.

"... Thanks, kid. If the Force sees fit for him and I to chat, it'll happen - no need for me to force it."

Jo'Han downed his glass - pondering another refill, rotating the transparent vessel in his grip as he watched the way it blurred the view of the rain behind it, how the light caught and reflected off of its contours.

"There's still a beach full of starfish. I'm not so old that I can't toss a few others out to sea. Not yet, at least. Tomorrow, at least. It might be a while before I have a chance to sit at any halfway decent cantina again" he said, tone lightening a little as if a burden was tentatively being lifted from his chest.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

​

"Then tomorrow's a good day to start again."

Braze offered speaking as someone with patience, of someone who didn't rush change but believed in its inevitability.

"The galaxy needs more people who still bother to toss starfish. One at a time... And if you do see him—don't force it. Just listen. Sometimes that's what they need most."

His gaze lingered on the rain-slick window beyond the glass.

"The stars don't always shine bright… but they're still there. Even when we forget to look up.... I don't believe Force users should indulge in such... pleasures."

He sighed and took a sip of his tea before setting it down.

"Alcohol tends to make one clouded in judgment. It dulls the senses, blunts the clarity we're meant to preserve. And worse, it makes people careless… in ways that don't always show until the damage is already done."

He sighed wondering if he was starting to sound like Jasper Kai'el .

"For being a simple farmer they have a simple luxury of such. A drink at the end of a long day, laughter by the fire. No weight of consequence in every choice. No need to worry about what the Force might whisper through the haze.... You're a braver man than I.... I wouldn't want to risk losing my clarity.... It's one of the few things I still have control over."

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

"Clarity, huh?"
Jo'Han gave an exaggeratedly incredulous look.
"Aren't you a bit young to have a history with the drink?"

It was a deflection - clarity evaded Jo'Han even in sobriety, though he lived blessedly free of voices or visions.

Braze's choice of wording - drinking as bravery - brought a sardonic smile to Felcado's lips as he flagged down the bartending droid once more.

"Control." He rolled the word around. "Control over clarity."

"What sort of history do you have that you console men twice your age over the ebbs and flows of life?" Jo'Han asked. His was voice distant; trailing off almost absentmindedly. As if he were stuck in a memory.

Deja vu, nothing more He dismissed the feeling, returning his attention to the snowy-haired adolescent.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

Braze exhaled, a quiet sigh that barely stirred the air. "I've... always envied normal kids," he admitted, voice low. "Kids who can sneak off, get in a little trouble, and it won't end in catastrophe."

His gaze drifted somewhere far off as a memory stirred.

"There was this one time... I went on a short trip with a friend to a concert. They served drinks there." His mouth tugged faintly at the corner, caught between nostalgia and discomfort. "We talked about it—about choices, and freedom... and we had an odd trip after that that kind of sticks with me."

He didn't say Makko's name aloud, but the thought of him lingered at the back of his mind.

"I've thought about it a lot. Used to run from the Order whenever I could. I felt... trapped. Like I couldn't breathe inside all those rules."

Braze gave a small shake of his head, snow-white hair shifting with the motion. "Jasper told me not to do drugs," he said quietly. "And I guess... I kind of see alcohol as an extension of that." He wasn't judging. Just saying it the way he'd come to understand it.

"I've seen the kind of destruction it leaves behind. Not just the loud kind like the fights, and the broken things, but the quiet stuff, too."

His jaw tensed, almost imperceptibly. "Another padawan got drunk at the Fire Festival once...." He hesitated, then let the rest out with a flat exhale.

"He started flirting with me and it was kinda... sad? Uncomfortable.... I've seen Ko's uncle Xojo too and how things got to be in a state of disarray around the family's home... It's not a pretty habit. I remember my mother and my father when I was little and how they acted when they drank. The kinds of things they said that they didn't mean..."

His eyes lowered slightly, remembering something he didn't quite want to carry but did anyway.

"I don't need to drink to know what it takes from people."

​

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

"Kinda tragic" Jo'Han replied. " You're still at the age where one can still make those kind of mistakes - get into trouble and learn from the experience and such - without it sticking with you for life."

He briefly recalled a period of his life when his hangovers didn't last two days, as well as many years of things that made him both cringe and chuckle in retrospect.

"But learning the lessons secondhand is perfectly fine too - and probably a better option considering our vocation. Just take some time to have fun before the days blend together too fast."

The bartending droid returned with a full glass of amber ale.

" Before everyone you know slips off into different corners of the galaxy, too busy to indulge in juvenile delinquency." He said, bittersweet nostalgia in the tone.

He stared at the foaming liquid in the glass, finding it slightly less inviting at the teenage Knight's words, however.

The sound of bubbles fizzing and rain hitting ferrocrete blended together in the moment.

"It doesn't feel like it goes by so fast, until it has already passed you by."

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

"Time has.... already past me by. My friends are oft scattered to the stars. We were raised under peace times... it is no longer peace times... " Braze stated and shook his head moving to stand and set his cup aside. " I want to show you something... " He offered his hand to the man. " Will you join me?" He asked simply and looked up at Jo'han trying to meet his gaze.

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

What could it hurt? Jo'Han got up and paid his tab, though he didn't take the teenager's hand.
"Sure, one sec," he wasn't about to let sentimentality waste the last decent ale he'll have in months, downing the glass in a few hasty drafts.

"Where to, kid-uh, fellow knight?"

Kriffing white hair kept throwing him off - even if Echani and Miraluka were about as far apart as you could get on the cultural spectrum, at least as far as Jo'Han knew.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

Braze stood patiently, allowing Jo'han to finish his drink before leading him outside. They made their way toward a docking bay, where a sizeable, well-worn freighter awaited—large enough to accommodate several warehouses' worth of cargo.

They stepped aboard, and Braze guided Jo'han to an elevator. As they ascended to the third floor, they emerged down a corridor lined with blast doors, finally arriving at the cockpit. An older Queequeg lounged in the pilot's chair, his boots propped casually on the console.

Harlock glanced up at the snowy-haired lad then to the newcomer, his expression shifting to mild surprise. "Oh... you've brought a guest," he remarked, his voice trailing off.

"Yes, I'd like you to take us to Nal Hutta, please," Braze requested, his tone formal but friendly.

"Nal Hutta? Just a hop, skip, and a burn from Nar Shaddaa to Nal Hutta," Harlock replied, a grin breaking across his face. "Barely enough time to finish a cup of caf... but you've got it, boss." He set aside his book, tucking it into a pocket on the seat cover. Crackling his fingers, he straightened up, setting his boots firmly on the floor. With a quick flick of a switch, he sent out a message requesting that all passengers take their seats and buckle up, a coy smile directed at Jo'han as he did so.

​

The Mud Duck powered up with a low rumble, vibrating gently beneath their feet as Harlock navigated the controls with practiced ease. The freighter lifted off smoothly from its mooring, the docking bay doors sliding open to reveal a sprawling view of Nar Shaddaa's myriad lights, twinkling like stars beneath a dense layer of smog. As they broke free from the planet's embrace in short order, the chaotic medley of urban life faded behind them, replaced by the gravity of space and the expansive black canvas dotted with distant celestial bodies.

Within a few minutes, the freighter was hurtling across the galaxy, each second drawing them closer to their destination.

After a brief but pleasant journey, they were nearing Nal Hutta. As the thick, murky atmosphere came into view, Braze turned to Harlock with a request. "Can we find a more remote place to touch down? Somewhere quiet, away from the hustle?"

"Got it," Harlock replied, his eyes sparkling with playful mischief as he began to scan the planetary visuals. "Looking for some wilderness vibes, are we?"

"Exactly," Braze nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.

Harlock piloted the Mud Duck , navigating over lush valleys marked by shimmering lakes and dense foliage. After a few moments, he steadied the ship over a serene patch on the planet's surface. It was a hidden glen, cradled between towering hills that rose like natural sentinels, blanketed in a soft carpet of dew-kissed grass. The area was alive with vibrant wildflowers, swaying gently in a warm breeze that carried the mixed scents of damp earth and blooming flora.

As the ship descended, the sunlight broke through the clouds, casting a golden glow over the landscape. The weather felt perfect—mild and inviting, with a few fluffy clouds lazily drifting overhead. Birds flitted through the air, their melodic calls creating a harmonious backdrop to this tranquil scene.

"Approaching landing," Harlock announced, breaking the serenity of the moment.

With a soft thud, the Mud Duck settled onto the grassy ground, the engines settling into silence. Braze wasted no time. He hopped up from his seat, excitement tingling in his veins. "Come on, Jo'han. Let's go!"

He stepped quickly to the exit, throwing the ramp open to reveal the idyllic glen that awaited them. The first breath of fresh, clean air was like a balm, a sharpcontrast to the lingering scents of the freighter. Braze gestured for Jo'han to follow, stepping outside and feeling the soft earth beneath his feet.

"Welcome to paradise," he said, taking in the beauty that surrounded them. He padde dout in to teh tall grasses and looked back at Jo'han. "You ready?"

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

"Yes, I'd like you to take us to Nal Hutta, please,"

Alarm bells rang in Jo'Han's tipsy mind.

"Woah woah hold on now - I'm not exactly a uh... welcome presence on the slime heap."

Jo'Han knew about the Deathmark on him. 50,000 credits would make a few bounty hunters greedy.

"The smuggler's moon is close enough, but to hop down from Shaddaa to Hutta directly is like jumping into the Rancor pit directly!"

Braze seemed sure, however. Jo'Han stepped out, following the younger knight, and hoped the grease rains didn't roll in without his poncho ready.

When he saw the grasses and wildflowers, confusion spread across his face.

"Is this. This isn't Nal Hutta, is it?" Everything he'd seen had been a swampy gross ancestral birthplace for the Hutt species. This place was serene - unless the Padawan had played a trick on him going to a 'Nal Hutta', there must be more to the world than what lied in his expectations.

Perhaps it was a lesson in judging a book by its cover - That, or he had one drink too many.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jo'Han Felcado

"Woah woah hold on now - I'm not exactly a uh... welcome presence on the slime heap."

"You too? I probably shouldn't be here either. What's the fun in living with out a little risk? " he asked turning to look at Jo'han and shrugged with a sigh, rolling his eyes briefly as he padded further onto the grass. A touch of his old deviousness rising up to the occasion.


"They say there's plenty of Drengir here, or so I'm told." He trailed off, looking around as if half expecting one to pop out of the foliage before turning back to Jo'han.

"The smuggler's moon is close enough, but to hop down from Shaddaa to Hutta directly is like jumping into the Rancor pit directly!"

"Perhaps, but what I'm going to show you wouldn't go over well on the moon, given how densely packed it is. I believe you suggested... I was still young enough to get into trouble and learn from the experience without it sticking with me for life." He paused, listening to Jo'han.

"Is this. This isn't Nal Hutta, is it?"

"It is. We're on Nal Hutta... in a section that's a little less... swampy, all things considered." He trailed off softly.


"Come closer... and stay close." Braze beckoned, waving Jo'han over. Once Jo'han was beside him in the wide-open area, he turned and raised his hands. Suddenly, the winds around them picked up, creating soft waves through the tall grasses. The breeze swirled, growing into a powerful gale that turned cold within the immediate area. Braze's black robes billowed in the rising winds, tussling his white locks in the windswept furry that rose to life.


Then, fire burst forth about thirty feet away, rapidly growing into a ring of flames. Heated orange and yellow flickered brightly, shifting to a vibrant blue. A wall of blue fire rose around them, but on one side, Braze moved a hand, and the flames simmered down, encircling them and burning the grasslands leaving not but cold ash in the wake of the blue fire.

He directed the flames into a ring ahead of them, creating a swirling vortex of brilliant blue fire. The air around it had become hyper-oxygenated, feeding the resplendent inferno and forming a vortex. The tornado-like spectacle that raged with intense heat, flared brightly ahead, and the winds continued to blow fiercely around them.


He offered Jo'han a brief glance as he held the display in all of its fiery glory. The surrounding nature was illuminated so brightly in the darkened night that it felt as if it were daytime.

 

[Jo'Han Felcado]

​

"I believe you suggested... I was still young enough to get into trouble and learn from the experience without it sticking with me for life."

"You might be, but I'm twice your age" Jo'Han replied.

When the flames swirled around, he watched with intent, unsure of what exactly he was seeing in this blue flame vortex. A unique use of Alter Environment? Was Braze's blaze intended to demonstrate his strength, or did it hold special meaning to the young Jedi? Perhaps the message would have been clearer without that last ale.

Regardless of the the purpose, Jo'Han was transfixed by the sight and by the power of a prodigy so young.

After a brief moment of speechlessness, Jo'Han asked Braze the same question he had asked when he first saw Bantha Milk in person: "why is it blue?"