Let the wookie win

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Sneaking?" He asked. His expression made it clear it wasn't something he was particularly good at. His left hand came up but he stopped it before it scratched at his chest. The area under the bandages where his skin was still red and raw was sore and itchy. Being up and moving around made it worse, but he stubbornly refused to let it derail the plan. For this first time in a couple of weeks he felt relatively human again. It was nice.

"Not been a bother," he mumbled. "Mostly just sat in shock or looking at my arm in disbelief. Trying to reconcile the fact that this is actually there in its place. Sorry, that was depressing."

He still chuckled as the lift went down. "On the plus side I think I can probably work out how to watch films on this..."

He rolled up his sleeve and showed her the display built into the inside of his forearm. It was actually designed to hook into tactical systems. The prosthetic was a military model, designed to augment soldiers on their return to the field. That was something else he wasn't certain how to feel about.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

The lift paused on the first floor, the doors still closed. "It's okay, you're just being honest," hand waved through the air as if to dismiss his apology. She leaned in close and gave him a wide-eyed stare. "Whaaa.....you weren't joking. I've gotta come up with a new nickname for you. Maybe...I.T?"

A mock, serious-thinking look crossed her tattooed cheeks.

"Hmm, have to think about it some more." Face grew serious for a moment. She was a healer and she fought when it was necessary - maybe that set her apart from other healers but she certainly wasn't a soldier - like Trex. "Did you pick that model?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Sort of," he replied. The tone in his voice and the way he chewed at the corner of his lips made it obvious it was a contentious topic.

"I hadn't intended to go to Kaeshana to fight a war." He looked down, eyes darting around as if searching for answers on the lift floor. "I was almost coerced to go to that droid factory too, but it felt good to do something. I don't know. Six months ago I felt certain about a lot of things. The Alliance embodied corruption and weakness, Jacen was the centre of evil in my Galaxy. Now I feel like I'm getting swept up in his crusade and I can't even work out what I want."

Perhaps Taheera hadn't realised how loaded that question had been.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Purple lips tugged into a frown. She totally got it. From her experience on Kashyyyk and in some other crusades, she hated fighting those wars too. It was never ending and seemed like both sides learned nothing in the process. Civilians got hurt the worst - something Elliot Locke reminded her of. She'd hated the bitterness in his voice when he'd first talked about force users.

The lift doors opened with a soft bing. She gently grabbed Trex's good hand and gave it a quick, squeeze. "Let's continue this conversation at nerf burgers. Right now we've gotta get you past the front door," voice ended in a whisper and she offered a quick smile before releasing his hand and stepping out.

"I'll distract the front desk guy. You sneak past when he's got his back turned. Got it?"

It wasn't like they'd REALLY get in trouble if caught. It just meant she'd have a feth ton of paperwork to fill out. And that WASN'T how she wanted to spend her Saturday night.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Trextan was still a seventeen year old. At times he could be self-absorbed without any real awareness of it. Such things came with age for most people. But he did have a lot to work through, far more than most teenagers. Just having someone listen made a difference. It was a refreshing difference to being left to stew with his own thoughts.

"Alright," he said with a nod. It was easy to put the thoughts aside for a few minutes when the chance of real food was there. It occurred to him that he didn't have any credits to offer to pay.

He took stock of the main lobby. There was a small security desk by the entrance, but they had their heads down looking at camera feeds. The main desk was directly in front of the sliding doors with one staff member on duty.

Trextan walked out and turned sharply back towards the lifts and turned his back towards the next one as if waiting. He kept the desk in his periphery and waited for the right moment.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Giving Trex a nod, she began walking up to the main desk. No one looked up a she passed. They had no reason too. Good. She knew who was staffing the desk tonight!

"Sherry," face brightened, though she probably wasn't the best actor. "You'll never believe what I just heard."

Sherry looked up eight mild interest, "oh hey. I thought your shift ended awhile ago."

"It did. Just some last minute rounds. Buuuut. Just ran into this really cute guy on the third floor and he couldn't stop taking about that girl at the security desk."

That got her attention.

With a hand behind her back, she silently motioned to Trex. Hopefully this would work.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He caught a fraction of their conversation. It didn't sound much different to what crossed the nurses station through the day. And through the night in fact. He'd woken in the small hours in pain and in the silence had lain watching the ceiling to the sound of snoring and the nurses gossiping.

He saw the surreptitious wave of a hand and turned. Head down, he made for the door. With each step he has to try harder to keep his eyes from darting back and forth. Silly really, he thought to himself, he had once charged a line of battle droids without a hint of nerves. That brought a smile to himself again.

Both sets of doors hissed open and he walked out into fresh air. For the first time in days he tasted air that didn't bring the sweet and acrid hint of disinfectant. That was a note of comfort and he stood beside the entrance with his eyes closed breathing in.

Something awful ruined his pleasure. Someone in a gown next to him started smoking and he got a mouthful of it.

Trextan shook his head. "Smoking area is over there!" He said firmly. The middle aged man turned to him and shrugged.

"What are you in for anyway?"

"Lung disease," the man said. There was no trace of irony in his tone.

"Piss off to the smoking shelter." Trextan didn't bother to use the Force. The man gave a nonchalant shrug, run one hand through his greying hair and ambled off towards it.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

"....yeah and for some reason when I turned around again to get his name he was gone! Weird-right?! Right?! Anyway, gotta run. Later!" She'd caught Trex's successful escape beyond the security desk woman's shoulder.

Broody pants could sneak.

With a whoosh of the doors, she was out too. Street lights cast a warm glow in the night air. Tattooed-cheeks shifted as she grinned at Trex, catching some older man walk away, mumbling to himself about 'kids these days.' A chestnut-brow lofted but she didn't ask Trex any question about that.

"Nice one," hand motioned a little ways up from the hospital as she began walking in that direction. "The set of shops is this way. So....you were saying earlier? Not sure how you got sucked into all this fighting?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Trextan had an itch behind his right ear that he had to awkwardly scratch with his left hand. Raising up the right arm at the shoulder was still painful.

He started up the street and considered the question. Or rather, he considered how to answer it. He did want to talk about it with someone, anyone that wasn't Jacen. At the same time it would involve delving into his history to explain everything. She probably wouldn't want that, he decided.

He gave a shrug. Then he winced because shrugging hurt. "It's all a bit complicated."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Her skills as an empath picked up on his pain. She frowned at his response. He seemed to shut down more than he just was a few minutes ago.

"I," she began. Her essence was a clone, only 'alive' for a few years. If he felt like a seventeen-year old boy, she had no idea what she felt like. A lost and confused soul in the body of a twentyish year old. "I want to know. If-if you want to share it."

A light touch fell on his arm - the cybernetic one. "And you DO know I'm a healer. I can try to take some of the pain away. If you want?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He was silent for a few strides. If she wanted to listen them he wanted to explain. But where the begin?

"I didn't know that was a thing," he said, looking down at the arm. Healing wasn't part of the training regime of the sith and he knew little of their capabilities. "It's okay for now. A dull ache. Or a five on those chart they kept making me point at," he said.

"I should probably start by saying that my father wasn't a Jedi when i was born. At least, not any more. They kicked him out of the Order and he'd turned to becoming a soldier."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Arms crossed as she walked. She wasn't trying to give the impression she was closed off. It was just more comfortable. Plus there was a little chill in the night air. She chuckled quietly at his pain chart comment. Probably had him answer that every two hours.

Eyes flickered to his as he slowly began to open up.

This was all new to her. She knew nearly nothing about Jacen. She'd left the republic and the circle of healers....well, one of them not that long ago. Jacen seemed more like a figurehead than anything. He was one of their leaders and that's all she knew.

"Okay," she said. "I'm listening. "

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Oh ok," he replied quickly. It almost sounded as if he was surprised at the prospect of someone listening. Nearly every teenager thought they had serious issues to deal with that were more important than everyone else's. Trextan actually did have a lot of serious things to work out.

"Jacen was always away with the Republic fighting. My mum moved out when he was on a long campaign and I mostly grew up in someone else's house. When the One Sith took Coruscant that was kind of...it... I was around ten and that was the last time I would see him for years. He didn't raise me."

He took a deep breath and ambled around some rubbish in the street. Trextan placed his hands in his pockets and swallowed. That was the easy bit to convey, distant history. The rest was painful. Even thinking about it made his chest tight.

"My parents died during an Alliance raid. Jacen can't even deny it was the Alliance's fault. The Sith worked out who I was and I spent the next few years training with them. Through those years it never crossed my mind that I was doing anything but preparing myself to kill Jacen."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

She remained silent for a few moments after he finished. A hand reached out and gently looped around his arm. It was an instinctually comforting gesture. She lightly squeezed his arm.

"I'm so sorry," she finally breathed. "I don't even know who my parents....," voice faltered. "I can't imagine what that's like. To lose your family and then suddenly gain one parent back back but not in the right context."

The burger joint was right up ahead. She could see inside the windows from here and it didn't seem too crowded.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

It had felt almost like a betrayal to put everything into such a succinct string of words. As if the undercurrent of pain in his tone wasn't enough to colour in between the lines. He wound himself up so tightly in his own thoughts he barely even registered her arm.

"It didn't help that my first meeting involved him shooting me," he said. "No, really. To be fair I did try and kill. I still remember spouting off at him: 'They promised that when I killed you I would become a true Sith, part of the One. One voice for all and I would be a part of it.'

"He convinced himself that they'd lied to tell me the Alliance was responsible. I think it hurt him a great deal when he found out they had been caught in an Alliance attack. When they bombed with Sith temple."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

She didn't release his arm as she walked with him, hoping he'd shake it off or she'd feel a shift in his emotions if it was too much. "He shot you?!" Chestnut brows rose. "I hope it was with a stun ring," voice trailed off.

She was made in a lab. She had no parents or family. The closest family she had was Jaxton Ravos and he'd disappeared years ago. Val...she had no idea where he was or even how to get a hold of him. Trex had a rough and messed up life. But at least he had a family and knew where he came from even if he'd lost some.

"So...how are you and him now?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Trextan didn't move to shake off the arm, but he did at least notice it. He tried not to make it too obvious that the gesture surprised him. It was oddly reassuring to have his arm held as he spoke.

"It was a stun shot yes, but it was still that great handcannon of his at point blank. Was not fun. I think, broadly, we're on better terms. We talk now. It was a rough ride to get even this far. He always wants me to talk more or answer questions, but i just feel he has no right to ask that you know?"

They reached the entrance to the café. Trextan was thinking about the time Jacen had let him throw everything - verbal and physical - at him and just soaked it up until Trextan had nothing left to give.

"Quick admission," he said in a guilty tone. "I don't have any credits on me sorry."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

"No. Trex," she said suddenly. She didn't want to lie to him. "I don't know how it feels." She took a breath. This conversation was about him. "I mean," she stammered. She was worried he'd reject her. When she was in her first body - the human, some at the academy treated her differently once they found out she was a clone. And differently in the bad way.

She wondered if Trex would do the same and think of her as less.

"I don't have parents or family. I'm a clone. I woke up on someone's doorstep. It's...complicated," she was too worried to look at the judgement on Trex's face. She even released his arm and went to open the cafe door. A weak smile crossed her face about the credits.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered. "I've got us, if you're still up for it," myrtle ellipses finally flickered up to meet his face as she offered him an out.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Well, we've walked here..." he said, not quite certain why she was asking that now. Quite wrapped up in his own issues he was drawn out by the look on her face, but he didn't put the whole picture together. He didn't think about the prejudice that clones suffered.

He brought up his artificial hand and scratched behind his ear, unsure of how to respond for that. That elicited a sharp intake of breath through clenched teeth. Performing gesture with the new arm without thinking about it was good. Raising it up that high still wasn't.

"Sorry, I know that this probably shouldn't be my first thought, but how did you find out you were a clone and not just an orphan?" His train of through was interrupted by one of the waiters.

"For two?"

"Two."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

She frowned as she felt that trickle of pain through empathy. Fingers twitched at her sides as she fought against her healer's instinct to reach out to him. In the long run, a little pain now would help him get through rehab faster, so she held herself back. Just barely. And she realized, he wasn't looking at her in disgust or running the other direction, though, that would be dramatic.

She'd seen worse reactions.

He was acting as though she hadn't said anything crazy at all - just, ordinary. It made the built up tension she didn't realize she had in her shoulders edge away a bit. She followed the waiter who sat them in a booth. She slid into one of the benches and murmured a thanks as the waiter plopped the menus down and wandered off for a sec.

"Well, for starters, I woke up in a teenage body. Not sure how that works but I had no memory of a childhood. I just....was. I knew my name, how to talk, knew what the force was, and all that head knowledge but I could barely walk. Barely hold a spork," she laughed at the memory. "I had to learn the physical things in this awkward teenage body."

She hesitated. It wasn't exactly this body but she didn't want to hit Trex with a lot of crazy stuff about her crazy past all at once. Better to take it slow. "Your arm okay? I felt a flicker of pain back there."