Private Light Fingers

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"The same way you tried to stop me following you or jump that wall," Jacen said, waving to the dead end of the alley. He had slipped into his teaching voice without even noticing.

"Except better, because I know what I'm doing whilst you're just reacting. Which could be very dangerous."

Especially, he thought to himself, because you're clearly from somewhere in the Talith line.

 

[Serya Talith]

Seyra swallowed hard, goosebumps prickling across her skin. His chastising brought up a feeling de ja vu , memories of her childhood bubbling forward. One in particular pushed forward, cracking open like a pressure sealed can. Her mothers face hovering over her, stern yet afraid. Serya felt small. So small. A man stood over her, his eyes swirling and red as they enticed her doooooooooownwards...... That is dangerous. Don't do it again.

The words echoed through mind, bringing about a faint fog.

Don't do it again. Don't do it again. Don't do it again. ~ You will forget.

Serya blinked hard, snapping out it. A slight haze slipped across her features, her thoughts feeling ... loose as she... A jolt of adrenaline hit her as she refocused on Jacen. "Who are you?" Came the abrupt reply.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

His eyes narrowed and for the first time he felt a little of his control slipping. It wasn't for anything she specifically did. That glaze to her eyes was something he didn't understand. It wasn't a reaction he had predicted. It made him wary.

"I'm Jacen," he said, knowing that there was far more to the question. She was after more than his name. He decided to offer up just one more fact.

"I'm worried that if I let you go, you will do something very dangerous and hurt some people. At the very least you will hurt yourself."

 

[Serya Talith]

Her brows furrowed.

What do you even say to that? Er, thanks for your concern perfect stranger who magically stole my knife from me, but you're crazy and I'd like to go now.

But she did want to go now. Things felt weird, like strings pulling her forward and fog pulling her under, weird. The sensations competed inside of her, like two halves of herself fighting for dominance.

"Listen," she whispered, holding up both her hands pacifically. "All I did was steal your data pad and jump a wall. Not even like, well, might I add. I fell, remember?" And her ankle still hurt for it. It had been well over a story high. Bones weren't meant to withstand that kinda impact.

"You can keep the datapad, I just wanna go." Life flooded her limbs, the girl abruptly surging forward and trying to brush past him and to freedom.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Yup, that was obviously going to happen. Jacen stepped out of her way, pinching the bridge of his nose. He let the girl run past him.

The Force moved for him. He wasn't a particularly skilled tracker, but there was something familiar about her presence.

Jacen stayed in the alley, walking over to his datapad to dust it down. It was badly scratched, but the screen was intact.

He expected she would move slowly, checking that he wasn't following. He was following, but using the Force so he could keep his distance. It didn't occur to him that tracking her down was probably going to make matters worse, it simply seemed a better idea than backing her into a corner.

 

[Serya Talith]

Home was a rotting storage facility near the edge of the city. The container had sat in that exact spot for longer than Serya had been alive, its form rusted and corroded by the elements it barely sheltered her from. She had taken her time getting there, their encounter shaking her greatly. It wasn't the utter awkwardness of their exchange, or the fool she had made of herself trying to scrap a way out. It was the look he kept giving her. It made her hair stand on end.


The odd feeling didn't leave her as she ditched and weaved through the streets, but eventually the need to rest crept through her as the night waged on. After a careful scan to be sure no one was at her back, Seyra left the brisk night air and ducked into dingy metal space. It was dark and smelt like corrupted blood, but it had blankets and even some of yesterday's left overs. Relief crept through Serya's limbs as she crawled into her pile of bedding.

Guess that one was a dud.

She really needed to work on her fast talking.

So sloppy...

She slid on a headlamp, the harsh light suffusing the right as she fussed with a half eaten rations bar. At least she got away.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

At a time when the sith and jedi were apparently gearing up for war again, he was surprised she had gone unnoticed so long. The galaxy was a big place. There was a full spectrum of Force sensitivity, from a subtle tug when you were about to walk into someone around a corner to tearing down a star destroyer with lightning.

If this street girl was from that dynasty, then she was probably far down that range. With some training, that mental spike might have been driven far into his consciousness.

He waited a while before closing the distance, when he was certain she had been in one place for a while. The space he found her in was even worse than he might have imagined.

He knocked twice on metal beyond the entrance to her hideout.

"Knock knock," he decided to also say. She probably had another exit she would try and bolt from.

 

[Serya Talith]

Oddly enough, she didn't. She was just a teen after all. Despite what she had done to him, she was no jedi. Tactical planning went as far as how to shake a cop. But exit strategies in your own home? I mean who would need that, right?

Ice flashed through her veins as the voice broke her peace. Of course she recognized it in an instant, her whole body going ridged as it recognized a threat. But she was trapped, properly trapped. He was standing in the only exit.

The meal bar was dropped as she scrambled through her clutter to find a new weapon. She had lost her last one to him, but the teen had had it on her more for show than actual use. Violence wasn't her stick. Still, this didn't stop her from pulling an old stun gun from a stack and rushing to jerk it on. The light from her head lamp bounced wildly over the small place as her fingers rushed to find the button.

It was the only noise of acknowledgement he got, her mind screaming that she was in danger.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The light flickered around as she moved back and forth. Jacen saw no reason to stick his head inside. There was no good outcome from doing that, that he could imagine.

"Come on, I'm not going to hurt you. I have my datapad back," even if it was rather damaged, "I just want to talk."

 

[Serya Talith]

The noise of the gun whirled on, soft and subtle as it hummed to life in her hands. Said hands were shaking as she gripped the weapon with both and held it out stiffly in front of her. Don't make her do this. Don't make her. She would.

"About-about what?" Came the question, her voice riddled with barely contained quakes.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

That sounded like a stun baton or a blaster powering up. Neither were good. He was powerful in the Force, but stepping into dark confines with someone who knew every inch of it by heart was asking for trouble.

"You're a Force user. Which means you could be very dangerous. Which means if the wrong people find you then you'll get used for the things you can do. I am...not...the wrong people. Not that convincing huh?"

Jacen tried to sound relaxed. He hoped it made it less likely he would get shot.

He hated getting shot.

 

[Serya Talith]

Something inside her tugged, a feeling she couldn't place.

She faltered for a moment, only to find her footing and raise the gun again. Her headlight shone across the floor, spilling out of the door and creating a clear way to see exactly where her attention was turned to.

Not that convincing huh?

"...No," she finally admitted, after a long moment of silence. "Not really."

She was more than use to the concept that others wanted to use her for their own means. There were men out there that wanted to take advantage of her for so many aspects of her being.

Girl.

Thief.

...Force user? Well that was a new one. Her mind screamed at her to shut him down-- shoot, scare him off, relocate. Strange men don't just help trapped girls for nothing. But she couldn't, the tug in her chest growing.

Instead of a shot, he got a singular question, her voice tight with wary curiosity. "There are more like me?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

A pause. That was not the question he had expected. Did she not watch the holonews? Her world was small. Every act likely to satisfy a base need - hunger or exhaustion - for just as long as she could manage.

"Yes. Like me. Would it help if I offered a hot meal?" he added.

Jacen leaned towards the entrance. He recoiled, nose crinkling. No, he definitely wasn't going in there, even if invited.

 

[Serya Talith]

Could it be?

Could the stories be true?

Her head swirled, thoughts going thick and hard to reach as she began to consider the forbidden. Her brows furrowed as soon as that word came to mind. Forbidden. Why? She tried to place the dirty guilt that coiled through her-- like she was a misbehaving child getting into things she really shouldn't. She couldn't help this weird trick of hers though. It just happened. It was useful. So why did she feel so bad? What was even happening to her?


The headlight bobbed as her face went into her hands, that previous sense of numbness returning to her.

"Okay," she finally said, a deep sense of exhaustion to the voice that echoed out.

The words fell out of her from a place inside of her she couldn't identify. Reason had left her, swallowed by the fog that muddled her mind. The tug in her chest pulled her forward, driving her to stand up and inch out.

Sometimes kids and logic dont align. Looking back, she hoped she'd not regret this one day. But that voice inside her head was still small and undeveloped.

After a moment, the head peaked out, her face in tow.

"You're not gonna turn me in, right?" Came the reproachful question.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"As long as you don't shoot me," he promised. He still couldn't see her hands.

If she did, he probably deserved it. First he had backed her into a corner in the alley and now her very home. It didn't take a great stretch of the imagination to conjure the reasons a grown man might corner a street rat like her.

Jacen took a few steps back away from where she had been hiding. He did not look so certain of himself now, more than a little embarassed.

"Look, there's a cafe around the corner I saw still open. Hot drink and hot food if you'll talk for a bit."

That did not sound good out loud either.

"At the least you need to know what you could do to someone if you don't take care."

 

[Serya Talith]

She eyed him, sizing him up. The gun was sticky in her hands, her glucose from her meal bar needing a wash to clean off. She hated gotten to eating it yet, but the appeal of a warm meal was enough to slowly... lower the gun to her side. Against all logic, a bead of trust was there. The invisible string pulling her towards him brought her another step forward, her shoulders dropping as she relaxed just a smidgeon.

"Just talking," she reinforced, sticking the still powered gun into her pants.

She brushed past him, knowing exactly the cafe he spoke about. Trust or not, she was anxious to get out of the secluded corner he had her trapped in. She skirted down the twisting alleyway, not glancing back at the belongings she left behind. They were much, anyway. Nothing she couldn't steal back again.

With her meal ticket back in his possession, she was happy to use him instead. She pushed into the warm light of the shop, glancing warily once over her shoulder to see if he'd still follow her in.

Or maybe this was all a trap.

A very elaborate trap.

She knew he was cop.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The man serving tables was just inside the door. He stopped and turned to give Serya a look. Unlike the bar, he knew how to spot trouble. He frowned. As soon they opened the door, he started to open his mouth.

"She's with me," Jacen said, cutting him off. "We'd like a table."

"You'd like a table," the man replied. He turned and waved at a string of half a dozen empty tables. It wasn't exactly the kind of joint that walked you to a table.

"Caf please," Jacen said as he walked past and sat down. In the harsh lights he could see her better, but he was trying not to stare.

"That was exactly what you tried to do to me. Can you tell?"

 

[Serya Talith]

Orange eyes eyes followed him, alert with disbelief. Yes. She knew exactly what he had just done. And he had done it so easily. How. How.

She sat down, attention following the server as he walked away. She had never seen it done before. Was that how it looked to others? Was hers so smooth? Or was it more obvious? She glanced back at Jacen, wondering for the first time if he knew how to do more.

Still, she wasn't about to cop to guilt. At least not outright.

"Yeah... they never let me sit in here..." Came the dumb reply. She looked back to him, gaze sharpening. "Can you make him give me food all the time?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"That's a good question actually. No, I can't. Maybe for a few days. You can't alter someone's mind permanently without doing serious harm. That's the danger, it leads to the dark side," Jacen tried not to make this too solemn a warning. She was going to run scared if he carried on.

"You can see why I wanted to talk though? You could have tried to push too hard one day and you would have snapped someone's mind in half. Anyway... I promised food as well as lectures. I think I'll just have some nuna eggs and bacon with my caf."

This was a responsibility he had given up years ago. Jacen had hidden from the galaxy when the alliance had collapsed. He had been convinced that he would have been a target that only invited further destruction. He hadn't stopped to consider the people who missed out on his teaching.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya was left staring in restrained horror as he turned towards food, the casual mention of breaking minds sounding so out of place in this little caf. He had offered her something to eat, but food fell the furthest from her thoughts as the strange man continued to change the rederick that made up her life.

She would never break someone's mind, right?

It's dangerous, rous, rous, rous, rous...

Don't do it again-inininin...

Her thoughts slipped out from under her, her finger tips going numb as she stared blankly at the menu. For a moment it might seem like she simply couldn't read, but the ice broke and after a spell she pointed and rasped quietly. "I'll take that one." A continental breakfast for two, and the most expensive to boot. Hell it was nearing 9pm but she didn't care. Her mouth watered over at the thought of nerf meat fried with potatoes.

She looked up to him, using a set of old, dusty manners. "Please."