Like a train runnin off the track (Christian Slade)

[KitKat]

Theed was beautiful this time of year, though of couse it was always beatiful. Theed University was a small campus set against the beaitufl brick layout of the city. It was decorated in typical artisain ways to reflect the Naboo culture. These were many of the reasons Katarine loved it here, but the biggest reason was that nobody would bother to look for her here. Ever since the Jedi had asked such a horrid thing of her she'd gone off the grid. The Jedi delcared her missing from the order and since she'd spent most of her time under cover nobody knew who to look for even if they botehred looking.

So Katarine did what most people did when they were switching careers, she enrolled in a univeristy and started trying to figure things out. It was her way of hiding from life for just a little while.
She walked into her religions class and took a seat near the back. It was a large lecture class and the professor had not arrived yet.

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian sat in the back of the large classroom waiting for the professor to show. He didn't go to that school, but with over a hundred students in a classroom it was easy to slip in unnoticed. That was key in what he was doing, which was gathering information on the history of Theed. He'd decided to start with Religions to see if the teacher might speak of any landmarks like Temples or holy constructs that he might be able to search for ancient artifacts, both Jedi and Sith alike, though he was almost certain he'd find nothing of the Sith on a planet like that.

It was while they were waiting on the professor that Christian noticed a young woman walk in late to the class, though she'd beaten the Professor there. She was quite... something, which many of the other young men noticed about her like he had when she'd made her way into the room.

She had a way of putting the other young women in the classroom to shame, which was something he smiled at when he noticed more than one distasteful look on the faces of the girls around him. Those golden eyes watching her every step of the way as she looked across the vast room to find an open seat. As she did, he looked over at the couple of books he'd managed to steal from other students that day which were sitting on a vacant desk top next to him.

Thinking he'd be generous, he reached over and pulled the books from the desk top and plopped them down on his own desk top, freeing up the seat if she'd decided to take the seat next to him.

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

Katarine was oblivious to the looks the other students were giving her. She was paranoid that she was late, and was far too busy scrambling to find a seat to notice any wayward eyes. Luckily a guy in the back row decided to be generous and move his things so she could sit in the crowed room.

Katarine took the seat quickly, setting her bag down and glancing up at the chivilrous gent with a bright smile. She opened her lips to thank him and froze as she looked into his eyes. They were golden in color and absolutely gorgeous. Katarine wasn't the only girl staring at them in the room and there might even be some guys who wanted to get the full experimental college experience glancing his way as well. Most of them were whispering about how neat the contacts were but Katarine had other thoughts. You didn't live two decades as a Jedi and not know the signs of the darkside, especially if you were cursed to be drawn toward exceptional dark men. Her heart started to race as she ran over the possibilities in her mind. Was it just a cooincidence? Surely he wasn't here for her? But hadn't he just made certain she sat next to him? How could he know she would be late though?

Realizing she was staring at him like some dumb struck girl she smiled and blushed. "Thank you." She pushed her hair behind her ear and started digging in her back for her datapad.

Your being paranoid. He knows nothing. The Jedi haven't found you.... the darkside hasn't found you. Just breath. He could litereally have a nice pair of contacts... he's not here to push any boundaries... he's just a guy... just a student... it's fine.. breath...

She mentally scolded herself as the professor walked into the room and started talking about quiz results. It was silly to think irrational paranoid thoughts. Still.... she couldn't help but glance sideways at her neighbor....

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian glanced sideways at the young, attractive woman who'd sat next to him. He'd known she was gorgeous girl the moment he saw her from across the room, but it was a different story when she sat close enough that he could smell the woman. -Ugh... why does she have to smell good too?-, he thought, trying to keep his mind off of the knockout next to him.

He'd then overheard a few things being said back and forth between a couple of girls sitting in front of him. It had caught his attention, and his eyes had fallen back and forth between them for a moment as he heard something about contact that he was allegedly wearing. Other than that, he'd ignored the many glances that he and his new desk neighbor were getting, as if they were the "popular" kids in school who'd sat together out of fate itself.

Leaning forwards, Christian rested his elbows on either knee. He lowered his head just far enough to whisper between the two chatting it up about him in the row in front of them. "I don't wear contacts.", he said, looking to one girl and then then next, a few stands of that long brown hair falling out from behind his ear as he leaned back into his seat and propped one elbow up across the back of it in order to get more comfortable. As he did, he lifted his right leg and draped it over his left, his golden eyes glancing over to the girl sitting next to him.

He caught her once again, staring at him, though she tried to hide it as well as she could, those eyes darting forwards across the room, frantically searching for the professor to act as if she'd been paying him attention to him the whole time.

He narrowed his eyes, watching as he knew exactly what she was doing and said, "It's rude to stare, you know?"

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

The two girls sitting in front of them burst into a fit of giggles when be leaned over and talked to them. Katarine frowned and realized for the first time that she did not fit in as well as she thought here. If it took just one visit from her past to prove that then maybe this wasn't sanctuary. But she had bigger problems.

He caught her looking at him again and called her out on it. Unlike her classmates who had gone from giggles to flirty glances, Kat was fidgeting and nervous. She wanted to leave but would feel guilty if he had come to hurt someone else and she wasn't here to stop him. She glanced sideways again, wondering if maybe he was harmless and nothing like the other Force users who had driven her to her own exile.

She smirked at his words as her green eyes followed the professor, not listening to a word being taught. "I am sorry. I was just noticing what big yellow eyes you have."

All the better to kill her with. She frowned at the thought and glanced towards the door. She had almost made up her mind to leave and let the chips fall where they may, when the girl in front of him turned and dropped something on his desk with a gesture that made it obvious she wanted him to call her. Katarine hissed under her breath. How was it possible that women fell unsuspecting into the path of dangerous men? Was that just how the world worked?

Realizing she'd hate herself if she left, she decided to try and ignore him. She still didn't know why he was here and it could be totally innocent. Unfortunately this was easier said than done and she caught herself looking at him again.

"I haven't seen you in this class before."

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian glanced down at the torn out patch of paper now laying in his desk, those golden eyes drifting up to meet the young woman's who sat in front of him. He played with a pin in his mouth, tugging at it ever so gently as he did. He then caught the girl next to him(Kat) glancing at him again, and this time said nothing. He only smirked as he reached down and picked up the note, holding it up to see what had been written on it.

A number along with a couple little hearts had been carefully drawn across the paper, and it made him laugh to himself, under his breath, just lightly as he again caught the woman's eyes as she glanced over at him again and said. "I haven't seen you in this class either.", in a voice that was almost a whisper, yet smooth and deep.

Laying the paper back down on his desk, he unfolded his legs so that he could lean forwards and plucked the pen from his mouth. He began writing or drawing something on it, but as he did, he continued to speak with his new neighbor.

"And if I didn't know any better, I'd say you aren't a very big fan of me.", he said, finishing up what he'd written and letting himself fall again into the back of his seat lazily.

Plucking the piece of paper from the desk, Christian reached over and gently placed it on Katarine's desk and, then slowly retracted his hand. As he did, he clicked the pen and let it fall back against his lip, subconsciously playing with it in his mouth again. He then cast a sideways glance at Katarine and said, "Think I should give her that?"

On her desk laid that same piece of paper he'd been given, but all the numbers had been encircled many a time so that they now looked like nothing but zeros, and at the beginning of the note he'd etched an "N" along with "X"s he'd made sure to include through each of the hearts.

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

Her face fell slightly when he mentioned she wasn't a fan of his. Poor Katarine, she was too nice and now overly concerned she's hurt his feelings when be may not deserve that at all.

She opened her mouth to apologize but he caught her off guard with the note. She smiled a small smile and crumpled it up in her hand. "No. If you do that she may never eat again and she's already two sizes smaller than she should be."

So the wolf wasn't here to devour unfortunate college students but that still don't explain why he was here.

"I'm sorry if I was rude. You just remind me of someone I used to know." She finished lamely, remembering those yellow eyes of Malices as he slaughtered children for the joy of it. Goosebumps erupted over her skin as she pushed he crumpled up piece of paper to the edge of her desk.

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

"Do I?", he asked, making sure to speak low and from the corner of his mouth as not to alert the professor at the front of the room who'd begun talking as he wrote a few things on the board. He watched the man's movements, waiting for him to share something of use, but he figure that this very well might be another waste of time for him. Really, the only saving grace about his presence there had been the young woman who'd sat next to him. He could tell she wasn't like the other girls, despite her obvious beauty which still set her apart from the others as she was above and beyond all of them.

Looking over at the young woman with those golden eyes he had, he said, "And here I was hoping to stand apart from everyone else, yet I remind you of someone you've already met."

Snorting ever so gasping ever so slightly as if he were going to laugh, he looked back down at his desk and peeled open the book for that class and began flipping through the pages scanning it's contents for leads on holy land or constructions that might hold secrets of the force. "So...", he started, glancing back at her before he said, "...is there a reason you are lowering yourself to be among such... flawed youth?"

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

She watched him, forgetting for a moment that they were among a bunch of young curious eyes. He seemed to realize she was out of place just like she knew he was. “I could ask you the same thing.”

She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear so she could rub her temples. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to deal with all of this yet. Suddenly she felt like she was suffocating, though the air in the room hadn’t changed at all. Her past just felt a little too close. She tugged at the collar of her black jacket a bit.
“I’m just getting an education like everybody else.”
@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Letting the book flop closed, Christian looked back over to the young woman next to him. He studied her for a moment, the way she sat, the way she breathed, her motioned and actions. She was very uncomfortable, but he wasn't entirely sure that it had been his doing that made it so.

Reaching over carefully, Christian pulled a separate strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear gently before he retracted his hand. He then crossed his arms, grabbing either bicep and leaned over on his desk, still watching her as he said, "Be calm. You're just fine in this place."

He then looked back across the room at the few wandering eyes that were still looking up at them in curiosity every so often. "The only thing you have to worry about it was people will be saying behind our backs, and if you're anything like me it won't bother you in the slightest."

"Relax..."

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

She flinched, but his fingertips only brushed her hair back gently. Katarine felt her heart speed up and the dizziness set in. She groaned inwardly and tried to not hyperventilate. This was part of the reason she had left the Jedi. Her DNA made her too easy to manipulate.

She hung her head in her hands as he mercifully pulled away from her. She eyed him sideways and tried to smile. "Not in the slightest." She rubbed her forehead and thought about the fresh air outside. He didn't seem to have any interest in hurting anybody here, and the only person he seemed to be showing any interest in at all was her. He wasn't listening to the lecture and had only glanced at the textbook. Katarine was starting to think that no matter why he'd came he was sidetracked now, which could end very badly for her but at least everyone else was safe.

"Do you wanna take a walk or something? It's too hot in here. Or are you waiting to learn something?"

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

"I don't think the old man knows anything I don't already know.", Christian replied, smiling at the young woman next to him as if to try and quell her mood. She seemed to be struggling with something, and he'd certainly hoped it didn't have anything to do with him. After all, they had just met. She knew nothing about him, besides the fact that he was a dark individual. He'd certainly been able to gather that much from her presence that she had good in her heart. She was a Jedi, or at least functioned with the light side of the force in some way.

There was no question that they were born to be enemies. They existed to stand on opposite sides of a finely drawn line, but when he considered this young woman, he didn't feel that way. For some reason, he didn't feel like she was his enemy, and considering that Christian answered to no one and was a part of no organization, the only thing that would cause friction between them was their touch of the force.

He was dark, she was light. Good and evil clashed, and it was a way of life, but in Christian's eyes, there was only a man and woman.

"Sure. You look like you could use some fresh air.", he said, gathering up his books. Leaning forwards, he saw the pair of girls look back at him as he started to stand. He winked at them, that playful smirk on his mouth as he turned and ushered the young Katarine down the isle.

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

They stood to leave and Katarine was pleased to see her legs worked just fine. Maybe she was stronger than whatever hold her bloodline had on her, or maybe it was a temporary relief to a permanent problem. She certainly had not found any answers here, despite the university claiming tree were religious experts who knew all there was about the Force.

They left the classroom to a bunch of curious and in the case of the giggly girls, upset faces. The instructor paid them no mind. He got paid no matter how many kids skipped his class after all.

Once outside in the fresh air she felt her head clear as if she'd imagined the dizzy feeling earlier. She glanced sideways at her companion as they started a stroll around the campus.

"So.. What do you do when your not dropping in on religious studies classrooms to flirt with giggly college girls?

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian smirked at the girls comment as they strode across the campus together. She seemed to be rather straight forward and honest, which he liked, and if anything a bit catty, which he didn't hate either. He rather liked the attitude she seemed to have, whether or not she was fully embracing it in that moment or not. He could tell there were some things she was holding back, but for the time he was enjoying the little bits and pieces of her personality here and there that she was allowing him to see.

"Was I flirting?", he first asked, glancing over at her with those golden eyes he had, that confident smirk still on his face as he watched her. "I didn't notice.", he then followed, looking down to the ground as they walked a few more paces before reaching a beautiful garden where there were students peppered about studying, a few talking with friends or loved ones in the peaceful place.

"I do a lot of traveling and research for... personal enrichment.", he finally admitted as he slowed to a stop at the gate of the gardens that lead through part of the campus. Reaching out, he pushed it open for her and stepped one foot inside the gate before looking back at Katarine and saying, "Shall we?"

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

His reasoning was innocent enough and he seemed sincere. She felt foolish for worrying he was up to no good earlier. The Jedi had bread a sense of paranoia into her that she knew was bias and unwarranted. Her thoughts drifted towards Arumi Zy, whose eyes had surpassed gold and went straight to red. The cruelty she'd seen at his hands was unmatched... But no... Not all darksiders were the same no matter what the Jedi taught. Everybody deserved the chance to show thier true heart, and Katarine was a fool if she didn't allow the same for this man.

She usually tried to avoid being a fool when she could help it. She smiled and walked with him through the garden. "You came at the right time. Everything here is in full bloom. If you had chosen differently I don't think you would have seen such beauty."

It was beautiful and one of the draws for many tourists in the area. Katarine was fond of the flying butterfly like insects whose wings glowed as they fluttered. She usually made it down here at night when she needed to think and spent that time watching the creatures flutter around.



@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

A smiled replaced the smirk on his face, streaking across his mouth as the pair of them walked together. "Beauty complimenting beauty...", he started to say as he walked with her, looking over at her with those golden brown eyes, knowing that she was still being a bit cautious with him, though he'd given her no reason to fear him. He respected it. It was smart of her to show such care with the people she chose to spend her time with.

"I don't think that's something I've seen before.", he said, finishing what he'd started to say, looking from Katarine and letting his gaze circle the gardens around them. So many young, beautiful and capable people strewn about the place, some in pairs, young men courting young women. Some might see this as beautiful, but not a single pair of eyes was absorbing the stunning scene of the garden in bloom all around them.

Suddenly he stopped and reached out to one of the most perfect flowers in the garden, a physical specimen. He raised his tattoo etched palm beneath it and let the pedals fall against his hand. He held that flower as gently as a child staring up at their father, soaking in every detail of their greatest hero.

"It's sad that something so beautiful could be so articulately conceived by a force we do not know or understand. In that effort, we are given a gift by an unnamed source, yet our peers overlook it as if it were...", he said, turning and looking over his shoulder at Katarine, a serious and slightly disappointed look on his face as he said, "...as if it were just another blade of grass."

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

She blushed pale pink when he complimented her. Katarine seen the beauty in other people, but rarely did she take time to see any in herself. She was tainted, her very blood a crude compliment to the cruelty of her family line. It was nice at least that strangers couldn't tell the evil coursing through her veins.

She watched as he held one of the flowers and noted the tattoo on his hand. She wanted to take a closer look but held back, instead choosing to run her finger over one of the other flowers softly. His words made her smile and she glanced sideways at him. "You should think about taking Kidtren's poetic interpretation class. You would be a natural. "

She grinned and glanced back at the flower with a sigh. "People can't always see what is right in front of them. Humanity is flawed but it too has beauty. It's just more complex and you have to look deeply to truly see it. Oversight is a flaw but there is something worth cherishing in our peers."

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian laughed light heartedly at her comment about the class, his eyes narrowing as he smiled and looked back at her. "I appreciate the comment, but I don't think I'd be cut out to be the sappy poetic type.", in truth, he didn't have time for some of the more enjoying points to life like poetry and writing, music, movies or even sporting events, though he tried to enjoy them when he had some time.

"I just don't think I'd look good in a turtleneck trying to serenade every young beauty who walked by with poetic song, a freshly plucked rose for each one.", he said, laughing lightly to himself at his own joke.

"As far as people are concerned...", he started to say, looking away from her as if he were hiding something, though he admitted the obvious truth anyway. "...I'm a little out of touch with people, but I do know that they are a materialistic and selfish sort who blind themselves into thinking that having more of anything will make them happier, when really the more you have is just more to bind you to a life we're not long for if we let greed will our hearts."

His hand slipped from the velvet petals of the flower he'd been holding, and already having let it go, though he knew he had to, it made him sad just the slightest bit. He knew it's beauty could not lost forever, which was true with all things, even the woman who was sharing his company.

"That is why I am taken by you...", he said, looking from the flower he'd held to the flower he was speaking with.

"You are the most priceless of jewels. None match you in beauty... yet your heart put's your body to shame."

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

"Oh I don't know. You have nice broad shoulders. I bet you could pull off a turtle neck with ease."

His next words made her frown and wonder who had hurt him in his past. He had a very dim view of humanity and in her experience that was usually brought out by a wrong doing of some sort. She wanted to comfort him but knew they had just met and prying into his personal life wouldn't be a welcome gesture from a stranger.

The blush in her cheeks deepened and this time her hand did come down softly on his arm, careful not to touch his skin. "That is very kind of you but i hope someday your surprised by humanity. It can be a lonely stroll if your always walking alone."

She frowned suddenly, realizing despite it all she still sounded like a Jedi. She let her hand fall from his arm and glanced around. "Are you staying in Theed a while or do you have to leave soon?"

She wasn't rushing him, in fact her tone was the exact opposite. It had been a long time since she had talked to someone without having to hide her own thoughts. It was nice.

@[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian nodded as she spoke of humanity. He didn't have the best outlook on life and the people in it. Of that she was right, but that didn't mean he had lost all hope. After all, he'd just met her, and he knew she was much more that met his golden eyes. She was special. Different from the others. She was... the exception to the standard.

"I was just passing through, really. Taking in the sites and gathering as much of the planet's history as I could.", he said, his eyes falling to her gentle touch as she released her hold on his arm. It was nice, that contact he had with her, but he didn't know if she shared that feeling. Yet, as she retrieved her hand, his golden eyes followed it back to her, and when it came to rest at her side he looked up into her eyes again, wishing her could read minds in that moment so that he could know exactly what she was thinking in regards to him.

He then broke eye contact and cast his gaze back around the gardens for a moment before he said, "...but I think I've changed my mind."

Beneath the flower he had been holding was a wilting flower, a flower dying and being drained of life because of the flower above it, which soaked up it's sun and was stronger. Reaching up to it, Christian frowned ever so slightly, and though he knew he shouldn't, he couldn't help it. Slowly he let the force flow through the tips of his fingers into the flower, and slowly, but surely the flower began to plump, the color finding it's way back into it's pedals again.

"It is a beautiful place, after all...", he said, releasing the flower and losing that frown for a smirk again. "There is much to see on Theed, and a few days certainly won't be enough."

@[member="Katarine Ryiah"]