Private No Turning Back

[Nil Heska]

Stepping out into the upper levels of Coruscant was like entering another world. The air felt cleaner and easier to breathe than that of the undercity. People walked along the streets without looking over their shoulders, trailed only by dutiful cleaning droids that hadn’t been picked apart for scrap. Vehicles of every make and size whizzed by on their way to various destinations.

Best of all, though, was Nil’s very first glimpse of the afternoon sky.

Massive, fluffy clouds drifted along against the light blue backdrop of Coruscant’s atmosphere. A few of the planet’s many moons were faintly visible in the sky, eagerly awaiting nightfall so they could bathe the sprawling city in their pale light. The glow of the sun, however, was unmistakable. It put the artificial lighting of the lower levels to shame, offering a comforting warmth that made him feel the most alive he had in a long while.

As he stood in the middle of the bustling sidewalk and stared up at the sky, it was almost too easy to forget the dire nature of his current situation. Deep down, Nil wished that his problems would vanish if he stood and waited for the stars to come out, but he knew wishful thinking would amount to nothing. Besides, the hard work didn’t stop just because he’d finally gotten to where he was going.

Nil allowed himself a few more seconds to gawk at the sky before he fell into step with the rest of the pedestrians nearby. He tucked his hands into his pockets as he considered his next move. The growling of his stomach seemed like a good place to start, and he immediately looked for the ideal place to swipe a few credits off of unsuspecting shoppers. When his eyes came to rest on a sign pointing to one of Coruscant’s many shopping districts, he knew his next destination.

With a bit of a spring in his step, he started on his way to find an easy target.

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

GALLERIA FASHION MALL

COURSCANT | GALLERIA FASHION MALL | Nil Heska | Toby Perris
Droid | Outfit​

After a trip to Fondor and PharmaTech to be personality tested for her own personal assistant and bodyguard droid, Persephone decided she needed a little retail therapy after the horrific experience. Not that her current outfit didn't look amazing - white combat boots, overalls and a cute flannel? Persie had noted the small compliment the last clerk at the store had given her. Nevermind it was probably meant to close the sale, but she was going to get the super cute yellow combat boots regardless.

Thirty-Seven, her brothers personal droid, was carrying the bags so far. After all, she needed her hands free to drink her iced caf and browse through the racks.

"Thirty-Seven, what is with all those questions? Did Makky really answer all those or are you pullin' my leg an' all? 'Cause that took hours."

[ Of course Mistress Persephone. It is required by all. ]

"I can see why a lotta folks don't have these things then. I can't believe they are makin' me get one of yous"

[ With Mister Dashiell and Mistress Arceneau increasingly busy, a unit of your own is required. Mister Dashiell has expressed if you want to maintain your freedom you will finish your pilot lessons and allow for use of the units. ]

Thirty-Seven of course knew the real reason ; with a baby on the way from his original owners, his presence could no longer be solely with Mistress Persephone. After all, Mister Dashiell had dropped the ball in several areas of his life, plus an expansion of his business holdings, Thirty-Seven was greatly needed back.

Instead of being a bodyguard and shopping bag toter.

"Come on Thirty-Seven We're only halfway done."

 

[Nil Heska]

Nil only allowed himself a brief moment to admire the crowned jewel of the shopping district he’d stumbled into: the Galleria Fashion Mall.

It was impossibly vast, boasting several floors and more stores than he could count. The architecture was every bit as grand and dazzling as the colors that bathed the walkways in brilliant shades of pink, blue, and purple. Even the shoppers appeared dressed to the nines, as if they had put on their nicest outfits to go and purchase even nicer outfits.

There was no denying that Nil was out of place. His hair was greasy and unbrushed. The clothes he had on were the only ones he had to his name, and their wear and tear reflected the squalor that he’d lived in for so long. Grime from the undercity still marked his skin, drawing the eyes of nosy passersby as he tried his best to blend in with his surroundings.

Nil did his best to ignore the dirty looks and lingering gazes. His sights were set on the stores, carefully assessing which place would be the least risky for him to start with. He stopped in front of a small but busy shop that offered an assortment of menswear. People of various species and sizes browsed through the racks and tables without looking up at Nil while he slipped past them.

At the back of the shop, he found a neat jacket that was just his size. It was straightforward in terms of design. There were only two pockets and no buttons anywhere in sight. The black leather exterior was complemented nicely by the few light purple accents on the sleeves and collar.

He quite liked the jacket, so he casually removed it from the rack and tied it around his waist. When no one seemed to notice, he continued browsing for a short while, gradually making his way to the front of the store. As soon as he saw a chance, he slipped out, and soon enough he was nearing his next stop–a sparsely populated clothing store.

Before entering, Nil shrugged on his new jacket and ran a hand through his messy hair. At the very least, his new garment would help him avoid sticking out like a sore thumb. It proved effective enough as he walked into the store and was greeted by one of the employees. Nil simply nodded as he approached the racks and mocked browsing, his attention falling on a girl accompanied by a shiny droid.

The droid carried several shopping bags while it kept a watchful eye on the girl. Nil had never tried his hand at stealing from a droid. As far as he knew, they had eyes in the back of their heads. It was difficult to resist the allure of the many shopping bags that it held, however. If Nil snaked a few items out of them, they surely wouldn’t be missed all that much.

He proceeded to work his way over toward the two of them, occasionally stopping to make it look like he was trying to pick out a shirt. Before long, he was standing just behind them, his back facing the both of them. Nil felt his heart rate beginning to spike as he blindly slipped his hand into one of the bags under the droid’s arm, his fingers closing around one of the items within.

 

[Toby Perris]

GALLERIA FASHION MALL
CORUSCANT - CORE WORLDS
Persephone Dashiell • Nil Heska

If anyone were to wonder what a padawan was doing in a fashion mall, it was because they didn’t understand that padawans, JEDI, were still people, with their own likes, dislikes, needs, and wants. For Toby’s part, when he had decided he needed to go shopping, it was mostly a need, and had required a little looking into where he should go; the last time he’d gone shopping for clothes had been back home on Corellia, before his arrival on Coruscant around a year before, and now his trousers were a bit too short.

Thank goodness for the warm weather and shorts, because he was going on this little jaunt, inconspicuously: his outfit consisted of those shorts in beige with a chestnut brown belt, an untucked and unbuttoned short sleeved button-down in light olive green with a black tank underlayering it, and finished out by sand-coloured tactical boots. After all, this wasn’t really Jedi business… but even so, he knew better than to leave his temp lightsaber behind - it was hiding under his shirt and behind his messenger bag - and that he needed to dress in ways that didn’t impede his movement. That was simply responsible, and recent events that had caused all the ongoing recovery and construction in the Senate district, Temple district, and surrounding areas made being prepared all the more necessary.

There was no knowing what could happen, even in places that were otherwise meant to be relatively safe.

After perusing for a while and finding a few pairs he liked that fit him and his personal style, Toby was now simply checking out the rest of the mall and getting to know what all it offered for future reference, and perhaps see if there was anything else that caught his interest, while sipping an iced tea latté. He knew he’d probably have to come back here at some point; he wasn’t done growing or filling out, especially since recent reprioritisations to his Jedi training because of conflicts on multiple fronts could mean he’d see changes in muscle.

Not to mention other things that were harder to predict - they those coloured his thoughts too… but when a different feeling hit him, one born of the Force and drew his eyes to one side, it took a moment until his blue eyes settled on what his attention was being drawn to and those thoughts were pushed to the edge of his mind. He paused in his sips from the straw of his drink and slowed his steps, taking up a lean against a railing and resuming sipping his iced latté while trying to make sense of why he was being pushed to watch this knife-eared guy entering a shop, until…

"Oh. Ohhh."

That was when he saw the the heads of the girl and standing taller than her, the droid, laden with shopping bags, and immediately thought of a story his eldest brother had told him about from when he was still a padawan just a bit younger than Toby was now.

“No way.” He uttered under his breath, his eyes widening, but he didn’t budge from his lean. It was hard to see through the guy to what he was doing, and the people passing between Toby and the shop, and what if he was wrong? “What if he’s just their friend and... this is just a surprise?”

But then why would Toby feel like this?

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

GALLERIA FASHION MALL

Nil Heska | Toby Perris​

Iced caf in hand, Persie had pulled two tops out from the rack and placed them on another, studying both intently. They were nearly identical 'shackets' as the phrase was, just two entirely different colors. She was trying to decide what would be most versatile for her closet when she spent time on Gallinore. It was a more forested planet, rugged. The style would fit in well....just which color? Olive? Cactus?

Another sip of her iced caf. She was completely oblivious to the young man near her. It was a crowded shopping mall and the store catered to teens. There would bound to be other people in her space. Not as if she could commission a personal wardrobe like she did with Chi Chuchi every time. Of couse, she still wore the pieces and the cloak was begging to come out this fall.

Thirty-Seven did catch sight, however. If the droid could arc an eyebrow, he would have. What a teenage boy was about to do with a teenage girl's thin-strapped camisole was....questionable, if his line of programming was correct. Threat assessment was minimal. Programming suggested a verbal warning would suffice.

[ Can I assist you Sir? ] Pointed optical receptors at the young man, and his hand.

"Thirty-Seven who are you talkin' to? I'm makin' life an' death decisions over here."

​

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[Nil Heska]

It hadn't occurred to Nil that the things he couldn't see were clothes. The idea that people could purchase clothing in excess was completely foreign to him, after all. That was why he was rather surprised to feel different fabrics brushing against his fingers once he'd placed his hand inside one of the many bags slung over the droid's shoulder.

The droid immediately looked at him, gazing back at him before staring down at his hand. Nil experienced instant regret–something he'd become fairly familiar with over the course of his career as a budding thief. He'd chosen the wrong target plenty of times. He was sure it would happen even more now that he was in such an unfamiliar part of Coruscant.

Still, that didn't mean recovery was impossible. There was still a chance for him to play this off. The staff in the store hadn't noticed what the droid had, plus the patrons still seemed totally oblivious. As one of them walked by, Nil caught a glimpse of the wallet in their back pocket, and he immediately slipped his hand out of his pocket to float the wallet into his free hand.

"My mistake," Nil said with a forced chuckle, holding up the wallet as if it had been in his pocket the entire time. "I thought I dropped my wallet into your bag, but it's right here."

Persephone Dashiell Toby Perris

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Sipping on her iced caf, staring at the nearly identical jackets, Persephone didn't hear Thirty-Seven answer when she asked what was wrong. Instead there was the sound of a young man, the one that was close to her. All the sudden the teenage boy was holding a wallet, declaring he thought he has dropped it in her bag.

Dark blue eyes narrowed. She looked the teenager up and down. The jacket was new and clean and quite fashionable. The clothing underneath looked otherwise. It was ripped and stained, patched up as best as possible. His hair was styled but it was greasy, and not the greasy the way teenage boys often had their hair. This was from lack of a good scrub.

"I was goin' to call yous a pervert."

Another sip of her iced caf, a critical cutting gaze still taking in Nil Heska . A shake of her head.

"However, I was wrong. Yous ain't no pervert, yous just some street urchin. Ain't a good one gettin' caught like this. Yous outta your league kid. Stickin' out. Best folks to pickpocket are the drunks comin' out of the bars. Thats where I always got my best targets. They's too drunk to anythin'."

 

[Nil Heska]

Upon very nearly being called some kind of degenerate, Nil's eyes widened. A nearby shopper placed a hand over their mouth, quietly laughing into it at the younger girl's words. He had half a mind to snatch her bags and run for it. The desire to do so only doubled when she offered a scathing review of his work and provided some advice he hadn't asked for. Once she was finished, he folded his arms in front of his chest, his nose scrunched and his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

How dare she tell him whether he was a good street urchin or not? How dare she call him "kid" when she was 12 years old at best?! He could feel his face burning from a blend of humiliation and frustration. Even the very tips of his ears felt like they'd been held to an open flame. His hands were balled into tight fists at his sides.

"You know, some street urchins don't like to settle for playing it safe and profiting off the same easy targets," Nil informed her. "The bigger the risk, the bigger the payout."

Nil didn't even know if he fully believed what he said, but it was the principle of the thing. What little pride he held on to had been badly wounded. All he could do was scramble to pick up the pieces before he disappeared into the shadows again. Hopefully there wouldn't be any obnoxious little girls there.

"In any case, I said it was an honest mistake. Or do you just go around making assumptions about every person you don't like the look of?" He countered.

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"I don't hafta assume anything, you just called yourself a street urchin."

Persephone was just pointing out the obvious. She would have felt the same in his position, being called out was something no street kid wanted. Of course he would deny it. Hell, she denied it to. Definitely a protective trait. One didn't want a target on their back that they were a street urchin. An eyebrow raised as they stared at one another, as if they were in a showdown.

Arms crossed as well, Persie frowning.

"Yous need some credits? I feel bad 'cause you ain't used to hittin' someone in the sunlight an' all. Least I can do. Get yous a lunch and regroup. Maybe try to hit up an old lady next round."

Nil Heska

 

[Nil Heska]

Nil rolled his eyes. It was just his luck that the first time he tried to steal from a droid would go so catastrophically bad. Fortunately for him, this would also be the last time he would try such a thing.

Had the situation unraveled a little bit differently, maybe he would've felt inclined to accept the girl's offer of credits. Her coin hardly mattered to him... though he struggled to ignore the rumbling in his stomach. Was he really going to fold and take her up on a bit of money so he could stuff his face? His fists clenched at his sides as he mentally refused to bend.

"I don't need your credits," Nil said firmly. "But if you're offering a meal, I won't say no..."

As he uttered the last few syllables of his sentence, he averted his gaze. He couldn't believe he was sort of entertaining her act of charity. Desperation had a habit of making him do things he normally never thought of doing.

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Great! We's can be friends! I never get'ta meet up with folks I used'ta be like."

Not that Persephone was eager to return. She had plenty of clean clothes and fresh fruit now. There was no desire to head back to the lower levels of Taris and live her old life. She wasn't even sure she missed the folks down there. Not like anyone ever cared for her or her Mama when she lived on Taris. Yet that was a path she didn't need to revisit.

"Come on. We gotta go down to the ground level."

It was clear the brown-haired teenager wasn't taking no for an answer.

"So you's got a name or something? I'm Persephone, though some folks call me Persie. I ain't going to get all ornery though, whatever yous wanna call me. Yous lived here all your life?"

A nod in the direction out of the store, walking with Nil Heska towards a bank of escalators that would lead them down to the ground level and the massive food court.

 

[Nil Heska]

Though his face didn't show it, he was quite pleased that the girl accepted his terms. It was a stroke of luck that he'd managed to take from someone who was still willing to feed him. Her kindness was not wasted on him, even if he wouldn't admit it. He walked along after her without protest, following her to wherever she had in mind.

"Nil," he replied to her introduction with one of his own, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Persephone was a nice name, he thought. He'd seldom heard names so fancy-sounding before. In all honesty, he knew very few names of the people in the undercity. It was more common to keep that information to oneself than to voluntarily offer it to strangers. As such, it was quite the adjustment being able to introduce himself so openly.

"On Coruscant, yeah. Just not this part exactly," Nil answered. "What about you?"

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Pleasure to meet you Nil."

She had been working on her etiquette skills all summer. While her drawl, speech patterns, and syntax needed a considerable amount of work, Persie was dedicated to the cause. Of course there would also be a bit of accent in her voice but the rest she was trying to train into a polished pattern. With enough time it would get there.

"Lower City, Taris."

No different than the lower levels of Coruscant. Shady. Crime ridden. Dark. Lawless.

"I ain't seen no sunlight til I left Taris. Never came up to the surface, y'know? Why would I? Ain't like anyone would care about a girl like me, even when my Mama was alive. So til she died thats where I lived. Deep under the ritzy city."

Manicured hand gently took the escalator guide and she started her journey down, twisting to look at Nil Heska .

"This yous first time out in the fresh air? It looks like it but I've been wrong before. Its rare though."

 

[Toby Perris]

GALLERIA FASHION MALL
CORUSCANT - CORE WORLDS
Persephone Dashiell • Nil Heska

While he couldn’t see what was physically going on between Nil and Persephone, the guy’s filching of the wallet from some other passerby had been plain as day from his vantage point. Toby’s eyes narrowed, then, as he’d laid on just a titch more attention, but then nothing so much as a scene happened.

“Maybe they’re in it together?”

But that didn’t feel quite right, and when they moved to exit the shop together, “Huh?” which seemed strange, Toby didn’t quite know what to make of it until he got the clearest look at the both of them, plus the droid, and the stark differences in their clothing, when they emerged and there was a long space in the people passing to and fro at just the right moment.

“What the…”

He stood up straight, pulled up by that unmistakable feeling. Nothing added up… but it was clear he had to follow them. Only a light shining down on them from the heavens would have been more obvious; Toby got the sense there might as well have been one, but he shook that cinematic thought out of his head with a faint snort at himself.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said in quiet, amused derision, as he peeled away from the railing and joined the flow of people heading towards the escalator, to inconspicuously tail the unlikely-looking pair, “but I suppose weirder stuff does happen.”

That the Force could be incomprehensible at times was something he was becoming very much aware of. He boarded the escalator with a few people of distance between him and them, sipping at his drink and wondering how this would all pan out.

 

[Nil Heska]

Nil didn’t know the first thing about Taris, but he didn’t need to. Persephone’s description of her life before now painted a perfectly grim picture of the type of environment she came from. He was fairly certain it was no different than the one he’d been raised in. It was enough to make him grimace as they went down the escalator.

When she asked him if it was his first time in the fresh air, he chewed on the inside of his cheek. Maybe he stood out far more than he’d initially thought. If that was the case, he would need to procure another change of clothes and do something about his unruly hair. Blending in would work wonders when it came to pickpocketing and shoplifting.

In any case, Persephone had asked him a question, and he wasn’t particularly keen on being more rude to her now that there was a meal on the line.

“Only been up here for a few hours now,” he admitted, averting her gaze as he peered over the side of the rail at the pedestrians below. “It’s like another world. I’m sure you felt the same when you finally saw the sun.”

Persephone Dashiell Toby Perris

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

“Only been up here for a few hours now,” he admitted, averting her gaze as he peered over the side of the rail at the pedestrians below. “It’s like another world. I’m sure you felt the same when you finally saw the sun.”

Persephone nodded, offering a hum of agreement. Hand canted slightly, remembering her first time to the surface. Her Mama had forbid her to go up top for any reason before her death. Ain't nothin' up there but heartache she would say. So Persie listened and never went up to the topside. Never experience the sensation of air and a breeze and of course, what sun felt like on her skin.

"Yeah, my eyes was hurtin' for days. Why is it so bright? Then bugs....an' grass, and trees. I was scared at first."

She had never met someone with the same experience as her. It was surreal. Another person who had never experienced the 'real world' so to speak. She was still adjusting in many ways. She imagined Nil Heska would be adjusting for a long time too.

Escalator was reaching the bottom and she stepped off, continuing to move.

"Yous got any plans? Like whatcha goin' to do?"