Related To A Rat

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric walked with cool, calm, confidence. His eyes shifted carefully, his gaze falling on the gutter trash of Coruscant with little disdain held back.

He frowned, downright scowled at him, his hand drifting passed his lightsaber each time one of them walked by him. His bootsteps rang out, and many of the lesser beings decided to avoid him all together. They knew him for what he was, they knew that he was their better, that he would kill them without a second thought.

He sneered.

It was hard to believe that someone that shared his blood lived down here, it was hard to believe that anyone lived down here. Yet his informants had told him so, and it was doubtful that they would lie to him, Cedric had always been rather persuasive.

Eventually, he found the building that he was looking for. A rundown spice den that could have passed for a ruin. His lips curled down, and his steps found themselves halting just before the entrance, a hollowed out doorway with nothing in it.

His hand gripped the lightsaber hilt on his hip, his head moved to the side to crack his neck.

With careful, considerate steps Cedric moved into the building, not entirely sure what to expect.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

I'm seein' stars.

Kiber's eyes rolled lazily in his sockets, stuck half-way between a trance and a nightmare. Dilapidated house party. It was a place where the fun never stopped. Well, that was if your idea of fun was filling your body with harmful substances and then performing ritualistic hedonistic merriment.

But my eyes are closed.

He had been up mixing his narcotics for around fifty-three hours now, trapped in a state of escaping the come down like the grim reaper, jaw swivelling around like he was in a herd of grazing bantha.

The Stars in My Eyelids, that'll be the name of my holonovel.

It was customary for the dealer to stay for a few, but being a rather indulgent fellow he couldn't just stay for one. Not one pill, not one line, not one hit. That's kinda the signifier for being an addict, innit?

Dorn had been sat down, slumped against a yellowing wall with a peeling wallpaper finish, head propped backwards and a sense of alertness pulsing through him while he attempted to sleep. Way too buzzed to sleep, but that didn't stop Kiber from trying. The party still raged on around him, men and women with few brain cells and fewer teeth taking any promise they once had in their lives and replacing it with a short high.

Maw opened and shut a few times, attempting to speak, to translate his brilliant thoughts to words but they just didn't translate very well.

“….kark....karkin'....karkity...kark..."

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

He heard the rhythmic thumping of people moving and jostling about, dashing and raving. His scowl told that he was not well pleased, that he was annoyed in fact.

Cedric had no idea what his cousin looked like beyond a single holo-pict that he had. There was no way of picking him out of this crowd, and there was no way of getting him to come forward with all this noise. The Sith Frowned, his scowl creasing his lips and biting at him as he stepped into the crowded room.

It smell of spice, piss, and body odor.

The lightsaber that had hung on his hip so gently was plucked from its resting state, finding its way to his palm just as he moved into the very center of the room. The blade ignited with a loud snap and a hiss, slicing into a womans side that stood only mere inches from him. The scream was immediate, though the woman was silenced with a touch of the force.

“I'm looking for Kiber Dorn.” his voice echoed in the room, breaking all other sound.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Talk about rude introductions.

For a moment Kiber's mind thought that this particular vintage of drum and bass had been remixed with a hint of lightsaber. Interesting art direction, but ultimately seen it before, well, rather heard it before. Yeah? Ain't you? Yo, come on! You couldn't escape Narcissim (One Sith Remix) last year in the big clubs, it got so popular that all the young college girls started calling it 'their jam'.

Then he heard his name, and suddenly realised that this was no remix. Another gothic goon after his balls? How did they even find him down here? Must be getting smarter. That's a worry for the old mortality rate.

“Kibah Dorn, tha' dealah?”

No, Kibah Dorn the snake charmer you fething nutsack, he thought to himself choosing to remain perfectly prone slumped against the wall with his eyes firmly clamped shut. Maybe this man's vision was movement based.

“This him here?” came the shrill sound from a rather bedraggled woman who had been, prior to this invasion, shagging p against the wall. She pointed rather hopelessly at a twi'lek who looked nothing like Kiber.

“Nah mang, that's Peppy.”

“Tagwa, Dobra Peppy.”

Peppy only spoke Huttese, you see but he was decidedly not a blonde, human drug dealer.

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]
Kiber looked through the room, his face becoming more and more stern with every passing second.

The music cut out of course, and the thrumming of the lightsaber resounded loudly within the room. For a brief moment Cedric considered slaughtering everyone in the room and just seeing who could survive his initial onslaught, his cousin likely would, or he hoped so. If Kiber couldn't do that, then he was worth absolutely nothing anyway.

Strangely, a cooler head prevailed.

Patience.

The word rang in his mind, though not in his own voice.

“Kiber.” Cedric yelled as more quiet erupted in the room. “Your family has come looking for you. Come out or these people will die.”

That unfortunately started a panic, and as he finished his sentence everyone in the room who had mind enough to run away, did.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

How could anybody mistake me for Peppy. We're not even the same colour, yo.

The music was cut off and Kiber suddenly realised that his strategy of being slumped against the wall wasn't going to aid him in this sticky situation. It was a miracle that nobody had even noticed him to point him out yet, had he become a part of the furniture?

Then it turned out that it wasn't the Zucchinis out to get him, it was, oh kark, it was his own family. He wasn't sure which was worse, frankly.

After the threat of death came the cowards who could still walk went scampering off into the night, getting stuck on each other at the door to make bad decisions elsewhere. Don't whip the junkies up into a frightened frenzy, it's not healthy. Not for them or the streets.

Time to bite the bullet.

His eyes remained shut, as a hand lazily rose up to wave at the party crasher. The clarity of his thoughts didn't match the current ability of his tongue. Kiber's entire mouth felt paralysed. Don't mix your drugs, kids.

“I'm….here….big….brute...”

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Cedric heard his cousin call out, his head shifting over towards the voice of his cousin. He stopped for a few seconds, shutting off the lightsaber and letting the rest of the room clear out. Even those that were not cowards now ran away, though that was mostly because they seemingly thought something was about to go down.

He only waited.

Eventually Kiber and Cedric were alone, the two men standing opposite one another, albeit one of them was sitting down.

Kiber looked like a mess, the direct opposite of Cedric who was well groomed and wearing a feathered coat in the traditions of Thule. Even emerald eyes fell on Kiber, and a sneer of disgust touched Cedrics lips as he looked at his cousin. Loud boot steps rung out on wooden floors as he approached Kiber, echoing in the now empty drug den.

“What are you doing in this filth?” There was judgment in his tone.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Now it was just the stragglers milling out, Kiber could hear the shuffling and staggering of feet leaving the dilapidated house, until he could only hear the sounds of advancing boots and his own haggard breathing.

Finally he opened his eyes, his own emeralds punctuated by pin-prick pupils as he finally laid eyes upon, ah yes, a Dorn.

Blond. Green eyes. Sneering. Judging, always judging.

What this pompous pillock called filth, he called home and comfort, away from the demands of others where he didn't have to worry about legacies or training.

Coruscant is my life now.

“It….my….filth,” he spat back, waggling his jaw around as if it would help him speak any more coherently.

“Get lost.”

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric scowled, looking down at the rat known as his cousin.

“You are lost, Cousin.” He identified the man for what he was, though the smug and superiority in his tone denoted that Kiber was barely Cedrics cousin. If it were not for the blood between the two of them he very likely would already have been dead.

The cylinder within his hand shifted slightly as Cedric thumbed the activation switch.

“It is my job to return you...” His frown settled. “To Thule.”

The name slipped from his tongue, his lips biting at it.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He snorted, his mirth turning into actual laughter at the concept of he being the lost one. He was grounded, realistic, not floating off into the endless sky known as legacy and destiny. A single silver canine glinted as he did so.

Cousin. Cousin.

That left a lot of wiggle room, there were a lot of Dorns. The theory was to breed to success. There was some Force latency in that blood, so why not squeeze as many geets out and see what we get, huh? The thought made him sick, so much that he'd considered getting snipped.

Thule. Bingo. He knew if this cousin was now, first, second or third.

It was never just a case of bad omens coming once in a while, they had to come all at once. Catching up in one fell swoop. Dorns and Zambranos. The elephants and the donkeys of this galaxy of ours. Both complete and utter jokes, but everybody had to vote for one (they say third party votes are just wasted in the end).

“I….don't fethin'….think so...”

Actually speaking made his nerves feel a bit livelier.

“Lianna's my turf….mate...” he spat, knowing full well that his side of the fam' had never lived where this man had, “Thule's...for you...an' yer queen mum.”

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric shot a sharp kick into Kibers side.

He and his mother had never been close, not in his entire life, and there was a distinct amount of disdain that Cedric held for Karin. Yet there was no one alive that he would allow to insult her, no one alive that wouldn't suffer for doing so. That was simply true.

“I don't care.” He knew well that his cousin had never been a part of the heritage of Thule, but that didn't matter. Cedric needed allies, allies whom he could bind to himself without much issue. While he would likely never trust Kiber, he was in the end family, and that meant something. Even if the man was a wretched creature of disgust and drug abuse.

“I want my planet back.” He spat. “And you're going to help me get it.”

His foot jabbed into Kibers side again.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Straight to the violent, a class act that could have only been spat out by the fetid womb of Karin Dorn.

There was a grunt as the boot bit into his ribs. Occupational hazard of his job meant that this didn't bother him too much, but feth it still smarted and when he could Kiber opted to avoid any and all notions of pain (drugs help).

“...class act...” he muttered under his breath as the foot gave another cheeky tap.

Kiber looked up at the brute, the expression upon his face clearly one that was unimpressed. I've been beaten up by bigger, badder, you're just a small fry, Cousin Dorn. His hand moved down to rub at his bashed side, a snivelling frown crossing his pointed feature.

“What if….I don'….wanna, huh?”

 

[Cedric Dorn]

“You have no choice in the matter.” Cedric said as he removed his foot and bent down.

He picked Kiber up by the scruff of his coat, grabbing him and pulling him up against the wall likea rag doll. It was clear that of the two of them, Cedric was much stronger and much more muscular. Strength training over the last year had more than payed off.

Cedric looked his cousin in the eyes.

“You shame our name by being in such a place.” The name of Dorn was not regarded that well sometimes, but to Cedric, it meant something. “I intend to whip you into shape.”

In truth, Cedric was more than a little disappointed to find his cousin this way, but that was okay, he would fix it.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Guess we're standing up now, eh.

Kiber didn't actually know what to say for once. What, so he was going to be forcibly made to help this man with his campaign to take back Castle Greyskull? How can you be forced to help somebody? Couldn't you just rebel? Run away?

It sounded exactly like the circumstances of his childhood. He'd left it once, he could do it again.

Could even do it now?

“We….gonna do….aerobics together….in little leotards?”

He grinned at his cousin, that face that welcomed a flurry of many fists.

“You like...that?”

That was when Kiber Dorn's knee shot up, aiming to chunk the man right in the goolies. Was it honourable? No, of course not, but when had he ever advertised himself as that? He was a sneak, and a snake and kicking another man in the family jewels was fine in his book.

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Cedric dropped the rat from his grip in an instant, nearly dropping his lightsaber and recoiling from the strike.

It hurt.

That always hurt.

There was no force protection from it, no guard, nothing that one could really do but accept the dull throbbing pain that would circle from the groin throughout the body. Rage pressed through Cedric however, rage born of indignation, pain, hurt, and just plain anger. He stood up to his full height, straining to do so, and jutted out his hand.

A powerful blast of the force escape from his palm, one sent directly towards Kiber.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Kiber took that as his chance to flee, or at least try to.

He didn't want to be a prodigy, nor did he wish to continue any legacies, he could still remember being a skinny runt of a twelve year old boy and screaming at his parents after yet another argument about his lack of concentration in training.

I DON'T WANNA BE A SITH!

Memory fresher than any daisy that could be found in the flower stands of Coruscant.

As he staggered for the door he was hit in the back with a bantha-herd, which was strange given the lack of banthas in the vicinity, or on the planet. The blast sent him flying into the wall, and then actually through the wall. These dingy drug dens weren't made with durasteel walls. Nah, we're in plasterboard country now.

He collapsed in a heap of rising dust and overturned bottles, having upset a table of drinks in the room on the other side. Trust Kiber Dorn to take a Force push in style.

“...excessive…!”

 

[Cedric Dorn]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Cedric followed.

His boots rang out, and with every single step he seemed to recover more an more from the throbbing pain shooting through his groin. He let out a grunt as he stepped through the hole in the wall that his cousin had formed. There was a scowl on his face a rather large one.

So far Cedric didn't like Kiber.

He besmirched the name Dorn, the fought dirty, and he hung out in ratholes like this place. As far as Cedric was concerned the only reason that Kiber was still alive was because he was family, and one didn't kill family without good cause. That cause had yet to hit him, and so Cedric would continue to convince the little shit stain that he had purpose beyond the next high.

“Listen you little ratling.” Cedric said as he stepped into the room beyond. “I'm offering you a chance. A chance to do something other than sit within this little rat den. A chance to do something great.”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Okay, okay, escape plan out of the window.

He grunted, getting up onto hands and knees as his dearest relative followed his path through the wall. Somebody had obviously been eating his vegetables and doing his training, much unlike Kiber, I mean technically you could say that he had been taking his vitamins but...well, it's a total lie.

'Stim ain't the same as stims.

More rat jokes? Hurtful. This is why people get plastic surgery.

“...rat den…? This...ain't my...house, pal,” he replied, coughing up plaster dust and phlegm. True story, Kiber's apartment was significantly nicer than this, mostly because he didn't deal drugs or invite people back there.

A sigh.

“What's it...gonna matter if I says...no? Yer just gonna haul me outta here to yer sex dungeon any way.”

[member="Cedric Dorn"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Cedric stopped in front of his Cousin this time, not laying a hand or him or moving to harm him again. He had tried the stick, perhaps it was time to try the carrot. He frowned slightly, thinking about what exactly would tempt Kiber. Drugs? Money? Glamor? Women? Cedric could supply all of the above eventually, when he had Thule.

“Unfortunately Cousin. If you do not wish to come with me, I cannot force you to.” That was a lie.

Cedric could certainly force Kiber, but then he wouldn't get what he wanted, he would get a servant, not an ally.

“I could get any one of a hundred servants, any one of a hundred peons.” His voice carried strength. “But I cannot get family. I cannot get someone I can at least somewhat trust.”

He may not like the rat, but he was family.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He snorted at the notion that this man couldn't force him to go. Generally living amongst the scum of the world was a great way to keep sharp with the liars and cheaters of the galaxy. He couldn't fight this man off, but he could poke holes in his sentiment.

“Trust,” he repeated, almost incredulously. Had he met Kiber Dorn? Well, yes, about five minutes ago. Already he had gone for his balls, proving that he was not the most trustworthy creature in this pit.

This time he moved to stand up, dark clothes now covered in a layer of dust, ash and alcohol. Kiber didn't even both going to dust himself off, what was the point?

“You...must be bloody desperate, if you're turning...to me...”

[member="Cedric Dorn"]