Rules Are Meant To Be Broken [Kaia]

[Julianna Nero]

Coruscant..I think!

Julianna sat on the temple steps...and by 'sat on', she was really sprawled out on the steps, so far over to the side that people who were walking up and down had to step over her legs and arms, and they scoffed in distaste as they gave Jewel a nasty glance. Within moments, they would be over the fact that some teenaged girl was taking up way more room than she was suppose to, but she was bored, too bored, and she had to be here for probably an hour. Which meant about 4 days in her own little world.

She exhaled, and she let out a sigh that, with the breath that came out, blew her bangs away, just as she looked up into the sky. She was never taught in the ways of the Force, not besides what he dad showed her from doing small things. She did learn how to curb her empathetic abilities so that she wasn't feeling mixed feelings all day and night, but actually manipulating them as an empath usually did was not in her range, yet. She wasn't taught on how to do that. However, just enough to send away the massive amounts of negative feelings, or not let them affect her in such a way that would alter her perception on things, well, that was just great.

Now, though, they had to be here for an hour. Just an hour. She looked at her chronometer, and with that only a minute had passed. Finally, she looked over to Kaia. Now her and Kalia had gotten along since they were kids, as long as Jewel could remember. All of the kids knew each other because their parents liked each other. Well, alright, scratch that, Noxu and Kassey liked each other. The rest were a different story. Now, though, they were getting older and more aware of the situations with themselves. Jewel was still trying to find out what she wanted to do with her life, but right now she was sticking at home with her brother and sister, mom and dad, helping out where she could, even getting Isis out of trouble. But even Ayden was getting older, and she felt as though they would be able to take care of themselves.

"It's going to rain." Jewel stated blatantly. "You know how much this hour is going to suck if it rains on the temple grounds? Augh, I don't want to stay here, just...sitting here. Or, laying here I guess." She looked around just as someone almost tripped over her sprawled out arms and legs.

"Hehe, sorry buddy." Jewel shrugged and then she sat up. "C'mon, this place is really lame. Let's go somewhere before it starts raining. We'll be back in a hour!"

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

Yes, Coruscant. Why not?

It was impeccable timing; no sooner that they had arrived on Coruscant that her Mom had wandered off to do her own thing, leaving her to wait by idly until she returned, and they could do whatever they had to do on this planet. The fact of the matter was, she didn't want to be here too much, as she'd always seen Jedi and how they acted, and this brought on a bit of a bored frustration. Not only was Callum gone on a job with Dad and she had no one to get into too much trouble with, but she was stuck around Jedi--the most boring of the people she'd ever met. How could they be so drab?

Standing over by the railing, she leaned back up against it and looked down at Jewel. Shaking her head a bit in amusement, she noted Jewel splayed across the steps, blocking peoples' way up the stairs, and causing mild frustration. Reaching her arms up, she straightened out the cowl over her head, and dropped her arms down to her chest, crossing them and leaning back against the railing. Her long robes swayed momentarily as people passed by, and she just kept her attention on Jewel--ignoring the rest of the outside world for the most part. When Jewel started to complain, Kaia just gave a small smile and a nod.

"I was waiting for you to say that. Let's see..." She looked around briefly, "... it was at least a couple of minutes since she left us, so that's two minutes too many for you to sit idle." Of course, she merely joked, but it almost always seemed like the girl had to be on the move--must have picked that up from her mother.

"An hour? I think we can get into a lot of trouble in an hour." She said with a small smirk, obviously encouraging the idea. "Who says we have to be at the Jedi Temple, anyway? I mean, this is Coruscant... there's the entire Old Galactic Market. I bet we can be there and back before Mom even gets close to back..." The Jedi Temple was certainly one of the most boring places to be, there really wasn't much to do; especially when they had the entire planet at their fingertips. "Maybe on our way back..." She paused for a moment, and gave a rather devious grins. "... we can visit the Underworld portal..."

Oh, this was going to be much more fun than standing around and doing nothing.

 

[Julianna Nero]

"Underworld Portal, huh?" She giggled, and then she stood straight up on the step. She got a little dizzy, and she held on to the railing to keep herself balanced when she realized that she had a head rush from getting up too fast, but she quickly shook that away. "That Portal is at least hundreds of years old, and I know it's still active." She hopped down a few steps, and figured that would be a good place to start.

"I vote for..Underworld Portal first. We only have an hour, and I don't wanna waste it at the market. I mean, what are we going to do there? Get some beat up junk. Naah.." Jewel hopped down the rest of the steps, and looked back to Kaia, who she hoped was following her. "You know about all of the cool stories I heard about that place? I think it's totally worth the time to go down there."

She glanced back at Kaia before looking straight ahead again. "What do you think?"

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

With a quick glance back and forth, Kaia's attention settled on the taxi terminal in the far off reaches away from the Jedi Temple. "The Underworld Portal it is, then!" She said with an almost happy glee to her voice, mixed with a slight bit of deviousness. It was better than staying at the Temple, and besides, who would even know? Straightening out her cowl, she spun at a short degree, and made her way down the steps. Looking over to Jewel, she gave a knowing nod, "You're right, too. There's nothing worthwhile in the markets, anyway. I'm so, so glad you chose the Portal first." She said with that same slightly devious tone.

She'd never been to the Underworld Portal, but even she knew it was older than just hundreds of years old. "You, um, you do know it's older than just hundreds of years old, right?" Everything she'd heard about the Underworld Portal stemmed from her father, who would talk almost non-stop about a lot of the hi-jinx he'd get into in his younger days, and when she heard of that portal, she knew she had to learn about it as much as she could. She'd read many stories about the portal in her time, and saw many images of what it looked like, but nothing could compare to seeing it up close and personal.

"I'm actually starting to like this place a bit, well, save for the Temple." She teased a bit, spinning back around to face Jewel as she stepped backward slowly while making her way to the taxi terminal which was quite a distance away. "Been here a few times before on simple jobs, but I've never been left alone to go explore like this..." Thinking back, she just grinned a bit to herself, knowing that this day was going to come sooner or later. "As long as Mom doesn't find out, I think we're good." There were some things Kaia wouldn't mind doing, but from the stories she'd heard of the portal, it was always best to not go there unsupervised, which is exactly the reason why she had intended to go there now.

Spinning back around, her long cloak swayed back and forth until it settled behind her and nearly dragged along the ground. "You know how to slice, right? I'm not sure we can get to the portal without proper supervision, ... so you might have to, um, you know... work some magic with ... getting a vehicle to work for us." Most definitely, she was already planning on hi-jacking a taxi.

 

[Julianna Nero]

"Oh yeah, Portal sounds way more awesome." She agreed with her friend, and then she listened to her talk about the age of the Portal. Her eye twitched a little and she cringed, almost out of embarrassment, and then she let out a nervous chuckle. "Heh. Hehehe. Alright older than a couple of hundred. Maybe..thousands? MILLIONS? My parents didn't talk about that a lot. They talked more about, uh.."

Jewel shifted her eyes a little, racking her brain to remember all of the stories. "More about Tatooine and the inside game of the criminal rings. Stuff like that. Probably stuff I shouldn't know, but whatever, that's cool." She was heading in the direction where it was known, but it would be near the rougher parts of the planet, and away from the temple. She figured a good walk to get there, check out the portal, and then back. As she thought about it more in depth, she figured that they wouldn't make it back quite in time for an hour, but the more irrational part of her brain took over and she figured that yeah, they'd be back...

"You really think your mom would be mad?" Jewel asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Your mom is cool. I'm sure she'd let us go and do this kinda stuff. I mean, it's not like we're ten anymore. We can take care of ourselves. Now MY mom...yeah, she might kill me..." Jewel shrugged it off, knowing that Kaia wouldn't tell anyone.

It was the mention of slicing again was when she grinned almost from ear to ear. "I know where you're going, and we just need to find the right cab before we take off. You gotta be my lookout, alright?" Jewel's eyes searched for the terminal, and once they had arrived, she scanned the are for unoccupied taxis...but then she looked for one that was just vacated by a driver. "You see one that looks good?"

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

She gave a momentary pause when Jewel said that her mother, Ryori Za'tire, was cool and let them do this kind of thing, and a wry smirk came across her lips. Surely, Ryori wouldn't mind them adventuring off, not at all; but it was the fact that they would most likely end up late to meeting up with her, when they were done with their little gallivanting, that would get her in the most trouble. Shrugging a bit to herself, she didn't quite care, really. She'd plead her case, if she really got into any kind of trouble, and let it be at that; it was how she was raised, after all.

"Now why would Kassey want to kill you for doing this? She has to know you're going to grow up eventually." She said in a joking manner, clearly making fun of the fact that Jewel was a couple of years older than even she was. "And what better way to grow up than to see the portal, which ... well, to put it simply... leads down into the depths of all the horrible, scary, and terrifying things of Coruscant?" She managed to say that in a spooky and eerie tone, but also with a heavy hint of sarcasm. She really wasn't all that afraid of what was down there.

Reaching the taxi terminal, she looked around for a few moments and perked her brow at the taxi in the far back corner--the one that looked the fastest of the rest. Pointing over to it, she motioned for Jewel to go there and work her magic. Kaia wasn't much of a slicer, but she'd learned some things--mostly the basics of survival, but never cared to learn much about it otherwise. Her fascination stemmed somewhat from what her Dad always did, and that was make weapons and even armor--of course, she'd only do that as a hobby. "Go, get to work on that one." She said in a low, hushed tone while she walked over to the droid that managed the rest of the taxis.

"Welcome. Please choose a destination."

Rolling her eyes at the droid, she just stood there with her arms crossed. "Actually, I have a few questions first." She admitted, keeping one eye on Jewel as she did her work. "How much would it cost to go to the Old Galactic Market? How safe is the Old Galactic Market? What can I see at the Market? Are there any other sights I might be interested in seeing? How much would all of those cost to go there? Any cantinas I can spend the night at? How big is Coruscant? What are the surrounding moons? What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" After finally catching her breath, she knew it would keep the droid's attention for long enough while Jewel did her work.

"The price of the rental for the taxi would be two-hundred fifty credits."

"The Old Galactic Market is relatively safe. Statistically, there are fewer crimes there than in the Works."

"There are a myriad of shops at the Old Galactic Market."

"The Jedi Temple is one of the most visited locations to see while in Coruscant."

"A round-a-bout fair of the cost of the Taxi if you wished to travel to all of the sights would be an estimated seven thousand, eight hundred, twenty nine credits."

"The Dewback Inn is a very widely used Inn and Cantina for you to spend the night at."

"The diameter of Coruscant is twelve thousand, two hundred forty kilometers."

"The surrounding satellites of Coruscant are: Centax-1, Centax-2, Centax-3, and Hesperidium."

At the last question, the droid seemed to stammer for a moment, as if attempting to figure out just what kind of Swallow she was speaking. Before the droid had a chance to answer, Kaia had already sprinted off to the side, and toward the taxi that Jewel had hopefully sliced, and hopped into the passenger side, awaiting the trip.

 

[Julianna Nero]

While Kaia had spotted one for Jewel, the redhead looked around as her eyes focused on if anyone would be around to get in or out. Once it seemed safe, she casually walked over to the taxi, and pulled on the handle. It had been unlocked, since it was in a "safe" area, and the teenager went to work. Grinning to herself, from ear to ear, she had sunk into the driver's seat, and popped open the panel behind the steering stick by slamming her fist on it a couple of times until the cheap plastic had broken in two.

She pulled away the pieces and threw them in a random direction. The few rainbow colors of wires, and she knew just what to do. Jewel ripped two open so that the wires inside the casings were exposed, and she had sparked the two together. At first, it did nothing. And again, same result. "Chit."

Jewel looked out the window quickly to see Kaia talking and distracting the droid. That was great! And if she knew just WHAT Kaia was asking, Jewel would find it both funny, awesome...and to add a third, very effective! The girl went back to her work and then she had tried again. Finally, the sparks flew a bit and she cringed out of the way, but just at that moment the speeder had started, the computer systems were on (although limited), and Jewel had started to give a triumphant laugh! She sat back in the driver's seat at the exact moment Kaia climbed in, and then she already backed out. "You are so awesome. What did you ask it?" The girl giggled, and then she had sped out of there, and headed towards the direction of the entrance of the portal.

"Now, my mom would be cool with THIS."

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

She may have been a little bit cocky now, even though she didn't do anything too strenuous, but with the way Jewel said she was so awesome, she certainly didn't seem to have a problem with reveling in it for the moment. Kicking back a bit in the chair, and lifting her feet up onto the taxi, she let the cloak drop down to the floor of the taxi and tilted her head to the side, gazing closely at Jewel. "Well, it was pretty simple, really." She said with a smug grin, "Just had to get him distracted, you know, asked him a lot of very tough questions. I don't think he noticed at all what you were doing."

Bringing her right hand up to her lips, she blew across her fingertips, still reveling in her greatness while allowing Jewel to chauffeur her to the Underworld Portal. "You've learned a lot about slicing? You did pretty good with this!" Complimenting someone? Always a bit of a nice thing to do, especially when they're your friend, and at the moment, Jewel certainly did deserve a little compliment, especially with what Kaia had planned.

Her cowl pushed back off her head, revealing her long, raven-black hair to the air as it swayed heavily in the wind. Her gaze took her across Coruscant as Jewel flew them toward the portal, enthralled with the planet to utmost extents. The entire planet was so large, and there was so much to see; right now, she almost didn't want to go back to the Jedi Temple, and all she wanted to do was explore the furthest reaches of Coruscant. A sly grin came across her lips as she gazed back at Jewel.

"Did your Mom ever tell you about the story when she and my Dad came to the Underworld Portal?" She asked, raising her brow up high, giving her a curious look. "My Dad told me, that on their first trip to the Underworld Portal, he was in control of the Taxi, flying it about... and the moment your Mom got into it? The engines gave out." She looked back outward toward the city, talking casually as though it were truly no big deal at all. "He says they would have made it down the Portal with ease, if your Mom didn't put on the extra pounds."

Then came the sly smirk, the one so devious that she had to actually look away from Jewel to hide her face, so she wouldn't be let on to what she was suggesting. "I bet you can't do better than my Dad, and get us down the portal safe and sound." Oh, it was a challenge, definitely.

 

[Julianna Nero]

"Yeah, I learned...like, a lot from my mom, and my older sister." She admitted.

ZIP! She went around a corner, with what appeared to be somewhat of a reckless nature to everything she was doing. "But, I mean, it took some time. I tend to not do a lot of it unless I need to."
ZIP! Jewel went around another bend as they started to enter towards the seedy area of the dusky parts of Coruscant. It was kind of like a WHOLE different atmosphere. People looked shady, lots of hooded faces and cloaked figures, the law didn't seem to be around. There wasn't much happy-go-lucky area of where they were. Yeah, it was all just a little bit different.

As Kaia went on about her story, Jewel looked over and quirked and eyebrow. "My mom kinda told me a story like that. But it went a little bit different." She said with a chuckle. "But I can imagine they both stretched the stories to their own advantages. At least I know my mom does that a lot." Just thinking about all of the stories that made her mom look awesome, she imagined them not going quite that way at all. Jewel heard the challenge though, and she started to laugh out loud just as she took another sharp corner and ZIPPED!

"

"

Jewel took the shift stick, and she put it into gear, as the speeder took off. "Hold on, it's gonna get bumpy!"

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

Left to right she swayed as Jewel flew the taxi almost recklessly around corners; it was a bit of an adrenaline rush, and she most certainly was enjoying herself--even if her grip was just a little bit tight on the handles, to make sure she didn't go flying out the taxi. What could possibly go wrong? She'd heard a lot of stories about the Portal, and a lot of them ended up fairly bad, but that was a different time. Things would be much better now than then. She thought to herself.

Just when Jewel started to pick up the speed, and her grip tightened on the taxi. Yeah, she really didn't want to die right now, so she'd take some extra precautions to keep herself safe. Looking around the taxi, she tried to spot anything else that would help her, but there wasn't; any simple mistake would certainly cause a lot of blood, guts, and death. She was bounced back and forth in her seat, as Jewel maneuvered the taxi expertly, but mostly recklessly.

Her face remained as calm as she could, and just up ahead, she saw what she'd seen so many times before, which was depicted in all those holonet novels, and stories: The Underworld Portal. It looked magnificent, amazing, and most of all, it looked enthralling. Oh, how bad she wanted to see what was at the bottom of it. "You sure you can handle this? We could always turn back now... you know, so we can let my Mom know how much you got scared." She teased, blatantly encouraging her to go into the portal.

This was going to be great!

 

[Julianna Nero]

"PFfft. There is NO turning back now." She laughed and giggled, almost wickedly, and then she had taken this a little more extreme. She had gotten faster, changing her gear and hitting the taxi to the MAX. Which, it really wasn't that fast, not like the sports speeders of course, but it was still pretty damn fast. She pushed forward, and got passed the traffic that was there, whizzing through speeder after speeder, left, right, left right, towards, and finally...

Jewel had dipped down into the portal. The atmosphere changed again and the dark surroundings with bright lights were more powerful than on the surface. She then looked over to her friend, and in her moment of triumph, yet again, Jewel stuck out her tongue. "You see? That was easy. Whoever said that my mom couldn't do this, then he was totally wrong. This was a piece of..." Just then, the steering stick started to shake madly, and she looked down at the systems. Apparently, one of the bumps they hit had caused a fuel leak, and the beeping started on the dash.

"Oh..chit.." Jewel said quietly, and then the speeder started to power down, even though they were heading straight down. If she couldn't grab a hold of any kind of momentum in the gravity, they were just going to drop down even faster without the use of the steering shifter. She tried to change gears, but nothing happened...the transmission of the speeder was giving out, and she looked over to Kaia.

"Gotta hold on...we're gonna make a crash landing. Hold on to something!"

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

This was going to be great! They'd finally get to see what the bottom of the portal looked like, and all the people that inhabited it. Oh, she was so glad that they'd also make it back to the Temple in time for the meeting--the last thing she'd need is to be yelled at for being late. As she sat back in the taxi chair, as relaxed and comfortable as can be--given the speed of the taxi, at least--she didn't have a care in the world...until...

Putter, putter... putter... putt... putt.... silence...​

Immediately, she jumped in her seat, although her hands gripped onto the dashboard and the little handle on the right side by the door, for support. Spinning her head to the left, she looked back at the engine and her eyes widened a bit. "Oh... chit..." She echoed Jewel's own shock, when she saw the black smoke forming from the engine. "What... what ... what did you do?" She actually stammered. Oh, she wasn't thrilled with how fast the taxi began its new descent.

With widened eyes and an even tighter grip, she was looking around the portal that they quickly fell down. "Do something! Stop this thing!" She said aloud, nearly yelping; clearly, she wasn't too fond of being in vehicles, especially when they seemed to be crashing into the ground. What could she do? She had to do something. Could she stop the taxi from falling? Slowing it down with the Force? Her thoughts raced at the possibility, and she knew it was possible to at least slow it.

Closing her eyes, she focused as hard as she could; attempting to connect with the Force as much as possible. In a few moments of complete silence from her, the taxi's descent started to slow... but only by a little bit; as it was still descending rapidly. If anything, her ability with the Force to slow down the fall of the taxi would at least make the crash not fatal.

 

[Julianna Nero]

"What did -I- do?!" Jewel looked over to Kaia. "You were totally distracting me!" But she knew that was a lie altogether, and she knew that they were going to crash hard if something wasn't done. Jewel would have done the same as Kaia, but she knew that her own connection with the force was nothing compared to what Kaia could do. Julianna wasn't even trained in the arts of such things, she just knew the feelings, that sort of sixth sense about it all.

Her heart rate was up, she could barely concentrate, but somehow in the mix of things she felt the speeder start to gradually slow, it wasn't much, but it was enough for Jewel to try and control, to at least level out the speeder so that they wouldn't make a direct nose dive, and burn to ashes. She would at least land on the belly of the speeder, and down to the bottom. The traffic was still dangerous around them, but she took it with the best of her abilities, and with Kaia's help, she was able to level out the speeder until it had actually hit the ground beneath them.

Sparks and shards of mental flew up around them as they had bounced a few times on the ground before coming to a complete stop, but their journey wasn't over, and there was no real time for conversation. The two had to get out of the speeder because, by the chance that the fuel leak was severe, at any time the speeder, if overheated, would burn and blow up. Once they stopped, Jewel shouted at the top of her lungs. "KAIA! OUT OF THE SPEEDER AND RUN!" She had said, because, who knew what was going to happen?

Jewel tried to open the door, but it was mangled, so she used her elbow to bust out her window and crawled out of that. She had scratched her back on the glass, through her shirt and leaving a trail of blood behind her, but she toppled to the ground and restored quickly on her feet in order to run, as long as Kaia was alright.

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

Oh chit, if we die... Her thoughts carried, even though she had her eyes shut. It was the best she could do, but it also made her all the more worried that they'd fall nose-first into the ground and promptly die. On the one hand, it was a blessing since she wouldn't see it, but on the other hand, she had to have blind faith in Jewel. Sure, Jewel was very competent and had always been one to help when it was needed, but the way the taxi was crashing? That was just too much for any one person to handle.

As the taxi got closer, and closer to the ground, her hands were still braced as hard as she could have them against the two makeshift supports. She felt the taxi lift its nose upward, and straighten out; no longer was she leaning forward and nearly falling out of the taxi, but actually sitting upright. Silently thanking Jewel, she felt the taxi hit the ground hard, causing her to lose her focus entirely and bounce in rapid succession to the skating across the ground, and the repeated bounces up and down.

"Aaaaauuuugh...!!" She groaned out, glad that she was actually alive TO groan out, but not glad that her back was hurting her with every single bounce the taxi took. Finally, the speeder came to a complete halt, but there was no rest for the wicked, apparently.

"KAIA! OUT OF THE SPEEDER AND RUN!"

Her first reaction was to look over at Jewel and see if she made it out all right, and thankfully she did, aside from a cut along her back. Not long after, she turned to her door and tried to push it open. Struggling as she might, she just couldn't get the door to open, and finally she turned to her right and laid on her back to bring both her feet up and kick at the door with a hard, powerful thrust of her thighs. SLAM! The door was kicked open, and she placed her hands on the seat to push and hopefully propel herself forward and free of the wreckage.

Once she got free of the taxi, she tried to run to catch up with Jewel, but before she could get anywhere, she was stopped in her tracks by a force of something holding onto her. Looking back, she saw that her cloak was caught in the door as it shut again, and she was unable to tug it free. "Damn it! Damn it!" Her hands gripped her cloak and she tugged at it as hard as she could, not wanting to rip the fabric since it was a cloak given to her by her Mom, but having no other choice.

Just as she finally tugged her cloak free of the taxi, and thankfully without damaging it, she started to sprint away--but before she could get far, the taxi's engine ignited, and the entire machine had burst into flames with a powerful explosion. Kaia was launched forward from the blast, and lifted up off the ground as she went flying at least ten feet in mid-air, until she landed right on her belly and scraped along the ground, causing a myriad of scrapes and cuts along her, and tearing some of the fabric of her outfit. "Uuuggh...."

 

[Julianna Nero]

Julianna didn't see Kaia struggling with the cloak. She had been hissing through her teeth whenever air had hit her back, and she scrambled to take cover somewhere. "KAIA!" She shouted, as she was really tripping on her own two feet. She wasn't sure if the speeder was going to blow, but the chances were good. She considered herself more of a mechanic than not, even a reckless one, but still one to the best of her abilities. She just had a feeling with a fuel link, and a close to crash landing the speeder was going to blast.

It was at that moment she heard that loud snap, and no sooner could she move, was she greeted by the heat rising up behind her, hitting her back and sending her forward several feet. She had landed on a few crates, and while she was still conscious, her back was now an open wound that was just burned badly, and she didn't feel like moving at all. Her nerves were shot and rattled, her emotions were haywire, and her worry and anxiety were only ampliphied by the people around them that were worried about the speeder and the people involved.

Sometimes, being an Empath was a queen.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it..." she muttered, mostly talking to herself since people couldn't really STOP what they were feeling, but Jewel had pushed herself up and one main thing was on her mind. "Kaia! Where are you? Are you okay?" Jewel stumbled around again, trying to focus on where she was, but the migraine that ensued with the emotions was making her vision fuzzy.

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

She could move, and that was actually a plus; the only bad part was, she didn't want to move. So she laid there, flat on her stomach and groaning in that bit of pain that coursed along her back from the hurried bounces of the taxi's emergency crash-landing, and the pain on her front from the scrapes and cuts of being skated across the ground--again--thanks to the explosion. For only a few moments, she laid there with her eyes shut and ignoring the outside world in hopes that it would all be over and she'd be fine, and the pain would be gone--but no, it wasn't about to happen.

Her mind went back to the stories her father told her, of the shady, terrible, and even some of the more... unsavory parts of the Underworld Portal that happened in these parts. Okay. Now really isn't the time to be laying here... She thought to herself before she began to pull herself up from the ground and looked around. She noticed the spectators who were far too interested in not only the crash, but herself as well, and shook her head. "Have to get out of here... have to find Jewel." She muttered under her breath, although loud enough that the spectators could hear.

"Kaia! Where are you? Are you okay?"

She heard the faint voice in the distance from Jewel--at least, it had to be her, who else knew her name down here? Slowly, she climbed to her feet and her first reaction was to place her left hand right on her blaster in preparation if anyone tried to do anything, but thankfully, no one seemed as though they wanted to mug her--at least right now. Stepping backward a few feet, she made more distance between herself and the spectators, "Um, I ... I'm all right. Really. Just a little scraped up..." She assured the people, while sidestepping away and over to where she heard Jewel.

Ignoring multiple pleas of the spectators for her to get herself checked up at the medical droids, she made her way over to Jewel slowly--stumbling most of the way. Finally, she spotted her friend who was stumbling just as well, and hurriedly hobbled over to her. "Jewel... Jewel..! Are you all right?!" She called out, picking up her pace just to catch up with her. Immediately, her left arm slipped around Jewel's back, and under her right arm to help steady her so she wouldn't fall.

"We.. we have to get you.. to a medical bay..." She insisted, although certainly in no position to make demands. Her legs were shaking, and her focus was lost. She knew they had to get out of sight, and soon, before they were inevitably mugged.

 

[Julianna Nero]

She tried to focus on where Kaia was, and only Kaia, but it was so hard. Her eye twitched a little, just as the different feelings were drawn up on her. She raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, while she felt close to toppling over.

Is she okay? Did you see that? Get her to a medbay! Something's wrong! What's happening?

"Stop it, stop it.." If Jewel were at 100%, she would be able to ignore these feelings and move on. However, this was something much different now that she was hurt and she couldn't focus on anything else except the pain, and the emotions around her. Finally, she heard Kaia's voice, and Jewel's head picked up. Her expression softened once she saw her friend and she stumbled over to her, doing her best to hold herself up. That is, until Kaia had come over in order to help her and say that she needed to get to a medbay.

She's hurt! They both are. Where did that come from? Look at that fire! Wow! Did you see that explosion? Let's go help her.

"No..I don't need a medbay." She said out loud and then tried to look over to Kaia. "Just make sure you're okay, and try to get us out of here...away from people..until I can gather my thoughts...just in an alley or something, please.."

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

She didn't need a med bay? Was she out of her mind? Well, she was a daughter of Kassey, and from what she understood: Yes, yes she was. Kaia felt the blood dripping over her left forearm as she held Jewel around the back. They definitely needed to get somewhere safe, but an alleyway might not be the safest option right now; then again, did they really have much of a choice? Holding onto Jewel gingerly, she gave a small nod and started to limp backward a few steps before swiftly turning to her right and helping Jewel do the same.

"We'll get you patched up..." She said, in an attempt to be comforting. Of course, she was in no room to actually do much, as she was starting to feel the burning, itching pain of her front and all the scratches along her. She even was starting to feel the warmth of the blood from those cuts and scrapes drip down her; it wasn't life-threatening, but with enough of these scratches, she certainly was feeling the pain more intensely.

Slow, shaky steps were taken as she looked around, trying to spot the nearest alley. Looking up ahead, there was one at least a block away. This wasn't going to be good for either of them, and she knew she had a choice; either ignore Jewel and look for the Med Bay, or strain the both of their bodies further to make it to the alley. Admittedly, she was worried, as either choice could lead to terrible consequences. Nodding slightly, she decided. "We'll get you to the alley... for a few moments, then we get to the med bay..."

Slipping her right hand to her left hip, she unholstered the blaster that was given to her as a gift from her Dad, when she really started to need one. Looking over to Jewel, even while they both hobbled, and staggered their way to the alley, she motioned to Jewel's own blaster; yes, it was also one that Nox had given her as a gift on her eighteenth birthday. All the blasters made were strong, and specially designed for their own combat styles. "Just in case..." She said, hoping that Jewel would know what she was talking about.

 

[Julianna Nero]

The further away from the voices, the better off Jewel would be. She had a feeling that being in the underlevels here, that things might get a little dirty, but by no means did she expect to crash land like she did. She just needed to get away from the people for a few minutes while she regained her strength. But already, the most emotion that she got out of all of this, was Kaia being worried, and conflicted. Jewel shut her eyes tightly. "I promise, we'll go to the med bay, just as soon as I can walk..I just need to get away from these people, alright? Trust me." She told her, as if she were going to try to ease her friend's fears about what to do next.

She hobbled over towards the alley, trying to make sure that Kaia didn't need to actually drag her, or use all of her strength to carry Jewel, but she wanted to do as much as she could, even if she was almost down for the count. It was her own fault for crashing, and her own fault for scraping her back on the glass deep enough to bleed. She had felt guilty for making Kaia carry her around, but Jewel knew that if she could just get away from the people for a little while, things would be better for her all in all.

She looked to the blaster, the one that Kaia's dad had gotten her and Jewel nodded slightly. She took her hand and she grabbed it from it's holster, never going anywhere without it, and she held on to it tightly just in case. Once she made it to the alley, Jewel immediately sat down, and put her side up against the wall. She couldn't put her back against it, not with the wound as bad as it was, along with the burn. She had cringed a little, but she was already feeling better.

"Thanks Kaia...thank you so much, I just need a few minutes to relax. And....I'm really sorry, for all of this."

 

[Kaia Za'tire]

Apologies? When did apologies ever do anyone any good? She shook her head, and just looked at Jewel as she sat and rested her side against the wall. "You're fine. Don't worry about it. Just take some time to relax, then we'll..." She paused for a few moments, and walked over toward the edge of the alleyway and peeked around the corner at any passers-by. So far, so good. It took a little bit of time, but she was calming down, and not being as shaky. They were in trouble, she knew this much, but what she needed now was answers--answers on how to get out of this place alive.

Turning back around, she made her way back to Jewel, all the while attempting to do her best to ignore the pain that was coursing up and down her entire front from the myriad of scrapes and bruises that were starting to form. Bringing her left hand up, she wiped the back of her hand along her forehead, only to bring it down and notice blood where she rubbed her hand. Great, scraped up my forehead, too.

She took her seat right next to Jewel, plopping down beside her and looking left to right, being the lookout in case anyone showed up. Two girls in the middle of an alleyway, bruised and cut up? They certainly weren't at their best, so she had to be extra careful to keep an eye out. Holding her blaster up toward her chest, she relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. Reaching up, she pulled her cowl back over her head, and remained silent for a few moments, trying to think of a plan.

"I don't know anything about this place, and I don't think..." She paused for a moment, reaching to her pocket to pulled out her data-pad--which was thankfully scraped up, but not broken. Using just her left hand, she scanned through the data-pad to try to find a layout of the Underlevels, but much to her avail, nothing was able to be found; it was almost as if there was no records of this place that people wanted to keep track of. This was either a great thing, or a terrible thing.

"Are you okay? Are you good to move?" She asked, after taking another deep breath, just to relax herself some more.