Private Stumbling About

[Sion Lorray]

EMPRESS TETA
Jem Fossk

It was a while since Sion had been here on Teta.

Messy place.

The Maw had left more than one mark on it. The war was elsewhere, but there were still pockets in the city-planet, where its influence was felt. Gangs that were more powerful, because they had incredibly lieutenants out of nowhere. Cults springing out of nowhere and preying on the well-known foundations of love for the occult on Teta. The Jedi had their hands full on not just stabilizing it, but bringing it back to normal.

This time around it was a supply run. A senior Jedi and him, the boy who had defeated a Sith Master practically alone. The fact he had help from a combat medic? Nobody cared. The fact he had barely beaten the Sith?

Nobody cared.

"So, um." Trying to strike up an awkward conversation with his fellow Jedi as he unloaded one of the crates with supplies. "Chaotic place, Teta, yeah?"

Then a little smile.

Gotta start somewhere... right?

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem grimaced.

"Tell me about it." Last time she had been here she had... her movements faltered, the chain she unclipping catching and rattling as she stood unmoving. She blinked hard and pulled herself out of memories that helped no one here. Her grimace grew a little more pronounced.

"Come on. Let's get these unloaded," she deflected, tunneling her guilt into something productive. A heavy sigh left her lips as she shuffled crates from the ship to the armored freight nearby. Once upon a time this sort of manual work would have been left to the droids, but technology was short everywhere after...

She took in another breath and redirected her thoughts again.

"Is your master waiting for you up there or something?"

 

[Sion Lorray]

Jem Fossk

"Oh... yeah, of course." He began to unload the other crates, adding more energy and effort into his movement. This Knight was a bit odd. Wasn't she? He couldn't really grasp it fully. It was like trying to pierce a black obsidian shaped sea. But the contours of it? Sion could feel. There was discomfort in her being.

Was it him?

Or perhaps it was Teta in general.

"No... my Master is-" Dead, burned, buried. "-off-world on a different mission. She uh, took me in, but she already had another Padawan. So her responsibilities are a bit split."

Sion didn't mind that so much.

His current Master was very... intense. A true soldier.

"Yours? Or... I don't know, do Jedi Knights still have Masters?"

 

[Jem Fossk]

That earned a small puff of amusement. "He's on Denon, focusing on his ... interests," She answered delicately. Dagon hadn't been an overtly active member of the order since the attack on the temple, but he kept himself involved where it mattered. At first she had been angry at him for cutting her loose into the order, but now... now she appreciated the push. Being out here felt right, in a way that cleaning up Denon never could for her.

"He's still my Master, he just can't boss me around anymore." There was a knowing twinkle to her eyes as unchained a crate and passed it off to him.

A distant explosion rocked through the air. Jem flinched and looked towards the slum hidden over the edge of a hill. "I thought the infighting was squelched," she commented grimly.

 

[Sion Lorray]

"Oh... that sounds... good?" She seemed a bit ambiguous about it herself. "My Master certainly can still boss me around and she does. At every turn that is possible."

Sion didn't sound too worried or bothered by it.

"She is great, honestly, just... a bit intimidating?"

He flinched right along with Jem or maybe it was because of Jem. Some days it was difficult to figure out where his emotions began and others nearby ended. It was difficult. But Master Ridor said it could be a great boon, if he managed to control it. Which was easier said than done. Right now rather than control it Sion tried his best to ignore it entirely.

Sion shook his head.

"I don't think it ever truly will. Teta was always a place where the occult thrived. This? It feeds into that. These Mawites will teach others and those will teach more. It will be a new heresy spread here."

Then the Padawan blanched a bit. "Oh, sorry, that was overly negative. I am sure it will be.. okay?" And tried to smile encouragingly, but didn't seem convinced whatsoever.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem watched him, her expression dry and unrevealing. The tension shattered as she snorted and shook her head. "Realism will keep you alive out here. Don't let them stamp that out of you."

She grabbed her own crate and walked with him to the freight. She didn't struggle with the weight of it, but that seemed to do more with the golden hue to her skin than any muscle she might have had under the cover of her jacket.

"You ever think about telling your Master to cool it with the--?" she mimicked the appearance of dragon's breath, speaking after a moment of walking together. She glanced at him and added. "You can do that, you know."

 

[Sion Lorray]

Jem Fossk

A chuckle there.

"Couple of times, but... she saved my life and didn't abandon me to anyone else. Kept me as her responsibility." Sion shrugged there. "Figure that earns her quite a few dragon breaths, before I ask for her to chill it a bit."

The crates were damn heavy and it was clear Sion was having more trouble with it than Jem.

"You must really love doing push-ups... or weight-lifting." He muttered once he began to pant and Jem was still going fine. "Whatever they are feeding you, maybe I ought to get some of that too?" There chuckling as Sion reshifted the crate just a bit for more comfort.

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem rolled her eyes and cut over him before he could say anymore.

"That's the bare minimum a Jedi should do."

 

[Sion Lorray]

Jem Fossk

He blinked once... then twice.

"You are... quite blunt, aren't you?" Before it could be taken the wrong way- "I do appreciate that. I am... not that blunt." A little shrug followed as Sion hoisted the crate a bit tighter against his chest.

"Perhaps the bare minimum an ideal Jedi should do. But the Galaxy has less ideal Jedi than it ought to."

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem's cheeks stung, her golden hue losing a bit of luster under the moody cast of the smoke-filled sky. She placed her crate onto the loading dock and took his from his hands to load it for him.

"I guess you take what you get, then," she allotted, not looking at him as she slid his onto the stack. Another distant explosion rattled the ground, the home-built weapons sporadic in their effectiveness. You didn't need top of line nukes to suppress your enemy. Sometimes fear was enough.

She had done this to this world. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe out her guilt, but it didn't want to leave her chest as she stood in the ruins of her father's legacy.

The boy was watching.

She forced herself to turn and walk back for another crate, silent.

 

[Sion Lorray]

And before she could walk away?

Sion stepped forward, touching her shoulder gently and giving it a little squeeze. This was probably a bad idea. Cordé hadn't liked his casual touch and ever since Sion had done his best to keep his hands to himself. But as an empath it was difficult. All he wanted to do was reach out and give any support he could give to people around him.

So much suffering. Everywhere.

"Hey. Are you... okay? It's probably not my business, but... you are not alone, you know. We don't know each other well, but-" A helpless shrug there as he let his hand slid off her shoulder and catch his hip again.

"If there is anything I can do to help. Tell me?"

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem flinched, her attention snapping to his with a troubled, confused air. Was he consoling her? His mature nature sobered her.

"No jedi is alone," she reaffirmed. She wavered and shifted, trying to be some level of convincing as she patted his arm in appreciation.

She dodged around him and tried to move away again.

"You can help by getting the hydro lift out. This last one's a doozy, unless you got some cybernetics you're hiding in there--" She cast a glance at his form.

One never knew.

 

[Sion Lorray]

Jem Fossk

He wasn't sure about that part.

Quite a few Jedi died alone, unloved, uncared for. This was a hard universe they lived in, but Sion believed he had already brought the mood down enough times this day, so he kept that to himself.

A snort. "Nah, no cybernetics." Sion came over to help with the lift anyway. "The Maw burned my face but they didn't cut off any limbs." Said with the cheery tone and wink of a lad who was either in denial over the damage he had suffered... or had already accepted it. And thought humor was a good way of coping further.

"I will help regardless. On three?"

There he'd straighten his back, bend through his knees a little, and started sounding it off.

One, two-

Three.

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem watched him with a flat expression as he tried to lift the final crate. "...I said get the hydro lift," you dip, her tone seemed to say, a tired sigh falling from her chest.

Though maybe that was something more, as her attention seemed to linger on the scares he had brought to light.

"...Never mind it," she dismissed, turning to get the equipment out herself. The fight in the culdesack across the field seemed to be picking up, the tension of it driving her to work just that much faster. She couldn't feel guilt if she was moving.

"Come on, get the legs under the crate," she instructed, pushing the jack up to it.

 

[Sion Lorray]

A pause there.

"O-oh..." He flushed a little bit at his own enthusiasm. "Sorry..." His mind had still been with the bad feelings. The desire to help her and clearly that meant he hadn't been listening to what she was saying. His Master often faulted him that. You can't help people, if you are so stuck on what the feel, you don't take what they are saying, Lorray.

It was a hard lesson to learn.

He quickly moved towards her to help where she was indicating.

Guiding the legs under the crate so they could put the heavy load on the hydrolift. "...right, yes, this will be easier than trying to carry it around physically..." Sion tried to chuckle, but couldn't shake the embarrassment entirely.

It almost made him miss the feelings coming off of her.

"My Master always says I need to do better listening." Maybe acknowledging his fault would help here.

Jem Fossk