The Pathfinder Chronicles and stuff

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"That's Kai," Micah would introduce his youngest sister to Vex. To get her attention, he would dribble his fingers over the crown of her head, which of course, set her off by batting at him with her tiny arms.

"Hey! Watch it shortstuff!" he laughed, avoiding the bating of her arms.

"Don't aggravate your sister, Micah." His mother would remind him, her tiny body moving to and fro as she went about gathering ingredients. Sol's would have been better,but hey, Kira didn't make too bad of an Ord Mantellian Mac and cheese.

The younger Talith would just smirk, but would wander over to the refrigerator to pick out a couple of juice boxes. Figuring that the Defel didn't mind the previous flavored type, he would grab the same. Ambling back, he set one in front of Vexen and then did the same for his younger sister. Only he helped her with the straw because she was still pretty young.

"So how did you guys meet?" Kira asked her son and Vex, calling over her shoulder as she took a pan out.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen watched the matriarch of the family with interest. For some reason her eyes were drawn to the swishing robes as she moved back and forth. The juice box made a loud noise and she took a long slurp. Recalled what Micah said about eating and drinking politely, she sipped more slowly. It was full of sugar and her instinct was to get it down as quickly as possible.

Putting it aside for a moment she turned towards Kira, bright eyes watching her carefully from behind the goggles. She turned away at the question, ears flattening down in shame. "I...er...I nicked one of his things," she admitted.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

“oh did you?” Kira would call out with notable amusement. Her bright blue eyes would dart over to her son, who was looking mighty sheepish about it.

“Well you must be good. Usually he’s pretty quick about that.” Kira would compliment her, chuckling. “But seems like he managed to catch up no?” Considering Kira’s childhood was the life of a pickpocket as well, it didn’t anger her as much as amused her that someone else managed to get the up and up on Micah. Normally it was her son pilfering items from his sisters to tease them.

Or to get into the cookie jar.

“He likes to say he’s pretty fast with his hands.” Kira wandered over enroute to grab blue milk and pasta, giving a slight ruffle of her son’s mop of hair.

“hey!” he would say in mock complaint, smoothing over his hair -- which promptly fell over his eyes again.

“I managed to track her though!”

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Nah, his hands ain't that quick," Vexen said, matter of factly. When you spent your life living with poisonous insects that also happened to be an excellent source of protein one developed a certain level of dexterity beyond the norm. The youngest Talith had resumed watching small the Defel Wraith intently. Her head bobbed forwards and backwards a small amount as if she was trying to work out if her eyes were betraying her and the dark fuzzy object was simply out of focus.

Vexen smiled. She didn't often make such a gesture. It was so obvious when her lips drew back and white teeth flashes through from the deepest black imaginable.

"I like your mum," she whispered conspiratorially. Finding her confidence she slipped down off the chair and approached the infant, holding out her paw to see how she would react. She'd never seen a human infant up those close before. It smelled odd. Yet her delicate nose could separate the scents of the three family members. It could also detect the notes in common between them all. She idly wondered if she would be able to recognise her own family by smell. If she'd ever had one, that was.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

“I like her too.” Micah would whisper, head coming close as if sharing a secret. There was a delightful glow in his orange eyes, the grin that split his face matching that warmth.

“Oh he likes to believe it!,” Kira would chuckle out, having heard what Vexen said about Micah’s deftness.

“Hey I still caught up to her!” MIcah would defend himself, but it was with no serious heat. He was having fun, and didn’t mind getting teased.

“She’s really good at hiding though.” came the compliment to the Defel. “It was really hard to spot her. I had to use the Force.”

“That so?” Kira would perk, turning back to study the Defel. For a moment her brow would scrunch, and she had a curious expression on her face.

“Hmm…you must be pretty good at that Vexen.”

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen shrank back a mite at the sudden interest from Kira. "Yeah," she said softy. "Normally bes' folk dun see me. I stay in the shadows, come up to the Gardens Above at night. Stay quiet, stay quick, grab some food."

She picked up her juice carton and broke eye contact for a few moments. She gave a non-committal shrug. "He did find me quick. Gold eyes in the dark were a bit scary," she said, glossing over her debilitating terror. "No one's ever found my home before. I like your ship," she added, feeling like perhaps she should say something nice back.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"Well you're a natural at that," Kira would mull, perching her hand on her hip as she studied Vexen.

"She can use the Force mum," Micah would add in, taking a sip of his juice box while his legs kicked lightly under the table. "She was doing mindtricks." then he added, "But my necklaced helped with that." since he made it, he was rather quite proud that Vexen's mindtricks had not took.

Kira gave a chuckle, but would pan back her attention to Vexen. "Oh? So you can use the Force?' that made more sense now. "What exactly did you do?" she asked curiously, making sure she kept her tone light and neutral. She didn't want to overwhelm the Defel with questions, but much like her son, Kira's interest had been piqued.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Another small shrug. “That’s what he said,” she replied quietly, her muzzle dipping in Micah’s direction. “Lots of places to hide down under the gardens. Sometimes you get spotted. They dun know what they see, but they chase me. Sometimes I tell people to stop chasing, or to forget me and they do,” she explained.

She looked away and carried on drinking her juice, little legs swinging back and forth under the table. Kira didn’t have to be a Lorridan, just a mother, to recognise and small child trying to look nonchalant whilst feeling uncomfortable under attention. No one paid much attention to Vexen. It didn’t particularly bother her. In truth she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but it felt strange. She was sat here at the table with a family of humans. Like normal people who didn’t come from the Hidden Places.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"You learn that all yourself?" Micah's mom would ask next, taking note of the body language to go back to the stove and finish up mixing the ingredients for dinner. Vexen needed a little bit of space without feeling as if she was being closed in.

"Want another juice?" Micah would interrupt, his already making slurpy sounds as he got to the bottom of the juice box. Kai was now curiously watching Vexen, and without further ado, the little blonde girl suddenly blurted out.

"Hi."

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Din' learn it," Vexen replied. "Just...do it?" The Defel did not sound entirely sure of her answer. It seemed an intrinsic part of her. She was different, she knew that. Though she had thought perhaps she was some kind of otherworldly creature. Certainly there were no more of her kind her and the lost children shouted 'daemon' when they saw her.

She almost jumped when Kai spoke, her head snapping around. The shadowy creature turning so sharply made the infant take a half step backwards. "Hi...Kai," she replied.

Some part of her mind was still pulling on a thread. It reached the end of that thought and suddenly Vexen looked between Kira and Micah. If this was just one world in a very big place full of worlds. Just because there were none of her kind here, didn't mean they weren't elsewhere. "Are there more of...more like me?" she asked hopefully.

Unfortunately for Vexen no more than a handful of her species had typically explored the Galaxy and during the plague their numbers had dwindled and they're dug deep and cut themselves off. Very little information - almost none - was in public hands about her kind.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

At that question, Kira would turn to study Vexen. She understood and read the real reason behind it. That sense of wanting to know ones origin. And that they were not alone.

Honestly, Kira didn't know just what Vexen was, but that didn't mean she couldn't find out. Soliael's database held a wealth of information, and they would be able to access it remotely.

"Well, we could find out." Kira finally told her, being honest. "We can do a search on the holodatabases and find out more about it." blue eyes would pan over to Micah. Even if there was little to no information in public databases, that didn't mean that the centuries worth of information from Sol's library would be the same.

"Micah, can you take her to the holoterminal, sweetie?" Micah immediately gave a nod, sliding off his seat. "Do a search with Vexen's characteristics and see what you can find."

"Okay." Micah said, turning over to the Defel. "Just follow me, it isn't far."

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen didn't follow the entirety of their conversation, but one phrase stood out above the others. We could find out. There was a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time. It started as a tiny electric shiver deep inside her, but the tingling spread out to her to her paws. Could they really find out? Was it really simple? There could be more like her. Then if that was the case, how did she get here? So many questions frantically ran through her mind.

The offer of another juice was long forgotten now. She slipped off her chair and darted to Micah's side in a blur. All this time she had been moving with a deliberate slowness so as not to provoke any kind of reaction, but this time she and was beside him and looking up with wide eyes in an instant.

As they walked up, she moved slightly closer. “Micah? Wassa hollow ternimal?” she asked in hushed tones.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

There it was again, the brief show at just how fast Vexen could be. It prompted a grin from the Talith.

"A holoterminal?" he repeated, holding out his hand for her to take if she would like. "It's a database. It stores just about all the information in the galaxy." he would inform her. Kira would smile at her son, moving back to cooking the meal. Kai, not wanting to be left alone, would wiggle out of her seat and fall in step behind them.

She was very interested in the Defel's tail...

"So all we need to do is go there, put in some key search words, and we'd be able to pull up documents or information on those keywords." he would lead her out of the galley and turn left. The holoterminal was in the lounge area, so they didn't need to go far. Just across the way behind the acceleration couch.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Uh huh," Vexen replied. She'd understood most of the words, but the lack of some key ones meant she understood almost nothing he had just said. She made a conscious decision to simply watch what he did instead. This time she didn't take his hand, her own paws were wrangled before her as she walked. The defel was nervous and excited in equal parts.

She shot the youngest Talith a curious expression over her shoulder. Kai didn't seem to care, and as her fur absorbed every single photon that hit it in the visible spectrum it ensured the expression was probably impossible to read anyway.

Oh, he was looking at one of those things, she realised. People spent almost all their time glued to their screens and Vexen had always wondered why.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Kai would continue to try and find the odd little shadow that was Vexen's tail. Perhaps it was the gift of the Force that might help more sense her than actually see the Defel.

As it was, Micah would slide into the big chair in front of the dataterminal. "Yeah, this is it." he would give a small gesture, before pressing a small button by the desk. In an instant, dozens of miniature holoarrays would activate, displaying a series of holographic screens in a series of six. Three on top and three on the bottom.

Micah gave a tap to one and brought it to centerview. With a motion of his fingers, he enlarged it into a larger window frame. Another swipe of his fingers, and the aurabesh keyboard would appear as a holographic display on the desk.

"Hmm..." he would ponder, glancing over to Vexen. "Well... you blend into the shadows pretty well. I don't think that is the Force as much as your species..."

He paused, "Do you have any specific qualities about yourself that make you stand out?"

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Erm..." Vexen replied, looking down at herself. She didn't stand out, she did quite the opposite. "Well I've got quite long arms," she tentatively said as she held them out in front of her. "My eyes get really sore in light that humans can barely even see in cos it's so bright. Oh and under this one lamp I had my stripes get really bright," she said.

Vexen peered at the screen, but it was all gibberish to her.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Micah would furrow his brow, the dark forelocks of his hair tickling his eyes again. He gave a quick shake, tossing them to the side. Long arms. Eyes get really sore in the light. And really bright stripes...

Wait.

"You have stripes?" he would ask a bit surprised. Genuinely curious. That seemed neat. Although it didn't seem like she did. She just appeared to be a dark shadow to him. One that Kai was again, trying to capture the shadowy tail that would sway now and then. It was a bit more troublesome because Kai couldn't quite see it.

"What kind of light? Was it a specific color?" maybe there was a way he could see.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Well...yeah," she replied to his incredulous question. "Can't you see them at all?" she asked, looking down at herself. She'd always assumed when people looked at her up close they might have seen them.

"Erm. It was kind of a dark tube. It made certain things glow real bright when you turned it on," she out forward, trying to be helpful.

She turned towards the youngest Talith. She wasn't deliberately showing her teeth, her mouth was just open an inch or so. But the row of sharp fangs made Kaili take a half step back and look away innocently.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"Hmm..." Micah would mull over this. A dark tube. Made things glow really bright when it was on. His mind would scrunch at that thought, trying to think of what exactly it could be.

A black light? Those were the only dark lights he could think of that matched it. So maybe... it only happened with the ultraviolet spectrum?

"Ohh.. maybe..." he spun on the chair, moving back towards the holographic keyboard. His fingers would move deftly over it, keying in a few key words. Ultraviolet. Shadowy form. Wait, didn't she say that she was able to do mind-tricks for the longest? It was basic, but maybe that was inherent to the species?

"Let's try .. that." he then gave a quick click of the enter button. A few hits came up. Now to search through the results.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen's heart was in her mouth. She stepped to one side, watching Micah's expression closely. Nothing on the screen made any sense to her, so her eyes stayed on the boy.

Unfortunately for her such a search might retrieve limited results. There would be some information on "Wraiths". Shadowy assassins and bodyguards, visible under ultraviolet, but just shadows to the naked eye. Much had been lost in the Gulag place when the Galaxy had entered the dark times once again. The location of the Defel species, who had never ventured far, may have been one of those things.