The Wrong Pocket

[Jaron Lesan]

Courscant, the city planet. Everything was a mess of reconstruction since the Galactic Alliance rescued it from the dark cloud which was the One Sith. How Jaron had ever been messed up with the Sith was beyond him. Their methods were dark, too dark for his tastes. While the killed for sport, or toyed with the psyche of their pray, Jaron was more a direct person. He found his place among the Knights of Ren as a result. Darkness had captured him, but he was not a monster, and in many ways he was still human.

Dressed in street clothes he walked about the lower levels of the planet city with a curious eye. The scout was not there to capture anything, nor was he there to cause trouble. There was nothing about his visit which was official for the First Order, Jaron was just curious. His curiosity needed to be satisfied at times. He was unorthodox and traveled about as he willed. It would be a while before he was ever a master among the Ren, but that was because he was always contrary. The Knight never conformed, but he was always true to himself.

The underground market was a buzz of activity. Gamblers were in the streets trying to rip off unsuspecting addicts who could not help but place a bet. Their games were always rigged, and Jaron was never one to be sucked in. The occasional mind trick was employed to stave the more persistent types, but he managed to walk through without drawing unwanted attention. The last thing he needed was to be caught as a Force User in territory that was far from where he called home. It was why he kept his aura as muted as he could.

An outdoor food vendor caught his eye. Whatever it was it was on a stick, and Jaron had to try it. A couple of credits lost would be worth the experience if he survived it. Jaron tasted the meat, it had a sticky kind of sauce on it, but it was good, and he went back for more. He was hungrier than he expected, and found that this made him blend even more with the crowd of vagrants around the area. How was it that a place so large could change hands and yet remain mostly unchanged. It was places like this that made Jaron committed to the First Order. They stood for order, bringing peace through control. It was a beautiful thing.

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]

 

[Motoko Saegusa]

Another day of surviving on scraps. Another day of busy people about the market places of Courascant's lower levels. These were the places they never told you about when the advertisements went out about the planet. All anyone would care about where the surface levels with the iconic sights like the Senate Building and the Jedi Temple. But down in the slums was where the true side of Courascant lied. The rich and privileged stayed above to keep the lower drags of the planet-wide city in check. Some were left their by their own devices while others had no choice. There was only one simple rule many followed down in the depths: survive or just lay down and die.

Motoko had always come to the market place for a decent picking. Just enough to buy a meal for the day. If she was lucky she might be able to snag more for her other homeless and needed friends. They were after all the closest thing she had to a family at this point. So many people and so little room to see or move. It was the perfect spot. While wearing a light robe over her regular clothing helped her to blend into the shadows she had to be careful. Patrol droids and other authories were still around, much more so with the Galactic Alliance in power over the city again. She needed to play safe.

The first few minutes she acted like another customer among the vendors, looking over what was for sale and seeming interested and fooling them into thinking she had money of her own. A few targets caught her eye. Some would be quick picks and others she'd need to be more 'personal' with. She crossed through a crowd as she approached a food vendor, her light hands swiping bit by bit from the people she passed. A few credits and some small fruits. A decent start.

Finally coming to the vendor she spotted a man who was nearby. His common clothing did not draw her attention but more some other unknown feeling. It was like almost being drawn to a kindred spirit of sorts. While handsome, yes, it wasn't that sort of feeling. Something she didn't understand nor at this point care about as she approached him closer and closer. She hurried her pace for the right moment.

A quick bump and acting nervous as she said "Sorry!" while passing him. In that moment her hand had managed to snag a decent amount of credits from his pocket. A perfect score. And as far as she knew he wouldn't be any the wiser until she was already moving away from the market place.

[member="Jaron Lesan"]

 

[Jaron Lesan]

Seriously, how was it that a person had not seen him standing there. Not only that how did she think he was the right person to attempt to pick. While he could not say he felt her hand reach in for the credits, he knew what she had done. Yet, he was going to let her think she got away with it for now. There was something about her that intrigued him, and it was not the form of her figure either. She was good looking, but there was something about the way she felt to him, in the force, that made him give her a second look. This one was not just a street urchin. She was something more.

Jaron followed her from a distance as she weaved about the crowds. Was she trying to pick off other unsuspecting patrons? Perhaps he had made the mistake of not looking enough of the street, but Jaron surmised this meeting had more to do with the will of the force than it did his choice of clothes. Anyone could have tried to pick his pocket, but the chances they had a force signature was not likely.

He stretched his senses out toward her. The mind was frazzled, one that could only think of survival. Her world was about today, and then concerned about tomorrow. He sensed nothing else of her future beyond that. No thought was given to where her meal would come from two days from now as long as she could eat today. Jaron waited for her to stop before revealing himself. Coming along side her, he stepped quietly. He was a predator stalking his prey, patient, moving without a sound. There would be no notice he was there until he spoke.

"You stole seven coins, and I want them back," he said as he came up behind her. "And I want to know why a force sensitive is on the streets like some common thief scrounging for food when she should be thriving?"

He turned and made his way to a nearby cantina. They would have good food, and it would be a place she would follow him. They were on her turf.

"You are coming yes," his words were projected into her mind.

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]

 

[Motoko Saegusa]

After walking long enough she'd come to a stop at one of the nearby ally ways. Thinking she was safe she'd removed the hood of her rode, her long purple hair falling out to the sides in freedom while she looked over her catches of the day. Her little moment of glory was short lived when she heard someone from behind. She gasped and turned only to see the man she'd pocketed right there in front of her.

How did he see her? More than that how did he follow her all the way here? Motoko was used to outwitting anyone who would usually try to chase her yet this man, this odd individual she'd sensed something off about before, had tracked her like a wolf to it's prey. She seemed ready to fight before he mentioned 'force sensitive' to her. Her eyes went wide as she was shocked he knew her gift. Not many, if any in fact, knew about her force abilities. She always saved them for emergency uses, not flaunting them for all to see like some. He knew someone. Perhaps it was connected with the continues odd feeling she had just by being around him.

Her arms dropped as he walked into the cantina, she jumping at the sound of his voice in her mind. She could just run again and not bother. But perhaps he would only follow her. He wanted to talk? Why? Why not just take his money and leave? Or kill her if he had the chance? Her curiosity enticed her enough to cautiously follow him inside, still keeping a safe distance if this was a trap.

[member="Jaron Lesan"]

 

[Jaron Lesan]

The Knight smiled as he walked further away toward the bar. He'd felt her follow, and the curiosity she now had of him rippled across her aura through the force. She untrained, raw, and therefore couldn't hide the fact from him. The woman had tapped into the force before, and the power available to her broadcast itself to him. It wasn't a matter of searching her for it. Jaron had simply become accustomed to what an undefined force signature felt like.

Jaron stepped into the cantina. The bar was dimly lit and smelled of cheap liquor and the dingy odor of the outcast and downtrodden. A bare hand lifted to Jaron's nose in an involuntary reaction to the aroma. His his eyes picked out a corner booth through the haze of smoke which filled the atmosphere. A Twi'lek bar maid, scantily clad, brought water to start like the establishment was more upscale than it was. Jaron smiled, looking her over. The outfit invited the man's eyes to take an initial look. Once his curiosity was satisfied his eyes turned to the pick pocket.

"I've caught your interest haven't I," he asked with a knowing look. It was slightly smug, but confident he was right. "You feel it to, I know you do. A tug, a pull, something that makes you want to follow rather than run. It's why you followed me into this dive. The force calls out to you, and it did when you bumped into me. It's why I know you robbed me."

The bar maid returned with some cheap ale, it would do. Jaron wasn't here for the drinks, but rather a place to teach this woman a lesson about what she could do with her talents. Perhaps he could even convince her to leave Coruscant with him. Considering her lot in life that didn't seem to be a difficult task to perform. Jaron simply had to convince her that he could open a world to her she did not know existed.

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]

 

[Motoko Saegusa]

Careful with every step she took Motoko had followed the odd man inside only to see the place was dark like tomb. This was a bad place for a random meeting like this. Anything could go wrong and Motoko wasn't in the mood for any traps. So why did she keep following him all the way to where he was and still not just turn and run off? It plagued her mind s she battled with the idea of this man being like her, having some gift of the Force and yet not being a Jedi. A sith? Maybe? It was hard to say since the Sith were practically oozing with evil everywhere they went.

She stopped as she listened to him speak in a smug tone. She sneered and replied "Only because I think if you wanted to you would have done something already." After that she heard him out further, hearing him explain the Force and how it was pulling her, before she added "No one controls me but me! But maybe you're right. Maybe...something inside me wanted to know. I've never met another person who could do the things I've done." After that she dropped the credits back on the table and gestured "If you want them back, here. It's not worth risking my life over a handful of credits."

[member="Jaron Lesan"]

 

[Jaron Lesan]

Jaron smiled when she put the credits back on the table. She had good sense about her when it came to situations when the odds were against her. He wasn't going to kill over them though and slid them back to her. "You need them more han I do, use them to order whatever you want. When was your last good meal?" The part of Jaron which was still human cared about her well being enough to know he didn't need them back. Telling her to do so earlier had been his way to let her know he knew. Now that she did, and now that she had followed him they could talk about what really had brought them together.

"You might like to think you control yourself, but if you use the force it has a way of making you its servant one way or another," Jaron said in response to her naivety. She would learn now or later of the pull it had. If this meeting was the will of the force they had no choice. It seemed that their paths had been brought together, but only to convince her.

He took a sip of the cheap ale. It was not good.

"Tell me, if you had the choice to stay here, or leave this planet now without asking any questions, would you leave with me?" The question was set. The offer was laid out for her. If she truly wanted to control her life she would choose one or the other, but Jaron wanted to teach her something important first. He took a sip of the water. It was worse than the ale. A disgusted look crossed his face before he looked back to the attractive woman.

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]

 

[Motoko Saegusa]

A confused look came over Motoko's face when the man slid the credits back to her. Was this not what he wanted from her all along? She didn't fully understand. When he spoke again she did not give an answer. She didn't want to admit the last good thing she ate was something she had to steal and involved risking the life of another to get. But damn if those hot stakes of bantha meat weren't like a banquet to her.

After he spoke of the force she replied "You mean the gift, right? Moving things. Sensing things. All those things you hear in the stories. I may not know how to use them like a professional, like you, but from what I do know I'm the one in control of it. Not the other way around. I use it when and where I need to. Nothing more."

She sat back before hearing his question of leaving. Sarcastically she replied "Is that some sort of offer? I may be poor and homeless but I'm not that desperate for money." After that however she contemplated before answering "I've never been off-world. Not even when my family was still around. Part of me never wants to leave.... But the other part thinks there's nothing else for me here."

[member="Jaron Lesan"]

 

[Jaron Lesan]

"The gift is nothing more than something you were born with and nothing more. The force exists beyond us, yet part of us. In us yet not. It is an old concept which many religions have tried to explain away, but for you," he smirked as leaned in, "you get to live the dichotomy out in real time. Despite what you say, it always has more control of us than we are ever willing to admit. Pride is always our downfall."

It was a lesson she needed to hear now. If she though she had control then she was already blinding herself to the truth. Anyone could find themselves losing control. No one was immune.

He smiled at her attitude. She was spunky, sarcastic, and quick to be snarky. This was fun. "Who said you were desperate, and who said I was offering credits? You aren't implying that I have just equated you as a woman of the street are you?" Jaron sat back as she continued. She was indecisive, but that was easy to overcome. His arms crossed over his chest. It was time to teach her something she needed, a skill which would bring her closer to a decision.

"There is nothing else here for you. More of the same. If you leave with me a whole new world you have only scratched the surface of will open to you." His hands fell back to the table. "Close your eyes and focus on me." Jaron opened his aura to her in the force. If she indeed had some control she would easily latch onto his aura and see what she had not before. She would see how he knew she was force sensitive, and why there were others who knew, but simply had ignored her.

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]

 

[Motoko Saegusa]

The more he talked the more it seemed he was getting to her. Motoko had constantly kept that contemplating, silent look on her face when he retorted each of her remarks to him; not counting the one where he called her a street harlot that is. It was clearer and clearer he knew the ways of the 'Force'. The name wasn't something unfamiliar to her. She knew that was what many, especially the Jedi and Sith, called it. She always figured however since she didn't use it like they did it wasn't a true 'Force' ability like them. That was why she'd always called it a 'gift'. Just an added bonus for her at least.

She hesitated when she was told to closer her eyes. Cautiously she shut one and, after looking at [member="Jaron Lesan"] for a little longer, she eventually shut the other. Before she knew it she felt something powerful and dark reaching out to her. It went into her. Through her. Around her. Pulling her around like taffy. She gasped and had trouble breathing as she felt his power.

When she opened her eyes again it was clear she was both shocked and awed by this stunt. She was speechless as she looked at him while trying to comprehend what had happened.

 

[Jaron Lesan]

"Fun isn't it," he said with a grin as her eyes opened. "I can show you more of that world, what is possible for you. There is so much you have not tapped into. You can stay here if you wish, but you should choose to leave this world with me."

Jaron's gaze looked at her directly. It was long and probing. It wasn't clear if he was trying to influence her or read which way she was leaning. The gaze was likely to make the woman feel uncomfortable and awkward, but the man did not care. He wanted her to join him. Living as a petty thief was not the reason the force had chosen to work through her. Jaron wanted to be sure she was certain of that.

The server came by to offer them more drinks, but Jaron reached into her mind. "You will leave us alone for now." She had a weak mind and soon repeated what Jaron had just said and walked off. "The weak minded are easy to control, to manipulate. There is no reason for you to be here squandering your gifts on credits and what you will eat tomorrow. I can teach you to use your gift, clothe you, feed you, and give you your own room." There were practical reasons for her to join him. He would give her all of that without demanding what most men would demand from an attractive woman as herself. He smiled. "Do you have answer for me?"

[member="Motoko Saegusa"]