Private Things Never Change

[Ata]

Coruscant:
Lower Levels.
Exact Location: Unknown
Exact Time: Unknown

The nice thing about Coruscant was that it’s underworld never changed. Even as powers fight to maintain control of it, in the shadows, behind the scenes: crime and credits would ultimately rule the world. Well that was true for most of the galaxy, but Ata didn’t know that.

“Remind me never to get in anything that flys again.” Ata grumbled to himself. He groaned as he rubbed his temples and watched a speeder zoom past him. He had found his way to Coruscant to find some work. Well, that was actually a lie to save him the embarrassment of accidentally getting on the wrong ship. That was a few hours ago, he had been wandering ever since.

Somehow the teen found his way to the lower levels, he couldn’t tell you where though. It all looked the same to him. Ata leaned against a wall near an alleyway and caught his breath.

“Where the heck am I now?” Ata muttered as he surveyed his surroundings. Around him was mostly a random assortment of seedy cantinas and derelict buildings, but who knows what could be going on behind those doors.

He sighed and watched as people of all backgrounds walk by from shady gunslinger types to rich visitors from the upper levels: all trying to stick a hand into the pot they called The Underwold. He tried talking to them before, but nobody would give him the time of day. He guessed they were too busy to help him.

For now Ata decided to wait. He wouldn’t for long though, as somewhere around him he heard yelling and blaster fire sounding off.

I wonder if a droid went haywire.

Ata wondered as he scanned his surroundings.

Kayin Verde

 

[Kayin Verd]

It had been an relatively innocent little manouvre to sabotage an illegal trade just out of spite on her side. The leader of the operation had been gambling earlier that evening and Kayin didn't like the way he kept talking her down like she was some sort of kid at the table. He had even gone as far as to threathen her directly when she took the last of his money. But it was probably when he spitted in her direction that she decided she wanted to give him a lesson.
She knew a lot of people in these streets and it hadn't taken her very long to learn who this pig was and why he was here in Coruscants underworld. By stealing a file from his pocket that surely must have been valuable, she followed him from a distance to witness him fail to make the trade, desperately searchng his clothes. It was amusing to watch. Only when the second part left did she call is attention, showing him the file and a middle finger.

She hadn't entirely counted on him and his crew carrying blasters. But of course they did, they were criminals after all.
The first shot barely missed her as she dived behind a pillar and took to running down the streets, followed by confused and scared screams and shouts. Fleeing through narrow, dark streets she rounded one corner after the other all while being followed by the shots.

Using her ability to force jump up against a wall, climbing the last part and rolling over the edge. Kayin was quick to her feet again, looking back from where she came from she now ran directly into a boy, bringing him down to the ground with her and it was just as well too, as a blaster shot that would have hit either one of them flew right over the pair. "Get up, get up!" she commanded and pulled him up again by his arm as she got ready to keep running. "I'll explain later" she grinned towards him.


Ata

 

[Ata]

Were the blast bolts and shouts becoming louder? No there’s no way- Ata’s thoughts were interrupted when something slammed into him, knocking the boy to the ground quickly followed by a blaster bolt hitting the wall where both of them were just a moment ago. Ata was quickly pulled to his feet by the object that knocked him over. The only thing was it wasn’t an object, but a girl.

She would tell Ata quickly to get up and that she’ll explain later. The weirdest thing was that she’d say it all with a grin on her face. She grabbed his arm and began running.

“You’re not a malfunctioning droid.” Ata would comment between breaths as the pair continued to run. He would wonder what was chasing them as he dodged another blaster bolt that barely missed him.

“Since you’re not a droid, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Ata. And I’m guessing someone is pissed off. Did you try telling them sorry? That usually works.” He said sarcastically with a dumb grin on his face. The girl definitely was more entertaining than sitting around. He wondered what happened to cause this girl to be running from blaster fire.

Kayin Verde

 

[Kayin Verd]

"Nothing malfunctioning with me!" She let out a short scream followed by laughter as the wall behind her got hit just as they passed it. "Except for maybe my impulse control, it could certainly need some upgrading." She joked and pulled at his arm to take another direction. "No, this way, down here, I know of a shute!" only when she knew he was following did she let his arm go again.

Growing up on the street sometimes had it's advantages. Like tonight, as she knew it like the back of her hand unlike her persuers. They'd easily get lost in these narrow and dark streets.

"Hello, Ata, I'm Kayin!" The girl jumped over a stable of fruitcases that was stacked rather high and caught up to him again taking another turn further down the new street while the shouting and yelling kept following them. "Uh, i don't really do 'sorries'? Especially when I'm not the a** from the get go." She smirked in his direction while still on the run, only a second before tumbling over a rope that was carelessly being left on the ground, cursing as she fell. Kayin landed with her shoulder first, scraping it badly along with her side. She had to stay down for a second to catch her breath that was knocked out of her, well aware that she absolutely should get back up if she didn't want to get shot today.

Ata

 

[Ata]

To Ata: every turn they took looked the same, but he had a feeling the girl knew where she was going. She introduced herself as Kayin. Ata made sure to repeat the name in his head a few times for memory’s sake as he followed her and jumped over the fruit stand.

“I guess that makes sense.” Ata agreed with a smile, when Kayin made it clear she wasn’t one for apologizing when they were the chitheads. Soon after, Kayin took a nasty fall when she tripped over a large rope that had been discarded.

“Hell.”

Ata slid to a halt, quickly rushing to her side. From what he could tell, she scraped her shoulder and side, it didn’t look life threatening but it seemed to leave her in a bad way. The teen would look over to where they came from scanning for the pair’s pursuers. He watched as a group of thugs rounded a corner. Ata shook his head and touched Kayin’s shoulder.

“I know you’re probably in a lot of pain at the moment, but uh those mean looking guys are catching up.” Ata said as he reached for his knife that was tucked in his boot. With his free hand he slowly helped Kayin up. “Think you can manage to walk?” He asked throwing a glance to the group that was slowly making their way to them.

Kayin Verde

 

[Kayin Verd]

Kayin looked up at her side to Ata, then quickly back towards the sound of the gang that was getting omenly closer and closer to them. She should probably prioritise her worries a little better, but right now she was slightly more embarrassed that she had tripped over the ropes than the fact that she might just get shot like a common rat in the alley. She mustered all her strength and forced herself back up on her feet with his help, nodding her head. "Yeah yeah, let's go, come on." she pushed his side gently to get him going, throwing one last look back at the crew. Now or never.

"The chute is right behind that building at the corner, if we can get there quickly enough, maybe we'll be able to shake them off our tail." she said as she picked up pace but made sure to get some of her weight off her leg by holding onto his arm, practically forcing him to be her crutch for the next metres and again the blasters came dangerously close to hitting them.

It was agony to keep up the pace but it was either that or lay down and die for something as stupid as her pride.

Finally rounding the corner, Kayin now dived forward and pulled open a chute that proved to be steep and narrow.
"Let's hope nothing is clogging it, or else we might rot halfway down." she said ironically, ushering for him to jump first. "You need to go first, I still have one trick up my sleeve." she winked at him out of old habit. Once he disappeared out of view she settled herself at the opening feet first and pushed herself in. Immediately after the hatch closed, she used her force abilities to create the illusion that the hatch was never there.

Luckily the chute was not clogged and in an uncomfortable speed they shot out of the opening in the bottom in a fashion that was far from elegant and once more Kayin managed to somehow make Ata her airbag. "Oopfhh..! So sorry about that, never my intention to get you involved. " she chuckled while scrambling to her feet, reaching her hand down to help Ata get beck up too. "I think we shook them off, but let's keep an eye out, okay?" she smiled brightly. "And welcome to Uscrus entertainment district"

Ata

 

[Ata]

The idea of being blasted by a bunch of lowlifes didn’t sit well with Ata, so of course when Kayin agreed and nudged him to continue, he agreed. She began to give him directions to the chute, saying that it was behind the building on the corner and lose the tails if we go fast enough. Then Kayin picked up the pace, grabbing Ata’s arm for support. It seemed she was a bit more injured than her composure led him to believe.

They continued down their path for a bit longer when blaster bolts started to wiz past the pair. “That’s a bit too close for comfort.” Ata would say as he looked to her. To Ata the pain was visible on Kaylin’s face as they rounded the corner, but she pushed through and dove for the chute. He made his way towards it and Kayin voiced that she hoped nothing was clogging it. Ata looked down the chute and back to her. She told him to go first and that she had another trick up her sleeve. Ata smirked when she winked.

“I didn’t know tripping on rope was a trick” He joked as he dove down the chute head first hoping to avoid all consequences. He didn’t though, after speeding through it and landing unceremoniously on the ground, he felt something smash into him. Ata let out a grunt as Kayin landed on him and apologized. He just shook his head and smiled. “I wouldn’t worry too much, it’s better than standing around wondering where I am…I tend to get lost very easily.”

Ata agreed when she asked to keep his eyes peeled just in case they didn’t lose their tail. She smiled and welcomed him to the Uscrus Entertainment District. Ata tilted his head at that, confusion apparent on his face.

“Uscrus? Entertainment District? Definitely sounds fancy.” He grinned as looked at her. Instantly he remembered her wounds and began to examine them.

“Chit I forgot about that! Are you okay? Do you need a doctor or something? I have bandages with dogs on them, would those help?” Ata said with a bit of panic in his voice.

Kayin Verde

 

[Kayin Verd]

Kayin could read his confusion and gave it a smirk, rising her eyebrow slightly. "I take it as you've never been here before." letting out a friendly chuckle as she tapped at his shoulder when she passed him, an indication that she wanted him to follow her.

"Oh, what?" she stopped again and looked down at ther shoulder and made a face. "Must be the adrenaline, I can't say I feel it. I most definitively will in the morning, I'm sure!" she shaked her head. "But yeah, I think some bandages would do the trick, I've seen lesser sores get nasty infections. Come on, we can stop by this little place, 'Bax Vision'" Kayin pointed out a sign ahead, brightly lit by neon lights and a few people walking in and out of the cantina.

They were not stopped from entering, even if the guy at the door was squinting at them, especially at Ata. Kayin walked ahead like she owned the place, but that was just because she was very familiar with it. There was quite crowded tonight which was sort of good she felt, it would be easier to stay hidden if the guy from earlier should stop by with his crew. "Here" she took a seat in a sofa at the far back and tapped at the seat beside herself.

Ata