So what do you know?

[Rugs]

Distant explosions shook the windows.

Io’an was alone in one of the Blind Eye’s lounges, on the upper levels that were typically blocked off from the regular crowds. Of course, it had been months since any regular traffic came into the casino.

I remember when I was worried about the crowds, he thought, forlorn. Now he missed them. Anything was better than this; better than the death and chaos that ruled Nar Shaddaa’s streets, or the sickness wracking his body.

As if on cue, he coughed, violently, and tasted blood in the back of his throat. A glass of water, lifted with a shaking hand, washed it down.

Soon, he told himself as a distant explosion lit the night sky. The Republic and Empire will be here soon.

And then what?

---

Some hours later, Io’an wandered aimlessly down from the lounge, surgical mask in place over his nose and mouth. The Eye was a strange place now--turned into a fortress from its casino roots. It buzzed with activity, but was strangely quiet, with the game floor shut down and repurposed for surviving the siege.

He’d been a part of that effort — been a part of more fighting in a few weeks than he’d ever seen in his life — but now he had something else in mind.

Some time back, after medical raid that Vance led went sideways, Io’an had noticed a new Force connection bloom among those that worked for the Eye. It was faint, but lingered, steady.

A bit of looking into the matter in his spare time revealed that Vivi--she called herself the Hammer, sometimes--had been infected, and he suspected the same thing that had strengthened his connection to the Force had created one in her.

It was guesswork, of course, but it seemed to match with the reports from all across Hutt Space of people suddenly hearing the Force where they could not before.

Io’an wasn’t sure to call that a blessing for them, or a curse.

At any rate, he set out to find this Vivi, and see what she knew about her knew connection. Force only knew, it might be useful in the battle to come.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Vivi the Hammer was never hard to find. It didn't sit well by her to be hard to find! Nope, it didn't sit well at all. So she was, at the moment, gambling, having threatened the staff into reactivating one bank of slot machines so she could amuse herself for a while.

It wasn't going well, either. Now and then she'd win, and cheer and clap and laugh, but more often she'd lose time and again, and get more and more annoyed with each loss. At least until she got a good spin, and her humors were restored once more.

She sensed Io'an approaching before she heard him, but decided to ignore him unless he made it his business to not be ignored. Which, as he drew closer, seemed to be the thing which was gonna happen. "Buzz the fuck off! I ain't buyin' nothin'!" she snarled, not looking in his direction as she was still focused on the slots. "Yer gonna break my lucky streak!"

[Rugs]

“Your lucky streak?” Io’an raised an eyebrow as he approached Vivi. She seemed to have noticed him without even turning around. That was confirmation, if nothing else; not that he really needed confirmation for what the Force could so clearly tell him.

He settled into a seat next to her and watched the slots spin and whirl. A few come close, but none ever landed quite right. Io’an laughed, under his breath. It was strangely relaxing in a way, to watch something so simple as the world outside the Eye fell apart.

“Doesn’t look like you have much of a lucky streak going, if you ask me,” he remarked as the slot machine buzzed a failure. “Just imagine if you were puttin’ real money into it.”

What would that matter at this point? What good are credits now?

Io’an watched a few pulls of the lever longer, silent. Then he spoke up. “You noticed me before I got over here,” he said simply.

He had never spoken to anyone about learning how to use the Force--certainly not any of the other Plague victims who had suddenly manifested the ability touch it. It was, undoubtedly, new terrirtory.

[Karl the Unfettered]

"What part a'-! Oh never mind." It was hard to remember she wasn't in any position to boss people around anymore. Which was alright in and of itself, except when it wasn't. Oh well, just focus on the spins...

"Who uses real money these days anyways, huh?! Them overblown 'SHROOM HEADS has got everything shut down!" she ranted on, choosing to ignore the fact that she was in fact using actual credits. But if they didn't matter, then what did it matter, right?

"Of course I noticed ya, you wasn' exactly tryna be sneaky! All stompin' around on them clodstompers a' yers!" What was he getting at, anyway?

[Rugs]

“Clodstompers?” Io’an looked at his feet. His hoes were... regular shoes. Not the heavier sort he wore outside the Eye, with the Chorus running rampant, but not the slippers he’d taken to wearing around the casino’s living spaces either; he hadn’t worn those since he returned with Ms. Faine from the Soothesayer to see Vance had turned the place into a fortress.

I don’t think I was making that much noise, he thought, frowning. Besides, could she have heard it over the whirring and beeping slot machine in front of her?

Io’an shook his head, stifling a soft laugh. “I don’t think you heard me,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Well, maybe you did. But I think you knew I was there, didn’t you? Before you heard me coming.”

His own words sounded silly to his ears, but he’d not ever approached someone else about their Force sensitivity — not someone who didn’t know what they were doing, anyway.

Rather than trying to keep talking about it, Io’an reached out to the Force. His grip was tentative — wary of the Chorus’ taunting — but the voice remained silent for now. After a few timid moments, he tightened his grip on it, letting it flow into him.

Io’an could scarcely hold back a sigh of relief as the Force’s presence, for now, dulled the aches and pains of his infection-wracked body. He focused on Vivi, violet-ringed eyes watching for physical reactions as his senses searched gently for invisible ones.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Vivi sighed and turned to face him, her own crystalline irises narrowed in irritation. "Yeah yeah, I knew you was there," she admitted grudgingly. "It's them superpowers been goin' around, a'right? I been prancin' all ovah th' place actin' like ain't nothin' gonna git me down but th' whole time I've had this weird shit goin' on! Jedi shit!"

She hopped off the stool and got right up in his face. "So yeah! I knew you was comin'! Y'know what else I can do?!" She threw out a hand, and a nearby chair flew into her grasp. "And y'know what ELSE I can do?!"

A brief crouch and she leaped up high, twirling and flipping before landing lightly atop the slot machines. "I got all this WEIRD SHIT goin' on an' it freaks me right th' fuck out!" she ranted from atop the machines. She jumped back down, back-flipping for the hell of it and perfectly sticking the landing. "So whatta YOU gonna do about it, huh? You gotta cure fer this 'shroom shit?"

[Rugs]

Io’an raised his hands defensively as Vivi got up and closed in on him. She was smaller than he, but it didn’t feel it as she demanded answers. Then she was gone, flipping back up atop the slot machine behind her, and back on the ground again.

Io’an wheezed, covering his mouth with his hand as each cough set fire to his lungs. “A cure?” he said, voice grating and raspy until he cleared his throat. “No, unfortunately. I have wished for one for... well, for a long time.” The weeks since his infection, in that damned lab on Ylesia had stretched into month after month.

He wondered, more often than he’d like, these days, when the sickness would kill him. But it hadn’t yet; it just dragged him, day after day, through suffering and unbidden taunts from the Chorus.

“I’ve had the same thing happen,” he muttered. “Well... sort of.” He raised a hand, studying his palm and then its back with his fingers splayed. “I’ve always been Force sensitive, but now I can do... more than I ever could before.”

Io’an sighed. “Look, it won’t heal the sickness, but we’ve got a couple of Force collars around.” His expression turned grim. He couldn’t imagine being denied the Force. Even all his misgivings and fears about it — even the Chorus’ unwanted companionship paled before the thought of being cut off. Lidah had taken to using one, sometimes. He didn’t know how she could bear it.

“It’s not fun, but it’d keep the Force away from you. But,” his brows drew down thoughtfully, “even if we live through all this, I don’t know what will happen with the disease afterward.”

He spoke slowly at the end, eyes cautiously meeting Vivi's. The implication - that her new Force powers might linger long after the Arhceri had passed - was left unspoken.

[Karl the Unfettered]

A Force collar! Wouldn't that just solve things nicely?! Vivi's face lit up in a gleeful smile and she was almost pretty for a few seconds, and the acceptance trembled on the tip of her tongue. "I-!"

Wait, no. It wouldn't solve anything, wearing one of those would just make the superpowers go away, and decrease her awareness. The smile faded and her usual bitch face took over once more. "...wanna think about it," she went on, a bit lamely. "Git a cough drop 'fore ya drag me down, too! I'm surrounded by frail weaklings, I swear!"

As if to belie her own words she sniffled briefly, and had to pull out a large, elaborate red-black handkerchief and blow her nose. "Don't lookit me 'at way! I'm fine!"

Did she want a Force collar, though? On one hand she absolutely did, to cut off this Chorus thingie if nothing else. But weren't these superpowers kind of useful? Wasn't it clever to turn an enemy's tricks against them. An unusually thoughtful expression crossed her face as she considered these things. But mostly it was kind of... fun, being able to skip around and lift things and do all that.

"Like I said, I'll think about it! I ain't sayin' yes yet!" she insisted, glaring at Io'an like he was judging her for something.

[Rugs]

“You’re free to think about it as long as you like,” Io’an said, straining to hold back another fit of coughing. He felt suddenly cold; goosebumps rose along his arms, despite wearing his jacket. “I couldn’t do it. Anything but that.”

His efforts at containing his coughing ultimately failed. Pain wracked his body as he shook coughed so violently he had to put a hand on one of the slot machines to keep his balance. By the time he finished, wet crimson specks dotted the back of his hands. The by-now too-familiar taste of copper made him swallow, hoping to keep further blood back.

“I don’t know how it is for you,” he said, pulling a ruffled blue handkerchief from his pocket to clean himself, “but to me, the Force is vast... terrifying.” He sighed, taking a moment to sit on one of the many unoccupied stools lining the slot machines. “But I could never go without it. Not by choice.”

He shivered. The chills came as suddenly as they went, but they often hit hard. “If you decide to keep on without a collar, well,” he trailed off, thoughtful. “Assuming we don’t all die in the next day or two, maybe you can learn to use your powers better.”

[Karl the Unfettered]

"Maybe," she agreed noncommittally. Vivi thought she was going to refuse, though, which was... odd. This Force shit wasn't even gonna be permanent for her! Was it? But if it COULD be permanent, she'd be that much more useful to Missus F! And they'd even have a little more in common too! In that light, how could she possibly rid herself of this?!

"Am I the only one not dyin' a' this 'shroom shit?" she went on rhetorically, sniffling again. "Honestly! Ever'one else is just like you, all hackin' their brains out their noses 'n shit! Ever'one but ME! You wouldn't beLIEVE the dirty looks I get all th' time!"

On the plus side, her good health meant she was picked for supply runs and other missions that took her outside, which suited her just fine since it took her away from all the sickos!

"But if'n it IS permanent, who's gonna show me th' ropes 'n shit? Not you, you can't hardly stan' up straight!"

[Rugs]

Io’an shrugged pitifully. “Maybe you are,” he muttered. “Would that I could be so lucky.” He felt a pressure building in his head, around the temples. A precursor to a headache — hopefully not one of the debilitating ones that had him shut himself away from the world in the futile hopes for respite from the pain.

“I’m not sure,” he said to Vivi’s next question. Who would teach her? It seemed a small thing, in the wake of all that faced them now, yet if they survived, someone would probably need to. “I’ve never taught anyone,” he said quietly, “and I’d be afraid to teach you incorrectly...”

There were plenty of others around who knew the Force — Vance, Lidah, Janus, even Forte. Well, Io’an thought to the last, maybe not him. Force only knew what would happen to Forte if it was true that he’d run off with Ylva.

Another problem for later. Another question Io’an could not answer.

“If it remains, I’m sure we can get something figured out,” he offered, smiling weakly. He sagged in his seat, resting an arm against the slot machine. “We’ll have a lot to get figure out once this mess is done.”

[Karl the Unfettered]

Afraid? Afraid? "That's rich! Folks're DYIN' 'n here you are talkin' 'bout bein' AFRAID!" Vivi replied scathingly. But she couldn't really fault him, could she? Not everyone was as resilient as she was, after all!

Well, whatever. "S' a hell of a mess, fer sure," she agreed, glaring at the slot machines. She wanted to smash something, anything, and get rid of this aimless bored energy. "Enough standin' around! C'mon pal, we're gonna go BREAK SHIT until I feel better!"

And she grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him away! "I'll let YOU break shit too, don't worry none! TRUST me, you'll feel SO MUCH BETTER after breakin' a buncha shit! Specially if it ain't OUR shit!"

[Rugs]

Io’an nodded as Vivi voiced agreement. “That it is,” he said--or rather, started to say until Vivi cut him off partway through with a new exuberant outburst. “Wait, what?”

Next thing he knew, she’d taken his arm and pulled him bodily from his chair, dragging toward the exit. He resisted lamely — she was stronger than she looked, and the disease had a way of sapping his energy — as she pulled him along, going on about breaking shit.

“Breaking what shit? I’m not geared up for an outing and I was going to rest,” he whined. Force only knew what would happen if they got out there and got swept up in the battles raging across the surface. “Don’t you think this is a bit dangerous?”