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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 11, 2012 3:48:55 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 11, 2012 3:48:55 GMT -5
“Damn”, Aoife grumbled as the steering column vibrated dangerously in her hands. Her small spacecraft wasn’t much to look at but it was hers and she’d only had it for about 6 months. At the moment it was also on fire and descending rapidly toward the smuggler moon of Nar Shadaa. Aoife cursed her luck and then cursed every instrument panel that was screaming at her as the craft hurtled down through the atmosphere. She’d been trying to make it back to a Jedi friendly planet in the hopes of losing her pursuer but he’d been waiting for her already at the space port. She’d barely managed to escape Ryloth with her skin intact. The man chasing her had not been content to see his prize escaping, however, and considering how much rage he had directed at her, she doubted he was going to give up easily.
It also didn’t help that he was a sith. “Man, when you screw up, Aoife, you REALLY screw up,” she chastised herself. This whole mess had stemmed from a simple misunderstanding. How was she supposed to know that the man she’d been hired to assassinate was the central pawn in a year and a half long scheme concocted by a sith? She’d made the hit and then quickly found herself trying not to get killed. Her enemy was terrifying, moving with incredible speed in battle, and he was good at somehow hiding himself in the force so it was nigh impossible to sense him before he was right behind her. She’d left their last encounter with several nice burns along her ribcage and the searing in her back said she’d been hit there too.
She’d thought she might be homefree once she’d gotten off planet but the sith had followed and eventually caught up. His weapons had torn her poor ship to ribbons and she was going down in one of the worst places possible. At least if she’d managed to get to a Jedi controlled planet, the sith would have been less likely to follow but Nar Shadaa was just the sort of place people would sell her out for a single credit.
She struggled with the steering, barely able to control her fall, not that she had any idea where she was going to land. Around her alarms were screeching and red lights flashed in warning. The light tint of acrid smoke began to fill the cabin and she coughed , rubbing at the burn in her eyes. “Come on baby,” she cooed to the ship, “Just get me on the ground without dying.” The hull groaned as if in response and Aoife sighed. “Figures. Everyone I’m supposed to depend on keeps bailing on me.” She kicked the instrument panel to her right. “Thanks a lot, jerk.”
The craft punched through the cloud cover and Aoife could see the lights of the city hurtling up toward her through her viewport. She’d at least had the luck to be crashing onto the side of the planet not currently facing the sun and she hoped that the darkness would afford her some cover while she tried to escape. She’d need to find another method of transportation, some way of getting to a Jedi world where she’d be safe, but that wasn’t going to be easy given that the population of Nar Shadaa wasn’t likely to go looking for any Jedi company any time soon.
The ship gave another threatening groan and Aoife’s heart sank. She was in trouble. Real trouble. She’d never tangled with a sith before but she’d heard the same stories all the Jedi had. They were monsters, evil incarnate, and notably hard to kill. Now she found herself the focus of one’s attention and she was alone. She had no friends she could turn to and no one she could call for help except…
Aoife snorted through her nose and ground her teeth. No. No she was NOT going to call him. It would be better to die at the hands of the sith than go running back to that jerk. He’d broken her heart. Worse, he’d found her already broken, healed her, and THEN broke her heart. What kind of person does that? “’I have to find myself’,” she spit out mockingly, “’we’re too close.’ That’s what people DO when they love each other, you moron.” Aoife knew full well he couldn’t hear her but it helped to at least say the words out loud. She wanted to say them to him and so much more. She wanted to scream at him for leaving. She wanted to tell him that his stupid Jedi code wasn’t nearly as important as the love they managed to pluck out the darkness of this screwed up galaxy. She wanted to berate him for bothering to even pull her out of her spice addicted world if he was just going to leave her again anyway.
If she was honest with herself though, as she was on the rare occasion when loneliness set in and the nights were dark and cold, she also wanted to just chase him down on Seraphim and tell him she’d follow him anywhere if he’d let her. She wanted to tell him that she’d put up with his stoic lack of humor and his adorable quirks.
She wanted to tell him she loved him.
“And he’d laugh in your face, girl,” she grumbled angrily, “He doesn’t care about you. He wouldn’t have left if he had and you’ve got bigger problems right now anyway.” Aoife had to admit though that her current situation might mean she’d have to deal with both issues at once. She had no one else to turn to and considering how well trained this sith had been, she doubted she’d live long on her own.
“DAMMIT,” she cussed again as the gravity of her situation finally sank in. The city was just below her now and she was running out of time. Soon she’d have to bail out and let the spacecraft tumble to its flaming death somewhere below. Once on the street, she’d have little chance to communicate with the Jedi. She set up a long range communication signal, fortunate that at least one thing in her dying craft wasn’t screaming at her, and actually cheered aloud when the confirmation came through that her broadcast was hitting the inner rim planet of Seraphim. She couldn’t direct the signal to anyone in particular so she opted for using the emergency broadband.
“Can anyone read me? My name is Aoife Caaso. I am in need of immediate assistance. My craft has been shot down and I’m crash landing on the moon Nar Shadaa. I am being pursued by what appears to be a sith. I repeat, I am being pursued by what appears to be a sith! Please relay this message to Jedi Levin Caelum…”
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
372 likes
King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 11, 2012 14:17:55 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 11, 2012 14:17:55 GMT -5
Levin awoke with a start. He sat up quickly with a gasp and his lightsaber flung from his bedside table to his awaiting hand and ignited the blade with that signature snap-hiss!. Pale silver light ignited the room, to reveal that the tool had been activated needlessly. Another nightmare. Again, so vivid. He moved a hand down to rub his ribs and then to his back, where an odd burning sensation had set in not too long ago. His dream had been of fear, pure, unadulterated fear. Loneliness, lost hope, sadness... the feelings of someone very dear to the Jedi.
This wasn't the first time he had awoken like this, drenched in sweat and confused. When one was as in tune with the Force as him, it wasn't uncommon for them to feel what their comrades felt, but rarely was it on a physical level. He swung his legs off his bed and scrunched his bare feet on the cool floor. Lev looked at the timekeeper next to his bed and nodded to himself. Only been asleep for maybe two hours. Still early in the night. Silver-rimmed eyes looked down at his body, nude except for a pair of light shorts for dignity's sake. He switched off his lightsaber and set it back where it was before he stood and brushed his hand against a light panel. Soft light filled his room and once more, he could see he was alone.
Not feeling the desire to sleep anymore, Levin rose from his bed and shed the last of his clothes as he stepped to his bathroom. A hot shower would help. After a few minutes of rinsing himself, Lev toweled off and pulled on his usual attire. Black pants, white tunic style shirt. He forewent his jacket, for he didn't plan on leaving the Temple on Coruscant anytime soon.
As if the Force changed it's mind, the datapad on Levin's desk pinged and a light flashed idly on it. He had received a message... Odd. Normally, if there was a medical emergency, the Jedi would simply call him through the Force or send a messenger. This was not the case. People rarely sent him messages for anything besides Council meeting times, or the occasional video from Locke. Ones that usual contained some sort of animal doing something stupid.
He stepped over to the datapad and pressed the button for messages. Forwarded from Seraphim, where he had left not too long ago. Was a patient in dire need of healing? Did one take a turn for the worse? Levin had no clue what he was really in for...
Aoife's lyrical voice pierced his mind. His eyes flew open and his muscles tensed. She had reached out. She had finally shown where she was. Levin had regretted his decision to almost immediately after it was made. The Force did not create bonds between people for no reason. Lev touched his ribs, where they still burned, and realized what it all meant. Aoife was in pain, and she was being hunted by the enemy. Levin's eyes turned hard and his hands opened wide to accept his arm holster for his lightsaber, and said lightsaber. He strapped the holster onto his right forearm and then clipped the lightsaber into it. With a whirl his coat flew from a chair into his awaiting hand. Levin slid into the coat as he turned to leave.
Minutes later he was at the Temple Hangar, making sure to not draw too much attention to himself. He found a two-person transport and kicked it into gear. All Jedi knew the basics of controlling a space vessel, and this was one particular type he used often. With whirs and clanks the vessel moved into flight position and lifted off the ground. Not long, and Levin was past the atmosphere of Coruscant, lined up the vessel and punched in the coordinates for Nar Shadaa.
The Sith threatened what was most dear to him. And he would purge that abomination.
"Hang on Aoife, I'm coming."
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
0 likes
"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 11, 2012 22:03:47 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 11, 2012 22:03:47 GMT -5
When Aoife finally woke up it was to find herself laying in a heap of garbage, nestled in an alleyway between two towering buildings. The world around her reeked and as she blinked her eyes to clear the last of the darkness away, she could hear the crinkle of a plastic bag beneath her left cheek. Images began flooding back to her, filling in the last few minutes of her decent to the surface, and she groaned as her situation finally sank in. She'd barely managed to get the transmission out to Levin before she'd had to bail. The cabin had been filled with too much smoke to keep talking and her equipment had overheated quickly once the fires stretched in behind the instrument panels.
She'd grabbed what meager belongings she could reach as she'd scrambled to the loading hatch; a plain brown emergency backpack with some rations, a few chem lights, a first aid kit, and a spare change of clothes being all she'd managed to save. Once the door had opened enough to allow her an escape, she'd leapt out into the cold whip of night air. Her stomach had shot up in that first moment of freefall, adrenaline reminding her that she had no wings to fly with, but she had her prior Jedi training and the comforting call of the Force to help. She'd reached out, pulled with all her might, and eventually managed to slam into the hood of a passing speeder far below. The driver was less than pleased but Aoife didn't stay long enough to decipher meaning from all the words being screamed at her before she'd made another leap, this time skidding onto a cargo craft heading in the opposite direction.
Her final jump had not gone as well as the first, the Force had slipped from her fingers as the smells, sights, and sounds of Nar Shadaa assaulted her senses, and she'd miscalculated the space between herself and the walkway she was aiming for.
As Aoife finally eased up to a sitting position, she looked up at the walls above her. She must have slipped from the walkway and slammed straight down into the alley below. It was a heck of a fall with the walkway above her stretching some 100 feet away but her bloodied knuckles and broken nails said clearly that she'd at least slowed the fall enough not to kill herself. Aoife winced as she peeled away the shattered remnants of what had been her pinky nail on her left hand. It would just get snagged on something if she didn't take care of it now.
She leaned back against the cold, wet brick behind her and stared forlornly out into the city. Speeders zipped by faster than the eye could track and Aoife found herself struggling not to let pain and fear strangle her. Nar Shadaa. It was a place of nightmares that had haunted her dreams when she was a padawan. She'd been lost here for weeks only a few days after her master took her on her first mission. So much misery, so much fear, so much doubt. Her mind called out faintly for her long lost master as she remembered the horrors she'd witnessed before he'd found her. If only Master Nuk were here now, he would bundle her up like he did before and just carry her away to somewhere safe.
The warmth of tears spilling down her cheeks startled Aoife back to the present. Nuk wasn't coming for her this time. She couldn't even be sure that Levin had gotten her message. No, once again Aoife was utterly alone on the streets of this monstrous city but she'd also faced her trials here and had proven she knew enough about how to survive. If that Sith thought he was going to have an easy target, then he had sorely underestimated her. She wasn't about do him the same favor though. It was possible that he'd simply seen the crash of her ship and had decided that was the end of her but she doubted it. She wasn't about to assume that he wasn't still out there somewhere, searching for her. She would just have to find a way to make it on her own until she could find a way to communicate with Levin again. That, or she'd have to find a ship that would carry her off world and back to safety.
Aoife set her jaw in determination and struggled to her feet. If the Sith had been watching when she'd bailed, then he might be nearby already, searching alley by alley to find the one she fell in. She'd need to move quickly to stay off his radar. Aoife reached out to the force and found it skittered from her touch still. She was far too emotionally compromised to do much with it. She took a few deep, calming breaths and then reached out once more. This time the force reacted more strongly and she pulled it to her like threads of silk, weaving them around her form and willing them into shape. As the last of the strands settled, she peered down into the reflection of a bit of scrap metal at her feet and found the image of an old Gamorrean staring back up at her. It would do.
While the masquerade wouldn't fool the Sith for a second, it might just throw off any witnesses who could help him. Aoife knew the Sith had recognized her force potential, they'd both sensed each other during their first encounter, but she hoped he didn't have a good judge of what she was capable of. If he spent his time asking about a purple haired woman, she might just slip by unnoticed. "Now to find a place to hole up," she muttered to herself. Her body was screaming just as loud as the alarms in her cockpit had been earlier and she knew she needed to get somewhere safe so she could lick her wounds. If she faced the Sith now, she'd be a sitting duck.
Aoife pulled the force in tight around her and tamped down on her own energy signature. The last thing she wanted was to pulse like a major beacon for any force sensitives out there. She spotted her backpack sitting just a little further inside the alley and she took a step in that direction before a blast wave of pain shot up her leg. She bit into her cheek hard enough to draw blood so that she wouldn't scream aloud. Broken, she thought as she stared down at her right ankle. Her foot was hanging at an awkward angle even with her boot on and she knew the bone must be protruding. The thick boot leather would at least keep constriction on the wound and that would keep her from bleeding out or her foot swelling to monstrous proportions. The problem remained however that she was going to have a hard time sneaking around like this.
Aoife hopped a few paces, each jar of her foot sending more ribbons of pain all the way up into the base of her skull, but she managed to snag a cast off metal pipe and some electric cording. She folded her torn jacket up and draped it over the top of the pole, then threaded the electrical wire through a hole just below that. She slipped the pole under her right arm, using the jacket to keep it padded under her armpit, and then tied off the electrical wire over the top of her shoulder to keep the makeshift crutch from slipping. It was awkward at best but would have to do. At least it would let her move slightly faster.
Aoife hurriedly snagged up her bag, testing out the third limb she'd just constructed, and then rushed as best she could out of the back of the alley and onto a cross street. No one so much as looked at her but she doubted a mangled Gamorrean stood out among a crowd like this. She was just another lost face in a sea of misery. She scuffled across the bridgways, weaving and ziz-zagging her way as far from her ship's wreckage as she could until nausea and pain finally forced her to stop. She'd hoped to get farther away but her body was warning her that she needed to heal soon or it would take matters into its own hands. Little black dots were already dancing in front of her face and soon she'd find herself passed out on a street corner somewhere.
In Nar Shadaa, that was a likely way to get killed. She'd been very lucky no one had come across her in the alley but that kind of luck wouldn't hold out if she passed out in the middle of the street. She'd probably be robbed of what she had and then kicked off the edge of the walkway to make room for other people. Dead bodies in the street weren't exactly a new thing around this place. Aoife glanced around and studied the buildings along the street she was on, searching for signs of an abandoned apartment or hidey hole she could bunker down in. About three blocks to her right was a shabby looking building with neon signs that were only half lit but there was an upper floor there and the broken glass in one of the windows said that there was likely no one in there.
She hobbled down that way and slipped down the side alley of the building. Above her by 20 feet was a fire escape that had seen better days. It would have to do though. She summoned what strength she had left and made a force assisted leap for the bottom level, just barely clearing the railing before crashing onto her burned ribs and jarring her foot. A scream tore itself from her lips but she bit it off quickly. "Have to get inside. Come on, Aoife, have to get inside," she said to herself, her mind repeating the mantra until she could convince her body to follow suit.
The rest of the walk up the fire escape was long and painful, taking what seemed forever before she came to a paint splashed window that had long since been sealed shut. She peered in through the grime and could barely make out an empty storage room beyond. The vibroshiv she kept hidden in her left boot made quick work of the paint that had sealed the window shut and she was able to jiggle it open and crawl inside. A glance around at her surroundings showed that the space used to be an office that had long since been converted into a storage area for crap no one wanted anymore. Aoife laughed bitterly. It seemed fitting that she was here then. No one wanted her either.
Except that sith, she reminded herself. The thought gave her the last bit of strength and forethought she needed to close the window behind her before crawling over to a dusty, dark corner out of sight. Tired, dirty, and injured, Aoife curled up onto a cold dropcloth stiff with old paint. Her burns, cuts, broken bones, and aching muscles all vied for attention but she was too tired to focus on any one of them. For a moment, the lure of sweet relief and instant happiness that Neutron Pixie could bring her sang in Aoife's veins, reminding her what she could have if she just went out there and got it. She was pretty sure that Pixie would be easy to come by on this moon and if the Sith was going to kill her anyway, she'd rather be happy when she died, right?
Aoife pushed the thought aside though. Even if she wanted to, she was in no shape to go find a hit, and she'd fought too hard to break the addiction anyway. Her mind turned back unwillingly to those long nights spent curled up in her room, screaming and crying while Levin held her hand and soothingly assured her that it would be alright. He'd been there every step of the way, easing her off the chemical dependence she'd built her shattered life around. Against her better judgment, she reached out across the vastness of space and stretched her mind out toward him like fingers trembling to grab something just out of reach.
Levin, please hurry.
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Di'Shan stared down impassively at the charred debris that had spread over four different levels of the city. The woman was not in there. He would have felt her die, would have felt the force flicker and take her into itself upon her passing. She'd been force sensitive, trained well, and had even carried a light saber. "Jedi," he purred. Over a year of planning was in tattered ruins, much like her ship, and he would have his revenge for that. Her meddling had cost him much. Too much time, money, and most importantly, pleasure. He'd arranged it all SO perfectly and then, in one unexpected shot, she'd stolen it all from him.
But Di'Shan would have his pleasure, oh yes. What he'd lost out on after the death of his pawn on Ryloth, he would gain three fold in the slow destruction of this pretty Jedi. She was lovely indeed, all purple hair, beautiful eyes, and a soul that rippled in the force with the tinges of pain. That pain would be sweet, like fine wine, once he'd found all the right ways to draw it forth. Di'Shan was a connoisseur of pain and like any artisan, he knew one could not simply blunder through the creation process. To make pain truly sweet, one needed to be gentle with it, coax out the flavors, peel away the extras that distracted from the overall glory of the final product.
Of all the agonies Di'Shan had tasted, the pain of a Jedi had thrilled him most. It was the finest of wines the galaxy had to offer and now one had fallen into his lap. He could almost forgive her for ruining his machinations. Almost.
"Let's go find our pretty little mouse, shall we?" he asked sweetly of the folded up, mangled body in the floor board next to him. The speeder's previous owner answered with dead eyes and agape jaw. "We wouldn't want someone else stumbling upon her and ruining a perfectly good Jedi before we can." Di'Shan chuckled under his breath and brought the speeder around. He had seen something fall from the back of the ship a few streets up and could well guess it was his mouse. Now it was just a matter of finding her.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
372 likes
King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 11, 2012 22:43:14 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 11, 2012 22:43:14 GMT -5
Once more Levin was startled awake by a foreign feeling. Pain wracked his body and he gasped as he grasped his leg, where the pain was worse. His mind reeled and the smells of refuse, sweat, and blood filled his senses. Aoife! He thought in panic and stumbled off the cot in the back of the shuttle. Lev moved to the small sink in the tiny bathroom of the vessel and washed his face in cold water to help snap him out of sleep. Mere moments later his pulse slowed, and his senses fully returned. The Jedi could tell she was still alive, still felt that same sensation in his heart and mind that Aoife was alive.
He checked the timer on the hyperspace countdown. Not long now before he reached Nar Shadaa. He began to get dressed. A Jedi in normal garb, even non-traditional like his would be too easily spotted. On Nar Shadaa, you either wanted to be in the limelight, or completely out of it. Anywhere in the middle left too many variables that could cause his mission to fail. Lev still kept his lightsaber brace on his right arm, but rummaged through the vessel's closet. Corellian style pants, a bit too tight for his liking, but not surprising considering Lev wasn't the only person who used these shuttles. The pants were black with an orange stripe that ran down either side of them. He found a dark blue button-down shirt in the closet too. Once all together, he looked nothing more than a dashing, Corellian smuggler. Minus the shiny silver lightsaber attached to his right fore arm.
Once more he rummaged through the closet before finding a heavy,silky, obscuring cloak, completely black except for opalescent white highlights around the sleeves, hem, and hood. The Jedi were not normally allowed personal possessions, and Levin was no fashionista... but even he couldn't help but nod in approval at his appearance. Nothing more than a smuggler trying to stay out of sight...
It was as he looked in the mirror did the Force whisper ever so gently into his mind. Aoife's voice called to him in his mind... please hurry... Levin clutched at his chest as a pang of guilt riddled him. This poor woman, was in so much pain, so much fear... and yet... she wasn't letting it rule her. This much, he could tell. Good job Aoife, keep strong. I'm nearly there... He sent through their bond, sending his presence as strongly into the Force as he could.
The heads up timer dinged to let Levin know, that he was about to drop near Nar Shadaa. He quickly moved to the pilot's seat and deactivated the hyperdrive. Immediately he sent his mind out into the Force, tendrils of it searched the Smuggler's Moon for Aoife. But not merely just with the Force, his mind tugged at the silken thread of his Bond with Aoife. It was so difficult though, so many lives inhabited the moon. After several minutes of meditating for her, he finally found an area where she felt the strongest. Levin punched in the coordinates for a docking bay, and propelled himself towards it.
He landed minutes later, and immediately rose from the seat to leave the shuttle. Levin pulled the hood up to obscure himself and strode down the exit ramp with his hands slightly opened. The docking manager took his credits for renting the bay, at a hefty discount, thanks to Lev's persuasion. Not a second after Levin had stepped out into the street, he did something quite bold, but in this case, time was of the essence.
Levin took a deep breath and held his arms out wide, his fingers spread. He took another deep breath. Then another. And another. He gathered the Force into his very being, letting it build more and more into his form. Until the dam could barely hold it, he closed his eyes and pushed all this gathered energy out into the Force, his presence lighting up for any Force user to feel for miles and miles. It washed through the streets rapidly, the presences of sensitives and users alike lit up into his mind, but Levin ignored these. There was one he was searching for, and knowing her, she was dampening her presence. This exercise wasn't for him to find her, it was for Aoife to know something: She was not alone. Not anymore.
Levin Caelum had arrived on Nar Shadaa.
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
0 likes
"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 12, 2012 1:42:23 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 12, 2012 1:42:23 GMT -5
It hit him like the rush of a tsunami and the power of it almost knocked Di’Shan off his feet. A brilliant white wall of Force energy shining like a beacon, glaringly out of place in the cold, damp city. He was pretty sure even the rats scurried undercover for fear that they do not deserve to stand in that light; but Di’Shan did’t move, didn’t flinch in the face of it. No, he KNEW this light, had felt it only once before on a frozen wasteland of a world, in a jedi temple lost to darkness.
The healer.
Di’Shan could still remember the silver in the man’s eyes, how he’d fought with incredible skill, and the power of the force radiating around him. He’d been so concerned over the poor souls cut down on the battlefield but despite his best efforts, he’d been unmoved by Di’Shan or his taunts. It had been infuriating and had also earned the Jedi a special seat in the Sith’s non-existent heart. Here was an enigma for him that he simply had to unravel. What would it take to break a powerful Jedi healer? A far more important question popped to Di’Shan’s mind. Why was he here? What had brought this jedi to a desolate place like Nar Shadaa where his purity would radiate like a beacon? The Twi’lek stepped back farther into the alley he was in, his eyes brushing over the spot he’d just been investigating.
Of course. The other Jedi. The healer had come to help his fallen comrade. It was the only explanation that made sense and sudden glee flooded Di’Shan’s veins. All he had to do was get to the woman first and then he could see if he could finally get a reaction out of the healer. It was too good to be true and suddenly Di’Shan was perfectly content that she’d interrupted his plans. Even a year of work would not likely have landed him a more perfect situation. He had been handed a chance to not only destroy a Jedi but also to potentially jar that oh so calm demeanor of the healer.
The Sith scuffed his boot across a dark red patch of dried blood on the ground. She’d been here, had been hurt badly from the looks of it, and that meant she wouldn’t have gone far. She was a clever minx though. She’d managed to hide herself within the Force fairly well, though not as easily as Di’Shan. He stretched out his thoughts gingerly, careful to avoid the bright signature of the other Jedi, and sought out not a Force presence but any sign of overwhelming emotion. The Jedi’s loud call would surely have elicited a response from the woman.
Amid the cacophony of pained emotions, of which there were many, he finally caught the barest hint of pain, fear, uncertainty, and far more importantly, the shrill call of hope. There were few on Nar Shadaa who one could consider hopeful and it was little doubt that he’d located his prize. How fitting that the healer had actually been the one that had given her away. Di’Shan raced toward the light of that hope, eager to get there before the healer sensed it.
He all but flew up the creaking fire escape in his hurry before finally pausing before the window. _____________________________________________________________________ Aoife had passed out for a short time, her dreams rushing back to her youth and a little Rodian boy she had befriended here. The dreams had turned to nightmares fairly quickly, spurred on by the pain still littering her body. She twitched and cried out in her sleep before the darkness was burned away by a piercing bright light. There was something gentle in that glow, something that reached out and chased away her fear, wrapped her in kindness, and whispered softly that she would be ok.
“Levin!” she gasped as consciousness ripped her back to reality. She half expected the bright feeling in the back of her mind to fade with the passing of the dream but it was still there, lingering and pulsing like a star. He was here. He’d actually come and elation tore through Aoife so hard she let out a happy sob into the dropcloth. Sure, there was plenty left to worry about and she was still mad at him but those things could wait until she’d eaten and been healed. Also she needed a shower badly and as silly as it was, she sniffed her shirt suspiciously. As expected, she reeked. It wasn’t the most ideal situation for a reunion but at least Levin had come. It was more than she’d really hoped for.
Aoife pushed up onto one arm, her body setting off warnings that this was a bad idea, and she swayed dangerously as nausea swept over her. Her fingers gently peeled up the side of her shirt to reveal an angry crisscross of deep burns where the Sith had almost cut her in half. She’d be lucky not to scar. As she let the shirt drop back in place, a dark figure in the window caught her attention. Aoife froze for a moment before pressing her mind out to the figure, hoping to sense Levin on the other side. As the window slid open, however, Aoife could see long green fingers pressing the sill up.
“No,” she whispered, dragging her injured body back until she was pressed against the wall. It couldn’t end like this. Levin was there, he was supposed to come riding to the rescue, not find her carved into a million tiny pieces. “No, no, no.” Aoife tamped down on her fear but when the monster let out a chuckle, she knew he had already sensed it.
“Not very Jedi of you,” Di’Shan purred as he moved in closer, “So much fear, so much doubt.” He pressed his will against hers, slipping like oil around the walls of defense in her mind and Aoife’s eyes went wide in shock as she realized what was happening. The Sith was a powerful telepath. She pushed angrily at the mental intrusion but Di’Shan was relentless. She felt greasy from the inside out as he sifted through her thoughts like a library open for his enjoyment. Her heart dropped into her stomach as he skittered over her memories of addiction. Di’Shan’s smile spread from ear to ear. “Uh, oh. We haven’t been a very dedicated Jedi, now have we? Why, you’re not a Jedi at all anymore. Tsk tsk. How sad.”
He pushed around in her mind while Aoife squirmed on the floor at his feet when suddenly he stopped and his eyes snapped wide. Oh…oh could it be? Yes. They were lovers. The fallen addict Jedi at his feet and the healer posterboy for the Jedi Code were star crossed lovers. It couldn’t have been more perfect or more pathetic if Di’Shan had written it himself. So the pious healer wasn’t as pure as he was pretending. So much for the Jedi Code. As he stared down at Aoife, her name seared into his brain, Di’Shan knew he had a perfect means to finally crack the healer’s façade.
Levin, her memories had said. The healer’s name was Levin. “You’re nothing more than his project, you know?” Di’Shan said with an almost sympathetic tone, “The only reason he was ever interested in you was because you’re broken. And you are SO broken, aren’t you Aoife?”
Long thin fingers swept back her hair and Aoife cringed, pulling away from them angrily. “Drop dead, you filth,” she growled defensively. She knew even as she said it that it wouldn’t do any good. The Sith was still in her mind and he knew right away how much his words had hit her, how they’d played right into her own self doubts. In fact, she was sure that’s why he’d picked them.
“Look at what happened, Aoife,” Di’Shan said, echoing her own pained thoughts, “The minute you were healed, he dropped you. You weren’t interesting any more. Where has he been all this time? He could have come found you. But he didn’t. Not until you were damaged again. Not until you’re another pet project.” The Sith laughed, a deep, ugly, guttural thing that left Aoife feeling sick. “Well, let’s give him something to REALLY work on, shall we?”
Aoife’s heart rate spiked at those words. Whatever the Sith had planned, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. She recoiled in horror, however, when he pulled a thin needle from a pouch at his waist. Di’Shan had never used any spices himself but it wasn’t hard to get his hands on some and he liked to carry a small assortment with him for special “sessions” with people he was interrogating. Just his luck that his current focus had an addiction he could play with. “I have just the thing you need, Aoife. You’re a lucky girl. I’m about to make all that nasty pain go away.”
Aoife all but choked on the scream that wanted to tear out of her. She’d worked so hard to stay off spice after what she’d went through to get clean the first time. She’d almost rather the Sith just kill her. “NO!” she cried out, her hand flicking to her lightsaber. Di’Shan easily snatched her wrist, pinning her into her corner with a knee to the chest . Her back lit up in fresh agony as the burns were ground into the plaster behind her and as the needle plunged into her arm, Aoife let herself scream. The sound died in her throat as the drug hit her system. Her eyes glazed and a sense of the familiar swept in but this was no Neutron Pixie. She knew what that felt like. No, she’d only been on this particular drug once before and it had destroyed much of her life.
Thruster Head. A powerful hallucinogenic. Aoife could feel the burn of it all the way up her arm and she twitched against the wall as it hit her nervous system. The room dissolved into swirls of shape and color before coming back into vivid focus. A monster stood over her, tendrils of darkness stretching out from him and pushing under her skin like needles. He was still in her mind. Aoife could feel him there like a shark just behind her in dark water. She felt the Force pull and tremble around her as her fear grew. The wall were bleeding. The faces of the people she had killed stared down at her from the celing, their mouths open in silent accusing screams, their eyes vacant and hollow holes gouged into their skulls. A shrill noise was filling the room and only when her voice cracked did Aoife realize that it was the sounds of her own panicked screams.
And the monster above her was laughing.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 12, 2012 2:58:43 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 12, 2012 2:58:43 GMT -5
Levin!
Her voice cried out in the Force to him. Like some faint bell off in the distance, carried by a soft summer breeze. Despite himself, a rare smile barely upturned his lips. He had found her, and she wasn't that far away. Levin turned to walk down the street calmly, as to not draw any attention to himself. His form moved fluidly through the crowds, his pace brisk, but only barely quicker than those around him. The Jedi made sure to keep his footsteps soft, and his emotions in check. Yes, he was about to see Aoife for the first time in a year. Yes, she was very, very important to him... but he had to be careful with that. Many people in the galaxy could use that against him...
And apparently someone did. A presence, familiar to him reared its ugly head for a brief moment, followed by something Levin never wanted to ever feel again. Aoife in agony. Her presence screamed out into the Force with such might that it actually caused Levin to stumble in his brisk walk again. He recognized this pain, he knew what was happening.
That wasn't going to happen.
Levin's worried expression turned stern and he felt out with the Force until he could pinpoint Aoife exactly. He could see it in his mind's eye. The building. The room. The Beast. Levin once more collected the Force into his body before he sprung upwards nearly thirty feet to land on another walkway. Then with a gust of wind he was off, the Force propelled Levin at speeds unseen by most in the streets of Nar Shadaa. With audible whump! noises Levin repeatedly burst through the streets with the Force, his cloak whipped in the stale wind as he leaped and dashed and flew from fire escape to ledge to walkway, all the while, his eyes never leaving the building that was rapidly approaching.
It was getting closer and closer, and with each block that flew past, Levin only propelled himself further, and faster, his movements mere blurs to many who saw him. Sure, he wasn't the best at augmenting his movements via the Force, but he was well learned how to move, and move quickly. As a healer that couldn't flee or respond quickly, wasn't worth his salts.
Finally, the building was the next one in his path, he reached out with the Force to pinpoint the exact room where he felt Aoife and The Beast. He hurled himself through the air with the Force with such velocity that he literally exploded into the room with the two, and landed in a crouched position.
His new cloak was slightly tattered, and as Levin rose to his full height he pulled back his hood to reveal that breaking through the window had cut him up pretty bad. Levin never took his eyes off the Twi'lek as he inhaled deeply, and the various nicks on his flesh visibly sealed off.
"Hands off. Most unclean creature. That woman, is under my charge."
Levin's voice left no room for interpretation. He let the Force build up into him more. He recognized this creature, one he met on Rhen Var once before, back to haunt him, back to strike where he could actually harm Levin. Back to harm Aoife. Lev knew it was time, time for the Sith to know, that this Jedi owned the room now.
He moved with solid steps forward and instantly threw up his hand as a bright flash of light would be sent out both through the Force into the Twi'leks mind as well as visually. In the moment he would be blinded Levin moved forward and grasped the green man's arm in a way that let him pinch a specific nerve to cause both momentary limpness, as well as active a particular nerve cluster. Using the moment he built moving forward Lev spun the man around just to strike out with blinding speed once more to grab the greatest weakness on a Twi'lek: his lekku. He wouldn't be laughing anymore as Lev squeezed tightly before he snapped a few quick blows to the man's kidneys with his free hand. Lev continued this moment to slam the Twi'lek to the floor by his lekku, and rose.
"You will be purged, creature."
Lev said simply before he spread his arms wide, and began to draw the Force into him in great quantities. His very aura in the Force began to glow, as if even the shadows themselves on his face and clothes harbored light as well. It had been some time since he used the Light, but this abomination would need to be removed. Levin then thrust one hand forward with outspread fingers and began to channel that Light through his very being. It poured from the Jedi like a waterfall, his presence thundered in the room. A burst of light flashed off Lev, then another, and another, and another. Each one so pure, so clean, that Levin intensified his gaze onto the Twi'lek as he felt the Darkside slowly begin to ash off the man, literally erasing his entire identity.
Until he became distracted. Despite his desire to wash this creature clean of the evil within his very mind and soul, Levin's own wants overrode that. Aoife was still in agony. The Beast had poisoned her. As much as he wanted to lay justice down upon him... Aoife was his priority. If anything, Levin's example without even drawing his lightsaber would be enough to scare the creature away, while Lev focused on what was important. Levin lowered his hand from the creature, but still pulled the Force into his self to let forth a might push into the Twi'lek, to give him as much space as possible for what was needed.
Sternness washed away from him instantly as he turned away from the creature and towards Aoife. His eyes looked at her with great concern as he moved closer, trying not to let her physical state throw him off. She was hurt, in so, so many ways. And he should have been there to save her. Should have been there to protect her. He knew what must be done, and it wouldn't be pleasant to say the least, but it was one of his most potent techniques.
Levin breathed the Force in deeply as he knelt next to Aoife, and moved his arms around the woman, ignored as she clawed and even bit him once in the throws of the drug he could literally smell on her. The creature had injected her with spice. Of all the things that could have been done to Aoife, this was the worst. Levin breathed in the Force once more to prepare himself as he knelt there, and gathered Aoife into his arms bridal style. It would probably be more intense, with their Bond...
He exhaled slowly, then inhaled again. Levin reached out into the Force into Aoife's very being. Like the snapping bites of a cornered predator, both Aoife's agony and her nails bit into his flesh repeatedly. He growled with effort as he forced more of his presence into Aoife as hers poured into him. He felt the drugs, the pain, the erratic, addled thinking as Aoife suffered from the drug. However, through this technique, Aoife would begin to feel relief, in many ways. Her physical pain would dull, her mind would calm more, and though she still struggled, Levin never relented his grip, no matter how often she writhed and clawed and bit. He repeatedly sent a single message through the Force.
I'm here... you're not alone...
Like a mantra to heal her, he sent it over and over, for time unknown, all Levin did was focus on taking on Aoife's pains, her struggles, and let as much comfort wash into her as he could, until finally, finally, her struggles felt like they began to stop.
Levin would be exhausted for a bit after this, but he still made sure he kept himself together for Aoife. He finally opened his eyes and looked down at Aoife with kindness and concern shining through his silver rims...
"I told you, I am here, Aoife."
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 12, 2012 4:17:41 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 12, 2012 4:17:41 GMT -5
In hindsight, he should have known better. The use of his Force powers to torment the woman had also made him a brilliant target for the healer. Di’Shan had forgotten to account for that. It was a mistake he paid for dearly. He was busily watching the twisting pain on Aoife’s face when the world shattered around him unexpectedly. Glass shards sliced across the room as Levin burst onto the scene with all the presence of a krayt dragon, his form rising up to loom far larger than his physical form would suggest. The Force roiled around the healer like a sea set to boil and just as it was in their first meeting, the Sith knew he was heavily outmatched.
He had no real notion of how much though until his world narrowed into a single focus of pain. The healer had been relatively calm upon their first meeting but Di’Shan had apparently succeeded to affect the Jedi this time and the results were…unpleasant. "Hands off. Most unclean creature. That woman, is under my charge."
Suddenly the whole room burst with light that seared straight through Di’Shan’s eyes and into his very soul. His mind recoiled, ripping away from the victim at his feet, as he moved to shield himself. He’d never seen such light and some small disconnected part of him found fascination with it. It was so pure and so clean. The light faded though, leaving Di’Shan blinking away the darkness that had crowded his vision with the light’s sudden disappearance. He had no time to think on the matter though as his body suddenly lost the ability to stand. The grip on his arm had numbed much of his right side while simultaneously causing excruciating pain.
The pain that followed was even greater as Di’Shan’s lekku found themselves the focus of a brutal assault from the Jedi. Di’Shan growled somewhere deep in his throat. He did so hate when people went for the lekku and they always did. His own former master used to slap him with a thin metal rod leaving welts over them whenever he was displeased. Oh how the man had paid for that. There was no such easy answer for the Jedi however and Di’Shan quickly found himself on the floor, cradling the force around him and channeling his anger into it to defend himself. He would have to act quickly before the Jedi turned into the end for him.
Nothing at all in his life up that point had prepared Di’Shan for what happened next though.
“You will be purged, creature."
No sooner were the words out of Levin’s mouth than the pain started in earnest. It wasn’t a physical pain however, Di’Shan had seen his share of that and more, but rather a mental one. He could feel waves of the force sweeping over him like huge sheets of sandpaper, rubbing at his very being and stripping it raw with each passing. It pulled at the dark energy he’d begun to surround himself with and shattered it like glass trinkets. For the first time in a long time, Di’Shan was afraid. He gasped in denial on the floor, his hands snapping to his head in the desperate hope he could protect himself. On and on the push came, taking a little more of him and spreading it away as if he were being smeared across the very face of existence. He had never known such agony.
Suddenly the waves stopped and the room sank into focus once more. A shove sent him flying across the room where Di’Shan finally came to rest against the wall, his back and ribs cut from the glass on the floor. He struggled to bring himself back to awareness and when he finally opened his eyes, it was to take in the blurry form of the Jedi cradling the woman in his arms, her body flailing and her cries still echoing off the walls. It was funny how quiet that cacophony sounded in comparison to the noise of his own soul being scrubbed away.
A rage unlike anything Di’Shan had ever known crept into him. Hate seethed under his skin, crawling with a single focus. The Jedi had DARED to try to simply wipe him from existence. That echo, that shadow of a being, had dared to strike down the only person in the galaxy that mattered. Di’Shan could not fathom a world where he was not at the center of it yet this man had tried to just snuff him out like a candle. Oh no. This would not do. This thing the Jedi had, this power, it must be destroyed. As he watched Levin rock his charge gently, despite her attempts to earnestly eat him alive, Di’Shan knew what had to be done. Levin had tried to take the most important thing in his world. Di’Shan would return the favor.
He crept silently to the open window where Levin had entered and eased himself back out of it, every muscle throbbing.
“You’ve just killed her, healer,” Di’Shan spat before dropping out of sight.
This was not over yet.
****************************** The first thing Aoife became aware of was a pair of arms around her and a broad shoulder under her cheek. The second was a voice inside her head telling her over and over that she wasn’t alone. That he was here. Who was here? She didn’t understand. There was a monster holding her, its clothes soaked in blood from where it had peeled the skin off its own face just moments before. Was the monster talking to her? No, she was pretty sure the monster had just been screeching horribly at her in a perfect combination of the voices of every person she’d ever killed.
Still the mantra carried on. She struggled against the grip on her, clawing, biting, and refusing the die like this but the monster wouldn’t let go. It’s face morphed and shifted, one minute melting, another reforming into something new and grotesque. All through the process, Aoife screamed. She screamed until her voice gave out and then she screamed hoarse, thin whimpers. And still the voice assured her she wasn’t alone. That he was there. She wasn’t sure who he was. No, wait, she’d already wondered that, hadn’t she? Why were there people suffocating in the ceiling?
Slowly the anger and panic began to seep out of her. Her struggles became weaker. Was that the sound of a baby crying in the pile of debris against the wall? Or is it a kitten? A small paw reached out from beneath the pile as if looking for help but its flesh was peeling away. A dead thing that wanted her to save it. Another dead thing. Aoife sobbed.
And still the voice was there.
Finally the room stopped shaking violently and her lungs stopped being outside of her chest and the monster holding her stopped changing shapes. The layers of burnt flesh that had once made up a gaping maw blurred away, leaving only the dim shape of a man’s face above her. Aoife blinked away the tears still clinging to her lashes. “Levin?” she croaked, her voice cracking and breaking after the abuse of screaming. The pain in her body subsided leaving her feeling exhausted in a way she’d never even thought possible.
“L…Levin?” Had he really shown up? Or was this another effect of the drug coursing through her system? She wanted to reach out and hold him but everything just felt too heavy to move. “You’re…you’re late,” she whispered with a half-smile before passing out.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 12, 2012 21:00:28 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 12, 2012 21:00:28 GMT -5
Levin struggled with deciding if he should smile or frown at Aoife's comments before she finally fell into a slumber. He had made it just in time it seemed, but not within enough to truly save Aoife. That time had passed already, and if there was one thing the man knew for certain now, was that he would never abandon her again. Ever. Once her eyes fluttered shut he sighed in relief and leaned forward to gently kiss her forehead before he lay her back on the ground.
With a whirl he removed his cloak and covered her body with it, both for warmth and dignity. Before he could move them to a safer location, he had to make sure the creature was gone. He felt out with the Force for a brief moment, but was unable to locate the Twi'lek. Lev nodded with satisfaction and pulled his datapad from his pants pocket. After a few quick searches he found and booked a room at a decently nice hotel for them to go recover at. Once he had the location the Jedi moved next to Aoife and wrapped her better in his cloak before he hoisted her gently into his arms. Instead of just jumping out the window though, Levin took his time to carry Aoife down the stairs.
A quick cab ride, and a check in later, and Lev had carried Aoife into their room. It was small, and a bit cramped, but was clean and thanks to the joys of Nar Shadaa, they were there anonymous. The healer got right to work though, he lay Aoife down on the single bed in the room gently and placed her pack he had gathered from the building and set it on the floor next to a dresser. He turned his eyes back to the injured form of Aoife, and frowned. He would definitely be able to heal her injuries, but it wouldn't be easy to say the least. Really, the hardest part about starting... was deciding if he should undress her or not. On one hand, it would allow him to better heal her and find injuries if he visually saw them... on the other hand... she would be naked.
"Damn."
Levin sighed and decided. He moved to her side and very careful, undressed Aoife until she lay there bare on the bed. Memories of that one night flashed into his mind, but he shook his head. This was no time for anything of the sort, she needed to be healed- and quickly. Once he adjusted her body so she would lay comfortably on her back, he cracked his knuckles and took several deep breaths, each one bringing the positive energies of the Force into his being, before he reached his hands out to her. One reached for her forehead, sure first to brush any shocking purple strands away from her face before he rested his hand on the side of her face.
His other hand moved to hover just above her abdomen before he gently lowered it onto her warm skin, pushing healing energies into her body as he did. Levin's mind pushed deeper into her physical form, her body slowly mapping onto his brain, like so many times before. He could feel on his physical body everywhere she was injured, taking her pain unto his body to help ease her suffering. After nearly an hour of just mapping her body and wounds out, he finally began to heal. Joints would shift and flesh would move as time appeared to rewind across Aoife's body. Cuts sealed like closing maws, bruises paled and shrunk. Burns lightened and loosened their tight grip on her skin.
A couple of hours had finally passed, and Levin collapsed back onto the floor next to the bed. Sweat poured down his body and his breath was shallow and ragged. Normally, that much healing for one person would be spread over several sessions. Levin wouldn't stand for that though. It was his fault she had become so injured, and so it was his duty to take away that pain. He rested his head back against the wall he now leaned on, just for a moment. Levin rose to his feet shakily, then grabbed his cloak once more and covered Aoife's nude form. Didn't want just anyone able to see her.
Levin was pleased with his handy work, despite her horrid injuries from before, Aoife's flesh was once more mended, with nary a mark on her skin. He had taken extra care to make sure there would be no complications from her wounds. The healer moved to the single chair in the room, and plopped down into it with an exhausted sigh. In mere minutes, his eyes had drooped closed, and he let himself drift into a light slumber...
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 13, 2012 0:50:01 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 13, 2012 0:50:01 GMT -5
Warmth. The touch of something silken laying across the back of her hands, across her chest and along her thighs. A comforting presence in the room. These are the first things that came back to Aoife as she slowly pulled herself back to consciousness. She fluttered open her eyes to find herself staring at the side of a bare nightstand. Confusion clouded her senses for a moment as memories vied for dominance, leaving her thoughts a jumbled mess. Finally the pieces began to fall back into place. The assassination gone wrong, her race away from the Sith, the crash, the pain. Then, her encounter with a monster and the nightmares that her mind had conjured under the effect of the drug.
Then there had been Levin. Slowly, Aoife sat up in bed, the satiny robe pooling in her lap as she eased up onto her arms. Sure enough, across the room, slumped in a corner with his head lolling against the wall, was Levin. A small smile tugged at the corner of Aoife’s lips. In her heart she’d hoped he would still be there but her mind had feared he’d been just a figment of her imagination; an image far more torturous and cruel than anything else the drug had conjured. But there he was, sitting in the corner in an uncomfortable chair because his propriety wouldn’t let him just curl up beside her on the bed. It was infuriatingly adorable. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t already been intimate before but Levin was nothing if not stubborn. Aoife was pretty sure part of the reason she liked him so much was that he was the only man she’d actually had to chase just to get close to.
The smile dropped from her face though as the Sith’s words came filtering back at her. “You’re nothing more than his project, you know. The only reason he was ever interested in you was because you’re broken. And you are SO broken, aren’t you Aoife?”
Yes, she was broken. Torn to little pieces inside even on her best days. The worst parts of Aoife’s mind tugged at her, reminding her of the gulf between her and the man across from her. Junkie. Assassin. Fallen Jedi.
Murderer.
What would Levin think if he knew the truth of what she’d done? Would he be understanding if he knew about the two security guards, innocent men, whom she’d slaughtered in a drug addled rage back on Coruscant? Aoife doubted it. Levin was this glowing pinnacle of justice and right. He quite literally radiated light, for crying out loud. It was little wonder Aoife was only interesting when she was hurt and her mind was all too happy to point that fact out. Why should someone like Levin Caelum, Jedi Healer, care about a washed up junkie that kills people for enough money to buy more drugs?
The least he could have done was to not lie to her though. He’d still be happy to share her bed so he wasn’t THAT pure, the uglier part of her mind spat. Maybe it was just to not feel so soiled in comparison to her companion but Aoife latched onto the idea anyway. It was easier to be angry at him than it was to admit that she didn’t deserve him. She slipped from the bed, ignoring her stained and ripped clothes where they lay on the floor, and marched straight over to stand before Levin. He wants to be all pious? Let him wake up to this, she thought. Aoife leaned in and brought her hand back, all set to slap him stupid but her arm paused on the upswing.
He HAD just healed her after all. Maybe it was only because she was a pet project but she at least owed it to him not to wake him up by assaulting him. Aoife sighed, her body slumping as her arm dropped back to her side. She was still leaned over him, propped on one arm against the back of the chair, and she leaned in to press a kiss to the top of his head.
“Hey *sshole. Wake up.”
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 13, 2012 1:40:13 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 13, 2012 1:40:13 GMT -5
Levin had no idea exactly how long he had been asleep for. Hours? Minutes? Seconds? He didn't know. As his conscious began to dawn from his slumber, he felt several familiar things. A soft, warm feeling on his forehead, and a gentle presence literally right next to him. His eyes opened slowly, the whites still rimmed in red from exhaustion. Those green eyes of his blinked once or twice as he realized what he was looking at:
Boobs.
Aoife stood completely nude right in front of him. He looked her up and down out of a mixture of shock and natural male curiosity. His cheeks flushed bright red and he made a move to stand up... only to feel an all too familiar tightness in his nether regions. He quickly sat back down and coughed politely, keeping his eyes at Aoife's and trying not to look at her more. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the woman's exquisite body... more like that despite being nearly fifty years old, she was still the only woman whom he'd seen nude in that fashion. Medically inclined nudity was far different than intimate nudity.
"I- uh. What I mean to say is- well- I- wait, did you just cuss at me Aoife?"
Levin stuttered out before he tilted his head in slight surprise. Despite it all he couldn't help but smile, it was a small, barely seen one, but Aoife would recognize it as her smile. Soft, relaxed, happy. He took a deep breath to calm his mind- and body- then stood up quite a bit more comfortably. His eyes looked down at Aoife, and despite everything, he reached his arms out to pull the woman into an embrace. Lev's right hand wove its way into Aoife's purple mane and he cradled the back of her head in his gentle grasp, and his other arm wrapped around her back, his fingertips would brush her soft skin tenderly.
It had been far too long since he had felt this, the feeling of her body against his, the smell of her, the sensation of her presence mingling with his in the Force... their Bond strengthened at the physical touching of their body. Levin sighed and loosened up his embrace a bit to move his hand from the back of Aoife's head to her cheek, his hand cupped her face and his eyes looked into hers and once more, that soft smile formed upon his lips.
"Aoife... I missed you."
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 13, 2012 2:17:19 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 13, 2012 2:17:19 GMT -5
Aoife had to admit that she enjoyed the flustered stutter to Levin’s voice. It was hilarious and endearing that he never seemed to quite get used to blatant sexuality turned in his direction. She wasn’t sure how he’d managed to go all those years without any other woman throwing herself at him but she was admittedly glad for it. She doubted Levin would have even noticed it if someone had been flirting with him anyway. He was hopelessly clueless when it came to anything resembling romantic intentions.
She’d fully intended to yell at him once he’d woken up but that stupid adorable face of his…and that cute smile, the one he only seemed to wear around her, all lopsided and sweet.…seriously, it was killing her anger and that just frustrated her more. She was supposed to be furious with him, not batting her eyelashes and cooing like a school girl. Aoife pulled herself back as Levin finally stood up, biting back a laugh over the fact that he’d had to use calming techniques to avoid the very obvious reaction her proximity had on his body.
Aoife took her own deep breath and reminded herself she was angry at his leaving. Then he hugged her. The anger melted as fast as it had come as she found her cheek pressed against his shoulder, the warmth of his skin radiating up through the thin fabric. She’d missed this more than she wanted to admit. The feeling of broad, strong hands pulling her close, guarding her in a protective embrace. She felt safe there, a feeling she had rarely known since her fall, and she curled instinctively into it. She was a big strong assassin, not a child, but she couldn’t deny that most of her nights were lonely and cold, devoid of human interaction with any real meaning.
As Levin finally pulled back, Aoife resisted the urge to follow, to swallow back up the sudden cold gap between their bodies, and she let him take her face into his hands.
"Aoife... I missed you."
That was when she punched him.
It was a solid hard blow straight to the gut. He’d MISSED her? Aoife’s mind shoved down her softer emotions, replacing them with the harder uglier thoughts that the sight of Levin had temporarily put away.
“Yeah, well I wasn’t the one that left!” she yelled angrily. “If you’d really missed me, why didn’t you ever try to come find me? You broke my heart, you b***ard! ‘We’re too close. I have to go find myself,’” she snapped mockingly, “Yeah, well you’re the one who found ME, Levin. I didn’t ask to be saved and then you left! You just up and decided you were having a crisis of faith or something. I TRUSTED you!”
Aoife could feel all of the raw hurt from the past year creeping to the surface, clawing under her skin in the need for release. She’d sat on it so long that it had festered inside her. Her whole body shook from the anger and bitter pain that was closing her throat and her voice cracked on several words. Hot tears spilled down her face despite her best efforts to stop them and she smeared them angrily across her cheeks as she tried to push them away. “You pulled me out of the gutter just to kick me onto the curb,” Aoife said brokenly, her anger finally crumbling to the deeper pain that had fueled it, “I was better off on the streets you found me on. At least I could hide in the spice back then.
“You saw something worth saving in me,” she sobbed quietly, “and I think I hate you for it.”
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 13, 2012 15:20:54 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 13, 2012 15:20:54 GMT -5
Levin sensed Aoife's blow a split second before it struck, but didn't fight it. He tightened his abdomen to take the hit and exhaled quickly with the blow. A slight grunt escaped his lips as he absorbed her fist's momentum- one didn't know the body, and not know how to work theirs to an advantage. The Jedi stood there and listened to Aoife's rant, letting her get all those bottled emotions out. He resisted the urge to point out that she hadn't been doing the meditation exercises he had recommended before- exacerbating the situation wasn't the best idea when the woman he loved was obviously so torn up.
His lips dipped into a frown, but his eyes never left Aoife's as she let everything out. Jedi were trained to control those emotions, but it had been years since Aoife had been so in tune with her mind- but, because of this trained patience, Levin knew that the woman needed to get this out, to scream, to yell, and obviously, to hit him. He knew now what he had done was wrong. But even one as in tune with the Force as Levin wasn't perfect at all, and never before had he ever been so intimate with another person, ever. Sure, he loved his friends, loved his Master, loved every Jedi, but never had he loved another. Not in a way that actually made him question just who he was, and what his purpose in life was to be. One thing was clear though, and thanks to his many hours of meditation, he realized that his destiny lay with Aoife, one way or another. Force Bonds were not created by chance, they always had purpose.
After she had said her word, and stood there, sobbing quietly in front of him, Levin reached out to rest his right hand gently on her shoulder before he slid it up to rest on her neck. His eyes looked into hers and his lips pulled back, his expression apologetic and gentle. He nodded three times, and sent out a wave of comfort through the Force to her. It was one thing to verbally or physically try to make someone feel that, but to actually open one's emotions to another, was a level of intimacy only Force sensitives could experience. It was only after he bared himself that way, did he speak.
"I know. You're right Aoife. I shouldn't have ran off like that. I am sorry."
He took a step closer to her, once more trying to keep control of what his baser instincts wanted. Levin moved closer again, and rested his other hand on Aoife's hip before he brought her in for a gentle, tender kiss. Nothing overly passionate, nor sexual, just the kiss of one lover to another. Something Aoife probably would never have expected him to start.
Levin let his eyes close and opened himself up to her with the Force, letting his memories of the past year ghost through her mind. The countless hours at his clinics and in trauma wards, the deep meditations within Seraphim's beauty, and his thoughts, nearly always on Aoife. Memories of their times together, his emotions whenever he merely saw her, and the Bond- a silver string of pure Force energy that tied the two together. And through the Force, he whispered to her: I'm not saving you Aoife, you've been saving yourself...
He parted from the kiss and smiled gently down at her, his eyes glassy as he looked into hers. Levin brushed another lock of purple hair from her face and tilted his head slightly to the left, still smiling.
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 14, 2012 0:25:11 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 14, 2012 0:25:11 GMT -5
Aoife tensed involuntarily when Levin’s hand dropped onto her shoulder. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, she knew full well he wouldn’t hit her back, but she waited for some other form of blow instead. Her heart was cringing as she waited for the words she expected to hear, that he was leaving again or that he was sorely disappointed in her lack of self-control. There was a time back before her fall when Aoife was in perfect control of her emotions. She’d been a proud, capable fighter and a good Jedi. Those days were long gone, however, and she hadn’t felt truly in control since waking up among the gruesome remains of her handiwork on Coruscant.
A pang of regret, guilt, and shame washed over her. She was supposed to be stronger than this, she was a loner and a good assassin. She killed people for a living, for Force’s sake, yet Levin’s mere proximity took all of her walls and shattered them like glass. How was she supposed to stay calm and meditative in the face of that? Aoife leaned back into the long fingers that slid behind her neck and after a moment of staring at Levin’s shirt, she finally summoned the courage to look him in the eye again. She wasn’t sure what she expected, lies maybe, some kind of excuse, but instead she was hit full on with a soft wash of sorrow and regret. The emotions were familiar but not her own. They danced along the bright tattered line that tied them together, feeding into her gently, allowing her to choose to accept them as they were.
Levin had just bared his soul without a single word. It was a measure of trust that few could truly grasp who weren’t force sensitive. It was one thing to tell someone you cared and another entirely to open the doors to your innermost feelings and lay them bare for someone to examine. Aoife’s anger and sorrow melted. She wouldn’t have to argue with him, he’d simply admitted he was wrong, and that stole the fight right out of her. It was certainly something she wasn’t used to. She didn’t resist or pull back when he brought her in close but she was surprised when he initiated a kiss. She’d practically had to stalk and assault the man just to get him to admit he wasn’t an unfeeling machine so the display of unadulterated love caught her off guard.
Aoife was used to men chasing her, she was a beautiful Theelin after all, but no one had ever kissed her with anything resembling real affection before she’d met Levin. He hadn’t known almost anything about physical desire but as he opened his mind and flooded Aoife with images of how much he’d missed her, she could attest to anyone that Levin Caelum knew everything about love. She pressed up into the kiss, grateful for his display though she held back her own. Her year had been less pleasant than his, seeing one assassination after another as she tried to wipe him from her mind, and her nights of missing his company would offer him little comfort if he saw them.
I'm not saving you Aoife, you've been saving yourself... Levin’s words rolled across to her through their bond and she let out a bitter snort. Yeah, well I’m not doing such a good job of it. she sent back. There was no real malice to her words though and as they parted from the kiss, she couldn’t help smiling back at him. She loved when he tilted his head that way. Her hands wove up behind his back and pulled him in close, burying her nose against his chest, and a long shuddered sigh drew away the last of her anguish. She’d taken the top off of the pain at least and the rest that remained could be healed through meditation and time. At least she wasn’t alone anymore.
She giggled a little as she reached down to grab at his behind. It was far too fun to tease him and Aoife wasn’t about to miss the chance. “Mmm. You can still bounce a galactic credit off this,” she purred playfully, glancing up at him through her lashes, “and we DO still have the room rented for the night. Let’s make a mess of it, shall we?” With the assistance of the Force, Aoife hefted Levin off of his feet and tossed him onto the narrow bed, a mischievous smile playing over her face.
***********************
Aoife woke the next morning to find her face buried in the side of Levin’s neck. Her eyes fluttered open and it took a moment for the sleep to fade enough for her to place where they were. With Levin lying beside her, the past year seemed like a distant memory and she was happy to put it away. It didn’t matter anymore, at least he’d come back for her and they were together now. She smiled against his skin and nuzzled the soft tufts of hair at the base of his neck. “M’ning, sunshine,” she mumbled happily.
Aoife didn’t really want to get up, the bed and its lovely companion were warm and inviting, but she also wanted to get off that forsaken planet as fast as possible. There was still a monster roving the streets after all and she wanted to put some distance between them. Lazily she pulled herself from the bed, dipping in to place a whisper soft kiss on each of Levin’s eyelids before slipping away toward the small restroom. She glanced at herself in the mirror and frowned. Her hair was a tangled mess that made her look like an angry bird with its crest up and there were lines along the left side of her face from her pillow. She groaned and rubbed her hands across her face before stretching languidly and taking a much needed shower.
As she wandered back out into the main room, her hair a now dripping tangle instead of a poofy one, she smiled over at her lover. “I say we take breakfast on the ship. The sooner we get out of this cesspool and back to somewhere a little brighter, the happier I’ll be.” Aoife wandered over to her pile of clothes and kicked at the filthy mess. They still stank of the garbage she’d landed in the day before and she frowned as the smell wafted up at her. As she reached to grab them though, her eyes fell on her all but forgotten emergency backpack. Levin, that wonderful soul, had grabbed it when he'd rescued her. A huge smile broke out on Aoife's face at not having to wear the damaged clothing at her feet and she discarded them into a refuse bin without so much as a glance back as she headed for the backpack.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 17, 2012 0:00:11 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 17, 2012 0:00:11 GMT -5
Yes you are... you just haven't seen it yet...Levin replied, and enveloped Aoife within his arms when she leaned into his form. His head rested gently atop of hers as they embraced, making his heart beat steadily and noticeably. He could feel her emotions as she let the last of the negativity wash off her as if a gentle rain had cleansed mud from her soul. Levin could help but smile at the feeling, similar to healing someone, once the healing process began, it was a beautiful thing. Something pure, untouched, untainted. Aoife naturally would sully that in some way. As he was lost in thought he suddenly felt a very forward, very obvious attempt to fluster him. It worked. Levin's cheeks turned a deep crimson as he looked down at Aoife with an almost scolding look. Which of course, lasted a millisecond, because it was Aoife. "Most citizens use holo-... oh." Levin had started to explain then raised a single eyebrow as it dawned on him. That look she gave him though, made his throat tight... as well as other regions react. He was just about to make a comment on how they would need to pay extra if a mess was made, but once more, Aoife banked hard to stern. With a sudden surge in the Force, the petite Theelin woman hefted all six feet of Lev into the air, to flop him spread eagle on the bed. Last thing he could say was "Oh my..." *** The Jedi had not slept that good in over a year. As he lay there on his back still out, he snored gently as Aoife began to awake. He still slept as she nuzzled him and spoke. Lev mumbled something about demanding more stims to revive the Jawa in response. What did begin to wake him though, was the soft flutter of Aoife's lips on his still closed eyes. They slid open as he heard the shower start up in the bathroom. He gazed about the room. Aoife apparently had been rather pent up. The blankets had been completely thrown away from the bed, the still damp sheets clung to Lev's body, but the pillows were nowhere to be seen. He sat up a bit more and his eyes narrowed as the room became clearer. The small desk had two of its legs missing and looked quite broken, and there was a clear dent in the drywall of the hotel, the cracks showing signs of being caved in. Dear Force, I'm glad we didn't give a name at the front desk... Was all Levin could think as he then heard the shower stop. A small smile touched his lips in return to Aoife's. To some, that would look like he wasn't truly returning it, but only Aoife and a couple select others realized that was Levin's 'big smile'. He would nod in agreement to her statement and rose from the bed with fluid grace. Instinct told him to cover his nudity from Aoife, but then reason kicked in. Nothing there she hadn't already experienced before, so he didn't end up making a make-shift toga out of the sweaty sheets. He would move towards the bathroom, and felt a billowing sensation of satisfaction at seeing Aoife break out into a gigantic smile at the sight of her pack. As the woman got dressed, Levin also rinsed himself quickly, time was of the essence, and with the Enemy out there in the streets, they did need to get off world. And quickly. Several minutes later Levin was back in his smuggler clothes, with the cloak now looking more like a jacket than something to hide within. One thing noticeably different about the Jedi though- was that he had shaven. Probably the first time Aoife would have ever seen him with absolutely no facial hair. He smiled at her, his now smooth face making him look years younger. "I realized in the shower, you almost never see a bearded Corellian." Levin explained, in all seriousness. At Aoife's response though, he quickly turned away to stash his lightsaber, and mutter "That was a joke." With that, the Jedi turned the door handle to leave their room. And hoped that the maids wouldn't see them leaving the ransacked and used looking room.
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 17, 2012 1:36:13 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 17, 2012 1:36:13 GMT -5
Aoife snapped the last button in place on her pants, happy for the clean change in clothes. The black and gray cargo pants would afford her plenty of places to hide everything from weapons to med kits while her simple crop top and usual half jacket revealed just enough to distract anyone asking too many questions. She tugged her mess of tangled hair up into a knot at the back of her head and tucked the stray locks behind her ears. She didn’t need to be too fancied up considering that she was trying to pass for just another smuggler looking to get off world in a hurry.
She turned around at the sound of Levin coming back out of the bathroom and froze at the sight of him clean shaven. It was certainly not an unattractive look in the least but she had to admit she hadn’t been expecting that. At least he would have stubble again by the end of the day, that much she was sure. It would be fun in the meantime to enjoy this new smooth look of his and she made a playful wolf-call at him as he finished getting ready. "That was a joke."
Aoife raised an eyebrow. She was pretty sure she was never going to understand Levin’s sense of humor. Nothing about what he’d said struck her as even remotely joking. “Um..kay,” she said with a shrug, “I don’t get it but whatever.” She followed Levin out into the hallway, shooting one last pleased look at the damage to the room. A smug smile curled at the corner of her lips as the door clicked shut. Let the maids think what they wanted to, she was sure they’d be jealous if they had any idea about the truth.
Aoife sauntered down the hall behind the healer and followed him gladly to the rickety lift that would take them to the lobby. If she wasn’t positive that Mr. Righteousness next to her would freak out over it, she would simply “convince” the front desk staff that their bill was already paid. Sure Aoife was all for putting the bad guys in their place and normally she wouldn’t try such tricks on innocents but things had changed from her Jedi days and no one on Nar Shadaa was innocent anyway. Life had taught her to take what she could get away with so long as no one innocent got hurt. That was still a line she wasn’t willing to cross. Still, she shot an amused look at the desk clerk as they made their way past him. Whatever they’d paid for the room certainly was less than the amount it would take to repair it.
The pair wandered out into the crowded streets and Aoife stuck close to Levin’s side, glaring down any sleepers that even looked like they were about to make an offer. Levin was extremely attractive even if he was as oblivious to that fact as any man she’d ever known but that didn’t mean others didn’t notice it. The only reason Levin hadn’t taken another lover besides her was that he likely wouldn’t have known if a woman was hitting on him unless she’d been as forward as Aoife had been. She bumped against his side as they walked, a playful gesture that earned a few frowns from a gaggle of sleepers who had been eyeing the healer up to that point, and her hand slipped easily into his.
It was a pleasant enough walk until they arrived at the nearest space port where Levin had left his ship. Everything seemed to be going as planned and once the docking staff had been paid their dues for boarding the ship for the night, the pair began making their way toward the open loading ramp. It was then that Aoife felt a tug in the Force. It was a warning that something wasn’t quite right and she pulled to a stop, eyeing the craft warily. She’d learned long ago to trust her instincts, they had kept her alive even on spice, and now they were whispering in the back of her head not to approach the ship. Nothing was readily apparent as being out of place. Men and creatures of all sorts and races wandered about, dropping off gear or loading new goods into the cargo holds of other vessels. It didn’t take a genius to know most of what was in those containers was likely highly illegal but it wasn’t the normal warning of less than savory characters that had the hair on Aoife’s neck standing on end. “Levin,” she said softly, already aware of the answer to her question, “do you feel that?” Aoife shifted uncomfortably but her eyes were steely as she looked around the platform again. She was far more collected than she had been after her last encounter with the dark Jedi and his drugs, perhaps it had something to do with Levin’s calming presence as he had a way of reminding her what it felt like to be a Jedi again, and she could feel the change in Levin’s stance as well. It was subtle, so much so that no one else would likely see it unless they knew what to look for, but Aoife could sense the way his muscles moved, the ever so slight change in his stance that would spell trouble for anyone foolish enough to try something, and she was suddenly grateful once again to have him at her side.
Aoife watched as a protocol droid shuffled up to the open hatch of their ship to make preparations for their departure but he never made it to the top. The only warning Aoife had was the soft click of something triggering and the Force screaming suddenly in her ear. She dropped to the deck on instinct, her cheek pressed to the cold metal as a wall of flame roared overhead. She knew Levin hadn’t been hurt either as she could still feel his presence but she couldn’t see him through the plume of thick black smoke rolling across the platform. Debris rained down in flaming chunks, some of it white hot shards of metal which mercifully did little more than singe her jacket before tinking to the ground where they sizzled uselessly.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
372 likes
King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 17, 2012 22:06:20 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 17, 2012 22:06:20 GMT -5
Levin took extra care to not make eye contact with a single other soul besides Aoife until they had left the hotel. The entire time a slight pinkish hue graced his cheeks, and he prayed to the Force that Aoife wouldn't notice. He knew that she would only giggle and harass him with more butt pinching and inappropriate breast flashing. Even the stoic man that was Lev couldn't help but smile at just the thought of Aoife's antics, but forced it down- if barely.
He was completely clueless to the street walkers that would leer at him, or call out to him. His mind was out probing the area for any sign of the Enemy from yesterday, but luckily, it seemed he wasn't near them at that moment. Lev was snapped out of his search though as Aoife playfully bumped into him with her hip. His body rolled ever so slightly to absorb the blow out of habit he looked over at her as her hand slid into his, and a single soft squeeze was given in response. Even he couldn't help but let a small smile touch his lips at the moment. This was another first for him, to hold someone's hand for something besides applying the Force for healing or comfort. Just doing it for the sake of doing it. Levin rather liked it.
The walk was serene, despite the craziness that was the streets of Nar Shadaa. Vendors cried out their wares, as did sleepers, and people everywhere talked and mingled. Levin for the first time ever, just felt like a normal person. Taking a walk with his beloved in a urban type setting- like Coruscant. Coruscant. Once they got back, it wasn't going to be easy. Levin so far had not really had a chance to tell Aoife the big news... that he was no longer just another Knight of the Order... he now held a seat on the Jedi High Council. Which was good in a sense that there was a better chance of him being able to convince them to allow Aoife back into the Order, on the other hand, who knew what the repercussions of their relationship would bring? Jedi were not allowed to marry, and yet, taught to never ignore a Bond when it has been forged. Needless to say, after last night, things were only going to get more interesting.
He couldn't have been more correct.
In the Force he felt Aoife's disturbance, and sent a wave of both comfort and concern at her- a subtle way to query what she felt. She answered him verbally, and as she knew too well, his hands parted and his fingers spread. He began to gather the Force into himself, in small pulls to not disturb any other sensitives in the area. Or to not tip off anyone who might be waiting to sense them.
His eyes watched as the protocol droid moved into the ship, and like Aoife, the Force thundered out into their minds. Unwavering Levin stepped forward instead of dropping to the ground like Aoife to stand in front of her and raise his right hand. A shimmering barrier formed In front of him to shield the pair. Flames and debris slammed into the barrier uselessly, the barrier held and Levin's presence increased in the Force as he drew more of it into focusing on protection. His cloak billowed from the shock wave of the blast, his expression grim and focused.
It was then through the Bond that an image formed, brief but vivid. An older man stood in a similar position, his right hand held open palmed out to use a barrier to block a flurry of blaster fire. A cloak similar to Levin's hung tattered on his slightly less muscular form. Black hair fairly greyed with a matching clean-cut beard, and his eyes were a bright green, lined with silver. A much more aged Levin Caelum stood alone in front of a large group of armed and armored enemies, the Sith emblem emblazoned across their chests. All around him lay dead Republic troopers and other Jedi, only a mere dozen stood behind him either in cover or also attacking. The vision panned out in their minds as the Force built up more and more into the Healer to reveal that the elder Levin and his people were quickly becoming overrun from both sides. It wasn't promising.
As the explosion finished, his barrier finally couldn't hold anymore and it shattered like ethereal glass, and the vision dropped with it. Levin stumbled back a couple steps as a shard of metal clanged off another shuttle and dug into his bicep. Once more though, he saw more metal and debris fall, and summoned his energies to cast a barrier over Aoife just in time to stop anything larger than scrap bounce near her.
He made no sound as Levin moved to Aoife to check on her. A quick once over and he was satisfied, literally taking no more time than for him to reach down and help Aoife to her feet with his good hand. His arm with the wound was clutched to his chest and his eyes scanned the area to see if anyone would attack. Once satisfied that he had a moment, the Healer pulled the Force into his body and used telekinesis to pull the metal from his flesh. His entire presence began to glow with a soft light as Levin took a deep inhale of air and the Force. Like so many times before, the now visible wound closed like a red mouth to seal with barely a mark, where his arm should have been made completely useless.
Levin lowered his now repaired arm and let his lightsaber drop to its palm and he felt out with the Force. As he did this, his eyes turned to Aoife and said
"My favorite coat was in there."
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
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Sept 18, 2012 1:22:31 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 18, 2012 1:22:31 GMT -5
[WARNING: Graphic and disturbing content]
Aoife’s eyes watered as the smoke coiled around them but it quickly diminished as the breeze of the open platform swept it out and up into the crowded space lanes. She gave a small cough to clear the last of it from her lungs. A warm hand curled around her arm and she gladly accepted the assistance in getting back on her feet. Levin’s constant presence of strength beside her was comforting in the face of even the most harrowing situations and she found herself frowning at the charred remains of their ship. The smell of burnt metal filled the air and she scrunched her nose unhappily. Her expression turned to a brief moment of concern when her eyes flicked over to her companion to find him cradling his arm to his chest. A small red stain had begun to form on his shirt, matting the cloth to his skin, but already she could feel the Force surge around them as he drew in its power.
To say Levin was a considerable healer would be an understatement of monumental proportions. Aoife had never even heard of another healer with his prowess or capacity with the Force and she had often felt very small by comparison when he truly called upon his full power. There was no envy in her though as he had never flaunted this fact in anyone’s face. To look upon Levin Caelum was to know the face of inspiration. She was sure he could move whole armies with a word by the power of his belief alone. It could be frustrating sometimes when Aoife wanted to bend the rules but it was also part of why she loved him. It was hard not to love someone that was the poster child for good in the galaxy. She watched with a measure of fascination as he drew the shard from his arm and sealed the wound shut. The metal clattered uselessly to the ground and Levin was healed almost as soon as it landed.
"My favorite coat was in there."
Aoife stared at him impassively for a moment before her shoulders began to shake and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was such an odd statement given that someone had just tried to kill them but she couldn’t imagine anyone else in the galaxy ever saying it in the same complete seriousness as Levin. He really meant it. He honestly was sorry to see his jacket ruined as opposed to all the property damage around them. Aoife snorted in an un-ladylike manner and leaned against his shoulder. “Oh Lev, I’m sure we can buy you a new one,” she chuckled lightly. The mirth faded off of her face though as the situation sank in. Someone didn’t want them off planet and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who. That meant their friend was still around and causing trouble.
“I think we’ve got more serious things to consider right now,” Aoife said plainly, her tone still light while she sent a nudge across their bond. I don’t think this is over by a long shot, she whispered along the connection and she knew well Levin could sense her words. We’re going to need a new ship.
Aoife’s thoughts were cut off however, by a grunt from behind her. She turned to see a Rodian backing away in disgust as a young girl, no older than thirteen, shuffled forward toward the platform. Aoife let out a small strangled gasp at the sight. The girl had been pretty once, all blonde curls and brown eyes, but the creature that staggered toward them was barely recognizable as even human. Her hair was little more than a knot of dirty tangles hanging limply around her shoulders, her skin was bruised and battered with small cuts criss crossing like lines on a map. Her arms were severed at the elbow, the cauterized burns easily recognizable as the work of a lightsaber. Only one weapon could have sliced so cleanly and burned the wound shut at the same time. The girl’s face was dirty but a clean line ran along her left cheek down to her chin where she’d been crying. Her right eye was simply missing, a gaping bloody hole that blinked out of grotesque reflex.
The child stumbled and fell to her knees as Aoife rushed without a second thought toward her. She knew Levin would get there first and she hoped there was something he could do for the poor thing. Even as she stood over them, Aoife knew what this was. It was a sick, disturbing warning. A message carved into the body of a little girl for the simple purpose of hurting the Jedi she was sent to meet.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
372 likes
King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
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Sept 18, 2012 4:13:18 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 18, 2012 4:13:18 GMT -5
{OoC: Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn}
Levin gave Aoife her smile as she giggled lightly. Laughter was good medicine. Healed the soul without using the Force. Truly amazing. He turned to look over his damaged craft and placed his hands on his hips with a soft sigh. That coat was more than a mere coat to him. For nearly twenty years, that coat had been what declared him as a Healer instead of a traditional Jedi. And there was one other reason...
"Aoife. That was the coat I met you in."
He said just loud enough for her to hear. Jedi were not allowed sentimental possessions, but that thought hadn't even occurred to Lev until he realized it was now ashed. I know... the Enemy refused to give up... Levin returned through their bond. The Healer didn't want to kill the man, it was the last thing Levin ever wanted to do was take a life. His entire purpose was for renewing life, saving life, protecting life. He was no battlemaster, nor guardian. But the Enemy refused to let them be. And so, he would need to be removed like cancer.
His eyes suddenly flew open as the Force turned his attention elsewhere. The girl had arrived. A great chill spread forth into Lev's body as he turned around quickly. Sound felt muted as he ran forward, his cloak sliding from his shoulders and into his arms as he did. Each footstep of his thundered on the platform as everything seemed to slow down. He told Aoife to look away and dashed forward using the Force to aid him.
Levin quickly knelt down and wrapped the poor creature into the folds of his cloak just as Aoife knelt down with her too. He instantly went to work. His eyes wide with concentration Lev pulled the Force rapidly into his body, it literally howled in his mind as he drew the raw energies into his mind and quickly began applying the Empathic technique. The very same he had used on Aoife over a year ago. The Force pooled outwards from all over Levin, the damage was so severe, he wouldn't be able to just focus on one spot, this girl needed as much as possible as soon as possible.
Radiant waves of the Force washed outwards from Levin as he cradled the girl in his arms now, on one knee as his head lowered in concentration. His right eye began to burn furiously, but he let that burden rest on his body- it meant she wouldn't be feeling it. The same began on his elbows, where she had lost her arms. And his skin, all over his skin burned and screamed. Levin actually let out a growl of effort to take the burden as rapidly as he was. Sweat began to form on his body and the Force whirled about him, pulsing regularly as he absorbed her pain, as much as the Force would let him.
He kept this up for what felt like hours and hours... but in reality, lasted no more than thirty seconds, and he couldn't handle it anymore. I'm so sorry, child... Levin thought as he began to breathe shakily and slowly lowered the girl to the ground before he collapsed onto the ground next to her for a brief moment. His whole body shook as Levin pushed himself back onto his knees, and turned to rest a gentle hand against the girl's cheek.
Her prognosis wasn't a good one...
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Otterling
Still Dutch's Minion
1,557 posts
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"Like a monkey on the sun, it was just to hot to live."
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last online Dec 25, 2012 18:03:09 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 19, 2012 2:07:20 GMT -5
Post by Otterling on Sept 19, 2012 2:07:20 GMT -5
Aoife almost staggered at the sheer magnitude of Force energy that rushed in at Levin’s call. It swirled like a tempest around him, drawing in with each breath as he cradled the girl in his arms. To anyone not Force sensitive, the scene would appear to be nothing but a man holding a wounded child while he mourned her condition, his head bowed in sorrow, but Aoife knew the truth. The Force around them moved so strongly that her eyes shuddered in their sockets for a moment and she watched with bated breath as Levin pulled the pain away from the child. Her anguish rolled off him like smoke, roiling around the ground like a tempest before dissipating into the air, more felt than seen.
Aoife could see the strain in Levin’s whole body, could feel the spike of his own pain through their bond and she dropped quickly down beside him, placing her hands on one shoulder and offering what little Force energy she could direct into his form. His pained grunt said everything to her that their bond couldn’t, Levin was far too stoic to ever make such a sound unless in extreme agony, but before she could try to offer any more assistance, he finally succumbed and eased the child’s limp form back to the deck. Aoife shuffled over to his side as he fell, her hands working rapidly to check his vitals just to assure herself he was ok. She knew he could more than take care of himself but if there was anything she hated in the galaxy, it was feeling helpless. Aoife tucked an arm under his, gently helping him back to his knees and she frowned at the shake she could feel running through him.
As he brushed his hand across the child’s cheek, Aoife could feel the drop in his mood, the fading of hope that said as clear as day that he didn’t think the child would make it. If Levin Caelum thought you were going to die, it was a pretty safe bet that nothing would be able to stop that. Aoife slid around to the girl’s other side, taking the tiny form into her arms, her fingers working quickly to tuck the folds of Levin’s cloak around her if for no other reason than to feel like she was doing something. She crooned softly to the girl, brushing back her tangled hair from her forehead and trying to offer what comfort she could through the Force. She wasn’t nearly as skilled at it as Levin was but she couldn’t sit idly either.
The little girl’s eye finally fluttered open again, her whole body shaking with the effort of each strangled breath, and Aoife’s heart broke a little. The child was barely holding on but she looked up at the Theeling first, recognition dawning on her face, and then her eye flicked over to Levin. She let out a thin high whine and her shaking worsened. Her mouth opened and closed as if to say something but the words refused to come. “Shhh, shhh, it’s ok,” Aoife tried to reassure her but the girl was focused intently on Levin as if he were the sole person in the world.
“M-message,” the girl rasped out around cracked lips, “he wanted me to give you a message.” Her words were interspersed with struggling breaths, the sentances curling on the end as if fighting down the urge to simply sob. “Children…he has them…so many of us…took us from the slavers. Th-there’s a transport…he said…he said…” she paused and swallowed around a dry throat and Aoife winced inside at the panic she could feel in the child. “’Come find me.’ He said to tell the healer ‘come find me.’” Another harsh swallow and tattered breath. “’I will take…what you love. Choose which.’” The child coughed harshly, her battered lungs filling with blood from some internal trauma Aoife couldn’t see. “He’ll kill them,” the girl said at last, her words finally curling up into a desperate plea, “If you leave the planet, he’ll kill them all one by one. He’ll hurt them…like me.” A soft sob escaped the girl as her whole body shook with the effort of maintaining itself long enough to get the message out. There was a driven determination in her as if this message were the most important thing in the world and she would willingly die if only she could get it out.
“Please…my little sister….please….”
The child’s thin arm reached out from the folds of Levin’s jacket, stretching out toward him for a brief moment as if she still had fingers, desperate to cling to him before her frail form simply gave out under the weight of its injuries. Aoife felt the life slip out of the girl as the body in her arms went suddenly slack. The outstretched arm dropped lifelessly and the girl’s head lolled like a ragdoll against the curve of the Theelin’s arm, her eye still staring in Levin's direction without seeing.
Edited for accuracy.
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Dutch
Darth Awesome, Specialist at Everything
4,164 posts
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King All the Easy
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last online Apr 30, 2020 12:47:50 GMT -5
Master
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Sept 19, 2012 22:40:13 GMT -5
Post by Dutch on Sept 19, 2012 22:40:13 GMT -5
Levin could hardly hear the poor girl's message as she rasped it out. Her last words a poem written by a madman. Blood thundered through his head and body, still aching from the rushed, and failed, Empathy. She was one of few he couldn't save. If she had arrived sooner... if the Enemy hadn't of chosen that specific freighter... she might have still been alive. Despite himself, Levin did not fight the tears that began to roll down his cheeks, leaving streaks in the soot on his face from the explosion. Even the most stoic of Jedi couldn't hold back all emotion... especially at something as horrid as this.
"Find the Light, little wing..."
He whispered, his voice hoarse and low. His words of blessing the passed, given to him by his Master, and hers before him. A phrase he had never uttered in front of Aoife before, one he had hoped he wouldn't have to repeat for a long time. His hand reached out to brush her eyelid down gently, and his eyes found Aoife's. He could feel a tightness in his chest, his throat felt stuck as well, the message was clear. Levin had to choose: Save the children, or risk the woman he loved. Lev's eyes never left Aoife's as his mind churned, but they both knew what he would do.
The Jedi reached to Aoife and took the girl from her arms. He covered and wrapped the girl the best he could in his cloak before he stood up with her corpse at hand. Levin walked it to the side of the platform and laid her down, where she wouldn't be disturbed. He turned back to Aoife and his eyes shown a pain that was never seen before by her. To hurt children... it was unthinkable, unknowable, and must be stopped. His mind reached to hers and he whispered I'm sorry... to her over their Bond. He knew she'd know why he sent that.
With a quickened pace Levin strode right towards the Rodian that was there and waved his hand towards him. A wave of telepathic energy roiled off Lev to wash over the Rodian, and lower his will. Lev stopped nearly toe to toe with the Rodian and looked him right in his giant black orbs.
"You will let us use your speeder."
Levin stated, his will flowing into the other man's as simple as a snake moved through grass. The Rodian nodded and pointed to his air speeder that was parked on the same platform as the wreckage of his vessel. He handed over the pass card, and Levin appraised the man's dark gray trench coat. Levin moved his eyes back to the alien's and muttered
"And you will give me your coat."
The Rodian nodded again and slid the coat off before he handed it to Levin, who put it on right away. The Rodian was a close fit, except the sleeves were a bit longer and hid most of his hands. Levin nodded and released his hold on the alien and walked back to Aoife with a hand gesture for her to follow. They strolled over to the speeder, and Levin stopped and pointed at it, his look now the same. Stern, focused, ready to do what must be done.
"Aoife. I know you can fly this thing. We have children to save."
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