Private A Star in the Making

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

She had snuck her ship into the landing area, well aware that she could be sharply reprimanded for bringing a stranger to the temple. Made all the more worrisome with the pink Thermal handprint she had left at not only the entrance of the temple, but also the padawan hallway in her petty vengeance against Valery.

She sincerely hoped the jedi master hadn't seen either one yet as she snuck inside.

"Stay close. The people that live here can be...easily agitated." Came the whispered warning as she held Makko by the hand and guided him along. Her jacket reclaimed, she had pondered initially letting him keep it until it had come time to make her way back to the temple to gather more clothes for time away on Denon.

And it wasn't like she was outright kidnapping Makko. She had asked him if he wanted to come along, even if he had been asleep when she had asked and he grunted his agreement before making the jumps.

She slinked through the hallway with Makko in tow, hoping to make it to her dorm before they were found out. All she had to do was grab some clothes and ski-daddle out before anyone figured out they were here.

Wasn't gonna be too difficult in her young mind.

 

[Makko Vyres]

Why am I doing this? Makko asked himself as he was tugged along. He had never left Denon. Never had an interest in going beyond the bounds of his district, which was fortunate with how brutal the territorial conflict had become. Garn had come back from district 11 with two less fingers.

Oh, yeah. She asked.

With the promise of this being a quick trip he had agreed. He couldn't even remember the name of the planet they were on. There wasn't, he thought, a whole big list of stuff she could ask that he wouldn't agree to.

"Seems pretty quiet," he whispered back. Getting into trouble for going placed you weren't welcome was a topic Garn had put fresh on his mind. He liked those two fingers, he had a mind to put them to use again. Hopefully they wouldn't be caught and he wouldn't find out what agitated meant here.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Classified
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

There was no way Valery had missed the pink handprints.

Her Keshian eyes allowed her to see a wider spectrum of light, so what was invisible ink to most people, was very much visible to the Jedi Master. It was a little frustrating, considering the fact she had talked to Lossa about it before, but Valery struggled to really feel all that strongly about it. The very recent death of her husband had taken over her life and every minute of the day, she was either thinking about it or having to deal with its aftermath.

She was completely broken.

But life had to move forward, and so she found herself going after the Padawan anyway, who likely believed she had a chance to escape. It was, however, not really going to work out for her — Valery had positioned herself near the girl's quarters, where she'd soon undoubtedly run into pinkie.

The only thing that worried her was the fact that the Zeltron was likely going to pick up on her emotional state.

​

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

Everything was going surprisingly smooth for her off the hip plan. She'd managed to avoid a majority of the other padawans, and those she hadn't been able to avoid, well. She was pretty decent with bullchitting a reason for them being at the temple.

A mix of Makko's inadvertent force ability to make people want to leave, and Lossa promising to meet up later helped smooth over a run in that almost promised trouble as they rounded the final archway into the home stretch and onto-

She froze at the mouth of the hallway to her dorm, eyes wide and letting the hand she'd kept in Makko's stop him with a sharp push.

"Feth!" She whispered to herself. She nodded, annoyed and concerned all in the same breath as she felt the emotions in the hallway ahead. She didn't need to poke her head around the corner to know exactly who was waiting for her.

Valery had indeed found the handprint.

A deep breath in had her coming up with a possible plan moving forward. Granted it entirely relied upon Makko being a decent actor for the part. A fact that she hoped was at least halfway true in their brief meeting.

"I need you to act like you are wanting to join as a padawan. Just go with it." Lossa informed him before pulling them both around the corner. The infectious smile already across her face.

"And these are the padawan quarters. Not the most spacious things but-" The Zeltron began, spying Valery down the hall and nervously waving to her. If it wasn't for putting on a show, the Zeltron would have been sweating bullets trying to keep from being in too deep of trouble.

"Master Noble! What brings you here?" She felt like she'd stepped onto a waiting supernova with no way out.

 

[Makko Vyres]

"I need you to act like you are wanting to join as a padawan. Just go with it."

It was an interesting request. Made all the more so because he didn't really know what a padawan was. With no formal education to speak of, he rarely watched the news as it dealt with international affairs and things he did not understand.

He supposed that if asked the question 'are you here to join as a padawan?' he could answer 'yes'. That was about as far as he ruse could go.

Lossa waved at someone. A Master. The people here were, apparently, easily agitated. This one went by the title of master. Was this some kind of slave ring?

He bowed his head and stayed behind Lossa, hoping that no one would pay him any heed.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Classified
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

When the two came around the corner and looked at Valery, she could already feel their actual emotions echoing through the Force. Lossa knew she was caught, and Valery showed no sign that she remotely believed the excuse she was trying to make. But in her eyes, Valery seemed quite different too. Even more intense than usual.

"Master Noble! What brings you here?"

"Pink hands on Temple walls," Valery said bluntly to go into the confrontation directly. But then her eyes shifted to the young man she was dragging around, and her head tilted just a little. "I don't believe we were expecting new arrivals," she said, her voice trailing off a little while she looked him up and down.

"I'm Master Noble, it's nice to meet you," she offered a smile but it faded when her eyes returned to Lossa. The Zeltron loved pulling pranks and getting on her nerves, but that didn't bother her too much. She just never knew when to stop. "Why are you dragging him along through the Temple?"

​

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

Maybe she'd been a bit hasty about the handprints.

The smile wasn't quite true, the corners of her mouth turning down ever so slightly though her cheery attitude didn't fail just yet.

"Ah...yeah. I. Yeah." Words failed her, already caught and not wanting to dig the hole so deep she found the bottom levels of Coruscant. Valery addressed Mako, and she could already feel whatever idea she had about avoiding the topic spiraling down the drain.

"I didn't expect to find someone with force sensitivity like his. It's kind of like what I can do...but like...reversed. If that makes sense. At least that is what it seems like." She pedaled into a different angle now, solely focusing on Makko now.

Then the attention returned to her, and the same half hearted smile returned.

"I, came to, show him around, before, maybe convincing him, to join the temple?" She pieced together a reason, hoping Makko had enough sense to go along with the idea as she kept glancing between Valery and the inadvertent potential padawan.

 

[Makko Vyres]

"I'm Master Noble, it's nice to meet you,"

"Nice to meet you to," Makko replied. He didn't offer a name.

Makko was none the wiser on how a 'padawan' was supposed to behave. Makko's initial enthusiasm for space travel was being tested. He'd barely left his home city before, let alone Denon.

"I, came to, show him around, before, maybe convincing him, to join the temple?"

"What?" he asked, before remembering himself.

Feth. He'd got himself all tangled up in some kind of cult. Was this how they played it? Send friendly zeltrons out to nightclubs and try and draw people back into their secret society. Suddenly, for a temple, he was picturing some dimly lit hall filled with fake relics and people in robes offering to remove you 'worldly possessions' for you own good.

"Yeah...yeah...looking forward to looking around," he said. He went along with the plan for now.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Classified
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

Valery looked between the two and let out a soft sigh. She was clearly not buying anything they were telling her, and even Makko seemed hardly convinced or just confused. But aside from the walls that would have to get cleaned, there was no real reason to be overly harsh on them yet.

Yet.

"Lossa, you're going to have to get the paint cleaned off the walls," she said, her eyes narrowing at the young Zeltron so she knew it wasn't up for debate. This wasn't the first time she had painted Temple walls, so she knew the drill. Pranks and having fun weren't that big of a crime to Valery, as long as things were cleaned up afterward.

"And you should probably make sure he wants to be a Jedi before coming here and dragging him through the Temple," she said before looking at Makko again. "But I get the feeling you two are not being entirely honest." She looked at them for a long moment, hoping they would buckle under the pressure of confrontation.

"What is really going on here?"

​

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

Plans never survive first...meetings or something.

Something she had heard someone say before practice or something. A thought that reared its ugly head as she began to feel more and more like a child before the woman.

"Yeah. I know." Was all the more she could muster for a response to the dreaded task of cleaning once more. Eyes downcast finally as Makko faltered on his end of the plan.

After the observation by the Master, Lossa visibly squirmed beneath the continued gaze. A deep breath and she finally broke into an explanation.

"Okay so we met on Denon and like, we were dancing and having a good time. I was gonna go back but didn't have spare clothes so I asked him if he wanted to tag along and I probably should have woke him up proper but I thought I had and we flew here and I was just gonna be in and out quick but obviously not quick enough and I know I know I shouldn't have drug him here but he does actually have some potential with the force and I thought it would be a good idea to maybe show him around a little after I got a change of clothes proper instead of sneaking around but you found us first and now here we are." She wrung her hands together, completing the sensation and image of the scolded child.

 

[Makko Vyres]

None of this quite made sense to Makko. Lossa was in trouble for one thing, but being hauled up for quite another thing. That thing was him. Even if this was a cult and he was going to get the feth out of dodge as fast as his feet could carry him soon, he didn't want to make the matter worse.

"Yeah, I mean, now I'm here s'pose it would be nice to look around," he offered, shrugging with just his shoulders. He forced a smile.

He didn't even have enough credits on him to get a transport back to Denon. Having never travelled beyond his city, he didn't even know how much such a journey would cost. It was probably more than he could pickpocket.

Valery Noble Lossa Darcuhl

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Coruscant Temple
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

When Lossa offered her honest explanation of what happened, Valery just sighed, and her expression softened. The paint on the walls was a small prank she could clean up later, but this other situation wasn't intentionally causing trouble. That said, it was still highly unusual. "This isn't a place you just take people into, and I don't get the feeling he wants to become a Jedi."

She turned her fiery gaze to Makko and looked him up and down, "I do feel his Force sensitivity as well, but it's up to him if he wants to do something with it here or not."

"If you do, you're welcome to stay and we'll get you settled in. If you don't, we'll gladly help you get to wherever you need to be." Denon was quite far away, after all. "But there's not going to be a tour for no reason at all." she paused and looked at Makko with a soft smile "If you're hungry, a meal can also be arranged, whether you stay or decide you want to leave."

​

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

The truth seemed to ease Valery off the stare, and Lossa quit squirming finally. The quiet sigh of relief was short lived as she looked to Makko with a frown.

"Sorry I dragged you here. You want me to take you home or someone else?" The offer was made, though she doubted she'd actually be allowed to take him back.

She did however look back to Valery when the mention of people passing through came up.

"It's not like he is the one causing trouble. I've...mmm." She shut her mouth on the matter and moved on. Iris liked Valery and other than the paint on the wall, she wasn't in tremendous trouble just yet if she could get her runaway mouth to cooperate. "Everything about a jedi's life is unusual. What about the force guiding us through life and bringing opportunity? Sometimes it works without a giant cataclysmic event." She shrugged, trying her best to highlight the silver lining.

Taking hold of Makko's hand with. Ith of hers, she shook it a little like a child would pleading with their parents.

"You should give it a chance! The food isn't half bad and the people are nice. Well. So long as you don't make them mad...like I do. Can. Either one." While she hadn't intentionally done so, she was gathering the slight tremor of nerves from the contact of hands.

 

[Makko Vyres]

POST ORDER CUT

Makko consciously latched onto the idea of a free meal. The 'Master' seemed to be losing patience with Lossa, but she didn't seem unkind.

He subconsciously latched onto the reality that if Lossa held his hand, looked him in the eye and asked him to walk over the edge of a cliff he probably would.

This Force sensitivity still sounded like something a cult would make up to induct people into some kind of scheme. One where they had to give up all worldly possessions and dedicate their life to tilling fields.

"You don't have to take me back right now," he said. "Food sounds good."

He nodded. That would give him a moment to think about this. Neither of them knew anything about him. Not really. They didn't know what he did from day to day. The people he had hurt and the sentence he would serve if anyone tracked all the crimes to his name and caught him. Not that the Corporate Authorities would lock them up. If they found Fractal State and brought the hammer down, a corporate kill team did what it said on the tin.

"You're not a weird suicide cult?" he asked quietly.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Coruscant Temple
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

"You don't make people as mad as you think you do, Lossa," Valery said, her tone much softer than before. "But I also don't think it's hard to understand that if you make a mess somewhere, you have to clean it up, hm?" They were all fairly mild pranks at the end of the day, but that didn't mean they would just be ignored.

At the mention of going for food, Valery nodded and turned to guide them both to the mess hall. "And she's right, the food here is pretty good. Anything, in particular, you'd like?" She asked and soon enough, they were passing through the Temple's long hallways and reached the rather large mess hall. It would be quite different from cantinas or restaurants on Denon, but it still wasn't too fancy either.

The Jedi were typically quite modest with most things.

"You're not a weird suicide cult?" he asked quietly.

Valery blinked and stopped walking after hearing the question, "No... not at all." She seemed more confused than anything. "The Jedi have been around for thousands of years, and focus on maintaining peace and protecting others." There was a lot more to it all, but she hoped that was enough to get the suicide cult thoughts out of his mind at the very least.

"So you two met on Denon, right?" Valery then asked to change subjects a little. "What is it you do there if you don't mind me asking?"

​

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

The bright smile at his words overpowered her better senses, her empathic abilities taking hold briefly to share that joy she felt to those around her. Which was quickly reigned in with wide eyed guilt at the mention of cleaning up her messes.

"I mean. It wasn't...yeah." She didn't feel like making the point of it being on purpose. Since that wouldn't help her any.

Instead she latched onto getting food, and didn't let go of Makko just yet as they walked on. At least not until he mentioned something about being a suicide cult. Her head whipped around quickly enough she might have got lift off if she were any lighter on her feet.

"Suicihwat? No!" Her stunned expression spoke for itself as Valery gave him the most watered down explanation of what the jedi did.

"They help out wherever they can. Refugees or like, war uh...planets...after battles I mean. Food and blankets kind of stuff. And medicine with doctors...or healers." The train of thought was convoluted at best as she spoke before Valery posed her own question.

A simple question.

But one that had Lossa turning with full interest as they walked along to see what he said on the matter.

 

[Makko Vyres]

"The Jedi have been around for thousands of years, and focus on maintaining peace and protecting others."

"They help out wherever they can. Refugees or like, war uh...planets...after battles I mean. Food and blankets kind of stuff. And medicine with doctors...or healers."

Makko had never heard of the Jedi, but they sounded reasonable. It was probably one of those old organisations that had temples on lots of worlds that was mostly used as a cover for the owners to dodge tax. He wondered if there was anything worth stealing around.

"What is it you do there if you don't mind me asking?"

He did. He minded quite a lot. The questions quite obviously made him uncomfortable, though he tried to mask it with an easy smile.

"Odd jobs really, this and that. Isn't always so much work on Denon."

Tattoos didn't necessary reveal much about a person, but the circuitry in the shape of a fractured crystal was a gang marking. Then there was the scar across his lip and white scar tissue between three of his fingers. Punishment for insubordination within the gang.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Coruscant Temple
Tag | Lossa Darcuhl Makko Vyres

Valery welcomed Lossa's addition with a warm smile — it definitely helped make sure the death cult idea went out the window. Or so she hoped. The Jedi still had their flaws, especially on an individual level, but nothing they did quite compared to the horrors of the Sith or actual Force cults.

"That's fair enough, I suppose," she said with a smile. It was basically a nonanswer, but she had a feeling that he either wasn't proud of the jobs he had to do, or he didn't want to share them with a Jedi.

Meanwhile, they found their seats in the mess hall, and Valery presented them with a menu, "Take your picks of food and drinks. It's all free here, so don't worry about that."

Valery only chose to get some tea for herself, and quickly turned to look back at Makko, "After all of this, do you want us to help you return to Denon? Or is there something else we can do to help?" If he wanted to stay with the Jedi, it was an option with his Force sensitivity, but she'd have to learn a little more about him as well.

​

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko had been perfectly comfortable following a Zeltron girl off world. In one of the clubs associated with the Fractal State gang his confidence had been soaring high.

This definitely wasn't a cult. Because they had said it wasn't. Now they had sat him down, offered him food and were asking questions.

But definitely not a cult.

Lossa hadn't seemed like someone from a cult, not in the middle of that dance floor. She had seemed joyful and carefree. The whole paint thing had to be real?

Glancing around gave Makko a sense of the scale of the organisation around him. He ordered plenty of food. Having grown up in a slum district, he didn't turn down free food.

"What was this stuff about potential?" he asked them both, rather than answering the question.

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Jedi Temple - Padawan Halls, Coruscant
Equipment: Concealed Sling Bag,
Danger Jacket, Outfit, Heartbeat Heels, Concealed Device in left ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber
Tags: Makko Vyres Valery Noble

Being centered in her emotions and having made contact with him before, the easy smile didn't pass her notice. She didn't mention it, given her own troubles, but like many things she kept it under her hat for the moment.

Sat down, she waited patiently for him to order first. Her mind wandering briefly before checking her watch.

It wasn't time yet. She fiddled with her fingers in the meantime, stretching the joints as a few popped while swinging her legs in her seat. His question brought her back from the mindless exercise.

"Potential. Oh! Yeah. You uh. You've actually been like. Using the force." Her expression shifting to puzzlement as she turned to Valery.

"It's super subtle. I can draw people in with my...emotion stuff. But he can...I guess push them away? Or like. Make himself uh. Less noticed? Noticeable?" She didn't know how to express the idea properly and gave vague points on the matter.