Public Breaking and Entering: Blackwall Edition

[Braze]

TAGS: OPEN

​

Following the events on Coruscant , Okuma Milogen and Braze found themselves facing an unforeseen complication.

Lady Kyoteru Seraphine 's palace retreat was stationed in the mountain ranges of Takodana, nestled high above the ancient forests and veiled in equal parts elegance and secrecy. After all, it was to serve as the discreet drop-off point for the precious Jedi now in Okuma's custody. There was, however, one problem—Takodana now lay within the influence of the Blackwall.

Okuma Milogen was suffice to say... displeased by this new discovery.

They made an unscheduled stop on Chalcedon and it was there that the weight of the situation began to truly set in. At a dusty spacer's weigh station on the edge of town, they took a moment to regroup. Okuma Milogen was, both proverbially and quite literally, working his way through a list of rather colorful expletives as he grappled with the unpleasant realization: his path was blocked, and they would need to find another way in.

Braze decided to take a walk through the ash-laden bazaar, partly to get away from Okuma's storming temper, and partly in hopes of finding something, anything, of interest. There was a valid way to circumvent the problem, of course. A way Braze absolutely knew. But the idea of sharing that particular piece of pertinent information with his manipulative captor? Yeah... not high on his to-do list. Especially since it would almost certainly lead to a reunion with his estranged mother, an experience he would rather delay indefinitely, or preferably, never endure at all.

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

Lord Kalrath knew that something very important was at large. His spy network had informed him of Coruscant. A young Jedi had acted in a way that was not expected, something that he was rather pleased to learn. It made 0-7 feel sick on the inside whenever he was giddy, though being trapped in all that disgusting flesh and metal that was his temporary form while he healed was a blessing. It meant she didn't have to suffer through his disgusting voice.

For now.

0-7 was tasked with observing the boy, potentially even collecting him if she had the opportunity. This was the one job she hesitated to jump on. Why? It was quite simple, really. The young assassin's priority had always been her own survival. This Braze, whatever he was, presented an opportunity for her to be replaced by a newer, better model.

Yet all the same, she knew failure was no better. Whatever prolonged her existence a little longer.

She had found herself a simple cloak, the hood pulled over her head as she watched Braze wander the market from a distance, tucked away around a corner. What was even so special about this boy that so many people wanted him? It filled her with frustration to no end. Why should they care about this brat? He was only... some hyper-powerful prodigy child that seemed engineered to be successful.

Maybe she was projecting. That wasn't exactly good for the mission. Still, 0-7 would complete her objective. When Kalrath willed it to be she obeyed. That was why she was alive, and she reminded herself that in the back of her mind.

"Feth..." she muttered to herself, too quiet for anyone to hear.

What an awful day.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze was prowling the markets, looking for unique, interesting pieces of jewelry that might make good gifts. He'd really been enjoying his time with Zee Caromed at the spaceport, and his last shopping expedition had been rudely interrupted by Okuma Milogen 's pressing matters.

But life always seemed to work out in strange ways, and by now, Braze really shouldn't have been surprised. They did say the Force works in mysterious ways… He just hated how hard it was to pin anything down. Trying to decipher the Force's will always seemed like a gamble. Not trying at all felt like the safer alternative.

Besides, the pretty things were serving as a welcome distraction from his currently bleak thoughts... mainly, what he'd done, and how he'd left Loomi and Ko Vuto behind.

Braze's steps slowed as something caught his eye, half-buried in a cluttered tray of trinkets, and nestled between tangled chains and cheap knockoffs. A flash of green, cool and vivid, like moss under moonlight. He reached for it without thinking, fingers brushing aside a few dusty bangles before gently lifting the piece free.

It was small. A pendant, or maybe part of an earring set. Silver filigree curled delicately around a polished green stone, the metalwork intricate without being showy. Old, probably. Handmade almost like the kind of thing you didn't just buy... rather you found it, or it found you.

Braze turned it over in his palm, thumb tracing the edge of the gem as he studied it with curiosity. There was something about it that held him for a moment longer than he expected.

From a distance, his Force aura appeared calm and steady, like water smoothed over stone. But anyone who could feel deeper would sense the truth of it: a storm just beneath the surface. Tight coils of doubt rolled with the weight of things left unsaid and feeling of immense, suffocating guilt.

A soft exhale passed his lips as he closed his fingers around the pendant.

"Pretty little thing," he murmured, barely audible. "You ever carry secrets too I wonder...?" He seemed fairly invested in the sparkly bauble he'd selected to really pay the stalker much mind.

​

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 could not feel deeper.

She was weak by design, not trained to her fullest so that she could be more easily used as a tool. To that end she only felt the calm. It only served to irritate her even more. He had just, supposedly, stabbed his friends in the back and he was just wandering around without a care in the galaxy? It's almost like he had been made to taunt her. She bristled with frustration at the sheer thought of it all.

But how was she supposed to get the boy's attention? Well, Kalrath's intelligence network had isolated a cast of 'friends' associated with him. Particular individuals that could maybe provide leverage down the line. Supposedly they had been for a man named Jasper. 0-7 didn't really care. All she knew was that she had faces to draw from.

And so a powerful illusion enveloped her. It was the kind that made the Force around it feel numb and fuzzy, messed with the mind as well as the eyes. She'd take the form of Loomi , though not a recent one. An older form, one she possessed as a padawan learner. That was fine if it was outdated. She didn't know what the yellow girl looked like now, but it didn't matter. She just needed to throw Braze off guard enough so that he would conveniently allow himself to be lured away.

The younger form of Loomi would walk down the street, deliberately passing Braze, and turn to head down an alleyway...

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze caught sight of the figure as she passed and offered an odd tilt of his head. The Force told him much and the air he harnessed in subtle manner told him more still. How... Bizarre. That was certainly not Loomi but it was no Vision either... Some one wanted to play games with him and had dared don the visage of Loomi

Intrigued to say the least he slipped on his Amulate and padded after them briefly masking the sound of his steps and movement along with his entire force presence.

He followed after her with haste and turned down the same alley way...

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

"You've done something to change your presence."

0-7's voice echoed around him, not seeming to come from any one location. More illusions warping his perception. She knew he had followed, even as he masked the sound of his steps. He had entered into her domain. The only thing she had control over...

Ironically it wasn't real. That wasn't lost on the assassin.

The visage of Loomi morphed into a black mannequin. Featureless, glossy... There were no eyes to display emotion, no mouth from which to speak. Was there somebody actually present in that spot? And then it split into three, like an amoeba experiencing mitosis. Behind him, Braze would feel the sensation of touch against his shoulder, and a blank head would appear beside him, it's faceless surface directed towards him. It wasn't real, obviously. Braze would be able to sense that it wasn't where she was. Simple telekinetic movement to add the effect of stimuli like touch, just to add confusion.

"People cannot flip like night and day..." she mused, crossing her arms as she examined him. "I have been lead to believe you are some sort of prodigy, but to accept the light and the dark is to go mad."

She didn't like that. It was something out of her control. Things were not good when they were out of her control.

That spelled disaster.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze let the mask over his presence fall, casting it aside like the final veil between thought and tangible truth. He poured everything into the amulet, all his boundless love, his admiration, his reverence for that which was the beautiful young woman he idolized, as he drew upon the image he pictured of Loomi within his mind's eye. All of that restrained sentiment was poured forth until Force itself pulsed with the fiery, impassioned desire that surged within him. A vow unspoken, yet absolute: she would be protected.

To 0-7 , however, it would manifest as something far more sinister. A flare of vile, creeping darkness erupted across the currents of the Force around the boy, a maelstrom of unleashed, undiluted emotion, raw and consuming. It was not light by any stretch of the imagination , but something unbound and violent in its unfiltered intensity. Braze's aura practically burned in the fiery display.

His sclera bled from white to abyssal black and his eyes ignited like that of pure molten gold, edged with a furious intent like twin suns behind storming clouds.

The proverbial storm within him had broken free, and the galaxy would feel its heat.
Braze cast a look toward the faceless illusions with mild disinterest, as though they were beneath his notice.
Then, slowly, he widened his sphere of influence, broadening his reach into the Force, letting the winds he commanded subtly spiral outward through the alleyway. They weaved around stone and shadow, sifting illusion from reality as they sought the signature he truly hunted: Her.

"You wore her face. That was your first mistake. I suggest you don't make a second while I'm still choosing restraint...If you wanted my attention, you have it precious little puppet.... Now the question is… what do you plan to do with it before I decide you've wasted my time? I don't often get to play with younglings these days… they usually know better than to poke something that bites. If you're done playing pretend, I'd be happy to show you how the adults end things"

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7's illusions were hearty. They lingered on like a gnat in the vision, not clearing up even as Braze sought clarity. Still, they were obviously fake to the young Jedi, biting at her frustration. Whatever object he wore was very fascinating, at least. His presence oozed with hatred and his eyes became a piercing yellow surrounded by black ink.

A neat party trick. Someone who hadn't been the subject of rage through the darkside would certainly be quaking in their boots, that much she acknowledged. It would never be as intense as Kalrath was.

Still, her mind itched for a moment. Dun moch? Who did he think he was?

"You talk too much."

She was not standing in front of him, that much was clear. Standing directly behind him, the assassin casually drew her blaster and fired off a stun round aimed at his back. Forget all the bluster. She just wanted to get this over with. The less she had to hear him taunting her the better.

That was the last thing she needed to get her fired up over something stupid.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze simply sidestepped with a fluid and effortless motion, as if he'd known her intentions before she even pulled the trigger.

And then the air around her seemingly vanished. Within the boundaries of his Force-woven sphere, the oxygen around her began to thin, subtly at first… then rapidly, ruthlessly. Her lungs would find no purchase, only emptiness. He was siphoning it away, a controlled vacuum forming around her outer form, leaving her choking in silence.

"That the best you've got?" he drawled, not even winded."All this effort just to make me nap?"

His feet shifted, one behind the other, and within an instant, he turned sharply. What followed was almost too fast to see.

A blur of motion that was so sudden it was hardly any time to process all that had happened: one spiked gauntlet struck her wrist with pinpoint force; the other clapped against the barrel of her blaster, torquing it free with a sudden snap. The weapon twisted out of her grasp, wrenched backward by a precise flick of momentum and Force finding it's self in both his hands pointed at her.

The silence that followed wasn't peaceful as he turned those molten golden eyes upon her in a predatory leer.

"You want silence? Fine. Bow, and I'll give you the mercy of not hearing your body break....Funny, isn't it? All your training, all your tricks... undone by the one thing you forgot to master: breathing. Simply... and truly... Fascinating.... isn't it? Just how utterly fragile we really are. One breath, or just one heartbeat.... Take that away… and all your illusions mean nothing. What's the matter? Suddenly out of things to say? You were so talkative a second ago. There's something poetic about watching a liar suffocate on silence."

He erected an invisible Force barrier about himself as he started to circle the girl layering on his taunts.
"Breathe. Go on, try. I'll wait." He folds his arms, utterly relaxed coming to a pause.

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7's eyes widened as everything happened quickly. Her wrist cracked audibly as it was struck by his gauntlet, dark blue blood oozed from where a little skin had torn away. She had her own gun pointed at her now, and worse yet the air seemed to thin around her. He was siphoning it away. Her instincts kicked in and she went to hold her breath, keeping herself conscious.

All while he boasted. That was it. She had had it with this guy. Her strength enhancers pumped her full of adrenaline and she popped her dislocated wrist back into place. 0-7 drew her sword and swung it with enhanced speed. She was going to slice through her own gun and cause the powercell to explode in his hand.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze sighed and simply dropped the barrier wall, sidestepping her with ease and attempting to catch her instep with his own to trip her. He released his hold on her air supply, allowing her to breathe again as he casually aimed the stun gun at her. He shrugged and slipped it into his sleeve, making it vanish from sight. It was obvious... she posed very little real danger to him.

"Temper, temper. Didn't anyone teach you how to play nice with others?" He smirked, voice cool and condescending.
"Sloppy… reckless… what would your handler say if he saw you throwing tantrums in public?" He didn't seem to mind just side stepping or dodging her indefinitely. In fact this was much more the game he preferred to play and was taking immense joy from it like some one who was a master at playing tag.

​

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 gritted her teeth as her blade came up against his barrier. She was being toyed with. All of that became more clear when he allowed her to finally breath again. She gasped, taking in as much air as she could to prepare for her oxygen to be taken away again.

"Sloppy… reckless… what would your handler say if he saw you throwing tantrums in public?"

"You remind me of him..." she spat, gritting her teeth. "No wonder he wants you..."

She didn't answer the question on purpose. She knew what would happen. 0-7 would probably be torn apart and tortured before being put back together again. Given the young man's behavior she had no issue equating him to the sadistic specter who made her the way she is. He seemed to enjoy this way too much for someone who was supposed to be a Jedi.

The assassin didn't back off. She pressed her blade into the barrier, in vein obviously. She needed to do something, anything to chip away at the Echani. She had to, even if it clearly wasn't going anywhere.

0-7 was quite literally on the chopping block.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze no longer utilized the Force as he closed in, engaging her directly with hand-to-hand precision, aiming to strip her of her weapons through pure technique and experience alone.

"Oh? Well, if I'm the new favorite, that makes you yesterday's toy, doesn't it?" He asked still toying with her emotionally and trying to see what was driving these actions. He moved to catch her this time, aiming to bind her in a wrist lock after disarming her.

"Perhaps you'd like to tell me what charming sociopath I apparently remind you of?"

​

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 didn't flinch when he lowered the barrier and moved to grab her wrist. She let him, using the strength enhancement to hold it tightly in place, giving her full effort to not let him twist her sword out of her hand. She didn't give him an answer and instead threw her head forward to skullbash him.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

Braze shifted, easing back with deliberate control as he moved to grasp her other hand in his. He remained fluid, relaxed, but not careless. He could read her, after all. The tension in her coiled frame, the flickers in her posture, micro expressions that gave her away just before her body moved.

He was already anticipating her next strike. She lunged, and nearly cracked her skull against his, but Braze tilted just enough to let the motion slide past him. And then, without hesitation…

He leaned in and pecked her on the cheek.

​

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 froze for a moment, processing what had just happened. He had... kissed her?

She decided she hated it pretty quickly though. This idiot was acting like she was some toy to play with, but he was going to live to regret that. The young woman yanked his arms to pull him closer so that this time she wouldn't miss the skullbash.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

He met her head on with a subtle use of soft to solid... Well, he was only seeing that this would continue to escalate... so he decided to use stasis on her before worming out of her grasp. Perhaps now, he figured, discretion was the better part of valor.


He turned on his heel and darted out of the alleyway, call back to her "Catch me if you can~"

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 staggered back. His head had suddenly become solid as a rock. Her pain receptors were being repressed, fortunately, so it hardly phased her. Being frozen in place for a moment did, however. All for him to run off taunting her to come catch her. She considered letting him run. It wasn't worth it.

But then the thought of her insides outside of her on a workbench very quickly changed her attitude.

The young assassin bolted after him, more than fast enough to keep up with his pace. Between the Force and her cybernetic enhancements she had no issue doing so.

It was just a matter of what the hell this guy was going to throw at him.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: 0-7

​

There had to be a reason she was chasing him this hard , some sort of need, maybe. Payment? A threat? Most people would've given up by now. But not her. Maybe she was just stubborn… or maybe someone had sent her. From what little he'd gathered, it seemed personal ...or at least targeted.

Braze slipped around a corner and waited... poised, breath steady, muscles ready to spring. The moment she rounded it, he moved.

In one swift motion, he caught her off guard, tripping her up and tackling her to the ground. After one, one-sides scuffle later... He used his body weight to keep her pinned, limbs locked, pressure firm and controlled. It wasn't flashy, it was effective. Just enough leverage to keep her from simply overpowering him again.

He shifted slightly, keeping her wrists secured, then leaned in with a breath of exasperated patience.

"Okay… playtime's over. Why are you chasing me? No one chases someone this hard unless they're running from something worse."

 

[0-7]

Chalcedon
Tags: Braze

​

0-7 grunted as her face connected with the pavement. This was humiliating. She was already a worthless pawn in someone else's game. This was just the galaxy choosing to be cruel to her in particular.

"I'll starve," she stated bluntly, making it clear she had no intentions of talking.

Besides, if Kalrath found out about any of this she might be dead anyways. At least it was going out on her own terms. Well, as much on her own terms as she could manage. Her blaster had been discarded somewhere along the way. This wasn't exactly a willing ensnarement. 0-7 closed her eyes and let her body go limp under his body weight.

She was just going to lie here. Ignore him. She could ignore him...

Maybe...