Private Captive Audience

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

The faint hum of the containment field was the only constant sound in the small holding cell. Sevrin paced slowly, three steps one way, three steps back ... it was the most freedom his restraints and the energy barrier would allow. His bare feet made almost no sound against the cold floor.

He was still replaying the conversation with the boy. Leos. That sharp-tongued little whelp had managed to crawl under his skin more than he wanted to admit. Every time he tried to push the words out of his head, they came back louder.

"You're just making excuses."

Sevrin's jaw tightened. He stopped pacing and leaned his forehead against the cool wall, eyes closed. The silence in the cell felt heavier than usual. He hated it.... Hated being reduced to this; a caged animal forced to listen to children lecture him about strength. He should have just dispatched the two little brats or used them for leverage... why had he been soft? He was mentally kicking himself for such foolishness promising that he wouldn't allow such a mistake a second time should it present it's self.

His stomach burned with the familiar ache of hunger.... He never ate any of the meals that Beltor "Bell" Cyrus had brought. On the small tray near the barrier sat the latest meal Braze had brought. Sevrin eyed it with open distrust. The food had gone cold hours ago, just like all the others. He hadn't touched it yet...

He finally moved toward the tray, crouching down with a low grunt. First, he picked up the bowl and brought it close to his face, nostrils flaring as he sniffed deeply. He did this for a long time, turning the bowl slowly, searching for any odd chemical scent beneath the plain rations. Satisfied it didn't smell off, he dipped a finger in, tasted the smallest amount, and waited.

He waited several long minutes, only then did he begin eating in slow, deliberate bites, never taking his eyes off the entrance to the cell block. He ate hunched over, shoulders curled inward, as if shielding the act itself. Even though his body screamed for more, he forced himself to eat only half. The rest he always left untouched.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and let out a low, bitter chuckle that echoed strangely in the empty cell as his thoughts were much more active and cynical now, running wild with imaginative paranoia that had been built up on what Beltor "Bell" Cyrus had said re running the conversations through his mind and making spiteful plans.

Sevrin rose again and resumed pacing, rolling his stiff shoulders. The wound in his side pulled with every movement serving as an annoyingly painful reminder of the boy who had stabbed him. That pain kept him focused on his plans.

His mind kept circling back to the same thoughts over and over and over. He stopped near the barrier and stared out into the hallway, expression dark and dull... He briefly thought back to that old man... Zark San Tekka was who he'd run in to on Tython..

Keep bringing me your pity meals, Doctor... One day I'll make you choke on them.

Sevrin then moved to the far corner of the cell, the one least visible from the entrance, and sat with his back against the wall. He pulled his knees up slightly and continued his silent vigil with icey pale blue eyes open, mind racing, though body conserving what little strength the cold rations had given him.

He was waiting... Always waiting.

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"You've got a lot weighing you down... it sure makes the room really heavy."

Loomi entered with a gentle air about her. She wore a soft smile as she approached the cell that Sevrin was being held in. In the past, the Godoan always felt overwhelmed by strong sensations. Now? She had plenty of time to be comfortable with them. Learn how to read them. Find out what she needed to do to help people. She wanted nothing more than to help whenever she felt the pain and suffering of others.

It was hard to deny the discomfort of the man here. Was it just the containment? Perhaps. Loomi wasn't fond of restraints either.

The Godoan, regardless, sat herself down on the floor upon her knees, her hands resting on the prosthetics. One by one, little threads began to appear on the floor of the cell and began weaving themselves into various shapes. Pale patches of grass and flowers coated the floor like a blanket, and in the ceiling above were cartoonish stars.

The act would, very immediately, read as rather strange.

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

Sevrin had been sitting in the far corner, back pressed tightly against the wall, when the new visitor arrived. His eyes flicked up immediately, sharp and wary.

When the small Godoan knelt down outside his cell and began weaving threads of light into the floor, his expression twisted in so something disturbed and bewildered. His attention shifted toward the woman who entered... he was unfamiliar with her. She was an unknown variable. She looked like someone who had been through a rough life, someone who had lost much.

He made a sour sort of face at her comment before a queer sort of curiosity took over. He watched what she was doing with a stunned look, staring at the bizarre sight before him. He'd never seen anything like it before, and that made her scary in his eyes... the unknown was often intimidating, and this left him perturbed.

For a long moment, he just stared, lips curled back in to a frown in sheer disbelief and some un nameable sensation of dread melding with disgust. The entire cell suddenly looked like some child's bedtime fantasy. Then a low, rough laugh escaped him in a mocking and bitter manner.

"Well... isn't this precious," he growled, slowly pushing himself to his feet. He took two steps forward until he was close to the containment field, looking down at Loomi whilst feigning an expression of cold amusement.

"You've got to be kidding me. You come in here and turn my cage into a kriffing nursery?"

Sevrin spread his arms up and wide, gesturing at the fake grass and glowing flowers around his feet, surreptitiously trying to make him self puffed up and seem bigger than he was.

"You think this helps? You think throwing pretty pictures on the floor is going to make me feel better about being locked in a box like an animal?"

He crouched down low suddenly, bringing his face closer to the barrier, a icy blue eyes narrowed at the girl on the other side.

"I can feel the weight in the room too, little girl. But it's not coming from me." He tapped the side of his head. "It's coming from all you soft-hearted fools walking around pretending the galaxy gives a damn about feelings and pretty illusions."

Sevrin straightened again, kicking lightly at what he thought was illusory grass near the foot of his cell.

"Take your little light show and shove it. I don't want your comfort. I don't want your pity. And I sure as hell don't want fake stars watching me while I rot in here."

The response she was getting was intense, aggressive, showy, and loud; every sharp word and ugly gesture seemed designed to make him look unpredictable, dangerous, too much trouble to approach. He was pulling every trick he knew to make her leave him alone.

For all the venom in it, though, it was still a defensive mechanism. Where others had learned to freeze or flee when startled like this, Sevrin had learned to fight.

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

Loomi didn't respond at first. She kept her face pensive, not seeming bothered as her creations were kicked. They did, of course, have physical forms. No illusions to be found as he'd feel the brush of realistic-seeming plant life against his boot. Ultimately, though, they were imitations. After a while the Godoan stood up and spoke.

"I would have liked to fill my cage with pretty pictures," she stated, her tone maintaining it's composure. "I don't imagine it would have been allowed. I... recall that they were very upset when I started collecting shiny things I found in the places we stole from. I don't really remember if that's why they took my eye or not..."

The Godoan raised her hand again and began to weave the pale grass and flowers back into an upright position where he had knocked over one of the delicate creations. His words were designed to sting and deter... but she was not a stranger to cruelty.

"My hope is that you don't rot in here," Loomi stated. "You... are quite good at being loud... but I can assure you your words won't deter me. After a while you'll just make your throat sore."

She let out an exhale, her antennae flitting about as though she were reading the very air. Her eyes drifted back towards the hallway.

"You know... the first time around we usually don't get to choose," she expressed. "We get taken advantage of when we're at our most vulnerable. Once we understand the stakes, though... our actions become a factor. Nobody here is particularly pleased with your current arrangement. If possible, we may have never met. Your actions led you here... now you the only one who can choose the actions that lead to your departure."

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

Sevrin remained quiet for a long time after Loomi finished speaking. He stood near the center of the cell, arms loosely crossed over his chest, watching her with a tired, wary expression rather than open hostility.

Finally... He exhaled slowly through his nose.

"…Cute story," he said, his voice low and rough, but without the sharp bite from before. "The broken bug who learned to weave flowers.... Very inspiring."

He glanced down at the pale grass and flowers around his feet... Though this time he didn't kick them. He simply nudged one of the stems with his bare foot, feeling the strange, soft texture.

"I don't need the decorations," he continued, sounding more drained than angry this time. "And I sure as hell don't need another lecture about choices. I've had plenty of time to think about my choices in here."

Sevrin finally looked back at her, his eyes heavy as he let a heavy breath go in a sigh. "You say I led myself here. Maybe that's true... But let's not pretend any of you are offering me a real way out. You want me to play nice, spill my secrets, become… whatever it is you people turn prisoners into.... and I've seen how that story ends... I know what happens when a prisoner has no value too. "

He walked back to the far wall and leaned against it, sliding down until he was sitting again. His tone stayed calm, almost conversational now, though still guarded. "You're not the first person to come in here with soft words and tricks, hoping I'll crack..." Sevrin tilted his head slightly, studying her. He didn't really know what these peopel wanted from him... they hadn't exactly given him a list of demands as of yet.

"If you really want to help, then stop pretending this cell is anything but a cell.... The flowers don't change that for me." He went quiet again, resting his arms on his knees, watching her with a distant look in his eyes... no longer aggressive, but clearly not softened either.

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"You've seen what happens when a slaver has no value for a prisoner," Loomi corrected, her voice soft but stern. "So let me give you my word. You will be leaving this place alive. Then you can fly off and never think about it again. Maybe you think that's a lie, but I've never broken my word to anyone. You won't be the first."

Loomi tilted her head.

"And the flowers aren't to mask the cell," she added. "They're just something to look at. Blank walls aren't good for the mind... Maybe it can make you think of things you neglected out there and took for granted. You might appreciate them more when you see them again."

The Godoan's hand gently danced through the air, plucking at threads in the Force that she gracefully wound into a simple stool that she sat herself down on.

"So... how about we clear the air on what's being hidden so we can have a real conversation," the Jedi Knight offered. "You mentioned secrets. Do you keep yourself guarded to preserve them, or is it because you don't have any secrets to give?"

He didn't seem like he was connected to any big-time order from what she knew. And of course what she knew is that the man was a ghost. No background anywhere. She didn't want his secrets if he had them, but she was suspecting that he probably had very little to share at all. It was only a matter of his own personal choices that she was concerned with right now.

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

She was going to just… let him go?

That seemed unlikely.

He watched her with open curiosity as she performed something he had never seen any Sith come remotely close to doing. It was bizarre; dreamlike in a way that made his thoughts snag and tangle. He did not know what to make of it.

"I have nothing to share with you lot," he huffed. "I have very little that is my own in this waking world... "

A sigh slipped from him as he reached toward the strange growths within his cell, those odd bits of flowery grass and Force-made matter. His fingers brushed over them with careful suspicion, testing their texture, trying to feel what they were… trying to understand whether they were real at all.

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"I have nothing to share with you lot," he huffed. "I have very little that is my own in this waking world... "

"That's fine..." Loomi assured. "I'm not interested in what you have to share. I only worry about people pressing for information where there is none. People can forget how to be civilized if they want to interrogate... I won't tolerate such things."

The Godoan's good eye watched as he reached out to inspect the flowers she had woven.

"Have you never seen Mist Weaving before?" the young woman asked. "It's the living Force manifest in physical form, threads of energy that binds all things. They're not an exact recreation, but... they are alive. Just like the air that fills the space between matter."

The universe was alive. Breathing. It was just not always easy to take the time to listen. That breath was all around them, and Loomi had spent years now training to hear it and tap into it's energy to aid those she cared for.

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

He shook his head at first, though the denial came slowly, as if part of him had forgotten to answer. His attention remained caught on the strange little growths, on their shape, their texture, the faint living quality beneath his fingertips.

"No… never," he murmured. "Nothing like this."

His fingers drew back a fraction, then returned with the same careful suspicion, testing one pale stem between touch and doubt.

"The Sith I knew were proud creatures. Loud in their own ways, even when they thought themselves subtle." His mouth pulled into a thin, humorless line. "Self-serving. Hungry. Always looking for the grand display, the ancient relic, the weapon, the beast, the army. They miss smaller things at a glance."

He looked up toward her then, guarded curiosity sitting behind his pale eyes.

"There is power in numbers. Fear wins power over others often enough." His gaze lowered to the flowers again. "But too few ever learn how to make power stumble over itself."

For a moment he said nothing more.

"…This is not Sith work... Not as I understand it."

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"…This is not Sith work... Not as I understand it."

"That's because it is what the Force gives freely," Loomi explained. "That isn't a power a Sith could ever understand. In the act of taking they can't see what they've lost. And when they can't take from the Force any longer, they turn their greed onto others. It doesn't change the truth... only softens the blow."

Loomi offered a gentle smile to the man. She wasn't just speaking with hopeful naivety. It was lived experience, a truth by someone who had seen the depths of depravity that the galaxy had to offer. Even wearing scars on her body, she carried joy in her heart. It was like a walking paradox.

Or maybe it was exactly how it was meant to be.

"Right now... those kinds of people are succeeding with keeping you powerless," she noted. "You... just can't see it yet. Fear is just one of many tools they use... and they win when you're alone and resort to their methods. They pretend they have power in numbers, but their greed makes that unity flimsy. So... it is better that those they control are separated. It keeps them unable to do anything but resort to the Sith's tactics. They're so used to fighting each other that resorting to their own ways all but pacifies you. You'll never truly prevail living that way. If that was the case, the Sith would have won a thousand years ago."

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

"Mnn.... " He sighed slowly and looked out at her. "And yet you've been driven from your homes... have you not?" He sighed shaking his head. " I suppose their near nearsightedness makes it so they can not control true depths of power through the force..."

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"All things have ebbs and flows," Loomi stated. "We were driven from the Core... but that was because the institutions that be were blind to their own faults. I know that recently there was a strike against Dromund Kaas, a successful one at that. The Sith advantage never lasts... the pendulum keeps swinging. I think that Jedi and Sith alike are foolish when they posture themselves with great importance. Time is expansive, and our lives are short in comparison. We need to be using that time to the fullest."

Loomi stood up and the stool below her vanished into thin air, returned to the Force where it was woven from.

"I will discuss the matter of your release," she told him. "That may involve some sort of temporary cost, since you did assault a knight and two padawan learners. Even so, I'll see about making the process quick so you can be on your way and never think about this again."

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi
​

"Temporary cost?" He asked curiously... "I have no credits..."

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"I have no credits..."

"No, not credits," Loomi corrected. "I mean that you need to perform an equivalent action. You're in here because you hurt people, so now you have to help people to make up for it. Does that sound fair?"

 

[Sevrin]

Tags: Loomi ​

He blinked… was it an eye-for-an-eye sort of thing? A dry little smile touched his mouth at that. If all he had to do was get roughed up, that would be easy.

"Yeah… that sounds fine," he said, agreeing quickly enough. Oddly, his mood seemed to lift at the simple prospect. It sounded almost too easy, too clean: suffer a little, endure what came, and be released. Somehow, despite himself, he had started to trust the odd girl's words.

 

[Loomi]

Dantooine
Tags: Sevrin

Epo-1, Lushi​

"Yeah… that sounds fine,"

"Splendid," Loomi nodded, clapping her hands together. "I will see that something is prepared for you then. I should return very shortly. Do try and rest in the meantime. You will need your energy."

With a polite dip of her head, Loomi turned and exited the room. She had come to understand more and more that her words could have an effect on people in ways she didn't expect. Perhaps that was why she had asked Braze to speak with him. And, being an empath with great abilities, she knew that he had been honest. It was a breakthrough to maybe set the man on the right path.

That meant she had an obligation to see it through.

Exit​