Private Coruscantily Clad

[Loske Treicolt]

The odour always got her in these sorts of things. Her senses were elevated by the empyrean, and the assault on her nostrils failed to wane. Her hands looked malformed in contrast to the hilt of a weapon that was not her own. She had no ability to pause the motions of the projection, and the blue blade cut and stabbed through sporadic movements, controlled by the encouragement of someone who radiated serenity and Loske couldn't help but feel affection for the invisible teacher.

As jarring as it was to have the fractals of reality splinter and alter to manifest in a vision, it was almost more disorienting to have it ripped away and dissolve back to the reality. People were continuing their commutes, undisturbed by the stillness of the pair. Someone bumped into Loske's shoulder as she rapidly blinked to reorient herself in the present, surprised to see the raw emotion on Asher 's face.

"I.." She squinted searchingly at him, appraising the fellow. Her senses were hardly refined enough to detect someone Force Sensitive vs. insensitive, unless they were remarkably light or dark - like a Master.

"Where'd you get a light saber? Do you still have it?"

 

[Asher]

Loske Treicolt

Lightsaber. Asher’s eyes went wide. His hand grasped at her wrist, shoulder, anything that was not an exposed surface of skin. With a pull he lead Loske into a nearby alley to corner her, or something. He was running on instinct by now, his brain trying its best to wrap itself around the situation and how to deal with the situation he had unwittingly created.

“I am not supposed to tell anyone.” He said and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t want to kill you. I really don’t want to kill you.”

Out of all memories it was the one that was the most sensitive. With his eyes set on the blonde he continued to pace back and forth trying to find an answer to the solution. At least one that didn’t include gunning her down in the street like a degenerate.

“I made her a promise not to tell anyone, and I didn’t, but technically I did.” He whined. “Oh man, I really don’t—”

“Look, the owner of that lightsaber means a lot to me, and the fact that she trusted me with it was unexpected in the first place.” Asher said and approached Loske again. “When everyone else has turned me down, she was one of the few who did not. She picked me up, listened to me, and together we tried to make things right, but…”

The stress kept rising.

“Things don’t change easy here, and we are not prepared for the repercussions of my actions. I’ve led one of the worst gangs to our doorstep, and if I then lead you — a jedi from the world above — to our doorstep as well…”

 

[Loske Treicolt]

"Woah, woah, woah!" She lifted her hands and exposed her palms to Asher when he pressed her into an ally. "I don't want you to kill me either!" She admitted, honestly. Though, a level of cockiness almost wanted to append in a taut I'd like to see you try - but given the sense of irrationality and panic permeating from the fellow, it was probably best not to poke the beast.

She remained silent for the rest of the thinking-out-loud exercise the underworld native conducted, her body tightened and ready to defend should it come to some sort of contest. He spiralled out of the talks of murder, to wistful reminiscence, and then doorsteps.

There was a non-answer to her question in here - he didn't still have it. It belonged to someone else, a someone that explained the unclear affection she had for the silhouette in the projection.

"Asher-- Asher, all I saw was a lightsaber." She stepped forward from her position against the wall, accidentally kicking a cacophonous can and sending it skittering to the other side of the alleyway. Her hand pressed down on an invisible table, rising and falling as if to calm him down or at least reassure him to the point where he wasn't considering murder. "I don't know who owns it or..where you were. Other than..somewhere distinctly smelly.

I don't know what your job is, where you operate -- your secret is still safe with you. I promise.

The only thing I've got on you is your poor maneuverability with Shii-Cho."

 

[Asher]

It was hard to breathe for a second, and not just because of the exhaust of nearby factories. Even if Loske told the truth, trust didn’t come very easy. Asher calmed down just a little knowing that Loske supposedly had no idea how to connect the dots back to Abaigeal. Though still visibly panicked the idea of acting out no longer crossed his mind.

“I was great, and she was a great lightsaber instructor, thankyouverymuch.” He said in not-so-fake indignation. “A—” He almost said her name. “And, hey, it’s the spooky world beneath the ‘real’ world. Maybe our Jedi come second hand as well, huh?”

In this moment getting defensive made sense. He tried to lean back, play it casual and fall back into the usual facade of someone who never worried about a damn thing. Evidently it had cracked, but for the sake of keeping his pride intact he would try to anyway.

“Look, I need her. And I will go through great lengths to ensure that she is safe from anything that my own stupidity causes her.” He let in a deep breath and then exhaled. “But, not need like — that.”

The scruffy little man fell into a far more honest mood than he had before.

“... She is the only one who puts up with my bullshit, and that means a lot. No-one else has.”

Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Asher was still verbally back peddling and all Loske could do was blink as he ironed out his thoughts in real time.

Her brow knit with concern. It would have been a good time to crack open a fortune cookie about now.

"What do you think I'd do to someone just because they had a lightsaber?"

He needed someone. That was sweet. Loske could appreciate the sentimentality of that vulnerability with someone. The kiffar herself was deeply invested in her relationships, and felt great dependency on anyone that mutually considered her a friend. Asher seemed similar - though she couldn't quite understand his reference to his personal poo doo.

He quickly denied she was someone romantic, which was of course the first assumption. "Is she your mentor, or something?"

 

[Asher]

Loske Treicolt

“Take her away? Talk sense into her? I don’t know.” Asher shrugged and let out another sigh. “I suppose she could be seen as a mentor of sorts. Though, in many ways I mentor her too. Much like I have with you, sort of. Tell her where to not go, what to not do, who not to be seen with.”

His eyes met Loske’s.

“That man they were worried that I had killed is what brought trouble to my doorstep, and she jumped in to help with it. So, to some extent we are in this together. She is strong, and very capable.”

 

[Loske Treicolt]

As a gesture of defence, Loske raised her hands with palms outward. "I'm not going to do anything to intentionally betray your trust. That'd be a pretty nerf herder move, given your generosity so far."

Dropping her hands, she awkwardly reached for the solo fortune cookie that waited to be opened, eager to change the subject.

"Your friend sounds like a real companion. I love it when people cherish one another in the galaxy. There are so many people who are so...callous. Been too hard-done-by and close themselves off."

Absently, she unfurled the cookie and furrowed at the message, before offering it to Asher -- "I think it's for you."

It read: Engage in group activities that further your transformation.

 

[Asher]

Under other circumstances, Asher would have also pointed out his generosity with enough self-assurance to drown a bantha. These were other circumstances than those other circumstances. The usually carefree man had pulled back into full-on defense. Loske had just seen something deeply personal and secret by just touching him and there was not a single way for him to really comprehend that.

“She is amazing.” He said and carefully reached out to grab the fortune cookie’s message. He let his hand hover below Loske’s to let her drop it into his hand without risking him touching her again. As the message found his hands he raised it before him to read what it said.

“Further my transformation?” He said and lowered the flimsy piece and pocketed it. “What does that even mean?”

From beyond the alley’s entrance people were flooding by. Nobody seemed to have followed them here, so that was at least a measure of good news.

Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Asher 's cautious avoidance wasn't lost on her, but she did smirk appreciatively at his self quarantine from interaction. "I'm going to hug you if you're not careful." She threatened, leaving the statement idle at that flat suggestion. Think of it, a whole embrace and being completely wrapped up in memory sharing. Dastardly indeed!

Then she shrugged "I don't know. Isn't everyone on some sort of personal journey of self improvement? Maybe you have some lifelong goal or something?" She was going to poke him, but thought better of it. "Turn into a butterfly." She waved the comment away dismissively, and followed his gaze to the mouth of the alleyway back to the streets.

"Think we're good to go now, back on this calming thing you were going to show me?"

 

[Asher]

Loske Treicolt

“No, you’re not.” Asher frowned and shook his head. It eased off, he let out a long sigh and got right back into persona again. “Not sure what a butterfly is, but sure.”

He turned back towards Loske and then followed her glance back towards the entrance of the alley. They could go back to calming, sure. There was a good spot a few blocks away, closer to home. Wasn’t exactly the experience she was hoping for, but hey… Underlevels.

“Right, come with me.” He said and took them out of the alleyway. The people seemed to pass them by. A few recognized him but even fewer cared. He gave them a glance and a nod before he turned back to Loske again.

“So, what do you actually do for fun?” He asked, seemingly genuine this time. “There are luxuries up there, I hear. Seen it in passing on the very few times that I’ve signed on with a ship, but... “

His shoulders rose. “Too pricey.”

 

[Loske Treicolt]

"Not right now." She admitted. "Maybe later. When you're not expecting it."

After that horrifying little speed bump, where he'd been trying to decide whether or not to attempt murder on a Jedi Padawan (good luck), they were right on their merry way again. Forgiving as she was, she'd already elected to forget the reaction from Asher . It was almost a primal instinct that had taken over. Protection of the pack.

"It's a little bug." She explained, reflecting on her memories of Naboo. When he denied knowing about the insect, she remembered species weren't homogenous across planets. Each had their unique ecosystem. "With beautiful, painted wings. The wings are the appeal. The rest of it just looks like any other insect. Sometimes," a finger tapped her nose and drew and invisible curl from it outward. "They have long, curled noses to taste nectar."

What did she do for fun? "I drive. Really fast. Swoop Racing, actually. I was an X-Wing pilot with The Alliance before I started training as a Jedi."

The rest of his sentence was intriguing. "You've signed on with a ship before? Where have you been, beyond the Underworld?"

 

[Asher]

Loske Treicolt

By now the sound of heavy speeder traffic would be hard to miss. There was a passageway nearby, a form of elevator that allowed deliveries to be made to some of these levels. Usually heavily guarded by thugs and criminals, but given the Grayson Imperium’s push into the levels it was safe to assume that said thugs would not be there yet.

“So, it’s a bug.” Asher looked at Loske, “That you don’t kill, or hire someone to get rid of?”

As for the racing, Asher had heard of this. Dangerous, yet undoubtedly a place where an orphan could find the best trash piles to sell to his owner. As the two stepped into an abandoned shipping port he would approach the edge and gently take a seat to let his feet dangle above the seemingly endless void below. The cylindrical entrance port was wide, far wider than it needed. At a distance you could see down to the lower levels as well as some of those above. People living their lives, cars passing by on their way out of this hellhole, or on their way down to deliver goods.

“I don’t really step outside the ships.” Asher said and grimaced. “I like having a ceiling. Keeps the sky from swallowing you.”

He turned to look at Loske. “As for, you know, the racing… We used to have a track once. Well, it was an unused section that extended for a good bit. Changed right fast around the time the Alliance came here.”

“... On the bright side, the death rates of people in swoops went from low to none.”

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Loske made a face when Asher dissected her explanation of a butterfly. It was a weird to categorize the information she'd just shared, and her quizzical expression reserved little judgement. She only responded with a drawn out "Uh..sure."

While he reacted her to her hobby, she reacted to the space. Metal chunks, abandoned projects, stretched around the space and piled upward when it couldn't stretch across the latitude any further. Rows of platforms were highlighted only by the light below and above; casting long shadows. Any independent lighting of the space had diffused long ago, abandoned when people stopped coming in to trade anymore. Silently, she appraised the area with genuine awe. It was an unintentional reminder that multiple ecosystems could exist within a single planet. Especially Coruscant, which stacked its levels and layers like a metal, ironclad house of cards.

Asher gave no introduction to the spot, only dropped to take a seat on the edge. Cautiously, she approached and folded her legs to sit next to him, letting anything below the knee dangle. Involuntarily, her chest tightened with apprehension at the height and sitting next to someone who had just threatened to kill her. Maybe he'd push her over?

She peered downward, leaning forward ever so slightly. "So for all you know, you could have been to the most beautiful planet in the galaxy, and you wouldn't have seen it?" She frowned and shifted her gaze from the void to the stubbled face of her tour guide. "Seems like you're setting some pretty fixed boundaries for yourself. Most people are trying to break through ceilings." Glass or otherwise.

He explained some brief history on swoop racing, and she shrugged. "It's far less dangerous than pod racing. Also, I gotta say, this is not what I expected when you said we were going somewhere calming."

She gestured to the emptiness beneath their feet. "I was expecting a scalefish pond or something tranquil. Not looking into the abyssal chasm of abandoned trade routes.

How far down there have you gone? Or do you stick mostly to your level and your level only."

 

[Asher]

Asher could very well have been to the most beautiful planet in the galaxy and not have been aware of it. His attention set on the deep dark void below his feet as she looked over at him. Maybe to some extent to avoid the judgment and in some part to think about what she said. And while the ceiling part passed him right quick, the other part did not. His lips split into another grin as he looked over at Loske with another genuine smile.

A smile that only lasted until she mentioned the levels below.

“We don’t talk much about those levels.” Asher said and frowned, his mind racing back to the corridor ghouls. “As a kid I saw one of my friends get torn apart by the monsters that live where no man or woman dares tread anymore. That’s just a few levels down from here. I am terrified of what may even be down on the levels lower than that.”

His blank stare set on the hole and then he snapped out of it with a shake.

“But hey, the relaxing part is not that the void might swallow you, it’s to see all the other people on so many different levels go about their lives. When I was kid still living in the old unused ventilation shafts I used to do this all day when I had enough saved up for the night.”

“Looking up at the topside, imagining what it was like up there. After one of the wars there was a massive hole in the ceiling that let more of the sky peer down here. I had never seen anything like it before.”

“Scary, warm... “ Asher sighed. “Unreachable.”

Loske Treicolt