Private Cry Wolf

[Ren Bishto]

Uscru Entertainment District,

In the realm of petty theft, it was a particularly simple neighborhood to exploit. All it took was an occasional jaunt through the intoxicated masses, pocketing whatever low-hanging fruit she could possibly shove in her jacket lining.

She'd grown comfortably familiar with the strip and its drunken patrons. Watching as liquor softened their immediate self-preservation with routine interest. As it happened, tonight was no different. Everyone had to make a living somehow.

Lifting her hood for a semblance of discretion, the girl pushed down the lanes. Fiddling with the frayed seams of her pockets as she mindlessly searched for a target.

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

Xeno was exhausted. The criminal underworld was, admittedly, much more exhausting to keep track of than he had first assumed. The flow of dark artifacts on the black market had only seemed to spike, especially with the surprise events at Ilum driving up the value of related items such as kyber. Rather unsurprisingly, the Jedi seemed to be unable to pick up the slack. As dangerous artifacts danced between the hands of scumbags and sleemos, the order remained up in their Temple, hidden away from the murky depths under their feet. It took an attack on civilians to even draw out a handful of them. Someone needed to clean up what they wouldn't. and the half-Nagai had sins to pay for.

And so here he was, walking through the Uscru Entertainment District. His mask was practically glued to his head, the bits of his messy black hair fluttering in the faint breeze, at least what was sticking out of his hood. Xeno walked like the dead, imitating the shambling of the drunks that plagued the midnight hours to blend in. The swordsman was not drunk. In fact, he was on the hunt, if only a bit tired. Rumors of a Sith artifact had brought him to the Entertainment District, and he most certainly wasn't going to let some exhaustion get in the way.

For now, however, he simply walked along. Waiting.

 

[Ren Bishto]

Before she was all that deep in the throes of the undercity, something unidentifiable shifted the atmosphere and brought her to a calculated pause. Almost involuntarily, the kid found herself honing in on a particularly suspect pedestrian. A hood masking disheveled hair, clear signs of exhaustion- a subtle grin played on her lips. He seemed primed for ambush.

With relative nonchalance, the girl closed the distance between the two, taking cover behind the surge of bodies on either side with practiced ease. Careful not to raise suspicion, her approach was casual, bumping into the man with her shoulder as if by pure accident. A rinse and repeat routine she nearly had down to a science.

"Shit-" The girl took a hasty step back, a feigned apology clear on her lips, "Sorry- wasn't paying attention." With mock assurance the girl began to pull away, seemingly without suspicion. The wallet freshly secured in the inner lining of her jacket however, would likely state otherwise.

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"Sorry- wasn't paying attention."

Xeno immediately took notice of his missing wallet. His disheveled and exhausted appearance was working, maybe a little bit too well. The half-Nagai let out a faint sigh behind his face mask, turning to face the girl.

"You're a good actor," he complimented. "A drunk might have swore at you and shuffled away..."

This was the last thing that he wanted to do right now. The swordsman had far better things to do with his time. He barely had any credits in his wallet anyways, but he needed the money to eat. He couldn't redeem himself if he was dead.

"Listen, kid," Xeno sighed, "I don't have time for this. I won't call the cops... just give me back my wallet and find someone else to mug."

If the girl had any sense of self preservation, she'd give in, but he knew that street rat types were stubborn. Xeno prepared himself to spring into action if she made a run for it.

 

[Ren Bishto]

Well-chit

That certainly could’ve gone smoother. A mental sigh of frustration wracked her thoughts as the man stared her down. Sloppy. She’d have to work on that.

To her infinite surprise however, he proved compromising in the face of her ill-intent. A fact that swayed her moral judgment of the situation by a small margin. Perhaps she’d been a little too eager to profile him. Initially her expression betrayed nothing, bordering on indifference as if it were a reflex. She regarded the man carefully, quirking an eyebrow as if to question the validity of his accusation. Ultimately, she knew her options were slim, but the girl wasn’t going to cave just because he asked nicely.

After all, she had to eat too.

Following a moment of deliberation the kid loosened a dry chuckle, her expression still iron-clad, “Good on you for being perceptive.” Or at the very least sober. “Go ahead and call the cops- see what that does.” If there was any concrete authority this far down the depths of Coruscant she’d certainly never seen it. The law of the land was dog-eat-dog, always had been. Clearly it wasn’t a worthwhile debate however as in the next moment, just like he so wisely predicted, she made a break for it.

Weaving through the surrounding mass of bodies, the kid was quick to create distance, dodging the crowd with focused agility. Once clear of the main surge of people, she cut into a row of vendors in an attempt to lose him.

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"You've gotta be kidding me," he groaned as the girl made a run for it.

He had expected it, but this wasn't what Xeno wanted to be doing with his time. As Ren waded her way though the crowd, Xeno used a force-enhanced jump to bound up onto a lamppost, jumping from post to post in pursuit. As a former assassin, the half-Nagai was a highly skilled tracker. Following the girl was not an issue. She was smart, at least. Covering her tracks in the nearby crowd and attempting to loose him through a row of vendors.

"Gods I don't have time for this," Xeno muttered to himself as he gave pursuit.

The former Sith leapt down into the street again after making it to a lamppost ahead of her projected route. He came down behind a vendor's booth, phasing through the stall to step out into her path.

"Sorry, kid," the ex-assassin shrugged, "but I wasn't exactly asking."

Xeno raised a hand to pull her towards him with the force, theoretically to grab her wrist.

 

[Ren Bishto]

“The hell?” Before she could process his apparent disregard for the laws of nature, tendrils of the force snaked their way around her wrist confirming her immediate suspicion. Not good. Her crude force-sensitivity awakened by desperation, she practically felt his intention before he acted on, retaliating with a force-shove of her own. By all means this wasn’t her first ill-fated encounter with a force sensitive, but more often than not they came in the form of self-righteous Jedi descending from the order’s pedestal. Something the man before her certainly wasn’t. Jedi didn’t typically phase through walls as far as she knew.

“Tell someone who cares-” She retorted, using her free hand to tug at the stall with the force. She was under no illusion that would actually work to stop him, but she was acting on pure impulse. Keen on any form of distraction.

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"Great."

Of course she was force sensitive, because what else was he there for other than to be the punching bag of the universe. The street rat resisted his pull with a push, dragging a stall in between them with her free hand. This wasn't really an issue. In fact, it was barely even a road block. Xeno simply phased through it, much like he had the other stall before hand.

"Look," he sighed, "I don't wanna come off as rude, but you're really wasting your time, not to mention my time... And not to be the barer of bad news, but what you have there won't even get you a square meal."

It wasn't a stretch to assume that she was hungry. Most people down here were, himself included. He was skilled enough to fight it off with the force, but he doubted that she was given her desperation to retain his wallet.

"So what compels you to live like this," Xeno asked, his curiosity kicking in. "You're clearly aware that you're force sensitive. The Jedi would probably feed you if you joined them. Why not take the out and leave this hell-hole."

 

[Ren Bishto]

Skeptically she took a step back before leveling out. It wasn’t a surprise to hear she wouldn’t reap much reward from her petty heist. It's not like hard cash came flowing into the lower levels to begin with. But it was less a matter of greed and more an obsession with failure. She didn’t want to back down because she was suicidally head-strong by nature. Still her dilemma grew more obviously futile by the second. A fact she recognized with generous exasperation. It wasn’t like she could exactly talk herself out of this like she was one to do.

Opening her lips as if to say something, Xeno beat her to the punch.

“You mean the top-side cultists tripping on power?” She blinked at him, frankly amused, “I think I’d rather starve.” With a small self-deprecating smile, the girl shifted, “Not to mention that bridge is already sufficiently burnt.” Not bothering to expound, she shrugged and continued. “If by some miracle they start giving a shit about the slums of their own homeworld, maybe I’ll reconsider.”

Meeting Xeno's gaze with a raised eyebrow she prodded, “Why do you care, you’re no Jedi.” Given her minimal expertise, she couldn’t plainly see his aura never mind tell what it meant. But in comparison to the Jedi she’d met he was fundamentally different. Enough so that she was willing to make assumptions. “What does that make you then?”

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"I wouldn't call them a cult," Xeno noted with a shrug. "Out of touch; Absolutely, but they barely follow their own code these days. Most of the zealous ones are the old guard, and they're dying out..."

He chuckled slightly as she mentioned that she'd only join the Jedi if they actually did something for the slums. To that end, she had his respect. There was a reason that Xeno hadn't made his peace with the Jedi. Most he had met were too wrapped up in their wars, far too concerned with other matters to deal with the suffering under their feet. Dark artifacts, crime lords... slaves, on occasion. Those who preach peace but allow rot to fester below them earned no reverence from the ex-assassin.

"Honor amongst thieves, eh?" he commented. "Who would've thought..."

Of course, the inevitable question came:

“What does that make you then?”

"You're right on one thing," the swordsman confirmed, "I'm not Jedi. I was not afforded such a luxury. What I was born into is... very different. It doesn't matter what I am, not anymore. I guess that makes me nothing then."

 

[Ren Bishto]

She met his sympathetic counter with consideration. Perhaps "cultists" was a reach, but her distrust was already sunk too deep to be uprooted. A probable and frankly mild symptom of her upbringing. The girl exhaled a quiet laugh before looking back up,"Either way, I'm not all that eager to volunteer myself- I wouldn't look good in a robe."

What interested her more however, was his reaction to her final question. He confirmed her suspicion easy enough, but left much to be desired. Not that she expected him to lay everything out for a random stranger off the street, no one was that unguarded. Not to mention he certainly seemed like a man with secrets.

"I guess that makes me nothing then."

The girl shrugged in response,"There are worse things to be." She didn't pry, not like he'd budge anyway. He clearly had some dimension to him, assuming he broke away from whatever allegiance he alluded to. And assume she did.

"If you're not here to drink away your problems then what's your deal?"

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"I can't really answer that," he answered, and rather bluntly at that. "Especially not to someone who's untrained like yourself. There are things in these streets that one shouldn't be exposed to, and I'm not talking about standard gang violence."

Dark things, the kind that siphoned lives, withered corporeal forms, or drove the spirit to madness. Crime lords and cultists alike seemed to adore such items, which always gave dark undercities like on Coruscant an air of dread, even if most were to blind to feel it. That wasn't even getting into the Sith who frequented the criminal world. The last thing he wanted was for that poison to weasel it's way into a young, impressionable mind.

"The underworld has layers," Xeno told her. "Not many go as deep as I have... most die. If you're intent on staying in it, I advise you stick to the surface. Petty crime has a low chance of your mind being torn from your body."

His tone was cold, filled with dread. The half-Nagai oozed with darkness, but only for a faint moment. Echoes from his past creeping back to haunt him. The voices of those who used him, the faces of those he killed. Xeno could always feel these things; distant, but ever present.

"Think you could give me back my wallet?" he finally asked, remembering what had triggered this conversation. "Kinda gotta eat myself, and I don't steal."

 

[Ren Bishto]

In the span of a sentence the atmosphere seemed to thicken with an ugly vengeance. His sincerity wasn't lost on her, some unseen internal conflict shaping his words. However at his mention of her being untrained, she shifted with renewed interest, "So it has something to do with force?" Even she had to admit her naivety was a rather deadly vice in the face of greater evil. But at the very least she understood the gravity of what was being alluded to.

"Awfully bleak." She mused, almost unsure how to react to his sudden foreboding shift. Ultimately she decided to match his candor with an equal measure of bluntness," Wouldn't hurt to give me some credit, I know how this place operates- how shitty the Underworld gets. I'd be dead if I didn't." There was definite truth to be gleaned from her response. And while it likely didn't extend to the full scope of the sith-rot surrounding them, it was enough sense to keep her alive this long.

The girl exhaled an almost incredulous chuckle as the conversation came full circle. Finally seeing resistance as futile she conceded, however much it stung. Tossing the wallet back to its rightful owner the girl straightened, an eyebrow raised, "Condescending much."

Xeno

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Uscru Entertainment District
Tags: Ren Bishto

​

"Condescending much."

"Just honesty," Xeno shrugged. "Nothin' condescending about it."

He went to turn and leave, but something compelled him to not. It was that feeling again, the one that told him he wasn't being good enough. Xeno couldn't just walk off. Not yet.

"Jeez," he sighed to himself before turning back. "Come with me. I know a place a few levels down that does meals for cheap. I'll get you something to eat."

The half-Nagai knew he'd wound up being hungry later, but he couldn't not. Ignoring his compassion was to ignore his organic nature, the thing that the Sith had taken from him. He wasn't about to slip back into that mindset. Not again.