Private Curiosity and the Cat

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora had to pee.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she waited ever so impatiently for the grizzly old man at the end of the cell block to get up and go. Probably to go pee, himself. It was late and there was no way she was sleeping, even if she did now have proper bed of her own. The little Starchaser did not spend three days hiding in her father's cargo hold just to be found out and locked in her room. Things were getting good.

Like, bed time story, good.

Was she too old for bed time stories? ...Probably, she admitted, the painfully bright hall light bending around her form to keep her out of sight. But she was old enough to make her own.

She just wanted a peek. To see what all the fuss was about. Her whole body practically quivered with the rapid, staccato beat of her heart as she crept closer, the details of the monster growing clearer with each step. And then ... she stepped over the indiscernible yalsami line. She popped, without fanfare, into sight.

Valora stopped and looked around, confused an unfamiliar with the sudden emptiness inside her ... and the fact that she could be seen.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Back already, are—"

Ashin turned around and gave the suddenly-visible child a double-take.

"I see the strike team has sent its best and brightest to interrogate me. Makes sense: they weren't getting as far as they'd like."

She'd been pacing; now she sat down on her simple bunk, a cot really, and put her shoulders against the wall.

"Let's see. Of those I've seen here, I'm guessing...hmm. The spy and the leader are too career-focused for family or young Padawans, obviously. I can't imagine Merrill unless you're his granddaughter. Sedaire mentioned children; maybe you're part of his brood. Or Starchaser, or one of the others I haven't met yet. Who do you belong to?"

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

"You're the sith?" Disappointment was tangible. No horns, no thorns. Just a severe face with days old eyeliner. She stumbled back regardless and shivered as the force returned to her.

How the.

She rocked herself forward, across the line, and rolled back again. Forward... and back, forward-- Her head snapped up at her surname. "I'm not a holopad. No one owns me."

She frowned at the sith, not half as wary as she should be. In the back of her mind her sister's voice screamed, Alright. You've gotten your look. It's time to go!

She buckled down and gestured at the invisible line instead.

"How did you do that. What is this. Who are you?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Right behind these walls are creatures called ysalamiri. Get too close to a ysalamir and you can't touch the Force. It's how your Jedi friends are keeping me locked up. Otherwise—" She held up her cuffed wrists. "—I'd just break these as easily as you disappear. My name is Ashin Varanin. I'm a Sith Lord."

She kept her distance, stayed right there on the bunk. The situation aboard ship, so far as she was concerned, was well under control — but if anything happened to the kid, that situation could spiral in all kinds of ways. Maybe even force her to play the ace up her sleeve. She'd assumed there was a camera in here somewhere; now she found herself hoping that, hoping strongly. Always best to get things on camera.

"You should probably go. Whoever your parents or Masters are, they wouldn't want you to be in here."

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora crinkled her nose, doubling down further as the sith tried to protect her from the rules. Bah! "Dad said you're dangerous."

A stone thrown, the girl clearly feeling otherwise.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Your father, whoever he is, is right."

Possibilities came to mind, ways to scare the kid out of here. But all of them were counterproductive, because they ran the risk of stirring up anger and fear and generally getting Ashin in inconvenient amounts of trouble.

To Ashin's mild surprise, she settled on the truth.

"If you got hurt or startled or unsettled in here, he would probably blame me, which would put me at risk. I'm in a vulnerable position, as you can see. He'd also be upset with both of us if we talked for long. Please leave."

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Ashin would find the approach struck a cord. Valora wasn't an unreasonable kid, just a stubborn one. Even if Ashin was apparently the root of all bad things and should be squash from existence itself, she looked like nothing more than a neighbor. A polite neighbor. It created a disconnect.

She didn't want to get her neighbors hurt.

"You don't seem very dangerous..." She took disappointed steps away, cautious not to give the woman her back. Maybe she was missing something? She frowned, bumping into a wall and sliding along its length towards the furthest door.

"I'm a Starchaser," she decided to state, proud. "I'm going to kill people like you one day."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

That earned a chuckle. "Yes, you probably are. Go ask your father about magma cells. I'm sure he'll have all sorts of interesting things to say. Go on, now. I was quite serious about my reasons for wanting you to leave, and if you don't leave I'll have to scare you."

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora snuffed. She couldn't be scared. Her heart rate spiked, throwing her sentiment to the wind as she quickly turned and ran away.

Maybe she'd sleep in with dad...