Private Escapism

[Dagon Kaze]

...and not one inch closer to untangling this case. Thirty-three bodies, heads clean swiped off, the Krath's mark on their foreheads, coins with the Krath's mark in possession of lowtier crime lords of the underbelly, and now this lead to Denon of all places. My mind's a mess already, this isn't really helping it. Why am I even typing this on a case file? I need a breath of fresh air.

[entry deleted]

It's moronic to think there's 'fresh' air on Coruscant, at least not in the underbelly. Dagon had heard stories of the wealthiest did indeed purchase fresh air, he had never assumed clean oxygen as an import good. It was so much in abundance back home on Ruusan, makes one wonder of the things they take for granted.

Makes one wonder even more why the young Jedi descended a couple of lower levels beneath to slum district G17. The district around the Jedi Temple couldn't be a better spot for a walk to clear the head - safe streets and illuminated alleys. Now, G17, wasn't really a gang warzone like the underbelly districts, it was rather mixed - not an all out law-of-the-jungle kind of place, but definitely one of those places you'd inadvertently walk a bit faster at night. One of those places with a duality of classification - you're either born into a blue-collar or you're there to escape.

Dagon affiliated with the latter.

But as much as he ambled alone through the streets, passing cabarets, noodle bars and little markets, he couldn't shake off the truckload of weight burdened in the depths of his mind. Tje loss of his brother; the trip to the dark side to save his companion - only for her to feel betrayed, essentially shattering their bond and trust; spearheading rookie and healer Jedi to the fronts only to nearly have them killed on Generis; Ayana's loss--

That list would go on and on forever.

He brushed the thoughts away by sharply turning to a nearby noodle bar. Hunger wasn't an issue, he just needed his mind on something else. The stereotypical lights of the small outdoor bar, as always bright as the sun, made him squint as he sat on one of the free stools. Fingers raised up, a number two coming right up. His favorite. Noodles with dubious bantha meat and even more suspicious sauce. He planted one arm on the counter and shifted around to keep an eye on the street - natural instinct. Instead of the commuters, it was the crimson-haired girl next to him that took his attention. They never knew each other personally, but he knew her name and her face. The first and last time he'd seen her was...that crazy morning on Jakku.

"...Kyra?" he enquired, slightly unsure if he wasn't seeing things.

It was, after all, a world of a trillion people and more.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Mrf?"

Kyra pulled out of her noodle bowl, long strings of pasta dangling haphazardly from her mouth as she looked to the person who had said her name. The sharp motion sent the dubious sauce splattering through the air, droplets landing across the cheeks of the guy before her.

Kyra blinked slowly, to no avail. His dark head of hair remained as much of a mystery to her as the meat inside her bowl. A splash of panic hit her. She glanced over his shoulder, the noodles still dangling. Was he sent by her family? Or had last night's adventure come back to bite her. She really needed to pick a fake name. She chewed rapidly at the mouthful, sauce coating her chin as she swallowed it all back in one painful lump.

"I know you?" She tried again, visibly caught off guard.

She was this deep in the core for a reason.

No one was 'suppose to know that damn name.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

The number two noodle bowl arrived simultaneously with the drips of foreign sauce staining his face. What little appetite had been brewing inside was quashed. Dagon brushed the drops off his face, rubbing his hand with one of the napkins; there was no indication of disgust, instead an inaudible chortle.

She looked at him as if she was trying to decipher the greatest enigma of her life. So much that Dagon nearly believed he had mistaken the fiery-haired girl for someone else. The apology was already on the tip of his tongue when he heard her voice and reassured his initial assumption.

"I know you?"

A thin lopsided smirk slowly tugged at the corner of his lips as he tried to piece the explanation together, "...not exactly." he began, then settled better in the cheap stool, "I'm Dagon-- Dag Kaze. One of the Jedi on Jakku when-- well, Ryv came and you guys had a bit of one-on-one session."

The padawan hadn't really been aware of the circumstances then, nor what followed after. He had been busy getting other Jedi nearly killed on the frontlines. Failure, after failure. The self-condemning thought passed by his head in a heartbeat.

"What're you doing down here out of all places?" his innate curiosity piqued.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

And here she thought Coruscant was too populated to be found.

The force was playing games with her. She wasn't liking it. "I'm eating," she grumbled, her posture collapsing in on itself. She turned back to her bowl, her mood souring as she braced for further comments. She had run into the guy she had punched down here as well. Ryv was his name? They had mended bridges, but Kyra knew the way gossips worked. Not even jedi were immune to shoving their opinion where it didn't belong. Especially when it came to how a jedi should behave.

She huffed into her noddles, giving him a sharp look. "Can I help you?" It would be a lie to say she wasn't trying to scare him off. She had turned into a bundle of stress in near a blink of an eye. The padawan braid had been taken out of her hair. In fact, she wore civilian clothes.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon's smirk widened at her tone. There was an undertone of hostility, not too different from that time on Jakku. Yet, the Jedi refused to believe in first impressions, or second impressions for that matter; patience was the Jedi's way, even if he, himself, was not an extremely excelling practitioner of it.

He let her statement, masked behind a question, linger in the air for a bit as he put the noodle sticks aside, opting for the expandable, plastic forks instead. "Maybe you can." the padawan rolled the noodles around his fork and plucked a bite in his mouth. Thank the Force for the sauce. "Mm, y'know, whatever you're running from-- it always ends catching up to you." he glanced up at her from his bowl.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

That earned him another side look, a new set of noodles half dangling out of her mouth.

"Clearly." Her l's turned nto f's around the mouthful. She chewed, eyeing him with every intentional bite she took. Just what was his angle? Food, apparently. He just wanted to eat too. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, before she snorted and let it go.

"You got noodle bits in your hair." Gee wonder how that got there. She swallowed her mouthful, looking more revived for it. Something was different about her. More cranky? Less cranky... oh. No jitter. She clutched the chop sticks without issue, her hand steady as she took another bite.

Sobriety sucked.

"I thought jedi were suppose to be like. Up there. With the sun and temples, not smothered in gloom and-... noodle sauce," she pointed with her chopstick towards some splatter he missed on his brow. "What gives?"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

He gave up on eating the noodles and set the bowl aside after the second remark on, and subsequent removal of, sauce somewhere on his hair or face. Was she really slurping that intensely? But why? She seemed far less...galvanized than he remembered her. Fiery as her hair. This version of her slightly reminded him of himself every morning before the mirror - somber, exhausted.

"Don't like getting sunburnt." he dryly joked, then, "Someone's gotta protect the people down here. The CSF could only do so much." Dagon wasn't sure why he sounded like he was preaching. He reverted back to the actual reason he was down here in this instance, "But right now?" he shrugged, "no better place to clear my head. Meditation chambers sap the life out of me, somehow."

"And you?" Dag circled back to his initial question. She was a long way from Jakku. And Coruscant's underbelly was far too specific of a choice.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra slowed in her chewing, the boy's words striking a cord somewhere in her.

"...Yeah, same." The last dregs of hostility melted out of her, the girl slumping tiredly over the bowl and shrugging at it. It was almost comical, but she didn't notice the shift in demeanor. Even if it was night and day.

"Picture those meditation chambers and then make them like-- anywhere and everywhere. Like-..." She was never one for words, especially not where emotions were involved. One would think an empath would have a better handle at expressing them but honestly? That was half her struggle.

"Anywhere with people. Or faces-- siblings? You know?"

No? Shocker.

She rubbed at the frustrated lines in her face as she glanced at him. Her world wobbled, a sense a vertigo hitting her.

Her attention sharpened on those familiar blue eyes. "Do you come down here often...?"

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

She sank on the counter, the hostile contours of her features softened under the weight of weariness and...sorrow? A question was on the tip of his tongue until she mentioned siblings - that in turn inadvertently made him also slightly slump to the side. The way Kyra said the word; it rang too similar to his own connotation of it. Regret, wrath, despair...fate. Aeric was far too lost to the dark side for any hope of redemption; the feeling of helplessness kept him up at night.

"Do you come down here often...?"

"Hmm--" Dagon brought his wandering mind and eyes back to Kyra, " --very. Unfortunately more out of duty than anything else, though." there were a couple of safehouses in the lower levels of the planet which he used when his investigations necessitated of him to dwell in underbelly for prolonged periods of time. Lately, he'd come to realize that he had been spending far more time living in them than in the Temple. Was Coruscant just becoming worse or was he seeking an excuse for escape?

The seat beneath him felt more and more uncomfortable as the plagued thoughts began to rise. He slipped off the stool and left enough creds for both of their meals, "Let's take a walk."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Her staring stretched on, gears cranking place as they strained for their connecting joints.

Those eyes. How did she know those eyes?

"Let's take a walk."

She shook away the sensation as slid off the bar stool, concluding at once that maybe she really should be laying off the vices. It was a conundrum strong enough to distract her from his own pinch of problems, but his need to walk managed to grip her all the same. She tugged her shorts down over her thighs and made a restless gesture as she set off with him.

"...Does it work?" She finally asked, shying back from a shoulder that would bump her as it flowed by. "Coming down here, have I managed to clear your head?" She tiled her chin his way, baring a cheesy, self-mocking smile.

"I can steal something and you can chase me, if you want." She appeared wholly serious.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon snorted at her serious-sounding proposition, "Always up to no good, huh, Kyra?" then replied to her question, "But yeah, sometimes coming down here alone has... the opposite effect - your mind drowns even more into-- yeah you.." he nodded, then glanced at her, "..cleared my mind more than I'd admit." briefly, Dagon wondered if his words were rolling out because of her Zeltros heritage or whether he really needed to talk.

Their walk continued and while it seemed completely aimless, the Jedi was inadvertently being pulled towards a certain destination that he'd sworn to never visit again after.. Ossus. A sacred spot up in the highest of rises.

"You never told me why you're here - pretty sure there's plenty of chitty noodle shops in between Jakku and Coruscant."

ok i test div Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Always up to no good, huh, Kyra?"

"Always," she confirmed with a grin.

The smile went onto falter, his next words hitting wounds that still sat fresh inside her. Drowning minds. Failed escapes. If she was guilty of anything in that moment, it was simple empathy. Her energy had gone calm-- gentle and imploring. For once she was out of her own mind and focusing on another.

She recognized the lines in his face. The fatigue. The strain. She got it. Her mouth didn't say it, but her presence did.

She shrugged at his question, walking aimlessly with him.

"Jakku isn't my home." The rest of that explanation caught on the tip of her tongue. It sat heavy there. Unexpressed. She wasn't going to explanation herself. Those words were way too heavy for such a lovely day.

She swished her arms, looking up at the grime and the smog around her and seeming happier for it.

"I don't know, honestly. Sometimes I think the force controls me more than I control it. I just... left. And here I am. Drowning, not drowning, it really depends on the day," she informed him, matter of fact. She let the white noise of the streets descend upon her, the many energies combining to a pleasant static. She hadn't expected sobriety to be this... soft? She twirled, simply because she could, testing her own body as it dodged another sharp shoulder to the throat.

Her attention caught on a street cart as they drifted by. "Are you sure you don't want me to steal you that hat?" Her eyes left the pink feathered plumes and drifted mischievously to the boy.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Her mention of Jakku sounded heavy and rather incomplete. Something she secretly wished to unload but dared not to? Dagon understood that all too well. The grumpy and reserved red-headed girl was left somewhere behind at that cheap, noodle shop blending in with the grey concrete and ashen steel; now here was someone colorful, far more lively,and rather joyous standing out from the gloom and melancholy of Coruscant's bowels.

He really would've lied if her sudden resurgence of spirit didn't uplift his.

Yet, beyond that thick veil, Dagon could discern the weight she carried; the curse of his keen eyes and investigative flair - always to distinguish reality from illusion, to pick out the truth from the lie.

But sometimes the truth wasn't good enough.

And right now he was both envious, in a good way, from Kyra and delighted by her. How genuine that was or whether it was the empathetic link of Zeltrons didn't matter.

At all.

"Do it. Then we'll take a picture for Yula and arm her up to the teeth with jabs my way." he urged her jokingly with a chuckle, completely oblivious to what exactly the state of the relationship between the two sisters was. "I'll never hear the end of it."

NICE DIV THO Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Nothing killed mischief like swinging in an older sibling's name. Kyra stopped short, her smile turning wary as she gave the stranger a side glance.

The floating hat lowered back to the rack that held it, the cart tender none the wiser to the almost lost wares.

Kyra looked left, right, then steeeepped back into the flow of the crowd. "That was a joke," came the pointed reassurance. "I wouldn't have stolen it. I look horrible in feathers." She gave him another side glance, checking to see if he bought it. Maybe he was short on common sense, but something told her he'd sniff out her lie a mile away. She was as easy to read as a book.

She grabbed his hands and jerked him to the side, distracting him with a sudden stop at an ice cream vendor.

She wordlessly ordered two pops, whether he wanted it or a not, and handed one over as she stepped to the side for the next in line. "Howyouknowmysister?" She asked around a mouthful. The whole top disappeared under her teeth. She gingerly chewed at the icey mass. Cold mist escaped her mouth as she worked at it.

She was impatient even with desserts.

"She's a liar yanno. Little--" she gestured in circles around her ear and mouthed, C r a z y



Dagon Kaze no you

 

[Dagon Kaze]

He narrowed his eye with a sly smirk on his face calling out the bullshit but before Dagon could express it in words, Kyra had already pulled him to the side. For her diminutive stature she sure held a lot of strength.

"No, thank-" he waved his hand only to find it already occupied by an ice cream. By the time he was digging in his first swoop, Kyra was already craving another. The sudden jolt of hyperactivity had truly caught him off-guard, even more when she'd cut straight to her sister.

C r a z y

Dagon snorted lightly at the inaudible description more out of confusion on his own stance regarding Yula. They'd met under dire circumstances - being tied to a chair at a warehouse that was about to turn to ash was pretty dire - and what had followed after in the safehouse was...complicated. At least to him. Maybe it was all super straight and go for Yula but not for Dagon. He'd grown a sudden need to help her, and maybe something more that he refused to nurture. Her addiction to spice, he was sure, was not something she just divulged lightly and to anyone. And that admission only skyrocketed that responsibility to offer her a hand, to get her back on her feet.

A part of him wondered if, truly, it was just him trying to fill a void in his heart.

The tribulations, despite his best efforts of concealment, were faintly appearing on the contorting lines of is face. "We, uh, met on Denon not long ago." he explained, struggling to deliver the most matter-of-factly expression and tone in his voice, "Working on a case, y'know, she's pretty decent at that."

ah, yes, Dag, drag her right into the most cheesy, bland territory you could come up with. That'll certainly raise no alarms. Mhm, keep it formal, dignified.

"She's my contact for dealings that side of the galaxy." Is she, though? Formal, formal. Business as usual.

"I think she mentioned something about you being nosey, though." Dagon lied like a goof through a sheepish grin. He had to throw that hot coal back at Kyra.

ok u godmode divs or? Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's chewing stopped. She watched the boy, her gaze gaining a sense of focus she often didn't show. A brow slowly rose, the pop turning to mush under her warm breath. "Uhuh." She swallowed it back, resuming her chewing with a little less gusto.

"She's just mad mom loves me more," Kyra dismissed, the intensity leaving her as she gave a delicate shrug. She let the crowd pass by them, her steps dallying and easy. It wasn't the destination she was basking in, but the company. It would be a lie to say Kyra wasn't enjoying his. It had been a long time since she had talked openly to anyway. Even longer since she did it with a smile.

A year, even?

She ignored the fake edge to the cheer she put forward and tossed him another cheesy grin.

"I'm the favorite daughter."

Sometimes you just needed to pretend, alright?

"Prettier, smarter, gooder," she listed, the bravado almost convincing if not for the state he had found her in thirty minutes before. "I saved her ass on Ossus, did she tell you that too? I save all their asses."

A bitter note pinched in at the end.

Dagon Kaze i hack

 

[Dagon Kaze]

What the relationship between Kyra and Yula was still remained a mystery - you had Yula implicitly reveal her own regrets regarding her family, then you had Kyra who possibly concealed any issues with a very convincing facade of joy. If that was the case, both sisters were treading a dangerous path. Dagon had foolishly believed that all had been well between him and Aeric, only for the latter to bury and hide his troubles which would eventually be the reason of his fall to the Dark Side.

The Jedi had sworn an oath to have no one suffer that same fate. No matter what. No matter how loud Yula's words rang in his head - “I’m not some pity project for your savior complex, by the way. I ‘aint your problem to fix, Dag. Remember that.”

Beyond that, there was another reason - he knew perfectly well his brother was out to get the Perls, driven by their father's vengeance. Dagon could not have their blood on his hands. He was drowning in plenty already.

"I saved her ass on Ossus, did she tell you that too? I save all their asses."

The mention of that cursed world erased the amused smile from his face, replaced by a faint frown curving his brow. His pace slowed but their walk continued, unbeknownst to either to the spot painfully related to Dagon's own events from Ossus.

"You were ...there?" the question escaped his lips inadvertently. A selfish and vile thought flashed briefly through his mind - if he could've driven his brother to the Perls then, would Ayana have been alive now? In the end, she was the one he had loved. Not the Perls.

He shook his head hard disgusted by the thought even gracing vaguely his mind.

Kyra Perl I often like to twerk alone in the cantinas

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra slowed with him, her pace driven to unconsciously match the boy besides her. A cold drop of pain hit her stomach. She turned in time to see his smile falter. Her expression fell in sync with his, alarm flashing in her eyes.

"You were ...there?"

"...Yes," she answered carefully, her energy growing subdued. Phantom pain flashed through her knee, reminding her of the bullet that had nearly taken that limb from her too. Thankfully, she had been able to out heal that risk. Her range of motion improved every day. She could even run now without a limp.

Time had passed, but some things hadn't healed.

She reached out, taking his hand with her sticky own. She said nothing, just squeezed his fingers once and tossed out the remains of her melting pop with her other hand.

" 'told you. The force drags me places. Probably dragged us here too, too bad we can't just like-- turn it off." She kicked at crushed can, still holding his hand as she walked aimlessly at his side. She may be far from home, but the instinct to comfort and befriend ran deep.

She glanced sideways at him, a feeling of familiarity retuning to itch at the back of her thoughts.

"...You know you... can run if you want. You don't have to.. you don't have to stay." Something would suggest she wasn't referring to her company. His problems ran deep, but like hers... she could feel there was a focal point. She simply assumed it all had to do with her own issue. The Force.

Dagon Kaze records for later use

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Kyra's glow abated at the sudden rush of grief that began to expand from his presence. Till now he had believed her joyful company was the one driving their cheery moods but it was turning out to be the opposite; and as much as Dagon wanted to lift the grinning facade he only slumped further into the mess unfolding in his mind.

He looked up from nowhere back to her as she grabbed his hand. Her touch sending a surge of warmth against the enveloping cold, but the haunting demons were merely slowed down. Dagon's squeezed her hand, holding on as they carried on through the slums of Coruscant in a meander that took them towards the upper levels.

"I-- we can't run, Kyra." almost a whisper, "Not from this. It'll always catch up to us." he wasn't completely certain why he was saying 'we' and 'us' but somehow he found similarity between her and him. Dagon reluctantly released her hand as they entered a large public turbolift and hit the button for the rooftop subconsciously. "A whole galaxy depends on us, a galaxy we're responsible for." an undertone of zeal snuck in his voice. The idealism was evident but there was no sign of naivety. Less dogmatic and more... like a personal responsibility than anything else.

"The Force will keep dragging you to places, as it does me. And there's a meaning to it - a responsibility we can't escape." his eyes softened as they gazed at her, the flashing neon lights of the infinite city illuminating his features as the lift continued up. He nearly blurted out the whole Kaze-Perl story next but the tension all escaped through a long-drawn sigh. Instead, something else was confessed, "I lost my brother to the Dark Side and I thought I could run from that, only to lose...someone close by his hand later on ...on Ossus." there was so many more failures that even a hyperspace ride from Coruscant to Tatooine wouldn't be enough for him to list. For the sharp and bright mind he carried, Dagon failed more than a common fool.

"That cycle won't stop until I break it."

ok i rob all divs for later use Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra swallowed hard, her world rocked by each wave of his grief. She could feel it creep through him like toxins. It's pull was inevitable. She knew it well. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried not to visibly cringe back.

"Or it breaks us."

Breathing was hard. Her chest was tight. Existing hurt. Unlike him, she did not think it was a cycle that one could break. "It doesn't matter how much blood we pour in, Brothers... sisters..." Romi. She tried to keep the water from her eyes. In this tight space, everyone was looking.


"Romi was pregnant." The pained words bubbled out before she could stop them. "The chit your order said to her. That really messed with her, yanno? We knew it was high risk. I told her to stay. I told her. But she went back out there anyway. Duty. Guilt. Call it what you want, she lost it mid mission all because she couldn't say no."

The words fell from her lips like venom, the passion rising.

"So don't give me this chit about the galaxy, cause it doesn't care. If we can't save ourselves, how can we save anyone else?" The energy left her in a rush. Her words shocked her. For the first time, something made sense.

"We gotta come first. If that means running for a bit..." She let out a slow and heavy breath, her cheeks turning red as she caught a stranger looking her way.

Guess she looked kinda heated, huh?

She rubbed her arm self-consciously, mumbling quieter. "It's okay to take space..."

Dagon Kaze go ahead