Private Family Jewels

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra didn't care about much in this world. There wasn't much value to possessions when whatever she wanted her mother's wallet could buy. Activities, too, were unreservedly at her finger tips. But there came a time when even the most exciting of things became boring and uninspiring unless you were with the right people.

For Kyra, those people were her siblings.

Shitty thing was they had all grown up and left her behind to eat dust. Being the youngest sucked, and she acted out on that frustration often.

Silver Rest was suppose to be a chance for Kyra to find her footing again. A sense of structure-- direction-- ...and the chance to reconnect with her oh-so-favorite sibling who could act like a role model and spend all her time with Kyra again.

So where the flying monkey farts was Nida when she wanted her? With some blond boy. Oh no. Not just some blond boy-- her boyfriend. Beyond Kyra's seething jealousy was a well of concern. Hadn't Nida learned from mom's 647398624321 past experiences with men? Apparently not. But if her favoriest, most naivest, silly blind and trusting older sister couldn't look after her own heart, then Kyra surely would.

Nida might hold reservations about her adopted status, but to Kyra there was no one in the family she cherished more than her older sister.


He was a ranger, apparently. Don't ask how she found that out. Don't ask how she got his name! Questions demanded answers! And she would get them. Finding him had been the easy part: Go to the ranger compound. Wait for the man with a face that made you want to punch its nose in. Follow. ...Following a ranger across a public compound, however, was a touch harder. Mostly because even if he wasn't noticing, a little pink paddie dropping to the ground or smushing themselves into the wall certainly did garner a few odd looks.

"Shhh," she insisted to the latest man in brown, his brows furrowing as the paddie picked herself out of a snow bank. Kyra dusted herself off and crept around a corner to catch a sight of Buttface's trail.

Thirdas Heavenshield Nida Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

He was sipping on a caf as he crossed the Ranger campus, having exited one building and heading for another across the courtyard. In his other hand was a freshly-handed piece of paper for him to study, an inventory of newly-arrived weapons and equipment he'd requested a month ago. Paperwork was always a dull affair, but as an NCO with lots of experience in spite of his young age he was expected to help maintain combat readiness for his platoon and squad. Having the necessary tools with which to accomplish their tasks was needless to say a priority.

By the time he reached the entrance he took a quick glance over his shoulder for seemingly no particular reason, perhaps he was simply checking to see if he needed to hold the door for someone. Or perhaps, his instincts told him he was being followed.

He made for the cafeteria, where the usual patrons in the form of high-ranking officers were sitting around lounging on their time off, drinking caf and feasting on biscuits and cakes. It was boring, but it did provide peace and quiet in an otherwise lively compound. The sergeant sat down in a sofa, away from the others to examine the paperwork more thoroughly than a cursory glance.

Putting his feet up on the coffee table, he took another sip from his cup of caf before placing it on the table.

"Haven't anyone told you it's rude to stare," he spoke while eyes remained fixed on the piece of paper. "Then again, who am I to lecture a Jedi? You guys got that poodoo nailed down to an art form."

Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

A noise of frustration caught in Kyra's nose, the girl stepping out from behind a fern she had been leaning into.

A future shadow, she was not.

All at once she would bare a remarkable resemblance to someone he knew well. Or maybe that was just the pink skin all Zeltrons had. Nida was adopted after all. The wide-eyed gaze the two siblings shared was smushed by the narrow look Kyra gave the ranger. Resemblances aside, she was younger and decidedly more grumpy. Kyra approached him, her arms crossed around her chest as she sized him up.

"..."

The emotions she had been harboring boiled and stirred. She reached out and flicked over his cup of caf, holding his gaze all the while like a defiant cat. It spilled with a clatter, the liquid scattering over the coffee table. She didn't look down, her arm wrapping back around her chest.

She raised her chin as if to say one thing.

Watcha gonna do about it?

Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Thirdas didn't turn to look at whoever it was that stalked him rather poorly, but was rather more intrigued by the piece of paper in his hand. He registered someone appearing before him, but didn't see the fuming stare she gave him. So when next thing happening was his cup of caf spilling over, it came as a surprise. I mean, who does that?

"Hey, what the hell?!" He managed to remove his legs from the coffee table just in time to avoid getting his fatigues stained. Only now did he look up at the young woman with furrowed brows, trying to understand why she would do such a thing, unprovoked. The first he noticed was her pink skin, which immediately had him pause as it strongly reminded him of Nida. But this was not Nida.

Without her even having spoken a word Thirdas could tell she was not happy with him what-so-ever. She had that typical cocky stance in spite of her young age, which only made it look even more forced and fake. He already couldn't stand her.

"The hell was that for?" He got up and towered over the Zeltron girl with that smug look on her face, as if what she'd just done was entirely approriate and within her right. "I bet you're real proud of yourself now, Jedi." Where was a master to grab her by the ear when you needed one?

Rather than stand there and hurl insults at the little princess, Thirdas grabbed a handful of napkins to try and contain the spill. When a member of cafeteria staff arrived to assist in cleaning up, the sergeant grabbed the girl firmly by the arm and walked her off to the side, anger and frustration in his every stride.

"Alright, what's the big idea there, Princess Pink? Did I kill someone close to you or something?"

Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Well now that she had his attention.

Her mouth opened for a quick retort, but the opportunity was stolen from her by the bustling cleaners and Thirdas standing up. Wooow he was tall. But that was besides the point! She went to jam a finger at him just as he yanked her to the side, a feat that was remarkably easy. She wasn't much different in size to Nida either.

Her gasps of indignant protests greeted him, the girl yanking her arm right out of his grasp. Had he killed someone? Close enough! She bristled at him, going up on her toes and jamming a finger into his chest.

"More like you won't stop shoving your slug tongue down her throat! Just who do you think you are taking advantage of my sister like that?!" Poke poke! "I'll have you know that I might not have been here before but I am now! And I ever see you so much as scratch your pickle in her direction, I'll cut it off myself!"

Intimidation, was she doing it right? She flared her nostrils at him, jamming her finger into his chest again for good measure. ...Ow.

She'd work on it.

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Slug tongues and scratched pickles? The hell is this crazy chick talking about?

But when she mentioned a sister, suddenly it all became clear. "Nida. You're worried about Nida." He took a step back and waved his finger up and down as if drumming a beat while chewing his lower lip.

"Well, you can stop worrying, alright? No harm will come to her while I'm around. And if you're worried about my "intentions", then..." he looked around briefly before his voice was lowered, "know that I've not done anything to dishonour you sister. We're taking things slow."

It was only now that the soldier looked the girl over from top to toe and noticed the family resemblance, even though Nida had told him she was adopted by the Perl's. This one did seem more spirited than her, that was for sure. He hadn't even registered her finger jabbing him in the chest until now.

"You must be Kyra. She's told me about everyone in her family, and how much her free-spirited baby sister means to her. I'm Thirdas," he held out his hand, awaiting her response that would no doubt be unexpected.

"Don't tell me you went through all this trouble of joining the Silvers just to keep an eye on your sister?"

Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra snuffed, ignoring the hand. No way was she gonna play all nice with the destroyer of hearts.

"No. Maybe! Who's to say, and what's it matter to you! She's my sister and she doesn't need you distracting her no more! So how about you take your unreasonable jaw line and thick lashes and go somewhere else. Slow it alllll the way down to stop." Heh. She was proud of that line.

Nice one.

"Because she--... wait, she talks about me?" She interjected, interrupting herself and veering the whole discussion abruptly off course. Her eyes went wide and hopeful, like a child promised a wad of cotton candy. "Really?"

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

"Well, yeah," he replied, reeling a bit from the complete shift in her tone of voice and body language. "She says you can be a bit of a handful at times, but that you mean well. And you always think you're right about everything until proven otherwise."

Now that he said it out loud, Nida couldn't have been more right about her youngest sibling.

A pair of officers walked past, glancing at the two troublemakers as they did. Thirdas took a deep breath to try and calm his temper, then reached out and grabbed Kyra's arm to walk her outside, forcibly if necessary.

"Alright, Princess Pink, what's all this about you trying to stop me from seeing Nida all of a sudden? I haven't heard any complaints from members of her family before, and it's not like it's some big secret. Besides, she's old enough to make her own decisions about who to see."

He ran a hand through his blone hair atop his head before gesturing towards the Jedi temple. "And why are you here bothering me anyways? Why don't you go discuss the matter with your sister, see what she has to say?"

Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Well I am right about stuff al--Hey, Ow. Where are you doooo-ow-ing? Hey, stop it." The padawan huffed and puffed, Thirdas nearly getting a kick to his shin as he brought her and her chaos outside and away from his peers eyes.

"How rude!" She insisted, yanking her arm out of his grip and going about straightening herself once he picked a spot.

"Alright, Princess Pink, what's all this about you trying to stop me from seeing Nida all of a sudden? I haven't heard any complaints from members of her family before, and it's not like it's some big secret--"

"Actually!" Kyra interjected, giving him a sashay of her head and a reprimanding waggle of her finger. "It is. A secret, that is. A big fudgesicle of a secret. And I haven't decided whether or not I'm actually gonna be keeping it from mom yet so you best be giving me a reason not to right now or skys above you're gonna be meeting our mother by weeks end. She'll know what to do with you! Or! Worse! Our older sister, and!" She leaned in, her voice lowering as if to impart a dark secret.

"She has leather cuffs." She crossed her arms over her chest, jerking her chin up at him. Scared yet?