Private Fate or Fake

[Arcturus Dinn]

There was a stall tucked away in an alleyway on Denon, and within said stall stood a man cloaked in slightly too large for him robes. He tinkered away at something or another, always looking busy but seemingly never getting anything done. Not that anyone paused to watch. Not that anyone paid him or the stall any heed at all. In fact, it was almost as though he and it were not even present.​

​

But they were.​

​

Only a certain kind of individual would notice him. Only a certain kind of individual would approach that stall covered in odd curios, and sheltering small pails of sand. Specifically, a female Qom Jha who passed the alleyway by would feel inexplicably drawn to that robed man and his odd little stall. And should she approach, the tinkering man would cease his tinkering...​

​

Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

Arcturus Dinn

The lithe form of the rare Qom Jha was athletic and her face determined, one alien-looking, somewhat-gray-membraned hand resting on her head as she ran, holding the dark blue bandana adorning her scalp that kept her short, fiery hair in place with every rapid step of her athletic, slim little legs, ignoring the startled cried of various aliens and one or two cursing protocol droids. At one point, turning as she ran, the chiropteran (scientific name for bat) unholstered her C-10 heavy pistol from the side of her tan breeches, turning and firing a shot at the rapidly-moving, undeterred shadow of her pursuer, though to no effect; instead burning a hole in the chest of one of the aforementioned protocol droids.

With a harsh curse, the batlike creature took a sharp turn, putting on a burst of speed as she swayed her long, pointed tail in irritation. Shoving her way through an Ithorian and her toddler, Lawq mumbled a quick apology, casting her eyes over the few merchant stalls through the eerie morning fog as her eye caught sight of a robed man towards the far end... With an ear twitching, the Qom Jha hesitated, then, for some inexplicable reason, she ran towards him, feeling that it was the best of all of the choices. After maneuvering expertly around a crying Rodian child, the Qom Jha, breathing deeply, her flat, boyish torso heaving visibly as she reached the robed creature's stall and not even bothering to look at him to ascertain his species, swooped over, behind his kiosk, to pull the lid from a marble vase beneath the tarp.

"Look, I don't have time to explain..." She gasped, her tail twitching in agitation, one eye yellow, while a furless, fleshy scar adorned the dark brown fur on the other side of her face along her eye, the left one milky pale and doubtlessly blinded, with no patch to cover it. She slipped one leg, then the other into the marble vase, lowering her lanky form easily into the large receptacle, speaking as the lid lattered into place above her head. "I went up the rusted stairs well past your corner, to the upper levels... Work with me, please."

The lid clattered into place and the demure alien fell silent, save for the pounding of her heart...

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Like a well oiled machine, the Qom Jha approached his stall as planned. What the robed figure hadn't been expecting was the rapid rate of that arrival. Steady on, he thought to himself, There's no rush...​

​

But evidently there was. It wasn't even the Sandman that was the target of her attention, but one of the many vases which littered the backside of his stall. She had somehow deduced the emptiest one, and slid inside before he could so much as balk at the absurdity of it all. The batlike creature reminded him of the Sithspawn he and Ishani Dinn had created what felt like an eternity ago, only larger... Much larger.​

​

Perhaps that was why he decided to go along with it. Perhaps that was why he didn't expel her from the vessel immediately. Instead he turned his sights back to the entrance of the alleyway wherein he'd set up shop, and watched as a pair of protocol droids hurried along in quick pursuit.​

​

<You there> came the chirpy voice of the first in Basic, who hailed him down with the wave of one robotic arm, <Where did the rodent go?> ​

​

Rodent? What a derogatory term, he thought. Rodent! Surely a protocol droid of all things understood that chiroptera were so much more than rodents. Honestly!​

​

Whatever doubts he'd had about keeping her hidden fled his mind entirely, and instead he jerked a thumb back over his shoulder toward the further end of the alleyway, where a set of rusted stairs awaited.​

​

"That way; I wouldn't dawdle, it seemed in quite the hurry."​

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He knew first hand how difficult it could be to find an individual who didn't want finding on an ecumonopolis such as Denon. So many twisting turns, so many levels, so many lifeforms. No one would ever suspect the robed figure was lying if the trail went cold. Worlds such as these were made for the nefarious to flock.​

​

Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

The voices of the robed humanoid and the pursuing droids lasted only mere moments, during which Lawq felt her blaster digging rather uncomfortably into her thigh as she squirmed in the snug confines of this nonetheless well-crafted marble vase. After waiting a few minutes during which she belched as silently as possible into one palm, the Qom Jha eventually couldn't handle the suspense anymore - certainly it was safe on such a glorified metropolis as this that the pursuing droids were long gone by now!

The tan marble lid soon rattled as the petite and boyish little female lifted the lid, it's sturdy craftsmanship clattering to the pavement unbroken as a distinct, one-eyed head emerged, her yellow right eye shifting to and fro as she ascertained the situation, then proceeded to shimmy her lithe frame and hampered, gray-membraned wings out of the vase, the silvery-furred skin along her arms and the flight bones jutting along the length of her arms flexing as she emerged. A single notch was missed from bottom of her right ear and a patch of tufted black fur was exposed along her sternum, starkly contrasted to the brown fur covering all but her underside, beneath a midnight blue vest that adorned her otherwise flat, boyish torso and kept her wings unencumbered by sleeves entirely. A long, pointed tail swayed as the barefooted alien removed herself from the vase, her thin fingers instinctively grasping her C-10 and hefting the weapon, even as she looked at the other creature for the first time.

"Sorry about that... I'll not hold you up any longer." The creature's fox-like muzzle exhaled, and her long, brown-furred tail swayed as she scratched at her exposed, black-furred naval. Casting her eye at the odd paraphernalia that adorned the creature's kiosk, the chiropteran huffed. "Uhh... What exactly do you do, besides make vases?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Though he eyed the receptacle once the droids were had shimmied on by, Arcturus quickly found himself back at his endless toil when the creature did not see fit to immediately return from her cover. He lowered himself down into a seated, cross-legged position, wherein the robes pooled around him and further shrouded his countenance as the hood slipped over his eyes.​

​

In his mind he was counting the passing seconds, though his hands reached out to grasp at handfuls of sand found in pails beneath the stall. Said stall held all manner of strange items, each of which would be visible to the Qom Jha when she unraveled herself from the interior of the vase. Books and scrolls made up the more mundane in appearance, so too did vials of incomprehensible contents. Small sunbleached skulls of animals long since dead, cones of incense which ignited with a wave of the boy's hand and wafted a calming aroma through the air - scent unique to any who inhaled it - crystals, coins, relics of a bygone age, even a couple of plants grown in what others might consider trash.​

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More and more things would reveal themselves upon further inspection, each as strange as the last. No one item took priority over another, though the aforementioned sand pails were certainly the bulkiest of them all.​

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Should she continue to observe, she'd quickly take note of the various little golems which scurried this way and that, tending to the mundane tasks the Sandman cared not for. Cleaning smaller receptacles, weighing out portions of sand, some even seemed to merely be taking watch. One among them was different from the rest, it seemed intent on watching the robed man in particular, as though waiting at his beck and call.​

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More and more this darkened corner of Denon, this wretched alleyway, revealed its mysteries for the one who lingered.​

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Once she was on her feet, and primed to leave, Arcturus turned his head toward her once more. "What would you like me to do?" he inquired, a genuine vagueness to his tone dashing any subtext that could be inferred from his words. With a simple flourish he gestured her to join him on the ground, wherein a simple cushion lay in wait should she choose to indulge him.​

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While she made up her mind, he deposited the fistful of sand back into its pail and began to call various items from their place upon the stall, the Force delicately lifting them to set in front of him. A tiny skull, various stones, shards of what looked to be glass, a small selection of cards, and yet more sand which settled down into a small dish by his right knee.​

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A second incense cone ignited upon the stall, the smoke which rose up from it slightly thicker than the former and its scent incomprehensible.​

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Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

Arcturus Dinn

The unsteady, odd alien who had come to stand in the the midst of this odd, robed figure shifted unsteadily from one bare foot to the other, those large, triangular ears swiveling around atop her bandana-covered head, alert for the distinct whirring of droid joints as the alien's wing-arm kept her well-kept, clean blaster raised and at-the-ready. Despite her initial clumsiness upon exiting the sturdy vase, the Qom Jha held herself with the distinct stance of a former military officer upon closer inspection by the few civilians who sauntered past the two, who proceeded to give the smaller creature bewildered looks, even as those odd... Automatons (it was the closest approximation she could make, recalling several holonovels she had read as a child) walked about the breadth of the stall. They certainly weren't droids, after all, and Lawq's tenuous connection to the Force - especially where droids were involved - revealed that knowledge to her easily enough - the barest touch of the Dark Side was here...

The distinct, colored "aura" of the Force that permeated around the forms of those sensitive to it glowed faint and scarlet around those silicone-crafted, demure little creatures as they jostled one another, one of them occasionally brushing the Qom Jha's bare, clawed foot as it made it's way past, heedless of the distractions around it, as were it's many brothers, all save that larger one intent on presumably guarding it's creator - Lawq had spent enough time in the Republic military that she was able to tell what roles were being fulfilled. As no droids were currently in the immediate vicinity, the alien hesitated, before, with her long, pointed tail shifting to one side to allow her to sit at the robed figure's side, Lawq Vasrell decided to cast her lot in - temporarily - with this odd stranger, even if the skulls and crushed herbs that surrounded her on the small tables and the kiosk's shelves were rather unnerving. It was a bit too much like that Abyssin creep that she and Fajyk had encountered, with all of those odd, alien skulls, books, parchments (I LOVE that word!) and talismans around... Just like HE had kept in his fortress...

Suppressing a shudder at the memory of the Dark Side-spliced monsters and forbidden "alchemy", as it had been called, the Qom Jha shifted nervously as she settled her athletic backside into the cushion, which was softer then it looked, her tail draping over her lap as the alien rested her long, bony fingers on a thigh, setting her pistol just off to one side as she fingered the side of her face where her eye patch SHOULD have been...

"I can't stay long..." Here the Qom Jha swallowed nervously, her large ears folding down as she turned her ruined eye uselessly towards the robed being - she still hadn't gotten a good, proper look at him, and rubbed her yellow eye with a free hand, "But, why are you here? Are you one of those..." She glanced at the ancient-looking cards, "...Soothsayers who wield the Force, or merely a tourist-baiter?..."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

She seemed dubious and insightful both as she contemplated his vague offer. For his part Arcturus remained patient, he did not rush her or push her to any sort of decision, and if she had wanted to simply walk away in the end he would have allowed it. The gifts he had to share were wasted on those who were unwilling to perceive them, after all. A waste of time, a waste of sand, a waste of effort. No, the key was to make them want it. To have them come to him willingly.​

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And she did.​

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"Time is fleeting and valuable," he agreed, with a short nod of his head that pushed back the hood just enough to reveal some of his face beyond the shadows. Notably his cool blue eyes, and the faintest hint of his auburn hair. "I shan't deprive you of too much of it."​

​

Her queries were two fold, though he outright ignored the former in favour of the latter. Even then he was not forthcoming with his answer.​

​

"You already know the answer to the question you asked," he stated, having already picked up on her perceptive nature through the Force. The way in which that most metaphysical of entities flourished around her could not be ignored. "I doubt that you would have sat with me at all if you believed me some charlatan."​

​

He had brought two of the stones into his right hand, and was rolling them against one another absentmindedly as he spoke. Some of it was definitely smoke and mirrors, but most sentient beings required some tangible evidence where prophecy was concerned, they would not accept that strands of fate could flow without cards or runes or gizzards. What strange beings they were.​

​

"What is it you desire?" he finally asked, head tilting to the left as he observed her with unveiled curiosity. He left the possibilities of her response open ended, for everyone wanted something different...​

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Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

Arcturus Dinn

The Qom Jha did her best to relax at the side of the human or near-human male, she couldn't properly tell exactly which strain the creature may have come from, and she didn't bother pressing the matter any more then might have been necessary. Her tail twitched on her lap as she reached out with her own feelings whilst attempted to clear her own mind if needless distractions, while silently hoping that the two (fast!) protocol droids that had been chasing her wouldn't circle back in this direction. The "aura" of her own abilities would probably have been apparent to the Dark Force User at her side, but she did her best to remain calm and centered as she sat next to him, her long, brown-furred tail occasionally twitching in her little lap as either eye closed slowly.

Keeping her eyes closed as one hand idly massaged the lower half of her own tail in a comforting manner, a soft twinge of emotion crossed through her otherwise placid mind and rapidly calming physical body as a brief image of her deceased husband crossed through her mind, the accompanying sorrow emanating waves of despair and augmenting her Force Aura's "color" - indeed, the humanoid at her side could most likely sense the change, if not the root cause itself. The lithe chiropteran alien continued to silently stroke her own tail for a few moments more, those exotic, distinctive ears atop her bandana-wrapped head swiveling at every other interval to seek after the whirring of protocol droid joints.

"Perhaps that question of your authenticity was a foolish one, Sir..." Thief though she might have been, far be it from Lawq to add to the misery and cruelty so constant and unchanging in the surrounding Galaxy." Her good eye opened, bright and filled with the odd combination of sorrow and happiness that was brought about by remembering a loved one as she silently contemplated the artificial, yet non-mechanized automatons that silently engaged in their tasks, seemingly ceaselessly, around the two of them. A stray lock o her hair shifted as she turned her head to regard the man beside her for an instant, before silently turning her gaze outwards once more and closing her eyes as she saw his own meditative posture.

"The only two things I desire are both dead - they have been for a few years." The Qom Jha swallowed as she squeezed the tip of her own tail, her free hand idly and lazily scratching at her exposed naval. "Real though your powers may be, I fail to see how... Any of this, could possibly of any aid or lasting worth to me..."

She paused, swallowing the lump in her throat as her membraned wing-arms shifted around her torso, and she was half-tempted to embrace herself to stave off the chill that was threatening her vested torso, "I have only a companion, journeying in alignment with the truths of the Force's morals, even if I'm far from it's greatest student, and myself." Again, the Qom Jha paused, her tail shivering on her thigh as her eye opened to regard the meditating humanoid once more, "Only the good I do goes with me into that which will be Eternal, and all else shall fade..."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Her remorse was immediately evident, even before she spoke of her losses. His free hand shifted slightly, and that second pool of smoke rising from one of the incense cones drifted to the air between them, bending and bowing as it sought to paint a picture of not only her emotions but the source of them insofar as Arcturus could channel. He could only glean so much, of course, the rest would come from the Qom Jha herself should her thoughts begin to linger on those dead ones for too long.​

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The boy could not bring back the dead. Not in any degree that one who loved them would find agreeable, at least. Something told him she would not appreciate the disturbance of their skeletal remains, if such remains even existed.​

​

He didn't interrupt her as she spoke, of companions and the Force and goodness. Arcturus had often found the opposite to be true, that it was the most heinous acts an individual made which followed them to the grave. The good was too often overlooked. Man loved to hold grudges. Man loved to cherry pick the actions of another. He didn't voice such though. Who was he to break such an illusion?​

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She did not know how he could help. In that moment, Arcturus was also a little unsure of what within his arsenal could be of assistance to her. She hadn't uttered any wish. She hadn't given him a question in need of answers. Any doubts for her future, any confusion about her past.​

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His first tricky customer...​

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"Is there something you wish to know?" he offered, a slight nudge which might help her along. The smoke was making vague impressions in their vision, for all he knew she might be picking up on images within it but from his angle and perception he could deduce very little of worth thus far. His hand itched to reach for the sand, the sand would bring with it true visions... But without a set focus who knew what it would show.​

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No, he'd hold off on that until she made up her mind.​

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Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

Arcturus Dinn

The chiropteran alien shifted at the youthful humanoid's side, her breathing slowing and the gentle expansion of her demure torso slowing as she did her best to calm the faint, if slowly growing, promises of sorrow that lurked in the depths of her mind, so ravaged by loneliness and mourning over... A very important person. Against one of her exposed footclaws, the gentle brushing of one of those bizarre automatons recalled her brain to the present, and the slow opening of her good eye reminded the Qom Jha of her immediate situation. Really, why was she here at all? The threat had sauntered away from her towards the platforms above, so there was, indeed, very little reason for her to continue to remain.

Despite those brief misgivings, the bizarre little alien stayed right where she was, her yellow eye closing again as she shifted atop the cushion, using her long fingers to idly stroke at the gray membrane between the bones dangling from her thin arm in an effort to clean the velvety fur. She considered the human's words, allowing the brief flicking of her odd, pointed light blue tongue to tickle over her lips and the edges of her fox-like muzzle, even as her eye opened and, with concentration and the aid of the Force that she most often ignored, the faint "aura" of scarlet around the human at her side remained, with smaller, almost thread-like "tendrils" extending from his form to embrace the sand-homunculi (she thought that was the right word) that walked all about them, their little hands adjusting books, old parchment (such an awesome word!) the bones of those odd, dead animals and occasionally added more herbs to the incense surrounding them.

"The only important thing in my life right now is the fate of the companion whom I travel with," The thief's intonation was gentle, her voice devoid of the glimmer of sadness that accompanied her thought of the dead man that had come before her current companion. Inside one of the lower pockets of her worn black vest, against her ribcage and heedless as to the curious glances of several passerby, the Qom Jha shifted a hand into the pocket, her lanky fingers grasping at the still-warm heuristic processor that she had recovered, as if to reassure herself that it was still there...

Speaking once more, the short alien kept her mind focused on her current traveling companion, the hint of a smile tugging the left side of her mouth upward as she thought of the fat, blue, honorable Drovian who had garnered her respect over the past two years, roughly... "Tell me, Soothsayer, and let not the Force's darker aspect deceive either of us..." She paused, then squeezed the heuristic processor in her vest pocket, her opposite wing hiding her pocketed hand from the annoying gazes of those who might be wondering just what exactly she was doing.

"In what form will happiness take for the Drovian and I, together or alone?" She sighed into the air as the neutrality of her own connection to the Force shimmered next to his own, their eyes closed and blind to the world and each other, "If we don't find any... What then?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Funnily enough, even before she spoke the word Drovian the smoke between them began to depict such; it pulled from her thoughts, and allowed the creature to drift along the incense. Arcturus, with one eye open, observed it curiously. The Qom Jha with her eyes closed was missing the spectacle, so he tried to mentally nudge her toward opening her eyes to view it.​

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Then came the query. It was... typical. That was a shame. He had hoped for something more of the chiropteran, she had felt like something more. He supposed there were only so many things one would ask for though, especially where visions and predictions were concerned. Happiness, family, their time or cause of death. His favourite was honestly when they sought answers from the past... Invigorating, to see bygone days.​

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But nope. Happiness. That was fair.​

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He reached for one specific receptacle of sand which lay on the ground between them, one of the tiny dishes which held just a handful of each kind he offered up for barter. Just a pinch was procured from within that dish.​

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"Look at me," he requested, not quite a demand, his tone was too soft for such. Should her good eye open, he'd carefully blow some of that sand toward her, direct it into her sight. Should she refuse, then what happened next would not happen at all and he'd have to find another way to convince her into falling prey to his wares.​

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With the Sands of Time now present within her bloodstream, the Qom Jha's vision would begin to alter. The alleyway and the stall, the man and his wares, all faded away to reveal a hazy scene of events not yet transpired. What exactly that consisted of, Arcturus did not rightly know. The only hints he would receive came from the swirling, dancing smoke which once again gleaned from her thoughts and projected the smallest of notions for him to observe.​

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The Qom Jha's question would be answered in some form or another...​

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Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

Arcturus Dinn

OOC: She doesn't know him well enough to trust him with the information about her dead husband, being as she's also a closet booze-fiend over the same matter... However, I think it'd be realistic of her to maintain loose contact with your interesting OC over time, provided he doesn't use the Dark Side in too powerful of a manner and consequently scare her away with it.

The lithe female was beginning to feel the distinct, relaxing nature of the Force itself, seemingly asserting its calming properties over her mind in contrast to the mere presence of the Dark Force User at her side. Perhaps unconsciously motivated by the Light, which hadn't abandoned her as it had the man at her side, the Qom Jha scooted her comfortable cushion away from the humanoid's planted backside, her tail slipping down to the pavement (for some reason, I'm picturing sandstone) beside her leg as the female considered the humanoid she had met in her mind's eye... Most likely, she couldn't trust him fully, at least, not until she had gotten to know the creature a little better. With those odd, pointed triangular ears of hers ceasing their occasional swiveling as the human began to blow a pinch of his retrieved granules towards her even as he released them into the air.

Her good eye caught the sight of the minuscule particles as they traveled towards her, affixing themselves or brushing past the fur of her fox-like muzzle, with a few even entering her nostrils. Lawq's nostrils flared as her nasal passages clenched, a soft sneeze briefly assaulting the air between them and throwing off the Qom Jha's Force "Vision" dissipated, leaving the human's, as well as her own, faintly-visible Force "Auras" to fade even as she recoiled from the sand, her membraned arms rustling as the demure creature yelped softly.

Briefly annoyed, Lawq's good and blind eye alike narrowed at the robed man, even as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "What was-" However, the strangest thing began to happen once more, silencing her short and irritable cry, her tail thumping once against the sandstone at her side as she rubbed her good eye in an effort to clear her vision. Shadows formed at the edges of her sights, swirling even as they seemingly devoured the human, his kiosk, his homunculussies and those jars and skeletons that surrounded the Soothsayer's stall were consumed by darkness, leaving only the most bizarre visage of a soft pink light surrounded by fiery-red, almost nebula-like clouds.

The light shifted as the scarlet clouds remained in her vision, haloing the pink right as it was replaced by a perfectly-rendered, if transparent image of her Drovian companion, one Fajyk Vasrell, haloed by that odd red smoke... Well, whatever their relationship was, the two were most certainly close friends in spite of a vast age difference and... Well, they had simply clicked over their two years together. The image of the rotund mass of stronger-then-you-realize midnight blue flesh was hunched over a very large blaster rifle, his pudgy arms and those delicate, flexible, if monstrous claws rubbing a dirtied rag over the rifle's stock.

The mohawked alien, composed of mostly rolls of fat, distinct cephalopodian-evolved (I think, anyway) limbs beneath his loose, ill-fitting black breeches, his gut extending from beneath a sleeveless spacer's garb beneath a Duros-made duster, seemed to sense that something was amiss even in the throes of the Qom Jha's vision: his pupilless silver eyes shifted to and fro, and the rifle fell from the claws of one arm as the Drovian lifted his gaze, starting to shift his thick stub of a head towards the very direction of the Qom Jha after he gazed in the direction of where the human had been just before the vision had formed...

The form of the Drovian became indistinct, shifting into a formless mass of blue and brown that began to dissipate. After a brief struggle atop the cushion, blinded fully, the darkness and red "nebulae" began to fade as well after a heart-stopping moment during which the Qom Jha could see nothing. With the return of color, the short alien began to calm down, her tail shifting along the pavement at her side as the colors coalesced over a few seconds to form the Dark Force User once more, his robes still and his form just as mysterious as when the two had first met. Coalescing the energies of the Force's "neutral" aspect around herself, the Qom Jha shielded her thoughts and did her best to calm herself after that brief moment of panic. Her tail shifted at her side, and her good and blind eye each focused on the Force User at her side, balancing herself on her hands as she leaned her weight back.

"Why are you doing this...? What's your endgame, friend?..." Her voice was laced with curiosity more then suspicion. "If you can show me that... What else are you capable of, hmm?" She gestured towards the odd automatons, still heedless of everything other then their tasks... "...If you should ever prove stronger then what you've shown me, I MIGHT return to seek more..." Putting her questions aside, the half-blind Lawq huffed through her nostrils and focused on the Force itself, intent on distracting herself from the Dark-Auraed One at her side...

(Sorry, I SUCK at writing visions, and... Well, I'm not too happy with this post, for my part. x.x )

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Correction, directed into her eyes and her snout.​

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Oops.​

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Arcturus cringed by way of apology, though any verbalized response was held off as she began to succumb to the effects of the sand. He didn't try and keep up the conversation she tried to speak, he just sat there and marveled. This was the first time he'd actually been able to test this particular batch of sand; the grains themselves had been taken from within the Nether, a desert sandstorm which twisted and warped reality. Harnessed for his own sandy needs, he'd imbued the batch to glean thoughts from those it inhabited, and utilize their past choices and experiences to deduce one of many possible futures.​

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Having them state precisely what they were hoping to learn helped to direct it. He wasn't sure what would happen if they didn't provide that level of context... Maybe one day he'd get to find out. Wouldn't that be exciting?​

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It didn't last long, but it wasn't exactly over in a second either. Five minutes drifted by, as the Qom Jha sat there plain faced, mouth slightly agape as was typical for one under such an enchanting spell, five minutes and then slowly life began to return to her. Her ears twitched, her eyes refocused. He'd been so intent on watching her reaction that whatever hints the smoke had given away were lost to time itself.​

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Unable to glean anything as a result of this, he merely tilted his head to one side curiously. Maybe she'd reveal something herself. Maybe she wouldn't.​

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Rather than speak of her experience she queried him. Tight lipped, this one. But she'd definitely seen something, so that was progress indeed.​

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"Curiosity" was his simple response, accompanied by a shrug. "I like to see people's reactions to it." There was no sense in lying, he'd already had his fun and she'd had her answer. What more was there to say? "Sometimes people choose to purchase something instead. That's nice, ensures me a hot meal for the day." Otherwise? Well, why not do it. He hadn't anything else in the Galaxy to tend to anymore.​

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The Nether had spat him back out here, he may as well make the most of it.​

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Her next statement did give him some insight into what she had viewed. It seemed as though it wasn't very informative, maybe it wasn't the answer she had been looking for. Still she didn't call him a conman or a charlatan, so it had to have worked in some degree.​

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"The intensity of the visions change depending on who they're for," he informed her, rather plainly. "Those who aren't so open to the various possibilities available to them tend to have more lackluster results. You are the conduit, after all... The sand is simply a catalyst."​

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Still he got the distinct feeling that she was about ready to leave. That he'd managed to get her to sit and observe anything was a miracle unto itself.​

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"Well you've been a real hoot," he said, a slight smirk falling over his lips at the near-pun. If only he knew how people referred to a bat's call, that would have been fantastic. Nonetheless hoot worked. "Those droids are long gone, my friend. You can stay, but any other services won't be so cheap." He rose up from the cushion, which was pulled away almost immediately by one of the constructs, and with a wave of his hand began to return everything back to its place upon the stall.​

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"There's a tip jar over there, if you're feeling generous. Won't hold it against you if not, though. You were an interesting watch, Lawq Vasrell."​

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The ball was now in her court.​

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Lawq Vasrell ​

 

[Lawq Vasrell]

The lithe creature rocked unsteadily on the balls of her feet, the alien rear toes on either foot flexing in a bizarre manner that was only mildly weird to witness. Lawq paused as she considered the male's words, her good eye focusing as she retrieved and replaced the patch over her blind eye with a careful and practiced motion. A large ear swiveled about atop her bandana-wrapped head of fiery hair, her tail beginning to sway even as the chiropteran alien pressed a palm to the beam of the human's stall, casting her sole eye over the passing crowds and hesitating even as the faint calling and promise of her ship awaited, thankfully, to take her away from this eerie world with her prize in hand.

The Dark Force User, though, with his unnatural automatons, though, to say nothing of the powerful abilities he had displayed... The visions were a curious thing, and, if she COULD glean anything useful from the past at any point, that could be addressed later, though when she was more comfortable and certainly in FAR LESS danger then she was currently in, the longer she stayed in the vicinity. However, though... This hiding place had awakened so many questions so unexpectedly, and the Qom Jha found herself delighted, if somewhat unnerved, at the prospect of this strange pseudo-showman that she had met...

The human or Near-Human, whichever he was, exactly, would warrant another trip with Fajyk in tow, to see what his loopy-sand could do for her best friend, especially regarding his... His trouble over the loss of his Father Figure. There was much for the Qom Jha to consider and contemplate, not to mention discuss with the Drovian upon her return...

"Look... I don't know how you know my name, but..." The lithe and demure creature sighed as she used her fingers to rub her forehead as she tossed a few possibilities around in her head, before taking a few cautious steps from beneath the kiosk's awning, even as those partially-membraned (not the main membrane) dexterous fingers moved along the underside of her chin thoughtfully, "Let's speak more on the Holonet, when we're able..." The Qom Jha huffed through her little fox-like muzzle, an ear swiveling as she retrieved her heavy blaster in a single hand, then cast the odd, curious and fascinating young human with a warm and amicable smile, raising two fingers to her forehead in a salute as she took several steps back, her tail swaying as she regarded the young man with an... Amused expression - or was it friendliness?

"Be not lost to the Darkness, Youngling..." The Qom Jha's voice echoed one last time, mixed with an odd combination of mockery, curiosity and the warmth of one who was well-meaning, even despite her own apprehension.

(Feel free to write an "outro", if you're so inclined. May the Force be with you.)

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Seemingly still convinced that those droids were going to pop up out of nowhere to accost her, the Qom Jha made every move toward leaving except leaving itself. She stood, she leaned, she spoke curiously of him knowing her name. And then she uttered words he didn't expect to hear. Speak on the Holonet? When was the last time Arcturus had access to the Holonet? Korriban, obviously, but that had been forever ago.​

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Was he going to have to find some sort of device in order to do so?​

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Certainly not on his salary, nosiree, especially not when his patrons walked away without so much as a single credit chit tossed into his tip jar. Always the same, but he supposed he couldn't blame them. Free service was free service. Anything extra was just a bonus, right?​

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Right.​

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Either way she didn't break that mold. Instead she gave him some weird quasi-advice, the kind of thing you'd find on an Atrisian fortune cookie, and then off she went into the night. Well, it wasn't night. Barely even noon. But into the night felt more poetic.​

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"Tread lightly, and safely," he retorted in kind, certain she could hear him with those satellite dish ears atop her head. If she couldn't hear him then what was the point in their burden, exactly?​

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He waited until she was lost to the crowd, then he extinguished each of the incense burners and got back to work.​

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Very busy and important work. Obviously...​

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Lawq Vasrell (Thanks for the thread <3 Let me know if you want them to bump into each other again some time )​