Private Force of Nature

[Capris Halcyon]

No matter how hard she fought it, there always seemed to be something primed to draw her back to the Outer Rim.

Coruscant had been an admittedly nice sabbatical. Putting as much physical distance as she humanly could between her past and present had the intended effect of a fresh start, but in a way she had deluded herself. Coruscant was only a gilded safety net. One she’d inevitably have to breach.

And the opportunity to do just that seemed to incidentally present itself.

There’d been a series of disappearances spanning a system in the Outer Rim. Loosely connected but all the same in nature. Sporadic, frenzied, void of any evidence alluding to a suspect. As if they were simply plucked from existence-The handiwork of a Sith if she were to hazard a guess.

But that's all she was banking on. Speculation. The sole motivation behind having hitched a ride to some squared off, backwater planet in the recesses of the Outer Rim.

By all means it wasn't her worst decision.

With her lightsaber securely tucked away within the folds of her jacket, the kid stalked the sparse lanes of the dilapidated village she’d found herself in. From what she could gather it’d been the site of the most recent string of disappearances, and it certainly looked the part. If whoever was at large managed to evade detection this long they probably had the sense to book it off-world. But that didn’t totally remove the chance they’d still be lingering, possibly looking to be a repeat offender.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Forgotten small towns like this one usually had little in the way of restaurants, but Rhi at least wanted breakfast before she left. She sat at a table in a little diner, sipping hot chocolate. Soft, pleasant music played from a hidden loudspeaker. Apart from the elderly woman behind the counter, she was the only person in the place.

Setting down her mug with a clank, Rhi dug into her plate of food. Despite it being a slow day, what with the disappearances and people fleeing the village in droves to escape a "mysterious threat", at least the food was still good. She even ordered dessert.

The bill arrived. Rhi looked it over and winced at the price.

Wait a minute. I'm a Sith! I don't need to pay for this!

Eyeing the waitress, she waited until her back was turned, then quietly got up and left, heading down the street in a hurry.

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Capris fell short of her typical vigilance, failing to side step the women as she came hurtling down the street. She’d clearly been intent on getting away from something by the look of it.

Recoiling, the girl stammered out a quick apology, silently hoping Rhiannon hadn’t been paying close enough attention to spot the lightsaber momentarily revealed in their collision. More often than not it was a beacon for unwanted attention.

“Ah shit- sorry ‘bout that.” Dusting herself off, the padawan neglected to make eye contact till a moment later. When she did, the force didn’t exactly scream “Sith” per se, but some small internal alarm certainly went off. Whoever she was dealing with was no doubt relevant to her endgame.

Taking that as a green light to badger the stranger with questions the kid tilted her head. “What’s the rush? This place is virtually a ghost town.” With a quirked eyebrow she loosened something of an amused snort, “- Can’t be much to run to, or from for that matter.”

Trying to gauge Rhiannon’s reaction she bit back her own fleeting sense of caution.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Turning a corner, Rhi ran smack into someone walking in the opposite direction. Her leathery wings flapped in an attempt to keep her from losing her balance as she staggered backwards.

"'scuse me," she mumbled, already attempting to get past the woman.

But the lady wouldn't let her go without an interrogation, apparently. Rhi opened her mouth to speak, but then she heard a shout from somewhere behind her.

"Stop! You forgot to pay!"

Making a face, Rhi decided not to say anything at all. Instead she clocked the woman in the face with her fist and took off running past her, the waitress from the diner in hot pursuit.

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Out of every possible avenue for that interaction to take, this was not the one she'd expected.

Did she just get socked in the face?

The kid's hand shot to her nose in realization, staring down at her fingers as if to ensure they weren't bloodied.

"Kark you then-"

Perhaps Jedi were supposed to keep their emotions under wrap, but Capris fumed regardless. Without much thought she drew upon the force, intent on tripping Rhiannon as the waitress made ground.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Oof!"

Rhi fell in an ungainly heap upon the ground. How had she tripped? There was nothing here to trip over...

As she clambered to her feet, wings spreading in an attempt to make her look more intimidating, she saw the waitress approaching, the unpaid bill clutched in her fist.

"I didn't forget to pay," Rhi growled. "Your prices are outrageous."

"You ate the food, you must pay for it!" the waitress insisted.

Grumbling under her breath, Rhi shook her head. "I'm warning you, lady. If you don't drop this right now..."

"Are you threatening me? I'll call the police!"

It was then that Rhi reached out with the Force. The waitress stiffened, then abruptly collapsed. Old as she was, she hadn't had much life left in her, but Rhi had drained it all anyway.

As the waitress fell, Rhi saw the other woman whom she had run into. Not wanting to leave any witnesses, she stretched out her dark power toward Capris, intent on leeching away her life force.

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

She didn't realize her mouth had been slightly agape until Rhiannon turned her sights back on the young padawan. The prickling sensation to soon follow was most certainly cause for alarm, limbs of the dark side clambering over themselves to reach her very much intact life-force. "You gotta be shitting me."

Stifling a groan she retaliated, lashing out with the force to erect something of a shield. Still as inexperienced as she was, it made no promise to last.

Reaching with one hand to loosen her lightsaber she returned with a back-handed grip, her mouth a thin slit of anger. "You just saved me a lot of aimless digging; thought you'd be more subtle."

With that she charged the women, striking low.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Shield. Wait, shield? This chick was a Force User?

Lightsaber. "A Jedi?!" she blurted. Had word of her dark deeds on this backwater planet really stretched that far?

No time to think about it. Rhi grabbed her own lightsaber, brand new, and ignited the green blade. Not a moment too soon, as Capris charged at her. Their blades crashed together, and they were off, swordfighting in the middle of the street, in broad daylight.

Rhi stayed on the defensive, waiting for the right opportunity to strike out with the Force. She could still feel the shield, but surely it had a breaking point. If not, she'd just have to break the woman's concentration. As their blades caught in a bind, invisible hands wrapped around Capris' throat and began to exert choking pressure.

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Green lightsaber? What Jedi had she'd killed to procure that? The kid's resolve only deepened.

For a moment Capris genuinely believed she had something of an upper hand.

That was until a disembodied hand latched itself around her throat, intent on strangling the air from her lungs. Great. Just great. Her jaw clenched in a mix of frustration and panic, trying to pry away the tendrils of the dark side with her bare hands. Through the tears slowly welling up in the corners of her eyes she managed to rasp out a question, "Who the hell are you?"

Though she was half-expecting a genuine answer, she only asked to give herself a small window to rebuke. Kicking a cloud of sand into Rhiannon field of vision in hopes of wrestling herself free.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Who the hell are you?"

Rhi tried to think of a witty response, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound cheesy or stupid. "Uh... Darth Miasma," she eventually said.

Just in time to get sand in the face. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, shutting her eyes against the dust and coughing. Damn, was this how victims of Arcturus Dinn 's pocket sand felt? She did not envy them.

While she was still blinking her watering eyes, she certainly wasn't doing much to try and attack Capris...

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Darth Miasma? Yeah of course it was.

But her disgust was minimized by a wave of relief as Rhiannon's claws loosened their hold. Subsequently wiggling herself free the padawan scowled, twirling her lightsaber in preparation of another attack.

With a frustrated force shove intended to topple Rhiannon over she extended her hand, hoping to snag the Sith's lightsaber with a tug from the force.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Things went from bad to worse as Rhi was knocked back off her feet. Though she fell with an ungainly grunt, still blinded by tiny grains of sand irritating her eyes, she sensed the Force moving around her lightsaber. The woman meant to disarm her.

She let the hilt go—but there was no doubt it was in Rhi's control. The lightsaber was hers, not stolen. She had built it herself with the help of her master, selected the two kyber crystals from a cavern on Qi-Ko, bled one of them by inflicting her pain upon it. No, she wouldn't give her blade up to some Jedi wench who took offense at its color.

The green saber spun through the air, on its way to liberate Capris' head from her shoulders.

Capris Halcyon

 

[Capris Halcyon]

Oh?

Oh.

Dropping to the ground, the stripe of plasma nearly sheered her head clean off, close enough to where she couldn't rightfully tell if she was imagining the smell of burnt hair or not.

"Nice blade." The girl recovered with a lethal dose of condescension, "Who's dead hands did you happen to pry it from huh?" Perhaps making a moral argument against a Sith, by most school of thoughts, would be an obvious waste of breath. But this was most definitely a case of emotion clouding clarity.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

With a pull of the Force, the lightsaber boomeranged back to Rhi's hand. As soon as her palm touched cold metal hilt, she was moving again, striking at the woman with rapid blows. Her anger wasn't unhinged, but it was certainly fueling her fire.

"I didn't... pry it... from anyone's hands!" she snapped. "This is my blade! I made it! Just because it isn't red doesn't mean it's stolen, you... you stuck-up wench!"

Capris Halcyon