Hell Is Nice This Time of Year

[Keira Priest]

Antecedent​

Midnight​

​

It had been over a decade since it all happened. The physical scars had almost entirely faded, present only as a slight roughness beneath her fingertips when she chanced to run a hand through her hair. But the mental ones were still present, their grasp on her psyche fickle but obstinately firm, phasing in and out of prominence as time wore on, never quite existing in the forefront of her mind anymore. PTSD at this point was just an acronym, as she had learned to live with it all the hard way through the years. Her insomnia had all but lapsed into nothingness, and for the most part her mental state was almost entirely up to par. Or at least, it was far from being as worn down and full of holes as it had once been. She had come far, very far from where she used to be, and that was enough.

There were some nights, however, when everything came rushing back at once. Those were the times when everything became impossible to deal with, and eventually she had chalked it up to being back on Antecedent after so long. Because it wasn't just that memory that haunted her, but recollections of a number of events and occurrences that she would never really manage to shake from her subconscious. Perhaps returning to the glittering planet of sin hadn't been her wisest choice, but this was the closest thing to home besides Corellia, and with the state that world was in her options were pretty clearly limited. Just as with all other things in her life, she would choose to retain her stubborn attitude and refuse to listen to what was likely wise judgement.

Throughout the entirety of that particular day, however, something had been off. It wasn't anything she could exactly place, but a pervading sense of wrongness had permeated the area, lingering just beneath the surface. Being busy meant it had been easy to brush off, but now that night had fallen that was another matter altogether. And so, for the first time in a very, very long time, Keira took to wandering the streets of Antecedent as she had done as an adolescent, the only thing lighting her path being the neon lights that dominated the cityscape. The cool air seemed to clear her head a bit, and she pulled her leather jacket tighter about herself as she walked, making certain for the second or third time that her lightsaber was within the inside pocket, CW-77 and combat knife in their place on her left and right forearms, respectively.

Absently she kicked a pebble in front of her, keeping her senses extended about herself as a sort of early warning system, should anything go awry. At some point within those first few minutes a cigarette found its way between her teeth, smoke dissipating into the air. Lighting shining down from the surrounding buildings illuminated the otherwise dark streets, lending a surreal edge to her surroundings. Something ticked at the back of her mind, a sixth sense that told her to be mindful, and she briefly acknowledged it for what it was, awareness heightening just slightly. It never did occur to her that this was just what she had been doing that same night.

[member="Catalys Maijora"]