Private Light Fingers

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Serya Talith

Jacen sat at the bar of a small diner. The chairs to either side of him were free. There were plenty of tables, but he always felt awkward taking one when alone. It was late for lunch, the crowds now on the streets outside. He signaled the serving droid and ordered a beer whilst he decided what to get for a quick lunch, not that there was much choice.

It had been a difficult few weeks. Jacen held this naive view that he could return and immediately make a difference. He was out of practice and therefore still sporting a bruise at the back of his head and several cuts and scrapes. Common gangsters shouldn't have bothered a Jedi Master, someone who had led the Alliance in the charge against the Sith. All this time and he could still be the overconfident fool. It made him wonder if he ever truly learned some lessons. Each time he had been harsh on Trextan for not listening, but the boy just had too much of his own father.

Jacen was not so rusty that he didn't sense the intent creeping up behind him. The flash of nerves, the focus on Jacen.

"That does not belong to you," he said as he sense someone reaching for his datapad without turning back.

 

[Serya Talith]

Seyra froze, a flash of momentary nerves sending her skin prickling. She coaxed herself to take a deep breath. It's all in the confidence. Came the old voice of a once-was friend. He was gone, but the lesson had stuck. She straightened from her attempt at a stealthy approach, her hood masking her pale features from the other sides of the bar.

"Yes. It is," she enforced, a will of steel following the words. The force billowed out with it, impressing upon his mind as she unwittingly tried to sway him. She never knew why it worked. Neither had her friend. One never looked a gift horse in the mouth though. She jabbed out her hand expectantly, the confidence still driving the force forward. "Give it to me."

He might turn to find a set of orange eyes staring defiantly at him. He might not. Never the less, the moment hesitation struct his muscles, she lashed out, grabbing at the data pad and turning to run.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

It caught him off guard. Jacen was accustomed to building thick walls around his mind to ward out influence. He had weathered many sith artefacts that could drive the sense from most men.

There was no skill behind the attempt. It was a wedge, brutally shoved into his consciousness. Jacen turned slowly. He looked down at that golden gaze and said nothing as she grabbed the datapad and run.

"What?" he muttered. The thief was already at the door. "Damn it."

"Had sir decided what to...order...oh..." the droid asked, disappointed as Jacen slipped off his chair and ran for the door.

He turned into the street. There was still a crowd the kind he could lose the thief in easily.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya hit the ground running.

She wasn't small or particularly light, but she was well versed with running for your life. Or in this case... dinner. She weaved smoothly between the people, running off of her gut as she ducked and weaved around elbows and under bags. Not a single shoulder was shoved into, which was a sign of a good day if there ever was one.

A normal victim would struggle to spot signs of her in the bustling crowd. She was good at what she did. So good she cockily slid into the closest alleyway and stopped. She laughed, huffing a breath as she leaned against the wall. Just another day.

She glanced once at the mulling crowd, then turned and walked deeper into the alley, meandering as she bounced her find in her hand.

Nice weight. Scratched to all hell.

It was food for a week, a least.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen slowed to a stop, placing his hands on his hips. He was breathing heavily. He silently swore to himself. Not only had he been caught unawares and let a rank amateur influence his thoughts, but he was also out of shape. A few years spent minding his uncle's shop had undone a lot of training.

"Give me back my datapad!" he bellowed. Everyone around him recoiled. It wasn't them he was shouting for. The smallest flash of fear - or was that amusement - was all he needed.

He had run right past her. Jacen turned and jogged back. He jogged at a noticeably slower speed. He turned into the alley.

"A-ha!" he called out as he stepped into the narrow alley.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya whipped around, visibly shocked. "How did you-"

He stepped in. She scattered back. She wheeled in place, practically falling to her hands as she kicked off as fast as she could manage from a dead stand. Her fingers cramped over the datapad, the girl unwilling to give up her earned bread. Not yet at least. She turned a corner, a wall at the end. It was far too high, her mind screamed. She wasn't going to make it! One, two, three bounds forward.... she braced herself... then jumped.

The force surged around her, catching her like a gust of wind. Her fingers caught on the edge of the table, but the datapad fell down beneath her.

She dangled, looking down to watch it clatter.

Chit! She tossed him a panicked look, clearly gauging if she had time to reach it.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen winced. That hadn't sounded good. He liked that datapad. It was not like he could just ask the Alliance for another one these days.

The jedi master had only walked far enough to watch her jump. Now he stood still, watching to see what she did next.

"I don't have enough money to buy another one of those you know?" he called up at her.

He was also standing still because he suspected he might have to leap after her. Jacen was trying to calm his breathing and regather his strength.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya dangled, her grip slipping. "Gah!" She ignored his protests, labeling this whole event a lost cause as she scrambled to lift herself up. Her feet kicked and dug for purchase, her but try as she might she was just a street rat. Chin ups were not a common thing. She teetered and struggled for a long moment, her panic sparking as the rock... slipped... out from under... she splattered to the ground, landing hand.

She quickly picked herself up, gravel sticking to her palms as she turned and gave him a tense, wild look. This didn't usually happen to her, you see.

She puffed heavy breaths, regarded him warily. In a single, deceive move, she kicked the data pad back his way.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Despite his protest at her treatment of his property Jacen ignored the datapad. There was a slight narrowing of his eyes at the sound it made skidding across the ground. He wasn't turning that one in for part exchange.

He canted his head to one side. There was something very familiar about the way she used the Force.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked. As soon as he asked, he suspected she wouldn't. He doubted she saw much kindness if she was stealing datapads from bars.

 

[Serya Talith]

"What?" She exclaimed, his words more than out of place. Why would he- Her expression grew incredulous in a heart beat. "I'm not a prostitute!" Ooooh, and if she had something to toss at him for saying so, she would. He lingered there, staring at her. The hair on her arms slowly rose. She slid down the wall slightly, her hands moving for her laces as if to fix them.

Instead her fingers coiled around the hilt of a rusted vibro knife, the thing abruptly pulled out and held between them. "Listen, you got your pad back. No harm no foul. I don't got anything worth taking. So leave."

And there it was again, the force bellowing out with her words. It was pure and unrefined, she didn't even seem to notice it was occurring. The more her stress built, the stronger it got, her eyes like glass as she stared him down.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

He was prepared for it this time. It still rocked him onto his heels. There was a weight behind it, the strength of a powerful connection to the Force. Raw. Dangerous.

He tried to remain calm but he grimaced as he forced the alien desire from his head. It wasn't his, even if his right foot started to turn away on its own.

Jacen was carefully not to stand too threateningly across her escape, but neither did he entirely move out of the war.

"Didn't say you were. Does that even work?" he asked of the vibroblade. He reminded himself that a knife didn't need power to be able to stab someone.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya glanced down at the rusted point of the blade, not a single bit of 'hum' to its dead body. Heat hit her cheeks, the teens fingers tightening over it ever so slightly.

"What's it to ya?" She challenged, as confused by him as he was her. "...If its money you want I'll get it for ya. You staying at that scum of a place? Tell you what, you let me go and I'll bring you one better. Tomorrow. Six o'clock. Call it even."

Her chin rose, whether or not she was serious unclear. She was serious about getting out of here alright.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen frowned. His hands were held out to his sides so that she knew he was unarmed. He let them fall as he gave into the frown.

"Alright I'm not really sure what you're saying at all now. I'm not after money though...I would really like you to put the knife down and to tell my how long you've been able to jump walls like that."

He waved roughly towards the wall. She had not quite been able to vault it, but that wasn't the point.

 

[Serya Talith]

"What?" she echoed again; her word of the day apparently. She gave the stranger a hard look, wondering if he had hit his head on his way out the door after her. "I jumped. Anyone can jump." She looked him over, her mistrust not lessening as the moment stretched on. Sure, she was the one that had done the underhanded illegalness here, but he was big and bad and had cause for anger.

There was only one time in life when people didn't snap at you when they had a reason to, and that was cause they wanted something. "Listen if it's not sex and it's not money, what do you want from me? I'm not apologizing," she asserted, pretending there wasn't an ounce of guilt twirling through her. Which there was.

"You deserve that. You shouldn't have held it out so much." The rough accent she had been wielding melted away a touch, a hint of something more refined slipping through.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Knowing his luck, he was going to get stabbed before this was done. The part of him that embraced chaos decided to step out into the middle of the alley ahead of her. Even if he could track her, he suspected she would be able to outrun him.

"How quick are you with that knife exactly?" he asked, lifting one eyebrow.

To her frustration, he was still refusing to answer her questions and - apparently - finding the whole affair mildly amusing.

 

[Serya Talith]

Cold fear shot over her body, her muscles tensing. Did he want a fight? Was he feeling her out? She couldn't make sense of the stranger, each response of his was more unpredictable than the last. Her muscles tensed as she braced for something unseen, her posture screaming one thing.

Trapped.

“Quick enough,” she replied tightly, the confidence she had tried to embody fading away.

She could have given him a realm of responses. Another threat, another offer, hell she could have simple tried to run! He wasn't armed, she probably could have sprinted past him. Regardless of logic, her muscles remained frozen, locked down by a wave of fear.

“Why.”

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Because I was gauging how likely I am to get stabbed," he replied. "It isn't fun."

Jacen was well aware that this was going to be confusing for the girl. She must have expected to have him flee with his datapad or to attack her or worse. She must have suspected he was law enforcement by now.

If she didn't, then the next question would almost certainly lead her mind down that path. Assuming she was calm enough to think straight.

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

 

[Serya Talith]

And then it all made sense. Her lips parted in a small 'ah', her eyes lighting up with shock. As quick as the realization came, her dread was soon to follow. Gone was the confusion and the terror, the girl kicking herself as she flailed to cover her ass. They couldn't stick her in another children's home. She'd just run again.

"At home. Sick," she lied, her resistance dropping a little too easily. She wasn't some phenomenal liar or actress, but her stress did a good job at wobbling her words. She wasn't used to getting caught and cornered. Her hand shook as she braced herself, coaxing herself through her old resolve. It's them or her. Them. Or. Her. She would beat him back. Right?

"I'm just trying to get money for their meds. Please just let me go. They're expecting me."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"That is a terrible lie," he replied, shaking his head.

"I'm not going to hurt you but I'm not letting you go," Jacen said. His left hand moved a fraction. The knife was yanked from her grip by an invisible force. He flung across the alleyway where it was embedded several inches deep into the brick wall.

"But it would be nice if you stopped pointing the rusty knife at me. Do you even know your parents? It's not often someone can poke someone's mind with the Force like that without inheriting some skill from a family member."

It did skip generations sometimes. Jacen was going to feel terribly guilty if it hadn't been a lie.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya gasped, her head snapping to follow the knife as it embedded into the wall. The force it must have taken to embed it so deeply more sobering. Her expression pinched into a thin line, her eyes the only part of her to relay her panic.

"I don't know what you're taking about. I didn't do anything to your head." But that was a lie, and she knew it. Even if she didn't understand it. She had heard the word 'force' before, paired with mystical stories of powerful warriors. But her mother had always discounted them as just that-- mystical stories meant for children.

Not something to be taken seriously.

Yet something tugged at her gut, anchoring her to the word and the man before her. The Force.

She couldn't help the step forward that she took, wary of her own curiosity as she asked the forbidden question. "How did you do that?"

Somehow, she already knew it the answer.