Private Light Fingers

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"That's fine," he said with a smile.

The stark contrast between what he was speaking about and the most standard, late night cafe in the galaxy, was not lost on Jacen.

The man serving tables still had a slightly vacant look in his eyes. Jacen wasn't sure if that was because of the mind trick or because the man was usually fairly empty headed.

He placed their order and drew the cup of caf closer to him. He blew the steam away, deciding to let it cool a little longer.

"A lot to take in?" he asked.

 

[Serya Talith]

"Yes," she answered, her voice still subdued as she dragged her own cup forward. "And ...no." She didn't let it cool, nor did she add anything to it. She raised it to her lips and chugged it as is, making a face as she did so. The burning liquid melted through her, the caf invigorating her with a spark of energy. Good thing, too.

She was definitely moving tonight.

Her attention slowly pulled back onto him, the girl resembling a wary cat in the way she seemed to acknowledge everything but him one moment, then stared the next. The longer they sat there, the more the fragile sense of trust seemed to grow. Finally, she spoke, looking him in the eye.

"You said others would try to use me? Who. And for what."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"If they found you..." he clarified. He didn't want her in a blind panic. "You've seen the news, the wars between the Jedi and the sith. I used to be a part of them," he explained.

More than a part, he had led them. He had been at the front of the wedge the alliance drove into sith space.

"Not everyone can use these abilities and you can. That could make you dangerous. People would take advantage of that."

 

[Serya Talith]

A sputtering sound erupted from her chest, his suggestion so ludicrous she couldn't help the wave of mirth.

"I'm not like them." Suddenly his undertones made sense. You're dangerous, you're going to hurt someone, you're-you- his other words faded off behind the wall of fog, but it wasn't enough to subdue her. Not in this moment, when she refused to believe them. "I don't know what coconut tree you fell off of buddy, but I'm no one. Literally, utterly, no one. Do you see where you are?" Middle of bumflup no where. "Those things dont come here, those things dont exist."

Her willful ignorance was as much a coping mechanism as it was a product of her enviroment. Believing you're special gets you nothing but heart break. She was a realist.

"What I do is differen't, I-I- No."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"What you do is the same, just smaller," he said firmly. "But you're right. It's not likely anyone with the ability to find your talent would come all the way out here..

"But remember, one of them already did."

He didn't point to himself. The open kitchen sizzled now. A twi'lek busied himself around the stove and started frying her oversized meal.

"I'm glad you don't want to hurt anyone. That's good," he said firmly.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya tensed, staring at the supposed mystical man that had found her against the odds. Did that make her like him then?

Did that make her like them?

Of course the concept had been considered before, back with Rem and... she gave a slow blink, her thoughts growing heavy. What was up with her today? She pulled back, shaking and rubbing at her head as she tried to wake up. Had it been that long since she had food? She sipped desperately at the coffee.

Her attention pulled from him altogether, her face going into her cheek as she watched the food fry up. A hungry look slowly entered her gaze, her mouth watering.

But beyond that he got nothing, as if she had forgotten they had even spoke.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"How did you think you were altering people's thoughts?" he asked, just as an opportunity to try and get a few words from her. They were plating up in the kitchen.

Jacen decided he would leave her to the food when it was out. It was a gamble. There was every chance she would take the hot meal and go. He also knew that trying to get any answers out of her whilst the food was on the table in front of her would have been a waste of time.

He had to think about what his end goal was here. So far he had been acting on instinct, but he didn't have a long term plan. He had no support network, no teachers to introduce her to. There was just a girl with more power than she knew what to do with and a middle aged man whose moment in the light had long passed.

 

[Serya Talith]

"What?" She murmured, turning slowly to glance at him. His question clarified in her head, earning a small blink.

She swallowed back her saliva, her brows furrowing.

"I... didn't really think about it to be honest. It just seemed like... Like..." The obvious answer was ignored, sticking in her mind and slipping around like wet fish. She swallowed hard, shoving her face back into her coffee until mind grew still once more.

"Like people liked listening to me." The answer was monotone and not very convincing. The words struggled to come, the reality that she was like him not entirely sticking. Because it couldn't.



"This is impossible," she whispered, urging it to be true. But she knew that wasn't true. Deep inside, she hung onto his every word. Her eyes slipped back up to his, as if looking for answers.

"Right?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"It isn't, I'm afraid. You're actually very special," he said.

He saw the problems with his own statement, with his own actions. He wouldn't have grabbed any street rat and fed them. Special because she had been born from a line that could access the Force. Special by blood.

Jacen sighed. He hadn't the time to think about the way the whole galaxy was put together and what was fair and what was not.

"No more questions from me for a moment," he said as the two plates were slid onto the table.

 

[Serya Talith]

Part of her was relieved when he was willing to let the questions drop.

Part of her wasn't.

She both did and didn't want answers, curious and afraid of what she would find. How she would feel. The string that had pulled her towards him was still there, but lessening the longer she sat in his presence. The heavy sense of weight still clung to her, eroding slightly the more he urged her to speak. She had never tried to puzzle this out so much before. Why was that?

She felt particularly small sitting before this mystery man. A bit exposed. Naughty.

Nothing made sense. She dug into the plate, letting it all go for a bit of warm food. She shoveled it in with the type of manners you'd expect from a teen earning their living through theft. Once upon a time she had manners and a mother that enforced them, but Serya had made a good effort of erasing them from her life.

Was just easier that way.

Full and covered in grease, the girl finally sat back, giving the man a reproachful look. But seemed to be absorbed in the same question.

What now.

Did this change anything for her? Sad reality was, she didn't think it did. So she could steal a little bit easier. She'd have to dial that back now. Somehow.

Least the others find her.

"How do I know if they're like you," came the tight question, finally bubbling forward. He wanted a conversation, but it was her who had the questions.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

She wasn't so difficult to work out, he thought to himself. She had been moulded by her environment and her thoughts were wired up to survival.

Jacen had warned her of others coming to find her, to use her. She immediately wanted to know how to spot those people. Not where he expected the conversation to go, but it was smart.

"Did you notice anything about me before you tried to steal my datapad?" he asked her.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya frowned, the question throwing her for a loop.

"That your back was turned and you weren't paying attention?" What else was there to notice, for a thief.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Right...what I meant was that if nothing seemed out of the ordinary about me..."

Jacen looked down at himself, as if checking in case he had accidentally donned a clown outfit that morning. He was wearing nothing but typical spacer garb.

"...then how would you spot the range of others who might notice? "

 

[Serya Talith]

The hair on her arms pricked, unease spreading over her at his point.

"But- Then- What am I suppose to do?" She asked, horrid stress flooding her tone. Why tell her if there was nothing she could do over it? Was he joshing her? Was this some elongated, sick prank? A thought came to mind. She spat it out at once.

"And what do you get out of this? How'd you even find me? What do you care?" Time and money were precious things, and here he was wasting it on her. It couldn't just be because he was concerned. I mean, come on.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Those are...very good questions," he admitted with an awkward pause. He was only just starting to ask them of himself and coming up short on the answers.

"I genuinely found you because you stole me datapad. Nothing more."

Jacen slumped and sat back in his chair. He looked out of the window as if the answer might have been on the street.

"Days gone I would have told you to join the cause. I'd have sent you off to the academy and made you a jedi knight and a defender of the peace. I'm not a jedi any more."

He leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table and face her directly.

"I'm here for two days then on to Coruscant to help an old friend. I'll make a deal. I'll pay for you to have a proper room and meals for two nights if you agree to do some lessons with me on how to control what you can do?"

 

[Serya Talith]

Her eyes traveled across the plains of his face, searching for answers to questions she couldn't voice.

Was he threat?

Was that guilt she sensed?

Who was he?

What had he done?

Would he harm her?

...What could she learn?

The offer was a tempting one. What street rat wouldn't jump at warmth, or food. That was exactly how they got you, she knew better than to fall for such offers. His words were dangerous, but there was something inside his offer that pulled her forward. If she could learn more, than she could take better care of herself.

She could avoid others like him.

She could avoid anyone that wanted to use her.

There was so much to gain from saying yes. There was also much unknown. She leaned forward, uttering with very careful words. "You still haven't told me what you get from all of this. I've stolen from you. I've pulled a knife on you. What do you get from me saying yes?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"A lot of questions apparently," he said. He didn't snap, but he didn't laugh either. "A lot of them I haven't got an immediate answer to hand."

"I guess not a lot. But I used to be...I used to be useful. When people lost their way I often helped them get back on a good path. It was one of the most satisfying things I did."

It was complete and honest truth. There were students in need of guidance, sith acolytes in the cells to help recover. Jacen did not, however, decide to divulge his suspicion about her heritage.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya sat back hard, his words stealing the air from her in a woosh. Ah. She understood the stranger in that moment, better than he could have expected. Her mother was the same way too.

"What a quick way to get a knife in your back," she commented. It was neither mocking nor bitter statement, a bit of sadness hitting her tone. Serya had known a life beyond the streets, ones. She had known love and kindness, and even a community or two. Life had once been something like a fairy tail.

And then it wasn't anymore.

She recognized the emotion in him now. She felt it in her too. Grief.

She slumped, unwitting as her guard dropped to the stranger sitting before her. "My own room. With a lock. And no side 'chores.' You try anything and I'm out," she asserted, her voice soft as she pulled her cup to her and tipped the last dregs down. Was she really doing this?

Could she afford not to?

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

He almost wished he didn't know what she meant, but he did. He made him think about the fact that if any of the other poor souls on the streets had tried to lift his belongings, he would have turned back back into the danger.

There was little for him to personally gain from this. The greater good? That sounded like something a Sith would say. Maybe it just made him feel better to think he was being useful? There was a truly crushing thought.

"Nothing untoward," he said. "I imagine you've had enough of questions for now?"

 

[Serya Talith]

Actually, she had countless more, but she saw value in pacing herself. It was he who wanted to train her. Despite the mumbo jumbo he gave her about gifts and being special, she sensed he really feared what she could do if he did not... what? Step in? Was she really such ticking time bomb?

The exchange balanced on the tip of a needle, both sides gaining something from this momentary lesson. She would not show curiosity and tip this into something more. She would not give him power over her. She would learn a thing or two to keep her problems at bay, and then both could walk away with a clear conscious. Whatever that looked like, for an old war criminal and street-thief.

She nodded, pushing the plate away.

"No more questions. For now."