Neon Hearts and Holographic Dreams

[Nemo Sekh]

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MEISSA SYSTEM - LITHIOS
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TRENCH TOWN

Cold drizzle on the back of her neck. Sound of bass, still pounding two blocks away. This was Lithios, alright.

Nemo’s blue skin shone pink under the neon glow. Raindrops, glittering like rosy diamonds. Prettier, two, if anything was here. One hand massaged her creased forehead. Sore hands. Last Kyber crystal score had been a bust. Team’d wound up dead. Buyer’d undercut her on the trade. Five-hundred credits, for three lives. One hell of a lousy deal. She'd needed to go somewhere dark, and loud. That much, she'd managed. The dull and distant thump of this place was a warm embrace of its own.

Somewhere without history; without temples, and jewels, and traps, and all that nonsense, and those woeful misadventures; somewhere loud, to drown out that awful noise in her brain. That howling terror.

Bar was empty now, she noticed. Certainly, there was the idea of history here. But it was just that- a notion, a concept. Like everything else on Lithios, if you tried to touch it- it turned to dust. Lies and illusion were the only constant. Here was a place where nothing was sacred, and everything was a product. Every man found himself an island and a raindrop, all at once; lost to even himself, and thrall to this endless, unbearable, thunderous tidal wave of information they called a culture. A world where everyone was alienated and yet overexposed. Trends, icons, fame, legacy. But hollow shades of meaning. Wind, changing by the second; a whole subculture could die in an hour.

The Holonet was their warzone. The eternal battle of ideas, brands, and illusory concepts. Again, like everything else. Dust. The immaterial graveyard of the soul. Naught but neon hearts and holographic dreams.

You got rid of one noise, and replaced it with another.

"Get me another, would'ya." Bartender-droid might as well've been a statue. "Rust-bucket? Old buddy?" No response. She groaned, head resting on the bar. Bottle was almost empty, and she'd had enough of the noise. Time to get those Weequay to shut that holotape off before she got a migraine. Droid didn’t even notice she’d left, or the fifty-credit tab she hadn't paid. All in all, not the worst night. Then again- down in Trench Town? Thing was probably rigged to kill its mark, not sell drinks.

But where else was a Twi’lek meant to go here? Lithios’ race laws were as strict as any, and the Xeno-sector was a graveyard, even if it didn’t seem to know it yet. Too many sunken faces, broken-down dreams. Strange, that a place so bare-facedly shameless was so backward-thinking. But it was a world of dichotomy, after all. Wealth, and poverty. Overwhelming speed, and eternal stasis. Ecstasy, and despair.

Or maybe the drink was just getting to her. Stuff was like pain-thinner down here.

Either way, two nights thick in to this chaos, she didn’t have much disgust left in her. Nor a lot of credits, for that matter, never mind what she’d probably done to her liver. If nothing else, Trench Town promised a memory; an instance of raw, visceral joy that seemed to last a lifetime. Not enough police to stop it, she supposed. Rounding a corner, her eyes drifted toward the spray-painted ferrocrete. A crimson Aurabesh scrawl, like a child’s; ‘Poodoo Police’. She couldn’t help but giggle into the rain’s silence. “Gotta start ‘em young, huh.” Even the bass was drowned out, for a moment. Damn silly place this was, all in all.

She walked on, and the rain got harder. Smile hadn't faded. And she’d said culture was dead on Lithios.

[member="Arekk"]​

 

[Arekk]

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LITHIOS​

Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Nemo Sekh"]​

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Life was good. But things went south and Ar'ekk had to drop off the grid. Put a bullet in the past and start fresh somewhere new. The promise of opportunity and anonymity drawed him to the "free" city of Lithios, the perfect place for a savvy slicer to disappear and begin anew. Left it all behind. Landed behind bars for a time too.

Corporations tread carefully here.

With a ragged shudder, the cab finally skid to a halt at the edge of the Merchants' District tarmac. An hour and an interminable number of emotionless security checkpoints later, Ar'ekk arrived to Ethos City Downtown. Crime loomed ahead, pulsing with energy. A parade of chrome and neon, omnipresent with every manner of technology and guile one can imagine.

The entire area has the feel of a night market, save that chips are sold in lieu of steamed buns, and vendors hawk the latest guns rather than folk art. Violent gangs rule the streets here, trading territory to the roar of gunfire. The streets are a warzone.

As dangerous as it already is, it could be worse. The gangs are vicious, but disorganized - they pose little risk to their neighbors. With little more than a makeshift barricade and a few volunteers, the bazaars have successfully insulated themselves from the chaos of its neighboring community. And as you pass every stall full of wares, your tiny credstick feels heavy in your pocket, fat with the weight of hard-won credits.

You feel the madenning itch to purchase every single item available not because you need it, simply because you had to. That's the effect that Lithios had on people, a first impression that was as captivating as Twi'lek dancing for you in skimpy clothing or perhaps enjoying a trip of the latest drug.

He felt at home here. Under the angrily downpouring rain and neon-infested billboards, pacing through the narrow streets while staring down at the cold pavement that reflected all the lights from the builldings sorrounding the area. Tugging to his iconic black leather jacket, Ar'ekk marched on with a fast but collected pace.

Until shoulder brushed with another of a girl who seemed to be day-dreaming just like him, an apologetic tone overtaking his voice.

"Sorry."

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[Nemo Sekh]

City of dreamers, and not a new idea between them. Void of voids. There was air, yes, and the ground beneath your feet, and even the warm touch of another's skin, against yours; but Lithios found its way to make it plastic. To feel like you'd been robbed, even when given something for free. Nemo hated the feeling. Like a tiny corporate parasite had taken hold of her heart, till she breathed foreign ideas. Paranoia was talking.

The cold water of the gutter bit at her heels as she walked. What'd matter? Clothes were stained anyway, some charnal mix of mud and sweat and blood. She hated to think about the blood, about Chroma Zed and its newly buried graves. She'd taken no log that day. No holorecordings. Just dug. For a woman in her line of work, she'd have thought digging would've been the easy bit. Somehow, all that soil had seemed like the dust of a neutron star. Heavier than any heart had a right to be. "Now I'm getting angsty..." She sighed, mirthless. "Like being sixteen again, except I'm on Lithios. How'd this place manage to make that worse?" How any child would bear to grow up here, she dreaded to think.

Now her thoughts were running, some melancholy, nostalgic spiral, going nowhere. Some building hatred.

Thump.

Daydreams, shattering like a mirror. "Watch your step, nerf herder." Her heart flared. Hell's own furnace. But here in the shadow of those concrete giants, it felt so damn futile. Rain down her cheeks, voice like a broken Valachord. Her eyes met the stranger's. There was something in them, the same sleeplessness. That restless anger. She let out an embarrassed snort. "Sorry."

"You too, huh?" Sound of rainfall. "You just ruined one hell of an angst trip." Felt like ice, thawing on her neck. So cold it burned. Her eyes darted back out to the roaring street, the slimy-wet crowd.

A half-smile. "Think you owe me a drink."

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Nemo Sekh"]​

​

The unique language of Lithios were a mixture of Galactic Basic and insults spewed by either junkies who couldn't get their fix or rather fiesty individuals from a certain path of life that one wouldn't dare to step if they could use the most important muscle there is. Being called an nerf herder was like any other regular thing, so Ar'ekk did not seem to even be phased by such insult.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

A drink and a cigarette, one's loyal companions for the evening and eternally. His jacket felt as heavy as the invisible backpack he had been carrying for years, full of mistakes and what ifs, but it felt like that given that he had spent hours walking under the heavy rain. Trying to forget, going through a plethora of scenarios and trying to change the scenarios for the best outcomes. But in reality, he had failed in each of them.

Cause and effect.

"You know what happens to people who hang out with aliens on Lithios, right?"

Just lying to himself, Ar'ekk couldn't say no to a glass of Corellian ale. When you're in good company, your evening gets a lot better and time seems to stop like per act of magic. As slow as a sand glass. Paranoid eyes darted on his sorroundings, freightened and judging eyes laying on the duo as they conversed.

Word probably had already gotten out about a Twi'lek being somewhere she shouldn't, disappearing would be a smart choice.

"Follow me."

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[Nemo Sekh]

"Good thing? Maybe." Her eyes fell to the rain-streaked pavement. "But sometimes, you've just gotta wallow." Whole city had been doing it for who-knew how many years. Still, two pairs of feet beat one in this downpour.

Small talk and hollow laughter; the neon signs blurred into one, until the night sky itself was nothing but a blind haze. Speeders, like fireflies, scoring flaming lines through the darkness. This stranger, he looked just as dead-eyed as she did, one glazed-over reverie or the next. Wallowing. She'd slipped straight back into that rut, it seemed. One shaken spirit draws another, and onward, until the whole hopeless pyramid comes down. House of Sabacc cards. Nothing but ruins yet remaining, or something worse. Someplace like this. Perpetual decay.

There her mind ran again. Raindrops on black glass.

The orange light of the bar hit her like a stone. An oasis in the storm. Run-down place, full of bitter faces. Long stares. But then her companion spoke up- that species law. If Lithios was in the business of collecting vices, why not xenophobia, to boot. She'd thought Trench Town would be the place to hide out; police were as common as Celestials here. Clearly, Nemo'd underestimated the populace. Systems never did work in isolation, did they?

"Oh." The whole bar had begun to stir, voices deepening whilst the silences broadened. Her eyes widened. "This isn't good, is it." Her companion stood up. Police, or worse? Another bonus for the night. Stares were getting fierce. "What're you looking at, chutta?" She batted off an angry hand. The bar looked ready to explode. Time to go. Turning on her heel, the silence erupted into a storm of raging cries. The squeal of tables overturning. "You picked one hell of a dive!"

Yet somehow, she felt as light as a bird. There she was, once again, racing headlong into the night.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Nemo Sekh"]​

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They were as good as gone from the bar, heading to the freezing exterior of Ethos City. Unforgiving rain and a cold breeze that hit your face fiercely, everything could fall apart in a Lithios minute if they didn't do that at all. It wasn't exactly smart to stir up a brawl with an angry mob ready to tear you apart limb from limb just because you had an extra arm or two, a society highly advanced in terms of technology but lacking in the most important department.

"We were as good as dead there. Let's keep walking and try not to upset anyone."

The Twi'lek surely had a death wish, the man pondered heavily in silence. Quizzical glances pierced Nemo's persona like daggers penetrating flesh and bone. Quite an explosive personality for a woman of her kind, it wasn't the first time he had witnessed this so he surely knew how to handle it at some extent. But if she couldn't control herself then it'd get really ugly in a matter of minutes.

"I'm afraid most bars are like this, girl. You won't find a better place to have a drink unless it's in the comfort of your own apartment."

Rain drops fell on his curved cheek, bandaged injuries and scars covered his face as if he was a walking museum. You could tell that he was a rather tough individual who liked to either get into a lot of fights or fell against the furniture at home while having several heavy nights drinking. Most likely the latter than the first but you couldn't reallly tell at first glance.

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[Nemo Sekh]

"Most places, it's just as good, if not better to be a Twi'lek." She frowned, cheeks red from running. "Get some friendly treatment." Sometimes a little too friendly. She'd thought Lithios would be the same, another sleazy cesspool like Nar Shaddaa, but here was something altogether different. The cesspool below the cesspool. Chrome and glass might hide the mud, but that smell would always creep through. "You live here, uh...?" She didn't know his name. All that time at the bar, and not one mention. Nor the fact she was an alien, out-of-bounds even in Trench Town. He didn't seem local, that was for sure. Still wore the ragged look of one, though. Enough time here, and who didn't?

"Don't look at me like that." She grinned. "Too much Lithios in your blood. I'm not likely to blow anyone's head off just yet." Mightn't hurt though. Something about the injustice of it crawled up her spine faster than a Kinrath, ground her teeth, flared her nostrils. Rising passion, yes, but not murderous. Her friend, though? She couldn't speak for him. "You, on the other hand, look either very clumsy, or like you're involved in one unfriendly business."

"We need to get off the streets? Is that an invitation?" She gave a wry smile. If he didn't have an apartment of his own, she wouldn't find many hotels that rented to Twi'leks here. "Maybe you could catch me up on just how you earned those scars. Had a friend who spent too long on the toilet. Legs went dead, stood up, and broke his nose flat. Looked a hell of a lot better than you do right now." Nemo giggled.

[member="Arekk"]​

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Nemo Sekh"]​

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"Ar'ekk."

If visiting Trench Town was the Twi'lek's idea of getting friendly with the community, she had some interesting type of death wish. Junkies and thugs packed the streets while their guns stirred nervously under their jackets, waiting for the right moment to strike down and steal every single item on your persona just to get enough for their next fix.

"You sure love to make assumptions of people. That gets you killed here."

He had spent enough time on this planet to know the dos and do-not's of the streets, getting acquainted with the bile of the city. Experiencing first hand what it was to be dragged through the mud, scraping by with barely anything on his possession and slowly rising to the top of the food chain.

"Rather stay here?" He mused loudly, nostrils flaring like a raged bull. Shadowy figures began to gather in the horizon. "Not the place to have this conversation. Let's head to my apartment and we'll talk about my scars over a drink."

Not the first time he had brought a girl home and this wouldn't be the last one. She could take it however she wanted, the sexual innuendo was strongly suggested but wasn't what he had in mind. Simply getting out of there, alive, was more than enough. Drinking himself to death would be ideal to celebrate a day more breathing.

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[Nemo Sekh]

"Ar'ekk, huh? Known a few Eriks, never an Ar'ekk. Hell of a town." She snorted. "Anyhow, it's not gotten me killed yet, has it?" Nemo grinned, still slightly out of breath. "An escape's an escape. Though I've gotta tell you- if they saw me, they saw you. Cyborg hard-asses might be credit a dozen on Lithios, but courting aliens? You've been flagged up all the same. If we're heading one way or another, that dragnet's pulling us both up." An expression of concentration briefly passed over her features, the Twi'lek leaning back onto the concrete. She wiped the sweat from her brow, but the rain replaced it just as quick. City just couldn't let her make a dent.

"I'll chance this one- you're the local-" She paced after him as the silhouettes gathered in the distance. "-But Lithios wouldn't happen to have an over-funded police force, would it?" She might've been joking, but the sentiment was dead serious. "Why do the people support the anti-alien laws, by the way? Surprised something like that still pulls traction in a place like this."

"Not that it seems to be stopping you, of course." Nemo spoke coyly. "Remind me of Nautolan I met on Ord Mantell- except he had a penthouse, and I'm gonna hazard a guess, and say... you don't. Still, home is where the heart is. And the Cheedoan whiskey." She shrugged.

"As it stands, I'm less interested in those scars than I am in all that silicon. People don't usually get that jacked up on augs unless they're running one hell of a fast game... A'rekk."

 

[Arekk]

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LITHIOS, ETHOS CITY, TRENCH TOWN​

SOMEWHERE NOT SAFE​

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w. [member="Nemo Sekh"]​

"I have heard that joke a thousand times, never fails." He mused, almost laughing. "They saw us, yes, but they're too busy to deal with this bullcrap. Getting flagged means nothing in this town, specially when you're carrying heavy pockets."

The Ethos City Police Department housed corrupt cops and the save-the-world types, though nobody in this town was dumb enough to reject a hefty amount of credits in their bank account considering the pay was extremely awful. You're better off pushing spice on the streets or make fake sting operations to steal illegal firearms from small-time crime lords.

"And as for your question, I don't know exactly. It's been a thing ever since Lithios became a proper society and just stuck over time, nothing you can do will change the people's mindset. It's ingrained into their heads like they've been brainwashed."

Comforting to reassure the Twi'lek that wherever she went was possible that you could get hanged, burned, stoned, gutted and even robbed at the same time simply because you had an extra hand or didn't resemble a meat popsicle with two arms, two eyes and two legs.

"Assuming things will get you into trouble, girl. Didn't I just say that?"

Meh. She'd get the idea if it was decided that the Twi'lek girl would tag along with him, if she wanted to survive the angry mob that would eventually come to where the word of "illegal person" spread to like metastasized cancer.

His NX-249 Airspeeder touched the ground after a press of a button, both doors opening in an upwards motion to allow them within. The interior was warm and cozy, leather seats emanating a brand new aroma still. A very expensive air conditioner provided enough warmth to escape the cold of the streets.

"So. You wanna stay here still?"

Fast games were his thing.

 

[Nemo Sekh]

"Heavy pockets, eh?" Nemo couldn't suppress a tipsy half-smile. "Well now you really do gotta tell me what line of work you're in." One finger idly traced circles on her thigh as she broke from his gaze, lost in one distant reverie or the next. Somewhere in the digital haze, one memory had bled into another; a Holonet reel of thoughts, not quite her own. This place was sick. But all good places were. One great concrete vampire, she supposed, eyes wandering through a haze of far-away lights and speeder-trails. Question was, how much blood was she willing to give?

By the look of A'rekk, she couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Got the look of a razor to you, you know that?" She snapped back to the present with a sluggish shake of her head. "Sharp, shiny, and dangerous." She grinned broadly. "And by my ever-so-dangerous assumption, you're probably a tool for hire, to boot." Nemo stood as he summoned the speeder. "No offence. We're all someone's slave, I'm sure. Some chains are harder to see than others." She thought of Manaan, of her mother, and in a burst of silent rage, crushed the idea under the heel of her mind. That was the trick; to break the thoughts as fast as they rose. Maybe she was a slave-driver, after all.

"Stay here?" Now there was an impossibility, however he dressed it. Lithios was like a carousel- you were always spinning somewhere, even if you couldn't tell. Shackles upon shackles. "Nah." A coy grin.

"I think it's time you gave me a few answers for my time, don't you think?"