First Reply Never Been, Never Left

[Xan Deesa]

DENON | SEVEN CORNERS
TAGS: Open

SERPENT​

The sun was peaking through the duracrete jungle, slowly shining golden light along the streets and walkways. Depending on the area, it could almost be afternoon before someone got even so much as a whiff of sunlight. But Xan didn't mind, it was already a blessing to even see the sun again, much less feel it caress her synthskin. A heavy coat hugged her shoulders, the only piece of clothing she managed to snag that wasn't on her person in the safehouse. It wouldn't be a problem if the whole damned neighbourhood didn't change so much.

She had spent the entire early morning simply wandering the streets she used to know so well. Nothing was the same anymore. Even her old apartment now had a lovely young couple living there. It was all well and good, except for the fact that all of her kit, clothes and personal belongings were long gone. The old meeting hubs and safe spots were either long abandoned, or overhauled into some kind of shop. She came to a halt on a sidewalk, looking around for something that would always be here at this hour.

"Hey..." She spoke up with a ragged voice, her body's annunciator making more static than anything else. The passerby understandably looked a little concerned over the apparent cyber-junkie randomly calling him over. "Yeah? Can I help you?" He asked curtly. "There used to be a guy here. Food stall, sold the best burgers on Denon. Where's he at?" She asked him, her battered cap and broken mask hiding her face. The stranger looked stumped for a few moments, though eventually he seemed to understand what she was talking about.

"That guy? He died years ago! Holy kriff, lady, lay off the spice!" He laughed and went on his way, leaving Xan alone in a seemingly random spot beside the road. A ragged sigh escaped her, nothing seemed right to her. Her old ripperdoc was long dead, all the others were also either dead or moved on. The bars and shops she used to frequent were replaced by something else. Her accounts were frozen, and she was too terrified to dip back into the Holonet. The momentary silence of not having the entire galaxy's information constantly feeding past her was blissful after what she went through.

"Hey!" The voice called from behind. She turned to look at the stranger, technicolour eyes regarding him as he approached again. "You from here, lady?" He asked her. A shadow of a smile took hold behind her broken mask. "Kind of. Never been... but I know my way around." She shrugged, turning to continue with her walk. She desperately needed a ripperdoc, or at least a shop that knew cybernetics. Clothes and food were a definite tie for what to do next.

 

[Kivah]

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//:...mission-link-established...
//:...location=...DENON | SEVEN CORNERS
//:...equipment=...Jacket, Tracker/Flash Goggles, Lightsabers, Auto Blasters, Gauntlet Comp...

Kivah glanced up at the light peeking between the buildings, casting its reflected hues across the glass and duracrete buildings to splash onto the walk. With a grimace, she considered slipping her flash goggles on, blocking the light down to the muted shades of night she preferred. Ultimately didn't. Told herself that seeing the city in a new light was just another new experience, that babying her eyes would just annoy her more when she couldn't.

Standing against a railing where the footbridge overlooked a sprawl of shorter buildings and air corridors, Kivah pulled a bent joint of ghost train she'd rolled earlier from one of her rumpled jacket's inner pockets along with a cheap lighter. As the first wisps of smoke filled her lungs, she let out a long breath, relaxing again. It wasn't her first time on Denon, Das had dragged her there more than once, as had more than a few jobs, but the Cathar much preferred the forced vibrancy and carefree mania of her usual haunts on Etti IV. Plus the planet was warmer and it rained more. Yep, smoking was the right choice if she was going to be all melancholic about chit.

Pushing off the railing and back into the foot traffic, Kivah walked for a few minutes while smoking and idly wondered about getting some food. There really wasn't anything like good street food. The greasiness of it and how the warmth and flavors seemed to add and build on each other until the taste didn't matter. Raised voices and laughter caught her attention, pulling her head around as the setting sun shifted from an orange to an almost pink hue. A man was loudly speaking to a girl who had a scratchy voice; no, it was static. Weird effect, but the streets of the corporate sector spawned a hundred new fads every day that either gained a toehold or withered and died among the punk fashionistas.

"Oh hey, that's good." Kivah said without really thinking about it. "You know of any good food around? Or maybe not..." She added, her eyes going to the toothy mask covering the lower part of Xan's face. Silently she hoped that this wasn't one of those weirdos that only ate paste out of a tube. Though could be it was a privacy mask, like the ones she made for a few people she knew. Hide the face and change the voice while on a run. That thought cheered her up. Though she didn't know what might have made her un-cheered.

Tags: Xan Deesa
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