Private Nights Off

[Asher]

The sensation of the wind was unfamiliar. Yes, Asher had felt the wind sweep across his skin many times before but never quite like this. The stench of dilapidated sewage systems and oxygen-starved life support systems didn’t quite carry in the same way here. If anything it seemed to smell of something else. It was salty and all too unfamiliar. Maybe it reminded him just the slightest of a working water reclamation center, but only just the slightest.

All in all Chandrila was a mostly welcome change from the world underneath Coruscant. Asher still wanted to instinctively reach for any nearby wall or surface that he could find if he looked up at the sky for too long, but the most recent set of beta blockers had numbed that instinct down. At this point he could almost pass for a local. Which by all accounts was a good thing.

With the recent upheaval of certain members of organised crime it had been decided that it was best to lie low for a bit. In the end topsiders always had the weird idea of justice when it came to such things as law and order as if the former caused the latter. Even if they were not criminals themselves — or at least according to Asher who had admittedly shot a man in cold blood as to not be the one who was shot first — the idea to lay low somewhere the Imperialists couldn’t find them struck both Abaigeal and himself as a very good idea.

Even if, for whatever reason, it was to get the man acclimated to not having a ceiling. Asher liked ceilings. They kept people from floating off into space.

“I swear that thing has to stop burning at some point.” Asher said and looked up at the sun, holding his hands up to block out most the rays from his eyes. Yeah, no, in appearance he was very local. In terms of behaviour, not at all. “And people enjoy that?”

His eyes met Abaigeal’s with a most questioning look.

“That thing you told me to use before is doing nothing, the burn is still there.”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She shot a quick glance up at the sun, with a smile, “Not a good idea for it burn out”, she said, it would be the end of the world if it did. Quietly, she was enjoying watching Asher come to terms with a world outside of Coruscant, even more, outside of the underworld. The reason they are here was to lay low, more so for Asher but, she could as well. Things were getting tight around the levels, although the new regime vowed it had good intentions that was yet to be seen.

There attempt at ‘cleaning up’ the levels had been effective in only pushing crime further underground. Not in the physical sense but they had developed more tight structure around their business. There had been cutbacks, laying off some of the people that worked for them who now roamed the streets either destitute or thieving on their own. They had worked for the crime lords, just to earn a living, most of them just delivery or the more mundane jobs but it was a living. It put food on the tables for their family.

No alternative was provided for them, the so-called new government just left them to their own devices, fend for themselves and now there was even more homeless people, hungry mouths and an increase in street walkers, single woman with children crying from empty bellies. It was a double-edged sword.

Asher and Abaigeal would return soon enough to trying and stem the flow. But even they needed rest. “Did you rub the cream all over your shoulders, and you have to use plenty of it”. She asked with a grin. She got up from her lounge bed by the beach and moved the sun umbrella over him, not point in coming here if Asher could not relax.

The drinks waiter was making his way along the beach taking orders. She signalled for him and placed an order of juice, before putting her sun glasses down on her eyes. "You want something?".


Asher

 

[Asher]

A lot was enough? The man continued to look at Abaigeal with an utterly confused stare. His eyelids batted open and close in rapid succession as he tried to even comprehend that. There was a layer of abundance out here that was all too unfamiliar to him. Resources had to be used sparingly where he had come from, and where she currently lived.

“A… Lot?” He asked and moved his hand up to scratch at his stubble. “No?”

She would know this already, it was a rhetorical question at best. Asher leaned back in his seat to let the comfort of the parasol provide the much needed cover he needed. Relaxing would always be difficult for him, but there was no denying that he was at the very least trying. After all, a lifetime on edge would have that effect on people.

Hard habits died old, or something like that.

Abbie asked him if he wanted anything and with it Asher sat up in his seat to give the vendor a look. The man seemed about as confused as Asher was.

“Wa-” -ter. Asher started to talk but quickly threw Abaigeal a cautious glance. “Juice?”

That was fairly expensive, after all. He assumed.

“... Cold?” He asked more-so to Abaigeal than the man selling the drink himself. “That’s very luxu- somewhat lux-...”

He let in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he shook his head. Judging by the looks he was getting, “It’s very mundane, isn’t it?”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She fought back a smile as Asher became more uncertain about what to do. No matter what she tried, he simply could not relax, after all this trip was to lay low but also to show Asher more of the galaxy outside of the underbelly of Coruscant. There would come a time when she needed to go off world on a mission and she would need his help and so this was part of the conditioning to be able to do that. It was going to take time she realised, but Asher was her friend and she would take all the time in the world if he required it. "Yes, it is normal", she confirmed.

Abaigeal turned to the waiter and order for Asher, "One of each, water and juice for my friend". She understood the importance of water on the lower levels, it was expensive and hard to get clean. Juice on the other hand simply did not exist, or if it did, she had not seen it herself. That was the problem the Soup Kitchen had, they could not provide food like this it would simply draw attention, after all how would a business down there, who only catered to the poor be able to afford these goods? They had to keep their noses clean, for the sake of everyone that they provide for and their true identity.

"Once we finish our drinks, I want to take you for a walk. I want you to see something really beautiful", she allowed the smile to appear. And besides, a walk through the jungle, a different sort of jungle, might make him feel a little more 'at home'.

A long shot maybe, but it was worth the try.

Asher

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron

Asher hid behind a quick grin as he received his drinks. In reality a deep sense of dread was spread evenly throughout his body. Everything he knew was a low standard, and everything he was experiencing was entirely unlike anything he had experienced before. This world had never been known to him. The luxuries in his life were hardly considered worth mentioning here and it threw him off every time.

With two drinks in hand he waited for the vendor to leave before he gave Abaigeal a look.

“There are places more beautiful than this?” He said and motioned the juice in his right hand towards the abundant and deep puddle of water that lapped against the shore mere feet from where they were. “Are you sure about that?”

The man remained seated against the edge of his sun lounger, both hands raised before him with a drink in each while he turned to look at the shore. He raised the glass towards his lips, tilted the juice into his mouth and felt an immediate reaction hit his tongue. It was sweet, it was sour, and it had an aftertaste of something he had never quite tasted before.

The glass rested against his lips as his eyes rapidly shifted to his side to look at Abaigeal.

“That’s… Very sweet.” He said and slowly lowered the juice to place it by his knee on the seat. It was clear he didn’t quite know how to register it. The flavor was far more intense than he had anticipated. Before long he raised the water before him to see if it was contaminated and took a decent drink out of it when it was determined to be clean.

And somehow, the water felt… Thinner. It poured down his throat with surprising ease and yet again he looked back at Abaigeal.

“Is- is everything here better?” He asked and began to look around. “The water is clean, the drinks are sugary and sweet. I-...”

His shoulders rose with a deep breath, and sunk with a long exhale.

“I need to relax. And let it go.” He said and leaned back in his seat again. “Just like you said.”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

Just as Asher settle in to relax, or attempt to, Abaigeal jumped up in a hurry. "Come on!", she said as she gathered her beach shirk and lashed it around her waist and slipped into her beach shoes. "Bring your drinks with you", she grabbed her own glass and started off toward the side of the hotel. A meandering path would lead them to the back of the place and the edge of the jungle beyond that. The path lead them along between lush foliage, some many different plants with leaves the size of plates, some of them even in flower and red as can be. Within them insect life flitted about going about their daily chores, avian peeped over head as they passed but there was nothing in the area to cause them both any misgivings. She could sense it all, all the living force among the jungle as she allowed it to settle into her being. It had been so long since she was able to let go and just be in the force and it filled her with a sense of belonging.

She looked back at Asher to see how he was fairing, hoping that his own senses where delighting in the surroundings but more than that, over his head was a roof. Not a metal and concrete one but a roof none the less. "One jungle replaced by another", she waved her arms to the canopy. But they had reached the part in the path she was looking for, and instead of continuing onward Abaigeal would take Asher off track. Already she could hear it, the sound of rushing water up ahead and she smiled as they got closer. "Come on, just up head", she encouraged as she pushed back some hanging vines.

​

Before them was a crystalline water stream, fed by a tall waterfall a result of the nights rain. Small flowers flecked the scene from pinks to orange and purple, and heavy damp moss clung to the fallen logs that crossed the stream. Everything was much sweeter here, the air the water and the grasses which were so soft underfoot it was too inviting not to try. She kicked off her beach shoes and did just that, it was cold and soothing to the touch as she walked toward the waters edge. "You know years ago when I first met Audren Sykes, we went for a swim in a stream a little like this. Only difference between that time and this, is we both plummeted over the edge of the waterfall, luck for the both of us we fell into a deep pool at the bottom of it", she grinned remembering that time, although it seemed like a life time ago.

Abaigeal moved closer to the water and scooped her hands into it, and took a drink. "Come on try it".

Asher

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron

No matter if she knew it or not, it seemed Abaigeal had an effect on people. Asher had jumped in to help her from whatever had surprised her on the beach, though that had turned out to be nothing. He had followed her into a jungle, and that was despite the fact that he did not trust it.

The jungle was loud with sounds that the man had never heard before and far more green than anything had any right to be. As they pushed off the beaten path the worry grew, but putting his trust in that Abaigeal knew what she was doing made it all the more easier to follow her. No doubt that if she left him now he would be lost, but she had no reason to do that.

They stepped into a clearing and Asher went even more quiet than he already had been. His eyes began to dart around and soak in all the colors. There were shades of blue and red and pink that he had never seen before on flowers. Not that he had actually seen any real flowers to begin with. Though instinct held him back and away from touching any of them, the entire atmosphere of the small clearing was one that lived up to the beauty that Abaigeal had mentioned.

As she walked by the water, Asher kept a respectable distance. Abaigeal would try to bring him to the water and Asher would hesitate with each step he took towards the stream. It didn’t help that she mentioned almost drowning with a man named Audren Sykes, and… Well, no, that was one of the bigger parts of why he didn’t want to approach it.

Yet, for his friend’s sake…

“So, first off.” Asher said and grinned as he knelt down by the water. “Who is Audren Sykes?”

His hand reached into the water and held it before his eyes before it all ran through the cracks between his fingers.

“Second off,” He said and began to look around for either of the glasses that he had forgotten to bring. “This is clean, right?”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She let herself roll backward and sit on the cool grass that edged the water. Abaigeal grinned to match Asher's, "Oh, he is an old friend from my Jedi days and had come to Coruscant recently on a mission". She could not recalled if she had ever spoke about her Jedi days with Aster before, but that did not matter it was not as if she was hiding it from him, and if he was curious she would answer his questions. Abaigeal was well passed all the hung ups that had once held for her.

Watching the water trickle through his fingers, it was nice to see him take delight, at least she hoped he was, in the clarity of nature and all that it can provide. "Yes it is clean, about as clean as you will ever likely get it". The jungles natural filters doing the job and probably adding a little something in for good measure. "Try it". She did wonder what he was looking for, "here look, like this", she cupped her own hands and scoped up the water in her hands and drank from them. And as she thought the water was sweet and cool with a hint of earth.

Abaigeal could tell he was not entirely relaxed out here, it was going to take time for that, if ever but it was a good start. Frankly, she could not really relate to it, having grown up in many places, and after her capture, she was led down an entirely different path. But that is all part of the journey in life and one has to try and do the best they can else there was no point in any of it. "So", she grinned, "Where have you been off to lately? I noticed you have been 'away' a lot and Chef tells me you had a friend come to Kitchen?". She gave him a side ways glance, "A pretty friend", she added and waited to see his reaction.

Asher

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron

It was delight, and it was also stress. The stress of having to look over his shoulder since he was a child was a habit that died hard, but at the very least he had gotten better at it. No doubt it would all revert back to normal once he came back home again, but for now he could at the very least try to enjoy it while it lasted. That was to say the peace.

Asher cupped his hands and took a sip of the water. His eyes never broke off from Abaigeal, the grin behind his hands quickly fading away as the water ran down his throat with a taste that was quite unlike anything he had ever tasted before. It felt like water but it tasted different. There was no metallic aftertaste, no hints of trash running down your system.

Much like with everything else, Asher’s facial expression dropped into an embarrassed smirk. A face that didn’t grow any less red as Abaigeal mentioned Loske. His eyes darted up at her to question why she even brought it up. Yet, much like Abaigeal he had nothing to hide.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Abaigeal, she’s just a friend. Someone that I just so happened to rescue from certain death.” It was a half-truth. She would have been fine, though Asher had certainly kept looters out of her pockets. “Topsider. Jedi. Entirely unaware of the lives we lead down here, so I figured I’d show her some of it, you know? The good and the bad.”

“So, no. This man’s married to his job. You ain’t getting rid of me that easily.” He chuckled and glanced back at her. “What about you? I’ve swung by the kitchen a few times but you’ve never been around.”

“Maybe I am the one who should be worried about you running away, huh?”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

His embarrassment was not lost on her, something was up with his girl he had been seeing. It did give her hope for her friend, and if he could find someone in his life, Asher would be more than deserving of it. “Certain death, topside?”, she was needling him especially knowing how he feels about them. “She must be pretty enough to rescue .. for a topsider”.

Married to the job, she supposed she was too, “But your job doesn’t keep you warm at night”, she grinned at him as she allowed her fingertips to sway lazy through the water of the pool. “There is more to life than the job, even though it is important, other things are as well”.

So, she was not the only one observant, and it was her cheeks that flushed pink. Running away was something she had done in the past, but not for good reasons and the remarked prickled at her for the moment, mostly out of her own guilt. “No, not running anymore”, she turned to him with a soft smile, “Just been gathering ‘items’ we need is all”.

Abaigeal would have said more, only she did not really know what it was that she had with Judah. It was unexpected, although very welcoming, their relationship, their friendship was flourishing into something else. It was simply too early to place a name on it.

Asher

 

[Asher]

“Right? I mean, topsiders? Dying? Never.” Asher let out a slight chuckle at his own joke and shook his head. Abaigeal continued to talk and Asher couldn’t help but raise his brow at her remark. His work did technically keep him warm at night, if warm was to sleep in clean bed sheets with a full belly. A rather rare luxury on these particular levels that they operated on.

Except right now they weren’t on the lower levels. At this point they had probably transcended the number of levels that one could even care to count to. This was beyond the topsider’s paradise, through the sky and into the dark abyss of space, and it had all put them right here in an isolated grove for just the two of them. Some would argue romantic, Asher would argue… Entirely new, in every single way possible.

Yet, he was here with Abaigeal. She was the only constant he had for the last few months, or was it years at this point? In truth he had lost count a very long time ago. Enough time that he understood she wasn’t like the others. She wouldn’t stab him in the back, and that made her… Well, he didn’t want to say special, but at the same time what other word was there? He picked up on the vague redness to her cheeks, the way she seemed to turn away from that particular conversation. Something had Abaigeal E’ron embarrassed.

“Items, you say?” He grinned. “Sounds— no actually, looks — like you found a pretty special package then.”

A brow rose on his forehead, his mirth widening even more.

“Will you ever tell me about this package, or… ?”

Abaigeal E'ron

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She returned his raised eyebrow with a grin, surely, he knew what she had meant by ‘keeping warm at night’, if not he truly did need to get out more and see that pretty girl of his. Asher, to her was also a constant even though things around her had changed very considerably and for the better she hoped. He was her first real friend in a long time, one she could rely on in any circumstance and she valued him very much.

“Stop it”, she turned away more amused than embarrassed at this point, he was fishing she knew that. And to keep him awaiting even longer for her answer, she shifted on the grass and dangled her feet in the pool, waving them about carefree. This truly was a serene place, if Asher was not relaxing, Abaigeal most certainly was.

“The package has a name”, she grinned. “Judah Lesan”. Stopping to think on him for a moment before continuing. Wondering where he was right not.

“A friend of mine from our youth back when with the Silver Jedi, way back when they were on Voss”, and before that if she wanted to take it back that far. “Bumped into him on Daal when picking up that crate of guns for the Kitchen”. Well there it was, she turned to look at him to see what his reaction might be to that.

"You might get to meet him soon", she added.

Asher

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron

Now this on the other hand was a situation he could relax in. Hell, Asher even went as far as to dip his own feet into the drinkable water as he sat opposite to Abaigeal. All things considered it was good to see her smile again. All it had taken was for Asher to shoot the wrong person and life had turned into a nightmare for the both of them. This was a nice break for them, even if Asher’s mind still had him instinctively grab a hold of the ledge to ensure he did not float off into the sky as opposed to fall into the small body of water.

“A fellow Jedi, huh?” He said and shook his head with a playful grin. “Never understood what the difference between a regular Jedi and a Silver Jedi was. I thought there was just.. Jedi.”

He looked at the way the water encircled his feet with no small amount of curiosity. Needless to say he wasn’t thrilled about potentially contaminating this water, but hey, if Abaigeal could do it then so could he.

“Well, I’m happy for you and him.” He said and looked up at Abaigeal. “Love is rare, you have to treasure it while you can.” He said and raised his brows towards her. “So genuine question, please don’t be upset,”

Asher took a deep breath.

“Is he your first? Sort of realize we’ve never talked about these things. Life’s been too hectic for the smaller things lately.”