Private Notation From The Stars

[Arcturus Dinn]

That smile was undeniably genuine and it immediately melted away all of his reservations. Gone with the wind, instead he felt nothing but relief bubbling up within him. He didn't say anything as he stepped forward, gently releasing Ishani's hand, and wrapped his arms around the woman. Arcturus hadn't even really realized he was doing it, that he'd needed to do it, he just acted on impulse. Felt something akin to grief wash up when he did, too.

Had the months of his absence really been that terrible? More and more the boy found himself questioning whether or not Korriban was even the place for him...

After a moment he pulled back, wiped his eyes before either of them could notice anything was amiss, and offered her a smile.

"Uh, sorry," he said, uncaring of the grease he'd just got on his clothes. "It's good to see you, Jen." Then he took Ishani's hand again. "This is Ishani, she's my girlfriend" he stated, unabashedly, and gave the girl just the tiniest tug forward, encouragingly. "Ish, this is Jen..." His..? Well, he supposed nothing. But she clearly meant a lot to the boy regardless.

"Are you okay? Sorry for dropping by without calling first, I just... I guess I wanted to make sure you were doing well. You know, while I was here anyway..."

He was rambling, he knew he was rambling, he was just so... Chaos it felt good to be back. Better than he'd admit. He paused, then remembered something he had in his hand - a bag of food he'd made sure to pick up from the same Chalactan place they'd just had lunch at.

"I uh, brought you both food," he said, lifting the bag, "Your usual order, from Perith's."

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Jen reacted with some surprise to Arc’s unabashed hug, but quickly returned the embrace, trying not to get too much grease on him. He might be good at hiding his tears, but she could sense it, somehow—Jen had a touch of the Force herself, after all.

Poor kid. But he had a girlfriend now, so that was something. Or had he already had one? Maybe that was why he’d left. Boy, was Ishani shy—she had yet to say a word, and her face turned bright red when Arc introduced her as his girlfriend, effectively silencing anything she might’ve managed to squeak out.

Jen’s smile had a new bend to it now, both softening and curling into more of a mischievous smirk. “Business is good, my man isn’t running around on me, Starlin’s back home. I’m happy.”

She took the bag of food from him. “Oh, nice! Thanks, sweetheart. Come on in.” She stepped away from the open door, moving to place the bag on top of the kitchen counter.

Ishani was glued to Arc’s side, and would only cross the threshold if he did.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

She returned the embrace and that was all the kid needed. Comfort, security, his time with the Rands had provided him with both, and more. When she gestured them across the threshold and proceeded inward herself, he glanced over at Ishani and gave her hand a squeeze.

"You're all quiet" he whispered, "Are you okay, love?" Realizing she might have been a little out of her league, he smiled. "Come on, they won't bite..."

Then he stepped across the doorway, taking care to remove his boots on the doormat so that he didn't track mud inside. The door closed behind them, and then Arcturus led her down toward the kitchen.

"I'm glad everything's been good, Jen," he said, sincerity awash in his tone. Should he catch sight of the Zabrak, he'd raise a hand to wave in his direction. "Hey Silo" he muttered, eyes falling around the place, breathing it all in. It had barely changed since he'd left...

"Starlin's back on Coruscant?" he inquired after a moment, effortlessly slipping into a stool at the kitchen island with practiced absentmindedness. "Good, I bet that's nice." Starlin had actually left a while before Arc had begun his journey back to Korriban... A journey that also entailed a different sort of homecoming. One he hadn't really spoken about, even with Ish.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Are you okay, love?"

"Oh, I, um..." Ishani babbled. "Yeah, I'm okay." She was just painfully shy around strangers, though the fact that she wasn't alone with them helped. Other than that, she simply had little to say to Jen—or to Silo-Hur, who was sitting on the couch in the living room. Just as well, since the Zabrak did little more than raise his beer can in greeting to the newcomers before turning back to the game on the holo.

Mimicking Arc, Ishani removed her shoes by the door and sat on another stool beside him. Her eyes wandered, taking in things. She'd known just from walking through the neighborhood to expect poverty, and while it wasn't as bad as she'd feared, it was still noticeable. Cheap furniture, a lot of it old and probably secondhand. A broken window that was patched up with duct tape. They needed to have their carpeting replaced, but at least it was clean.

"Starlin is..." Jen started to speak, then trailed off, an odd look on her face. Evidently she needed to be doing something while talking, because she headed down the hall to her bedroom to change, raising her voice to be heard from there. "Starlin is not in a good place at the moment. I won't get too much into his business, but they sent him home because he lost his eye in battle at Krayiss. He comes home very late, so unless you plan on staying the night, chances are you won't be around, if you're hoping to see him..."

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Hearing the news about Starlin made Arcturus' heart skip a beat, and a small flash of rage welled up within him. As much as they were seemingly at odds with one another, oppositions in so far as alignments and the like were concerned, he'd truly found a strange sense of kinship with the other boy. They'd both refused to fight the other on Ossus, worked together to get the kids to safety, and then rather than either turning the other in they'd simply... Existed. Found a weird common ground.

Knowing that someone had harmed him, likely one of Arcturus' supposed allies, made him see red. It took him a moment to quieten his mind; Jen didn't need that sort of stress. "Would you, uh... Would you mind if we did? Stay, I mean. Just for the night. I think I'd like to catch up with him, if that's alright? See if there's anything I can do..." After all, Starlin had helped Arcturus when he was at his lowest, wasn't it time he paid that goodwill back?

He glanced over at Ishani after he'd asked the question, realizing that yet again he'd made a decision without consulting her first. "If that's okay with you too, love?"

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Upon hearing the news about Starlin, Ishani’s gaze was drawn toward Arc. She saw the flicker of anger across his angular features before he settled back into something calmer, though his voice was tight.

Jen waited until Ishani had spoken, perhaps not wanting to pressure the girl who had seemed so uncomfortable upon entering the apartment. “I don’t mind,” Ishani replied. “Although, didn’t you say you used to stay in his room? Where would we sleep?”

“On the couch,” Jen answered. She returned clad in clean clothes. “Unless you’d prefer the floor—we have sleeping bags.”

“Sounds like we’re having a slumber party,” Ishani said with a smile, trying to make light of the situation.

“They’re spending the night?” Silo-Hur asked, getting up from the couch. “Is that Chalactan food I smell? Oh shit. Back to the ‘fresher I go…”

While they settled down to eat, Jen asked, “So, what brings you two to Coruscant?”

“I got a tattoo,” Ishani replied, blushing a little. She wasn’t quite used to it yet. “On my back.”

“I’ve got a few of those,” Jen remarked. “Although to be honest, I regret getting them… I’m sure you probably won’t, though. Mine were associated with things I’d rather forget. What is yours of?”

“A sword. I think I can take the bandage off now. It’s been a couple hours…”

Reaching behind her, she endeavored to peel away the bandage and pushed aside her hair so the others could see.

“Very nice. Did Hix do it? Looks like his work.”

“Still stings a little,” Ishani said. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep on my back tonight.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The boy made a mental note to speak with Ishani once they were alone, and to try and get better about consulting her first and making decisions later. Maybe he just had to start relying on telepathic communication with her? He pondered that for a moment, would those who could sense the stirrings of the Force find it rude?

Either way...

Ish did answer, and Jen gave an idea of where they could sleep, so with that in mind he nodded his head. "Then, if that's okay with you -- and Silo-Hur, of course - I'd like to try and catch up with him tonight." One night sleeping on a sofa or the floor couldn't hurt, right? And then tomorrow things could go back to normal for the Rands.

As Silo came through toward them, Arcturus gave him a familiar smile. "I think I remembered your order" he said, before glancing back toward Jen as she asked her question. Much to his surprise, Ishani seemed much more forthcoming with communicating now.

"Yeah, Ish wanted one and I figured I knew a guy so..."

Wait, Jen had a tattoo? Cool! Seemed like Arc was the only coward among them, then. Hix would never let him hear the end of that one.

"Hix did it, yeah, though it was actually Ishani's design." At Ishani's comment about sleeping on her back, he couldn't help but grin a little. "Yeah I'd sleep on your front or side if I were you, I can't imagine lying on a tattoo..." Not that he had experience with such. But he'd slept on a fresh brand, the one on his shoulder, and that had been a living nightmare.

Huh, maybe that was why he was so reluctant...

"I've kept up the tinkering since I left," he stated, reaching for one of the side-dishes that were made to share, some sort of crispy battered alium strands all clumped together and spiced. Delicious. "If there's anything I can help with while I'm here?" The door, at least, seemed to be working good now.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Oh, Jen had a few tatts. The marks of the crime lords she’d served, mostly—proof written in ink of her trustworthiness. She pushed thoughts of these out of her mind as Arcturus looked at her with a smile in his eyes.

“Come on, kiddo, you’re our guest, not the handyman,” she replied playfully. “Besides, it’s less fixing and more things needing to be replaced around here, and that costs money. I don’t plan on staying in this place forever, though, so might as well not even bother.”

As far as Ishani could tell, she was right. You couldn’t fix a broken window, you had to replace the glass. “Where do you want to go?” she asked.

“I dunno. Someplace green would be nice, but I’m a city girl, so maybe not. We’ll figure something out eventually.”

From there the conversation turned to simply catching up. Jen remained tight-lipped about Starlin. Even if Arc were to ask her a question about him directly, she’d give a vague answer.

After dinner, there was the holo, which Silo-Hur reluctantly offered to give up his game to let them watch something else. Before Ishani knew it, she was lying on a sleeping bag on the floor. It was dark, but she felt Arc near her, both in the Force and from the warmth of his body. The city outside seemed louder due to the broken window, the duct tape not enough to dampen the roar of speeders and sirens.

Though Arc was a heavy enough sleeper that the noise probably didn’t bother him, she figured he’d still be up, hoping to catch Starlin when he got home late. Still she asked, her voice soft in the dark, “Are you awake?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I think I'd make a good handyman" he stated, with a nod of his head, "Can't you picture me in a boiler suit?" Mostly he'd said it to detract from the lingering thoughts which burrowed into his brain. What he wouldn't do to be able to change things up for them, to pay them back for all their kindness with more than food and a fixed door. Still he knew that Jen would never accept any credits he offered her way, and he wouldn't even know where to begin with replacing things.

Maybe he could convince Starlin to take some from him? Then at least it could just look like he wanted to upgrade for his own sake...

Such thoughts took them right the way through dinner, and tv time. Arcturus didn't bring up Starlin all that much and certainly not to pry, figuring that he'd be able to ask the man for himself once he returned home. Once they were clean and ready for bed, Arcturus lay in the sleeping bag and stared up at the ceiling lost in his own world.

Well at least until Ishani spoke; then he turned his head to look at her with a gentle smile.

"I'm awake" he told her quietly, so as not to disturb the rest of the sleeping household, "I can't sleep, I don't want to miss him you know?" It was then that he remembered he'd wanted to speak with her. He shifted, moving until he was propped up on an elbow.

"Hey, I'm sorry I keep making sweeping decisions. I'll try and be more considerate going forward, I'm just... So used to only ever having to worry about myself. But that's not cool of me. Sorry, love."

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“You must really care about this Starlin guy.”

She supposed it wasn’t hard to believe, given what they’d been through together, but it was still a little… Well, it was an unusual relationship regardless, wasn’t it? A Jedi and a Sith might work together once, but never again. You certainly didn’t expect them to become friends, so clearly something must’ve clicked between them.

He expressed guilt over making decisions for them both without consulting her first. She didn’t really know what to say to that. So she just wriggled in her sleeping bag, feeling like a worm inching along, until she was close enough to wrap her arms around his slim form. Whispering became easier the closer they were in proximity, after all.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Most of the time I don’t really care where we are or what we do, as long as I’m with you. Gack, that’s cheesy.” She snorted. “But okay, love, go ahead and start consulting me from now on. Give me all the decisions. Just as long as you aren’t asking me which pair of pants you should put on in the morning.” Not that his choice of pants could affect the both of them. Apart from her having to figure out how to get them off, she guessed…

“I’ll be honest with you, though,” she whispered. “This isn’t my favorite thing. This place reminds me of the house of a friend I used to have. It was… This isn’t as bad, and Jen seems nice, but…” She trailed off, struggling to find the right words. In fact, different parts of the apartment reminded her of different friends’ homes—all of them lost to time. The broken window, the ratty carpet, the cheap furniture… but especially a distinct, earthy fungal odor that she could never forget.

“It smells like death sticks in here,” she said in the faintest of whispers. “Somebody is throwing their life away in this place.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Did he really care about Starlin? He let out a small sigh as he pondered that, eyes drifting over various parts of the ratty apartment as he did so. "It's complicated" he stated, chewing on the inside of his lip as he did. "I don't know if I could even really explain it. I don't even really see him as a Jedi, just... I dunno." Did it matter?

Ishani's statement seemed to have gotten under his skin either way. Not necessarily in a bad way, mind you, just... There.

He nodded his head as she spoke about not really minding but still being open to consultation. "How are you with telepathy?" he asked, "Maybe it'll be easier to communicate like that before I -- we -- make decisions in front of people. I don't want to come across as rude on either end, you know?"

Then she made mention of the apartment, and he leaned back against the floor with his hands behind his head.

"If I could change their circumstances I would" he stated. "Force, I wish I could." The comment about deathsticks stuck with him though, and he closed his eyes. "Yeah... That'd be Starlin" he huffed, " 'least if I had to hazard a guess. I don't think it's Silo." Definitely wasn't Jen. Which left only the boy. "Chaos, between Jen being so closed off about it and how late it's getting I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned..."

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“That mean you want to try and corrupt him?” Ishani murmured. She didn’t fully understand what he meant, but she had a general gist. Starlin had become a real person to him, not just the enemy or a Jedi.

At the mention of telepathy, she was quick on the draw, hoping to lighten the mood. “Oh boy, do you really want me inside your head? My mind is filthy, you know. A few minutes ago, I was trying to think of positions that wouldn’t have anything touching my back…” What kind of positions she meant was obvious by her suggestive tone. Still, she concentrated on him. <We tried telepathy already, didn’t we? On Chaldea, because we couldn’t talk underwater.>

The conversation took a sad turn as soon as she mentioned death sticks. He determined that Starlin was the cause. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of old, buried pain—the memory of a friendship ended over death sticks brought back by the stench. <Don’t try to save him, Arc,> she said, speaking from experience. <It won’t work. Trust me.>

As if on cue, they heard the rattle of the front door being unlocked, before it slid open to reveal the silhouetted figure of Starlin Rand.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani's question had his eyes widen.

"Oh, Force no," he hissed hastily, shaking his head, "Don't know if you've noticed, Ish, but I'm not really in the business of that, I just... Jedi, Sith, they're natural enemies aren't they? But he... He isn't my enemy."

She switched to telepathy soon after, and reminded him that they'd already used such communication methods before. He pondered that, before nodding. I remember. I guess I more meant, how comfortable are you with that idea?

Hey, this was easier than whispering at least. And kept anyone in the apartment from potentially being woken up by their late night mutterings. Whatever else Arcturus might have said, specifically in response to Ishani's don't save him statement, fled his mind the moment the door began to turn.

Arcturus slowly sat upright, and turned his gaze toward it as Starlin appeared on the threshold. He should have said something, announced their presence, but all he could do was stare.

Ishani Dinn Starlin Rand

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Starlin entered the apartment silently, the door sliding shut behind him. Rather than turn on a light, he ignited a lighter to dispel the darkness.

He seemed older compared to when Arcturus had last seen him. An eyepatch covered his right eye, and his shaggy black hair fell limply in his face, slick with sweat. In civilian dress, he wore a black hoodie, jeans, and boots that he tried to step carefully in at the risk of waking someone.

Spotting the girl and boy sitting on the floor in front of the holo, he nodded to them, but pressed his fingers to his lips. Then he headed toward his bedroom down the short, narrow hallway. The light moved with him, casting shadows along the walls that crawled after him. He was in there for quite some time, the closed door preventing them from seeing what he was doing in there.

Ish glanced at Arc and shrugged. <Now what?>

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Starlin entered, signaled for them to be quiet, and then walked away with only the light of a lighter to illuminate his steps.

For a while Arcturus just stared after him, long after he'd gone. Then Ishani's question knocked sense back into him. I uh... I'll be right back. He leaned over, kissed her forehead, then rose up and immediately began to make his way down the hall and toward Starlin's room.

It was nothing new for him to enter, he'd seen the inside of it a thousand times, but he hesitated as he reached the closed door all the same. Then, with a soft sigh, he opened it and peered into the presumably dark space beyond. The ring upon his finger cut through that darkness.

Arcturus stepped inside, even if the boy told him not to, and allowed the door to close behind him.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin was sitting on the edge of the bed, a small box laying open beside him. He closed the box when the door opened and looked up at Arc with a slightly annoyed expression.

“It’s late,” he hissed. “I don’t wanna wake my folks up. We can talk later, or whatever you want...”

Ishani crept up behind Arc, peering around him. Starlin blinked. “Who are you?”

She glanced at Arc, then replied, “His girlfriend.”

Starlin gawked at the two of them in disbelief, then sighed in resignation. “Okay, feth it. Come on, everybody out. Let’s go.” Picking up the box, he led the way out of his room, down the hall—and out of the Rands’ apartment altogether.

Ish would go nowhere without Arc, so whether or not she followed depended on him.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He seemed irked by his presence, perhaps understandably so given that he'd just barged in on him. Arcturus had a sneaking suspicion of what lay within the box, but he didn't comment on it. Not right away at least.

In fact, he was about to turn and leave - to respect the simple request which had been given, with full intent of tracking him down tomorrow to talk - when he noticed Ishani had slipped in after him.

All of a sudden she'd become all the more bold.

That seemed to be enough to get Starlin moving again, albeit begrudgingly. Arcturus backed out of the room then followed him out of the apartment, not even bothering to stop to slip on some shoes.

Once outside he sighed.

"You look like chit, man," were the first words out of his mouth. He couldn't help himself. Though Arcturus was usually considerate, usually chose his words carefully, for whatever reason he'd be blunt in regards to Starlin. "What's this, what happened here?" he gestured toward the eyepatch, and for a moment it might honestly seem like two brothers interacting. Not supposed mortal enemies. "Worried you were getting too much attention from the ladies?"

Maybe he could have been a bit more diplomatic, a little more sensitive, about the whole thing, but beating around the bush wouldn't help anyone and they only had the one night to set things straight.

Heck, if he even could. Ishani seemed to think he couldn't.

Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Get some shoes on man, I’m not sticking around here,” Starlin said once they were in the hallway and he noticed Arc was barefoot. “I know I look like shit, I’m tryna fix that. You can come with me, if you hurry up and get dressed.”

Evidently Starlin was on a mission of some sort, for he clearly had a destination in mind. Ishani grabbed both hers and Arc’s shoes, and they (presumably) followed him into the cool night air of Coruscant.

“At Krayiss, I got in a duel with a Sith who called herself The Amalgam ,” Starlin eventually explained. “She used the Force on both my eyes. I could only resist her enough to save one of them. The other one she squashed like a grape.” Turning toward Ishani, he still seemed bewildered by her existence. “Who are you again?”

“The girlfriend,” she answered, then felt stupid.

“Is that your name?”

“Ishani.”

“Thesh and Ishani. Theshani?” Starlin grinned. “Nice. You a Sith too?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, frowning. “What’s it to you?”

“Probably nothing, if he can tolerate you.” He pointed to Arc, and his gaze lingered on the other boy. “Is she the reason why you went back? Is that what this is all about? You both gonna run away together, live happily ever after?”

After all, Arc had left without any explanation. Just there one day, gone back to the Sith the next.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

They weren't staying? Oh. Arcturus figured they'd just hang around outside where they could talk. Heading out to do something, though? Maybe he should have napped a little... Oh well, too late now. He slipped on his boots and followed Starlin out, reaching out to take Ishani's hand in hopes of comforting her some. After all this was an unexpected development.

He explained what had happened to his eye, and once again Arcturus' emotions spiked a little. "Amalgam?" he inquired, making sure he got the name right for when they inevitably returned to Korriban and he could do some digging about this eye-crusher.

"Uh, it's Arcturus now," he said, a little awkwardly in truth, "Thesh uh..." Did he even bother to say it? Heck, Ishani already knew the story. Kind of. "That was uh, a slave name. It's not me anymore, you know?"

Either way he couldn't argue that the ship name had a ring to it.

Then came the poking prodding questions, he should have expected them to be fair.

"No," he said, shifting his gaze across to the girl, "I don't even think she was my girlfriend then. Not 'til after." Hopefully she wouldn't mind him being so blunt about that. He looked back to Starlin, and gave Ishani's hand a reassuring squeeze. As for the other questions... "You'd love that, wouldn't you? Finally could claim your victory over me... Sorry to burst your bubble, pal, this is just a quick visit. Hix is gonna teach me to tat'."

A brief pause. Then he frowned.

"Where are we headed?"

Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

“The Amalgam, yeah.” Starlin snickered. “She’d eat you alive.”

Then came the revelation that Thesh was now Arcturus. “Thesh was your slave name? Bro. Are you sure you’re not breaking away from the Sith, my dude?”

Ishani made a face as Arc revealed he hadn’t considered her his girlfriend yet. But it made sense, and in a way she was grateful, because then she could also say that what happened with Dagon Kaze was not her cheating on him. Huzzah, closure!

"You'd love that, wouldn't you? Finally could claim your victory over me... Sorry to burst your bubble, pal, this is just a quick visit."

"I already won, you carrot. I defeated you on Ossus so hard, you temporarily switched teams. And all I had to do was tickle you."

No sooner had Arc asked where they were going, Starlin reached a door. "One sec." He knocked. A female Twi'lek with green skin answered, chewing gum in her mouth.

"Hey, can you tell Rhys I need my stuff now?" Starlin asked her, keeping his voice low.

The Twi'lek popped a bubble with her gum. "What happened to last week's?"

Starlin swept wet hair out of his eyes. "My mother got a hold of it, probably flushed it. Tell Rhys I'll pay extra if he can get it to me tonight."

Her eyebrows rose, but she closed the door and went to get Rhys. Starlin glanced back over his shoulder to find Ishani glaring at him with blatant suspicion. He gave her a thumbs up.

Arcturus Dinn​