Road Home

[Talus Morid]

Corellia - Inner City
@Dumb Starberry Lite ([member="Yula Perl"])

Talus ran as fast as he could, the rain whipping at his skin and water splashing from puddle after puddle as he rushed through the city streets.

The sights and sounds of the city all around him were about as unfamiliar as could be. Speeders, casinos, crowds of people and restaurants all seemed to add to it, bringing a distinct song that was not only unpleasant to Talus, but downright painful. He was used to the calm of the wilds, the call of beasts and the sounds of nature. This? This was a nightmare. It threw off his sense of direction, it made his heart race and his nerves stand on edge.

That was why he’d struck out against those officers. It was why he hadn't patiently lied his way through the exchange once they'd spotted his saber.

Hed done it before, passed himself off as a Jedi to authorities. This time though, this time impatience had gotten the better of him. The officers had asked one too many questions, had poked him just enough. Talus had lost controlled, slaughtered one of them and left the other bleeding on the floor. It had predictably set off a chain reaction, and now he was like a trapped Nexu in a maze, running as fast as he could.

I'm the distance he could hear sirens, they were coming closer and closer.

A growl escaped him as he quickly cut a corner and moved into a small alleyway. Half a dozen people stood within, some talking to each other and some just seeking shelter beneath small overhangs located on the inside of the alleyway. Talus rushed passed all of them, pushing them aside as he sprinted to the end of the small alcove and vaulted over a fence located there. He landed on the other side, glancing back just long enough to see a police speeder cruise by.

Another curse escaped him, then he continued his run.

He needed something to stop this, a way that would get him off world.

 

[Yula Perl]

“Mm.” The good thing about McYoda’s, aside from their cheap food, was the fact that they seemed to be present on almost every street corner of every planet.

Yula was enjoying her evening, noises of the urban sprawl nothing more than background noise to her. Growing up on Zeltros, they were more comforting than smothering. Even if she wouldn’t admit it. The McYoda’s was another side effect of that, but with a Zeltron’s metabolism it had hardly mattered. Yula only had one liver to rely on but it hadn’t seemed to make much of a difference. Give it a decade or so.


She’d be heading back there soon, actually. The spaceport wasn’t far off now and Yula took her time getting there, meandering in the rain and finishing off her bantha burger. The sirens bouncing off of the buildings and the rapid footsteps in the rain barely registered to her.

Until they drew closer to her—the footsteps, that was. Closer and closer until she turned and—wham.

The stranger had done a little more than clip her, enough to knock the young woman flat onto her butt. In a puddle no less.

In an instant, the tranquility drained from her features and was replaced with rapid-time frustration and anger. Her hand curled around the umbrella handle she’d dropped as she growled lowly through clenched teeth. “Watch where you’re going!” The umbrella went airborne, hurled in a wide arc at her unintentional assailant.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Talus knocked his shoulder against the woman, his entire body half spinning as he found himself stumbling and nearly falling over into the muck.

No curse came from his lip, but as he half swiveled around and saw the woman on the floor his face was one of sheer rage. He didn't have time for this! He didn't have time for silly little girls in the rain. Lips thinned and fingers tightened into a white knuckle grip. The force built within him in an instant, a deep and sudden spike of the darkside that would echo and ripple like a pond struck by a rock. The echoes flowed as the power flowed into him, tightening his skin and giving his eyes a pale glow.

Then the umbrella came. The small piece of metal, plastic, and whatever the hell else umbrellas were made of struck his chest lengthwise. It bounced off of him, clattering onto the floor and crashing into the muk. The Kiffari blinked for a second, caught almost...confounded.

There was a pause, half a second of hesitation as he met the girls eyes.

Talus felt no pity, no remorse for what he was about to do, but an idea dawned on him. The sirens still rang in the distance, but of the song that seemed to permeate this world at every moment. They were looking for him, hunting him. There was no way to stop them, but there was a way to hold them at bay. There was a way to bargain.

Men like the ones chasing him were foolish, small minded.

He knew their weakness.

The force that had built within his hand suddenly ebbed away, instead surging through the rest of his body. Like a viper he struck out, reaching towards the girl and attempting to grab the throat. His grasp, if she didn't move, would drag her from her rear and into the air, her face right against his forehead.

 

[Yula Perl]

The surge of Force coiled around Yula’s neck so tightly, violently ripping her to her feet before she even knew what was happening. The hybrid was no stranger to the Force and its basic uses, having trained with her mother and brother. This was her first time coming into contact with one who used the Darker side of the Force. It hadn’t been apparent when he’d bumped into her, but now that his focus was on her she could feel how he was different.

It wasn’t like her mother. Or Alan. Or any other Force user she’d met before—granted they’d all either been Jedi or family friends. She’d been cautioned again and again against use contact with the Dark side but she’d never known what it felt like to sense it in someone else. Gradually she began to think that it was something much harder to suss out.

Yula gasped as the young man dragged her forward, hands instinctively reaching at her throat as if to pull the invisible force away. She choked and nearly gagged, nostrils flaring in both desperation for breath and anger. And then her face was against his, startlingly so and enough to make her blush briefly at the contact. The Force surged at her core and she channeled it into her upper limbs, out and away.

Both scared and angry, she flung her hands out towards his chest with a push of the Force, hoping it would be enough to cause his grip to falter.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

It was.

The sudden push came as an unexpected assault and Talus suddenly found himself thrown back violently. The young man went sailing through the air, half crashing against the alleyway wall behind him and letting out a muted 'oof' as he struck the duracrete.

His face was a mixture of bewilderment and anger.

The Kiffar hadn't expected the girl to be a force user. His anger spiked, his eyes flared. Rage boiled within him, simmering slowly inside as the darkside flooded into him once more. His expression stayed neutral, but his gaze quickly flicked towards the end of the alleyway. He could still hear the ring of the sirens in the distance, the call that would see him thrown into prison and unable to return home. Talus scowled, then stepped forward and away from the wall.

He had no idea who this girl was, but he knew what she could be; valuable.

She was no Sith, and that meant Jedi. Jedi were powerful trinkets in this part of the galaxy, and if he caught her he could use her to bargain his way off world. The edge of his lip curled slightly, his palm raised, and then an odd searing red glow enveloped the edge of his fingers. The rain seemed to boil and steam as it came into contact with the odd aura, flaring every time it touched his palm. If Yula looked closely she would see his own skin underneath constantly burning and regrowing, an odd sort of fight.

A breath passed, and then Talus dashed forward, striking towards the womans stomach.

 

[Yula Perl]

First fight, then flight. As Yula’s push had sent her assailant careening away from her, the young woman found herself scrambling upwards and away from the alley.

The rain certainly made things trickier given how it made the streets slicker but she'd managed to get a few strides in before he'd struck her in in the back as she retreated. Yula had been in her fair share of scraps before so she knew what hand to hand combat felt like and this was...something different. Something worse that brought a searing pain along with a the deep ache that the blunt force imparted.

Her body fell to the ground and seized for a few moments before going limp. The sheer instinct to get out of this conflict gave her enough resolve to torque her hips violent, one leg shooting straight up as she turned in order to catch him in the face or chin.

"What do you want with me?!"

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Her foot went bashing into his face, a near silent crack ringing out as the bone in his nose bent and then subsequently snapped.

Pain shot through him and blood spilled down either side of his face, but before she could move her leg back down onto the ground Talus did his best to try and grab her ankle. The odd burning mist that surrounded his palm still flailing around his skin. It would burn and sear her flesh as much as it did his own, it's only purpose to cause as much pain as possible.

That was all his power did.

There was no creation from it, only destruction.

Yula would receive no answer from Talus of course. He had no time to waste on the tizzy of a girl, not more than he already had anyway. She was a bargaining chip, something to be caught and handed over to the authorities in exchange for his passage off this world. He just needed to silence her, and that was what came next.

As soon as he caught her foot, or if he caught her foot, he would drag her across the floor back towards him and then strike her in the throat. Hopefully incapacitating her long enough to bind her with scraps of his worn robe.

 

[Yula Perl]

There wasn’t any time for Yula to appreciate the fact that she’d broken her nose—the only indication that she’d done any damage was the blood pouring out of his nostrils. That area bled easily, anyhow. The crack of the bone had been dampened by the sound of rain so she couldn’t hear it and he hadn’t made any verbalization of pain.

She however, hissed in pain as the flesh around her ankle sizzled in his grasp. It was never good to be on the ground in a fight unless you were leagues above your opponent. Moreover, while Yula wasn’t a small person by Zeltron standards, she was the smaller of the two. Her problem that he was keeping her down.

The strange boy dragged her on her back by the searing grasp on her ankle and struck for her throat. Yula tried in inhale sharply on reflex, the strike leaving her winded but she still had both hands free. As soon as he struck her in the throat, she grabbed his wrist with both hands and turned it sharply.

As uncomfortable as she was, her teeth were grit in an angry scowl and her adrenaline was pumping.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

There was a loud snap of bone followed by what could only be described as a yelp, as if a dog had just had it's tail stepped on. An expression of mixed pain and extreme rage crossed his features, the hand that had punched at her throat suddenly going entirely limp and useless, fingers slumping in an instant as agony shot up his arm.

He lost his footing next.

The pressure of his fist against her neck had been what steadied him, with that gone his weight and momentum carried him forward off of his feet. The hand that had been grabbing and burning her leg suddenly flared, the odd reddish light dying in an instant as his concentration was utterly lost. Surprise bloomed on his face, and then he fell.

His fingers tightened on her leg, holding on to her to desperately try to maintain some kind of control.

With a half flailing broken wrist Talus tumbled on top of the girl.

 

[Yula Perl]

A sharp exhale left her throat as Talus was suddenly on top of her. Her cheeks would have likely flared at any other time, but right now Yula was too engrossed in trying to get away from this guy. She hadn’t expected him to lose his footing and he was heavier than she’d imagined. Effectivley, she was pinned beneath him as they fought for control of the situation.

Though the awful burning sensation at her leg had dissipated, the damage was still very much done as he’d seared down to the muscle. If she managed to get away, she’d be much slower.

Without wasting much time, Yula spat in his face and went in for the headbutt, forehead aimed at his broken nose. The recoil, if she’d hit him, was enough to make stars explode behind her eyes. It was a risky move and all together stupid, but knocking him out seemed to be her only chance to get away.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Talus recoiled slightly as the spit landed directly in his face, moving just enough so that her forehead didn't impact the bridge of his nose, but instead smashed directly into his mouth.

Pain lanced through his face, and the taste of blood flooded into his mouth almost instantly. His eyes bulged and he couldn't help but drool a little, blood falling down his lip and likely landing somewhere on Yula's clothes. The strike to his head caused a lull in his action, and he felt dizzy. Pain shot form his broken wrist, his nose, and now his lips. Tongue gently probed forward, something he had no real time for, and he felt one of his teeth suddenly slide from it's place.

Despite all that. Despite the pain, the anger, he smiled a wide smile. His tooth fell out as he did, blood and spit falling from the corners of his mouth.

Desperately he tried pulling himself back and off the girl, a difficult task as his legs barely found any ground beneath him. He stumbled and half fell, vision blurring as the sirens began to draw closer and closer with each passing second.

 

[Yula Perl]

While she hadn’t knocked him out as she’d hoped, her forehead did manage to smash against his mouth. The impact caused her vision to shift in recoil and for a few moments, she lost consciousness and her body went slack. Yula came to suddenly, and when she did the first thing she saw was the man grinning above her, his expression made even more eerie with the blood and spit lining the corners of his lips.

His tooth landed on her cheek and she blinked. Adrenaline spiked again as he scrambled off of her and she moved to try and put some distance between them but with her vision swimming and her ankle seared into non-function, standing was difficult.

The sirens wailing didn’t register to her as she figured they were meant for something else, not this alleyway fight. She couldn’t put two and two together.

Unable to stand properly, her fingers curled around the chain link fence lining part of the alley and she hoisted herself up, balancing on her good leg. Resting against the fence, she exhaled slowly and pooled all of her concentration on drawing the Force to her and extending it through her free hand in an attempt to slow, or even stun her assailant's movement.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

A sudden link of chains embedded within his skin, small spikes that stabbed into his nerves and joints. He felt himself slow.

His heart, his breath, every time he tried to move his fingers they seemed crawl in their flex. His eyes bulged for a moment as confusion dawned on him, Talus' gaze drifting to his palms for just a moment as he tried to understand. A second passed, and then pale yellow floated towards the girl. He saw her outstretched hands, the slight curl of her fingers, and then he knew. His lips twitched in displeasure, he tried to speak but found his tongue half frozen.

An odd sort of gurgle escaped his throat, as if he were attempting to speak but couldn't quite make the sound of words. He wanted to roar, he wanted to scream. The rage he felt seemed to seize on the power that he had called earlier, grasping it and pulling more of it in his body.

This time there was no odd sizzle, but instead tiny sparks of dark purple running across his fingers. A guttural rasp escaped his lips, blood spilling down his chin as he spoke for the first time in their little encounter. "Release...me..."

The two words were forced, the sparks on his hand growing larger.

 

[Yula Perl]

The sparks dancing across his hand were unlike anything she’d seen before, sizzling in the rain. She didn’t need empathy to know what was on his mind, rage clear on the man’s face.

So much hatred. She thought to herself. Yula couldn’t imagine living like that.

“No.” She ground out, irritation tinging her stern voice. “Why…” The young woman paused, breathing deeply for a moment as she gathered herself through the pain which had pulsed particularly viscerally through her body. “What do you want?”

Her words were forceful as equal parts fear, desperation and anger swirled in her mind and gave influence to her actions.

She wasn't sure what her next move was.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

"Release..." Speaking pained him. It was like he had to force every single word word from his mouth. The words didn't flow like they were supposed to, instead they were spat out in disgust. Talus wanted to twist his face into a roar, he wanted to scream, but it was too much effort. "Me."

It was the only answer she would receive.

A bright spark of dark purple lanced from his hand and onto the floor, bursting through the rain drops and jumping to one of the larger puddles that had formed within the alleyway. The lightning jumped and lanced for a moment, crackling through the puddle as the energy continued to build within his arm.

His skin began to burn, small trails of black leading along his veins and burning into him.

Pale yellow eyes locked on the girl, filled with hate and naught but a desire to eviscerate.

 

[Yula Perl]

No.

She didn’t voice the thought but she didn’t need to, not through gritted teeth and an expression of ire. Instead of wavering, she locked onto the man harder, every ounce of her concentration clamping down on his muscles, trying to restrict his movement as much as she possibly could.

The dark lightning sparking around his hand hadn’t escaped her notice but it hadn’t exactly been at the forefront of her mind, either. The rain was to her disadvantage again as a small discharge of electricity leapt from his hand to a nearby puddle, traveling through the drops of trickles until it struck her.

It was no deadly blast but it was enough to cause her to seize, releasing her grip on both him and the fence. One brief convulsion later and she was on the ground, face down in a puddle as the rain picked up and she drifted into unconsciousness.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Almost immediately all of the tension within his body seemed to drain away. The strain against his muscles, the constant force that he'd needed to exert even to move his tongue, all of it was gone as the girl collapsed onto the ground in a quiet thud. There was a slight splash of water as she fell into the puddle, Talus watching as the water washed over her.

His chest rose and fell steadily, the bright sparks of deep purple ceased, smoke rising from his palm. Lines of black etched along his skin, cutting deep into his flesh and leaving behind permanent scars. For a moment he inspected his palm, scowling slightly. Within his paralysis he had been unable to properly direct the lightning. Instead of flicking out towards the girl it had clawed and grasped at whatever it could, first that had been him, and then the water surrounding them.

Talus' fingers curled slowly, the Kiffar finding difficulty in the act.

He scowled, then slowly stepped over towards the girl. He moved cautiously, not wanting to get kicked in the face again. Before he reached her Talus spat on the ground, a tooth clanking against metal somewhere as blood and saliva landed on the ground. He squatted beside her for a moment, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her head up before letting it go. When her forehead thunked against the duracrete he nodded. "Dziaronira."

The Sith swore, tearing off a strip of her clothing and using it to tie her hands behind her back.

The sirens were getting closer now, it was time to go.

 

[Yula Perl]

Blink.

It took a few moments, then a few more for Yula to remember what had happened. She was on Corellia and had been on her way to a terminal when it started to rain. Thankfully she’d remembered her umbrella, but only a short while later she’d collided with an oddly dressed boy they crossed paths unpleasantly. He’d been surging away from the sound of sirens and for some reason unbeknownst to her, stopped.

The details of the fight were largely lost on her and slowly she began to remember the struggle while registering her surroundings. She was wet, her hair was wet from rain and her clothes were soaked, torn and blood stained. She looked down in bewilderment, wondering how she became so disheveled before her gazed wandered over to the only other figure in the room. It was a warehouse, dingy and dilapidated without electricity. Standing near the window was the young man who’d electrocuted her earlier in the alleyway.

Having been tossed unceremoniously in the corner, she made haste to rise but found a few things holding her back. Her ankle pulsed painfully and she yelped, thudding back onto her bottom as she struggled with the restraints binding her hands behind her back. Only now becoming aware of them, she growled.

“Funny place for a first date.”

Her heart was pounding rapidly. She had to find her way out of this.

[member="Talus Morid"]

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Yula Perl"]

Talus quietly peered out the half boarded up window. A small gap within the wood allowed him to see the streets beyond, disheveled and broken as they were. This area of Corellia hadn't quite managed to recover from the Breaking all those years ago. While many other sections of the planet had been rebuilt and reconstructed there were still a few sections that the government hadn't quite gotten to yet.

It was fortunate for Talus. The lack of reconstruction meant less surveillance, more chaos, and less of a police response. The sirens could still be heard echoing all around them of course, police speeders cruising all around as they did a building by building search of the area. They had seen him more than once while rushing through the district, though they had of course been unable to capture him. Either way they had to know there was someone else with them.

Unless they were entirely incompetent.

He heard the girl crash against the floor as she tried to stand up, his expression remaining neutral as he gave the outside one last glimpse and then turned on his heel. She spoke loudly, her voice echoing within the empty warehouse. The Kiffar perked an eyebrow at her comment, though didn't reply as he stalked back over towards her.

The closer he got the more she would be able to see the damage that she'd done to him. There was a large bruise half covering his nose, blood still stained his face, and his right arm was blackened and burned in an intricate disjointed pattern.

 

[Yula Perl]

Maybe it was because he was larger than her, maybe because she was currently on the ground, maybe because she was bound in a strange place with a strange man, but Yula fought to keep from shrinking back as he approached her.

Was she scared? Of course she was. Yula wasn’t that stupid, nor was she that overzealous. Spontaneous and a little too confident? That was her. But she hadn’t been able to muscle her way out of this situation which meant that right now, she was at a disadvantage.

“What do you want? Credits?” Maybe he was holding her for ransom. It wouldn’t be too far out of the realm of possibilities given that her mother was wealthy but…he didn’t look like the type to know about those sorts of things. Not with his tribal get-up.

Maybe he worked for someone. Maybe he was waiting for a hand-off right now. Maybe she was going to be sold as a slave.

Her gut twisted at that thought at the same time she studied his face. Bloodied and bruised, she felt a bit of fleeting pride. But in the end, she was just as bad and she had lost. Her neck and abdomen were bruised heavily where he had struck her, one of her ankles was painfully seared from his grip and the other leg had a reddened fractal pattern from where the lightning had first made contact. A small trail of blood dribbled from her forehead to the side of her cheek and down to her chin from where he’d let her head fall against the duracrete to ensure that she was unconscious.

[member="Talus Morid"]