Private Shady Streets, Shady People

[Loomi]

Shady Streets, Shady People
Coruscant, 1472
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

Loomi found herself walking the streets of Coruscant again, but not as some random amnesiac. She was a Jedi now, or at least was on the path to becoming one in full. It was... strange. She seemed to have a predetermined respect for the Order, yet the Godoan could not recall why? Perhaps the ideals of peace and justice simply spoke to her, though she really had no reason for this to be something she valued. Not that she remembered, anyways. It was all a blur. Her past seemed to be vailed by a blanket of haze and confusion, lost to the depths of her subconcious.

At least she had become pretty familiar with the undercity. That was surely valuable. After all, it was rampant with all sorts of terrible folk, smugglers and slavers alike. She disliked these kinds of people. Yet again, Loomi had no answer for why. It seemed like it was simply ingrained into her instincts. But that wasn't realistic, right? She had to have developed these traits from somewhere.

A sudden bump at her shoulder took the young Godoan out of thought. Her antennae flattened in frustration as she turned to the stranger that had bumped into her.

"Hey," Loomi frowned. "What's the big idea?"

Then, a chill ran down her spine. Something was dark. He was dark. The sudden shift in atmosphere almost immediately put Loomi on edge. She was now staring down a blue-eyed man, and a rather untrustworthy one at that. He felt untrustworthy, anyways, but his dark and brooding look wasn't doing him any favors.

Who was this guy?

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

War was coming, he could feel it.

He had fought in many battles, from the Outer Rim Conquests to the Sith Civil War, all in his early twenties. Such was the way of the Sith, they could never remain still, always moving forward in ambitions and goals to further themselves.

To break their chains.

That was why he found himself on Coruscant. The raid on Aldeeran had gone as well it could have, it had shown however the most disturbing of revelations, that the Galactic Alliance was not some boundary to be overrun. They had been fighting wars, fighting across the Galaxy for perhaps longer than the Sith had. They would be a formiddable foe, one in which each and every advantage would need to be used to overcome, be they honourable or not.

Thus it was, that he had come here again, this time with a resolute and ironclad purpose, to scount, investigate and note, to find everything of value on this planet that could be used to defend it. To bring that information back to Jutrand, to be used when the time would come, the great time.

The invasion of Coruscant itself.

He blinked as he felt himself collide with another person, a spark of annoyance whirling within him, both at whoever dared stood in front of his path, and at himself, too focused on his mind, and not enough to the physical world around him. He was about to apologise, to move past the figure and move on his way to the next target he had in mind.

But then he caught a look at her expression and froze.

Then his unconscious shadowy invisible tendrils of Consume Essence read her, though the lightsaber at her side was enough to confirm his worst fears.

A Jedi.

A bug Jedi with metal legs.

Could she sense what he was? Was he going to have to battle out of this, in the middle of Coruscant, in the purview of the New Jedi Order? That was a dangerous idea indeed, and would warn the Jedi that the Sith were within their presence, interested in Coruscant. That would not do.

Malum bowed his head before speaking, "My apologies, it seems I was lost in thought," Malum said softly, every instinct begging him to unleash his lightsabers and quickly strike her down, but indeed, he awaited, even if her expression was rather more hostile, than one would expect for bumping a random civilian, there was no clear sign that she knew who he was, and even better, there was opportunity to tide her away from such beliefs, "I am Malum of House Marrtaniel, at your service," Once again he used his cousins as cover, not many knew of the House of Marr, but those that did, would know of Darth Marr, but none knew of House Marrtaniel, allow her to think him some prideful and theatric noble.

Not a trained Sith assassin.

Loomi

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, 1472
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

Loomi was sweating bullets now. She felt very clearly the man's intent to strike. Chills ran up and down her body in the force, urging her to draw her familiar, but the young Jedi kept her composure. After all, he wasn't moving to attack yet. She had time to prepare for such a thing.

"I am Malum of House Marrtaniel, at your service,"

"At my service?" the Godoan frowned, cocking her head. "What's that mean?"

She had never heard the saying before. Was he some sort of salesman? That wouldn't explain the sudden urge to attack her. Maybe he was just a really aggressive salesman. Yeah, that made sense. It really didn't, but she was struggling to rationalize such a thing in her head. The threat of a strike and her own scattered mind made it real hard for her to think straight. Maybe she'd just play out a casual conversation, let the man be on his way, and then inform the council about what she felt.

Simple.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Malum blinked.

Then blinked again.

No, no, her words did not make any more sense.

"I-" He was stumped, how exactly was he meant to explain that turn of phrase? Hell, why was she asking it, anyone, that knew Galactic basic should know what that phrase meant, even those poor, even those uneducated should know. Looking at her up and down, she did not exactly seem like either, indeed she was a Jedi, they would not just let her out on her own without some knowledge, and a Jedi could not exactly be called poor.

There was enough wealth in their temple to feed a few planets, at least.

He realised that he had been standing there just staring at her for a non-trivial amount of time, a rather awkward silence descending upon them as the denizens of Coruscant, as was theirs won't, walked past quickly and uncaringly.

"It um... it is a polite way to introduce yourself to someone, informing them that they will be able to help you, if possible." Why was he explaining this, he had no idea, she likely had just been confused by something else, not something as trivial as this.

He only hoped that she was not offended by him explaining such a thing, if she tried to storm off, he would certainly need to stop her.

Violently.

Loomi

 

[Loomi]

Coruscant, 1472
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

"It um... it is a polite way to introduce yourself to someone, informing them that they will be able to help you, if possible."

"That seems strange," Loomi shrugged. "Like, offering help to someone when first meeting them self very situational."

It was a bizarre saying, and Loomi couldn't quite wrap her head around it. Well, that and she wanted to stall. If he lost interest, perhaps he would just leave her alone. The Godoan much preferred that option, so she'd indulge her curiosity a bit longer.

"It seems like it's specifically for selling a product," she added, "I don't know where offering services would naturally lead otherwise. Maybe informing a stranger that you can provide them aid in random passing is an impractical greeting."

Unfortunately, the man's desire to strike her down didn't go away. She was well prepared to make a break for it should he lash out. Loomi was very certain that she was faster. Her mechanical legs and application of force speed were certainly notable, and her general tracking skills gave her more prescience when traversing urban environments. Along side that, the foundations of the Jedi Temple were not too far. She should have the home-field advantage, right?

That's what she hoped, anyways.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Wha-

What?

Every word that came out of the half-mechanical bug's mouth confused him more and more, indeed she seemed a contradiction to the very idea that exposure to certain phenomena would lead to a superior understanding of it. Of course, that process applied more to natural and abiotic phenomena, and Bogan knew he was far from the best contender when it came to social scenarios.

But come on, this girl was on another level.

It was enough to make him wonder, truly consider, was this really a Jedi?

At the beginning the very idea that she was not was lunacy. He sensed the light seeming to bleed out of her, almost boom out of her in such a way that only another force user could feel, indeed, it was a miracle that he had been so distracted that he had not spotted her before.

Though... not necessarily. It was Coruscant, and especially here such a thing might mean that in every 99 out of 100 occurrences, it was a Jedi, but it still left that one occurrence. That occurrence so rare it was not even worth considering, but an occurrence that statistically was still possible.

This was simply a lightsider, one that was opposite of him in alignment with the Force but was still free from the chains of the Jedi. That might explain so many things, why he felt her presence so clearly, but why she was so... odd. Now Jedi in his books were plenty odd, but in an avoid at all costs sort of odd, not a... confusing odd.

Maybe he could still talk himself out of this then.

Still, something at the back of his mind whispered caution, that his conclusions may still be wrong.

It was a possibility that he was keenly aware of.

He held his hands up in mock surrender, "Well, I can tell you plainly that I do not intend to sell you anything, and I will admit I had never considered that it was an odd phrase," There was an opportunity here he supposed, to learn the truth of the warring thoughts in his mind, "I imagine that it was simply a turn of phrase, an offer of aid is no doubt friendly, the expectation is simply that the offer is not taken up," He offered a smile that did not quite reach his eyes, "So tell me, what business do you have in the undercity, I must admit, I did not expect to find a Jedi, is something the matter?" It was crass, it was unsubtle, but it was simple, a denial or acceptance of the title would decide everything.

Loomi

(OOC: Much sorry for the wait).