Shifting Sands [Metus]

[Lunn]

Her head hurt when she woke that morning. She could blame the sun for being so bright but that would be an old excuse for the life that she lived. She'd rather blame someone rather than something for her behavior. She'd rather it not be her. She woke to the chitter of Jawa bustling around her, sand kicked in her face by shuffling feet. Slowly the girl rolled onto her side and spit up grains of sand. it was only made worse by one of the Jawa thrusting a broken data pad into her face with no warning.

Fix it. Fix. We are selling it. Fix.

The Jawa demanded. "I know full well YOU can fix it." Lunn replied yet still she took the data pad and sat up slowly. Her body ached and the chills of the coming down ran down her spine. She gathered her bag and donned her gloves. She'd work on the thing while they made their way to the market. She took a brief moment to take a hit of the Sansanna spice she had in a pendant around her neck. The effects took a moment, but the cloudy feeling engulfed her and eased her headache and cold chills.

Hours Later​

The small trade caravan had pulled into the largest open markets in Mos Eisley. The Jawa were quick to unload in their designated stall for the day. Lunn stood by the wayside. Long gone was the data pad, taken from her by the Jawa that had given it to her. She looked dazed and lost, slow to react at the biggest of things. Though there was something at the back of her mind, a pull that clawed its way through the clouded haze of a force dampening high. Instinctively her hand went to the lightsaber hilt that sat on her hip, the flagrant display of ownership, something the girl never once thought about. What it could mean to just let the world know you had something.

Her large green eyes roved the stalls, not caring much for what the merchants were selling of who they were. This all seemed familiar and not in the way that most would know. She dreamed she had been here before. Standing in this spot the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. She dreamed of a figure, a shadow and with that the pain came. A sharp spike in her head as a flood of scenarios hit her at once. Like a jumbled puzzle she couldn't fit the pieces together. She brought her hands to her head and dropped in a crouch.

Her pained scream cracked the buzz of the market.

 

[Malok]

Sleep evaded him.

Even during the most terrifying of circumstances, Darth Metus was seldom robbed of his rest. It did not matter if his enemies were at his door. It did not matter if everything was going wrong - the Sith could at least rely on himself to earn an evening's worth of shut eye. However. The past few months had been different. Despite his best efforts, the same, garbled vision forced its way into his mind each and every evening. It was always blurred. Muffled. Yet the core of his person ached upon seeing it. Glimpses of the vision always lingered when he awoke - his lost lightsaber, sand, a girl...

What did it all mean?

As time moved ever forward, the intensity of the visions skyrocketed. In some instances, he was left with the sting of tears in his eyes. In other cases, his head felt as though a hot spike had been driven clean through. The circumstances were maddening...enough so that Darth Metus recognized the Force for what it was. Providence, no matter how painful, was still divine - and the Sith knew he would need see rest until he faced the vision head on. Thus, despite Imperial occupation, he braved the sands of Tatooine, culminating with his arrival in the Mos Eisley.

Unlike his usual attire, the Sith was slashed in basic traveling garbs. A tawny hood obscured his features, and he had relied on a scruffy freighter to ferry him to the desert world. For now, he wandered about the market stalls, attempting to feel his way forward. At times, he would allow his sulfuric eyes to lull to a close so that he might try and lure out the presence of the Force. He would reach out and...

A girl. A sable skinned girl. She was here. She was-

His probing of the Force must have caused a reaction - a backlash due to his presence upon the dusty world. A cry rang out, filling his ears with the agony of a feminine voice. Darth Metus moved, urgency seeping into his bones until he came upon the young woman. Upon her knees had she fallen, with her hands clutching the sides of her head. Yet...as the Sith drew near, the pain would lessen. As if a cold compress had been placed upon a fresh burn. The Force was pushing him towards the young woman, until he knelt beside her.

"Miss," he began. "are you alright?"

His words would resonate within her core, cropping up dusty memories of a life she couldn't recall.

[member="Lunn"]

 

[Lunn]

For a moment she did not register that was even anyone near around her. She crouched low in the sand. Her hood obscured her face, but her face was wet with spilled tears. Then it eased. The sharp spike of pain in her head was nearly an afterthought. All without the high of the Spice she had grown addicted to. Lunn dropped a hand, pressing her fingers into the sand, feeling the ground beneath her feet and finger tips. She took a breath, and finally she lifted her head.

Lunn's green eyes fall on Metus as he crouched next to her. She couldn't form the words she wanted to use to address him. Her lips part but nothing came, only cottonmouth. She felt the stir of something in her mind. The unlocking of doors and sounds of children crying, sand kicked up from a ship taking off. She reached out a dirty hand, reaching out for Metus' face. To touch what she wasn't sure was really there, or was it the drug?

"Are you real?" She asks finally finding her words. She spoke barely above a whisper, her tone in disbelief. If he would allow it she wound press her finger tips against his cheeks. He was solid as could be and that only confounded the girl. "So real.." She mused to herself. After all why would any one notice her let alone care in a place like this? She was used to being ignored and being left alone.

She realizes he had asked her a question. "I'm not sure. My head hurts. It's better now. I'm better now." She says, a hint of confusion as to what could have abated the pain and the sight.

[member="Darth Metus"]​