Private Squatters' Rights

[Starlin Rand]

He really shouldn’t have come back.

His old neighborhood hadn’t changed. There was nothing foreboding about walking the same streets he had for years. Children still played on the corners while adults sat on the stoops by their front doors, people-watching the passerby.

Worse things lurked in the shadows of alleyways. Drug dealers and the junkies they supplied. Muggers waiting to shake somebody down. Gangsters and thugs warring for territory.

But no assassin droids. At least, not since last month.

Starlin reached the apartment complex. He didn’t hesitate to enter, taking the lift up. The lights didn’t go out, the elevator didn’t suddenly plummet down the shaft, nanites or poisonous gas didn’t pour through the ventilation grate. He exited on the floor he had once lived on, and nothing tried to murder him as he strolled down the hall to the door of his mother’s old apartment.

Starlin had returned to retrieve an item of sentimental value: his harmonica. The apartment was technically still “hot” so to speak, even though a month had passed since a certain mysterious woman warned him about the trap that lay in wait for him when he got home. But Starlin wanted that harmonica, and if he had to murder the shit out of an assassin droid sent to kill him…

At the swipe of a keycard, the lock clicked, and Starlin slowly eased it open, peering inside.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Denon was now a no-go-zone. Korriban was off the table. Bastion too. There was nowhere else in the Galaxy he knew as home, and the blasted ring wouldn't do its thing and yeet him back into the Nether, so he did the only sensible thing he could. Arcturus fled on the first Coruscant-bound ship he could find, and never once looked back. Most of his wares and projects lay scattered in some dirty alleyway, but he'd salvaged some of it. Most importantly the plants and golems. The rest? Now he knew how to make his creations he could work on more.​

​

His life was worth years of work.​

​

But Coruscant wasn't as welcoming as it had been last time. He'd made his way to the residence of one Jen Rand only to find it devoid of life. Belongings still lay scattered there, Starlin's room was still made up, but outside of that he could tell that nobody had been inside in weeks. That left him concerned... Had something happened?​

​

After scouting out the place and finding there was nothing of any real danger going on, he decided to bunker down all the same and hope that one of the Rands would return. With any luck the Sithspawn wasn't going to be able to track him here, it wasn't as though Arcturus had left much of a trail. He didn't travel with his given name anymore, to the Galaxy he wasn't Arcturus Thesh... And he preferred it that way. Arcturus Thesh had disappeared with the dissolution of the Sith Eternal.​

​

He hadn't messed with anything in the house beyond taking out some of the rotting food still left in the fridge. Everything was as they had left it in so far as he could ensure that and still survive. Every now and then Nwit would head out to find him something to eat, usually swiping from a street vendor. He was so small they didn't even notice, and it wasn't as though Arcturus ate a lot these days.​

​

Several days had passed without any sign of another, until one day the apartment door began to open... Unsure of whether it was the residents or whatever had caused their departure, he slowly eased his dagger out of its sheath and watched the door like a hawk.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Easing the door open, Starlin scanned his immediate surroundings. Everything appeared to be as they had left it that night.

He stepped over the threshold and slowly shut the door behind him. On the way there, he’d worn a black hoodie; now he tugged the hood down and ran a hand through his curls. Heaving a sigh of relief, he turned toward his bedroom and jumped.

“AH!” he yelped. “What the fuck?!”

He blinked rapidly, leaning forward to peer at Arcturus. It was really him. He looked a little crusty, and somehow even skinnier and paler than he'd been when Starlin first met him, but it was indeed the one and only Arcturus Thesh.

“...Thesh?” he whispered. “I mean, uh—Arcturus?” He looked around again, half expecting more old frienemies to suddenly emerge from the woodwork. Nobody else appeared. His gaze flicked back to Arc. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit suspicious, given their history, but if this was another assassination attempt, it had a pretty shoddy setup. No, something else was going on here.

“What are you doing here, man?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

His adrenaline had barely spiked, but even so the only noise he could hear for a solid moment was that of his thumping heart as he waited in anticipation to discover who it was. That moment felt as though it stretched on for an eternity, until the figure lowered their hood and revealed curls he hadn't seen in quite some time. Curls which carefully hid antennapalps.​

​

Starlin.​

​

The immediate relief he felt, as he lowered the dagger back into its sheath, was quickly shot through by the cry of surprise which left the Jedi's mouth upon seeing someone in his mother's home who wasn't supposed to be there. He stared back at Starlin who stared at him, and the pair processed their shock individually before either said another word.​

​

"Hey, Starlin," he began, after the Jedi addressed him with a confused and curious tone. Suspicion rose upon the boys face, which left Arcturus wondering all the more why it was the home had been abandoned. Did he think Arc was here with nefarious intentions? He'd be lying if he was to claim that didn't pain him, after all he'd hoped their previous run in had shown Arcturus' true nature despite his supposed affiliations.​

​

"I didn't know where else to go," he confessed, with a hushed and almost breathless tone. Part of him didn't want to admit as much, to seem weak and feeble, but anything else would have been a lie, and you didn't spout lies to your kin... However strange that kinship may have been. "I just remembered Jen said I could come back, if I ever needed to, and... I didn't know where else to go."​

​

He gulped down some of his doubts, and then glanced around the apartment.​

​

"Is... Is she okay?"​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Arcturus babbled out a vague answer to Starlin’s question. It definitely looked and sounded like the acolyte was in some kind of trouble again, though he offered no clues as to what the situation was.

“Yeah, yeah she’s fine,” he reassured Arc, half-smirking. “But she ain’t here. How long have you been squatting at my mother’s place? Does anyone else know you’re here?”

He started searching the apartment, walking from room to room, checking to see if there was anyone else around, still asking questions and listening to Arc's answers as he went.

“I heard that you up and disappeared right before Korriban got hit. Big disappointment for me, 'cause I was looking forward to a rematch with you. So what was up with that? Where have you been all this time?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Hearing that Jen was fine was a relief, a real weight off his shoulder, so much so that he audibly sighed when Starlin gave him that news. Had something happened to her, then Arcturus would simply have had to hunt down whomever it was... Regardless of affiliation. Jen Rand was a kind woman, she didn't deserve anything bad happening to her. Which begged the question of why she wasn't here.​

​

"No one's been here," he stated, as though reading Starlin's mind as the Jedi began to go from room to room in search of something or someone. "I arrived a few days back. A week at most..." He couldn't recall exactly how long. His brain wasn't fully wired back into Realspace, his sleep schedule was shot, but frankly he'd felt the most safe here than he had in a long time. As though he could finally relax. He didn't need to be on high alert all the time.​

​

Evidently letting his guard down might have been a mistake though.​

​

"It wasn't intentional," he stated, turning to follow after Starlin so that they could keep up their conversation. It was a weird reunion in truth. "I uh... I got pulled away. To uh..." He wondered if he ought to be honest about it. Starlin was a Jedi, sure, and he felt like Jedi probably didn't like the idea of people traversing the Nether. But he'd never seemed overly judgmental in truth. "I was pulled into the Nether."​

​

Arcturus whetted his lips, which were cracked and painful given his poor nutrition as of late. "It was difficult, finding a rift out." He failed to mention the fact that for a while there he didn't even want to find a way out.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"I arrived a few days back. A week at most..."

“Damn, I’m surprised you lasted that long,” Starlin murmured, checking the final room. No murderbots. “The reason why we left is because I got a tip from this really hot, really mysterious redhead spy lady, who told me an assassin had set up a trap for me here. Y’see, I pissed off this ratchet Sith named Darth Xiphos—you might’ve heard of her, she’s a galactic terrorist with a bounty on her head in most territories—and she’s very vindictive, so she’s basically hell-bent on murdering me until I’m dead. She also has her own droid army that she’s designed and manufactured thousands of, including these scary-ass nanite droids specifically made to assassinate her enemies...”

At the mention of the Nether, Starlin turned to face Arc and immediately cringed. Ew look at his lips, gross. “You need to drink more water, man. And maybe take some gummy vitamins or something. Also, sorry to hear that, sounds shitty.” He’d never actually been to the Netherworld before, though he heard it was all the rage with the kids these days.

He scratched his head. “I hate to ruin your little party at my mom’s place, but it’s not safe here. So, uh, get your stuff together and I’ll take you wherever you want to go. I mean, I guess I’ll give you some options to choose from...?”

Right at that moment, the wall suddenly burst open. Amid the hailstorm of white plaster there emerged a droid. It was shaped like a woman, but as it stomped into the room from inside the wall it had been holed up in, its arms fused into two very sharp metallic blades.

Starlin groaned at the sight of her. "Aw, son of a—"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

So Jen had been in danger. Or was. But mostly because Starlin was.​

​

Arcturus frowned. The woman in question was not someone he recognized, though he realized that quite a bit of time had passed while he was away, more than had passed in the Nether for sure. Different figures rose and fell within the Galactic game, new players entered the ring constantly, and truth be told Arc wasn't ever one to keep up with such anyway. He focused on his own life, his own needs, his own projects, and left the rest of the Galaxy to its own devices.​

​

"I'm sorry your family has had to flee," he said with a frown, sincerity in his tone. Was that why Starlin was here now? Was he picking up items to take back to his mother? He supposed it wasn't his place to pry, so he didn't question it. At least it made sense of why Starlin was investigating each room though.​

​

His chiding of Arcturus' poor health habits wasn't unappreciated, even if the boy grimaced at being called out. "I'm working on it, I'm working on it," he assured him, though his tone wasn't all that exasperated. If anything he was just hoping to keep Starlin from worrying. He didn't say any more on the Nether.​

​

Starlin informed him then that he couldn't stay here at the Rand residence, which was a worry he'd felt since he'd seen the Jedi enter. If not here, then where? Arcturus didn't rightly know. Where was anyone he once knew? Where was safe? If not here, then where?​

​

He supposed that wasn't something to concern Starlin with. Arcturus would figure it out, he always did..​

​

"Oh... Okay. Yeah, I'll get my things." There weren't a great many things, truth be told, and even as he said it his little golems began to grab what few possessions he still owned. They didn't have long though, in fact Starlin hadn't even finished explaining - or even really started - his options when the drywall burst open to reveal an assassin droid.​

​

Had it been waiting specifically for Starlin to return?​

​

"Kriff..."​

​

Arcturus called his lightsaber into his hand from one of the counters, and ignited it in a blaze of red light. If the damned droid wanted Starlin, she'd have to get through him first.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Utterly focused on her target, the assassin droid ignored Arcturus’ presence altogether and struck at Starlin. He raised his right fist, three phrik blades emerging from his knuckles to parry her swords.

“Lightsabers ain’t gonna cut it!” Starlin shouted to Arc, still fighting with only his claws. “Do you have—cryo or—acid on you, any chance—?”

The droid continued to slash and stab at him. As he narrowly avoided getting beheaded, Starlin let loose a Force-enhanced scream. The sonic waves blasted her backwards, her nanite “flesh” warping and losing its shape. She appeared stunned for the moment, but was rapidly beginning to reform…

“Or we could run, that’s always an option!” Starlin exclaimed, beckoning Arcturus toward the door.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The droid didn't give two feths about him, in fact he'd argue it was actively avoiding him. It must have been programmed only to eradicate Starlin then, though perhaps if Arcturus directly engaged with it that would change. It had to have some sort of built in survival instincts, surely?​

​

Mention was made of ice and acid, and the boy was perplexed as to why such would even be asked. Of course he didn't have either of those things. Why would he have either of those things? And yet even as he pondered on that Nwit approached him and held aloft one of the few vials which hadn't been smashed back on Denon, apparently reading his mind. That was how the golem was powered, after all, it acted upon the whims and needs of its Master.​

​

It just happened to be that Nwit accessed his subconsciousness too, and knew exactly what he needed and more importantly where to find it.​

​

As such the Lorrdian swiftly removed the stopper, and pulled a long strand of acid from within with the Force. It sprayed out toward the droid in a controlled arc, careful not to get any of it on either of the boys. It was potent, after all, having been extracted from an adult terentatek back on Korriban. Starlin mused aloud whether or not they ought to run, but he couldn't help but wonder what good that would do long term. The droid would just hunt him down again, or worse his mother...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin did a double-take as Arcturus actually produced a vial of acid and unleashed it on the droid. The thought then crossed his mind that it wouldn’t be enough—but the gynoid’s reforming body started to tarnish, then melt. It made a horrific shrieking noise that was probably going to haunt Starlin’s dreams before it ultimately dissolved into a puddle of bubbling slag.

“Oh,” he muttered, grimacing. The stuff reeked. Pinching his nose with his non-clawed hand, he turned to Arc. “I can’t believe you actually had acid just lying around.”

The puddle of goo gurgled, and Starlin nearly jumped out of his skin. But it was only the last gasp of the dying nanites. To his shock, it looked like the stuff was starting to burn through the floor as well.

“Damn!” He started to back away toward the door. “Better call the landlord. That stuff is strong!”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He hadn't expected it to work quite so flawlessly.​

​

In fact, Arcturus stood there gawping like a codfish on a hook as the droid fizzled away into a disgusting pile of goop that quite frankly stank to high heavens. Enough to make him gag, in fact. Revolting... Truly revolting. The ground beneath it began to burn away too, before he waved a hand and tried to redirect as much of it as he could back into the vial, similarly to the way in which he had coaxed it out in the first place. It wasn't perfect, after all much of it had seeped into the ground and more into the droid, but he was able to retrieve some.​

​

The poor floor was a mess though wasn't it? He grimaced.​

​

"Sorry..." he retorted rather sheepishly. After a moment he realized that Starlin was probably looking for an explanation as to why the feth he was carrying around such strong acid with himself. "Harvested from a terentatek," he explained, carefully glossing over the fact that he'd also extracted venom from it at the time. "It was already dead," came his quick addendum, as though that in any way made it better.​

​

Well for Arc at least it did.​

​

"I'd say I'd pay for the damages, but uh... Flat broke. An IOU?"​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Terentatek? Aren’t those the big Sith monsters with the teeth and the claws? I didn’t know they had acid, let alone acid that bad.” He whistled, then coughed. “Ugh, it stinks so bad. My eyes are watering. Let’s go, before I puke…”

He ushered Arc out of the apartment, remembering belatedly what he had come here for in the first place. Hurrying back to his bedroom, he leaped inside, fists up, ready to fight any more droids that might come bursting through the walls. When nothing happened, he opened the drawer of his nightstand, retrieved his harmonica, and booked it out of there.

Once they were out of the apartment, Starlin led the way through the neighborhood. He had a speeder parked a few blocks away, carefully hidden from view by a stealth field generator. “Okay,” he murmured, hopping into the driver’s seat. “Moment of truth. Will the speeder blow up when I start the engine…?”

He turned it on and waited with bated breath. No boom-boom. He gave Arc a thumbs up and patted the passenger seat.

The speeder was very fast, very sleek, very quiet, with very comfortable seats. It was also very expensive. Somebody had clearly been moving up in the galaxy, unless it was stolen or looted.

“All right, uh… do you have anywhere you want to go, anything you need to do, a person you need to see...?” Starlin did a driver’s shrug, lifting his thumbs off the controls. “Alternatively, is there anything you definitely need to avoid, like… I dunno, interdimensional demons hounding you from the Netherworld, or something?” He remember how ghastly the poor kid looked, how bewildered and disoriented he seemed, and softly added, "Or should I just get you a meal and a shower, buy you a ticket offworld, and send you on your way?"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Everything has acid," Arcturus retorted rather plainly, though unless pressed he didn't expand upon such. What he had meant of course was that every creature had acid, but fewer words lent itself to more mystery... Or something to that effect. It didn't rightly matter.​

​

With his golems in tow, and what few things he owned gathered up, he followed Starlin from the now-stinky apartment - pausing only when the Jedi rushed back inside to grab Force knew what. Arcturus didn't pry. Instead he ventured behind him once he returned, into the outlying neighbourhood. Having remained inside for quite a few days now, even the dim amount of light which permeated down to this level stung his eyes. It was a little difficult to adjust. The lack of finely filtered air also stung, and he coughed a little here and there.​

​

Coruscant was more polluted than he remembered.​

​

Though Starlin seemed unsure of whether or not the speeder was safe, Arcturus slipped into the passenger seat all the same even before he started the engines. Once the thing didn't blow up, Nwit and the other golems loaded up his belongings, and then fell into an immobile slumber now that there was nothing more for them to tend to.​

​

Where others might have overlooked the changes in Starlin's level of comfort, the boy let out a low whistle of appreciation as the speeder practically purred in motion. He was happy for him, truly he was. The whole Jedi thing seemed to be working out well for him.​

​

Arc was happy with the quiet, but it didn't last long at all. Soon enough he was flooded with a multitude of questions pertaining to his ideal drop off point. To that the boy gulped, turning his gaze to the window in order to avoid Starlin's gaze.​

​

"No demons," he assured him, hoping to relieve him of any worry he might have. From the sounds of it he had enough on his plate as is. "You can drop me at the spaceport," he continued on, watching the buildings drift by, "I'll find my way from there. I'm sorry, for using your home like that. And for the mess... And, well...." He trailed off, hands fidgeting in his lap absentmindedly.​

​

In his mind he was trying to formulate some sort of plan. For a moment, just a moment, he considered slinking back to Ession. His tenure there had been brief and bitter, a solemn homecoming indeed which had brought little in the way of closure. But where else?​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Everything has acid."

"Including your mother." An equally silly comeback to an equally silly statement, as far as Starlin was concerned.

As Arcturus started fumbling his way through a decision, Starlin stole occasional glances over at the acolyte, watching him fidget. "You have no plan," he guessed. "You really got spat back out into the galaxy, and you have no clue what to do or where to pick up the pieces."

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Okay mind reader.​

​

Arcturus seemed to shrink in the passengers seat, seemed to shrink in on himself even. Where once his hands fidgeted, now his arms crossed as though he were holding himself close. An act of comfort? Or was he shutting himself off from the reality of the conversation?​

​

He didn't answer immediately. He let the words bubble and stew within him, trying to deny it. Lying to himself.​

​

Then he sighed.​

​

"Like a book," he huffed, rolling his eyes and finally settling his eyes across to where Starlin sat. "You read me like a damn book, Rand." There was frustration within his tone, but also amusement at the absurdity of it all. "There's nothing familiar left. Everything I knew turned to dust in my time away."​

​

He looked away once more. Pressed his lips tightly shut to refrain from saying anything more about it. This wasn't Starlin's problem; he wouldn't make it Starlin's problem.​

​

Arcturus shrank deeper into the seat.​

​

"The spaceport... Please."​

​

Stubbornness was a trait he was fast realizing he didn't wish to foster, and yet despite that...​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Yeah boy, I’m a Jedi Knight now. Woo!” The excitement of saying that never wore off. “I didn’t read your mind though, I just watched you squirm and took a reasonable guess. You’ve been gone a long time, dude, and you’re saying you’ve been trapped in the Nether all along? Yeah, no shit you ain’t got a plan. I’d be wandering around like a lost puppy too.”

A smirk on his face, Starlin flexed his fingers against the speeder controls. The smirk rapidly died as Arc kept talking. What could he say to someone whose entire life had collapsed?

“Well… shit.” He sighed. “Your girlfriend’s been looking for you. Ishani. She’s here on Coruscant, serving as a senator." A last ditch and possibly very dangerous effort at a joke was born in his mind a moment later, and the smirk was back. “I wasn’t going to tell you because, y’know, long as you’re gone I might have a chance with her…”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

A Jedi Knight.​

​

Just as he'd presumed.​

​

Everyone had moved on. The Galaxy had shifted a lot in his absence. Time gave no care for the slower whims of the boy... No care whatsoever. He was left in the dust formed by everyone else's upward motion. Left in their towering shadows. Had he regarded any of this as a competition he might have felt disheartened, frustrated. Instead he only smiled meekly.​

​

"I knew you'd make it," he replied, before Starlin explained more about how he'd figured it out. Apparently it wasn't difficult to read a deflated balloon. Duly noted. Arc said nothing. He was still hellbent on being dropped off at the spaceport. Still hellbent on keeping Starlin out of the picture. Involve him as little as he could.​

​

But then a bombshell was dropped, and shame washed over his expression. Ishani...​

​

He swallowed.​

​

Starlin referring to her as his girlfriend felt like a knife plunged into his chest and then twisted multiple times over. After returning to Realspace and discovering the difference in time, the progression of the years, he'd written that off entirely. Ishani would not have waited, not for so long. He would never have expected her to. And from the sounds of it she had continued on. Senator?​

​

How did one go from Sith to Senator?​

​

He wanted to ignore what had been said, bury his head in the sand, but he knew that he couldn't. "How much time did I miss?" he asked, he'd never actually done the math. He didn't know the exact number of years he'd been gone. "How long was I in there?"​

​

It would be important in helping him deduce how to proceed with this...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Thanks. I also knew I’d make it.” He grinned cheekily, still trying to keep the mood light.

“I dunno. When did you go in?” Starlin squinted, thinking. “If you use the attempted annihilation of Korriban as the starting point, that’s… about four years, maybe a little more?”

Starlin’s experience on Korriban—he’d gotten into a comedic scuffle with a certain Sith archeologist named Vector Monk —was very different compared to Ishani’s. She’d glossed over the details when explaining to him what had happened with Arc, but he could see it in her face. That look he’d become all too familiar with among refugees.

“She actually came to see me before you left. Wanted to know more about what you did here the last time. She was worried about you. After you disappeared, I ran into her again, and she was… adapting. Now she’s the Senator of Chaldea, and if I am being honest that is a lot cooler than being a Sith. Full offense.”

He was almost talking to himself at this point, while his eyes scanned the skies. It was all up to Arc now.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Four years.​

​

Four... Years.​

​

How much could change in four years? How much had changed in four years? He let out a shuddery breath at the now tangible length of time, and slumped his head into his hands. Four years... He knew it had been a while, but he'd thought maybe a year at most. Time in the Nether seemed to move differently, it was impossible to calculate it because everywhere there seemed hellbent on twisting reality.​

​

Arcturus paled. Then he turned green. Looked as though he was about ready to hurl.​

​

Four years.​

​

How could he impose himself upon her again after so long away? How could he pull up sour memories, and reopen wounds? "She wouldn't want to see me" he muttered under his breath, certainly more to himself than Starlin. Apparently he forgot about those pesky antennapalps. Why would she want to see him? She was a Senator now, and he? He was nothing. Not even really a Sith Apprentice as she'd known him. He'd fallen from grace, and that was saying something given his position prior to the fall.​

​

She wouldn't want to see him.​

​

Four years could change a lot. Biologically, Arcturus had not aged four years. If he had to hazard a guess, he was creeping up on his twentieth birthday. Chronologically? Well Force knew how old he should have been, if time had not been so fickle a beast around him. He didn't know when he was born. Those records did not exist after the fall of the First Order. He was a nobody, he had no history before Darth Empyrean - even presuming he was biologically twenty was a stretch.​

​

Ishani would have matured past him. A woman in her own right, while he still had nothing of his life put together.​

​

"None taken," was all he eventually retorted, long after the full offense comment was taken. Was Arcturus even a Sith? If not then what?​

​

Boy did he not know.​

​

Starlin Rand ​