Star Wars Chaos : The New Generation

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

The hand shop out with incredible speed, the flesh of the Apple crunching as claws skewered it. It was as she had learned to catch the insects in the dark. And no one had ever taught her manners.

"So the ship can go between worlds?" she asked. "Space, is the great big dark between them," she asserted, crunching into the apple. "Where is your family she asked?"

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Micah gave a giggle, a cheeky grin that would relay his humor. Well at least the Defel had a hearty appetite. A thought came to mind, something his mum would yell at him about. What was it? Oh yeah.

“Don’t eat so fast,” he told her, plopping down on the bench across from her. “You’ll get sick.” he added, sounding a bit like his mum for a bit there. With a swing of his legs, he studied her, rolling an orange back and forth with telekinesis like an idle tick.

“Yeah, we use the ship to go in between worlds,” he confirmed for her, “My mum is at the Jedi Temple. She’s a professor for the Academy -- which is like a school. But she wanders around a lot ‘cause of dad and because we live on Atoa and Borleias.” he would explain.

“Kai is with mum. Aela and Maleah are out wandering. Dad is at home.” he thought of the others. “My aunt and uncles are at home too.”
He had a LOT of family

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen sighed. She swallowed what was in her mouth and put the apple down for a moment. From her perspective, it was better to risk giving herself indigestion than losing out on food. Apparently she had a small window in which the boy would feed her as much as she wanted, but it could not last.

She was exhausted. The stress of the day had taken its toll on her fragile, malnourished body. “Thassa lot of family,” she observed quietly, her voice tinged with sadness. There was a pause for a moment, before she asked: “What’s it like having a big family? Like, people to look after you?”

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

“What’s it like?” the question was so peculiar for the youngling. It was just normal. He knew no other life. He had his mum and his dad. His sisters. Aunts, Uncles, and cousin. It just was.

“Busy,” he finally told her, grabbing an orange with his right hand. He would toss it from right to left, then right again. Idly, he would use his nail to break the skin of the fruit and peel off a section.

“We are always traveling one way or another. “ he told her, a slight smile on his face. “It’s fun. Dad takes me out with him at times. Mum bakes things.” just what else does one say?
“Though Maleah is always trying to bite.”

 

[Vexen]

"Hmm... Bite," when Micah looked up he might notice that Vexen's eyes were closed. Whilst there were no other outward signs to one who couldn't see in ultraviolet light, a quiet wheezing sound would emanate from the shadow.

For the Defel, it had been a long and emotionally tiring day. She'd started the day happy to snag one of the herdship's poisonous insects for breakfast, and had finished being fed as many cookies as she could stuff down her gullet. The intervening hours had been stressful and draining, and malnourished as she was, it had taken its toll on her small body. Her head slumped onto her chest and she fell into a deep sleep. On the other hand it showed that the suspicious little creature actually felt safe outside of her little cavern, which hadn't happened in her memory.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]


"Then Aela is really into her books..." It took a few minutes of Micah still talking about his family before realizing the Defel had fallen asleep. A curious expression came to his face, then it broke into a slight smile. She must be tired, he figured, setting down the halves of his orange on the table.

He mused for a moment if he should take her to one of the beds, so she could be more comfortable. While the Defel was tiny, he wasn't so big himself. Probably wouldn't be able to carry her like his dad would to Kai. At least not yet. Though she might get cold.

Sliding off the chair, the youngling Talith would leave the galley. Quiet steps were something he did naturally, and the trek wouldn't be too long. He took a fresh thick blanket from one of the suites, dragging it over with his grimy covered hands. Once back at the galley, he shook it out.

Carefully, so as to not wake Vexen, Micah draped the blanket over the Defel. For now, she could sleep.

 

[Vexen]

She opened her eyes to a world of complete darkness. That was expected. Every second the world became just a touch lighter. Vexen paused unwrapping the bandage from her eyes when it was about half off. The defel waited for her eyes to adjust to the light. She decided the light was right, or rather, the darkness was right.
Vexen finished unravelling the filthy strip of cloth and discarded it. She was presented with a view of her home. The pipe that kept her warm, the sliver of light that lit it from hole in the stone wall she'd dug years ago.

Odd how certain things faded from the mind so quickly. It was only in the waking moments that she heard the reverberating thrum. Apparently it was the machines the Gardeners used to keep her world afloat above the Land Below.
Her ears twisted towards another sound. Click, click, click, went the Scuttler as it moved across the floor. It shot forwards a pace, came to a halt, then headed off in a different direction. She'd forgotten its real name, but it wasn't native to the world and came with deadly poison that could kill an adult in a second. Gardeners didn't kill other creatures, but they avoided the Scuttlers that terrified that and had them trapped and shipped back to their home. Still, many of them had made their way down into the Hidden Places.

The world was not one of complete darkness. The reverberate thrum of the herdship's repulsors was muted. Vexen started.

She slipped from the chair onto the hard galley floor, all tangled in the unfamiliar blanket. The little snarling, gnashing ball rolled across the floor and into the side of a cabinet. She yelped and unraveled herself from the cloth, sat on her haunches with her teeth bared.

Her eyes scanned the dark room and she recalled where she was. If she had woken with the lights on she could have been blinded. Her nose twitched. There were some cookies on the counter. Giving herself a silent shrug, she padded over to them, reached up and pulled them down. She picked up the blanket, which at least smelled a little of her and carried it back over to the chair she had been occupying. Vexen wrapped herself back up in the blanket and started to nibble on the cookies. Most evenings when she woke, she typically headed to the edge of her territory to urinate and then to one of the underwater reservoirs to drink. She started to wonder where she could get something to drink on a 'ship'.

[member="Micah Talith"]

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

It wouldn't be long before the heightened senses of the Defel would pick up on small but steady footsteps. Their owner would be none other than Micah, for his mother and sisters had yet to return to the ship yet. However, Micah knew that he would have to check in with his mum soon enough. She worried a lot. Dad had to reassure her plenty of times that they would be okay. It started a long time ago after Aela went off to visit places when she was younger. Something changed. He wasn't sure what exactly, but his mother became a little bit more overprotective since then.

Which didn't really bother him, as they had then left Borleias to a new home on Atoa. And he liked having snow fights. Humming a soft tune, freshly scrubbed of grime and dirt with his fresh pair of Drexyl pj's, the youngling came wandering into the galley. He was hungry again. He was always hungry.

A yawn broke the silence, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. Maybe he could get some nuna eggs and bacon.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

“Please don’t turn the lights on,” she called quietly as she heard him approach. Bright eyes watched him carefully from the corner of the galley, where she had once again wedged herself in the chair. She didn’t like sitting with her back to a door or window. Her internal clock told her it was day time. She’d woken up at nightfall before stealing from Micah, but had fallen asleep far earlier that she would usually have done. That meant she was trapped here for now. There was no way she could navigate around the city without being blinded. “Is there anything to drink?” she asked.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"Huh?" Micah gave a perk of his head. Then a smile broke across his face.

"Nah I remembered," he told her, continuing his path over towards the fridge. At her question, the small shaft of light from the opening door of his destination would illuminate the Talith youngling.

"We got ..." his head disappeared as it went poking into the refridgerator. "Muja berry juice, Bantha milk, tea...." his damp head came popping back out. "Water."

A sudden thought came to his mind and he broke into a cheesy grin.

"And Kapri-Moons!"

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen thought on this for a moment, as she turned away from the bright light. She knew what juice was, knew that it tended to be sugary. Sugary things were good, packed full of energy and a nice treat.

"Any kinda juice please?" she asked. This was new ground for her. Conversation was something she engaged in so rarely. She typically offered nothing more than a few words when she visited Rajik; he lost his temper so very easily and was so big.

"Sorry, did'n mean to sleep," she said apologetically. "Is it day out?"

If it was light, she was trapped.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]


"M'kay," the youngling said in response, grabbing two packets of KapriMoon. He shut the door to the fridge, the slight suction and lock following suit, leaving them in the faint glow of the dimmed lights.

"Oh, no, it's dark." he told her, revealing that she hadn't quite passed out for too long. "Mum said she'd be spending the night at the Temple and Aela and Maleah are joining her." he said matter of factly, padding over to Vexen to slide the juice packet over.

"You just pop the straw in." he told her, gesturing to the attached straw at the back of the silver packet. "In the little hole here." a finger showed her where. To provide a visual example, he did so with his own.

"You hungry again?" he asked her curiously, plopping down into the chair he had taken over before. The fact that she might need to use the restroom didn't quite dawn on him yet.

 

[Vexen]

She stuck her tongue out to one side as she carefully popped the straw into the packet. It took all of her concentration to hold it still with her misshapen left paw whist avoiding piercing it with her claws.

"Would'n min' some food," she said quietly. If it was dark outside that meant she wasn't trapped on this 'ship'. That was good. She felt safer knowing she could scarper if she had to.

Vexen didn't really understand the concept of manners; she didn't talk to people enough to have developed them. She did understand how kind the boy had been so far. No one had been this generous to her before, giving her food and wanting nothing in return. Holding her when she was sad. Her eyes turned to the small wooden box she had brought with her and she padded over to collect it.

Wedging herself back in the corner, she carefully opened it so he couldn't see the contents. It was her box of treasures. "Damn brush," she muttered to herself. In all the commotion she had forgotten that her brush handle had snapped earlier that day. She liked to have something to run through her hair, made her feel almost normal.

Vexen had nothing of any material value. What she kept was still precious. She kept memories. She sifted through the contents before finding the burgundy, skeletal remains of a pressed leaf. She brought it up to her nose and sniffed it. The mental association between smell and memory was particularly strong in her species. The leaf still retained enough scent to take her back.

It had been a good summer, with plenty of scavenging. Good what been plentiful and she had energy to spare. Though the autumn leaves looked different to her eyes, they were no less beautiful. She had spent several evenings enjoying the simple pleasure of jumping between piles of leaves, enjoying the rustle as they were thrown into the air. She had brought several for Rajik and instead of being angry, he had patiently shown her how to press the leaves and keep them. He had shown her his own collection of pressed leaves.

Closing and locking the box carefully she padded across to the boy and held it out. It would be a shame to part with such a memory, but he had been ever so kind. "Would you like this?" she asked meekly.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

There was a faint tremble to the outstretched burgundy leaf. The young Micah gave a pause, a curious expression upon his youthful features.

"Oh," he began, watching her as she meekly held it up. She was nervous, but was attempting to push past that in order to express her gratitude.

"Thank you," he said with a smile. Plucking it from her hand, Micah brought it closer to study the skeletal remains of it. "It is very pretty." his fingers would delicately give the leaf a light spin, the scent of musky earth edged with a hint of filmsi came from it.

"Do you like to press leaves?" he asked her, giving her a warm smile. "My mum does that a bit -- with flowers too. She does it with Aela and Maleah. Kai just likes to make herself a crown of flowers." his face would scrunch. "Well, they all do." his grin grew wider.

"Here hold it for me. Gonna get us dinner." His hand would extend the leaf back to the Defel. Just by her body language, Micah could tell a bit that she didn't really want to part with it. She had that same type of expression Aela did when it came to letting Maleah borrow Oma's necklace she had given her.

"I can make scrambled Nuna eggs and cheese!"

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]
It was strange hearing what it was like to be a normal child in this way. No one spoke to her except Rajik. She observed normal children. Those in the gardens, not just the other lost souls in the Hidden Places. She watched them play together and with their families. Often she missed out on meals because she was distracted by being a voyeur from the shadows.

“Yeah sometimes,” she said, taking back the leaf gratefully. Her quick hands made it vanish back into her box in a flash. Maybe he'd forget about it now and she could make the gesture and keep the memory.

“Yes please,” she responded. Eggs were a particular delicacy. Sometimes she would steal them from nests. It was so hard to get them fresh from people, though one of the big shops often threw them in the refuse when they were still edible. Her law came up to rub the saliva that had formed in one corner if her mouth.

There was a small internal struggle, as she tried to resolve whether it was rude or worth asking because she had the opportunity. After a moment she asked: “Y’ din have a spare brush do yer?

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"A brush?" Micah would wonder aloud. Glancing at the Defel, he peered over over, noticing the gnarls and matted bits. "You can borrow mine." he told her, remembering the one he had in the shared suite with Maleah.

"It is over here," he brought out the eggs and the packet of shredded cheese, setting them on the counter. With a wiggle of his fingers, the youngling would gesture for Vexen to follow him.

"My mum says my hair gets everywhere," he told her, bare feet padding over the wooden flooring. The luxury of the ship wasn't to be missed, but for Micah and Vex, wasn't a subject to be mindful about. For Micah, likely because this was all he'd known. For Vex, well she was hard pressed in between wanting to go to the bathroom, eat, and comb her hair.

"So I got a couple." he would glance over to her, "Did you want to use the refresher?" came the query, "Would make combing your fur easier so it doesn't hurt."

 

[Vexen]

"Pfff, yer almost bald!" Vexen exclaimed when Micah repeated his mother's opinion. She couldn't imagine humans had to deal with malting in the summer. Maybe they did. She had seen plenty with completely bald heads, but not particularly in summer she supposed.

She was really quite happy that he had a brush to borrow. Her life was held together by routine, in a way. A steady persistent rhythm that she could live to. Every evening on waking she used her little UV lamp and brushed out her hair until she was content. She checked her little box of memories, then she headed out. Every few days she tool the tunnel with the steam pipes to get her fur nice and slick before using her teeth to work out the tough knots. Even as unclean as she was, like a domestic cat she took time and pride over her coat.

"Wossat?" she asked of the refresher, unsure of the word.

[member="Micah Talith"]

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

A chuckle came bubbling from the boy, along with a cheeky grin. "Not quite," he ran his hair through the unruly mop. "Although Maleah shaved my head one night when I was sleeping." That had been rather annoying. He had his payback none the less, when he had done the same to her. His cheeky comeback was that they were twins after all and should look like it!

At the Defel's question, he would perk his head, "Hmm? What is what?" he led her just outside the suite he shared with his twin. The hiss of the door would allow them inside as it slid past. Crossing the threshold, Micah waved her over. "Oh, a refresher?" he had the most comical of expressions of his face, as if a bit taken aback that Vex didn't know.

"That." he gestured towards the corner of the suite, where a small refresher sat at the corner. One he had recently used actually. "A place to wash up when you are dirty. Clean your fur if you like."

"It's a sonic one." he told her matter of factly, wandering over towards Maleah's side of the bed. The search for his sister's brush would commence as he poked through her items. "It would make it easier to brush your fur."

 

[Vexen]

Vexen eyed the semi-transparent box suspiciously. It seemed more like a cage to her. “Hmm, alrigh’” she said slowly. Her good paw reached out and grasped the handle of the door nervously. The door had a magnetic catch, but swung freely once it came apart.

Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air in the small unit. She looked at the dark circles on the sides of the sonic shower suspiciously. After a moment or two she stepped inside and allowed the door to swing shut behind her.

“What do I do?” she called.

“Red button!” Micah called back.

Vexen wasn’t sure what red was, but there was just one button in front of her, as well as a dial. There were scribbles around the outside of the dial, but she could not read them. Instead she just slapped the button. There was a low thrumming and a tingling sensation that made her yelp. Vex nearly fled, but instead the tingling was not that bad. In fact after a few moments she felt several patches of dirt that had worked into her fur lifting off. The sensation wasn’t entirely unpleasurable. How strange, she thought. There was no water and yet it clearly was cleaning her. It took the machine a little while to work all of the dirt and grime out of her fur. She started to feel it lift a residue of oil on the fur near her skin and slapped the button to turn it off. That was supposed to be there, it kept her warm and dry when it she was caught in the rain.

There was a happy little expression on her face as she stepped out. When it came to her fur Vexen was surprisingly vain. One of the main parts of her daily routine was preening her fur. She loved the look of the coloured stripes that ran through it, even if it was clear no one else could see them. It was like her own private little decoration.

“All dun,” she said.

[member="Micah Talith"]