First Reply Tagging Denon

[Iris Arani]

It'd been a long time since Iris was last on Denon. And.. It wasn't any different from what she remembered. People were stressed. Crime was rampant. As a Jedi she could do a lot to try and break up the crime rings and such, if she didn't already know how corrupted the planets officials were. Corpo, Darkwire, vigilantism. There were too many greys for her to just come in and fix any kind of problem as the Jedi she was. But she could still do one thing for certain.

Another spent can clattered by her feet. Paint dripped from the black gloves she wore. Well, they were black at one point. Them, like the rest of her outfit, were just dripping with different bright colors. Yellows, blues, reds, and every color in between. Some fresher than others. It was a far cry from the Padawan tunic she was used to wearing, but here on Denon hiding her identity turned out to be more of a necessity. A bright smile was all she had as she looked over the piece.

She stepped back from yet another brightly colored mural to add to the many she'd been placing all over the city. Anywhere she could, anywhere people would frequent. She couldn't fix Denon's problems, but she could bring color and light to the citizens trying to get by day to day. Anything to make them smile. And hey, it glowed in the dark too. Master Valery Noble would have to forgive her just this once, right? Well, if her master found out anyway.

Hopefully she wouldn't.

Iris flipped up her paint stained hood, shrouding her face in it's shadow. Time to go, before someone caught her.

 

[Corin Trenor]

Corin afforded himself one whole day, a meagre twenty-four hours.

From the moment the sun rose to when the moon circled around Denon, he could lead a normal life. To not seek trouble as the Padawan had in the two weeks that came before it; bruised knuckles and reddened ribs, a chance to recover is what Corin settled into on an oddly silent night. But the chance to roam, to eat, to enjoy... it was so full of boredom. No excitement, no thrills. That sense of normalcy was plagued with monotony. So the boy set out.

Some small crowd of street-rats marvelled at a neon splash set out over a wall, and without so much as a word Corin watched from behind them. He could admire it for what it was, he found, until a trail of similarly coloured droplets fled the scene. He followed them to another mural, one so similar, and hardly hesitated to move on again. Like a detective, he scrounged for clues in the real world and the ethereal. All until the local stumbled onto a fresh scene with the culprit in tow.

"So is this in protest, just art, or graffiti?" Corin asked from behind Iris, hands tucked away in his jacket pocket and with a tilt to his head.

With her face shrouded in the hood, he never recognised her.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris froze. The colors, the voice. Oh, wait. She actually recognized this person. On Denon? Oh no. No no, that's bad. That's really bad. This was one of the other Padawan's, wasn't it? Uhh.. NotKai's Padawan! Corin. She tugged on her hood, trying to make sure to cover as much of her face as possible. Even just visible scars would give her away, wouldn't it? "Ah, just art. These people here looked like they could use some uh, color in their life."

She even went out of her way to make her voice drop a pitch or two. Damn, maybe she she should've invested in a voice scrambler?

"I'm gonna go, though. So uh, hope you like it! And try looking at it when the lights are off, heh."

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

He could feel it. The difference in the air, the change in the wind. Something, someone was off. Something familiar. His eyes narrowed, not on the mural but on the back of Iris as she fled. Or made an effort to. Out there in the Force, it called to him. It delved into his memories, called on the databank of voices that circulated in them. He also watched for some time earlier, able to see his share of glimpses. It was a gamble, but one the Padawan was confident in. As if he was never not confident, even when it proved troublesome to be.

"Does Valery know what you get up to?" He asked with a certain smugness.

Corin sauntered on down closer to the painting, "It's nice, but..." His head pivoted across to Iris, "Doesn't seem like something she'd approve of."

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

She froze. Name dropping Valery like that- No, no way he knew. Well, she did know it was him. Did that mean he would know it was her? Ah, oh no. Panic filled her mind before she cleared her throat. Didn't look back.

"I uh, who?"

Yeah she didn't even convince herself, especially with the nervous pitch rise in her voice. So she turned, stared at Corin from under her hood. Oddly colored eyes practically glaring at him. This was starting to sound like a threat. It was a threat, wasn't it? He was going to tell Valery what she'd been doing.

"What do you want?"

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

It was the stare; that same stare, yet beneath the cover of darkness Corin found it difficult to discern if it was as furious as the one that settled over him back on Coruscant. In any case, his nose crinkled in reaction as if it was to be unexpected. But anyone found out, whether a secret or not, was undoubtedly hostile to some extent. So his lips pursed together instead.

"Oh, you know." He shrugged, "Just wondering what the star pupil of Valery Noble is doing out on Denon by herself, and not only that but tagging it too?"

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"It's not my first time being out this way." Tagging though. That wasn't something she did the la- No wait. Wait. She definitely did, now that she thought about it. Old habits, it seemed.

"It's Jedi business. That's all."

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

"Jedi business?" He asked with a lilt in his voice and disbelief strewn across his face. On Denon, there was no Jedi business. It was the hole in the Core Worlds, the bottomless pit that no one could save. No one wanted it, bar Dagon; a self-elected watchmen with no one to contest the claim. "This is Denon, there's one business here and it isn't the Jedi kind."

"You can admit it. You won't combust." His head tilted, "I think."

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

She just squinted. Was Denon really that bad off that Jedi avoided the place? That was part of the reason she was even here, though. Not just her. Well, hopefully not just her. She let out a sigh before moving over to the tag. Pulled out what looked like a flashlight. Blacklight, more accurately. And flashed it over. There was a pretty simple symbol there. What looked like a campfire, crossed out.

"It is Jedi business. Or will be, when I'm done. I'm trying to mark safe and unsafe places for people, Jedi or not. There's a lot of drug dens around here. And no, Valery wouldn't approve."

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

"It's a nice sentiment," he remarked with a touch of truth to his words, "But that, as nice as it is? It's more trouble."

He turned from the mural as his words flowed, those that brimmed with a certain sincere nature to them; crafted in the experiences of a Denon street-rat, the kind that searched for what was safe and what was not as a small child, alone, left to his own devices. Before the Jedi came and raised him into their arms instead. It was with a wave of his hand that Corin wafted it towards the art scene.

"People can be cruel, Iris." Ironic. "Once someone that wants to do harm sees it, they prey on it. Soon enough and it's a feeding ground."

Entire communities could band as one, become united and a deterrent for those that want to slink on into it and force their will on them. He remembered safe markers, new ones, all that it did; a home for the wayward until someone scooped them all up and made something of them. Gangs, most often. It was the cycle.

"If you want to help, you need a whole lot more food and credits." It won't fix it, he noted, but it'll ease that desperation factor.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"Not if more people help." That was the purpose of this. It wasn't there to fix things, it was there to start the process. Give a foundation for people to build off of. At least, that's what Iris hoped for. Food, credits. She had neither. Frustration settled in as she stared up at the mural. Clicked off the blacklight. This was what she could do. Not fight, she'd already lost so much trying to fight.

"It just takes one person to change things. Little by little things can get better here. I'll make the Jedi see this world."

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

He recalled such idyllic optimism from others, those that once dwelled in his area. He wondered what their fate was in a brief moment of recollection, whether victims of the system or the abusers that swallowed them whole. Or somewhere else, somewhere better. Corin relied on a certain brand of cynicism, unable to believe in the same dreams as them. The same dreams as Iris. True to her word or not, the local had become convinced Denon was confined to an endless cycle.

"Iris," a seriousness to him. "You have paint."

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

".. Yeah? How else would I make the tags?"

Iris squinted. What else was she supposed to use for all this? her gaze shifted though, towards the end of the alley. More colors. Not happy colors. She tugged her hood further down as she turned, ready to full on sprint away.

"Corpo. I'm leaving. Stay if you want, I'm going to find more places to tag."

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

Lines creased across his forehead with a narrowed set of eyes, as if in some sort of disbelief. She was intent to stay the course of her mission, that much was both clear and commendable. Somewhat, even if Corin believed it caused harm to others. Such was the outlook of a Denonian, he mused, or at least those that found themselves beaten and battered by the system.

But next time, no words. Just the mask and cruel colours.

His head reared over his shoulder at the mention of corpos. He could feel them, their stain on the air. It was thick and vile. But even as Iris ran, Corin remained. Once out of sight, the black domino mask settled over his eyes and that section of his face. He went towards them. In the end, he could never say no.

Or maybe he just wanted to vent.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris ran.

But not far. Once she realized Corin wasn't following worry filled her mind. Last thing she wanted was her fellow Padawan's to take the fall for her. So she doubled back. Stuck to the rooftops to keep an eye on what exactly Corin was trying to do with staying behind.

At least until she noticed the colors. Negative colors. Negative emotions? Hood up she peered out. Wait, why was he wearing a mask?

What the hell was he planning to do?

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

On Denon, there were known masked heroes. 'Heroes', a loose term; villains to some, no doubt, as others even remained indifferent to the existence of them. Of them, there was Red Rdava. Named for a bird. Just a little one, fit in the palm of the hand. But the one that wielded the title had not been some little bird anymore, and while the acrobatics of his youthful start ensured his success in combat, that same Rdava opted to focus on brutish force since then. Even with all the refined martial artistry.

Per his own intentions or not, few knew Corin too well. Not so much as to combine what minimal clues there were. But to those that had known of his masked self, it was far easier once that transition occurred before their eyes. From how it settled across his nose, fixed around his eyes, how the middle-parted hair fell barely above the mask itself.

He slinked off to the side, off into the shade as the soldiers-for-hire neared the area. In a burst of motion, the vigilante entered their tight formation in a frenzy of wild fists and kicks. Relishing in the sudden panic.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris just watched, at first. Something different had taken over her peer. Something that kept her away. The colors, they warned of danger. But not for her. She only watched for a moment as Corin descended on the group of Corpos, then acted herself. She threw down what might as well be a grenade, one that erupted in a cloud of lime green. Thick smoke, with color of course.

Then she dropped into the fight herself. What he was doing was dangerous. Not the fight, but how his colors twisted and turned with every punch or kick he threw. In a flash she brought out her saber, the cold blade of the Entropic crystal alight to pass harmlessly through the first she found. Like so many cut by the blade they simply passed out. Unharmed, unconscious.

The cloud only thickened by the second. Enough to block out her saber. She didn't need her eyes to see the Corpo, though.

<What are you doing? Why are you fighting them?>

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

In between all the thrown fists, the harsh contrast of colour made itself known. In a burst, it circulated around the lot of them and served as a suitable distraction. It consumed their attention, all of them, for no more than a second but in that second there was no more violence. Until Corin elected to strike out once more and send one of the last two soldiers onto the old and cracked pavement. He watched as her made the last of them unconscious, first of the mind she killed him.

His cover was blown. That was that. For whatever frustration that burned inside him because of it, it was useless now. Unless Corin intended to kill Iris to maintain the secret.

"What am I doing?" He loudly protested, "What are you doing? You ran off."

He turned and paced back and forth over their downed bodies, hands furiously running across his forehead as he muttered incoherently.

"Why'd you come back?" Corin asked with the same annoyance to his tone.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris kept her blade up. For the moment, they were alone. But that didn't mean anything. Once these people didn't report in, more would come. More would spread out to find the assailants. More trouble for the neighborhood. She turned her gaze to Corin, at first in disbelief from his annoyance. Then her own grew. "I thought you were going to be dumb and try to take the fall for me or something. But this is even stupider! Corpo's just going to send more goons. This place already isn't safe, and now the people are going to have Corpo banging down their doors looking for some guy in a mask. Why are you wearing a mask? This isn't a comic!"

Yeah, she was going around tagging. But she wasn't pretending to be a super hero.

"Why did you attack them? There was no reason to. We're Jedi! We don't just attack people!"

Corin Trenor

 

[Corin Trenor]

"You think mercenaries are the kind to consider the best move for the locals?" He said with an embittered calmness, "No. It takes one look at some 'art' on the wall and it's search for someone to blame, so I took them out. Blame me. They know me, and it's better like that, leaves the rest of the civilians out of it. Let the toy soldiers think twice next time there's an order to smack some locals around."

It was a war, a silent one; years in the oven, ever since Corin had his first few memories of Denon. It was there, always, in the streets and the alleys. No one was safe, not when a militant police force with a penchant for violence found retaliation from those in Darkwire. Just handed them an excuse, a reason to continue on. Each as bad as the other, and so that left Corin somewhere in the middle. On that line, but far from where a Jedi should be.

"Trust me, you have no idea what you've walked in on." Corin offered a nod as he strode forwards and away, "It's better if it stays like that."

Iris Arani