Duel The Universe Is A Pretty Gnarly Place, Bro

[Arlo Renard]

Kai had come to Chaldea not knowing what he wanted. He'd not been to his homeworld since it joined the Alliance, and that had been a brief trip, strictly on business. Before that, he had returned to Bamarre, the land of his birth, in order to be reunited with Gerda before she died - and tried to take him with her.

It certainly wasn't a place he was particularly sentimental about, yet he found himself drawn to the planet all the same. He had even considered becoming its Watchman, though the anti-Jedi Chaldeans were quick to shoot that idea down. For now, he decided this journey would be all about discovery. He would wander the planet and get to know it a little better.

Far away from civilization, he found the field. Tall white-barked trees shaped like umbrellas dotted the landscape. Purplish flowers blanketing the ground. There was a sweet fragrance in the air, the lingering scent of the flowers in bloom.

It was late afternoon. Kai decided he would stop here and rest a while. He sat down on the ground, then lay back, folding his hands behind his head to look up at the sky, blue streaked with pink and white.

... Wait. Was that boss music....?

... nah.

With a sigh of relief, he let himself relax.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Finding him was harder than she'd admit. Ever since Arlo Renard left the Jedi, since their fight the second time around, Iris didn't know where he was. Didn't know how to contact him, or even if she should. Well, not at first. Now she did. There was a lot she wanted to say to him. To get off her chest. To show him. That was probably the most important part about all of it. She didn't want him to keep thinking of her as someone weak. Her recent trip to Voss only solidified that. He was still one of her weaknesses. She wanted his approval.

Maybe this would get it. Or maybe she'd stop feeling like she needed it.

Chaldea wasn't the place she expected to find him. Knowing where he came from Iris figured he'd never want to come back. What drew him here? Now she had questions and- no. She was here for only one reason.

She saw him. Laying in the field. Looking relaxed. Content. She actually felt.. Angry, about that. Selfish, sure, but she was allowed to be selfish too, right? So without warning she rushed over. Ara Sheridan 's words rang through her mind.

"Kai!" Sucker punching wasn't something Iris could bring herself to do, but this was fine, right? Calling out his name as she came over to punch his snoozing face.

"You.. Ass!"

 

[Arlo Renard]

"Kai!"

Kai opened his eyes and started to sit up on his elbows. He squinted, seeing a figure in the distance rapidly approaching.

<Iris?>

"You.. Ass!"

As soon as she stood over him, her fist came flying toward his face.

Kai was left speechless by the blow. He blinked up at her, a thin trickle of black blood streaming from his nose, before he leaped to his feet.

<What was that for?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

<Everything! You left! I got hurt and you didn't even come to see me! You keep acting like I'm some kind of child that can't defend herself!> She didn't stop him from standing up, but a part of her felt disappointed. Was he not even angry? Did that even hurt? Sure he was bleeding, but he acted like all she'd done was poke him. It made her angry. Well, angrier.

<You always act like you're right. Like when we saw her again, you were angry that I didn't try to kill her! But before you got pissed that I tried to kill that Sithspawn! You don't make any sense, especially since you left the Jedi.> She lifted her hands, curling them into fists. She wasn't a fighter. Her lightsaber, sure. She'd gotten better at that.

But brawling? No, she wasn't good at it. Right now though?

<Fight me you, you..! .. Ass!>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Everything!>

Oh boy. He was in for it now.

Kai was quite ignorant of that fact, though. All he knew was that Iris had appeared, suddenly and without warning, had punched him in the face, and was now screaming at him. He was glad when she switched to telepathy, as he might not have known what she was talking about otherwise.

Then she demanded that he fight her.

<Fight?> he echoed, utterly bewildered. <Right here? Right now?>

Did she want to prove herself to him? Was that what this was all about?

He shrugged awkwardly. <Okay. Since you already hit me, I'll hit you next.>

Clenching his fist, he started to pull it back... only to hesitate. This didn't feel right.

<Why do you care?> he asked. <I thought we were finished.>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

He hesitated.

She didn't. Iris immediately stepped forward as he didn't go to punch, instead swinging her arm to try and catch him on the jaw. Sure she wasn't strong, but she'd been learning a lot. He might not be human like he looked, but maybe she could actually daze him? Hard to tell, but she answered him regardless.

<You're the one who said you hated me! And ran away when you did! I never said I wanted to be done with you, you.. .. Damnit you ass!> She needed to learn other insults.

 

[Arlo Renard]

<I didn't say I hated you,> Kai replied, dodging her fist swinging at his jaw. <I said I didn't like you, and that we only became friends because we were both freaks.>

He tapped her side with the butt of his palm. Kai had learned much about his strength, enough to know that he had to pull all his punches way back if he didn't want to hurt her. If anything, he was just drawing attention to the fact that she'd left that part of her body unguarded.

<And the only reason I said that was because you got mad at me for apologizing. Because I made a mistake and hurt you, and I thought—>

He took a few swings at her, his aim a little off and slow enough to give her plenty of time to react.

<I thought that it would make things easier if you hated me. That way you could at least say I was the bad guy. Oh, who am I kidding—I am the bad guy. I always have been.>

Dropping into a sudden crouch, he lunged at her legs, trying to knock her off her feet. The flowers and the soil beneath were soft enough to cushion her if the move succeeded.

<You want to know the truth, Iris? I listened to you. I let you convince me to give it a shot, and I treated it all like it was no big deal. I seduced you based on stuff I saw in a holovid, because I thought it was all meaningless, stupid fun. Then when I kissed you and realized it wasn't what I thought it was, that I was opening the door to so much more than I'd bargained for, I tried to get out of the mess I'd made. But I just came off looking like a stupid jerk in the end.>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

She knew she was open. It was painfully obvious how open she was leaving herself. It wasn't her fault, not with her lack of training in anything unarmed. It was something else for Iris to learn. But to feel the tap on her waist, knowing that Arlo Renard was holding back only made her that much more frustrated. She threw another punch, trying to catch him somewhere, anywhere. Or just.. Flailing. Letting out all that bottled up aggression.

<So what if I got angry! I didn't know anything about what I wanted from it, from you. I thought it was perfect because everything said that it should've been. And when it wasn't- Stop holding back!>

Her frustration only grew as he continued to throw these slow punches. He wasn't even trying. Was that how he viewed her? Still!? Not that she could complain. Next thing she knew she was on her back; staring up at the sky. Blinking in confusion. Then frowned.

"You're not a bad guy. .. I really wish you could see what I see sometimes. I.. I'm sorry for pushing you like I did. I wanted it to mean something to you. I put so much on it, even after everything you told me. I.. Got scared. I don't really want you to be all romantic or whatever. I just want you to acknowledge me. I.." Iris frowned. Gritted her teeth. Her words weren't right, they never were. She hated speaking like this, when she felt upset or uncertain. It was worse when she tried to reach out mentally. All the emotions swirling around.

"I just want my friend back. To see me, to see that I'm someone stronger. You won't even throw a real punch at me. I hate it. I hate feeling weak. I hate knowing you were right about everything. I.." Her voice cracked, and with it she sat up, turned away from him. Fiercely biting back tears, refusing to devolve into that crying girl he'd always seemed to see. But she couldn't help it for long.

"She bled Domxite. I.. I feel it. All the time now. They're in so much pain and I couldn't stop it."

 

[Arlo Renard]

<If I don't hold back, I'll kill you! Don't you know that? Haven't you seen the things I can do? This body was bred for destruction!>

Though she had aggravated him, he kept up his self-control, moving at roughly the speed of a normal human, with a strength that reflected the teen athlete that he so frequently took the form of.

Yet once she switched from telepathy to spoken words, he was left confused once more. She contradicted herself, going from accusing him of thinking he was always right, to saying he had been right all along. In the face of this paradox and her outpouring of emotion, he had only one thing to say:

<Huh?>

She wanted him to notice her, to acknowledge the progress she had made. Why? You'd think she'd only want that from her master, or someone whose job it was to train her. But Kai had trained her, hadn't he? Shortly after they met, he'd taken her up to the rooftop and showed her how to fight properly with a lightsaber...

It dawned on him that she might be jealous of him, too. At the very least, she envied him for his skills as a fighter, his innate ability to kill with apparent ease—or because, as she said, he'd been right all along.

"She bled Domxite. I... I feel it. All the time now. They're in so much pain and I couldn't stop it."

There it was. The admission that tied it all together. Knowing that what he'd told her would come to pass had already happened answered a lot of his questions. It was probably the reason why she'd sought him out, why she was so angry that he'd been right about Thalia Senn and Domxite. She was taking out her rage and pain on the one who had foreseen what she'd refused to believe.

<Iris, I'm so sorry,> he said, and hoped she wouldn't mind the apology in this case. For a while he was silent, giving her a chance to cry. He didn't make any physical gestures to comfort her, but he did brush her mind with a gentle reassurance. <If you can feel Domxite suffering, can you trace it to them?> he asked, still trying to find a solution. <Find out where they are in the galaxy, and how to save them?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"They're not.. I can only feel them when they're being used. It's.. There's so much pain." She could follow it. The pain, the bond. But the blade was never on long enough for her to trace it. Not unless she ended up on the same world ahead of time. The galaxy was just way too big for her to follow that path. Iris didn't cry though. Her voice was full of sorrow, but her gaze was distant, staring at the horizon, hoping someone there might distract her from the memories of Domxite's pain.

"I'll find them. Save them, on my own if I have to. I just.. I don't want everything between us to be so broken too. I've made so many mistakes. I just want my friends back."

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Me too.>

He was referring both to his litany of mistakes, and to the desire to have his friends back. Sitting on the ground, Kai hunched over. He didn't want to make this about him, but at the same time he was dying to talk to someone, to let out all the things he'd been keeping inside.

<I didn't leave because of you, although that was part of it. I left because I kept screwing up. I went somewhere away from people, to a place where I couldn't hurt anyone. But when I finally stopped being a coward and came back, everything had fallen apart.>

He sighed. He'd always kept the Reef a secret from Iris in order to protect its vulnerable inhabitants, but now it hardly mattered. <There was this place on Coruscant, a safe haven for Sithspawn like me. It was my home more than the Jedi Order ever was. But then our leader exiled herself, someone else took over, and it hasn't been the same ever since. People have been deserting it in droves, scattering across the galaxy. The only people who stayed were the ones who couldn't leave. Like Claudia. She was dying.>

Hugging his legs, he shook his head. <I took her to the Sith and asked them to save her. They did, but the way they did it was wrong. I tried to stop them, but it was too late. She would've died otherwise. I still don't know who was right, them or me. So if we're going to be friends again, don't say that I'm always right. Okay?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

She watched him for a moment. Just watched. Listened to everything Arlo Renard was 'saying'. It'd been.. So long since they actually opened up to each other. Claudia though, she wasn't dying anymore? Whatever was done, she couldn't help but feel some relief. Having a friend die, it wasn't something she wanted either of them to experience. Thinking about it, had Kai ever had someone close to him die? There was still so much she didn't know.

But right now, the door that had been held shut by both of them seemed to finally open.

Iris scooted over, moving to sit beside him.

<We're both still kids, I guess. No amount of fighting will help us grow up, huh?>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Yeah,> he agreed. Turning to her, he asked, <Why did you want to fight me, anyway? Just to prove you weren’t weak?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

<I'm not weak. Well, I am. At that kind of fight at least. But I didn't want to swing a lightsaber at you. .. But yeah. That, and a friend I met told me sometimes punching someone would help settle an argument.>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Oh.> Kai paused. <What friend told you that?>

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

<Oh, uh. Ara Sheridan . I dunno if you met her. Why?>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<I think I'll find her and fight her. See how she likes it.>

Iris Arani

FIN​