Public When Doves Cry

[KRR]

Coruscant - Central Park

It was a chilly evening, the kind where you couldn’t quit decide if a light jacket was warm enough but knew a winter coat would leave you sweating. Katarine’s own leather jacket was hundreds of years old, but it still held up in the cold. Perhaps manufacturing standards were better now, or maybe they just didn’t make jackets like this anymore. Either way the Jedi didn’t know, and that was the problem.

It had been roughly three months since her stasis chamber had been opened by members of the Jakku Jedi Enclave. During that time Katarine had been forced to come to terms with the fact that she had been frozen for over eight hundred years. Her friends, loved ones, enemies and anything else from her previous life were long gone, leaving Katarine wandering the galaxy in a depressed confusion.

She had visited all the Jedi organizations the galaxy had to offer, which in itself was surprising because back in her day there had only been one. The Galactic Alliance, Thr Silver Jedi Concord, even that Jakku Jedi Enclave were full of great people, but Katarine did not feel any connection towards their mission. It had been so much easier in the days following Order 66, when they were fighting for a cause they all believed in. Now she didn’t know what to believe.

The galaxy had changed so much and yet war and suffering remained constant. Nothing was as black and white as before except suffering. Could she even call herself a Jedi anymore? She had been taught that her duty was to the Republic and to democracy, but in this galaxy Jedi committed war crimes, Sith banned slavery, Imperials allowed voting, and criminals helped charities. It was all so upside down and grey that she didn’t know where to begin to serve the galaxy next.

So she had ended up on Coruscant merely surviving. She took odd jobs to eat and often found herself sleeping on the streets. Sure there was more she could do but to what end? She was a highly trained undercover operative but what did it matter in a galaxy she didn’t understand?

She sat down on a park bench and watched as the park lights started to turn on one by one. Soon she was surrounded by a peaceful orange glow and the sounds of scurrying animals. The park wasn’t very crowded this time of night and she was just thinking about where she wanted to sleep that evening when she heard something in the distance.

 

[Aayla Shan]

The sound emanated from a man that screamed out in pain as Aayla had flipped him like a sack of potatoes; holding his arm in the air, and twisted at an angle. Her foot rested firmly, but mindfully behind his neck; she held that position for but a second before releasing him with a smirk. At which point, he would groan, then begin to laugh aloud. He belonged to crowd of about twelve. All of them dressed in something akin to karate/Martial Arts Gi. Calling themselves the Midnight Rush fighting school. Aayla herself happened to look very Jedi, and one of the men had coaxed her into a spar. She had tried to deny him, but he had made a good point; tactfully pointing out that she seemed more hesitant to spar as if she would hurt him, and wondered if Jedi were truly skilled in hand-to-hand fighting, or were more partial to killing their enemies.

She imagined she quieted his assumptions, and would bow to him in respect as he got back to his feet.

'Very good, very good Master Jedi... You have to come by our dojo here on Coruscant sometime... Our younger guys would love to spar a Jedi, and I wouldn't mind getting another round!'

He said, rolling his shoulder and offering her a bow of his own. Everyone in party with him followed suit, and she would nod in understanding.

"Certainly better than shopping, but I'm no Master Jedi unfortunately.. Just a padawan. I guess you could say I'm still learning the Jedi Arts."

Aayla admitted to him with a smile. They looked at each other in surprise, then all offered their own sort of grins. To which, Aayla would move to pick up her lightsaber off of one of their over-coats they had rested on the ground for her. Clipping it back to her belt, she got the information for their fighting school, and truly ocnsidering giving it a visit, but for now... She was off?

She turned, and starting walking away, offering a single wave to signal her departure, all of them returning the favor in kind. She could feel the eyes on her, but was used to it at this point. Much had indeed changed since the days of the Clone Wars, but being a Jedi was still looked at as an almost celebrity caliber position... By some... Sometimes you had the polar opposite response of people trying to murder you for breathing too hard, or too soft....

Hell, breathing...

 

[KRR]

The source of the noise turned out to be a gathering of martial arts students. Katarine had wandered that way in time to see them waving off a woman. She watched the woman leave and the group start clearing up, before turning and putting her hands in her pockets.

It was one of those crazy Coruscanti nights where you ran into small scenes of people living their lives, watched for a bit, and then moved on. She had many of them and tonight would be the same.

She walked in the opposite direction of the fighters and glanced around at the neon hues from the city. Even in a park designed to remind Coruscant what grass and trees looked like you couldn’t escape the overlooking presence of industry.

Kat decided not to stay in the park. It was beautiful but she didn’t feel like mingling with padawans, martial arts students, or late night joggers. The woman had too much in her mind.

Instead she took to the streets and walked a familiar route into the restaurant district. There were a few bars here that would stay open all night and offer better protection from the cold than a park bench would.

Katarine wondered if maybe she should get a job, buy a house, and settle down to a normal life. According to her data records she had once been a homeowner but she had no actual memory of the events. The cyro sleep had erased a lot of her past. She had pieced it together with the help of a Sith who specialized in restoring old technology, but after that crusade had ended Kat had been left without memories and without purpose.

She stepped through the doors of The Drunken Hog, a dive bar with a crowd of regulars that didn’t spare her a glance as she entered. It was warmer in here and some pod race was on the radio.