When my kleptomania gets bad, I take something for it.

[Onley Xiangu]

Dromund Kaas​

Late Afternoon​

Dromund Kaas wasn't really the sort of place you'd expect to be in Jedi hands. And Shezi hadn't expected either to be on the once-Sith homeworld, nor hanging out with Jedi and their friends. Life had a weird way of taking unexpected turns.

The Jedi weren't as boring as Shezi expected. Sure, a few of them had some pretty big sticks stuck where the sun didn't shine, but she could deal with that. But most were more complex than she might once have given them credit for, not as big a group of mindless machines as she'd once expected. She'd never fit in with them - she was too strange, too prone to things they might not approve of. But she enjoyed their company, however hilariously shocked they were by her sometimes.

Kaas on the other hand, felt like home despite her once-held belief she'd never see it.

Traipsing through the jungle, she touched her hand over the bark of an ancient tree as she passed, idly tracing the tattoo of a lightsaber's strike. (An inhuman shriek, the glare of light off rotted, rain-soaked skin. Two amber eyes above a ruined mouth.) Visions...not always, but sometimes when she touched objects or things that had seen something momentous...

She shook it off. Sometimes it was still weird to accept that she had that thing that the Jedi were always prattling on about. But it explained a lot.

A glint of something caught her eye as stray electrical flares in the atmosphere above lit even the jungle floor. Kneeling down, Shezi reached between two enormous treeroots and pulled out the hilt of a lightsaber. She'd never held one in her own hands, and before she knew it she was trying to activate it. But when she pressed the button, it just fizzled out in a short.

Ugh, anticlimactic.

[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

It seemed the clean-up crew worked fast for the Silver Sanctum. Returning to Dromund Kass, Connor Harrison was in much better state than when he had left the last time. Punctured leg, cuts and a misplaced lightsaber. That was the thing that annoyed him most – the saber. He’d forged that blade himself over 10 years ago and now, thanks to the un-dead horde and a rather vicious monster from Sith sorceress Matsu Xiangu, it was lying in mud and fauna somewhere along the jungle stream.

It wasn’t hard to re-trace his steps from the small transport he had taken with a couple of Rangers heading for Kaas City, rising from behind the thick jungle greenery, a much nice place without the sound of screams and blaster fire and roaring engines. As the Rangers parted for their own duty in the city, Connor followed the route he had taken escaping the Abomination.

His outstretched hands glazed over fallen tree trunks and pretty purple flowers as he walked, sleeves rolled up, with a casual air around him. Down an incline, follow the stream, away from the Citadel, towards the city and the cliff-face that he had taken a ride down.

As he walked down into the stretch that was dwarfed by trees and peppered with light from above, Connor saw a figure with striking white hair stood in the place he wanted to be, and she was holding something that belonged to him. The hilt!

Biting his bottom lip, he walked a little faster, but not with urgency or aggression to the stranger and kept his hands visible. Birds tweeted above, and small insects flew lazily around. This was a much better scenario to be in than last time.

"Excuse me, miss?” He tried to sound cheery. "Good evening. I think you have just helped find something that belongs to me.”

Was this the clean-up crew belonging to Miss Xiangu, or simply a morning walker who happened to come across the weapon of a Jedi.

[member="Shezi Khoza"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

The stranger seemed to make no attempt to mask his arrival, and therefore Shezi made no immediate attempt to defend herself beyond the sensible aspect of sizing him up and taking stock of the knives hidden on her person. The pipsqueak of a girl thought it stupid to assume oneself safe no matter where one landed - after all, Coruscant had once been home to Jedi for hundreds of years and you could still get mugged or worse on its streets.

But instead he mentioned the hilt in her hand.

She grinned.

"What, this piece of junk?" she asked, shaking it as if that would make it work. It shorted out again. Part of the hilt had been crushed, perhaps blocking the crystal and stopping it from activating. Or perhaps the crystal had just been dislodged entirely. Shezi wouldn't know - she'd never built one herself. She didn't even have one at all. "Doesn't have your name on it."

[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

Looking at the shorting hilt, Connor winced a little. It actually pained him seeing his handy work so dirty and grubby, and broken. Still, it was salvageable with some TLC. A little shrug followed as he stepped closer.

"Well, that piece of junk has seen some action in it's time. Thankfully it seems to have survived it's latest outing.”

He held out his hand, keeping things amicable and calm. With a gentle smile, he introduced himself.

"Connor Harrison. I'm with the Silver Sanctum out of Voss. And that," he pointed with a finger, "is my lightsaber, so thank you for finding it."

She looked a little...quirky, but not hostile and he couldn't really detect any danger. She was Force sensitive, but not showing a threat, so he was grateful she was holding it and not some cloaked Sith Lord...or Sorceress.

[member="Shezi Khoza"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

True, Shezi wasn't hostile. She could piss off the devil himself, but her mischief was mostly good-natured. If someone threatened her or tried to hurt someone she loved she became...something else entirely, but this Jedi wasn't being threatening, so neither was she.

"You're welcome," she answered, though she made no move to give it back. "You know, you should be more careful with these things. I imagine they's pretty unique and all that. And then someone like me could come along and chop they head off with it by accident."

Shrugging, she twirled the hilt in her palm. "Whatcha gonna give me for it?"

[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

If there was one thing that got Connor's back up, it was strangers out to get something for nothing and just...take over the situation because they felt they could get one over. He let the first attempt go and walked a little nearer, hands patted his chest down and tutted gently.

"Nothing but my gratitude, and any guidance or help you need around these parts. I'm not here to barter for something that I made myself over 10 years ago. I'm sure you understand."

He wiped his nose, a little itch distracting him and chewed on his inner cheek. She had cojones, that was for sure.

"I'm sorry, you didn't say who you are, or why you're snooping around the place I lost my lightsaber rather conveniently."

Connor really did need to work on not being so...forward.

[member="Shezi Khoza"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

She raised one white eyebrow a little when she thought she caught some irritation off him. A particularly...un-Jedi-like trait. That little grin remained. Maybe this one would be a bit more fun than the stiffs in their temples.

"Shezi," she offered, at least giving him that. "I'm uh...hanging around. And it was baie boring in that temple or whateva you all call it, so I went exploring." She felt it might have been disingenuous to call herself a member of the Silver Sanctum. While she was a friendly, she hadn't quite decided where she belonged. He seemed somewhat suspicious of her, which made her feel comfortable. That was a person's usual reaction, and the welcoming aire of the Silver Sanctum had only made her feel as if she was living in some sort of weird dream. Or nightmare. She couldn't decide.

"Tell you wot," she offered. "You catch me, I'll give it back."

And with that, she was off, her Vahla heritage affording her the extreme agility and grace to suddenly bound up the tree next to her and sprint off through the treetops.

[member="Connor Harrison"]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he tried to work out her accent. Somewhat broken Basic? Not really pronouncing words fully – slang, or laziness. One of them. No sooner had he grasped this girl was a wandering youth then she had thrown a cheap form of a “deal” in his face and ran without waiting for a response.

She was out of his line of sight before he had chance to react, and it forced him to stop thinking and start doing. Shezi was fast, and up into the trees quicker than he had expected. Connor wasn’t going to start monkeying around climbing trees, no chance. He’d end up flat on his face before long.

"Hey! Stop!" What a useless thing to do – as if she was going to.

So he ran, under the thick trunks, fleeting glances between the clearing he was running through to avoid hitting a low hanging branch or run into a crevice, and up above to keep an eye on the thief, darting from branch to branch, as light as air, sending twigs and leaves helicoptering to the ground.

Dodging left and right, vaulting over the trunks to follow the direction she was taking, Connor didn’t want to risk a move that could possibly kill the girl with a broken neck. Then again, she was so confident she could navigate the trees; it would be her own fault.

She would soon have to come down to move back into the thicker jungle unless she fancied taking her chance out towards the cliffs, something Connor didn’t really want to experience again. Digging his feet into the ground to stop himself quickly, he leant on the tree he was beside and pushed on it, palms up, sending a violent tremor of Force energy through the bark and into the pulp, to blister and rupture the wood from the inside out.

Above, the tree wavered and splintered, and loud snapping noise sent bark flying as the tree started to list and fall over – now it would be a totally wasted and brutal effort on his part if she escaped this little hurdle. Hopefully it would be enough to re-think her course among the trees.

[member="Shezi Khoza"]