Private Who Can It Be Now?

[Zaiya Ceti]

AGRI-FIELD OUTPOST //

KINYEN

Danella

Some might have called coming to Kinyen risky.

In light of everything happening, neutral or not, the agriworld sat uncomfortably close to the borders between Sith and Republic space.

But Zaiya preferred to think of it as listening to the Force. To seeing where that swirl of colors and emotions in the river of that intangible energy would send her.

And this was because Force did what the Force did and somehow its currents had brought the Lovalla Jedi Knight here -- to an agrifield outpost bustling with farmers, merchants, transports, and enough beings moving through its marketplace that anyone hoping to disappear into the crowd probably could.

Maybe that was what bothered her, the Lovalla mused, her rosy golden brow furrowing slightly in curiosity as she wandered between the stalls, those bright irridecent opal-blue eyes taking everything in while amber contemplation shimmered across her rosy-gold skin. Around her, the Force ebbed and flowed with thousands of ordinary lives.

Except...Zaiya slowed, gently coming to a stop as she turned her head. Something fluttered at the very edge of her senses. It was so faint she almost dismissed it, only for it to return like the briefest ripple across still water.

Was it a warning? A premonition?

Hmm... She wasn't sure. But as her mottled spots flickered with the ombre of amber-orange notes with canary-yellow tones of concern as she turned toward the distant agrifields then back to the marketplace.

"What are you trying to tell me...?"

 

[Danella]

PLANET: Kinyen | LOCATION: Some Market Outpost Place...
TAG: Zaiya Ceti
GEAR: Just the clothes on my back and a simple lightsaber hidden away somewhere

What little credits (and whispers of work) I had managed to scrape together since my escape from the Sith Empire, had eventually guided me to an agricultural world that bordered the Empire and the High Republic.

It was far too close to the Sith Empire for my liking, but perhaps there would be safety within the Republic for someone like me. Desperate times called for desperate measures, though - and so here I was. Kinyen was an agri-world, and as such promised the chance of employment, and money. Which I desperately needed to feed myself.

Who would have thought that running away from the Sith Empire would leave me destitute, homeless, and scared of my own shadow? I didn’t want to be any of these things - and more than once I had to fight the temptation to go back to that nightmare I had fled.

Maybe things would be different with a new master.

No, the Sith were darkness personified. My former master had exemplified just how cruel they could be. Going back would be a huge mistake, and I knew it in my heart. But surviving on my own like this was hard.

I was getting weaker as each day passed, my body slowly becoming more and more gaunt the longer I went without food, without feeding. I was lucky to eat one meal every other day - as I simply could not feed on others the way my very nature demanded I do. And oftentimes I had to choose between food and transport to a place where my luck just might pick up for me.

That was why I was Kinyen now.

The marketplace was bustling with people of all races and colors and shapes and sizes. People were buying and selling, their voices carrying over the crowd, a variety of scents were crashing across my senses, and I was gazing at everything with an overwhelmed expression on my face. Where did I even start? Who did I ask for the chance of employment? There was just so much happening around me that inside my chest I could feel my heart pounding, as if it was trying to escape.

And on top of all that, my hunger clawed at the very edges of my sanity. This place was dangerous for someone like me - dangerous for all these oblivious people too. I inhaled a shuddering breath to try and steady my racing pulse, and gain control of the hunger that made the edges of my vision tinge red.

I would have to buy some normal food, soon, to push off the need a little longer.

Stopping underneath the shadow cast by a vendor stall’s roof, I reached into my pocket to pull out a small leather pouch that contained what few credits I had left to my name. I cast one last cautious glance around me, before I turned my focus to the money and began to count it.

Maybe, just maybe, I would have enough to buy me a couple of fruits or a skewer of meat.

If not? Then I didn’t know what I was going to do...​

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

AGRI-FIELD OUTPOST //

KINYEN

Danella

There it was again.

The Lovalla empath stopped mid-step again, the colorful braids brushing her shoulders as she swung toward the direction the strange flutter seemed to intensify, blooming into color and emotion woven through the tapestry of the other beings around her.

Zaiya had to focus a bit more beyond what she was gleaning from others until she finally sharpened her attention to a singular note.

Fear. It was fear. But it wasn't the bright-yellow spike of immediate danger! This was the sort that felt tangled with desperation, exhaustion, and anxiety, as if smothered by the cacophony of emotions only to have this... gnawing need so intense that Zaiya's own stomach gave an uncomfortable little twist in sympathetic response.

Huh... that... was weird, Zaiya mused, tiny amber ripples of contemplation dancing over the Lovalla's mottled spots. Whatever she was sensing, someone desperately needed something......but at the same time... seemed terrified of what that need meant.

Okay. That was concerning.

Deciding it would be better to quicken her pace, Zaiya began walking again. She slipped through the marketplace, following that emotional thread through the Force while trying not to stare too obviously at everyone she passed. The sensation grew stronger with every few steps until her opal-blue eyes settled toward the shaded stalls ahead.

There.

It was coming from there. Now all she had to do was just had to figure out who.

"Hello? Is everything alright?" Zaiya began to ask, slowly taking a few steps forward.

 

[Danella]

PLANET: Kinyen | LOCATION: In the Shadow of a Market Stall
TAG: Zaiya Ceti
GEAR: Just the clothes on my back and a simple lightsaber hidden away somewhere

A shout nearby pulled my attention sharply from my task of counting my credits, a momentary surge of apprehension rushing through me before I realized it was just a merchant trying to catch someone’s attention. My eyes drifted from person to person, before I went back to the pouch and the credit sticks, my lips drawing into a thin line.

I had enough for one small meal - that was it. And I knew it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy me - nothing would, except the life that thrummed through the veins of every living person or creature around me. I knew that - but I did my best to deny it.

He forced that curse upon me and I would resist it just to spite him - in this life and the next. But that didn't solve the problem of my hunger - only made it worse.

"Hello? Is everything alright?"

A female voice near-ish to me called out and I lifted my eyes to scan those around me and I settled upon a woman who seemed to be looking for someone. Except her words indicated that she wasn’t exactly looking for anyone, but asking if someone was alright.

Then I realized she was looking at me.

I blinked, then immediately felt caution rise up within my chest. I didn't trust strangers, I didn't trust anyone, to be frankly honest. I glanced around myself once more, looking to see if maybe she was talking to someone else, but no - she wasn’t. There was no one else standing where I was.

“Are…are you talking to me?” I inquired, my voice coming across with a measure of uncertainty. ​

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

AGRI-FIELD OUTPOST //

KINYEN

Oh, there it was again, another spike of fear.

Zaiya felt the apprehension flare through the Force the moment Danella noticed her, sharper now that the strange woman realized she was the focus of the Lovalla's attention. A brief wash of yellow flickered across Zaiya's mottled spots in sympathetic response before settling beneath warmer amber.

Oops.

"Yeah," Zaiya answered, the Lovalla Knight slowing her approach as that concerned yellow lingered in little shimmering flecks along her cheeks.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." she told the young woman, stopping a comfortable distance away before offering a small, friendly smile. Up close, though, what the Empath sensed became even more curious.

See, the caution made sense. Even the uncertainty did as well. But beneath both of that flutter was that same gnawing need from before, stronger now that Zaiya was closer. Hunger, maybe? Except it did not feel quite like ordinary hunger.

Was she hangry? That sorta felt a bit like it, but the fear is what made Zaiya doubt it.

Amber shimmered thoughtfully through the rosy golden patterns of her skin as Zaiya tilted her head, only for her opal blue eyes to briefly drop toward the little pouch and credits in Danella's hands.

Oh! Maybe that was it. Maybe she didn't have enough credits for food?

"I'm Zaiya," the colorful Lovalla introduced herself, before glancing toward the nearby food stalls. "I was going to find something to eat."

Well, she was now.

"If you're looking too, you could come with me?" Zaiya offered with an easy smile. "It's always easier picking something when you have someone else to chat about if it turns out to be terrible."

A sheepish little flicker of pink danced across her cheeks.

"Or really spicy. I like really spicy."

⟡ Danella ​

 

[Danella]

PLANET: Kinyen | LOCATION: The Shadow of a Market Stall
TAG: Zaiya Ceti
GEAR: Just the clothes on my back and a simple lightsaber hidden away somewhere

“Yeah…sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I couldn’t help but let my gaze flicker over the other woman as she slowly approached me; the shimmer of colors that danced across her skin was mesmerizing - I’d never seen anything like that before. I realized I was staring when she stopped a few paces away from me, and I shifted my gaze away in an effort to not be rude, though I did catch her friendly smile before glancing elsewhere.

Curiosity, or was it hunger?, drew my gaze back towards her however. In the shadow of the market stall, the other woman might have caught a faint sheen of red over my eyes, though maybe it was a trick of the light.

“It’s…it’s okay.” I offered up after a moment of awkward silence, shifting on my feet as I gave her a small and sheepish smile. “Just wasn’t expecting someone to talk to me.”

“I’m Zaiya.” the colorful woman said, introducing herself to me. “I was going to find something to eat. If you are looking too, you could come with me?”

I almost jumped on the offer - but once again I hesitated. I was not used to kindness like this, and frankly it was a little embarrassing that she had picked up on the fact that I was so poor I couldn’t even afford to really feed myself. I felt shame flood through me, and my cheeks heated as they flushed red with embarrassment.

"It's always easier picking something when you have someone else to chat about if it turns out to be terrible. "Or really spicy. I like really spicy."

I felt a small smile drift across my face for a moment, easing the lingering heat out of my cheeks. I felt tension coiled tight within my muscles, throughout my body, and I attempted to relax a little. I inhaled a deep breath, and froze as the tension returned to me.

You see, creatures - no, monsters - like me are sensitive to things that most other living beings are oblivious to. Like scent, the thrum of blood through veins, the faint thudding of a heart within a chest. I was hyper aware of all these things, and with her being as close as she was and the fact that I dared to relax…it reminded me sharply of my hunger, of the fact that I was starving in more ways than one. It was instinct to lift my eyes and lock them with hers, instinct to try and lure her in - the crimson glimmer shifting across my blue eyes once more in a manner meant to dazzle and mesmerize. I recognized what was happening, what I was doing, and I forced my gaze away from her once again and looked down at the ground.

A shiver of disgust, of anger, rippled through me. Not at her, but towards myself.

It took a longer moment to compose myself enough to return to the conversation. I offered another smile, one that I hoped hid away what had just happened. “I…uh, well - if…if you wouldn’t mind company. I am…hungry.” That was an understatement. “Very hungry, actually. I don’t know how long it's been since I last fed. I mean, ate anything.” A flash of red colored my cheeks at the slip up, but I continued to smile at her and hoped she didn’t catch onto my comment.

Then I realized that while she had introduced herself, I had yet to do so.

"Oh, my name is Danella, by the way. But just 'Ella' is fine." ​

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

AGRI-FIELD OUTPOST //

KINYEN

Well, that was a lot of emotion all at once!

The Lovalla empath felt Danella's embarrassment first, then the easing tension, only for it to suddenly snap tight again. Hunger surged beneath it, followed almost immediately by a ripple of anger and something that felt unpleasantly close to disgust.

But none of it was directed at her, and for Zaiya that distinction mattered. It meant that Danella didn't mean the Lovalla any harm and that approaching her wasn't met with displeasure or anger.

Both a win in Zaiya's book!

Even then, there was no helping how tiny flows of empathy colored the edges of her mottled spots with bronze and amber, the iridescence of her bioluminescence shimmering over Zaiya's face as she watched Danella look away. There had been something strange about her eyes for a moment too, a flicker of crimson that made Zaiya blink before it was gone. By all accounts, though, the Force was moving around the young woman in a way that Zaiya could tell made her Force-sensitive, but she didn't feel as if there was a particular tint to her aura about what or where she might be with her Force Sensitivity.

Curious, very curious.

And then there was that little stumble between fed and ate.

Zaiya's head tilted slightly, her braids swishing gently over her shoulders, but she still did her best to show a friendly disposition.

"Ella," she repeated with a warm smile, apparently deciding that whatever puzzle was assembling itself could wait until the woman was not starving. "that is a very pretty name. I like it!'

"Okay. Then food first then!" A brighter ripple of teal shimmered through her spots as she turned toward the stalls, only to glance back at Danella.

"Anything you absolutely don't eat?" she asked curiously, looking to find out more of the young woman. "Because I should probably warn you my definition of spicy has been called unreasonable."

And as the Lovalla gently encouraged Ella to walk with her, she gave another warm smile.

"And it is okay. I know. The glowing bits and the color changes over my skin are distracting. But this is just another way my kind talk to one another and communicate... so instead of kinetic language with gestures, it is different color spectrums and shadings that relay the nuances of how we feel as much as what we are saying."

Danella
​