Private You Will Be Found

[Yula Perl]

//CORUSCANT UNDERCITY

“I don’t like the idea of her being in a place like this.”

Yula grumbled from behind a cigarra, hands shoved deep as they could go into her jacket pockets. The eldest Perl sister had the demeanor of a bristled nexu when it came to protecting her siblings. Something she’d failed to do over and over, even when she tried. Running into a spiced-out Kyra during the Sith invasion of Ossus had lead to harrowing face-off with some Mandalorians and a grenade. Waves of guilt had run through Yula like nausea in the following weeks. Ironically, she’d turned to spice to dull the feeling—then kicked the habit, and picked it up again.

While she marinated in her own shame on Denon, one of the Shadowrunners who’d come in from Coruscant mentioned Kyra in the most off-hand way. Not by name, but by sight.

Pink skin, red hair. Kind of like your mom, right? Haha, yeah, of course I know what she looks like. You guys kind of have the same face, you know?

Yula never wanted to die on a hill, but if there was one thing worth dying for, it was her family. Her solo failures had turned her towards the one person who’d teamed with Kyra to bring Nida back home.

You don’t know me, but…

He’d agreed readily, which surprised her. From the snippets Kyra and Nida had mentioned, the two did not get along.

Removing the cigarra from her lips, she tapped the ash to the ground and squinted up to the sign above them. The Spicy Spitoon. Christ. Who was in charge of naming these places?

“You ready, Jawline?” She snickered, feeding him a lopsided grin. Yula was determined to pry Kyra away from her vice before she ended up like...her.

Thirdas Heavenshield | Kyra Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

"Does everyone know about that," he muttered to himself at her mention of Kyra's nickname for him. Apparently his former partner had not minced words when communicating with her family. He found himself smirking. That did sound like the Kyra he used to know.

Glancing over at oldest Perl sister, his sense of smell was assaulted by the stench of her cigarra.

"You shouldn't smoke those things, you know. It's a chit habit," he told her out of passing yet genuine concern. He knew she was a big girl and didn't need anyone's approval regarding her lifestyle. He just thought she wasn't being very smart.

Keeping his metal arm hidden within the long sleeve of his leather jacket, Thirdas chose to enter first in case the bouncers thought to give them grief.

The Spicy Spitoon was like most other watering holes he'd set foot in -- many of which were during his search for Nida. The whole place reeked of death sticks and hard booze, and there was even a few back rooms in case one wished for a private dance. Patrons ranged from the usual tough guys coming off their shift looking for a good time, to those lone sad saps who spend every waking moment trying to end things at the end of a bottle.

A far cry from the jovial feasts of his homeworld, at the local inns or taverns. Places like these were just pathetic and depressing to set foot in.

"Do you see her," he asked over the loud music as the pair pushed past a party of drunkards about to leave.

"Maybe she's upstairs."

Upstairs was usually reserved for spice and other hard drugs, where addicts came to "chill out" together. He really hoped they wouldn't find Kyra there.

Yula Perl | Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Unfortunately, she was.

After a week of self-imposed sobriety and a fruitless trip to TSE for answers, Kyra had fallen into it again. Nothing bad had happened. No new harm had come to her or her family. Kyra's stumble back into a place like this boiled down to one hard truth.

She didn't have it all under control. She never did. Without the trauma and the pain she had no excuse for the spice that pumped through her. Or the men she let use her. There was only the addiction and her inability to escape it alone.

"I'm a Zeltron, I could do worse."

It was an excuse that followed her.

As the man buttoned his pants and dropped her a bag of spice, the gap between what she was and what she was meant to be grew wider. The shame grew that much heavier. The door closed behind the man. Her dress fell back to her thighs. She reached for the bag with a new reason to forget.

 

[Yula Perl]

"You shouldn't smoke those things, you know. It's a chit habit,"

“It’s one of my kinder vices, Lieutenant.”

At least he wasn’t some wide-eyed kid fresh from Midvinter. Thirdas had the world-weariness of a seasoned soldier, of someone who’s girlfriend had stabbed him and run off to play Sith. Yula would never forgive herself for not being there to save Nida, so she’d be damned if she was going to lose another sister.

Downstairs held no clues, leading the pair to continue their search upstairs.

“She has to be here.” Kyra’s life signature was fuzzy, eroded and dispersed—but was her. Pieces of her. Yula had felt the pull the moment they’d stepped into the cantina, whether Kyra wanted to be found or not.

As they ascended the stairs, a man brushed past them on his way down. His hazy gaze lingered over Yula for a few moments, before turning a lecherous smile on Thirdas.

“Plenty of pink schuttas to have fun with tonight, brother.”

The dots connected in a matter of seconds, and Yula’s eyes flared in realization. A current of adrenaline whipped her around like lightning, and she wrapped a hand around the column of the stranger’s neck, durasteel nail implants digging in to draw blood.

The man wailed in pain, struggling in the woman’s clawed grasp before Yula shoved him down, maintaining her grip.

“You see which room he came out of?” She grunted to Thirdas. They’d check every single one if they had to, but when spice flowed freely, time was of the essence. One surge of anger, one thought and she could send all five of her talons through this man’s neck. Then he’d be useless. Then he couldn’t be punished. She might be wrong, but Kyra was at stake.

Thirdas Heavenshield | Kyra Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Thirdas had come to the same exact realisation as her, at the same exact time. Yula was quicker to turn to grab the man by the neck, threatening to end him there and then were they not looking for someone so dear to the both of them. The tall Valkyri stared down the filthy lout with anger burning in his veins.

"You!"

With one continuous motion the iron grip of his cybernetic arm seized hold of and dragged the man to his feet, pushing him up against the wall atop the stairs.

"This Zeltron girl! Where is she?"

Foolishly stubborn and amped up on drugs, the poor excuse of a man did not answer but rather spat in Thirdas' direction in a desperate act of defiance.

"Wrong answer." Looking down the hall and the many rooms it contained, he turned back to the man in his mercy. "Fine. You just say 'stop' when we're there."

His metal hand now shoved his head into the wall, and held it there as Thirdas began dragging him along as he strode down the hall, beating his face red and bruised with each passing doorway.

Arriving near the end of the hall, the man finally shouted: "Stop! Stop!"

"This is the one? You're sure?"

The man nodded and Thirdas released his grip on his face.

"Thanks."

He then proceeded to kick him clean through the wall, creating a man-sized hole for him and Yula to step through. Likely the music downstairs was too loud for anyone to even notice the ruckus going on upstairs. Those patrons present to witness the destruction were either too afraid or out of it to make a scene.

Thirdas stepped over the unconscious sod into the dimly lit room, illuminated by the neon lights of the hallway.

"Kyra?"

Kyra Perl | Yula Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

The world was numb around her. Noise was static. Or cotton balls. Nothing reached her. Even the ground felt far far away. She was found half slumped on the sofa, a set of shaky fingers working at the plastic bag. Through the fog, she felt her world explode in a wave of movement.

Red rimmed eyes landed dumbly on the prone body... the shrapnel... the sharp jawline. Thirdas's presence was so out of place in the blistering lights of the club...

For a moment she felt back on her ship. What was broken now? Emergency lights only flashed when something was broken.

"I didn't do it," she told him, and it might seem like she was referring to the spices, but she was clearly well into those already. After a delayed moment, she felt a flash of panic. "They're here?" She reached for her gun.

Thirdas Heavenshield Yula Perl

 

[Yula Perl]

Yula grimaced around the cigarette as Thirdas quite literally kicked the man through the wall. She’s forgotten how strong Valkyri could be.

Yula skipped through the man-shaped hole in the wall, ignoring the corpse on the floor in favor of following the tug of her bond with Kyra.

There she was, on some dingy couch, red waves askew, red eyes rimmed with spice fatigue, limbs nearly trembling from the stimulation of her nervous system. Yula knew the feeling all too well, and her gut sank at the idea that someone may have seen her this way once.

But that feeling was quickly overshadowed by a protective instinct. As complicated as her feelings were, Kyra was, first and foremost, a victim to her.

Then her eyes landed on the blaster.

Cautiously, she stepped forward, suppressing the urge to embrace and slap her sister all at once. She extended a hand, struggling to keep her voice steady.

“Kyra, give me the gun.”

Kyra Perl | Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Instinct kicked in as soon as he saw Kyra reaching for the blaster, likely too out of it due to the recent intake of spice in her system to recognise the two of them.

His metal hand reached out from where he stood over by the man-sized opening, semi-certain that it would actually work. The gun ripped itself from its holster and flinged itself across the room into the palm of his hand. In an instant he'd neutralized the blaster by dismantling its critical components, rendering it harmless. He then passed it to Yula for safekeeping.

"Kyra," he repeated her name, seeing whether either of their voices would trigger a sense of familiarity within her. He advanced towards her, arms at his sides.

"I've been practising. Like you showed me, remember?"

Another step towards her.

"Do you remember when you found me on Ossus that night, when you wanted to go look for Nida? I had become an animal, living off my own shame and hatred for what they did to her. By finding me, you saved me from myself, Kyra."

Another step.

"Won't you let me save do the same for you now, systir minn?"

Kyra Perl | Yula Perl
(totally thought it was someone's elses turn, oops <3)​