A Simple Hold-Up

[Mie]

Coronet, Corellia
19:42 Local Time
Theme​

Mie simply had to stop traveling alone at night, it was starting to get ridiculous and was interfering with her sleep. Granted, given her mangled, monstrous features traveling in the daylight was something of a risk, and without a speeder she had to travel quite far to reach new museums and libraries. But still, walking at night in the slums of Coronet City, with her pretty little body wrapped up in cheap, baggy civilian clothing, she was practically begging for attention. She might as well have been toting a neon holo-sign reading 'Mug me' on her back. She was already dressed in a purple hoodie, so a blaring sign wouldn't be out of place. Every little creak, crack, and tap that emanated from the darkened side alleys put her on edge, as any of them could be a thief waiting to pounce. Now, if she had actually gotten something out of her slog across the city she might have been less tense and more optimistic about this nighttime march. But with little to show for her latest hike beyond maintaining the musculature in her legs, Mie was equal parts frightened and frustrated. As such, the last thing she needed right now was to be attacked by some sleazy creep with a knife. So of course someone with a knife leapt out of the shadows of an alley while Mie was distracted with her own thoughts, throwing an arm around her neck and flashing a knife in her face.

"Alright beautiful." The man threw her against a nearby wall, slamming his free hand against the wall to her left, while his knife nearly touched her nose. "I want everything in your pock-AH!"

The would-be mugger's speech was cut short as Mie, with reflexive, instinctive speed spun them both around, slamming the man into the wall hard enough to cause him to drop his knife. He had picked perhaps the worst single woman to mug on Corellia, a pissed-off mutant looking to vent some serious steam. Holding him by his throat to the wall, Mie pulled off her sunglasses and scarf, revealing the horrifying visage that lie beneath. Her mouth, sans cheeks, was a web of large, jagged, vicious-looking fangs snarled at the man like an angry nexu. Her yellow, slit eyes were no less predatory than her mouth, and seemed to glare a hole through the man's head. Her free hand, no gloveless, traced a claw down the side of the man's face in a gesture both tactile and terrifying. Under normal circumstances Mie kept her features covered, but she had no problem scarring the kark out of some wannabe thug if he tried to mess with her.

"You picked the wrong girl to mug, farker."

@Abeos Sarquas

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Ah, Corellia, Abe's home planet. He had a lot of good and bad memories here. Mainly where he met the man who found trained Abeos in the ways of the force. Saying good bye to his good friend he was visiting, he walked out into the dreary night. Normally at this time of night, thugs and gangsters were crawling around trying to mug some innocent person. Almost coincidently, Abe heard a yell, shortly followed by silence.

Abe was dressed in his Jedi robes and trousers, and would blend in with the darkness, should he want to. Walking around the corner to locate the person in distress, he stopped when he found them. It appeared to be a man and a woman, the woman bearing what appeared to be fangs. "Stop!" Abe said to both of them, not knowing which one was yelling. None appeared to be holding any weapons, although those fangs the woman had seemed both dangerous, and scary. Motioning with one hand to the man and woman, "Woman, drop the man and both of you stay." Abe's other hand moved away the part of the robe that concealed his lightsaber.

"We will discuss this properly, now what happened? Woman since you appear to be attacking the man, you shall go first." Abe held his lightsaber at the ready should anyone produce a concealed blaster, although Abe didn't sense any. Wanting to find out what happened without any fighting, Abe nodded at the woman to start talking.

 

[Mie]

Neither the mugger nor Mie had expected to be caught during their little tussle, but sure enough a man dressed in some very conspicuous robes had apparently seen their brief struggle, and was not shouting at them with a hand hovering over something on his hip. Mie, with her features exposed, was instantly thrown into a wild panic as she did not want to share her condition with some random bystander and whatever weapon he was no doubt searching for. An intense fear overrode any sense of danger or intent she could derive from the man, and Mie was sprinting down the alley at a break-neck pace, clumsily throwing on her scarf and glasses. Whether the man was a bounty hunter, Jedi, Exile, or just some creep in a hood, Mie didn't want to find out, as she had already risked too much in revealing her face to two strangers on their own. As for the mugger? He was just cowering against the wall, trying to recompose himself after that harrowing encounter.

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

While Abe was examining the man, thinking he was a thug and was the one that most likely attacked, the woman threw the man at a wall, and dashed down the alley. Waking from a sudden daze he immediately sprinted after her while saying to the man, "You, stay here!" Most likely the man would not stay and would also try to run away, Abe was more interested in the woman. He was curious about who she was, why she was in this situation, and most of all what happened to her once beautiful face.

Knowing the woman could probably out run him, Abe began to pick up his pace, using his Jedi senses to depict her next move. Fortunately for Abe, she was running into a dead end. Before she knew it, she ran halfway down the alley before realizing it was a dead end. Abe, who was slowing his pace to regain energy, simply looked at her in a curious but cautious manner. Abe knew what she could do with those vicious fangs of hers.

The woman turned around and faced him, but she had glasses and a scarf covering her face. She looked like a normal person except that Abe could tell the points of the fangs pointing out of her scarf. "Look lady, i just want answers, i'm not going to hurt you." Abe said as he continued to approach the woman. The woman was backing up until she hit solid brick.

 

[Mie]

Mie knew that the stranger was after her, that much as clear as her keen senses tracked his foot steps racing up behind her, somehow matching her inhuman speed. In her desperation, she forgot the layout of the streets and alleyways in the area, running smack into a dead end. No side doors, no low windows, no open fire escapes, she was caught like a beast in a trap, and that frightened her perhaps more than the two men who had seen her true visage today. As if realizing she had no where to go, the stranger approached the opening to her duracrete cage very cautiously, examining her barely-concealed features with a restrained curiosity that deeply unnerved Mie. She felt like a zoo animal, like a bug pinned to a board waiting to be put out of its misery under the inquisitive, penetrative gaze of the human stranger that slowly approached her. She was desperate for an escape, despite his reassurances that he was not going to hurt her and that he only wanted answers. Really? You see a woman with nexu-teeth threatening a mugger, you chase her down, and all you want are to ask a few questions? Hardly.

Mie was cornered, trapped, she knew that, so in desperation she was forced to fall back on the same tactic she used to intimidate the mugger, although she was sure they had little chance of success. She slipped off her gloves, revealing the short black talons they lay beneath, slid off her glasses to reveal her predatory eyes, and drew down her scarf to flash her jagged jaws. But she wasn't done yet. An ability she discovered she had, one that caused her no end of confusion and concern, was being able to unhinge her maw like a serpent and flex out a long, prehensile, almost reptilian tongue. So, revealing a face full of ferocious fangs, her tongue flailing like a beast, and her eyes fixed intently on the stranger, Mie let out a blood-curdling roar, hoping that the sum total of her mutations would frighten the man off.

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Abe stopped approaching the woman, halting only just out of reach of her fangs. He also wanted to giver he some space, to let her talk. If Abe was in her place in this situation, he would be frightened as well. So he tried to reach out to her, and sooth her, calming her enough to speak. "Look, I know what you can do, you might not believe me, but you have an extraordinary gift. You might see it as a curse, but I see it as a potential. I can help you." Abeos truly wanted to help her, and this woman's potential could be great. If he could train her and help her not be the beast that her fangs are making her. Of course he didn't want to let her know that she would become a beast, if not already. "Here, this is not the place to talk, I can take you to a neutral place to talk, and figure things out, would a cantina suit you? I simply just was to close the gap. Obviously you are having trust issues, and I can help you, so what do you say?" Abe didn't offer her his hand for two reasons, firstly, there was still the risk of her maybe biting her hand, and second, he saw her as an independent woman, she could possibly help herself, but he didn't want her to go down the wrong path.

Abe walked her, escorted her? Down the way they both came to a bar they both agreed on, The Spinning Dancer. Once they were inside, and sitting in a booth, he ordered a whiskey, while the woman went to the bathroom to wash up, or that's what she said. Anyways, Abe wanted to give her room to think and compose herself.

 

[Mie]

Was...was this weirdo trying to pick her up? He stopped just short of her reach, seemed to compliment her on her mutations, and asked her to come to a bar with him for a social talk, i.e. a date. He seemed to be, by all metrics Mie knew about, to be flirting with her, something that disturbed her more than her own twisted appearance. The idea that some total stranger was trying to chat her up even after she flashed her freakish aberrations at him was more frightening than all the existential questions her mutations brought up. So, slumping back into a look of both confusion and outrage, Mie decided to vent on the strange, strange little man.

"What the fark is wrong with you?!" She snapped in a flustered and grossed-out rage. "You see me attacking a mugger, I look like a half-nexu hybrid, I'm roaring at you like a wild animal, and you want to take me on a date?! Seriously?! What...what is wrong with you, man?"

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Surprised by the woman's sudden rage and spewing words, Abe composed himself, and after listening to her accusations, said, "No Mam'm, i am not trying to pick up a woman i just saw beating up a mugger, and the fact that i just met you. All I want is answers as to what happened. This happens to be my home planet, and i would hate to see people mugging people in alleys, on my planet. So lets start with what your name is, and if you feel uncomfortable, just let me know. wether or not you were mugging someone, you participated in criminal activity, and from my viewpoint, you were attacking the man. So don't make me turn you in to the authorities."

Abe had no thoughts of turning the woman in, but if he had to, he would, he couldn't have people running around attacking people.

 

[Mie]

Well now Mie felt rather foolish given her previous accusations at the man, as he seemed entirely interested in helping her out, or at the very least understanding her present condition. The threat of being put under arrest was unwarranted, however, as Mie was not sure what the Corellian Security forces would do to something like her. She found herself unconsciously growling at the man as he made his threat of imprisonment, an instinct that Mie had to beat down before she tried to address the man again. Pulling on her disguise again, piece by piece, Mie cleared her throat softly before replying to this very, very odd stranger.

"Mie. My name is Mie." She began, averting her eyes slightly from the man. "A-And I'm not saying anything else until you tell me who you are!" Her tone was less 'confident negotiator' and more 'scared child'.

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Abe understood the fear this girl, who finally had given him her name. Mie was scared, Abe would have been also if in her place. "Thanks for giving me your name, thats a step in the right direction. My name is Abeos, but mostly everyone calls me Abe. I'm what people call a peacekeeper. I keep people safe and bring justice and balance." Abe said, not wanting to say he was a Jedi. The Hutt were all over the Jedi sending out bounties on the most famous Jedi. Though Abe wasn't a known Jedi, he still carried a Jedi weapon, a lightsaber. He still didn't know if Mie worked with the Hutt or not. "So I guess we are going to do a you ask a question about me then I do type of situation?" Abe didn't know how much information to give out, but he certainly couldn't lie.

 

[Mie]

"Y-You're a Jedi?" She nearly recoiled at the revelation, as Abeos admitted to being a 'peacekeeper' with a duty to 'bring justice and balance', the exact modus operandi of the Jedi Order. Combined with his remarkably, almost uncanny calmness and his penchant for dull robes, and Mie could draw no other conclusion that Abeos being a Jedi Knight of some kind. This made him the third Jedi she had ever met, and it seemed that their streak of being oddly helpful and accepting continued through him. Still, someone could be nice to you in the morning and cruel to you in the afternoon, even with only a year's worth of experiences to draw on even Mie knew that, so she was still hesitant to trust the man.

"What do you want me with, Jedi?"

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

It started raining outside, and since Abe had a planned a long time on Corellia, he had time to play this game with Mie. "All I want to know is what happened with the mugger. You have great potential, and I can help you, are you in any sort of gang?" Abe sat back, he couldn't sense any type of force in her, but he could train her. Her unnormal features, could be used as a weapon if in the wrong person's hands. He had to try to help her either remove it, or teach her. Abe was humble and wouldn't consider himself a Jedi Master, and he certainly did not have the rank. But in times come, he would know enough to teach her if she was willing.

 

[Mie]

"...Are you dense?" Now she was starting to get really annoyed with Abeos nonchalance, as he was taking this conversation simply far too well. She was a monster, he had seen exactly what she could do, what was under her mask, and yet he was trying to engage in small talk. "Of course I'm not in a gang, or an organization, or anything! I don't belong anywhere looking like this! What is wrong with you?!"

Mie was starting to lose control now, the heart thundering away in her chest sent blood racing through her shaking frame as tears began to form in her eyes.

"I'm a freak, a monster, you should be running in fear for your life! Not trying to make small talk with me!"

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Abe looked at Mie with a straight face, he understood she was being rejected, but didn't understand why she was being so fussy. She should be happy that someone was actually coming and talking to her. "You think you are a monster, others think you are a monster, I see you as a scared girl thrown away just because of your looks. What people don't see is what is inside of you. Let you be who you truly are, you don't have to hide anymore." Abe said as he inhaled and exhaled softly. "Mie we shouldn't be running away from our problems, we should be facing them, and I want to help you do that."

This situation was becoming harder and harder, and was possibly one of the most difficult situations Abe has had to try to fix. This wasn't something you could just fight, this was not physical, it was emotional, all in Mie's head. Sure people think she is a monster and she thinks that too. "Don't care about what other people think about you, you were born this way, and you should be proud. Walk in confidence, don't try to hide your scars. You are pretty, don't doubt that. I can sense the light in you."

 

[Mie]

Well, this certainly clarified Abeos' thought process, as he seemed to assume that her condition was a natural one. How anyone could assume that Mie's abominable abilities were inborn was anyone's guess, but the man seemed to genuinely want to help and understand her. This was the third Jedi she had ever come across, and out of all of them he seemed to be the most accepting of her condition, to an almost disturbing degree in fact. She didn't appreciate his attempts to make her feel better about her grotesquerie, as she was certain that it was just feigned politeness, and she hated insincerity.

"I wasn't born this way." She corrected him in a softer tone. "This was...done, to me. And before you ask, I can't remember anything from before I woke up in a tank of kolto looking like this, so please, don't ask. Regardless of where these mutations came from, after the war a lot of people are on the hunt for...unusual specimens. If I wasn't run down by and angry mob it would be the Hutts, or the Exiles. Or the Jedi."

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

This was getting way more complicated as they talked Abe thought. But at least he had found out what happened. "So this was intentional? I am sorry, but maybe together we can put your past together. I want to help you solve this mystery, if you let me. You are a puzzle with one piece missing, all we need is the information." Abe decided. "I will help you find your past Mie, if you let me, I can give you some time to think if you want." Now they had a common goal. Find who did this to Mie.

 

[Mie]

"Alright...alright I believe you want to help me. And in truth I really need your help, I haven't been able to dig up much on my own." Mie began to step closer to the man, lacking any hostile intent in her mind or motions. "I've been to every library and museum in the city, and I have a few Jedi friends looking into your archives. So we'd have to find another way to learn more about me."

Mie decided to leave out all of the Exiles and non-Jedi she had met in her travels, and all the advice they have given her, Mie wasn't yet willing to press the limits of Abeos insane tolerance. Besides, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Abe believed they would get through this, but he didn't know where to start. "Alright Mie, first tell me the whole story of what happened. Do you remember when you got it and where you were when you got it? Maybe you have some names you might have remembered." Abe looked around watching people pass bye and stare. "I don't think this is the right place to talk, maybe we should go somewhere else, do you have an idea? A place to stay? We could talk tomorrow and figure things out. If you need a place to stay, you are welcome to stay with me, i have a guest room, whichever you prefer."

Yawning, Abe was very tired, and wanted to start as soon to figure this mystery out, but he was out of energy, and would continue the next day.

 

[Mie]

Mie had been prepared to share her story with Abeos, but as she did people began to move around the nearby alley, putting Mie on edge as they wandered back and forth in the background of her view of the Jedi. She was more than willing to put a pin in this conversation and save it for a later, safer, more private date, so when Abeos recommended his room for them to keep this going, Mie was willing to take him up on that offer. Besides, it wasn't like he was some sleazy pick-up artist trying to bed her, right?

"I'll take that you up on that offer." Mie replied, before Abeos loud and open yawn cut her off guard. Apparently meeting an Exile-created mutant in a darkened alley, having her nearly attack you, and then agree to meet with you late to discuss her many existential issues was boring or something. Mie silently, and sarcastically apologized for boring the Jedi as she followed him to his abode.

 

[Abeos Sarquas]

Mie and Abe walked silently to his house. The raining had just stopped when they reached his door. Abe turned the lock on the door. Opening the door, Abe gestured to Mie to go inside. Bolting the door, Abe said " Make yourself feel at home, take whatever is left from the fridge, and if you require anything else, feel free to ask. I'll show you your room." Abe turned around, took off his robe, revealing his under shirt, and gently placed the robe on a nearby chair. Motioning Mie to follow, Abe led her down the hallway, pointing several rooms along the way. "The kitchen is over here, here is the restroom, my bedroom, an office area, and here is your room, the restroom is inside. If you need anything else, ask. See you in the morning to start the hunt, Good night."

Abe waved a good bye gesture, and walked to his room. Setting his lightsaber on the desk beside the bed, he walked over to the door to close and locked it, he figured Mie would do the same. They literally just met, but as they journeyed on together, trust should be able to form between them. Sighing, Abe took the rest of his cloths off, and stepped into the restroom that also came in his bedroom. Turning off the shower, he wondered what Mie was thinking about right now. He hoped he wasn't pressuring her out. Tomorrow should be a more exciting and thrilling day than today was.