Heart Is Black

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Sometimes it was just the boredom that got to Castor.

He was patrolling the lower levels of Corellia's capital city, beside one of the many, many, loading docks and he was bored. The number of times he had patrolled this same route could not be counted without measuring into the millions he was sure. It felt like he knew every step he needed to take on this damned route and that annoyed him.

Annoyingly enough, this route was actually a high priority area and they expected that rebels and other seditious parties would have some kind of a hold over the desperate people here. It was rather simple as far as he was concerned - the people here needed some kind of hope and they looked outside of the Empire for that hope.

The fact that half of the 'rebels' he found were nothing more than con artists was something that told him that they were likely not going to end up in a better place.

He was walking along down the street when a sweet old Rodian lady who owned one of the fast food places waved him over. Official he wasn't supposed to spend much time around non-humans but... well she was a sweet old lady and she gave him half price on noodles after he had caught a shoplifter. Paying her the full price anyway, as he always did, Castor just smirked as he wandered off with the noodles in one hand.

And then her fast food stall exploded in flames.

Blinking numbly, Castor didn't react for a moment before touching his com quickly,

"HQ respond - we have an incendiary explosion on grub street! Requesting bomb squad and fire marshals!"

There was a pause.

"Negative Blade Three - return to your patrol."

He stood there, paralysed by indecision for a moment.

@Relent

 

[Ahri Raan]

There was little reason for a person like Ahri to be so deep into the Imperial bowel as to find themselves on Corellia. There was nothing here that couldn't be found easier elsewhere, but something had drawn her and her ship The Vixen here - she just hadn't quite figured out what it was yet.

Corellia's lower levels seemed to be filled to the brim with the cast offs and the forlorn, Ahri finding herself wondering why people put through the wringer so often would keep their allegiances to the Imperials. Probably no other choice if she were to guess, Ahri had experience in dealing with a lot in life you didn't ask for and didn't want. When she had her chance to leave, though, she did.. and never looked back. She wondered why these beleaguered people didn't do the same.

Always looking for another back alley grifter who'd fence her supplies she could smuggle to her rebellious friends, Ahri's eyes scanned around as she walked. She was in no particular hurry to get anywhere, tough she could feel the low grumblings of hunger start to bubble in her belly. She spotted a noodle stand not to far up the street and smiled. She loved noodles.

Just as she was beginning to close the distance, the unthinkable happened. Ahri's eyes instantly shot to the man who'd just left the stand, sure that he had been the culprit. Then she heard his radio bark and realized he was Imperial police. She heard him ask for help, and she heard his help tell him to sod off.

Ahri had seen fire and death before, so she wasn't as traumatized as many of the citizens now rushing around to their hidey holes afraid that they might be the next to spontaneously explode. She.. had other plans, and part of that plan was having the Officer help her.

Approaching Castor - who seemed paralyzed at the cold indifference of his superiors - Ahri called to him. "Yo, you just gonna stand there or what? Help me put the fire out. There's probably still salvageable evidence."

Ahri was trying to appeal to the man's obvious sense of moral decency. He had wanted to help before, perhaps he'd still want to help now. She would reach out to grab his arm and to pull him towards the wreckage, if he would allow her to.

"No time to lose buttercup," She said with a smile, grabbing an empty bucket and dunking it in a trough of water she assumed was for dogs or other passerby's animals.

She figured the man would probably have questions for her, but for now she hoped that the shock and sudden instruction and action from a stranger would keep him distracted. Ahri was going to figure out what the kriff was going on her with or without his help, anyway.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Someone was talking to him...

He snapped his head to face the woman who was talking to him, handing instinctively going to his lightsaber. When he was in the academy, losing focus like that had often been rewarded with a sneak attack to teach them a lesson... instead he found a rather odd looking woman talking to him. She... she asked him if he was going to just stand there.

If he was going to help her put out the fire.

His superiors... they told him that he wasn't supposed to help out. They had told him that he was supposed to continue on with his patrol. Well... arse to that.

He touched his comlink.

"Sorry HQ - signal is weak. Unable to hear properly. Com link... might... down?" he faked signal issues before tossing his com link away, nodding to the woman, "It was a fire bomb but she works with oil... water will help but keep it away from the cooking station."

And what was his 'better' idea?

Reaching into the Force, Castor took a deep breath before he began to exert his control over the flames. His arms began to shake as he used more concentration on this than he had on anything in a long time. He swallowed thickly as he lowered the flames using the Force but was unable to smoother them entirely.

Lowering the flames revealed something.

"The... the rodian..." he gasped out, still focusing, "Grab her... she's... she's breathing!"

This was probably why he was a Sith police officer and not a Sith fire fighter - this was exhausting!

@Relent