07-02-2017, 01:22 PM
"I never thought I'd find myself looking forward to guard duty."
"I hear you, Cody. Being on scout duty in the Nexus is not worth the pay rise. I'm glad that we'll be transferring back to the normal guard routine after today. Man, let's go out for drinks or something after this."
Cody and James walked onwards towards the fountain, clad in their white Stormtrooper gear. Scout duty was dreaded by many. While potentially rewarding due to the possibility of making powerful prime friends and bringing them back to The Empire, it was dangerous. New primes were sometimes volatile, and older ones often travelled through the Nexus. Disputes with The Kingdom were also common here, but luckily they very rarely turned to violence. There were many risks, but it taught the pair to be smart. They'd had a good run over the past month and had developed a rough routine: patrol around the fountain - the side closest to the Coruscant gate; talk to all new primes carefully; be informative and act with discipline; offer to take them back to The Empire; run as fast as their legs could carry them should any signs of violence start.
That was the plan anyway. But it wasn't uncommon for other, older, primes to adopt the newer ones. If anyone else made it to them first, Cody and James were reluctant to make contact. There was a new prime at least every few days (often more), but over their time in the Nexus, the pair had only convinced two to return to Coruscant with them. Which was fair. They weren't the only pair on scout duty, after all.
"What's that?" Cody pointed his blaster towards a large black lump of fabric on the floor. It looked like a big cloak or coat was just left bundled up on the ground.
"I dunno. Maybe someone summoned it and didn't like the design. It's awfully plain." James shrugged.
"No. They can't summon in the Nexus, James."
"What? I swear they can. I thought it was just bases and big stuff that they couldn't make here."
"Huh. Oh, you might be right. But that still doesn't explain what it is. Should we take it?"
It took a while, but eventually the tears stopped and dried, leaving faint trailing stains down Ebony's face. The shaking stopped afterwards. But that meant little. She was still alone in the light - the dull, painful, destructive white light.
Voices. There were voices getting closer. Footsteps. They were walking towards here. There was two of them. They talked together. "Prime". What's a prime? "Nexus". What's a nexus? Ebony was confused. But maybe they had answers. Maybe they could help her. Maybe there were taken here was well, just like her.
Maybe.
But maybe they were evil. Maybe they were Omni's evil minions. All evil villains had minions. That was a fact. Ebony knew so from her books. She even had good deductive reasoning to support her case:
Maybe she should take a peak. A small peak. Then she'd know for sure.
Slowly, Ebony reached out until her fingers just touched the edge of her soft cloak. She flinched as her hand brushed against the floor. The footsteps stopped. The voices talked. Maybe they were going to leave her alone. That would be good...
I don't want to be alone. They could be good. They could be friends.
Shuddering as she did so, Ebony flicked open a small gap. A very small gap. So small that only a tiny amount of white light made it inside, barely illuminating the dull floor. But it was enough. The gap was closed as soon as it opened as Ebony shivered, her hand recoiling. She wanted to try, she really did. But similarly to many people who want to fly, no matter how much she wanted to, it just wasn't possible. How could she? She'd found a modicum of artificial safety under her protective cloak. Was it really worth risking that?
She had to. She decided she had to try, regardless of how much she wanted to, what was more important was that she had to. The footsteps began again and moved closer still. They were really close now. Really, really, close. She reached out her hand yet again. They were right in front of her now. She didn't think they were going to leave her alone. She had to get a look. Her arm was shaking frantically, but her body was still. Her breaths shallow, but orderly and quiet. Again, a gap was made in her black shield, this one slightly larger than before as she peaked though. She flinched but didn't recoil.
Greeting her eyes were two pairs of white boots. White. Back her arm went, returning to hug her legs. Her body shook again at the frantic motion and she shivered lightly, trying to suppress it to little avail.
"Hey, James, did you see that?"
"See what?"
"It just moved. The thing just moved."
"Cody... It's a piece of fabric. Fabric doesn't move. Maybe it was just the wind?"
"There isn't any wind here. Whatever, let's just leave it."
One of the boots stepped back loudly, making Ebony flinch violently. Her cloak shuffled from the motion.
"See. It just moved again!"
"You think there's someone under there?"
"Maybe... I'll go look."
She froze. This wasn't the help she wanted. They were scary. They were bad, like the white place, like Omni. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't think. Her muscles tensed. She tried to open her jaw to scream, but only air hissed out. Air pumped in and out of her lungs, too quick to be of use. She would have shivered had her grip on her body not been so tight. The footsteps returned once again shortly, followed by the sound of something else hitting the floor. Had Ebony considered the noise outside of her fear, she'd have concluded that they were probably knees. But alas, she had not.
Ripples formed along the outside of her cloak as something groped at the rough exterior. It was moving it. Pulling it away from her. She may have been partially sitting on it, but she was light and the floor was smooth. It would have mattered little if she provided not direct resistance. However, that was not the case. In a futile effort, her weak looking arms grabbed onto the velvet inside and clamped down; she hugged it, refusing to let it get taken away.
"It's not moving."
"Urgh. Just let me help."
The things pulled harder, and more step noises were made along with a few grunts. More things started pulling, causing Ebony to breathe in sharply and hold on tighter as her and the cloak skidded across the harsh ground. The cloak was incredibly strong. It wouldn't rip, but the motion did cause Ebony a lot of discomfort. This was her cloak, and they were treating this like a game. It was cruel. They were monsters, just like Omni. Can't they just leave me alone? Please. Her fingers slipped. The inside was smooth and nice to touch, but the velvet was much harder to grip than the coarse exterior.
The cloak flipped up, revealing her body and exposing her to the bleak world. Two male faces met her watery deep green eyes. One looked shocked, the other looked calmer and grinned. She didn't like it. They scared her. They and their white armour. Rolling herself upright, she backpedalled, desperately trying to get away from them. Again, she tried to scream, yell, talk, say anything. Anything. Yell for help. Scream at them to leave her alone. Chant a spell.
She couldn't. She tried and she couldn't. Anything they said to her was lost as she continued moving backwards.
Crash.
Her back smacked into something hard, a fountain. It didn't hurt, but the contact shocked her. Again, she tried to bury herself under the cloak. This time using the short wall to assist in her cover.
"Come on. We won't hurt you."
Liar. You're lying.
"Stop hiding under there. You won't do yourself any favours."
"James, shush. She's obviously scared. Let me handle it."
"Pfft. Alright, Mr. Cassonova."
"Shuddup."
Just leave me alone.
The slapping sound of hard armour on the solid floor began again.
Please.
"Listen. My name is Cody. I'm here to help you."
I don't want your "help". Just go.
"What's your name? I can help you." It was followed by a quiet hiss. "Put your blaster down James." And then a thud.
Whether Ebony wanted to answer or not was irrelevant here. She couldn't. She just pushed herself into the wall and shifted her cloak to block out all the light.
"Please. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you."
Leave me alone.
Ebony was tempted. She was really tempted. What if she was wrong in her assumptions? But she had to be strong. She wasn't going to give into what she perceived as trickery and lies.
"We don't have any weapons. You'll be safe with us."
Liar. What was that "blaster" before about? I bet that was something bad. Just leave me alone.
"You can trust me. I'll help you. I can protect you."
Please. Just leave me alone. Ebony hugged herself, gripping onto her cloak.
"Cody, it's obviously not working. Just pull the cloak off."
Cody hissed under his breath. "James. Just give me five minutes. Five minutes."
Go away.
"I'm going to help you now. We can be friends."
Please.
Something touched her cloak and pressed against her shoulder. A hand. She flinched and tried to move away from it, but the wall stopped her.
"Leave me alone." It was a quiet and airy sentence. One that might sound like it was spoken under her breath. She'd put all of her efforts into it.
"Please. Just trust me. I can help."
Trying again, Ebony braced herself, pushing the hand a short distance. "Leave. Me. Alone." It wasn't particularly loud due to the muffling effect of her cloak, but it did carry some distance in the open Nexus. Enough that, if anyone was near, they would likely have heard.
"I hear you, Cody. Being on scout duty in the Nexus is not worth the pay rise. I'm glad that we'll be transferring back to the normal guard routine after today. Man, let's go out for drinks or something after this."
Cody and James walked onwards towards the fountain, clad in their white Stormtrooper gear. Scout duty was dreaded by many. While potentially rewarding due to the possibility of making powerful prime friends and bringing them back to The Empire, it was dangerous. New primes were sometimes volatile, and older ones often travelled through the Nexus. Disputes with The Kingdom were also common here, but luckily they very rarely turned to violence. There were many risks, but it taught the pair to be smart. They'd had a good run over the past month and had developed a rough routine: patrol around the fountain - the side closest to the Coruscant gate; talk to all new primes carefully; be informative and act with discipline; offer to take them back to The Empire; run as fast as their legs could carry them should any signs of violence start.
That was the plan anyway. But it wasn't uncommon for other, older, primes to adopt the newer ones. If anyone else made it to them first, Cody and James were reluctant to make contact. There was a new prime at least every few days (often more), but over their time in the Nexus, the pair had only convinced two to return to Coruscant with them. Which was fair. They weren't the only pair on scout duty, after all.
"What's that?" Cody pointed his blaster towards a large black lump of fabric on the floor. It looked like a big cloak or coat was just left bundled up on the ground.
"I dunno. Maybe someone summoned it and didn't like the design. It's awfully plain." James shrugged.
"No. They can't summon in the Nexus, James."
"What? I swear they can. I thought it was just bases and big stuff that they couldn't make here."
"Huh. Oh, you might be right. But that still doesn't explain what it is. Should we take it?"
It took a while, but eventually the tears stopped and dried, leaving faint trailing stains down Ebony's face. The shaking stopped afterwards. But that meant little. She was still alone in the light - the dull, painful, destructive white light.
Voices. There were voices getting closer. Footsteps. They were walking towards here. There was two of them. They talked together. "Prime". What's a prime? "Nexus". What's a nexus? Ebony was confused. But maybe they had answers. Maybe they could help her. Maybe there were taken here was well, just like her.
Maybe.
But maybe they were evil. Maybe they were Omni's evil minions. All evil villains had minions. That was a fact. Ebony knew so from her books. She even had good deductive reasoning to support her case:
- Omni is a villain.
- All villains have minions.
- Therefore, Omni has minions.
Maybe she should take a peak. A small peak. Then she'd know for sure.
Slowly, Ebony reached out until her fingers just touched the edge of her soft cloak. She flinched as her hand brushed against the floor. The footsteps stopped. The voices talked. Maybe they were going to leave her alone. That would be good...
I don't want to be alone. They could be good. They could be friends.
Shuddering as she did so, Ebony flicked open a small gap. A very small gap. So small that only a tiny amount of white light made it inside, barely illuminating the dull floor. But it was enough. The gap was closed as soon as it opened as Ebony shivered, her hand recoiling. She wanted to try, she really did. But similarly to many people who want to fly, no matter how much she wanted to, it just wasn't possible. How could she? She'd found a modicum of artificial safety under her protective cloak. Was it really worth risking that?
She had to. She decided she had to try, regardless of how much she wanted to, what was more important was that she had to. The footsteps began again and moved closer still. They were really close now. Really, really, close. She reached out her hand yet again. They were right in front of her now. She didn't think they were going to leave her alone. She had to get a look. Her arm was shaking frantically, but her body was still. Her breaths shallow, but orderly and quiet. Again, a gap was made in her black shield, this one slightly larger than before as she peaked though. She flinched but didn't recoil.
Greeting her eyes were two pairs of white boots. White. Back her arm went, returning to hug her legs. Her body shook again at the frantic motion and she shivered lightly, trying to suppress it to little avail.
"Hey, James, did you see that?"
"See what?"
"It just moved. The thing just moved."
"Cody... It's a piece of fabric. Fabric doesn't move. Maybe it was just the wind?"
"There isn't any wind here. Whatever, let's just leave it."
One of the boots stepped back loudly, making Ebony flinch violently. Her cloak shuffled from the motion.
"See. It just moved again!"
"You think there's someone under there?"
"Maybe... I'll go look."
She froze. This wasn't the help she wanted. They were scary. They were bad, like the white place, like Omni. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't think. Her muscles tensed. She tried to open her jaw to scream, but only air hissed out. Air pumped in and out of her lungs, too quick to be of use. She would have shivered had her grip on her body not been so tight. The footsteps returned once again shortly, followed by the sound of something else hitting the floor. Had Ebony considered the noise outside of her fear, she'd have concluded that they were probably knees. But alas, she had not.
Ripples formed along the outside of her cloak as something groped at the rough exterior. It was moving it. Pulling it away from her. She may have been partially sitting on it, but she was light and the floor was smooth. It would have mattered little if she provided not direct resistance. However, that was not the case. In a futile effort, her weak looking arms grabbed onto the velvet inside and clamped down; she hugged it, refusing to let it get taken away.
"It's not moving."
"Urgh. Just let me help."
The things pulled harder, and more step noises were made along with a few grunts. More things started pulling, causing Ebony to breathe in sharply and hold on tighter as her and the cloak skidded across the harsh ground. The cloak was incredibly strong. It wouldn't rip, but the motion did cause Ebony a lot of discomfort. This was her cloak, and they were treating this like a game. It was cruel. They were monsters, just like Omni. Can't they just leave me alone? Please. Her fingers slipped. The inside was smooth and nice to touch, but the velvet was much harder to grip than the coarse exterior.
The cloak flipped up, revealing her body and exposing her to the bleak world. Two male faces met her watery deep green eyes. One looked shocked, the other looked calmer and grinned. She didn't like it. They scared her. They and their white armour. Rolling herself upright, she backpedalled, desperately trying to get away from them. Again, she tried to scream, yell, talk, say anything. Anything. Yell for help. Scream at them to leave her alone. Chant a spell.
She couldn't. She tried and she couldn't. Anything they said to her was lost as she continued moving backwards.
Crash.
Her back smacked into something hard, a fountain. It didn't hurt, but the contact shocked her. Again, she tried to bury herself under the cloak. This time using the short wall to assist in her cover.
"Come on. We won't hurt you."
Liar. You're lying.
"Stop hiding under there. You won't do yourself any favours."
"James, shush. She's obviously scared. Let me handle it."
"Pfft. Alright, Mr. Cassonova."
"Shuddup."
Just leave me alone.
The slapping sound of hard armour on the solid floor began again.
Please.
"Listen. My name is Cody. I'm here to help you."
I don't want your "help". Just go.
"What's your name? I can help you." It was followed by a quiet hiss. "Put your blaster down James." And then a thud.
Whether Ebony wanted to answer or not was irrelevant here. She couldn't. She just pushed herself into the wall and shifted her cloak to block out all the light.
"Please. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you."
Leave me alone.
Ebony was tempted. She was really tempted. What if she was wrong in her assumptions? But she had to be strong. She wasn't going to give into what she perceived as trickery and lies.
"We don't have any weapons. You'll be safe with us."
Liar. What was that "blaster" before about? I bet that was something bad. Just leave me alone.
"You can trust me. I'll help you. I can protect you."
Please. Just leave me alone. Ebony hugged herself, gripping onto her cloak.
"Cody, it's obviously not working. Just pull the cloak off."
Cody hissed under his breath. "James. Just give me five minutes. Five minutes."
Go away.
"I'm going to help you now. We can be friends."
Please.
Something touched her cloak and pressed against her shoulder. A hand. She flinched and tried to move away from it, but the wall stopped her.
"Leave me alone." It was a quiet and airy sentence. One that might sound like it was spoken under her breath. She'd put all of her efforts into it.
"Please. Just trust me. I can help."
Trying again, Ebony braced herself, pushing the hand a short distance. "Leave. Me. Alone." It wasn't particularly loud due to the muffling effect of her cloak, but it did carry some distance in the open Nexus. Enough that, if anyone was near, they would likely have heard.
Quote:As before. PM me or seek me out in chat to join in or something if you want to meet me here.