Vode An

Nyra was, generally, doing ish-okay. Wandering the streets now took up most of her day, Sparky pressed right against the leg that, under her trousers, now had a scar on it from the outside of it. Nyra was focused, counting the credits she had. she’d never had to actively worry about starving before, usually she had enough to be comfortable. Leia couldn’t spare quite that much, and Nyra was trying to budget if there was any way she could get a warmer blanket than the one on her bed in her hotel room currently. she didn’t want to put any more stress on the rebel. frankly, she felt a little dirty needing rebel help anyways.

and then someone bumped into her, and nyra dropped her credits to the ground. as she was picking them up, she didn’t notice a very familiar weight coming out of one of her jacket pockets and onto the ground. “Yes, yes, Ma’am, I’m alright.” Sparky seemed more put off than nyra was, but what was new?

Aayla felt like a total jerk.  She usually was always paying attention. She saw that the other woman had dropped all of her credits.

“No need to call me ma’am child.” she said casually as she bent to help pick up the credits. As she handed them back, she looked and saw something else in the dirty street.

“Looks like you dropped something else,” and Aayla bent to pick it up. It looked like a medallion or a very large coin. As she looked closer at it she realized she recognized the signet on it from around the town. She couldn’t quite place it at the moment. She bookmarked the coin in her mind, and went to hand it back.

Aayla needed a couple of things from the a few of the different shops. The camp she had set p for herself out in the forest had almost everything she needed. She had fresh water, food, and most importantly, peace. She needed time to herself, time away. More than anything, time to think. 

When she got to the market, she began to mentally go over her list of things she intended to get. For starters, she needed a new cloak. Aayla began to walk over toward the outfitter’s shop. She wasn’t paying an attention to her surroundings. The passage of events, those being the Purge, the destruction of the order, the fall of the republic and others were clouding her mind. She was trying to concentrate on the present. It wasn’t working however. 

Aayla looked up just in time to bump into someone.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying any attention, are you alright?”

Ordo had woken up with a burning need for physical activity. Something, anything. He looked down at himself when he stood up and was irritated and upset. He was getting to be gross. He was be no means over weight, because of the advanced metabolism he had, however, he was losing his muscle tone, and on top of this he felt horrid. All the drinking was really starting to get to him and his body. 

He stepped away from his bed and decided to try out some calisthenics, and after his second set of push ups decided he would be okay to go for a run. He pulled on his sneakers and threw on his under shirt and took a step toward the door. Just as he was about to go out, he looked down and saw his vibro blade gauntlet.

Ordo stared at it for a moment and then picked it up and slid it onto his wrist. He engaged the blade and smiled slightly at the chunk it made as it ejected and then retracted. Ordo walked out into the sun’s light and of the late morning and took a few slow steps and began his run down the street toward the cantina where he planned to stop for caf and a quick bite to eat before heading back to shower. 

Not to far down the street he thought he had seen a ghost pass him going the other direction. Clones, looked almost completely the same, as far as their facial features go. The man he had just passed had the face, albeit he had longer hair then a clone kept, and facial hair. Ordo decided he was going to find out for sure. He turned sharply around, almost getting flattened by a small speeder in the process. 

He picked up his pace, and one he saw the man he recognized, he sprinted the last little bit to get to him. Ordo flew past the man and then turned to face him, kicking up dust in the process. 

He turned to face him, “Who are you?”    

TODAY  WAS  NOT  SELENE’S  DAY,  that  much  was  obvious.  “  oritsir!  “  she  exclaimed,  ejecting  the  vibroblades  in  each  gauntlet  and  holding  them  in  the  other  mandalorians  direction.  “  think  before  you  act,  yeah?  “

Ordo half smiled, as he looked from point to point of the blades aimed at him. He disengaged his vibro, bent to grab his cup and warra nuts, a sheepish look on his face. 

“Sorry,” he said as he stood back up. “Bad flashback.” 

obi wan shrugged. ❝ that’s something we can never know. if that was something that we could foretell and get the word out beforehand, we would’ve done so. it didn’t help that anakin was on their side and did much of the slaughter himself. we lost before we even had the chance. ❞ the more they dwelled on the past, the worse they’d feel. all they could do was focus on the present. 

❝ i have been training force sensitives in this time, teaching them how to control and use their skills. i’ve also changed the old code to better reflect a healthier lifestyle. if you wanted, you could help with that once i properly open the school. ❞

Though she was still extremely torn, her heart did lift a little at the mention of a school. A new order. 

Aayla looked down into her cup of caf, the steam rolling up into her face. The warmth was nice.

breena listened as the twi’lek woman told her tale. as she talked, breena felt her heart sink as she kept talking. the clone wars. it was possible this jedi had fallen victim to order 66. she could’ve been pulled just before , like alyrisa. she wasn’t sure, and she damn sure wasn’t going to pry about it. it was in the past , anyway. 

“ i’m.. well , i guess you could say a padawan ? obi wan is training me in the force. i just found out i was force sensitive not long ago, “ she explained. “ why do you want to let it go ? if you don’t mind my asking. “ 

Aayla smiled, thinking of how inquisitive young padawans are, after not being around them for so long. 

he glanced between the person and their table. ❝ work, ❞ he answered flatly. he didn’t know whether or not to accept this person’s offer for a drink… and obviously he couldn’t actually drink it with his helmet on. but he sat down against his better judgement. he didn’t have anything else to do, but he wouldn’t force himself to stay if the stranger started causing trouble. 

din was overly cautious nowadays. he had to be. luckily the child was napping on the razor crest, so he didn’t have to be back for about another hour.

❝ no need to buy me a drink. i’m fine. ❞

Ordo felt odd and very tense at the same time. He had been around mandalorians his whole life and it had never bothered him before, but now, sitting with this one he felt a huge ball of ice in his stomach. 

“What clan are you from, if you don’t mind my asking. I’m from, well, was from clan Skirata.” Ordo ordered a water and a bowl of Battu bits. 

Tillo quickly scrambled out of Ordo’s grasp, and tried to get his bearings back. “Oh, yeah. Of course, dude. Don’t even worry about it.” He had no idea what he was talking about but he was just glad he wasn’t with a blade to his throat still. “I’m fine! Totally fine, man.” He flashed him a very unsure but still passable smile.

Ordo felt terrible. The nasty thoughts of Orun Wa and the rest of them were fresh in his mind, and he shuddered. 

Cutler had only left Tillo alone for a moment and of course he already found himself in trouble. He let out a frustrated sigh as he found himself being pulled by a much larger individual (which wasn’t really saying much when it came to Tillo) with a blade against his throat. “Hey! Woah! Bro! Take it easy. What are you tryna do here? Why are ya screaming in my face, dude?” 

The red started to slowly fade from Ordo’s vison, and he realized that it was in fact, not an Aiwha-bait.

Ordo’s cheeks burned, “Sorry, I had a bad flashback.” He bent to pick up the mug and empty warra nut bag. “The drinking doesn’t really help, but, well. It does with others.” he half smiled, and there was a chunk sound as the vibro blade retracted into his gauntlet.

stryker just wanted a fucking drink. his shift was over , thank the force,  but he didn’t want to go back to base just yet. he liked spending some time away for himself , to let his mind wander and let himself reflect on the day. 

however , when some likely drunk asshole decided to pull a blade on him, his mind snapped and he went into over drive. he almost didn’t have control of his body as he moved. he reached his hand up to grab the other man’s wrist , and force it back. he turned his own body until he had the other man pinned to the counter, arm behind the back. he tried not to use violence unless necessary , but sometimes his stormtrooper training just kicked in. “ i think you have me mistaken for someone else, “ he said through his teeth. he didn’t let go of his hold on the other man until he was sure another attack wasn’t going to come his way.

Ordo was shocked, and not in a good way. He had almost never in his life been in such a position. All of his drinking had been getting to him, and he hadn’t trained in, well, since he picked himself up off of the floor here, in this dust bowl of a planet. 

One thing is for sure, the man holding his arm, much to Ordo’s chagrin, was one big shabuir. 

din was walking around merchant’s row, just watching the people and paying attention to everyone he saw. he tracked suspicious movement or any individual he thought might be of any use to him or his path. he really didn’t have a sense of direction at the moment other than finding the kid’s true family, but he wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to get that done. he was more focused on just collecting as much information as he could.

when he heard mando’a, he slowly lifted his head. ❝ su’cuy. ❞ this person didn’t seem like a mandalorian, but he wouldn’t bother calling him out unless there was an actual problem. he’d wait to ask what his business was… din was always suspicious of others. one would think that hearing the language would be a comfort, but technically anyone could learn a language. it wasn’t just an automatic sign that they could be trusted. 

Ordo stopped dead when the Mandalorian’s gaze met his. 

“What brings you here?” Ordo asked, attempting small talk. He looked the man up and down, admiring his beskar and sizing him up at the same time. Ordo wondered if he was from a clan he knew.

breena played idly with a rock she’d dug up from the sand. she started to clean it off , brushing it off with her hand. it had a pretty smooth surface and an oblong shape , so maybe she could take it home and paint something on it. that always seemed to help calm her nerves. 

she turned to the twi’lek woman next to her. “ so you’re a jedi then ? “ she asked , raising a brow. she glanced around and lucky , no first order troops were around to bother them. “ it’s not safe for us to say such right now. were you pulled from a different time ? “ she asked. maybe it was a lot but she was curious. and if she hadn’t been given the run down , someone had to tell her. 

Aayla breathed the beach air deeply and gazed off in the direction of the suns, remembering. 

“I am a Jedi, well.” her words caught in her throat. “ I was a jedi. I don’t know if I still am. Part of me wants to let it go, but the other half of me really wants it all back.” 

She crossed her arms over her raised knees and lay her head on her forearms. While her face was hidden, she re composed her self.

She raised her head and looked at the girl next to her on the sand, “I came from the republic, during the clone wars. I was a general over Commander Bly. The last thing I remember was being on patrol on Felucia.”

obi wan winced, feeling horrible for the pain he was causing her. the people around them merely glanced then continued with their meals, as no one wanted to intrude when she was clearly very upset. when she asked her question, obi wan cleared his throat.

❝ palpatine gave the order. he was the sith lord manipulating the senate all along. he recruited anakin and together, they all but destroyed the jedi altogether. ❞

“How did we not see this?” She racked her brain trying to remember where she could have missed something. 

Was this the first time that Blin had a Vibro blade held to him? Nope. It was the first time that he hadn’t actually brought it upon himself this time, though. He was just trying to be a good person and let the other know that they had left far too many credits for their ale. Squirming under Ordo’s grip, Blin frowned. “Uhhhh…I don’t think you got the right person here. I was just returning your extra credits.”

Ordo snapped out of it. He felt awful. The nightmares were still plaguing him, day and night sometimes. He couldn’t escape. 

“I’m sorry, terribly sorry.” He took the credits and dropped them into the pocket of his bantha skin jacket. 

Ordo looked up at the man, “May I have another ale, please?” he handed the man the credits he just got back. “If there’s any extra this time keep it, burc’ya.”

“alright.” Maybe Ami would need to tell her family to think of moving, she didn’t know. she’d consider it. “you know, if you change your mind i’m always here for it.” she knew him from drinking, after all. so she’d always be down for that.

she watched him come in, and was a little vauge with her answer. “oh, you know, this and that. tearing down the order bit by bit. what can you expect from a rebel like me?” she laughed at his suggestion to play, nodding and sitting down. “I’ll warn you, i’m pretty bad.” she wasn’t one for… planning things out. she just made moves until she lost, rushing into battle

Ordo sat across from her, looking down at the table. 

‘‘Well, how is that going? I’m not intending to impose but i know a decent bit about wrecking an empire, so to speak.” he hoped he hadn’t over stepped his bounds with Ami, but he felt comfortable. 

Ordo had seen beskar gam quite a bit. However none as shiny as the set he saw now. Kal buir’s was well worn and scarred. He watched the lone Mando and considered approaching him. He didn’t have any idea how the man would react, though. 

He thought he would go for it, anyway. Ordo pulled on Kal’s Bantha skin jacket and walked toward the Mando. 

“Vode,” Ordo called to him.  

Ordo watched every person who passed by him very intently. He felt terribly paranoid but couldn’t figure out why. Something felt off. He wasn’t sure what yet, however. The bag of candied warra nuts he had been munching on was running dangerously low. He chugged the rest of his ale and got up to go back into the cantina to refill when he saw a flash in the window. 

There was no way one of them could be here, Kaminise. He dropped his bag of warra nuts and in the same motion, had turned, ejecting the vibro blade from his wrist gauntlet and holding it to their throat.