[D5ME] ... and Friends (Karath Apartment)

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya lay on her bed in her messy, crumbling apartment until she couldn't stand the inside of her own head anymore. This took a while, but when she did finally get up, she moved fever-quick.

There was a shaky knock on door across the hall from hers. "Jenna?" she called, her voice a little hoarse, for no good reason. "Petrus?"

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus was just applying the finishing touches to the field suit he'd made for himself. It was a little bulky, and perhaps somewhat overengineered, but it would protect him. And it looked pretty good, in his usually colors of reddish-brown and grey, a little bulky on his leanly muscular figure, but not bad for all that.

He looked up at the knock and the voice, frowning. He recognized the voice, of course, but it didn't sound right. "One sec." Naturally, Petrus wasn't the sort to leave his door unlocked.

He rose to his feet, striding easily to the door. In a few moments, it was open. "Vaya? You okay?" Petrus frowned in concern.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya shook her head mutely for a moment, and then threw her arms around him and squeezed as if she would never let go. It was an incredibly uncharacteristic gesture, and she abandoned it almost immediately, letting him go, wiping moisture from beneath her eyes, and pushing past him into the apartment.

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus was surprised, but not entirely; he'd already talked to Jenna, after all. And so he managed to get one hand up to pat Vaya's back reassuringly. One time, that is, until she suddenly let go and pushed past him.

"Take a seat." He said gently, waving to the living room, such as it was. He shut and locked the door, before moving to the kitchen. "Can I get you anything? Something to drink? Have you eaten?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya sprawled across the couch, looking at the ceiling. She shook her head. "Jenna's already been here, huh?" She pointed her antennapalps at him without turning her head. "She going okay?" Her voice was level.

[Petrus Karath]

"More or less." Petrus said, his tone noncommittal. "But she was pretty shaken up. Which seems fair to me."

There was the sound of running water, and Petrus came out with a glass of water and a takeout container. He set both in front of Vaya before settling onto one of the chairs. "How about you?" He asked, looking at her with gentle curiosity.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya glanced sideways at him, for a second, then looked back at the ceiling. "Fine." A beat. "Just out of curiosity, what sort of sage, Academy-trained advice did you give her?"

[Petrus Karath]

"I told her that sometimes it's okay to be afraid." Petrus said evenly, without hesitation.

[Dapper Dog]

The fire alarms start going off.

OOC: Destiny flipped.

[Petrus Karath]

Grunting, Petrus rose to his feet. "I wonder if that's a real alarm, or if it's just the Duros lady down the hall cooking again?"

He gave Vaya a wan smile. "Hey, we'll talk after this, okay?" He gathered up his few most important things before stepping out into the hall.

[13th Sister]

He sees the neighbors also looking outside as every apartment has their alarm going off. The duros shrugged at Petras and is about to go back in and do some more gaming when the alarms go off and they hear boots coming up the stairs.

And then...

Then an Inquisitor, this one a woman makes her way into the hallway followed by a trio of black clad storm troopers. She said harshly, “Papers, now.”


The duros said in Huttese,”What?”

But is silenced by one of the storm troopers using the butt of their rifle on the back of his head causing him to collapse in pain and whimper. She repeated, “Papers, now!”

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus pressed his lips back into a thin line, then stepped back inside, turning to Vaya.

"Vaya. I need your help." He spoke in a low voice. "There's some stormtroopers out there, harassing that Duros. And there's an Inquisitor." He went on immediately. "He doesn't know what they want. You need to translate for her. Save her." He tucked his things back around his clothing project as he spoke, making sure to hide the lightsaber especially.

Petrus gave Vaya a confident nod, displaying almost no hint of the cold fear that he could feel creeping through his body.

[Petrus Karath]

On second thought... Petrus put his toolbelt, lightsaber mixed in to the collection of tools, back on. I might need it. He thought grimly.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya felt her heart pounding in her hears. She jumped to her feet. She thought about asking Which one? but immediately felt rediculous, like it would matter whether it was her own personal hell out there or some fresh variation. She looked at Petrus for a second, eyes wide, pupils dilated. Then she came to the hallway, and peeked her antennapalps and just the barest hint of her own eyes around the corner. She felt an absurd flush of relief when she saw an unfamiliar masked and threatening figure. I guess it does matter, a little.

"She wants to see your scandocs!" she shouted out the door in Huttese, trying to be heard over the alarm, and then to the troopers "His Basic isn't so good! None of us want any trouble, please!" She was going for a facsimile of reasonably distressed innocent neighbor, but found the begging tone in that last sentence and last word shamefully real. She held a hand out backward, palm towards Petrus, as if pushing him back. She wished he wasn't here, for lots of reasons.

Actually... She turned her head back to him and drew her ascension gun, holding it out handle first. "Window," she mouthed.

[13th Sister]

The duros rubbed her head and then slowly grabbed her documentation and the storm trooper snatched it up and showed it to the Inquisitor. She nodded and the storm trooper grabbed the duros, slamming her against the wall and began putting binders on her.

The Inquisitor continued, “Watch carefully as this is what happens to people who are outed as dissidents against the rightful Galactic Empire.”

She focused on Vaya and then held out a hand saying, “Papers, please.”

[Petrus Karath]

Grimacing, Petrus shook his head. It would leave too many questions. Besides, he had his own Ascension Pistol, if it came to that. No, better to try to bluff their way through this as best they could. And maybe he could help her not be afraid.

He produced his own papers and waited, just in case.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya shoved her ascension pistol back in its holster and stepped more fully into view of the Inquisitor, showing her hands. She had a horrible thought about how perfectly exposed they were, both wrists coming through the plane of the doorway. Easy to lop off in a single motion.

"Please," she started, hating how her voice sounded, and how often the word came to her lips, "I live just across the hall, I came here without my scandocs, but they're just in there..." she nodded, trembling, past the Sister, "please." Her thoughts betrayed her, replaying every time she had snarkily called the monster in front of her Lucky 13, the thrill she had gotten when she'd first heard her voice on a transmission she had probably committed treason just to listen to, the moment when she had thought with satisfaction what a black eye the liberation of the Chaldi must have been for her.

[13th Sister]

The Inquisitor glanced at the door and using the Force clicked the door open, allowing it to slide freely to allow Vaya entry. "Get it then," she commanded.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya gulped. The Inquisitor hadn't moved. In order to get past her, Vaya would have to slide out the door, cling to the hallway wall for a meter, step to the opposite side, and repeat the maneuver in reverse. She did the slide slowly, hands still up. The step went as fast as she dared while under the watch of maybe twitchy troopers (Wait, they wear black now?). She repeated the slide, and stepped backward through the already open door (ugh!) into her apartment. The whole time she stayed oriented towards the 13th Sister. She wasn't sure whether she'd hate more if the masked figure kept rotating to look at her, or kept facing straight ahead. Towards Petrus.

She ran straight to where she had flung aside her satchel and dug out her scandocs. Any thought of hiding anything in her apartment (like her whole self, until the monster went away) was discarded out of fear of what might happen with Petrus in the seconds she was away.

[13th Sister]

The Inquisitor waited her gaze fixed on Vaya.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya held out her scandocs in one hand, silent, her eyes trying to figure out where on the woman's mask to look.

[Petrus Karath]

Keeping his gaze downcast, Petrus held out his papers to the nearest stormtrooper.

[13th Sister]

Keeping his gaze downcast, Petrus held out his papers to the nearest stormtrooper.

The trooper examined it and then said, "Checks out." He moved on to the next apartment.

Vaya held out her scandocs in one hand, silent, her eyes trying to figure out where on the woman's mask to look.

The Inquisitor examined it and said, "Like a good little worm."

She dropped the documents on the ground and continued her sweep down the hall, glancing once more at Petrus before she moved on to the next apartment.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya felt a burning in her throat, and her antennapalps shrunk to just above her hair. She knelt to pick up her scandocs. She looked up at Petrus, across the hall. The trooper moved past him. Free, safe! she thought, her heart racing. She gave him a sickly smile, still kneeling.

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus gave her a wan smile in exchange. She'd done well... and whoa, so had he, come to think of it, his concern for others overriding his fear.

But they weren't out of danger yet. Petrus took a step back into his room, but his gaze flickered towards the Duros.