Star Nomad Cast (starnomadnpc) wrote in starnomad, @ 2015-05-18 21:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: elix, character: jacen solo, date: [61.06], location: coruscant |
Who: Elix & Jacen Solo
When: 61.06
Where: Solo apartments, Coruscant
What: There's an angry little concerned Rodian threatening to cut of Solo ears.
Status: COMPLETE
There were a few things in this life that Elix was absolutely sure of. Sometimes Lyric said that she was a little too sure of things, that the world wasn't as clear cut as she seemed to want it to be. And Elix got that, sure there were lots of shades of grey and most people weren't completely good and weren't completely bad. Even Lyric wasn't perfect even though Elix had the personal opinion that he was a lot more so than he gave himself credit for. Right now one of the things she was sure of was that Jacen and Lyric were playing a game she had never seen Lyric indulge in, one that he had pointedly warned her about so many times. And while there were times when Elix thought some of Lyrics rules were worth a pile of bantha poo, this wasn't necessarily one of them. Elix had seen enough to know that much at least. No one seemed to be home when she got to the Solo apartments. The lack of Anakin immediately hit her, an emptiness where there should be something. Jains was out. Jacen was likely in meetings that Lyric had told her about. Which meant Elix took a seat and just waited. Despite what Lyric might say she did know how to be patient. She just didn't like it. But she would be right now. Lyric was coming around to this fight against the Yuuzhan Vong which really wasn't like him at all. And Elix had more than one guess that it wasn't because of her or Rikki, when it should have been. Arms crossed, Elix waited. The more Jacen Solo was around Viqi Shesh the more he really didn't like her. In person she was charming, too charming from his perspective, she was attractive, tall and willowy and with long dark hair, and she had a lot of pretty words, but they all felt slippery, like ice in a drink. Nothing she said felt real, or something you could trust to be true, and as he stepped up onto the open garden in front of the apartments he felt almost dirty by association- as if it was possible some of Senator Shesh had rubbed off on him. He shook his head, and rubbed a hand over his forehead as he opened the apartment door. He would go get a drink and warm up some leftovers and try to figure out if Shesh had said anything that could begin to unravel whatever plan she was clearly involved in. He was thoughtful as he stepped through into the main room and the young Rodian sitting in that room was the last thing he'd expected to find there. Jacen blinked at her. What in the galaxy was she doing here? Where was Lyric? And that question led to a more serious question of where was Lyric. An instance of dread crept against his heart for an instance - had something happened to the other boy? And nothing in her demeanour really did anything to assuage his fear. "Elix," he said softly. He changed his course from the kitchen to head in the direction of the younger girl instead. "Why are you here? What's wrong? Is something wrong with Lyric?" Elix tilted her head slightly, watching the panic starting to rise under the surface of Jacen's voice. Granted it's not like she had announced herself and she didn't exactly interact with Jacen usually. Of course her appearance would have him on edge. That was sort of what she wanted, if he was on edge then there was a better chance of him actually admitting to what she wanted. Or if he didn't at least he would be paying attention to what she said instead of brushing her off as the little kid that followed Lyric around. "Lyric's fine." She said simply as she pushed herself up off the chair and onto her feet. Lyric was fine, chasing down something for their own affairs that didn't have to do with the Jedi. Granted the Jedi and peace brigade had taken over more of their lives than she had expected but there was a war going on and Elix didn't intend to be caught unawares. "He doesn't know I'm here. He'd probably be so mad. Which is sort of the point really." Jacen was tall. Not as tall as Lyric sure but Elix hated the fact that she had to look up at everyone. Lyric kept saying that she still had plenty of time to grow but she was pretty sure she was going to be stuck tiny forever. But being used to her lack of height meant she was at least practiced at looking up at someone taller while not looking like she was craning her neck. There was no reason to avoid why she was here after all, she wasn't the one hiding anything. "What's your play with him?" She asked, her voice cool. Lyric was fine. The words filtered into his consciousness and he could breathe a little more easily. What the hell was wrong with him honestly? Lyric was capable of taking care of himself and had been for years. He likely would not have felt a similar sort of panic had the situations there been reversed, and despite the night they'd just shared they didn't have any particular claim on each other. Although even as Jacen said so he realized that the number of nights they had shared company continued to grow, and the length of time they spent in each other's companies also continued to grow. It was possible that their last night together could have even counted towards actual conversation. Jacen knew he'd shared a few things that he'd later wondered at, but he hadn't been able to find it in himself to regret doing so, even if common sense said that he ought to. What's your play with him? Her final words hit his ears and now he was looking down at Elix, and realising that those few nights together had not begun to remotely prepare him for this type of conversation. He'd never even thought to ask Lyric 'what do we tell Elix', because there wasn't meant to be anything to tell her. Just as he'd never thought to ask Lyric what they should tell his family - they didn't know. And in the case of his family, probably they didn't care so long as Jacen kept up his other duties with the Jedi. Well... probably. It occurred to Jacen he had no idea what any of them would say. In any fantasy he had entertained of longevity of this relationship his family really hadn't featured even though in reality they obviously would have to do so. But none of this gave him any response for the young Rodian who was standing in front of him. Lyric's little sister, little girl, whether he was more older brother or father to Elix, it didn't really matter - what did matter is that Lyric cared a great deal about Elix, and that relationship as precious as it was to Lyric, mattered to Jacen. Whatever he did right now he needed to protect it and probably above whatever thing he and Lyric did or didn't have. Which was all very well and good to know, but it didn't help him answer Elix's question. Possibly because he didn't even know what she knew. Or what she thought she knew. "What do you mean, Elix?" Elix frowned just slightly as she watched him. Not that she was expecting him to come out and admit it. There was a reason she hadn't bothered asking Lyric. He always kept this stuff from her, probably so that she wouldn't be uncomfortable. But usually this stuff didn't cause Lyric to be moody or have really any shift in mood at all. It never took him away all night and there weren't really any that lasted more than once or twice. There weren't names, just nicknames. It was all pretty detached and it helped keep them safe if no one else was involved. This was different on so many levels that Elix wasn't even sure what to think. She believed in the Jedi, she really did and thought they were there to protect the Galaxy. But she want so naive as to think they were more than just people. And people could be pretty terrible in her experience. "You know for all your Jedi-ness you guys miss a lot." Elix huffed slightly as her arms crossed again. "I notice things. Like the way you look at each other. And how you react to each other's names. And the weird smell that was on him that smells just like you." There wasn't much accusation to her tone but it was firm and clear. This was her life, Lyrics life, and they didn't have much to call their own. "What do you want?" She asked. There was the option of out-right denying. And Jacen tried to run through his mind what Lyric would want him to do in this situation, which they had never discussed because it wasn't supposed to be happening. But he only had bits and pieces of Lyric in his head. He could map out the other boy's body in his dreams, but his soul and mind were a different story. He had no clue what Lyric would want. Probably for it not to have happened in the first place, but here she was. The only thing he knew for certain Lyric would want was for Jacen to treat Elix well. Jacen suspected he could lie convincingly if required, and if he couldn't there was always the Force to pull back onto, although he didn't much like where that thought train was leading him. He had thought he was being pretty careful. Well, except for the dinner, the entire dinner where Lyric had been maddeningly touching him under the table. And Rodians were known for having finely tuned olfactory senses, the bath had probably been a bad idea. No, not a bad idea, a risky one. And Jacen couldn't find himself to be sorry he'd implemented that risky idea even while being faced with a pretty determined little girl in front of him. "Have you talked to Lyric?" He asked instead. Because lying was pointless if Lyric had already told her what they were doing - which led to an interesting question of what Lyric might have told her. "I'm not stupid." Elix pointed out quickly. As much as she loved Lyric she also knew him better than anyone else could possibly. Lyric and the truth didn't have much of a relationship. It wasn't that he lied, technically he didn't lie much at all. But he was a master of avoiding questions and redirecting a conversation if he didn't feel like talking. "He'd tell me it was none of my business and move on." Her eyes narrowed as she watched Jacen. Honestly she liked the Solo family and so far she had no reason to dislike Jacen. But that like and the kindness he had shown her only went so far if he had other intentions towards Lyric. "But it is my business. There's enough going on, he doesn't need you using him on top of that." Jacen blinked at her. He certainly wasn't using Lyric. If anything he suspected the other boy might be using him, but it wasn't without his consent to be used so he had no right to complain if that was the case. Lyric had come to him, not the other way around. Well, technically, Jacen supposed he had kissed Lyric first, but Lyric had been a willing participant - willing enough that he'd come here the other night instead of going to the Undercity - willing enough that he'd stayed... But it seemed he also hadn't told Elix a single thing, which wasn't surprising, exactly. Lyric certainly wasn't big on words with Jacen, and he didn't suppose it surprised him that he was similarly with Elix. Jacen raised his fingers to his forehead and ran them down his eyebrows, bringing his hand to rest over his mouth for a moment. Finally he straightened up. There was at least one way he could probably be decent to Elix here, and it dovetailed nicely with his original goals for the next hour of his life, so there was no reason not to pursue it. "Look, I was about to get food, because I've been seven hours listening to senators, who have absolutely no concept of how precarious their position, the entire New Republic's position, and this planet's position in the galazy really is, discuss the 'needs of their systems', which is otherwise known as 'how best can we use the system to get more power', and I'm starved. The spice loaf we had last night, ought to be decent leftover. Or if you aren't hungry you can have some juice. Either way, we'll have a better conversation if we sit down like reasonable beings and have a conversation. What say you, Elix?" "You can't bribe me." Elix jutted her chin forward as she immediately replied to the offer. Never mind that she hadn't actually eaten today, not yet anyway, and her stomach most readily disagreed. But she wasn't going to be bought off by food or charm or whatever it was Jacen might do to try to avoid telling her what his intentions were. Because this was different, she knew it was. Pieces were starting to pull together and all of Lyrics weird behavior recently seemed to lead right back to Jacen Solo. She wanted her brother back, to know that he was okay and not about to be crushed in some game that Jacen was indulging in. Jacen seemed nice but Elix had known a lot of nice people who didn't always do nice things. "It's not a bribe," Jacen said, raising his hands up in front of him and looking at her seriously. "Honestly, I'm just hungry, and I feel awkward eating in front of you without offering you something. I also think that most serious conversations are ten times better when you're stomach isn't growling. If you don't want to, then that's fine. I won't force it." But her protest, which Jacen had to admit wasn't entirely unexpected, left him uncertain what to do next. Have the conversation without food, he supposed. He'd managed through 7 hours of meetings without a snack. He was a Jedi, he could probably last through a conversation with a little girl without one. But she was still young, which meant it was difficult to know what to say to her, exactly. It would have been easier if they'd had an actual relationship. Well, he could use words. Words would be a good place to start. "I like Lyric. And I know you two are each other family. And family's important. I get that," he said, involuntarily glancing at the portrait of his own family above the stairs. "And if you think someone's going to hurt them. I get being protective." Elix looked Jacen over and debated her own stomach. It wouldn't be the worst choice to make, not really. And he had offered. It's not like she would change her mind so readily. This was a fact finding mission after all. She just wanted to know that Lyric would be okay. He was never like this, she knew his moods better than anything else in her life really. Lyric always reacted the same way to things but this... This was different. "Okay." She said finally. Food was a good choice it had to be right? Plus that would mean more for Lyric tonight. "He's all I've got." Elix said pointedly. Everything Elix had was because of Lyric. And lyric would say he needed her but Elix was pretty sure his life would have been easier without her. But even with that he'd never leave her behind. "And he doesn't act like this. Boys never make him act like this but you're doing something to him and I don't like it!" Relieved, Jacen inclined his head towards the kitchen and motioned for her to follow him as he considered the information he'd just been given - way more than he'd ever gotten from Lyric himself and he suspected way more than Lyric would want him to be privy to. But if Lyric was that way, Jacen couldn't help but feel that it had been somewhat mutual. Even Jaina had commented on his mood the other morning, much to his chagrin. He reached into the refrigeration unit and pulled out the spice loaf from the night before, putting it in the quick oven and then checking for something else that Elix might like. Something simple that wouldn't read as a bribe because truthfully it wasn't, but if Jacen could make sure she returned to the Undercity well-fed then he would do so. Whatever relationship he had or didn't with Lyric, the boy's concern for the young girl was something Jacen was going to take seriously. He finally decided on a fruit salad that Jaina had cut up who knew when but pulling it out and picking a piece out of it suggested it was still perfectly good. He sat it on the kitchen island and invited Elix to pull up a seat. Placing a bowl and spoon for each of them he nodded at the fruit. "Help yourself, the spice loaf will be another minute or two." He pulled two plates out to follow the bowls and he looked at Elix. She was so young compared to Anakin. "Is there something specific you're worried about?" Not taking her eyes off of Jacen, Elix pulled herself up into a seat. Not that she really suspected that he was going to do anything but it helped keep her focused. This wasn't about food or any of that. None of what that had done for or with the Solos and Rikki had been for any kind of payment in return. It had just been the right thing to do at the time. That didn't change the fact that the fruit smelled amazing. Elix's stomach gurgled quickly at the sight and her eyes flickered away just a moment before focusing back on Jacen. Still she picked up the spoon and doled herself out some to eat. If it was going to be offered she shouldn't let it go to waste. "I want to know what your intentions are." Elix's tone was clipped and she was proud of herself for sounding so calm. She even sounded official, at least to her own ears. And she knew Lyric would hate that she was asking but she needed to get answers somehow. Jacen almost smiled, Elix sounded so official. More like a father checking up on his kid than a little girl but he kept his face calm and he pulled the spice loaf out and dipped some on the plates and handed it over to Elix. He dipped some for himself, sat down across from her, and took a bite before he responded to her question. "It is not my intention to hurt him, if that's what you're asking," Jacen said quietly and dipped some of the remaining fruit salad into a bowl. Beyond that the question became more murky to answer and how did you say well we were just having sex and now I'd like him to stay around a little bit more, maybe he wants that too but neither one of us have said so... "Lyric and I don't know each other that well yet, but I know him well enough to know I respect him. And well enough to know that it would likely be presumptuous on my part to claim any other intention beyond treating him as someone worth that respect." That was, well it was something. It wasn't exactly an answer, more talking around an answer. Which if Jacen was as clueless as he was acting might actually be as good as a real answer in its own way. This whole situation was entirely new to her as well, even if he didn't know that. Lyric didn't become involved with people, not like this. It certainly never made him so upset that Elix actually started to notice. Sure she might know him better than anyone but it wasn't as if Elix was watching every small change in Lyric's behavior. "If you treated him like that I'd have to cut your ears off." Elix said easily, taking a bite as she did. "Considering I like my ears where they are I'm remarkably relieved we'll never have to encounter that scenario," Jacen returned quickly. Elix looked young enough, but the girl had survived within the Peace Brigade for quite some time according to Anakin, which meant she was probably entirely capable of carrying out on her threat should push come to shove. He took a bite of the spice loaf and considered her earlier accusation that Lyric never acted like this - like what exactly? She hadn't really said, but it was enough out of the usual that she was sitting here in this apartment having a late lunch with him. It was enough out of the ordinary that she felt it worth while to mention it. And that left Jacen with his own set of questions that were not going to be able to be answered by the girl in front of him, probably. He considered her for a moment. "If you're this concerned, you really should talk to him, you know. Even if he is going to tell you it's none of your business." "Most humans do." Elix pointed out just as easily. There were very few things that could turn Elix violent. By and large she had taken Lyrics lessons to heart, it was much better to slip away to live another day than it was to die and never be able to anything again. But there were some things that Elix believed were worth the fight. Protecting Lyric from being someone's toy was apparently one of them. Elix took another bite and considered Jacen right back. She'd listened to Anakins talk of his brother, and usually Rikki's rebuttal. It wasn't that she didn't like Jacen. If somehow this was something simple or even something deeper but Jacen treated Lyric well she had no problem. But if it wasn't, if somehow there was a darkness to it all she wanted to be alert. "I'm not concerned about him doing something to you." She pointed out with a shrug. Maybe Jacen hadn't picked up yet but Lyric wasn't the type to turn on people. He was the type that no one actually knew he was connected so usually it wasn't an issue. But he had been alternating between moodiness and just a weird happiness that Elix wasn't entirely used to. "You could pretty much destroy him if you got bored though." For not the first time in this conversation Jacen was taken off guard. And for a moment he was a little offended until it occurred to him that Elix didn't know him at all - not really. She knew Rikki and Anakin and had worked with both of them, but Jacen she had met a couple of times total. And so far as Jacen could recall he'd been nice to her both times, but she didn't know him and the world she was used to was not as kind as the one Jacen knew. He put the fork in his hand down and looked over at her for a minute. This conversation was making everything with Lyric feel less like a dream Jacen might have dreamed. It was dragging it from a pretend place Jacen had created in his mind out into an open place where he was having an entire conversation about a relationship he'd only been pretending he could have as few as forty-eight hours before. He hadn't had anything as close to this conversation with Lyric himself, which felt absurd and surreal. But she wasn't so old and the only stability she'd had in her life was being threatened - or at least she was perceiving it that way, Jacen was unconvinced there was any real worry for her. Lyric simply didn't care that much. Or did he? Jacen knew that the question would haunt him way after Elix had returned home but for the moment he pushed it aside. "You don't know me, Elix," he said seriously. "So you have no past action to back this with. But I'm going to say it anyway, and maybe someday you'll know it because you've seen me live it. I would never destroy someone out of boredom. I never would seek to destroy anyone. It's not who I am." "I don't know you." She repeated him but it wasn't out of some sudden awareness that eased her fears. People could say all they wanted but despite how much she believed in a better world and that people could be good, she had seen a lot that suggested otherwise. Lyric certainly believed otherwise which is what made him getting tangled with a Jedi even more confusing. "But what I do know." She continued on, content for the moment with the food in front of her. "If that I've seen people disappeared for a lot smaller reasons because someone bigger wanted them gone." "I know," Jacen said quietly. It could have been her too, one of those people disappeared, at least if what Anakin told him had any truth to it and as best he could tell from filling in bits and pieces from small comments Rikki and Uncle Luke had made, it did have. Lyric had told him that Elix hadn't had all of the hope beaten out of her yet, that he'd done what he could to give her a bubble of protection and as Jacen looked across at her he realized he didn't want to be privy to any part of dismantling that bubble of safety. He had no idea what was happening with him and Lyric, and Elix's arrival had only confused him as to the nature of what Lyric thought was happening, but regardless of that, it wasn't just Lyric, and it wasn't just Jacen, inevitably this little girl would be pulled along with the two of them, because she was inextricably bound to Lyric - more like a daughter than a younger sister perhaps, and that was something way more than Jacen wanted to really think about. At first he'd thought it'd be nothing. And then nothing had become a second nothing, and then it had become something... and now it felt like it had just mutated into something more entirely. "It doesn't have to be that way," Jacen said finally. "What you've seen, is what it's like in a large part of the galaxy - beings just trying to survive and it doesn't matter who they hurt. But that isn't how it has to be. Rikki isn't like that, nor is Anakin, nor am I. I promise you that I only want good things for you and for Lyric," Because that was true, whether or not Jacen was a part of those things or not. "It matters." Elix said stubbornly, frowning slightly. "It does matter to them. Just the people who it doesn't matter to usually have more so they get to trample on whoever they want." She believed the galaxy was a good place. It had to be a good place. There were people like Lyric and Anakin and Rikki and they didn't just spring out of nowhere. But bad people didn't just spring out of nowhere either. Right now Elix wanted to give jacen the benefit of the doubt, he was a Jedi and he had always been kind to her. But Lyric only had her to look out for him and while he looked out for himself jacen was starting to trip him up. "Just know I'll come for your ears if you're lying to me." Elix finally settled on. Jacen thought of Duro, of SELCORE, of Senator Shesh and how she gave him a bad feeling every time he was around her and he frequently wondered if she wasn't in some way or another behind SELCORE's sellout at Duro, even if it wasn't directly, and he looked over at Elix in silence. "Yeah," he said finally giving her a small smile. "Guess it just means the rest of us do what we can to protect people who have even less than we do, right?" He stood and reached for a juice, a nectar that was unlikely to be found in the Undercity very often, and poured himself a glass and Elix one as well, pushing it towards her as he reached for his and took a sip with a wider smile. "I think that's fair. If I'm lying to you, you can have my ears." |