Mischief Makes Magic

[Lamper]

HYDIAN WAY_

"Hey. I'm Cappi."
Cappi reached a right hand over to the teen stuck in the window seat sitting on his left and offered a friendly shake. The 'H' belt-straps made it difficult to move, and all six padawans were crammed in like sardines. But they were keeping a low profile and sticking to budget. So the space shuttle was their little school bus. And this was their little field trip to familiarize them with a safe house on Indupar.

"You from the Core Worlds?"
And thus sparked a long conversation, one that Cappi wouldn't let die even if it came down to just talking to himself. He got bored easily and being stuck in a can, flying to some hideaway, meant that this poor guy had to suffer too. Unless of course the padawan enjoyed the conversation.

INDUPAR_

Days later. In the city streets. The two wandered alone amidst the natives, separated from the others.

"C'mon Matt. Lets go. I wanna see this plant shop. I told you. We can go back any time and get our tour of the boring castle later. Right now is the time to have some fun. Let's get lost. See the ... hello."
Cappi drooled as a beautiful woman walked past, watching her hips work with a goofy grin.
"Did you see that? Ah I love blondes. But they're not my weakness. My true weakness, Matt, is brunettes. Lemmie tell you. The other day, I met this Jedi Knight, Piper. Mynocks mend me, she was gorgeous. Like in the plain sorta way. You heard of her? She wasn't all tryin' to be sexy. She just was. Matt, I'm tellin' you, she's gonna have to fight me off with a star destroyer cause I'm not lettin' that one go. She kept tellin' me no, but her eyes were sayin' yes. Yes. Yes. Damn the Jedi can be stuffy sometimes. Well, all the times. But you, Matt, I'm not lettin' you get all stiff in the neck on me. We're gonna find you a nice side of beef and get you some action. I mean, the odds are in our favor. It looks like we're pretty outnumbered here. Plenty for the both of us. Ah. Here. Matt. C'mere. Check this out. This plant'll make you dream of the most colorful zeltrons you've ever imagined. It's a serious trip. If you mix it with a certain mushroom that is. Ha ha. They really shouldn't be allowed to sell it like this, but people don't know how compatible it is with hallucinogens. Hey, you said you're eighteen was it? You ever drop moth before?"

 

[vamp]

Matt reached his hand out, too, and shook Cappi's hand. "I'm Matt Astroseph, although some people enjoy calling me Astroturf for some reason."

The flight continued, and Matt would've been extremely bored if not for the conversation. He was, however, glad not to have to fly the ship.

*INDUPAR

Ah yes, a bustling city. Civilians strutting about, carrying things from here to there, shouting, conversing, and socializing. Matt listened to Cappi rant on, enjoying the one-sided conversation. This guy was his type of person, and Matt could see a friendship grow, one that would be unbreakable. It's what he needed. Besides being a half-decent Jedi, that is.

Then, Cappi began talking about that Jedi Knight and Matt smirked. She wasn't completely out of Cappi's league, since he was close to being a Knight, too.

"Hey, you said you're eighteen was it? You ever drop moth before?"

Matt facepalmed. "Cappi, bro. I said I'm 14 dammit." He smiled. "Fuckin with the guards isn't too illegal, though."

 

[Lamper]

"Oh sh*t. That's right. Damn, that means we can't go drinking later. And I had this whole date planned. We were gonna go to this strip club. Get some spice. Pick up some lady friends. And rent a hotel room... You're the worst boyfriend ever."

Cappi performed facetiously for his partner in crime here in the patio of this plant shop, his low tenor warping his sarcasm strangely, treating the innocence of youth with flippant disregard just as his was. He'd make a terrible father. A cool big brother though.

"Ah, don't think of it like that. Think of it as training. The pursuit of knowledge. We seek to improve ourselves through knowledge, training, and the other one." He quoted the code. Sort of. "It's our duty. 'Sides. How boring would it be to patrol these streets. The place is like a regular utopia. Haven't seen one crime committed in the last five blocks. What's that about?"

Having come from Nar Shaddaa, Cappi was used to all manner of madness in city streets. This place was clean. And friendly. People had smiles on their faces. Real ones. Ew.

"You gonna be able to keep up? Cause we're about to make some magic." He fluttered his fingers all around Matt's face, real spooky like. Tilting back his head he flexed his eyes open, spreading the whites of his eyes. Truly terrifying. Messing with Matt's hair.

He'd eluded to what they were going to be doing earlier to only an extent. But he was prepared to teach, or reteach, the teenager a basic understanding of what was needed to accomplish their mischief.

 

[vamp]

"I do pity the poor bastards. Having to walk about these streets, nothing to do besides yelling at random civilians. If I were them, I'd love some activity."

Matt was looking forward to this adventure in the city. He was already thinking of ways to have "fun". Perhaps throwing fireworks into the guards' shirts? Tripping them? Handing out fruits laced with laxatives at street corners?

"Hell yes I'll be able to keep up. Saay, do you know where one might be able to get a hold of fireworks and laxatives, Cappi, dear friend?"

 

[Lamper]

"Fireworks and lax... You tryin'a scare them into messing their uniforms? Ho-ho. You are nasty."

Cappi brushed a suspended potted plant aside by the back of his hand and looked down the street to see what shops were just over yonder. Looked back the way they'd came. Then looked back ahead, and grinned. Then he leaned down into Matt's face. Real close.

"You want something that'll go boom?" he whispered. "POOF," he blew into Matt's face to cause him to blink.

And in a blink, Cappi was gone. His presence was gone, undetectable, for the moment needed to swing behind an isle of plants. He snuck off, for the fun of it, but looked for certain items he had in mind. And not a few moments later, Cappi reappeared around a corner, where he'd left Matt, with a tin bucket, a container of saltpetre inside it, and a wooden stick. He grinned devilishly.

"I'm gonna show you somethin, buddy. Here. Take these credits. Go down to that shop there. Buy some sugar, some food coloring, like the red stuff, and some matches. And I'll meet you in the alley next to it. I'm gonna buy this. Be right there, okay? Go. Go."

Cappi was excited. He turned around and brought his bucket inside to the countertop. Then he remembered something else. He looked for a couple logs but found roots instead. He bought the stuff quickly and departed with a smile of anticipation. When he came back out to the street, he was surprised to see two city guards walking towards the pastry shop opposite the place Cappi'd told Matt to go. He followed discretely, picturing it even now. But he held it in and walked past the spice shop, looking in the window as he passed to see if he could spot Matt inside. He kept going, turned the corner, and pivoted to lean against the wall; hiding the bucket and its contents to his left side and hopefully out of view if they happened to see him waiting there.

 

[vamp]

Matt glanced around. "Ah hah you sneaky bastard."

As Cappi, reappeared, Matt took the credits and imagined how funny it would be to buy something completely different with them. A lamp or something. Although he was curious as to what Cappi was planning, and Matt began casually walking to the store he'd been pointed to. As he passed by, Matt heard a bit of shuffling in the alley next to the shop, where they were supposed to meet up. He decided it must've been him already messing with people, as guards were slowly making their way over.

Matt realized that in order to complete the concoction, the necessary ingredients must be added. Thus, he went to the store, and bought what was required, and walked out and into the alley. There, he saw Cappi, two figures and a trash can. The figures made a run for it as the guards appeared, by jumping over a fence.

"What exactly just happened?"

 

[Lamper]

Whispering...
"Let me see it."
"Here, wait."
"Is it damaged?"
"It's fine. I snuck it out under my shirt."
"I can't believe it's worth that much."
"Did you have to hit him so hard?"
"What? Who cares? It worked didn't it? We nicked it."
"And now we'll be able to trade it. For the good stuff this time."
"Heh, heh."
"Vig! Someone's-"
"Sh*t! Go!"

They knocked over the trash can, spilling its contents, as Cappi watched them scale the fence; surprised, realizing what he just saw them fawning over. A yellow and white gold, and green diamond, dragon bracelet. And it'd appeared that they had come out of the back door of the jewelry store. Cappi started to put the puzzle pieces together. Then Matt came around. Cappi turned back to him, a little confused and a little excited.

"I think those guys just stole a really expensive necklace or something."

But the two guards had heard the ruckus and came strolling across the street towards them.

"Hey. What's going on? What are you two doing over there?"

"... Quick! C'mon!"
Cappi grabbed Matt and pulled him into a run. He hopped over the trash, then gave Matt a boost over the fence, and followed after. The bucket hooked tight on his arm, Cappi kept hold of his things. But he fumbled with them on the way down the other side. He helped Matt with whatever he dropped, if anything, and gathered up his own stuff. He didn't want to lose any of it just yet.

The two alleged thieves ran around a corner, and Cappi placed a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Think you can do what I did back at the plant shop and disappear? I wanna see what those guys are up to. You wanna?"

Cappi put his hand inside the bucket, holding things that might rattle in place, and side-skipped to the end of the alley. Hearing out Matt's answer, Cappi'd then turn to get going. They had a bit of a chase ahead of them.

 

[vamp]

As he turned the corner, Matt heard faint whispering and could only catch a small phrase.

"What? Who cares? It worked didn't it? We nicked it."

Matt ran along with Cappi, deciding that asking questions wouldn't be wise now. Neither of them knew much about the situation, meaning that whatever guess he had was as good as Cappi's. When they stopped, he nodded at the fellow Jedi and used the Force to perfectly camouflage himself, now pretty much invisible. The guards were catching up now, although they we unable to see him, and Matt decided to dash.

After jumping over another, smaller fence, and turning two corners, they caught up with the thieves, who were now hidden behind a dumpster, but nevertheless pretty loud.

__________________________​

"Alright, I think we're good."

The thief glanced at his watch restlessly and back up.

"We need to be more careful. Shall we head to the marketplace? We can split the money 50-50, unless you're feeling generous." He nudged his friend, a grin on his face.

 

[Lamper]

"Yeah right you damned crook," the other thief playfully nudged back, wheezing. Then he turned his head and lead on towards the pawn shop in the market place, warily keeping an eye on their tracks.

Cappi too had concealed himself in the Force, and now dropped the veil with his shoulder pinned to the corner to wave Matt down. Cappi couldn't see him. So he opened a link to his mind and broadcasted a thought, short range so as only to reach Matt if he were nearby; which, considering the chase, it was very likely he was.

Telepathically: "Did you hear that? I knew it. They're totally shady. Matt? Can you hear me?"

But when the two started to walk off, Cappi feared to lose them and hastily turned round the corner. Suddenly he was caught in shock, realizing the second thief was still looking back, now looking straight at him. Cappi's eyes shot open, a deer in the headlights, and his jaw dropped. He quickly threw a hand out, flexing his mind upon the thief. And the Force washed over the thief's mind. Cappi rigidly shook his head left to right and denied the man's mind the logic it had just peddled. There was no twenty-four year old standing there with his hand out and a bucket hanging from his arm. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Or something along those lines. And the thief's eyes went blank for a moment. Fell into a daze. Rolled his head back front and sluggishly dragged his feet alongside his friend towards the market and passed the next corner.

Cappi took a huge breath, sighing relief and the breaking of the floodgate he'd held in for the past twenty seconds; knees wobbling. He'd almost been caught. No, he was caught.

"Thank the Force..." he whispered.

The thieves' voices echoed out from the alley ahead.

"Hey. You okay? You look pale. That little jog get to you? You should stop smoking so much. Ha! Ha!"

Cappi looked back, hoping Matt didn't see that. He'd almost blown their cover out the gate. If not for the Force and its influence, things would've escalated. But a grin returned to his face, enthusiasm returned and mind right back in the game. This was exhilarating.

Telepathy: "We can totally fool these guys!"

Onwards, towards the market place, a plaza of street vendors and alleyways of stores. A water fountain at the center. Lines of decoration strung overhead from building to building. More and more people gathering in one place. There were all kinds of things to find. And even more to lose. The chase continued.

 

[vamp]

Matt heard Cappi. He'd never practiced Force telepathy before, and was rather surprised at the fact that what Cappi said hadn't just ended up in some random dude's mind.

He tried to answer, telepathically, of course.

"I can hear you loud and clear. The amount of shadyness on these guys is unrivalred. I wouldn't be surprised if they're with the Cartel."

The thief saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned around, only to see... nothing. His mind went blank, and he just couldn't register what it was he was seeing. This was truly peculiar, and as soon as he turned around, he'd already forgotten about the encounter. Matt had just turned the corner and saw Cappi doing some sort of Force confusion on the bastard. He smiled at this absolutely exemplary use of the Force.

"Well look who's talkin', Sir Smoke-a-lot," the thief replied to his partner-in-crime, and stepped into the market place. "Let's celebrate with a nice cup of blue milk," he said to his friend and walked toward a vendor without waiting for a reply.

Matt heard Cappi once again, and replied. "From my point of view, that was absolutely hilarious. We should mess with them before turning them in."

And then he turned the corner to the market place. People everywhere, decorations scattered around the place. This reminded Matt of the Daedalus's shopping district, where he'd bought his Fletchette.

As the thieves reached the vendor, he ducked down, even though the Force was still cloaking him, and Matt ran up straight to the one holding the necklace, then tapped him on the shoulder. He hoped Cappi had made it inside, but in case he hadn't, Matt sent out a message telepathically. "I'm right behind them."

The thief turned around as he felt someone tapping him, only to see that there was no one there. "Quit frakkin with me, man," he murmured to his friend, and took a sip of his recently aquired cup of blue milk.

 

[Lamper]

Cappi gave a quick thumbs up and a sparkling grin in response to Matt's commentary of the little mind trick performance, acting as though he hadn't just pulled that out of his *ss. And then he followed behind towards and around the final corner to the market square.

Cappi suddenly dropped behind a bystander's backside and looked the other way inconspicuously before the thief Matt'd shoulder tapped could see him. Not that he was looking his way. And Cappi looked back in time to see his perturbed response to his friend as though he'd done it. Which made Cappi start to giggle like an orangoutang. And he heard Matt's location check, now linked to Matt whether concealed or not.

Not concealed by the Force, as Matt was, Cappi decided to join in on the fun; simply relying on the crowd to cover him for now.

"What? I didn't do anything."

Cappi meagerly held out a pincer, a finger and thumb, and manipulated the thief's elbow to rise and bump into the other thief's arm as he tried to drink his blue milk; causing spillage over his nose and mouth, leaving a milk mustache. Simulating a retaliation, the other thief now coughed and turned a scowl to his comrade with the necklace.

"Hey! Kriff-it, Jawa brain, I told you I didn't do anything!" Then he shoved the thief with the necklace. "You've been tight *ssed all day. You got a problem?"

Telepathically: "Ho-ho, this is awesome!"

 

[vamp]

"What the hell? My arm just flew up, it's not my kriffing fault!"

What the thief didn't realize, however, was that the necklace had fallen out of his pocket without anyone noticing, and Matt reached out and snatched it, then merged in with the crowd, no longer cloaked by the Force.

He put the necklace in his pocket and sent a message telepathically to Cappi: "Got the necklace! Feel free to finish them off and then we could head back to the store and return it."

"Whatever, let's just go and cash out." Thus, the thief began walking to the pawn shop. He walked in and stood in front of the counter, waiting for someone to show, craning his neck to see through the doorway into the back. There was no clerk present, it seemed.

As he was about to turn around and leave, an old man shuffled out of the room and to the counter.

"How may I help you?"

 

[Lamper]

Telepathy: "Nice! ... Hang back. I'm gonna make a scene."

Cappi's form warped away, blending into the background as he focused solely on his A to B sneaking; avoiding brushing against the crisscrossing paths of people interested in shopping. And he giddily followed the two thieves to the shop, staying outside and peeking in mischievously. As a passerby crossed behind him, Cappi suddenly reappeared. The pedestrian gasped and sidestepped. Cappi just looked in.

"You can help me by being out here when a customer comes, nerf herder."
The clerk meagerly opened a palm, trembling with age, to gesture at the small copper object on the counter.
"We have a bell."
"Ahahahahaha!"
"Can it."
"Alright. Alright. We're here to hawk this. ... This ... To hawk ... This ... Wait ... Wait."

Cappi discretely held out a hand, influencing telekinetics for a magic show. This one entitled, the puppeteer. And as the one thief searched from pocket to pocket, realizing he might have lost the necklace somehow, his hand suddenly thrust on its own through a glass display.

SHATTER!

"AH!"
"What the hell..."
"W-Wait! D-Don't get upset! We can work this out."

Then the other thief, hands opening towards his comrade to calm him down, suddenly swatted a backhand into another display.

SHATTER!

"OW! F*cking hell!"
"S-Stop! Please!"
The old clerk snuck a press of the emergency button under the back of the counter, the silent alarm, calling the authorities.
"Hey! What was that you just-"

Before the one could finish, the other thief somehow fell onto him as they stumbled back and fell into the display case.

CRASH!

"Hehehe."
Cappi turned back around, looked both ways, then checked back inside. The two thieves were down for the count. For now at least. Groaning and bitching to each other. The poor clerk just had no idea what was going on. And Cappi stayed on watch until he heard incoming. The authorities called out on foot, telling people to move and to make way. Then Cappi ducked behind a customer that dared not go inside, who'd come to stand nearby after hearing the noises.

Telepathy: "That's our cue."
And he disappeared. Heading back down the alleyway they'd come from, until turning a safe corner. Then he reemerged into sight, still with bucket in hand. Laughing. Leaning against the wall, he turned over, looking for Matt's reappearance too. He sighed with a smile.

"It's too bad I couldn't show ya this," he lifted the bucket and its contents.

 

[vamp]

Matt watched the whole scene, stifling giggles. It was quite the show, really. As the thief thrust his hand into the display, he laughed quietly. That was obviously Cappi's work. When the other thief smacked the crap out of the other glass case, he kept watching, and as both thieves fell into the last intact display, he began walking away from the building, in time to see three guards striding over. They seemed all business, with their hands on their blasters, and just then, Cappi spoke.

"That's our cue."

Matt turned the corner and reappeared after Cappi, raising his hand for a high five. "Who said fighting crime couldn't be fun?"