Unexpected Encounter [Ask]

[Jiang Winters]

[ooc: Da. Jumping on ahead to the hideout.]

Once off the Airbus, it didn't take very long for Samanya to drag poor Feron along for another good fifteen minutes, as she moved along through alleyway after alleyway, slowing weaving her way towards the only home she had: The Sontrebren Crew's hideout.

"So, before we can get you settled in, we're gonna need to pop in and bug Underboss Poknor, and get permission for you to stay. Until then, you need to stick pretty close to me and do your best not to make anyone piss themselves, okay?" She asked, as they reached the end of what seemed to be a dead-end alleyway.

Sam uncovered a manhole and gestured for Nial to go down first, then once he had descended into the passage leading into the hideout, Sam crawled down and covered the manhole behind them. "Okay, it isn't far now. C'mon." The cathar said, as she moved on ahead of Feron and led him down the passageways.

After a few minutes more passed, they were inside the hidden lair of the Sontrebren Crew; a network of tunnels and rooms housing the Crew. Samanya made sure to stick close to Feron, though luckily, most of the crew -save for the night guards- seemed to be asleep, so leading the hulking cathar through the tunnels wasn't as problematic as it could have been.

"Okay, I think Poknor's office is... This way!" Sam decided, leading the other cathar down a seemingly random tunnel. Another minute of travel ensued, before Samanya finally decided she had located the Underboss's office. As tempting as it was to instruct Feron to be on his best behavior, she figured he was an adult, he would know to treat her boss respectfully.

"Hope he's still up..." She muttered to herself, as she rapped on the door twice, paused for several seconds, then opened the door just enough to poke her head in and peek inside. "Underboss Poknor? It's Samanya. Sorry to bother you, but I have a question for you, if you have a moment." She said, unsure of how, exactly, to phrase the fact that she had just dragged one of her father's old buddies halfway across Coruscant to more or less sign up with the Sontrebren Crew.

 

[Viggy]

Poknor was dozing in his office chair, his jumpsuit undone and exposing most of his upper body, a half-empty bottle of alcohol sitting on his desk, and a sleeping Twi’lek slave girl sitting on his lap. His feline ears perked up as he heard a knock at his door, and his brown eyes slowly opened to see Samanya peeking into his office. He smiled lazily at her and nodded as she requested a bit of his time. The Underboss gently lifted the slave girl out of his lap and set her down on the floor. Leaning forward on his desk, he shook his head a bit to try and wake himself up. It took a moment before he replied.

“Samanya. What a pleasant surprise to see you tonight, I'm glad you're back on the planet,” he finally said with a grin to his fellow Cathar, winking at the young woman. Normally he tried to be a bit more professional with his soldiers, even the good-looking ones like Samanya, but she had caught him sleeping after a night of drinking and so at the moment his thinking wasn’t too clear. “Go ahead, ask away! No secrets between us love."

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Mm. Looks like I wasn't the only one drinking." Samanya thought with a smile, as she caught a glimpse of the sleeping slave girl and the half-empty bottle of alcohol, as well as Poknor's mostly-exposed upper body. She had to admit, he was rather handsome. Sam canceled that thought as she pushed the door open a hair more and slipped inside as the underboss spoke, and walked in to stand just in front of the gray-furred Cathar's desk as she folded her hands together in front of her.

While she was used to the Underboss being a bit more professional, she imagined that a night of drinking and doing censor-worthy things to the Twi'lek girl had probably loosened him up. His final statement just confirmed that suspicion. "I stumbled across an old family friend as I was on the way back to the Hideout. Feron Nial, a cathar. He's a pretty intimidating and powerful fellow, and he'd like to work for the Crew. Well, erm, more accurately he wants to work with us so he can stick near me so that if and when I find my father, he can meet up with him, but that's sort of a long story and not really important right now." She explained, before finishing with, "I was hoping we could let him stick around and maybe make him a soldier in one of the crews."

 

[Gambler]

At that point Feron finally stepped into the room, a dark scowl on his face. He sized the seemingly drunk Cathar up disdainfully. He saw the drooping ear with a gold ring in it and entertained a thought about putting a claw through it to see if it would fit. But he shook that thought away and continued to look around the "office" if it could truly be called that. Feron growled lowly in his throat, a deep, feral sound that could have meant any number of things. But it prominently stood for disgust at the site of the Underboss. He could have said something, but he was content to let Samanya do the talking until or if he was addressed.

He could have corrected her about him wanting to join, but, what was the point? If getting a spot with this petty gang gave him a link to finding Kam, then all the better. And it already looked like there were a few Cathar in this one. And that was almost a pleasing thought for the two time slave. Over the last thirty odd years the only other Cathar he had met had been Kam. And now Samanya. And finally Poknor. He was willing to overlook a sloth stake of dress at this time in the morning because of that minor racial fact.

And still Feron said nothing and waited for Poknor to reply to Samanya's request.

 

[Viggy]

The drunken Underboss was a bit disappointed that Samanya’s query was business rather then pleasure, and a for short moment it showed on his face. Nonetheless he tried to sober up a bit, and listened closely as she talked about this Feron Nial, raising a brow curiously as she gave details on why he wanted to get involved with the Crew. A strange reason, but not necessarily a bad one. As Feron himself stepped into the office, Poknor looked the man over. The Underboss grinned a toothy feline grin as he heard Feron's growling, and rose to his feet, swaying slightly on the spot as the alcohol continued to hamper his body.

He walked around his desk, stumbling over his slave girl, to move up to Feron. He looked up at the taller Cathar, right into those black eyes of his. They matched his dark fur. Every part of this man seemed dark and menacing, Poknor liked it. Though he continued to look at Feron, he spoke instead to Samanya, acting as if Feron wasn’t even there. It was a simple way of asserting authority, making Feron’s position clear.

“Well he certainly looks like Sontrebren Crew material, and I love to have more Cathar around. Frankly I don’t think he likes me at all, but other then you my dear, who does?” He laughed a bit, smiling to Sam as he grabbed his booze off his desk and took a swig of it. Shuddering slightly as it burned in his throat. “Ah… No, my only worry is that he’s going to abandon us once he finds who he's looking for, which would be unacceptable. We can't have people who know our secrets running around unchecked. If he joins us, he joins for life. And now that he's come down here, he pretty much has to join, or we'll kill him for knowing about our hideout. I hope he understands that.”

He looked back up into Feron’s black eyes, still smirking as he waited to get some affirmation of loyalty.

 

[Gambler]

"It would be... fun to see you try," Feron said, a light almost playing out of his lustrous ebony orbs. He had no doubts that he could take the Underboss and possibly Samanya right here and now. Especially since Samanya was tired and Poknor drunk. Yeah, probably challenging but he probably could win. "But I would relish the chance to join in your crew. Once I find Kam I suppose I will have to take temporary leave, but hey, while I'm out I could pick some stuff up for you," Arrogance wasn't in his tone. No, but there was a... nonchalance and uncaring undertone to his voice. Like it didn't matter one way or another what happened here.

He flexed his claws again as he was wont to do as of late. The phrik extensions had all but bonded to his hands from the abuse the slavers had gone through to try and rip them off without crippling him. They were magnetically locked but they felt good on his hands. He leaned back against the wall and looked down towards Poknor, not a mote of expression on his slightly graying face.

"What is the Sontrebren Crew? Samanya said it was something of a mafia dealing with extortion and other illicit dealings," He asked for no other reason than to keep Poknor talking. The longer this dragged on for... well once upon a time he would have thought of ways to kill Poknor after getting him to lower his guard a bit, but now... well he didn't really know. "What will I be doing for you then?

He might actually want to join the Sontrebren Crew under Poknor. It would actually be... better than his life up to this point. Indecisiveness crossed his eyes for a moment before he blanked them.

 

[Viggy]

Poknor laughed loudly at Feron’s tough reply, shaking his head and speaking to him directly now.

“I like your spirit, man. But even if you managed to kill me and Samanya without being killed, you’d be overwhelmed by my men. You’ll never walk out of here alive if I don’t want you to, so you’re joining whether you relish it or not. Once you find Sam’s dad, Sam herself will keep an eye on you as you’re doing whatever it is you need to do. I trust her. And in the meantime, you’ll be working as a soldier in the same crew as Sam. That’s Teo’s crew, he’s a damn good Capo and I’m sure he’ll find damn good uses for a gutsy bastard like you.”

Laughing again, the Cathar Underboss returned to the seat behind his desk, tilting his head back to pour the last drops of alcohol down his throat. He threw the empty bottle against the wall, smirking in amusement as his slave girl shrieked in fright and used her arms to protect her face from the flying shards of broken glass.

“So what is the Sontrebren Crew, you ask? Heh… Bit of a stupid question, really. We’re obviously a criminal organization, and we do whatever makes the most money. Extortion, spice trade, slave trade, pirating - wherever the creds are, we are. And as of right now, we’re also your family, so you’ll be helping us to make that money and keep making it. In turn, believe it or not, we'll also help you. You won’t get your own office like I do, but you’ll be paid pretty well and you can enjoy the hideout’s many pleasures. Comfy beds and even comfier women... And I don’t just mean Samanya either, we’ve got so many slave girls a Hutt would call it excessive.”

He smirked at Sam as he made the little jab at her, all of it just in good fun. He respected his female soldiers just as much as the males. He only teased Samanya because he was attracted to her, and knew that she probably knew it.

“Now get outta here. I gotta catch my beauty sleep.”

With a nod to Feron and a wink to Sam, Poknor leaned back in his chair to close his eyes and doze off again.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Samanya planted her hands on her hips and smirked back at Poknor as he poked some fun at her. She didn't mind; she both liked and respected Pok, not to mention she occasionally got the impression that he was attracted to her, all of which made her willing to take considerably more teasing from him than she would anyone else.

Despite the golden opportunity to make a witty and innuendo-laced remark guaranteed to put a blush even on Pok's cheeks, Samanya forced herself to avoid teasing back, as she didn't want to say anything that might give Feron the wrong impression about herself and her ability to maintain any semblance of a professional relationship with her bosses. She ushered Feron out the door, then just as she was departing the room, she glanced over her shoulder at the cathar. "Good night, Pok. And thank you." She said softly, flashing the underboss a warm smile before she shut off the lights in the office and shut the door behind her.

"Come on Fer, there's an empty room right across the hall from my quarters. Let's get you settled in. It isn't very big, but it's comfy and it was cleaned up just yesterday." Samanya motioned for him to follow her as she made her way along the tunnels once again, leading him towards the crew quarters. Barely a minute of walking passed before she stopped at a well-lit and clean corridor, the sides of which were littered with durasteel doors. Sam walked along until she came to a door labeled 'Sam Mohatu', and then did an about-face and walked across the hall to an unmarked door. She rapped twice on it; there was no answer, not even a curse or the smack of something lobbed at the door.

"Sounds like it's empty." Sam thought aloud, as she pushed the durasteel door open and peeked inside, then took a step back and gestured into the room. "Yup, nobody stays in this one. Nice and clean, too. Go on in and see what you think, I'll wait outside."

 

[Gambler]

[OOC: Warning! Short post ahead, turn back if you do not wish to look at the horrible quality of my next post. You have been warned!]

The door to the room swung open in front of Feron. He waited for Samanya to step out of the way before entering it so as to not rudely push her aside. At first he wasn't impressed with the spartan room, but he shrugged. It was far better than what he had suffered through as a slave. So what if the cot looked like a prison bunk or that it was windowless with only a small light panel in the centre of the room to brighten the dank place. It was better than sleeping in the dirt on hands and knees, unable to roll onto one's back because of the criss-crossing wounds from whips and knives. Better than having no where to sleep at all while even the criminally paid servants laughed at you.

"It will do. Don't worry about me having to go back and get anything; all I own is on my back right now," He said. His words held complete truth in them though. All he had left were his claws, his pants and sash, and the blaster he managed to smuggle out of the passenger freighter that had carried him here. And even then he wasn't really missing anything. On Balmorra he only had his claws and what the drunken sot he was forced to call an adopted father would clothe him with. Usually with fists or a cuff when he failed to bring back enough meat to buy another drink for the kriffing bastard. Feron shuddered with the memory and stepped back out of the room.

He looked down into Samanya's pure sapphire eyes, awaiting some response.

 

[Aussie Legend]

The cool air lining the Coruscant breeze sent a chill down the man's spine as he strolled through the dim group of alleys that lead to his destination. The day was progressing into the afternoon, casting sunlight almost directly down upon the planet, yet this perticular alley way seemed to keep itself concealed in a blanket of darkness, removing the secret lair of a criminal organisation from sight.

Slowly, the man approached what appeared to be the end of the alley, yet his path lay below the surface. Quickly, the man reached down and retracted the cover over a manhole that lead to what seemed to be a very unsafe staircase. The man made his way down the hole, pulling the cover back over and placing it back over the hole perfectly before proceeding down the staircase.

It took a moment of proceeding through the barely lit staircase before the cold barrel of a laser rifle was placed against the figures head. Before the enemy could ask a question, the man swung his arm into the others chest, causing the other to recoil backwards, only to be pulled back by the figure looming in the dim light, a hand was clasped over the guards mouth, removing his ability to speak.

"Take me to 'Poknor', I believe he is expecing me" The man stated, releasing his grip of the guard and pushing him forwards, following him down a feebly built hallway and into a greater lit area. It took them a few moments to reach the door with 'Underboss' scratched into the metal. The man knocked on the door.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Okay, glad it suits your needs. It looked a little spartan when I looked inside; we'll head to a bazaar or something tomorrow and pick up some furnishings." Samanya replied, as she smiled up at the dark cathar. "We should probably also look around for some other clothes for you, make you a little less eye-catching."

She paused, then added in, "And I should probably replace this bodysuit while I'm at it." She mumbled, remembering the blast hole in the skin-tight clothing article.

 

[Gambler]

"Yeah, tomorrow we will do whatever we need to do, but there is still some things left for today. Now that I joined a gang and live across the sewer from you, would you care to explain why Kam is back on Balmorra and what he's like nowadays?" Feron asked, leaning against the frame of his door. He personally hated trifling matters that were truly of no consequence. They could have easily finished this conversation on the street, or at least that was what he thought. In truth, being accepted into Poknor's Crew was probably the only good thing to happen in over twenty years for the aging Cathar. But he wanted his questions answered now after his hour or so wait. He is an impatient cat.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Well, like I told you, my father settled down after he ended up impregnating my mother and marrying her. He didn't have much of a choice, mom was a hell of a fighter, and he was so madly in love with her that I doubt he could have survived without her." Samanya replied, as she leaned on the wall just outside his door, on the opposite side of the doorframe from Feron. "He's a bit of a businessman now. He ran a small freighter operation, and before I was kidnapped, he was getting into politics. It was kind of funny, watching him as he campaigned. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and what he felt he needed to do for Balmorra, but he never really had a firm grasp on the proper political terminology. Which was a good thing, everyone could always understand what he was saying."

She chuckled as she remembered her father's attempt to describe a complex solution to Balmorra's health care system. He never used any intricate technical or political terms; everything he said was immediately and easily accessible. Even the poorest factory janitor could have understood him.

She brushed that thought out of her mind as she turned the gaze of her sapphire blue orbs back to Feron, a smile playing across her features as she continued. "Anyways, what was dad like... Mmm. Well, he was funny. He was always joking or teasing us, always keeping a smile on everyone's face. He was confident, friendly, charming. And he was in love with mom like you wouldn't believe. He didn't like going anywhere without her at his side, unless it was a business trip."

The cathar wrapped her arms around herself as she paused, then spoke up again. "He really loved me and my brother, too. He always had time for both of us, and I never heard him snap or get angry. He was just... It's hard to explain, really. It's like being a father just came naturally to him. Anyways, I was always hanging out with dad. He taught me how to shoot and fight, how to fly, how to be a mechanic... Basically, taught me everything he could that would let me survive in the galaxy."

She sighed heavily before adding in, "But I don't know what he's like now. Me, my brother, and my Mom meant everything to him. He might have changed in the four years since I've seen him."

 

[Gambler]

"He could never stand politics," Feron chuckled when Samanya mentioned that Kam never had a grasp of political terminology. "Neither of us really cared much for politics in our youth. He was more focused with his machines and I more focused on my solitude. Ha, I remember the first time I took your father hunting. He brought all of this equipment and this huge gun along with him. I made him leave all of it except for the cannon at the edge of the forest while we hunted. Of course, when we got back I had only caught a single creature and his 'catches' were just piles of burnt fur from the power of his cannon," Feron said, his eyes fogging over for a moment.

"As I said, there are hundreds of stories I could share with you. We were quite the pair, your father and I. Gallivanting through the woods with other cathar to catch the attention of the girls... good times. I now even look upon the time your father completely embarrassed me fondly. Here's a piece of advice: live your life to the fullest as you only have one chance. You'll never live the same dream twice though you will relive nightmares countless times," He said, not really looking at Samanya anymore now that he was so caught up in his memories.

"You may wish to forget about your nightmares, but they'll always come back. Always. Even when you are living a normal life you'll still wonder when someone will hurt you again. You'll stop caring about those who have been hurt and feel that no one can match your pain. That no one cares about you. That there is nothing left in life for you. But then you remember that the bastards that enslaved you wanted you to die. Wanted to remove some worthless fodder. And then you know that you can't ever die!" Feron whispered fiercely more to himself than to Samanya.

 

[Viggy]

Feline eyes glinted in the darkness as Poknor woke up once again, another knock sounding on his metal door. This time, whoever was knocking chose not to open the door until being told.

"Come in," the Underboss grunted.

The door opened, and Pok saw one of his guards roughly pushing a man into the room. The metal door clanged shut again. Thinking this man was someone interested in renting her, or buying her (she could only hope!), the Twi'lek slave girl on the floor rose to her feet and began to dance seductively.

"Sit back down, you stupid ****." The slave girl nodded quickly and sat down, carefully avoiding the broken glass on the floor. "You. What is it, who are you?" Pok's earlier good mood, brought on by flirting with Samanya, had faded as the buzz of alcohol in his body faded into unpleasant hangover. His sleep being interrupted was not helping. The Underboss had wanted to rest, and didn't remember making the appointment with this potential new member.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Samanya had to cover her muzzle with a hand to keep herself from laughing at the story that Feron shared, but it only staved it off for a moment before she burst into laughter. "Gods above, that's dad to a 'T'. It's almost like he either does it just right or he fails in a truly spectacular and hilarious fashion. No wonder he never took me hunting." She quipped, a grin crossing her features before she once again wrapped her arms around herself and fell silent, listening as Feron spoke.

The advice he gave was solid, she thought. Living life to the fullest was a great idea, especially considering the profession she had chosen for herself. There was no telling the next time someone might take a potshot at her, and no telling what day would be her last. There were still a lot of things she had left that she wanted to do, and she should probably start actually doing them.

But his final words sparked her feline curiosity. She wanted to know what his life had been like. She knew her time as a slave was humiliating and she had no desire to recall any of what the slavers had forced her to do. However, she did want to know what had happened to Feron. Granted, it was a very morbid sense of curiosity that drove her to wonder what had befallen him, the type of curiosity best left unsatisfied. But she was asking anyways.

"If... You don't mind my asking, Fer, what did they - the slavers, I mean - do to you?" She queried softly, gazing at him with a softer look in her eyes. "You don't have to answer that, if you don't want to."

 

[Gambler]

Feron's eyes glazed over as the question sparkled his memory of slavery. Everything he had tried to keep bottled inside for so long just started pouring out like water from a dropped levy. Everything flooded his mind. The way the whip felt when it opened healing scabs on his back. His captor's voice as the sick bastard laughed at inflicting the pain on his slave. "You want to know what they did to me? I have never told anyone that. Not even Kam. He asked, but... I wasn't ready to tell him. No one has ever known the pain I survived," He said in a strangely quiet voice, his face going downward as he looked at the floor. But he didn't see the floor. He saw the opening gates of the gladiator arena.

"The first time I was caught on Balmorra I was forced to fight. But the fight was stacked against me as my owner had bet on the thrall I was to fight in the gladiator arena. He had bet a sizable amount of money on the half feral trandoshan I was fighting. So the scumbag broke my right wrist so that I wouldn't be able to defend myself. It all started when...."

The gates of the arena grated open, revealing a large predator. This creature had scaly skin that was mottled green and gray that stood out in the bloody sand of the arena. A much younger Feron looked up to the blaring sun and prayed to whatever gods there were that he would survive. That his friend would find him. A guard prodded him forward with a wickedly serrated spear, cutting into his already sliced back and eliciting a growl from the young cathar. With his first step forward, the dark warrior tried to move his right arm, but the wrist would obey what his mind told it and lay limp, painfully bent upwards.

The arena itself was a small battlefield littered with the stench of decay and dried blood. The diameter of the roughly circular field was around twenty feet in all directions making it a very small place to fight. Feron's opponent, Drell as he was called, walked forward, a large chain mounted to his left arm slithering across the sandy ground, digging a large rent into the field. With a toothy smile the trandoshan hefted his chain and swung it over his head in mute challenge. Feron roared his answer, grimacing at the intense pain his step forward brought to his broken wrist.

A horn like sound blared signaling the fight to begin. Never one to let a challenge go unanswered, Feron rushed out to meet the trandoshan, left claw leading. He pounced on the green skinned reptile with a feral growl, tearing a phrik covered hand through scales and bones. A fountain of blood gushed out of the trandoshan's opened shoulder, drawing such a cry of pain from a creature that had moments before been so confident and sure of himself. But then Drell countered. His chain was useless in close combat, so the trandoshan grabbed Feron's right arm and pulled the already broking wrist, crushing the bones further. Pain, blinding pain assaulted the young cathar on such a level that black dots appeared before his eyes and he thought that he would black out.

But he wouldn't give this bastard that satisfaction.

Roaring as his adrenaline spiked, pumping endorphins into his blood stream, blocking out the pain, Feron crashed forward, knocking both of them to the ground. He tore viciously at the trandoshan's face and chest, ripping off makeshift armor and flesh. His onslaught continued until Drell somehow raised a weapon he had found. No, not found. Someone in the crowd had thrown the trandoshan a spear. Not just someone, Feron's master. Drell stabbed upwards with all of his might and the fear of death, piercing through Feron's naked torso. The tip of the spear protruded from his back, revealing a vicious wound. Miraculously, the spear hadn't damaged any organs and instead slipped right through the empty cavity between his stomach organs and flesh and his back. The trandoshan ripped the spear out of Feron as the cathar fell to his knees brutally. Frantically he brought a hand to cover the crimson flow of liquid that began to seep from his deep wound. Hand covering his stomach, Feron looked down in between his fingers and saw straight to the bone of his spine.

And then he saw nothing as Drell kicked him in the head, forcing consciousness from his body.

Later he awoke in a bacta tank, his wounds well on their way to being completely healed. He overheard his master talking about the expenses of this treatment and exactly how he was going to exact them from Feron. The cathar almost wished he was still unconscious, for at that moment his master turned and saw his slave's eyes opened. For the next few days all he could feel was the cold whip digging trenches into the fur and flesh of his back. The constant trickle of blood that ran from his opened back down his legs and onto the ground.....

".... And nothing I did ever erased the shame... the pain of fighting that worthless creature, Drell. Nothing can ever erase the humiliation of being victimized before a crowd of people who had placed bets on a brute not worthy of anything but murder. That was the only time I ever lost. The only time I will ever lose," Feron said fiercely, a new light of anger and determination entering eyes that were bleak and distant a moment ago.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Samanya's ears perked up and swiveled forwards like miniature radar dishes as she completely focused upon Feron, the rest of the world fading away into nothingness as she utterly ignored everything but the friend of her father, and his tale.

Her mind was oddly blank as he spoke, simply absorbing and memorizing what was being said as she took in one of the stories of his suffering. It was like she just shut down for a moment. But when he finally finished speaking, ending with that note of determination, strength, and anger, all emotion and thought came rushing back to the young cathar like a tidal wave.

What he had to endure was... Horrific. Samanya wondered if his master had even a scrap of mercy or kindness. At least she had the benifit of being beautiful and desirable; her body was too valuable to whip into a pulp. Feron had not been so fortunate. Being forced into servitude as a gladiator was bad enough, but the whippings... Samanya had once seen another cathar being whipped. It was one of the most savage things she had ever seen, aside from the unspeakable horrors of the breaking rooms employed by slavers.

She couldn't imagine what it had been like for a being as strong and independent as Feron, for his value to be reduced to that of a mere animal, and for his treatment to reflect his value. The sheer volume of the suffering he must have endured was difficult, if not impossible, for her to grasp, despite the nearly four years she spent in servitude.

Wordlessly, Samanya took a couple steps forward and placed her hands on Fer's shoulders, then stood on the toes of her boots as she tipped her muzzle up and gently nuzzled underneath his chin, a show of affection she usually reserved only for her father and brother, who were both much taller than herself. But this time, instead of showing affection, it was intended to show sympathy and compassion for him.
"I'm so sorry, Fer." The young woman said quietly, as she lowered herself back to her feet and took a single step backwards, her hands falling back to her side.

"I... Don't know what else to say. That alone was... Horrific. I can't begin to imagine what other tortures you must have endured. And yet... You survived, not just in body but in mind. By the ancestors, I don't know how you did that, Feron. I would have committed suicide were I in your shoes. You must be either the strongest, or the most stubborn, Cathar in this galaxy."

She gently bit her lower lip as she wrapped her arms around herself again, and then she found one more thing to say. "If... You ever want to talk about anything that happened, I'm a good listener, and I'm always here for you. As far as I'm concerned, you're a part of my family; I'll stick by you through thick and thin. So, if you ever need an ear or anything, anything at all, you can call on me."

 

[Gambler]

[OOC: You are probably getting sick of reading this style, but I feel that it really helps explain Feron. Really develops who he was when I made him.]

"Kam," Feron said, a single tear falling from the corner of an ebony eye. Now that he had finally opened the dam of his emotions, they were assaulting him in a flood. "I lived on because of Kam. He was the reason for my existence. I.. couldn't let him get hurt... not after... after I let his father kill Nadiyya..." He breath. closing his eyes against the pain. He didn't even realize that he was speaking out loud. That he was pouring almost thirty years of his life into Samanya. Never before had he allowed himself to dwell on the past. Allowed himself to wallow in his self pity.

"It was my fault that she died. I could have stopped him. I could have killed him. But I wasn't there. I wasn't... there. All because of the drunken sot I called my adopted father....

Moonlight streaked down into the forest of Balmorra. All around him Feron could feel the life that teemed from everything. The trees that surrounded him glistened with moisture from the recent rains, giving off a fresh scent that never failed to light the adolescent Cathar's eyes up. He sat on a fallen log comfortably as he had every night when he came out on a hunt. He looked out across the horizon, watching the line of smoke rising from the village in the distance. It was Kam's birthday tonight, but Feron couldn't face his friend after the fight they had just the day before.

Their fight had been about some girl they had taken hunting the day before. Jayilina He thought, the memory of that lioness' passion and fiery smile igniting desire in the adolescent. But then Kam had embarrassed him while they were hunting with her. Pointed out that he wanted to... to... he couldn't even think about it. Or the embarrassment of him falling on a stray root after hearing what Kam said. Feron growled and went back to his contemplation of... well nothing. A voice to his left alerted him that he wasn't alone. Another cathar, this one with deep green eyes and mocha fur with a burly mane to match an even burlier attitude.

"Yer a kriff'n fool fer comin' out here to'ight," The voice of his step father said. The hunter was heavily drunk as usual for these long nights and Feron was disgusted with the man. "Ya know why I don't want'cha out here no more! I told'ya that a while ago you kriff'n idiot! The on'y way I can get t' you is with me fists I thinks!" The drunken man roared as he slammed a heavy fist into Feron's right cheek, breaking through flesh and fur. Without so much as a yelp of pain, Feron desperately tried to block his face as his step father beat him.

Almost an hour later Feron was once more in the forest, leaning heavily on the many trees scattered around him. One eye wouldn't open fully and he had a pronounced limp on his left leg. How he hated the man that called himself his father! That abusive bastard beat him for disobeying and whatever else the hell he felt like whenever he was drunk! And Feron would go the next morning and lie to his friends by telling a tale of another fight with a beast in the black of night and how his father, the great hunter, had come in to save him. But those tales were lies. The hunter he talked about saving him was just an ideal of what he wanted his true father to be. The one that had abandoned him at birth.

A horrible scream that sounded with Nadiyya's voice echoed from the distance. Feron started in that direction, but slumped in defeat after a few steps. His legs wouldn't support him. "I'll help you in the morning... mother.." He said, falling into the bleak gray of semi-consciousness. He was aware as a gunshot sounded and the sound of men flooding the village a few hours later. But he couldn't do anything about it. He was too weak.

When he woke up and recovered enough to know what was going on, Feron heard the news. Nadiyya was killed by a Dark Jedi presumed to be Kam's father. He heard this news while they were caring the headless body of Nadiyya out of the hut where Kam lived. He saw her horrified expression when they brought her head out with the rest of the cadaver. Feron fell to the ground, a sob escaping his lips. Tears fell from his eyes and the only thought he had was that he could have saved her. He could have saved her had his drunken step father not beaten him. Her could have saved her... He looked around, hoping to find Kam. But his friend wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere.

In anger and despair Feron ran off into the wilderness. He didn't know how long he lived like a savage. Days? Weeks? Months? But when he returned home he learned that Kam was out making his way in the city. Feron followed him there, sprinting as far as he could. But a ship stopped him. Slavers came down and took him away...

"... My life changed all because of the actions of one drunken, abusive man. I was forced into slavery because of this. I never got the chance to see Kam again. And that was what kept me strong through those brutal ten years of slavery. But that was only part of my life spent like that. I escaped much later and went on to find Kam. But my freedom lasted only a few days before I became a slave for the next twenty years. One man's actions ruined four lives that night," Feron continued on, his past ripped from him and old wounds bleeding crimson.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Samanya had never heard the story of her grandmother's death before. She had gleaned bits and pieces of it, but she had never known that her grandmother - Nadiyya - had been murdered by a Dark Jedi. That went a long way to explaining why her father had practically thrown a Jedi out of their home when one came to speak to him about her and her brother's Force sensitivity, and it also explained his intense distrust of anything that wielded a lightsaber or used the Force.

But it also sparked even more compassion for the cathar in front of him. His life had been exceedingly difficult, it would seem. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break, could he? His story, this one especially, was heartbreaking. "Gods above, Fer... I'm so sorry." She sighed. "It's no wonder dad never spoke of his mother's death..."

She noted the tear that had streaked down from the corner of his eye earlier, and took a step forward and gently brushed it away with her hand. "Again, I don't really know what to say, Feron. I just... I can't find anything to even begin to show how sorry I feel." She sighed quietly, looking up into his dark eyes with those sapphire orbs of hers as she once again stood a couple feet in front of him.