Ask Invisible Scars

[Caul]

Caul had underestimated how much he’d been affected by the mall incident. Currently, he was pressed up against the cool durasteel plating of the Spaceport waiting for the press of beings to let up so he could move. Crowds freaked him out. They’d always made him uneasy, he’d spent his childhood on Yavin then Ithor, now he was bounced back and forth between Brighthome and Starlight so much that any chance of making a friend or getting help for his—

The Padawan took a breath.

Caul closed his eyes and leaned on the force. He was ashamed of his “issue.” It made him feel weak, like he was a burden. Luckily, it hadn’t caused him any problems during training, but what would happen when he was on a mission? What if it were up to him to rush through a crowd— Just the thought of it spiked his anxiety. He took another breath, his heart was hammering in his chest, as he tried to calm himself.

Fists clenched until his knuckles went white and his nails dug into his palms. Sweat beaded his forehead. Then there was an opening. Caul shot forward doing his best not to run, and only half succeeding. The Padawan managed to slip through the press of bodies and get out into the main hub of the space port. The sense of relief that flooded him nearly brought a tear to his eye as he landed in a mostly empty food court.

Caul looked around. He’d never been to this particular location before. He was on his way to Ord Mantell and couldn’t remember exactly where he was, but he knew it was close to the Bright Jewel System. He’d been sent with a group of others but of course, his panic attack had locked him in place and no one had noticed he was missing. He sighed, there had to be a directory around, his eyes fell on a woman a few tables over and rather than risking another full shut down he decided to ask for directions.

“Sorry to bother you, Ma’am, but you wouldn’t happen to know where the nearest directory is, do you?”

@LilyNion

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

It had been a few years since the day when almost everything she loved was taken away from her. And many more years since the nightmares began. Therapy had been going... okay. When Altair returned with Zara for the week or the babysitter took over, Clove fell into a less deep and bleak pit than before. She'd even grown more comfortable leaving her house and traveling off-planet to see if there was anything to do to pass the time or maybe earn some extra credits for Zara.

Previously, this led her to Kashyyyk and Ansison, two events that felt like her first steps back into normalcy. But there had been nothing for months, and she felt herself drifting aimlessly through the crowd whenever she searched.

Today was one of those days.

Clove had been wandering the spaceport on her own for an hour or two, hoping to come across something. She left her trusty mount, Bib, at home because she didn't want to cramp him in a spaceport. But she missed him. For there was nobody who needed help or had a quick job for her, most people barely even looked at her. She eventually gave up, her stomach rumbling in protest of her hunger and boredom. With heavy feet and defeat clinging to her skin, Clove made her way over to a nearby food court.

Clove settled down at one of the many empty tables after grabbing a milkshake and a burger with fries. She leaned her head on her left hand, her other hand idly shoving two fries around on the paper plate before picking one up and mindlessly biting a chunk off. As she sank into her thoughts, the world around her began to fade away. As they always do, memories and thoughts she had been avoiding crawled back to the surface.

But, unlike the previous times, a voice reached through the darkness and drew her back into the present. Clove's large chocolate brown eyes darted in the direction it came from and noticed a boy standing there, barely older than fifteen or sixteen. "Oh, you're not bothering me. Don't worry." She quickly cleaned her hands on the napkin beside her plate while taking a closer look at the boy. Her gaze quickly focused on his robes. Jedi robes. However, his posture and almost frantic expression did not quite fit that narrative.

"I know where the directory is. It's a little hidden; it took me a second to find it as well. It is up north."
She remarked, pausing for a second. That frantic look he carried in his eyes... Whatever the reasoning for it, she wasn't going to leave him alone until he looked a bit calmer. "I'll lead the way, I think that's easier."

Clove gracefully rose to her feet. She quickly wrapped the paper around her burger and carefully placed it in one of her side pouches. The milkshake was taken off the table to sip on during the walk. "Want some fries on the way?" Regardless of the boy's response, she adjusted the strap of her E-11 blaster rifle, which hung over her shoulder, and began walking north, following the wall to their right for the time being and avoiding most of the crowd. If only because she had a habit of getting lost in crowds thanks to her shorter height. "I'm Clove by the way." She smiled faintly at the boy.

---

tag @Zay​

 

[Caul]

“Oh, I assure you that’s—” Caul started, but the woman was already standing. Unsure how to politely decline her offer, he settled on just awkwardly rocking back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels as she gathered her food. She offered him some fries, he declined, she adjusted the strap of her weapon, and he wondered if he needed to reconsider the fries. Thankfully, she didn’t seem offended and started leading the way.

Caul fell in step behind her, looking more like a sad lost little puppy than a Padawan. He noticed she avoided the main crowds and stuck to the sides, for that he was eternally grateful, but he wasn’t sure if it was happenstance or if she’d seen him make his desperate entrance to the food court and was secretly an angel sent to guide him to safety… okay now that he’d let the thought breathe it was ridiculous.

In the back of his mind he kept getting the feeling that he’d seen her somewhere before, but he couldn’t for the life of him put his finger on it.

“Thanks for helping me out, Clove. I’m Caul. It's nice to meet you.”

Something began to stir within Caul. It was that same uneasy feeling he’d ignored back at the mall. He stepped up to Clove’s side and said in a hushed voice, “Something’s wrong—”

BOOOOOOM!

Before he could finish his thought the floor below him lurched and he was nearly thrown to the ground. The cumulative gasp of the pressing throughs of people around them was cinematic in it’s nature. At the end of the long corridor the protective blasts doors slid closed. The pale iridescent lights above flickered and died casting the area in momentary darkness, before the red glow of emergency lights kicked on.

A charming tone played on the station intercoms, followed by a charming woman’s voice, “Gentlebeings, we apologize for the inconveniences we are currently experiencing a maintenance issue in another section. Please, remain calm and someone will be there to retrieve you momentarily.”

Two heart beats after the voice ended it’s pre-recorded message… the whole corridor lost it’s mind.

@LilyNion

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

"It's lovely to meet you Caul, and no need to thank me, truly." Clove smiled delicately at the boy before returning her gaze straight ahead, her right hand lazily gripping the strap as her other arm swung with each step. She felt no unease or warning; everything was calm, albeit a little busy, in her opinion.

So, when Caul approached her side and spoke quietly, she gave him a puzzled look. He couldn't finish his sentence, though; a loud BOOOMM filled their ears, and the ground shook. Clove's hand instinctively let go of the strap and shot for the Padawan's shoulders, taking a protective stance closer to him to ensure that he didn't fall over and was not injured by whatever had happened. She stood still for a moment, looking at the Padawan briefly before glancing up at the red glow of the emergency lights.

The voice of the intercoms echoed through the now-locked corridor, warning them of a maintenance issue. Maintenance issue. Clove's eyebrows rose in disbelief, but before she could react, all hell broke loose, with everyone screaming and shouting. The half-Annfyn wasted no time in guiding the Padawan to a nook in the corridor where she knew people would run past and leave them alone. Because at this rate, the horde of panicked people would form a stampede, and she'd lose the boy in seconds, while they needed that second to think before acting.

If Caul followed her to the little nook, Clove frowned at the Padawan. "Are you okay? Can you focus? How far along are you in your lessons, and can you sense any danger around us?" She felt hopeless; without her Force, she didn't know how she could physically help. But she could try to help guide the boy and learn about what was going on so they could come up with a strategy. Right now, they were trapped, like an Ewok in a cage without knowing what had caused the presumably explosion, and she didn't like it.

---

tag @Zay​

 

[Caul]

The press of the sudden panic was suffocating. The air around him was suddenly hot, no it wasn’t he was hot. Oh, no. He was panicking. He was losing his shit right now. Breathe, breathe dammit. Breathe you karking weakling! He felt something grab his hand and he tensed. His eyes snapped open and he relaxed, it was Clove.

She guided them to a little nook. Shame was blossoming across Caul’s expression like tulips in spring. He could feel the fall out of his emotions threatening to get the better of him, then her voice cut through his internal diatribe.

“I-” he caught his breath and forced himself to be calm. If something bad was happening he needed to help, not be helped. He was a Jedi, wasn’t he?! “I can feel fear, deep seated, mortal danger kinda fear,” he frowned, “Have you worked with Jedi before?” he asked, a tinge of weariness in his voice. The Jedi as a whole could be kinda… polarizing. Their lack of leadership had seen The Order become pretty much anything other than order. It was a lot for someone who’d been raised by people who now took different sides.

A sudden pang of sharp pain lanced through is mind— “Gah!” he dropped to a knee cradling his head. Images of fire, blaster fire, and death nearly blinded his mind’s eye. The Padawan’s whole body shook. He could smell Yavin, but he knew he wasn’t there. He was having an attack. It was bad, and he had to keep moving.

With obvious effort he pushed himself up, “C-can you fight?”

His lightsaber was in his hand, his expression was resolute, his eyes fiery determination. He had no choice. It was do or die, and if he didn’t help the people he’d seen in his mind he’d never forgive himself. His head whipped to the blast door at the end of their corridor moments before the sparking flicker of some sort of torch started cutting through the door.

Cries and panic were waves that continued to crash into him, but even so he moved toward the door. He didn’t know what was on the other side, but he knew he had to stop it. He had to protect these people. That was his job, that was his call, that was what he was meant to do.

“I am one with the Force and the Force is one with me,” he repeated over and over as he closed in

@LilyNion

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

Clove gave the boy a wary glance. She couldn't peek into his mind, but she'd had enough panic attacks to know what it looked like. She opened her mouth to encourage him, but he was able to calm himself enough to tell her what he felt in the air. And it was all she'd feared. This wasn't a normal accident, people were in danger. This meant that the explosion was not a mistake in the building, but an attack.

"I've worked with the Jedi before." The half-Annfyn paused. "I was a Jedi Knight and then left." She hesitated whether to explain further, but Caul slumped to the ground, grasping his head. Clove was going to reach out to him in concern, but he pushed himself back up onto his feet with renewed purpose. To be honest, she didn't think it was a good idea for him to battle whatever danger awaited them, but she also couldn't let him leave alone, nor did she believe she could persuade him to stay.

"I can fight, although I lost my Force." She said after a second. Clove grabbed the E-11 off her shoulder and held it firmly in her palm. While her lightsaber was enticing to grab, she had lost the majority of her lightsaber duels. Flashes of Dantooine and Yavin raced through her head, each ending in misery. Her free hand reflexively rose to her chest, directly over the lightsaber burns, before she shook her head. This time, she would save the people. "Let's go."

Clove followed him towards the door, where she noticed the torch flickering. She wanted to believe that the people behind the door were good and were there to help them. But... if that's the case, why did they need a torch to open the door? Why didn't they say anything? Plus. Caul seemed ready to fight whatever was behind the door, and even though he was young, she knew she had to rely on him. He sensed the danger, which was enough for her to trust.

"I'm right beside you, Caul." She spoke softly, her gaze never leaving the door as she raised her E-11, ready to shoot.

Finally, or sadly enough, the makeshift entrance was burned through the metal door and crashed to the ground with a loud clang. Clove's sensitive fluted ears flattened for a moment, her eyes squinting to get a better look at what lay beyond the entrance. And then she saw it. A row of armed droids. "Stop right there! State your purpose." She commanded the droids at the entrance, hoping they'd listen.

They didn't.

Those closest to the entrance lowered their blasters and prepared to shoot.

---

tag @Zay​

 

[Caul]

Clove’s answers left Caul with more questions than he’d started with. She’d worked with the Jedi? She’d BEEN a Jedi? She’d left, was she a Sith? Wait, she lost her force? That was possible— Enough. There is Peace. The Padawan leaned on his mantra. Repeating the cliched words over and over as he progressed from a walk to a trot. Clove had her weapon in hand and made it clear she was on his side, he nodded in response, hoping he looked more confident than he felt.

The blastdoor finally gave out and battle droids began to pour in. Clove called for them to stop, they didn’t, Caul shot forward. The hilt of his lightsaber burst to life as he sank into the force. Immediately things went wild. The Padawan’s superheated blade sliced through his nearest enemy with ease. The droid crumpled in two, and he was onto the next.

Caul’s blade felt like it had a mind of it’s own, but even with his renewed determination there were too many for him to take out before they opened fire. The cacophony of blaster fire and screams of panic and pain integrated with the smell of burnt ozone to coalesce into a scene of horror. Defenseless innocents were being fired upon, and he wasn’t fast enough to save them all. What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to help? He wasn’t ready for this!

They had to do something or the people trapped in this section would die!

@LilyNion

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

Clove wasted no time, and like Caul, her weapon seemed to have a mind of its own as she began firing on every droid she saw. But that wasn't enough. They weren't enough. It wasn't long before they heard the first screams of pain and agony. A scent she was all too familiar with reached her nose mere seconds later, causing her stomach to twist. They needed to do something. They were going to lose everyone in this room.

The half-Annfyn's gaze darted around the room between shots, hoping to find something. Anything. There must have been something they could do.

Then she remembered it. The explosions.

Clove's focus shifted to the walls and supporting pillars, where small cracks ran across the metal and stone. The explosion and the resulting shockwave had caused structural damage to the building, and the tracks seemed to lead down into the hallway where the army of droids was lined up, ready to take the place of a fallen droid. And this gave her an idea.

"Caul!" Clove shouted to be heard above the roar of his lightsaber, her E-11 and the countless droids. "We should crush them with the ceiling!" Not only would that kill most, if not all, of the droids in one shot, but if the ceiling collapsed properly, they'd have a ramp to the floor above them. While she assumed the entire space station was in danger, including the floor above them, it was preferable to being trapped. The only downside was that they had no control over how the ceiling would collapse. But if all of the civilians stayed in the back, they should be safe. "I will burn the pillars if you can Force Pull! Does that sound good?"

---

tag @Zay​

 

[Caul]

”Caul, we should crush them with the ceiling!” he heard Clove shout. Teeth gritted, Caul shoved back a droid attacking him with a vibroblade before dipping into a spinning slash that cut the legs out from under the clanker. He let loose a force push and sent a few clattering to the ground. He had enough breathing room to chance a glance in Clove’s direction.

“Do what?!” he replied, there was no way he heard her correctly, right? “Force Pull the ceiling?!”

Could he do that? Caul chewed on his lip, eyes whipping around for any alternative, finding none, he looked back up, then to Clove, “Alright, I’ll give it a shot!”

The Padawan set his stance and took a breath in. He reached out with his mind, the tendrils of the force reaching out and coiling around the pillar Clove had indicated. Could he do this? Was he strong enough? He envisioned the tendrils drawing tight and felt the resistance as he began to pull.

Nothing.

Caul’s eyes opened and he looked at the pillar, no movement at all. Not a shake, not a quiver, not a single strip of paint fell for his efforts. He started to give it another go when he was suddenly spun around. Confusion was splattered across his face as his body turned all on it’s own. There was a chill running down his arm as the sense of weightlessness embraced him. He hit the ground hard, no time to brace. The smell of cooked meat reached his nose as the cold spot on his shoulder erupted with excruciating pain.

He’d be shot. He couldn’t move his arm. He’d failed.

@LilyNion