Ask Silver Linings

[Talon Caillte]

Talon burst out of the densely packed under brush. His head whipped back and forth as if the direction he was supposed to go would suddenly light up. He’d had a clear heading as he’d entered this damn forest, but an hour in he’d lost sight of the black spire he was aiming for. In it’s place he’d developed a keen desire to get as far away fro— An ear splitting roar silenced the exotic fauna around him.

“It’s getting closer,” he muttered as his eyes scanned the foliage around him, “...and it’s off to the left now…” he muttered. Realization struck and his legs didn’t wait for his brain’s direction. Talon was off and running, running hard. He’d come to this stupid backwater planet to hunt down an artifact, now he was the one being hunted. He couldn’t help but scoff at that. In a galaxy constantly in varying states of combustion you had to find the funny in things. Even if it was at the expense of your life.

Growing up in Coronet City hadn’t exactly prepared him to be an outdoorsman, but he’d be fucking damned if something were going to eat him on his first official job. As a matter of fact he couldn’t think of a dumber way to die tha— Suddenly, Talon had the strangest sensation. It felt like he was floating, like he’d jumped into the air while running and his feet had lost touch with the ground. His stomach caught on before everything else. His lungs filled with air and screamed like a pre-pubesent girl while attempting to run on air.

Talon went through a full spectrum of emotions in a matter of seconds as he plunged toward the ground. He pleaded with every god, he cursed fate, he wailed for his momma, and then he saw the spire. Say one thing for Talon Caillte: say he always looks on the bright side.

Before that sliver of a silver lining could comfort him he hit the ground.

@Sreeya

 

[Nash]

Nash despised acolyte field trips, but they were mandatory for acolytes that got multiple detentions. As a permanent resident of the detention quarters, Nash was first pick to get voluntold for this stupid expedition to go look through some boring old ruins. She surprisingly kept her thoughts to herself, only shoving one other acolyte at some point during the tour. At some point the rest of her group ventured off and she remained behind to have a smoke and stare at the spire.

Nash was looking at some of the markings when something sounded like a dying cat and fell with a heavy thud a few feet away. Nash already had her blaster out and pointed at the culprit, ready to blow it to bits. However, she discovered it was just some guy that managed to topple off from…somewhere. Nash’s eyes narrowed as she studied him, noticing the ears first. Sephi?

“You trying to win the Darwin awards?!” Nash snapped, pissed that she dropped her cig in surprise. She kept her blaster on him, “You could’ve broken my neck!” Never mind that he was likely lying there in agony. How dare he fall like a boulder and almost hurt her?

@Zay

 

[Talon Caillte]

Life, for Talon Caillte, had become one massive repetitive throb. His body was convinced it was dead, he was sure of it. As a matter of fact he was pretty sure, given the height of his fall, if he moved so much as a finger, his very spine would shatter and he’d die out in this god forsaken hellhole listening to the maniacal laughter of a monkey lizard as it ate him alive. His eyes opened and then immediately crossed as a blaster barrel came into focus. His brow drew in confusion as the woman’s words made his ears flutter.

Talon looked to her, then to the blaster as her words finally hit his brain. Unfortunately, that poor egg had been scrambled long ago, luckily his floridity hadn’t faltered and he responded with the most eloquent, “Huh?” he’d ever heard.

This was hardly the first time Talon had had a blaster shoved in his face, it was however the first time he’d ever seen the hulking mass of mottled scales, razor like claws, and barred teeth standing at the treeline no less than two meters behind the muscle mommy with the gun. It took every modicum of discipline he had not to absolutely soil himself.

“Sh-sh-sh-shi-” he stammered pointing behind her. As if waiting to be introduced the beast lunged from the woods with a ravenous bellow.

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!” he screamed, throwing caution to the wind and scrambling up as quick as he could.

@Sreeya

 

[Nash]

It didn’t register that the guy could be afraid of something behind her. Nash had a smug look on her face thinking she stood as the paragon of badass scary HBIC to make this guy shit bricks. However, the roar resounding behind her quickly turned the tables and she screeched, bolting towards the ruins ahead of them. If the guy didn’t get up in time, she was about to leap right over him and hope he was slow enough to keep the monster at bay.

“WHY AM I ALWAYS BEING CHASED BY WEIRD SHIT?!” Nash screamed as she ran, spotting the old temple ahead. Unfortunately the ‘doorway’ was sealed. Looking around frantically she spotted some vines hanging and jumped up to grab them, rappelling up the building as rapidly as she could. She was suddenly thankful for always wearing her gloves or this was about to be a bad time.

Nash hoisted herself over a ledge and looked around to see if the Sephi made it or would provide entertainment as monster food.

@Zay

 

[Talon Caillte]

Screaming. Everyone was screaming, then as one would guess, they were all running. The woman with the gun wasted no time getting the hell out of there, and she moved with such confidence, Talon couldn’t help but follow. Surely, she was running toward something, he hoped. Now, if she could just conveniently forget that this mess was his fault he’d be golden.

“This happens to you a lot?!” Talon screamed in return. Her admission gave him pause, but the jaws snapping at his ass kept him running. Like a beacon of hope standing erect in a valley of death the temple came into view. Any form of pain or exhaustion was completely forgotten as he re-doubled his efforts. He came sliding to a stop, head whipping around and arms half rising in a feeble defense against–

The monster had stopped at the edge of the trees. It’s eyes weren’t locked on Talon or the gun woman scaling the wall, they were locked on the spire. A cold shiver ran down his spine, but he wasn’t about to test the limits of the monster's fear. After all, it was good luck the dumb thing had chased him all the way to where he was trying to go.

“Huh, that can’t be a bad sign at all…” he mused about the beast as he took hold of the vines and began the arduous process of scaling the wall. Talon didn’t have gloves and the vines were spiteful tendrils that mocked his grip with each hand that pulled him upward. By the time he made it up to the ledge he was spent. He managed to flounder up on to the landing and just laid there. His breath came in heaping gasps and his chest rose and fell like he’d… well, liked he’d just run for his life through a dense forest and then climbed a fucking wall.

Talon looked over to the twi’lek, through panting breaths he said, “Hi, I’m Talon,” then remembering the whole gun thing added, “I come in peace?”

@Sreeya

 

[Nash]

To her surprise the other guy hoisted himself over the edge and plopped into the ground. Clearly the guy was out of shape, but he was alive. Nash eyed him quietly, wondering if she should still treat him as a threat or not. When he introduced himself and used a cheesy Holomovie line as a follow up, Nash’s demeanor softened.

“Are you part of the cohort?” She asked, not recalling seeing him when the group of acolytes was venturing about. Speaking of which, she peered over the edge and could see several beasts circling below. She was effectively stuck here and the cohort would probably leave without her. Sith didn’t operate like your typical school - you fucked up, you got left behind.

“Nash,” She said gruffly as she pulled out a cig and lit it. Nash extended the pack to him in case he wanted one before looking around at the ruins. On one hand, they could stay on the roof, on the other, curiosity began to get the best of her. The thought of being able to explore this sketchy place without having an entire classroom of acolytes sounded thrilling.

“Aight well, you have fun with your nap,” She called out to the guy that was still on the ground before she turned to walk towards the path that led down into the temple.

@Zay

 

[Talon Caillte]

Talon’s eyes opened and looked up at her from the floor. She was intimidating even upside down. Her question mixed with his physical exhaustion created a brain fog that Talon knew he had to press through. He let himself breath for a couple moments, playing up the out of shape bit. Once she introduced herself he heard himself say, “That’s a badass name.”

Nash pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then offered the pack to Talon, “No thanks, watched someone get interrogated with those once and to be honest, I’ve struggled with them sense.”

The sewers of Coronet City are filled with deeds the light should never see. The corruption within CorSec and the wars raging under the city’s surface were enough to make a hutt enforcer’s stomach turn. He knew that to be true, because… well, he’d seen a Hutt enforcer puke after coming across a particularly gruesome killing. Talon had learned that honesty was the best policy in things, initial meetings especially. So, to her question he said, “I’m an independent archeologist.”

Okay, mostly honest.

Nash didn’t seem impressed. She turned from him and started to head into the spire. Deciding numbers were advantageous, Talon miraculously recovered from his climb and trotted off after her, “Wait, I’m not even sleepy!”

They followed the narrow path for what felt like an eternity. Granted that was probably just because it was dark and Talon had ADHD, but nevertheless it a fucking took a minute. His senses were accosted by the tightly packed space around them. The smell of dust and stagnant air threatened to choke him, while the ever present press of darkness swallowed him. It was weirdly familiar. Rather than being panicked he was calm. His eyes began to adjust, not that they could peer through the veil of darkness, but they at least stopped trying. It was his ears that came to his aid in the end.

Nash’s steps, the scraping of her boots on the stone. Nash’s breath, controlled and methodical. His fingers on the smooth walls. Too smooth by half now that he thought about it. Not only that but he could feel thin lines carved into the wall as if it was adorned by some ancient carving. While letting his imagination roam about the endless possibilities of the invisible picture, he ventured to breach the silence between them. “So, cohort huh? That’s pretty mysterious. You in a wacky religious mercenary cult or something?”

@Sreeya

 

[Nash]

Nash simply blinked at him when he said it was a badass name. Honestly, it was, wasn’t it? She hadn’t really thought about it, but it seemed to match her personality pretty well. She was vacantly lost in a spiral of thoughts about her own name before she snapped out of it, “Archaeologist huh? Well then you may actually prove useful,” Nash said. A nerd was exactly what was needed for these types of explorations.

As they stepped into the ruins, Talon’s moment to appreciate the silence and the dust was cut short by Nash loudly sneezing. She wiped her nose and grimaced before sneezing again. If there was any effort to be discreet on Talon’s part, Nash entirely ruined it just then. Oh well, she was sure she could punch her way to success if anything popped up.

“It’s a wacky religious cult, but not mercenaries,” She answered bluntly. What was this guy gonna do if she told him she was Sith? She could probably break his face before he did anything useful with the information if he was a threat, "You wanna tell me why you were trynna make a music video for It's Raining Men?"

As they took a few steps in, the Force pulsed and she could feel it. Nash was still trying to get a hang of Force use, but even she could feel this throb in energy. She paused briefly, trying to work out where it came from. Nash supposed this would look odd to Talon, but she said nothing for now.

@Zay

 

[Talon Caillte]

Just as his curiosity was consumed by how not rough the wall was, Nash sneezed. Now, to fully understand what she’d done one would have to expose themselves to a thermal detonator explosion, or a turbolaser blast, both of these instances would have come with a blissful moment of anticipation that would have made the resounded blast of sound defendable. For Talon, there was no moment before. His finely tuned ears were accosted by her full grown man sneeze. It scared him so bad he jumped straight up into the low ceiling, nearly knocking himself out.

The second sneeze was just as fucking mean.

“Are you made of actual bombs? What the fu-faaaaaa-fuu—” he sneezed. It was a dainty little thing. Like a newborn puppy sneezing for the first time. Talon was thankful it was dark, because his ears were so hot with embarrassment he was positive they’d melt off.

“I won’t make fun of you, if you don’t make fun of me?” he hated that his inflection rose to a squeak at the end of that question. What she’d done could have been considered an act of warfare. Immediately, he started brainstorming names to call her in case she decided to turn on him. If he’d learned how to do anything in the bowels of Coronet city, it was trade jibes.

They walked on in silence a moment before she answered his previous question, one he’d totally forgotten he’d asked after the sneeze bombing of ABV 160.

“That’s comforting,” he stated in a voice that didn’t believe itself. He cocked an eyebrow at her when she mentioned his musical career, “Ha-ha, I’ll have you know that’s a totally normal response to being chased by a bloodthirsty beast. Weird it only summoned you.”

As they hit the bottom of the stairs and the pathway opened up, Talon noticed a powerful pressure exerting itself. It was like the room was located deep in an ocean. He frowned, “Feels weird in here, like bad weird.”

The pressure came in pulsing throbs. Maybe a better comparison was the chamber of a heart? Nash paused, but Talon was too curious to stop. He stepped into the room. There was a resounding THUNK! He couldn't’ help but chuckle, he did that when he was scared shitless. The room was suddenly bathed in a deep purple light.

Panic surged up in Talon’s mind and he quickly checked himself for awkward stains, finding none he relaxed. Maybe this wasn’t neon, he thought as he looked around. In the center of the room as a pedestal holding what looked like a golden… monkey lizard?

“Dibs!” he said jogging forward. He had no idea what the stupid thing would be worth, but that much gold? Had to be worth something. Just as his hands were about to wrap around the base of the little statue, he felt his right foot sink into the ground, “Uh oh…”

@Sreeya

 

[Nash]

Nash gave him a curious look after his little baby sneeze. She scoffed at his words, “You won’t make fun of me if you ain’t trynna catch these hands,” She said flatly with a huff. She was already annoyed at being left by her cohort and now she was stuck in the ruins with a dorky nerd. Nash quirked a brow as he spoke, “What kind of good weird are you into?” She asked with an amused chuckle.

However, it took a moment for her to realize what he said. She paused and glanced at him, knowing he wouldn’t have been able to sense anything unless he was a Force user, “Wait, are you a Jedi or something?” She said, her tone suddenly icy. Unfortunately, he was distracted by a golden monkey lizard. Nash had been told enough about heists by Connor (@Apollyon )to know something hanging out in the open like that was a trap.

“Wait!” She called out, but it was too late. It sounded like some kind of switch was activated. Darts began to shoot out from the sides of the walls. Nash grabbed the other guy and yanked him down to a crouch, “I thought you said you were an archaeologist!” She snapped, “You seem like a dumbass to me!”

Nash crawled along the floor, the room suddenly rumbling as a new path opened on the opposite end. She was going to ignore it and go back the way they came only to realize that the path casually sealed behind them.

She turned to glare at Talon, “Nice going,” She growled, “I’m going to take that monkey and shove it so far up your ass you're gonna start singing Tarzan songs,” Nash threatened as she stumbled to her feet, realizing that the stupid statue was completely fake and carved into the platform itself. There was a visible twitch in her eye.

@Zay

 

[Talon Caillte]

Talon heard Nash ask if he was a Jedi, but her question only elicited another in response, “Why would you think that?” Sure, he’d been tromping around in the untamed wilds for a couple days, but he didn’t look like some space hobo, did he? Wait, DID HE?!

The tile depressing under his foot was adorned by Nash’s bark of WAIT, he shot her an incredulous look and was about to spout something sassy in return when she lunged for him. She caught him around his shirt collar mid startle and yanked him down. His expression was caught between snarky quip and HOLYFUCKINGSHITIMGOINGTODIE.

With wounded pride, for some reason, he snapped back at her, “I didn’t say I was GOOD!” Talon didn’t have a rebuttal for the dumbass comment, she was right.

Then they were crawling. Talon was disoriented and doing his best not to become a pincushion, but managed to follow along close behind Nash. When she stopped suddenly he had to swerve to avoid running into her. Which given the current tension in their new relationship would have resulted in his immediate and untimely demise. So, when she said ‘Nice going’ he shot back an enthusiastic, “Thanks!”

When she threatened to shove the monkey up his ass, he chuckled retorting, “Who’s into the weird stuff now?” Then more sincerely, “This is the second time you’ve brought up singing, I promise to let you take me to karaoke, provided we survive this.”

Talon’s jocularity faltered when he realized the statue… was a fake. He could feel the fury roiling under her skin, for a moment he wondered if she was getting redder, but decided that was his imagination. Without a word Talon started crawling toward the new opening. At least there was a path. Ah, there it was: The bright side.

With the final few puffs of darts slowing and coming to a stop, Talon chanced standing. He made a b-line for the opening, but was stopped short as a powerful blast of heat washed over him. His mouth inverted into a scowl and he squinted, “What in the hell?”

The feeling passed as quickly as it came on and he decided not to overthink it, he was pretty sure he’d watched a Swik Tok on that happening in ominous spires like this. The only problem was it hadn’t felt hot on his skin, but under it.

Alright the monkey was a bust, but that’s okay there’s got to be a whole treasure trove of shit in here… just gotta not die, he thought eagerly, after all what was a few traps in the face of an undiscovered fortune?

As he came to the bottom of the stair case he stopped and carefully examined his next step, the last thing he needed was to set off another trap. He had a feeling if he did that again, Nash would help the temple kill him.

The room looked like a place of worship. There were ancient stone pews on two sides with a path down the center that led to an altar. Talon’s brow furrowed, “Weird feelings back and way stronger, what the hell is up with this place?”

@Sreeya