To Catch One's Breath

[Alphonse Carraway]

His time on Nar Shadaa had been short, yet Alphonse had already seen quite a lot of the crime-riddled moon. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd been expecting when he left Alderaan, thinking he was fully prepared for bigger and better opportunities, but for an outsider like him there were surprisingly few jobs with which to get one's feet wet. If you didn't work for a Hutt then you didn't get priority, a jump that Al had chosen not to make. It would be a simple thing to do, yet something inside was telling him it wasn't a good idea. That little voice had proven useful so far, having saved his life in fact, so when it popped up he tended to listen.

For now, though, the young man was leaning against the back of a building looking over the expanse of the city as it fell away below him. To those who looked only at the surface it was a beautiful mosaic of lights and bodies moving with the bustle of a constant city. Parts of him wanted to stop the thoughts there, to be innocent and naïve again to just enjoy the sight. He knew too much of what happened, though, and that thought tempered any awe he might have felt. Reaching into his pocket he took out the drink he had just bought, frowning slightly as he felt a second bottle in there. He hadn't meant to buy two, yet the quick count of credits told him that he had done just that. Had this city affected him so bad that he was lapsing in his attention?

Shaking his head, Alphonse opened the top of his drink and watched as it fizzed with carbonation before taking a drink. If he had a vice this would be it, the bubbly feeling of these sugar-filled drinks had a hold stronger than spice could ever muster. Luckily it was fairly harmless, having gotten into the habit of tasting things before downing them to be ever cautious to poisoning attempts. Putting the drink down on a nearby ledge he returned his gaze to the city, letting his thoughts lead him where they would. This was the first real time he'd stopped in a while, perhaps it would be good to get his head on straight before moving on.

 

[Kira Bac]

I was one of the people who only looked at the surface. I knew better, intellectually, than to get lost in the sea of lights that Nar Shaddaa had to offer. I'd only been here for a few hours, skulking through back alleys trying to see what life was like here, and I'd seen a few rough moments. But I'd never been to a city-world before. I'd heard stories of planets like Coruscant, even stories about here on the Smuggler's Moon, but seeing it up close… that was something else entirely.

I was leaning against a railing only a few short steps away from what I could tell was an emotionally troubled presence. I felt great conflict. A strong uneasiness. Like somewhat was caught between two worlds without actually knowing if they were supposed to be on a world at all.

"I feel like I'm not the only one who came here to get some perspective," I said, still leaning against the rail but loud enough for the man to hear me. "Trouble seems to be everywhere."

 

[Alphonse Carraway]

The voice was unexpected, though in hindsight there was a good chance at least one other person would search for solace in a city like this. Alphonse turned his head, giving the young lady a nod and smile at her statement. "I'm at least 80% sure that all the trouble on this moon was created just to keep things interesting for the residents. A certain level of crime is one thing. This..." He waved his hand over the expanse with a slow flourish, "Beggars disbelief. Or perhaps I'm just from a place where the crime was a bit more centralized and efficient." He didn't feel anything bad about talking in this way with the girl, that feeling inside keeping quiet as he did so. He knew there were kids even younger here with more kills than even he had, yet this probably wasn't one of them. At the very least, they could make for good conversation.

"Still, it's always good to find a place where you can stop for a second and just look around. If you keep moving, mind and body both, you'll just get exhausted. When that happens in a place like this, there's a high chance someone'll pounce and end all your troubles for you. I think some people don't put much stock in such things, but its their funerals." Alphonse looked over at the young woman again, discerning eyes catching what information he could about her. He didn't have the training in the Force to be as insightful as she was quite yet so he had to use other more natural clues that he had picked up on. While on the surface she seemed a normal person, something about her subtle stance and the look in her eye belied a sense of unease, perhaps trauma. A common thing for this kind of place, but a tad disheartening to see in someone so young. Though, perhaps he was one to talk on such things. With a slower movement to not elicit surprise, he extended a gloved hand to her in greeting. "My name is Alphonse. Its a pleasure to meet another person who thinks more than just what their next credits come from."

 

[Kira Bac]

"I haven't been able to say these words for a long time, but I know what you mean."

I smiled as I said the words. I don't know where he was coming from with them, necessarily. All I knew is that there was truth to them for me. I was so on edge. Even then. I had to take a moment every so often to catch my breath. Otherwise, who knew what I would miss? I was a walking danger to myself. And around other Jedi, sometimes a danger to others too.

"My name is Kira Bac,” I said as I took his hand in friendship. "Where exactly are you from? If you don't mind me asking. You seem too sophisticated for Nar Shaddaa."

 

[Alphonse Carraway]

"Nice to meet you, Kira. And no bother at all. I'm from Alderaan, though not the nicer part that people read about. I come from a small town in the slums, born to parents who weren't very keen on my existence. I had to fight to survive and immersed myself in the underworld to crawl up from the bottom. The common perception of such a man was a thuggish brute or a shady thief. I wanted to try to be a better person than that. I like to think I have standards." His smile turned a little bitter at the thought, yet at this point there was not much he could do. Even if he wanted a different life he didn't have the power to change his own course yet. He'd keep doing what he did well until then, though he was always on the lookout for that one thing to turn his course.

Turning his gaze back to Kira, Alphonse raised an eyebrow in question. "If I may ask, what about you, Kira? Its already no surprise to me that one so young as you can not only survive but thrive in this kind of world, yet your words and demeanor speak to being a bit unused to it. Your eyes and body have a familiar weariness to them, though. Sometimes to survive you have to learn to read the little things about people, though that doesn't always give the full story. If its painful, you don't have to say. Some wounds take a long time to heal and it would be remiss of me to force open one on a new acquaintance." As if in an afterthought he removed the other drink from his pocket, still sealed and unopened to show it hadn't been tampered with. He held it out to the young woman. "I'm not sure if you like sweet things, but this one is cherry-flavored. Its an extra and these help calm me down, so if you want you can have this one."

((OOC: It's the Star Wars version of Dr. Pepper, for reference))

@Brandon Rhea