Ask Dromund Kaas When Storms Stop on Dromund Kaas

[Imani Din]

How has Ma not kicked yer ass yet? Imani's eyes ran down the summary of Altair's school performance, reading various teachers' comments and looking through his grade reports. She tried not to wince at his grade in Droid Engineering, but the woman couldn't help the grimace that spread over her features. Really Tai? Even with my help? Altair didn't share her prowess academically, but she knew he was better than this. Her brother wasn't stupid.

Seems there's been a dip in attendance... She tapped on the attendance report and scanned the results. Just 'bout what I expected... Starting a few weeks back, Altair started acting strange. His name popped up less and less in the family group chats and he'd been texting her less for homework help. It couldn't be a coincidence, she decided, that his attendance started dropping around the same time.

"Aaand print." Click! The sound of an old printer chugging away filled the sound of her office, drowning out her little desk fan. Imani stood and began to collect various things from the room into her bag, including the progress report she'd just printed. If she left within the next hour, she'd make it to Dromund Kaas sometime just after his last class should be out.

~~~~~​

"When is it not storming on Dromund Kaas?" Imani joked, giving the pilot a friendly wave as she departed onto one of the academy's many ship docks. The tiefling, instead of texting her brother, had decided a surprise visit would suffice. If he had something to hide, she doubted he would admit it over text. The only problem with this plan was that she had to figure out how to navigate this place. Imani could dart to any side of her academy on Korriban in less than five minutes, but Dromund Kaas was an entirely different playground.

Finding his dorm proved to be more difficult than necessary, but the woman eventually found her way there. She knocked thrice on the door and briefly doubted herself when no longer immediately answered. Several seconds later, a Zabrak teenager opened the door.

"Is Altair here?" He stared at her for a second, and Imani watched as his gaze fell from her eyes downward, then back up again. "You just here for Altair, or you got room for—" The woman watched patiently as the wheels turned in his head, waiting for the realization to pass. How many gray-skinned, black-haired tieflings did he know? "Oh, uh, I mean— Uhhh Altair? I'm heading out. There's someone here to see you." As quickly as he could manage, he slipped past Imani and into the hallway, leaving the door wide open for her to step on inside.

"So what's it? Crazy girlfriend? Crazy drugs? Crazy scheme the twins pulled y'into?" Imani strode in and slapped the progress report down on the first clear surface she could find, doing her best not to react to the stench of body order that clung to the air. "How the hell has Ma not kicked yer ass?"

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

As soon as Imani walked in, she would smell the stench of burning ramen that Altair forgot to add water to. In fact, there was a trail of smoke coming from the microwave that he was waving away. There was also a box of cold, half eaten pizza and of course, body odor. The tiefling looked like a bantha in the headlights as he spotted his sister, eyes wide and jaw dropping, “N-Nani?” He blurted out stupidly. He was in a tank top that revealed a complete spread of hickeys and scratches all over his skin. Deeply embarrassed, Altair quickly grabbed a hoodie and tossed it on.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming!” He said with a bit of a pout, but mostly out of terror. Altair glanced down at the progress report, the sight making him wince. He awkwardly ran a hand through his hair, “I….didn’t tell her..yet..” He began, “Did you?!?!” Altair suddenly looked terrified. She would notice he was profusely sweating for no real reason and he had deep circles under his eyes.

He felt deeply embarrassed to have her see his mess of a room. Altair began to quickly clean everything up. Imani was probably the only one that terrified him almost as much as his mother. His idea of cleaning up was stashing the pizza box under his bed and spraying a ridiculous amount of Swabreze that would make them both start hacking and coughing at once.

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

"No I haven't, yet, but if you don't—" Imani was interrupted by a cloud of Swabreze which invaded her lungs and caused the tiefling to throw a sleeve up to her face. She began to cough on the perfumed air. "If you—" Cough. "If you don't tell me—" Cough. The woman took a few more seconds to get the lingering Swabreze out of her system, then cleared her throat and tried again. "No, I haven't—"

There wasn't anywhere to sit other than one of two desk chairs or the floor, so Imani opted to keep standing. Her eyes darted around the room and looked disappointedly at the burnt ramen, the stashed pizza boxes under his bed, then back at him. As much as he might've hoped, she didn't miss the bite and scratch marks across his torso when she first walked in.

"—but if you don't tell me what's up I might think real hard about it." Imani crossed her arms across her chest. "You've been actin' weird, Tai," her voice softened, not soft, but no longer sharp and demanding. She wasn't Ma scolding him for bad attendance and bad grades. She was his older sister asking him what his deal was. "You've apparently been out and about doin' everything but bein' in class. You ain't been poppin' up in the family chat as much, either."

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair quickly caught on that spraying apparently made her stop talking, and he pretended to be delightfully oblivious as he kept spraying away. She would catch on quickly enough and he finally set the bottle down, stifling a few coughs as he walked over to plop down on the edge of his bed. He looked at her as she crossed her arms over her chest. Damn, that was such a Mama Din move. It sent chills down his spine.

While he had been stiff, he relaxed a bit when she changed her tone. This was more his sister and less his mother. Altair looked away for a moment, sitting in silence. Where could he even begin? Failing? The Wildfire? She would never forgive him for the wildfire…

“I…I dunno, Nani,” He ran his fingers through his hair again, “I’m thinkin’ I ain’t cut out for academy stuff. I miss the farm, sis,” Altair exhaled, looking up at her, “I ain’t smart like you. You always knew what to do an’ never needed no help. I’m just messin’ errythin’ up and I know ma’s gon’ be sad. Kinda wanna just quit,” Altair didn’t mention the drugs yet, but it was true he was struggling. He couldn’t focus when he was in his classes and he felt completely overwhelmed.

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

A sympathetic look fell over her features as her mouth pursed to the side. Altair looked and sounded like he had a lot on her mind, and she knew him too well to miss it. He spoke poorly of himself, claiming he wasn't cut out for the academy and he wanted to quit.

"Quit? C'mon now, Ma ain't raise no quitters." Imani let her arms fall back to her sides. "Look," Imani strode over to sit down next to him on the bed. "You don't need to be smart like me to do good. If you get caught up 'n comparin' yourself with others, you'll never stop 'cause someone's always gonna be better than you." She'd felt a lot of that when she was in school. No matter how hard she tried, there was always someone better at her than something. She'd spent hours studying just to fall short of someone naturally talented, completely unaware that there were other people looking at her and feeling the same way.

Though she wanted to comfort him, Imani figured he needed encouragement more than anything. "I struggled in school too, ya know," she began again. "And at one point, I wanted to drop out too. Go back to the farm, but I couldn't stand to think of Ma's disappointed face." Imani could vividly picture the pride on her mother's face when Imani presented her accepted application to Korriban to her. She'd been so excited for her. Imani had never felt such pride from her Ma.

"She sounded so proud when you got in..." Imani had heard it in her voice too when she called to tell Imani that Altair had got into Dromund Kaas. The tiefling sighed, then turned her head to look at Altair. "So what's it? Are you depressed?" She would have no issue paying out of pocket for therapy if it meant her little bro could get his shit together and make their parents—and himself—proud.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair looked visibly surprised when Imani admitted struggling in school. The whole family thought she could do no wrong and everyone went to her for help. Looking back, he didn’t know how she did it with everyone constantly relying on her for one thing or another. To hear that even Imani had come close to dropping out was surreal and almost impossible to process. It made her that much more relatable and reminded him that she wasn’t this unnatural entity that was so different. Altair’s jaw was hanging open with his eyes wide for a few moments.

The tiefling looked away when Imani mentioned his mother being proud. She truly was. With many of their siblings never bothering with education, their parents were elated to learn that Altair would be attending Dromund Kaas academy. They were even more proud when he was made captain of the combat team.

“I..” He began slowly, chewing on his lip. He never could bullshit Imani. No matter how much he tried, she always saw right through it. He could feed her all kinds of answers and he knew she would know he was withholding something. Before he even realized what was happening, his eyes began to well up with tears. He felt like that little boy all over again that broke Mama Din’s favorite porg mug and went running to Imani about it. Instead of getting upset, his sister did something where he never got in trouble. It wasn’t till years later that he learned she took the blame. Today he felt exactly that same sense of hopelessness, but he knew this was something she couldn’t shoulder for him.

“I..messed up real bad, sis,” He spoke with his voice cracking a bit as he buried his face in his hands, “I…I went to a party and smoked something laced with…with something called Wildfire,” The word tasted like bile in his mouth, “I been havin’ withdrawals and…shootin’ up morphine and doin’ herbs just to keep it together. If I do wildfire it’ll…it’ll…” He took shuddered breaths, “..it’ll take the Force away,” Altair couldn’t bear to look at her, and he wiped his face, “I dunno what to do or how to make it stop. I feel miserable all the time, I can’t focus, I’m sick…and I can’t tell anyone but you..”

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

Imani watched Altair deliberate, patiently waiting for his response. Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of Wildfire, the name sounded like it could be familiar, though she had no idea what it was. It was a drug, and a really bad one at that, so he said. She'd briefly worked in forensics, tracking the sale of illegal drugs throughout the Empire. They liked to put their freshest employees there to test their resilience. Imani got through it, but she'd seen what some of the Galaxy's concoctions could do to just about anyone.

When her brother mentioned it would take away his ability to use the Force, there were several moments in which she forgot to breathe. Despite her shock, the woman did her best to keep her composure. The woman didn't want the worry to seep into her expression and make him feel even worse. She could fully understand why he'd been acting weird in the groupchat. Losing the Force would be terrible enough, but losing the Force as Matukai?

"Hey," Imani leaned over and wrapped her arms around her brother, pulling him into a hug. She wanted to demand who'd given him it, track them down, and send them through a wall or two. She wanted to ask him, "Why would just take something a stranger handed to you?" but Imani hadn't been any wiser in her teenage years either. Already her mind was racing, trying to come up with something she could do to help.

"No matter what happens Tai, you'll still be my little brother." Words were nice, but Imani largely preferred action. I need a name, or names. I'm sure there's something about Wildfire floating around in the systems, especially if he hit off something being passed around a party. Gonna need to look into rehab programs...

"Who gave it to you?" She slowly let him out of the hug, her voice calm, but with a serious undernote.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair had expected Imani to freeze up and explode at him. He could only picture his mother’s reaction and the waterworks that would follow. He drew in a deep breath waiting for it. Instead, he was surprised when Imani pulled him into a hug. He didn’t even give it a second thought before he hugged her back tightly, finally unable to keep a hold of himself. Altair’s tears flowed freely then and he broke down against her, a sense of dread of losing the Force almost overwhelming him.

“Th-Thanks Nani..” He said through shuddered breaths, still kicking himself for ever allowing this to happen. Altair was quiet for a long moment after she asked her question, easing away from the hug. He didn’t look at her for a while. He knew exactly what would happen if he said the name. He knew how his entire family and even some forces of the ISB would descend on Veles with fury. It was his family he worried about more, knowing exactly how deadly they were as a collective.

Altair exhaled and shook his head after a few seconds, “The person that gave it to me didn’t know what it was,” He wiped his eyes and turned to look at her, “They’re workin’ real hard to fix it and find a cure. Just…just trust me…I believe in ‘em,” Altair sighed, “I just…I don’t know how to focus on classes. I need a way to keep the edge off and also concentrate. I ain’t been able to focus for years but you know ma and pa don’t think it’s a real problem an’ that I just need to settle down or whatever.”

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

Imani held Altair until he pulled away, then met his gaze as he answered her question. Her eyes narrowed just slightly, but she decided not to push the issue. If he wanted to keep the identity of the person who gave it to him a secret, that was his prerogative. To her though, no matter the actions said person was taking to amend things, they'd still hurt her family. That was unforgivable.

But he had more to say, so she stopped her inner grumblings to pay attention. This wasn't the first time Altair had mentioned not being able to pay attention in classes, and she wasn't surprised that their parents had dismissed it. As much as Imani loved her Ma and Pa, they weren't the best when it came to sympathizing with their kids. Unfortunately, Imani had never really struggled with what he seemed to describe. If anything, her struggle was hyper-focusing on things, but wasn't there a medicine for his sort of struggle?

"Well, ya know how Ma n' Pa can be," she sighed with a shake of her head. "I don't know how you would feel 'bout more drugs in your system, but I think they make some sort of medicine for not bein' able to pay attention." If she couldn't help with the Wildfire issue, she could at least try to help with this other issue. Imani went to pull out her datapad to search it but paused just short of the holonet button.

Sigh. She had to at least say something about it.

"Tai, listen. I know you said whoever gave that drug to you didn't intend for all this to happen, but..." How did she phrase this without sounding all pessimistic? Imani had never been in a situation like what she assumed Altair was in, but she'd certainly met her fair share of sabotage attempts while in school. "Just...pick your friends—your allies—wisely, Tai, and know that if anything, we've all got your back—even Nadiya."

Okay, she said it. Back to searching. "Man, I feel like Pa sometimes." Neither Ma nor Pa were the most emotionally available, but Pa would never hesitate to remind any one of them that family stuck together. It was a nice thing to remember, even if saying similar words made her feel old.

"Yeah, says here ya might have an attention disorder or somethin'. Seems pretty common in teen boys." Her pale eyes moved over to Altair. "I can get'cha an appointment if ya want?"

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was both thankful and surprised when Imani didn’t push to ask more. He knew she was inquisitive and analytical, but she held back and chose instead to allow him to divulge what he pleased. In turn, this reassured Altair even more than he could trust her. He managed a sad smile as she told him to choose his allies wisely. Altair learned a fair bit from seeing his older brothers make mistakes, but even then he had a habit of befriending others that only perpetuated his foolish ideas.

“Ya sound like Pa,” Altair said quietly as he glanced at Imani with a smile. He wiped the tears from his eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, thinking back to all the times they were subjected to one of Pa’s lectures. Most of the time it was because one of them screwed up, but they all had to sit there in the living room as the same lecture echoed. It wasn’t till years later that Altair realized that he had paid attention to every word, because he could hear them whenever he came across obstacles in his life.

The tiefling nodded when Imani offered to get him an appointment. He grabbed a few tissues to blow his nose before he turned to Imani. He blinked for a moment before he abruptly pulled her into a hug again, his muscled arms being put to work as he all but gave her a bearhug that was borderline uncomfortable, “Thanks, sis,” He said, his voice cracking a bit, “I love you. I’m glad I got ya out here with me. Sometimes…sometimes the others don’t know what it’s like. What it’s like to have Ma and Pa and everyone just expectin’ the galaxy from ya,” He pulled back and smiled sadly at her, “But I know I got ya, and I hope you know you got me too. I ain’t as smart as you, but I can beat up anyone that does you wrong!”

Altair wiped his nose again, "What's new with you anyway? Or is it still all - "Altair changed his voice to be a few octaves higher, "It's classified, Tai!"

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

Altair pulled her into a hug again, so she went with it. For a moment the tiefling thought her brother was going to crush her to death, but he eventually let go. The pain in his voice was obvious, and Imani felt a pang of it hit her chest as he spoke. He was right. It was a lot of pressure, but they had each other. She hoped he figured out who amongst his friends he could trust too.

At the offer to beat anyone up for her, Imani chuckled. "Right, I'd make sure to letçha know if anyone gives me any trouble." Unfortunately, she dealt with "trouble" any time she ventured outside of any major metropolitan area, but that was the curse of their horns. Thankfully, Imani wasn't scared of a little confrontation.

But what was new with her? "Oh geez," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead as if to jog her memory. "I've been thinkin' of transferring off Serenno to a mobile unit. Don't really think I've cut out for infiltration, but I think it'd be fun to do reconnaissance. Might even see if I can be on comms for the sort. Kinda tired of just plain ol' desk work..."

Imani shook her head. "How's your trainin' goin' Tai? Heard you got a big shot as a master." That was one thing Imani's never had the privilege of—a master.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair grimaced a bit when she mentioned transferring or switching her line of work, “Don’t those recon people disappear for months at a time? I’d never see ya..” He said, his expression suddenly gloomy. He always missed his family and Imani was someone he at least saw every now and then. Recon meant she would be completely off the grid for a long time and he would have no real way of contacting her while she was deployed.

“But if it makes ya happy, definitely do it,” He said, “Just be careful,” Altair before he spoke again, “They’re gonna be sending me out into combat soon. I been preparin’ for it but still seems scary. I hope I don’t freeze up,” He had been on missions, but he hadn’t faced real live Jedi yet. Those invasions and fights usually left dead bodies behind and the thought gave him anxiety.

Altair’s expression was difficult to read when she mentioned his master. He had to be careful not to let anything slip as his master was the cause of his Wildfire addiction, “Yeah!” He perked up, “Sith Lord Veles. I dunno how I got a Sith Lord, but it’s been sick. He’s been teaching me a lot of shit. But I don’t think I wanna do any of that creepy alchemy shit. Man looks like it’s halloween every day of the year and I ain’t about that. I dunno how you managed without a Master. I was lost as hell."

Altair sighed after a moment of silence before smiling at her, “Come around more often, sis. I know I ain’t cool as your intel friends, but I like when ya come see me.”

@lizziie

 

[Imani Din]

Disappearing for months at a time? Imani tried not to grimace, but it was a possibility. The tiefling began to second-guess her decision, but she still liked the idea of it. Office work, or whatever the hell you could call what she did now, was just too little for her. Dins didn't just sit around and do nothing, and while she wasn't, it sure felt like it.

"Combat?" Now it was her turn to make a gloomy expression. She knew her brother could handle himself, but it wouldn't stop her from worrying. He wouldn't be able to pick who he faced out there, nor would he always be able to pick those he fought alongside with. "It's always gonna be a bit nerve wrackin', I imagine," she finally responded. "You'll be fine, Tai. If you've been preparin', you'll be fine."

Altair having a Matukai upbringing meant that when things got rough, he'd have years of martial arts training to fall back onto. That put him in a good position because it meant his combat prowess wasn't going to be completely dependent on a lightsaber.

She was glad to hear he liked his master though, and it didn't surprise her that he wasn't interested in Sith alchemy. She found it incredibly interesting, personally, but it wasn't something she would want to pursue either. Not at the moment, at least.

Imani stood up when he sighed and smiled, then chuckled when he asked her to come to visit more often. The tiefling lifted a hand, pinched her nose, then waved her hand around while she joked, "I'll think about it if you spray things down before I show!" Still grinning, she would lower her hand.

"Lemme know how the appointment goes. And please try to send a couple more messages in the family chat. I think Ma secretly misses your odd memes."

tag: @Sreeya