deercountry | 1) Intro/Catch-all

Entry tags:

1) Intro/Catch-all

Who: Ezra and OTA + Closed prompt below
What: Ezra getting acquainted with Trench
When: Through the month of January
Where: Throughout Trench

Content Warnings: Will be tagged in subject lines as needed.

1. Some Light Parkour

Ezra has been skulking around urban spaces since he was seven. He's long since figured out that even back then, he must have less than consciously used the Force to climb and jump and hide.

The Force feels a little different here - or his connection to it does. Despite the adage of 'do or do not do', he figures approaching testing what the state of his abilities is now with a little trial and error is best. So, at some point, he just picks a roof to aim for and jumps.

"Still got it," he mutters triumphantly, once he's landed about 12 feet higher than he was a second ago.

And then, later, he tries falling. Obviously, he needs to be a little more careful. Even if he doesn't seriously hurt himself - bleeding's an issue, apparently?

He can't let himself overthink it. He drops from one of the lower overhangs, at least. Ok maybe he should have been little more careful because -

"Sorry! You ok?"

2.Some Adjustment Required

There's more people here. Ok, Capital City had had more people than this, and he's been to plenty of places even more crowded. But still people's feelings here feel....louder.

Which is why he ends curled up with a hand over his face, with what feels awfully like a migraine coming on.

3. Nevermore

Not-human intelligence and interest hovered on the edge of his awareness, so he reaches out mentally a little, looking around physically as well. And then - connection.

He reaches an arm up. "Hello," he says, warmly, to the raven who swoops down to perch on his cloaked forearm.

[OOC:Want to work out a different prompt? Hit me up at

skipthedemon

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Ezra nods slightly. "Sure. However it works here. I get this place doesn't run on credits, but I'm sure there's plenty of work to be done."

"Oh yeah, you'll be fine," he assures him. "This place has tons of problems..."

Would most people find that comforting? Not really. But if you're looking for ways to stay busy, Trench is the gift that keeps giving. With that chipper thought, Vyng indicates their direction by nodding toward the eerie, glowing lamp at the corner of the road.

Ezra doesn't find that comforting exactly.

"Well, the last place I was I farmed, mostly, but I guess solving problems is my real job...." he muses, as he heads towards the lamp.

"Hm..." Vyng gestures toward the silver hilt hanging at Ezra's side. "Is that why you've got one of those?"

Ezra blinks over at him. "Well, it's my lightsaber. And I'm a Jedi and traditionally most Jedi carry a lightsaber, if that's what you mean."

"Ah-hah. I had a feeling." A brief pause, and then: "That means you communed with a crystal, right? What color is the blade?"

"That's right. The kyber crystal picks who it bonds with," Ezra confirms, breaking into a smile.

"This one and the blade it's the focus for is green. My first one was blue-"

He winces. "But I was in a fight with a pretty powerful Sith and he shattered it when he disarmed me."

With a straight face, Vyng turns his head toward Ezra and says: "You've got both arms still."

(Is he joking? Is he serious? Who the hell knows.)

"I could have a really good cybernetic hand," Ezra shoots back.

"Cyber-not-it?" He sounds impressed. "What, does it automatically touch your nose when somebody shouts 'Not It'? 'Cause that would be handy."

Ok, Ezra does laugh at that. "No - or oh. I guess I did really have a cybernetic arm I could maybe program that in somehow," he says, still grinning. "But I don't think it comes standard."

"You're good with machines, then?" He's definitely brainier than Vyng, if that's the case. "I guess you'd have to be. You probably built that lightsaber yourself."

"I'm not the whiz Luke, or I was always told - Anakin is - but yeah, I'm decent," Ezra demurs.

Vyng grins. "Cooool."

He means it, too. Sure, he dabbles in tinkering, and he's not too bad at carpentry...but anything more complex than plumbing is a bit beyond him. If he had a chance to study a kyber crystal — and someone patiently explained the mechanisms inside the hilt — there's a chance he could tap into that power on some spiritual level, the same way he can work with other elements. (So...not safely, in other words. Or 100% reliably, either. Nature is raw and wild like that.)

"You should meet this guy Varian sometime," he adds brightly. "He's been building a freaking car from scratch. You two might be around the same age, actually."

Edited 2022-01-22 04:49 (UTC)

Ezra grins, a little tiredly, because his head still hurts a lot, but sincerely.

"That does sound pretty cool. I'm pretty much always happy to meet new people. I'd say 'as long as they're not jerks' but I've been stubborn enough to make friends with people with jerk tendencies, too."

"You'll find your niche in no time, then." He sounds awfully confident, considering they just met. But Vyng doesn't have any reason to doubt it, either.

By now, they've reached the lamp. He raises one hand over its soft light, places the other into the wooly pig's thick fur, and glances toward Ezra.

"I don't think we'll get separated, buuuut I still like to tell people to hold onto Francis for good luck, hahah."

"After I figure out how to deal with the new headaches," Ezra agrees, with a soft huff.

His voice drops softer, "Holding on is ok. Francis?" he asks, looking down at the pig.

"We'll try and get you sorted, buddy," Vyng assures him. "Just hang on a little longer."

With a low snort, Francis nudges up against Ezra. Partly because he wants a snack...but mainly because he enjoys people's company, and this new fellow has a nice vibe indeed!

"And we shall get you some grass, my dear," Vyng tells Francis. To the untrained ear, it's simply a series of literal oinks.

"Very good," Francis jovially snorts. "I'm feeling rather peckish, if I do say so myself."

For a giant pig with tusks, he's got quite the gentlemanly essence. Though to most people watching, it just looks like Vyng and Francis are randomly snorting at each other. Either way, Francis is more than happy to let Ezra hold onto his wooly fur.

Ezra's gift isn't, strictly speaking, translation. So he doesn't follow the literal words, and is very briefly startled by Vyng oiking. But he can sense intention and feeling behind words, so it only takes him a second or so to catch on that there's actual communication going on, with mutual affection between them, and the Francis cheerfully requesting to be fed.

A slower, wondering smile breaks out across his face, and he whispers, as he wraps and his gently in Francis's wool, "Cool."

"All aboard!"

A bright flash envelops their field of vision. Barely a second passes, and they're standing at the docks, with Francis contentedly standing between them. Passersby bustle through the streets. Some are on their way to work, while others are running errands. But thankfully, Vyng knows exactly where to go next...

--

The Garb Place is a cute little storefront tucked within the myriad of stalls found at the Willful Machine district. As Vyng holds the door open, he calls out:

"Heyyy, Michael! How's it hanging? Are you busy?"

Michael isn't at his desk in the front; he's actually just lying back on one of the couches, playing some game on his Omni. There's no one in here right now, so why sit there like a stick in the mud? But there's a little bell that rings when the door swings open, and the sound draws him quickly to his feet.

"Oh! Hey, Vyng!" He smiles, stepping forward to greet his friend...and also this other random guy. A new arrival who wants clothes, maybe? Vyng really doesn't need to come all the way here to get clothes for himself, he knows that. Besides, the guy's got the look of a newcomer - a little peaky. "Nah, I'm not too busy right now. Who's this, a new customer?"

He looks like just an ordinary old man, if tall and well-dressed. To Ezra's Force senses, however, he might not be an entirely comforting presence at the moment. There's no sense of malice; he's just an extremely old and expansive presence. In another time, he might have done something to reel that in, but he's used to dealing with regular humans these days. They don't tend to be too aware of auras and the like.

Edited 2022-01-27 05:30 (UTC)

Ok. Looks human, but giving off some serious ancient vibes. Like, older than the Bendu vibes, if Ezra had to guess, and he wasn't sure that the Bendu wasn't as old the Force.

Ordinarily, Ezra would make a mental note, and try to shield even more carefully while acting as normal as possible.

His psychic defenses were already running pretty ragged. He pretty visibly shakes himself of out zoning out.

"Maybe eventually. The new customer, I mean. Um. I'm Ezra," he gets out. He shoots Vyng a look of 'help?'. He knows Vyng told him this guy's name, but managing to hold onto Vyng and Francis's name had taken up most of his available brain power for that conversation.

If his and Michael's positions were reversed, Vyng would probably be dicking around too. He's glad his friend takes time to chill. A lot of Sleeper friends who run their own business end up running themselves into the ground too.

As much as he loves chatting with Michael, though, Vyng hasn't forgotten what brought them here. And even if he did, the tightness around Ezra's eyes and his strained voice would act as a quick reminder. So he cuts to the chase.

"Can we borrow your cool compass, please?" he asks. "We've got kind of a situation. We're looking for a little peace and quiet."

Even with the polite wording, Vyng's tone is self-assured and confident. After all, Michael has helped him through way worse binds in the past. There's no need to dance around each other for propriety's sake. They're beyond that.

"Oh! Yeah, sure!"

Vyng's confidence is well-earned! Michael takes the request in stride, patting himself down for a moment before locating the compass in one of his inner pockets. He's kept it on him ever since he got it; you never know when you're going to need a magic panic room.

"You know how to use it, right?" he asks, already turning to the nearest wall to demonstrate. "Just trace a circle, hop in..." He sticks his head into the hole, just to verify what he's already got in there. Just some pillows he tossed inside - not the greatest pad, but good enough if they just need somewhere quiet and isolated. "...and close it up when you're done. No one should be able to follow you in there unless you let them."

He closes up his own hole and hands the compass over. They can make the room in here if they want, but he's not sure they do want. He casts an uncertain glance at Ezra as he does so - boy, he does not look good. "Nice meeting you, Ezra...hope you feel better?"

"Thank you," Ezra replies with a tired but sincere smile.

"I hope so too, and we can meet properly. Which I think I'd really like to do," he adds, more earnestly.

He's keeping his hand wrapped in Francis's wool. It feels nice. Grounding.

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i'm sorry

Re: i'm sorry

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yay a Michael!

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