Beat on the Brat (Kale)

[Helena Elross]

I could really use a stim. And a drink.

I glance at the large, round chrono on the wall. 54 minutes and counting untill I am free from this hell-hole; sometimes I swear, the chrono stops and starts to roll backwards. I sigh as loud as humanly possible, taking a sip of my Dr Thunder.

My name is Helena. I'm 18 standard years old, I work part-time as an attendent at a service mart (for all your late night munchie needs!) in the capital city of Rigton. Rigton is in a mountain on the planet Naalol, which is...not known for much. My hometown is a teeny weeny blib on the map of the universe, my homeworld is known for it's large population of Twileks and it's apathetic people. Currently I'm working to earn enough money to get off this rock -- I took a semester at Coruscant U, but dropped out due to lack of funds. The fact that it was the Mecca of the Empire didn't help matters, either...

You see, my parents practiced the modern "witch-craft" known as the Force. On any normal backwater world, that wouldn't be such a huge deal, right? Too bad for them Naalol has an Imperial garrison full of rump-kissers looking to get an off-world promotion. Mum and Dad were taken away, I was shipped off to relatives who shuffled me between homes untill I finally got my own place last year. Need less to say, Imps are not my favoritest people.

The sound of the door buzzer stirs me out of my stupor, as a few twileks and some kid step inside, stamping their boots clean of snow. I make a face, slumping back down on my stool and doodling on a stack of spare flimsis, keeping one eye on the new arrivals.

[Kale]

Kale had rarely seen snow in his lifetime. Precipitation was closely monitored on Coruscant, since surface water was a waning resource. And while the lower levels were cold by virtue of the stratoscrapers eclipsing the sun most of the day, there were only a few days a year where it actually became cold enough in the upper altitudes for snow to even think about forming. And when it did, it fluttered down in tiny specks that settled into pre-muddied slush on the sidewalks.

Kale had two objects in mind when he ducked into the convenience store. One was to get out of the cold for a couple minutes. The other was to do something about the vacuum in his stomach. Unfortunately, he was stuck on a lower budget than even Hypermart's usual customers.

Almost immediately upon entering, he disappeared among the aisles. He was very good at this. He'd made a career of being nothing more than déjà-vu and an odd feeling you'd misplaced a few things. That was the trick of subsistence thievery. He'd never mugged anyone, or held anyone up with a weapon -- they'd probably laugh at his scrawny, five-four frame if he tried. That sort of thing could get you into trouble. He much preferred being overlooked.

Somehow, as he browsed the aisles in a schleppy, disinterested shuffle, a few rows of items mysteriously shifted forward in their racks, boxes, and shelves. It was never anything big, no one item cost more than a credit. They were things like meat sticks, granola, some candy bars. Just enough high-calorie protein and carbs for the day until he could find something to supplement his income.

Hands firmly entrenched in his pockets, he made his way into the store's grungy restroom. A quick glance around confirmed there were no cameras. He quickly set to work removing the product markers that would set off the sensors at the front door. He flushed them down the toilet, then carefully concealed his stash in his jacket once more.

Emerging again, he pulled a bottle of fizz from the refrigerated beverage rack and set it on the counter. "That's it for me," he said, digging a cred out of his pocket.

[Helena Elross]

The pair of twileks came and went, buying a couple of fizzy pops. I kept half an eye on the scrawny kid as he did the "Oh, I'm not doing anything - I'm really robbing you blind" shuffle down the aisles and into the restroom. I leaned on the counter, and smiled.

"Really? What about all that stuff you crammed in your pockets?"

[Kale]

Hmph. Maybe she wasn't as dumb as she looked. Kale would have to mentally retrace his steps and figure out what mighta tipped her off. Fortunately, it really didn't matter. He could afford to play dumb for a few moments.

"Yeah, whatever. You gonna let me pay for the soda, or not?"

[Helena Elross]

"Look, do you want me to call the troopers or not?" My hands found a natural home on my hips as I stood up behind the counter. "Now, you can take that stuff out of your pockets right now, or I can get 30 Imperials here and they can take it out for you."

[Kale]

Troopers. How pedestrian.

"All right, fine. You got me red-handed. Just don't do anything stupid--"

It was an innocent-looking hand gesture. Surely it was just a coincidence that, at that moment, the painstakingly-stacked display of stim packs on the counter behind Helena came tumbling loudly to the floor.

And, in that moment of distraction, Kale wasn't there anymore. To the observer who was keen to such things, the space in front of the counter appeared emptier than it was when no one was standing there at all.

This localized manifestation of emptiness very casually made its way to the front door.

[Helena Elross]

"HE--!!"

The kid obviously thought I was a moron. And a norm. As he pushed against the door, he found it stuck. Then he found himself flat on his butt thanks to a force-shove. The stims were quickly forgotten as I hopped the counter.

"You're not going anywhere, you jerk!"

[Kale]

Now, that was unexpected.

Kale hit the floor hard and slid with the momentum of the push. Whether the girl had seen through him or not, he was pretty sure his cover was gone now.

He scrambled to his feet, very visible now, and backed away from the angry Forcer. "Hey, easy! Easy! You could get into trouble throwin' stuff around like that!"

[Helena Elross]

"Me?!"

My hands formed tight fists at my sides as I stalked towards him. I stopped a foot or two away, unsure of what exactly he'd have up his sleeve -- I haven't run into many other Forcers. Well, I've never run into one. Ever.

"If anyone is gonna end up in trouble, it's you, showing off like that."

[Kale]

She stopped -- which meant she didn't have the drop on him anymore. Suddenly, Kale realized he'd probably surprised her as much as she'd surprised him. Yeah, that was right -- a real Forcer was an always unknown quantity. You could tell a fighter by his build, his stance, but you couldn't see Force powers.

He drew himself up defiantly. "Showin' off? Don't make me laugh. I was just tryin' to make things easy on you. So why don't you do yourself a favor and unlock that door before I change my mind?"

Slowly, he raised his hands like he was going to, I dunno, shoot laser bolts out his fingertips or something. Yeah, that was it. Look threatening.

"Don't make me do this. Coupla midnight snacks ain't worth it."

[Helena Elross]

"Do what?! Wiggle your fingers at me??"

I felt my eyebrows arch as a grin spread across my face. I waggled all ten digits right back at him. If he was going to do anything, I figured he'd have done it by now.

"OOOOOOO Scarey Forcer! Give me a break!"

[Kale]

Kale held the position just long enough to be sure she wasn't bluffing him back, which was just about long enough for him to feel really, really stupid.

"Well, now what? You still plannin' on callin' the troopers? 'Cause if you do, it's your funeral."

In case she thought he was bluffing again, he nodded up at the security camera over the counter.

"Shopliftin's gonna look pretty minor when they see a cashier throwin' the suspect through the air like that."

[Helena Elross]

I felt a scowl start to creep onto my face. True, I was "caught on camera" using my force skills, but this kid didn't know who he was dealing with.

"So? I'll just wave my hand and cast my spell on them," I waved my hand in front of the boys' face, making an "OoooOOooo-magical" noise. Yes, I'm full of dren, and I'm hoping the kid is going to play along. "They won't know which way is up once I'm done with them."

[Kale]

Kale's eyes suddenly took on a glazed look. "They won't know which way is up once you're done with them," he parroted back.

[Helena Elross]

"What! No way!"

By now I was practically jumping up and down, arms flailing in front of his face. The only response I got from him was a slow-motion blink. My arms dropped to the sides as I frowned at him. Even I, as adept as I am, have NEVER had this happen. Something must be wrong with him.

"Either I'm the next Darth Vader...or you are a very good actor."

[Kale]

Kale just deadpanned. "Either you're the next Darth Vader, or--"

He snatched her outstretched arm and yanked -- meanwhile, his foot found her ankle and he tried to pitch her down to the floor. I mean, seriously, if he couldn't take down a girl...

[Helena Elross]

I let out a very (unfortunately) girly scream as he yanks hard on my arm, only to feel his foot hit my ankle. Then my chest hit the floor with a less lady-like grunt. As he turned to run, I reached out and grabbed for his ankle.

[Kale]

Her fingers hooked the back of Kale's sneaker, just enough to make him stumble. And that was just enough to make his jacket snag on a display of individually wrapped bantha sticks, and he and the grievously over-processed meat products went tumbling back to the floor. Something had ripped on his jacket, too, and a handful of ration bars, their price tags removed, tumbled out and scattered among the debris.

"Frellingdrenofasithspit..." Kale emitted a string of unintelligible curses as he tried to find his footing before Helena did. And then he spotted something rolling her way through the cellophane wrappers -- a small, elongated crystal, diamond-clear and impossibly bright, gleaming even in the dull florescent lights of the convenience store.

He scrambled after it to get it back before she noticed it --

[Helena Elross]

A glimmer caught my eye as the kid started to scramble to his feet. Whatever it was, he wanted it to get it back awfully bad. We reached for whatever it was at the same time, each of us swatting at each others hands, trying to grab the shiny stone. I managed to scoop it up, dropping it into my shirt before raspberrying him.

[Kale]

"Hey!" Instinctively, Kale grabbed for Helena's shirt collar and yanked --

And then thought about how that would look on a security camera. As if he wasn't frelled enough already.

He sat up and tried to cover some of the ration bars he'd dropped. "That... that's mine!" he protested feebly.

[Helena Elross]

"It's mine now!"

I feel a grin coming on, as I stand up and brush myself off.

"If you want it back, you're going to have to do something to earn it. And since you're <i>such</i> a master thief, I know just the thing."

[Kale]

Kale's ears burned at the taunt - but he wasn't a fighter by nature, and, anyway, she had enough on him by now to make trouble if she wanted to. The fact was, he did want his crystal back. That meant either appeasing her or sticking around for an opportunity to snatch it away.

Seething, he glanced again at the crystal's hiding place -

Woah. Suddenly he was kinda jealous of it.

With some application of willpower, he met her eyes defiantly. "What do you want?"

[Helena Elross]

"You're gonna help me get my bike out of Imperial Impound."

I sighed, looking around at the store. It was trashed, from the front counter to where we ended up.

"But first, you're going to clean up this mess *you* made."