Thief in the fold (Open)

[Kale]

Kale stood alone in the lift as its magnetic impellers whisked it smoothly up into the dormitory area of the Jedi complex. His life had just turned upside-down today, and he was still staggered by the experience.

He was human, a scrawny 5'6" teen with dirty brown hair and baggy clothes that had long acquired the special grime peculiar to the lower levels of Coruscant, and he carried all his meager possessions in a small knapsack hanging by a frayed shoulder strap. He'd been just another urchin off the street, picking pockets for a living in the seemy underworld of the planet until this morning, when he literally ran into a member of the Greater Jedi Order. The jedi had taken him into the complex, bought him lunch, and told him that the abilities Kale thought were just well developed instincts were, in fact, evidence of a connection with the Force.

So now he was a Jedi padawan. Kale was still too shocked to laugh at the irony. But more importantly, now he had food, shelter, and clothes provided for him by the Greater Jedi Order.

The lift doors slid open with a slick hiss, and he stepped out into a dormitory corridor. He wasn't used to seeing carpets that weren't shredded and walls that weren't covered in industrial residue, and, as he walked down the hall, he kept glancing over his shoulder as if he was afraid some security guard was going to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him to get out.

He was in the clear so far. Now he just needed to find an unoccupied room to stay in, and make sure he could find his way back.

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

" Heh.....lost?" Lance came out of the shadows as he always did, the young strider starred at the jedi padawan with a serious expression on his face.


"Well?....." Lance awaited for answer from the young man as he glanced his left mutated arm around cracking his fist like he was going to give it to thed young boy right in the face, but Lance had not bad intentions towards the child but everything that Lance was doing would certainly give anyone that impression.

[Kale]

Kale wheeled around and took a step away from Lance. It took him half a second to realize that he must be a jedi as well--either that, or the strangest janitor he'd ever seen.

"Uh, yeah," he said, eyeing Lance's fist suspiciously. "I'm new here. I just joined the Order this afternoon." Kale watched the jedi's face for a reaction, but it seemed Lance would take him at his word. "I'm just looking for an empty room."

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

".......I kinda realized that......." Lance's serious expression then turned into a more confident smile.

"Name's........Lance Stormrider...I'm a Jedi Knight here at the order" Lance extended his hand to Kale

[Kale]

Kale regarded the proffered hand with a hint of suspicion, then took it briefly. "Kale," he said. "Look, I don't know how things work around here. Do I just walk into a room and take it, or do you got some form I have to fill out? I don't want to get myself in any trouble my first day."

The kid was brusque, not because he really disliked Lance, but because he was more than a little out of his league. He'd never been offered anything without a string attached, overtly or covertly. As promising as Sejah's recruitment pitch had sounded, he couldn't help suspecting that the system would somehow find a way to keep him on the outside. He wasn't used to trusting anyone in authority, or, for that matter, being trusted by anyone. So the best thing he could think of to do was to play things as safe as possible, at least until he found his feet again.

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

"Heh......to say the truth, if the room is empty you just take it..there is no form to fill out or anything" Lance said sliding his hand through his spikey blonde hair.


"But relax you know...were Jedis here it's not like were gonna ground...heh " Lance nodded.

:: While Lance was talking to him he was also trying to sense what was this boy's problem..he seemed a bit troubled.

"Well do you want me to show you some of our empty rooms? I know of a few places....but it depends what kind of view you want"

[Kale]

Any empty room he wanted? Dang, this place was strange. He wondered what there was to keep just anyone from helping himself to loose items from any of the unclaimed rooms.

Watch yourself, Kale, he thought to himself. These are Jedi. They catch you stealing here, and you're right back where you started.

"Doesn't really matter to me," he said with a shrug. "Uh... you got something with a good view of the streets?"

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

:: Lance heard what the young boy said to him-self through the force without realizing it.::

"Huh what ya say?" He said scratching his head.

Uhm..probably nothing better tell him to nevermind

"Uh..I mean nevermind"

"Alright if you want something with the view in the city follow me..." Lance walked to the elevator with Kale following right behind him.

"Alright...we'll go on the same floor where I live I got a great view there..." The elevator floated smoothly towards the last floor in the LQ, as it stopped the doors opened slowly and Lance with the boy behind him walked out of the elevator and continued their way towards one of the rooms.

"Hmh...let's see" Lance pressed the button the open the door he walked towards the window and then stood there admiring the view.

"Take a look....how's this?"

[Kale]

Kale gave Lance a strange look when the Jedi seemed to "hear" something out of the blue. But he followed Lance wordlessly into the elevator and out onto one of the upper levels.

The first thing Kale noticed when Lance opened the door to the empty room was how neat everything was. It wasn't a large room, and, like most standard issue Jedi ware, it was seriously lacking in any color, but it was worlds above the dark, dilapidated apartment he'd shared with Sharkey downtown. The two narrow beds were decked out in perfect order, the blankets primly tucked under the mattress corners. There was a dresser and a mirror opposite the beds, a sink and icebox by the door, and an old holovision set in the corner.

Kale had turned in a full circle to take this all in when he caught a glimpse at the banked window. He approached slowly, squinting at the orange glare of the sunset as it was diffused through the Coruscant haze. He could see for miles around--the jagged terrain of the rooftops reflecting the sunlight, stratoscrapers jutting up like pillars from the ground to the cloud cover. Low-altitude transports puttered along below in never-ending traffic lines as starships entered and departed the atmosphere above.

Kale had seen many sunsets on Coruscant, but never from this high up. The scale of the patterns of light and shadow, color and cloud, were staggering.

"Wow..." he said breathlessly. "That's... that's a view." Turning back toward Lance, he shrugged and said, "The window in my last apartment faced a concrete wall."

Almost carelessly, Kale let his knapsack roll off his shoulder onto the floor. He took a few more moments to get accustomed to the scenery, then looked toward Lance again. "So, what's your story? You been here long?"

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

"Well I've been here for a while...hmh...almost a year or so...but as my story I don't wanna bore you with it hehe" Lance turned towards Kale then sliding his hand through his hair. He was always scared of talking about him-self for no reason,Lance was just like that he would only talk if he was absolutely sure the other person wanted to hear it.

[Kale]

Kale shrugged noncommittally. "Suit yourself." It wasn't that he was interested or disinterested in Lance personally, but he was curious to know where other Jedi had come from and wondering if he might possibly fit in. It seemed like a long shot to him, especially in an order as honored as this one. People of his standing didn't even fit in the jails; there were just too many vagrants, hard-ups, and pickpockets. Kale had gotten used to being a non-entity.

He walked to the foot of his bed and tested the springiness with his hand. It was certainly better than a cot with an old blanket thown over it. The teen shucked off his jacket, rolled his shoulders, and plopped down onto the cushion with a bounce. Oh, that felt good.

Afraid he might appear rude before a real Jedi, Kale gripped the edge of the bed and sat up. "Uh... I'm not sure how to ask this, but... do people usually have to hide their past here? I mean, people who have the sort of past they might want to hide. Not that I've got something to hide or nothin', it's just that I didn't come from the best background, and I don't want to risk getting my butt kicked back onto the street because someone up top didn't think I should be here. A guy like me has to be careful about that."

[imported_Lance Stormrider]

"I thought so....hehe" Lance turned towards Kale a smile on his face.

"Then I guess I'll have to tell you my story..." Lance passed his hand through his blonde hair and started to speak.

"There are many times I do not remember of my past, part of my childhood and many other things, but as I grew up my father trained me as a Strider, of course I was trained so but I never killed anyone untill my father died, I started killing people to gather information of who killed my father, I wanted revenge untill one day I realized what I had done...and I realized my father didn't want me to do that he was a Jedi Knight as well and he only wished peace. That is when I remembered him talking about this place and I decided to come at the greater jedi orde where I was given a warm welcome. Kale what I mean is whatever you have done in your past or wherever you come from we are Jedis and we shall help you overcome your problems and we'll teach our ways, don't worry we won't throw you out because you have done something bad in your past. We give everyone here a chance" Lance leaned back on the wall and waited to see what Kale would say about this.