last_kallig | OOM: AU Child! Ibani

OOM: AU Child! Ibani

The last few months have been even harder than usual, after the death of her mother figure. Perhaps grief made her weaker, more vulnerable to sickness, because she knows she's dangerously ill. She hadn't meant to wind up here, wherever here is, but it has shown up in the nick of time.

Ibani shivers against one of the walls of Milliways, her body wracked with fever and hunger both. She's somewhere between seven and ten, clothed in fabric with far too many holes in it, and wearing a slave shock collar around her neck. Her bones stand out too sharply against her skin, and her eyes are fever bright and darting around the room.

She's not sure if this is some dying hallucination, if she's gone mad, or if she truly HAS wound up somewhere utterly strange. Whatever this is, instinct and her body DEMAND food, fuel to fight the sickness that is killing her. Untrained in the Force, she's grasping on instinct for any energy it can give her.

Maybe, maybe if she gets close enough to one of the tables she can steal some food without anyone noticing. Yes, yes that's a good plan

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Skellig allows her to take his hand as he watches her 'settle', and he is also listening to her energy - to him it is almost as if she is spreading out and reaching as far as she possibly can to map and trace thousands of tiny trails that are spread throughout the space.

Interesting.

It is similar to his own 'listening' but at the same time, completely different...

"Can you hear all of it?" He asks gently, curious.

She nods. "Everything, everything alive. Had to...push their energy away, to be able to think."

"It's not just hearing, it's all my senses. Got tangled in the threads."

"Take your time to let it settle," he says gently. "When I first came here, once I was feeling better...I also thought it was very loud. And not just because I can hear better, because of how I am. I have had to learn how to filter through some of it, otherwise it can become too much sometimes."

He keeps hold of her hand.

"I find it quieter the further I walk away from the bar. When you are ready, we can walk a bit, look at things?"

She nods. "I think I'm ready."

One of the horses in the pasture has come over to the fence, knowing that people often mean food and/or skritches.

"I don't recognize any of these creatures," she admits to Skellig.

"This is a horse," Skellig says as they walk closer. "They can be used to carry things, or people. Sometimes you will see their owners here ride them, but a lot of these ones just stay here and are looked after."

He demonstrates how to hold his hand out flat.

"I did not bring any treats to give them - they like carrots," he says. "And peppermint candies, though they cannot have too many of those."

The horse nearest them that is snuffling at Ibani's hand exhales a snort when Skellig says that they cannot have an unlimited supply of peppermints. Clearly that is blasphemy!

Ibani laughs when it snuffles at her hand. "Hello, horse," she says quietly. The horse's ears flick forward listening. "You are very big."

She tilts her head, moves her hand to scratch under the horse's chin. "They are itchy, right here," she explains to Skellig. The horse seems to be enjoying the attention.

"A lot of the time, creatures like this won't let me near them - at least not in my home world. But here at Milliways, I think...they are used to different energies, and they are not as worried."

Another horse wanders over after noticing that his friend is getting plenty of skritches, and leans down to nudge at Skellig's hands. Clearly there must be SOME treats hidden here, right?

"We will bring you snacks next time," Skellig promises, reaching to scratch under this horse's chin in the manner Ibani is doing to 'her' horse.

"They are afraid of predators," she says softly. "Built to run away, but they have learned the energy does not always mean danger, here."

Ibani tilts her head, considers. "I think I could help them not be afraid of you, in your world. Fear is sharp, spiked, but I can coax it into being something else."

Nodding, he files that detail - coax it into being something else - away for discussion later...

"I know my energy is...complicated." He admits. "Here I am more relaxed versus when I am on my home world, so I feel as if it is easier to deal with."

"Could be," Ibani admits. "But I won't be afraid of you, there." She flushes. "If, if I'm allowed to go?"

Does he WANT her to see what his world, his life, is like outside of Milliways?

Last night while lying in bed with her curled up against his chest, Skellig had contemplated that very question. Initially his answer was an immediate, firm no - he would not dare expose her to the world outside his Door, what he has to deal with.

But the more he has thought about it...he realizes that there is no chance that he would risk leaving her in Milliways alone, and his Door deciding to go rogue and disappear on him, leaving them separated. Also, if she has survived this long in conditions that are even worse than what he has to endure...they could probably manage well enough.

"I would not leave you behind," he says.

She's visibly relieved when he says he won't leave her behind. "Thank you. I will, I will have a LOT to learn."

The thought of just HOW MUCH is overwhelming for a moment.

"We will both have a lot to learn," he agrees. "We will have to help each other, but I have a feeling we will do just fine with that."

Then he smiles. "But it will be worth it, I know it."

Ibani smiles wryly. "I don't know how to measure my worth, not as a person," she admits. "I know how many credits I was worth, how much work I could do, but none of that matters now."

"I will admit to you, I am not very good at it either - measuring my own worth," his smile turns equally wry. "It may be a learning curve for us both, but you are right - what you were 'worth' before does not matter. Your value is not based on the work that you can do, how many rocks or crystals you can dig up from underground...that is not how a person's worth is measured."

She leans into him. "We will learn together," she affirms. "We're worth more than we've been told we are."

Skellig appreciates the contact as she leans into him - she will be able to sense it in his energy, his Light reserves gaining a hint of extra energy from her positive affirmations.

"As much as these horses would like to see us all day," he says. "There is more to explore."

They bid the livestock goodbye (for now) and then head around the stables; there are gardens here, raised beds, trellises for vines, an orchard of fruit trees half of which he does not even recognize. Skellig does not know who keeps them, or tends to them, but there is a small stand with a "FREE" sign on it, and some crops that have been gathered are laid out in bundles for the taking.

Ibani just STARES at all the plants. It takes her a little while to notice the sign. "People give food away?" she blurts out, looking back and forth rapidly between Skellig and the sign.

"It is usually stocked with a few things...depends on how the seasons are cooperating."

What with the weather in faux!Scotland plus who knows what magical abilities have been laid upon these crops. He looks closer at what is there - a few pears in a basket (at least they look like pears, but their skin is...glittering slightly?), a bundle of carrots. A few small bags of various herbs, some other root vegetables that he has absolutely no idea of...

He picks up two of the pears, hands one to her. "They feel ripe, like one should," he says. "I do not know if they may taste different because they are...sparkly."

She 'listens' for a moment. "They don't feel like they would be dangerous for you or me to eat." She carefully stows the pear away in a pocket.

"Some species can eat things others cant. I got sick one time. because a Rodian boy shared some mushrooms with me. HE could eat them, and he thought I could too, but..."

"You are smart to be careful," he says. "Thank you for checking them over for us."

Skellig stows his away in a small bag that he is carrying with them ~~that was totally there the whole time~~ on their explorations. If her pockets get too full, he will offer to hold hers as well.

"So your connection..." he asks, as they walk - slowly moving through the gardens, continuing on the path that will eventually lead them past the lake and then onwards to the inlet. (If she starts to seem tired, he will carry her on his shoulders.) "It is with everything living?"

She's quite pleased, happy, when he thanks her for checking over the fruit and tells her she is smart to be careful!

She sighs. "I don't know," she tells him. "I could feel the crystals, in the mines. Sometimes sense rocks were going to fall before they fell."

"That is interesting. I wonder if it was somehow your mind working to help keep you protected, keep you safe, using your senses to allow you to react faster."

He glances over at her as they walk.

"And you don't have to know, yet. You are still young, and still learning." A pause. "Also...you do not have to answer any questions that I might ask you, if it bothers you to talk about things. You are allowed privacy. I am just trying to better understand so I can help."

"Maybe," she tells him. "Used to make the others jealous sometimes, angry, that I could always find crystals, that I was good at avoiding the guards."

"They called me a freak, most of the time, when they would speak to me at all."

She leans into him when he says he wants to understand.

Protectively, he brings his arm around her shoulders and keeps her close to his side.

"Gonna be honest with you," he sighs. "Once you grow up, you're probably still gonna get called a freak. And probably worse."

He shrugs slightly. "I get called a freak too. And some other things, that aren't very nice. People are...a lot of people are cruel and uncaring. But you will learn to ignore them...learn to harness that emotion that rises up in your chest, and turn it into something good."

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