OOM: AU Child! Ibani

[last_kallig]

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

Comments

[last_kallig]

She blinks in surprise. "Oh, um, you could take it off now."

She laughs a little, reaches out to pat his hand. "You are a very nice near death hallucination," she informs him, smiling. She's not distressed at that the fact that she believes she's dying, that this isn't "real".

[27_53]

With the fever gone, she should not still be as delirious as she is currently acting - this puzzles him slightly, but his focus doesn't linger on that for long. His attention is on the collar, getting that off of her.

"It should be simple...Bar told me how to turn it."

He carefully examines the slot where the key fits, and mutters something in another tongue under his breath (a ward, to protect against any errant injury should something go wrong, which it won't because Bar promised the key would work just fine) as he unlocks it. And then works to loosen it from her skin, where it is...stuck?

[last_kallig]

When he realizes she's not delirious at all, it's likely to break his heart.

There is a brief spike of pain as the skin sticks stubbornly to the collar. The macerated skin WOULD tear, if not for his ward. There are puss filled blisters under it, their infection what weakened her so much that the OTHER illness took hold.

[27_53]

Carefully, so very gingerly, he lifts the collar away (Bar warned him that there were actual explosives in it, and not to drop it) from her skin and there is a legitimate surge of anger that rises in his chest - as well as a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, when he sees the blisters and the infection.

Someone - it is hard to even use the thought someone in this moment - did this to her.

"I am sorry," he says quickly, in response for the pain he has caused her - the collar he sets aside, across from them (it will have to wait there for just a moment, she needs his attention now). "I will fix it."

He places his palm against her jawline (she is so fragile) gently and works to give her relief from that burning and stinging, as well as send Light to take away the infection, soothe the wounds. Now that he can see these, he can get a better sense as to why she felt so ill. Her skin will need to be washed and these tended properly, but that he will have to do back in his room.

[last_kallig]

The relief of the pain is startling, in a good way. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she reassures him.

There is wonder as he soothes the wounds, eases the burning and the stinging. "This can't be real, but I want it to be," she confesses. "You're like a hero in a story, a Jedi, and heroes don't rescue something like me."

"I must be hallucinating. I've seen people do that with fevers, before they die." Ibani has seen, has felt, quite a lot of people die.

[27_53]

"You are not dying," he says softly - there's a hint of a sarcastic tone in his voice, faint. "Or hallucinating. You were, when you first crept under this table, but I have stopped that."

Facts are facts.

He is momentarily satisfied with the level of healing he has worked on her, so he rifles through the bag that Bar gave to him - there is a packet that contains...some kind of bandage? He is not quite sure - it is damp when he opens it, smells slightly medicinal (in a good way) and is rolled up. "She told me to wrap this over where the collar sits, it will help with the skin," he says, leaning over to do just that, carefully. "And we are to leave it on until after you have had a bath. Then I have another one to replace it with."

[last_kallig]

"But if you're real, why would you help me?" she asks, confused. That's just...not How Things Work, in her life experience.

"You have Power, and I'm a tool bought cheap to be used up and thrown away." She flushes in shame.

[27_53]

To his credit - and only because he does not want HER to think that she has upset him in any way - Skellig manages somehow to keep the growl and anger out of his tone once he speaks again. He shakes his head.

"That may be what you were told before, but that no longer holds true, Ibani. You have found yourself here for a reason, and now that you are under my care, I will let no harm come to you."

He smiles slightly, extending his senses to cast a slightly wider 'net' around the booth they currently occupy, scanning subconsciously for threats.

"And if anyone would like to argue that, I will be happy to explain to them how things work now, little one. You are safe here."

[last_kallig]

"Oh." She doesn't know how to react to that, not really. Her emotions, her thoughts, are a flood, a whirlwind. She scoots closer to Skellig, leaning into him. "Thank you, Skellig," she says, voice quiet.

"I can't, I can't repay you. But I can show you a secret." She fishes for something hidden in the pocket of the rags she's wearing. "Something they'll never have, now." There's a thread of vicious satisfaction in those last words.

[27_53]

Carefully, he wraps one arm around her shoulders (they are so boney and thin and he remembers a time when his own arms and legs felt this way, remembers how he felt inside, Death would be a mercy...) as she leans into him.

"You are welcome," he says.

With his free hand - the one that is not wrapped around her - he plucks an errant spring roll (they are cool now, but still good) from the carton and takes a bite as she digs through her pocket. The smell of the filth and grime of what she is wearing (he can hardly call it clothes) does not even bother him as he eats.

"What is it?"

[last_kallig]

"We were digging for crystals, special ones. I could hear them singing, but no one else could. I found one that was different, sang a different song."

Ibani doesn't know it, but she found the first Kyber crystal on Illum. The crystal is about the size of her thumb, violet in color, and when she touches it....

Skellig might or might not hear the Kyber song, as it involves the Force. But he will feel the LIGHT, the utter JOY, radiating from the crystal as Ibani touches it and the crystal glows. It was waiting for Ibani, with the patience only stone can have, and its JOY at having found her is entirely untouched by the Dark.

[27_53]

The crystal is...oddly sentient? Skellig cocks his head curiously as the waves of Light energy, happiness and joy radiate off of the glowing stone. He does not hear the Kyber song, but Ibani clearly does - and he can see the pleasure it brings to her to have it in her hands.

Quite interesting.

"It is safe here now," Skellig says. "Safe with you. You have done a good job, protected it well."

[last_kallig]

Kyber crystals are quite sentient, although their perspective obviously differs vastly from that of other lifeforms!

"It was, it was waiting for me," she explains. "I just KNOW it was."

Ibani glances at him, glances at the remaining food. Can she have some more?

"The other crystals liked me, but they weren't FOR me."

[27_53]

"Sometimes you have to look for the one who is waiting for you for quite awhile," he says, nodding. "But things will align eventually, and you will find what you are looking for."

Then he notices her glancing at the food - and the obvious want and hunger in her eyes and in her expression.

He considers something.

"I am still hungry," he says. "But I think I would like to take our food," yes, Ibani, he said 'our'. "And go to my room. It is quieter there, and we would be safer to eat without so many others around. Would that be okay? And then we could get you washed up after, and see if there are any more wounds I might be able to heal on your skin?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani ponders this for a moment, then nods. "I can help carry things," she offers.

[27_53]

"That sounds like a plan."

Skellig boxes up what he wants to take with them - mainly the stuff from the bar, it is not very heavy - just some medical supplies - packing it back into the small cardboard box. That should be light enough for her to carry, at least he hopes so.

"We will stop at the counter," he says as they crawl out from underneath the table. He carefully deposits the collar with bar, as well as the leftover food. It is exchanged for another box - similar to the first, except this one has some better food options, as well as a clean set of clothes (basic) for Ibani as well as some pajamas tucked in along one side.

He glances down at her. "You are sure that is not too heavy? My room is not very far, but I know you are tired."

[last_kallig]

Two entire sets of clothes that MUST be for her leave her slightly stunned for a moment.

She nods. "I carry more than this all the time," she assures him.

"Thank you, Bar," she is careful to say when they pick up their things. Bar FEELS alive in the Force, so there is no question in her mind that Bar is a who and not a what.

[27_53]

"If for some reason you are ever down here by yourself, and need or want something, simply ask Bar," he says. "There is no cost. Thank you, Bar," he adds - because Ibani is correct, Bar is a who and not a what.

Skellig has already decided that she will be going on his tab...which is covered somehow, by several people and perhaps even a bit by Bar herself - though she has never left a being wanting, especially not a child.

The walk to his room is short; up a flight of stairs that seems oddly proportioned for how 'high' they are getting (but then again the floor numbers and order do not make sense either) in their climb. Once they have reached the door, he presses some numbers on a keypad and the door *beeps* before it opens.

The room he keeps is laid out somewhat straightforward; it is a small apartment-style space, relatively open-concept. To the left, there is a small kitchenette with a small table that could fit two; more towards the center of the space is a couch and a coffee table (clearly this is where a lot of his time is spent, based on the blankets and pillow that have taken up residence) and against the 'far' wall is a curtain which would expose a window and balcony to the outside, if it were open. To the right is his bed, a closet, and beyond that a decent sized bathroom. The doorways are wider than normal doorways, but that will make sense once he takes his coat off, eventually...

He walks in and sets the box he's carrying down on the coffee table, and encourages her to do the same - once she stops staring, of course.

[last_kallig]

"There's so much space!" she whispers, awed. She has no idea what most of the things in the room are, as she's never seen most of them before.

She flushes a bit, embarrassed, when she realizes how long she's been staring. She carefully sets her box on the coffee table.

[27_53]

"I need a bit of extra room, when I am not downstairs," he says. "I...have a bit of a secret of my own."

There is no good way (in his mind) to word an explanation as to the 'hey, so I have wings' discussion, so he simply reaches up to his collar and shoulders off his coat - exposing them to the space. He does not fully extend them, but does stretch them a bit, where they are poking through his plain t-shirt.

"I do not always wear my coat downstairs," he offers as explanation. "But I had just come in for dinner when you found me."

[last_kallig]

"Oh, your wings are pretty!" she tells him. In much the same way the average person might remark on hair color.

She tilts her head, a bit confused. "Why would you need to hide them? One of the guards in the mines is Toydarian, and none of the other guards ever gave him any trouble about HIS wings."

"And they weren't even pretty like your wings are."

[27_53]

Huh. Interesting. (Her lack of reaction surprises him a little, but he doesn't show it too much.)

"In my home world, it is not safe for me to walk around with them exposed," he says, after a brief pause to contemplate his answer. "Too much of a target."

He glances into the boxes.

"Bar packed our dinner to stay fresh," he says. "Would you rather eat now, or have a bath first, and then once I have cleaned up your neck a bit, we could eat afterwards?"

[last_kallig]

She scowls at the mention of it not being safe for him to walk around with them exposed in his home world. "That's not RIGHT," she huffs.

She thinks for a moment. "I should probably bathe first. If I eat more now, it might come back up," she adds with a faint tone of bitter experience. She hasn't eaten all THAT much, but when she's had so little food for so long, her body is inclined to reject the 'surplus'.

[27_53]

His smile is a tight one when she says that's not right in that huff of a tone, because SHE is right - it should not be that way, and yet, it is...

"You are smart to pace yourself," he grabs the set of clothes Bar gave him that look more like standard human pajamas, then nods his head towards the bathroom. "I will get it started for you, and then I can leave if you would prefer it? Unless you would want help with your hair, or around your neck, then I can stick close by and help if it is needed?"

The bathroom is just a relatively straightforward affair - but at the same time it is more 'modern' than the rest of the apartment, with clean-cut lines and warm wood tones. The basics, of course - toilet, sink (with a stepstool that was not there the last time, he notices), mirror and small closet for towels and other things. The central feature is the somewhat 'sunken' style tub which is large enough for him to soak most of his body in (while allowing him to climb in easily and sit, which helps when his body aches as it does sometimes more than others) and it is obvious also that he has taken time and discussed with Bar just how he wants this space.

(It is HIS nest, here in the Bar, and he is allowed to be particular about things, has the luxury...he is going to take advantage of it. Baths help him not hurt, so he spends a lot of time in them.)

She is staring again, so he goes and turns the water on, to at least start it while she looks around.

[last_kallig]

"I've never seen a space like this before," she confesses, still in awe. "I think I will be okay by myself," she assures him. And it might not be a bad idea to....process everything in private either, with how much her life has turned upside down today.