Keshani and Trax: Prisoners

[Keshani]

"If I was mad at you you wouldn't have to ask".

His response wasn't cold and wasn't meant to be mean, at least she didn't think so, but she felt momentarily surprised by how his words made her feel.

No, he wasn't angry at her and had still promised to try his best to get her out of here. But....was it disappointment? And was it coming from him? Or from within herself?

She wasn't quite sure and trying to think too much about it right now made her head swim.

She watched the man as he struggled to stand up instead. She knew from experience the pain that he was feeling and couldn't help but wince in sympathy.

As a matter of fact....

She suddenly realized that she did NOT have stun cuffs on. She supposed that mean that they didn't really consider her a threat...not yet, anyway.

Her wrists stung at the thought of the cuffs. She was really perfectly happy with OUT them....

Her head twinged plaintively again and a soft groan escaped her lips, reminding herself that she had to move VERY slowly to keep the room from spinning.

"Hey," she called out to the guards outside her cell, "Since I'm not already dead I'm assuming that someone wants me alive. So how about a medpack so that my brain doesn't bleed out before whoever wants me gets me?"

She tried to throw some spunk into her voice, but she wasn't still totally convinced she wanted to play this game anymore....

[GM Craig]

The Jedi does not get up or anything. He just stays there kneeling. But Trax thinks he may have seen him give a tiny shake of his head.

One of the guards looks towards Trax. He doesn't say anything, but produces a control. He holds it up for you to see, then activates a button on it.

Immediately your stun cuffs fire - not enough to knock you out, so you are aware when your body collapses to the floor of the cell and spasms in pain for several seconds. When it is over, you hear a synthesized voice say, "The Emperor does not want to risk injury to the others. We have no such orders regarding you."

The same guard turns to Keshani and says, "Escaped slaves do not get medpacks. Sit quiet or you'll get cuffs as well."

[Trax]

"Son of a..." Trax mumbled, letting out a mix of a cough and a laugh.  He'd been shot and stabbed countless times and taken more than his fair share of injuries from blunt objects but these cuffs, they were a whole new kind of pain.

Slowly the man sat up and leaned himself against the wall and looked at the trooper. 

"Alright, alright.  I'll be a good little kitty."  Trax took a few deep breaths before leaning his head in Keshani's direction.

"Just listen to the nice trooper for now.  No sense giving him any reason to use these things on you too." The rebel indicated the cuffs.  "I'm sure you've had more than your fill of these kinds of devices anyway.  Try to get some rest, it's going to be a long day."

"Must be one hell of an itch." he said quietly to himself as his gaze moved across the senators, and then the old jedi.

[Keshani]

?Escaped slaves do not get medpacs. Sit quiet or you?ll get cuffs as well"

Her blood began to slowly smolder again, she could feel it. But still, somehow, it stayed under control. She had no idea how.
She bit her lip hard and just glared at the Guard. She knew not to expect sympathy from them. They were barely human, afterall. But that didn?t help to make her feel less angry at everything that was happening; any less trapped.

?..just listen to the nice trooper for now. No sense giving him any reason to use these things on you too. I?m sure you?ve had more than your fill of these kinds of devices anyway. Try to get some rest, it?s going to be a long day?.

Kesh let out an audible sigh and curled back up in a ball, trying to get as comfortable as possible.

?Sure. Because it?s totally right in the galaxy to turn kids into slaves for trying to steal the stuff they need to survive??

?Fraking Imps?. The last part was totally mumbled under hear breath, barely audible and easily ignored if desired.

(Edited to fix formatting)

[GM Craig]

The guard stands for a moment looking at Keshani. He's not sure how, but Trax is certain he is contemplating how best to remind her of her place.

Then, the old man starts a coughing fit, and Trax can see he is coughing up blood. It is enough to distract the guard, who goes to the old man's cell to check on him, leaving Keshani alone.

[Keshani]

Kesh let out a soft breath as the guard moved away to check on the old man.

She knew she shouldn't mouth off to the guards. She knew just how much pain they could cause first hand and NOT kill her. But she was so fraking frustrated right now!!

To be so close...to something - anything other than here.

And had her insisting on rescuing Danny caused the others to get captured? Had the delay in looking up her name contributed to this?

She hugged her knees more tightly, as if trying to physically ward off the galaxy around her.

She was feeling lost. And defeated. And trapped.

And she hated it.

She hazarded a look in Trax's direction, trying to see what his reaction was to her mouthing off.

She couldn't get past this feeling of actually caring what this man thought of her. She had no idea why she cared, but somehow she did....

[Trax]

Trax couldn't help the bemused look that came across his face.  The girl was feisty, there was no doubt about that.  But when he saw, or was it more felt, what the guard was contemplating the look on his face turned deadly serious.  There was no way he'd be patient if the guard decided to punish Keshani.  So it was with some relief that he heard the old jedi cough and the guard turn his attention away from the girl.

He watched the guard as he checked on the old man.  Something was going to happen sooner or later.  Trax felt certain of it, and he would bide his time and be ready when the opportunity presented itself.

Turning his head slightly he looked at Keshani, who had curled herself into an even tighter ball.  I will get you out of here.  The man closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he opened them, for a moment there was no doubt it was Mariah curled up in that cell.  I won't fail again.

[Trax]

Trax wasn't sure how much time had passed, it likely wasn't much at all.  But the constant 'stimulation' from the stun cuffs made getting comfortable difficult.

"What'd you steal?" he asked turning to Keshani.

[Keshani]

She jumped a bit at the sound of Trax's voice. It seemed like she had been lost in her own thoughts for so long....

Slowly she turned to look at him again, eyeing the guards outside her cell before she answered, trying to decide if it was safe or not.

What'd you steal?...

Her cheeks flushed a bit red, feeling caught in a lie. She hadn't EXACTLY stole anything. At least, not the time that had started THIS whole thing....

She also felt a bit taken aback at the question and she immediately felt a bit wary. She still didn't know this man very well. Maybe this conversation would be the one that would make him not want to waste time on her anymore...

"Hey, sometimes it's hard for people to get the things they need respectably. At least where I am from. A girl's gotta do what needs to be done to survive...", she retorted back, a bit more hurt and pain in her voice than perhaps she meant to show...

[Trax]

Trax started to chuckle but the sudden movement caused the cuffs to fire a jolt of pain through his nerves which quickly halted his show of amusement.  He cursed under his breath at the damn things.

"There was no judgement in the question." he began, although he did find it odd, her choosing to say she had to do what was needed to survive.  This coming from the girl who had tried to kill herself.

"Doing what you have to in order to survive is a pretty universal problem.  You're not going to find any glowing recommendations of my legal respectability or morality.  I've liberated more than my fair share of things, anywhere from food, to small arms to...well much bigger things.  To be completely honest, the bigger things were team efforts.

I was just wondering what you tried to nab that was high profile enough to land you here.  But you don't have to answer."

[Keshani]

She audibly let out a breath, thinking for a minute, taking in what he had said. Then finally,

"An Officer caught me in the act and took offense to my presence.", she mumbled, frustration at what had happened seeping into her voice. "If he hadn't walked in I would have been fine."

[Trax]

"Whether it's an officer or a bum, everyone takes some amount of offense when you're caught stealing something of theirs.

It's how personal that something is that tends to dictate how offended they get."

Trax couldn't help but notice the girl still hadn't answered his original question.  He gave a mental shrug, if she doesn't want to share she didn't have to.  The man slowly balled his left, artificial hand, into a fist for a few moments before relaxing it again.  Sometimes people weren't ready to share, or even acknowledge some things.

[Keshani]

"There's nothing wrong with bums", she retorted back, perhaps a bit more sharply than she meant.

"Not everyone can have things handed to them in life....and sometimes you gotta make do with what you get. "

Her face flushed a bit as she spoke, although whether that was caused by the aftereffects of the concussion she surely had or the topic of conversation would be anyone's guess...

[Trax]

"Never implied there was anything wrong with them.  Just meant that no matter who you are or your station in life, if someone steals from you, you're going to take it personally."

Trax replied wondering why the girl seemed to take his comment how she did.  He was obviously dancing on the edge of something very personal for her.  Ch'lana had mentioned she'd been on her own since she was young but for whatever reason he never translated that to her possibly living on the street.

[Keshani]

She shifted position slightly, uncurling herself just a bit and moving a bit closer to the side of the cell Trax was near.

"So about this person I remind you of..."