He had to find a place to sleep. He had to. After roaming around for a while, Ben could feel himself giving out as an aching fatigue spread from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. His eyelids became heavier with every second as his feet began dragging across the ground. He had come across a quiet part of town when the burgeoning puddle of goo that was once his brain began spilling out of his mouth.
"I need... an inn... somewhere to sleep..." he thought out loud, almost yelling to himself.
No-one was listening. He had to keep himself awake. He had to.
Just around the corner, there was an arcade, or rather, just one sleepy little outcropped shop with a solitary old pinball machine in it. He heard the dings and bumps from a good distance away, and from it, got an idea.
"Pinball..." he said to no-one in particular. "Of course. Video games always keep me awake."
So, in an almost drunken fashion, he sauntered through the door to the pinball machine. Once he was there, he pushed a few coins into it and watched the decaying mechanical monstrosity come to life as he put his hands at the ready.
As he played, though, he felt the creeping sensation of a pair of eyes, maybe two, watching him from the shadows. There were whispers, very small whispers that he could only make out if he focused on them instead of his game, but he could still hear them speaking in hushed tones amongst themselves.
Ben tried to make out what they were saying, even though he was on his last ball.
"Uh, yeah, he looks like a good candidate," he heard one say.
"He's about the right age, too. Looks exactly like the old guy," he heard another say.
All the while he was pushing the flippers like crazy to avoid losing and attracting attention to himself.
Lost in thought on why these people were taking such an interest in him, the last ball went back down into the machine as it said something in Huttese to the effect of "YOU LOSE".
As if on cue, two young figures stepped out of the shadows.
Ben turned around quickly as his body froze up. His shoulders hunched and he shrunk back.
"Who... who are you people?" he asked, his voice quivering as the rest of him did.
"We won't answer that till you tell us who you are," said one of the mysterious boys.
Ben was quick to hit back. "Nuh-uh, I won't tell you anything until you tell me who you are!" he said, speaking rapidly, as he tried to puff out his chest to make himself look bigger.
At this point, it was a verbal tennis match as to who was going to give themselves up first. "Do you really think we're gonna give ourselves up to a stranger?" the other boy asked in an almost condescending manner.
"And do you really think I'm gonna do the same?" Ben asked, using the same patronising tone of voice, almost as if he was trying to fight fire with fire.
The two strange boys looked at each other and then began whispering in each other's ears. After a minute or two of whispering, they turned to Ben with their hands behind their backs.
"I think it's about time we introduced ourselves," the first boy said. "I'm Elias, and this is Wolf." Wolf looked over to Ben with furrowed brows and odd stoicism. He raised his hand slightly, as if to wave, but never started.
Elias looked over to Ben. "Now, who are you?"
Ben looked down and started shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I'm... Ben," he said, trying to hide the fact that what just happened was a nightmare scenario for him.
Elias and Wolf gave each other a knowing look and a small smile before turning back to Ben.
"Good to meet ya, Ben! Welcome to the club!" he said as he smiled and swiftly offered his hand.
Ben, though reluctantly, gave him a hearty handshake in return.