Kessel Run, Week 6: Write a a story between 600 and 1,500 words with your OTP (or other romantic pairing) that includes the Rashomon Effect.
I didn't quite have the space to do an all out Rashomon-style story with multiple versions of the same scene, but hopefully this still satisfies the spirit of the prompt. We're in the Hondo/pirates AU once again, skipping even further forward this time to 53 ABY. For those of you familiar with the main Enter!verse timeline, the general events of Enter the Foreign haven't happened yet in this AU; we'll just pretend that most of them have been postponed by a couple years, for reasons. ;P
(For those keeping track, I did skip over Week 5. Long story short, it was expanding too rapidly to finish in one week, and I wanted to do it justice, so we'll come back to that one later on.)
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Perception
53 ABY
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"So." Dessa settles into her customary seat and stretches out across the length of the bench. "What's this about Dorian finding himself a girl?"
Veeran slides in next to her and rolls his eyes. "Ask them." He nods at Joor and Big Jax as they enter the ship's commons. Jax takes his place next to Yaanis and leans across the table toward Dessa.
"Well, we hit this freighter in the middle of nowhere, way out in the Hson system, right? Not a big ship, but still lots of nooks and crannies to search… turns out there's only two people on board. Humans, a guy and a girl, around our age. Only we didn't know about the girl at first, we thought the guy was alone. Veeran knocked him out while Joor and I searched the ship for loot – didn't find much, just some medical supplies and food – and then we realized Dorian was missing—"
"Found him near the cargo hold," Joor cuts in, "wrapped around a very pretty little piece. I've never seen him so eager. It was like he and Veeran swapped personalities for the day."
"Ha, ha." Veeran leans back in his seat and props one arm behind Dessa's shoulders. "You're all idiots."
Joor ignores the reply and smirks in Dorian's direction. "Anyway, she put on like she was scared, but I think she liked it. Too bad we left her there; Dorian could've finally gotten some action."
"Yeah." Jax swivels to glance at Dorian, grinning. "When I saw 'em, they looked real cozy together."
"Hands in all the right places, just like his brother."
"Hey," Veeran growls. "I don't do it like that and you know it."
"Yeah, we know, you're such a gentleman, Veeran."
"Shut up."
"Wait," Yaanis pipes up, "I thought we were talking about Dorian?"
"Gods, Yaanis, keep up."
The Rodian boy crosses his arms over his chest, the end of his snout puckering in a telltale pout. "Maybe I would if you two would get to the point. What happened to the girl?"
"The girl?" Joor waves dismissively. "Hell if I know. She's probably halfway back to wherever it is she came from."
"But you said Dorian has a girl now."
"Yeah right, like that weirdo could keep a girl like that."
Yaanis looks between Joor and Jax. "Like what?"
Jax leans an elbow on the table and sighs. "Long, silky red hair, perfect lips, skin you just want to reach out and touch—"
"Watch it, Jax, you'll make Dorian mad."
The pirates turn in unison toward the far corner of the lounge, where Dorian sits on top of a crate, watching them with an air of intense boredom.
"Yep," Dessa says, "that's the personification of fury right there."
"Oi, Dorian." Joor's grin turns predatory. "How'd she feel? Nice, eh?"
Dorian shrugs. "Wasn't really paying attention. Pretty sure I scared her, though."
A collective groan rises up from the others. "See?" Joor says. "Weirdo. Enough of this, let's eat and then get back to Hondo."
As their friends head for the galley, Veeran raises an eyebrow at his brother. Dorian merely shrugs again before looking away.
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Allana Djo fully expects to see a horde of pirates when the door to the cargo area opens. What she doesn't expect is a lone pirate her own age.
(And of course he's a stupidly attractive pirate, like she's in some cheap, hokey holoromance instead of an actual life or death situation.)
Doesn't matter. She has a duty to uphold.
"Stop right there," she orders.
The pirate glances around the room before setting his unnervingly blue eyes on her. "You alone?"
She activates her lightsaber and grips it in both hands. "I said stop."
He studies her for a long moment. "I'm just here for the goods." He takes another step in the direction of the hold. Allana aims her lightsaber higher, right at his heart.
"Don't. Move."
The pirate continues to move, nodding at her weapon. "One little lightsaber isn't going to stop all of us."
She sets her mouth in a grim line. "It'll stop you."
"You think so? Huh." He lowers his chin, sending a whisper flare of danger racing up her spine, along with a strange stirring in the Force she doesn't immediately recognize. "Well then; let's find out."
He dashes forward, forcing her to choose between cutting him in half or throwing herself out of the way. She opts for the latter, dodging his attack at the last second. As she pivots to face him again, she discovers he's already changed trajectory completely, and from one blink to the next, he wraps his hand around the hilt of her lightsaber, wrenching the weapon from her hand with one quick tug. He spins her around by the arm, circling her with his own and pulling her way too close.
"How?" she gasps, stunned by the speed with which he'd disarmed her.
The pirate's mouth quirks up in a smug smirk. "Practice."
She feels it again, that stirring in the Force, as inexorable and inescapable as a mass shadow. The Force doesn't simply move around him or through him as it does other beings; it answers him as it does for her, as it does for all those trained to listen.
Allana looks up into the pirate's eyes. "Who are you?"
His smirk falters, revealing a flash of uncertainty that's almost instantly smothered. "I'm the dangerous rogue who's relieving you of all your valuables."
She shakes her head. "We don't have anything."
He dips his face close to hers, and she finds herself trapped by his gaze. "We?"
Dammit. She fights his hold on her, but she can feel the weight of the Force behind his grip. "I don't have anything. Please, you're wasting your time, I have nothing."
"You're not a very good liar." That smirk again; gods she can't stand it. "Now why don't you open that cargo hold, before I do it and make a terrible mess?"
She summons every iota of control she can muster and stretches out with her feelings, reaching toward his mind. "You don't want to open the hold."
His eyes narrow, and the murky presence she sensed until now closes off completely, a steel wall slamming into place. "Don't make me ask again," he says in a low voice.
He releases her, and she eyes the lightsaber in his hand before backing up toward the control panel. Maybe she can get the jump on him when he crosses the threshold, if she can just stay calm…
The cargo door opens, and the pirate approaches swiftly, watching her sidelong as he ignites her lightsaber and peers into the dark hold. He sucks in a sharp breath. "What the hell is this?"
She stands tall and looks him right in the eye. "My valuables."
A sneeze echoes from inside the hold, and the pirate flinches. "They're kids," he says in a strangled voice.
"Yes. And they're more precious to us than any treasure you could desire."
He lowers the lightsaber and reaches up to run his other hand through his dark hair, and Allana's gut twists with recognition of a sort. She's still trying to figure out what it means when he abruptly closes the door to the cargo hold and shuts off the lightsaber. "I guess it's your lucky day—"
"Oi, Dorian!" a male voice shouts in a distinctly Coruscanti accent. "Where'd you go?"
"He's back there, idiot," another voice says, gruff and irritated.
The pirate jerks his head toward the corridor, and as she stares at him in profile once more, that sense of recognition bursts across her awareness with all the intensity of a star flare, and she remembers. Stars, she remembers everything.
"Dorian?" she whispers, unable to steady the tremor in her voice. "Dorian Starskip?"
"They're coming." She recoils as he steps toward her, and he shakes his head. "You can't be a Jedi today."
She fights back a swell of emotion. "Dorian… It's me, Alla—"
"I know." This time she doesn't resist when he reaches for her, or when he pins her wrists behind her back, slipping her lightsaber into her hands and pulling her flush against him. "Try to look scared."
A nervous laugh bubbles unbidden from her throat. "I am scared."
"Smart girl." He wraps his other arm securely around her waist; his breath tickles the nape of her neck as he leans closer. "I won't let them hurt you. Just a few minutes and we'll be gone, and you and your kids can get out of here."
She knows it borders on insanity to believe him, and there are a million questions she wants to ask besides – but she remembers a similar promise made in another time and place, one that gives her courage even now. If she could trust that boy then, maybe she can trust him now.
The door opens, and three more pirates enter. "Look here, boys," one of them laughs. "Dorian's finally found himself a girl…"
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