Stratablock 14 - Midblock Streets
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Harriet Anduuli
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:59 pm
Stratablock 14 - Midblock Streets
An unexceptional region within the vast concrete wastes of Stratablock 14's midsection. Many parts of this area are still torn from the unexpected conflict two decades prior that marked the chronological end of the Jedi's activity within the galaxy. Life goes on much as it always has though, with little changing for better or worse since those days.
-
Harriet Anduuli
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:59 pm
Re: Stratablock 14 - Midblock Streets
Metellos was a planet defined by shades of grey. Dark greys on the smoggy horizons and the filthy fringes of the vast stratablocks; light greys in the heights of the exquisitely engineered habitats of the bureaucratic business centers in the hearts of the same zones, and every shade in between. Somewhere in the region of the stratablocks that would be considered suburban in any rightly functioning civilization, the dark greys and the light greys mingled with abandon, and any other color intentionally sported – and advertisement, a store front, a single garment – was a beacon of attention that drew eyes easily, for better or worse
Children like Creed had grown accustomed to the greys, and their eyes keyed in on unusual colors with keen, sometimes desperate interest. A scrap of wrapping paper with yellows or reds on it could be a discarded morsel that would be a day’s worth of food. Maybe even enough for a couple of kids if one was lucky. And so Creed and her little gang combed the streets, spread out to avoid attention but always within eyesight or earshot of each other. They were an effective little band of scoundrels, and they never went to bed too hungry if they played by their rules, so they always played by their rules. And they always followed Creed’s attentive leadership.
Things hadn’t always been like this for Creed, she knew that. But she was hardly old enough to remember when they had changed. She remembered her parents – remembered her mother well enough to recall that she looked very little like her but that wasn’t unusual in a race as genetically diverse as bothans. She remembered how her mother would brush her brown locks and polish her little horns each evening, saying how much Creed reminded her of her father. Her father been of a slightly more cervine genetic persuasion as well. But she barely remembered him, and her memories of her mother became more like dreams every day. She tended to focus on those around her. The band of rough and tumble children who looked to her for safety, and the people around her whose… whose thoughts she could almost certainly hear most days.
It gave Creed an edge, being able to hear people think. It alerted her to danger – let her know when thugs were about looking to scoop up strays, or when a shopkeeper was distracted. Sometimes she felt guilty for reading the shopkeepers, because she knew they struggled too – most people in this part of the stratablock did – but Creed had her own to look out for. And so she was vigilant each day and each night, perusing the thoughts that swam around her like collective great tides and currents. And so it was one day as she “checked her six” that she encountered an unusual mind. It wasn’t a clever thoughtful mind, but nor was it quite a child like the ones she was used to. It was… an animal! Animals were fair game, and even if they were scrawny little rats they were more meat than the little gang of urchins normally got. Creed picked a pebble from her pocket and tossed it at one of the human children – a lad taller than her but younger. Most of them were both of those.
“Hey…!” The kid put a hand on the back of his head and immediately jerked in Creed’s direction ready to fight or fly, but his eyes caught her covert signal and he immediately slipped across the street. Several others took the cue and did the same.
“I think there’s an animal back that way.” Creed commented, slipping down an alleyway. None of the others questioned her, but followed at different vectors. They knew she had a gift, but no one talked about it. If they talked about it, it might go away, or someone else would find out about it and come after her.
The band of children slunk through the alleys after their teenaged leader for a couple of minutes before they heard a crash and some bins rolling. Creed charged toward the sound, her hooves cracking heavily on the ground and she moved, and she came around the corner just to see a furry rump disappear into the noisy garbage can. Some other kids caught up, and one of them was about to lunge for the creature when she waved him off.
“Wait wait! Look at it.” She crept closer as did the others, and they collectively gasped as it emerged from the waste bin with a scrap of something filthy in it’s mouth.
“A puppy!” cried one of the smaller children, rushing forward. The dog was fairly small, with short dappled fur and floppy ears – not all grey, which was a refreshing change from the typical critters she encountered. It’s little canine tail waggled back and forth as it tore at the nasty scrap, but when it noticed the child rushing it, the tail slunk down between it’s legs immediately and it rushed back into the bin, crashing into the back hard enough to make the whole container crash backward a foot or so. The gathered children and teens all giggled, and Creed reached out to stay the advance of the little girl.
“Wait Inga, don’t scare it.” She said, pulling the little human girl to one side by her shoulders.
“Can you make it come out?”
“Maybe. Think friendly thoughts.” Creed winked at the little girl, and then edged forward. She thought friendly thoughts too, and hoped they’d rub off on the puppy in the bin. She thought about it really hard, and focused on the animal’s frightened little instincts.
“You don’t have to be afraid. You can come out. We won’t…”
She hesitated and glanced back at the others. Saw the curiosity in plenty of their eyes, and the barely contained excitement in the eyes of the little girl they’d picked up barely a month before. This wasn’t their usual animal encounter. This was more important, somehow. Her mind made up, she turned back and edged a little closer.
“We won’t eat you. I promise. Come to me.”
Come to me she insisted in her mind, willing the dog to come out of the bin. And it did. It almost bolted out at her insistence once she really focused, and it leapt into her arms knocking her back to the ground. It’s little tongue smeared all over her face, and the other children closed in giggling to touch it. Apparently whatever idea she’d pushed into it’s head had really taken hold, because it leapt off her chest onto another child and made its rounds, thoroughly relishing the attention from it’s new best friends as much as they did.
Creed laughed as well, finally pulling herself to a sitting position and turning to watch. She felt a moment of panic when she realized they were all bunched up out in the open, but a quick check around confirmed that they were truly alone, so she relaxed and settled cross-legged on the ground, watching with a smile as the puppy worked the smaller children over with its paws and tongue.
One of the other teenagers came and crouched next to her. “So did you mean it?”
“Mean what?” Creed asked, pulling her tangled hair down off her curved horns.
“You told it we weren’t gonna eat it. Did you mean it?”
Creed sighed, watching the little animal bring such rare smiles and burst of laughter gushing out of the smaller children in her care. It was unexpectedly healthy for an animal this far from the inner stratablock, and fairly clean as well. It was probably a recent stray from a nicer part of town. It would give them all a good dinner. But when had a single dinner ever given them all so much delight? Her eyes settled on the dog’s collar, and a gleam of sudden interest entered them.
“I think we’ll keep it at the den. I can teach it to be quiet for us… Besides. There might be something better than a single meal where this pup came from.”
While the children continued to play with the dog, Creed waded into their midst and quickly retrieved the dog’s collar, catching a few licks on her palm for her troubles. A little bit of inspection revealed a piece of electronics in the collar that appeared to have taken some damage. She had no intention of bringing the animal back to its owners – her charges clearly needed it more – but the collar might be worth a few credits, and money in the pocket was far better than a few nibbles of meat off the bone.
Back at the den later that day, Creed sat cross-legged on the dark grey of their subterranean shelter, and tossed a long piece of corrugated plastic across the open area. The dog scraped claws against the ground and raced after the object, much to the delight of the smaller children and some of the older. The ones who were initially less thrilled with the idea of a pet were delighted to stow their concerns when they found out how much the collar had been worth. It was an expensive little piece of hardware, and it was a wonder the dog had made it that far even with the thing damaged. But the promise of a high quality refurbishment was enough to send Creed on her way with enough credits to keep her band in dried meat scraps from the butcher for a couple of months, if they were smart.
Even the puppy.
The little bothan tossed the improvised toy again, pressing on the dog with her mind to be silent and obey. In this way it learned the ropes remarkably swiftly. Creed wondered what else she might be able to do in this way. Might she be able to nudge another human’s mind? The more she thought about it, she realized that she likely already had on several occasions. It crossed her mind to try it on one of the smaller children, but she quickly banished the thought, They weren’t her test subjects, they were her friends. She would think of someone more deserving to test her new notion on later, but that would be later. The mottled little puppy came crashing into her lap and brought her thoughts back to the now. She rubbed it down enthusiastically and gave it a tiny nibble of meat from her pocket. In a month’s time it would be as scrawny as she and the rest of the band, but hopefully it would still be just as great a source of joy by then as it was now.
With another little mental nudge, Creed kissed the puppy on the head and pushed it off toward the smaller children and got back to her hooves. Yes, this one was a much-needed addition to their little band.
Children like Creed had grown accustomed to the greys, and their eyes keyed in on unusual colors with keen, sometimes desperate interest. A scrap of wrapping paper with yellows or reds on it could be a discarded morsel that would be a day’s worth of food. Maybe even enough for a couple of kids if one was lucky. And so Creed and her little gang combed the streets, spread out to avoid attention but always within eyesight or earshot of each other. They were an effective little band of scoundrels, and they never went to bed too hungry if they played by their rules, so they always played by their rules. And they always followed Creed’s attentive leadership.
Things hadn’t always been like this for Creed, she knew that. But she was hardly old enough to remember when they had changed. She remembered her parents – remembered her mother well enough to recall that she looked very little like her but that wasn’t unusual in a race as genetically diverse as bothans. She remembered how her mother would brush her brown locks and polish her little horns each evening, saying how much Creed reminded her of her father. Her father been of a slightly more cervine genetic persuasion as well. But she barely remembered him, and her memories of her mother became more like dreams every day. She tended to focus on those around her. The band of rough and tumble children who looked to her for safety, and the people around her whose… whose thoughts she could almost certainly hear most days.
It gave Creed an edge, being able to hear people think. It alerted her to danger – let her know when thugs were about looking to scoop up strays, or when a shopkeeper was distracted. Sometimes she felt guilty for reading the shopkeepers, because she knew they struggled too – most people in this part of the stratablock did – but Creed had her own to look out for. And so she was vigilant each day and each night, perusing the thoughts that swam around her like collective great tides and currents. And so it was one day as she “checked her six” that she encountered an unusual mind. It wasn’t a clever thoughtful mind, but nor was it quite a child like the ones she was used to. It was… an animal! Animals were fair game, and even if they were scrawny little rats they were more meat than the little gang of urchins normally got. Creed picked a pebble from her pocket and tossed it at one of the human children – a lad taller than her but younger. Most of them were both of those.
“Hey…!” The kid put a hand on the back of his head and immediately jerked in Creed’s direction ready to fight or fly, but his eyes caught her covert signal and he immediately slipped across the street. Several others took the cue and did the same.
“I think there’s an animal back that way.” Creed commented, slipping down an alleyway. None of the others questioned her, but followed at different vectors. They knew she had a gift, but no one talked about it. If they talked about it, it might go away, or someone else would find out about it and come after her.
The band of children slunk through the alleys after their teenaged leader for a couple of minutes before they heard a crash and some bins rolling. Creed charged toward the sound, her hooves cracking heavily on the ground and she moved, and she came around the corner just to see a furry rump disappear into the noisy garbage can. Some other kids caught up, and one of them was about to lunge for the creature when she waved him off.
“Wait wait! Look at it.” She crept closer as did the others, and they collectively gasped as it emerged from the waste bin with a scrap of something filthy in it’s mouth.
“A puppy!” cried one of the smaller children, rushing forward. The dog was fairly small, with short dappled fur and floppy ears – not all grey, which was a refreshing change from the typical critters she encountered. It’s little canine tail waggled back and forth as it tore at the nasty scrap, but when it noticed the child rushing it, the tail slunk down between it’s legs immediately and it rushed back into the bin, crashing into the back hard enough to make the whole container crash backward a foot or so. The gathered children and teens all giggled, and Creed reached out to stay the advance of the little girl.
“Wait Inga, don’t scare it.” She said, pulling the little human girl to one side by her shoulders.
“Can you make it come out?”
“Maybe. Think friendly thoughts.” Creed winked at the little girl, and then edged forward. She thought friendly thoughts too, and hoped they’d rub off on the puppy in the bin. She thought about it really hard, and focused on the animal’s frightened little instincts.
“You don’t have to be afraid. You can come out. We won’t…”
She hesitated and glanced back at the others. Saw the curiosity in plenty of their eyes, and the barely contained excitement in the eyes of the little girl they’d picked up barely a month before. This wasn’t their usual animal encounter. This was more important, somehow. Her mind made up, she turned back and edged a little closer.
“We won’t eat you. I promise. Come to me.”
Come to me she insisted in her mind, willing the dog to come out of the bin. And it did. It almost bolted out at her insistence once she really focused, and it leapt into her arms knocking her back to the ground. It’s little tongue smeared all over her face, and the other children closed in giggling to touch it. Apparently whatever idea she’d pushed into it’s head had really taken hold, because it leapt off her chest onto another child and made its rounds, thoroughly relishing the attention from it’s new best friends as much as they did.
Creed laughed as well, finally pulling herself to a sitting position and turning to watch. She felt a moment of panic when she realized they were all bunched up out in the open, but a quick check around confirmed that they were truly alone, so she relaxed and settled cross-legged on the ground, watching with a smile as the puppy worked the smaller children over with its paws and tongue.
One of the other teenagers came and crouched next to her. “So did you mean it?”
“Mean what?” Creed asked, pulling her tangled hair down off her curved horns.
“You told it we weren’t gonna eat it. Did you mean it?”
Creed sighed, watching the little animal bring such rare smiles and burst of laughter gushing out of the smaller children in her care. It was unexpectedly healthy for an animal this far from the inner stratablock, and fairly clean as well. It was probably a recent stray from a nicer part of town. It would give them all a good dinner. But when had a single dinner ever given them all so much delight? Her eyes settled on the dog’s collar, and a gleam of sudden interest entered them.
“I think we’ll keep it at the den. I can teach it to be quiet for us… Besides. There might be something better than a single meal where this pup came from.”
While the children continued to play with the dog, Creed waded into their midst and quickly retrieved the dog’s collar, catching a few licks on her palm for her troubles. A little bit of inspection revealed a piece of electronics in the collar that appeared to have taken some damage. She had no intention of bringing the animal back to its owners – her charges clearly needed it more – but the collar might be worth a few credits, and money in the pocket was far better than a few nibbles of meat off the bone.
Back at the den later that day, Creed sat cross-legged on the dark grey of their subterranean shelter, and tossed a long piece of corrugated plastic across the open area. The dog scraped claws against the ground and raced after the object, much to the delight of the smaller children and some of the older. The ones who were initially less thrilled with the idea of a pet were delighted to stow their concerns when they found out how much the collar had been worth. It was an expensive little piece of hardware, and it was a wonder the dog had made it that far even with the thing damaged. But the promise of a high quality refurbishment was enough to send Creed on her way with enough credits to keep her band in dried meat scraps from the butcher for a couple of months, if they were smart.
Even the puppy.
The little bothan tossed the improvised toy again, pressing on the dog with her mind to be silent and obey. In this way it learned the ropes remarkably swiftly. Creed wondered what else she might be able to do in this way. Might she be able to nudge another human’s mind? The more she thought about it, she realized that she likely already had on several occasions. It crossed her mind to try it on one of the smaller children, but she quickly banished the thought, They weren’t her test subjects, they were her friends. She would think of someone more deserving to test her new notion on later, but that would be later. The mottled little puppy came crashing into her lap and brought her thoughts back to the now. She rubbed it down enthusiastically and gave it a tiny nibble of meat from her pocket. In a month’s time it would be as scrawny as she and the rest of the band, but hopefully it would still be just as great a source of joy by then as it was now.
With another little mental nudge, Creed kissed the puppy on the head and pushed it off toward the smaller children and got back to her hooves. Yes, this one was a much-needed addition to their little band.