Post by Bobbi on Oct 29, 2021 18:41:11 GMT -5
Then
Blood. Some of it belonged to him, the rest belonged to the kid sitting across the room from him. When he sniffled hard, which he did just then, he could taste the metallic tang as it dripped down the back of his throat.
"Don't do that, Newe-un," His glare turned from eyeing the boy across the room to the woman who was dabbing at his face and the heavy concern that she held in her eyes, "You'll only make it worse." Mixed in with that concern was annoyance, and maybe anger. Or was it frustration? At that particular moment it was hard to tell.
He sniffled again and leaned back to wipe his nose across the back of his hand leaving a dark red streak across his skin much to her dismay. "Sorry mom," his glare returned to the boy across the way when the woman turned to grab a clean bit of cloth off of the table they were sitting at, "He started it."
Only a glance was spared from the woman to the other boy in the room who sat holding a piece of absorbent paper to his own nose. She'd get to him in a moment, right then it was her own son she was cleaning up. Bacta was dabbed under Newe-un's right eye where his skin had burst following the line of his cheek bone, "I don't care who started it," she said, ignoring the hiss that came from her son, "This has to stop, Newe. You are going to kill each other one day." There she did pause long enough to look toward the other boy in the room, exasperated, "I don't understand why you two just can't get along. And yes, Solomon, I did call your father. He's sending your brother to fetch you."
The bright and airy food prep room was just then looking more like a field hospital than a kitchen. There were wrappers from bacta patches strewn on the table laying next to discarded absorbent pads she had been using to clean the boys up.
Solomon said little in return, letting his head lower in a small nod while avoiding Newe-un's glare, "Yes, ma'am."
Now
Just one room away Newe-un was resting. It was just a thin wall that kept him out of sight while Sol and Annie sat in the common room of one of his safe houses on Ithica. He had two others, just in case, but this had been the one he'd instructed them to come to should the need arise.
He had himself seated next to her, aware of how much space was between them and with an ear out for Newe-un should he choose to join them. He also had an ear and eye on the door, should someone else decide to join them as well. It had taken a few moments to get Annie feeling comfortable enough for her to relax with him sitting there instead of wanting to go check in on Newe-un. Solomon could well imagine the rut she'd have worn on the floor in the hours before he arrived had the floor been made of anything softer than duracrete. "We'll start at the beginning." He had prompted, quietly urging Annie to take up the explanation whenever she was ready. "You said they found you?"
From Annie came a shallow nod while Sol reached to take the blaster she still held. With how bad her hands were starting to shake it was best not to leave it in trembling fingers. However, with the blaster set aside on the low table between the couch and the arm chairs, Sol reached to take her hands into his to steady them while she spoke, "They found the house on Cynix -- we aren't sure how. We were careful, Sol. Really careful. One moment we were sitting down, getting ready for our mid-day meal, and the next the alarms were going off around us. Newe-un tried to fight them -- he wanted to give me a chance to get to the ship. I -- I managed to make it, and he was right behind me but I could see he was bleeding. He'd been hit on the head," She wriggled her hand free from Sol's and reached up to touch her hairline just where she had remembered seeing the injury on Newe-un, "And had some scrapes on his hands."
Then
"Solomon! Stop!"
The shrill cry from Annie did little to stop him as he pushed himself up off the ground and barreled, head down and shoulder first into Newe-un's ribcage. There was a ringing between his ears and a vague awareness that his books were now strewn across the ground where he'd dropped them to catch the fist that was coming in for the side of his face. If his mother knew he was doing this, she'd be furious. He knew that. This moment went against all that she was trying to teach them, but she wasn't around, they weren't kids anymore, and there really was only one way to stop a bully.
Newe-un was easily double his size, maybe even triple, but Sol had speed and he used his momentum just then to push Newe-un off his balance and down into the dirt. The larger lad fell like a crumbling tower even as Newe-un grabbed for Sol, wrapping his arms around to bring Sol to the ground with him.
"Stop--!!" Annie's cries were like a klaxon, one that both young men ignored in favor of keeping their attention on what was going on between them. Sol wound up with a knee in his gut while he tried to get enough grip on Newe-un's hair to push his head backward and into the ground.
And then came the shadow. The new comer to the fight was more of a match for Newe-un than Solomon was, standing at just about the same height and weight as Solomon's opponent, "Hey, what the hells is this?"
Solomon couldn't see the arrival of his brother, but he heard that familiar voice and turned from trying to bury Newe-un's head in the dirt to jabbing Newe-un in the face with his fist. He got two hits in between Newe-un fighting him off and the hand that helped in pulling him away.
"Sol, I swear to gods...." There was a brief moment where Sol tried to turn and look his brother's way, but Newe-un was there to take advantage of the unintentional help that Darien was offering. Before Sol could move, before he could blink to clear his vision, Darien was shoving Sol out of the way and taking the hit coming from Newe-un.
Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the sound of campus security pounding down the walkway that made Newe-un think twice about pushing the fight any further. Whichever it was, when it happened it came with a deflated resignation and a look toward Annie who rushed in to support Newe-un at his side with a pitty-filled look toward Solomon who was dabbing at his opened lip, "I really am sorry." She muttered before Newe-un took her attention. To help diffuse the situation she was doing her best to guide him away from the brothers enough that neither he nor Sol could get the idea that it was alright to resume the battle.
This left Darien free to turn and eye Solomon who could only wince as he said, "He started it."
Now
"They followed us through the snow to the port--"
He didn't like how breathless Annie sounded when she spoke. It was upsetting her, and that was the last thing in the galaxy he wanted to do but he needed to know what happened. He couldn't help unless he knew.
"It was a miracle we made it. They were shooting at us before we hit the city, we wouldn't have made it if it weren't for Newe-un." She took a pause, fighting back the horrible memory, "He shook them, and we made it to the transport. We were pretty sure that they were right behind us so we stopped mid-jump and reoriented to take a different nav course. By then the bleeding at stopped, but he was still pretty out of it so I was flying. I tried to remember everything you told us to do, Sol. I tried--"
There he had to cut her off, using her hands to pull her into another gentle hug, "I know," he assured her, "And you did good, Annie. You made it here. Hutts are hard to shake, and after we make sure that Newe-un is alright we'll make sure this doesn't happen again."
Blood. Some of it belonged to him, the rest belonged to the kid sitting across the room from him. When he sniffled hard, which he did just then, he could taste the metallic tang as it dripped down the back of his throat.
"Don't do that, Newe-un," His glare turned from eyeing the boy across the room to the woman who was dabbing at his face and the heavy concern that she held in her eyes, "You'll only make it worse." Mixed in with that concern was annoyance, and maybe anger. Or was it frustration? At that particular moment it was hard to tell.
He sniffled again and leaned back to wipe his nose across the back of his hand leaving a dark red streak across his skin much to her dismay. "Sorry mom," his glare returned to the boy across the way when the woman turned to grab a clean bit of cloth off of the table they were sitting at, "He started it."
Only a glance was spared from the woman to the other boy in the room who sat holding a piece of absorbent paper to his own nose. She'd get to him in a moment, right then it was her own son she was cleaning up. Bacta was dabbed under Newe-un's right eye where his skin had burst following the line of his cheek bone, "I don't care who started it," she said, ignoring the hiss that came from her son, "This has to stop, Newe. You are going to kill each other one day." There she did pause long enough to look toward the other boy in the room, exasperated, "I don't understand why you two just can't get along. And yes, Solomon, I did call your father. He's sending your brother to fetch you."
The bright and airy food prep room was just then looking more like a field hospital than a kitchen. There were wrappers from bacta patches strewn on the table laying next to discarded absorbent pads she had been using to clean the boys up.
Solomon said little in return, letting his head lower in a small nod while avoiding Newe-un's glare, "Yes, ma'am."
Now
Just one room away Newe-un was resting. It was just a thin wall that kept him out of sight while Sol and Annie sat in the common room of one of his safe houses on Ithica. He had two others, just in case, but this had been the one he'd instructed them to come to should the need arise.
He had himself seated next to her, aware of how much space was between them and with an ear out for Newe-un should he choose to join them. He also had an ear and eye on the door, should someone else decide to join them as well. It had taken a few moments to get Annie feeling comfortable enough for her to relax with him sitting there instead of wanting to go check in on Newe-un. Solomon could well imagine the rut she'd have worn on the floor in the hours before he arrived had the floor been made of anything softer than duracrete. "We'll start at the beginning." He had prompted, quietly urging Annie to take up the explanation whenever she was ready. "You said they found you?"
From Annie came a shallow nod while Sol reached to take the blaster she still held. With how bad her hands were starting to shake it was best not to leave it in trembling fingers. However, with the blaster set aside on the low table between the couch and the arm chairs, Sol reached to take her hands into his to steady them while she spoke, "They found the house on Cynix -- we aren't sure how. We were careful, Sol. Really careful. One moment we were sitting down, getting ready for our mid-day meal, and the next the alarms were going off around us. Newe-un tried to fight them -- he wanted to give me a chance to get to the ship. I -- I managed to make it, and he was right behind me but I could see he was bleeding. He'd been hit on the head," She wriggled her hand free from Sol's and reached up to touch her hairline just where she had remembered seeing the injury on Newe-un, "And had some scrapes on his hands."
Then
"Solomon! Stop!"
The shrill cry from Annie did little to stop him as he pushed himself up off the ground and barreled, head down and shoulder first into Newe-un's ribcage. There was a ringing between his ears and a vague awareness that his books were now strewn across the ground where he'd dropped them to catch the fist that was coming in for the side of his face. If his mother knew he was doing this, she'd be furious. He knew that. This moment went against all that she was trying to teach them, but she wasn't around, they weren't kids anymore, and there really was only one way to stop a bully.
Newe-un was easily double his size, maybe even triple, but Sol had speed and he used his momentum just then to push Newe-un off his balance and down into the dirt. The larger lad fell like a crumbling tower even as Newe-un grabbed for Sol, wrapping his arms around to bring Sol to the ground with him.
"Stop--!!" Annie's cries were like a klaxon, one that both young men ignored in favor of keeping their attention on what was going on between them. Sol wound up with a knee in his gut while he tried to get enough grip on Newe-un's hair to push his head backward and into the ground.
And then came the shadow. The new comer to the fight was more of a match for Newe-un than Solomon was, standing at just about the same height and weight as Solomon's opponent, "Hey, what the hells is this?"
Solomon couldn't see the arrival of his brother, but he heard that familiar voice and turned from trying to bury Newe-un's head in the dirt to jabbing Newe-un in the face with his fist. He got two hits in between Newe-un fighting him off and the hand that helped in pulling him away.
"Sol, I swear to gods...." There was a brief moment where Sol tried to turn and look his brother's way, but Newe-un was there to take advantage of the unintentional help that Darien was offering. Before Sol could move, before he could blink to clear his vision, Darien was shoving Sol out of the way and taking the hit coming from Newe-un.
Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the sound of campus security pounding down the walkway that made Newe-un think twice about pushing the fight any further. Whichever it was, when it happened it came with a deflated resignation and a look toward Annie who rushed in to support Newe-un at his side with a pitty-filled look toward Solomon who was dabbing at his opened lip, "I really am sorry." She muttered before Newe-un took her attention. To help diffuse the situation she was doing her best to guide him away from the brothers enough that neither he nor Sol could get the idea that it was alright to resume the battle.
This left Darien free to turn and eye Solomon who could only wince as he said, "He started it."
Now
"They followed us through the snow to the port--"
He didn't like how breathless Annie sounded when she spoke. It was upsetting her, and that was the last thing in the galaxy he wanted to do but he needed to know what happened. He couldn't help unless he knew.
"It was a miracle we made it. They were shooting at us before we hit the city, we wouldn't have made it if it weren't for Newe-un." She took a pause, fighting back the horrible memory, "He shook them, and we made it to the transport. We were pretty sure that they were right behind us so we stopped mid-jump and reoriented to take a different nav course. By then the bleeding at stopped, but he was still pretty out of it so I was flying. I tried to remember everything you told us to do, Sol. I tried--"
There he had to cut her off, using her hands to pull her into another gentle hug, "I know," he assured her, "And you did good, Annie. You made it here. Hutts are hard to shake, and after we make sure that Newe-un is alright we'll make sure this doesn't happen again."
