video; un: jace

[estrayer]

[ The video opens on a blond boy dressed in black. The collar of his t-shirt and shoulders of his leather jacket are visible. A dark mark somewhere between a bruise and a tattoo sweeps across the right side of his neck. His eyes are intense, but he's making an effort at a smile. A terse one. Jace Wayland has had better days.

Actually he's had better weeks. Let's not talk about that. Instead, there's something more pressing on his mind: ]

Do we have to keep the jobs we get here? I'm supposed to write greeting cards.

[ His deadpan tone should tell you everything you need to know about what he thinks of that. Greeting cards, as in poetry, right? Jace isn't exactly a greeting card kind of guy, but if he was, his eyes would roll right over the ones with fake cheese and rhyming couplets inside. This is so clearly not for him. ]

I'm taking other suggestions. Bonus points if they don't come with wearing that thing.

[ He turns his wrist to flash the camera over the suit lying on the bed beside him. It has purple stripes and matching boots, guys, come on.

Not to worry, though, the camera's back on Jace now. He's sure you all missed him. ]

That aside. I'm gonna be open about the fact that I'm not looking to be a permanent resident, so if anyone's looking into how we get out of this place, I'd like to hear from you. If you've been here a while, I want to hear about that, too.

By the way, I'm Jace. I'm new, but you probably guessed that. Thanks for your time.

Comments

[video;] un: gen.skywalker

[ex_forcechoke292]

Greeting cards.

[He stares deadpan into the feed at that. Giant ships operating as a manufactured economy in times of necessity isn't exactly new, but the jobs given are far more utilitarian.]

Even if this was just a trade fleet, that's...

[Unnecessary. He shakes his head, not entirely unsympathetic.]

Anyway, if there's a way back, that'll be impossible to tell without access to navigation. These aren't constellations I've ever seen mapped.

[estrayer]

[ Yes, thank you. That expression is exactly what he's feeling inside. ]

Stupid. [ He supplies, with a hard roll of his eyes. ] If we're going to be stuck here there has to be something useful we can do.

[ He upnods, curiosity getting the better of him. ]

You sound like you know what you're talking about. This isn't your first spacewalk?

[ex_forcechoke292]

Thirteen years ago, maybe. Now? No. Not my first, and Force willing, not my last.

[It's all in the name. He thinks it with a wry smirk, but doesn't say as much.]

So what kind of useful are you looking for? What do you do when you're not being pressganged?

[estrayer]

I protect people.

[ Which is the simplest way to say it without getting into all the gory detail of the world Jace is from. He's not even sure how much of that he should say. His situation here is kind of unprecedented, at least so far as he knows. ]

That's my job, keeping people safe from things that want to do them harm. So you can see why greeting card poetry seems like a step in the wrong direction.

[ex_forcechoke292]

Peacekeeper? Vigilante?

[The wryly amused expression isn't one meant to make fun--though it could be read as such--but betrays a familiarity with that explanation.]

Don't get me wrong: if the far reaches of the galaxy I know don't change with people always needing help, it seems reasonable that would be the same outside of it too. Poetry falls short, sure. Bad poetry, anyway.

[estrayer]

Shadowhunter.

[ Which explains nothing, and Jace knows it. But it's what he is.

He shifts his shoulders, refolding his arms. ]

We have laws that I help enforce. That's the job I'm used to, so this? Is a far cry from that. What did you do? I'm guessing it was something more than this.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It's nice when that assumption works both ways; all too often, something in his demeanor gives away the origins underneath it all. It's encouraging, even if he doesn't readily admit it.]

It sounds familiar enough. The Jedi Order is meant to uphold the laws of the Republic, though we still leave the petty stuff to local enforcement. We're...we're brought in when trouble escalates.

[estrayer]

[ Jace nods. It makes sense enough. They’re peacekeepers, but a cut above. He lifts his chin. ]

It’s a particular set of laws that we enforce. We’re not cops. Most people don’t even know we exist. We keep humans safe from demons, and from any Downworlder who’d hurt them. That’s vampires, warlocks. We keep the peace between them.

[ So there’s similarities and differences. He gets the impression Anakin’s people are less steeped in shadow, at least in theory. ]

What kind of trouble would you expect to see?

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Less in shadow, yes. But they make up for it with all of the drowning in pedantic philosophy.]

Back home, it could have been any number of things. Bounty hunters, political sabotage, the war... [...defected Jedi. But they're not supposed to talk about that, and so he doesn't. Not yet.]