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Description
....this is not the commission I was working on. Or the commission after that one. This is something that's been sitting on my phone for a day or two and I thought to myself, "why not".
The girl is an OC I designed specifically for a one shot style adventure, as are her parents

The soft red of the data discs and tapes, usually a comforting glow for Aeshpe, now gave the stacks a considerably more sinister look. She crouched behind one column and furrowed her brow at the young man across from her.

"We need to get out of here!" she whispered.

The boy shook his head wildly and held a finger to his lips. "Not yet!"

Aeshpe glared. She'd just been doing her job as a clerk, helping a guest patron find a data tape on maintenance for Clone Wars era droids while her mother worked front desk. The last thing she had expected was for one of the regular patrons down in the basement stacks to abruptly collapse, complaints of chest pains quickly evolving into something considerably more dire.

"I am not staying down here with that thing!" Aeshpe hissed, near hysterics. "I know all the exits out of here, and we are going to get out and warn my family!"

"Yeah, no I wasn't disagreeing with that," the boy -- Luke something, she thought? No one in her family was good at remembering names that weren't in the library catalogue -- grimaced. "But I think that thing is attracted to sound. Whatever way we go, it's gotta be quiet."

He closed his eyes for a moment and beetled his brow. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and grabbed Aeshpe's hand. 'We gotta move!"

As they crawled along the basement floor, taking cover behind pillars of data, Aeshpe happened to glance back and between the rows.
Red light reflected dully off of polished black hide, more like chitin than skin, and an elegantly nightmarish figure swung its long head from one side to the other as if listening. A long, barbed tail flicked lazily back and forth for a moment, then the bipedal creature resumed walking. Well, stalking might've been the better term.

Luke and Aeshpe moved as silently as they could, with Luke periodically closing his eyes and stretching out a hand before changing the direction of their route abruptly.
It looked, Aeshpe thought, unsettlingly like something the fabled Jedi from her mother's childhood would've done. She hoped he wasn't a Jedi. The library didn't need that kind of trouble brought down on them.

Both froze when they heard the creature hiss on the other side of the row of columns they were hiding behind. Slowly, unbearably slowly, Aeshpe pointed towards an unassuming door marked Employees Only. This led to a data disc repair center, with a flight of stairs leading to the first floor in the event that the turbolift broke down.

Luke shimmied a little closer to the end of the row and stretched out with the Force again to try to pinpoint the monster's location. Yes, there it was, like a small knot of hunger and rage, creeping stealthily towards their end of the row. And if he extended his senses upward, he found-
Luke pulled back abruptly and his eyes snapped open. His prosthetic hand throbbed for two seconds with phantom pain, and he gritted his teeth against the wall of cold and grasping darkness he could feel pressing down on him.
He was not ready to confront this particular issue. Not by a long shot.

Luke sped up a little, even knowing it would make more sound. Just as they reached the door, they heard the armored thing make a sibilant hiss and there was a heavy clunking sound.

"It's climbing the stacks!" Aeshpe whispered, terrified.
Luke couldn't help sharing her rather bleak internal assessment of the situation. He waited until she'd keyed open the door -- hands shaking, hitting the wrong keys twice -- then dove inside and shut the door behind him.

"That was close," he gasped. "Does this room have any exits leading to the street?"

"Hey! You're not leaving until we warn my parents! That guy came in on the same speeder you did," Aeshpe poked around the room for anything she could use as a weapon.

"I'd never met him before today!" Luke protested. Then, deciding to be at least a little truthful with the slightly older girl, he sighed. "Truth is, things upstairs aren't likely to be much better."

Aeshpe paled. "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Darth Vader is up there. Right now." Luke kept the statement short and matter of fact, and willed himself not to fiddle with the mechanical hand. It had only been four and a half weeks since Bespin and he did not need this right now.

"Darth V-? Are you a Rebel?!" Aesphe's outraged expression was punctuated by the door rattling. "Do you know how much trouble you may have gotten my family in? Especially if he's here?!"

Luke made an apologetic face, and ducked his head. "Now you know why I want a street exit," he groaned.

The door rattled again, and then all hissing came to a stop as it apparently turned away to inspect something new, and the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber igniting filled the air.
"Ah." said Luke, "I'm dead."

Aeshpe backed up, shoulder touching his, and pointed to a strand of viscous ooze dripping from one of the open overhead vents. "Correction: we're dead."

This seemed to be the very definition of "between a rock and a hard place". Sith Lord on one side of the door, (and he definitely knew Luke was there. There were almost visible tendrils of shadow creeping under the door to grasp at him) and some horrific semiparasitic death machine on the other. If he'd still had his lightsaber, Luke bet he could've taken it in a fight, but the library had had a strict "no weapons" policy. He'd left his new lightsaber at the desk.
Which probably meant his- that Vader had it now.

Still, Luke had seen what the creature had done to the few other patrons downstairs, and he felt responsible for dragging the head librarian's daughter into it all. He steeled his nerve (failed utterly in that regard) and reached for the door controls.

Description
....this is not the commission I was working on. Or the commission after that one. This is something that's been sitting on my phone for a day or two and I thought to myself, "why not".
The girl is an OC I designed specifically for a one shot style adventure, as are her parents

The soft red of the data discs and tapes, usually a comforting glow for Aeshpe, now gave the stacks a considerably more sinister look. She crouched behind one column and furrowed her brow at the young man across from her.

"We need to get out of here!" she whispered.

The boy shook his head wildly and held a finger to his lips. "Not yet!"

Aeshpe glared. She'd just been doing her job as a clerk, helping a guest patron find a data tape on maintenance for Clone Wars era droids while her mother worked front desk. The last thing she had expected was for one of the regular patrons down in the basement stacks to abruptly collapse, complaints of chest pains quickly evolving into something considerably more dire.

"I am not staying down here with that thing!" Aeshpe hissed, near hysterics. "I know all the exits out of here, and we are going to get out and warn my family!"

"Yeah, no I wasn't disagreeing with that," the boy -- Luke something, she thought? No one in her family was good at remembering names that weren't in the library catalogue -- grimaced. "But I think that thing is attracted to sound. Whatever way we go, it's gotta be quiet."

He closed his eyes for a moment and beetled his brow. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and grabbed Aeshpe's hand. 'We gotta move!"

As they crawled along the basement floor, taking cover behind pillars of data, Aeshpe happened to glance back and between the rows.
Red light reflected dully off of polished black hide, more like chitin than skin, and an elegantly nightmarish figure swung its long head from one side to the other as if listening. A long, barbed tail flicked lazily back and forth for a moment, then the bipedal creature resumed walking. Well, stalking might've been the better term.

Luke and Aeshpe moved as silently as they could, with Luke periodically closing his eyes and stretching out a hand before changing the direction of their route abruptly.
It looked, Aeshpe thought, unsettlingly like something the fabled Jedi from her mother's childhood would've done. She hoped he wasn't a Jedi. The library didn't need that kind of trouble brought down on them.

Both froze when they heard the creature hiss on the other side of the row of columns they were hiding behind. Slowly, unbearably slowly, Aeshpe pointed towards an unassuming door marked Employees Only. This led to a data disc repair center, with a flight of stairs leading to the first floor in the event that the turbolift broke down.

Luke shimmied a little closer to the end of the row and stretched out with the Force again to try to pinpoint the monster's location. Yes, there it was, like a small knot of hunger and rage, creeping stealthily towards their end of the row. And if he extended his senses upward, he found-
Luke pulled back abruptly and his eyes snapped open. His prosthetic hand throbbed for two seconds with phantom pain, and he gritted his teeth against the wall of cold and grasping darkness he could feel pressing down on him.
He was not ready to confront this particular issue. Not by a long shot.

Luke sped up a little, even knowing it would make more sound. Just as they reached the door, they heard the armored thing make a sibilant hiss and there was a heavy clunking sound.

"It's climbing the stacks!" Aeshpe whispered, terrified.
Luke couldn't help sharing her rather bleak internal assessment of the situation. He waited until she'd keyed open the door -- hands shaking, hitting the wrong keys twice -- then dove inside and shut the door behind him.

"That was close," he gasped. "Does this room have any exits leading to the street?"

"Hey! You're not leaving until we warn my parents! That guy came in on the same speeder you did," Aeshpe poked around the room for anything she could use as a weapon.

"I'd never met him before today!" Luke protested. Then, deciding to be at least a little truthful with the slightly older girl, he sighed. "Truth is, things upstairs aren't likely to be much better."

Aeshpe paled. "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Darth Vader is up there. Right now." Luke kept the statement short and matter of fact, and willed himself not to fiddle with the mechanical hand. It had only been four and a half weeks since Bespin and he did not need this right now.

"Darth V-? Are you a Rebel?!" Aesphe's outraged expression was punctuated by the door rattling. "Do you know how much trouble you may have gotten my family in? Especially if he's here?!"

Luke made an apologetic face, and ducked his head. "Now you know why I want a street exit," he groaned.

The door rattled again, and then all hissing came to a stop as it apparently turned away to inspect something new, and the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber igniting filled the air.
"Ah." said Luke, "I'm dead."

Aeshpe backed up, shoulder touching his, and pointed to a strand of viscous ooze dripping from one of the open overhead vents. "Correction: we're dead."

This seemed to be the very definition of "between a rock and a hard place". Sith Lord on one side of the door, (and he definitely knew Luke was there. There were almost visible tendrils of shadow creeping under the door to grasp at him) and some horrific semiparasitic death machine on the other. If he'd still had his lightsaber, Luke bet he could've taken it in a fight, but the library had had a strict "no weapons" policy. He'd left his new lightsaber at the desk.
Which probably meant his- that Vader had it now.

Still, Luke had seen what the creature had done to the few other patrons downstairs, and he felt responsible for dragging the head librarian's daughter into it all. He steeled his nerve (failed utterly in that regard) and reached for the door controls.