Private A Moment to Take Stock

[In Rhan]

It'd been a wild couple of months. In's life hadn't been without excitement of course - the occasional pirate, a client trying to skip out on the bill, a malicious stowaway. You ran into all sorts of trouble when you were alone on the lanes. There was no accounting for the chaos that'd overtaken In's life when Niysha had come into it. While In had no doubt that her frizzy partner was utterly blameless in the cavalcade of absurdity that her life had become (and was as much a victim of it as she was,) there was no denying that In's life had stopped being any flavor of boring that day in Andros' sad, crummy diner.

Before going into business as a self-employed hauler, In had been a part-time driver and part-time dancer. In had had her mix of trouble. It came with the territory. She lived in a bad part of town. She'd come from a worse one. The rougher parts of the core had almost felt like home compared to growing up among a gang of pirates and mutineers trying to go legit in the ORC. Rough, but manageable. Her brief forays into the higher echelons of society - which at times felt like any society - had left her feeling like an outsider.

It was playing a game where nobody'd ever told her the rules, and they constantly changed. Opaque etiquette, sure. Everyone knew about that. But there were a dozen other things. Finances, keeping a place clean and presentable, ways of dressing yourself to fit in. The language people used to discuss the things they liked, or the people they didn't, all of it veiled and second nature to those who'd grown up adjacent to it. She'd struggled to adapt and had perhaps even managed at times. She still felt like an imposter.

In had been to Pantora three times. The first was as an infant - she didn't remember that time. The second had been in her late teens, after falling out with the remainder of the Seeker's crew. Just to be among her own kind, seeking some cosmic rationale or perceptive. It hadn't worked. No fanfare, no great realization about her place in things. Being on Pantora had been no different from being on Fondor or the Kathol Outback - it wasn't her place, they weren't her people. The third time was almost a decade later to unceremoniously drop off a load of frozen pies. She hadn't even bothered getting off her ship.

Her place, insofar as she had one, was The Dancer. She loved the ship. If something happened to it that didn't also end her life, In was pretty sure she'd be able to recover - but it wouldn't be the same. That quirky old Besaid-Class was her home. Her people were on the hyperlanes, mostly. Nomads, nobodies, and the voices in her radio. People who existed in a perpetual limnal state. People like Niysha, maybe. In was aware of the small tragedy that was feeling her strongest ties to other people through sonder, especially given how fleeting the Akala-Merril Time Theory made those 'connections'. Niysha felt like the real deal. A companion, a partner, a somebody she was growing more worried about letting slip away. In existed in a constant state of concern that Niysha was providing so much more to In's life than she was in return. One of those concerns she didn't dare voice. Niysha would likely be quite upset with it. But it was natural to be anxious, right? What else did In have besides her work helping other people's lives function? Maybe if she figured out more ways to accomodate Niysha's unique vision, found more moments to be romantic, maybe if they were successful enough that they could be happy and healthy without the danger, maybe Niysha would stick around. Or stay in touch. Or remember her if she left. If, maybe, someday.

Some people left their fingerprints on history. In figured she more put a little fog on the glass - completely transient. Someday when she parked her freighter for good, there might be two or six people to mark her passage through the Galaxy - and two of them would be whomever she disappointed by not completing that last delivery. In wasn't sure how she felt about that. A strange mix of pride and bitterness felt about as close as she could get to articulating it. A lonliness that Niysha couldn't solve, something core to her heart and who In was as a person. Expecting Niysha to try would be cruel. Insofar as they'd made each other's problems into their own problems, there was simply too much over too long a time to unravel - especially when it was so intrinsic to who she was.

Maybe once upon a time she might've claimed kinship with the Wardens. If they'd ever existed. If they existed now, she'd never seen one. Creator knew there'd been dozens of times she could have used one. The Hyperlanes and nowhere corners of the Galaxy could really use somebody looking out for the little guys and solos, In reflected. Wardens were a fairy tale, but it'd be nice if they weren't. Somebody aught to do something about that. Caught between massive military forces the Alliance, the Dairchy, the Mandos, the Sith could all bring to bear... very little of it extended outside of their precious boundaries save for occassional charity. Pirates were a personal misforune, and a personal problem until they got big enough to show up on a talley of nascent nation-states. The nobodys and nowheres of the Galaxy could use a couple heroes of their own.

---

In glanced up from her thoughtful fuge, pulled from unproductive pondering by the tugging of the fishing rod in her hands.

As lovely as Calimancha and the one city on it was, In made her way by hauling freight - and there was simply more credit to be made coreward. They'd loaded their berth up with algae and algae-based goods from Maratton's more receptive industries, and set off towards the Republic to find somebody to buy the stuff. The only fly in the ointment (aside from the massive stretches of nothing to cross the Dalonbian Sector) was that In's containment tanks weren't rated for the very excitable algae fermenting in them. This wasn't a problem per se, though it did create a gas surplus. Her life support could handle it for a few days at a time, but then an influx of fresh oxygen was needed - as well as a safe way to vent all the stinking algae gas somewhere. As a result, In and Niysha were camping.

They'd found a little nowhere planet with a 'good enough' atmosphere and posted up by a freshwater lake with fish. The Dancer in Green was currently open - every port, every vent, and every acess panel had been left open to get some fresh air and let out the stink. Several plants had been brought out to enjoy the relatively nice weather as well, once In was sure none of them happened to be seeding or carrying parasites they might introduce to the local ecosystem.

There was a little fire going. In had her feet in the sand, quietly fishing while soft music played from The Dancer's loudspeaker. The music was as much for ambience as it was to scare off the apex predator of this no-name planet's largest landmass - a slinky, stinky little mustelid about as long as In's forearm. Alos, Niysha always slept better with music. In had noted this days into their being together. Any noise, but preferably music. She was nearby at that very moment, laying in a comfortable-looking hammock beneath an old blanket. She snored. It was cute.

There was nothing on the end of In's fishing line. The Pantoran woman reeled in and stuck her rod in the loamy sand, stepping over to the small pop-up table they'd set up near the campfire. Fishing had been a mental health break. Like always, the line between In's business and personal life didn't exist. Unlit cigarette dangling from her lip, she picked up a datapad and started working on the numbers. Freight costs, value-by-weight, and speculative notes on where they could start turning a surplus once again.

The wind blew gently through spiny conifers, bringing in a mildly chilly wind from a nearby mountain. The lake lapped and rippled, the fish that had escaped In playing beneath the surface. On this entire planetoid, to In's knowledge, there were exactly two beings capable of higher thought - and one of them was out cold. The sun was setting and In's ship serenaded an audience of bewildered weasels.

It was nice. A nice kind of loney.

 

[Niysha]

With a great yawn, Niysha woke to a very quiet evening in the middle of nowhere. Soft music filled the air alongside the songs of whatever insects (or "creatures") were active in the immediate nocturnal cycle on this landmass. Unmarked and unexplored, untainted by human hands. As her vision came into focus, a hundred things that were near enough to normal to put her at ease burned with quiet life all around, and a hundred more kept their distance because of her size and general capacity for danger.

The natural world wasn't nearly as interesting to Niysha as the impact of mortal life on the natural world. She liked cities - current or ancient - far more than pastures and forest clearings. Natural life was wonderful to see, but even so dense in a forest, surrounded on all sides by things that breathed and photosynthesized, the auras were so mild that it felt like she was totally alone. No matter how much Leos had taught her, animals weren't the best company.

Thankfully, she had In. That prevented the bad kind of lonely.

It took a herculean effort to get out of the... camping... thing that In had set up. Hammock. Took Niysha a second to remember that one. It was a word she basically hadn't ever used, considering most of the time she was sleeping somewhere that wasn't a bed, a less-dignified word fit better. "Pile," maybe. This wasn't un-cozy, though, and she'd certainly slept like the dead.

In was still up and active. It wasn't really possible to tell how many fish she'd caught, considering the cooler beside her was closed and fish weren't really alive enough to have a distinct aura. Niysha wandered across the clearing barefoot, in shorts and a relaxed top, without any immediate concerns on her life. Jedi had all sorts of ideas about what meditation was like, but in this moment, Niysha knew them all to objectively be fools. Nothing was more relaxing, more centering, then waking up to the final moments of a warm day with just one person nearby.

On her way to the shore, Niysha fixed her hair and pulled her blindfold back on. She took out a second camp chair and propped it up beside In, taking a seat in the waning hours of the early evening. Her voice was better suited to this sort of fading light intimacy than it was almost any other time or place in the galaxy. Soft and warm, with a subtle rasp that sounded a little like she was a talking fireplace. "Catch anything interesting yet?"

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

It was hard to not be distracted by Niysha's approach. The knowledge that she was blind*, but grace with which she stepped. It wasn't consistent, and there were times you could get a better idea of how things worked. Niysha stepped around a root, but lost her footing slightly on a rock. She turned her face to catch a breeze before it arrived, but the open-and-devoid-of-fish cooler beside her was full of mysteries. How Niysha saw the world, physically and emotionally, was endlessly fascinating. "Barely a nibble." The Pantoran woman confessed sheepishly. "Whatever fish are in that lake, they don't want my bait. And I'm not going in after them."

She took a moment to appreciate her partner's figure. The physicality of her, sure, but also the poise. The silent composure that sat like a thin sheen of ice over the frantic woman beneath that In had come to rely on so much. Like a graceful waterfowl, one could be entirely fooled by Niysha's quiet dignity and entirely miss the desperate paddling going on beneath the surface.

In reached into the cooler for something that wouldn't disappoint - iced tea, made from her own supply. A bottle for her, and an iced caff for Niysha, both quietly accumulated from any surplus from the previous few days. Nothing much went to waste on The Dancer. And when they departed this nowhere planet and this moment in time, there'd be nothing left to mark their passage but the echo of her engines and the imprint of the landers. Both would fade quickly. "You were out like a light." In observed affectionately. "Must've needed it. I hope my thinking too hard about budgets didn't wake you."

It was sometimes hard to tell how much insight Niysha had into her mind. It was further hard to tell how much of this was her sight or just them coming to know each other over the past couple of months.

 

[Niysha]

"Despite how it appears sometimes, In, I can't actually hear what you think," she offered with a grin, accepting the bottle of cold coffee with gratitude. The temperature was great for cold coffee: a little warm, a little sticky, but neither to the extent that it was uncomfortable. Niysha would have preferred a slightly colder planet, of course, but In was far more cold-natured than she was, and she'd picked this one. Niysha was hardly going to be one to complain, considering how stuffy the ship had gotten.

One of the things that In had sometimes spoken of with a gasp of romance in her voice was the sight of sunlight glinting off of the water at sunrise and sunset. Niysha had seen electronic recreations of it, but those rarely did justice to the raw passion that she heard from other people describing them. Niysha understood completely, by inverse proxy. The world at sunset was beautiful in a way she'd never be able to describe to anyone else. It wasn't their minds that were insufficient, but the language they were using. No one could know what the full dozen small, furry critters currently circling the camp, chittering in their tiny lives looked like. The absolute gorgeous gradient that was a thriving forest.

In, herself, always looked amazing. She couldn't really appreciate things like muscle tone, slender limbs, or generous proportions, but Niysha saw parts of In that she could never explain to her. The fire when she had a new caper. The gentle, relaxed stream of her everyday existence. The quiet cloud of anxiety that she constantly felt the need to struggle against. All brighter than a normal person, but soft and untempered by any kind of training. Like a statue of gently packed snow, gentle at the edges but sturdy beneath the surface. Her wild emotions without a hint of malice. Joy into panic into relief in one massive, shimmering gradient of hues.

Words could never be enough.

"So. What do the budgets say?" Conversations between them came in two flavors: so gentle and chill that either of them might fall asleep at any moment, and fighting-for-their-life panicked. There had, so far, been no middle ground. "If I recall, this will be enough to cover operational costs, but we're still 'kind of hungry.'"

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

In nodded in response, mostly out of habit, taking a sip. Lemon and mint were one of her favorite combinations, though in a pinch any citrus would do. "Mhm. Until the funding from Tilon comes in full..." She explained with a faint sigh. They'd spent most of their take on algae, in the hopes of offsetting the repair costs, which had been at the expense of - a whole line of cause and effect and 'just for now' decisions trailed backwards to In buying the old ship from a second-hand salesman years ago. The paused and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Fixing the garudas was a huge get for us." In murmured. "There's still some structural damage from the... what do we want to call it? Hyperdrop event, I guess." She explained. "And we were already on thin ice when that happened. If we can sell this algae for a good amount, get a broker's fee on a trade arrangement, we can still come out ahead."

Glancing up from her notes, In pondered the edge of the water. "Provided nothing goes seriously wrong in crossing the Tingel arm, we should be able to fuel up and hop on the Daragon trail, follow it down to the Azure Veil. That'll bring us close to Mando territory." She explained, glancing up at the evening stars of a sky that'd never known light pollution. "I'm pretty sure we can get a good price on Vorzyd V. It's a long way to haul these things, but..." In trailed off sighing. "The further we get from Grek, the more of a curiosity the algae is - the worth goes up. But we lose out in opportunity by not picking up contacts with the cargo bay full. Vorzyd V is full of rich morons, and it's in free space. Less customs and inspection." In explained. "Far enough away to bait the hook for somebody else. Replenish our parts, refuel. Get back to normal business."

In passed the datapad she'd been working on over to Niysha. Estimations, potential ports-of-call where they might be able to sell, fuel points. Her notes were fairly comprehensive, her grasp of numbers decent enough. Selling the algae from Calimancha was an almost entirely speculative endeavor. Perhaps they'd get lucky and some socialite would buy the whole lot at a premium to bathe in. Maybe they wouldn't be able to sell it at all. They'd have to find out.

In paused a moment and gave Niysha a faint smile. Leaning over on her chair, she invaded Niysha's space the slightest bit. "Checkin in. Still interested in staying aboard, crewman Niysha ?" In asked curiously, her eyes half-lidded and framing a flirtateous tone.

 

[Niysha]

When she grabbed the datapad from In, Niysha reflexively tapped the top right of the screen to activate the "Miraluka mode" app, skewing the electrical signals to make for a clearer image. It'd mess up the color balance, of course, but that's why it was one button press. As she poured over the data, she tried very hard to keep her sign of mild exasperation as quiet as possible.

"In, for the twentieth time," she reassured her partner, again. "You're not going to be losing me just because you're in a dry spell. Staying with you has massively improved both my ability to move around the galaxy and my savings. I know to you it seems like we're floundering, but I've had two meals a day every day for a month now, none of them were nutrient paste, and I don't sleep in the same cabin as five other people."

She tapped the Miraluka app again, then passed In's datapad back. "There's no reason to believe I'll need to 'leave' any time soon. No, I can't really think of the Dancer as 'home,' but that's not your fault or its." With a neutral shrug, Niysha leaned back in her chair and popped open the bottle of coffee, taking a long sip before returning it to the sand. "It's a personal experience thing. I don't even know what 'home' looks like. If I found it I wouldn't know, and if I did know, then I wouldn't know what to do with that information."

Once more, she turned to physically face In. By now, the Pantoran had likely grocked that it was a conscious effort to improve communication with sighted species. Niysha didn't even know of it "brought her discomfort;" it was autonomic after a whole life spent without meeting another of her kind in anything other than passing. "For the foreseeable future, Captain Rhan, I'm here. And we both know that I can foresee quite a bit of future."

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

Affirming, but a much more serious answer than In had intended with her flirty comment. Niysha was a fairly serious person, though. Perhaps she should have been more outright. It was nice to hear regardless. If Niysha wanted to leave, they likely wouldn't be shacked up quite so intensely. In wasn't sure about the nuances of Miralukan culture, but Niysha napping in a hammock without her blindfold struck In as a display of comfort, a degree of security. Intimate.

"I know you're not, Frizz." In promised gently, setting the pad aside. Without her datapad, she had nothing to keep her hands busy. In stepped out of her chair and behind Niysha's, putting her hand on the anxious sithling's shoulders. "Sorry for not being more clear. I wasn't looking for reassurance. Not really, anyway." In promised, apologizing with a light shoulder rub. "Of all the places you'd want to go, I seriously doubt Vorzyd-frickin-V is anywhere on the list, and I can flatter myself in thinking that you're as happy with what we have here as I am." One could only imagine how all the glitz and glamour must lose some allure for a blind woman who by all accounts appreciated a simple lifestyle the same way In herself did. "If only because I'm in a good mood."

"I'm thinking... roast veggies on rice, for dinner." In pondered aloud as she administered a slow shoulder rub. "We still have some of that sauce from the other night. It'll go good on top. We can sleep under the stars and get back underway in the morning. Until then, though -" The Pantoran leaned down and grinned. "The night is young. There's cider in the cooler. We find ourselves in a world of possibility. And ferrets."

 

[Niysha]

Leaning back, Niysha allowed her partner a moment with her shoulders. Her tone was deadly serious when she replied. "Cider and ferrets is a dangerous combination, Captain." She managed to keep her face dour for all of about five seconds before cracking a grin and letting out a quiet giggle. "A night on-planet is probably good for us anyway. Too much time in a life-support environment is unhealthy." For starters, it compromised the immune system. Niysha was also quite sure that life-support air was "dead" in some way, removed from the Force in some quiet way. But In had proven resistant to that in the past.

"Roast veggies on rice, that sauce from the other night..." Niysha repeated, then cocked her head to one side. Her hair flopped in a great, bouncy wave, a bit like a dry bush. With one hand, she reached for her own datapad and tapped it twice to bring up a scanner app. "I might be able to find some kind of native fruit that'd go well-"

The Miraluka stopped dead in her tracks, then stood in one powerful, sudden movement and turned on In with the brightest smile she'd shown in days. "We're on this planet for a while, we have a nice night ahead of us... but tomorrow, do-you-want-to-go-plant-shopping?!" Her tone was still quiet, but much, much more energetic than usual. "We lost three pots during the jump. The empty spaces have been kind of sad, and there are so very, very many plants here. Surely one or two of them are edible enough to fit in the hydro racks."

That. That was their purpose here. It was so obvious. Niysha gave a thrilled little grin and didn't quite bounce in place.

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

"Of course!" In blurted aloud without thought, eyes lighting up with excitement. Why hadn't she considered it already? Numbers, figures,routes and schemes - how could she have forgotten about the soul of The Dancer in Green? Picking a perfect plant or three didn't just sound like a good day, it sounded like a great day. Only the thought of further interrupting the evening of the largely-nocturnal weasels kept her from dragging her blind partner off into the woods right this moment in search of something new and exciting to add to their garden.

Their garden. If this arrangement lasted, these would be the first pieces they'd arrived at by consensus. That was kind of sweet, kind of scary. Most passengers liked In's plants, but Niysha had been the first to express excitement about them, to mourn the loss of the ones who'd been roasted by the hyperdrop, and actively go out of her way to better the collection.

"We've been using a lot of berries lately - if at all possible, I'd like to find a bush or shrub with small, eager fruit like that." In explained excitedly. "Preferably hardier. I've heard there are small fruits that have been used in antiquated caff synthesis - I'd love to get something like that for you." She added. After all, In grew her own tea. Why shouldn't her partner get the same treatment? "We might need more than one to keep up with consumption, but that's fine. We can supplement as needed."

"There are a lot of conifers here, too." In added thoughtfully. "They're fantastic at mitigating radiation, but they tend to start consuming more O2 than they produce when things get dicey. Double-sided sword, there. But they smell so nice."

The Pantoran sighed wistfully, nursing her lemonmint tea.

 

[Niysha]

There were a few times that Niysha had seen In legitimately excited, but one of the most reliable was when she was talking about plants. The main reason Niysha hadn't brought up that In might enjoy a career as a botanist on Coruscant or Tython or something to that effect was that she was just too in love with travel. Despite her love of plants, she'd be completely insane within a month planetside, guaranteed. Still, it was fine to keep her career and her passions distinctly separated; turning what you love into a job was the fastest way to kill any hint of enjoyment you got from it.

As In listed potential candidates, Niysha presented a thinking pose, one hand gently grasping her chin while the opposite arm held her elbow. "We have a couple of berries already, though I suppose a new kind wouldn't be a terrible idea," she replied thoughtfully. "My first thought was that anything that turns into caff would run into supply issues, but it would be unhealthy hubris to consider them the main source for the whole ship. I wouldn't be lying if I said I wasn't interested in tasting a berry-based caff."

She thought for a moment, then ammended. "Organic. I think that's the term." The Miraluka nodded slightly, then returned to her seat and patted towards In's. "We'll have to look for something with high caffiene content tomorrow, but we should be on the lookout for more candidates than just that. We might find something that just smells nice... like a conifer."

To be totally frank, though, the ship smelled nice enough on its own that just being in a natural planet with natural air almost smelled worse than being on the Dancer. In was kind of a magician when it came to creating environments. Again, another indication that she definitely missed her calling as a career botanist, and another reminder that her soul lived in the stars.

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

In moved her chair in front of Niysha's, slightly diagonaled so she could sit with her legs across the Miralukan's lap. In settled in comfortably, sipping her iced tea. If it got too cold for Niysha, they could drape a blanket over their entwined legs. They had before.
"Caff was initially formed to emulate a seed-based beverage." In admitted. "But there are berries that can provide a similar or equivalent kick of caffeine. Off of the top of my head, kola berries." She explaned thoughtfully. "Now, our chances of finding the ideal plant on this planet, within walking distance of where we landed? Basically nil. But I think it could be a very fun excuse for a hike. And I'd love to take a hike." In had cultivated her garden to meet her own needs as a traveller - the herbs she liked, the berries she enjoyed and the fruits needed to balance her diet, enough tea bushes to keep her relatively comfortable. She wasn't a big caff drinker, but... Niysha was. And Niysha wasn't going anywhere. Adjusting her garden to accomodate the needs of her... crew? Partner? Girlfiend?
That just felt like good practice. She'd already done that in a dozen little ways, marking hydrotrays with electronic labels so that Niysha could see them, making space for her things so Niysha could have a dedicated space to meditate, making sure the sauces and drinks and flavors she liked were stocked up on alongside the things In liked. This felt like a logical next step.
"If we need to buy a couple more trays and pots to accomodate your chemical needs..." In trailed off, beaming. She was always happy to have an excuse to buy more equipment.

 

[Niysha]

Deep consideration was easier to notice when you had eyes to look at. Instead of frowning or furrowing her brow, Niysha's "deep in thought" face looked very similar to most of her other faces, only with less of her resting "slight smile" and more of her resting "slight frown." Neither more than a few degrees off of 180. Of all the things for In to adjust to, that one was probably either the trickiest, or the one that she'd done first.

"My gut reflex is to tell you not to worry about accommodating me, because I'm more comfortable than I've been in literal years," the moody Miraluka replied, then bobbed her head to one side in acknowledgement. "Which I recognize isn't the point. You're attempting an act of care, a show that this is a place where I belong. I appreciate that."

Finding the words to actually discuss this was harder than she'd imagined. She took another sip from her caff canteen and leaned her head back, her face pointed towards the stars and laid on a frizzy mop of a pillow. What actually would make her feel more at home? Obviously she'd love to try organic caff. That would be far, far preferable to the dried, powdery stuff.

Hmm. Her jaw set.

"I think one or two pots for the occasional treat would be enough," she assured In after a minute, turning her head back down to face her. "There are other ways to make the ship more comfortable that don't necessitate refurbishing entire portions of the Dancer, and no matter how many bushes or trees or whatever caff grows on we put in, we'd need a whole plantation to keep up with how much I drink."

So probably flowers or fruit, then. Something functional. In had some very pretty plants, but just about all of them had a job on the ship. They were - functionally - crew. Most provided food, a couple provided medicine, and all of them were atmo techs.

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

Effortless beauty. In had considered trying to describe to Niysha the appeal - the way she pursed her lips slightly when she thought, the way her hair caught the light, the slight cupping of her chin when she was deep in thought. In wasn't a poet, though. Trying usually resulted in her sounding like a maniac, at least by her own estimation. And that was fine. It was alright to appreciate something without having to define it. Space was full of things In loved to look at but didn't understand.

"I'm glad we started buying nicer caff for the machine." In added thoughtfully, leaning back in her camping chair with her hands folded over her abdomen. "It tastes a little nicer. Smells way better." She snickered. While she might have a cup once in awhile, it was mostly in a medicinal capacity - she vastly preferred tea. Caff was something she kept around for guests. Caff was now something she kept around for her partner. And if she was going to make it a staple of her living space, In insisted on a degree of quality. "If that was just the 'better than worst' kind, I'm looking forward to what you bring home when we run through it. Good caff might actually be a decent argument for my morning drink."

Laying her head back, In closed her eyes to take in the world around her. Soft music playing, wind in the conifers, the rustling of unhappy weasels in the twilight brush, the crackling of the campfire. This was... nice. A kind of nice she could get used to. "Once we find a buyer for that algae, let's work on making our way back towards Iokaido?" She proposed idly. "We still have that map to follow. The big payout on your little statues has me excited at the possibilities.

 

[Niysha]

"I've had the worst kind of caff very, very frequently," Niysha replied without sipping her caff canteen in any manner either meaningful or indicative. "Passenger freighters and whatever spacer crews were willing to pay for one more soul to the next port. They don't exactly have the highest standards. Chemical slurry with brown coloring and a hint of artificial flavoring to make it taste a little like you think it should taste."

A moment of thought took Niysha to a proper analogy. "Imagine if someone tried to recreate the flavor of black tea without ever using a leaf. Just the chemicals it was comprised of without the actual plant at any level. That's a little like what the absolute cheapest caff is like." She held up her canteen and shook it a little, now very indicative. "This is a marked improvement. There's the faintest spark of that smooth flavor you get on the fancy core worlds, but it's still mostly chemicals and flavorings. Brown energy juice that might at one point have had the idea of an organic ancestor."

She shrugged, leaned back again, and let out a quiet sigh. Her fingers tugged absently at In's toes in her lap. "If we're ever on Coruscant or Nabboo or something, I'll take you buy a cafe. I ran by one of them once, and the smell almost made me trip. I can almost remember it." Street kid life was years behind Niysha now. Space trash was the new style, and it wasn't any more likely to be able to take her to one of the shiny, pretty planets than dirt and dumpster diving was.

Right. Plans. She focused in. Obviously they needed to get rid of their current shipment before they could find something else or move on to exploration. Before any of that, though, she'd need to actually open the tube. It was still in her room, so she couldn't exactly indicate it, but Niysha could still bring up the research she'd been doing. Her datapad was across the clearing, in her bag, by the hammock she'd fallen asleep in.

Reaching her hand out, for what might've been the first time, Niysha casually used the Force in full view of In. Simple telekinesis, just to float her datapad over. That it had taken her being here, in the middle of nowhere, on a planet that no one had ever been on and would never know they were even here. That many layers of obscurity, just for her to rip off the bandage of "casual magic." As if nothing had happened, she tapped the screen to wake it up and handed it to In.

"This is a few of the patterns I've been working through," she explained, indicating to the six or so holonet pages she'd brought up regarding ancient Sith puzzles, Sith language dialects, eons and eras of Sith history, and a carbon dating app. "It's still not being cooperative, but I'm patient, and we've still got work lined up."

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

Seeing Niysha just casually break what In had figured to be ironclad rules of existence was still...novel. For whatever reason, the Galaxy had seen fit to fill her life with all sorts of impossible things recently. In was still reeling from some of it. Niysha floating a datapad over to her was one on the pile, but far from the biggest thing on that pile. As Niysha spoke, In went through the pad. She didn't understand most of it. Heck, she damn near didn't understand any of it. But she dutifully did her best to process it. Though, honestly? In would have dutifully studied tax codes in binary if she was doing it while Niysha casually danced her fingers on her skin.

She had it bad.

"Can we find you more material?" The Pantoran woman asked curiously, raising her eyebrows. "Reference materials, I mean. Things you can use to help you decipher the cryptex, maybe be useful in the future?" In leaned forward to lay the datapad on Niysha's legs, a feat which required a little stretching. "The statues were a big sell for us. I don't mind investing in whatever you need for more of that. As, like, a crew expense?" She explained with an audible smile. "Not that I want to start a museum or anything, but if helping you find more weird little ancient stuffs means big paydays, that's a fantastic credit-for-weight calculation."

 

[Niysha]

Hmm. Profit margins were hard to manage off of freelance tomb-raiding, especially consistent profit margins. Niysha considered for a moment or two, mulling over her coffee and the sounds of the forest going to sleep (and waking up, in many cases). "I don't know if I can promise any kind of regularity on paydays like that. Finding something intact enough to draw interest is hard enough without adding the complication of lining up buyers." There was a reason that Niysha had spent a substantial portion of the last few years living out of charter freighters and eating nutrient paste.

Of course, "but."

"But I can probably find something. There are a few planets that haven't been completely ransacked yet. Especially out here, in wild space." Niysha gave a slow nod and turned her attention back to In, managing something approaching a casual, calm smile. "I still think our best method to put meals on the table is cargo work. It's consistent and now that you have a larger crew, you can reliably handle more dangerous runs." They still hadn't run across pirates yet, but whereas In likely had to genuinely worry about being boarded, Niysha was solidly confident that she could best a few raiders.

"As for the cryptex, it's going to be a bit more long-term, I think," the Miraluka admitted. "I've been swinging at it regularly, but it won't cave. There's not even any guarantee that whatever's on the other end of that map has monetary worth." Archaeological worth, on the other hand, was at least slightly more reliable.

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

"Then it seems like we have ourselves a plan of action." In chirped, rather pleased with how the night'd gone - even if it hadn't produced any fish. Oh well. The Pantoran woman stifled a yawn and threw her full lanky frame behind it once she failed. Arms stretched, legs stretch, everything tensed until it quivered and left her in a puddle once it was no longer. A combination of the cool night air and cozy atmosphere had her thoroughly sedated.

"Once we offload the algae, I'll look for some contracts." In murmured thoughtfully, her eyes half-lidded as she sank into her chair. "It won't take long, I don't think. Who doesn't want to be years younger? It's pretty neat." A quiet chuckle, a thoughtful gaze out over the lake. A glance at the glittering eyes of curious but fearful weasels at the periphery. "Don't think I'm going to make it a regular run, though. Grek is too far out in nowhere. I'd prefer to stick to slightly less wild space unless I have good reason to."

A lazy smile. Comfortable. Sedate. Moisturized. In her lane. Thriving. "Think I'll take a nap before we worry about dinner." She decided. "You can keep the weasels company while I dream about all the fantastic finds we'll rouse up tomorrow." The Pantoran woman stood and leaned down for a warm kiss before staggering over to the hammock for her own turn at dozing. "Join me if you dare!" She called over her shoulder.

Niysha

 

[Niysha]

One thing Niysha definitely wasn't accustomed to yet was In's predisposition towards physical affection. She'd honestly never really even had a relationship at all, if that's what this was. Forget knowing how to handle a partner, she didn't even know how to handle being physically touched. Fortunately her face remained calm and impassive, a carved stone of soft smile and vague, eyeless expressions. "Sleep well. I'll get you up in an hour or two."

Without In, the night was calm and quiet. Niysha spent her time studying for an hour or so with a quiet, restful tune playing from her datapad, then the next in meditation. The natural world might not have been her native territory, but it was still a useful place to be if one wanted to get in touch with base needs and raw passions. The passions of weasels, not so much, but she took what she could get.

After an hour or two, Niysha wandered over to gently shake In awake. The first thing that greeted her when she woke up was Niysha's gentle smile. The second was a tankard of water and the sound of a soft, homey chiptune soundtrack playing from the fire nearby. "Evening," she greeted quietly. "I think it might be just about dinner time."

In Rhan

 

[In Rhan]

In awoke with a drowsy smile and a nod. After a moment to appreciate the scenery, her growling stomach impelled her upwards - her failure to acquire piscatorial stock meant a vegetarian dinner, but she was fine with that. Maybe she'd try again tomorrow and have better luck. The sea (Or the lake in this case) was a notoriously fickle mistress.

---

The next day, however, was much less relaxed. They had plants to find! In took new acquisitons to her collection quite seriously, and that meant that Niysha got to see the eager botanist that might've been. In was up at the crack of dawn with a high-carb breakfast ready, and with the rising of the sun she was leading Niysha out the door. Khakis, a shirt with a leaf on it, a loaded tool belt, and even her glasses for once - In was taking no chances that she might miss something cool. With a bag loaded down with water, snacks, and testing equipment, In led Niysha off into the forest.

Her datapad kept stock of where they were in relation to the ship, and a small radio on In's waist played enough music to keep the weasels at bay. That said, they made surprisingly slow progress. This planet was largely uncharted and terminally unimportant, which meant that only the most truly profound of nerds would find what it had to offer all that exciting - matters like interesting fern developments, or the relatively carbon-heavy nature of the forest substrate. Things took awhile to break down here. There weren't a lot of fungus, and In talked for an hour straight about why that was unusual and cool.

 

[Niysha]

Two rest stops had helped Niysha develop an actual wardrobe now that she had at least a semi-permanent room of her own. That wardrobe was mostly cozy home stuff and casual public stuff, and hadn't yet expanded to include hiking gear. She did have some shorts and comfy boots, but that was about it. More importantly, she was always prepared to go diving into ancient, forgotten rock piles potentially full of dangers older than most government bodies. Niysha's standard outdoor kit included rappelling gear, ration packs, her lightsaber, and at least one civilian-grade mining charge. Most of that stuff wasn't important today, but she did leave the bomb behind. Instead, her whole backpack was full of empty hydro units and a couple of shovels.

This was the first time Niysha had actually been on a botanical adventure with In, which meant that she was learning a lot about mushrooms and soil content and decomposition and fertility. Most of it was... more than a little over her head. Fortunately, she had her own way of identifying things. Yes, datapad programs absolutely helped - in fact, they were probably vital - but for Niysha, there was a much easier way of determining which plants were viable candidates.

Niysha's gift was particularly well-suited to finding things when she didn't quite know what to look for. Things that were important shone a bit brighter, had a lightly clearer outline. And while she occasionally got fascinated by some kind of rodent or bird curiously hiding at the edges of In's vision, she made sure to keep looking for something that had an air of "destiny" to it. Living in detective mode with quest markers turned on sometimes had much more modest benefits.

In Rhan