Bad Day

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He paused for a second. "Yeaaaah."

Kurt dragged out the word, reaching up and scratching the back of his head.

"Let's just say I fell into it." He probably could have avoided it if he hadn't been moping on that coffee table, but...well not wasn't really the time to explain that to Jamie or try to excuse the behaviour, it was easier just to gloss over the fact. He ran his fingers through his hair, as if doing so would somehow make the smell go away. "It got in my hair."

He gave her a small smile.

Maybe pretending to be clumsy was better for now, at least until...he told her the truth. A brief frown flashed across his face, his hand slowly withdrawing from his hair before he offered her another smile. His fingers tapped the top of the menu she was holding.

"I'll take a shower when we get back." He promised. "For now I think it's kind of pleasant. Like a cologne."

The Courier smirked.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A few puffs of air blew through her nose in the form of a laugh, her cheeks puffing as a smile formed.

"You're a doofus." She commented, before shaking her head in feigned disappointment. "It is not like a cologne. But it does mat your hair quite nicely, if that's what you were going for."

Her face then fell behind the menu as she lifted it up, looking through some of what was available. A low resonating Hmmmm came with the notion to order the Vege-Steak with a side of Brekka beets and corn. The more she contemplated the thought the better it sounded. Nearly losing herself in the thought of tasting the food she had already made up her mind without even glancing over to the rest of the items. The blonde promptly closed the menu with a snap of her fingers and set it beside her on the table.

"So what's this about swoop racing you mentioned in your messages?" She had been wondering what had gotten into him that he wanted to try out another form of racing that was arguably just as dangerous as pod racing. "I thought you said you were done with all of that? Out of the racing business? Change of heart?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh." He'd completely forgotten about that.

The idea had sort of...fallen away when Kaile had told him about her...problem, but...well he had really meant it at the time. He frowned for a moment, fingers jittering against the side of the table. What was he supposed to say? The truth he supposed. He frowned for a moment more and then smiled a bit, as if he was trying to recall some sort of memory.

"I was reading some message board stuff while waiting for Kaile one day." Yes, best to be honest. "They were talking about me, my days in racing."

Kurt wasn't sure if Jamie ever actually got a grasp on just how famous he'd been at one point, though he supposed when her father had known him that had likely sunk in a little bit. "How...good I was."

He sounded a bit egotistical.

"A few of them said Pod-racing was easy compared to swoop racing because in Pods there's no regulations. All you need to do is be a better engineer." It was true. Everyone designed their own engines, everyone made their own pods, everyone made their own way of cheating. "Swoop racing is more regulated, controlled. Everything has to be the same, there's standards and referees. So I just thought..."

Kurt trailed off, slightly embarrassed by his own vanity.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"You just thought you'd like to prove that you're the best at everything." She said, finishing the statement for him.

It was meant as both joke and jab towards his ego. He'd gotten the idea from some bunch of idiots on the HoloNet poking fun at him for being supposedly the best when he was pod-racing, claiming a similar spot required more skill than he possessed.

If that's not a perfect example of male chest beating! So childish!

"Does it bother you that they were talking about pod-racing being easier? Enough to learn a whole different sport simply to prove them wrong?"

She already knew his answer, that he would defend the idea and turn his reasoning into something less juvenile in order to make it sound like he was doing something to challenge himself, rather than to make a point. Jamie simply shook her head at him, the real million credit question following.

"Are you going to do it?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Pod-racing is different." He told her. "They were right."

Kurt seemed to slump slightly in admitting that. "It's easier in some ways...harder than others. In pod-racing every single pod is different. Different engines, cab, even ties sometimes. Not to mention that there's copious amount of cheating. Some guys use oil, flamethrowners, hell one time they even use proton torpedos."

As long as you didn't get caught nobody cared.

"They were right." He shrugged. "It just eats at me. I might be the best pod-racer, probably not anymore, but I was good. I know that, but it's just...well I don't know. The issue is I do feel like I need to prove something. It wasn't the pod. It wasn't that I cheat. It was me."

Maybe that would surprise Jamie. He didn't try to explain it away, he didn't try to come up with an excuse, he simply told the truth. Perhaps it was a sign of his growing maturity, or perhaps it was just his everlasting need to be honest with her, a need that was currently being fought by the grand secret that he still had to tell her.

He shrugged. "I don't have the money, or the connections."

It was clear that he wanted to, but...well reality always took over.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie sat up straight. The jokes fell away. She was genuinely surprised at how serious he was, and how seemingly depressed it made him to think about the fact that he did have something to prove, at least to himself, possibly by extension to her, though she hardly cared much at all about racing, be it pod or swoop. Still the very fact that she was with him maybe was enough for him to somehow believe he needed to prove he was the best at something to her. Whatever it was, regardless, the seriousness of his voice and tone was enough to give her pause.

"You really think so?" Her eyes shifted, head dipping down to force him to look at her in return. "You actually want to get back into racing?"

The girl hardly could understand the draw of it. It was just piloting a tin can at dangerously high speeds where at any moment death could pull your number and that was it. Unfortunately for her she knew she had almost no business criticizing him for what he wanted to do when her latest hobbies included spending weeks on Dxun and carrying one the most deadly weapons the galaxy had ever known in the palm of her hand on a regular basis. She didn't like it, but she couldn't fault him for it.

Before she had an opportunity to say anything further the waitress arrived at their table and took their drink orders. Jamie ordered a simple water and waited for Kurt to relay his request to the woman before she wandered off. While he had been speaking with the woman she had fished out her datapad from her bag on the floor beside her, glancing over the screen for a few seconds before setting it aside again. "How much does something like that cost to get into?" She had no idea what kind of price tag this came with. Jamie had never even watched a race before.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He shrugged his shoulders. "At least about a hundred thousand credits."

That pricetag was more than he had paid for The Messa, but there was a reason for it.

"You have to pay for the Swoop Bike, extra parts, maintenance...though I guess I could do that on my own. Then you have to register for the races and find a way to actually get to all of them." The Circuit stretched across half the galaxy, from Tatooine to Manaan and back towards Nar Shaddaa again. There were two dozen planets that held annual swoop races and one had to fly in all of them in order to qualify for the biggest of them all. "It's a lot of money."

He reached across the table and took Jamie's hand, offering her a genuine smile.

"It was just a passing fancy." It really was. Kurt would have loved to do it, he would have enjoyed winning those races, working on the swoop, gaining sponsors and doing everything that came along with it...but he knew it was a bit farfetched. Money like that didn't fall from the sky, and there was no way he would take a hand out from someone else. That just wasn't who he was, wasn't what he wanted to do either.

"Let's just enjoy dinner." That was really all he wanted to do, have fun with Jamie while he could. He squeezed her hand. "You can tell me a little more about Dxun."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I see." She could have borrowed around half that from her family without so much as a question being asked, but one hundred thousand credits would hardly go unanswered for. Her family had copious amounts of wealth and resources at their disposal, but that wasn't infinite, nor was swoop racing something Jamie knew so much about that she could confidently withdraw that amount of money for on a whim, as much as she wanted to help Kurt with that dream. But perhaps there was another way. It would obviously take longer to acquire the funds, but the work she was doing now, between the crown back home, and working for the SIS, if she put away the bulk of the funds from those jobs she could perhaps half enough inside of a year to pay off the other half of the money he would need to get started, even if he didn't want it to begin with.

"That's quite a startup fee. I'm guessing most racers are sponsored then?"

It only made sense. Personal wealth was one thing, but to have the continual funds to provide for all of that seemed steep, even for well off competitors. "Maybe one day, not too far from now, you can give it a try."

The waitress returned shortly with drinks in hand, looking to take the two guests orders. She looked over to Kurt for his cue. She'd already known what she wanted five seconds into peering at the menu.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Yeah most of them have sponsors." He told her before the waitress came. "Galactic Corporations, their homeworlds, that stuff."

Kurt told the waitress his order, a simple one really, just a shredded nerf steak sandwich. He used to eat something similar back home on Tatooine, though that had mostly used Bantha meat. The topic of conversation had made him somewhat nostalgic, something he couldn't quite help. When Jamie had finished placing her order and the Waittress wandered away again Kurt returned to what they were talking about, giving Jamie another smile.

"Maybe." He told her with a smile.

He certainly would have like to. Kurt knew, or rather, he was confident that he could have won. The Courier wasn't just a good pod-racer, but he had been one of the best pilots in the Republic Navy. No matter the ship, no matter what he was flying, he was good. For some reason he just wanted to prove that.

"Anyway." Enough about him. "Tell me about Dxun and Bastion."

He really was curious. "And about your new Master."

Kurt really didn't know a lot about just who Jamie was spending her time with now, something he was intensely curious about.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie would keep that idea tucked away in her mind for now. Perhaps she could help figure something out to help him achieve what he was looking to do in the nearish future. For now she dropped the subject in exchange to answer his questions about her that he seemed rather interested in. Of course he had just asked about three very expansive subjects, none of which could be entirely covered over lunch.

"Dxun, Bastion, or Aela. Which one do you want to know about? I can't possibly give even the cliff notes version of the three that quickly. Besides, we have plenty of time to talk."

It wasn't like she had a timetable to be back on board a ship or anything. She could spend hours talking about everything that happened. Bastion however was the least exciting discussion for her. She knew that topic would raise Kurt's concern far more than Dxun would, even if he believed that expedition to be the more frightening of the two she had relayed to him. Bastion was nothing short of a near death disaster. And even though the scar was relatively small, it was ever present on the right side of her stomach, where Villa had seen to stabbing her quite violently.

"They are all pretty long stories."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He nodded. It had been quite a bit since the two of them had been together, and...well there was a lot to tell for both of them. Kurt had definitely lived the less exciting for the last little few weeks. He smiled eventually and relented.

"Alright." He leaned back slightly.

A part of him really did want to know everything, and the urgency he felt...well she wouldn't know why. He loved her, he really did. He loved hearing her talk, he loved hearing her laugh, he loved seeing her smile. He wanted to know everything she had done, he wanted to know what had happened to her and what decisions she had made simply because he knew that he might never get a chance to after he told her the truth. He couldn't help it.

He just wanted to hear everything. "Why don't you start with your Master then?"

That was about as good as place as any. The more he knew about this Aela person the more he knew that Jamie would be in safe hands when he was...he frowned for a split second. Stay positive. She hasn't left yet.

The thought crossed his mind as his hand under the table scrunched into a fist.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Okay." She said with a quick nod. "The beginning is actually sort of embarrassing."

As was usual for Jamie Pyne.

"When I got to Sullust, I spent a bit of time in the archives and temple simply reading, trying to understand whatever it was I could of the Jedi, or, at least the New Jedi Order."

Taking a sip from the frosted glass of ice water she licked her lips, setting the cup back down and pulling her hand away from the cold drink. "I ended up sitting down at a small table by myself. I had just opened the first page to this book about ancient Jedi when all of a sudden this person ran straight into me." She laughed as she recalled the incident. "Papers were everywhere, the table was knocked over, as was I and the chair even broke!" As she spoke several more patrons came through, wandering past both Jamie and Kurt with smiles on their faces, happily enjoying their vacation, sitting down at a table just a few feet away. "As it turned out, that was Aela, the Jedi that the other Jedi Master had mentioned to me about meeting when I had first arrived on Sullust. It was quite a strange coincidence."

It sounded as though the patrons sitting at the other table may have had a bit too much alcohol before deciding to get a bite, their slurred speech being a rather clear indicator of such.

"She was on her way to Bastion, as a matter of fact, so those two stories sort of roll into one at the end. After I left Cartao, I sort of decided I didn't want to go back. It just wasn't right I guess. Keira had so many obligations and commitments that I was just a burden. I can't fault her, but that's why I ended up on Sullust. Aela offered to teach me, which as I came to find out, she hadn't ever done before. So I was kind of the first she was willing to take on. I'm not entirely sure if that's a blessing or a curse. But it has worked out alright so far."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh." He said nodding. That was fairly interesting. He supposed that it was 'the force' that guided these events and lead Jamie to Aela, though what that actually entailed he had no idea. He was pretty sure that the galaxy more so ran on luck than anything else, and from what he could tell Jamie was actually pretty lucky. He nodded along as she continued to explain to him a little more, smiling at her as a bit of embarrassment crossed her face.

"What does she do?" He knew that the Jedi had different obligations, though he also knew already that Aela worked with the SIS. "Do you like her? Has she taught you much...new stuff about the force?"

It was clear that he was intensely curious. "Is she going to keep dragging you to the most dangerous places in the entire galaxy?"

He kind of sneaked that last one in.

Dxun and Bastion were both planets that weren't exactly known for their friendliness. He didn't want to say it outright, but Kurt was rather scared that Jamie would end up telling him at the end of this trip that she was heading to Panatha to try and fight the Sith Lord that was sitting there. That thought terrified him more than anything else really. Jamie was strong, but...well a good boyfriend was supposed to worry, and Kurt was doing that in droves lately.

"Do I have to get you a tracking anklet?" His lips split into a smile, though his voice wasn't entirely joking.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Of course I like her, silly! I wouldn't blindly follow someone I disliked around the galaxy for so long."

Jamie was hardly the brightest star in the sky, but she knew enough not to follow people that gave her bad vibes or cause for distrust. Aela had been both welcoming and open about what her expectations were for her Padawan, and eager to help where needed. For that she had earned all of her student's respect. "But to answer your question, she's a Jedi Marshall and SIS agent. She takes jobs that are too dangerous or high stakes for others. She also takes the lead of a modest military force within the Alliance. On Bastion I met a handful of them."

They had been exceptionally trained, well armed and dangerous as hell. "They didn't do much talking, and followed her without question. Incredibly loyal lot."

She'd omit the part of them being former Sith, out of fear of worrying Kurt needlessly.

"So far she has taught me quite a bit, and I suppose I will keep learning more, so long as she'll have me, that is."

As a joke the blonde lifted her left leg, using her right foot to remove her shoe and placed it atop Kurt's lap. "Go right ahead, if it makes you feel better." She bit her tongue to try and refrain from laughing while her toes dug into his thigh in an attempt to tickle him.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He jumped slightly, though quickly stopped himself and instead went to grab her foot. His fingers latched around it in a gentle, almost massaging touch. He looked up at her and smiled. "Maybe I will, though unfortunately I don't really carry one around with me."

Despite her omitting the part about Aela's soldiers being former Sith she had stilled admitted to some facts that he rather didn't like.

Mostly it was the 'more dangerous' part that caught Kurt's attention. Jamie could handle herself well enough, she could take on most threats and if she was getting more training then she was probably already tougher than Kurt could ever hope to be, but he still worried about the what ifs. There were dangerous things out there in the galaxy, Sith, Rancors, cultists...dozens of things that could lead to Jamie getting hurt or worse. He frowned for a moment as his fingers gently grazed over the skin on the top of her foot.

The action wasn't meant to tickle her, but that might well be the effect.

"That's good I guess." Loyal soldiers was at least a sign that he liked.

Kurt knew a thing or two about commanding officers, mostly because he'd never had a good one. The Courier knew well that if these soldiers followed Aela without question then they either feared or respected her, and given the way Jamie talked about her it was far more likely to be the latter. That inspired him with a little bit of confidence in the situation. "You haven't got hurt have you?"

Came the question that Jamie had likely been dreading.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Her leg tensed as Kurt's fingertips rolled over the top of her skin, though luckily enough he hadn't yet the forethought to trace them beneath the arch of her foot, lest she likely yelp due to the incredibly ticklish nature of that one particular spot. An embarrassing moment that needn't be heard by others really. Even with the fabric protection provided by her sock, the touch atop her foot was enough to send small waves of sensation up her leg enough for her to tense up.

Or maybe that was also due in part to the question that followed, to which she knew she couldn't possibly lie about. She could certainly try, but not only was she especially terrible at it, but Kurt knew her well enough that even if she made the story moderately believable, he would still see right through it. So there was really no point in even attempting. Instead she simply told him the truth.

"Yes, I have, but I am still sitting here in front of you, so obviously not too badly, right?" Before he had an opportunity to scold her or give her some sour look she added the age old saying "No pain, no gain, right?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He frowned for a moment, but then nodded.

Kurt couldn't really hold it against her. He got hurt all the time doing his job, and that was just a simple Courier gig. She wanted to do bigger and better things, who was he to complain about a few scrapes she picked up along the way? So instead of saying something he just smiled, fingers still gently running across her skin until eventually he pulled his hands away so that she could put her shoe back on.

"Alright." He relented finally.

It was obvious that he wasn't pleased about it, but he'd accept it.

"Do you know what you guys will be doing next?" She had mentioned something briefly in her message but not much. "More training like Dxun? Or a mission?"

He knew very well how unpredictable the SIS could be. He and Kaile hadn't been dragged into anything big yet, but more than once they had already needed to take a side trip to drop off a package or pick up some weird cypher code. Kurt had no idea if it was the same with Aela and Jamie, but he hoped that his girlfriend had a little bit more predictability in her schedule. Though he doubted it.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I'm not entirely certain, really." As she spoke the waitress arrived with their meals, setting them down in front of both she and Kurt before smiling and walking back to check on the other patrons. "Bastion didn't go well at all, but we did what we were sent to do." Although the night they returned she could swear that she heard the voice of the director of the SIS crying himself to sleep, after having seen the expense report that Aela had filed. Three or four times the allotted budget was spent. A lot of credits.

Jamie set her foot back on to the floor and slipped her foot back where it belonged.

"I suppose it depends on what is happening when I return." There was the grim truth about the Alliance's neighbors. "If we have time, I'd like to continue training. Fate might not be kind though. The First Order has been causing trouble recently. So we might be sent that way. If not, I still have that whole situation with the terrorists on Naboo that need to be dealt with. Otherwise, training would be great."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

That brought a mix of emotion to him. He didn't like the idea of Jamie getting wrapped up with folks in the First Order. The Courier didn't know a lot about them, but he knew enough to say that they were trouble, fanatics always were.

"I saw you on the holo-news after that happened." She of course knew that he had.

"You were great." A broad smile crossed his face, showing just how genuinely he meant it. "Reminded me of some of the old holo-movies where the King or Queen gave an inspirational speech."

The comparison might have seemed rather silly, maybe even a bit childish, but for Kurt it was a compliment. He was a simple farmboy, he had no experience with Politics or speeches. That was really the best he could offer up on the subject manner, and as far as he was concerned the idea was perfectly placed as well. Those holo-movies were meant to inspire, and that was exactly what Jamie had done for the people of Naboo.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Thank you." Her words were gracious, but the tone sounded defeated. "Meaningless though, really." It wasn't that the speech was just for show, she had meant what she said, but the fact of the matter was that the protest served only to quicken the pace of the terrorist responsible for the prior acts into their next act of terror, bombing the space port shortly after that speech.

"I hadn't the chance to tell you, but shortly after I gave that speech, the one you saw on the HoloNet, the one responsible send a freighter filled with emption mines to the space port, setting them off and sending a ship with all fifteen thousand of her crew to their death, along with a few dozen more and some still unaccounted for." The expression on her face looked visibly pained at recanting the story. "So many people died, all because one person was so filled with hatred for our people. And for what? We still don't know. A three hundred thousand credit bounty has been posted for the former Republic supreme commander, Suravi Teigra."

Perhaps Kurt would know her, perhaps not. Jamie wasn't certain whether the woman's name would have rang any bells. She didn't quite know how the military operated.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]