Bunnies Need College Too

[Kurt Meyer]

Kalinda University
[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt peered around the massive open courtyard of Kalinda University, still somewhat bewildered by everything that he was seeing.

It seemed that Kalinda University...or maybe Vanir Technologies had made some sort of deal with Yum Bunnies that would allow some of the girls from the restaurant to attend the school on a sort of scholarship. Kurt wasn't really familiar with the details of the whole thing, and what he knew was second hand...second hand knowledge, coming from other students who had simply gone entirely wild at the news of what was about to happen.

What had happened of course was a massive party...courtesty of Yum Bunnies.

The whole thing was about as over the top as it could be. There were small theme park rides, Yum Bunnies Themed adult bounce houses, rows and rows of food, and of course...girls. A lot of girls. Some of them were from Kalinda themselves of course, others from the various restaurants that Yum Bunnies owned, and from what he could tell there were even a few who had shown up just for the party. The whole University was going wild, people were swarming everywhere and it was turning into a massive PR stunt for pretty much everyone involved.

Kurt was going to skip the entire thing, mostly because he was in a committed relationship and besides drinking and eating there wasn't much else he could do, but a day or so before the event he'd received a rather cryptic message.

Got to the party. ​

-Kaile​

​

It was the first thing that Kurt had gotten from Kaile since her last rather terse message. He didn't blame her for that of course, she was busy as an agent again, but this new message was...well curious. Yum Bunnies was how they had first met, way back before he'd...well done anything with himself. Now this, this was curious. So he had followed the missive, and he was now standing in the middle of everything.

Rather, he was sitting. The former Courier had perched himself on a rock, a beer in one hand and a Corellian Churro in the other, watching as his peers tried their best to chase the bunnies.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kalinda University
[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Finding Kurt wasn't difficult. Well, more of narrowing down where he was. It was a sea of faces at the Yum Bunnies event. A lot of it was familiar to her. The uniforms, the Lepi headbands, the food and the beer. She had many good memories when she was assigned to be a sleeper agent as a Yum Bunnies waitress. There had been many folk she met throughout the years. Each with their own stories, with their own woes and joys.

Always so interestin'. Always ready and willing to spend some time chit chatting or catching up on the going news. The tales that some of the true long term spacers would have could paint the mind with brilliant images of distant lands and exotic people. In this, Kaile had took to a natural shine. There wasn't much manipulating one had to do to just get them comfortable and a hot meal with plenty to drink. Folk had a tendency to do so on their own.

It had been a Yum Bunnies that Kaile had first met Kurt. He'd been so dashing. So cute. With a great butt and a devil may care attitude that shone when he saved one of Kaile's coworkers from that scuffle. What they ended up doing in the backroom of that restuarant had fulfilled a portion of her space pirate fantasies... and gotten her fired.

But what she ended up with in turn had been by far one of the sweetest and special tradeoffs the Lorrdian could ever imagine. A best friend.

So it was heartwarming to find out that Kurt still had on the bits of technology she had made for him. It made it easy for her to locate him. So when she came on strolling behind him, holding two bottles of cold beer in one hand and a bucket of spicy Yum Bunny wing, Kaile couldn't help but take a measured breath. It hurt a bit to see him sitting there alone. A little scruffier, hair a little longer. But the same ol' Kurt.

"Hey there," She called out quietly, just loud enough for the pilot to hear her voice over the ruckus of the band and the folk all around them. She had on twin braided pony tails and dark brown hair. An orange summer dress plus some sandles were enough to have her blend into the rest of the college crowd; which was exactly what she wanted.

"Reckon I could sit down and share this here bucket of wings?" even she couldn't hide the slight tremble in her voice. Nervousness and excitement all jumbled together.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

It took a few seconds for the voice to really register.

Kurt wasn't entirely sure what he had expected. Maybe a quick message from Kaile in the form of a Yum Bunny friend, maybe a package, something small, something that would just show that his friend was actually still with him. He certainly hadn't been expecting his friend herself. It took his mind a minute or two to catch up with what his eyes were seeing, what his ears had heard. For a moment his heart skipped a beat and then his face broke out into a broad smile.

The goofy grin spread across his face and a brief flashing heartbeat passed before the former Courier jumped from his perch.

Within just a few seconds Kurt closed the distance between the two of them, his feet carrying him in large leaps rather than normal steps.

His arms wrapped around her in an instant, a big bear hug. His arms were more muscular than the last time she had seen them, and he had a bit more scruff, but he was still the same Kurt that she had left back on Tatooine. His eyes nearly sparkled with joy as he embraced her, smushing the bucket of wings between them and getting sauce all over his shirt, though he didn't seem to care much at all. He pulled back for just a brief second, practically beaming. "What are you doing here?"

Kurt asked, mirth in his voice.

"Wait, no." He quickly added. "Don't tell me, I don't want you to get in trouble."

He knew how SIS things worked. Maybe she was on a mission, maybe she was here just on vacation, but either way it didn't matter. Kurt was just happy to see his friend again, that was all that mattered. "I'm so glad you're here."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

So many questions. Questions Kaile couldn't really answer. That he said to not answer only prompted a half choked chuckle. Instead Kaile chose to wrap her arms around Kurt again, wing bucket and all, burying her face against his neck. He smelled of beer and the sticky, sweet scent of Corellian Churros. And likely now they both had wing sauce on them. Not that Kaile minded much.

"I missed you so much." her voice was thick with emotion, and in that moment the Lorrdian just seemed small. Amidst the crowd, they were easy to blend in. It was rowdy and noisy as all hell, but Kaile was just happy for this.

After a few moments, she finally pulled back. Looking up at Kurt's scruffy face, she gave a half twisted smile.

"It's good to see you."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt looked as happy as could be.

It was a more than welcome surprise to have Kaile here, though he likely would have preferred something more quiet. The campus had all but exploded into a massive party, people yelling, drinking, enjoying themselves as only college students knew how. A few times Kurt could have sworn he saw a topless girl running around attempting to evade security, though it might just have been his own imagination.

Not that such an event would have been entirely out of place in the current environment. Still, it was good to see his best friend again, and the beaming smile Kurt couldn't keep off of his face was a grand testament to that fact alone. ”We should maybe go somewhere more quiet.”

The former Courier offered just as someone cried out behind him.

“GALACTIC...BEEEEEER POOOOOONG!”

Kurt twirled around for a moment, recognizing the familiar tone of voice. He smirked slightly when he saw a bright green twi’lek standing on a table holding a large mug filled with what was likely beer. Kurt couldn't help but let out a little laugh as he turned back towards Kaile.

”That's uhh.” He smiled. ”That's my roommate. “

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile's eyes went wide. She couldn't stop the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth at the sight of the Twi'lek.

"Got a new one then?" Kaile added, pulling away. Now they were in this odd mess, with both of their clothing dabbled with wing sauce and still holding food. Seeing the stains, Kaile immediately said, "Oh I'm sorreh," she cried, looking around frantically for a moment before opting to set the food and the beer down on the ground.

"I have some napkins," she added, digging through her pockets for the slips of paper. He was right, they should go somewhere more quiet, but with the ruckus going around, that would be difficult.

"here," kaile said, offering him a few of the squares so he could clean himself up.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Not by choice." He told her with a smile. "Though I don't mind him much."

College had been an expensive prospect even at the start. Kalinda University handed out grants and scholarships, many companies like Yum Bunnies did the same, but Kurt wasn't exactly...smart enough to actually get one of those. It had been Jamie who'd initially footed the bill for him attending here, then after he'd created the Meyer Drive he'd been able to divert it's creation and partial ownership to the university, thus paying for the rest of his stay at the school.

He still wasn't financially secure enough to get his own dorm room, but Arn wasn't a bad guy. The Twi'lek was intelligent as Kurt wished he was, though he had absolutely no street smarts and more than once Kurt had to save him from a sticky situation. He still liked the guy though.

Taking the napkins from Kaile he half wiped the sauce off his shirt, clearly not really caring much. "Here."

He told her as he gently nudged her towards the Campus' east.

"We'll go to the science building." It would be quiet there. "No ones gonna be there right now."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Thanks," Kaile replied, giving a half smile. Taking the napkins and following the nudge by Kurt, they headed into the university. It was a large place, a bit overwhelming if Kaile was being honest.

Although she couldn't deny. It was rather pretty.

"So this is where you came to school?" she asked, glancing over at him as he walked along beside her. Seeing him there brought a pang of remembrance in her heart; when they did this back on Bespin. Window shopping and having a picnic.

That seemed like so long ago.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

”Yeah.” Kurt said as he half turned to glance at Kaile, a smile on his face.

He felt an odd sort of pride when it came to Kalinda. Not really in the school itself, but more so the friends that he had made and all that they had accomplished together. It had only been a year or so, less than that actually, but Kurt couldn't help but feel like everything had settled rather nicely. Including himself in fact.

”Its been tough.” The former Courier said, gently scratching the back of his neck. ”I'm not exactly the best book learner.”

He barely managed to make it through some of the lectures in fact. ”I've had a lot of help.”

Kurt might have been embarrassed admitting that to anyone else, but Kaile was his best friend. He didn't keep any secrets from her, and certainly not something like this. Slowly he lead her towards the science building, the two of them having to avoid both Drunken Yum Bunnies and winked out college students.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Oh?" Kaile inquired. Although seeing the expression of pride along with the colored of embarrassment only endeared the pilot to Kaile more.

"Tell me all about them. About all of this." They really hadn't had the opportunity to share much of what was going on in each other's lives. Kaile had been running dark for a long while now, trying to figure out her own self and wrestling with her demons and guilt.

With Kurt, she imagined, he'd been pretty busy too.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

As they continued to make their way across the massive campus dodging drunks and slightly underdressed Bunnies Kurt launched into an explanation of everything that he'd done at the University so far.

”The start was really the hardest part.” He admitted. ”I didn't know anyone the lectures were difficult, everything was just so...out of it. I've never experienced something like this Kaile, even the academy in the Navy was different.”

The Republic has been pressed for pilots when he'd joined, and although procedure had always been paramount he had managed to coast through many of the more complex tests and trials during his run with the Republic Navy. It had only been because of the war, but still. ”Mostly it was the lectures, homework. I'm here to get...well a degree in mechanics of sort, I thought it would all be hands on and working in garages.”

He shrugged and smiled, feeling a bit foolish.

”Turns out there's a lot of Math involved.” Something Kaile knew Kurt wasn't particularly good at. ”I got there though. My dad, Jamie, even Arn helped me out a lot.”

He took a turn, guiding Kaile towards a large angular building. ”I think… I think I got into a sort of groove eventually.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Hearing him say that made Kaile feel better. The Lorrdian could read it in his voice. See it in his body language. The time spent had been good to him. There was a distinct confidence that hadn’t been there before. A sense of pride. Not that Kurt was anything but confident, it was that this was more a self sense of accomplishment.

It made Kaile happy seeing him like this. She only wanted the best for him.

“That’s good,” she added, the pair coming into the atrium of the science building. A little farther and there was a secluded bench to sit upon the drone of the Yum Bunnies party fading but not quite that distant.

“Hope it wasn’t too expensive?”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He shrugged at first.

This was really the only part of all of this that he wasn't exactly proud of. Neither Kurt nor Kaile had ever really experienced true wealth. They had been poor throughout most of their journey and money had been about as tight as could be, but...well Kurt had known that he needed to better himself. "Jamie paid for it at first."

The former Courier said as he sat himself down on the bench.

"There was apparently some program so it cost less." Kurt had no formal education, back on Tatooine, not beyond the small system that Miss Arceneau had built, and apparently that had helped kicked down the cost a bit as well. "Then once I invented the Meyer Drive, the thing in wrote to you about, I was able to pay for it all myself."

He frowned for a moment, then smiled. "I worked out a deal so the school manufacturers it, they get a cut of the profit."

That he was rather proud of.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

That made sense; although Kaile could understand the slight anxiety when it came to money. Kaile was pretty much always trying to find a good deal and use as many specials and coupons when it came to buying food or necessities when they both lived in the Messa.

Which brought up another point. That he left the Messa to her.

It had been a touching gesture; one that Kaile had appreciated in between those long missions when she could get away. Those had come few and far in between, and even then, Kaile had felt a little guilty. She hadn’t been ready to see kurt yet. Even now, she was still peeking through things. But it was better.

Maybe one day it wouldn’t hurt so much at all.

“So what else are you studying? How long will it take?”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's mostly the mechanics thing...though they have a fancy name for it. Starship Engineering."

For Kurt that wasn't really all that different than it was to mechanics, but he knew that academics liked to have fancy titles for things. It didn't really bother him, and he supposed that in the future it would make it appeal more to others. He would just have to be careful back on Tatooine, didn't want this street cred ruined with the others just because he'd now attended a fancy off-world school.

Not that he really had much street cred left to lose. Some of his fame from the Boonta Eve races still lingered, but after he'd left most of that had faded away. Still, for some reason the idea of walking up to Alistair or any of his old friends and 'showing off' his new degree was embarrassing. With Kaile not so much, but them? It was different for some reason.

"It'll take another year before I have the basic one." He said with a frown. "Then four more if I want the advanced degree."

The former Courier sounded unsure of that, as if he didn't think he could actually do it. Then suddenly he got a lightbulb above his head. "I did take a history class though, Ancient History in fact."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Ancient History?" Both brows went up, amusement trickling on her face. Her legs swung a bit as she sat, palms down resting on top of the velmstone bench. It was quieter here, intimate. Smelled of herbs and flowers that were planted all around them.

"Find anything interestin'?" she asked, followed up with, "Like who was them folk back on that island bunker we found?" it was a flashback to better days. Well, as good as they could get. That had been the start of when her emotions had gone all over the place. After Tatooine. After meeting up with Asmus. Finding that Kurt had come looking for her on Thalus.

"We never did do anythin' about that..."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"The Empire." Kurt said with a smile of satisfaction.

That particular class had been a massive pain in the ass, and in fact he'd nearly failed it, but his dad had helped him through the final. No cheating of course, just good old studying. He'd asked Arn about it first, but the Twi'lek hadn't really been much help.

"At least from what I remember of that place, the symbols and such." He shrugged. "We could probably go back and find out."

Kurt joked quietly.

The likelyhood of that happening was of course next to zero. Not just because of where Kaile and Kurt were at in their lives right now, but also because of the bunker itself. They had left that thing in a hurry, and there was no telling exactly what had happened once they'd gone. Those clones had been awake, and it was very likely they had stayed that way after the Courier and his friend had gotten out of there. Kurt frowned for a moment, then shrugged. "The Class was okay. Made me sleepy though."

He smiled faintly at that, more than once he'd taken a nap during the course.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"That you managed to stay awake for all them talkin' and dronin' on would surprise anyone," she teased. They were dancing around, trying to have just casual conversation. There was a bit of awkwardness there, Kaile could tell. But perhaps that was just due to the time apart. With how they left. With what happened to Quin.

Taking a deep breath, Kaile brought a smile to her face.

"So what then, after this? What's on the cards?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He frowned for a moment, reaching up and running a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure." That was entirely true. He didn't exactly have a plan. He knew that he would have to be at school for another year or so before he actually got the degree, and once that happened? Well he had options. That was the point of all of this, so that he could actually do something aside from flying around on a ship all the time. Perhaps he'd want to do that, perhaps Jamie would, but for now he had no real idea. "The Idea was that this would give me the potential to do something else besides be a Courier."

He shrugged. "I suppose it will. I could be a mechanic on Naboo, work for a starship designer...I guess I'll just have opportunity."

That sounded silly when he said it out loud, but it made sense to me.

"Maybe I'll just fly around again, but...without blowing up my hyperdrive." He laughed out loud, and then suddenly realized something. "I-we built a ship, my friends and I."

He'd never told Kaile! Her last message hadn't been in time before the festival.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

At that her eyes went wide. "You built a ship? From scratch?" not that was out of the cards when it came to what Kurt could do; he had done the same with pod racers. But that was still a bit different from an entire ship.

"What class?" Kaile leant forward, forearms coming to rest along the tops of her thighs. It also gave a great view of the girls, what with that orange jumper not much of a covering. Then again, this was worn to blend in. And also because Kaile had few items she enjoyed wearing. The dress was one of them.