Private Caught in a Bird Snare

[Evelyn Shaw]

Evelyn gave the Padawans a quick 'thanks' before she stood up and stepped aside along with Amea. She glanced over the four teenagers, who easily began to talk amongst each other, likely about whatever topic they had interrupted earlier. The Echani had a feeling they had stumbled into the right group, one's that weren't going to be telling on them to the Masters, who Evelyn had no doubt would object to a third party investigating the thefts.

"Agreed, or at the very least get the other side to all of this." Though she wondered if it was going to be easier, or more difficult. Willowdale was much bigger, and likely had a whole governmental system behind it. But then again, there was a particular establishment where they could find information.

"You're reading my mind, Amea. At first I was thinking this was just petty thefts, someone doing it to mess with the Jedi. Maybe there is still part of that, but given the apparent tension between the enclave and town...it's a prime target to sow chaos." It still could be someone within Willowdale, going against the government's wishes to leave the Jedi at arm's reach. Evelyn highly doubted it was someone within the enclave, not counting the guards anyway.

"Do we want to head back to the ship, and fly over to the town? Or maybe we can find a transport here. They have a workshop, and I'm willing to bet it's got a speeder bay attached." As they began to walk away though, a random thought struck the Echani. She paused, turning around. "Hey," she said, grabbing the small group's attention. "Your fellow Padawan; Crix, who had his lightsaber parts stolen, whereabouts is his room in the living quarters?"

"Uh, at the far end. Why'd you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a random thought. Thanks again for speaking with us." She flashed them a smile before returning to Amea's side. "Something has been off in my mind about the pattern of thefts. Working theory...I'll fill you in once we're in Willowdale, and after I've got a drink in hand."

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

As they stopped Amea turned around with a confused glance over her shoulder at Evelyn who seemed to go back to the kids. As she asked her questions Amea remained where she was, her body turning towards them before Evelyn came back. She gave the Echani woman a confused shrug before Amea continued to push towards the exit.

“I’d say we’re most likely to bring less attention to ourselves if we go with your ship.” Amea said stepped out into the open air. “If the company is based out of Willowdale, we will be registered in their systems. If we go by ship it is easier to bypass that.”

Not that she spoke out of experience or anything, obviously.

“And hell, I’d take two drinks if not for the fact that… Well, the ward we just left them with.” Amea looked towards where Quellus had gone with the creature. “I don’t trust that the creature won’t get stolen in the night here. I’d rather we’re back before any more thefts can occur.”

“But hey, maybe—” Wait, this could have come across as an invite or something. Amea cleared her throat and crossed her arms to play it off cool, make it something less inviting. Or no, to make it seem less— well, you got the idea. “Maybe we could have the one drink now and a few when we’re done?”

“Unless, uh—” She fought the urge to scratch her neck. “—You really want to. Or not. You know. Whatever. It's no big deal. Just, celebrate a good job. Or... Something.”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

The Echani nodded at Amea's suggestion. It was a more sensible choice to use the ship over a speeder, as the intent was to enter Willowdale with the absolute minimum of suspicion. Even if the attention that drew was nothing bad, it still meant they'd already have eyes watching them from the get go.

Whereas in using the Squealing Shrieker, their biggest concern would be if someone had seen it land near to the enclave. It was a possibility of course, but it had a better chance than a likely guarantee someone would recognize a well known vehicle arriving from there.

"Hmm, you raise a good point. Two drinks might be pushing it, if we want to be back here before it gets too dark." Evelyn was worried about the little creature; her charge, but she knew she did as much as she possibly could. It needed the Force in some capacity, so she'd leave him in the enclave's hands, for now.

As they neared the entrance, Amea seemed to pause. Evelyn walked ahead a bit before realizing this, turning around to see the woman fumbling with her words. It amused Evelyn, as she raised an eyebrow and get her a look. Her mouth splitting into a grin when Amea finally finished her sentence.

"I'll take you up on that offer," she gave Amea a wink before pressing forwards. Another time she would've teased her further, but their focus was on more important matters right now. "Come on, let's get back to the ship."

Their return to the ship was greeted by Captain Skydancer, Garry and Co. Evelyn let Amea fill them in on the details of what she revealed anyway. In the meantime, the Echani returned to where she had put her stuff down. Rifling through the bags until she had her stun batons and a drawing datapad. The former she took just in case they wouldn't be returning to the ship before they set off for the enclave again.

Roughly an hour later, the pair were in Willowdale, seated within the cantina. Evelyn was presently in their booth, back up against the wall, legs propped up as she seemingly doodled on her datapad. A quarter drunk glass was within arm's reach, she poked her head up glancing over to see what Amea was doing.

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

While the moment might have seemed awkward at first, the situation quickly changed once they had a seat at the cantina. Evelyn started to draw, and Amea simply kept her eye out for anyone in the bar that seemed just the slightest out of place. As luck would have it, she found one. She sat a few tables away, her eyes seemingly fixated on Amea just as much as Amea’s seemed to be fixated on her. The warden in her knew this was worth investigating, but the tiny little scoundrel inside knew that this was not the time and place. At least not yet. She shook it off and slid into the corner of her booth to take a sip of her drink.

“We have a distant admirer.” Amea said and gently turned her head towards the other table. “Don’t look.”

With a careful grasp at her glass she gave it a spin to let the contents swirl. At least this time it was a clean glass unlike the last place she had been to. Not on this planet, of course, or even remotely close. Just a shoddy cantina in a place where water was a luxury. Cleanliness usually wasn’t as high of a priority there.

“So, uh.” Amea cleared her throat. “What are you drawing there?”

“If— if you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

Evelyn Shaw

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

Evelyn almost glanced over on instinct, but stopped at Amea's warning. She was ever curious to see who this 'distant admirer' was, but the Echani instead returned her attention to her datapad. She chuckled, glancing up at Amea before addressing her fully.

"Why you of course, you have such a lovely face." Evelyn spoke with a serious tone, but the small grin on her face said otherwise.

Okay, maybe a little teasing was in order.

"Kidding, I suck at drawing portraits, I'm more of a landscape person." She continued to draw a little, before she finally stopped and reached over for her drink. After a quick sip, she placed the datapad down, rotated it around and pushed more into the middle of the table for Amea to see. "This is what I've been working on."

It was a top down depiction of the Jedi Enclave, on a much smaller scale and decently accurate to what they had seen on their initial arrival. Like a floor plan, each area of the building was labelled. Entrance, courtyard, workshop, and so on. "The items our little thief has been stealing seems way too random, so I was trying to work out a different kind of pattern." With her drink in one hand, and her digital stylus in the other, Evelyn began to point at the datapad.

"As we know, the very first thing that was stolen was the terrarium just within the enclave." Evelyn drew a circle just to the right of the entrance. "Now this was two weeks before the recurring thefts, when there were no guards stationed there. My assumption is they were testing to see if they could steal something, without drawing attention which I think might've just worked given no one knew about it until the morning after." But then it became a question of why bother returning it? Although that answer had already been spoken back at the enclave. At the time, the Masters had just dismissed it as one of the students playing a prank. Meaning they hadn't even entertained the idea that there was a thief.

"But what I'm thinking specifically is that the thief took a certain path. We know the lightsaber parts were the latest thing stolen, and the living quarters are at the right most part of the enclave." She pointed at the spot on the datapad. "So what if, our culprit started from the left, stealing something once a week and slowly making their way around." Evelyn drew a line from her first circle, towards the courtyard and drew another circle. "The book," then she continued the line left, out of the courtyard, into the hallways and to the workshop. "The tools," Evelyn did the same for the storage room, and then finally to the living quarters. "So unless our thief is going to go reverse and steal something from the storage again, their next target would be the courtyard once more, but why, and what are they after?"

Evelyn sat back, taking a longer sip of her drink. "This person got bolder each time. Stole tools from someone who is no doubt a neat freak with keeping everything in check, then stealing from storage the deepest part of the enclave, no quick exits available. And then topped it off by sneaking through a whole fething area of sleeping Jedi, managing to take something without anyone notice until it was too late."

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

Those lips tucked right into her mouth at the compliment as a red shade seemed to befall the young Warden. Though her teeth tried to pierce through the skin of her lips, they seemed to find little success. Amea had brought herself right into that one. Luckily the embarrassment didn’t last for long as Evelyn showed whatever it was that she had sketched on the pad. It hadn’t been a sketch at all but rather a map.

Amea skimmed it, glanced around the path that Evelyn pointed out before she pretended to critique it. Her lips faced away from their observer, the body language she signaled with was a friend offering critique.

“Unless they go for the medbay.” Amea said and leaned back in her seat to mimic Evelyn. “There’s something very valuable in there right now, and they’re clearly getting bolder, as you said.”

With her back against the cushion in the booth she gave a gentle shrug.

“Could keep them both under surveillance for the night. One with the force-like creature, and the other overlooking the courtyard.” Her lips spread into a grin. “I can imagine worse ways to spend an evening.”

The grin quickly faded,

“At work, that is. Of course.” She cleared her throat and quickly corrected herself, fingers drumming at the table's top as she looked away to see if their unwanted sentry was still watching them.

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

The Echani frowned, chewing on her lip slightly. She hadn't thought about the medbay, even though they had literally just left the creature in their care. Although, Evelyn did ponder what the Jedi would be able to do. The bacta tank had simply helped keep the small being in a stable condition, pending whatever injuries it had sustained to be placed within it. Evelyn had never been able to see anything physically wrong, but it must've been placed in there for a reason, right?

Maybe if the creature was so tied to the Light Side of the Force, then surely being around Jedi would help even more?

Evelyn filed those thoughts to the side, as she pulled the datapad back into her lap and began brainstorming again. Only to then pause as Amea made her suggestion. She looked away thinking for a moment, before nodding her head.

"That sounds like a good idea, we'll need to grab some macrobinoculars to help keep a closer eye on things. I did spot a hill just about overlooking the enclave, shadowed by some tall trees." With that little plan in mind, Evelyn felt content in putting her datapad away. Instead, she returned to her drink and took a sip from it. She raised an eyebrow at Amea, hiding a smirk behind her glass.

"I'd certainly enjoy your company, work or not." By the time Amea looked back at Evelyn, the Echani was already out of her seat, drink still in hand. "Come on, let's go and say hi to our little stalker/watcher." She was on the case, and wasn't about to wait until the stranger had the courage to approach them instead.

As Evelyn drew closer, she got a better look at the woman. Hidden beneath a cloak, the hood settled awkwardly over the person's head. The reason becoming clear as she caught the sight of a blue lekku poking out. A soft darker shade swirling around it in a pattern. The poor woman looked like a deer in headlights, when the Echani sat down at her table.

"Ya know, it's awfully rude to just stare at someone." She looked the Twi'lek up and down, taking in the woman's appearance. Clearly having come here in a rush, given the formal state of wear she was concealing. A stark contrast to how everyone else in the cantina was dressed. The stranger opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

It just didn’t stop, Evelyn must have picked up on it. Amea felt the heat of the Echani’s compliment rise to her neck and cheeks before it dissipated into the aether, but the effect was evident nonetheless. Amea shied back for a second with an uneasy grin upon her lips before she pushed out of the booth to follow behind the Echani, eyes cautiously drifting downwards before she snapped out of it. Her head shook, the notion to remain somewhat professional seemingly little more than wishful thinking at this point.

Still, she would try.

As Evelyn slid into the other booth, Amea followed suit, her eyes locking onto the Twi’lek woman’s eyes as she got herself comfortable in the seat with a menacing frown. No-one observed another person like that without good reason. Given the duo’s recent arrival it made sense, but this woman also clearly did not belong.

She tried to speak but there were no words.

“Speak. Now.” Amea said and leaned forward against the table. “Why were you watching us?”

“I—” The woman stammered, her voice soft like satin. “You don’t belong here.”

Amea looked at Evie and then the twi’lek. “Why?”

“They know what you are doing.”

“They?”

“They.”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

Evelyn took a sip of her drink, leaning into her chair as opposed to Amea leaning forward. A quasi-good cop, bad cop play. The Echani played it cool while Amea tried drawing answers out of the Twi'lek. She frowned when Amea looked over at her, hearing that they seemingly didn't belong here. Evelyn bit back a retort, given the Twi'lek didn't look like she belonged in the cantina.

But she held it back, instead let Amea continue talking.

"'They' ain't exactly descriptive, we need names, their appearances." Evelyn fixed the opposite woman with a look, placing her glass down and mimicking Amea's position. "What you're telling us, is that whomever is behind this, saw us there in the enclave. Correct?" The Twi'lek squirmed uncomfortably, then nodded her head ever slightly.

Evelyn glanced over at Amea. It's definitely one of the guards then.

She had followed Amea's judgement on the Masters there, while they had their usual dodgy and self-righteous tendencies, she had ultimately sensed no foul intent from any.

"We still need a name."

"I don't kn-I can't say..."

"You don't know, or you can't say? Sounds like you've been threatened with silence." It seemed to be the wrong thing to ask, as the Twi'lek recoiled back into her shell somewhat. Evelyn sighed. "Look, let's talk about you shall we? Clearly you don't belong here either, with the fancy clothes and such. You're here for a reason, obviously not in agreement with whomever 'they' are. So let's just start on a basis, who are you?"

The Twi'lek looked at Evelyn, then Amea, back to the Echani then just flickered between both of them for a minute or two. "I-My name is Tess, I'm Mayor Hughes' secretary." She paused, biting down against her lip deciding what to say. "Roughly two months ago, I received a message directed to me, from a mysterious group that had an interest in WIllowdale, specifically it's relationship with the neighbouring Jedi."

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

The goddamned guards. Not only were they then well-aware of the fact that Amea and Evelyn had arrived, they had plausible reason to waltz around the enclave at night. What’s more if they were part of a group it stood to figure that taking the easy solution of simply putting the perp down wasn’t a viable option unless they wanted to risk inciting violence against the enclave. The look that Amea returned to Evelyn was heavy with regret in the same vein that one could read that she wanted to scream ‘maybe we should have picked another freaking enclave,’

As much as Amea enjoyed a good and simple solution to her problems, this problem was definitely not one that could find such a solution. Never leave a situation worse off than you left it, that was her belief. At least when it came to unjust ramifications at the hand of a brunette with a gun.

“And they were very cryptic about it, undertones of resentment?” Amea asked and looked at Evelyn. Potential Sith interference? “What did you get out of the message? What did it say?”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

The Echani's thoughts fell back to the guards again. Were the whole lot there in on the thefts? Or was there only one, but the others were complicit? Could there just be a third party using them as a cover? They had potentially narrowed their suspect, or suspects, down to the specific group, and yet there were still so many questions in the air.

"Cryptic for sure, but they weren't particularly resentful. They were very monotone in how the spoke, very matter-of-fact as they asked their questions." Tess paused, twiddling with her fingers a bit. "Other than our relationship with the Jedi, they asked about a tree or something?"

"A tree, the Uneti tree?"

The Twi'lek shrugged, "I guess? I've never personally set foot in the enclave." It certainly raised another question, why would they specifically ask if there was a tree there? Evelyn's thoughts immediately went back to a grudge against the Jedi. "Oh, they uh...also made an offer." Tess' eyes shifted away the moment the Echani raised an eyebrow at her.

"What kind of offer?"

"They...wanted me to keep an eye on things, and offered a pretty good sum of credits." This time the Twi'lek outright looked down, shame evident. "Look, Willowdale is nice, pleasant to live in, but it doesn't exactly pay well here. Hell, I didn't even believe the call, thought it was some weird prank or something..."

"Until?"

"Until a week later, when a stranger entered the Mayor's Office. Completely covered, the only thing I could get is that they had a male voice. Handed me half the credits they offered." She was looking between Amea and Evelyn now. "Then just said 'ensure there's a spot open' and walked out. I didn't know what on Ryloth that meant."

Evelyn frowned for a moment, until an idea suddenly struck her and she looked at Amea. "They knew the Jedi would likely request for guards from the Mayor." She paused, an alternative thought interrupting her. "Or, they orchestrated things so it would happen."

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

Monotonous and matter of fact with how they spoke? Amea looked to Evelyn and then back to Tess. It could have been brainwashing, or a Gotal. Both were valid although vastly different. One had a good giveaway, and the other was far more insidious. A gotal would have good reason to wrap themselves in fabric and hide themselves, those horns were hard to miss. Amea listened as Tess told her story, her eyes constantly trying to gauge what Evelyn was thinking as she made her own thoughts as unnoticable as possible. For all she knew Tess was with them and this was a means to distract the two and send them on the wrong trail of clues.

“So, some masked man just came in and wanted to place his men in the jedi enclave. You did nothing to stop that? Asked no questions?” Amea voiced her evident frustrations. “Sounds to me like you helped potentially escalate something between the town and the enclave with your carelessness.”

Her eyes peered into Tess’ to probe the twi’lek’s reaction from what she had said. Shock? Frustration? Indignant scoffing? Anything that would indicate something about if she was telling the truth.

“Is that what you want, Tess?” Amea asked, her eyes burning in a struggle against the twi’leks. “Do you have something against the jedi?”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

Tess's attention snapped over to Amea, eyes wide and shaking her head. "What, no! Heavens no! The majority of the guards that are stationed at the Enclave, are all from Willowdale." She was frantic, not even answering Amea's question about what she wanted, or her views on the Jedi. But she wasn't lying about it, she was just scared that she had stepped into something way out of her control.

Evelyn however, took interest in a particular word. "Majority? So they're not all from the regular guard?"

The Twi'lek's eyes seemed to widen even more, if that were possible. "Willowdale was already spread thin as it was, no one wanted to decrease the amount around the town, so it was decided to accept a few volunteers along with the couple guards we could spare."

Evelyn crossed her arms, eyes boring into Tess'. "And how many volunteered?"

"Three in total-" She paused, gaze averting from either woman opposite her. The Twi'lek seemed lost in thought for a moment, debating something. "Two were confirmed locals, the third was not." Tess looked back at Amea and Evelyn. "What? Oh don't give me that look, the guy was short, scrawny and barely out of his twenties!"

"And that's no excuse, appearances can be deceiving." Evelyn full on glared at Tess, who seemed to sink into her seat. The Echani pulled out her datapad, making sure it was on a fresh page before she placed it on the table. "We want names and descriptions of the three volunteers."

"Wha-why would you need all three? The other two are locals, I checked the records." She reached out and took the datapad, quickly beginning to write.

"Because clearly you haven't thought about the other possibilities. Like, did it even cross your mind that this person might've been able to convince the others to cover him?" Hell, that could be put into question against the other legit guards still. One's loyalty to their home could very easily be brushed aside for the right amount.

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

A scoff parted Amea’s lips as she slowly began to shake her head. She held no trust towards the twi’lek and even if she had she would have done the same.

“Forget about this.” Amea rolled her eyes. “Come on, Snowbird,” Amea’s foot nudged against Evelyn’s to make her play along. “This is beyond either of us. Let’s just go and let them take care of this for themselves, yeah?”

The warden pushed out of the booth, “Now Tess,” Amea sighed and shook her head. All in all it was a masterful performance from a born liar. “I am truly sorry that this mess fell on your town but this is just too much for either of us to handle. We’re two nobodies, and you guys are… Well, needless to say these could have been better circumstances.”

“But we’re out. As soon as we’re done here we’ll be gone, and after that we can only hope this is a problem that solves itself.” And with that said Amea pushed from the table to lean over towards Evelyn. “Snow-snow, let’s go.”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

Tess had passed the datapad back when Evelyn felt a foot nudge against hers. She made no indication she had noticed it, but the message was received all the same. Although, Evelyn did have to refrain from giving Amea a look. Snowbird?

"My thoughts exactly, we were getting nowhere anyway." Tucking the datapad back into her pocket, Evelyn took up her glass again and finished what limited contents remained, clearly intent on leaving soon as possible. She glanced at the Twi'lek, whose eyes had widened and was clearly starting to panic, even if she was finding it difficult to speak initially.

"Y-you can't leave, we need your help! You're Force users aren't you?!"

"Nope. Just two people passing through."

Tess had looked up at Amea as she stood, panic now setting in fully as she tried speaking, only to stumble over her words. Evelyn was curious at what Amea was planning, sure she could understand the lack of trust, she was feeling it to. But she saw an opportunity too, if they could get through to the Mayor through Tess, they'd be able t-

Evelyn's thoughts were interrupted when she heard Amea call her; Snow-snow. This time the Echani did give Amea a pondering look, but followed in her wake and stood up from the booth. She fixed Tess a look, before she followed behind Amea.

"Snowbird, Snow-snow?" She asked, a raised eyebrow and teasing grin thrown her way.

The pair didn't get too far before someone was suddenly on them, grabbing Amea's arm. Which might not have been the best choice of the two.

"Please. I know I fethed up, I'm trying to make amends. I came to you because you're already in their sights, they won't leave you alone now." Tess was practically begging at this point, the desperation clear in her eyes.

"That's not how those type of groups work, Tess. Secrecy is their game, for all they know, we aren't aware of their existance and if they can get away without other people knowing of their presence, they'll turn the other eye. Now you being here, speaking to us, puts that and us in danger. So I'd advise you to come up with something better."

"I-I can speak with the Mayor, if I tell him everything, of the situation and repercussions, I'm sure he'll provide backup if you need it."

"'I'm sure' isn't a definitive answer." Evelyn shook her head slightly, then looked over at Amea. She'll let her continue taking the lead here.

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

Funny thing about assumptions. More often than not they didn’t live up to the reality of things. While the lack of empathy was a lie on Amea’s behalf, at least to some extent, the frustration at the situation was most certainly not. It was a lot to assume that they even had the means to fix this given that they had only just arrived here and handed a ward over to the Jedi. Amea trusted people, she didn’t trust organizations. She knew of individuals she would trust within a jedi order, but this was not that order and it was most definitely not those people.

As Evelyn pulled her aside Amea gave a slight shrug.

“Yeah, because your hair is as white and snow, and you’re pretty like a—”

Amea pulled her hand as reflex got the better of her. Winds gust against the twi’leks face as a palm hovered before her nose. It was a few hairs away from impact, Amea blinking herself out of the tranquility of battle with a shake before she lowered her guard and stepped out of the Echani stance.

“Tess!” She exclaimed in genuine surprise and frustration. “You can’t just grab people like that.”

Amea let out a long sigh to stifle the last of her nerves. Her hand placed itself on Tess’ shoulder with a squeeze. The others were looking at them. If the men hadn’t taken note yet, they would very shortly.

“Look,” Amea rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You should do what you can, but me and my friend here are not equipped in the slightest to deal with all of this, okay?”

“Keep your head. Take it piece for piece and slowly assemble that jigsaw. That’s all you can do about your situation, but we’re out. Okay? We’re leaving and that will be it. Your town, the relations with the Jedi, all you can do is own up to it. Explain the situation to them and to anyone concerned.”

Amea looked at her friend and then back to Tess. “Me and my friend here? We’re not good people. What we left at the enclave is worth a feth-load of creds that we need.” Lying was practically second nature. “We will do our part, now you do yours. We’re all just trying to get by out here, I get it. This is your moment to shine. Own up to it.”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

Evelyn remained quiet as Amea took charge of the conversation, seemingly talking some sense into the Twi'lek. She had started to become panicky, having outright grabbed the woman's arm as they had gone to leave. A dangerous act given how quick Amea seemed to react to a potential threat. But her words seemed to have an effect, as while Tess still looked concerned, the panic in her eyes was dimming ever slightly.

It did raise a similar question in the Echani's mind though. Why did she come to them specifically? Why not go to the Mayor himself and explain the situation. Was she ashamed? Scared? Probably a combination of both, not wanting to admit a mistake before her boss, potentially getting fired. She did tell them that Willowdale wasn't exactly a thriving haven for trade, and losing such a cushy job would be crushing.

Were she in Tess' shoes, she would've either found a means to blackmail them into it, or provide a pretty damn hefty reward. Although that was Evelyn's inner smuggler taking center stage, Amea was right that they weren't equipped to tackle this, sorta. She was certain Amea could handle things with the Force alone, but earning the ire of another potential group wasn't high on either of their lists.

“Me and my friend here? We’re not good people..."

Amea's words faded out mid-sentence, as Evelyn zoned out on what was happening around her. She was immediately reminded of what had happened with Aleksandr. That she had gotten her entire crew killed from a momentary distraction, a desire to save a small creature. A high cost for something so small. Evelyn winced at the thought.

She was a bad person.

The Echani was broken out of her thoughts by a slight nudge from Amea, indicating they were leaving. She nodded, saying nothing as she followed the woman out of the cantina finally.

Evelyn breathed in deeply, taking in some fresh air.

"So..." she began, looking at Amea. "I'm pretty like a...what?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, the corner of her lips quirking into a grin. So quickly to shift her attention away from where her thoughts had been heading. And getting Amea to squirm just a little was already an entertaining little pastime for the Echani.

"Seriously though, provided anything actually comes of that in there, what's our plan?"

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

The situation with Tess was taken care of, for now. A gut feeling on Amea’s behalf made her think it would come back for them later, but for the moment they had managed to get out of it. The words that she spoke seemed to take to the Twi’lek and being satisfied with such an outcome Amea would turn around and give her ‘Snowbird’ a gentle nudge to get them going again.

Naturally the Echani jumped straight into it, poked at the nerves that had already failed Amea once. The brunette rubbed at her neck as she slowly shook her head at the other woman, her red cheeks flush with a thick dose of embarrassed indignation. This woman knew what she was doing, what Amea was doing, and it was as equally frustrating as it was curious.

And it was fair to assume that Amea herself had not failed to notice the way Evelyn shifted in and out of consciousness either. Although the way she figured, they all had their reasons to fade every once in a while. As long as Snow-Snow didn’t pry into who Amea was, then neither would Amea pry into Evelyn’s.

“Oh. Well, uhhh…” Amea cleared her throat to stave off the heat. “A bird. Obviously.”

A queasy smile spread across Amea’s lips with a clear sign of her discomfort. An almost grimacing tension set between her eyebrows as it grew harder to tell if she was angry, in pain, depressed, deranged, or quite possibly all at once somehow. The uneasy creature threw a quick glance over her shoulder to look at Tess with a shake of her head and then back at the road before them.

“If she is honest, she will be going home to rethink her life.” Amea said as they stepped out of the cantina. “If she just lied to us, she will be telling her crew about the value of the creature you just brought in.”

Amea stopped and turned to face Evelyn, the redness and macabre grimace gone. “Either way word should spread, and with it we have turned your friend into useful bait to catch whoever, or whatever, is stealing all those things.”

“We just gotta get into position first, so you know… Better head to the enclave again and turn in for the night.”

 

[Evelyn Shaw]

The Echani filed away Amea's reaction for another time, hopefully some time in the future. Much as she liked to tease and poke, Evelyn knew when to stop. There was something within the woman's reaction that gave her the impression of something deeper trying to gnaw away. And as much as the Echani was curious, she didn't want to spoil this.

Amea had been good to her, helped her out of a bind without demanding answers. Oh, she was sure the woman had put the pieces together, but she hadn't pried any further. And thus, Evelyn would do the same.

She looked over at Amea at the mention of turning her small charge into bait. Confusion on her face, then realization when it dawned on her she must've missed that when she was lost in her own thoughts. Evelyn's lips thinned, now quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, she had effectively painted a target on it. But then on the other, Evelyn couldn't deny it was a good play, albeit a risky one.

"Agreed," Evelyn started, letting out a small yawn and stretching her arms up. "I could do with a little sleep before the chaos inevitably erupts." She admittedly hadn't gotten a crazy amount of sleep since escaping the KIV-2983. Sparse hours of sleep here and there, enough to keep the Echani active at least. But she couldn't help but feel everything was going to hit a boiling point soon.

"We should probably warn the Jedi, right?" She posed the question as they walked. "I don't think we should with the guards, we don't know if they can all be trusted. Of the three Tess listed, we've only interacted with two; Corbin and Kal." The one who had led them into the Enclave to speak with Master Qellus. Corbin had been the other one, though he had come off as just generally being lazy about his job. Still though...Tess could've lied about the names, even though Evelyn was convinced she was more desperate than a liar.

Didn't hurt to be extra cautious.

Amea Virou​

 

[Amea Virou]

Evelyn Shaw

Oh right, sleep. Those small tastes of death that carried your unconscious self one step closer to its imminent demise. It was already too late for Amea to find the calm to sleep, her mind abuzz with ideas of whodunnit and why. This third guard would be the most likely suspect, but the issue would be identifying them. Amea got herself stuck in thought as she subconsciously moved towards the ship as if on instinct.

“We should probably warn the Jedi, right?”

Amea shook herself awake and looked oever at Evie.

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” She nodded. “Or rather, Quellus. Rumors have a habit of spreading and all that.”

As they walked up the ramp it would close behind them and Amea let out a sigh of relief, her eyes set on the ceiling as she grasped at the side of her head. A nearby crate got to act as a seat as she let out a prolonged exhale.

“What’s with the Jedi and somehow always ending up in the fucking crosshairs of some shady shit?” She burst and tensed her arm, clenched her fist before her. “Or what the fuck is up with some rando trying to pull us into this issue of theirs.”

Her fingers rubbed at her eyebrows. “We should have picked another goddamn enclave, I swear.”