Private Don't Forget To Stop And Smell The Subglacial Pseudo Algae

[In Rhan]

In paused briefly. While she was eager to see this done and meet it head-on - and full of all of the explosive energy that several algae smoothies and fried food could provide her recently Leónized metabolism - any plan that Niysha had was surely worth waiting a moment for. If nothing else, she was intensely curious about a Miralukan family trick - especially given Niysha's background and the fact that she'd never mentioned her family before.

Taking a moment, In motioned for Niysha to work her magic. As she did so, as much as she was able to, the business-minded Pantoran still could not conscience standing around and waiting. As Tilon ALSO had blue skin, albeit a slightly brighter tone, she did some light grooming and cosmetic work. Things he might not've thought to do on his own, but as a professionally minded entrepreneur with a theatre background she considered quite important.

It absolutely wasn't just a pretense to be nice and close to whatever Niysha's secret weapon was. No sir. Not even a little bit.

PRO/CON
-Depending on how much Lord Vanvurdil values the gritty spacer aesthetic, having makeup on could either help or hinder - at the rollers discretion.

 

[Niysha]

A shrug and desperation was basically the same thing as direct and unambiguous consent, right? Niysha nodded in response and got close enough to Tilon to rest her hands on his shoulders. Face-to-face, though definitely not eye-to-eye, the two of them stood in the middle of the cold street. "My people aren't Jedi, but we've got some understanding of the Force," she lied. "I've been watching your aura for a while now, and you're a bundle of nerves. This might help a bit."

With that, "Take a deep breath," and she did the same. Cold air rapidly warmed inside her lungs. She only needed a moment more before she was ready. Niysha began to exhale, "Now let it out, and follow me." Her presence shifted deeper, falling into herself as she let herself loose into the care of the world around her. She drifted by on eddies of early morning grogginess, frustration, hope for the new day, optimism, a line of greed...

When her voice came again, it didn't come from her mouth. Not exclusively, at least. Her spirit spoke with all of the same leisurely calm that her voice had, as she drifted deeper and beckoned Tilon to join her. 'Fear is natural. It's a response to every surprise and uncertainty that life presents us with.' Through an ocean of stress, deeper, beneath the surface. 'And like life, it is sometimes a friend, and sometimes an enemy. Fear can sharpen your senses, make your responses keen. It can keep you alive.'

Deeper still. Darker, but warmer. Niysha's world melted away, until all she was left with was the truth of the galaxy laid out before her. Not meat and stone, but light and dark. Every passionate, flaring emotion, and every peaceful, serene moment swirled into the world as she knew it. Purity, absolute essence within the Force. And within that essence, Tilon Quill. A young man who was just nervous - but hopeful - about his meeting. 'You have a lot of fear right now. And that's good. It's part of you. But so much will just make you lose your confidence. Lose your spirit.'

The swirling presence of something that had once been Niysha washed over the dark, rumbling cloud that might have been Tilon's anxiety. 'So I'll just take a bit, and gift you with bravery. The power to see it through to the end.' When it passed, taking with it what it could, all that was left was a keen little pearl. Clear. Distinct, even if where exactly it was any more - what "where" even meant any more - was less distinct.

'Breathe.'

Niysha found herself back in her body. She took a moment to gather her wits, then gave Tilon a smile, patted his shoulders, and backed up a bit. "Grandma saw what a disaster my hair was before graduation. She was so good at that that she could do it while fixing this mess." Her fingers indicated to the frizzy mane barely held down by a piece of black cloth. "Good luck, Mr. Quill."


In Favor:

• Whatever the hell Niysha just did.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

If not for In's work putting him somewhat at ease, he might have fumbled the critical moment when it arrived unexpectedly. Not the pitch, not the spiritual release of tension and fear at the end of Nysh's process, but when he flashed back to Manaan, to the start of his lifelong association with the Order of Shasa, experts in spotting deception.

The moment when he heard what felt like a lie.

And then had to forget immediately and without panic so awareness didn't taint what followed. Basically, stop suspecting she'd lied so she didn't spot that he suspected she'd lied.

He left the big questions — what she could possibly have lied about, for example — unexplored. Think about those and she'd feel it. Let suspicion fester and she'd feel it. Dwell on any of this and she'd feel it. So his instincts and training told him, anyway. Instead he focused on the more pressing problem: getting out of his own way to make the pitch.

"Thank you both," he said and meant it, and what what was there to say?

Well, other than—

"Let's make money."

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

The Trio entered the opulent businesses of one Lord Vanvurdil, eager to get some old money on board their quirky little startup/credits laundering scheme. Tilon Quill was the real start of the show here and Niysha had brought all the collateral, which left In with a bit of a question as to her role in all of this. She was just a trucker - generally, her place relative to a boardroom, investors, and CEOs was 'significantly below'. Far enough below as to be invisible. The thought was enough to keep her quiet for the first part of Tilon's pitch, the sense that she was out of her depth and above her station. What did she even hope to do here? She was helping Niysha sell her statues so she could get a cut for the mess on Medi-Creen, she was helping Tilon form his expedition so Niysha could sell her statues, and her best-case scenario for this whole operation had started as a plausible line-item on Tilon's expenditures report so people didn't ask too questions about her getting paid and getting the hell out of Grek.

Such thoughts could wait. They must wait. In jumped into the discussion between Tilon and Lord Vanvurdil, exuding confidence that she didn't really feel and bringing a few years of storied freighter experience (and a childhood aboard a Silk Holdings cartography operation) to bear. More than any technical expertise, In focused on building Tilon up - accentuating his points and jumping on questions she knew he didn't have an answer for.

Rolling:
Aiming to get over a 10 on an Aid Another roll. If I succeed, Tilion gets +2 to his ultimate roll for this. If I fail, he doesn't.

 

[Tilon Quill]

The whole fear is good thing demanded his attention as he went inside the business block. Not because anything felt off about his...what, out-of-body experience, inward vision, navel-gaze? But because nothing felt off about it. She'd simply been right, despite being so out of step with the Jedi teachings he'd grown up with: not to give fear traction; not to meditate inward, but to turn outward to the Force and to others. He had the unsettling feeling that the dark he'd felt in the guided experience was some natural state that resonated well with aspects of himself he hadn't recognized.

It sure as hell did not feel like the Dark Side of his childhood in the Sith academy. It wasn't like Niysha was a Sith Lord trying to corrupt him. Nothing felt off.

This was not where his mind needed to be. Not now. At least In was picking up the slack. And Vanvurdil seemed well taken with the three of them, groomed and coiffed and better-dressed as they were. Nothing for it now but to clinch the opportunity.

At which point, win or lose, this sense of community he'd built with these two might come to an end. He didn't want it to, but there it was. A fear that had grown and lurked behind so many little decisions.

Let go of what you fear to lose, he told himself, and dug in.


Rolling at +3

 

[Tilon Quill]

He'd been bracing himself to fail and grasp the Force and try to bend probability in the nuanced ways that sapient choices required. He was almost, somehow, disappointed that it wasn't necessary. In fact the deal was coming together exactly as foreseen. He didn't quite know what to do with that. In and Nysh would, though, absolutely.

He put his finger on the thing about the lie, in that moment of relief. In the context of helping someone, he'd only ever lied to them when they wouldn't have accepted help from him or someone like him. And that didn't quite answer it, but it got him to a place where he could live with the ambiguity. Nobody owed anyone the truth about themselves, he figured.

In Rhan Niysha

 

[Niysha]

Through victory.

Niysha breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the aura of one Mr. Vanvurdil was open and receptive. As it turned out, coming in with a full night's sleep and a belly full of food made all three of them much better at negotiating. Adding to that the actual collateral that Tilon could now front for his wild scheme... well, it was good to have a win sometimes. Especially if that "sometimes" came the very day after she'd faced a rather embarrassing and mildly crushing defeat. Maybe not enough to restore her confidence, but she'd have time for that later.

While leaving the actual business discussion to In, Niysha made sure to keep the conversation steered away from topics that caused any murky shades to show up in their prospective partner. She wasn't the one who was going to be shaking hands, of course. That was for Tilon - the victor - and maybe In - the saleswoman. She was just moral support.

As usual, Niysha strayed far too close to Jedi teachings. Jedi "heresy," she was relatively sure her contemporaries would call it. She placed far too great a value on facilitating victory for others rather than claiming it for herself. Even her first master had been more active than this. At some point, she'd need to face the music and brute force something. Today, though, the soft touch had gotten exactly what she desired, and satiating greed was a sacred act so profound that even her meek, cowardly, feeble self couldn't bear to fail that particular prayer.

For now, though, she smiled over at In, who - Niysha felt - desperately needed that win. She'd deal with the fallout of her little decision to calm Tilon's spirit later. Probably not much later, honestly. He was starting to seem distracted.

"As for our timetable for a return investment, Mr. Vanvurdil, the earliest profits might return as quickly as a month or two, with the sales of the first maps. Such sales would be made at a premium from the normal price per unit, on account of their limited nature. That will offset the lack of gross unit sales somewhat, but the real value in the first release is in advertising."

In had her own specialties. Niysha, apparently, was partially fluent in business jargon. Maybe some of Adekos' lessons actually were rattling around in her empty, idiot skull.

In Rhan Tilon Quill

 

[In Rhan]

In might've not been the best salesperon in the Galaxy, but she knew when to close a deal and get some paperwork in order - and that time was approaching. Tilon Quill had big promises about the future, Niysha translated them into Businessghoul with amazing skill, and In did her best to keep everyone jocular. It was best to transition from 'investing in Tilon's project' to 'excited discussions about OUR project' as quickly as possible. Discussions were had, details worked out, and preliminary paperwork passed around for review. This, too, In understood - navigating layers of bureaucracy was a critical skill if you wanted to, say, haul volitile coolant across national borders for business interests. Illegaly or otherwise.

Of couse, the actual paperwork would take more than some handshakes and a couple of loose contracts. This was just the first date. Everything past this part, In supposed, was between Tilon and the no doubt more qualified staff he elected to bring on board. Surely her role in all of this was essentially over, as she was mostly just qualified to drive a freighter and make salads. Speaking of,

While Niysha was cajoling their new patron, In found a moment to pat Tilon on the shoulder and grin. "After this, you want to swing by our ship for dinner to celebrate? Got some cider with it, if you're interested."

 

[Tilon Quill]

He did want that. Right now he wanted that more than he'd wanted anything. This wasn't relief, this was his body still revved higher on stress than the situation warranted, really: Vanvurdin's balancesheets weren't stone-monsters on Yavin or predatory fungus on Gadma Station or the prospect of dying a million parsecs from home. Maybe at some level, the fight for the life he wanted meant more to him than actually staying alive, and he didn't look forward to unpacking that thought. He wanted to unwind and he wanted that drink with good solid associates like any normal person. He wanted that to be his life.

---

Later, after he'd messaged home to share the news, he beeped the hatch of In's ship. Or was it their ship together? He couldn't remember if they'd told him, or whether they'd mentioned how long they'd traveled together. Enigmatic people in their way. He'd repeatedly felt the feeling that they didn't trust easily, maybe not even each other.

His current best guess was that Nysh was, like him, a former Sith acolyte with enough intervening life to put that experience in perspective and take what they needed from it. His current best guess was that she owed In money, enough to matter but not enough - not enough money, not enough time elapsed - to hurt. Maybe their connection was collapsing into a stable configuration like a loth-cat in an isotope box with a fifty percent chance of life.

The hatch opened and he went in to see what kind of ship these people lived in.

"I brought music," he called in.

In Rhan Niysha