Private Fish Hate Him For This One Weird Trick...

[Ishani Dinn]

Morning on an Ahch-To shore...

Ishani walked across the beach, her diving flippers slapping across the sand with every step. She carried the breathing mask tucked under her arm, but otherwise was fully decked out in diving gear.

There were rumors of underwater ruins hidden under the sea in this area, having been discovered by an archaeological team some months prior. The team couldn't get the funding they needed to investigate, and so the alleged "ancient underwater Jedi temple" had remained undisturbed. So far.

Ishani wasn't interested in any Jedi ruins. She was looking for an Atargatis Skin - a kind of alchemized mermaid suit originally invented on her homeworld of Chaldea. On Chaldea, the Skins were banned for their addictive qualities, although a few people still wore them... they weren't looked at too kindly in polite society, though. Ishani had determined that it would be too difficult to get a Skin she could study from Chaldea. Luckily, she had heard she could find plenty of Skins here, affixed to the bodies of a wayward Finfolk clan... well, "wayward" was putting it lightly. Supposedly they were cannibals and/or monsters mutated by the Dark Side. Lovely. Looks like she had a fun trip under the sea ahead of her.

Ishani gave the beach one last surveying look, listening to the waves and feeling the sea breeze wafting over her. But just before she could raise the mask and put it over her head, she spotted a figure in the distance, walking along the same beach. She paused, frowning, and decided to yell out, "Hey!" in greeting. Hopefully it was just some tourist, or at least someone who would mind their own business and not bother her...

Subject 648 Slipknot​

 

[Subject 648 Slipknot]

Ishani Dinn

Slip walked down the beach, his boots leaving imprints in the sand. Close behind, he could feel the shadow man following him. Jeez, Slip could never once catch a break, could he? He was cursed to always have something trying to bother him. Porgs had been constantly trying to land on his head. And next to the shadow man, walked his pet project. A BX Commando droid that he found a while back, and that he decided to undertake as a personal challenge to reprogram and fix it up. He was still working out the kinks, like the occasional sadistic spark that sent the droid into a spiraling killing spree. Thankfully, Slip could, more or less, stop these. He still had no idea how to prevent it from happening, though. It must be that old Confederacy programming, but he was having trouble with that old code.

Slip had been called to this planet for a couple of reasons. One: because someone requested his specialty in tech and machines. That would be finishing up soon enough.Two: He just needed a break. Between his training and missions in the Jedi, and his side-job in Darkwire, and match that with all the other chaos going on, Slip was physically and mentally exhausted. Plus, Slip hadn't slept much. After that... incident the Jedi had at Nooli, Slip hadn't been sleeping much after that. He just couldn't. Every time he tried to relax or close his eyes, he still saw that monster that he connected with. He still felt the terror, the fear, the shock of it all. He felt the overwhelming hopelessness that the creature had constantly given off. That sheer despair and terror... it hadn't been pretty. And everything that happened after that... it left Slip constantly seeing it in his dreams, feeling and remembering the horror every time he tried to drift off to sleep. So, needless to say Slip had only been getting a few hours at a time before he woke up in a cold sweat, unable to fall back to sleep until the exhaustion overtook him once again. So he really needed this time to relax. Luckily, he managed to get some people to cover for him, so he could have this break before he completely broke down.

Further down the beach, he saw a girl, yelling a greeting out to me. He blinked in surprise. Was.. was she calling to him? He wasn't expecting that; most people just ignored him. This was... a new development. And... was it just Slip, or did she seem... small? Hmm, probably just the distance between them. Slip approached the girl, and realized that she really was tiny. Slip was about a full 10 inches taller than her.

"Um, h-hi," Slip said, nervously. He was still completely hopeless talking to people, and to girls? He was especially bad at talking with them. They just made him nervous. He looked at her, and saw that she was dressed in diving gear. "Um, you know that you put that on wrong, right?" He told her, pointing at a couple pieces of gear on her. "And your flippers are on too loose. They'll come off if you don't tighten them. I can tighten them for you, if you want." He offered to her.

"So, uh, you're diving? You know it's dangerous, right?" Slip asked her. "Oh! Right, sorry, probably should have introduced myself before interrogating you." He said, chuckling nervously, scratching his head.

"I'm Slip, may I ask what your name is?" He introduced himself, swatting away a porg that tried to land on his head.

 

[Ishani Dinn]

The figure walked closer. It was a dude with green hair and freckles who was taller than her (of course) and accompanied by an old droid of some kind.

He opened his mouth to speak, and right from the outset he was criticizing her, saying that she was wearing her gear wrong and her flippers were too loose. As her face flushed, he changed his tune, offering to help her fix the errors. She stood there, too embarrassed to think straight as he babbled, asking her what she was doing there, told her it was dangerous, until he finally introduced himself as Slip.

A long, awkward silence followed his words. Ishani tried to glare up at him intimidatingly, her hands on her hips, but she was still fuming, her face beet red, and her confidence had been obliterated by his pointing out everything she was doing wrong before she even knew his name. She didn’t even really know what to say. The entire encounter was incredibly confusing and weird.

Slip swatted at a porg that had fallen on his head. It bounced off, squawking angrily, and she almost cracked a smile. Almost.

“My name is Ishani,” she began, finally gathering up her scattered wits. “It’s none of your business what I’m doing here. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to try and stop me or… compete with me.” She sighed. “But since I apparently am so incompetent I can’t even put my diving gear on properly, I guess I do need help. So thanks. I guess.”

She stood waiting for him to do as he said he would, helping her adjust and fix everything so that she was wearing it correctly. If he didn’t do anything, she would clear her throat and begrudgingly mutter, “Help me. Please. You’re my only hope.”

Subject 648 Slipknot​

 

[Subject 648 Slipknot]

Ishani Dinn

Slip noticed that as he talked, the girl's face was starting to get redder and redder. What did he say to get her embarrassed? Had he said something wrong? What had he done?! Slip himself started to get flustered at her getting flustered, getting a little red himself. Great... why was he so hopelessly bad with females?!

After he spoke, a long silence occurred. They both stood there, the small girl staring at him, menacingly, glaring at him, hands on her hips, and her face redder than Red's hair. Slip shifted nervously on his feet, his own face getting a little redder, intimidated by this small girl. How was she doing that?! She was way smaller than Slip, and yet she was terrifying! How was she so intimidating?!

Then, the girl finally broke the awkward moment, saying that her name was Ishani, and that what she was doing was none of Slip's business. That was fair, but that didn't mean Slip was still suspicious of what she was doing.

“But since I apparently am so incompetent I can’t even put my diving gear on properly, I guess I do need help. So thanks. I guess.”

At this, Slip grew noticeable red. Gah! That wasn't what he had meant! Oh no, now he had come off as a snarky jerk! Why was he such an embarrassment to himself?! "I mean... er- that's not what i... um- I didn't mean it like that!" Slip said quickly, obviously flustered now, trying to explain himself. "I just meant- um... that it is dangerous to not be properly equipped, is all!" He continued nervously, still incredibly flustered and embarrassed.

Then, the girl muttered something.

“Help me. Please. You’re my only hope.”

At this, Slip nearly grew as red as she was. "I... um- huh?" He stammered, confused.

Snapping mostly out of his trance, he managed to step towards her. Squatting down, he started to readjust and properly set up her diving gear. He circled around her, moving around pieces of gear, and making sure that they were secure on her body. Once he finished, he stood up and stepped back from her. "There you go, all good now!" He told her, his face still red from the awkward encounter. "Safe travels!"

Jeez, Slip has had some strange and awkward encounters before, but this one took the position of most awkward at the top of his list. Why was he so hopeless with females?

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani squinted up at Slip as he continued to dig himself a bigger hole, stammering and fumbling. He looked confused by the “you’re my only hope”.

“That was a reference,” she said. “To a moopie—I mean, movie. A movie about uh, Princess Leia and the Death Star and all that stuff. Have you seen it?”

At least he did as she asked and helped adjust her gear. She struck her flippers against the wet sand with a satisfying slap, then nodded at Slip. “Many thanks.” Lowering her goggles over her eyes and fastening the mask over her mouth and nose, she then ran into the water without another word, diving in and riding the crest of a wave.

Subject 648 Slipknot​