First Reply Fish Out Of Water

[Reina Daival]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Open


"I'm sorry! Okay?! How was I supposed to know the hyperdrive would go on the fritz?"

"It's not just that! We've been stuck here for days now! You said I'd be able to get back to the Temple in no time! "Oh, come on! It'll be some sisterly-bonding. What kind of Jedi would leave her sister to do business all alone." You want to know what kind?! The smart kind!"

The long-lost pair of sisters argued with each other, as Reina waved her hand around the ship in frustration. She had came out to this damned desert planet, on the understanding that she was meant to make sure that the deal Alexis had going went off without a hitch. That at least, had worked. The tech Alexis had been selling got sold off, credits went into the bank. Boom, job done right? Wrong! Apparently the elder sister had underestimated the heat of the two suns and now the hyperdrive had been overheating for the past...Reina didn't even know how long she had been stuck out here now. The days had roughly been the same thing over and over again. Alexis and Reina arguing over things, Alexis storming off into the heat to cool her head whilst Reina tried her hardest to fix the hyperdrive, even though she knew nothing about them. But today...Today was different.

"Coruscant is being invaded! My friends, my family is out there fighting. Trying to protect people whilst I'm stuck here. They could be getting hurt, dying, or worse! Whilst I'm stuck here! On this backwards planet, unable to do anything but worry about them!"

"...Huh. I see how it is. You're worried about your precious "family" and you're blaming it on me. Blaming me for why you're not there. Well. Don't expect me to take the blame, Raini. Oh sorry, I mean "Jedi Padawan, Reina". "

Reina froze for a moment. The colour draining from her face as soon as she had realised what she had said. That wasn't what she had meant. Sure, the Jedi had been like a family to her...but so was Alexis. It was hard for Reina to show that yet. Her sister had only just came back into her life. She opened her mouth to speak only to be interuptted by Alexis holding her hand up in the woman's face.

"Save it. I'm going to work on the karkin' thing. See if we can't get you back to your precious little home so you can throw your life away like the rest of them."

The Jedi Padawan watched her sister storm off towards the rear of the ship, running a hand down her face. Why did she always put her foot in her mouth? She needed to cool her head off. She needed a good drink. So that's what she was going to do, heading out of the ship, almost immediately to be met with the heat. It felt like all the moisture was already being sucked out of her skin, alongside the sight of the sand. It wasn't the same sensation she felt when she was out at the beach. There was nothing that felt right about this planet. She hated it. Hated it with such a passion. Reina had known she'd hate it, but that hadn't stopped her from heading out.

Either way, she made her way towards the cantina. Her prosthetic leg clanking away beneath her as she made herself in the shaded building and almost immediately found herself a booth to sit in. It had been a while since she had turned towards a drink to deal with her frustrations...but that was the best thing for her to do. She couldn't just sit in the ship, frustrated and concerned over what was going on with the rest of the Jedi. She just had to hope they were all doing okay...and she had to figure out a way to get Alexis to forgive her...but for now? The ex-fisherwoman ordered something strong, whilst she let her eyes scan over the cantina. Some might say she was looking for a fight...and she honestly might have been, but she also was trying to make sure that there wasn't anyone else like her in the Cantina. Anyone else worried about what was going on in the Core.​

 

[Remus]

Tag: Reina Daival

The cantina smelled of dry air, overheated machinery, and cheap spice. Sunlight slashed through the doorway in pale beams, throwing shifting patterns across the sand-scuffed floor.

Jedi Master Remus sat hooded in the far corner, wrapped in dark robes that draped like water over stone. A chipped ceramic cup rested between his palms, thin steam curling upward from the dark tea within. He lifted it, sipped, and set it back down in silence. His eyes remained half-lidded, as if he were merely another weary traveller passing time.

But in the Force, he was a still point, a place of deliberate quiet. A black star around which thoughts orbited slowly.

He had come to Tatooine tracking whispers of a fugitive. An arms smuggler whose trail wound through the Outer Rim like a thin scar. He had expected sand, heat, and the silent company of his own mind.

He had not expected her.

The cantina door whined open, spilling heat and blinding light into the room. And with it, a ripple. A presence, turbulent, raw, laced with grief, frustration and a faint edge of anger barely leashed.

Through the shadows of his hood, Remus watched the young woman limp across the floor on her prosthetic leg, each step accompanied by the subtle metallic rhythm of her gait. He felt the weight of her turmoil. The ache of someone desperate to be elsewhere, to be useful.

He wondered, not without curiosity, what storm had driven her all the way here.

He made no move to speak. His tea cooled in his cup.

For now… he simply watched.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Remus

More and more frustration. That was the main feeling going through Reina's mind as she swung her drink back, almost ignorant to the burn going down her throat. She should have been out in the Galaxy. Doing something. Proving that she was an actual Jedi. But she couldn't do that stuck on this damned desert planet. It was just filled with a bunch of criminals, moisture farmers and worse. Even the alcohol they had here felt like it was some kind of banathawash. It'd do for now as she just rested her head in her hands, trying her best to stay calm

It was too hot. Too damned hot. She was regretting agreeing to come to this planet more and more. Sure, it was nice of her to try and get closer to Alexis but was it worth it if it meant that the people who had helped Reina become who she was were in danger? Everest, Valery, Xuko, Klar, Colette. All of them were in potential danger and she was stuck here because she had wanted to help her sister.

"...Family kriffing sucks."

She slammed her glass back down onto her table, before preparing to order yet another one. Today was just going to be one of those days where she'd drink enough to drown a fish.​

 

[Remus]

Tag: Reina Daival

Steam curled gently from the ceramic cup as Remus lifted it to his lips. The cantina's noise ebbed and flowed around him like desert wind, but he listened with the focus of a man tuned to subtler currents.

He set the cup down, eyes half-lidded beneath his hood. For a moment, he simply watched the young woman a few tables away, the one with the prosthetic leg and the fury trembling in her fingers.

When he finally spoke, his voice cut through the din, soft but carrying, as though the words weighed more than their volume suggested.

"Family often does."

He left the words hanging, as patient as stone.

Another sip of tea. A small tilt of his head. He did not rise, did not lean forward. He merely remained in his shadowed seat, dark robes draped around him, his presence like the stillness at the centre of a storm.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Remus

Her eyes flickered up at the sound of someone responding to her rambling. Narrowing for a moment as she debated to herself. In the past she might have told the man to keep his bald head out of her business. But that wasn't who she was. Not anymore. Even in her frustration and anger, she wasn't going to take it out on some random stranger.

Instead she just squinted at him, making sure that he knew she had acknowledged he had said something. That was it at the end of the day though. Acknowledgement and nothing else. Nothing more. Nothing less. Instead she turned herself down to her glass, staring at the empty contents as if it would give her some kind of answer. She knew it wouldn't. Reina was no longer that much of a fool at the end of the day...but that didn't mean she couldn't wish for some sort of answer.​

 

[Remus]

Tag: Reina Daival

Steam curled lazily from the cup clasped in Remus’ hands. The cantina’s air shifted, dense with sweat and desert dust as two men detached themselves from the shadows near the bar and sauntered toward the lone woman.

One was wiry, with close-cropped hair and eyes as sharp as broken glass. The other, broader, with a patchy beard and a tattoo peeking from the sleeve of his jacket, a stylized black sunburst overlaid with angular script.

Remus’ gaze dipped toward that mark, faint interest flickering across the still pond of his presence. The same insignia he’d glimpsed in fragments of encrypted transmissions.

But he said nothing as the men approached the woman's table.

"Well, well. Look at this one. Good clothes, metal leg, all alone… you look like you got plenty of credits to burn, sweetheart."

"Or maybe just steam to let off, yeah? We could help with that."

The second man reached out, as if to brush a finger across Reina’s arm.

Before contact could be made, a voice cut across the space, smooth, measured, as calm as a quiet tide rolling in beneath twin suns.

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

The men froze mid-reach, glancing around until they spotted the hooded figure seated several tables away. Remus hadn’t moved. He remained in his seat, hands cradling the steaming cup.

Beard sneered, voice edged with contempt.

"What’s it to you, dirtfarmer? Keep your bald head out of things."

Glass-eyes stepped closer, boot scuffing the sand-dusted floor.

"Yeah. Or we’ll wipe that smug look right off your face."

Remus lifted the cup slightly, as though in a silent toast, then sipped without a flicker of concern. Beard reached for the blaster holstered at his hip. The other man mirrored him, the motion practiced and smooth. Metal clicked against leather.

Remus exhaled softly.

And the two men stopped.

Frozen mid-motion, arms extended toward their weapons, eyes wide and mouths half-open as though preparing a curse. A faint tension vibrated through the Force, a delicate shimmer like sunlight rippling on desert dunes.

Remus did not look at them. His eyes remained serene, focused somewhere far beyond the cantina walls as he lowered his cup gently to the table.

Only then did he speak again, voice low, words carried on the hush of dry wind:

"It seems your drink will have to wait."

His gaze shifted at last to Reina, locking onto hers with calm gravity.

"These men wear the mark of someone I am hunting. It would be wise for you to leave. This world is about to become… complicated."

He lifted his cup once more, as though nothing had happened, steam rising in fragile, curling tendrils.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Remus

"You are talking to the wrong woman. I'd...strongly advise you to Kriff Off if you value your health."

Control. That was new for her. Giving people a warning before she'd smash their heads against the wall. Even as her muscles were clenched, ready to leap into action at the slightest moment, she was hopefully that she wouldn't have to lash out at anyone. Though as soon as she saw a hand reaching out towards her arm, she went to move...which is when the Bald Man spoke up again. Whilst the two men turned their attention over towards him, Reina's eyes were staring at the pair of bantha-poodoo, her anger flaring up once more.

Which is once she saw one of their hands going for a blaster, she didn't even hesitate. Sure, maybe she should have waited to see how the bald man reacted, but Reina was filled with frustrations and anger. And so she quickly lashed out with her leg, using the pneumatics to send a sharp kick to Beard's shin. At the same time, the brittle metal used as the foot shattered, sending fragments of sharp metal flying below the table and into both of the men's legs.

Alongside that, she slammed the harpoon tip of her prosthesis down on Beard's foot, twisting the implement of pain. To add the piece de resistance to the entire scuffle, Reina grabbed Beard by his head and brought it smashing down onto the side of the table. Like she had said. They had been trying to talk to the wrong woman. And today was not a good day to push Reina's buttons as she let out a sigh. That had been...a good stress reliver. Though she looked up to spot Glass-Eyes frozen in place, and then looked down over towards Beard.

"Well. I did try to warn them."

She shrugged her shoulders. Reina was sure that Colette and Issar wouldn't be proud of the violence she had just went through but...if anything, it was an improvement to how she normally would have responded. They were alive at least...At least she was pretty sure she hadn't killed the Bearded Fellow. That's when she looked up towards the Bald-Head, frowning at his statement.

"Trust me. If it was that easy to get off world, I would. My hyperdrive is scuffed. I'm stuck here until it's fixed..."

And considering Reina hadn't gotten a message from her communicator that it was done and Alexis was ready to leave...Either it wasn't fixed yet, or Alexis had left without her, but Reina felt like her sister wouldn't be that cruel.
​

 

[Remus]

Tag: Reina Daival

Remus watched the violence unfold without blinking. A hiss of compressed pneumatic. A sharp crack of skull against wood. The scatter of fragmented metal like shrapnel beneath the table.

The bearded one crumpled with a groan, twitching once, then lay still. The other remained frozen, locked in time, a grotesque statue of unfinished malice. Remus lifted his cup, sipped, and let out a soft breath. Then, with nothing more than a faint shift in the air, the second man dropped like a stone. A heavy thud, followed by silence, save for the murmur of shifting patrons pretending not to stare.

He set the cup down. Looked at her.

"You are efficient."

There was no judgment in his voice. He glanced once to the insignia burned into the unconscious man’s skin, then back to Reina.

"These are not locals. Their loyalties lie with someone far more dangerous."

His voice was quiet but not secretive. Let anyone else overhear. Let the whispers spread. It suited him.

"You said you are stuck. Perhaps not."

He rose slowly, cloak drawing around him like smoke.

"I am leaving this world soon. One way or another. But not before I finish business here."

He paused, looking at her fully now, with eyes like dusk pressed into glass.

"You may join me, should you wish."

He left the words there, hanging like a doorway half open. It was not an offer of protection, nor did it come with a smile. It was simply a path.

Without another word, he rose from his seat, and stepped outside, cold, dark eyes surveying the endless sea of sand beyond them as he planned his next move.