Gateway of the Mind

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

Where: A lonely little station along the Mara Corridor
Who: [member="Niysha"]

It wasn't often that Aleidis got out into the Galaxy, considering the (relatively few) bounties on her head and how much of a pain it was to huck her behind out from Dayark. But that'd kind of been the point of retiring there, that it'd take her upwards of a month to get anywhere 'important'. Codi wasn't crazy about living so far from the city lights at first, but Aleidis imagined that that wasn't a hard price to pay to have Alei go nearly a decade without a crusade.

Even so, it was nice to be back for a visit. Compared to Dayark, just about anywhere near the core was terribly busy - but in a good way. Codi wasn't the only one who'd grown up in Coruscant, and even Alei could miss the bustle.

The one-armed young woman paused on a small catwalk overlooking the 'merchant' section. UT-778 was little more than a refueling station, like most of Silk Holding's stations, which meant the interior was little more than a couple food spots, a watering hole, and a tiny hotel. Along with the basic infrastructure required of a space installation, of course. All in all, it was rather spartan.

A potted plant was added a bit of color to the closest thing to a common area the station had, which made her smile. Corporate policy, that.

After hanging up her call with her wife - who was handing her new side business in this sector - Aleidis carefully lit a cigarette and leaned on a railing, watching a couple folk move through the common area. An odd sight only in that she was wearing a ratty old hoodie and jeans with high heels, the young woman was content to stand under the air filter and enjoy her brief layover in relative peace.

 

[Niysha]

Darth Ignus may have been Niysha's new master, but that didn't equate to "caretaker" in the traditional sense of the word, nor did it equate to "keeper." Niysha still had friends (actually, that "s" was probably giving her too much credit) out in the galaxy that she enjoyed visiting every once in a while, and she had no reason to force Fable to come to a Sith fleet just to meet with her. Meeting her halfway was better. The two had spent a couple of days with Fable's hologames playing with each other's hair, and watching silly holovids. Y'know. Normal girl stuff. It was a refreshing change of pace after searing her brain with Sith language and history.

The only issue was that Niysha had only worked out the trip there. The trip back...well, it was taking a while. In fact, it was taking a long while. She'd had to bum a ride from a passenger shuttle on her way back from Tattooine, and it had utterly tanked after a rather unpleasant incident with sabotage and sedition. Now, after surviving that little spat of nonsense, she was stuck on this station until she could find a way to get off again.

The problem was that her ship was now a full day late. Her stomach was growling, and she had no credits. However long it would be before her ride arrived, she'd get nothing more done by meditating in an empty hangar bay. She stood (slowly, weakly) and wandered off into the station proper to see if she could find someone to press for food. It was...honestly not her first choice, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and beggars with psychic powers couldn't very well not use every resource at their disposal. Survival was more important than anything else.

Tiny common area. Outfitter, refueling depot...ah, there was the restaurant. She wandered up a little more confidently than normal before she smelled food. Real food, not protein paste. With no money and a growing unwillingness to take what she needed from the few people currently running around on the station, Niysha's courage evaporated. She got within a couple of meters of the door before backing off with a stumble and a whimper to find a place to sit nearby.
[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Niysha"]

To see a Miraluka was an uncommon, but slightly pleasant thing. Aleidis had run into more than a few in her time on Coruscant, and the Miraluka had been among one of the handful of species she'd specialized in when getting her certifications as a general practitioner. She considered going up and making conversation, and was in fact about halfway down the stairs to do so, when the teenager visibly struggled with herself at the door of the restaurant, stumbled away, and made a singularly unhappy noise in the back of her throat that just barely reached her ears. That was curious. Interest piqued, Aleidis took a closer look. Exhaustion, long hours, a poor diet - given her age, she was likely a vagrant drifter, or an academic student.

Aleidis' mind briefly drifted back to the miserable little Miralukan boy she'd fed and clothed, and eventually introduced into the Jedi. It took a very profound sort of misery or illness to make a Miralukan - Jedi or not - falter in their seemingly omniscient spatial awareness enough to stumble. Her feet were in motion before she'd properly decided to do anything at all.

"Excuse me?" Aleidis asked, her voice a warm mixture of polite and hopeful. The Ghostling had lowered her hood and offered a smile - she didn't bother to hide what she was. Her ability to manipulate her aura was rudimentary at best, and while the White Current might cloud Force Vision, she doubted that someone who relied on it to see would not notice the Force being manipulated on such a scale. No, being modest with her aura would, Aleidis wagered, be rather rude.

The Ghostling glanced around the common area, then turned her attention back to the Miraluka girl. "...I'm sorry to bother you. My name's Alei. I'm stuck here for a bit and hate to eat alone." She confessed, being mostly honest on that count. She preferred company, and the stray teen would be able to retain her dignity - an important resource for a girl apparently on her own. "I'll buy if you share a table with me?" Aleidis offered.

 

[Niysha]

With her ability to focus obliterated by hunger, frustration, and self-doubt, Niysha's senses had been greatly diminished. It wasn't terribly surprising that she hadn't Seen the glimmering, blinding beacon of the woman before her until she was close enough to feel the warmth coming off of her skin. When she did, of course, she recoiled.

That...was an aura. That was one hell of an aura. Frankly, Niysha had never Seen a Jedi's aura before; the only one she'd ever personally spoken to had been over a holoterminal. It was a whole mess of conflicts, bright enough to force her Sight out of focus, but so clear that Niysha felt as if she could cut her fingers on its edges. The intensity of it was terrifying, but its general "color" was calming. In fact, inherently calming, as if the Sithling couldn't help but relax against her will. Most curious of all, the woman (girl? She was pretty small...) wore an artifact that was almost as Dark as she was Light.

The whole thing was extraordinarily confusing and more than a bit overwhelming. Dumbfounded, Niysha sat still, staring agawk at the nonsense she was witnessing. The sheer audacity of it all. That the galaxy could conspire to make a creature this ridiculous was just simply not right.

But it was rude to keep a lady waiting. "Um...sure. Thank you," Niysha replied almost timidly. In fact, "almost" was too generous. The only thing that had kept her from stuttering was the fact that her mouth was on autopilot with her brain too busy staring in awe at the flagrant impossibility she was forced to bear witness to.
[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Niysha"]

Aleidis wasn't sure if it was her own presence or the girl's situation that'd made her so timid, but it was one of those things she just had to put right. Not that something like timidity could be cured over lunch. "Really? That's such a relief, thank you." Alei gushed softly. She took a step back and waited for Niysha to find her feet, giving her a bit of respectful distance. Respectful distance and a little extra, because she was, after all, a Ghostling.

Aleidis chatted amicably as they entered the restaurant. "I hear these places make excellent milkshakes, you know." The Ghostling explained, finding a comfortable booth in the middle of the almost entirely empty eatery. Most importantly, not near any windows. The stygian abyss that was deep space had unsettled nearly every Miraluka she'd spoken to about it. Aleidis suspected it played a not-insignificant role in how many Miralukans preferred to stay on Alpheridies.

When a droid came by to take their order, Aleidis asked for something involving fried mushrooms - and an appetizer big enough for them both, in case modesty prevented her new associate from ordering in scale with her hunger. She didn't bother to ask her companion's name, or address her latent Force potential; neither were of huge concern to Aleidis. The girl could volunteer the details when she was comfortable enough to. She already knew what Aleidis was, after all.

Not for the first time, the Ghostling wondered what such nuanced Force Sight was like.

Fairly handy with one arm, Aleidis peeled her hooded sweatshirt off, wearing a modestly-cut green shirt underneath. A dull orange jewel hung on a thin silver chain around her neck. "If you'd like to eat in silence, that's fine." Aleidis promised, toying idly with a napkin. She chuckled, offering a sheepish smile. "I'm chatty, but I don't mind the quiet if talking would make you uncomfortable!"

 

[Niysha]

When offered food, there was nothing in Niysha's presently overwhelmed mind that would allow her to refuse it. That didn't mean she wasn't very, very nervous about eating with both a Jedi and the most powerful Force-user she'd ever Seen, but it did mean that she was hungry and alone and thus vulnerable, so she reverted back to her standard "acquiesce until you're out of the woods" instinct. It'd served her well so far. In fact, it'd gotten her a master.

And now it'd gotten her mushroom bites, which she eagerly partook of. Her mouth was full of maybe three of the buggers by the time she started getting asked questions that she actually needed to respond to. Now, naturally, being intimidated as all hell by the impossible anomaly of Force power before her, Niysha was eager to do exactly as she was told. The problem with that was that it meant she was eager to answer while also eating mushrooms. The result was a choked cough.

After a couple of seconds, she strained a smile at the other woman. "N- *kff* ...no, it's not that, ma'am," the Miraluka replied as steadily as she could ("not terribly" by any metric). She straightened her butt on the seat and tried to sit up. "I'm not much of a talker, but I don't mind listening."

Fantastic cop-out, really.
[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Niysha"]

A smile was a good start, Aleidis decided. Progress. She chuckled and nodded emphatically, helping herself to a couple mushrooms with a careful, delicate touch. She was, after all, extremely fragile - she could think of few better ways to strain this girl's budding levels of comfort than by going for the same appetizer and winding up with a very broken hand. The only one she had, too. "You really don't have to call me that." Aleidis promised quietly, though she sounded more flattered than anything. Even so, she had been just as unsufferably polite at that age, too, and to an extent still was. If Niysha wanted to call her 'ma'am,' that was fine.

"But you DO have to try these with the sauce!" The Ghostling added brightly, her voice cheerful and enthusiastic. "Take it from someone who hasn't had a whole lot of use for condiments, it's really worth it." Fried mushrooms were already practically her favorite thing, but it was amazing what a bit of creamy white sauce did for the whole palate. Aleidis popped the morsel into her mouth and hummed with pleasure. "...you know, I had an Ithorian friend who taught me nearly everything I know about life, gardening, being a doctor..." She rambled idly, completely comfortable filling a silence. "But some days, I swear that man was an absolute savant with a deep fryer. Unspoken talents, I bet he didn't even know how amazing his cooking really was."

A sip of tea with FAR too much sugar in it refreshed her palette, and Aleidis immediately helped herself to another mushroom. Proportions were generous here, partly because she'd paid for generous portions. "My wife is a Togruta, you know. Carnivorous." She explained with an almost audible grin. "I feel like she's really missing out on all the good stuff, but she just swears I'm crazy." Chucking, Aleidis gestured in a vague circle with her mushroom, rolling her jet-black eyes. "Oh well! More for us, right?"