I Need More Ramen

[Kurt Meyer]

Kalinda University
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt sat quietly in the large open courtyard located right near Kalinda Universities main docking bays.

There was a small sandwich in his lap, a bottle of water next to him, and a text book propped up against a small rock to his side. He was glancing at the book between every few bites, though it was clear that he was paying far less attention to that than the ships that were passing in and out of the docking bays.

This was one of his rituals so to speak, something he did so he could keep himself collected in the mess that was this campus. There were what seemed like hundreds of thousands of students. Some were nice, some were mean, some were entirely apathetic about his existence, but all of them seemed to equally get on his nerves sometimes. He missed the ability to be alone, he missed just sitting in the cockpit of The Messa and doing his own thing.

It seemed that wherever he went in this place he couldn't be alone.

For someone like him that was rather grating, especially when he felt like he had a lack of control.

It had been his choice to come here, and he didn't regret it for a moment, but he was quite seriously on the edge of strangling someone. He'd considered telling Jamie, but the realization had quickly hit him that such a complain would seem utterly silly compared to what she was going through back on Naboo. She was running an entire planet, he was just getting annoyed at some college students.

Her problems were bigger.

So he'd taken to eating his lunch out here. It was mostly too noisy for any of the other students to come here, and the smell of fuel and engines was enough to drive the rest away. For him though it felt like an odd sort of home, a welcome get away.

Especially right now.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Fingerless-gloved hands pinched the bridge of her nose. Thumb pads rubbed in some extra grease onto the skin of her face. Wide eyes the color of starbursts refocused beyond her clenching digits. "Haha very funny Dillon. Don't worry this is just a pit stop. No, no, it won't be like Chandrilla."

Fingers released from her face.

"Just stay with the ship. I won't be long. I promise."

Dillon called after Kinsey as she stepped off the ramp.

"Yeah fine. Check the class schedule but I swear if you get looped into a frat party I'm not coming to find you."

Ignoring the low chuckle and grunt, the girl wearing the spacer clothes with the well-used tool belt around her waist continued to walk on and further into the quad. Had to find this Professor Gumsworth. Some retired Vagrant fleet member who was looking for missing family.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt was by this time leaning back against a small tree than had been placed at the edge of the courtyard.

He was sprawled out a bit and the book that he had been 'reading' was located on his face. His chest rose and fell rather steadily, but it was more than clear that he'd fallen asleep. His legs extended out into the small pathway that cut through the courtyard.

Another time it might have been rather rude to do as Kurt was doing, but no one ever came down this way and well...he was asleep. You couldn't really blame him for getting himself comfortable in a place that no one ever supposedly went through.

It helped that he was having a pleasant dream too.

So as Kinsey headed through the quad she would see the former Courier taking his nap, relaxing and slowly snoozing away the afternoon.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Astral navigation? Using the force to move in crowds and find those open spaces? That was her thing. Didn't mean she couldn't make mistakes with that stuff now and again - like when she bumped into Xin. Luckily for Kurt, this time wasn't like that.

Sure, her nose was buried in a campus map. But her footsteps nimbly stepped over some dude's sprawled out legs without ever looking up. The corner of her gaze caught a book sprawled over his face. She smirked.

"Must be a real page turner," she muttered to herself as she stepped on by.

Alright, lesse, where exactly was this Doctor Gumsworth?

Fingers shifted the campus map she held in front of her face as she walked closer to a fountain.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt blinked a few times as he heard a voice drag him out of sleep.

It didn't take him very long to notice that the person wasn't really addressing him, but he still felt somewhat groggy. He frowned for a moment, reaching up and slowly pulling the textbook up and off of his face. He let out a slight groan, then looked up. "Uhh."

Kurt looked around.

This was a bit awkward.

"Do you..." He shifted slightly, pulling himself further up against the tree. "Do you need help with something?"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Was sleepy man talking to her? Fingers brought the campus map down from her nose. Pausing, her hip quarter turned to look back. Wide-blues shifted away from the layout to the student.

Or vagabond.

"No. Well actually," blues shifted back to the map. Kins could read star charts and astral maps. She'd most likely be fine. But it might be a little faster just to ask.

"Do you know where the Linguistics Department is?"

Those Starchaser blues lifted again and back to the snoozer. They narrowed. Head cocked slightly to the side. "Do I know you from somewhere...?"

There was a spark of familiarity. But she wasn't sure where from. Or that it had been on Jethro's crew a few years ago - when she'd been a bit more teen-like.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He shrugged.

"Ever been to Tatooine?" That was really the only place that he could have said anyone knew him from anywhere. The posters that had been floating around Mos Espa of his face were always there, even years after his last Boonta Eva Classic.

It was one of the reasons he still got recognized sometimes.

Another shrug. "Anyway I know where it is, you just have to go down that path, head to the left, then go..."

For a moment Kurt scratched his head. He forgot how big this campus was at times, and for a stranger to land here and try to actually get anywhere? Good luck. This place was so big that a lot of people got lost when they'd been here for weeks. Kurt still got lost himself.

"Wait." Kurt said as he pulled himself up. "Let me just take you there."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Tattooine....Tattooine....

"No, actually." Surprising, considering how much of an explorer and wanderer she was. A voyager on the stars. Tattooine was still on her list. Head was turned, already looking down that path he motioned to. Starburst-blues looking past the mist the fountain churned up and to the left. Looked like some students on the lawn were playing fricket and some were tossing around a smashball.

Such an odd life and one so different from the way she grew up.

Colony ships certainly didn't have this much green space. Or just...space. Well, breathable space. Head panned back to the oddly familiar guy. A shrug rippled along her shoulders. Map fell down to her side, other hand came to perch on her toolbelt.

"Sure, if you're done with your nap." Lips twitched.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt shrugged.

"I probably just have one of those faces then." He'd been told that once or twice before. "Also I wasn't napping."

He'd fallen asleep, sure, but it didn't really count as a nap. "I was absorbing knowledge."

That was as good as an excuse as he could come up with at the moment. The truth was that while university wasn't boring, it was extremely challenging. He couldn't keep up with everything taught in class, and he didn't want anyone to hold his hand the entire time but...when he tried to learn things on his own they usually went over his head. About the only thing he actually got was the studies on mechanical theory, something that he blissfully had a talent in.

"It's this way." Kurt said as he closed the book.

Half way across the campus.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Yeah, yeah. Sure ya were." The explorer smirked, casting the man a sideways glance before turning her gaze ahead. She'd been to many planets, cities, and wild lands. This place was still impressive, though. Still.

The fountain was long behind them as her thoughts remained inward. U-wing was secured. Still had to pick up some initial dampeners. Maybe after talking to the professor, she'd find a shop.

Squinting up ahead, eyes caught the sign of a building that sat dwarfed by two others on a hill. "I see the anthropology college. Map said it was around there."

Still couldn't see it, though.

Eyes narrowed on Kurt, mind churning. Realization slowly crossed her features.

"Jethro's ship."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt froze for half a second.

He remembered the name well enough, in fact as soon as she said it he remembered her too, but he couldn't say so. The reason he and Kaile had been on that ship in the first place had been because of the SIS, in other words they'd been undercover for the Alliance.

Undercover meant secret, secret meant...well playing dumb. "Hm?"

The Courier said as he looked at the ground, then up at the path ahead of them. Kurt had never been a particularly good liar. He could get away with most things because of his charming smile and propensity for stretching the truth, but outright lying? No that was a different skill entirely. It was why he'd never really been all that good as an undercover agent, why he'd been so happy when he and Kaile had moved away from undercover work and did surveying.

"What did you say?" Kurt said pretending not to hear.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Jethro." She repeated, giving the man a funny look. "Jethro Wright's crew. Big guy named Thrukk." Who was was definitely her favorite. "Some girl was with you, I think. And there was a fiery redhead."

They all shared a ship for a few days. How could he not remember?

"It's me. Kinsey. Remember?"

A disc sailed by in front of them.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"Uhhh." Kurt looked around for a moment. "Nope."

He shrugged.

In hindsight he and Kaile probably should have disguised themselves when they were aboard the ship, but the galaxy was such a big place who could ever have expected that they'd run into one another way out here? Kurt wanted to say something else, but anything he did would dig him into a hole that he didn't necessarily known if he could get out of.

Another shrug rolled over his shoulder. "I think you must be mistaking me for someone else."

He gave her a smile.

"I don't really do starships." His eyes caught hers. "I'm a bit claustrophobic."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"No, no. I'm pretty sure...," voice trailed off. This time she shrugged. Maybe this guy had a past he wanted to forget too. Or had a bounty on his head. Or a thousand other reasons. She didn't care.

But it was weird because she was sure. The more he talked. Those eyes of his.

He'd been their karking pilot. Rubbed her the wrong way. She already had a hard time trusting others, let alone some half-arsed attempt by an old crew member. The spacer stopped abruptly. Arms stiffly crossed beneath her chest.

"Listen. I don't know what your deal is and it's not my business. But you're full of more kark than a Gundark eating a wookie's foot. I reckon I can find this college on my own. Good luck the starship issue."

Last line was dead panned.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He scratched the back of his head.

Kurt had never liked being dishonest. Sure a little white lie was okay every now and again, and when he'd been a kid he'd stolen his fair share of things...but it was always from people who deserved it. Smugglers, pirates, a Hutt now and again, no one could ever really call Kurt a bad person. At one point in time he might have just let Kinsey wander away and go, but Jamie and Kaile had instilled a certain sort of morality into him, something that irked him more than a little.

"Hang on." Kurt said quietly.

He didn't like the thought of someone walking away hating him, even if they didn't really know each other. Kurt remembered Kinsey well enough, she'd been nice, kind, and that was enough for him to at least consider her and acquaintance. No need to ruin that.

"It was me." He said equally quietly. "And my friend."

No more details than that.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Oh so now you admit it?" Head shook and her pace didn't slow. Nor did she turn around. "So karking weird just....whatever. You and your friend can keep your secrets and play an old crewmate for a fool. And don't worry 'bout me."

Booted feet began climbing a wide set of stairs. Starburst blues looked ahead. Building should be up the next walkway and somewhere over to the right. The more she thought about it, he and the girl had stuck pretty close together on the ship. Stayed mostly to themselves. Which was fine but the whole thing felt off. Smelled like trouble and she had enough trouble following her around these days.

Didn't need anymore.

"I can find this gorram college on my own,"'hot breath muttered to herself.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it.

"You're already at the college." Kurt commented as she began to walk away, quickly following after her. Kalinda University was huge, massive really, and even with maps it was difficult to find ones way around, mostly because the maps weren't all that clear.

"Look." He said quickly. "Just let me help."

Kurt did feel sort of bad for lying to her, but there was also the fact that if she was angry she might well spread around that at one point and time she had crewed a ship with a man and a woman who weren't who they claimed to be. That was dangerous, not so much for him, but for Kaile. She was back to working in the SIS again, and that meant she was undercover. He thought it unlikely that something like this would come back on her but...well he'd also never thought he'd see Kinsey again.

"I'm sorry for lying." Kurt said rather contritely.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Yeah. I can see the college." With a huff, she took the last step and found herself at the top of the stairs, sharp turning for the college entrance. It was a double set of wide, tall doors, made partially of marble. "Look."

The explorer spun around to face the pilot. Arms still crossed stiffly over her torso. "Why did you lie? Why do you even want to help?"

Arms uncrossed.

"Or if it makes you feel better. There. You helped. You can go now." Comm crackled at her tool belt. Dillon's voice came through the bursts of static.

"Kins. You copy? Got ships landing with Keenjay's Clan signia. Might want to hurry this up."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Kurt had no idea who that clan was, but it didn't sound good.

"I lied because I had to." He said with a shrug. "Not really my choice."

That was more than true. If it were up to Kurt he'd just be honest with everyone all the time. He'd learned pretty well that lying never really lead to anywhere good, especially with other people. He had been determined not to lie to Jamie at least, and so far that had worked out pretty well. "I can't really go into it but I'm sorry."

He was really trying to be nice.

"The building you're looking for is still about fifteen minutes away." It was hard to not understate just how big Kalinda University really was. The place was more of a city than an actual school, with every building holding some important function that dozens of people attended every day or so.

There was a reason most students had bikes or hoverboards.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Sounded sincere. Didn't mean she was about to go sharing all sorts of secrets with him. But if the clan just landed? She didn't really have time for any of this. Couldn't exactly stop him from following her if he wanted to.

Couldn't shoot someone on campus even on a stun setting.

"What? No," hand pointed behind him. "College of Linguistics is right there. I've gotta find this professor."

Side-stepping around the pilot, she beelined it into the building. "Of you know what room number and floor he's on. THAT would be helpful. Professor Gumsworth." A blast of AC hit her face as the front doors automatically opened. Throngs of students weaved and pushed past her, headed to their next classes. Ears picked up on varying languages and dialects around her.