Private I Roved Out: Ch 3 - What We've Become

[Loxa Visl]

She watched him like you watched a dog that had taken something in its mouth it was not supposed to. Golden eyes honed in until he did as told, though they narrowed on the crying man as he plaintively asked for more. The witch shook her head at him.

<<Only small,>> Loxa repeated herself, lifting a hand and gesturing a pinch with her fingers as her other hand reclaimed the small satchel of spice from the counter. It flew to her grasp like a sparrow to a branch where she hastily retied the clasp and put it back into a pocket on her person.

<<A Man has much Choziir Sut for three people on his plate.>>

Back to the table, she retook her seat, shaking her head again. Something about this entire event struck her as amusing, but it was not of her own sense of humor. Something like watching familiar fumble when you knew they once were much more graceful.

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

A soft theatric sigh as he dropped back on his seat and dabbed at his eyes with a paper tissue.

If it bothered him he had made a complete arse out of himself in front of a near-stranger (and assassination target) Khal didn't show it. Presumably you had to have some thick skin in his line of work, so this wasn't completely out of the ordinary.

"Ya know, even tho I can still feel it burn into mah gums..." He shrugged a little as he picked up his plate and pushed back up to his feet. "I still want more bites... guess I never knew when something was too big to swallow for me..." Perhaps that statement would ring more true with this Loxa than she'd expect too.

"Well, at least I didn't die, ain't that something?"

Starting to crack another egg open to fry himself something a touch less spicy.

"Thanks for ya help. Tho, ya owe me for that cup."

 

[Loxa Visl]

Loxa propped a brow at him as she took up her chopsticks again and returned to eating. His words struck a chord somewhere deep but she couldn't tell exactly what chord or why.

<<This One knows...>> the idle murmured response left her.

As for the cup? She shook her head and her sticks at him for good measure, <<Water make Choziir Sut grow more.>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

"Still though, that was my favorite cup."

But the track of his mouth and the way he leaned back? Oh yeah, Khal was karking with her. Mostly. It was definitely his favorite cup, but it wouldn't be too difficult to pick out another one to serve as a candidate for that title.

"Anyway, so, tell me. If you weren't so obsessed with your sisters, what would you like to do? Once the visions were all done and over with?"

 

[Loxa Visl]

Favorite ... cup?

Loxa looked at him. Confused. Incredulous. Incredulously confused.

<<Cup is ... cup,>> she replied, <<how favorite?>>

But he was smirking. He was joking. Right? The witch eyed him skeptically, <<Oh you make funny, yes? Hahaa...>>

Another low, deep sigh rose her pointed shoulders as she continued to slowly eat. Now halfway through her plate, more or less. His question garnered another glance, and Loxa wasn't sure if he was still trying to pull her culture apart by the seams. It was tiresome, having to defend her reasons and her people, but he did seem to be asking in earnest so she begrudgingly tried to think of an answer for him.

<<This One ... would like to travel to more stars.>> She and her sisters had traveled a great deal, but the galaxy was large and the systems were many.

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

Watching it click for her was amusement enough.

It made the shattering of the cup worth it in its own way.

"Yes... funny, much laughing." Deadpan in return since she didn't seem to be ripping a kidney from laughter herself. Which was kind of hilarious by itself, Khal wondered if Loxa knew how funny she really was.

His continued questioning seemed to elicit a very deep sigh from her.

This was a reaction Khal was used to however.

"Ah? More stars... so you have been to quite a few besides your homeworld and this one?"

 

[Loxa Visl]

<<Yes,>> she nodded, <<many stars together. We Sisters hunt beasts for make pay.>>

Loxa chewed, considered her next words, swallowed, and briefly felt a strong pull of homesickness. Not just for Dathomir, but for her Sisters. They had become very close while traveling abroad and she had been without them for many months now. She frowned, thinking about the circumstances that lead to her departure from their company.

It all began with that staff.

<<This One cannot return to Sisters until answers are found.>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

A slow nod there.

"Well, let's see if we can find some answers for you then." And for himself, but something told him that all of this meant more to Loxa than it did to him. It was just the way he operated. Grounded in reality. Real chit. All this magic stuff? It was lost on him. So it didn't feel like fate or anything was pulling him along on a line.

Probably for the best, because Khal was not much for being tugged.

"So that map of yours... who did you get it from anyway? Exocron don't seem like a world just anyone knows of. Are they connected to our... unique problem?"

 

[Loxa Visl]

<<A Man called Quill,>> it did not seem pertinent to mention the man was a Jedi considering the man himself hadn't thought it pertinent either. Loxa's brow furrowed in thought as she tried to recall how Quill had known about where to send her and why.

<<That,>> she said, pointing her chopsticks at the gleaming phrik staff that sat resting in its corner in the hallway, <<A Man knew the markings of that. Markings of mmm,>> the name, what was the name again?

<<Moss? No no moss, Mossos ... Moross. Moross. It is on Exocron.>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

His expression was blank.

Moross didn't tell him anything.

Exocron though? Oh, yes, Khaleel had heard of that creepy arse planet. A planet of the Sith. At least, that's what Khaleel remembered, he didn't have much truck with the Maw or the Sith, so the fact that that world was actually called Exogol? Well, it was practically the same name as far as the criminal was concerned.

"Heard of that world, yeah, come to think of it." Nodding there as he watched his new egg sizzle. "Creepy place. Unknown Regions... Sith/Cultist affiliated."

A glance to her with a bit of a tilted head.

"You sure that's the right world? It's... a bit hard to believe we will find any answers there."

Without being staked on a pole or something.

Loxa Visl

 

[Loxa Visl]

<<It is the world A Man named Quill provided to This One,>> Loxa replied, <<if A Man does not wish to go, This One will find another ship.>>

Regardless of what the nature of their destination was, the witch had no intention of denying the very plain and direct route provided to her by Quill. She did not fear Sith or darkness, even if she perhaps rightly should have, she feared only doing nothing and gaining no answers at all. Then how would she return to her beloved Sisters?

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

A bemused glance her way.

"I was just saying, Lady." Khal somehow doubted she'd find anyone as willing as him to bring her to weird places. Since her visions were directly tied to his and there was a reason she had looked out for him first.

Then again.

She was still alive, wasn't she? So there had to be quite a bit of survival skill inside of her.

"I am just as curious as you-" Khal looked her up and down. "-almost as curious as you are about what all this means. So I will bring you wherever. But let's hope this isn't gonna turn into a wild nona chase."

 

[Loxa Visl]

Loxa had finished her eggs and moved on to one of the sandwiches. If one could still call it a sandwich, as bereft of one half of itself as it was. She folded the remaining slice of bread around the fill and took small bites, listening to the man while he cooked fresh eggs. It wasn't until now that she noticed the smell of the small kitchen - it was quite wonderful.

The witch then nodded once to the man in understanding, but paused before she took another bite, <<What is nona?>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

He blinked there, not having prepared an immediate definition to the bird he believed most knew.

"Well, it's... a bird." Khal murmured as he quickly turned the eggs around before they burned. "Kinda like... a semi-big one, small wings, can't fly. But very tasty. Honestly though it's just another saying. You Dathomiri don't have a lot of those?"

All the while Loxa Visl had been so literal about everything.

It wouldn't surprise him.

 

[Loxa Visl]

A bird?

The confusion scrunched the woman's expression and it said much more than her words ever would. Why would they chase a flightless bird? That seemed rather silly and a waste of time. A bow and arrow would take it down quickly ... or perhaps a blaster if one were inclined to be so uncivilized.

<<On Dathomir it is customary to speak truth and intention,>> she replied with a frown, <<lies are dangerous.>>

Not that she understood his words to be a lie, but they simply were masking the truth of his meaning.

<<Why does A Man not speak what the words really mean? A Man does not wish to waste time and effort.>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

Loxa Visl

A slow stretch there as he finished his egg and piled it onto a new plate.

"The truth getcha killed where I am from." More often than not anyway. "Ever 'eard of Nar Shaddaa? Little pretty moon over in Hutt Space. You gotta always be on yar toes for predators there. One step in the wrong direction, one word breathed in the wrong ear? And yar dead." So it made total sense to cloud every word you spoke in euphemisms.

That way you could try and weasel your way out of consequences when the time came.

Try anyway.

"Why are lies dangerous where yar from?"

 

[Loxa Visl]

<<On Dathomir,>> Loxa began after finishing off the last few bites of her sandwich, <<the Sisters live by Iset, Irux, Imarat ... it is, mm->> the witch's brow furrowed in thought, then shortly shook her head and waved it off, <<no, This One knows not the words. A Mother knows a lie as a Mother knows her children. To lie is great disrespect - it is better to speak truth, even if truth is painful.>>

Standing now, she collected her plate from the table and moved to the sink area nearby, <<This One will wash. How long will this journey take to Exocron?>>

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

A shrug.

"Must be nice to live in a place where they value the truth and despise lies." Khal said as he shoveled his eggs into his mouth. It was like a starving man overeating or... someone used to starving and having to dig in quickly, before the food could be stolen from him. Some of those young habits died hard and some were immortal as the stars.

"Used to be ya could do the entire trip in like a day or three. These days... I'd say a week, maybe week and a half, if we get unlucky."

He nommed some more on the last bit of egg, before sighing satisfied and pushing his plate away.

Then- rose and picked it up, before moving around to settle next to Loxa.

"I can dry. So yeah, week and a half, we will need to make two or three stops, for refueling and maintenance."

Loxa Visl

 

[Loxa Visl]

For some reason the speed in which the man gobbled down his food was of no surprise to her. Almost as if she'd seen him devour his meals like that for years even though she hadn't. It should have garnered something out of her - coming from the culture that she did. Nourishment was meant to be savored, enjoyed, cherished. For what the spirits gave as sustenance was not so easy to come by on a planet brimming with things that also hunted you as their next meal.

Instead, this curious routine they now settled into of washing and drying felt ... comfortable and strangely familiar. Loxa could not help but turn her gaze up at him briefly and offer the man a wane, scar-slashed half smile.

Was it simply that he was the sort of person one could so easily live alongside? Or perhaps because they were now blood-bonded by an oath? The nature of it all, once Loxa realized the presence of it, was unsettling. She'd never felt such a thing with other blood-bonds before. Either way, with only very few dishes to wash, the moment didn't last long enough to dwell on it.

<<This One will find a place to rest if there is nothing more to help with,>> Loxa leaned to pick up the plate with the remaining half-sandwich on it and offered it to him since she'd already eaten hers.

 

[Khaleel Malvern]

He felt it too.

It was odd.

Khal had spent time with plenty of women, but this was something different. It wasn't the desire to fuck and move on. No, it was something infinitely more mystifying and strange. He wanted to stroke her hair out of her eyes and curl it behind her ear. Except... Loxa Visl 's hair didn't get into her eyes and they were too short to even make the attempt.

He answered her waned smile with a crooked smile of his own, but it was more absent. Still chewing on that particular desire. How weird. Was this some sort of new fetish he hadn't been privy to before?

"Hm?" Khal blinked and realized the dishes were done. Made sense, hadn't been too much about anyway. "No, that's okay. Find yar nook and sleep. I will set our next course. We should reach Dolstan in a day or two, we will reach a refueling station by the time you wake up."

The sandwich was accepted with a grateful nod.

"Hey-" Before Loxa could walk away. "-did ya ever have pretty long hair?"