Madrugada

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
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Chances. She'd personally, certainly run out of them, but maybe... "I figured just being here meant I was doing just that." Ayessa pointed out with another grin forming, though she kept it from growing too large. Truthfully, despite the short period of time, she really wasn't starting to mind this.

Remember the last time you stopped minding this?

Pessimism needed to kark the hell off. It was early days yet. Tilting her head off to the side in his direction again, she spoke low but with purpose, almost shifting a little closer to matching his tone, "Giving a chance, I mean. Little soon for trust, isn't it?"

 

[Rook Lokar]

"Trust?" Rook remarked, his voice filled with doubt as if he didn't believe it was a real word. "Pfft." He spat, rolling his head to the right and offering a dismissive wave to the door. Gone with the wind. "Who needs it." The Smuggler further spoke upon reopening his eyes and taking a gaze directly into Ayessa's, another grin appearing on his lips as he felt amused by the situation as a whole. Interaction, an extended one, was great for the soul. Especially after neglecting it for too long.

​"Just, uh, accept most of the things I say to you will be the truth." That sounds an awful lot like trust, but just with extra steps.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Ah, so, trust, but I have to try more. Great.

A huff of her chest and she turned to face out the viewport again, head shaking back and forth, "Whatever you say, Rook." The way she said that made it sound as though she'd said that a hundred times-- Maybe she had in her head, so what? --and was doubtlessly going to wind up saying it again the more things developed. It was a guarantee, really. Just the sort of exasperated sentence one groaned out cheap and easy to express.

"I would know if you're lying," That much was true. One doesn't lie to a Jedi simply straight-faced and try to pawn it off as the unequivocal truth, though something inside gave her a feeling that it would happen anyhow, "I can always tell. Call it Kiffar's intuition."

 

[Rook Lokar]

Pfft, yeah alright. Whatever you say, Ayessa... That's a nice name.

Rook hadn't budged. His eyes, with their irrelevant colour, remained glued on the direction ahead of him. On nothing in particular, but just in that general direction. Didn't want to come off as a creep that just blindly stared at the person the entire time know, no? He'd seen that kind of guy, he'd laughed at him too. Be a right shame if he became it now wouldn't it?

"I'll just say I'm good at what I do, and leave it at that." His hands went into the air, as he was surrendering by stating his point. With his lips pursed, he turned in the seat, rotating it in it's entirety and with a squeak soon faced the front. He hadn't a clue as to why she knew when he was lying, and he'd never of guessed it in a thousand years.

Kiffar intuition? I can be that.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

A shadow of a true smile crossed her face at what rumbled around his mind. Really, she had to stop this unsolicited wiretapping of his thoughts, but it was so hard to. As long as she kept what she 'heard' to herself, it wasn't so bad, right? Her problems only arose when she started answering questions that were never spoken aloud. She could definitely recall a few instances of that happening, and the scolding she had received from her Master afterwards. They don't understand, Ayessa. They don't see what we do.

...It was a nice name. 'Star of the sea'. Which sea and which star were things only her parents knew, she was sure, but she could appreciate the meaning nonetheless. Rook, meanwhile, what sort of name was that?

You've heard worse. Down, girl.

"I haven't seen you in action yet, really, besides pilfering fruit stands."

 

[Rook Lokar]

Rook? Excuse you, it was the name his Mother gave him. That was obvious, though. Realistically, it was a name that a Slave Dancer, or Stripper, thought sounded nice enough for her spawn of a one-night stand that she kept around because it brought some ease and lessened the intensity of that life. Rook was only made to fix things, break them apart, all that stuff. Children are barely useful as a slave when you have an array of capable adults.

Yeah? I can show you some action.

"Hmph." He huffed in amusement, "Give it time and you'll see everything you need to know."

Two rather contrasting messages, both of which Ayessa could hear. It was hardly his fault. He didn't consent to reading of his mind.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Jedi techniques to regulate one's body really were a marvel of meditation and spiritually. They were the only reason Ayessa's face didn't light up redder than a Sith's blade. Calming breathes and the Force kept her heart rate down and forced the flush from her cheeks, allowing her to remain neutral-faced all throughout. The only tell that something was off was a twitch in her cheek. Shouting it would have been less subtle on his part, really, but maybe he shouldn't think so loud and she wouldn't pick up on the signal.

He couldn't handle it anyways, honestly.

"You know, you never even asked if I knew anything about fighting or the like." A true enough statement, but it wasn't like she was down for an audition or anything-- She would win, of course --but it did strike her as a little odd. Maybe her looks really were carrying her through this. If so, she was counting lucky genetic stars.

 

[Rook Lokar]

Rook was quick off the mark with: "I don't need you to be, remember?" His tone was neutral, if not a bit cocky. As if he'd gotten the drop on her with that one, somehow. His hands, both of them, had begun running over the controls again. Beginning to regulate everything in order to make sure it was the most smooth sailing if possible. His eyes jumping left and right, ultimately peeling away to relax in that seat again. Looking into the void.

"Can you, though?" He'd picked back up on after rotating his head to Ayessa, an inquisitive expression slapped across his face with his head cocked to the side. He didn't really need a fighter, if everything went smoothly that is. Might be a bit pride killing if she was more than competent than he. Which, funnily enough, was the truth.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

"Got the scars to prove it." She mused. Though those scars only proved she could survive artillery fire without getting blown to pieces. A feat, sure, but not one that attested to her prowess in combat. The knighthood spoke to that aspect. No, the markings only lent credence to the fact she was stronger than she liked to admit. Or maybe it made her weaker. Force only knew. In the end, no matter how they affected her character, they were a violent reminder of the toll Geonosis had taken, and how much more the Clone War would take from her.

Still, suppressing an eye-roll at his snide remark, she sat forward in the copilot's seat to follow his motions with her eyes, looking out to the void of hyperspace once more. Just keep moving on and stop thinking about. This verbal spar was helping with that for sure, "I'm sure you could hold your own, though."

Against me, though, maybe not.

 

[Rook Lokar]

"An added bonus, like a special feature." He thought aloud, verbally. She was more than a pretty face with dry wit. Made her all the better. Rook had met too many frail women before, and there was something that was irritating about them. He could always appreciate a bit of tenacity, no matter where it took place. By the time Rook finds out Ayessa fought in a war as a Jedi Knight eight-hundred or so years ago, she best hope that the two of them had become acquainted enough that it didn't make his eyes go so wide they pop out of his head.

Almost instinctively had he rolled his shoulders, cast a glance at his own arms in a bid of hubris. "I've been known to hold my own." He confirmed in the process of shifting his head upwards, facing the controls, the void, and her.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Please, she'd best hope they were acquainted enough that he didn't ditch her on whatever backwater planet they'd stopped on when he found out. That was definitely... Not the ideal outcome.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." That was true enough; she did. False bravado was another constant of the galaxy, you'd always find people too big for their boots. And why were those always the people she chose to associate with? Not funny, universe. Still, this was shaping up to be an interesting chapter in the life of Jedi Knight Ayessa Kroan.

Special features. Yeah. That was a good way to think of it. Better than resenting them, at any rate.

 

[Rook Lokar]

You either had it, or you didn't. That's how bravado worked. Rook? Bit too stubborn and confident to fake it, really. Nothing else to it but that.

​He'd extended his legs out in front of him, forcing them further under the dash as he stretched backwards too. His arms moving up, both hands resting their palm on the back of his haired cranium. "You're always welcome to see me in action." It seemed innocent enough. It was best described as a verbal spar, spouting nonsense back and forth and slicing straight through the tensions whilst building it up at the same time. It was palpable.

​Rook may not have found himself on a battlefield, facing down artillery and an army of metallic death-bots, but he'd been in a bout or two in his life. He'd taken a firm fist to the face and thrown one right back, he'd found a blaster pulled on him only to create a hole in the person's chest that'd done it just moments before. He was by no means a cold blooded killer, but he had to do what he had to do. Lest he find himself six feet under by the age of twenty-two.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

If he went 5 minutes, just, 5 minutes, without suggesting something, she might give him an award.

'Galaxy's Least Scummiest Scumbag'.

"Yeah, you've made that plenty clear." He stretched, she moved to sit cross-legged on the co-pilot's chair, one leg over the other, like she would if meditating. That probably said something about both of them; she just felt more comfortable and at-ease like that, so probably not. At least she could sympathize with the goal of not being dead before 30. Yes, he didn't know the strife of war, but he hadn't been the one in the trenches, had he? It was easy to disassociate from war's Hell if you never really witnessed it for yourself, on the level she could.

 

[Rook Lokar]

Maybe that routine was getting old. He thought so too. It was amusing, but you couldn't keep throwing a rock against a wall forever, for it too eventually got boring. Maybe it was never entertaining to begin with, not many people have thrown rocks at walls until they thought long and hard about, now did they? It was fair to assume that was the case. "Yeah, yeah. I'm done. Throw it down to boredom, ain't a lot to do right now." As far as Rook was concerned he was absolutely right. He was awfully bored, and it brought him the entertainment he needed.

Rook had pulled out of that stretch, his legs remained outwards crossed at the ankle. His arms, however, had been brought down and folded over his chest. His eyes flickered, running rampant in an attempt to find anything that was slightly enticing, even to just look at.

Eesh.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Well, after a while of getting stoned, you start to get annoyed by the barrage of rocks.

You need to pace them, like boiling a frog.

"What, you mean watching hyperspace isn't fun?" Ayessa asked with the dryness of Kiffu's desert, glancing to him out of the corner of her eye again. They'd talked, she had failed at dejarik, there really wasn't much else to attempt besides this awkward interim conversation that felt more like a holovid on how to not flirt. Depressing.

Clearing her throat, she looked over again-- She should stop doing that so often, she decided --before speaking up again, "Okay, uh, best place you've ever visited?" She could think of a few that didn't immediately give herself away. At least it was something to talk about.

 

[Rook Lokar]

If you ride like lightning, you'll crash like thunder.

Seemed to what happened to Rook's ego in that point. He'd gotten too carried away with his own boredom and shot himself in the foot. Or, well, he crashed like thunder into a skyscraper. Every bit of the YT-1500 littering the cityscape, himself being entirely vaporised in thee explosion. Maybe this was too graphic of an explanation, or a thought that crossed the Smuggler's mind. He, however, felt it was aptly fitting.

"Uhm." He'd of began, as per usual, in thought as his eyes rolled upwards with his head. Looking to the ceiling, or the edge of the viewport. "Cato Neimoidia." His head bobbing along with each letter that trailed from his tongue, casting a glance in Ayessa's direction. "Yourself?" The same inquisitive glance from before taking shape once more.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Oh, she'd been there. Recently, as well -- Recent by her standards. It was one of the last fronts of battle she'd seen prior to... Yeah. So he'd probably seen it in a better time and place to sum that up, "For me, probably-- Probably Glee Anselm, actually." The Nautolan homeworld had been a delight to visit as a young Padawan, her Master was from there, after all, and it was a source of tranquillity to be exploited. Yet, bitterly, she recalled her requests to Kiffu falling on deaf ears, and how her child-self had always thought it was unfair that her Master could visit her home but she could not. When you're older, the wizened Nautolan had said, watching Ayessa with those large back eyes, when you've learned to let go.

"They had nice beaches, great views of the oceans and all that. Very relaxing, I recommend it."

 

[Rook Lokar]

That's fair.

Cato Neimoidia was certainly enjoyable for several reasons. A Scoundrel barely fit in, if at all. Instead, Rook appreciated the architecture; it was sleek in it's design, hanging in the sky, luxurious in all. He appreciated it for the same reason he did Bespin, it was a city in the clouds, but Bespin had First Order Stormtroopers all over it. Their blockades seemed harder to break than any other, but, he could thank his lucky stars that he happened to be a Human. An Alien? Be in for a rough time with that crowd.

He'd nodded his head, a smirk cracked upon it as he claimed, "Maybe a job will take us there some time soon." Made for all the better reason to go there, it was justifiable. "Why were you so... welcoming to the idea of coming aboard?" Rook had asked after a moment or two of silence, it was something that clawed at him, but here it was in the open.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Open Space, Rook's Ship, Undetermined Time
Interacting with [member="Rook Lokar"] ~ Trouble
——————————————————————

Ah, it was time for this inevitability now.

Right. That question. Will of the Force?

I just felt like it?

Letting out a noise halfway between a sigh and a cough, Ayessa looked over and shrugged, leaning back in her copilot's seat, "I was stuck on Kiffu. There isn't much there to do there, for a local without a Clan, figured I could find work somewhere or with someone," She paused, a thought entering her mind, clearly, "Got lucky that work found me."

That was all true enough. Of course, Jedi Knight, as usual, threw wrenches in things -- She could have connected with a new Order. Force knew she'd met a few like that prior to arriving home, those offering safe harbour. Her ship kept sailing. If she was sure of one thing, it was that she couldn't handle the emotions surrounding such a commitment so soon. This sort of work could work, for now.