Private Mountain Madness

[Starlin Rand]

“Oh there you are.” Starlin bit into a particularly stringy piece of cheese, tearing it free. “You know, I didn’t even notice you were gone. I kept talking to you like you were still here. You’re pretty sneaky for a… uh, whatever you are.”

He seemed to also remember that he had attempted to tell the kid that he was Force sensitive, only to realize he had left and therefore hadn’t heard him say it. That was as sure a sign as you could get that now was not yet the time for Eli to learn that peculiar truth about himself. So Starlin didn’t bring it up again.

Evidently, Cadet Dune had gone out for Atrisian food instead. Starlin couldn’t blame him—he wouldn’t trust food prepared by a druggie either, even if he had just detoxed her with space magic.

“I just said it was pretty good. I meant what I said.” He looked at the remaining crust, then dropped it on the plate. “I think. Anyway, no pizza is as good as the pizza back home on Coruscant.” He made a “chef’s kiss” gesture for emphasis on that point.

When he was done with both slices of pizza (Or if the Atrisian food wasn’t enough, Eli had a backup on hand.) Starlin went outside and started tearing the crust into smaller pieces, which he then tossed to some birds who were plodding along in the grass on a nearby slope.

“Now what?” he asked. “I was planning on coming up here, probably getting drunk and rolling back down the mountain again. Then I met you, and I thought maybe I could be your wingman, but your little lady friend was busy. Now I haven’t got a clue what to do…”

And he felt a little bit awful about it. He didn’t know why, but it was almost like he had been trying to entertain the young cadet ever since he met him. It made no sense. He’d just met Eli, what, two hours ago? Yet he already felt all chummy with him, including that needling urge to be funny, make him laugh, hold his interest. Calling him his fething Padawan… He knew he was supposed to have a Padawan eventually, two in fact, and Eli definitely wasn’t one of them. The kids in his future-vision had red hair and freckles, and what’s more, he failed them both. They became victims of old grievances and broken trusts with people Starlin wished he had never even met, cut down by the sword of a woman he had failed to kill.

The birds had begun to circle Starlin, cooing and cawing up at him. “What am I, a cartoon princess? Shoo!” He tried to swat them away, but they were after the remaining crust in his hand. Finally he threw the bread into the grass, and they all chased after it amid a flurry of feathers and eiderdown.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Human," the boy stated, as he slid into his seat at the booth and began to chow down on the yummy flavour laced Atrisian food. "Just plain old human." Nothing extraordinary about this boy, if not for his lineage he'd have been just another face in the crowd. Even with his lineage he was precisely that, at least away from Empress Teta. There, well... The Dune's were renown, and he wasn't really able to walk around as freely as he might have liked. Private school with eyes on him, University with eyes on him, Guildhall with eyes on him. Even now, parsecs away, eyes on him.​

​

At least here it was Jedi eyes, and not someone the Commander had asked to keep a watch on him during his shoreleave. He'd like to think it was because he'd finally mustered up some level of trust among his superiors, but he doubted that sincerely.​

​

Eliphas didn't reach for the second slice of pizza, so Starlin could have at it. Instead once he was finished with his own meal he carefully broke down the box into a flatter state and then dropped it into the trash. Recycling if there was such a thing here. "I've only been to Coruscant once. We definitely didn't have pizza there..." Nope, Eliphas had been on the upper levels, where the streets were clean and shiny and everyone looked prim and proper. He'd dined with senators and CEOs at his Father's side, though for as young a child as he had been the entire experience had been decidedly boring.​

​

Perhaps these days he'd find it a little more fascinating. Then again, he wasn't sure he could keep from exploring below the immediate surface... Adventure lay around every corner, and though he was hard pressed to find the time or ability for such he longed for it all the same. This posting should have brought some of it, but for the most part it had been more of the same, just on a spaceship instead of inside a classroom.​

​

Alderaan had proven a breath of fresh air thus far though. Meeting a Jedi was just the icing on the cake.​

​

When Starlin got up and headed outside, Eliphas followed.​

​

"Do you often get drunk?" he inquired of the Jedi, as they wandered aimlessly and he tore off pieces of pizza crust for the birds. Sometimes he wondered how there was such a strong distinction made between those who drank and those who did spice, or deathsticks. Even caf' was heavily addictive, yet someone had decided that such addictions were fine to have. Eliphas hadn't ever touched a drop of any, alcohol, drugs, or caffeine. He'd been raised to believe that one's body ought to remain pure. You only had one, after all... It was best to help sustain it.​

​

The sight of a flock of birds pestering Starlin made him uncharacteristically amused. He laughed a little louder than he'd intended, shaking his head at the craziness of it. "Should've bought more pizza," he mused, with one final chuckle, before the birds all fluttered away with the last of the crust. "What else is up here? It's been ages since I had some free time..."​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“I was hoping you’d say ‘ninja’ and start telling me all about your training at the hands of the Masters of Stealth. As for Coruscanti pizza, you’re definitely missing out there. You ever wind up on the Jewel of the Core, be sure to get some.”

Outside, Starlin dusted his hands off, scattering the last remains of crumbs in the grass.

“I think at this point, I am officially a drunkard.” He grimaced. “Not that it’s anything to be proud of. Funnily enough, I never much cared for the taste of alcohol, but it, uh… well, it gets the job done.” Namely, numbing him to the Force, to the pains of the universe, to life in general.

What was there to do up here? He looked around. “Fairgrounds up there, probably a ski resort too. Bar, bowling alley, magic shop—magic shop?!” He looked between the building and Eli, then shrugged. “And that’s about it.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Woah now," he said, with a smile which creeped languidly upon his lips, "What kind of ninja reveals that they're a ninja?" No ninja he knew. Of course, that was because he knew precisely zero ninjas. Not that Starlin needed to know that, of course. For all the Jedi knew, Eliphas knew a hundred thousand ninjas. Commanded them even! He simply nodded to the talks of Coruscanti Pizza. He'd add it to his list, when he was free to travel of his own accord.​

​

For now the more pressing matter was Starlin's mental state.​

​

"Can't you do to yourself what you just did to her?" he inquired, with a puzzled frown. "Remove the addiction, or whatever? What job does it serve, anyway?" Oh the ignorance of youth. From an onlookers perspective, and one without any real notion of strife or trauma, the notion of choosing that kind of lifestyle was incomprehensible. ​

​

It took him a moment to realize that perhaps he was being a little pushy.​

​

"You know what... You don't have to answer that. Sorry."​

​

It had been so long since he'd been around someone new, someone that wasn't part of the ship's crew, that he was perhaps getting a little ahead of himself. They'd not even known one another for an entire afternoon yet. Somehow they'd simply clicked, it felt like he'd known the man for years. But he hadn't.​

​

Best he remember that.​

​

Starlin began to list off the options he could see, and though the fairground initially sounded like the most fun, the one which stood out to him in the end was seemingly the same which stood out to Starlin too. At least if his double take was anything to go by.​

​

"Magic?" he inquired, with a glint of excitement in his eye, "What sort of magic? I wonder if it's like the street magicians who would perform at the parades... Father never really liked me watching them, but they always fascinated me..."​

​

What other sort of magic was there?​

​

The Force had always sounded so magical to him, though until today he'd never actually seen it utilized and barely knew a single thing about it. Mystical Jedi, capable of altering the world around them. It was like something ripped straight from a fictional book, at times it didn't even seem believable or real.​

​

Yet here he was, talking to a Jedi!​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Can't you do to yourself what you just did to her? Remove the addiction, or whatever? What job does it serve, anyway?"

Starlin smiled sadly to himself. "I'll answer anyway. It doesn't work that way, man. You have to want to go clean, or else it's just a fancy detox. The real problem is in here." He tapped his head, then the center of his chest. "And in here. I drink to get numb, and I don't want to be sober. Not yet, anyway. Blue Hair Girl in the pizza place, she seemed more like just a kid who played around and found out. If she goes back on the spice, well, that's her choice. But I have faith that she won't. More faith than I do in myself."

He shrugged, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "Phew, didn't mean to get all deep on you. You're a straight and narrow kind of guy, aren't you? Well, I hope you never change in that department."

They headed for the magic shop.

"Most 'magic' is either sleight of hand, or just the Force under a different name," he replied. "It's kind of a prej—a pejorative? Uh, term among the Jedi, mostly from dudes who are anal about people calling us 'space wizards' and shit like that. Which, y'know, we are space wizards, but people usually only call us that to be dismissive..."

He pushed open the door and immediately froze. "Holy shit."

The shop was much, much bigger on the inside than it had looked on the outside, to say the least.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Though Eliphas had suspected his questions had been too much to ask, Starlin was surprisingly forthcoming. What he said seemed to make sense on some level, though the boy truly hoped he'd never reach a point in his life where he'd be forced to numb down with such methods. He'd always been permitted a small glass of wine with meals, but even that had lost its allure to the Dune children. Perhaps that was the point...​

​

"Well... I hope one day you can find a better way to cope. Who knows who'll be finding you at the bottom of a mountain next time."​

​

If he and the Zeltron hadn't been stopped, things could have gotten nasty. He could have been mugged, or worse. Nope, Eliphas was very happy to remain straight and narrow, as Starlin suggested.​

​

On to the shop.​

​

"Wait, people call you Space Wizards to be dismissive?" he inquired, raising one brow in surprise, "I thought the term was endearing..." Who didn't want to be a mighty space wizard? Eliphas always had, when he was a child, though he'd had to accept the fact that he wasn't when reaching adolescence and these days he was fine being ordinary.​

​

Still it would have been cool to help people like Starlin had back in the pizzaria.​

​

When they stepped inside Eliphas did a double take. He stepped back out of the store, and glanced at its facade. It looked so small. Then back inside... Huge.​

​

"Wait, what..." He turned his head toward Starlin. "Is this Force-related?" He'd never heard of the Force doing this, but then again he'd never really heard of much about the Force just vague ideas of the Jedi.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Yeah, we… get called space wizards, but there’s more to the Force than just magic, you know…” Starlin mumbled, distracted by all the gleaming machinery and displays around them. Eli asked him another question, and he didn’t hear it at first. “Huh?”

Eli would have to repeat himself. “Oh. Uh, yeah—probably?” He also leaned back out of the doorway, viewing the shop’s facade in comparison to the cavernous interior. “Almost certainly. Y’know, I remember hearing about a Jedi Master who had designed these training rooms where days’ worth of training could pass in hours. It was in some sort of pocket dimension that arrested time, I think… maybe this is like that? Or it, er, um, operates on the same sort of principle…?”

“Not exactly,” a female voice replied from elsewhere in the room. As Starlin spun around, searching for the source of the voice, he finally spotted a woman emerging from one of the massive archways at the back of the chamber. Dressed in long flowing robes the color of a blood orange, she was of indeterminate age, appearing neither young nor old, with hair that was cropped boyishly short. Since they were on Alderaan, it wasn’t surprising that she spoke with the accent of a native—albeit a very posh sounding version of the Alderaanian dialect.

“This is only an illusion,” she continued, gesturing around her. “I’ve not manipulated the space so much as I have tricked the eyes. By that I don’t mean the mind either, so don’t mistake my words. It’s optical magic—one of the most practical sorts of magic there is.”

Starlin tried not to gawk as the woman approached him. “Mmhmm,” he muttered in a tone that suggested he was mildly intrigued, shoving his hands into his pockets. “That’s really… really interesting. How does it work?”

“You don’t really think I’m going to reveal the secret to one of my best gimmicks to a customer, do you?” Her mouth smirked, but her eyes smiled. “Good day, gentlemen. My name is Oona Zelda. What brings you to my shop?”

Still wide-eyed, Starlin exchanged a glance with Eli, then turned back to Oona. "Magic," he said simply, nodding his head as though that was all the answer she needed.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Mhm, Magic," Eliphas reiterated to the woman once all the gobbledygook jargon had been uttered between the pair of Force Wielders. He was understandably a little lost, but at the very least he was able to understand that what they were seeing was not reality, it was an illusion. How large was the space then? Probably the same size as the pizzeria if he had to guess. A lot of the store fronts seemed to be a similar size to one another.​

​

The woman seemed pretty cool, ethereal and otherworldly. He wondered how much of that was also an illusion... For all they knew it was a man beneath that visage, or some strange a-gendered beast. If such things could work that way, of course. What did Eliphas Dune know of the Force and its mysterys?​

​

Nothing.​

​

Just what he'd seen thus far, and all of that had been at the hands of Starlin. What he'd known prior to their interactions? Well it was fifteenth-accounted stories passed down through generations, someone's great great aunt's magnificent tale of the time a Jedi saved her from a frozen pond. That sort of thing. To a boy on Empress Teta it had all seemed like a work of fiction, too fantastical to possibly be real.​

​

And yet here they were...​

​

Standing in a room far too big and grand to ever make sense...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Oona’s eyebrows rose. “You boys are very talkative,” she remarked, then gestured for them to follow her.

They passed by a massive machine of unknown purpose, apparently operating on cogs and wheels like an old clock. Starlin tried to figure out what it was for. The slowly spinning parts at the top looked an awful lot like planets orbiting around a sun, so maybe it was keeping track of the solar system?...

Other wonders awaited them. Oona led them into a separate, smaller room laden with shelves. This part of the shop was oriented around bottles of colorful liquids. Out of curiosity Starlin plucked a vial from a shelf and read the label. It was a bunch of scientific-sounding gobbledygook, incomprehensible even to a sorcerer like himself. Syd probably would’ve known what it all meant, though.

“Please be careful with the merchandise,” Oona warned as she stepped behind the counter. Or rather, the workbench, for the “counter” was strewn with beakers and flasks, and the wooden surface of the table was pitted and stained by the effects of various spilled chemicals.

“Now then, there must be something you have a particular interest in where we can start besides ‘magic’,” she said. “Usually I get a lot of teenagers coming in asking for love potions, things that will make them taller, thinner, prettier, et cetera, but neither of you seem the type for that—unless you both harbor dreams of becoming bodybuilders, in which case I do have some muscle-builders.”

Her casual dig at their scrawny physiques was quickly followed up by a shift in topic. “While I do this sort of thing for the money, potions are not my specialty. I am a master of the forge, a seamstress, and I’ve got a crystal garden too. Does any of that sound interesting to you?”

“So you’re an alchemist?” Starlin asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Alchemist is a dirty word in these parts. We good witches prefer to be called Force Imbuers so we don’t get confused for the nasty Sith types.”

“‘Good witches’?”

“Yeah, Glinda’s my cousin.” She rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re not asking if there really are ‘good witches’.”

“I mean, I’ve used ‘witch’ as an insult before…” It had cost him his eye. “It’s normally a pejorative, or used to refer to the primitive Dathomiri Force Users in lieu of their preferred term, Nightsisters—”

“I didn’t realize you were here for an etymological debate,” she interrupted.

“Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah,” Starlin muttered, holding up his hands. “To be honest, I’m mainly here for the kid. Whatever he wants, he can have.” He side-eyed Eli and whispered, “If you get a love potion to use on Yara, I swear…”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

There was too much to look at.​

​

As he made his way through to the next room, his eyes could barely peel away from the rudimentary planetarium. He only half listened to what was said, but all of it fascinated him regardless... Until they started to argue over etymology, but then that was only because had no clue who Glinda was, or what these witches were. It was as though he was listening to the conversation with his head submerged under water, only able to make out the occasional thing that made sense.​

​

When Starlin whispered to him, he shook his head. "I wouldn't think of it," he stated solemnly, if only because he doubted such things would even work. Besides, Yara was the one with eyes for him wasn't she? It would be a waste of credits to try and make it moreso.​

​

"Master of the Forge... Does that mean you make weapons?" Truth be told though, it was her final remark that gave him the most thought. "Crystals? Cool. What kind of crystals?" Had he come across as too enthusiastic? Crystals were hardly as cool as weapons and armour, right? Yet for whatever reason, Eliphas was intrigued...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“I make weapons, armor, tools, jewelry, and other trinkets. Clothing as well. I can imbue these items with magical properties to produce various effects.” Stepping out from behind the counter, she palmed open a door, revealing a forge. “As for the crystals, those are a bit less customizable, but I have many different varieties. The healing crystals are the most popular, for obvious reasons, but they can have many other uses…”

She trailed off, and Starlin felt her nudge his presence in the Force, trying to get a feel for the two of them. Eli might feel a little funny, but his senses probably weren’t developed enough to understand what was happening.

“You wouldn’t happen to be looking to make a lightsaber, would you?” she asked, the question aimed at either of them.

“No, I have five of those already,” Starlin replied cheerfully. “Two I built myself, and three I was gifted with.”

“Ah. You must be very popular.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

She seemed to be quite the artisan.​

​

Eliphas wondered if one day he might have a craft of his own. He didn't need one, he'd been bred for higher society and he felt certain his Father would have an aneurism if he went home talking about how much he wanted to be a tradesman - not that Eliphas thought there was anything wrong with tradesmen... - but it sounded like fun. A good way to pass the time, perhaps.​

​

Either way he wasn't going to be making anything any time soon.​

​

"A Lightsaber?" His eyes practically bulged out of their sockets at that notion, before he hastily shook his head. "Goodness, no." A healing crystal, though... That could be fun. The question was whether it would work for him. Surely such things required the Force... He pondered that for a second. It could be pretty either way. Maybe Yara would like a crystal necklace? And if it did heal without the Force then great!​

​

Should he give it her on their date?​

​

He realized he was fifty thoughts ahead of himself.​

​

"Healing crystals?" he inquired, forcing himself to calm down from his racing thoughts. "Could you, uh, make a pendant out of one?" Of course the idea of having a weapon forged was also very tempting. How much was this going to run him in the credit department? For that matter, how many did he have saved up from his assignment?​

​

"And uh, do you have any knives..?" A knife seemed like a good and noble item to procure... Well, a rapier would have been better. Harder to lug around though, wasn't it?​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Stepping away from the forge, she went to another wall and slid open various drawers, one stacked on top of the other. Each one was filled with crystals in a variety of colors.

“As for a pendant, are we talking wire, string, ribbon, or on a chain?” she asked.

His question about knives was a lot more vague, and vagueness seemed to irritate Oona Zelda. “I have knives, daggers, swords, katanas, rapier, claymores, scimitars, cutlasses, and too many more to mention. I can even make you a custom one, if you tell me what you want it to look like and any effects it might have.”

Starlin cringed. Eli was going to get so overwhelmed with all these choices, they’d be here all day. Not that being in this place all day long was such a bad thing…

Lief​

 

[Lief]

So many colours.​

​

So many options.​

​

So many choices.​

​

He felt like he might explode. Thankfully his body thought it best he didn't, so all was well.​

​

"Uh... some sort of cord..?" String didn't seem the right word for it. A chain would probably be more durable, but he thought some natural cordage might look nice and be softer on the skin. His eyes flicked over the various crystals. Was he supposed to pick a colour, too? Or was the healing one a specific colour? "Do I pick a crystal colour?"​

​

Was that dumb to ask?​

​

Honestly, Eliphas had no clue what he was doing.​

​

The woman's short tone made him wince slightly. He'd never done this before! Okay, okay, breathe Eliphant... Breathe.​

​

She did offer up a rapier again, and this time he thought 'why not?'... It might have been a slightly bulkier option, but if nothing else it could be, uh. ceremonial? Sort of. His Father had ceremonial weapons. Why couldn't he?​

​

"Rapier? Yeah... Rapier, please...." Effects? What sort of effects were there? He looked to Starlin and mouthed the word "help".​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Seeing the panicked look on Eli’s face, Starlin couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright,” he interrupted smoothly. “Since I’m probably gonna be paying for this stuff, and I assume a fully customized rapier would be more expensive, for the sake of Padawan Eliphant’s safety I think you had better let him pick from something already made. If you have one, anyway.”

Not that Starlin was hurting for money these days. Selling priceless loot and investing the money over the years had made him stupidly wealthy. Alas, he still had the mentality of a poor street kid, which meant he wasted it on booze, blackjack, and… well, fancy Force-imbued weapons, apparently.

Oona, who was in the process of showing Eli what she thought a “cord” was, nodded her head. “A custom weapon would be more costly. But let’s stick to the crystals for now.” She too had picked up on how overwhelmed Eli was, and was hoping to give him a chance to think. “Yes, you pick a crystal color. These healing crystals are naturally transparent. I dye them for aesthetic purposes.”

Starlin peered over Eli’s shoulder at the selection. There were a lot of colors, including some that were iridescent, many colors. Just picking one was probably going to take an hour, at least.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

There he went, pretending Eliphas was his Padawan again. He supposed he could let it slide for now, no harm in letting him play out whatever weird facade this was. It wasn't as though he'd ever return to this place again, was it? So he shrugged it off, a little perplexed but otherwise dismissive, and instead focused on the matter of coin.​

​

"I do have credits," he assured both Starlin and the 'good witch', curious as to why the Jedi presumed he'd have to pay. Eliphas was never one to freeload, after all. If anything he'd always been regarded as rather charitable back home on Teta. Either way though, premade made sense.​

​

"That's lovely," he confirmed with a nod, to the shown cord, before he pondered over the vast choices laid out before him. An ocean of colour... And yet one caught his eye almost immediately. "This one, please," he had gestured to a deep amber crystal, almost brown in darker light but boldly amber when the light hit it just right. Yara's eyes were like that, dark until the light hit them. Almost like honey...​

​

His cheeks flushed before he could push away that thought, and he sheepishly reconfirmed his choice. "Yes, that one please..."​

​

Gods, he hoped Starlin hadn't noticed.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Just wait until she starts giving you prices,” Starlin muttered. Clearly he had sorely underestimated the personal wealth of his young charge.

“Tiger eye,” Oona named the crystal Eli had chosen. Starlin smirked. The gem was pretty, but the name sounded gimmicky.

She assembled the pendant by hand, then handed it to Eli. “Now, rapiers…”

And they were off again, this time journeying to the other side of the shop. They found themselves in a new room full of weapons on display. She led them to a carved wooden rack, where rapiers rest in holes with their blades pointed down like folded umbrellas.

“Here’s what I have. Some are made like vibroblades, while others are Force-imbued, though I must warn you, the issue with imbued blades is that they will never be as powerful in your hand as they would be if you had imbued them yourself. A lot of people think they can just casually wield the power of a random blade they found, but…” She trailed off, turning to glare at Starlin.

The Jedi Knight had plucked a rapier out of the rack, assumed position, and begun to swing it around like a five year old with a pool noodle. He had yet to hit anything, but Oona grabbed his wrist and removed the rapier from his grip. Her heels clicked across the floor as she returned it to the rack.

“Now, as I was saying. All of these are strong enough to withstand a blow from a lightsaber. That includes the knuckle guard, so you won’t lose any fingers. The prettiest ones are made from songsteel, but those are more expensive.” She tapped the pommel of a shiny silvery rapier. “The less expensive ones are made from phrik or cortosis alloys. And before you ask, no, I do not use beskar in any of my creations. I despise Mandalorians and want no part of their culture in my shop.”

Still a little red with embarrassment at having his toy taken away, Starlin snickered.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

He supposed that Starlin might have been right, and Eliphas might be in for a shock when the bill was handed to him. Maybe he'd have to call home, have them wire him some creds and promise to pay them back... That wasn't a good look though. The last thing he needed was to be indebted to his own family. His Father might even refuse, remind him to be responsible with his money instead, and frankly Eli wouldn't blame him if that was the case.​

​

When the name of the crystal was uttered, all thoughts of cost disappeared. The woman had his attention once more.​

​

Taking the pendant, he admired it as they headed toward the weapon racks which held the rapiers, and Eliphas' eyes drifted over the selection. He figured that the Force Imbued ones wouldn't make any sense, given that he wasn't some Force-wielding wizard like Starlin, so when she was done explaining the cons of wielding someone else's Force Imbued blade he nodded his head in understanding.​

​

"Vibroblade should do nicely," he assured her, with an easy smile, not bothering to voice the reason why he'd chosen that over the other option. He figured that meant it wouldn't have any cool properties, beyond the natural effects of the materials themselves, but that was fine with him. When it came to choosing the finish he pondered it for a second, then he glanced at Starlin.​

​

"Which would you choose?" he inquired, the Songsteel certainly looked the part of ceremonial blade, but he was concerned about how far his own coffers would stretch. Either way he wouldn't be letting Starlin pay.​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Beskar!” Starlin replied immediately, grinning at Oona.

She stared at him until his spine snapped beneath the weight of her death glare.

“Heh, okay, um…” Starlin peered at the various rapiers, rubbing his hands together. “With my money? Songsteel, baby. I’ve always wanted a songsteel sword. It got its name because it sings when struck.”

He glanced at Eli. “With cadet money, I’d get durasteel. Which I assume is alchemized, right?”

Oona nodded. “Alchemized to make it resistant to lightsabers and other such weaponry.”

“If it’s an alchemized effect, you ever wind up fighting in a nullification field, it’ll lose the enchantment and a lightsaber will cut right through it. Bam, your sword is destroyed and your ass is grass. So if we’re really concerned about credits, maybe a compromise between phrik or cortosis?”

“A cortosis-phrik alloy?” Oona inquired.

“Yeah!” Starlin’s smile instantly faded the moment he saw the rapier she’d pulled out. “Sweet baby Yoda, that’s one ugly-ass alloy!”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas glanced over the various options on display, and more and more realized that he was going to have to compromise somewhere. If this was to be a ceremonial weapon, then the alloy simply would not do. But Songsteel was costly, he'd wager far more expensive than he himself could afford. So was it going to be ceremonial, or not?​

​

Starlin certainly didn't help matters by discussing how the metal sung when struck and the like. For a moment he just stood there and stared, glancing left to right through the rapiers. He could owe Starlin the difference? It wasn't as though he didn't have money, he did, but it was tied up back on Teta and not here with him.​

​

Owing a Jedi didn't sound like a fun idea, what if he took too long to pay him back? They weren't gangsters or anything, but getting on the bad side of someone who could do extraordinary things with their minds seemed... dangerous.​

​

"I mean... Songsteel is the only real option, isn't it?" he muttered, slightly deflated. If he wasn't going for ceremonial, then why was he getting it? He wouldn't be going toe-to-toe with lightsaber wielding Force users, after all. "I can get you back the difference, once I'm back on Teta" he assured Starlin, though his voice had dropped to a whisper intended only for the other man.​

​

Starlin Rand ​