Private Orientation

[Marus Saretti]

​

"Okay, Kashyyyk, the planet with all the Wookiees," Marus muttered to himself, walking around aimlessly. He couldn't conceal some disappointment from his voice, though; he hadn't even seen a Wookiee yet. Nor did he have any clue, whatsoever, what he was supposed to be doing.

"Okay, Mar, okay, back through the last few days. First you're on a station, playing pazaak to try and get some food and credits." Mistake number one; he didn't actually have any credits when he started. "You found an old woman who looked like an easy mark." Mistake number two. "And then she trounced you completely, and sent you to the Wookiee planet." Also there was some mumbo-jumbo in there about 'the Force,' and how he had it in him or something, and he had to go become a Jedi.

"So now I'm part of a cult." And she'd said she could tell he never had any credits to begin with, which was frankly hurtful. Not that he said anything, though, because she was right, and because before he could even figure out how the cards had come up the way they had—he was sure he'd been counting them right—she'd whisked him off onto her ship and jumped into Hyperspace almost before they'd even left the hangar.

Now?

Now he was wandering around the central courtyard of some temple-fortress place called 'Silver Rest' without a clue where he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do. They'd given him directions to his room, of course, but that didn't help him much, because he still had no clue where anything really was. Maybe it was some sort of test; somewhere back he'd read something about Jedi and throwing out random tests like that. 'Find your own way to your room to prove worthy of induction into the cult' seemed like one of those. Normally he'd just leave, but it was clear he wouldn't manage that, either, because he didn't have a ship, and the hangar space for the temple was just completely full of people.

And he didn't want to brave the wilderness, either; he was well and truly trapped.

Before he could start lamenting his current loss of freedom for the sixteenth time that hour, though, something else caught his attention; specifically, somebody caught his attention, when he managed to run into her due to his lack of paying attention moments before.

"Oh, sorry, sorry about that," he mumbled, stepping back, catching a full view of the person he'd just collided with.

Oh yeah. Everything's coming up Marus.

He held out a hand, giving a quick, relaxed smile. "I'm Marus," he introduced himself. "You wouldn't happen to be able to take me to a room, would you?"

He blinked, as if surprised by how poorly he'd just phrased that.

"The rooms, I mean. Separate rooms. My room. Not your room. Y'know, living quarters?"

Kark.

U UserSpace105

 

[UserSpace105]

"Eww-"

"Wait...is that me-" She stopped to sniff herself, "Yahhh nope, it's this place."

This wasn't the place she'd expect Jedi to be...at least not a large congregation of them; they didn't really exist in large groups like this in her time. At one point she did actually want to see what that would be like, but she had other things more pressing on her mind; Where was her mother?

She deduced, quickly, that she got thrown out of wack, but it was weird when she heard that voice...and stepped through only to end up on Hapes...and uh in Silver Concord Space?

What the hell even is that?

She'd met Kyra Perl and then one thing led to another and now here she was pacing through this courtyard. She broke her cadence, did a quick pivot before backtracking while taking it all in "Cuutee."

She stood out like a sore thumb in her white bodysuit.

But you know that feeling...that feeling you get when you're about to collide with something. It's like the space around you suddenly becomes full...but the tricky part is you don't pick up on the hint until it's far too latee.

Yeah, that one.

She bit down on her lip as she spun back on track only to suddenly collide with a much larger frame than hers. She lost her balance and stumbled backward before regaining herself.

"Hey!" She looked up, "Watch...it..." The latter phasing in volume, her voice trailed out. His smiling was reassuring, and helped in quelling her irritation. She took his hand, getting herself upright.

"Cynna."

"You wouldn't happen to be able to take me to a room, would you?"

Her eyes flicked, and her face tensed in obvious confusion -- Her head lurched forward as she tried to make sense of what he was saying exactly. "I-", "Wha-"

"The rooms, I mean. Separate rooms. My room. Not your room. Y'know, living quarters?"

"Oh! Haaha. Nooo" She shook it off while laughing, "I mean, I honestly don't really know where I am even so I don't think I can help much uhm..." She scratched her head, "So, you're like new here too then?"


Marus Saretti

 

[Marus Saretti]

Pros: Crisis averted, talking to cute girl.

Cons: Still no closer to finding a bed, looking mildly like an idiot.

Could be worse.

His reassuring smile turned more rueful, as he withdrew his hand and pushed his hair back a bit. "Is it that obvious?" he asked, playfully sarcastic. "And here I thought I just looked like the epitome of a local—big, hairy, frightening and guttural." At least it was nice to know he wasn't the only one who didn't have a clue where he was or what was going on, though; it seemed like everybody else he'd seen walking around knew exactly where they were going and had a task to do.

Of course, he lacked a sense of both.

"So, did an old woman hustle you into joining the cult too?" he asked, gesturing back in the direction of the meeting he'd just left with a nod of his head. "You know what they say; if somebody looks like an easy mark, they probably aren't. I should've listened to those lessons a bit more closely." With a helpless shrug and a small sigh, he turned away from Cynna, doing his best to strike a tragic appearance in the light filtering through the leaves.

Only to notice his stomach start to rumble a bit. "Well, if neither of us know where the rooms are, do you think we could at least figure out where a dining room or cafeteria would be, y'know, two heads are better than one, that whole deal?" he asked. "I don't think I've actually eaten since Centaxday. What day is it now? Benduday, I think? Kark, that means it's nearly been an entire week since I had a proper meal."

U UserSpace105

 

[UserSpace105]

She pushed her hair back - casually, but awkwardly placed.

"Is it that obvious?"

The slight giggle, she shrugged "Just...wild guess" she teased along. "Aha, well big, hairy sure, but I don't get frightening." She glanced off, trailing other peoples who seemed to have some sense of direction or purpose. In that moment she honestly forgot she was even in the wrong place -- that weird distorted feeling she was experiencing earlier subsided for the moment.

Hm?

"Oh-uh I kinda just fell into it honestly...a girl named Kyra walked me through it or whatever. Seemed nice so." she shifted in her stance, placing more weight on her left leg as she swayed a bit.

"Well, if neither of us know where the rooms are, do you think we could at least figure out where a dining room or cafeteria would be, y'know, two heads are better than one, that whole deal?"

She looked up, smirking "Yeah sure. I haven't had much of anything either..." She looked around, pointing in any direction that seemed the slight bit interesting, "Wanna just like...walk that way and see what we can find?" She led on, stepping first and across his path while looking back, "Jeez you went a week...yikes."

And like...

"Wait..did you say an old lady hustled you?" She giggled, "I have to hear how this went down..."

Marus Saretti

 

[Marus Saretti]

"Hey, at least I had nutrient paste. It sucks, but it keeps me from starving."

He quickly turned, walking along beside Cynna. Having somebody to explore with and hope they found something interesting or useful was more productive than him just pacing around unable to find anything, and after the last few days, he needed something productive to do. Just with one caveat.

No more cards for a while.

"So, there I was on Koensayr 42, right?" he began with his tale, after Cynna latched onto his comment about getting hustled. "Old Y-Wing manufacturing facility in deep space. It isn't used for that anymore, though, because of how old it is, it's mainly just a trading post and rest stop now. Well, like I said, I hadn't had any food for a while, and I was hungry, so I thought I'd go play some sabacc or pazaak or whatever people were playing that night, try and get some credits, buy some food."

He grinned a bit ruefully. "Of course, I didn't let anybody know that I didn't have any credits to bet with, but I knew all the places to hide better than anybody else, anyways. Just gotta pick an easy mark, win a few games against them, and take the cash. Saw this old woman wandering around the game tables with this vacant look in her eyes, thought she'd be an easy score, and I could eat, before hopping away to the next station. She wanted to play pazaak, and I'm very good at counting cards, so when she said she didn't want credits if I lost, but that I'd have to agree to be her servant for a period of time, I agreed immediately."

Then he pulled out his pockets, showing just how empty they were. "Turns out, I didn't count as well as I thought. She said something about 'The Force' and how it could change the odds, said I had it too, and she knew I never had any money, and then stuck me on her ship and brought me here."

U UserSpace105