Please Hold your Applause

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Ugh. She should not have drank that so fast. She found herself reeling from the intensity of the drink. The bitterness left her eyes watering and dried her throat out something fierce. It was like she'd been hit with a lemon wrapped around a brick.

"I am a bit curious about those boots. Not going to lie, that's something actually useful."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

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Spoiler

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It was like she'd been hit with a lemon wrapped around a brick.​

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YEEEEEEEEEEES!​

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Lorane was grinning once again as he looked at his boots.​

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"Thank you. My best bit of tech so far, including Zandra's hand."​

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He put his face as lose to his lower leg as he could, and raised his voice a little bit.​

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"Command: Unlock"​

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A small speaker crackled as sound came from the boot.​

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"Authorization?"​

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Oh, frak, Lorane had forgot about that part... He usually took them off in private, after all... He avoided looking at Rawnie as much as he could as he gave the voice key.​

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"Azure, Your Godlike Creator."​

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"Corrrrrrrect. Unlocking."​

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The boots loosened and dropped off the Chiss' legs.​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The white haired Mandalorian, daughter of Calico Tal'verda and the pirate Queen herself, Clan huntress, self-proclaimed strongest in the village, nearly snorted with laughter. It was hard enough just getting a smile, but Rawnie was full on giggling now.
Of course, she very quickly regained control of herself and attempted to look properly interested instead.

"So then, Azule, the godlike creator," she said, dripping with the remains of laughter, "You made those? Impressive. I thought you were a doctor? Now you're an inventor too?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

When Rawnie started giggling, Lorane was a little bit torn between feeling embarrassed and... thinking she was kind of cute when she laughed. He decided to shake both of those thoughts out of his mind when she asked him about his inventions. Talking about tech overrode any other thoughts he had, most of the time.​

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"The boots, the guns, my glasses... Internal workings of tech and people aren't so different. Built my first gun when I was barely strong enough to cock one with both hands. Bawled my eyes out when it broke. If you wanna try one of 'em, I gotta make some modifications. Security chip won't let you undo the safety. The boots are a bunch of tiny repulsorlifts and a jet engine. Run for about ten minutes before they've gotta recharge."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

...Interesting. He would be useful to have on her side after all. The corners of her mouth pulled back into a devious smile. If she could convince him, maybe he could make something for her? Wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Really? Yeah, I'd like to give it a shot sometime, if you don't mind. I like playing with new tech. The village I grew up in was... kinda isolated, to be honest," she admitted, very carefully and strategically giving only a glimpse of her childhood, "So I guess I kind wanna make up for lost time, you know?"



[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"Yes, really. Anytime you like. Figured you might appreciate the offer."​

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Lorane smiled crookedly at Rawnie and tapped one of his guns a little bit teasingly.​

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"Didn't get to play with toys much, huh? We can fix that."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

She felt like a kid at lifeday. Sparkly new toys to kill people with. Maybe he'd let her play with his ship some too. Mom taught her a bit about maintaining a ship, after all, mom had to take care of Zax, and that ship was a junker if there ever was one.

"Can't wait," she replied, eyeing the gun, "Maybe you can make me something some time? For reasonable compensation, of course."

Couldn't hurt to ask.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Something about the expression on Rawnie's face made Lorane smile. And, well, there was the fact that it was directed at the gun on the doctor's belt. Guns were meant to be shared... or something like that, right? Whatever the case, her asking got rid of any feelings he had that it'd be awkward to suddenly offer to make her things. Of course, as soon as she said "compensation", the Chiss' expression turned to slight exasperation.​

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"For frak's sake, I don't need money from you. I've got supplies and time on my hands, and I wanna have fun. Building stuff happens to be the most fun thing I can think of. Next thing on that list is probably shooting the things I build."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

"I didn't say anything about credits," she shrugged, "I could owe you a favor. Hell, you could just ask me to wake up early every day to make breakfast for ya. There are literally thousands of things I could do as compensation."

She was still watching the gun at his belt, resisting the childlike urge to reach out and snatch it up. She was practically giddy. She wished she had her helmet on again so he wouldn't see the smile trying to force it's way onto her lips.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"Building the tech is its own compensation. Watching it in action is profit."​

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Lorane went over to the freezer to grab himself some ice cream, watching Rawnie's face as he did. He tried not to laugh as he pulled his head and the frozen dairy out of the icy coldness and popped the box of ice cream open. Oh, cool, his spoon was still in there. Finally, he just had to laugh. The blonde Mando girl trying not to smile was all sorts of cute and entertaining, and he lost it. He managed to calm down, and grinned at her as he began eating his ice cream.​

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"What're you, scared of not looking like a block of ice? Smile, dammit."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

"Why?"

Sweet stars above, she fething hated being told what to do. Corrin tried to boss her too, tell her to perk up, smile. Some of the other boys in the outlying villages did that too. 'Smile' they said, 'you look pretty when you smile'. That was right before she kicked in their kneecaps.

She eyes the icecream, but said nothing more. She loved frozen treats. Did he know? Had he figured it out? Was this some sort of trick?

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"Because the alternative seems to be continuing whatever muscle spasm you're currently having there. I don't treat those, Rawnie."​

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Lorane was completely oblivious to Rawnie looking at his ice cream, and simply enjoyed it. Ice cream was another thing that made his brain re-prioritize things around him. If it was possible for him to build guns, shoot them, and eat ice cream at the same time, he'd have been the happiest blue person ever.​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Well, at least he didn't say something stupid like 'you're prettier when you smile', as if it were her job to be pretty and pleasant for everyone else. Her job was to kill or capture things and bring the carcass back. There was nothing pretty or nice about that.

"Are you going to share?" she asked abruptly.

Her eyes never left the gooey frozen mush. If Rawnie could eat only icecream for the rest of her life and survive off of it and remain healthy, she'd the be happiest half-echani Mandalorian ever.


[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane looked from his ice cream, to Rawnie, and back to his ice cream. Well that explained a few things... But he'd never had anybody ask him to share before. They usually tried to put bullets in him, or stole what they wanted outright. Even Zandra hadn't asked him to make her a hand. He'd just... done it out of a bit of an odd feeling of duty to her as a patient, and then as a friend. Even just being asked for a bit of dessert made him feel... warm? It felt strange, but he liked it.​

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"Sure, if you don't mind eating it with a fork... My spoon's not exactly clean, and I only have the one set of cutlery."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Honestly, Rawnie didn't care what she had to eat it with. Ice cream was ice cream, and Rawnie would do whatever she had to do to get it into her mouth. She snatched up a fork, went over to the chiss and sat down next to him, smiling. Really smiling.

"Thanks."

The first bite was good. But it was the second, oh, that was heaven.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane blinked a couple of times when Rawnie sat down next to him and smiled like that... His mind was completely blank for a minute, but he mentally kicked himself and then turned his focus back to the ice cream... Priorities, y'know? He took a spoonful and smiled back as he ate it, the handle still ticking out of the corner of his mouth.​

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"No problem, Rawnie..."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

It was like being a kid again. Mom would take fruits that she brought back from other worlds and squeeze the juice into the snow. Rawnie always loved the taste and the texture. Icecream reminded her of those days when the family was still together. Before dad went missing and mom started coming home blazed. Before she had to grow up.

"I haven't had this in ages," she said between bites, "It's... nice."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane kept smiling as he took another bite of ice cream, but then Rawnie's comment made him think about being a little kid on Csilla, stealing snacks and ice cream to eat. Being... happy. The only other thing that'd recreated that feeling was being in a fight... But this was coming close. His voice came out as a low mutter.​

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"I haven't had friends in ages..."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The fork of icecream froze at her lips. That word. Friends. Her cold dark eyes slid sideways. She'd had 'friends'. Yeah. Friends. They liked to push her around because she'd been small. She had her Mothers blood. The Echani in her shone brighter than it did in her brother. White hair, small frame. They liked to tease her about it, take her kills and claim the small rodents she'd killed as her own. Made her go back to the village empty handed.

Called themselves 'friends'.

"I don't have friends..."

She ate one last bite and stuck the fork back into the icecream container as if trying to stab it to death.

"Do you think we're friends?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"I don't know. Closest thing I've had to a friend was Zandra, and she just listened to me so I'd get off her back about the glitter... Everybody else just wanted my tech. Or wanted to shoot me."​

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Lorane put the ice cream down and cast a bit of a forlorn look around his house. It was a place he'd used to help a lot of people, but gratitude was measured in money a bit too often.​

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"Patients aren't friends, either. They're just afraid I'd sell 'em out for money."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​