Please Hold your Applause

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The half echani girl stared at the doctor as if he had just turned into a three headed squid person. Did he just say she could...?

"No, no! I couldn't possibly. Not until I can watch and see how she works! You'd just be asking me to crash her."

She was being modest. She could probably figure it out, but... probably not without a few bumps and bruises, and Bluebird was too pretty to dent. No. She'd want to watch a few times, see how it's done.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane just blinked at Rawnie as she stared at him. It wasn't like he'd learned any fancy flying until a couple of months ago... He shrugged at her and sat down in the pilot's seat, feeling her hands on the back of his head when he leaned back.​

​

"Well, then, unless you're especially comfortable with me using your knuckles as a pillow, you could probably sit down."​

​

He craned his head to look up at her.​

​

"Seriously, though, you can stay there and watch over my shoulder. The gravity in here's just as good as the rest of the ship."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

She was grinning like a child. She needed to stop it, but the tighter she held onto the back of his chair, the less she was able to control her glee. If there was one thing in the Galaxy that always brought Rawnie joy, this was it. Take off. And going outside the ship to take a walk in space. She loved the sensation. weightlessness. To just shut out gravity and float with the stars. Rawnie wasn't exactly a romantic, but she found the sensation of just flying in the black of space beautiful in the truest way.
Maybe someday she'd trust someone enough to go out there with her.

"Go," she urged, "I'll watch closely."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane smiled up at Rawnie, and then looked back in front of him as he hit the control to make the hangar doors open. He thought he could almost feel the wind pass them as the ship turned upright and accelerated away from Golden Coast. Bluebird flew out through the clouds, and into space, spinning slightly to avoid a few bits of debris.​

​

"Well... that's a takeoff..."​

​

He looked up again, poking the blonde girl's shoulder.​

​

"Having fun, there?"​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Fun was not the right word. She was alive again. She never felt right on the ground. Not in a city, at least. She needed the sky, or she needed the frozen countryside. It was honestly the worst part of her job. Her targets always hid out in cities. Rawnie hated that. Too many people. Too many... hands. Too many people trying to touch her, or talk to her. So awkward. She hated talking to strangers.

She looked down at the smile on her companions face. Her... friend. No. He wasn't a stranger. Not anymore. It was a relief. To have someone after all this time that she could just talk to. It wasn't a struggle like it was with everyone else. Actually... it was all a bit quick. Maybe she was still feeling the effects of the drink. She was a bit of a lightweight when it came to alcohol. Yeah. Probably that. In the morning, she'll feel awkward again and it'll be back to square one.

But for now, she was enjoying this.

"Time of my life."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane was happy when Rawnie looked back down at him. He leaned an arm on the side of the pilot's chair and kept up his somewhat awkward smiling staring contest until he finally decided that there had to be something better to do than stare at each other. He had a friend, now, right? A friend who liked ice cream as much as he did.​

​

"There's cookie dough flavor in the freezer..."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

She was confused for a moment. Cookie dough? What-? OH! Ice cream again! She laughed, moving away to sit at the co-pilots seat.

"I like more than just icecream, you know," she snorted, "If you're struggling for a conversation topic, then why don't you tell me about this ship?"

That seemed reasonable. She wanted to hear it. His story. Bluebirds story. Every ship had a history.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane raised an eyebrow at Rawnie as he spun the chair around towards her.​

"And how would I even be able to tell? I'm a doctor, not a space warlock."

[member='Rawnie Tal'verda']​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

She laughed again, keeping her eyes on the control panel of the ship. She was learning.

"The. Ship," she repeated, "tell me more about bluebird."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane grinned as he leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses. Sure, Rawnie was a bit blurry now, but he was trying to get comfortable.

"So... You wanna hear about how I got her, or what I messed with when I did?"

[member='Rawnie Tal'verda']​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Without his glasses, Rawnie almost felt like she was talking to a different person. It was amazing, actually. Caught her off guard. The chis was actually, and she hated to admit this, kind of cute. Huh.

"Both. Either. I want to know as much about her as I can."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane smiled as he leaned on his chair and put his glasses on the dashboard in front of him. The memory of the day he'd gotten Bluebird was a rather happy one. His seventeenth birthday... right before his family life went to hell.​

​

"Well, I got 'er from my adopted mother right when I finished med school. Spent a lot of time flying all over Csilla. Beautiful place."​

​

He looked at Rawnie, and found himself gesturing towards different parts of the tactical console.​

​

"Rebuilt the chin-guns and a couple of the missile launchers. The engines are pretty much to spec, but the armor's not as heavy as I'd have liked. Been trying to think up nasty surprises and some countermeasures for when bigger ships come callin'."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

She nodded, listening closely to every detail.

"Csilla? Is that where you were born then?" she asked, suddenly just as interested in him home planet as she was in the ship, "What's that like?"

She liked hearing these things. Details. Little things about other people. It could speak volumes about another person, how they felt about their home.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane chuckled as he thought of the Chiss homeworld.​

​

"I lived there most of my life. Grew up in the gutter, stealing and shootin' things all the time. Eventually, I got adopted and dropped into med school. Nice planet. Lots of snow and ice, even in the big cities."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Snow and ice. Rawnie smiled, leaning her head back against the headrest.

"I love snow. Makes me think of the village where I grew up, covered in snow all year around. I was born on the coldest day ever recorded in Mandalor history. Mom says I was born for the cold."

She brushed a hand through her pale hair. Natural camouflage, her Uncles had teased. Said it was what made her such a deadly hunter. She went out wearing white furs when she hunted. She'd be out in the snowy woods for hours. The animals out there never saw or heard her coming.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane absently tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, smiling at Rawnie again.​

​

"I've always been inclined towards the cold. Places like Tatooine bug me, and so do rainforests... Just too hot. Whenever I go anywhere like that, I find myself totally unable to wear armor. Give me a snow drift over a seriously hot beach, any day."​

​

Of course, Golden Coast got kind of hot sometimes, but those were "go find air conditioners" days...​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

"Looks like we agree on that aspect."

she gave her companion a nod of respect. Looks like they'd get along. Quite well, actually.

"So. You were saying about Bluebird," she continued, jumping back to a previous subject, "You got her for as a gift?"

Some gift. Rawnie ran her hand along the smooth armrest. Gifts in the Tal'verda clan were mostly handmade things, highly sentimental. Rawnies knife for example, or her bow, both gifts from her mother. The rifle, though, that was from her Father. Something he brought with him from his days fighting wars for rich and powerful men. She rarely used it.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane nodded absently. He was still thinking about the day he'd gotten his ship as he looked at Rawnie.​

​

"Well, the nobles who adopted me liked to show off. She was originally just a factory-spec..."​

​

He snorted at his own statement.​

​

"Heh, listen to me talk... just a factory spec... An unmodded Firespray can fly rings around some of the fastest ships in the galaxy. Anyway, they knew I was a bit of a tech nut, and I was on a kick where I was grabbing up whatever information I could find about Mandalorian tech. Of course, the last couple hundred years before the Gulag hit had a whole different class of 'em. Fetts were in charge and made all sorts of changes."​

​

The Chiss grinned as he finished.​

​

"So, my parents decided that they should go find a Mandalorian ship for me. Got me the best one of all. And then I sort of made a disgusted noise at the color and had the whole thing repainted."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Fetts. Rawnie raised an eyebrow at this. She was related to the fetts. But then, just about everyone was related in some way. Some closer to others, and Rawnie was a lot closer than others.

"I think the color would have been the least of my worries," she commented with a smirk.
Honestly, if someone gave her a ship, she'd be more than haopy with the color.

"She's a beauty though. Bit jealous."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"The stock color now is some kind of freaking bumblebee pattern... Making my bird look not like a giant bug was pretty high on my list."​

​

Lorane mentally winced as he thought of it. Even his parents hadn't seen the paint job before he'd had it redone. He shrugged and raised his eyebrow at Rawnie as he smirked.​

​

"Jealous, huh? I thought Mandalorians were big on flying themselves everywhere. Nobody wanted to stump up the credits to give you a ride of your own?"​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​