Private Portrait of a Lady

[Corazona von Ascania]

In between the lunch and dinner rush, the cafeteria was slow. A few Alliance personal trickled in and out, some stopping in for a quick mid-day snack.

Cora sat at the end of a long table, taking far too long to work her way through a salakberry muffin. Normally a class on proverbs occupied this time slot, but the instructor had canceled at that last minute. This left her normally busy schedule with an hour of free time.

Blue eyes narrowed at the folded sketchpad in front of her. A pencil tapped anxiously at the edge of the paper. Drawing was not her strong suit—far from it, actually—but she liked doing it anyway. Father had never approved, so this was an activity that Cora did solely for herself.

Something was missing in her composition of the cafeteria. Maybe it was the warped perspective, or her poor grasp of vanishing points. Heaving a frustrated sigh into her muffin, Cora took another bite and chewed slowly as her gaze lazily shifted across the room.

Then it stopped. Red hair, striking features. Cora rose abruptly, and strode over to the young woman who'd been eating alone. Without preamble, she invited herself into her space and sat down across from her.

"Hi," She greeted brightly, setting down her sketch pad and muffin. "You're very pretty! May I draw you?"

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem blinked, half a breakfast sandwich hanging out of her mouth as she froze. Who, her? Jem checked and found no one else in reasonable ear shot. She pulled the sandwich from her mouth and forced down a few rough swallows.

"What?" She reiterated, not because the words were unclear. They just didn't make sense in this hall full bustling jedi. No one ever talked to her. Jem told herself it was because of who she was, but in truth it was simply because of her tendency to glare.

Speaking of.

Blue eyes narrowed, her naturally sharp jawline lending to an animalistic look. Firrerreo were not known for warmth, even if their skin did shimmer through shades of gold with their emotions.

"This is a cafeteria."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora shrank back in her seat momentarily, startled by the girl's reaction. She looked fierce, almost wildly so. It was breathtaking in a scary sort of way.

The blonde steadied herself, shoulders back, polite smile in place like a proper aristocrat. Perhaps her approach had been a tad graceless.

"Yes, but isn't beauty found in the oddest of places?"

She beamed, hoping that it sounded deep. That was probably a quote from something.

"It won't require you to pose or anything. Just act natural, as if I weren't even here."

Reaching for her sketchpad, Cora immediately broke the immersion she tried to force.

"I'm Cora. What's your name?"

Pretend that I'm not here, but also please engage in conversation with me.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem remained frozen. She hadn't said yes-- and who would want a picture of her eating a sandwhich anyway? She was half torn between shrugging the girl off and leaving, but she was hungry and... well.

No one had called her pretty before.

"Knight Fossk," she said, hoping her father's name would scare a sensible person off. There had been an offer once for her to change it, but she hadn't. She didn't know why. Maybe it just felt like a pointless attempt to pretend that what had happened, hadn't.

She flashed a knowing grin, a faint fang sticking out between her teeth.

Or maybe she just liked the chance to scare people.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Oh! You're a Jedi Knight!"

Cora gasped, dropping her muffin. It bounced gently on the rim of her plate and tipped over onto the table top. The name Fossk sounded faintly familiar, but Cora wasn't able to place it to a face or event yet.

"Forgive my forwardness, Knight Fossk. I am Padawan Corazona von Ascania of Ukatis."

Figuring that meeting a Jedi Knight warranted a more proper introduction, Cora gave a gentle bow of her head. "You can still call me Co-"

She blinked, catching sight of the fanged canine at the same time a connection was made.

"O-oh, Fossk, as in the Senator who—oh."

"Oh, my."

A hand came up to rest demurely at her lips, reacting to this new information in the same way a court gossip might.

"That is...yes, that is something. Ahem. Well."

Cora lifted up her sketchpad, excited by the opportunity to draw someone so important.

"What do you say, Knight Fossk?"

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

...Damn.

That didn't work.

Jem's brows pulled in, a confuzzled look leveled down at the crumbs of her plate as she gestured a sign of permission that could only be described as defeat. "But when I'm done I'm gone," she threatened, shoving an unladly-like amount of sandwich into her mouth.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Jem's signal of acquiesce had more to do with her being worn down than her actual approval.

Still, Cora seemed pleased enough. Giving the pencil in her hand a quick twirl , she set to work sketching the basic shapes of human—er, near-human—facial proportions.

Albeit quickly, because her subject didn't seem intent on lingering.

"How long have you been a Jedi for, Knight Fossk?"

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem snorted at the continued use of her last name.

"Forever," she answered thoughtlessly. But, well... that wasn't entirely true. She frowned around puffy cheeks filled with bread and reconsidered.

"... A while. ...Er... you?" Attempts at civility were made, however awkward and unpracticed they were. Jem wasn't one to engage with strangers in the lunchroom, but her usual brand of response felt a bit like punching a kitten.

If she told Cora off, would she cry?

Jem studied her, gauging it.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's head snapped constantly between Jem and the sketchpad she'd balanced at the edge of the table and into her lap. She'd always been taught to look people in the eyes when speaking. This caused her focus to shift from the subject to her drawing at an alarming rate.

"I see, I see." She hummed. "So you were inducted into the Order at a young age, yes?"

Many of her fellow Padawans had been scooped up as babies and children, too young to form solid memories of life before the Jedi.

"I'm coming up on about a year, I believe."

An entire year away from home, away from her family save for the Life Day visit.

"Oookay…it's done!"

With a broad grin, Cora flipped around the sketchpad so that Jem could see her work.

"I dare say that this is one of my best creations to date!"