Private So I Had a Bad Day | Amea

[Kelsie Sylvan]

B A D
D A Y

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

How did it come to this?

Alone, in the rain, on some backwater she couldn’t even remember the name of. She didn’t have her support, her gear, and her ship probably didn’t have enough fuel to break atmosphere. Worse still, she wasn’t exactly in the best state physically, mentally, or emotionally. Without a coat, she was drenched; a ball cap and light jacket wasn’t quite enough. When she was drenched, she was cold; the cold kept her uncomfortable. Her last meal had basically been a slice of stale bread between two other slices of stale bread; her stomach rumbled as she walked. Without Missy, without anyone, she felt truly alone.

Obviously, she needed to do something about her situation. She was in a town, and towns had buildings, and buildings tended to be able to keep her dry. Moreover, some special buildings had food. Food was good. Food was something she was in need of. She slipped under a tarp hung up on one side of the road, just long enough for her to spot the neon sign of a cantina down the road. After just a glance she began to move on down again.

Kelsie was quickly reminded how complacent she’d gotten as soon as she continued down the street. If she’d had Missy, she probably would have been warned about this particular neighbourhood’s dubious safety, or the three thugs that had just crossed the street to intercept her. She realized too late, having been looking down to shield her eyes from the downpour. Her hands came up too late to block the blow to her head, and too late to fully stop her fall. Her face was planted neatly in the mud of the alleyway. A kick to the stomach sent her sprawling on her back. She got to have a good look at the grey sky, the pounding in her head and falling of the rain drowning out whatever demands the thugs had. Probably credits. Joke’s on them, she barely had enough for half a glass of Corellian Whiskey.

This was a bad day.

To be fair, it could only get better from here, right? Maybe. Hopefully.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

Sing a sad song just to turn it around.

The rainfall hadn’t let up for the last few days and it left the entire crew of the Killigan’s Messenger more than a little stir crazy. Feraan had gone off to the cantina and had managed to find himself with three days in a jail cell. Io had found herself bottle-deep in her sorrows at the local cantina. The captain, well, nobody had really seen them since they took off to visit their family. There were more in their crew, of course, but none that Amea herself had really bothered to get to know.

Though muted she could hear the music from the lively band on stage inside. Yet Amea was seated outside the cantina amongst a crowd of smokers and drunks. From beyond the bright red neon sign of the club she could make out just the faintest shape of someone down on their luck. Yet her shape was blocked by the onset of a few individuals that encircled her and knocked her to the ground.

A long sigh parted Amea’s lips. Her shoulders slumped as she began to shake her head and pulled her jacket over her shoulders again. So much for a break from all the noise and people. Her jurisdiction ended where the ships had settled down and started where they took off. Local crime like this was usually no concern of hers unless she had a good reason for intercepting. Yet something about this made her want to stand up.

Call it being a sucker for a pretty face or that she was loathe to see an unfair fight.

With a determined stride she jumped over the railing of the bar and placed her feet firm in the mud. She grabbed at her jacket to hold it in her hand, her body readying for another fight as she raised her voice.

“Hey, assholes!” She shouted and they all turned in surprise to look at her. Seizing the opportunity Amea threw her jacket into one of them while she punched the other with a mean right hook that sent them tumbling over and into the dirt. In a swift follow up she swept up to the woman with Amea’s jacket in her face. There was one face, one elbow, one unconscious body.

The rest shifted their attention away from their victim on the ground and slowly began to try and circle the Warden.

“Yeah, not so fun when they can fight back, huh?” Amea spat on the ground and readied herself for their attempts to knock her down.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

P I T T E R
P A T T E R

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

Get up.

She was better than this, and she knew it. Nowadays it was rare for her to remember her roots, considering how far away that time seemed. Her senses might have dulled from relying on technology, but her skills were ingrained deeper than that. She was a survivor, a fighter. She'd had worse than a stinging jaw and a few bruised ribs. She'd killed worse than a few street rats. She was better than...

Nope. Not quite. Not yet. Not anymore.

Kelsie managed to roll over onto her hands and knees, but the blow to her jaw had disoriented her. If her head wasn't spinning she'd probably remember the trick to those kinds of hits; how to properly land them, and how to get back up after getting hit. She was thankful for the moment's respite granted by the person who'd come to her aid. Maybe it was someone she knew? Probably not. Once upon a time she'd probably loathe accepting help in a fight from a stranger. Oddly enough, gratitude was one thought she could focus on in her dizzied state.

Her determination surged again as finally she pushed herself to her feet. Granted, she was still caked in mud and not completely balanced, but she was standing, and that was a start. Her attackers were now focused on the other woman. Now that she could more clearly see the situation, her day was starting to get a little better. Two people was always better than one. Well, when it came to most things.

As the first of the thugs began to advance, the one in the back found himself struck twice in quick succession. Kelsie jabbed a pressure point, the weak fleshy bit just above his hip, and he jerked to the side, giving her easy access to the man's neck, where her second strike landed. Gathering enough force to hit hard sent her slightly off balance, and she stumbled away after knocking the man to the ground.

She'd been missing this kind of grit in her life. It was time to get some back.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

There was no time to really consider the well-being of the woman on the ground yet. She stirred and shifted as they pulled away, and that was good enough. Amea pulled her jacket off of the unconscious woman and wrapped it around her hand and arm. They tried for her head, they got one in the ribs. The muddy ground made for difficult footwork but she kept herself from falling over.

They tried to take her leg, she swept it away. They tried to get her stomach and she threw them to the ground. By now the woman on the floor had joined in. Amea could respect that. Beaten but not out of steam just yet.

“Sweep the legs.” Amea said and hooked her foot behind her opponent to pull them down by the knee. “And then,” She reached down to strike against their face. “Knock them out.”

By now there was just the one attacker left, their assault on Kelsie coming from the right, the left, and finally for her stomach. With her work mostly done, and trusting that the redhead was able, Amea leaned back and watched her technique.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

G E T T I N G
B E T T E R

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

To her audience, it was clear that the earlier hits had taken their toll on Kelsie. Still, her technique kept up -- her blocks of the right hook and following jab were flawless. But each time she blocked she seemed to lose her footing in the mud. She stumbled around until finally it was her turn to hit. She managed to shift her weight enough onto her front leg, subsequently spinning to deliver a vicious roundhouse kick to her assailant's neck. The slippery terrain came in handy as the momentum of the initial strike allowed her to hop up and keep rotating, striking the man again in the jaw with the back of her other foot.

The thug crumpled. Kelsie didn't do much better; she clearly remembered how to jump, but the tricky part always seemed to be landing. Her right foot came down at an awkward angle and she slipped into the mud again. The adrenaline had started pumping a little too late, but now that it was, she didn't stick around in the dirt for more than a moment.

Back on her feet again, she still felt the slight sway and lightheadedness as she had before. She tried not to show it. When she wasn't in pain, hungry, and drenched, she was a pretty good actor, but right then she might as well have been yelling out the symptoms of a concussion and then the ones she was feeling.

Instead, she moved tentatively forward, pausing a few feet away from the brunette she could now clearly make out in the rain.

"Thanks," she said, a little sheepishly. "I swear I'm better than that, normally." A short laugh escaped her lips, and for the first time in a while she gave a genuine smile to another person.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

And just like that, it was over. Amea glanced down at the unconscious bodies on the ground and gave herself a self-assured nod of confidence. The other woman wasn’t half-bad in how she dealt with the remaining attacker either. Posture was poor and her balance was all off, but given that she had taken a few kicks just about everywhere one could think of it was understandable to say the least.

“Hey, I’m not one to judge.” Amea said and yet she was by all accounts judging Kelsie. Not for what she did but rather over how she did it. An assessment rather than a critique. “Most people would have passed out at the kick to the jaw.”

Amea unwrapped her jacket from her arm and threw it over her shoulders and slowly knelt down to look at one of them. Seemed pudgy and not particularly well-kept. Possibly vagrants, but also quite likely to simply be ruffians who attracted the wrong attention. The former she could understand, the latter was just a shame.

She didn’t run through their pockets or belongings, wasn’t her place to. Instead she simply stood up again and gave Kelsie another lookover. She was pretty, Amea would give her that. Compared to how most of the others around here looked, though…

“You aren’t from around here.” She said and extended a hand. “And neither am I.”

“I’m Amea.” And for a very brief moment a slight silence hung in the air. “Hello.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

G R A T E F U L

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"Mm, yeah, you can tell how tough I am," she joked. Maybe the hit to the head had rigged her to be a little more genuine today... she smiled. A rather violent act of kindness had made her day. Well, she was only fifty percent sure it was the daytime. The gloom of the rain above had begun to lighten up a bit, but it was still pretty dark out. The Outer Rim wasn't known for good street lighting. Or much good of anything that the Core might care about.

Kelsie watched in a sort of daze as Amea moved and checked out the thugs. Long ago she'd probably have kicked them a few times back, shot them, snapped their necks. Funny how once upon a time she'd thought she knew what a bad day was, a bad situation, state of living. That naivety really brought her back. The woman finally took action, picking up the thugs and dragging them up against the wall, under a slight overhang where they wouldn't get as wet.

"Kelsie," she replied to Amea's introduction, taking her hand and giving it a shake. She glanced at her former assailants, then back at Amea. "Definitely not. These guys belong here, you belong modeling for a gossipvid cover." Maybe that didn't fully make sense. She was still recovering from earlier. "I'd buy you a drink or something, but I'm kind of out of credits," she admitted.

"Gonna... get out of the rain now," she said, gesturing to the bar Amea had been sitting in earlier. It was meant as a question, wondering if she wouldn't mind a bit of company. It'd do wonders for Kelsie, and she was pretty sure Amea had nothing better to do...

 

[Amea Virou]

Amea would have responded to the name, given a ‘howdy’ or a ‘pleasure to meet you’ but what happened instead was a snort-chuckle. Gossipvid covers, sure. As far as compliments went it was a first, at least that Amea was aware of. Subconsciously she raised her arm and hands before her to look at the small scars that seemed to be riddled across her skin. The people on those covers were always edited and touched up to appear more perfect than they were, this was a fact, but even still that particular reality was close enough to the fantasy that it made sense. For Amea it was… Pretty far off at this point.

Kelsie started moving and Amea began to lag behind before she shook herself out of it and hurried up next to the other woman. The adrenaline of the fight was wearing off, the tangled bunch of nerves that was Amea Virou slowly began to surface again as she got a better look at the woman that she had just helped out of a tight spot.

Amea’s nails almost dug into her neck to scratch away the skin and bones as she very carefully considered what to say. Social interaction with new people was not something that came easy. She didn’t have even remotely this hard of a time sassing crime lords and debating with scum, yet in these moments there was a whole load of things that felt like it could go wrong. Saying the wrong thing, giving off the wrong impression. Being too open or not being open enough. Being boring, being rude, being… Well the list went on.

“The bar isn’t the best, but it’s sort of okay.” She said and opened the door to let Kelsie step through and then Amea followed. “What, uh… what happened to you? If— If you don’t mind me asking, that is. Who dragged you through the mud like that?”

“Beyond— the, thugs. I mean. You seem… Lost.”

Force alive, the struggle inside was real. Amea raised two fingers towards the tender and ordered them both a drink each. A cheap and local brand but something with more kick to it than just a glass of water. If not for the sake of offering a kindness then perhaps as a way for Amea to find a calm center at the bottom of a bottle. It had worked before. It was a great idea. Nothing could go wrong.

Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

She'd really let herself go, hadn't she? She could probably be read by any old schlub off the street these days. Not that Amea was a schlub. The opposite, really. Still, the thugs from earlier had probably seen the same thing -- this aimless woman, wandering through the streets of nowhere, not understanding where she was or what she was doing. The other woman's honesty shook her slightly, and she was uncharacteristically shy for a little while as they entered and got their drinks.

A few sips into her glass finally got her to pipe up again. "As you already guessed, I'm not really from around here," she began, speaking softly. "I had a lot. Relied on a lot of things in my life. Came crashing down. Still kinda trying to work through why. Here, well... I mean, if you hadn't showed up, I might've been dead. You're nice, but... it was kind of up in the air, wasn't it? I was, I mean."

She sighed, brushing some dirt off her face and shedding her wet jacket onto her chair. Underneath she just had a simple t-shirt, and it was clear that the rain had gotten all the way through. Kelsie took another swig of her drink, her voice getting a little louder as her confidence rose along with her blood alcohol. "I've got stuff. Workin' through it. Well, gotta start workin' through it. Probably need credits for that. And... food." She shifted, fumbling around in her pocket for her wallet. When she eventually produced it, it seemed like a little fly flew out as she opened it up. A quick wave and call to the bartender would get her a greasy sandwich a few minutes later.

"I'm kind of a mess," she muttered. Really spitting out some hot takes here. "Thanks for your help, again..." She'd been really rude up to this point, honestly. "So, Amea, what's brought you to this particular corner of the galaxy? There's gotta be better places to hang out."

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

She might not have been a good talker, but at least Amea prided herself on being a good listener. As Kelsie spoke, Amea listened. She tried to put herself in the shoes of having lost that much, but the connection wasn’t quite there. Only thing Amea had lost was some small part of her memories and the paradoxical nature of the situation was not lost on her. She knew that she had lost them, but she also did not remember why it would matter whether or not she had them. They had been sucked right out and thrown to the astral winds of fate to be gone forever.

Maybe it was the futility in trying that made Amea feel so okay with not knowing.

“Nah,” She added and let on a weak smile. “If you can take that kind of kick to the jaw it’d just be a temporary setback at most. I think.”

Inside Amea was all nerves. All things considered this was going better than it usually did. No references to forgotten lore of overlooked worlds, no technical manual bleeding through into a rant about the fact that the beer tap’s mechanical innards were almost speaking to her, telling her how they worked.

“We- uh,” Amea said and stopped to scratch at her neck. “Working through stuff is…” She sighed. “I think we all do it?”

“I… Really, don’t have any better reason for being here. I signed on with a ship, and this is one of our stops. Captain is visiting family, and I am stranded here until he comes back.”

There was no food ordered on Amea’s behalf, no more drinks — for now.

“... There’s probably space left on the crew if you need the credits.” Amea twitched over towards Kelsie, her hands raised before her as if to catch the brunt of a train speeding towards her. “Not that I— mean to imply you couldn’t make do without, but it’s easy money for very little effort, and it gets you out of here, so I figured, you know, just…”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

It was nice to have someone listening to her. Earlier she'd had Missy, but sometimes conversation needed a more human touch. Well, organic touch, but humans were always better. She appreciated Amea lending an ear and a moment of her time, even though Kelsie knew how badly she was exposing herself by talking about herself. Lately she hadn't been following the old protocols. Or for a long time, in fact. She quietly wondered why she'd been thinking about that.

"Guess I'm pretty tough," she said with a grin, one that immediately turned into a grimace, her hand coming up and rubbing her jaw. She picked up her glass and put it against her cheek, trying to calm the swelling that'd just begun. Maybe food hadn't been the best idea; it'd probably hurt her jaw if she started eating. Still, it'd be a few minutes before the grub arrived.

Next it was Kelsie's turn to listen. Now that she'd gotten Amea to talk a bit, Kelsie realized how nervous the other woman was. Stuttering, her expressions, immediately going back on her previous statements... Kelsie just looked on calmly, letting Amea say what she wanted to say. Finally -- slowly, as to not hurt her jaw -- she smiled warmly to Amea. "Don't worry about it, I know you meant well. Kind of you to offer." Her gaze turned to the window, and she shook her head. "I would, but I have my own ship, actually. Unless you're running a frigate or something, I'll probably be stuck... and I'm a notoriously bad crew member," she joked. There were a few extra things in the cargo hold of her ship, plus what was left in her armory... she could probably make a decent few credits off that, if she looked around.

She paused for a moment, then spoke again. "You can relax, Amea. I'm not gonna judge you. Just having a little conversation is nice." She smiled again, this time with a little more confidence, though the glass was still stuck to the side of her face.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

In the moment it was clear that Amea was surprised to hear that Kelsie had a ship. Her one rose and the other sunk for a moment as she turned yet again to look at her companion for the evening. While there was no possibility for her to be part of the ship, Amea found it somewhat hard to believe she wouldn’t be a good addition to the crew. It was all about managing where and when people were. Even the brightest navigator was the dumbest of recruits at some point.

Nonetheless the conversation moved on and Amea went back to staring at her drink that she had barely touched.

“I mean, yes.” She said and felt a grin tug at the corner of her lips as she noted Kelsie still held her glass to the side of her head. “But I am so used to books, and… Supposedly boring texts on forgotten lore. Only time I get out is for a job, and that’s very different, you know?”

Amea put her glass to her lips and downed a sizable chunk of her drink.

“I mean, most of my experience with people is punching them. Sometimes arresting them. Shooting them, tackling them, ensuring they don’t do anything too hasty or just plain dumb.” Amea felt her hand scratch at the back of her neck again. “I don’t actually talk to people a lot, it gets… Let’s just say complicated, really fast.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

Kelsie didn't really get out much, either. Not like this. She'd been spending all her time fighting, working... when was the last time she met somebody new? Somebody who wasn't trying to kill her, or was otherwise less than friendly. Amea was already leagues better than most of her usual company. "I completely understand... I mean, I don't either." Kelsie brushed her hair back, letting out a small sigh.

Still, it'd be rude to keep the focus on herself. She grinned, the glass still stuck to her face. "You're a researcher? No offense, I kind of have a hard time picturing that." She'd just kicked a few goons' butts outside, this wasn't the kind of person she imagined spending much time reading. Kelsie certainly didn't read. Maybe she'd have to sit down with a good book one of these days, now that she had all this time on her hands. "Y'know, I'm kind of a history buff myself," she joked. Not that the Warlord Era was a particularly interesting time period, outside of those fascinated by military tactics.

"Well, that's not much of a life to live," Kelsie replied wryly. She sighed again, realizing that was the essence of her own mistakes. She'd been given another chance at life here -- was she using it properly? Was this what she was going to be? Her gaze slid away, looking outside at the still-falling rain. The arrival of a small platter of food brought her back, and she thanked the server before clearing her throat and speaking again. "So, uh... you're a cop, too? You must have a lot of work around here, huh." That job fit this woman a little more, though it seemed like this might not be her jurisdiction.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

Researcher was a bit of a stretch, yet not really. Amea felt herself recoil at the idea yet quickly warmed up to it. Perhaps she was a researcher, perhaps she was merely a woman who liked her books. Either way she felt great joy in rediscovering the lost. Perhaps, if that was enough to be a researcher, then Amea could consider herself one as well. Although given her lack of education she’d say it felt far too generous of a title still.

“Oh really?” Amea chuckled under the ensuing buzz from her drink. “Well, no offense, but I have kind of a hard time picturing that.”

Using Kelsie’s own words against her amused Amea to no end. Her lopsided grin spread into a toothy grin as her shoulder sunk and rose with laughter. It was clear that something still bothered Kelsie. The grin mellowed out into a weak smile as Amea turned back to her drink again and took a sip.

“A cop?” She grimaced and gave Kelsie an almost surprised and confused glance that quickly faded away as well. “I suppose?”

“I prefer to think of something, like, ‘free agent.’” She said and slowly nodded to herself. “Do the right thing at the right time, if you can. That sort of thing. Just, you know...”

Amea took another sip from her drink. “There’s a bit of other jobs in between as well.”

“But what about you?” She turned the conversation back to Kelsie. “You walk with a sense of authority, almost on instinct. Yes, you are down in the mud now, but that self-assuredness has bled through into your how you act already. You are perceptive, good-looking, capable of defending yourself even after taking a hit to the head that would paralyze most people…”

Amea let the silence pose the question for her. It was clear that Kelsie was more than she seemed. She had a ship, yet no credits to her name. She had an air about her that wouldn’t come from just anyone.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

The two shared a laugh. Kelsie wasn’t about to launch back into the past anyways, and if she did the conversation would probably grind to a halt. She got the feeling that Amea wasn’t too keen to talk about her ‘supposedly boring books’ either. Talking about how she was a space cop was much more interesting. “Free agent? Y’know, I’m pretty sure there aren’t standardized citizen’s arrest laws across the Outer Rim. I think you might be confusing some real cops,” she said, returning a goofy grin to Amea.

The warmer and drier environment, the food, and the good company helped Kelsie recover — she felt less dizzy, less damp, less like chit on the side of the road, and more like a person. A normal person in a restaurant, sitting with an interesting stranger, having a kind conversation. She didn’t need credits; if she could have this every day for the rest of her life she’d probably be satisfied. Her old adventures seemed so far away now. She could listen to this fantastic young woman and give a genuine smile as she heard her words. “Doing the right thing… thank you, again.” She smiled, before going back to shoveling grub into her face. Wasn’t good, wasn’t bad, but it was filling, and considering her previous circumstances this was more than she could’ve asked for.

“Well, if I’m all those things you say I am, why shouldn’t I walk with a little confidence?” She countered, somewhat dodging the implied question. Still… Amea had been nothing but honest since they’d met, and Kelsie had found herself being equally sincere, if a little dodgy about some things. She didn’t want to monologue about her past or herself, but if Amea wanted to know more, why should she deny her?

She chewed and swallowed a little more food before setting her utensils down on the table and leaning back in her chair. As she began to speak, her eyes seemed determined not to focus on Amea. “I’m not from around here. Used to be… uh, special forces, basically. I was trained to be… used to be the best. And now I’m not, really,” she said with a sigh. “You might think I’m great — and I am, I mean, I’m awesome,” she joked, “But I’m also lost.” Maybe she needed someone to find her.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

It was a fair point, confidence in your own skill was always a pretty essential key to making it out here. It wasn’t hard to miss that she tried to avoid the question at first, ask a question to answer a question, but Amea said nothing. She continued to look at Kelsie who with the right nudge seemed to open up about herself.

Special forces, be the best. A high pressure environment. Explained the almost narcissistic outlook, but people needed them to survive sometimes. As was evident in the fact that when Kelsie seemed to lack that spark of confidence, the facade faded pretty fast.

Amea extended her hand for a moment before she retracted it in hesitation. It was instinct to reach out, but maybe Keslie didn’t want that. Her hands tied up into a ball as she thought about it, yet not too long afterwards she eased up and gently placed the hand on Kelsie’s shoulder regardless, ready to pull it away at any sign of discomfort.

“Don’t say that.” Amea smiled. “At least add a ‘for now’ or something.”

“I am fairly lost, too. For now.” A shrug and the hand, if it wasn’t already gone, was pulled away from Kelsie’s shoulder. “I…”

Deep breath. Time to share secrets.

“I don’t even know who I am.” Amea let out a nervous chuckle. “My parents, or siblings, or friends… I don’t know if they exist, or ever have.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

"For now," she added belatedly at her companion's request. She sighed, not really responding to the hand on her shoulder. It was comforting, but... would anything ever really change? When she'd arrived here, in this day and age, she'd felt as lost as she did now. There wasn't anything here for her. She'd tried to find purpose, worked so hard to do something that might change the state of things, only to find herself pushing against a brick wall. And now she had nothing to help her through it.

Not nothing. She had herself, she had her ship, and she had the little kindnesses the galaxy offered in these troubling times. Amea, despite being a little rough around the edges, was a shining beacon compared to the dull darkness that surrounded them. Kelsie's gaze slowly crawled up to meet Amea's, and finally she smiled. Her eyes began to water a little, and she sheepishly wiped them. "Sorry. Jeez... thanks," she muttered.

Might as well return the favor. Amea's confession was... a little surprising. For an amnesiac, she was probably pretty stable. Maybe it'd be some time since she'd suffered her memory loss? Kelsie was pretty sure there were medical operations that could repair damaged areas of the brain. But that wasn't what Amea needed right now. "I understand... I didn't know my parents, either. But I think they're kind of overrated," she joked, "Friends are where it's really at."

She returned the hand on the shoulder to Amea, hoping the touch would be comforting. "The past is something you need to let go of, at times... if you don't know where you come from, isn't is best to carve out a place you can go back to?" This coming from a woman whose past was further away than Coruscant. That was rich.

 

[Amea Virou]

Stable was about as far from the truth as it got. While her past was unknown she knew that the woman that she had become now was very different to whoever she was before. Her fists had been relatively clean before, but now they were soaked in a deeper shade of red than she would have anticipated. Yet the guilt and remorse simply was not there. Sometimes it worried her, most of the time it didn’t. When your targets were those that had wronged you and so many other women it was hard to feel anything but anger, hatred, and the sheer desire to end whoever stood between you and getting your justice due.

Still, Kelsie was kind enough to repay Amea the kindness that she had paid the other woman. Now was not the time to dwell on vengeance but to rejoice in the fact that a new friendship had been formed. True enough, Kelsie had another point to what she said.

“Yeah, friends are where it’s at.” She chuckled and felt a weak smile tug at the corner of her lips. “And I am definitely trying to carve something out, meet new people and make a new life out of what little I can remember of my old”

“Lucky me, there are people out there that still need me to save them.” She said and gave Kelsie another albeit wider smile. “Even if they don’t really need it most of the time.”

“... Do you think those thugs will come back for us?”

Amea glanced over her shoulder towards the door.

Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

L O S T

Tag: Amea Virou ​

---

So many regrets, but so often bad memories... part of Kelsie wished she'd forgotten her past in the crash. The weight on her heart that dragged her down might've been lifted. She could've found her own way in the galaxy, lived a life worth living, away from all this. But when she looked at Amea, she realized that wouldn't truly be the case -- this was a woman bogged down by a past that she couldn't even remember. Kelsie could remember hers. She couldn't decide if that was better or not.

And yet she had much more red in her ledger than Amea. Kelsie had nights where those memories would pop up, and she'd stare at the wall, the face of that dying enemy ingrained in her memory. At least Amea was really trying. "Good work," she said with a smile. They didn't know each other that well, but Kelsie knew conviction when she saw it. Amea was trying her best, doing good, all that jazz. "I mean, I definitely needed it." If you had to knock someone down to pick someone else up, was it worth it? Amea seemed to think so, from Kelsie's point of view.

"You should sit on the other side of the table," she advised in response to Amea's question. "That way, you can see the door and anyone coming in." Right, there was an actual question... "Don't think so. But maybe they're crazy. Or maybe they're into getting beat up. They probably like you," she joked.

 

[Amea Virou]

Kelsie Sylvan

“A lot of people seem to like me like that.” Amea panned back at Kelsie as she looked over at the seat that the other woman had pointed out. “Well, yes, but I have a straight line from here to the exits,”

Amea pointed at a window on the far end of the room. “There,”

Then she pointed at a nearby door. “There,”

And finally behind the bar. “And in there.”

“If they were to try and surround either of us they would come from the front. They were organized, but they weren’t too organized. Most likely a band brought together by circumstance and necessity more than any truly organized form of crime.” Amea said and let her attention set on the door, her finger pointing and drawing a line along the side of the wall past the window. “The window would be the first exit they’d pass by.”

And then she turned around to look at the door again. “If we assume they had more friends and tried to pincer us they wouldn’t come from the bar. That requires clout, and they wouldn’t dare risk a personal altercation with the owner of their favorite bar.”

“That leaves the window and the bar. They might respect the establishment, but as outsiders we don’t need to. The back-exit is easier, but the window would be safer. It’s all about how fast you would want to get out of here, really.”

And with that Amea took a self-assured sip of her drink to look over at Kelsie.