Private So if I win, you buy me dinner right? (Duel)

[Darth Strosius]

The masked man let out his own sigh of relief, followed by a small groan of pain as the adrenaline died down and the feeling of all of her hits finally registered. Of all the thoughts in Alisteri's head, he idly thought that a nice bath and some steak sounded heavenly right about now. He winced as he sat up, pulling himself to a proper sitting position as he let a smile form on his face.

"Well for me the Force has not blessed me all that much with the ability to wield it." He looked back at Alina Tremiru as he tossed his deactivated sabre up into the air and pulled it into his other hand with the Force. "All I know how to do reliably is pull light objects to my hands, occasionally I can levitate them and manipulate them a bit, but other than that?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Really?" Alina seemed genuinely surprised by that admission. And here she thought she was the only one who suffered from not being able to use the Force as freely as her fellow acolytes. She sat up, hands in her lap as she looked him over. "We should work on that. Maybe you can do what I do. Y'know, the Matukai channeling. I can show you how. Maybe. Huh. Teaching wasn't something I thought I'd be doing." She laughed heartily before jumping up to her feet.

"Also, does this mean I get to see what's under the mask? Can't eat through it I imagine."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri chuckled lightly as he stood up, albeit with a bit of a pained hiss as he felt what were probably bruises on his sides. Oh well, they weren't the worst wounds that he had suffered. "As much as I would love to watch you try and teach me something, I believe that the ways of the Matukai is more fitting of your...," He gestured to her far more fit body, "...style and abilities than they are to mine. Not to worry, it just means you'll be able to best me until I can learn a trick of my own."

He tilted his head curiously, crossing his arms as a smirk formed on his face. "Please don't tell me that beating me up and making me pay for your dinner was just some elaborate trick to unmask me."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Fair, fair. Well. We'll have to keep looking then. Find your skill. Can't have you lagging behind me. That'd put you on the bottom after all." She smirked wider than before, especially at his gesture. Alina wasn't too shy to accept the compliment. Though the smirk turned to a coy grin as she winked. Whether or not it was her plan she certainly wouldn't tell Darth Strosius . "Alright. Let's go. Somewhere not too expensive with good steak. You know any good places for that kind of dinner?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri merely shrugged in response, as if waving off her remark. He had no problem letting Alina Tremiru get ahead of him in some aspects, provided he could still get in a decent hit every now and then of course. Still though, couldn't just let her have all of the fun after all. "...Your lack of a proper answer is mildly concerning."

He idly tapped his chin as he thought for a moment before nodding. "I may just so happen to know a chef that owes me a favor for saving her brother back on Panatha, I'm sure she'd be more than willing to spare a good steak or two." A smile settled on his face as he walked past her and towards the exit of the room. "Come on then, let's hope they'll have an open table."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Still she didn't answer, especially when he made it clear that he was concerned by it. Alina did give another wink though before following after Darth Strosius to this chef that owes him a favor. "That sounds like quite the story. Why don't you tell me more about that?" The young woman didn't know how long of a walk they had, but she was plenty curious about this story. Hell, more than that, but she wouldn't five into anything more just yet. "Panatha was quite the.. Event."

 

[Darth Strosius]

A small laugh escaped him as he nodded, glancing back at Alina Tremiru as they navigated through the academy. "That it was. You see, i had managed to hitch a ride on the shuttle that her brother was riding in on. At first he was complaining a bit about not getting enough leave but his CO gave him a good smack and then I gave him a good lecture." Alisteri almost smirked at the memory as he continued. "The next thing we know the shuttle is going down and we crash right onto some street in the Capital. Thankfully, we all managed to get out with our lives and limbs intact."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina clasped her hands behind her back, nodding slowly. A crash? Well, it wasn't too surprising that Darth Strosius had survived such an ordeal, but it was still one of those things where she felt a small ping of worry. "Well, at least you made it out. My time there was.. Interesting. I was under a Knight's command who didn't seem too impressed with me. Couldn't use what I used against you at the time, so.. Yeah."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri raised an eyebrow at her response, giving Alina Tremiru a small pat on the back. "Hey we're still just Acolytes, can't be taking on a whole army by ourselves just yet right?" He offered helpfully, pausing for a moment before he spoke again. "I didn't save him in the crash though, that came later. After Panatha was mostly secured, or well the Capital was anyway, I met back up with that squad of Legionnaires. They were pinned down and two of them were too wounded to shoot. That's when I, ever the hero, sprung into action and saved the day!"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina flinched at the pat on her back. She hadn't expected it, and certainly wasn't use to physical signs of affection like it. She cleared her throat and nodded. Darth Strosius was right. They were still acolytes. The punch had hurt, but maybe it was done to make her stronger? Or something. She was still trying to figure out what it meant to be a Sith after all. The young woman ended up laughing as he mentioned being a hero.

"Oh yes, the Sith Hero Alisteri rescues the common trooper from their terrible fate. The Jedi would immediately rip that apart if they heard it."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri scoffed, but a small laugh did leave him as he nodded. "I've seen a couple of Jedi so far, and I wouldn't exactly call them beacons of honor and morality either." He chuckled and nudged Alina Tremiru playfully. "If I'm honest, I think they're all just jealous of our clearly superior style." He gestured to their apparel as if it proved his point; which to be fair, it did in his mind.

Finally, after a few more minutes of walking into the city near the academy; he stopped in front of what looked to be a fairly decent looking, almost diner style building. "...And that was how I got my lightsaber."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I've only really met one, and he wasn't too bad. Though, I know how terrible some of the others are." Alina trailed off, not entirely wanting to share something too personal with Darth Strosius . They were friends, but it still felt odd giving out anything about her own life. A brow raised as they reached the diner. It looked nice at least. Kinda weird, given the usual Sith aesthetic. She smiled a little, glancing back his way.

"Good that you got a saber finally. You learn how to use it yet?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

The masked man only nodded in reply, not wanting to pry for an answer. He had already had his fair share of Jedi, enough to know how they tended to act usually anyway. He looked back at Alina Tremiru and put a hand on his chest as if he was offended. "I'll have you know that I've known how to use it since I first got it! ...Well I really learned how to use it after that little Show of Strength back on Korriban but still." He sounded almost hurt, but a smirk was still evident in his tone.

He gestured to the diner and waved for her to follow as he walked into it. "You're lucky I already agreed to get you a nice steak."

There seemed to be a bit of a crowd inside the building, but not too many to thw point where it was difficult to find an open seat.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I imagine you did." She teased lightly, not believing the hurt in Darth Strosius 's voice in the slightest. That was right though. The first time they'd met was in that show of strength. It felt like a life time ago now. Alina followed him into the diner, happily taking a seat once they did get a table. She leaned comfortably back in her chain, watching her fellow acolyte for a moment or two.

"So, elephant in the room. Take off your helmet already."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri had barely sat down and gotten settled in his seat when Alina Tremiru spoke, chuckling as he rested his head on his hand. "Tsk, tsk, Alina. Can't even wait for our orders to be taken?" He smirked, but he sat up slightly and moved his hands under his hood nontheless. His hands fiddled around the back of his head for a few moments, the small sound of clasps being unlocked heralding the loosening of his mask.

With a sigh of relief he pulled the mask from his face and set it im from of himself on the table. His remaining eye had long since turned a proper Sith yellow, his cybernetic eye still had its usual red coloring. The immediate area around said eye was metal as well, clearly a cheap cybernetic overall. "There we go, satisfied?"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I'm a very impatient woman, sometimes." Her smirk never faded, though she did raise a brow once the helmet was finally taken off. Honestly she was expecting something horrid or interesting. While she knew there was a story behind the scar that was there for Darth Strosius , she honestly wasn't as interested in that as she was with how cheap the cybernetic looked. She also didn't bother answering if she was satisfied.

"We should get you a better one of those."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"A better one?" He raised an eyebrow, one his hands drifting up to touch his eye. Alisteri simply ran his fingers over it for a moment, as if eh was thinking about something. Finally he shook his head but offered Alina Tremiru a small smile. "As strange as it sounds, I'd rather not part with it yet. Perhaps someday in the future. For now though, it serves just fine." The way he spoke almost made it seem like helping him to see was a secondary function.

"Oh, here comes a waitress."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

".. If you say so. That one looks like it hurts, is all." There was mild concern in her voice. Her sister, before her death, had her own cybernetics. But they were in much better condition. Even looked real. The fact Darth Strosius hid his face made her wonder if that was the reason why. Her gaze shifted to the waitress. Almost immediately she sat up straighter, offering a slight nod of her head. "Ah, good. We'd like two of your best steak dinners. I leave it to you on what that consists of." Whether she was talking to the waitress herself or her fellow acolyte was up in the air. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she looked back to Alisteri, waiting patiently.

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri merely shrugged in response, it didn't hurt anymore. Well, not usually at least. It used to ache and was generally irritating back when he was younger and it was new, but by now it was mostly fine. The waitress noted down their order and gave the pair a small smile before walking off to another table. "...Alright, I unmasked myself so now it's your turn." He spoke, glancing back at Alina Tremiru with slightly mischievous glint in his eye. "Tell me something new, something I didn't know about you."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Oh? I didn't realize this was an exchange." She smirked playfully before humming with thought. What did she have that she felt comfortable telling Darth Strosius and also covered the idea of something new? Ah, wait. A grin spread over her features as she leaned forward, hands folded in her lap. "I'm something of a champion in the underground fight club on Dromund Kaas. It's where I learned to fight."