Stage Fright

[NightSister]

Aria had her own ways of dealing with bad moods. Sometimes, she stared sullenly into space until somebody came along to pick a fight with. Sometimes, she'd rant into her mirror for an hour without stopping. And sometimes, she'd start up her ship at full speed, play the loudest music on her radio system, and fly aimlessly until she ran out of fuel. That one worked surprisingly well.

Several hours of rock-music and nearly flying into asteroids later, Aria's foul mood was yet to fade - but at least now she had a bit of a handle on it. She probably wouldn't start a fight with the nearest oncomer, at least - well, not unless they deserved it. Her fuel gage was flashing red at her; oooh, not good. She tapped at her control deck to bring up the digital display, quickly steering for the nearest landing site mapped on the screen.

She'd landed on Naboo, of all places. Had she really been flying for that long? Naboo was ages away. Aria had half expected to end up circling the Khar Delba system for hours on end. Well, she needed fuel now, either way. Preferably quickly, so that she could get back to Khar Shian as soon as she could, but there was no harm in stopping to catch her breath first. Hitting a button to lower the landing ramp, Aria snatched up her bag and hopped out into the evening. Dinner would be nice, actually. Fishing around in her bag, Aria pulled out her datapad and quickly opened a search - there was a restaurant not ten minutes from the landing pad she'd lucked upon. A few more moments of browsing, and she set off through the streets, directions in hand. Even in the late evening, lit up only by moonlight and the blinking city lights, Naboo was as pretty as ever.

The last time she'd visited Naboo, she'd been taking a quick few days of vacation before officially beginning her days with the Jedi. How times changed.

[member="Winter Ardmore"]

 

[Winter Ardmore]

Naboo, with all its faults, was an incredibly beautiful planet, and Winter couldn't help but notice the two silvery moons floating in the sky, which was a vibrant shade of deep purple. She had taken a public starship and gotten off at the first stop, and maybe she had lucked out. The planet was known for treating everyone equally and giving everyone a chance to excel, so maybe she'd find someone who could help with her abilities. The Force, she corrected herself. That was what the books had called it. According to them, it was really awesome and she could be a superhero, but that sounded a little far fetched. Maybe this was all a dream. That would be irritating. Finding out you have awesome superpowers and then waking to find that you're still with your family who doesn't appreciate you, you're still doing a job you don't want to do, and you're still on a planet where everyone's drunk. Anyway, it was time to do something. Winter was getting hungry, and needed to find somewhere to eat and lie down. Then she could figure out what to do next.

According to Winter's datapad, there was a restaurant not too far from where she was which had excellent reviews. That didn't sound bad. She had a fair amount of money, too. Her parents had given her quite a bit of money when she left home, probably scared that she'd come back and kill them or something if they didn't. She found this partly amusing, and partly irritating. Would this be how everyone would treat her now? Would she have to live as an outcast? She didn't mind too much, as she was pretty unsocial anyway, probably due to her excessive sarcasm, but it was still a little irritating. Walking into the restaurant, she sat down and picked up a menu. She could ponder life later.

Winter couldn't concentrate on her food, and it was only partly because of her newfound powers. There was a woman sitting on a table opposite her who gave her the creeps. She wasn't sure why. The woman dressed normally, was acting normally, was eating normal food, There was nothing strange in the slightest about this woman. Yet, there was something. Winter tried to get back to her food, but she couldn't. There was something, something she just couldn't pin down.

Never mind. She'd think about it later. Winter shuddered and took another spoonful of food.

[member="Aria Vale"]