Survival With A Pyne

[Cenric Marus]

​

Celanon - Spaceport
[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric frowned slightly, his lips thinning as he watched the small crowd shuffling around outside of the restaurant.

He wasn't dressed in his usual Jedi Robes, instead he had donned the outfit of a...well a normal civilian. A simple jacket, some pants, and that was pretty much it. His hair was still slicked back and the training saber he'd taken from the Coruscant Temple was hidden on his person, but aside from that he looked just like anyone else. His Master had insisted on his getup, mostly because he didn't want Cenric alerting anyone to who he actually was.

Celanon was an important waystation for all sorts of merchants and traders, hard working people who made their living by traveling all over the galaxy. The world made quite a bit of money from all the trade that passed through it, and it had become one of the wealthiest within the Tingle Arm over the last few years.

Of course, that wasn't why Cenric was here.

The planet also happened to be incredibly close to Sith Empire Space, and there had been reports of Sith agents filtering in and out of the world for a while now. Cenric had been sent by the Alliance to investigate the rumors, mostly to make sure that the Sith weren't going to try anything funny on the planet. So far things had been rather quiet, and he hadn't noticed much of anything going on. Though then again he wasn't really good at this sort of thing.

"Hey." Cenric said as he passed by the caf vendor in one of the large observing rooms. "Can I just have one please?"

The vendor smiled and quickly asked for payment, Cenric reaching inside of his jacket for a moment to pull out a credit chit.

As he did so the lightsaber within his inner coat pocket flashed for a second, and unbeknownst to him a man within the observation deck saw it. The man said nothing, though his expression shifted slightly and his off-hand dialed something into his communicator. Cenric being none the wiser simply got his Caf with a smile, taking a sip and turning...right in time to run head long into a girl from Naboo.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Not everything Mariya did was exactly legal. Unlike her elder sister, Mariya was more of a rebel and a risk taker. Where Jamie was considered the goody-goody, Mariya was more the good intentions. What she did with those intentions varied from system to system in terms of legality. Chief factor of those being to whom the system belonged. In this particular instance, that meant the Sith, and that spelled trouble for her if she so happened to be caught with what was stowed away in her ship's cargo hold, beneath the flooring.

You see, the Sith didn't take well to things being lifted from their possession, and with the amount of isotope she had requisitioned from a cargo transport earlier that afternoon, her sentence, should she be caught, likely ranged from somewhere along the lines of eternity, to immediate execution she figured. The Sith weren't much known to be on the up and up in terms of friendliness, she had learned that in the recent past when Vrak had arrived on Naboo to assassinate her sister, and then subsequently her as well.

Though he had escaped, he had taught her a great deal of the Sith with regard to their general disposition. Nasty...

As she walked, her head was down, eyes glued to the datapad in her right hand, scanning recent reports for break-ins and robberies, hoping that she might have some more time before they noticed their cargo had mysteriously vanished. Thankfully for her, thus far all seemed quiet on that front. However as she continued neglecting where she too was walking, a sudden obstacle blocked her path and she crashed into the man, thereby fumbling with her datapad and nearly dropping the device before miraculously catching it.

"Oh!--I---Sorry! Didn't see you there!" Eyes tan as a sandy beach looked up, the man there towering over her, so much so that she needed to crane her neck rather upwards to look him in the eye. A curse of her small stature. Sadly for Mariya, she hadn't inherited her father's height, unlike her sister.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

The caf that had been quaintly cradled within his hand had been spilled all over his shirt and jacket, the brownish liquid staining the red cloth.

For a brief moment Cenric just blinked, his brain catching up to the events that had just happened. "T-that's alright."

The young Jedi Padawan managed to stutter out, taking half a step back from Mariya for a second and looking down to his clothes to inspect himself. His gaze lingered for a moment, realizing quite quickly that he would probably have to find a change of clothes somewhere. He was supposed to head down to the surface to check out a few of the government buildings, and walking in there like this wouldn't do at all. Especially if he was trying to blend in and not alert any Sith agents.

"It was my fau-" He cut himself off as he looked up at Mariya, the young woman standing up to only half his height, though clearly being around his own age. "Fault."

The padawan managed to stutter out.

Cenric had of course met plenty of women before, even befriended a few, but his experience with the fairer sex was fairly...limited apart from childhood friends. Not to mention that the Jedi Temple wasn't exactly the best place to gain dating experience. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Oh, lucky break! He is taking the blame for it! -- Phew!

The brunette nodded, "Sorry about your caf." She grimaced, looking at the blotchy stain that was definitely not coming out without some handy elbow grease and quite a bit of time scrubbing. "And your shirt..." Her hand reached behind her and rubbed at her neck, lip pulling to the side. "I could buy you another caf? Or get you a new shirt?" It was the least she could do, since she was equally at fault for staring down at her datapad for so long while walking aimlessly about the station.

Is there even a clothing store around this place?

Her gaze shifted from the boy to their surroundings. Not much to see, really. Looked like a typical station, and she wasn't exactly from these parts, so at best she was pretending to gauge where she was. In truth she was more so hunting for a holomap to see what was in fact, on the station in terms of clothing vendors. She imagined there had to be at least something he could get to wear, at least in the mean time in the way of fresh clothes.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric glanced down at his clothes one more time, still holding the now empty cup of caf. Honestly he didn't expect the girl to either buy him a new shirt or a cup of caf, but he didn't really have the money to replace the former. His master hadn't exactly given him a ton of credits before he'd left, and being a Jedi Padawan didn't pay...anything at all. His plan for a replacement had been just to find a lost and found or something, but if she was offering...

"I..." How the hell was he supposed to put this?

Accepting charity from a stranger wasn't exactly something that came easily to him, especially when that stranger happened to be a pretty girl. The young Padawan frowned for a second, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck for a moment. Cenric bit his tongue for a moment, and then finally managed to croak something out. "A new shirt would be great actually."

His voice was sheepish, but he didn't really have another choice if he wanted to complete his mission.

Of course what he didn't know was that the same man who had observed his lightsaber earlier was actually one of the very agents whom he was supposed to have been watching out for. Said agent had already sent a message to his handlers, one that would likely spell a rather unpleasant fate for the Padawan.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

He's a sheepish one...

For a moment the girl looked at him, dumbfounded by how uncomfortable he seemed, and not because of the ruined shirt. "Okay then." The trouble wasn't affording a shirt, not in the slightest. The trouble was finding a shirt to buy. It didn't seem quite like there was much in the way of options, and from where they were standing, none was the only option. "We'll have to look around for a shop then. I don't know this place very well, so if you do, by all means, lead on."

By the impression that he hadn't a clue where he was going either, Mariya simply started off in the direction she had already been walking, hopefully something would come into view. "I'm Mariya." She said with a chirp, walking to the boy's left. Her head swiveled about looking at the various signs, hoping that a terminal would make itself known so that she didn't need to spend the rest of the time on this station wandering around looking for somebody to sell this guy a new shirt.

"And you are?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"Cenric." It occurred to him almost instantly that he probably shouldn't have used his real name. He was sure that was probably rule number one in spy school, but the padawan was neither a spy nor training to become one.

Thus he simply cringed slightly and decided to quickly drag the conversation forward.

"Don't know the station very well either I'm afraid." As she began to walk Cenric did a quick two step to catch up with her. It helped that she was so much smaller than him, one of his strides almost equaled two of hers. It was really slightly comical in fact. "This is my first time here."

Again that was information he likely shouldn't have volunteered, but the thought never really occurred to him. Instead he finally tossed the small paper caf cup away into the nearby recycling bin, thankful that he didn't have to hold the damned thing anymore. "What brings you to Celanon?"

If she was going to buy him new clothes the least he could do was hold a conversation with her.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Mariya was a rather good liar, at least for someone like her, having been stopped at a number of starports and blockades before with illicit cargo in tow. Saying why she was here would be both incredibly dangerous and very foolish. He didn't seem quite like the Sith type, government agent or otherwise, but folks could play a part, and if he had been on to her somehow, she wasn't about to simply fork over the information to put her away or have her ship impounded.

Oh no reason really, just smuggling a few crates of stolen isotope. No big deal, right?!

No, no. That would not do at all.

"Passing through, on my way to Taris along the Hydian Way to pick up some goods destined for Alderaan." She smiled, pleased with her story she had carefully planned for in case of interaction with the authorities. "I mostly run transport for smaller companies along this trade route that can't afford a fleet of their own."

Just enough information to answer the question without going into too much detail.

"Generally I just stop here for fuel and a quick bite, but since I had some time to waste I decided to go for a walk. I guess I was destined to spill your caf."

If one believed in such a thing anyway.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric listened rather carefully to Mariya's explanation of what she was doing.

His ears perked slightly when she told him she was a trader of sort. The Padawan was sort of surprised to hear that she ran her own freighter, mostly because she was so young. From what he understood most merchants tended to be on the older side, though then again he didn't know much. Most of his life had either been spent on his homeworld or in the Jedi Temple. The Galactic Knowledge he had now either came from the stories his father told him or the things he'd read in the Archives.

It was easy to say that Cenric was rather naive, and he had no reason to doubt what Mariya was telling him. In fact he found the whole thing rather fascinating. When she spoke about destiny he smiled for a second, glancing at her for just a moment and reading her body language. She seemed genuine enough to his eyes, though whether that just made her an exceptional liar or he wasn't paying attention was difficult to actually tell.

"Yeah the force often wills pretty girls into my path." Cenric joked without really thinking.

Again he revealed a little bit too much with just a few petty words. The truth was he really wasn't built to be a spy. Cenric was earnest, honest, and generally far more a soldier than he was trickster. Perhaps his Master had made a mistake in sending him here alone.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The Force? Not many people, at least back home on Naboo, spoke about the Force doing much of anything, at least, nobody except the Jedi.

Could he be...Out here? No way! That would be more way dangerous than stealing isotope. A Jedi hanging around Sith space?

Mariya gave Cenric a strange look for a moment, as if she was trying to confirm whether or not he was in fact a Jedi, though she hadn't anything more to go on than just the Force. Perhaps he assumed she was giving him the look because of the second half of his sentence, though truthfully she hadn't much paid him any mind in that aspect. A space station in the middle of the galaxy was no place to meet someone unless it was something of a fling.

"Right, yeah, I suppose." She said in passing, "What about you? What brings you here? Other than a cup of mediocre, watered down caf at three times the standard price?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"Stopping over for a few days." At least he had enough sense to say that. He wasn't a very good liar, never had been, but his up-bringing as a Lorrdian allowed him to at least keep a straight face throughout the whole affair. "I have a meeting on the surface in a bit."

Cenric felt the need to further explain. "Just ironing out something for my...boss."

That was technically what Cedric was. The task he had been set to was supposed to be a simple one, observe the various important points of Celanon and ensure that the Sith weren't about to make their move. It was proving to be harder than it had actually sounded, though he had never actually been sure what he'd expected. The Sith weren't going to be sending agents dressed in black robes cackling nefariously about their plans. That would have been stupid.

Briefly the Padawan glanced around them, spotting a small holo-map with a 'you are here' pin in it. He gestured towards it for a moment, stopping in front of the map as he searched for a clothing store or something of the sort.

"This place has everything." He mused for a second, still somewhat more used to the small farm life he'd had back on Lorrd.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

This place has everything? She wondered, staring at the map. “You don’t travel much, huh?” Had he even been to Coruscant?! That place had everything! This was just a fragment of the shops one would find elsewhere. Mariya beckoned for him to follow as she headed off towards the closest clothing shop. “What do you do then, for work?”

He didn’t look quite dressed for a business meeting, at least, not in the corporate high brow sense.

Maybe he was one of those builder types she figured, perhaps he was contracted out to survey and quote an estimate for some big project on Celanon. That would somewhat explain the lack of fancy clothing the likes of which CEOs of major businesses flaunted, imitating the nobility of the people back home on Naboo.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"Uhh...no." He admitted sheepishly.

Traveling had never been in the books for him. His parents hadn't been wealthy, and even back on Lorrd most of his time had been spent working the farm and going to school. There hadn't been much time to visit other planets, and once he'd joined the Jedi Order his life had been regimented as could be. Of course now that he was working under Master Grayson that was slowly changing, in the last month alone he'd visited half a dozen different planets.

Though Celanon was the first one he'd visited on his own. "I'm a..."

Cenric trailed off for a second, then quickly continued.

"Farmer." Stick with what you knew. "Well, farming consultant. There's a few merchant types here who want to get into certain agricultural projects in the outer rim, my boss wants me to tell them about what would be sustainable and what wouldn't."

Cenric thought that was believable. He knew enough about agriculture that he could probably sell the cover story if Mariya asked him anymore, though he doubted that she would. Farming wasn't very interesting to most people.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

“Oh. Neat.” She gave a nod. BORING. But that explains the plain clothes...Mariya hadn’t the slightest bit of interest in farming. What she knew of it was long, tiresome days in fields, and with animals, for little gain and a lot of stress at earning a modest living. Not that she really needed to worry all that much about credits.

The only reason she was smuggling after all was for the thrill, not the payments.

That was just a bonus, really.

Turning down onto another strip it became notably busier. This was one of the more populated areas of the station, with plenty of things to do, or, quite possibly, most of the things to do here. It was difficult to make out at first but through the crowd breaks she noticed the sign for the shop and pointed towards it. “There it is.”

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Oddly enough Cenric felt a spike of relief flood through him. Things had gone smoothly with Mariya so far, but he was willing to bet that was more luck than anything. He was still more than a little nervous, and the longer he was stuck around her the more there was a chance he would say something that completely gave him away. Best to cut this interaction as short as possible.

"Here." He said as he took a half step in front of Mariya and began to squeeze a path through the tight crowd.

The young Padawan was well aware of his height, his stature often making people rather weary of him. Most folk simply moved out of the way when they saw him approach, though a few of the larger aliens simply gave him a glance and remained on their own path. Cenric walked around them, quickly guiding the young smuggler through the crowd until the both of them managed to reach the clothing store. A small frown touched his lips as he noted the sign above the door, recognizing that the shop was a rather expensive boutique.

He didn't like taking charity in the first place, but this made it even worse. Half the stuff in there probably cost more than a months work on the farm back home.

While Mariya and Cenric reached the store a more sinister element began to form nearby on the station. Out of sight, and nearly out of reach, a group of men and women donned black stealth suits, each of them armed to the teeth. One had opened a panel to the stations security system, attaching some sort of device to it.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Being smaller meant that people bumped you around much more in crowds, whether because they didn’t see you, or because they simply didn’t care, she never really knew which it was, but assumed it was a bit of both. Keeping her eye on Cenric as they made their way towards the shop she nearly tripped several times on a few pairs of rather large feet.

The name of the store was unfamiliar to Mariya, but the interior of the shop, the way it was displayed, the manner in which the clothing was arranged and portrayed, as well as the particular way the lighting and mood felt, it was clear that this was one of the upper end boutiques.

Based on the fact that Cenric was a farmer, she was safe in assuming that this wasn’t someplace he would typically shop.

”Well, lets find you some new clothes.”

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

He shot Mariya a nervous look for a moment, clearly not entirely comfortable with the current situation.

As a Lorrdian he should have been better capable of disguising that fact, but at the moment Cenric was feeling rather overwhelmed with everything that was going on. The mission he'd been assigned, the fact that he found Mariya very pretty, and the idea of taking charity were all sort of weighing on him at the same time. That wasn't even to mention the odd prickle at the back of his neck that the force was creating, a feeling of unwellness slowly creeping into his stomach.

It was a warning of what was about to happen of course, but Cenric wasn't experienced enough to understand that. To him the force was always just a far away echo, not something that actively warned you about Sith Agents about to take over the entire station. "I think just a shirt will do."

He told Mariya as they stepped inside.

Instantly his nose crinkled, an odd sort smell sticking to the inside of the boutique. The perfume was scented like Felucian Lavendar, pleasant but entirely overpowering for the little shop.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The brunette looked over, raising an eye. She wasn’t nearly as much of a fashion aficionado as her sister, but even she knew that you couldn’t buy a a shirt from a boutique like this and hope to match it with the clothes he had on. It would look utterly ridiculous and the whoever he had hoped to meet with on the surface of Celanon would laugh at him if they saw him looking like a mismatched pair of socks.

”You can’t get one and not the other. You’ll look silly, and out of place. Don’t be ridiculous.”

He was definitely not a city boy, or from a place that had such clothing, otherwise he would know how crazy that sounded.

”Ask the gentleman behind the counter for help you want, but don’t tell him you just want a shirt or he’s going to stare at you like you’ve lost your mind.”

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"But I-" Cenric found himself talked over as Mariya insisted. He frowned slightly, his face turning red from a mixture of embarrassment and...not exactly anger, but something akin to it. He didn't really like being bullied into a situation. He frowned slightly, then shook his head, realizing that Mariya likely wouldn't just buy him a shirt and move on with her life.

She didn't seem the type to easily give up on getting her way.

"Alright." He relented quietly, walking over towards the nearby counter where a rather well dressed man stood. The man smiled at him, though saw the state of his clothes and immediately offered the young padawan a wide scowl. "Hey...I uhh...need help."

"Oh yes you do, honey."​

The man's voice was a flourish, and in the blink of an eye Cenric found himself being grabbed by the shoulder and pushed towards a dressing area.

"Get that mess off and we'll fit you with something better."​

Cenric opened his mouth to say something, his voice dying in his throat as the man ran away, clearly expecting the young Jedi to follow his orders exactly. For a moment he frowned, realizing that his lightsaber was still hidden inside of his jacket pocket. He frowned, and then glanced towards Mariya. "Here, can you hang on to this for me?"

The Padawan asked as he pulled off his jacket and carefully folded it to conceal the hilt.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Mariya smirked as she stood off to the side, watching the man take Cenric off to fix the fashion horror that he had become. Her hands folded beneath her arms, looking on. Rather quickly he began to collect a number of articles, each one meticulously designed to go with its counterpart. All the while Cenric’s eyes looked to be glossing over from the pressure.

It was almost enough to make her laugh aloud.

She extended her hands and took the jacket from Cenric when passed to her, nodding. “Sure. I’ll just wait over here.” She gestured with her head towards the large glass window with enough space for her to sit on its edge. There she set the jacket down beside her and glanced about the shop, eying the clothing while the man harassed the Jedi.

It wasn’t until she shifted behind her to look out of the window that she accidentally knocked the jacket off and onto the floor, causing a small clink to echo out. Huh? The noise the coat made as it hit the floor was peculiar, given that it sounded like a rather sturdy piece of metal. She lifted the clothing up to see that something had fallen out of it, and what it was sparked a flare of her eyes. Farmer my rear! He’s a fething Jedi! The brunette quickly tucked the weapon back into one of the jacket’s pockets and set it back down beside her, unsure of what to do with that information.

[member="Cenric Marus"]