The Art of Looking Like You Belong (On-going)

[Coren Starchaser]

He stood in front of the lecture, right, this was a bit of a new game for him. Really, he’d raised two kids up until adulthood, where they left the home ship, he’d fought in the on-going wars of attrition in the Unknown Regions, and lead his space-wing to several different victories, pulling friends from near death. But nothing was like this. A whole new breed of difficult and evil.

A class room.

Sure, everyone wanted to be here, and he did have his Force-scanning… thing, but for this class? Didn’t really need it. He figured the early part of the term, he’d offer something simple. Probably boring, but one of those classes that the non-military and non-merchant spacers would need. Pilots for hire, explorers and couriers would all need to know how to fit in wherever they went. He paced in front of the holoboard, his name on it, and a list of where people had come from. Another list included main hyperspace routes with the most populated stopping points.

“So, sure, one thing about being a spacer is knowing your ship, but that doesn’t do you any good if you end up somewhere, piss off the locals and end up dead. The trick is to make sure you blend in. I don’t care what walk of life you come from, getting on a moon like Nar Shaddaa, they’ll pick you out of the crowd like a sore thumb. So. I guess first things first, how many of you have been in that situation? Where you are on a mission and then someone notices you being… out of place?”

Spoiler

OOC: This will be part of a few on-going threads for LAA students and staff to interact in and around Oswaft Station. On top of this, please consider the Academy Mission Board.

 

[Jinelu D'ysedri]

He did it again! she mentally screamed. The way he spoke. Her physical body made no hint of her thoughts. She did not necessarily require the class, as hiding in a crowd did not often apply to her. She was a starfighter pilot, she specialized in trying to eviscerate enemy pilots, being known was definitely a thing that could not be avoided.

Given the off-chance she would need this lesson in the uncertain future, she had come to this particular lecture. In her hand was her datapad where she had the lecturer's voice recorded for later reference. She looked up when he asked a question of the class, and she remained as she were, she had never been in such a situation.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Hunting Älk, the art of blending in to ones surroundings, standing down wind, stealth and foot placment not to snap a twig, did little when Aerin ventured out into the wider galaxy. All six foot five inches of her rose up out of her seat and stood to address the Elder, still dressed in her leathers. She casted a look down toward [member="Jinelu D'ysedri"] seated near by dressed in her uniform and immaculate. Aerin had visited Nar Shaddaa twice and twice she found the place adhorrant. Although her clothing had not caused much concern it was only when she opened her mouth to speak had the locals picked her for Offworlder.

Once more she bowed toward the Elder, "My good man", she began in her heavily laced lyrical Valkyri accent, "No mission have I endeavoured, exploration of the star have spirited me away, a calling of my people to set sail and find new places. And yet I had found myself in situations that required explaination, I dare say I ... stick out like a sore thumb as it were". using his term of phrase.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Juliette was in the back of the classroom all along, sleeping with her black jacket over her head so that she had resembled someone’s misplaced coat this whole time.

When someone began talking she raised her head up and the jacket fell to her shoulders. Juliette wore the academy uniform but her long black hair was not pinned up and cascaded in waves down her slender shoulders. The TIE Fighter pilot had already attended the prestigious Imperial Naval Academy on Prefsbelt IV. So why am I here again, she thought? Oh yeah, disciplinary action, low scores on her training runs, sassing her Squad Leader again… you name it, Juliette was in a whole fething pile of trouble for it.

She was lost in her own thoughts and wasn’t really paying much attention until the hot instructor said, “…how many of you have been in that situation? Where you are on a mission and then someone notices you being… out of place?”

“Just about every karking day of my life, Teach," she answered.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Ærin Firebrand"] [member="Jinelu D'ysedri"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Uukaablis, sir. Planet of doctors, pacifist nonhumanoid doctors, about eight months' hard burn into the Kathol Outback. Refit and shore leave were awkward, to say the least."

It probably wasn't what he was going for, but honestly, she was curious as to how he would have handled a situation where blending in visually simply wasn't possible. It might say a lot about the generalizability of this class's principles. She'd been to Uukaablis three times, with months in between, and though it got easier, it wasn't by much.

Proper cadet posture was eluding her, in a variety of uncomfortable ways, but at least the uniform was clean.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Classes were… tricky. It wasn’t so much the grouping of species and cultures, but the fact that Coren was a do-er. Teaching people wasn’t really doing, and it made him feel nostalgic for being out in space, like he didn’t belong there any longer. Something he knew to be a fallacy, as he was working with AEI on their hyperlane. But here? He just had no clue what he was doing. Exploring previously Unknown space and dealing with xenophobic aliens was one thing.

There was a mess of people here, from the blue alien whom he couldn’t tell which gender it was, didn’t the roster say male? Didn’t matter, they were being quiet, and if he recalled correctly, [member="Jinelu D'ysedri"]was a Republic Starfighter pilot. Military life was one thing, private industry something else. The trick here was not playing favorites. Like the TIE pilot woman, [member="Juliette Sasko"]. A TIE pilot was someone after his own heart, he cut his ambush teeth in a Corellian freighter, but his first combat engagement was in a TIE. Best damned ships the galaxy offered. From Sasko’s glowing record, she’d probably have been approached by Warbird Command had she been working in a different time, or part of space.

“Yeah, some of us are destined to be out of place, Cadet.” He offered a laugh, taking a jab at her and his own expense, and nodded to Sasko. “Gotta roll with that bit, but I mean on a mission, behind lines. On a supply run…” And that was when he noticed the Amazonian student from Midwinter… or one of those Rim worlds. [member="Ærin Firebrand"]. This one had to be tough. And she was out of uniform. He’d have to figure out how strict he was going to be on that. She was definitely going to be picked out of a crowd. Ethnic, he believed the word might be? Maybe traditional. He nodded when she spoke, he’d get to her after the chatter calmed down, and made a motion for her to sit.

Dealing with Sasko was because she seemed to blurt it out. Unlike what he was getting from Firebrand and [member="Alec Rekali"]. He saw her profile as well, wanderer, did some salvage work. Someone he wouldn’t mind letting run a few missions, or come along for this own. He nodded to her as well. So that was it, he had smart-ass Sasko, leather-clad Firebrand and Rekali who just gave the vibe off of being well traveled.

“So, with the exception of Sasko, Cadets Firebrand and Rekali, why exactly do you feel you were standing out from where you were? What could you have done to make it easier to blend in? If not perfectly, just a bit better?” He had his own stories, but he learned from an early age how to be the chameleon that was needed sometimes. “And nothing from you, Cadet D’ysedri?” Yeah, that was going to be a butchered name for the first few lectures and discussions.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Juliette Sasko"] [member="Ærin Firebrand"] [member="Jinelu D'ysedri"]

Alec did the glance-around to see if anyone else was about to talk; then she shrugged and spoke up. "Well, my second time on Uuukaablis, I got a pretty sharp lesson in not messing with their neighbours the Qektoth. I hadn't realized that acting against hostiles, in that sort of situation, was something the Uukaablians had norms against. Even though the Qektoth would happily have killed off or assimilated them if they could have, the Uukaablians have old, real old, cultural injunctions against violence. And even though my poking around was probably justified, it sent a signal I didn't intend. Told the Uukaablians that I was willing and able to resort to violence, which meant more to them than to most people. So I should have been a lot more careful about finding out local attitudes toward things I consider normal."

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Alec Rekali"] | [member="Coren Starchaser"] | [member="Juliette Sasko"] | [member="Jinelu D'ysedri"]​

​

Aerin had been sitting quietly thinking over his question. How could she had blended in more. At that time she did not have to, it had been a 'social' visit but putting that aside and projecting a mission, she considered.

Her eyes fell down her body, looking at her leathers, she had worn this there but all manner of people visit that pitiful place and so she considered she would not be too out of place, however she remember something else. Her weapons.

Aerin had entered the bar full loaded with bow which matched the length of her body, a quiver full of arrows, and her long sword, weapons by comparison to the rest of the galaxy out of the ordinary, at least in level of technology. She sighed internally, not really liking the idea of having to leave her primary weapons sitting in a cupboard. Saber on the other hand, well that can be hidden well enough. A blaster? never even held one in her hands, let along fired one.

She listened to Alec speaking, fully understanding her words but her use of words also illustrated that Aerin would have to modify her speech, at least on missions. Aerin remained silent awaiting to be addressed.

 

[Matron Malgus]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

​

The Dathomiri outcast had entered the classroom relatively unseen, either that or the others in the room pretended that they didn't see her. Either way it would seem to work in her favor as she had managed to find a place in the furthest reaches of the room, uncomfortable with the culturally advanced beings in the room with her, except maybe the girl from Midvinter.

Nevertheless, she would sometimes learn to set aside her own personal beliefs to further her goals for herself and her life. The betrayal of her sisters on Dathomir, and the pathetic life forms of her now dead master and his family on Nal Hutta - all of these things had driven her to the person she was today. The Fanged God and the Winged Goddess had chosen to fate her with an insensitivity to the Magicks, and thereby causing the events of the last few years of her life to occur.

That was fine though. She would accept their wisdom, but she would also seek vengeance on those that had wronged her. She had already fulfilled her vengeance against her master on Nal Hutta, next would be the Nightsisters on Dathomir, but she would need to be far more skilled to go against them. They were potent force users, and very dangerous with their magicks.

Even so, she remained silent in thought as she vaguely listened to the words of the instructor before the group. She was not entirely sure of his name, as she had just started the academy, but she had thought this class would come in handy in the future - especially as she would begin to travel to far more dangerous places than battlefields and ruins.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He took a look at the class once more. Yeah, Coren wasn’t very hard lined when it came to a class. Leaning himself against the front desk and resting his hands on the desk, he looked over the class. There were always going to be the active ones and the ones who would (hopefully) shine during tests. Listening to [member="Alec Rekali"] speak, Coren nodded. “Yeah, that’s happened in the past to me. You show up somewhere, and even so much as scanning a certain planet, or species, sends them into a chitfit. The hardest part is establishin’ when you can do that. Something Merrill goes into during his class, I believe. And sometimes you have the time to speak to someone who doesn’t view outsiders as a problem, sometimes you don’t.” Force knew he shot first plenty of times. Sorry women.

“How about we turn it around? Firebrand, Do’ral, is it?” As he said it Doo-rail, but that was just Coren. “You’re from worlds that some would consider a bit… don’t take this the wrong way but I’m not a thesaurus, backwards. Can you pick out the outsiders? I know I’ve been to Dathomir, a few times, that one is just impossible to blend in on, off a ship.”

[member="Minerva Do'ral"] [member="Ærin Firebrand"]

 

[Matron Malgus]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

Amethyst eyes looked up as she was called out, her eyes flashing briefly before settling into pools of calm once more. She listened intently on his words and even smirked when he said that he had visited Dathomir. It was indeed quite hard to blend in on Dathomir, and only a select few have managed to do so.

"Just say it as it should be said - Dathomir is a world left in the past. It is near impossible for outsiders to blend on that world, and it should be said that it is foolish to try and do so.", her words were simple and frank. There really wasn't another way to put that, that world is fully of many dangers and even the bravest souls in the galaxy would be foolish to try it.

"Picking out outsiders is generally easy if you know what you are looking for. The most minuscule of mannerisms will lead you to discovering who does not belong. Every culture has their signature mannerisms or the way they act in general towards others, if you are off in the slightest you will be found out. That is why it is hard for others to blend on Dathomir. If you were not raised there, it is not likely you would blend." she had said far more than she was comfortable with, and that was made evident by the way she seemed to close in on herself again, waiting to hear from the others and her instructor.