Things I can fix {Briar Thorn}

[Syss Rembala]

Location: Voss​

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Capital City of Voss-Ka​

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Luck was not on her side this time. The Andre'al-Echani offshoot walked around the hangar bay where she had hours before landed, trying to come up with a solution without causing any trouble. She was starting to regret her trip to the Voss system.

Iceis had come to Voss with the objective of visiting the Tower of Prophecy, a place were Force-users renowned for their prophetic and healing capabilities resided. She had done as she wished and payed a visit to the prominent location and satisfied her curiosity. When she was finished, time was to go back to the space fleet she had always called home. Back to The Awoken.

Sadly for her, her spaceship had different plans. And she had not even the slightest idea of how to fix it. She could have contacted someone from The Awoken and help would have come immediately but she did not wish to do that. Why? Simple. She had insisted on going out on her own and was planning on returning the exact same way, on her own.

The white haired Princess on a crate that laid on the floor of the hangar bay, her elbows on her knees and her head resting on her palms as her violet gaze stared at the ship, as if that was enough to fix it.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Voss had turned out to be a very nice planet that Briar was finding himself visiting more often. Along with Sullust it was the most visited planet he went to which was odd since they were on opposite ends of the galaxy from each other. He had his own reasons for showing up there and one of them happened to be finding work on this end of the galaxy. He had left his home on Lothal not long ago to try to find work as a mechanic and instead found himself being more of a salvager or outright scavenger more often than not. His mechanic work remained much as it did on Lothal, a hobby. He wanted to change that but becoming a mechanic required someone willing to hire him onto their shop or opening your own shop. He didn't know anyone who owned a shop and he certainly didn't have the kind of credtis needs to open up his own repair shop. So it would seem he was stuck doing what he did now, find someone willing to trade transport for work so he could get to a planet with some hopefully decent salvage left for him to make a meager earning off of.

Briar was in the port of Voss looking for someone that he could get transport from when he saw something a little strange. It was a young woman glaring at a ship while she sat on a crate. He wasn't sure what that was all about so he walked over to her. He stared at her ship for a while as she continued to glare at it. After a bit he finally said, " Somethin' wrong with tha ship? Is it yar ship? Need some help with it or just mad at it?" He gave her a friendly smile as he spoke.

 

[Syss Rembala]

Long minutes went by and she remained still, as if wishing strongly enough would suddenly fill some blank slate in her brain with mechanical knowledge that got her out of this situation. It was mildly frustrating to say the least. Probably the issue with the ship was the simplest, silliest problem of them all but she wouldn't know. Maybe having brought a droid along wouldn't have been a terrible idea.

The Princess was dragged away from her thoughts when she heard the voice of a male addressing her. She shifted a curious yet slightly mistrusting violet gaze and placed it upon the young man's blue eyes. She stood up and could quickly tell that the human was slightly taller than herself. "Yes, the ship is mine" She first answered. Her voice was harmonious and sweet but also plain, untainted of emotions. "I believe something is wrong with it. Or maybe not, and it just doesn't want to cooperate. I can't get the engine to work."

The white haired Andre'al hybrid as clearly upset and worried about the issue with her ship. The strangeness of seeing her let this feelings seep through her ice-cold demeanor was beyond explanation. She looked once more at the young man, a hopeful look on her eyes. Maybe her luck had changed and he knew how to fix it. If it indeed was broken, that is.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Briar looked at the woman in the eyes as she spoke, his gaze never veering to the other parts of her body. He listened to every word she had to say with a smile still on his face. He said as he thought over her problem, " The engine won't start up? Didn't ya check yar power cell? They can sometimes get drained during flight. Sometimes ya get caught in magnetic storms. Sometimes ya have a space parasite like a mynock. Sometimes ya just get a bad power cell. Or the power cell could have just have gotten damaged. I could take a look at it for ya if you like. That alright with ya?" He liked helping people out, especially people who were in as bad of a spot as this young woman seemed to be in. This was why he wanted to be a mechanic after all, to keep people from getting stranded on a planet when they needed to be somewhere else.

 

[Syss Rembala]

The Princess listened closely to the words of the young man. At first she felt like she was not going to be getting out of Voss-Ka any time soon. Who knew that so many things could go wrong with a spacecraft. Damaged powercell? Could be. A magnetic storm? Understandable. A parasite? If she made her bet considering how lucky she had been on this trip, it probably was all three.

Then the blonde human made a proposition Iceis knew was not at all common to hear nowadays, he was offering help. She had to admit that she was a little bit disappointed with herself for getting caught in a situation were she actually needed help. Still, she also was truly grateful for it. "I would really appreciate it if it is not much of a bother to you" She answered. Iceis hated feeling like a burden. She looked at her ship for a moment, then her gaze returned to the human.

"My name is Iceis Sovereign, by the way..." She said, introducing herself. Introductions definitely weren't her comfort zone but she felt she at least should tell her name to the person that was trying to help her.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

The young woman seemed to be a little apprehensive about taking his help. He had run into those types before, even back home on Lothal. She was that kind of person, but she really needed help it seemed. Briar just smiled to her as she finished speaking to him. So her name was Iceis it seemed, which was a pretty and unique name. He said to her as he held a hand out for her to shake, " Me name is Briar. Briar.......Thorn......" He cringed a bit as he said his full name. He hated his full name so much. It was not so much the individual names so much as them together. He added after he cringed, " It would be me pleasure though to fix yar ship, or at least give it a try. Where would ya care for me to begin? I think the cockpit would be best personally, but she is yar ship so it is yar call." He smiled at her as he waited for her answer. He really did love helping people, especially pretty ones like her. Although he wouldn't dare tell her that to her face, too embarrassing.

 

[Syss Rembala]

"A pleasure to meet you, Briar" An inkling of a smile decorated the lips of the white haired Princess. It was nice to meet such a helpful and selfless person. Even in the short time she had been exploring on her own she had already grown accustomed to encountering very distasteful personalities and hearing of countless criminal acts despite luckily not having been in one herself.

"My knowledge of mechanics is virtually nonexistent so please feel free to start wherever you choose" She said and stood out of the way between Briar and the ship, indicating that he could take the lead and she would follow. Truth was, Iceis was already stressing her mind over finding a way to return the favor to Briar. Even if the case was that he couldn't find what was wrong with the ship, his willingness to try was more than enough to be thankful for.

Iceis was glad that the young man, surely only some years older than herself, apparently ignored the fact that she was part of nobility. Even for someone as cold and protocolar as Iceis being treated with respect and warmness out of real, genuine goodness of personality and manners rather than just because she carried the title "Princess" before her name was indeed relaxing.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Briar nodded to Iceis as she gave him permission to get started. He wanted to get a better idea of though where to look for problems so he said to her, " If ya don't mind I have a few questions that might help me narrow down the problem. What exactly did the ship do when ya tried to start it? Did she try to start but then die? Did she just not start up at all? Did she start up and stay on for a bit before suddenly dying on ya? Mind just tellin' me everythin' that happened? It could really help to figure out what is goin' on." He smiled at her as he waited for her to answer. She seemed nice, although not so use to smiling from the looks of her face.

 

[Syss Rembala]

Iceis nodded gently, quickly remembering the previous events.

"Well, I had already checked everything was ready to depart and it seemed quite right. When I tried to start the engine all I heard was a strange noise and then it simply wouldn't start." She narrated. Her nose had scrunched up ever so slightly, she was clearly upset with the whole issue but for some reason this expression looked quite funny and endearing in her. "After this I checked everything again. Everything seems to be fine but...it just won't start up"

She looked at Briar and decided to add, "Though, as I said before, if my life depended on my mechanical knowledge I would be long dead" She said and chuckled a little bit. She simply didn't want to get the information she gave him wrong and waste even more of his time.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Briar listened to everything she had to say to him about her ship not starting. It sounded to him like something easy to fix right now, but he was going to need to check things out to be sure. He smiled to her and said, " Thanks for the information. I think I might know what the issue is now. I'm goin' to check out the power cell for the ship first. Sounds like it might be low on power or perhaps even damaged. I'll check it out for ya though to be sure." He went into the ship to check things out. He found the engine room and located the power cell. He disconnected it from the systems of the ship and then pulled out a device from his satchel and hooked it up to the power cell. He pressed a button and began to check the power level of the cell.

After a few minutes, the device gave him the information he needed to know. He unhooked it and put it back into his satchel. He moved the power cell out of the ship and set it down outside of the ship. He straightened up and stretched a bit after. He turned his attention to Iceis and said, " Yar power cell is shot like I thought. I don't know how it happened but it got damaged is seems. It kept losin' charge even when it was unhooked from yar ship. That is not a good sign, and we should get ya a new one or yar ship isn't goin' anywhere. If ya like I can go with ya to find a good power cell for yar ship." He smiled at her after he finished speaking. He wanted to help her finish the job, but that was up to her how far he went. It was her ship after all.

 

[Syss Rembala]

Iceis watched the man work patently, giving him plenty of space. She had to admit she felt quite bad with herself about letting him do all the job. Now again, she wouldn't even have known how to detach the power cell from its location and probably would have been more of an obstacle than an aid. When she saw him go out of the ship with the power cell she followed him, her arms crossed tightly across her stomach. Somehow she could already guess the next words of the boy.

And she was right. The power cell was damaged and thus, useless. At least she know knew what was wrong and that she had a way to fix it: getting a new power cell. She nodded in understanding of what Briar had explained to her and just as she was starting to wonder how come that the power cell had taken damage he heard him offer to accompany her to find another power cell. She would have gladly accepted, the young man was helpful and nice company but she felt like she was taking advantage of his kindness, "You really don't need to if you have somewhere else to be...You have already helped me more than many others have in all my trips counted together" She said, her violet eyes giving him an honest and thankful look.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

The power cell was sitting there in front of Briar as Iceis spoke to him. She was a nice person so far, and didn't want to impose on him. He waved off her apprehension with a smile as he said, " It is no trouble at all for me. I'm helpin' ya out because I want to. It would be bad if ya got the wrong kind of power cell as well for yar ship, and I would feel bad if anythin' happened to ya because I didn't see the job through. It would be me pleasure to do anythin' else that ya need. If ya need any more help as well I would be happy to help ya with it as well." He kept smiling at her as he waited for her answer. He had meant every word of what he had said, and while he hadn't said it earlier it was not as if he had anything else to do right now.

 

[Syss Rembala]

The Princess, for the first time in a very, very long time, offered the boy an open, warm smile. She hadn't realized how long it had been since the last time someone had made her genuinely smile but after some seconds the beautiful gesture disappeared leaving only a small trace of smile pulling on the corners of the rosy lips of the girl.

"Then I would be happy to have you accompany me" She said, her tone finally turning friendlier to the ears even is she had never spoken in a precisely unfriendly manner before. Now it sounded slightly more joyful, warmer, less stoic. And all the more mesmerizing. The kindness of the young man had certainly gained her favor and liking, it made her feel much more comfortable with his presence than what she normally felt with strangers and this was deeply appreciated by the white-haired noble born. "Do you know where would be a good place to begin our search?" She asked, kindly.


[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Iceis had a pretty smile, a very pretty smile. It was so warm and open and then it was gone. Briar didn't know what happened to the smile because he liked it, but she was still smiling still even if not as much. He smiled back at her as she spoke to him in such a mesmerizing way. She hadn't done that earlier and he knew she must really appreciate his help then. He adjusted the strap of his satchel and shifted his weight as a light blush touched his cheeks. She looked really pretty and then with the smile and the way she spoke, he needed to distract himself a bit especially from those rosy lips.

Briar said as he rubbed the back of his head, " Well the best place to start would be at a parts shop. If that don't work out we can head to ship yard and try to buy one directly from them. So are ya ready to go get ya a new power cell?" He looked at her again and smiled. He was still blushing lightly as he stood there waiting for her answer.

 

[Syss Rembala]

She couldn't avoid but tilt her head only a bit to the side, a curious but no longer cynical or analytical look in her eyes when she noticed how the young man's cheeks adopted a soft red color. She had seen this reaction in her sisters and even in herself. It happened when she felt embarrassed or timid but she didn't see why he would feel that way. For once, she decided to not try to analyse the origin of that unexpected reaction and let her curiosity be.

"Ready when you are" She said, her eyes glowed for a moment as she placed them upon his once more, the slight smile still present on her features. She didn't know Voss-Ka that much so she was relieved to have him by her side and thus avoid venturing into the city with little knowledge of its streets and places. She surely would have been able, with effort and a lot of attention, to make her way through it but luckily, she wouldn't have to.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

She was looking at him. Iceis was looking Briar in the eyes and he noticed them glow for a moment. Did he imagine that happening or did it actually happen? He wasn't sure, but he was glad she was ready to go. He smiled to her as he offered her his arm, like he had always been taught to do back home, as he said, " Right, then lets go. I know a good shop that don't over charge the customers not too far from the port. Maybe they will have a power cell for ya to buy."

Briar had gotten use to the city after having been there so much as of late. He had also made a habit of getting to know every parts shop and mechanic shop in the city. Some times he had spare parts to sell and some times he just liked window shopping. He had gotten a sense of what the people at each place was like from this and knew who best to avoid. He had even gotten to know a few of the owners and liked having people he could talk to that enjoyed what he enjoyed. He missed having familiar faces and people to talk to on a personal level like he had back on Lothal, and this was the closest he had to that and wouldn't give it up for anything.

 

[Syss Rembala]

The Ice Princess was slightly surprised when he offered his arm. Aboard the Pillar of Ascension, where everyone knew she was a Princess, it was quite a customary gesture that most males had with her. On the other hand, this was the very first time a man had had the very same gesture without knowing of her title or background. Smiling once again, she gladly accepted the offer, gently grabbing onto his arm as they starting to walk, Briar leading the way.

She allowed her eyes to wonder leisurely through her surroundings. Voss-Ka was a very peculiar city. She seemed more calm and at ease now, she was enjoying herself and the stress that the non-functioning starship had previously caused her seemed to have abandoned her. Then a question crossed her mind. It wasn't like her to question others. Actually, it wasn't like her to engage in small talk at all. Only a selected few had seen this happen and Briar was about to become another one. She asked slightly cautiously, as though she was timid of making the question, "Were you born here on Voss?" She inquired.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

Iceis had taken his arm and so they began to walk. Briar was surprised by how use to the city he had become. He knew exactly where he was going and didn't have to think about it too much. That is probably why he was able to head towards the shop without having to really pay much attention to things. He watched her look at everything as they walked, and remembered how he did the same thing when he first came to the city. He had loved being in the new place and seeing all of the new things.

Briar's attention was caught when she suddenly asked him a question about where he was from. He noticed the cautious way she said it and wondered why she had said it that way. He smiled to her and said, " No, I was not born here on Voss. I be from Lothal. Me parents are grain farmers there. I left home hopin' to be an engineer. I love to fix droids and ships and the like. Always enjoyed workin' with me hands, and seemed to be good at it. So I eventually found me self here on Voss." He paused as he noticed they had gotten about halfway to the shop then added, " How about ya? Where are ya from?" He was glad to be talking to someone like this. She was nice from what little he had seen of her so far and was curious about her. He was hoping he could get to know her a bit better.

 

[Syss Rembala]

The Princess kept her eyes on him as he told her where he was from, calmness and warmness clear on her features. She smiled coyly as he narrated. She had never been to any form of agricultural area. The only places she knew were the Pillar of Ascension and some cities but she imagined the countryside to be beautiful. She imagined how free one must have felt among the endless extensions of green grass and golden crops. The fresh air carried by the breeze and the smell of life and tranquility replacing the artificial and toxin clotted air of the big cities.

Apparently engineering had come naturally to him, he was quite talented then but Iceis had partially expected that, he certainly seemed to like what he did. He then asked where she was from and she gladly provided an answer, "I was born aboard a space fleet" She started and couldn't avoid to chuckle a bit because of the irony of her words. She was raised aboard ships but knew little more than nothing about them. "My family used to rule a planet names Glyss but when my mother was a teenager they were dethroned and forced to escape. Years later my mother founded a faction called The Awoken and became its Queen. She birthed me and my sisters aboard the fleet, the same place where we were raised. Voss is one of the first places I have visited in my life." She said. She had avoided directly mentioning that she was a Princess, some people changed their way of behaving around her once they realized who she was but she hadn't lied either. Actually, realizing was quite easy. After all, what was the daughter of a Queen called? She could only wait to see how Briar managed the information he had just received.

[member="Briar Thorn"]

 

[Briar Thorn]

[member="Iceis Sovereign"]

They were getting even closer to the shop where they would hopefully find her a new power cell. Iceis told Briar about herself and how she grew up on a roaming fleet as the daughter of a Queen. That made her some kind of Princess right? He wasn't too familiar with those kinds of things as he never had met royalty before or been around a group that had a leader like that. She didn't seem to want to make a deal out of it though, so he figured he shouldn't be too concerned with it. He was curious though about what all she had seen growing up on a ship like that. He had always been on the farm and never did get to see new, exciting things all the time. She mentioned something about this being one of the first times she had visited a place, so maybe it wasn't exactly what he had imagined.

Briar smiled to her as he said, " So ya be a Princess? No wonder ya are so graceful and seem so noble. Ya said this is the first time ya got to visit a place. Why is that? I couldn't havin' to work on the farm and us not really havin' a reason or the spare credits to really go other places, but ya said you grew up in a space fleet. Couldn't ya visit some of the planets you got near before now? If ya don't mind me askin'." He really didn't mean to pry, but she was so exotic and interesting to him right now that he couldn't help himself. They were also almost to the shop by now and would be there soon.