Private Well that changes things.

[Avalore]

Avalore hated the stagnancy of bacta tanks, even if they were useful. Three days of that soul sucking solitude and it was now as if her head and spine had never been crushed against an arena wall at all.

Convenient.

It had did little for her temperament, though. The girl stabbed at her salad with notable vigor, ignoring the subtle chaos of the ship's mess hall. Avalore was well use to keeping to herself, so she sat in a corner alone, frowning down at a book between her in her plate.

A Guide to Anatomy, Human Edition.

"...ew," she remarked to no one.

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Avalore

Mercy had a tendency to drop in on people at the most ill-opportune moment.

"Salad ain't to yar liking, champ?" Came out of nowhere as did Mercy's large frame. How was it that a woman that large and bulky could move this quietly and creep up on people? It was an eternal mystery. She dropped down on a chair opposite of Avalore with her own plate. It was decidedly not a salad bowl.

Instead it was a plate loaded up with all kinds of meat.

Different spreads, different sources.

"How ya feeling, bacta doing its work?" She inquired casually as she began shoveling in the meat in between bites. This was the first time that Mercy did anything resembling courtesy towards Avalore.

Like they were on the fethin' moon.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore glanced up, her sole eye narrowing on Mercy skeptically.

"I'm fine." Not that she would admit otherwise. You could only be beaten unconscious so many times before paranoia became fact. She pulled her knife a little closer and watched Mercy work on her plate, searching for her angle like she was a threat on the training field.

"Did Ashin send you?"

 

[Mercy]

A snort.

"Haven't seen her since she pushed us towards the very inch of our lives." She drawled lazily as she shifted, before leaning back and dropping her feet onto the chair next to her.

All cozy and relaxed.

"But figured since I saved yar arse an' ya saved mine in return, might be time to treat you more seriously than I 'ave been." It was clearly taking a lot out of the woman to admit even that much. A bit of a chit show, but admitting that a girl half her age, size and weight, had saved her life? Yeah, that was stinging just a bit.

But she had said it.

That had to count for something, right?

"So..." Brows furrowed behind newly-spectacled shades. "...how's the salad?" Very unaccustomed to small talk. Clearly.

Avalore

 

[Avalore]

The skeptical look only grew in intensity, her milky eye unblinking as she studied her. Could she still see out of that thing? It was unclear, as was Mercy's motives as she tried to be kind.

Had Ashin spoken to the woman?

Avalore knew the point of the lesson earlier that nearly killed them, but she was damn near positive Mercy hadn't figured it was anything other than a chance to smash. Mercy was nothing more than a tool-- another obstacle that Ashin took in for Avalore to overcome.

Unless... she wasn't... In which case... Mercy was showing her up.

Avalore frowned. "It's fine." She tried to shove off her running thoughts and looked back down to her book. Mercy couldn't hurt her here.

 

[Mercy]

Avalore

She studied Avalore while chewing on the piece of meat in her mouth.

It was nice and chewy.

"I never could get into salad." Conversationally finally. "Jus' a bit to the side? Yeah, sure, but man. I need something big and meaty as the main course, or it's just wasted on me." Cheerful as she poured herself a big mug full of juice. Tomato juice to be specific. It wasn't really the same as sinking your teeth into a bloody steak, but it had to do for now.

"Whatcha reading?"

Curious glance towards the big book in front of Avalore.

The tone and attitude as if Mercy hadn't gauged her eye out. As if they hadn't been busting heads against one another since Mercy got here. Was it really so easy for the big woman to switch from one attitude to the next?

 

[Avalore]

Avalore sucked in a deep breath, held it, then let it hiss out again through her nose.

"Can you even read?" She challenged neutrally, closing the book and showing the binder with the title. One way to find out.

 

[Mercy]

Brows rose up there and her fist clenched around the spoon.

It bend with ease.

A Guide to Anatomy, Human Edition. She murmured with a hum of fury. "You know, I am trying here, but you are making it very hard not making me want to snap your head off and seeing just how far I can launch it over a football line." She dropped the spoon and picked up another one. It seemed Mercy had come prepared for this meeting.

After all, every other time she spoke to Avalore, the little girl had pissed her off.

Again that High Tionese accent creeping in. The one she tried to eradicate for all its worth, but when Mercy was pushed over the edge into anger, always returned like a pestilence.

Avalore

 

[Avalore]

Avalore's nostrils flared.

"Right. The only person allowed to get hits in is you. I had forgotten," she leveled, her tone still neutral but full of irony.

Avalore had been nice to her once. It was Mercy that turned and stabbed her in the back. And it was Mercy's jealousy that cornered her and tore out her eye. Mercy had been tormenting her for the better part of weeks. Avalore was done tip toeing around Mercy's temper.

Mercy could deal. Avalore wasn't bending for her anymore.

She pulled her plate in and stabbed more lettuce, shoving as much on into a bite as she could manage.

 

[Mercy]

Avalore

A lean back against the chair as Mercy regarded her.

Squinting positively.

"Ya have been getting hits in me every day since I got on-board with Varanin. I am your real apprentice, she isn't worth anything, nobody can give you what I can, Master!" Mercy responded while doing her best mimicry of Avalore that she could. It wasn't really that great. Especially since she was still chewing around a piece of steak.

"Sure, I took yar eye, but that was to teach ya a lesson. Anybody acting like they better than me gets put in their place." A shrug there. As if that was the most normal thing in the world.

"Am willing to put that behind us now. We are both..." A smirk there, chuckling. "...apparently Knights, not that that title means all that much these days. So-"

She disappeared her face behind the mug to swallow more tomato juice.

Mostly because looking at Avalore's face made her want to smash it in.

"I am willing to let bygones be bygones if yar too."

 

[Avalore]

No response. Not a tick of emotion behind her skin as Mercy rationalized the beatings she had rained down on her. Mercy didn't know about her past, but if she did she might then understand why Ashin had chosen her to challenge Avalore with.

It was working; the path forward crystalized before her with breath taking clarity. Avalore smiled. The light not quite reaching her eyes.

"Sure. It's behind us," she lied.

She pulled the pile of lettuce off between her teeth, watching Mercy and the tension in her grip.

"It's a book on anatomy. Human anatomy."

 

[Mercy]

Avalore

Her eyes on that face. Half dead, half alive.

Mercy been reading poker faces for close to a decade now and there was nothing to be read off of Avalore's face. That in itself spoke volumes. Someone with nothing to hide... well, you know how it is. Still. Even if Avalore wasn't willing to be a real partner, they could work with faux politeness. If Avalore didn't trigger her into murderous rage every two minutes...

Well.

It would make everything just a touch easier.

"Fancy." As her grip released and Mercy calmed down for now. "The only books I read these days are westerns an' smut." She drawled lazily as she shoveled in a bunch o' more meat into her mouth.

"Gotta be thin ones tho. Enough to hold mah... attention."

Looking back up to her.

Was she making fun of herself? It couldn't be, could it? Then again this was the woman who named herself Mercy out of all things.

 

[Avalore]

"Smut?" she echoed, unable to stop the bite of confused curiosity. She was young, the youngest on the ship, but even that was gap she had been closing as the years went by.

Avalore was hardly a child anymore. Her body had made sure of that.

 

[Mercy]

A slow blink there.

Actual confusion.

"Yes... smut. You know?" And it was clear that Avalore had no idea. "Sex, champ. Raggedy rags with steamy romance scenes an' all that passionate good stuff."

How old was Avalore anyway?

It was weird. Instinctively Mercy knew she had to be young, but it didn't stop her from competing with her as if she was a peer. Had that been fair? Was she being unreasonable with it all? After all, maybe Mercy could put her under her wing. Teach her the ropes and all that. Sith business was a man's game mostly, maybe they ought to-

Nah, that is a bit much.

"How old are you anyway?" Curious.

 

[Avalore]

The question disarmed her. She slowed in her chewing, her brows pulling in. "... I don't know," she answered honestly. "We didn't use dates in my village. Not like here-- not really...." Avalore had come from the deep depths of an outer world swamp. Ashin was the first outsider she had ever spoken to. Without the subtle shift of the seasons to mark the passage of time, concepts such as her age were ... untranslatable.

She wasn't even sure the world's name. These were all concepts better forgotten than entertained.

She cleared her throat and stabbed more lettuce, begrudgingly asking, "How old do I look?"

 

[Mercy]

Well, that wasn't an answer she had expected.

Maybe something bullshittery like 'oh, 25 years old!' or maybe something a bit more honest and closer to the mark. She thoughtfully chewed on the last piece of meat on her plate. Really worked that off quickly. At least considering how much Mercy came in with, but looking at her? She probably needed that amount of protein just to support the whole structure.

"Uuuh." A shrug there. Time for some flattery maybe? "Guess around eighteen ish? About that anyway. Hard to tell with all the-" And a gesture towards all the scarring.

It was a stark contrast to her own face.

Karking pristine.

As if she hadn't been in a single fight her entire life. Not even bacta or kolcta did that kind of magic.

"What village are ya from?"

Avalore

 

[Avalore]

Avalore's lips pressed into a thin line at the reminder of the scarring.

"Eshan," she lied, not wanting to explain herself any further. This was already exhausting. "You?"

 

[Mercy]

Bemused expression.

"Didn't realize Echani came in all sort of colors, I thought they only had white arse hair an' chit." A shrug there. Didn't matter too much if Avalore lied to her, but it didn't give her much reason to be truthful either. "Nar Shaddaa." Mercy lied as well and just as easily. Which Avalore would know because it didn't square with the Tionese accent.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore could help the slight roll of her singular eye.

"I didn't say I was Echani." What was the point of this all, anyway? Mercy wanted to clear the air, fine. She could act like it's cleared. But she couldn't be friends with the woman. Couldn't fathom how to pretend to, either way. She was still quiet agitated from the days before, and while it might be more to do with the gross change her body was going through, it didn't make her desire to punch walls out go away.

Whether or not Mercy was actually from that place, Avalore didn't know and didn't care. She pulled her book back in and scrolled for her page.

Sometimes progress could only be made in small bites.

 

[Mercy]

A yawn there.

"Didn't realize the Echani Compact was keen on having foreigners live in their local villagers either." She said sharply and showing that even for a brick karking wall that had no use except for as a 'tool'? Mercy knew more than she let on. Either way, she rose up to her feet with the glass of tomato juice in hand, taking a sip.

"Nice conversation, Ava. Lookin' forward to our next one." Drawled as pleasant and chipper as ever.

The bend spoon was left on the table however as she took her leave.

There had been nothing pleasant about that.

Avalore