It's Like You're Always Stuck In Second Gear (D5, LM. Friends apt)

[Dove Gray]

Dove snickered, understanding where she had been going with the unspoken words. "I always find it hard to believe sometimes... the whole mystical stuff. Sure, I saw them in action enough times during the war, and then there's the... inquisitive ones here," she made a gesture to the city as a whole. "It's all just very weird. That like a tiny percentage of people in the galaxy have these mystic powers, and how some seem to put their faith in something so intangible as a space force."

The woman gave a shrug. "Personally I trust more in my blaster and myself. Though the latter one is debatable some days."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"I always find it hard to believe sometimes... the whole mystical stuff. Sure, I saw them in action enough times during the war, and then there's the... inquisitive ones here.

Vaya listened intently. Petrus had said little about his friend, their mutual neighbor, but Vaya didn't know that she had seen Jedi in action during the war. Taken literally, plural Jedi, not just being on one world the war had come to at the wrong time, in action, not just walking past in the spaceport. Interesting.

"It's all just very weird. That like a tiny percentage of people in the galaxy have these mystic powers, and how some seem to put their faith in something so intangible as a space force."

She kept her smile on her face, but felt a tug in her chest. She gave a short laugh and nodded in that know what you mean! sort of way.

The woman gave a shrug. "Personally I trust more in my blaster and myself. Though the latter one is debatable some days."

Vaya raised her eyebrows as she parsed that one. "I dunno, you seem pretty trustworthy to me." I mean, uh, I know very little about you and you have a mysterious and dangerous past, so I'm not sure I trust you, but if I were you I'd trust me to do just about anything.

[Dove Gray]

"Hmm... I guess it is important to trust yourself, but I suppose the question is - is it more important that you trust yourself, or that others trust you?" she asked of the Balosar-academic.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya frowned, trying to figure out where Dove was going with this. "I dunno. I never read philosophy except when I couldn't avoid it." She grimaced at the memory of struggling to translate the Te Hasan Treatises. "Can't get far if you can't rely on yourself. Getting others to trust you? That's catch as catch can."

[Dove Gray]

Dove wasn't a philosophical type herself, except when deep down into a bottle of Corellian whiskey. Or when her nerves were starting to get the best of her. Which it had been starting to do these past days.

"Guess you're right about that," she said in a light-hearted tone, seeming to drop the matter as easily as it had come to her thoughts. "So what's your plans going forward, Doc? Surely you can't be planning on sticking around here on this ball for too long?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya laughed. "Oh, hell no. Not if I have anything to say about it. I'm no wilting flower, but if I'm going to be sweating my 'palps off, I want it to be because I'm at a dig site, not just because I don't live in a properly civilised sort of place where either you never have to go outdoors or the weather's controlled by satellites. How about you? I can't imagine you've found anything here to hold your interest."

[Dove Gray]

"Oh, I'm not planning on staying either," she joined Vaya in on the laugh. "We got a ship up and running now, so... once we finish things up here, I guess it's onward to somewhere new. Hopefully somewhere more civilized. As you say, with weather-control. I want with better shopping too."

There was a soft sigh from her. "Sometimes I miss the shopping of the Core worlds."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya smiled. That matched with the image she had built in her head of fabulous, mysterious, high-flying Dove. "I bet your Count bought you all sorts of nice things," she said. "Although I don't know how well your shipmates would all fit in in high society."

[Dove Gray]

"Mia, Floats, Astin, and Ru'ni... not exactly the high-rollers and city-slickers like me." She listed off each name on her fingers, laughing a little as she realised the rest of them were way more down to earth than she was.

Though that was one of the reasons she liked being around Mia so much. Mia was the salt of the earth-type... which did help keep her grounded sometimes.

"Oh dear, they might turn me into one of them... maybe I'll start wearing... like, dirty clothes and plain shoes."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya smirked at the thought, entirely unselfconscious about her own, intentionally cultivated, workaday outfit. "I can't imagine. But I'm sure you'd make it look good."

[Dove Gray]

"Oh probably but it just ruins my image." She laughed and finished off her portion of dumplings. For such a fit person, Dove seemed to have a ferocious appetite.

"There are some nice places on Bankor though. The view from orbit is pretty cool, and the coastlines rather nice too. Got to spend some time aboard a fancy yacht not long ago."

Hey, that reminded her that she thought she had seen some familiar faces there...

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya caught the look on her face. "Uh, yeah,” she coughed in to her hand. Right, time to rip off the synthskin. Maybe it wasn’t really, but that was her favored reaction to a potentially uncomfortable moment.

“The yacht. I don’t know if Petrus ever told you, but, uh, funny story, but…” she tries to figure out how to present this, in order and tone, and tries for light. “I spent a few hours panicking that you were going to sell him down the gravwell.” She laughs, haha, we have friends the Empire would pay good money to capture and do horrible things to! “I was there on business, and I saw you and tall, dark, and ambiguous physical attractiveness, and, well, conclusions were drawn.” Passive voice, go! “The next time I saw Petrus I thought I was bringing him bad news.” She smiled. “He set me straight. While telling me as little as possible, he’s good about that.” She nibbled faux-casually on a dumpling. “It was a nice swimsuit, by the way.”

[Dove Gray]

"Ahh... I see..." her lips pursed for a moment as she digested what Vaya was saying. "Lemme just say it's work-related, but no, not... that kind. I've done a lot to keep the kid safe, and I wouldn't sell him out. Not to them. Or anyone." Her voice was quite firm on this.

"But I understand the conclusions drawn. Believe, I probably would've thought the same thing." Although Dove still wasn't sure why the others had been there. Maybe it had been a Resistance-op? If so she had probably done the right thing in not drawing attention to them.

"And thanks! Hopefully I'll get to use it again sometime soon. Maybe visit that Tranquility Inn I've heard so much about." Little did they know they'd be heading out to paradise-island the next day.

"So... what were you guys doing out there?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya waved her hand at Dove’s reassurances. “Whatever else Petrus is, he seems to have good taste in friends.” A brief frown flashed over her face as she failed to resist the obvious, but perhaps a little too much felt, self-deprecating joke. “If not governesses.”

Vaya was again all smiles as she answered Dove’s question, pointing all ten fingers at the ceiling and wiggling them. “Mysterious business! For a, uh, confidential client. You know how it is.” Vaya assumed, anyway. “Not a lot of people handing out research grants on Bankor, so one does what one must.” The generic “one,” almost as good as the passive voice.

[Dove Gray]

"Oooh, hmm, I see," she wasn't quite sure, as Vaya hadn't struck her as the cloak-and-dagger type, but hey! Looks could be decieving and that was a very good spy-cover too.

"Well, I'm not one to pry into mystery-business too much. As a woman of mystery myself, I can respect a fellow lady's want for secrecy." Though her tone suggested that she probably would like to pry more into it, as a professional mystery woman herself.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya covered her mouth and perked her antennapalps in mock-coquettishness. It also helped hide the fact that she was actually flattered. "Well, maybe when we get to know each other better." Wait, what. Was that. She made to rise. "This was good! Very nice. We should do it again sometime."

[Dove Gray]

"Absolutely," Dove smirked, passing an appraising glance over Vaya's figure. "And thank you for the dumplings. They were wonderful."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"You're quite welcome," said Vaya, her accent taking on more of the Core Worlds than she usually did except when she was trying to flimflam snobby types. Why is that happening? "I'm glad you enjoyed the dumplings." Wait, she just said thank you for that. She walked to the door, then offered her hand for a firm, friendly handshake.

[Dove Gray]

Following behind her, Dove did take Vaya's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze that seemed like a contrast to the firm feel of the hands otherwise. "Have a good day, Doc," she said with an almost sultry smile.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

“Haha, thanks!” she said brightly, and stepped into the hallway. She walked in a perfectly normal fashion until she closed her own door behind her. Then she let out the breath she had been holding.

Was that a spy thing? Did she think I was a spy? Did I give her spy signals? Did she think I was a spy, and so was trying to get into my head? Is that what tradecraft feels like? Or was I supposed to do a spy thing back? Some kind of counter-espionage technique? Maybe now she won’t think I’m a spy. Or does she now think I’m a spy, but just a really bad spy?

She shook her head, and grabbed her things. It was time to meet Jenna and Verse at the library anyway. Nothing like the cool quaff of information to settle her nerves.

/exit