First Reply Talk About Your... Oh

[Rayne Lo'to]

Talk About Your... Oh
Sacorria
Tags: Open

​

Rayne found herself alone often.

She had begun to become accustomed to it now, pretty sure that the friends she had made weren't coming to hang out with her any time soon. One way or another, the mute woman wound up alone. So what else did she have to do? She couldn't exactly rely on the safety of others, right? Rationally, of course, the tall Twi'lek woman chose to find herself a blade and start training to become stronger. Rayne had always relied on herself to get through life after all...

Why didn't she just fight for herself too?

Sacorria had been a fine enough spot to train for the day. It involved her getting practically styled on by an old training droid she recovered from the ruins of a Jedi Temple and suped up to teach her how to swing a sword. To say getting owned by a machine a foot shorter than her was embarrasing didn't even begin to quantify it. She sat on a bench, alone in a rather unpopulated park after a brutal session of trying to keep up with the droid but not quite figuring it out. She was covered in bruises, leaning back exhausted with her blistered hands wrapped up. So much for just learning from a droid...

Who knew learning to fight would be hard? Rayne certainly didn't forsee it being like this at all. Still, she was a stubborn young woman. Pressing on was exactly what she was going to do, no matter how much time it took...

She'd just rest a little first.

 

[Alistair Abbott]

​

Location: Sacorria
Objective: Lay low
Equipment: Traveller's Clothes, K-16 Bryar Pistol (Concealed)
Tags: Rayne Lo'to

​

Sacorria had to be one of the calmest and most pleasant spots he'd ever visited, and he still managed to get in trouble.

His lungs were heaving, his calves burning as he rounded the corner. 'Surely this is far enough' he thought, glancing back to look for signs of pursuit. He slowed down his pace down and, with considerable effort, managed to slow down his breathing. He forced himself to walk at a regular pace, attempting to appear like a casual stroller in the park. The effect was ruined somewhat by his flushed face and the sweat beading on his brow.

'I truly have bad luck' he thought, wiping away the moisture on his forehead. 'That job would have been a milk-run'. He had been scoping out the local bar when he made friends with one of planet's farmers. Hearing of the poor man's struggles with a rival orchard, he discreetly offered to slip some conduit worms into the rival's machinery - all for a modest fee of course. He didn't count on the man flat out refusing him and calling the local law-enforcement to boot. "I should've stayed on the Rim" he grumbled. Although, he was confident that he wouldn't be pursued very far. In his experience, the average beat cop didn't even bother running to catch criminals as minor as Alistair. Still, it didn't hurt to be careful.

He started whistling nonchalantly as he walked along the path, before shutting his mouth when he realised it made him look more conspicuous. He afforded himself a quick glance back, his legs tensing as he readied himself to run. Seeing no one in pursuit, he grinned and stopped to sit down on a nearby bench. The weight off his legs, he sighed in relief as the aching in his calves finally eased. His sigh turned into a strangled yelp as he finally noticed the stranger sitting next to him.

She was a Twi'lek and a tall one at that. Nearly a foot taller than him, which made it all the more embarrassing that he hadn't noticed her. Her skin was yellow-green and covered in strange markings. 'Bruises' Alistair thought, with a sudden realisation. They looked different on the yellow skin, but they were unmistakable on second glance. He had his fair share as well, mostly around his hands. They complemented the scars and burns he'd collected working as a mechanic. Her hands were bandaged though. Curious.

Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins and his brain was running a mile a minute. "Oh- uhh-" he spluttered, tripping over his leaden tongue. "Is- uhhhh- this seat taken?" he finally croaked out.

 

[Rayne Lo'to]

Sacorria
Tags: Alistair Abbott

​

Oh.

This was awkward. She hadn't really expected someone to just... sit down next to her on the bench. Surprisingly, they didn't seem to even notice her at first, which was confusing in and of itself. Being rather tall and bright yellow, Rayne was typically pretty hard to miss. He did eventually seem to take note of her, clearly a little startled, though it seemed something already had him jumpy.

"Is- uhhhh- this seat taken?"

Talking. Rayne's arch nemesis.

She didn't want to just start using the force to speak through tech. It was straining. Still, she didn't exactly find folks who could read sign very often. Perhaps she'd just stick to simple gestures for now to see how far that got her.

Rayne shook her head, indicating that the seat was not taken, promptly going back to staring off into the distance.

Hoping this stranger wasn't talkative.

 

[Alistair Abbott]

​

Location: Sacorria
Objective: Try not to annoy the stranger
Equipment: Traveller's Clothes, K-16 Bryar Pistol (Concealed)
Tags: Rayne Lo'to
Legend: "Spoken Dialogue" | 'Thoughts' | ["Sign Language"]

​

The Twi'lek didn't reply, just shook her head. For a moment, Alistair thought he glimpsed a look of frustration on her face. But she quickly turned away and gazed off into the distance. Alistair looked at her with curiosity. He was used to sizing up a mark, trying to figure out their occupation before he laid on the charm. She didn't resemble a farmer, not with how she was dressed. And she looked far stronger than your average labourer. He glanced at one the bruises on her arm, shaped in an even rectangular pattern. 'As if she's been hit with something' Alistair thought. She was a fighter of some kind, that was clear. It meant that she was trouble.

He glanced over his shoulder and froze as he saw a security officer enter the park. 'Do they have nothing better to do?' he thought. 'Must be a slow day'. He forced himself to stay seated. The officer was looking for a troublemaker on the run, not a casual park-goer. Besides, if he stood-up now he'd look suspicious.

He instead turned his attention back to the Twi'lek, mustering what hoped was a natural looking smile. "So nice weather we're having, huh?" he said. He received a glance from the woman, but otherwise no response. "Do you live here?" he tried again. "Or are you visiting?". Again, nothing. He saw again what looked like an expression of frustration pass over her face. 'Oof, tough nut to crack' he thought. 'I don't think she likes me'. But there was something else going on, something that he couldn't quite work out.

He glanced again over his shoulder. The security officer was just standing by the edge of the park, their eyes no doubt scanning for him. He looked away quickly, wincing as he realised how unnatural the motion looked. The woman still hadn't spoken, and Alistair got the feeling that she wasn't going to. Something about this interaction reminded him of lessons he'd learned from an old colleague.

He furrowed his brow, in an effort to remember and raised his hands up. With awkward jerky motions he pointed at her, then to above his head, before finishing with a complicated hand gesture. His Galactic Basic Sign Language (GBSL) was rusty, he hadn't practiced in ages. Nevertheless, he was pretty sure he correctly signed: ["You - understand - sign language?"].

 

[Rayne Lo'to]

Sacorria
Tags: Alistair Abbott

​

Talking.

They always wanted to talk. The newly arrived man began to ramble on, asking about the weather, and if she lived here, and so on and so forth. Her brain stopped working, with the tall young woman simply staring blankely as he spoke. Did she... say something? She had a vocoder she could pull out, but it strained her. She wasn't looking to get exhausted. That was when something happened that she wasn't expecting...

["You - understand - sign language?"].

A sigh escaped her chest.

Yes, she responded, making sure to sign slowly. He seemed rusty. I can sign.

Well great, now she kind of had to answer questions. Conversating was very much not her strong suit. Even after all this time, trying her best to make friends and all that, she still really wasn't all there when it came to making small talk.

Not local, Rayne signed. Just passing through.

He seemed... jittery. The man glancing over his shoulder hadn't been lost on her, not by a long shot. After all, Rayne had grown up on Nar Shaddaa. She was used to people having reasons to look back. There it made sense. After all, getting stabbed in the back was not uncommon. But here?

There weren't exactly crime lords running around on the small time farming planet.

Rayne only had to sign one word, framing it as a question: Antsy?

 

[Alistair Abbott]

​

Location: Sacorria
Objective: Remain Calm
Equipment: Traveller's Clothes, K-16 Bryar Pistol (Concealed)
Tags: Rayne Lo'to
Legend: "Spoken Dialogue" | 'Thoughts' | ["Sign Language"]

​

Her first signs back were accompanied by a big sigh. 'She still thinks I'm annoying' he thought. It didn't matter, all he needed was to blend in long enough to lose his tail then he would be out of her hair. Or her lekku, rather.

Nevertheless, he was pleased to see that she understood him. She signed back, saying that she wasn't a local and that she was just passing through. She studied him for a moment, before signing one word: "Antsy?"

Her sign language was much better than his, but seeing the signs started to get his memory going and he found his hands flowed more naturally. ["I'm nervous because I sign badly"] he lied. He resisted the urge to move his neck again to glance back at the cop. He tried to steady his breathing as his heart started beating faster. Surely they wouldn't come over here?

He could feel the gaze from the Twi'lek's blue eyes. 'Wait' he thought. 'Only one eye is blue, the other green'. The sudden realisation seemed to distract him from his rising anxiety. He blinked and started signing again. ["I'm surprised you aren't antsy too. You've been in a fight. Did you win?"]. He figured she had; else she'd be sporting more than bruises.

 

[Rayne Lo'to]

Sacorria
Tags: Alistair Abbott

​

I'm not over your shoulder, Rayne signed rather bluntly.

Nerves when doing something you weren't used to made sense, but she was right in front of him. It didn't explain why he was glancing around all anxious-like. Still, she was willing to let it slide. She didn't exactly want to get roped up in whatever trouble he was looking to start... or whatever else this was.

["I'm surprised you aren't antsy too. You've been in a fight. Did you win?"]

Nope, the Twi'lek answered with a shrug. Training droid. Kicked my ass.

Wasn't exactly something she needed to be antsy about. She had a reason to be here, albeit to make use of the seclusion to get stronger. Still, she wasn't exactly making very good progress. To say that her skill with a sword was sub-par was putting it lightly. If she stumbled her way into a fight against a professional, be it Sith or bounty hunter, she wasn't likely to see the other side of that. That was a concern to say the least.

No reason to be worried, she added. My opponent has an off switch.

 

[Alistair Abbott]

​

Location: Sacorria
Objective: Fool the Scanner
Equipment: Traveller's Clothes, K-16 Bryar Pistol (Concealed)
Tags: Rayne Lo'to
Legend: "Spoken Dialogue" | 'Thoughts' | ["Sign Language"]

​

He watched in interest as the Twi'lek explained that she obtained her bruises from a (presumably) brutal match with a training droid. "You can't be that good then" he blurted out loud, before shutting his mouth. He smiled awkwardly before continuing in sign. ["Just kidding. If it's anything like combat droids, then it must be brutal]. An enforcer's droid had once knocked him clean out with just the back of its metal hand.

He let his shoulder slump and relax, finally convinced that he had lost his pursuers. It was a shame that he hadn't landed the gig though, as he was strapped for cash at the moment. He'd have to be more careful from now on, clearly they had zero tolerance for even the hint of criminal behaviour here. No wonder it was so tranquil.

["So I'm kinda low on money right now"] he started signing. ["I'm not begging, but if you need an easier sparring partner I can-"]

He was interrupted by a loud beep as a black sphere of metal zoomed into his vision. It was a floating ball of metal, with one bright red eye in the centre and an antenna on top. "Fugitive wanted" it droned in its tinny robotic voice. Alistair's heart dropped, his body tensed. "Please face droid and prepare for scan".

Dammit he thought. Of course security wouldn't bother pursuing him, that would be a waste of time. But they could put his face into the database of the local observation droids. They probably got footage from cameras in the bar.

He heard the whirring of the droid beginning the scan and felt something stir inside him. Something that wasn't anxiety. That feeling, the one he was scared to give in to. The one the old woman had called 'The Force'.

His eyes glazed over. He became very still, except for his fingers which wiggled and traced invisible lines. Time seemed to stop as he felt his perception leave his mind and enter the droid. He traced the wires and conduits in the droid, watching the flow of electrical signals. He followed the pattern until he came to a point in the electronics that he knew controlled the scanner. He exerted his control on the droid, willing it to scan him as not wanted.

The droid seemed to freeze in the air for a moment before sparks started shooting out of it wildly. Alistair watched as the red light went out shortly before the droid fell out of the air and landed on the ground with a 'thunk'.

Oops.

 

[Rayne Lo'to]

Sacorria
Tags: Alistair Abbott

​

"You can't be that good then"

Rayne couldn't help but silently laugh.

Yeah, no kidding, she signed. I only started a month ago.

And she was seeing no progress. The young man seemed insistant on continuing to sign, even though he wasn't that good at it, which she found rather amusing. It wasn't like she couldn't hear him at all. She just couldn't speak.

Before long, a security probe droid seemed to hover along, conveniently inturrupting him as he began to ask her for money. Rayne, of course, was broke, so she was kind of glad about this sudden occurance. That was one awkward conversation she was happy to avoid, but it didn't take long before she saw the beginnings of another: The appearance of the droid caused the man to go blank, his eyes glazing over as it asked to scan him for identification. She couldn't help but roll her eyes a little. The droid was looking for a fugative, and now he got all quiet? Of course she wound up on the same bench as a criminal. That was just her-

The droid seemed to freeze in the air for a moment before sparks started shooting out of it wildly. Alistair watched as the red light went out shortly before the droid fell out of the air and landed on the ground with a 'thunk'.

-luck.

A frown came to Rayne's face.

Why did you attack the hardware? she asked. The tall woman didn't even seemed shocked by his ability to manipulate technology at all. In fact, she seemed rather frustrated by the way in which he did it. Code. You always attack the code. Now they're gonna send a recovery team.

The young woman sighed, hanging her head. This was the last thing she needed to be roped up in, but here she was. Sitting next to a felon of some sort. Her day wasn't looking like it could get any more chaotic than it was already.