A Conversation

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela mumbled something incomprehensible as she sat herself down on the bunch.

She really did just want to sleep, but Jamie seemed to be very angry about something and she didn't want to make her any more angry and so she decided that it would be much better if she stayed awake. This was of course much easier said than done. She felt like she was about to pass out, and her eyes were already closing. Every few moments her head would slowly list down, her eyes closing, and then suddenly she would snap back up to attention.

"I never knew..." She yawned. "Alcoho-"

Yawned again. "Alcohol makes you so sleepy."

What an odd product.

"Why does anyone drink this stuff anyways." She asked quietly, smacking her lips.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Have you...Never drank alcohol before?"

It dawned on Jamie again that Aela may have never had alcohol, despite her claims that she could handle anything.

The question made her giggle. "Because it's fun!" She exclaimed as they sat beside one another. "And it makes interacting with people you normally wouldn't, at least a bit more tolerable."

That was actually something she forced herself to do back home at times. Certain people were simply too boring to entertain otherwise. Her parents certainly did not approve of the strategy, though she tried to ensure they were not in the know of her plan whenever she found herself needing to use the tactic.

"And if nothing else it helps you sleep."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She shrugged. "I have before when I went undercover as a Crime Lord."

Her eyes suddenly grew very large.

"I wasn't supposed to say anything about that." Her face paled. "YOU CAN'T TELL ANYONE!"

Who would Jamie tell? She was a part of the SIS herself, but well she didn't have the clearance to hear about that particular operation. It was supposed to have remained a secret, particularly because of the way it had all ended. She looked around for a few moments as if checking to see anyone there.

"Anyway I used the force so the alcohol didn't effect me. Just tasted bad." She moved on from her fear so quick that it was obvious she was still more than a little intoxicated.

She then quickly yawned again.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Ooooh...Gossip!" The blonde wiggled her eyebrows towards Aela. "Did Aela Talith just break the rules?"

Jamie's mouth fell agape. "Tisk tisk!" Her head shook in feigned disappointment of the older girl.

"Looks like someone's not a very good secret keeper when she's drunk!"

It was a good thing that it would be incredibly unlikely for anyone of relevance hearing the two girls chatter at a bus terminal over some SIS mission months or years in the past.

Jamie poked Aela's side a few times. "Baaaaaaaaaad!"

Raising her finger she tapped her chin, "Now whooooooo am I gonna tell about this?" Nobody of course, but perhaps she could milk Aela's moment of vulnerability a bit more.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"They will literally kill you!" That was probably an exaggeration. The SIS wouldn't be killing Jamie any time soon, but they would not be pleased if they knew that she knew. Case files were supposed to be very secret, and that meant telling anyone about anything was a terrible crime. They wouldn't throw her in jail, but they would very quickly began to question everything she had ever done. That would not be good.

Especially for Jamie.

"Quiet!" She frantically looked around. "No telling anyone!"

Aela looked very seriously at her padawan. "Or I'll tell everyone about that thing you did!!"

She didn't actually know what that thing was, but she thought that maybe Jamie was just a bit too drunk to actually remember that Aela didn't know anything about anything.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"THEY'LL KILL ME!?"

She shouted loud enough that anyone that would have been nearby could have easily heard her shout before she managed to cover her own mouth. When she spoke again her voice was nothing but a soft chirp.

"Kill me? But why?" It sounded like she was terrified that they would actually do that.

"No don't do that! They'll kill me twice and I don't even know what it feels like once!"

Tears began to well up in the young blonde's eyes at the thought of being killed twice. "I don't want to die twice Aela. I wont' tell anybody!"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Okay okay okay." She wrapped her arms around her padawan.

If anyone came walking by the sight would likely be a very comical one. One half terrified crying girl, the other trying to console her, both still obviously inebriated beyond the point of either of them being able to drive a speeder safely. Aela for her part, at least tried to act like she was mostly sober. Her hand slowly petted Jamie's head in a soothing motion.

"We won't tell them." She said quietly. "No one will have to know."

She looked around shiftily. "No one heard."

At least she was pretty sure no one had head. As she gave the area around them one last look the speeder bus slowly turned around the corner. It was an ornate looking thing, somehow managing to be rustic in a place that scream of the modern.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl sobbed a few more times into Aela's shoulder. "Are you sure?" Drawing her head back from her master's embrace she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, sniffling and rubbing her nose against the sleeve of her shirt. "Double sure even?" The sound of the bus rumbling towards them made Jamie quickly try and dry her face. Looking like you were just bawling your eyes out when surrounded by a group of strangers was embarrassing. It made you a spectacle. One Jamie did not wish to become for the duration of their ride back.

"You promise?"

The vehicle stopped with a slight hiss as the doors opened up, waiting for them both to climb aboard.

There are steps to get on. Oh no! Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip!

Was she reciting that for herself, or Aela?

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Mhm." Aela said quietly as she slowly rose from the bench.

She somehow remembered to grab the backpack as they slowly stood from their place, both girls swaying slightly as they stepped forward. Aela dug around for a few seconds and pulled out a few credit chips as she and Jamie managed to stumble aboard the bus. The driver looked at the two girls for a few moments, shook his head and then just pointed to a small slot deposit within the dashboard of the bus. Aela frowned for a few seconds, then shoved some of the credits into the deposit.

There was a loud clatter of noise as the chips fell into the base and the machine tumbled slightly which made her half jump, but after a moment a green light popped up and she let out a sigh of relief. She felt Jamie tug on her arm, and suddenly she was lead towards the back of the bus.

"Where is everyone?" She asked quietly. "Are we on the right bus?"

The entire thing seemed to be entirely empty, though if Aela looked up she would see that on the destination sign was their hotel.

She didn't of course, but it was still there.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Her voice trailed off as she tried to use her brain to think.

A shrug came. "I think it's late. Maybe real late. Isn't it Centaxday? People work."

Except Aela and Jamie apparently. They both got drunk at casinos with the other rich socialites and then went to wander a dam until who knew what time.

"E'scuse me sir?" She called to the driver. "Do you know the time?" She tapped her chin, trying to remember her second question. "And where we're going?"

The look that returned from the mirror in front of the man driving the bus was one of disdain. The fact that Aela and Jamie were on the bus right now brought out the driver's desire to rethink every decision he had made in life, including stopping to pick these two idiots up from a bus terminal at something like four in the morning.

"Sign's above yer head." He simply replied, then returned to driving, removing his eyes from the mirror to hopefully avoid any further questions.

Jamie didn't even look up. Just settled into her seat, feeling embarrassed. "Oh."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela did glance up, though only after giving the Driver a rather dirty look for his lack of kindness towards her padawan. Narrowing her eyes for a few moments as she troed to read the little electronic blips. After a moment she gave the sign a satisfied nod.

She was pretty sure that they were on the right bus. "I think we're okay."

It wasn't like the thing could carry them any further away, and if it took them away from the Hotel then...well then they would just have to walk, or find one of those Taxi's that Jamie kept insisting actually existed here, though she wasn't too sure about that. She frowned for a moment, looking around the empty vehicle and then glancing at her still open backpack. She leaned forward and closed the clasps, patting the piece of leather as though it were a pet.

She then drew herself up and gave Jamie a satisfied smile, leaning back in her seat.

"Much easier than walking." She told her padawan, glancing out the window to watch the bright neon signs roll by.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Mhm." The girl agreed. "Much easier. Walking in this city is so much harder than others."

She looked down at her own bag, still somehow she had managed to hang onto the berries after all this time.

"Oh!" Biting down onto her tongue the blonde stuffed her hand into the small bag and lifted the lid on the container, pulling out a small fistful of the fruits. "Look!" She exclaimed, offering several to Aela. "We still have some fruit!" Leaning towards her hand she sucked up a pair of the berries, rather than using her hand to feed herself because that seemed like too much work.

Mmmmmmmmm!

Had they eaten since they left the exotic food shop? For a few moments she thought, then when she drew a blank decided that she felt hungry, even though her belly was fine.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela ate her own berry, though she did so much more daintily. She had class after all. The small fruit was consumed and her eyes began to wander around the windows of the bus, mostly watching the signs, but once or twice focusing on some of the people that they passed by. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, either coming from one of the casinos or the many dance clubs. They didn't pass by the Opera House of course, those were located a bit too out of the way.

"I think I left mine somewhere..." Aela said quietly, trying to remember what she had done with the pair of Krayt Dragon Fruits that she had bought back at the beginning of this whole ordeal. "Maybe at the casino."

She frowned, looking back out the window.

Slowly she shook her head. "I don't want to go back there though, they cheat, not to mention mister gropesy."

She still wasn't entirely sure if she'd made that up in her mind or if it had actually happened, but either way Aela was not eager to find out. Better to just leave the fruit behind then brave such peril again, especially with how out of it both of them were.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh no!" Jamie hadn't even noticed Aela was missing her fruit. "Those were expensive, weren't they?"

Of course they were. They were in an exotic food shop, but Jamie felt the need to ask all the same.

Reaching back into her bag she pulled out the orb she purchased from the other unique oddity shop, or rather Force Artifact shop, and looked it over for a few minutes quietly. It was charming and beautiful. It made her think of home, back on Naboo, what her baby sister might be doing, despite not knowing really much of anything about her. It made her wonder what had happened with her parents, if her father had worked up the courage to tell her mother, his daughter Mariya, and speak with Jesslyn.

She tapped the object, and the planet appeared before her unexpectedly, orbiting through the glass like material incredibly slow. The item, simple as it were, still mesmerized Jamie beyond measure.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I think so." Aela didn't actually remember how much she had paid for the fruit, but it wasn't that big of a deal. She gave a tiny sniffle in remembrance of the Kraty Dragon fruit, but quickly looked over towards Jamie playing with the artifact she had purchased.

For a second she thought.

"I wonder if it can show you other planets." It was likely, The item would be pretty useless if it could only show you Borleias. "Try using the force."

She told her padawan. "Think about...Naboo."

That seemed likely to work.

Jamie was from Naboo, and when she had originally touched the object within the shop she had been thinking about Borleias.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Good idea!" Her eyes closed. "You're so smart Aela you know that!?"

She focused more on her home, trying to find a way to quiet the world around her. Meditation was incredibly difficult in this state, and using the Force even more so.

Still, she tried to draw in some bit of energy. The blonde flicked the orb once more. In an instant Borelais disappeared, zooming out as it appeared from the galaxy and focusing in on the planet she was looking for.

Home.

"Woah..." She said as the planet's vibrant green and blue came to life in front of her. Jamie had seen enough of her home world in satellite images to know exactly what Naboo looked like from orbit.

Pulling the artifact a bit close Jamie peered down at the small planet circling through space. "Incredible!"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Ya." She said casually as Jamie called her smart.

The object was quite neat, though she wondered if the image was real time or something that had been stored within the orb itself. She frowned for a few seconds and then continued to consider, then poked Jamie's side to prompt her into thinking of something else.

"Think about Sulluist." She told Jamie. "The Shipyards."

They passed by them often enough that Jamie should know what they looked like. "All the stuff there."

The bus slowed for a second, Aela looking up to check what stop they were at.

When she noticed that they had only reached another casino she quickly returned her attention back to Jamie and the orb.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde squirmed momentarily from the prodding of Aela's finger into her side.

"Okay" Not knowing why the girl was so interested in seeing Sullust's shipyards, Jamie focused all the same, remembering their layout, design, architecture, coloring, the whole thing.

For several seconds she remained quiet with her eyes closed. Then she tapped against the orb.

As she suspected, Naboo faded from view, the same sort of zooming out of the galaxy followed quickly by the display of what she was imagining in her mind.

"There!" With a smile the Padawan held up the device to Aela to see.
"Here you go." Her hand extended out to offer it to Aela for inspection.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Thank you." Aela took the orb and began to inspect it, frowning slightly as she squinted at the orb.

As she had suspected, tiny dots floated all around the shipyards of Sullust, ships that were branded with the mark of the Galactic Alliance. Her lips thinned slightly as she wondered if this was happening in real time or somewhat delayed. There wasn't really a way to know that, but since the ships were marked with the symbols of the Alliance it meant the orb was at least showing images from within the last few years, and that in it of itself was amazing.

"Wow." Aela said quietly.

She handled the thing carefully.

"I wonder if it can show worlds we don't know." She tried to think of a planet she had never been too, her face scrunching slightly as she concentrated. "Uhhh..."

What was a planet she hadn't visited?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Worlds we don't know? Like uncharted planets?" The girl scratched her head. "How would we know what to think about? And even if something appeared, it isn't like it will tell us what it is."

Clearly Jamie didn't understand that Aela was asking about planets that were known, but not visited by the beholder.

"That seems rather impossible to me."

Regardless she still felt it was worth the price, even if it was overblown. If anywhere, that was a shop she'd like to return to in the future.

The bus hit a small speed bump as it slowed, turning into the casino to pick up any wayward travelers that might be returning to their hotel. A pair of senior looking humans stepped aboard and sat close to the front, looking rather tired themselves. Jamie's eyes followed them for a few seconds until she shifted back to Aela who was still curiously observing the artifact with interest.

[member="Aela Talith"]