A Picnic On Naboo

[Riamah]

An offer had been made likely in jest by Jim Pehico that if Ra and a few others helped clear his name that he would take her on a picnic to Naboo. He had also said she would be the one cooking and that was one thing she was good at.

She prepared an almost feast for the two of them and packed that waiting for him near the spaceport. He knew this planet way more than she did and Ra had agreed to meet him here so he could take them wherever he felt was the best location.

Her white hair was pulled back, braided and had the ball at the end. The two short saber hilts were up her sleeves and knives in her boots. She had given up on learning to use the staff and no longer carried that, but she did have her blaster on her hip. Nobody approached her as she looked around at the crowd.

Ra watched for him to approach and knew he would be able to instantly see her due to her unique looks. She wasn't that tall, but her hair stood out almost anywhere and like a beacon was difficult to hide. Chuckling a little at her thoughts, she turned her attention back to waiting for somebody she could consider a friend.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim had been running slightly late. After stopping by Alderaan for some wine, he had finally arrived on his homeworld of Naboo. It was the first time he's felt relaxed entering the atmosphere in years. His N-1 Starfighter reflected the sun as it entered the atmosphere. as he flew over Theed he just recieved Ra's coordinates, and after a sharp left turn and flying straight for about 5 minutes. he had arrived. Slowly putting his ship down he walked towards the beautiful silver haired woman.

"Sorry I'm late dear," Jim said exposing an older bottle of wine. "This here is an Alderaanian wine." Jim said smirking.

"One of the, if not, the most prized alcohol in the core worlds." Jim smiled hoping this would impress her, Jim then pulled something else from behind him.

"And here is an ithorian rose for the beautiful lady," He grabbed her hand and kissed it, lowered it, and gave her the blue flower. \

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

Ra turned when she saw Jim approaching her. He held a bottle of rare wine and apologized for being late. Jim was way more open with his emotions and give her a smirk as he held the wine out. She kept her own emotions close and while they had gotten to know each other over the course of their adventure, this was first they were without the company of others.

His next move surprised her more than the wine and he presented her with a blue rose as well as a kiss on the back of her hand. His compliment made her blush as she was still not used to receiving them. However, she felt he really thought she was beautiful and accepted his light kiss and rose.

"I have here a basket with our food and let me tell you, it's going to be good."

She knew she was good cook and the variety of foods she prepared were exceptional.

"I've only been here once and you grew up here. I imagine you know of some good areas to picnic in."

Where this would go, Ra didn't have a clue, but she was willing to go with things and see what happened.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Once Jim saw her blushing, he knew she must have some feelings for Jim.

Jim held out his hand for her to take it.

"The crowds here are relentless, This is just so I don't lose you, I'd hate to lose all that food." Jim teased as he smirked. they passed through the crowd until they got to this one store. Jim rented a speeder bike from the place.

"Jeez looks like I didn't bring enough credits for 2. guess your just going to have to ride with me." Jim teased again.

as they rode through the town, Jim began thinking about where to bring her. Suddenly he thought of an ingenious place to bring her, some place that had a huge significance to him.

Jim brought her to a park near Theed, it's called Pilot's Landing, During the Invasion of Naboo a pilot who was going out to defend the planet was shot down by a droid tank, The pilot was given a proper burial and the ship, the rest of the ship was encased in bronze and turned into a memorial. A legend that Jim grew up hearing, was that the astromech droid in the ship is still functional under that layer of bronze. Jim doubted it, if the droid survived the crash, the droid would've also had to survive being encased in bronze. Besides, it's battery would've certainly drained by then.

(OOC: Look at around 40 seconds in here)

Jim parked the speeder about 20 meters from the statue, though it was a nice day out, Naboo had hundred's of nicer parks to go to.

Jim got off the speeder "My mom was only 22 when she met my dad, he was a pilot for the Royal Naboo Starfighter Corps. On their third date my dad brought her here. and they sat at this park, talking, watching the N-1 Starfighters come and go." Jim said.

"I never met my old man, he died in a mission protecting Naboo cargo from some pirates. But my mom said that this here was the best day of her life."

Suddenly from overhead the hangar opened and a squadron of N-1's flew out, presumably to patrol the skies.

"There's a couple of them." Jim said pointing at the ships flying overhead.

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

Ra allowed Jim to take a hold of her hand and lead her through the crowds of Theed. His words were light and playful almost making her smile at the humor. The only real sign of her emotion was in her eyes. He brought her to a speeder shop where he rented them a bike. She climbed on behind him, thinking he did that on purpose, wrapped an arm around his waist and held onto her basket with the other.

He appeared to just drive around for a short time until he made his mind up about where to go. Once he did that, he drove with a purpose and they arrived after a short trip.

Both of them were pilots, different types of course, the location was ideal. Ra climbed off the back of the bike and kept a hold of the basket and looked at the bronze statue in front of them.

"Maybe it will be mine too."

A small half smile showed before fading away and she spoke again, "you were lucky to have even one parent. I grew up an orphan and never knew either of mine."

Some ships flew over their heads, taking off from the hanger above them. She looked up when he pointed them and once they were out of sight, she turned her attention back to Jim.

"Are you hungry?"

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim really did hope she was also going to have the best day of her life, after mentioning his father's death she mentioned being an orphan.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Jim said, after the ships flew by she changed the topic

"Are you hungry?" Jim was starving, he hadn't eaten anything all day, he was too excited for this date, of course he wasn't going to say that so he played it cool,

"I could eat." He said with a smirk. "So what did you make?" Jim said praying to himself she was a good cook. Jim could fake past almost everything except for a bad meal.

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

"Our past has made us who we are today and if that was different we wouldn't be standing here. I wouldn't change anything. Thank you though. What was having a parent like?"

It appeared Jim was all smirks and smiles, Ra took it in stride and opened the lid of the basket after setting it on the ground.

"Hope you're not a vegetarian."

She let out a small chuckle as she pointed out the different foods she had brought for them. Little snacks, some cheese and a few sandwiches.

"It's not too extravagant, but enough for two."

Sitting down near the wall to look out at the park and statue, Ra takes the food out and sets it in front of her.

"What are you going to do now?"

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim wondered what he actually was going to do. He hadn't even begun to think about it. Jim raised the bottle of wine and poured more into his glass.

"As of right now, I'm going to enjoy this wine." He smirked. He began eating one of the sandwiches and let me tell you, they were delicious.

"I'm going to be totally honest with you, this sandwich, probably the best I've ever had." Jim said. "I can't believe this sandwich is that good. No offense." Jim said smiling. "I mean we're both pilots, I just assumed that all pilot's were terrible at cooking." Jim teased.

"How about you though? What's your plan?" Jim said quizzically.

 

[Riamah]

Holding her own glass out, Ra asked for some of the wine as well and smiled a little at his answer and even more as his next words.

"Ha, growing up in an orphanage did have its uses. Having to care for the younger kids, cooking the food, cleaning...all that stuff."

It had been almost like she was a mother to them and it had gotten her to feel that children were the future of the galaxy and would do her best to make sure she never harmed one intentionally.

Biting into her own sandwich, Ra thought about what her plans were. Right now, she didn't have anything to strive for, no real goals to accomplish and no work orders on her schedule.

"Well, I could get my name back out there to drum up credits again. For the past few years, I've provided transportation. So it wouldn't be too difficult to start that up again. Really have no idea though."

Ra shrugged her shoulders slightly and picked up a rock that was nearby, tossing it away from them.

"If I do that, could always use a copilot."

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim poured her some wine and listened to her, nodding at the right times, but then she mentioned needing a co-pilot.

"A co-pilot?" Jim asked. "Well let me know if anything like this pops up. I haven't copiloted, since the academy."

Jim had finished his own sandwich and looked over at Ra had a little piece of sandwich on her lip.

"Gotta little piece of sandwich on your lip doll." Jim said as he picked up a napkin and got closer to Ra. As he wiped her face, their eyes locked. Her eyes were a beautiful golden color that seem to look straight into his soul. Though his intention was originally not going in for a kiss, he now considered this a real possibility. He thought about it, having mere milliseconds to choose. Sure it might be kind of early into the date, but they had gone through a lot together. Jim decided on his answer. He put the napkin down and brushed her hair back, and leaned in for a kiss.

 

[Riamah]

"I started as a co-pilot to the former owner of my ship. Before you get any funny idea, I did not kill him to get it."

What it was about Jim that made her more open she didn't know, but she felt a little more comfortable around him since their adventure in clearing his name. She chuckled slightly and when she looked at him, he mentioned she had some crumbs on her lip. Before Ra could wipe it off, he had a napkin up there and nudged it off on his own.

Their eyes and he paused for not even a second as thoughts crossed his mind. Setting the napkin down between them, he moved some strands of her hair that had come loose out of her braid and leaned to kiss her. Now she was comfortable around him and allowed the light kiss to happen for a few seconds, Ra broke the kiss, cleared her throat and looked away slight with her eyes. Breaking what was an almost mesmerizing stare.

"Want to get to know you on a more personal level first, Jim. We had so little of a chance to do that."

It's not that she didn't like him, but their relationship until today had been on a more of a business one and she wasn't ready for it cross into something more personal yet.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim smirked, "It's fine, Ra, I get it. I'm sorry." Jim said sincerely, He poured them both another glass of wine.

"So Ra how long have you had you're light freighter?" Jim said trying to keep the topic moving along.

@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

Though Jim continued to smirk, his voice told Ra he was serious in his apology and accepted her reply to him. He poured them each more wine, though she had only taken a couple of sips. Drink wasn't something she could have much and usually went light with it. He followed up with a question on how long she had owned her freighter.

"Personally about a year and half, but I've been on board about two and half years. Sad story involved in how it came to be mine."

She would tell him if he asked, but fell silent and took a sip of her wine.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, especially on such a nice day. He decided to change the subject.

"Hey, I understand, I don't want to ruin this meal by asking you to explain something that you probably don't want to share. Maybe another time," Jim said as he sipped his wine. "So you know I'm from Naboo. What planet are you from?" Jim asked.

 

[Riamah]

Noticing her falling mood at the conversation, Jim changed it from dealing with her ship to where she came from. That was almost as bad since she really didn't know. Ra had grown up on Coruscant so that's the answer she went with and kept it simple.

"I grew up in an orphanage on Coruscant. What was your childhood like here? It's so green and full of life. Not at all like the giant city home is."

She wished she knew more of her past, what she was even. Her characteristics were unique and she'd never seen anybody that looked like her.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

"My childhood, was peaceful. Never really got into real trouble. My family wasn't very rich, so we did struggle but honestly, it was very boring." Jim said reminiscing. once he was 17 he joined the corps and that was that. He looked up at the sky.

"You see all of that." Jim said pointing towards the sky. "I remember 20 years ago when I first wondered what the galaxy was like." Jim said. "seeing the galaxy was always the goal for me. What was you're goal you wanted to achieve growing up?" Jim said.

Everyone had one major goal growing up whether they knew it or not.

 

[Riamah]

"Yeah I guess my childhood was pretty peaceful too. Had a few scuff-ups and needed to learn how to fight to defend myself. But without like actual parents or whatever, I have no sense of family or love."

Looking down at her glass and giving herself a mental shake, Ra wondered why she had even said that. She barely knew Jim on a personal level and here she was spilling out almost her whole history.

He pointed up to the sky and her eyes followed the motion, when he finished, her gold eyes turned to look at him again.

"Did you achieve your goal?"

Growing up, her only goal had been that. When she got a little older and to this day, all she wanted was knowledge. She desired to learn something new at any opportunity.

"Well, I guess I'm a seeker of knowledge. The more I learn, the more powerful I can become."

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

Jim thought about her answer, "Power? What you need power for?" He asked curiously. He sipped his wine as he waited for a response.

Jim knew that Ra was a force user but was she a Sith or a Jedi? And if she was a Jedi, what would she need power for? He hadn't even pondered this question. He just assumed she was a Jedi, Though Jim didn't mind her being a Sith, he did have lots of questions

 

[Riamah]

Leaning her head against the wall behind them, Ra looked up at the sky again before answering Jim's question.

"Just something I was told when I was little. Being an almost street rat on Coruscant, growing up without a real family or friends, one needed knowledge. As I got older, I learned that knowledge is power. I never grew up wanting to be anything really. Never set any goals for myself. Then I met or was basically adopted by a wonderful man. He took a wild, looking street rat under his wing and taught me how to pilot my ship and run a business. In the blink of an eye though, he was murdered and I was left alone again. Still had a business to run though and finished off the work he started and have made my own connections since."

If he was smart, he would figure out how she got her ship and an answer to a question he had asked a few moments before. Thinking on her captain made her smile a little at the memory, he had been as close to a father she had ever had. Not giving voice to her thought, but she wandered what she would be like today if her past had been different.

[member="Jim Pehico"]

 

[Jim Pehico]

"Makes sense," However he hadn't had the time to think it over because he felt a tap on his shoulder, and another and another. He looked up. Te once beautiful sky was covered in grey. It seemed Jim had forgotten to check the weather because it began drizzling. Jim offered his jacket as they ran under the bronzed statue, he gave her a slightly sheepish look.

"I'm sorry our date got ruined, I should've double checked the weather." He said, his mustache seemed to sag heavier as he frowned.

The drizzle turned to a heavy rain, making the pattering of raindrops on the bronze statue hard to hear anything else.

@Ra'a'mah