Private Building A Dream

[Ara Sheridan]

Kashyyyk/Jedi temple hangars​

Early morning/Clear skies​

Ara's morning wasn't exactly at a solid start. She and Sam were awake pretty early in the morning, but she really didn't want too much interaction with her mother. It didn't help that Sam already had some precooked breakfast for the both of them ready after she got ready for the day, a gift from Matt supposedly. She didn't want her kindness but Sam didn't stop trying. She was quickly seeing more and more of herself in her mother and she hated it. She at least got herself to ask if she could build a pod racer, fully expecting to receive a reason to argue with her... but instead Sam fully agreed to it, even going so far as to get a hovercart full of parts organized the day before she and Matt would meet. She simply kept her mouth shut over the topic and quietly walked with her mother towards the Jedi hangar. After ignoring her mother's greeting, she walked off towards the entrance to the temple to go find Matt. They were on a tight schedule and she wasn't going to be late for this.

After getting to the spot, she patiently waited for Matt to arrive, passing the time by messing around on her datapad. When he finally arrived, she brightened up tremendously with a small smile and an excited glimmer in her eye. "Hey!" she greeted him happily as she put her datapad away. "I hope you're ready for this. I've been spending the last couple days looking up info, tips and all kinds of stuff for it. And before you ask, yeah my mom agreed to it." she explained to him as she walked with him towards the hangars. "Though between you and me, I'm already thinking of just packing up and leaving. She's annoying the karking crap out of me. She actually managed to get some parts together to help out with the project and offered to help with some mechanical advice. But I don't want her help. This is supposed to be our project." she vented a little as her mood soured a bit. She took a deep breath and her confident smirk returned as she glanced up at him. "Okay, so where are we gonna find parts and schematics for this thing? You have some kind of special permission or something to raid the hangar's supply?" she asked him with a nudge against his arm.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

"Hey!" Mathieu called out to the teen with a bright smile on his lips. He gave her a happy nod that Sam had given them her approval. It was not a given that she would allow it but seeing how happy Ara seemed, he was glad that she had.

Once he arrived a meter or so away from her, Mathieu didn't follow as she walked "Ara" he said, almost sounding a little disapointed - his smile, however, revealed that it was mostly in jest. When she turned to look at him, we would walk up to her and open his arms, ambushing her with a hug "You're not afraid of giving me a hug in public, are you?" he asked teasingly before letting her go with a mischievous smile. He stretched out a hand to mess her hair up a little before giving her a clap on the back to begin walking. He looked to his young friend as she complained about her situation "Come on, you are pretty safe, you don't have to pay anything, you'll always have food on the table" he said, listing a few things he saw as definitive positives.

There was no doubt in his mind that Sam did everything she could to treat her daughter well. But then, it was better if that came from Ara's own mouth - if she even agreed with it. Putting a hand by the shoulder farther away from him, Mathieu pulled her a little closer and bent down a little to speak with a lower voice, away from the ears of anyone else in the temple "Is she treating you well"

When they arrived by the doors leading in to the hangar, he laughed heartily "I can't recall promising you schematics and parts, did I? I can be your chauffeur, your muscle and I even know a thing or two about mechanics - but you're the brains of this operation." he said, all smiling and happy as he opened the doors, putting his freighter in view "So, what did you come up with?" he asked, not falling for her attempt to make him raid the temple with her. Once inside he pointed at a new heap of parts which he did not recognise "Are those the parts she helped you get?"

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

When Ara heard her name, she stopped to look at him with confusion. Before she could even run away or melt through the floor to avoid him, he had his arms around her in another disarming hug. Begrudgingly she returned the hug while forcing the happy thoughts down. "Yes. You know how awkward they are?" she retorted to his quip, giving him an unimpressed look. Though her frown quickly faded as a small smile crept onto her lips.

As they started to walk, he tried to list a few positive points about staying with Sam. But she quickly tuned him out and quite clearly ignored him until he had his arm around her. She glanced at him after he asked his question, unsure of how to answer. "I mean... I guess. She asks me how my day was and tries to talk to me. She can't cook a meal to save her life but she gets some damn nice food for us from the temple. I even woke up the other day with an extra blanket over me that I didn't ask for which was nice." she admitted softly with a shrug before she stopped and turned to face him. "But that still doesn't justify anything." she stated as she poked him in the chest. "I'm not here to make friends with her or something. I'm jist here 'cause I got nowhere else to go. Once I get a job or my own place to stay, I'm out of here again. I don't give a kark about her and I never will." she declared with venom in her voice before continuing on into the hangar.

In the hangar he made sure she understood that she was in charge. She had to admit that it was making her nervous, but she wasn't going to back down. "Umm... nothing concrete as of yet, we'll have to see what we got to work with first. After that, I'll ask around for some schematics and instructions." she admitted as she reached his ship beside him. His attention was drawn by the large stack of parts close to the ship, but Ara merely took hold of his arm and yanked him along behind her. "Yeah that's the stuff. But we don't need it, we can do fine on our own." she stated as she moved towards the boarding ramp of his ship. "Okay, we're gonna have to go to a place with a lot of parts. There's Tatooine, Malastare, some of the junk worlds... where should we go?" she asked him as her smile returned to her face.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Ara could see that Sam was indeed treating her well. That was good. She didn't think it 'justified' her mother's old since, but Mathieu figured that it was something which would come with time. Mathieu hoped that the Zabrak girl saw by now that he was her friend and not just some proxy of her mother. And so, he nodded and spoke a few careful words "I've seen you two together. I think she cares about you." This was a sensitive topic for the teen - Mathieu knew that. It was the reason why he would also look forth after having said it and let her get the last word in if she wanted to. They were soon at the Hangar entrance and the conversation would move on.

The idea which she presented was sensible and all Mathieu had to do was to nod along and let out a short "Got it." While Ara moved up to the ship's ramp, he lingered by the heap that Sam had assembled and looked at it and studied it. "Ara, if I take you into Confederacy with their current policies in place..." he was about to joke about Sam killing him for it, but of course, painting her as the bad guy was a rather bad idea so he tried to pivot "Well... I think that would be very risky of me. They should have a few dumps where people take ships they no longer want on some of the larger worlds. Nubia, Commenor - maybe Corellia or Kuat if you wanna visit the Galactic Alliance."

Mathieu had taught Sam how to fly a ship and he really wouldn't mind doing the same to Ara. But she was just 13 now and it really didn't seem like that good of an idea for the time being. Still - he would gladly let her in on how to prep a ship for take-off and landing and watch him whilst flying it. All good steps towards when she would actually learn to pilot it for real. "Why don't you go and get the ship ready? You get the power on with the square shaped yellow button on the left side of the central panel. Get the engines on with the round red one before that. I should have most of these worlds in the navcomputer already, so you can pick something nice for us" he said, sending her along into the ship while remaining outside himself.

Activating the hover cart on which the parts and a box stood, he steered it up the ramp and parked it in the cargo hold, having another quick look over what they had been given. A soft smile spread across his lips as he thought of how thoughtful Sam had been crossed his mind. Once it was all done, he moved to the cockpit and checked the navcomputer to see what destination Ara had decided on. If it was any of the worlds he had suggested or something relatively safe within the Silver Sphere, he'd give her an approving nod "Good choice"

Instinctively, he started ticking a few levers and screwing on a power regulator before stopping "Wanna help out a little?" he asked and if she agreed, he'd give her a nod to take the co-pilot's seat "Alright, now we wanna prep the hyperdrive so that it is all good and ready once we get out of the atmosphere..." he'd go on, patiently explaining what they were doing and roughly how it worked until they could finally leave the hangar and shoot off into space.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

As she walked up the ramp, Matt voiced his concerns over going into CIS space. Ara glanced at him then at the ship with pursed lips. "But they got all the good planets, though!" she argued, trying to get him on her side. She wished that she learned how to do the innocent puppy eyes like other kids could. When he mentioned Kuat, though, her tone shifted dramatically. "Kuat? That's not a bad option..." she muttered as she thought it over. As she thought it over, he asked her to start up his ship.

Ara's eyes went wide as she rushed down the ramp to stop him. "Hey, whoa! Hold up! I know how to boost speeders, I don't know jack-shit about ships." she halted him as he explained away. "Explain it again... just slowly." she stated, waiting for him to explain it a bit smoother to her. She listened carefully and memorized the directions... though she wasn't making any effort to write anything down. Once he was done, she made her way through the ship towards its cockpit, where she stood on the pilot's seat and carefully balanced herself with her hands while she got to work. Once she reached the part where she had to choose a planet, she didn't manage to pick a planet at all. She tried to read the names and settings, but simply gave up and sat back with a heavy sulk.

After a few moments, Matt entered the cockpit and she moved to sit on the co-pilot's seat. He asked if she wanted to help with the hyperdrive, but she gave a hard shake of her head and folded her arms, sitting back like a moody kid. "Nah, you do it. Let's go to Kuat." she muttered as she looked away to avoid eye contact with him. She was too embarrassed to look at him now. She stayed like that for the rest of the takeoff process, though she did watch him through her hair as he prepped the hyperdrive to try and figure out how it worked. Once he reached she screen, she gave up again and sunk back into the seat. She was deathly quiet and foul-tempered until they were finally in hyperspace, where she relaxed a bit and simply sat back to watch the hyperspace tunnel speed past the viewport. "So did you choose Kuat?" she asked him, making sure that he got the right planet for them.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Mathieu gave her a confused look as she declined partaking in the start-up procedure of the ship. "Really, are you gonna have me guess what's up?" he asked but she looked away and avoided eye contact. After looking at her for a few brief moments, he set the hyperspace computer to calculate a path to Kuat for them and continued setting up the ship. Naturally, he would not provide long explanations or go about things more slowly and instead proceeded doing things at a normal pace, resulting in it all being rather hard to learn from.

He froze upon hearing her question, but only for a sliver of a moment. "Yeah, you're the brains here" he said, once again hinting at him mostly being there to help her. In his mind, he was trying to draw a few conclusions since the nav-computer had been open enough for her to see what he had selected. He went silent for a little bit as he watched the hyperspace tunnel before turning to her "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Mathieu loved stories. While he preferred ones told verbally, he was also fond of ones which could be found in print. If Ara opened up to him about her apparent difficulties in reading, he would suggest that they go through a few short stories - the main purpose this time would be for the two of them to just lounge a bit in the couch while he read next to her with a finger pointing at the words he was reading. The Morellian knew that it was not enough to actually learn reading, but it would allow her to go back to the stories at another point and try deciphering the symbols on her own, seeing as she would probably remember what the story was about.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Staying as quiet as ever, Ara refused to look at him or interact at all. He clearly caught on, though, and reassured her that she could talk to him. She glanced at him through her hair then looked away again with a huff. But after a few moments she sighed while her shoulders sagged. "... I can't read the names." she admitted softly. "The words don't make sense to me, I can't understand all of them." she admitted as she refused to look him in the eye.

He seemed to understand her predicament, though, and took her aside to read some stories to her. She went with it, quietly listening while trying to follow his finger. But he was moving too quickly and soon she was getting more annoyed. After getting halfway through a story, she pushed herself onto her feet and turned to face him. "I'm not an idiot, okay! Kark's sake, you don't have to read to me like I'm some kriffing kid. I can do it myself!" she snapped at him, though her anger faltered as as she looked away again. "I just... need time." she muttered, trying to defend herself.

She looked back to him and her frown returned. "I'm not an idiot." she stated again before walking back to the cockpit and curling into herself on the co-pilot's seat.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

"It'll come to you eventually. You're going to school now, aren't you?" he asked, thinking that it was rather likely, seeing as she was now living on Kashyyyk and not with some gang. Mathieu couldn't imagine a 13-year old not having to go to school there - at least among the non-Wookie communities.

Soon, Mathieu laid lazily on the couch with his feet propped up on the dejarik table, reading the story at a comfortable pace. He was quite captivated by it but was soon interrupted as the girl stood up to protest his way of treating her. A sad expression spread across his face "Ara, I didn't mean to..." he said but she soon mentioned that she needed time. The Morellian looked up at her "Yeah, don't worry about it. Let's just enjoy the story."

If the teen still frowned and left with the same statement, he'd let out a soft "I know you're not" as she stormed off. Mathieu would not follow her - he was vested in the story and had no interests in pressurising the girl when she had just said that she needed time. Besides, it was not his responsibility to teach her how to read. Of course, he would have liked to help her - but he was not her parent and didn't feel like that was the kind of relation they had either.

If Ara stayed in the cockpit for the rest of the journey, Mathieu would enter it when they were about to drop out of hyperspace. "Found anything of interest?" he asked, seemingly unaffected by their previous interaction. There were plenty of things which could be interesting by the co-pilot's seat - at least for someone who was not used to flying much. Slowly but surely, they started their descent to Kuat.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

At the question of going to scbool, Ara had no answer. She merely glanced at him with discomfort before looking away. She couldn't admit it. It would make her look like a moron for not being able to read. She ignored his attempts to calm her down and still stormed off towards the cockpit. She was far too embarrassed to just let it slide and continue on with the story, despite it sounding like a good one.

After a while he entered the cockpit, asking her a question that sounded rather sarcastic to the Zabrak. Usually she would have some sort of comment to throw back at him,but nothing came from her. She merely shook her head and kept her eyes glued to the viewport as she hid her face behind her knees. Her arms hugged her legs tighter as she aat in a ball, refusing to work with him. After several moments, she finally decided to speak up. "I'm not going to school. Never did. Joe taught me a bit, mostly just to help in the bar. I tried to teach myself but I don't understand the symbols." she admitted softly, still not looking at him. "I'd like to read, work with numbers, all that stuff. But I don't wanna tell my mother. She'll only freak out over that and fuss over me, try to put me in a school or something, all kinds of shit like that and I don't want it." she continued, finally glancing at him for a moment.

She was quiet again for a few moments before she rested her cheek on her knees to look at him. "Where's the kitchen? I'm hungry." she asked him as she stood up from her seat.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

A child who did not go to school on Kashyyyk? Sure, she had had a rough childhood and in many ways, it was probably still not easy, but going to school was important nonetheless. There were so many factors which were affected positively by it "It's alright, I won't tell anyone. But I will be honest with you. I think you should go. When the authorities finds out that you live by the Silver Rest, they will probably send you to a school anyways. It is always good to make a few friends, learn a thing or two." It had been some time since she stormed out on him earlier and now he was poking the bear with a stick. Mathieu was not sure if it was a good idea but he felt like she might as well get used to him being honest with her.

"Hold, there" he chuckled "How about raiding the kitchen after we've landed?" he said as the ship descended towards one of the public areas in the spacering around the planet. It was a temporary dumping station where where the large corporations operating from the station dumped whatever parts and components they wouldn't be using. Sometimes, the parts were utterly destroyed, sometimes, they were largely intact with a few construction flaws. The recycling machines were barely coping with the amounts of trash that came in - it was part of the reason that unorganised scavengers were welcome to come pick stuff up - they were part of the echosystem that kept the area from being overloaded. Mathieu set the freighter down in an area where five other freighters were already parked. "Magnificent" he joked sarcastically as they sat at a somewhat elevated position to overlook the large piles of trash.

"I've got a few sandwiches ready, wanna have a bite before we go?" he asked, ready to follow her there and have something to eat himself unless she'd rather go out and start working towards building a pod-racer immediately.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

She listened closely to what Matt had to say about her predicament, giving him a soft nod. "I don't care about friends. I have you, that's enough. But I want to learn. I don't want to be some moron that can't read. But... thanks. I don't wanna let Sam find out... but I know that she needs to know. I just don't know how to tell her." she admitted softly, almost as if to keep the conversation between them.

He quickly halted her when she wanted to rush off to the kitchen, suggesting they land first. She remained quiet but gave a nod as she sat back down, trying to understand what he was doing with the controls to land the ship. It was nothing like driving a swoop. As they neared the landing pad, she sat upright to peer over the dashboard. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she looked at the massive field of trash ahead of them. "Oh we hit the jackpot." she muttered as she glanced at him. When they touched down she was out of her seat and rushing towards the kitchen. "Come on! We gotta eat quick! I need to get out there." she called out as she sat by the booth. With her feet tapping impatiently she waited for her sandwiches. As delicious as it looked and tasted, she didn't waste even a second. She munched them down in record time before downing her drink in one very long gulp. Sometimes working in a bar taught a person some handy tricks. With her lunch done in a manner of seconds, she rushed off to grab her dirty old jacket. It was several sizes too big for her but she wouldn't let it out of her sight for even a second. "Come on, Matt!" she cheered happily as she rushed out of the ship, the hot air and industrial smell hitting her like a truck. "This is perfect!" she shouted with a maniacal laugh as she pulled out her datapad, passing it onto him. "You read the instructions and specs, I'll look for the stuff." she ordered as she rushed off towards a pile before he could even give her a hint of what to look for.

Her enthusiasm calmed down quite a bit as the search went on. She was going to have to be a bit more careful in what they needed to get. After all, she wasn't a mechanic. She knew quite a bit of swoops and a few things about ships, but not nearly as much as her mother or other mechanics. Finding the right stuff was a bit of a trick. Her dream build was a legendary one for anyone who knew about the sport's history. But from the look of it, they were going to have to compromise for something more reasonable. But the longer they searched, the more issues started to crop up. The parts they found were good, some even barely used. But a number of the items just didn't cut her requirements. After several hours, she finally turned to Matt with a defeated look in her eyes. "I just can't find the right parts! Like the power couplings! Nothing so far has even come close to being structurally sound. Plus I don't trust that starfighter cockpit we found. It looks sketchy as hell." she commented.

Sitting down on a piece of some destroyed ship, she thought long and hard. "I mean... we can keep looking. But it's a needle in a haystack at this point. What the kark even is a haystack?" she commented with frustration, throwing her arms up in the air as her mind wandered. "And those engines! Sure they're good but... it's not enough. Even if we overcharge the stuff, they'll struggle to maintain the speed reliably." she stood up and walked over to plant her forehead into his chest without any concern over her horns' positioning. "At least we found a lot of good electronic parts. That freighter we pillaged really had some good stuff... I think." she admitted softly as she looked up at him. "Got any ideas?" she asked him, hoping he had a solution to their issues.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Ara rushed out from the cockpit once everything was done and Mathieu followed suit, giving her the occasional pointer as to where to go. He opened the fridge and tossed her a foil-packed sandwich before taking a couple himself. It would soon become evident that she ate much faster than him - despite his time eating in rushed conditions on battlefields as a Mercenary. It didn't matter much to him though, seeing as he could eat when they were working too.

"Sure thing" he said, upon being handed the datapad and for the next few hours, the two would work together. Mathieu was true to his words from before and helped the best he could, whether it be to keep an extra pair of eyes out for the parts they were looking for or if it was to make use of his reach and strength in order to get a hard-to-reach objective or one which was heavy. His mind snapped to the hover cart Sam had prepared once Ara mentioned the power couplings. He distinctly remembered having seen those there.

"You know..." he said as she sat down but was cut off when she began speaking again. Briefly, a smirk emerged on his lips when she mentioned the engine, clearly remembering that Sam had thrown in a few essential components for upgrading most engines that had some sort of modularity to them. But then, she had also mentioned a cockpit - something which was way too large to have been thrown in with the other parts on the hover cart.

Mathieu flexed as he saw the girl send her forehead towards his chest. It was a sign that he knew her rather well by now, seeing as he had a good idea of what might happen. His pectorals tensed up, almost creating a sort of armour for when her horns would impact. Once more, he gently put a hand by the back of her head to carefully redirect it so that the horns would find better spots. With a hand rubbing her upper back, he spoke softly "Don't give up. Let's focus our efforts on finding good pod for you. After that, we can dump the parts we've already got in the ship."

After yet another while of searching and looking, they finally managed to find a good candidate for a cockpit for her "Let's grab both. Maybe we can transfer parts from one to the other once we get started" he said before throwing an awkward look at the hover cart "You'll have to steer the cart. I don't think this will fit" What followed was Mathieu awkwardly trying to find a way to carry the large cockpit. His already potent form allowed him to carry it for a while, but what really allowed him to make it through was when he used the force to bolster his stamina as they made their way back to the ship.

"Let's take it all to the cargo hold" he said, moving in before her and making his way deeper into the ship. Mathieu was probably blocking her visibility a lot, especially since he was carrying the cockpit. Once there, he set the cockpit down next to the hover cart Sam had provided and that he had brought onto the ship after sending Ara to start it up. "If I knew of the workout, I would've brought better shoes" he joked before walking over to the pile to pick up some powercouplings. "Think we can do anything with these?" he asked before nodding to the pile "Why don't ya look it over. See if there's anything useful we can use from there too? You know what we need by now."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara moved her head with his hand, remembering that her horns might be a bother. But she still kept her head against him for a few moments longer as he tried to lift her spirits. A gentle smile spread on her course lips as she looked up at the Jedi. "Sounds like a good idea." she commented before pushing on with him. After a bit or searching, they found another cockpit. "Yeah. This one looks solid. I think we'll be able to rig something up with the two." she agreed with him as she moved back to the hovercart. He instructed her to steer the cart back to his ship and she immediately got to work. Though she took a moment to admire him as he lifted the cockpit on his own and carried it back to the ship. She only snapped out of her thoughts after there was a bit of space between them.

After quickly catching up, she carefully steered the cart onto the loading ramp and into his ship... where another familiar pile was sitting. She glanced at it with confusion before he started to talk. He tried to send her off to start the ship but she wouldn't have any of it. "What the kark is that doing here?" she asked with annoyance in her voice. Looking up at him with confusion, she struggled to figure out what to say. "I... I thought we agreed we weren't going to use her parts?" she reminded him as she pointed at the pile of parts. Her eyes lingered on the pile of resentment before her. There were a lot of solid parts and pieces that would be exactly what they needed. She could even go further and ask Sam to help them out with the mechanical aspects, given she was a lot better at it than the two of them combined.

But the thought of it all made her feel... heavy.

Success was sitting right in front of her. The perfect opportunity to build it was literally one hail away. But she couldn't do it. A harsh frown sat on her brow as she looked at the pile in silence, contemplating her options. At this point, refusing the parts and assistance would bite them in the ass horribly. She finally looked at Matt, defeat clear in her green eyes, despite the hard look she gave him. "We're not gonna take her help." she stated softly before rushing off towards her bunk. Once there, she laid down and curled into a ball. Instinctively, she reached for her datapad. But then she remembered that she left it with him when they went out. With a heavy sigh she pulled the blanket over herself and hid away from the rest of the galaxy as she was left with her own thoughts.

For likely an hour she laid there, unmoving and unresponsive as she battled with herself mentally. After hour two neared, she finally got out of bed. With the faint traces of tears on her tattooed face and a runny nose, she went to go find Matt. Quietly she stood beside him, staring into some sort of interesting nothingness. "Let's go look through that pile." she muttered as she sniffed and wiped at her nose with her oversized sleeve. She reached out and took his hand to pull him along as she made her way to the cargo hold.

Once there, she turned to face him. "I decided that we can probably use her stuff." she stated, looking away again. "I've also decided that... maybe... we could ask my mom for help." she trailed off as she hugged herself, still struggling to admit it aloud. But there was no doubt that he could hear it, despite her mumbling.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Okay, innocent shrugs and short mumbles of "I don't know" apparently didn't work very well on her. Ara had stormed off into her room - naturally, Mathieu followed at first, trying to convince her to come back to the cargo hold where all the parts were so that they could get to work. Alas, she got into her room first and after knocking a few times, calling for her by name and then knocking some more, he concluded that she would be pretty hard to reach. At least for the time being.

Mathieu was quite accomplished in regards to his mechanical work, having worked on his ship extensively and even created a few devices. While he had no degree in engineering, he was confident in his capacity to build a pod racer - at least when he had access to the holonet and a few friends from Morellia whom he used to call when not knowing what to do. It was a tried and true process which was bound to work. Probably rather well too. But then, it was Ara who was in charge and ultimately responsible for the project. He would make no moves to try to take over her project. Instead, he walked over to the cockpit and took the reigns over the ship once again. He would only fly out a few hundred metres away from the area they had just been in. It would save docking fees and allow them to work in the cargo hold without disruption from whoever might be moving about outside.

She had not been away for a short while - but Mathieu was patient and had no plans for the rest of the day. When she finally came out, he was in the middle of a workout. Dropping off the weight and sitting back up, he looked to her. He did not smile as she informed him of her decision - making it look like he had some kind of victory now was the last thing he wanted. Instead, he nodded and let out a friendly "Sure" before letting her pull him along to the cargo hold.

Reaching out with a long arm, Mathieu took hold of her shoulder opposite to the side that he was on. The girl had just, albeit reluctantly, come to the conclusion that she wanted to ask her mother for help. It was a big step - going from accepting the parts that Sam had offered to involving her in the process of building the pod. An amusing and daunting thought crossed his mind as he realised that, if they asked Sam for help, he probably wouldn't need to do much work on the pod itself - but instead, be relegated to keeping the peace. That would be a much greater challenge. Pulling the new teen close, he gave her a strong squeeze. It was hard to tell why she seemed to feel vulnerable upon saying that they would take Sam's help but he was quick to try to send her the message that he would be there with her.

He held on to her for a few more moments before letting go and handing her the datapad. "You better make the call then" he said,, looking down at her with a kind smile. "Want me to be with you when you make the call? Otherwise, I can start working on the chassis - if you need me, you can just holler or wave or something." Whatever she answered, he'd give her a brotherly head-rub, messing up her hair a little before either following her to the couch or taking a few steps towards the chassis and starting to work on it.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

His arms came around her and pulled her into a tight hug. It was uncomfortable to be pressed up against him after he just finished working out, but soon she relaxed and her arms snaked around him as well. At first she wasn't aware, but she soon remembered to turn her head as to not impale him again. They stayed like that for a while and it gave Ara enough time to realize that he was probably the only person in the galaxy that she could truly call a friend. It felt really good to have someone like him around.

After a few peaceful moments he released her and handed back her datapad. She studied it, noting that the crack on the screen seemed to have grown. It had nothing to do with the topic at hand but it was just something that stuck out to her. She looked back up at Matt as he spoke, listening to what he had to say. "You can go work on the pod if you want. I'll... I'll be here." she said softly as she turned to make some room for herself. For several moments she stared at the datapad before linking it to the ship's comms and opening the call towards Sam. The call took a while to go through but eventually the mercenary answered.

"Hey, kiddo! You alright?" came the surprised voice of her mother through the speaker. "Hey... mom. I'm alright, I'm with Matt." she answered stiffly, glancing at Matt for a quick second. "You working on the pod stuff?" she asked and Ara gave a light nod. "Yeah. We, uh... took a look at your parts but we still needed some stuff. So we went over to Kuat to find some cool stuff." she answered, spinning the truth a little. "Oh nice! The place is a scrapper's wet dream. Did you guys manage?" she asked, discomfort rather clear in her voice. This was certainly not a normal conversation between them. It might also be the longest conversation that wasn't an argument or fight. "Yeah, we had a blast. But... we're a little stuck. We don't fully... understand... how this stuff works. So I-I was thinking that... maybe... you'd-you'd like to help?" she stammered, standing stiff as a board as her heart pulsed in her ears. The same reaction seemed to be happening on the other side of the call as Sam was quiet for several moments. Ara was about to just kill the call and write off the idea, when Sam spoke up. "Y-yeah! Sure, twerp! Those things are a blast to work on, certainly crazy enough to keep it interesting. I'll organize a space in the hangar for your stuff, might just move it into Matt's spot and leave him to land out in the open." she teased with a smug chuckle, hoping that he was listening in on the call.

She cleared her throat as Ara breathed a sigh of relief. "But yeah! I'll gladly help out. It's your build, though. So you're gonna be the shotcaller. I'll just be helping out with the building, you're doing the rest." she continued with a more serious voice. Ara smiled brightly as she glanced at Matt. "Yeah, that's great!" she answered with enthusiasm, though she quickly recomposed herself. "I mean... yeah, that's fine. It is my build, after all. Someone has to take responsibility for it." she continued with her more neutral tone that she usually used. Sam took note of the shift, but she was going to be holding onto that first answer. Perhaps this was exactly what they needed.

"Okay, then! Just tell Matt to get his ass in gear and get back to Kashyyyk. I'll sort out the rest then we can start building." she answered, sounding like she was ready to end the call. "Mom, wait! One other thing... I wanna... join a school." she admitted softly, cringing at the fact that she admitted it. "A school?" Sam asked awkwardly on the other side. "No, just ignore that, it's nothing." Ara tried to dismiss, but Sam was quick to speak up. "Hey, Ara! Don't worry! I get it. I got the money now, I'll gladly help out with that. We can talk more about it once you're back." she admitted, bringing a sigh of relief out of Ara.

"Thanks, mom." she said softly, her voice brimming with a smile. "No problem, twerp. Stay safe." Sam quipped on the other side. Ara was quiet for a bit before clearing her throat. "Will do. Chat later." she muttered, ending the call. She turned to Matt, letting out a sigh as she stared at him. "Now what?" she asked him, completely dazed over what just happened.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

And there he went - over to what would become the actual pod. If Ara had actually looked at him work, she may have realised that he probably knew much more about what he was doing than expected. Mathieu had never tried to show off what he knew and he had never really tried to hide it either - the same was true this time, but his wide back did ensure that it would be hard for her to see what he was doing. Perhaps it was for the best as the girl seemed rather convinced that they needed Sam's help to build the pod.

He had told himself not to listen in on their conversation. All he paid attention to was the general tone he heard - he had cooked at Sam's place enough times to know what kind of build-up they used to have before going at each other and had a general idea of when intervening was a good idea. With that, he tuned out of their conversation and just focused on his 'job'. But then he heard Sam mention his name - it seemed to at the end of a sentence. He did not want to speak past Ara with Sam on their holocall so he looked to the girl instead and pointed at her with the hydrospanner "If I have to park out in the open, I'll be steering the hover cart and you'll be carrying this thing on your back" he said, patting the cockpit behind her whilst being fairly confident that she wouldn't even be able to lift it up.

It wouldn't be long before he tuned out of the conversation again and started working on getting the pod in order. Only when they were winding down the call did he pay attention to the actual words they said - but way too late to actually know what they were supposed to do. Walking up to her and accidentally drowning the small girl in the shadow he produced, Mathieu looked down "I don't know, you tell me chief"

When it eventually became clear to him that they were going back to Kashyyyk, he nodded "To the cockpit, then" he said, ushering her along. Naturally, it was understandable that she might want to stay and look the parts over and start working on the pod but he would insist that she wait until they entered hyperspace. If she argued, he would playfully swoop in and throw her up on his shoulder to hold her tight there as he'd casually walk over to the cockpit. It wouldn't be long before they were once more travelling in hyperspace, giving them some idle time to kill before arriving back at Kashyyyk.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Matt's answer was not at all what she expected. She needed some input on what to do next... but he just threw the reigns over to her and left her to decide. Still reeling from the shock that was an actual normal conversation with her mother, she looked at him with blank eyes. "Um... I-I think we... should go back to Kashyyyk." she managed to say, as she slowly turned to walk with him back to the cockpit.

Like a ghost she wandered towards the cockpit and sat down in the oversized co-pilot's seat. For several seconds she was quiet before looking to him. "I don't know what I was expecting. Like... an annoyed sigh, or her telling me to get a grip or... something." she admitted as she looked forward once more. "We actually had a normal conversation. Like... it legitly sounds like she... cares about me. Like she wants to help me." she pondered aloud as she pulled her jacket closed, drowning herself almost in the oversized piece of clothing.

She looked back to him with pleading eyes. "Matt. Can I ask you something?" she started with uncertainty. "Is my mom the same person people kept portraying her as in Underworld? Like... do you think me and her can... be something? Like a familyorsomething..." she trailed off as her eyes went wide, realizing what it was she just said.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Saying that she seemed down would be inaccurate. But the girl was more quiet than usual, more contemplative. It was an odd sight to see, considering how she normally behaved, but hopefully, it was healthy.

Mathieu was gladdened to hear that the conversation between Ara and Sam had been a good one. Looking at her patiently as she spoke, Mathieu waited for her to mention that Sam actually seemed to care for her before giving her a light nod. "She's your mother. She probably does like you." he said, sending the girl a soft smile but still refraining from getting too involved or personal. The large Morellian, dwarfing the seat he sat in, hoped that Ara's relations to her mother would improve. But he did not think that putting any pressure on the girl would help.

He nodded as she wondered if she could ask him something "Of course"

A brief smile flashed by before he answered "I don't really know how they portray her, Ara. I worked as a Mercenary, but I never got too involved with that. But I do think you two could grow close. But it might take a lot. You might have to fight for it and when you feel your temper flare up, try to take a step back and think of what she is actually doing and why she is doing it." Mathieu let out a sigh - he had tried to avoid getting too involved - but since Ara asked about it, he would answer. Reaching over to her shoulder, he put a hand on it and looked her in the eyes "But even if it's hard, you might get a mother-daughter relationship out of it."

Waiting until she had asked all her questions or at least grown silent, he finally stood up. "Come on, let's work on the pod. Give you something to do while processing stuff." he said but let out a chuckle before sending her a wink and clapping her on the back "Or just to ease my own work load, whichever path floats your boat."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

He gave his insight on their relationship and she listened closely to what he had to say. After he was done, she sat back and thought over what he said. She was shaken out of her thoughts when he mentioned working on the pod. Giving a nod, she slowly rose from her seat. "Yeah. Sounds good." she muttered as she turned to exit the cockpit. She wandered through the hallways and quickly reached the pod's parts. Handing him back her datapad, she walked over to the two stacks of parts with her hands on her hips. Now that she actually took a second to look it over, she realized what a monumental task this was going to be. At least she wouldn't have to do it alone.

She walked back to him and glanced over the schematics to make sure on where she wanted to start before walking back to the stack of freshly acquired parts. She started to rummage through the two cockpits they found and began to sort the important components from the junk which soon started to form a pile off to the side. But as she worked, Matt's words lingered with her. After several minutes, she popped her head out from one of the cockpits. "I never had a mom." she admitted as she rested her arms on the frame she was looking over. Idly rubbing the faded paint, she looked at the ground for a bit before glancing up at him. "Joe's hoe hated me and the feeling was mutual over here. I know she just wanted me as something to make her workload easier around the place. I'm sure if Joe weren't around, she would have sold me to some slavers." she explained calmly as she stared at him.

A small smile formed on her lips. "But... it really feels like Sam cares. I mean... she tucked me in the night I got there after I was getting cold. She has caf for the both of us at the ready each morning. She tries to talk to me. I know she's annoyed a lot of times, she's easy to read. She's raised her voice, sure, but only after I kept being a queen to her. And like you saw, she had those parts ready even after I told her to kark off and leave my project alone." she spoke as she pondered over her situation. "And now... she's willing to help even after everything I said to her. She's willing to send me to a school. I never had a mom... but if this is really who she is now... it might be worth a shot." she concluded with a shrug. "Besides, she is my mom. And I want a mom. Might as well snatch that bargain while it's still open." she joked as she stepped back to look into the pod again.

She glanced back to Matt before diving down again. "Thanks, Matt. You're awesome." she quipped before diving back into the cockpit to sort through the components. "Hey, Matt! Can you bring me my datapad real quick?" she called out from inside the cockpit. If he did reach in to give it, though, a surprise would hit the both of them. Reaching up with her focus still on something else, the datapad would suddenly pull out of his grasp and snap into her grip, earning a surprise glance up at him...

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Working with Ara was peaceful, in a sense. Mathieu was not particularly jumpy around her - he knew that she could get snappy at times and perhaps even grumpy. But they were mates and she always came around in the end. But then, except for earlier, he did not feel like she showed much of a temper against him often and now that they were working on something, she seemed rather calm. They were just doing their thing, bouncing a few ideas at times, and at others, they just worked in silence. But the comfortable kind.

He looked up at her curiously with an interested "Hm?" as she began speaking. It didn't take long to realise what she was on about and so he lowered the stabiliser tube he had been working on. While he did offer her a sympathetic smile, Mathieu mostly stayed quiet and listened to her as she spoke. The girl was getting more emotional and with that, he stood up and walked over to her. He did want to bring her in for a hug, but it was hard, seeing as she stood inside the cockpit she had been working on. Instead, he simply rested his hand by her shoulder, to let her know that he was there for her. In the end, all he had to offer was an understanding nod and "Family can be pretty great. Despite all the ups and downs."

"No sweat" he said as he returned to his stabiliser tube. When she asked for the datapad, he walked over but just about as he was about to hand it to her, he felt it levitate towards her instead "Huh" was the only sound he made. He was a bit worried - seeing as he was still a Padawan, the Morellian knew that it was not really his place to introduce her to the force. Especially since he had a hard time pinpointing where her alignment was. He looked at her for a bit but finally decided that he was not going to do anything for now. For now, he just smirked and let out a playful "The force works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?" before returning to where he had been before to continue working on the stabiliser.

Before long, they would need to return to the cockpit as they were bound to drop out of hyperspace.

Ara Sheridan