Building Home

[Ara Zambrano]

She smiled silkily and laughed, squeezing the girl's arm as they walked.

"If I'd been born on Hapes, maybe it would have mattered. In the slums, looks mean little except whether you're an easy target." Her eyes narrowed, lips pursed for a moment in a smug grin. "And they found out quickly that I'm NOT a victim."

Her eyes darkened as she remembered her retribution after fully recovering. It was one of the first times she'd felt the power of the force residing inside her. The rush of power when she ended their lives and the Force reacted to their sacrifice, welcoming it. It was the first time she'd used her anger, her fear, to make her stronger, and she'd easily grow addicted.

She smiled and laughed, brushing off the moment of seriousness. She patted [member="Kaalia Voldaren"]'s arm lightly.

"I don't think any of us can claim to be a hero. But we do what needs to be done."

The hallway ended in a large anti-chamber, the same cavernous room she'd first met her master in. The room she'd first tasted the adrenaline rush of holding and sparring with a saber. Her lips curled up as she spotted an alcove on the far side. Perfect.

"How about here?"

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

That sudden shift in tone and demeanor showed a darker side to [member="Ara Ren"], something Kaalia hadn't seen before. It was something all Ren posessed in some way, some showing it more freely than others. Pieces of her friend's history fell into place one by one, even though there still were questions left unanswered. The woman decided to not inquire too far however, not wanting to push Ara too far. It was clear both had a similar lust for power, even if it was for different reasons.

We do what needs to be done. The words cycled through the redhead's mind, thinking them over while getting lost in thought. It was said with such conviction, the source having a clear goal to achieve. That was something Kaalia herself lacked, she was an uncertain soul without a clear purpose. The things that are done, were they truly necessary? Was it for a greater good, would it result into something that she wanted to achieve? The woman had no answer to those questions, and it only fueled her inner turmoil.

The two came to the end of the hallway, were a room greeted them. It seemed Ara knew this place. Kaalia's eyes were cast on the same alcove that her friend saw earlier, and she nodded at the question. "This place is as good as any. Let's play!" The woman shrugged off her thoughts, her face lightening back up. She could really use the distraction.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

Ara glanced at her friend, sensing a whirlwind of emotions from the younger woman. She was not adept enough to pick each emotion out as they crossed her friend's mind, but she could tell that the girl was bothered by something that had been said or some thought it had brought on. She frowned, wondering, not for the first time, what had motivated her new friend to join the Ren.

She seemed neither power-hungry nor angry enough to have turned to the darkside of the force by pure emotion. Instead, she seemed....rather normal.

One side of Ara's mouth quirked up in a grin as she realized the absurdity of that thought. She seemed normal enough if you met her out on a normal day. She could even be downright pleasant at times. Appearances could so often be deceiving.

They settled into the small alcove and Ara began shuffling the deck of cards.

"What do you know about the deck and the suits?" She smiled and set out one of each face card in addition to a numbered card of each suit.

[member="Kaalia Voldaren"]

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Watching [member="Ara Ren"] skillfully shuffle the cards, Kaalia took a moment to think over the things she remembered. It had been a while since she'd seen anyone play it, and it had been even longer since she'd played it herself. "There are four suits, if I recall correctly. The goal is to get as close to positive or negative 23 as possible. Other than that I don't really remember. Like I said before, the game still a foreign concept to me." The redhead looked over the cards, studying them carefully. "You'll have to refresh me on the phases and general rules though." The game was a welcome distraction from everything, and listened carefully to her friend's explanation of the game.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

Ara pointed out each special card in turn. "The Idiot. The Queen. The Evil One. The Star. Endurance. Balance. Demise. Moderation. There are two of each in the deck." She shuffled and laid out a second set of the face cards on top of the others, transparency being her best bet with her new friend.

"Each one is worth a different value." As she proceeded to point out their values, she slowly slid each pair of cards forward. "0, -2, -15, -17, -8, -11, -13, and -14 respectively."

She set another set of cards down, this time one of each face card and one of each value.

"There are four suits and other than the fact that there are four possible copies of each card in play, they have no affect on the game. Each numbered card, 1 through 11, are worth their value."

She pointed to each face card, similar to how she'd presented the special cards. "The commander is worth 12, the mistress 13, the master worth 14, and the ace is worth 15." She paused, meeting her friend's gaze to see if she understood. It was quite a bit to take in at first, especially the special cards whose values seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them.

"There are three phases: Calling, shifting, and drawing. During the calling phase, you may call the hand on another player's turn, but never your own. During the shifting phase, the cards' value changes." She raised an eyebrow at the deck spread on the table before her. "Since we do not have the proper tech to simulate this phase, we'll just do it simply. During each shifting phase, all even cards go up in value by 2, until they hit 15, at which point it returns to zero and starts again. For example, the master would go from 14 to 1. All negative cards will do the opposite, they will drop in value by 2."

She held up an ace card for [member="Kaalia Voldaren"]'s inspection and raised an eyebrow, asking silently if the girl understood.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Kaalia carefully studied all the cards, making mental notes on their values. A small nod accompanied her effort of remembering the information, signifying she understood."I think I got it. I may screw up a few times, but I've been told I'm a quick learner." [member="Ara Ren"] then moved on to explaining the different phases, going over each one to explain what happens. Some improvisation was needed, seeing the Bastion didn't have the tech needed to play a 'proper' game, but it would have to do. She looked at the the ace, giving her new friend a nod. "Let's see if I understood everything correctly."

The woman would try to remember what worked and what didn't, mostly taking in whatever Ara would do. She'd probably lose, and a lot at that, but it would be fun and the redhead was always eager to learn something new. She sat waiting for Ara to finish shuffling, ready to play.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

Ara nodded and picked up the deck, shuffling it with deft hands.

"We'll play the first round face up and talk through it. It sucks when you don't have the right system to play, but we'll make it work!"

She dealt four cards to each of them, placing the rest of the deck face-down on in the middle of the table, the draw pile. Flipping her cards over, she spread them out face up and looked at [member="Kaalia Voldaren"] to do the same. Her hand consisted of an eight, a three, a mistress, and demise. She smiled and slid the eight forward.

"I've played the eight so it's value is locked in. The rest of my cards will shift once you have played a card or drawn."

Ara drew a card from the deck, a five. Simple easy cards to work with.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Kaalia looked at her cards for a second before laying them down face-up on the table. Her hand consisted of a seven, a two, a four and a Balance. After scratching her head the redhead picked up the seven, looked at it, and laid it in front of her. "I'll play this one, then. Is it a nine now?" She wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, but it had to do. The drawing of a card, a three, would signify that is was [member="Ara Ren"]'s turn.

"With what you said before, not being very good 'until you have to be', I bet you've emptied some pockets with this game." Kaalia smiled, wondering what her tactics were when valuables were on the line.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

Ara smiled and pointed to the seven she had just played. "It has been played so it's value stays the same. The rest...they change value." She pointed to each card [member="Kaalia Voldaren"] and she had in their hands, vocalizing the new value of each card. She nodded when the girl asked about it being her turn. In response, she played a mistress card, smiling to herself. The card had gone up in value to 15 and so she currently had a pure sabacc already. She wondered if the girl would notice.

Even if she did, the game was usually played with face-down cards. Ara drew a card, ending her turn and moving into the calling phase of Kaalia's turn. "Sabacc." She called the hand, laughing lightly and pointing out the total of 23 in her cards. "That was a bad example of a game, I got lucky." She winked at the girl, the simple two turns indicating better than words, the answer to the second question.

"Care for another hand? I'll go easier on you this time." She waited for the nod of approval and collected the cards, shuffling and redealing deftly.

She watched the red-head across the table discreetly as they played a few more hands and engaged in polite conversations. She idly wondered if this was a sign of things to come, easy conversation, casual afternoons...was this what it was like to be a part of something larger than yourself? She shook herself to shake those thoughts out of her head. Barely a week with the mysterious Ren and she was already starting to let her guard down. What would happen as more time passed? She'd have to find out, for the first time she was a part of a team in truth. It was a good feeling.