Private Cup o Cafe and the Past

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra managed a tight smile, her chest tightening.

"That's amazing," she tried to reassure. "Not even our own operatives could do that."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani scoffed, "Probably cause they didn't do something… monumentally stupid like, I dunno, tap into the dark side just to get stronger. Play double agent with the Sith. Nearly kill themselves and a few other people in the process." She grew increasingly irritated by each recounting, more at herself than anything else. "Doesn't matter now."

She forced herself to take a breath, letting her annoyance pass before she got too in the weeds. There were better ways to spend time with someone you hadn't seen in ages. "Sorry. I'm not used to talking about it. The whole thing was just a big fucking mess."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra blinked, her pancakes placed down at just the right moment. She pulled them closer and let them occupy her, silent as she unrolled her silverware.

"...I couldn't handle it. After we got Nida back. Spices made the mess go away, so I..." She cut the pancakes up into tiny, bite size pieces bit by bit, not taking a bite. "They didn't. Just made things messier. Yula pulled me out of a whore house," she announced, unflinching as she looked up to meet Amani's gaze.

"Messes happen. To everyone." The first pancake tastes like ash on her tongue, but she chewed anyway. She chewed and she chewed, because she knew eventually it would taste normal again.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani's frown only grew as Kyra recounted her own troubles, "...I wish I'd known-"

During those last few months it felt like everything was falling apart around them. It was hard to reconcile with how much had actually happened since the last time they had seen each other. She matched Kyra's gaze a moment, then her eyes fell to the wayside.

"...Yeah." She took a long sip of coffee, and let the silence between them stew for a while longer. "Um. How are they doing now? Your family."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra shrugged it all away. She hadn't told Amani for sympathy, or guilt. She just wanted her to know she wasn't alone. There was a way past this. Somehow.

"I dunno. Alright, I guess? I stay out here, mostly." Kyra was largely avoiding them, an uncharacteristic thing for the Perl that had once been clinging and close.

"Did you ever go back and see yours?"

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Oof.

An awkward shift in her seat, "...Don't have one."

Amani shrugged and forced a small smile. It was an old wound, not one Kyra could've guessed.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra visibly paled. "I thought-- You had-- you said--" Had she mixed her up with Acaadi? She wasn't shallow, just ditzy, and it had been years. She tried to reason it all but could only sputter and choke back her bite.

"I... I'm sorry," she grimaced. "I never really paid enough attention back then, did I..." Kyra, at times, could be a shit friend. Well intended, but thoughtless.

 

[Amani Serys]

"I-it's fine," Amani tried to shut this down quickly, "I've had twelve years to deal with it."

That wasn't entirely true. She had in large moved past it, but there would always be things that come up time and again which reopen those wounds.

"We probably didn't talk about it much. It's fine." Amani was stumbling over her words trying to bury the faux pas.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra opted to take the opening to shove as much pancakes into her mouth as she could. Couldn't misspeak if she couldn't talk. It really was impressive how much she got in there. She choked back the bite and managed to stop coughing after some coffee.

"I- ahem- yeah. Well, um, if you're ever looking for work I arrange shipments and-- hire crews," she summarized poorly. "Restoration stuff," she reassured. "Low key."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Watching Kyra attempt to shove pancakes into her face actually managed to elicit a stifled laugh out of Amani. She held back from making a scene of it though, and instead tried to continue on with a few intermittent giggles, “Um, yeah. Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

A pregnant pause.

“...That can’t really be all we have to say, right?” Amani finally scoffed, “Haven’t seen each other in three years, and all we can do is talk about how life still sucks and the galaxy’s gone to shit?” She didnt even really know how to follow up on her own statement, "Just... feels like there used to be a lot more to us than just being depressing messengers."

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra stopped mid bite, her cheeks stuffed with food. “I… Well ouch, Amani, speak for yourself." She tried to laugh it off, but the truth of the statement weighed in her eyes.

She swallowed it all back and finally lowered her fork and knife. "Your hair looks like chit," she asserted, the airs she had put on dropping. Amani wanted old Kyra? "Too much -- puff. Are you doing the conditioner treatment I showed you?"

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani snorted, almost choking on her coffee at Kyra's accusation, then gave the Zeltron a look of mock offense. Actually, maybe some of the offense was genuine.

"Well ouch to you, too! Yes, I keep trying it your way, but it's hard to find good product out here sometimes, thanks very much." She felt at the mass of hair on her head, a little more self-conscious of the less than perfect maintenance.

"I see you still forget to chew with your mouth closed sometimes. Was kinda hoping you'd have kicked that habit entirely by now." It was Amani's turn to poke back.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra snapped her mouth shut and finished chewing. Her lips pursed as she studied her friend. "I have spares on my ship. You're taking them with you." And there was no room for arguing on that. The tension stretched on for a moment longer before exploding into a full belly laugh.

"You brat, my chewing is fine," she asserted, tossing sugar packets at her.

 

[Amani Serys]

"Make me." A chit-eating grin spread across Amani's face as Kyra became notably more aware of her chewing. Something she most definitely would not have pulled before knowing the Zeltron.

Then there was a build up of silence. Amani's lip began to twitch. And as soon as Kyra broke, she too began giggling like an idiot. "'Ey-!" She raised an arm to block the incoming sugar packets, only for one to bop her in the face. "I'm gonna tackle you if one of those falls in my drink!" Amani blindly picked up a stray packet with her free hand, tossing it back at her assailant.

Kyra Perl​

 

[Jem Fossk]

.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Now this was more like old times.

Amani was lucky Kyra had the sense not to bend liquid into friend's faces when teachers weren't looking anymore-- not when the poor waiter would have to clean the mess up-- though she was tempted.

"Yeah, yeah, careful oldie you'll strain your leg." She tossed a packet back, but otherwise restrained from any further chaos.

"But really. You needing work? Cause I can pay sometimes. Could be nice. Like old times. ...If ya felt like it."

 

[Amani Serys]

Oldie? The sheer audacity of such a claim deserved an incredulous scoff. Their age difference was marginal at best, "Puh-lease, if I'm old, you're going down with me."

With the wordless ceasefire agreed upon, Amani relaxed her defensive posture and took another sip of coffee.

She let the offer simmer, biting her lip while she mulled over her possibilities. In truth there wasn't much to actually consider, to the point that even Amani was wondering what she was waiting for. Finally she pushed down any underlying nerves.

"Sure. I'd really like that."

Kyra Perl​