Funny Finding You Here

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He smiled.

Yep.

There were few things as satisfying as seeing a woman get upset so quickly when you knew exactly what you were doing. Some might have called it foolish, but for Kurt it was just a way of...testing the waters. At this point she was more arguing against herself than him, her mocking tone of voice and the way her inflection quickly changed meant that he had already established she cared, and if she cared, he had won her over. It was really that simple, and while it might have been egotistical, it was also certainly true.

"Oh, but I don't have to answer your question." He said with a smile, tilting his head back to lean against the acceleration couch. "The tone of your voice, the flush of your cheeks, the very way you're sitting, it's telling enough, isn't it?"

The cheeky grin spread across his face.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Her heart was pounding so fast she could almost swear it was about to damn near burst from her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about!" She stood rather quickly, almost tripping over the leg of the chair as she did so. "There's nothing different about the way I sit, or the way I talk!" She reached up with a hand to feel the warmth against her cheeks as she snarled at him, sitting there ever so confident on the couch. The girl balled her fists by her side and growled again, shaking her arms with frustration. "You're impossible!"

The timer went off, and it couldn't have come at a better moment. She spun her body around to face away from Kurt, reaching for the heat resistant mittens while she attempted to divert the blood away from her cheeks as quickly as possible. With the dish out of the oven she flicked the door closed with the back of her heel, setting the dish atop the stove to cool for a minute or two. Jamie closed her eyes, breathed in the warm, cheesy and buttery smell, before drawing in a deep breath and turning back to Kurt. "Answer my question, damn it."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

This was a tad too easy. The way Jamie reacted, the over the top motions, the touching of her own face to assure herself, it was adorable in a way. Kurt briefly wondered if this was how she had always acted, or if it was a response to being so out of her own element. Naboo was very different from where she was now, very different from how she had been treated all her life. The thought struck him, though it quickly faded away when he realized that Jamie was a woman of strong will. She had likely always been like this, which had probably contributed to her running away from home.

He smiled.

It was that same cheeky grin, mischief, as though he knew something that no one else in the room did.

Kurt's face knew that grin well, he wore it often and it got him into trouble far too many times. Yet he still wore it, and as Jamie offered her indignation,he couldn't help but wear it. Instead of answering her, instead of doing the smart of intelligent thing, Kurt gave into his mischievous instincts.

No words came from his lips, instead he simply motioned her to come over, a small wave, as though he would whisper something in her ear.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie stared for a long moment. Attempting to maintain some minor semblance of dignity was growing difficult. She was trapped. Trapped playing his game. A game she knew nothing about. Hell, she didn't even know the rules of this game. Everything was just my way or no way with him. He loved it, and she knew it. Nothing she said or did would change the fact that he was going to do what he wanted to do. It irritated her, but not because he was manipulative and stubborn, but because he was far better at it than she.

She glared at him as he waived her over with the most devious smile she'd ever seen. Her lips pressed against one another as she contemplated whether to do as he was asking, to further play into his game. Her hands folded beneath her underarms. It was apparent that the both of them knew that Kurt was better at whatever game this was. They both knew it frustrated her. And they both knew that he'd already won. She sighed, sounding almost defeated and dropped her arms to her sides. "Fine." She said rather plainly, before walking to where he sat, dropping herself lightly onto the cushion beside him, pulling her legs up beneath her.

"I'm here. You gonna answer me now?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

His smile didn't waver or disappear, didn't even change.

It was pretty clear that Kurt was confident in his 'victory' that he was self assured in the fact that he was right. The way she moved told she already knew that as well, the way she sat down and sighed at him were an indication of defeat. It was odd, really, just how Kurt was acting, but the mischief on his face was akin to that of a small boy in the schoolyard who knew something that the other children didn't. It was like he had been given a treat, and nobody else had.

Briefly, Kurt wondered if things could have gone differently. If he could have been shot in that Diner, if Jamie could have been, or if they'd both just never talked to one another. Would he have known? Cared? It was hard to say, even harder to predict.

The Pilot looked at her, then, crooked his fingers just a tiny bit to signal her to come even closer, he leaned towards her as he did so, as though he were intent on whispering something to her.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

What is this? She thought to herself. Are we children? It looked to Jamie like he was going to whisper in her ear the answer to the pretty straightforward question she'd asked. At that moment all she wanted to do was scream and pull her hair out. Why is he being so damn difficult!? There was no reason for it. No need to whisper. They were alone on a ship in the middle of space traveling at blinding speed. Just who is going to hear?! And why does it even need to be whispered!?

Ugh. What's the point? She gave in, adjusting her legs so that she was sitting on top of her knees, puling herself closer to face him head on. She leaned herself a bit more forward, just inches from his face, her eyes bouncing back and forth between each of his. Her hair shook lightly from side to side with the sway of her head as she whispered to him, "What?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt leaned in towards her, his upper body shifting slightly as she moved closer to him.

He would pass just to the right of her face, the scruff of his beard scratching gently at her cheek, his smile still pulling at his lips. Oddly enough, he was enjoying this, far more than he probably should have been. She was still frustrated, still indignant, but he could tell that there was just a bit of curiosity. Genuine curiosity, the prickling of wonder at what Kurt might have to say. It wasn't that he enjoyed manipulating her, it was simply her reactions that made him smile.

"Because." Kurt said into her ear, his beard scratching at her soft skin as he spoke. "I can do this."

With that, Kurt gave her a very gentle kiss on the cheek, then drew back, that same confidently boyish smile still on his face.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The prickling of his facial hair against her cheek gave her a shiver, the sensation tickling her ever so slightly. He was close enough now to her that each breath she drew in was filled with nothing but his scent. He was closer to her than anyone else had ever been. It made her stomach flutter, a nervous and anxious feeling she hadn't experienced before. He whispered into her ear words she hadn't anticipated. She tried to swallow, but it felt like there was a knot in her throat.

He just kissed you! By the time Kurt backed away from her he'd see her face a vibrant shade of red. She sat still, frozen in place, unsure of what to say or do. She swallowed again, she could swear he heard it. Are you going to say something? Or just sit here like a statue?! Her heart was pounding. She had no frame of reference as to what to do in this situation.

"I..Um..." She turned her head, looking at the souffle on the counter. "The food is um....It's done, I think...If you're hungry..."

Smooth, Jamie. Smoooooth.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

His smile turned into a smirk.

That conversation had come to an end, and the argument had ended with him once again winning. Perhaps he had cheated just a bit, but it was fun, more enjoyable that way. It was easy to tell that Jamie was slight off tilt now, that she didn't quite know how to respond. Kurt liked that.

She was stumped.

"What did you make?" He tried to keep some of the amusement from his tone, not wanting her to think that he was mocking her or anything of the sort.

Kurt briefly thought back to encounters like this that he'd had before. Ones that had taken place at his parents house, his pod-racer, his first ship...there had been a lot of these incidents. He supposed that was because his own confidence and bravado breed them, though it might have been that he was just lucky.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie couldn't read him for the life of her. She had no honest idea whether he was simply messing with her, or if there was something more behind it. Regardless, she was flustered beyond belief now. She slid her feet off the couch and onto the floor to stand herself up. Her blue eyes stared down at him for a minute, still struggling to find something to say. Managing to settle the hangups and stutters in her voice she finally answered him.

"Something my mom taught me how to make a long time ago. It can either be a dessert or a dinner, depending on how you make it." She gave him a warm smile. "You can make it with custards or cremes and fruit to make a dessert, or you can make it with milks, cheeses, and spices to make it more of a dinner meal sort of thing. I went with the latter."

Stepping lightly over to the dish she removed a knife from the block and cut the circular flaky, puffy cakelike food into four large, gooey pieces, before promptly setting a piece onto each plate, leaving the knife resting across the top of the serving dish. Jamie turned back to Kurt, a plate in each hand to show him. Please don't be awful... "What do you think? Annnnd do you prefer the couch or the table?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Couch." He mused. There was still tension within her, which of course amused him all the more. The situation was funny to him, though, he quite liked seeing Jamie all flustered. As for eating, well, Kurt liked a little bit of everything.

Tatooine was diverse enough that he'd eaten hundreds of dishes over the years and never scoffed at any of them. Food was food to him, and he'd never eaten something that he'd later regretted. There had even been a time when he'd tried Hutt cuisine, though that experience had been something of a...well nightmare. Still, the end result had garnered Kurt some regard with the Hutts that were present on Tatooine, something that was big for a podracer looking to get ahead.

"More relaxed." He explained. "Don't have to sit up straight."

Jamie would find that aboard a starship, things were often more about catching relaxation and rest when possible.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She nodded rather slowly. "O-Okay." She brought the plates along with some utensils with her, handing one to Kurt before carefully sitting down herself. Despite his affirmation that it was more relaxing and lacked the need to sit up straight Jamie sat up, feet on the floor, plate in lap, ensuring that she didn't spill or make a mess. After all, it wasn't her place, and she still had table manners. "I hope it's alright, but you can tell me if it sucks."

Quietly she began to eat, her head faced towards the dish, though her eyes would wander over towards Kurt every few seconds. Why? She didn't know. Curiosity perhaps. She was still trying to discover the motive behind that kiss, and even more so about how he had expected her to react. Had he even considered it? Did he act on impulse? Should she have kised him back? Ugh...This is confusing.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt dug in, finding the taste to be superb.

To be fair, it wasn't something that he would usually eat. Tatooine food tended to be heavy, filled with Bantha meat and other large animals that most people would have balked at. Naboo would be different of course, more dainty, lighter food and better for you. It was something he should have expected, though the surprise wasn't necessarily a bad one. Kurt chewed away for a few more moments, eating the air desert like entree with surprising speed.

"Delicious." He offered her with a genuine smile.

Kurt genuinely enjoyed food, it was one of the smaller pleasures that he kept in his life.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's nerves relaxed a bit, hearing that it wasn't garbage. Cooking for someone unaccustomed to the only style of cooking you know of was a gamble, a true roll of the dice. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind that he might have never even heard of what she was making before, despite it being a fairly common staple for where she came from until she had nearly finished prepping the entire thing. Thankfully the gamble was a success. She continued eating with a giddy smile on her face, though the gears in her head were still turning like crazy to try and decode what exactly the meaning of that kiss was.

Still, she kept her thoughts to herself for the meantime, enjoying the peace and solace of the meal. Dinner was typically the rare event that brought her family together at the end of each day. Their lives were so individually packed with different things that the three rarely saw one another throughout the day. It was the one relaxing thing she could look forward to every day. It wasn't much, twenty to thirty minutes, but it gave everyone an opportunity to unwind, share stories, and just be a family.

"Thank you!" She said finally, her face beaming.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Food was a way of bringing people together.

No one ever really thought about it, but for Kurt it was one of the few facts he'd learned while traveling.

Every culture, every planet, every people had their own types of food. What they enjoyed, how they cooked it, and even what they cooked. It was a way to bridge into their culture, a way ot peering into their way of life. More than once Kurt had been offered a hot meal after doing his job, and every time he had accepted. Kurt had always found that it was a way to get to know someone, a way to learn about them. Food was a great indicator of who and what you were dealing with.

"Is this what you eat at home?" Kurt probed more. "Does your mother cook?"

He had no idea if it really was Jamie's mother that did the cooking or...well staff. Kurt was not ignorant in the ways of the rich, and it was obvious that her parents were rather wealthy.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She gave a nod, still chewing a portion of the souffle, raising a hand to her lips to cover her mouth until she swallowed.

"Sorry. Yes. It's a pretty standard and simple thing to make at home. I learned it from my mother when I was about 12 years old." She was taught how to cook relatively young, though didn't start actually participating in making the nightly meals until the age of 12. "It was often whoever came home first would make the family meal. That typically meant either myself or my mother. As I got older that more frequently became me. My parents were always very busy people, much more so than I anyway."

Jamie turned inwards towards Kurt, lifting her right leg up on to the couch and slid it beneath her left thigh. She felt a bit more relaxed, enough so to at least look at him while she ate. "My dad on the other hand, I swear if we didn't cook for him he'd have starved to death, or spent all of their money at restaurants. He was hopeless at cooking anything more complicated than a fried egg."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He nodded his head.

It had been slightly different in his home, his mother had done all the cooking. His parents were both moisture farmers, or rather, thats what they said they were. Both of them were former engineers that had worked for the Sith Empire on Dromund Kaas. They were intelligent enough to be mostly anything they wanted, but his father had been happy simply working on different vehicles and keeping the moisture farm up and running. His mother? His mother had genuinely enjoyed being a home maker.

She had never complained, never said a bad word, and had always enjoyed cooking for Kurt, his father, and any friends they might bring home. She had loved it, always making something.

"I can relate." Kurt said with a smile.

He was no cook, and before Kaile had moved in...well his kitchen had been less than stocked. Generally he had subsisted off of MRE's and restaraunts and spaceports. It had worked out well, and he'd never complained, but now and again a home cooked meal was nice.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie finished eating and set the fork down on the plate with a satisfied sigh. "To the bit of not knowing how to cook? Judging by what you told me earlier I am not in the least bit surprised." She forced her tongue out between her teeth, smiling at the same time as she stood up to put her plate into the sink, extending her hand towards him to either take the dish or give him the rest. "There's more, if you're inclined."

If he decided not to she would save the rest in a small sealed container in case he got hungry after he dropped her off. "I've never minded cooking. Politics weren't for me, but I didn't mind taking care of things around the house. The game my parents play is just nauseating and draining. I'm proud of them for their persistence, but I don't have the energy for that sort of stuff."

After she took care of the plates she'd meander her way back to the couch, sitting just a bit closer.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Politics.

Not something Kurt liked, not something he paid attention to.

"Never really an issue on Tatooine." He mused. "We don't really have a government, closest thing we have is ATC and well...they don't really control much beyond their own property. We're pretty lawless, authority comes from being able to protect yourself."

He liked it that way. "When I was in the navy I got a glimpse of politics. Never really much liked it."

Kurt could have gotten involved, with his records and his flight tests he was more than capable of moving up in the ranks, but...well things had gotten in the way. Mostly it had been his own actions, actions that he had decided to take half to torpedo himself and half to just enjoy himself more. He didn't regret those decisions, even less so when he saw what the Republic had now become.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She shrugged. "I don't know. Government is important. Laws are important. It builds structure and helps grow the planet. Having to worry every day if you'll get murdered or robbed with no sense of protection other than your own blaster isn't something that I really see as a functional society. It's something I don't see myself well suited for, though, despite my parents protests to the contrary."

Jamie hated being dragged to political events, it was all about showing face and back room deals to get things passed. Sometimes money was involved, other times not. It wasn't that they were crooked politicians, but in order to ensure people didn't intentionally cheat the system with bribery, often times counter bribes had to be made. It was so complicated it gave her a headache whenever her family would try to talk to her about it.

"But I guess way out here, on your own ship, governments don't really matter much at all, huh?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]