Private Greetings from Theed

[Iayn Dystraay]

She followed along, looking rather nervous for her own part, but that also played her self-assigned part rather well. When they had made their way out of the square, she began fumbling in her pocket. As they passed by the still-unattended tailor's cart, she stopped completely, took something from her pocket, walked over the tailgate, and tucked a few credits under the hems of the fabrics. She would have put back her himation, but she had dirtied it some, so she assumed that would be bad form if not well-intentioned.

"Let's go," she muttered as she charged onwards in their path, walking but quickly so with gaze cast down.

The suitcase was exactly where she had left it under the corner scaffolding. One of the painters stopped working and looked towards the two as they approached. "Is that one of yours?" he asked.

"Mine," Iayn replied. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be," he replied with a smile. "The streets of Theed are a mighty safe place."

Iayn grinned back before stepping into the shadows and rolling her bag out of them. "Thank you, sir!" she called as she began to walk on.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Brandyn diligently played his part, following along, keeping an 'eye' on her. They seemed to be largely out of the view of those that would remember their story by now, but still he continued with the outlined plot. Besides, he was curious.

"Losing a suitcase is not a fun way to begin a....vacation?" He said, daring to probe for more of her story, when he himself had given so little.

He didn't know exactly where Iayn was heading, but was happy to make this stroll a part of his day. Brandyn tipped his invisible hat to the typically polite and accommodating Nabooian who had kept watch over her suitcase. Ah, it was good to be home.

"So your association with Eden's...purely business? Or is it a family thing?" He only slightly emphasized the word family, but she would surely catch his drift if she knew more than just a staff member. The fact that she was potentially on a vacation on Naboo said it was probably the later.

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

She side-eyed him as they walked, quite aware that their conversation had been intensely one-sided, at least in terms of vulnerability. Still, mostly because Malcoma would have disapproved of the power differential, Iayn did not tuck her heart under her sleeve.

"I'm no part of that," she answered, keeping with his euphemisms. "Malcoma has extended family I don't know very well." With a glance down at her smart watch, now displaying a map of the city, they took the next turn that it indicated. "None of the girls do. All we got, all we want, is her and ourselves. Plus, I don't even work there anymore."

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

He relaxed just a little, but not enough to come forward with much new intel for her. If what she said was true, she was not just safer to talk to, but a potential source of information. It did feel awkwardly utilitarian for him to approach things that way though.

"Well that's good," he said, "on all accounts. It was not my preferred haunt, I can tell you that much."

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

"No," she agreed. "Much too skittish to be a regular, if you don't mind me saying."

But she really didn't mind either way.

Or maybe she did in a way. Maybe it was a tactic to get him to reveal a bit more. She might not be working at Eden's anymore, but she would always have the skillset that she had learned while she had to try to tease information out of the most mystifying customers.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

"Hey..."

He sounded offended.

"...I am only skittish now...but I am off the clock, so its allowed."

Again, he struggled with the reality of his situation. He simply couldn't disclose his name, let alone his alliegance. Too much was at stake to risk it on a chance encounter with a random stranger.

"So. You were afraid," he said, letting slip probably too much in admitting he knew this, "and it was just because you thought I was after you? Did I look like I was after you?"

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

Iayn hummed. "Guess not," she finally admitted.

Now that she mused on it, his countenance had changed ever since she had began to run. For the distance that she had originally spotted him, he had looked...cheery. Now, he was standoffish.

And then there was the moment he had stopped after picking up that scone, and suddenly wandered this way and that until he had cornered her without knowing he had. Why ever had he done that? How ever had he done that?

He was hiding something much more than his name.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

It was probably a good idea that they part soon. Brandyn felt that his ability to navigate the line of not lying, but also not telling the truth was nearly exhausted.

But would it really hurt? She could be an asset.

As they continued on the way, they approached an alleyway. Instinctively, Brandyn stuck out his arm to hold her back and stopped in his tracks. A repulsor-lift came careening out of the alleyway, with a rather flustered looking young man running after the runaway trolley.

Brandyn simply smiled, cleared his throat, and apologized. "Sorry, I...how far is to your accommodation now?"

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

His protectiveness, though he curbed it at the last moment, was noted. Another strange reaction.

"Not far now," Iayn replied, looking down once more at her watch's display. When she glanced up to watch where she was going, she gave him a teasing smile out of her periphery vision. "If you have a drug deal to get to don't let me keep ya."

It was getting increasingly clear that, whoever this man was, he did not even dabble in crime—at least not for a very good reason, like to make himself a cover under which to actually do good. If that were true, well, maybe he might not be too different from her. Still, the more she poked, the more likely he'd be to crumble like the masonry wall being repaired nearby.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

"Not far, OK," Brandyn said with a nod, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

It took him a moment to process her words beyond that. Him a drug deal? Wait. What now?

"Oh. No...no no no...no," he said, hands up in defensive mode, "I certainly do not get into that sort of stuff."

"Breadstick boy!"

Brandyn winced. He had almost missed that they were headed down the road lined with all the bakeries. He waved at the rotund baker who was leaning out of the door, hoping the man would just not say anymore.

"Good to see you talking to the lady, and not throwing my pita in her face! Huh?" He exclaimed, top of his lungs and followed it with a belly laugh, "don't get to close to this one, young lady...he's a demon with a crusty loaf in hand!"

Another baker, one that Brandyn faintly recalled from an over the top interview that aired that fateful day on the local news broadcast.

"Hey...it's that Sal-Soren kid...hey kid! Can I get your picture for my wall? You made my store famous!" Cried a mustachioed man with an oddly high pitched voice.

Brandyn found his face resting in his hands. "Don't look at them. Don't talk to them. Just keep moving..."

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

"No way."

Iayn had stopped and was now foisting her suitcase handle towards him.

"I'm not gluten intolerant; I'm not scared of you."

She stuck out her tongue as she didn't just do what he had asked her not to, but began walking over to the nearest baker, regardless of if Brandyn could see her do so or not. If 'breadstick boy' wasn't going to give her anything to work with, these men looked kind enough to do it for him.

"Beautiful day, sir!"

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Stumbling back under the sudden impact of the luggage, Brandyn let out an audible groan. He could just keep walking. Yes, he could just keep walking and she would have to catch up of fear losing her suitcase again. Yes! That was it.

"Beautiful day just made more beautiful by your presence!" Called out the rather over the top baker to Iayn.

Brandyn grimaced, but his path was set. He would not stick around to hear what was said.

"I'll just keep on going then?" He said, but it wasn't a question. He was already walking further down the street. He had no clue where he was going, but that didn't matter. In fact, if he went the wrong way that would be beneficial.

"That Sal-Soren kid has gone from battling people with breadsticks to stealing people's luggage it seems," said the baker, pointing out the departure of the young Nabooian, "such a shame. You would be thinking that someone of noble birth would be better mannered, huh?"

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

She beamed at the baker, but couldn't bask in his compliment as she turned on her heal to regard Brandyn. "Oh c'mon, don't be like that!" she exclaimed as he walked away.

Then, she almost fell over as she turned back to the baker. "I'm sorry, what? Noble?!" Laughing in victory, her luggage was now the furthest thing from her mind. "So, all the trouble he gets up to is breaking hearts and—" she caught a glimpse behind him of her store front, "—your well-baked crusts?" She giggled again, eyes smiling.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Brandyn heard her. But he also ignored her. His quick adjustment of his shoulders would likely not go unnoticed as a show of annoyance. His attempt to force his solution to the problem had been easily thwarted.

The baker leaned in to talk in hushed tones with Iayn, seemingly thrilled by the moment to gossip.

"He got into a fight with this pretty young girl some years ago. They were swatting each other with my baguettes! Can you believe that? Just shows you that the rumours are true...letting that Corellian on to Ee'Everwest Estate was only going to lead to trouble. They didn't even get married until their kids were much older...there was such a fuss made over that. And then the boy goes off to become a Jedi? Not sure he has the temperament for it if you ask me," The baker said before leaning back with his hands up in a defensive, didn't-hear-it-from-me manner, "at least, that is what I hear...but you know how gossips can be."

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

Now, Iayn frowned. She'd never met a Corellian as far as she knew, but she knew right away that she did not like this rumor. "I'm sure he's a great Jedi," she challenged, though she wasn't sure what that meant in practice.

Sure, she had been around Judah Lesan once or twice, but she still held to the myths she had heard during her fighting days from both her slavers and fellow gladiators alike.

If we had a Jedi down here in The Pit, they'd always start...

...we'd be rich.

...we'd be free.

Either was, they never came, so Iayn never learned what side greatness would take. It lead her to be skeptical, untrusting, once she finally shed her shackles.

But now the foundations of those emotions were beginning to shift and, with them, a blossoming headache across her right temple. No matter. She bid the baker goodbye before turning around to look for any indication of where Brandyn went.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

So he had turned left at the first intersection bit quickly found out that this direction took him away from town and into the Civic Centre. So he turned about, Iayn didn't seem the type to stay in government facilities.

He then pushed forward on what would have been a right hand turn for Iayn. As he was passing the intersection again, really just wandering aimlessly now, he thankfully noted that she was on her way in his direction.

Smiling half-heartedly, he offered a wave. Once she was in ear shot he finally spoke. "They tell you all my secrets?" Brandyn said, meaning only the secrets involving bread based combat. It didn't enter his mind that the baker might gossip about his family, or the rumours of his chosen path.

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

"I'm sorry," she began as she walked in his direction. "I didn't mean to pr— I mean, yes I did, but, uh..." She stopped near him and tucked a lock of hair behind her ears. "I thought you were really a bad dude." In a way she left unspoken, being around a Jedi was somewhat of a worse fate in her opinion. "I see the galaxy through blood-tinted glasses. It's hard to take them off."

She reached for the handle of her luggage. "Seriously, I can take it from here."

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

And now all of a sudden, Brandyn felt...bad. He felt bad that his only concern was embarrassment over bakery based carnage. A momentary farce of an event from his childhood had been so pressing in his mind that he had overlooked what now seemed like apparent pain within Iayn. No. Wait. She had not been in pain before? She had actually been quite light, and even...

Brandyn shook his head. His line of thinking was leading to unnecessary daydreaming, once again.

Something had changed though. He wasn't sure what it was. Something the baker had said?

"What did they say about me?" He said, head tilting to the side and eyes narrowing cautiously.

He thought of holding back the suitcases, but really that was a villain move for sure. Instead, he handed them over to her, granting her the opportunity to part ways if she wished.

"You've seen a lot, huh? I'm...sorry."

| Iayn Dystraay |​

 

[Iayn Dystraay]

"That you're a noble of Corellian blood," she replied. Her voice was matter of fact, not judgmental, even though she perhaps was a little bit of the part to come. In a short pause, she cast a glance to his feet. "And a Jedi, to boot."

Back up. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I thought you had paid for that fine leather in another way..."

She took to chewing on the side of her bottom lip and scanning the adjacent rooftops for a prolonged moment, then looked to him again. She shifted her bags so she could hold out a hand. "Iayn Dystraay."

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Well. The baker clearly knew more than just his tales of crusty woes. Brandyn grimaced a little, knowing he could have just been forthright all along, saved the run around, but the mission...had to come first right?

The proverbial cat was out of the proverbial bag now though, and Iayn seemed to find it within herself to essentially start again. A long drawn out misunderstanding was probably not the greatest first impression. But it wasn't like they would see each other beyond these few hours. It wasn't likely.

"Iayn Dystraay," he said, taking the proffered hand, "pleasure to meet you. Name's Brandyn...Sal-Soren, Jedi Padawan and all around...lousey first impressionist."

Even midst the re-greeting, Brandyn questioned the seeming nervousness that she approached the moment. Clearly, there was more to be said from her side. But it wasn't his to pry the story from her.

| Iayn Dystraay |​