Let's Have A War

[NightSister]

Seemed like a lot of clashes. She supposed he'd be pretty good if that was the case. Which was unsurprising, of course, if her skills of deduction were at all decent, but still.

"Huh. Sounds like a blast."

She swung open the door of a cabinet, speaking over her shoulder. There'd be plates here somewhere. Not in this cabinet. Not in that cabinet. Or that drawer. Hrmph.

Then she laughed at the question. "Oh, we met during my Jedi days."

There they were. Aria lifted one off the stack and set it on the counter, starting now to make a sandwich.

"Had a bit of a brawl when we attacked Ruusan, then made up a few years later when I quit."

The eggs did smell good, but no need. Finished assembling her meal, she carried the plate to the table, sitting down. "And the rest is history."

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

"Wasn't aware Jedi quit." Sult replied over his shoulder as he added some salt to the mix, before letting it sit for a little while. Would be done real soon and it was no surprise that the smell made him even more hungry. In truth he wasn't sure what to expect of this Vale - she was equally unprepared for what they were going to face, yet, didn't seem to be concerned at all about it.

Until he had mentioned the killing part, Sult wondered if she had the heart for it.

What did Onley give him here?

The eggs were dispensed onto the plate and put on the table, before he poured himself some tomato juice and let it settle next to the plate. He sat across of Vale, enough space for it not to be completely uncomfortable.

"So what made ya quit?"

Hopefully this wasn't one of those stories where a high-strung emotional teenager decided to act out against authority. Got caught up in the plots of the Sith and tried to convince herself over and over, that she was in fact in control of her fate. Because then Sult would have to start shoving this fork in his eye to escape having to listen to it.

Mmmm, eggs are perfect.

 

[NightSister]

"Too much effort, not enough pay." Aria laughed. "Worst job in the world."

As anticlimactic as it was next to the drama that would've been the full story, it was more or less exactly the truth. The most devout Jedi wouldn't deny that it was a hard lifestyle; the disagreement was whether it was all worthwhile in the end. Which to Aria, as it it turned out, it wasn't remotely so.

When she'd figured that out, she'd left.

But she'd spare him the sob story. You kind of had to be there to get it, besides.

She started on her sandwich, looking around briefly. However this Sith Lord story went, whoever they were had done an admittedly decent job of the place.

"How long've you been doing this, then?"

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

"Isn't that the truth." The man mumbled in between bites of his eggs and bread.

Still, for a man who lied for a living, he could clearly see there was more to the story than was offered. It didn't peak his interest, because at the end of the day Sult was not really a curious individual. Everyone had their own lives, their own little lies they whispered to themselves under the cloak of night - so they feel better about themselves and the things they do, when the blood weighs heavy on their hands... when they look into the mirror and can't recognize themselves anymore.

That moment hadn't come yet for Aria, as for as he could see.

Might never come if she was really lucky, but something told Sult that it would show sooner rather than later and who were around her in that moment? They would play a big role in the path she would pick to walk.

"As long as I can remember." Sult answered truthfully, before taking a sip from the tomato juice. "Moment I could hold a knife in my hand, but that's the way of things when you grow up on the streets."

He didn't sound very worried about it.

Acceptance, perhaps.

"You don't look like a street-rat to me though?"

 

[NightSister]

"Mhm."

One of the grew-up-on the street types, then. Figured. Aria couldn't honestly say she'd come across many, not that it made any particular difference. Aria was merely curious.

"I wouldn't imagine so," she agreed. "Jedi parents. Raised into the family business, I guess you could say." Couldn't hardly be thought of as a toughening childhood - and she didn't, in fairness. Her memories of Eshan were fond still. Sure, the Jedi part had gone rather out of the window, but it had been a happy upbringing nonetheless. Certainly miles from growing up on the streets wielding a knife, as Sult apparently had done. Sounded rather more hardening than what Aria herself was familiar with; but if it meant he could do the job well now, then all was still well.

Perhaps oddly, she didn't give her childhood much thought these days. What with everything going on, perhaps it ought to cross her mind more often how things had changed. It simply didn't occur to her, however. How strange.

She took another bite of her sandwich, conscious of having been staring somewhat into space. Hmm, some caf would go nicely.

"I'm making caf," she announced a thought later, getting to her feet. "Want some?"

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

Ah, one of those ones.

Maybe a daddy's girl, well-off and comfortable living high up behind the walls. No trouble, no worries or hardship marring her brow, just the unconscionable knowledge that she was being groomed for a life she never had a hand in picking. Maybe it was a stubborn streak or maybe she thought herself a rebel, but either way- every little day spend in those times made her only realize more and more, that her home was a gilded cage.

A ripe foundation to bounce off of once she was free and holding a lightsaber in her hand.

Trusted by her friends, but deep inside of her a little pit that was growing larger every day. Maybe. Or maybe she was simply a bored teen who figured that a life embracing the dark and killing things would be more exciting.

"Don't know." Sult responded after finishing his tomato juice. "How are your caf-making skills?"

If there was one thing the SIS agent cared about, it was his caf.

 

[NightSister]

Well, somebody took their caf seriously.

"I don't know - normal?" She walked to the espresso. "You won't choke on the caf. That good enough?"

She set to making the caf for two regardless. If he ended up being overly snobbish about the result, she'd live. Ooh, there were some good brands stored up in here. Apparently the street-rat who worked in a Sith Knight's cartel had refined tastes. How very entertaining.

Nothing to be suspicious over, of course. Despite the fact that by this stage in her life, she both ought to be and would be better off for being a cynic, Aria, put bluntly, wasn't. In that sense at least, she was just like your typical rebelling teen, albeit not quite so carefree as all that; she'd made a policy of living in the moment, trying to enjoy herself at every opportunity. In fairness, it was more or less owed her after a life that was the total opposite - either way, she wasn't trying to analyse Sult in the slightest.

Still amusing, of course.

"So, I take it you hang out with a lot of Sith?" she asked conversationally.

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

"I guess we will have to wait and see." Sult responded, before taking up his dishes and dispensing them into the sink. Contrary to other people, he believed it was important to keep a good rhythm to everything you did.

For instance doing the dishes immediately when you were done with them. Instead of letting them pile up to the roof and then try to figure out what to do, that way you had less work to do, but simply needed to do it a few more times. Nothing wrong with some good old fashion work, as far as Sult was concerned. So, while Vale attempted to make caf that wouldn't kill them all, he set himself onto the dishes.

Cleaning the plates and glasses.

"Nah, they are usually too morbid for me. All doom, gloom and torture." The man shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I kill people for a living, but the usual Sith really gets into it."

"Just weird, if you ask me."

Of course, he realized he was probably talking to a Sith, but the man didn't particularly care about that.

"How about you?"

 

[NightSister]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

He had a point. Aria had plenty of friends among the Sith - good friends, even - but she could agree that morbid tended to describe them well. Even Darth Imperia, Sith party girl and Aria's best friend, had something of a tendency towards doom, gloom or torture. Or all three.

Again, not that she minded. Live and let live and all that. It wasn't as though she didn't spend a good deal of time being gloomy when the mood struck. Never without reason, but she did like to wallow. Her own view of Sith, on the other hand, was best described as interest. She had fought with the Sith Order before, but as an ally; she respected their codes, but preferred not to be bound by them yet. Whatever the right word for that was.

"Got a few friends in their ranks," she replied cheerfully. "Sith seem to like being dramatic -" she wasn't joking there; Aria liked to think it was an unspoken law amongst Sith - "but some of them are fun to hang out with."

There went the caf. Quickly, she went hunting for mugs, and poured the caf into two of them, sliding one along the counter to Sult.

"There you go. I'm sure it won't kill you."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

Sult looked at it cautiously.

Before pushing the cup towards him and into his hands, he briefly smelled the scent, before taking a tentative sip. Then another sip, this one being allowed to drag along a little bit longer than the first. The frown on his face melted away in the face of appreciation looming, when he started nodding and taking another, fuller sip.

"Very good." He then commented. "Didn't realize you were a caf guru after all."

With that Sult leaned back against his seat, letting the warm feeling rest lazily in the pit of his stomach. Letting it dissolve a bit, letting the tension flow away from himself.

"Yet with all that, you still seem to be bothered by killing."

Head cocked slightly.

"How do you consolidate your friendship with murderers and worse, while worrying about the act yourself?"

 

[NightSister]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Aria snorted at Sult's reaction. Alright, she had the caf-snob's seal of approval. Spectacular.

The caf was pretty good, she decided after her first sip. Sitting back in her seat, she drank gladly, focused again on Sult.

Oh, so they were on the subject of killing now. She supposed she couldn't have expected herself able to hide her reaction to the word when he first mentioned how the operation would go, especially if Sult was as experienced and whatever as he made himself out to be.

Well, of course killing bothered her a little. Granted, she'd had her...moments...where she allowed herself to forget that caution. For potentially very long periods of time. But a part of Aria, and rightly so she hoped, had at least a slight preoccupation with the moral questions that murder posed. It was hard not to, when her entire motivation for the past chapter of her life had been the knowledge that she was doing the right thing, but nonetheless, her stance on killing was a little odd, to say the least.

"Simple," was the opening to the answer she instead settled on. "You hang out in non-killing-things scenarios. It's actually easier than it sounds."

Another sip of caf, and she decided to follow up.

"Besides, I don't care that much. I just, y'know, don't kill a lot."

For...reasons.

"I take it you do?"

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

Sult shrugged.

"I don't keep count."

Which was honestly all there was to say about that subject. The moment a person stopped counting their kills, once the lives did no longer wear heavy on their minds and shoulders, once they passed from names to numbers to oblivion itself where nobody could reach? That told everything you needed to know about a sentiment, but it also told about a certain lack of detachment the man possessed... which the Sith did not.

"I don't enjoy it as some do." He elaborated in between sips. "But it hasn't bothered me in a long time."

The snort escaping him could not be suppressed.

"A job is a job is a job, eh?"

There was still about half worth a cup in his, so there was no real need to refill. But after watching the clock he realized they still a long time to kill. At least, before it would be prudent to go out and scout ahead. Lots could change before a mission, so they would have to be careful about it. That did not equal to him freezing his ass off in the rain and cold, waiting for the hours to trickle along though.

"So, we still got a fair amount of time to kill and it so happens one of my favorite holo-series is airing again in a few." Had been out of the time slot for years now, but recently returned with a hell of a trailer and the promise of a comeback.

"About this detective who solves crimes across the Galaxy, so I don't know about you, but I am gonna go watch that."

It wasn't exactly an invitation, but it wasn't a dismissal either. Mostly not the former because it was a pretty obscure show all things considered and Sult doubted that she would be interested in it.

 

[NightSister]

"I guess that makes sense."

It was one take, anyway. Probably a more logical one than hers, in truth.

Her expression shifted at the change of subject. Was he thinking of the same show? How many decent detective shows even were there on the holonet? If he was thinking of the right show, then her opinion of him had just gone up exponentially. It was such a great show - even if she did have to wait painstakingly long between seasons.

Aria was quick to follow to the holoscreen, promptly taking a seat on the couch opposite. A shampoo commercial was ending just as Sult switched the screen on, immediately following into the episode.

They were thinking of the same show. Oh, how excellent. Best possible way to kill time.

"Good call."

She laughed with satisfaction as the recap played, and slouched against the sofa contentedly. This was proving fun.

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

"You like this too?!" Sult looked over his shoulder with incredulity. "Literally nobody likes it."

The amount of people he knew that liked this show, besides him (and apparently this one) could probably be counted on one hand. So, it was only more surprising that this girl suddenly piped up and told him- Must have been Onley. One time, he had tried to get him to watch an episode and he hated it.

Maybe he thought it would have been amusing... that bastard.

He settled himself next to her, it was a bit cramped, because he didn't really get people over here. So why buy a huge one, if it only took up space and cost more money?

The series was already starting though, so Sult piped down and simply started watching.

For one the man eased up, letting himself get a bit comfortable as he got sucked into the events on the screen. At some point, without even noticing it, his arm was around her, tightening just a little bit when the situation got tense there. It was one thing to be shot at in real life, but to see his favorite character... nah, that was just uf.

"The hell?" He looked over to her. "Did you see that? What did that even mean?"

 

[NightSister]

...what?

Aria blinked at the screen as it flickered into the credits.

What.

The hell.

Was that?

"Holy chit." She became aware of his arm on her shoulder, but was too stricken to move so much as an inch. "I have no idea what just happened, but that was fething intense."

And fething suspenseful. Damn the show for being so brilliant but so unbelievably hard to watch.

"Well." Standing up purposefully, Aria looked over her shoulder as she walked over to the fridge. "I need a drink to get over that. Or three." She shrugged unapologetically; doubtless his reaction would be much the same.

Aria swiped a can of beer from the fridge, returning to the sofa to sit in shock. Then a thought occurred to her.

"How long do we have left?"

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

It was karking nonsense is what it was.

"Yeah, you and me both." Sult mumbled as his eyes were still glued tight to the screen. Same reason why he didn't catch the back-end of her last question.

"Wh-"

It suddenly hit him. Hit him like a gorram freight train and didn't let go, instead it upper-cut him with a bag of bricks, before slamming him down like he was a six pound nothing little kid straight from the hospital. He looked again at the screen, realized that this hadn't been one episode.

In fact, it was the pilot episode that usually attached two episodes to one another.

"Kark." Sult accepted the beer, clipped it open and took a wide, wide pull from it. "We karking missed it."

What was that in his chest? A low, low pit that only fed on the alcohol- it wasn't rage, wasn't fury or even disappointment about the missed job. In fact, the man wasn't angry at all about it, even with the curse words royally decorating his speech.

Why wasn't he angry?

 

[NightSister]

"What?" Aria coughed mid-drink, turning to look at him. "Oh, feth."

For about a moment or two, she looked moody and utterly fed up. Then it struck her that she'd missed the deadline for a weapons heist and the opportunity to make a load of credits because she'd been caught up watching a snarky detective dance around the galaxy solving crimes.

Okay, that was hilarious.

She giggled for a good few moments. It was just so unbelievaby absurd.

"Ah well." Calming down, she drank down more of her beer, still evidently amused. "There'll be another one some time. Fancier guns, bigger paycheck. Tell Onley to text me or something."

"Meanwhile, what's on next?" Setting her drink down, Aria looked to both sides. "What'd you do with the remote?"

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

He joined her laugh, part because the situation was amusing and part because it was a laugh that invited to be joined.

After it subsided, Sult shook his head and took another big sip from the can. It was already making his chest feel just a little bit warmer, which made him realize she had picked out one of the stronger brews from 'Shadaa itself. Industrial blend that would knock ya right on the ass if you weren't too careful with the amounts you drank.

Cheaper than shots and the workers needed all the creds they could get.

"The remote?" Sult asked, before raising it up and showing her. "Right here."

His head cocked and he smirked just a little bit.

"Why don't you come and get it?"

 

[NightSister]

This was some pretty decent beer, Aria had to admit. Any alcohol was good alcohol, in fairness, especially after an episode like that, but this was an alright blend. She was already recovering from the ending. Then her head turned to see his response, and her eyes widened.

Oh, he did not just-

A grin broke across her face even as she sighed and looked to one side in bemusement. The nerve.

Sult was a good bit taller than her - well, of course he would be - but Aria took having control of the remote very seriously indeed. It was only fair, after all; she had the best taste in holoshows and could always flick through channels fast enough to find the right show without even missing the opening theme. Besides, she just liked to have the remote. Like she said, only fair.

Her eyebrows raised in an unspoken 'challenge accepted' as he dangled the remote above her, and she snatched at the air beneath it. Being short was a pain in the ass. She shifted from her curled-up position to sit more upright, and grasped for the little black device, waving one hand manically in the air. Her thumb found a button, and then it slipped just out of reach.

She exhaled, trying her very hardest not to laugh.

"You bastard."

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Aria Vale"]

It was a little bit of fun that he needed right now.

Just a tease, just a little bit of action, no harm in that, no? Sult held the remote up high, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as it often did whenever he was up to some mischief, but then she pushed herself up higher -- spurred on by his challenge, she accepted to prove she was better than he thought - and it caught him by surprise.

He lost balance, up becoming down, down up and the remote was out of his hands. The man blinked and then realized he had somehow fallen on top of her.

Up close... Sult blinked as he looked at her, seeing the edges, feeling her breath on his skin, her lips a little bit wet still.

It was pure instinct, didn't consider any other option, but look from her eyes back to her mouth and then kiss her as naturally as that. It was hunger, it was cold and warm and heat, rising and falling as breath was exchanged as eagerly as his hand went brushing past her hair and taking her in even more.