Mixing business with pleasure.

[Velana Accendo]

Her eyes lit up and her features warmed with an honest smile, the expression as far from artificial as it could possible be. Fingers absently rearranged the empty dishes on her tray, stacking them neatly and adding her cup before she forced her hands back into her lap, folding them together.

"Really? That would be amazing...could we go now? I'll just need to stop by my room to drop off my communicator. Don't want it beeping and startling any of the birds." she said quietly, having gotten a reign on her enthusiasm and tamped it down a bit. It wouldn't do to be overly excitable, and she made a concerted effort to contain herself and return to the cool, collected facade she normally wore.

 

[Vykar Khel]

Her excitement seemed tempered by his lack of it. Then again, he hadn't expressed a whole lot of anything so far. "We may go now." He says, giving a slow nod of his head. Hefting his helmet, he settled it back onto his head and picked up his empty tray. "We will drop off your communicator, and then we will head to the aviary."

 

[Velana Accendo]

A tempered measure of enthusiasm remained in her gaze, warming her features as she tucked her communicator in her pocket. Velana rose from her seat, following suit and picking up her neatly arranged tray as he had. It didn't take more than a handful of moments to deposit the trays in the appropriate spot, and as he led the way out of the mess hall, slender fingers plucked the communicator out of her pocket once more.

Velana turned it to off, completely ignoring the blinking indicator lights denoting new messages. She had no desire to see how many more messages Magnus had managed to send in the last few minutes, and even less desire to read them. The comlink was dropped off in her room, and she picked up her vest as they continued on down the hallway to the lift.

"Are the birds in the aviary only natives to the planet, or do you keep species from other worlds as well?"

 

[Vykar Khel]

Sometimes he found it strange, interacting with non-Mandalorians. Was it normal for smugglers to be so in demand? Were they all as weary of the attention of the opposite sex? How did they defend themselves? Did they practice their blasterwork regularly, or just hone their tongue until the blaster was superfluous? He wasn't sure. Perhaps they existed in a state of otherness - one of comfort and ease, or at least the pursuit of such things. There was nothing wrong with comfort and ease, of course, and many of his own sought it regularly.

But it was hard to imagine they would willingly come to a place like this, just to work with beasts. He couldn't imagine anyone making that decision outside the Mandalorian clans.

Moving towards the lift, he waited for it to open before letting it close behind them. Inputting a security code, the lift began to descend. "Other worlds. There's nothing bigger than a falcon in the Aviary. We use it to acclimate the children. Falcons are still quite dangerous to children but... far less so than the others beasts we handle."

 

[Velana Accendo]

Hands were tucked into the pockets of her vest as they strode down the hall and boarded the waiting lift. Velana absently dug the toe of her boot into the flooring, settling it more comfortably on her foot while the lift smoothly descended. Even as her thoughts wandered off in a half dozen different directions, the woman was perfectly attentive. Her gaze rose to meet his helmeted visage as he spoke, and the smuggler nodded.

"Makes sense. I've met exotic little songbirds on a half dozen worlds, but the only birds of prey I've seen are the falcons are back on Soterios. Falconry is a popular past time with the nobility."

The lift came to a stop and the door slid open quietly in front of them a few moments later, and Velana waited for Vykar to lead the way.

 

[Vykar Khel]

He stepped out, one hand resting on the top of the blaster resting in a holster at his thigh. A small smile crept over his face at her words, and they went down a narrow corridor with a rounded ceiling, with much of the light coming out of runners on either side of the floor. "Birds are often popular with the idle rich." He remarks, "Especially on worlds that either pride themselves on luxury, or lack more advanced technologies. It's interesting how culture survives, despite distance and time."

Pausing partway down the hall, he looked upward to the ceiling, and then reached up to remove his helmet. "Cycle the filters, if you'd please." He seemed to be speaking to the air, but a heartbeat later, the corridor went from opaque to clear, and she'd realize they were already standing in the aviary. It was a large, vaulted space, full of trees and grass, with light fed in by massive fixtures above - they'd simulated a subtropical climate, it seemed. It provided the most variety in bird species, at least.

"We tend to just use them for training. The big ones, we often ride into war."

 

[Velana Accendo]

She very nearly snorted with derision, but managed to maintain a sense of decorum for the time being. Instead, a touch of it made its way into her tone of voice as she replied. "The Tapani Sector prides itself on many things, luxury included, of course. So few of the families pride themselves on anything sensible, which often makes me wish I'd been born elsewhere."

Velana blinked, pausing as he did partway down the hall, dark eyes coursing over his features for a moment as he spoke. They were then drawn away as the walls and ceilings of the corridor filtered from opaque to clear, revealing the vast aviary they were already in the middle of.

"Ohhh..." she echoed softly, stepping a bit closer to one wall with her hands tucked into the pockets of her vest. Her eyes were wide as they drank in the sight of the subtropical flora and the faint hints of movement within. The visual alone was awe inspiring, and it took her several long moments to actually hear what he said afterwards.

"Wait."

Glancing back over her shoulder towards Vykar, Velana lofted a brow. "You ride birds into war...is that not far too dangerous for them?"