Private Mountain Madness

[Starlin Rand]

“Thank you very much, sir,” Starlin replied with a little salute.

Once they were off the bridge, he immediately resumed their earlier discussion. “Yeah, man. I joke around to make girls laugh, but you don’t even have to do that. Especially if she’s into you already. All you gotta do is say ‘hey girl, are you free tonight?’ or whenever, and if she says yes, you ask her if she wants to go somewhere. Doesn’t matter where, just that you get her to agree to go somewhere with you.”

He had a sudden lightbulb moment. “The commander said you were on shore leave, right? Dude, you should totally go with her tonight. I’ll even give you money if you need it. You can go to the bar on top of the mountain—”

Now, how did he know that? Was his memory returning? He seemed to recall that there was, in fact, a bar on top of the mountain. In fact, there was an entire mountain town.

“Are you underage?” he blurted. “Nah, feth that—I’ll do a Jedi mind trick to get you in. I mean, if you really want to. There are other places up there, in the whole damn town on top of the mountain!”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

The sudden shift from 'serious' to returning back to their previous discussion felt something akin to whiplash. With that being said, it was a welcome distraction from the thumping of his heart. He always hated having to report to his superiors, especially if he had to speak with the Captain or his First Officer. They were unnerving individuals, kind and just but... Well, he was just a Cadet. How could he not be intimidated by them?​

​

"I don't know if she has the night off, though," he said with a frown, though he hadn't dismissed the idea entirely. Yara seemed like a nice enough girl, whenever they'd interacted she'd been pleasant and they'd made each other laugh once or twice. Their stations just happened to be on opposite ends of the ship, it didn't really make for continual interaction. Maybe that was for the best though, they didn't exactly need distractions.​

​

Starlin, however, was mighty convincing. Was he using some of his Jedi mind powers on him? No... Eliphas felt certain there'd be some way he'd know if he was, right? He didn't feel so sure about that, but either way he was coming around to the idea. "I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask right?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and then finally nodded once as though convincing himself.​

​

"Fine. Uh... You wait here--- wait no..." So preoccupied, he'd forgotten the first task he'd been given in regards to Starlin. "Come with me, we'll find you the nicest suite already not in use. Then I'll go ask her." Would he ask her? What if he choked at the last moment? Oh drats, why was he suddenly feeling so much pressure?​

​

He led Starlin through the ship, and then stopped outside of a doorway. He keyed in a code, and the door slid open revealing a rather cushy interior. The yacht was a luxury model, after all, and its guest suites reflected that. The crew cabins? Well... Not so much. There was a large bed fit to hold seemingly far more than just two bodies, why ever that would be needed, a decent sized cargo-hold that resembled an armoire, a desk, and a door which led to its own private refresher. There was even a window to the stars! Or, more aptly in that moment, the mountains.​

​

Since they'd reached their destination, Eliphas had screwed his head back on tight. He had a duty to tend to, before he could run off and chat with Yara. "Is there anything I can get you?" he asked, and then for a moment he seemed to falter. "Do I have to refer to you as anything in particular? Master Jedi... That's what the Commander called you..."​

​

The last thing he needed was to disrespect a Jedi!​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Fine."

Sweet victory~

Starlin's triumph was interrupted by Eli taking him to the guest quarters. Or maybe it was better to say that his triumph was enhanced. "Woo baby, these are some quarters!" He whistled, taking the room in. "Very cool. Thanks again for having me."

Eli asked him if he needed anything, as the commander had ordered him to do. "Nah, I'm good. And I'm not a master yet." He winked, unbuttoning his coat. "Starlin's fine. I'm gonna go take a shower, you go get Yula or whatever her name is. Uh, I bestow my Jedi blessing on you."

He gave Eli's forehead a slight telekinetic poke, lighter than if he were to flick his fingernail against the kid's noggin. It gave him no actual boost to his confidence or anything else, for that matter, but the gesture was what mattered, right?

"Now go get that girl!" He would usher Eli out of the room if he hadn't left already, then yanked the rest of his clothes off. He hadn't realized how gross they were—reeking of booze, sweat, grass and wet soil. Damn, and he had gone to see the First Officer like that? No wonder Commander What's-His-Nuts had looked skeptical when he said he was a Jedi Knight.

Minutes later, freshly showered, dressed in clean clothes, and feeling quite a bit better, he left the guest quarters, swiping his hands through his curls in an effort to dry them faster. Damn blow dryers hurt his antennapalps. He got halfway down the hall, paused, put his hand on his hip—yep, there was his lightsaber—then resumed his stealthy walk to the medbay. He was definitely spying on the two love birds.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Starlin seemed more than happy with the room he'd chosen; at least he'd done something right that day. As he gave his thanks, Eliphas brushed it off with a shake of his head. "No thanks necessary, it's the least we can do for a Jedi." As strange as this one looked and smelled, as oddly as he'd been acting, he was still a Jedi. And thus he still demanded their respect, whether he expected it or not.​

​

Nothing was needed, and no fancy titles expected. Apparently such wasn't entirely unheard of among the Jedi, though Eliphas didn't exactly have any first hand knowledge of such. This was his first encounter, but he had been told about how many of them chose not to wear robes, or stick to some of the other expected mannerisms of old.​

​

Still, drunk at the foot of a mountain? Well, who was he to judge?​

​

"Okay, Starlin it is." He offered him a smile, and was about to leave when Starlin said something about a blessing. It seemed weird just to hear it, but when he felt the flick of an unseen hand he seemed all the more confused. What had just happened?​

​

He didn't say anything more as he left the room, and allowed the Jedi to settle in. Take his shower, or whatever... He definitely needed it. Once out of sight he lifted a hand and rubbed his forehead, wary of any lingering effects that the Force might have on him. He wasn't exactly clued up on such.​

​

As he made his way toward the medbay he sort of dragged his feet a little, mulling over the words he'd use. By the time he reached his destination he had gone over the conversation a hundred thousand times, and yet when he stepped inside and saw that Yara was once again alone he simply choked.​

​

She smiled at him, and for the first time he seemed to take notice of the way in which her eyes lit up when she did so. The blush which deepened in her cheeks.​

​

"Hey, Phas," she said, bashfully, "Don't have any more stolen pills for me, do you?"​

​

Eliphas swallowed, his mouth suddenly very dry, and then shook his head. "Uh... No, no pills," he explained, glancing back over his shoulder in case the Chief Medic returned. Then he took a step toward her. "Hey, Yara... Do you, uh... Maybe want to have lunch with me?" Before she could answer he fumbled over yet more words, which now fled his mouth like rats from a storm. "I mean, you don't have to of course, I just thought it might be nice, you don't get off the ship much, and it's so pretty outside today, and... and..."​

​

Was she laughing at him?​

​

Yara was stood there, trying to hide her mouth as she giggled at his fumbled words. "I thought you weren't ever going to ask," she admitted, unable to keep the smile from her lips. "Only..." she sighed "I can't leave the ship right now. Orval's gotten himself all tied up with the Commander, so I'm stuck here."​

​

Was this just her way of letting him down lightly. Eliphas took a puzzled step back, his own cheeks reddening. Stupid fool, he shouldn't have ever even tried to do something as foolish as this. "Oh, of course, I'm sorry... I'll, uh--"​

​

"But, if you'd like, I can join you in the mess later? We can eat supper together."​

​

Eliphas, who had been half turned back toward the door, paused at that. Then he turned back toward her, and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah... I'd like that, Yara..."​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

How he was going to observe the two without making it obvious was a pickle. Starlin didn't want to go overboard, but he did have an invisibility spell that he rarely got to use: the Spell of Stealth Fire. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he cleared his throat and uttered, "So that this problem I might rectify, Ashla, hide me from the Outer Eye…"

His body was swiftly enveloped in purple flames, then became fully invisible to the naked eye. Thus did he slip unnoticed into the medbay, just in time to catch the tail end of the meeting.

"I can't leave the ship right now. Orval's gotten himself all tied up with the Commander, so I'm stuck here."

So the Girl (Yara? Yes! That was her name!) was unfortunately busy. Damn. If Starlin could manufacture Luminous beings, why couldn’t he create a temporary replacement to do all Yara’s work? Did that really count as unnecessary use of the Force?... For that matter, didn't using an invisibility spell to spy on two people he'd only just met today also count as unnecessary...?

Doubly unfortunately, Starlin didn't really think his plan through. When Eli moved to leave, Starlin realized he was about to run into him and quickly dashed through the open doorway. The spell muffled his footsteps, but if they made physical contact, oh boy. That would probably lead to some panicked screaming, which would probably not impress Yara.

In fact, Starlin wound up having to follow Eli around for a solid minute before he could duck around behind a corner and materialize again. Breathing a sigh of relief, Starlin turned around to face the cadet, all smiles.

"Ayyy, how'd it go? She's too busy? Aw, man. Welp, I guess that means I'm your date. Unless you wanna spend your shore leave alone."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

After finalizing their admittedly loose dinner plans, Eliphas stepped out of the medical bay and leaned against a wall once the door had closed behind him. He let out a sigh, heavy enough that it seemed as though he'd been holding his breath the entire time he'd been with Yara, and then ran a hand down his face. In the few moments he believed himself alone he tried to decompress and slow his rapid heart.​

​

Then Starlin spoke up, seemingly materializing out of nowhere though Eli put it down to his racing thoughts.​

​

"Yeah, she... Wait, how did you know?" Starlin carried on as though he hadn't just said exactly what was on the cadet's mind, and instead offered himself as company for the day. Well, the Commander had asked him to see to any requests the Jedi had. If he was exploring the planet alone, how could he do such? Besides, it might have been nice to not be alone for once when he wasn't specifically working.​

​

"Sure. I'd like that. Do you want to head up the mountain still?"​

​

As they spoke he began to head toward the boarding ramp once more. He'd wasted quite a bit of time with this side task, and was eager to continue his time off. Who knew when he'd next have an opportunity to breathe like this? He supposed that depended on the whims of their benefactor.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Jedi magic,” Starlin said, smiling. It was technically true, after all.

“I’d prefer not to walk this time. Y’all got any speeders on hand?”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Jedi magic... As someone who knew absolutely nothing about the Force and those who practiced its mysterious ways, Eliphas couldn't really balk at such an answer. It seemed to make sense, so he didn't hold on to his suspicion-laced curiosity for more than a few seconds afterwards, before dropping it entirely. He knew because he knew, it wasn't as though he'd been eavesdropping.​

​

"You scrub up nicely," he told Starlin with a grin as they reached the boarding ramp, where he found himself stopped from disembarking entirely by the Jedi's next words. "Speeders? I imagine there might be one remaining, though I can't say for sure. They took a couple with them when they left."​

​

Whatever the Jedi wanted... That had been his instructions, shore leave or not. So he changed his course, and headed for the cargo hold. The ramp in there was larger than the one for boarding, it was filled with various crates filled with supplies, and lo and behold there was indeed a speeder bike. Not as nice as the covered variants their benefactor had no doubt taken, but still useful.​

​

Eliphas moved over to a panel in the wall with which he could sign out larger items, and began to punch in the relevant information. That way if someone came down here looking for it, they'd know they hadn't been robbed. "Do you know how to drive it?" he inquired. He did, of course, it had been part of his preliminary training with the Guild, but he thought that perhaps the Jedi might prefer to be in control of where they headed that afternoon.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Nope!" Starlin replied. "Speeder bikes are different from airspeeders, right?"

Yes, Starlin. Bikes and airspeeders are different. This is a fact.

"If you know how to drive this thing, be my guest. I just hope you're not one of those guys that makes it weird for another dude to sit behind you." Starlin straddled the seat as if it were a horse’s saddle, his knees sticking up like the long, lanky legs of a mantis.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Yes," he explained, with a light chuckle he couldn't keep contained. "Quite different, I reckon." Bikes were a little more difficult to control in truth, and balance had a lot to do with it. Plus they couldn't be covered the way most airspeeders could, meaning that the elements factored into the enjoyment of the experience. Thankfully it seemed like a rather nice day on Alderaan.​

​

Having done the relevant paperwork, Eliphas turned and approached the bike in question as Starlin mounted it and waited patiently with his snarky comments. In response he shook his head some. He didn't embark the vessel yet though, instead he walked to another panel and this time after punching in the information a larger ramp lowered ahead of the bike.​

​

"Here," he said, as he offered the older man a helmet, "Trust me, you'll want it. Even if only for the visor." He waited for the ramp to be fully down, before placing a helmet of his own atop his head and then seating himself on the bike ahead of Starlin. The engine started up, with a low rumble, though he waited for the Jedi to be ready before doing anything else.​

​

The last thing Starlin would want is a bunch of bugs in his eyes...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin certainly learned to appreciate the helmet, especially the visor and the fact that it also covered his mouth, preventing him from swallowing any bugs along the way.

The dynamic duo made it up the mountain in record time. Sure enough, there was a small town atop the mountain—a sign just outside it read “Jerome” with a population somewhere in the low thousands, though the presence of a nearby resort meant it received frequent enough traffic. The atmosphere was somewhere between quaint and weird, what with the winding roads built into rock, the oddball shops, and the fact that there looked to be a fairground located at the summit. Why? Well, why not?”

Starlin stuck his arms out and pretended he was a starfighter zooming past the tourists. He had no clue where Eli would wind up, and to be honest, he was just enjoying the scenery. Before he could ask, however, he spotted a familiar building coming into view as they turned a corner.

“There it is! The—” He squinted, then burst out laughing. “You gotta be kidding me! It’s literally called ‘The Bar On Top of the Mountain’?!”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Helmets on? Eliphas started up the bike properly, and kicked it into gear. Soon enough they were heading down the ramp, which lifted up soon after their departure, and racing up along the edge of the mountain at a very promising pace. As much as he had been excited to walk around and explore among nature, the loss of so much time definitely made him appreciate the convenience of scaling it faster than he ever could have on foot. In fact, by the time they reached the summit he was ahead of his initial schedule.​

​

Funny how things worked.​

​

The air at the top of the mountain was nice, what little he could breathe in past the visor. He was grateful therefore when Starlin pointed to a building he wanted them to check out, no doubt the same he'd stumbled down the mountain from this morning; he pulled in beside it, shut off the engines, and dismounted the bike. Helmet off, visor now gone, he breathed in a long and deep breath.​

​

Much better than the recycled air found aboard starships. It almost made him feel dizzy.​

​

"Ah, so this is where you and the Zeltron came from," he mused, gazing up at the sign. Yeah... What a name. Very original.​

​

Eliphas had never stepped foot inside a bar before, and wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to now. The last thing he needed was to return to the ship in a bad state, how would that look?​

​

"You know, maybe we could find somewhere with food first?" And if they never made it back to The Bar on top of the Mountain then... whoops.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Absolutely,” Starlin agreed, yanking his helmet off. “Food is better than alcohol. Alcohol tastes like poison. It literally is poison, or ethanol is at least. I think?... yeah. Feth that place.”

His ire really stemmed from his returning memory—he’d been kicked out of The Bar On Top of the Mountain last night. Literally, if his waking up at the bottom of the mountain was any indication. Probably the Zeltron, too.

Oh chit, what if they ran into that crazy broad again? Better get inside.

“Uh, what are you in the mood for? I think I saw an Atrisian place along the way… and a pizza joint.” He snapped his fingers. “Don’t tell me—whoops.” Snapping had triggered the flame on his thumb. He shook it out, then settled for merely pointing a finger at Eli for emphasis. “Don’t tell me you’re one of these weirdos I keep running into who has never had pizza before. That chit’s a crime against nature and common decency...”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas was understandably relieved when his suggestion that they go and find something to eat was met with enthusiasm. Good, no pressure to be seen! He let out a small breath, and then turned to glance around the both of them, at the various buildings and establishments held so high atop the mountain.​

​

The Jedi began to suggest a few places, going so far as to light his own thumb on fire which perplexed the boy to no end even when he realized there was some sort of lighter attachment he didn't fully understand, and he pondered over them both. Either would be good, in all honesty, it wasn't the kind of food he was typically allowed to have. It was deemed unhealthy.​

​

"Which would you rather?" he inquired, amused by Starlin's refusal to believe that people out there could have never tried pizza. "I've only had fast food a handful of times, but I do know what pizza is, I swear."​

​

Starlin Rand​

​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“You know what pizza is, but have you tried it?” Starlin eyeballed Eli, taking this matter perhaps far too seriously. To him, pizza was the ambrosia of the gods. It was what the clouds in heaven tasted like, if for some reason you had a desire to take a bite out of a cloud.

“I would rather pizza. Atrisian food doesn’t fill you up.” Since Eli had left the decision up to him, if there were no protests, he would lead the way to the place he had seen. “I remember reading somewhere that they put some kind of stuff in Atrisian food that makes you crave more of it. Or something along those lines—maybe it doesn’t have enough nutrients, or something?...”

Starlin was onto something, he was sure of it.

As he entered the pizza joint, he immediately noticed some sort of altercation was going on behind the counter—he could hear raised voices, a heated argument in an alien language. There was a sound of glass breaking, then a male Devaronian hurried out, leaving the restaurant in haste. Once he was gone, a very short Near-Human female with blue hair and pink eyes darted out from the back, dragged a stool over to the register, and hopped up onto the seat.

“Welcome to Gramacci’s,” she greeted them, sniffing and swiping a hand across her nose. She was blinking a lot, her eyes watering. “May I take your order?”

Starlin blinked. The gal looked an uncomfortable lot like Cameron Crownwraithe , a girl who had once beaten Starlin's ass so hard he time traveled a day into the future, if you know what I mean. Knocked him the feth out. "Uh..." He looked up at the menu, which was written in chalk on a board above the register. "Uh..."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

All at once, Eliphas felt as though he were under investigation... Which was utterly ridiculous given the subject matter at hand. Starlin the Jedi? More like Starlin the Pizza Police! Though no sooner had he made further inquiries than the Jedi seemed to fall into a thoughtful state for a moment, seemingly fanaticizing about something or another.​

​

Probably, if he was to hazard a guess... Pizza!​

​

"Yes, I've had pizza," he retorted, with a bemused expression, shaking his head some as he tried his best not to laugh at the ludicrousness of it all. "It's nice to know where your priorities lie, Mister Jedi..."​

​

Ultimately the decision was swiftly made. Atrisian was out of the picture, though Eliphas could not recall the last time he had eaten the fast food variant of an Atrisian meal as opposed to the real thing. Perhaps never... Friends in high places, and all of that, who would bother with the greasy imitation when you had access to Atrisian chefs?​

​

Pizza it was then. They walked together into the establishment, though the scene inside had his fingers itching for the trigger of his blaster. Not that he was even one to use it, he'd never fired it off outside of training. Still it was an uncomfortable atmosphere, which was surprisingly brushed off entirely by both Jedi and server when the Devaronian had made his exit.​

​

Tension still lingered in the air, perhaps more awkward than it had been initially. Eliphas for his part had refrained from unholstering his weapon, and once he realized nobody was going to address whatever had just happened he turned his gaze toward the menu, rather disgusted by the hygiene practices of the woman behind the register.​

​

"I'll just take a classic slice, please," Eliphas decided rather swiftly, not understanding what half of the options were and feeling a little underwhelmed by the rest. You couldn't go wrong with a regular old slice of pizza, right? No doubt Starlin would find some way to disapprove of his choice all the same.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“My priorities are exactly where they need to be. Where I once wasted my time questing for peace, now I quest for pizza.”

His words, meant as a joke, came out sounding a little too real. There was a tinge of sadness and resignation in his voice as he said them, despite the smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

While Eli ordered a slice of pizza, Starlin’s gaze slid from the menu back to not!Cameron. Ringing up the order, she didn’t notice he had started to lean toward her across the counter until he was mere inches from her—at which point she jumped and backed away.

“Mister—” He held out a finger as if to poke her face, the tip of it glowing brightly. She blinked rapidly as he shone the light in her watering eyes.

“Your pupils aren’t dilating,” Starlin remarked. “Your eyes are watering, and you keep sniffling. You been hittin’ the spice, nose candy style?”

A look of panic crossed her face, telling him all that he needed to know without saying a single word.

“Man, is everybody in this town high on something?” Starlin muttered, slapping the counter with the palm of his hand. “Is that what that argument was about when we came in? Was it about drugs?”

"Are you guys cops?" she whimpered.

"No. We're just hungry."

“Do you still want your pizza then?”

“Does it incorporate drugs anywhere into the cooking?”

“No!”

“Alright, alright. They don’t call it ‘spice’ for nothing, you know.” He side-eyed her. “I’ll have the same thing he’s having. Also, would you like me to take care of your addiction for you? I can, you know. I’m a Jedi.” He winked.

The cashier cast a questioning glance in Eli’s direction.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas gave the Jedi a dubious glance as he made his not-so-jokish joke, curious if he should press the matter further or not. He opted for the latter, not so certain if the Jedi would much appreciate him prying into his personal affairs. Instead he found himself a seat at the counter, and glanced between whichever patrons remained after hearing the raised voices they'd walked in on.​

​

He watched with intrigue as Starlin began to investigate the woman at the cash register, head tilting to one side as he all but interrogated her and got all up in her personal space to inspect for signs of drug use. For his own part, Eliphas remained well and truly silent. This was beginning to feel more and more like Jedi business, and that wasn't his kind of business was it? Nope. He was just a lowly cadet. Nothing to see here, Eli... Nothing to see here.​

​

The woman's dubious gaze drifted toward him when the revelation was made, and Eliphas merely shrugged in response to her wordless questioning. Everything he'd seen thusfar pointed toward him being exactly that, a Jedi, but he wasn't going to get tangled up in their nonsense. The whole thing was crazy.​

​

He just wanted some pizza.​

​

"You know, Atrisian food is seeming more and more appetizing by the second," he muttered to his newfound companion. Craziness definitely followed Starlin around, didn't it?​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Well hey, if you want Atrisian food, you can go get some,” Starlin said with a shrug. “Ain’t nobody stopping you.”

Turning back to the cashier, he found that she had disappeared. He looked around in the back a bit, eventually realizing that she had gone into the kitchen to make their pizza. “Ah, don’t mind my grumpy Padawan,” he called out to her. “He’s just mad because we just got done busting some Sith, y’know. Really works up an appetite.”

If Eli said anything about these lies, or even just gave him a funny look, Starlin would lower his voice to add, “Yeah yeah, just roll with it. You are Force sensitive, by the way—I noticed it a while ago, but didn’t say anything because it didn’t come up.”

Without acknowledging the gravity of the revelation, (Although to be honest, who gave a chit? After undergoing years of grueling training under one of a number of rigid semi-religious disciplines, you could maybe use the Force to make a rock float with your mind. Meanwhile hordes of homicidal maniacs and self-righteous monks would try to recruit you into their Epic Battle Between Good and Evil/color-coded jihad/eternal game of Family Feud. Whoop dee doo.) Starlin waited diligently for his meal. A few minutes later the blue-haired gal returned with their pizza.

Starlin paid for both his and Eli’s, then gave the cashier a gentle look. “You sure you don’t need any help?”

She frowned, but there was a curious look in her eyes. “You said you could… cure me? Like rehab?”

“I could flush the drugs from your system, and repair some of the damage done to your brain by addiction. But then it would be up to you to kick the habit in the long run. Trust me, I know how it is. And if there’s somebody supplying you, well, you could pass them along to me, and I’ll take care of them too.”

Glancing around, the girl nodded. “Okay. How do you do it? With the Force or whatever?”

“Like this.” Lightly touching her chin, he leaned forward almost as if he were going to kiss her. Instead, he breathed on her. The strands of her hair undulated as if tousled by a mild breeze. She blinked in surprise. There had been something, like a white light or a presence she could only see out of the corner of her eye… or had she just imagined it?

Releasing her, Starlin picked up his food, went to a table, sat down and started eating.

“W-was that it?” the cashier asked.

“Yup,” Starlin replied in between bites of pizza. “You’re cured, yay! Go jump up and down and dance for joy.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Also, this pizza is pretty good. Wouldn’t you agree, Eli?”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Unluckily for Eliphas Dune, the thought of Atrisian food had now seeped deep into his psyche and added to an uncertainty as to how much spice might truly lace the pizza he swiftly took Starlin up on the suggestion that he go and get some. After all as the Jedi had stated, it wasn't as though anyone was stopping him from changing his mind.​

​

"Yeah, I... I'll be right back."​

​

Not least because he wasn't all that sure how much he wanted to sit and watch him handle the drug-addled woman. The last thing he overheard as he made his way to the door, and then out into the lofty town beyond, was Starlin referring to him as his Padawan. What an odd man he was... He wondered how many other lies he'd embellished. Was he even really a Jedi?​

​

He didn't actually doubt that after all he'd seen, but still.​

​

That crisp and pleasant air swirled around him when he stepped outside, and he took a moment to enjoy it for what it was. There was something about exploring the Galaxy which he hadn't truly appreciated until that very moment, of course he hadn't been to many planets just but even so the fact that he could was something he shouldn't be taking for granted. Most never left their corner of the universe... Eliphas charted his way through it!​

​

The moment couldn't last though. If he wanted to eat at the same pace as his newfound companion he'd have to hurry, so he made his way a few stores down and came upon the Atrisian restaurant. Restaurant was overselling it, it was a hole-in-the-wall booth, with a couple of tables scattered around and a bar at which one could order. He peered over the menu upon approaching, and tried to make sense of some of the different options.​

​

Eliphas truly hadn't experienced the quickly made, take-out variants before. And there were meats and vegetables and sauces listed that he was unfamiliar with. "Excuse me," he began, as he slipped into a stool and smiled politely at the man working the desk, "What happens to be the crowd favourite?"​

​

Eventually, after a little more discussion, Eliphas made his way back to the pizza joint with a takeout container of Atrisian food in his grasp. There was some sort of starchy base at the bottom, and a sweet-yet-spicy sauce laden meat on top. Hungry as he was, he'd already opened the container and was fishing out pieces of the meat with a pair of chopsticks when he entered the restaurant and rejoined Starlin at whichever booth he'd chosen.​

​

"Not as good as I've had before," he expressed, as he slid into a seat, "But honestly, not as bad as I was expecting either. How's the pizza?"​

​

Starlin Rand ​