My Favourite Stranger

[Eyna]

Yet another day had passed since the attack. Eyna’s room was still in ruins, but she was hardly alone with it. Given her actions during the attack, non-existent as they almost were, the Overseer had seen it fit to place her amongst the rest of the people which admittedly was a change that Eyna still had to get used to. She sat when she slept now, kept her back pushed up firm against the wall to keep it from being exposed. It was hell on her posture but it was the only way she could find it in herself to rest. The others in her room didn’t seem to appreciate it and in reality it was doubtful whether or not Eyna cared. In just a few more days, Eyna hoped, she would be going off-world to get herself figured out. This was just a temporary thing.

Besides that Eyna was hardly the only one that had lost her room. The attack on the temple had seen people lose more than just a room, and in that regard she was grateful for what she still had. That being her life, for what little it was even worth. A quick glance around the room that once belonged to a pair of siblings now housed five more people. Eyna knew no one here and had never really made the effort to get to know them either. On the one hand because she had absolutely no idea how, and on the other hand because it simply wasn’t something that had really crossed her mind.

The morning bells rang in the new day and another day of training or work began yet Eyna was already on her feet, most people were. The clean up of the temple had gone on for a bit now. Each day they worked a new assignment, and each day they had different tasks. Some of them physical and some metaphysical as people came and went to work and to rest.

Eyna glossed over the list of teams and found her own name in there. Eyna, [member="Jamie Lysle"], [member="Kiegan Lysle"], and the crossed out name of a padawan that were no longer with them. The girl felt her shoulder rise and then sink. For the last few days she had been working with the Overseer, and if she knew him well enough at this point he definitely had some sort of hand in this. First at the potluck, and now this. She wasn’t a social creature yet he kept pushing that as often as he could, claiming that “friends make it easier to cope.”

She’d have to take his word for that.

With a scratch on her forehead and swipe at her brows she began to scan the room for her teammates. This day didn’t feel as good anymore.

 

[Kiegan Lysle]

Kiegan hadn't managed to sleep much since the temple had been devastated by the attacks of the Sith and Mandalorians, an event that the elder Lysle had been off the planet for. Instead he buried his head deep into the restoration work for the temple, the tough labour of cleaning the debris and destruction that engulfed Silver's Rest doing what it could to subside the negative thoughts that the Knight held. His hair had begun to become dry and weedy, wearing only a dirty tank top and a pair of trousers and gloves.

If he had been here perhaps he wouldn't have to feel as useless every time they discovered another body, a life he could have saved. Jamie was still at the temple during the attack and, while she managed to hunker down with a few of the non-combative padawans, the Hapan felt like he failed his sister by not being there.

He was nothing but smiles on the outside however, if he wasn't there to help out at the time there was no use dragging everyone else down along with him and his self-pity. It was hard sometimes though, like when his green eyes dragged across the assignment list to the team he had today. His own name resting beside his sister's was a breath of relief, but Kiegan couldn't help but let the feelings of misery in again as his gaze came across a name scratched from their squad.

Another one of the dead...

At least their last teammate was still living, the name [member="Eyna"] across the board sat right next to the others. Maybe meeting someone new could distract the Crownsguard from wallowing. Hopefully they were cute.

"Sis!" The visible cringing of his sister as he gave an obnoxious shout over the rest of the students coming to figure out their assignments, giving him a bit of a chuckle as he jogged over to Jamie. "C'mon don't be so miserable, got some new to meet." He avoided any mention of the fourth missing partner, his sister didn't need to hear about that part.

"You ever get tired of being an idiot?"

The frustration really only fuelled him, the self-pleased grin only growing further on his face. Annoying her was his job, and Kiegan was always proud of how good at it he was.

"Nah, not really." A quick shrug only served to upset the girl more, better she be annoyed at him than saddened by the death around them. "Now watch this." His hands cupped around his mouth one more, trying to project his voice as loudly and clearly as he could. "Anybody named Eyna here?!"

Kiegan could almost hear his sister trying to shuffle away to separate himself from her.

 

[Eyna]

[member="Kiegan Lysle"]

The girl recoiled as she heard her own name. She shifted her attention over towards the source of the loud shouting, and in that instant she set her eyes upon a loud boy. Blonde locks of a vain man, yet the body of one that wasn’t necessarily so. Next to him stood another person, someone who seemed to shy away from the ruckus he was creating. Eyna would assume it was the other Lysle. She didn’t look all too different, at least not from this distance.

As Eyna made her way over she kept on looking at them. They were… Peculiar. Similar to an uncanny likeness. Siblings most likely, had the worker list not already told her that. It was fun what you could get out of people by just observing them. One of the siblings were clearly the rock and the other was the wave.

“I am Eyna.” Said Eyna as she approached the other two. “I take it you two are Jamie and Kiegan Lysle.”

Not even a greeting or eye contact. It was difficult, this whole social thing. Eyna’s attention would divert away into the distance instead with thoughts of the work ahead of them. On the one hand it made things easier, but that didn’t make her any less aware of the fact that she should have done more to ‘identify’ herself to the others. Or so her brain kept shouting at her.

“We should head to our workplaces.” Eyna said and scratched at her jaw. “The walls need to be rebuilt and reinforced. Bodies need to be recovered still. Though I suspect we aren’t on body detail today.”

 

[Jamie Lysle]

Jamie was ready to just shirk her responsibilities if she had to be stuck with Kiegan again, and his boisterous way of talking through the work. Just because they were siblings didn't mean that they had to constantly be partnered with one another. Her face was buried in her hands as he shouted out for their final companion, both second and first hand embarrassment cringing through her body.

How the feth did he expect a response from th-

The younger Lysle didn't know if it was better or worse that there was a response to his shouting, rubbing her eyes in annoyance as Kiegan began to chat up the girl. Because of course he would..

"Good guess there!" A cheesy tone in her brother's voice as he extended his hand towards their partner, clearly trying to not let her get away without a proper greeting. "And what's the rush? The rubble will still be there if we're patient, trust me I know." A charming laugh came out as he slapped his gloved hands together before leaning in towards the girl and doing whatever Kiegan thought was a whisper. It wasn't though.

"And sorry, but do you mind being a bit more... gentle when mentioning the dead? For my sister's sake at least?"

His tone was a weird combination of pleading and commanding. Kiegan worried too much about her, it was annoying. Jamie hated how he sheltered her like this, but still she would pretend she missed that part as she waited a second before introducing herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you [member="Eyna"]," Her voice was smooth as she could produce as the younger Lysle stepped out in front of her brother. "And yes, I'm Jamie Lysle."

 

[Eyna]

[member="Jamie Lysle"] // [member="Kiegan Lysle"]

Some part of Eyna could not believe what Kiegan asked of her. Nothing about handling the dead whether it was burning them or burying them or simply digging them out was a thing that could be made gentle. They had to accept the fact that to some extent the likelihood of them running into a dead body was inevitable, and when they did they needed to act accordingly. It was a cold way to live, but in the end few were ever afforded the choice to be thrust into it by their own volition. Eyna looked at the sister and the brother with a slightly confused look to her face.

“It’s a reality we might be faced with.” She said and turned to Jamie as she introduced herself. “Hello.”

Really, what more could she say? It was a problem of how she was raised, which in many ways could probably be accurately described as “not at all.” Hell, Eyna didn’t even know who her parents were, only what they had done to her. She held no real weight to the concept of family, it hadn’t ever been explained to her. However, the best way to assault the enemy and drive them out either through attrition or bruteforce, now that was something she did know.

Yeah, no, she never chose to be this way.

“Right,” Eyna said with a frustrated exhale and began to walk away from the rest of the gathering students. “I’d say we’re best off dividing the walls into smaller sections and going from there. Some parts of the courtyard will probably be in need of getting cleared out before we can get the supplies in to start rebuilding properly.”

Taking charge came naturally, didn’t always have the best result with people but it was comforting to do.

“I will be working mainly physically, haven’t been allowed training yet, but if either of you two are comfortable with working through the force I’d say that is encouraged.”