Private Nothing For Free

[Colette]

The evening was still relatively young so to speak. The afternoon's rainfall was starting to subside and with that the balance between what was flooding the streets shifted back from water to people again. Empty food stands began to serve one customer after the other at an increasingly rapid pace, and soon enough there was life in just about every nook and cranny at the plaza where Colette stood waiting.

Today was the ever so promised day that she and Lily had set aside to explore the area around the temple, both of them being relatively new still to whatever horrors and delights there was outside of the temple gates. While they were supposed to have met days ago there had just been one moment after the other that caused their schedules to fall out of sync, but that was up until now.

The smell of rain on concrete mixed with the delightful smell of food from a wide variety of cultures. Colette let in another deep breath to soak it all up. By the time her eyes opened again she would see Lily on her way over and quickly gave her a wave.

Except that was not Lily. The echani teenager gave Colette a weird look before she looked over her shoulder and then back at Colette with a shrug. A deep redness spread across Colette's face with a fierce burn. She looked away, glanced back at the stands and buried her head in her hands.

She'd just… Stand here like that until Lily came around. That would make things… A lot easier for her.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Colette

Beginning her Jedi training had been a whirlwind of events and she had explored the temple that housed the Jedi more in order to ensure that she wouldn't get lost or late for meetings and training sessions with her new Master. It hadn't taken Lily too long to figure her way around, being the highly observant person she was, she was able to note the differences in hallways and different paths to several locations. It was becoming more and more pleasant to linger around the halls of the temple and not rushing back to her room to relax after training.

Finally getting the chance to explore outside the temple had been good, Lily wasn't sure that she was ready for the transition yet but a promise was made and Lily knew better than to break a promise, especially if it would be broken over simple fears that needed to be overcome. Wandering to the meeting point, Lily gave Colette a polite smile when she waved to someone else, a complete stranger that walked with an air of someone more focused on finances and business. Did Lily really walk that similar? Was the energy around her that of a business person? She thought she was a lot more relaxed than that.

Approaching Colette, Lily tilted her head, "do I really give the same body language as that other Echani? Am I the type that seems business focused?" There was no harshness or judgement in her tone, just genuine curiosity since the idea of her being mistaken for another simply because her appearance did not seem possible in her mind.

Each Echani was completely unique in Lily's mind and she had forgotten it did not seem that way to outsiders in this moment.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

"Uh." Colette stammered. "Well you see." She swallowed. "I was—" Exhale. "And I mean, from afar…"

The redness got so much worse. Colette covered her mouth to stop herself from speaking. A deep breath filled her lungs with enough air to push against her ribcage, and there she held it for at least a few moments longer until her head practically begged her for another at which point she exhaled and let her face go.

"You look good!" Colette said and spread her arms to look down at her own robe. "Same as always, I don't have the wardrobe to match."

Not that she really needed it, the robes worked just fine. They covered her up, and they kept her warm enough to keep her going. There was no need for much else from a set of clothes.

"I uh," Colette said and cleared her throat of the remaining embarrassment. "I was thinking we could explore the food market. It's supposed to be from all sorts of corners of the galaxy."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Lily tilted her head, attempting to allow Colette to finish any of the sentences she was starting to explain the situation that had happened but all that Colette did was stop talking and just turn more red. It was very puzzling.

"Are you embarrassed?" Lily asked, then the idea of Colette embarrassed over the confusion twigged something in her mind. "Oh! You... oh." Lily realised that Colette had mistaken another young Echani woman for her because they had looked similar, a trait she shared with all female Echani. It was a little disappointing that Colette had mixed up but they were still very new friends so understanding the differences at the moment was going to be tricky. "Well, good thing you didn't hug her at least." A little humour to cut the sadness she felt.

Looking at her outfit she giggled and shrugged, "oh, this is nothing to what I have had to wear to balls and dances before now on Eshan!" Looking at the robes, "well, you have a style and being comfortable in that style is all that matters! If you ever want to add some more options to your wardrobe, we can do a shopping spree in the fashion sector some other day." Lily suggested.

The food around them all smelt amazing and very different. "Good idea, think I have only really tried Eshan cuisine so being able to explore the differences and trying different styles of food sounds exciting!" Lily was swiftly bouncing back into a good mood. "Where do you want to start?"

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

The joke landed fair and square in Colette's heart to help fracture it just a smidge more than it already was. Although she took the pain in stride, Colette would swear to do better next time. And at least Lily seemed to take it a little better than she hoped for. Obviously it was still a lot worse than wished for, but then Colette wasn't sure how she would feel if someone mistook another person for her either.

"I don't know." Colette said in response to Lily's question. "All of this is new to me."

Still, the first step would be to at least get to one of the stands. They were placed all across the plaza with no evident order to them as if there was a sort of 'first come, first get' situation for those looking to peddle their food. Colette approached one that smelled familiar. Charcoal on fire with meat on a wide grid plate that was superheated to cook the food it contained.

"Kind of smells like home." She mused to Lily. "Although we used to have a bigger grid, and a bigger fire. Enough to feed roughly twenty people at once."

"Took forever to reach the appropriate heat though."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Nodding her head, it made sense that there was no idea. "I wasn't sure if you had planned out a best course of action in terms of things to try." Lily was a bit of an over planner.

Lily followed Colette around as the other Padawan sniffed out the different foods that appealed to her. Lily was curious to see what was of interest to the fellow Padawan since her tastes were never street food based, she was more restaurants and very fine dining. Lily watched the grilling at work with charcoal and fire, it seemed simplistic and basic.

"Did you wish to try some? Could be good to find something that tastes like home, counters any possible home sickness one might feel?" Lily proposed as she watched the cooking. She was still unsure how cooking this way would enhance the flavours, surely any of the black spots were burnt and not very tasty?

Looking back, "well, I was a bit more fortunate, my family was smaller so meals did not take as long to cook." Lily confessed, there were at most four, but usually only three people to feed whenever she was living with her mother and grandmother. "I am sure large group meals had its benefits though, community feeling when eating?"

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Colette wasn't much of a planner at all. Time was a concept, but not a concept that she put much value in. To some extent it even felt worthless or outright pointless to measure how long you had been alive. But that was just one of those things that Colette had found that people put a much heavier emphasis on around here. Birthdays, and 'Galactic New years', and a lot of other things that was only celebrated once per 'year' held a value to them and yet it just seemed so… Irrelevant. Was it not best to just celebrate things when there was something to celebrate? Yes, life itself was a gift, but why have a dedicated day for it?

There was probably some nifty excuse for it, but coming into the galaxy from a place such as her home there were just so many unnecessary rituals that she found tiresome.

But that was not exactly what Lily had spoken of. She had more specifically asked about if Colette wanted to try something that reminded her of home to which the girl simply nodded her head and looked at the vendor who took her order, but not before pointing at the 'no haggling' sign by the time she glanced down into her admittedly rather empty credit pouch.

Yet what she got from the food was…

There were better experiences, and it was probably best that she was turned away from the vendor when a bitter, disgusted scrunch spead across her face.

"Charcoal too close to the meat." She muttered and quietly deposited the rest of the small foodpiece in her mouth despite the disgust and swallowed hard. She spoke with a hiss, "Makes the meat more charred than cooked."

"Still, taste is sometimes secondary." She grimaced and looked over at Lily. "Do you have anything that you want to check out? I think they sell more than just food, but not a lot."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Whereas Colette didn't have much in terms of credits to pay, Lily paid with a small tip since her purse had quite a bit of credits and she knew that her card would have even more on it if she needed to fetch more credits. Lily hadn't even noticed the small amount that Colette had, so she couldn't offer to pay for the day out. "It is? That is a shame, I am sorry that the meal disappointed, perhaps there is a vendor that appeals more for you?" Lily suggested as she picked the burnt pieces and discarded then, sniffing the meat then gently nibbling on it.

The food was definitely not her preference but she couldn't say it was bad either. Just different. "Well, if your people can cook the meat better than this, I shall have to try it some time. It would be intriguing to know."

Shaking her head, "your grimace clearly suggests that taste should be primary, Colette." Lily pointed out, "hmmm... I am not sure, I have never been around street vendors like this. Meals out were more at restaurants." Lily confessed, looking around it was busy. She wandered around and spotted a few stores that seemed interesting. "There were some noodle stuff that I hadn't seen before. Oh, that place was doing something crazy with a stew apparently. Over there, they said they did the best burgers ever and I haven't had burgers so dunno if having the best should be something I start with?"

Lily was very unaware of how false advertisement or marketing worked, she genuinely assumed that suggestions of the best, were accurate to the best of their knowledge. "There were a few wine vendors but their vintages were much too new, they didn't have anything over a century and nothing classical, can't bring back something that is subpar."

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

"Why did you…" Colette raised her brow in confusion. "That was more credits than what they asked for."

And this wasn't the first time that Lily wanted to see Colette's home. It brought a weak smile to her lips but in the end, where even was her home? The smile gently faded away as she looked across the plaza again to try and see where it was that Lily wanted to go.

"I think…" She then raised her brow again. Wine? Bring back? To who? "Wait, subpar? A century?"

"What exactly are you looking for in a wine? It's… Alcohol. Does the age matter somehow?"

"And I mean, are we as Jedi allowed to drink in the first place?" The questions began to mount up. "It feels like a lot of what we preach is self-control and what-not. Most of what I've seen of drunken 'adults' were… Most certainly not that."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Lily paused and titled her head, "oh! Well, tipping is something I was always told was polite to do. Especially when you have a certain amount of wealth." She explained in a very matter of fact manner. "I can pay for anything you wish for as well if you would like?" Lily extended the offer, realising that Colette might not have the same level of wealth as herself, especially from the way she had described her home life. It sounded like they didn't have much need for material wealth.

"Oh, do you not know how to tell whether a wine is of a good vintage or not?" Lily then stepped in a bit closer, "so, from what I was told. While aging in bottle form does not imbue much more flavour, aging in cask can add a ton, especially if aged for a very long time. Of course, the year a wine was created matters a great deal because grapes are harvested every year and some years the harvest is better than others. The older the vintage the rarer it as well which can be very exciting in exclusivity but only the very, very, very wealthy fawn over such trivia matters."

"I usually aim for a bottle or cask around two centuries, plenty of time to mature, currently that era of time were some of the best harvests that they had for grapes and while most go with Corellian reds, I have found that Atrisian white can be just as smooth." Lily spoke with the knowledge of expertise few would have at their age, "I have been lucky enough to sample some, nothing to ever get drunk over. Just for a meal when with very important guests or celebrations." She added hastily since she was never one to be drunk and her family were very strict on her drinking at this age.

Asking whether Jedi could drink, "I think they can, apparently there is even a Force power that can help Jedi prevent themselves from getting too drunk as well. I am sure it is fine. However, I was looking for a bottle to send to my mother as a thank you gift for letting me stay here and letting her know I am well. Unfortunately, I will have to continue to hunt for something better."

"Anyways, food, ideas?" Lily asked curiously.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

This wasn't a time to go on the 'alcohol is poison' lecture, and as such Colette stood back and listened as Lily talked about wine. At least the offer to pay for things was kind, and Colette appreciated that. She showed it with a slight nod of her head as a sign of gratitude.

"You… Seem to know a lot about wine. And I am sure your mother would appreciate the gift no matter what it was as long as you put thought into it." Colette spoke with a reassuring grin as Lily wrapped up and asked for food. "I have been hearing a lot about a place called Patricia, em, A— Atricia? Very rice-y foods, a lot of fish."

"Rumor is that they eat their food with nothing but two sticks for picking up their food." And that seemed to interest Colette to no end. "Like a lobster, but wood and smaller."

"Do you think they have that around here?"

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Lily shrugged, "it's something that is discussed, consumed and explained a lot in noble, and wealthy, communities. Kinda have to know these things."

"My mother will unlikely be pleased with any gift I send her because it will not have me returning home with said gift." Lily commented absentmindedly as she checked out a near vendor. "She was not eager to let me come train as a Jedi so not having me return is only going to annoy her further." She shrugged, there was not much Lily could do since she needed to be here and learning to control her powers was crucial.

She paused as Colette mentioned Patricia, then Atricia. The names didn't ring a bell. At least not till Colette was describing the food and customs of those that would eat it. "Oh, Atrisia. Atrisian food is meant to be quite enjoyable, there are likely a few vendors around since there are different Atrisian specialities when cooking." Lily hadn't tried much of the food but her mother did meet with an Atrisian to discuss trade routes and such, they shared a meal and it was pleasant.

"They might be this way?" Lily pointed, not confident she knew the way but didn't try overthinking too much about it.

 

[Colette]

Everything about ‘nobility’ that Colette had heard made them seem like pompous wastes of good air. What kind of mother figure didn’t support their child? What was with the arranged marriages, and why did they seem so preoccupied with wealth? Not that this was unique to the nobility, but they certainly were amongst the people who had the most of it.

It was probably best if they just focused on the event. These thoughts bothered Colette enough to frown for a moment.

“Atrisia.” She said and nodded. “I saw one of the knights eat an Atrisia-style meal with the sticks and all a few days ago. They had a little black liquid next to them that they dipped their fish-tipped rice patties in and it looked so good!”

Colette’s eyes began to dart from stall to stall until eventually she landed on something that looked familiar. The sign had letters on them that she didn’t seem to recognize yet that held a translation of sorts beneath it: Lucky Dragon Eatery.

"I think that might be one of them." Colette said and pointed towards it as she shifted to walk right towards the stall. Her finger pointed at the little "One of those, please."

Sure enough the vendor obliged and Colette handed him an eager credit. She grabbed the piece by the sides and lifted it up to her mouth to let her teeth cut through with a decisive bite. The little rice pad hit her tongue. At first the consistency was peculiar until the sourness from the additives in the rice seeped into her tongue. By the time the raw little thin fish piece at the top jumped into the mix, Colette was already standing still in awe.

Her eyes widened, her jaw slackened.

"This is the greatest thing I have ever eaten." She whispered mostly to herself before she swallowed and began on the next half of the piece. Her attention set on Lily. "You have to try this."
Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Lily nodded her head as she thought about what a meal would taste like, it was a curious matter and she was glad that this was the time she would allocate to eating in the afternoon. "That certainly sounds interesting and hopefully we can find one such vendor around here," Lily mentioned as she turned her keen eyes on the stalls around them, looking to see if she could spot anything that seemed to fit the description of the food that Colette had described as being what she wanted to try.

"Oh!" Colette had caught the vendor first and rushed over, Lily trailed behind and studied the process of making the food and what was the ingredients being used. She was never overly cautious about how much she ate since her morning routine was so active and being a Jedi Padawan on top of that routine meant that she needed to consume a lot to ensure she didn't lose the muscle mass she had built. However, Lily was always very particular about what types of food she did eat, texture and the feel of food in her mouth played much more importance that the taste. For her, texture and mouth feel impacted flavour massively, so observing the food preparations was key.

From Colette's perspective the food was the greatest thing she had ever eaten. High praise considering that the previous purchase had left her feeling wanting and disappointed. Lily purchased as similar sample that had more of a spicy kick, Lily enjoyed some heat to her food and the intensity added to her enjoyment. Giving it a sniff, she prayed that the fish would not be slimy or claggy being raw. Those were textures that she really wanted to avoid. However, it appeared to be fresh and Lily didn't note a slimy shine on the fish so she lived in hope.

Biting into the meal, Lily processed each of the flavours, the textures and the feel of the product in her mouth. Taking a few more bites until she had finished, Lily assessed her opinion and swallowed before she spoke. "It clearly is different to things I have tried before, enjoyable and the flavours were balanced well. Definitely glad to get a chance to try things new like this." While not the explosion of positivity and excitement that Colette had, there was a general joy and air of excitement in Lily, however she had meals that she preferred to this.

Not many, but there were things that she thought were mind blowing from back home.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

An eager set of eyes observed Lily’s every movement with excitement as she chewed her food. Colette quickly nodded at the Echani woman’s observations and reached towards the vendor and practically threw another credit at him to get one more of a different kind and then some. Her teeth pierced through the thing with another giddy bite. Another, the rest of Colette’s stack of credits, went straight into his palms and the man happily handed over the rest of his plate of fish-topped rice patties, some that were even wrapped in seagrass.

“Okay, I am set for the evening.” Colette said as she turned back towards Lily. “Now we find you something as well.”

The duo began to walk away, one whole tray of food richer that rested neatly in Colette’s arms.

“Are you feeling anything in particular?.” She asked and nodded before shoveling in another piece of sushi in her mouth and savored it. Then the thought struck her. “Or maybe you wanted a, uh… Tray of your own?”

 

[Lily Decoria]

Colette

Watching Colette pay for more and even ensuring that she had some for later, Lily couldn't help but chuckle deeply. It seemed to be a certain food that her friend was very much a fan of and something that Lily needed to make plenty of note on in the future. Especially since it could come in handy when thinking of gift ideas. Giving a polite bow to the vendor who seemed very pleased with the amount of credits that he made from them, it was nice to see him pleased since he had provided similar joy to Colette.

"Well, I am pleased that you are sorted for the night." Lily stated with a smile, "oh! We don't need to worry about that. I usually order food to be delivered, I am very particular about my evening meals." She felt a little flustered since she wasn't sure how honest she should be able the way she organised her day. Or how heavily organised her day could be.

Looking around. "In terms of food for now, I am happy to explore for a bit. We're here to try some different foods from other worlds, right?" Lily looked to Colette who seemed to be eating her tray already. "Perhaps we could get samples of a few different things, a collection to try?" Lily suggested with some curiosity about how it would all work.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Colette nodded in between pieces of sushi as Lily spoke. She didn’t quite understand the part about being particular about food, but given what Colette was experiencing right now it made sense. If she could eat this ‘sushi’ thing all day every day then she would.

“Right.” Colette mumbled through a mouthful of fish and rice. “There are more worlds than Atrisia.”

She wiped her mouth on the arm of her jumpsuit and cleared her throat as she lowered the now three-quarters full tray. There was room for other things there. She’d just need some sort of barrier to keep any and all contaminants from reaching her pearly white gold on a platter.

“Hmm,” She rumbled as she looked out across the plaza. “I see a lot of grilled meats. That thing over there seems to be a rotating meat piece?”

“... They seem to be… Carving parts off of it?” How fascinating. She read the stall’s name. “Bree’s Kebab?”

“Ever had a kebab before? We could get small taste from that stall, go to the next, and then have a seat somewhere?”

 

[Lily Decoria]

Tag: Colette

Lily chuckled as Colette mumbled with her mouth filled with the fish and rice. It was something Lily would never dare to do herself since it was deemed as undignified and rude but it was clear that Colette had no understanding or care about that which was something admirable.

"Grilled meats?" It seemed curious enough as Lily walked over, she watched the meat turned on the spit as the fat dripped. It wasn't something that she would normally think of as an appetising meal but this was meant to be an exploration of the culinary arts from across the galaxy. "They are carving strips off, seems to be very interesting way of cooking."

Looking at some of the dishes being handed out, it also seemed to be drowning in oil and grease, something that made Lily's heart ache just at the sight of it all. However, she needed to be practical and this was meant to be a fun exploration. "I have never had one before, lets give it a go." Lily stepped forward and ordered two sample sizes, placing one on Colette's tray before paying the vendor.

The next stall that drew her attention was a stand offering curries and rice dishes that were very different to the Atrisian cuisine. "Oh! This could be something else to try if you wanted?" There was bread being in a strange looking oven by slapping the dough against the walls of the oven. Lily couldn't help but be drawn in.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Colette kept from laughing when she saw the way Lily tried to keep from grimacing at the way the kebab looked. She could understand it. The amount of exercise needed to shred one of these was probably far greater than even she cared to admit, but today was not about that. She got herself a small one and aligned it on the edge of her tray before she continued along the path with Lily to the nearby curries.

“They smell delicious.” She noted and leaned to look into the content of the dish. “Chicken?” The server nodded. “I’d like one, please.”

Once more the server nodded and gave each girl a serving of their own if they had so desired. From the smell the dish gave off it certainly felt a lot more ‘involved’ than the simple meat shavings in bread that she had placed it next to. Some spices felt familiar, but not enough for Colette to name any of them.

“Well?” She asked and turned towards Lily. “Do we want more or do we settle for this?”

Colette looked at the content of her tray and felt a great satisfaction in knowing that if either the kebabs or the curry failed her she would still have more than enough Sushi to make up for it. Not that she planned on not eating it either way.

… Tomorrow would have to be a more rigorous exercise day than usual.

 

[Lily Decoria]

Tag: Colette

Lily checked out a couple of the different styles of curries that were being cooked. "Oh, this one is Phillak... That sounds interesting." Lily was a little more intrigued by these meals that the kebabs, selecting a couple different styles of curry to try with some of the bread that had been freshly baked. It was described as something to enjoy with the curry and combination of the bread, sauce and bit of rice was meant to be truly delicious experience. While Lily wasn't certain this was just a sales pitch or genuinely solid information, she was excited to find out.

Looking to Colette, "I think this should be enough. Perhaps next month we can visit again, make it a monthly visit to try the different foods?" Lily suggested with a smile.

"Over there seems a like good place to sit and eat, and we can even see the tallest mountain of Coruscant." Seeing actual landmass on this giant city world was considered a tourist attraction, it was curious since few planets had covered their planet surface so thoroughly that there was nothing that could be seen of it. Even on the lower levels.

Rushing over to ensure they could grab the seating place before anyone else could, she placed her food on the table and then returned her trained, polite graceful self as she sat down.