OBJECTIVE III: ZEN & TONIC
CURRENT MISSION - Pool Yourself Together
Immediate Goals -
1: Lie in the water
2: Try not to think about life
3: Think about life a lot
4: Investigate the woman he saw after Susefvi
BLUFOR -
Serina Calis
&
Sable Varro (professionally speaking)
OPFOR - Enemy Unknown
TARGETING ACTION(S) -
Jack
&
Serina Calis
(Indirectly) || OPEN FREQUENCY
It was time to push away - from the tension building between his "fellow Sith" and the young lass still in the water, the two managerial types huffing as they passed the trio of Jedi. The extension of the Miralan's hand to reach the young elf-like infant - and all the things he sorely lacked in his life, the comfort that seemed relegated to people not like him.
Not my clowns, not my circus. He reminded himself, a flare through his nostrils as he exited the pool to violate that same set of words. For there was someone here, who he was interested in - and who mercifully had another side to her. He had bandied words with the young woman
some time ago, and now she triumphantly lectured her compatriot - a Jedi? Perhaps a former master, a relative, at the very least the comfort she felt around him was much more... genuine. Everything felt more genuine, that the playfulness and coyness not hollowed or made sterile.
As he emerged and made his way out of the waters, drying himself off, donning his waterproof earbuds to act as if he was listening to some music, to put on some noise to counterbalance the low chatter of the pools. He pondered the words of Serina, the tone so similar to how Malum spoke of their shared ancestor, of how Trayze beamed with pride over his peers, and wondered... this admiration for Darth Malak over Revan struck him as odd, initially.
Maybe it's admiration from envy, Trayze thought.
Simplicity, to take without consequence, to simply will and shape the galaxy. A straightforwardness... perhaps her wiles are not born from meager enjoyment, but necessity, resignation, because she either lacks the power... or understands that her strengths are vastly different than others.
His amature psychoanalysis of a woman who he only knew by strands on a corkboard came to an abrupt halt.
"I'll let you keep it if you agree to turn yourself in." Jack quipped, walking side by side the arrogant Serina, again.
A quip, the tone denoted itself as such - and yet, a brief flash of paranoia, not unlike a
similar venture he had had. The certain part of his mind
screamed that this was a setup - that the Jedi, being ascetic
clods, would entrap those who thought they could break through the impenetrable serenity of the "Light Side Order" with charms, real or imagined. But there wasn't enough evidence for that, and he would be jumping at shadows - and would place his own biases on what was unfolding before him. A genuine interaction between this Jedi and... whoever "Miss Velvet"
actually was.
Seeing the hidden depths of kindness, whimsy, or playfulness was the soothe on his soul that he desperately ached for - but caught between the myriad of interactions at the pool where he emerged from, and shadowing someone who he had seen through the tired forms and bureaucratic obfuscations that had only rose since the Susefvi Incident. He
needed to remind himself that this woman was canny, cunning, connected,
dangerous - one's potential for good did not negate one's potential for evil.
Slowly, deliberately, Serina uncurled her fingers, lifting the plush from Jack's grasp with a reverence typically reserved for ancient Sith artifacts. She held it up before her, studying it, her blue eyes glowing with something deep, unrelenting—satisfaction.
"…Yes," she whispered, almost to herself, cradling the plush in both hands. "This… is how it should be."
With the memory still fresh in his mind, he disguised a self-confrontational sigh as a cleansing breath
...Bogan dammit why did I have to be such a softie? he berated himself.
...Well I'm not gonna rescue her unless she asks.
