Responsibility

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

School.

Some fancy one likely. Kaile was reminded again that Asmus came from another type of world. Taking a sip of her caf, she would lean a bit forward. There was a slight cant of her head, curiosity in her gaze. Yeah, Asmus had a knack for telling tales. Didn't matter how much he fluffed them up or what measure of truth there was in them. He was entertaining.

He made her smile.

"Stuff in school?" she asked, querying in pique interest. From one who didn't have no schoolin' this interested Kaile. "What sort of things?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"The usual set of standards sports schools throw into the curriculum. And some local ones. Oh there's this old game called Lasset. No one even knows where it started, but it's only played on Eriadu and Corulag. You have sticks with a magnetic head. Only way to dislodge the puck is to strike an opponents stick. Except it isn't illegal to 'accidentally' strike the forearms, shoulders or shins. Damn that was awful," Asmus said, thinking back to his torrid time trying to play the sport at school. "Course I played a bit of Limmie with friends from time to time I suppose."

Asmus finished off his plate, struck by the notion that he should have friend some bread to clean up the yolk. "Would you like that caf refilled and a slice of cake?"

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

That was the thing, Kaile didn't know what the usual standard sports schools normally had. She was curious but also a bit embarrassed to ask for more details. It did seem, however, that Asmus' time in school had been fun and entertaining. A wondering thought passed through her mind, curious if Asmus had been the same then as he is now.

Watching him tell the tale, Kaile decided that the odds of Asmus having been any different was small. "Yes, please." she answered, but moving to stand up from her seat to help him as well.

"Sounds like you had a busy time," she added, moving her now empty plate and offering to take his to the sonic washer.

"So what else did you do at school?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Hmm," he went, whilst fetching a knife. He considered that rather open question for a moment. Normally he didn't talk too much about his time in school. It didn't really match the persona of wicked scoundrel he liked to convey. But Kaile saw through all that, saw him. And the craziest part was that she still liked him. Really liked him. Perhaps he sometimes took himself a little too seriously, even if his uncle didn't.

"It was busy. I got pressured pretty hard by my parents at a young age. I suppose I started enjoying myself after this dreadful summer camp. Saw how bad some of the kids got under pressure. I just started to rebel after that. Had some good times..." There was a little quirk of a smile as he recalled that house party. He'd learned a lot that night.

"...which really culminated in my biggest rebellion which saw my end up here. You know, I reckon my parents were actually more pissed that I avoided my age sixteen and eighteen exams than they were that I left home and finished growing up on a smuggling freighter."

Asmus paused, half expecting to hear his uncle berate him from a distance for using the S world again.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

He had mentioned a little bit of that before. That he had been pressured by his parents. Surely because he was so bright? That made sense.

"Reckon they just wanted the best for you," she would add, moving over to the caf maker to pour herself a cup of that fresh batch. The scent of it was heavenly, and even the aroma was enough to perk the soul and get someone going for the day. It was no wonder that the Captain seemed to drink bucketloads of it. Others in the Rebellion had done the same. Stimcaf, the fuel of the people for jobs aplenty.

"Did you ever go back and finish them?" she asked him, glancing up as she poured the hot, dark liquid. "Your exams?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"I think they wanted what was best for them, but I could be wrong," Asmus replied. There was a bitter note in his voice, a rarity from the easygoing scoundrel. He slipped the cake out of its packaging.

"Yeah you saw some of the stuff I'm doing on my tablet. Astronavigation stuff. I can't hope to get a place as a pilot or a post on a ship without any qualifications. I'm happier doing that stuff when I can see an application for it I suppose. I don't like to stress over exams for the point of exams. Too easy to wind yourself up.

"Alright, how big a slice do you want?" he asked. He'd made one cut to the centre of the cake and hung his knife over the chocolate fudge topping at a generous angle.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

He wasn't too keen on his parents. At least, at whatever was between he and them when it came to his schoolin' and life decisions. This was the second person that wasn't too keen on the sort of lifestyle their parents and highborn living had given them. A girl she met at Bespin, [member="Jamie Pyne"], had also done the same thing. Came from some sort of nobility from Naboo and ran away from there, wanting adventure and to help people. She had believed that required doing something more than pretty dresses and shiny clothes. Truth be told, Kaile was just so surprised folk with a home and family were so quick to run off instead of stayin.'

But maybe that was the difference between them and she. A difference in the levels of their lives. Living up there, with all the pretty lights. Come on down and finding you ain't go nothin' else puts things into perspective. Personally, Kaile would have liked to have at least known her ma and pa. Where she came from was a black hole out there in the 'verse. Asmus and Jamie didn't have to worry about that. They had it right there to grasp.

While she thought this, Kaile wasn't bitter. Just a difference of thought perhaps. Or maybe, a gullible way to look at things. Naive. "Ain't need to be too much; I'll start out small and enjoy it just fine." she told him. Which she would, savor it that is.

"What else are yous gonna have to study to get in that academy then?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

It was odd. Kaile saw him. Suddenly, explaining his past it all suddenly felt a little shallow. His expression darkened for a moment. "Just one more qualification on top of the navigation modules," he replied as he sliced his cake. A moment later the reason for the expression was made more clear. "It all sounds a bit...petulant when I explain it doesn't it?

"'Woe is me, my parents gave me a great start, but were a little pushy!' Oh well. Just a case of picking my own path now really. Can't stay here forever."

He slid her slice onto a small, white plate. He was smiling again, watching Kaile as he passed it over and hoping she'd enjoy it. He picked up his own plate and mug and started walking for the cockpit. He was trying to work out why it suddenly mattered to him what he made of himself. He didn't realise how much was because he was abruptly concerned with how someone perceived him.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile would shine Asmus a smile of gratitude for the slice of cake. "Mighty grateful." she would say, casting down her gaze in a mild show of abashed pleasure. While he did that, Kaile moved in the small galley to find them both forks to use. Every now and then she found herself studying the pilot from her peripheral.

His hair was already falling forward to tickle his cheeks again, as if there was no force in the 'Verse that could hold those strands back. It swayed to and fro with every subtle motion of his head, and now and again, he'd run his hand through his hair only for it to fall right back. The corner of her mouth gave a twitch.

"No... reckon you can't." and it was unlikely he would. No, Asmus would go places, that was for sure. "But you'll go places, Asmus. I'm sure of it." the way she said it was in full confidence. A fork was set right beside Janes, and Kaile's soft whimsical smile shone upon him anew. Slipping into her seat, with a fresh cup of caf - and three sugars worth - the Lorrdian made herself comfortable. They had a little bit of time, but Kaile didn't want to end up being late.

"When do you reckon you'll get done with that last qualification?" she continued, curious about it all.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Normally by now, Asmus would have turned the conversation back on Kaile. So far, asking her about herself hadn't gone particularly well. Most things seemed to bring up the deep, fresh scars from whatever she'd recently been through.

This time Asmus had only one sugar in his coffee, the cake was sweet enough on his own. He wasn't used to sugary treats. Keeping himself trim was far, far too important. There was an almost abashed smile, no flush of the cheeks but a sideline glance full of intent towards Kaile as the thought of the view up at her as her eyes rolled back flashed through his mind.

Quiet time now, he silently berated himself. He was enjoying their quiet conversation. Didn't stop his mind going off on tangents from time to time.

"Probably computing, I do quite like to dabble with code from time to time. Well, I told you want I did with the nav comp didn't I?"

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

That sparked her interest.

Her eyes took on a curious spark at that, head perking a bit. This was her territory, although, he wouldn't quite know just how much it was so. "No," She answered him, letting her fork slide slowly into the chocolate cake. Scooping up the bite full, Kaile gave Asmus the sort of encouraging expression that told him to continue. He had piqued her interest, especially considering how bright he was for doing the calculations for the trip to Denon.

"What did you do?" in went the chocolate cake, and for a moment, she simply enjoyed that bite. Yeah, indulging so were few and far in between. A sobering thought followed that Kurt would have enjoyed it.

Licking her lips, she cast her gaze down and brought the cup of caf to her lips. While she didn't want to stop thinking about Kurt, she knew that if she dwelled on him, she would tumble down that womprat hole again. Keeping the conversation going would help that.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

His brow furrowed for a moment. Such a confusing thing. Asmus was far from the most empathic person going, yet there was an almost constant awareness of Kaile's body language. He caught the piqued interest followed rapidly by the troubled glance down.

"So the hyperdrive path is basically a pretty good pathfinding algorithm. However, I added another mode that didn't simplify to metric close in to star systems. Takes ten times as long to calculate a route, but you can slip through some back doors. Oh and I also added liklihood of detection as a weighting for routes so we can decide how we want to travel. You know, in hindsight if I hadn't been so keen to show off and find a quick route, I probably could have constructed a seven day route and convinced Kairon of its merits," Asmus replied with a quiet chuckle.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Seven days instead of four? That was a thought, although she would have missed her contact on Denon. A ghost of a smile drew over Kaile's lips, watching Asmus mull over what he could have done and what he had.

"So... sounds like it is great for someone who was trying to keep under the radar," the twitch at her lips grew, "Reckon not for smugglin' though, never for that." a mischief had returned to Kaile's chocolate eyes, devilry flashing for a moment over the rim of her caf cup as she took a sip. It was a delibrate tease at how Asmus had followed every mention of the Quin smuggling with some sort of exaggerated, yes but we dont' smuggle.

"You calculated that mode yourself?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

“How very dare you!” Asmus accused suddenly. “What kind of ship do you think this is?” he raised a finger at Kaile and waggled it in admonishment. He wrapped both hands around his warm mug and chuckled to himself. “No but really…I think if I use the S word in public one more time he's going to wring my neck!”

His own cake was now just a smear of chocolate topping. That was three slices of cake in two days. Whilst he had a ridiculous metabolism he was going to need lots of sit ups for that. “I mean, I borrowed lots of libraries off the net, but I turned the metrics into something the computer would process numerically. The hard part was convincing it to have three different routines to call on. I actually had to break into the firmware and hard code that in. I mean…if this old girl was still under warranty I totally would have invalidated it.” His hand tapped the table affectionately, as if he was patting the ship.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Her snicker was loud, and the mirth that went dancing in her eyes brightened her expression, giving her a faint glow. Strands of strawberry blond fell forward over her temple, and a wayward lift and brush back tucked it behind the shell of her ear. Unlike Asmus, she was still slowly savoring her chocolate cake. A few more bites and she would be done.

“Doubt he will… but maybe he’ll send you off to galley duty while at port instead.” she teased, taking another sip of her caf. Halfway done. Asmus shot her another one of those tousled half smiles that widened into a grin. Goodness, when he did that did her heart jump. Skipping a beat and forgetting that its primary purpose was to keep her alive.

“Still, that’s somethin’” Kaile would compliment him, “Most folk wouldn’t have thought to do that.” she set her cup down, but her hands lingered around it, enjoying the radiating warmth.

“Guess that means, with everythin’ said and done, you’ll be goin’ to the academy sooner than later.” a pause, recalling an earlier conversation, “Once you go on and decide where to go.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

There was a little smile, almost shy. Asmus felt a tiny bit pleased with himself. He was pleased that he'd been able to make her laugh again. No not forced, he thought to himself. There were feeding off each other, smiling and laughing again. Normally they fed off each other, both becoming more animated and happy. Then came the lingering glances, the touching and the taking her clothes off…Not this morning though, there was work to be done and he was thoroughly enjoying just talking about possibilities with Kaile.

“You ever thought of changing jobs?” Asmus asked. He knew she'd already managed to change the settings on the Twins which was not an easy task given their relatively limited and difficult to customise software. But she'd followed his last explanation clear as day. Curious.

“I mean, most ships can't afford their own mechanic so there are plenty work out of the docks on an hourly rate. Even just servicing loaders, droids and mechanical gear, perhaps with a bit of debugging thrown in, you could easily be asking a hundred credits an hour or more.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile wondered if Asmus was aware how easily he brought back that particular subject of conversation. Oh, it wasn't to say he wasn't genuine about the suggestion she move towards more a mechanic role, he was. However, this was a subject that she couldn't just freely state that, well, technically I am one already, just that the people who give my my paycheck require me to move here and there for what they want me to do.

"Maybe," she told him, giving him a faint smile. "I've done those types of jobs before." she admitted, which she had. A bite of cake went into her mouth, her lips slowly slipping it off the fork. Her eyes would sweep over her plate of cake and the cup of caf.

"Can't do much until my current job is done." it was as truthful as she was ever going to be about it, because it was. Her job at the Alliance and the Pyre depended on her mission and what they needed her to do.

"I don't mind the credits I get. Gets me on by just fine."

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Ah fair enough," Asmus replied with a smile. "You must enjoy the travel to do it so much, you're very good at it. Then, I think I've said enough about that myself." He could relate to a need to get out and see the galaxy. Just as long as he could find her Kaile again.

"Come on then, got to do a double jump and come to a halt outside the system until we have permission to pull up to the inspection point."

Asmus still have a good half a mug to finish off, so he picked it to carry on drinking. From his pocket he pulled out the speaker and waved it in her direction. "Want to pick some music?"

The speaker went back to his pocket. This was mostly so that, as he stood from the table, he would have a free hand for her waist. In his opinion it had been far too long since he'd held her.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“I can think of something to --” a hand went curling around her waist, drawing her in with the slightest of tugs. Kaile had barely stood to clear off the table when Asmus sneaked attacked, holding her against his side.

“I need to put these away!” she said in mock protest, unable to hold back the smile that curved along the edges of her mouth. They half spun together, and Kaile gave a half giggle, Asmus precariously ensuring that his caf didn’t spill on either of the two.

“I’ll think on it,” she told him, moving to draw away for the moment while she cleaned up the galley. It was only fair after all. Asmus cooked breakfast and she could handle the clean up.

“Don’t wait on me… I’ll be up soon.” she encouraged him, motioning with a nod towards the door. She didn’t want him getting into trouble with Kairon any more than they were already.

“I’ll just clean up some ‘round here first.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus did an odd little half dance on the threshold. He was reluctant to leave the galley without her. Despite her suggestion to go on ahead. After this morning he couldn't leave her alone.

He covered the steps to the cockpit quickly and scanned the monitors and readings. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Asmus placed his mug next to the pilots chair and the speaker on a console.

Returning to the galley he called: "Anything left to tidy up, everything is fine up there?"