Private Rock Bottom

[Ara Sheridan]

CORUSCANT | TEMPLE HANGARS
AFTERNOON | CLEAR SKIES
TAGS: Iris Arani

It had been an extremely reluctant return to the Alliance. Not because of her sentence, she made her peace with that. She was ready for it, waiting for them to put her on another ship to the special prison in the middle of nowhere. No, what had her nervous was facing the people she hurt in the event things played out differently. If it all went well, they would hold her at the spaceport or somewhere, and then slap her onto the next flight.

What happened instead was another hearing, where Ara had to look into the bright eyes of Master Valery Noble again with shame. Luckily she didn't get any chance to interact with her apart from the occasional glance. To her surprise, however, she wasn't sent back. They did explain it to her, but she was too distraught over the choice to pay attention to all of it. Something about "suffered enough" was thrown around. Instead, she was sentenced to community service and recovery... or therapy, whichever way they spun it. But the biggest thing was her return to the Jedi Order. She didn't doubt that Master Zhea Nox played a big role in that.

Where she was serving out her sentence for the most part. If it wasn't working on ships, it was other menial duties around the temple. And when she wasn't busy with those duties, she was either busy with her lessons as a padawan, or sleeping. It was exhausting, harsh labour. And the lack of any payment didn't help anything for one bit. Though she didn't complain for even a second to anyone. She shoved any displeasure aside and did her work to her fullest. It wasn't prison as she suspected, but it was still a punishment for her actions. Punishment she deserved entirely.

One thing did manage to cheer her up, though, was the amount of "bad" parts getting thrown out through the maintenance of the ships. Numerous parts that were supposedly worn, which could be easily fixed up and reused. Those pieces of junk were finding their way into her own little junk pile, where she was steadily assembling any and all new bits for her pod to soup it up. She wasn't sure when she was going to be able to get it back, or even work on it, but it didn't matter whether it took a few weeks or a whole year, Ara did her duties.

"Hey, Ara! That new arrival ain't gonna service itself!"

A tired sigh escaped her as she finished washing the grease and filth from her hands, wiping them dry on her overalls. "On it!" She called back. Looking back to the sink in front of her, she took a few long gulps of water and walked over to the zone where the new arrival touched down. She didn't pay any attention to it in the moment, still brushing her mess of hair back behind her horns as she walked with her gaze planted to the floor. It had been a long day for her with all of the ships that needed servicing. Naturally, she had sole responsibility on most of them, with only the other engineers giving it one last look over to report back to the Council... she guessed.

Either that or they had to make sure she wasn't screwing up or sabotaging anything.

"Yo, pilot! I need you to fill out this form for me real quick!" She called out as she pulled a datapad from her pocket and held it at the ready for the pilot to fill in once they emerged.

 

[Iris Arani]

Oh.

Space had always been a place for Iris to just sit and think. After Voss, after finally clearing her mind, it was just the place to go when she wanted to avoid the colors and meditate. That'd become quite a big part of her life now. Letting things go, letting her emotions go. Finding a place to center herself and relax. It was pretty effective. All that kinda went to the wayside as she stepped out of her X-Wing and heard a voice she hadn't in a while.

"Oh."

It was all she could bring herself to say as she just.. Stared at Ara. The last time they spoke.. Iris couldn't even look at her. And now here she was. Working. "Uh.. Hey. Uh. .. You look good?"

She glanced off, rubbing at the back of her neck. She really wasn't sure what else to say at this point. Way too surprised in just seeing her.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

The pilot emerged from the starfighter's cockpit... and Ara's heart dropped into her stomach the moment she saw who it was. "Um." The word escaped her as she quickly looked around for some kind of excuse to run off, but there were none.

"Hey." She responded pretty much automatically as she stared at her friend... if that was still what they were. She wasn't ready to face anyone yet. Her loss on Panatha opened her eyes to a great many things, flaws in herself. Confronting those flaws was her mission... but she wasn't expecting to do that so early.

"So do you." She felt like a ghost as she stood there with datapad in hand. It might have sounded hollow, but it was truthful without a doubt. Ara could see the little details through Iris' robes, the little bit of extra definition hidden by the robes. She had been exercising hard, growing stronger both physically and in the Force.

"Uh... I-I need you to fill this in. Before we can work on your ship, i-it's just a... details on whose ship it... is and stuff..." She stammered hard as she spoke, feeling like she just wanted to sink into the floor and disappear from it all.

But she had to confront these things.

Ara let out a heavy sigh as she looked away. "Listen, Iris..." She started as she ran a stained hand through her mess of hair. "What happened, I... I apologize for what I did, and I'm trying to make up for it... but if you don't wanna speak to me again, I understand completely. It's... been good seeing you. You look really good." Her voice was tired and heavy, but it all came from a place of sincerity.

Her thousand yard stare was finally broken as she heard another engineer call out to her from another landing zone. Ara flinched and looked at him for a moment then back to Iris. "I gotta get to work." She pretty much shoved the datapad into Iris' hands as she turned to begin inspecting the girl's ship. "It's been good seeing you." She muttered as she paused one last moment to look at Iris, before she had to turn her back on the girl again.

This time she hoped that she didn't have to stare at Iris' back again.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Yeah this was awkward. As much as Iris wanted to keep it from being awkward, she couldn't bring herself to say or do.. Anything she normally would. Smile, wave it off, maybe even reach out to mend the bridge. All she could think about was the memory of Ara's uncaring attitude as she left the other woman bloodied on the ground. The Padawan just reached out to take the datapad to start filling out the information needed to at least get her ship tuned up as usual.

It ended up being Ara who broke the tension. Iris blinked for a moment before glancing up just to see Ara turn away. The colors didn't lie. They never lied.

"You want lunch?"

She practically blurted it out, hoping to catch the Zabrak before she disappeared again. Before she thought Iris was going to turn her back again. She missed her friend. "Maybe that burger, finally?"

She had so many things she wanted to tell. Just, not yet.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara paused for a moment and turned around with confusion stretched across her features. "Huh?" She muttered as she tilted her head slightly, trying to comprehend what it was Iris was asking her. Lunch. Nothing more to it. No words of disdain, no condescending attitude or anger.

Just lunch.

"Maybe that burger, finally?"

"What burg..." She trailed off as she thought back to her moments with Iris. When it dawned on her, a smile formed. For the first time in months, a hollow, yet evident smile formed as her empty, green eyes continued to stare at her friend. A faint chuckle escaped as she looked away at the rest of the hangar for a moment, then back to Iris. "Tell you what. Lunch is in a half hour. Help me out with the panels and we can go get lunch." She quipped with the faintest smile in her voice.

She didn't know what to think of the situation. That was fine. Right now she didn't want to think or entertain any speculations on what Iris was getting at. All she wanted to do was take it at face value. Open up the ship, then get lunch.

The Zabrak pulled a ladder closer and clambered onto the ship, curiously unclipping her lightsaber from her belt. She looked around at the panels for a moment then knelt down to place the lightsaber's emitter over the bolt holding it closed. When she hit the switch, the blade did not ignite. Instead, the emitter turned and tightened around the bolt, then continued to turn to loosen it up. Ara flashed a proud grin up at Iris as she opened the panel and handed it to Iris. "Just put it on the s-foil. These things are braindead-easy to maintain. Gotta love military grade fighters." She commented with a lot more enthusiasm in her voice.

One by one the panels on the back were removed, then the panels on the engines. Like clockwork, the siren wailed as the last panel was set aside. Ara clipped her lightsaber-spanner hybrid to her belt and turned to face her friend. "Burger, you say?" She asked as she walked over the wing of the fighter and used the cannon barrel to swivel down with some flair. "Lead the way." She gave a wave towards the door as she waited for Iris to join her.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Half hour?

Iris nodded once. She offered a brief smile, though she wasn't exactly as happy as Ara seemed to be. Not at first, anyway. Conflicted? Conflicted. She wanted her friend back, but was it so easy to look past what Ara had done? Especially now that Kai was in jail for his own disregard for Iris's safety. Then again, maybe that's why she was willing to give it a chance? In the midst of trying to justify to herself why she'd even offered she found herself roped into the maintenance itself. She blinked, nodding just a little as she took the panels and set them aside.

Oh, wait. What?

She'd almost missed it. Ara's saber was a spanner? Huh. Useful. She gave her own smile. No, no. There was no point in dwelling on those kind of thoughts. Right now she was helping a friend take apart her own ship to fix it up. That she could think about, easy. "It makes repairing them out in the field easy, thankfully."

Before she knew it, the bell went off. Huh. Lunch bell? Having never worked in.. Anywhere, Iris was more intrigued that such a thing even existed to realize Ara had already leapt off. She turned her gaze after the Zabrak, nodding after a second. Right.

"Yeah. There uh, should be a place close by." There was, of course. She'd been there a couple times now. Leading the way, she stopped just before the speeder. 'Place' wasn't really a good term for a foodtruck. She put the order in, couple of burgers. Paid. Then stepped back to wait for the food and.. Said nothing. Without work to at least distract her, Iris's mind was already drifting.

"So.. You still have your saber."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara could sense the conflicting emotions from Iris. She was still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation. Ara didn't blame her. She had made piece with the thought that she would likely never be able to see her old friends ever again. Having Iris stick around and inviting her for lunch was already way too much of a curveball she wasn't expecting, given how things went the last time they spoke.

The Zabrak nodded as she walked with Iris to this mystery burger shop, zipping down her jumpsuit to tie the top around her waist. She gave a satisfied sigh as a breeze washed over them, cooling down her body underneath the grease-stained tank top. Ara couldn't help but look at herself then at Iris. A smile formed as she looked ahead again. They both picked up some extra lines. Her eyes glimmered as she noticed the food truck, immediately recognizing the smell in the air. "Oh, now that's a throwback smell." She commented. "Smells like the kitchen when I used to make burgers in Underworld." She watched as Iris ordered for them and step back, an awkward silence quickly falling upon the two of them.

Ara was about to make another comment about the ships, or whatever, to break the silence, but Iris beat her to it with a question that had the Zabrak's face darken. "Yeah..." She muttered as she unclipped it and studied the new, modified hilt. "Asked Master Valery if they could keep it on the ship when they loaded me on. It didn't want me anymore... but I wanted to feel it close anyway. Good thing I did ask her, though." She clipped it back to her belt and lifted her tank top just enough to show the massive scar across her stomach.

"We dropped out of hyperspace for course correction over Panatha, but we got shot down. The crew in the cockpit were all killed on impact. I was way in the back of the ship, luckily. This baby took a hit, had to do some wacky mods with a hydrospanner, blaster parts and what was left of the original hilt before it worked again." She leaned against the side of the speeder truck as she looked at the ground, her nonchalant attitude falling away. Her face and eyes returned to that same empty look she gave Iris back in the hangar. "Landed behind Maw lines... a Sith found me. She... she screwed with my memory. Put pictures in my mind... she didn't stop. I was a way better fighter than her. But no matter how hard I kicked or punched, how hard I laid into her... it didn't stop."

Her gaze shifted back to Iris with a hint of horror in her eyes. "She beat me, Iris. She beat me bad. If it wasn't for Master Zhea, I'd... I wouldn't be here now." She admitted softly with a shaky breath. "I told her to leave me. I ain't worth jack-poodoo as a Jedi. But she... she got me out of there. I got my prison sentence reduced to a year's community service in the temple. Also got accepted back into the Order... I got a feeling that was a joint scheme between Master Valery and Master Zhea." She forced a smile as she looked at Iris again. "Guess the Force really does got a sense of humour, huh?"

A hollow laugh escaped her as a shaky hand pulled a cigarette from a pocket, but she gave up on trying to light it and tossed it away. Her hands were shaking way too much.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Oh there was a lot more to it than Iris figured. That did explain why Ara wasn't in jail, at least. And why she still had her lightsaber. Iris listened. Quiet, watching the various emotions taking over her features. The colors. What she faced, who she faced, was someone truly terrible, then. After a moment of just more silence on her part Iris couldn't stop herself. And just reached out to gently touch Ara's shoulder. Comfort her, somewhat.

"I'm glad you're okay. That you survived."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara's gaze shifted to the girl's hand on her shoulder. She looked away again as she took a deep breath. "You know... I've been thinkin' about it over and over. What are the chances that a Jedi Master coincidentally arrives just in time to save my life?" She looked at Iris. "What are the chances of us running into an imperial legion, and instead of imprisoning and executing us, they patch me up and let us go?" She chewed her lip as she gave a light nod. "The Force ain't done with me yet, Iris. That's all I could think of. I don't know what it's got planned for me, but I ain't gonna let this second chance go to waste."

She took hold of her friend's wrist and pulled her in for a tight hug, holding her in place for a long while. "I've missed you, Iris. Holy kriff, I've missed you." She muttered with a sigh into her shoulder. "I ain't gonna mess it up this time. I'm gonna make it count. Miri, Amani, you, Kyell... I'm gonna make it up to all of you." She finally let go of Iris after a few more minutes with tears welling up in her eyes.

However, the moment was broken by the shopkeeper hanging over the side, clearly a bit hesitant to break up the moment. "Our food's ready." She muttered with a laugh as she wiped at her eyes.

Once they had their food, Ara stuck close to Iris as she dug into the fries. Greasy, salty, covered in hot sauce... it was perfect. She looked back at Iris for a moment. "You've been hitting the gym, huh?" She joked with a smile as she gave Iris a light shove with her shoulder. "What's been going on while I was gone?" She asked her as she popped another few fries into her mouth.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

The hug might've been a bit much. Maybe. Iris wasn't too sure what to think of it, but rather than keep thinking she just.. Hugged her back. Tightly, at that. She knew all too well how horrible it could be to have to face that reality. To face death. To be afraid. And.. She really did just miss Ara. The moment was shattered by food, of all things, though. She nodded, reaching up to take her own burger.

"I want you to succeed."

That's all she could think to say about it. Emotion, drama. Iris was one of the worst when it came to that. But she did want to see her friend make amends.

"Ahh. Yeah, kinda." Gym, war. Training for war. It was a lot of that, really. She laughed a little as she took a bite of her burger. Greasy hotsauced deliciousness. Probably gonna have to run a couple laps to make up for it when Valery Noble found out, though. "Master Noble and I went to Voss. Got the.. Uh.. I'm not sure what to call it. Since Tython Carnifex has been.. In my dreams. Literally. Trying to make me kill myself. Working out helped to keep me focused on.. Well. The wars."

It felt weird talking about it. then again, she never did before. No one but Valery knew, and Valery only knew just before they left for Voss to fix it. "Also did a stint as a vigilante on Denon. That really made the fitness important. No lightsabers, no Force. Was pretty rough."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Whether it was Iris trying to be polite, or sincere, Ara didn't care. A warm smile cracked through at her friend's kind words. She wanted to succeed. She was going to succeed. Her thoughts didn't linger for long, though, as they made their way back to the temple with their delicious lunch. Iris explained the result of her more solid figure... though it wasn't at all what Ara was expecting to hear.

She paused and laid a hand on her shoulder with wide eyes. "Hold up... you're telling me that those nightmares you've been having were Darth Carnifex trying to get you to kill yourself?" She resumed their walk as she shook her head. "Jeez, Iris. Didn't know it was that bad. I'm glad you're good, though." She expressed with the kind words by stealing one of her friend's fries with a bright smile. She went on to describe her little trip to Denon, which earned an impressed nod from the Zabrak. "Hot damn, you're rock solid, sister. Wars, I don't think we should be involved in as padawans. But some proper street justice? That's something I can get behind... though, I imagine the vigilante part of that trip was a bit of a problem for the Masters?" She spared a glance at the girl as a smirk formed. "If you're planning a trip like that again, feel free to take me with you. Helping others is what we're here for." She commented, before shifting her grip to grasp the juicy burger.

"Oh, man! This is amazing. Exactly how I used to make mine." She muttered before taking few more bites. "If you need some more fitness going, feel free to come help me out in the hangars. You'll get real strong real quick after pulling a few engines and generators out." She chuckled as she finished off her burger and tossed the packaging in a bin. For the moment, everything felt right again.

No drama, no Panatha, no tension. Just her and Iris spending time together again.

The illusion sank away as they neared the temple again. "Hey... if you wanna hang out... after my lessons, I got some work until six." She offered rather carefully as she came back to reality. "Or... should we take things easy for a bit, still?" A nervous smile formed as she came to a halt.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"I.. Don't think we should be either." Padawan's should never have to face war. Of that, Iris was certain. Especially after everything that happened to her alone. All the scars, the missing parts. The nightmares. It didn't take Carnifex literally infesting her with dark magic for her to have sleepless nights. She closed her eyes before shaking her head. Frowning a little. "Vigilantism isn't good either. We're Jedi. We don't have to hide behind masks to help people. .. But yeah. There's a lot to do on Denon, yeah."

She didn't go into too much detail. Not yet. Mostly because there were ears everywhere, and it wasn't just her butt on the line. Probably shouldn't of even mentioned Denon, but this was a jedi hanger so.. Maybe it was fine?

Burger done and heading back to the temple, Iris shrugged. Just a little. She wasn't sure.

"That's.. Up to you. I don't know your rules or anything. The stipulations and such."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara nodded in agreement as Iris talked about their duties. She wasn't arguing for one bit. If Jedi were meant to keep their identities hidden, they would have done so long ago. No, they were supposed to be there to help others. To send a message to the rest of the galaxy. "I know about Denon. Heard a lot of stories over the years. Sometimes it sounds worse than Coruscant." She muttered. "But I mean it. You need help with any of that, I'm wide open." She reassured her friend.

As they reached the hangar, Ara was taken back by her friend's casual reply. She was expecting some hesitation or something. Instead, Iris seemed quite relaxed about them hanging out again. "I can move around freely and stuff. The engineers have been told to keep an eye on me, as well as the temple guards and masters. But overall, I can go around where I want. As long as I don't... lash out... at anyone, it ain't a problem." She explained to her. "I'll catch you later then." She gave Iris a light punch on the shoulder as she gave her a warm smile.

The siren went off again, calling all the workers back to the hangar. Ara spared one last glance at Iris as she walked back into the hangar, returning right back to the X-wing. The next several hours were spent giving her ship a once over, making sure everything was still ready to rock, and inspecting other ships that came and went. When that was done, it was onto Jedi training, where the exhausted Padawan was knocking back caf as she poured over her studies on a terminal in the archives.

She had sent a message to Iris, telling her where she was as the sun began to set outside. Though as she finished with her studies and notes, the Zabrak couldn't help but rest her head down against the desk as her eyes closed.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"Alright." Iris wasn't too sure what to say to that. Make a joke? Be serious? The whole idea of Ara not lashing out at people was just.. Something Iris wasn't used to thinking about. But Ara was still smiling. Seemed okay, even mentioning it. Yeah. Yeah. Iris smiled back, nodding her head. Ara had changed, that much was obvious. That much was enough for her. She gave a small wave as the siren went off and Ara rushed back to work and went off on her own.

Training. That's pretty much all Iris was doing. Her drills with her sabers, meditation, advanced healing. The later was probably the most exhausting of all. Trying to keep something alive with just the Force was much more difficult than she initially thought. By the end she got the message. Smiled, just for a second. Right. the Keshain took a shower first before finally heading up towards where Ara was.

"Hey! Yo-" She rounded the corner, only to stop midsentence once she realized Ara seemed to be asleep. Probably was. They weren't taking it easy on her. Right, it was a punishment still. Quietly she sat beside her friend, pulled out a Datapad, and just started reading.

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

By the time Iris reached her, the Zabrak was snoring lightly with her face buried in her arms. She only stirred to wake when she felt a presence right next to her, her head lifting to look around. "I'm-I'm awake. I'm awake." She grumbled as she searched for the person, her tired eyes finally noticing her friend next to her. "Oh... hey." She greeted with a half-cocked smile as she wiped at her mouth with the sleeve of her jumpsuit.

"Sorry, got hit out of nowhere here. Just wanted to rest my eyes." She chuckled as she brushed her hair out of her face and sat back, massaging her eyes. She nodded to the terminal as she looked over the screen for a moment. "How's this for irony? I ain't even Iridonian but I gotta do a task on Iridonia's history and culture." She snickered as she picked up her cold mug of caf and finished it up. "Real interesting history, gotta say. Zabraks are hardcore people. Finally figured out as well what the tats mean." She admitted as she pointed to her own face, her chuckle morphed into a laugh. She took her datapad and closed the pages on the terminal, before she rose from her seat.

She waited for Iris to join her as she made her way out of the archives. "Oh... forgot to ask earlier." She started. "Did you ever get around to using those art stuff I left on your counter, or did they end up in the trash?" She asked with a smirk.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"If you're tired you can sleep, you know." Iris chuckled just a little, glancing up from her datapad to her still groggy friend. Yeah. This was nice. Just seeing her relax. But.. She didn't stay long, huh. She got up, nodding her head a little as she followed after. Tucked away her reading material in the process. "Are they? .. I don't know anything about Keshain. I should probably look into it."

Heritage was important, right? Maybe. She should probably talk to Valery Noble at some point about it.

She blinked, though. Frowned as she looked away. "I only threw them away when I used them all up."

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara scoffed with a shrug at Iris' suggestion. "Can't go to bed yet, it's way too early. Besides, you caught me just in time! I wanted to go to a music shop before it closes." She explained to her as they walked out. Iris went on to comment on her species' homeworld, earning a hum from the Zabrak. "I actually tried to read up about them the other day. Not a lot of info on 'em which is weird. But yeah, Zabraks from Iridonia are hardcore. Basically like Mandos but all one species. And they love their engineering and big guns. But I mean... big guns." She held her hands out as she looked with wide eyes at Iris. "Like... apparently the superweapon that karked up Malachor way back when? Yeah, that was apparently designed by a Zabrak."

She could have gone on and on with all kinds of info on half of her species, but she chose against it. Partially because she didn't want to spend the rest of the evening talking Iris' ears off... and partially because, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really important to her. She might have had a Zabrak dad, but she wasn't Iridonian. Though the thought of it all did leave her feeling rather odd.

Luckily Iris diverted the talk entirely when she mentioned the fate of the art supplies the Zabrak gave her. A warm smile formed as Ara wrapped an arm around her. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resit 'em. Got them from the small art shop close to your place too. Dunno if you've seen it, but it's run by this quiet old man. It was weird... I don't know anything about painting and what's needed, but I told him I'm looking for a gift for a friend, and it was like he knew exactly what would work." She explained, but quickly perked up as her eyes went wide.

"Speaking of shopping! You wanna come with? To the music shop. My mom, uh... she let me know that my guitar's neck was broke when my stuff got to her. Been hustling on the side to scrape some creds together for a new one. You can come help pick one out for me." She asked her with a beaming grin as she picked up the pace.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

"Wait, wait. We're having two different conversations that's hard to keep up with." Iris laughed nervously, holding up her hands. She was getting better at holding conversations, but even this was getting too much. Zabrak, the shop. The- Oh the shop. Iris blinked quickly before smiling wide. "Oh! Yeah. He's been running the store since before the One Sith had Coruscant from what he tells me. In my head, I mean. The Sith took his voice. Still kept his shop, though."

Strong fella, him.

Iris nodded a little though. Shopping. Instruments? "Yeah, that, that could be fun. I uh, don't know much about instruments but we can go shopping!"

Ara Sheridan

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara's smile softened with a light chuckle as Iris tried to calm the situation down. She had almost completely forgotten about her friend's one mortal weakness. A complex conversation. Luckily Iris managed to follow through it all, she merely needed a moment to collect her thoughts.

Perhaps Ara wasn't paying attention to just how happy she was to be with her friend again.

It was, however, bizarre to hear that the little shop owner was one hell of a tough guy. To endure the Sith and still have his shop. "I think that shop owner might be my new role model. Holy kriff." She commented as she walked with Iris.

She then went on to agree to the invitation. Ara hugged her tighter for a moment before she let go and picked up the pace. "Don't worry. I'll check what's good and you can pick the style." She reassured her.

Once they were outside, Ara managed to organise a taxi for them as they walked. It was a quick trip and the cherry on top was the hour or so they still had to browse before the shop had to close. However, the Zabrak's gaze immediately fell upon a glass cabinet holding a very expensive guitar. Her eyes went wide as she stood in front of the cabinet.

"No way. No karkin' way. They got the Elite?!" She muttered as she studied it, trying her best not to plaster herself against the glass as she stared up in awe. "Holy kriff. Iris... you know what this is?!" She looked at her friend with a grin that spread from ear to ear. "This thing's a beast! Integrated metronome and amp, its own speaker, hell you can even program it to play other tunes like a drum beat!"

She turned to look at the advert in the bottom corner, a long groan escaping her. "It even comes with the entire starter pack. Case, cable, charger, the whole thing. Ten thousand credits, though... karkin' hell. It's a bargain..." Her heart sank at the price, though she immediately tried to figure out how long it would take her.

Too long.

"Man... gonna take me 'till next year to save up enough." She slumped away and walked over to the second hand rack on the other side of the wall. The others paled in comparison, but were certainly a fraction of the price in total. They were all basic electric guitars, with a variety of colours and shapes. But Ara half-heartedly picked out a pure white guitar that's seen some better days.

She studied it for a moment and tested it a little, not that it would make much of a sound. The disappointment in her face was clear as day, though she did put on a smile as she looked at Iris. "How 'bout this one... then you can paint it up for me?" She asked as she showed it to Iris.

Her gaze turned back to the glass cabinet for a fleeting moment before she looked at the rest. "Otherwise... which one would you say stands out? For you?" She asked Iris as she set the white one back down.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Elite, huh? Iris looked it over. And none of what Ara said made any sense to her. But it sounded nice! And expensive. Maybe it was expensive. That was the harder thing to figure out. With no real concept of money, well, how much stuff was worth and how to earn it at least, she didn't have much of an insight. Especially as it seemed Ara was just depressed she couldn't get the one she wanted.

".. Why can't you get the one you really want?"

Ara Sheridan