Seas of Red

[Seraph Sin]

It was not always that Seraph found himself at peace, but the waves crashing against the platforms that made up the city of Ahto seemed to have that effect on him. Manaan was quiet, other than the various sounds of life moving behind him, the moving water before him was much louder, capable of drowning out the noise of beings. Figuratively speaking, that was. Seraph was on Manaan for many reasons, exploration, learning, and continuing the steps of figuring out who he was, or what he was. The Weave seemed to have pointed him here, the platform he stood upon being fairly newer than the rest of the city's. First arriving here, Seraph could feel the echoes that did not belong solely to him. Images of battle, death and rivalry filled his mind up until the point he noticed the waters.

"It's beautiful." He spoke quietly to himself.

For a while now, Seraph was nomadic, moving from space to space, unsure of his motives himself. There were a few out there who did not find him presence enjoyable, and Seraph wasn't sure why. He was certain the Dark Jedi had recognized him, but Seraph knew he had never seen the man before.

Seraph sighed, maybe he wasn't supposed to be chasing after these random echoes. Maybe he was seeing them for no real reason. Seraph had no answers, and he was beginning to doubt he ever would. What he did know, he had no recollection of his childhood, parents, or friends. No one could explain these absent of memories, but no one seemed to want to explain it. All he had was the Weave, and the shard. Seraph felt utterly alone.

[member="Anna Sachae"]

 

[Anna Sachae]

There were a few kinds of people who traveled consistently from planet to planet. Most of them were hilariously independently wealthy. Being a Jedi, it seemed, was as good for business as being a Sith. Flying around in your own private starship, never having to worry about food or keeping a roof over your head, always having whatever distraction you wanted to occupy yourself with on-hand at all times... Jedi life seemed pretty glamorous.

Most of the rest lived like Anna. They kept moving because that's where work was. Scavenger ships last month. This month, it seemed, was in shield tech. When the nameless salvage freighter she'd been crewed on docked at Manaan, Anna turned over what she had left from two droid ships and a little trekking on Endor for credits to fill up her savings account. The problem with suddenly being in your early 20's with no preamble was that you had nothing to support you. No family, no friends, no government records... So Anna had spent months now building up enough of an identity to survive on. This, of course, meant that work was never done. By the time she'd cashed in and waved goodbye to the crew, the young Kuati woman had already found where she'd spend at least the next few weeks.

Manaan had very specific needs. Due to being an amphibious planet without any natural landmasses, each city had to be exactingly self-contained. No leaks. No slips. Shield tech was as important as kolto and bacta production, and Anna had a sound working knowledge of energy and particle shields. Even hundreds of years out of date, she was extremely confident she could pick up on it relatively quickly. It'd be a bit of a hassle to get herself working on the clock, especially on a planet she'd never been to before, but one couldn't self-employ forever.

For now, though, she had enough slush to spend at least one day on her own. Eat out a little, maybe go shopping for some necessities that she'd been lacking in her tiny cabin on the salvage ship. She might go sightseeing a bit later, but right now, the sun shimmering off of the perfect, watery surface of Manaan was enough of a sight for her. Wandering up to one of the rails, she grinned and leaned forward, cocking her head to the young man standing nearby. "What a sight, yeah?"

@ Seraph Sin

 

[Seraph Sin]

Still lost in both thought and the beautiful ocean, Seraph jerked himself away from the railing. He stared at the lady next to him for a moment, before nervously nodding.

"Yeah."

His attention went back to the crashing waves against the platform, swearing he could see small schools of fish residing around the area. Seraph wasn't expecting company, incapable of not making socializing awkward, his foot was already tapping his toes on the ground in a habitual tick. Was he supposed to continue talking to her? Was that all that needed to be said? Seraph was beside himself on what to do next. Cautiously, his eyes glanced back at the woman, taking his time to really get a look at her. Some might call it starring, Seraph called it understanding.

She seemed like a spacer, making some kind of crew member of a traveling ship. Seraph thought she was pretty, but wasn't sure what qualified as pretty. Maybe this was it? No one had told him how to feel towards the opposite sex, made the interaction even harder for him to cope with. Seraph could feel a small bead of sweat forming on his forehead, not from the sun as the breeze was cool, but simple anxiety.

"S-s-Seraph. My name is S-s-Seraph."

He couldn't help but stutter his name, but he refused to let fear stop him from trying to be friendly.

[member="Anna Sachae"]

 

[Anna Sachae]

Blinking in momentary confusion, Anna cocked her head to one side and gave an inquisitive grin. "Well then. Hello, Seraph. I'm Anna." She didn't drop a beat on her response. This poor dear had obviously put far more effort into simple interaction than a normal person would have, and respecting and acknowledging that would go a long way to validating him.

At some level, Anna was vaguely aware that she was quickly losing her grasp of what she'd intended to be a relaxing, quiet day alone with a gorgeous planet. She'd written off the whole idea of seeing what Ahto City had to offer, maybe tasting some Selkath cuisine, finding a good new novel to fall in love with by the soft orange glow of sunset. Why? Because there was a pretty good chance that she would be the only person this poor, neurotic mess would speak to today.

Turning around, Anna leaned back against the rail overlooking the sea, her elbows resting high as she turned her head towards Seraph. A quick glance showed he put a lot of effort into his appearance; not a lot of humans wandered around with high-neck fur collars. "That's a pretty impressive outfit there. Is it cultural?" Her smile refused to abate. Against tide and time, it would not relent.

@[member=" Seraph Sin"]

 

[Seraph Sin]

Anna, it was a name that seemed to make his heart feel warm. Seraph stared at her for a moment longer before deciding it best to look away. There was a way the sun bounced of her skin that seemed to make her somewhat bronze colored skin glow, adding with her even acknowledging him, Seraph was certain he was tripping over himself mentally.

Then that smile brought back his small tick.

tap...tap...tap

The young man was beyond himself now, while his face was full of nerves, and the eyes betraying his coolness, inside there was a large smile behind it all. Someone was actually talking to him. Someone was actually pointing out he existed, and was not afraid of him. This was the best feeling ever. Her question, however, stumped him. His outfit? Seraph looked down at his jacket, realizing she was checking his attire out. He had no idea, it was simply another item left to him by some unknown person. There was, at one point, his past mentor mentioned Vahla, though he was unsure exactly what that meant.

"I-I think so? Vahla...though I'm not sure where...sorry." Seraph had started, then realized he was getting into more personal ramblings that probably didn't matter to her.

"What a-a-about you? Business, or p-p-pleasure?"

There was nothing to do about the stutter, it was like he was dreaming, and Seraph was afraid he would wake up. Just being to talk to her was enough to make his whole life good enough.

[member="Anna Sachae"]

 

[Anna Sachae]

Poor dear. Idly, Anna wondered if he was seeing a specialist about his speech impediment. She clearly wasn't, so it would be extremely presumptuous for her to try anything clinical to help him through it, but she remembered a few things she picked up from a talk holo a while back. Basic sympathy. Treat them like a person, and don't draw attention to it. Making a nervous person self-conscious was the quickest way to get them to shut down, and it was clearly the last thing this lonely young man needed right now.

"Valha, huh? Never heard of it." The Kuati woman cocked her head to one side, grinning back at him. "Must be pretty fancy if that's what you wear there, though!" Hopefully that wasn't too insensitive. The way he spoke, he didn't really know much about it, either, so Anna took a shot in the dark that common ground might be "I have no idea what you're talking about," rather than attempting to relate her own home. Establish peerage. Hard to feel alone when you're right next to someone who's just like you.

Standing and stretching a bit, arms over her head, Anna considered how to approach that answer. Eventually, as she rested one hand on her hip, she came to a decision. "Business, I guess. I'm honestly not likely to be here long, but I'm not sure how long this project is gonna take." Eyes back on Seraph. Anna raised one eyebrow inquisitively, prompting to see if he understood nonverbal queues.

[member="Seraph Sin"]