Private Spanners in the Works

[Acaadi]

"Hard work suits you."

It was quite a lift to his spirits to have a bit of playful banter. Something that had been sorely absent in his life. Joy had been in short supply. He smiled easily at the sound of her laughter.

The piece of hull really did not want to come away from the ship. He felt it start to give as Phalsi started to draw herself upwards.

Acaadi shot upwards, grabbing her arm. It didn't stop her from falling. He had misjudged their balance and both went over. They landed on the sloped canopy of the ship, sliding down towards the nose until Acaadi found purchase with his free hand.

"Can you just, slide the chunk down to the ground?" he asked. It was going to make a noise, but better than trying to climb back up the ship with it.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Panic brain had set in as she fell, and even with Acaadi catching her, she never let go of the panel. The fight or flight response keeping her holding the piece as though it would save her from falling.

A few seconds of brief internal struggle paired with his words to drop the piece had her slowly easing her caught hand free of the handle as the weight pulled on the free arm.

The handle was let go, and the piece thundered against the ground as she winced at the noise.

"Good catch...least its out?" She gave an upside down grin as she waved her arm awkwardly to find a handhold while pulling on the arm he had caught her by.

"Canopy held up."

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi had a brief mental image of them falling through a shattered cockpit and into the console. That would have hurt in all kinds of places. He planted a boot on the glass to find a bit of grip.

"At least it's out," Acaadi agreed.

When Phalsi found some purchase he gave a gentle tug to help her draw up onto all fours. The squeaking of boots on glass was replaced by metal thuds as they climbed back onto the wings.

"Well that would do it," he said. His pulse was still racing from the sudden shock. He looked down at the mess he had made. He couldn't remember what the tube was that had been melted, but it had to do something.

"Wow, that glancing blow could have been the end of me."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Their shared clambering, paired with the sheer silliness of the whole scene had her giggling up a storm as they righted themselves. Which did little to help her keep her hold on the little spot, but with his help she was righted before the giggles stopped and dropped to a look of alarm.

"So hey, you need some new stabilizers...I'm glad you got to ground before the ship uh-" She paused, not for dramatic effect but to find the right word. Her eyes shot over to him and gave him the up down. "Not right-well actually yeah. It should have sent you to ground right there. These things are stupid tough."

She had the approving hem and haw look as she glanced over the ship.

"Good choice in ship." Her fingers went to the tube. "This here provides a similar system of balance to the instruments for semi-automated flight adjustments but given that it was fried, well. Did it feel like flying a brick instead of a sleek fighter?"

 

[Acaadi]

"I'm glad you like it," he replied, feeling a touch abashed. Phalsi had good taste in ships so he was glad she liked it.

"Over some of the key systems there are thin laminamium plates. They melt if struck and seal the hull so even more tough. Maybe should have put one here. It definitely felt like a brick on the way down..."

"...Kind of scary when you look at all the little pieces knowing they all keep you alive up there."

The big grin he had been wearing easily was dispelled but he mentally stepped past that worry with a visible shrug.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

"Laminanium is a good addition. Might have to reinforce the stabilizer section altogether, or at least add another plate." She offered, peeking inside to take a rough guess as to the space requirements for such an addition.

"Okay, a shaped plate maybe." She sighed, fingers roaming through the space and tracing imaginary deflection lines. "Have to look at the blueprints to get the deflection angles right so we don't burn out life support or a power converter."

His comment about it being a bit scary had her chuckling. "It reminds you how easy life could be over. Why you should live it up instead of being cautious."

 

[Acaadi]

"I think that's true. Well, not sure about the second part. Definitely a reminder of how fragile we were."

Acaadi stopped looking at the ship for a few seconds of introspective thought. He tried to explain what he was thinking. She deserved that. She had talked him through everything going on with her when he had reached out to her.

"I had this image of nice safe training and then being a Jedi Knight knowing that nothing in the galaxy was really a danger for me any more. Both of those are definitely going to be shown up for wrong. Can't stay and train forever."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She gave him a strong side eye paired with an equally deep pause in her words at the question of the second part of her words.

"It's my solid opinion, and you can quote me, that later is a nasty little word that should only be uttered when you are debating the time for food." She informed him with a lazy tilt of her head his way.

She put her arms beneath her chin as she settled onto the panels, laying flat and looking over the compartment before we them before speaking again.

"No. We can't. But there is always going to be danger. Always going to be some boogeyman thing out there. All we can do is prepare as best we can." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes as she let her own worry come creeping back in.

"Acaadi, there isn't anything wrong with being scared or even talking about it." She buried her mouth into her arms briefly, face flush suddenly as she sighed. They were being honest, and she would at least give him something in return.

"I still get jittery and scared on missions. Feth, I get scared just flying between the temples. Those stupid little worries like, what if-" She cut her words off, burying her face more.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi watched her carefully. Slowly the tone transitioned from good advice, to an exposure of what was going through her own head. Acaadi was sat before the new hole in his ship's hull, sitting cross-legged. The tools remained untouched and he'd already forgotten what she said they needed to do.

"It feels like there's something out of your hands...overwhelming...when you're in congested skies," he said. "Almost worse than seeing a full Sith Lord in action."

There was a natural brush of his consciousness against her mind. He did it without thought, but she seemed quite closed off to him that way. Almost any jedi was. They guarded themselves against intrusions.

"Something in particular bothering you?" he asked. For all he knew it could be anything from an upcoming flight to death threats from a criminal syndicate. He tentatively reached out and left a hand on her elbow.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She was silent for a long moment at his words. He had done better than her at expressing the congested skies but her withdrawal had made the defense around her mind strong.

His brush against her concious was initially met with an almost hostile recoil, eyes snapping open and focusing on him before they softened. The barrier of her mind relaxed, an unsure step made to open up to him as she sighed.

The mental touch had been received with hostility, but the touch of his hand was welcome, a feeling she had forgotten and enjoyed as her own hand opened and closed before moving to his with caution and settling over his.

"Just. Feeling, I don't know. Alone, I guess?" The emotions beneath the surface were dark as she opened her mind to him. The point of the ocean where the pleasant sea floor one swam safely met a great depth and was swallowed by the lack of light.

 

[Acaadi]

It was simple and heart-wrenching. Just the core of one concept rather than any complicated personal matters she was dealing with. She surprised him by lowering her defences and giving him a glimpse of that endless ocean.

He had tried to listen when he reached out to her last time. He still wasn't very good at it. He should have read between the lines of how easy it was to convince her to come back. She didn't feel as if she belonged here either. Acaadi had such a regular upbringing that sometimes he didn't read the subtlety of other people's problems.

"This...the ship isn't going anywhere," he said. "I can clean up and we can catch a film instead?"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

He had glimpsed past the barriers she kept in place, but had not pressed further. It relieved her that he hadn't, feeling herself struggle to keep from shutting him out once more.

He had been patient before when bringing her back, and worked with her. All good signs in her mind.

A small smile appeared at the offer. "I promise to help instead of being all dark and dreary next time. But I would like that."

Her lips curled in once more as she looked him over, humor with a dash of joy bubbling up across her still open mind. Like water skimmers, it danced across the dark surfaces and brought a moment of light to the depths. "I don't know. The grease stains add to the ensemble."

 

[Acaadi]

"Didn't think it was all that dark," he replied, trying to smile. "But, you know, glad you feel you can tell me that..."

"Most of the padawan I joined with are gone. The group of Knights that took me under their wing too. Its a bit...I dunno. Lonely. Yeah."

For all his rambling he chose one thing to do with purpose. He liften his goggles to his forehead, wiped some grease onto a finger and booped it onto the tip of Phalsi's nose.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

"Everyone sees things different. Part of what makes the universe fun." She offered with a shifting smile. "Some see dark, others merely a dim place. Others a void." She shrugged as he explained how he was also feeling the difference in presence.

"Everyone seems to be finding their own place." She chuckled. The words were cynical, her smile still shifting as she watched his goggles move, her eyes wandering away before his finger plopped grease on the tip of her nose.

She sat stunned for a moment, mouth open slightly as she failed to protest the action.

Instead she looked at him with much the same look a predator did to an impending meal. Her eyes darted over to the grease gun before shifting back to him, and she scrambled upright while sliding down the side of the cockpit.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi'a gaze followed hers, but he entirely missed what she was looking at. As she started to move he scrambled back half a foot.

Phalsi instead started sliding down the cockpit and the penny finally dropped. He was about to jump down after her, but realised she already had the lead on him.

Acaadi stayed on the back of the ship, keeping the high ground.

"No!" he warned, wagging a finger. He was laughing as he stalked around the perimeter of the wing.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She slid and rolled when she touched the ground. Not sure if Acaadi had followed her down until her hand was firmly on the device in question.

He had wisely stayed atop the vessel, hey eyes lit up with mischief as she flashed a delighted grin with the tool in hand.

"Come on down! We gotta catch that film." She smiled, smearing a bit of grease across her right hand. She set the grease gun aside, and stalked around below the wings, waiting.

 

[Acaadi]

"This is a tra-ap!" he called down in a sing-song voice. She was definitely hiding somewhere under the wings. Phalsi had put down the grease gun so perhaps she'd given up on the mischief.

Acaadi knew she hadn't, but seeing as he had nothing in the top of the ship that could allow him to escalate there was nothing else to do.

He slid down the canopy and landed lightly on the ground.

"Truce?" he called out hopefully.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She laughed at his observation of it being a trap. He wasn't wrong. He just didn't know when the trap would be sprung. She waited patiently, curling her fingers into her palm without spreading the grease across her whole hand as she stepped out from under the wing.

"Truce." Her words held a laugh to them, her eyes sharply stating she was plotting as she extended the not greased hand to him.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi let out a sigh of defeat. He knew that it wasn't going to be a truce, but running or escalating was only going to make it worse.

"Truce then," he said, extending his hand towards her. His eyes remained narrowed in deep suspicion.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She managed to smile sweetly, though not innocently. She let him lead the way, only by a half step but still somewhat leading.

"Anything you have in mind? I was thinking a mystery or comedy maybe?" She offered, greased hand held behind her back by the other as they walked.