Thrilla in Chandrila [PM for Invite]

[Corvetta Salvo]

Corvetta was going to enjoy herself. She had never stepped onto the grassy terrain of Chandrila before, despite the Republic honoring her with citizenship simply because her parents were from this place. Sure, she had seen the world from space, but neither her father nor mother ever seemed to think it important to take her to see the land of their childhood at ground-level. What was with that?

The spacer chick was not going to call up her parents now and ask them to give her a tour, but she did not fail to bring some company along. Who else but her best friend? Corvetta wondered if Kohai was the type to snag brochures or if they would wing it like the pilot usually did. Engineers like to follow directions, right? Then again, Kohai was probably not exactly a normal engineer if she suffered Corvetta's company.

Sometimes people just need to celebrate. Corvetta had not done that in a while, and she was going to make sure to do that now. She had bought some fingerless gloves on the layover to Chandrila. She might as well look her best for this super special occasion.

Strolling out of customs, the pilot girl looked at her blond buddy and asked, "Should we take a picture?"

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

To say that Kohai was excited would be like saying a Hutts occasionally dealt under the table. Her best friend, Corvetta had invited her to her home planet, a place the engineer had never been. It was sure to be a good time!

As the duo made their way out of customs, her friend grabbed her attention. "Should we take a picture?"

The engineer shot a grin the pilot's way. "Up to you! Always nice to get a few more shots of my fingertips!" All kidding aside, she'd probably take a bunch. What many people didn't know about Kohai, was that she was a natural born tourist. New things needed to be touched; new places needed to be explored. She could only hope she didn't get lost again...

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Snazzy!" Corvetta exclaimed. She unbuttoned one of the many pockets on her cargo pants and obtained her datapad to take some snapshots. She happened to be wearing her cleanest clothes for this occasion, only a couple grease stains visible. Of course, she also had on her super spiffy coat and the fresh fingerless gloves. Stylin'!

The pilot girl took a few 'candid' pics of the duo. Naturally there would be the spaceport bar's sign in the background. Corvetta hoped Kohai's parents would not think she had corrupted their daughter--if Kohai even sent pictures to her parents. Now that she thought about it, she had never heard her friend talk about family. Was that something friends talk about? Corvetta had never really had a friendship before, so she had no clue about how this stuff worked.

As they neared the exit doors, Corvetta attempted to read whatever that huge sign above the doorway said. Being nearly illiterate and dyslexic besides, that really did not work out. Too embarrassed to fully admit this, she 'nonchalantly' gestured to the sign and chuckled like she knew what it said. "That's interesting." Really, she was hoping her buddy would tell her what was printed. She was so smooth about these things.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Posing for the pictures, Kohai was just glad to see that her friend was having a good time, or at least she hoped she was. At least this didn't seem to be one of those days. Sometimes Corvetta could get a little down, and the blonde didn't always know what to do...

After some time had passed, they were beginning to make their way to the exit. It was then that Corvetta spoke up. "That's interesting." Looking to see what her friend meant, she found herself gazing at an exit sign. It was certainly big... but that was it. For the life of her, she couldn't place was was peculiar about it...

"Yeah... As if we couldn't tell that it was the exit." It wasn't the first time Corvetta had done something a bit strange, but maybe that's what drew them together. Kohai wasn't exactly the standard rate, either...

Shaking off her confusion, Kohai grabbed her friend by the wrist, lightly tugging the young woman behind her as she picked up the pace. "Whatever, let's go! You've gotta show me everything!" The engineer was looking forward to seeing her first agriworld. She was a city-girl, born and bred, and she could already smell the difference.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Oh. So that was an exit sign. Interesting, indeed. Corvetta bit her lip and tried to contain a blush, bringing her hand up to brush her hair back behind her shoulders.

The little engineer that could suddenly had the also-little pilot's free arm like a leash and was guiding her out the doors. Welcome to Chandrila! Corvetta could smell the difference, too. It smelled like nature. And you know what that smells like.

"Everything?" the spacer repeated, feeling like she was being put on the spot. Granted, that was sometimes what piloting was all about, but Corvetta had no idea what was to see, herself. Her buddy seemed really enthusiastic, though. She was always in a really good mood. It must have something to do with the scarves. Corvetta should get one, too.

Not wanting to dampen Kohai's spirits, the pilot momentarily decided to ad-lib things. "Alright, Koko. We're going to go see thiiiiiiiiiisss..." She searched frantically through the map on her datapad, trying to find something cool and not look stupid. "...place. Yeah!" Whatever her finger had landed on, she hoped it was something cool like the civic center and not just a fresher. That would really be embarrassing.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai scanned the datapad, bringing her gaze to Corvetta's fingertip. A library? That's cool, I guess... Wait a minute... Is that-? Oh wow...

Heat began to fill her face.

The pilot's finger was actually on the street adjacent to the one with the library. Her friend had suggested they visit an old book store that, judging by some of the public notes on the display, focused on a very specific genre.

A sly grin slowly spread across the engineer's features. "My, my... Didn't you were that kinda' girl, Corvetta." Kohai playfully bumped her elbow into Corvetta's chest, cocking her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

She was happy to play along, but Corvetta had to be kidding, right? In all their time together, stuff like... that... had never really come up. Either way, she was determined not to embarrass her buddy too much. "I mean... I'm up for whatever."

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Didn't know I was what kind of girl? She had no idea what Kohai could mean, but she assumed it was something embarrassing. The pilot scrunched her nose and tried to focus on the little words that were screaming at her the name of this place she had just picked out, but for the life of her, she could not put them together properly. "I mean... if it's snazzy to you..."

Corvetta shielded her eyes with her free hand and squinted at a distant skyscraper. That place looked kind of important, but possibly not. Or it could be and they could just save it for last. Always end the day with a bang, you know? Help me out here, Koko. "Ya wanna go? Or is there something else frakkin' spiff you're spinning to see?" she asked, hoping for some input.

What the frak was this place she had just suggested?

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

"Hmm... Lemme see..." Examining the datapad, Kohai mumbled to herself as she searched, talking her way through her own process.

"Dunno... dunno...expensive... but maybe...no..." She ran across restaurants, a museum, a state park of some type, standard stuff for any tour guide.

She'd always had trouble with this kind of thinking. For all her smiles and positive disposition, Kohai was an engineer. When she looked at things, she saw them mechanically. She couldn't just jump into something with both feet, following intuition into potential danger and back out again. This was something the girl had sensed almost immediately when she'd met Corvetta way back on that space station over Brentaal IV, and one of the few things she was actually jealous of.

The "crack pilot" mindset would really help right now, regardless of how simple the situation was. Less moving parts. Regardless, her head space was getting clouded with darker thoughts than she wanted, so it was time to end her digression and pick something... Pick something... now!

Shaking her head quickly, Kohai pointed towards a nearby restaurant. "That place looks cheap, let's maybe get a doggie bag. Can't be exploring without some local food, after all." It'll do for now, easy way to get the ball rolling...

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Who could go wrong with a doggie bag? Not Corvetta. It must be that time of year--the time of year when one eats real food for a few weeks. Freeze-dry only takes you so far in the variety department. "Sounds snazzy to me," she declared, though unsure as to what kind of restaurant this was. Reading, reading, so much reading... If only she had an excuse to use the voice feature. But alas, she did not. She would just have to trust Kohai's judgment and go along with things. Or she could admit she had illiteracy issues. But how about we don't?

The good news was that Corvetta could certainly read a map, if not the names of locations listed. Therefore, the spacer was one hundred percent confident that they could at least make it there--whatever 'there' was. Hopefully not one of those Mon Cal delis. Now that had been a mistake that one time...

"Let's get crankin'!" Corvetta interjected with some cheery finality, taking a few steps in the direction of the selected establishment. "Gotta chug up the town. Bonus points if people think you're a native." Yeah, that was actually what she would be trying to do the whole time. Have to act like you know the place.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]