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 Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:23 pm
The mess hall here could not, for all the credits in the galaxy, reproduce authentic Uj cake. Ena had given the synthesizer the best recipe she knew of. She even tweaked it herself, trying to get the consistency right, to no avail. It was too soft, not sticky enough, and lacking in sweetness. She took a swallow of tea that was too weak and sighed.
She was not, she assured herself, homesick.
She brushed crumbs from her robes and smoothed them out, feeling the shapes her armor made beneath it, and poked at the cake again. Maybe it would grow on her. She tried another bite.
Nope. Not happening.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:55 pm
It was time to celebrate. With Cara having finished her "lesson" given to her by Master Langui, she felt one step closer to true Knighthood, and had to be worth some Bruallki and Menkooro, or at least one of the two. Cara at first thought that she would have preferred the Menkooro herself, but by the way her stomach rumbled, it would have to be food before liquor. She sighed. If only she could Force-train herself out of eating.
Upon reaching the mess hall, she discovered that neither commodity was in stock, so she simply took a medley of whatever looked vaguely edible (Cara had a pretty big range of what was vaguely edible), and began searching for a table. It was only in scanning her eyes around the otherwise empty hall did she notice someone else.
Oh. She probably should have had the Force on or something.
Judging the woman to be a fellow Knight by her robes, Cara decided to put on her best friendly-face and approach her. It occured to her that perhaps she should be wearing her robes as well, but she still had her lightsaber at her waist, and it was pretty easy to see she wasn't a youngling otherwise. Stopping just shy of the seat opposite Ena, she smiled and waved quickly with the hand not holding her plate of mixed foods.
"This seat taken?" Cara asked, attempting to be as amiable as possible.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:03 pm
"No," said Ena, looking up at the woman. A bit older than her? It was hard to tell. Then again, Ena looked older than twenty-one. Hard living did that to you. The woman could easily be a few years her junior and she would never know.
"Are you someone's apprentice?" she asked. She popped another piece of spongey cake into her mouth. Nutrition was nutrition. You finished what was on your plate. Famine and a vong-formed planet did that to you. "What's your named? What's your Order?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:25 pm
Cara slid into the chair opposite Ena, looking down tentatively at her tray. She didn't know half of what was on there, but it didn't smell rotten or poisonous, and the likely synthetic meat seemed particularily reminiscent of home aboard her ship. Without hesitation, she cut off a piece and gulped it down. She was impressed--it wasn't even past expiration dates. It would seem that the Academy really knew how to treat their students.
"Hm?" Cara looked up from her meal, swallowing the rest of her bite before actually speaking. "Not an apprentice, but I'm looking for one eventually." She lowered her eating utensils and held out a scarred hand. "Cara Ydell, Knight of the Sith. And you?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:18 pm
Ena eyed the hand suspiciously for a moment before shaking it. Her hand had a blue glove on it, the back of it armored, mandalorian-style, the palm and fingers coated for gripping or climbing. The other hand, the one she had been picking at the cake with, was bare. the glove rested on the table next to her plate.
"Ena Vesh," she said, in her curious accent. A bit coruscanti, a bit exotic. Concord Dawn or thereabouts. Mandalorian. "Mando first, Jedi Knight second."
She smiled. It was not a friendly smile. It was a predator showing its teeth.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:39 pm
Cara looked with a curious glance at the armored hand clasping hers, her expression blank for a moment before spreading out into an even wider grin than before. "No way," she responded, seemingly in approval of Ena's introduction and even more seemingly oblivious to the danger in the woman's smile. "We'd get a Mando or two every so often onboard the ship I used to live on. They tended to be pretty neat."
A thought struck Cara, and as she withdrew her arm, her look became pensive. "Somewhat odd to see you here, though. I mean, I was always under the impression that Mandolorians weren't all that fond of Jedi."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:52 pm
"Mandalorians," said Ena, "As a general rule, are not terribly fond of anyone." Her hand withdrew back under the table. Her other hand began to fidget with a nut that had fallen off her slice of cake, splitting it neatly with her thumb nail.
"I do what I have to," she said, moving her fingers a bit. The halves of nut levitated above the table, joined in a midair kiss, and then fell separately. "I need to control this."
"The order has something I need, I have something they need. It's a fair trade."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:59 pm
"Oh," Cara replied, looking down at her plate. She began to sip at something that looked and vaguely smelled like stew, except for the fact that it was grey and, now that she tasted of it, was probably more of some plant-like concoction. "I guess you could say we're in the same situation, then, because really, the only reason I'm here is for control."
She eyed the two halves of the nut on the table. "I have to say, though, you've got a good bit more control than I do." Another thought occured to her, and she finished her stewy substance in a single gulp before letting it sit on the table again.
"You know, we should work together. That way, we learn control faster, and then hey, we're both out of here." Cara beamed--it seemed like a perfect idea for her. "I've been reading up on the curriculum they have for younglings, and a lot of stuff is in pairs, so I haven't been able to give it a try."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:09 pm
Ena shrugged off the complements on her control. "I trained with someone for a few years. This other Mando I used to work with. He was an a**."
"I looked over the youngling curriculum," she nodded. "It's things I mostly know." Her cynicism seemed a fitting contrast for Cara's almost painful cheeriness. "What kind of work did you do before you came here?" she asked. "You've got scars like a soldier, but you're hardly a warrior."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:48 pm
"Freighter pilot, mostly for bacta, though we had all sorts of people working with the company. I would do starfighter work, but the boss considered me a liability with all of these." Cara pointed somewhat jadedly at the scar on her face. "I was young, did something stupid, and they found out that I had a bacta allergy, so I couldn't do anything dangerous. You can't put me in an insta-heal tank for a couple of hours: any scrape, any bruise, I heal the old-fashioned way."
Cara grinned, the competitive streak in her showing. "And I'll have you know that I'm no pushover. The only reason I was ever allowed to run cargo is because I know how to hold my own. Not like a Mando, I'm sure, but I'm very easily under-estimated."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:55 pm
Ena smirked. "That's a bit ironic," she observed.
"I make a habit out of not under-estimating people," she continued wryly. "Under-estimating people generally ends in Dead Bounty Hunter. I'm still alive, aren't I?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:44 am
"Yeah, people always find it ironic," Cara said, momentarily frowning as she brought down her hand, examining the scars for a moment. However, she broke off from any potential train of thought before it could get too nasty, and looked back up at the Mandolorian jedi.
"You look pretty alive to me," Cara nodded, her look getting mischevious again. "But really, what you guys do is amazing. I wouldn't mind taking a bottle of Corellian's finest and listening to some of the stuff you've done. It'd be fun. Maybe we could even find the other Knights, if they're to be found at all." She crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair as she looked out the window. "You're the first one I've talked to around here."
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:14 am
Ena shrugged. "So just because I'm a Mando means I've had an exciting life?" she asked. Excitement was relative. She considered telling Cara that her family was made up of poor farmers and wondered what kind of effect that would have on the other woman's opinion of her.
"I've met the grand master of my order, and the Ryn who runs the supply depot. But he isn't a force-user. Just a spacer."
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:50 am
Cara caught herself in a foot-in-mouth sort of situation, and moved quickly to rectify it as best she could. "Well, not necessarily because you're a Mando, but most people I talk to have their own little spin on things anyway, and it's interesting to listen to every once in a while."
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:03 pm
"Every last Spacer I have met would like you to believe that he personally defeated a band of pirates," nodded Ena. She narrowed her eyes at Cara's plate.
"What the kark are you eating?" she demanded. Soy meat and vegetables? That was okay... for a nerf. Ena prefered meat that actually came from an animal. She shoved the cake across the table to Cara. "Try this," she said brusquely.
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