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 Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 1:42 pm
It was the middle meal of the day, and predictably, Poy'loyi found herself entering the mess hall. Near the center of the room was a gaggle of Jedi students, chatting in low voices. And as always, not a Sith in sight. In her studies, Poy'loyi had learned about the Sith rule of two. There seemed to be a rule of two going on... Never two Sith in the same room!
Sighing, she walked over to the counter, and took the tray of assorted foods the ST-R7 droid was handing out today. After grabbing some utensils, she turned to find a seat.
From the doorway, she hadn't seen the back corner of the hall, where a human woman was eating, in some questionnably un-Jedilike garments. Poy'loyi had seen her around, but had never heard her name. Back on Ryloth, shift schedules had made sure that she knew everyone, eventually. She supposed now she would simply have to make an effort to meet others.
Walking slowly enough to not spill her soup (she wasn't quite sure that it was, but wasn't going to look that closely), she made her way to the back part of the room. She slowed, trying to catch the woman's eye..
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 2:43 pm
Ena had given up her battle to get the food synthesizers to make authentic Uj cake. It just couldn't be done. Uj cake could only be made by a little old Mandalorian woman using her family recipe that had been passed down seventeen generations and who could kick your a** six ways to next week. She had similarly given up on getting any sort of real meat out of the synthers - Jedi were also apparently vegetarians.
The first thing she was going to do on her next mission was go into a diner and order a nerf steak that had still been running around the pasture mooing the day previously.
Short of that, she resigned herself to the synth-meat patties in the mess hall and did so with a look of utmost displeasure on her face. The students - Jedi and Sith alike - generally kept their distance, apparently uncertain of what to make of the Mandalorian knight. She had done nothing to earn a reputation, and yet one preceded her wherever she went. As a result, she found the fact that a student had actually gone out of her way to approach her suspicious.
Ena looked up.
"Did some of your friends dare you to come sit with me?" she asked. "You don't have to look so nervous. I'm not going to shoot you on sight."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 3:33 pm
Poy'loyi took a moment to mentally translate the phrase. "There was no daring of others." Though the fact that the woman said something consoling about shooting people made Poy'loyi glance at the woman's waist for a blaster. Satisfied that there wasn't one visible, she set her tray down and shifted to sit down.
She scanned her mind for proper Basic. "I was wishing to understand. We are taught that things which we do not know are things we let our guard down to. Knowing is karawn, power." She took a utensil, and began to prod some brown mass on her plate.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 3:50 pm
"So you're here of your own accord," established Ena, stabbing her fork into the synthmeat on her tray. It squelched unappetizingly in its gravy.
"You're from Ryloth," she stated, recognizing the accent and language, and began sawing at her food. "I've done some work there," she added. It wasn't conversational, not really - a bit brusque. She was just stating the facts. She didn't mention what sort of work she'd done there. In fact, the whole time on Ryloth had been a bit frustrating and she did not recall it fondly.
"Basic skills of observation dictate you're an initiate," she continued. "Which order are you with?"
There was no telling, based on her intonation, as to whether she thought one order was better than the other or even which order she herself was with - if any at all.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 4:03 pm
It seemed an odd question at first. Which order? It seemed that most knew. The masters, the droids, and any others who would teach a class. Then again, most classes were segregated anyway, so it would be obvious then.
"I am of the Sith order, an initiate yes." The woman seemed to know enough to be beyond a visitor to assume she stayed at academy, at least most of the time. "At least what order there is. There seem so few Sith to Jedi." Tasting her food, Poy'loyi thought it could definitely use some more spices. Or at least some mushrooms!
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 4:13 pm
Ena's lips twitched a bit, but otherwise she had no outward reaction. "I was lead to believe the orders were approximately balanced," she replied. It struck her as the slightest bit odd that this girl had not encountered very many of her own order, while she seemed to have encountered several Sith since her arrival, including but not limited to the alarmingly friendly Cara.
She raised a piece of synthmeat to her mouth and chewed deliberately. "I owe my allegiance to the Jedi order," she explained, "But I'll always be a Mando first."
If the Twi'lek girl had been unsure of her armor's origins before, certainly she would be able to identify it now.
She frowned at her plate.
"Apparently, quality of diet is not a concern to the future guardians of galactic peace and justice," she said dryly. It might have been a joke.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 6:45 pm
"Mando." Poy'loyi said the word as if tasting it; trying to find its place. She thought she'd heard the name on Ryloth. Likely visitors to the compound. "I am Twi'leki first. But that is because I must. How can I learn to be something else before I know what I am now, yes?" It was sad that the other was a Jedi, but there it was. She did not seem like the other Jedi; talkative and unconcerned.
"I'm thinking our liking of the food is not a concern, but it is filling, no? I also feel less tired once here at end of the day. Maybe food, maybe something else." She shrugged her shoulders. "On Ryloth we made good munch fungus, best in sector." It may not mean much, but it was something.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 7:37 pm
"Mando," repeated Ena, vaguely sensing the girl's vague confusion. "Mandalorian," she explained. "It's what we call ourselves."
She nodded in understanding at the girl's comment - while the language was a bit clumsy, the sentiment of knowing where you stood rang clear enough. "That is why I am Mando first, and Jedi second," she said. There was a strange intonation to her voice, possibly approval.
She prodded her food a while longer and then shoved it away in disgust. "Krif this," she declared under her breath. "I want a nerf steak."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 8:22 pm
"Mandalorian, ah." That was the name. "Why do people here cut names in half? It is like cutting their meaning in half. I do not like it!" Mando, Mandalorian. Bah. She noticed the older woman play with her food. "Why do you not eat? I do not believe there is anywhere else to get food, here, no?" Her lekku twitched. "Back in facility, we did not get replacement food we did not eat. Is the food poisoned? No."
One thing she did have to get used to is her teeth growing out. Back in the compound they had you file them. She was never really told why. Not that she minded them being unfiled - she can chew much easier now.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 8:35 pm
Ena shook her head. The girl had misunderstood her. "Mando is the individual," she explained. "Or a sort of adjective form. We call ourselves Mando. The whole is Mando'ade. Mandalorian is Basic - it's what everyone else calls us."
She gave the dish a begrudging look. The youngling was right, there was nothing wrong with it, and it was hardly befitting her - as both a warrior and a Jedi knight - to be acting like a stubborn child when it came to food. She tugged it back towards herself and resumed eating.
"Facility?" she asked. She'd assumed most younglings were taken with consent from their family. "Where did the masters find you?"
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 9:13 pm
"Mando'ade, then." Knowing is power. With so many disrepecting others' backgrounds, she would be one of the lone pillars of keeping what's right right.
"The facility, umm, compound. We make food there." She twisted her fingers in the air, as if to wrestle the proper word into her mouth. "It's where I was. It was, Oola-Lonay, um, hydroponics. I did machines. Cleaning, fixing. I fit many places. We eated there, we sleeped there, all together. We sometimes left, but for only a small time. I had machine, in skin." Poy'loyi pointed to one elbow. "We could not leave due to it. Made bad things happen."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 9:32 pm
Ena narrowed her eyes briefly at the girl but otherwise made no outward reaction. She understood the implications of what the child was saying. Whether or not the child understood her previous situation was up to debate. If she did, then perhaps this was some kind of psychological management device. If she did not, then Ena did not want to be the one to enlighten her. "But the machine's gone now," she said, trying to clarify.
"And have you got a name?" she asked, and briefly thought it odd that she had not asked before, or that the girl had made no effort to introduce herself.
Also, she was pretty sure the word 'sleeped' was grammatically incorrect.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 9:46 pm
"Yes, the machine was removed before we left compound." She rubbed her elbow absentmindedly. There had been no mark or pain when they removed it. It was kind of scary when they left; there was really no way to tell it was gone besides the Jedi scouter's word. She simply had had to pray not to explode when leaving orbit.
When the woman asked her her name, she felt instantly dumbfounded that she had not told it. With all her concentration on trying to not back down from Ms. Tough, Poy'loyi had forgotten to give any sort of greeting. She muttered under her breath, something that sounded oddly similar to "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Unfazing, she sat up straight. "I am Poy'loyi'nercathi," she said with as much flourish as she could.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:59 am
Ena nodded, seemingly unimpressed. "Bit of a mouthful," she remarked wryly. Twi'leks and Chiss had some of the longest, most convoluted names she had ever encountered. Furthermore, they tended to blend family and individual names until you couldn't tell where the individual ended and the clan began. She preferred her people's system for naming things. You had a first name, a surname, and a couple of standard diminutives, and that was it.
"And I am Ena Vesh," she replied.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 10:27 am
"It is pleasure, Ena'vesh." Jedi Ena'vesh of the Mando'ade. It was easy enough to remember. A clanking sound came from below her head. Looking down, it appeared she was scraping the bottom of the empty soup bowl with her spoon. She didn't even remember tasting it. Odd. Setting down the utensil, she gathered the items back onto the tray in an unhurried manner. Poy'loyi didn't want to give the impression she was in a hurry to leave.
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