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Trade or Borrow 6/10/22
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/10/2022
Not wanting to leave the bridge un-manned, Durro sends a quick message to Haj's comm:
Can you come back to the bridge? I am the only one here and I do not want leave the bridge unattended.
Bring the Sith lightsaber if you would. If you do not mind, I may have a use for it.
@Haj
Haj — 06/10/2022
It takes a few minutes for Durro's words to penetrate the trance state into which Haj had descended. She blinks slowly as she comes back to her senses.
Lifting the comm, she replies, her words heavy, "On my way."
She swipes Ashati's guft off the bed and heads to the flight deck
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/10/2022
As Haj enters the bridge, Durro gestures for her to come join him.
"Thanks for coming. First, I investigated why the imagers in the crew quarters are still operational. I had turned them off. Apparently, they cannot be turned off, the Professor cares more about security than privacy."
He gestures to her saber.
"I may have use for that aboard the Sith Queen's ship. You may not get it back. If it is destroyed, I can replace it with one of the sabers I have collected. Do you mind if I borrow it?"
@Haj
Haj — 06/10/2022
Haj comes to stand beside him, putting an arm over his shoulders. Everything is still a little bleary, as though awakened unexpectedly from a hard sleep.
"Wait, please. Just ... give me a moment." She rubs her eyes and looks down at him. "I am not sure whether I am more concerned by the fact that these images were recorded or the fact that these events that we are seeing happened at all. Oh the whole, I would have to say the latter is the more pressing. Wouldn't you agree?"
She steps away from him to take the co-pilots seat. She points to the screen behind him with the inactive lightsaber "I'm almost glad it recorded. I have no memory of that, Durro," she says softly.
Feeling the need for a modicum of control as all around her is spinning out, Haj rolls her wrist and opens her hand. She uses the Force to cause the lightsaber to rise from it, then slowly span the distance between them. It hovers in the air before Durro where he can easily reach out to take it.
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/11/2022
He takes it with the Force, and it continues to levitate before him. It slowly disassembles itself, the individual parts hovering it midair. One of them at the core twists around, then the weapon rapidly reassembles itself and drops into his waiting palm.
"Thank you. Hopefully it will be returned."
"As for what happened, it certainly appears to be something to do with the Crusade. What you were meant to be."
"It's unfair, if I'm honest. Like the universe itself just can't let me have a win."
He smiles at her.
"We'll get through this, together. Just like everything else."
@Haj
Haj — 06/11/2022
She watches him manipulate the weapon, tilting her head slightly in curiosity, but not asking questions.
"I would like to see it again, if for no other reason than because of what it represents. But I'm not so attached to it that if it's lost or destroyed, especially if it helps our cause, that it will pain me ... unless it's returned to its owner," she concludes with a small tightening around her eyes.
The.Crusade
The words finally slip past her interest in his use for her lightsaber, fall to her gut, and leave her nauseus. "No," she whispers. "It can't be. You removed rhe chip. I've never gone after Astra, not even when I was so desperately afraid, paranoid, out of my mind convinced she was trying to kill me." she rises and moves to squat down in front of him. Placing her hand on his knee, she looks up into his eyes, her own so full of love for him. "Or you. There must be another answer."
She rises from his side, starts to stomp the room. "Its not fair. How much more are they going to take from me? My free will, my past, my skin, my sanity, and now my Hjerte?!" She cries out, the pain echoing off of instruments and metal walls. She turns to face him, grief etching her features. Behind it, he can see the hint of a look he knows well. He can see she's about to rabbit, and there's no where for her to go but back into the city.
"I'm sorry for my outburst," she says quietly. "This isn't how I want to send you to the Queen's tender mercies." She wipes her face and returns to kneel beside him. Taking his hands she says, "Another time."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/11/2022
"Come." He rises quickly. "Let's burn off some steam."
"Gungnir, you have the bridge." He gives the droid his signature two-finger salute and walks out.
"We'll stop by my quarters for a pair of lightsabers. Set on training mode, of course."
He grins at Haj.
"Can't use yours. I expect it to be confiscated, perhaps returned to the owner. So I inverted the emitter matrix. If they activate it, all that'll be left of them or the lightsaber is the Kyber crystal."
"Assuming it is a Kyber crystal, and not some other gem."
@Haj
Haj — 06/11/2022
She gives him a side glance through her braids as she takes his hand in her own. "Is that what you were doing? Booby-trapping to self destruct should anyone use it? And you plan on taking it instead of your own. Very clever. If that's the case, I'll not expect to see it again. A disappointment, no doubt, offset only by the image that I have on that woman's face when she finds herself powerless yet again."
The momentary venom in her voice, a ghost that isn't quite dealt with, dissipates as she realizes that Durro is true to his word to her, though she shouldn't be surprised. That said, she pulls up short. The result is a slight tug on his arm as she stops. "Wait. You're actually going to teach me how to use one?"
Her face lights up in surprise and delight. "But I thought ... I mean ..." She's speechless at his actions, thoroughly expecting to have her request dismissed, however gently, as one of those Mysteries from which she would always be excluded because she was not, and never would be, a Jedi.
Haj — 06/11/2022
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/11/2022
"The lightsaber may be a Jedi's weapon, but you don't have to be a Jedi to be able to use one. Though being a trained Force wielder certainly helps."
He smiles warmly at her.
"Besides, lightsaber dueling is my passion. I want to share it with you."
"Fortunately for you, I've been training you to use the stun baton as if it were a lightsaber. Your biggest challenge will be adapting to the lightsaber's unique properties."
@Haj
Haj — 06/11/2022
One side of her mouth quirks upwards, a lopsided, mischievous grin mixing with the wonderment that has not yet left her features creating a look that no one on board had yet seen on the Zabrak woman's face. "I never honestly expected to move beyond the batons."
She steps towards him, engulfing him in a bright, passionate kiss. He can feel unadulterated elation coming off of her in waves, threatening to bowl him over. She doesn't know why this is so important to her, but it is. "Thank you," she says, smiling into his mouth.
This is how I let him go. The whisper flits through her mind, light as spider silk.
She steps forward, pulling his hand, eager to get the lightsabers and get started. "Be gentle with me, Kjære. And I'll try to give you something to hit every once in a while," she concludes with a cheeky wink
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/11/2022
He returns the kiss and the grin.
After retrieving the sabers, and showing her how to activate it and change the power settings, they head into the cargo bay for sparring.
@Haj
Haj — 06/11/2022
Haj bounces lightly on her toes while she waits for Durro. She's going to get a double lesson today - how to use a lightsaber and how to fight in a dress. Not that she expects it, but you never know when it may be necessary.
How hard can it be?, she thinks. Jedi do it all the time.
She watches him prepare, taking in every detail of his hands, the way his hair falls, the curve of his jawline. She also watches how he operates the weapon - how he changes the settings before he hands it to her. She takes in its weight, how the curves and angles fit in her hand. It's not a sure fit.she didn't expect it to he. Nor was she prepared for the weight. She tosses it hand to hand. Tumbling with this will be easier because it retracts, but she'd gotten used to the balance of the batons. She'll be off her footing ... and her injuries won't help that.
He can see the calculations she's making, thr tactical decisions she needs to have worked out before they start flashing in her eyes.
"This may be more fair a fight than I anticipated," she says wrily from under an arched eyebrow. "You have the advantqge."
She assumes her stance. "Show me, Master," she purrs.
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 06/11/2022
Durro grins at her slyly, but with focus.
He is a patient but unforgiving master. He patiently walks her through the basic moves, the basic blocks, the proper footwork, but he is unforgiving of mistakes. Even on the lowest setting, the sabers burn when they touch bare skin; barely a first-degree burn, but it leaves red tender skin with each kiss. After several minutes and a few singes later, Durro holds his saber in ready position.
"Again. I'm only using what I've taught you. Try and pierce my defense."
@Haj
Haj — 06/11/2022
Even with him pulling some of his strikes, Haj has holes in one of her few dresses, places where Durro's skill with a lightsaber got through her woefully lesser one. Her lip is throbbing, as is her cheek. Its to her credit that she didn't end up on her ass at least once. Her respect for the Jedi and their ability to fight in voluminous garment has grown in proportion to the shortening of her hemline.
She wipes sweat from her brow and takes position to mirror his.
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