Giant pile of slag (Tal)

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Saerith sighed and resisted the urge to smack the hunk of metal that had once been a ship with her hydrospanner. The Femme Fatal had been able to run the Sith blockade around Dantooine bust just barley. If Hax hadn't been able to interface and pilot the ship while she ran around trying to keep the thing from exploding... she paused and shuddered at the thought.

She had managed to bring them limping back into Coruscant. A week of rest and she had happened across a Job near the Jedi temple. Managing a small shop that was owned by a man too old to do the work anymore. A garage large enough for the broken down ship and two more besides were all Saerith really wanted in life and now she had them.

Briefly her thoughts turned to those she had left behind on Dantooine. Brave people fighting what seemed an invincible enemy. they're better off without me she thought I just get in the way. With an effort of will she pushed thoughts of her friends aside and returned to work on the ship. A sign in the office would point anyone who came in to the garage and with no orders to fill she was free to attempt and salvage the ship that had saved her life.

The Serpentine figure of her droid-familiar caught her eye as he walked along the bottom of the ship. Learning he could do that had surprised her and she still had yet to figure out how the magnet didn't destroy the little droids circuit boards. A tiny marvel of technology he was and Saerith felt the vague urge to take him apart and see how he worked but had squashed the notion.

Odds are she wouldn't have known how to put him back together and he had already proven himself a valuable companion... even if he did say a lot of things she didn't understand. leaning back slightly Saerith raised green tattooed arms and felt the muscles of her back pull tight and then loosen as she relaxed. It had been a quiet day but most of the ones since her arrival on Coruscant had been. Mostly old women came in to get household droids fixed.

Normally she would have been bored at the prospect but right now fixing a droid would have been a wonderful break. She had day dreamed about fixing a space going vessel last time she was on Coruscant in the middle of repairing what felt like the hundredth protocol droid but now she had a giant pile of slag in her lap and had been trying to make it work again for weeks with very little success. So something simple like a droid would be a welcome break.

(I hate opening posts )

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Oh yeah, it was good to be out of the temple! Sure she had no master, and with out a master she had not future as a jedi, but how could something like that possibly stick in her mind when she was flying through the air lanes of Coruscant? Where was her destination? It was a shop not far from the temple…a mechanic’s shop, to be precise…that she had a habit of visiting for spare droid parts. Sure it wasn’t far, just a few dozen blocks, but it was out of the temple and that…that…was what mattered. Turning into the lot for the shop, Elys swiftly hopped out of the speeder, grabbed her staff with one hand, grabbed the droid with her other arm and hustled into the garage.

”Helloooo-ooo?! Mr. Falks?! It’s El-- oh hi!” So there she was, brown boots, black pants, long sleeved green shirt, utility belt with a blaster side-arm strapped to her thigh, a staff in one hand and half a protocol droid in the other and half balanced on her hip as she attempted not to drop it. Peering out at the world from behind a royal blue silken sash under a shoulder length curtain of sandy brown hair (and a single small braid), 19 year old Elysia certainly hadn’t been expecting to see a new face at the shop when she’d entered. ”I didn’t expect to see a new face when I came, I hope I'm not interrupting you. What’s your name? Does Mr. Falks still own this shop? He knows me since I used to come here a lot. By the way, my names Elysia, Elys for short…nice to meet you. I’d shake your hand but…well…droid.”

Smiling, she’d tilt her head in the direction of the droid she was currently holding before looking up at the ship and letting out a low whistle. It certainly looked like it’d seen better days, but she decided that now might not be the best time to ask about what had happened to it…heck, the mechanic (Elys guessed her to be a mechanic anyway) might not even know what had happened to it. Hefting the droid further up into her arm, she’d move over to the nearest bench and set it down carefully. ”I hope it’s alright if I set him here for right now. Better than holding him all day,” she stated with a laugh and let out a swift sigh that spoke more about the need for air and contentment than it did about frustration or sorrow. Peering around she caught sight of the little droid through the hull of the ship and tilted her head to the side slightly at what she saw, working on focusing harder through the milky walls of the ship to see him. Well if that just didn’t take all.

”Wow, he’s cool! What is he?” She was, of course, referring to the familiar and not the ship.

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"Customer" Hax's clear metallic voice rang out from his upside-down perch on the bottom of the ship. Saerith sighed once more although this time in relief at the distraction. She was starting to wonder if the ship was beyond her skills. Saerith turned as a women entered. Staff in one hand and droid in the other she made her introductions. "No you're not interrupting anything" Saerith pushed her hand against the side of the ship almost affectionately "Just trying to fix this thing... although I'm wondering if I should just send it to the scrap yard" A small grin played across her face.

"oh yeah Mr.Falk still owns this place, but he's old and can't keep up with it anymore so I run the garage most days. Names Saerith although most people just call me Saer" Saerith grinned at the gesture towards the droid and was about to offer a place to set it down when Elys chose one herself.

Edging towards the protocol droid to try and get a look and see if anything was clearly wrong with it Saerith was caught slightly off guard by Alys exclamation. Glancing around Saerith eyes landed on Hax. "Oh that's Hax" She said making his name into a call. The little droids claws clicked on the metal off the ship as he made his way towards her. Saerith extended a leather sleeved arm which Hax promptly climbed. perching on the thick leather pad on Saeriths shoulder he dug his claws in slightly and raised himself up on his hind legs to peer at Elys.

"as for what he is I can't say I know much myself. He just sort turned up while I was helping the DL- while I was on Dantooine" Saerith adjusted at the end. If Dutch ever found out she had spoken of the DLA outside it's members no doubt he would cross the galaxy just to wring her neck.

"anyway" Saerith continued on trying to draw attention away from her obvious alteration to the end of her sentence "whats wrong with your droid?" It was always good to get as much information on mechanical problems as you could. While droids might be simple relative to other things nothing with that many moving parts could really be called simple. So many possible problems it could take days of tinkering to find anything wrong with one if you had no clue what was wrong in the first place.

Although Saerith had to admit to herself this one would probably be a bit easier then most to figure out, since she only had half a droid sitting on the bench. She turned a little to get a better look at the droid and felt the slight sway of Hax on her shoulder adjusting to her momentum. No doubt Saerith was an odd site. Thick padded leather poorly stitched on to her black pants and green shirt. Always showing sings of little clawed feet. Her blast had even had to be moved to the other hip so for the little droids convenience. Sure would be easier if he could fly. she thought to herself.
"So where are you from?" She asked conversationally as she knelt down to look at the droid.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

”Saerith, huh? That’s a nice name. Yeah, I know he’s old but…ah well, new faces are good faces too, right?!” She replied chipperly as she partially leaned against her staff, crossing one ankle over the other to let the toe of her boot rest against the ground. Truth was, Elys enjoyed visiting the old mechanic when she got the chance. It wasn’t often, but he seemed to like the company and she got a lesson here and there in how to put these droids together better. She could only teach herself so much by reading, after all.

As Saerith would no doubt see, there was quite a bit wrong with the droid. She’d salvaged it from one of the temple’s bins after it had accidentally gotten a poorly redirected blaster bolt to the eye. Said eye was also missing. Other than that, the poor thing had already been stripped of most of its outer coverings for use on a different droid, leaving much of the inner workings open to the elements. Not that there were many elements to be exposed to that could damage it in the temple, but it wouldn’t do for a droid that would typically be seen walking about. ”Hax, huh? That’s an odd name. I can’t say I’d ever think to call anything ‘Hax’…but…you don’t know what he is? Do you know what you are?” She was, of course, addressing Hax himself.

DL?…Dantooine? Now why am I having déjà vu?…it seems so familiar, but I just can’t place why…she thought, but decided not to ask, instead gazing back at the odd little lizard-like droid now perched on Saerith’s shoulder. ”What’s wrong with him? Oh…well, just about everything, honestly. He got a blaster shot deflected into his eye and so a lot of the circuitry there is fried, the coverings are missing, I think he might have a little bit of corrosion in some of the gears because I had to save him from a scrap pile, I think a few of his connections have been cut through to get at the power supply he had. I've been tinkering with him for a while, but I'm only learning so he’s basically a big practice board for me…I got him to turn on once but…well, I got a nasty zap from that.”

She watched the green twi’lek (who she didn’t particularly think was dressed oddly at all) go about studying the droid for a moment before answering her question. ”Oh I’ve been here and there, but I was born on Alpheridies.” It was a simple enough answer for a simple enough question. No one had to know she was a jedi, after all…though if she’d known what the little familiar was (or what it was capable of), no doubt she wouldn’t have bothered to leave out that particular bit of information. After all, how could she hide who she was when familiars (especially this familiar) could link into just about any database anywhere and pull up her file.

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"Thanks" Saerith grinned at he compliment to her name. She rather liked it herself. The smile faded slightly at the mention of new faces. "Oh, yeah new faces can be good I suppose" although not nearly often enough she added to herself. Absentmindedly she ran her right hand down her left arm. Eyes flickering over her multitude of tattoos. New faces didn't trouble her like the old ones.

For a second she allowed her eyes to take in the droid. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Looked as if it's out casing had been stripped for parts and some mild corrosion needed to be scrubbed away and some wires mended. It was the eye that made Saeriths eyebrow arch but she didn't ask. She had repaired droid and vehicles for the DLA long enough to recognize a blaster shot when she saw one.

"I can fix most everything with what I have here in the shop. but the photoreceptor is going to have to be ordered." It was all simple enough, wouldn't take her more then a few hours to scrub the rust out the inside. fix up the droids wiring, hardest part would be the blaster shot.

Saerith was distracted from her inner musings by the question directed at her droid. A small smile worked its way unto her face as she recalled the few times she'd asked Hax that question. Was always the same answer and this time was no different. "Familiar series: R.E.A Model Number: 11" and with that the little droid slid his sinuous length down Saeriths side and vanished into the depths of the garage. "Not very helpful is it? Same answer he's given me every time, but hes a big help so I'm not too worried about where he came from. I imagine I'll find out eventually."

Saerith ran through her mental checklist on the droid as Elys listed off what was wrong with it and couldn't help but giggle slightly at the mention of being zapped. "Yeah I was zapped a fair few times back when I started learning. I was the terror of the Ryloth undercity back then. No household appliance was safe from my tinkering". Saerith tossed a grin over her shoulder ""So do you try and fix droids often? I could always give you some pointers if you need them."

Saerith dug around in a tool kit on the side of a speeder bike sitting close by and pulled out a wire-brush and set to work on the corrosion within the droid. Alpheridies? Can't say I've ever heard of it. Not all that well traveled though, Ryloth, Tattooine, Nar Shadda, Dantooine and Here. So whats Alpheridies like then? she asked still scratching away at the inside of the droid.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

”It’s no problem. I really do like it.” For a moment her head canted to the side once more as she caught some sort of shift in the emotion in the woman but she couldn’t quite pin down what it was that she was feeling. ”Yeah, I figured you might need to order it. I was sort of hoping to go through what scraps you had though and see if I could find something to try and fix him myself. I can pay you for the parts, of course, though it would be helpful if you could get the rust off. I don’t think I have a tool for that yet…” She seemed to ponder this for a moment before the little droid spoke up.

The answer was…well…disappointing, honestly. No, it certainly wasn’t very helpful, and the fact that he’d run off before she could ask any more questions was even less so. It did, however, set her curiosity to burning, not only about what he might be, or what his programming was…but where he had run off to and why. “Yeah, I was zapped a fair few times back when I started learning…” Well it was good to know she wasn’t the only one who had some rather ‘shocking’ experiences with technology. Force only knew she felt stupid for some of them, and they always hurt. It was nice to know someone who knew what they were doing had gone through the same thing.

”Well it’s good to know I'm not the only one experiencing electricity first hand because of a mix up or two. As for often…well…I don’t often have much time, but lately I’ve had a lot of it on my hands so between studies and practice I fit in as much time as I can working on him while I'm able.” As she leaned back against the wall, she hiccupped slightly (just once mind you) and lifted an eyebrow at the event. It always puzzled her when that happened…why just the one hiccup? Shrugging to herself, she nestled her staff in the crook of one arm. ”Alpheridies is nice enough. Very quiet and very green. Lots of farmers…most everyone there are farmers, actually. If they aren’t farming they’re living off the land in some other way, like fishing. It’s sort of like Cerea…but not,” she added with a laugh. ”I suppose it’s something like Dantooine, it has lots of farmers if I remember right…I think the jedi had an agri-corps there before the Empire took over.” Her face darkened a bit at that, remembering hearing about an incident at one of the agri-corps where the students had been taken. It wasn’t something she wished to ever hear of again…especially not if it was a new incident.