Finding the Aegis (Crass)

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Rahja shifted slightly in her seat, the stiff back of the chair causing her already tight muscles to bunch and bundle like ropes being pulled taut. As he made his point, Rah sighed heavily. She'd just been making those very same points to herself. With a roll of her eyes and slight groan Rahja finally made her decision.

Fine. But just know that I don't think this is something I should be doing. I'm just not trained enough to feel comfortable doing this. It should be a knight or a master teaching you, but seeing as we're at a lack of them I'll have to do until something can be worked out with the Order.

She gazed steadily across the desk at the toned zeltron pilot. She allowed her mind to wander for a moment along the line of thought that they were going to have to be spending quite a bit of time together as she tried to teach him. Her musings brought her to a more...personal...level and she clamped down on the thought, squashing it angrily almost as soon as it had emerged from her subconscious. THAT was certainly not going to help things. Rah then assured herself that it was just a passing itch, something natural but only in it's most basic and primal aspects...it was nothing more. It wasn't like she was actually interested or anything.

Huffing at that thought, the raven haired woman pondered just what she DID think of the zeltron. True he was decent looking...alright he was good looking...and he had a decent personality...fine, he had a rather enjoyable personality so far...and he was a decent person....no, he was a good person, nicer than most anyway....but those things meant little to the chiss. Right? Of course they don't, she answered to her own question. The truth of this, however, was rather questionable...even to herself. Pulling herself away from these troubling thoughts, Rah eyed Crass again.

You realize that teaching you to shield your mind will take a good amount of time and effort...and I cannot promise that it will not be comfortable or painless for you.

She warned, crimson eyes studying his face as her mind extended itself to feel for any emotions or thoughts that he might be broadcasting. That was something else she would have to teach him...how to shield his emotions, and shield himself FROM emotions. That would be quite useful for a zeltron...that was, if he didn't know how to do so already. Truth be told, Rahja didn't pretend to know everything there was to know about how the zeltron-emotion thing worked. She'd never wanted to stick around one long enough to ask, but Crass was about as non-zeltron as she had ever met...thank the force...so she figured she could handle picking his brain (not literally) for information on the subject.

[Dire Wolf]

Crassus smirked a little bit when she rolled her eyes before agreeing to teach him how to shield his mind. It was an imperative skill and critical knowledge, well... it was to the Zeltron at least. To be honest, he also couldn’t wait until his mind was his own again, it was tiring to be forced to filter every single thought that comes lurking out of the primal part of the man’s subconscious mind. He brought his arms to rest across the arm of the chair, but still put most of his weight on the back of the seat and furrowed his brow.
 
Why had she felt uncomfortable teaching him? It wasn’t like he was asking her to do anything complex… was his query too taxing? He considered redacting his request… but shook his head. No. He needed to know this, if not to save himself pain… then to save Rah pain and embarrassment.
 
“That works I guess… and again…. I wouldn’t even think to ask you of something like this unless I thought that I needed it.”
 
His eyes subconsciously dipped down to Rah’s chest. Again. It wasn’t half a second before he caught himself and bounced his eyes back up to her face. The man did his best to suppress the coming thoughts... but they snuck up on him. Crass began to think about him and Rah, the image barely flashed across his mind's eye before he ripped it away and casting it into the darkest abyss of his mind, hopefully to never be seen again.

Then, for some odd reason, he began to gaze into those eyes of hers… how did she see through that deep red haze that clouded her eyes? He began to look for any means of light to enter, but could find none. He shrugged at the thought of asking. He would probably ask her some day... but that wouldn’t be for awhile. The second part of her statement caused him to tilt his head a little bit. Pain? It was then that he truly recognized the level of his own ignorance about all of this. He figured that it would be a few words… maybe a lesson or something… but he smiled at the thought of it taking a good amount of time to learn.
 
“Well… the sooner we start the sooner I stop accidentally causing hurt with my thoughts… and I am alright with a little pain… it is only weakness leaving the body you know.”
 
Crass smiled again, not really realizing that he just gave her the main reason as to why he wanted to be able to shield his thoughts. He figured that too much pain has been caused on his account, and he jumped at the chance to lessen the likelihood of causing more.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Sighing, Rah nodded, the motion barely noticeable except for the slight motion of her hair falling over her shoulders a bit more. Yes, she knew by the way he was acting that he wouldn't have asked if he didn't feel it was necessary. The fact that he was constantly feeling the need to apologize for the littlest things told her that. At his second statement, however, she held up her hand to stop his thoughts there, making no motion that she had caught that subconscious hint to why he so desperately wanted to learn.

I'm not teaching you anything today. I came from a mark on Kuat straight here. I'm in no frame of mind to teach anything, even if it were simply how to say "hello" in basic.

She informed him, tossing a bit of hair back behind her shoulder with a slight motion of her head. In all honesty she was just plain tired. The chiss had been going from hit to hit for over two months straight now and, while that made the officers and government happy, it had worn her nerves, thought processes, and especially her temper down to their limits. What she needed was to let off some steam, but with the Aegis leaving the next day there was little to nothing she could do about such a thing. Sighing, she ran a hand over her face and debated going to get some sleep, but as she looked at the time and noticed, much to her chagrin, that it was only 17.20 Rahja put thoughts of sleep aside.

Ugh, only 17.20? You've got to be kidding me. Well, in that case, what in the galaxy is there to do around here? I mean aside from work and sleep.

She asked, a bit more irritably than she had intended. Her irritation was, by no means, directed at him, but rather the situation she found herself in.

[Dire Wolf]

Crassus gave a easy nod when Rah told him that she wouldn't be teaching him anything today. It was more than understandable: sometimes one found himself exhausted after getting to his new station, and this was probably the case with Rah. To be honest, Crass was a little on the weary side as well; almost the second that he got off duty he headed for the chow hall and then began the routine check of his fighter. Not many people had the energy to pull a twelve hour shift and then turn around and do another three or four working on a fighter. Crass let the slightest of smirks flash across his face at the thought, he was one of the few officers who thought and acted more like an enlisted man: He actually believed in hard work. He shook his head ever so slightly as he spoke.

“Don't worry about it, Rah.”

His mind began to wander outside of the room, and back to his fighter. Had he completed the checks on it? He shook his head, no, he hadn't. The man still had to give the emergency ejection seat a look see, he shrugged. It was doubtful that he would need it on his next sortie... not unless they were flying through a valley of SAMs or something. Crass instinctively looked up at the clock as Rah gave out the time, the reason for doing this escaped him. Her question caused him to shift his gaze back into those florescent red orbs and shrug.

“Well... we could grab a bite if your hungry. The food ain't the greatest, not by a long shot, but its food nonetheless.”

Yup, he definitely had some rust built up around his skills in this department.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Thank you.

Rah's reply to Crass' statement was simple, but at least now she knew that he understood her situation at least a bit...if only enough to not bother her further on the subject of teaching him tonight. Laying her head back against the top of the chair and closing her eyes a bit, she managed to relax slightly, the tense muscles of her back, shoulders, and neck thanking her for the momentary respite. As he offered to go with her to get some food, however, she lifted her head and looked at him. Despite her muscles protest at her change in position yet again, she nodded and smiled a bit.

Sure. I could do with something to eat, even if it is military mystery meat.

It was no secret that the military spared no expense when it came to new tech, weapons and ships, yet skimped on the living expenses and food for the troops. After all, people were expendable to the military...any military. If one person died, there would be another to take their place, but technology came at a price, so it had to be taken better care of. That was one thing Rahja missed about the jedi...at least they cared more about their members than the military ever did. Hiding her consternation at this line of thought, the raven haired woman stretched, her arms reaching above her head as the muscles in her body tensed and released in sequence, relieving some of the stress and dispelling a bit of the exhaustion. With a flicker of her mind, Rah appeased her concerns that her body might have been injured. She had, after all, taken a rather good beating down on Kuat as she tried to return to the shuttle that would be bringing her to the drive yards.

With a lightly grumbled curse in Cheunh, Rahja stood and twisted her upper half to the side until part of her spine popped, then repeated the motion to the other side. That was one reason she hated sniping. Hours huddled in some dark place, laying on her stomach, or sitting in a cramped space, muscles tensed to keep position, and not moving for those hours...it tended to wear on your body or mind. In this case, as in most cases, it had been both.

Lead the way, Crass.

She stated, motioning for him to take the lead with a hand and a nod of her head.

[Dire Wolf]

((Sorry.... didn't have time to re-read it.... gtg to work nao))

Crass smirked at the mention of mystery meat, he wished that the chow that they had the Navy had their sailors devour was even close to anything of that quality. The food was an acquired taste at best, even then the food is barely tolerable. It was then if he began to wonder if the military had a secret plan to kill off their soldier's taste buds... so that they could downgrade on the quality of the food. If that was possible. He shrugged, the food served its purpose: Nutrition. While the stuff tasted like bantha poodoo it supplied them with every single vitamin, carbohydrate, and chemical that their body needed to function and some.

“Yeah, I wish it was that good.”

He smirked and slid his hands back on the arm rest of his rather plush chair, then lifted himself up into the standing position. Crass sighed. The military did care about their troops... just in a strange way. While the Republic Military viewed their servicemen's lives as expendable, they did realize that their effectiveness and efficiency was dependent upon the happiness of said troops. That was the view of Army anyways... or that was what he figured. The Navy took a different approach, polar opposite in fact: They tended to care more about the tech, which was understandable... considering that their job was centered around starships. They only cared for their sailors and pilots as long as they could fix a broken wire, man a turret, or fly a ship.

Crass couldn't help but notice that Rah had been stretching out, reaching her arms high above her head. Again that primal part of his subconscious took hold as his eyes drifted about, but after a moment he quickly bounced his eyes back down to his holo-computer. With a few deft strokes of his finger the holographic projection that took the place of a monitor faded to nothing. He looked back up just in time to see her motion for him to lead the way, he returned her nod and walked around the table.

“Lets go see if we can con some decent chow outta those “cooks,” if you could call 'em that.

He offered a sly grin as he walked past her and held the door open for the blue woman, “D'awww, how cute, Crass. Just remember: she has to be back by nine thirty.” The man's face contorted for a brief second at that thought, naturally, he made sure that the woman didn't see it. He loathed thoughts like that; they were far from constructive, they often times made him a little irritated, and she probably heard it. To anyone but another of his race the crimson skinned man's face would look normal, maybe the color might look a tint brighter, but another Zeltron would probably snicker a bit at him. He was blushing.

After a few meager minutes of walking down the sterile corridors of the Aegis he found himself standing in the chow hall. It was nothing grand, to be honest if it wasn't for the tables set up it could probably be mistaken for another of the Aegis' bland looking meeting rooms. Crass grabbed a tray of the food, picked a spot, and sat down. To tell the truth, he wasn't hungry... far from it infact: He just ate under an hour ago. A slight grin contorted his facial features, then again... he wasn't necessarily here for the food.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Rah shrugged slightly to show that she didn't particularly care. Something was better than nothing, and to be honest, she'd not eaten in quite a while....therefore, SOMETHING (even if it was gruel) would be welcome. Walking out the door he held open for her, Rahja chuckled slightly...whether it was at his words or his thought no one but she would know. As she followed him along the halls and into the mess hall, she grabbed a plate of the food (it looked to be some kind of charred meat, veggies, and something that was supposed to be bread) and went to sit down with him. Raising an eyebrow at the food for a moment, Rahja simply shrugged and without further ado, dug into the 'food'.

Lucky for the chiss, she'd survived on worse tasting mush than this, so the charred meat, soggy and mushy veggies and bread, and water didn't keep her from wolfing down the food on the tray. After a few bites, she slowed her eating and sighed slightly. Now she could focus a bit better since her stomach didn't feel like it was trying to eat her alive from the inside. The woman hadn't realized just how hungry she'd been. Then again, it didn't come as much of a surprise...after two and a half days of no proper meals, only water and maybe a bit of granola, she should have known she would be this hungry. Feeling a bit ashamed, now, for her first instinct of "eat while you can" wolfing, Rah cleared her throat slightly and avoided meeting Crass' eyes for a moment.

Heh...sorry...two and a half days of granola bits and water tends to make me forget my manners at the table.

Not like they were ever the best manners anyway...she mused silently as she finally met his gaze once again with a slightly sheepish smile.

[Dire Wolf]

((changing his broadcast thought font to italic white because internet explorer doesn't like grey >_>))

Crass eyed the Chiss woman up for a moment as she wolfed down the “food,” if it could be called that. It looked like she hadn’t eaten in a month, he wasn’t really put off by the rather poor manners that she had. The man only picked at the sustenance that lay before him, nibbling at his bread a little bit as Rah apologized. He offered her a slight smile.

“Its okay, Rah… I know what its like to not eat much for a few days”

“… Or a few weeks”

He scoffed a little bit at that thought, yes, a few weeks. But that was a long time ago… and how did that thought even surface? The memories of those terrible two weeks began to flash across his mind’s eye, the pain… the bone protruding out of his leg, and the hours of crawling through the marsh in an attempt to evade the rebel patrols. His eyes grew a little wide as he realized that Rah was probably seeing those memories… they weren’t exactly positive… and he most certainly didn’t want to let her know of them.

He quickly decided to shoot down any possible questions that she may have about the images that were accidentally broadcast. Oh how he hated having his every thought and memory sent out on a wave of the Force inadvertently.

“So, what was your station before the Aegis?”

Crass asked, taking a bite out of his bread and not really realizing that snipers don’t have a set “station.”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Rah shrugged and continued eating at a more measured pace. Again, it was unclear if the deep blue woman were shrugging at his words or his thoughts. She wasn't interested in mutual wound licking right now so she decided not to share the fact that there had been a number of times when she'd had to live out in some backwater place while scoping her target. She reached for her water and her elbow cracked, causing her to wince slightly.

So THAT was what he popped out of place!

She mused, more to herself than him. Again, Rahja just sort of shrugged off the pain, took a drink of her water, then returned to eating. Sure the food...if one should call it that...was fairly bad tasting, but she'd had worse. What a sad and surprising revelation THAT was! Chuckling to herself about this, Rah shook her head and put down her fork, gazing at the food for a moment longer before looking back over at Crass.

You know...for as bad as this food is...it's not the worst I've had? Heh...kind of sad really.

She stated with a slight shrug of her shoulders afterward. Rah had felt the memories flooding up in him, and had easily sealed her walls to avoid being bombarded by them. She didn't need, nor want to know what he was remembering. That was for him only. If he felt like sharing he would. Not long after, he asked where she'd been stationed and chiss let out a bark-like laugh.

Stationed? Bah. I wasn't stationed anywhere. Special Ops snipers don't tend to be stationed...that's for the regular joe army sniper. No, I was sent search and destroy missions...the Republic's bloodhound, or...perhaps attack dog would be more appropriate. They say "sick 'em" and I make sure that person doesn't come back.

She stated casually. Really, being a taker of life wasn't so easy a thing to talk about for the woman, but she played it off well after years of toughening up to it. What she had been trained to be, at least in the beginning, was a guardian of life, not a taker of it. Brushing those darkened thoughts aside, she gazed at him thoughtfully as she chewed on the last bit of meat on her plate.

So....I suppose you could say that whatever planet I happened to be on that day was my 'station'.

[Dire Wolf]

At this point, Crass wondered why he even grabbed the food gruel. He was eating it not half an hour before, trading snarky retorts with his friends. He smirked a little bit, if the military was good for one thing, (other than defending the Republic) it was good for making life long friends. He still contacted some of the guys from his first station, the GRS Ardent. As he thought of some of the crazy stuff that they used to do the Zeltron couldn't help but grin, which could have easily been misinterpreted as a reply to Rah's comment about her elbow. It was then that he realized that those days were over. He couldn't really “play” with his pilots anymore... he was the squadron commander, the grin faded from his face as quickly as it came. Fortunately, though, Rah came to the rescue and said something that he could comment on to get his mind off of his new position.

“Heh... Hate to taste the Army food, then.”

He offered a sly grin as he picked up his bread and nibbled on it a little bit more, when suddenly he threw the thing down on the plate and at the thing in disgust, he bit into a soggy patch of the bread. A grimace flashed across his face for a few seconds before he looked up at Rahja.

“Soggy bread, fun stuff.”

What did they do to that bread, anyways? What nutrients called for the bread to be dipped in liquid? It probably wasn't nutrients... most likely it was a broken line in the machine that the bread was stored in, or was stored next to. That thought did little to calm him down, at least he bit into something semi-healthy with his first thought. In other words, the prospect of nearly eating anti-freeze didn't help his state of mind any. Well, at least now he had a reason not to eat anything, he pushed his tray to the side and looked back up into Rah's crimson eyes.

“I completely lost my appetite after that, hope you don't mind.”

He let out a half-hearted laugh with her in an attempt to get her to think that he was joking around. Crass was somewhat intrigued by her explanation, though, she was the Republic's attack dog? So she was basically an assassin, then. That explained her position on the Aegis: she could do her job better. It was one thing to try and get past the customs office of a planet, but if some one of her... occupation... was on a ship that could defeat sensors she wouldn't have to worry about smuggling any contraband though customs.

“So, do they let you more or less go from planet to planet as you please?”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

(I really don't know what to say to this so....also, sorry for the color change. it likely will be changing the next few posts until i settle on one that i like for her so that mara will stop complaining that she can't see it.)

Rahja watched him nibble on the bread after she had consumed the last of her own food. When he suddenly tossed it aside, she tilted her head slightly and watched his expression change to one of disgust. His words cleared up her curiosity swiftly and she managed a chuckle and slight shake of her head. This Crass was an odd one. With a shrug she showed she didn't care one way or the other. She was done herself, only a few scraps being left behind.

Bah, army food is just like this food...only maybe a bit more dry....and less seasoning...and it looks worse...and...well, never mind. Really, though, army isn't even the worst I've had...there are some worlds you should just never go to and eat the food there.

She chuckled again and shrugged slightly. Listening to his question, she shook her head.

No...I went where they told me, when they told me. If I had free time I was ordered to return to Coruscant and remain on the planet. The base there has my apartment, not that I used it much...I never got much free time.

[Dire Wolf]

Crass offered a little smirk and a slight nod as Rah spoke about Army food. He always figured that those ground pounders got treated worse than the sailors... though they didn't have to breathe in old re-breathed air almost constantly. But then, they didn't get to go faster than the speed of sound, or see hundreds of miles of rolling planes at once from behind the joy stick of a star fighter. The Zeltron smiled a little at the memory of flying over Naboo... that planet was among the most beautiful he has seen... and he has seen many.

“Like Nar Shadaa?”

The man grinned, but the smile left as quickly as it came after he heard about how little free time she got. He thought on it for a few seconds before he looked into her crimson eyes and offered her a little smile.

“Well... then I guess that you could consider this your “break.” Special Forces ships tend to be a little lax on the rules...”

He shrugged and looked up at the clock that hung on the wall. It hadn't been too long since they came in, but it was now actually a reasonable thought to be heading off to bed. Without a second thought he grabbed up both of their trays and headed off towards the disposal area and returned to the blue hued woman.

“Need to know where anything else is?”

He would show Rah back to her room if she didn't remember where to go... or if she wanted him to.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Rahja huffed slightly and folded her arms across her chest.

Yeah. Nar Shaddaa is one of them....Balosar is worse though.

She replied with a light sigh and a shake of her head. Those two planets had to be the worst in the galaxy as far as crime, pollution, and general sleaziness. If the chiss ever had a choice, she wouldn't ever go to one of them again....ever. She watched as the smile on his face came and went, and wondered why. A break? No, she didn't think so...it was just a chance to let her skills rust up and have rules and regulations drilled into her.

No...not really. More like a chance to let my skills rust up and rot away if I'm not careful. There's not enough room on this ship for there to be much going on, despite it's size. Not only that, but no one's going to try and kill me on the ship I would hope. That's not a luxury you get on world.

He stood, then, and removed the trays, dumping what was left into the compactor before he returned. She blinked fiery eyes at him then, and tilted her head to the side. Why in the force had he done THAT? The question was rather obvious from her curious expression, but she didn't bother to say it aloud, instead focusing on his question.

No. I'll manage. Thank you though.

Rah glanced up at the time and blinked slightly. Well, at least she could try to get some sleep now. With that thought, she stood and bowed her head slightly to the zeltron man.

I'll see you later then, Crass. Thank you again for helping.

With that, the woman turned and walked toward the door, her cloak billowing out behind her slightly.