Floating Rumors [Jace]

[Mara]

[...from The Sword and the Shield]


It had been days, or maybe even a couple weeks, since the Balosar had first arrived at the Aegis to take his new position in a new squadron assisting the battle cruiser. He couldn't remember for sure. It was late, he was tired, and he had had a couple ales already. Despite the fuzzy memory, Pak had complete control over all his faculties. Spending over half your life either stoned, drunk or both could give a being quite an immunity to the stuff.

Pak sat at the bar in the officers' club aboard the stout ship. He had finally found some time between training exercises with the Venoms and sleep to search around. Tonight on the way back from a brisk run through some of the more deserted hallways and levels, he had come upon the club. Delighted, he had immediately ducked inside and found the place doing some business, though it had just a few scatterings of patrons. There were probably enough gold bars to pay for a few dozen kids' Coruscant educations, if they were made of real gold.

He sipped his third ale, his eyes wandering around the darkened club, his ears catching snippets of conversations, his antennapalps tuned for any possible trouble. The main theme tonight seemed to be the rumors floating around that the Aegis would debarking soon. Pak couldn't wait. Training exercises were fun and all, but they weren't a real substitute for actual battles. He was eager to get out there again; flying was where he felt the most comfortable and the most at peace.

[Jace]

Shenhua had been frequenting the officers club much more than she usually would. She wasn't sure why, but she just told herself it was the rigorous training missions. A part of her knew that it wasn't the real reason but he she pushed those thoughts aside.

There were mostly men at the club, then again she had never met many female officers. She was sure she was getting glances from other men, she counted herself lucky that she couldn't see them. She made her way over to the bar and ordered herself a shot of the strongest drink they had. She let it sink in for a moment and then ordered an Ale.

Sometimes she just needed something strong before she went to the ale. She sensed a familiar presence in the bar, other than the usuals. It must have been one of the pilots in her squad, but she couldn't place which one just yet. She went back to her thoughts and sipping on her ale.

[Mara]

He felt her before he saw her. Well, actually sensed her emotions with his atennapalps. Not danger but there was some emotion there. A familiar emotion. Curious, he spun his stool around to look and saw the Miraulka from his squad, Shenhua, sitting a couple seats down from his at the bar. Immediately his attention switched from listening to the scattered rumors to 100% on her. Pak wasn't sure why, but ever since he had seen her that first day in the meeting hall, he had felt some sort of attraction for the female.

Feeling friendly, to say the least, the Balosar got up off his stool after grabbing his ale and slide onto the one next to the eye-covered woman. Pak didn't feel any need to interrupt her thoughts, thoughts she seemed to be deep in but not quite enjoying. The emotions he was reading off of her wasn't quite clear. But she would sense him there, if he remembered his studies of her kind. Something with the Force, he thought.

Pak sipped his ale, trying to calm himself and, more importantly, his bodily functions. It wouldn't do to make a scene in here. But he was genuinely excited to be able to speak to her without both of them being engaged in combat maneuvers over Kuat. Every other time he had a chance, that Vossk, the LooCom, would interrupt and lead Shenhua off somewhere. He gulped down the rest of his ale, trying to put that behind him. The commander wasn't here anyway.

He signaled the bartender for a refill and decided to finally speak up, whether or not she had actually figured out who she was. It was just the gentlebeingly thing to do. Pak turned to her, leaning his left arm on the bartop. "Never thought I'd see you in here." To most, the line might seem cheesy, but for Pak, it almost always worked.

[Jace]

Shenhua made a note of the Balosar as he shifted into the seat next to hers. She was surprised, many men tended to be put off about her eye covering, and hesitated at first. This man didn't really seem to care..

Now lets see if you can finish big boy

He finally spoke to her and she turned to face him, studying him with the Force. She wasn't sure why but she was liking what she was sensing so she decided to play it out.

"I never thought I would see myself in here honestly, but here I am. I found coming here helps me unwind a bit." she replied, her voice suggesting that he was slowly catching her interest.

She took another large sip of her ale, and realized that it was already over. She was going at them a little too fast tonight, but she quickly shrugged her worry off.

[Mara]

He grinned flashing his white teeth. She wouldn't be able to see his smile but would probably sense it through his emotions. A good start--she was acknowledging him, so she wasn't completely content to stay immersed in her thoughts, whatever they were. It was a good sign for him. And perhaps for her...

Pak played with the handle of his mug absently, studying the woman's face. He hadn't gotten a chance so far to see it so far up close. After all the women he had met and been with over the years, something about her put her above most of them. He wasn't sure if it was the mysterious air about her, or if it was the fact that she couldn't actually see him in the ordinary sense. Or if it was her gorgeous red hair. The Balosar was glad at the moment that she couldn't see him; his atennapalps were twitching madly, and he quickly sipped from his drink to calm himself. His 'palps weren't the only parts of him getting excited.

"I've been looking for this place ever since we boarded." He chuckled lightly, still leaning against the bar with his left arm. "I find that alcohol in general just helps." Pak couldn't help but grin again.

[Jace]

She still wasn't sure why she hadn't just ignored this man like she usually did the rest. One thing she knew for sure was that she needed another ale. She called the bartender over, and within a few moments she had another full mug of ale in front of her. She quickly took a sip to calm herself down some.

Shenhua, what has gotten into you?you barely know this guy and you are attracted to him

She hadn't realized that in her little inner mind theater, she had gone silent. She quickly took another sip of her ale, as she blushed a little in embarrassment.

"Oh indeed alcohol helps, except maybe when it comes to flying" she responded a little hastily, to cover up the fact that she had responded late.

She was making a fool out of herself and she didn't even know why.

What are they putting in this stuff? She asked herself, half-serious, half-joking as he looked at the ale in front of her.

[Mara]

Pak wasn't sure why, but he was beginning to feel different towards this woman. For some reason, she was different, and he felt he needed to treat her in a different way. The Balosar was never one for romance, but when he thought about Shen, he wanted to give it a shot. Go nice and slow with her. Especially since usually about this time after meeting a nice female, they would no longer be in a bar, nor being wearing all their clothes. Yes, this one was special. And he couldn't figure out why.

Perhaps it was her actions, and how she seemed nervous, though Pak was one of the more easy-going guys around. She had no reason to be nervous. Not so nervous to keep ordering more refills of ale. To him, she almost seemed flustered. And he was getting the same kind of reading off of her with his attenapalps. This was one was indeed an enigma to him, a woman he had to crack slowly instead of just breaking wide open right away. Again, he thought of the practice of romance that he had ignored so far in his life.

He chuckled. "Well, sometimes a little drink helps calm the nerves before a high-profile mission." To punctuate his statement, he drank down half of his mug of ale. Pak glanced at his chrono and then around the room. The night was still young yet. He swiveled his stool to rest his arms on the bartop and leaned towards her face, resisting the urge to run his hands through her hair. With all the self-control in the world, he kept his arms to himself, even as he spoke. "Want to grab a table? Order some food? Help the ale settle." He winked.

[Jace]

Shenhua needed to get control of herself, because she was starting to feel a little silly. She decided to hold off on another ale, figuring she might need a little break. Luckily, Pak seemed to be thinking the same thing and suggested they take a seat and eat.

"I would like that" she replied with a smile.

She made her way over to a table with Pak, and sat down. She had always found this moment awkward when ordering food. She couldn't really read the menu, and usually people would stutter and try not to offend her. Shen would just laugh it off, people seemed to always trip up around her. Pak seemed to be playing it cool so far, and she liked that.

"So tell me about yourself Pak, how long have you been flying?"

She realized she knew next to nothing about this man, and this was turning into a date afterall. She was interested to know about what type of guy he was, and maybe learn a little about his past too.

[Mara]

He felt a surge of happiness as Shenhua agreed to his offer. At first he was afraid he was reading her right, that his 'palps were playing tricks on him after years of abuse with various drugs and alcohol. But now he was headed to a table with this beautiful Miraluka woman with the intoxicating red locks. Pak had completely put out of his mind that she was his fellow pilot, and they would be going on a mission soon. Right now they were just two adults about to share a meal in a nice restaurant, not an officers' club.

They sat down and Pak made himself comfortable in the chair before lifting a finger to signal the waitstaff that they could come over. He wasn't in a hurry to eat and be over with this night, but he was hungry. Besides, the club had filled up over the past hour or so, and it would be good few minutes before someone came to ask for their orders. He kept his posture fairly straight but yet a bit relaxed. Pak wasn't afraid of what the others in the room might conclude, but it would be better to stay more subtle here, at least until he figured out which way the night would be going.

Shenhua was the first to break the silence, of which Pak hadn't been aware of, but just then realized he had been quiet after sitting down at the table. He considered her question; it was innocent enough, and he didn't really had any secrets. The Republic wouldn't have let him in if they had a problem with his past... exploits. His finger drew invisible doodles on the table in front of him as he decided where to start. Might as well give the simple answer; this wasn't an inquisition after all. He thought back on his life, trying to determine exactly when he had started flying, comparing it to his current age. "Oh... I guess it's been about five years now since I entered the Starfighter division." Wow, five years? I'm getting old...

Pak silenced his finger and looked up at the woman in front of him. She had no eyes to speak of, but that didn't matter to him. Eyes were never an important feature to the Balosar anyway. The soul was all he cared about. "And you? Did you always want to be a pilot?"