fandomtownies | The C.I.C, Friday Afternoon-Evening

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The C.I.C, Friday Afternoon-Evening

So, Prompto had kind of given Vette some food for thought yesterday over at the bakery, and she'd been turning it over in her head ever since. It was the sort of thing that had seemed a little too good to be true, the idea that just going for it without worrying about what other people thought would ever end in anything but regret. But he'd said it all like he knew what he was talking about, and Vette couldn't deny that the things that held her back now where mostly ghosts of things that hadn't been a part of her life since she was about eight.

She was turning the whole thing over and over in her head while playing the most relaxing video game she could find, today. The sort where she could just tune out and play by reflex, all while sitting and thinking distracted thoughts about a certain big earnest Zora boy, and what he'd make of it if she just walked up to him and announced that she was going to rubber-stamp claim him as her big earnest Zora boy before dragging him down by that cravat and kissing him silly. It didn't hurt that she already knew that kissing was on the table, at least, and--

"Ugh, headcrabs!"

Sorry, train of thought interrupted by shooting enemies in this game. This nice, relaxing game.

[OOC: Open for the slooooowest of slowplay until later this evening, as I'm tabling a con aaaah.]

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Kaidan came downstairs awhile later, before his sojourn to the warehouse des Kanan.

He smiled a little at her comment about the game. He hated those things.

"Hey, Vette. How's it going?"

"Well, except for the big swollen zombies with four headcrabs clinging to them each, pretty good," Vette decided, glancing up at Kaidan with a little smile. "I mean, I have fewer complaints than usual."

Which was a nice change of pace.

She had way more reasons to flail, though. That was quite the trade-off.

"That's good, right?" Kaidan asked, a little dubiously, "Fewer complaints?"

He'd pretty much given up trying to figure out teenagers.

"I had something I wanted to ask you. Do you know much about speeder bikes? We don't have them where I'm from and I've not seen any."

Teenagers were easy, Kaidan. They were like large kids or tiny adults.

But crazy.

"It's good," Vette promised, and then tilted her head at him. "I mean, speeder bikes aren't exactly rare where I'm from. They'll run you several thousand credits, though. Why?"

He was familiar with several varieties of crazy. Teenagers were in a category all of their own.

"I have a friend who said he'd like one, awhile ago. One of the winter holidays coming up a couple months ago is all about the gift giving," Kaidan shrugged, "I used to work on Earth motorbikes, restoring them. Figured finding one might be a fun project."

Not buying, no. Kanan would never forgive him.

"I don't know how to drive one, so.. kind of looking for someone who does who might be interested in a field trip to one of the realities that has them."

Vette knew well enough to read between those lines. Ah, so he wasn't looking to spend several thousand credits? That made this all the more fun.

But it was the other part that caught her attention.

"... I mean, for a field trip back home I could be a speeder bike professional."

Even odds whether she'd want to leave again afterwards, mind.

Kanan would kill him if he spent several thousand credits on a Winter Holiday present. So.. no, he wasn't planning to pay for it.

"I can't guarantee it would be your reality," Kaidan cautioned, "It may look like home but be on another point in the timeline, or a different version of reality altogether. My generic plan was 'one that none of our resident or expat Jedi came from'."

He tilted his chin in something resembling a shrug, "There are other people I could ask, but I thought maybe you'd like to go somewhere a little more familiar even if it wasn't where you came from. Do some shopping of your own." She'd seemed homesick.

More than a little bit, yeah.

"Wouldn't mind stocking up on ammunition for my blasters," Vette mused, giving up on her game and looking Kaidan's way thoughtfully. "Maybe stocking up on kolto. Not that there's been trouble since I got here, but I hate feeling like I'm only half prepared for an emergency if one hits, you know?"

She'd had more than enough for a trip into and out of an old cursed tomb, but she never really made it out again, and now... this place.

Kolto. So she was from far enough back that bacta wasn't the thing yet.

He nodded, "Yeah. That's why I came back from vacation with a whole lot more thermal clips."

Kaidan shot a glance in the direction of the school. "Have they handed out your holiday schedule yet?"

Vette glanced that way too, briefly.

"... I mean, probably," she said, shrugging. "I haven't been paying much attention, but I can check and then forward it to you, if you want. The calendar here is just one more confusing thing on top of the alphabet, so I've kind of just been rolling with it unless I have something specific I need to do."

"Right," Kaidan said, because he should have thought of that. "Yeah, if you have a schedule, forward it to me, please. I assume there's going to be a break coming up soon, but that's based on what I remember from school. I haven't been here long enough to learn the rhythm of the one up yonder."

"Will do, boss," Vette said, raising a hand and firing a sloppy salute Kaidan's way. "After my shift, I guess. Unless I just head back to the dorms and crash, but... soon, either way. If we need to go steal a speeder on a weekend-" because come on, she knew when someone was talking about outright theft when she saw it, "-then I can keep a weekend free."

"Reclaim," Kaidan said with a small grin, "I'm interested in reclaiming a speeder bike from someone who more than likely stole it from someone else in the first place."

"Reclaim, then," Vette said, faintly amused. "I happen to be an expert at reclamation, if I do say so myself."

And she wasn't even part of the Imperial Reclamation Service, either.

Kaidan said solemnly, "That's good. I'd hate to have anyone think I'd take a student to do something on the less than sunny side of lawful."

Yup.

He was totally going to steal a speeder bike.

"Why would you hate that so much? It isn't like you're a teacher. You don't have to be a good role-model for we young, impressionable kids, you know."

Vette was absolutely rolling her eyes at the 'young, impressionable' part, yes.

"I'm not a teacher here, no," Kaidan said, "Not yet, anyway; that may change if Jack moves here because she believes misery loves company."

"Friend of yours?"

Vette tilted her head a little.

"Well, you don't have to be a good role model yet. And if ever you need to reclaim something and you do, we can just pretend you're training me to be a good, dutiful Imperial. It all works out."

"Chosen family," Kaidan explained, "Sister. She teaches kids that are like us, er.. her and me.. back home."

If there were any sort of god, Kanan would never hear the words 'training [her] to be a good, dutiful Imperial.'

Really, if Vette could help it, she'd never be a good, dutiful anything. Kanan probably didn't have anything to worry about from her anyway.

"Huh," she said, looking thoughtful. "Teaches 'em what?"

"Have I explained to you what I am?" Kaidan asked, trying to go over it in his mind. Which was still feeling a little bruised around the edges, "Biotics?"

"I'm going to say no," Vette said, frowning thoughtfully. "Is that some kind of genetic thing?"

Bio was right there in the name. That was the best Vette had.

"Yeah, pretty much," Kaidan said, "The short of the long is, my DNA is just different enough from human-average that I can manipulate a flow of energy other humans can't feel. There are several species in my reality who can do the same thing, but for humans, it's a relatively new thing. Biotics can do things other humans can't, and it comes with an unhealthy amount of othering and fear. Jack teaches at a school for kids like us, where they can learn control over their abilities and still be, y'know, kids."

He shrugged and held out a hand. The cup that held writing instruments on the counter slid off the counter and began a slow, lazy float into his waiting hand. "This is one of the things I mean when I say 'things other humans can't do'."

Vette blinked.

"Huh," she said, looking thoughtful at the floating cup. Well. Maybe slightly awed. Mostly thoughtful. "So you're some kind of... what, Sith?"

She had a very small basis for comparison, here.

"Okay, maybe not Sith. But that floaty thing seems pretty similar to something I saw one do once."

That would be Lana. With her luggage.

"No," Kaidan said quietly but sincerely, "Not Sith, not Jedi. I'm not Force-sensitive in the slightest. Some of the things I can do have the same effects, because energy manipulation is energy manipulation whether it's dark energy or the Force. It's not the same well we draw from, though, if that makes sense."

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