Ask Takodana Preserved Ruins

[Shaw Amaris]

"Oh..." Shaw couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "I mean—not good that you had a nightmare, but I thought we were about to get eaten by wolves or attacked by a serial killer or something," he explained, heartrate slowly but gradually returning to normal. That still probably sounded pretty insensitive.

It was obvious even to Shaw, an oblivious teenage boy and someone that really didn't know her that well, that whatever Myla had dreamed about had really shaken her up pretty badly. He walked over and sat down across from her, scratching the side of his face as he tried to think of what to say. "Wanna talk about it?" He offered a sleepy smile. "Otherwise you can just tell me to hop off." @Interdictor

 

[Myla Lessi]

If not for her current mood, Myla would have smiled. Serial killer. Ha. She nodded hesitantly when Shaw offered to talk with her about the nightmare. Half of her wanted not ever to mention it, but another part of her knew that if she kept it bottled up, it wasn't going to end well. "I mean...if you really want to," she mumbled. "You look tired." If he said yes, she would continue. "It was about the war. We were...in the gunships. It was awful. I felt trapped, cramped in with a bunch of equally nervous soldiers. We would look out the slits in the doors, watching the other attack craft. Every once in a while, we would see one burst into flames, explode, or just disintegrate. A quick check for nose art, identification numbers, anything to see if we could identify the craft and the people in it was all we got. Then the slits close, and the inside of the gunship becomes a dark box. Then the red light comes on. Everyone checking their weapons, their armor, their comms. Then the green light and the doors open into the shells, the explosions, the shouts of orders, and cries of the wounded. Waiting gets you killed, so we move as fast as we can to whatever provides cover. And then we just fight. Soldiers are dying, a walker goes up in flames. No time for mourning or regret. Just heal, fight, advance, repeat. One objective after another. Just..." Myla's voice, already shaky, dissolved into sobs, head in her hands. Then the Mirialan took a deep breath. "I...sorry."
@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw nodded emphatically. "Nah, I want to. Seriously. Go ahead," he urged her. If he was tired it was his own fault. Staying up too late scrolling and watching stupid videos. A bad habit of his, particularly since he had joined the order and would lie awake at night in his dorm room.

Draping his arms across his legs, Shaw listened. It was the most words Myla had strung together since they had met that morning. Everything so far had been mostly one word responses, sometimes not even that. Now it was all coming out at once. He envisioned the picture she painted of war. It was crazy to think about her being in the midst of all of that. She was what, his age? Maybe a little bit younger? To have already experienced all of that, witnessed all of that... nothing short of crazy.

It was something Shaw couldn't relate to. Not really. Sure, he had been on Coruscant when the razelings had invaded. He had run for his life, but it was different. He had never actually been out on the battlefield. He didn't know the right things to do, and he certainly didn't know the right things to say. So when she broke down crying, he just scooted a little closer and put an awkward, uncertain hand on her shoulder if she would allow it.

Whether she did or not he would clear his throat and say, "It's alright. No need to go apologizing to me." She didn't need to apologize. He didn't mind. He just felt awkward and helpless because he didn't know what to do. This seemed like a task for a Jedi Knight. Someone who could relate to what she had gone through and talk to her about it. Say all the things she needed to hear. "Nothing wrong with crying. It's good to let it all out, y'know? Uhhh.... you need some water or something?" His little sister always seemed to want water after a big long cry. @Interdictor

 

[Myla Lessi]

Myla let Shaw touch her shoulder as she tried to get her emotions in check. She looked up in surprise when he offered her water. "Yes, please," she said, slowly looking up at him. "And thank you for listening. Even if all I did was sound like an idiot." And she had sounded like an idiot. A teary-eyed, depressed idiot. Subconsciously the Mirialan reached across her body and placed her hand on top of Shaw's, and then realized she was doing it a few moments later. A blush rose in her cheeks and her hand slowly dropped away from his. Kriff, that was embarrassing. Hopefully Shaw was too tired to notice.
@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"One water coming right up!" he replied, reaching over and digging around in his backpack. He pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her. "There ya go. Straight from a fresh water spring." At least that was what the label on the bottle said, but he was pretty sure they all said that.

"Happy to," he smiled when she thanked him for listening. "What's the point of having ears this big if I don't put em to good use?" he joked, tugging on one of his ears. He was just trying to cheer her up because he really wasn't sure what else to say. He had never gone through anything like that, and he wasn't equipped to talk about it.

This and that moment back at lunch when Myla had tried fizzyglug for the first time were when they had connected the most. Or at least Shaw thought so. Maybe they were becoming friends after all. Maybe it just took Myla a little bit of time to get comfortable with people. Nothing wrong with that.

"You wanna watch some videos?" Maybe it would take her mind off of the nightmares and allow her to fall back asleep. If she agreed, Shaw would get back into his sleeping bag and prop his dataphone up against a branch in the center of the space between them so they could both see.

Shaw didn't know what kind of videos Myla liked, so he just chose the first one that looked interesting unless she voiced a preference for something different. It was some vlogger talking about which was cuter: ewoks or porgs? Weird comparison since one was an animal and one was not, but whatever. It was the perfect kind of mind numbing video that would put them both to sleep. @Interdictor

 

[Myla Lessi]

Myla gave a little laugh when Shaw made the joke about his ears. "I'd make a joke about that, but it might be insulting," she said lightheartedly and then almost gasped at herself. Had she just made a joke? Unintentionally? That hadn't happened since...wow, a long time. "Sure, why not," she said, lying back down and listening to the audio. Apparently, it was some pointless comparison between two creatures. "Why is this video even a thing?" she asked after a few minutes, her voice muffled by her sleeping bag. "It serves no purpose except to be ridiculous." Even muffled, the suppressed laughter in her voice was evident. She'd never had time for...useless things like this. Her life had been one of learning and then one of war. And during a war, entertainment came in the form of battle stories, the occasional sabacc game, and the newest rumor being circled around. Myla let out a chuckle that was louder than intended as she remembered some of the more extreme rumors. Although she had never spread any herself, she had certainly been the subject of more than one. "Sorry," she said again, apologizing for her obtrusive laugh.
@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"Right?" Shaw agreed but probably for different reasons. "Ewoks are way more adorable. They're like walking, talking teddy bears." Was that offensive to Ewoks everywhere? Proabably. Good thing there weren't any around. "They got the fuzzy ears, the fuzzy little feet." It had nothing to do with Shaw's own bias toward Ewoks since he had first encountered them on the planet of Endor with an older, more experienced padawan with a killer workout routine. He was just spitting facts as far as he was concerned.

Myla's laughter just encouraged him. Maybe the nightmares had been forgotten, at least for now. He felt like they were really starting to connect now. Making friends had been the best part of coming to the Jedi Order so far. He was always looking to make new ones.

"Lemme show you something," he said, swiping away the video to show her the screensaver on his dataphone. "You've gotta check this out." It was a picture of Shaw surrounded by Ewoks. He had a big grin on his face. "Awesome, huh? This was the first time I ever met an Ewok." He hadn't even known they existed before then to be honest. He still hadn't come across any porgs, but everyone knew about them thanks to the internet.

The time stared back at them from the lock screen. It was getting pretty late, and they would be expected to be back at the temple by morning. "We should probably get some sleep," Shaw sighed, sliding his dataphone back into the sleeping bag with him. He laid down and let out a big yawn. "Myla? I had fun today," was the last thing he would say before drifting off to sleep. He hoped she had too. @Interdictor

/ end of thread​