Ask Touring the Station-side

[Leon Baudelaire]

Leon watched as Komie’s focus was directed on Peetwo. She was giving him that absent, don’t care vibe, so of course, he had to mess with her, “Yeah it was pretty crazy, we ended up making sweet love in the cockpit,” he frowned, “huh,” he said as if something had just occurred to him, ”I bet that’s where the name comes from.”

He nearly busted a gut when Komie said, “I suppose being a Jedi comes with perks.”

Honestly, he couldn’t tell if he’d upset her or something. She was trying to push him away and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. He sighed and took a sip of his iced coffee, savoring the flavor, before cleaning his equipment. Komie’s attention was back on Peetwo and the little droid was loving it.

Traitor.

“Okay, It’s a lot, I’m warning you if you don’t care, I don’t want to tell you.” He wasn’t interested in being open about his shitty life if she was going to ignore him. But even as he spoke he could see her glancing in his direction from time to time. He shook his head and took a seat in his booth, draping one leg over the other while trying to decide where to start.

“I was born on Adumar. My parents were killed when the kingdom of Avalon took control of the sector, because they refused to join the inquisition.” he took a sip, unable to ring himself to look in her direction, “My uncle took me in, and trained me in swordplay,” he left out that his Uncle was also his parent’s killer, honestly, he was still struggling with that.

“He figured out I was force sensitive and taught me how to augment my speed and strength,” Leon sighed, taking another sip, “Then the Inquisition found out.”

Any humor he’d maintained up until this point faded away like smoke in the wind.

“I was given a choice, run or potentially get my family killed, so I ran.”

He spread his hands wide, “Now, I’m here.”

“So, Komie,” for the first time since he’d started talking he looked at her and asked, “Am I worth it?”

@Tulos

 

[Koemi]

“... if you don’t care, I don’t want to tell you,”

Koemi took her attention off the little droid at this point and looked directly at the man across from her as she sat up more fully, PeeTwo wobbling a bit to maintain its balance as she did so. Talking about her own life, she didn’t care. For some reason however, she found herself caring about his story. With her knee still jittering, Koemi leaned both elbows against her thighs in an effort to calm the restlessness that was building.

”Lay it on me, Baudelaire,” she replied with a smirk, one of which quickly vanished as he started giving her insight into where he had come from.

For the first time, she didn’t see the mischievous Leon she had come to know but a damaged man who had opened up and revealed a piece of who he was. Suddenly, it all made sense. His tendency to try and turn a joke out of nearly everything, a coping mechanism to shelter himself from the pain he felt from losing his parents, she theorized.

Never one to feel sorry for herself or the cards she had been dealt, Koemi still found herself wrestling with empathy. Leon genuinely lost his family whereas she had never really had one. She’d take her deal over his any day of the year. Less painful to lose something you never knew you had. Still, she sat in silence for a moment as she the story hung in the air, unsure of exactly how to respond.

”I’m sorry to hear that,” she replied sheepishly, her leg still jittering despite her efforts. ”I’m sure your parents would be proud of who you’ve become,” she added with a genuine smile.

”I’d say so,” she responded again. ”I suppose that makes it my turn, huh? Nothing like mutual trauma dumping on a Taungsday,” she continued, hoping to alleviate the mood if only slightly.

”I never knew my parents. I was born and then immediately dumped off at an orphanage on Raxus,” By now, the little BD unit hopped off her shoulder and scurried over to Leon, offering a soft trill to his Master. ”The caretakers of all the kids were… they did their best. But there were so many of us, y’know? And I had a tendency to find trouble. Honestly, if I hadn’t snuck away when I had, I’d probably have gotten thrown out of there before long anyway. I always found a way to scare off anyone who wanted to take me in. Always had that ‘I can take care of myself’ attitude… Prospect parents aren’t really looking for daughters like that,”

”I snuck off one night and then only a few weeks later, I met you and Hera,” she finished. ”See? Pretty boring,”

@Zay

 

[Leon Baudelaire]

Truthfully, Baudelaire wasn’t sure he preferred her undivided attention to being ignored at this point, but he’d drawn the line and she’d crossed.

In the eleven years he’d lived without his parents no one had ever said what Koemi had. The surge of emotion that washed over his expression would have been evident, but by this point in his life, he was good at locking down his emotions and deflecting with a joke, “Thanks, ghosts are the hardest to impress.”

His small smirk was back in place and just like that he buried the pain. That definitely wasn’t going to blow up in his face at some point.

His eyes widened, “Is it Taungsday already?!”

Leon turned to face her as she spoke. He’d show her the same respect she’d shown him. His time with Ezra had taught him that exuding calm even when you didn’t feel it was a quality that others would lean on. He knew because he’d been the leaner plenty of times. So, that’s what he did.

Peetwo decided to hop over and get a better look at his new bestie. The little BD unit settled into it’s usual perch on Leon’s shoulder. As he listened he could tell that Koemi's childhood or lack there of one, had shaped her just as much as his had. Only then did it occur to him how similar they were. It was why they’d gravitated toward one another, well that and hormones, he’d never tell her, but she was a smoke show.

“That sounds lonely,” he didn’t apologize for what had happened to her, in his experience apologies and well wishes were something people did when they didn’t understand the pain of a situation. So instead he leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder, looked her in the eyes and said, “I’m really glad we met,” he pulled his hand back and snapped as if just remembering something, “Oh and don’t worry, you can’t push me away,” he said standing, while draining the last of his iced coffee, “I’m way stronger than you.”

Leon stepped to his room and picked his old training saber up off his workbench. He turned it over in his hand remembering how much he'd hated it. A genuine smile settled on his lips as he stepped back into the lounge and tossed it to Koemi, "Heads up."

He let her confusion settle before saying, "Relax, it's just a training saber," he chuckled.

The Order was in flux. It was hurting for everything across the board, and his appointment to Knight was a clear sign of that. Leon was confident in his abilities. He was confident in his understanding of The Force, his biggest hang up was trust. The council were pressuring him to pick a student, but he didn't want her to feel obligated or trapped. He wanted this to be as much her choice as his.

Baudelaire crossed his arms and started messing with the scar on his cheek, same way he did every time he got nervous, then took and breath and said, "I'm gonna make an offer, but I don't want you to feel obligated, so this stays between you and me," Force be damned his was nerve racking. He felt like he was asking her to Jedi prom... "I lied earlier, I've been asked to choose a Padawan, but you need to know the path I walk is dangerous," he shook his head, almost mournfully, "I'm not your average Knight, and once Starlight Beacon is complete, my real mission will begin," his expression lacked the humor it normally had, "If I'm to take a student, I want someone I can trust."

He'd let her process that a moment and add, "I don't expect you to respond now, I leave for Eiram in two days, you have til then," he said with a kind smile adding, "No pressure."

@Tulos

 

[Koemi]

Hardly a stranger to dark humour, Koemi smirked and shook her head disapprovingly at the ghost remark, but she couldn’t deny that it was grimly hilarious. Despite his impulsive tendency to joke about serious situations, she could feel… Him. This was new. She was told that over time, familiarity with individuals would allow her glimpses into their minds and the ability to sense the emotions that they harbored. Leon had plenty of experience in blocking out these sort of ‘invasions’ but for a brief moment, she could feel the… Well, she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was but she could tell her words had invoked some sort of response. Remorse ridden yet grateful? Then just like that, it was gone.

The smirk shifted to a genuine smile as Leon made the remark of being glad that they had met, her eyes meeting his as her heart skipped a beat. ”Must be the energy drink,” she joked to herself. Truthfully, she was too. In the brief time they had known each other, Leon had gone from just being that handsome stranger who saved her from a robbery to being the person she trusted most. A feat worth recognition, given she tended to walk alone. Time and time again he had proven himself to be more than anyone she had ever known. She didn’t entirely understand her feelings, but by now she knew she didn’t want to imagine her life without him. Weird.

”Me too,” she replied, still smiling, though by now the jittering in her leg was impossible to ignore as she needed to do more than just lean her whole weight down on it. By the Force, that drink was intense! ”I dunno, man,” she laughed as the vibration began to move throughout her whole body. ”I feel like I could take on a dozen Pirates blindfolded right now. What the fuck is in this thing?!”

As Leon briefly disappeared from the common area, Koemi quickly (nearly knocking it over) picked up the energy drink and began reading the ingredients, unconvinced that she wasn’t about to have a heart attack. Her eyes buzzed over each and every word with such speed that she didn’t even retain what she had read but instinct soon took over and her hand snapped upward to catch the cylindrical object Leon had tossed her.

She rolled it around in her hand, looking it over carefully. She recognized it immediately, of course. The lightsaber he had used on Chandrila during the terrorist attack the day they had met. Holding it for herself, she felt honored he had made the choice to bestow the weapon upon her but it didn’t feel right. Even without igniting the blade, she could feel that the connection between her and the crystal within wasn’t there. Still, she sensed that in time it could develop.

She could sense the anxiety rolling off Leon before he even spoke the words. She knew what he was about to ask. Still, she sat there in stunned silence as he made his proposition. He hadn’t even gotten the words out fully before Koemi snapped upward, slamming her thighs into the bottom edge of the table. ”Fuck!” she hissed but quickly slid down the couch and snapped upright, the energy drink fueling her every move. ”Yes!” The entire concept of being stuck with a stranger to promote her next stage of training was daunting. Having Leon in that role not only would eliminate any sort of apprehension, but it also meant that she’d continue working with him for the foreseeable future. Win/win! Of course, she quickly realized her response was over eager, embarrassment washing over her as her cheeks flushed red. ”I mean, yea. Sure. That sounds sick,”

”Why are you so fucking awkward?!”

@Zay

 

[Leon Baudelaire]

Leon’s brow cocked as Koemi’s leg threatened to shake itself off her body. His smile widened as the Emryc Energy began to live up to it’s name.

Koemi got one of his rare genuine smiles when she said, “Me too.”

Baudelaire let out a bark of laughter as she started to tweak out, “Honestly, I couldn’t pronounce half the ingredients so I only took a sip. You’ve gotta be flyyyying right now.”

Mid-speech Koemi shot up, the only issue with that was the table she was sitting at was bolted to the ground, ya know, cause spaceship. Any anxiety he’d had melted away as she accepted.

“Wow, okay, I really wasn’t expecting an answer so quickly,” his mischievous little smirk settled on his lips, “Well,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, as Peetwo did his little happy dance, “I guess you’ve got two days to gather your stuff before we head to Eiram.” He jutted his chin down the hall, “Second room on the right is yours. We’ll get started first thing in the morning. Meet me in that training room we stopped in earlier, it'd probably help if I taught you how to use that thing,” he said nodding to her training saber.

Just like that, Leon Baudelaire had taken someone to train...

Poor girl… She had no idea what she was gettin into.

@Tulos