The Cantina wasn’t too busy, but hardly empty. He had chosen the time carefully- making sure that no high ranking officials or meetings were taking part, no Clan-wide initiatives or festivities or gatherins scheduled. It was just a normal, casual day in Estle City and the Citadel.
It really consisted of two parts: the bar, and then the mess hall. The former is mostly automated but overseen by some service droids and can create any kind of drink or cocktail usually within stock and reason. The later was a large open area that could hold up to a hundre without feeling too stifling.
While the kitchen had a full service window, there was also arrays of foodstuffs in buffet style set out, covering a wide range of dietary restrictions and tastes. There were plenty of open tables, some half-occupied with different groups chatting. Some were filing their plates, some were only taking a drink, and others were just sitting around for the company. It was a mix of Arcona Armed Forces, a Citadel guard or two off-duty, and some Journeyman stressing over their Knighthood trials.
Marick Tyris Arconae took it all in with a cursory glance, committing to memory who was present, where they were sitting, and what they were doing. It was an old habbit, an automatic one, that never seemed to turn off. He grabbed his plate, and then glanced over his shoulder at his new…student? She was no longer a Journeyman, so he felt wrong with labeling her as such, but were they not all students in some way when it came to life and learning?
“Tell me what you see?” he asked Asani as he gestured with his head towards the whole of the room.
Entering the cantina with her…student? teacher? Could she really give their relationship any kind if label? They were more akin to friends having fun than a teacher and student putting a specific methodology into practice. Training for something mundane in-between all the crazy things that had come to pass recently was, more than anything, fun. A good way to relax and ease tension.
“I see a plethora of potential victims” she replied, her tone laced with far more humor than it should have been. She was taking a gleeful approach to their little training in preparation for what she was now referring to as “The Big One” the prank of all pranks. The target was perhaps not the greatest ever but if they could pull it off it’d be the greatest story for years to come. Or an easy way to place a giant target on their backs but that was a worry for the future. The present held more promise.
“Easily distracted journeymen, off duty guards. Crowded but not too crowded.” she said calculating every movement every potential exit should things go south, she looked like a miniature bodyguard next to him, Mandalorian armor reflecting the lights and surfaces around them.
Marick smiled, though it would be hard to see unless looking closely at him. “So despite your witty response to my question, you knew what I was actually asking. You’ve improved quickly,” he replied with a nod.
“The off-duty guards are Framme and Narrin. They look like they should be related, but they aren’t. You’ll notice that Narrin’s plate is empty, and Framme’s is filled. Narrin is slouched, and you can see they seem muted as they listen to the conversation around them. Likely feeling under the weather, or having a hard day despite not being on duty. Easy to exploit,” he continued.
“Fill up your plate, and then pick a seat with a good vantage point. Don’t sit with your back to a door,” he continued as he grabbed a single bread roll, some vegetables, a slice of grilled nerf meat, and some rice. He grabbed some sparkling water as well, and waited to see where the Kushiban chose to sit. Idly, his eyes took in each of the entrances and exits.
He mentally prepared himself, as well, for this ‘Big One’ that Asani kept smirking about.
Concern…
Quiet, some semblence of normal– that’s all Siv wanted. She had just recently become Aedile, but already things had changed drastically for her in terms of work and work-load. No longer did she spend her nights looking over medical journals and autopsy reports, now she spent them finishing assignments from Ood and finishing out the day-to-day tasks of house Galeres.
She understood Wulfram’s grumbling about paperwork now.
Using some force trickery, Siv had managed to hide herself in a corner of the mess hall with her own tray of food. Could she have taken her lunch at home with Alex? Absolutely. But she craved the feeling she had when she first joined Arcona, that feeling of being one drop amongst many in a pool. Unimportant. Unnoticable. She missed that dearly.
The Chiss nibbled carefully on a piece of bread, flipping through the dataslate sat on the table. On it was a medical journal that had been on her “To Read” list for about a week now. A journal she would have finished in a night normally, curled up in bed with one of the lamps on and Alexandyr snoring away beside her.
A movement of small and white caught her attention and dragged her sanguine eyes from their hyperfocus up to the culprit of the distraction. Asani… and Marick? The Aedile tilted her head, watching from the safety of her little corner.
Asani had that same look on her face as she had when she let loose a bag of flour into her vent system back in Alex’s flat. Concern indeed.
A normal, casual day to just relax and ease tension was exactly what he needed. Meero had recently graduated from the Training Corps and became an official pilot for House Galeres. He finally had a ship of his own like he’s dreamed about since he was a young bun and he’s working for a good cause. He had every reason to be ecstatic, but really he just felt exhausted after the unpleasantness of recent events.
“Another long day.” said the young Kushiban to his little L0-LA droid as they both entered through the cantina doors. She beeped at him in a low tone. “ʏᴇᴀʜ… ʜᴇʏ, ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍɪɴᴅ ɪꜰ ɪ ᴡᴀɪᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜɪᴘ? ɪ’ᴍ ʙᴇᴀᴛ.”
Meero stopped and stared at her with a jokingly sarcastic look. “Yeah I’m sure hovering close by while I do everything must drain your power supply.”
“ʜᴇʏ! ᴍᴏʀᴀʟ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ ɪꜱ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴡᴏʀᴋ!” She replied in annoyed beeps. Meero laughed a bit. “I’m kidding! Go ahead and relax back at the ship. I’m sure I’ll be alright without you for a couple of hours.”
“ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ. ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʙᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇꜰᴜʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴅᴏ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅɴ’ᴛ ᴅᴏ.” Said Lola while hovering back outside.
Meero walked up to the vast food selection but only grabbed a single meiloorun and sat at a nearby table. He nibbled on his fruit and sat back with his eyes closed enjoying the soothing music. All he could think about was how he couldn’t wait to visit his family back home once he caught a break from his duties.
“Improvement doesn’t denote Mastery yet.” she prodded gently at Marick a bit.
“You’d think they’d be siblings thought, they do look alike.” She commented at his observation of the guards, he really did know everyone around. She followed his lead, grabbing a few vegetables, a few meilooruns and jogan fruits. Sliding some sparkling water onto her little batch just like he had, she choose a decent spot to sit then. Their backs wouldn’t be to any doors, they’d have a decent vantage point of their victims.
This would have been fine of course, were it not for the fact that she suddenly felt like someone was watching her, maybe it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. There couldn’t possibly be anyone here today that she knew or would be interested in her shenanigans.
It wasn’t that he knew everyone–though there was a level of institutional knowledge of the Citadel–but that he’d just logged information on the duo of guards previously and could easily recall his observations from them. He didn’t think he’d actually had a first hand conversation with either of them, though.
But the perception didn’t hurt. As Wyn would always say, while waving his hands mystically: wizard! - always make them think you can do more than you actually can
Marick followed and smoothly slid into the seat beside her, placing his tray down carefully, the motion practiced to the point of barely registering a sound. Old habits of minimizing his presence.
Asani was actually quite impressed with how smooth the motion was. Silent, practiced, he may as well have done it a million times in his life for it to be as quiet as it was. “Is there perhaps a way you can teach me to be a bit more like that? I’m sure I could benefit from being a bit more…invisible.” the armored woman asked, she was happy to learn any and every skill he could offer her.
“And what do you think would be the quickest and safest approach for a mission in an area like this?” she wanted to know what it was that was going through his head first before handing him suggestions or ideas of what they could do. After all, what was a good prank about if not making a spectacle and getting the most laughter and damage done in one fell swoop. He was perfect at staying hidden, now he needed to know that style was part of the deal. The more eyes they had on the victim the better the showmanship needed to be.
Marick blinked once, and took a very small, precisely cut nerf meat, chewed it primly, then set his fork back down, swapping to take a quick sip of sparkling water.
“It can be tricky when you walk around in plated armor,” he said a bit dryly, but quickly continued into being more helpful, “but there are ways for that, yes. Beyond the obvious there, though, you have a good advantage because of your size, but it works against you if you’re obviously in a room filled with mostly average sized Humans and near-Humans.” He thought for a moment.
“How you carry yourself ties into what we spoke about before though: control. And the easiest starting for that is to take your time. Move slowly, practice your motions. The more and more you do them, the faster, more natural it can become.”
He considered her second question. “Well, isolate the target, and make sure you spot them before they spot you. That means being willing to pull your datapad up to cover your face if you know they’re about to turn in your direction. You obviously can’t stare directly at them, but set a part of your awareness to be tracking on their motion from your peripheral. Be patient, study their patterns. Wait to see when their attention is weakest and either one: create a remote distraction with the Force, or bribing another patron, or two: move in using a crowd or the terrain as cover before striking…”
He calmly took a piece of the roll, ripped it with his fingers and ate it, then continued to carefully eat the rest of his meal.
“Guess I’ll have to reconsider my armor choices and find a way to make it more…hushed…” she seemed distracted then, noticing what aperread to be a chiss woman. Could that be her…? No…it couldn’t be, soon she was certain it was very likely Siv though.
“I guess well have to work twice as hard today as my aunt is very likely close by and starring in what I can only guess is our direction.” she commented as she placed her helmet beside her in her seat. Biting into her fruit with more glee than she should have considering their new level of difficulty.
This was a challenge and she was happy for the extra problems, she felt up to the task. “So whats the plan for catching our first victim off guard and executing a well thought out prank without getting caught by my aunt?” she asked him then. “Or perhaps you want to up the ante and try to prank her?” she smirked her fur gently stained by the fruit but soon cleaned thanks to a few stray napkins.
Marick nodded once. “Aedile Sivall is present, yes. But while she has indeed noticed us, she hasn’t taken any action, and seems content to focus elsewhere. In this particular example, however, the approach would likely be misdirection. Have her focused disrupted and focused elsewhere, leaving our actual targets…vulnerable to a stealthier attempt at…” he searched his mind for the right terminology. “Shen..anigans?” he asked more than stated.
He noticed another Kushiban that had dismissed his LO-LA droid and was now sitting in contemplation by himself.
The Hapan’s eyes moved towards Asanai’s, locked there for a moment to draw her attention. Then he pointed with his eyes alone at the ‘other’ Kushiban, lofting a brow. As if to say: Friend of yours?
Part of him realized that you couldn’t just ask a Kushiban if they knew another Kushiban, but he was genuinely curious in this regard.
It would seem that she had been noticed, but neither had approached her? Odd. Suspicious even. Sanguine eyes narrowed slightly as the Aedile continued to take bit of bread between her fingers, rip them off the main piece, then dunk them in a soup by her and swallow.
What were the two up to? Asani wore an expression of badly concealed mischevity and Marick was… well… Marick. Surely he couldn’t be helping the Kushiban spread her special brand of chaos, right?
TOR appeared from out under the table and whirred at her side, the multiple sections of it’s body spinning lazily and seperating from the main sphere for a moment before settling back together.
“Tor, what are the odds they’re planning something?”
“95%, Aedile.”
Sivall winced at hearing the title from the droid, knowing full well it was probably programmed in it somewhere and couldn’t help it. She would need to bring it to Alex and see if he couldn’t change that protocol somehow.
Meero finished happily munching on his meiloorun while listening to the cantina’s music. He politely cleaned any fruit stains on his fur, took a deep satisfied breath then stood from his seat and headed towards the bar.
As he walked, however, he felt something. It was faint but it was like he could feel something was… slightly off. Like something was coming. Is this what the Jedi refer to as ‘feeling a disturbance’? He adjusted his glasses and looked around with his ears slightly on alert. However, all he could see was everyone just minding their business and enjoying themselves. Was it just his imagination? Everything appeared to be fine.
“Goodness, I must be tired.” He said as he continued his way to the bar. Once he was there, he hopped on one of the seats so the bartenders could see him. “I’ll have a Bespin Sparkle, please.”
Marick quietly tracked Meero as he moved to the bar area. He lifted an eyebrow at Asani.
“Shenanigans indeed…” the kushiban stated, a smirk on her face. She would do her best to find a way to make this challenge go well. She hoped anyway. She notted Maricks eyes look toward Meero, the kushiban she had met at that party recently. “Just because we’re both Kushiban doesn’t mean we know eachother…” she commented her face indicating gentle disbelief at the Exarchs somewhat suprising lack of knowledge on the duo.
“Okay yes I do know him but we’ve only spoken once at a party.” she stated, blushing a light blue color as she looked away back to her fruits. “How are we going to get past her possibly attempting to intersect our joy? She might try to interfere” the kushiban knew that her aunt had been a previous victim of pranks and might try to intervene. “She could ruin our mission” although the kushibans words spoke of plans being ruined her eyes wandered away toward the friendly pilot, her face betraying romantic interest.
Marick noted the not-very hidden reaction to the other lagomorph. While he had no experience in the realm of matchmaking or dating, he was trained in the art of observation, and had been married to Atyiru for quite some time. By proximity, that made him an expert witness to ‘matchmaking’. In this case, it seemed very clear and quite obvious that Asani thought that Meero was attractive.
He knew little of the species, reminding himself to read up more in the future, but perhaps there was a way to help here.
His focus shifted back to her question. “If we’d like to distract the Aedile, we could send her a message from my Arconae-login. Say that there is an Security-related task that is needed down the hallway towards the armory. No slicing required.”
He considered. “We could also ask someone else in the lunch room to run a distraction. I could go and talk to her, as Exarch about Envoy-related things.That would give you a clear window to make your approach.”
He paushed. “But Asani, you still haven’t told me exactly what we’re going to try and pull off?”
“Well the plans pretty simple you see, our victim looks like he wouldn’t be able to feel anything being taken from his person. I vote we grab any com device they’ve got on their person and make some unsavory noises spring forth. Perhaps flatulence?” she smirked, it was a very simple prank, meant to be silly without being damning.
“I mean whats the most likely situation that would require her attention given her new position? Alternatively, Meero could help. He’d make a good distraction.” she seemed willing to rope a third person in to this rather silly little mission. “Or you could go, but that would beat the purpose of you being the one to perform these missions, after all its all preparation for ‘The Big One’.” she moved her hands to mark quotation marks over ‘the big one’.
She hoped it wasn’t too obvious that she was planning something, it would be a bust if they ended up caught. Not that anyone would be able to do anything to Marick, she on the other hand would have her uncle find out, which would have her Buir find out. That was the real problem.
Marick thought that over.
“I agree that perhaps bringing in–Meero was it? –yes, Meero could be utilized here. Why don’t we invite him over, first, and I will invent a mission for him to undertake that will then distract our attentive Aedile.”
“Perfect.” She commented, getting up from her position, attempting to be as subtle as possible, she walked over to Meero, fussing a bit with her fur and ears, hoping she didn’t look messy or uneven.
Asani hopped onto a seat next to him then, her cheeks flushing as she smiled “Hey Meero, fancy seeing you here!” she said taking in all the details of the gentleman Kushiban before her.
Meero’s ears perked up since he recognized that voice. When he turned and saw Asani sitting next to him, his eyes widened and his fur immediately flushed a light blue color.
“O-oh! Asani, hi!” He said with a smile but also slightly choking on his drink. “Well this is a surprise! I haven’t seen you since the party. How have you been?”
Marick leaned back in his chair to observe Meero and Asani, a weird part of him rooting for the duo to…get along and like each other. Was this how Atyiru felt all the time? Strange.
He only looked out of the corner of his eye though. He was busy typing on his datapad as he idly replied to a few messages. He pinged Zig to ask her if it was possible to remotely Slice into someones comm and make it produce…flatulence noises.
He got a response far too quickly.
Pfft. Literally. Of course you can. I’ll send you an application you can sideload onto your datapad. It should do most of the work. But I require recording evidence. It’s imporant. For science…
-Z
“Ive been good, busy but arent we all, and you?” she asked, her fur changing to a light blue color mimicking his own.
She seemed to enjoy his company, that much was obvious. “Hey do you mind helping me and a friend out with a little task?” she queried. Was she going to drag him into their little prank? Yes. At least provided he was up to the task.
Meero was very happy to see a familiar face in a sea of people he didn’t know. But it wasn’t just that. Despite feeling nervous, he also enjoyed Asani’s company very much.
“Oh I’ve been busy as well.” He chuckled. “Just recently finished patrolling Selen and Arconae Primus.”
Noticing his fur had turned light blue, Meero quickly shifted back to his usual white color while taking a sip of his drink. Despite his efforts to not appear flustered in front of the pretty Kushiban, he was being very obvious. “Oh, of course! I don’t mind helping you!” He said putting down his glass and following Asani back to her table.
Marick frowned at his Datapad, but then glanced up to see the two Kushiban approach.
“Knight Meero,” Marick offered a polite greeting, carefully keeping his voice so that it was easy to hear for the duo, but blended well with the ambient din of the mess hall. “Come join us. I don’t believe we’ve met, Ood has briefed me of your recent missions.
Ood had, in fact, not told Marick anything. He simply had a boring, strange habit of reading mission debriefings from Dajorra Intelligence for leisure time.
” Clever work with the Trandoshans.“
As the two sat, he immediately noticed how they kept stealing glances at one another when they thought the other wasn’t looking. He made a mental note.
Perhaps it is one of those things that is obvious when you are looking from the outside in…like having someone second-eyes your briefing…
“Perfect! We need your help.” she was happy to drag him into one of her ideas. Maybe this was the perfect ocassion to have a helping hand or two. “Really on patrol? Find anything interesting?” she asked while they walked to the table. She seemed keen to listen to what he had to say about his patroling adventure.
“Im not sure if youve met before but this is Marick.” she introducted her semi student semi master althought they likely had met before. Hearing Maricks comment her ears perked up a bit “Trandoshans? Now you have to tell me what happened on patrol.” she was excited to hear about his adventures while patroling.
Taking a quick glance around she began whispering once they were all close together at their table. “Were gonna prank a few people but my ba’vodu, my aunt might try to get in the way. We need Marick to walk over to distract her while I or you steal that guys” she subtly pointed at the victim by giving them a quick glance “datapad or comlinks. Itll be hilarious. Unless you know how to make that part easier?” she asked, maybe the pilot had more skilks than she knew of.
As the two kushiban walked over to the other table, Meero told Asani about his patrols. The peaceful and beautiful islands on Selen, the dark and murky jungles of Arconae Primus. When he was about to talk about the part where his patrol went south, however, he paused as Asani introduced him to Marick.
Realizing who this was, Meero felt slightly nervous. “My goodness! Marick Tyris Arconae. It’s an honor to finally meet you, sir!” He said giving a polite, gentle bow before sitting down. “And thank you so much! But I must admit, I can’t take the credit for that. I did locate the Trandoshans, but it’s because of my L0-LA droid that they’re behind bars and I’m still here.” He chuckled.
As Asani began to explain the plan, Meero was intrigued. He hadn’t pranked anyone since he and his sister were little buns. It sounded like fun. “Hmm interesting… I’m in!” He said with a smirk. “If you can get me their datapad or comlink, I can definitely tweak it for whatever you need.”
Marick nodded once and then gestured to the droid that had been taking a “nap” on the table. Asani hadn’t even noticed Biddy, it seemed. The BD-droid perked up at the mention of a droid getting credit for something, recognizing the L0-LA model, and chirping excitedly.
“Biddy says that behind every good adventurer, there is a clever droid,” Marick translated, even though he had a hunch Meero could understand Binary.
He glanced at Asani, then back to Meero, noticing the changes in their fur coloration around each other. He made some mental notes. “Anyway, Biddy should be able to help get us the datapad in question. Unless you think you can get this app to work on my datapad?”
He slid the sideloaded app Zig had sent him. If it worked, they could remotely tap into the audio of the targets datapad. “Otherwise, I can go speak to them, and Biddy can lift the datapad for us.”
When Meero noticed the little BD droid on the table, his face lit up and his fur changed to a bright yellow.
“Well look at you! Aren’t you a cutie?” The kushiban had a big smile on his face. This was his first time seeing a BD droid since they’re so rare and he looked like an excited kid. He was ready to ask so many questions about the little droid but stopped himself, cleared his throat, and focused back on the plan.
Meero looked at the app on Marick’s datapad and thought for a moment. “Hmm… I haven’t tried this before but I could give it a shot.” He appeared laser focused as he began tweaking with the systems and settings attempting to get it to work remotely. However, he was slowly getting visibly frustrated as, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t get through. He let out a gentle frustrated sigh and put down the datapad. “Darn… I couldn’t crack it. They have some pretty airtight firewalls… I guess we’ll have to get it ourselves.”
Marick nodded along. “It’s always worth exhausting your options. Success is often determined by preparation.”
He considered. “All right, Biddy and I will get their comm. You two sit tight.”
The Hapan stood smoothly from his seat, like quicksilver rolling from a jar, Biddy jumping onto his shoulder for a ride.
“Its okay Meero, Im an expert at distractions and im sure Marick can discreetely get it for us” she smirked. There was a hint of mischief in her eyes that likely wouldve unsettled anyone in her family should they be unlucky enough to glance upon it.
“So you really like droids huh?” she asked her fur a blushing light blue. Asani seemed particularly interested in the techy kushiban and wanted to see what other skills or knowledge he might posses. Maybe they could go on pranking sprees together
“Well yes actually. I’ve been interested in tech since I was very young. Droids, ships, walkers, you name it.” He said sheepishly, rubbing his tail and his fur also turning light blue. “I’m sure you remember my L0-LA droid. Well I found her and put her back together when I was 8 years old. So you could say it’s been a life-long obsession.”
Meero paused for a moment, trying not to start rambling about his obsession. The kushiban remembered his time at the academy and how others were often put off by him talking too much. He wanted to avoid doing the same thing to Asani since he was very interested in her. “Ahem, so uh… I’m surprised someone like Marick is going along with something like this. How’d you pull that off?”
Marick approached the target Asani had scoped out. While Marick didn’t know their story, he knew they were one of the Citadel guard rotations. She would, at the very least, know who he was, in this case. She was a young Zabarak with light skin and minimal face tattoos, and a trio of horns crowning the top of her bald head.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the Arconae spoke quietly in his low, calm voice.
“L-Lord Tyris!” she replied sitting up straight and sliding her food tray back a bit.
“Just Marick, or sir, works,” the replied plainly. While he never really cared if people used honorifics with him, he knew that for those in service, casual name dropping sometimes worked against their programming, so he learned to give them something of a compromise.“
"Right, is something amidst sir?”
“No but I was hoping you could help me review some of the assignments around the Citadel, as I noticed a few gaps in security…”
-=x=-
While Marick spoke to the Zabraki lady, Biddy had already hopped off his shoulder and skulked around to the far side of the table. Nobody tended to notice small droids, fortunately, as the other tables seemed to be occupied with their own..whatever it was organics did with their free time.
Biddy had never been one for mischeif. But as he spent more time around young mistress Kirra, he had found his programming starting to lean towards the “fun” of helping accomplish things that made the organics happy. He had also spent time shadowing his master, a former Dark Councilor and very serious-organic. So he had learned to be clever and sneaky as well.
Biddy worked nimbly towards the lip of the table, poking just his optical eyes over the ledge. He gingerly snaked up one of his legs, grabbed the comm-device, and slipped it into his carrying compartment before scamping off to re-climb Marick’s shoulder.
Mission Success. Kirra would be proud.
-=x=-
“Thank you, that was helpful. If you need any other assistance, let your Captain know.”
Marick exchanged a faint bow of the head with the Zabrak guard and returned back to the table to see Meero and Asani getting along swimingly. He clocked their interaction, but no emotion registered on his face. Just the same calm, neutral expression. He didn’t interupt them, but then after a pause said.
“Looks like Biddy got the comm. We should be quick though- she is acutally a very keen guard. I was impressed by her knowledge of the Citadel’s patrols.”
Biddy hopped up onto the table, beeped proudly towards Meero, and slid the “borrowed” comlink to the Kushiban.
“Think you can work with that, Meero?” he asked.
“Hey great job, buddy!” Meero said while smiling at the little droid. He took the “borrowed” comlink, inspected it quickly then nodded at Marick. “Yes, sir. I believe I can. It’ll just take a sec.”
Meero began discretely tinkering with the comlink’s settings, easily breaking through its security system. His yellow eyes were so focused that he didn’t blink the entire time until he was done. He double checked that it was working properly, did a gentle smirk, then put the comlink back on the table gently sliding it towards Marick and Asani. “Alright, it’s done.”
Marick nodded and looked it over. “Impressive work,” he said as he glanced towards Asani. When she met his eyes, he seemed to move his eyes back towards Meero, then faintly quirked an eyebrow with an even fainter smirk.
“I’ll have Biddy replace it while I talk to another person nearby our Zabraki friend.”
Marick padded away, Biddy falling into step on the cantina floor before fanning out on his own in a flank.
Marick moved towards the table next to where the Zabraki guard has been sitting and…
Bumped his knee against the table. “Tssch,” he hissed in a low gravel, wincing visibly as he crouched toward his knee.
This drew the attention of the table in question, a few journeymen who were going over their Shadow Academy notes.
The Zabrak also turned to study the interaction, concern going to interest as Marick apologized, and the Journeymen in turn apologized as well (even though it was not their fault).
Marick offered a few answers to some of the questions they had on their notes, nodded along–
Meanwhile, Biddy sneakily returned the comm to the table where he had found it. He slipped away, then rejoined Marick after he bid goodbye to the table.
He rejoined Meero and Asani, but made sure he didn’t interfere with anything.
Marick had a knack for knowing how to carry the looks and title. Even the way he ‘injured’ himself was flawless. And act she knew, but a flawless one. She needed to learn how to act like that. Perfectly practiced. Focused.
Asani was impressed to say the least. Meero didnt waste any time in impresing her with his skills in the technological skill, he was fast and reliable was definitely a benefit for future pranks or any actual mission they might find themselves working on together.
“Id be happy to learn from you and listen to your droid chatter” she commented blushing lightly.
Looking to Marick she saw him move his eyes toward Meero she blushed a stronger blue. Her feelings were obvious and plastered all over her fur.
“So were ready to cause mayhem then?” she asked them both her fur returning to its lighter white hue, a smirk re-appearing on her face.
“I believe so,” Marick replied, nodding his head. “So now we…just push the button, it makes the noise…and we…watch?”
He hoverd his finger over the app, and for a moment looked to be very…normal and quite human. Not an Exarch or Shadow Lord emeritus or spymaster, just a man with a curious expression and a datapad sitting at a cafateria table.
“precisely. But theres an art to it you see. Itll be too obvious if we do it now. The Exarch comes along and suddenly theyre making fart noise? No its too obvious. We have to wait to strike. Maybe till theyre ready to leave as theyre standing is a good moment.” she instructed. It was simple and mundane. There were no high stakes, no real danger other than possible embarassment. Just a group of friends playing pranks on unsuspecting victims.
Marick’s eyes and therefore his attention seemed to track on every word Asani explained. Like the student sitting at the front of the classroom absorbing the teachers lecture as she spoke.
In time, he would teach her the importance of studying peoples eyes. Not only were they a window to the soul, they informed a lot about what a person might do, even before they did it.
Regardless, Marick nodded. “Understood. We wait for a more ideal opportunity to strik–play the prank.”
The Hapan glanced back and forth between the two Kushiban. “Do you both come from a similar homeworld? I admit I’m not familiar with your people’s cultures and find myself at an impase.”
When Meero saw that Asani was actually interested in his ramblings, his face lit up and his fur turned yellow. No one outside of his family had ever wanted to actually hear him talk about his interests. There’s a reason his L0-LA droid had been his best friend for 20 years. This was a new feeling for him and his interest in Asani just kept growing. His little heart definitely skipped a beat.
When Marick asked if they both came from a similar homeworld, Meero looked at Asani then back at the Exarch while adjusting his glasses. “Well… technically yes. We’re both Kushiban so we do share a homeworld and, while I wasn’t raised on Kushibah, I have visited.”
Marick nodded, seeming to catalog that piece of information away. While he waited for Asani to respond, he offered, “I like to think of Dajorra as my home. My life is the Hapes cluster is something I wish I could forget. Memory is a double edged sword though.”
He went quiet then, realizing that he was, possibly, doing what Wyn called “Buzz killing the mood”.
Seeing his fur change color made her feel warm, happy. It was nice to be able to make someone feel so joyful they lit up. It was good to know she could make someone else happy instead of angry or annoyed for a change. Her cheeks blush blue again ever so slightly.
“I guess we could theorize we come from the same ‘homeworld’.” She made an air quote gesture as she finished the phrase. “Ive visited Kushibah. Ive seen its beauty but…I can’t say I remember it ever being home. I dont really remember much of anything before Buir found me. Cages and shades of green and red before that mostly. If I had to choose what I could call home itd be Mandalore. Or Buirs ship really.” she said reminiscing slightly at their ‘little’ home. She realized then she mightve grabbed the coffin of mood killing Marick started and finished burying it.
Marick nodded along but then decided to use his last remaining tactic. He swiped to a different screen on his tablet and turned it towards the duo.
On the screen was the picture of a young girl, no more than seven, with white messy hair and a little sun dress. One eye was a milky white, and the other was a true blue, just like Maricks. She was holding a little baby swaddled in cloth, with messy black bangs and a pair of white stripes bisecting his hairline.
“This is Kirra and Weyne. Well, her holding him,” he explained. “Yesterday, Weyne re-arranged his toys in alphabetical order. He doesn’t speak yet, but apparently, it was important for him to do so.”
If anyone glanced at Marick’s plate, it was arrayed very specifically. Nothing was askew. Everything was symmetrically laid out. Like father like son?
Asani took a quick glance down at Maricks plate and realize perhaps the child was definitely like father and smiled.
“Im sure he’ll speak when hes ready” she commented remindscing about her own youth. Perhaps a subject better left for a different time.
“It seems we could be in the clear as my aunt is unawares of our little trap…” she commented taking a quick glance toward Sivall. She seemed uninterested eating what appeared to be soup.
Marick nodded, but seemed to sense…eyes on them as Asani spoke. He made a showing of pointing at his datapad and pulling up a holo of Kirra making a mess of the apartment as he cleaned it up.
Surely, yes, squinted sanguine eyes were watching with interest. Though she didn’t… see anything wrong, her ruka-like shenanigan senses were tingling.
What were they up to?
“Before my aunt gets a little too suspicious I’m going to go over there and distract her. I leave this mission up to you two. Remember as they’re leaving, so it’ll be convincing.” The kushiban woman gave her two friends a wink and began skootching out of the booth, making sure to grab her helmet she began walking toward her aunt. Perhaps it would be an easy thing to distract her, hopefully some mild conversation would help keep her of Marick and Meeros prank trail. “Aunty Siv its been some time!” the kushiban spoke as she approached and sat with her aunt. She was being bold, hopefully that would be enough to keep her aunt interested in her and not the rest of the group.
“Asani-” Marick started to say, but then realized the look of pure excitement and the shift of her fur color that radiated an aura of…mischief.
They would need to proceed with caution. Then, the Kushiban seemed to take matters into her own hands and got up.
He glanced over at Meero, noticing how he watched Asani leave. He made a mental note for when she came back.
“Alright, I guess it’s now, or never?” He hovered his hand over the button, eyes locked with Meero’s.
“Wait what? But this whole operation was your-“ Meero said as Asani began to leave. He gave a gentle sigh but couldn’t help but stare at her walking away. His eyes fixed on her and practically sparkling. Like he was staring at the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. However, he suddenly snapped out of it when Marick spoke. “O-oh! Uh yes, I suppose so.”
Marick watched, catalogued, considered. While he clocked on Asani talking with Siv out of the corner of his eye, patience was going to be needed. Fortunately, the former Assassin could be patient as two stones sat beside one another.
So he focused on something else. He took out a notepad from his pack, flimsiplast, and scribbled down a neat, handwritten note in Hapan.
Sanguine eyes kept flicking from Asani to Marick in the background, a wary look on her face. Whatever Asani was attempting to do, it didn’t seem to be fooling the sharp-eyed Aedile.
“It… has, Asani, it has been a while. Is Marick acting odd to you? Did you notice anything strange when you were over there talking to him?”
“No not really. Marick’s always sort of…stoic so that’s just how he behaves” Asani was playing innocent even if she knew there probably wasn’t any point in it, her job was to be a distraction and nothing more now, Marick and Meero were on their own. If the target moved or not any time soon they knew what to do. “How have you been? Congratulations on your promotion by the way!” she continued, cheerfully giving her a smile.
Marick must have heard, or sensed what was going on. He turned in his chair, offered a stoic wave to Asani and the Aedile. He then returned to his datapad and, since Arconae had contacts of most of the Arcona Summit, sent her a picture of Marick and his daughter, holding her up. The message next to it was simly: “Showing Meero Kirra.”
He sensed something was amiss. He was out of decoys he could deploy. Or was he? He sent a quick message.
Z: ...But you said to *stop* hacking into the Citadel comms! Something something about 'use your gifts only for good' bla bla...
M: I know what I said, but this is an emergency.
Z: ...mhm, totally. Fine. But you owe me.
He waited, careful to look…like himself. Calm, at ease, and seemingly unperturbed by the noise around him.
A few moments later, while Asani stumbled obviously through a basic lie to her aunt, a ping showed up on Sivall’s datapad.
Security Incident: Aedile+ presence requested at the Citadel Gates for inspection of suspicious courier.
Asani was being nicer than normal. Why was she being so nice? While it wasn’t abnormal of the lagomorph to thank her for her promotion, to be so… cheery, that was the strange part. One raven eyebrow shot upwards in an inquisitive look for a moment before she answered.
“Ah, thank you. It was a surprise but I’m happy to serve Arcona in any way I can. They saved me, you know. If it weren’t for Alex and the Brotherhood I’d still be stuck in the slums on Coruscant. They gave me a new life, let me be more than I was.” A soft smile then, if not a little sad. She was near death when Alex found her, and even now she hadn’t returned to what her weight should be. It had been a year, but you could still feel the sharpness of her hips and every ridge in her spine.
A ping on her datapad revealed a picture of Marick holding his daughter and she felt herself melt a little. The Exarch and his wife’s daughter was so adorable. So many of the upper members of Arcona had children, sweet little things that didn’t know strife or pain. It gave her hope. Maybe her and Alexandyr would have kids some day, if he wanted.
“Marick is such a good father. You can see it in his daughter’s eyes. She adores him.”
A second of quiet, a silent yearning. She had never thought she wanted kids before, but maybe….
A chirp in her ear and an overlay on her screen pulled a groan from her chest. Of coruse something required her attention, just when she had sat down to eat and relax for maybe the first time this week. The Aedile closed her eyes, tilting her head back to that she was facing upwards towards the ceiling for a moment, and took a deep breath.
“Csen'ai ravri-” She hissed, then put away her datapad and gave Asani a soft smile.
“I’m so sorry, Nazen, duty calls. Tell your Master I said hello, yeah? And your kushiban friend.” With that she stood and began moving towards the door of the cafeteria.
Marick watched as his plan…worked? A part of him felt bad for lying to the Aedile. She was bright as a new bell, and a wonderful, needed addition to the Summit. Still, he’d done worse, and said worse. So his face remained a stoic, neutral mask.
“Alright Meero, I suppose it’s time.”
Marick glanced over to see if Asani would join, but readied the app.
The little lagomorph smiled although it seemed a bit less cheerful, a hint of guilt in it. “Im glad you feel good to be in such a position. But dont overwork yourself too much okay?” she noticed how her aunt still had visible edges to her form.
“He is a good father…and a great mentor.” the kushiban mentioned as her aunty began to depart. “I will! Maybe you can chit chat later when youre not busy.” she said hoping she would be distracted enough to leave and not question further. Once her departure began Asani did her best to move back to her chair without practicaly dashing over, looking casual in her stride.
“Yes, sir. I believe it is.” Meero said while nodding, waiting for Marick to ready the app.
He then noticed Asani coming back to the table attempting to look casual. “Ah, the triumphant distraction returns.” He jested with a smile.
Marick noticed the twos exchange, remained pensive, but then moved to his datapad.
He slowly pressed the button.
From multiple tables away, a sudden, audible, fffftttttttttttttttttttttttt noise sequeeked out of the sliced communicator of the Zabrak.
Marick’s face remained an impassive mask, but there was a sense of accomplishment in his too-blue eyes as he shifted them towards Asani’s for approval.
“Always.” replied the mischevios lady, sitting by the duo with a smirk. She was ready for the chaos they were about to unleash on the poor zabrak.
Hearing the loud flatulant sound she couldnt help but hold back her laugher, the humor and pride clear in her eyes. Looking up at Marick from her seated position she was gently giggling and nodding her approval, eyes showing the clear gleam of someone who perhaps enjoyed causing harmless trouble a bit too much.
Marick offered a small smile back at Asani. Fortuantely, the chuckles and laughs didn’t seem to bother the Zabraki guard. She seemed to laugh, even, herself.
So, this is a prank. Interesting.
Then a thought occured to him. He took the note that he’d written down earlier in binary.
“Meero, one last thing. Would you mind translating this note and reading it to Asani?”
01000001 01110011 01100001 01101110 01101001 00101100 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101111 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101101 01100101 00111111
As everyone began laughing over the loud flatulent sound, Meero also found himself laughing gently. Normally he’d hold back the laughter since it would be rude, but playing that prank with Marick and Asani made him feel like a mischievous little bun again. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was fun.
“Oh! Of course, sir!” Said Meero gladly taking the note and gently clearing his throat before reading. Being fluent in binary, he could easily translate what it said. However, he didn’t really register what was on the note until he said it out loud. “Asani, would you like to go out with me?”
Once he uttered those words, he froze. His eyes widened and his entire body turned light blue.
Asani had been giggling up a storm. She enjoyed these lighthearted things. It was much needed levity considering the general line of work and constant stress that she and everyone around the brotherhood felt regularly.
“Asani, would you like to go out with me?”
Hearing the words uttered created the sensation of falling in the kushiban. It seemed as if time stood still for an instant. Did she hear that right?
As the words replayed in her head she felt her face blush a light blue hue, “Y-yes” she replied, realizing what she had answered made the color spread to her whole body.
The corner of Marick’s lip turned upward in a faint echo of a smile. For a moment, watching Asani’s reaction, and Meero’s, both through his eyes and through his awareness through the Force, he sudenly understood, if only a bit, how his wife must feel. Why she enjoyed, so much, helping others.
Life before death. Journey before destination. There was indeed more to life than Marick Tyris Arconae had been forced to whether.
His finger slipped, then, and he tapped the button again. A much high pitched, squeaking fart noise came out from the remote comm. Everyone around it laughed.
Marick cast his eyes down, and for a second might have looked…sheepish? It quickly passed as his face returned to its stoic, calm visage and he watched proudly as Asani and Meero shared a moment together.
Perhaps he wasn’t a cursed Master, and could genuinely help.
Meero was completely stunned after reading the note out loud. So much so that he didn’t even notice Marick had pressed the button again, causing another high pitched fart sound. Even though everyone around him was laughing, the little lagomorph just sat there terrified and having a mini panic attack.
“Sir! What the kriff?!” He thought to himself. “What have I done?! There’s no way she’d say yes to going out with a dork like me.”
But then, just as he was about to apologize, something happened Meero never would’ve expected in a million years.
She said yes.
He looked at her in complete disbelief, feeling like he was about to pass out. Was this real? Was she pranking him? Why would someone as beautiful and amazing as her wanna go out with someone like him?
“R-really? I’ll be honest, that’s… unexpected.” He said with a nervous smile.
The second fart noise was lost to her ears, all she was now was sort of stuck frozen realizing she had indeed agreed. To a date.
“Y-you can pick me up! Well go have dinner and have a nice walk at a park or museum something!” she spoke quickly leaving little room for hesitation. Asani had managed to surprise herself as much as she had surprised Meero.
She was completely stunned and continued to blab for a minute before seeming to calm down and staring at her food while blushing shades of blue and yellow. There was an unmistakable smile gracing her features even as she began stuffing her face with fruit from her nerves. In her haste to eat she looked up at Marick for a moment, a flash of gratitude in her eyes before the blushing and munching continued.
Marick smiled, and for the moment, if just for that, there was a sense of peace and tranquility, a calm before a coming storm.
Life before death. Journey before Destination.