Cold as Hoth

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Turns out Hoth was a planet.

Turns out Hoth was an exceedingly cold planet in fact.

He hadn't long since arrived but he was already not exactly happy that he was here. At least on Tatooine he didn't have to be around the other Rebels.

They tended to glare at him and the distrust in the air was palpable. Sure, he didn't expect a warm welcome but he expected a reception at least as warm as Hoth itself. But most of the Rebels were actually colder than the ice ball they collectively stood on.

Which was fun.

The few Rebels that knew him didn't seem to be around either so it was with a sigh that he wandered back into the base to move to one of the workout areas which was, thankfully, empty of other Rebels.

Sitting in one corner, he placed his sabers down on the ground in front of him. Closing his eyes, he began to reach into the Force... and immediately he found the Dark Side waiting for him. Almost on instinct now, he pushed the Dark Side to one side to touch the Light instead.

He began to examine his sabers with the Light Side of the Force. Almost on the edge of his awareness, he felt Arda and he couldn't resist smiling a little bit - which made the Light more responsive actually.

Odd.

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

It seemed like a good idea at the time, she just wanted to cool off from the twin Tatooine suns, and there may have been a childish excitement about telling Castor about a world made entirely of snow and ice that convinced him and herself they should visit. However, as soon as they entered the atmosphere, Arda remembered why she didn't like this world, it was entirely too cold, she couldn't even recall it being this cold at the mountain peaks of her homeworld during the cold season. However, the journey, as well as the arrival, seemed more comfortable with Castor at her side. Castor, though, was still a growing storm, she could feel his unease, but she also could feel unease from some of the Rebels around them.

Arda parted with him for a brief moment to find something hot to drink, she didn't think the cups themselves were big enough and she was certain they would freeze before she found Cas. She stood quietly, watching him sit in the corner with his sabers, both cups of caf against her cheeks to warm them up before she crossed inside. "I think I made a mistake coming here." she said watching her breath condense in the air in front of her. Arda walked across, boots tapping on the mat as she stopped in front of Castor hesitating for a moment before finally surrendering a cup of caf for him.

Her senses reached outward as she sat in front of him, "I should have convinced you not to come, and found somewhere of perfect weather, dry, warm, one sun, not a desert..." she ticked off her preferences on her fingers, "We might have to go back to Tatooine just to warm up."

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Arda was back.

Castor would have smiled wider just at that thought but the fact that she had brought with her hot caf meant that he went from wanting to smile at her arrival to wanting to sing her praises. Let it never be said that a good woman bearing hot caf wasn't a sight for sore eyes. Taking a deep breath, he accepted the cup of caf easily before immediately wrapping both hand around it. The base was, technically, warm enough for human habitation but that didn't mean that the damn place wasn't cold as all hell in reality.

Just because it was above the bare minimum, didn't mean it was comfortable at all.

"I was curious as to where else the Jedi and the Rebellion called home." he admitted before raising an eyebrow, "Do you even HAVE bases on planets that aren't, you know, trying to kill you with the weather?"

Well at least the Imperials were very unlikely to come knocking - this planet's only use, as far as he could tell, was for ice and Gods knew there was enough of that throughout the Galaxy. He sipped his caf before reaching out and holding the bottom of Arda's own cup. Using the Force he began to heat it from the bottom to keep the caf hot.

"Well I'm not moving back to a planet with two suns just to feel my fingertips again." he told her plainly before asking her a simple, yet slightly odd, question, "So what can the two of us do to warm up?"

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

His grin upon her arrival was soothing as it was welcoming, she returned a smile thinking about how she never really saw him smile on Corellia; though the circumstances were always in fairness, serious, perhaps even dire, something was changing within him since then. She could see it in the way he carried himself and wondered if the life of a Sith was more draining that she had realized; she couldn't imagine living a life that was plagued by the need to conquer others via the strength of one's will and emotions. It would make sense why the dark side was as consuming as it was.

Her own smile would fade as her face scrunched into thought about all the rebel bases she knew of and if there were any that had elements that didn't try to kill them, "Yes, but instead, the local wildlife try to kill you." she stated flatly, but couldn't hide her smile afterward. Arda watched as Castor touched the bottom of her cup, she could feel the Force from him as the cup gradually warmed and the girl's eyes light up, "You have to show me that one day..." she said in awe - Master Aurora was certainly correct that one could do anything with the Force, even warm a cup of caf.

Though Caster disagreed about going back to Tatooine to warm up, he shifted the conversation, where it should have been an obvious answer, she felt there was something underlying to his words. "To warm up?" she repeated and pursed her lips in thought. What the girl wanted to say was more forward than she was comfortable with, nor did she know as her imagination drifted, how he would take it. What Arda wanted to say was along the lines of zipping her inside his coat so she could be closer, but instead, the girl grinned and replied, "Certainly sitting in a corner on the floor of this place is not going to warm us up." she said, though her eyes spoke more true to her thoughts.

Arda felt a draft that sent a shiver through her body, deciding it was time to get off the floor, rising to her feet as she extended a hand to help Castor also. "We could do a lot of things though: spare in here, go back to my quarters and sit by the heater until it melts this place, get back on your ship and find someplace warmer, stand behind the ship engines..." she listed, tilting her head slightly in the open thought process.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

She was really selling the idea of the rebellion's bases to him wasn't she? They were either trying to kill you with the weather or they were trying to kill you with the local wildlife. That was... well it wasn't something he was used to but he was going to say that it was fine. It was better than being part of the Sith in many ways. Even if the rebellion as a whole didn't really appreciate him, at least it still felt better to him than being a Sith.

He felt more like what he should have always been when he was here.

Chuckling a little bit, he shrugged a little bit, pulling his hand back and pushing some more power into the technique. Small sparks of flames came from his hand and he shrugged slightly.

"It's not usually used for such a benign reason." he admitted, "Normally they taught us how to set someone on fire... take it the right way but I don't want to use it much around you. Don't want to run the risk of burning you or anything."

Cutting the sparks, he listened as she suggested that they find some other ways to warm up. The suggestion that they spar made sense to him but when she suggested they go to either his ship or her room he smirked ever so slightly. He might not be the most experienced of men but he knew what she had just suggested.

He was flattered.

And tempted.

But he wasn't about to do that to her if she didn't really mean it that way. Instead he pulled himself up with her help and grinned a little bit, taking her hand and pulling her alongside him.

"Come on then - let's go for a fly." he encouraged her, "My ship's heaters are warm and we can enjoy a nice flight right? No rules against that."

Leading her to the hanger, he let her inside his Sith Shuttle, locking it behind him before pointing to the pilot seat.

"Alright... how are we doing this?" he raised an eyebrow, "You flying? Am I?"

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

He pulled her alongside him as he stood, grinning, he chose to go for a fly and she couldn't disagree, a smirk crossing her face as he spoke about rules. "Well, even if there were rules, you know I have a habit of breaking them..." she wrapped an arm around his waist as they headed back to the hanger to his ship, which stuck out against the rest of the rebel ships. She guessed on the plus side, getting in and out of the Empire's territory would be easier compared to some of these models. Besides, it was certainly one of the smoother rides she has had compared to some of the ships she had been on.

Arda climbed inside the shuttle and Castor followed, the door shutting and locking, but Arda stayed beside him as he pointed to the pilot seat, giving the choice of her to fly or him; she glanced around him, looking at the cockpit. "I guess it depends where we go." she spoke softly taking his hand and pressing his cold fingers against her cheek, "I mean, you can fly and I can tell you where to go." she closed her eyes feeling his presence, she had always felt safe with him, even within the first minutes of having met, there was something certainly she found different. Though being adorable helped some things.

"Or, I can fly and you can just sit back and relax." she said, moving his other hand to her hip, and then smiled, opening her eyes, "I don't know where I would go, where do you want to go?" she asked and it was an honest question. She had only been to enough worlds to count on her fingers on one hand; she had certainly heard of some places, but didn't know too much about them. Though it would be more than some who are born and who die in the slums of the Corellia, never leaving the block of their home. "If you don't know, then I'm content right here." she told him as she wasn't sure if the ship was just warmer or if it were just her becoming hotter under her jacket collar.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Yes, Arda had a habit of breaking rules and Castor was going to have to watch out for that he supposed. A lot of people expected he was breaking the rules as it was - he didn't exactly needed to add more fuel to the fire now did he? On the other hand however... who the hell would even care? Why should he care? Maybe he should break a few of the rules if they were going to keep acting like he was already?

Eh.

He would probably just play by the rules anyway - unless Arda wanted to do something he supposed. Castor was getting the impression that he was going to have trouble saying no to his fellow padawan at this rate. Taking her into his ship, he made sure to start hitting the heat to keep them warm, discarding the outer layer of his robes so that he was in lighter clothes. She took his hand and moved it to her face.

Castor felt his cheeks heat up but didn't remove his hand from her cheek. His thumb lightly brushed against her soft skin for a moment before he moved on. Coughing a little bit, he paused when she moved his other hand to her hip. This was... this was quickly changing the atmosphere and Castor wasn't entirely sure what the hell he was doing now.

"I... how about we just go for a fly into space?"

He suggested it quietly as he moved the two of them into the cockpit. Castor sat in the pilot's seat, his hands reluctantly moving off of Arda to grasp the controls instead.

"It's peaceful up there - no one to judge or say anything." He smiled a little bit, "Just the two of us, the warm and whatever we want to talk about."

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

Maybe it was a combination of both, the ship warmed up quickly and Arda opened her eyes when Castor gave an awkward cough and suggested they just fly around in space. An odd feeling stirred for a moment inside Arda, sudden doubt fell like a weighted curtain as she wondered if she was perhaps too pushy, but there may have been confusion lingering too as he moved to the cockpit, taking his seat. Arda had a variety of lessons on flirting with guys in the past years, mostly because flirting was not something her people did, she pushed the thoughts aside though for a moment as she withdrew her own hand from him, taking the seat next to him.

She couldn't disagree with his suggestion, she had noticed how people looked at him, it was even worse when his sabers were ignited and she wondered how many complaints Commander Ion had to sort out in regards to Castor. Though just the two of them sounded nice, at least in space there wouldn't be imperials or raiders to walk in on them or at least she hoped that was the case. Arda gave him a small grin, agreeing with his suggestion and leaned back in her seat, waiting for the ship to break atmosphere. However, when they would reach space, Arda continued to sit quietly, she had lost herself in her thoughts, reminiscing on a time that no longer existed except in her own memory, past conversations in her native tongue as she tried to recall what it felt like climb the scratchy bark of the olive trees.

Though she wasn't sure what signaled her that it had happened to be too quiet as she glanced at Castor with a serious look on her face, "Did you ever had olive trees?" she asked him, "The oldest trees grew in almost a spiral, their branches were gnarled, an ugly tree, but the fruit, was so good in the late dry season." she grinned and then rested her cheek on her palm, her eyes resting on the furthest of stars until she was uncertain if by "anything" he really meant anything. Arda's cheeks flushed pink and she smiled, "I don't what made me think about it," she gave a shrug, "Just came to me..."

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Castor could tell that he had turned down her advances at this point and she wasn't, exactly, happy with that. It made sense for her not to be, he supposed, but he was also rather surprised. Did she think they were going to... go further? Right now? Castor wasn't exactly what you would call a 'man of the Galaxy' and had incredibly limited experience with things of that nature. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't her, that it was him... but that felt a bit like a cop out.

The truth was that it was both of them.

While Castor was certainly enjoying her company and was experiencing things he'd not felt before for her, it was clear that he wasn't ready for what she was ready for. It wasn't anyone's fault but it would take more time for them to meet in the middle. He would be happy to meet her in that middle ground but right now it was a bit much for him.

He was still reeling from the idea that someone was flirting with him with no ulterior motive in sight - it was rather new to him considering his background. As he took control of the ship, flying out of the atmosphere, he frowned a little bit.

"Arda... I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression I..." he looked to one side for a second, "I'm not... I'm not well versed at this kind of thing. But I know that I don't want to run before I've walked... if that makes sense?"

Castor smiled at her, turning to face her and holding out a hand to take her hand.

"I like you Arda - I think more than I've liked anyone before. And that's a bit scary to me. It's... well it's a LOT scary to me actually but..." he squeezed her hand slightly, "If I can't run - would you walk with me? It's slower but we'll get there in the end. Still see the sights and enjoy the moments just... we'll get there slowly, you know?"

He took his hand back slowly before pointing to her waist.

"Before we discuss anything else - it's going to bug me. Where are your lightsabers?"

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

When Castor spoke, he didn't mention anything about olive trees as she had been speaking about a moment earlier, instead, he seemed bothered by her actions from earlier. Her flirting may have been too much and for a moment Arda felt confused, she wanted to ask if that was not accurate according to her "sources", but she didn't want to come off as an imbecile, so instead, she remained quiet, letting him talk. He glanced at her and smiled, but as he held out a hand to take her own, she laced her fingers together in her lap finding it suddenly very easy to revert back to the customs she was raised with. "I like running." she said quietly, sighing and then glanced down at her waist.

Her mind refused on the idea of having a lightsaber and she let out another disappointing sigh; she was starting not to like this flight, she was entirely feeling awkward and embarrassed, and Cas now pointed out she didn't have lightsabers. She knew this, all the other padawans she had met had or were in the process of building their sabers, she felt behind in her learning as she compared herself to others. Even Castor, who had training in the dark side of the Force, seemed to have a better grasp on the Force and abilities, and his saber fighting probably was unmatched compared to many of them. However, not Arda and she felt as though she needed to defend herself for not having lightsabers.

"Master Aurora says I am not ready." she told him, "I have to wait until the Force decides when I am ready." the girl further explained, "And knowing how long it took for the Jedi to find me, it probably won't be for another decade." she rested her head back on her palm, propping herself up by the arm of the chair, she ran her finger along the etched lines in the seat.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

She liked running and she declined to hold his hand... well what was he to say to that? He sighed a little bit and let his own hand drop away to focus on flying the ship. Hoth's atmosphere was fine aside from the weather but it's orbit had a lovely little asteroid field that couldn't be avoided very easily.

Castor stared at her for a moment before he began to angle the ship.

"Alright..." he hummed a little bit as he, 'casually', began to type in some coordinates into the navicomputer, "Well that's bantha dung. I don't know everything about the Force but I know that it's not fate - it responds when we move it, when we move with it. So."

He smiled a little bit.

"Will you forgive me for taking you to another cold planet?" He asked as he began the final preparations for the jump to hyperspace, "We're going to take a visit to Illum - you'll get your crystal if nothing else."

Castor was probably going to get chewed out for this but the idea that Arda wasn't going to be allowed to defend herself as a Jedi, with a lightsaber, irritated him a little bit. Hell, Sith were allowed to make theirs in the first year of the academy for Gods' sake!

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

When he commented her response was bantha dung, she slowly turned her head, eyebrow quirked in bewilderment; since when did Castor enjoy breaking the rules? He asked for her forgiveness about going to another cold planet as he prepped the ship to hyperdrive, informing of their destination to be the world of Ilum. "But, I-" she paused, slightly confused, but she remembered the feeling and whispers when her Master ignited her blade, like a pull to call her to service. She could imagine the hilt in her palm, the weapon an extension of herself, it just felt right was the best she could describe it.

"I didn't think you broke rules." her grin returned as she shifted in her seat, getting comfortable, "Though why does it have to be cold? And what if we get there and I can't find a crystal? How did you find yours?" she felt the questions escape her lips before she could stop herself. However, her cheeks burned brightly as she looked back at the blue swirl of stars as they flew through hyperspace. "You don't have to answer those, I should probably already know those answers, it's probably why Master Aurora hasn't gotten to my lightsaber training." she sighed and scratched her head, falling silent for the remainder of the trip. Even if Castor did answer, she would reply with a head nod as she withdrew into herself.

"Maybe she sees something that I don't, I wish she'd tell what I am lacking so I can fix it, so I can be a good Jedi and help others." the girl would finally speak up after a few long moments as she contemplated her inner reflection, "What would you fix about me?" she asked Castor, "What do you think Master Aurora is seeing that I can't see?" Arda paused once more, "You don't have to answer that either...I shouldn't have asked you that, its not your burden to know or carry."

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

She was questioning herself a lot.

Castor was not someone who had a lot of time for self-doubt these days. His entire life had been damned near full of it so he wasn't exactly the kind of person who who liked to encourage it in others. He wasn't exactly the most emotionally developed of people either so he didn't really know how to do the whole "there there" kind of thing - instead he went with what he knew and he employed something of a tried and proven tactic.

He employed violence!

Namely he reached over and flicked Arda square in the nose.

"Do me a favour?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow, "Stop doubting yourself. Others will doubt you more than enough along the way Arda - it's up to you to have the strength to tell them they're wrong and to forge your path forwards regardless of what they say. I believe the best way to do that is to simply say "kark it" to get a move on. So, with that in mind... lets get a move on."

The navicomputer was ready so all Castor had to do was punch it, blasting them into hyperspace as quickly as he could before she could change her mind. Next stop was Illum and it was about damned time that Arda got her crystals!

He was going to be grounded for this he could tell.

/End Thread
@GABA