Ask Cosmic Trips

[Altair Din]

Altair was quiet when asked about Bandomeer. The local militia was a joke, and he didn’t even want to lie about being a part of that. He finished up his meal and set his utensils down, looking up to meet her gaze, “All right…I’m actually a Sith,” Altair stated flatly, “I don’t know if you know what that is all the way out here but it’s an army of Force users. My home planet became Sith and it opened up a lot of opportunities so that’s where I do school,” The tiefling stared at her for her reaction. Truthfully, he didn’t expect her to hear about them or care, but perhaps he could entice her enough to join them. Acolytes always got brownie points for recruitment.

He closed his eyes as requested and imagined what she described. Right away he was transported to Dathomir again, and he could remember the smells and the ambiance. He could hear the cry of a rancor in the distance, see the flight of a giant winged beast and the rustling of trees. Altair held his palm out and focused the energy, feeling the warmth on his face.

The tiefling blinked his eyes open to see the vivid green energy. Altair gasped at the sight, his jaw dropping, “Whoa!! Look at-” In his excitement and lack of control, he accidentally released the ball and it shot directly at Ren, “SHIT!” He exclaimed, but it was already darting right at her.

 

[Renfry]

She listened and started to smirk ever so slightly as he admitted to being a Sith. Well that meant she didn't have to recruit him, though this had always been less about business and recruitment anyway. She was glad he was a Sith because she could see the potential in him. It was plain as day to her as it had been when she'd first met Emryc.

You'll make an excellent Sith, she said, a hint of warmth and sincerity in her tone.

I would know, I've been a member of the Order for around a decade, she said. Dathomir was... somewhat brought into the fold a long time ago, she said. She had always ensured that Dathomir's status in the Empire was "unique" but it was still in Sith space and provided Imperial support even if its surface wasn't readily available to most Imperials.

In fact, I joined when I was around your age, she said with a smile. He was a Matukai and she was a Nightsister. It gave both of them a huge advantage over other late recruits.

She smiled again and took a sip of her wine as she saw the growing flame over his palm and the excitement in his eyes.

Very good! You can... and that was all the further she got before the fire shot out. She didn't particularly have her guard up to block or defuse it or even gracefully dodge. Out of reflex she practically jumped back, but she was sitting in a chair, and that chair tipped right back over. She flopped backwards onto her back with a groan as the ball of green fire flew across the room and struck one of the curtains along a window leading out toward space.

Green flame began to cling to it and climb more quickly than one would expect from regular fire. She rolled over one step away from a panic and leapt up to the curtain, reaching out with the Force and practically spraying the wall with a blast of icy energy, dousing the green flame.

Craaaaaaap, she said, dragging the word out in a long groan as she looked at the curtain. It would definitely need replacing, right? The annoyance was replaced momentarily because a snicker as she pulled it out away from the wall and turned to show it to him.

Replace it or does it add personality? she asked. If she had to guess, he was going to feel awful because he seemed like a genuinely nice person, so she tried to lighten the mood with a joke. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have money to get a new one.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair sprang up and rushed over to her as she tipped over backwards, “I’M SO SORRY!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. He jumped to the curtains, grabbing them with his bare hands to put out the fire. Even the green flames didn’t ignite or sear him. However, he yelped when she blasted the ice in an attempt to put it out. Altair hissed and withdrew his hand in pain, taking a moment to recover from the intense cold. He stared at his hand for a long moment, his eyes wide with shock.

He barely heard her joke, slowly looking up to meet her gaze, “What rank are you?” Altair asked abruptly, his violet gaze piercing. It suddenly registered that she wasn’t telling him a lot of things. Ice wasn’t simple to command like that, and he had only read about it in his text books. It was also not something a Nightsister would just willy nilly know - he learned about them from Veles.

“You’ve gotta be a very powerful Sith to have done that..” He looked back at the curtains and then back at his hand, which was barely recovering any feeling. He had only caught a fringe of the blast. If his hand had been in the direct blast, it would likely have fallen off by now. Fear bled into Altair’s voice when he spoke and he didn’t take his eyes off hers.

 

[Renfry]

Renfry first saw him putting the fire out with his bare hands and then saw the way the color on his hand changed ever so slightly after being struck by her blast of ice. She immediately felt quite bad, worse than she would have expected, as she looked at the limb she had hit.

Kriff, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, she said, quickly moving back toward the kitchen area and filling a bowl with warm water. Come here. Put it in, she said, motioning between his hand and the bowl of water.

She could sense the spike of anxiety in his tone now that he had started to guess at who she was and she sighed, still pointing at the water until he complied.

You don't have anything to fear from me, Altair, she said.

I just came out here to the forest to be Renfry, not Andruil, she said. And there it was, out in the open. Look, if you start treating me differently now than you have the last several hours, that will piss me off, okay? she said, frowning.

Anyway. If you keep hanging out with me, you're going to be crippled pretty soon. Back gashes, frozen hands, and... and what was up with you grabbing the fire? she asked. She did her best to move past it but she had a feeling it would take a few minutes. She could hope.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair regretted asking the moment she answered. His jaw dropped and he was frozen (haha) in place. Andruil? The Sith Empress? But…she….looked so different! She looked so normal. She didn’t have the colors and intimidating persona. She was just some girl in the forest camping out. Altair opened and closed his mouth in silence a few times as Renfry insisted on him not acting different. How could he not? He had to watch his every move. She could decide to kill him or eject him from the Order with a snap. Then again…

“Ahahaha!” He burst out laughing after a moment, “Fuck, you really got me there,” Altair said, heaving a sigh of relief. He recalled how she made a lot of jokes, and this was her most elaborate one yet. He didn’t believe, for one second, that the Empress would just be galavanting through the woods for fun. It sounded preposterous. Nah, she was trolling him.

He put his hand in the water, relaxing at once from the soothing feeling. Altair shook his head, “The Sith Empress would skin me alive if she saw my performance with that winged thing,” He said gloomily. Altair glanced back at the curtains, “I’m a tiefling, so I’m fireproof. I was trying to put the fire out. I ain’t ice proof however.”

He looked back and smiled at her, “I mean, if I’m crippled then it just means you gotta keep takin’ care of me and I don’t mind the royal treatment so far. I went from sleeping on the ground to a cozy bed and a nice meal. It ain’t so bad!” Altair chuckled, “I can even be Emperor Altair here.”

 

[Renfry]

She had definitely not expected him to start laughing and she just stood there for a moment, smirking slightly and trying to decide what she was supposed to do next. She supposed this killed two snorlax with one stone. She'd told him who she was and he would come to the realization slowly on his own, and in the meantime he wouldn't act any differently.

Huh... that's nifty, she said as he commented that he was fireproof. She felt like that could come in handy all the time with all kinds of combat scenarios.

I don't think we know each other well enough for you to propose to me yet. Besides, I'm a little old for you, aren't I? she asked, recalling his comment about older women earlier.

Where should we go to let you heal up? We could fly anywhere, let you heal up in bacta en route, you'd be almost right as rain by the time we got to wherever we were going, she said. The jungle expedition hadn't quite turned out, and then she realized something else.

You never got your "shrooms," she said, making air quotes with her fingers.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair chuckled at her response, feeling more confident by the second she was just trolling him. After all, she didn’t correct him, “Oh no, you’re just the right age,” He winked at her, entirely unashamed. Renfry was, after all, nowhere near Mrs. Autem’s age and he would do anything for that woman.

He thought for a moment where he would go, and he almost opened his mouth until she reminded him about the shrooms. Altair paused and thought before he shrugged, “I found you, didn’t I?” He said with a grin, “Even if you do bring me bad luck,” He quirked a brow, glancing down at his hand.

“I’ll go where you want,” Altair said, “As Empress, I’m sure the entire galaxy is wide open to you,” He said with a teasing smile.

 

[Renfry]

Ah, I see. You go for the wealth older women, she said, chuckling and nodding knowingly. Actually, not so easy. Nothing Republic or FWA for obvious reasons, she said, giving it a few moment's thought.

How about Bothawui? she asked. Nice, temperate planet. I can restock the wine we just drank, she proposed with a shrug.

She finally looked down at herself and her mouth scrunched up slightly.

I need to clean up, she declared simply and out of nowhere. She still hadn't showered since their jungle expedition and though she'd washed much of the blood off, there was still some that remained in conjunction with a lot of dirt.

You're welcome to use the other VIP suite, she said, motioning to the far side of the ship where he would be able to find the suite. It should be fully stocked with clean sheets, towels, blah, blah, blah, she said, waving a hand and trusting he got the idea.

Anyway, it's flying in luxury, so enjoy it. It's more than you get on your Acolyte budget, she said with a snicker and headed in the direction of the cockpit to tell the droids where to take them.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair snickered at her words, “Wealthy?” He remarked, “Weren’t you roastin’ rats for appetizers in the forest?” He quipped at her, but it was obviously lighthearted. He clearly still didn’t believe that she was the Empress. Altair did certainly agree that the ship was quite nice, but perhaps that was where she spent all her credits. He knew of a lot of people that went all in on ships, hell even the ISC President was known to have done that.

He nodded when she remarked about going to get cleaned up. With his back injury, he was a bit limited in how much he could clean up, but with a hand shower he could probably at least rinse off part of the front of his torso. He made his way over to other VIP quarters, marveling at how nice everything was.

Altair changed into his extra set of clothing, actually admiring Ren for not going through his backpack while he was out cold. The tiefling was comfortably lying on his bed on his stomach writing song lyrics. His door was open, but he figured Ren didn’t feel like being bothered.

 

[Renfry]

By choice! she reminded him as he pointed out the roasted rodent. A strange choice, maybe, but her choice nonetheless.

Renfry returned to her own quarters, taking a shower and putting on a nice, fluffy robe. She called home to Arla, the girl her typical quiet self on the screen as she spoke to her daughter. After a few minutes, she finally emerged from her room, grabbing a piece of fruit to munch on as she peeked in to see what Altair was doing.

Yow now, I hauve baucta you caun use on the way, she said with a mouth full of fruit. She jutted her finger back in the direction of the medbay. She swallowed to clear her mouth.

You're welcome to it so you're... mostly put together by the time we get there, she said, finally frowning and realizing those weren't the clothes she had given him before.

I'm going to grab some sleep, she told him before heading back in the direction of her room.

---​

The trip went without problem, and the ship slipped into Bothawui's atmosphere a few hours later. Renfry woke and stretched, looking out the window to see bright shining sky and what looked to be a beautiful day.

She grabbed her amulet, placing it around her neck just in case, but not activating it. She put together her hair and grabbed a hoodie and some jeans, hilariously not like her normal style and not something that would make most people identify her. Her hair was pulled back and she emerged a few moments later.

You up yet! she called out into the common area as she made her way over to grab a bottle of juice from the kitchenette.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair wandered into the common area and did a double take when she spotted Ren in jeans and a hoodie. Going from tribal forest attire to that gave him whiplash, and yet she actually looked pretty…cute in it. The tiefling quickly cleared his throat and looked away, walking towards the windows to gaze out, “This ship’s real smooth. I ain't even notice when we jumped into the atmosphere,” Another reminder that Ren wasn’t exactly a poor village girl.

“My back feels way better already,” Altair said happily, actually more mobile than he was just hours ago. The tiefling pressed his face against the window to stare at the planet, “Have you been here before? Isn’t it full of those goat people?” Altair asked, deciding that he was probably going to get stabbed if he tried calling them that to their face.

 

[Renfry]

This ship's been a life saver, she said as he commented on how smooth it was. It's like a flying house. I can do all my work from here: long range communication, comfortable living quarters, and it's fast, she said. It ran with a class 1 hyperdrive, which meant she could get anywhere she needed to be as fast as anyone.

Good! she said with a smile when he said his back was feeling better. She moved over and grabbed an assortment personal items, shoving them in her pockets before turning back to him.

The GOAT people!? she said, half laughing and half shocked. I wouldn't call them that... ...but yes he would almost be able to hear her say in the silence.

Yeah, I've been here a couple of times. It's doing a lot better now. It got hit hard by AMS, she said, joining him to look at the window as the ship set down.

She headed for the exit ramp, making her way out into a temperate day. A cool wind blew and she closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. She could hear the sounds of rustling people in the distance and she wondered to herself where Emryc was right now and what he was doing.

You ever been skydiving? she asked. Or indoor skydiving? Seems like it'd be fun. Sure she'd jumped out of a building trying to kill Preef, but that was pure adrenaline and not something she really thought about.