Ask Freshers Week

[Crix Aran]

University of Corellia was a decent enough university but Crix had finished his courses and, despite having outright missed one of the five exams due to needing to defend a Jedi Temple, he had managed to walk away with a rather respectable grade. He was reasonably certain that some of the prospective employers would even be fine with the missing exam if he was able to explain he had been busy defending the people of Ossus from a Sith invasion fleet.

Seriously, they probably gave points for that.

But for now he was done with university and was actually just kind of watching as the Freshers rocked up for the start of their own university adventures and, wow, had he ever been that young? Seriously, half of them looked like they needed their parents to be pushing them to the gates in a pram and the other half looked like they'd have to wait another five years before they saw a hint of puberty.

Did he actually have anything to do on Corellia? Absolutely he did.

Did he plan to waste as much time as possible silently judging the new draft of uni-kids as they arrived? Also absolutely.

Him and his student debt could sit here with a coffee and internally mock them for the decision that was either bankrupting their parents or bankrupting them in the future. Oh well, at least it was less exciting that his own first week at university so far but, hey, the night was young and none of them had started the stupid amount of drinking they'd get up to.

Except for one Devaronian girl who was already necking an entire bottle of wine...

"Someone needs to send that girl a self-help book... or a glass."

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

It was back to school for the students of Corellia, the University was filled with its newest students as they rushed from one end of campus to the other. Many of them still looked liked awkward seniors uncertain of which way they needed to go without the direction of their teachers. Unfortunately, Tia felt like one of them as she tried to navigate her way in the courtyards between the buildings; she had never needed to go to university, nor did she ever think about it, believing she would dance her way to fame. So being here was a bit different.

It felt entire too early though to be doing this, but there were a couple of her assistants who attended this University and wished for her to speak with several classes to garner interest in multidimensional physics and space abnormalities. She paused seeing a small stand where students could order caf and she frowned when she received a small paper cup with a very pale and watery caf inside the cup. It was hardly worth the credits. She took a sip and frowned, but continued onward, trying to make it across campus in decent time.

Her pace picked up, but suddenly slowed as she tilted her head slightly, it was hard to pinpoint his face at first. However, it came to her the closer she approached, the Zabraki guy, Crick? Crut? Crix...It may have been Crix. If she remembered correctly, he was also learning to be a Jedi. Internally, she let out a long sigh, but she would give him a charming smile and a small wave as she passed.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Thing about people watching, if Crix’s experience, was that it was only possible because most people weren’t aware you were doing it. It went from harmless pastime to creepy as hell when you just watched someone and they were awkwardly aware of it. But just resting with his coffee, he was able to enjoy just watching what seemed like the whole world going by. This did, however, mean that he was acutely aware of people who looked back at him.

Couple of people caught his gaze and turned away to hurry a bit faster but one person caught his eye and flashed him a smile.

Nice smile actually.

Familiar smile truth be told… wait.

Blinking, Crix almost missed her when he was actively looking for her before grinning a little bit as he caught her eye again. Stepping away from his resting place, Crix made the awkward half-jog, half-walk motion to catch up with her. Walking by her side, he grinned at her.

“Fancy seeing you here stranger.” He spoke up, smirking slightly, “Need a tour guide?”

He remembered meeting her on Coruscant and, naturally, things going entirely off the rails. What he did not, however, remember was the name she had given him. In his defense, it had been awhile ago and things had gotten hectic during their meeting and had gotten worse in the mean time.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

She felt herself being followed and slowed down her pace guessing it was Crix and sure enough he had made the effort to catch up with her. There was a pang of nervousness and it warmed her chest, a sensation that made her feel extra awkward around him and there was no doubt she found it strange. She grinned wider as he offered her a tour, "I don't know, I am not sure if I am ready for the trouble that usually comes with it." she chuckled and glanced down at the piece of paper she held with instructions to the lecture hall, coincidently named, Crix Madine Hall, "Though," she handed him the paper with the scribbled instructions, "Can you help me get there. I am giving a presentation, if you want, you can sit in it too." she offered.

"I can guarantee there won't be trouble there, just a bunch of first year astro-physics students." she hummed, "I am not sure if they get wild." the redhead sighed, the smile still present.

"So, are you studying here or are you just looking for trouble?" she asked.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Crix tried his best to just read people at face value and not let the Force cloud his judgement - especially when it was kind of just acting like an echo chamber about his own nerves about meeting with the young woman again. He didn't need that kind of reinforcement from the Force right now!

Sometimes he wondered if the Force was a sentient thing and it just enjoyed watching the lives of the Jedi and Sith kind of like how some people unironically enjoyed sitcoms.

Freaky ass people in the Galaxy he supposed.

"I'll have you know that it's been months since my last wrongful arrest." he joked, placing a hand on his chest as though he was offended, "And at least a week since my last firefight."

None of which was a lie.

Blinking a little bit, he took the paper and read the location that she was looking for and wracked his head a little bit to try and remember where, exactly, it was. The mention of astro-physics had him very intrigued - especially when she was giving a presentation. He started leading the way.

"Well I'll be honest, I've partied with astro-physics students and I can honestly say they run crazy shenanigans." Crix declared with a smirk, "Recently graduated. Droid Engineering and Software Integration. I know... I know... I look good for a tech nerd. But you look better for a guest speaker on astro-physics."

He winked.

"Or you looking for tenure?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Tiamat smirked when he described his recent track record for trouble. "Hmm...that's impressive." She reached up to find a lock of hair to play with, but caught herself, suddenly feeling self-conscious about every little thing about herself. So instead she scratched her head quickly, waiting to see if he knew where she needed to go. He continued, seeming to take a more confident direction in leading her to the right building. He described his party experiences and her eyebrows rose with amusement; he shared he had recently graduated, though what she wasn't expecting the smooth flirt into her looks.

Her face turned bright red and she quickly turned her head away to look at the passing students on her opposite side, but now they were seeing how red their face was. Why was he doing this to her right before the presentation? Glancing back to him, he gave her a wink and asked if she was interested in tenure.

"I!" she paused, not realizing her face was turning brighter and brighter by the moment, "I haven't thought about tenure...but right now I am running my own research," she reached into her bag to pull out a card to give him, "Asteria Industries." she shared; as soon as he took the card, she would find a lock of hair to twirl and pinch. "So droid engineering? Find any work yet?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

He still had the flair for flirting he had basically all but abandoned in his most recent years if the way she went to touch her hair was any indication. Of course she then moved her hand to scratch her head instead but he was pretty sure that was still one of those signals that people did when they were giving signals that they were enjoying the attention without actually saying as much.

Of course the signal that was not at all subtle was the reddening of her cheeks after his wink that he couldn’t help but smirk a little bit at. He enjoyed knowing that he was effecting her like this – she was cute and he wanted her to know he thought that.

Taking the business card he checked it out with a grin.

“Very nice.” He told her with a softer smirk, “Think this is the best way I’ve ever gotten someone’s number.”

He hummed a little bit.

“Why, are you hiring?” he teased before shaking his head, “Afraid I’m just keeping it at home for now. You ever tinker with astro-physics away from the labs and lecture halls? It’s just this building on the left by the way.”

Crix grinned a little bit.

“Should I sit at the back or the front? I’ll try not to distract you or get too lost when you start talking heavy science.”

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

It felt like her cheeks were going to permanently keep red as he kept going, mentioning now he had her number. Her eyes widened a bit and she was starting to stumble over her own thoughts as she tried to find words. "Hiring? No, not me...I...I do know some others who are and would like a droid expert." she giggled to herself as she took a deep breath, trying to gain some control back over her emotions that were just running rampant with his relentless attention on her. She looked up at the building that he directed her attention to and saw the name of the hall matching what she had scribbled down.

He offered to stay and listen and her eyes lit up to have a willing audience member sit in on the lecture. She was uncertain though where he would sit. She scratched her head as she lead him to the lecture hall, "Um, hm..." she thought, filtering through the pros and cons, thinking perhaps too hard on it, "Maybe the front, so I'm trying to search for you in the back." she smiled.

Tiamat entered the lecture hall and joined the professor, setting up her presentation as she watched the lecture hall fill up quickly with first year students at the University. Soon the holo-display would light up with Tiamat's presentation, graphs and diagrams, as well as images of galactic anomalies recorded by astro-explorers as they traversed the galaxy to further solve unknowns of hyperspace travel. She followed complicated terms with definitions that young minds would understand, making what seemed like an untouchable science to most, a profession that many and any could enter if they were ambitious enough. There was passion and love for her work as she seemed to drawn in the attention of the entire hall, her gaze occasionally glancing to Crix to see if he was following. Tiamat's lectured led into the what ifs and parallels created by space and time, absences of such in pockets around the galaxy and what it meant for the galaxy as a whole. Really, bottom line was, unknown, and a great way to recruit curious minds to her research center to study those unknowns.

In the end, Tiamat took questions, though many of the students quickly filtered out of the lecture hall to get to their next class, leaving a few to talk among themselves.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Well would you look at that? It looked like it wasn't what you knew so much as who you knew after all - and knowing this lovely little redhead was already turning up golden in a few different kind of ways as far as Crix was concerned. That she seemed both receptive to his flirting and rather affected by it only made him more interested.

It felt like an age since he'd been free to just flirt.

"I'd feel like I was taking advantage of your generosity if I took up said offer without anything in return." he told her with a soft little smirk, "If you're putting the word out that I'm available for work? I'd like to buy you dinner."

A bold move and one he would let her ruminate on during her lecture as he just gave her a wink when she told him to sit up front before he let her get ready and he took one of the open seats near the front. It was a fairly decent turn out for a guest speaker but quite a lot of students enjoyed taking some of the upper seats anyway to avoid being asked questions by the speaker if they wanted to engage with the audience.

He was glad she didn't call on him to participate because he had just enough astrophysics under his belt to avoid plotting hyperspace jumps through celestial bodies. Still, he was able to follow more than he expected because she was a rather talented speaker and her passion was infectious.

As the majority of students left, Crix caught her eye and gave her a soft round of applause as he left his seat to approach her.

"You sure you're not looking for tenure? Because you touched hearts and minds today. Honestly - they left with more pep in their step today than I have ever seen in a physics major."

Usually the science majors existed on energy drinks and spite - it left them twitchy.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Tia honestly forgot about the dinner question once she had started the lecture; there was something about her work that allowed her to wash off any doubts or stressors. The focus she had was unwavering as she seemed to melt in her own work, a world she built for herself of equations and numbers, as well as the unknown. It kept her locked away in her thoughts for days. Perhaps it was really more than just she enjoyed it, and that numbers didn't lie. They didn't hurt, they were always neutral and did as one manipulated them to do in their algorithms and equations. And space travel...she guessed instead of just running, she would have a place to go regardless how far.

As she cleaned up her papers, Crix approached her once more, asking about tenure and she quickly shook her head. He described what he saw in others, motivating a whole generation of physics first years into searching for more. Her cheeks reddened and she glanced back down at her holopad, locking it as she stacked her papers on top before sliding it into her bag. "Nah, I'm not interested in tenure, I want to keep working on my own stuff without interference from University boards and having credits be dictated by others on how I need to spend it." she explained, leading the way out of the lecture hall.

"Maybe down the road, I have many years ahead, but until then, I want to focus on what I have. I would like to do something revolutionizing to space travel." she sighed, her thoughts drifting to her current project and the imagined image of her on the cover of the leading holonet documentaries. "That would be cool." she said softly.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

She had gotten lost in her own lecture and it was honestly refreshing to see in an educator - too often his own professors had kind of just been going along with the motions. They had taught him what he needed to know about the course but there was a livelihood about how she had conducted herself that he thought was honestly missing in so many people who were involved in teaching.

Of course she did point out one of the major issues that Crix himself had with education in general across the Galaxy in that it was very closely linked to money. Universities liked to get more funding by pushing their research and teaching staff down certain paths to make more money and more of a reputation for themselves and the institution they worked for.

"I suppose working for yourself means you get to decide how you spend it." he agreed with a hum, "And if you do well enough you don't need the extra boost to your profile from being attached to a prestigious institution when you can promote yourself even better."

Something to revolutionize space travel?

That was a big dream to have and it was nice to see that she wasn't limiting herself and her desires by what other people would deem 'achievable' because she didn't have to. If people hadn't thought that they could do it when no one else did, there would have been no hyperspace travel.

"Very cool." he agreed with a grin, "So what's the play to make it happen? Finding new ways to enter hyperspace in a more cost efficient way? Instant transmission from point to point?"

He nudged her lightly with an elbow.

"Come on - you managed to duck my dinner date but let me buy you a coffee to go. You look like you could use a cup, I'm forever in need of caffeine and you still get to walk on without me. Sounds like a plan, right?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He seemed fascinated, his interest certainly tied to what was churning in her mind and in her lab as they walked out of the building and down the path they had come from earlier. He inquired more about it and Tia turned her gaze to the passing students ahead of them as she thought what to explain to Crix. She wasn't too keen on revealing what they were working on, however, it was obvious from her lecture, what they knew about hyperspace travel is limited. She tilted her head from side to side as though she were weighing the ideas, "Perhaps all of the above, I mean, with hyperspace, we're moving so quickly, its burning particles as we travel routes, there has to be a safer and more efficient option." she shrugged her shoulders.

She felt him nudge her and a grin returned, "Huh?" she looked at him as he continued, asking about another cup of caf before she left. Her grin widened know she dodged the dinner question, "I can always use a cup too." she agreed and followed him to the campus cafe to get the hot drink.

"So, do you hope to specialize in droid mechanics? Like build the nanny droid of all nanny droids? Or contract through the Republic or FWA weaponizing their GNK droids?" Tiamat giggled to the idea of the power supply droid being an assassin. It was clunky and clumsy, she figured one would just have to load it with explosives to be effective.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Yeah he supposed it made sense that she was going to be a little bit more sly about what, precisely, it was that she was doing. Being self-employed meant that she needed to keep a close eye on her revenue streams. One of the quickest ways to lose out was for someone else to swoop in at the last minute and pick up when you had already started. He grinned a little bit at her answer instead and just nodded along because it all made sense to him.

As much as astrophysics ever did at least.

"I'll leave it to you to discover the better ways." he told her with a smirk, "I know where my talents lie and it's not there."

Well he wasn't getting a dinner but he was getting coffee and that was a start. Thankfully he knew a place that did the best coffee around the campus - mainly because all of the other places served lukewarm sludge but, you know, whatever. At least this coffee would be something that could be consumed by someone other than a hungover student during finals week.

"You laugh now but when the last sound the new Sith Empress hears is the dreaded GONK then you'll know I was right!" he joked as he ordered his drink and let Tia order her own before paying for them both, "Honestly I'm looking into some health-care droids right now. Medics are in short supply since the only medic droid I know rated for combat situations is... well..."

He scratched the back of his head slightly.

"Oddly suicidal. Huh maybe a therapist droid is what the Galaxy actually needs eh?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He seemed to understand her reasons for not revealing information about her work to him, most were probably what the average galactic believed: trade secrets. However, for her the sprinkle of being Sith Lord made things a bit more complicated. He seemed to muse at the idea of a GNK droid becoming a weapon, joking about the Sith Empress that even made Tiamat smile smile at the thought of the clunky droid sneaking up. Though, there was also the fact she would probably unconsciously be more weary of such droids anywhere near the Empress. "I dunno, she seems to be scary enough to spook a gonk droid away." the redhead amused to herself as Crix ordered his drink and she followed.

Though, she thought it was interesting that he chose medical droids and she nodded in approval; given the status of the AMS virus despite the vaccine, it may be more wise to send non-organics into the field to assist. Then again, maybe knowing after the trauma he was put through with his mother's kidnapping and then plastered all over the holo-net all those years ago, he wanted something less...demanding. Tiamat picked up her caf, a sweetened espresso, that she knew would keep her awake all day; though she knew she was awake enough she thought she heard him say his current medic droid was suicidal. An puzzled look came from the woman, but a therapist droid sounded... "It'll make all the organic therapists unhappy." she frowned.

She was quiet for a moment, as though she was sorting through what she wanted to talk about next when suddenly her eyes lit up and she glanced to Crix as they walked to the other side of the cafe to some over-sized chairs. "So are you still doing like..." she paused as though she a child about to say a naughty word, "...the Jedi thing?" she whispered and giggled.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Crix had to admit that his own experiences of the Sith Empress came entirely from her political career starting on Felucia, where she was polite, engaging and terrifying in equal measure. It had been surreal at the time, though his attention had been diverted by the inefficiency of the FWA senator positioned as her opposition at the time.

It had been something he couldn't look away from even as it crashed and burned.

"Gonk." he 'agreed' in the way he imagined a Gonk droid would react when scared - exactly the same way they reacted to literally everything.

She had a point about droid therapists being unhappy with the production of a therapist droid but he didn't really see it as too much of a downside. At the end of the day, they would likely never be as effective as organic therapists anyway so their jobs would never vanish and would, in all likelihood, mostly end up being used as tools by said organic therapists anyway. Like how some of them encouraged people to keep diaries and notebooks to share during sessions - the droid could relay them and the patients would have the experience of physically talking their issues out aloud.

"I'd need to workshop the idea more anyway." he agreed with a hum, "Probably end up going with something of a hybrid; mostly focused on physical medical knowledge but with some rudimentary training in the basics of therapeutic techniques. Like a triage system for physical injuries but for mental ones - get them well enough so that they can seek full help later."

An idea for later.

Crix couldn't help it - he burst out laughing when she whispered and giggled the part about him still doing Jedi stuff. He twirled his fingers in theatrical fashion as he used the Force on the stirrer within his coffee, using it to stir his coffee. If the Masters could see him using the Force like this they would be very upset.

"Oh absolutely - I'm a Knight now so I'm even deeper down the rabbit hole of weird mysticism you know?" he wiggled his eye-ridges at her, "Don't worry it's not like those old holodramas... I'm not called Sir Crix now or anything like that."

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Her blue eyes widened with surprise when he started to laugh from her question about him being a Jedi. The corner of her eye caught the stirring stick in his coffee moving without a touch of his hand. Quietly Tiamat watched, her blue gaze flickered back to Crix before she reached over to try and stop the stirrer from moving and eventually took it out of the cup as though she were to closely inspect it for tricks.

"Sir Crix, Knight of the Jedi." she hummed as she turned the stirrer from side to side, when seeming satisfied in knowing it wasn't a trick stirrer she dropped it back in his cup. She took a sip from her cup, nodding in approval, "So much better than the vending machine..." she whispered.

"I'm disappointed its not like the holodramas, I always thought they were cool when I was a kid, watching Knights heroically save the city from invaders. I think it was supposed to be like Coruscant, they called themselves..." she paused, shutting her eyes tightly in thought, "The Revengers?" she giggled and then scratched her head, glancing away, "I really liked those movies growing up, so its not like that? What do you even do then?" she asked.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

By this stage of his life, Crix was used to people acting like he was trying to trick them with the Force. Often he wasn't but sometimes he was, he supposed, so he had long since gotten used to the idea that people needed to see and feel the Force being used before they would really believe in it. Said something about the Galactic public that there was literally a war going on between two different groups of Force-flinging warrior monks and they still didn't believe in the Force sometimes.

Oh well.

"Round tables not included." he shot back smoothly as he sipped his coffee, "Absolutely. Got to really have that extra taste that can only come from an over-worked college student."

He gestured to the server at the counter who was, between customers, currently trying their best to hide the fact that they were falling asleep on the counter. Crix... did NOT miss those days. At the mention of the old holodramas he couldn't help but chuckle a little bit because he had done the same when he was younger.

Quality programming, his younger self had thought.

"I'm afraid there are no sky-beams." he joked before adding, "Ah. Well, they kind of saddled me with a promotion into security for a Temple so... yeah I mainly end up training kids and trying to make sure we've got enough blast doors or whatever. I haven't done any swashbuckling adventures in ages. My swash remains unbuckled!"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

"Security?" the red-heads face scrunched up as though she just tasted something displeasing, "I didn't know the Jedi needed security." she replied taking a sip of caf and frowned, "Though..." she paused, trying to think how to ask her next question, a seriousness crossing her gaze, "Though, maybe you can help me understand." she started and set down her cup, turning it slowly, "Why do they act like security forces here in the core?" she asked, "I mean we have local police, the rangers...Its led to so many deaths, its hard to forget things like the Ranger Headquarter massacre or when they failed to push back those..." she leaned in a little closer, eyes darting side to side as she whispered her next words, "Sith..." The woman looked absolutely uncomfortable speaking the word out loud.

Tia quickly took a drink, considerably longer to distract herself long enough to give Crix a moment to respond. She glanced away and looked at the incoming groups of students and set down her cup, "I'm sorry, I know its not your fault." she said as though she regretted speaking her thoughts about the Jedi relationship in the core to him. "Its just hard to know sometimes what is right or wrong, I just don't like seeing the needless death on the holo."

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Yeah if he had gotten the job of Head of Temple Security a hundred years ago? Well it would have been the definition of a cushy job. Back before the Sith re-emerged the worst thing that came after Jedi was wildlife and the occasional, too-dumb-to-live, pirate or slaver from time to time. But now? He grimaced a little bit but put a smile on it quick as a flash.

“Ah you know, just some unsavory types who don’t agree with our politics and religion.” He tried to sound casual, “Typically, however, they tend to make their arguments with turbolaser fire so a decent theological debate isn’t enough these days. Shame really.”

Ah… these kinds of questions were probably best fielded by one of the Jedi who actually listened to politics.

Crix did not.

“Not just the core – we do the same kind of stuff in most of FWA space and we try and help in the Outer Rim but, well, not a lot of people out there are willing to do much more than try and kill us.” He admitted, scratching at his chin idly, “The why is… both difficult and not. I’ve not got the political history degree required to really chat about the politics behind it all.”

And who would want to take such a degree? Ew.

“Simpler reason, at least to me, is… if you have the power to help people – shouldn’t you?” he asked simply, tilting his head to one side slightly, “I can bat blaster bolts aside so they don’t hit a Ranger or a cop or a civilian. That’s honestly the least of what we can do as an Order so why shouldn’t we? We physically have the power to help save people from pain and death, offering our help in doing so is the least we can do.”

He shrugged.

“Is it ideal? Nope. But I’d rather say we did something than just sat back and watched.”

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Tia listened carefully to Crix's response, explaining in a way that seemed to defend the stance of the Jedi Order, but skirting around the facts that the Sith Empire had made their demands clear and it didn't help that many of his enemies still believed in a heavy fist. Her head tilted slightly, genuine interest as she tried to best understand his reason. However, it made it difficult not to continue to think back to her parents at the Ranger Headquarters all those years ago when the violence seemed to escalate. If only... she still struggled with from time to time.

His whole reasoning for his involvement was to help, but who was asking for the help from the Jedi? She knew civilians just wanted to live their day to day lives as easy as possible. She wondered if anyone really understood that once they reached a certain point in power.

The redhead studied him closely and then gave a small smile, feeling they perhaps dove too deep in the subject that she needed to be careful herself. "Perhaps that was too strong of a subject before lunch time." she smirked, trying to lighten the mood. The woman checked her chrono and then adjusted her bag over her shoulder, "Well, Crix, it was nice seeing you again." she took one last drink of her caf, emptying the cup, "OH!" she raised a finger to prevent him from interrupting, "New season of Scientifica Galactica will premier in a few weeks, I am their season opener." Tiamat rose from her seat while dropping the hint he should tune into the show. "Be sure to watch it, call in sick to jedi guard duties if you need to." she gave him a wink and wave before departing.

@Nefieslab