Ask Killer Queen

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan decided he liked Lyra's elaboration, humming softly in a satisfied sort of way. The detail about her potential career choice was new and mildly interesting, but not terribly surprising. She moved well of course, but it was obviously more than simple skill. Some would call it talent, but the young Sith called it passion and hard work.

"Without a doubt," was the simple reply, a tap of his cigarra knocking ash again into the tray. Golden eyes turned to the side on their own, looking over at Lyra. They watched her with a keen intensity, the same way they watched everything. Morgan put out the remains of his cigarra in the tray after a moment and he turned fully to face her, one leg crossed over the other.

His head tilted a little to the left as if to view her from a different angle, face pensive and marked by a slight frown.
Morgan stood, tired of the relatively uncomfortable dining chair. He stepped over to one of the beds and hit a control nearby that caused the futon to unfold into something like a couch, and sank into it contentedly. Much better.

Quite casually, slender fingers delicately picked up the hallikset and cradled it left-handed. He hummed softly to himself, even and pitch perfect. Then he plucked a string, doing so at least twice for each as he ensured it was properly tuned, slightly adjust the knobs atop the instrument.

"You carry something heavy?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

She continued to look at his artworks, feeling his eyes rest on her as she shared her thoughts and she suddenly wanted to shrink back into her self, regretting speaking out loud about her desire to achieve principal dancer. She looked at other works as a distraction, the ones of landscapes, recalling from her lessons the purpose of such paintings. They were not just to reproduce what one had seen, but they were a demonstration of skill; the year she left would have been her first masterpiece as a ballerina, it felt unfinished in a way and she wondered how she would find completion. Though she was uncertain what she would need to redefine what completion would look like among the Sith.

Morgan moved about and Lyra turned to see where he was going; she watched as he played with some switches and her eyes widened in surprise as a futon unfolded for him to take a seat. Lyra smirked, "What else is hidden in the walls?" she questioned, wondering how many more little compartments were keeping objects hidden in this ship. He pulled out his hallikset and started to adjust the strings to tune his instrument; it sounded flat and he seemed to pick up on it also, continuing to strum and hum when he suddenly asked her if she carried something heavy.

Lyra was surprised by the question, though she was always surprised when someone expressed curiosity about herself. Her instinct told her always to remain guarded...just in case.

"What type of music do you play?" she asked moving subjects.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Goldens weren't watching Lyra when he asked his question, but a smirk came to his lips all the same when no answer came. He didn't address either of the other two of her own questions right away, first finishing the adjust of the last string and settling slender fingers across them. Only then did he look up at her.

"Wall compartments save space," he answered simply, "particularly in the refresher." Morgan's head tilted slightly, looking curious.

She'd asked about his music. It was a plain but relevant question and their shared interest brought a small smile to the young Sith's face. His hands swept over the strings after a moment in a smooth chord, then a piece of a famous song about Preef Callo, then what was clearly something from a ballroom dance, then something from a famous stage play about Luke Skywalker.

"Whatever I please."

Fingers settled on struts and he began to play, this time an actual song. He maintained a beat on one string while others played the melody itself. It was something of a folk song by a small time artist but it'd made it into some holoshow, so there was that. When he was done his fingers settled again over the strings to stop the sound and his eyes turned to Lyra.

"What dance do you step?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

When he explained the compartments saved space, she eyed the walls wondering what else he could have been hiding behind them in these compartments. She knew if she had something similar she would have hid food was generally pretty protective over any food she was able to get her hands on and it was luckily for many they had not attempted in stealing a bite from her. Lyra listened as Morgan played a chord, then went into a ballad she had recognized from recently popularity with the gunslinger Preef. She smiled, and hummed along as her attention was taken to some of the air plants he had kept on the ship, and she glided over in step to the beat for a better look.

The tune transitioned smoothly into another that she did not recognize, but the beat to that one was also catchy and she listened and her head slowly swayed to the down-beat until he stopped to ask her about the dance she preferred.

Lyra turned around to face him, "Ballet!" she was excited to share, "I was in many of the performances of the Corellia Ballet Academy." she explained, "Have you seen any?" she asked feeling a bit of pride for the work she had put into being able to be on stage.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan tilted his head slightly as Lyra spoke of her prior dancing experience. The Corellia Ballet Academy was fairly well known. As it turned out, the Corellian propensity for fast speeders and ships somehow also translated into a certain pride in other arts based around agility and skill. They weren't the largest or most famous of all, but they did have a reputation for producing excellent dancers.

The young Sith smiled a little. Lyra clearly enjoyed both her dancing and music in general, something the two of them had in common.

"I've seen one, two years ago. The tale of Nikiya and Solor. It was well done." Morgan didn't recall if the lead had red hair or not, and wigs weren't terribly uncommon anyway to fit a character. But it had been a good show regardless, reprieve from a few of his more clandestine activities and a touch of wetwork.

"Ballet is difficult, yes?" he asked, eyes turning back to his hallikset. This was usually the time he practiced anyway, in between planets, and the conversation wasn't going to stop him. His fingers went through soft chords, the sound of a jatz song by Amelie Leorna.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

She grinned when he spoke of the performance, she wasn't in that one, she was in the midst of her training with Emryc during that time. However, she did know the story and it was hard for her not to have a favorite when it came to classical performances. "My first and favorite performance was The Air Sprite." Lyra slowly leaned forward in a penche, one arm extended before as she watched Morgan, "There was just music and dance in that one, but there was feeling, and you had to draw in the audience with your movements..." she lowered her back leg slowly, thinking about if ballet was difficult.

Lyra shrugged, "I am not sure, I've been doing it for as long as I can remember, for me its second nature, to move without thinking, to know how to angle my arms, legs...feet." she gestured in fluid motions as she moved from different positions, feeling her body in the space around her. "So...perhaps, in a way it is difficult." she moved her footing to turn to Morgan, "If I stop my practice, or even skip it, I am working harder the next time to make up. There is stretching and conditioning too..." she listened to the chords as he played and she gently moved in the open space of his ship; she closed her eyes, pulling on the Force to further aide her movements.

"How long have you been playing music?" she asked softly.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Gold eyes looked up and watched Lyra go through her movement with that same sharp and analytical gaze. After a moment it softened into a small smile, head tilting to watch the simple, but graceful motion. She made it look easy, but it required balance, flexibility, and much practice. He reacted more to the movement than her favourite performance, athough he said nothing.

The position was followed by others, a slow dance that drew his gaze to different angles and motions. Morgan listened quietly to her speak, fingers still idly strumming across the strings of his hallikset. The sound slowly shifted toward something from more popular culture, with steady rhythm to match the way Lyra moved. She had passion and perseverance, vital traits for any Sith who wanted to thrive amongst others of their kind, and had clearly been possessed of that fire for a very long time.

Lyra began to call on the Force and Morgan's eyes moved up from her footwork, staring with her for several moments as if he was looking right through her. His face spread in a fanged and friendly grin.

"All my life," he said, the sound of strings intensifying as he started to play in earnest. This time, spurred on by the way Lyra danced, he began to sing.

MUSIC​

His voice was relatively soft, but just as the Force joined with Lyra in dance, it harmonized in time with Morgan. The words were simple, the original song simply something relaxing and easy to move to, but his efforts made it more than that. Echoed impressions were carried on his voice, the cause for the song buried in the ship, and they swung and swayed through the air just as surely as the young woman did.

The words were the sensation of air across skin and rushing through hair, the touch of hands in hands and laid across hips, of cloth that whirled and whipped with every motion. They were dancing shoes sliding on smooth floors and the vibration of a hundred feet beneath the bright light of crystal chandeliers. They were a quickness beneath the skin in contrast to slow music, burning muscles and burning eyes, a slick shift from forward and back, spins and steps, left to right.

Flying along the sound was the smell of bubbling champagne and red wine, mixed perfumes and sweat, and voices as graceful bodies entwined as living, breathing art. It was the casual control of leading steps, dictating dance, imposing will into physical form. It was the simple joy of being lead in turn, lifted from the ground feather-light and flying high.

Lyra called on the Force to dance, and though Morgan hadn't left his seat, his voice danced alongside her just the same.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

All his life...

And it showed, his music was stunning, he quickly found the rhythm and pace that matched her movements, it would almost make one wonder if he had practiced his music for several lifetimes prior. She moved in synchrony with Morgan's voice, one position to the next, the change was shift, though the actual movement into the pose was slow, almost agonizing to watch. Her feet glided along the floor, and slowly she would bend a leg or an arm, relying on the Force as her partner to keep her from tumbling forward in a balance that usually required two to conclude.

She could see herself in the white tulle dress she last wore during dress rehearsal, her hair pinned tightly on top of her head as she and the others moved across the stage. The music echoed off stage, she could hear the tapping of the feet against the floor as they all worked breathlessly to bring the performance life. Even without the music, there was a beat of how the dancers moved, if one was off, their instructor could hear it immediately and it was back to the same line over and over again until they had it right. Lyra felt herself weaving through the waves of the Force; it moved along her arms and her legs, giving her power and strength where she needed in order to continue. She couldn't remember the last time she had danced like this for someone and she had discovered pretty quickly how dearly she did miss it.

The feeling was cherished though as she moved into her last position as the music quieted and she saw herself back on Morgan's ship and in front of him. Her cheeks flushed and she stepped back, realizing how close she was, hoping she did not strike him by accident. She giggled, and rolled out her head, shoulders, and then sat down to stretch some tight areas in her hips and legs.

"You must carry one of the old Corellian gods in you." she grinned, recalling the stories she heard from the musicians at her shows, "Sissel, the god of musicians and singers; sometimes I'd see members of the orchestra with his symbol next to their music." Lyra explained, "He would even approve of the hallikset." she added and then folded down over her legs.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Golden eyes watched each movement in between the words, focusing otherwise on his music. She bent and twisted like a thin willow in wind, dipping low and flying high. She was, at times, balanced on little more than will and air, and through it all she was stepping steadily closer to the source of song. A grin slowly spread over Morgan's face as the duet went on, paying no mind to the nearness except to avoid an errant limb once or twice.

He caught the pink tinge on Lyra's face as the music ended and she moved back but made no comment, instead sitting back and lowering his hallikset down into his lap. The young Sith smiled, recognizing the compliment for what it was, but his eyes narrowed just a little at the same time to regard the young woman carefully.

"Something like that, perhaps," he answered back, eyes turning down to look over the strings. Morgan knew only vaguely of the gods of old Corellian culture, though he recognized the name at least. The comparison was more than a little flattering, but a being of music was certainly not the origin of the method in which he sang. He grinned again and turned back up to look at Lyra going through her stretches.

"I prefer my people's beliefs." The Firrerreons had once possessed gods of their own, many and furious beings. Ancient mythology held them as mercurial and flawed deities that warred with each other and caused no end of chaos in their wake. "Ancient warriors killed our gods long ago. More trouble than they were worth."

Morgan watched as she bent over, head tilting slightly and observing the different ways her muscles tensed and stretched. They were well formed by time and practice, just as her skills were, and it spoke well of her future ambitions in the young Sith's mind.

"Perhaps next time I will dance with you."

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Lyra tilted her head up slightly to catch his gaze as he seemed to brush off her compliment, she begun to wonder if she offended him as he explained the fate of the gods from the lore of his people. She remained silent though, letting him explain briefly as she slowly sat up straight finding some reassurance that she didn't make him upset at the comparison. Her eyebrows rose and a grin formed when he decided he would want to dance with her next time, "I would like that very much." she said placing her feet flat and then rising, thinking about what she saw on Sullust while he danced with Emryc and silence fell onto her thoughts, feeling a moment of hesitation. Morgan was certainly not like others of the Sith Order she has meet, there seemed to be just a few handful of those who weren't entirely reserved about who they were.

"Not too many ever ask me to dance, just a lot of stares when I am practicing. I wish they would say something." She smirked, thinking about even that morning when she practiced after her kata. "I just can't tell if I intimidate them or they are trying to intimidate me." Lyra made her way over to the table where she left her pack and sat down, picking out a worn notebook and slowly thumbed through the pages of her work. She paused, thinking, "Probably trying to intimidate me..." she decided.

"Have you been with the Sith for as long as you played music?" she asked, turning the attention away from herself.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

"Perhaps both?" Morgan suggested, turning to place the hallikset back on on its stand. He leaned back casually on the couch, halfway to fully lounging on it. While he listened to Lyra speak he seemed otherwise lost in thought, golden eyes looking off into space. The talk of dancing and the music itself had reminded him of Sullust and other things, a small smile settling on his face and slender fingers briefly rubbing across a bit of his neck as if it was sore.

"I have," was his answer to her question, eyes turning back to look at her and the notebook she was leafing through. It only got a cursory glance before he turned and plopped himself down on the couch, having decided full lounging was in order. Morgan fell into the category of people who had been raised into the Sith and he made no effort to disguise that fact. It was obvious in some ways, the way he handled certain things others might balk at. It was just the way things were.

"If you want a partner, why not ask?" His eyes half turned to Lyra, one eyebrow raised slightly. "Surely there is someone." The young woman's appearance was striking and she was clearly a skilled dancer. Morgan couldn't imagine all of the staring was fear and intimidation. Or at least he hoped not.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Lyra set down her pencil and rested her chin on her palm as she found herself distracted in thought. He suggested both and the redhead tried to think back to some of the acolytes that were watching her and how they whispered to one another, others did give her a warning look. Her eyes closed, but she was still listening, vaguely as she felt herself revisit a drill and the mistakes she had been making, but the awe of her ability still captured the attention of others. It was clearly a muscle that stiffened off-beat and she could never get her foot to land where she wanted.

Morgan didn't allow her to divert, his response to her question of his time in the Sith was short and he turned the attention back to her, feeling he pointedly asked her why she did not ask. Lyra's eyes opened and she sat up straight as though he insulted her with the galaxy's most horrid expletives. "Me? Ask for a partner?" her cheeks were now moving through shades of red, seeming to glow brighter with each passing second.

"You just don't ask...I can't do that..." she felt herself stumble over her words. She more than wanted to fall into the walls of the ship, hoping that there was some secret compartment she could climb inside and get away from this conversation. The redhead looked down at her notebook and gave a nervous laugh, "Asking just leads to more problems. No one just goes and does when you ask." she scoffed at the idea of asking, her own experiences revealed in her words to her hesitation to ever ask, even it were just to dance.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Lyra's response, reddened cheeks and all, drew a politely bewildered look from Morgan. He had his roundabout ways at times, but obviously the act meant something extra to the red-headed young woman. There was quiet for a short time and golden eyes eventually turned away from the blushing Sith and a thoughtful expression settled on his face.

"Well. You have yet to ask me," he replied after a few seconds, turning to look at the ceiling in full relaxation mode. Morgan didn't understand all the motivations behind Lyra's hesitation aside from the obvious distrust of other Sith. It often seemed to surprise people how little the young Firrerreo actually told the truth when he spoke, as if they expected lies and deception interlaced through every sentence. Here his offer was genuine, if only Lyra would ask.

-------
​

After the end of that conversation Morgan had decided to give Lyra a break from her face turning that adorable red colour, instead sinking into a light meditation on the couch for the trip. The second futon was hers to use as a seat or bed as she wanted and there were snacks in a labeled wall cubby. Hours passed before an alert informed them both they would be dropping to realspace within a half hour, at which point Morgan came back to life.

He sat up from the futon, yawned a little with a flash of razor fangs, and stood to head to the refresher where he would engage in some basic preening before they landed.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Her cheeks remained bright red well into the flight to Eiattu, she pressed herself to focus on her notes, writing coordinates as she plugged in numbers and symbols into her algorithms to ensure they came out with the same result each time. The work was tedious and though most would use a droid, the source was from ancient dialogue that modern designs would have difficulty creating the output without falling into errors. Eventually she had moved from the kitchenette table to the adjacent futon to be more comfortable. Her knees pulled up to her chest to prop up the notebook, but there was something about space travel that made her entirely sleepy.

The droning hum of the hyperspace engines probably were to blame, but eventually her forehead fell onto the parchment as she sunk into a light sleep. The chimes sounded to alert they were coming out of hyperspace soon, Lyra jumped away, her eyes opened wide, and she noticed the smudge of graphite on the paper and grimaced at the idea it was now spread across her forehead. She watched Morgan get up as she quickly rubbed her forehead and excused himself to the refresher. She jumped up and dropped her book into her pack and pulled out a small mirror, double checking to ensure no writing was smeared across her face.

Once satisfied, Lyra entered the cockpit, the droid chirped to her presence and she took a seat in the copilot's chair, observing the readout on the navicomputer. She glanced up at the viewport, watching the stars swirl around the ship as they continued their trip as she sat back in her seat, waiting for Morgan to join. Her thoughts turned to the upcoming task, recalling codes she had captured to her memory and recalling ones she had added to her datapad, those of course were longer, a bit more complicated to just commit to memory, but she hoped what they were going against was juvenile at best.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan appeared in the cockpit not too long after Lyra had, hair back precisely in it's proper place and generally looking much less like he'd taken an extended catnap. He sank into the pilot's chair without a word and it slid forward into place. His hands flicked over a series of manual controls to adjust power levels throughout the ship, the engines humming to readiness.

The second realspace alarm went off and Morgan pulled a lever to drop them from lightspeed a short distance from Eiattu itself. He adjusted their course toward the planet, a hangar to land in having already been arranged ahead of time, and turned his head slightly in Lyra's direction.

"What are you working on?" he asked curiously in reference to her notebook she'd fallen asleep on. Morgan hadn't actually looked at it, being as it wasn't his business, but she seemed rather sunk into whatever it was.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Morgan was quiet when he returned from the refresher but looked as sharp as he did when he first arrived at her door. She watched as they exited hyperspace, the stars settling into stillness as they entered realspace. There was a subtle grin on the redhead's face as she leaned back in her seat, watching Eiattu grow larger until they entered the atmosphere.

Lyra let out a quiet sigh when Morgan spoke, asking her about what she was working on; she glanced at the Sith and frowned, trying to figure out how to explain it in terms the average individual would understand. Her focus turned to the notebook she had brought with her, "I am recoding algorithms." she simply stated, trying to gauge if she needed to break it down further, but continued, finding it difficult to hold her excitement back in talking about it, "You see, I had found a hypergate; Blackwell was trying to reverse-engineer a large one in the unknown regions, but it had backfired...literally." she frowned and indicated an explosion with mild sound effects and hand gestures.

"However, before leaving, I had found some sort of coding key, but its nothing that I have seen before. I've been breaking down the coding of navigation computers, but the closest I could find were with wayfinders." she explained, "But what I'm looking at are ancient algorithms that don't even line up with the research seen today, there are lines of code that essentially require me to learn about a dead language." Lyra sucked in a deep breath, finding a moment to pause, "I have to do it by hand, mapping and coding...computers just give me errors." the redhead sighed.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

He blinked once but seemed to be listening as he took the ship down into Eiattu's atmosphere. Lyra mentioned something called a hypergate, a technological concept Morgan had heard of but wasn't actually familiar with, but she the clearly excited woman launched into something resembling an explanation.

Although he supposed it was really more of an elaboration as to what she was doing. It gave the young Sith clues as to what the object actually was, at least paired with the name 'hypergate', and did technically answer Morgan's question. Lyra's task sounded immensely tedious to the point of frustration but it also tracked with the sort of reasons she'd been asked to help. The Firrerreo frequently underwent tedious things in his line of work, the intelligence gathering steps no one bothered talking about that were little more than endless watching and listening, were far from exciting.

That didn't make them less vital to properly waging war or taking action and it sounded like her self imposed mathematics and translation challenge was much the same. Morgan looked thoughtful as she went on but made no direct comment until she was finished.

"Why go through all the trouble?" the young man asked with a tone of genuine curiosity while the Karma Chameleon even out and approached a hangar bay. It slowed into the open space, landing gear lowering, and then dropped steadily to set down on the durasteel flight deck floor. Morgan went through the shut down sequence.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

He seemed like he was listening, but then again, she found once she would get started, it was hard to stop. When she did, he seemed to only have one question for her, asking why she would go through the difficulties of piecing this together. Lyra blinked, finding the question a bit obvious, but sometimes she forgot the things she took interest in were not as always well-known by others.

"It'll give us near-instantaneous travel." she stated softly, her own mind playing with the wonders of such a technological advancement. However, there was one hiccup for certain.

"If I can find them." she added while watching him go through the shut down procedure of the ship. Lyra shifted in her seat, noting the scorch marks on the walls of the hanger bay. Her words though made it sound like this project was not for certain, if she could find the gates seemed as though this was what hung up the project. If she were never to find them, then what? Lyra was uncertain of that answer as she did not want to believe her work would be a waste. There certainly had to be other uses that this programing could offer.

"I mean this type of travel...well, I heard some Sith of the past could do that, literally teleport from one end of the galaxy to another...so why not find a way to translate that so we don't need to waste energy." Lyra grinned and glanced at Morgan to gauge his reaction, determining if he were lost or showed interest. She decided though to stop for the moment and climb out of her seat to grab her kit for the mission ahead of them.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Lyra's further explanation was helpful in more ways than one, but the more obvious ways involved strategy, tactics, and economy. Morgan's expression was clearly thoughtful as she spoke and he considered certain points and connected them to others in his hand. Rapid personnel-level travel could be quite useful, far more on the grand scale than the relatively rare ability to throw oneself across the galaxy with sheer will.

Morgan turned from his switch-flicking and gave the young red-headed woman an interested and analytical look for several seconds before he moved to stand from the pilot's seat.

"I like this idea of yours," he informed Lyra honestly. Morgan was still considering the pondering the potential uses of these ancient gates and thus looked slightly distracted for a few moments as he left the cockpit. "Would you mind keeping my updated on your research?"

Then he went to the cargo area to retrieve his things.

@GABA