Ask Model Citizens

[Zana Ari]

Zana was surprised to hear Thelian admit the same in return. There was a definite flush of her cheeks, and she couldn’t hold back the smile that appeared on her face. She was caught off guard when he tossed her the remote. The twi’lek stared down at it, blinking a few times before she shrugged.

“Nah,” She said simply, “I can stand a few more minutes of your stupid show. Besides, that guy is kinda cute,” Zana said, pointing to the heavily tattooed man that was facing up against a Trandoshan. She was once again surprised when he asked what she liked to do. By now she could tell when he was genuinely curious, and to her surprise he was.

“I like working on old ships,” She explained with a smile, “I’m in the engineering program at the academy so we get to do a lot of tinkering. I’ve put together droids before and I’m currently working on a really old ship we’re hoping to get operational again.”

She turned to look at him, “What do you like to do? Besides being grumpy and punching things.”

Zana moved to adjust her leg a bit and outright used it as an excuse to scoot a bit closer to him. At this point their shoulders were pressed together and their sides were close. However, she pretended not to notice, turning her gaze back to the screen to watch the fight.

@Altaris

 

[Thelian Lsai]

For a few moments, Thelian paused to simply stare in Zana’s direction – that comically stupid expression returning to his face as silver eyes once more caught a glimpse of the way her cheeks turned purple and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. It was far more endearing than Thelian would ever dare to admit aloud, and it always seemed to inexplicably capture his attention whenever it occurred.

“Fine by me,” He shrugged casually, leaning back into the couch while placing his hands behind his head. The Echani had prepared himself for whatever sappy bullshit Zana had in mind, but the moment she suggested a few more minutes of the fights, Thelian immediately dropped the subject. He was more than content to simply continue watching what he liked. Nevertheless, his brows furrowed ever-so-slightly when Zana pointed out the heavily tattooed man.

Thelian blinked a few times, staring up at the holo. While he didn’t verbalize a response to what Zana had said, his silvery eyes rapidly flicked between the tattooed fighter and his own tattooed arms and torso – silently doing comparisons between himself and the fighter that the twi’lek had described as cute.

For whatever reason, Thelian was genuinely curious when he asked what she liked to do. As a result, the Echani completely paused what he was doing when Zana gave her answer – tilting his head while she spoke.

“Wait a damn minute,” He spoke up as soon as she mentioned the old ship. “Don’t tell me you’re talking about that YV-865 Aurore-Class? In Hanger Bay 11?” The Echani looked genuinely concerned by the prospect, blinking a few times. “Zana, that thing more decrepit than Master Oota. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t flown since the Clone Wars.” He shook his head. “You could not pay me to fly in that fucker. Complete death trap.”

Somehow, Thelian looked completely surprised when Zana decided to throw the question back at him - going slightly wide eyed as he suddenly had to consider what he liked to do in his free time. “I like to box—” Thelian abruptly caught himself, suddenly realizing that his favorite sport did, in fact, meet the criteria of punching things.

There was a very

thoughtful expression on Thelian’s face as he stared off at nothing in particular, looking as if he was doing some complex calculations in his head while he pondered the question. After a few moments, the Echani shrugged a bit. “I like to go to the gym.. And uh. I used to race speeders for the Hutts back on Nar Shaddaa. Huttball is pretty cool too I guess..” He scratched the back of his head. “..That’s pretty much it.”

Thelian glanced towards Zana, watching as the twi’lek adjusted her leg and used the opportunity to very obviously scoot closer to him. He blinked a few times, staying exactly in place but pretending not to notice. The Echani looked straight ahead and kept his eyes on the holo the entire time, suddenly far more interested in the fight than before.

After a few moments of sitting like a complete statue, Thelian finally began to shift - opting to go for the most cliche move known to the galaxy. The Echani rolled his shoulders a bit before dramatically stretching his arms out behind him - using the opportunity hook his arm behind Zana and lay it along the back of the couch - stopping just short of putting his arm around the girl’s shoulder. He’d seen the cheesy move pulled off, unsurprisingly, while watching a few scenes out of Prince in Paradise.

Which obviously meant that it was an effective strategy.

Of course, it didn’t really occur to Thelian until that precise moment that he’d just minutes ago left the ship’s gym and was still largely damp with sweat. Unlike usual, the Echani suddenly became concerned with the fact that he likely smelt like an old gym sock.

@Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

There was an unmistakable flash of recognition on her face when Thelian mentioned the specific ship. However, her excitement was soon replaced with a scowl as he proceeded to trash on said ship. She opened her mouth to angrily argue back, but she instead sighed. Her expression softened and her tone was much quieter when she spoke next.

“Your hand wraps are old, ratty and almost falling apart,” She said, gazing at him, “But they still mean the galaxy to you,” Zana shrugged and said nothing beyond that.

While most of Thelian’s answer was what she had expected, the bit about racing surprised her. Zana quirked a brow at that, “Is that when you learned to hotwire?” She asked quite bluntly.

While she made her not so subtle scoot closer to him, she had to fight to keep from grinning as he put his arm on top of the couch behind her. Naturally, this meant she was treated to a blast of Hammer body spray. Her eyes were almost blinded from the powerful scent, but she wouldn’t comment on it just then.

Zana pretended not to notice the very lame arm move, focusing back on the Holo and not budging from where she sat next to him, “Soo uhhh who’s your favorite fighter?” She managed to get the question out only halfway before coughing a few times from the body spray fumes.

@Altaris

 

[Thelian Lsai]

Thelian had absolutely zero shame in talking shit about the ship Zana had been working on - maintaining that blank, deadpan expression the entire time. Due to most of the Academy students cutting through Hanger Bay 11 in order to get to their classes, Thelian has passed by that Aurore-Class ship dozens of times.

Moreover, the ship had become rather famous after a well-known incident with a faulty coolant pump. While the ship had miraculously come out largely undamaged, the entire incident had practically smoked out the entirety of Bay 11 and gathered half of the academy to watch the spectacle. And while the entire thing probably just inspired the Engineering program students to try again and fix their mistakes, Thelian was thoroughly convinced that ship was a complete deathtrap and the chances of him going anywhere near the damn thing were next to none.

Nevertheless, Thelian’s expression couldn’t help but soften when Zana’s own face shift. He blinked a few times at her words, immediately prepared to fire back at her description of his wraps. “They aren’t–..” He cut himself off mid-sentence. The Echani’s mouth rapidly opened and closed, making him look like a fish out of water while he stared at Zana.

“Whatever..” He muttered quietly, staring off at the coffee table for a long moment after that.

The Echani fully expected Zana to roll her eyes at the response to her question. It wasn’t until he was forced to actually think about it that his daily routine of things he enjoyed was somewhat repetitive. Still, he seemed to brighten a bit when Zana pinpointed the part about speeder racing. “Mhm.” He nodded.

“Picked up plenty of tricks fuckin’ around with those things. Definitely came in handy when it came to stealing some actually nice speeders back on Coruscant.” He said without an ounce of shame. While the faintest grin on his lips might’ve indicated Thelian was pulling Zana’s leg, there was a very good chance he was completely serious.

He rubbed the back of his hair idly. “I was pretty kickass at it too. Not like I ever kept any of the winnings, but..” He shrugged. “It’s a rush of adrenaline, I guess.”

Unfortunately for Zana, Thelian was completely oblivious to the power of Hammer Body spray. It was cheap as dirt and smelled better than wearing nothing at all, so obviously Thelian was hooked on the stuff and applied far too overzealously. For the moment, he didn’t try any other cheesy moves save for some not-so-subtly scooting closer - still internally processing whether he’d smoothly pulled off the arm move.

He was immediately drawn out of his thoughts when Zana asked about his favorite fighter, though. The twi’lek knew by now how much Thelian enjoyed the sport, but rarely did he get to gush and fanboy with anyone. Or maybe he simply enjoyed talking to her about it. Either way, Thelian didn’t think too much into it.

“Tike Myson.” He said almost immediately, grinning a bit wider than normal and looking entirely too enthused at the mention of the infamous fighter. “I know, I know - the guy is old as shit - but he’s a fuckin’ badass.” Thelian proclaimed proudly. “Still undefeated after all these years at–” And so began a full on breakdown of the career of Tike Myson - going into the minute details and highlights of important fights that Thelian had never attended in person, but practically drooled over the re-runs of even to this day.

Despite his usually grumpy exterior, it was one of the few times Zana would see the Echani genuinely light up when talking about something - betraying just how much he enjoyed the topic.

A solid five minutes would pass before Thelian actually stopped himself, finally exhausting his description of his favorite fighter. He glanced back at the holo-screen, noting that the fights had moved to commercials once again.

“So.. I know we’re going to get that picture..” He muttered. “Do you remember your family very well?” The Echani blurted out without really thinking. He couldn’t begin to understand why he was curious, but the words seemed to escape him before he could stop himself.

@Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana couldn’t help but grin as Thelian went into a rant about his favorite fighter. It was one of the few she actually heard of, though she was given far more details than she asked. Zana’s face scrunched up a bit near the end of the rant.

“Wait..wasn’t he the guy that bit off part of someone’s lekku that one time?” She distinctly recalled all the media frenzy and then the subsequent memes around it. Zana watched him excitedly talk about the fighter the entire time and a few different things dawned on her at once. She glanced down at where she had scooted close, looked over at the screen and then thought about the sequence of events that followed.

By the time Thelian asked his question, Zana had nonchalantly and discreetly scooted back to her original spot on the couch, allowing a respectable distance. The twi’lek focused back on the topic at hand, silent for a long moment as she looked down at her feet propped up against the edge of the table in front of her. Zana sighed.

“Yeah, I’ll never forget them,” She said, “I had seven siblings, if you can believe it. My oldest brother took care of us,” Zana thought back to the early memories, “Our mom was…. Never happy about taking care of us. I don’t remember my dad though, he died before I was born.”

She remained silent for a long time, “I don’t even know where my siblings are. I only ended up at the academy because I was Force sensitive. I hope they all found homes. I know our oldest brother would have tried to round us up…he’s probably looking for me but it’s a big galaxy. I don't have any hopes of finding them, but I do know where that picture is...so that'll do."

@Altaris

 

[Thelian Lsai]

Thelian was entirely too eager to give Zana the Tike Myson deep dive - happily going off on the topic in which he was passionate about gif a solid five minutes before actually stopping himself. Despite his typically closed off demeanor towards most people, the Echani was inexplicably more comfortable talking with the twi’lek and it meant that he completely missed the fact that Zana probably wasn’t actually looking for an answer to that question.

He huffed and shook his head when she mentioned that incident where a fighter had part of his lekku bitten off. “That shit was blown way out of proportion. And besides, the fucker had it coming after kneeing Tike in the nuts.” He said, looking entirely serious on the matter.

The Echani blinked a few times, watching as Zana put a bit of distance between them. However discreet and nonchalant the twi’lek attempted to be, it was something that Thelian immediately picked up - a bit of confusion and embarrassment manifesting on his features. He very quietly put his extended arm back into his lap, staring pointedly back at his feet - silent as he internally killed over the past sequence of events. After a few moments, the realization that the combination of his over enthusiastic fight talk and completely depressing question has completely ruined the moment hit him like a freighter.

There was an immediate redness that flashed across Thelian’s pale complexion, and the Echani almost physically winced as he looked completely embarrassed by his own actions - a far cry from the way he typically didn’t seem to care in the slightest how other people perceived him.

Despite the fact that he immediately regretted the question, Thelian listened quietly as Zana began to talk about her family - betraying that a part of him was genuinely interested. “It was only ever me and my mom,” He remarked quietly. The Echani had no knowledge of his father, nor any siblings to boot. A frown brushed against his lips when Zana went on, clearly noting the way that the twi’lek seemed to deflate at the discouraging reality. The fact that the Echani was downright terrible at offering any kind of comforting words was exceptionally obvious in that moment - staring quietly the entire time.

The Echani didn’t move, but he was silent for a few moments more. His gaze eventually traveled back to the HoloScreen, squinting a bit at the fight that was currently playing. “Y’know I’ve already seen this rerun.” He muttered flatly, looking entirely disinterested with the scene. Of course, anyone actually paying attention would realize Thelian was talking completely out of his ass - especially considering the ‘LIVE’ banner at the bottom of the screen.

Flatly ignoring it, Thelian turned his attention back to Zana, keeping his hand over the top of her own. “And I don’t really want to watch another scripted-ass, cheesy date. So let’s do something else you like.” He muttered, shrugging his shoulder slightly. Thelian scooted himself a bit closer once more, far less subtle about wanting to close that bit of distance until they were shoulder to shoulder, though he purposefully watched for whatever reaction Zana had to his move.

He looked towards the open space of the living room, beyond the coffee table that was directly on front of them. “I mean, I saw how you were eyeballing all the dancing back at the club. Maybe you could show me one of those Induparan dances you like.”

@Sreeya