Ask Something Like a Star

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal stopped around the corner to the kitchen area and turned halfway around to look at Sevrin with a look of utter of amusement. He paused a moment, leaning against the edge of the wall, a smirk forming on his face as he continued walking.

"Might consider it if you ask nicely." Then he disappeared around the corner. A fridge door was opened and brief clattering of cookware was heard along with the pop of a food storage container. Hannibal decided to reheat some meal prep food since his guest apparently didn't need lunch today and soon the spicy smells of meat, vegetables, and noodles drifted from the kitchen.

"Yup, the infinite storm!" he called back casually followed by the sound of scraping from his cookery. "Varies a bit but it's hard to pick up from outside the atmosphere. Should be alright if we're careful, probably." Last time he'd landed it'd been relatively clear in that particular area but it's not like they had a dedicated weather satellite or something for the place.

He emerged again from the kitchen with a bowl of meat-and-vegetable spicy fried noodles and placed it down at the table. Next he went to the bar and used a nozzle to pour two glasses of water, one which he held very carefully in the machine limb, before bringing both over and placing one within reach of Sevrin.

Hannibal sat down and picked up his chopsticks with his right hand and immediately got caught up in properly arranging them. This was one of those left-handed tasks, unfortunately, and he had to re-adjust for the new limb.

@Sreeya

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin said nothing, amusement dancing in his eyes though they remained on the notes. Nicely was the only way Sevrin ever asked, and Hans knew that. As a result, the Sephi kept his mouth shut on the topic, jotting down a few notes. The Councilor appeared largely unconcerned about the perpetual storm and it earned him a mildly quizzical look.

The Knight glanced up when Hans brought his own meal over, pausing for a moment to take in the delicious aroma. He eyed the noodles curiously before gazing at the emeralds again, “Will there be safe areas to camp? I don’t anticipate this being a quick in and out kind of mission,” He said flatly before he wrote down a few more things.

Sevrin looked over at the glass of water Hans brought over and he nodded at the other man, “Thank you,” He said politely, “For sharing your wine and hospitality,” The Sephi’s tone was genuine as he took a sip.

He watched Hans struggling with the chopsticks briefly before he reached over and adjusted them slightly. Having worked with padawans and their cybernetics, he had become accustomed to aiding them with everyday mundane activities. Both of his hands grasped the cybernetic, settling the chopsticks slightly differently than regular fingers would hold them. It made little sense, but it worked effectively.

Sevrin drew his hands back without a word, eyes back over the reading materials.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal looked up from his bowl as Sevrin asked a fairly important and relevant question. Living fingers tip-tapped briefly against the table in thought, his eyes turning to look out the large ship windows into the flashing blue and white of hyperspace. His brows furrowed a little and he frowned for a moment before shrugging and looking back over at Sevrin across the table.

"Probably? Safety's relative, but it's not a dead world. We'll be fiiiine. The temple itself is fairly safe-ish."

Or at least it was when he was there, and of course he wasn't entirely sure where they were going to go next. But hey, that's what made it an adventure right? "Seriously though, yes, if we are careful."

His eyes went next to the glass of water, a smirk forming on his face and emeralds glimmering with a playful energy. "That's water, man." Then he fully grinned and inclined his head to acknowledge the Sephi's thanks. "You're welcome. Nice to have guests on this boat sometimes." Back to the bowl of noodles which he remembered was problematic. Specifically the chopsticks that weren't playing nice with his new hand and the way it liked to move around.

He blinked as Sevrin's hands appeared and finagled with the arrangement a little, a brow raising at him though he didn't protest the assistance. Hannibal tested out the new positioning appraisingly, then went to pick up a bit of vegetable with mixed but improved success.

"And thank you as well. See? We're a great team already!"

Hannibal chuckled good-humoredly and got to actually eating his food.

@Sreeya

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin listened at the wide gamut of topics from Hans as he breezily brushed right past the dangers of Tython and onto cheery smiles about them making a good team. Through it all, the Sephi silently watched the man, observing how relaxed and nonchalant he was. Sevrin knew Hans knew more pain than perhaps most in the Order, and he had been closer to darkness more than most. And yet he remained above it all, keeping a positive energy that was almost infectious.

It clashed against the Sephi’s far more reserved stoic, but Hans filled up space where he tended to bring a frosty chill. Sevrin tilted his head slightly as he watched the other man before finally speaking, “You...are very pleasant company..” Sevrin muttered quietly, lips twitching towards that almost half smile again, “Like a stubborn flower that grows in otherwise frosted and barren fields,” A hand reached over to slightly adjust a chopstick in the cybernetic again when it slipped, this time his fingers resting just a moment longer against the metal before he drew back, “I enjoy it.”

Sevrin said nothing more before he quietly and politely returned to his notes, focusing back on preparing for the trip.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal blinked and looked up at the other man from where he'd been focusing down on his noodles and the way he held the chopsticks. Surprise was clear on his features, not being a man that expected that kind of thing to be said about or to him, much less by Sevrin. He blinked again, watching that little twitch and then the hand that came across the table to gently adjusted how he held his utensils again. Warm and living fingers lingered just a little longer against cold metal that could only really feel the fact they were there in the barest mechanical way through touch sensors.

Even so the gesture was not lost on the young man, green eyes staring down at the limb even after Sevrin drew back to return to his notes. He was silent for a few seconds more.

"Uh. Thank you, Sevrin." he began quietly and a little awkwardly. Hannibal finally looked back up at him with a warm and friendly smile that still managed to be somewhat sheepish. "Hearing that means a lot to me, y'know? " Now feeling awkward he decided to refocus on his noodles, trying again more slowly to actually capture some of the elusive food. "I like your company too."

He paused again.

"Seasons come and go, and life goes on as it always does. No matter how cold and harsh the winter, spring flowers always bloom beneath the light of suns."

At one time he had kept up walls, keeping himself at a distance. Especially when he had to fight, shielded in a rimed durasteel fortress. Now all that was gone and he'd had to learn how to cope and start over, and it was immensely gratifying for someone to notice his efforts had born fruit.

His smile didn't seem to leave his face as he began to eat his noodles with some success.

@Sreeya

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin looked at him, noting the shifts and changes in his demeanor. Awkward was not a word he thought could ever describe Hans, but here it was. The man fidgeted almost uncomfortably, and Sevrin allowed him a measure of space to recover. The Sephi’s face betrayed no real reaction to his words, silver eyes back to poring over the details of the notes.

Sevrin looked up again when Hans spoke in prose, drawing from his own almost poetic compliments. Now this earned Hans an amused look and the closest he had received to a smile. Sevrin met his gaze for a moment longer before he took a sip from the water.

“It’s late. If you don’t mind, I will be retiring to the crew quarters now,” He said politely before he rose to stand, cleaning off the table of everything that was his. The Sephi had several things to meditate on before he retired for the night. They would likely be close to arriving by the time he was up next.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal hadn't seen a look quite like that one on the otherwise stoic Sephi. Much more obviously amused but not quite a full smile, but it changed the way his features were arranged just enough for the young Councilor to notice the difference. It was much like spotting a flower growing in the snow, he thought, or perhaps his thoughts were still stuck in the poetic prose.

He blinked again as Sevrin announced it was late.

"Oh, yeah, sure. No problem." Hannibal watched him gather up his things for a second or two before he went back to slowly and steadily working through his food. He also had his own meditations and other tasks to complete before he went to bed. "I'll let ya know if somethin' happens I guess."

Green eyes watched the other man walk away to the crew quarters. Then Hannibal finished his food, rinsed and put away the dishes, and entered the lift to the captain's quarters to go through his own process before bed.

-------
​

His morning routine was fairly simple. Aside from the usual hygiene he also needed to re-attach the cybernetic arm since he expected to be needing it, a process that still caused a good deal of discomfort. There were also morning 'meditations' which in his case involved moving around in kata within his personal chambers.

Today it would also include needing to navigate an infinite storm. If Sevrin wasn't already awake by the time Hannibal rushed into the cockpit he would be by the alarms that went off in the Spirit of Serendipity.

Tython was a fickle planet and it seemed the storms in the lower atmosphere were extra unfriendly around their arrival, necessitating him to fly through it instead of avoiding it. Hannibal was a decent pilot and was assisted by his astromech, Lee, but there was only so much one could do to mitigate the gale that wildly lashed against the hull of the ship.

Hannibal pulled against the controls as the ship descended, fighting against winds and lightning that cracked and crashed against shields. He even found some measure of success until an unlucky strike disabled the port nacelle.

"Brace for impact!" he barked out with a determined and focus expression as they approached the ground. Seconds later the ship would hit the ground, shaking the entire vessel as it hit and then skidded along, shaking the passengers even through inertial compensation and crash belts. Soil and stone was shoved aside in its path to leave a divot and the bottom sensor array ripped free and the lightning-fried pod was further damage in the process, sparking as it struck a stone.

Eventually it slid to a stop, leaning over a little before settling back down flat-ish against the overturned earth. Outside the ship the storm continued to rage, rain falling in heavy near-horizontal sheets and lightning flashing in pitch-black clouds.

Hannibal picked himself up off the front console from where the stop had tried to throw him, wincing from where the belt had left what would doubtless be painful bruises.

"Wasn't this bad before." He sounded more concerned about it this time, leaning forward a little to look out the window.

@Sreeya

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin was an early riser, and he was making last minute preparations with his notes when he heard Hans shuffling about. He was already packed and sitting at the table, sipping from some tea and helping himself to a light breakfast. Within moments, an alarm began to resound and he quickly downed the tea and followed Hans into the cockpit.

He buckled in next to Hans, shooting him a quick glance. A single eyebrow rose as his calm voice cut in through the shrill alarms, “I thought you had done this before,” He said simply before training his gaze ahead. The entire ship jerked around and he felt that sick feeling of weightlessness several times.

Sevrin’s fingers dug into his armrests, a grimace on his face as he closed his eyes and attempted to temper his mind. He was not an ace pilot by any means and sudden, jerky motions made him deeply uncomfortable. The Sephi attempted to remove himself from the situation mentally as Hans maneuvered through the storm.

He barely heard Hans’ warning before the ship landed and bounced around a bit. There was a loud crash and a lot of noise before everything was still. There were still alarms going off.

Like Hans, Sevrin drew back from the console in front of him, but he was in poorer state. The Sephi felt something hot running down his nose, accompanied with excruciating pain. He gingerly touched his nose, drawing his fingers back to find blood coating them.

“Ah...of course..,” He stated simply.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

It was probably an exceptionally fair assessment to say the situation was just really not all that good. 'Course they could've done something like crash into the side of a mountain or an entire ocean so Hannibal quickly decided to just take what he could get.

"Well. At least nothing's on fire."

A series of sparks from a console panel to his left sent up a cloud of smoke. Hannibal pulled the power out of the console in question and pulled an extinguisher from the wall, spraying the foam inside atop the wires until they stopped doing that.

"Okay, just one thing," he mumbled grumpily, stiffly removing himself from the pilot's seat. Finally he turned to check on Sevrin who had very clearly met face with console during the crash. "Ah, shit. Hold on, sorry-," and off he went to next get the cockpit medkit, coughing slightly and rubbing his ribs in discomfort.

Hannibal pulled a wad of cotton from the kit and went back to Sevrin, giving his nose a good once-over. Then he handed him the wad of cotton gauze.

"I can get that back in place." Suddenly in the mood of a professional his eyes narrowed at the injury, living hand coming up to gently feel at other parts of Sevrin's face unless he was prevented from doing so, lips curled slightly downward in a frown.

"It will hurt, your eyes will probably water, and you'll need to hold the gauze on for a bit." Hannibal blinked, expression softening back to normal a bit. "Uh. When you're ready, natch."

If Sevrin expressed as much the nose would be realigned with a particularly delicate application of telekinesis that nonetheless would result in a small pop as things went back into place.

@Sreeya

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin took the cotton wad and used it to plug the bleeding, feeling a little dizzy from the blow. The pain was excruciating and his silver gaze flicked up towards the councilor when he rattled off solutions. His first thought was to say no, but he knew Hans was known to specialize in healing. The man could probably fix this better than any creative solutions Sevrin could come up with.

“Very well..” He muttered unhappily, gingerly removing his hand out of the way to allow the councilor to fix it. Sevrin pointedly looked away when Hans came in close and began to touch his face to assess the damage before deciding how to fix it.

There was a soft crack as the cartilage moved back into place. Sevrin grunted in pain, wincing as his eyes watered. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, opening them after a while as faint tears streaked down his face. He quickly wiped them away, keeping the cotton wad pressed against his nose to staunch the bleeding.

"Thank you," Sevrin looked over at Hans, “Are you hurt?” He asked, his voice comically more nasally.

The Sephi wouldn’t waste too much time after that as he rose to his feet and attempted to navigate out of the ship. The heat of smoke brushed his skin. The stench of fuel permeated, though he couldn’t pick up on it with his plugged nose.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

As promised, Hannibal got the other Jedi's nose back into place, cringing a little as he did it but keeping things under control. Unfortunately some feedback was a thing he was used to by now. Luckily a broken nose was far from the most painful thing he'd had to handle.

Fingers gently checked his work while Sevrin held the gauze up to his face followed by a short nod of satisfaction. Might need some kind of splint or something but that was not in a standard issue medkit. Nose splints were a tad specialized and all. Sevrin's voice being as nasally as it was just then resulted in a smirk the young Jedi just couldn't help, far different from the normal air of dignity and refinement he carried around everywhere.

"Oh. Uh..." Hannibal blinked and looked down at himself, checking across his ribs using his living fingers. The cybernetic might be able to cause pain by poking things but it lacked the sensitivity of its own to actually assess injury properly. At least, for the moment. Something to work on later.

"Ow," said Hannibal. "Maybe?" His eyes went down to the prosthetic and he tutted with irritation. "And this thing's dented. Hurrah." With a sigh he left the cockpit and was about to start gathering things when he noticed the distinctive smell and heat. Right, the pods.

Trying very hard to ignore the things that had fallen off shelves in the meantime he headed toward where the exit would generally be. Hot, foul smoke was filtering in through the cracked-open door which he had to manually override and telekinetically jam out of his way. Naturally this made the smoke problem worse, but it also made clear that a fuel leak from at least one cracked pod had turned into a fire. DOUBLE hurray.

"Hey uuhh you any good with fire?" he called back, coughing and waving away some of the smoke. This would need more than an extinguisher.

@Sreeya