Ask Unexpected Layover

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin nodded at Hailee as he almost ran into her as he left the cockpit.

"Everything is going pretty well. Arriving at Onderon on time, with minimal fuss. Everything acceptable in your quarters?"

He made his way over to the galley again and made to reach into the fridge, before stopping abruptly, and turning to Hailee.

"Do you know how to play Sabacc?"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

The news were great. If they would make it to Onderon in a few days, she would be back within a week. She figured she might even stay a few days to take some time off, but she would decide that when they would arrive. "Perfect! Yes, thank you. More than acceptable even. The bed is pretty comfortable, actually even more comfortable than the one in the temple", she admitted with a grin, following him back into the galley.

She couldn't help but to chuckle a little when he was about to reach into the fridge again. Apparently someone was very thirsty. However, he never grabbed another bottle, but he asked a question instead. "Sabacc? Nope. I've always seen some people play it in the...cantinas, but I was never part of it so far. Do you?", she replied curiosly, however leaving out that her boss had always been very keen on the game. She, however, never cared much as she was usually worried by something else. The memories still made her shudder a little, but she tried to forget them quickly by focusing on their conversation.

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

"Well I should hope it is. You are paying for the bed afterall...I would hate for it to be worse than the one you are forced to sleep on in training!"

Brin broke into a huge grin as he learned Hailee didn't know sabacc...

"A beginner eh...? Brin exclaimed, as he pulled a deck of playing cards from one of the pockets in his trousers

"Well, I reckon we've probably got time to learn. And after a few teaching rounds, we can make things interesting? A wager? Ever flown a starship before?"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

His remark about paying for the bed made her laugh. He probably had no idea on how it looked inside the temple, but his assumption was clearly right, but it was even more amusing that he seemed so intrigued in terms of the game out of a sudden. Even though she had never played it herself, she had watched it from time to time and the boss had made his regular remarks about it, so maybe this would come in handy...

The wager he suggested was even better: Her eyes widened in excitement and she immediately nodded with a big grin. "Deal! I'm totally down! I've never flown a ship by myself...all I did was a little co-piloting so far, but I only did it once. I'd love to do that!", she exclaimed enthusiastically, before considering her bet. "Okay and if you win, I'll teach you useful, unarmed self-defense techniques. They've saved me a couple of times and I'm sure that they could help you as a pilot as well", she then suggested, a big grin still on her lips. For her, it felt like a win-win situation. She'd love to teach him something anyway, but she was even more excited to fly a ship.

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin briefly returned to the galley to fetch another two beers from inside, plonking them on the table, and sliding one across to Hailee.

"Can't play properly if you're going to be distracted by thirst can you?"

The captain began shuffling the elongated hexagonal playing cards, and dropped two dice onto the table from his pocket.

"Self defence techniques? From a Jedi? Sounds like they could be pretty effective...You've got yourself a wager Madame Jedi"...he teased, fetching a small batha leather box from beneath the table.

"These are just some marked up cred chips. We can use these as the wagers, seeing as we're playing for something better than cash. Now..." Brin said more seriously, placing two cards, one at a time alternately in front of himself and Hailee.

"...We're going to play a slightly different version, called Corellian Spike...its pretty much the same game, but we use two dice as well, mainly to make things more exciting. And in this version, the object is get your score as close to 0 as possible, rather than 23. Each of the cards has a value on it, and as we go, we bet on the current state of our hands. Each time you place a card down, you can draw another..."

Brin sat describing the game to Hailee for about 20 minutes, playing cards and explaining how the values and the dice worked. He thought to himself that he wouldn't normally take such care in explaining the game to a new player, but he decided in this instance he wasn't trying to hustle their hard earned credits out of them...

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

This time she took some time to consider before she accepted the beer. She was still trying to uphold a reputation...but on the other side, they were stuck here anyway and a few beers wouldn't get her drunk enough to embrace herself or something...right? So she did accept it with a grin, opening the chilled can with a fizzling sound before she shifted her attention towards the amusing pilot.

His repeated, but this time intended teasing by calling her 'Madame' again made her smirk, but she also threw him an overdramatic warning glare. "Caaarefull. Or I'll place a different wager like I'll only teach you a dance or something like that", she threatened jokingly before he started to explain the game which meant close listening to her.

The rules were simple and interestingly, he taught her the exact same variant her boss had always played on Corellia. Yet another advantage, she figured while her smile broading. The reward was more than promising...the prospect of learning some piloting skills was extremely attractive and for a brief second she considered whether she should influence her luck in regard to the dice with the Force, but she quickly discarded the idea as she wanted a fair game. "Okay I think I got it. It's rather straightforward and I think I'm ready to play", she explained enthusiastically, grinning expectantly at the pilot. Oh yes, this would get really interesting...

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin laughed out loud when Hailee offered up dancing as an alternative prize. He continued shuffling the cards, satisfied that Hailee was now comfortable with the game and looked up at her with a mock serious face...

"I don't think dancing is a good idea Hailee. There are far too many breakable objects in here, and one of us, more likely me, could end up with a major injury"

He smiled and dealt out the two cards of the first round, and placed the two dice in the centre of the table next to the spare cards.

"May the force be with you, I guess" he teased as he played his first card.

The first round played slowly, but Brin noticed that all the basic plays and tricks he was expecting he could use on a beginner like Hailee, were not working, and his score was getting further away from his target than he wanted, while Hailee was playing what seemed like a perfect game. Even as he began to draw deeper from his long experience of playing the game, he still couldn't find anyway to best how the Jedi was playing.

As the last card played out, he sat counting Hailee's score from across the table with utter shock. Brin sat open mouth, watching her cards, and even re-counted her score, moving the cards around the table with his finger. He looked up at Hailee with the same baffled look on his face...

"A perfect zero?" He blurted out...

"And you've NEVER played this before?"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

On Corellia, had Hailee had learned that she was good at manipulating, but she had always been terrible at bluffing. However, she cleared her throat and darted a glance at him that him that was supposed to be as serious as possible, but she couldn't suppress a smirk while he shuffled. When he reacted on her threat with the dance, she immediately snickered, but she managed to keep her response a little more serious: "That wouldn't be a big issue. I could heal you within a minute", she assured him confidently before it was time to focus on the game.

In this first round, it soon became obvious that the Force was indeed with her and she couldn't believe that she got so lucky. The prospect of flying his ship was highly motivating, but she also seemed to be very lucky right now. In the end, she reached the 0 with a broad grin and couldn't stop laughing at his baffled expression. "I am almost sorry, Brin!", she exclaimed completely amused, a hint of disbelief that she managed to play a perfect round at her first try. "I've never played it myself before...Maybe it's beginner's luck? Perhaps it will change in round 2", she tried to explain, but she was assuming that the information she had picked up on Corellia was a slight support as well. Once she had caught her breath, she threw him a triumphant, cheeky grin. "Or maybe you'll have to give up your ship soon", she then added just to tease him, expectantly waiting for the second round to commence.

@Kubby87 @Brinnon Castalli

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

"Almost sorry you say? Well..." Brin said grumpily as he swept the cards across the table into his hand and began shuffling them again.

"Beginners luck...right" He playfully pouted at her, and began to deal the cards back out again onto the table.

"Give up my ship..." Brin stopped dealing the cards and looked directly at Hailee.

"Give up...my ship eh?" He stood up and pulled off his flight jacket, tossing it across the back of the sofa.

"We'll see who's giving up what and when..." He sat back down heavily into the chair and lifted his first two cards.

"We shall certainly see about that shan't we, madame Jedi. You'll be teaching me to fight like a Jedi in no time!" he teased again, tossing several of the playing chips into the middle of the table.

The second round played slightly faster, Brin again drawing on his years of experience to try and best this 'beginner'. After several hands, dice rolls and discarded cards, Brin knew the score would be close, but he was confident this time he had pipped Hailee to the best score. He turned over his final cards and gave Hailee a smug grin...

"Final score of 3, it might not be your perfect 0, but its not bad work if I do say so myself. Flip em Hailee, lets see what you've got..."

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She was still extremely amused while he couldn't believe that she made it to a perfect 0. She herself couldn't believe it either, but she was more than optimistic that she would win again. With a big grin she watched him shuffle, trying not to chuckle again, but she really couldn't believe her luck.

In the the, however, she couldn't hold back anymore when he tore of his jacket, apparently to prove that they were now entering the heated phase of the game. She took another sip of the beer, careful not to choke on it as her green eyes still rested on him. "You know...if I win this round now, we'll see each other in the cockpit in a few minutes and you'll be watching me from the co-pilot's chair", she teased him with a cheeky grin, hoping that she would be able to break through his reserve. Maybe winning would be easier if he'd lost his nerves they got even started...

The second round felt much more faster and she was doing her best not to let any reactions regarding the cards shine through. She had her best poker face on, even if the grin never left her lips. When he finally presented his cards, she remained fully cool. "Oh kriff", she exclaimed, rolling her eyes before she dissappointedly pouted at him.

Now she had him riiiight where she wanted him. It was not just the game that was fun, but it seemed like her teasing had been somewhat fertile. She kept her fassade for a few more seconds, hoping that he would already think he was triumphant this time, until she tilted her head to the side and gave him a sweet, innocent smile. "It is just so unfortunate that I'm not in the possession of such a cool pilot jacket...it would have looked much better if I had it on when you teach me how to fly now...", she then completed her exclamation with a broad, even more complacent grin while she laid down her cards excruciatingly slow. "I've got a 2".

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin grinned wider as Hailee swore, he was almost certain now that he'd drawn level.

"Well Hailee, I guess that beginners luck runs out pretty fast doesn't it?. Especially when you're playing against someone who has played the game for so long." Brin cooed at her, shifting position on the sofa

But it was that slight tilt of Hailee's head which worried Brin. In the few short hours he had known her, he had noticed that head tilt coming out when she was teasing him. Brin started to feel a bit anxious, and leaned forward in his seat.

Hailee's teasing became a little too obvious as she eyed up his jacket and began leisurely flipping her cards over...

Brin was desperately repeating "no no no..." over in his head...

Hailee's 2 showed up, mockingly across the table, and her massive smile cemented the victory, and the embarrassing pang of defeat began to stir in Brin's chest.

"Maybe I shouldn't have teased her so much..." He thought to himself. "...This is going to be hard to live down"

He stood up, and began packing away the cards, trying not to make eye contact with the victor across the table.

"I erm...congratulations Hailee. I have to say that was a bit of a schooling you gave me there." He continued solemnly, offering his hand to her to shake, but looking down at the floor.

He turned away from the table, still avoiding her eyes, stretched his arms upwards and picked up his jacket, trying to hide an emerging smile behind his serious tone, and turning towards his room.

"I suppose its probably that time isn't it...it is getting late after all..."

He turned slightly and tossed his jacket at Hailee's head playfully.

"You'd better put that on I guess, so we can get started!"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

His smug comment made it even more hilarious. He had be so sure of winning, especially because she had never played before, but her constant teasing had achieved it's effect. This round was a close one, but a victory is a victory after all and she was more than satisfied. She was overly enthusiastic because she knew what this wonderful 2 meant. It was time to pilot a ship!

She had no idea how he would react and that's why she held back at first, carefully watching him, suppressing any exclamations of her triumph. When he offered to shake her hand to formally congratulate her, she was admittedly startled though. Was he such a sore loser? Or perhaps even genuinely disappointed? Maybe he assumed that she had been cheating with the Force, which she didn't, but she would want to clarify that in any case...after all, they were still stuck on this ship together and he did sound serious.

She got to her feet while he started to leave, now genuinely confused. If he would just leave now with an argument like it's getting late, that would be veeery lame. Also, this didn't even make sense. It was just a game and he was behaving very strangely...not at all like the way she met him. Pouting at him, she opened her mouth to aks him whether he was actually serious, but then he started to turn with a grin and the jacket came flying at her fastly, so that she barely caught it before it would have covered her completely. "Yeeees", she exclaimed happily, finally letting out her overexcitment with a few happy leaps in his direction. In her exuberance she flung her arms around his neck, quickly but tightly hugging him before pushing herself of a again. She grinned at him slightly sheepishly, realizing that the beer might have already losened her up a little. Without wasting any time, she put on his jacket that was admittedly a little large for her, but this wouldn't matter much. "Let's go!", she then urged him with a huge grin before already grabbing his hand and pulling him into the direction of the cockpit.

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin's cheeks flushed bright red as Hailee hugged him. He stood awkwardly tussling his hair as Hailee backed away and got more excited at the prospect of flying the Eclipse.

Brin didn't even have time to respond before Hailee grabbed his hand and whisked him towards the cockpit.

As they entered, K-T was still powered down in the corner, resting against the astronav computer. Brin invited Hailee towards the pilots seat, as he sat down at the co-pilots console next to her. He reduced the hyperdrive power on the control panel, and bought the ship out of hyperspeed. The Eclipse slowed quickly, with a faint shuddering as the stars returned to their pinprick dots, instead of bright white streaks around them. A large Republic transport rumbled past the Eclipse a few hundred kilometres above them, almost filling the entirety of the windows with its hull.

"Right Hailee...before we start...exactly how much flying have you done before?"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She made her way towards the cockpit in his oversized jacket, broadly grinning while dragging Brin with her. When he gestured for her to take a seat in the pilot's chair, she immediately placed herself in the seat, observing the huge control board curiosly before directing her overexcited gaze back at him. He was pulling the ship out of hyperspace so that she could take over control, or at least that was her assumption. The stars next to them slowed them and they landing right below a transport ship which was a very impressive sight.

"Okay I'm being completely honest with you for the sake of your ship and our wellbeing. I was upgrading ship parts for a while, so I do have some technical experience, but I've never flown myself. The truth is: I've only been on ships a couple of times, so I have only received a few instructions regarding co-piloting, so I'd definitely say I'm a beginner" she explained truthfully, desperately hoping that he wouldn't be deterred to teach her. "I'm a quick learner though", she therefore added with a grin.

@Kubby87 @Brinnon Castalli

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin glanced sideways across the controls at Hailee.

"I hope you're a quick learner, because this thing handles like a bantha with three legs." He chuckled, engaging the inertial dampeners and diverting controls back from the auto-pilot.

"So...first lesson. This is the control panel...most of the buttons you aren't going to need, I will do all of that stuff." He reached forwards to grab the control column, an upside down C shaped device connected to a rod adjoining the control panel in front of the co-pilot position.

"All you are going to need to fly, is this. This controls the movement of the ship. It controls pitch, roll and yaw" he explained, tilting his hands in the different directions to demonstrate the various planes of movement.

"Think of it as just an extension to your body. You tilt the stick backwards, the ship and us tilts back, you lean the stick to the right, the ship and us move to the right." Brin continued, moving his hand to a pair of red levers located between the two seats.

"These levers control the amount of fuel that gets injected into the engines...the higher you push them, the more fuel goes into the engines, the faster we go. I'll set it to begin with, and unless you're feeling super confident, we can leave our speed as it is" He grinned across at Hailee

"I think that's it! Lets see how fast a learner you really are!" Brin said excitedly.

He waited for the transport to clear ahead of them, and reached over the console, pretending to press a sequence of buttons. Brin transferred over the controls to Hailee's stick...

"Right...I've just transferred controls of the ship over to you...Show me what you can do..."

Brin waited patiently for just the slightest of touches from Hailee on her control column, and clicked his seat belt into place as quietly as he could...

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

At first his comment with the three legged Banta made her laugh, but then she realized that this was also a warning. This was an actual ship in the middle of space and she definitely had to concentrate, as this might also end in a catastrophe. She didn't want to think about it, but a feeling of deep respect slowly crept into the blonde. She cleared her throat and tried to focus, carefully listening to his instructions while trying to ignore the slight dizziness in her head. It was interesting how fast a beer could unravel its effects if you hadn't drunk in a while.

After he was done for now, she nodded enthusiastically to signal her understanding. "Okay right, I got it. You use this thing to maneuver the ship and that's for speed. I am feeling very confident, but let's keep the speed this way until I'm getting the hang of it" she explained while gesturing to the panel in front of her. She was about to grab the controls when his 'click' reminded her of something. "Right, seat belt", she chuckled amusedly while reaching behind her to grab it and fasten her own belt, but then she didn't waste any more time before she grabbed the controls and started to steer. She carefully started to maneuver the ship to the left at first, wanting to get a feeling for how quick the ship reacted, but once the ship moved, she couldn't held back a short squeal of delight. "Oh wow, that's fun!", she exclaimed excitedly, quickly shooting him a glance before redirecting her concentration to the viewport and the control panel.

She continued by maneuvering the ship to the right before trying to slightly roll it to the right as well. She could feel her body sliding to the right and it made her chuckle again. "Can we do a barrel roll?", she asked him jokingly, but if he would agree, she wouldn't say no. This was actually much more fun than expected and so far, it seemed to be going quite well.

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin sat comfortably back in his chair. With only 25% power on the throttle, he knew the force of the turns wasn't strong, but he made some very exaggerated motions, throwing his arms in the air and forcing himself against the restraint of his seatbelt, chuckling.

Brin laughed as Hailee bought the ship into a tighter turn that ACTUALLY made them both slide over in their chairs.

"A barrel roll? I mean...normally that's lesson three Hailee...but I suppose if you wanted to skip ahead..."

Brin leaned forwards and switched off the inertial dampeners, and turned to face Hailee...

"Just turn the controls all the way to the left or right...whichever way you want to roll...and its better if you do it...quickly...don't be gentle"

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

The little show he put on was extremely amusing, especially when considering that the ship didn't move too much before she was starting to play around with the rolling movements. She literally felt like a child playing around in a ship and from the current speed, she knew that he was holding it back on purpose, put that was okay for now since it was still great fun.

When he started laughing, she knew that he was also enjoying himself and this made her smile even brighter. "Yeees Sir, I wanna skip ahead!", she immediately responded enthusiastically, actually thrilled to do it since she knew that it wouldn't be too dangerous to try out. "Quickly?", she repeated, asking for a reassurance, but she figured that he was right anyway, because if they would do it fast, they wouldn't fly around too much, right? With that in mind, she nodded with a big grin before she started to try it. However, she wouldn't just do a roll to the right. Instead, she wanted to mess with him just a little bit, hoping that she would make him laugh even harder and so she rolled the ship to the left, almost heading for a 90 degree angle, so that they were almost perpendicular to their previous horizontal axis, and then she quickly rolled it all the way to the right, having them make the perfect barrel roll until they were all leveled again. She immediately busted into laughter, her hair being all over the place, but she was praying that he wasn't too shocked from her quick suprise maneuver.

@Brinnon Castalli @Kubby87

 

[Brinnon Castalli]

Brin adjusted himself in the seat, trying to move his legs back onto the chair after the barrel roll had moved him almost sideways. He brushed back his hair, and started laughing.

"Looks like that beginners luck doesn't stop at sabacc. I'd say you're getting the hang of this. Maybe you are a fast learner..." he said slightly sarcastically, before looking up at her and her messy hair, letting out a loud snort of laughter and gesturing to his head...

"You might also want to sort out...all this..." he teased.

Outside the window, the traffic was visibly beginning to get heavier, as they began to move through the Mid-Rim trade routes, and Brin motioned out of the window.

"Looks like things are getting a bit busier out there" he observed, as two passenger liners glided past, starlight glinting off their polished silver hulls.

"This is where the proper learning starts." He said, changing the controls back over to the co-pilot position.

"So you can fly the ship around in the middle of space...not much you can hit really...its not...PROPER piloting" Brin teased again, poking his tongue out at her as he said it.

He pushed the throttle up to 75%, and the ship responded with a small shudder, and the whine from the sub-light engines grew from the back of the ship. Brin manoeuvred the Eclipse in between two large cargo freighters, who were also following the trade lane, and pointed to the traffic headed in the opposite direction, which was coming almost directly at them.

"Now, the important question is..can you pilot the ship, when you NEED to? My guess is that those ships ahead are doing about .7 under light speed, so given our speed, they will be on us in about 1 minute. You can't go side to side because of those freighters...and behind us is another passenger liner, so you cant slow down..." Brin explained...

"Show me what you're going to do. And don't worry, I have switched to dual controls, so if you think you're getting into trouble, I can take over."

@LadyRen @Hailee Lightwood

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

When she had started to leave for the port this morning, she would have never thought that this day was going to be so fun and interesting. Also, she would have never believed that she would pilot the exact same cargo ship that was supposed to take her to Onderon herself, but she was very pleased with the current developments.

She was still laughing whole-heartedly when he teased her to deal with her hair, but she immediately started sorting the mess because it had gotten quite hard to see through the curtain of long, blonde hair in front of her eyes. Once she was done, she managed to catch her breath and regain focus, but it immediately seemed like the pilot had another interesting idea. "Hey! First things first! First I learn how to do some barrel rolls, because it seems like an extremely valuable skill, then we start the easy-peasy stuff you call 'proper flying'", she teased back, aping his comment in a mocking tone before she couldn't help but to chuckle again.

However, as he took over control, they soon found themselves in a slightly different situation and she gasped excitedly. "Oh my...are you sure that's a good idea?", she began, slightly frowning at him, but despite the slight nervousity in her voice, her confidence returned rather abruptly thanks to his reassuring comment. "Okay I'll try, but please stay attentive. I don't want to get ourselves killed", she added jokingly, but she was indeed still a little excited even if he remained in control.

She swallowed, luckily all concentrated again as she was starting to maneuver the ship. "Seems like you're a little tired of life though" she teased Brinnon while the ship's were approaching fastly. Admittedly, even if he was still in control, he had brought them into a rather tricky situation, but Hailee was always eager to meet challenges.

And so she immediately did. With the right flair, she maneuvered the ship out of the situation with ease. She tried to remember what he had told her and flew the ship like an extension of her own body. It felt strangely natural and so she was wondering whether it was simply easier than expected, or whether she had a natural aptitude. Right after her evasive maneuver, she still threw him a half incredulous, half overjoyed glance.

@Kubby87 @Brinnon Castalli