Quirks, Similarities and Differences
Part 2: Quirks
For one night and one only, the central cabin of the Ebon Hawk had been turned into an arena. What type of arena? Well, with the help of a visiting Twi'lek called Mission Vao and the persistence of the Sith Lord Formerly Known as Revan, a makeshift Intergalactic Space Pong table was set up, complete with cable mesh net.
Eight matches had currently been played. The last match of the night was just beginning…but there was no one about to watch it. Even though this was the deciding game as to whether the pilot or the Jedi would win their respective wagers, the ship's other occupants had all retreated to their bunks. They already knew exactly where the two competitors were going to end up.
The tall woman served first.
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
"Damn it!"
"Hit it on the table, nerf herder!"
"You'll get yours, sister."
The man fumbled on the ground for the ball and soon stood, the white object swaying in his hand. He struck the ball back over the net.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
"Bloody 'eck!"
"Told you." The pilot gave a little smirk and awaited the Jedi's return serve.
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
"The center! The center! Not the edge of the table!" she yelled at him in frustration.
"I'm trying, damn it!"
The Jedi scowled and shook her head. "Try harder. I have to keep running to get the bloody ball every time you screw up your serve."
"You said you could beat me without the Force. Here's your chance."
The Jedi remembered her promise and manually went to find the small ball that had rolled itself into a corner. "Don't make me fetch this stupid thing again, Onasi." She returned and made her serve.
Ping.
Pong.
"I didn't think Jedi could say 'stupid,'" remarked Carth as he watched the ball bounce over the makeshift net. He watched Libra hit it into the net. It ricocheted off to roll innocently back towards her.
Ping.
"Why won't it just go over!?" she yelled at no one in particular, slamming her free hand down upon the table with an audible thwack!
Carth covered his wince with a smirkfolded his arms over his chest. "Being a Jedi not so special now, huh?"
Revan narrowed her eyes dangerously, gracing Carth with the same look she had given HK-47 when he had tested his flamethrower modifications on her pet Gizka: Skippy. Not only had the mess taken her hours to clean up (in reality had taken Mission to do for a flippant remark made about a certain orange jacket and a pair of tight blue shorts...) but it had also deprived her of the scaly, warm companion that had been a solid comfort during her split-personality episode as Revan and Libra.
Ping.
Ping.
Ping.
Libra made three more unsuccessful serves. My apologies, Skippy! "It won't go over, Carth!"
"Don't look at me!" he made no move to ready himself, deliberately mocking her, "it's your serve!" It was a small penance for all the times she had tormented him on Taris.
Ping.
Ping.
Libra finally managed to make a successful serve andresisting the urge to throw her paddle to the floor in triumph, she settled for a hop of enthusiasm. "Yes!"
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
The white sphere bounced off a nearby wall and back onto the table. Carth narrowly managed to seize it between his hands, paddle clattering to the floor.
"Good catch," Libra remarked.
Carth grinned, stooping for his paddle. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
"Sorry, didn't think it would do that…"
The ball bounced off Libra's chest and into her outstretched palm. The blondelooked down at the object in her hand and sighed, shaking her head rather remorsefully. "Aren't you lucky? They serve not only as pillows but padding as well."
Ping.
Pong.
Libra's paddle flew high and knocked the ball vertically into the air. "Gah! Not again! Its not my fault!"
"Come on, Libra. You're making me die of boredom over here."
The Jedi struck the ball as it made its descent. As usual, it found itself in the mesh netting.
Ping.
Ping.
"Grrrr!"
"You know," said Carth, lazily reaching his paddle forward to roll the ball back to his partner, "I think the Force wants me to win."
Libra bared her teeth and snatched up the b(ane of her existence)all. "I'll show you who the Force flows through!"
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
"The game is mine, Onasi!"
Pong.
"Don't even think about it, gorgeous!"
Ping.
Pong.
"I'm going to extract my revenge on you tonight, Jedi cheat!"
Ping.
"Jedi do not cheat!"
Pong.
"Could have fooled me."
Ping.
"You just had to break the volley, didn't you? And things were going so well too!" Libra stamped her foot and pointed to the ball, "you go get it."
"Fine, gorgeous. Don't get your robes in a twist." Carth followed the direction of the pointed hand and stooped to pick up the ball. It slipped out of his grasp and dropped to his knees to in order to reach it.
Libra cocked her head to one side and made the most of the sight, her grin splitting from ear to ear as Carth returned back to the table. He returned her look with a wary eye, caught of guard by the sudden wink. "Mr. Onasi...that was lovely."
"What?"
"The view." Libra tapped her behind with the paddle and then gestured to him.
Finally it clicked and the man blushed. "Oh…heh...Libar...is it my serve?"
She nodded.
Pong.
The ball sailed right over her head.
Libra watched itroll under a crack in one of the bottom storage compartments. I knew we should have had those fixed. "Hey!You did that on purpose!"
Carth shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say?"
"Bend down slowly?"
The pilot gave a soft chuckle. "No, not quite was I thinking, but that will do too."
"Men," sighed Libra, setting herself to the task.
"Women," was the more dramatically stated counter response.
The Jedi returned. "Just let me hit the ball…"
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
Carth's serve didn't bounce; instead it flew straight and caught an unsuspecting Libra between the eyes.
"Ow!"
Carth flinched at her cry of pain a hand instinctively coming forward to reach out for her. "I thought you could get that…"
"Think harder, Sith Spawn!" The return serve was viscious.
Ping.
Libra's aim was meant to kill.
"Ouch! That wasn't nice!" Carth rubbed his own forehead ruefully.
The Jedi stuck out her tongue. "You deserved it."
"Oh yeah?"
Pong.
Carth hit the ball into a trajectory that sent it bouncing once against the wall, twice along the table and then soaring straight into Libra's mouth. She coughed out violently to the floor, wiping the spittle from a corner of her mouth.
"Carth Onasi, you are heading for a night in the pilot's chair." With an outstretched hand, she called the ball back to her.
"We'll just see about that, won't we?"
Ping.
Pong.
Ping.
Pong.
Libra's arms flailed as the ping-pong ball veered wide and flew into the next room. "Not evena chance...do that ONE more time and I will - "
"Query: Did the orange packaged meatbag damage you, master?" The assassin droid had crept his way into the 'arena' after he heard the first of Libra's cries. Perhaps she would finally allow him to dispose of the meatbag that had made her so soft as of late.
The Consular gave a sniff of indignation and with a dramatic flair that only she could accomplish, set about to rubbing her forehead as the pretense for a mock swoon."Why yes. As a matter of fact he did!" Let Carth sweat it a bit.
HK's eyes were virtually glittering with the possibilities of this opportunity. "Query: Shall I blast the meatbag? Statement: His choice of colors is most disagreeable."
Libra emphasized a head to toe inspection of the pilot. "Well…"
"Libra!"
HK-47 took some satisfaction in Carth's discomfort and shock. He took Libra's silence as a sign to carry on. "Request: Master, I would dearly love to rearrange the orange meatbag's face. Correlation: You spend so much time with him, you may not continue to do so if he looks like a Hutt."
"What, no…" Carth took a few steps back from the droid. This was news to him. He gave his partner an imploring look.
Libra relented. She never enjoyed seeing Carth in discomfort at the hands of others…only she had the privilege to drive him up and down the walls. "Punishment and crushing won't be necessary, HK. At least, not from you. Carth will receive his punishment later this evening. Won't you, fly boy?'
"Oh…n-" Carth caught the look. "Yes, I mean yes.I've been very bad to you today. I'm sorry and I uh…I dread what awaits me uh…tonight."
"Exclamation: I do so like the sounds you make when the master punishes you, orange meatbag."
Carth's transformation from sandy, to pink, to red looked much like a sunset on Tatooine."Errr…"
"Suggestion: If I remember correctly, master, your favorite technique was that of the Coromon Headhunter. It involved the use of pressure applied to the neck and a heated bar of metal thrust up the meatbag's - "
Libra quickly held up her hand to silence the droid. "That will be quite enough. Thank you, HK. I can handle him from here." She gave him a dismissal wave with her hand.
"Resignation: Very well, master. Signing off!" HK trotted back to his position guarding the entrance ramp.
Carth moved to Libra's side. He took one of her hands in his. "Likes the sounds I make when you punish me?"
Libra shrugged, just as disgruntled. "I can only assume that the reason Revan ever went into a room with a man alone was to punish him. Or a woman for that matter."
Carth gave a shake of his head in disbelief. "He's got good senses for a droid."
T3 gave a little mechanical twitter in protest.
"You too, T3," added Carth.
Libra placed a kiss on the corner of Carth's mouth. She gave him a wink. "Well, you are rather loud."
"I'm loud?" chuckled the pilot.
The Jedi nodded her head. "Oh yes, Quite loud." Seeing Carth's face darken she hastily added, "but that's not a bad thing, vocalizing what you feel is always helpful but - "
Too late. Carth was already on the defensive. "How was I to know that 'Carth, control yourself!' was referring to the fact that your assassin droid listens in on us!"
Libra put both her hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake. Being the master of psychology she was, she knew thatthis was just one of Carth's defense mechanismsagainstembarrassment."Hey, it's a shock to me too, you know." She paused a moment, considering her next words. She needed to find some way to change the subject. "I'm just glad that he hasn't decided to speculate, well, at least not openly to me. Could be worse. He could have asked T3 to record our 'torture' sessions."
T3 again gave little whirl.
Libra turned to him, absolutely shocked. "WHAT!"
Carth broke into a batch of hearty laughter at the sight of the Jedi's face. "Look on the bright side, at least it's just Jolee!"
8-8-8-8-8
A/N: Well, I'm glad this has been enjoyed so far! I try and edit (cringe!) and add as I can!
snackfiend101 - You probably have read this, but you haven't read the completed version. Chapter 3 will most likely be seen her first than at Hmmm...tedious? Well, its not easy for either of them considering the generation gap, Revan's baggage and Carth's baggage...plus Revan's got plenty of things she finds annoying about Carth ("Carth, don't chew so loudly! Carth, you snore! Carth, you make this whistling sound with your nose when you breathe...so stop breathing!") and Carth has the same about Revan ("Revan, your hair is clogging up the 'fresher! Revan, why can't you cook a damn thing right? Revan, why'd you reorganize my toolkit!?"). But if you can think of a better word, by all means let me know.
Lunatic Pandora1 - Carth being Force sensitive. Hmm...it is something to debate (especially if the mechanics of whether or not he piloted a starship or a starfighter come into play) and while the Force does show up randomly, it does run in families, be it a skipped generation or so. I don't know where I'll take it...though it will probably be alluded to in later chapters of ASA.
Firera - These two can get so serious sometimes, you just have to throw in some child like behavior to lighten them up. I'm happy to see you approve thus far!
Jedi Knight Padme - For some little humorous sketches that were born of one too many free lunch periods? No, not bad at all! Its a first attempt at humor, so bear with me for awhile.
Krazed Kaioshin Fangirl - You'll see plenty more of it, don't you worry about that. I found about two little snippets of Intergalactic Travel: Disjunction in the Notebook of Doom and while they are a bit bizarre I thought they were rather funny. I live for innuendo and double meaning!