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Charlotte Tur'enne
Jun 17th, 2013, 07:01:25 PM
It was like waking up from a bad nightmare only to find you hadn't woken up at all. Over and over and over again.

To say things had been a blur the last few months was one giant understatement. It seemed like only yesterday she was waking up in the brig on some Jedi ship, mostly being looked at like she was some sort of wild animal by the few that dared venture near. She liked that look... it was far preferable to the sympathetic bits of advice that had come from a few of what she had guessed were "more experienced' Jedi. Torture comes in many forms, she supposed.
Fast forward to the court-martial. Even then she couldn't be rid of the damned Jedi who had actually attempted to speak up on her behalf. Defending her for attacking one of them. She could remember looking at those in the room, desperate to find someone who would say something on her behalf that didn't come off as some mystical mumbo-jumbo insane excuses. Glayde would have said something. He hadn't been there. Dishonorable discharge. She only felt a vague hollowness at the notion that it had happened at all. Better off numb.

Then came the treaty. Peace. A Victory. A true Alliance born of Free Planets, not of Rebellion. A farce. An abomination. No one held accountable. She had raged for days. Maybe she never really stopped. Maybe that's why everything was so fuzzy. Time gets lost easy in the bottom of a bottle. Or Two. Or Twenty. Or...

One eye cracked open and instantly she regretted it. All she could think of wanting to do was bury her face into the pillow and shut things out again but even that effort of movement seemed too much to bare. An unwilling groan passed between swollen and split lips. The taste of blood rather than bile became apparent. At least that was a plus, no point in drinking if you were just going to throw it all back up again. Not that it stopped the headache any... though she did have to wonder if that was from the alcohol or if someone had gotten in a good sucker-punch on her the night before. Probably a bit of both.

Speaking of which... No amount of words with foul meanings could have described the sensation as Charlotte slowly pushed herself just far enough she could roll onto her side and actually take stock of the room she was in. It was nicer than where she had been staying but it wouldn't exactly be unlike her to blow a frakton of credits on a nicer place if she was blitz out of her mind. It didn't seem right though... Everything was too soft and not blood soaked enough. If she had come here on her own last night the room wouldn't have been so damn neat. Meaning....

Charlotte let out another painful mutter as she forced herself to at least attempt to sit up. She got about as far as being able to prop herself up on her arm. Nope, no blood on the pillow and... her other arm came up and touched the soft piece of wrapping that she only now realized was what made her left eye feel heavy as it sat on her brow. Great. So someone not only had dragged her from a perfectly good bar brawl but had the nerve to patch her up? The thought of why anyone would want to do that was more nauseating than the fact they actually had. The sight of a leather jacket on the other side of the bed that clearly wasn't hers and clearly wasn't made for a female brought on a whole new wave of sensations - none of them good. The sudden clenching of her stomach and tightening in her chest had to be shoved aside. Whatever she had done to earn all this was done and over with. No more self destructive than normal, right?

She wasn't proud of the gasp of pain that came as she finally managed to swing her legs off the side of the bed, only could hope it was because of a few bruised ribs rather than broken ones. Another suppression of what could have been a panic attack had to be choked down as she saw she was only dressed in a t-shirt and her underwear. Charlotte found herself, if slower than she would have liked, looking around the room, appraising it for exits and defensible locations. A chair next to the bed seemed to be where the rest of her clothing had come to rest in a tidy little pile, folded neatly and sitting right on top was her blaster. Strange that it hadn't been taken away from her all things considered. She wasn't technically supposed to carry one anymore but who was really going to tell? Apparently not the guy who had brought her here. The paranoid part of her wondered if it was just left there to toy with her. Sure you can try to fight back but we know what you're really like. She took stock of things around the room. Enough to show someone lived here or had been for a decent period of time but not so long as to actually make it homey. Someone was going to come back.

It's funny what training will drill into you. Especially her kind of training. Even ten kinds of frakked up the mind was still aware of things the body wasn't paying much attention to. So it really could genuinely be called instinct that caused her to suddenly lunge for the blaster and aim it at the door just as it slid open, her arm shaking with the effort of keeping it from dropping as a harsh ache raced up through her shoulder. All she needed was the bastard to come into view and at least this nightmare would end.

But resolve wavered. Hard to keep the murderous intent when you know the rather disapproving look that didn't need to vocalize the fact she should put the weapon away. That was fine, her arm was just about to give up anyway and she let it drop limply to her side as the blaster thudded to the floor. Oh the things she wanted to say... wanted to rail and scream and possibly pick up the blaster just to throw it at him.

Somehow all she managed was a meek half whisper of "Hi."

Dashiel Starborn
Jun 22nd, 2013, 01:22:57 PM
“Hi.”

If Charlotte felt bad, Dash looked it. His nose was swollen and cracked out of shape and a patch of reddish blue bruising the shape of a crescent moon curved beneath his left eye. To his credit, he was standing up and looked like, barring any more run-ins with whoever had given him the broken nose in the first place, he would be able to stay standing without any huge amount of effort. It helped that he had been awake for hours, that he'd not gone to sleep with a belly full of Corellian rum. He hadn't slept much at all lately.

He lingered in the doorway to the small bedroom for a moment, making his own appraisal of the room. Little had changed since he'd put Charlotte to bed; he wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad. Deciding that could wait. He held up what had his hands full, arguably far less threatening than a blaster. In one hand, a brown paper take-out bag and in the other, a cardboard carry tray containing two cups.

“Breakfast. In bed or out?”

Charlotte Tur'enne
Jun 22nd, 2013, 03:31:46 PM
"Well, seeing as how I don't really feel like moving..." She didn't dare admit to the fact she was almost positive her muscles would completely betray her and she'd crumple like a newborn Zeer if she attempted to stand up.

Her mind didn't exactly race with questions, but it did wonder about a few things. Like: When exactly had Dash come into the picture? Why was he even attempting to associate with her after what happened? Had someone sent him to keep an eye on her? Why had he brought her here? And probably most importantly... "Please tell me I didn't give you that". Her hand gestured vaguely before she looked down and away. Okay so maybe she didn't really want to know the answer to that one.

Charlotte briefly eyed the blaster on the floor before looking back to him. "Look, Dash... You can tell your bosses I'm not exactly worth this effort. They should know damn well I'm not about to go running off blabbing war-time secrets everywhere. I know how to keep my mouth shut, even when I'm three sheets to the wind." A small huff left her "Especially then."

Dashiel Starborn
Jun 22nd, 2013, 04:15:34 PM
“I know.”

Dash tossed the brown bag at Charlotte and, with what looked like a grimace, she caught it against her chest. The greasy smell of eggs and bacon wafted up out of the scrunched up top of the bag. As Charlotte recovered from the sudden movement, Dash wriggled the two cups out of the carry tray, setting one down on the bed-side table. He sipped from the other; it tasted about as awful as he'd expected. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Don't worry. No one sent me to spy on you, Tur'enne,” he went on, as he paced back to the doorway. No one was sending him to spy on anyone any more, but that was a whole different story.

Charlotte Tur'enne
Jun 22nd, 2013, 04:34:09 PM
"Oh." An apology was on the tip of her tongue but seemed to have been gagged off by the smell from the bag. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good either.

She reluctantly pulled whatever Dash had chosen would be an acceptable meal out of the bag, trying to hold back from making further faces. Breakfast burritos weren't exactly the food of champions but at least it mostly classified as a meal. If nothing else she had to admit that she should eat. You couldn't exactly run on alcohol alone - even if she had been trying her damnedest to prove that false. The first bite didn't cause her to throw up immediately and it even caused her stomach to growl at the prospect of more food.

"Thanks... by the way." It was hard to say for some reason. "For all of..." Another waved gesture. Truth was she wasn't sure what she was thanking him for. Maybe it was just the food, maybe it was for making sure she hadn't slept in an alleyway the night before, maybe the patch-up job... "You don't have to stand over there, you know."

Dashiel Starborn
Sep 8th, 2013, 01:12:26 PM
Dash nodded, though he didn't make a move. There was some wise-crack on the tip of his tongue about the fact that he'd have to be crazy to want to go back into the pit where Charles had spent the night wallowing, but he washed that unspoken comment down with another sip of coffee.

“How's your head? Remember much?”he asked, casting a glance back over his shoulder as casually as he could, though there was the smallest hint of a wince in his expression at whatever he saw behind him.

Charlotte Tur'enne
Sep 8th, 2013, 01:53:39 PM
Kriff it all Dash, I'm not going to hit you. It hit her brain with about as much force as...well... whatever had actually hit her the night before. For all the anger in the universe she had, it wasn't ever directed at Starborn. And gods... maybe, just maybe she wanted something - someone - to show the universe still gave a damn and him keeping distance right now just wasn't helping. It was getting hard to tell if the overall ache she felt was just from bar brawls. Pathetic. She looked away from him as her hand rose to touch at the bandage again.

"Hurts like the nine hells... I feel like my brain was smashed into the back of my skull and all that's left up there is a smear against a wall. Not that that's new. Been like that since..." Her voice trailed off. He knew damn well. Dash had thankfully not actually been with her when it had happened... but he had been the first person she'd seen on the other side of her cell in the brig of the Whaladon and he'd no doubt heard enough details... Stop thinking about it.

A cautious glance followed his, though he was doing a good job of hiding everything behind him. "I can't remember anything past the first few fists in the bar last night." She didn't bother tacking on the addition that had been her reality for the last several weeks. "Why?"

Dashiel Starborn
Sep 8th, 2013, 02:07:41 PM
“You drank too much.”

Before she could answer, Dash swung a look back at Charlotte. Both eyebrows lifted, as if to say: yes, there is such a thing as too much. Even for you. He wasn't about to get all high and mighty about it, though. He'd contributed more than his fair share to keeping the local dive bars in business. She was just putting him to shame. Dash had always thought that it was just one of those things that people said about Corellians, that they couldn't possibly be biologically rigged up to withstand punch after metaphorical punch to the liver, but Tur'enne was living proof of it.

“Take your time with breakfast, but once you're done.. we should get out of here.”

He turned back to the room beyond the bedroom, pacing out of the threshold to reveal the near-literal speeder-wreck of broken glass that was the apartment's lounge.

Charlotte Tur'enne
Sep 8th, 2013, 02:32:08 PM
How she hadn't noticed the mess when she first woke up was beyond her. Maybe some part of her was just blocking it out. It certainly looked like her handiwork. The whole scene was taken in as she sullenly finished the poor excuse for food. Gross or not she could tell it had been needed, she felt slightly more alive at least. Though that clarity brought about all sorts of new awareness of the hurts her body held in store. It'd taken a fair amount of effort to not let some sort of gasp or whimper leave her as she had reached over to her neatly folded clothing and begun slowly dressing.

"I'll pay you back. For the room, I mean." The words came through slightly gritted teeth she forced herself to stand. The room spun. She had been expecting it but really you never were prepared for that awful vertigo. She found herself sorely tempted to just sit back down until it stopped. Instead she focused upon a spot on the floor and took a few deep, but painful, breaths.

Her gaze caught her blaster, still on the floor, frak... Charlotte never would have thought that the very notion of just picking something up off the floor would be so daunting.

"So where do we go from here...?" The words left her with far more weight than she had intended. There had been a series of questions planned... Where do you want to hang out until I tell you to get lost for your own good? Why the hell did you bring me here in the first place? What are your superiors going to say when word gets out you were around me again? And so on. And yet what she had actually said was what her brain could come up with? Nice....

Dashiel Starborn
Sep 14th, 2013, 12:47:13 AM
There it was, the billion credit question. It had been coming for a while, always looming at the back of Dash's mind but never spoken aloud. His own answer had changed day to day. In the beginning, he'd rationalised that they ought to go to his father. The Colonel was a hard-nosed, stick in the mud at the best of times but he'd always taught his boys that family was the most important thing. Sure, Regulus respected the Jedi to a degree, but he wouldn't go turning Charlotte and Dash over to them, would he? The more he'd thought about it, the more Dash doubted himself.

There was another option, of course. One that he was trying not to think about but that was becoming more and more inevitable as time went on.

“I've built up some contacts through Intel, but they were mostly.. snitches who wanted the Empire out and the Alliance in. Not sure they'd be so helpful now,” Dash paused, chewing at the inside of his lip, still debating over what he was about to say.

“My brother's in the Outer Rim somewhere. He always.. worked off the grid. Might be he can point us somewhere to go until...” Again, Dash paused, mentally fumbling.Until when? What was supposed to happen that would make it so either one of them could go back to something remotely resembling normality. What could happen?

“Whenever.”

Charlotte Tur'enne
Sep 14th, 2013, 02:49:52 PM
It sounded like a reasonable option and for one split second she found herself insanely jealous of Dash still having family to turn to. She stood there, the silence between them stretching as she pondered his words, her aches, and the damn blaster on the floor. Sure - they could go out to Rim, find jobs as mercenaries or guards for some less than legal operations. They wouldn't be the first to do such a thing. It would make sense. Hell, it might even be good for her... for him... for... them? She struggled over that thought for a moment, glancing back up at her one-time partner in the Rebellion.

Yes. It could work. And while it wasn't going to be easy... it was the easy way out.

Somewhere in the mix of self destruction Charles had realized where her anger had always been. Where it still was. The rest of the Galaxy may had found peace, managed to come to terms with things...

But the Empire still existed.

Alderaan was still gone.

And some scars, no matter how long a time you let pass, never really faded.

"Nothing had changed." The words left her just above a whisper.

With a sickening grimace she finally forced herself to crouch down and retrieve her weapon. The pain was awful, brought tears to the corners of her eyes and made her wonder for a split-second if she might just pass out. She had felt worse. They had made her feel worse. And she was just one sob-story... how many others were out there just like her? How many others had the Empire attempted to destroy, leaving only broken bits behind in their wake? How many lives, how many families had been shattered? How much was that worth?

"There's... another option..."

If crouching down to get the blaster had been bad, straightening back up was a million times worse and she found herself wavering. I could just lay down and die.

It was madness that she was about to suggest. Pure and simple. If it had been anyone else in the room she would have kept her mouth shut, keeping the idea to herself. But Dash...Welll... Charles fully believed that the worst he'd do was call her on it and at the end of the day they could laugh it off... even if she was serious. Even if the thought had been with her since day one.

"We ignore their frackin' Treaty."

Dashiel Starborn
Sep 20th, 2013, 11:17:05 AM
He didn't ask which treaty, didn't need to. As far as anyone was concerned, there was only one Treaty with a capital T and that was the one that'd brought an end to the Galactic Civil War. In theory, at least. The war being over was still a matter for debate in some circles. Their hadn't been all-out conflict and guns blazing for a long time, even before the treaty, so it was hard to say what exactly had changed – aside from the Empire officially recognising the right of the new Alliance to govern certain systems. Systems that had already been under Rebellion control in every way shape or form, except name.

Dash eyed the blaster, back in Charlotte's hand. Her opinion on the Treaty wasn't an uncommon view, she'd just taken it to an extreme that some veterans in the Alliance just didn't have the energy to reach. On a spectrum from ecstatic to livid with the Treaty, Charlotte was firmly at the latter end.

As far Starborn, he was still figuring it all out.

“Explain to me how that works.”