To know the future is... frankly a pain in the-

[Cassandra Morningstar]

It's one thing to wake up screaming. That's pretty damn normal as far as mornings go. Okay so that's kinda weird to most people but if you had freaky vivid weirdo dreams that tended to end with a lot of dead people all the damn time you'd wake up that way too. So yeah, screaming's the normal bit. The new thing? Oh that's glorious. That's waking up feeling like someone's driven a vibroblade right into your eye socket and the pain is so intense you aren't exactly sure if you're still making the awful sound or if it's just echoing about up there. The nosebleed is new too. A ruined pillow case in a situation where supplies aren't exactly all over the place and you could just pick up a new one like it was no big thing - Great. Just great. Not that Cassandra was really all that worried about that in that exact moment what with the migraine of impending doom bringing on it's form of great unholy vengeance but not-soon-enough later, when it finally let up, yeah, then she noticed it. She also noticed the lack of grumbling coming from the other room of the makeshift home of a dorm type thing that she shared with her uncle.

Yep. Uncle.

Oh gross, not like that. Get your head out of the gutter.

Uncle in the way that a lot of other kids had their uncle or their aunt or their grandparents to live with because their damn fools for parents had thought the great Galactic Civil War was worthwhile and had hoisted their kid off on someone else while they were running off getting themselves killed. Cassandra wasn't special like that, she figured she was part of an entire generation where having parents was the odd thing. Anyway, dearest uncle had a level head on his shoulder and begrudgingly agreed to looking at his kid brother's dopey daughter. Which meant that Cassandra went where he went, and given that the man had signed on to be part of the bright and shiny new Alliance Corps of Engineers; Tadaa! That meant Ossus.

Which, was okay, she guessed. Whoo, visit strange new planets and experience the rebirth of the Jedi Order from the sidelines. Wowie. Amazing. Fantastic.

Except that the dreams had gotten more frequent since she'd stepped foot on the planet, the food was awful, and her uncle had taken to muttering about his dead brother - meaning dad - a whole hells of a lot more. Ossus: vacation getaway you are not.

So that was what morning had brought on and since dearest uncle was off working already, hence the waking up without the usual annoyed and still somehow concerned looks thing, there really wasn't much else to do except make an attempt at getting dressed in something clean before Cassandra stumbled her way off to breakfast with the echos of the headache still droning away with each step, palm of a hand shoving against the eye that she was sure had threatened to turn into liquid during the ordeal. The thought of the ruckus the makeshift mess hall would bring was anything but welcoming. Maybe breakfast wasn't going to be such a great idea after all...

[Hwooroc]

Another day! Another day!

Hwooroc's footpaws happily touched ground a good five minutes before his alarm went off. He whuurfed along to a song on his portable audio player by some Twi'lek band. He didn't understand Twi'leki, but the song was pretty catchy and it got his feet moving as he quickly glanced over his homework from the night before, making sure that all his answers were correct. He stood in front of a full length mirror, and carefully took a handbrush and went about the 20 minute ritual that was making sure his fur was presentable. Most of that was pretty easy until he got to his head and face, where there were certain ways the fur went...and if he didn't get it just right...

Hwooroc's tongue poked between taut lips in concentration as he carefully plied an errant strand on his forehead that tended to go anywhere-but-right. Like a man defusing a bomb, his mind was a steel trap as he carefully...

"Hwooa!"

Got it! The kid wookiee put aside his brush, taking a moment to admire how smart and dapper he looked before tending to brushing his teeth. That done, he carefully crammed his datapads and books into his backpack, and he was off to the mess hall for breakfast.

"Oahwaaugggh!"

Skidding to a stop, Hwooroc looked back with a panic-stricken expression. Oh, how could he forget that! Shrugging off his backpack, he sprinted across his room to his utility chest, flipping open the lid to pull out his sash. Being more or less the only article of clothing he wore, it was a point of principle that he should at least wear something, and more importantly, it had both his name on it, and the official patch of Katarn Clan sewn onto the chest. Hwooroc slid on the sash, again making sure he looked tip-top. Smiling and nodding at his own reflection, he again snatched up his bookbag and took off, a blur of furiously-pumping legs as his four foot tall frame bobbed and weaved around taller and slower humanoids. Some people sure looked grumpy this morning. Not Hwooroc! Today was going to be great!

Skidding to a stop at the end of the mess queue, Hwooroc panted a little, looking up at the human girl standing in front of him. She looked...not well. Not a morning person? Maybe he could turn that frown upside down.

"Gnauu!"

After all, a cheerful hello was always a good place to start.

[Cassandra Morningstar]

There are several things that really should be outlawed in the Galaxy as far as occurrences to avoid before a person has properly had the time to acclimate to the day.

First was any sort of heavy thinking. The strangely migratory life that Cassandra had known for the better part of her life helped with that immensely, schooling was kept to her schedule and as long as she passed the required tests obtained from the holonet courses, her uncle never seemed to mind that lessons never really seemed to start until mid afternoon and sometimes went on well into the evening. It gone done and, as he was so keen to point out, it kept her quiet during times when he was trying to unwind from the day's labors.

Second - and more importantly - were loud, unexpected noises. You know, like the kind that comes from a far too perky to be really real Wookiee. A young one at that.

Third... okay so really at this point does anyone care what third onward is? Anyone?

Cassandra certainly didn't. Well, she may have, if she wasn't busy trying to squint down at the youngling through an eruption that went off somewhere in her head that probably would have been multicolored and filled with bird sounds if this was some sort of old school holotoon. No stars though, so there was that to be thankful for at least.

It wasn't that she was grumpy so much as not-quite-functional and at first all she could muster was some mumbled phrase about "indoor voices" that sounded a bit too much like words of wisdom from the Old Man for her liking. A few rapid eye-blinks later and a small shuffle as the line moved forward cleared things up enough that she managed a small, although not as unfriendly as one may have expected, wave.

"Uhhh, hi. Please don't tell me I just cut in front of you or something. Not that I think I'd understand anyway." A pause, a slight nod of her head that took way too much effort, and an uncomfortable look later, "Said that out loud, didn't I? Sorry, been one of those kinds of mornings."

A halfhearted smile tried to tug at the corner of her mouth before her shoulders slumped and another small wince brought on a wave of internal curses for the overly bright artificial lighting in the hall that only managed to escape as a low groan as she cast her eyes back down on the Wookiee "It's bad that I have no idea what I even mean by that, isn't it?"

[Hwooroc]

Hwooroc's eyes were focused and intent on the human. He wasn't the foremost expert on human expression (how do you even emote without face fur) but he'd have to guess she either had a lot on her mind, or she had a splitting headache, or maybe she was constipated. Nah, probably not the latter. Hopefully not.

With a sigh, he worked out his temperamental vox module from its pocket in the back of his backpack. It was no longer shiny and new, and had a few nicks and scuffs. Some where the result of rough handling. Some were the results of a frustrated Wookiee trying to make the darn thing work like it should. Still, it seemed she didn't know Shyriiwook, so this was probably better than hand gestures or getting out his tablet, but only barely.

First things first. Jedi help people. Here was a clear case of someone needing help. Let's start with 'Are you okay? Do you need help?'

"Gnaughwaa wauaaua gmmmauhooo?"

"Are you okay? Do you nicoise salad haberdashery?"

A look of panic gripped Hwooroc's face and he shook the module furiously. A clink sounded on the inside, like a tiny screw was loose. He gwaaaauuuuurrrfffed in frustration.

[Cassandra Morningstar]

Déjà vu was a strange thing. Really. Who the heck thought it'd be a great idea to let people think they'd been in the exact situation they were in before and still have some sort of sense that it hadn't happened before and more to the point that they were experiencing that sensation of... Well, you get the point. Stranger still was it was accompanied by the feeling that eventually, someone would fix that damn vox module. Okay, so it wasn't going to be perfect, but still a lot better than it would normally be and it wouldn't be so big so maybe it wasn't a matter of fixing it so much as getting the Wookiee a new one which...

Cassandra had to shake away the feeling which was weird and kinda awful. None of that had happened, was going to happen, whatever. Either way déjà vu suddenly came with a side of vertigo that really could have been better left at the buffet, thank you very much.

"No no, I'm fine."

Fine like in that way that everyone means the word. Fine somehow always comes to mean No. In fact, I'm awful but I won't tell you because somehow I rather shoulder this alone than have to even contemplate letting you wonder if I'm secretly miserable. Not that she was miserable.

Crap, this day was just all wrong and really no amount of caffeine was going to fix it.

"Better than your translator at least." Cassandra waved a hand vaguely in its direction. "I mean... I'll be better by the end of today and unless you're planning on seeing a mechanic or some sort of tinkerer..."

Her voice trailed off and another sigh left. "This is coming out all messed up. How about we start again?"

All embarrassing speech snafus aside, at least her headache was finally letting up. It probably had something to do with the sudden rush of blood going towards her head as she was realizing what a complete ass she was sounding like was realized.

"I'm Cassie -err, Cassandra. I'm a..." Nobody. "Civilian. Kinda new around here. And I'm fine, really. Bit of a headache, nothing I can't handle."

[Hwooroc]

Hwooroc shuffled his feet a little, kicking a clod as he scratched his head. Darn vox! It was working just fine the other night! He'd run a syntax and logic diagnosis before bed and everything. Oh darnit. A defeated moan escaped his lips when Cassandra seemed to instinctively draw back on basics and introductions. That, he could probably do, to heck with the vox. Brightening, he stuffed the vox away, stood up tall, and jerked a thumb toward his chest.

"Hwooroc!"

Oh! Oh! Cassandra also had a problem! A headache problem! Hwooroc quickly unshouldered his backpack, and began to rifle through the contents on the ground before coming up with a bottle of Happy Nexu Brand chewable kolto tabs. A perfectly safe and universal solution to various owwies, boo-boo's and, of course, headaches. He held the brightly-colored bottle up for the human to inspect, mouthbreathing expectantly through his underbite.