Two Weeks Notice

[Byl Laprovik]

Dac

He'd cooked for himself before. Plenty of times. He'd only recently given a damn about it.

Byl watched the nuna eggs sizzle in the skillet, waiting for the tell-tale color shift that hinted he could flip them. He'd adapted to this role of cook. Breakfast was a communal time. There was enough time for him and James to hash things out, whenever he was on planet. Enough time to make sure they were both okay. It wasn't every day. It wasn't even every week, but Byl found himself needing this communion. This sense of normalcy.


She sat at the table, waiting on him. By now, he'd actually gotten fairly decent at breakfast. He wasn't about to disappoint now.

Sliding a plate in front of James, Byl took his own, and sat opposite her in their small apartment.

"James, are you happy on Ossus?"

[James Prent]

She chewed her eggs thoughtfully, swallowed, and reached for her glass of water.

"Not really?"

James grimaced, sipped her water, and set it down. "I thought it would be ... different? More 'master/student' less me sitting inna class full o' kids learning meditation techniques.

"Which, by th' way, I learned. I'm so chill now." Her grin faded slowly. "But I'm not sure th' Jedi thing is for me."

She'd only been back on Dac since the night before, and had a few more days with Byl before he was heading out, or she was. Being back with him only seemed to magnify the feeling that she should never have left in the first place.

[Byl Laprovik]

"Hm."

It was a nothing response, but Byl's expression seemed somehow sad. He returned to his breakfast, pushing against the yolk with the tines of his fork, just shy of breaking it.

"I've got my new orders. Ord Ibanna."

He relented, pressing the tines through to watch three pricks of yellow ooze like blood.

"Just outside of Sullust."

[James Prent]

"That's ... far." James stabbed her second egg and watched the orange yolk spill out before mopping it up with a slice of toast. "A quick mission or are we talkin' a long assignment?"

She looked up at him, taking a big bite out of her toast.

[Byl Laprovik]

"It sounds like it might be for a while."

The distance was bad, but the timing was worse. Byl could feel it without it being said.

"SIGINT work. Codes. Transmissions. Things like that."

He frowned, cutting up his breakfast in a workmanlike fashion.

"I'm not sure why they're drawing me for this. I can do the work, but so can fifty other people. It's not my specialty."

[James Prent]

James frowned, gently reaching out with the Force to try to determine what Byl was feeling. It seemed a bit like cheating, but on the other hand, he would tell her to use all the gifts at her disposal.

He was definitely upset, but the why was not something the Force would tell her. That she could figure out all on her own.

"You think they're done wi' you. Shuntin' you off to do somethin' anyone wi' trainin' can do - when someone with your training should be somewhere else." James glared at her plate at the injustice of it, and shoved a big yolky, floppy bit of egg onto her toast before taking another bite.

[Byl Laprovik]

She'd hit pretty close with that, and Byl had to wonder whether it was the Force at work or just because they knew each others' moves so well at this point.

"Something like that, yeah. I just..."

He sharply turned his head, chewing on his words before looking back.

"...everything's changed. The whole galaxy changed. We stopped running, but I'm wondering if I'm cut out for staying put. And I hate myself for thinking that, because everything - everything is better now by the numbers."

[James Prent]

She set her fork down.

”If you don’t want t’ stay put, then don’t. We’re not prisoners here, are we?”

[Byl Laprovik]

"No, we aren't."

It didn't still his thoughts, however. Byl simply deferred them by taking a few utilitarian bites of his breakfast.

"We're just not happy. You on Ossus. Me on Ord Ibanna. Apart for weeks at a time, each of us doing something that somehow feels unfulfilling."

[James Prent]

James picked up her fork, but didn't return to her food, instead she watched Byl eat with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Was he trying to break up with her?

"If you aren't happy, then you should ... make a change." She stared at her half-eaten breakfast. "If it's not working out with us... if there's something more you want..."

[Byl Laprovik]

Her suggestion creased Byl's face into a wounded expression.

"What? No, that's not what I meant!"

He let go of his fork, the clatter as it hit the plate rang louder than he meant. Reaching across their small table, he put one hand over James' counterpart.

"You're my polestar. The only thing that I'm certain of. I just feel like..." words struggled to come out, and he grimaced, "I feel like whatever I'm doing that's not with you, its just marking time. I feel like whatever this galaxy's become, that I don't know how to adapt to it. It feels like I'm two moves behind, and that listening to signals behind a headset on some nowhere outpost is a dead end."

Was that it?

"Maybe I should resign."

[James Prent]

She gripped his hand tightly, a wave of relief washing over her at his words. "Yes."

By looked up, and James repeated herself. "Yes. Resign. Let's just ... go." As she said it, the stronger she felt toward the idea.

"We can do what we want t' do, and for me that isn't being apart."

[Byl Laprovik]

Byl was relieved to hear her say it, but that relief was quickly tempered with caution.

"What will we do? For money and the like?"

He could think of a few ways to translate his skill set into money, but not many of those were savory.

"I suppose I could find someone needing private security."

[James Prent]

"Or we could get a freighter and just shift things around the galaxy for a while." Despite how it had ended, James still had a soft spot for her time on the Layla with ...her brother.

She gripped Byl's hand tighter. "I...I didn't want t' drag you into this, but my father contacted me. He wants t' meet up an' talk and I just don't think I can do it on my own."

[Byl Laprovik]

"Your father?"

Byl's brow knit. James had never gone into detail, but the trace information he'd gleaned from the mentioning was that her past hadn't been a happy one. Still, that wasn't an objection on the slightest. He upturned his palms.

"Well then let's do it, right? Where's the rendezvous?"

[James Prent]

“Tatooine.” James grimaced. “I’ve never been, but I’ve heard bad things.”

She laced her fingers with his, tracing a scar on his hand with her thumb. “It will pro’lly be bullshit, considering it’s my da. I don’t know ‘im well, but I know that much.”