#exemplaries

she’s quiet for a moment, head slightly bowed --- the most she’ll let herself crack under the weight of it. in the end she says simply, “i volunteered.” the path she’s walked has not been a kind one, but she chose it. that the jedi council hadn’t agreed ... maybe it was injustice. she’s wanted to let go of that anger, but maybe she shouldn’t, not entirely.

another meeting that had come with the exact same result as the one’s before it. knowing the names of the creatures, and apparently their intentions, that had attacked hapes consortium and so many other places across the galaxy had brought no more answers about them. it was nearly infuriating, though padmé remained a calm exterior, even offering a small smile when she recognized a familiar face. “bastila, it’s wonderful to see you again – especially looking so well, after everything recently.”

meetra watches bastila worriedly, carefully tucked away in her room at the new jedi temple. they’re worried about their friend --- they don’t know what’s wrong with her entirely, but it’s clear enough that something is. bastila is ... used to keeping her feelings to herself, they think, but they want her to know that they’re here for her, if she’ll let them. they always will be. “what’s going on, bastila ? i know this is more than the attacks.“

“bastila,” meetra greeted, trying to look serious & utterly failing, brown eyes gleaming with mirth. she had grown to like the younger woman, thought that they got along rather well, but she had still never been this ... smiley around her. meetra wasn’t quite herself tonight, & it honestly felt freeing. she leaned forwards a little conspiratorially, saying with a growing smile, “i’m trying not to abuse the force, but. there is a dignitary who’s rather asking to have his champagne dumped over his head.”

     A raise of an eyebrow follows the silence from the other. Curiosity shines bright in his gaze as he takes a drink from the glass of amber liquid. He likes the burn of the alcohol as it makes him not think of the woes his life currently has. There's nothing he can do about things here. He can only face them and home and he knows that once he walks through that door, then he'll be in the mode to focus but for now, it's time to relax. At least, it was, until Hask had arrived. "Then tell me, Hask, what exactly is it meant to be like?" Another pause for another drink. "Cause from what I can see, it is that way exactly."

Del lets a smile slip over his features at the other's deadpanned words. He can't stop the laugh that follows at them and he gives a small shake of his head. "Oh come on, now. It's not the first time we've done something as such!" A pause and he reaches for his blaster, the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he looks over to his once former friend and ally as he draws a breath, the smile only growing. "Besides, I still remember the last time we were in the medical bay together. You did cause quite the stir!"

A laugh leaves him without warning. Helmet is placed beside him and there's humor that lights his gaze at the other's words. Survive? Was this what they called surviving? What a joke. Kylo hadn't laughed like such in quite some time, it felt good to feel it in his chest and his belly even though Ben simply rolled his eyes inside of the other, missing the joke behind why this was so funny to the Sith Lord. "Is this your dream of survival?" Kylo asks, that laughter dying down upon his tongue as he speaks and Ben wants to say something but Kylo doesn't give him the chance. There's no point. Finn was a stormtrooper, or had been and Kylo was used to dealing with them. Used to putting them in their places and crushing whatever dreams they had of defecting. "Show me your true survival and perhaps I'll believe it but this? This is just sad."