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| - The Caamasi Gardens of Ord Mantell...a beautiful place for many, and today was a place for Raxis to hide. His normally boyish features were marred in a healing process as he sat on a bench with a cigarette in the middle of the night. The dark haired pilot's left arm was in a sling with a gauze wrapping over his forearm and bacta patches beneath. Scrapes on his face and a wrapped hand on his left arm also completed the ensemble. Bulges under his shirt over his right shoulder give hint to a further group of healing patches. Truly he was alot worse for wear than his normal state. Simply staring at a small fountain, Raxis sits alone in the moonlight. Shael has gone for a bit of a walk to clear her head. The trial was well and over, and still Whisler hadn't reappeared. And in the morning she would have to leave the planet on her next run. Leaving the planet without her friend left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she didn't see much other choice for it. She holds a stick in her hand that she'd picked up somewhere on her walks, and she uses it to whack idly at some of the plants she passes. Whisler'll come back. Won't she? Hearing the sound of someone approaching jostles Raxis out of his blank state. Turning, he sees the girl from the trial walking along slowly, damaging the nearby plantlife. Leaning back on the bench, he watches her for a moment before speaking up. "You too eh?" He says quietly. "I always come here to clear my head too." Shael looks up at the sound of the voice, surprise registering on her face. Clearly she hadn't been paying too much attention to her surroundings. "Not... here, usually. But I've been feeling a little restless," she confides. "You like hell," she adds simply. "Get in a fight with a rancor?" "Empire..." Raxis replies, exhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke. No boyish grins or lifted eyebrows followed as Raxis seems darker in mood. "...I got two, but not the third. Went extravehicular..." He adds with a flattened lift of his eyebrows. "What's your story?" A flash of concern crosses Shael's features briefly. Not for Raxis, mind you. But coincidentally for the man who shot him down. She quickly quashes that feeling, however. Krieg had said it himself, he didn't have as much chance to get behind the stick as often anymore. "It's a long story," Shael replies a bit dryly in response to his question about her own troubles. "Not worth boring you with." "Go ahead and bore me..." Raxis says with a glance to her, turning his eyes to stare back at the gardens. "But first I wanted to apologize about being rude to you and the blue skinned lady at the government buildings. I hope I didn't put you in an uncomfortable position." He adds, running a hand through his hair with a wince. "Nah," Shael replies dismissively, not seeming to mind the little scene she and Daana had caused in the halls of the senate. "Daana got over it." Shael was currently using her stick to dig at a soft patch of earth in a little flower garden. "She's a good sort like that." As for herself and he own tale of woe, she still remains silent. Watching her again for a moment, Raxis' eyes return back to the fountain. Draping his less wounded arm across the back of the bench, he drags off of the cigarette and looks upwards for a moment. "This is the third time I've been shot down," Raxis says with a light inwards smile. "I've got more than a few kills and assists on the board, but this is the first time I had to eject into space. I took some environmental damage due to a faulty patch in my flight suit." He adds, dragging again off of his cigarette. "So, when you've just killed two imperial pilots I think I owe it to them to take a moment to acknowledge my mortality and just be happy to be alive." "I've wrecked three ships myself," Shael admits. "The third one was the Imperial's fault. They disabled my ship, hauled me onto one of the Star Destroyers, stripped me of everything that wasn't bolted down, and spat me back out into space with every system dead, including life support. Luckily the New Republic came by and saved me from a very, very cold evening." "A pilot named Krieg took me down twice. Today was the second time." Raxis says flatly, turning to the pool again. Huffing slightly, he shakes his head. "You know the first time he left me stranded on a planet. They chose not to capture me. I should have spent more time being thankful but I felt...embarassed." He pauses. "The second time him and I met we had ourselves a nice little duel to the draw till they doubled up on me. This time he got me again though..." He adds, trailing off. "I suppose they say he's one of the best so I shouldn't feel all that bad right?" Krieg's name definately catches Shael's attention. She's stopped poking at the dirt, at least. "Krieg is good," Shael agrees, speaking in a quiet voice. "He's the one that got me." She never stood a chance of breaking through the blockade, really. It was ridiculous. "So. He got away again, or did anyone in your squad finally get him?" She tries to keep her tone light and casual, but doesn't completely succeed. There's some amount of tenseness in her voice. "No, he got away again," Raxis replies, turning to regard her. "I was the last at the line so to speak to test against him and failed. The rest of my squadron were recalled to other duties. He did get shot down twice recently though, but was collected back up by the Imperials before he could be captured." Raxis nods, wincing a little before resting back into his seat. "This hurts like hell..." The thought of Krieg getting captured sits uneasily with her, but again she refrains from commenting. "Are you sure you should be so far from the med faicilities so soon after getting injured?" Shael asks with concern. "I'm sure I could go find me a speeder to use to ferry you back to base..." she offers. "Oh no...it's allright. I was given some free time to roam." He adds, with a slight smile on the side of his face. "Of course they meant the lobby, but I'm a pilot. I have to be a brat." He says, turning to ash his cigarette and watch her. "I just can't think in those rooms with the beeping equipment, and they won't let me have sleep medication." He pauses, scratching the top of his nose for a moment. "I've got too much to think about. I need to be awake right now anyway..." He says to her, but mostly to himself as he drags off of his cigarette. "Nothing I should be bothering you with anyway," He adds, turning back to the fountain. "You already seem to have enough on your mind, right?" "Everybody seems to have something on their mind these days..." Shael mumbles, swinging her stick a bit idly these days. "But what have I got to complain about? I didn't just have a near death experience. I've either been doing something right, or something wrong, but it's been months since I was last almost killed." Laughing quietly, Raxis coughs with a wince and rubs his chest for a moment. Settling back into his chair, he turns to look at her again. "Well nearly getting killed is the easy part." Raxis replies, looking to the ground. "In war you can tell yourself over and over again that the enemy is faceless, but sooner or later you're going to see their faces and realize that they are people. You also realize that there are children sleeping in beds on both sides of the war on planets that are wanted for seizure from either side." Raxis says quietly, ashing his cigarette. "War is really only easy on the dead." The swinging stops again as Shael turns to inspect Raxis, a thoughtful look on her face. "It's not many military folks I've heard talk like that from," Shael says quietly. "That's one reason I don't think I could sign up to be a fighter pilot. I've never killed anyone before, and I don't particularly want to break that trend. Plus, I don't want to die either. Even if I do wanna help the New Republic." Her gaze drops down to the stick in her hands as she continues quietly, "People on both sides of this war are getting hurt, and it won't be stopping any time soon. I'm certainly not holding my breath." "Well...that's the hard sell of being military. You have to accept that the people on the other side have families and loved ones. When you're fighting, you have to save the life of the person next to you. You have to do everything you can to make sure that they get home and your comrades do the same for you." Raxis says quietly. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I explained but was picked for the jury, but I know Serenella. I care for her." He pauses, a sad look crossing over his face. "You know her too. You were frustrated at the trial. I can see it turned into something...wrong. I fight like hell to get back here to make sure that she's okay. If you two are still aquainted after this trial's up can I ask you to take care of her for me if I can't?" Shael isn't going to lie to him and tell him that everything will be fine. They're both smarter than that, and what's the point of a lie that neither of them will buy? "I talked to her the other day. Seems everything's okay between us. I really did only want to help her, as strange as that may be." The stick gets jabbed into the ground so that it stands upright in the dirt beside her. "I'll do my best to look after her, as well her sister, but there's no guarantee that she'll listen to either of us. Girl's stubborn." "Yeah...she is a bit stubborn." Raxis replies with a wry grin, starting to feel a little better. After all of the dodging of the media in questioning exactly which StarOps pilot she'd been seen with. "I just have hope for her. She'll heal from her husband's death and hopefully move on forward in a happy life. That'll make me feel like I've accomplished something." He looks back to Shael to stub his cigarette out. "It's the little things, right?" "It is," Shael agrees. "It's always the small things. Saving the individual. If we can't help them, what good is any of this for? Lately, all I feel I can do is try to keep those around me safe. And half the time it seems I can't even do that." "Well you haven't had to kill anyone so you must be doing something right," Raxis replies, giving her a small grin. "Seriously...what's bothering you? Sometimes it helps to let it out." With the life she lives sometimes, Shael knows better than to expect that that little trend will last forever. One of these days, she will end up taking someone's life. "I'm worried for a friend, is all," Shael replies simply. "I haven't heard from her in a while. I'm sure it's nothing." Right, she's sure. If she were sure, then why worry? "Who?" Raxis asks, adjusting his sitting position for a moment to become more comfortable. "I'm pretty well connected around here. Since you listened to what I had to say I'm contractually obligated to at least help if I can with whatever's bothering you" He adds with a grunt, accidentally banging his bandaged left arm against the armrest of his bench. Eyes bulging for a moment, he holds back a yelp. Shael shakes her head, at least as stubborn as the dancer. "She doesn't like meddlers. It's better off left alone, and things'll resolve themselves when she's ready for them to. She'll give me a call when she's ready to give it." "Oh...well...I hope everything turns out okay then." Raxis replies turning to look back at the fountain. With a grunt, Raxis tries to push himself off of the bench and succeeds, alongside a fit of dizziness. He shakes his head to clear it as it passes. "Well if you see Serenella, would you let her know I'm at the medical center? I might not be able to stop by, but I have to be there for the sentencing." He says quietly as he begins to shamble towards her, on the path that leads out of the gardens. Somber and quiet, he still rolls his troubled thoughts through his mind. Frowning in concern, Shael tries to take Raxis's good arm if he'll let her, to help support his weight. "Let me walk you back to the base," she offers. "I don't know how I'd live it down if one of our flyboys fell down and passed out in a ditch on my watch." Pausing for a moment, Raxis mulls over the idea before deciding that his act of being a tough guy would fail anyway, as his pain medication was beginning to take hold of him. "Allright...but no throwing me down stairs." He adds with a quip, beginning to walk with her back towards the medical center. "Please don't...tell anyone about the things I said about knowing that the Imperials are humans just like me." Raxis asks, looking to her as they hobble. "I mean it, but that's my burden to carry, no one else's?" "I know when to hold my tongue," Shael promises, not for the first time that day. "You're a tough, hotshot pilot that eats Imperials for breakfast, right? I don't even know what you're talking about." Shael keeps both of her arms firmly on his arm to help him walk, slipping one arm around his waist to better support him if he has too much trouble walking. "Right, so we never had this conversation...or at least that part of it." He chuckles quietly, his body aching as he walks alongside her. "Last thing anyone needs is thinking that there's an X-wing pilot that's sympathetic. No one would understand what I meant by it." He adds as they exit the gardens and begin their way down the street. "Oh...since I'm oweing you one because of this, talk to Serenella's sister and ask about the dinner invitation and see what she says." Dinner invitation, Shael wonders silently. What could he be talking about? "I'll ask her," Shael replies. "Right after I kick beat her soundly in our first swoop race. I'm sure that'll be any day now." She certainly wishes it would be at least. "Well I offered to cook for Serenella and her friends..." Raxis adds, stepping towards the turbolift with her. "...you know it's amazing I made it down this thing the first time. Let's be thankful I'm used to G-forces." Raxis quips. "So how long have you been a racer?" "Since I was in diapers, practically," Shael replies with amusement, reaching out to operate the turbolift. "My dad was a fighter pilot. My first memory was him taking me flying. I was hooked from then on. Started racing properly as soon as I could." And earlier than was legal. "My father had a swoop he used to let me drive. Well...it was more of a speeder bike than anything but those we..." he pauses, shaking his head clear as a wave of dizziness washes over him. "...we sold them on a bad harvest season to make room." "It happens," Shael replies lightly. "Life doesn't always take the turns we want them to. Mine's taken more than a few detours, I know." When the dizzy spell takes Raxis some, she tightens her grip on him a little to be sure he remains upright. "You were a farmboy, then?" "Kinda..." Raxis replies, bracing his arm on the doorframe as he gets dizzy so she doesn't have to hug on him so much. "Wine country. So it wasn't all nerf and fields, we had a hillside covered in vine and everything we ever needed when we sold our vintage in town." He replies, nodding softly to her. "So military life took a little getting used to. It took me a few years, really." "Kinda..." Raxis replies, bracing his arm on the doorframe as he gets dizzy so she doesn't have to hug on him so much. "Wine country. So it wasn't all nerf and fields, we had a hillside covered in vine and everything we ever needed when we sold our vintage in town." He replies, nodding softly to her. "So military life took a little getting used to. It took me a few years, really." "Well it is pretty rigid," Raxis replies, pointing to a small hospital building less than a block away. Already a nurse was outside looking for him. Raxis smiled. The nurse did not. "Oh she looks -pissed-" Raxis says with a chuckle, stopping to untangle her from him with a wince. "I'll be okay from here, I don't think I'm going to be allowed out of their sight for a little bit, or at least until the sentencing hearing. Please drop by if you want, and remember to let Sel know where I am?" He smiles, offering her his right hand to shake. "Raxis L'ygr." "She should be," Shael replies simply, rolling her eyes at Raxis. Men. Idiots. He really could have passed out in a ditch trying to walk back on his own. "I'll let her know next I see her." Taking Raxis' hand she shakes it, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Shael Winters," she replies. "But you already knew that. I'll see you around, I suppose." "Of course. I'm never too far away." Raxis returns her shake with a firm but dizzied grip as the fussing Mon Calamarian nurse nears closer. "Now if you'll excuse me Ms. Winters. I am going to get yelled at and have my bandages changed, and receive a lecture about how this wasn't good for me." He adds with a smile, turning to face the approaching Mon Calamarian. The nurse takes his arm and begins pulling him slowly across the street. "Give him hell!" Shael encourages the Mon Calamarian nurse, waving to Raxis as she moves off. Idiot pilots. Good thing she isn't as foolish as all that, right? She's a much more sensible being. Shaking her head, Shael starts trudging her way back to the starport. She has a run in the morning...
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