Ashi Tevarl - Dramatics

‘As the Gear Turns’, a Xabrec holovid drama, had been recommended to Ashi by Beryn, who had told her that one of his daughters had been binge watching it lately. In the lee of the tidal wave of her anger, Ashi felt empty and drained. So, she filled the emptied part of her soul and energy with the story about a cheap speeder mechanic meeting the daughter of some Xabrec noble family and, in fourty minute stages, attempting to charm her out of her clothing.

He never quite succeeded, which Ashi suspected was why the show had so many episodes.

It served. It let her heal a little. Beryn had wanted her to wear robes, so she had tried that for a while before boob sweat made her feel entirely too disgusting and she’d shed them for a loose shirt, no bra, and the softest sweat pants she could find in her drawers. Pillows made the apartment floor cushy, and her low table made a great stage for the show playing out in pretty blue hues.

Food delivery. Mumbled thanks. Back to mindless consumption, just with more fatassery.

Ashi had just managed to doze off seven episodes in when her comm chirped, and she sat up to dig around for it in the pillowed mess to pause the holovid and answer.

“Oh. Hey, Ko. What’s up?”

At least it wasn’t Beryn. Or Althea. Ashi flopped back and resumed her lazy sprawl.

“Flying bored, Starlight.”

“That sucks,” she observed.

“How are the little moons doing?”

Ashi sprawled out in what she thought would be an alluring way before the holocomm, giving him her best annoyed look as she hooked her fingers beneath her shirt hem and started to work it bit by tight bit up her midriff. At first the pilot sitting on the other side seemed amused, but he suddenly leaned forward and peered at her. She heard him whistle.

It wasn’t a dog-whistle or a catcall. He sat back. “What did you do to your hands? You burn them or something?”

Ashi stopped, let her shirt go, and looked down at them. Kark. She had somehow managed to forget this.

“Sort of.”

So, she told him. Beryn, being her new Master. How that had gone - poorly, at first. She told him about throwing Althea’s chain, Beryn calling up one of the Council masters.

She hesitated to do it, but told him about her fighting in the Coxxian base, too. It necessitated the embarrassed explination that she had liked the twi’lek she had won against and been kind of jealous.

So when she got to the part where she had lost her shit, maybe it didn’t have much of an impact. Ashi fell quiet and watched her sort-of-lover, sort-of-bribed-friend making minor adjustments to his trajectories.

“Didn’t know you felt that bad,” he said, eventually, sitting back in the old pilots chair on holovid.

“Well, like, I didn’t exactly tell you, did I? I didn’t even know if I wanted to come back.”

“That simple?” The old cat turned his ears back, rubbing at his beard, where it came into his mane.

“Yeah.”

She held her hands up again. Neither one of them was in a mood for a strip tease, so she’d just left her shirt alone, turned the temperature down, and gathered a blanket from her bed to cloak in. “And now I’ve got this and I feel really stupid.”

“That’s hard, Starlight.” The old holographic cathar folded his arms. “I used to get in fights with my wife. Wilful soul. And it always felt like it was over nothing, afterwards. It was just so important at the time.”

“How did you get over it?”

Korrl huffed. “Never did.”

“That’s not really helpful.”

The pilot rumbled. “Ah, you know, you get better with time. You’re still young. I’ve got some advice to give you, though, if you feel like listening.”

Ashi didn’t see why not. Today couldn’t get any more wasteful anyway. So she shrugged at him and twitched a lekku tip up to continue. He watched her. She watched him.

“Seriously?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

The cathar tapped his nose sagely.

Ashi took her shirt off after all, shedding it with much less fanfare than she had originally planned for. This was no mood to be nude in. “'Kay,” she said, when she’d maneuvered her lekku out of her inside-out neckline and balled the shirt up. “Spill it.”

Ko sighed. “Well, now I just feel bad.”

“Duh.”

“Just let it go. Most things don’t matter in the long run. Learn to take a hike, or catch another ship, and you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”

Ashi scrunched her nose. “That’s it? That’s what I bought? Shove that stick up your ass if that’s all you’re gonna give me, I ain’t giving you anything else.”

Ko scratched at his head, and she could see him chuckling. The box didn’t pick it up, though.

“Kid, you just sold yourself on your own poodoo, that’s the real truth. Go get those hands bandaged or something, you’ll feel better.”

“This ain’t gonna heal like that,” Ashi complained, crossing her arms. “It’s like, the mark of dark sorcery or something. Beryn says it’s gonna go away if I learn to control my anger, or whatever, so it’s just gonna be here for a while.”

“Angry now?” He canted his head, fuzzy ears twitching.

“Nope,” resolved Ashi. “Just underpaid. So, lemme see something, too, or I’m gonna hang up.”

“Harsh. Alright, alright. Cool your tails.”