Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

After her casual hunting venture, Aurilie would return to the civilization and receive a call from Riss about something that happened. There were many details to be shared over the commlink but it sounded concerning and she was ready to drop everything to support her friend. She had her things put away and waiting for her in her honoured guest quarters, still dressed in her outfit from her hunt earlier without the hat. While Aurilie didn't exactly pace around waiting for Riss, she found herself a bit impatient as she stood by the window,

There would be the signal at the door that she arrived.

Soon as it was sent Riss' hand came back toward her side, resting on the back of her blaster comfortably. As she steps away from the door she starts to pace before she stops herself. How many times had she really done this exact thing today? Three? More? It was getting hard to keep track.

Aurilie might have been thankfully spared of the sight of Riss's hand on her holster, at least momentarily. She nodded at the signal and gave the voice command to open the door for her guest. "Yes, open."

She would stroll over to the door to greet Riss personally and see her, there and a bit further from the door. Something was a bit off, to begin with, but the sense she got from the current vibe did make her very concerned for her friend. "Hey, Riss..." she would say before leaning to give a quick glance at both sides of the hall, her face remaining stoic as she did so. After a moment, she would step aside and wave her in wordlessly.

There was nothing else to say now but there would be plenty of words once she got in.

As Aurilie stepped back, waved her in, Riss turned on a heel. Eyes a bit puffy from the crying she would swear she didn't do she just rushes in and wraps Aurilie into a big hug. Arms lower and rising into this hug that due to Riss' very slight height advantage might even have unsteadied Aurilie a bit if the woman wasn't way better at staying on her feet than Riss ever was. Burying her head against Aurilie's shoulder the muffled words came out, "Can I just hide in here forever?" she didn't mean it, she loved it all a bit too much.

Even the hard times.

Like this time.

The automatic door would slide shut behind Riss after she entered, giving both of them some much-needed privacy.

While she hasn't quite caught on to the situation fully yet, it did wound her deeply to see her friend like this and the pained expression was clear as she happily accepted Riss into her arms. She was steady on her feet thankfully at the hug and placed her arms around her, lightly massaging her back in a reassuring gesture.

"You can be here as long as you want," she said, not specifying her arms or the room as she continued to soothe her. "...although I'd recommend the Mount Joral if you're really looking for somewhere to hide."

"Been.. years since I've seen that place," she says, chuckling awkwardly as strain colors her tone. Shifting herself against Aurilie's bit she holds her right, squeezing herself into her a bit. Holding for half a minute or so like this, just using Aurilie's presence to calm down.

"I'm.. in a rough spot Aurie, and I don't know what to do," she admits, voice strained and tired.

Aurilie would loosen her hold to allow her to shift, her hand brushed against her shoulders after settled once more. She did allow herself to smile faintly, although it did fade away into that look of concern shortly after. "I think you'd be glad that we've hardly changed up there. Well, the people are older there now, obvious but little of everything else."

"Solutions will come soon enough but first..." She said before leading Riss toward the couch to take a seat. "I want to know how you're holding up. Do you want something to drink?"

Following along Riss seeks Aurilie's hand as she's lead over to the couch. Taking the moments where she has to lean off her shoulder to wipe her eyes and breath. Sitting on the edge of the couch she doesn't relax so much as lean her elbows onto her knees. Hands linked together in front of herself, rested downward.

"Something tells me you're not gonna offer me something alcoholic right now," she chuckles half-awkwardly. "B-but yea, whatever you got," she says, tone still tired and with a drifty sort of vibe to it.

Once they got to the couch, Aurilie would stay by Riss's side with her hands on both of her shoulders as she collected herself. After a few days of seeing her in good spirits and hopeful with her escapades, it was very shocking to see her so devastated all of a sudden. This had to be something serious but she doubted that Riss's problems were going to move away on their own. Aurilie would rest her shoulder on Riss to tell her without words that she was still there and willing to support her.

"Well, I didn't say that wasn't an option, although you might want to be careful with that." She said as she gave a small rub of her shoulders before standing back up again. "I'll get you something."

Moving to a cabinet in the room, she slid open a panel to reveal a humble offering, by noble standards, of liquor. She would get some ice and gingerly pour them both a glass, barely reaching half the glass. Aurilie would return and offer the drink. "You only get this one for now but after, I want to hear something about what's bothering you."

Taking it in hand she looks from the glass, to Aurilie, and then back to the glass. A brief moment of hesitation, she downs the half glass in one full. Setting the empty glass aside she retreats a little back into herself. Inhaling, bringing in the strength.

"It's.. a long story," she says, and she goes over all of it in detail. How Kat told her Bryson is connected somehow to a group of dangerous people. How Riss confronted him about it and he revealed everything as far as she was aware, and is willing to tell her more if she needs. How she knows he's doing something harsh, something condemnable and yet she can't shake the knowledge she knows he's a good person in a bad situation.

She continues, back to her interaction with Kat just an hour ago, how Kat claims he's part of this group with the ultimate agenda of destabilizing the Republic and quashing the Jedi. However, she's very clear on what she knows from Bryson as well, that this isn't his goal. That he and many of the other nobles wrapped up in this just want change, a change in leadership, revolutionaries in a sense if by unfortunate means. Sheepishly admitting that although she knows many of the actions, the lying and deceit, are wrong but that so are so many other things, and she can't see this as wholly unjust no matter how hard she tries.

How she's scared, because she needs to figure out the right choice. That she needs to figure this out in a way that makes sense. That she needs Bryson to be able to be okay in the end. yet, most damning that Kat cut her off, not telling her anymore than she already has because Kat can't trust her, though she claims that it's cause she can't trust Bryson. Riss doesn't see the difference considering she's the only one Kat was talking to.

Eventually, she gets through it all and her face is resting in the palms of her hands. Exhausted.

It was indeed quite a story and perhaps not the situation she imagined that Riss would be wrapped up in. This was...seriously. Aurilie would sit down beside Riss and listen to her carefully, perhaps emptying the contents of her own glass in a short amount of time as she followed along with the story. Going from being targeted for death to having a close relationship with a very likely revolutionary was perhaps a rollercoaster of events, to say the least. It very likely wasn't Riss's typical roller coaster either.

At the end of her tale, her hand would find itself on Riss's back as the recovered. To be honest, Aurilie might have felt the same way and didn't know where to begin with this...

"I see...that's a lot of trouble you've found yourself in," she said incredulously.

"Nah.. just the usual amount, you know? Nothing too wild," she says, her words have their usual upbeat cadence but her tone is tired and distant. Shifting so she can rest her head against Aurilie as they sat. Taking slow, steady breaths she looks out over the room.

"Just.. one thing after the other, mm?" she chuckles, half-awkwardly as she glances down. "It doesn't help. There was a woman at the dance that one night.. I might have told you about her? Intense with pretty blue eyes? Maybe not.. she told me something that's stuck with me a bit. Queen trusts her advice, Kat believes that what the woman says is true. Which means.. I've got this thing hanging over my head, mm? Gotta find my light, or I might be lost. So she says, basically. Just.. kriff, what's supposed to be my light, mm? Kat?" she shakes her head, sighing. "Saving Bryson? Running away," she half-laughs, not a serious one. "Protecting someone. Doing something? I'm.. stuck, and I can't think my way out of it.."

"Maybe I just stop thinking?" she suggests to herself, something of her tone implies a chord strikes in that moment.

"If this is the usual amount you typically find yourself in then I've been missing a lot in your life," she sighed softly as she leaned against her to give her a quick hug. While it was probably unrelated as a whole, she found herself thinking back to that messy interior of her ship. It seemed that sort of trouble was evident in front of her this entire time.

"No, you hadn't mentioned this other woman. Her advisor? Do you mean the Duchess?" Her expression slowly turned to a frown. "And if you want my opinion on this, I don't know if there's going to be a happy ending waiting for Bryson with how it's going for him at the moment. The best case is that he likely collaborates with the authorities and turns in the others...but that seems likely with anyone involved in revolutionary causes. Even getting him to runaway...even then that won't bode for you or him."

"I just.. need him to be safe. He's got kids, a life.. something worth trying to see his way to the other end of this for. I care about him," she admits, glancing off toward one of the random decorations in the room. Focusing on it enough to escape the rising feeling in her chest from admitting that. "Not her advisor, a niece," she says, quite suddenly as she snaps away from the previous thing. "Just a woman with a respectable ability for foresight.. or something like that. We chatted, me and her, at the dance about fate I guess? About me, the kind of person I am. She was eerie.. strange, kriffing weird," she laughs, but although it seems to hit the right tone it seems almost fake.

Aurilie couldn't help but give a blink when Riss mentioned that he cared about him. She supposed that she already knew that she likely fancied him but hearing that confession was still something else. "I see. It's going to be hard to keep him safe with the people he's involved with but surely things can be made easier if he was cooperative. At best, I could see a sort of exile from Alderaan and potentially other Republic worlds on the threat of imprisonment. At best, I don't know if people will be so kind. And what of this woman? How is she involved then?"

Giving herself some time on the other topic, she focuses elsewhere, "Woman's just a Panteer who put this wild crazy idea in my head that if I don't find my light, whatever that really means, I'll be.. uh, 'lost' which, you know, doesn't sound great," she chuckles, giving the time for a space to relax and settle.

"That I'm a victim of events.." she sighs, "Kriff that's starting to feel real true right about now. I'm.." she shakes her head. "I just want him to be safe, alive, and able to be with his kids when this is all over. I'm.. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but- but I'll figure it out somehow. Maybe prove to him that the people he's working under are using him or.. something.." she glances away again, settling her mind and thoughts for a moment.

"Sounds rather similar to the talk that parents would given to their children. I suppose perhaps some advice that she wants you to spend time with a better role model or have proper aspirations in the future. It's not exactly in her place to tell you as such, perhaps condescending if anything." She frowned with a shake of her head.

"You're going to need to speak to him. If things have gotten so run away with you, I'd imagine that he might be going through something similar or worst. I don't know if losing him will make things better or worst if this gets too wild. I'd like to talk to him myself..." she said at first, admittedly to perhaps meet who had enthralled her friend. "But I think you should be able to lay the situation on him better."

"I'm not losing him," she touches on the note a little more certain, harsh in a sense. Sighing she brushes her legs a couple times and then shifts away. Enough that she could stand and pace around in front of Aurilie a bit, "I'm.. gonna figure it out, and when I'm done," a pivot, the other direction now, "when he's nice and separated from all this we'll get you that chance at talking with him, mm?" she glances back, pivoting again, flashing a smirk that wasn't totally present.

"But- the woman, just to clarify mm? She's something like a seer or whatever. Seeing the future? She talked funny, but it was like when she was talking about this light it was kinda like.. a moment, or a thing, or a person? Something I could grasp.. at least that's the idea I got. Not sure if she has it in her to be condescending. She's.. strange, not like most folk."

"It sounds like what she said has really touched you..." She frowned, wondering why she was so worked up over her words. It was something she could ask Kat, if their relationship wasn't so strained. "Perhaps she's more of a Force seer then? Or nothing so grand? I suppose we could all use or have a light in our lives."

Aurilie looked a bit unsure at Riss, perhaps tinged with a bit of sadness for her friend. She admittedly couldn't see how this could end with Bryson being nice and separated from all of this. At best, Bryson would likely be exiled from Alderaan and all Republic worlds under the threat of arrest...if he wasn't going to be running away from the law already constantly. While she was sure that Riss had been through her share of hardships to know that not everything was sunshine and rainbows in the galaxy, Aurilie felt obligated to at least let her friend know. "...I think that's going to be very hard, Riss, probably even unlikely to happen."

Arms crossed tightly over her chest. Ross continues to pace, she seems to be listening, but she doesn't shift her attention back to Aurilie. Instead, she walks off toward where she'd seen her collect the drinks from, taking a look at what she'd originally poured. Holding it in hand she speaks over her shoulder, "Do you mind if I whip is something up?"