Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

The beach had been fun, a nice distraction from possible death and destruction that might soon befall his homeworld as well as more personal failings.

As they were all packing up to leave he had caught Riss and asked if she wanted to chat. The Hedge Maze seemed as good a place as any since it afforded a good amount of privacy while still being in public.

They made it through the winding emerald corridors at a leisurely pace. They walked for a bit in silence, maybe slightly awkward silence at least for the Doctor. "I'm sorry." He finally said as they rounded a corner.

Coming straight from the beach meant that Riss was a bit under-dressed for the current environment. However, considering the weight surrounding the suggestion and just her general demeanor she didn't seem too bothered by this in the slightest. Walking alongside Omandri she was still in that red one-piece she's now elected to wrap the towel across the whole of her torso for some level of decency among the folk here. As they walked in silence Riss was quiet, which was abnormal for sure, and she looked among the flowers along the hedge. Hands crossed behind the back of her head she was rather relaxed, nonchalant.

When he spoke she looks to him but doesn't answer right away, waiting a few seconds, "Okay," her tone is casual.

He wasn't much better off in the dress department wearing swim shorts and a casual button up shirt. Omandri stopped briefly at her casual reply before he grinned and shook his head continuing to walk again "So that's it? Just ok? You don't care for an explanation, or wanna talk about it?" He asked in a sort of amused tone.

"That's it," she shrugs, elbows rising a bit as well with the motion given the position of her arms. "What is there to explain? Barely enough to apologise for," she says, a very brief smile. Not that it was chased away by any other emotion, but merely that it was momentary.

"Feel free to talk about it, if you want. I'm all ears," she says, glancing to him again as she continues their walk through the hedge.

"..oook." He said a little slowly, a little awkwardly lacking a usual confidence he had to himself and his words "I guess I feel I messed up, I feel like I was being unfair." He explained at first.

"We had, a thing, something for a couple months that maybe I thought was something else. At least I had thought it might be more than just that." He continued picking his words as best he could maybe not having fully thought out everything he had meant to say.

He took a deep breath and let it out "I guess, I saw you and it brought me back there. I won't be dramatic and say I'm in love with you or was or anything like that but.....I felt things with you Riss. Like it could be something, with time." The words came faster but no more thought out, in fact probably less no quite rambling but sort of coming off the top of his head at this point.

"I mean, you're incredible, confident, exciting, you brighten a room just by walking in. Youre not perfect, youre impulsive and reckless, you don't think things through half the time but it usually works out and some how you manage to make your short comings look good on you." He shakes his head with a wry smile "I don't know. Don't know why I'm telling you all this."

He laces his fingers and cradles his head looking up at the sky before looking down to her again "Last night I was messed up, emotionally already before I talked to you. I.....I found out something huge and then I don't know felt rejected and it made me act stupid. I just. I really like you Riss in a lot of ways, and, yeah, I guess that's it." He said trailing off not quite sure how to follow it up

A half chuckle, "Thanks?" she says with a smile, following the compliment and not compliments. Putting a hand on his shoulder to stop their walk mid-way through the story. Crossing one arm over her mid-section, the other resting on her hip, both hands meeting at the one spot where they rested. Listening along she was attentive enough, though there was an itch on the back of her neck that crept into the moment. Something she ignored to the best of her ability as he was baring some of his heart here.

"So.. it was something," she chose that word very specifically, an intonation on it that implied a difference in the way he spoke the word before. This tone was not as bright, more suggesting something unfortunate. "My.. mom. My mom once told me something that seems.." a soft chuckle, a slight shake of the head, "useful here. Felt it myself.. once, maybe," she shakes her head again. Not the point, "But I've seen it in other folk. Time makes the heart grow fonder. Think.. that might be your case here, mm? Just all that time apart you were stuck with some idea of me that you'd gotten in your head, and not me. Can't.. tell you that's what it is, but this was never anything more than a fun time for me and I thought I was pretty clear on that back then enough I didn't need to remind you now," she speaks directly, but softly.

He listened and chuckled "Well I don't know about that. It's not like I've spent the time apart just pining over you. You're not that good Riss." He said with a teasing smirk.

"But yeah you were and I was cool with it, am cool with it. That's why I feel bad about it ya know? Because I knew what this was and I got all weird about it." He took a breath "I think just between the stress of being home and just finding out my younger sister might be alive and all the festival stuff." He shrugged "I think all that with my fondness for you got all warped out because like I said I do like you. Always have, we get along well and you're hot as hell why wouldn't I?" He said chuckling "but yeah im just sorry for being dumb last night and hope we can just sorta move past it and maybe pretend like it it didn't happen." He said with a self conscious little chuckle.

"Already done, Omandri," she chuckles, putting her closed fist against his shoulder and pushing against him with it. With a bit of a laugh she steps forward a couple steps, "So.. now that this super important conversation is over. Mind if we start heading back to my ship.. or somewhere we can get out of these?" she laughs bringing a hand up to reference the towel with a slight tug at it. Towel coming loose at that moment she's forced to catch it, sigh, and then wrap it back around her swimsuit again. A troublesome half a minute of time which only slowed things down a little.

"Anyway.. it's good you like me?" she says, giving a half-smirk. "People liking me is usually a good sign they have good taste, mm?" she says, with a teasing neutral tone.

He nodded with a laugh "yeah sure." He said with an obviously relieved tone having gotten things off his chest "your ability to constantly be unphased by things will always impress me." He said as he follows her forward. "The suit looks good on you though even if it isn't one hundred percent 'appropriate' for the festival." He said with air quotes.

At her second statement he shrugged a bit "I guess that's one way to view it. The most charitable for all parties involved at that." He said returning her teasing tone with a grin.

"Okay, well I'm not actually that conceited. Narcissistic maybe, not conceited," she says with a brief laugh. "Much as I like how I look on this, like having people's eyes on me, and un-phased as I appear, I don't actually like it much when people give me looks like I'm the sore thumb in the room. So," she steps up, putting herself on his arm. "Let's go."

At that Omandri laughed a little "ok ok we can head out." He said as they made their way back through the maze toward the entrance or exit whatever you'd like to call it.

As they walked he looked down at her "so how did your situation work out anyway. I'm guessing by your mood that you're no longer living under the knife."

"Do you really think that you could tell that by my mood alone?" she suggested with a teaseing tone, that scrunch of her nose which she shook at him. A soft laugh, she shakes her head, "But no, you're right. I managed to figure something out that got me out of the mess, Bo too. Thank you.. though, again, for doing your part in helping me figure it out, mm?"

He chuckled watching the way her nose scrunched when she teased him "I like to think I'm a decent judge of people and you certainly had something....off the past few days. Couldn't put my finger on it until your friend Kat told me about the contract. Kind of made things come together." He said smiling "I might be easy to lie to but I'm pretty smart at the end of the day." He said with a short laugh

The smile had a touch of warmth when he look down to her "but I'm glad it worked out in the end. How'd you manage it?"

"Found help, actually. Unexpectedly too," she says, a brief laugh as they walk. "There was this guy named Bryson, he's a Rist like you. Has a family.. whole thing," she waves her hand about in front of herself, movements dictated by the words as she spoke them.

"Found something, something I could do that would help me out. Get mine, and my families name cleared. It was.. a good thing too, he helped me find a good way to settle things, make things better," she smiles, notably warmly as she speaks. "Rather than.. running to some over the top criminal, or.." she shrugs.

His pleasant attitude dimmed a little and his lips turned down at the corners as she said the name but he listened as she spoke "Yes, I am aware of Bryson." He said simply in an overly neutral tone.

He closed his eyes and took a quick breath, when he opened his eyes again he smiled at her though it was a little smaller "but I am glad he was able to help you. What did he have you do?" He asked with a small raise of an eyebrow "if I may ask."

Shaking her head, "Better I don't, but.. why do you ask?" she looks to him, raising her brow. "You've got.. suddenly a little more tense all of a sudden."

"Well it makes me curious when a technical analyst can get a contract closed that my sister, the Duchess, says there is little to be done." He says with a shrug. "Plus I, well, I found out somethings. A lot of things really. But basically Bryson was monitoring my communications since I got here. It...it wasn't his fault really Giandra ordered him to do it." He expelled air roughly through his nose as they walked.

"Bryson and I had hung out a few times. I liked the guy and then I found out he was spying on me and it just. I mean if you can't trust family who can you trust?" He said with a bit of exasperation.

"Right.." she furrows her brow, thinking a moment. As she thinks her pace slows down a little which inevitably slows down Omandri as well. Half a minute later and she says, "Well.. like you said, doesn't sound like your trust issue should be with Bryson? Your sister ordered him to do it. Not like he's as direct blood with you as she is. I mean, I'd feel pretty betrayed if Neas or Bo spied on me for someone else," she shrugs, "but.. if it was a cousin spying on me for Bo, or anyone else? Sucks, but I'd get over it. Besides, your sisters also pretty well stationed isn't she? Adds a whole other level.."

"Spent.." she hesitates a moment, keeping herself a little more neutral. "Spent a bit of time with him. I don't think he'd have done something like that because he wanted to, yea? He's decent.. like, actually," she says, a half-smile with some brightness that betrays her.

"Yeah I'll get over it, I don't hate the guy just." He mulled it over for a second finding the right words "no one likes having one pulled over on them. No one likes feeling like they've been played. My sister and i....we certainly have some issues to work out. She's pretty near the bottom of my list of favorite people at the moment." He said cooly.

"Any way glad he was able to help you put, though I still have a lot of suspicions about that whole situation." He said skeptically "but I won't look a gift thranta in the mouth, he's responsible for making sure you get stick around a but longer I suppose I can let the invasion of privacy slide." Omandri said with a short chuckle.

"So what now? Get to sit back and relax? Enjoy Alderaan and the festival?" He asked with a more genuine smile as they exited the maze and made their way toward the spaceport, certainly getting a few odd looks here and there for their unconventional dress.

"He's a good guy.. cute kids," she remarks briefly, touch of a warm smile before she slips into the change of direction for the conversation. Pace resuming as it had before, "A little relaxation now though, yea," she shifts herself against him a bit, held to her arm as they walked. "Might.. actually see about if there's a shot with this prince though. I got invited to this dance later after all, you know? Got Kat to lend me her dress and everything. Real swanky," she chuckles, shaking her head again.

"Little.. worried, since last time things didn't quite go as well but maybe. We'll see how things go tonight, mmm?" she suggests, a brightness as she raises her brows.