milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Jaina and Zekk sit next to each other at a booth, one with a chocolate milkshake, the other with a lomin ale. Jaina flips through the pages of Ender's Game (which Bar decided to give her earlier in the day), while Zekk watches people in the bar. They're pretty silent, except for the occasional hum or click, typically accompanied by a touch on the neck or cheek here and there.

Yeah, Joiner behavior. Strange, eh?

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"Um. Something's off. With both of you." She sighs, and finally just jumps in. "You two are acting strange. Perhaps it's just me, and pardon me for saying so, but there it is."

Jaina shakes her head. "We're not. It's just a side effect from the mind meld."

"We're not Joiners; not completely."

Bit of a lie there, although they believe they're telling the truth.

Confused empath. "Ok, back up a moment. Mind meld? Joiners? No clue what you're talking about, guys. Back up and start over, pleaseandthank you."

Jaina makes a couple of clicking sounds in her throat. "On our mission to Myrkr, we used a battle meld to send strength and support to each other during the worst times."

Like Anakin's death. And the torture on the Vong frigate.

"After the war, we discovered we were experiencing unexplained mood swings whenever we were around each other. Cilghal eventually realized that our overuse of the meld caused a weakening in the boundaries of our mind, and our emotions would blur together."

"Well that sounds..." oddly familiar "interesting. So, basically, your minds are open to each other, and your emotions bleed together?" She seems slightly less confused, but more fascinated now.

"At times, yep." Jaia shrugs. "We couldn't spend much time around each other after a while."

"And couldn't really spend a lot of time around people who weren't at Myrkr."

That still sounds oddly familiar. "I can see that. When one has emotionbleed, it is more difficult to understand others." Did that come out right? Not really. She chuckles. "It must be interesting at anry rate."

"Cilghal thinks so." Jaina takes a sip of her milkshake.

"We don't; not all the time, anyway."

"Well, let me rephrase that. It's interesting to people who aren't stuck in the situation." She pauses. "Luke and I have a tendancy to share emotion sometimes. So when he's grumpy with a cold, I'm also slightly grumpy."

"Sounds like Aunt Mara and Uncle Luke."

"But it's different when you're not connected to these people in the way you and Master Skywalker are."

Something about that went over Val's head. "Um. Run that one by me again?" She blinks. "I don't think I caught that one."

"Run which one?"

"What didn't you catch?"

"Um, never mind. I think I'm confused." It's the meta Magnetic Poetry. Really. "Don't mind me. Sorry."

"We don't think there's any reason for you to apologize."

"Everyone gets confused sometimes."

"Right. Of course. People tell me that I apologise too much." She's not entirely certain why she's flailing so much, but deep down inside her, it's as if she should figure something out. But she can't.

She could always ask about Joiners again. Might help with some clarity.

"Then stop apologizing so much."

Joiners, right. ~~Mun pokes Val~~ It's useful for Change of Topic. "Ok, so that's the mind meld. What's a Joiner?"

Jaina and Zekk frown. This is the hard part.

Her gaze turns icy, preparing herself for any rebuttal. "It's a person that's become a part of a Killik nest."