ataraxionlogs | (no subject)

CHARACTERS: Jaina Solo & River Song
LOCATION: Engineering
WARNINGS: Aside from a strong possibility of explosions because, seriously consider the source, I legit have no clue. If something totally crazy happens I'll update accordingly.
SUMMARY: A random encounter.

Anyone who knows Jaina will not be even a little surprised to find her snooping around the rather massive part of the ship dedicated to engineering. As someone who has been helping her dad do repairs on the Millennium Falcon since she was old enough to properly hold the tools, not to mention being the girl who managed to commandeer a Yuuzhan Vong vessel and rewire it so that it became her own, tinkering on ships is something that comes as second nature to her as breathing. So even though she's signed up for security, that doesn't stop her from checking out one of the areas on board where she feels most at home.

Surprisingly enough, though, she isn't messing with anything or even offering up an opinion on the things she sees, despite the fact that she has several ideas on how to tweak a few things to get better results. Currently, in fact, she's actually standing off to the side - so as not to get in anyone's way - and staring at a readout on a screen with an almost wistful expression on her face. She's still not fully regretting having chosen to go into security, but she's close.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

River spends a lot of time in Engineering, far more than strictly necessary. It's good solid work on something that's long been a favourite hobby of hers and the constant challenges help stave off the boredom inspired by her confinement to the ship. She's been sleeping even less than usual, mostly taking naps whenever she finds her mind starting to cloud with exhaustion.

She awakes from one such nap to find an unfamiliar woman watching a screen. It's a welcome sight: River's rather sick of being the only woman in engineering. It's always good to have backup. She stretches a bit to chase off the last hints of sleep, throws on a suitably cheerful expression and then gets up to stroll casually over to the other woman.

"Now here's a sight for sore eyes. Professor River Song." A hand extended for shaking accompanies the greeting.

Jaina tears her gaze away from what she was looking at when the woman approaches. Considering she's spent most of her time wandering, expecting to be told to get out of an area she doesn't work in, she feels a touch of relief that isn't what's happening. And she may not know what is meant by being a sight for sore eyes, unless this is another of the people who have seen those ridiculous holos - no, not holos, movies - about her galaxy, but she doesn't concern herself with it. She just shakes the offered hand, gives the woman an easy grin, and replies.

"Knight Jaina Solo. It's nice to meet you, Professor." Her grin quirks at bit at the edges as she suddenly realizes why, exactly, she thinks the woman commented on being pleased to see her because the thought crosses her mind too. It's not about recognition. It's about something far less personal and far more obvious to anyone bothering to pay attention.

"Gotta admit, I was starting to think being a male was a requirement for being here. Glad to see it's not exclusively a boys' club."

River smirks. "Someone has to keep them in line, after all. Have you just signed up?"

As she speaks, she's sorting through her knowledge of the universe for a culture where knights are engineers rather than warriors and not coming up with much useful. Not for someone who appears human, in any case.

Oh, so that's what this is about. Jaina's smile falters, turning a touch embarrassed at the edges, and she gives a shake of her head.

"Actually, I signed up for security." She sighs softly as her gaze returns to the various equipment around her. She barely refrains from running her hand tenderly across the smooth surfaces. "But the Force knows I'd much rather be here, where the real action takes place."

With a shake of her head, she looks back to River. "I hope it's no problem I'm here. Curiosity got the better of me and, well," she shrugs, "I've been in engine rooms since I was a youngling. Others might feel more at home in the gardens, around all of the greenery, but I say give me all of this, instead, any day."

River's quite familiar with the look that Jaina gives their surroundings. Obviously Jaina's a kindred spirit, even if she has chosen the other option for a day job. It's a little disappointing that River isn't getting reinforcements after all, but her smile doesn't reveal anything of that.

"It's not a problem at all. I was tempted to sign up for security myself, to be honest. Far more opportunity for excitement than here." She gestures around illustratively. If she's entirely honest, she does miss the thrill of combat. Not nearly enough of it on the ship for her tastes.

"But I'm afraid that enforcing rules is not my area of expertise," she finishes, her smile turning mischievous.

Jaina grins. She likes this woman so far. There's clearly more to her than meets the eye and Jaina has a feeling while it might not all be good, she knows how to have fun. Not to mention she clearly knows her stuff, if she's working in engineering, and the mention of almost doing security too confirms they're far more alike than might seem obvious at first glance.

"I'm a Jedi," she says, not sure if the word will mean anything or not. She gives a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Back home, we protect the galaxy. Here..." Her own smile gets a touch of mischievousness to it. "Well, I guess I'm hoping the threats will outweigh any actual policing." Not to mention, most people on board seem to behave themselves. Jaina isn't about to say that out loud though; she's just superstitious enough that she doesn't want to jinx them.

Instead she tips her head toward the equipment surrounding them. "So what about around here? Anything interesting ever happen or does she tend to run smooth most of the time?"

River nods in recognition at the word "Jedi." She's encountered enough supposedly fictional people on board to not be surprised anymore, and in any case she only knows the barest outline of what a Jedi is that one might pick up from exposure to early 21st century Earth pop culture.

But there's no point in revealing that that's where her familiarity stems from, so she's happy to move on to the topic of the shop. "She usually doesn't give us too much trouble," she replies, conveniently omitting that the times when they have had major trouble they haven't been able to work out how to fix it. "The fun part is working out how to maintain a ship that's been built by an unfamiliar civilisation. The basic principles are the same, but it does have its idiosyncrasies."