She watches, sharp and attentive, drawing her skirt up around her waist, revealing the tight blue trousers underneath. She gathers fabric in a bunch with one hand and positions her feet like he did.
She angles herself a little, hesitates to adjust, then pushes off with a laugh, a yelp, almost forgetting to grab into the cube in her delight.
"Jedao, Jedao, that was - " She laughs again, delighted, thrilled.
She puts her feet on the cube and points to another in the distance.
"There. Go!"
And with a giggle, she pushes off again. It isn't a race...but also, in a way, it is.
He bounces off after her, although she'll still make it to the next post a little before he does - but this time he doesn't grab it, jackknifing a little so that he can kick off at a new angle with most of the momentum of the collision conserved.
She lets out a playful cry of protest, scrambling to try and follow. Predictably, the push off is sloppy and she misses the next mark entirely, her momentum carrying her to another hold a ways away.
She holds dearly to it, giggling as her feet tumble over her head in the most undignified way.
"Ah! You tease!" she laughs, righting herself and clinging desperately to her little hold. But as she pushes hair from her face, she gives him a genuine smile.
"Thank you, Jedao. This has been a wonderful experience."
"The most common mistake beginners make is pushing off too gently, and ending up drifting short of their target with nothing else to push on," he explains.
For all her wild imperfect aim, she is doing better than most dirtside-raised cadets, who had far more thorough instructions before hand.
"When falling and flying are the same, better to be fearless than cautious." And it seems that is very much her style.
"Oh, the boring sorts of things. Making mistakes I can't fix. Being lied to, being unwanted. I fear hurting people when I didn't mean to," he says honestly.
They turn, slowly, together. Jedao doesn't mind it.
"To be fair, I did not try very hard," he admits wryly. "I was tired, and - somewhat infamous, and I wasn't treated badly, overall. It was easier to stay where I was put than go on the run somewhere. I consider myself free here. I can go, if I want. But I like the work, and the people, and the place."
"I like the work and the people and the place, too," she admits.
"I am more - free here than I ever was at home. I don't want to go home after this," she admits. "When I graduate, I want to - to explore. To know everything. To learn everything. To meet people and learn how they are, how they think, how they feel."
She pulls back and gestures out to the expanse of the Enclosure. "This is what I want, Jedao. Now I have something new to learn and research and discover."
"I've always lived in places like this. It was in port, while living on the barge, that I saw rain in person for the first time. The world you know is as strange to me as mine is for you."
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She angles herself a little, hesitates to adjust, then pushes off with a laugh, a yelp, almost forgetting to grab into the cube in her delight.
"Jedao, Jedao, that was - " She laughs again, delighted, thrilled.
She puts her feet on the cube and points to another in the distance.
"There. Go!"
And with a giggle, she pushes off again. It isn't a race...but also, in a way, it is.
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She holds dearly to it, giggling as her feet tumble over her head in the most undignified way.
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"Mademoiselle, I believe you are a natural," he tells her as she tumbles.
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"Thank you, Jedao. This has been a wonderful experience."
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For all her wild imperfect aim, she is doing better than most dirtside-raised cadets, who had far more thorough instructions before hand.
"When falling and flying are the same, better to be fearless than cautious." And it seems that is very much her style.
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She pauses, pulling herself atop the hold so she can push her skirts down.
"Not knowing, I suppose. What do you fear?"
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He sounds wistful, more than anything, a gentle melancholy.
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Somber, rather than victorious. He orients himself to face her and lets go, trusting in his own inertia not to drift out of range of the post.
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She reaches out for the post, or for him, whichever she drifts closer to.
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"Ah, yes and no. I did kill him, but someone else took me prisoner after. I was...quiet, for some time. And then the Admiral offered me a place here."
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"So you weren't able to escape that time? Have you ever been free?"
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"To be fair, I did not try very hard," he admits wryly. "I was tired, and - somewhat infamous, and I wasn't treated badly, overall. It was easier to stay where I was put than go on the run somewhere. I consider myself free here. I can go, if I want. But I like the work, and the people, and the place."
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"I am more - free here than I ever was at home. I don't want to go home after this," she admits. "When I graduate, I want to - to explore. To know everything. To learn everything. To meet people and learn how they are, how they think, how they feel."
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"I've always lived in places like this. It was in port, while living on the barge, that I saw rain in person for the first time. The world you know is as strange to me as mine is for you."
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"The best part about rain is not being in it, but staying inside and listening to it."
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He's smiling, though, wistfully fond. "That sounds very nice."
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"Next time, I will show you. But - how do we get back now?"
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