InsaneJournal

Who: Meetra and Isabela
What: Random encounters and mutual friends
When: 4/14
Where: the boardwalk along Huntington Beach
Rating: Low
Status: Complete



Isabela figured she’d get a run in before Atton’s tournament began, so she’d gone down to the beachfront and done a hard five miles. She’d run on the beachfront, so at the end, she’d gone to sit near the edge of the bike path at the top of the sand, going to shake rubbish out of her shoes. It was a beautiful evening, and lots of others were walking and running and just enjoying themselves.

Meetra didn't get out to the beach as often as she'd like to, but she enjoyed herself when she did. She couldn't practice openly, not with her lightsaber. She couldn't meditate either, but she didn't mind. She could draw in the energy of the people on the beach, and so she did, walking with a big smile on her face.

Isabela couldn’t help but notice the woman coming up along the path, with that smile. She smiled a bit herself; it was hard not to take in the energy. “Who’s just left you twenty million?” she asked the woman as she got nearer, hoping she smiled.

“Nobody. This is a good day in general.” She smiled at Isabela, taking a seat next to her. “I’d ask if you were going for a run, but it’s pretty obvious and I’m not Captain Obvious.” She was pretty lame at the jokes.

It was okay. She lived with Atton. "Just finished one, actually." Isabela patted the grass next to her. "Going to be in Vegas for a week with the boyfriend and I'll be damned if I'm running outside in 115-degree desert heat."

“You probably want to avoid that. I have not so fond memories of doing that sort of thing in the middle of worse heat. And not even in this life.” She could sense the other woman was a dreamer. For that matter, the force was strong around this one. Perhaps not in her, but around her.

She’d never met someone who talked about other “lives” so frankly. Isabela blinked. “Not sure how any human could survive worse than that, but I suppose things work in mysterious ways.” She smiled a little. “Are your Dreams as interesting as mine?” Innocuous if she wasn’t one of them, a good question if she was.

"You could say that." She saw no point in hiding from her dreams. They were a part of her. "A great deal of adventure is had on a nightly basis."

Fair enough. “Likewise. Just didn’t want to sound like I ought to be sectioned if you didn’t understand.” Isabela grinned. “My dreams usually involve water, though. I dream I’m a pirate queen.”

“A pirate queen?” Meetra tilted her head, raising her eyebrows. “I’m trying to picture you in a bandana or tricorn hat. It’s rather dashing.” The Jedi grinned. “I visited a place that was all water. A whole planet, once.”

“Bandanna, usually.” Isabela grinned wider. “Tricorns fly off when you’re boarding other ships. And what planet has all water?”

“Several, at least in the galaxy I dream of. One is all desert. Some ice-balls. Plenty of temperate and varied worlds, of course.” She rested her arms on her knees. “My duty involved visiting many of them.”

“How fascinating.” Isabela wasn’t being smarmy, either. She liked hearing about other people’s dreams. “What’s your duty in the dreams? I wound up in the watery life when I married a pirate and he died, so I got his ship.”

“I’m a guardian. Like a wandering monk or knight. Maybe a little bit of both. At least I was before we were all nearly wiped out.” Meetra frowned at the memory. “I was exiled for defying the council in a separate matter. When I came back, nearly everyone was dead.”

That sounded weirdly familiar. “A Jedi?” Isabela had to ask, lowering her voice.

Meetra tilted her head, eyes darting around them, before nodding her head. “Yes.”

“I’m fairly sure you know my boyfriend, in that case. Atton Rand?” What a small bloody world. Isabela crossed her legs under her, smiling. “He won’t shut up about it; you seem to be a little more discreet.”

The look of recognition on Meetra’s face was unmistakable. “Atton Rand? He’s your boyfriend? Are you crazy?” She burst into a grin. “Even smaller than you think, I trained him.”

“I thought Obi-wan - oh.” In the dreams. “He’s never mentioned your name, but he has mentioned the female Jedi who saved him. I think he rather respects you.” Isabela smiled, though she laughed when the woman asked her if she was crazy. “Am I mad? Maybe a bit, but he’s ... wonderful, actually.”

“Oh, he is. I always sensed it in him, and he became a good Jedi in the end. I know he must worry about what comes, and while there is darkness, there is also a great deal of light.”

Isabela smiled a little, looking down. “He does worry, though he thinks I can’t tell. I’ve never met anybody here who’s kinder.” She looked over at the other woman. “But he’s never been anything but perfect to me. Treats me like a bloody princess.”

“I’m glad.” Meetra smiled, though she was a little bit jealous. Dreams and the real life weren’t the same, and she wouldn’t let them get in the way. She was happy here. Mostly. “I want him happy.”

“What about you?” It was casual, but she was also curious. Atton had told her that Jedi normally couldn’t love, couldn’t be in a relationship. Isabela couldn’t imagine it; love had always been a part of her life.

“I’ve found someone. He’s strong and capable, and able to put up with my shit.” Meetra winked.

“Good! So have I.” Isabela laughed. “No, I’m glad. Ladies like us need men who put up with our shit, and don’t put out too much of their own. At least I can smack Atton when need be.” She didn’t do it much, obviously, but still. She loved their bickering relationship.

“Rand always needed a little smacking around. Roland isn’t so bad. He’s very...honorable in his way. I think I might have been a novelty at first.” A strong woman. His dreams, woman sometimes seemed to be little more than chattel.

“That’s rather nice.” Isabela nodded. “Honourable is never a bad thing. Though if it gets too bad, I’d be forced to tell him where to stick it.” She couldn’t help but grin. “I think I’ve managed to get Atton to understand when to coddle me and when to get out of my way.”

“You’ve tamed Atton Rand?” Meetra threw her head back and laughed. “It’s a miracle, truly!”

“I think it depends on your definition.” Isabela laughed just as much. He wouldn’t thank her for saying that! “I’d get horribly bored if he just agreed with me all the time, but I think he knows when not to push, let’s put it that way.”

“I can’t say I taught him well in this world, which is a pity. But I’m very glad for that.” One of Meetra’s gifts had been her ability to pull the hardest, toughest, most disagreeable people people together and bring out the best in them.

“I think the dreams carry over, to a degree.” She smiled a little. “We’re all affected by what goes on in them, after all; I can’t imagine we wouldn’t be affected by the people as well.” Isabela was just remembering her friends from the dreams, and she felt a kinship with them that would surprise most people, she was sure.

"I can say I've become a better dueler since the dreams," Meetra admitted. "I've got Olympic medals in fencing. Now, with the force, there are only a few people good enough to beat me, so I really have to retire." She smiled sadly. "Atton is the only one I know of from the dreams, and I haven't had the pleasure of running into him yet."

“Olympic medals? Wow.” Isabela’s eyebrows shot up. “Impressive. But wait, you’ve never run into Atton yet? Have you only talked on the internet?” Well, that wouldn’t do at all.

“Ah, yes, I have. I admit that some of that is trepidation on my part. There was some..attraction. I thought it might be awkward.” She ducked her head, laughing.

“He’s easy to love,” Isabela said simply. “But I take some comfort in knowing that if you try to compel him to break up with me, he can block it.” She chuckled, hoping the other woman laughed. She wasn’t afraid of anything happening. And really, they ought to meet; they ought to compare notes. It would likely help them both.

Meetra did laugh. “I assure you, I only ever use my powers for good. And the occasional free coffee at Starbucks.”

Isabela grinned. “Well, I’d do that, too. But really, if you want, I can bother him to come find you. Bloody hell, what is your name? I’m so sorry, I’m Isabela.” She laughed - they’d gotten to talking, after all.

“I think you already have super-powers,” Meetra joked, referring to Isabela’s other assets. She held out her hand. “Meetra. That’s a gorgeous name, I’m jealous.”

“Oh, please, you’re lovely. I’d flirt, were I single. Sometimes I still flirt, though I’m not single.” Isabela said innocently.

She blushed a bit, still thrown off by flirting in general. "I do a little flirting. My best friend is a perv so it's hard not to around her."

“I think I’m that pervy friend for most people.” Isabela grinned. “But really, everyone’s got them. I think we serve a purpose of making life more interesting. And I don’t know, I used to be a sweet innocent child. After my husband died - don’t worry, I don’t miss him - I just decided to be a little more daring.”

“It suits you,” Meetra assured her. She could tell the woman was more relaxed, and genuinely happy, and she didn’t even need the force to read her feelings.

“I’d like to think so.” Isabela smiled, a little less silly than before. “We all change as life goes on, of course!”

“That’s the way life is, I suppose. One can change a great deal in a short period of time.” It didn’t sound like a bad thing, to Meetra.

“I’ve been told I did.” Isabela got up, stretching out her calves. “But we all do in different ways.” She smiled. “There was once a time I stayed with a bloke who hit me. I mean, we all do stupid things, and then we learn.”

She nodded, watching Isabela as the woman stretched. “Hopefully for the better, anyway.” She tilted her head, then asked. “Say...has Atton gotten his lightsaber yet?”

“Not that I’m aware of. He’s got a leather jacket he loves, but doesn’t get to wear much around here.” Isabela chuckled. “He complains about that.”

“Pity. I wanted to show him some moves.” She patted something in her pocket, then pulled out the edge of a lightsaber handle.

Isabela laughed delightedly. “Oh, that’d be brilliant! I’d like to watch that.” She kind of thought this woman might trounce Atton, but that would just be icing on the cake.

“I’ll handicap myself. I’m best with two, so he can borrow one of mine,” Meetra replied, grinning happily. Between her and Isabela, Atton was screwed.

“The more I dream, the better I am with a sword myself.” Isabela winked. “But my daggers were just the usual steel, not light.” Atton had told her how a lightsaber worked, and she rather wanted to see that, never mind her boyfriend getting manhandled.

“Do you want to see?”

“The saber?” Isabela looked around. “As much as I hate to say it, it might attract some attention out here.” Maybe she could invite this Meetra by the house. Atton’s backyard was fenced, after all.

Meetra sounded almost like she was flirting. “No, not here. Wherever you want to take me.”

Isabela snorted. “Oh, dear, if only I were single. Let me get a hold of Atton, and we’ll go from there.”