IC Contact

[oratorical]

Crystal || Delivery || In Person

Make a note to specify whichever you want

Comments

7/16

[lothrat]

[Oh look, Leia. A messenger bird dropped off a small package for you! Inside is a crystal of some sort - not the kind that people here use for amulets, but something similar. The note attached is written in scrawled Aurebesh, the handwriting likely familiar.]

Hey, Leia. Call me back when you get this.

-Ezra

[oratorical]

[Well that isn't anything she was expecting, so she opens the package, looking over the crystal, before doing as the note asks.]

Ezra? What's this for?

[lothrat]

[Ezra answers back with an image on his end, hoping Leia will follow suit, because he kind of wants to see her face for this. Even if she doesn't, though, hearing her "voice" will be good enough.

Either way, though, she'll be treated to a picture of Ezra with a much different look from the last time they talked. His long, shaggy hair has been pulled back into a much neater ponytail now, except for a small tuft bound behind his right ear.]

It's for a job. You're supposed to hold it while I talk to you, so it can record how you feel when I ask if I'm crystal clear.

[oratorical]

[She does answer with video, but rather than showing her face, what's transmitted is what Leia's looking at at the moment: namely, the crystal in one hand and his letter in the other.

But his hairdo is something she notices, and it suits him, she thinks, even if she doesn't quite understand why there's a small tuft he must have missed sticking out of the ponytail. And she was about to say as much, before Ezra starts with that bad pun. Leia freezes, replaying that to herself to make sure she heard him correctly, and though he can't see it from this video perspective, there's a feeling of heavy squinting coming through from her side.]

I feel like you need to work on your material.

[lothrat]

[It's not an image of her face, no, but oh well, it's good enough. Ezra just grins back impishly.]

Hey, I'm just getting warmed up. Or, maybe you could say I'm just getting off to a rocky start

[oratorical]

[She shakes her head--clearly noticeable from the view Ezra has over the connection--before placing both the crystal and the note on a tabletop nearby.]

You know having a rocky start isn't something to be proud of, don't you?

[lothrat]

When every joke I tell gets me another thirty sylvs? I think I can be proud of it.

[Guess who's just made sure he's going to have enough money to buy groceries this week.]

[oratorical]

Are you sure you haven't hit rock bottom with that kind of work?

[Look if Ezra is going to make bad jokes, she can play along and hope it gets to him just as much as it did to her.]

1/2

[lothrat]

[Ezra stops. And stares. Caught completely off guard. Because the last thing he'd expected was for Leia to retaliate in kind.]

2/2

[lothrat]

[But then his mind catches up and he can't help the laugh.

Sorry, Leia, looks like your plan backfired. Ezra actually thinks the joke is funny.]

Yeah, well, isn't there something to be said for working from the bottom on up?

[oratorical]

[Well giving Ezra a taste of his own medicine didn't work, in this case. Not that she honestly minds that much; the jokes are bad, but she likes Ezra enough to excuse them.]

I didn't hear a rock joke in that.

[lothrat]

Hey, it was a joke about rock bottom! It counts!

[As much as any of his dumb jokes count.]

Besides, I don't just have to tell jokes about rocks. I could tell other jokes, too! Like this one - "why did the smuggler cross the space lanes?"

[oratorical]

[She'll only give him half credit for the joke about rock bottom, but she's not the one doing the job grading here.]

I don't know. Why did he cross them?

[To get to the other hyperspace lanes??? Who knows.]

[lothrat]

To get to the other side!

[You weren't expecting a good joke, were you, Leia? Because no, that really is his punchline.]

[oratorical]

[...Even after all the bad jokes before, she's still a bit dumbfounded.]

You couldn't make it something that relates more to the set-up of your joke?

[lothrat]

No, see, that's why it's funny. You thought it would be something else, that there was no way I'd give an answer like that. Jokes are about catching people off guard, so what could be more unexpected than that?

[oratorical]

Here I thought jokes were about being clever.

[lothrat]

You weren't expecting it. That makes it clever.

[oratorical]

I think you and I may value different definitions of the word "clever," Ezra.

[Clever as in unexpected, or clever as in a witty retort. Leia thinks hers is right.]

[lothrat]

Hey, at least I'm getting paid either way.

[That means he doesn't have to feel defensive about the quality of his humor.]

Speaking of which, when's a good time for me to stop by and pick that crystal up?

[oratorical]

If you can stop by now, I'll be here for a little while longer.

[lothrat]

Alright, gimme about ten minutes. See you soon!