Raven In The Middle (D7 EA. Mando Safehouse)

[Raven Cadera]

Once the morning hours had rolled in after a rather exciting night, Raven had crashed for some much needed sleep. It meant that Julo and Arwen had left when she awoke many hours later, but then she'd been able to do other things that needed doing. Clean, get supplies, work on her armor (and specifically the whipcord that had gotten a rough treatment last night)... and then plan. Anything to keep herself focused.

Well, the plans were already well thought out by this point, probably, but it didn't stop her from pacing in the common room looking over the notes on the datapad.

Not that it could keep her attention for long, and eventually she put the datapad away. Instead she took out something she had stashed away in one of the pouches on her belt, something she had picked up on her supply run earlier that she hadn't put into any of the bags... best to avoid those questions if others had decided to help with unbagging. Turning it over in her hands for a few moments, she read over the small text of instructions...

"Remove the plastic cap to expose the..." whatever. This side. Blahblahblah. She frowned, reading on. "Take the sample for at least 7-10 seconds." Sheesh... sounds exhausting. "Re-cap the device and place it horizontally on a clean, flat surface. Wait 5 minutes for the test to finish processing." Five minutes?!

She paced a bit more, reading it over again... would she have a couple of minutes of gorram peace and quiet in this place to manage this?

[Raven Cadera]

She couldn't hear anyone else in the safehouse now. Maybe they were all out. Or just being very very quiet. Or sleeping. Thinking it through, Raven decided against actually going to check the various rooms... stumbling in on Dex and Silas wasn't something particularly high on her priority list if they were still here.

Take a chance it was then.

/wipeout
/wipein

Waiting. Aaaaargh... go faster, time! Raven stared at the countdown on her datapad. It would beep when the five minutes of waiting had passed, but that didn't stop her from glaring at it as if to will it to go faster.

Instead, she waited, one hand on each side of the object on the table before her as she sat on the couch.

[Meiyokashi]

Coming out from her room Dex was speaking over her shoulder, looking back toward the bed where Silas was sitting in the same dress down he had prior. Similarly, Dex was also dressed down. When she turned into the room the door slowly shut behind her, Silas making eye contact and Dex stopping suddenly surprised by Raven being there. "Oh- hey," she said, chuckling.

"Didn't think anyone else was here at the moment, everything.. you're usually out, everything okay?"

[Raven Cadera]

Kriff.

There was still time left.

Kriff!

Her hands instinctively moved together, covering whatever was on the table in front of her. "Yeah... everything's fine. I'm fine! Just... taking a moment. Reading." Ah yes, Raven the avid reader.

"I thought everyone was out..."

[Dex]

"You and me both.." she her voice drifts with the question as she quirks her brow, a small grin growing with each passing moment. Walking over she steps over the edge of the table and then sits down on it, looking to Raven with the most mischief she's probably ever seen worn by Dex. Bringing one leg up and folding it to the side to make the seat while the other foot rest on the ground for support. Leaning down onto the table with her arm, hand down toward the middle of the table and close to the mysterious object. Matching Raven's gaze with her own, that mischievous smirk.

Glancing down to whatever she was covering, "So.. what's that?

[Raven Cadera]

Raven heavily debated internally if she could move it, maybe just tuck it away somewhere... but the instructions had said to keep it horizontal on a flat surface! Surely it was probably important!

"... Nothing." She replied stubbornly. Sure, she was a terrible liar, but that didn't mean she would spill the beans. Time to deflect! "So, ah, you and Silas...? You a thing now?"

[Dex]

"No-" Dex looked at her, a discerning eye- "but we'll get to that." She shifted more, putting both legs up on the table and sitting cross legged as she faced Raven. Leaning in, both palms resting on her knees for support as she drew closer.

Smiling broadly, "What are you hiding? I've.. you've.. never like this," she chuckles.

[Raven Cadera]

"Hey, I'm your elder," shifting so that she could face Dex more and free up one hand to possibly keep her at bay, the other gloved hand stayed firmly on top of her 'secret' for now. "You're gonna boss me around now?" Raven chuckled as well, but more in hopes of keeping the younger Mandalorian distracted.

[Dex]

"Elder- right, ya know I grew up with an 'elder' like you," she chuckles, shaking her head. "Always three years older than me and always my elder. One time he used it to try and get his way and I socked him in the face," she laughs, shaking her head. Raising her hands passively, "But hey- I won't pressure you. I'm just real curious is all-" she smirked, glancing toward the covered secret. That little mental calculation going on behind her eyes if she could manage to pry the hand off but she didn't do it.

[Raven Cadera]

Chuckling, Raven visibly relaxed a little. "Yeah, I think we both know how that would go," she teased with the indication that it would be Dex ending up with a bloody nose.

"Just... hmm..." she was obviously considering whether to share or not. "... Just don't tell anyone, alright?"

[Dex]

Drawing a line across her lips, "Mum- which uh, means I won't say a word, like the folk in the core-worlds been saying lately," she chuckles a bit, and with greedy eyes looks to her hand.

[Raven Cadera]

"Learn a new word everyday..." she wondered if Carid had taught her that.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, Raven steeled her own nerves as she removed her hand. She wasn't sure if Dex knew what it was... she herself had known what a pregnancy test was at that age, but Dex had had a similarly rough upbringing that made some standard knowledge fall to the wayside.

[Dex]

"Oooooh.." she says, nodding her head, "I see, I see. I sure wouldn't want anyone to know I had one of those.." she glances around the room discreetly, nope- nothing. Contraceptives being what they were- tests like that were mostly used to know rather than to know not. Which meant, "So uh.." she looks back to Raven, "what is it?"

[Raven Cadera]

It was quite true that it wasn't something that most women had to use in their life. Raven had no plans of kids yet, even if she did want some in the future... but she also knew nothing was 100% guaranteed to work.

"... a pregnancy test," Raven explained quietly. She held up a hand to make sure Dex wouldn't burst out loud in reaction. "It should be negative. Should be. I just... need to be sure, alright. Past month has been stressful enough, I just need to be sure. It's probably just... stress."

"I just need to know."

[Dex]

"Oh-" in contrast to expectation she just seemed, uncertain how to react. Shifting a little more on the table to face Raven, "Yea.. it's been rough, but hey- got your back right?" she said with a little smile, giving a nod toward the device. "So.. what's it say? Wait- so.. have you been trying or? No- wait, but you've not been not trying.. so?" she brought her hands up as if moving them around helped figure out what she was trying to parse.

[Raven Cadera]

The phrasing did make her laugh a little. "Don't know yet. Takes a couple of minutes."

She exhaled some tension away. "Uh, I suppose you could say that we're, ah, not trying for it, but... you know... practicing for when we will." Raven knew she was blushing as she awkwardly spoke about it. "Some day, hopefully, but... that's still some years away. I... do want a family, some day. After... after losing my family, I never thought I'd have those kinds of thoughts for the future, thought I'd be alone until I'd die trying to avenge them."

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her nerves a little. "But it should be negative. Like a lot of other women in the bounty hunter and merc-business, I got the hormonal treatment, as they call it. Makes life easier for a woman spending most of her time in heavy armor on the job."

[Dex]

"You'll be a good mom someday," she says, looking to her and giving a little smile. Though, not one for the gushy stuff she pulled her legs away and planted her feet of the ground. Leaning back onto the table she looks up at the ceiling. "They do that? Those kinda treatments?" she pulls up her lower lip, nods, "kriff that's a good idea."

"Always.. had a different plan for myself there," she chuckles. Thinking back on the look Raven had about her, the nerves, and then- "What's it like?" she waits for the curiosity to settle in. Raising her hands up she makes the universal sign for what she was asking about, an index finger entering a circle made with an index and thumb on the other hand.

[Raven Cadera]

Raven couldn't help but herself from an almost goofy smile. Being told you'd be a good parent someday... to her it felt like a pretty high praise to recieve, as a Mandalorian.

Chuckling, she bobbed her head in a nod. "Yeah, it's pretty handy. Could give you some help there on it, if you like." She herself had kind of stumbled into the info by luck, and for most civilized planets, there always seemed to be a clinic of sorts that specialised in assisting specifically various female species.

That, followed by her next question and very embarrassing question, really drove home the point that she'd been so fixated on teaching Dex to fight and the culture, not... all the other things she had just assumed the girl knew, or... no. Opening her mouth to answer although no sound came out at first, Raven was starting to turn positively red.

"Ah... uh... I thought you and Silas were..." she stopped, cleared her throat. She was smiling, that very sheepish but honest smile, but most of all it was the blushing that was dominating her features. "It's... hmmm... quite nice. Very good." Not that she was an expert on the subject, having a total of one partner to reference it with. "With a good partner, that is. Uhm...." Raven looked at her questioningly, trying to figure out what Dex needed to know.

[Dex]

Dex laughs, feeling the roughness of laying against the awkward and hard surface. With a little shake of her head against the table she settles and looks to the imperfections in the ceiling above. "I've had a girlfriend before, don't worry too much-" she chuckles again, pushing herself up against the table to look across at Raven, "but yea- no, me and Silas aren't a thing. He's not.. interested? Not like.. not interested in me, but in general," she manages one hand up to give a little wave as if it helped push along understanding.

"Guys just not into the whole thing. He's a good friend though," she smiles, glancing down. "Think you'd like 'im if you ever got to really talking with him."

[Raven Cadera]

Her eyebrows rose a little in surprise, but it wasn't something she was going to push. Dex knew him better than she did, and she had just... assumed... well, not her business to know really.

"Well... I'm glad you found a good friend. Always nice to have." Sure, Praxton was her closest, but having her other friends had been a great support in these times. Oddly enough, it kind of helped that they weren't Mandalorians when she needed their support. "... Maybe I will. When... this has settled down more. I know I've not been the most personable I can be lately. Maybe invite him back to the Enclave, we can go hunting together or something. You, me, him, Praxton."

A soft beep interrupted that train of thought from the timer declaring that five minutes had passed.