Before - Legends Lessons in Being Not Creepy (TOR, Jedi Knight plot, Doc and Kira)

Title: Lessons in Being Not Creepy
Author: DWH
Timeframe: SWTOR
Characters: Kira Carsen, Archiban "Doc" Kimble, Finley Tuering, Holiday
Genre: Fluff, sarcasm. Sarcasm is a genre, right?

Summary: Doc struggles with communicating like a functioning adult and turns to Kira for help. This takes place in the third chapter of the Jedi Knight storyline. Not sure how many entries this will end up being, but I'm pretty sure I have more lessons where this one came from. And I borrow at times from the Jedi Consular plot, since I played this storyline almost exclusively with SoA. As far as I'm concerned, Finley and Cabrie traveled the galaxy together to save it from ALL THE EVIL.

Part One

It had been a week since their escape from the Emperor’s stronghold, and Kira was desperate for something to do. But no, Finley decided to take Sargent Rusk with her on Belsavis, telling everyone else to take a break. Right, like they were going to do anything except for go crazy. Kira wasn’t overly fond of staying cooped up, but being that they were on a prison planet, her other options weren’t great, either.

And so she stayed, trying to keep herself occupied with updating the ship’s security protocols, and trying to avoid those on the ship she’d rather not deal with. Scourge was easy enough to avoid, as he preferred to keep to himself. Kira shivered at the thought of the Sith- she didn’t trust him, and she especially didn’t like how much Finley did trust him… but the Jedi Council approved his presence, so there it was.

Then there was Doc, the master of Trying Too Hard and Getting It Wrong. She honestly couldn’t tell what it was that Finley saw in him. Was he even all that good looking?

Actually, she wasn’t interested in thinking about it that hard.

“This is what happens,” she said under her breath. “You get stuck inside too long, you start thinking too much…”

“Uh.” A male voice came from behind her, and she looked over her shoulder to see Doc, who was standing awkwardly in the doorway to the cockpit. “Hi.”

Kira looked askance at him. “Hi, yourself. What are you doing?”

“Standing. Here.” He coughed. “I, uh… thought you might be able to, you know, help.”

“I am helping,” Kira stated flatly. “Running diagnostics, doing computery things. It’s what I do. Don’t you have something medical you could be doing right now?” She knew that probably wasn’t the case, but she could dream.

“Not really,” he shrugged. “Wounds are at a minimum at the moment. But that’s not why I came up here.”

“Do tell, then.” Kira leaned back and crossed her arms. “I’m listening.”

“Well, you know the other day, when you said I was, well…”

“Creepy?” Kira supplied. “Yeah, I remember that. Something about making wildly inappropriate remarks to a woman who’d just broken free from the grasp of the most evil and powerful man in the galaxy, a feat accomplished so rarely that the Jedi had given her up for being dead. Am I on the right track?”

Doc frowned. “I’m trying to ask for your help, here.”

“With what?” Kira gave him a skeptical look.

“With, you know… talking.”

“For once, it’s showing that it’s not your strength,” Kira suppressed an eyeroll, but turned her chair to face him fully. “All right, I’ll bite. You obviously want to be able to communicate with Master Tuering like a normal adult, and you just as obviously struggle with that.”

Doc looked for a moment as though he might protest, but he let out a weary sigh. “Yes, that about sums it up. You have to understand, this is new to me.”

“Oh, I can tell,” Kira crossed her arms and gave him a wry smile. “I wasn’t always a Jedi, you know. I’ve seen your type. Honestly, I’ve never quite understood what she sees in you, but you’re making an effort. I have to give you credit for that.”

“Thanks… I think.” Doc sat down in the chair across from hers. “I guess I don’t really know what she sees in me either, sometimes, but I’ve never met anyone like her.”

“You and me both,” Kira looked at him intently. “So you’re really committed to this? You know Jedi frown on relationships.”

“She did say something about breaking the Jedi Code,” he admitted. “If she’s willing to break the Jedi Code for me… I can break my old habits for her.”

“All right, then. I can give you some lessons in being not creepy.” Kira stood and extended her hand.

Doc stood and accepted the handshake. “Great… how do we start?”

Kira keyed in a sequence on the terminal and a hologram of a beautiful woman appeared. “Hey Holiday, mind if we borrow you for a minute?”

“I suppose, I’m running some calculations for Theran at the moment, but he’s off helping that Jedi friend of his,” Holiday waved dismissively. “How can I help?”

Kira waved in Doc’s direction. “This is Doc.”

Doc grinned broadly and leaned in. “Why hello there, I can’t believe Cabrie’s been hiding you all this- hey!” He stopped abruptly as Kira smacked the back of his head. “You didn’t tell me there was violence involved in these lessons!”

“Lesson number one,” she looked pointedly at him, “is don’t creep on good looking ladies every time you see them. She’s not even real, Doc.”

Holiday looked at Kira indignantly. “I beg your pardon, I have better things to do than be insulted.”

Kira shrugged apologetically. “Sorry Holiday, just trying to make a point. Which I think has been made, so I won’t keep you here.”

“Happy to help,” she replied in a tone that suggested she was anything but, then flickered out of existence.

Doc rubbed the back of his head. “You pack a whallop, there. It’s like you’ve been training with Finley or something.”

“I’ve learned from the best,” Kira grinned. “So let’s review. What went wrong?”

“You hit me?” Doc grimaced not only out of pain, seeing her entirely unimpressed reaction. “Okay, okay. I hit on everything that moves. Well, every lady that moves.”

“An urge that you’ve somehow managed to suppress around me,” Kira pointed out. “I don’t think you’ve ever creeped at me.”

Doc paused to consider this. “Huh. I think you’re right.”

“I’m guessing it’s because you’re too preoccupied with my Master.”

“You’ve also been giving me that deadly eye roll since the day we met,” he pointed out. “I don’t tend to make moves on people I know won’t take me seriously.”

“Well, how about this- from now on, every other woman you ever run into, she’s about as impressed by you as I am,” Kira suggested. “At least, that’s how you’re going to think of them.”

“You know, it’s not a bad idea,” Doc conceded. “All right, I’ll give that a shot. In addition to, you know, not creeping on all the ladies, as you so eloquently put it.”

“Good,” Kira gave him a genuine smile. “You might deserve her yet, but we’ve still got lots of work to do.”

Doc winced. “Does it involve more violence? I think I need a break if you’re going to hit me again.”

Kira shrugged. “I make no promises.”

“Then I’m taking a break,” Doc grinned. “But seriously, thank you. For taking the time to do this for me.”

“It’s for Finley as much as it is for you,” Kira shrugged. “She’s rescued me from the Emperor more than once. She deserves to be happy, and if you’re what makes her happy, then she deserves the best version of you.”

“You’re a good friend,” Doc smiled. “A violent, but good friend.”

With that he left the room, and Kira was left mildly bewildered by what had just happened. It was no secret she had only the smallest amount of respect for Doc, but he was finally giving her reason to believe there was someone worthwhile under his constantly smooth facade. Then again, Finley had a talent for finding the one good thing in a person and drawing it out. She’d already seen her Master talk a pureblood Sith into the Jedi Order; Doc becoming a decent human for her didn’t seem so farfetched in that light.

Well, Kira mused, at least I won’t be bored…

 

Haha. Very nice use of Holiday. I approve. I look forward to more of this.

 

Love the dialogue. It's easy to imagine Laura Bailey and Andrew Bowen speaking the lines; that's a skill not everyone possesses, being able to craft original lines in canon characters' style.