Path Paved in Stars

[Citiri Onndri]

"Wait, what?"

She had been so consumed in the permission granted to pull out the stylized datapad she reserved just for this, so utterly lost in trying to get the basic shape right, to make sure her stylus moved with precision and accuracy and then...

Oh stars he was going to take a still of her? But her hair and her I just spent several hours on a transport look?? He had to be kidding!

"Oh stars above and beyond... Wait wait, at least make sure I'm not making a stupid face, okay!?"

The Mirialan quickly tried to tug at her uniform, hoping whatever creases or wrinkles had formed since she'd put it on that morning wouldn't show. She cursed not having a mirror, to make sure the light amounts of makeup she put on hadn't smudged. There was a blush creeping up on her, of the holy crap I hate doing this type but also the I do not want to say no to the Commander - ROGUE ONE, EVEN kind.

"Okay okay!" Citiri finally stopped fussing with herself and held her sketch pad and the approximation of the Novgorod she had managed to draw so far close to her heart. "Ready as I'll ever be!"

[Jaden Luka]

Little did Citiri know that by that point, Jaden had already snapped seven different candid images, each at various stages of excitement and panic. He made a show of the last one though, needlessly deliberating over the angle and the framing. The imager grabbed the snapshot he wanted, but he continued, dropping into a partial fraction of a crouch as the final image processed and rendered on the display.

"Okay -"

The words were a drawn out tease, as he subtly scrolled back three shots, to one of the ones he'd grabbed already. Citiri hadn't quite been prepared, her attention distracted off to one side as she looked around for... well, honestly, Jaden wasn't sure what, but it all led to the effect that Citiri was wistfully glancing off in the direction of the Novgorod, her eyes managing to sparkle just a little bit in the light from the station's overheads, as if she was gazing out in wonder towards her future. Maybe it wasn't the image that Citiri would want, not as poised and perfect as she attempted to construct as she fussed and prepared; but it was the shot that Jaden wanted, a frozen moment of Citiri's excitement and optimism; something he could look back on whenever he felt his own positivity and elation at their circumstance beginning to fade.

"- I think we got it."

He straightened up, fingers sliding across the datapad surface to finish cropping the image, shifting the focus so that Citiri's attention dragged the eye towards the Novgorod. One final tweak, and a quick deliberation between a couple of different hologram filters, and he was ready. The device was flipped in his grip, and presented towards the Ensign.

"I'm no artist," he admitted, "But it helps to be taking pictures of a particularly photogenic lady."

A momentary pause followed, a mischievous sparkle tugging at his expression.

"And a passably photogenic Ensign, of course."