Tomorrow, he would be on the streets of Paris.
He couldn't speak the language. But he might be able to arrange it so he didn't have to.
He turned slightly in front of the mirror, trying to get the full impression. He was dressed in black - boots, jeans, turtleneck shirt and leather jacket. He settled a black beret on his head, and donned some penny-glasses, and experimented with stances and facial expressions, trying to nail the 'depressed intellectual' look, and finally settled on a kind of hunch to the shoulders and a grumpy glare.
Then he removed the glasses, and attempted to assume the 'paramilitary nutter'. It might be a look one of the Francophones might need to back a story, and it seemed to be well served by a straight-backed stance and a slightly overzealous stare.
Then he removed the beret to become 'random thug'. He rolled his shoulders forward, the better to loom, and thrust his jaw out. This had the added advantage of making him look like a moron.
Satisfied, he changed out of his costume, draped it over the chair in his chamber and went to bed.
After saying goodnight to her brother, she went to the room she'd been given and pulled off her shoes before flopping on the bed. She turned over, and hands behind her head, stared at the ceiling.
And stared.
And stared.
She just couldn't seem to get to sleep. It wasn't that she wasn't tired, it was more that her mind was running so quickly she could barely even catch up. For an hour, she tossed and turned. Finally, she quite simply gave up.
Not bothering to pull her shoes on, still clad in the dark grey T-shirt and denim shorts she had changed into halfway through the day, she wandered out of the palace and toward the castle garden. Looking around, she picked a tree that seemed friendly enough, and climbed up into it. As she began to settle comfortably in the branches to watch the unfamiliar starscape - she noticed something out on a limb.
Curiousity, as always, got the better of her, and she crawled out to see just what it was. "Parachute straps?" They looked as though they had been in the weather for, at the very least, a year or so. She raised her eyebrows and laughed, shaking her head. She pulled them off and dropped them to the ground and patted the limb before going back to the crook she'd found.
Once again, she settled herself comfortably in the branches, and began to watch the Moon travel across the new, to her, constellations. The tranquility of the warm night, coupled with the sounds of nature and the tree cradling her, worked against the insomnia. With a soft breeze carressing her face, she dropped off to sleep.
It was the Gold Coast. An area around coastal Queensland-New South Wales border. The area was rich in places called Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta, and other such places. A favourite holiday destination, it attracted people of many types.
Josh Nolan sat reading in a chair near the window. Suddenly, gunfire from below caused him to rush over to the balcony of the high-rise, where there were several grappling hooks securing themselves to the railing.
Sylvana Lorrdain rushed in and, along with Josh, began throwing the grappling hooks off over the edge.
"Why didn't they just come through the door?" he asked her as they began to toss the hooks over the ledge.
She shrugged, "'Cause grappling hooks are more dramatic?"
"But... they didn't make it up here, and we threw all the hooks off.... They seem to put a lot of stock in drama," he looked down the many several storey drop.
Sylvana looked down as well, and pointed with a gasp. "Look! They're climbing!"
"They didn't fall?" he stepped back and shook his head. "INCONCEIVABLE!"
She chuckled and looked at him evenly. "So," she grinned. "Do we shoot them now, or wait until they reach the top?"
"Better safe than sorry. I say we shoot 'em." He held up a hand as she began to say something, "With our off-hands. Okay?"
They both shifted blasters to their right hands, "Okay." She looked down. "Like shooting fish in a barrel, eh? Only, no barrel."
"More like sleeping piranhas in a barrel. Say, you see how that guy's holding his foot? You reckon I can hit it?"
"His foot or his hand?"
"Well, if he makes the lunge, I'll try and get both. Come on, son. You can do it.... Oh, guess he can't. One less to shoot," he shrugged.
"My turn! My turn!" Sylvana almost bounced. "I get the one with the pointy head!"
"Shoot away!"
She aimed for the man she'd indicated, only the shot hit the guy next to him. "Ooops...."
"Tut, miss a point there," He let go another shot, hitting the pointy headed man. "THAT'S the way you do it! I wonder what these guys are doing here, anyway?"
She shrugged, "Maybe that thing we stole that got stolen before we could do anything about it?" She re-aimed and hit the next one down.
"Nice shot," Josh complimented. "But we'd hardly stolen the thing that got stolen before we could do anything about it before it got stolen!" He let go another shot, "Move, you bastard!"
"Oh! Idea!" she turned back into the room and grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Now THIS is what I call shooting...." An arrow was let fly, and hit the next man in the eyeball; a scream coursed through the air as he fell. "Why anyone'd want to steal the thing we stole before anyone knew we would do anything about the stealing is quite beyond me."
"Thing is, I don't think these guys thought about what we knew they thought about the thing we stole that got stolen even though we don't know who stole it." He held his hands out to her. "Can I have a shot?"
"Uhm, sure," she handed the bow and one of the unique arrows to him. "But did they end up thinking what we know they thought, or are we thinking wrong in thinking we know they thought we knew they knew we stole what was stolen from us?"
He notched the arrow and took aim. "Maybe they don't know what we think they know about stealing the thing that was stolen from us, or maybe they think we know too much after stealing the thing that was stolen from us. So, maybe they stole the thing we stole and think that we shouldn't know what they think about what we think?" He drew back and let the arrow fly, it hit no-one and fell the many several stories to the ground. "Damn. I hope that doesn't hurt anyone down there...."
She took her bow back. "It didn't. You stick to the firearm - at least then you hit something," she laughed.
He sighed. "Yeah. But there's something satisfying about that 'thunk'."
She grinned evilly as she noched another arrow. "Better believe it! How many more of them are there, you wager?"
"Looks to be about six of 'em left-"
**Whoosh, Thunk!**
"-Nifty. Five."
"I try to be indispensible." She grinned then kissed his cheek before getting another arrow. "I'll take the ones on the right, you on the left, kay?"
"But that means you've got the guy with the enormous arse! That's the easy one!" He took a shot and removed one. "You know, I think we'll need to do something about the splattered bodies on the ground. Sci might get mad at us."
**Whoosh, Thunk!**
He winced with a groan as the man howled on his way to the ground. "Syl, you could have warned me you were going to hit him there. Ow...."
She laughed, bell-like, once again. "Oh come on, it was a shot for the taking!!! And, as for big arse there, come on, who wouldn't want to target that mass? I bet I could get two arrows in there before he even feels anything." She shrugged. "Major Zed'll survive, he has before. Maybe we could take them back to your old place and feed them to the ewoks?"
"Just remember, I'm a guy with feelings." **Blam!** "But that's at least an hour's drive with a bunch of dead bodies...."
"So we strap them up top like a dead deer or something," she shrugged and let fly another arrow. "Besides, I want my arrows back."
"I hope you can do that Jedi Mind-Trick thing, then. 'Those aren't dead bodies on the roof, officer'." **Blam!** "And I think you're not getting the arrow I shot back anyway."
"True...." She shot her second arrow into Bigarse. "No mind tricks - not that kind of sentient," she winked at him. Then she looked down. "He hasn't fallen YET?!"
Josh started singing. "I - like - big - BUTTS and I cannot lie..."
"And no other brother can deny... or something like that," She stopped mid-draw.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, and coming closer. "Uh, Syl - I think we're in trouble."
"Uh oh..." she looked up at him, "Terrans Vanish?" She moved back into the room to grab her backpack. "Sith," she muttered to herself. "I won't get my arrows back now, either."
He whipped out a comlink. "Uhm, Native Crafts directive 17. Engage stealth. Come find us." He nodded at her, "Terrans Vanish, and Skip Out On Bill."
Josh's eyes folded open at the sound of the alarm to see the cloth hanging over his four-poster bed. His pulse was still pounding from the promise of life-threatening danger in the dream... was that the only reason?
He replayed the events in his mind briefly while his alarm continued to beep. A building on the Gold Coast... under attack... grappling hooks? Why the hell didn't they come in through the door? It'd sure get them less filled with arrows...
And what was that about? That new girl, and her archery - why had he dreamed her as an archer? Why had he even dreamed of her? Was he really that sad? He shook his head. Stupid, really. Meet her once, and start to dream about her. Good thing it's all in my own head.
He swung his feet off the bed, looking accusingly at the clock radio, which continued to warble its alarm. Glaring at it, he slapped the top and the alarm ceased.
First I eat, then I go to Paris. Lah-dee-dah.
Sylvana woke with a start, and would have fallen from the tree, had she not grabbed onto the branch. What the sith was THAT all about? she wondered to herself as she shook her head.
She sighed as she saw the sun rising, and slowly stretched out the crick in her neck. Why would I be dreaming about a guy I only met yesterday? And such a BIZARRE dream? she wondered as she began climbing down. She dropped the last few metres to the ground and picked up the pieces of parachute to put in a corner. Someone surely would find them later.
Feed them to Ewoks? That's just WEIRD! she thought to herself as she stretched then stuffed her hands in her pockets as her stomach reminded her of its presence. Maybe they're serving breakfast....
With a shrug and a sigh, she started heading for the Mess Hall, watching the floor before her as she attempted to puzzle out the odd dream. Her bare feet padded silently along the flagstone of castle flooring.
She jumped startledly when she realized she'd almost run into Josh Nolan on her way into the Mess.
They spoke in unison, "Oh, uh... 'Mornin'."
There was an uncomfortable pause, and the two quickly entered the room, finding places as far away from each other as possible.