Private And a Side of Fries

[Yula Perl]

D E N O N
// Huttaburger​

"Yeah, I'll have a uhhh…"

Yula's eyes glazed over when she tried to remember her order. After finishing up some datajacking at a Shadowrunner safehouse, she was heading home at a hair past midnight. Huttaburger was on the way, and she'd stopped to grab the latest of night meals for her, Dagon, and Jem.

Brain fried crispier than the boneless nuna wing combo, she struggled to recall how many orders of fries they usually took.

"Four? Four sounds good. Maybe no, make it five."

The cashier, a stoned Gotal teenager in a polyester blend uniform, didn't seem to mind the fumbling order. In fact, nobody at the fast-food joint seemed to care. Everyone was minding their own business.

That was, until a Trandoshan with a bandana loosely tied around his face leaped up onto the counter, brandishing a pair of blaster pistols.

"Everybody DOWN!" His gruff voice broke the relative silence of the restaurant. Some patrons scrambled for cover while others made for the doors, only to find them blocked by two goons wielding carbines.

Yula glanced behind her, then ahead, pausing while she was in the middle of grabbing packets of barbecue sauce from the bin on the counter. "Scuse me-" She muttered. "Could you…to the left more?"

The thug glanced down at her, eyes wide in disbelief, but he shuffled away on instinct. That told Yula all she needed to know.

Fethin' amateurs.

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

It was another interesting reminder that there really was a first for everything. Despite everything else Sylvia had already experienced in her relatively short life, being a witness to a stickup at a fast food restaurant was a brand new one. Though not nearly as panicked as many other customers, her first idea had been to calmly walk out and get her long-overdue dinner elsewhere, but a quick look over her shoulder from the line she was in showed that things would get messy if she tried.

"Could you…to the left more?"

Turning her head towards the counter again, the zeltron ahead of her in line did not seem all that concerned either. Clearly, Sylvia was not the only one keeping a cool head. The magenta-haired woman had to suppress a chuckle as the thug awkwardly complied with the request. Had she not already concluded that she could handle the situation, that would have been the moment where she would have.

If I'm going to have Ellie ask me what took me so long anyway...

The least she could do was have a proper justification. After a slight tap of her foot against the back of the zeltron's to subtly draw her attention, she angled her head up towards the thug on the counter.

"Hey bud," Sylvia casually spoke with her unmistakably imperial accent, "not to be a bother, but I haven't eaten anything since four and I'm proper starving. Could you make this quick?"

The glint of annoyance in his eye confirmed that she had really grabbed the trandoshan's attention. Not breaking eye contact, she subtly tapped against the back of the zeltron's foot again. Surely, the stranger was bright enough to get the hint.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" The attempt at sounding intimidating fell somewhat flat due to the frustration that bled through the facade.

"You have no idea how hungry I am, trust me. I don't joke about that chite."

 

[Yula Perl]

Someone tapped at the back of her shoe. Yula's cybernetic eye jerked to the side, keeping her organic eye focused on the thug at the counter. She looked terribly cross-eyed.

Another woman, pink hair, roughly her age. The imperial accent threw her for a bit—didn't get many of those around Denon. Still, the imperial seemed unruffled, unlike the other patrons who'd scattered to either end of the restaurant. The goons seemed thrown too, not expecting much in the way of resistance. Hunger was a powerful thing, especially in a Huttaburger past midnight.

Tap.

Alright, I get it.

The head goon was distracted. Yula's passive, lethargic movements became decisive when she grabbed the sauce bin, sweeping the gangster's legs with an aggressive thwack. Packets of barbecue sauce went everywhere, tumbling across the counter and spilling onto the floor.

"Wh-whOH!" The Trandoshan scrambled almost comically on the condiments, losing his balance and tumbling to the floor. The Zeltron, now irritated that her large order would take even longer, smacked him upside the head with the bin several times.

"You!" Whack. "Are messing-" Whack. "..with our-" Whack. "-Dinner!" Whack. Whackwhackwhack!

Startled, the two grunts at the back started shooting.

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl​

Watching the thug fall to the floor filled Sylvia with unadulterated glee. After, as the zelton so eloquently put, 'ruined their dinner', he more than had it coming. She would not witness much of what happened to the trandoshan after the fall beyond the sounds of him getting clobbered and the zeltron's annoyed vocalizations. The sound of blaster fire that sounded from behind Sylvia had prompted her to look for cover instead. As the shots went wide, she hopped the counter and landed next to the gotal employee. The kid looked dazed and confused. He wasn't going to be of much help.

"Picked a bad time to get high, bud," Sylvia remarked off-handedly, her tone carrying a tinge of frustration, while she produced the blaster she had concealed. Having a lightsaber on one's person tended to draw too much attention, even if it made people think twice, but right now she wished she had hers on hand. "You can repay the favor by getting us a free meal afterwards."

The woman quickly peeked over the counter and fired a few shots, prompting the two goons to search for their own cover. The second peek revealed that, indeed, they had not run for the hills.

"You heard my friend! Could you kindly piss off!?" The question was paired with another small wave of blaster shots.

 

[Yula Perl]

"Yeah!" Yula hollered, waving the empty sauce bin above her head while lording over the now unconscious Trandoshan bandit. "Feth off!!"

A pair of bolts lanced towards her, one hitting the register and the other singing the arm of her jacket.

Heat blossomed through her bicep where she'd been struck, largely uninjured but in pain. "HEY!" She bit in both pain and surprise, before figuring that her new friend had the right idea in using the counter for cover. Grumbling in irritation, the Zeltron peeled to the other side where the cashier had hunkered down, lucid enough to hide but still stoned out of his mind.

A shootout began, and the pink-haired woman was doing the work for both of them. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have any trouble keeping the two goons at bay. Her crack shots were forcing them to constantly switch cover, which gave Yula a chance to survey the chaos they had created, taking stock of where the civilians were hiding and—

Someone had grabbed her from behind and smashed her face into the register. A fourth thug had emerged from the kitchen, taking her by surprise. Momentarily dazed, Yula spat a bloody tooth onto the counter.

"Uuuuunggg….order…uppp…."

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

The next volley of shots was cut short by a blaster bolt going straight for Sylvia's head, prompting her to hunker back down in order to just barely dodge it. The woman quickly shook off the spike in heart rate and went to fire back, preventing the two goons from getting too much closer to the counter. "Your arm okay?" she asked the zelton as she popped up and fired a trio of shots, one of which connecting to a goon's shoulder. A pained cry sounded from the other side of the establishment in response.

"Got one!"

The yet untouched goon hurried over to check up on his accomplice and Sylvia was a flash away from taking advantage of the situation, until she heard the cringe-inducing sound of bone hitting metal. Looking over, she saw her friend spit out a tooth.

"Bloody-!" Reflexes took over and a single shot was fired, aimed at the leg. Before even waiting to see whether it hit or not, Sylvia then shot towards the goon and went to tackle him. The goon's groan preceded him getting speared down to the floor. The spacer wasn't heavy or strong, but the target being off-balance more than made up for that. With one swift motion, she hit the zeltron's assailant with the butt of her blaster upside the head. "Banthafether!"

Forgetting the final goon that was still in commission, Sylvia rushed to get the zelton sat down against the counter. "Hey hey, bud, you alright?"

 

[Yula Perl]

Yula groaned as she was positioned against the counter, hand rubbing the side of her face where she'd been hit. It hadn't even registered that her assailant had been taken down, but her new partner's words broke through the intense mind fog.

"…yyyeah." She slurred. "Bud, yeah. Yeah m' fine. How are you?"

A sense of urgency flickered through her, prickling the hairs at the back of her neck in a most familiar way. Shaking off the grogginess in an instant, the Zeltron's arm surged forward towards the cash register. Her fingertips barely grazed at the cheap metal of the drawer, yet the cash box still flew across the room at an alarming speed, slamming into the chest of the last goon standing as he swung his carbine in their direction.

He stumbled back with a cry, ultimately collapsing onto the grimy tiles. The commotion had ended, punctuated with a few strained grunts from the floor.

Forgetting that disarming the enemy was probably a priority, Yula stumbled towards a warming tray of fries and proceeded to shovel fistfuls into her mouth. Maybe she'd been hanging out too long in the Gotal's cloud.

Yula only paused when she realized how rude she was being.

"Wanf some?" With a full mouth, she offered the gunslinger an oily handful of fries

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

"He got you pretty good there. You might want to-"

In complete opposition to what Sylvia was about to tell her, the zeltron shot up and turned around. When she stood up from the crouching position she was in, she watched as a cash register took out the final goon. The move took the magenta-haired girl by surprise.

"Well, alright then," Sylvia commented, sounding impressed. Her new friend still didn't seem completely sharp of mind by the way she stumbled around, but she was probably fine. The average person wasn't able to toss a cash register at full speed after hitting their head as hard as the zeltron had. Still, it was probably a good idea to get her checked up. A missing tooth and a likely concussion were not particularly fun things to deal with.

At the same time, though, some of the goons were still conscious. It was better to relieve them of their weapons before they shook off their own dazed states.

"Just one sec," Sylvia responded as she somewhat amusedly looked at the sight of the zeltron offering her a handful of fries. "Gotta be sure these arseholes don't start a round two." After hopping the counter, she started collecting the blasters and removing the power packs.

"I'll be taking you to a medic, by the way," the spacer stated as she knelt down to pick up one of the carbines, her tone implying it was not up for debate. She was still starving, but did not feel like risking letting the zeltron stumble around in that state. She'd grab some fries for along the way, that was good enough for her.

As for the ones who created the scene in the first place, Sylvia was sure someone had already called the authorities already. Whether they were going to show up was another question, but that was out of her hands.

"You still remember your name after that hit to the head?"

 

[Yula Perl]

"M'Yufa."

No, that didn't sound exactly right. After what seemed like a prolonged amount of chewing her way through a cheekful of fries, Yula swallowed heavily. "Yula." She gasped.

Seeing that the other woman had collected the thug's weapons, Yula took it upon herself to pack them a late dinner to go. Handfuls of fries and unwrapped burgers were hurriedly shoved into a paper bag. It was the least that Huttaburger could do after they went through the trouble of saving, but also trashing their restaurant.

"Are we going to the dentist? I hate the dentist." She hoped that it wasn't the dentist. Fortunately, Yula was lucid (and now thanks to the fries, satisfied) enough to be led without much trouble. Good thing that this stranger was pleasant.

"Who are you, again? I forgot your name, sorry." The Zeltron chuckled awkwardly, not wanting to be impolite. The magenta-haired woman hadn't given her name, but Yula was beginning to recognize that the last fifteen minutes had been spotty. Grease was starting to leak through the paper bag, and Yula readily offered its contents after taking a double cheese nunaburger for herself.

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

"Yula, it is a pleasure. Who knew foiling a stick up was a good way to make friends?" Compared to how she had been introduced to certain other people, though, this one was relatively tame. Still, that did not make it any less memorable.

"If you are, it'll be the doctor sending you there. I'm slightly more concerned by the way you hit your head." With the final blaster safely disassembled, Sylvia took the conventional way to get behind the counter. There, she was greeted by her new friend shoving one final helping of fries into a paper bag. Unless Yula had an unceasing appetite, there would be more than enough to share. "I really wasn't joking when I said I hadn't eaten since four, by the way."

As if on cue, her stomach let out a very displeased grumble. "That."

Although the young woman kept a sharp eye on Yula just in case, the zelton did seem stable enough to walk unassisted at this point without causing too much worry. "Probably because I never told you. Name's Sylvia, though."

Once Yula was ready, Sylvia would follow her out of the establishment. "You might want to call the authorities, if nobody has yet," Sylvia mentioned as she walked by one of the small crowds that had not yet left for one reason or another.

 

[Yula Perl]

"Since four? During the day?" Yula shook the bag in Sylvia's direction again, encouraging her to take more.

She cringed at the mention of alerting the authorities—Yula didn't play well with cops. Most Shadowrunners didn't.

Besides, there was a chance that Dag would be the one to show up.

"Eh, someone else will get it." Yula waved a dismissive hand before hooking her fingers around a bundle of fries. "We did our work."

The Zeltron chewed loudly as they meandered along the street, passing by a rough looking group loitering outside of an exotic dance joint. They eyed the women up and down, but ultimately left them alone.

"Thanks for your help back there, Sylvia. We make a pretty good team, don't we?" She elbowed the other woman playfully in the ribs with a wide, cheesy grin. "You from 'non? Or just passin' through?"

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

"That we did," Sylvia answered in agreement. Following Yula's example, the spacer reached into the paper bag to retrieve some fries. She wasted no time practically shoving them into her mouth, either. Never had greasy, unhealthy food tasted so good, and that was saying something. "It's just too bad that the kid working there was probably too high to remember either of us, probably would've given us free meals for life," she joked between swallowing down some fries and chewing down on new ones.

In true Denon fashion, playing the hero was quickly followed by getting stared at. The temptation to pull a face was definitely there, but Sylvia managed to resist. She was still a little too concerned that Yula could suddenly get dizzy again. That was much more important.

The elbow to the ribs did help with pushing away the concern a bit, though. Sylvia jumped a little as it took her by surprise, but a chuckle followed soon after. "Can't say we did too badly, no. Apart from letting the one guy sneak up on us, but I'll take the blame for that one." The food put her in a good mood.

"Wasn't born here, but I got an apartment a couple blocks over. Not that I use it much, due to work and 'special someone'-related reasons." the answer was interrupted by another helping of fries going down the hatch. "Still, I got a soft spot for Denon. Always something going on, y'know? Like just now," she said with an amused shrug.

"And you?"

 

[Yula Perl]

"Special someone, eh-h-h?" A cheesy grin accompanied the eyebrows going up and down. If she thought about it—yeah, Yula could understand. Back when the Alliance was in one piece, she spent time on Coruscant. Dagon had made a joke at some point about dating a Jedi, you date the Order. She hadn't laughed.

Or she did, but in the most sardonic way.

If that thought sobered, her she quickly bounced back.

"Yeah, it's always hoppin'. Moreso than it used to be, but there's always somethin' going down…" She bit a fry in half with a wicked grin. "…if you know where to look."

Something told her that Sylvia knew where to look.

"Oh, me?" Splaying a hand against her chest, Yula's eyes drifted upwards in thought. "I run a small garage off of Baker's Row. Speeders, droids, gadgets and whatnot." It was her pride, really—Yula's mechanical skills had been developed in the Outer Rim, so her devices were often crude but clever. Only after moving from Terminus to Denon did she start leaning into sleeker designs.

Shadowrunner, thief, and saboteur all applied as well, but you had to be careful with who you told.

"What do you do for work?" Her head tilted to the side, dark strands falling over her shoulder.

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl ​

Yula's teasing response elicited an embarrassed chuckle from Sylvia. "Yup," she muttered as she felt her cheeks heat up, causing her to look straight ahead. "Cutest girl you'll ever meet." Without realizing it she let her expression soften, almost as if she was daydreaming. "In every way." The woman found it difficult to not spill every last reason why she thought that way. "We've been through so much chite together. I'll spare you the details, but I'd do it all over again if I had to."

Considering one of those things was rescuing that girl from the Netherworld after she died, 'doing it all over again' carried weight.

"But yeah, she's not a fan of the city life, so we spend our down time in the quieter corners of the galaxy." She herself enjoyed the liveliness of the city, but was more than happy to trade it in for quality time with Ellie.

The conversation shifted back to Denon itself, at which point Yula began talking about her garage. "Huh, that's just my kind of thing. I should take a peek sometime," the woman responded "Especially if you sell parts as well."

The answer to the question that followed had been spoiled somewhat already, but Sylvia was happy to indulge Yula all the same. "Mostly tech commission work, funnily enough. I build just about anything, I do code, you name it." she explained. "We share a skillset, it seems." Turned out that staying cool during robberies wasn't the only thing they had in common.

"Used to do a lot of shipment jobs and the likes while I built up my name in the past as well, but that wasn't nearly as interesting." That, and the woman also had a few under-the-table jobs of various kinds under her belt. She felt little about casually bringing that up, though.

"By the way, how's your head? I'm still a little concerned, not gonna lie."

 

[Yula Perl]

Even in the low light, Yula could see the flush of Slyvia's face at the mention of her special someone. The other woman was positively glowing, and it was infectious. Yula's teasing smile grew more genuine.

"She sounds like a special lady." A low whistle accompanied the observation. "A love like that can be hard to find in the galaxy." And even harder to nurture, she discovered. Still, the Zeltron's smile was earnest.

She loved Dagon, and consistently marveled at how they'd managed to stay together through a galactic hellstorm of troubles. They were getting better at not sweeping their issues under the rug, but there was still a lot of dust under there.

Another handful of fries snuffed that thought out before it got dark, her mind focusing on the satisfaction of a salty, greasy mess. Either Dagon or Jem would probably be home to look after a concussed Yula.

"A fellow techie, yeah?" She grinned with newfound solidarity. "I sell parts when I come into them, but that depends on what I can get my hands on. Oh! You should come with me to the junk market they have on Terminus. I used to live out there, but I try to go back when I can. You can score some crazy good deals."

Scratching at her head, the Zeltron had to think for a moment on how it was feeling. "Still hurts, but I'm less woozy. I think the night air did me good." She looked around, thankful for the fact that she could at least recognize her surroundings. "I live at the end of the block—someone should be home to make sure I don't die, heh."

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

There was not a word Yula had spoken that Sylvia disagreed with. If anything, they felt like an understatement. She was all too aware of just how incredible and precious her bond with Elle was. To have someone you could trust without hesitation and share every last piece of yourself with without fear was something she knew not to take for granted. The time before meeting her and the years separated from Elle had taught her that lesson all too clearly.

"I've been around the block there a few times, but never had time to check out too much," Sylvia mentioned between helpings of fries. "Would be fun to scour another market though. My spare parts are running low and I burn through storage drives like nobody's business, too. Yeah, count me in." Going with a friend made the idea even more appealing.

Thankfully, Yula looked a lot better after food and fresh air. Sylvia still was not going to leave her on her own, but if there was someone at her place she felt confident to let her rest up there without an immediate trip to the doctor. The knocked-out teeth were still a concern, but there wasn't much Sylvia could do about that herself.

"Alright, I suppose I'll accept dropping you off there instead. If there is indeed someone home." A serious look was shot the zeltron's way. "I don't want to be responsible for you losing more teeth after dropping unconscious face-first against the floor because I left you alone. Or, yeah, your death."

Not too far off Yula's place, Sylvia felt buzzing in her pocket. "I think I know who that is," she said to nobody in particular as she retrieved her holocomm. "Yup. Sorry, just gotta let her know I'll be right there. Guess I can cook for her instead?" The fries weren't making it back before they got cold, that much was a given.

 

[Yula Perl]

"Yeah, someone should be—oh, that's my boyfriend." She pointed to a masculine silhouette moving along the window from somewhere in the living room. Her head tilted to the side. "Or I'm bein' robbed. Ah, you don't gotta worry, Dag an' I take care of each other all the time when we get hurt." She rapped a fist gently against her head for effect, then squinted at the soreness. Ugh.

The mention of Sylvia's gal brought a dopey grin back to her face. "Tell 'er I'm sorry to keep you away for as long as I did, yeah? An' take some of the burgers, if you want—you can even keep the bag, I just need a few." Regardless of whether Sylvia took the bag or not, Yula would pile a few of the sandwiches into her arms.

Turning towards the apartment building, she paused. A humid breeze scattered some of the trash along an adjacent alley, the scraping of cans sounding like home. Yula turned to Sylvia. "This was fun. I'll catch you on Terminus, yeah?" A wide grin for her new friend.

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Yula Perl
​

This time, it was Sylvia's turn to get a little cheeky. A smile and a bounce of the eyebrows was shot Yula's way. "Boyfriend, eh? A lucky bastard, if you ask me. And I'm qualified to say that." Although she spoke with a humorous tone, that did not mean she was lying. "You'll be fine, then. Do take it easy, yeah?"

The woman did accept the bag, chuckling at the sight of Yula's method of carrying sandwiches. "Will do, and tell Dag I said hello." After taking a burger out of the bag, she held it between her teeth in order to close the bag up. When she freed up a hand again, she took the burger back. "It'll be cold by the time I get back, but I'll figure something out. At least I have something for the way there."

"This was fun. I'll catch you on Terminus, yeah?"

"Deal. And uh, no need to look up my contact info. Check your pocket. Take care, bud." With a wave, she bid Yula goodbye for now, then took her leave. If the zeltron did as Sylvia had told her to do, a comms chip had found its way there.