Bar Maidens (Dells)

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

Things had calmed down on Kaeshana. Most of the rubble and damage done to the great palace during the failed Dark Eldorai revolution had been cleared away, Silaqui's body had been cremated so that her soul might be sped to the Goddess, Anya had been crowned as Star Queen, while Tegaea had recovered from her injuries.

Siobhan had found her way back to the planet that had now become her home. After having exterminated a splinter group of Bando Gora alongside some Rebels and - as much as part of her still found the thought revolting - Fringe. That had resulted in a brief chat with Ashin Varanin after slaughtering Reavers together - and finding out that the Bando Gora had started to worship Siobhan as a Chaos Goddess. Which was far less confusing than the enemy mine situation with the former Empress.

Walking across the streets in a more refined part of the Foreign Quarter of Santaissa, she entered a bar where she was supposed to meet an...not so long ago she would have called the woman her best friend, but now things between her and Dells were, how shall we put it, complicated and shaky. Rather, for want of a better word, amazonian looking bouncers kept order. One of them, a tall and muscular black woman, gave Siobhan a wink as she entered, making Siobhan smile at her. The bar was an up market place near some of the major businesses human merchants had in this part of town. Close inspection would reveal that the clientele seemed exclusively composed of women, the waitresses were young and attractive and there was also a music band playing what was considered in and cool these days. The clientele was quite varied though, showing several different walks of life, as colourful as the Foreign Quarter was. Doubtless a few smugglers and other 'not so legitimate business people' had found their way here and making more or less legitimate deals in the backroom.

"Lady Kerrigan, welcome. Please follow me, I'll take you right to your table," one waitress, a green Twi'lek, said with a friend smile as Siobhan entered, guiding her up the stairs to a higher level of the bar, from which one had a good view of the town. "Your friend has not come yet, I'll send her up when she does. If there's...anything you require, just ask."

"Thanks. I always appreciate good customer service, Rita," Siobhan said warmly, evidently she knew the girl, though how much she knew her was another question. As the waitress departed Siobhan's eyes naturally followed the sway of her rear for a moment, before turning and staring out of the window. Though she would deny it, she was feeling just a bit nervous, flesh hand tapping against the table for a moment as she waited.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila hated Kaeshana. Sometimes it felt like everyone knew that she had punched the old bat, as if an invisible scarlett letter had been painted on her back.When she came on planet to do her Firemane duties, Delila either stuck to Firemane headquarters or the Foreign Quarter. Full of ex-pats, it was the one place she could truly disappear and feel as if she wasn't in a land full of space elves.

Today she was meeting Siobhan at some bar in the Quarter. For what, Delila had no clue. She had taken her datapad however. The pair weren't exactly friendly towards one another anymore. Probably yet another meeting about Firemane and their duties protecting the Mara Corridor. Not that she minded, after being directionless for a period of time it was nice to 'get back the saddle' so to speak.

Entering the establishment, it became clear Dells had been drug to another ladies-only establishment. After getting the once over for weapons, Delila entered to the sound of a folksy-blues band playing on stage. Completely busy inside, a young Twi'lek had apparently been waiting for her arrival, as her attentiveness was almost immediate.

"Lady Kerrigan is on the second floor, you can't miss her."

Nodding in thanks, Delila climbed the stairs to the quieter location. Dressed rather normally in comparison to her regular attire, she wondered if that was a mistake. Perhaps she should have came in Firemane riot gear rather than jeans and a fashionable top. Yet there was no turning back now. Finding the table with the spectacular view, Delila made her way over.

"Colonel" She said a bit tersely before sitting down across from the woman, taking out her datapad.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

Siobhan liked Kaeshana - it felt like home. Sure, there were the Dark Eldorai, there was the fact that many an Eldorai noble was plotting against Firemane, but nonetheless. Besides, she liked the space elves. Adril had indoctrinated...taught her well after all!

"Dells, good to see you. How you, uh, been?" Siobhan asked a bit awkwardly, passing the menu over to her the redhead, then frowned at the datapad a bit. Further away from them, unbeknownst to both, a human girl was furiously typing away on what amounted to an i-pad like device. Apparently she was so absorbed in this activity that she had not even bothered touch the drink a waitress had left her. For some reason she kept sneaking glances at Delila and Siobhan, then spoke in hushed whispers to her companion.

Siobhan noted and seemed to appreciate Dells' more normal attire - it suited her well. "Just came from the Hebrides couple days ago. Splinter group of Bando Gora, guess a few got off Gehenna before the exterminatus. Well, now they've been sent to Chaos as well." For the Kerrigan had found their idea of worship inadequate and meted out brutal punishment, at which they had rejoiced, for to be slain by her blade was their deepest yearning.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Noting the odd girl, Delila raised an eyebrow. Why she was drug to the most interesting of all places at a near constant rate was beyond her. Had Delila been not under such scrutiny on planet, she would have told the nerdy girl to take a holopic and get it over with. Yet it may lead to more Kaeshana jail time, something she was preferring to avoid as of late. Taking the menu, she glanced it over quickly before looking up at Sio. Or the area around Sio. It was hard to look the Colonel in the eye so often she merely faked it by staring at the womans eyebrows or hairline.

"Fine. Drifting with the Young in Spirit. Somehow I have become Sammo's official bodyguard." Nodding, Delila listened to the news of the Reavers. "Sounds very exciting. Shame I did not have the encounter myself. I never got revenge for my departed liver."

Glancing back at the menu, Dells was already internally debating what deep-fried delights she was going to stuff her mouth with.

"So why are we meeting here? Surely HQ would have sufficed, although without the deep-fried goodness that comes from such a place."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

"You may get the chance still. Rumour is some splinter groups are mucking around in the unknown regions. Well, not so unknown anymore, what with Fringers and Republic scrambling for control," Siobhan responded dryly. The Republic had suffered a beating at O'reen - something Siobhan was not unhappy about, much as she would not mind Fringe and the Republic beating each other to a bloody pulp, but the Jedi had pissed her off more - though she doubted the peace would hold.

There were also these big spider creatures - Klaxxi. A foe to test her strength against. "And the chicks," Siobhan responded after looking up from the menu, also thinking about what deep-fried delights she should consume. "Just felt we could do with something formal. You know, clear the air between us."

While Siobhan said this awkwardly, the nerdy girl was enthusiastically typing on her pad. She had actually just taken a holopic of the two. 'The last Reaver was ripped apart by the blast of the thermal detonator. All around them were rubble and smoking corpses, beautiful explosions blossoming and fires raging. Flipping her glorious red hair back, which marked her as part of a special breed, armour battered and covered in the blood of her defeated foes, Delila's smouldering blue eyes gazed over towards Siobhan as she came gliding down from the air, stopping just in front of her, close enough that they almost touched. The purifying fires raging across the destroyed Bando Gora base, consuming their corrupted flesh, matched the one the woman-shaped battering ram felt burning deep inside of her. A hunger that could be sated only one way. But could she make the first move? Would it endanger her friendship with her closest friend?'

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Bando Gora are back eh? I may make a 'goodwill' trip over that way....Just for old times sake"

Spotting the girl, Delila raised an eyebrow. This was odd. Perhaps she was being stalked. Seemed the only thing in her mind that made any bit of sense at the moment anyways. When Siobhan spoke thought it got a little uncomfortable all over again. Not being on friendly terms had been difficult. Delila had been nothing but professional during her time at Firemane, yet there had been tension in the air. It couldn't be helped. Well, at least until today.

"I see. Well....we're in a bit of a mess, aren't we?"

Spotting the girl again, Delila patiently waited for the waitress to come back around. Slipping the girl a twenty credit chip, she nodded in the direction of the wannabe photojournalist.

"We'd prefer to be moved or have Nancy Drew kicked out. Whatever twenty credits buys in this establishment"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

"Blow a couple up for old times' sake," Siobhan chuckled. "There's also some other group of nasties. Klaxxi - big mean spider things, really big appetite. Atrisians were fighting 'em before they joined Fringe." After the Protectorate aborted its counterattack against Atrisia for no logical reason. Why Cater had ordered a retreat was beyond Siobhan, but then she found many things weird. "Anyway, might be a new list of targets for us."

Then came an awkward pause. "Yeah, we are. If you just wanna talk business...I get that..." she said awkwardly, not really sure how to get her point across.

Then the waitress saved her from having to think about that by appearing. "For Lady Kerrigan and her friend we offer the best of services," the waitress said with a chipper smile. "You're the one who beat up Lady Cadalthor, isn't it? Between you and me, the old elf bat is annoying. The girls here like you for it."

The waitress pocketed the twenty credits and a few moments later an amazonian looking bouncer appeared at the seat of the fan fic writer, who had made just made another holopic and was now engaged in writing the tale of the century. 'Overcome with a passion she could not contain, as fiery as the hair of the glorious redhead, Siobhan pulled her into a deep kiss, pouring all her passion, all the heat into it, while further afield the unholy Bando Gora temple collapsed. Shocked Delila pushed her away and punched her, but then seized her to plunder her mouth, their tongues..."

"Ms, you're disturbing our guests, two heroes, I must ask you leave," the bouncer said in a no-nosense tone, taking the holocamera.

The girl looked shocked. "But...but...I just got to the good part! I must upload it on morethanbarbuddies.holonet first! I've never been so close to them before. This is..."

"I must insist. You're giving our establishment a bad name," the bouncer roughly took her arm and brought her to her feet.

The girl sighed. "Fine, but...if they get to first base you must totally post that! Or punch each other...that's like fore...," she did not get any further because the muscular bouncer hauled her off her seat and dragged her down the stairs out of the bar. Good customer service was such a marvellous thing.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


"Thank you, but lets not speak too loudly. Most of the planet dislikes me for that act."

Watching the nerdy girl being removed in protest, Delila sat a little stunned. Punch one another? Make out? First base? Who were these people getting to first base in a bar? Well, perhaps in the current establishment it may have been the norm, rather than an exception. Still....it was rather unsettling. Delila would have to look over her shoulder more often for young girls on datapad and view them in a different life than she once had.

Waiting until the dust had settled so to speak, she continued on.

"No...No. We can talk about non-business topics."

Delila sat in awkward silence for a long, long moment. This was more difficult than she first thought.

"Sooo...uh...how is the wife? Can you two expect the pitter-patter of little feet soon?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

Siobhan coughed slightly. "Uh...no. We don't exactly have the parts...and, I know there's adoption stuff, but we already have a Jester and he's high maintenance enough. Keeps interrupting our...playtime!" she quipped, obviously thinking she was being tremendously witty. "We're not the let's have kids sort."

That was one of the reasons. Though Siobhan also doubted she she would be much of a mother. After all, oftentimes she could barely take care of herself, not the sort of person you wanted to give that sort of responsibility. "But Tegs is good, yeah. You may have heard about the civil war...yeah, elves had another one. She took out a couple traitor Angelii when they ambushed her after murdering Sila. She got hurt...but she's recovered. So we're good," she said with smile, evidently proud of her wifey, though at the same time she had been terrified for her safety. The ambush had happened while Siobhan had been outside, directing the defences against the rebels. Not having been there for her when they had struck still made her feel guilty - but then Siobhan seemed to thrive on self-castigation.

"Since we're on the subject, how's Thessa? Her little mermaids are on the way?" Siobhan had first heard about their friend's pregnancy when she had come to pick up Delila from her brief stay in prison.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Well, glad to hear Tegs made it out okay. You worry about her too much, wasn't she a soldier and warrior before this? Never forget that type of stuff, no matter how deep in retirement one chooses to go."

The concept was a little foreign to herself. While Siobhan was perfectly normal for being concerned about her spouse in rough times, to Delila it was just something she couldn't wrap her head around. Sure, she may have worried about friends and fellow soldiers on the battlefield, but wasn't the same. While she had been married before, none of the same reservations had ever came to mind. Perhaps that is why her marriage failed in the first place. After all, just as Siobhan wasn't the child rearing type, she wasn't the white dress happily ever after type.

" I think she's alright, we haven't talked all too much. Thessa is struggling to go into the motherhood role. I think she's worried about losing her sense of self. I know I would be."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

"I spent too much time not worrying enough. And, yeah, she was a soldier. Real tough - back in the day she always beat me at CQC," she said with a smile. Of course, Siobhan did not mind it when Tegaea ended up on top during sparring sessions. Not at all. Ahem, moving on with plot and all that. "But that was long ago. And she just recovered from what that Sith did to her."

The official press release was that Tegaea had stepped down as Lady Protector due to injuries sustained during an assasination attempt. That was the truth...with several facts left out that made the event...a lot more tragic. With Siobhan bearing a great measure of fully justified guilt for it. If she had been less prideful, less selfish, Tegaea would not have suffered. It was not that Siobhan saw her wife as weak. Well, she did see her as someone who needed protecting...but as a person Tegaea had always been the stronger one. But she could not bear the thought of losing her or harm coming to her.

"I get that. Kids would drive me crazy. So you're on the...Young in Spirit now? Not familiar with that one."

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Delila found the fact that Siobhan did not know that Sammo was Captain of the Young in Spirit extremely odd. Surely HK had told Siobhan at one point or another of his HRD body? If Sammo had not told about his double life it would not be her place to do so either. Setting an order of fried b'omarr style pickles(complete with cool dipping sauce) into the datapad on the table, Delila took a drink of water. It was buying her a little time to explain what the Young in Spirit actually was.

"A floating motel...city...thing that an old friend owns and operates. Its been a temporary solution to my homelessness. In return I have been acting as bodyguard to the Captain when necessary. Its been an...interesting....if not eye opening arrangement."

Delila shrugged.

"Had to find something to occupy my time. This is the first time in my life I haven't been a part of some military."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

This writer is quite certain that HK had not told Siobhan about Sammo...at least not in an actual thread. Anyway, moving on, Siobhan nodded, then appeared guilty when she heard about Delila's temporarly homeless. Admittedly she probably should have thought about that a bit sooner.

"You could've said...well, I get why you didn't want to," she said. "I could've found you some place - somewhere without any Eldorai in it! You're a Firemane employee and...my friend. In fact I will." Oh, wait, actually they were not really on friendly terms these days. Siobhan flushed slightly, a bit unsure about how to continue now that she had spoken, instead just sipping at her drink, which was some sort of tasty juice, though she had sounded earnest.

"But it's good you found something. Met any interesting people on the floating motel?"

At this moment the waitress came back. "Once again I'm terribly sorry about the disturbance. The girl's been sent packing. Are you ready to order? If you don't mind me saying you look so good together," she said with a smile. Because they totally could not just be normal friends! It had to be something more than that.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"No...No. I appreciate it and all but...No thank you. I can't exactly live on Kaeshana. So its probably best I'm not attached to any one place at this moment. The Young in Spirit is doing fine for right now. Gives me time to save up the credits from my Firemane jobs to actually find a more permanent place. Even if its no where near Kaeshana. After all, I'm becoming an old lady now. I will need something to see me through retirement."

Interrupted by their waitress, Delila nearly laughed aloud. Yet this would have been extremely rude and she had caused enough problems on Kaeshana as it was. Besides...in this type of place it was some sort of odd compliment. Although Dells personally didn't see why they merely couldn't be two friends having lunch! It wasn't as if they were making out in the corner some where.

"Redheads make everyone look good." Which was the truth, no matter what ones preference happened to be."Anyways, I'll have the nerf sliders, coat them in extra hot sauce if you could." Smirking at Siobhan, she was going to up the ante a little. "What are you going to have dear?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

"You're not old, Dells. You're still great in a fight and pretty hot," Siobhan responded with characteristic bluntless because this was totally the way to try and mend fences. Delila not wanting to settle on Kaeshana irked her. Perhaps she should send a couple Eldorai maleling slaves her way. Much as Siobhan had little use for males in general, perhaps it would lead to Delila liking the planet a bit more. Maybe she would in time even become more agreeable to Siobhan's attempts to get her to accept promotion!

As for the waitress' comment Siobhan restrained her urge to burst out into laughter, just barely. Unfortunately, Delila was resolutely straight, much as oftentimes the former Exarch seemed willfully oblivious to that. "Same as you, darling. I follow your lead," she responded to the redhead with a wink, not making an attempt to troll at all.

"That's always the best when being with a redhead. Pissing them is like being suicidal," the waitress decided to chime in because apparently everyone in this bar wanted to be a troll. Or take holopics of them and write fan fic!

"I don't know, I really like them when they get angry. All the fiery passion."

"Makes the makeing-up fun, doesn't it?" the waitress quipped before turning away to pass on their orders with a delicate sway of her hips, perhaps in the hope that Siobhan might tip her!

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Delila couldn't resist anymore and rolled her eyes at both Siobhan and the waitress. She needed to start picking the venues that Siobhan drug her to. Without a doubt there would be much,much different scenery. Such was life though, one did not always get what they wanted! Smiling at her own internal thoughts, Delila shook her head slightly, coming out of the musings.

"Thank you, but parts of me are starting to feel old."

Explosions and bad knees wouldn't mix after too long after all! It was interesting to be at a crossroad in her life, even if those around her perhaps did not understand. Nor did Delila expect them to.

"So...uhm...anything else on your mind?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

"I'd say I have ways to show you that you're far from old, Dells," Siobhan winked at her. "But you'd turn me down and all that." For her part Siobhan had spent most of her life being a soldier. Unlike Delila she possessed the benefit of being a member of the tiny 'elite' that by some genetic fluke got born with magic powers. By now she had reached the point where she was relying rather heavily on it for combat, along with on her bionics to keep herself going. Almost fifteen years of fighting had taken a toll on her body after all.

Of course, she also had the benefit of being pretty much an aristo these days. "Not specifically. I just want, well...things to be ok between us again. Not expecting them to just go back to how it used to be, but I really am sorry for what happened," she spoke after a pause, sounding earnest.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"You'd end up being wildly disappointed." Delila commented dryly before taking a sip of her drink. Siobhan was trying to make amends her own odd way, which was typical of the Colonel. Socially stunted or oblivious, Delila had yet to to decide which. If she had to hazard a guess it would be a large mixture of both. At least the brunette woman seemed to be making a sincere attempt at trying to mend the fence.

"Accepted. Don't expect me to stay over any time soon. Or live on Kaeshana. Or like the elves no matter their gender."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Delila Castillon"]

It was probably a mixture of both. Siobhan's social skills were unrefined to say the least and she was often oblivious, something which tied in with her inherent self-absorption, making her willfully blind to things she did not care to notice. Or did not want to. Rising to the top and living the life of an aristo had just made both tendencies a lot worse. That said, she did genuinely like and care about Dells...though she was arguably rather self-centred about it.

Hence why she smiled genuinely when Delila spoke. As much as it annoyed her that the redhead still did not want to live Kaeshana - what was so bad about the planet? "Fair terms. I'm not expecting things to just jump back to how they were before. But....we've been through a lot together. Roche, Bespin, the general scum of the universe. I do value our friendship a lot."

The sweet and rather awkward moment was interrupted when the waitress - this time without lame innuendo - came and brought a tray containing their orders; nerf sliders with extra hot sauce. "There you are, ladies. Please enjoy your meal," she said with a chipper smile before departing.

 

[Delila Castillon]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Err...Yeah, so do I" Delila wasn't a fan of awkward interpersonal issues. Just wasn't her thing. The sooner the issue could be swept under the rug and out of their general conscious would be better. "No need to further apologize." There, that should be enough to get over the situation for now. Squirming around awkwardly in her chair, enough of her drink was consumed to let a considerable silence pass. As if it was trying to clear her uncomfortableness out of the room.

"Roche was the scum of the universe."