C.U.P.I.D. Has a Lot to Answer For [Dredge]

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Chiasa casually scrolled through her inbox on C.U.P.I.D.

After about the first half hour of having signed up to the site, she'd given up on even sending a polite 'no thank you' to most people. On a completely unrelated note, if she wanted to start her own adult holozine she certainly had enough pictures for about the first three issues. She now knew what a truly horrifying number of creatures looked like without their clothes on, and reckoned she would have been happier if she'd just continued not knowing.

Hey baby - Delete
B mi Slavegurrrl - Delete
Hot Luv - Delete
One Low Payment! - Delete
Girl on Girl on Rancor? - Delete

"Gods no wonder I'm single, what is wrong with these people?"

She was not entirely certain what she thought about her therapist any more. Apparently he'd met the love of his life on the site.. Maybe it was different for men, but she was starting to wonder if there was truth in the old belief that people who tried to get others over their problems usually had even more and worse issues themselves. Maybe she'd just delete her profile.. This was making her lose faith in the galaxy quicker than any atrocity ever had.

Hi there, I read your profile

Could it be true? She was pretty sure no one else had. It might just be a trick, a header they attached to everything to lure you in.. Still she'd mentally committed herself to one date. The quicker she found one, the quicker she could unsubscribe. She clicked it, ready to back out with great speed if she wound up looking at anything obscene.

Hey, I'm Hugh. And I saw your profile and I'm in the neighboring systems in wild space. And I was wondering maybe If you want to meet up for drinks and get to know each other? If you are interested please let me know.

That seemed surprisingly sane. And spelled correctly, with punctuation and capitals and everything. She clicked through to his profile.

Name: Hugh Janus
Likes: Working out, aggressive construction, music and biz Markie
Dislikes: Kale, clowns, most cute and cuddly things
Things you should know about me: I see myself as a fun man that likes to see himself with a loving family in the future. But right now I just want to explore and go slow before deciding what I want in a partner.
Looking for: Females species is not a concern

Hugh Janus.. It probably wasn't pronounced like that. It was probably Jah-nis. Surely. Still, that wasn't his fault. Music was good, she liked music, though she was unfamiliar with Biz Markie and made a note to look into it. Working out and construction, so he was fit and handy. Those were good characteristics. Kale, well she wasn't opposed to it, but health food could certainly be disgusting so that was fair. Clowns, did anyone like those? So creepy. Might also be hinting at a sense of humour. Cute and cuddlies, well, she did have a soft spot for Ropos which were about as cute and cuddly as you could get, but she didn't actually own one. ...yet. And aw! He was a family man, but not looking to immediately tie the knot. The Things you should know section decide her. Switching back to his message, she typed a quick reply.

Hi Hugh!

Sure, I'd like that. How does the Fresh Air Resort on Argyra IV sound?

Chiasa

Clicking send, the Twi'lek nodded once. There, she'd done her duty. One little date, it couldn't be that bad surely. He seemed like an okay guy.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]

"NO NO PLEASE NO!!" Dredge brought down his massive blade on a slave's neck severing his head instantly. Blood ran from the stump like a fountain and Dredge stood over the corpse laughing at it's death spasms. "Oh it's the little things you have to love." Moving to the next slave bound and on his knees the massive sith sword was raised in the air above Dredge's head and he was about to bring it down until he heard something. "DAD!! SHE MESSAGED YOU BACK!!" Dredge paused and put the sith sword away. Afterwards he delivered a massive boot to the chest of the slave who fell into a pit of rakghouls who savaged his body until his screams were nothing more than a few dying gurgles.

Dredge approached the computer with his young adopted daughter and leaned down to read the message.

Hi Hugh!

Sure, I'd like that. How does the Fresh Air Resort on Argyra IV sound?

Chiasa


Dredge wiped some blood from the slots between his armor then looked to his daughter. "Why is my name Hugh Janus?" He asked her almost confused not understanding the idea of the joke. "I just thought it fit you father." Samantha choked back a bit of laughter and coughed it away. "Um yes anyway father she wants to meet there for drinks. What do you want to message back." She quickly covered her ears and reared her head down for what came next. "TELL HER TO PREPARE HERSELF FOR I WILL FLAY HER ALIVE AND MURDER EVERYONE SHE LOVES!! AND WHEN SHE LOOKS UPON ME IN HER LAST FLEETING MOMENTS OF LIFE SHE WILL KNOW I AM HER UNMAKER!!" Dredge roared and a bit of fire kicked off his armor.

"Of course dad, go back to having fun." Samantha shooed her father away but before dredge gave the little girl a kiss on the top of her head. She shuttered and he walked away. "OH GOD PLEASE!!" Another slash was heard and blood splattered onto the computer screen. "Parents." She said rolling her eyes

Send message.
Subject: Drinks

That sounds great Chiasa, I saw some of your profile pics and you look amazing. I only hope you look that great tomorrow.

Let's say six PM at the resort? When you see me I will be wearing a black suit and a red tie. But trust me, you'll know me when you see me.

Finish message

It wasn't exactly what her father said but it was close enough

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Chiasa was carefully painting her nails a rather complimentary and sophisticated reddish-brown when the console pinged in a subdued fashion, a message from someone marked as a contact had arrived. Chiasa clicked it on and opened her inbox.

"Hello again Hugh.."

She murmured as she opened the message.

'That sounds great Chiasa, I saw some of your profile pics and you look amazing. I only hope you look that great tomorrow.

Let's say six PM at the resort? When you see me I will be wearing a black suit and a red tie. But trust me, you'll know me when you see me.'

Carefully, she'd just done her nails after all, she keyed in a reply.

'Six pm, I'll be there, and since I doubt there will be many orange tiger-striped Twi'leks, I'm sure you'll spot me.

See you then.. '

Was the smiley too much? Or too juvenile? Oh well, it was typed now. Besides, she certainly wasn't invested in this and didn't care. No really. Shut up. Brow furrowing slightly at the internal dispute the Twi'lek shrugged and hit sent. There. Done.

..should have taken out the smiley.

-------------

It was quarter to six and Chiasa was sitting at the bar, sipping an artfully layered drink. It wasn't particularly alcoholic, after all, the evening hadn't even started yet but it was pretty and actually quite tasty. She'd chosen a fairly modest (for her) little black dress. Alright, so it was figurehugging, sleeveless, deeply v'necked and had a back keyhole cutout but it also went very nearly to her knees. Besides, she had to show a little skin, otherwise how would Hugh recognize her?

The Fresh Air Resort was quite nice, if a but overfull of obnoxious executives on private retreats. It might be worth coming back for a holiday sometimes. She filed that thought away for later, idly crossing her legs.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]

[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]

"DAD!! SHE MESSAGED YOU AGAIN!!" The little girl Samantha said pulling her father back to her.

Absolutely soaked in blood dredge put the massive sith sword on his back and looked down at the message and read it. A bit if blood dropped into Samantha staining her new sun dress. She let out a small shriek and began to wipe at the blood frustratedly


'Six pm, I'll be there, and since I doubt there will be many orange tiger-striped Twi'leks, I'm sure you'll spot me.

See you then..

Dredge looked at the little winky face and spoke. "What is that?" He was puzzled at it and quite frank had never seen one before. Was it a threat? Was it something that was important? Samantha sighed in frustration knowing the blood was going to set in and stain, so she decided to just tell her father as long as it got him far away. "It's an emoticon. You use it to put some form of emotion in a text to better convey what you are saying. Like that one was a wink." Dredge looked at his daughter with a vague expression on his face. "A wink?" He said with skepticism. "Yes dad a wink, to symbolize mystery or something along those lines. Maybe she'll sleep with you I don't know she looks kind of like a whore." Samantha said just wanting this experience to end

"It's a trap isn't it?! SHE KNOWS!! WHAT ELSE COULD THE MYSTERY BE!!! DIE HERETIC!!" Dredge lifted the mighty sith sword and brought it down on the computer in a shower of sparks. The computer light on fire and Dredge took a deep breath. "You win this time CUPID." Dredge said with anger in his voice. Samantha pinched the bridge of her nose hard and "Just go get ready for your damn date while I redownload every season of My Little Ropo Friendship is Magic." Dredge rubbed his daughters head again and walked off to get ready.

The next evening

Dredge had a bit of a problem, the armor he wore was sort of burnt onto his body when he put it on. He for lack of a better word, was stuck in there. Don't ask how he peed and went to brown town because the writer didn't know either. Using a shape changing holo projector Dredge stepped into it appeared as a very buff and fit man that stood six foot five and wore a black suit with a red tie over his armor so if the woman touched him she would feel the fabric rather than the scary armor. So touching would need to be kept to a minimal.

Dredge had never done anything like this so he was set up on a mental link with his adopted daughter through a Yammosk. She would talk him through this so he could lure her away from the resort and take her back to the ship. Opening the door to the bar Dredge spotted the woman in the dress and she looked beautiful for a heretic. He would kill her all the same but he could admire the look. The man approached her and the voice of his daughter bounced around in his head. "Tell her she looks nice! Introduce yourself ! Without burning down the place, if you lose your temper your camo will fail." Dredge nodded and spoke to Chiasa "I'm Dre." He cut himself off and coughed. "Hey you look, stunning. It's me Hugh." He said with a smile on his late slaves face

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Chiasa had an almost preternatural ability to tell when people were paying attention to her. Popular theory was because she was so vain she was quick to pick up on anything that reinforced her opinion of herself. Or it could have been the Force. Either way. Of course just because someone was paying attention to her didn't mean it was Hugh, lots of people paid attention to her. If she went around returning the favour for all of them they'd probably take it the wrong way, get encouraged and then she'd never get anything done in a day. So she waited, attention apparently on her drink. Looks however, could be decieving.

She did turn her head however when she heard whoever it was approaching, she was pleased to see a handsome, well-built man in the right clothes. And he was tall, she did like tall. When he started to introduce himself with a 'D' sound a flash of disappointment hit her, wrong guy, and she'd have to chase him off, it wouldn't be fair not to at least give Hugh a chance.

Then he stopped and started over, and she flashed him a dazzling smile, it was the right man, she didn't have to throw him back, good! She vaguely wondered what he'd started to say then dismissed it as unimportant. Probably nerves which was fair. Besides, she was busy with other dilemmas. What was the protocol for greeting an internet date? Was a hug too familiar? A handshake too formal? She knew the correct move for almost every single social situation, but this was one she'd never found herself in. People put themselves through this for fun?

"Hugh!"

She set down her drink and stood, raising on tip toes to kiss him on either cheek, it seemed a good compromise.

"So good to see you! Thank you, you're looking very handsome yourself."

She glanced briefly over the counter. One nice thing about looking like she did, you never waited very long for the bartenders attention. He perked up, paying attention to the two.

"I'm glad to say we picked a good spot, the mixologist here is excellent. I'd actually never been before tonight."

Small talk time, lovely.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]
Dredge or now Hugh as he was being called for the moment was complimented then kissed on either cheek. The idea of affection from a mate was completely foreign to Dredge, he was raised as a priest and then became the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong to destroy worlds underneath his banner. Things like kisses and drinks were all but foreign to him, what was he supposed to do dammit?! Was he supposed to kill her now? Ravage her on the table?! "Samantha what do I do?!" Dredge was about to freak out and burn everything to ground but then Samantha chimed in his head and spoke clear instructions

"Smile, Father! Sit down and accept the compliment! Then downplay yourself a bit! But not too much so you sound like you aren't confident. You want that perfect middle ground between humble and confident! Chicks eat that crap up" The young girl said inside of his head

Dredge smiled and sat down in a bar chair to the right of Chiasa. The chair audibly groaned under the weight of the armor and dredge moved it around a bit to make it sound like the chair was just squeaky. "Thank you Chiasa. I must say though I think look somewhat sloppy in comparison. That dress simply does not do your stripes justice." Dredge smiled at Chiasa and looked over to the bartender, okay now it was time for talk and drinks. At least that's what his daughter told him about.

"What the hell is a mixologist?!" Dredge said inside of his mind. "It's like a stupid name so bar tenders can feel special about their crap job!" Samantha responded. Dredge was not a stranger to alcohol and he knew what to order at least. Something light and classy, he didn't want to start shoving hard liquor down her throat to seem like he was trying to get her drunk.

"Allow me." He said with confidence in his tone. "We will have a bottle of Echani Red, two glasses and please leave the bottle." Dredge reached into his coat pocket and produced a good sized money clip placing a few bills on the counter and a generous tip. The glorified bar tender smiled and nodded "right away sir." The bartender said reaching under the table to bring up a very expensive and old looking bottle of wine. The bartender popped the lid and let it breath for a few seconds. The bartender then poured two glasses of the dark red wine and pushed them forward for the two of them.

"Good! Now ask her about herself. You took an action ordering drinks now you need to give her some room to show her opinion and life is valued and worthy!" Samantha spoke into Dredges brain and the small Yuuzhan Vong girl sat back in an easy chair reading a coming of My Little Ropo.

"So Chiasa, tell me about yourself." He said with a nice open face that conveyed that he was indeed listening. His eyes met hers and didn't wander to look at her striped of breasts. It was a message that said, please I want to know about you

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

The chair protested noisily as he sat and whenever he moved, she refrained from glancing at it because it wouldn't be polite to draw attention to it, but she wa surprised. Her own chair had been well made, silent and seemed fairly new. Perhaps they'd mixed two batches? Replaced some older chairs and he just happened to have the misfortune of picking an older one while she sat upon a newer? She didn't want to make him feel self-conscious though, and it didn't really matter anyway, so she kept her musings to herself. Plus he started to talk about something infinitely more interesting; her.

Chiasa simply smiled and ducked her head at his next compliment. She didn't want to compliment him again in case it turned into an awkward complement circle that neither party could escape, and there was no point denying it, she did look fabulous. She was particularly pleased by his choice of compliments however because it meant her intentions had been successful. There was no point in gaving clothes that looked better than you did. You wanted to be dressed well of course, but as far as she was concerned the main focus should still always be her, not whatever she was wearing. That and she quite liked her stripes, they were rare, unusual.

Echani Red? One brow rose ever so slightly for a moment. That was hard to get. And expensive. Ridiculously so. Just the fact that this Resort had it on hand was amazing this was probably their only bottle, because as successful as they were, most of the Executives here could never afford to even taste it. He had exceptional taste, she wondered what precisely he did that he could order such a thing so casually. He'd said he liked what was it, 'aggressive construction' so she'd just assumed he was a construction worker of some sort. He still could be of cours,e but he would have to be the company owner, primary shareholder, and work on some very impressive projects. A point in his favour.

She left the glass for the moment, you were meant to let it breathe a little, and wine like this you wanted to drink properly. She considered his question, it was always hard to decide what to tell people, she'd rather not lie to him, but it likely wasn't smart to go yelling her affiliation with the Red Ravens when she was without her flock so to speak.

"Me? Just your average Twi'lek girl come to the big city I suppose."

She offered with a smile. Average. Pft, as if.

"I Started out dancing back home, theatre stuff, not bar."

It was important to specify, otherwise people tended to think a pole would be involved somehow. All right, so maybe one or twice in an artistic manner, but if anyone had thrown any credits at her they'd have found themselves thrown out. It was different. Smut was just naked folks. Art was naked folks with unlikely fig leaves and such carefully placed. The distinction may have been lost on most, but it was there all the same.

"I wanted to see more of the world though you know? It was a very.. sheltered existence. Now I work in Public Relations. What do you do?"

That was all relatively true, and the conversation had been carefully steered away from getting into too much detail.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]

Dredge let the wine breath then he took a long tasteful sip of the liquid. He let it linger on his pallet and then swallowed the sip. He put the glass down and listened to what Chiasa had to say, she was a dancer apparently. She certainly had the body for it and she carried herself as one. Her movements were slender, fluid, natural, not a single thing was clunky or robotic about the girl.

"See, told you. Total whore." Samantha said in Dredge's head. She giggled and spoke "But soft my fair maiden for thou art total boner meat." Samantha flipped a page on her my little Ropo comic and giggled again.

"Useful information my child!" Dredge said within his own mind. The child responded as such "Talk to her a bit about her dancing, make sure you close the topic quickly so you don't come off as pervy. Then ask her about what she's seen in her getting out to see the world crap after you explain what you do."

Dredge smiled at Chiasa and went along with her daughters plan. "Dancing you say? I have always been an admirer of the arts and I think dancing is a highly underrated subject. Anyone can throw a few splotches of paint on a canvas but it takes years of dedication and training to hone a body to dance professionally and artistically. I admire your hard work." He said moving on to the next subject at hand

What was he going to say? He was the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong? Commanded armies of millions and brought death to hundreds of solar system? That he died and then came back with the help of a Sith Lord and was now on a quest for revenge for all those who stopped him? That would not be good. "Just say you own something important!" Samantha said in Dredge's head. Dredge smiled and took the glass of wine again and took another Sio, a bit larger this time however. He put the wine back down and kept his smile up until he spoke about his line of work.

"I owned a nuclear company called Everclear Nuclear out in the Silken Asteroids. However during the battle between the Moross Crusade and the Horde my facility was wiped out in the crossfire, destroying thousands of homes of the native Val'Kar. And possibly contaminating them with radiation. I believe since then the radiation has been expunged but my company however much other people tell me, I feel is still responsible for those deaths." The mans smile faded a bit at the thought of how he had lost that battle, how his own men tried to kill him. He shook that grizzly thought away and he spoke with a bit of sensitivity in his voice. "So now I got my former employees, got a new ship I inherited from a friend and we go from planet to planet here in wild space building for free and donations. We do our best to try and increase the quality of life here in wild space. We don't ask for anything but the insurance money from the facility and the donations help us spread good." Damn it hurt!! It hurt to be this damn good!! Dredge put his smile back on then spoke up again

"Public relations and traveling though, I'm sure we are not here to talk about work." He said with a little chuckle afterwards. "Tell me about your travels, a person of your caliber must get to see a lot." Dredge was killing it out there, he almost even forgot that he wanted to capture this woman and torture the crap out of her

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Thank you."

She said, ducking her head slightly when he spoke of dancing. Finally! Usually people just started to drool, which, yes, she was extremely attractive and that was a fairly valid response. It still rankled after a while though that nobody really understood what hard work it was. The bruises, strained muscles, bleeding feet, the hours and hours and hours of drills and repititions. Your average army had nothing on a really high class dance academy, and she'd been in the best.

She took a sip of her own wine, letting the tastes play across her tongue before swallowing. It was a very good vintage. It also probably said something about the Galaxy that one of the most expensive wines was effectively grown from a field of dead bodies. That was fine, they were Mando dead bodies, she was quite happy to drink the blood of the Mandos if it was going to taste like this. Maybe the Ravens could see to it a few more fields got the proper treatment and start their own winery. She personally had no problems with them as individuals, but she took exception to anyone or anything that threatened the Ravens.

She schooled her features into an acceptable mask of sympathy and gentle sorrow as he continued, while internally she did a little dance. In all honesty, self-centered as she was, she cared not a whit for some displaced, irradiated commoners living in some place she'd not heard of and didn't care about. She did however care about the fact that the man before her was rich, an entrepreneur, responsible and kind. Possibly too kind. How long would his assets last if he just kept on building things for free? Particularly sinc eone had to assume he was paying his crew as well. Perhaps he's made some very good investments though and was living off of those. In any case, if things did get serious, not that they would, but in theory, she could always sort of edge him out of the financial side of things and just let him get on with the building. She reached out and gave a his hand a squeeze. Obviously he didn't want to go into it too much, but she felt the need to show solidarity and support anyway.

"It does have a tendency to creep in and take over if you're not careful!"

She agreed with a laugh in regards to not being there to talk about work. Was it like that for regular people? Like say the bartender? Was he done when he went home? Did his job define him? She was a Raven every waking moment. Every action was carefully calculated for maximum benefit. Except.. maybe this. This was almost a whim. It had been suggested and she'd done it.

"A fair bit. Nearby places like Teth and Orrazerus of course. The standbys, Cosuscant, Nar Shaddaa.. I might be sent out to Eclipstica or Crina in the near future. Ha, work again, but I try and find time to sight-see when I'm sent out!"

[member="Dredge"]