Distractions Abound

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander Miles glared around the new bar his father had opened muttering darkly about the old man opening things he didn't have the time to run. He looked down at his datapad absently scrolling through it as he toyed with a few ideas ranging from ordering new types of booze to serve to setting up a pole for a dancer. His father simply bought the location built it up to his tastes and left it for his Son to run sighing as he ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair careful to avoid the ponytail that sat near the back of his head holding his bangs out of his eyes. He finally looked up as a waitress walked over placing pot of what would pass as coffee on Ryloth on the table in front of him smiling sadly at the young man before walking away. Turning his attention back to the datapad he approved three orders of booze and the request to install the pole. He also sent out a notification that the Raven's Nest was looking to hire an exotic dancer full time with great benefits and the ability for the dancer to set her limits. Finally nodding his head he tossed the datapad onto the table and poured himself a cup of the drink taking a sip of it as he looked around the bar slowly. Black furnishing under a crimson light gave it a dark and intimidating appearance. Perfectly matching its name as he chuckled shaking his head yet again the only benefit of running his fathers business ventures was that he was able to spend a lot of his time in said places which amounted to free food and drink while working.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade deWinter was standing outside the bar, looking at the entrance. She'd only been to a bar once before, and it had ended up in her causing a commotion that ended with Coruscant officials looking for her. Her tush was saved by an unexpected friendship with someone who'd try to steal her kill, and life had been pretty crazy after that, giving her no option to try the bar thing again.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] was with her this time though. So maybe it'd be a little less problematic than her first attempt.

"So what do we actually do once we're in?" she asked with a little grin, "last time I was in a pub there was a body count."

Well. No one could say that the sweet innocent looking girl didn't have her share of bloodlust. It was just a shame she'd yet to master the skills to make it without failing most of the time.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Right beside Pebble was Katrine, grinning at the sight of the bar from the outside while her Ward had wondered what they were going to do once they were in, mentioning a body count when she'd last been in one. It made Katrine look at her as she giggled. "Me too," she'd only said. It had actually been a hot minute since she'd been in one and when she had been, she'd only gone in because she'd felt her Father's presence. And there sure was a bloodbath and a whole lot of a trouble that followed, on Galactic Alliance space no less.

"We won't know until we get in," the blonde answered the first question, now slightly less distracted by her memories of visiting Coruscant.

Giving a shrug, Katrine moved to the doors and made her way inside, glancing back at Pebble to make sure she was following before her sapphire gaze noted the dark interior. It was a little bit spooky but hey, she was a Witch, spooky was cool and you didn't come from the genes of the Madman of Nar Shaddaa and just be scared of something so cool and spooky. "I like this," Kat decided before she'd looked around some more, heading close to the bar, noting the waitress moving about. "Hi! Awesome place," she'd said in greeting, sapphire gaze quickly focusing on the alcohol bottles as she rounded up what she had tasted and what she had yet to taste.

Thing of it was, Katrine didn't know most of them by their name though she had a rough idea of what they were based on the color. "Hmm, I think I wanna try the blue one," the blonde decided before looking back at Pebble. "You wanna try that with me or something else?" Now, normal people probably wouldn't have offered their seventeen-year-old Ward, who was basically an infant a few weeks back alcohol but in Katrine's head, seventeen was way old was way old enough to claim, to have kids, to kill and even drink so really, she didn't see a problem with that as she popped herself on one of the stools and turned, sensing a presence, before seeing the person seated at one of the tables, drinking what seemed to be a coffee. "How's the coffee here?" She found herself asking before anything else.

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander looked up from the datapad his silver eyes looking over the two newest guests to the bar before nodding to the bar tended and sipping from his coffee a small grin leaving his lips as he decides to mess with them. Usually he is more reserved but he needed something to take his mind off what was stressing him as such he slowly lowered the control he was exploiting over his force presence letting it slowly leak off of him. Unlike others who may just have a presence his was dark in nature it almost reeked of darkness but at the same time there was a hidden warmth there a warmth only given off by those who found their home in the darkness.

As he watched the two woman his eyes flicked over them taking in their appearances absently as he finally shrugged and lowered his eyes back to the datapad noticing that he had gotten receipts from two of the distributors he had made an order to. Nodded his head he absently opened up a highly classified portion of the datapad and sent out orders for a series of ships to hit the cargo ships that carried the booze for this place indicating that the reason for this raid was the distributors had over priced it so he would have it stolen than demand a refund if they refused well more of their ships would end up mysteriously disappearing. He chuckled absently as he took another drink of his coffee holding it up as he answered the second woman's question calmly not lifting his eyes from the data pad. "Its not to bad." He lifted his gaze and grinned softly at the two bowing his head lightly as he stood. "Well hello there Ladies welcome to the Raven's Nest my fathers newest addition to his chain of bars and other establishments. If you have anything you would like to know or if you have any suggestions for the bar feel free to let me know. I hope you enjoy your time here. Ahh yes my name is Aleksander Miles." He added the last part in absently as he sat back down in the table that had been reserved for him whenever he was on Ryloth so he could do work in relative peace.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Kat mentioned that her last time had ended up with a body count too. Scherezade wanted to ask her to spill, but it appeared they were going to go in first. Following the blonde, the young Darksider's eyes kept dancing around the pub, taking in its appearances. To be frank, pub interior wasn't exactly at the top of her pretty things list, but it was apparent that she and Kat disagreed on that, so she didn't say anything. After all, just because she didn't like it, didn't meant she hated it.

The two girls sat by the bar, Katrine already wanting to try the blue one and wondering how the coffee was. Scherezade blinked, wondering why one would have coffee in a place like this, but ultimately chose to shrug it off. The ways of the 'verse were still a mystery to her.

It was then that she caught the scent.

"What..." she whispered, her chin rising as she tried to follow the source. Some would describe the smell of the Darkside as a particularl stentch. Others would say that it had no scent to it at all, but a color, or a heaviness.

To her, the feel of the Darkside smelled like "... home," she whispered, her voice just barely above a breath. Her eyes darted around, trying to locate the source of it.

And well.

The source of it was great. Amazing. So deliciously pleasing to the eyes that she'd forgotten his smell almost as soon as he caught her attention.

Aleksander. Aleksander. She committed the name to memory, staring at the man, her eyes going wide, wider than before. Her heart began to race and she thought something with suffocating her. From his shaggy hair to the expression on his face, to the curve of his lip, he was perfection in a way that she would never have been able to commit to words.

"I..." she mumbled, "ah..." she tried again, "uhh...." her mouth gaping open like a fish, her eyes unable to tear herself away.


[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Not too bad, she had received her response as glasses were placed behind them and blue liquid poured. Katrine didn't turn to look at the waitress though, her sapphire gaze switching to Pebble only when she'd heard her whisper something though she couldn't make out what she'd said, not in her human form. "What?" She found herself asking before she looked back to the man as he'd stood and welcomed them to the Raven's Nest, his father's newest addition to his chain of bars and other establishments. Katrine didn't really know how many of them were there, or who his father was right away but she let him speak what he had to, mentally storing her first question for him already.

He opened the floor for questions or suggestion and hoped they enjoyed before he'd introduced himself as Aleksander Miles. Her eyes went just a little bit wider. Katrine could hear Pebble mumbling beside her as she reached for both of the glasses on the bar. "Miles," she said out loud, taking the drinks over to his table. "That's just weird, Katrine pointed out as she put the glasses on his table and took a seat, pulling another one out for Pebble without much explanation to it. "My Uncle just threw a dinner, he was there," she pointed out. While she hadn't been formally introduced to Aedan Miles yet or vice versa, he was was the head fleeter or whatever it was called within the Confederacy and since the dinner the other day, she had a face to go with a name and reputation.

"I'm Katrine Van-Derveld, and this Pebble... Scherezade deWinter," she introduced herself and her Ward when she remembered she should. "How many more bars and establishments are we talking about?" Katrine remembered her previous question before she looked down on the blue liquor, picking it up again to smell it first before she'd taken a small sip. It was a tiny bit rough on her throat but the taste of it was delicious. "What is this? It's delicious."

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander looks up at the two as they sat flashing a charming smile at the one known as Pebble before turning his gaze towards Katrine and nodding his head absently lifting the datapad as it made a noise. "Ahh so that is where the old man was is it? Let me guess he threatened some people and made an offering of high end booze no?" He looked up curiously as a savage grin crossed his lips seeing that a raiding party had returned with some good things to sell on the black market. He absently sorted through it while leaning comfortably on the bench seat at the table. Looking up at her second question he nods his head lightly and hits a few buttons looking over the information before answering calmly. "Lets see he owns 8 different bars spread throughout the galaxy and a handful of more.... risque establishments." He winks teasingly at the two of them before closing the datapad and leaning back looking at the drink before them and tilting his head thinking quickly. "I believe that is Sunfruit Liqueur tell me is it good? Its the newest addition and only available in this establishment so far as I am trying out some new products." He sips his coffee calmly his gaze flicking between the two of them silver eyes gleaming brightly.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Words. There were words being spoken. Scherezade tried her utter best to focus on what was being said, but it felt more like someone had stuffed very effective earplugs into her ears, keeping the shape of the words away from reach. Her eyes though, never once wavered from [member="Aleksander Miles"]. He was sipping a drink - coffee. She could smell the coffee mixing with his own scent, and the combination of it drove her almost mad. Coffee was good. The combination was always good. Great, even.

"I love coffee," she finally managed to blur out, eyes still on Aleksander, her voice more on the high pitch end of things. And she immediately shut her mouth. Was that a good thing to say? Was that a bad thing to say? Should she have said something at all?

She somehow knew that [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] was sitting next to her, but for the time being it was almost as if the woman who'd taken on as a Ward barely existed at all.

"Coffee good," her mouth said on its own.

Scherezade wondered if there was anywhere near that would be good enough of a spot to bury herself in.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Threatened people and made and offering a high-end booze? Katrine chuckled lightly. "There may have been sharper words but to be fair, it was a family dinner and we were interrupted by people who shouldn't have been there in the first place," she told him, though she couldn't recall if there was any high-end booze discussion. The interruption was kinda random at annoying.

Her question got her an answer. Eight bars and a handful of risque establishments. "Define risque," Katrine threw out without putting much thought into her question, even after he'd winked.

Sunfruit liqueur. Katrine took another sip, feeling the same sensation which made her smile. "It's absolutely delicious." Which was exactly what it was, making her store the name in her mind for future use. Beside her, Pebble had said she loved coffee, making the blonde look at her suddenly, recalling the teenager's interaction with it, making that statement kinda odd to her. "You do? Since when?" She asked almost immediately before another sentence came out if it could be called that. "You okay?" Katrine found herself asking.

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

He chuckles at her comment about his dad leaning back in the booth seat his eyes drawn to Pebble as she spoke smiling gently at her as he nodded his head noticing what was happening at once. "Well by Risque I mean establishments geared towards men generally. A few exotic dancing ones and some more questionable legality ones." He leaned forward and waved his hand at a waitress watching her hurry over he smiled and gestured at the two's glasses calmly. "Could you bring us a bottle of Sunfruit Liqueur for these two to drink they are here as my guests now so they get the best." The woman's eyes widened slightly as she nodded and hurried away Aleksander leaning back before he flashed a smile at them both. "So Kat and Pebble tell me about yourselves please?"

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"SINCE ALWAYS!" Scherezade practically screamed when Kat asked her since when she loved coffee. Come on woman, an entire dialogue going around her and those were the words that made it through the invisible ear plugs.

But, apparently, the plugs had been completely removed, because she heard everything else too. "I'M PERFECTLY FINE THANK YOU!" it wasn't exactly a scream this time. More like a very loud and very high toned pitch. Possibly one that only dogs could hear.

Mr. Perfect
...
Handsome Stranger
...
A choice no parent would approve
...
Mister Big
...
Completely perfect in every way
...
Aleksander mentioned something exotic dancers and questionable legal things. Ooh! Scherezade knew about that! "My aunt owns the Red Lady," she said grinning ear to ear, never blinking, because how could you blink and lose a second of being able to look at him, "they train and give such services out to those who can afford it. They're supposed to be really good but I've never seen them in person. Not yet, anyway. I would love to. Some of my aunts and cousins and even my mom received partial training there. They do everything from how to handle customers to how squeeze more money out of them to being absolutely the best and seduce anyone they want. They're sort of like pheremone super heroes in high heels. You could really up the number of paying clients in this fine establishment if you set a work contract with them. I can help you!"

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

By risque he meant were more focused on men, a small frown forming on her face as Aleksander kept explaining about exotic dancers. "Women like watching women dance too," Katrine stated as a matter of fact, not because she was too sure but because she'd been raised so. Women claimed men, women claimed women, species and race irrelevant. Even the blonde thought that some women in her company were beautiful and had told them so though Kat had little experience and a lot of theory in the area.

He told someone from behind them to bring the bottle of the Sunfruit Liqueur for them to drink as their guests, making her smile a bit. "Thanks," she gave, though she could have afforded to pay. Provided that they took cards and not credit, that was.

Just as she'd moved to focus on Pebble, Aleksander had asked them to tell him about themselves. She didn't get a chance to answer when Pebble shouted at her, making the Witch shudder as her upper body pulled back, the scream bringing unpleasantness to her naturally sensitive hearing. Since always? She'd wondered quietly. "Since always?" Her mouth formed the question before she could stop herself, unaware of why she'd upset Pebble so with her question. Pebble's next answer was loud but sounded so higher pitched that Katrine covered her ears with her hands right away, wincing at the actual pain of sound, disrupting her from understanding what she'd even been told. "Ouch, ouch, ouch. Please don't do that ever again," the Lupine said with a slightly louder volume, feeling a small buzz in her ears as the pain began to decrease. Though this wasn't full blown, she was still too young to be able to recover from it immediately as her Father would be able to.

So, when Pebble had gone on talking, Katrine had only heard bits and pieces of it, mostly muffled up as the pain continued to decrease, hearing properly only the ending of what Pebble had said, which amounted to: if you set a work contract with them. I can help you! With only that, Katrine was confused, looking at her Ward, still feeling small traces of pain as she regained her thoughts and completely removed her hands from her ears. "Wait, what? What contract?"

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Nessarose deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander grimaces as he hears the one known as Pebble yell rather loudly and high pitched he reaches out gently placing his hand over hers smiling disarmingly as he attempted to calm her. "It is okay miss I am sure she was just worried about you. Yes I am aware woman can like woman that is why I took one such establishment and turned it into a female only establishment. That is now one of my own sense my father was rather stubborn about that. He is learning though he really is a good man just set in his ways." Aleksander smiled at Pebble as she mentioned helping him set up a contract and nodded his head writing down some contact info for himself straight to his personal comlink and slid it across to her. "That would be amazing Pebble, You don't mind if I call you that do you?"

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Katrine was in pain. Scherezade knew it, but for the time being she opted to ignore it. Because helping Katrine meant that she had to take her eyes off of Aleksander and she wasn't ready to do that. Besides, the pain Katrine was experiencing wasn't the kind of life threatening pain, and if it turned out to be, she'd help her later. So that was fine. Removed from the checklist. (Liz please don't kill me)

She still hung to every word Aleksander said, her eyes big and focused on him, never once glancing sideways. Most of the words went over her head, except for that last bit, where he said her suggestion was amazing. Scherezade beamed like a neon at that (not literally, sheesh). She'd made a suggestion he liked! Awesome! More points for her! A few more and maybe he would look at her the way she was looking at him.

"Actually," she said when he asked if he could call her Pebble. Technically, she hated it when people did that. Only Katrine could do that, because her bond with Katrine was the special kind of a bond when it didn't include Scherezade's hormones taking control of her better but usually not great judgement. With most other people though, she'd always corrected them, more than once with threats of violence. Her aunt had told her. You are not a pebble. You are not some tiny thing. You are a deWinter. Or something along those lines. "Of course!" she said with a big nervous grin, "you can call me anything. Pebble, stone, boulder, rock. Did you know there are floating rocks on Ryloth? They kinda break every law known in physics but they do it anyway!"

There was also that sliding of personal comlink thing. What was that? Was that a gift? She loved gifts!

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

To Pebble's words, Aleksander had responded, asking if he could call her that, the pain in her ears still decreasing as the two continued talking. Katrine could hear now, she could hear the way Pebble had began to answer the question before she'd agreed though she could remember the way she'd reacted to the first time the blonde had called her that, not having a name yet but Katrine wasn't that great at being told no and it had already stuck in her head that she couldn't get rid of it.

More surprising was the way Scherezade suddenly told Aleksander he could call her not only Pebble but also stone, boulder, rock, then continuing to talk about the floating rocks here on Ryloth. Sure, she'was known to say a whole lot and ask a lot of questions which people tended to mind (she'd noticed that, especially when Sal had wondered if he could throw her out of an airlock that one time) but frankly, Pebble wasn't that much into talking like that, not as her.

It was confusing her, to be perfectly honest because she didn't know why Pebble was talking like that right now. Questions already had already begun forming in her head as she picked up her glass and took a sip, though she hadn't fully been aware as she'd sent them to Pebble through the Force: 'Are you sure about those nicknames? You actually like to be called Pebble now, it's not just me? Why are you talking about the floating rocks? And what contract were you talking about why I was hurting? You know I was hurting, right? Lupine ears are sensitive. Please don't do that again.' The list had formed and it had been sent as she downed her glass, still not aware of what she'd done though the list was reserved for Pebble.

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander chuckles as he hears her answer reaching out he gently pats the back of her hand. "Okay than. But what can I do for you two beautiful ladies today?" He smiles as he takes another sip of his coffee sighing as he was thankful he had at least gotten the shipment of vine coffee beans. As he sipped and smiled his eyes hardened as he suddenly turned his attention to the door as it was kicked in a dark sneer crossing his lips as three beings walked in. He sipped his coffee quietly watching as two of the beings clearly thugs strode in shoving what appeared to be patrons aside causing a dark chuckle to leave Aleksander as he straightened almost changing from business man to the Pirate Prince he was. This seemed to draw the attention of the third being a tall man who sneered at what appeared to be a young man before turning his attention to the bar tender gesturing around as he spoke calmly. "Now sense you are new here I will explain slowly. If you don't want any trouble pay us for your safety as well as that of your... patrons." The man said the last word with a sneer as he looked around with a bored experience around him said patrons were glaring darkly at the beings causing Aleksander to start laughing rather loudly as the force leaked from his body darkness seeming to fill the bar making the atmosphere oppressive to the average person.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Yes, yes, yes, yesssssss, I'm sure, it's fine, don't worry about it, everything is perfect, I know, sorry, shush, Scherezade tossed into Kat's mind, trying to keep her face as unmoving as possible while the words came with great speed, hoping the fact she was secretly communicating with her was indeed a secret. She didn't want to handle two conversations at once, not right now. She made a tiny mental note to see how many conversations she could juggle like that all at once at some point in the future, but right now she wanted nothing to distract her from openly staring at this man.

Aleksander, the most important person in this room right now, asked what he could do for the two beautiful ladies. The girl wasn't entirely sure he'd meant her and Kat. Maybe someone else had joined while she wasn't looking, because she couldn't really look elsewhere. She knew, objectively, that she wasn't ugly. A certain level of non-ugliness was present in anyone who shared her blood, but she'd never actually felt her exterior was anything worth mentioning. More than that, she'd never been in a situation in which she wanted her exterior to be worth mentioning.

She was chewing on the thought, trying to come up with something witty or charming to say, when a stupid man with stupid demands decided to break the party up. Her head turned against her will to look at the dosh, the red in her cheeks now not one of embarrassment, but of anger.

Without blinking, she stood from her seat and took three steps towards him, her body seeming almost elongate as she did so, her power through the Force rising sharply enough for anyone who was not completely Force dead to notice.

Pebble looked the man up and down, her eyes gleaming. If someone paid attention, they might notice a very faint glow coming out of them for just a breath of a moment.

"That is not how you conduct business, mister!" she nearly spat at him, "you schedule a meeting, you bring a contract, you specify costs and detail the services you provide. You, sir, are an abomination, a crappy imitation of a pirate, a friggin' low life dosh."

As she spoke, her hands moved. She didn't need to recite the full spell. Not when she wanted to just show off. If the asshat would demand a different course of action though, she would scream the spells and fry him where he stood. For now, there was just a small ball of fire between her hands, and from it, lazily floating in circles, were arrows made of the same flame. Harmless. For now.

"So get the hell out of here before I decide to check whether or not I'm into eating human meat. You look like the sort who look good on a frying spit."


[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

She was filling her glass a second time as Aleksander asked what he could do for them but she didn't answer, suddenly getting a string of answers in her mind from Pebble, surprising her slightly and making her sapphire gaze wander to the teenager for a moment but the answers, given in proper order, were signing lining up in her head, just where they should have been, for the most part at least. Pebble was fine being called Pebble, she didn't mind it, she'd skipped answering the floating rocks questions, she told Kat not to worry at some point which either to do with the Floating Rocks or the contract thing before she'd apologized and shushed her.

A sensation of trouble had filled her just as trouble had walked into the bar in a group of three. Katrine wasn't the one who'd figured it out, holding up to take a sip of the Liqueur again as the spirits begun to fill with anger like they knew exactly what misconduct was about to occur on their planet. Doashim suddenly pressed against her raised hand, lowering it for her until the glass had touched against the table. Protect what is ours.The spirits had said together just before she heard a voice in the back, her head turning slightly to listen in to the rest of it. The voice was demanding money? For safety? Nothing in the way that voice said anything that the words meant, the sneer, in the end, making it even worse.

Beside her, Pebble had already stood up and left her side. Katrine looked back to Aleksander for a moment, her face expression now more serious than before as she turned in the chair and looked at the tree and her Ward moving towards them, talking about how one conducted a meeting, calling the man an abomination, crappy imitation of a pirate and a low life. The Nightmother continued to lean back in her chair, sapphire gaze glowing upon the uninvited guests, and not just her but the only true patrons of Ryloth as their chosen spoke to the unwanted visitors. The Force was flowing through Scherezade, small arrows flying in front of her. Pebble acted exactly as one of their chosen should, Katrine noted with a sense of pride before she'd slowly stood.

It was common for strangers to underestimate Katrine as she'd expected them to do the same with her Ward. Though they were both young and could pass off as being weaker than they truly were, Katrine enjoying proving them wrong, showing them just how wrong they were. "In case you're the one that is too slow to comprehend," the blonde said as she walked towards Pebble, "this establishment requires none of your protection and Ryloth will not tolerate this sort of behavior. Whatever you think you have going here, you would do best to end it immediately. The only protectors this planet needs are pretty peeved by your attempt and you wouldn't want to see to what they would do to you if you actually got them mad." Her sapphire gaze glowed just a little stronger as Katrine felt the spirits using her. "We offer this chance once. Refuse and you will be nothing but dust."The spirits spoke through their Nightmother, their voices echoing over hers. They were still calm, as was she but she'd meant what she'd said, the men didn't need to see just how angry they could get.

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Aleksander Miles]

Aleksander shock his head and stood up walking past Katrine calmly he stopped beside Scherezade and gently placed a hand on the small of her back his force presence expanding around him causing his hair to start blow and flick about. He glanced at her and smiled shooting her a wink before turning his gaze to the man shaking his head and smirking. "I pity you right now you fool. Look around you and realize this is not some place you can come and fleece the owner for small change. You are in the lair of the Pirate King and you wish to threaten those who work for him? The people in this bar are all mandalorians they could tear you and your pathetic guards apart. Now get the kark out of my fathers bar before I let my friends take their anger out on you for interrupting our conversation."

As he spoke the ten people sitting in the bar walked over to group around the three intruders growling and grumbling in Mand'a as they glared at them. Aleksander chuckled and waved his hand lightly dismissing them as he turned to look at Scherezade smiling and winking a she gently guided her back towards the table. Gesturing for the waitress to bring over another bottle of sunfruit pouring a glass for all three of them as he sat down in the booth seat gesturing for Scherezade to join him on it. "If you want Pebble you can sit here by me." He smiles at her as he leans back sighing as he ran a hand through his shoulder length hair carefully.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

For once, Scherezade's mind wasn't preoccupied with Aleksander. Katrine was standing by her, the voices speaking through her towards the doshes. She gave them a firm nod, the words ready to shoot from her mouth in case of need.

And then Aleksander touched her lower back and the world went still. He. Was. Touching. Her. Scherezade didn't usually let people touch her outside of training or healing. She was pretty solitary on that front, preferring her own personal space to be actually personal. But now... Her face went blank, all her focus directed exactly at that place in her lower back where she could feel the heat radiating from the palm of his hand. Human heat. Natural body warmth.

She gulped.

It was almost a perfect moment. Almost.

"Mandalorians?" the girl asked, her voice slightly wavering. Mandalorians were dangerous. Mandalorians meat death to her and her kind. She'd tried to kill the last Mandalorian she came across, and it had almost cost her her life.

Her limbs felt like rubber as she let him lead her like cattle, deeper into the den of danger. What happened with the bullies or those who stood up to take care of them went entirely unnoticed by her. She sat next to him, of course, her body still somewhere treating between rubber and utterly frozen.

[member="Aleksander Miles"] [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]