Our Own Little Shadowport

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Either or." He told her as she slipped into the room.

Both of the bedrooms and bathrooms were exactly the same.

Munin didn't really have a lot of personal things, and this living space reflected that quite well. Where he and Huginn...well stayed most of the time his room was nothing but a bed, and desk, and that was it. Here things were a bit more fancy, if only because he wanted Spark to feel like this could actually be a home. Once she ducked inside of the room she would find the room to be decorated in a rather warm style. There was a Bed, closet, desk, dresser, and space enough that one could dance around for quite a bit without hitting anything.

He smiled for a moment, lingering in the hall until he realized what she had said.

As though he had been thrown into action. He rushed off and quickly headed for the pool. Unlike Spark he didn't really have fancy swimwear, or any sort of swimwear really. The Pool had been built specifically for her because he'd known she would like it. As for him? Well...he couldn't swim.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Shoes were slipped off. Then her clothes. Then came on the polka-dot suit and bright red hat. Glasses remained on.

#hadtosee

Hesitantly, she stepped out. The suit was conservative because #duh #itsSparkFinn but still, Mun hadn't seen her in this few clothes. She felt self-conscious. Bony-limbs and all. Fingers tucked loose strands of blonde-hair behind her ears. A towel was cradled over one of her shoulders as she stepped into the pool-room. Even with the glass, it felt warm and cozy.

Freckled nose scrunched up as her eyes found the Information Broker.

"Where's your swimsuit?"

Did he still have on the dress suit from earlier?

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"I..." Munin scratched the back of his head. "Don't have one."

Embarrassment flashed across his face.

It wasn't easy to admit that he'd missed out on a lot of what life had to offer. "I don't know how to swim."

Admitting that wasn't easy either. Swimming wasn't something that he'd ever needed to do before, and he usually tended to stay away from water planets anyway. Huginn had tried to teach him once, but he'd been rather uninterested at the time in swimming in the cesspool of a lake that sat besides the orphanage.

It had been okay for her...but well he'd been a rather sickly kid.

As much as he hated to admit it.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Oh?" Blonde-brows rose in surprise. Towel was tossed on a pool lounge chair beside him and she sat down, spinning to face him. Her own cheeks blushed and she wasn't sure why. She always felt awkward and now she felt the same amount of awkwardness.

She mostly sat outside and enjoyed the warm kiss of the sun's rays. But she knew how to swim. But mostly how to lounge on a floatie. And she did see a few rafts in the pool. Even a beach ball.

"Do you...want to learn? I'm not really a great teacher. And we're staying in the shallow end. But I can try?"

She didn't want to hurt his pride.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

For a moment he had to think about it. The idea of it was rather humiliating on the surface, that just couldn't be helped. He was a grown man that was being offered swimming lessons by his girlfriend. Anyone watching them right now likely would have laughed in his face and pointed at him.

"I...." Munin started slowly.

Rejecting her felt wrong, and in truth...well he did want to learn how to swim. He figured sooner or later he would encounter a situation where not knowing would put either him, or someone he cared about in danger. Couple that with the fact that the pool was warm, filtered, and best of all; clean. For a moment more he frowned, as if trying to decide if it would hurt his pride. His gaze flickered up to Spark who was staring happily at him, waiting.

"Sure." He finally managed to say. "But I don't own a swimsuit."

True.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Okay," #swimminglessons! #yay, "well," fingers went up to pluck off her red-hat and then to tie up her hair in a loose bun. "Do you have an old pair of shorts?"

Speckled-gaze tracked up and down his dress clothes.

"Anything less formal? Or...," red crept into her pale cheeks. "Boxers?" She spun on her heels and wandered to the steps in the shallow end of the pool. There was even a waterfall and a spa.

#fancypants

Toe hesitantly dipped in, checking the temperature.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin didn’t own a single pair of shorts.

Clothing like that wasn’t his style. He preferred to wear long pants, not that he was self conscious or anything but...well maybe a little. He frowned for a few moments, watching as she dipped her toe into the water.

The pool would of course be rather warm, it was both heated and located indoors, meaning that the temperature stayed at a pleasant state all the time.

”Okay.” Munin said as he quickly started stripping. The way that he removed his suit was...well almost comically formal. He folded his jacket over the back of the chair, undid the buttons one by one, and proceeded to lay out everything carefully in such a manner that it wouldn’t get crinkled

Eventually he was down to his boxers, a simple pair decorated with red and white stripes.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

The rosy-hue remained on her pale cheeks as her eyes briefly took in those striped boxers. She quickly looked away. Eyes would remain on his face.

#don'tdrifttohischesteither

Foot eased onto the first step, then the next, until the warm water lapped up around her waist. "I'm going to buy you a pair of swim trunks after this," she teased quietly. Fingers tugged the inner-tube over as she waited patiently and quietly for the information broker to join her in the shallow end. The waterfall at the deep end burbled quietly.

Maybe this would be her favorite room in the house, after the server room.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin quickly followed after her.

He always liked water. Munin had never learned to swim of course, but he enjoyed taking baths and showers. There was something incredibly calming about being soaked in water, something that...well just put him at east.

”Do you like it?” Munin said as she stepped into the shallow end of the pool.”The Apartment I mean.”

It was a little more than an apartment admittedly.

Munin had wanted something special for them, he had wanted some place that they could meet without stress, without having to constantly arrange it through holo-messages. That was the point of this, so they could have a place.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

A genuine smile curled on her lips. "I do." She pushed the inner-tube toward him. Hands played across the top of the water as she created small splashes and ripples. Head ducked down, shyly.

"It's a lot to take in. I don't know how I can...," voice trailed off. She thought of Coren and the ship he'd built for her. How Gabe opened up his home to her. Well, she did try to repay him with tech work.

"Repay you." Bony shoulders shrugged as her speckled gaze lifted to meet his blue circles.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

A confused look crossed his features.

”This isn’t something you have to repay me for.” That’s not how he had meant it at all. ”I’m not expecting…”

How to put it. ”Well I’m not expecting anything from you.”

Aside from the commitment they had already made to one another. Their...well relationship was already a complicated one, just by nature of what Munin and Spark did in their day jobs. This place...this place was meant to simplify it a bit.

”This is for us.” He stepped a bit closer to her. ”So we can spend time together without having to worry or look over our shoulders.”

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

#feels

"I know you aren't," she said quietly and looked up at him. Palms pressed flat on top of the water. "And, it's nice to have a place that's safe." She frowned and looked over his shoulder. "Those are rare for me."

Hazards of the job.

"Probably for you too," she said quietly. She looked back to him. A hesitant step forward, then her arms wrapped awkwardly around him in a hug. "Thank you."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His hands slipped onto her waist and around the small of her back.

He held her there for a moment, happy, pleased. In all honesty Munin rarely did anything that didn't benefit him in some way, but he felt this...this was good. He couldn't help but feel like he had done good here, that he had done something right. "You're welcome."

Munin said as he placed a kiss onto the top of her head.

"I'm glad you like it." He gave her a gentle squeeze. "I was afraid you'd think it was too much."

Most people would have after all.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"It is a lot," she admitted, fingers and arms unwinding from around his back and resting on his sides. She pulled back so she could study his face. "It's a little....scary. I didn't know what to expect when you comm'd me. But this means a lot. You know about my past and how many wanted lists I'm on."

She smirked.

"I don't always erase them from the bounty boards in time."

#duh

"And I know some of your history and what you do," she flicked his side lightly, "which reminds me, you still have to tell me more about the codex and how it works."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Oh." Munin said. He had nearly forgotten about it in all of this excitement.

"It's not a Codex." The Infochant frowned. "Well, that's its name, but it's not a library like you would expect."

It was something entirely different. "The Star Cabal originally made something called the Black Codex, which actually was a library of information. Stuff they'd gathered through agents, informants, spy networks, and the Red Codex."

This was all stuff he'd learned from the Red Codex itself.

"It's a command and control server." He explained. "If you give it the right prompts, and have a big enough database, you can unlock it and use it to control the...well the biggest surveillance network I've ever seen."

It wouldn't take Spark long to know what that meant for Munin's career.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Brow furrowed. "You'd have access to anything. Any place. You'd be able to get in and out of...anywhere." She frowned and pulled away. She trusted him but...it was a lot of power for one person to have.

"You haven't told anyone else about this, right? Except maybe your sister. And me?"

He'd have a huge target on his back if anyone else found out. Sith. Pirates. Jedi. Crime Lords. Anyone, really, would want it or want it destroyed. But what would he do with it?

He'd told her once he never had any sith clients. But what if he had some that he didn't know were sith. Her frown deepened.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"It's not quite that extensive." He assured her.

"The Codex definitely has it's limits. Over the millenia it's infected thousands...probably millions of systems, but not everything. I haven't been able to go through all of it yet, but there's a few military systems, modern ones, but definitely not all of them." She was right though. It was a huge amount of datapad, almost an unthinkable amount really. Probably more than one person had any right to actually have. Not to mention...well control.

He smiled at her though.

"No one else knows." No one. "I'd like to keep it that way too."

He was well aware of the price that could quickly be set on his head if that changed.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"I'd like to keep it that way too," she looked at him, reaching up to adjust her glasses. "That's huge. Do you think," she gnawed on her lip unsure, "would you help me on an upcoming mission?"

She'd already booked it. Meeting some hutt rep for some slicing. He'd contacted her alias on the darknet and there were rumors about his connections to an underground slave ring. She wanted to break it up.

#naturally

"And we'd better get started on your swim lessons before we get too pruny." Freckled-nose scrunched up as she gave a small smile.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Helping was easy enough.

Besides the Red Codex he had thousands of contacts in every kind of underground ring one could possibly imagine. The Hutts weren't really a strong force in the Galaxy anymore, there were a few syndicates but few people actually did what he did. There were the odd cartels that dealt in information, but Munin was something entirely different. He didn't care about Spice, about the Slave Trade, about anything, all he trafficked in was knowledge.

Knowledge was power after all.

"What do you need?" He asked with a smile.

Swimming was momentarily forgotten. If he could help her then he wanted to do so.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She sighed. Mun was delaying the lessons. She looked down at her hands. She told Munin a lot about her life with the Alliance but nothing about her free-lance. Well, her current free-lance.

"I booked a job a few days ago. The day we met up, actually. I'm meeting Bengoy, a Hutt's right hand man. The request came through my darknet channel. I took the job because I can't get access to the Hutt's systems and there are rumors of other business the hutt is involved in. Reports say slavery. I think it's something more. But it would help to have eyes on the ground. If the codex has access to their security feeds, I wouldn't be going in so blind."

Bony shoulders shrugged.

#jobz

She waded over to the edge of the pool and pulled herself up and out, turning to face Munin, keeping her legs in the water.