Pick Up in Aisle Voss

[Nei Laa]

[member="Vagabond Crimson"] [member="Joran Del-Finn"]

Voss.

From afar, the planet was like a jewel. Up close, it was like a paradise.

For Nei, it was a pain in the rear.

After being dumped from that horrible wasteland of nightmares, the Nautolan awoke to find herself just outside of a city. Upon arrival, she'd begun to make inquiries and found that yes, she was on Voss, and no, no one would give her a ride off for free.

Day two had been spent searching for a pilot as well, and when that didn't work, she sent a message first to Vag, telling him to stay put and that she'd be on her way. Eventually.

The second one had been sent to that stupid human, Joran. While the Nautolan loathed owing that stuck up man anything, she was in no position to wait it out.

Day three, she finally found a small tavern inn that would allow her to sleep and eat there, so long as she left her blasters as collateral until she paid. And while the female hated to depart with her weapons, she had no choice -- it was that or starve/deprive herself of sleep.

Day seven, and Nei was still sitting in the tavern.

"You could always work off your debt, you know," a wheedley voice said. She looked up from the table top and made eye contact with the speaker, a stocky human male. An off-worlder like herself, Dreeb (as he had introduced himself) worked as a bartender/waiter in the place. Since the native Voss were tight-lipped at best, he was the only person around whom Nei could have a decent conversation with.

The Nautolan bared her teeth. "He come," she growled. "He will."

Dreeb grinned. "Your knight in shining armour, right?"

"He not be my knight!"

"Well, your friend, at least."

"No."

The human gave her an odd look. "A stranger?"

"No."

"Your enemy?"

She thought for a moment, before snorting grumpily. "No."

Dreeb made an exasperated noise. "Then what is he?"

"A si'hklesi foh, that's what. And a late one, too."

The human merely shook his head, wandering off to clean a table. Meanwhile, Nei's head hit the table with a dull thud, her tresses twitching in irritation.

Stupid humans. All of 'em.

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

Joran found the bar described in Nei’s message and swaggered in to the empty bar, rifle strapped across his back, cigar between his teeth and the lingering smell of alcohol coming from his pours. Joran assumed the bar had yet to open, considering its lack of clientele, the wait staff doing nothing more than cleaning and the fact the sun had only recently risen.

It didn’t take long for Joran to spot her. The Nautolan who called him here, her head resting upon the table where she sat. Nei Laa, young, pretty, stubborn and at times severely short sighted. Since the day they met at the Dragon Palace casino, they had run into each other a multitude of times, very few of those encounters could be counted as friendly and more often than not ended either with a fist fight or some one having a blaster shoved in their face. Yet here they were again.

Joran walked over to the bar, reached over and pulled out a bottle of, something and a couple of glasses. The stocky dark haired man, who must of worked there looked as if he were going to say something to Joran before thinking the better of it and getting back to his cleaning.

Joran went over to the table where Nei was and took the seat opposite of her, filled the two glasses up half way with the clear contents of the mystery bottle Joran had scored from the bar and set one in front of the alien girl.

“Morning, Love.”

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

At the clank of the glass in front of her, the Nautolan leapt up and deftly tossed the contents of her glass at the human. "You be late!" she hissed. She set it down and plopped back into her seat. "And don't call me 'Love'! It be Nei! Get. It. Right!" She then whistled at Dreeb, whose head shot up like he'd been electrocuted. "Bring me my bill!" she barked.

As he scurried off, Nei's large black eyes narrowed, studying Joran. With the cigar in his mouth and the rifle on his back, the man looked like he'd just come back from either a war or a leisurely stroll. Both, if one were to ask him. Which she most certainly would not. Bad enough she had to have him come pick her up like a delinquent kid, but she would go through hell before showing him how desperate she was.

It didn't occur to her that she'd already gone through hell and shown how desperate she was.

Tresses twitching in irritation, the Nautolan grunted, "Hope you brought your checkbook."

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

“Aye, and a towel!” a now soaking wet Joran called to the retreating waiter. It took less than a minute for Dreeb to make his way back to their table with the bill and to Joran’s pleasurable surprise, a clean towel.

Joran dumped his now extinguished and wet cigar out of his mouth and onto the tray Dreeb was carrying and gave him a look that suggested the man should get back to doing business some where else. He got the hint and moved away but made sure to keep himself close enough to try and overhear, occasionally stealing not so well hidden glances in the direction of the two off-worlders sitting at the table. Bartending paid well enough, but not as well as information.

Joran wiped himself dry, still not having said a word to Nei. He just sat a moment, the towel soaking up the liquor on him and the table and Joran soaking in the desperate state the alien in front of him was in. If he knew her like he thought he did, it must of physically hurt her to call him for help and that made him happy. The girl needed a lesson in humility in Joran’s opinion and he wasn’t going to waste the chance to see her face when she learned it, even if that meant turning his ship around and flying half way back across the sector like he had.

“Not late, Love. Been here three days, got caught up is all.” a sly smile crept to the corners of his mouth as he thought of the reason for his delay. A young, long red haired girl with legs that went forever and a tiny waist.
“I might not’ve come at all, but you know, I missed you.” he said with a long practiced charmed smile and a tone of sincerity that sounded a bit to sincere to be sincere. The truth however was that this morning his distraction had thrown a bottle at his head as she screamed at him to get out. If Joran didn’t know better he could of sworn he woke back up in his marriage.

Joran drained his still half filled glass and gave a sort of queer face as it burned his throat.

“Aye, I’ve, ‘got my checkbook’.” said Joran as he pulled out the credits needed to pay her bill and lit another cigar, while filling his glass and hers yet again.

“to our health, yeah?” he toasted raising his glass to her and draining half the contents.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

When Joran revealed he'd been planet side for three whole days, the Nautolan's tresses wriggled wildly in anger. Three. Days. Three damned days that she could have spent elsewhere. Her lips drew back to issue forth a brutal verbal beating, but then she paused. If she wanted to get off of this planet, she needed the human -- if he left, she'd be stranded for who knew how long, and something told her that the human knew this, too. So, instead, she merely gave a faint hiss before slouching in her chair, arms crossed menacingly. "I don't wanna even know," Nei muttered. However, when the si'hklesi foh mentioned that he missed her, she snorted -- his charm might as well had been directed at a brick wall for all the affect it had.

She barely glanced at Joran as he lit yet another cigar, instead grunting out, "Good." When he pulled out the credits, the Nautolan's whole body language became eerily similar to a predatorial cat -- her muscles tense, her eyes tracking the credits to the table, and her tresses stilled. That was when an idea (and a good idea, in her mind) appeared. It was time for her to decrease some of her dependence.

As if a switch had been flicked, Nei's body relaxed completely, morphing into a person who didn't have a care for the world. Only two of her tresses moved, the tips twitching like that of a cat's tail. At his toast, the female eyed him flippantly. "Mm, yeah, health. Not with those cigarras." Once the glass hit the table, though, she leapt into action.

Nei's chair crashed back as she leapt forward, quick as a hiccup and spilling her own drink. Her hands were aimed for the credits; if she could grab those, then she could make sure that her debt was paid for certain -- no need to be stressed over whether or not Joran would decide to abandon her after his gloat session. After that, it was only a matter of boarding the human's ship and getting out of town. Whether she would do that by stealing his ship or smuggling herself aboard, well, she hadn't thought that far. Her fingers still needed to grab the credits.

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

It all happened in a blink of an eye. In flash she was on her feet, her chair skidding across the floor and her drink flowing across the table. She had speed and the element of surprise on her side. Joran, however had experience.

As he hands shot foreword so did his. Not to protect his credits but to grab a hold of her. His left hand shot to grab around her wrist preventing her from pulling away, his right hand grabbed the bottle of liquor he had taken from the bar and smashed it on the table converting it to a jagged weapon.

“We weren’t thinking of stealing from me now, were we ,Love?” Joran asked calmly but menacingly as he put the sharp edges of the bottle in her face threateningly.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

Nei struggled in Joran's grip in a hopeless attempt to free herself. Feth, he was strong! How could she have forgotten that?! Her wriggling didn't cease until one of the sharp edges of the glass nicked her cheek, a red bead on the tip while a red tear began to creep down from her cut.

Even then, her tresses curled wildly, and she gritted her teeth, spitting out, "If they be for the bill, then no. That be the furthest thing from my mind." Dreeb came forward, almost as if to help, but one death look from the Nautolan sent him scurrying away. The few other patrons in the tavern, meanwhile, calmly collected their belongings, paid their tabs, and left. As they walked out, she added, "I thought if I took the credits and paid with them myself, that be one less thing to worry about."

For a few moments, all was quiet. Then...

"I hate having to need you!" Nei snarled suddenly, her shoulders hunched as far as she was allowed. "I hate not knowing if you just be here to gloat, or really help! And I hate that if you leave me here, the chances of me being able to do anything are none! I hate the helplessness! I hate the unknown! I hate you!"

Her anger exhausted, the female's shoulders went from being hunched to being slumped. "Do huhsi karau ar fiyet tohso ar sei ordeket," she muttered, suddenly tired.

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

Joran was not convinced that Nei’s attempt to grab the credits was a gesture made toward their mutual benefit. Joran let her go after her little temper tantrum, it was a very unbecoming thing to watch.

“first of all girl.” Joran said as he dropped his jagged bottle to the floor where it broke with a small crash that sounded much louder in the now silent bar. “Don’t think yourself important enough for me to fly half way ’cross the sector just to rub it in your face that you called me. Ain’t no credits to be made from a point and laugh.”

“Secondly.” he blew a cloud of smoke from his mouth. “You live this life long enough your gonna end up owing some one. and, Love, if you hate the unknown, your in the wrong businiess.”

Joran drained his glass and looked her in the eyes “I don’t much care if you hate me or not, Love. Right now, I don’t much care for you either, but I’m all you got, so suck it up.”

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

"So then why come?" Nei asked, her tone almost imperceptibly subdued. She had picked up her chair the moment Joran released her, and was now sitting back down.

It had been stressful these past several days, not only back in the real world but also in that....canyon. There, she hadn't known what would have happened if she'd died, though the bones had given her a pretty good idea. The Nautolan's thoughts turned briefly to the man who'd helped her, Jacen. Hope his kid's doin' alright.

Now that she was back, it seemed like nothing had changed. She was stuck in a situation which required this si'hklesi foh to get her out.

Was the universe trying to tell her something? Or did it just really like making her aggravated? Maybe she was in the wrong business.

Stroking one of her tresses, Nei looked at Joran, a faint scowl on her face. "We might as well be leaving so I can be back with Vagabond and pay you back."

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

“A smart man told me, the most valuable thing someone could owe you, is a favor.” Joran answered as he looked about the bar. He was feeling a pang of regret over smashing that bottle. He could use a drink.

“Aye. Lets be leaving then.” he would be glad to be back on his ship with a drink in his hand and credits on the horizon.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

Nei merely harrumphed and stood up, waving Dreeb over. To Joran, she said, "I be waiting outside." Then, spinning on her heel, the Nautolan stomped out.

What the kriff had she been thinking? Calling him here? When everything he did made her madder than a Vong in a cybershop? Thus the only thing the two had done constructive was get the bill... Everything else was just, well, arguing. Oh, Nei knew the reason why, though.

Nei didn't mind that much if she owed someone a favour or two. But Joran? He was an arrogant, stuck up, irritating si'hklesi foh. No matter what he did, he always managed to get under her skin. And yet, she kept running to him for this or for that. The Nautolan sunk to the ground, leaning against the outside wall right beside the door. She rubbed her face, letting loose with a frustrated snarl. I must be a masochist, she thought. Why else would I keep putting myself with him?

Honestly, she was almost close to sort of maybe crying. If, you know, she did that sort of thing. Which she did not.

But still.

Almost.

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

Joran paid and left, blinking as he stepped out into the natural light, rifle along his back and cigar between his teeth.

“Let’s be on then.” he said to the slumped Nei.

((OOC: just to get us back moving))

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

Nei jumped up, embarrassed that that si'hklesi foh had seen her in another moment of weakness. Making a firm resolution to keep herself more in check, she dusted off her armour and eyed Joran. "Those things kill you, you know," she said, gesturing to his cigar. Nose wrinkled, the Nautolan added, "And they be pungent."

The door opened suddenly and Dreeb came out, gingerly holding Nei's two blasters. "My blasters!" she exclaimed, snatching them up. Scrutinizing them closely, she bared her teeth in a fearsome grin before patting them lovingly. "I not believe I almost forgot these."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Dreeb eyed Joran warily before turning back to the female. "I'm just glad I caught you before you left. It's not like I'd have any use for them. Er..." He paused, his face turning slightly pink. "Will you be coming back, Nei? To Voss, I mean."

Reholstering her weapons, the Nautolan gave the other human a confused look. "Why would I come back?"

His face redder, Dreeb replied, "Well, uh, I don't know...you could always visit the tavern when you want."

Nei snorted. "I not be coming back. I hate Voss."

Dreeb's shoulders slumped slightly as he mumbled, "Oh, okay.." before walking back inside.

The female stared after him for a moment. What be his problem? she wondered. "You humans be strange," she said to Joran. "Now, where be your ship? Is it as raggedy as last time?"

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

“Life kills you.” replied Joran through a grin and a plume of smoke. Joran watched as the barman came out and gave Nei her things back. He was all nerves and bluster but Joran did commend the boy’s effort, futile as it was. Dreeb might as well have been speaking to the tavern door for as far as he was getting, Nei was as perceptive as a crate of tereb fruit.

“This way, Love.” answered Joran just emphasizing on the word ’Love’ while gesturing off with one hand and making a point to place his other hand on the small of her back to gently lead her.

As Joran and Nei went to leave Joran leaned over to Dreeb and under his breath in a consoling sort of way Joran told him: “Your better off without her, Mate.”

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

"Tcha," the Nautolan harrumphed, completely oblivious to the brief exchange between Joran and Dreeb, who only gave the older human a disappointed look. "Don't touch me! Or call me 'Love'! My name not be that!" She harrumphed again. "Si'hklesi foh." Despite her grumblings, though, Nei merely folded her arms, her tresses curling slightly. She and Joran didn't hang out much for obvious reasons, but she'd nonetheless given up on trying to correct the man. He was just too stubborn to understand that she wasn't too fond of him, for reasons both obvious and obscure.

The woman fell silent, then, walking alongside the other smuggler as they headed towards the spaceport. Nei was still chagrined over the fact that she had to rely on this pricky being for a ride, but not talking was starting to get on her nerves.

So, "I have a kid."

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

“You…got…a….kid?” Joran repeated incredulously unable to wrap his mind around the four simple words. Its not that she wasn’t attractive, because she was. It was the fact that that Joran wasn’t sure he’d ever met a woman with a less bedable personality and Joran has been around and on occasion woken up next to, Mandalorian, Sith and Jedi girls and still the surliest, angriest, most naïve girl he had ever met was nothing compared to the Nautolan he was with now.

“So,” he said regaining his composure. “you let some dashing silver tongued swashbuckler pry apart the steel trap that is your le…heart…and plant his seed did you?” he asked through a cheeky smile.

“He wasn’t named Makast was he?” he asked as an after thought.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"]

"What?" She asked, looking at him in confusion. What the kark was he talking about? Her tresses danced gently as she made an attempt to figure out what he was saying.

When it clicked, though, Nei stopped short, stared at the human beside her, and began to let out great big whoops of laughter. Hah, hah! He thought she had had a kid! Well, she did, but not in the way he had thought it.

Finally, her laughter subdued to quiet snickering. "It not be quite like that," she explained. "The kid of a....friend. He be looking for his old man, came to me for help. We were heading to the Nova Corporation or whatever when I, ah, disappeared." The Nautolan's sunny disposition changed, and she glared at Joran. "That be why I be so mad at your tardiness. There be a twelve-year-old piloting my ship for who knows how long. Si'hklesi foh!"

Nei paused for a moment, looking around. "Who be Makast?"

 

[Vagabond Crimson]

[member="Nei Laa"] [member="Joran Del-Finn"]

Vagabond, got the notice sent by Nei. Taking after his father, ignored it. Weeeeeeellllllllll, not exactly, he listened to it for the first few days.

He then got bored.

Off to Voss! Not the stupidest thing Vagabond did, but it's still up there.
Vagabond learned how to pilot Nei's ship a little while back, fun times. He was off.
Hyperlane confirmed, hyperspace achieved!
........now the waiting.

 

[Joran Del-Finn]

[member="Nei Laa"]

"Glasen Makast is the best pilot I've ever met that didn't stare at me from the other side of a mirror. Nautolan too, by the way."
Glasen had been one of the few people and probably the only other pilot Joran had met after, Tash, that he called a friend. that crooked smile, the stupid duster and the way he decorated his tresses with all sorts trinkets and souvenirs, with a swagger and a way with words to match his own. Joran could not think of a man that was more the opposite than the girl that he was bound to travel with now.

"he was nicer that you are, Love. less abrasive, helped me out of a few tight spots." Joran blew a puff of smoke.
"He was a right bastard." he said as an after thought as his mind flashed to him standing at the refresher in The Surely, washing the blood from his hands.

"Twelve year old piloting your ship huh? don't know why your worried, cant be much different than a normal day."

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Joran Del-Finn"] [member="Vagabond Crimson"]

"Tch," Nei snorted. "He sound like someone you be with." She got hot at his remark about the twelve-year-old. "Says you! Stupid human!" The female raised her hand to smack him across the face (and frankly, he deserved it, for she just understood that he'd insulted her flying ability), but lowered it again when she realized they had reached the hangars.

Letting out a low growl, the Nautolan glared at Joran, her tresses writhing. "Alright, Dar'manda," she spat, recalling a term he'd once labelled himself, "Where be your ship? I want to be in orbit before the kid gets here."