Private Port of No Return

[Cerys Dyn]

⟢────────────────────────────────────────⟣
ＳＥＳＷＥＮＮＡ // ＴＥＮＥＣ - ＣＩＴＹ
→ ＰＯＲＴ ＤＩＳＴＲＩＣＴ
⟣────────────────────────────────────────⟢​

She needed to get off-world. To get off-world she needed fake credentials. To get fake credentials she needed credits, lots of them, so she could pay Gannon Harcraid to do the job for her. To get the credits, she needed work...

"I ain't tellin' you again," said the grease chef, "now beat it."

Cerys' shoulders slumped. It had become a common posture. As she stepped outside, and the door slid closed with a harsh clunk, her stomach growled.

It had been at least one rotation since she last ate. Her reality was sinking in. Seswenna was a world that was bypassed, even with the Planeshift, it was a world that saw no traffic. People came here to get away, not to get ahead. She barely had money for food, much less a fake transit card.

Of course, as though the galaxy were planning a cruel twist of the knife, it began to rain. Cerys did not flee for cover. Instead, she looked up and allowed each drop to hit her unhindered. She blinked a few well aimed direct hits on the eye's away, and sought for answers.

Sneaking onto a ship was a possibility, though she had gotten caught last time she tried it, and as a result was on the run from a few pirates, just to add to the complicated scenario.

"Force help me," she whispered in quiet prayer.

Since running from Darth Anathemous , Cerys had only managed two successfully interplanetary journeys, and had no leads on where an Oathwarden might be. This whole thing of itinerancy seemed easier before, when she did not have to look over her shoulder for Jedi and Sith. And Pirates, she thought.

The slow trudge began, the flickering lights of poorly maintained cantina signs provided what little light there was. The rain, though, helped the reflections to provide slightly better lighting than before.

She paused at the door of the first Cantina, The Hydrospanner, and she sighed audibly. This was not what she had wanted to do, but it seemed there were few choices remaining. And this was the lesser of the bad options.

The inside of the cantina was dimly lit, and the patrons barely looked her way. The barkeep didn't give her much attention either, until the third or fourth wave and clearing of the throat. He grunted. Cerys thought it was a word, but wasn't sure which it was or if she even wanted to know.

"Name's Sera Tann. Wondering if you had some back of house work going...dishes...things like that?" She said, expression trying to be happy about the idea.

The man grunted again, and leaned over the counter. "Someone like you oughta be out front waiting tables," he mumbled, "six credits an hour. If the customers like you...seven...and you get to keep any tips."

He slid a few drinks in front of her. Cerys eyed them reluctantly.

"Table in the far corner. Trandoshans. If they don't hate ya, you got a job," he said, sneering. His teeth were sickly yellow hue. Cerys was sure she had seen somthing crawling in the plaque build up.

She tried not to gag, and instead picked up the drinks and turned towards the corner of the room. When she fled the Jedi Order...this was not what she had in mind.

Tohu​

 

[Tohu]

Several weeks later, since Cerys Dyn found her new 'calling' as a waitress at the Hydrospanner...

Tohu had overplayed his hand. Multiple times, as a matter of fact. Overplaying one's hand came hand in hand with the love of gambling, but not only; he'd picked this bounty on a thief too stupid to embezzle cash from the Syndicate who'd fled to the middle-of-nowhere world of Seswenna; he'd overplayed his hand by going after it without having a ship of his own; he'd overplayed his hand by thinking 'would it really cost so much to hitchike to Seswenna'. He was, on the other hand, right on the money that the bounty would cover his expenses for a journey back home to Narsh.

But Tohu loved gambling a little too much. He had overplayed his hand a dozen times on sabacc, liar's dice, and some dodgy races, and now he was stuck in the dirt-stained Hydrospanner, a cantina in the seedy parts of Tenec City. He sat with his legs up on the table, scrolling through his datapad's holofeed for any bounties on Seswenna, waiting for a glass of water that he had ordered a minute ago. He kept pulling the screen down, refreshing the page, but it remained barren. Everyone was a law-abiding citizen on Seswenna now, it seemed.

When the waitress came with the water, a Togrutan of a similar age, he figured, Tohu set the datapad down on his chest and clasped his hands over it. "Never seen a waitress with a long face before," said Tohu, thinking of all the spiced-up girls on Narsh fighting tooth and nail for a con's generous tip.

 

[Cerys Dyn]

Cerys was working for five credits per hour. Five measly credits. Sure, the offer had been for six and seven if the patrons liked her. Whatever that meant.

She had left working at the Hydrospanner, with the hopes of making another gig work out. It hadn't. She had been rehired at a lower rate, with no offer of any 'performance bonus'.

So, for someone to comment on her glum expression, only three days into her return to the Hydrospanner...well...he wasn't the first.

"I get paid to deliver orders, not smiles," Cerys mumbled in reply. That was all he was getting. Beside his drink of course.

As the weeks had ticked by, a thought had occurred to Cerys. Both Sith, Jedi and Pirates were probably busy looking on worlds further down the Hydian Way. They likely assumed she would have better fortune. Perhaps it was her payment for lying to the Sith. Though of all people that deserved being lied to...surely it was a Sith.

She placed the glass down on the table, and gave the young drinker a once over. She showed no signs of being impressed, as there were none to give. "Eggs says its your last one until your tab is paid," she said, flicking her head towards the barkeeper, who simply scowled in their direction. Eggs didn't much like Cerys. Cerys, for her part, was fine with him keeping her at a distance.

Tohu​

 

[Tohu]

Tohu rolled his eyes, bored. The waitress was grumpy alright. He put his feet down from the table and lifted the glass of water to drink. Halfway through the motion, he said, "Pay? I thought it was free," and set the glass back on the table. Even the stingiest Rodian barkeeper on Nar Shaddaa didn't charge for a glass of water (they just refused to serve it.)

"I've got nothing on me. Look, ask him if he knows of any gigs. Been stuck here for weeks and I really need to get home." he jutted a thumb up, off-world.

Cerys Dyn