R U Mine?

[Arage Bao]

[member="Octavia Dominia"]

The fluff of sweet oozing flesh washed past him and made Khal wrinkle his brow just a little bit, perhaps that was the one slight disadvantage at doing the thing they did in the middle of a hall filled with decaying corpses. Then again… it gave some kind of extra ‘unf’, a specific flavor of urgency and wickedness that only made it that more enticing. His head shook itself out of that particular conclusion, he doubted he would ever have made that leap before the netherworld.

As he rolled down his sleeves and covered the marks he was only reminded how much had changed from then to now. So many things fecked beyond approach, but there was nothing to it besides moving on and keeping at it. Way of the Jungle. Then there was the other thing, the girl that was sitting next to, complicated didn’t even come to describe it.

Khal sniffed softly, breathing in the air as a reminder. This had been wrought by him and he would have to accept it in its fullness, movies had clean wars, this was dirty and that wouldn’t change.

‘Mmhmm.’ he mused softly. ‘That was something different.’

 

[Alexis Altunen]

Well it certainly wasn't the most romantic place, but that didn't bother Octavia, and it seemed to bother Khaleel even less. The animal need that struck the couple after their heated conversation and heady kiss came upon them like a storm, and nothing else mattered for a while. No games needed to be played. No plots to be twisted. Just two quickly beating hearts and an soon-to-be satisfied yearning in a dark, wet room filled with dead gangsters.

The Promenade Princess rose to her feet, straightening out her ruined slip of a dress with her nicely manicured hands. She finger-brushed her tousled hair and gave Khaleel a knowing smile. She needed a drink. Maybe a cigarette, too. The only thing she did not need anymore were those painkillers.

"It certainly was," she agreed. "I would be remiss to expect anything ordinary from you, Mr. Malvern." She flashed her pearly whites at him, switching back to infobunny mode for a nanosecond. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and dropped the act. The conundrum that faced her, what to do about this difficult man, would most likely have to wait as she wasn't sure they were completely out of danger yet.

She gestured to the pile of bodies with her pretty little head. "Those guys have any friends who might be on their way?"

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Octavia Dominia"]

He took a lazy look at the bodies as he pulled up his pants and started zipping up again, had been quite the change in scenery and atmosphere as they were busy doing their thing. But somehow Khal wasn’t overly concerned over the ramifications in regards to his moral compass and things like that, somehow… he felt quite alright after this entire gig.

Might have been the girl, might have been the blood, might have been the tats. But whichever it was there was a simple universal truth to this situation, the situations that had come before and the situations that were still to come.

They lived in a fethed up world, on a fethed up planet amidst fethed up people.

Simply meant that they weren’t on the higher levels of former Republic Coruscant, this ain’t no Onderon or Fondor. There was no law and good was only a posterboy term for Jedi with a lust for the moral high ground. Put it this way, Khal was increasingly sure that this Galaxy wasn’t divided by good or bad, nah it was divided by the privileged and the rest.

The former could afford being nice and pleasant, the later? They had to fight for every scrap they got.

‘No.’ he thought back to what the man had whispered. ‘These were the last for now, I got some more business to attend do. But I am sure we will see each other soon.’

 

[Alexis Altunen]

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

A few months later...

Speaking of fethed-up worlds, in a matter of mere months, Nar Shaddaa had gone through eons of changes, but then again, the galactic criminal underworld had always punched into at light speed at a moment’s notice. If you didn’t like one gang, just wait a minute, there would be another in its place. The Chiss was out, fleeing to Coruscant to embark on some sort of techno-vision quest or something, and in his wake he left a few burned down buildings and a corporate headquarters full of dead slicers. RIP Jimmy’s and Bane Innovation. All things considered, the dramatic events ended up benefitting both Khal and Octavia. With no interference from the big blue queen, Khal had swooped in and convinced Miss Kritivaas to crown him as a Red Raven. Knowing the man and the Twi'lek, the arrangement involved copious amounts of alcohol and hands wandering over expanses of orange skin, fingers tracing the tracks of her tiger stripes. Unf. Nar Shaddaa underworld pacts certainly weren't for choir boys and girls.

Another day, another credit. Another round at Barry’s, Khaleel’s new Jimmy’s on Nar Shadda. Dressed in slinky wrap dress and platform heels, Octavia strode into the bar and made her way to the bartender. Apparently the crime lord found wiping down sticky surfaces to be a zen activity. Draping her freshly-manicured hand on his shoulder, she leaned in and gave him a cherry-scented kiss on the cheek.

“Congratulations, Mr. Vice-President.” said the former-infochant who now worked exclusively for Mr. Malvern.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Octavia Dominia"]

There was something about wiping down the counter of your own bar that few other activities could really give ya, a zen experience? Perhaps. Wax on, wax off and all that crap. Point was, Khal liked doing this sort of thing, it made him feel more… normal and less Underlord of the Nar Shaddan Underworld and the entire system it was settled in, ya know? But perhaps that was the point of it all, maybe that was the reason why it should be him and not someone else.

Keep grounded and don’t forget who ya are.

Khal subtly turned his head, catching the kiss on his lips, passionate that one. Eventually they detached and he winked, before returning to the counter to wipe it off some more. Wax off and wax on, ya wouldn’t find the scoundrel in some supermega estate with twenty million guards.

Would be too obvious anyway.

‘Please don’t call me that.’ Khal mentioned with only the slightest raise in his nostrils that designated total and utter disgust. ‘Not sure who came up with that name, but I wonder if this is how kindergarden feels.’

 

[Alexis Altunen]

The soft heat of the bartender's lips gave Octavia a slow burn that she felt everywhere. The man’s knack for the unexpected was the only thing she had come to expect from him. Letting out a throaty laugh, she took a perch on one the barstools, hitching up her dress to show a generous amount of leg. Wouldn’t want the garment to get wrinkled, after all.

“A giant playground where the boys and girls fight over who gets the biggest toys? That sounds like the criminal underworld alright,” she agreed. A finger absently traced the edges of a drink coaster as Khaleel poured her a whiskey.

Octavia turned her gaze to the interior of the new bar, Barry’s. Force knew it was trying, but it didn’t have the character of Jimmy’s just yet. It smelled of newness, a shiny patina that the underworld held no respect for. A few thousand barfights, a couple of murders, and bodies slamming against one another in the back room, and eventually, it just might shed that callow skin.

“The bar looks good. It’s no Jimmy’s but it will do, eh?” Twirling a soft strand of her jet black curls, she raised a brow, a blink-and-you-might-miss-it gesture.

“And it still has a back room.”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]