Private Smuggling Candy

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

Devin had no important reason to be on Tirahnn. Nobody had sent him, which was basicallyy how the best decisions always started. Three or four nights earlier, somewhere along the Perlemian Way, a sabacc table had accepted the eighty credits he could afford to lose and, after several hours of statistical abuse, returned several times that amount. Maybe he had a week of freedom left. Enough for passage, a cheap room, some food, another chance to buy in somewhere, and the comforting lie that consequences would stay outside for a while longer.

So.. Tirahnn it was. The Great Fair rolled beneath the afternoon like an ocean of strangers; most of them were louder and far better dressed than him. Nobody cared who Rogue Six was. Nobody knew Striker Four. Most probably wouldn't have cared what happened to Coruscant, provided the disaster didn't interrupt lunch. To the fair, Devin was just another young man with his hands in his pockets, drifting wherever the current took him lately.

An hour remained before an advertised sabacc game, which was plenty of time to waste. He'd made a career out of wasting time years ago. The pay was unreliable, and the benefits were mostly regret.

A fruity drink sweated in one hand. Something fried and terribly seasoned occupied the other. Another bite went in, followed by the careful consideration of whether six credits had been a fair price for food that appeared to have been seasoned with what he presumed to be some sort of industrial solvent. And well, the answer changed every few seconds. At present, it was no.

Security seemed pretty lax and that counted for something. A person could get away with almost anything when everyone was busy selling, buying, or just pretending not to care. One of the rides turned along the far edge of the fair. Devin had even been prepared to try it.. which was probably some ambitious way of describing a feeling that didn't even qualify as curiosity. Emotional investment suggested a pulse?

The food stopped halfway to his mouth. Then the ride groaned, the crowd cheered for whatever reason, and Devin lowered the fried thing without taking another bite. Six credits all of a sudden felt like a very reasonable price for not being on it. In retrospect, it might've been the best investment he made all week.

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

"Beep! Beep! Watch out, Cutey comin' through!" a quintessentially feminine voice cried before a Pink thing atop a floating slab full of equipment swept into view and lurched into the crowd that parted before her.

A few seconds passed and the crowd settled back in to local distractions. At least until another cry drew eyes as long mechanical arms rose above the crowd and took hold of the circular ride at the edge of the fair. The commotion settled quickly as the arms were an eyeful, but without the ride collapsing there wasn't much else of note from afar.

A minute or two passed before the floating slab drifted back the way it'd come with the pink Zeltron wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. The mechanical arms were gone from the horizon now, and the ride was beginning to move again. "Whew. Mm, hey," Cali looked down at her mobile workbench, "no, hey," she pointed at the stand nearby, "over there. They got fruity drinks! Don't be like that, we'll get to the haunted house later. It's just one creature that isn't working. People could use the break. I could use a break too! Fruity drink," she cried and the floating platform turned in the direction of the stand.

Cali hopped down to the ground and bounced over to place a quick order. "Ooh, Red Cherry! With a splash of sour apple." Sugar was great, but it didn't hurt to have a little contrast so it wasn't too sweet. Had to save room for chocolate. There had to be a place around there selling something chocolate.

"Oh, hello," Cali called out with a face-splitting grin as she waved to Devin Virell .

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

Another sip went down like a personal insult. So Devin examined the cup, hoping it might confess to something.. fraud, sabotage, maybe simple bad taste.. but the juice kept its professional silence. Too sweet, honestly. The kind of sweet that suggested somebody had emptied a candy factory into whatever was used to make it. Back on base, even the recycled caf had tasted better, unless that was only the nostalgia talking.

A wash of pink drifted into the edge of his vision. Eyes tracked it first; the rest of him followed when convenient. Beyond the railing, some floating platform glided through the neon haze, bristling with equipment and piloted.. or possibly haunted, by a woman in pink. He took another drink. Because the first mistake apparently failed to make its point.

As she drew closer, the details sorted themselves out without much effort. Pink, pink, more pink, a grin far too pleased with existence, and enough gear stacked behind her to open a small repair shop.. assuming the shop didn’t collapse under its own inventory. Devin’s gaze slipped past her toward the ride turning again in the distance, smoother now than it had any right to be. So.. that explained the arms. Well, a person didn’t usually haul that much around unless they were fixing something, escaping something, or both? At least, that’d been his experience.

His voice was loose and easy. "You always make an entrance like that? Not judging or anything. Just trying to figure out whether I should duck next time or start wearing a helmet. Personally, I think the helmet ruins the whole mysterious stranger thing, but safety regulations have never cared much about my image, ya know?"

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

Bright, golden eyes stared lidlessly at Devin Virell . "Duck? Helmet?" Her mane of pink flopped to the side as she tilted her head sharply in confusion. "Ya totally shouldn't try to lay down under a floating, mobile workbench. I mean, it totally won't fall out of the sky on ya, but it's still super dangerous! I mean, there's lot of space here. Well, maybe ya'd have to bump into someone, but I wouldn't have run in to anyone!" Cali paused to flash Devin a large grin.

A second later, "I think." She'd totally try her best though.

"Anyway, glad to meet ya. I'm Cali Ziiva, the Cutest Zeltron Engineer, and this," she threw out her arms, "is my playground. Today. Got a neat little maintenance contract while I'm on planet. Ya'd be surprised how often places like this try to get away without doing preventative maintenance. But at least they knew to take a good deal when it was on the table, right?"

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

Devin's dark eyes did a slow blink, the kind that one does when he suspects the universe has skipped a frame or three. He'd started this with a dumb line about helmets. Now he was getting something like a safety lecture on not becoming paste under someone's equipment. There was definitely a lesson in there somewhere. Could've been something about clear communication, or the wisdom of chatting up strangers who flew their workshops through festivals. Probably both? He lifted the paper cup in his left hand, and the paper boat of fried something in his right and found that he had no free hand to offer her. So he tipped the cup at the pink one instead.

"See you had me convinced right up until the 'I think.' That's a super dangerous phrase, you know? That's where people get sloppy. They talk all big, promise the sky, tell you it's all gonna work out fine.. then they drop those two words. Next thing you know your ship's confetti and some suit at the insurance office is denying your claim and pretending he doesn't speak Basic. Some don't even have a word for 'sorry.'"

His gaze drifted over her workstation for a few seconds. "But hey, I like your style. Most people would've just told me to get out of the way. You actually took the time to explain why getting flattened would be a terrible idea. That's really impressive customer service."

"Devin." He tipped his cup again. "Cutest Zeltron engineer huh? That's quite the title. They hold tryouts for that sort of thing, or d'you just show up one morning and decide nobody else has a chance?"

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

"Well, normally I lead with being the Cutest Cute that's ever Cuted; but then people go on about how Cute can be a verb, whether there's such a thing as Cutest, and what ever constitutes Cute in the first place." Cali blinked. "I guess ya did the second one anyway, but that's okay! I am the model of a Cute Zeltron Engineer. I mean, ya know, there are other Zeltron Engineers, but they like to stay back home indulging in their own work. Meanwhile I'm out here bringing Zeltros to the masses! So that gets me bonus points."

"So, uh, Devin, whatcha doin' here? I mean, ya got a drink and fried stuff, but you aren't trying to find a reason to slip away. I like that, really. Some people start looking nervous like they already ran out of things to talk about even though we'd just met. I bet you have tons to talk about though, right?" The pink woman grinned across at the man.

It shouldn't be pheromones that held him there. Cali used Jedi meditation so everyone around her wasn't staring strangely at her. Zeltrons liked attention, but there was just something weird about every random person questioning their life decisions wondering if they should try to 'get to know her' because of invisible and usually scentless chemicals her people naturally exuded. So, of course she used techniques to suppress their influence while out and about.

Of course, she totally could use them to get tons of jobs, but the galaxy was one bad day from literally falling apart so showing people why they needed a good Engineer didn't require that much effort. It was more fun to get to know people than it was to have them getting handsy too. That was a big problem back home! Not that many complained. Kind of the whole shtick, really, but it gave outsiders weird ideas about them as a people. Often got them into trouble when they started acting funny in public with her around too.

She hoped Devin wouldn't act weird with all these people around. It'd be real awkward.

Devin Virell​

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

The Cutest Cute that's ever Cuted. Well there was a sentence. Devin even considered it with the attention normally reserved for bad gambling hands. He'd heard some ambitious claims in his time, but this one might've been the first to challenge the entire grammatical structure of Galactic Basic. At the same time, her delivery almost made him feel guilty for questioning her credentials too.

"So let me get this straight. You're an engineer, you're a traveling advertisement for your homeworld and you're apparently the reigning champion of whatever cute competition someone invented. That's so much responsibility for one person."

His attention wandered to the fried thing in his hand. He turned it over before lifting one shoulder. Whatever it was, it hadn't improved since their conversation began. In fairness, he'd only given it a minute.

"But hey, I'm not gonna argue with you. Last time I got into an argument about somebody's title I somehow lost four hours of my life and then ended up owing the dude credits. So figure I'll just take your word for it." His shoulders returned to their usual slouch. "Me? Oh. Nothing important. I'm just passing through. Won some credits playing sabacc a few nights back. Got myself a ticket to somewhere I hadn't been before and decided I'd see what happened. That's usually how my better decisions start. Come to think of it, that's how a majority of the bad ones start too."

Devin considered the cup. "So far I've managed to buy the worst lunch I've had in months and I'm pretty sure whatever this drink is could strip the paint straight off a freighter. But I’ve had worse afternoons for sure."

"And yeah I've got stories. Plenty of 'em. Funny thing is after a while they all start sounding the same, I guess. Somebody gets a bright idea, somebody gets greedy, then somebody gets shot. Usually not in that order." The smile came and went. "So how's that whole bringing Zeltros to the masses thing work, anyway? You got a quota? Gotta make a certain number of people happy and they let you go home early?"

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

"Yep!" Cali had invented the competition herself. No one else probably knew they were in it either, but that was alright. She kept score for them.

The pink mane flopped to the other side as her head rolled as Devin started talking about his last argument. Sounded like quite the argument. Though he was right to fear ending up spending credits. After all, if he demanded she fix his ship or something to prove it he'd have to pay. Cali wasn't half as gullible as people thought she was. They got drawn in by her cuteness, but even a cutey had expenses to pay.

"Me too," she cried excitedly with Devin saying random acts led to great things -- even if they were bad ones. "I find myself in trouble all the time. Then find my way back out again."

Devin had checked his fried stuff, and then checked his cup. Neither seemed to elicit good vibes, which he soon vocalized. The Zeltron standing before him blinked. "Wow. That's, like, totally not okay, Devin. Ya can't come to a fair and leave on a sour stomach. Hey, ya wanna join me and grab good grub? We can totally talk about what exciting things there are to do in the area." He didn't exactly look anxious to slam his badly-made items down and hop on the nearest ride. Was that because he didn't know what rides there were, that he didn't have company, or that the entire thing was literally to waste time and he wished to be elsewhere? Only one way to find out.

"We could trade stories too. I mean, ya heard how mine usually go, right? Get in trouble. Get out of trouble. Grab chocolate. Usually in that order." Odd that his wasn't always in the same order. Someone getting shot could precede greed? Oh! Someone gets a bright idea to shoot someone, shoots them, and then sees something shiny to take with them that leads to trouble! ...was that someone Devin?

"A quota? Me? Look at me," Cali threw her hands out to either side with a wide grin. "I want to make all the people happy. Do ya know how many people could do with a good vacation on Zeltros? If my kind didn't find negative energy so disturbing they'd be out here driving ya all silly." Cali giggled at the idea. "But that's okay, I figured out how to deal with it, so as one of Those Zeltrons it is my solemn duty to make people smile." She planted her hands on her hips and took on a super serious facial expression as she stared up and off to the side. A solitary second later the pose collapsed and she giggled again. "Okay, not so solemn. Takes a lot of work to not smile."

Devin Virell​

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

His expression gave away little. Not a bad sign, exactly. He could talk a good game when there was a pot of credits on the table and someone needed convincing their hand was unbeatable. The Zeltron might've been operating in an entirely different orbit. Sixty seconds flat and she'd already lined up lunch, offered to trade stories, and declared herself responsible for making people happy. Where did she even plug in to recharge? But hey, he could probably keep up. Or so he told himself.

"Yeah, alright. Solid case against food poisoning. I just figured I'd give the local grub a shot. You know, broaden my horizons, soak up the culture, maybe find out what happens when somebody deep fries something that had it coming." He was already scanning for the nearest trash bin. "I was even gonna finish this thing out of principle, but now that I think about it, that's a pretty dumb principle to die for."

She made the whole business sound like running errands. Maybe he'd been approaching it wrong all these years. "Chocolate, huh? Now there's an idea. I just tell myself I've learned my lesson, then go back out there and prove I haven't."

"I dig the system, though. Real efficient. Getting out of trouble's usually the hard part. What's your secret? Bribery? Running really fast?"

Devin was halfway through taking a step when she told him to look. So he stopped and did exactly that, eyeing the pose she'd struck. Kinda looked like she was about to give a speech to the entire Republic or something. "That's a pretty big job, Cali. Met folks who couldn't find happy with a treasure map and a head start. What happens when you run into somebody who just doesn't wanna be helped? Keep at it until they surrender? Call in backup?" One eyebrow climbed higher. "Or do you just ship 'em off to Zeltros and let somebody else deal with it?"

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

Cali blinked twice. "Huh? System? I mean... I dunno, I figure it out as I go, ya know? Like, if a shuttle is crashing out of orbit I get the engines running or at least the stabilizers so it doesn't roll. Oh, and if there's a scary ship after us I make sure the engines keep working, or get the shields online, or dance around all the scary people that try to board the ship. And the Sith? Well, I mostly try to give them a hug cause I think deep down inside they're just scared of other people. People can be mean sometimes, but not all people. So ya gotta show 'em there are good people out there." And she talked. A lot. Constantly. Devin didn't need her to say that, which was good because Cali wouldn't say it -- it wasn't something she did consciously.

"Just keep at it, Devin! I mean, ya gotta know when to back off a bit and give 'em space, but then ya follow up later. Ya gotta show 'em ya actually care. That's what most people have a problem with! They think everyone's just putting on faces. Polite conversation. Me? I'll talk and hug and show people all kinds of fun things because who doesn't love enjoying life? That's our philosophy on Zeltros, ya know? Enjoy life." Like, a lot. A lot a lot. More than most other species would consider healthy. Well, it worked for them. Somehow. Somehow they still got work done. Well, alright, the droids did. Some helped out cause you had to stay fit, but no one was putting in eighty-hour weeks on Zeltros. Be lucky if you got any where near forty. That's why Mega Corps didn't waste time on Zeltros. The workforce was terrible for money-grubbers. Tourism though? Oh, they made bank on tourism.

"Speaking of which, ya wanna go try some treats?" Cali paused to grin. She'd wait long enough for an agreement before she'd reach out to take his hand and guide the way through the crowd in a hurry. Time was wasting! Things to do. People to see! Tasty things to eat. "What's yer favorite kind, Devin?" she asked as they moved.

Devin Virell​

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

Sure, sure. Ordinary hazards, all of them. Nothing a guy who'd spent years strapped into an X-wing cockpit couldn't shrug off. Then Cali mentioned hugging Sith. The ones with the red lightsabers? Huh. Maybe that was the first red flag. Not the lightsabers themselves since those came with their own warning. No, it was the part where she saw one and decided the poor soul needed a hug. Maybe not exactly the right man to judge either. He'd always been colorblind where those were concerned.

He opened his mouth, reconsidered, then opened it again. "Hold up. Rewind a sec. The ones with the whole 'angry and terrifying presence thing'?" This time, a slower blink, lazy as a loth-cat near a window. "And they hug you back, or is it more of a one-way street?"

Good people was a slippery phrase. Devin figured he qualified on a decent day. He mostly skipped shooting folks who hadn't shot first, and once he carried an old lady's groceries up four flights without asking for a cred. "Jedi always seem to have it all figured out. Good guys over here, bad guys over there, and everybody gets a color to match. Must be nice living in a world that simple."

Along the way, he somehow managed to balance the drink and paper boat in one hand. He'd barely finished scratching his cheek when he realized Cali had somehow taken his free hand. "Enjoy life? Yeah, guess I can get behind that." Salvation arrived in the form of a trash bin. While keeping the cup steady, he gave the paper boat a casual flick. Fffwip! Straight into the bin. Yep. Still had it.

"Um." Now there was a question. His beat-up flight jacket had a big hole near the elbow. Probably the scruffiest-looking guy at the fair. Whatever the sabacc tables saw fit to bless him with, they'd never once improved his taste in food.

"Y'know, I've always had a weak spot for those little fruit turnovers. Flaky crust and stuff that burns your tongue if you're impatient. But hey, you're the expert around here. I'll trust your judgment. Can't be any worse than mine."

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

"Huh? Sith? No, they don't let me hug them. Usually there's a lightsaber in the way. I tell them to move it to one side and they move it to the other where I'm trying to come around to hug them. Sometimes they start levitating things, and I try to tell them they don't need to put on a show. They just need to relax. The Pink One is there for them. And sometimes they shout or say tart things like they're trying to hurt my feelings; but we all know that's just a defensive technique and they don't really mean any of it." Cali smiled as if everything she'd just said was the most obvious thing in the world and the Sith totally hadn't been trying to kill her.

Cali wasn't entirely sure about Devin's take on Jedi, but she did agree they often categorized people a bit too easily. She didn't categorize people. They all belonged in the 'deserve a hug' group. Kept it simple.

Wide eyes looked back at him for a moment. "Turnovers, huh? Not exactly a meal, but alright! I mean, I sometimes snack on chocolate while I'm working so I don't have to make a meal. Besides, this is a Fair!" If Devin wanted to cheat a little on his diet who was Cali to refuse? No, really, Zeltrons weren't terribly good at the whole refusal thing. Obviously when the request was benign; the Sith telling her to do something with herself were ignored -- that was a kind of refusal.

A slight adjustment in course had them slipping through the crowd toward a particular cart in the area.

"So, if yer just here 'cause it was close, what brought ya here to Tirahnn, Devin? It's a nice place. They're like a Sister Planet to Zeltros in some ways." Anyone that could throw together a massive Fair totally got that not everything was about big guns and 'splosions.

Devin Virell​

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

Devin gave the Zeltron a long look. "Y'know, Cali, when somebody keeps putting a lightsaber between you and them, there's a chance they're trying to tell you something. Just saying." Well, that made sense to him, anyway. Granted, he wasn't one of those Space Wizards. Never had much use for moving things around with his mind when a good pair of hands would do. But he understood blasters well enough. When somebody pointed one at him, he usually took it to mean they weren't interested in swapping stories.

So chocolate counted as a meal, but fruit turnovers didn't? Interesting place to draw the line. "Hang on. You skip meals to eat chocolate, but I'm getting questioned over a pastry? That's a pretty tough crowd." He gave a lazy shrug, then a half-step to match her stride. "There's still fruit in it, though. That's gotta count for something. More than I can say for whatever I just threw away."

Diets weren't really Devin's thing. When the hunger hit, he ate. When it didn't, he just let the clock run out and went about his business. Pretty much anything that didn't crawl off the plate counted as a win. If Cali ever got curious and started poking into his kitchen habits, he imagined she'd probably walk away shaking her head.

The next question caught him somewhere between sizing up the passing stalls and wondering why the drink from earlier was still in his hand. Devin just let her steer and occasionally turned his shoulder to slip between people. "Wasn't really the distance. Heard they had a big fair going on, figured I'd see what all the fuss was about. There's a sabacc game starting later, too. Thought I'd try my luck while I was here. Figured I'd put some distance between me and Naboo. Sometimes a guy just needs to be somewhere else."

The cup lifted, a sip considered, then nixed with a lazy flick of the wrist. "I've found that when you've got nowhere important to be, just about anywhere starts looking like a solid destination." Not the worst spot to wash up. If his read was right, he'd even landed some decent company, which beat what he'd expected when he crawled out of bed this morning.

"Sister planet, huh? What's that mean, exactly? They got the same problem with people trying to hug Sith, or is that just something you brought along?"

 

[Cali Ziiva]

​

"Yeah?" Cali looked at Devin with wide eyes again. "Like, maybe their lightsaber needs tuning? Or they have a cold and don't want me to catch it?" It couldn't be that they didn't want a Zeltron around. Everyone liked Zeltrons because Zeltrons liked everyone! Sure, it was a stereotype, but it was better than the other stereotype people thought of when Pink People came to mind.

"I was just thinking ya'd like something hearty to eat, but if ya really do want a snack, I don't mind. Nice little place nearby with some fruit turnovers. I don't know if they have all kinds, but probably the popular ones." Had she questioned his choice in food? Cali didn't remember judging it. Well, they'd be at the little shop of treats soon enough.

"Whoa, sabacc?" Suddenly the Pink woman's forward progress halted, she spun around, and lean in close to peer into Devin's eyes. "Are ya some kind of professional player? I play sabacc too! Though I wouldn't call myself a professional. I spend too much time selling things, fixing things, and having fun with people to claim I've mastered sabacc." Though far as she knew she wasn't half bad at it. Probably helped people couldn't get a read on her with the endless smiling and grinning. Not to mention she was one of the best when it came to smack-talk... though it wasn't really smack and more just talk. "Do ya make lots of credits?"

A quick blink followed. "Both our planets enjoy living and aren't occupied with war an' stuff, of course," Cali replied without hesitation. Wasn't that obvious? Sure, the people on this planet weren't stripping naked on the beach, but there was nothing wrong with deciding that wasn't for them.

But, no, really, why did so many species suffer tan-lines? With the right design they could look kind of cute, but they didn't have to develop tan-lines.

"And how's hugging Sith a problem? It's a particular skill I've developed because everyone else is too caught up in how fierce they look, or how mean they sound. Sith are people too. Angry, violent, domineering people that need help being shown there's another way. A much more enjoyable way to live. Full of fun, games, and little umbrellas in their drinks."

Cali looked around and then took Devin's hand again to resume their process. "Come on, it's just over here!"

Devin Virell​

 

[Devin Virell]

Cali Ziiva​

He wasn't accustomed to someone making his next meal their personal responsibility. "You're giving this a lot more thought than I did." One corner of his mouth finally crept upward. "Which, judging by how lunch went, is probably a good thing. Nah, turnovers sound great. We can sort out the rest if I'm still hungry afterward. But you don't need to make a whole operation out of trying to feed me. I'm not that complicated."

Devin nearly plowed straight into her when she stopped. One second they were heading for pastries, the next he was staring into a pair of enormous eyes. His brows shot up, and he pulled his head back a few inches. "Yeah, I play sabacc. What's it to you? I'm pretty good, actually. Not trying to brag or anything, but I've been known to walk away from a table with more credits than I brought."

He considered her question. Longer than he would've liked. "Do I make a lot? Sometimes. Other times I spend the next week wondering where it all went. That's the beautiful thing about gambling. Best night of your life right up until it isn't. I've won enough to keep myself going. Can't complain too much. Well, I could, but I doubt anybody'd pay me for it."

A shrug rolled off his shoulders. "Wait, you sell stuff, too? What is this, some kinda one woman business empire?"

As far as he was concerned, the whole damn galaxy was at war. Some planets were just lucky enough to keep it off their doorstep. Maybe Tirahnn was one of them. Good for them. His thoughts nearly wandered back to Coruscant, but he wasn't interested in following them. Not today. He'd come all this way to get away from that sort of thing.

"Sure. I can see it now. Big scary Sith Lord, all decked out in the infamous black, sipping something with a fruit wedge stuck on the rim. Probably still threatening to murder the bartender, but hey, progress is progress."

Maybe they had to make everybody sign a waiver before clocking in? Last anyone needed was some poor bastard getting magically choked because somebody forgot the ice. "Good luck with that though. I'll leave those Sith to you. Somebody's gotta do it, I guess. I just like my vacations with fewer death threats."

"Bwuh?!" Probably sounded like one of the astromechs back on base. Apparently they were on the move again.