The ex-Farmboy vs. The City Girl

[Judah Dashiell]

He enjoyed business talk like any good owner. Yet at times it went too far. There were only so many minutes one could drone on about the economic impacts of the reentry of the Mandalorians back as a major player on the board. Only so many times one could hear about the effects of war and strife on vital shipping lanes. Judah gathered his datapad as the speaker for the last panel of the day was finishing up. Yawn escaped him and there was a small stretch before he started moving.


The assembled crowd was already buzzing with excitement. With the day finished most were planning to break off into various groups and cliques for the night. There wasn't a group he necessarily fell into automatically by default. Seemed most salvage companies were small-time and liked to keep to themselves. He had a literal salvage empire.


Loosening the tie around his neck, Judah found himself one of the last exiting the expansive room. There were a few stragglers, some looking down at their comms and typing away. Others looking dazed as if they were trying to finish waking up in order to walk into the hall.


Hand reached out and opened the door for a Zeltron woman. Judah didn't remember spotting her before but the crowds at the conference were massive. Folks tended to get lost in the mix. He flashed her a smile, moving to walk out with her.


"Real exciting times in there, don't you think? If I wanted to be bored to death I could have invited all of accounting and financial over for a week-long meeting without ever leaving home."



[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza glanced to the side as a dark haired man opened the door for her and smiled politely in return. With a datapad hefted under one arm and a cup of caf in the other, this made things a little easier.

“Not into departmental sleep overs, I take it?” Her line of work quite literally kept her up all night so much that she could sleep with a battlecruiser taking off right next to her ear. She still woke up quickly to the sound of her child crying though, and then would curse her mother instincts.

He was right though, conferences had a tendency to be boring. While networking was good and all that, she much preferred to be supervising the floor of one of her escort services or checking in on the clinics. That was the way it went though—most people preferred to be in the heart of whatever it was they chose to do. They could designate all they wanted, but some things had to be done personally.

After making it through the threshold, she passed her cup of caf to her other hand to offer him a handshake. “Joza Perl—Heartbeat House. You?”

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Joza Perl"]


"You could say that, maybe I'm looking through a more practical lens with cost and time. Or perhaps I'm just old and cranky at this point."


There was a ghost of a smile on his features, half joking at the 'old and cranky' comment. The pink-skinned woman was juggling quite a bit in her hands, making him seem completely unprepared with only his datapad for notes. He watched her juggle around the caf and datapad before extending her hand and announcing herself.


"Pleasure to meet you Miss Perl." Hand grasped her own in greeting. "Judah Dashiell - Salacia Consolidated."


"Can I carry anything for you? Quite the juggling act."

 

[Joza Perl]

“Likewise.” She smiled, toothy and practiced though this sort of thing came naturally to her by now. Joza was a performer by trade, used to being on display in a way and conscious of her appearance. Helped a ton in business deals with a dash of Zeltron charm.

She eyed him for a moment—handsome, rugged features and good hair. She liked him already.

“If you don’t mind—ah, this.” She worked the datapad out from under her arm and into the more stable grasp of her free hand with another blinding smile. “I’d appreciate it.”

She took a sip of her caf, wishing it had been more. If caffeine IV drips were an acceptable thing in public then she’d force her doctor’s hand on the prescription pad.

“So, Mr. Dashiell—tell me about Salacia Consolidated.” Less of a business tone, more friendly with a hint of exhaustion masked behind that glorious lattice of caffeine.

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Datapad was grasped and added on top of his own. It easily rested under his right arm, carrying the two devices like some schoolboy walking down the hall. Eyes drifted over the woman. Behind the bright eyes and public facade Miss Perl could be described as tired. Workaholic?


"Please, call me Judah."


There was a slight pause. Salvagers always didn't have the best reputation. Depending on one's corner of the 'verse they could also be called scavengers. Some opinions bordered on the actions of being weak - waiting for a battle to be done to swoop in and start collecting. Others thought it was wrong to take from battlesites where those had died. Common trash collectors.


"Salacia Consolidated deals in salvage and mining, a touch of green technology. Salvage is our bread and butter so to speak. Amazing whats out in the black."


Judah forced himself to stop talking about his work. Not everyone was as interested in salvage such as himself. Smile flashed in direction of [member="Joza Perl"] once more.


"Now your turn. What does Heartbeat House deal in?" Judah already had two guesses - fitness and nightclubs judging from the name - but he had been wrong several times before in the past. "Clearly something that keeps you up all night."

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza was familiar with the concept of salvaging—she even knew of a few people who were salvagers themselves, but she’d never partaken in any salvaging missions. She wouldn’t know what to look for or the safe way to extract things but assumed that it was probably more interesting if you knew what you were doing.

“I can only imagine.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Literally. I don’t know much about salvaging but I hear that if you do it right you can make a pretty credit.” She smirked against the rim of the cup. “You must be good, Judah.”

Coffee cup was lowered as it was her turn to answer the question. “Quite a bit nowadays. Started off as a dance studio but graduated into the adult entertainment industry. Nightclubs, brothels, casinos and all that.” No shame in it, not for a Zeltron at least.

“We produce some cosmetics and fashion as well, but recently I’ve focused on the medical industry. Clinics and medical stations mostly as well as a training program for young women and men looking to get into nursing.”

Most Zeltrons looking for work off world ended up in shady areas of work. Not that managing prostitutes part time wasn’t considered shady, but at least she had some standards in her industry. The nursing things was just a safer option.

“We tend to keep many of our customers up all night.”

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

There was a bit of laughter at [member="Joza Perl"] and her mention of being good at salvage.It was like picking trash off the space highways if one wanted to dumb it down - nothing one had to be good at in his opinion. Not that he was going to argue any different as it seemed her mind was made up.



"So you got folks coming and going?"


A boyish grin at his incredibly lame joke about her business. Judah couldn't help it. Wasn't often one got put a little sexual innuendo into a 'dad joke'.


"Nice to know if someone has a heart attack you're well equipped to take care of them." A slight pause. "I have a medical station in orbit above Tabaqui. Bit of philanthropy to bring medical access to parts of the backwater. I'm certainly impressed with your nursing corps then. We all know how the galaxy loves to stay war torn."


Judah glanced over as they walked.


"Do you have any plans tonight Miss Perl? I was hoping you could join a lonely old man for dinner."

 

[Joza Perl]

“Mm,” She agreed without missing a beat. “Happy customers with a quick turnover rate.” That was the gist of it, she could get more into the nitty gritty of managing escorts but she doubted he wanted to hear that.

(Maybe that was more dinner conversation, anyway.)

“We try.” A brow arched, then lowered. “Always good to have a portable medical facility to bring care to those who can’t access it easily. Especially with this war torn galaxy.” She’d worked with her fair share of displaced refugees. “Let’s hope the war confines itself to the soldiers.”

Was it wrong to wish that on soldiers? Better them than civilians, she thought. Then again, some soldiers were civilians forced to fight and…the whole thing gets messy. War never was a clean business anyhow.

She hummed in thought at his question. “Joza.” She corrected politely when he’d referred to her as a Miss. “As long as the old man is paying, I’d love to.”

Who was she to turn down a free meal?

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Joza Perl"]


"War never confines itself to the soldiers. Most times there is more collateral damage than damage between the two parties fighting."


Judah hoped he didn't bring the mood down by his thoughts, they were talking about war and its intricacies. Of course there was going to be mention of destruction during such talk. They could keep most of the conversation on the surface for now - after all they didn't know one another. No sense going into a political bloodbath with someone he just met.


"The old man is paying, not to worry."


Another boyish grin flashed in her direction, finding amusement in her words, at wanting to referred to as 'Joza'. Judah was going to have to mentally remind himself to use her first name throughout the night. He barely used [member="Danger Arceneau"]'s first name and he had known her for well over a decade at this point. Merely a farmboy habit.


Hand reached out and grabbed another door for her, speaking as he did so.


"I've already got a place in mind. Its not too far, I scoped it out the first day here, seems like a solid steakhouse."

 

[Joza Perl]

She returned his grin, finding him rather easy to talk to. His approach was better than what she’d seen recently; at least he wasn’t fumbling with his words or putting on that cocky air that she hated so much. The latter were good for chewing up and spitting out, at least.

“Alright old man, you’re on.” Whereas he had been referring to her formally, Joza took it upon herself to continue calling him ‘old man’. Some would call it charming, some would find it annoying.

He seemed like a good sport, though.

She stepped through the threshold of the door with a vague nod in thanks.

“Tonight, then?”

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

It took him half the walking distance back to his suite to realize he was still clutching business datapads and documents belonging to one [member="Joza Perl"] .Debate wavered between trying to track her down, sending out a concierge to handle the issue or giving it back to her during dinner. Tracking her down was incredibly creepy , concierge screamed stuck up rich jerk, which left his final option. At the very least it would give Miss Perl incentive to meet with him.



Hours later Judah was waiting in the lobby for Joza to meet him. Part of him wished he had a cigarette despite giving up smoking years ago - although that didn't stop him from a cigarillo from time to time. Being in business such things were often passed out like olive branches during negotiations.



Not wanting to look like a twitchy idiot, Judah pulled out his comm and decided it was best to send a few messages out to his son. Less suspicious and more normal than standing around looking like an overeager kid - not appealing for someone of his age.

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza showed up in a casual dress—nice, but not too nice for a steakhouse. She was a woman of many outfits, thus she likely had one for every occasion.

Stepping out of the speeder cab and into the restaurant lobby, she spotted her date for the evening—complete with the datapad she’d foisted upon him earlier. “There you are,” She approached him with a smile. “And Mr. Dashiell, too.”

Adjusting her hair so that it fell over one shoulder, she scanned the layout of the restaurant briefly before turning back to Judah. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Joza Perl"]


Datapad was handed back before he forgot to pass it back over once more. A second time would look like a pitiful excuse and attempt to see her once again - he wasn't a desperate kid and certainly didn't want to come off as one. Blue eyes appraised her before offering his arm.


"You look amazing Miss...er...Joza."


A boyish grin at his mistake.


"Starving eh? Me too. Who knew listening to boring, snore inducing lectures all day would drum up such an appetite."


Judah took the lead, giving his name at the desk. It didn't take long to be walked through the steakhouse, woven around tables before seated overlooking the city. Wine menu was handed to himself before a promise of their orders to be taken in a moment. Eyes partially glazed over, he handed the wine menu over to Joza.


"You'll probably know your way around that better, don't drink so I'm useless."

 

[Joza Perl]

“Thank you.” That covered the return of her datapad as well as the compliment. She received the device and tucked it away in her handbag. She smiled, wrapping a hand around Judah’s arm and content to let him lead them further into the restaurant.

A soft laugh bubbled in her throat at his comment.

“Really, you’re telling me that you didn’t find the three hour lecture on the mineral industry’s quality control procedures interesting?” She had to pinch herself to stay awake during that one. It didn’t help that the Givin hosting the talk looked as if he were about to crumble into dust at a moment’s notice.

After being seated, Joza took ahold of the offered wine menu and flipped through it with a discerning hum. “So no preference when it comes to red or white?” She stopped on one laminated page.

“How about the Deltron spice wine?” She was fond of the warm, fermented drink. Others, not so much.

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Joza Perl"]



"Problem is, I've done mining and just repurchased the company I originally started with. I could have given the speech within fifteen minutes and moved onto the next topic. It was too drawn out and too complicated for something that isn't go complicated except for a small number of minerals and mine owners."


Shoulders shrugged at the mention of red or white. He assumed it was a different variety of grape used for each. A different taste. Judah wondered if it really mattered? People seemed to agonize over it or so he had observed at business dinners.


"Sure, sounds fine."


Deltron spice wine, what the hell is that? Judah was doing his best to keep the green farmboy look off his face. Probably wasn't working but he could hope.


"Your business profile is impressive. I imagine it doesn't leave time for much else in life? Or you've decided sleep may be overrated?"