The Spice Is Not Nice

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Julian Imani"]

She really should feel more disturbed about HIM knowing so much about her. Like her name. He alluded he knew she was force sensitive even with a hidden force signature. But for some reason, she didn't. Though, shaking his hand felt like shaking the hand of a devil.

"Julian. Shadowman," she nodded toward the petulant black lump in the fire. Really. If anyone should be pouting it should be Kinsey. Julian would perhaps notice her hand had callouses on it before she withdrew. A hand well used to work. A mechanic, adventurer, and pilot's hand.

"They're from the Ghoulick Clan. They assumed something was in the contract I signed with them and it wasn't. Ain't my fault they didn't read."

Really, she didn't swindle them. They'd just wanted more. More than a baby rathtar. "If none of 'em got away, then, you probably won't have a problem."

She rubbed the back of her neck, blues flickering to shadowman, remembering those woman's screams.

"As for your shop. How much exactly we're those damages?"

Shoulders slumped. She knew he was expecting payment. He'd told her as much. She just wasn't exactly...rich. But the explorer would figure something out. She always did. Even if it meant scrapping that hyperdrive ventor she'd been eyeing.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

She'd notice the faintest resistance as she attempted to withdraw.

Keeping her hand for the duration of a skipped heart.

Then- a smirk and her hand was released easily. Julian had his ways, his moves, but it had never been that. Not forcing. Being honest about things. You could easier steal a soul with a smile and a fulfilled promise, than by cheating them out of it. That much Jul knew. Less angry pitchforks after you too. People never liked to admit that they had been caught unaware. Not in the same way as they would, if they had been cheated anyway.

"Ahhhh.... cyattie true to mah feels. I do similar. Make dah contract. Let 'em read... then follow da word exact, yah?"

A chuckle there.

Like the rock slowly slitting down the slope of the hill, touching other boulders in the progress. He waved away the idea of not having a problem. "Ya run 'ere without anyone see ya? No. They know, I fix when ya leg better. They won' be problem, certain."

There Julian did lean back a bit.

Smiling his smile.

"Da price be priceless, eh? Labor of love went into da. Roots of Dathomir, roots of da dead, ya cannae put price on it. Mebbe." Leaning into her personal space. Eyes meeting eyes. "What more a cyattie can offer, ya?"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Julian Imani"]

Wait. Did he just say roots of dead was rubbed into her wound. Eyes drifted down to the one crimson stained pant-leg.

Gross.

Index finger held out between her and him, pointing at his chest but not quite touching him - even if he didn't leave all that much room between them. "Ha. Everything has a price and nothing is priceless." Easy, lopsided grin slipped toward Julian. A scoundrel's grin. If there was one thing she was good at? It was making a deal.

She had to be good at that sort of thing to make a living with her itty-bitty-teeny tour business.

Kept rations in the kitchenette and oil in her Pebbledrone.

"How about I tell yah what I can offer if you tell me a little bit more about yourself? Like how'd you end up with Shadowman? And do you guys, like, ever fight?" Julian's touch-feely ways didn't exactly escape her notice. And she wondered briefly if he was like Armaud.

Kiffar.

That would explain how he'd picked up on...certain things.

It was unfair and annoying as kriff.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

A lazy shrug followed.

"Price is a matter of perspective, ya? Ain't no baseline object, dah. Sum' find sumthing priceless, others dun'." A smirk there. "Dis mah shop tho, so only mah perspective matters." Julian winked at her. At the very least he was honest about his position here. He didn't try to trick her into it with sweet words or anything else. But that was Julian for ya. He didn't try to trick people. More often than not those people were competent enough at tricking themselves at the end of it.

Just a thing.

That next part of her though? That smelled like a bargain to him and Julian loved those.

Always.

There was something enticing about a well-made bargain. You could fold it up, expand it out, depending on what the need... needed, no? "Interesting bargain, but mah history is long. Stretches far. Da history of mah Shadow be even longer, no?" The ears of the burning shadow flicked just a bit. It was clear Shadowman was listening along with everything they were saying. If that was something that bothered Kinsey, there didn't seem to be much to do about it.

"Ya tell me ya's, who be star? And what does Eden Magic?"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Julian Imani"]

This Julian. Jules? Yeah. He was a tough one. “Yah, Yah. Your shop,” cerulean blues rolled, a small upturn at the corners of her lips. She took another sip of her tea, eyes focusing back on the fire and the shadow within.

Of course the blanket was listening.

Now Jules’ question was a bit more complicated. The girl felt the smallest crease of her brow at his mention of Eden. Had she said that out loud?

Lips pressed tightly together.

Setting her tea down, she went to stand. Slowly. Testing the weight on her mending leg. Not too bad. A bit stiff.

She wasn’t a stranger to pain.

“Tell you boys what. I’ll tell you a bit about me. Answer your question in good faith if you do the same. After. Sound fair to you?”

Sandy-dark brows rose in Julian’s direction. As if in challenge. “Where’s your tea? Ain’t seem fair that I’m slurping away and you with your hands empty.”

Yes. She was offering him some.

“As for your first question. Who I am?” She could go with the complicated or easy answer. Perhaps she’d go somewhere in between.

“I dabble in a lot of things but my heart belongs to exploration. Seeing the unknown. Feeling it. Run my own tour group sometimes. Take odd jobs to keep my ship full and happy. Sometimes smuggling. Just don’t try to smuggle Porgs no matter how much you’re paid. Ain’t worth it.”

Lopsided grin crept back on her face for a brief moment.

They’d be there for weeks. Maybe months if she went into detail about all her adventures. Even the darker dredges of her past.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Didn't take long for him to rise after her.

Eyes briefly skidding to her tea cup when she mentioned it. A smirk. He picked it up, carefully. Stepped up close again. Not a touchy touch, but enough that most people would take a step back. It could be unnerving, after all, when someone was taking up that much of your personal space. Without shame. Hesitation. Consideration. The cup moved to his lips, taking a sip, measured and enjoying. Closing his eyes for a moment there. Letting the taste wash over his tongue.

Then a smack of his lips in pleasure.

"Da's be da gud, yes." Passing over the cup to her again, knuckles brushing against one another. The brew was burned dark. "But da's be ya's, I like mine with sum more... grime." The edge of his thumb reaching out to brush away some dirt from her face, if she let him.

Almost as if he was making a point there.

"Julian Imani is explorer, hmhm, we share da. I study da occult, da magic of dem worlds. Spirits, death, life, I heal... sometimes." A soft smile brushed up. "Make deals when people wan' more of me. Shadowman be talking for 'imself, ya? He make 'is own deals." That was an important detail to note. Something a lot of people missed. Or misconsidered. It said something: a deal with Julian, was not automatically a deal with Shadowman. In this they were separate.