Two Oddballs

[Vereshin]

t h e m e​

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The cold from Bastion's sharp winter outside seeped through every creak and space of Vereshin's poorly insulated apartment. Though not quite the same freezing extreme as the cold on Ziost, the miserable weather of the Imperial capital saw one of it's worst winter days when the penniless Sith's gas heater decided to shut off for good. Wrapped in a cardigan and scarf and padding across the bare floorboards in bunny slippers, he grabbed the communicator and pressed the speed dial for the landlord.

"Yes, it's Vi. My gas heater is broken, please send a mechanic, I'm freezing up here!" Vereshin slipped over to the window and peered onto the downpour while speaking into the device. He held his cat with one arm and rubbed his nose in his head. The woman on the other end of the communicator received the message and left him alone. Exar meowed in his arm and shook his ears in the cold and Vereshin set him down on the olive chaise and placed a blanket on top of him, which the cat promptly refused and climbed out from beneath, to jump down and run away.

"Fine! Freeze then!" Calling out to the cat, Vereshin wrapped his arms around his shoulders and strode over to the mirror above the heater. He combed his hair and smoothed it back to look presentable for his guest. The landlord had not specified whether the mechanic was male or female, he did not suppose it mattered and felt the need to receive them well-preened regardless.

Incense burned away on the hearth in between bright red candles above the altar where Vereshin practiced siphoning energy and manipulating planes. Books were strewn across surfaces and the floor and lined a shelf from top to bottom, displaying texts of philosophy, mathematics and physics. Paper lined a text in disorganized heaps, one unfinished essay amounted on top of the next and Vereshin decided against trying to write before the mechanic arrived, lest he risk losing himself in concentration and forgetting. He picked up a half-smoked cigarette from the antique chamberpot he used as an ashtray and lit the end to finish.

[member="Sam Paige"]

 

[Sam Paige]

She shifted the tool bag as she hiked up the stairs-

Stairs! Who had buildings without lifts anymore? It was really the weirdest thing she could recall recently- and she'd been nearly killed by rogue, murderous droids just the week before, so that was saying something.

She'd gotten a message from an acquaintance of hers. It had come through kind of garbled, but based on previous interactions and what words did come through, she was pretty sure she knew what was going on.

Though why she needed to bring her tools to pick up the engine piece she had been looking for was a little confusing. Maybe it was still attached to other parts this friend of a friend was selling? That would make sense, if he wasn't a mechanic himself and had just happened across it. A theory that was reinforced by this being very, very much not a mechanic shop.

Sam trudged up the stairs, a little winded by the time she reached the correct level. The wooden floor (wooden! Who did that anymore?) creaked under her feet as she checked the door numbers.

Dressed in grease stained work coveralls, the Coruscanti native had never seen anything quite like this building. Long, curly red hair served to hide most of her face, except too big dark blue eyes behind glasses and the impression of a million and one freckles. Give or take.

She paused in front of the door marked with the apartment number (she hoped that part had come through correctly). Breathing in deeply, hating every moment of preparing to knock on a stranger's door, she raised her fist. A heartbeat. Then another.

Knock knock.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

Every knock at the door sent Vereshin's heart higher into his throat. He gripped the cigarette at his mouth and breathed in quickly to allow himself a few more puffs, before discarding it and scurrying towards the door. He kicked off the bunny slippers and flung them aside then gripped the handle and slowly turned. The bespectacled blue eyes of a young woman met his own rimless glasses, red hair crowning her features abundant with freckles as she stood coyly waiting to greet him.

"Erm..." Vereshin managed through a gulp while he brushed the cat hair off his cardigan. He wore suit pants beneath and a delicate ring on his finger. "Hello, the heater is just through here." Letting the woman inside, they stepped over over books and papers and passed by his cat who sat in a doorway and purred surveying the two awkward humans.

"I intend on finding a new place to live once work is favorable." Vereshin did not mention what his work entailed exactly. He lead the mechanic into his living room where cigarettes filled the antique chamber pot and a teacup filled with tea from yesterday sat. Papers covered in equations and arcane formula strewn over the desk and coffee table and Exar was happy to follow them around. "Yes, just here." He showed her the broken gas heater which sat beneath the hearth. An awkward silence followed and he suddenly spoke up to introduce himself.

"My name is Vereshin." The sorcerer stated in an almost random fashion. He did not know if it was appropriate to introduce himself to the mechanic. "Everybody calls me Vi." Raising a hand, he brushed over his hair compulsively and pushed his glasses up his nose in a nervous fashion. The woman was modest and unassuming, more interested in her craft than other people. Vereshin liked that.

[member="Sam Paige"]