(D4 EE) Drinking Weather

[Yara Suhr]

On the way back from a house call just outside town, the rain comes on so heavily Yara can barely see out the windscreen of the speeder. At the best of times she's not an especially confident repulsorcraft driver; in this kind of weather every wobble makes her tighten her hands on the controls, and the sudden near-zero visibility is the last straw. Fortunately she knows somewhere in this neighborhood to take shelter, if she can park without mishap...

Several minutes later, Yara stands in the doorway of the Twelve Parsecs, shaking a truly shocking quantity of water off her thermal cloak.

[Cal Arcton]

The bar was just starting to fill up with people in a similar predicament. The entrance to the bar was being kept clean of water by the miralian bartender, who seemed to be muttering under her breath and rolling her eyes even as she mopped. Perhaps because Cal was just sitting there, tending a rather empty bar.

At least, until he saw Yara come in. Cal snorted, shaking his head and grinning. With his long stride, it didn't take long to make his way to the door. "Good evening to you, Doc." He said, his tone exaggeratedly cheerful. "Seems as though it's coming down out there a bit, huh? You look like something the cat dragged in." He paused suddenly, frowning. "Come to think of it, what is Kor doing with that cat in this weather? Better not surprise me when I go upstairs..."

Shaking his head, he moved around behind Yara. "Here. Let me take your jacket. Then you can go and have a seat, while I get you something to warm you up?"

[Yara Suhr]

"He's really still keeping that thing?" Yara's eyebrows arch as she hands off the wet garment. "Thanks, Cal. It's truly ugly out there. I was half afraid I might wash away before I made it back to the clinic... decided not to test that." She runs a hand through her hair to push back a few straggly wet strands--the rest of it is almost comically fluffy in the humidity, a nest of curls only barely contained in a braided bun--and scuffs away as much mud as possible from her boots. The thermal cape seems to have done a decent job keeping its wearer dry from neck to calf, at least.

[Cal Arcton]

Apparently Cal thought that it was a bit comical, since he chuckled again. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. Could even do up a bed for you; make up for the few nights I've spent in your clinic, usually floating." He gave her a wink.

"But c'mon, we'll get that sorted later." Gently, he took her by the arm, guiding her to a warm booth. "Stay right there." He said, pointing at her. He lingered long enough to make sure she stayed before nipping off to the bar.

He was back surprisingly quickly with a steaming cup. "One hot toddy to get you started." He said, setting it down with a smile. "If that won't warm you up, well, I'm just not sure what will." His brown eyes glinted at her.

[Yara Suhr]

Possibly the dash from speeder to building in pounding rain had left the doc a bit disoriented. Regardless, she takes the seat she's pointed to and accepts the drink gladly. "Phew. I really would be tempted, but we've a patient in the tank overnight, and in this storm... Temra says the generator is working now, but I really should be there if anything happens."

[Cal Arcton]

"Is that a fact?" Cal quirked. "'Suppose we'll just have to see when the next big storm comes along, then."

Cal also had a glass of bourbon for himself. Naturally. He sat down across from Yara with a sigh. "This place knows how to keep you busy, huh?" He said. "Or is it pretty easy to deal with, after the Civil War?"

[Yara Suhr]

"Certainly different." Yara smiles wryly into her steaming cup. "Even when things are at the most frantic here, I worry about a negative health outcome for one patient, or missing a payment on supplies, that sort of thing. It doesn't compare to cutting shot-up, half-frozen fighter jocks out of their suits while wondering if the whole base is about to be wiped out with all hands in the next week or month. Or hour." She shakes her head slightly. "I never did have to worry about bills then, however. So that's something."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal frowned, his eyes narrowing. "No one's giving you trouble about making payments or anything are they?" He asked. If someone was, he'd have to go have a word with them. Him and Kor, probably.

But probably not. "Were you there in the real early days?" Cal asked. "Hoth, right?" He swirled the bourbon. "By the time I joined the main force, things were starting to turn around. Even out here, people were starting to believe that the Empire might not be forever."

[Yara Suhr]

"Oh, we're running in the black." Yara shakes her head slightly. "I simply never had to manage all that detail before."

Just thinking about Hoth makes her colder, and she picks up her cup with gratitude, blowing on the drink to make the steam rise up toward her face before sipping from it. "Yes, Echo Base was built not very long after I joined up. That was a sort of moment of optimism, when we were carrying the fight all across the Mid-Rim... things turned bad again, of course, for a while, but by then I was in too deep to give up on it." She shakes her head a little, with a self-deprecating crinkling at the outer corners of her eyes.

[Cal Arcton]

Cal watched, smirking gently, as Yara blew on the surface of the hot toddy. Slowly, he raised his own glass to his lips, taking a long sip, his eyes staying on her the whole time.

"Hah." Cal chuckled softly. "No one in the Rebellion seemed to know when to call it quits. And they... we... brought down the Empire." It was always unclear whether Cal thought of himself as a Rebel or not. "Seems to me that that's how you win. Just keep going, one day at a time, one foot after the other."

He took another sip. "You keep in touch with anyone you met there? Besides me, I mean."

[Yara Suhr]

"Lots," she says, nodding. "Those who are still with us, that is. Quite a lot of them are becoming politicians now, or planetary defense force officers, that sort of thing. Whether they intended to or not," she adds with a wry twist to her mouth.

[Cal Arcton]

"Yeah." Cal briefly raised his glass in silent toast to those who weren't.

He chuckled. "That's something that's the same everywhere, I guess. What's the reward for a job well done?" He declined to give the obvious answer, leaning back casually.

After a moment, he glanced at Yara. "And we run a bar and a clinic. For me, that's supposed to be retirement." His eyebrows went up, asking the obvious question.

[Yara Suhr]

"The same, more or less. Maybe." Yara takes another cautious sip of the hot drink. "The clinic was someone else's retirement plan, originally. I thought it might do until I make up my mind about the next thing, or whether there is a next thing." Letting the mug rest on the table, she opens one hand in an understated sort of shrug. "It's useful."

[Cal Arcton]

"More useful'n a bar." Cal said with a smile. "But I think this suits me well." He shrugged. "Besides, folk need a place to have a drink. And maybe feel comfortable, too."

He took another sip of his own drink. "Seems like there's always a next thing. And there's a next thing after that." Smiling, he shook his head. "I guess sooner or later a person really has to say enough is enough, huh? Settle down for real?"

[Yara Suhr]

"Probably. One way or another." A rueful sort of smile touches her lips. "Curious how difficult it is, to take enough time out of running around on one thing or the next to figure out where that ought to be."

[Cal Arcton]

"Hmmm." Cal's lips twitched, just a little. "Sounds like you don't quite know how to relax, Doc. Have a good time. Maybe you should let me show you, sometime."

Reaching out, he nudged her drink a little closer. "Why don't you finish that up. And then I'll break out the good stuff, just for you." He smirked, again, just a little. "I promise, you'll like it."

[Yara Suhr]

"Well. Maybe I might." The rim of the mug partially veils her expression, but her green eyes seem to brighten compared to when she'd dragged herself in from the rain. "I'll take you up on that second drink, certainly. That secret cache of yours has been calling me ever since you so innocently admitted its existence."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal's brown eyes glinted back, tiny laugh lines becoming visible around his eyes. "Well..." He shrugged. "Everyone's got their weakness that'll get them spilling their secrets; I learned that as a marshal. Mine's old friends, and beautiful ladies." He let that hang there a moment, giving her the chance to wonder which category she fell into.

He rose smoothly to his feet, his long stride carrying him easily behind the bar. He glanced back at her with a smirk. "No peeking, now." He said, one finger raised up in mock-warding. He ducked down, only to come back up a moment with a slightly dusty bottle, a deep amber color only by virtue of the liquid within.

He came back, snatching two fresh glasses along the way, sliding as easily into the seat as he left. "Now this," He said archly, even as he poured with his usual flourish, "-is the good stuff."

[Yara Suhr]

Yara peers at the bottle, raising an eyebrow. "What is it? Besides the good stuff." She accepts one of the glasses and sniffs thoughtfully at the contents.

[Cal Arcton]

It was a strong scent, sweet and smooth, with just a hint of smoky.

"Well," Cal said, raising one eyebrow. "Back when this planet was under CIS rule, one of the families here made some great top-shelf bourbon. But when the Empire came in, they put a stop to them making more. Officially, at least. They worked undercover the whole time. Did a good trade, but there just aren't that many bottles to be found."

He nodded to it. "That there bottle's been aged for about twelve years. Came out just about the time Noventa became free of the Empire. Thought it seemed appropriate for the two of us."