(D0 E) Painting the Town Red

[Jelna Vawn]

The blonde woman pulled up a stool at the corner of the bar, as far as she could be from any unwanted company. Her eyes gradually made their way through the establishment. She focused on every patron and worker there for a brief moment before continuing her visual sweep of the area.

Such information could prove useful for later.

[Cal Arcton]

If the blonde woman was expecting to do all the looking, and not get a bit of looking back in return, well, she was gonna have to try a lot harder than that. Besides, Cal knew his regulars by... well, maybe not all of them by name. But the ones that he didn't know by name, he at least knew by adjective, which was close enough to the same thing.

Taking a moment to straighten his neckcloth, Cal made his way across the bar to her table. He walked with a casual stroll that had just a little too much swagger to really be called casual.

"Evenin' miss." He greeted her with a smile and a nod. "I thought I'd come over and see what drink you're gonna let me buy you tonight." The tone was friendly, but the brown eyes were curious, with just a tinge of wary.

[Jelna Vawn]

"Howdy partner," Jelna replied casually. She nudged another stool with her boot out for him and smiled faintly. "Shucks, wouldn't be right to refuse such a gentleman." Her eyes motioned at the bar before coming back to analyze him. "Do they brew their own beer 'round these parts?"

[Cal Arcton]

Cal grinned. "Well, and it wouldn't be right to refuse a lady, neither." He folded his arms across his chest as he sat, careful not to wrinkle his vest, his gunbelt rattling just a little.

"The sure do." Still smiling, Cal turned back to the bartender, a tattooed Miralian woman. "Kaylee." He called. "Two classic reds, on us." The bartender nodded and started pouring.

He turned back to the woman. "Name's Cal. Cal Arcton. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss." He gave her another friendly nod.

[Jelna Vawn]

"Jelna Vawn. I reckon we'll get along real good, Cal." The newcomer watched Kaylee pour out the beer. "I'm gonna be honest with ya, Cal, I'm new 'round these parts," she said when she was done looking, "Figured the watering hole would be as good a place as any to find my bearings.

"Ya got any advice for a gal like me?" Course, it helped to figure out what sort of gal this stranger thought she was.

[Cal Arcton]

The friendly smile faded as Cal seriously considered her question, his face adopting the much less expressive lawman's mask it used to wear.

"Well..." he began, "Noventa's a polite place. Friendly, too. So polite and so friendly that most establishments don't go asking their customers to disarm, if you follow me." Indeed, he had a pair of pistols strapped to his belt, one on each side. He gave her a serious nod. "But people look out for each other, too. One service we provide here is that if you need a walk home at the end of the night, one of us can provide it. Runi if you'd like another woman, or Kor if you want to make sure no one's gonna give you any trouble."

He looked at her curiously. "Wherever you call home at the moment, anyway. What brings you to Noventa, if you don't mind my askin'?"

A server brought out two mugs, setting them with a thunk on the table. True to the name, the bubbling liquid inside had a faint reddish tinge to it.

[Jelna Vawn]

"I'll pass on the escort, partner. This lady's seen enough to handle any troublemakers." Jelna watched the server as well as she continued to talk. "Home is where the ship goes, Cal, and right now that's here on Noventa. I'm captain of the Ivory Phoenix."

She took the mug of beer and took a sniff of it. "Anything we ought to toast to?"

[Cal Arcton]

"How about to new friends? That's always a good one." Lifting his mug, he clanked it against hers before lifting it to his lips to drink. The beer had a bit of a fruity scent, and a fruity taste to go with its cool smoothness.

Cal's eyes narrowed, just a little, as he began to notice just how much she noticed things.

Sighing, he set his mug down. "Captain, huh? Well well, I'd wager you do know how to handle yourself, then. So what brings your ship to Noventa?"

[Jelna Vawn]

"Sounds good to me, partner." She took a couple short sips of it to savor the flavor. Then, she took a big gulp to experience that method too.

Jelna smirked and began to feel like the man was a bit nosy. But that was not a huge problem. "Well, it ain't anything in particular about Noventa. Just wanted to get away from all the ruckus at the Core Worlds." She shrugged. "Hear there's an Imperial Admiral or somethin' stirring up trouble 'round these parts though. Can't get away from the varmints."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal took another sip of his beer, becoming more relaxed.

He nodded. "Well, I can certainly understand the desire for a change of scenery. If you're looking for that, Noventa's the right place. It's quiet. Mostly, anyway."

He gave her another nod. "Don't know how it is back in the Core Worlds. But out here, the war's over." He grimaced. "It did come here; I don't imagine there's a corner of the galaxy that didn't feel it at least a little bit. But that's the past." I hope. Cal took a firm drink.

[Jelna Vawn]

"Quiet is the way I prefer things, Cal." Jelna leaned back and took another sip of her beer. "That don't mean I always get my peace and quiet, though.

"Ya could say it's my fault, seein' as I do go lookin' for trouble sometimes with the rest of my crew." She held up her hands playfully. "We're bounty hunters," she explained, "Speakin' of which, if you're ever lookin' for some, we'd be happy to oblige. I'm pretty sure y'all can handle yourselves here but that don't mean ya can track down a varmint halfway 'cross the planet, if ya catch my drift."

[Cal Arcton]

"Do you?" Cal chuckled. "Well if that's the case, then you've come to the right place. Although, don't get me wrong." He didn't quite wink, but he did smirk. "We know how to have a good time here, too, if that's what you'd like."

As she went on, Cal leaned forward, carefully leaning one elbow on the table. "Bounty hunters, huh?" His brown eyes lit with enlightenment. "Well, Noventa's the right place for that, too. Seeing as it is a good place to hide and all."

He gave her a shrewd look. "And as for that, keep us in mind, too. Lotta chat comes through a bar like this, after all, and we don't mind passing a bit of it along from time to time."

[Jelna Vawn]

"Nice and quiet for this lady," Jelna said with a content smile. Her whole life had been one heck of an adventure.

"I figured that'd be the case. Always good to know the waterin' hole in this line of work." She flicked her mug. "Don't know what it is about outlaws. They can't seem to resist gettin' a drink now and then. Would be safer to stay out of sight."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal smirked. "Everyone needs to step out and get a drink from time to time. For which I suppose I should be grateful, since my current livelihood depends upon that desire."

He took another slow drink of beer. "It's hard for everyone, not just outlaws. Haven't you ever had to lie low for a while, doin' what it is that you do?" Cal spoke from the voice of experience here; sometimes you had to go undercover to track a really hard target.

[Jelna Vawn]

"Can't let prey catch a whiff of ya, that's for sure." Jelna glanced around at the place. "Goes the other way too if you're on the run. Fellows try to cover up their tracks all the time."

She tapped her head with a smirk. "I got a knack for figurin' out what they're thinkin', though. We do more than just tracking folks down, Cal. We can figure out who needs to be tracked down too."

She finished up the beer and smiled. "That costs extra, of course."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal nodded, his expression serious. "That it does. I suppose that's why some folks in the business think of it as a game." He shrugged. "I never could. Doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it, but I think maybe if you think of something as a game, you don't take it quite seriously enough."

His blond eyebrows went up. "Not sure I follow you." He said, right before polishing off his beer, and holding up his hand for two more. They were delivered quickly enough. "Isn't it the bounties that tell you who needs to be tracked down? Hard to make a living at it otherwise, I'd imagine."

[Jelna Vawn]

"Ya used to be a bounty hunter? How'd you end up here then?" she asked, gesturing to the bar itself.

Jelna smirked. "Well, folk get bounties placed on them when they do somethin' that gets the wrong type of attention. Things like murder, theft, and the rest of the terrible acts we sentient bein's do to each other. Sometimes ya don't know who did those awful things." She pointed her thumb back at herself briefly. "That's when ya hire someone like me."

[Cal Arcton]

"Well..." Cal lifted his hand, wavering it uncertainly. "Don't know if I'd quite call myself a bounty hunter. Marshall's the word I heard more often. But I guess that just means that I was a more official sort of bounty hunter."

"Ah, now I'm following you." Cal gave her a slow nod. "You do investigating, too. That's a bit harder to find than just someone who has a blaster and doesn't know when to quit." He gave her a vague sort of wave. "Well, I don't know that I'd be needing that sort of thing for myself, of course. But why don't you check back in a day or so? I can keep an ear out for anyone else who might be interested."

[Jelna Vawn]

"Marshall is a big deal, partner. And it led ya to settlin' down in a place like this?" Jelna lifted her mug with a smirk. "That sounds like livin' the dream right there."

The blonde woman shrugged. "Course. I'm sure somethin' will come up for my crew. We always find a way cause we gotta."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal laughed at that. "Well... sorta. That, plus a deed that I had for the property that was technically still valid. It was the two of those together that led to me settlin' down in this place. Although I couldn't have fixed it up quite so nice without the money I'd made." He said modestly.

Cal's lips quirked. "Sounds as though you've got a good crew. You're responsible for the lot of them, I take it?"