Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Tew walked in, still smiling from Cal's humour, despite the awful weather.

/fadetoflexing

Cal gave her an look full of exaggerated innocence. "Why, miss Tewzada, I would never. I assure you, I was merely thinking that I would avail myself of the opportunity to do a workout of my own. And if my eye should wander across the form of a young woman while I was doing so, I'm sure it'd be entirely by accident."

He gave her a wink. "Or maybe I just want someone who actually knows how to use some of those machines." He held open the door for her.

(/fadetoworkingout?)

That got a smirk, "What, just stand around and watch a young woman work out? People might get the wrong idea about you if you did that, Mister Arcton, no? I would be happy to walk you back if you wanna wait though. Or you can borrow it if you promise to have it back here in an hour. Either way, I should get inside."

She motioned, letting him know she was heading for the door.

"Yeah..." Cal scratched at his stubble with one hand. "Just be careful when you do. When I have to go there, I keep my blasters handy. It's that sort of place."

With the sudden increase of rain, Cal stepped instinctively closer to Tew, their shoulders brushing. "In fact, I have thought about that." He said dryly; again, in contrast to everything else. "Figure I'd stop in, see if they have one I could borrow. Or..." He flashed her a grin. "Maybe I'll stick around for a bit. Don't suppose I could talk you into walking me back afterwards?"

Tew looked over at the gym as they approached it before turning back to Cal and shaking her head, "Nope, can't say that I have. Haven't been anywhere on Noventa outside of the city here, and that one trip down to Charnel Gulch so far. I'll have to be sure to check the place out then."

She looked around and cleared her throat, "You do realize I'll have to leave you without an umbrella again, right?"

As she said this it started raining even harder, as if the sky had heard that.

Even at the leisurely pace they were walking at, it was inevitable that they'd reach their destination eventually. The gym was just ahead.

Again, Cal snorted. "No, that's for sure. Even with the Empire gone, there's still enough as needs fixing that I'm sure you're never without something that people should be hearing about." He shook his head.

After a moment, he shrugged. "Well... if you got anything good, I wouldn't mind hearing about it. If not..." His eyes narrowed. "You want to find injustice, Providencetown is probably the best place for it. You been there yet?"

That got a shrug, "Quantity doesn't mean to much in this line of work, really. If I want to report on things that matter, they're not hard to find, even out here. It's more about access and audience than opportunity. Oh, and time; It's not like I'd have time to report on every problem and injustice that deserved it, even if I ~was~ back in the Core."

Cal snorted, amused and surprised. "Guess that's another thing I've wondered about more than once." He chuckled softly. "Take it from someone who has..." he gave her a sidelong glance, "well, a few years on you, at least. Doesn't really make a difference. Even if it was just being in the right place at the right time, well, you still got yourself that far, at least."

He followed her gaze up. "And some want to right wrongs." His expression was thoughtful as he breathed in and out. Even if you couldn't see them through the rain and clouds, the stars were still up there. He studied it a moment longer, then looked back to her. "Well... if that's what you want, I can't say if you've come to the [i]best[/i] place for it, but you could surely do a lot worse."

"Mmmm... that's right. Though I say chance; I mean, who knows how much of it is hard work and how much of it is luck, yeah? But you're right."

Tew looked up at the clouds that were currently having a good cry, "I think there are a lotta kids across the galaxy who dream about traveling amongst the stars. Maybe they want to fight for something, maybe they want their own ship, maybe they want to see new places. There are a lotta reasons, so I figure there would be a lot of people dreaming about such things."

"Yeah? No kidding." Cal gave her a smile. This one was kindly, less playful than some of the earlier ones. "I used to do pretty much that exact same thing when I was a kid. 'Course, I pretty much just had to step outside to be able to look up. But... huh. Makes you wonder how many kids do that, and how many get a chance to actually, you know, go out there."

He nodded to her. "Seems as you got your chance, yeah?" His eyes narrowed studying her thoughtfully.

"I dunno what that's called either... but strangely? No. Not like I never got the odd chance to see the sky back home; There was this nice old park a couple blocks from home, just some grass and rusty old playground equipment. But it had a lovely view of the stars at night if you looked straight up. And I would always say I'd be out in those stars righting wrongs when I grew up; So it would hardly do forme to have been afraid of open spaces once I got my break."

"Eighty-two billion..." Cal's stride slowed for a moment. He shook his head. "I've heard the name, but it doesn't mean a thing to me. Eighty-two billion. There's not yet a million on Noventa. I've been to some places with more people, but nothing like that."

He gave her a curious look. "Don't suppose you get... whatever the opposite of claustrophobic is, do you? In a place like this?" He waved his free hand around. "All open spaces and hardly any people. Must be quite a bit different from where you did your growin' up."

"You ever heard of Denon? Planet in the core covered by a city of the same name, and about eighty-two billion people. Grew up in an orphanage in the Giraden slums down in the southern hemisphere, bout a mile down."

Cal shrugged. "A little of both, I'd wager. One right after the other. Lot of opportunity after the war for people to start over, too. Noventa's a good place for that."

It was a pleasant walk, under the umbrella, and Cal was just as happy to talk or not as the mood struck them. He glanced back at Tew as she spoke again. "Yeah, me either. Been thinking about it more since I owned a bar." This time, it was his turn to pause a few moments. "Where'd you grow up, if you don't mind my asking?" His voice was a bit quieter than before, more thoughtful.

"There certainly seems to be a lot of new construction on the edge of town, from what I've seen, yeah. I had always heard rumors that this area of the rim grew a lot because of refugees during the recent wars. Or maybe it's just new money; I'm no expert, I should think."

A pause in talking followed as they walked down the sidewalk before Tew chimed back in, "Anyways, I don't blame you about the building. I mean, not many normal people read newspapers in this day and age. Or need fliers or banners printed. Certainly not the kind of thing I thought much about growing up."

"Oh. Yeah." Chuckling, Cal scratched at his stubble with his free hand. "Yeah, that's probably where I've heard of it."

He shrugged. "Sometimes I forget that things are actually different since when I was a kid. I actually grew up in that bar, although it wasn't a bar at the time. That five story building was just a nerf field when I was a kid." He shook his head. "Noventa's been growing up fast, I guess."

She shook her head, "Mmm; I was originally sent here to cover a speech the planetary governor is giving due to a visit from a Republic diplomat. But they're keeping me busy with various stuff otherwise. Oh, and if you've heard of them, it's because they own a building literally three blocks away from your bar; The five story printing company with the plaza out front."

"Galaxy Nuse Incorporated?" Cal's thoughtful frown indicated that it was familiar, but not too familiar. "I've heard of them, at least. And that's not saying nothing, as far out on the rim as we are."

He kept his leisurely pace, still holding the umbrella high. "And what're they having you do here? Not just stay in shape and report on the weather, I figure." He glanced over at her, quickly looking up and down. She did seem to be pretty fit, in fact.

Having siddled up under the umbrella and took her towel, throwing it over her shoulder, "Galaxy Nuze incorporated; The one with the 'u' in the name. I guess they want their on camera reporters keeping fit, you know?"

Smiling, Cal accepted the Umbrella, lifting it a bit higher up. "Better stand close to me. No sense in both of us ending up wet, after all." He maintained the same easy playfulness as before.

Once she'd joined him under the umbrella, Cal set off towards the gym at a leisurely pace. "So what's this company of yours, that wants to pay to keep you out of the rain?"