Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Ah, the shopping mall. A bastion of civilization with it's neon signs and skylights and fake plants... It'd had been a few months since Tew had been to one of these, but here one was. And she had the perfect excuse in choosing out a dress for the festivities tonight. Maybe one she could even find someone to slip out of said dress with...

Driving THOSE thoughts from her mind as she passed through the doors, Tew walked over to the mall's holomap to see what stores were available.

The mall itself was something of note and established a sort of familiar aspect of city life that was sorely lacking outside of the walls of Noventa City. Bringing back a sense of a huge civilization within it. Various stores littered the building of all sorts of items: from clothing, to mechanical, to even a weapons store. It was truly a one stop shop for many of Noventa City who weren't interested in specialty stores.

Having done somewhat more unpleasant shopping earlier in the day, Cal decided it was time for some more pleasant shopping. And, with the weather being more pleasant, he was able to go out without fear of rain, although he still wore his long coat and his hat.

Walking around the mall, though, he grimaced. Hadn't been here when he was a kid, of course. All the bright lights and everything were taking some getting used to.

But spotting a familiar face (and figure) cheered Cal. He made his way over to the twi'lek. "Why, miss Tewzada." He greeted her with a tip of the hat. "Fancy meeting you here."

Looking up from the map, Tew grinned, "Fancier meeting YOU here, if anything. I wouldn't have imagined you the sort of person I'd run into in a shopping complex like this. Something about being grumpy after ladies insist on you trying their latest scent. But then again, I've only known you a few days now, Cal. So I'm pleasantly surprised to be wrong about that."

Cal laughed softly, shrugging. "What can I say? That's not gonna make me grumpy. If a lady wants me to do something, I have a hard time saying no."

He smirked, looking around. "But you're not far off. Seemed to me this'd be the best place to find something, but it's not as easy as I figured it'd be. If everything's in the same place, why is it so hard to find anything?"

"Mmmm... I dunno; Maybe you just have to ask or something? Or maybe you just have to have a sense of what you're looking for. ...or or, maybe you need to not know. Like me; I don't know what exactly I'm looking for here, but I get the impression that's going to make it easier to find. You get me?"

For a moment, Cal's expression twisted in stereotypical male distaste of asking for directions, but then his expression turned more thoughtful. "I think I gotcha." He said, his brown eyes lighting up. "Either a good idea, or just an open mind. Yeah. I can see how that works."

He glanced around again. "Well, as it happens, I was looking for a plant of some kind. Something that looks nice, but you don't have to water too much, maybe. Now I'm wonderin' if that might be too specific." He smirked at Tew. "Mind if I ask what you're looking for? Or would that spoil your method?"

"Not really; Looking for something fun, festive, and maybe a little bit racy to wear to the festival later. The rain decided to stop, so I feel like I finally need to make the most of it. As to your thing..."

She thought a moment, "...so you don't want a fake plant, but something that doesn't need much looking after?"

"Hmmm." Cal's lips pursed, his eyebrows going up a little as she included the last adjective. "For Noventa Festival, huh? That sounds great." He smirked, just a little. "I'm lookin' forward to seein' what you can find."

"Yeah..." His brow creased. "A fake plant just doesn't seem right, I guess. But yeah, something that's okay if you're busy, and forget to water it for a day or so. And is okay with indoor lighting." He gave her a curious look. "You know much about plants, miss Tew?"

"Not a lot, no. But, I mean, everyone knows there are those sorts of indoor plants that are easy to look after, right? Something like cacti or something? I just kinda figured that was what you meant."

Tew looked back over a the map she'd been looking at moments before, "I guess I didn't really see anything like a plant store in there, but there were a couple of indoor decoration places. Maybe they have that kind of thing?"

"Huh." Cal chuckled. "Seems to me, every time we meet, you're the prepared one. First the umbrella, then the map."

"Well, don't suppose you want to help me out again?" He flashed her a smile. "Help me to find what I'm looking for? A cactus, or what have you." The smile took on a bit of a smirk. "After that, I could always help you look for something yourself. It'd be the gentlemanly thing to do."

A nod, "Of course. And it's always good to have another set of eyes and opinions for such things anyways."

She glanced at the directory, "Let's get the plant taken care of though; We can start with this store on the third level called Pottery Pod. They're some sort of chain, if I recall..."

She started walking as she said this, lekku swaying behind her.

Cal watched just a moment, smiling, then lengthened his already long stride to keep up. In a moment, they were walking together. "Pottery pod? Sounds promising, I guess. Wonder if they were around when I was decoratin' the bar. Didn't have much call for plants for that."

The escalator slowed them down a bit; a human and miralian holding hands blocked the way. Cal turned to Tew as they slowly ascended. "Any luck with the journalism business? Find any juicy leads, or what have you?"

"Weeeell... there is something I was working on this morning. But I think I'll wait until I can look over the footage I got before I say more there. Otherwise.. I had of a bit of a look around a town south of here yesterday. Ran into an interesting Chiss fellow, but nothing news worthy out of that little expedition I'm afraid."

Tew didn't know much about those because the threads were currently ongoing, unfortunately.

"I did tell you about the governor's address, right?"

If there one thing Tew knew about though, it was talking.

The couple in front got off the escalator... and before Tew and Cal could slip around them, got on the next one going up, too. Cal shot Tew a quick wry look.

"Yeah." Cal acknowledged with a nod. "The one with the Republic representative? That go well?" Cal shrugged. "Governor's probably gonna speak again at the festival tonight, too. Probably won't be all that juicy, but might have somethin' for you, anyway." Boy, how right he was.

"Yeah, well, tonight's is getting broadcast anyways, so no need for me to cover it. As to the more private one the other day... well, let's just say privacy meant those that WERE there were more than happy to vent their frustrations with the way things were heading. I actually wasn't expecting things to get quite that heated."

Tew actually didn't notice the look; She was too busy looking around at the stores and paying attention to words rather than her surroundings.

"I see..." Cal said. For a few moments, he pursed his lips, considering. "Don't suppose this had anything to do with an unexpected Imperial presence, did it?"

Cal, on the other hand, was quite willing to let the one more experienced with malls take the lead. Just like hiring a native guide, he reasoned.

Tew looked back at Cal, brow furrowed, "...I see. I take it that being brought up wasn't exactly surprising then?"

Cal grimaced. "Wish I could say it was. Some folk were hoping that it'd keep quiet, so as not to cause a panic." He smiled wryly. "I guess if it came up at that address, they must have been worried for nothin', huh?"

They stepped off the escalator; the human and mirilan walked off, each telling the other that no, you're the cutest. Cal turned to Tew. "There was a bit of excitement with that yesterday. Attempted hijacking, but we got 'em." He frowned. "I just keep wonderin' what else they're up to. Don't suppose you've heard anything else?"

"Actually? No. My local contact went silent. Though I suppose that's something too. Possibly."

She frowned a little before looking around and spotting Pottery Pod, "Ah, there we go. Looks really kitch, but looks worth a shot too."

The displays outside the entrance were filled with various animal shaped plates, towels with sappy sayings on them, and one rack of various throw pillows. Including a ridiculous one with the likeness of General Lando Calrissian on it.