[D7MA] Birds of a Feather

[Cal Arcton]

Cal did his best to conceal his smile at the success of his distraction. "Yeah, Doctor Yara Suhr. You met her? Kai has. He asked me why she and I weren't dating." He shrugged. "Couldn't come up with a real good reason for him, either."

He laughed as she shoved him, rocking back a little. "And hey! Excuse me, but I assure you, I haven't got anyone to be two-timin' on." He flashed her a grin. "Who exactly do you think it is that I'm supposed to be paired with, anyway?"

[Cefey Raneth]

"Why, holding one woman while talking about another?" she shook her head. "And I'm sorry to disappoint, but I think you're too old for me. This Doc is probably better for you." Fey managed a brief chuckle.

"I haven't met her, but Kai did mention her. And how your hologram won't let you date any women."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal looked just a tiny bit hurt. "I'm not that old..." After a few moments, he smiled wryly. "But you're probably right that I'm too old for you."

He shrugged, his arm moving against her. "Besides, I think a man can hold a woman who needs a bit of comforting without there being any more to it than that, don't you?" He gave her a smile. "Sure, my imagination may get a little creative from time to time, but I gotta say, I kinda like how things are between us." He made a face. "You definitely help keep my ego under control. Too old, indeed..."

He groaned, leaning back, his arm around her slackening. "And don't get me started on Demona..."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Can't have you getting too big for your boots - it's a fault you men easily fall to," she teased, seeming a bit more like herself again. "Demona...? I think I saw her first time I was there. She scared the living daylights out of me, you know."

[Cal Arcton]

"Well, don't worry." Cal said wryly. "There's no danger of that with you around."

The worst of it seemed to be past. After one last squeeze, Cal pulled back, letting his arm rest in his lap instead. "Yeah..." He scratched at his stubble. "She's got a habit of doin' that. But I think she's getting over it. It's just, you know. Break-ups can be hard." He flashed her a quick grin, confirming that, yes, this was a joke.

Cal cleared his throat. "Uh, you know, there actually was something I was hopin' you could help me with. Just a little thing. It was supposed to be my pretense for comin' over here and checking on y'all, but, well, I guess I did that part first." He shrugged. "Figured you might be able to help tune up my pistol a little bit. Runi took a look at it, but she didn't have any luck."

[Cefey Raneth]

She snorted a short laugh, imagining what it must be like to break up with a crazy hologram.

"Oh? Sure... I can do that. What kind of pistol is it?" Fey asked, perking up at the chance to be useful for something.

[Cal Arcton]

Cal drew it in a smooth motion, although his finger was safely off the trigger, and the safety engaged. He flipped it easily in his hand, holding it out to her, handle first. Whatever parts of him might be slowing down due to age, his hands certainly weren't. The handle had clearly had some custom work done to it.

"An H-7 Equalizer." He said. "The weapon of choice of CorSec, I believe." Corellian Security; she might be familiar, he suspected. "I, uh, brought all the parts." He nodded to the bag that he'd left by the chair. "I think. I was never very good at that sort of thing. Maybe if my parents had let me help on the machines more instead of just watchin' the nerf..." He shrugged.

[Cefey Raneth]

"Heh it's not that hard. Machines and computers are kind of easy I think and they aren't really demanding." She looked over the pistol. It was a type she had seen before, but never worked on.

"Ok, let's move over to the engine room. We got some equipment for this kind of thing there. And Lena will kill me if I do this in here."

[Cal Arcton]

"If you say so." Cal rubbed at his stubble. "If that's how you feel, maybe you should come take a look at Demona sometime." He flashed her a quick smile, clearly joking.

He laughed softly. "Well, we can't have that." He rose easily to his feet. "She get a good head of steam when she gets angry? I'd like to see that, although maybe aimed at someone else." Lena seemed like she'd be sexy when angry.

Cal cleared his throat. "This is a nice place you've got set up. Don't think I've ever been in a ship that feels quite so comfortable."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Red hair, red temper," Fey snickered and got back on her feet to lead the way to the engine room. "Don't tell her I said that though."

"As for the ship... it's our home; so I have at least spent some time and money on making it feel like a home. I hated it at first before we spruced it up. So cold, and unfeeling."

[Cal Arcton]

"Your secret's safe with me." Cal winked. "Hmmm... Doc has red hair, too. Haven't seen the temper on her yet, even with how often I try her patience." He smiled. "Well, maybe I'll get the opportunity sooner or later."

He followed her with his usual easy stride, gunbelt rattling just a little. "Makes sense to me. That's kinda how the upstairs is at Twelve Parsecs, like a home." He pursed his lips, his expression turning thoughtful. Not really at all like the home I had growin' up, though. Done in my own style. In fact, the whole upstairs was new. My old room woulda been where part of the storeroom is now."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Maybe because the good doctor knows she has to stitch you back together afterward," the twi'lek remarked with her usual sass.

It wasn't a long walk to the engine room, which looked what someone would expect of an engine room. Though it did have a workbench set up with tools. "Never worked with a gun like yours before though so let's see what we can do. Gonna need a hand since it seems to be custom fitted for you." And she had no idea about Cal's little preferences in firearms.

[Cal Arcton]

Cal chuckled at that. "Could be. She does a good job of it too, except she's got cold hands." After a moment, he smirked. "Hope that's not always true."

He set the pistol on the table, along with, after a moment, the whole bag of parts. "Sure thing." He said agreeable. "I may not be all that good at it, but hey, at least I know what all the tools are called." Probably.

[Cefey Raneth]

Fey gave a shake of her head, though with an amused smile on her face. "You boys like your guns, but know so little about them." It was hard to tell if she meant actual guns, or a euphemism for something else entirely...

At least the feeling of euphemism was temporarily dispelled not long after. "Didn't you have to fix your own guns during the rebellion?"

[Cal Arcton]

Cal snorted, amused. "I'd like to think I know enough to get by."

Perhaps Fey had moved on from the euphemism, but Cal hadn't gotten the message for sure. He smiled, but his brow crinkled lightly. "Ummm... well, I took care of simple things on my own, but for the rest of it, I got someone else to handle it. Ummm..." He smirked at her. "We are talking about firearms now, right?"

[Cefey Raneth]

Turning on the work-light, she shot him a playful grin. "Why, monsieur, what do you think we're talking about, hm?"

[Cal Arcton]

Cal grinned back. "Why, miss Fey, I'm sure I have no more idea about that than you do."

He shifted, coming to stand comfortably around the side of the table from her. "Ummm... this might sound like a really random question..." The reason why it wasn't random might be a bit difficult to explain, of course. "Do you know anything about the Force?"

[Cefey Raneth]

The playful smile faded as her face sobered up, and she looked at Cal with very scrutinizing indigo eyes. "... That is a random question," she murmured. "But I know, uhm, a little tiny bit?"

"Why do you ask though?"

[Cal Arcton]

Well, your maybe-boyfriend suggested the Force as a name for a man's business, and we were sorta talking about that, so... "It's just something that sorta came to mind." Cal said blandly.

He shrugged. "But it seems like on top of everything else we've got to worry about, there's some business with that. Some darkness about the planet. I don't know that much. I've seen a lot of things, but..." He shrugged again.

[Cefey Raneth]

Her eyebrow rose slightly, as it seemed less like something that just came to mind, but who was she to deride him for random questions?

"There is a... bad darkness to this planet. It wasn't like this when we came here, but it happened after some days. Like, it's really really bad. I wonder if it drew the Imperials here, or they stirred up something terrible." She gave a shrug, having no idea except for her own ideas and feelings that she was still trying to understand.