Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Kaneesa stretches a little as he comes out of the basement, where he likes to sleep. It hadn't been too late of a night previously, and he was still fairly clearheaded. There was always something to do with the bar, even if it didn't keep the standard of cleanliness of the more posh districts in town: glasses to be emptied, seats to be moved back into position, obvious messes to clean up. It was a chore, but it afforded Kaneesa the chance to play. When he was satisfied, Kaneesa opened up the doors and windows and grabbed his sliterstick. He began to play, the sounds of jizz peeling out past the doorway.

Vikki didn't often feel the need to come to the bar during the day. In fact, normally her visits were under the cloak of night, hidden away where prying eyes wouldn't look over them.

In fact, this is my first day visit the woman thought to herself, amused, as she slipped in through the door, as quiet as a mouse, her movements easily covered by the music. She'd have found her way to the bar, sitting, before the barkeep would notice her sitting there.

From previous visits, Kaneesa would be used to the woman being covered up and hidden. It might be a surprise to see her in a simple t-shirt and pants instead

It was something odd, something that Kaneesa wasn't used to yet. He could feel Vikki by him before he could see or hear her...there was something in the back of his mind that alerted him to her presence. He hadn't seen it with anyone else before, but it meant that he knew about the sneaky lady before too long.

"Afternoon Vikki." Kaneesa calls over, pulling a bottle off the shelf and pouring a pair of drinks. "It'ssa not like you to be in so early. And..." The Gungan tilts his head to the side. "You aren't all wrapped up for cloak and dagger."

There was that strange feeling. It put the woman on edge before, as she'd met others with that strange feeling that had been more perceptive...but she knew Kaneesa was fine. She had no reason to fight with the Gungan, and he rarely asked questions. It was a good working relationship.

Still, she couldn't help but smirk a little. If only you knew...

"Decided to make an early appearance, before the bloodshed happens" there was a small chuckle, not making it obvious if she was being serious or not as she looked over to the Gungan pouring drinks "is it always so quiet early on?"

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Clementine plodded down lower Providencetown’s broad central street, his big, round feet throwing up a little dust with each fall. He stood off to the side of the road, between the faster speeder traffic and the proper pedestrian walkway, in the lane usually reserved for muscle-powered vehicles and beasts of burden. Several metal kegs, belted firmly together in two sets, were cradled (and magnetically clamped) in his huge, curved loading arms. They rose to either side of the black dome of his single large photoreceptor, which jutted forward of his central chassis on an elongated housing.

This blocked his peripheral vision only a little, a common problem with loadlifters, and occasionally an instinctual warning beep in Binary would go off as a speeder-bike-pulled travois or a early drunk crossed paths with the big droid. Clementine was used to people making way, and so let things take care of themselves. He did offer the occasional “‘scuse me!” “comin’ through!” or even “sorry, buddy,” all delivered in his usual overloud, drawn-out Basic -- the last, in this case, to a disgruntled pack-Blurrg whose toes he had stepped on.

He was coming from the warehouse district near the broken cruiser, where some out-of-town suppliers flew in their goods by ship or speeder under the cover of the better grade of security offered there. He himself didn’t spare much thought for thieves. Despite its reputation, there wasn’t a lot of daylight blaster-point robbery in Providencetown. And besides, if he knew one thing, it was that people weren’t likely to kriff with a droid the size of a small walker. If he knew two, it was that people didn’t kriff with you if you had connections.

Unfortunately, such respect only went so far when it came to parking. Clementine stared at the shiny, modded XP-38 whose owner had placed it carefully out of the way of getting its housing scratched by passing traffic -- and right in the Codpiece’s loading zone. Not that such things were municipally enforced, or anything, but Clementine had laboriously used up several canister of aerosolized red paint marking off an area with red cross-hatching and stenciling a warning in Aurebesh in the middle:

DO NOT BLOCK
VIOLATORS WILL BE LIFTED

With a sighing of pneumatics, he bent his lower extremities to lay his burden aside, careful not to shake the merchandise. Then, he approached the XP-38 with a considered air, warming up the repulsorlift-assist generators he so rarely used nowadays.

He wasn’t purposefully rough. His ordnance-lifting days were long behind him, but old programming died hard, and it didn’t do to jostle a proton torpedo.

Vikki wrote: "is it always so quiet early on?"

CLANG.

But missile casings are also built with rather stronger tolerances than civilian airspeeders, so if the XP-38’s owner had to wonder both if they’d been mistaken where they’d parked and when it had started making that funny noise as it powered up, well, maybe they'd keep an eye out for red paint next time.

Clementine picked up a set of kegs and began easing his way through the loading entrance.

Almost right on cue, there is a large CLANG from outside.

"You were saying?" Kaneesa gives Vikki a wry look. "That's a bit more of the exception, not the rule. Most of our customers come later. It's a bit early in the day, but you'll see the morning crowd coming soon enough. There are always a few, but the bulk will be here once sunset starts." Kaneesa takes a long sip from the glass he had poured for himself.

"Are you going to be free coming up? I think I have a job in mind, but I'm not ready to run it yet."

"You know the saying Knaeesa, I'm never free but I'm available" Vikki turned around to face the door as she said it, a small grin on her face. That droid always picked the best times to make its entrance, but was always a constant reminder to never bring a droid on a thieving mission. Unless you needed a giant distraction, then he was perfect.

I'll have to test that again sometime

"Well, it is a bit early in the day for me to be here as well" she let the droid sort its own entrance. Vikki wasn't a heavy lifter, too much effort, turning back to the Gungan "I kinda came on a weird hunch, and going by your words seems my hunch was on point. Do I need to come back tonight for details?"

Do I need to come back tonight for details?

Kaneesa nods. "I'm a putting the word out to the standard group. I have an idea to float, and I want to make sure that I haven't entirely lost my mind yet. If I get voted down, there's plenty of chance to find more work." Kaneesa finishes his drink.

"But if you want to stay around for the music, I would be happy for the company."

Various quieter clanks and clunks echoed from the back as Clementine got the kegs squared away. Passing in front of an entrance to the main bar area from a back hallway that led to storage, backstage, and the 'fresher, Clementine went past, then backed up without turning around, to poke his photoreceptor in to the room.

"HELLO BOSS." His voice boomed through the bar, at talking-over-a-full-house volume. There was a pause, and his body reoriented slightly. "HELLO VIKKI." Then he turned down the hallway again, and lumbered out of view.

"Thanks for last night," said an unfamiliar voice. It seemed to be waiting for a reply, and either having received one or not it continued, "Well, bye." Again silence.

Then, with his usual muted expression, Hin appeared from the entrance. He said nothing and just walked past the bar's sole patron to slip behind the bar. At the computer he made some entries and as it processed he stared at the mesh grating that hung over the bar. It wasn't until the device gave a quick, sharp beep that he snapped back to reality with a start. Apparently, done, he set about collecting a mop and bucket, filling the latter with steaming hot water from a tap below the booze rail.

Kaneesa Gee wrote:Kaneesa nods. "I'm a putting the word out to the standard group. I have an idea to float, and I want to make sure that I haven't entirely lost my mind yet. If I get voted down, there's plenty of chance to find more work." Kaneesa finishes his drink.

"But if you want to stay around for the music, I would be happy for the company."

"I'll be there" Vikki gave as a simple reply, her attention distracted by the loud metal movement of the droid, and the arrival of the new pet Twi'lek. Vikki hadn't got a reading on the boy yet, which always had her on edge, but he didn't have the odd feeling that Kaneesa had about him, so she hadn't got a reason more than paranoia.

"Nobody fixed your volume yet?" She said to the droid, a shake of her head "a pity. If you tell me where it is I can take it out for you."

Wasn't the first time she'd made this offer...

"Suppose I can hang around for the music. Not got anything better to do this afternoon."

"Don't go messing with Clem without his askin', he's wonderful as he is." Kaneesa offers a hearty chuckle before he turns to his skittish employee.

"Nice to see you Nin. But ease up, we have others to help out with the mopping. You're senior staff now...or you will be after tonight." Kaneesa flashes a row of teeth in a cheerful expression.

"Now, I believe someone requested some music." Kaneesa pours his crew a round of drinks (including some oil for Clem) and pulls out his slitherstick, sitting up on the bar. "The round is on the house."

The Gungan starts low, beginning a melancholy song.

Hin only gave a silent nod as he turned off the tap. He stared at the steaming bucket with a perplexed look, lips scrunched to one side trying to figure out what to do now that he was all set to mop, but not supposed to. He appeared stuck in indecision looking at his boss then back to the bucket. He let out a puff of breath and took up the bucket with both hands and disappeared into the back.

A moment later he appeared again, grabbed the mop, and disappeared. Ever so faintly behind the music, if one truly strained they might hear the gentle swishing of a mop over the floor. Minutes later the young twi'lek was back with a contented look on his face.

Vikki watched the young Twi'lek male work to take everything back in two parts, a small chuckle escaping as she accepted the drink.

"Is old Kaneesa working you too hard Hin? I can have a word if you want" she winked in his direction, before looking at the droid "and fine. But really, I think a volume switch would do wonders for his abilities."

Vikki didn't receive an answer, exactly, more of an off-guard look in Hin's eyes, a shake of the head, and a shrug. A glance darted to Kaneesa then back to the bar. Without some task to keep himself occupied the twi'lek appeared completely out of his element. He stood, at first trying to rest his elbow on the rail which made him bend at an awkward angle. So, he just tried resting his hand against the wall but that made for a long reach over several liquor (and other substances) bottles in a precarious way. Finally, he settled on leaning his hip against the bar and crossing his arms.

Clementine had re-appeared in the doorway from the back shortly after Kaneesa stared playing, his big black photoreceptor pointed in the direction of the bar. Other than swaying slightly in place, maybe in reaction to the music, maybe just doing routine adjustments to distribute stress over his chassis and servos, he was motionless as Kaneesa played, including as Hin'biki passes him several times on his self-appointed errands. What was going through his head was anyone's guess.