[D8LM] One Step At a Time

[Cal Arcton]

(eggspecting)

Even if it was smaller than Noventa City, Charnel Gulch wasn't exactly a small town by Noventa standards. They'd been in a smaller one just the day before. The race track gave it a bit of a larger-town feel.

Still, despite all that, and despite the chill in the air, it was almost homey as Cal walked around with his companion. On the edge of town, trees and rocks came right up to the border of the houses. Beyond them, mountains and wilderness. Within, pleasant cabins, the promise of safety and shelter.

Cal considered some of this as he looked around. "Not a bad place, huh? Maybe I should think about it for my second retirement."

[Yara Suhr]

"Which would be when, exactly?" Yara raises a skeptical eyebrow. "And how many retirements does a person get? I'm asking for, ah, a friend, of course." Tucked in her jacket pockets, her gloved hands are finally nice and warm, and the residual jitters from the stims have almost completely worn off. The frozen scenery of Charnel Gulch looks especially peaceful in the absence of white plastoid boots marching through the streets--not something she has appreciated nearly enough on previous visits.

[Cal Arcton]

Cal chuckled at that. "As many as it takes. If the first one isn't enough, try another." He shrugged. "I figured on that at some point. Running a bar's easier than shootin' bad guys, but Twelve Parsecs is a bit on the lively side. Maybe I won't want that in thirty-three more years."

While stormtroopers marching through the streets would be distinctly unpleasant, their two pairs of boots made for a comforting sound as they strolled along. "Guess I'm getting ahead of myself, huh? Seems like I can hardly stick to my first retirement. Life has a way of surprising you, I guess."

[Yara Suhr]

"You seem rather cheerful about it all." Yara shakes her head with a slightly rueful smile. "Retirement might have been less satisfying than I would have liked to admit... but this isn't precisely how I'd choose to end it."

She unhooks an insulated flask from her utility belt and unsnaps the lid. "Caf?" she offers. It's still steaming invitingly in the cold air, but it must have been stewing in there since very early this morning, so it may be a mixed blessing. Nevertheless she takes a swallow. "Too many jitters to have any on the ride in this morning," she admits. "I may crash if I don't refuel now, though."

[Cal Arcton]

"I do, huh?" Cal smiled ruefully. "Don't know that I feel it, exactly. Or that I mean it." He was silent for a few moments, except for the crunch of frost under his boots. "I'm not glad that the Empire's here, and I'm not gonna rest until it's off again. But... I guess it's nice to get a taste of my old life. I was a marshal for near a dozen years. Maybe it's just hard for me to stop."

His expression brightened as Yara brought out the steaming flask. "You're a lifesaver, doc." Even as he accepted the flask, he made a little face at the unintended double-meaning. He took a steady gulp, sighing as he handed it back to her; if he thought there was anything unpleasant about the taste, he didn't show it. "Well, we can't have you crashing on me. Although, as a gentleman, if you need to lean on me, I'd be happy to oblige."

Cal smirked at her, but there was something thoughtful about his brown eyes as he looked at her. He'd given her lines like that before, of course, but things were different now. More real.

[Yara Suhr]

Yara takes the caf back and snaps the lid shut again. "Oh, I appreciate the offer, but I'm not so badly off that I need someone to lean on," she says, waving her free hand vaguely as she clips the flask back on to her belt with the other. After a few more crunching steps along the dirty ice-gravel surface of the road, she adds in a quieter voice. "Although, supposing I wanted to anyway...?"

She sighs lightly, scrunching a gloved hand through her hair (which knocks back the hood of her parka). "To tell the truth, I found stopping less challenging than changing directions at full speed. So much needs to be done... and it nearly all called for being civil with people who'd have shot us in the face a year earlier. Or it seemed that way, at least. And now it turns out the shooting still isn't over, after all."

[Cal Arcton]

"Well," The smile Cal gave her was playful, sure, but also warm. "By all means, then." His arm gently encircled her waist, encouraging her to lean on him. They both were wearing more than a few layers, but the warmth of him was still tangible. For a few moments, he was silent, enjoying the moment.

"Yeah." He sighed. "It's funny. I thought the Galactic Civil war changed enough. I didn't quite figure on how much it would change things when it was over. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

He was silent a few more moments, arm still loosely around her waist. "You were getting used to it though, weren't you? Seems as though you've settled in pretty nice with the clinic." He smiled. "Even got a new decoration to work with, when this is all over."

[Yara Suhr]

She leans into his hold a bit, lifting her chin to look out toward the mountains with their scrubby foliage and snow cover. "Yes, I was. Am. It's very different from where I thought I'd be, though, before the war." After a few more beats of quiet, she continues, "And I miss being part of something bigger. Politics, though"--the word is freighted with distaste--"that's where the action has been going, and I haven't had the stomach for it. Even though it really is terribly important."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal chuckled softly. "I know what you mean. Both in how it's important, and in not having the stomach for it." His voice was softer, now, as Yara leaned into him.

"And about being different from where I thought I'd be." He added. "But it's not just that I didn't figure on running a bar, it's that I didn't much think about it during the war. Couldn't have said where I thought I'd be. It all seemed so far away until the Emperor died, and we had them on the run. I guess it was only then that I started thinking about what comes afterwards." He turned his head, Yara's hair brushing his cheek as he did. Cal's expression was thoughtful, almost pensive.

[Yara Suhr]

"For quite some while, I thought when the war was over I'd just go back to what I'd been doing before." She shrugs slightly, detectable mostly because his arm is around her and she's leaning one shoulder against him. "Once it really happened... I realized, rather late, that wasn't realistic at all. Everyone I worked with back then was a collaborator--or nearly everyone."

[Cal Arcton]

"Oh." Cal said, his voice softer still, this type with sympathy. "Yeah. I hadn't thought about that. Out here, it was different. A lot of the people who worked with the Empire were outsiders. We kicked a lot of them off along with the Empire. But you were working on Coruscant, huh? Where you picked up that city girl accent." On that last bit, his tone grew gently teasing.

He gave her a little squeeze about the waist, comforting. "That why you decided to come out this way? Just too strange to go back to that?"

[Yara Suhr]

"This accent? That was earlier, at university on Hosnian Prime." Yara's quiet chuckle has an ironic tinge. "By the time I started in the lab on Coruscant, I could already pass perfectly. And now I've forgotten how not to have it. Lucky for me people like an expensive accent on a doctor." Her tone shifts gradually from irony to a cleaner humor, then turns thoughtful again. "'Strange' describes it all right. I don't know what it'd be like to face them all again. Some of the work was good--could have been life-saving eventually. Sooner or later most of them had to guess that isn't how the government was using it, though. Should you throw them all in prison just for that? Or go back to work as if nothing's changed?"

She shakes her head a little, bumping Cal's shoulder with her cheek. That seems like a good idea, so she leans into it for a brief moment.

"So, yes, I ran away to live with nerf herders on the wild Outer Rim instead. Where the war hasn't ended, apparently."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal listened, smiling gently as they slowly walked along. He let out a slow breath as she asked her question. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "The lawman in me tells me that you can't arrest someone for something they haven't done. But..." He sighed, shaking his head. "The Galactic Civil War was just too big. Everyone had to pick their side. And if they didn't... well, then they were just pickin' the Empire. Sometimes not choosing is the same as choosing, at least when it's something like that."

The feeling of Yara's cheek against his shoulder made Cal laugh softly; he couldn't really say why, except that he enjoyed her closeness. His arm around her tightened, just a little, his hand shifting to rub her flank gently for a few moments.

"And former nerf-herders." Cal said, smiling. "But we'll see about the second part soon enough. You and me, and Commander Leo..." He laughed suddenly, coming to a stop as he turned to face her. "After all, we know the man has unbelievable tactical timing, him and that ambassador. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever had make-outs interrupted by quite such elevated company before."

[Yara Suhr]

"Mh. I'm half ready to agree about that, but... so many people chose not to choose. If we had to punish all of them, what would be left standing? It's been a relief to come out here for a while, where things are... simpler, in that one way anyhow. And where the nerf roam free," she adds with a hint of teasing in her voice, "since their herders are off having adventures."

A snort of laughter escapes from Yara at the description of Leo's 'tactical timing.' "What, never? But you weren't at Echo Base... a few thousand personnel crammed into a hole scraped in the ice, senior staff and all. You hardly could find five minutes of privacy without General Rieekan or someone else tripping over you." Her eyes crinkle at the corners. "It put a terrible crimp in huddling together for warmth, I assure you."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal chuckled, smirking. "Don't know if you could rightly call me a nerf-herder anymore. I haven't herded a nerf in more'n half my life, after all. For all I know, I've forgotten how." After a moment, he made a face. "Not likely. It's easy work, just boring. There's a reason there's so many nerf-herder jokes."

He laughed along with Yara. "Yeah, I missed that." He grinned at her again. "A General, huh? I'd guess you pretty much have to stop and salute no matter what you're doing for that. That would put a bit of a damper on things, huh?

Stopped as they were, his other hand came up, encircling her waist from the other side. The playful smirk returned as he met her eyes. "Of course, that was one hell of a kiss. Maybe even better than the first one. I think I'd have made the General wait, too."

[Yara Suhr]

"It wasn't as formal as most planetary militaries... well, you know that. But yes. We all had at least that much discipline, I should think." She shakes her head, lips quirking. "I'd no objection to making Leo wait, though. He's a good man, and a good officer, but he isn't my officer just now. And... it was a rather fine kiss." One gloved hand captures a handful of Cal's coat lapel.

[Cal Arcton]

"Mmm." The soft noise was almost a purr, Cal's brown eyes glinting noticeably as her hand gripped his coat. "If I'd've known that, maybe I'd have asked him to come back in a little while." His lips smirked, even as his eyes dropped to hers...

He paused, though, even as he started to lean in. His eyes flickered back from her lips to her eyes. "You know, if this were any other week, I'd be wanting to find out what comes after a kiss like the sort we've been sharing. Seems to me it could really be something." In more than one way.

His lips twisted wryly. "But this damn invasion throws everything out of whack. You know what I mean? Like it puts everything else on hold." He smirked. "I mean, I'm gonna kiss you again, of course, any second now. Just wanted to make sure you weren't waiting on a fancy dinner invitation just yet, or anything."

[Yara Suhr]

"Unless your dinner plans involve chasing off Gladiator-class destroyers for appetizers... I'm not sure I'd have the stomach for it anyway," she admits, the corner of her mouth turning up at a rueful angle. "Hard to make any sort of plans in the middle of all this." It's a feeling she knows well--several years' worth of knowing--but this unexpected recurrence is... irksome.

"Well, if we haven't enough of the big picture for strategy... stick to tactics? In the short term?" She arches her eyebrows as she looks into his eyes, lips twitching a little. "In all those years I really only learnt two. Retreat and lay low, or burn in with guns blazing."

[Cal Arcton]

Cal laughed softly at that. "Hey, I do like to show a girl a good time." One hand came up to brush back an errant lock of her lovely red hair from where it had strayed in front of her face. "That fella Kai suggested that maybe I should take you out to music and dancing. Not that I need dating advice from him, but it sounds like a pretty nice idea, if you ask me."

His own lips twitched as Yara's eyes met his. "Well, I do have two guns." He said, his voice grown quiet, yet rough. "There's pretty much only one way I'd choose to go about this." There was really no way to follow up that line except to kiss her. He wouldn't have it any other way, anyway.

Even more than the first kiss, this one was slow. Cal leaned in slowly, his hands gently gripping her hips. Slowly, and yet lingering, savoring her lips against his, no impending doom or commanding officer to cut things short this time, thank you very much. Just her and him. Cal's eyes closed as the kiss deepened, one hand sliding up her back.

[Yara Suhr]

Yara leans in, her fingers bunching more firmly into Cal's coat while her other hand slides around the back of his hip. With two sets of bulky cold-weather clothing between them, it's a bit like embracing Cal plus a small pillow or three. But there's no fur or quilted fabric to get in the way of the kiss itself, the human heat of it all the more intoxicating for being the only point of contact. In the middle of an empty street in an ice-locked mining town, she lets herself fall into warmth.

... for a while. Eventually the two of them would have to break for air, and she pulls away just slightly, still close enough for Cal to feel (and see) her breath in the chill. "Mm. Seems like a promising approach, so far," she says, a bit breathlessly.

Belatedly, she notices one ear has gone tingly with cold and cups a gloved hand over it--while she wasn't paying attention, the wind direction had shifted to blow more directly on that side of her body.