Zyria looked up at the pretty twi'lek as she made her way around the menu. Flirting hard with her Zyria smiled softly and nodded listening. She wasn't there for the food or the drinks. She was there for information. This twi'lek didn't have it. She was either too stupid or had a really good game of pretending to be. Either way she wasn't going to be ripe for the information picking. She placed the menu card down to her right and ordered a Core Martini, dry. The girl strode off and went behind the bar. Zyria looked at the man behind the bar and nearly laughed. That had to have been the man she saw showing off all his glory outside his window earlier today. She shook her head softly from side to side and opened up her holopad to check the room for bugs, spice dealer freqs and anything else that might be of help to her.Moments later two large black saucer eyes greeted her.
"Couldn't help but notice ya sittin' all alone like." Shifty asked
"Yes I am...enjoying a drink and relaxing." she replied
"I see ya lookin at the big guy behind the bar, yah..." Shifty proclaimed proudly
"He's quite a specimen of his species, why wouldn't I? He also likes to show everyone in the area who and what he is out of his bedroom window but...who am I to say anything..." she spoke with a sly smile
"Specimen...he ain't a thing er anythin...."shifty defended him quietly
She laughed and tossed her hair back. Her wild curls framed her face and fell along the sides of her neck as she laughed. It was like a symphony of movement as she reacted to others. That is what finally caught Durie's eye. Her laugh. It was toxic and infectious. He was certain that was probably one of her secret weapons in an arsenal of others that she kept hidden. Women like her didn't just walk around wearing clothes like she did and looking like she did for no reason what so ever. They wanted something.
"Of course he's not," she firmly agreed with him "But it does beg to ask the question he's awfully big to just be serving drinks. I mean I could see him as security or something like that..." her words trailed off as her eyes wandered along Durie's shape as she talked to the Rodian.
"Well yah he does help out in a pinch but he's a peaceful type, yah..."The Rodian's eyes shifted from side to side. That was it. That was his signal. That's how he gives away his information. She smiled widely and moved closer to him. The scent of lavender and vanilla permeated the space between them. Her dress while high cut in the front did not hold its own on the sides. Giving a near by glance more than just the side of her body. She opened her mouth with a smile and spoke like silk.
"He likes to fight doesn't he...."she uttered "But he's not allowed to because of either his size, his temper or that he won't admit he's a zabrak.." she grinned slowly.
Shifty looked at her, as her golden eyes opened and closed he smiled. He shook his head slightly trying to shake whatever just came over him. A drowsy light-headed feeling waved over him the closer he got to her.
"Meet me at these coords after the bar closes," he whispered and slid a small piece of paper towards her. She nodded and winked at him whispering a "thank you".
Groggily he moved back to his seat at the bar where Durie had been watching the whole thing.
"You told her didn'tcha?" Durie scolded him
Shifty put his head down and finished his drink in one shot and looked up at Durie's stern face. "Frak yah...."he scoweled as he shoved his empty glass to Durie.
"Oh hells..."Durie sighed as he looked over at her staring down at her datapad.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Meetings
The ride down in the elevator had been uneventful, it slowly turned during its descent just enough to make Durie motion sick. He hated the confines of the elevator. He felt captive waiting for the release of the opening doors. The elevator was designed to turn one time between each floor so the rider could see the "glorious" city. It was sickening for him because he lived on the 72nd floor. That meant 72 turns. Finally it opened to the lobby. Freedom.
He pretended that the enclosure did not bother him as he stalked across the lobby floor. He felt nothing for the people in the lobby or the bar as he strode in. His T-shirt was a tight black one that amplified his upper torso and natural muscles. The red logo across his right breast read "Hotel Malik, Corusant" in Basic, with a much larger "Night Cap" underneath it. He hated the shirt, hated wearing it, but it was a job, and the shirt acted as a deterrent to anyone wanting to take a swing at him. The bouncers were much larger, but normally were too involved in conversations with the trashy women to react to the first six punches thrown in a fight.
Harma was already working the tables. She boasted that she was a Levathan. But she wasn't, Durie never corrected her. Her pigmentation was spicy, but not the right shade to be a Levathan. She was short in comparison to his imposing frame, and fun. She wore the matching outfit that Durie did, but it was ripped and cut in specific areas because "Sex sells". He watched her flirt her way across the bar taking drinks as he moved behind the bar. Quickly he tied the apron around his waist covering the faux bantha leather black pants he was wearing, and looked around the bar for a customer.
"Shifty" was in his normal seat, the green Rodian slurped on his drink with his sucker, refusing a more couth approach like a straw. Durie had never had a real conversation with the Rodian. Neither of them spoke a familiar language. All "Shifty" did was point at the bottle, then tap the counter when he wanted a refill. They had a friendship of sorts. When no other customers were at the bar Durie would just talk to "Shifty", illiciting no response from the rodian. They played a game of charades, at times and knew each other's body language. On one occasion, a barfight broke out between two female patrons, and "Shifty" had just looked at Durie, rolled his eyes and continued to drink. Another occasion, Durie was being prodded to fight, "Shifty had grabbed his wirst before he could leap over the counter and choke out the human, and nodded to the human's friends that were waiting to jump in. The last occasion "Shifty" had slipped his hand into a rich woman's purse, Durie had caught him and did not say anything, just shook his head, to which "Shifty" simply pulled his hand away and shrugged.
Other then that the bar was barren, everyone sat in the lounge area watching the smashball game and flirting with Harma. It wasn't love, he decided at that point, he felt no jealousy for the men she flirted with. He saw the human female walk in and grunted quietly to himself. On the surface she looked the part to any other tourist who might come in and out of the bar, but he saw through it immediately. The cut of the dress was flawless in its style for down here, but the material was too expensive. Her shoes were too expensive. He was going to have watch "Shifty".
He watched her take a table in the lounge, Harma did not give her a chance to settle in and look at the menu. She was standing over the woman using the same flirty demeanor that she did with the men. Durie looked away, "Shifty" eyed the woman, then looked at Durie. He showed no emotion and Durie offered none in return. He started to wipe the glasses, glancing up to see Harma leaning over the table and pointing at the menu as the woman read it. Her lekku twisted behind her and her waist swayed from side to side, her bottom perfect in the leather pants. He turned to put the glasses away, one at a time until he smelled the perfume of Harma. She was behind the bar next to him now.
"So whadda ya think?" she asked, her yellow eyes glassy from either drinks or spice.
Durie smirked as he put the glasses away, breaking his eye contact from his woman. "About?"
Harma pointed to the girl. "The human girl," Harma said in a sing songsy voice, "she is hot!"
"She is trouble," Durie said to Harma, quickly glancing over her shoulder in the human's direction, but never looking at her.
* * * * * * *
"Sal ya owe me money," the man said as he crisscrossed the room. His eyes were covered by dust-sand goggles and a swoop helmet covered his head. The holo had just snapped off with Sal's prize winning reporter, Zyria. Sal sweated profussively, he never had gotten accustomed to the heat in Eisley, but that wasn’t it. He was scared. He owed credits. Lots of them. He had left the much more comfortable stations on Corusant and Naboo to hide in Eisley, but he was a hard man to hide. The credits he had run up in debt on Corusant had followed him to Naboo. The underworld in Naboo had paid his debt to Corusant. When he ran from Naboo and surfaced on Tatooine, the underworld had paid that debt to Naboo, and then revoked his ability to leave again. Public transportation was not an option. It would cost to pay a smuggler to get him off the rock, and he never knew who the smuggler really worked for.
“I am gonna pay ya,” Sal said. “Zyria’s onto a big story now, it’s gonna pay.”
“Two hundred thousand credits?” The man said with a laugh. “The going rate fer ah story in Corusant is twenty five hundred credits.” The female moved behind him, a razor under the fat man’s neck now. “Unless yer gonna sell ah tabloid implicatin’ the Emperor wears dresses.” The man laughed again, the woman showed no emotion.
“No, no,” Sal said, his hands had rested on his stomach after testing how sharp the blade to his throat was. “It’s on underground pit fighting,” he said with a swallow.
The man looked unimpressed. “Underground pit fighting?” He looked up at his female companion who just shrugged. “That’s a story?”
“In the more civilized worlds,” Sal gulped and looked up at the female “it is.”
“I will cut ya a deal,” said the man. “Give me a prize winnin’ pit fighter. And I will consider 25 percent of your debt paid.” The man snarled at him, sitting on the desk. “If ya wanna settle the whole thing, you will give me a prize winnin’ pit fighter and my boss Zyria as ah play thing.” The man smiled, his teeth golden across the top bridge.
He pretended that the enclosure did not bother him as he stalked across the lobby floor. He felt nothing for the people in the lobby or the bar as he strode in. His T-shirt was a tight black one that amplified his upper torso and natural muscles. The red logo across his right breast read "Hotel Malik, Corusant" in Basic, with a much larger "Night Cap" underneath it. He hated the shirt, hated wearing it, but it was a job, and the shirt acted as a deterrent to anyone wanting to take a swing at him. The bouncers were much larger, but normally were too involved in conversations with the trashy women to react to the first six punches thrown in a fight.
Harma was already working the tables. She boasted that she was a Levathan. But she wasn't, Durie never corrected her. Her pigmentation was spicy, but not the right shade to be a Levathan. She was short in comparison to his imposing frame, and fun. She wore the matching outfit that Durie did, but it was ripped and cut in specific areas because "Sex sells". He watched her flirt her way across the bar taking drinks as he moved behind the bar. Quickly he tied the apron around his waist covering the faux bantha leather black pants he was wearing, and looked around the bar for a customer.
"Shifty" was in his normal seat, the green Rodian slurped on his drink with his sucker, refusing a more couth approach like a straw. Durie had never had a real conversation with the Rodian. Neither of them spoke a familiar language. All "Shifty" did was point at the bottle, then tap the counter when he wanted a refill. They had a friendship of sorts. When no other customers were at the bar Durie would just talk to "Shifty", illiciting no response from the rodian. They played a game of charades, at times and knew each other's body language. On one occasion, a barfight broke out between two female patrons, and "Shifty" had just looked at Durie, rolled his eyes and continued to drink. Another occasion, Durie was being prodded to fight, "Shifty had grabbed his wirst before he could leap over the counter and choke out the human, and nodded to the human's friends that were waiting to jump in. The last occasion "Shifty" had slipped his hand into a rich woman's purse, Durie had caught him and did not say anything, just shook his head, to which "Shifty" simply pulled his hand away and shrugged.
Other then that the bar was barren, everyone sat in the lounge area watching the smashball game and flirting with Harma. It wasn't love, he decided at that point, he felt no jealousy for the men she flirted with. He saw the human female walk in and grunted quietly to himself. On the surface she looked the part to any other tourist who might come in and out of the bar, but he saw through it immediately. The cut of the dress was flawless in its style for down here, but the material was too expensive. Her shoes were too expensive. He was going to have watch "Shifty".
He watched her take a table in the lounge, Harma did not give her a chance to settle in and look at the menu. She was standing over the woman using the same flirty demeanor that she did with the men. Durie looked away, "Shifty" eyed the woman, then looked at Durie. He showed no emotion and Durie offered none in return. He started to wipe the glasses, glancing up to see Harma leaning over the table and pointing at the menu as the woman read it. Her lekku twisted behind her and her waist swayed from side to side, her bottom perfect in the leather pants. He turned to put the glasses away, one at a time until he smelled the perfume of Harma. She was behind the bar next to him now.
"So whadda ya think?" she asked, her yellow eyes glassy from either drinks or spice.
Durie smirked as he put the glasses away, breaking his eye contact from his woman. "About?"
Harma pointed to the girl. "The human girl," Harma said in a sing songsy voice, "she is hot!"
"She is trouble," Durie said to Harma, quickly glancing over her shoulder in the human's direction, but never looking at her.
* * * * * * *
"Sal ya owe me money," the man said as he crisscrossed the room. His eyes were covered by dust-sand goggles and a swoop helmet covered his head. The holo had just snapped off with Sal's prize winning reporter, Zyria. Sal sweated profussively, he never had gotten accustomed to the heat in Eisley, but that wasn’t it. He was scared. He owed credits. Lots of them. He had left the much more comfortable stations on Corusant and Naboo to hide in Eisley, but he was a hard man to hide. The credits he had run up in debt on Corusant had followed him to Naboo. The underworld in Naboo had paid his debt to Corusant. When he ran from Naboo and surfaced on Tatooine, the underworld had paid that debt to Naboo, and then revoked his ability to leave again. Public transportation was not an option. It would cost to pay a smuggler to get him off the rock, and he never knew who the smuggler really worked for.
“I am gonna pay ya,” Sal said. “Zyria’s onto a big story now, it’s gonna pay.”
“Two hundred thousand credits?” The man said with a laugh. “The going rate fer ah story in Corusant is twenty five hundred credits.” The female moved behind him, a razor under the fat man’s neck now. “Unless yer gonna sell ah tabloid implicatin’ the Emperor wears dresses.” The man laughed again, the woman showed no emotion.
“No, no,” Sal said, his hands had rested on his stomach after testing how sharp the blade to his throat was. “It’s on underground pit fighting,” he said with a swallow.
The man looked unimpressed. “Underground pit fighting?” He looked up at his female companion who just shrugged. “That’s a story?”
“In the more civilized worlds,” Sal gulped and looked up at the female “it is.”
“I will cut ya a deal,” said the man. “Give me a prize winnin’ pit fighter. And I will consider 25 percent of your debt paid.” The man snarled at him, sitting on the desk. “If ya wanna settle the whole thing, you will give me a prize winnin’ pit fighter and my boss Zyria as ah play thing.” The man smiled, his teeth golden across the top bridge.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Amazon
She opened the doors of her closet the light flooded into the room casting her silhouette onto the curtains. She filed through the clothes looking for "the" outfit to make her way down into the clubs where the people walking the streets were only in it for one person. Themselves. She found a tight fitting dress that left little to the imagination. Looking at herself in the mirror it slid over her body like a second skin. The front a round collar just showing off her collarbone, leaving the back really to do the dirty work for her. A deep dive of the back of the luxurious fabric rested on the small of her back. She nodded at herself in the mirror and opened the shades back up to the big window looking down mostly into the busy streets and speeders going by.
A glance across the way to the neighboring towers she scanned them out of natural curiosity like most would. Seeing who's freak flag was flying and who really wanted their neighbors to know what color the flag was. Her eyes led her to a frame in a window. Large built frame, her chest inhaled shortly as she watched him move. "Yum", she mumbled to herself as she watched him unabashedly crossing her arms leaning onto the window.
Her attention was called away by the incoming call of her hololink wall. She walked away to take the call.The room was filled with luxuries that this level of Coruscant wasn't used to seeing. Thanks to heavy security, she didn't need worry about her things when she wasn't there. Her boss, a man that didn't have a cooth bone in his body filled the screen before her.
"Heya Sal," she grinned politely at the image. If her holo had smell she could inevitably smell the mix of gabaki and whiskey day or night on Sal.
"Heya hot stuff...you comin over just for me lookin like that?" His loud cough infused voice joked at her and winked.
"Yah right, off to a night out...you?" she replied
"Just wanted to know how your piece on underground ring fighting was going and if that's where you were headed tonight. I heard from another source that there is a high end spice ring that is following around the ring fighting. See what you can...*he stares her up and down slowly* find out using your powers of
persuasion."
She laughs and nods to him. "You know I will Sal. Why don't we meet up in Eisely in a week I'll give you a check base for what I've gotten."
"Yah, that'll work, see ya then hot stuff." he laughs back at her and the comm wall goes blank.
"Slimey son of a bantha..." she trails off as she heads to her closet to grab some heels. She slides into some three inch stilettos making her tall frame now amazonian like. She was athletic by build, stacked well with curves that a woman should have. Taller than most women at 5'9" she wore her frame well and knew how to move to make her curves dance. One last glance in the mirror she looked at her blonde streaked hair and tousled it a bit making her natural curl poof out a bit more. She had the natural curl but rarely wore it like that. The world she lived in demanded her to look professional, so she smoothed it down and wore it straight most of the time. She felt wild when it was curly like something was unleashed in her.
She locked and set security on her flat and headed down the lift to the main lobby that connected the two towers. She glanced around the lobby quickly taking inventory of lovers, deals and slack-jawed losers looking for whatever was going to drop into their lap. Rows of televid screens lined the bar area talking about the latest game on the televids. Her eyes hit him, the large man from across the towers...all she could do was inhale and bite her lip as she walked through the sliding glass doors.
A glance across the way to the neighboring towers she scanned them out of natural curiosity like most would. Seeing who's freak flag was flying and who really wanted their neighbors to know what color the flag was. Her eyes led her to a frame in a window. Large built frame, her chest inhaled shortly as she watched him move. "Yum", she mumbled to herself as she watched him unabashedly crossing her arms leaning onto the window.
Her attention was called away by the incoming call of her hololink wall. She walked away to take the call.The room was filled with luxuries that this level of Coruscant wasn't used to seeing. Thanks to heavy security, she didn't need worry about her things when she wasn't there. Her boss, a man that didn't have a cooth bone in his body filled the screen before her.
"Heya Sal," she grinned politely at the image. If her holo had smell she could inevitably smell the mix of gabaki and whiskey day or night on Sal.
"Heya hot stuff...you comin over just for me lookin like that?" His loud cough infused voice joked at her and winked.
"Yah right, off to a night out...you?" she replied
"Just wanted to know how your piece on underground ring fighting was going and if that's where you were headed tonight. I heard from another source that there is a high end spice ring that is following around the ring fighting. See what you can...*he stares her up and down slowly* find out using your powers of
persuasion."
She laughs and nods to him. "You know I will Sal. Why don't we meet up in Eisely in a week I'll give you a check base for what I've gotten."
"Yah, that'll work, see ya then hot stuff." he laughs back at her and the comm wall goes blank.
"Slimey son of a bantha..." she trails off as she heads to her closet to grab some heels. She slides into some three inch stilettos making her tall frame now amazonian like. She was athletic by build, stacked well with curves that a woman should have. Taller than most women at 5'9" she wore her frame well and knew how to move to make her curves dance. One last glance in the mirror she looked at her blonde streaked hair and tousled it a bit making her natural curl poof out a bit more. She had the natural curl but rarely wore it like that. The world she lived in demanded her to look professional, so she smoothed it down and wore it straight most of the time. She felt wild when it was curly like something was unleashed in her.
She locked and set security on her flat and headed down the lift to the main lobby that connected the two towers. She glanced around the lobby quickly taking inventory of lovers, deals and slack-jawed losers looking for whatever was going to drop into their lap. Rows of televid screens lined the bar area talking about the latest game on the televids. Her eyes hit him, the large man from across the towers...all she could do was inhale and bite her lip as she walked through the sliding glass doors.
And he woke
As Durie's eyes opened he immediately became aware of his surroundings and he rolled onto his back and starred at the ceiling. He raised his left knee and with his left leg already uncovered and pinning the thin sheet to the bed, the rest of the sheet covered his groin and part of his midsection before it spilled off to the left of him. The artificial light spilled into the room, the new changes in the neon was his alarm clock as it discolored the dark brown hue of his skin. He hated the planet. There was no fresh air. Everything smelled like plastisteel. He could taste the pollution with every breath he took. The people even in the subblocks thought of themselves as aristocrats just because they lived on this "fake planet". He snarled softly, his tongue rubbed over his teeth, "his fangs" felt dulled which was more of a subconscious thought then a reality, and his hands rested on the back of his head where the stubble had started to grow back. He moved his hands forward and felt where his vestigial horns had been cut off. It just looked like scars now where they had been completely removed a second time after growing back at some point. He had lived to long like that to think of it as an embarrassment, and since he had been enslaved to the Empire before he was able to earn his jato, he merely passed as a human unless on the rare occasion he laughed hard or made love to a woman.
Woman. His hand moved to the side of the bed where she slept. She was already gone. His right forearm and hand as cybernetic as his foot. The rest of his body was his. A sleeve of tattoo's covered the rest of his right bicep, but the remainder of his body was untouched. Flawless peeks and pits of a once well oiled fighting machine, cast aside by his "makers" as no longer useful because of the wounds he sustained, he only kept himself in shape as a prideful arrogance. Perhaps someday he would need to use them again throwing out one of the wanna be aristocrats from the bar that he tended in the subblocks. As it had happened thus far though, all he would have to do is stand and his menacing size pretty much quelled any squable in the place.
The bedroom was a complete glass curve that looked down on the city, a modest rent for this area, jutting out a little past the apartments flanking his. He dropped to the floor nude and began a routine of lift ups, first using two hands, then he spread his legs wide and used his one natural arm. Then he rolled to his back and began his chest ups, raising his pectoral muscles to his raised knees. Once that set was complete he moved the kitchen and collected his breakfast drink. A combination of a nutripaste set and fresh fruit. She had left it for him. Then he headed to the apex of the curve and looked down at the city, not caring about his attire, or lack there of. He felt more natural today then he normally ever did.
What was she to him? He did not love her, she was one of the wanna be aristocrats who probably just liked him for his nice apartment. He liked her. They got along and there were times that he could relate to her, but she was content on staying on this planet. Working at that bar. She was getting too old though to think that she could party for the rest of her life. That was fine for a twenty year old, but she was not twenty anymore. Perhaps it was her DNA as a twi'lek? He glanced over at the photo of her to see the spicey hue of her skin, her arms wrapped around his shoulder as they had smiled for the holo, her deep blue eyes sparkling.
Then the curtain moved in the apartment next door and he suddenly got self conscious of his attire.
Coruscant
Coruscant....located in the Core Worlds in fact the very center of the galaxy.Rather fitting Coruscant was generally agreed to be the most important planet through most of galatic history. It served as the capital for the Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, New Republic, Yuuzhan Vong Empire, Galactic Alliance, and the New Galactic Empire. Coruscant also served at various times as the home of the Jedi Order and the Jedi Temple. Coruscant was not only the political center of the galaxy. Most of the hyperlanes at some point would travel through Coruscant making the planet one of the richest in the galaxy. When seen from orbit, Imperial Center is a blaze of light and sparkling colors, reminding some spacers of corusca stones, after which this planet was named long ago.
Geologically, the planet was composed of a molten core with a rocky mantle and a silicate rock crust. At its poles were huge ice caps that were popular spots for tourists. The entire surface of Coruscant was covered by sprawling kilometers-high ecumenopolis, and boasted a population of over a hundred billion to several trillion, depending on the era. Following the end of the Clone Wars, an official census noted 1 trillion official permanent residents. The statistics did not include transients, temporary workers, unregistered populace nor residents of orbital facilities. Because of these omissions, the "real" population of Coruscant was estimated to be three times the official amount.
The Megablocks was one of the most attractive places to live for young people that wanted to be something or know someone. Where as if you dove deep into the subblocks to see the Twilighters, you were there to do business of one kind or another.
Zyria Meckley had been traveling the galaxy as of late. She had self proclaimed that she would find the stories that others were too lazy to find or not willing to go 'deep' into the places that other holo-reporters would. She had seen things in her travels that would marvel the most exotic minds. Of course, the Empire would only buy certain articles and holos based on what worked for the Emperor. Not surprising at all to her. She still kept her own bit of underground holo going. The subblocks is where she decided she would go to see if there was interest in her news…or what she thought would be news.
Looking at her closet full of mostly costumes to fit in where ever she needed for a story, she decided to go along the lines of 'grease the wheels of progress' to get information kind of outfits. Looking at her new apartment she glanced out the large plate glass window as it over looked the grand city planet as well as the neighboring tower of apartments.
She grinned to herself saying "I guess I won't be dressing in front of these.." as she closed the thin drapes and started to get dressed.
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