Miss Mayla's damn milk cow and that rowdy rowdy Bespin ruckus!

[Sanis Prent]

<size=-3>OOC: This thread is an unofficial kickstart to the Cloud City bar, so I figured this would be a good way to break it in. All are welcome.</size>

I'd pocketed more than a bit of scratch from the last few fares. Fortunately, some of them actually brought cargo and paid well for me to bring it along. After making fares at Malastare, Bothauwi, and Nllkon, I was a good bit in the black, but unfortunately the general armpit area of the galaxy. Considering that I could fuel my ship, fuel my crew's stomachs, and fuel just about anything else I needed fueling, this was a minor bellyache. I was in good spirits as I hopped down the pilothouse ladder rungs to the main deck.

"This is your Captain speaking. We've just touched down on Cloud City. Weather looks...partly cloudy with a chance of clouds later in the evening."

The gangplank in the cargo hold lowered, bathing me and the rest of the crew in a pinkish-orange afternoon hue. There was just enough sun poking through the fluffy stuff for me to put my shades on. The spires ahead in the business district of the city were colored a spartan cream color, which contrasted with some of the earthy and rust colored hues of the industrial and production sectors.

MOO!

I whirled around on the deck, nearly falling over as a big, mean-eyed dewback huffed at me.

"I don't get it."

I looked as s'Il came walking down from the Black Cat.

"Who brings a milk cow to a floating city with less grass than a tee-totaller's convention?"

[James Prent]

After admonishing Daani to stay glued to Tak at all times, I slid down the ladder into the cargo hold. Stepping over a pile of dung, I walked towards the entrance and past our unhappy cargo just in time to hear Sanis' latest rant. I rubbed the dewback's flank with an open palm as I passed it, and noted, "Sanis, you do realize that dewbacks live in the desert, right?"

Pushing past him I walked out onto the landing pad. "No one here to greet us? That's sorta rude." I breathed in the air as deeply as I could, and walked as close to the edge as I dared and looked down.

[Mu Satach]

Meanwhile elsewhere in the city...

Mu sat in a smoky filled back room. Various ugly looking critters eye'd her as she looked at the cards in her hand. Calmly she laid them down face up. Silence clung to the air. "I do believe," she spoke quietly as she leaned back, digging out a cigar from her vest pocket, "I win."

She lit the cigar and a wide smile broke out across her face at the gentle-thing sitting across the table from her. It's lips snarled revealing yellowed pointing teeth, "You damn dirty theif! You cheated!"

Mr. Thing stood up on all three of his legs and loomed over the table. More hulking lurking things in the corners of the room began to finger weapons nervously.

"You are mistaken... I shower daily."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Giving the dewback a sidelong look as she carefully followed James, s'Il let just the smallest of perplexed looks cross her features. Some of the jobs Sanis took...

She stopped beside him, watching James as the other woman continued off the ship, and let her eye glance over the towers that stretched out before them. Pulling in a breath, the Lupine dusted the front of her trousers for any unseen dust it may have picked up as she passed the animal. One hands thrust into her jacket pocket, s'Il gave Prent a teasing smile.

"Maybe your buyer wanted to see if you'd actually do it."

[Sanis Prent]

"Hey, the up-front pay on this was more than the total sums we got for our last two jobs."

I reminded s'il with a wide grin.

"I'll manage a few dewback pies for that. You'd think this thing was full of krayt stones.

Anyway, I'm ready to get paid. Our contact should be at the pad any minute, and after that we'll all have some bank in our pockets."

My eyes stuck on the skyline a bit, watching some cloud cars zip about.

"Never been to Bespin, but I heard it used to be an outlaw Tibanna boom town a few years back."

[James Prent]

My stomach leapt into my throat as I looked down... into clouds. Of course there was no bottom - Bespin is a gas giant and Cloud City floats in the middle of the air.

Or, the edge of the air.

Either way - no ground. Looking over the edge of the landing platform gave me a severe case of vertigo, and when someone grabbed me by the arms from behind while I was looking down I screamed.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Hey! Easy, easy!"

Cirr gently deposited James safely away from the edge, and waggled his ears as he grinned.

"Gotta watch out forr that fjirrst step!"

Truthfully, Cirr was glad to be out of the ship. That dewback stank, and stank delicious! He'd imposed exile on himself during the trip and kept to his quarters, except for the moments when Sanis tried to kick the door in because something in the engine was amiss.

[Lili Von Wolfson]

high-rise penthouse apartment attached to Cloud 9

Lili slept dead center in her over-sized over-stuff over-fluffed bed. A mountain of pillows propped her upper body at what was rumored to be the perfect angle to help reduce wrinkles and dark circles under the eyes. To that end, she also had a series of contraptions and gels covering her face. In fact, if it wasn't for the numerous holo-photo's of herself scattered and promenently displayed in her bedroom, one wouldn't be certain it was a living human underneath the mechanisms multi-colored goo.

A protocol droid entered the room silently and set down a tray of food near the bed then began picking up Lili's garments she had thrown about the room the night before.

"Mistress" the voice chimed. Lili remained motionless. "Mistress" it tried again, "mistress, oh my... mistress I do wish you would wake up."

Lili began to stir a bit. The droid was about to panic, "Oh mistress pleeease wake up." The droid stood by the bed and gently tapped Lili's shoulder.

A loud backfiring snort escaped Lili's mouth as she jerked awake, "Wha?" Blind from the mask on her face her head snapped back and forth, "Whaaat's going on?"

"Oh thank heavens, you are awake." the droid quickly moved away from the bed out of Lili's reach.

Lili reached up and pryed up a corner of the eye mask and tilted her head back to look around the room. "Oh zod... it's you again. I'm trying to get some fahwiggin sweep here! Haven't I told you a thousand times to NevaH to wake me up this early after a shaow?"

"But ma'dam... you specifically told me that if I didn't wake you up this morning you'd send me to be dismantled in the recycling center."

"I did?" Lili pauses a moment and tilts her head to one side then suspiciously looks at the droid, "Why?"

"Your package is arriving today, and if they were on time, it's most likely already here."

[Mu Satach]

back room

"I've had enough of you're crap!"

Mu stood up and put her face directly infront of Mr. Thing and snarled, "You're just pissed because you thought you had an easy mark on your hands. Now either you pay up or you and all your fuzzy friends will die..."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a glance to Sanis before she herself looked out to the sprawling floating city, s'Il blinked. She'd never been here either; only heard of it through Dan and whatever stories he told her of his travels. Looking bck on it, the Lupine surmised that while she had certainly been to many of the galaxy's more remote and sometimes exotic planets, she had never really experienced the more mainstream veins that civilization offered. Oh, she'd lived on Coruscant long ago, but that was ages past - and as much as she suspected it'd stayed the same, she also knew that it had changed dramatically.

"Well," she started while taking a step down the ramp, "the feeling is mutual. I've never been here either; only heard about it from Dan."

[James Prent]

I thumped Cirr in the arm as hard as I could, which was harder than he thought it would be. The Cizerack flinched back and fended off any more blows with one big paw. "Let's go explore. Before Daani can follow us."

I grabbed his shirt and tugged him along behind me as the doors into the City opened.

[Sanis Prent]

"Of course."

I replied to s'Il with an edge of sarcasm on my tongue.

"Where hasn't he been, anyway?"

I scanned the crowds milling about at the tarmac's edge for my contact. She was late.

"Dammit. Punctuality's a lost art these days."

Inwardly, I wondered if the deal went sideways. That was no good. A live dewback in a place like this? Its not exactly a commodity market. If she split, I had no buyer.

Looking back at s'Il, I sighed.

"I don't wanna make a habit out of it, what are you feeling about all this?"

[Lili Von Wolfson]

"My package?" Lili thought for a moment, "OH yes, yes... send the girl to go pick it up then."

The droid figitted, "Girl? Ma'dam?"

"Yes, the servant girl, what'sherface... the one with brown, purple hair who's been hanging around here lately. Her, send her."

"I'm afraid I can't."

"You know, there's not a whole lot you can do is dere." Lili flopped back in the pillows on her bed and heaved a melodramatic sigh. "Ok, WHAY can't you send the girl."

"She quit."

"WHAT?!?" Lili sat straight up and tore off the miracle mask.

"I... I... I... think that's what she did. She packed up all her bags and vacated the premises late last night uttering a string of vulgarities I can't quite comphrehend. Oh she did leave such a dreadful mess."

"Ah frwiggin wrat bastards all of them. Whay does this always happen to me?" Lili looked to the heavens the perfect pose of a saint bearing a terrible burden. "Well, lay out a suitable traveling outfit you rusting tin can of uselessness, the shaow must go on... and I need that package for the shaow."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The Lupine headed down the ramp, leaving Sanis in her wake.

"Don't get snappy at me, son. I've not the mind for it right now."

Slowing to a stop as she felt her boots hit the landing tarmac, s'Il breathed in deeply. The air was a strange mix; not quite urban yet also not quite open.

At Prent's last inquiry, she squared her shoulders. What limited abilities she could call on regarding Sanis' request hinted at nothing particularly harmful, and she turned on her heel to look up at him as he'd not followed her.

"I would recommend patience. Whoever wants a dewback on Cloud City, whether it was a joke or not, will make an appearence.

"If nothing else, then to see if you had actually herded the thing onto your boat.

"Which even I can't quite believe you did - regardless of the credits you were offered."

She turned back away from him, remarking, "Do you even realize how long it will take me to get the stench of that thing out of the Cat?"

[Mu Satach]

Goon number one's finger quietly clicked his blaster's safety off.
Goon number two cracked his neck.
Goon number three silently moved to block the only exit.
Goon number four stared directly at Mu from the shadows.

The other players sat around the table leaning as far back in their chairs as possible. Their eye's nervously flicking from one to another while sweat mixed with fear ran down the sides of their faces.

Silence clung to them like a hot suffocating blanket. Mu's eye's did not leave her target in front of her. Mr. Thing gritted his teeth and growled. Mu kissed the air between them.

"GET HER!" he commanded.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr followed James' lead, eyeying the local architecture up and down. The city, while certainly not as large as many he'd frequented, had a uniformity of style about it that looked very appealing.

He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should stick close to Layla and help with the transaction, but he figured that Sanis wouldn't mind him being out of sight from the dewback, who seemed to spook at the sight of the Cizerack.

Pedestrians and speeders moved about in a throng around busy thoroughfares and buildings. Cirr stood still for a bit, trying to get a sense of direction.

"Wherre do you want to go?"

[James Prent]

"I dunno - away from the ship!" I stood in Cirr's shadow, trying not to gape at our surroundings. "I signed on so I could see more of the worlds, and we've only just gotten to one worth lookin' at."

I watched a squad of stormtroopers march down a walkway, and then saw another sign. "What's Cloud 9? Is it a bar? Can we go get a drink?"

[Sanis Prent]

Originally posted by Loklorien s'Ilancy
The Lupine headed down the ramp, leaving Sanis in her wake.

"Don't get snappy at me, son. I've not the mind for it right now."

Slowing to a stop as she felt her boots hit the landing tarmac, s'Il breathed in deeply. The air was a strange mix; not quite urban yet also not quite open.

At Prent's last inquiry, she squared her shoulders. What limited abilities she could call on regarding Sanis' request hinted at nothing particularly harmful, and she turned on her heel to look up at him as he'd not followed her.

"I would recommend patience. Whoever wants a dewback on Cloud City, whether it was a joke or not, will make an appearence.

"If nothing else, then to see if you had actually herded the thing onto your boat.

"Which even I can't quite believe you did - regardless of the credits you were offered."

She turned back away from him, remarking, "Do you even realize how long it will take me to get the stench of that thing out of the Cat?"

"We live 24/7 with a nose full of engine grease and Cirr's cooking, and its the Dewback crap that you call shenanigans on? At least you've got insence."

I paced a bit, and drummed my fingers along the bulkhead.

"You know, you really should go on ahead with the others. This ship will make you stir crazy. Get some of the local flavor. If I'm stuck cow-sitting all day I can at least live vicariously through you."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Oh no," s'Il said with a very light laugh, "I want to see this thing through to the end."

Lifting her face skyward, the Lupine took in another breath of the strange-smelling air. It perplexed her only mildly, the scents that seemed to appear and disappear through her olfactory senses.

"Not to mention; living vicariously through me isn't what you'd think. I'm willing to bet you'd die of boredom if nothing else."

[Sanis Prent]

"You're saying you're more boring than babysitting a dewback? Come on. Jedi knights?"

I shrugged my shoulders and made a face.

"If you were as boring as you tried to be, I'd have kicked out off this ship months ago."