A Fame Detox... Through Kidnapping? (Cherry)

[Crow]

Bek felt very satisfied with himself at the moment. His heist had gone off perfectly! He was holding a diamond worth several hundred thousand credits, and that meant fun for the career thief. Maybe he'd buy the former owner's own penthouse out from under him. Sticking it to the rich, y'know?​

​

He sat there, with the magnetic grips in his right glove and boots keeping him attached to the building. It never occurred to the magnificent Crow that he was sitting outside somebody else's window. So, he relaxed, putting away the beautiful jewel and pulling a bottle of Boba Cola out of his jacket pocket. What a perfect morning it was.​

​

[member='Cherry Ikon']​

 

[Slot 18]

Ugh. This was just perfect. Cherry walked out onto the small balcony of her Zeltrosian penthouse. The morning sun made her vibrant red hair and silky nightgown shine brightly. But the brightest thing on her being was the diamond-clasp choker she wore on her neck.​

​

Cherry leaned her elbows on the railing, listening to her manager talk over a holo-call.​

​

"Look, all I'm saying is that you could use the publicity. Kento's is a VERY well-known place. Think about the crowd you'd get!"​

​

"We talked about this, Vor. I'm not going to sing for a bunch or drunk pigs in a bar. I don't care how well-known it is."​

​

Her voice sounded partially synthetic. Almost like a protocol droid's, only with more emotion. ​

​

"I've been going out on limbs for you for three years now, kid. If you keep on refusing to work, I'll get another singer."​

​

"Go ahead, Vor. We both know that the public would full-on riot in the streets if you tried to replace me. You'd be out of business in a week. So, why don't you go find someone else to spew your bullcrap to? I'm staying home today."​

​

Before Vor had another chance to protest, Cherry cut off the call. She sighed, rubbing her temples. This just wasn't her morning. She was so stressed out that she didn't even notice someone practically standing right next to her.​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

At most times, Bek completely kept his cool. This was not one of those times. He yelped and dropped his soda when he heard a feminine, yet droid-like, voice talking angrily at somebody. When he regained his composure, he lost it again as he realized that he'd dropped his only bottle of fizzy sugary stuff. He made angry noises through the window at the mysterious woman.​

​

And then his eyes widened when he noticed the hair and the choker. Was that Cherry-Cherry?​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry jumped, startled by the sound talking so close to her. She glanced in its direction. There was a boy, clinging to the wall? He was watching her... She backed up, her spine pressed up against the balcony railing.​

​

"W-who the Hell are you?!"​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

Crow tilted his head at her, less startled by her talking to him than her actually happening to be there. He deftly disengaged his boot magnets and swung onto the railing of Cherry's terrace, re-locking the magnets so he could perch there.​

​

"I'm Bekker. Or Crow. Or whatever. Big fan until you scared the chit out of me so badly I dropped my drink half a minute ago."​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry sighed again, putting one hand on her left temple and closing her eyes.​

​

"A fan... Looks like I'll have to move again. Vor's going to be furious, as usual. Old hag..."​

​

Damn this headache. It'd started the minute she woke up, and the medicine she took wasn't helping at all. ​

​

"Don't be expecting anything special. This is my home, and you're not supposed to be here."​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

Bek nonchalantly waved a hand in dismissal of the idea.​

​

"Don't worry 'bout it. Not like I can advertise that I was up here, anyway. Bad way to get arrested."​

​

He tilted his head with an expression of slight concern on his face. The Force let him get a vague feeling of pain from Cherry, and it occurred to him that that could be part of the reason she looked so annoyed.​

​

"Are you okay? I mean, I could just go and you could forget about me bugging you."​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry was about to answer him when her holo-com started beeping again. She hit the button.​

​

"You think that hanging up on me's going to change my mind?"​

​

"Vor, I said no. I mean no. No matter how many times you ask me, the answer will still be no."​

​

"I'm already downstairs, Cherry. When I get up there, we're going to Kento's, and then we're going to the photo-shoot and interview-"​

​

"Listen to me very carefully. FETH. NO."​

​

Cherry threw the holo-com off the balcony. This headache... She didn't even care about Crow on her balcony anymore, or even that she was in nothing but her nightgown. All she could think about was the throbbing.​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

While Cherry was having her argument, Bek decided it'd be a good idea to call his car up to the terrace. He didn't fancy climbing back down the tower, now. As the vehicle flew up, he looked at the singer and raised an eyebrow. An idiotic, but possibly good, idea flew into his mind and nested there.​

​

"You need a vacation, girlie."​

​

He gently put an arm around her shoulders and guided her to the car.​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

"H-hey! Stop it! If you don't let go of me right now, I-I'll scream!"​

​

Cherry tried squirming out of Crow's grasp. It felt gentle, but it was also firm enough to keep her from getting out of it. They got to the railing. There was a bit of a gap between the car and the balcony railing.​

​

"Stop! I'll fall!"​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

"Look, could you not nitpick? What kind of idiot would I be if I let you fall?"​

​

Bek very gently picked Cherry up and made a short jump with the jet pulses from his boots, setting her down in the passenger seat. He leapt rather acrobatically into the driver's seat and smiled at her.​

​

"Could you strap yourself in? This car is fun, but a little bit of a strange ride."​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry gasped, closing her eyes as Crow propelled her into the passenger side of the vehicle. She looked at him like he was insane.​

​

"No, I will not strap myself in! Now let me out of here!"​

​

She went to open the door. Only to find it was locked. Chit! He was kidnapping her!​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

Bek rolled his eyes, gesturing to the seatbelt.​

​

"Look, I'll justify myself later, okay? Can you just hold whatever assumptions you have about me until we get going?"​

​

He leaned back in his chair and sighed as he looked up to the sky.​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry glared at him. But she strapped herself in anyway. She then crossed her arms and stared straight ahead.​

​

"Don't think that anything you say to me will matter. This is still kidnapping, and it's still wrong."​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

Bek shook his head in exasperation and concentrated on driving away from the penthouse tower.​

​

"You displayed every sign of overexertion and stress I've ever seen, short of actually jumping off the terrace, in under five minutes. Don't you think that means, 'Hey, I should take a frakking break'? No?"​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

"It's just a morning thing! I get headaches all the time. And Vor's an nerf herder no matter what. I don't need a break!"​

​

Cherry fiddled with the diamond on her choker, something she did a lot when she was upset. Vor would see she was missing and send an army to find her. She'd be back to concerts and photo-shoots and interviews soon enough. Part of her wanted this. However, being as stubborn as she was, she wouldn't admit that the other part of her was screaming exhaustion and agreeing with everything this Crow guy was saying.​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

"Gawd, you're stubborn... Nobody just gets headaches. Your nerf herder manager is stressing you out or something, and it's giving you problems. Everybody needs a vacation, sometimes."​

​

Bek sighed heavily as he kept driving. At least Zeltros was a relatively easy place to hide on. His safehouse here was pretty far out of the way, and nobody had ever found him there. Beach islands were good for that.​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry started massaging her forehead again. All of this talking and thinking was making it worse.​

​

"I can't... afford to have a vacation right now, okay? There's too much that needs to be done. I have concerts and rehearsals and interviews and... Ow...." ​

​

[member="Crow"]​

 

[Crow]

"Exactly. And when have you ever gotten a real break before?"​

​

Bek reached behind him for a bottle of water as he saw Cherry wince again. On his first try, he found a bottle that had a slug in it. Nope. He fumbled around for another. That had acid in it. Nope, again. Finally, he gave up and handed her a soda from the glove compartment.​

​

"Drink something, will you? Sugar or water, it'll make the headache a little better."​

​

[member="Cherry Ikon"]​

 

[Slot 18]

Cherry took the soda, sipping it.​

​

"..... To be honest, I don't remember. I don't do things the way other people do."​

​

The fizziness of the soda and the coolness of the liquid were already starting to help a little.​

​

[member="Crow"]​