Awful Fancy

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"Hey, it's cozy but it'd be nice to go a night without the threat of slamming an elbow or knee against the bulkhead," he said with a low chuckle as he pulled her against him, affectionately nuzzling her hair. "I love you too."

Having come through the night relatively unscathed he found himself in slightly higher spirits and had been about to lean in and suggest what they could do with the extra room before she mentioned her father.

"I suppose it's not that unusual for him to be there? How do you feel about it?" he asked directly. He knew she'd been vehemently avoiding him since their last run in and particularly since her mother's passing.

 

[Malia Afredane]

She sighed, trying to find the words for what it meant to run into him here. She didn't know how deep his criminal contacts went, she didn't know if the merchants here truly knew what kind of man he really was. All she knew for sure was that she had no desire to know him.

"I don't know what he's doing here, or how often he comes or how he knows anyone. I don't want to know. I don't want to know anything about him. As far as I am concerned, he was Mum's donor and that's it."

There was a very definite tone of animosity and hatred in her voice, but he had put a bounty on her mother in order to get her attention. And she had shot him. Without remorse.

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

He made a low throaty noise as he thought this through for a moment. "Would he be above getting at you through my family?" he asked. "Perhaps I need to have a few words."

He nearly jumped as the datapad in his pocket vibrated. He reached into his waistcoat to retrieve it, his face bathed in the blue light of its screen. "Huh," he went before smiling at her, flipping the screen around. "Message from Anara."


Don't know how you managed it, but you did well for yourself there.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"If my father has managed to keep tabs on me by cozying up to your family, perhaps. However, he seemed just as surprised to see me there as I was to see him. He probably didn't know there was a connection. Although, I'm sure he asked around and figured it out by now."

She might have continued on the subject but the comlink went off and the subject changed. It could stay a dropped matter for all she cared. She read the note and shook her head.

"Way to build a bridge Anara."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Kairon had a distinctly amused expression on his face. "I think in her own way she's trying to be nice about you." He was receptive enough to know when she wanted to stop talking about something. It was perhaps his own selfish view that thought it was better to drop Lars entirely and not ruin the rest of the evening. The airspeeder pulled up outside a hotel. "Right then, proper food."

They meandered straight past the lobby as he'd checked in on his datapad already and could pick up room cards at any time. The restaurant was clearly winding down now. There were more patrons at the bar than at tables. It was comprised of a number of smaller connected rooms with maybe seven or eight tables each, giving it a relatively intimate atmosphere at the busiest of times. Some aspects were traditional: wooden panelling on the walls and clean white table cloths. But over their heads was a distinctly modern swirling patten of metal that hung weightless in the air, with lights dangling down from the frame.

"Right then, what do you fancy?" he asked as they were brought food and wine menus. The corner of his mouth twitched as he recalled the fact that the hotel already had his payment details to add the meal to the bill. She wasn't going to win the game today.

 

[Malia Afredane]

They were slightly overdressed for the place but not overly. It was apparent that they had been in attendance of a merchant ball and were now deciding to take in a late supper. Her chair tucked into the table, she looked over the extensive wine list but when the waiter came to collect their drink order, she went with a glass of whiskey, three fingers neat.

When the tall formally dressed man left to retrieve their drinks, she picked up the dinner menu, pursing her lips.

"Hmmm, something rich and heavy and comforting."

____________________________________________________________________

Across town, Lars was conferring with an associate of his, a rather drab looking fellow from one of the lesser houses. It had surprised him to see Malia here and before he could make another attempt to speak with her, she and a very tall, black hair man had made a timely exit. However, it had not taken long to understand why Malia was here.

Schmidt & Rees.

The brooding fellow he had met was her paramour, something he found further distressing. Malia may buck at her relations, but he was still her father and the idea that she had embraced a life of a smuggler captain was altogether distasteful. However, the hulking man was not the only link to the party on the ship. There was another. Asmus Janes, Kairon's nephew.

Lars found himself being directed towards a young man, with dashing features and a very flamboyant air. Everything was worth a shot. He smiled keenly as he walked up to the young man, his hand extended in greeting.

"Asmus Janes, I was wondering if I might steal a moment of your time."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

Kairon had mulled over whether it was appropriate to order a whole bottle of wine for himself with Mal drinking whiskey, but not for very long. A couple more minutes and he would be subjected to the excruciating tasting process. He’d developed a taste for good wine later in life, but it had started as a pirate when it was seen as a worthwhile haul. Back then no one ever decanted, or poured a splash into a crystal glass for tasting.

“Well they’ve got steak. I could sit here and pretend I’m going to order steak with fresh veg for a while, but I’d just be deluding myself,” he said as he put the menu down.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Why did old people keep having to interrupt his attempts to socialise with people his own age? He hadn't seen these people in years and they were dreadfully interested to find out what he'd been doing. Having a string of middle-aged to downright elderly people constantly introduce themselves, or be brought to him by his mother was just inconvenient.

Asmus pulled his practised smile. Damnit, but persephone had just finished talking to family members as well. He shook the offered hand with a friendly nod.

"Of course, of course," he replied as the other young adults dispersed.