Hoth-er Than the Gates of Hell (Rima)

[Celty Ikon]

Celty groaned in his sleep at the small beeping noise that'd suddenly appeared from nowhere. The redheaded Hapan yawned as he got up and hit the button on his personal comm unit. A holo of a familiar man came up, smiling at him. One of Romeo Sin's so-called "contracting officers" - Iren Gavos.

"Hey, Little Red, I heard through the pipeline that you and that girl o' yours were looking for work," Gavos drawled. The sound of his voice always reminded Celty of a waitress who had somehow started wondering just how far her accent could get her with the customers.

"Go climb back into bed with whatever alien furry wrapped her tail around you today, Iren. I ain't interested in chasing down any 'crons or old libraries for Sin this time 'round," was the reply that the young man gave the officer as he tried to de-pillowfy his hair.

"Aww, is the widdle hammer baby sleepy? D'aww... suck it up, runt. You and that gunslinger girlie are going to Hoth to do a little digging." the older man snapped back, "Sin's on some kind of kick about that old iceball, and he's offerin' money to anybody who can find a landing zone and somewhere habitat-like."

"And naturally, you bastard, you jumped on the excuse to take me and my friend out of our cozy hotel and drop us somewhere that resembles the stuff I put in my whiskey to keep it cold?" Celty answered back in an acerbic tone.

"Yep. See you there, kiddo."

Celty made a rude gesture at the holo as the call ended. He was not looking forward to waking Rima up for this. How was he going to say it? 'Oh hey, Filly... We're leaving this lovely hotel we've been using as our safehouse and going to the coldest place in the galaxy. Doesn't that sound great?'

Still feeling the grogginess of somebody forcibly woken up, he pulled some pants on over his boxers and left the muscle shirt he'd been sleeping in on. At least it wasn't like he had to go find her, when she was right next door.

[member='Rima Filenko']

 

[Slot 11]

((OOC: Really? Of all the great Hoth puns, THAT'S what you came up with?? ))​

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"Shutuuuuuuuuuuuup....."​

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Rima's groggier-than-Hell voice cut through the chirping of the birds outside her window. Dammit, Naboo! Why do you always have to be in-touch with nature?! She sat up in bed like a zombie waking up for the first time. In fact, that's kind of what she looked like. Last night, she and Celty had finally finished a two-day-no-sleep job. This was supposed to be their time for catching up on sleep. But of course, birds can't handle late-risers.​

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She stood up, loosely grabbing Star from the nightstand and walking over to the open window. She didn't even have to try as she shot five birds sitting on the balcony across the street. Whoever lived there was in for a surprise when they woke up. Rima closed her window and collapsed back on her bed.​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]
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[Celty Ikon]

Celty was about to knock on the door to Rima's room when he heard... shooting? What the hell was she doing to the hotel room? He rolled his eyes in annoyance and exhaustion and knocked on the door. There was also the sound of a bird squawking at something as it flew away.

Now he really didn't want to try and wake her up.

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

Rima groaned very audibly.​

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"Goawaaaay! Idon'twantanyroomservice....." ​

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She called from where she fell on the bed, her voice slightly muffled by the covers. When the knocking at her door continued, she got up again and walked to the door. She looked out the peephole. Celty. Only he would be stupid enough to approach her when she was morning-sleepy.​

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She opened the door, giving him a look that would make corpses run from their graves. Her hair was messy and her braid was loose and uncovered. She was wearing a short and thin nightgown. Obviously she was too tired to care about how she looked in front of anyone.​

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"I'm going to ask you this, once. Was this really a wise decision?" ​

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Rima hissed with a venom that only a serious need for sleep could provide.​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

No. No it wasn't. Clearly, dragging Rima out in her morning monster form was a bad, bad, bad idea. Celty shrugged. He had to tell her where they were going at some point, right? Right. Of course, he made another stupid decision. He commented on her appearance, "Well, I clearly woke up the wrong evil ponytailed nightmare. The other one would've beaten the crap out of me by now."

He continued, "But, if the other bird-hating maniac is around, maybe I'd tell her to pack something warm. 'Cos we're going to Hoth."

The redhead lightly ruffled Rima's hair before adopting a slightly worried expression and asking, "Did you even sleep at all? If you didn't, we can leave in a couple of days, instead. My nerf herder employer can freeze on that iceball for a couple days, for all I care."

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

Rima's face didn't change at all with Celty's hair-ruffling and light humor. She brushed his hand aside and walked back to the bed, falling face-first on it again. She didn't even bother to close the door behind her.​

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"Jus.... Lemme sleep fivemoreminutes......."​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

Celty smiled a little bit as Rima collapsed back on the bed and closed the door behind him as he walked in and went straight for the coffee machine. However groggy she was, he'd been up a little bit later working on his bike. And he would've slept in far later than this, if only Iren hadn't woken him up with that call. But, he had, and now a certain redhead needed coffee. Probably wouldn't hurt to have some ready for the sleepy girl, either.

So, Celty sat down in the nearest comfy chair and pulled out a holo showing the spots where his bike needed fixing. It was like playtime.

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

Hearing Celty scuffle around in her room made it impossible for Rima to go back to sleep. She groaned again and got up. Might as well just get some coffee and deal with it. She stirred in five sugars and three creams before sitting down on the opposite end of the sofa.​

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"So... Why Hoth? Don't we hurt our asses enough as it is? I don't know if they can take frostbite."​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

Celty took a couple of sips of coffee before he answered. He didn't know exactly how to explain that his grandfather had apparently become close friends with the Shadow King at some point, and that the bastard now thought he could just rope his friend's grandson into whatever needed doing.

He answered, "Bloody Shadow King thinks I'm one of his naval officers that he can just order around. So, he sends the asshat who called me on this one, and this guy threatens to cut off my communications with other bits of the underground. Means my swoop racket and probably any mercenary contacts I have would suddenly disappear. Violently. And he apparently knows you're with me, so... at least for now, I'm trying to not get on his bad side until I can shatter his skull."

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

So, blackmail. This Shadow King guy sounded like a real class act. Rima hoped she never had to work for him full-time.​

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"I never knew you had a grandpa. How old is he?"​

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She gulped some of her coffee even though it burned her throat.​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

Celty thought about it for a moment. How old was Cross? He'd been alive for the Clone Wars, which would've made him... Almost a thousand years old? He smirked as he calculated and replied, "Well, I didn't know, either... But he's roughly a thousand."

He gulped down a large bit of the coffee, mentally shrugging aside the heat. Good to keep warm while he had warmth to keep.

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

"What the-?! Talk about ancient!" ​

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A thousand years old??? How the kark did he manage to pull that off??!! Rima was beginning to suspect foul play on Celty's part. She began eying his face for the telltale sign of the "You fell for it" smirk.​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

Celty shrugged. He honestly didn't know how his grandfather had lived to that age. It wasn't like he was a Shi'ido or a Gen'dai or something. Rima was pretty obviously looking for some kind of sign that he was joking, but he kept himself completely straight-faced as he answered, "Well, it says he went M.I.A. something like 5 years before the Clone Wars... And then he popped back up something like seven years ago... Right around when we both moved, actually. Apparently he was some bigshot Hapan admiral who had a certain amount of skill at um... creative bribery..."

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

"I'm not quite sure I want to know what that means..."​

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Rima finished her coffee and tossed the cup into the waste basket. She stod up and stretched before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Eegh. Not the kind of thing she'd like other people to see...​

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"Well, I'm just gonna take a shower. So, um..... If you plan on staying, keep your face turned away from the bathroom's direction at ALL TIMES. Understand?!"​

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[member="Celty Ikon"] ​

 

[Celty Ikon]

Celty rolled his eyes and bluntly answered, "He probably slept with every single major official in the Hapes Cluster. Feminist society, so... I'm guessing he was well-liked?"

He sniggered at Rima checking her reflection in the mirror and then smirked at her exclamation as he rolled his eyes again. Seriously, he liked her, but he was too mature for that kind of crap. He called back, "Like I'd even want to look, Filly. Your assumptions and ego both astound me, as usual."

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

((OOC: Let the smexual tension begin! ))​

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Rima shook her head. Always with the insults! She was more fit then he'd ever be! She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The shower was quick and cold. Just the thing she needed to completely wake up. As she stepped out, she realized with sudden horror that she'd neglected to actually grab any of her clothes. Well, this was just perfect... ​

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Sighing, she took a big white towel and wrapped it around herself as best she could. Then, she slowly opened the bathroom door and looked out into her room. Her clothes were laying on the floor.... Right next to where Celty was sitting. She cursed a million times in her head and started walking over to where he was.​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

((Wait, it didn't already? ))

Celty heard Rima step back out of the bathroom, and the tiny little corner of his brain that always told him to do stupid things told him to look. Instead, he very politely looked at the ground... and found out why she'd come back out of the bathroom in the first place. Her clothes were sitting on the floor almost right in front of him.

He rolled his eyes and waved his hand at the clothes, making them fly in the general direction of the bathroom. Except for the shirt that hit him in the face. Shirts hurt a little more than he'd thought. Finally, without even moving the shirt off his face, he turned to look in Rima's direction as he said, "Y'know, you could've just asked," he jokingly uncovered his blind eye as he continued, "It's not like I was going to peek."

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

Rima jumped backward, startled by the clothing that had suddenly flown into her face. She was so startled in fact that she dropped the towel by accident.​

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"Oh, Fething HELL! Next time WARN ME when you're going to do that!"​

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She yelled, her face so red that she looked like a cherry. She hastily picked the towel up off the floor and covered her front, too embarrassed to say anything else.​

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((OOC: TAKE THAT! ))​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​

 

[Celty Ikon]

The shirt fell off Celty's face and he blinked for a moment before covering his good eye and walking over to hand Rima her shirt. He picked up the towel with the Force and closed his eyes as he wrapped it back around her. Of course, any illusion of him just being polite was broken when he replied, "Well, usually people don't flash me in surprise, Filly. Maybe you need to work on a different reaction."

His face was as red as his hair, but he still managed to smirk as he sat back down with his holo-display.

[member="Rima Filenko"]

 

[Slot 11]

"You know, I'm beginning to wonder why I haven't shot you in your sleep..."​

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Rima began putting on her clothes as she spoke. The quicker she got them on, the quicker she could stop standing there like some first-time brothel wench.​

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"Wait. Where's my half-skirt?"​

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[member="Celty Ikon"]​