Off The Beaten Track

[Lief]

After confirming her suspicions, this Ar'ekk fellow then proceeded to inform her of the fact that she would only receive this opportunity once. If she did not act upon it now, she would lose any chance of furthering herself in such circles here on Lithios again, at least without some extraordinary reasoning presenting itself.

He could easily have been a cop.

Someone less well versed in this sort of thing might have took him for one, walked away or shot him in cold blood, but Mara had seen him back in the casino, at his last wits, all but ready for the end. A man without a purpose, that sort of thing couldn't be faked. At least not quite so well.

"Point me in their direction, then, credits are credits, and I won't ask any more questions than are necessary."

Always the best way. The less she knew, the safer she was. It was much easier to feign ignorance when you genuinely were ignorant, though why she was expecting some sort of smuggling run she couldn't quite say.

She hoped it was a smuggling run. Perhaps that was why.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Red Light Sector, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"Atta girl. You're smart, people like that."

He wasn't mocking Kalyn at all. The fact that she did not inquired further into what Ar'ekk said was a clear sign that the girl wasn't an informant or someone who was trying to catch the man for conspiracy to commit certain crimes charges for the ECPD. A detective from one of the top divisions had been trying to track down him at no avail, so he had to be pretty careful when talking to people about specific subjects.

"We'll need to use a computer terminal to access a specific encrypted network. That way, your name will show up in the prospective list under my sponsorship and you would've earned yourself an audience with a certain important figure. But listen to me... If I'm putting my neck out for you? You won't screw me over."

He stared into Kalyn's soul with a penetrating look, piercing her irides almost.

"Or I will."

From the sky, Ar'ekk's signature NX-249 Airspeeder hovered over them and carefully parked itself automatically to one side while the passenger side door opened for Kalyn.

"Come on."

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[Lief]

This Ar'ekk figure seemed serious about his work, contacts, and their anonymity.

Honestly? That made the whole ordeal that much more legitimate to her. He wasn't a fool who ran his mouth, or bragged about being bigger than he was. Idiots who wagged their tongues didn't last long in the shadier side of life, more often than not they turned up dead in some alleyway. Secrecy, but the sort while still remained casual, was often the best course of action. Go too strong with that and people would know something was up. Most people weren't quite so paranoid or distrusting to dodge questions or keep their names secret.

It was all about finding that balance.

"Screw you over?" She rolled her eyes, before catching herself in the middle of the act and letting out a soft sigh. "Look, man, I'm the one in need here. Ain't about to jeopardize a chance at extra credits now, am I?"

After a moment she added, "What I mean to say is, don't worry."

Once the speeder settled down and the passenger door opened, Mara slid inside and glanced back over the casino they had just exited from. Her ship was parked a few blocks away, within one of the spaceports... Hopefully he'd remember where they were, so she could get back to it, because she sure as hell didn't know this place well enough to return.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"Of course not. But we'll see what happens, nothing is set in stone yet."

The airspeeder pulled into a private garage at sky-high level, to one side was a metallic door that led to the interior of Ar'ekk's apartment. Everything inside was fifty percent a place to live comfortably as a rich person and the other retrofitted as a proper netrunning station to surf the Darknet without any issue whatsoever. Some extra space allowed Ar'ekk to set up his own thing, considering the rest of the apartment was still too big for one person.

It was design for more but... that wouldn't happen. Yet.

"It's my home, yes. And the computer terminal I spoke about is here, so it's our best bet. Public terminals are often interfered by other slicers and netrunners so if we want to reach out to my contacts, we're better off here. You don't want a mark on your head simply for messing with the wrong holoscreen."

His shoes came off before his feet touched the wooden floor, socks touching the cold surface until the carpet gave him the warmth that the place had. It was a sudden change of temperature, going from a frostbite cold rainy night to warm and melting cozy of a penthouse on Lithios' wealthy side of town.

"Let's not drag mud inside, shall we?"

Bottles of empty booze rested on the kitchen, an indication of what Ar'ekk's life had been for the past year. The pain continued to sting his heart and soul but it'd eventually get better, alcohol was his companion for the time being. Only temporary, though.

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[Lief]

Mara chose to remain calm throughout the journey.

It wasn't long by any means, but it did provide her with a good aerial view of the cityscape. Vast, vivid, and somewhat vertigo-inducing, she could not help but wonder just how many people were crammed into this world. Towers reached toward the skies, self-contained communities no doubt nestled among many of the high rises. It was likely that many never left their sector, even from up there she could see the dim lights of apartment complexes intertwined with shops, and cantinas, and nightclubs, and even the odd factory mixed throughout.

The air was heavy with smog and rain, and yet despite that she could see the telltale signs of environmental controllers. It could be so much more, beautiful, without so much pollution, perhaps even sunny and warm, yet for whatever reason the conditions were kept... Dreary.

In its own way, it was beautiful. Even if it was not ideal.

Finally the speeder docked itself within its garage, and she and Ar'ekk exited the vehicle. At his request she unbuckled her boots and kicked them off, setting them to one side despite the fact that a voice called out in the back of her mind that such was foolish. Not only were they her only pair of shoes, taking them off would make it much harder to get away if she had to. Wasn't as if she wanted to be running around in bare feet, after all.

The interior told all the tales she needed to know of the man before her. A fellow tech enthusiast, likely a slicer in some regard, somewhat of an alcoholic, and a man with a family. Or who had hopes for one. That, or perhaps he just needed a lot of extra space.

"Nice digs," she muttered, as the warmth of the apartment finally washed over her. Hopefully she'd soon be dry.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"Not so bad, is it? Make yourself at home."

He had already reached for the fridge, bringing out two cold beer bottles and uncapping them with a silverplated opener. Taking a long sip from his brandless beverage, Ar'ekk walked towards his computer to finally boot it up as an image of a dark blue demon-esque figure showed up on the holoscreen briefly.

"So, let me get everything set up and send the message to my contacts. We should hear from them tomorrow, most likely. Don't mind the mess either, feel free to do whatever you want while we wait."

Probably not what you wanted to hear. Waiting would make anyone uneasy, specially when you're in the comfort of a stranger's home a few miles away from your vehicle and in the middle of a city you never set foot on in your entire life. But Ar'ekk had the best of intentions and if there was something that could rub Kalyn off simply wasn't there, no matter how hard she tried to search something that would make her run out the door.

Resting his barefeet on top of the desk while leaning back on his comfortable chair specially built to withstand long nights surfing the darknet and doing whatever a slicer like him would do, Ar'ekk started typing and doing what he promised to do for Kalyn. Reaching out to his contact within the organization that he worked under, he'd try to get a meeting arranged with Gorda the Hutt or at least one of his representatives.

It was a matter of getting a response back, hopefully soon. The night was still young...

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[Lief]

At the words make yourself at home, and given the fact that she knew his liaison might take a while, Mara slid across the room and dropped herself into a seat at the sofa. Her gaze instinctively drew itself across the room and then out the window to the view of the city it provided.

She raised a hand to reject the drink when it was offered, giving him a bit of an apathetic - yet oddly apologetic - shrug of her shoulders. It wasn't as though she was trying to be rude, she just didn't feel like getting chitfaced due to alcohol poisoning or whatever it was that had a bad habit of knocking her on her ass whenever she drank the demon juice. Her memories of the last time remained firmly ingrained in her mind, ready to present themselves in moments such as these.

"No rush," she told him when he expressed the fact that there might be quite some time to kill, "Any hostels nearby that I can crash at in the meantime?"

Surprisingly enough Mara leaned back in the seat and looked as though she hadn't a care in the world. If he was going to try something he likely would have already, and if he chose to after this point... Well, she'd give him what for.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"None. Unless you want to sleep on the floor while spider-roaches come out of the decaying wooden walls."

The door was a few steps away from where Kalyn was sitting, nothing was in her way if she wanted to make a quick getaway. Ar'ekk knew Litihos too well and if she decided to hit a hostel, which most of them advertised as being five-star places when they were not, she'd either get mugged while she slept, kidnapped or possibly sold off as a slave.

"You can crash here, if you want. And look, if I wanted to do something to you I would've already done it. That works for both ways, so how about some trust here?"

Great, more beer for himself. The two bottles were already empty after five minutes of furious typing into his computer, relaying the message to his contacts and making sure everything was encrypted to avoid being detected and traced back by people with malicious intentions. He had none, of course, but Kalyn continued to give him off that vibe. Reaching out through the Force, Ar'ekk tried to give the girl some peace of mind about it.

"But know there's nothing stopping you from leaving. I can always keep your contact information and call you when it's done, your pick."

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[Lief]

Mara pulled a face.

"Spider-roaches? Gross. Thought I'd seen the last of them on Shaddaa." Such disgusting creatures, not something you wanted to be sharing a bed with. Given that this guy seemed to know his way around the City she decided to trust him on that one.

"Alright," she shrugged, "Crashing here it is then. I could make supper as thanks. I guess."

The rest of what he said was obvious at this point. No point in beating a dead horse, she was done with the paranoia conversations. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small electronic device the size of her thumbnail, attached to which was a pair of earbuds. She figured that while he worked she might as well keep herself busy, and so one of those earbuds was set into her ear - purposely making it so that she could hear him if necessary - and soon enough music was pulsing from within.

Habit bade her to softly hum along, eyes closing as she lost herself in whatever story the lyrics were trying to convey.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

Ar'ekk nodded.

"Sure. Feel free to raid the cupboard or refrigerator if you're hungry."

He continued with the frenetic stroking of keys, accessing all sorts of websites and sending different messages to different entities on the Darknet. Individuals, contacts he had met overtime and built a rapport of some kind to get services or jobs in exchange. Such thing, to build a network for yourself, took time and a lot of effort to pull off successfully.

Taking a break to walk around the apartment and stretch his body after half an hour sitting down like a total nerd, Ar'ekk roamed around the apartment with a half empty bottle of beer held by his dominant palm. Running his fingers across his hair and letting out a heavenly sigh, the man looked at Kalyn briefly as she enjoyed her own little world.

All of the sudden... the red haired girl morphed into Jyn for five seconds before he looked away to the window. He was allucinating.

"Huh."

A shiver went down his spine.

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[Lief]

Glimmik beats were replaced by a suddenly rapid and almost childish tempo when the device in her lap suddenly decided to switch genres. It was impossible for her to sit still when one of her favourite Sparkle-Bop songs was playing, and as such she slipped from the sofa while the man worked away - lost in the net - and began to casually sway across the room in a dance-like fashion. It was just her hips at first, rocking to-and-fro with each step she took, but soon her upper body was joining in too.

A few stray lyrics were uttered aloud, quiet enough so as not to disturb him yet with a genuine passion. They were fun, joyful words, the kinds most kids seemed to be drawn to. Of love and adventure and fantasy. She should have gone to a club, instead of a casino, earlier that day. Perhaps she could have boogied with the best of them, though at least the path she had ended up taking led her to potential jobs. Wasn't that why she was here, after all? To make a few contacts?

As the particularly upbeat song began to wane, Mara reluctantly refound her spot at the couch and hoped that her host hadn't looked over in her direction throughout the silly show of fun. A soft sigh, and a giggle which could not be held back, escaped her once she was seated. Her eyes this time drifted to the window instead of closing. Another song had taken over her ears. Still Sparkle-Bop, but a little more serious. While it didn't completely ruin her mood, it did leave her a little more thoughtful.

When a solitary sound broke through the otherwise quiet room Mara sat upright. Her eyes fell over to where Ar'ekk was now stood, staring out over the same view she had taken to watching.

"All good?" she asked, sort of concerned she might have missed a question or statement aimed her way.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"Yeah. It's nothing."

The booze found its way to the garbage bin and his eyes looked around as he tried to reason with the situation he just had witnessed. Just his imagination, a message from the past or future, a warning or simply nothing. He'd never know but seeing her again, for one last time, was comforting and gave the man some peace of mind even if it was temporary.

His frown was eventually replaced with a muffled laugh as he watched Kalyn dance around his apartment to upbeat music, lost in her own little bubble. She had some cool dance moves, he wouldn't lie about that, and perhaps would've been better off at a nightclub rather than a grimey casino watching old people wasting away their life savings. But they were too tired for that at this stage, maybe another day.

"Having fun?"

Ar'ekk beamed a toothy grin to the red haired girl once again, making a comment in jest regarding what she was doing.

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[Lief]

"A little music never hurt anyone," she retorted with a small smile, rising back up from the sofa in order to resume her little dance around the living quarters when yet another upbeat song made itself known. Her gaze shifted around the room as she moved, searching for any signs of a stereo device, and upon seeing speakers mounted around the room that smile became a fully fledged grin.

"One second..."

Reaching down to the device, now attached to her trouser pocket, she pressed a series of buttons and swiftly synced it up with the apartments network. Well, just that which controlled the audio-visuals - not his computer, of course. A sudden flash near the coffee table drew her attention as the inbuilt holo-suite began to play an accompanying video. Given that her device was solely in audio format, the fact it had found such was a little unnerving. The wonders of technology she supposed.

Turning back to where Ar'ekk stood she raised one eyebrow in challenge.

"What say you, Mister? Think you got a dance move or two in you?"

Music rang through the room, and without waiting for his answer Mara started to dance all over again.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"Me? Dance?"

Hah. He could dance, sure, if he had a couple of drinks into his system. Probably three Corellian ales or so but considering Kalyn was so ecstatic to dance and was already making some really cool moves, Ar'ekk decided to join her but not before picking another song for them to jam to and enjoy.

The apartment's network regulated the volume inside and made sure the quality of the music playing was the highest and because of that, the whole place resonated to the beat of a song that he picked for them to dance. Energetic, happy, joyful, random.

"Come on!"

Laughing as they began to show off their dance moves, Ar'ekk followed the tempo of the song and made sure the girl also followed his steps while he too copied the ones she was doing. Perfect sync.

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[Lief]

"Yes, you," came her curt retort, just a few moments before the song was altered.

The tempo, nay the whole feel of the song, was far different from anything she was used to. A new genre? Oh, that did excite the melomaniac in her. Her current moves didn't really work with the beat, however, so she was forced to watch Ar'ekk for a couple of moments to get into the swing of things.

Once she did, however, there was no stopping her.

While there was plenty of space between the both of them, and while the actual dance moves they were exercising happened to be vastly different, there was something which seemed to tie the two into one cohesive motion. Almost as though they had practiced it. Almost as though it had been performed before.

It hadn't, of course, it just seemed as though the both of them had a good feel for the song.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

This was truly the first time Ar'ekk felt as happy and upbeat in a long time, all thanks to Kalyn's contagious personality. Two complete strangers that met an hour ago were now dancing inside an apartment to loud music of a very strange and unheard of genre, feeling completely free of any obligations.

At the end of the song, he fell on the couch panting heavily and resting his hand on top of his rapidly beating heart. It felt like it was going to come out of his throat, exhaustion was already kicking in. Bottles of water rested by the counter nearby and if the girl were to fetch them they would've earned some time to freshen up.

"Wow! I didn't know you could dance that well!"

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[Lief]

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Skippy."

An obvious statement, given they'd known each other for all of five minutes, one punctuated by a bottle landing in his lap. One she'd grabbed from the counter in hopes that it might stop him from having a heart attack. The last thing she needed right now was for him to collapse on her, she could imagine it now, how poorly that would look.

No Officer. I don't know his last name. Or his date of birth. Or really anything about him at all.

Sure fire way to get yourself locked up for murder, that's what that was!

Walking to the window, seemingly in much better shape than he was yet still happily necking most of the bottle in a few swift gulps, she let out a sigh.

"So, how'd you afford such a view?" she asked, knowing full well that usually buildings this high up, with a view over prime locations, had a very high rent bracket. Not something the likes of she could afford, that much was for certain.

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

For a man that worked in such a dangerous line of work, you'd expect he'd expect to be more in shape than anyone else. And he was, of course, sporting a very athletic build that screamed "I work out everyday!". Dancing? That was something else and he hadn't done that in a few if not a long, long time.

Uncapping the bottle of water and chugging some of it like a desperate pig, Ar'ekk enjoyed every last drop of it until it was empty. Wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater and getting up from the couch, he walked up to the window and joined Kalyn on admiring the view.

Smog, rain, neon flashing lights and a plethora of advertisement covered the skyline of Ethos City.

"Certainly not doing honest work. I am not a criminal but I was under a few reputed people on the Smugglers Moon, the real deal. Hutts."

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[Lief]

As he joined her by the window Mara shifted over just enough to give him the space he needed.

One specific advertisement in the distance had caught her eye at this point, it was pitching a new holosystem and while she wasn't really one for video games - it wasn't as though she had any way to play them - the 30 second clip that seemed to be on repeat was intriguing enough. Almost made it seem as though you could lose yourself, immersed in countless worlds.

All inside a headset. How crazy was that?

After watching it for the third time on repeat she finally turned over to look at Ar'ekk.

"Shaddaa? Nice. Haven't been there in a long time. Hutts still got it by the neck, I presume?"

Then again, when didn't the Hutts own that region of space?

[member="Arekk"]

 

[Arekk]

LITHIOS​

Ar'ekk's Apartment, Ethos City​

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INTERACTING WITH: [member="Kalyn Shif"]​

"To this day, yeah. But here? This is where I like to get lost."

Kickback, relax and enjoy. His own apartment was the place he felt safe within, around these walls, the computer or even his bed. Where he found his balance in life, think everything through and let all the pressures dissipate into the thin air. Looking out the window, Ar'ekk was captivated by the same holoadvert. As expected, he owned that very same system.

Matter of fact, he owned a lot of things but nothing filled him of happiness like company.

"That's a long story for another time."

His stomach began to grumble in the most obvious of manners. It was late into the night already and they hadn't eaten anything since they got home. Maybe it was time to take up Kalyn on that supper offer...

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