Responsibility

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Live mus-- ARGH!”

Her answer was promptly interrupted by the sudden squirt of hydraulic fluid that went streaming smack dab on her right cheek. It splotched her good, sending a stream of purple brown liquid sprinkling all against her face, dribbling down her shirt, and saturating her with that ohsolovely stench.

Her eyes promptly shut, trying her best to avoid getting any of the liquid in her eyes. FIngers deftly went in to plug the leak, attempting her best to lock it down blind and just by feel.

“Dang-nabit!” she sputtered out, grimacing at the bitter, acrid tang that managed to drip into her mouth as she quickly cried out, “Get me a rag will ya?”

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Ack, er,” Asmus raised up his hands and twisted around at the waist looking for the rag he'd discarded just moments ago.

He snatched it up from the ground and rushed to her. With her eyes still closed he placed one hand over the back of hers and tried to feed the rag under her grip.
“Here, I'll hold it off and you tighten it down,” he said before laughing. “See, this is why I was going to have a shower. It was an excuse to sit drinking beer and let you get filthy on your own!”

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile would sputter, spitting out hydraulic fluid from her mouth as they worked in tandem for her to tighten it down.

Oh really?

There was a mischievous part of Kaile there. One that was slowly rearing her head again. The one prone to quips and innuendos and a drizzle of euphemisms. It was a sign she was getting better, that she could still have a good laugh. It was a step. Yet it did not mean she forgot the ache was still there.

One eye popped open while the other squinted. It glittered with a note of mirth, “Remind me to never invite ya’ll to get filthy with me then again.” She shot back with a quip, returning her attention over to the seal. The leak now waned to a trickle, until it was finally sealed off.

A small grimace crossed over her grimy face, one cheek now tinted a dark purply black. Dark trails went carving down her chin and neck, saturating in dark pools on her tank top. Well, good thing I changed over…

“Well… reckon it is a good thing we go them extra cans of fluid.” This big guy was going to need a top off.


[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

“I most certainly will not,” Asmus said with a grin. Turning his head away from the leak he tentatively pulled the rag away. When he was happy he wasn’t going to get the same dose as Kaile he pulled it away and stepped back. “Here,” he said as he held the rag out for her, “You’ve got some on you. Yeah just a touch by here,” he said sarcastically pointing to his own cheek.

Shaking his head he laughed and took another step back. He was genuinely happy to see her back this way again. He’d dug up some deep pain up on the galley. Even with his attitude in life he knew that whatever was ailing her wasn’t the kind of thing to go away quickly. Time, good company and smiling might at least help, he figured.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Oh, yous reckon so?” She shot him a mock dry expression of oblivion, “Sure ‘bout that?” Her arm went reaching out, fingers brushing his hand as she claimed the rag from him. Taking a step back, she gave a grimace, wiping off her cheek and feeling the slick feel of it burn her skin.

Her nose would wrinkle. Hydraulic fluid was not the most pleasant of scents. Not to mention, it gave a slight burning sensation if left on too long. All of Asmus’s hard work with her hair was also officially ruined. There were parts of her hair saturated by the liquid, which resulted in Kaile trying her best to wipe off the bulk of it. There was a bit of melancholy in that.

“Reckon I don’t quite smell like lavender now,” she joked to herself, giving a small sigh. Every effort was made to clean up as much of the gunk from her fingers. Once she did, she’ll tie her hair back up good and proper.

“How does that shoulder feel now Big Guy?” Brown eyes darted up towards the loader droid, her face a half grimy mess with dark spots scattered over her neck and chest.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

His gaze followed the rag and he watched as she wiped the patches of skin caught by the fluids and then her hair. Oh dear, she really had got caught.

“Probably,” Asmus said. Realising that for the past few seconds he'd just been staring at her with a stupid grin he turned away quickly and returned to his own loading droid. “Erm, do you want some goggles?” he asked, feeling a touch flustered. It was fortunate she hadn't gotten any of then fluid in the eyes.

Walking over to another metal cabinet he found a pair of cleanish rags. He balled them up and tossed them back by the Twins.

A loud whirring accompanied the Twin doing a little short of each shoulder in turn. “MUCH BETTER THAN YOU. HYDRAULIC FLUID IS TEN PERCENT LOW…SORRY.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“If’n you got any,” Kaile would request, a bit of relief in her voice. Her face would continue to contort in various grimaces as she did her best to clean herself up, the rag swiping across her neck and over her decollete. Glancing over at the Twin in question, she shot him a wry grin.

“Hold up, you’re all covered too.” Taking her rag, and a clean one that Asmus had tossed over to the droid, she went about wiping off the excess fluid. “Get me a can of hydraulic fluid while you’re at it, Asmus.” She’d call out over her shoulder, her concentration back on the Twins.

“Ain’t no trouble,” Kaile murmured in regards to the loader droid’s apology, “Knew I was gonna get all gussed up one way or another in fluids.” She’d say, her brows arching in and up as she did her best to wipe all of the fluid out from the wires and the surrounding chassis.

A new song would start playing in the background, but Kaile paid it half a mind. That is usually what happened when Kaile was elbow deep in grease and electronics. Company kept her entertained, along with the usual song and dance.

“There we go…” she gave the seal one last wipe.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“YOU LEAKY OLD THING,” the other Twin exclaimed.

“OH PLEASE. I’M NOT THE ONE WHO BLEW A GASKET AND MADE A MESS OF MALIA’S NICE CARGO BAY!”

“THIS IS TRUE,” said the original doing, managing to a little abashed through the harsh artificial modulator.

Asmus was busy sorting through the crate of spares for the right can. In truth he should have known exactly where it was given that he packed the crate, but was only half paying attention. He returned to Kaile a few moments later with the can and an oil filler syringe.

“I’ll go grab a set,” Asmus said, “You don’t want to get that crap in your eye.” Getting mucky was part of his job from time to time, but it certainly wasn’t one of his favourite parts of it. He almost winced at the sight of her freshly washed hair all greased up,

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

That was about the time her eye began to sting. Really bad.

As if summoned by Asmus' careless words - or more aptly a drop of hydraulic fluid dripped from her eyebrow into her eye- Kaile suddenly began blinking rapidly. Her right eye began to tear up, vision becoming blurry and a mite bit red as the irritation spread.

"Dang it!" Came her low curse, instinctively trying to use the clean rag to rub at her eye. However, that wouldn't help as all it did was smear the residue that had been on her face. Internally, Kaile would chide herself and heap all sorts of curses over her own head. Now she appeared a right fool at that!

Embarrassment along with the irritation of her eye pinkened her cheeks and began to water get nose, a few tears escaping with every blink as it attempted to flush the irritant out.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Oh bollocks!” Asmus exclaimed. “Keep your hands off it. Ah feth it, the eye kit is in engineering. Stay still I’ll be back in a moment!” He turned on his heel and set off at a sprint. He shot through the by doors, using his arms to deflect his momentum off the far wall of the corridor and aim it down towards engineering.

He rushed out onto the mez floor of engineering, turning towards the ladder down. Grasping both rails on the outside with both feet and hands he slid down rapidly.

“You alright?” Kairon called from the second filtration unit.

“Eye kit!” Asmus called as he ran to the green box on the wall. He yanked it down and turned to head back.

“Need medical?” Kairon called, looking genuinely concerned.
“Maybe, I’ll shout if we do. Might just need a wash out,” Asmus called, though Kairon noted the strain in his voice. He made his way up the ladder and rushed back to the cargo bay, opening the kit and pulling out a bottle of sterile saline as he ran. Whatever Kaile had done in his absence, he would immediately start to fuss over her and help wash the rest of the gunk out.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“LOOK WHAT YOU DID!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO!”

“Boys.. boys!” Kaile would call out over their bickering, gesturing with a hand as if to say it was alright. However, it didn’t seem to be with how one eyes was turning pink and slightly puffy from the way it was tearing up something fierce.

“It’s fine… Just need to rinse it out that’s all.” She’d say, trying to reassure them both. One very blurry Asmus would join the fray. “Oh you got the -”

And much like a mother hen, he began to fuss over her. Truth be told, it was rather charming, but the worry in his eyes and his expression was very real. There wasn’t any sense in arguing with him, other than following along.

Extending her neck forward, bent over slightly, the sterile wash was directed outwards in, doing its best to rinse off the residue fluid. It figures it was an afternoon of getting dirty and wet, what with the saline water running down her face and dripping off her chin and throat.

She kept blinking rapidly, trying to help along. Finally, the sting waned, and she gave a little wiggle of her fingers and hand to say she was good.

“Okay… I think… i think that’s good.” She said, trying to keep the saline water out of her mouth. She still felt right embarrassed about the whole thing.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Alright, just look up at me a moment,” Asmus said. His right hand cupped her cheek, whilst his left still held the half-empty bottle of saline. Dropping the bottle he grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it up to use the inside to wipe over and around the eye. It was the cleanest bit of fabric he had to hand.

For a few moments he looked at the eye, but his gaze quickly strayed. She’d see his eyes quickly flick from point to point on her face, before slowly rising back up to meet her eyes.

“Right...goggles it is then,” he said absently. Taking a deep breath in through his nose he gently kissed her lips before relinquishing his touch. Asmus picked up the bottle to discard and turned to find the goggles. It occurred to him that he had perhaps overreacted a tad, but he decided to check the can of spare fluid to see if there were any more instructions for contact with the eye.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Is it that bad-”

The gentlest press of his lips would cut her query off, freezing her for a moment. Her good eye widened slightly, while the other puffy one would stare up at him through a fringe of wet, spiky black lashes. A tiny Koros butterfly brush, feather light but brought with it a wealth of peculiar flutters with it.

“Ah, yeah…” she found her voice, blinking a bit more as she fought the urge to wipe at her eyes again with the curl of her fist. Coated with fluid and grease, they were not what she needed to rub on her eyes after getting them rinsed out.

“Was not ‘spectin’ that to happen.” Kaile tried to make light of the situation, if a bit sheepish as she gave a small shrug of her bare shoulder. Glancing down at herself, she gave another sigh. Her left eye saw the saline stains bleed into the blossoms of inky purple.

A pinch of her fingers and she plucked the fabric of her grey tank off of her chest. “Well.. better this one than my other one.” She gave him a half grin, trying to lighten the mood at her own expense.

“I reckon I’ll be fine with goggles now.” Although it was quite comical seeing her blink her red-rimmed eye. It was a little bloodshot, but otherwise her vision was fine. At least, she wasn’t seeing double.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Yeah,” Asmus said. A touch of colour reaching his cheeks. Part of that warmth came from the sudden swell of emotion from the spontaneous kiss, part came from the realisation that he’d been fussing over her. He mumbled to himself as he read the back of the tin, fortunately there were no clear warnings around eye contact.

“Reckon I’ll get another pair for myself,” he said. “That muck and grime in their joints will do worse than the oil in their pipes.” That stuff could get pretty nasty after a while and carried tiny metal flakes. Why did each kiss still elicit these reactions. Normally a kiss brought excitement, a sudden rush of adrenaline and expectation with the first. Not this. How long would this carry on for? He mused. Two days wasn’t a long time to experiment with.

Asmus meandered back over from the tool cabinets with two pairs of goggles. “There’s some dressings in the kit if it gets worse,” he said, giving her a sympathetic look as he handed some over.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

"Mighty grateful,” she’d say with appreciation, taking the goggles from his hand as well as the dressing. Her eyes would scrunch a bit, occasionally blinking now and then. It was mostly reactionary now, the film rinsed out under Asmus’ care. Out of habit, she took a clean dressing and began to rub her eye with it.

“Can’t help it. Just feels as if I gotta rub it,” she explained with a half laugh. That’s all one can do now really. Laugh at oneself for the silly things. It was a brief lull in the seriousness of it all and what was to come. “Thanks for the rinse, Asmus.” She’d say softly after, glancing up at him. One large brown eye locked upon green while the other was lightly rubbed back and forth with the dress. After a second she withdrew it away. It was still a bit red, but getting better. Just air and time would wane that lingering red tint that had aggravated the tiny capillaries there.

A heavy sniff came then, followed by a smaller one. The issue with washing one's eye and tears is that it played havoc on the nose thereafter, bringing with it another annoying bit of drainage. The back of her hand went swiping under her nose - which only served to now decorate with a black smear across the tip.

“Alright, “ she took the goggles and began to slip them over her head, brushing back her bangs to avoid getting them caught. A small sturdy check at the rims and she straightened them, giving another half sniff.

“Not too shabby right?” Came her crooked questioning smile, hair all mussed and sticking in tiny tufts around the elastic. One slightly red eye, a black tipped nose, and a constellation of oil slicked splotches and smears over her cheeks, neck and chest. If there was ever a picture of some grimy faced, engine mech rat, it was she.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus grinned as he pulled back on the elastic strap and eased his own goggles on. “At least I didn’t put an eyepatch on you!” He said. “‘Least you still smell fresher than me.” Even with her hair all stuck up in angles he could stand to watch her a while. The greased and damp tank top was a touch problematic however and he kept his eyes away.

Returning to his Twin he started on the panel between its shoulder blades for a look at the internal droid brain. It might have seemed the pair were actually running off processors the size of peas, but they were actually quite large, ruggedised units. Once the back panel was off he wiped his hands down with a cloth and grabbed an anti-static wrist strap. No point frying the poor lumbering creature on account of his carelessness.

“Best bit of getting dirty is getting clean again. Wait, I just made that sounds really seedy!” He said with a slightly nervous laugh. Damnit but where was that smooth charm that had served him so well in life to date.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


“Doubtful.” She quipped back, in regards to smelling better. However, what he said next prompted a twitch at the corner of her mouth.

She took the can of fluid and the injector in hand. With smooth motions- and a bit of extra care - she popped it open and filled the injector up.

His sudden laugh hiked up an octave, prompting her to cast him a sideways glance. He seemed a bit off kilter again. Seeing him fret a bit was endearing, and she found herself with a ghost of a smile at that.

“Nothing seedy about a sonic, Asmus.” She told him, trying to help him to relax. A different Kaile, the one from two weeks ago, would have asked him if that was a proposition. She'd likely have been coy, tossing him a flirty grin with a wink to boot. Oddly enough that didn't quite sit well with her right now. It wasn't that she didn't find Asmus attractive; oh she did. A big too much was the problem.

He was confusing her something fierce. Tying her in knots. Making her feel all flustered and worried at the same time. Aware. She was terribly aware of him. To the point it made her forget herself. It was this confounding medley that made Kaile question it all. And if it was her being selfish because of circumstances.

It was all too confusing.

“It isn't a hot tub.” Came her subsequent quip, an attempt at light humor. Coming back up to the loading droid, she took the injector and began to refill the lost fluid.

“Although I reckon I have you beat on the best thing.” She'd add, slowly watching the fluid get injected.

“Freshly laundered bed sheets.” She was being quite serious. She enjoyed the soft sensation of it on her bare legs.

“That's the best bit after cleaning up.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Yup, won't disagree with that one,” Asmus replied. His mind went off on a tangent again. Both of them clean and dry, a large bed with clear white linen. Getting under the covers and snuggling in together. Floor bed roll was all he had to offer unfortunately. They would make do.

“I'd kill for a hot tub,” he laughed. “Or even just to borrow the hot water shower once in awhile.” His hair would be in such better condition if he didn't take sonics at all.

“Ah, here's your point two percent!” he announced to the Twins. “Cooling fan is all clogged up. Didn't come up in diagnostics so I'm going to change your thermal sensor on the processors too.

“So,” he said to Kaile. “Labour rates for this kind of work are pretty steep. You clearly know your stuff. Does it really pay as well working at Yum Bunnies? Oh what am I saying. I bet you get tipped a month's wage on a good evening!”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


Were it said any other way, or had Kaile not been able to get a good idea on Asmus’ character, Kaile might have taken a bit of an offense at the statement. The way it was worded certain gave pause, making one wonder if he was insinuating something in particular, especially considering this was Yum Bunnies they were talking about. Their restaurant chain gave no apologies to what its product was, and while the girls were on a strict ‘No touch policy’, the fact that their uniforms were tiny black shorts and an even tinier white shirt complete with a bunny tail and lepi ears didn’t stray too far from the mind.

“Ahh…” Kaile began, slowing down a bit on her injection of the fluid as she kept track of the amount. “Depends on the location and the night.” She told him, finishing up as she took the injector out. No other leaks so far, but a check would do some good. “I do what I can.”
A small shrug of her shoulder came next. She couldn’t really say that her job depended on just what the Big Guy wanted her to do, and who he wanted her to spy upon. Her attention moving to check the rest of the lines. “It ain’t that much though.” She’d admit.

“Tips are split between the waitresses and the busboys. Work as a team and all.” A glance would dart over towards the dark haired scoundrel, watching him work on the Loader Droid’s fan. Her smile broadened softly, seeing him try to act nonchalant. Kaile didn’t know what to make of him quite yet. There were times where he seemed flustered, and there were others where he took charge and changed - well not quite changed as much as just…

The dark slash of her brows met at the middle and turned up. The memory of specific examples of that now befuddled her.

“How about ya’ll?” She’d ask, “Does the smuggling life pay well?”

 

[Asmus Janes]

“It didn’t used to,” he admitted gravely. “Had a few really bad years when moves slaves and spice under the Republic’s nose was the best business and Kairon wouldn’t play ball. Now the borders are all over the place we make a good deal moving almost anything across pickets. We know a lot of the good back roads and Kairon’s a shrewd negotiator. We work a lot with Mal and she’s got two ships on the go now so times have been good.”

He narrowed his eyes as he very carefully pulled a small sensor from the mainboard and replaced it with a spare. Then he took the filter from the fan and dusted it down and unclogged it. After the components were placed back with extreme caution he started to seal up the unit.

“Don’t have much to spend my share on mind. Food gets pulled from the running budget, so does upkeep of home. I just figured doing this would pay you better than serving even if people will tip a friendly, pretty face. If you’re not careful Kairon will hire you as a mechanic before we get to port!” He exclaimed.