Responsibility

[Asmus Janes]

“Ah, so the real culprit identifies herself and offers a plea for mercy. The plot thickens,” Kairon said. “Very well, there shall be no consequences for your previous actions should you follow through with the ‘pretty princess’ routine.” Kairon returned to his steak, as he cut through the slab of meat Kaile might have just caught him muttering under his breath: “would make up for that fething twister debacle.’

Asmus gave Kaile a pleading look. “Come on now! I took the hit and you still jump onto his side. I’m wounded!” He rolled his eyes, laughed and returned to his meal. Going one down to Kairon in their game of oneupmanship had seemed a very low price indeed to hear her laughing again in his view.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

A snort of laughter almost caused Kaile to spit out her beer at having picked up Kairon’s last. Her hand went slapping over her mouth, eyes wide as she recalled what the Twins had shouted.

WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN CANNOT BE UNSEEN!

RED! YELLOW! GREEN! BLUE!

MADE US LOOK FOR CHEATING AND THEN IGNORED US!

Tears glistened in her eyes, trying her best to smother her laughter. Thankfully, she had the ability to set her beer down before it spilled all over. Managing to gather her bearing, she finally added.

“He.. he has a point, Captain.” Kaile would add, her smile growing, “We can’t have moral down. Pretty Princess might do that.” She quipped.

“I’ll concede to takin’ responsibility for my actions,” she popped a bite of steak into her mouth, eyes twinkling in mirth.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus felt a light blush warm his cheeks again. If he’d heard that comment, that was probably what had set Kaile off. He shook his head, before looking to Bobo. “This is what I have to put up with every day little man,” he said, his hand waving to encapsulate the rest of the crew.

Bobo shrugged.

Asmus clinked his cutlery back onto his empty plate and excused himself to go to the refresher. As he hit the lower deck he mumbled something about clean sheets and headed to a cupboard set into one of the bulkheads. He sorted through several sheets, sniffing them in turn until he found a nice warm, fresh set. He took them towards his cabin.

“Anyone want some fudge cake?” Kairon asked as he finished off his plate. Before Kaile could do her cleaning up job, he’d stood up and gathered his plate, Asmus’ and Kaile’s.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


“Oh I can do that, you ain’t got to trouble yourself!” Kaile would object, following up behind the Captain with a fretful expression on her face. Bobo managed to hold on tightly as his owner took quick steps, hovering behind Kairon like a busy mother hen anxious about another doing things that she was keen on taking care of on her own.

Mai was more interested on the fudge cake.

“I can clean up ‘round here, Captain.” Kaile would say again, her braid swinging as she stepped alongside him.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Shoo! Go sit!” Kairon said jovially, stacking the plates on the surface and waving her away. “One cooks, one cleans. Those are our rules.”

Kaile wouldn't be getting past his broad six foot four frame regardless of how much she fretted. Plates were scraped into a unit for recycling organic waste and plates were then stacked in the sonic cleaner.

“What you heading to Denon for then Kaile?” He asked as he slid open the freezer drawer. “Aha!” He went quietly as he pulled out a small box. He slipped open the flap and placed it in the heater to defrost and warm through.

Asmus reappeared a moment later. “That cake?” He asked.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“But I can help just fine..”

The mild argument reminded her of another. Kaile bit her lower lip.

’You cook.’ A thumb went jutting at Kurt’s chest, ‘I’ll clean.’ He had been rather obstinate about it. Until Kaile had finally given in. ‘That’s how mum did it and that’s how we’ll do it.’

It had been their little tradition since then. Kaile cooked. Kurt cleaned.

“I ah..” She began, just as Asmus walked in. “Got a pick up to do. A job to fly out to.” She told him, which wasn’t a lie. She had to take another freighter out to Sullust to meet up with the Big Guy. From there, he was bound to reassign her to a new mission then.

Brown eyes darted over to Asmus, and she gave him a feeble half grin. The question caught her a bit off guard while she was trying to be helpful. “Well, let me at least get plates for those who want cake then.”

So she went on to busy herself with that, walking past the Captain to reach the cupboard.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Kairon gave up and just shrugged before opening the heater. Steam rose from the cake, bringing with it the sweet scent. The topping now molten coating. Metal jangled as he yanked out a drawer and found a serving knife.

Asmus was he'd Kaile carefully, trying in vain to make it appear that he wasn't. When he'd left she'd been laughing happily, but that little grin had been forced. Always something just beneath the surface. Loss.

“She did a top job on the Twins, not just the new naming scheme…” Asmus said as he took his seat.

“Yeah they said as much, thank you,” Kairon said as he cut into the pudding. Another layer of chocolate fudge had melted in the middle and slowly flowed out as he pulled out a slice.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile gave a thankful smile to Asmus, carrying the small plates in her hands and arms. Weaving in between the Captain and the Scoundrel, she set each their own plate. Forks were brought after, along with some napkins for their use to wipe off any loose crumbs.

“You're too kind.” Kaile said, giving a rather sheepish shrug. “Ain’t nothin’, really. I was happy to help.” She went drifting on past Asmus, and his reward was a graze of her hand from one shoulder to the next as she ambled on by. Taking her seat, Bobo gave the cake a rather inquisitive look.

“Ain’t something you can eat, buddy,” she told the tiny lizard, a half smile returning to her lips.
“This looks mighty tasty, Captain.” Kaile would tell the old ex pirate with a warming smile.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Oh I have plenty of the things,” Kairon replied with a laugh. “There's a world where chocolate is banned and we were trying to smuggle them in for around four hundred credits a piece…”

“Thought we didn't tell people we smuggled?”

Kairon managed to keep his grimace brief before continuing. “...but our buyer got picked up. So now I have a lifetime of frozen chocolate fudge cake in storage. I'd have rather the credits mind.”

Asnus had nothing more to add, he was busy devouring his slab of cake.

“Then again, we might get through it all…” Kairon reflected.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Chocolate is hard ‘nuff to get as it is…” Kaile would say with a bit of awe. She stared down at her chocolate slice of the good stuff. Being the type of credit pincer she was, it was rare for the Lorrdian to be able to enjoy it. In fact, there was this one type of dessert that Kaile had been anxious to try and make herself. She had set aside the credits for the ingredients, and when Kurt and she were at Cloud 9, she was going to make it.

Things didn’t turn out that way at all.

Caught up in the moment to make the new modifications on the Messa, it got pushed to the side. Kurt had said that she could surprise him with whatever she had wanted to make later, so Kaile had saved the credits for another time instead. Guess that’s just how it would end up.

Taking her fork, while Asmus and the Captain were enjoying their own piece, Kaile delicately, almost reverently, slid her fork through the corner of her slice. One forkful caught the tines, and with an expression of utter anticipation, Kaile brought it to her mouth.

Pure, unadulterated joy went washing over her face. “Mmm…” she managed to sigh out, a slight roll of her eyes in the savoring of it.

No words had to be said, all that Kaile did was just slowly coat her tongue in the rich decadence before swallowing it all.

Let it be known that Kaile enjoyed her chocolate cake!

 

[Asmus Janes]

One fork full. Kaile had savoured one fork of chocolate cake. Meanwhile Asmus was already reaching across the table for the knife. He cut himself another slice without the faintest hint of guilt.

“Well we've got a whole container of the flipping thing,” he said, responding to Kairon shaking his head. “Funny thing how beer is just horrific with chocolate,” he said to Kaile. He stood up and headed to the tap to pour himself a glass of water.

He couldn't help but smile now. Asmus felt like he was a mirror. When Kaile was happy, he was happy. What an odd predicate, he thought, to be so tethered to the thoughts and feelings of someone else. He wasn't one who tended towards silent introspection, but as his eyes laid upon her this time he was set to trying to unravel that myriad of emotions swirling around. He'd met people who were pretty and fun before. Plenty. They'd hadn't set him smiling like this with just the right look. Asmus took a deep breath as his mental sojourn took him through the stormy waters of their interrupted moment in the cargo bay. His body recalled that encounter just as well as his mind. Taking his place at the table again, he attacked his second slice.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Asmus’ reward was a perk of Kaile’s eyebrows in mirth.

“A whole container?!” There was a bit of awe in that. That was by far the most amount of chocolate cake Kaile ever had in one place besides at the restaurant - and that was merely the special!

Twin brows rose high, but the Lorrdian carefully took another biteful. The contrast at Asmus’ enthusiasm to the savoring of Kaile was rather comical. The corner of her mouth twitched. Watching him eat was an interesting venture through his little mental sojourn. At least until the expression slightly tensed and for a moment his eyes darkened.

Stuffing his face with cake ensued.

“There are other worlds that pay a shiny credit for chocolate cake.” Kaile would add, swallowing a bit hard as she licked frosting off of her upper lip.
“With only two known worlds that harvest it… the credits are there.”

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Probably a few,” Kairon said. There was a hint of mischief in the look he gave his plate, just a slight lift one cheek and a spark in the eyes. Kaile would well recognise it from his nephew. Having lost the good profit he'd written it off as a business loss and kept the things frozen. Seeing his crew enjoy them was worth the very minor profit margin reduction. Almost non existent really.

“That said, take a few with you if you'd like,” Kairon offered.

“More’n earned it with the work she'd been doing,” Asmus added earnestly.

“Fair,” Kairon added thoughtfully.

“Any other hidden talents, or just engineering and the reprogramming of droid speech centres?” Asmus asked. The low thrum of the engines was a constant background noise, but it was so continuous it started to fade from conscious thought. It made sitting around the small table, with clinking plates and smacking lips quite an intimate affair.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“I wouldn’t have anywhere to put ‘em,” Kaile said honestly, but grateful none the less. She also gave a shake of her head, a rather sheepish smile hidden under the fringes of her bangs.

“Ain’t no trouble. Just doin’ what I can for being an inconvenience and all.” She said, taking another bite of her cake. She meant it in that she wanted to put in her part, to not seem to be a hindrance or anything. That first day made it clear that her presence could have had dire consequences to the crew of the Quinn.

Any other hidden talents? Plenty.

They just weren’t the sort she was going to divulge. Things had already gone downhill with that…

Kaile gave them a ghost of a smile, “Reckon I do well here and there with things. Spent enough time workin’ with all sorts of machines to do alright.” Which was true.

“Ya’ll already know ‘bout workin’ at Yum Bunnies…” her grin grew a bit mischievous then, “I make a mean guacamole.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus provided a weak smile as he tried not to picture Kaile serving tables in hot pants. It was clear she wasn't too keen to get all that much praise heaped on her for helping around the place. Asmus realised that he'd unintentionally been starting to steer the conversation towards her hanging around the ship for longer doing some mechanics. She'd veered him away from the topic twice now, but he had a tendency to forget such things when there was something he wanted. He could be quite single minded from time to time. At least he'd caught himself this time. There'd been more than a few occasions when he'd finished whole conversations saying things he knew he shouldn't, but had wanted to.

With his second helping of cake finished Asmus took a swig of water to clear his palette. Then it was back to the beer. Again he took small sips. He was in no rush to add to the haze of three pints, even if this brand was barely more alcoholic than water.

“Mai, you've got the helm for a while?” Kairon asked as he gathered up the plates. His tone made it clear it wasn't a question.

She shrugged and sauntered off towards the cockpit without a word. Asmus dropped off his glass and opened the fridge, taking another pair of bottles of beer from it.

“You can tell Kaile about your not-so-hidden talent for landing me in trouble near every other port we visit!” Kairon helpfully suggested, loud enough for all to hear.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Oh?” Kaile’s eyebrows were twin slashes of curiosity as they rose. By the way that the Captain had said it, there was more to those tales than Asmus would likely care to reveal. The corner of her mouth twitched, her forkly lightly hovering over the dark half slice of cake left. She took her time with such things.

“I don’t think Asmus is the sort to ‘cause trouble.” She’d say, the crooked grin growing a little bit wider as she leaned back against her chair. The tines of her fork dipped and slowly scooped up another mouthful of the dark decadent dessert.

“Just friendly like.” Came her observation, slipping that bite into her mouth with a bit of a mischievous air about her. Shoulders scrunched up, and she tried to hold back the small bit of laughter as she caught the Captain’s eyes again.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Oh there was this time on Ord mantell…” Kairon started.

“Ah!”

“Then that time on Mos Eisley with the…”

“Ah ah!” Asmus interrupted again, eyes wide as his shot his captain a warning glance.

Kairon instead loaded three plates into the sonic dishwasher chuckling to himself. “Just a little too friendly from time to time…” he mumbled under his breath.

Distraught, Asmus sat back down at the table. He slid the two new bottles down on the table and slumped back into his chair. He caught Kaile with a sideways glance and a lopsided smile, letting her know he was fine with the level of teasing.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


“I don’t mind it,” Kaile said with a genuine fondness. “Asmus has a knack for makin’ things a little brighter around him.” It was an earnest compliment. Whether it be with his tomfoolery or simply being his silly self, Asmus had a knack at being the life of a party. Of bringing a smile to one's face.

“There ain’t a smile too far away he can’t coax out,” she said, chuckling softly before glancing down at her plate. There was a bit of a blush on her cheeks when she said that, but the praise was given as truthsome as she could. Her focus turned to finishing the rest of her cake, not wanting to delay anyone if they were waiting on her.

She took every crumb, enjoying the simple pleasure. The beer washed it down, and while it did give a bit of a bitter tang, it didn’t bother Kaile none.

Standing up, she took her empty plate and wandered on past Asmus. Her bare hand came up to squeeze his shoulder, offering him a wayward smile.

“Do you need me to do anythin’ else captain?” She asked, wanted to know if there was in any way she could help out.

 

[Asmus Janes]

There was a little twist of his insides at her compliment. A smile spread to his cheeks as readily as the warmth that followed. Glancing up at her through his hair, he realised a small moment of embarrassment had been shared.

Stop worrying on what it all is and enjoy it, a little voice said. He was inclined to agree with it. It was who he'd decided to be. Not a neurotic mess like some of the other bright sparks he'd grown up with. Good things happened to those who seized the moment, instead of worrying whether they'd already missed theirs.

His shoulder hunched up and his hand moved to catch hers. Too slow it instead just brushed the back of her fingers as they moved on.

Kairon looked up at the question, though his gaze wandered to the contented little smile on his nephew's face.

“We'll give that some thought over breakfast,” he said softly.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Alright,” Kaile replied, moving alongside the Captain to set her own plate and fork in the sonic cleanser. Her braid swayed with her motions, sliding over her shoulders then settling down her spine. Wisps of strawberry blonde hair tickled her temples and her cheeks. If one studied her close enough, they could see the slight scattering of freckles over her nose and cheeks. They were barely visible, perhaps a shade or two darker than her skin. Yet under the light, there they were, playing peek-a-boo as much as her dimples.

“Is there anythin’ ya’ll be wantin’ for breakfast?” She took to cleaning what little she could, but found that Kairon would not be budged. Her slow saunter back to the table would have her sink into her seat. A brief, shy smile shone at Asmus’ direction, her hand reaching out to claim her beer anew.

“I can make whatever you wish,” she offered, setting herself up to waking up early to make breakfast if Kairon so wanted it. She took another sip of her beer, almost done with having nursed it all through dinner. Bobo, was now starting to slow down a mite, and when Kaile sat down, he tuckered down as well.

A finger rose to lightly scratch at his jaw. “You needin’ to go back into the pack there, Bobo?” It would likely be best to head on back as the hour was almost up.

[member="Asmus Janes"]