I'm All About You and the Stars, Baby

[Rufus Delauvay]

The ship slid down comfortably on to the landing pad as Rufus leaned back, his hands behind his head as he relaxed. He could fly well, very well when necessary, but Constilance knew how to do it all and conserve everything they needed without taking a second thought. Rufus wasn't complaining either; Constilance enjoyed the amount of control and the precision he wielded upon the ship's systems.

Rufus stood and stretched, grabbing his long jacket from where it had been cushioning his head while he'd napped on their way down. He'd found power naps to be one of the best ways to pass time while still being slightly congizant and ready for whatever might happen while they flew about the galaxy. He ran a hand through his shoulder length hair before turning back to look at his brother, resting in the tube in the back of the bridge.

" 'Lance. I won't be long. Ensure the ship is serviced and ready to go. We're picking up Celia, checking the jobs, then heading off. I think I got a lead on the Rebellion."

He shrugged nonchalantly with a smirk.

"I know I've never really picked sides before, but we've always avoided the Imp pigs, and we tried to stay away from the Rebels just long enough to make sure everything was a go for us, ya know?

Anyways... I'm ramblin' again. Don' worry about me. I'll handle everything and be back soon enough. Drop the ramp for me, will ya?"

[Constilance Delauvay]

An image appeared on a small screen right about the ramp. A little Imperial stormtrooper stood at attention before saluting and saying, "Sir, yes sir!". The ramp lowered and Constilance sent out a flurry of communiques to the port authority requesting maintenence items such as fuel and the like. All the actual work would be done my him and his droid shell, but the droid shell could only go so far outside the ship before losing the signal.

The droid came around the corner before Rufus left and asked him, "So how long you gonna be? Should I expect someone coming to get revenge?"

If the droid shell could grin, by the stars Constilance knew that it would be grinning now. He was just messing with his brother because he knew even if someone did try to come on board the ship, Constilance would just blast them. No hacker in the universe could hack him.

[Rufus Delauvay]

Rufus gave the droid a two finger salute and flourished the motion into a generally accepted obscene gesture.

"Yeah, if I'm too long, Celia will find the ship first. If she's raving, knock her out or she'll start gnawing on the seats."

Rufus laughed a bit before sauntering down the ramp and into the fresh mechanically tinged air of the docking bay. Two or three of the mechanics noticed him and his ship, waving with smiles that would've made any cosmetic dentist ill. The Last Chance and Rufus frequented Cloud City often as it was a good place to take notice of the 'oppurtunities' out there for freelancers such as himself. Not to mention it sported some of the finest bars and casinos this part of the galaxy. And he knew the labyrinth of luxury well enough by now not to get lost.

He stopped in front of an office complex, a proffesional sign for a transport agency, owner and founder, Rondo Monteverdi. The Man as far as Rufus was concerned. Rondo had hooked Rufus up with so many jobs in the past, good ones, clean takes and a good rewards with generally profitable connections from every other one. The door opened silently, and allowed Rufus into a clean, expensively decorated lounge. The man that appeared from behind one of the other doors though betrayed any sense of aristocracy a new arrival might've sensed.

"Rufus, lad!"

Rondo was a giant of a man, something near to two meters tall, black hair to his shoulders fell straight as if always wet, and his skin was a darkened tan from hard labor he did ages ago. And one arm was prosthetic, and clearly so, as it might've been the limb to any number of industrial work droids. Rufus knew it was as strong as one but carried enough additional equipment to serve any purpose. The man was a businessman and a philanthropist; his business could've been ten times its own worth if it wasn't for what Rondo put into good will efforts. Rufus labeled him the number one freelancer in his book, a man after his own heart. Although Rondo had settled down quite a bit, aging like some wine, only becoming more seasoned, slowing down only to smell the roses. The older man liked to impart his knowledge to Rufus or any wayfarer whenever convenient and Rufus had heard enough to write a Freelancer's Guide to the Galaxy.

"Rondo, it's good to be back. Everything's well?"

" 'Course, course it is. What could go wrong at a time like this? Business and transportation is on the rise with the degradation of the Empire and the Outer Rim's economy is slowly building itself back up. Moving cargo from the inside of the galaxy to the outside is working quite well. You wouldn't be up for anything by chance would ya?"

"Well, before I get to that. I was... wondering if Celia... was around?"

If Rufus could've appeared meek and humble, now was the time he made to attempt it.

[Constilance Delauvay]

As soon as Rufus left the ship, Constilance accessed the only data that he kept from Rufus, his investments. When Rufus had first gotten Constilance from the hospital, Constilance knew that it must have cost a fortune for all the necessary equipment. To pay him back, Constilance, as soon as he was able, took a little money each day and invested it. He went on whatever reliable information and all the intuition he could muster to try and make the best possible choices. By now, Constilance had a completely legal investment in almost every sector of space including one or two in the Corporate Sector. The investments weren't big, but he hoped that by watching the economy every time they came into port, Constilance could eventually pay his brother back at least two-fold.

With all the free time he had, or rather all the free multi-tasking capacity because he was always busy with one thing or another, Constilance had created several thousand programs to help around the ship or for simply no reason at all. He smiled in his tank when he thought about how much someone would probably like to get ahold of at least half his programs and put them on the market or use them. There were perks to being a genius, especially ones with one of the highest IQ's in the galaxy.

As he busied himself, Constilance also waited patiently for either Rufus or the mysterious Celia.

[Celia]

"Gungnir! Stop squirming, I can't get this last piece welded properly!" The young woman berated the fidgeting Corellian Slice Hound. Immediately, the beast went rigid but couldn't help but let loose an impatient whine as her agile hands resumed the modification. The electromesh had expanded to its limits at his last and final growth spurt; several of the plates had just slipped right off. The sleek design of the armor was her own product, much like the limb that had replaced her father's arm when the accident had occurred, so she could always make adjustments. The tricky part was not harming the systems kept beneath said shell. In truth, Gungnir was more machine than canine - thanks to a pack of careless racers on his home world. The weight of the contraption was light, shockingly so, and yet it did not lack in any defense. In fact, it excelled at it.

Her hand moved up from the last panel she had to lock down and affectionately scratched at the sharp ear protruding from the half helmet adorning his head. Sensing that she was finished, the hound gave an equally caring nuzzle to her hand before traipsing out of her personal work room.

Standing, Celia brushed back a lock of short black hair from her cheek and replaced the device she had used in the repairs on the utility belt wrapped about her waist. Her violet eyes flashed briefly to the first thing people usually noticed upon meeting her. Her hands were shrouded by brown infiltrator gloves that had been decorated with white netting - it appealed more to the light clothing she preferred and the pale skin stretched over her bones. Upon noting the thick items, her gaze skimmed her cheek bone where a triangular, lavender marking had been imprinted. Father had assured her that it had often claimed his attention when her mother was still living. Quite silly. It seemed like just another reason for him to yell at her for touching her face. Big no no when she was just a little girl.

"Celia! You have a visitor." Came her papa's booming voice.

Grinning, she swept the layers of her snowy skirt aside and flashed a quick glance over her knee length chromasheath boots. She'd have to do.

"Papa, who is i - ...oh!" She gasped as she rounded the corner and entered the lobby/lounge. Her expression fumbled for a moment and then widened into a most pleased smile. Not quite regaining the confidence in her over all stance, Celia pressed close to the door frame, one hand coming to lock about it. Gungnir, curious as she had been, popped in to her left and narrowed his silvery eyes upon the visitor.

"Welcome back. It's good to see you. I had this feeling you'd be coming around soon."

[Rufus Delauvay]

"A feeling, huh?"

Rufus got something close to bashful when Celia was around. He could smooth talk his way through most things, especially when money was involved, but Celia set him back a few years in the area of linguistics. Rondo was more than aware of this fact as he slapped Rufus on the back and sent him reeling forward. The hound barked at Rufus' sudden movement and Rufus caught himself.

"Still don't like me, huh?"

Rufus would have figured as long as he had been around and as close as he was with Celia her 'groomed' pet would've given up the over protective act already.

[Celia]

"A feeling, yes. When it's you, it's like someone is behind me. The back of my neck tingles..." She explained, not wanting to sound too weird about such an announcement. But really, she had just made it worse. Lifting a hand, she scratched the back of her head and slanted a glance to the floor. Her father arched a brow at her and then made move to wander on toward the opposite side of the establishment, allowing them to talk in private. Well, except for Gungnir. A single bark from the hound made her back go rigid, which was the result when Rondo launched Rufus across the room with a hearty smack. The hand that had previously been rubbing at her skull slipped down and landed firmly upon the slice hound's armored forehead. The beast whined for a moment and then trudged after her father.

"He likes you well enough. One time, he got out when a very loud fellow was discussing something with my father. He nearly ripped his arm off. Really, he was only excited. Business had been slow.." She carried on, turning her gaze away from Gungnir, focusing her violet eyes upon Rufus' handsome features. Without much thought to the angle, her head canted slightly and that fond smile she saved just for him appeared.

"And, of course, I like you well enough, I suppose!" She teased him coolly, slipping away from the door frame and coming to stand directly before him. From this point, she had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact.

[Constilance Delauvay]

Open connection...transfer...great.

Constilance moved the droid's arm up and down slowly, making sure that all the connections were correct. For all his intelligence, he hadn't expected the plate to fall and he most certainly didn't expect it to hit his arm right at the joint and just in the right way to cut it completely off.
There was one blessing though, being the droid's arm, all Constilance had felt was the feedback, kind of a migrain headache, instead of the full pain of having an arm cut off. After that, it had taken him two hours to reconnect the droid's arm using the remaining hand to do all the delicate work.
Despite the dexterity of the droid, Constilance found himself longing for the feel of using his own, though now mostly deteriorated, hands to accomplish something. He missed the sense of touch just as much as he missed his other senses that he was robbed of.

[Rufus Delauvay]

"Well enough, huh?"

With a lopsided grin, he gazed down at the angel made real.

"You and your dog, not exactly my favorite people right now."

Teasing Celia was dangerous, like dropping some kind of catalyst in a volatile solution that might or might not go off at any second. But Rufus figured he could weather it, long enough. Before she could respond though, he reached forward and gently grasped one of her much smaller hands, very dainty, like holding a flower.

"So... erhm... I'm back. I know, I was gone for a while and all but everything's set. We can uhhh... we can go as soon as you're ready. Ya know, like we planned?"

[Celia]

She didn't need any special abilities to recall the time he had asked her to come with him. Without really meaning to, but not opposed to the expression, she happened upon a smile as she began to reminiscence. They had been on the roof of this very building when the sun had just begun to melt into and across the blanket of clouds winding around them. A moment of pure romance, some would say. Celia had long since been burnt out on the notion. However, she couldn't help but admit that the billows looked as though they had come straight from an artist's palette smeared craftily with fiery hues.

The lighting was just right, the day they had spent together had been perfect, and she had never felt more right in all her life. For that moment, she would have done anything just to hang onto that feeling a while longer. She would have done anything and he knew it too.

"Ya know, I'm gonna head out soon. No, not like right now. But like, head out and do more than just freelancing. I'm gonna be racing across the galaxy, I think. It'd be cool if you, ya know, came with me?"

The invitation had caught her off guard. It was as if he had pulled something directly from her thoughts and responded. She was startled, though it wasn't displayed physically save for the expression tucked into his shoulder.

"Go with you.."

Doubt swept through her. She pushed out of the embrace he had enfolded her in. Her violet eyes wandered over his face, searching for the answers that only he had.

"..I would like that very much." She had answered.

Her answer hadn't changed. "I just need.. to get some things. In a rush?"

[Rufus Delauvay]

"... N-n-n-not at all. I gotta clear some things with your dad- I mean Rondo, anyways."

His blue eyes met hers for a moment before he glanced away. Upon times of reflection, she was probably the most intimidating person in his life right now, more than Rondo, or even if he were to meet one of the heroes of the Alliance tragedy, General Han Solo. She didn't LOOK it so much as it was just her presence around him. He didn't want her to ever have to doubt anything, or have to face anything alone, or hurt. It would happen, he knew, but it was like a good dream almost in sensation know he would be there for her. Rufus was old enough to know he was starstruck by the girl, but he refused to throw away such a good feeling. He'd lived through enough bitterness and faced the harsh truths of reality and would not ultimately be confounded by idealistic dreams. And yet. Here and there, a dream had come true over time, with patience and diligent work.

[Celia]

"All right then. I shall be back shortly then." She informed him coolly, though inwardly she was still unsure about the whole situation. One could say she didn't get out much and she didn't know what to expect from an entire galaxy theirs to 'race' across. With all that worry came the excitement too. The need to leave those boring days and the isolation behind. And this man was willing to take her with him to find all that she was missing out on. She'd be a fool to turn such an opportunity down.

So, giving his hand a prompt squeeze, she pivoted on her heel and walked back into her personal work room. There, she set about gathering a few choice items she hadn't given much thought previously. The extent of her "knowing" was a bit more than she'd let on. She'd pretty much already discussed things with her father, not that it still didn't make her heart grow heavy at the thought of leaving him.

Slinging the bag she had packed over her shoulder, causing the tanned strap of her top to slip partially down her arm, she cast one last glance over the room before stepping out of it.