Resting at a bar in the Rim.

[Maalsin Kvar]

Gelgelar - Outer Rim Territories
Free Port, City Cantina

It had been a hard day and there was little Maalsin wanted to do but relax and take in the sights. Most of his squad had gone home, at least those that hadn't been arrest earlier for a brawl. He was left alone reminiscing previous memories, good times. Sitting here with his family, those were the days, he hadn't had a care in the world in his youth. It was a tight nit community, in this little corner of Gelgelar, who looked after their own. All the locals of the trading port knew each other and mutual respect for their often-unique crafts was the custom. Outsiders sometimes caused trouble but the locals always stuck together and disturbances were rare.

He sighed taking a ship of his drink, things had remained much the same now. His family had moved away to a quieter life but the planet hadn't changed much over the years, till now. Change was in the air, the community was expanding in several new settlements and the local Glarsaur were becoming restless. More than that a sense of opportunism was opening up as several factions vied for control. Merchant groups were trying to carve up their own piece of the action, independent traders had taken an interest and of course local tribe leaders were pushing their own boundries. Something was definitely in the air and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

Some progress Maalsin thought, take one step forward and end up taking two steps back.

He took another sip of his drink.

[Darby]

In the Slippery Gelgelar Eel cantina another hand of sabacc was dealt. These days, the locals would say, there were a great many more people coming to the Free Port, and so there were a great many more hands of cards being played. An eclectic mix of characters from all walks of life gathered in the Slippery Eel. The owner – an Ithorian by the name of Thulls – liked to claim that when you entered his establishment, you left your social status at the door. Of course, this wasn’t entirely true. There was some hostility here and there, but most grievances were smoothed out after a round or two of ale. In such a tight knit community, it wasn’t wise to go looking for fights. Besides, the Eel was the only watering hole around for miles. Getting yourself barred wasn’t really an option.

“What’ve you been getting y’rself into this time, little ma’am?”

The stout Sullustan stood behind the bar ceased tirelessly running a rag around the inside of a mug as he eyed up the figure that had just entered the cantina. It was a girl, eighteen cycles old at most. With each footstep she took, there was a loud squelch. From the looks of things, she had fallen into the swamps, though the barman wouldn’t have ruled out the possibility that someone had gotten a little vexed with her attitude and dumped a bucket of water over her head. A good number of eyes turned to regard the irate frown on her face, as she trudged, cheeks burning, up to the bar proper.

The bartender held up a halting hand. “Hold up now, gel. Don’t be parking that rear of yours on there,” he nodded at the stool that the girl had been about to sit on. “Not when it’s soaked like that.”

The look of anger on the girls face darkened. “The usual, Barris,” she muttered, as she remove the wide-brimmed hat she wore and attempted to wring the swamp water out of the already tattered fabric. The bartender offered a consoling smile and chuckled quietly as he busied his hands with preparing the cold-plate that girl had asked for.

“What’s the story then, gel?” he inquired, as he slapped a piece of wholly unappetizing meat between two thick slices of bread. The girl, running her fingers through her tangled damp hair, took a moment to reply. It seemed that the other conversations in the cantina quietened somewhat as they listened to the girl recount her tale. Apparently, she had gone to the marshes with the intent of retrieving Leng wood for Red Threxa (the man who owned the Boarding House that many of the planets visitors, including the girl herself, stayed in). While in the branches of one particularly large tree, she had been bombarded by flock of orange-feathered reeho, who had caused her to loose her balance and fall into the boggy swamp water below.

“And here I was thinking the marsh wyrm had dragged you under!” Barris chortled, merrily. The girl, on the other hand, clearly did not see the funny side to the story. She took her plate and, after declining a glass of water, began to search for a seat. As per usual, the Eel was all but full, and so there would be no dark corners for her to skulk into, no place to hide. The most she could hope for now was a familiar face – and she saw just that. In spite of having lived on Gelgelar for the past ten or so years, they had never exchanged more than a few words. Ordinarily, she would not have been so quick to socializing, but she much preferred the thought of awkward small talk with him over the jokes and barbed comments that would come from some of the cantina’s other patrons.

“Maalsin, right?” A puddle was beginning to collect around her feet. She eyed the empty seat opposite his, trying desperately to avoid eye contact. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

[Maalsin Kvar]

Maalsin looked up and gave a welcoming nod.

"Feel free to take a weight off."

He wasn't very good with names himself, he was a more a face person. He recognized her well enough but couldn’t place her name. If he were honest, a break from the usual faces would be welcome. Though familiarity breeds content, it just as surely breeds boredom.

"Can I get you a drink?"

He offered politely. Maalsin didn't take much notice of the ruffled state of his visitor, after all he was no oil painting after a hard days work himself. Still half dressed in his worn combat suit and as always with some form of eye wear on. Not that the locals would mind what he looked like underneath, you got all types of alien out here, it was more for his own comfort.

After he'd bought himself a moment, her name clicked eventually, Darby that was right. He'd seen her about now and again, it was the kind of place where you couldn't avoid it. Most people in Freeport at least tried to be civil, living in a small settlement you couldn't be anything else if you wanted to live peacefully. The mindest was almost a novelty in this galaxy, thankfully growing up here he'd known no other way.

"So Darby, has life been keeping you busy?"

He said finishing his own drink and smiling, trying again not too much emphasis on her current appearance or what was behind it.

[Darby]

Politely declining the offer of a drink, she could not have been happier if she had never seen another drop of fluid again.

For a moment, she found herself distracted by the clothing that Maalsin wore, as she wondered exactly why he needed that armor. There was a lot of business in the area that she didn’t know about, and didn’t much care to know about for that matter, but when men were being clad in such a fashion, it would be easy to think that there was some threat not only to them but to the common folk as well. Seconds past and she continued to entertain the all together terrifying and yet exhilarating thought of something rocking sleepy little Freeport out of its daze. It was only Maalsin speaking her name that brought her out of the trance.

"So Darby, has life been keeping you busy?"

Darby. This community had given her that name. According to Red Threxa, who had become her kin and keeper since her arrival on the planet, Darby was the name of her biological father. During his brief stay, the locals had taken to calling his daughter ‘the Darby kid’ and the moniker had stuck, right up to the present day. Some even tacked Threxa on the end, though it was clear that the girl was of no relation to Red, if not because of their racial differences, then simply because of her obvious dislike for him. He was all she had, however, so they maintained a delicate love-hate relationship.

“Always does,” she replied, examining the sandwich in her hands, turning it over once or twice. The warmth of the cantina was drying her a little, though it would be a good few hours yet before she felt comfortable. Begrudgingly, she took a bite of her meal. Her mouth was dry, but she swallowed it down regardless.

“And you, Maalsin? I didn’t know you were…” Her eyes lifted, meeting his for the first time. They were hidden behind a visor of some kind. Rats. “… a soldier. Are we at war?”

[Maalsin Kvar]

Maalsin noted Darby's interest in his clothing and he fidgeted slightly. It made him feel slightly uncomfortable but she'd not been the first to wonder about his change in profession. For that matter a lot of the locals were now interested in his opinion on the upsurge in events at Freeport and though none would ever say it, he could see the occasional one regard him with a suspicious eye.

After waving down another drink from a passing waitress, he tried to slacken his posture and relax his mood. The drink was helping but it had been a tiring day.

Maalsin looked back at Darby, as well as the physical protection his visor offered, it also gave a strange kind of social edge, you were always that bit harder to read. At least that's the excuse he told himself when he looked in the mirror at night and still hadn't taken it off.

He smiled slightly at her question, his tone playful.

"Its almost as bad. I only went and signed up with Dorvalla Mining, one of those new off world merchants working out near the south swamps."

His smiled lifted, replaced with a pensive expression of his own as he looked back at her.

"Its getting quite rough out there and I hear tomorrow were heading out again. The Glarsaur have been making life difficult, something's got those lizards riled up for sure."

He paused taking another sip of his drink.

"And then there's the rumours of a company buying them out, but I'm sure it's just a rumour. If the things I've been hearing about the supposed buyers are true anyway. It all just sounds like gossip.”

Maalsin stopped there, he was rambling. A few drinks, pleasant company and he was beginning to sound like one of the older traders talking your ear off.

[Darby]

“Glarsaur,” she spat the word, yet it still left a nasty taste in her mouth. Of the few encounters with those lizards that she had experienced, none had been pleasant. They looked down upon humanoids, seeing them as little more than oversized prey. In particular, however, they disliked the women and given Darby’s still youthful age, she was liked least of all. In fact, she’d received a handful of black eyes from their scaly fists as a result of it. The girl didn’t lament over it, however. Somehow, she knew that one day they would get their comeuppance ten fold.

Her manners, though sparse, kicked in, and she looked up with an apologetic smile. “There sure is a lot of gossip around here. Hard to tell fact from fiction,” she agreed. The rumour mill ran overtime in Freeport. “I’d congratulate you on the job, but I’m not sure there’s anything to be happy for, working in the mines,” the girl added before taking another bite of her sandwich, ignoring the unpalatable texture of the meat. It was bad enough having to go to the swamps for an hour or two to gather wood, let alone spend whole days there mining for hezmana knew what.

On the other hand… “You get to carry a firearm?” she inquired, giddy curiosity all but hidden from her voice.

[Maalsin Kvar]

He noted Darby's remark on the native Gelsaur, before this job he hadn't really cared for them either way. Although he certain wouldn't call them pleasant company, as long as they left him alone he hadn't had any cause to dislike them.

"Ah well, I don't actually work in the mines. In fact it would be better to say we work protecting the miners from their own shadow."

Maalsin smiled, his mood was warming gradually. The conversation with Darby was more open than he thought it would be, perhaps it was the drink but he was relaxing finally.

"It gets me out in the open air and its let me see deeper into the swamps than I would of ever dared do alone. You wouldn't believe the size of some of the critters I've seen, swamp birds twice the size you see around these parts."

He took another sip of his drink, unaware of Darby's recent experience with a particular species of bird. The Gen'dai looked down at his drink in thought, his tongue was loosening perhaps further than it should.

"At least I thought it was going to be easy, until a few days ago. I heard a man died in an eruption of sorts at the mine. I tell you they must be digging deep to be causing that kind of trouble, either that or it sounds down right strange."

Maalsin looked back at Darby, purposely changing the subject before he scared away the poor girl.

"Enough about me though. Tell me, where are you working these days?"

[Darby]

Far from scaring her away, the story of the eruption and the other goings-on in the mines made Darby forget, if only for a moment, what a sorry state she looked. Although she was, by no means, a troublemaker she certainly wouldn’t have minded if she had happened to stumble into a little excitement now and then. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem very likely now or ever.

“These days? I’m still working for Red Threxa,” she sighed, adding silently and I will be until the day I die. “I do everything that he can’t do… odd jobs, fixing things, cooking, cleaning. I’m a one woman army.” A slight smile pressed into her lips, as she envisioned herself like some human army-knife, equipped for any and all situations.

When she had come of working age, she had been in possession of no skills or qualifications that would get her a job, so working at the Boarding House had been a natural choice. Now, however, she was tooled up for almost any job. It was awfully ironic. “I’d like to do something else, see the galaxy, but I don’t see that happening…”

[Maalsin Kvar]

Maalsin listened to Darby, pleasantly distracted from his early thoughts. She reminded him of the way he had felt, the monotony of his old life still fresh in his mind. He had done everything possible to get away from it, never breaking his responsibilities but always avoiding the more repetitive tasks where possible. It was like a dream come true when Ulgar had asked him if he wanted to work for Dorvalla, as soon as Ulgar mentioned he'd be working away from Freeport, the old man needn't of breathed another word.

Ulgar was a kind old man but getting on a bit in years. Maalsin believed Ulgar thought he was recruiting people to work in the mine, not sending them off to fight Glarsaur. It didn't matter to Maalsin though, the excitement of something new was all the reason he needed.

"I'm a one woman army."

Maalsin smiled at the comment. Darby had a warm demeanour, despite her ruffled appearance, which he found easy to relate to.

"I'd like to do something else, see the galaxy, but I don't see that happening..."

He looked at her for a moment considering something.

"Why do you say that? I bet you could do anything you set your mind to. If you really want off this planet, just get on the first transport and never look back."

Of course it was always easy to offer advice, much harder to actually follow it yourself. He'd been feeling like leaving for cycles now, yet something always kept him here. Maalsin always felt he owed this place something, all his memories were here. Dull or not, he looked around and saw a lot of history, bonds that meant something to him.

"Better still you should sign up with the corporation, I bet they've got something you might be interested in. They might even offer you some off world work."

Maalsin finished another drink, putting his glass carefully down, he looked up and smiled at Darby.

"That is if you can stand being given some dirty looks by the neighbours."

He looked around the room trying to catch an eye, perhaps it was just him because nobody seemed to be staring. He waved down the waitress again, deciding one more drink might be required after all.