The Malastare Express

[Kora Tau]

Hyperspace was always a place that was peaceful. It was always a place that was quiet and still. Well, in most other peoples' lives. For Kora Tau, hyperspace was a place of incessant questions and needling whining. Sprinkled in were a few actual helpful bits, but for the most part it was as though she was in some endless loop of playing 20 questions. And it never stopped.

There would be moments of silence, like there was now, but those moments were just that. Brief minutes of blessed noiseless existence.

And then it would start up again.

And half-laying on her bed, Kora let out a groan as she rolled to the floor, standing up with a decent amount of exertion. She was thirsty, and there wouldn't be getting through the next round of Mako's unceasing torrent of whatever caught his fancy without some sort of adult beverage.

She'd only just stepped through her cabin's doorway when the spherical eyebot of her ship's AI made his presence known.

[Mori Mako]

Kora! Thank the Maker you're up and about! You know, I bet that sleeping for as long as you do is actually really bad for your muscles and brain. I read it somewhere, the floating avatar of the larger Mori Mako made sure to keep himself close to Kora. After their run-in with the Cizerack, he'd felt a bit of an itch to not stray too awful far from her.

Besides, I don't think you're awake for near enough time. We need to always be on guard, you know. I've been running diagnostics and tests, just to make sure that everything is recovered from that terrible ordeal we suffered, and also to make sure that we're ready for another encounter with anyone who might not fully appreciate... me.

[Kora Tau]

"Well, that's why we're going to Malastare," came the grumbled answer.

Reaching up to run a slim hand through her hair, Kora blew out a long breath from between semi-clenched teeth.

"Look, it really wasn't that bad... "

An outright lie. She'd damn near whet her pants in the face of the towering Jorrun Cyer and his impossible-to-answer accusations. Hell, she'd confessed to old transgressions of her youth! She'd admitted to cheating on first grade tests, kissing a boy for the first time behind the bushes of her parent's home, everything sordid and terrible that a young girl would shut away from the world. It'd all come spilling out in embarrassing detail.

"Well, it wasn't great, but it wasn't the end of the world, you know?"

[Mori Mako]

Well it was certainly close to it!

The single, oversized visual receptor seemed to blink, then grow wider.

They put a restraining bolt on me! Me!! Do you know how long it took to restart my systems? I mean, the engines are easy. Those guys do what they're supposed to and when they're supposed to. But a lot of the little stuff is so tetchy! The eye narrowed to an accusatory slit. You just don't know.

[Kora Tau]

"Oh now you're just being stupid."

Kora made quick work of descending the shallow stairs that would take her one level down. There was a half-jump to her step, and she made a show of being overly cheery just to poke a small amount of fun at her ship.

"I thought I programmed you to be smarter, and even if my ship's avatar has no backbone, at least his larger half does."

She hit the bottom step, skipping around to face him with an almost evil smirk and a sultry wink.

"Besides. Restraining bolts build character."

[Mori Mako]

A mechanical gasp sounded, as Mako pitched upward a few degrees in the face of Kora's sarcasm. The wink and smile did nothing to ease the subroutines now firing up in response to such a display of behavior.

Now you're just being a bully. I thought you were nicer than that.

[Kora Tau]

"Nuna Cutlet, I'm always nice to you."

She turned back around to head for the galley. A can of whatever food-like substance she'd gotten on their last stopover, and a stiff drink.

A hand waved in the air at him as he invariably followed her. He had that little habit, but her motion was more to gesture away any further argument rather than to shoo him off.

"Look. It's all over now, we're away from Cizerack space, and we're on our way to less exciting times. At least for now. We'll take some time on Malastare and relax, ok?"

[Mori Mako]

His spherical form zipped around to move in low and close, so that he was a little bit below and in front of her. He looked up with his single eye, 'blinked', then slowly came back up so that their gazes were level.

This better not be a trick. I know how you operate, Kora. I know because I've seen it so many times before. You can be so wicked and I truly think you've a bit of Bothan in you. Don't think I haven't noticed you locking your door some nights, and overriding my internal sensors for your quarters...

The avatar paused then, his processors trying to account for every possibility. A moment later an audible gasp filled the air.

You're gonna give me to Dug junk traders, aren't you! Gods Kora, why??!

[Kora Tau]

And that was it. Her mouth turned down in a frustrated grimace, and Kora reached out to grasp at the lower handle below his eye. She gripped it tightly, pulling him along with her.

"You nitwit, of course I'm not gonna do that."

She stepped into the galley, finally letting go of him so that she could focus on the much more important task of finding food.

"It took a long enough time to get you operational; why would I through you to a scrap peddler... or gods forbid some Jawa trader? You're a headache, but I've put too much work into getting you to where you are now."

She fished a non-descript can from the cupboard and slid it onto the auto-opener.

She finally looked back to Mako.

"I would never give you up," still though, he'd needle away at her resolve if she didn't give him something, so the Arkanian gave a shrug while letting out a sigh.

"I would, however, get you a... " how best to describe it? The can twisted all the way around until the opener had completed its' task, and Kora pulled it away to set on the counter, eyeballing the contents.

"... a pet."

[Mori Mako]

A what, then??

There's was a sudden pause as his processors raced to parse what she meant. A pet? Like, an anooba pup? That seemed unlikely, and the eyebot kept his gaze on the Arkanian for a tense few moments of silence. Well, for him it was tense. Was there some sort of ulterior motive at play here?

What do I need with a pet?

[Kora Tau]

Two fingers fished out a bright red sliver of processed nuna meat from the can and laid it on a waiting plate. The label said it was nuna in red curry paste, but it looked a bit too sad to be thought of as a curried piece of meat. The texture looked spongy, and taking up a fork, Kora prodded at the strip. It even felt spongy! She made a face then, letting the fork drop before turning to the cooler unit and opening the door.

"Mako, didn't we get some sort of yogurt on our last stop?"

There was no answer. Not surprising, since she was more than certain he was waiting for her to answer his question first. She rolled her eyes, spotted the yogurt sitting behind a container of leftovers, and emerged with her object of desire and a can of Selonia's Best. Both were set on the counter as she kicked the cooler door shut once more.

Opening the yogurt was done quickly, and she shoved her fork into its' contents to give it a stir.

"You know, I thought you'd be more excited about this. I mean, it's not some tooke or any other living creature."

She slathered on a layer of yogurt to the nuna strip, speared it, and stuff the whole thing in her mouth.

Mouth full to bursting, the Arkanian felt as the slow, creeping heat of the curry sauce began to set fire to her tongue, and closing her eyes tight, she popped open her beer, hurriedly swallowed, and lifted the can up to gulp down at least half.

[Mori Mako]

So, nothing living. that was a great weight off his... shoulders. heh

But that still didn't mean much.

Please don't get an astromech. I hate astromechs. They're so tetchy and picky about everything, and they complain and aren't ever satisfied.

[Kora Tau]

The can was set on the counter once more, and Kora looked at Mako. She pursed her lips, giving a bit of consideration into how she wanted to respond. For the moment she settled for giving him a look of feigned thoughtfulness and a crooked downturn of her lips.

Her tongue clicked.

"You know, you're a hateful machine."

[Mori Mako]

The shutters above and below his ocular closed in a 'blink'. Other than that, the eyebot was silent.

Finally.

I'm not hateful. I'm pragmatic. Astromechs are vile, crude, and they use the awfulest of language.

[Kora Tau]

" 'Awfulest' isn't a word, you know."

Another strip of curried nuna was cut in half, slathered with yogurt, speared, then lifted to her mouth without ceremony and stuffed in.

[Mori Mako]

If there was ever a way for a droid to look self-satisfied, Mako was fairly certain he'd mastered the art. At least, Kora often said that he did. Swooping around to hover beside the top portion of the freezer section of the cooler unit, he then let himself shift to the side so that he was above the galley island.

Well, it's a word now. Because I said so.

[Kora Tau]

"If you say so, Nuna Cutlet."

A sigh, and she settled for simply staring at him. One hand wrapped around her beer, Kora made a show of staring him down.

"Has anyone ever told you that for all the fancy hardware and processing power in that little floating eyeball you like to inhabit, you're still an ass?"

[Mori Mako]

You do. And quite often, I should note.

Spoken with just the right amount of stuffiness, Mako made a bit of a side-swishing motion as he swooped up to put him on a bit of a higher level than Kora The Name-Caller. He paused, looking down at her for a moment.

And just before the hyperspace indicator beeped...

We're coming up on Malastare. Soon.




Then the hyperspace indicator beeped.

[Kora Tau]

She made a face at him, her shoulders dropping in that universal sign of defeat-but-not-defeat. She shook her head then, letting go of her beer and opting to upend the rest of the can of curried nuna strips into the carton of yogurt. A good bit of stirring, and the Arkanian ambled her way from the galley, leaving a half-full can of Selonia's Best and an empty can of curried nuna strips on the galley island.

In hand was the yogurt carton, its' contents now a reddish color from the curry sauce and the strips that'd been shoved inside.

Making her way to the bridge, Kora speared another strip, smushed it through a pool of yogurt, and happily crammed the whole thing in her mouth.

She swallowed after a period of chewing that took up nearly the entire time spent getting to the bridge.

"I bet... (hrc... ) I could sell your avatar to some pit droid stooge here, and he'd make you into a hood ornament."

[Mori Mako]

It was a common threat.

You can't scare me with that one, Ma'am.

Words spoken with a cultivated degree of patience.

I've heard it too many times.

[Kora Tau]

She made a face, held it, then let a grin flash across her features.

"That's my boy," came the happy praise as she raised the can.

To his credit, Mako was game enough to swivel ever-so-slightly on his Y-axis, ready to receive her 'toast'.

And true to form, Kora clanked the side of his spherical body with the side of her can.

[Kora Tau]

* * * * *

Rasakare Line
First Leg
Meal Car


It wasn't a swanky grav-train, but it wasn't ramshackle, either. In fact, it was rather comfortable if she was to go by the bed in her cabin. Even Mako was behaving, keeping close and - bless the Unseeing Gods - quiet. It wasn't often that he kept his vox on mute, and so with his perpetual silence being the name of the game on this little trip, Kora enjoyed every moment of it.

The meal car was cozy without being too ritzy. Tables set with simple dishes and cutlery, clean glasses waiting to be filled, and comfortable booth chairs. The menu was small, but had enough variety to give her pause. Should she order the Corellian-style nuna wings with dumpling-fries and salad, or the signature dewback burger, with two patties, Ithorian artisinal raiga cheese, shaak bacon, a fried egg, and crispy onion slivers? Or even maybe a breadbowl full of traditional Dac ocean chowder?

Making a determined face, she settled the decision with a gentle set-down of the paper menu.

Mako, 'sitting' next to her, was actually allowing his micro-repulsars to rest and simply lay in the space beside her, his blue optic dull and narrow. It was a sign that he was content.

For now.

[Eluna Thals]

"Your waffle a la mode."

The waiter removed the dome from the dish, almost as curious to see the strange request as the diner was. Eluna sighed a happy sigh with a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other. She paused in her adoration, looking up again.

"Where's the syrup and the cherries?"

The waiter smiled tightly. She was serious.

"I'll be back shortly."

[Mori Mako]

He was as comfortable as a droid could be in this scenario, and Mako contented his processors with simply allowing his small round body to rest in a seemingly leisurely fashion, unmoved from the chair that Kora had gently set him in.

You should get the burger.

She looked at him with a healthy amount of suspicion.

Oh, well, you know I can't really see the menu, but I'm also fairly certain - given history - that anywhere you go, there is a burger of some sort being offered. And we both know how much you like those.

[Kora Tau]

"You're such a pest of a creature."

It was grumbled out as she returned to the menu, and when their server made his presence known, Kora sighed as she flipped the menu closed.

"I'll have that signature dewback burger, thanks."

"And how would you like your patties?"

"Oh... uh... smashed?"

"Yes Ma'am," he took the menu smoothly.

"Oh, and I'll take an Ithorian Tree Breeze."

"I'll get that right out, Ma'am."

"Thanks."

Kora didn't even look at Mako. She could hear the smirking 'I told you so' in that silly blue ocular of his.

[Eluna Thals]

"Excuse me?"

Eluna turned in her seat, butting into the conversation of a girl and her...floating eyeball. Eluna made a hesitant expression as she glanced at Mako before pushing through it.

"Do you have syrup at your table?"

[Kora Tau]

The interruption was met with a quick pass of white eyes over the table, and Kora couldn't help the strange look of surprise as she spied the particular shape of a syrup dispenser.

"... apparently I do... "

She reached out, grabbed the tin container, and turned to hand it over to the other woman.