Gossips' Circle

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Gradoona split the surface of the water, a happy grin on her face as her blowhole exhaled in a high spray. A few of the Cizerack around the edge of the main hot pool in Maillanaarro's Tea House paused from whatever they were doing to watch the mighty Herglic play. She rose to her full height, a sated "Ahhhh...." coming from her beak as she leaned against the wall of the pool.

Kiimiti Taassaurra watched her large friend bask in the joy of a proper Cizeri Tea, a grin on her spotted face as the displaced water sloshed against her heavily. The jeeta in the bath mix was already soothing her nerves, tingling her skin with it's unique feeling and making her feel both relaxed and energetic at once.

"jYou look h-happjierr than a rrou'fai on ssolsstice, G-Grradoona."

Gradoona, for her part, simply rested her head on the side of the pool, sighing contentedly.

"Yoou bet yoour sweet tuchus, sister. It's soo haard to find a reeally good bath aroound here, yaknoo! The air aan this station's soo dryyy, it does murder aan the ol' complexion."

Kiimiti raised her hand to a passing pool boy, retrieving a cocktail from a tray as she cooed. Behind the two lounging officers, a pair of Cizerack ceased people watching and resumed mounting each other in the shallow water, providing a tell-tale rhythmic splash that seemed to be the perpetual drum-beat in this hedonistic oasis.

"Arre jy-jyou gonna come jin the waterr alrreadjy, Chjief Rr-Rrabeak?" Taassaurra stuttered, slicking back her hair with a hand as she sipped from the wide brimmed glass.

Gradoona took her partner in crime's lead and continued to egg on their reluctant Nehantite companion.

"Yeeeah! Come aan in! The water's extra fiiiine!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Come to the tea house, it'll be fun, it'll relax you, they'd said. Sure, tea, that was relaxing, Anauri thought; a nice, quiet little place to lose yourself in a tea ceremony, and enjoy a calming beverage in a serene environment. What could be wrong with that? Of course Anauri had agreed to go to the tea house.

What he currently found himself standing in, however, was not in any way a thing he would call a tea house. First of all, you wore pants in a tea house. Or at least some kind of clothing. Also, tea houses had tea, not big pools full of naked people. Naked people having sex. As his pink eyes darted around the interior of the tea house, his right paw held tighter the white, fluffy towel wrapped about his waist, the only think keeping him decent in front of one of his direct reports. Nothing good could come of this, and that worry was written all over his face. Nothing good whatsoever.

"I, uh... you know maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he said at last. "I think there's some reports I really ought to go work on for Akiena. Sorry, gals."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ahhh c'maaaan ya lug!"

For extra emphasis, Gradoona waved at the water with a thick hand, causing a splash big enough to sop Anauri soaking at towel level.

"Ain't noo haarm in it, doon't be baashful! Besiides, I took care of the grid seventeen ooverhaaul foor ya!"

Kiimiti flagged down another pool boy, this one laden with a tray of whole fish over ice. She took one for herself, tucking into the silver belly with a nibble as she elbowed Gradoona to get her attention.

"Hmm, ooh!" Gradoona started with delight, eyeing the array of seafood before her. She then paused skeptically.

"Wait, how much are they? I doon't get paid foor two days..."

First timer, Kiimiti thought as she laughed.

"Grradoona, the food'ss c-c-compljimentarrjy. jYou onljy pajy forr the drrjinkss and the...ss-sserrvjice."

The Herglic's little eyes widened along with her grin.

"Oh hell yeah! C'mere you sexy thing and feed me like I'm famous!"

The pool boy made gave a funny look as he stared down into a mouth full of dagger teeth and curly tongue. He shrugged, pulled a fish up, and dropped it down Gradoona's gullet, who barely let it pause a beat before it disappeared.

"Come aaaan Chief! Free food, yah?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"It's not even cooked," the Nehantite groused to himself.

The more he studied the tea house, and its occupants, the more something became incredibly clear to Anauri Rabeak: he was the oldest person in the room, likely by a good fifteen years, at least. On his own time, being fifty didn't seem to matter, other than the salt and pepper in the fur of his muzzle and on his temples. Fifty was fine, he was still active and capable, still fit and mostly handsome he reckoned, but here, surrounded by mostly twenty-somethings with their perfect bodies (Gradoona excluded; spherical was not a perfect shape for a body), their perfect smiles, their... orgies... all made him more self-conscious about his own appearance. Not that the events over a month earlier had helped with that any. Fur was slowly filling back in where his left paw and forearm had been burned, scars had knitted over where he'd been shot, and various scrapes and contusions had mostly healed, but it didn't make him feel like a rock-star. With Stashia it had all been different, she'd wanted him for how he was. But this? If he were in his twenties, surely he'd be down for it. Age, it seemed, had a way of harshing his own buzz in a manner in which had never been so clear to him before.

As the seconds ticked by, Jovan's chief engineer knew that he had to make a decision, and quickly. Either he could lose the towel and at least enjoy the water, and a drink, or he could be the laughing-stock prude of the engineering department. Despite his better judgement, Anauri sighed and let the towel fall, and he slipped down into the water, now worried about what manner of diseases it might carry, what with all the mating which apparently went on in it.

"Happy now?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Wahoo!" Gradoona cheered on Anauri's victory against decency, draping a heavy arm over his shoulder as she waved on another round of fish from the pool boy. Her cheer was infectious on him, and he tossed another fish at the Herglic with a flick of his wrist, watching it disappear as swiftly as the first. Kiimiti, in the meantime, was making longer work of her own fish, peeling off a a bite with her teeth as the music playing began to shift from the wailing chords of a kiisau into a track with a little more up tempo and drums.

"Of c-courrsse we'rre happjy" Taassaurra replied after swallowing, purring as the effects of the jeeta began to build. "What betterr wajy jiss therre t-t-to sspend a lazjy Ss-Ssundajy?"

Gradoona snapped another fish, but didn't waste a beat to back up her friend. "Yeah! Foor once, everything's runnin' like a well-oiled penguin, we gaat aall the priority repairs taken care aaf, aaand now we gaat nothin' better to do than kick back, relax, doo a little people watchin', and catch up aan some good dish, and noo, I dooon't mean the baattomless fish."

She eyed Anauri with a conspiratorial gleam in her eye.

"Soo Chief...that ladyfriend aaf yoours..."

Kiimiti's ears perked up at that lead-in, and she peeked around Gradoona's girth to pay attention to the Nehantite as they badgered him for some details.

[Anauri Rabeak]

The water was comfortably warm, and something in it almost tingled his skin as it soaked through Anauri's fur as he stood just over waist-deep in the shallow area of the main pool. There was the submerged bench running along the edge of the pool, but for the time being, Anauri chose to stand. At least until he found himself nearly bowled over by Gradoona's massive arm. Stumbling in the water, the Nehantite regained his balance just in time to hear his top engineer start talking about ogling the other bathers.

And then the question came.

As Kiimiti's ears perked, Anauri's lowered, and his face went still. It was an expression Gradoona had seen before on her boss, typically when speaking to Kedix. Anauri wasn't mad, he was... disappointed.

"I haven't heard from Stashia in a while," he answered. "Jedi are a busy lot, she's likely hard at work training."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Can we get this fella a drink or what!" Gradoona called out loud in a show of support for her Chief. The pool boys cycled their rounds, and a new tray of drinks showed up. The Herglic engineer took two of the tall fluted glasses, pressing one into Anauri's paw as she closed a hand over his.

"Soo wait, wait! Hold up! She's a Jedi?!"

Kiimiti's eyes went wide as she circumnavigated Gradoona to stand on the other side of Anauri, still gnawing on a now bare-boned fish tail.

"Wajit...f-forr rreal? jYou werre wjith a Jedji Kn-Kn-Knjight? Goddesss, what w-wass that ljike?!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

More than anything else, Anauri wanted to lift his glass and down whatever the hell was in it, in the hopes that it would be enough to make himself blackout drunk so that he wouldn't have to remember any of this. But he couldn't so much as move his paw as Gradoona's rubbery fingers remained closed over it. There was nothing for it, this was to be an evening spent purely at his own expense, he could simply feel it. The only thing that could make things worse would be if his ex-wife showed up, but that was an impossibility, thank Garfife.

"She's not a Jedi Knight," he sighed. "She's Force adept, and she's there to get training and guidance, and to see if it's the right path for her." It was all matter-of-fact, and completely devoid of the juicy details he knew the girls wanted. "And as far as how it was, it was the best I've had since I was married."

Not to mention the only I've had since I was married. His brain chipped in.

Not true, we went to the relief-

Relief centers don't count. They never count. We've been over this.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"The best! I knew it!"

Gradoona pounded her drink against his own, compelling Anauri to drink up to that thought. Kiimiti, meanwhile, had gravitated against the Nehantite and her gossip-hungry grin was fairly obvious.

"Detajilss! jI mean, wass jit j-jusst sshe wass a naturral talent orr d-d-djid sshe, jy-jyou know..."

The Cizerack waved her hand holding the fish in the air.

"Djid sshe rr-rr-rrock jyou wjith herr mjind?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

This was a bad dream, and he would wake up from it the moment some sort of strange sea monster would appear from the pool, Anauri was sure of it. But no matter how much he concentrated upon the still center of the pool, no terrible beast of the depths appeared to deliver him from his fresh, wet hell, and so he lifted his glass and pounded back its contents. Wrong move, as it was light, fruity and effervescent - the three things he wished for least in an alcoholic beverage. Pulling a face, he swallowed down the last of it and passed off his glass to one of the pool boys, thankfully dressed in at least a sarong.

"Beer, Sunshine's Pride, cold," he instructed. If he was going to be stuck in a schoolboy's fantasy land, he was at least going to have something to drink which he liked.

As the pool boy left, Anauri could feel the ripples and rush of water as both Gradoona and Kiimiti pushed in closer, the Cizerak's bare breasts nearly pressing against his fur in a way that would likely be delightful, if Anauri wasn't so desperately uncomfortable about the situation in general. Clearing his throat, he attempted to fashion as professional a reply as he could, but something admittedly substandard came out, instead.

"She's in her twenties, he had... youthful vigor on her side." He regretted the words the moment they came out of his mouth, but for some reason he kept talking. "And, I don't think either of our minds were quite what made it special."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Gradoona fweeee'd from her blowhole in amusement at Anauri's word choice. She imagined the silver fox dislocating his hip trying to keep up with the black-furred nymph he had on his arm.

"Doesn't look like she broke ya, sooo, yaknoo...just from the engineerin' side a'things, I think ya passed the stress test, Cassanova!"

The pool boy came around again, and Gradoona got his attention as he passed the beer to the Nehantite.

"Ya got what he's havin' aan tap? Can ya swing a pitcher?"

Kiimiti, meanwhile, had discarded her now-eviscerated fish carcass on the pool side, where it was cleaned up in short order by another pool boy. With her free hand, she began to swirl the fur on Anauri's chest just below the water, finding the tactile sensation with jeeta's influence to be really nice.

"jYou know, th-therre'ss a ssajyjing amongsst Cizerack matrronss who fjind a jyoung l-loverr wjith talent..."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Garfife be blessed for decent beer, and Anauri rejoiced in the moment of silence he was allowed while taking his first swig. That very same swig almost came out in a spray as he felt fingers pressing against his torso beneath the water. Garfife be further blessed for his ability to keep his beer in his mouth, the Nehantite managed to swallow before gently easing back a half-step. It wasn't to say that the touch didn't feel nice, it was just unexpected, though he couldn't quite tell if it was unwanted. Something hadn't felt quite right since he'd set foot in the pool, but not quite right in a good way.

"She did nearly get me in trouble with Akiena," he minded Gradoona, "And nearly wound up with kits in the process." Turning his attention back to Kiimiti, he allowed himself to raise one thick eyebrow. "And what would that saying be?" he asked before taking another drink, careful to swallow quickly this time.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

The Cizeri comms technician sipped her drink, winked, and offered a glib smile.

"Wajy t-to go."

The pair of casual lovers that had resumed their coital repertoire minutes before were now beginning to reach critical mass, the frequency of the thrusts overpowered only by his grunting and her guttural orations as the female splayed open hands on the deck of the pool for balance. That caught Gradoona's attention as she casually reached up to retrieve the pitcher of beer that had returned to her.

"I'm naat suure if I feel like a voyeur oor if this feels like a nature show. Either way, I like it!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Feels more like being in a porn flick," Anauri grunted. Though, try as he might, he couldn't seem to look away from the mating pair, and wonder if Stashia might like to visit this place with him, someday. Immediately he regretted the idea, as he was hardly the most attractive male around, and she was literally half his age. Thinking of Stashia, paired with the erotic display only three yards away awakened feelings within him that he felt it best not for his top engineer to see, and so he attempted to focus very intently upon his beer, instead.

"I really hope they filter this water well," he sighed after taking a drink. "Jizz is a pain in the ass to get out of fur. And I certainly don't want to clean someone else's out of mine."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well...squee-klak..."

Gradoona pulled a leaf of jeeta off her slick skin, rolling it between two fingers and tossing it back in the water.

"...they doo haaave thoose sonic showers oover there foor a reeason, I guess."

The pair of lovers finished with a sudden tensing and long-sighed release before they decoupled. They leaned against the back of the pool, spent a few more moments talking, then parted company like passing strangers, returning to their respective circles of friends. Gradoona plowed down half of her pitcher of beer, click-clacking in laughter.

"Soo much foor pilloow taalk, eh?"

Kiimiti drained the remnants of her cocktail and shrugged.

"Ssome p-people onljy want one t-t-thjing. We can't all be rr-rr-rromantjics ljike the Ch-Chjief." she nudged him in the side with an elbow and smiled.

"Pluss, ssometjimess jit *helpss* t-to fjind out jif thejy'rre a g-good lajy beforre jyou go thrrough all the t-t-trrouble to get to know them. Talkjing jisss ssometjimess harrderr."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri watched the pair finish, seeing the passion each had for the other in the moment, and then that moment faded away as if it had never happened. The nonchalant nature of it all burned at him as it seemed to reduce the act of making love to simply an animal action, with no further thought of it once the deed was done. His skin crawled at the thought of it all, and how similar it felt to experiences he himself had undergone back on Nehantish, during mating season. To fall victim to one's urges so completely was to lose control of one's self, to become an animal and lose the precious gift of sentience and free will which Garfife had blessed him, and all of his race with. Barring the fact that both genders were represented here in the tea house, the similarity to the "relief centers" set up on his own planet for males during mating season was all too close for comfort.

His beer was practically finished by the time Kiimiti touched him again, thankfully only with her elbow this time, and he shook his head. "Yeah, talking's harder, but it feels a lot better when she's still there with you come the next morning," he replied. Knowing that would only put him on the receiving end of more questions, or another barb, the Nehantite decided it was time to flip the tables a bit. "But I don't see you going out and taking advantage of this casual atmosphere. I've got an excuse, I've already got a girl."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Preeita'rrou Taassaaurra stiffened a bit at the gauntlet thrown down, her eyes widening for a moment before she swallowed her surprise and forced an easygoing expression.

"jI c-could have one anjy t-tjime jI want." she squeezed at her damp ponytail for solace, stealing a glance at a handsome trio of males enjoying drinks by poolside. One of the boys began to look her way, and Kiimiti quickly averted her eyes as if she might turn to stone.

"jI'd j-j-j-jusst rr-rratherr have an-n-notherr drrjink rrjight now, jiss-ss all."

Heading off any insinuations cast her way, Gradoona held up both her hands in front of her.

"Hey, I'm toootally ready to go. Yoou find me a Herglic gentleman caller, yoou can tell him I'll be waitin' aan him right here with bells aan!"

It was never really clear what was lascivious grin on Gradoona's face and what was merely a happy-to-be-here grin. She gave a thumbs up at the hypothetical.

"Anythjing less? Meh. Kiiiinda oonly interested in gooin' twelve rounds in my weight class, Chief. Actually, funny stoory, there was this little tiny fella faallowin' me aroound a few weeks agoo, and I'm pretty suure he was playin' tomcat aroound ol' Gradoona. Poor guy."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"To you, Gradoona, everyone is tiny. Even Wookiees," Anauri chuckled, then polished off his beer. Holding up his empty glass so that one of the pool boys could see it for a refill.

"I do hope you didn't lead this fellow on with no intention of some follow-up, though," he said. A smirk turned up the left corner of his mouth, highlighting the wrinkles around his eye, and the recent scar over his brow. "Because that's just plain mean, and if there's one thing I've learned you're not, it's mean."

Across the way, one member a small cohort of males approached a male from a similar clot, and without hesitation their hands were all over each other, and then some. Anauri cleared his throat and looked away, hoping to take solace in another beer.

This is waaaaay too much like a relief center.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Busted.

Gradoona fweeee'd nervously, ending in a chattering click of laughter as she ran a hand over her beak.

"Guess I shoould let him down gentle, huh?"

Kiimiti in the meantime made good on her desire for another drink, this time savoring it a little less in exchange for drinking it faster. The three boys were making a scene and they knew what they were doing. Homosexuality was technically a crime in the Pride, though one enforced largely with a smile and a wink and only against the women caught in the act. Open male makeout sessions in a place like a tea house, so long as they didn't escalate or get noticed by someone with a prudish bent, often were given a pass. Besides, Kiimiti highly doubted any of those preening peacocks were fey in the least. They were just chumming the water for a little more female attention.

And, well, it was working. Gradoona gave a hearty "Yea-HEHHH!!" as she hoisted her pitcher in the air.

Eventually all good things must come to an end. A portly-looking woman in a smart dress came out from one of the back rooms and waddled over to pool side to chide the trio discretely. Mildly crestfallen, Gradoona gave a dismissive sigh from her blowhole and finished her pitcher.

"Yaknoo, I heard somethin' aboout this place a while back. Heard that a certain someone gaat an exclusive invite by the parlor owner."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Gradoona, we're gonna have to start calling you 'Heartbreaker,' now, aren't we?" Anauri laughed.

Much to his relief, another beer appeared at the same time the boys were broken up, and with that double blessing Anauri decided that the tea house wasn't so bad, after all. Well, at least as not as bad as it could be, as long as he didn't think about what all was in the water. The beer was cold, the water was warm, and whatever the hell the leaves were, they smelled good and were doing wonders for the ache in his right knee. In the short while he'd been there, he'd almost forgotten that everyone was nude, including himself. Well, almost forgotten, at least.

Provided a welcome distraction with gossip, the Nehantite quirked one of his bushy eyebrows. "Really, now? Y'know, I'm not quite the social butterfly you are, keep my head down in the circuits too much and all. Now would this be anyone I know?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Gradoona looked as if she might actually pop from the strain of holding her gossip in much longer, and her already-wide grin widened even more, displaying her mischievous curled tongue.

"Oh yeaah..." she baited, looking from Anauri to Kiimiti with a squee.

"The head honcho himself came here foor a little personal touch..."

Kiimiti stopped stirring her drink for a moment, trying to parse out the Herglic's breadcrumbs. Then her eyes went wide.

"Wajit, jy-jyou mean...Commanderr"

"YES!" Gradoona affirmed with a high squeak in her voice, splashing the water as she flailed a hand.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri chose a particularly disastrous moment to take a drink from his beer. At the utterance of the word "Commander," half his mouthful came out from between his lips in a misty raspberry of a spit-take. Only by sheer luck were his reflexes alert and at the ready to lift his left paw and shield his face from being splashed by the leafy sex-brine. The semi he'd been nursing previously at the thought of Stashia vanished at the sheer repulsive thought that he might be standing in the same water where his boss did the nasty.

Coughing managing to swallow the remainder of his mouthful, Anauri pounded his chest with a fist to clear his windpipe before wheezing, "Really? Kes? Here?"

It wasn't that he couldn't picture his commanding officer in the tea house. He just couldn't do it with the combination of naked and sexytimes. Kes standing in full uniform against one of the walls in the corner with a virgin cocktail like the homely single girl at the prom, that was totally possible to picture.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Kiimiti's ears skewed at odd angles as she began to frame the mental image necessary to put Kes Akiena in...

...nope, she lost it in a fit of snorting giggles, nearly losing her cocktail in the pool.

"Oh mjy G-Goddesss! jI...jI can't even...ahaha..."

Gradoona's little eyes squinted in delight at the hilarity as she threw her hands up in the air like she was signaling a goal in smashball.

"I KNOOW, RIGHT!?!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Nope. Nope nope nope," Anauri laughed, shaking his head. "That dude is a white bread protocol droid. There is no way in Garfife's name he was in here without trunks and arm floaties, not to mention other likely protection!"

Only then did he realize he was slagging off his boss where others could hear him, but be it something in the water, the atmosphere, or a beer or so into things, he chuckled as he added - albeit quieter -, "Though I can see why it'd have to be a private session: he's so pale that if he took his shirt off, we'd all be blinded."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"I just wanna knoow how it aall went doown, yaknoo? I mean, he's naat the uusual soorta fella here. Was he all 'Come here aand saluute this'?"

Again with both arms wide, Gradoona gestured with a finger on each hand down at her lap as she nodded ponderously.

Kiimiti was barely holding it together, fanning herself to help her breathe as she laughed into her cocktail.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri's rich, deep laughter echoed through the tea house at that, and he held up a shaking paw as if to deny Gradoona's assertion. "Oh no, no way," he laughed. Bringing his voice back down, he sported a huge grin which showed the missing molar on his upper right jaw. "He probably just had her fill out reports and do paperwork the whole time. He must get off on that stuff, with as much of it as I have to submit to him!"

Placing a fist on his hip in an arrogant, yet dignified stance, Anauri looked down to an imaginary woman kneeling before him. "Oh yeah, fill it out in triplicate. Yeah, just like that. Oooh, girl, you know how I like it time-stamped!" He said in a mock breathy moan.

[Kiimiti Taassaurra]

Kiimi was still laughing, but it was laughter that was petering off into nervousness as she tugged down lightly at one of her ear tufts.

"Rrou'ae, come on now..."

Still with a giggle, but she was trying let a better head prevail.

"He'ss ourr c-c-commandjing offjicerr. Majybe we ssh-sshouldn't be sso mean?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Gradoona's tongue lolled as she gave an indifferent wauum from her blowhole.

"Oh, noo haard feelin's yaknoo. The Commander's goood people, soorta. Certainly a moore cheerful fella than the K'oohta'rrou. If she set foot in here, aall the waater woould freeze!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Aaaaand Anauri had crossed the line. It was always the biggest danger when socializing with others from work, especially when he might be their boss, In Nehantite culture it was well-known that good-natured ribbing was constant among those down the ladder, but on Jovan, with Cizeracks? There was a reason Anauri had become less personable and withdrawn, and it was to prevent saying something that would be regretted later.

Thankfully Gradoona stepped further, allowing Anauri to recover.

"Eh, I dunno. She's a bit brusque, yeah, but my interactions with her leave me with the impression that she's under a lot of stress to do things right, and genuinely wants things to work out. I've got no issues with her, myself. Not my type, personally, but a good officer." He took another pull from his beer, his second glass half-drained. Between the alcohol and the jeeta, Jovan's chief engineer couldn't help but begin to feel the effects, and as he finished speaking his eyes drifted off to a particularly alluring Cizerack woman nursing a drink at the other edge of the pool.

You've got a girlfriend, you idiot. You really shouldn't be looking.

I know, but... damn.

In an attempt to distract himself, he cleared his throat. "In any case, I'll just be happy when we finish putting Main Engineering back together."

[Kiimiti Taassaurra]

Kiimi was about to give her two du'arri's worth about the K'ohta'rrou when Anauri flipped the script for a more...mundane topic. It definitely killed off any residual laughter, and now the Preita'rrou was staring down at her drink.

"jYeah, therre ss-ssurre wass a lot of damage afterr the attack. Comm-m-manderr Akjiena jiss asskjing uss t-t-tt-to completeljy overrhaul the centrral communjicatjionss n-nnetworrk. Prrobabljy wjill b-b-be on double sshjiftss forr a week forr th-th-thth-that."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri couldn't hold back the smirk drawing up his muzzle, and he lowered his voice on the off chance that prying ears might be listening. "Probably shouldn't admit that I think I might have done more damage to Main Engineering than those droids did," he chuckled. "My old rifle packs a hell of a punch, but she ain't too accurate on full auto."

Perhaps it was pride in admitting he had been the one to repel the incursion into their domain, or maybe it was just needing to admit that half the damage had come from himself. In either case, Anauri smiled and tipped back the remainder of his beer, almost forgetting he was naked in the pool, by that point.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Thaat was yoou?!"

Gradoona flung her now-empty pitcher over her shoulder with incredulity. Fortunately it was transplast, like the rest of the drinkwear here, as it clattered on the floor a distance away until another pool boy snatched it up.

"Geepers, Jango freakin' Fett, I hadta strip down and restoore a whoole compaartment! It looked like a bad maadern aart exhibit. Never waanna see that much caarbon scooring again in my life!"

He'd gone and mentioned the attack, which put a wet blanket on good fun. Still, Gradoona shrugged it off as much as her infinite optimism could.

"Well, I guess all that naansense gave me some wicked cool scars."

Well, wicked cool was a pair of star-shaped puckers of dull skin that contrasted against her normal shiny sheen. Maybe if some handsome Herglic beau asked, she'd make up a better story than reality. Gradoona's big grin narrowed a bit, and she spoke in a less brassy tone.

"Still, I hoope that's the laast time it happens, yaknoo."

[Kiimiti Taassaurra]

Kiimiti grew quiet at the turn in conversation toward the attack. She didn't want to think of her time on the command deck. The beatings, the intimidations...the sight of Ensign Ek'ette.

"Yeah..."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri looked down at his still-healing left paw. The fur had started to come back, but its short strands exposed the scarring of burns beneath. "I hope none of us have to go through that again," he replied. "And, for the record, that's why the top drawer of my toolbox has a biometric lock on it, Gradoona. It's not where I keep my stash of choco-caramels. It's where I keep my rifle."

The mood among the three had changed, not for the better, and it did not suit the atmosphere of the tea house. Not that Anauri wanted to suddenly engage in a threesome with the pair - or possibly trio, if Gradoona counted as two by volume - but there was no need to be dour. Lifting his beer, the Chief Engineer smiled. "To friends lost, but more importantly to friends remaining."