Naat noormally the complainin' type but geeez

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Welcome to Billydees, home of the four alarm popple tot platter, oh."

The human hostess took one look at the Herglic now literally darkening the restaurant door in front of her and caught a case of the bug-eyes. Gradoona, for her part, merely hauuumed.

"First Herglic, huh? Ookay miss, gaanna make it easy foor ya. Coorner booth, moove the table ouut a smidge, and I'll just wedge my merry butt in there, noo praablem."

"Okay." the hostess nodded, looking behind both left and right.

"Yeeah I knoow, ya gaatta ask youur manager, lookit, tootally naat my first roodeo. I understaand."

The engineer jerked her thumb to the right.

"I'm just gaanna park my feet oover at the bar till ya get me soorted, that ookay?"

"Okay..."

The cetaceoid tilted her beaked head.

"Youu ookay?"

"Okay."

"Ookay..."

Gradoona fwee-clacked, leaning a little closer to read the girl's nametag.

"...Natali. Caan I get a menu while yoou figure ouut how to deal with my wide looad?"

"Okay." She handed the flimsi to the herglic as an afterthought.

Gradoona clacked with a friendly grin that showed a lot of teeth. It apparently wasn't reassuring. Her eyes squinted.

"I'm just gaanna...yaknoo...oover here."

[Jaden Luka]

If regret had a flavour, it was probably mediocre beer and lukewarm greasy onion rings. It was the meal of a man who had finally begun to contemplate his dubious choices; a man haunted by images of brain tails and butts, followed by a fever dream of fur, and claws, and an aggressive crash course in alien anatomy. It was the meal of a man whose wardrobe choice this morning had been based on what would make the shredded skin across his back and shoulders sting the least; of a man who suddenly found himself qualified to write a HoloNet article about fifteen unorthodox uses for your lover's tail. It was the meal of a man who truly comprehended just how far he had fallen, and had the grazes from face-planting into rock bottom to prove it.

It was the meal of a man who had given up on life; and so of course, craving such a meal, Jaden Luka had come to Billydees.

In fairness to the establishment, and it's perfectly amiable staff, there was nothing wrong with Billydees. It was perfectly fine. The food was fine. The atmosphere was fine. The alcohol, fine. The waitress with the ponytail and the one size too small leggings, very fine. But that was the extent of it. In an environment as packed with diversity and culture as Jovan Station was, Billydees was just fine. Not exceptional. Not a culinary exploration. Not a soul-changing gastric experience. Just fine.

Perhaps that was why Jaden was here: the comfortable reassurance of everything being fine. Or perhaps this was his penance, convinced that this was the best he deserved.

Jaden had been doing a pretty stellar job of brooding into his beer: the kind that tasted as if it had been heavily diluted, but actually had that flavour deliberately; the kind that you could sink with minimal effort, for those days when quantity absolutely was more important than quality. Despite this, Jaden had barely managed to make a dent; a carpet of thick foam still clung to the surface of the pint of Paonga Green Ribbon - the Queen of Beers, of the Naboo Board of Exports was to be believed - well beyond the point where bubbles of superior brew should have dispersed. Idly, Jaden wondered if this was why PGR was so frequently consumed direct from the can: a defense mechanism, to spare the consumer from fully understanding the abysmal quality of what they were consuming.

Despite his efforts though, the arrival of a Herglic and the conversation that followed on the periphery of earshot was hard to ignore. Visual component aside, that voice was not the sort of thing you could easily miss. It wasn't as if Jaden had never seen a Herglic before. Heck, he was fairly confident he'd seen this specific Herglic before - odds were good that Jovan didn't have too many members of that particular species floating about. Even so, and despite his mood, there was just something deeply unmissable about the entire situation.

As she sidled her way up to the bar, Jaden offered the closest approximation of a smile he could manage, given the circumstances.

"It's, uh, Gradoona? Right?"

[Lykeira]

Hazel green eyes took in the lack of anyone of note as she strolled down the sidewalk, passing a host of aliens that all disappointed the Imperial Knight and Pachmari witch from Devaron. Having grown up on a world where the females preferred their mates to be gone, Lykeira's mother had chosen a perfect world to raise her daughter. Though she was sure her own sperm donor was dead and not a Devaronian, she had wondered as a child. Nearing the restaurant, the cinnamon toned Force user felt her stomach alert her to meal time. Adorned in close fitting, rust colored leather, the shapely human female entered the diner, noting quickly the change in scents going from the burn of tabanna gas, body odors and overused cologne and perfume, to the assaulting mix of cooked food and baked bread.

Her long, curly hair rebelliously hanging loose down her back and around her shoulders, barely covering the intentional cleavage revealed just above the single button kept closed for what little modesty that Lykeira cared about. A predator that loved the hunt. Slowing as she approached the spot near the cashier's counter recently vacated by a large fatass, hazel green eyes surveyed the few empty tables as well as the patrons within. Duros arguing a recent business deal, two Sullustans no doubt arguing over who was going to pay the bill and a Shistavanen sitting alone in a booth all stood out most among the mostly human-filled room.

"Welcome to Billydees," the pleasant female waitress greeted, gaining Lykeira's attention. "Just one?"

"For now," she grinned, full lips parting to reveal pearl white teeth.

Nodding, the brunette smiled and motioned, "This way, then". Grabbing a menu, the girl guided the newest entrant into this establishment as the slightly taller Force user took it all in, especially noting the few single looking males in the restaurant, most now eyeing her as she sashayed past their tables.

"You guys cook your steaks medium rare," Lykeira finally asked as they approached an empty table.

Nodding, the girl grinned as she turned and set the menu on the table before her as Lykeira sat down. "Anyway you wish it, ma'am."

Winking, Lykeira already knew what she was going to order and then glanced to the list of sides, the unstated dismissal understood as the girl left her alone. Salads, breads and other assorted items all kept her interested and she then mused on how hungry she actually was. Soon, her mind was made up and she set the flimsiplast sheet down and reclined in the chair, pushing out the chair next to hers with a booted foot and then lifted both into the seat, crossing her ankles.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Sometimes that was how it went. When you stood nearly a foot taller than every head in the room and weighed more than three of 'em combined, folks you'd never met seemed to know your name. Hey it's the Herglic, because of course there's only room for one, is how the joke went. On most days, Gradoona definitely didn't mind. The sun rarely set on her sunny disposition, but she was almost at a state of red sky at morning right now. The only thing that kept her from attempting to disengage from Jaden's callout was to spy the can of PGR he was nursing from. Either he was one of those inner core hipster doofuses (he didn't look the part), or he was at least vaguely a part of the same tribe as she was. The tribe that wondered what was wrong with the beer they already had (because they beer they had already drank pretty good), and saw no reason to spend five damned credits for a pint of something called Imperial Chocolate Shipwrecker Ale - what?

"Yaa, thaat's still me laast I checked."

She finally had the bar droid's attention, which was always awkward when a tertiary conversation started at the same time. Gradoona raised a hand slightly at the human for a pause, then put in her just waitin' at the bar order.

"Caan I get a pitcher?"

"Query, what beverage do you wish to select in pitcher size?"

Bar droids, sheesh. Yeah you saved money, but they sure lacked the gift of gab. At least that meant Gradoona could save the tip money.

"I'm naat thaat caamplicated. PGR's aan the penny pitcher special, yaa?"

"Correct."

"Well, theeere yaa goo."

With the particulars dealt with, Gradoona was at least ready to attempt being sociable. She pivoted on a wide foot, half-leaning on the bar as she squared Jaden up.

"Soo yaah, whaat can I doo yaa foor?"

[Jaden Luka]

"Nothin' in particular," Jaden offered, raising his drink in a quick salute before forcing another mouthful of indifferent pisswater down his throat. There was something satisfying about the suffering. Self-flagellation in liquid form. Soon he might find himself ready into upgrade into get drunk quickly drinking, which would either involve liquor or finding somewhere on the station that sold Durasteel Reserve or something similar - not better per se, but at least it came in a larger container instead of a dinky little soda can.

That kind of drinking wasn't something you did in public, though. Or at least, not in a public place where the lights were up all the way. It wouldn't do for an officer like himself to get caught in such a state; and so Jaden shifted in his seat, embracing the exotic distraction of a seldom-encountered species. He even managed to muster a few doses of his normal charming smile.

"Just haven't had the opportunity to make your acquaintance, is all."

For a moment, he wondered what passed for appropriate greeting customs among Herglic, but quickly came to realise that the PGR had his brain in a subdued enough state that undue fretting over breeches in protocol fizzled out before it could form, and held a hand out towards the engineer.

"I'm Jaden Luka, with the Novgorod. We've been making port here between patrol runs a fair bit lately, enough for me to start figuring that getting to know the locals might not be a bad idea -"

He offered a shrug, carefully downplaying the conversation while at the same time taking the opportunity to score a few diplomatic points along the way.

"- and if pilot life has taught me anything, it's that the engineers and fix folks are the ones most worth knowing. We're all useless without you guys making our jobs possible, andit takes a special kind of stupid to let yourself get on the bad side of a mechanic."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ooh yaaah, I knoow the Novgoorod, suure! Heck, who doesn't?"

Gradoona took up the handshake, her own mitt easily swallowing Jaden's hand well past the wrist. She gave a few enthusiastic pumps, then gave Jaden's shoulder a friendly clap with her opposing hand as she let him loose.

"Pulled her ouutta mothbaalls and she gaat the ol' 67 million credit facelift, eh?"

The Herglic gave a whistle that trailed off into the hypersonic range. A few clicks followed thoughtfully.

"Maan, wooulda loved gettin' my hands up in thaat!"

The pitcher arrived, and Gradoona hoisted it with a grip that eschewed the handle and opted to grasp around the entire thing. She daintily pressed it against Jaden's can, then drained half the pitcher at once.

"Soo yaah, if yoou're lookin' to sweet talk a spanner-turn foor a favor oor two, hell, I'm a cheap date!"

[Jaden Luka]

Something deep in Jaden's core urged him not to let a display of consumption and constitution like that go unchallenged. Fortunately, the part of him that learned from his mistakes reminded him that science didn't quite work that way, and that trying to go drink for drink with that much biomass would be like trying to arm wrestle a supernova.

He settled for a more restrained swig instead, and mustered a chuckle at Gradoona's comment.

"No favours, just fostering a little good will. New galactic order, doing your bit for Senate and Sector, all that good stuff. Hese days, even a rocket jock like me has gotta pull double duty with a little diplomacy and PR from time to time."

The can was set down atop the bar, idly twisted back and forth, tracking a trail of condensation and inadvertent spillage across the allegedly wood but probably plastic surface.

"As for getting your hands up in the Novgorod's lady parts... you'd have to talk to Tink; Regan Altink, that is. He's the Chief, and, well." Jaden shrugged, guessing that Gradoona could relate to this particular wavelength. "You know how it is. Ship's his - the Captain and the rest of us are just along for the ride. No unconsented touching of his lady, if you plan on living through the night."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Aah, yeeah, I knoow how thaat song & daance goo. We're a territoorial bunch!"

Gradoona shrugged, just as the hostess emerged from the front of the establishment.

"Um, excuse me?"

Natali had the timid look of a girl who'd forgotten to get her name, which once again didn't matter so much when you're the only Herglic in the room.

"Table's ready?"

"Yes ma'am, um..."

Natali glanced at the man in the midst of conversation with the alien.

"Is he with you?"

The herglic shifted with a glance, sizing up Jaden for a moment.

"Yeeeah, suure, why the hell naat?"

She prodded the human in the shoulder.

"Ya game, mister PR?"

[Jaden Luka]

No, was the initial reaction that readied itself; Jaden couldn't be sure if it was better judgement or self loathing behind the keys. What was his alternative, though: sit at the bar and mope? Eat nothing but unsatisfying junk so that he could buzz his regrets away with mediocre booze? That felt like a clash though: improper conduct for an XO. He had an opportunity here. What was it that business folk called it? Networking?

Alone was overrated anyway.

"Yeah, sure," he answered, sinking the last of the PGR and abandoning the can on the damp bar. He mustered a slightly more believable smile this time. "You betcha."

Following along as the waitress led them to their table, Jaden searched his mind for the right kind of conversation starter. "Can I get you another drink, sir?" came the inconvenient interruption from Natali. Jaden blinked in momentary confusion.

"Oh, sure! Get me, I dunno -"

More alcohol sounded good, but more of the same didn't entirely appeal. Jaden wasn't one of those fancy beer drinker types who spoke in code and made up technical terms: for him, there were two, perhaps three kinds of beer. You had your drinking - or drunking - beers, which were easy, innoffensive, and were there mostly as a vehicle to smuggle alcohol into your bloodstream. The kind of thing you drank with sports, at a flight school cadet rager, or when you'd reached that point in the night where flavour no longer mattered. Tht was the sort Jaden had already been nursing. In the middle you had your prologue beers: the ones you drank at the start of the night before you switched to harder alternatives, or that you could drink standing up while waiting for a booth or to move on to the next venue. You were sober enough to taste those, but they needed to be cheap and basic enough that you wouldn't feel bad if you had to finish it in a rush.

Now called for a talking beer: something you nursed over time, with a taste that was worth noticing. If Jaden was going to hold himself back from matching Gradoona's intake, that was the way.

"- get me a pint of whatever most closely resembles a stout... and do you have anything heavy on caffeine and sugar lurking back there? It's been a long day."

"We have a selection of sodas and fruit juices, as well as Sithspawn energy, if you -"

"Sithspawn sounds great," Jaden interrupted, before the full pitch had a chance to start. "And another pitcher for my friend, if she doesn't have any objections."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Does a raancoor craap in the jungle??" Gradoona guffawed, a moment after draining the last of her pitcher. "Hell, thats fiine by mee!"

Natali nodded, a bit unsure how to reply to the bawdy talk as she led the engineer and the pilot to the corner booth. The pair passed plenty of occupied tables, one notably occupied by only one human female. It wasn't unusual to eat alone (hell, that had been Gradoona's original plan), but between her, Jaden, and the brunette-headfurred woman, it was starting to look like the lonely hearts club.

"S'cuse me, paardon me, herglic comin' throough, oops waatch yoour chair there fella."

Moving as dainty as physics allowed, Gradoona was still mindful of the rattle of silverware on nearby tables with each footfall. At last, they reached the corner booth, and carefully - carefully, the cetaceoid wedged through the gap between the padded benches and the table. Even with the table pulled out a bit, it was a tricky bit of negotiating. At last, she sighed through her blowhole.

"Soo, beer and energy drink huh? Soounds like yoou're recovering from a whopper of a night?"

[Jaden Luka]

"Eh."

Jaden shrugged. Much as the night's events - or at least, those of them he remembered - were weighing on his mind, he'd never been the sort to kiss and tell. Or, well, anything else and tell, either. True, there were reputation points to be gained or lost based on what you bragged about to your peers, especially among fighter jock circles; but in Jaden's experience, a confirmation or a denial had about the same chance of causing embarrassment, upset, or some other sort of damage if you weren't careful about it. A few slaps in the face for spilling the beans he could cope with, but the one time that had come with tears in the eyes had been one time too many for Jaden. Ever since he'd observed a strict no comment policy. People could assume and speculated all they wanted - hell, he actively encouraged it, letting it all add into his sexy mystique - but they'd never get a straight answer out of him.

"In my experience, the morning after is usually what requires the recovery, rather than the night before."

He let out a soft chuckle, delicately constructing an illusion of normalcy around himself.

"I was feeling completely fine before I woke up; figure that must have been what did me in."

Waiting for the engineer to sit first - mostly for manners' sake, but it made for a convenient logistics choice in this case too - he contemplated his sitting options, finding a patch of padded booth that was close enough to the table that he could reach without needing wookiee arms, but at the same time close enough to Gradoona that it didn't seem like he was trying to avoid proximity. A little wriggling was required to manoeuvre through the minimal leg room that the Herglic's lower limbs left available, but he managed it, taking advantage of the broad backrest of the booth seats to stretch out his arms.

"So how does a Herglic wind up working for the Alliance onboard a battered old Imperial station? You an old rebel, or one of the new post-Treaty patriots?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Hah!"

The expression of mirth from the Herglic always rose from the belly up. It was a laugh big enough to cause heads to turn, and Gradoona's amusement was evident from her open-toothed grin and curling tongue.

"I'm naat a shiny, if thaat's what yoou're askin'. I mean, I'm naat some crusty oold saalt. I'm still a spring penguin yaknoo, buuut I've aalsoo been arouund laang enough to when I waasn't...Lieutenant Pod-Floewander" she sounded her name as snooty as she could while raising the little digit of her hand off her pitcher of lager as if she was an aristocrat, "and waas juust Gradoona."

Quaffing a quarter of her pitcher down, the Herglic squeee'ed.

"Yaknoo I kiiinda miss just being Gradoona. I mean heck, yeah I love a regular damn paycheck and aall, buuut I kinda never gaat used to bein' saluuted."

A series of clicks sounded in her throat as the cetaceoid shook her head.

"Soo it's naat like I doo my jaab foor the jaallies aaf gettin somethin' shiny pinned to my jaacket. I ain't that kiinda gal!"

[Jaden Luka]

The statement made Jaden mildly uncomfortable; not because of anything Gradoona said, but because of what the sentiment reminded him of. It was like looking into some strange sort of mirror, and witnessing the path he'd not taken. Shiny rank insignia wasn't what Jaden did this for either, and he loathed getting saluted; and yet here he was. A Commander. An executive officer. One mid-battle bashed head away from having to be the man for an entire crew of souls. This wasn't him. Or rather, it was: but it was the him that he had become, not the him that he'd wanted to be.

For him though, it wasn't that he missed being just Gradoona, or his equivalent thereof. Being just Jaden was years ago now: the seven years in the wilderness that fell between Empire and Alliance. Nostalgia for that was nostalgia for a time before he'd found a way to start making amends for being TB-0210. Back before he'd found the Rebellion. Back before he'd found a purpose. Back before he'd fallen in love with his first A-Wing. There was nothing wrong with the kid he'd been back then. Well, there was, but being an annoying ass was something that affected those around him rather than himself, so he'd never minded too much. But he had no nostalgia for it, no desire to revert back to that state.

What he missed, sadly, was the simplicity of being at war. He missed the clarity. He missed the missions. He missed being told to go somewhere, knowing what to shoot at, and then flying home to the bar. He missed 31 feet of A-Wing or 41 feet of X-Wing being as much ship as he needed to worry about. He missed being Rogue One, and all the legacy and significance that went along with it.

True to form though, he didn't mention a word of it; didn't even let those thoughts play out across his face.

"What you sound like is my kinda girl," he countered, realising about half a second later the way that might have sounded from an outside perspective. Not that there was anything wrong with that of course; he just didn't want to be beaming out any false telemetry. "Girl after my own heart, I mean," he tried to clarify, which didn't make it much better.

Where the hell was that waitress with his drink?

"So, what did you do before you wound up on Jovan?" he continued, trying to push his way through to the continuation of conversation. "You always been a space station gal, or are there tales of adventure and excitement in the pages of your service file?"

[Lykeira]

Watching as the large alien and her male consort moved to the proffered booth, Lykeira's judging gaze continued following them, then as the Herglic attempted to shoehorn herself into the booth's padded seat, the witch and darksider couldn't help but smirk. Being so large had it's advantages, she knew, but after that Lykeira had no idea how she could fit into society rather inundated with humans and human-sized aliens. Everything would have to be specially made, though she realized it probably wasn't an issue on her homeworld.

Reclined, her vest open to reveal the ornate, black tattoo commanding her abdomen in interlaced tribal markings, the waitress soon arrived with her tall glass of tea, "Here you go," the equally young girl grinned. "Steak's on the way, should only be a few more minutes."

Nodding, hazel green eyes rose back to the attractive attendant. "Thanks." Watching as the waitress left her, she took up the tea and took a sip, then set it back down as she then listened in on the discussion going on between the Herglic and male human. His obvious discomfort and failed attempt at retreating prompted a laugh from the Knight, eyeing Jaden as she did so. "That was priceless," she commented, still chuckling, her booted feet still perched in the seat of the chair to her left.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

That wasn't a proposition but a girl could have a playful imagination. Gradoona's black eyes glittered as a whistle-coo trilled in three different harmonics, in and out of human spectrum. She laid a playful hand a bit heavily on Jaden's shoulder.

"Ooh I betcha say thaat to aall the lady mechanics, huh? Smoother thaan a penguin's baattom."

Gradoona slammed down the last of her second pitcher as the lady at the next table put in a peanut gallery comment. Gradoona flashed a grin full of teeth.

"As foor spaace staations? Pfft, first time foor everything yaknoo. Big change aaf pace from staarship living. I've turned spanners aan a dozen ships between the merchant marines to here, soo it's kiiindaaf a system shaack t' goo to this big hunk aaf metal that, yaknoo, doesn't haave an engine!"

The waitress finally did her rounds again, and Gradoona hoisted up her empty pitcher with one hand, and glanced at the menu with the other.

"Hey, whaddya waant? My treat."

[Jaden Luka]

Well damn, Jaden thought to himself, realising that he'd just been robbed of the opportunity to make any you'll have to buy me dinner first jokes with Gradoona for the rest of time.

Worse, Gradoona had done the unthinkable, and placed Jaden in a position where a decision was required. In a life or death scenario, Jaden could handle snap decisions just fine. When it was a case of choosing the best option for the sake of his squadron, his crew, or his mission, that was easy. But the normal person stuff? What to do, where to go, what to order, and all that civilian crap? The indecision was paralysing, and tactical objectivity did nothing to help.

"They still do those Jek Porkins nuna strips?" he asked, latching onto a faint glimmer of memory. He wasn't entirely sure what you did to transform rebel brand Tantive whiskey into the crisp and succulent glaze that coated the chunks of tastes-like-chicken swamp creature, but if the addictive nature was anything to go by, the secret ingredient was probably the bad kind of spice.

[Lykeira]

Gaining a furtive glance from the large one, Lykeira winked at her then eyed the male human knowing he was intentionally ignoring her, which was fine for now. Lykeira had gotten under people's skin rather quickly and though she feigned to read his surface thoughts, his body language already told her enough. He was trying to find a way to escape the comment he instinctively made to any and all females, regardless of how large or small their waist size was. A genetic defect which reminded the old Pachmari witch why their mothers genetically altered every child in the womb to be female. Midwifery came in handy that way, when combined with the right mixture of potions created by their healers. The lack of recognition also began to eat away at her peaceful veneer that had been intentionally thrown up to keep her from making a mess of this station, gaining more attention than her lack of modesty and curves already had.

Hazel green eyes scanned the patrons around them, most keeping to themselves or their companions seated around the table or booth, most human rather than alien. Mostly male, she knew crews visited this restaurant as well as local workers from the hangar complex. Two Port Authority officers stepped in, their clean uniforms and weapon's belts gained the Imperial Knight's attention as they scanned the room as if looking for someone. Led by the cute redhead toward an empty table, not far from them now, the pair sat across from one another as if to keep an eye on their partner's back, or a vain attempt to keep from anyone else thinking they were in to one another.

A grin arced upon her smooth, tanned features.

As she pondered several ways to interrupt this peaceful setting, her steak meal arrived, the smells delighting her nose and made her mouth water.

"Enjoy," the waitress smiled again, then turned and headed back toward the kitchen.

Time to dig in.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Heck yeah." Gradoona pointed it out on the menu with a throaty clack. "Caan I get an oorder aaf th' Jek Poorkins nuuna strips?"

"Sure thing!" the waitress replied in her friendly-is-mandatory voice, but by then the Herglic was pondering further ideas.

"Soo, hoow big is a nuuna strip, exaactly?"

The question threw the waitress for a loop, which Gradoona relished as she leaned forward.

"Huh, no one's ever asked that before. It's, y'know..."

For lack of a better way to describe it, the waitress held a length of space between her thumb and index finger. "...kinda like that, I guess."

Gradoona made an unimpressed expression, which was more or less just a grin a few degrees smaller than normal.

"Aand a nuuna's, what, abouut the size aaf my friend's head?"

What, was she a farmer? The waitress shifted weight on her feet. "I guess so? Maybe?"

The Herglic trilled a harmonic whistle. "Caan ya, yaknoo, cut ouut the middle man and baatter up a half dozen whoole ones?"

That knocked the fakey grin off the waitress' face, leaving a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

"You...want six...whole fried nunas?"

"In thaat whiskey baarbecuue glaze, yeppers." Gradoona batted her eyes, lacing her thick fingers together on the table top.

This job didn't pay nearly enough, the waitress thought, remembering not to roll her eyes.

"I'd have to charge you for six of the rotisserie dinners..." the human warned, hopeful that the cost might steer the Herglic off course. It didn't.

"Bird's the woord!"

Insane. The waitress pursed her lips, flipping her stylus over in her hand, before jotting down the order.

"Okay, that's glazed Porkins, and...six...whole fried glazed nunas."

Gradoona's eyes widened along with her beaked mouth.

"Ooh! Aand popple tots!"

"And popple tots...got it." She looked at both of her customers, daring either of them to make this order more weird. Gradoona wiggled her empty pitcher in the air as a reminder, and the waitress took it with the unsaid promise of a refill incoming.

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden didn't like stereotypes. He didn't like preconceptions. Both had the uncomfortable habit of often being, and that was a position that Jaden was not fond of being in. Even those times when it was all too tempting, he'd learned to recognise that turbulence tugging at his controls, and had made steering away from it a reflex. Sometimes though, you couldn't help it. Sometimes, despite all the effort in the world, you found yourself with at the very least an expectation here and there.

Suddenly though, Jaden had found himself in the presence of Gradoona, and it was as if he'd become lost in a nebula. Off in the distance there were some stellar nursary style examples of well of course a Herglic would do that, but everything from her accent, to the half squadron of deep fried nuna she'd just ordered, to the hard radiation of her infectious good mood that beamed through his rad shielding as if he were naked in a vacuum, left him scrambled, confused, and stunned. He realised the imminent danger of him staring and forced himself to look elsewhere, stumbling on the unfortunate discovery that the lass on the nearby table was apparently spectating them like a stage play -

He focused on the table in front of him, and idly wondered if this was how Murray felt whenever he spent time with the rest of the crew. The size difference was comparable, and Murray often seemed as baffled by human customs as Jaden felt now. Then thoughts constructed an encounter between Murray and Gradoona, a supergiant star and a teeny tiny furry asteroid. He wondered if the Squib would find Gradoona as terrifying as he did the Cizerack; or more importantly perhaps, if Gradoona would look at him like a tasty snack on legs the way the cat-folk did.

"I could go for some popple tots too," he added in, throwing the waitress a tiny bit of relative normalcy to help her stay afloat.

[Lykeira]

Listening to the Herglic order nearly made the Force user choke, coughing for a second as she tried not to laugh at how much the large alien needed. Even when Lykeira was working out the hardest, she had never been able to put that much down in a sitting. Hazel green eyes misted as she calmed herself and took a sip of her tea, then set the glass back down, noting in her peripheral how those seated nearby reacted to the long query that the waitress was gaining. Some in revulsion, others in bewilderment as they all listened, then once gaining a bit of recognition, averted their eyes back to the table, menu or those seated with them. Hearing the whispers through the Force as the other patrons couldn't believe their ears didn't help the dark sider from not choking again.

Windpipe finally clear, she chuckled as her eyes returned to her meal, as if enjoying a private joke. Though with the length and coverage of her long, chocolate locks, she could be wearing an ear bud as well. Enjoying the steak once again, Lykeira's smile seemed perpetual.

"Everything alright," the waitress soon arrived once more.

Glancing up, "Yep," she smiled, nodding, then motioned to the Herglic in the next booth over. "Going to run out of food here shortly if she sticks around too long."

A comment that prompted the girl to glance to the large alien, sympathy in her eyes as her smile melted. Glancing back down, "If you need anything, let me know," the offer seeming less than cordial as the girl walked away.

Lykeira's amusement began to fade as she ate.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Gradoona noticed the shift in attention in the midst of ordering, and sounded a conspiratorial fweee from her blowhole. She knew that look. That involuntary head pivot that occurred when the right sort of compatible piece of ass crossed your line of sight. Jedi probably were immune to the head-turn, but those weird monks spent their days meditating and navel gazing.

"Hey-heyyy..." Gradoona's little eyes squinted with delight as she leaned forward as far as she could, speaking for once with an inside voice that waxed conspiratorial.

"Caatch somethin' aan youur radar there, eh fella?"

The Herglic waggled her lower jaw with a few throaty clicks, then head-bobbed in Lykiera's general direction. She couldn't tell an attractive human from Adam, as the saying went, but that didn't matter. Humans knew what they wanted in other humans, same as Herglic knew what they wanted in other Herglic. She might not fly a fighter, but being a wingman was definitely her bailiwick.

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden's eyebrow climbed a micron, a moment of system lag stalling out his controls before the sensor telemetry could update. He glanced at the surrounding tables, sweeping his gaze over the other patrons. There were some interesting faces, compelling physiques; perhaps after Rai'faani, something a little more ordinary was the sort of thing that he needed, to rebalance the humours and steer himself out of this stomach-churning re-entry spin.

On the other hand, maybe what he needed was to find a B'omarr Monastery and get himself turned into one of those brain jar spider robot things, and never have sex again.

He shrugged off the implication with a chuckle, leaning back a little deeper into the worn booth padding, letting his backside slide forward a few inches into an even more relaxed pose. His eyebrows rose suggestively as he set his sights back on the engineer in front of him.

"What makes you think I'm not already target locked on what's in front of me," he countered, with as much pantomime suggestiveness as he could muster.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Haa-haaa!!"

It wasn't at all mocking laughter, but Gradoona's mirthful belly laugh definitely turned heads. She gave Jaden a playful shove, catching him mid-inertia to draw him back in her orbit. She was all smiling mouth and teeth and curled tongue.

"Hell, I like youu!"

The herglic whistled in harmonic, giving a wink.

"Buuuut, lets juust saay my armor's too strong foor youur blaster."

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden recoiled with a gasp, a hand clutching his chest.

"You wound me, El Tee," he countered, injecting as much theatricality as he could muster. It took a lot of self control to stop himself with chuckling along as well; shaking his head dismissively helped, brow furrowed deeply in shock and anguish.

He mustered a deep, heartfelt sigh.

"I've never had a woman criticise the intensity of my blaster fire before. No idea how my emotional deflector shields are going to recover from a hit like that."

[Lykeira]

Overhearing the foreplay now being displayed between the human male and Herglic female, Lykeira began to lose her appetite, hazel green eyes now rising to their booth as she straightened in the padded seat. Dropping her fork, her furrowed brow no doubt relayed all that was rolling around in her head. With a lack of manners, the dark jedi and witch couldn't help herself.

"Sure you two don't wanna take that meal to a room instead? This isn't the bathhouse, F.Y.I." Her mind flashing with disgusting positions between the two, she did her best to shut off her more imaginative thought processes before she did need to exit to the refresher.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well yaknoo, thaats why it pays to get chummy with a spanner jock."

Gradoona offered Jaden a lopsided open grin as the waitress returned with a new pitcher.

"Suure, we'll tear ya doown, but we'll praabably putcha baack together a little better than we found ya. Miiight take a little spit, a little lube, and the soorta laanguage ya doon't waant youur graandma t' hear, but that's sauce foor the penguin, yaknoo?"

A little commentary from the peanut gallery diverted Gradoona's attention back to the dark-furred human female, and Gradoona just guffawed at the nosy intrusion.

"Yaa think, sister? Hell, ya praabably can't get a fella smothered in gravy and cheese curds at the Cizeri joint!"

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden's natural impulse was to leap into action; to cut himself across Gradoona's flight path, and let his shields take the hit instead of hers. It turned out to be unnecessary. Whatever class of bird Gradoona was, her point defense game was strong, firing back on the unseen bandit who had stealthed her way into their conversation without so much as a flinch.

Not needed for any thrilling heroics, Jaden instead turned his mind to the content of what had been said. Bathhouse? Cizeri joint? Jaden had noticed a few different Cizeri establishments on his various wanders through the Jovan Station promenade, but none of them had stuck out in his mind as any kind of communal water experience. From the context, it seemed like the place for Jaden's sort of antics, as well. The opportunity to try his luck with the ladies, while at the same time not needing to have a shirt on? Sure, the rocket jock was charming as hell when he needed to be, but when you knew your shirtless reflection looked the way that Jaden's did, it was pretty damn stupid to leave that particular fighter ace languishing in the hangar.

Trying not to imagine what a fella smothered in gravy and cheese curds was - and deeply hoping it wasn't literal; that sounded like a recipe for both discomfort and the kind of awkward smell that hung around way longer than it rightly should have - Jaden turned his attention back to Gradoona, quirking an eyebrow.

"This station has a bathhouse?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Boy howwdy does it!"

Gradoona giggled, her little eyes squinting with salacious glee.

"The Ciz caall it a tea houuse, hehe. Play aan woords, eh? A coupla steeamy poools full aaf haat waater. Couplaa guuuys....couplaa gaaals...a daash aaf frisky botaaanicals...."

The Herglic rocked back, her toothy mouth wide open as she click click click[/]ed in laughter.

"Towels aren't the [i]oonly things gettin used and hung up wet theere, donchaknoo!"

She quaffed a third of her beer, giving Jaden a friendly elbow.

"Hell, ya game?? After grub, eh? I'm due my third bath today anyhoo. Ooh yah aaand the fish is free!"

[Jaden Luka]

Third today? Was that a space whale thing?

Jaden tried not to linger on such thinking. Aside from the fact that it was none of his damned business, and that there was a clear difference between the appropriate kind of xeno-curiosity and the inappropriate kind, he'd learned in the past never to let himself embark down a line of thinking that involved female colleagues and bathing. That almost always led to either trauma, embarrassment, and the bad kind of bruises. Occasionally the good kind of bruises got a look-in, but it was rare enough that Jaden knew better than to chance it.

"Frisky botanicals, huh?"

Jaden reached for the energy drink that the waitress had provided, twisting the top open with a satisfying pop. It was one of those resealable can deals, the ones designed by people who realised such things were usually consumed by spacers who didn't really want an open drink container sitting around near their consoles. Worst thing as a spacer was hitting some unexpected engine wash turbulence, and having to complete the rest of your orbit-to-surface with a huge damp patch of something hopefully cold by that point all across your lap. Sure, that kind of thing was why the prudent spacers always carried a pair of emergency cockpit pants, but still. Wasn't exactly classy.

His mind contemplated Gradoona's invitation. Maybe that was what his mind and body needed after last night. A relaxing soak, exposed skin, and perhaps a target rich environment to familiarise himself with. He was like a pilot who'd had to pull the loud handle and punch out. No use dwelling on the soul-chilling experience of being out there alone in the void of space, or of having experienced the attentions and non-affections of a woman who could easily have been some sort of feline diabolic figure from pagan folklore. He needed to get back into the cockpit, and find something new to shoot his payload at.

"Of course I'm game," he said with a shrug and a smile, leaning back a little further in the booth, and chugging back a mouthful of caffeinated. "What the hell kind of idiot would say no to the promise of free fish?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"H-yeah, I knoo, riiight??"

As if the whills had read her mind, the waitress finally returned, carrying a full tray. Two small casserole dishes were offloaded, each a canvas of varying shades of brown sizzles and bubbles, with the occasional blorch of white for atmosphere. Each was topped by a scant dusting of green herb trimmings - the consolation prize and technical copout for someone claiming they were about to eat a food that had once been a vegetable. The waitress lifted a pair of small white serving plates, to which the Herglic just laughed.

"Look at me, sister. Ya think there's a galaxy ouut there where this isn't a single serving foor a gal like me?"

The waitress made a conciliatory face, opting instead to offload the main event. Four golden brown sizzling carcasses that were roughly bird-shaped beneath their crispy-fried coffin skins. Gradoona squealed.

"Alriiiight, aaand a gaggle of crispy penguin friends!"

There was a bit of confusion on the waitress's face.

"Penguins? But they're..."

"Shh." Gradoona shooshed, holding up a finger for pause as she closed her eyes.

"Today, they're penguins. I'm juust gaanna, yaknoo, pretend I oordered aaf menu. I'm gaanna pretend that it's a free-heckin-gaalaxy doonchaknoo! Where a gal can, yaknoo, eat a few penguins and naat haave some little maaan goo and caaast aspersions abouut it!"

The waitress's eyes widened a little. She glanced to Jaden, not sure if there was a translation or context incoming.

[Lykeira]

Seemingly ignored, Lykeira knew the human male that the Herglic had her eyes on was definitely not her type. Though he was cute, hazel eyes diverted back to her meal, shaking her head in disgust as the Force began to well up within, adrenaline fueled rush that gave her goosebumps every time she was about to unleash death and hell on everyone around her. Gripping the fork once more, the dark jedi and witch's mind drifted to an assortment of vile scenarios. Not only had the obvious pilot and smuggler chose a bloated alien over her, but he seemed to be drifting toward that disgusting encounter without much thought.

Definitely the mindless servants that the Pachmari made males out to be. Her mother's outlook on the 'stronger' sex seemingly spot on. Though that theory had been disproven more than once in her lifetime, Lykeira still chafed as her mind drifted to the 'undesired' corner.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted as the waitress reluctantly slowed by her booth. "Can I get you anything else," she inquired.

Lykeira glanced up, brow lightly furrowed. "Had I wished anything, I would've called you."

Mouth agape, the female moved on, avoiding the glare.

The longer she stayed here, the more apt she was to start some trouble and turning her attention to the long counter on the far wall, the pair of uniformed officers would have to be dealt with first. Easy.

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden wasn't one to indulge in stereotypes.

Well, okay, that wasn't true at all. Jaden was more than happy to indulge in stereotypes, as long as they were good ones. In fact, during the years between his Imperial and Rebel careers, spent as a spacer hopping from one Outer Rim trade world to the next, Jaden had spent a great deal of time indulging in various racial stereotypes, as part of a purely scientific process to determine which ones were accurate and which weren't. There had been a few mishaps along the way - a pair of Twi'lek twins who hadn't been as keen on collaborating as their dance routine suggested, the odd Bothan offended by his wrongful assumption of their preferred position, things like that - but it had been a learning experience, and a growing experience. Mostly, he'd learned that people were just people, that stereotypes often existed for good reason, but that it was often a crapshoot whether a random stranger would conform or not.

This though, pushed the limits of the kinds of stereotypes Jaden had tested, and was comfortable with. Thus far he had happily separated Gradoona from any stereotypical alignment with the cetacean creatures whose ancestry she presumably shared. Yeah, there were a few bits of whale business, the noise and the apetite, all of that stuff, but it was enough of a correlation to be quirky and kinda cute, like when you caught a Cathar licking the back of their hand, or got frisky in a comm booth with a literal horny Zabrak. But penguins? Cute, adorable, derpy, flightless penguins?

He stopped himself before that train of thought continued any further. Yeah, that dietary choice seemed odd to him. But different worlds and different species had different food sources, and culinary tastes didn't always line up. Cizerack liked rodents with a little wriggle still in them. Worlds that ate canines or calamari were no doubt uncomfortable experiences for Bothans and Quarren - assuming they even correlated such creatures with their own appearances the way that humans always seemed to. Maybe it wasn't weird at all. Maybe all these hangups existed only in the minds of humans, and it was their all-prevailing arrogance that led to the assumption that they would be universally shared.

Jaden returned the waitress's glance, and offered her a shrug in reply. "If the lady wants penguins, then I suggest you toddle off to Yon's and fetch her some damn penguins."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Noo..." Gradoona waved off the helpful attempt. "...it's fiiine. Reeally."

To demonstrate, the Herglic took one of the whole birds and popped it down the hatch, hatcheting it apart with a few chomps.

"It's just paart aaf the new reeaaality that some folks think thaats offensive oor racist!"

Gradoona carefully picked a whole nuna leg from between two of her teeth and thumped it back into play on her tongue.

"I mean, whooo's even heard aaf a species caalled Pengauani anyhoo?!"

[Jaden Luka]

Jaden's eyebrows climbed a good inch or two. Pengauani, huh? He definitely fell into Gradoona's proposed camp of people unfamiliar with that species, but then Jaden was losing count these days. The Goridan Reach alone added a dozen or so sentient races to the ever growing list of Free Planets citizens, and those were just the species native to the fraction of the galaxy that fell within Alliance space. Herglic hailed from a neutral star cluster deep within Imperial borders, if Jaden recalled correctly, and who knew how many races lurked and his out in the expanse of unexplored Wild Space?

The edge in Gradoona's voice made it sound like something a little more recent and personal, though. Or at least, Jaden hoped it did: he'd been caught out by the whole mistaken inflection thing before, and had woken up the morning after a heated bar room argument and brawl to discover he'd inadvertantly become betrothed.

With a small gesture and an apologetic smile he waved the waitress away, adjusting his position in the booth to listen a little better. He massaged his drink slowly between his fingers.

"So. Penguins gettin' you down, huh?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Down, up, left, riiight...I'm in vertigoo! Aaall my scoopes are ouuta whaack!"

Gradoona slumped a little with a wheeze from her blowhole, palming her pitcher again.

"Sooo, I'm just gonna take it thaat you haven't had the misfoortune aaf meeting Joovan station's new human resoources officer then, eh?"

Using a helpful visual aid, Gradoona hoisted up the second crispy nuna.

"Abouut this taall...abouut thiiis wide. Feathers. Beak. Little beeeady eyes....yaa followin' mee?"