Corso wasn't really a fan of Nar Shaddaa. It was too loud, too bright, too flashy. Maybe he was just too much of a backwater farm boy, but there was something about this blasted place that just rubbed him the wrong way. He hunched his shoulders up around his ears and leaned over the glass tucked between his hands. The throbbing bass beat of the noise the cantina called "music" was making the last inch of liquid vibrate but he didn't want to finish it off because that meant he'd either have to order another drink or head out and he didn't really want to do either. He'd already had two before this one, and he didn't want to try to make his way back to the ship with a muddled head, but he didn't really want to head back to the ship just yet in case his captain was back there.
Risha had called it "going on the pull" when she and the captain had dolled themselves up to head out. Corso had blushed furiously at the sight of what they were calling "clothes". Between the two of them they were barely wearing enough fabric to make a decent shirt. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet the kind of man they were hoping to attract with those kinds of outfits. They'd told him not to wait up but he knew he'd hear them when they got back. He didn't know why the captain always brought her conquests back to the ship instead of getting a room. The metal walls and floors conducted sound rather than muffling it, and he really didn't want to hear it, not when all he had to comfort himself with was his hand.
He had it bad for the captain, he knew. Risha had figured it out within the first ten minutes of meeting him and had laughed, not unkindly. "She'll take you for a tumble, no questions asked," she said. "Just show some interest and she'll have your clothes halfway off before you can blink. You're a good-looking kid, and it wouldn't be a hardship at all to give you a good ride." She grinned and patted his shoulder as he blushed. "But she won't be what you want her to be, and she won't stay with you. Your heart would be safer if you just let her go, Riggs."
He couldn't, though, no matter how he tried. He'd never met a woman quite like her before, and couldn't get her out of his mind. It wasn't just her lush curves and the look in her eyes when he caught her staring at him. She could fight, and shoot better than just about anyone else he knew. She was loud and brash and free, and she was perfect. But Risha was right. The captain might want him for his body, but he knew that while giving in would probably be a lot of fun he'd probably find himself stranded at some port before too long once she had tired of him. The longer he could hold out on her, the longer she'd keep him around. Maybe long enough for her to start thinking of him as a friend and partner, rather than a challenge.
He swirled the last of the drink around the bottom of his glass and then tipped his head back and drained it. Maybe he'd see if he could get a room at the cantina for the night and head back to the ship in the morning. It wasn't like he was lacking in credits, working for the captain. They'd had a pretty good run and he could afford a room for the night, even on Nar Shaddaa. He had just lifted his head to see if he could spot one of the servers when someone came up behind him and tapped him gently on the shoulder. He turned his head quickly, one hand dropping instinctively to the blaster at his hip, just in case.
It was a Mirialan woman, green-skinned with fancy geometric tattoos across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose and another cluster on her chin. Her dark hair was cut in a flattering bob around her face and she looked strangely familiar. His brain was a little sluggish from the drink but when she smiled at him and stuck out her hand he remembered her - Kixi, the slicer from Coruscant.
"I remember you," he told her, taking her hand with a grin. "I guess you got off-world."
"Corso, right?" she said with a smile. "I thought I recognized the hair." She playfully tweaked the end of one of his dreadlocks and he laughed.
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty distinctive." He waved her to the seat opposite him. "Good to see you again. How are things with you?"
She slipped into the chair with an easy, graceful movement, and he found himself studying her. She was slim but had a few curves that were shown off to good advantage by her snug-fitting tunic and trousers. He liked that she wasn't dressed like a lot of the other girls in the cantina, but in what looked like everyday clothes. He shook himself out of his thoughts quickly. He didn't want to seem rude, staring at her like that.
"I'm good," she said with a smile, crossing her arms on the table and leaning forward. "I never did get to thank you guys properly for helping me out." She craned her neck to look around the cantina. "Where's your captain, anyways?"
He shrugged, looking down at his glass again. "Not sure. She went out with Risha somewhere." At her questioning look, he elaborated. "Another crew member. We've been working with her for a couple of months now."
"And they left you all alone to fend for yourself on Nar Shaddaa? Poor you!" She spotted a server and raised her hand. "What are you drinking?" she asked. "This round's on me."
"Oh, it's okay. I've probably had enough," he said as the serving woman wended her way towards them. She was dressed like a dancer but he was glad to see that she wasn't wearing a slave collar. He'd seen a few of those since they'd landed here and he hated it every time.
Kixi laughed and poked him in the shoulder. "I'm buying, so you're drinking. He'll have a refill," she told the woman. "And I'll have a Corellian whiskey."
He chuckled, holding up his hands in surrender and letting the woman take his empty glass. "All right," he said. "But you might have to help me back to my ship if I have very much more!"
Her green eyes gleamed at him in the flashing neon lights. "Corso, that sounds like a challenge!"
Kixi was easy to talk to, even in the loud and crowded cantina. She had shifted her chair closer and her leg was pressed warmly against his from hip to knee. He liked the feel of it, but he liked talking to her even more. She was smart and quick, and laughed easily. She was leaning towards him, hands dancing through the air as she described an encryption she had broken on one of her jobs. Her eyes were shining in the dim lighting of the cantina and he found himself staring at her lips, wanting to kiss her. He blinked and looked down at the glass in his hand and realized he couldn't remember which number this was. They had been alternating rounds for the past couple of hours and he'd had more than he had intended to.
"Corso?" Kixi asked, cocking her head at him. "You all right?"
"Yeah," he said, shaking his head slowly. His brain felt heavy and fuzzy. "Just think I've probably had enough for tonight," he said, tipping his mostly-empty glass up and draining it. "No way I'll be able to make it back to the ship safely."
"Leaving already?" she asked and he thought she looked disappointed.
"Not necessarily," he said. "I like talking with you. But I need to stop drinking for a bit, I think!"
She laughed, resting a hand briefly on his shoulder. She reminded him of a Mantellian flutterplume, the bright little birds from his home planet. Like them, she was bobbing about in constant motion, head cocked birdlike to the side as she smiled at him. "I like talking with you too," she said. "I'm glad you're having fun."
"I am," he agreed, smiling at her. She leaned into him, her body soft and warm where it was pressed against his side.
"Good. You didn't look like you were when I first saw you." She chewed gently on her bottom lip, hands fidgeting with her glass for a moment. He blinked at her, thoughts sluggish. "Look... I have a place nearby, if you'd like to get out of here. It's really close, just around the corner, so you won't have to worry about getting back to your ship tonight if you don't want to."
She looked nervous and hopeful all at once and he couldn't quite figure out what she was really asking, but a place close by sounded like a good idea. And it wasn't like a gentleman would let a lady walk home alone in a place like this, even if she could probably take care of herself just fine. "Yeah," he said, watching a smile bloom across her face. "I'd like that."