Title: Oh, My Head
Author: Vek Talis
Genre: Drama/Humor
Characters: Ocs Britmar Seclu, Uanaso, Kazaro
Timeframe: 197 years before KotOR, 4153 years BBY, approximately
Taris was for the rich and powerful. The upper levels of the giant planet-city sprawled with decadence, greed and avarice. Fine shops touted their expensive wares to the crustiest of the crust.
A trading hub between the Core Worlds and Outer Rim, Taris sat on one of the most lucrative hyperspace routes. Merchants from across the galaxy did business here, bringing in so many credits in such a short boom of time, that Taris' upper levels had been built over the brief span of little more than a century.
Normally, this was not the type of world Britmar found herself on. Or, to qualify, if she ever docked her vessel, the Osprey, it would have been in the Undercity. Only a dozen meters below the wealth of several planets lay the darkness and poverty which held up such decadence.
Today, Britmar was getting a special treat. Her lover, Uanaso, a Zabrak fellow with daring reputation to match his ruggedly handsome looks, was off securing payment from their most recent job. A semi-legitimate job, even. Would wonders never cease?
A wealthy Tarisian was into collecting ancient Wookiee totems from Kashyyyk. It wasn't illegal, per se, to buy them from willing chiefs and resell them on the open market. It wasn't even illegal to transport a potentially dangerous item (Wookiee totems from the reign of Chaanawrl II were often booby-trapped) in a private vessel, provided you took the necessary safety precautions.
What was frowned upon, was when a certain Wookiee chief didn't want to part with the particular totem and you had to resort to less than official means to get it. Of course, Kashyyyk didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. It was neither in the Republic, nor Sith Empire, so what you did to the Wookiees was fine, so long as you got out with all your digits intact.
This job was going to pay well enough that they could afford to get a little frivolous. That was why they paid for an expensive hotel room, and why Britmar had browsed a fine catalogue for something special.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she said, a towel wrapped around her head, another just getting cinched at her bosom. A real water shower was a luxury she didn't have on the Osprey. "Who's there?" she asked when she reached the door.
"Home delivery, Miss Seclu," the voice on the other side of the door said.
"Ooo!" she squealed and palmed the door.
A smiling lady in professional dress hurried into the room. Her smile dropped as the door swooshed closed. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Seclu, I had no idea you were indisposed."
Britmar reached for the garment bag, waving away the apology. "Don't fret none, honey. For this, I don't care if you stare." To that, she undid, dropped the towel to the floor. Her body was still damp with sweet, real water. In her other hand, she carried another towel.
The other woman turned around, crimson beginning to tell on her already rosy cheeks. Carefully, Britmar draped the garment bag across a plush velvet chair, took the dry towel and ran it up and down her curves. To her surprise – and slight agitation – the other woman didn't try to sneak a peek.
When she was dry enough, she tossed the towel onto a nearby sofa and unzipped the garment bag. The first item was a silk slip. She'd never had something so fancy in her life. As the delicate but strong fabric slipped across her legs, she imagined herself a high class lady, bedecked in furs, silks and jewels. It made her giggle.
"Miss Seclu?" the other woman asked.
"You can turn around now, honey," Britmar said. The towel on her head came down next and she rubbed a bit more before her flaming locks cascaded down around her shoulders. As she tossed her head back, she caught a glimpse of the other woman. A smile threatened to breech her walls as she noticed the other woman was staring, after all.
This was her first job back with Uanaso after a couple of years. They'd needed a break, according to Britmar. Of course, Uanaso went right out and doinked a Zabrak tart named Kazaro, when all Britmar had really wanted was a little space.
"We were on a break," became Uanaso's mantra after that. Britmar couldn't stand the sight of him. Until recently.
As a gift to her boyfriend, what would he say to a second...
Britmar smirked, then shook her head. This woman was cute, but she wasn't interested at the moment. "Care to help me?" she asked her.
"Of course," the other woman said. "That's what we're here for." She touched the garment bag just as Britmar's hand came to rest on it. There was a brief spark and the other woman averted her eyes. "Sorry," she said quietly.
"Go ahead, honey," Britmar said softly. "What's your name, darling?"
"Lara," she said as she took the flowing gown from the garment bag. "I must say, that slip does you every bit of justice I expected it to."
Britmar ran her hands along her curves. "It do feel good," she said in a smokey tone.
Of course, any chance at a threesome that night flew right out the window, as soon as Lara helped Britmar on with the dress.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Britmar screamed. Holding up her arms, the sleeves of the satin dress hung lifelessly down. The entire dress sagged and drooped and didn't hold anything up, nothing important, anyhow.
"I got enough room in this dress for three of me and a gaggle of ferrets up my sleeves."
"I-I'm terribly sorry, Miss Seclu," Lara stammered. Quickly, they got her out of that tent in disguise and she examined the label. "My goodness. I called instructions back, as per your order, for a four. Instead, they give me a fourteen!"
"I better have a dress soon," Britmar said as Lara commed her store. "My boyfriend's gonna be back soon, and then we're supposed to go to dinner. I can't go out looking like I wrassle in jelly." She would never admit, not to Lara, that she had wrestled in jelly once or twice. Nor, would she admit that it was too much fun.
"I'm afraid we're out of your size, Miss Seclu." Lara eyed the floor as she spoke. "This is all my fault and I accept full blame."
Sudden compassion leaped up Britmar's spine and she reached out to touch Lara's arm. "It ain't your fault, honey," she said. "Help me find another dress from your catalogue and it'll be good. I need something slinky, cause my boyfriend's getting lucky tonight."
Lara's grin was wicked, but she quickly hid it. "Y-you aren't like most of my clientele, Miss Seclu. I find you delightfully refreshing."
"Call me Britmar, honey," she said.
They spent the next few minutes flipping through the catalogue until Britmar stopped abruptly.
"You like?" Lara asked. She looked from Britmar, to the catalogue and back, Britmar wondering what was going through her mind. "I think you would dazzle in that."
"I would, wouldn't I?" Britmar asked.
This was a different kind of celebration, too. Less than two months prior, she'd been at her lowest point, shuttling fugitives. She'd lost the Osprey to a runaway Jedi and Sith and ejected into space to die. If not for some naive Jedi who rescued her, then protected her from a Sith who nearly killed her, she wouldn't be around for this reunion with Uanaso at all.
Those Jedi. They were cute, but they were such a drag. "Vek and Vizif, that was their names," she said quietly as Lara ordered the other dress. The kiss she'd given them both were only half remembered. Vizif was inexperienced, but Vek, he'd kissed before. Of that, Britmar was completely certain.
"It's on its way," Lara said. "Of course, there will no extra charge for delivery, nor for the difference in price between the two dresses."
"I reckon not," Britmar said. She hadn't even realized the new one was a little pricier than the first.
As soon as the new dress arrived and they verified it was indeed the correct size, Lara said her good-byes and left. "She skeedadled, more like," Britmar mused after the door had shut. "I got to get this thing on and get into my makeup," she said. She didn't open the garment bag fully until after she'd put on her face. By then, Uanaso was milling around the hotel room.
"What's taking so long, babe?" he asked. "It never used to take that long to get your face on."
"What?" Britmar shouted from the fresher room.
"Uh, I mean, you look great, babe," Uanaso said. "But we have reservations for that fancy restaurant."
How did he know she looked 'great'? There was a door in the way. Did he have x-ray vision all of a sudden? Britmar clamped down on the anger and finished getting dressed. When she stood before the full length mirror, the perfect lighting shining across the slinky dress up to her flaming tresses, she shrieked.
"What now, babe?"
Britmar saw red. And not just her hair.