Kastiel quirked an eyebrow at Gault. She'd noticed he had a habit of rubbing against the jagged edges of his broken horn when he was pondering something bothersome. She followed his gaze now, as he looked across the vendor table at some bolts of fabric, swaths of pale pink and lavender strewn haphazardly across the surface, most of it twinkling with silvery threads in the early morning sunlight. The stuff was pretty enough, she supposed.
She nudged hard against the Devaronian's shoulder, so that he nearly stumbled against the table. "Please tell me you're not looking to really hang curtains on the ship, Gault."
He blinked at her, looking confused for a moment. Then he smiled, shrugging. "Hey, I already told you that Bad Boy of yours needs some spiffing up. You'd never know a couple of women bunked there for nearly a year now, sheesh." He pointed. "Come on! Don't you think that pink fabric would highlight the colors in your quarters?"
Kas laughed. "Well thanks for assuring me you've never set foot in my quarters, at least." She leaned over the table, considering. Then she pushed aside the glittery-looking fabrics, pulling against a length of fabric almost hidden beneath the stuff. She heard Gault sigh oh so subtly, saw out of the corner of her eye that he looked away, as if to ignore the deep purple fabric she was handling. He eventually huffed when Mako called out to them from across the way, insisting they come and try something called a "smoothie".
"I'd better check on her, before she falls over the damn bar," Gault mumbled.
Kastiel watched as he ambled away. She rubbed against the implants under her eyes, thinking. Then she motioned towards the vendor, a human wearing a pinched look on his face that seemed terribly common on Alderaan. "This material, here. I want you to make a shirt from this, something that will fit that Devaronian, there. The cuffs should flare out, with fringes hanging from them. Just so, see? Can you do it?"
The man insisted on a truly steep price for the item, far more than anyone would've expected to pay, even here on Alderaan. Kastiel only glared at him, her arms going up to cross against her chest. He gulped as he took in the tense expression on her face, then offered a much much lower number. He sighed when the bounty hunter nodded sullenly before handing over the credits, feeling grateful when she turned and prepared to leave. He didn't even argue when she described the absolute insane timetable for him to complete the work before she returned to retrieve her purchase. Just bit his tongue and assured her it'd be done.
And it would, even if he had to get his sons into the shop to help, dammit! Anything but face that woman's anger again, he thought, shuddering.
Kastiel entered the tiny cantina, glancing around for Mako and Gault. She saw them perched on bench towards the back wall of the place. But she was suddenly pushed from behind, as another patron shoved his way through the doorway.
"Watch out, you! I'm here for my morning repast, and you're in my way!" The young man actually held his nose up into the air, sneering at her with pure unmitigated snobbery. Kastiel almost laughed, he looked so absurd standing there, rubbing against his chest where he'd run up against her armored back. She canted her head as she regarded him.
"Bit early in the day for you to be acting so much an ass, don't you think?"
"How dare you! I am Chrimar Noven, a nobleman of Alderaan. No miserable upstart from the Empire should dare address me, let alone with such disrespect."
"Take it up with an Imperial, not me. All they do is pay me when it's necessary. You looking to make it necessary?" She tapped a slim finger against the barrel of one of her blasters, arching one dark eyebrow as she looked back at him.
"What? Pay you? For what? You're nothing but a pathetic slave to the Empire, in fact! You do as you're told! You …" He might have continued ranting, if he hadn't stopped long enough to really look at her just then. He actually blanched. Not surprising. Her armor and weapons made it perfectly clear what sort of work she did for the Empire, anyway. Mister-Obviously-Clueless Chrimar Noven was just a bit slow to realize it, apparently. "Are you threatening me? Great gods, what happened to your face? Disgusting!"
She tightened her lips, her dark eyes going cold and hard suddenly. "Not threatening you yet, no. I could, though. Who'd stop me?"
"What?" He turned a mottled shade of red, then, and darted frightened eyes around the cantina, as if looking for a place to escape. "I am above such threats. You have no reason to antagonize me! I'm here for tea with my companions. Leave me be!"
"Well, you better get to it, rather than running into my backside." Kastiel watched as the fool scampered away like the little rodent he was. Picturing him with a scrawny tail tucked between his legs was the only thing that kept her from shooting him as he went, but he'd pretty much ruined her breakfast, regardless. She ignored the smoothie Mako pushed towards her as studiously as she ignored the angry looks the little cyborg tossed at the prissy nobleman across the room.
She tried blaming it all on the fruit. It was too sweet, too slushy. Who ate such a sticky mess so early in the morning, she pondered aloud. Gault only smiled as he slurped down some of the orange-colored glop. Kastiel gave him a fake little chuckle as he smirked at her. It all proved such a futile effort, in the end.
"Perhaps it would be best if you vacated the table, mistress. If you're not hungry, that is." The unctuous tones of the server dragged at the edges of Kastiel's pitiful level of patience with the entire population of the planet right then. She glared at the man, her jaw clenched tight as she argued with herself against bashing in his face with a hard gloved fist.
The memory ghosted along the edges of her mind, a single voice skittering there, like a maddened bug dragging its shattered legs behind it just after it's been stepped on. "You shouldn't be here, you don't belong. Get off with you, you filthy little brat!"
Kastiel glared. But she nodded, "Yep, you're right. This place isn't for me." Then she rose quickly to her feet, turning to leave without a single backwards glance. Mako's jaw dropped, even as she jumped up to follow the bounty hunter.
Gault watched them go. He sat there another few moments, staring mournfully at his half-finished glass of orange sweetness. He sighed, "Ah, well. Back to work, I suppose." He almost ran into someone as he approached the door, though. Figures he would bump into an Imperial, no less. The man's blue eyes barely blinked, even, as he assessed Gault, standing there. "Crap, I really do have the luck of a Bantha these days," he blurted, still staring at the man.
"Sounds like you've visited Tatooine, if you speak of Banthas. My sincerest condolences, if that's the case." A Sith stepped through the door, obviously following the Imperial. Gault's eyes narrowed as he considered her. She had dark hair, black like the Imperial's. But her eyes were deep brown pools, sweet-looking eyes. Like melting candy. Not that he doubted for a moment how dangerous she was, more dangerous even than the officer who stepped closer to her. Protective fellow, he thought.
"Yes, miserable planet, Tatooine. I'm trying to forget all about it, trust me. Alderaan at least has better food. Try the smoothies, if you get a chance." He glanced back at their abandoned table, noticed his glass had disappeared. Down the drain, damn it.
"I'm not terribly interested in a meal at the moment." She shrugged a small, curved shoulder in his direction. The Imperial rumbled under his breath, something about when she'd last eaten. The Sith calmly accepted the man's apparent admonishment, amazingly, considering she was Sith. Her dark eyes even glinted with amusement.
Gault felt his mouth drop open as he took in that look in her eyes. Such … familiar eyes. He snapped his mouth shut, but not soon enough. She tilted her head sideways, eyeing him carefully as she registered his shock and surprise. But he only looked past the two humans, eyeing the door. He coughed. "Really need to be moving along. If I were you, I'd avoid those young noblemen, there, in the corner."
The Imperial narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the young men leaning over the table, talking animatedly to each other. "They don't appear particularly dangerous."
Gault shrugged. "Didn't say they were. But they're not friendly towards Imperials, either. Ranted quite a bit at my employer about the work she does for the Empire. Wasn't an overly nice exchange."
"I see." There was no more amusement in the Sith's eyes, Gault noticed. Right then, she suddenly looked … quite as dangerous as he knew a Sith could be. He watched as she stepped around them both, although the Imperial followed along behind her. She moved very purposefully towards those young men in the corner, her intention cold and precise.
Gault decided that was a really good time to leave.