Azure and Vlah'do watched as the waiter walked off briskly. "I won't lie to you Azure." Vlah'do said. "This case is not going to be as easy as we've had it up until now. This isn't going to be very simple. Habbek did kill seven people."BR
"Six." Hoth cut in.BR
"What?"BR
"I killed one of 'em." He said flatly.BR
"We can't let this get out." Vlah'do said.BR
"No. No, you can't cover this up. I guess that I'm going to let people decide whether or not I should be locked up for protecting myself, my friend, and my mate. No, I'm sure that there is no risk in that because no one could live with themselves after condeming someone for doing that."BR
"You're right of course. But, with that same logic, isn't it better to keep it hidden? If you're going to go free anyway, then why risk it?"BR
"Listen Vlah'do, I understand that you're trying to do me a favor, but I can't hide this. I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to try and help Habbek." He cast a quick glance over at Habbek who was pensively pining with a solemn countenance, lost in his thoughts. "I know that it's only a difference of seven and six counts of first depgree murder, but I'll do my part." BR
"And I'll do mine. Hoth," Vlah'do put his hand on his shoulder. "You're a better man than I, and I respect you for that."BR
Habbek smiled slightly. Once again people had underestimated his hearing. His akwardly large ears did not miss this conversation. He made a mental note to personally thank Hoth and make sure that he got off to be with his mate, family and crew once again.BRBR
The nine conversed as though it were some sort of odd family reunion until the food arrived, carried between three waiters. "Here is your food." A waiter said as he put a plate with a toasted cheese sandwich, oozing cheese out one side, giving off a trail of steam and tantalizing aroma. "And this is the bottle of Bordeux wine that the gentleman..." He looked around. "Excuse me, where did the gentleman who ordered this wine go?"
Vlah'do smiled as the other waiter gave him his chicken club sandwich. "He had business to take care of. Give the wine, and send the check to a Mr.Takumaro."BR
"The attourney general?"BR
"What? I mean, yes. That's the man. You have his adress right?"BR
"Yes sir."BR
"Does he come here ever?"BR
"Yes he does. And not to be rude, but he usually doesn't converse and buy wine for total strangers."BR
"Hey, no need to get cocky. Is he rich?"BR
"No, he has lost a lot of clients ever since the police cracked down on the city."BR
"Police crack down?"BR
"Yeah, they really cleaned up their act along with the city. Ever since then lawyers stopped getting cases and thus jobs. Mr.Takumaro is probably the only one left that can make a good living off of being an attourney."BR
Vlah'do comtemplated this for a while. "Well, that's soon to change. Thanks for the information." He pulled a two dollor coin from his pocket and tossed it to the waiter who caught it nimbly, nodded and walked off, having finished passing around the food. BR
"Hey," Karn said between bightfuls of his fish which he thoroughly enjoyed. "How come you are rich all of a sudden?"BR
Vlah'do smiled. "Let's just say that the governemt can be generous with a little... extortion."BR
"Huh?" Karn dug into his fish. "You know, this stuff is really good! It tastes familiar!" BR
Thus the dinner continued.BRBR
Iris waited patiently for her soup to cool to her satisfaction. She'd hover a hand a small distance over the bowl every once in a while to see if steam was still rising off it. She began to eat when the others were halfway done, though she wasn't in any hurry. BR
Azure watched Nemo out of the corner of her eye, making sure he didn't start to simply stuff himself like he normally did. BR
Habbek forked the last of the beef strips into his mouth. He sighed in satisfation, leaned back in his chair and waited for the others to finish their food. Vlah'do had been done for a while, having chosen a light snack, and had been observing the group. Karn continued eating his food with a pleasant look plastered on his reptilian features. "This stuff is like this one kind of fish we have on Tahu-Dzo! It's this one kind of fish that has..." His voice trailed off as Habbek immersed himself in his thoughts. He cast glances at Iris furtively as she slowly slurped on her soup. He knew that she couldn't see him but did so out of force of habit, or was it some other reason? She looked so sad all the time, but why? BRBR
The food was gone but the atmoshpere lingered until a waiter arrived to get the check. Azure reached into her pocket but Vlah'do stopped her. "This one's on our friends in the Capital building!" He took a desposable federal credit chip out of his pocket and gave it to the waiter. "Room and board." He explained as everyone glanced in amazement at the small blue plastic card.
Hoth seemed somewhat aggitated to Habbek until he realised that it was probably just the affects of the coffee. He smiled to himself. That Hoth, quite the character. There's something special about him. I mean, look at the mate he chose.BR
Habbek caught himself glancing around the table again. He had been doing so all through the night. What had he been looking for or looking at? He didn't know. He wondered what Iris would be looking at if she could only see. He could not imagine what it would be like to be blind, and despite the fact that he knew she could hear better than most, giving her leverage over her disability, he still felt sorry for her. BR
Azure pushed away from the table because she was full and wanted to get up. "That was good. What time is it?"BR
Vlah'do looked at his watch. "It's about... Seven PM."BR
"What time is the case tommorrow?" BR
"It's at ten AM." BR
"What time does the sunset on this planet?"BR
"About ten PM. I suggest that we all go to be at thirteen o'clock and wake up at eight."BR
"What do you want to do until then?"BR
Hikori and Lirpa were already standing. Iris' ears drooped as she stood. BRBR
Azure stretched and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Got any movie cinema's around here?" She grinned.BR
"Yeah, I think..." Pacal started.BR
"Thank ya!" Azure cut him off as she beamed, hefting Nemo onto her shoulders. "C'mon kiddo!" She nodded her head at the group before shooting out the door, Hoth shrugged and shook his head, following. BRBR
"Lirpa and I shall retire to our room." Hikori said in his monotone. Lirpa nodded. BR
Iris flicked her ears and cocked her head. "Well y'both 'ave a good long time alone then." She smiled.BR
Hikori's ear tips turned an interesting shade of red as he straightened his posture and cocked his head, his eyes wide in an odd expression given his calm attitude.BRBR
Iris was completely unaware she may have said something wrong or embaressing, since she couldn't see Hikori's expression (Which would have been described as a 'Kodak Moment'). Her ears perked as she listened to the curious silence. She cocked her head and her ears. BR
"Well I know fer a fact that ye don' get much time alone, no one on the ship does." She said, sounding as confused as she looked.BR
"...Yes...." Hikori's nose twitched, his expression returning to normal, though his ear tips still remained darker than the skin within the ears themselves.BR
Iris nodded to herself, still looking fairly confused.BRBR
"Hey! Be back by ten!" Vlah'do shouted at the retreating figures of Hoth, Azure and Nemo riding his mom's shoulders. "You too." He said to Hikori. He bowed his head in acknolwedgement and headed off with Lirpa, his ears still a distinct shade. Together they retreated in an attempt to regain the dignity they never lost.
With those five gone, that left Habbek, Vlah'do, Karn, Pacal and Iris by themselves. They remained at the table for a little while, staring around with little to say until Vlah'do broke the silence. "So, what do you want to do until ten?"BR
"What is there to do?" Karn asked.BR
"Well, I remember seeing a pool somewhere back there."BR
"A pool? Indoor or outside?"BR
"Indoor." BR
"Wait a minute." Pacal said. "Don't we need our swimming suits or something?"BR
"Nope, the pool provides them to customers." BR
Habbek smiled sarcastically at him. "Guess you don't have any more excuses. Unless you are embarrassed to show your thick tubby gut!" BR
Pacal was as skinny as a stick. He had inherited the akrennian slimmness from his mother. Nonetheless, he played along. "Me? Look at this!" He flexed his stomach muscles. "That's all muscle! You could punch that and you'd hurt your fist!"BR
"Want to see if you're right?" Habbek flexed his fist playfully.BR
"You're not Mr. Fitness yourself there old lardlad."BR
Karn cut into their arguement. "Hey! Don't waste valuable swimming time."BRBR
Iris stood in the middle of the group in the dimming sunset light. Habbek noticed her again. Her ears dropped sadly, or so it appeared to him. He realized that she had been left by the rest of the crew. He felt sorry for her because of this, but what was even sadder was the fact that she was used to it; that this was just a way of life for her. "How about it Iris?" Habbek blurted before he could catch himself. "Want to go swimming with us?"BR
"Nay, nay." She said. "I couldn't..." BR
"Oh come on." Vlah'do said chidingly. He saw the connection and acted. "It'll be fun. If you don't want to swim you can sit at the tables on the side and watch us swim."BR
Iris laughed and to Habbek it sounded absolutely delightful. "Can't do much of that can I? I'll go with ye though, nothing better for me to do." BR
For Habbek, those two sentences made no sense following each other. He was completely perplexed and interested by this woman, even more so than before. He was resolute, however, to not show this physically or do anything stupid because his brain was clouded with idle daydreams. BRBR
***BRBR
Azure watched the screen intently, Nemo having long since fallen asleep in her lap. Hoth had made a popcorn run and had yet to return. BRBR
***BRBR
By unanimous vote, they headed down to the pool. In big bold letters the words Olympia Pool bore down on them as the small group stared up at it before entering the large building. BR
The building was mostly empty and as such the desk attendant was engrossed in a magazine. Vlah'do cleared his throat which earned the attendant's gaze. "Five adults please."BR
"Four." Habbek said. BR
"What? Oh yes." Vlah'do said, glancing down at Habbek's crutches.BR
"Three." Iris said shyly. "I've never been one for swimming."BR
"Okay, three then." BR
The attendant, a teenage human male wearing a white teeshirt. "All right. Do you need swimming suits?"BR
"Yeah."BR
"Size?"BR
"Akrennian, large." BR
The attendant reached back and grabbed a suit from the carefully sorted racks and tossed a blue swimming suit to Vlah'do. "Here you go. Enjoy your swim."BR
Karn stepped up next. "Igonnian please, medium." BR
"Igo... what?" He looked Karn up and down. "I think I'll have to give you a large mantrin." He threw Karn a bathing suit. BR
Pacal was next. "I'll take a mantrin medium." BR
"Mantrin?" The attendant looked over the desk at his feet. "Oh. Okay. You might want to use the changing room down the hall."BR
Pacal rolled his eyes in an embarrased fashion. "Thanks." He caught the swimming suit and went down the hall. BR
That left Habbek and Iris alone. Habbek nervously glanced down the hall before returning to the waiting room that they had entered originally. "Excuse me." He said, getting the attention of the attendant. "Where's the sitting area?"BR
"Hey man, you want a wheel chair or something?"BR
"No, I'm fine."BR
"It's throught those doors next to the pool."BR
"Thanks." He started to walk through the doors when he saw Iris standing in the middle of the room. She seemingly lit the place up with her meer presence. "Iris, are you coming?" BR
Her head moved towards his direction. "Yes, I'd like to sit for a while."BR
Habbek struggled to manuever himself back to Iris' side and took her hand. "Come on, I'll lead you there."BR
She smiled, noting that making any sort of movement was obviously a burden for him. "Thank ye but there's no need. I can hear ye coming from a mile away. I'll just follow."BR
"Okay." Habbek struggled with the doors and continued on into the pool area, heading for the chairs arranged around the tables.BR
The pool was really a beautiful place. The pool itself was huge with two diving boards at different heights flanking the edges and towering above the water. Near the sitting area with comfortable chairs and lavish tables there was a large glass window that revealed a breath-taking panorama of the beautiful mountains. The sun set in the distance and cast an orange glow that shone through the window and refelected off the water, spangling the whole building with colorful sprites that danced and shimmered on all the walls and rooves. There was also a small water slide and a ping pong table on the edge of the pool, well out of spashing distance.
Habbek noted with some satisfaction that there were very few other people here. Who would be swimming at seven thirty on a Tuesday afternoon? The pool would be open until ten. Plenty of time. Habbek helped Iris into a chair and sat himself down, half waiting for and half dreading the moment that the other three would come out of the changing rooms.BRBR
"Six." Hoth cut in.BR
"What?"BR
"I killed one of 'em." He said flatly.BR
"We can't let this get out." Vlah'do said.BR
"No. No, you can't cover this up. I guess that I'm going to let people decide whether or not I should be locked up for protecting myself, my friend, and my mate. No, I'm sure that there is no risk in that because no one could live with themselves after condeming someone for doing that."BR
"You're right of course. But, with that same logic, isn't it better to keep it hidden? If you're going to go free anyway, then why risk it?"BR
"Listen Vlah'do, I understand that you're trying to do me a favor, but I can't hide this. I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to try and help Habbek." He cast a quick glance over at Habbek who was pensively pining with a solemn countenance, lost in his thoughts. "I know that it's only a difference of seven and six counts of first depgree murder, but I'll do my part." BR
"And I'll do mine. Hoth," Vlah'do put his hand on his shoulder. "You're a better man than I, and I respect you for that."BR
Habbek smiled slightly. Once again people had underestimated his hearing. His akwardly large ears did not miss this conversation. He made a mental note to personally thank Hoth and make sure that he got off to be with his mate, family and crew once again.BRBR
The nine conversed as though it were some sort of odd family reunion until the food arrived, carried between three waiters. "Here is your food." A waiter said as he put a plate with a toasted cheese sandwich, oozing cheese out one side, giving off a trail of steam and tantalizing aroma. "And this is the bottle of Bordeux wine that the gentleman..." He looked around. "Excuse me, where did the gentleman who ordered this wine go?"
Vlah'do smiled as the other waiter gave him his chicken club sandwich. "He had business to take care of. Give the wine, and send the check to a Mr.Takumaro."BR
"The attourney general?"BR
"What? I mean, yes. That's the man. You have his adress right?"BR
"Yes sir."BR
"Does he come here ever?"BR
"Yes he does. And not to be rude, but he usually doesn't converse and buy wine for total strangers."BR
"Hey, no need to get cocky. Is he rich?"BR
"No, he has lost a lot of clients ever since the police cracked down on the city."BR
"Police crack down?"BR
"Yeah, they really cleaned up their act along with the city. Ever since then lawyers stopped getting cases and thus jobs. Mr.Takumaro is probably the only one left that can make a good living off of being an attourney."BR
Vlah'do comtemplated this for a while. "Well, that's soon to change. Thanks for the information." He pulled a two dollor coin from his pocket and tossed it to the waiter who caught it nimbly, nodded and walked off, having finished passing around the food. BR
"Hey," Karn said between bightfuls of his fish which he thoroughly enjoyed. "How come you are rich all of a sudden?"BR
Vlah'do smiled. "Let's just say that the governemt can be generous with a little... extortion."BR
"Huh?" Karn dug into his fish. "You know, this stuff is really good! It tastes familiar!" BR
Thus the dinner continued.BRBR
Iris waited patiently for her soup to cool to her satisfaction. She'd hover a hand a small distance over the bowl every once in a while to see if steam was still rising off it. She began to eat when the others were halfway done, though she wasn't in any hurry. BR
Azure watched Nemo out of the corner of her eye, making sure he didn't start to simply stuff himself like he normally did. BR
Habbek forked the last of the beef strips into his mouth. He sighed in satisfation, leaned back in his chair and waited for the others to finish their food. Vlah'do had been done for a while, having chosen a light snack, and had been observing the group. Karn continued eating his food with a pleasant look plastered on his reptilian features. "This stuff is like this one kind of fish we have on Tahu-Dzo! It's this one kind of fish that has..." His voice trailed off as Habbek immersed himself in his thoughts. He cast glances at Iris furtively as she slowly slurped on her soup. He knew that she couldn't see him but did so out of force of habit, or was it some other reason? She looked so sad all the time, but why? BRBR
The food was gone but the atmoshpere lingered until a waiter arrived to get the check. Azure reached into her pocket but Vlah'do stopped her. "This one's on our friends in the Capital building!" He took a desposable federal credit chip out of his pocket and gave it to the waiter. "Room and board." He explained as everyone glanced in amazement at the small blue plastic card.
Hoth seemed somewhat aggitated to Habbek until he realised that it was probably just the affects of the coffee. He smiled to himself. That Hoth, quite the character. There's something special about him. I mean, look at the mate he chose.BR
Habbek caught himself glancing around the table again. He had been doing so all through the night. What had he been looking for or looking at? He didn't know. He wondered what Iris would be looking at if she could only see. He could not imagine what it would be like to be blind, and despite the fact that he knew she could hear better than most, giving her leverage over her disability, he still felt sorry for her. BR
Azure pushed away from the table because she was full and wanted to get up. "That was good. What time is it?"BR
Vlah'do looked at his watch. "It's about... Seven PM."BR
"What time is the case tommorrow?" BR
"It's at ten AM." BR
"What time does the sunset on this planet?"BR
"About ten PM. I suggest that we all go to be at thirteen o'clock and wake up at eight."BR
"What do you want to do until then?"BR
Hikori and Lirpa were already standing. Iris' ears drooped as she stood. BRBR
Azure stretched and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Got any movie cinema's around here?" She grinned.BR
"Yeah, I think..." Pacal started.BR
"Thank ya!" Azure cut him off as she beamed, hefting Nemo onto her shoulders. "C'mon kiddo!" She nodded her head at the group before shooting out the door, Hoth shrugged and shook his head, following. BRBR
"Lirpa and I shall retire to our room." Hikori said in his monotone. Lirpa nodded. BR
Iris flicked her ears and cocked her head. "Well y'both 'ave a good long time alone then." She smiled.BR
Hikori's ear tips turned an interesting shade of red as he straightened his posture and cocked his head, his eyes wide in an odd expression given his calm attitude.BRBR
Iris was completely unaware she may have said something wrong or embaressing, since she couldn't see Hikori's expression (Which would have been described as a 'Kodak Moment'). Her ears perked as she listened to the curious silence. She cocked her head and her ears. BR
"Well I know fer a fact that ye don' get much time alone, no one on the ship does." She said, sounding as confused as she looked.BR
"...Yes...." Hikori's nose twitched, his expression returning to normal, though his ear tips still remained darker than the skin within the ears themselves.BR
Iris nodded to herself, still looking fairly confused.BRBR
"Hey! Be back by ten!" Vlah'do shouted at the retreating figures of Hoth, Azure and Nemo riding his mom's shoulders. "You too." He said to Hikori. He bowed his head in acknolwedgement and headed off with Lirpa, his ears still a distinct shade. Together they retreated in an attempt to regain the dignity they never lost.
With those five gone, that left Habbek, Vlah'do, Karn, Pacal and Iris by themselves. They remained at the table for a little while, staring around with little to say until Vlah'do broke the silence. "So, what do you want to do until ten?"BR
"What is there to do?" Karn asked.BR
"Well, I remember seeing a pool somewhere back there."BR
"A pool? Indoor or outside?"BR
"Indoor." BR
"Wait a minute." Pacal said. "Don't we need our swimming suits or something?"BR
"Nope, the pool provides them to customers." BR
Habbek smiled sarcastically at him. "Guess you don't have any more excuses. Unless you are embarrassed to show your thick tubby gut!" BR
Pacal was as skinny as a stick. He had inherited the akrennian slimmness from his mother. Nonetheless, he played along. "Me? Look at this!" He flexed his stomach muscles. "That's all muscle! You could punch that and you'd hurt your fist!"BR
"Want to see if you're right?" Habbek flexed his fist playfully.BR
"You're not Mr. Fitness yourself there old lardlad."BR
Karn cut into their arguement. "Hey! Don't waste valuable swimming time."BRBR
Iris stood in the middle of the group in the dimming sunset light. Habbek noticed her again. Her ears dropped sadly, or so it appeared to him. He realized that she had been left by the rest of the crew. He felt sorry for her because of this, but what was even sadder was the fact that she was used to it; that this was just a way of life for her. "How about it Iris?" Habbek blurted before he could catch himself. "Want to go swimming with us?"BR
"Nay, nay." She said. "I couldn't..." BR
"Oh come on." Vlah'do said chidingly. He saw the connection and acted. "It'll be fun. If you don't want to swim you can sit at the tables on the side and watch us swim."BR
Iris laughed and to Habbek it sounded absolutely delightful. "Can't do much of that can I? I'll go with ye though, nothing better for me to do." BR
For Habbek, those two sentences made no sense following each other. He was completely perplexed and interested by this woman, even more so than before. He was resolute, however, to not show this physically or do anything stupid because his brain was clouded with idle daydreams. BRBR
***BRBR
Azure watched the screen intently, Nemo having long since fallen asleep in her lap. Hoth had made a popcorn run and had yet to return. BRBR
***BRBR
By unanimous vote, they headed down to the pool. In big bold letters the words Olympia Pool bore down on them as the small group stared up at it before entering the large building. BR
The building was mostly empty and as such the desk attendant was engrossed in a magazine. Vlah'do cleared his throat which earned the attendant's gaze. "Five adults please."BR
"Four." Habbek said. BR
"What? Oh yes." Vlah'do said, glancing down at Habbek's crutches.BR
"Three." Iris said shyly. "I've never been one for swimming."BR
"Okay, three then." BR
The attendant, a teenage human male wearing a white teeshirt. "All right. Do you need swimming suits?"BR
"Yeah."BR
"Size?"BR
"Akrennian, large." BR
The attendant reached back and grabbed a suit from the carefully sorted racks and tossed a blue swimming suit to Vlah'do. "Here you go. Enjoy your swim."BR
Karn stepped up next. "Igonnian please, medium." BR
"Igo... what?" He looked Karn up and down. "I think I'll have to give you a large mantrin." He threw Karn a bathing suit. BR
Pacal was next. "I'll take a mantrin medium." BR
"Mantrin?" The attendant looked over the desk at his feet. "Oh. Okay. You might want to use the changing room down the hall."BR
Pacal rolled his eyes in an embarrased fashion. "Thanks." He caught the swimming suit and went down the hall. BR
That left Habbek and Iris alone. Habbek nervously glanced down the hall before returning to the waiting room that they had entered originally. "Excuse me." He said, getting the attention of the attendant. "Where's the sitting area?"BR
"Hey man, you want a wheel chair or something?"BR
"No, I'm fine."BR
"It's throught those doors next to the pool."BR
"Thanks." He started to walk through the doors when he saw Iris standing in the middle of the room. She seemingly lit the place up with her meer presence. "Iris, are you coming?" BR
Her head moved towards his direction. "Yes, I'd like to sit for a while."BR
Habbek struggled to manuever himself back to Iris' side and took her hand. "Come on, I'll lead you there."BR
She smiled, noting that making any sort of movement was obviously a burden for him. "Thank ye but there's no need. I can hear ye coming from a mile away. I'll just follow."BR
"Okay." Habbek struggled with the doors and continued on into the pool area, heading for the chairs arranged around the tables.BR
The pool was really a beautiful place. The pool itself was huge with two diving boards at different heights flanking the edges and towering above the water. Near the sitting area with comfortable chairs and lavish tables there was a large glass window that revealed a breath-taking panorama of the beautiful mountains. The sun set in the distance and cast an orange glow that shone through the window and refelected off the water, spangling the whole building with colorful sprites that danced and shimmered on all the walls and rooves. There was also a small water slide and a ping pong table on the edge of the pool, well out of spashing distance.
Habbek noted with some satisfaction that there were very few other people here. Who would be swimming at seven thirty on a Tuesday afternoon? The pool would be open until ten. Plenty of time. Habbek helped Iris into a chair and sat himself down, half waiting for and half dreading the moment that the other three would come out of the changing rooms.BRBR
