Author's Note: Can't say where I'm going with this story yet, but I'm just having a golly, great ol' time writing these two again. :D
xxx
While he ascended the top of the short ladder leading into the ship's main cockpit, he was already preparing a tangent of carefully constructed words that he felt needed to be shared with his recently arrived guest.
Particularly about taking other's personal belongings.
His heavy footwear sounded noisily against the metal flooring before he stopped right near the leading archway some short distance behind the pilot's chair.
Scarlett swiveled around in the seating, his missing hat now placed on her own head as she looked up from under its wide brim. Her fingers were laced together under her chin, an impish smile plastered on her face to see the immediate annoyance coming from the bounty hunter. The fondness he held her his hat wear served as a crack in his armor whenever an upper hand was needed.
"Well then, long time no see", she began, leaning back and crossing her leg up over her metal prosthetic one while bouncing the bottom of her foot languorously.
"I should be the one sayin' that to you instead", Bane quipped back with a much less enthusiastic sounding tone before moving himself to lean against the closest wall. Although the two kept up regular communication between one another, it had definitely been slacking within the last month or so. He wasn't entirely upset with the whole dilemma, but rather he was disappointed in the lack of effort from the other party.
The red-haired woman chewed down on her lower lip in a nervous tidbit, her busy foot suddenly stopping in motion. She knew full well she was quite literally caught right in the guilty hot seat. "I… know, and look… I'm genuinely sorry for that. You know well-enough by now that I wouldn't intentionally avoid you."
Bane inhaled a deep intake of breath, slightly shaking his head before exhaling the air from his mouth once again. Upset as he could feign to be, he knew whatever reason she had was more than likely credible given her previous mentions about her current line of work.
He crossed his arms across his armored chest, awaiting an answer.
Scarlett squirmed a bit under the Duros' heavy intimidating stare. She reached up to pull the borrowed hat from off her head, absentmindedly pulling away pieces of lint or fragments of ash that had collected near the brim. "Look, lately I've been way too caught up in trying to sell my late father's failing hover car business. It's been more of a nightmare than I originally anticipated..."
The woman's recent job acquisition to her family's legacy was largely due in part to how she met the infamous bounty hunter in the first place. Because of a would-be competitor trying to take over the reins of the successful hover car business in the greediest way possible, it resulted in Scarlett having a bounty placed on her head which was done with the purpose that it would inevitably bleed the man's wallet dry in an attempt to save his blood lineage. What was supposed to be a simple, easy bounty instead turned into a deceitful game with its mediator attempting to play all sides though.
Through a myriad of other problems down the road, Bane eventually learned of the true nature of what his client was trying to do behind his back, which largely meant not paying him the promised credits. Needless to say, the two-timing cheapskate had earned a copious amount of barrage of blaster holes decorating the side of his body when his karma finally caught up with him.
And although she was technically considered a captured bounty, Scarlett had also proven herself to be beneficial when it came to tracking down the cheating conman. Even though she was the farthest thing from a mercenary, her information proved valuable at times. It was through that time spent together which allowed a relationship to grow between a white-collared worker such as herself and a dangerously well-known bounty hunter.
Opposites attract, one could say.
She continued, pausing momentarily with her distraction of tidying of the hat in her hands. "As much as I want to just forget about the whole thing and walk away from it… I can't. Not after all the years of hard work that my father put into the business. It would feel wrong to step away, even after everything that happened."
Bane watched from the rooted spot he had near the entrance to the cabin. Although he himself had no issues walking away from his family given his own personal history, he knew well-enough it was a far different situation when it came to Scarlett and her own father. While he had zero obligation to stay on his home planet of Duro, it wouldn't be as easy for the woman across from him to abandon her small, but tight knit lineage. The two family members were close, which was evidenced enough by how many credits were thrown down the drain in an attempt to get his kin back.
"It's been near-impossible to find a buyer, which also isn't surprising given that no one is keen on investing within a failing business in the middle of galactic wars and all other avenues of strife", she muttered with disdain, her green eyes narrowing at a dark patch staining the surface of the accessory she was still trying to clean. She picked at it with her nail, hoping that it was simply dirt adhering to the material but realizing soon enough it was likely remnants of vital fluid leftover from a capture. The disgusted grimace that appeared on her face wasn't hidden in the slightest.
The hatless bounty hunter pushed himself off from the wall and finally walked over towards the occupied pilot seat, holding out his hand expectantly for her to hand over his beloved prized possession. He had heard enough of the answer to consider himself sated for the time being.
His lower lip stuck out in an indecisive pout when his hand was encapsulated by a warm palm instead. That wasn't what he wanted back. The modest space of the cockpit suddenly felt much smaller from before, as though all focus had shifted directly onto the physical contact that was initiated. He was inwardly cursing himself up a storm for how long a meager month had felt, but he wasn't going to roll over so easily.
He wasn't that weak-willed.
"Look, I'll stop rambling about it for now", Scarlett continued, running her thumb over the worn leather of the bounty hunter's gloves. Although his gloves obstructed most of his skin, their hands were in near-opposite in condition compared to one another. While hers remained soft from years of an easy-going office-like job, his were coarsened with rough indentations where blue skin was beginning to crack above nailess digits.
Bane merely hummed in acknowledgement, accepting the explanation. For now. But he wanted to hear it straight from the horse's mouth in this particular case. "What got ya' here so quickly all of a sudden then?"
Scarlett blinked, ruminating on the answer before getting a tighter hold on the other hand in her grasp and pulling him closer towards her. She knew him well enough by now to know what dance he was trying to start here. Although he could have remained steadfast and stubbornly not moved from his standing position, he amicably leaned down while his face remained ever-stoic.
"Honestly? I was worried about you from how concerned Todo sounded when he first called", she replied, leaning more forward in the seat until she was nearly face to face with the dangerous bounty hunter. From this closed distance, she could see all the different variations of scars on his face, some faded while others were more deep.
Before he could get a teasing jest about how touching the behavior was, she leaned forward again to close the meager gap and her lips met with his own for only a brief but rewarding few seconds. The kiss was purposefully rushed, and somewhat impatient even though it was hardly the first time a moment like this had been shared. It was a simple enough gesture that it left both parties yearning for something so much more after the lengthened time apart.
When she pulled back, he watched her lips while still coming down from the sudden rush of close intimacy. There was a lack of amusement on his dated features when she used the window of opportunity to return his hat back to its proper place again. She reached a hand up and lightly patted the side of his face, being mindful of the breathing tube extending outward from his head.
The woman leaned back down into the chair again with an incredibly smug-grin on her face.
"So, that's the game you wanna' play then", he said, standing back up to his full height and properly realigning his hat to its proper position. He headed back towards the first door and then to the hatchway which led a ladder further down into the ship's lower section.
"Game? What game?" she asked coly as though feigning innocence. She turned her head to the side, the same smile from before never leaving her face.
As much as Bane wanted to simply skip the pleasantries and take the second door straight towards his personal quarters instead, he was now intent on making the other person directly indulge in a bit of his own unchaste teasing. He turned back around, indicating with a soundless indication of his head towards the ladder leading into the lower section of the ship below.
"A drinking game to settle the rules then", he ventured confidently, heading down first and not waiting to hear an answer back since he already knew what the result was going to be. A vacant month of no contact was just as much of a long time for her as it was for him.
Scarlett's mouth twisted to the side, a single finger reaching up to tap the bottom of her chin while she briefly thought about the different scenarios such a game could lead towards. The only downside she could see was potentially nursing a nasty hangover if the two weren't responsible about how much drink they consumed. What could go wrong?
She stood up from the pilot's chair, walking over to the hatch and began slowly climbing down the ladder. The sound of her metal leg echoed slightly louder when compared to her other one, as the asymmetrical ringing chimed throughout the enclosed space.
The game was set in motion then.
About halfway down the short ladder, she paused in her journey as the realization suddenly came to light about why the bounty hunter had suddenly made a hasty effort to come down here first before her. The sense of someone watching her quite closely was all too apparent. She craned her neck to peek over her shoulder, her eyes slightly narrowing to catch the Duros who was obviously appreciating the sights of her backside while she descended down the ladder. Choosing to wear a pair of pants that tightly hugged certain places probably wasn't helping in the slightest either.
"Enjoying the view from down there?" she asked with a bemused tone, before continuing the rest of the way and stepping down onto the floor again. She turned around, putting her hands up on her hips in a playful gesture in front of the accusable party.
Bane merely rolled his armored shoulders, acting completely nonplussed to getting caught red handed. "Ya' said it yourself princess. Long time no see."
The two stepped around the corner of the small hallway, another sliding door opening to reveal a small galley of sorts. It wasn't anything too spectacular, though it was still a step above when compared to what his previous ship looked like. It was dimly lit, with wall lights stuck between the intersections of the wall and ceiling. The larger of the four walls held a small inlet for a booth, while the other side provided most of the meager appliances and storage. A large portion of the room was also doubling as a workbench area for all of the mercenary-like items one would need to repair things for this line of work. Boxes of assorted junk were scattered around, a few even displaying the various helmets of clone troopers which doubled as bitter trophies.
Not only were both Bane and Scarlett completely opposite within their career choice, but they also held different opinions on what their own definition of cleanliness meant. She was far more high-strung about dust and grime than he was, and it proved to be a frequent point of light bickering between them. Strangely enough, it kept an odd sort of balance as they had to maintain a common medium ground.
He looked over impassively, waiting expectantly for her to say something about the apparent mess within the room, but he could see just from her facial expression that she was biting her tongue from speaking up about his apparent bachelor pad. Without another word, he moved towards one of the nearby shelves and began looking around to procure drinking glasses for the two of them. His hand reached into the higher placed cabinet space above his head, pushing various assortments of containers aside in search of his favorite cups.
While he looked, his hearing picked up on the sound of tiny metal footfall approaching from the outside ramp of the ship and he knew it must have been the droids. Though he ignored it until he felt a rather less-than subtle pinch on his backside as the person responsible for it casually strode past with an innocent whistle. He paused within his adamant search, his mouth forming into a near-invisible line as he watched from the corner of his eye while she plopped herself down into the booth.
Just as he was about to retaliate with something of his own that was quite equally suggestive in tone, the two were interjected by a very unhappy-looking Todo returning through the door.
"I simply cannot work in these conditions!" he exclaimed, throwing his small hands in the air. His optics dimmed a bit with their yellow lighting, looking back and forth between the two people. Although he had a knack for interrupting them at the worst possible times, his processor was quick to register that he hadn't disrupted anything too particularly exciting.
"Is the ship fixed yet?" Bane asked impatiently.
"No, of course it's not fixed yet", Todo replied with the flair of a dramatic. He waved his small, metallic hand through the air. "Those two are making it near-impossible."
As if one cue, the two DUM-series pit droids came running into the room right behind their robot kin. They nearly barreled into the other droid through their sudden entrance into the galley.
The bickering from the three made it immediately obvious as to why repairs were taking longer than expected.
"We think we found the problem!" Gear announced over the other noise with an all-too excitable tone. He immediately looked towards his own master with beaming confidence, before looking back to the hat wearing bounty hunter with much less assurance.
"Well, one of the many problems!" Grind, his brother finished right after. "It would appear the ship is in need of replacing the entirety of a thrust manifold."
Bane frowned upon hearing the bad news. It was much worse than he thought it was going to be. "That ain't gonna' be an easy fix...", he brought up, a scowl already on his face. He finished fishing around for the two glasses, walking back over to place them atop the small table where Scarlett was still seated at the booth.
"What? You don't already have the parts here to replace it?" Todo asked with slight skepticism, pushing himself away from the other two and activating his hovering mode and moving far away from the other two droids.
Bane didn't reply to his companion, as his silence was a clear enough answer for the group. He placed his hands to rest atop the sides of his belt, already planning a next move on how he was going to obtain such a component to get his ship repaired again. Fortunately for him, there was always a small pool of roving traders making the random routes between planets. And if one knew the confidential routes well enough, you could even find the rare ones selling obscure items that couldn't otherwise normally be sold in most other places.
Scarlett took one quick unimpressive look at the glasses laid before her on the table before taking them over to the sink to actually give them a decent clean. Neither said anything about it when she passed by, acting as though this was merely some well-rehearsed dance they both did.
The Duros' thoughts went back to the person responsible for this current mess, Fennec Shand. His mood grew dour by the second as he realized how thorough she had clearly been in her disruptive sabotage to his ship. It was obvious by now she hadn't intended for him to get back on track anytime soon. Regardless, things weren't going to be as congenial the next time they crossed paths with another, that much he could at least promise himself.
He brought a hand up to the middle of his brow, pinching it to suppress the tendrils of a headache creeping forward into his head. He was going to need more than good drink and company at this point to help steady his dwindling state of mind.