Thanks to everyone who's read this, especially the amazing Rainwood who gives out equally amazing critiques!
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"Stop whining Carth. We'll only be in here for a few minutes," Aminta grumbled as she strode into the cantina.
"I never thought I'd be in such a miserable place two days in a row," Carth moaned as he followed her into the stench. What? Do people have something against deodorant?
Aminta restrained herself from tolling her eyes. "Get over yourself, Onasi," she muttered, and smirked at the look on Carth's face. Deciding to ignore him for the time being, she slid into the nearest available booth, not really caring whether or not he followed her example.
Carth sank down into the seat across from her and winced as he picked up a greased and stained menu. "Real classy," he grumbled under his breath as he eyeballed the selections. Aminta smirked and shook her head as she glanced over one of her own.
"Wat cayn ah git ya tidaye?" The horrid accent was what first demanded Carth's attention, but the big hair and obscene leather skirt weren't far behind. The woman shifted her rather substantial weight to her other foot as she loudly smacked her hiffa gum. Carth grimaced and turned his attention back to the menu.
Aminta kicked Carth's shin under the table, and he glared at her briefly before looking up at the woman, pointedly ignoring the wad of gum that was bouncing around her open mouth. "I'll have a nerf-burger," he ordered, and then busied himself by watching the twi'lek dancers.
Aminta glanced in the direction that Carth was looking and rolled her eyes before looking up at the waitress. "Do you have anything that isn't soaked, dipped, slathered, or fried in grease?"
The woman glanced at Aminta as though she were repulsed. "Nah. Ah sure dun't."
"Never mind, then." She placed the menu back on the edge of the table and slid back out of the booth. The waitress glared at her as if it was a personal insult, and flounced off. She's got a bug up her ass. Aminta winced when she saw how the woman jiggled when she walked. Although it would have to be a huge bug for her to feel it.
"I'm going to go get us some caffa. Sit right there, and don't move until I come back," she instructed Carth as she turned to walk away.
"What am I, your slave?" Carth demanded as he went to stand and follow her.
"I thought I told you to sit." Carth sat. Aminta grinned and glanced him over. "As for your question… you're a free man. But… maybe I should become the new Dark Lord of the Sith and chain you to my throne as a love slave," she mused, smirking when she saw him flush.
"You'd better be kidding," he muttered as he stared up at her.
Aminta cocked her head to one side, "Hm… Maybe you're right. You probably wouldn't make such a good lover after all."
"What?" Carth demanded, his pride injured. He most definitely made a good lover, and he wasn't about to let her insult his abilities.
Aminta laughed and shook her head. "I was just teasing you Carth. It's a good thing."
Carth cocked a brow as he stared at her, as if to say 'How in all the galaxies is that a good thing?'
Aminta smiled. "It's good because it means I'm starting to trust you. Feel flattered," she smirked, and then sauntered to the bar, leaving a bewildered Carth in her wake.
"Can I help you with something miss?" the bartender asked, drying a glass as he spoke. Aminta glanced around the Cantina, sighing softly when she didn't see Mission there. It would have saved a trip to the under city. But she did see the waitress that had helped them in all of her shining leather glory.
"Could you tell me why she was hired?" Aminta asked, glancing over at the waitress who had taken her order.
The bartender chuckled softly. "Uila? She's a handful," he acknowledged as he looked over at her. "But give her a break, kid. She's had a hard few weeks."
Aminta frowned. "How so?" she asked as she swung herself onto the barstool.
"You want something to drink?"
Aminta cleared her throat and nodded. Apparently, it was a closed subject. "Two caffas," she ordered, and watched to be sure the bartender didn't put any cream or sugar in hers.
"Have you ever heard of rackghouls?" he asked as he filled the first cup, and Aminta frowned at the change of subject.
"No. I'm an offworlder, so a lot of the native organics are unfamiliar to me," she said slowly, attempting to figure out where he was going with the topic.
"My dear, they are dreadful creatures. They are grey, slime coated, eight eyed, and have huge fangs. But worse still is the disease they carry. If they infect you, their poison seeps into your bloodstream, warping your organs. You begin to cough up blood, and then…then you become one of them."
Aminta chuckled lightly with a toss of her head. "I hardly believe in fairy tales any more," she replied with a slight grin. But the face that looked back at her was deadly serious.
"They aren't creatures from a story book. Uila knows that best of all," he said with a nod in the waitress' direction. Aminta frowned and glanced him over, attempting to decipher whether this was truth or fiction. She could only sense honesty.
"Her son had been sneaking down to the under city for quite some time. It started as an adventurous sort of game, but he fell for one of the women that lived down there. She was infected by a rackghoul, and he was desperate to save her. He was certain that he could. But she morphed into one of them, and attacked him, and he…" the main trailed off. "He killed her to save his life. He came back up to the lower city infected, and transformed into a rackghoul before my very eyes. I had to kill him," he paused suddenly, "I don't think Uila ever forgave me for that," he mused, glancing over in the woman's direction.
Aminta bit her lip and lowered her eyes for a minute. "So that explains why she's such a bitch," she murmured under her breath as she spared a glance in the woman's direction again. She dug into her purse and quickly pulled out a handful of credits. "Give these to her, but don't let her know that they're from me," she said as she quickly pushed the credits at him.
"Ma'am, are you sure that you want to do this?"
Aminta smirked. "I'm going on an impulse here. Hurry up and pocket those before I remember just how annoying she is and decide to take them back."
The bartender cracked a smile and passed her the mugs of caffa. "Sure thing."
Aminta picked up the mugs and stood. "Thanks, um…"
"Guam," he supplied, and Aminta grinned.
"Yeah. Thanks Guam. I should probably get back to my friend before he calls the Sith on me." at the bartender's raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "What can I say? The guy's paranoid."
Guam grinned and shook his head. "I'll be sure to tell Uila that it wasn't the Deralian girl with blue eyes that supplied the credits.
Aminta laughed. "Say that, and I'll be forced to kill you."
Guam laughed and then went still for a second. "Hey, you want to go out for drinks or something tonight?" he asked with a slight grin.
Aminta paused and then smiled. "Sorry. I'm taken," she replied politely, and Guam shrugged sheepishly.
"Ah, it was worth a try," he said with a shrug as he turned to another customer. Aminta sighed with a shake of her head as she went back to the booth, hoping that Carth had listened to her and stayed seated.
Luckily for him, he was still sitting there when she arrived, barely refraining himself from digging into his food. When he noticed her. he let out a sigh of relief. "What took you so long?" he asked, eyeing the food.
Aminta laughed. "To make a long story short… Mission's not here. And we'd better watch out for rackghouls while we're in the under city," she handed him the caffa, and watched him stare at his nerfburger for a few seconds before grinning. "Carth, eat." He didn't waste any time.
"Hungry?" Aminta teased, and laughed when Carth ignored her, and continued to eat. She took a sip of her caffa and glanced around the room. "I think I'm going to have a look around, get better acquainted with the locals," she said as she put her cup down and wiped her hands on her pants.
"Do I have to stay seated this time?" he asked between mouthfuls.
"I'm not that cruel. You can come looking for me when you're done." At Carth's nod, Aminta left the booth and wandered around the cramped rooms, wishing she had her pazaak den with her. I could have made a killing in here, she thought ruefully as she glanced around the pazaak den. It was clouded with the smoke of the patron's cigarras, and reeked of old ale, but somehow, it seemed homey. That's probably just because you've lived half your life in a pazaak den, she thought to herself as she exited that room and entered another.
The next room was dark, blue light flooding the floors and music blaring loudly. Aminta listened to the lyrics for a few seconds before grinning. Onasi would turn as red as a sunburned gizka if he heard this. Soon, however, the song was drowned out by the arguing of a female twi'lek and a human male.
Aminta shook her head and turned to walk from the room. It was never a good idea to get involved in a lover's spat. "She's my new partner!" The twi'lek exclaimed and pointed at her. Aminta stopped in her tracks and whirled around to face the woman.
"What?"
The twi'lek leaned close to her and whispered, "Just go along with it, please."
Aminta cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly is it that I'm supposed to go along with?" she asked as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.
The woman bit her lip. "I'll give you a hundred credits if you audition with me." Seeing the look on Aminta's face, she hurried to assure her. "You only have to dance once, and then you'll never have to do it again."
Aminta bit the inside of her cheek and looked the man the twi'lek had been arguing with over. Silk jacket, gold watch, Krayt leather boots… this deal is worth more than a hundred credits to her. "Three hundred credits and I'll do it."
"One fifty."
"Two hundred."
"Deal!" The twi'lek exclaimed hurriedly. "Now take off your jacket and over-shirt."
Aminta glared at the woman. "I'll do whatever I feel like doing," she muttered, but stripped down to her undershirt anyways.
"Just try to make me look good, okay? Follow moves," the woman hissed, and Aminta bit back the urge to slap her.
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Carth finished his nerfburger as quickly as he could, cursing Aminta for dragging him into the gods forsaken place. Though the various couples who had indulged themselves the night before were nowhere to be seen, the music played far too loudly. The night before, the speakers on his side of the room had been broken, so that the conversations were easily heard. Today, he was sitting very close to a working, and very loud speaker so that he could hear nothing but the pounding alien music.
He left a few credits on the table to pay for breakfast and began wandering the cantina in an attempt to find her. Most of the rooms that he entered were filled with smoke, and left him gagging, although he had indulged in a cigarra from time to time. Every time he entered one of those, he would wipe his tearing eyes with the sleeve of his jacket and continue into the next room.
In the last room that he entered, a crowd had gathered. He was pushed forward into the throng by an alien rather large in the horizontal way who reeked of body odor. Carth gagged, the cigarra smoke had smelled better than her. He found himself stuck between two equally grotesque beings, and pushed his way forward, in desperate need of fresh air. He hated crowds, always had. And now that he was stuck amongst an unwashed multitude, he felt as though he would throw up.
His queasiness subsided, however, the moment that he saw the object of the crowd's attention. An unfamiliar, scantily clad yellow twi'lek stood at the forefront of the makeshift stage, dancing rather well. But beside her stood an all too familiar Aminta Jae, dancing even better than the alien. Her movements were filled with the dancer's grace that he had observed in her everyday activities. But her movements were more than graceful. They were…erotic.
Carth's mouth went dry as he found himself responding to her dance. Three years of abstinence could do wonders to the body. For the first time, he was able to watch her unobserved, to trace the curves of her body with his eyes. Suddenly, her eyes were locked to his, and he could feel heat pouring into his face as she smirked. Instead of simply ignoring him, she turned to face him, and if possible, made her movements even more sensual. Carth broke his gaze with her and glanced down at the floor as he tried to calm his throbbing body. Not fair! She plays dirty.
The man who was apparently interviewing the two women clapped his hands when it was over, and said some things that Carth couldn't hear. The twi'lek grinned and tossed Aminta something before flouncing off. Aminta's eyes went wide and she clenched her hands at her side as she watched the woman go.
A very drunk man up front demanded for her to do the dance again, but this time with a little less clothes on. Aminta glared at him and declined, but apparently the guy didn't get the hint. Instead of backing off, as Carth knew it was prudent to do, he reached out to cup Aminta's breast. Carth felt fury race through his veins as he moved forward to punch the guy, but Aminta beat him to it. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him until Carth could hear a sickening crack. The man screamed with agony, and Aminta whispered something in his ear before stalking off.
She went to pass him, and Carth caught her elbow. She whirled around to slap him, but softened slightly and returned her hand to her side when she saw who it was. "Let's get out of here," she murmured, glancing back at the stage.
Carth frowned at her display of weakness, but squeezed her arm and nodded. Aminta grabbed her over shirt and jacket from a nearby chair and threw them over her body, and Carth was both relieved and disappointed that he could no longer see her figure.
Aminta caught him looking and smirked, allowing whatever that was troubling her to slip to the back of her mind. "You like the dance, flyboy?"
Carth flushed and shrugged. "Maybe."
"Maybe?"
Maybe." Carth insisted firmly, determined that he wouldn't admit to just how much he had enjoyed watching her move. He quickly put the thought out of his mind, and let go of her arm. "You said that Mission was probably in the Under City?" he asked, swiftly changing the subject.
Aminta debated whether or not to ask him a few more questions, but let it drop. "Yeah. The sewers to be most precise. At least that's what Gadon told us."
"I remember. So, should we head down there now, or do you want to stop somewhere for lunch?" he asked eyeing her.
"You already ate a nerfburger, Carth. How hungry can you be?"
"Actually, I was talking about you. You've eaten one ration bar since we crashed on Taris. That's not healthy. Plus, you're too skinny for it to be natural…"
"Not this again!" Aminta exclaimed as she turned away from him and walked out of the cantina.
Carth followed close behind her. "I'm serious, Ami. You need to eat."
"Maybe I'm just not hungry," she responded without turning to look at him.
Carth grabbed her by her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Aminta glared up at him and went to pull away. "I broke the arm of the last guy that touched me. Don't test me," she spat, and tried to pull away from him again.
Carth refused to be intimidated, and held onto her tightly. "Look, Ami. I think that you have a problem, and I want to try and help you," he said softly, staring into her eyes.
"I don't have a problem, and I don't need your help!" she exclaimed as she yanked herself out of his grasp. This time, Carth let go of her shoulders and watched as she stalked away from him. He bit his lip and ran after Aminta, coming to a halt directly in front of her. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable," he tried, but Aminta brushed him away and continued walking. Carth grabbed her arm and turned her to face him, and was met with the expected resistance. "I'm just worried about you," he said softly as he gently cupped her chin.
Aminta set her jaw and glared at him. "Don't. You aren't my father, so that isn't your job."
Carth grinned. "Hey, you should feel flattered. It means that I'm starting to trust you," he said with a knowing smile as he repeated her words.
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"This day just gets better and better," Aminta muttered as she drew her blades for the third time since leaving the cantina.
"What? I thought you liked fighting thugs," Carth teased her lightly as he pulled his blasters out of their holsters.
Aminta glared at him as she readied herself. "Please."
The thugs approached them with blades held high, and Aminta dove into the thick of the battle, slashing at everything in reach of her blade. Carth held back and stood behind, picking off the ones that got too close to striking her.
When it was over, Aminta bent over and breathed heavily. "I'm beginning to think that this bas a bad idea," she groaned as she stood, and leaned back to try and relieve the dull ache in her back.
Carth grinned. "I know exactly how you feel," he said, and pulled the identification papers from the bag that Aminta was carrying. "So, you think we'll have any more run ins?" he asked, a grim smile on his face.
"The elevator is in sight. I sincerely hope that no one charges us in front of the sith guard there. That could make us seem…invalid."
Carth shrugged. "What's one more sith to add to our body count? I'm sure we could figure out how to operate the elevator ourselves." Honestly, that was what Carth found to be the better scenario. He could eliminate a Sith and gain access to the under city in one stroke.
"They have cameras, and a battalion of Sith would be waiting for us at the top of the elevator when we decided to come back up." She took the female identification from Carth's hands and scanned it. It certainly looked reliable, but she hoped that the Sith would buy it. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Aminta groaned. "That line is much too over used!" she then scowled at Carth's chuckle. "Alright, let's go," she said before sauntering off to the elevator.
Once they arrived, the first thing that Aminta noticed was how the guard was eyeing their clothing. She looked down on what they had on, and grimaced when she realized that both she and Carth were splattered in blood. "Ran into some trouble," she said simply, giving the vaguest explanation possible. The guard didn't ask her to elaborate, just nodded.
"You have identification papers?" he asked, his tone bored. He gave both Aminta's and Carth's papers a cursory glance before entering the code to begin the elevators descent. He handed the papers back to them with what must have been a smirk, but Aminta couldn't tell for certain; his face was cast in shadows by the helmet that he wore. Aminta understood how monotonous checking ID's all day long could be, but that didn't mean he had to be rude about it.
"You got a problem?" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. Carth gave her a warning glance, but she ignored him.
The Sith crossed his arms over his chest. "Just wondering if you had any of the rackghoul serum."
Aminta was surprised that a cure had been invented, but she didn't allow it to show. "No, they ran out. The lab is producing more as we speak," she lied. "You have any that we could use?"
The guard laughed at her. "If I had any, I sure as hell wouldn't be giving it to you." The doors swung open, and the guard impatiently gestured for them to enter. "Good luck down there." But the way he said it didn't sound like he wished them luck.
Aminta and Carth entered the elevator, and Aminta felt her stomach lurch as they began their descent. "I hope this doesn't take too long," she said, feeling queasy.
Carth eyed her cautiously. "You aren't going to be vomiting any time soon, are you?"
Aminta put a hand to her stomach and gave a little laugh. "Nah. I just hate elevators." she felt her stomach give another little churn, and she winced. "It feels like I'm pregnant," she managed with a slight laugh.
Carth smiled at her with a shake of his head as he took a seat against the wall. "You might want to join me. It should be a while until we reach the ground," he said as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
Aminta did as Carth advised, a hand pressed against her swirling abdomen. She definitely didn't miss this particular sensation. She sank down beside Carth and rested her elbows on her knees, closing her eyes and trying to block out the wave of dizziness that overcame her.
"I'm getting so sick of all of these customers!" Aminta exclaimed as she smeared some rouge over her lips.
"You're telling me!" Vitaria exclaimed, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder as she slid in a pair of earrings. "Korvo should definitely give us a break."
"No kidding. We work night and day for him, and what does he ever do for us? Nothing. And what happens when we ask for a break?"
"He makes us take on double our usual amount of customers. I guess I wouldn't mind so much if he gave us a few compliments now and again, but it's always criticism with him."
"If only it were just criticism!" Aminta exclaimed as she pulled a few curls down from her braid to frame her face.
"Ami, don't be crude," Vitaria rolled her eyes and checked her appearance again. "We get enough of that downstairs, and I don't want to hear it up here."
"It's kind of difficult not to," Aminta smirked, nodding her head to the next room over as she made certain that she looked acceptable.
Vitaria rolled her eyes. "Let's just go. If we don't, the old man is probably going to put us on kitchen duty."
"And that would be a bad thing?"
"You hate to clean," Vitaria pointed out as she locked the door to their room behind them.
"Not as much as I hate customers." Aminta pressed the button to the elevator and watched as the lights blinked up to their level.
"You should be used to it by now. You've been doing it for what, seven or eight years now?" Vitaria stepped into the elevator. "I've been doing it for a few years less; you should be more used to them than I am." The doors slid behind the girls and Aminta looked away.
"Just because you've been doing something for a long time doesn't mean that you enjoy it," she murmured.
Vitaria froze suddenly and licked her lips. "I'm sorry, Ami. I forgot."
"It's…" Aminta clutched her abdomen in pain as she sank to the ground, biting the inside of her cheek so hard that she bled.
"Ami?" Vitaria fell to her knees beside her friend as she checked her vital signs. Her pulse was erratic, and the girl was breathing hard. "Ami!" she exclaimed as she drew the girl's head into her lap.
Aminta let out a whimper as she writhed in pain. "Call for help," she whispered, her face contorting as another wave hit her. She curled into a tight ball, oblivious to her friend's fear.
Vitaria nodded as she scrambled to her feet and hurried towards the comm unit. Suddenly, the elevator went black and jerked to a stop. Urged onwards by her friend's screams, Vitaria fumbled around in the darkness for the comm unit. When she picked it up, she found the line was dead. They were stuck, and gods only knew what was wrong with Aminta.
Trembling, Vitaria returned to her friend's side. "We're stuck here for a little while, but don't worry. Korvo will send one of the droids up to fix it, okay? You're going to be fine," she managed through quivering lips.
Aminta could sense her friend's fear. "You're… supposed…crying…not brave," she managed through gritted teeth.
Vitaria let out a watery laugh. "I'm not going to start crying on you," she whispered, although her cheeks were already covered in the tell tale moisture. "And I can be brave when I feel like it," she smiled softly as she touched her friend's forehead, which was now beginning to burn.
"What's…wrong…me?" Aminta choked out, curling up even tighter at the pain the effort caused her.
Vitaria swallowed hard. "It was probably only something you ate. You'll be fine," she attempted to reassure her friend as she stroked Ami's hair. "You'll be fine," she whispered, attempting to reassure herself.
But Aminta knew it was something far more serious.
Carth glanced over and saw how pale she was, and rested a hand on her cheek. Aminta's eyes jerked open, and her head turned so fast that her neck cracked. "I'm fine," she managed, and wrapped her arms around her slim frame.
Carth bit his lip. "No you're not. What's wrong?"
Aminta glared at him. "Did you not hear me? I told you that I was fine!" she exclaimed as she scooted further away from him.
Carth stared at her for a few minutes and noted that she was trembling. Something was bothering her, and it was killing him not to know what it was. Remembering their bargain, he debated whether or not his personal life was worth revealing. After a few moments or indecision, he realized that he really and truly wanted to talk about his past with someone. It scared him more than a little, but it was reassuring in a way. "My wife died on Telos," he whispered after a brief silence.
Aminta turned to look at him. "What?"
"My wife died on Telos," he said again, a bit louder this time.
"Which is why you hate Saul Karath so much," Aminta murmured, and gently placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice catching in her throat. We're so much alike, Aminta realized. But still so different.
"Yeah. So am I." He looked down at his hands, and felt the familiar wave of guilt crash over him. He looked up to see Aminta's gaze settled on the far wall.
"I had a tubular pregnancy." she told him after a long silence.
Carth glanced at her, his brow furrowed. Aminta looked over at him. "It's why I hate elevators. The tube burst while I was stuck in one. I was inside for two hours. By the time that the doors opened, I couldn't even remember my name the pain was so bad."
"You didn't react this way to the one in the Upper City," Carth noted, glancing over at her rigid profile.
"That one was lit, and the descent was more gradual. This one's dark, and we're moving downwards pretty fast. It reminds me a lot of the elevator that I was in."
Carth nodded his understanding, and stood up as the elevator began to slow. "We're just about there," he said as he offered a hand to Aminta. He wasn't completely surprised when she brushed his hand away and stood up on her own.
The doors slid open, and the pair's first impression of the under city was darkness, and the stench. Aminta gasped when the stench of the under city filled the elevator, and although she couldn't see Carth, she could hear him gag beside her.
She covered her mouth and nose with the hands that had become invisible to her while cloaked in darkness. She then coughed several times, and blinked rapidly to decrease the time that it would take her eyes to adjust. Carth's implants allowed him to see in the dark faster than Aminta could, so that when her eyes had finally adjusted to the inky blackness, he was already surveying the terrain.
"This smell makes the sewers that I waded through smell heavenly," Carth muttered as he took a breath through his mouth, his voice coming out nasally because he was pinching his nose shut.
Aminta laughed at the way he sounded, and took a deep breath to try to accustom herself to what she knew would be entering her lungs for a very long time. "Imagine how much worse the sewers on this planet are going to smell," she remarked dryly as she looked around.
The bases of the immense towers rested in this ground, the pristine white of the upper city's buildings were shades of black and grey, and covered with rust down in the under city. The soil was hard and rocky, and seemed to ooze with a yellow-tinted slime, which was apparently what gave off the smell. Tents were backed up against the supportive structures of the upper city's mansions, their cloth worn and weathered, and the small fires that burned within them coated ash on the top of the makeshift homes. The few people that she could see were down-trodden, and walked about in filthy rags, and seemed to embody the hopelessness of life.
"Amazing how Taris really is, isn't it? You land in the upper city, and the planet seems so beautiful. You take an elevator down to the under city, and you see how things really are." Carth pointed out.
Aminta nodded her agreement, but whatever she might have said in response was cut off when two of the citizens of the under city stepped directly before them. Aminta was now in the position to realize that it was not just the peculiar slime oozing from the soil that was causing the stench; the unwashed inhabitants of the dreadful place were just as responsible for the malodorous smell.
"Halt upworlder!" The taller of the two grimy men exclaimed as Aminta took a step towards them. His voice was high and whiny, and grated on Carth's already frayed nerves.
"Oh, great. A welcoming party," he muttered sarcastically, retrieving his blaster from its holster and pointing it at the pair.
She taller man glared at them. "This is our elevator, and you have to pay us to use it!"
"Yes, five credits!" the shorter of the two chimed in, standing close to the first man. The two looked similar, and Aminta soon came to the conclusion that they were brothers. They were dressed in worn, dirt caked rags that looked as though they hadn't seen a bar of soap since they were made, and they huddled close to each other for warmth.
"Why?" she demanded coldly, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at them.
"You live in a world where there is light, where darkness isn't constant and cold ever present. Down in the under city, nothing but small fires ever warm us. We are rejected and scorned where you are embraced and accepted. For this, we charge you credits, so that you who are so privileged can contribute to we who are so poor!" The words that the taller brother spat out were filled with bitterness.
"I wouldn't exactly call us embraced and accepted," she shared a look with Carth. "And we certainly haven't been welcomed down here."
"Just pay the toll!" the younger of the two exclaimed, and Aminta's hand hovered dangerously close to her vibroblade.
At last second, she grudgingly dug into her purse and tossed them a five credit chip. "There's your freaking toll," she muttered.
The two men stared in wonder at the credits that the small young woman had dropped into their grasp. "Credits! We have credits my brother!" The younger of the two squealed, as he fingered one with reverence.
"Shut up, or we'll have the whole community breathing down our necks!" The older hissed, and stuffed the credits into his pocket, taking his brother's arm and dragging away from the elevator.
"Pathetic," she mumbled under her breath, turning to face Carth. He frowned and stared at her, causing her to raise up her hands. "What? Do you have a problem."
Carth smiled after a few seconds. "No. I'm just realizing that there's more to you than you let on."
Aminta grimaced. If he gets this worked up over five credits, I wonder what he'd think about me giving that stupid waitress one hundred credit chips? She shuddered at the thought, and decided that he would never find out. Who knew what kind of saint he'd make her out to be then? "Whatever flyboy," she muttered as she trudged through the slime towards the sewers.
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Argh! Writer's block. I hate it. Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!
