Last time: Cien was invited to Coruscant for a conference.

Now: The family goes shopping!

Chapter 13- Shopping for Babies and X-Wings

"What do you think of this place?" Cien asked, passing her datapad over to Kyr as they sat in the cockpit together.

He took a look at the holonet page that she had brought up, and furrowed his brow. "That looks really nice, is the conference there?" He asked, looking at the page for what looked like an extremely nice hotel of some kind. Somewhere that he would balk at the price for, even if they did have the resources from the family to pay for it.

"No." She said, "they're at another place that is near this hotel, but this place looked a little nicer. It has very nice reviews." She stated.

"I'd imagine so." He said. "It might be a little expensive to stay there for a week or so." He gently suggested.

She shrugged in her seat. "I don't mind covering it." She said, as she scrolled through to another hotel. "What about this one?" She asked, passing the datapad over.

He looked at it, and was even a little more confused. "It looks beautiful, cyar'ika. But we could probably stay someplace a little less... glamorous." He said, swallowing.

She looked at him a little confused, then furrowed her brow. "You're right, it is a little austentatious." She said, and continued scrolling, looking at other nearby hotels in the area that suited her tastes.

He looked over at her. "We could also just stay on the ships like we usually do." He threw out as a possibility.

"I suppose, but it would be kind of fun to stay someplace a little nicer." She said as she studied her pad.

He took it as a compliment that she considered those kinds of places only a 'little' nicer than the Shadow Runner. "Yeah, I guess. We could cover it together?" He suggested. She technically had access to the same Clan Xiv coffers that he did, in addition to what they had made from the various jobs. He knew she hadn't really, actually bought anything so whatever she had made from the jobs were just saved in her account.

"No, I can cover it." She said, "everyone is going there because of me going to the conference."

He looked at her. He was sure she would probably have enough to cover a hotel room or two at one of these places for a week from what he could figure she had in her personal savings, and if she wanted to do this as a gift for everyone he wouldn't stop her.

"What about this place?" She said, a little more excited, passing the pad over.

His eyes widened a little. "It, uh… looks great." He said, for lack of anything better. It looked like the kind of place Palpatine himself would have been jealous of. Which might suit her since she considered herself above him.

"It does, it has very high reviews as well." She said, looking excitedly through their page for more details.

"I'd hope so." He said.

"I like this place. I'll see about booking a room with them." She said, scrolling through their information.

"If it's going to be all seven of us, we might need more than just one room." He said.

"What are accommodations at hotels usually like?" She asked, furrowing her brow and looking up at him, picturing something like the suites she had in her palace in years past.

"Uh, usually just a bathroom and like one or two beds in a single room." He said.

"That's it?" She asked, very confused.

"Yeah." He said, "pretty standard."

"I'll ask them if they have something bigger." She said, furrowing her brow and looking through their holonetpage for a little more information.

"Other places we could get a couple of rooms for the same price?" He suggested.

"Perhaps." She said. "I like this place though, I'll see if we can make arrangements for a bigger room or something."

He furrowed his brow looking at her and said nothing.

"You know when I thought of a small baby store, this isn't what came to mind," Sasha observed as they stood just inside the decently sized store.

"Perhaps it was meant as a shop for small babies, rather than as a small shop for babies?" Cien suggested, looking out across the various sections of clothing, toys, cribs and other things she vaguely recognized as having been associated with Lana the last few years.

"Perhaps," Sasha snorted as she leaned against Lana's stroller. "So what are you looking for?"

"Umm..." Cien recalled her mental checklist. "Two cribs, various toys that aren't bladed or involve explosives, clothing, more serving utensils and bottles, and other various supplies."

"So should we start with the smaller stuff and wait for Viran and Kyr to return from the shipyards to get the cribs?" Sasha suggested.

"Yes, perhaps." There was a wheeled contrivance that appeared to be for carrying shopping goods, she noted other customers in the store with them. "Perhaps we take this small wagon and just go up and down the rows and see if there is anything we've forgotten, as well?"

"Sounds good to me," Sasha said.

Cien quite enjoyed looking at all the colorful items as they started down the toy aisle. "Do you think Noah should have little dolls like what Kyr had?" She asked, looking for them as they walked.

"I think he would like them," Sasha said, smirking. "You know, like father, like son." She chuckled.

"And we should get a little doll for Roselyn, perhaps like what Lana has. She seems very fond of it." Cien suggested, suddenly feeling very much out of her depth trying to think of what to buy for a child. Let alone two.

"Mine," Lana said from her stroller where she was clutching her doll in her arms.

"You can say that again," Sasha said, glancing down at Lana with a smile. "Yeah dolls and other kinds of toys would be great for them. Plus you guys can always use Lana's old stuff too if you want."

"Thank you." Cien said, looking around, and having no idea what to buy as they went down the aisle. There were all manner of items, all brightly colored, some of them stuffed and soft, others hard and plastic.

Sasha helped Cien pick out a few items for each of them as she could tell the expecting mother had no clue what to grab. Of course to be fair, she was just making her own best guess based off what Lana had as well. After grabbing a few toys, Sasha looked down into the cart. "You think that's enough?" She asked Cien.

"Yes, that seems sufficient." She replied, looking at the items. "Should we go and get them plates and bottles and things?" She asked, feeling like that would make more sense to her.

"Yeah, it looks like those are this way," Sasha said, gesturing down a couple aisles and turning the stroller to head that way.

"Very well." Cien said, turning her wheeled contrivance to follow after Sasha. When they got to the section that had bottles, she looked between the choices and wasn't entirely sure, but she was at least more used to this more practical side of things. She was able to find a few simple bottles, like what Lana had, and simply got more so they would have them on hand. She sighed as she looked at the bottles. "This is going to be so strange." She said quietly.

"What?" Sasha asked as she grabbed a couple of plateware items and looked them over. They looked just like Lana's, just a different set of colors.

"Being a mother." Cien replied. "Doing this it suddenly hit me how real this is." She said.

"Yeah I bet," Sasha said, glancing at her. "It hit me around the same time too when you and Kyr helped me get this stuff for Lana."

Cien looked down at the wheeled basket. "I hope they like this." She commented. "I'm terrible at buying gifts for people anyway, and I don't even know them." She said with a slight, if troubled smile.

Sasha chuckled. "They won't care at first," she said. "But they will love it because it came from you and Kyr. It's only when they get older that they will have more of an opinion." She joked slightly.

"Lana, do these things seem okay?" Cien asked, deciding to consult an expert.

Lana looked up from her stroller into the basket through the little openings. "Ye. Mine?"

"No, sweetie. Those are for Roselyn and Noah. You've got your own stuff back at home," Sasha said as she reached over and ruffled her daughter's hair.

"Oh… oo?" Lana asked as she seemed confused by the names.

"Your cousins," Sasha said, gesturing to Cien's swollen belly.

Lana tilted her head to the side, still confused.

"You'll understand soon, kiddo," Sasha assured her.

Cien smiled lightly as a small tea set with roses and butterflies on it caught her eye. "This is… cute." She observed to Sasha.

Sasha looked over at the set. "Oh that's adorable," she agreed. "Get it."

"The cups seem small and not very functional." Cien said with a frown.

"It's for playing pretend," Sasha explained with a smile. "It's not actually meant for having actual tea in it."

"Oh." Cien said, considering it for a moment. She tentatively reached up and grabbed one of the box sets and put it in the wheeled thing. "There." Cien said, swallowing. "I have to remind myself that they will be allowed to have fun growing up."

Sasha nodded. "I remind myself of that everyday. These kids aren't growing up like we did. They get to have what would be considered a normal life, but they still have SIth, Jedi, and Mandos for parents. So it won't be that normal," she said, smirking at that part.

Cien smirked. "Who would want normal, that sounds boring." She stated as they walked further down the aisle. "High chairs!" She said suddenly.

Sasha nearly burst into laughter at that as she slapped a hand to her mouth. "I have never met anyone that excited for a high chair," she said through breaths of laughter.

"No, I nearly forgot about them!" Cien said, as they saw them on display at the end of the aisle.

"Ah," Sasha chuckled. "That's fair."

"It makes me wonder what else I'm forgetting." Cien said with an annoyed look. "Military logistics are easier than this." She groused.

"Well good thing we still have the whole store to go through to make sure we grab everything," Sasha said as she eyed the high chairs. "Should we grab two?" She gestured to them a little unsureedly.

"I'm not sure they would want to share." Cien said. "Though, I suppose they might be used to it by now." She observed.

"So two it is," Sasha said as she grabbed one of the boxes to load into the bottom of the wheeled basket then grabbed another.

"Thanks." Cien said as Sasha loaded them on. "Oh where did you get that hover bassinet that Lana had?"

"Uh," Sasha stopped for a second. "I'm not sure. They probably carry them here, but if you want to just get one, you can use Lana's old one. She has well grown out of it," she said looking around as if trying to find said aisle.

"Oh, thank you." Cien said, "Lana, will that be okay if we take your old hover egg?" She said, using one of the many names Kyr had given it.

"Ye," Lana said as if she understood.

Sasha just smirked. "Yeah, I don't think she will have an issue with it."

"Good." Cien said. She saw them off in the distance down a further aisle and made a beeline over to it. They had a display model lower, and then boxes for them up on the higher shelves. She furrowed her brow, looking at the little sign saying they should ask for employee assistance.

Sasha just raised an eyebrow at that. She then looked up and down the aisle for anyone in sight who could help them. There was no one. "You know we can just get it down ourselves," she suggested, wiggling her fingers to indicate using the Force.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." Cien said with a slight smirk. "Here, let me since I don't want you to have to break the rules." She said with a bigger smirk. She extended her hand and pulled the box out, floating it down to them and into the cart, which was steadily getting very full. "We should go get clothes and things for them." She suggested for their next adventure.

"That sounds like a good idea," Sasha said, looking at the basket. "Before we run out of room and have to grab another." She sighed. "I wish the guys were here then we could have grabbed another one of these. I wonder how they are doing?"

Kyr twiddled his thumbs, relaxing back into the uncomfortable chair that was a little too small for his armored frame. They were in a place surrounded by enemies so he had his buy'ce on. And for once the people he dealt with didn't seem intimidated by his beskar visage.

Viran was leaning forward, his elbows balanced on his knees with his hands clasped before him. "Did he say how long it would take to grab that financing guy?" He asked, glancing at Kyr.

Kyr glanced at him. "No." Kyr said. As the time they waited stretched ever onward. "Wait, why are we waiting for a financing guy? We're paying credits for them?" Kyr asked, suddenly confused.

"I don't know," Viran admitted, straightening up. "And at this rate, the girls will be done with their shopping by the time this guy even gets back."

"The sizes go off of how old they are?" Cien asked, perplexed looking at a pink onesie.

"Yep," Sasha said, nodding. "I'd suggest grabbing clothes for at least the first year of their life in case they grow up faster. Lana is literally wearing outfits that if she was smaller, she wouldn't be wearing for another few months." She pointed out.

Cien thought for a second. "That will be quite a wardrobe." She said with a furrowed brow.

"You have no idea. And you're buying for two," Sasha said as she looked at some of the clothes that were meant more for kids around Lana's age.

Cien looked between all the choices, starting to feel a little overwhelmed again. "I guess they all have to be different too, so it doesn't look like they're wearing a uniform." She groused as she put the onesie into the basket thing, and started looking at the various colors.

"That's not a bad idea, especially since those two may look a little alike for the first few months," Sasha said. "This way you can tell them apart."

Cien thought for a moment. "I hadn't even thought of that. I just figured we would be able to tell them apart like Op and Kyr."

"I mean we can with the Force, but can Kyr?" Sasha asked, looking at her.

"I suppose not." She looked at the choices, and basically decided to get one of everything. They would pretty much need that, apparently. She started picking out two or three of each color that she liked. Some had cute prints of loth cats that reminded her a little of Reggie. There was another one that had little droids on it that, unfortunately, did not look like either Tac or QT, but she hoped they wouldn't mind.

"So what now?" Cien asked, after picking out what felt like too few clothes, and too many at the same time. "Just cribs?" She asked. Diapers and food and things they would get a little later, and closer to home.

"I guess so yeah," Sasha shrugged.

Cien started pushing the contrivance, which was now very full, over to where the cribs were on display. She was a little surprised by just how many there were to choose from. "Some of these just look like small prisons." She noted of the more plain cribs. There were a few that seemed slightly more ornate, made out of painted wood which she was leaning towards.

"Yeah, kind of," Sasha said as she looked at them.

"These look nicer though." Cien said, "do you think we're supposed to bring these to the counter?" She asked.

"I don't know," Sasha said, shrugging kind of absently as she looked them over. "It would make sense. But maybe there's a box or something."

Cien looked to the side and saw they had them in large boxes, with some sort of coding system, and another little sign stating they would need employee assistance. "Well, I guess we go find someone." She said, gesturing at the sign.

"Here, you keep looking. I can go find someone," Sasha offered.

"Okay." Cien said, noting that Sasha seemed a little distant and trying not to let her slight confusion show. It had started becoming more common lately where she would become distant like that, but she wasn't sure if she should ask Sasha about it, yet.

"I'll be right back," Sasha said as she turned Lana's stroller around and left the aisle, going to look for help.

As she turned the corner and started walking away, looking for help, she noticed Viran and Kyr walking towards her.

"Hey Sash'ika." Kyr said as he approached, "find all the good ad'ika stuff?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Sasha said kind of distantly. "How did your shopping go?"

"Got the ships purchased. Just need to come back in a week to pick them up," Viran said with a grin, but he did notice her response to Kyr's question and had to suppress a confused look.

"That's good," Sasha said, smiling slightly at that.

"Everything go okay?" Kyr asked.

"Yes. Cien just needs a hand with the cribs," Sasha said, gesturing behind her to the aisle she just came from. "I'm going to find an associate that works here to help grab them." She said as she pushed past them with the stroller.

Kyr looked at her pass by and then glanced at Viran.

He just shrugged in confusion as he looked and watched Sasha for a moment. "Should we go find Cien?" Viran asked, unsure of exactly what was going on.

"Yeah." Kyr said, walking through to where the cribs were, and Cien was standing there distractedly. "Hey cyar'ika." He said, "did shopping go okay?" He asked, noting that her cart was packed to overflowing.

"I think so, yeah." She said, "I think we got everything." She said.

"Definitely looks like it," Viran said, eyeing the cart with a shocked expression at how it was all staying in the basket. "Do you want us to grab another of these? Or do you need our help with the cribs?" He asked her.

"I think we're just waiting on the cribs." Cien said.

"Okay," Viran nodded.

A moment later, a worker from the shop and Sasha returned, coming down the aisle towards them. The associate approached Cien and Kyr as Sasha lingered back with Lana and the stroller.

"I heard you folks need a hand with getting a crib?" She asked, looking between them.

"Two, actually." Cien said. "I wanted to get two of this model," She stated, gesturing to one of the nicer ones that looked less like a prison cage.

"Alright, let me grab those for you guys," the worker said with a pleasant smile. She took a few moments and pulled two of the cribs out, setting them near their cart. "There you go. Can I help you folks with anything else?"

"No, thank you." Cien said, as she stepped back to the basket.

"Okay. I'm glad I could help. Have a great day and congrats," the worker said before heading out of the aisle to return to whatever she was doing before Sasha had asked her for help.

Kyr looked at the very full cart in a considering manner. "How are we going to get all of this back to the Shadow?" He asked.

Cien looked at the pile of items that were very nearly overflowing the basket. "Umm." She started, not sure how to answer.

"Don't you have a hovercart in the cargo hold that you've used to load weapons and ammo? Why don't we just use that?" Viran suggested.

"Now that's a sight," Sasha chuckled, seeming to be back to herself again. "A Mando pushing a weapons cart that is holding baby supplies instead of ammo."

Viran chuckled at that too.

"Yeah…" Kyr said. "I'll go get it, you guys stay here and checkout. Since I've got the armor people might be too scared to laugh at me."

"Strangers, yes. Us? No," Sasha teased.

Kyr looked at her a little sourly and started walking off. "You know I thought the Xiv's being mean was a genetic thing." He grumbled.

"I think it's more just who the family attracts, cyar'riduur." Cien said, teasing him as well.

Sasha and Viran laughed at that. Lana laughed too because her parents were laughing.

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