Shadows of Bankor

Having been stuck out in the desert since yesterday, an ungodly amount of sushi was what Dove wanted to restock on calories and fill a stomach that had to settle for ration bars and carefully rationed water. She was a lady with needs, damnit! Those troopers should've been way more considerate.

"There's a shark-like guy that has some of the best sushi on this planet - he gets it fresh from some of those farmers outside of town, no chance of getting sick here. At least I've never gotten sick eating here."

And the best part was that she knew that the place was kind of tucked in between other buildings in a back alley so it wasn't a place where patrols came through. At least not often.

Sushi wasn't really Astin's idea of a fantastic meal. It just lacked a little something in his mind, luckily though he wasn't a picky eater either, his mama had never allowed something like that.

Plus, it was company that really made a meal, and dove was just about as cute as they come. "Don't think I've been." He mused as he followed along beside her. "Though I don't really get to town to often either."

"You have any suggestions for me, or is it more one of those places that the selection changes everyday?"

"Changes a lot each day, but there tends to be some staples. I'll just get us some of everything to share."

Pushing aside the cloth hanging over the door, Dove strode in and gave a wave to the workers at the other side of the glass counter that displayed today's catch. "Heya, just bring over one of those combo-specials for me and my friend, pretty please? We'll be sitting over in the corner with some beers."

"Right on, miss!" The shark-like figure responded with an almost military-like salute and the others set to work.

Dove at least moved through the small establishment like she knew it well, leading Astin over to a booth in the corner that seemed a bit more sheltered from view and sound. Her jacket was tossed unceremoniously onto the cushioned seat before she slid her own tush down. "Ahh... this is a bit comfier than that transport."

"Well, if you're ordering then I'm buying." It was the least he could do right?

Sometimes you lead, and others you follow, and this time was one of the latter as Astin trailed the young woman through the establishment, his eyes flicking across the interior and a few of other things of note within. The owner and his companions rear the primary things on that list.

He slid out of his own jacket and tossed it into his seat before sitting down opposite. "Pretty nice place, I think I can see why you come here often."

"I make it a point to find all the good places to eat, since my attempts at cooking are pretty disastrous." Damn the Maker, couldn't even program her with some basic cooking skills.

"Of course, that means some dangerous trips for the stomach, but it's all worth it in the end to find the good spots. This one is a good spot."

One of the workers brought over to bottles of beer, opened them up for the two, and returned back to work.

"So... a quick toast to getting out of that mess?"

"Disastrous?" He raised a eyebrow at that. "Sounds like you've started a few fires then." A grin spread across his lips. "Or at least felt like it."

"Still that's a solid plan, I'm a fair hand at cooking myself. Making snacks for all the younger siblings around the house got me some practice. Knowing the good places around town could certainly come in handy though."

The beers arrived and Astin reached for a bottle raising it in the air a moment later. "To getting out of that death box, and to the showers that got the sand out of all the places we didn't want it!"

"There may have been a fire. Or two." Thank goodness she lived with someone as homely as Mia. In more ways than one.

The proposed toast made her laugh and she raised her bottle to give it a ceremonial tap against his. "Hear hear. And to the food and beer we will now have!"

Dove took a big swig from the bottle. Even out here on Bankor there were decent bottled beers, praise the maker. "So how did a guy like you end up in a place like that, huh?"

The clink was returned along with a chuckle st her own addition.

"I'm guessing you're wanting a longer story then. 'Stun batons and uninvited guests?' " He asked after he finished taking a swig of his own beer, not bothering to sit it on the table.

"Suppose I can saw I met a fellow on Coreilla that helped me get set up here. I owe him a few favor or two for the help." Coreilla hadn't been to welcoming near the end. "So I've been helping out certain people as a way to show my appreciation." He smirked. "It seems the imperials didn't much appreciate my actions though."

"Certain people, huh?" she mused a little at the choice of words. Almost sounded like he was in the same activity as herself and Mia. "How very unkind of them Imps, to not appriciate your hard work."

She had another swig of beer before placing it on the table, though still holding onto its neck between her long fingers.

"Sounds like they were downright indiscriminate about who they picked up then. My compatriot, Mia, and myself, have... a similar situation to yourself. Helping out certain people. No thanks is the gratitude for being a good samaritan, I guess, eh?"

"Yeah, certain people." He replied with a playful wink. It seemed like she understood where he was coming from, or at least he hoped she did. "But you know how the law goes, especially recently. They just don't appreciate hard work as much as they used to."

Long fingers, that was interesting. Taking a long pull from his bottle he peered into the bottle before swirling it a few times.

"None at all." Astin shook his head slowly. "And you're right about how indiscriminate they were. Why else would they pick up a couple lovely ladies and take them off to someplace nasty? Bet they couldn't even come up with a shred of proof of wrongdoing against most of the folks on that boat." Not that such a thing concerned the Imperials he had met.

"Honestly, I rarely know how the law goes these days. I'm too busy breaking or bending most of them," she snickered with a devious grin.

The expression quickly turned into an innocent one. "Oh, I have no idea. It must be because I was picking a fight with one of them, I guess. I was probably the only one on that transport looking to get caught on purpose - needed to know if that location we were chatting about was real, and where it is."

"Some of them are pretty easy, don't go walking around naked, don't pass out drunk on park benches. As long as you keep track of the easy ones you're likely to do alright."

Her innocent expression and explanation got a laugh. "You're likely right about that. Seems like your gamble paid off though. Got at least a little of that information you were looking for."

"It did. Guess I got lucky that there were people like me," a nod in his direction, "on that transport that also had guts to do something. Would've been a hard deal with fewer numbers, right?"

The food was brought over, which was a huge platter of a wide-selection of foods. There wasn't only sushi, as there was deep-fried shrimp, deep-fried chicken, vegetable spring rolls, two bowls of soup, and a variety of sushi that ranged from plain to colorfully exotic. Dove gave thanks to the server before they returned to work.

"Ah food! Let's dig in!"

"My old man always told me that luck was just another skill, that if someone knew what they were doing they could make it for themself." He took another drink from his beer. "Now if you just went outside and socked a trooper in the jaw to be arrested, well the force was on your side today. If you listened to word on the street and found out they were doing a sweep today then acted." He leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Well then you were making your own luck."

He trailed off as the food arrived looking at it appreciatively before nodding. "No need to tell me twice."

Working while the iron is hot, or in this case, the deep-fry, Dove doved for the deep-fried shrimp first. "Luck as a skill, huh? Hmm... I could believe in that, over this Force-thingy. Just all seems far-fetched for me."

"What about you? Do you believe in that stuff?"

"Hrm? That folks can move stuff with their mind and things like that. Sure, apparently I had a great uncle that could do things like that." Well according to his mom at least.

"All the rest of that stuff that goes along with it?" He shook his head "At the very least I hope it ain't real."

"Yeah? Same," she scoffed before chomping ferociously down on a spring roll.

Eating provided a good and natural pause in the conversation.

"So... you up for more crazy stunts in the near future like what we just did out there?"

"Depends on who is asking I suppose." He offered after a few bites of food a half smile on his lips "I don't mind helping out some."

"If I'm risking my life though..." He frowned. "I wont say I want to do it for money. I would prefer its for friends or people i care about though ." He shook his head. "Or for something that will really matter."

"Yeah, money isn't exactly the big pay here," she scoffed, and chuckled. Force knew they weren't being paid for charity-work. "I guess the question is what will matter for you, other than friendship. Hope? A feeling of doing the right thing? Justice?"

"I dont much like the idea of oppression, so I suppose I can say it's about doing the right thing. Making sure everyone gets an even shake at things" He paused a moment to take a few bites of food.

"If that makes any sense at all."

"Well, I can agree with you on that. Oppression sucks. So what you're saying makes sense to me." She grinned, and picked up her bottle again for another mourhful of beer.

"You seem to have a good head for machines, yeah? Gonna check in with that Weggs girl to see what she's up to with that vehicle?"

"Yeah, figure it could be pretty useful to have around, and four hands are better then two at least half the time." He used a gulp of beer to wash down some food before pushing the empty bottle away.

"Not really sure what we will use it for, likely to do something foolish. But that's part of the job isn't it?"

She laughed, swirling around the contents of her bottle. "Hey, foolish is probably my job description sometimes. I can't deny I'm way more of a thrill-seeker than most people - frankly, I find that life gets way too dull if I'm not involved in something crazy."

"I'm not sure I'm much of a thrill-seeker I just like to drive fast speeders." His eyes moved to search for one of the waitstaff so he could order another beer.

"I suppose I can see the draw in it though. And I'll admit I'll try most things once. Can't say I'm too bug a fan of skydiving though."

It wasn't hard to flag down one of the servers, and a show of empty bottles meant that there were two new ones brought quickly.

"Try most things once, huh? Does that only extend to crazy stunts, or do you apply that philosophy to other things in life too?" she asked with a sly smile.