Open, also expecting.

Dhel's had a lot on her mind these past few weeks, but has continued trying to keep some regular shows going as well. It feels like changing patterns would be suspicious, and this is where people know to get in touch with her if there's any kind of news.

But tonight she has other things to attend to in at her usual stage time, so she's here a bit early checking the acts that she might squeeze in between some of them, settled at a table near the stage, listening to a rough-around-the-edges Clawdite work out some material with a glass of plain water.

It had been a few weeks, pretty tough weeks actually doing a lot of things Deonis wasn't used to but some good had come of it all so it wasn't a waste. Regardless is had been a taxing few weeks so here he was at the Cave again looking to relax and unwind a little. It was a little early in the night but he had business to attend to in the normal hours he would usually be here.

He walked in wearing his usual armor and sat at a table not far from the stage nor from one of the other performers that usually graced the stage. He ordered a drink from a waitress and sat watching the clawdite for a bit. Not bad all things considered but certainly could use a little practice.

Dhel tosses a few credits into the tip bucket--professional courtesy--as she gets up to approach Deonis. Dropping into a seat, with a smile and, "You were in with Raven the other night, yes? Or at least your armor was if you maybe just bought it in the past few weeks."

'Sounds like my stagemate knows you too, so thought I'd say hello." She offers her hand, palm down, gold-painted claws catching the lights. "You have to have caught my name from the stage, but Dhel's fine."

Deonis turned to her and nodded "Indeed." then he did something possibly surprising, he took off his helmet to reveal crimson skin and piercing yellow eyes. Long black hair unfurled and fell down past his shoulders. he tucked some behind his ear and leaned down taking her hand and placing a light kiss on the back "Deonis. Nice to meet you Dhel." he gave her a small smile revealing white sharp teeth.

His drink arrived and he nodded thanks to the waitress "Planning on performing tonight? You have a lovely voice." he asked his own deep voice less rough sounding without the modulation of the helmet faint bits of courscanti accent could be heard in words as well.

Surprise does, in fact, lift Dhel's eyebrows, but her fingers tighten on his in welcome, the corners of her eyes crinkling with a charmed smile. "Pleasure's definitely mine, Deonis." And it is. Letting the day's many worries fade to the background for a bit is rather nice.

She glances to the stage, offering a smile to a joke she's only barely heard. "I will if there's a no-show in the next bit. I've got a bit of thing back home conflicting with my usual set, so I've already offered that up." Returning her attention to the intriguing fellow at the table she adds, "glad you've enjoyed the previous sets. Do you sing? Sounds like you could have a really nice bass."

Removing the helmet certainly helped humanize him, remove some of that intimidating aura that clung to him and spoke of barely contained violence. However, there was still something there, something that reached into Dhel's primal brain and told her to run, told her there was danger, something scary but also potentially something exciting. The whole feeling was faint not blaring alarms but rather a dull nagging at her senses.

Even when he smiled it revealed sharp predatory teeth as he spoke "Afraid I can't carry a tune. As far as I know. Never really tried." Shoula's nickname become apparent as he spoke in brusque clipped sentences.

"often hang out when you're not working?" He asked lifting the glass to his lips.

It's an aura that's become somewhat accepted, sharing a ship with Phroth. But attached to an unfamiliar face? The background noise of it becomes more noticeable, tuning up the senses and making her just that bit more aware. "hmm, you should try sometime. Everyone sounds fantastic in the refresher if you'd rather not try it out in front of someone." The sharp teeth her grin reveals hint at predators somewhere way back in Bothan evolution, but Dhel is so very far removed from snapping up smaller creatures for sustenance, the predators trading menace for companionship somewhere along the way. "Be happy to offer pointers, if you're fine with at least one person in the audience," she offers, brushing her own hair back behind a tufted ear.

"Folks know to find me here, and at least so far, I'm not actively avoiding anyone, so yeah...I'm here a fair bit." She rests an elbow on the table, leaning comfortably. "And seems you come by plenty. When you're not working?" she fishes rather plainly.

A short slightly rumbling chuckle "wouldn't want to put you through that. Maybe someday though. You often listen to people sing in the refresher?" He asks with a slightly amused grin.

He settled forward onto the table armored elbow clinking against the surface "I come in when I'm free. When I need to destress. It's a relaxing place."

Dhel considers the question, eyes going distant for a few moments then refocusing with evident amusement. "You know...more often than you'd think, really. And I sing plenty in there, the acoustics are fun." She scoops up her water, seemingly just to have something to do with her free hand, since she doesn't drink yet. "Well, you know where to find me, if you want an opinion on your singing, in or out of the refresher."

There's a smile of appreciation. "It's good to hear that it's relaxing honestly. I know I don't own the joint, so I can't take credit beyond being part of the entertainment. But yeah, it's a nice vibe here." She sits up, reaching with hand she'd been leaning on to tap at his armored arm. "And with this, well, I imagine you have plenty going on that you'd want to relax from, hmm?

an eyebrow ridge raised at her with her comment about the refresher but he made no reply only gave her a slightly mischievous smile in return.

"You go a long way to making this place that way. Raven and I both were in agreement. You are an excellent singer. Not hard on the eyes either." He said smiling.

When she tapped his armor he chuckled "an understatement. especially recently. A lot to be weary about. Especially if you're not a fan of whose in charge."

The singer takes the compliments in stride with an appreciative dip of her head. "Kind of you to say so. But," her own smile takes on a teasing tilt, "were you really in agreement about the easy on the eyes bit? I had been thinking Raven entirely impervious to my charms."

And while the smile remains, out of long practiced habits, there's a dimming at the mention of recent events, a crease of worry across her brow and a short nod "Yeah...a lot of worry lately. I thought things just felt like everyone waiting, like usual, for the rains to break, but that feeling's still there. Everyone waiting for something else to happen."

He smiled a little and took a drink "Maybe that one was me." he admitted setting the drink back down.

if Deonis is worried about what's going on he doesn't show much hint of it on his features "Storms comin. Been comin for sometime. We're ready for it though." he said with a cool confidence that only comes from those cocky enough or fool hardy enough to believe it. Though which one Deo was would be left to her interpretation.

"Yeah, we'll be ready," she sounds far less confident. "I'm worried for Petra though." She sighs, "but even that's maybe wheels in motion now, and that's more hope than I've had in days." A deep breath pulls her mood up with those reminders of hope.

Sipping at the water, she considers him intently. "I've never seen your like, so I can't say you're easy on the eyes. They've got some work to do figuring out what they're looking at, you know? But you're solid and, there's something attractive in the strangeness, you know? Where are you from? There's that hint of the Core in your voice, but that covers a lot of territory."

Deonis laughed at her words "not sure if i should be offended or not." He said with plenty of mirth in his voice for her to know he wasn't "I wouldn't worry about figuring out my species. Not unless you're very much into history. Ancient history at that. I grew up mostly on courscant. I am one of the last few of my people."

She sips her water, glad he's not offended. "No, no...I'd be a lot more clever trying to be offensive. If I'm going to start a fight, I want it to be worth it." Grinning she looks him up and down. "And honestly I'd need to be pretty wasted to try picking fights with you. I like my bones in one piece, usually."

"Doesn't get much more Core than Coruscant," she responds to his comments about origin. "Though I never much considered entire people vanishing. Scattering though the big galaxy, sure, but sorry to hear that. Have you gotten this far out from the Core looking for some of them?" Dhel was not remotely good at history back in her school days.

"I wouldn't hurt you even if you had. You dont seem much of a fighter. Not a fan of one sided engagements." he gave her a quick smile

"Species go extinct all the time. just not the wide spread ones. My people were never common in the galaxy and our population sharply declined thousands of years ago." he said taking another sip "No I came out here like a lot of people. Running from something. I grew up in the core but it wasn't my home."

"Well...species do, yeah. I remember that from school. But that's like swampskippers, not...people. The early colonists here, ate them out of existence, they told us. Swampskippers, that is." She's thoughtful, considering how few Bothans she has ever seen out here. "You know, I wouldn't even know if Bothans had gotten scarce in the rest of the galaxy. I wonder if there are whole worlds of people that never really made it out into the galaxy before something happened to them."

She waves to the server for a bowl of whatever's on the menu tonight. "I could be fiercer in a fight than I look, you know." There's a pause and she grins, "but probably not. You could pretty much just set me outside and close the door...fight's over."

She doesn't ask what he's running from, that seems rude somehow. "Do you like it better out here in the Rim? Or wish you could go back to the fancier worlds Coreward?"

He seemed uncertain for a second. Thinking for a while "I'll say here. As I said Courscant was never a home. Never say much of it all except on work." He indicated two bowls to the server

"Out here im more free. Harder life in some ways. Easier in others. Overall Bellionas has been more a home to me than courscant ever was." He gave her a little grin "girls are prettier out here too."

"Did you grow up here? On Bellionas." He asked.

"I bet you use that line on all the Rim worlds, eh?" Dhel says with a grin, that doesn't seem to mind at all. "But yeah, grew up here. Only ever been offworld once, kind of recently. I guess the Empire stretches a little thinner out here if you're trying not to have them watch everything. So I can see the easier there. And, well...if you're running. All the distance you can find, right?"

There's a pause, letting the stew drop to the table. It's hearty for sure, with something that might actually be real meat in it.

"Planning to stay? Or is it hard to stop moving, once you start?"

"The pretty ones." He said simply before trying the bowl in front of him. He thought for a second before giving it an approving nod.

"Depends. Not sure if it'll be a choice. Depends on how things go. Some of what I was running from has shown up here. Depends on how much of a problem it is." He took another bite "I probably would if it was an option."