A lot of Blue in the Sapphire (closed)

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

With a shrug and not bothering to whisper, Dhel says, "Nara invited me a few weeks back. I'm not great with maps, but it worked out ok. It's kinda hodgepodge, but seems cozy."

At the worry, she frowns a bit. "I mean, as long as you don't run into any dangerous wildlife or step in a hole, it's safer than the city for some things." Looking to Nara she asks, "Nobody patrols out there but you, right? I figure you'd have seen it, if they did."

[Nara Phln]

“Nah, not any more at least. You kill enough of anyone and they decide to give you a wide birth. Besides, it’s in a swamp and kids these days are all about their home luxuries rather than swamps, sad really.”

Looking between the two and bouncing slightly
“You guys should totally come do a house warming. It can be like a honeymoon. I even got a bed shaped like a heart. And you could ride your bike off the ramp on the roof and Dhel could rock the karaoke stages. You look like you need a break anyway.”

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel laughs. "That's a really generous offer, and a break would be nice but..." She lets out a long breath. "there's a lot to do and not a lot of time. Maybe after..." She didn't want to say 'after we get Petra loose' when it wasn't even certain that the information they had was about her. Plus that might be overheard or just plain jinx everything. "Then? Well...hiding in the swamp might be just the thing."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin raises his eyebrows and closes his eyes, as the addition of Nara's idea looks like it might be more than he can process right now. But Dhel's words and tone pop his eyes open and he looks at her with a different kind of concern than he had before.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he says quickly, without even thinking it through. "A little vacation to visit our friend Nara in a few days." He nods with more conviction. "Like a honeymoon," he jokes awkwardly, nervous chuckling as he takes a deep drink from his glass. "That's, ah, that's a good one, Nara," he says uncomfortably.

[Nara Phln]

Nara beams, white teeth very prominent against the blue

"It's gonna be so awesome! I always wanted to be the cool friend in the group who's getting her life together and owns property. Kind of a mother figure I guess, but like a cool mom with a firearms license who's also a friend. A mom of intelligence, life and friendship. A MILF to everyone."

Surreptitiously lifting a discarded champagne flute and tucking it under her dress
"Just gotta do the sneaky stuff first, right? Whatever that is. I'm kinda lost on things, I killed like 15 people yesterday and got distracted."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin's eyes close as the comment about getting one's life in order strikes a nerve. After a deep breath, he drains the remainder of his glass. Though the drink wasn't full or incredibly strong to start with, he might have drained the equivalent of four shots in a heartbeat.

"That's great Nara," he says with a bit of a croak to his voice. He opens his eyes. "The, ah, your life being together stuff. Not the killing, so much, especially if it really was that many people." Korvin looked at her with a mix of skepticism and genuine belief that it could well have been more.

"So you're planning on settling down, for a while at least?"

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel considers that Nara raising kids would be hilarious and disturbing.

Dhel does some math on other conversations. "So...were you helping bomb the clinic, or dropping explosions on the Gonks raiding it?" Given that it was an Imperial clinic, she figures it could have gone either way."

"I guess that was probably way easier than sneaky stuff for you." She snags a fizzy flute of something from one of the passing servers, sips it with a nose wrinkle due to bubbles, and offers it to Korvin for a taste. "Though honestly, if anyone is going to learn some utterly random, but useful stuff from one of these folks, my bet is on you."

[Nara Phln]

“Oh, let’s just say I’m planning on settling somewhere while still moving around”

Winking
“Ah wink! You’re totally right Dhel, I was at the big clinic fight. There were so many Gonks and I was all ‘pew pew! Get some!’ And then we fought all morning and the good guys won. Honestly, if you’re having a slow start to the day and having trouble getting motivated... fighting hundreds of dudes with rocket launchers really gets the blood flowing.”

Nara spots someone behind them and waves at a bespectacled imperial scientist who blushes deeply and quickly turns away from the three blue guests

“I’ve learnt so much random stuff already. Like, about weapons plants and troop movements and this spot on her collarbone that makes her go all jumpy.”
Sighing happily

“Like, parties still suck but they’re at least a little cool when you share hobbies with the people there. Can you believe she’s trying to make a disruptor grenade? Nearly swooned off my feet then and there.”

Nara continues on about explosives for a few moments before drawing breath
“What about you guys? Who have you caught up with?”

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin, as usual, finds he has difficulty responding to Nara's questions, as they tend to come as his brain is still scrambling to make peace with her comments before the question.

"Well, uh, I couldn't live up to your example," Korvin admits as he spots with thankful eyes another tray of what is probably the same bubbly as Dhel had snagged. With unnecessary quickness, he stepped and grabbed one of the flutes, then turned back to the women to finish his report. "A, uh, lieutenant from the Imperial Army was not impressed with my less than encyclopedic knowledge of sidearms, although he was maybe impressed that I even tried talking about that with an army guy?" Korvin shakes his head, clearly feeling like the conversation had failed.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel narrows her eyes, "Did you really just say 'wink' when you winked? Have you and Manny been hanging out?"

She was genuinely not sure if Nara was sighing about the weapons plant conversation or the cute scientist..maybe both? But she could answer the question kinda, sorta. "Ehhh, been talking about this and that. Way too much gossip about who's kids are embarassments, and who's obviously cheating or sleeping their way to promotions...And I don't know any of them, so..." She sips her fizzy drink with a shrug. "But man...people blackmail themselves easy with a few drinks and a cute face."

[Nara Phln]

Nara blinks
“Double wink! Manny is pretty cool being a magician and all, we hang out sometimes. He’s very supportive of my life choices.”

Nara cocks her head, looking at the gathered guests with a new light
“I’ve never been good at blackmail, in fact, I’m kind of a hero. Other people will find out something embarrassing and they’ll keep it quiet so long as you pay money and do what they want. Me? If I find something embarrassing about someone I just shout it out to everyone. Sometimes folks are so happy they look kinda angry. “

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"Manny is pretty supportive in general," Dhel says with a fond smile. "I could definitely see him liking your hangout. Oh, hey...you want a Magic Mika poster? We keep moving it around for him to find and it would be hilarious if it was on your wall."

Dhel shifts to interlace her fingers with Korvin's "Ah well...he probably didn't know anything interesting useful outside of like...blaster parts or something." She grins up at him. "You realize, don't you, that you should be chatting up some of the older ladies that do that thing where they keep looking at you and looking away because they're kind of intrigued by the blueness...but they think they're not supposed to be. You're young and cute, and just a little bit dangerous to folks who think everyone non-human is just a bit...less-than. May as well use all that." How to spot and use other people's libido is solidly in Dhel's skillset.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

The Pantoran grimaces, looking down at her fingers and giving a gentle squeeze.

"I'll, uh, try. That's... not exactly my favorite, um, angle. To work." He takes a small sip from the flute, then rolls his eyes up to look at the ceiling. He takes a heavy breath as he closes his eyes, like he's fighting off one of the rolling waves of emotion in this location. After a moment he looks sideways at Dhel, and she can see that he looks tired.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Honestly, Dhel is more keyed up than tired, finding what people want and implying that she has it to give...Dhel's less affected overall as she's moving in synch with the Sapphire's vibe of desire and drive. That's probably a fine recipe for overconfidence and hubris, but it hasn't managed to bite her in the ass just yet! It may or may not find hints that lead to helping Petra, or someone else's friends. It feels like doing something.

But she notices his weariness with some concern. Releasing his hand in order to pluck the remnants of bubbly beverage from the other one and then holding both in one hand with skill developed waitressing over the years, she rests a hand on his cheek. "Go sit someplace quiet for a minute, eh? And maybe eat something?"

[Korvin Hikarrin]

But she notices his weariness with some concern. Releasing his hand in order to pluck the remnants of bubbly beverage from the other one and then holding both in one hand with skill developed waitressing over the years, she rests a hand on his cheek. "Go sit someplace quiet for a minute, eh? And maybe eat something?"

"I don't need to..." He shakes his head tiredly. His voice drops to a whisper, and he leans in close so she'll hear. "This isn't like before. It's... intense, really intense, but... But also it's bad memories coming back." He straightens a bit and exhales. Returning to his normal voice, he concedes, "I'll, ah, try to find someplace quiet." He shakes his head like he's trying to wake up from something, and his feet stay right where they were.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel frowns slightly. "OK. that sounds like we've got all we're getting here tonight. We'll head out, ok?" Looking up at Nara, she offers an apologetic shrug..."We'll come visit out there sometime? Maybe don't move the landmines in the next few days?"

She sets the glasses on some passing tray before wrapping her arm around his once more and offering a pull toward the exit.

[Nara Phln]

"No problem! get a good rest and maybe visit a firing range to get your head where it needs to be. Nara supports mental health!"
She offers a vigorous thumbs up causing a pistol to fall out of her dress and get quickly kicked under a table.