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Thread: Sloshy Summations

  1. #41
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    "You should?" Molly raised an eyebrow, shifting to the side to peer around Vilen at a mirror. Expecting to see a train wreck looking back, she was baffled to only her perplexed self. "Oh.. right."

    Stepping to the side she opened the door. As she had expected everything was put back together, and there was no speck of food remaining. The little devils had left the alcohol though, Molly noted happily. Good thing too.

    "So negotiations to be continued then?"

  2. #42
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    “To be continued,” Vilen agreed, stepping past Molly into the miraculous tidy lounge. Whoever, or whatever, had cleaned up the remnants of the party had done a fast, efficient job. The Chiss set his glass down alongside the remaining bottles, which looked as if they were arranged ready and waiting for the next round of party-goers to arrive, then turned to look back at Molly.

    “Tomorrow?”

  3. #43
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    "Sure." Molly agreed without thinking it through. As negotiations were still ongoing, she was still selling herself in a way. She had to be accommodating. She'd figure it out. She usually did.

    "You should probably see the place sooner rather than later, as it's the cornerstone of my greasy little empire."

    Emphasis on greasy and little. If all went well she would be smelling like a restaurant again in no time. Her 'little' workers were the surprisingly handy rookery kids from the tenement levels, not too many down from where she currently resided. Whatever, no where to go but up. She had done it before, and she would do it again. She found them jobs, and kept them reasonably fed and paid when she could. For goodness sake, some of them were almost of an age to apply for work at the Cloud 9.

    No freaking way.

    Maybe one..


    "Better make it late though."

  4. #44
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    “After sunset,” Vilen agreed. That would be plenty of time to do a little reconnaissance on the diner before hand, and perhaps survey some of the more loose-lipped locals about the history of the place.

    “Tomorrow,” the Chiss repeated, lingering in the doorway to the apartment for a moment longer. “Goodnight, Molly.”

    And then, without looking back, he was gone.

  5. #45
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    The following morning found a groggy but determined Molly Black at the doors to the Cloud 9, enormous cup of stimcaf in hand. Hoping no one recognized her, she had donned a pair of baggy, colorful-paint spattered overalls, over a black tank top. Absolutely not something she would ever wear unless she expected to be filthy. She stood outside the closed establishment for a moment or two, mentally preparing herself for the mind boggling amount of work she would have to do just to get the place open. That was not even accounting for the time it would take to get her other operation back to running smoothly, but like she kept telling herself. She had already done all of this once, she could do it again.

    Also, having friends with deep pockets lined with credits helped too.

    Molly turned her pony-tailed head to the sight of cleaning crew that she had hired for the morning, shiny industrial cleaning droids that would do in an hour what would take her weeks.

    "Hey there. Right on time." Opening the doors, she let them get started, instructing them to pitch it all. She was replacing everything, not trusting the years of funk that had accrued in her absence. It was as she had phrased it to Vigo Kandle, 'a shit show.'

    While they got started, Molly drank her caf, keeping her shades on at first to keep out the day, but also putting on music despite her headache. She couldn't work without it, and she had so much to do. After stimcaf... The only clean surface to be seen was the actual bar, so she climbed up and lay on her back looking up at the ceiling while she answered her comm.

    "Hey Soolah. Sorry I bailed on my appointment today."

    The chattering of Sullustese in her ear was enough to let Molly know it had not been appreciated, but Soolah was not just her manicurist, she was also a friend.

    "Oh gods above, don't ask. I was kind of stupid yeah, and I'm telling you there is nothing there! Trust me, I was even kind of trying. So take your gut feelings and stick them in some paraffin!"

    After gabbing with the Sullustan nail technician and finishing her coffee, Molly disappeared into Mu's office to make sense of the chaos in there, to try and sort Mu's belongings that she had left behind, from the junk left by the most recent slob who had been posing as a manager. By the time she had even made a path through the office, it was already almost lunch time. The cleaning droids had scoured the place to an impressive sanitized standard that even she appreciated. Deliveries of new foods were arriving. It was almost like new again, and made her nostalgic. She almost felt like pushing a broom around, or wiping a table. Almost..
    Last edited by Molly Black; Mar 2nd, 2019 at 10:42:40 PM.

  6. #46
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    Cloud City was a place of strange duality. By sunrise, half of the city was wide awake and had been hard at working in tibanna mining facilities for hours. The other half meanwhile was still sleeping off hangovers from the night before, or had not long fallen into bed after long session in one of the city’s many casinos.

    Vilen fell somewhere in the middle of these two and found himself in the mostly deserted upper levels of the city, where even the Cloud Guard and Stormtroopers were few in number. Having no desire to be seen wandering the city alone by either group, he ducked into a shop that ran card games all day and night, and whiled away the hours, losing and winning credits, until the pedwalks were crammed with tourists.

    In the anonymity of the crowds, the Chiss could move about more freely. He joined the tail end of a tour group that started in the city’s upper levels and eventually wound it’s way down into Port Town, where the Weequay tour guide promised the group would get to experience ‘the real Cloud City’. Sure enough, one of the group had their pocket picked within minutes of entering Port Town’s sprawling market.

    As the group began to disperse and confront the possibility of haggling to buy a souvenir of their trip, Vilen lingered beside a stall selling spices by the sackful. As he feigned interest in what the stallholder had to offer, his eyes twitched up and looking through the knot of market stalls to the more traditional streets beyond. When the crowds parted in just the right way, he could catch a little glimpse of the exterior of the Cloud 9 Bar and Grill.

  7. #47
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    The next delivery wouldn't be arriving for a while, so while she waited Molly kept busy by personally going over the previous order. She shoved crates, one after one, into a dry storage closet and began unpacking. Soon enough she was working up a sweat. Strands of her dark hair had come loose from her pony tail, which she just kept repeatedly blowing out of her face.

    Knowing that for now she was alone, a sound from elsewhere in the kitchen gave Molly cause to stop and turn her head. "Hello..?"

    No one answered back.

    Gulping, Molly reached for a broom handle mounted on the wall. Sliding it loose, she wielded it in front of herself like a staff. The fact that she had zero training with a staff not factoring into her decision at all.

    Could be anyone. Hungry kid. Sobered up former manager. Someone looking to rob the place. Sexy blue-skinned blackmailer..

    She peeked her head out of the storage closet cautiously and didn't see anything either. Maybe she was imagining the noise? Nope! There it was again, she swung around and held her broom like a bat now, ready to beat the hell out of whatever she saw. Nothing, again. Tip-toeing, in half-unlaced boots her nerves were beginning to get twitchy. When the rodent came skittering out at her, more afraid of her than she was of it, Molly screamed her head off and swung the broom handle into a stack of freshly-printed menus which exploded behind her as she dropped the handle and ran, barreling through the double doors of the kitchen back into the dining room. The rodent, the only one not already removed by the cleaning crew, trotted out behind her between the swinging double doors and out of the Cloud 9.

  8. #48
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    To Vilen’s left, a Bravaisian trader haggled with a customer over the price of what appeared to be live eels. Ahead, a pair of Theelin performed acrobatic stunts, aiming to delight passing tourists and part them from their credits. Off to the right, the doors to Cloud 9 swung open, without anyone appearing to come or go, and a muted shriek sounded from within. Vilen’s brow furrowed.

    Excusing himself from the stall he was browsing, the Chiss shouldered his way through the market crowd towards the diner. When he reached the doors, he saw a closed sign on display, though the door was clearly. With eyes narrowed in suspicion, he took a step back and carefully began to push the door open.

    “Hello?”

  9. #49
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    The moment the door to the Cloud 9 had started to open, Molly had ducked behind the bar, hunkering down. That was definitely not the next delivery, they'd have come around to the kitchen door. Now who was trying to get her?

    When she heard the questioning greeting, Molly knew her day could not get worse.

    Vilen.

    Shit, shit, shit.

    She made no move to rise, or emerge from behind the bar. "Umm.. Vilen, hey there. Aren't you a little.. early?"

  10. #50
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    Without quite stepping in through the front doors, Vilen ducked his head in just far enough to scan the interior of the diner. Apart from a few droids shuffling about the room or moving through a cleaning cycle, it looked empty. He ventured a step into the diner.

    “I heard a scream?”

  11. #51
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    Of course he'd heard that. She was not admitting to the place having rats, that was not the sort of information she wanted circulating. "Yeah, that was me. Sorry.", came her response from behind the bar. "Caught a glimpse of my own reflection."

    With her back to the underside of the bar, Molly wasn't exactly exaggerating. If Vilen already only tolerated her in her cutest little black dresses, he would be completely repelled by her in her current state. Molly was not prepared for that sort of rejection, even from her..whatever he was. To be decided later..

    "I...didn't start on your dinner yet." She pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting a sense of doom. That wasn't entirely true, she had, it just wasn't here.

  12. #52
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    Red eyes took a closer look at the main dining room and bar. Molly was nowhere to be seen, and yet he had definitely heard her inside this. Was this another of her misdirections, or was she… hiding? Perhaps it had been a little premature to come barging into the diner so early in the day.

    “Do you need help?”

  13. #53
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    Molly looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully at Vilen's question. More than he knew.

    Damsel. Distress. The whole tale of it was true, and she was the damsel. The only problem was, Vilen did not really strike Molly as the hero in her misadventures. Technically speaking, she still owed him for getting her through customs. She did not need to start collecting a serious debt to the guy, not when she still knew so little about him. There was a lot that needed to be cleared up in the murky details of just what their relationship was. He was her blackmailer, on hold? Did not inspire desire to ask for help.

    "Nah, I'm good. Just a little scare, really." Molly's voice was a bit muffled now, with her head resting on her knees.

    "But hey! Vilen? Out of curiosity, if I had been in trouble... were you by chance going to dash in and do something?" She had a feeling she'd like to see that..

  14. #54
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    In the silence that stretched between the question and Vilen’s answer, Molly heard the doors to the diner shut and footsteps moving slowly closer to the bar.

    “Maybe.”

  15. #55
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    Molly could hear Vilen moving closer.

    Well, this was just great not only was she probably a mess, but she was also about to be caught hiding behind the bar. Like hell, I am.. Spinning around on her denim covered bottom, Molly made herself immediately busy straightening items on the shelf below the bar. In this case, glasses that were already straightened.

    "Oh, well.. I was going to take a rain check. A girl like me could definitely use a heroic rescue, to be redeemed at a later date."

  16. #56
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    “I don’t know about heroic, but a rescue seems… plausible.”

    He came up to the bar, leaning both forearms on the counter top as if he were a customer waiting to be served.

    “You’ve got a well-located place here. Must have cost you a chunk of credits.”

  17. #57
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    "Honey, if I'm rescued, I'm not going to quibble over the semantics. It'll be heroic enough, I'll take it."

    Molly was completely serious too, she'd take it, gratefully, if that day ever came. She was still having a hard time picturing it though. Especially when the not-heroic Chiss appeared above her. Reaching up, her red-painted fingertips wrapped around the bar as she unfolded herself and stood up, dusting off her hands. Whatever, so she looked like hell.

    "Yeah, it's my baby.", she said with a touch of pride.

    As far as Port Town was concerned, the Cloud 9 had always been a touch above the rest, even for a greasy spoon of a place. Most of note, they did have the added benefit of privacy that Bliss provided, relative privacy anyways. Some of her best stuff had come through the 'back room' of that club.

    She tipped her chin in the general direction of a piano on an empty stage. "When we first opened, we had Lili Von Wolfson singing nights. I think, just maybe...I can top that." Molly's poor abused ears recalled the singer's dulcet tones..

    "You'd think that, right?" With the benefits that came with being back with the Black Sun, transferring the Cloud 9 Bar & Grill to her had been pretty painless, and the credits she needed to get it done properly, well..

    "I have better than credits. I have friends. Lots of them."

  18. #58
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    If he was at all taken aback by her appearance, it didn’t show. Molly Black could have worn a Tusken-raiders second-hand cast offs and still looked like something out of a holovid.

    Vilen glanced across at the piano.

    “Is that another of your many talents?”

  19. #59
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    "Absolutely not.", she looked toward the piano. "The best I have is singing, badly, in the shower, I'm afraid."

    The stage was in a half-decorated state, sparkly blue and silver tinsel behind the abandoned piano, but little else. The poor thing was probably out of tune. Maybe Ali could come over and either have a look at it, or put it out of it's misery.

    "Well, you're here now you might as well have a look around, check everything out. I mean, if you want..", she shrugged, blowing the escaped strand of hair from her face for the millionth time that day, wondering all the while why she didn't just fix it.

    Pointing toward each location, she rattled them off. "Kitchen. 'Freshers. Bliss, which requires a keycode normally, but it's inactive right now so have at it while you can.", she teased. "That's where we get rich."

  20. #60
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    His red eyes touched on each of the locations that Molly indicated. There was more to the interior of Cloud 9 than the exterior suggested.

    “A self-guided tour? I was hoping you’d be my guide. We can skip the ‘freshers, but Bliss, I am interested in.”

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