The Falcon's Cage

[Cerie Moreau]

She stopped a scant few inches from Ben, one hand balled into a fist and the other grasping the neckline of his shirt. Paying fares be damned, he'd poked a little too hard, and she was more than ready to poke back... until Shuvin brought back that glorious memory of the holo of Ben and Jesse - the holo of a very... VERY... drunk Ben and Jesse. They were falling all over each other, and a Darth Vader impersonator was in the background with a 'Sith Tome'. It was a strange thing, but that mask seemed to convey a distinct sense of exasperation.

A Cheshire cat's grin creeped into her expression, and the blonde loosened her grip only slightly, letting her fist ease into a teasingly gentle palm pat to Ben's chest.

"The Sith Lord officiated, Ben," she purred evilly, "... it's absolutely binding."

[Ben Merasska]

"I'd like to think I'd remember my own wedding thank you very much!" he yelped out.

"I think you should be happy she's stuck on you, Cap'n," Shuvin hummed with a finger to her lips. "You ain't getting any younger, fer sure, and hoo wee Jesse is fit! She got the damn thing turned into a painting Ben. A painting!"

Ben whimpered at the memory. The woman had hung the painting in her study, just behind her desk. Arrayed alongside were her other, less fortunate husbands. Honestly, why did everyone forget that last part? The woman might not have a part in the deaths of her other husbands, but the fact that every single fracking one was dead was not something he was not going to forget.

"Can we please change the subject?" he sighed. "Preferably to one where we're not talking about the woman who's just as likely to shoot me as kiss me?"

[Shuvin Undhi]

Shuvin grinned. "Well, all this started when you took too much joy out of how frustrated Mr and Mrs Imperial-Pants were gettin' at the insinuation they were Mr and Mrs Imperial-Pants. Honestly, this is his business, so whether he wants a crowd to weigh in or not is up to him."

Everyone looked at Vance, who seemed to be as staid and unperturbed as any Imperial they'd ever seen.

"It seems a bit late now to be exercising restraint on respecting my and Cerie's boundaries," he said. The statement was met with a slight wince on Shuvin's part and a slight smile from Ben. "Unless everyone decides to have a conscience now, I don't see the point in trying to make it a secret."

He glanced at Shuvin, who smiled cheerily back, and then at the two Cizerack women, Cerie, and Ben, who met his eyes with a look of satisfaction on his face, but quickly schooled it into sympathy when he noticed Cerie turning back to look at him.

[Cerie Moreau]

She was quickly starting to wonder if this was such a good idea at all. That maybe this was some long bad decision that just kept on going and going and going. Originally she felt it was going to be a simple ferry mission with the promise of good credits. Now though, she was starting to second-guess herself. Had she made the right choice to pressure Ben into this?

Pursing her lips, she let go of Ben completely, and ambled her way back to sit beside Vance. A sideways glance to him, and she let her eyes go from Shuvin, to Ben, to the Cizerack matrons. Finally she looked to her hands that she'd rested on the table, idly cleaning already-cleaned fingernails.

"How about we take the wedding talk off the table, yeah?"

Her head angled to the side, and she let out a long breath.

"Deal?"

[Parriaanaa Rasurraanssar]

Parri knew how to read a room, and she instantly stepped in to soothe over the bumps in this road, so to speak.

"Off courrsse, dearr. No morre sspeak of nuptjials wjill be had."

She turned her eyes to the Imperial, giving him a nod of understanding and then to the poor freighter captain. He seemed to be a man torn, trying to salvage an image of authority while playing defense in a shockball match that did not favor him one bit. Poor boy.

"Ourr quarrterrss," she continued, "... perrhapss mjy ssjissterr and jI sshould know wherre thejy arre?"