Log:Paid in Hugs

Paid in Hugs

OOC Date: December 29, 2016
Location: Meltdown Cafe - Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Fenwick Mare, Nym Landala, Miz Viasco

It's the Meltdown Cafe. In some circles, it's infamous and in others quite famous; and for Fenwick Mare it's somewhere in-between. A little good, a little bad. Most importantly, they serve drinks. So he is here at the bar while spinning an old, drained bottle in slow, revolving circles on the surface of the bar in front of him. He's watching more of the movements than the bar itself. The bar is filled with a variety of sentients. Music flutters here and there in the background, an alien's feminine voice singing out lilting tunes to rolling, easy beats. The air here is smoky and smells more of the food within than the urban waste beyond the front doors.

Nym Landala wouldn't know the infamy or otherwise of the Meltdown Cafe. As far as she's concerned, it's something close by the space port where she can finally relax. It's been a strange couple of days for the young pilot and she just sort of needs a drink. Her faithful droid is back with the ship for now otherwise she'd be //sure// to get a lecture about bars and smoke and people who may or may not be shady and what would her father say...etc. For now, though, she makes her way toward the bar, looking around this way and that. It's sort of easy to spot her as a tourist.

Stumbling into the Cafe is someone that probably stumbles into the cafe on a regular basis. He doesn't look like he belongs here or anywhere, really, considering the dust that bounces off his clothes with each movement and the trail of dirt that his boots leave. He's got a small satchel hanging across him as he makes his way towards the bar. He's not looking where he's going either but he usually doesn't. Not after he's just come off an assignment. Miz digs his hands into his satchel, rummaging around for something as he walks. It's a dangerous game and only Miz Viasco's willing to play it. Hopefully, he won't bump into a Wookiee this time. His shoulder still hurts from the last time... three galactic standard weeks ago.

Fenwick stops spinning his bottle at an angle and sits it upright, because he's preparing to order another drink rather than finish the dregs of booze in his fingertips. A fresh one is delivered and he sits upright, inclining his head in the direction of the entrance before actually looking towards it. "You're the best," Fen toasts the bartender with gratitude in passing before straightening out his nondescript bantha hide jacket. A second later and he's sliding away from the bar and picking up an easy step. "W-whoa there, guy." He has to worm away from the bar to avoid a dirty man and after spinning with the movement he comes to a would-be stop. First, it's to look over his shoulder to make certain Miz doesn't run into anyone. Second, it's to do something of a double-take when spotting a girl headed for the bar. Fenwick stands there, eyebrows knitting together. "Huh."

As Miz enters right behind her, Nym quickly steps out of the way. Luckily enough, as the man is determined to fall right into someone wearing a nondescript Bantha jacket. The young fighter pilot blinks for a few moments, trying to place the man standing there. "Huh," she mutters to herself even as she notices him double-taking on seeing her. Stepping forward, she focuses on Miz for a moment, worried that he's going to harm himself or someone else. "Are you alright? Perhaps you've had a bit too much to drink." Then, she looks at Fenwick. "Forgive me, but I think I may know you."

It's weird the way Miz kind of counters and sidesteps those that are already moving out of his way. His head is practically in his satchel with his hands and when he finally stops to look up he's realizing that there may have been someone talking to him. "Hm?" He blinks a couple times before he realizes there's a multitool in his mouth and he yanks it out, shoving it into the satchel. "Oh! Me? Oh. Drinking?" He looks up and around in confusion. "Huh. When did I get to the Meltdown?" Miz shrugs and finally comes out of his satchel with what he's been looking for. A canteen of sorts! "Ha! I knew I had it!" He pops the top and moves to lean against the bar. "Fill 'er up, shank." Miz plasters a grin on his face as the bartender rolls those eyes and goes to fill up the canteen. With water. Again.

"You remind me of someone. I don't know why." His Basic is about as nondescript as his jacket, but there's an ease to it and rebellious confidence in his stature that screams of classic Corellian. Or he just hasn't had enough to drink yet for a proper, imbalanced swagger. Still, he drinks from the bottle. It looks like his leaving the establishment is going to be put on hold, especially to turn and look away from Nym and more towards Miz. He takes another drink, muttering another, "Huh," too. "I don't think he's had enough to drink yet." Offhandedly, he uses the heel of a boot to scuff at the remains of dirt that one of the other guy's feet has tracked. At least before someone else steps by and clears the print away altogether.

Nym watches Miz with a curious expression as the man goes from weaving through the area to realizing he didn't know where he was. It's not really doing much to show he hasn't been drinking - as far as Nym is concerned. She looks over toward Fenwick to try and get some sort of confirmation or secondary read on the guy before she steps back a bit to allow the man to get his canteen water refill. "He's certainly had some of something," she tells the both of them.

As Fenwick replies, Nym looks him over once or twice. "Yeah, it's a strange feeling of deja vu." Her own accent is almost clearly from Naboo - she has the same soft Rs that most people from the planet have. It's not something she's ever tried to hide. "And there's only a few places I've known people from." And not all of them are good to be readily talked about in an open bar on Nar Shaddaa.

"Guys. Relax. I'm okay. Promise." Miz just speaks to both Fenwick and Nym as if he's known them his entire life. Or their entire lives. It's weird. He's just comfortable and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Not that they would. Would they? "Just need to get a little hydration in me. I just got back from Tatooine. I've been digging around for days. Barely got anything to show for it." He grabs the satchel and gives it a shake. It sounds pretty empty but there are a few clinks and clangs. "It is /really/ hot there. Scorching."

"Agreed," says the dark-skinned man, either about Miz having had something or the strange feeling. Fenwick then presses his lips together into a thoughtful little something, somewhere between frown and smile. He's too much in thought to make a proper expression out of things. He owlishly blinks at the canteen one more time before shifting his attention back in the general direction of young woman. He seeks to make eye contact, to study her and her words. The bottle moves from one hand to the other while he offers an appreciative smile.

"Well, people call me Fen. Probably because that's my name," he says before addressing Miz, "And you, my thirsty friend, have been traveling for a while. Maybe Shaddaa'll bring you better luck."

The familiar nature that Miz addresses the two of them is met with a surprised smile. "Tatooine? You're from there?" It seems that he's willing to talk and the girl is curious, so she might as well ask a few questions. "Are you a scavenger?" It may be obvious, but she wants to know.

Then, however, things immediately click into place. "Fen?! Fenwick Mare?!" Nym practically jumps up and down, reaching forward to grab onto the other man. "It //is// you! It's been about...well, it's been..." she glances over at Miz for a moment, and then enthusiastically lunges forward to give the man a hug. "Ages! It's me! Nym! Nym Landala!" She's just expecting that he'll know what that means.

"Ah, yes. That's me. Well, no. Miz is me. Miz Viasco." Miz takes his canteen back from the bartender and shoves it into the satchel as much as possible. It drips but Miz pays it no mind because he's talking to people and he's learned, from watching others, that he should pay attention when talking to people. Kind of. "But yes! I scavenge things. I also find things. I also take things from here to there to everywhere... but on foot. Not because I can't fly, even though I can't fly. But more because I like the exercise. And I'm talking way too much, aren't I? Yup. Definitely am." Miz sinks down onto the stool behind him to try and figure out why his mouth runs so much. Pause. "Wait. Do you need a scavenger?" His eyes light up with the hope of a thousand hopes. He needs a gig!

Fenwick Mare is mostly facing Miz the Scavenger by the time Nym is exclaiming his name. By the time he is about to say something back, too, she's reaching out to grab onto him and he doesn't have enough time to stop his bottle of from being jostled. He does, however, catch it in his offhand with a wry, breathless laugh. "What'd I do?" he asks, confused but she isn't trying to hurt him so he isn't one to shy away from the hug. Ack! He's being hugged. He blinks at Miz but his free hand does wrap around Nym's shoulders. "Wait- it's you, really? Nym? Why are you? //How// are you here?"

The man gives Miz a mock, bewildered look over Nym's shoulder. "I need a spanner. Her grip- she's killing me!" But not really. It's joke.

"Miz!" The excitement that Nym feels, it just spreads. While she may not know Miz, she doesn't care. The tease about needing a spanner to get Nym off of Fen is met merely with a wicked grin and she reaches out to tug Miz into this hug pile. Because when tested, she tends to go overboard. "It's nice to meet you Miz! Scavenger from Tatooine! Drinker of water!" She's doing an impression of her father, because that's what she does when she's overacting.

After a moment, though, she releases the both of them, content in that she has hugged thoroughly. "I've never been to Tatooine! I've heard about it a bit, though," she tells Miz. "And, well, maybe. I hope so!" She looks to Fen to corroborate Miz. The way they were acting, she assumed they knew each other. However, as she sees how he reacted to her, she must revise her ideas. A grin and she reaches forward to give Fen a bit of a punch. "It's really me! I'm here for, well, I'm just here. I got a promotion. I was celebrating a bit. Where have //you// been?"

A look at Miz will show that he's sitting up straight with four varied spanners in his hands. "Which one?" Then it takes him a little bit longer to realize that it was a bit of a joke. And then he's tucking the spanners away. For a moment there he thought he would be useful to someone that didn't need something found or dug up.

"I'll go with, y'know, if you want. To Tatooine. I know that sand like the back of my hand." Miz looks at the back of his hand and blinks. He never noticed that before. He flicks whatever it was off his hand and is looking back to the other two in that next moment.

Miz is quiet after the hug. He has no idea how to handle being hugged. He's frozen in time. Whoa.

"Hey. Don't go getting any funny ideas, you." That is Fenwick addressing a nearby, partially cloaked Arcona watching them. It's Nar Shaddaa, after all. It takes him a moment to return to the reverie of finding someone he knows, and likes, but his attention does drift further away from the other being and back to the others. He smiles. It doesn't last but at least his outlook on things has noticeably brightened since he was preparing to leave the bar. "Scavenger," he greets Miz, "Spanners aside, Miz, looks like your luck is already better."

He cannot ignore Nym for long, not that he was intending to: but he gets punched either way. The man feigns pain and brushes at the would-be wound. The bottle in his hand is glanced at. Then he looks at her considering he ought to answer her question. "We'll talk later? I promise. Right now, I think you broke the guy." It's something of a cop out, but he's looking at Miz now too. The other guy is somewhat frozen.

Nym doesn't look at Miz for a little bit. She's wrapped up in a reunion and involving someone else in it. Whether he has a spanner or sand or dust is something she doesn't mind. "Maybe you will! I think I'd like to see it some day." Of course, Nym would really like to see //all// planets some day, so Tatooine is not off her radar, even if it's a planet on the edge of nowhere covered in sand. As she pulls back, she realizes Miz is frozen a bit. She looks a bit flustered. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude on your personal space. I just get a bit excited at times."

Fenwick's address of the Arcona is met with a look behind her in surprise an then a hushed question, "What ideas were for the getting?" She's still a little naive about these sorts of places. And, well, the planet. "Softy," she teases, unable to help herself. As he looks at the bottle, she nods. "I guess I'll have to settle for that." As for breaking Miz, she rubs a hand through her curly hair. "I didn't mean to."

"Ah. Heh. Uh. Sorry."

Miz blinks a little bit and it takes him a moment to break out of the frozen state. He shakes his head and comes back down to reality as much as he can in this moment. "It's just--" Miz slides off the stool and starts tightening the strap of his satchel. "It's been a long time since I've had one of those. Thank you."

Dramatic Pause aside, Miz gives a small salute to Fenwick and more of a fun salute in Nym's direction. "I should get goin'. I gotta' make a few stops on the way to... wherever I'm gonna' sleep tonight." Miz shrugs in preparation to go back to his life alone. And scavenger.

"It's really more like a lot," absentmindedly mentions Fen as far as how much he remembers Nym being excited about things. He offers a quick smile, an apologetic one at that, and then drinks from his glass again before leaning to the side. Since he can't reach the bar with that, he steps closer to it and repeats himself until his hands are free. "I wouldn't worry about it." He's probably talking about in general, the Arcona, the drink, her breaking Miz and stupefying the guy. But he's still brighter though, as scruffy of a spacer as he currently looks. He's watching Miz. "Hey, take this. I was going to use it on drinks but I can get more elsewhere. All yours. Don't worry about it." From a pocket, he has some spare credit to shell out; enough for a decent room at least, and it's for Miz.

"No need to be sorry," Nym tells Miz with a sincere smile. She doesn't have credits to spare - what she does doesn't really pay much. But, she reaches forward to give Miz another hug. "One to go, then," she tells him. It's the least she can do. "I'll be around for the next day or so. I might have something for you. Nym Landala. Or if you see a droid that goes by R2-R4, tell him you know me. And that I told you to mention Arin."

The absentminded mention of her excitement is hit with another small shove on Nym's part. He deserved it. "You don't know that." She follows Fenwick toward the bar as she does so. She hasn't had her drink from the infamous bar she doesn't know is infamous yet, after all.