Log:Welcome, Welcome!
Nerys joins the Explorer's Guild.
OOC Date: April 22, 2020
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Corr Waldin, Nerys Arda
It's a rare moment without rain on Nar Shaddaa, as the weather outside is merely overcast, and here at the Explorer's Outpost, the opportunity to leave the front door open is being taken full advantage of. It's pushed back and held in place by a chunk of rock from some dusty planet the organization has visited in prior travels.
Inside, every available surface is covered in old books, old datapads, newer datapads, huge maps and screens and holographic images of maps. There's only one person, a man in fairly simple clothes sat at one of the desks on a spinning chair with a mug of caf steaming in front of him. He's busily perusing what appears to be a detailed schematic of a hole with an inkstick in one hand that occasionally taps on the surface.
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"Don't you dare go poking around in here, Belate. If you fall down the hole of a trash receptacle like you did last time, I am not getting you out," came a woman's only slightly exasperated voice, the vocorder of the translator droid on her hand echoing her words in Binary back to the BB unit who was whirling around her she stepped away from the street and under the almost shelter of the doorway.
Although the BB unit did not sound in the least chastised, it did stop whirling, allowing its companion to make her way into the building, eyes scanning until she made out the figure of the only person she could see in residence in the place. Quick, confident strides brought her in that direction, "Excuse me, might I interrupt you?" Her voice was light and polite, tinged with that accent that said 'Corellia' and also 'cultured'.
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'Cultured' and 'Corellia' don't often go together, and Corr glances up from his work on the desk towards the sound of footsteps before the question is asked. "Sure," he replies with a shrug, leaning back in the chair slightly and setting the inkstick aside, reclaiming his mug protectively and hiding the yellow smile painted onto the backside by holding it close to his chest. "Nothin' that can't wait till later." His voice does not have the sound of culture, quite the opposite, a sort of lazy dropping of extraneous sounds with no twang to speak of.
He pushes up from the seat, offering out a rough hand towards. "M'Corr, pleased to meet you. You here on business, or just wandered in to get away from your droid for a second? I can sympathize with that."
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Nerys paused her stride, coming up a respectful distance from the man. Belate, for what he was worth, promptly ignored her chiding and was happily whirling around the room looking at anything and everything that was in easy view. Nery, well, she simply ignored him. Clearly, it was a battle she was used to losing, "Oh, Belate? He's fine. he just doesn't know what's good for him, but he seems to be trying to follow in my footsteps. Been that way ever since I rescued him from cargo storage." She flashed a smile at the introduction, "Work, possibly. A pleasure to meet you, Corr. Nerys Arda. I'm interested in seeing about joining the Explorer's Guild."
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Corr spares a suspicious glance for the droid, clearly less welcoming of the glorified beach ball than Nerys is, but after the introduction his hand pulls back and he focuses up on the woman again. "Well, you've come to the right place, on account of this is it," he remarks of the Guild, with a rough gesture of his caf mug at the interior of the room. "Don't look like much from here, but that's mostly because there isn't much. Just a couple lunatics flying around the galaxy trying to find something new, and whatnot." A few items are shuffled around on the desk to produce a datapad that displays a sprawl of text across it with a line at the bottom.
Shoving it across the surface towards her, he nods down at it. "If you wanna join up, there's no dues, no commitment to attend expeditions, no nothing 'cept a monthly stipend and a liability waiver. Says neither me nor the Guild is responsible for any lacerations, conflagrations, incinerations, immolations, decapitations, incapacitations, strangulations, asphyxiations, drownings, broken bones, contusions, loss of life, loss of limb, loss of dignity, loss of property, loss of purity, loss of innocence, loss of pets, children, or droids, or any other type, category, or semblance of injury or loss, emotional or physical, in perpetuity, and uh, sign here," he finishes, tapping the line with a stylus that he drops next to the pad on the desk.
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Belate, it should be said, was doing nothing more than just looking around and was making no attempt at all to touch anything, purposefully or accidentally. He did have the air of something like a dog more interested in sniffing the sniffs than doing anything actually purposeful. But the look Corr gave the droid was not lost on Nerys, and it was the droid she addressed first, "Belate, come here, would you? You're making me dizzy trying t keep up with you." Which was mostly a lie as she had clearly only been half paying attention to the droid. "You'll have to excuse him, he's still too excited to actually be out and about rather than being stuck not helping to fly a ship."
The vast list of lack of indemnities that Corr rattled off actually seemed to amuse Nerys, but she did not look at all put out by it. "Whenever possible, I try to bring my own backup. So I'm not so much worried about that, as I am interested in expanding the range of the places I can go poking around in and the things I can bring back. What is the Guild's policy on ownership of artifacts and interesting tidbits it might discover?" She reached over, accepting the datapad, though she did not sign right away.
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Belate could be a model citizen with a medal for public service and Corr would still give him the sideeye, as he is doing right now when Nerys calls the droid over. Side. Eye. "He's fine," the man grudgingly comments, though it's clear he is just being polite. The question causes a raised eyebrow. "Well, generally speaking the expeditions we go on are commissioned or based on some sorta lead from another respected archaeological body, so the short answer is, if it belongs in a museum, that's where it goes. If it don't, it'll go to whoever asked us to go looking. We're not hoarders, we're explorers. The thrill of discovery and all that." He takes a sip from his mug, frowns, glances down at the black liquid inside, carefully sets the vessel on the desk.
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"You'll have to excuse me for wanting to be sure. I can't tell you, and likely don't have to that it's far too easy to end up down the plughole at the end of the universe trying to collect something and the next thing you know someone on your 'team'," Corr could almost hear the air quotes in her voice, "decides it's just so good that they want to keep it for themselves. It's a bad way to work, and it's hell on the reputation when you have to fight it out just to do the thing you were being paid to do."
As Belate came over, Nerys nudged the droid with her foot, who, rather meekly, rolled around and positioned himself behind Nerys' legs, with only his head peeking out, eyes trained on Corr. But the answer seemed to satisfy her, and she reached for the stylus, signing her name on the literal dotted line.
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"Yeah, that's the truth," Corr agrees with a short nod as she signs on the line, pulling the datapad back over when she's finished and dumping it back on the pile of other, similar devices. "I don't know how many times I've had folks along on a one-off basis who get all 'but the /treasure/' after we find the damn thing. Never ended in tears yet, but uh." A finger shuffles that pad around on the stack. "Always a first time for everything."
Brightening, he looks up again, eyes finding her face for a moment before he gestures around the room. "This is open for members to make use of, for meetings, research, what have you. There's also a hangar at Parmac's that's members-only, you're welcome to use one of the rooms there if you don't got a place to stay, and store your ship if you got one. Otherwise, outings'll be posted in advance and you're welcome to ride along with me and Grayson to all of them if you'd like. The more the merrier." He gives the woman a small, close-lipped smile. "Let me know if you need any help, too. We tend to look out for each other, within reason."
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"Isn't that the truth. I'm not a believer in reneging on contracts once I've put my name on it. And I'm not a fan of those who are, so it's good to be up front about those sorts of things." Nerys, having signed her life - okay let's not be that dramatic - away, returned the smile, though it was bright and rather cheerful, "Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity. I've got a ship, though it's usually docked with the other ship I normally crew on, so I don't think I'll be imposing on your hospitality too often. And I'm happy to help get people around if they need to get to wherever we're going." She took a step back, somehow managing not to stumble over BB who was almost literally glued to her legs, "The same goes for you. I'll help however I can, if I can."
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See? That's how they getcha! Corr gives the droid a sort of justified glance when Nerys narrowly avoids the thing's magnetic presence. "We got an expedition coming up tomorrow, actually. Heading to Aurea. Got some fancy thing they dropped down a lava pit they want us to get back, only, it's a lava pit and there's complications, so. Ought to be a good time." How does that sound like a good time? The caf mug is gathered up again for another swig and another look of sour distaste before it's returned to the desk. "Hope to see you there."
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Nerys actually laughed, as if the very idea of the expedition delighted her, which, given how genuine her expession was, it probably did, "I'll be sure to make certain to bring all the equipment I think I might need. And unless you need me to ferryboat anyone, I'm assuming we'll all be meeting there?"
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"There, or in the shuttle at our hangar, yeah," Corr replies simply with a shrug, the question a routine one. "Either one works for me."
Nerys dipped her head, "Then I'll see you there. It's not a planet I think I've been to before, so I'll probably make my way there a bit early to get a feel for the terrain as well as the people." She grinned, the toe of her boot nudging Belate, "Again, thank you. I'll see you around, Corr." Her eyes dipped to the droid, "Come along, Belate, let's go find something for you to get stuck in." And with that, Nerys turned to make her way out, the BB unit whizzing ahead as if he could not wait to end up in some calamity or another.
