A Lady and Her Steed (Part 2)

Posted on Fri Dec 28th, 2012 @ 1:37pm by Morgo Le'Shaad & Berry

2,149 words; about a 11 minute read

Chapter: Chapter II: Era's Dawn
Location: Food Court, Merchant's Quarter, Coruscant
Timeline: 0630 Hours (Local Time), Day Seven

OLD

"Carry all my things to the Red Raptor later, and anything you eat here is paid for." Morgo promised, because it simply wouldn't do for her pack-mule to collapse in hunger and fatigue half-way back to the docks.

"No problem!" Berry almost shouted as she bolted toward one of the counters offerings loads upon loads of goodies.

And as Morgo watched Berry stare in perfect awe at the available food around them visibly vibrating with excitement, Morgo contemplated the absurdity that was Berry. There was an almost painful sincerity to the green-girl that Morgo found marginally unsettling.

Only time would tell if all that earnest goodwill would last.

NEW

Morgo had chosen a discreet little booth for them to dine in, it's dark wood charming against the warm yellow, upholstered and embroidered seats. Above them was a thin, semi-sheer canopy of burnt orange linen, which draped all around their booth, diffusing the outside light of the mall and providing a decent amount of privacy. Only when the canopy flaps had been drawn had Morgo felt it safe to unveil her face and let the dupatta that had covered her head fall around her waist as she sat and ate.

Morgo had long finished rich and savory soup she'd ordered half-an-hour ago. But Berry, it seemed, was still on a roll.

Berry couldn't stop downing the first shrimp dumpling she had. It was sweet and squishy and delish!! She had about twenty right now. But what about the salad?? She grabbed a nearby bowl filled to the brim with leafy green stuffs with MORE leafy green stuffs. Yummmm!! She stuffed some food into her mouth and kept eating.

After a few minutes that seemed like hours in a food oblivion, Berry finally looked up at her food-giver, eyebrows raised. "Hey, did you like your food??"

Morgo looked to Berry, surprised that the girl's mouth was (semi) empty enough for her to talk, "The light soup was surprisingly good, actually." Morgo settled on saying, the orange-ish light diffused from the above canopy making her hair seem darker than it really was. Morgo had ordered the murky looking soup in the first place because it had looked unappetizing. How good could Morgo expect the food on a smuggler's ship to be? So she thought she might as well get used to poor food quality, but was pleasantly surprised with this soup and bread.

Berry smiled happily. "Yeaaaah, I hope Mister Kipster is back on board. He makes reaaally good stuff, too." She leaned forward, eyes narrowing as her voice barely lowered into a "whisper" as she spoke, "I think he has a tail and I'm gonna see it someday!" She looked all smug as she continued eating, a little slower.

Morgo rolled her eyes and leaned back into her seat. Berry was strong but had quite the reorganizing to do with her life goals.

Huh, so Kipster wanted to stay on to kill Axion, and so did Mr. Rezer...and Thrane. But what about Morgo? Wait, she forgot to find another name for her!! But Berry needed to know something about her besides her moon-eyes...they didn't shoot lasers. Hmmm...."Hey Darleeney, why'd you almost get arrested anyway?" Berry tilted her head. The only times she was arrested on Velusia was for being a pirate! Oh, and breaking stupid laws now and then..."Did you do something you weren't supposed to?

Morgo shrugged lightly as she raised a glass of wine to her lips, "I murdered someone." The woman said as she sipped, "Apparently."

Berry nodded as she ate. "Wow, that's crazy." She swallowed and then quickly looked to stare at the lady. "THAT's CRAZY!" Then again, Pale Guy did it for the name of "good" so it wasn't that crazy...not enough for a name. "Why'd you do it??"

Looking at Berry over the rim of her wine glass, Morgo narrowed her eyes, "A lot of people hated my step-father—I most of all. My mother did as well, despite appearances. Funny that she testified against me.”

The part-Aquar chuckled. “Yeah, that’s kinda funny. In a bad way.” She crunched on some leaves, imagining herself to be an Ithorigan…did they have teeth? They had to so they could eat berries in the trees with their loooong necks. Ha!

She scratched her chin with a fork, then licked the dressing off of it. “Sooo Pale Guy is okay with this??” He must be getting off the deep end faster than she thought…her brows furrowed.

Morgo pondered the question, unsure of just what Thane thought of her status as a murderess. She had killed, it was true, more than once before. All of them had died painfully, suddenly. And all of them had died because Morgo had hated them, utterly—with a beautiful and black, enduring hate. Thane seemed to be under the impression that Morgo had killed for—more or less—good reasons. The fact that said reasons were, in reality, less than virtuous made no difference to Morgo. Hatred was a perfect justification. But for some odd reason (Morgo thought to herself as she smiled) she didn't think Thane would agree. The kind of chaos was in direct opposition to Thane's vision of order. He could never condone it.

"I'm assuming Thane doesn't really care." Morgo finally settled on saying, "He seems to like the idea of my brain put to use, not rotting in a cell. I think that's all that matters to him."

Berry frowned to herself. She personally didn't care about what her crew had done in the past...but she thought Thrane was more picky about that kind of stuff. No, not really, he kinda cut off the head of that guy. Berry shrugged and ate some more. "Yeah, well, he might not care, but I do. So if you're gonna kill some more people, you better watch out!" She smiled faintly at Morgo, not threateningly or anything. Just a friendly smile. " 'Cause if you think I'm annoying, just WAIT until you kill someone or almost do!"

"Then I'll be sure to let you know the next time I murder someone."

Berry grinned with a very pleased expression on her face. "That'd be awesome! You go, girl," Berry said to her as if encouraging Morgo's endeavors. Then Berry froze. Go...Morgo...Morgogo. It was amazing. But wait! Her brain was on a roll. Le'Shade was her last name, right? Well, her eyes always looked shaded by her bangs, and she was always hiding...that darn Shady Lady.

The part-Aquar bit her lip, trying to keep back her excited smile as her lips smiled anyway. This was so amazing!! And Morgo was also a noble lady and a woman so it made double sense. She was so smart today!

The kaleidoscope of expressions that were steadily making their way across Berry's face amused Morgo, but her good-humor did not last, her mind ever wandering back to darker places. Slightly irritated, Morgo's eyes grew distant. It took an idiot to slit a man's throat, leave the body where it fell, and leave the murder weapon lying right there. Such sloppy work. Frankly, it was embarrassing that of all crimes that Morgo had committed, that the Markus Fen Murder case was the one that was publicly pegged to her name.

Finishing the last of her wine, Morgo noted her irritation and let it go.

"Waiter," Morgo said after a moment, veiling her face and opening the flaps of the canopy above their booth. Almost instantly, a state-of-the-art, gold droid appeared before them, humming over the ground as it hovered. Without waiting for it to greet them, Morgo spoke, "I will take my check, now."

The droid nodded, taking a quick peek of just what was eaten by looking at the plates, "Then that'll be 30 credits, Ms. Birvenklaire."

Berry was startled by reality and glanced at Morgo in surprise. "But Mor—Darly, what about the rest of the fooood?"

Morgo looked pointedly at the plates on the table, most of them empty or nearly empty, "Eat it all now, or forever hold your peace." She said as she stood, "We shouldn't linger."

Berry pouted and then popped the last dumpling (hidden under a leaf) into her mouth. "Yeah okay but..." Her eyes closed as she savored the last piece of food, her chewing slowing...and slowing...and stopping.

"Hey." Morgo said warily, watching Berry slowly disengage and fall asleep with a strange fascination, "Hey now..." She spoke a little louder, leaning in and slapping Berry a couple times to knock some sense into her, "Don't fall asleep on me, Berry."

The part-Aquar smiled faintly, cheek still filled with some dumpling, as she slowly teetered and flopped over onto her side thanks to Morgo's momentum. "Mmmm," she murmured as she swallowed the last of the food.

'Rest and digest', indeed. Though Morgo herself had never before seen a case so severe as Berry's. Perhaps the girl was narcoleptic. But as amused as Morgo wanted to be, however, the flaps of their canopy were open to the rest of the food court and Berry's semi-face plant was drawing eyes.

"Darling, do get off the ground. You're causing a scene."

The lack of feeling of something between her teeth caused Berry's eyes to fly open. Gotta...find...something...she sat up, blinking sleepily. "I'there desserts..."

"No," Morgo replied, "There are no desserts for those who don't keep their ends of a bargain." She said pointedly, looking down at Berry like she were something stuck to the bottom of her sandal, "Now be a dear and get up."

Berry stood, blinking slowly with sleep-heavy eyes. Bargain...bargain...oh, the floating cart! "I like desserts," Berry announced as she walked out and went to the cart, pushing it with much energy that seemed a little forced. Her eyes looked a little too wide, as if she was making them stay open.

"Good girl." She said, satisfied, as she watched Berry weave slightly as she pushed Morgo's cart. Eyes scanning the food court on final time, Morgo made a point to lock eyes with each and every one of those persons that had taken (what Morgo considered) too much interest in the two of them, meeting their gazes head on. Predictably, the most of them were embarrassed to be caught rudely staring and hastily returned to their food and conversation, eager to pretend they hadn't been ogling the bizarre green, part-aquar girl and the mysterious tall, veiled woman in black. Only one man dared to stare back, almost defiantly, before turning back to his ink noodles—as if to prove to Morgo that he'd turned away of his own volition, not because he had been cowed like the others. Morgo liked him.

When Morgo was sure no one would be following them, Morgo finally started after Berry, who'd gone ahead, her step light and confident.

Berry had turned out to be quite the special snowflake, and the strange dynamic that had formed between the two of them left Morgo wondering just what the rest of the Red Raptor crew would be like. Who was this Kip, an accomplished chef if Berry was to be believed? But then again, Morgo was starting to get the feeling that anything edible was amazing to Berry. And who was this person Thane claimed to be his best friend, Bomoor? He must've been a rare individual to be able to win Thane's high regard. And lastly, who was this Mandalorian Bounty hunter, Sev Rezer? Thane seemed to imply that he had the man, more or less, leashed...but Morgo highly doubted that. Thane was a fool if he truly thought Sev Rezer was under his control. The man was Mandalorian. Morgo had not been a fugitive for long, but with a bounty like hers, Morgo had met her fair share of Mandalorians. All of them driven. All of them with agendas of their own, even if on paper they were 'bound' by contract. Some wanted money, while others wanted answers, among other things. Morgo had catered to their demands and for that, Morgo still had her freedom.

Whether or not this Sev Rezer had bent the knee to Thane as completely as he seemed to think, Morgo would see. Because as unsure as Morgo was about this crew, about where this ship would take her, what course it would set in her life, there was one thing that was for certain—and that was Morgo would have to co-exist with this makeshift crew for an indefinite amount of time. And if just for that alone, not counting planets trips or even the infamous Axion, Morgo was in for one hell of a ride.

And despite herself, Morgo was ready for that ride to begin.

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