Port Quarter, Coruscant.
Early morning, 0630hrs.
Early morning, 0630hrs.
Thump
Thump thump
Dhari Rast - ex-Sith, ex-Smuggler, ex-lover... quite a variety of exes, really - really hated mornings. Mornings were busy. Mornings came around way too fast; Dhari had barely experienced the sweet release of the Blacklight's bunk beds before morning came, and with it the incessant, insistent, infernal alarm clock she had installed in her astromech R6C1 - or Cone. The Mirialan lay flat on her stomach. She shivered; the covers had slid partly down from the bed and onto the deck of the ship, leaving her back exposed. She yawned, flipped onto her back, groaned a little, and pried her eyes open slightly. It was dark, except for the blurry reds, blues and greens on some of the panels. Somewhere beyond her morning grogginess, she was faintly aware of Cone's dissatisfied tweets and chirps amidst the hellish noise from the alarm clock.
"Cone, c'mere," mumbled Dhari, throwing a hand lazily in the astromech's general direction, hitting anything but the top of the droid's head where the off-switch would be. Thump thump.
More chirps and tweets.
Kriff.
"You know why. I gotta shut it off." Still half-asleep, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find - this morning that happened to be a lighter on the nightstand - and tossed it at the astromech. She missed by a long shot, but it still solicited her not just a chirp or a tweet, but an indignant shriek from Cone. "Well, you gotta come closer, then! Oh, c'mon, buddy, I didn't mean it that way. Come here. No, wait-" but too late. The astromech rolled out of Dhari's sleeping quarters, the alarm reverberating through the sections of the ship.
The Mirialan sighed. Someone had once told her that, as you get older, rising early in the morning gets easier and sleeping in gets harder, until - eventually - you can pretty much sustain your shrivelled husk of a body on twenty minutes of power-napping and ten pots of caf. Dhari sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Luckily, she couldn't remember who had told her that. If she did, she would have tracked them down and beat them with a blowtorch.
After putting on her usual outfit - tight-fitting trousers, white singlet and a brown flight jacket - Dhari followed the noise into the common area that had recently been refurbished and turned into her very own caf shop. Cone was hiding underneath on the tall tables. Dhari walked over, bent down and flipped the switch that shut off the alarm.
"There - that's much better, right?"
Cone chirped and tweeted and shrieked and honked and-
"I know, I know," said Dhari, throwing up her hands. "I know, I'm sorry, Cone, I shouldnt've thrown a lighter at you. Now, come on out." She rose and stretched her limbs, eliciting some pops and cracks from the joints. When Cone didn't move, Dhari snapped her fingers at him. "Look sharp, buddy. We gotta set up the shop. Can you check the piping and ensure that we've got adequate water pressure going into the machine?" As she spoke, Dhari was already grabbing little containers of sugar from the countertop and distributing them to the tables against the wall. Luckily, the Blacklight was only big enough for a very modest-sized seating, which meant that the setup was usually done quickly.
Cone came rolling out from under the table, chirping and tweeting. Dhari stopped and cocked her head at him, eyebrow raised. "Can you just... please?"
The astromech hesitated for a moment before letting out a long whistle and rolling off towards the utility panels. "Thank you," said Dhari. She rushed behind the counter and ran some water through the groupheads of the espresso machine with one hand whilst filling the hopper on the grinder with caf beans. "After that, can you check the deck for me and make sure I don't have any laundry lying around? We've got less than ten minutes till go-time, and I've still gotta dial in the espresso an- argh!"
Dhari yanked her hand away from the exposed groupheads and clutched it where the boiling water had scorched her skin. "Blasted mpff!"
Cone's unmistakable chirping laugh resounded from one of the ship's other compartment. "It's not too late to scrap you!" Dhari called out. "Ten minutes, let's go!"
*****
Ten minutes later, the exit ramp of the Blacklight extended, and Dhari stepped out onto the duracrete platform of the landing bay she'd been assigned when she arrived the night before. She'd requested a bay close to the main transit area, which she'd been lucky enough to get, along with a temporary permit allowing the sale of caf which it had taken her forever to apply for. She looked around at the early morning humdrum of the spaceport and hoped that this stop would be worth the effort. With a place as busy as Coruscant, it could go both ways.
She turned just in time to see Cone rolling down the exit ramp. "Are you ready?" she asked, to which the astromech whistled affirmatively. She unrolled a small hand-written sign and fastened it to the astromech's antenna with a piece of cord. The sign said "The 'Dhari's Delights' Interstellar Caf Shop is now open - peddling out of docking bay H-31".
"Don't go too far away now," said Dhari, as Cone rolled out into the crowd to, hopefully, direct some caf-crazed customers towards her shop.
Thump thump
Dhari Rast - ex-Sith, ex-Smuggler, ex-lover... quite a variety of exes, really - really hated mornings. Mornings were busy. Mornings came around way too fast; Dhari had barely experienced the sweet release of the Blacklight's bunk beds before morning came, and with it the incessant, insistent, infernal alarm clock she had installed in her astromech R6C1 - or Cone. The Mirialan lay flat on her stomach. She shivered; the covers had slid partly down from the bed and onto the deck of the ship, leaving her back exposed. She yawned, flipped onto her back, groaned a little, and pried her eyes open slightly. It was dark, except for the blurry reds, blues and greens on some of the panels. Somewhere beyond her morning grogginess, she was faintly aware of Cone's dissatisfied tweets and chirps amidst the hellish noise from the alarm clock.
"Cone, c'mere," mumbled Dhari, throwing a hand lazily in the astromech's general direction, hitting anything but the top of the droid's head where the off-switch would be. Thump thump.
More chirps and tweets.
Kriff.
"You know why. I gotta shut it off." Still half-asleep, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find - this morning that happened to be a lighter on the nightstand - and tossed it at the astromech. She missed by a long shot, but it still solicited her not just a chirp or a tweet, but an indignant shriek from Cone. "Well, you gotta come closer, then! Oh, c'mon, buddy, I didn't mean it that way. Come here. No, wait-" but too late. The astromech rolled out of Dhari's sleeping quarters, the alarm reverberating through the sections of the ship.
The Mirialan sighed. Someone had once told her that, as you get older, rising early in the morning gets easier and sleeping in gets harder, until - eventually - you can pretty much sustain your shrivelled husk of a body on twenty minutes of power-napping and ten pots of caf. Dhari sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Luckily, she couldn't remember who had told her that. If she did, she would have tracked them down and beat them with a blowtorch.
After putting on her usual outfit - tight-fitting trousers, white singlet and a brown flight jacket - Dhari followed the noise into the common area that had recently been refurbished and turned into her very own caf shop. Cone was hiding underneath on the tall tables. Dhari walked over, bent down and flipped the switch that shut off the alarm.
"There - that's much better, right?"
Cone chirped and tweeted and shrieked and honked and-
"I know, I know," said Dhari, throwing up her hands. "I know, I'm sorry, Cone, I shouldnt've thrown a lighter at you. Now, come on out." She rose and stretched her limbs, eliciting some pops and cracks from the joints. When Cone didn't move, Dhari snapped her fingers at him. "Look sharp, buddy. We gotta set up the shop. Can you check the piping and ensure that we've got adequate water pressure going into the machine?" As she spoke, Dhari was already grabbing little containers of sugar from the countertop and distributing them to the tables against the wall. Luckily, the Blacklight was only big enough for a very modest-sized seating, which meant that the setup was usually done quickly.
Cone came rolling out from under the table, chirping and tweeting. Dhari stopped and cocked her head at him, eyebrow raised. "Can you just... please?"
The astromech hesitated for a moment before letting out a long whistle and rolling off towards the utility panels. "Thank you," said Dhari. She rushed behind the counter and ran some water through the groupheads of the espresso machine with one hand whilst filling the hopper on the grinder with caf beans. "After that, can you check the deck for me and make sure I don't have any laundry lying around? We've got less than ten minutes till go-time, and I've still gotta dial in the espresso an- argh!"
Dhari yanked her hand away from the exposed groupheads and clutched it where the boiling water had scorched her skin. "Blasted mpff!"
Cone's unmistakable chirping laugh resounded from one of the ship's other compartment. "It's not too late to scrap you!" Dhari called out. "Ten minutes, let's go!"
*****
Ten minutes later, the exit ramp of the Blacklight extended, and Dhari stepped out onto the duracrete platform of the landing bay she'd been assigned when she arrived the night before. She'd requested a bay close to the main transit area, which she'd been lucky enough to get, along with a temporary permit allowing the sale of caf which it had taken her forever to apply for. She looked around at the early morning humdrum of the spaceport and hoped that this stop would be worth the effort. With a place as busy as Coruscant, it could go both ways.
She turned just in time to see Cone rolling down the exit ramp. "Are you ready?" she asked, to which the astromech whistled affirmatively. She unrolled a small hand-written sign and fastened it to the astromech's antenna with a piece of cord. The sign said "The 'Dhari's Delights' Interstellar Caf Shop is now open - peddling out of docking bay H-31".
"Don't go too far away now," said Dhari, as Cone rolled out into the crowd to, hopefully, direct some caf-crazed customers towards her shop.
Tags: @lizziie
