Ask Hostile Acquisitions

[Karys]

Karys heard beeping off in the distance. Was she buying her supplies? It was a war zone. Karys paused his own looting to glance towards the pharmacy counter. He was absolutely bewildered, what was she doing? Karys shook his head disbelief before continuing to take whatever he needed from the shelves.

“Did you really buy all that? In a war zone?” He teased when Alice showed him her haul.

Regardless, they had an assortment of useful meds as well as a kolto patch or two, it was better than nothing. Karys quickly opened up his own bag and showed Alice the contents. Assorted canned foods, bottled water, plastic dishes and utensils, and a box of cheap wine. With that he would snap the bag closed again.

Karys listened to Alice when she brought up finding a place before nightfall. Karys nodded in agreement with her. At her suggestion of their previous hotel a wry smile crossed Karys lips. It wasn’t a bad suggestion but that could also be dangerous.

“And if those raiders are still there?” Karys asked Alice. “I still have to repair my lightsaber, we are both still exhausted. I don’t know how we’d fair in a fight right now.” He continued, presenting his genuine concerns.

But when his eyes fell on the horizon and watched as the sun as it began to sink in the sky, he knew they had no choice.

“Fine.” He said, his attention turning back to her. “But stay behind me.” He instructed, his tone shifting to a slightly commanding one.

Then his gaze would flicker back to her a look of realization crossed his face.

“Please.” He added after a momentary hesitation.

With that, Karys would offer his hand for her to hold as they made their way slowly through the streets. The hotel they had stayed at was completely dark, silent, and reeked of death. Karys’ felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with every step he took as they made their way back through the building. Then something caught his attention.

When he had fought the raiders at their door that morning, they were killing guests in their rooms. Shooting them before they could react and dragging their bodies out into the hall to toss into piles.

There were no bodies piled up in the halls.

Karys froze completely, his eyes darted back and forth in the hallway. None of this made any sense.

“What in the hells…” He muttered.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

"I acquired it...yes", was all Maeve answered, the smirk on her lips however telling him exactly what he needed to now about her shopping spree. In the hotel, she could build up a makeshift chem station that would supply them with whatever they needed and she could mix some substances that might come in handy at some point later on...so for now she was relatively satisfied. As it was most natural, she took the offered hand as she exited through the door.

They then started walking briskly when he voiced his concerns. Momentarily, Maeve stopped and reassuringly met his gaze, much calmer than before and him, yet not fully without concerns. "Why should they dwell there? They've wrecked all the havoc they've wanted, it's not an attractive target for them any more". She and her criminal mind was a helpful tool when it came to understanding under scoundrels, so she had a good feeling about it. And yes. They didn't have a choice anyway.

At the exit, he suddenly instructed her to stay behind and an immediate hint of annoyance crossed her features. She was none to respond well to commands, thus it took her a moment to realize he was just being caring and attempting to watch out for her. "Fine", she thus replied, her voice relatively quiet, knowing he was still better off at the front than her anyway. She wasn't used to the caring nature of others, yet Karys gave her more and more reasons to actually place some trust in him.

Their walk wasn't long, but as they had to avoid running into others, they had to stop every now and then. Yet, as they finally reached the hotel, Maeve's eyes seemed to settle on the empty hallways just as he voiced his perplexity. "They...took the bodies?".

This was more fucked up than before, but it meant that this place was cleared from their perspective, so she continued onwards. "Fuck Zygerria...I need a cigarette". And perhaps this time she'd join him in his ice bath, too. They reached their room just a few minutes later and apart from the signs of struggle the room had seen earlier, it was a perfectly fine little room. "Karys, what the kriff have we gotten ourselves into?". Now that she was thinking straight again, she was just beyond confused.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Karys' felt Alice's rising panic, it was a slick of emotion that likely would have brought him pleasure at some point but now it just increased his alarm. His mind raced as he tried recall all of the events of the day but they had blurred together into a horrid concoction. It was Alice's voice that pulled Karys from his frantic memory search. She had repeated what they both had said earlier, fuck Zygerria. He would have smiled at that, he did agree but he didn't speak. Something was happening here, he could feel it and he had a feeling it would end badly.

Karys turned his head to look Alice, genuine confusion clouded his eyes.

"Yeah." He replied in a hushed tone. "Fuck Zygerria."

When they walked into the room, Karys walked to the couch and sat. He stared at a blaster burn in the floor as he just tried to piece everything together, to understand what was happened and force it to make sense. He hardly heard Alice when she spoke to him, he was too focused on his own thoughts. When he looked at her, it was a blank stare born out of utter confusion.

"I-I'm not sure." He replied.

There was no confidence in his voice, no assurances he could make. Something beyond a simple war was happening here, nothing about this felt right. For the first time in a long time, Karys felt incredibly small, an insignificant part of whatever was unraveling around him. They needed answers, he knew that much but they also needed rest.

"We can try to sort this mess out tomorrow." Karys suggested. "But I think for now, we should try to rest."

With that Karys would stand up from the couch and head into their shared bathroom, he'd squeeze Alice's hand as he passed her by. The lights didn't work, power was out but water was still running. He'd have to find the generators in the morning as well it seemed. Karys drew Alice a bath once more but he found that he didn't have the energy to heat or freeze the water, it would have to do as is. He then sat on the floor beside the tub, rested his head against it's frame and waited for it to fill up.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve was an expert in reading people and figuring them out, yet Karys still let her have many questions. In this moment though, there was doubt he was just as started as her, his blank, expressionless gaze absently focused the floor while she just froze up where she was as well.

What were they supposed to do? They had no choice but to lay low for now, but what about Morec and their actual job? It would have to wait...but she was desperately hoping they were safe here for now. He suddenly stirred and her gaze followed him as he approached and briefly squeezed her hand.

She still stayed were she was until she'd hear the water filling the tub. Was he going for an ice bath again? She couldn't blame him for wanting to cool off, but she didn't feel like being alone at all and so she joined him quickly after. She found him on the floor, his expression still empty and desperate, so she immediately squeezed herself into his lap.

She somehow had a feeling he was drawing her another bath, and she had no intentions of just laying in the tub alone as she already knew she'd emptily stare at the ceiling just like him. "Any chance we'd find a temperature we both can live in and enjoy the bath together?", she forced herself to a smirk, her thumb brushing against his cheek. "You know, maybe we'll die tonight. Might as well end this right".

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Karys heard Alice as she walked into the bathroom. His eyes opened and watched her as she approached where he sat. She was just as confused and afraid as he was, he could sense it. She was coming to him for comfort, something he craved as well.

When she started to slide into his lap, Karys adjusted his legs to allow it. She curled up in his lap, facing the tub. Initially, he didn’t move to look down at her, he just continued to stare off into space. However, his hands rested on her. One gently traced a line down her calf and back up. The other rested beneath her head, giving her some support.

When she reached out to gently brush his cheek, Karys half flinched. He was so lost in his own thoughts that the sudden movement caught him off guard. But he relaxed once he recognized Alice’s touch and finally his gaze fell down to her as she spoke.

“I’m afraid the water will just be lukewarm in that case.” He replied softly but he didn’t deny her request.

When she gave him a half smirk, Karys would reciprocate. As she spoke, Karys would slide his hand at her legs beneath then and push his back off of tub to stand. He kicked off his boots, then without disrobing, stepped into the tub.

As they sank into the water, Karys would lean in to kiss Alice once more. Once again, he would disappear beneath waves of unfamiliar emotion. He sank, choosing the solace and peace of whatever this was to the reality that surrounded them.

/endthread

@LadyRen