Ask Oh Notsee

[Levik Karn]

"Let's hit the showers first," Levik replied as they entered the officer's part of the barracks and walked up to the enlisted man at reception. "Lieutenant Karn, Knight Demici-" he announced them, "-in obvious need of a shower and new uniforms. Have these cleaned as well." the tone of voice was that of a man accustomed to being an military officer for a good fifteen years, but he was still surprised when the enlisted man hesitated and looked at Kalique.

"I've got apartment 41B for you, lieutenant, but-" he probably didn't quite like his job at the moment. Regardless of procedure, Imperial knights were still trained in the Force and most Imperials had a rather bad experience with Sith. Strike that, all Imperials had these bad experiences. "-Knight Demici has to go do the enlisted barracks."

Levik slammed one hand on the desk as he shifted his weight from Kalique's support to the desk in order to hover his stinking body over the enlisted man. "She saved my life," he hissed, but the young man didn't seem to budge, "Please understand, Lieutenant. Commander Venn would have my hide if he were to find-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as Levik interrupted him, "-fuck Commander Venn. The knight will bunk in my quarters. Send a fresh uniform for her there." the enlisted man nodded, perhaps knowing the strained relationship between Lieutenant Karn and his direct superior, Commander Venn.

Seeking support with Kalique again, Levik motioned for her to help him towards the second hallway that he knew lead to apartment 41B. "A shower and a new uniform and I'll be out of your way," he grimaced as the little display of anger had caused the pain to flare up a little. "Least I can do is make your stay on Taris a bit more comfortable."

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

Kalique had no objections with not taking the detour to escort him to med bay and so she helped him inside, right where they encountered the receptionist. It wasn't busy inside at all, but that was obviously due to the fact that the platoons that had been with them wouldn't arrive any time soon.

While the young man at the desk didn't command a lot of authority per se, it was still fairly obvious that he was the one responsible for assigning everyone accordingly and that he just wanted to do his job right, but Kalique was in no position get inbetween and interject her own thoughts on the issue as the Lieutenant started to debate the terms and thus remained quiet.

While she expecting nothing else than the barracks, she wasn't going to complain about the upgrade Karn insisted on. It seemed like Karn was wanting to repay her somehow, as he didn't take him for a man who did things out of generosity or kindness, but she appreciated the efforts. What she questioned though was whether Commander Venn would be so pleased about hearing about it, but chances were pretty high he wouldn't at all as this was nothing of great importance.

They were off after the receptionist nodded hesitantly, however following the orders given by the Lieutenant. Once they were out of earshot and close to arriving at the apartment, she stopped to let him open it and faced him then again. "That's...extraordinarily kind of you, Lieutenant", and Kalique was indeed grateful for not getting stuffed into the barracks with all the others.

"I just pray it won't get you into trouble", she added, actually genuine about it. "Appreciated, thanks. I'd suggest you go first though. I'll need ages to remove the uniform anyway" and obviously, she was letting him go first after all he had done for this generous arrangement. Strapping off all individual pieces usually took a moment and it was his apartment after all. Also, she wasn't going to risk being dome showering and not having a uniform ready just yet as there were probably no spare clothes that would fit her in the apartment.

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

"Oh don't worry about that," although Commander Venn would make a fuss out of it and request the Director's approval to demote Levik back to sergeant, if things went according to Gentis Freem's plan the commander would be hooked up to a re-indoctrination machine on Raxus before he could file the paperwork. Sometimes taking the risk to sell outdated Imperial tech on the black market had its perks. Not just the extra cashflow part, but the criminal element on a planet being very keen too make sure you stayed in a position of power.

They reached the apartment without any more incident and Levik used his personal codes to open the door. It wasn't luxurious by any means. The layout was spartan and provided a slightly smaller than kingsize bed, a minibar and fridge, plus a closed bathroom. The Imperial logo ofcourse had a prominent place. "Help yourself to a drink," Levik said walked into the bathroom to wash his hands and then, supported by the ball, he opened a closet close to the door from which he took two sets of Imperial Lieutenant uniforms out. "Get out of the armor. You can wear these until they send your uniform over." it was probably too large for her, but it must be more comfortable than her dirty battered armor, so he tossed one set on the bed before taking the other one with him into the bathroom.

About thirty minutes later he returned. It took a while to remove his armor, wash properly and then use the first-aid kit in the bathroom to re-apply the a bacta patch to his wounds. It turned out he had several more from the sharpnel, but luckily they were minor and the armor had lessened their impact considerably. "All yours, Demici-" he said, not realizing that this was the first time the knight saw him without either a helmet on or without his face covered in muck, blood and sweat.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

Upon their entry into the apartment, Kalique already let out her breath softly, relieved to be officially off duty. She couldn't wait for the shower, but even before the Lieutenant went into the bathroom she started removing the first straps. She chose to stay close to the door, not wanting to spread the dirt too much, before he adressed her again, tossing over a uniform.

"Thanks again...I can't wait to get it off" she threw him another smirk, pausing where she was, head bent down and unstrapping the armor around her shin before he vanished into the bathroom. She was busy for another 15 minutes before she strode over to the bed and put the borrowed uniform on, finally having removed all of the dirty armor. She then grabbed herself a chilled water, took a sip and sat down on the bed before letting herself fall back onto it and keeping her eyes closed until the bathroom door hissed open.

She immediately pushed herself back into a seating position, grimacing slightly as the exhaustion was still far from gone, but she was so ready for a shower. It was usually always a funny experience to see another Knight (given that she hadn't known them from the academies), or Imperial soldier in a regular uniform as opposed to the regular, thick armor that covered most parta of the body. It always made the soldier inside appear smaller and thinner, sometimes even comically so, and seeing Lieutenant Karn all freshened up was no difference. Despite it being nothing but an optical illusion, it was still amusing, and he probably had a similar experience now that he saw her fit and toned, yet lithe frame.

"Much obliged" She passed him with her oversized uniform, thanking him once again with a genuinely grateful, yet exhausted smile before slipping right into the bathroom. It had been nice to be out of the uniform, but feeling the warm water on her dirty skin for the first time simply felt amazing. She let it drip down on her from above for a while, letting the warmth soothe the exhausted muscles before starting to scrub herself properly.

She didn't slip back into the old, borrowed uniform, but wrapped herself into the huge, white towel that had still hung over a rail across the shower cabin and peered out of the bathroom. "Did the uniform arrive?" she asked him, peering out, but right as she had finished, her gaze already found the folded piece of laundry that, judging by its cut and colors, seemed way too familiar. "Oh perfect". Mustering her remaining stamina, she let the clothes float right into the bathroom before slipping in quickly. She reappeared just a minute later, adjusting the last parts over the damp skin and walking back out to the Lieutenant. "So...how are the wounds?".

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

The knight seemed to stink a bit worse after Levik got out of the bathroom. Probably because he didn't reek of sewage anymore, but it was hard to see the knight as anything else than sorely needing a shower. As the bathroom door closed behind her, he let out a chuckle. Bringing in someone from the opposite gender into your quarters on barrack? That's probably another violation of regulations, that and.. he slowly walked over to one of the cabinets near the fridge and opened a false panel from where he took a half-empty bottle of Chandrilan Cognac. Women and booze in his apartment? If only Commander Venn was here to see him..

Pouring himself a glass, Levik thought back on the day. Lieutenant Grin and his Foreign Legionnaires had been decimated with the fate of the Lieutenant unknown. Lieutenant Teric probably survived as he and his made up the rear of their little formation. Roughly seventy Imperials went into that sewer, counting the foreign legionnaires, and a little over half of them got out. Levik knew that by the time he visited Gentis Freem's cantina his name would be hailed as a hero. The Frumping Musk had been a rather dominant gang in the Taris underworld and one of the major obstacles in Gentis' way. Seems like Levik earned a couple of credits with each imperial that he killed today. A rough and dirty business, but in the end just that, too. Business.

**Beep-Beep**

"Enter," Levik said as he turned to face the door, drink in hand, and looked straight into the photo-receptors of a protocol droid. "Fresh Imperial Knight uniform, Lieutenant-" the droid said as it looked around in search of the knight, but not finding one. "Put it down near the door and get the dirty armors out to the laundry room. I want them clean and repaired before Oh-Six-hundred tomorrow." The droid did as it was told and the door closed upon it leaving Levik's apartment.

For a moment his eyes fell on Kalique's lightsaber. It hadn't gone unnoticed that it was orange instead of regulated white, which begged the question whether he could sell the crystal as being 'bled'. There were plenty of collectors left willing to pay a good price for such a crystal, but.. she'd probably know.

Shaking his head at his own thoughts, the lieutenant emptied his glass and allowed his tired and battered body to stretch out across the bed. He had told the knight that he'd be gone soon. One trip to medbay or straight home to his off-base apartment a walking distance from Gentis Freem's cantina. Right now, though, right now he just felt like closing his eyes.

He was already vast asleep when the knight got out of the bathroom.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

As relaxed as she had been after the shower, Kalique hadn't even noticed that Lieutenant Karn was fast asleep on one side of the bed, a bottle of booze on the nightstand a adorned in a new, fresh uniform with no signs of their prior trip into the sewage and no visible wounds as they were all either patched or hidden by the fabric of the uniform.

While she felt much better now that all the stench, blood and sweat was washed off, the mental exhaustion hadn't left at all and neither had her physical exhaustion actually faded. Kalique froze up where she was, eyes darting from her equipment and weapons to the door, back her chilled drink, then to Karn and finally back to her belongings.

"The knight will bunk in my quarters", Lieutenant Karn had told the receptionist, so maybe her spot on the barracks had even gone to someone else - space was often confined and beds rare, so was she going to take her chances and deliberately go back to the small bunk beds when there was a king size one right in front of her eyes?

She bit her lip. Technically, this was none of her fault. She had followed him because he had said so and after all, she was the one reporting to him. She needed rest, desperately, and the hard floor wouldn't help much, so after short consideration she simply decided to make her way over and carefully let herself down on the other side of the bed, making herself comfortable without waking him.

She'd notice if he'd wake up as her heightened senses would pick it up right away, so she actually allowed herself to rest. There was enough space and while this might have looked rather wrong, there was de facto nothing wrong with it. She had slept with dozens of men in one room, bodies pressed tightly against one another in really confined spaces while in training, so this was nothing. There were no ill thoughts here, just a much needed break and while he was already busy resting, she'd just do the same next to him. Her mind could be mended with subtle mediation while dozing helped her body to regain the much needed strength, and so the exhausted Lieutenant and the Knight rested.

@Eccles

 

[Levik Karn]

By the time Levik woke up he could barely move. His muscles were so sore from the day before -and compensating for his wounds, which were starting to hurt like hell- that all he could do to get out of bed was to turn to his left and..

..wait was that the Imperial Knight? Kalique Demici was sleeping next to him. She, too, was wearing her uniform so Levik figured nothing unbecoming had happened between the two of them.. although, as he looked her over he realized that he wouldn't have mind at all if.. a spike of pain ran through his chest and he realized he had turned and now lay on the scorched wound of where a blastershot had hit him. He quickly turned to his back and then to his right, regretting the fact he woke up at all because now all muscles seemed to cry it out from stress and bad dehydration. The bottle of cognac on the nightstand seemed to mock him, and justly so, as the thirty-something rose from the bed looking more like a man in his eighties.

His communicator buzzed again and Levik took it from his pocket only to realize it was 0612LT. He was late to the after-action briefing he had scheduled for early morning himself. Well, it was nice to meet you Kalique, he thought as he looked at the sleeping figure in his bed for a lingering moment.

She didn't have the clearance level to be included into the meeting, or even read the reports, so Levik didn't bother with waking her as he slowly made his way out of his apartment. He needed caf, painkillers, a smoothie to wash them down and an extended kolto-bath. Whatever had he been thinking delaying the medical treatment? Oh right, he had been covered in stinking muck.

/end

@LadyRen