[The Wildstrike's Bar...]
Rylan steps through the bar's doors, and glances around. With the computer
going haywire, Rylan had dispatched yet more people to the repair crews, so
the bar is pretty much empty now except for two scientists playing chess in
the corner over a few drinks. Spying Katara, Rylan smiles and approaches
the bar to take a seat. Sprinkles is keeping her busier then anybody,
building up DT's tab by getting a *lot* of soda. "Keep...them...coming!"
Sprink squeeks, proud that he could say it.
Katara sees Rylan approach and smiles to him, filling a tall glass for
Sprinkles, "There. That's enough for au!" she announced to the tribble,
setting the glass down beside him. "He said na to give au too much
sugar....I think I already broke that rule." heading over to Ry, she smiles
again, "Hey, Rylan. My uncle should be back soon...maybe we can talk a bit
when he returns."
Relived that the girl was in an apparently good mood, he guessed that DT had
kept the accusations to himself. "Alright..." he pauses, "Hasn't he been in
at all?"
"Na." she shrugs, "I figure they have him helping a little in engineeriing,
because they're short handed. He has a little experience in that
department."
"Perhaps...." Ry frowns a bit, thinking about this as he had been in
engineering earlier that day, but didn't remember seeing the barkeep there
at all. His train of thought is interrupted when Sprink, having finished
the soda, coos, then pouts a little remembering he wasn't going to get
anymore, then hops over to the chess board.
The pair watch the Tribble approach the two scientists, and look up at the
two men, "I...want...to play." he squeeks. The scientists see nothing
wrong with this, as Sprinkles has made himself rather well known around the
ship by now, and they allow him to play a game against the one that had been
winning.
"Looks like au have a mascot now...." Rylan smirks, nodding his head towards
the Tribble. "Au will never get rid of him, au know."
"He's na so bad...he's kind of cute really, like a little kid. I told
D`Tarik that Sprink is Aefvadh here whenever he likes." She smiles in the
Tribble's direction, then looks back at Rylan, "So...." she begins in a
casual air, "I heard au got trapped in a turbo-lift with that po'd girl of
D`Tarik's."
"Ie..." he raises a brow, "What else did au hear?"
"Umm...." she pauses, debating whether or not to tell him that she had
pretty much heard it all as they had been arguing on an open channel, "...Na
thing." she smiles and shrugs, "He was out cold till I gave him some detox
to cancel out the alcohol in his...." realizing that she was using the
proper terms, she immediately corrected herself, "I mean...I gave him
something to help him get over it...." she blushed, then nerviously wiped
off the counter in front of her. If her uncle had heard her just now....
Confused, Rylan asks, "Na...au had it right. Why'd au do that?"
"So he wouldn't be drunk anymore." she shrugs again, "I've had to do that
before....he's really sensitive to alcohol apparently." she tries to smile
it away.
"Na. That's na what I ment." Ry shakes his head, refusing to be led off
topic, "Why did au change what au said?"
"Oh. Umm...." she stammered, not wanting to explain her real situation just
now, "I try na to sound too smart. It usually gets me in trouble." she
moved a little farther down the counter, the cleaning rag going over it at a
furious pace, "My uncle doesn't like....uh...never mind...."
"Well, I like it, so au talk the way au want." Rylan shrugs, the problem
apparently solved as far as he was concerned, "If ninte uncle has a problem
with that, I'll talk to him."
Katara blushes again at that, turning her head slightly away so he wouldn't
see, "Why do au like it? I might start sounding like ninte friend."
"Which friend?" Ry shrugs, having too many at the moment to know to which
she refered to. Then adds totally confused by this time, "And why wouldn't
I prefer au smart?"
"Well...I don't...." She starts to explain, when she's suddenly interrupted.
From across the room, an angry male's voice is heard, "What the Areinnye!
It can't win! It's only a fvadt tribble!" the Romulan knocks over the chess
board, scattering the playing pieces, and storms out followed by his friend.
Silently thanking the Elements for the interruption, Katara heads around the
bar, "Oh, I better go clean that up...."
Sprinkles squeeks angrily, then hops down to help her pick up the pieces,
"Sorry...." he coos.
"Aww...au don't have to be sorry..." Katara smiles at the tribble, "Au did
na do anything...." she casts a glance to Rylan who had cursed after the
retreating scientists, and suddenly asked, hoping to prevent a fight before
one could get started, "Rylan, can au help us over here?"
Ry watches the scientist leave then heads on over, giving the tribble a pat,
"Don't let it get au down Sprink. Sore losers..." he smirks, then
straightens the board, picking up the pieces silently.
Sprinkles squeeks at all the sympathy he's getting, and silently hops over
to the bar in search of more soda. Katara doesn't notice that. Instead,
she's watching Rylan set the pieces back on the board where they belong.
"Hann`yyo for ninte help, Rylan."
"Na problem." he shrugs, then looks over at the tribble. Smirking at seeing
Sprink holding the tap that the soda comes from, spraying the drink directly
into his mouth; but he doesn't tell on him.
"I do have a reason for na wanting to appear smart...." Katara begins
nerviously, knowing she'd have to eventually tell him the truth about
herself, but afraid of what his reaction would be.
Rylan's attention immediately shifts back on the girl again, "What possible
reason could au have for that?" then tries unsucessfully to cover the grin
when at seeing Sprink continue to guzzle down the soda directly from the
tap.
Wondering what he's grinning at, Katara turns around and sees this mischief.
"Sprinkles!" she storms over, sounding like an angry mother. She pulls the
tap from out of the tribbles claw, "I said au had enough!" she puts her
hand angrily on her hip, and points with the other to one of the
entertainment consoles, "Why don't au go use the computer and access a
movie or something." she pauses, then winks at the tribble, "I need to talk
to Rylan."
This appearently only confuses the little green guy, but he hops over to the
consol and starts a movie from D`Tarik's personal collection. As Katara was
otherwise occupied with Sprink, Rylan headed back over to the bar, and looks
behind the counter at the bottles. Spying a suitable one, he opens it.
Katara had turned around after seeing that Sprinkles is basically set, and
sees this, "RYLAN!" she used the same tone she had used with the Tribble,
"Put that down!"
"What?" he asks innocently, then holds up the bottle, "It's
non-alcoholic...."
"Uh huh." she heads over, believing him to be trying to trick her, "What is
it then?"
"Au work here, au should know!" he answers, insulted, "Near-Aylhl!" he
waves the bottle in front of her face so she could see the label, then sighs
and sets it down on the counter anyway, looking disappointed and mad as
hell.
"Ie..I do work here. What's ninte point?" she puts her hand on her hip
again.
"Nathing." he shakes his head, and turns to head out.
"Oh, Rylan Stop it! Please! Au can have the stuff for Elements sake!" she
sighs, growing frustraited, "I wanted to talk to au about something
important...but it looks like I can't because au can't even understand
ninte-self...how're au going to understand me?"
"I understand myself perfectly!" he stops and turns towards her, pointing an
angry finger her way, "Au were the io jumping to conclusions! Au think of
me the way every io else does!" he stopped. He could hardly blame her for
thinking what she did after all. He had been having a bit too many as of
late. Shrugging it off, he asked quietly, "Go ahead then...what did au
need to say?"
Not knowing any way to put it delicately, and afraid of what his reaction
would be, she quietly answers, "I'm a slave...."
He tilts his head slightly, as if he wasn't sure he heard her correctly.
"What? A slave?" confused, and with concern for her, he questions again,
"Ninte uncle...keeps au as a slave?"
"Ie." she nodded, "He does...."
"Why? Did au commit a crime or something?"
"Na. It's more complicated then that...." she paused, uncomfortable with
the entire subject, "I'll explain more another time..." her eyes pleaded
with his before looking away from him again, "I need to tell au
slowly...it's hard for me to talk about...."
Rylan moved close to her, lifting her chin gently until her blue eyes looked
into his own, "It doesn't matter. Na to me. I'll talk to ninte uncle
about granting au ninte freedom."
"Na. That's okay...." she backed away a little, "I'll just work at the bar
like I'm supposed to. I just told au, because au needed to know....No body
else does." she looked back at him, "Please don't tell any io. I'm trusting
au. And I hope this let's au know that I do trust au, and do care about
au." she looks at the bottle he had opened and left on the bar, "And I'm
only trying to get au help because I do care..."
"Ie..." he looks away, feeling a little guilty about snubing the Khensia
earlier after the girl had trusted him to do the right thing, "I wish au had
told me sooner....I wouldn't have done what I did." he heads back towards
the bar and takes a seat again, picking up the bottle of near-ale.
"And to what would au be referring too?" she asks hesitantly.
"Na." he shakes his head, turning towards her, "Au will only get angry."
"Fine....that's okay..." she walked a little closer to him, then smiles when
he doesn't move or look away, "We don't want that now, do we..."
"Na, I don't actually." he smirked.
Feeling that the kiss they shared, and the promises he made wasn't what he
had been refering to, Katara smiled, and changed subjects, "Au know, I may
talk to D`Tarik about those lessons he offered..."
"Lessons?" He questioned surprised, setting the bottle back down on the bar
after taking a drink from it, "What lessons?"
"Would au be okay with that?" she asks worriedly, "I would have to do it
without my uncle knowing....I can try it..." she shrugged, trying to make
light of it, "I thought I told au about it already. He offered to teach
me...medical procedures and such."
"Na. I think that's fine, if that's what au want. Why wouldn't I be okay
with that? And I can talk to ninte uncle about it." he pauses, hoping his
next offer wasn't taken the wrong way, "Maybe....I can buy au from him?" he
shrugs, "Then I can grant au ninte freedom...au could do whatever au wanted
then."
"I don't know about that. I don't want to cause any trouble...I doubt he
would sell me any...." she stops, seeing another enter the bar.
Farien tr`Rogel, never having been in the bar before, looks from the RS to
the barmaid, "Uh... I'm looking for a t`Tei? Is she on shift now or na?"
"That would be me...." she answers, noticing the medical uniform, "Is
something the matter?" then, remembering her duties she walks behind the
bar, "What can I get au?"
"Uh...nathing really." he smiles, then passes a glance to Rylan before
speaking again, "I need to speak to au a moment."
"Oh. Okay." she nods, then looks over at tr`Tuhmek, "Rylan? Could au give
us a moment... maybe join Sprink in watching his movie..."
Ry nods, and heads over to the Tribble, fixing the Farien with a glare as he
passes by. tr`Rogel turns from the RS and bows his head slightly to the
barmaid, "I'm sorry if I come at a bad time. I believe au are related to
the man who owns this bar?"
"Ie. Is he in medlab?"
"Ah...na exactly. Earlier there was a problem with the holoemitters.
Uh...he was attacked, and....killed." he finishes as gently as he could.
"I see...." she pauses a moment, but doesn't seem to react at all.
"Okay...well, hann`yyo for informing me. Sure au don't want anything to
drink?" she offers as if the Farien hadn't said anything at all.
tr`Rogel shakes his head at the offer, a little confused. "Na...I'm on
duty, really. Um...will au be alright?"
"I'm fine." the girl nods, "Jolan`tru."
"Jolan`tru...." he bows formally again, thinking *That was easier then I
expected...* and left again.
Rylan, who had been trapped having to suffer through The Little Mermaid with
Romulan Subtitles, had been looking like he's about ready to smash the
vidscreen, and greatfully heads back over to the bar at Katara's "Rylan, au
can come back over."
"What was that all about?" he questions, looking at the doors as they close
behind the medical officer.
She seems distant, but not upset, "My uncle's dead."
"Ie?" Ry worries about the possibility of her being sent off to someone else
for auction, "Well...what happens to au now?"
She shrugs, looking over at him, "I own the bar now." a small little smile
forms on her face, "I'm free."
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