Of Feathers and Favors (pt2)

Posted on Thu 26th Nov, 2020 @ 11:05pm by Sorra Yarime (Yari) & Yuliette Marayan Dr.
Edited on on Thu 17th Dec, 2020 @ 4:42am

750 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: Brown Sector: Zodiac. The Gemini Casino
Timeline: MD: 1, 1830 hours

As Yuliette approached the room, a dark and villainous-looking character exited the room and looked like he was about ready to blow his stack. Maybe he looked that way because his face was all flushed. Apparently, he had lost some unseen battle with Yari, by the looks of him and his attitude. He pushed someone out of the way, somewhere behind Yuliette and the patron voiced his protest. "Hey!" But the sinister-looking fellow ignored him and stormed out of the casino.

Yuliette looked over her shoulder to watch the man's retreating back. He gave her the impression of someone cruel and short of fuse. Someone to steer clear of. She added his face to the growing list, and quickly turned back to look ahead, afraid of him catching her looking and marking her face in his own categories of troublemakers to be dealt with. She couldn't help but wonder why Yari was dealing with someone that gave off such disagreeable vibes. Then she reminded herself, she was in a casino, looking for a loan without a real identity to sign with.

Yari was sitting at his desk in what appeared to be his office where he conducted day to day business and orchestrated various deals with some of them being questionable and might even be nefarious, but necessary in many ways. Yari had composed himself to that of his pleasant demeanor after the heated battle with Dalor Wren over some Orion slave girls. Yari didn't believe in slavery or buying and selling of a being. Nevertheless, Yari had made arrangements to purchase several of the girls to free them and things hadn't gone well with the negotiations for the slaves. The haggling over the price raged on for quite some time and a settled price was not reached. When Yari was informed that Neone was there to see him, he ended the battle, for now, both men needed a break. Yari took a long drink of Saurian brandy from a glass that he had on his desk. The long neck bottle beside his glass was now only half full.

Jumping a little from nerves, Yuliette looked behind her as Yari's man closed the door. She stood there and scanned the room before returning her attention to Yari. He looked different— better dressed than he had been in the black jogger gear he had been wearing when she'd met him. The tholian silk his shirtings were made from reminded her of the finer things she'd grown up around. She cleared her throat. "You look better. You must have had a course of antibiotics over the last week?" He'd left so abruptly, she really hadn't gone over any post op information with him.

Yari stood and approached Neone, "I'm doing good thanks to you. I made it home and was able to see my own Doctor to finish everything off. May I offer you something to drink or dinner perhaps?" Yari smiled pleasantly.

"Sure," she said to both. If she was going to collect fees for services in favors, why be shy about it?

Yari smiled, "Perfect, is Saurian brandy okay? Or would you like something different?" He asked as he indicated a bar on the west wall of his office that was lined with several rows of many different shaped and colored bottles of alcoholic liquors. Some even had warning labels that were lethal to certain species without an antidote prior to drinking them, but the taste was phenomenal and well worth keeping around for special occasions.

Saurian brandy was generally difficult to go wrong with. A safe offer. Her father always kept some on the side bar. But her eyes traced the other bottles. All of them were either well recognized, finely aged liquor, or unique, unusual things she'd never seen before. It was a fine collection, one belonging to someone who knew what he liked and had the coin to spend on it. With the point of a slender index finger she settled on something familiar to her. It was a Risan infused sundrop rum. She recognized the label from what now felt like a previous life, clubbing with her friends. You didn't flush your cheeks with that brand of sundrop if your pockets weren't already flush with cash. Former Yuliette had some every week. As Neone, she wasn't sure she'd ever taste it again. But there it was. She reminded herself she needed her wits. A taste, and only a taste.

"Just a swig, neat," she said.

(tbc)

 

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