You Called?

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

If there was one thing to be said about Sal Wagner lately, it was that a year spent back home had not softened her in the least.  Now that her newest daughter was out and about, she no longer had any reason to be exceptionally cautious about anything, so she had resumed her usual routine of housework and cooking, late-night runs from Port aux Basques to Grand Bay and back again, getting the Wolf des Meeres ready for the oncoming spring fishing season, and of course, managing the Phoenix Bluff now that Jeimu had moved to Florida for her new job.

No, while she was most definitely a home-bred Newfoundlander, the Mando ethos was still there.  Perhaps the two cultures, a universe apart, had more in common than she'd initially thought.  Of course, thoughts on her fourteen-year stint as a Mandalorian only came about because Kal Skirata had called, apparently in a tiff about something he wasn't planning on talking about until she reached the Cantina.  She was thankful that all her other kids were either grown men or of (pre) school age and didn't need to be carted around everywhere.

Everyone except Celeste, of course, who was resting securely, cradled to Sal's chest in a sturdy fabric sling and cooing to herself every so often, her wide, ice-blue (and so typically Dumbledore) eyes looking around at everything she could survey from her snug position.  From time to time Sal would have to console her as her tail would poke her in the eye, due to the fact that Celeste was still learning how to control it.  Kurt had mentioned that becoming proficient with one's tail certainly wasn't instinctual; it really was like an extra limb and was therefore just as ungainly as her tridactyl hands and feet.

The tail was the only part of Celeste visible as Sal walked through the doorway into the Cantina.  The cryptic nature of Kal's message had alarmed her somewhat, and so she had called in a favour to Vanya and Kurt to please keep things under control for a few hours and she would be right back, honest.
 
Sal scanned the place with her still-sharp soldier's eyes.

No Kal.

The guy had some nerve.

Comments

[random_xtras]

"Baby!" A dark-haired toddler in a pink sweatshirt points as she's carried past. "Daddy, baby!"

"Yes, it is." Her guardian smiles at Sal and continues through the door.

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Sal doesn't return the smile; she recognizes that man and simply purses her lips. She may be tough, but the presence of children and the fact that she's unarmed has her shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later tendency rather deadened.

In lieu of roughing up that Mace and demanding an apology for the Adanac I fiasco, Sal walks to the bar and orders a large mug of English breakfast tea.

It'll calm her down, since Kal's tardiness has her wound up.

[random_xtras]

"Falen, stop that," comes Kal's voice from the door.

"No harm done." Mace sounds a little choked.

"Whatever. Falen, come on, I'm late."

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"Too right you are, you di'kut," Sal grumbles as way of greeting as she moves away from the bar to sit at a nearby table. motioning for the older warrior to follow.

[random_xtras]

"Someone took it into his head to taste something I told him not to." Kal orders a caf and a piece of cake for Falen, then sits across from her.

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Sal moves one arm to support Celeste where she's hanging, now sound asleep, and she lifts her tea mug to her mouth. "Well, you should raise your kids better," she says with a slight smile. "So what's this call about?"

There was something about being here in the Valley that Sal didn't like. The appearance of wide-yet-confined spaces reminds her too much of the past.

So she'd rather be here, hear or do whatever she needed, and then leave.

[random_xtras]

"This was one of yours." He looks her in the eye, then takes a drink of coffee and scowls. "I'm worried about Niner."

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"Sure. Shift the blame," Sal says, looking Kal down with an expression of indifference.

Then he mentions Niner. "That'd be the leader of Omega Squad, eh? What's the matter with him?"

[random_xtras]

The old warrior sighs and looks toward the window. "He's not adapting. And it's starting to make him sick."

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Sal's face goes hard. "Well," she says carefully, "he held onto the army ideal the longest, despite everything. And then his entire world shifted and nobody really asked him how he felt... I'd be sick too, if it was me."

Her tone clearly says 'and what do you want me to do about it'? And yes, she was criticizing Kal's decision to move them without giving them the choice.

[random_xtras]

"I asked them." His voice is low. "I asked all of them if anyone wanted to do something else. Some of them stayed behind, and not just Nulls."

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"Coming from you, though, Kal, it's not really a choice. Those men will do anything for you, and you know it. Some of them would rather die than disappoint you... by staying behind to die."

[random_xtras]

"The Nulls and Four-Four are fine." He rubs his face and shakes his head. "I think I need to leave here."

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"And where would you go?" Sal sips more tea and tilts her head, her voice taking on a gentler tone. "Don't fault yourself simply because human beings are unpredictable."

[random_xtras]

"Somewhere that's never known the Galactic Republic." He stares absently at Falen, who good-naturedly sticks his tongue out at him and then frowns with concern when it doesn't get a response.

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I can't believe I'm about to do this...

"You could return to my homeworld," Sal suggests quietly. "That is, if you don't mind two well-adjusted former GAR members living on the same planet as you." Then she sits back, adjusting the manner in which Celeste lay against her chest. "But what purpose will that even serve, Kal?"

[random_xtras]

"Where'd the other two go?" He frowns, but then shakes his head. "It'd give my boys the space they need to grow on their own."

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Sal smiles. "Other worlds. And it would. But you're going to have to be firm in your resolve if you're going to do this. You can't change and re-change your mind."

[random_xtras]

"I'm no weak minded...." He starts to say a word, but then looks at Sal's baby and desists.

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"No. But you'd go back in a heartbeat if you thought you were needed." Celeste's tail flops out of the sling lazily, waving in Kal's direction.

[random_xtras]

"I'm not needed." He quirks an eyebrow at the tail.

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

Sal chuckles under her breath, then puts her hand on the edge of the sling so as to shield Celeste from judgement. The tiny tail wraps around her fingers and she sighs, the doting-mother persona peeking out of the tough-girl exterior she always seemed to put up when she came to Clone City.

Her blue eyes train themselves on Kal again.

"Says who?"

[random_xtras]

There's a smile in his eyes, but it fades as he looks up from the baby. "Me."

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

Sal laughs.

She actually laughs.

"You are full of osik," she says. "Get over yourself and stop trying to make choices for these men. If you want to step back it's your call, but it sure as fierfek isn't because you're useless."

[random_xtras]

"I'm no good to them right now." He finishes his coffee and looks at Falen as the boy grasps his sleeve firmly, young face serious.

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"Fine, but you go and you tell them goodbye."

[random_xtras]

"Do you really want half the... GAR in your backyard?" He lifts a brow.

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"When did this become less about you moving and more about them moving?"

[random_xtras]

He sighs. "Fine."

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"I'm sorry, Kal, I'm not going to sit here and aid you in feeling sorry for yourself." She sipped the last of her tea, then fished Celeste out of the sling as she began to wake up and fuss.

"Sorry," she said, looking at her daughter and then at Kal apologetically.

[random_xtras]

"Sorry for myself." He snorts. But then his expression softens at sight of the tiny girl. "She's strong."

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"She should be." Sal held Celeste against her chest and rocked her slightly. "She's her father's daughter."

[random_xtras]

Another snort. "And her mother's a wimp?"

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"You said it."

[random_xtras]

"That is... not true, and you know it." He gets to his feet, one hand going down to take Falen's offered one. "I'll get the coordinates when I get back. It shouldn't take too long."

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"D'you want me to wait? Or will you just comm me again?" She grins slightly. "And if you'd have seen me in that shabla war, Kal, you'd have said something else."

[random_xtras]

"Have you got anything else pressing?" He pauses to look at her, then shakes his head and tells her in no uncertain Mando'a what he thinks of her opinion of herself.

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"Not particularly. It's the slow season, I'm not fishin' yet, and the kids are out n' about with my grandad."

And she scowls at his words, waving them off with her free hand, before placing Celeste back in the sling.

few moments later

[random_xtras]

His expression is chagrined as he returns some minutes later, his trunk on an anti-grav sled and several clones following with their bundled armor and few other possessions in hand. He'd known this was going to happen.

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And she does a headcount, trying to ascertain if they'll fit in the B&B. Even with the six new rooms there might not be a bed for all of them. Not that she was planning on having them stay with her indefinitely, but she could at least take care of them while both finances and real estate were sorted out.

"This everyone?"

[random_xtras]

"Not really, but the men who've already been to your place stressed that there wasn't much room," he says a bit dejectedly.

"We can sleep on the floor," says Niner calmly from where he's standing with Not-Atin on his shoulders. The serious clone is pale compared to his brothers, and has a troubled look in his dark eyes.

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Sal frowns slightly. "Well, you guys will all fit. C'mon."

[random_xtras]

Kal nods and looks down at Falen, who reaches out and grabs Darman's hand. The cheerful clone looks down at the little boy, then links to Niner.

Kal waits, then lifts an eyebrow. "Someone needs to hold onto Sal, too."

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Sal grumbles and clamps her hand on Kal's shoulder.

"That good enough for you?"

[random_xtras]

"You have the coordinates," he reminds her.

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

"Mm hmm," she mumbles more to herself than to anyone, fiddling with her watch for a moment before punching the button.


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