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| - Kastaprulyi wanders down the side of the street in the general direction of the Chowderhouse. The young Centauran floats with about four feet of height in the afternoon light. Arizhel walks out from Birthright Parkway, taking a few steps up Plaindid Street before pausing and looking up and down the street in slight confusion. She blinks at the sight of the Centauran floating along, raising a tentative hand in greeting. The ebon-haired woman then looks up and down the street again before turning to head back to the Parkway. Lost? Probably. Kastaprulyi returns a feeling of greeting in response to Arizhel, accelerating a bit to join her. "Hello..." Kas adds aloud in childlike synthesized voice. "What're you doing?" "Huh? Oh," Arizhel says, blinking in surprise as she stops to look back over her shoulder. "Ah, just looking for the Dead Fish. I've lived here for months, and it's rather embarassing to be lost." She chuckles nervously, and eyes the Centauran briefly. "Ah... sorry, I don't mean to stare," the woman notes, blushing faintly. Kastaprulyi slides to a stop near Arizhel, floating with about four feet of total height in the afternoon sunlight. "The Dead Fish restaurant's that way," Kas offers helpfully, pointing the violet-clad end of an arm towards a nearby building (apparently in the direction of something on Birthright). "You can look at me if you want," Kas mentions encouragingly. "Is that restaurant someplace you go to sometimes?" "Yeah, I figured that out now that I took a look around," Rish replies somewhat shakily, smiling just a bit. "Ah... I'm supposed to be meeting someone there, actually." She offers a nervous chuckle, then looks up the street again. Volouscheur walks up the street from the park, aura shimmering green-gold around her. She smiles faintly, looking around and seeming quite content. Karlan moves over the street quietly, glancing at a chronometer on his wrist for a moment before staring forward and spotting Arizhel. He sighs to himself and walks up to her quietly, standing just behind her as he says, "Rish?" politely. Kastaprulyi slips out of the way for Karlan, or perhaps just edging out of the way of the nervousness, sending Karlan a feeling of greeting. "Is this the one you're meeting?" Kas queries. Arizhel nods silently, and looks up at the Timonae with some measure of relief. "Sorry I'm late... I, uh, got lost if you can believe that. Lived here for a good long while, and I still managed to get lost." She blushes slightly, and looks away, toward the ground. "Ummm, so did you still want to have that drink, Karlan? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to see me, you know..." Karlan smiles and shakes his head vehemently at Arizhel. "Of course I still want to have a drink, Rish." He makes a beckoning motion, tapping his foot on the ground. "Unless you don't feel up to it...?" Volouscheur looks around, sending a feeling of greeting towards Kas and the people near it. She heads towards Kastaprulyi, keeping her distance from the feelings of nervousness. Kastaprulyi sends Volouscheur a feeling of greeting in return, remaining quietly attentive to the Timonae. "No no," Rish reassures, managing a wan smile at the Timonae. "I'm okay. Just lead the way. I wouldn't want to get lost again." The comment is obviously meant in jest, but the humor seems to be lost in nervousness. Karlan nods, and offers the Centauran and Vollistan a careful polite nod as he strides away down the street. Arizhel walks into the tavern, her hands clutched together in front of her. She looks up at Karlan, and smiles faintly. "Er... thanks. I... that Centauran seems nice enough, but it's... I don't know, it's weird." She blushes, and shakes her head. "I know, it's stupid, but... thanks." Karlan smiles and nods, looking around the bar and starting towards it. He shakes his head, and turns to sit at a secluded, poorly-lit table. "Sorry I'm still in uniform. How have you been?" he asks conversationally. "Pretty good, actually," Rish replies, smiling faintly as she sits down across from Karlan. "I'm back on full time again, which is nice. Keeps me sane. I have to start the... the interviews soon..." She trails off there, blushing slightly. "Er... I'm sorry. I... this is awkward for me..." Karlan nods, quietly ordering a beer for himself from the waitress. "It's alright, Rish. I know it's not easy on you." He sighs softly, and shrugs. "But I'd hate to lose a friend over this." Arizhel nods and keeps her eyes on the table for a moment before looking up to the waitress. "Umm... I need something with a bit of kick. Get me a Long Island?" she says, before shifting her eyes back to Karlan. "I... I know. I'd like to think you're still my friend. I still trust you, and I... well, I still care for you." She sighs, and shakes her head, looking away. After a moment, she returns her eyes to his, her brow furrowed slightly. "I'm so sorry. I know it's not good enough, but it's all I've got, you know?" Karlan snickers and nods, relaxing slightly on his seat. "I'll take whatever you have," he says, smiling. "Just don't get upset over it. I'm alright, really." He stares into her eyes for a while, letting out a small sigh. "I don't believe you," she murmurs softly, shaking her head. "Jesus, I got myself into a difficult situation by not thinking, and I feel... well, I feel awful. Larin makes me happy, but... I hurt you." Rish sighs then, and shifts her eyes away from Karlan's, irritably brushing away the beginnings of tears with one hand. Karlan moves his hand to brush away her tears reflexively, hesitating only when his hand is already close to her face. "I'm... I'm sorry. But there's no point in you being upset over hurting me. What you did wasn't wrong, and there was no other way out... So don't hurt yourself along with me." "But it -was- wrong," she insists vehemently, shaking her head. "For me to even -think- about being with someone else while we were together..." Rish sighs, and puts her head down on the table. "God, I'm such a fuckup," she whispers, in an uncharacteristic display of vulgarity. Karlan sighs, shaking his head. "Rish, what is done is done." He puts his hand on her shoulder, and smiles down at her. "It's my fault, too. For not making my intentions clear. For taking too long to admit some things," he says, shrugging. Arizhel picks her head up off the table and looks up at the Timonae, her expression somewhat bewildered. "I... I don't know what you mean, Karlan." She sighs, and shakes her head. "I probably had the wrong idea about you all along. I thought... I don't know, that we'd have fun for awhile, and then you'd move on, get bored with me..." "You did... I should have made it clear to you that I wasn't going away." He sighs, and looks away for a while. "But please don't blame yourself. You make it worse for me by hurting yourself like this." "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," she insists, shaking her head. "I just... I don't know. I don't know what it is about him. I look at Larin and I think of settling down, having a family... leaving a legacy, I guess. I don't know..." Rish sighs, and shifts her eyes back up to meet Karlan's. "It's something new, really. I've never had these kinds of thoughts before. But... you don't want to hear about that. I'm sorry..." Karlan sighs, shaking his head and pursing his lips. "I really wish it could have worked out, Rish. I really do," he states simply, staring into her eyes. "But I wasn't, deep down, what you were looking for. If Larin is that guy, I'm not going get in the way... But I do care an awful lot about you." Arizhel manages a wan smile, and nods briefly at the waitress as their drinks are delivered. "I care about you too, you know." She sighs, and shakes her head. "I'm sorry I didn't send more messages while I was in the hospital, by the way. I was pretty messed up most of the time. I'm surprised I managed to send the one that I did. I'm okay now though, for the most part." Karlan nods, straightening up and leaning back on the chair, sipping his drink thoughtfully. "I'm happy you sent one. I'm sorry I didn't come to visit you." He sighs, shaking his head at himself. "When I talked to Larin about it, he... Well, we kind of had an argument. It would've escalated if it wasn't in public. He said that he had sat by your bed for days, and I didn't. I couldn't respond to that because I should have been there for you." "No, no, no," Rish reassures, looking up at Karlan again. "You're in the militia now, I know you can't just leave. I... well, maybe it's better that you didn't visit. He was there the whole time... every time I woke up, he was asleep in a little chair by my bed, or awake and waiting for me to wake up. I don't know if things would have gotten ugly or not." She shakes her head. "I don't want you two to hate each other, either..." "I think neither of us would even think about doing anything to each other while you were there. I don't think he's that bad." He sighs, still looking at Arizhel intently. "I don't know... I'm used to believing friends are more important than my job. I'll have to get used to the militia." Arizhel nods, and sips at her drink absently. "He's really very nice. He doesn't think much of himself, but I'm working on that." She smiles faintly, and shakes her head. "I don't think he'd ever hurt me. He doesn't have it in him." Rish tilts her head slightly to the side then, and meets Karlan's gaze. "Are you enjoying it? Your new job, I mean." "The uniform's better." He grins, and shrugs nonchalantly. "It's been... interesting. I hope I didn't cause too much trouble leaving... The cap'n is a grown girl, though. She can take it. I never saw her angry over anything, in fact. Or happy over anything." He sighs, taking a long draught of beer. "She's happy with Jeff..." Rish ventures, then manages a smile. "She's making me do the interviews. For the engineer position, I mean. Heh, maybe it's a new line of business for me. Human resources. Though... that term's a little prejudicial. I don't rightly know what you'd call it in this day and age." She snorts softly and sips at her drink again. "I'm rambling. Don't mind me..." "I personally object more to calling people 'resources' than to the term 'human'", he replies. "And don't worry. Your rambling is one of the things I like about you." He grins for a moment, furrowing his brow a moment later. "Liked, that is," he says, turning his eyes away. Arizhel blushes faintly, and manages another smile, this time a bit more wry. "You're still allowed to like me, you know. Friends like each other, no?" She sighs then, and takes a gulp from her glass, completely ignoring the straw this time. Karlan chuckles, nodding to Arizhel and glancing at her glass. "Hm. Easy on that. I still remember what happened last time you had that kind of drink." He grins, and takes the glass to his lips for a long moment, staring at her. "Er..." Rish replies, then blushes hotly. "Yeah... sorry... I dunno, I'm a little creeped out by the Centauran from earlier, plus a little nervous being here with you, I guess... "Hm. Sorry to bring up the memories. And to tell you the truth, I'm just as distressed by the Centauran as you are." He grins, shaking his head at himself. "I just don't show it. But I'm happy to be here with you, in a way." Arizhel blinks, and looks up at the Timonae, head tilted to the side. "Why? I mean... is it just cause Larin isn't with me?" She frowns slightly then, and quirks a brow. "I never knew you didn't like Centaurans." "No Timonae I know does. We're all edgy around psionics, you know. We're just terribly good at not showing it," he replies, smiling. "And, yes, I suppose so. I don't think I could have a real conversation with you if Larin was around." "So... what's got you happy about being here with me besides that?" she inquires, pausing to sip at her drink again. "I mean... I don't know, I figured you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me, you know?" "I still care about you, you know. Besides, I like you." Karlan shrugs, grinning. "Do I really need an elaborate excuse to go drinking with a friend?" He sighs softly, and looks away for a moment. "I also want to know how you're doing. I don't want to lose touch with you." Arizhel nods, and smiles. "I'm doing pretty well. I haven't gotten drunk lately, not since... well, that morning on the pier that you two found me with the bottle of tequila." She chuckles softly, and shakes her head. "It's probably for the best anyway. I couldn't drink while I was on the pain meds." "That must have been hard for you. I remember the first time I was shot... My left arm. Wasn't fun at all." He grins, and looks at the glass curiously. "Well then, I suppose you should work at making up for all the drinks you missed while you were in the hospital. Pity you can't hold your liquor very well..." "That sounds like a challenge, Karlan," Rish retorts, chuckling. "One that I'm a little too smart, or maybe a little too sober, to take you up on just now." She quirks a brow, and offers a faintly mischievous grin. "Nice try, though." She shrugs faintly, and pulls her shirt away from her right shoulder, showing only a small, white bandage, and the ugly remnants of a bruise around it. "It's not so bad now. It doesn't even really hurt. It's gonna scar though," she says, with a slightly sour tinge to her voice. "I think that whatever scar it leaves, nobody would ever notice it." He grins, and sips the rest of his beer, watching Arizhel intently. "I know for a fact the rest of you would draw any attention away." He grins. "My scars, on the other hand, are the first thing anyone looks at," he quips, letting out a mocking, exaggerated sigh. Arizhel blushes faintly, and averts her eyes. "You always did have a way of making me feel beautiful," she says, smiling just a bit. "You, though... you're too hard on yourself." Karlan grins, shaking his head. "Oh, I always had a nagging feeling that the only thing attractive about me was being a Timonae, really." He shrugs and stares at Arizhel intently. "Now, you... You know very well that you're beautiful." "That's so not true," Rish insists, grinning mischievously. "Your hair is something else. I've -never- seen hair that long on a guy before. And you're... wow, you really are very attractive, you know," she says, studying Karlan's face for a few long moments. "Hm. Thank you. A councilman was telling me I should shorten the hair because it could get caught in machinery," Karlan replies, chuckling. "Never going to happen. You did take some time to get used to a man with longer hair than you, though." Arizhel chuckles. "It shouldn't be a problem as long as you keep it pulled back, no?" she inquires. After a moment, Rish sips at her drink. The more she drinks, the more she seems to relax. Go figure. "And yeah... it did take some getting used to. It was kinda funny when we both had silver hair..." She giggles just a bit, stifling it with one hand. "I thought you looked beautiful with with silver hair, Rish," he replies, grinning. "Of course, I thought you looked beautiful most of the time." He sighs softly, shrugging. "You looked beautiful when you woke up. That was impressive." "Aw..." Rish says, then blushes. "I... I don't know what to say." In lieu of saying anything else, she sips at her drink, finishing it off. Karlan grins, and manages to attract a waitress' attention effortlessly to order another beer for himself. "Hm. I do hope I'm not making you uncomfortable, Rish." Arizhel shakes her head. "No... it's just... well, I don't know. It's different coming from someone you're not with, I guess. I don't really know what I mean, actually. Oh, hey, get me another one too," she says, shifting her eyes to the waitress for a moment. "Long Island, that is." Karlan raises an eyebrow. "You sure you can take it, Rish? It's hard stuff. You remember where you woke up last time you had one of those." He grins wryly at her. "Well, I remember." "That was way more than one of them, Karlan," Rish says, chuckling. "I'd had a bunch of champagne and some Double Helixes besides." She quirks a brow, and grins slightly. "And yeah, I remember. I passed out sleeping right on top of you. You were warm, as I recall." The big Zangali ducks through the door with the a large, plastic cooler held under each arm. Setting the coolers down on the bar, he pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and holds it out until the slightly confused bartender takes it. The bartender looks from the Zangali to the coolers to the paper. While he's busy doing that, Urfkgar produces some money from a pocket and thumps it down between the coolers. This seems to break the bartender's daze, and he grabs the coolers and takes them off to the backroom. Urfkgar folds his arms across his chest and waits. Karlan glances at Urfkgar, raising an eyebrow. "Hm, true. You were soft, as I recall," he mutters warily to her. "I think you've met Mr. Urf? He's the new man... er, Zangali in charge of training the Hancock garrison of marines." Arizhel chuckles softly, and tilts her head to the side. "I'm always..." She trails off as she spots the Zangali, her dark skin paling visibly. "I... ah... yes... we've met..." she stammers, her dark eyes tracking the enormous reptiloid as he goes up to the bar. Urfkgar cranes his neck to get a better look into the backroom, grumbling to himself. He sidesteps over to his left so that he's got a direct view through the doorway. After a bit, he digs around in his pocket and sets some more money on the bar before refolding his arms across his chest. Karlan moves a hand towards Arizhel's hands carefully, giving her a sheepish grin. "Hm. I know. I'm happy I got down from the station to drink with you, you know?" He says conversationally, trying to draw attention to him. "Uh... yeah..." Rish says absently, her eyes still on the Zangali. Every time Urf makes more than the slightest movement, the woman flinches a bit. The bartender returns with one of the guys from the back. Each of them are toting a cooler, and they set them on the bar, nodding to the Zangali. "Uh, there you go." The Zangali grunts and gestures vaguely towards the money with his good hand. He says, "Urf want juice." The bartender nods and walks off again to fill the lizard's order. Meanwhile, the lizard rests his hands ontop of the coolers, waiting again. Karlan leans over the table, whispering softly at Arizhel's ear. He grins mischievously as he sits back, winking at her and sipping his beer almost before the waitress sets it on the table. Arizhel seems to be snapped out of some sort of reverie by Karlan's close proximity, and this time, it is him that she flinches away from. "Jesus... sorry. I... heh. Well, you know..." She gives a last worried glance to the Zangali before shifting her eyes to the Timonae. "And what do you mean by that last part?" The bartender returns once more with the final part of the Zangali's order. The lizard grunts at him again and stacks the one of the coolers on the other. Then, he sets the large, disposable cup on the top cooler. He considers the stack, scratching at his shoulder. Eventually, he grabs some straws from his pocket and jams them through the lid of the cup, apparently deciding to drink the juice here. Karlan grins, looking at Urf for a moment then shrugging. "Oh, you think I..." He snickers, shaking his head. "No, that's not what I meant. He gives the Zangali a glance then leans over again, speaking low and close to her ear. "Oh!" Rish exclaims, then manages a wan smile. "I get it now." Rish sighs and pulls a PDA from her pocket, tapping at the screen a bit. "Stars above, it's getting late. I'm never going to get up for work in the morning," she says, shaking her head and giving a sigh. "I'm gonna have to head out anyway, hon." Urfkgar retrieves his straws from the cup and places them back securely in a random pocket. Then, he crumples the cup and looks around for a trash container. Spotting something along those lines behind the bar, he tosses the balled up cup that way, narrowly missing the bartender. He misses the trash can by a slightly wider margin. The big lizard grasps the bottom cooler by its handles and turns to lumber out. Karlan watches the Zangali move out, and turns back to sigh at Arizhel. "It's a pity. I really enjoy talking to you again, you know." He smiles, staring into her eyes. "Just promise me this isn't the last time we do this." Arizhel smiles, and nods. "We'll definitely do this again, Karlan. I really do enjoy talking to you. Sorry I was a little... well, nervous early on." She gets to her feet and walks around the table to hug the Timonae somewhat awkwardly. "I still do care, you know. I always will." Karlan stands up, nodding and smiling at her. "I... You know I'll always care for you, Rish." He grins, and starts to speak in a smooth, self-confident tone: "And if that guy's ever boring you, you come talk to me instead. I'm from a whole different planet," he says, his voice trailing off into a sad tone by the last sentence. Arizhel chuckles and offers a smile to Karlan. "Yeah, so I remember. Aw, hon, we'll do this again soon. Umm... I'll be gone for the first week of my shore leave, at least. Going to G'ahnlo with Larin, to do some diving. Something about an undersea salvage base. I'm supposed to be his assistant," she says, stifling a giggle. "Anyhow... I'm gonna run along back to the Masque. You know you can always find me at the Harlequin when I'm on duty." Karlan snickers, leaning over her reflexively then flinching back. "I'll make sure to annoy you whenever the Harlequin is on New Luna. Who knows, I might even cruise with it during my next leave, just to make Martine's head explode." "Don't be like that," Rish says, catching the flinch and responding with a wan smile. She puts her arms around Karlan's waist, hugging him tightly. "We're still friends, and there's nothing wrong with hugging a friend." She smiles, and looks up at Karlan, nodding. "It'd be nice to have you around. I do miss you, you know." The woman steps back from the Timonae, and offers a wave of one hand. "I'm gonna go get some sleep, then. You go do the same, hm?" Karlan raises an eyebrow. "Rish, I just woke up. I'm going to do my shift. Hancock works on a different time zone," he says, grinning. "But have a good night of sleep. I miss you a lot, too." Arizhel chuckles, and waves a hand dismissively. "Well, then go do whatever it is you do for a living. It's beyond me, but that's okay. Someone's gotta play music, hm?" She smiles faintly, and turns to head for the exit, looking back over her shoulder at Karlan momentarily before heading out the door.
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