Chapter Text
The pounding music and blinding lights were more unnerving than the grabbing hands and sleezy leers. Those, she had been fending off for years. Twi’lek women had to deal with that bantha-crap, the moment they set a toe off-world.
Suu couldn’t even remember what Ryloth looked like anymore, she had been a naïve teenager when she had joined the Ryloth liberation army. She had been a marvelous sniper.
When Suu had to go on stage and dance, she often imagined herself on a mission. With some imagination the elevated position on the podium could almost be a perch over a battlefield. And the lecherous customers, faceless droids she could gun down one by one. It almost made her life bearable.
She noticed a couple frequent customers, the one with the greasy mustache was a generous tipper, so she ducked down and gyrated her hips the way she knew he preferred. In gratitude he dropped extra credits in her container. Crystal blew him a kiss in thanks.
It was a slow night on Donia. The sleezy bar was actually one of the better ones in this sector. In a way, Suu had been lucky to have wound up here. She had survived four masters since her capture and when her previous master had been killed, she had almost been sold to the Hutts. Her new master Inigo Quway, while not a decent being by far, at least attempted to run a legitimate business. Sure, the dance bar was a front for an illegal spice trade, but that meant the club was by the books. And by extension the treatment of the girls was the best Suu had encountered so far.
As she danced, Suu let her mind dwell to her happy place, she let Crystal go through the motions. She cursed her inattention though when a tentacle crawled up her ankle. With a quick snap Suu broke free and pushed her heel into the culprit’s face. Suu recognized the creep, he had a thing for feet and toes, perhaps because Padwan did not have any. A shudder ran across her spine as a creepy smile spread across his face. A long tongue swiped his bruised cheek.
Suu tried not to look too panicked, she signaled the bouncer … or tried to signal Podo. The young Houk wasn’t paying attention, he was flirting with Nugi again. That girl was trouble. While Suu did not wish her experiences in this world on anyone, she did wish Nugi would believe her stories and heed her advice.
Because of Nugi’s unique coloring she had only been sold to higher class businesses. Her skin was bright red with pink and black markings. Even Suu had to admit Nugi was the most beautiful Twi’lek woman she had ever seen. Nugi had lead a rather sheltered life … for a slave girl … and only had some dancing and serving wench experience. And while she was by no means a virgin, Nugi hadn’t yet felt the full extent of the cruelty this universe had to offer. Suu feared it wouldn’t be long.
The Parwan tried again to reach for Suu’s heels, but was intercepted by Xodon. She let out a breath of relief at the unexpected rescue.
“Sir, can I remind you of the house rules, touching of our merchandise is a VIP privilege. If you want to apply, you’ll have to settle with the manager first.” Xodon waved towards Suu, “Crystal here is available for the evening, shall I book her for you?”
Suu held her breath while she danced, already itchy blisters popped up on her ankles in response to the substance the Padwan tentacle left behind. Lucky for her, the thought of spending that kind of credits was enough to deter the Padwan.
“That won’t be necessary,” he croaked in a guttural voice and slithered out of the establishment. Though, not without sending Suu a smug look that did not promise anything good. Suu could feel Xodon’s eyes boring into the back of her head, but he knew better than reprimand her when she was on stage. He would hound her afterwards. Management did not like it when the girls fought back against the customers … or in general for that matter.
Suu hated her stage name ‘Crystal’ with a passion. Her pink skin made her a popular attraction, she had often cursed it. It probably had been the reason she had been ‘napped.
Xodon went on to choo Nugi away from Podo and ‘tsk’ at their unprofessional behavior. After Xodon made his round and deemed everything under control he went back to the back office, it had a window on the second floor to overview the club. Xodon enjoyed these moments where the boss wasn’t around, so he could pretend to be in charge. Though, Suu preferred the likes of Xodon, at least he was honest about what he desired, it were the friendly men you had to be weary of.
Sometime later, a signature song signaled the end of her dancing shift, she was to be replaced by Nugi while she took over waitressing with Lilo.
The switch allowed Suu to duck into the private area to freshen up. The blisters at her ankles were red and itchy. Suu hissed when the cold water eased some of the pain.
One minute of reprieve before she had to face the crowd again. She drank big gulps of water from the tap, it was important to hydrate.
Lilo barged in and blinked at Suu’s awkward position, one leg elevated in the sink. But her eyes grew wide in realization when she noticed the red markings.
“Oh, Suu, I’m sorry Suu,” Lilo sympathized and ducked in her locker for a tube of bacta cream.
Suu shook her head at the offering, “It is fine, we should save that stuff for more important things.”
Lilo wouldn’t hear of it and forced her into a chair. Suu sighed and suffered Lilo’s mothering instincts. As indicated by her stage name ‘Jade’ she had wonderful deep green skin with blue swirls.
“Not a full house tonight, boss won’t be happy,” Lilo observed as she finished wrapping a cloth around Suu’s ankles.
“Is he ever?”
Suu’s eyes travelled to Lilo’s locker, it was filled to the brim with drawings made by her kids.
The announcer droid’s voice blared through the speakers, “Now on stage our local celebrity and firecracker, ‘Scarlett’!”, the declaration was met with lecherous whistles and applause. Lilo rolled her eyes at the introduction.
“See you out there,” Suu smiled and faced the pounding floor once again, this time amongst the crowd.
On stage Nugi enjoyed the spotlight and enticed her fans. Already men and women flocked to the stage and were dropping favors into her slot. Which meant the men were more grabby as Suu passed. But Suu had developed a sixth sense through the years. She knew where to hold her hands to fend off ‘accidental’ brushes with her breasts or ass.
By the end of the night Podo had to throw out three patrons because they were getting too rowdy and tried to grab at Nugi when she left the stage. Nugi loved her influence and power over the people around her. It gave her a semblance of control.
“You could help out you know?” Lilo complained as Nugi was doing her nails when the rest of them cleaned the floors.
“I could, but I sprained my ankle,” Nugi waved her leg around, ‘accidentally’ catching Podo’s attention. Suu and Lilo shared a look, “You wouldn’t want me to hurt myself now would you?” she batted her large eye lashes.
Suu laughed, “Who do you think we are? Those tricks don’t work on us.”
All of them stood up straight when the big honcho sauntered in, “Ladies, ladies nice work,” Quway congratulated. Suu and Lilo hurried back to work.
Xodon was counting the credits that had flooded in. Quway made a B-line for Nugi, “Scarlett, darling, my star, my everything, as always you turned this slow night around.” She giggled as he dropped two credits in her hands and twirled a finger around her lekku.
His cold eyes shifted to the other two women, “Crystal, Jade, decent work as always,” he ran a hand up the backs of the two girls and grabbed their necks, “but put some extra effort and attention towards our returning customers next time.” Lilo nodded and was released when she agreed with a soft ‘yes master’.
Quway kept his hold Suu’s neck and increased the pressure, “If I ever hear word of you assaulting another customer, I will sell you to Gnarr with my next spice deal, you hear me?” Suu swallowed heavily and could only nod.
Of all the spice lords Quways dealt with Lord Gnarr was definitely the one who made chills run down Suu’s neck. She had only seen the Harch a couple of times. Last time Lilo had her hands full dodging all six of his groping hands.
“Podo,” Quway’s switch between tyrant to happy business owner was terrifying, “please escort our lovely ladies to their quarters.” Lilo had to physically usher Suu out the door. The looming threat had rooted her to the floor.
Suu tried to shake off the fear that clung to her bones, Lilo’s comforting arm around her helped somewhat. She tried to shake off the horrible feeling as Nugi hopped by without a care in the world.
Nugi did a small twirl when they got outside, “Is it true? Did you really punch a sleemo?” Lilo cringed at the volume of her voice, before Suu could answer Nugi continued, “You are so brave Suu. I could never do that, I’d be too afraid.” Nugi’s amber eyes sought out Podo and awaited his response.
“Don’t worry baby, no one will come near you, I keep my eyes on you all time.” Podo supplied faithfully. She aww’ed at the sweet response she managed to wheedle out of him.
“That’s the problem,” Lilo swore underneath her breath. Suu nodded, even now she could see figures in the shadows trailing them. The Houk was too busy providing bad jokes so he could hear Nugi giggle and fawn over him. This really was a bad neighborhood. Though, to be fair, Podo’s large stature was usually enough to deter any predators. While Suu wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself, even she felt unease at the amount of beady eyes that were following them.
Podo dropped the girls off at the apartment Quway let them rent for a ‘decent price’. As soon as they were through the door two blurs tackled Lilo.
“Momma, momma!” Shaeeah and Jek called, Lilo’s two devils managed to melt away her anxiety.
“See yah tomorrow baby,” Nugi blew a kiss at Podo, then she too had her arms full of kids.
“Aunt Nugi!” they cried, Nugi was good with the kids. The girls all contributed credits to food, clothes and toys for the two rascals. Even though they’d never be best friends Lilo was infinitely grateful that Nugi donated most of her share of credits, which by far exceeded either Suu or Lilo’s share.
“Who wants painted nails?” Nugi asked and held up bright blue nail polish.
“Me! me! me!” the both of them cheered. Suu smiled at Jek’s behavior, he could barely put two sentences together but copied everything his sister did.
“No, no, no,” Lilo intervened, “Not tonight, time for bed kids. Come on.” They complained but followed the nurse droid as it helped usher them into their room.
Nugi was still standing in the open doorway and ran her fingers over the frame, “Suu, Lilo, come look at this.” The serious tone in Nugi’s voice was unsettling. She trailed her fingers over deep notches carved into the wood of the doorpost.
Lilo gasped, “Someone tried to get in.” tears streamed down her face.
“The assailants were unsuccessful in their pursuits and were discouraged when I made my presence known.” The droid spoke when she returned from putting the kids to bed.
“They must have been so scared.” Lilo could hardly breathe. It was Suu’s turn to pull her into a supporting embrace.
“Both Shaeeah and Jek were asleep at the moment it occurred,” the droid said.
Nugi joined the hug and wiped the tears from Lilo’s cheeks, “Everything is going to be alright, I am going to ask Quway for extra security tomorrow. It will be fine, probably some lost spice head.”
Suu doubted that, but there was no point in upsetting Lilo more, the exhausted mother gathered her wits and went into her kid’s room.
“Dank Farrik,” Nugi cursed quietly when Lilo was out of earshot, ‘’I need a drink.” She pulled a bottle from the top shelf and poured two shots.
Suu followed her and gratefully took the offered glass. “No one’s going to touch those kids.” Nugi swore.
“No, they’re not,” the most primal part of her agreed. Despite their differences the three of them were family. A doomed family, but they’d give anything to see Jek and Shaeeah unharmed and safe.