Chapter Text
Ari ran a bar. One which she’d narrowly *cough* inherited from the previous owner after a particularly gruesome bar fight.
It was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, she never had a boring moment, on the other: the general public.
Which currently consisted of a rather rowdy group of pirates.
Now Ari wasn’t a pirate. Not that you could tell, given the number of pirates she kept company with and the number of “former” pirates she just so happened to know. Not to mention the fact that quite a few of the people who passed through her bar somehow became aspiring pirates. Or smugglers.
But she had nothing to do with that. How could she? She just ran the bar, the staff of which currently consisted of a few burly ex slaves she’d liberated from the previous bar owner, then hired, and one teenage flirt of a server (who probably wasn’t a teenager now that she thought about it) who she just knew was going to make off with one of those darn pirates one day.
Or would it be with the armored individual who’d just walked through the door? Who was coming oh so casually up to her bar? She really needed to get on that sign – the one that said don’t bother the bar tender when in their natural environment.
Heavens bless, she wasn’t a people person. How’d she of all people end up with a bar?
When Mr. (probably, more than likely) Armor finally reached the bar, she didn’t even bother to plaster on a fake customer service smile when she looked up, just raised an eyebrow and stared down his T-visor.
“I’m looking for Kes.”
Kes? Who the heck was Kes?
Without moving her eyes away from the newcomer’s helmet, Ari asked burly muscle dude number one, who went by River, “Do we know a Kes?”
“Former owner.”
Ah. Well then. “They’re a little dead at the moment. Care to leave a message?”
Now Ari had a hard time reading people, but she knew the lack of social niceties was probably not appreciated. Still, she wasn’t exactly predisposed to care.
“When did that happen?”
“A few months ago?” Hell if she’d figured out the calendar yet.
“How?”
Ari’s eyebrow managed to go a bit higher. Who was this person anyway?
They produced a credit chit and placed it on the bar. Ari looked at the chit, then went back to what she’d been doing before the metal clad stranger had walked into the bar. River, bless his heart, walked over and took the chit from the bar.
“They found themselves on the wrong end of a blaster.”
“Who was holding the right end?”
“Depends on who’s asking.”
“The type of person who doesn’t care for the type of business they were running.”
When River took a moment to think over his answer, Ari looked back up and found him giving her a look – which Ari couldn’t decipher because she couldn’t read people to save her life. Really.
“Their kind of business has already been cleared out,” River finally decided to share, looking back at the new arrival.
The stranger tilted their head.
“Any leads on their network?”
Network, which network? The pirate’s network? The smuggler’s network? The freedom trail stop she’d suddenly found herself pretending she didn’t know existed? Why couldn’t people just say what they wanted directly?
The stranger produced more credits. Ari snorted. The helmet turned back to give her what she imagined was a pointed look. Amused, she merely turned to River and silently asked if he had everything handled with a few hand signs they’d developed. River gave the affirmative, so she walked further down the bar to pass off some drinks to Ni’ka, the unabashed, blue skinned flirt.
By the time she was done, the armored individual had left the bar and gone to take a seat at a table.
“Do I want to know what that was about?” She asked on her way back.
“Probably. I’ll fill you in later.”
She took River at his word and continued about her evening.