Work Text:
There were plenty of porgs in the swamp, Thanoth once told her in one of his more provincial moods. But despite there being plenty of criminals to bring to the Empire’s cruel justice, and dozens of smart, pretty women who might be lured by the prestige of an Imperial inspector, Magna Tolvan found herself flying a lonely shuttle, following a set of coordinates she had scraped from a spaceport’s records three systems back. She touched down and opened the hatch, then blinked in surprise at the stupendous amount of greenery assailing her senses. The city’s streets were lined with trees; the buildings were draped with vines. Even the cracks in the duracrete landing pad brimmed with hearty weeds with soft yellow blooms.
Equally surprising was the local gentleman apparently there to greet her? A plump Trandoshan wearing a loincloth and several flower garlands, holding a sign with her name on it? Her eyes narrowed. She hadn’t arranged for local support for this operation. She patted her hidden blaster, just to be safe.
“Ms. Tolvan?” he hissed. Well, at least his Basic was passable. “Your landing and customs fees have been paid. If you will be so good as to follow me to where your transport is waiting.” Well, Tolvan thought, at least if this was a trap it was a very polite one. “You are very fortunate to have arrived in the last window before the start of the Festival of Blossoming,” he continued. “And to have secured housing for all three nights, no less!” He gave her a conspiratorial wink which would have worked better on her had she not been certain he had given a similar speech to everyone he had greeted for the past week. “I myself am renting my spare room out to a young Rodian couple. Very nice people, you know.”
Tolvan tuned out the Trandoshan’s rasping Basic as he gestured her at her transport: a bicycle. How intolerably twee, she thought, but slung one leg over its metal frame and began pedaling. At least the exercise would do her good, she mused, and slowly wended her way through the packed streets.
It took her a few false starts but she quickly tracked down the hotel corresponding to the key she had been given by the Trandoshan and made her way upstairs, blaster drawn. This was definitely a trap. A very obvious, thoughtful trap. A quick scan of the hallway, then the door itself. Clean: almost suspiciously so. Her eyes narrowed as she twisted the key in the lock, opening it with a practiced motion, sweeping her blaster across as her field of fire opened.
“Sir!” A beaming Aphra greeted her, wearing the same costume as the Trandoshan. It, Tolvan had to admit, suited the scoundrel rather better than the lizard-man. And it had the added benefit of convincing her that Aphra almost certainly wasn’t armed. At least, if she was, it would take a very intimate search to turn a weapon up. “You got my invitation!” she continued.
Tolvan’s jaw clicked back shut as she processed that thought. “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you through the door,” she muttered, lowering her blaster. Sloppy. “Hang on, invitation?”
Aphra shrugged, causing the garlands to shift attractively. “I figured the best way to get an inspector on a date was to leave her a clue…and then throw the sort of luxuries her Imperial salary couldn’t afford at her.” She grinned.
“Which reminds me: how did you afford all of this?”
“I broke a lot of laws,” Aphra offered with a suggestive wink. “You should probably arrest me. Interrogate me. Maybe even punish me?” She frowned. “You did bring a pair of handcuffs, didn’t you?”
“Standard issue,” Tolvan mumbled. She could feel what was left of her face rapidly reddening.
“Sorry, am I moving too quickly?” Aphra’s frown modulated slightly; was that…concern? “I just thought – we’ve been through a lot together: smoldering glances, sexual tension, sparks struck. Sometimes they were literal sparks causing actual explosions, but…” Aphra grinned again, not the least bit sheepish.
“Let me get this straight,” Tolvan began. “You arranged for me to follow you to an all-expense-paid booty call?”
“I mean, when you put it like that…” Aphra trailed off. “Sorry - I - I really do like you, and I’m really bad at showing it, or at least you never seem to believe me, and I just thought–”
Fuck it, Tolvan thought, and surged forward to kiss the shorter woman. If this was a trap, she decided, she’d already fallen for it. “So,” she asked once they finally broke the kiss, a relieved Aphra having melted into her arms, “you were saying something about handcuffs?”