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Mosey was in a tank top and boxers and curled up comfortably with a hot cup of tea when the horse got out. Of course.
Rambler's Reach was a tiny town. Everybody knew each other. Everyone was used to everyone else's eccentricities.
It was still embarrassing to be chasing her stupid fucking horse all over town at nine in the fucking evening in a tank top and boxers. She hadn't even managed to grab a proper rope or anything—she'd grabbed the first thing she'd laid hands on running out the door, which was a dog leash.
"Asshole Bitch Supreme, you're glue when I get you!" Mosey screamed.
Supreme nickered merrily, and danced over into the neighbor's yard. She hadn't named the horse, but every damn day she understood why the previous owner had.
As she chased Supreme around Greez's yard, she could hear her mother's voice in the back of her head. This is what Mosey was reduced to. Nobody saw the competent hunter now. Nobody saw the girl who was running a self-sufficient horse boarding and training stable. Supreme was making a fool of her, while she struggled to catch him with a dog leash in—
"You know, Mosey, I've heard that heart-print boxers are out of style these days for young women like yourself!"
Oh, great. Gido and Gulu were out people watching. Of course.
"I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but she's wearing her heart on her brieves!"
"...That was bad."
"Yeah. Not my best work."
"Shut up!" Mosey yelled.
Supreme chuffed like he was laughing at her.
Stupid horse. Next time Turgle called her for help, she was telling him no.
She lunged for Supreme, determined to get the leash over his head.
Supreme dodged, and ran around her, bolting for—
The street.
"SUPREME!" Mosey screamed, as a car screeched to a halt, trying to avoid him.
Supreme reared back, whinnying.
The car stopped inches from Supreme's back feet. Supreme stomped the hood slightly with his front feet.
Supreme was okay.
Supreme was okay.
Mosey's heart was still threatening to drop out of her chest.
The owner of the car got out of the car. They spoke quietly to Supreme, and scratched his head.
Supreme trotted cheerfully back over to Mosey, who was still standing in Greez's yard. Her brain was still stuck on how close Supreme had been to getting hit, but her hands were those of a hunter, were those of a stable hand. She looped the leash around her horse, and had to fight back tears.
"Stupid horse," she grumbled. "I can't believe you."
The owner of the car got back into the car, and then slowly—
turned and parked in Greez's yard!
The second time they got out of the car, now that adrenaline was not rushing through her ears, now that Supreme was safely in hand, Mosey actually recognized them.
Cal Kestis.
Cal fucking Kestis. Mosey was going to die of embarrassment.
"Exciting night in Rambler's Reach, huh?" Cal asked cheerfully.
"Oh, you missed all the fun, Cal!" Gulu called out.
"We've been watching Mosey chase horses around in pajamas for at least half an hour!" Gido added.
"Unsuccessfully," Gulu added.
Cal blinked, and looked her up and down, as though he'd only just noticed what she was wearing.
"You say anything and I'll kick your ass," she threatened.
Cal chuckled, and stepped back to his car. From the back seat, he pulled a large, comfy looking orange and white poncho, and handed it to her. She slid it over her head. It went down to her knees, and it was both warm and soft, though it did smell like old pizza. He gave her a bungee cord, too, and together it was...almost like a dress. Which was at least slightly better.
"When I still lived on the coast, we had this cat," he said, grabbing his things and shutting the car door. "Cranky little thing. Hated me so much. It got out one night when the guy I was living with was on a night job—huge crash, I had to jump out of bed and go after her. I know how it is."
"Did you find her?" Mosey asked.
"I did!" Cal said. "Of course, once we got back home, I found out that the reason she managed to get out was because someone had robbed the place, but...that was an entirely different story. They stole my favorite poncho, too, I was so mad."
"You didn't notice you were being robbed?"
"No! I was worried about the cat!" Cal said. "She was scared of everything, and she was ancient. She wouldn't do well on the streets!"
Mosey snorted, and then laughed. "Knew there was a reason I liked you, Kestis."
Cal gave her a crooked little grin at that, and then asked, "So who's this? He's not the horse you were riding when I met you."
"This is..." Mosey started, and then grimaced slightly. "Call him Supreme."
"...Like the pizza?"
"Sure, we'll say that," Mosey said. "It's Turgle's fault I have him."
"...Turgle gets into a lot of trouble around here, doesn't he?"
"Yup," Mosey said.
Cal looked a little resigned at that, as though he just realized what he might be getting into, being friends with Turgle.
And then, after a pause, she asked, "Are you...living here?"
She was itching to get out of Greez's yard, uncomfortable being at the neighbor's house while he himself was working the saloon down the street, but Cal seemed perfectly at ease. She knew he knew Greez, had asked her for directions to the saloon after his car broke down and he'd hitchhiked to Rambler's Reach, but she didn't know him well yet, didn't know their relationship.
"Yeah, for now," Cal said. "I just moved in. Greez is...family."
There was a hesitation there, and Mosey wasn't sure if that was because he meant it in the way Greez meant it when he gave her and Zygg and Moran the family discount at Pyloon's, the way the jokers across the street meant it when they stopped heckling her for thirty seconds and managed to say something genuine and profound...or if he meant it in the way she did when she talked about her mother, her siblings, her dad, the way the meant they're important to me they hurt me I wouldn't be me without them I hate them I love them—
She didn't ask. Family could be complicated.
The moment was interrupted, as Surpeme lifted his tail, and dropped a huge pile of horseshit in the middle of Greez's front yard with a loud fart.
"Supreme!" she snapped, as the assholes across the street laughed at her. She turned to Cal, ears burning, and said, "I'll clean it up, I promise!"
"Don't even worry about it," Cal said, grinning.
"Oh, I'm worried about it," Mosey said. "Greez will kill me if I leave it."
"His bark is worse than his bite, I promise," Cal said. "I'll clean it up. You should probably get your horse home."
She should. She really should, before Supreme decided he was bored, slipped the leash, and started this whole charade anew.
"Do you want to see the stables?" Mosey asked.
Cal seemed...surprised to be asked, but he said, "Sure!"
She led him and Supreme back towards her place, at the other end of the street. Gido and Gulu shouted their usual uncomplimentary goodbyes, which she ignored.
"You stayin' long?" she asked.
Cal tensed a little, at that. "I'm not sure yet," he said. "I'm waiting for a friend—he should be here in the next day or two. A lot of what I'm doing next kind of depends on him and Greez."
"Oh?" Mosey asked.
"Yeah," Cal said with a grimace, and did not elaborate.
Alright. Not something he wanted to talk about.
"You said you used to work on ships, right?" Mosey asked. They'd talked a little, during that first walk to Rambler's Reach. "You were some kinda mechanic?"
"I was usually more of a scrapper, but I did mechanics, too," Cal said. "I fixed cars, too, when rent was tight. Prauf had this old '74 Bonneville that we put together when I was younger, I think that was my favorite car I ever fixed."
He sighed, absently petting Supreme as he stared in the opposite direction.
"I wonder what happened to it," he said softly. "Bank probably took it and auctioned it off. Or the cops did."
He didn't elaborate on that, either, and Mosey didn't ask. He'd been cagey about Prauf, the last time she'd talked to him. All she knew is that Prauf had been his housemate back on the coast, and that Cal hadn't seen him since.
"Well, Zygg has mentioned wanting a partner a couple times," Mosey said. "She's the mechanic at the gas station. You stick around...maybe she can set you up with a job."
"...I'll keep that in mind," Cal said.
"So who's this friend of yours?" Mosey asked. "The one who's coming?"
Cal brightened up at the question. "His name's Bode," Cal said, smiling a little. "A mutual friend introduced us in Coruscant City. He's awesome."
"Well, I look forward to meeting him then," Mosey said.
They turned into her driveway.
"This here's Rambler's Stables," Mosey said. "Let me put Supreme away, and I'll show you around."
As she led the horse to a stall that he was—hopefully—less likely to break out of, she grinned. She had a feeling that Cal Kestis was going to bring a lot more excitement to this little town, and she was excited to see it happen.
Preferably, next time, in better clothes than heart-print boxers.