"Nice hairstyle, Hobs - are you going punk on me?" Wes asked as he looked up from where he was lounging atop his bunk.
"No, I just haven't had the chance to fix it yet," Hobbie rolled his eyes and went over to his desk for a comb.
Wes vaulted off his bunk and ran to the 'fresher, locking the door behind him.
He waited.
"WES!!!!!!!"
"What?" he called back, barely suppressing a chuckle as he grinned.
"IT'S GREEN!" the Ralltiirian bellowed.
"And?" Wes jumped back as Hobbie began pounding on the door.
Finally, he stopped, slumping against the smooth metal. "Why, Wes? Why did you do it?"
"I figured I'd finish what the Lorrdains came to do," he explained with a chuckle, "and someone had to get you!" He paused, "But it was supposed to be sky blue, why's it green?!"
"Maybe because I have yellow hair, you idiot," Hobbie grumbled as he moved away to comb his hair back and look for a hat to cover the atrocity.
Sylvana finished winding a silver ribbon through her long braid and began pacing. "He's not here yet, I bet he changed his mind...."
"I saw him kiss you when he left, and I saw the look on his face when he saw you again," Arrek chided. "He hasn't changed his mind."
"I went off and disappeared without a word for six months...."
"Syl...."
She kept pacing the common room nervously, often fussing with her white poet blouse and black jeans accented with a silver belt, and was still doing so when Emily came in, flopping into a chair. "Why's she so nervous?"
"Her date's late."
"She's been on planet, what, a day and a half, and she's already got a DATE?! That's not fair!"
"You should see her back home, I swear it's all that polite kissing."
Bethany looked up from her datapad and chuckled lightly.
Saving Emily a reply, the door buzzed. Sylvana nearly jumped out of her skin as she went over to open it. "Hello, Derek," she said quietly, stepping back so he could enter.
He stepped through the door, dressed casually in a dove grey shirt, a few buttons undone, and black slacks, while sporting a black smashball-cap Wes had picked up recently.
Emily's jaw dropped, "Hobbie? You're Syl's date?! But I thought...." The teenager looked shocked.
"Uhm, yeah," he chuckled. "Nice to see you again as well, Emily."
As the door slid shut behind Hobbie and Sylvana, an insistant tapping was heard on the balcony window. Emily looked to see Wes, atop a skyhopper, wearing a manic grin.
He waved, beckoning her over.
"Nice hat," Sylvana smiled up at him as they walked along.
"Thanks. . . ."
"I never thought you for one to wear hats, whatcha hiding? Bad hair day? Lost bet?"
"Something like that. Wes decided to prank me because you and your brother didn't get a chance to."
Sylvana was silent a moment as they walked, "He put dye in your shampoo?"
"Yep."
"What colour?"
Hobbie shrugged. "He said it was supposed to be light blue. . . but it's green."
"Let me see?"
"You really don't want to, it looks rather ridiculous."
"Well, now I really want to see it!"
"Come now, Sylvana, we haven't spoken in over six months, can't you think of something else to talk about?"
"I would think that, by now, you would know how tenacious I am. Don't make me take your hat off myself," she grinned and playfully reached up to do just that.
He sighed as he ducked away from her hand, "All right, all right. Do you promise not to laugh?"
"On my honour," she raised a hand.
Slowly, he removed the hat, and Sylvana smiled softly as she reached up to touch the green locks. "I like it."
"This coming from a woman with blue stripes in her hair," he chuckled and shook his head.
"You don't like them?" she chuckled and fingered some of the blue and black fringe falling over her eyes, "I could dye it another colour. . . maybe a bright bacta pink?"
"Oh no!" he passed a hand over his eyes as he replaced the cap, "Anything but that!"'
Sylvana chuckled; she had been afraid of how they would react to seeing each other again, especially with how they'd parted company. She was glad to know that things hadn't changed. . . too much.
"Rocket City? What kind of place is that?"
"It's the nearest place I could figure to your Waves. Bar, concerts, even some booths to sit down for a meal..." he looked down at her, "and a dance floor."
"A dance floor? Why didn't you say so?"
He chuckled as he paid the driver and helped her out of the sky cab. "I just did."
When he offered his arm, she took it gladly. Being in such a cityworld was uncomfortable to her. She longed to feel the earth beneath her feet, or even to see a tree. He provided her with something, someone, familiar to hold onto in this strange place.
"What does that say?" she pointed the the marquees as they stepped into line.
"Hmm?" Hobbie looked up to where she pointed. "Oh that, it says what bands are playing tonight."
"What are they called?"
"Well," he looked down at her and smiled, "SWAT and the hut Hut HUTTS are opening for Muscleguy the Rancor Slayer, and His Hot Five."
She burst into laughter, "What... interesting names for bands. I wager they're the loud and heavy beat sort?"
"SWAT is, Wes likes them," Hobbie said as they stepped forward in the slow moving line. "Muscleguy's a misleading name, though. Their music sounds a lot like the sort they played at Waves."
"Then I'll probably like them."
"If you don't, the booths have a privacy field and you can completely tune out the surrounding noise if you want to."
Before them, a gravelly voice spoke. "Identification, please?"
Hobbie looked at Sylvana worriedly as he handed his ID to the bouncer, and she simply smiled at him as she pulled out one of her own.
The Trandoshan looked at the IDs a moment before handing them back. "Have a good night, Major Klivian and Doctor Niadrrol." He disengaged the containment field and allowed them through.
They found a booth toward the back and seated themselves. "Niadrrol?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
She held up the ID so he could see it, "Mendellian," she smiled. "I kind of like the name. Maybe I'll change it."
He chuckled and shook his head, "Will you ever cease to amaze me, Syl?"
"Yes I will," she smiled.
He looked to her and spoke quietly, "I hope not."
As they spoke, the band SWAT played mutedly through the privacy field. Hobbie ordered for them both, and the server droid arrived and disappeared, without any fuss. The couple's conversation ranged from what they'd been doing in the past several months to the sorts of seasoning that may have been used in making their meal.
They hadn't noticed when the bands changed, nor would they have but for Sylvana accidentally bumping the privacy control as a song ended.
They both looked up at the stage then, as Muscleguy spoke.
"This is our last song for tonight, sentients. This is for all the lonely hearts out there. It's an old song I like to call, "One Faint Hope." Shadoe?" He waved forward one of the 'Hot Five'.
She was a dusky skinned Twi'lek, dressed in full smokey greys. Her lekku fell down her back, laced in a tiedye of the shadowy colours. Her eyes dropped as she stepped forward to the mic, and when she looked up, those who watched were caught spellbound by the haunted eyes of the Twi'lek woman.
Hobbie looked to Sylvana. "It's a sad song, but very beautiful in it's own way," he spoke as the opening strains floated over them. He held his hand out to her, "Would you like to dance with me?"
She grinned, blushing slightly, and took his hand as they stood. "I thought you'd never ask."
With a soft smile, he led her to the floor.
It was as though they were dancing for the first time once again, long months of uncertainty feeding their innate shyness as they carefully put themselves into position.
They stepped closer as he let his hands fall to rest on her waist, and she rested hers on his shoulders. Their eyes locked as they moved with the music.
The lilting refrain found the couple to be light on their feet. As though on air, they twirled around the floor. When the music calmed once again, he drew her close and she softly closed her eyes as she lay her head against his shoulder.
A soft rumble fought with the steady heartbeat for her ear's attention. She could feel his cheek resting comfortably against her hair.
That soft rumble, was it singing? Sylvana listened intently, trying to catch both the words, and the voice. He was! She sighed happily to herself as they danced, reveling in the feel of his arms around her, his pleasant baritone in her ear.
Neither wanted the night to end, yet both knew it must. This was the last song, and their only chance to dance. . . to be close.
She found herself singing in harmony when the final line of the refrain was repeated softly. As the music played on, Hobbie pulled away slightly, and they looked to each other. He took her hands in his and gently brushed his lips against them, his eyes never leaving hers. "May I kiss you?"
He spoke so softly that she wouldn't have known what he said, but for reading his lips. She nodded mutely, afraid to speak lest she break the spell that wove like magick around them.
As the final strains floated into nothingness, he bent down to claim a gentle kiss.