Freeport 14 seemed to be not as busy as before, what was truly strange taking into account the whole mess with Red Deer's remains being moved out, providing serious amount of money to one's willing. Or maybe that's why Freeport 14 seemed a bit too hollow, but it was good for guy such as Kobo.
Kobo, a young Kusarian who found himself in Junker ranks as soon as someone from Golden Dragon Casino wanted to sell him off. With certain dose of hatred towards Hogosha and their henchmen, the Kusarian quickly adapted himself at the new home Rochester was. Although, not without some disrespect, as Kusari-born Junkers were pretty much a rare occurence. Mostly, drop-offs from Blood Dragons - or simply slaves captured by Rogues and sold onto Beaumont.
For Kobo, Freeport 14 was still an alien place. Full of foreigners who did not speak Japanese. His English wasn't bad, of course, but the accent was very heavy and noticeable. Some of the people found it pretty cute, considering the fact of rather small stature of the Kusarian. The bar however looked all the same like it any other place - spare the differences on basis of cultural differences. The latter heavily differed even between Zoners themselves.
The Kusarian sat at one of the barstools, awaiting the person he had met a lot during his Junking in Kusari - Kyu Akibara. Besided the very basics, Kyu being Zoner with Kusari parents and advisor to OSI, Kobo didn't know the guy. But some alcohol should loose the indecisivity and break first ices in a possible chat. Ordering some fancy blue-coloured drink, Kobo awaited the other man, idly looking around the place. Beside of a few people, including nasty Rogues who creeped at him from a far corner of the bar. It didn't look like they share love for Kusarians, at all.
Kobo quickly turned his glance at the person which entered the main door. It must have been Kyu Akibara. A possibility of any other Kusarian in such a far-away place in Liberty was way beyond zero, to the young Kusarian's mind.
What a weird day. That was the theme of Kyu's thoughts the very moment he left the Tilapia, entering Freeport 14 still wearing his OSI flight suit. His bones were feeling heavy after fourteen hours of running the same route up and down, from the Concord over this god damn lane in Shikoku to Hiroshima, just to bring every time one of those station salvage packages of the Red Deer to the Renzu Shipyards. It was a well paid job, not only for the Omicron Supply Industries that invested a good amount of ressources to fulfill this open contract for the USI. Kyu himself would get a good payment as well for each run.
Remembering how often the Tilapia got pirated in the recent five days, it wasn't really the most upcheering thought, though. The payment could have been bigger. The maintenance and repair costs for the K'hara ambush on the Tilapia weren't making this any better. Yes, it was definitely time for a drink, and since this Kobo guy was as nice as not to pirate him during their three encounters, Kyu accepted the strange invitation. Strange, as the guy first wanted to have that drink on the Tilapia.
Exhausted from all this, the OSI Advisor made his way to the bar. The Freeport in Alberta wasn't nearly as crowded as Freeport 11 during peak times. It was actually nice here. Not too much going on out here, although a few ships were moored with the station. Pirate trains, Salvagers, some snubs. It was obvious there was a bit more than usually going on here since the salvage of the Red Deer was to be pilfered.
The bar was... a bar. Very stereotypical. Not very original, but Kyu didn't expect to find a club lounge on this station. The fun stuff was only to find on Canaria or on the Vista. Sighing quietly, he scanned the area with his eyes, not really requiring much time to find the small kusarian sitting at the bar. How old is he anyway? There was nothing else in sight which looked inviting. If that Komachi hadn't been such an attention whore, he would even considered her a welcoming view for the evening.
In terms of having boring-ass conversations only, of course.
"Kobo, I guess?" he asked the kusarian while taking the seat next to him. Turning to the barkeeper and his robotic assistant which looked like one of Kishiro's typical service robots, he ordered himself a Liberty Ale - assuming they wouldn't have the good stuff out here anyway.
Kobo almost immediately looked at the male, assuming his age but failing to do so. If Kusarians were good at something, it was age hiding. Especially when it came to the women. Almost immediately, the young male quickly nodded at the fellow chatter.
"Yes, I am Kobo," he replied and rolled the empty glass in his left hand. His eyes, artificially altered to be green as barely any Kusarian had such, almost immediately went up and down across Akibara's posture. "Freeport 14 isn't much of a lounge, but at least we can drink in complete peace, not counting these Rogues over there." The last words were uttered in semi-silence. "Also, all drinks on me, Akibara-san..."
There was something very uneasy but soothening in Kobo's voice. Dangerously soft and seductive-like voice, which pretty confirmed any suspicion of his line of work back at Golden Dragon Casino. However, such experience with careful word placing most of the time was useful in case of rare black market items shipments across Sirius, if caught.
"Your expression is quite puzzling, sir." The soft voice again, subtle gestures only the most trained eye would notice, all to serve one purpose - to make a fellow chatter more glad to speak about the most intimate stuff, if asked to. "Well, but I think that's thanks to many pirates and other odd encounters out there, sir." That 'sir' again, spoken in a tone which would make an uneasy shiver on the spine. A feel of submission to the one Kobo talked to. Dangerous position, but not for him. The fake feel of dominance was always a trap the young Kusarian always set to the ones too proud or bluntly unaware of such machinations.
"Try Blue Ridge," the Kusarian spoke again, eyes connected with the other male's. "They say it's a good drink brought by one of Bretonian Junkers. Recipy, of course, 'borrowed'," he chuckled with a subtle tone. His fingers snapped and robotic barkeeper poured some of this drink into a new glass, then gently pushed it towards OSI advisor. "It's still on me, by the way," Kobo lazily added.
Having remained quiet most of the time and simply responding with small gestures, Kyu looked at the so called Blue Ridge. Quite appealing to the eye, the drink. Leaning an arm on the counter, he eyed Kobo, inspecting him for a moment. "You seriously don't need to call me sir. I guess you're not much younger than I am. It's Kyu." After all, he himself was in his mid-twenties, and the young kusarian probably was in the age somewhere between 18 and 25. He had a ship. He drinks alcohol, and he obviously knew how to deal with things enough to not die yet.
"I wouldn't be too harsh with the people arond us. The Rogues are nice people, usually after the piracy. They have humor, and they keep the gears of Liberty running." A bit more silent, he added another line. "I rather have them taking care of corrupted Liberty Officers then the latter stopping OSI vessels for scans and all that." And that was his true opinion. Nothing was more horrible than a sassy LPI officer pinning down a transport for an hour because they needed to get their statistics done. And they did that often.
"What is this about, though? Taking a couple of drinks with a stranger you stopped two times in space, treating me like I was any different from the usual trader just because of a kusarian name?" It was obvious that even in his tired state, his was still careful. The Junker boy made that demand. Have a drink with me. What the hell? But why not, as anything else Kyu would have done in the spare time between work and sleep would have been looking for a quick high or a nice girl to accompany him for an hour or two. Although he definitely had enough of the girls for today, being pirated mostly by Maltese and Golden Chrysanthenums. Holy cow, that wart on the face of the red haired crazy-ass Eliza. Who would have thought the Razgriz Black Hole had a little sister?
Taking a little sip of the drink, he narrowed his eyes for a moment, placing the glass back on the counter.
Kobo cheerfully smiled, in the most sleek way he could ever do. There was some charm in these green eyes which seemed really un-Kusarian. But maybe that's why the guy was able to survive for way longer time than he should. "Well then, Kyu, can I call you like that? Good. It's a pity that a lot of us run away from Kusari, torn apart by Civil War. Some say, it was defiled and corrupted and what was supposed to be victory turned into defeat and forced peace..."
The male's eyes looked away and fixed his eyes at one point behind the huge glass that protected all the inhabitants from openly hostile and violent void. But, people loved that void, which brought a lot with it. Fame, resources, adventures... credits. Credits the most. Should not that happen, no one would ever go into stars, leaving their light a pure curiosity for the stargazers.
The boy slowly rolled empty glass in his hand. He had been thinking about something for a longer time, but couldn't really force himself to do so. "You see, I feel lonely. I mean, I could have anyone, every man if I wanted. But... in a long run, it's not what I look for... Oh, no," he quickly added and shook his head. "Don't have such a face, I'm yet to know you better, am I?" The last words were weak and some of the charm was lost - or was it? The clumsy tone of voice, with laughter in his deep green eyes... "Yeah, it... sounded quite... unfortunate, hasn't it?" he chuckled afterwards to cover up the faux pas.
To be honest, Kobo right now hoped deep in his sould that it would fend the stranger away. "And no, it's just I came across you way too many times to think it's a pure coincidence, Kyu. But the name and accent got me interested. And your... choice of life got me interested as well. It's just I wasn't much outside Kusari since I left that Shikoku's... Well, let's change the subject, shall we?"
There was this one crucial moment when a Rogue sitting at a table with two other guys was just sneezing. It was a loud, powerful sneezing, and it simply happened at the exact same time when Kobo mentioned his sexual preference. The sneeze made it sound like it was simply covering a syllable. So Kyu thought he just didn't hear it correctly, turning every man if I wanted from every SNEEZEman if I wanted into every women if I wanted. Hearing that, he wondered whether Kobo was just another narcistic and self-overconfident guy like the guy that allowed himself to defect from the Core without getting killed. In mind, he had to shake his head, yet he let the little Kusarian talk. In the end, it still felt weird, like just a little junker boy that had a cheap plan in mind to abuse Kyu's unique relations and possibilities as Advisor of the Omicron Supply Industries.
"My choice of life," he began, repeating his words, as that was a weird thing to say about him. In space, before mooring with the freeport, Kyu had told him the very basics of his life. That he was not a Kusari-born kusarian but simply had kusarian parents while having been born and raised on Gran Canaria. In fact, joining the Omicron Supply Industries was an obvious thing to do, as they have a major influence on Canaria. And only very few people knew about him having been working for APM before a certain someone offered him the opportunity to bail out along with fifty other people. It was impossible for Kobo to know. He simply couldn't have refered to that. "I don't think there is anything special about working for the OSI. A well-reputated company, welcome nearly everywhere but Rheinland. And even that issue is about to be solved." In the meantime, next to the glass of Blue Ridge, anoter glass of Liberty Ale was provided, just as he had requested it. The Blue Ridge wasn't really his taste. "Not a fan of shameless self-advertising, but I think you'd do better either as OSI transport pilot or, if you prefer the more exciting jobs, the security wing. It's day like today where a few more escorts could have prevented the Tilapia from getting unnecessary windows in the hull."
With that, he turned around, sighing, leaning his back against the counter while looking at the windows. "Liberty is a god-damn hell hole. The Omegas are maybe filled with radiation and asteroid fields, but my ship never got that many slaps than the few days I have to spend in Liberty. It's crap." Exhaling audibly, he gave Kobo a careful look. "At least you didn't turn against me yet. I hope you wait for that to happen after I got some rest."
Kobo looked at the male again, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. "Bartender, I want another one."
The robotic creature poured the same drink into young Kusarian's glass, which Kobo took into his hand right away, listeing to the words the OSI Advisor had been speaking. His eyes were clearly fixed at the older male, with this - somewhat troubling - smile on his face. "I don't want to abuse you, Kyu," he noted with a sigh in his face. "If I was to abuse you, I would had done that... I don't know... seven times you flew through Shikoku? Kesshite*... I am not a bad guy, despite me being a Junker who indeed to rob some people in Kusari and certain places where no authority bothers around."
The young male slowly closed to Kyu, giving him a warm smile. "You got my interest with OSI... Honestly... But you also gained my personal interest, handsome." The latter work sounded very awkward for the other Kusarian (or technically, Zoner). What it made even more awkward was the fact the male shared the exact same expression like someone really fascinated beyond the point of petty friendly relationship. That could be refered to right away - or simply ignored, if Kyu would decide it had been just sort of language mistake. Which it wasn't, because of the very next words Kobo uttered in a more affectional and... terribly private manner:
"If you want some rest, we could rent a room. Some say I'm very good at... making other men relaxed."
Personal interest. That sounded suspicious. A bit uncomfortable. The very next moment, however, right after a Torpedo Rogue burping with an impressive volume somewhere in the background, made even Kyu realize what was going on here. This guy wasn't here for some weird shady deals or to blackmail him. With his blue eyes he was casting a dumbfounded look at Kobo right after his invitation. For a moment he just blinked at him, as the process of realization what this entire situation actually was and how to deal with it took a few seconds to be completed. An embarassed smile formed on his lips while his entire body suddenly felt a bit warmer with the revelation. "Apparently, the time on freeports and junker bases shaped my perceptions to expect shady business from anyone out here." His gaze remained at Kobo for another two seconds, until he looked out of the window again, still smiling, as he couldn't help himself but doing this. "It was literally the last thing I was expecting here to happen."
With the glass of Liberty Ale in his right hand, he lead it slowly to his lips to take a good gulp. The cold taste of it was somewhat helping to calm down a bit, regaining his equanimity. "I'm not into men, Kobo. Butt-stuff isn't my preference, neither passive nor active." It was probably the best thing he could have said without sounding like a complete idiot. Kobo indeed had a pretty appearance. The youth and the kusarian body traits made him look more androgynus than young men of other houses. Yet that didn't suffice to change Kyu's preferences in his favor. "And I guess, after fourteen hours of trading, getting pirated and other stress-causing situations, I probably smell horrible under the flightsuit." While that last statement, Kyu looked down at himself, checking the blue and black cloth.
