I nodded to the store owner, and sucked the rest of my cone in. She might not have mentioned it, but I could tell it wasn’t something that was allowed regularly. Hmm… I glanced over some of the cloth. It was nice stuff, really nice stuff. I made a mental note of the store, its name, and location. Emma was one for nice cloth, and it might help to cheer her up if I brought her down later.

In the mean time, I had the slight desire to scope out the people here. Why would that Ugnaugt gang be interested in a cloth store?

"So, you've clerked before then. Are you adverse to working in a store full of clothes and things?" Damalis looked at Flannigan curiously. He was in a hard spot, she knew and she was probably stressing him out more, but really, she knew the right thing to do was offer him a job. As usual, her perception always came in at the oddest times. "I mean, it's probably very obvious I'm asking you if you want a job here, but if it makes you feel better we can cut a deal. You can work here until you find your lady friend, talk to her, or find another job. The Astoria is a big place, so it might take you a long time to find her and since your wallet is gone...."

Flannigan stared at Damalis as if the Kallan Gods had given him is very own guardian angel.

A huge grin broke out as his nervousness began to subside. "Thank you! Thank you! I really appreciate it!"

His joy was so high at the moment that he forgot about the man with the strange hat slurping an icecream.

"When do I start? Because.. Because I have to go register with the Housing Bureau."

Suddenly, it snapped.

"My wallet!" he wailed. With very concerned eyes, "Is there an embassy on Astoria? I need to obtain new identity cards?"







Typhoid 7



Scratch watched with wary eyes as Preacher went about his business trying to fleece the newcomers coming aboard the Astoria.

Being so small, they needed many eyes on the lookout for the puhleez.

His thoughts went back to the Boutique as he remembered seeing all the pretty clothes and dreamed of how good silk would feel as he wiggled his wet, hairy body all over it.

For nothing felt quite like silk after a nice bath.

First order of business tho.

The bath.




He noticed from his vantage point (standing on some crates near a light fixture) that some aliens and humans alike were parting before something.


Scratch already knew it was the piglet, Ritchy. Being the smallest, Ritchy served as the groups information conduit for the little pig could squeeze into spaces not really meant for pigs.


The little piglet scampered right up to the crates were Scratch was and began jumping up and down unable to scramble up the first crate.

"Scratchy! Scratchy!" the little whine came in their secret dialect of an ancient language termed: pig lattin.


Before others would begin to notice the small whine (though improbable given the vast crowd before them) Scratch grabbed Ritchy's hand and hauled him up.


"Wot you got, Ritchy?"

The little runt rubbed his hands together and his eyes shifted from side to side.


"I find hole behind Bout... Bout...."

"Boutique?" Scratch finished.

The runt nodded quickly, "yes, yes! Ritchy find hole! Big human not see!"


Scatch didn't know if the runt was talking about the nervous human who just came aboard or the woman with the huge mammaries.


In any event, it did not matter. The night shift would start soon enough and then Typhoid 7 would strike.


His greedy little eyes sparkled with glee as Preacher's voice drowned in the crowd somewhere talking about some rule made of gold.

"There's several embassy's but we'll have to try and figure out which one... I think." Damalis offered, not being sure herself, and she admitted. "But I don't know for sure... maybe we should contact a lawyer of some kind.." But there was something she wanted to check first.

"Here, why don't you help this very patient gentleman while I go check the backroom a moment?" Smiling beautifully at the waiting man, Damalis excused herself. "I'm sorry to make you wait so long, but we've had a really hectic morning. Flannigan here will assist you with anything you need and please, help yourself to the... breakfast bar."

Damalis hadn't been sure what to call the foods she brought out for Flan, but breakfast bar worked fine. Since neither gentleman seemed upset with her, the tall blond made her way to the back room rather quickly. She was getting a bad feeling and Damalis knew what that usually meant.

Quickly she pushed buttons, opened locked cabinets and checked every single place she kept her merchandise. She hadn't originally intending to look through everything but once she started, she just had to do it. The reason was apparent once she returned to the showroom floor, looking shocked.

"I... It's gone. All of it."

Flannigan turned to the slurping man and said, "Welcome to the Boutique. Is there something I can help you with."

As he talked his eyes went about the store to try to find the placements of garments, accessories and fabrics. The woman named Damalis had a wide variety of items catering to the most discriminating of human or alien.

He wondered what the man would ask for and he wondered if he could navigate the store.

After the store closed, he'd have to go report his missing wallet, and register for some sort of living space.


He never noticed the black and white striped piggy in the Coruscant Cracker Shop across the way glancing his direction at times.

OOC: Whee! Thread revival...

"Flannigan, could I speak to you alone a few moments?" Damalis asked her fresh new employee, smiling brightly so it seemed nothing was wrong. While her heart was racing and she knew things weren't going well, Damalis was just a few degrees above panicing. True, she has a ton of credits invested in fabrics, but some of the more expensive items were on the show room floor. Which, obviously, hadn't been robbed.

ooc: didn't see that you had posted..heh.



Flannigan turned at the request from his new boss. Confusion played across his face and he wondered if he had done or said anything wrong.

He held up a finger to the guy working on his melting food item and said, "Feel free to browse around and if you see anything you like, let us know.."

His mother always pounded into his head "Never give the customer a chance to get away!" and thanked the heavens that his new boss was nothing like his mother.

"Coming," he called and moved over trying to be as calm as he could be.

Walking up to her a worried look overcame his features. "Is something wrong?"