Blood and Money - The Mandalorian

From oil to Chocolate

     "We can check there." He spoke as he headed toward the lighted up building that looked like it was about to fall apart. It was huge though, with a glass dome on the top that snow had built up on it, but due to the heat from inside it wasn't completely covered so the light inside was shining brightly through it sometimes changing colors. I nodded and followed behind him, sticking as close as I could so he could block the wind from hitting me. It wasn't working though and his cape would whip up and hit me every now and then forcing me to move out of its way and back into the cold wind. I even lose my footing a couple of times on a patch of ice that was hidden beneath the snow and instincts forced me to grab the nearest thing to me which was Mando's arm. He would stop and look at me as I regained my composure and just softly said, "Sorry." Completely embarrassed for the mishap and removed my hands from him arm. But hey would could a person do? Fall face first into snow and sharp ice? Nope. I'm grabbing the nearest thing to keep that from happening. And if he's standing there, then he's getting grabbed, whether he liked it or not.

          We moved further down the street as I looked up at the thick steel poles and silver wires that connected to the building that lead off in other directions toward taller buildings that radiated a soft humming noise as we passed by. I could only assume it had to be some sort of power to keep all the lights working in town and in this huge building we were heading toward. I could hear the snow and ice cracking under my feet as I walked on it and the wind was cutting me with chills as the snow was hitting me in the face like tiny bees. It only took a few minutes to reach the door but by the time we did, I had already been chilled to the bone and that for me is the worst cold. I walked past Mando as he held the door open for me to go in first. It was definitely warmer inside than out. I shivered as I glanced around at the strange creatures sitting or walking around drinking and some were eating and laughing with their companions.

          There were also silver long poles along the walls that were glowing a soft reddish orange  that I knew as heaters only because Rassen had installed a few of them in the ship to help keep us warm when we needed it. There was also music playing from a band off in one corner of the room, it was loud and it wasn't something I would listen to all the time. If I had to guess, I would have thought this was some sort of pub or restaurant or something else even though the outside looked nasty and broke down, it didn't reflect it the inside, it was really clean and well kept.

          I also noticed small droid's moving along keeping the floors clean and barmaids dressed a little too prerogative for my taste, which was to stay as covered as I could, but I knew that if you showed a little skin you get better tips and if that's their thing, who am I to judge right? I guess it didn't matter what planet you were on, what species you were, you still had to do things to earn that coin. I removed my hood and glanced up at Mando as he stood there, I tried to contain the chuckle, but he had snow built up on his helmet that looked like a ring going across the top of his head, I reached up as he backed away, "Relax." I told him and brushed it off. I then heard cheering toward the back corner that grabbed my attention and tried to sneak a peek at what  was going on, but couldn't see anything from my spot. There were far too many creatures walking around blocking my view so I just followed Mando up to the bar like a lost puppy due to the fact I didn't know who or what was inside this pub. He got the attention of the robot bar keep. It was tall robot with a bucket shaped head, which had a few dents that looked a bit rusted and bar lights for eyes, there was also a slit where the mouth would be. Long tubes came out from the back that were connected to the center bar section that housed three very tall and very clean silver vat type of containers. One had a blue liquid inside, another had a yellow and the closest to us had a greenish brown liquid sloshing inside. Mando spoke to this robot as I stood watching him. "We're looking for a parts dealer." He said to the robotic figure behind the bar. "Somewhere close if possible."

     "The only one that is within walking distance is down the center of town to the right." It answered in a very robotic voice with no kind of emotion and limited movements he defiantly wasn't NED who probably would've added some snide remark. I chuckled at it.

     "I..am..a..robot. beep beep boop." I mimicked the voice, then looked at Mando who turned to look at me and I stopped smiling, cleared my throat and waved my hand toward him. "Sorry, Continue." I looked around the bar again at all the strange creatures. Some of them I recognized from seeing them on other planets and some were new to me, like a couple of green guys with huge eyes and very small mouths or the huge pudgy grey one that was sitting in a corner smoking on what reminded me of a hookah, but his was full off a bluish green colored liquid and the smoke he blew out was a purplish color. He noticed I was looking at him and moved the mouthpiece toward me, I just shook my head and politely waved as turned away from him. The cheering caught my attention again and this time it was louder. I tried to look past the bar to see where it was coming from even stepping up on the edge to look past the huge silver vats that were in the middle. I still couldn't see what they were cheering at, and could only see the backs of some of them. I started to head that way, but Mando stopped me by grabbing my arm. I turned to look at him.

     "A low profile, remember?" He whispered. I jerked my arm out of his grip.

     "Yea, I remember, I just wanted to see what was going on, chill out." I whispered back, then stood there defeated by his words. I still tried to get a peek of what was going on, but couldn't see anything from where I was standing. Mando had found out the right location so we didn't have to go blindly into the cold weather looking for it. When he was done he turned toward me.

     "It looks as though we'll have to come back when the sun is up, everything has shut down for the night due to a bad storm coming in." He told me in a low tone, I deeply sighed and glance around.

     "Okay, we'll come back tomorrow then, but before we go, you think I could get something hot to drink?" I asked him. "Please?" He deeply sighed and I knew he didn't want to stick around. But I really needed something hot to drink before I had to fight my way back out in that cold air. He turned back toward the robot.

     "Something hot for the lady." He told the robot who turned on a rail that it was connected too, then came back and poured something steaming brown into a cup.

     "Aww, you called me a lady," I fake blushed and playfully hit his arm. "Stop it." The robot moved to cup toward me. I looked into it. "What is this?" I asked swirling the thick brown liquid inside the cup that resembled motor oil.

     "It is Teelk." The robot answered. "Humans like sweetener it helps with the taste." I glanced at Mando.

     "What's Teelk?" I whispered, tipping it and watching it ooze, I didn't think I could even attempt to drink this thick goo.

     "It's an alcoholic drink, like Spotchka but served hot." Mando answered.

     "What's Spotchka?" I asked still tipping the cup, it was gross to watch it. I made a face and didn't even allow him to answer the question. "I don't think I can drink this. It looks like something we use to oil the ship with, this is just super gross." I told him setting the cup down. Mando moved the glass container with crystal shaped sweetener closer to me.

     "Here, add two of those." He told me. I used the little silver stick that was sitting next to it and poked at two of the blue crystals that attached themselves to the stick, I added them and stirred it around. The liquid started to glow blue and fizzed, swelling up inside the cup to the very top, it changed in color and consistency. I was always up for trying new drinks, but I wasn't sure about this one. I took a deep breath and brought it up to my mouth and took a little sip. To my surprise it was pretty good, it had a slight flavor of chocolate and mint plus it was hot. I took another sip and it felt good going down since I was still shivering a bit from being cold.

A/N Hopefully I got all the typos, I re-read this at least 10 times to make sure. If I missed one, Let me know and I'll fix it. Another chapter will be coming after this one. Thanks for reading.

1675 W.