Circe's Place

I don't own Star wars

"OW! OW!" I shouted as Nike yanked me around by the ear on the ship.

"You put a BOUNTY ON YOURSELF?" she hissed angrily, tossing me roughly onto the couch. "What the hell did you do that for!?"

"It was only for the night!" I said, showing her Killa's contract com. "See? It's canceled now, it's okay."

"Well other than the fact that we need to leave the planet quickly…" Barradowwa replied, "Traps." He added as Rattletrap marched to the cockpit.

"Already on it. Luna IV here we come." He said as X-E, as usual, followed him silently as Nike tried to find just the right words to scold me as a content and smiling Killa blissfully walked to the crew's quarters, completely dismissive of my plight. Oh well.

"You put a gigantic target on your back for no reason!" she scolded, smacking my head lightly as I flinched.

"…Well it made Killa happy." I said simply.

"And scare the shit out of the rest of us!?" she replied slapping my arms as we felt the ship lift off. "What if Your grandmother's men found you huh?!"

"Which one?"

"Both of them!" she shouted, putting me in a headlock as I tried to tap out. To be fair I didn't exactly think that part through, but if we had drawn them out to catch me, we could've tried to catch them instead. Not that I was dumb enough to point this out to a frustrated Nike.

"I'm sorry!" I finally squeaked as she released me, stomping abruptly out of the kitchen as Barradowwa nervously shrugged. "…I'm in trouble aren't I?"

"You're probably sleeping on the couch, yeah." He replied as he heard Nike's frustrated grumbles all the way to the cockpit.

"But you sleep on the couch." I said thoughtfully, "…And I have my own bed she can't kick me out of it…"

Barradowwa raised his paws, "Not touching that. We should just let her calm-" but he paused as my holo-com began to buzz in my pocket and he clamped up as I answered.

Circe sighed immediately in relief as she saw me and smiled nervously. "Oh. Thank the force you're okay. Mirai said you had another bounty on your head!"

"Yeah…" I said, trying to give her a reassuring smile that also said, 'I didn't do anything stupid'. I wasn't succeeding. "I'm okay. It was taken off after a few hours by Babayaga. And hey!" I smiled, "I'm not in debt anymore!

"That's great!" she laughed, "So… are you free then? You should come to my place so we can celebrate."

I didn't see why not, I looked at Barradowwa who shrugged, apparently okay with anything. "Sure. Hey Traps! Hard right to Coruscant!"

"Hard Righting to Coruscant!" he replied back as Nike returned.

"Why are we going to-" but she paused, eyeing the holo-image of my sister. "…Oh. Hello Circe."

"Nike." Circe replied coolly but smiled back at me. "Okay, I'll see you at my place! I'll make all the arrangements. Mirai! Make some arrangements!" she shouted off the holo-com before waving at me, "See you soon!"

Nike cleared her throat as Circe turned off her com, "…What exactly are we going to do there?"

"…Hang out with my sister?" I replied.

Nike however, frowned sadly. "…Roland. What about your dad? We should be trying to find Altora. Or I guess your other grandmother…"

I sighed, and shrugged, "…What do you think we should do? Have Barradowwa shakedown every bar we come to until somebody tells us something?"

"But we shouldn't just wander aimlessly-" Nike began but Barradowwa coughed.

"Mmmn" he noted, eyeing us both, "…There is nothing we can do for now. We might as well keep doing what we're doing. With the added benefit that we don't have to give a sizeable chunk of our credits to a hutt."

Nike slowly nodded, agreeing with Barradowwa as Seis entered the kitchen, opening the fridge and drinking blue milk right from the carton. Looking at the solemn expressions on our faces. "…Shit guys lighten up."

Nike didn't exactly lighten up, but the mood changed quickly as she glared at Seis. "Are you… use a glass!"

"What?" Seis replied with a shrug, "It's not like we haven't swapped spit before or anything…"

Barradowwa suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable and groaned quietly. "…I didn't need that." Nike blushed and bristled silently. "…I'll make a list." He added as I smiled between them, suddenly feeling much better as Nike vented her anger on an uncaring Seis. Well, having nothing better to do I sat down and watched…

Much later as we approached my sister's Coruscant home and we looked out the window of the ship at it, the collective opinion from everyone was…

"Holy shit…" only Killa (and X-E naturally) didn't voice their opinions as Barradowwa stared out at the vast green field that surrounded her home.

"…We could fit the whole village here." He said amazed.

"I doubt you-" I began but he interrupted me.

"Every building would fit perfectly here." He said, "…How… rich is your sister?"

"Well she's as popular in the movies as her mom was with Holo-girl vids so…" Rattletrap began as we touched down on the grass. Raising his hands triumphantly. "Perfect landing!" he cheered before quickly adding, "So really popular."

"…We're in the wrong business." Barradowwa mumbled as we cleared out of the cockpit, descending the ramp as Circe darted out and caught me in a hug, Mirai not to far behind as she squeezed.

"Hey Circe…" I mumbled into her hug as she grinned at me.

"Roly." She smirked, before eyeing Barradowwa. "Barry." He groaned but smiled at her as she fist-bumped Rattletrap who squealed in delight. "Come in! Come on you're going to be so surprised!" taking my hand she dragged me quickly towards the house. "Hey Killa." She added as something of an afterthought.

"Hello Circe." Killa replied humorously as they followed us.

"Hey Mirai." I said, while being dragged past the pretty Mirialan Mandalorian.

"Congratulations on your recent release Roland." She replied before halting everyone else as we reached the front door of Circe's house. the second I was shoved through the door I was rapped up in a pair of massive muscular arms, pressed against an armored chest as I looked up into a Zabrak woman's face.

"…Aunt Baleen?" I asked surprised as my zabrak aunt hugged me.

"Roland!" she laughed, crushing me in her embrace as a scarlet red hand tapped her arm.

"Baleen you're going to kill him." Aunt Scarlet, mom #3 smiled at me as Baleen dropped me. "Hey sweetie." She replied before I grinned happily at her, quickly hugging her tight as she chuckled… Between you and me, Aunt Scarlet gives the best hugs.

…Have I said that before? Did I say that about another mom?... It doesn't matter. I don't play favorites. Right now she gives the best hugs and right now getting a hug from any Mom was amazing.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked hugging Baleen again excitedly as the room slowly filled up with my crew who immediately began exploring the massive household. X-E heavily restrained Rattletrap as he tried to make for the bedroom.

"We came to visit." Baleen grinned, slapping my shoulder, "Look at you. Running around with a crew of girls and pissing off a bunch of people." She rolled her eyes with a reminiscent sigh, "…Good times. You guys blow anything up yet?"

"A pirate ship!" Rattletrap replied, "And a battledroid!" he then tried making a break for it again, but X-E caught him again.

"Hey! Killa!" Seis suddenly shouted, scrambling back into the room and smiling, "Circe has a freaking fighting ring in the garage!" she suddenly punched her hand.

"…Oh you're on." Killa replied following her into the garage.

"This I got to see." Baleen grinned, ruffling my hair as she grabbed Barradowwa and Nike, dragging them with her, "Come on! You all can show me what you can do. If you're going to be apart of my Nephew's crew I want you up to my standards! Bring the Jawa!" she replied, and surprisingly X-E obeyed dragging a limp Rattletrap as Circe followed them, winking prominently to Aunt Scarlet before shutting the door.

"…So how have you-" but seeing the look on her face I stopped talking.

"How is he?" she asked hesitantly, as if fearful of the answer. "Is her better? Worse? Newt… Newt won't keep me updated. She thinks she's helping…" she added spitefully but I hugged her again. She needed a hug.

"…Does Circe know?" I asked taking in her vanilla-scented perfume. "I-I didn't tell her…" I added quickly, "I should." I said about to follow but she grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"Circe doesn't know… I didn't want her thinking about her father somewhere, dying slowly in a hospital bed while she was on set…"

"…Dad's… okay. I guess. All things considered." I said slowly, "…Newt says he's not getting better, or worse he's just… the same." Scarlet sighed, sitting down and rubbing her lekku nervously. "We need to find Altora." I said quickly, "Or a way to find her or… she has the original formula for whatever she dossed dad with." Scarlet's face twitched horrifically, she was deeply annoyed.

"I stole and destroyed that fucking formula…" she said rubbing her hands angrily together, "I even thought the deep op scientists at SIS would've kept it on file for their own use, but they actually deleted all traces of it. Too volatile." She added, "…I can't believe there was another copy."

"…We're going to fix him." I said firmly, she smiled at me, her bright eyes twinkling with obvious hope as she stood back up from the couch.

"Damn right we are." She said proudly, "You, me, Newt. We'll get it done. The Firemane family don't give up." She added confidently "Now come on." She took my hand gently, taking a deep breath and soldiered on, trying to hide as much as possible how close she was to crying. "Let's go see how you do in hand to hand, better than Aiden I hope?"

"Much." I said as we entered the garage to Seis and Killa struggling valiantly against each other in a wrestling handhold. They were both without armor, pilled neatly on a table nearby, and wearing what looked like sports bras and tight spandex pants. Clearly, my sister loaned them some of her training gear.

"Go Killa Go!" cheered Rattletrap as X-E stoically, (but with a slight smile on her face) waved her tiny master in the air as he swung a hastily made sign that said, "Kill-em Killa!"… when did he make that? Where was he keeping it?!

"You got her where you want her Seis!" Nike cheered, it was all in good fun to her.

"Sweep the leg!" roared Barradowwa, shaking the corner of the ring as Circe smacked his big furry arms.

"Don't wreck my stuff Barry!" she frowned accusingly before adding, "Get her Killa! You can do it!"

"I've got ten credits on you Varli, don't disappoint me!" Mirai shouted happily, slapping the mat of the ring in a rhythmic cheer.

Baleen stood stoically and silently as she watched them go at it, Seis hurling Killa into a corner before jumping on her and getting her in a leg lock. Seis had really muscular legs, and once she had them wrapped around something you needed the Jaws of Life to get her off… trust me, I know. "…The Varli's undisciplined but has been in enough scraps to handle herself." With her brothers in fact. "Green-Eyed Killa's obviously been trained, but it's equally obvious that it's with weapons so her hand-to-hand is a bit deteriorated…" she eyed me for a moment, "And how about you? Remember those counter throws I taught you?"

"…When I was seven?" I replied concerned, "Yeah I guess."

"Good. You're next."

"Wait what?" I said, and thought as Killa held back a pain-filled scream as Seis tightened her grip painfully, I could almost imagine Killa's legs dislocating with the force of Seis' hold. "Uh. No thanks?"

"Nonsense!" Baleen replied, "Go a few rounds it'll be good for you. Besides I'd want to see who would win in a fight, you or Circe."

"Circe." I said immediately, "She's always been better unarmed."

"Then all the more reason to get in the ring." Baleen said smugly, and I realized there was just no arguing at this point.

"Yeah. I'm not doing that." Circe smiled as Killa, refused to submit. Passed out. Seis, triumphant, raised her hands in the air and cheered.

"Yes! I beat Killa!"

"Seis she's unconscious!" Nike shouted, quickly checking Killa and tending to her medically. "Barry help me get her to the couch."

"…Another time then." Aunt Baleen replied, her eyes narrowing at me. I sighed in relief, as she turned her attention to getting Killa out of the ring. Aunt Scarlet, rubbed my shoulder fondly before frowning slightly as she seemed far off in thought. It was then that a droid entered, he was very shiny as if recently polished.

"Madam Circe. Your agent is on the Holo-com." It said, with a very posh accent. "He would like to know if you will be attending the movie premier."

Circe frowned annoyed, "…Shit." She mumbled quietly, "I forgot about that." she rubbed her chin in thought, "Hmm. Okay." She then smiled at me, "Roly want to be Mirai's date?"

"Say what now?" I asked confused as Mirai blushed slightly, glaring at Circe who only continued to grin.

Seis however crossed her arms angrily, "Oh come on. How come she gets a date night!? She's not even a crew member!"

End of Chapter.