Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Nudimsu]

He didn't want to do this.

It was cold in the base, caf wasn't helping. His suit was, thankfully, but everything else was not helping. Power was out, everyone was rolling out the red carpet for some Sith. Didn't matter to him. Instead, he was here. At the place that was his absolute bane. Why? Because Lana wanted a pet goat and he didn't have the reasoning or the will to tell her no. Oh, sure. They were going to have many goats on board. But she wanted her own little goat. Maybe because that other Sith Lord had one and she wanted to compete.

No, she was not petty. She probably just found them cute. Not to say he would mind having one for them, of course. And...she rarely wanted things too. It was...it was too cold. The little guys were huddled together for warmth...
He gave a very loud sigh and entered the Goatery properly, looking around the place once more; he would not break here. So, once again, he was off to go get a gift for Lana.

At least he knew what to get her this time.

[Pipka]

Pipka was pleasantly surpirsed when Nudimsu arrived. "Welcome, I was beginning to think you were serious about not wanting goats. Grab a teat and start milking." He nudges a goat with a freshly washed udder holding a bucket in its mouth towards Nudimsu.

[Nudimsu]

There was a long pause as he looked at Pipka and nodded. "I don't hate the little bastards, I just don't want 30 of them on my ship at once." He grabbed a bucket and started to following. Maybe doing some manual labor would help him get his mind off things. "Okay...so how do I do this?"

[Pipka]

"It's really easy, right Gibzy?" He calls over his shoulder to Gibzy before settling down next to Nudimsu to guide him.

"So, first thing to do, grab a handful of udder, like your grabbing a bag of milk. Now you pinch with your thumb and forefinger then squeeze your other fingers into your palm. A lot of people try to pull, but you gotta pinch and squeeze. See." He then takes a hold of Daisy and squeezes some milk out into the bucket.

[Nudimsu]

He nodded and got a firm grip on the bucket, spoke plainly to Pipka, "Seems easy enough." And sat downe got a firm grip on the utter and started to pull.

Nothing was coming out. His eyes immediately darted to Pipka's hands to see what it was he was doing wrong.

[Pipka]

Some might take this opportunity to put the Chiss in his place, to chide him and harangue him, or possibly even to Judge him. But Pipka was not one of those people.

He gently pushed up on Nudimsu's hand to keep him from pulling down on poor Daisy's teat and guided his fingers to squeeze. "Think of it like a trigger. Squeeze, don't pull."

[Nudimsu]

He nods and begins to pull it down more, just as instructed, and sure enough, the milk began to come out slowly. "Well, there it is." He kept with the motion. "How do you know when to stop? When milk stops coming out or will the goat let me know about it."

[Pipka]

Pipka steps back to watch Nudimsu go to work. "You keep milking until it stops coming out."

He moves on to another goat of his own, Gertrude, and cleans her up to get her ready, giving her a pat on the back. "These gals make a lot of milk, which is good, we're going to need a lot for all those freed slaves y'all brought back yesterday. That was a good thing you did." He tips his wide-brimmed hat to Nudimsu in little salute.

[Nudimsu]

He gives a deep breath. "We're paying for the cost of kindness now. It wasn't like before with you, where we had the means to transport and house them; we're surviving out here right now, and the good deed could get all of us killed. They were in terrible conditions, but they would have survived until we could house them properly."

He nodded. "All I've done is help give us 200 more mouths to feed and shelter." He continues to make the motions with the goat, spitting out the milk.

[Pipka]

Settling into a rhythm with Gertrude, Pipka answers, "Logically speaking, you are probably right, but think about all those times you've gotten frustrated because reality has defied logic." He lets that seat a sink in for a moment.

"Things happen for a reason, we just need to go with the flow. The Big Green Fish knows all, the Big Green Fish eats all... Well, that particular axiom may not be too relevant.

What I'm trying to say is, you saved those slaves, you were meant to save those slaves. We have been stranded here on this snowball for a reason. Mine has so far been to take up goat husbandry and create an endearing franchise of goat milk-based beverages and sundries. Yours has included freeing some two hundred slaves from pirates. We will find a way, I might go on a hunt later today to see what this planet has to offer outside of trade. Gibzy Wizy Tik swears by the grub grubs."

[Nudimsu]

"Starting to sound like a Force user, Pipka." He says, continuing to squeeze down, following the rhythm. Rhythm was something he was good at. "When one comes up with a plan, on say the battlefield or a operation, you are pitting your mind against another's. Trying to factor in many possibilities they could have come up and countering as many things as you can think of that they would do. I do not discourage the possibility of chance, nor the ability to be proven wrong in my thoughts. Not only for my own benefit of surviving, but to know that those we rescued may have a second chance at life."

He shakes his head. "No, I am never truly frustrated by my logic being off or chance occurring to prove me wrong. I get mad at myself, sure, but I think on what I did wrong and do what I can, having hopefully learnt from my failures. I see failures as a chance to account for something else entirely different, even ones that defy logic. The only thing I cannot take account for is the Force; the Force is chaos, and can never be truly predicted. If I am to be frustrated about something, it is that." He looks down at the bucket and squeezes more of the milk in, keeping the pace.

"So, fix the situation if you can. I would be happy to discover my concerns were taken into account and accommodated, but then they not have been fixed by circumstance or by fate. They were fixed because someone chose to fix them. After all, no one handed you the goats: you chose to buy them and you chose to market them."

[Pipka]

Pipka finished up with Gertrude and moved on to Buttercup. He was very efficient with the milking, there were many hungry and thirsty people waiting, as Nudimsu had pointed out.

"You know that I'm a Fan of action. I'm not saying we sit by and hope things work out, just that the choices we make are made and there's no use doubting or trying to work out if there was another way to a different outcome. But, I also think that the outcome we do end up with is the one we're supposed to, even if it's not what we wanted.

We can't control everything by knowing about it. But as long as we keep doing what we're supposed to be doing and keep moving forward, we'll find a way.

Also, for me personally. I'd rather starve or freeze in this base among all these new friends than to live on and know I left them to die alone and sad. But I don't think it will come to that."

[Nudimsu]

"Who knows. The future can be seen, after all, so in a sense you are right. Though, from what I have always understood it is still very malleable, even with what yoy see within the Force." He finished up and went up to the next one.

"Lana talks about things never truly being set or understood. At least Layne learned that lesson before things got worse. Guess we should do what we can do make sure it does not come to us freezing to death...for obvious reasons. Afraid it would only be myself and Durasay at this point." He starts milking the cow again, taking a small amount of time to get it going, but getting the hang of it.

"Speaking of Lana..." He pauses. "I...think she is rather jealous of that other Sith Lord with the goat pet and would like one too. Probably not sure how to ask about it with yoy, though. Would it be possible for me to get one?"

[Pipka]

Pipka stops his squeezing and cocks his head to face Nudimsu. "You said, Lana wants a goat. You guys would be so cute with a kid together." He finishes with Buttercup quickly and heads over to the nursery section of the goatery.

"Usually, I would ask a potential adoptive parent to come in and meet with the kids, but I've got the perfect one for you two." He leans down and picks up a tiny runt from the group and carries her over to deposit into Nudismu's lap. "This is Jolene, she's still on the bottle, but very strong willed. She loves to cuddle and take strolls around the base."

Watching Jolene settle down and nuzzle against Nudimsu, Pipka adds, "Just tell Lana to be careful, this one will take her man."

[Nudimsu]

His eyes widen and looks at him. "She wants a goat. It would just be hers, so we would not be having kids together. Our relationship is purely platonic and one of mutual respect, so we would not be having any kids together, either hybrids or child goats." Nudimsu states plainly and begins to look at him.

"I do not know why Breela and now you seem to think I am in a relationship with her."

[Pipka]

Pipka gave him a coy look, "You realized we've been bunked together on a relatively small ship for some time and that I have excellent senses." He twitches his ears and his nostrils, "There's not much that gets past me on the Turtle."

He pulls up a stool and sits next to Nudimsu and Jolene. "If you want my advice, you need to take the initiative and stop putting things off. If you're worried we may not make it off Hoth, then do you want to leave things at 'platonic'?

Here's what I can do, I can make arrangements for some cots in here for Durasay and Hacha, the barracks are all full now, and we can give you guys some time alone. Put a sock on the ramp or something."

Pipka starts to get up and move on to the next goat to be milked but turns back to Nudimsu, "And you can leave Jolene here, or better yet, bring her back after you show Lana. These goats already had to witness whatever abomination happened here last night with Jub'Lub and Tiss." He taps the side of his nose, "The nose doesn't lie."

[Nudimsu]

His face turned a brighter shade of purple as the little bat mentioned the smells. "It's...more complicated than simple wants, Pipka. Sith Lords have targets on their backs from other Sith. If I go open with it, I become a liability; I'm not part of the Empire, not a Jedi who who can counter them, I'm just a exiled Chiss she would have to protect. I..I couldn't do that to her. While I am grateful you've kept your mouth quiet on the matter, we have to keep our relationship the way it is...regardless of how either one of us may feel about it." He looked down on the ground afterwards, shaking his head.

He was right, though...maybe...he had to take a gamble at it. Maybe she was stressed over his own inaction with their relationship for protection. He could just take the risks of openly being with a Sith lord. He was, after all, not a weak person. He knew how to deal with the shadows. It wa--wait, did he learn all this from those books? And wait--what happened with Jub'lub and...whoever this Tiss is?

His eyes look back up at him. "I...what...Jub'lub? Really?! Here?"

[Pipka]

Pipka listens attentively while the Chiss made all the excuses. "You may try to put off these airs of a 'platonic' relationship, but no one on this base is fooled. And if you weren't putting on a show, if there really was nothing between you two, do you think her enemies wouldn't assume there was something and still try to use you? You are trying to avoid something that is already out there.

Do you doubt her strength? The influence she has? Are you really scared of becoming a liability for her, or is it something else? Just give her the goat, make some clever remarks about raising a kid together and see what happens."

Pipka seems satisfied that he had gotten through to Nudimsu, "And yeah, Jub'Lub..." He mouths the word everywhere while spreading his arms across the room.

[Nudimsu]

His eyes look at him. "You underestimate the intelligence of people. Not everybody can see the way I do or smell the way you do. They don't pay attention to the details, think logically, or even care to notice the crumbs of truth scattered across the floor. They focus on what is in front of them, what they think is the truth, and simply are content with what they are told. So, no, I do not think everyone has caught on. I know of one who may suspect something, but other than that, they have their own concerns to worry about other than me here."

He scoffs. "We should be so lucky that some of these people can think beyond the next footstepthey take, much less notice us." He shrugs. "Though...you are right about the potential threat, either way. We have worked together for years. Sooner or later, we must either establish ourselves formally or..." He said, with a deep sigh. "Well, something needs to change soon..." He started to feed the goat, the rather helpless creature before him and just stared at him as the goat drank from the bottle, likely shivering from the cold.

Make a joke about raising a kid together with a goat...sounds like such a terrible line to use.

"I think I'm going to need to go to the refresher after this." He looked around at all the possible places they had...done that. His mind coming to terms with just what had occurred. He learnt to regret his overly analytical mind in those few moments.

[Pipka]

Pipka sees Nudimsu off with a wave and a wish good luck, not that he would need it, those two were crazy for each other, he could smell it. And not crazy like Jub'Lubs and Tiss, that was an entirely different smell.

/scene?