NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45: Bits and Pieces
Summary: Meeting a certain Skywalker, and sexy times back on the ship.
Warning! Chapters 44-47 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Lemon Warning! This chapter contains a Lemon. It is clearly marked with -Lemon Starts Here- and -Lemon Ends Here-
Chapter 45: Bits and Pieces
With their contact's directions, it wasn't all that difficult to find Watto's Junk Shop. While Mos Espa barely had streets, let alone street signs, Watto's shop was on the outskirts of town and took up a significant amount of space. Logical, given its purpose, but also something that made it easy to locate if you have even half an idea where to find it. When they stopped for a moment across the street, Aayla reached out to it with the Force…and frowned at the result she got back.
"Odd. There's little of the despair here that it common throughout the city. Melancholy, but no despair. I was expecting much worse."
Izuku hummed, lowering his filters a bit to get information from the surroundings. When he did, his eyes widened, and he lowered them still farther to dig a bit deeper. After a few more moments he restored them to where he usually kept them and shook his head with a rueful smile.
"Well, that's certainly an odd spanner in the works. Seems Watto isn't exactly the stereotypical cruel slave master. I also think you might want to add a few seconds more strangling if you get your hands on a High Council member in a dark alley."
Aayla blinked, frowning at him. Not in disagreement so much as confusion.
"Apparently, Watto was actually somewhat fond of the kid you mentioned. Enough so that I got a vision of him helping said kid's mother front the cost of sending a message to Coruscant to check on him. And getting really pissed at the Jedi for not responding."
Aayla grimaced, then sighed.
"Kriff. That's messed up. Guess that means we probably shouldn't play the Jedi angle here. Not that I'm dressed for that, anyway."
Aayla's tone lightened at that last bit, with just a touch of amusement shooting through her irritation and renewed desire to strangle a Council Member or two. Izuku chuckled and nodded.
"He seems to care about the mother, too. We'll have to play this one by ear, but I think we might be able to play this fairly straight. We do have a legitimate reason to be here, so we can get a feel for both of them and see how we want to do this afterward."
Aayla considered for a moment, then nodded.
"After you then, Master~."
Glad that Aayla's mood was improving enough to tease him a bit, Izuku pushed off from where he'd been leaning against a wall as they talked and headed across to the shop, Aayla trailing behind. They entered the shop to the sound of a simple, crude alert in the form of a few beat-up old parts hung on a string that clattered together as the door opened. In contrast, stepping into the shop proved the space was higher tech than it looked, as it was quite a comfortable temperature. A serious feat on a world like this one. Though one that Izuku supposed made sense, given he was pretty sure Toydaria was a temperate swamp world. It wasn't the Toydarian who greeted him, however. Instead, it was a human woman who appeared to be in her late thirties, though what that appearance meant for someone on Tatooine was questionable. Her eyes flicked between them quickly, a slight frown in her eyes even if a customer service smile sprung to her lips.
"Hello! Welcome to Watto's Junk Shop. Hi chuba da nago?"
Izuku blinked, even as Aayla snorted. Both of them understood Huttese just fine, and Izuku couldn't help but voice their mutually incredulous thought.
"Really, 'What do you want?' You know that really only works as a pun, a bad one, in Basic."
The woman shrugged, a slightly more real smile tugging at her lips as Izuku didn't react badly to Aayla's half-laugh. Or to the bad pun.
"It's the owner's catch phrase for the shop. But it's also always a good question, if someone is coming here at all. What do you want? Are you looking for something, or wanting to sell?"
Izuku shook his head, letting a smile tug at his own lips at her attitude. This woman was far from broken, lending some credence to what the Force had told him outside. Or perhaps simply to her own strength of spirit.
"Actually, it's mostly information I'm after. Though I'll happily pay for it. I need information from the Jawa community, and someone told me Watto has regular dealings with them."
Shmi's eyebrows rose.
"Yes. They are regular customers of ours. Both buying and selling. Watto even spent quite a bit of time learning from them, when he first arrived on Tatooine. As I understand it, at least. That was long before I came to be in his possession."
Izuku raised an eyebrow. Well, now, this did seem like a promising lead.
"We need to speak with some of them and would be happy to pay for the information of where we could find them. Along with perhaps sparing someone's services as a translator?"
The woman considered him for a moment, then nodded, she took two steps away from her spot at a cluttered front desk and shouted through a portal into the junkyard behind the shop.
"Watto! There are outlanders to see you! They want something!"
There were a few moments of no reply, then the sound of wing beats as a Toydarian appeared from the junkyard entrance. He paused a moment on seeing them, eyes darting between them, very obviously taking in the quality of everything they were wearing. Not to mention Aayla's…everything. Her 'sexy harem outfit' was high quality shimmer silk, and she was wearing numerous finely crafted charms in addition to her ornamental chastity belt. Her mere presence, on a world like this one, told Watto he was dealing with an extremely wealthy client. Which, to be fair, was entirely true, even if they'd crafted the image intentionally for their cover. Unsurprisingly, the Toydarian's voice was rough but respectful when he spoke.
"Well, Wadda want?"
Izuku's lips twitched just slightly at the repeat of the pun, this time in Basic so it was more blatant.
"Information, which I'm quite willing to pay for. I need to speak with some Jawas about where to find something out in the dunes, and I was told you'd be the most likely to know where to find them. Not to mention I don't exactly speak Jawa, so hiring you or one of your people for a day or two as a translator would also be of interest to me."
Watto looked more than a bit surprised at the request, but his eyes quickly narrowed with suspicion.
"Just what do you need from the dune rats?"
Izuku shrugged, not feeling the need to hide what he was after.
"I'm working on something that requires a durindfire crystal. A local contact told me that the only people on the planet who know much about them are the Jawas. Apparently, they use them for their goggle lenses?"
Watto blinked.
"Huh. Surprised an outlander was even able to find out about those. Can't imagine what you need them for, but it won't be easy to get one out of the Jawas. They have a practical use for them after all. You'd need something good to trade with them for them to even consider it. Money wouldn't do it, since they value the practical more."
There was a shrewd look in Watto's eyes. Clearly, he intended to offer things to help with the 'trade.'
"Hmmm, I could easily just have a few droids brought from my ship. They're brand new, so I imagine the Jawas would be quite interested…" he let the statement hang long enough for Watto's expression to sour, then offered a deal. "On the other hand, you know what they'd like best. And I do need your information, and a translator. How about you make me a deal on what you think I can trade with them. In exchange, you give me the information and loan me someone to translate."
Watto's greedy expression had returned with the offer, even as Izuku spotted the human woman smirking from behind the Toydarian. Clearly, she recognized what he'd just done. The Toydarian did too, of course. But the winged alien was pretty obviously the 'dealmaker' sort of personality and couldn't help but latch onto the idea.
"Yes! I've got good parts, lots of things the Jawa's will want, yes? Let's make a deal…"
Izuku wasn't a dealmaker type himself, but he'd certainly learned how to do it over the last few years. With a confident smirk, he set about negotiating…
... ...
In the end, the deal had been fairer than Watto would have wanted, but still slanted enough in his favor that the Toydarian was happy. That, of course, was what Izuku had been going for. Given their other goal, he wanted the Toydarian to respect him without resenting him. A fine line to walk, but one that he'd managed nicely. His species might be resistant to the Force, but he had no real resistance to Izuku's or Aayla's empathy, which were something considerably different. And that edge had let Izuku ride the line to put Watto exactly where he wanted him. Happy with the deal, yet respectful of Izuku's negotiating skills.
Of course, they'd also gotten one more important thing out of the deal. Specifically, that the finally introduced Shmi Skywalker would be going along with them. First, to guide them to one of the Jawas' semi-permanent trading outposts, then to act as negotiator and translator as they spoke with the Jawas. And possibly onward from there if they still needed local expertise. They'd ultimately hired her from Watto as a 'guide,' for up to a week. Conditional on returning her at night to the shop, of course. The Toydarian had been a little leery of letting her go off with them, though had seemed somewhat appeased when Izuku causally mentioned he was Bendan Marstrap's 'off world investor.' Watto's eyes had reassessed Aayla's presence at that, suddenly feeling much more wary about her being there than he had been. Which told both of them that Watto at least suspected something about Marstrap, even if he didn't seem to consider what he suspected an entirely bad thing.
Of course, by the time all of that had been handled, it had been too late in the evening to risk setting out into the dunes. Which meant that Izuku and Aayla had returned to the Wandering Fate for the evening. They'd pulled Mei out of the section of the cargo hold she'd turned into a personal workshop, making her eat and updating her on what little they'd found out so far about the crystals. Though they'd deliberately not mentioned much detail about Watto's shop. It was exactly the sort of place that Mei would love to very gleefully raid. Which, if this hadn't been Tatooine, they'd have just as cheerfully let her. As it was, Mei showing herself much on the planet wasn't exactly a good idea. She wasn't really a fighter, was incredibly attractive, and didn't have the 'protection' of being easily able to pass as a slave.
-Lemon Starts Here-
Of course, that dangerous attractiveness had Izuku smirking halfway through their meal. Mei was waving a fork as she excitedly described something she was working on, and Izuku had caught Aayla's eyes drifting to the barely-contained breasts trying to pop out of the tight tank top Mei was wearing. Mei was very anti-bra, considering them poorly designed monstrosities, and the ship was cool despite the heat outside. Mei had most likely stripped down to her tank top while physically working on something and overheating in the process. But now, in the relatively cool of the ship that both Izuku and Aayla preferred, her nipples were firmly adding their own stress to the tank top…and Aayla was still horny enough from Izuku's day-long intermittent teasing that she couldn't keep her eyes from drifting.
Not about to let that slip go unrecognized, Izuku let Mei drift off deeper into a rant instead of pulling her back from her techno babble. With Mei distracted by herself, he slipped his hand in his pocket and found Aayla's remote control. Tapping it twice, he watched her jerk in place and nearly moan aloud as the toy inside her powered on and resumed the last 'tease' program he'd had it set to back in the cantina. It was an aggressive program, designed to use the sensors in the belt to edge his lover without quite letting her go over that edge into release. A quick peek at the remote's screen made him grin, even as Aayla tried to school her expression. Apparently, his little 'slave girl' was still horny enough that it had taken only seconds of the vibe ramping up for it to need to start fluttering again to prevent her from actually cumming.
Deciding to take more personal control, Izuku tapped into their bond for nefarious usage, using it to feel out how close she was as his fingers tapped controls. The result was even better than the sensors could manage, making Aayla squirm in place helplessly as she was repeatedly driven to almost peak, only to be dropped cold for a few seconds to cool down. Both of them were so distracted that they didn't notice Mei had switched focus until she spoke.
"Ohh, it looks like she's having fun. Maybe I should try a belt like that?"
Both of their focuses snapped to Mei…which was bad timing, as Izuku lost focus and didn't drop the power of the vibe. A lewd moan escaped Aayla, despite her panicked attempt to clamp down on it, as she rocketed past the point of no return, cumming all the harder for having abruptly been caught. Izuku scrambled to turn the toy off, though even as he did, Aayla was shuddering through the aftershocks of an incredibly powerful climax, unable to truly focus and eyes half closed.
"Oh! Really fun! That looked way more powerful than I get with anything but my very best toys! Is it because he's been teasing you all day? I've heard of that! But I never had the willpower to try edging for long. Oh! That's why you have the belt, right? So you can't do anything about it! Huh, I wonder if that would help me focus? Or maybe force me to relax…I've been bad about relaxing."
Izuku boggled, even as Aayla recovered and turned more and more purple with a deep blush of embarrassment…though Izuku could also feel a renewed rush of arousal from her at Mei's blithe ramble. He wasn't quite sure if it was having her situation pointed out, or the idea of Mei in the same situation, that was getting to her. Possibly both?
"Er, Mei…I'm not…uh…"
Actually. What the fuck was he supposed to do with this situation? Apologize despite the fact that Mei was clearly unbothered? Distract her? Jump out a non-existent window? Thankfully, shockingly, it was Mei herself that powered through the situation.
"Hmmm, ooohhh, is this one of those things that you're not supposed to talk about? But…Nikkila always likes talking about my new toy designs! I've even made her a few. Alien anatomy was a fun challenge! Oh, wait, is it because Aayla was staring at my boobs? I don't mind! I stare at hers a lot too, especially in that outfit! It's super hot!"
Aayla's blush slowly faded at Mei's ramble, and she started to giggle helplessly. Mei just stared in confusion until the giggles stopped, Aayla finally managing to get out something like an explanation.
"Normally, you probably shouldn't talk about things like that with random people, Mei. But we don't mind. We were just afraid we'd offended you by…you know…playing with you around?"
Aayla's blush returned a bit as she said that, but she seemed more determined to take advantage of the situation than anything. Abruptly, Izuku remembered their conversation on Naboo. They hadn't really followed up on Aayla's comment about seducing Mei, but he'd been able to tell at the time that she was somewhat serious. Now, she seemed intent on testing the waters just a bit. Mei was blinking in surprise, head cocked as she seemed to try and make sense of Aayla's response.
"But…it was really hot? Why would I mind? I mean, I'm going to need to spend some time with my toys after dessert since now I'm super horny! But I don't really mind that, Izuku says I'm supposed to be resting on this vacation thing."
Even after knowing her for over a year now, Aayla seemed momentarily knocked back by Mei's…Meiness. Then she giggled helplessly again at Mei's earnest expression.
"Never change, Mei. Although, I wonder if I can inspire a better time for your fun…"
Izuku blinked, watching at Aayla's body language shifted into full seductress mode. She practically oozed sex as she flowed to her feet and swayed around the side of the table to Mei, whose eyes were glued to his lover. Izuku gaped as Aayla leaned in, grabbed Mei by the chin…and kissed her. Not a brief kiss, either. But the sort of searing, passionate kiss she reserved for Izuku when they both really got going. Mei had frozen for just a moment, but then moaned into the kiss, then moaned again as Aayla tweaked both of the other woman's nipples. After a long minute, Aayla pulled away from the utterly-stunned looking pinkette and sauntered away. The frozen scene only broke as she reached the hatch to their cabin and looked over her shoulder.
"Come on, Master~! I still have to be a good girl and pay you back for letting me cum, even if it was an accident~…"
Izuku barely remembered covering the intervening distance as he threw a shrieking Aayla over his shoulder and kicked open the hatch to their cabin…
-Lemon Ends Here-
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AN 1: Watto. So, I'll address this here, even if he's really related to both this chapter and onwards. You might not agree with my interpretation of him. That's okay. I wrote the bits about him as every single instance I used as an example of his treating Shmi okay is CANON. Either actual current Canon, or at least EU canon. In fact, I didn't even go into some of the more telling stuff, as it hasn't happened yet. He originally refused to sell her to Craig Lars because he considered the offer of an entire landspeeder in trade for her to be insulting to Shmi. Then he actually tries to convince Shmi later that it's a bad idea by showing her how hard moisture farming work is, and that her life would be rough if she went that way. All signs seem to point to him actually caring about her to an extent. Is Watto a Good man? No. Is he actually a fairly decent one by Tatooine standards? All evidence seems to say he IS. So that's the interpretation I went with.
AN 2: Things with Mei are beginning to escalate! Her inclusion isn't going to be immediate, but obviously things are heading that way ;-).