A Quiet Drink [Moonfire]

[Kriegen]

It was just another evening on Coruscant, people bustling back home from work, all of them oblivious to everything except their journey home. To anybody else, this would mean nothing. To one Cathar in particular, it meant nobody would be at Starstruck, one of the slightly less seedy cantinas he frequented on Coruscant. This particular bar was tucked away in a relatively busy part of the Undercity, and at night, it was usually full of alcoholics trying to drink away the pains of the day. But since it wasn't quite quitting time everywhere, that meant the Cathcart could have a few drinks in peace before the bar was packed. He always preferred that. He's spent so much time in space alone that he'd begun to enjoy silence, to the point that any loud noise was enough to kill his vibe, so to speak. And after the stress his most recent bounty has put him through, he needed a quiet drink.

The young Cathar made his way down the street from where the taxi service had dropped him off, then turned a corner to a smaller side street. From there he made his way down to a small cantina with a flickering neon sign that displayed the name Starstruck. Inside the cantina were only a few other patrons, one a human who was sitting alone at a table in the corner,  and the other two were a Rodian and a Twi'lek who were talking and sharing what looked like a bottle of whiskey. Behind the counter stood a hefty male Besalisk garbed in a stained white shirt and black slacks, simultaneously wiping the counter, cleaning a mug, and wiping the sweat from his forehead. The Cathar sat at the bar and ordered a cask of Corellian rum and a glass, then prepared to get as drunk as possible while still being able to fight if need be. And hopefully do all that before Blitz, his pet Anooba pup, got too anxious and started tearing into his ship. But that rarely happened.

[Moonfire]

Speaking of alcoholics trying to drink the pains of the day away...

"Ayyy you! Bothan dipsh*t! Get meee anothaa fuggin' drink."

Kailani Quix, pirate broad extraordinaire was enjoying all the fine establishment, Starstruck had to offer. Which wasn't very much. How unfortunate. The short, slim woman swayed uneasily in her stool, losing her balance momentarily and gripping the table firmly to hold herself up right.

"Did you hear me, mothafugga? I'm talkin' to yeeww!" She sputtered, wild blonde hair in a tangle of curls about her face as the rather annoyed looking bartender continued polish the heavy glass in his hand.

"Lady, you're cut off. You've had enough."

"Beeeeeeetch. Yew don't know me. Yoew don't knoooow my liiyfe." A small fist pounded against the steel of the counter top, rattling the litter of empty bottles and glasses about her as she swayed comically once more. "My money is just a' gewd as anybody elses."

Kailani had a particularly difficult weak. She'd been nearly caught by a rather lewd bounty hunter and there was a whole realm of daddy issues she didn't really feel like remembering to go along with it. So what better way to fix all of lifes issues during shore leave than to drink yourself to oblivion? Most responsible and adult way to handle these things, after all.

A hand thrust out to punctuate this point only the knock over her glittering collection with a disastrous clatter, sending one to shatter on the floor behind the bar.

"Hey!" Shouted the Besalisk-- not quite a Bothan, taking a step back. "You've had enough, Lady! Sober up and then get the frell out. You're cut off."

"Oh fuuuuuuuuugg you, buddy. I'll tell yeou when I've had enough! Get me another fuggin' brandy or I'll burn this shiddy dive to the ground." Kailani's voice was serious, despite the ridiculousness of her slurring. "Fine! If yeou won' gib me a drink I'll find 'omebody else who will!"

Turning about Kailani surveyed the bar, spotting with hazy green eyes a young Cathar. Scooting closer to where he sat she gave a dazzling smile.

"Hey there, Kitty-kat. The bartender and I seem to be havin' somethin' of a moral disagreement. You wouldn't mind helpin' a sweet girl like myself, woulda ya darlin'?"

[Kriegen]

"Well considering you're about one more drink away from puking and falling unconscious, I'd say buying you another drink wouldn't be smart," the Cathar replied, taking a swig from his cask of rum. "On the other hand, I have a faint suspicion that if I don't, you'll draw a blaster and lose your mind." He took another swig, then handed it to Kailani. "I think you passing out is preferable to you blasting a hole in my head. I rather enjoy living." As the Cathar handed her the cask, his jacket shifted, showing a blaster pistol at his hip. The odds were good he had another one in the other side. Not that it was odd, especially in this part of Coruscant, but it proved he certainly wasn't some civilian.

[Faeruy]

Shanti walked into the Starstruck and immediately felt uneasy. This wasn't like Nar Shaddaa cantinas at all. It was too quiet. No dancing, no bar fights, no crowds of creatures and smells to wade through. In fact there was almost no one in there, and they were just quietly drinking. It made her feel a bit homesick. She stayed long enough to down a couple of shots, just because she was here, but she was just about to leave in search of something more lively.

That is, until she heard a familiar voice berating the bartender. At least the tone was antagonistic, but it was hard to tell what she was actually saying because she was slurring so bad. Still, it was the slurring that caught Shanti's ear. She recognized that tone, and a giant grin spread across her face. Kailani. Maybe things wouldn't be so dull after all.

"What's the matter?" She said sidling up to the bar. She looked between the blonde, the Besalisk and the Cathar. Kailani looked drunk out of her mind, the Besalisk looked angry, and the Cathar had a cask of something that smelled strongly like rum. Her eyes bugged out at the sight of it. Shanti leaned over it and took a sniff. Rum. Definitely rum. With no mixers. She shot an accusatory glance at the bartender. "What are you,racist? You give this Cathar an entire CASK of rum and then have the balls to tell my friend here she can't have another drink? What's the matter with you?"

The bartender harrumphed and turned away to wash glasses. Shanti took her glass and dipped it into the open cask. Clearly this kitty-cat meant business. She could respect that, as long as he was willing to share. She stuck out her free hand in order to shake it.

"Hi, I'm Shanti. My totally-sober friend here is Kailani, princess of Naboo." She elbowed Kailani in her boobs, hoping that the blonde woman didn't fall over. "Isn't that right Lani?" She grinned, and took a large drink of rum, letting the sweet liquid burn down her throat.

[Moonfire]

"Pfffffffff." Sputter Kailani at the Cathar's oh-so-rude assumption. Her? Drunk? What a ludicrous thought! A wave of her hand towards the Cathar showed her disagreement. Or perhaps it made her look like she was trying to bat away invisible bats. One couldn't really be sure with how obnoxiously trashed the woman was.

"Sweetheart, yeouw thing I'm drunk? Tha's adorawble. I'm haaardly buzzzzzed." She laughed richly, swaying dangerously again as familiar figure shifting to her side. Red hair, waving and gorgeous filled her vision as a grin plastered brightly across her face.

"Red!" Kailani cried, wrapping her arms about the friendly face in a sort of slack hug as she introduced herself to the charming gent. "I haven't seen you since that time we beat up the Prime Minister of Zeltros. How the frell are yah?"

The woman crooned, resting her arms about Shanti in a dangling sort of hug, leaning nearly her entire body weight against her as she hiccuped into the wild mane of red.

Her eyes closed as the Cathar seemed willing to share part of his immense cask of rum. What was the kitty doing with so much alcohol anyway? That didn't make sense. Not a lick.

She perked up, head lifting off Shanti's shoulders as the more polite of the pair made the seemingly necessary introductions.

"Thas' right! I'm teh fuggin' Princess of Nabbo. I had a date with teh King a Corellia. I stood 'im up." The blonde grinned brightly, resting about Shanti's neck despite the rather uncomfortable elbow poking into her boob.

"He was a lousy kisser anyway."

[Kriegen]

"Oh good, someone to drag her out of here if she passes out." He poured another drink. "I was beginning to think I'd have to do that." He then drew the knife strapped to his shoulder and started sharpening it. Not as a show if force or a threat, but just out of habit. "My name's Kriegen, I'm a bounty hunter. What Brruins you two to this...fine
establishment?"

[Faeruy]

Shanti stumbled a bit as Kailani leaned on to her. She only just managed to keep her balance. She took another drink, and then refilled her glass from the open cask. The Besalisk bartender glared; clearly he was hoping Shanti would buy something, instead of just taking from the Cathar. Joke was on the bartender, the redheaded bounty hunter had no money.

She was smiling though. Kailani was fun. And, as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, they made a devastating pair. They could tear up this town and leave it begging for more if they wanted to.

"Been good psycho. I killed the Leader of the Hutt Cartel recently, how 'bout you?" Apparently, the drunk woman's first response was to burp in her hair, which made Shanti's grin drop slightly. She'd gotten enough puke in her hair - mostly her own - to hope it never happened again. Though with the whole night ahead of them and a Cathar who didn't seem to mind that she was stealing his booze, keeping everything in her stomach tonight was not going to be a high priority.

"Kings are always terrible kissers." She said, making a face. She turned back to the Kriegen. "Bounty hunter, huh? Small world. I dabble a bit in that field myself. Nothing better than trading in some poor sucker for credits. That's how Lani and I met, actually. I had this huge contract for the King of Naboo, and Lani here helped. Imagine that? Turning in your own grandfather for credits. Me, I'm here to see what kind of work I can find. Didn't have much luck the last time I was here, but my homeworld's dead. How about you. What brings a Cathar to a bar and compels him to order enough rum to drown a Bantha in?"

Oh, Shanti was starting to feel the effects of the booze. She could tell she was being chattier than normal, and she had stopped feeling Kailani's sharp chin resting on her shoulder. She started to lean back into the blonde woman's drunken embrace, while her head swam pleasantly in the alcohol-fueled haze.

[Kriegen]

"Mostly trying to forget my last bounty. Rogue Jedi, nearly killed me, then took hostages." He took another swig. "But at least nobody who wants me dead knows I'm here, so that's always nice." He sighed and set his drink down. "I suppose I could've had a worse day," he said, right before a human and two Weequay entered the cantina with blasters drawn. 

"Kriegen, you double-crossing fleabag! I know you're in here!"  The human bellowed.

"Oh, would you look at that. It just got worse." Kriegen kept his head down, but unfortunately was spotted by one of the Weequay.

"There you are!" The human snarled as he approached.

"Hey, Balthazar, I was just coming to talk to you," Kriegen said.

"I've been doing it up until now, haven't I?" As he was talking, he very slowly dropped his right hand as if to go for his blaster, though he didn't grab it. He simply kept his hand open, keeping it slightly inside his coat.

"Alright, that's it! You're dead meat, Cathar! Dead meat!!" Balthazar raised his blaster at Kriegen, and if Shanti and Kailani hadn't been sitting right next to him, they'd have missed the metallic cylinder that suddenly jumped into his hand, right before a green light erupted from it as Kriegen jumped at Balthazar and running him through with it. Then the light was gone, and Kriegen dropped Balthazar. The two Weequay were too surprised to react.

"Ladies, these two are all yours."

[Moonfire]

Kailani smiled into Shanti's hair as the other girl detailed their grand exploits. She truly enjoyed her company, the few times they'd crossed paths. Plus they seemed similar in dress size and perhaps they could trade clothes. Kailani did owe her a new pair of shoe after their last adventure.

"Gramps nevarh did like me." The blonde woman agreed, nodding more into her companions chin before graciously accepting a glass of rum from the enormous cask herself. Tipping back the glass she untangled herself from Shanti, feeling the liquid fire work its way down her slim throat, warming her black clad chest

"Said I was disgracin' the famileeee, galvantin' with scoundrels. Fugg 'im. Nobody can tell Kailani mothafuggin' Quix what to do! You feel me? You feel me?" She asked, pounding her fist against the bartop again, much to the poor bartender's annoyance. "Well I fuggin' showed 'im. Didn't I, Red? Ain't no gorramin' King of Naboo gonna tell meesa what to do."

Kailani babbled on like this in varying degrees of coherence when a new group of people wandered in, yelling at her new Cathar friend. Now thats not very nice. Not that it discouraged Kailani from continuing her ramblings.

"And then Red pulled out 'er blaster and you won't fuggin' believe it, Kitty. It jammed! Right thar in the King's office with the damn Royal guards runnin' up the hallway and 'er gun jams! And I'm just like whaaaaaaat?" The woman's face contorted in a mimic of her shock, eyes crossed and mouth agape as her new found companion withdrew a lightsaber ready to take on the new group of pals.

"So I konked 'im! Right over da head! With his own fuggin' croooownnn--Wait, wut?" She shifted as Kitty tilted his head towards the two not-so-pleasant looking gents that had waltzed in with whatever-the-frell the other guys name was.

"How about we not do that?"

[Faeruy]

Either Kailani could weave a good yarn, or Shanti was now drunk enough to understand her ramblings. The result was the same though. Shanti drank, and started to forget that she wasn't home. Not too far away, some angry men came into the bar, and the Cathar immediately started fighting with them. This was more like it. Bar fights, booze, drunken lies. Now it felt like home.

The kitty seemed to want them to fight. Shanti looked down at her outfit. She had stashed her hunting gear in a locker down by the space port, and was wearing an electric blue sheath dress. She had her vibroknife down one boot, but no other weapons. Not gear for fighting in, surely.

"I'm with you, Lani. Drinks." She said, downing the rest of her glass. When she turned back to the show, it looked like the only people left alive in the bar were her, Kailani, the Cathar, and the bartender. Well, that was a short lived barfight. She was hoping for something more entertaining than that.

"Why should we go? We didn't do nothin'." The bartender was glaring at them though. Shanti always hated it when Besalisks glared.

"You're all cut off." He said. Shanti frowned, and widened her green eyes into a look of puppy-dog sadnes. The Besalisk seemed unmoved.

"Fine. See, this is what happens when you sell someone an entire cask. Hey? Where did he go?" Shanti glanced around the room. "Kailaaaani.... the booze is gone! What do we do now?"

[Kriegen]

"I'm right here," the Cathar called over. He was standing by the exit with the small cask sealed and under his arm. "Still plenty left if you ladies still want some." Though it wasn't outwardly apparent due to his usual calm demeanor, but he was actually hoping they'd come with him. If nothing else, he's at least be entertained by Kailani's drunken antics, and he definitely needed a good laugh after...well after he took on that rogue Jedi....but if they didn't, more rum for him. Plus he needed to check on Blitz, make sure he wasn't chewing wires or playing with a thermal detonator...which hadn't happened yet, but Kriegen did tend to worry about that. "Well? How about it?"

[Moonfire]

Kailani was in that sweet spot that came with drinking irresponsibly large quantities in a very short amount of time with very little intent to quit. Her head was filled with fluffy clouds and spun-sugar and her limbs were delightfully heavy as she tossed back another deep gulp of the rum before the cask seemed to slip away, though the little blonde didn't protest. No, she was far more content to stare up at the ceiling, mouth slightly agape as she admired the particular way the dim light above them flickered.

It sang to her the song of its people. A blinding ballad for the ages, a tale of love and loss and ritualistic sacrifices to a god of novelty-love dolls.

Wait, what? Kai giggled, first quietly but then uproariously at the absurdity of her thoughts before tinkling off, verdant eyes glazed over as the Cathar dispatched the two big uglies guys, Shanti who seemed to be a fair bit less annihilated agreeing they'd rather stay out of it.

The ruckus continued, but Kailani had sort of faded out. The world spun and Shanti was warm and delightfully close. What was it about rum that made everything so blasted cuddley? Her arms wrapped about the other girl in a loose hug as Shanti whined, getting a wince from the other woman.

"Iss gone?" Kai slurred, "'ell we canna stand for dat. Les go 'et some moar!" And with that Kailani tried to stand. On woobly legs the young woman might have been thankful she wore boots rather than heels tonight, but her only real thought at the moment to was to find a bar that didn't mind tossing some more booze at her.

And it appeared the kitty with the cask had the same idea in mind.

"Les go to Bennigans, I want pancakes. An vodka."

[Faeruy]

"Wooooah.... easy there trelk. I'm...maybe naw' so good on my feet righ' now." Shanti hiccupped. How much rum had she had by now? She couldn't tell. Enough to get properly sloshed. Rum goggles were the best kind, at least in Shanti's opinion. Everything was prettier, but in a soft, hazy way. Not like other drugs; those made things pretty but in an intense, vivid way that easily turned scary if Shanti wasn't prepared for it. Rum was nice. Rum was a warm friend that accepted your flaws and smoothed things out for you. Kind of like Kailani was right now, although even that didn't sound right in Shanti's head. Kailani didn't smooth things out; she made things worse. But that was okay too.

"Kitty!" She exclaimed, when she saw that the Cathar hadn't actually left yet. "I couldn't see you so I thought you left. Are you a Jedi? Did you turn invisible? Can Jedi do that? I can turn invisible, but only to computers." Shanti grinned wildly, proud of her accomplishments, and completely forgetting her original question. She had also forgotten the Cathar's name - Chrichton? That sounded close. Keegan? Also close. A small frown crossed her face, as she tried to figure it out, but only for a moment. Kitty worked well for the moment, even though Shanti knew some Cathar didn't like being called that.

"Does the Benny's place have street meat? I could go for some street meat. Inna bun." Shanti said. Somehow her hair had fallen into her face, and she shoved it back with a noise of disgust. Stupid hair, she should really just get it cut off. Then she started tugging at Kailani. "Come on! Le'sgo! You, Kitty, bring the booze!" She yanked on Kailani's arm, which proved to be too much for the little red head. She stumbled backwards, went rolling heels-over-head, and didn't stop until she found herself face to face with some really ugly looking alien. Shanti squinted her green eyes and looked up at the fierce creature. It looked like a Trandoshan. And it looked angry.

"Whooops." Shanti giggled.

[Kriegen]

Oh this should be good, Kriegen thought to himself as he watched the Trandoshan confront Shanti. Guess I'm not the only one with people after them.

Kriegen didn't really have any business in whatever was going on, but he couldn't really help but want to get involved. Maybe it was just that last ounce of chivalry he had that said he should help two women in trouble. Which wasn't really needed, since he had a feeling these two could handle themselves just fine in a fight...but then again, they /were/ hammered.

"Hey lizard brain, you got a problem with those two?" he called out before he could stop himself. Dammit, chivalry, stop getting me into trouble! He then proceeded to mentally slap himself for saying something. He knew he'd just stirred up more trouble. Hopefully he'd just get told off and all would be well. But he was rarely so lucky. His left hand dropped to his blaster, just in case.

[Kriegen]

(Alright, well...I think we're done here. Hope it wasn't too horrible for you both.)