This Beautiful War of Mine

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Nar Shaddaa
"Lazy 8" Spaceport Casino
2104 Hours, Galactic Standard
Herrith Hendarsin
(Death Disabled, PvP/Capture permitted with both parties agreeing to fight, the norm)
THEME

A toast to death, I suppose. Death, drinks, and solace. It was always easy to lose, wasn't it Herrith? You're far used to it by now. You've grown accustomed to it. Loss is your friend, in a way. The only constant friend in a black hole of new, old, and neither. There's been so much that you've lost. A home, family, numerous people you dared to call friends and yet, here you are. Drinking away everything to the sound of a beautiful voice. As usual.

So why did it hurt so much? It was the same drink I always used, spiced rum, fancy enough to work as a sendoff and cheap enough to be approved by the scoundrels I know and knew. It was the same spaceport. The same everything. Maybe I'm finally getting soft.

Or maybe I need someone to balance this out a bit. Help null the impact.

She sat on a stool facing the bar, the spiced bottle of cheap rum in one hand that rested on the counter, the other sliding forward a credit chip. Her eyes remained locked on the counter, a smooth synth-wood top stained a deep brown. In her eyes, the face of a dying human, seared into her mind. She'd held the poor girl in her arms as she died from blood loss. A piece of shrapnel embedded in her throat, just enough to cut the jugular. The girl was young, maybe fifteen to seventeen. Short brown hair and hazel eyes, with fair skin and a wild look on her face. Till a stray concussion grenade knocked free some nails and alloys. It was quick. She was gone easy, with someone there. A better death than expected in the Outer Rim. And it was Herrith's fault. She had chosen to duck and run from a few thugs down a small alley, and had run right into the girl, evidently fleeing from fear. The fresh scrapes and cuts along the Zeltron's face proved exactly how close she'd been to sharing the human's fate.

The galaxy was too cruel. She took her cup, poured a small bit of rum into the glass, and downed it, her hands shaking. Maybe she wasn't drinking enough. Or was it too much? Hell if she knew. But what mattered was that she needed to get that image out of her head. Both of the images. One of the girl, the otherof her, stuck in an alley with a bolt burned through her chest. The drinks wouldn't cut it. She needed something. A distraction. Anything.

OOC - Just a darker oriented social thread. 'Social' as in sad stuff, and pretty much do your thing. I'm trying to jumpstart my writing again.

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Casinos were not Nolan's kind of place. Despite being an avid Pazaak player, he still deemed this sort of establishments too expensive: they usually milked you for more credits than they provided. The house always wins, right? Let alone the fact that the drinks were unnecessarily more expensive than in a simple cantina.

Still, as he walked the streets of Nar Shaddaa and saw the establishment he had never been to, Nolan decided to stop by. After all, if you stick to doing only one thing, or to visiting one place, you'll stagnate and will be missing out on a lot. This time Nolan had some spare credits to celebrate a job well done, so a casino could work as well.

Even though his reasoning was to check out a new place and what it had to offer, Nolan's first order of business was still to inspect the establishment's bar. There was some free space by the counter, and Nolan picked a free stool just one seat away from the the Zeltron patron. Had Nolan been your average dashing smuggling daredevil, he'd try to strike up a conversation, if only to keep up appearances. However, he wasn't.

As the bartender approached, Nolan would just point at the bottle standing behind him; it was unsigned and contained some green liquid, but Nolan had seen and tasted it before. After showing with his fingers how much of the drink he wanted poured in his glass (just slightly above the half), Nolan put a credit chip on the counter with his other hand. With a glass in his hand now, he took a small sip, looking around to see what sort of crowd the establishment gathered. You never know what sort of people you'd run into and what opportunities such meetings could provide.

 

[Oria Solstice]

Oria sat at the far end of the casino's bar with her head planted flat on the counter. The simple cloth band she normally wears around her eyes laid out in front of her, stained with the cheap alcohol she had spilt on the hard, cold counter. She truly hated being back on her birth planet and it made her sick to her stomach. She had vowed to never come back here when she left, but she needed money, badly, and there were some decent transporting jobs here.

The half full bottle of the cheapest and worst alcohol this establishment offered sat in front of Oria, taunting her. She had really developed a drinking problem since she got back to the civilized parts of the galaxy and being back on Nar Shaddaa was definitely making it worse. Oria didn’t care though, she just wanted to forget the memories that haunted her.

Taking the bottle in hand, Oria sat up and brought it to her face. The stench of the black liquid inside made her gag and cough before she even took a sip. That was her que to stop drinking she thought, or at least stop drinking that cheap swill.

“Kord! Dord. Jord… Whatever your name is bartender!” Oria hadn't know the tenders name at all, she just said a random name that came to her mind and rhymed stuff to it. “Please just take this filth away from me before I die from its smell alone.” She finished before pushing the bottle down the counter and using the Force to help keeps its momentum while staying upright. To a passerby that little trick of the bottle wouldn’t have looked too out of the ordinary, but to those actually watching the bottle it would seem a little physics breaking.

 

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Herrith's thoughts were interrupted by the call of a nearby feminine voice and a bottle skidding to a stop on the table just in front of her and off to her right. She expected the thing to teeter, maybe even tip over completely, but it didn't. Narrowing her eyes at the spectacle, she looked over to the source of the audio. It sounded derogatory, the tone, borderline stuffy, and carried with it a certain kind of half-authority, though still very youthful. The speaker was a human by the looks of things, and with a piece of cloth set before her, her eyes grayed out. Blind, perhaps? Or maybe some kind of modification to her eyes? Night vision, maybe? She decided to not bother assuming and watched as the bottle was taken away.

Herrith's eyes rested on the woman, as well as another human newcomer, who had approached only moments before the blind one. He was currently minding his own business. The Zeltron decided to make a distraction out of this brief conversation and leaned over the counter slightly, to better see and speak to the blind one.
"May I suggest Corellian whiskey? Or maybe a rum? Something more exotic, love? And don't bother with names, he's hardly told anybody his. Whatever you drank didn't look too good, and you certainly have a knack for luck with that sliding. Might have to teach me your handy ways."

A smirk appeared on her face, one likely not seen, and she was sure to include some amount of humor in her tone. Whether or not the woman was really blind was confusing. Herrith had seen blind people, and they didn't normally have odd eyes like those. Of course, there were a lot of things she didn't know. Which made this all the more interesting. In the meantime, she winked to the man and took a swig from her bottle.

 

[Nolan Kodd]

The bottle slid right in front of Nolan as well, making him chuckle briefly. It seemed as if the bottle had beed sliding on a perfectly even and slippery bar counter (that clearly wasn't the case). Albeit curious about this little trick, Nolan didn't think that his curiosity would warrant bothering the seemingly-blind and hearingly-grumpy stranger. Still, he threw a glance at her, if only to see what the fuss was about.

The Zeltron patron, however, didn't share Nolan's reservations and was more eager to start a conversation. Nolan turned his face to her and did smirk faintly (more at the Zeltron's tone than at what was said), and when he noticed a wink directed at him, he nodded, raising his glass with the green liquid and taking another swig.

 

[Oria Solstice]

Her head half turned, half tilted in the direction of the woman’s voice, however she didn’t look directly at her but off to the side. Oria’s grayed over eyes stayed locked in the forward position, completely unmoving as she had turned her head. The woman looked almost completely human to Oria in the force, but there was something off she couldn’t quite put her finger on right away. For half a second it eluded her but then it hit her like a blaster bolt, the woman was pink!

That’s right! That’s what pink looks like… Has it really been that long since I last saw pink? She though to herself quickly before realizing that her response was taking too long to be considered normal.

“Oh really now? That isn’t the first time a pretty pink woman has asked me about my ‘handy ways’, and I truly hope that it’s not the last.” She smirked back at the Zeltron. “But I think I will take you up on that recommendation of rum. Hord!” she shouted at the bartender, “I’ll take whatever rum she’s having.”

She finished with giving the Zeltron a small wink of her blind eye. Though she seemed to be paying attention to the painfully obvious Human male on the other side of the woman, Oria did take close note of him. By the look and feel she got off him she could tell he was from this dump of a planted as well.

“And what about you over there Mr. Silent Type? What’s your poison?” She said without turning her head to ‘look’ at him anymore than it already was.

 

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Herrith smiled and let out a short laugh as the woman crafted her response and accepted the suggestion of rum. Judging by the manner in which the human had looked her way, she was very, very blind. Though, the intriguing part was the fact that the blind woman had been able to name a physical feature. It was odd, very odd, and as much as Herrith wanted to disprove the Force, she couldn't help but side with the supernatural this time. Those certainly weren't cybernetic eyes, and she certainly wasn't using them, either. Curious. Her thoughts were interrupted, as it appeared the human had taken notice of the other one, who hadn't spoken at all, and attempted at causing conversation.

"Well, if you'd like, love, I could gladly keep up that streak. As for this one, it's green and doesn't look like something you'd trust. Unless you drink from the sewer. He doesn't seem like one to make conversation, either, even with us two nearby. Funny."

She spun her bottle around in her hands and then turned in her chair to face the two. Her previous thoughts of sorrow were slightly faded, and the constant nausea she always felt had eased slightly. It seemed like stuff like this helped with her issues, though the Zeltron was just too blind to notice it. Ironically, in a sense, she was more blind than the blind person just down the way. Funny how the world worked.

 

[Gunner Stahl]

The young officer had taken some time off between deployments, afterall, his newest posting assignment had not yet been complete though he had hoped he would receive his desired position as squad leader for the new sith knight. Gunner made his way through Nar Shaddaa, already finished dinner with a certain lady friend as he headed to the casino as he felt it was too early to call the night away.

Imperial uniforms and battle armor was replaced with a wardrobe of stylish pilot gear, dark denim pants and a slim fitted leather jacket. He peacocked with some unique articles of jewelry including an elegant blue time piece. Twin carbine blasters nestled quietly at his waistline as his body sauntered into the establishment. Playful smile laced on his dashing features as he boldly claimed the vacant bar seat next to Herrith. Eyes flirted with the barkeep, a glass of pristine vodka on the rocks slid over to his grasp. Attention slowly gravitated towards the pink one, "Nice rack...are those real?"

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Nolan remained silent, letting the Zeltron and the blind one "exchange pleasantries". He didn't mind a conversation, but he wasn't the type to start one either. Intent on letting their two women to continue their talk, he was all the more astonished when the blind one addressed him. How the kriff could she know?! Nolan had heard about the Force, but he had never encountered it before in any capacity. Too astounded, he choked on his green beverage briefly, coughing. Enough time for the Zeltron to interject her remark.

"It's Tarisian ale, mixed up with some local stuff for color and flavor, apparently. The mixin could come from the sewer indeed," the man replied, trying to maintain the joke, but still too confused or too polite to ask the stranger how she had figured out he (of all the other patrons) was even there. Before he could continue, another dashing pilot had entered the establishment and occupied a free seat near the Zeltron and made a bluntly flirty, if not a blatantly rude remark. Nolan couldn't but smirk briefly and make a barely-hearable sniff at the crude pickup attempt. Other than that, he did not interfere; he just remained there, sitting and awaiting how the situation would develop.

 

[Oria Solstice]

A cringe crossed Oria's face as she made a hard, loud inhale through her teeth at the newcomers comment.

“Oh dear, that is not how you flirt with a lady,” she said as the tender finally came over and gave her the rum she ordered BEFORE the new pilot. “Thanks Shord! You really now how to take orders one at a time!” she yelled with the slightest hint of sarcasm at the bartender. The tender turned to give Oria a small snarl. “Oh don’t be like that. I know you love me deep down Mord.”

She took a long swing from the bottle of rum placed in front of her, before turning her attention back to ‘look’ at the newcomer. He seemed to hold himself carelessly and she knew not to take that as a sign of stupidity. He had an aura of unforgiving authority about him, and that meant he was either somewhat high ranking in the Cartel or the Sith Empire. Oria didn’t care for either of those to be honest and she wasn’t a strict Republic girl, but having spent eight years in the Jedi academy left her with some definite biases against them. So it's fair to say that she wasn’t going to like him too much to begin with, but that first line really sealed that deal.

“So why don’t you go ahead and give that flirting a better try Mr. Stud,” she said with intense sarcasm. “Because I can see how bad that line worked, and I’m blind,” Oria finished off with a chuckle to herself and a second swing of her rum.

 

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Herrith didn't have time to see the immediate responses of the two, as a newcomer had appeared from thin air, taking a seat and ordering what looked like top-of-the-line vodka. In a bloody casino? That was a bold move, considering just how seedy this world was. If you looked rich, you either were and got mugged, or weren't and got mugged anyways. His immediately straightforward line was evident of his personality, seemingly someone who was straight to the point. That was admirable, but at this point in time she felt the need to return the favor. A surprised look came on her face.

"Every inch of me is real, love, though I can't say the same about you...is that plastic I see on your perfectly shaped nose or is it just the lighting?"

She felt that was a good enough bit to start this off with, and looked at the Silent One's drink while he finally explained what it was. Tarisian ale, mixed with some sewer and smuggler's spit. Seemed about right. Herrith nodded in approval to his drink choice and by this time the blind woman had made a joke about this new guy get a second chance at his utterly poor entrance line, the Zeltron had spun the empty bottle of rum in her hands and asked for a bit of whiskey, sliding credit chips toward the bartender.

Good. Less thoughts about death, more about flirting. Not much of an improvement, but still, better than death.

 

[Gunner Stahl]

He burst out into laughter at the comical responses he received from his apparently, blatant initial inquiry. He was surprised but pleasantly taken back as he expected nothing less from the Zeltron and the blind one. Taking a swing of his top shelf Vodka, he turned back towards Herrith, his hand reaching out for hers. "Hot and cool? Impressive, it's like eating a sandwich with buffalo sauce and ranch dressing." He turned momentarily towards Oria, chuckling as he nodded in her direction. "Name's Gunner Stahl, a pleasure. What brings you two lovely ladies to Nar Shaddaa?"

Eyes darted towards Nolan, "Speak up chap, you aren't going to get anywhere in life being so shy.." Turning to the barkeep, he slid some coinage, "Shots all around...let's have some fun tonight" Winking at Herrith as he spoke.

 

[Kel Santhe]

Brooop-BING-BING-WINNER--WINNER

The sound of the coins came crashing out into the cup, causing Kel's eyes to open wide and burst into laughter, "Oh kriff...Jackpot baby," he would slide the coins into his jacket with a bit of a chuckle. Glancing around the casino, he would look to celebrate his new rewards with Herrith--but, of course she had dipped out on him again. Things seemed to have been different with her lately, she was distant and turning in on herself.

Glancing around he would slide his hands into his jacket and make his way towards the one spot he knew that she would be--the bar. Of course there she sat, sipping away on the usual drinks with a man attempting to impress her. He shook his head with a chuckle, as he thought back to the time they had met on Taris.

"I'd watch where you put your hand buddy," he would shoot the man a wink, "she's known to bite harder than a nexu."

 

[Nolan Kodd]

The hotshot pilot's demeanor has improved, if only slightly. At least the second attempt at flirting with the two nearby female patrons was slightly less blunt and rude; yet it was also somewhat more standard. Still, the newcomer's attitude was an exact opposite to Nolan, who usually tried to keep his cool and listened more than he talked. Nolan thought (and perhaps rightfully so, as this encounter reminded him) that this sort of behavior, despite admittedly reserved, was still setting him apartfrom many other pilots. It could be for better or worse—that Nolan didn't know. At the very least, it helped him to avoid any unwanted attention.

Still, he was addressed, and he wasn't one to miss a remark. Was the newcomer trying to score some points with the others off Nolan's attitude? It certainly seemed so. The fact that the stranger was correct didn't make it right. Nolan finished his drink in one go; a brief confident chuckle left a fall-out smirk on his face as he turned towards the man who had addressed him. With his head tilted, the young man replied calmly, in a serious, if only slightly humorous manner: "You don't say! I'm not shy where it counts alright. Talking too much though? From my experience, it doesn't count and only gets people in trouble." He made an elusive confident smile, content with how his remark turned out. There was absolutely no threat in Nolan's voice; he tried to maintain the air of an experienced pilot who was just sharing his observation with a rookie in a friendly chat. Turning towards the counter again, he ordered the same Tarisian ale with a gesture, a full glass this time, and slid more credit chips the bartender's way.

 

[Oria Solstice]

Oria took a long hard swing of her rum, before gracefully downing the free shot, courtesy of Gunner, as fast as she possibly could. Man, that vodka was certainly good stuff, but way too expensive for Oria. She did have to admit to herself though, occasionally getting free expensive drinks from men out of their league was one of the best perks of being a woman. The Quiet One’s response put a small smile on Oria's face. He's got a bit of a backbone after all. Good for him.

“What else brings a woman back to this pig sty of a planet? Easy jobs and steady money. It's a hard galaxy out there boys, and believe it or not a being able to flaunt your chest doesn’t pay a girl as well as you would think,” she smirked over at the now three human men around the Zeltron and her, but mostly crowding around the Zeltron whose name she continuously forgot to ask.

Quickly she spun on the bar stool to completely face all of the small crowd. Her head and unmoving grayed eyes not looking directly at anyone, but more or less looking in between the gaps of people. “Okay. I need to know this, is there something about a woman being visually bright pink that just makes men have to flock over to her? Because I like women just as much as men do and I don’t get it. Is it purely the fact that she looks pink? Because even the thought of the doesn’t make sense to me,” she said before pausing for a second. “I don’t know,” she threw her hands up slightly, “Maybe it’s because I’ve been blind half my life or something…” Oria was rambling now, and that meant the drinks were starting to hit her a little bit harder than they already were.

 

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Herrith let out a slight sound of astonishment. He was bold to be sure. Her expression of slight amusement and surprise to the half-decent statement coming from Blondie was more of an act than real, but then again it really wasn't terrible. She shifted in her seat, taking a swig of her drink and then replying with a short chuckle.

"You wanna talk about eating? Well-"

Then someone showed up that she absolutely did not expect to be here. Oh yeah. Him. Kel made a quick joke slash jab her direction and she scoffed, agreeing with Kel on his jab. Herrith made a chomping motion and bared her teeth to the blonde guy before allowing herself to speak briefly, winking Kel's direction.

"Yeah, his hand isn't anywhere it doesn't belong, Santhe."

At this point in time, Nolan had replied to Gunner's comment about his silence in a light heart, and she couldn't help but smile before taking a sip from the bottle between her hands. Oria soon cut in, wondering exactly why there were so many people that appeared from thin air. Herrith had the same exact question. Kel had come out of nowhere. This didn't seem like the place he'd be dwelling in...but then again, she hadn't seen him for quite some time. He looked better now. A bit more experienced and less like a spoiled schutta set for life.

That was a bit extreme. Oh well.

"Ah, you see, love, I'm a Zeltron," she said to Oria, the second part of her comment tinging with sarcasm. "and your sexuality doesn't mean anything. I get everyone, I'm just that good, clearly."

The sight of a human slamming that many drinks started to worry her a bit. The girl was probably suffering from something right about now. After all, humans didn't have a whole lot of strength when it came to the world of alcohol and spice. That fact never was proven wrong. At least in her experience. Though it was odd with the amount of people wandering around here. They all seemed to come out of nowhere. A chance encounter, surely. But the Force was devious in its own way. The Zeltron wasn't superstitious, but this certainly was a bit of a red flag.

 

[Gunner Stahl]

He began to chuckle, fingers slowly continuing to stroke the Zeltron's own palm before suddenly tossing her hand back, releasing her from his grip. "Don't get too comfortable sweetheart, you need more brownie points, no matter how nice your rack is..." He winked again and returned to his drink. "Easy jobs and steady money huh? Well you ladies sure know how to pick your places." He motioned towards the barkeep, whispering something in his ear before shifting attention back to his company. "Getting crowded here, how about we move this party to the rooftop. Get a bottle of that high end stuff and enjoy the stars."

 

[Nolan Kodd]

The glass of vodka came as an unexpected surprise; the hotshot clearly wanted to show off, but who was Nolan to judge? Downing it in one go, he compared it to the Tarisian ale he had been drinking. In a connoisseur's eyes, the comparison would never be in favour of the ale, but Nolan wasn't that picky. "Take a gift, dodge a blow", as his mentor Shiri used to tell him.

He chuckled at Oria's remark about Zeltrons. "Maybe they just stand out in the crowd," the young man shrugged, unsure if it was the reason why he had occupied the bar stool not so far from Herrith in the first place. "Getting everyone might be a little too overconfident though, even for you," he chuckled to the Zeltron's comment; to his surprise, he found himself agreeing with the dashing flyboy, although he never would've put it the way Gunner did.

Taking a sip from his new glass of ale, Nolan shrugged again, unsure if Gunner's invitation to the rooftop extended to everyone, or just the two ladies he was courting now. Probably the latter anyway.

 

[Oria Solstice]

“Well if you are that good, I certainly wouldn’t mind see your style,” she replied to the Zeltron with a smirk. The bottle of rum in Oria’s hand was on the verge of becoming empty sooner than she had expected it to. In the back of her mind she realized she was drinking way too fast for her own good and that only trouble could follow this, but she didn’t care. It had been a hard couple of days being back on Nar Shaddaa and if Gunner was offering more free drinks, she might as well take them.

“Getting out of this stuffy casino air doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” she began as she started to stand up from her bar stool. “and if your offering some free vodka, how is a gir,” and that’s when the world fell out from under her.

The way most humanoid creature’s balance works is a combination of the liquid floating around in the inner ear telling the brain which way is down, and the eyes telling the brain where the horizon is. When sober Oria is able to almost solely rely on her inner ear with a little help from the Force to keep balance, but when drunk her brain doesn’t always interpret the right signals from her ears and she had no eyes to help out. Thus, she becomes a lot clumsier.

She fell for only a split second before she was able to catch herself on the barstool, but the bottle of rum that was in her hand kept falling. She reached out to grab at it with the Force and managed to catch it just before it hit the ground. She realized right away that it wasn’t the best idea to have fully used her Force powers in front of the strangers, but it was too late now.

“I really freaking hate being blind…”

 

[Herrith Hendarsin]

Herrith regained control of the hand that was flung away and used it to reach for her drink, a playful smile on her face. Okay, so this guy wasn't as easy as she'd thought. No matter. She wasn't as easy as he likely thought, either. In between that, Nolan had commented his own piece on the blind human's comment. Yeah, Zeltrons had a certain gravity to them. Whether it was their coloring, their personality, empathy, or pheromones, with the last being most likely, everyone always seemed to be within a ten meter radius if there was one around. As proven here. Cocking her head in agreeance and a bit of a challenge, she replied, leaning toward the human with the Tarisian ale and mouthing two words with a humored smile:

"Watch me."

The blond man's comment on taking this to the roof was not a bad idea, not at all. Especially with drinks. Her thoiughts were struck aside briefly, as Oria had made another provocative comment, stood, then damn near fell. Her bottle took a plunge, and then..stopped. Mid air. Eyeing that and her hand, the Zeltron stopped a moment to consider her words. Her face seemed like she was going to say something negative.

"Well, that bit just spices things up, doesn't it? Now you've got more than just yourself to...get personal with. Speaking of that, how about we end this little lack of introductions. I'm Herrith Hendarsin, that-"

She pointed to Kel Santhe, who was probably watching wih his jaw dropped wide open.

"Is Kel Santhe, and I'm buying the next bottle of vodka. You all are...?"

After a second, she returned her gaze to Blondie, smirking and talking with a whisper.
"I'll buy one bottle, we'll see just how much you can take before you drop. Though I'd hate to have to drag you all the way home and not get anything done, love."

OOC - My dialogue is a bit wonky, let me know if you need clarification!