Ask [Toydaria] No toying around here anymore...

[Hailee Lightwood]

Inside this kriffing factory, Hailee wasn't catching any breaks. Right after she had dealt with the two guards, another one was approaching, this time more prepared and less surprised than the rest, his blaster already aimed right at her.

Instinctively, she threw her body to the side, her side slamming against the wall in order to avoid the first shot before she fired back. She aimed for the Twi'Lek's shin and sent him to the ground after a few missed shots with a decent hit, but she had to dart forward and knock him out as well.

She didn't like any of that and yet there was no time to reconsider actions or their plan, especially because the knight was in charge and he had wanted this mission to go this way and so she was obeying...Hailee rushed around the corner, the Force slightly aiding her speed but only so subtly that no non-force sensitive being would notice, but she was forced to skid to a halt as she ran right into two droids.

She immediately flung herself backwards, gripping the edge of the door frame to pull herself back around the corner to check whether the coast was clear. There was no way she could shoot her way out of it and so she was actually forced to deal with the battle-ready droids in a different manner.

Letting out a sigh, she peeked back into the room where the droids had already begun to move in her direction and so she had to act quickly. Relying on her enhanced reflexes, she attempted to dodge the bullets my throwing herself to the left right as she entered the room to find some cover behind some sort of a tank, however one bolt actually grazed her right shoulder and again, she hadnto suppress making any loud noises so bad.

Internally, a whole cussing tirade broke loose, but there was not a single sound apart from an agonized hiss leaving her lips. She cowered behind the tank while she heard the metal steps getting closer, but she had to wait for the exact right moment. Blaster bolts echoed through the halls same as shouts, but she didn't waste any more time before she stood up and reached out with the Force, just to knock both droids against one another as hard as the Force allowed it.

The two metal droids collided and starting tumbling towards the ground, obviously losing balance due to her quick attack, which gave her enough time to headshot the first one. She leapt forwards and immediately shot the second one who was just about to regain balance, but both droids stopper moving, which didn't keep her from firing a few more bolts trhoigh their bodies to fry the metal innards further. She then immediately opened the door which revealed nothing but a rather vast room full of spice, that briefly let her jaw drop.

Right after she began to press forward again, gabbing her shoulder in agony, Taz's voice echoed though the comlink and she was about to open her mouth when she remembered that this was also nothing she could do. Right then he mentioned it, too. Breathe into the damn comlink though?! This mission was getting better and better...She let out two loud, obviously annoyed, slightly frustrated and agonized, partially exhausted breaths.

However right as she had stepped in, she already spotted the first worker who looked as though he had already received the information on their attack, because he was obviously about to set this whole crap on fire. She would have used the Force to push him away, but now she was forced to start sprinting again, going all in as she simply tackled the next man over again. She wouldn't just end up with wounds and scratches, but bruises, too, and she didn't even know whether Taz and the rest were doing okay and she obviously couldn't ask...

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

The man Hailee was facing yelped as he was tackled. He tried elbowing her in the face or kneeing her in the groin a few times, obviously expecting her to be a man. He was hellbent on trying to light the spice on fire and he tried pushing her off to crawl away. If he had even a moment, he would throw a lighter into the piles of powder to ignite it all.

Meanwhile, Taz had his own problems to deal with in the shape of a giant Feeorin. The man was big, blue and furious. He picked up a giant heavy cargo box and hurled it at the Jedi. Taz ducked in time, but the guy behind him got trucked in the face and toppled backwards. Great. It was just him and the Rodian against this monster.

The man launched a punch at Taz and he just barely ducked and slammed a fist into his gut. Only for absolutely nothing to happen. Did this man follow the Emryc Thorne routine?! The Feeorine grabbed him by the neck and tossed him across the hall. He flew through an open door and slid across the floor right by Hailee’s feet.

“Oh hey, fancy seeing you here,” He said as he looked up at her before he coughed a few times. With a grimace, he peeled himself up off the floor and ran right back to engage the Feeorin, “Don’t let anyone in!” He shouted back to Hailee.

Taz ducked behind a box as the Feeorin began to shoot his blaster. He peeked to the side and fired his own gun, shocked to see the Feeorin only stumble from the stun setting, “Are you kidding me?!” Taz cried out, wondering what kind of steroids this beast was on.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She hated everything about this mission so far and there was obviously no end in sight. Her tackle attempt turned into an actual brawl and while she had to continue playing mute, a pained groan escaped her as the man brought his knee inbetween her legs.

It was not as if he'd manage to incapacitate her by crushing her precious, non existent jewels like he intended, but since he hit her lower abdomen with great force, it was still very unpleasant. The maniac under her even took it so far that he attempted to throw a lighter right behind the scrimmaging pair, but there were two things he didn't know: One, she was a woman, and two, she had a few tricks of her sleeve.

Since he was facing her from below, she could send a Force Push to hurl the ignited lighter off course without him noticing before she slammed her own knee right in his guts. She got an elbow right in her face and her cheek bone hurted like crazy, but she was not done yet.

When fighters such thugs, you couldn't play it nice and so she pressed her face against the side of his neck and bit him like a wild animal. He screeched in pain and she couldn't believe she was actually doing that, but it gave her enough time to knock him out. Her knuckles were burning, there were bruises areas all across her body and she was heavily panting.

She pushed herself back to her feet right as a door slammed open and Taz slid to a halt right at her feet. Staggering, she glanced down at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion and terror, but it seemed like the knight wasn't having a good time either. She internally cursed this whole mission while she darted after him, locking the door like he commanded by grabbing a nearby broomstick and using it to hastily bar the door.

She heard Taz cry out loud and other screams and shots in the distance, but she knew she had to hurry. Still breathing heavily, she hastened over to the other door and since she was alone again, she used her remaining reserves of energy to pull a shelf in front of the other door.

Catching her breath, she hurried over to the lighter that was still ignited and dangerously close to a pile of spice and snuffed it out before she tried eliminating other possible sources of danger. Was it potentially dangerous to be stuck in a room full of smile?! She was dearly hoping that she wouldn't get high now and that Taz was able to handle his problem out there. She actually wanted to help him but she knew she couldn't ignore his orders and so she pressed her ear against the door, hoping to understand what was happening outside. Her heart was pounding and the adrenaline was the only thing that was managing to cover up the immense pain for now.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

After the Feeorin refused to go down, Taz knew he would have to take desperate measures. Instead of using his blaster, he channeled the Force to himself and hurled the blaster at top speed. With the added power of the Force, it sailed through the air and slammed harshly into the Feeorin’s head. The man stumbled back and fell with a massive thud on the ground. The Rodian stared in awe, glancing back at Taz.

“You play Huttball? That was a nice throw!”

Taz only shrugged with a confident grin. He watched the Rodian walk over to the Feeorin and winced as he shot the man through the head while he was down. Oh well, at least Taz didn’t fire the bolt.

The Jedi spun and knocked on the door, “We’ve secured the facility, let us in!” Taz called out. Once she moved everything out of the way and let them in, Taz and the Rodian stumbled in. It was then that Taz took in sight of the droids up front and the man passed out in the room here. His eyes widened in surprise, genuinely impressed. He grinned at Hailee.

“Nice job, Hal,” He said.

“Yeah, you are both solid,” The Rodian said cheerfully as he spoke into his comlink to tell Grupko the spice mine was taken.

“Grupko says you are hired! Take your share of the credits you find here!” The Rodian said with a smile, “Join us at Palpatine’s Pajamas later tonight to celebrate and get your first job.”

Taz and Hailee were left alone after that. He wiped sweat off his brow, his entire body bruised and hurt. However, he didn’t look nearly as messed up as Hailee. He turned to regard her, “You sure you wanna keep going with this?” He asked - though she seemed too stubborn to quit, “Where are you hurt? Let me patch you up.”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Once she was alone in this very room, she could feel the adrenaline fading and with that the pain started to fight its way back into her consciousness. She exhaled in a rather agonized way, slightly wincing as she as she heard a loud thud before Hailee heard the two men exchange a few cheerful words.

They had made it? That was good news...but Hailee couldn't be too joyful right now. She was once again tempted to answer but managed to remember not to do that and only started unbaring the door when she was asked to do so. She moved the furniture either the help of Force because her pure physical strength was fading quickly.

She didn't grin when the men entered as she had decided that Hal was a rather stoic, unemotional type, but she did quickly push a strand of lose hair back under the hat before she readjusted it as well. She only nodded when the Rodian praised them and raised a hand to say goodbye before she just stood their and listened to ensure that they were actually leaving and all fully out of earshot. Only then did she collapse against the wall behind her, her brows furrowed in pain while she glanced up at Taz, her emotions now reflecting in her face while she let out a deep sigh.

"That got...intense" she said to him with a lowered voice, barely more than a whisper and her tone clearly agonized. Even hitting the ground forced her to let out a pained groan, but she immediately nodded, an unmistakable amount of determination fading into the otherwise pained expressions. "Yes. I'm not backing down" she replied as confidently as possible, but it was obvious that she was in pain. However before he even started touching her or whatever, there was another sensation that starting spreading though her body.

"Wait....waiiit" she raised a finger, now intensely thinking before she let out a soft chuckle. "We can patch ourselves up! That's good. Good we can do such cool things. It was funny when you slid across the floor..." she softly added, her lips immediately curling into a smirk before she chuckled again. She was still whispering but didn't know why as she had no idea the evaporated spice was kicking in. The chuckling still hurt her strongly and so she winced once again.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen began to take out a medkit when Hailee stopped him. He stared at her with confusion as she began to speak nonsense.

“Knock it off, we don’t have time for-” His gaze flicked over to the spice, to Hailee, and then to the spice, “Oh,” He said dryly. With a sigh, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently beckoned her out of the room. Being holed up in a spice room like this with all the doors blocked was enough to give anyone a contact high. How the hell would he explain this to the Jedi Council? His name was about to have a red mark next to it right along with hers.

“I need you to focus, okay?” Taz said as he looked into her eyes, “Concentrate on the Force. Draw it to you. It’ll help you clear your mind,” He spoke to her calmly, channeling the Force within himself so it would help her. Detoxing with the Force was not a trick many padawans knew, but there was nothing better than learning on the job.

“Remember the mission, Hailee,” He said softly, “Remember the lives we have to save. Remember what’s at stake. Focus.”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Her vision grew a bit blurry and she wondered whether this was her body giving up. It didn't feel like she was about to faint though, but this strange sensation was almost...funny. It felt like she was dazed, but rather in a way that reminded her of getting tipsy on a good portion of drinks...only that is was still a bit different.

Wooziness might have been an appropriate description, and so she couldn't help but to answer "Focus on this wooziness?" with a soft chukle. The pain was momentarily forgotten, but she was still in need of medical support. She didn't fully realize that Taz was hurt as well, since whenever she tried to look in the knight's eyes, his silver strands almost blinded her.

It took her a decent moment to process his words, because her thoughts kept drifting off, however she then reached for his shoulders as a wave of dread washed over her."LIVES ARE AT STAKE?!" she suddenly blurted out, eyes widened in horror. Of course she wanted to save lives! But why did they hang out in this factory then?! "Focus?! We've got to run!" she confidently declared, suddenly darting forwards with a weird kind of determination as she had no idea where she was even going, but if there were people,e who needed help, she would go hell them!

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Taz groaned in frustration. They were getting nowhere, “Wait!” He grabbed her by the shoulder and tugged her back, “You have to concentrate, Padawan,” He said as he glared at her. In the end, he knew it was no use, “Okay, come with me,” He said finally, grabbing her by the forearm to ensure she didn’t run off in a different direction, “We have to lay low for a moment.”

After a bit of walking, he took her back to the run-down motel he was staying in while spying on the operations here. His room was tiny and cheap - he had to fully embrace the cover of a mercenary. He nudged for Hailee to sit down on the half broken sofa. Taz brought over a bottle of water and handed it to her, “Chug that whole thing,” He said. It would speed up filtering the spice through her system.

“Just sit there and try to focus,” He explained calmly as he walked off. Taz took off the outer layer of his clothing, wearing armorweave beneath it. He quickly applied bacta patches to his wounds, glancing out the window every now and then to see if anyone was spying.

He grabbed another medkit and tossed it over to Hailee so she could patch herself up. Besides being a little high, she was able to tend to her own wounds.

“Where is your Master, Hailee?” Tazlen asked after a moment of silence while he bandaged up his bicep.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee had a set plan in mind: She'd run as fast as she can, faster than she had ever been before, leave this damn warehouse, because people were in desperate need of help and kick all the bad boy's butts. But she never even moved. She was suddenly held back by something strong that pulled her backwards by the shoulder and while her first intention was to cry out loudly, she fortunately realized that this was just Taz. "Oh, hi" she remarked, being forced back to her previous position and foolishly grinning at him. Had she forgotten something?

When he asked her to focus, she just grinned, and grinned and grinned. She was concentrated, wasn't she? However, he then he decided to to leave and she agreed with an cheerful "okay", hoping that he would take her to the poor people.

She followed him without any resistance, but the appearance of the motel freaked her out and so she grabbed his arm now and softly dug her nails into his skin. "That is creepy" she whispered wide eyed as they passed the concierge, only that in fact she didn't whisper, but remarked that rather loudly.

Once insidenthe room, she took a seat at the sofa, but her slightly absent glare soon found its way to the semi broken mirror and her mouth immediately went opened as she spied what she was wearing. She did reach for the glass and somehow managed to drink all of it, but she immediately got back up and approached her mirror image with narrowed eyes.

"What the hell am I wearing?!" she complained, immediately taking of the stupid had and opening her hair before she started slipping out of the wide masculine shirt. "Tell me next time!" she added, shaking her head while she slipped out of the pants, too, not even realizing that she was undressing in front of the knight she had only met a few hours ago, even though he was busy fixing himself up. She let herself fall onto the bed, back first and stared at the ceiling, his sudden question irritating her a bit. "My M-...aaah. Pêro. Uhm...actually I don't know. I was trying to find him, but couldn't reach him" she then truthfully replied, letting out a sigh. Now that she was laying flat on the hard mattress, she could slowly feel the pain spreading throughout her body.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Taz quirked a brow as she started taking off her clothing, but he said nothing about it. He was polite enough not to glance over in her direction, giving her the privacy she needed. Instead, he focused on his wounds, “You did well out there,” He said calmly as he put another bacta patch on himself, “Adapted to a difficult role with little warning.”

He walked over and sat down on the couch, using the Force to drop a blanket on her legs to cover her. Her explanation of her master was troubling, and he eyed her suspiciously for a moment.

“Your master should always be available to you,” Taz explained, “I may speak to the Council about this,” He mused.

“But for now, there’s a mission at hand,” He explained, “You’ll have to play Hal for a bit longer,” He said, “Grupko, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, runs a trafficking operation. He will want our help in moving these women. We can’t act immediately - we have to move them to the next location. I have a slicer I’ve been working with here to gain intel on the other locations. Once we have that, we can come in with a larger force and shut it down. We can’t take Grupko in until then because he can resist mind probes.”
Taz sighed as he leaned back into his seat, “It’s going to be a tough job.”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

As soon as she had landed on the bed, the saggy mattress almost devoured the blonde Jedi that absently glared up at the ceiling. She saw little floaties everywhere and so while reaching up with both hands, she non-chalantly tried to catch them - or rather fish them out of the air with low effort. "Thanks! You did well, too!" admittedly, she hadn't seen a lot of him in the fabric, but it seemed like he had beat up those thugs alright.

The water was slowly taking its effects and with he second-hand-highness fading, the pain was growing and so after a moment, she said up with a groan, her head slightly spinning. She had barely noticed that she was in her underwear and that a blanket was now covering half of her, but as he was talking to her, her mood shifted into a more serious state as well.

She didn't comment the thing about her master because honestly, she was worried, too. She wondered how this mission would have gone if Taz hadn't found her...She tried to collect her thoughts and focus as hard as she could, but it was still difficult. "Yes...If you have a slicer, that might be helpful". Her gaze fell down on the hat and the rest of her clothes. "Play Hal...well. Guess I don't have a choice" she let out a sigh, her emerald gaze now locked with Taz' eyes. "But yes. We'll save them. No matter how hard this gets, we'll save their lives". It wasn't only the spice that made her optimistic. She was really believing that, but while she had to pull herself together, the effects of the drug were still not fully overcome. There was something moving in the corner of the room and she heavily flinched, pulling her knees to her upper body. Narrowing her eyes, she couldn't stop anything in particular, but it was as if some shadows danced around them. "Why have you chosen to become a Jedi?" she asked, her eyes still widened in fright, but the initial dread faded. She wasn't just trying to distract herself, but she was indeed curious about his motives.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Taz knew it would take a bit for the drugs to leave her system. He felt quite a bit of guilt for even leaving her in that room, but the Force always had ways to guide them out of trouble. He tossed another bottle of water towards her to help filter everything out. However, only time was the cure.

When she asked her question, he was surprised at how it caught him off guard. Many had asked him when he had become a Jedi or how, but no one had asked him why he chose it. Taz was silent for a few moments, “I… suppose I didn’t exactly choose,” He answered finally, looking at the ground, “I was brought into the Order as a youngling so I only vaguely remember. It’s all I’ve known, really.”

At times he wondered if he would have been a different person if he grew up outside of the Order and had other experiences. Would he still have chosen to become a Jedi?

“And you?” He asked.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She slowly began to realize that the reason for her fuzzy state of mind might have been her little stay in the poorly ventilated spice room and that the evaporated substances might have gotten to her and that she shouldn't trust her perception right now. It was a good thing they were inside and apparently had a bit of time to recover before they had to head out again.

She pulled the blanket closer, covering her knees as well while she just listened for now. He seemed contemplative and while she had to ponder on his words, they hadn't actually surprised her. Many Jedi she had met shared that story. On the one hand it was beautiful that they had always been with the Order, on the other hand they had never known anything else and most hadn't seen their family much. The latter was true for her, too, but it had different reasons. "If you would get the chance to relive your life with the same knowledge and this time you would have a saying about your path, would you want it to be any different?". She couldn't quite grasp it, but somehow she was in the mood for a deep conversation right now.

As for his returned question, a soft smile crossed her lips while the rest of her facial features lightened up as well. "I was already an adult when Pêro found me. I've heard stories about the Jedi...obviously. But I've never really met one. I couldn't believe how lucky I was when he picked me up. I was grateful and I still am. I want to help the galaxy...and save people, just like we are doing it now. When I discovered my healing abilities I was so overly happy and excited that I could actually help others...". Healing. This rang another bell though. Taz had tossed a medkit over and she was in desperate need of one, so she began rummaging through it and pulled out the first bacta pad to treatb her wounds. As for the multiple bruises, well they had to heal over time.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

It was as if she read into what he was thinking with what she asked next. Tazlen was silent for a few moments before he sighed, “I’d probably be dead like the rest of my family,” He looked up at her again, “I’m from Firrerre,” He said simply. His entire family had been wiped out during the glassing, or so he believed. No amount of searching through refugees had turned up any news and no one had tried to find him. In his mind, they were all dead, along with every bit of life he knew outside of the Jedi.

Taz listened to her explanation of being a Jedi. He couldn’t help but sadly smile at her, “That’s the difference between a Jedi and a civilian, Hailee,” He said quietly, “A Jedi knows you cannot help everyone. A Jedi knows that sometimes people hurt you, sometimes bad things happen, sometimes you do everything wrong. But a Jedi knows that they have to trust the Force through it all,” He thought about several others that had become a Padawan at an older age, and many of them struggled quite a bit to become Jedi, “There are many people you will not be able to save or change. You have to let things unfold or to let people choose their own paths. The key to being a Jedi is to never carry that guilt with you, because that’s what leads to the Dark Side.”

If he carried the guilt of not being there for his family, he would have fallen a long time ago. It took him many weeks of meditation to finally let go of the anger he felt about Firrerre.

“Have you let go of your past?”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

With her eyes resting on his, he'd see that her expressions quickly turned into a genuine, sympathetic sadness. She swallowed hard, taken a moment before she quietly replied, "I am sorry, Taz". She, too, had lost her family, but while her parents had vanished, his had been on this living hell, which was terrible.

She tried not to cling onto that sadness and rather focused on what he said next. It took her some moments to take it all in, as her brain was still slower at processing, but she finally exhaled. "I know I can't save everyone". The most recent events had shown that. She had been naive. "I know the Sith can't be saved...I've learnt that the hard way" she said with a hin of bitterness in her voice. It had been hard to accept, but she had accepted it. It take taken a while until she had finally realized that, but she finally had.

When she had joined the Order approximately three years ago, she had been overly optimistic about all that, but she had developed and realized a lot of things. The Force had indeed guided her through it all and while she regretted some mistakes of the last, she didn't let them weigh her down. Her childhood hadn't been easy either, but she was not looking back. "I have. Most of the time, yes. I've recently struggled a bit, but I'm still learning. I want to make further progress and I'm eager to learn. I know I'm far from perfect, but trying to rely on the Force. My teachings have brought me far, but I need further guidance" she honestly admitted, looking at the floor for a moment. This was why her not being with Pêro was a problem. She had to find him...but accomplishing this mission had priority. "Have you ever had a padawan? I know we can be a handful...".

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Taz looked at her with slight surprise when she mentioned learning the hard way that Sith couldn’t be saved. He looked away for a moment, “Some can,” Taz said quietly, “But you can’t tell them to do it. They have to be willing to take those steps themselves. If you have to repeatedly point out what they’re doing wrong, they have no intention of changing,” He knew he was likely confusing her, but this was an important distinction to make, “Part of being a Jedi is recognizing who can be saved, and who cannot. If we brush everyone with the same stroke of paint, we are no better than the Sith, are we?”

He listened to her as she spoke to her own troubles, “Nobody is perfect, so that should never be a goal,” He shrugged, “I had to do community service because I yelled at Councilors,” He said with a grin.

When she asked about having a padawan, he was deep in thought. Taz hadn’t considered it for one reason or another, “Nah,” He said, “And yes, Padawans are definitely a challenge,” He said with a chuckle, “I guess I worry I may screw up someone else becoming a good Jedi,” Taz said, “It’s a lot of responsibility and you have to hope you teach them well enough to make the right choices.”

Taz looked down at his datapad where he had flagged for Pero. The Jedi still hadn’t responded. At this point he was even more concerned with Hailee being left alone - clearly she didn’t get the guidance she needed.

“I’ll do my best while you’re here, however,” He said, “I can’t talk you out of this mission, but I can guide you where I can,” He added with a smile.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Taz seemed wise and while she couldn't exactly place his age, it really seemed like his years and years within the Order had taught him unbelievably much. "Yes...you're right" she managed to say and it was true. She understood what he meant and even though there were a thousand thoughts racing in her head, she clearly heard everything he pointed out.

She pensively pondered on his thoughts before his final comment about the community service he had to do cracked her up. It didn't only lighten the mood, but she could somehow imagine him being so spiteful quite well and the thought clearly amused her. "Oh...now I'm curious about why you started yelling" she replied with a smirk, wondering if he had had a point or whether he had snapped. Yes, nobody was perfect, but she know some of her flaws had to change...She too was sometimes way to stubborn and emotional and this was something she really intended to change.

She looked up again, a grin still on her lips but from what she had learnt from him, it seemed like he was far more capable than he thought. "You'd make a good master. I'm sure of it..but I get that. It's still a lot". While she hadn't been pleased when he had first talked to her in that cantina, she was now overly grateful...Especially now that she was considering this whole situation. "Thank you. Honestly" she smiled had him with genuine curiosity, her heart truly warmed at his gentle words. She would have stayed in this moment longer if a shower, triggered by the chilly air, hadn't run down her spine, making her realize that she had lost a fair amount of clothing. She took a big gulp from the water bottle before she finished off treating her wounds. The worst pain would come tomorrow, but she would get trough it. She feared it was time to get going soon, and so she looked at him more seriously. "They expect us tonight, right? So is it time to continue my little cross-dressing show again?".

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen scoffed when she asked why he was yelling, “I don’t think I need to give you more ideas on how to irritate the council,” He flashed her a wink before he stood up from where he was seated, “Feel free to use this room however you need,” Tazlen said, “Meet me at Palpatine’s Pajamas later as Hal,” He said, still finding the cantina name absurd.

“And you’re welcome, Hailee,” He said as he paused for a moment, “We got off on the wrong foot, but I trust we’ll be able to work well together from here on out,” Tazlen nodded before he turned and left. Though they were on this mission together now, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of obligation towards the padawan. Clearly there was some sort of failure with the Order where she fell through the cracks without guidance. Tazlen wasn’t the type to leave anyone behind.

—​

Palpatine’s Pajamas was one of the seediest cantinas he had ever seen. It was full of topless women performing on stage and greasy, questionable men. Tazlen felt out of place, but he would do what was needed to get the job done. The Rodian hadn’t arrived yet, so he had some time to kill and meet Hailee again.

Taz was sitting at a table in the corner, facing away from the dancers. He sipped quietly from a mug of ale, marveling at the good quality of the drink despite how terrible the place was. The seats were stained, and he was sure he spotted blaster burns and dried blood on the walls. The place also smelled funky, the hazy room filled with smoke and body odor.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Only now did Hailee began to realize that the mattress she was laying on was an obvious witness to better times the hotel might have once seen. There were some...interestingly colored spots and the abraded fabric gave her even more to worry about, but honestly, she had had such rooms as short-term places to stay a couple of times on Corellia, so this was actually not much different. However, those similarities to Corellia also worried her, same as the fact that they were literally part of a criminal organization now in order to get closer to saving their targets...

Hailee's thoughts were interrupted by his reply and her gaze traveled away from the mattress and back to the Knight. His cheeky remark made her chuckle, but she immediately realized that he seemingly wanted to leave and so she sat up straighter again. "Pal's...pjs. Yes, right" she repeated amusedly, before adding, "I'll meet you there".

She edged closer to the bed's corner as she felt the need to sprinkle her face with some water, but Tazlen suddenly stopped and so did she, an eyebrow slightly raised while her emerald gaze still rested on him, her body covered by the thin blanket. His words made her smile warmly and she immediately replied, "I think so, too. It worked well in that factory and we'll save them. And I'm sorry for my initial reaction". The apology still seemed necessary and while she had been irritated by his arrival at first, she was now overly glad that he was there with her. He gave her a sense of safety which she hadn't felt in a while and so she was indeed grateful for his interference.

Tazlen then left and Hailee was not only left with a few more hours to pass, but also with the aftereffects of her involuntarily drug intake. She jumped a few times, seeing something move in the shadow and was caught in a stupid fit of meaningless laughter once as well, before, after emptying the bottle, she felt like the substances were leaving her body. She used some more time to rest and meditate, concentrating on thr Force and doing her best to detox her body like Taz had instructed her.

After treating the rest of her wounds, she slipped back into her baggy clothes and ensured that her hair would stay hidden in the hat before she stepped out. Dusk had already began to fall and Hailee walked into the direction of the cantina as fast as she could, not wanting to be late when they were meeting their 'boss' again, but it were not only the clothes that helped building up an inner reluctance. As soon as her gaze fell upon the shady bar, she exhaled deeply.

Even stepping into it costed her quite some nerves as everything in and around this place disgusted her strongly. From the outside, Hal appeared pretty indifferent and ready to get some drinks with the other guys, but from the inside, Hailee was screaming. She tried to avert her gaze from the half naked women and immediately searched for Taz, and she luckily found him sipping a drink not far away. 'Of course those guys hang out in such settings' she telepathically said to him, her inner voice thick with sarcasm and disgust as she cooly sat down in front of him, Hal offering a curt nod. As composed as she seemed, her whole body still ached, but she knew she couldn't let anyone realize.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Taz could sense she was uncomfortable in this scene and he wasn’t entirely surprised. He wouldn’t have brought a padawan here, but there was little choice when she butted into his mission. He sipped from his drink, impressed at her disguise.

“Well, let’s hope these women do it by choice,” He said gravely, his eyes flicking over to the dancers briefly. It was always hard to tell when dancers in these places were actually slaves or took up the profession by choice. The eyes almost always gave it away. Before he realized it, he was staring at one of the girls that was sensually dancing. She looked across at him and locked gazes. Taz’s gaze lingered briefly before he finally looked away. She didn’t give the impression that she was doing this against her will, that was for sure.

“Do you feel better?” He asked, hints of concern tinging his voice. She had suffered quite a contact high, and it likely left her parched or hungry, “Will need you in top form for the next jobs.”

After a while Grupko and the Rodian walked over to join them. The Toydorian was excited and in a great mood.

“My new friends!” He said cheerfully, “A round of drinks for a job well done!”

“And you,” He said as he looked at Hailee, “Mister Hal, I heard you singlehandedly protected the spice room. Oh, I’m so happy,” Grupko said gleefully, clapping his hands to have a few girls bring over drinks, “I will pay for one of the ladies here to take care of you as a reward.”

Tazlen coughed and sputtered while drinking. Grupko only laughed, “Don’t worry, I won’t forget you either, my boy.”

A few girls came over, topless, and served them drinks. Tazlen was largely unfazed by this, used to being around seedy cantinas. However, he was concerned about Hailee potentially being in a room alone with a woman fishing around in her pants to discover that she was lacking the proper 'equipment'. He continued drinking in silence, trying to quickly come up with some bullshit idea to spare them both from getting rewards.

@LadyRen