Session export: Kote Ky'ram Social

The Astral Drake soared above the Zsoldos atmosphere. Yuanming was in sight, and Anders had to praise the Vizsla Consul. This was either the boldest move in Brotherhood diplomacy that the Chief Inquisitor had ever seen, or downright the most idiotic.

Whichever it was to be was yet to be determined.

Draca rocked in the seat behind him, the young Jedi practically bouncing in his seat. Anders knew very well why, and despite his best efforts to ignore it, Draca had a way of putting a smile on his face. On the Jedi’s lap was Anders’ personal BD unit droid, Buddy, keeping the young man entertained throughout the journey.

More like distracted.

“Are we there yet?” Draca asked.

“Nearly,” Anders didn’t look back as he piloted the ship.

“How about now!?”

Anders fought to stop the smirk on his face. “Draca, I thought you were a Jedi. Tey exhibiting some of that patience.”

“I can’t help it!” Draca shot up from his seat, toppling BUDD-E to the floor. The little droid whined as it crawled back onto Anders’ shoulder. “They’ve got swoop races! Sure, it’s not podracing, buts it’s a pretty good alternative! Please can we go see the swoop races? Pleeeeease?”

Anders was not going to look back. Draca had a way with those puppy dog eyes that could melt even the cruelest of Sith hearts. Kriff it all, where was a damn book when you needed one? That usually kept Draca quiet for a few hours.

“Draca, be quiet, sit down, and try to show some restraint,” Anders had to take a deep breath. “Remember that this is a Mandalorian resort. We are here to pay respects in their festival.”

Draca, begrudgingly, sat back down in his seat, tapping his foot on the floor.

Well, it was something, Anders supposed.

“Yuanming, this is The Astral Drake requesting permission to land.”

“We’re here!!!”

The traffic controller had barely finished his sentence before Draca unleashed his contained excitement. He rushed to Anders’ side to look out of the pilot’s window, and indeed, the Yuanming resort in all its glory was visible to the eye.

Draca practically hopped his way towards the back of the ship until;

“Draca, weapons.”

“Oh, right. Sorry…”

The young Jedi heard Anders’ voice over the intercom system and removed his lightsabers. He placed them within a container in his room and raced back towards the ramp. In his excitement, he’d almost forgotten about the no-weapon policy.

“Hang on…” Draca paused. “Aren’t weapons part of a Mandalorian’s religion? Why aren’t they allowed here?”

The ramp began to lower as Anders clasped a hand on the young Zabrak’s shoulder. “I assume we will find out once we are inside.”

The two along with BUDD-E on Anders’ shoulder descended the ramp once it hit the sand, leaving the ship to whatever greeted them on the outside.

As the shuttle bearing Chamber of Justice identification markings and transponder codes neared Zsoldos and started to broadcast for permission to descend and land at its destination, the Neti sighed and rubbed his eyes. Another long hunt for a rumoured cloning facility at an end. This part of the job never stopped being tedious. Luckily the invitation had been caught on the DB broad spectrum communications and he’d been able to quickly secure a suite with a large balcony on the top levels of the resort. Relaxation, mingling and a semi-garden to ‘branch out in.’ This would be a good vacation, the ancient Jedi just knew it…

Renatus sighed as his ship’s captain offered a salute and walked away. The Firrerreo had started to get…used to his new title but it still made him twitch. He supposed that would fade in time. With the captain’s update, he knew they’d be docking soon. Hopefully they had room for a ship of such stature.

He had channeled his inner Morgan B. Sorenn and absconded with Shroud Syndicate property. Namely, the Evantual Party, a Nau'ur-class Yacht. It was ostentatious, for sure, but a lot more palatable than the other options available to Renatus.

“Inform me when we arrive,” the Justicar ordered as he returned to his quarters.

Encanis II *“Infiltrator Edition” Star Courier *

Marick arrived in orbit in his own ship. He didn’t have to steal it or appropriate it, in fact. He had procured it, somewhat reluctantly, as an investment, with his own hard earned accumulated wealth.

An old part of him said this was a bad idea. He had, in truth, been avoiding a ‘diplomatic’ visit to the Vizslan homeworld. But perhaps it was time.

He knew from Ruka that a few Arconans would show up. One in particular, he had been told, would be the young Knight that had similarly been quickly making a name for herself as an Envoy: Sivall. Ruka had asked if he keeped an eye out, so the Arconae had agreed.

As the ship descended and he sent over his clearance codes and security codes as Exarch, the Master reached out to his one real contact that could serve as a cover to his – perfectly healthy – faint paranoia that an old grudge would show up and take a swing at him.

He sent a message to “Darth Renatus”.

Made it to the planet. Meet somewhere?

The Justicar was busy fixing the collar of his cloak when his datapad lit up. The scarf-like collar was always difficult. Renatus raised an eyebrow and turned to meet the device which was floating up towards him.

With a sigh, he keyed in a reply.

One would assume at the resort. I am unfamiliar with the establishment, as it was constructed after we formed the clan. I presume there will be a central bar of some kind. Perhaps near one of the pools. I will target there.

As always, Renatus was somehow far more talkative over text than in person.

Airspace above Yuanming. "...I apologise, pilot but your landing priority has been pushed back due to incoming VIP craft."

Titius howled in frustration, spouting a virulent tirade of expletives that would make a Sith Lord blanch. Pulling his composure back together, he reopened the channel. “Understood, control Holding acknowledged” at this point Ill run out of fuel before I get an open berth.

Looking out his viewport, Titius began to mull how to best destroy many of the buildings. After all, explosions were calming to him.

Marick responded:

Copy. He tapped a few buttons and let the ships AI handle the assisted landing at the designated spaceport.

Draca was, as usual, single-mindedly focused on one thing, and one thing only. The second both he and Anders entered the reception area, the young Zabraki Jedi beelined for the front counter.

“Excuse me, when do the swoop races start?” Draca asked.

Under normal circumstances, Anders would have stopped the boy, yet his thoughts were distracted by a familiar feeling from the Force in the distance.

Odd… what was the Exarch doing here? As a Golden Envoy, he would have known if this was a mission for the Envoy Corps. His thoughts then realigned when he felt a powerful, dark presence approaching soon after.

The Justicar?

That made sense. From what Anders understood, the two were acquaintances of some sort. He payed it no mind. Like them, they were likely hear to pay respects.

Anders approached the front counter. “I do apologise about my young friend here. He can be a bit excitable.”

Having been quickly waived through, the shuttle bearing the Arconan Elder settled down on a landing pad. Having been informed by the pilot that they had a short landing window in order to free up the platform for other arrivals, the Neti was already waiting at the boarding ramp, a satchel of items hanging off one shoulder. His saber hung off his belt, ready to be handed over upon checking into the resort.

He wondered if that feeling of an unnatural absence all Jedi felt when separated from their attuned weapons would still affect him, so many millennia after last feeling it.

Luka Zarkot readied their descent in their patchwork Scyk Fighter. The craft was a mismatch of parts, and it was always a miracle when they arrived to their destination in one piece. Luka called it “good faith”. Vreva called it “dumb luck”. When you’re low on credits, both will do.

The ship was far roomier without their usual companion cramped in the back. She had been left at “home”, as Luka intended to explore and mingle to their heart’s content. Easier to do without a Nexu in tow. Hopefully Bico wasn’t being a menace to Diy’s plants. Though it was a better option than having her wandering the resort and frightening the locals.

Luka’s gaze darted from their datapad to the console as they submitted their identification codes. It had been a while since they had left Dajorran space, and longer still since they had piloted a craft themselves. However, with the invitation to a resort, Luka just had to attend. To pay respects, of course.

“Zarkot, here. Permission to land..?” And to land where? Luka squinted at their datapad as they scrolled up and down with a lazy brush of their finger. Then with a shrug they set it aside. They’d be able to figure it out.

Each and every time Socorra traveled now there were scores of guards onboard the Affinity, partially for Evant to protect his old, beloved transport from being stolen again and partially to protect.. no, that was probably all. An annoyance either way but too much effort to skirt them all when a pilot was still needed, or a couple rather, for a ship of its size. One of the Grandmaster’s extravagant yachts might have been a slightly less flashy option, not that he would have allowed it.

The ship docked as if no waiting line existed and she remained seated for a moment, instinctively reaching out for familiar Force signatures before departing. The Socorran woman left her weapons behind as required, as paranoid as it made her. Paying respects and a whole lot of raava would eventually help with that. It felt like it was just yesterday she was slamming one back as she and Zxyl watched Appi slap his brother in the face with a folding chair in the arena.

That had been fun.

Check-in had been streamlined but fast, as if they were clearing as many people as possible out of the lobby as fast as they could. He’d heard staff whispers relating to VIP arrivals and once he’d unfurled his presence again, it was easier to keep it contained and minimal while hunting enemies of the Council or whatever the kriff was supposedly behind these cloning lab rumours, he’d noticed several presences he recalled from before his return to the light and to sanity. So the Exarch and the Justicar were in the same place. Could be a coincidence, or two friends meeting up, or there was something afoot. It’d be interesting to see who else would arrive here.

The Neti smiled, the last time he’d actively followed political intrigue had been… Oh was this irony? It must have been about eleven centuries ago now. A young boy had been admitted into the Jedi Order and nearly caused a schism. Ood remembered it now, he’d been on the Council back then, hadn’t he abstained from voting on the matter of Tarre Vizsla’s admittance into the Order?

As the doors opened to allow Renatus’ entry, the man looked positively bored. His eyes tracked the doors as they slide aside with his head somewhat tilted. Surprisingly light footfalls announced his entry while he adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves.

Now, the problem wasn’t his attire but rather the lights. Renatus squinted as he tried to keep his eyes lowered while they adjusted. Then he discovered the new problem: the pounding against his ear drums that claimed to be music.

I need a drink, he thought to himself while finding his way to a bar.

“Somber Respite requesting clearance and sending codes.”

For once, Lilian was piloting the ship– a rarity in itself. Coming here to Viszla space was enough for most of the members of their little clan. Most of those here on the ship either had no opinion of typical Mandalorian culture, or an unfavorable one. Lillian’s mind quickly flashed to Wulfram and the headache that she had just chased off from their earlier argument about even coming here quickly resurfaced.

“Clearance granted. Please quickly land and then make way for other arrivals.”

“Understood.”

Lillian brought the Somber Respite in and rose from her seat, picking her helmet up off of the empty co-pilot chair. Chris had left her alone to drive. The redhead rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. Kote Ky'ram, a day of remembrance. Even if Wulf didn’t care much for these celebrations, she would still go to them. The rest of the crew could disappear back into the atmo and come back when she was finished.

At least Saggita was coming. She wouldn’t be alone.

She joined the much taller Mirialan at the door leading to the landing pad and slipped her helmet on. Her eyes squinted as the force brought faint snippets of a later argument to the forefront of her brain. Great. The Human looked up at Sagitta and tilted her head.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to wear yours. It’s habit.” With that she departed from the ship with the tallest of the Armis foundlings. The ship behind them only stayed idle for a second before someone– she wouldn’t be surprised if it was Wulfram –lead the ship to take back off into the sky.

Bastard, she mumbled mentally as she watched the Somber Respite disappear.

( <@216702440140046336> )

As Ood entered his suite, he couldn’t help but feel elated the Resort had come through. The view was lovely, the open windows let in the warm breeze, in the distance, the noises of the resort activities were muffled as the suite overlooked the natural beauty of the region. He’d be able to relax here…

Ooh, they had even set up an empty planter with what appeared to be high quality potting soil on the balcony. Already shedding his robes and gear, the Neti barely had the mental capacity to tip the bellboy as he moved into the planter and calmly felt himself become a tree. This was the life…

In no particular rush or direction, Socorra paused for a moment to take in the new environment. In all the visits to Vizsla she had never once been planetside. A gem of a resort, she could see why they would hide it for the rest of the year.

Unsure where to start, the telepath honed in the closest familiar signature, surface thoughts loud and clear as if he wanted people to know the lights were too bright and music too loud. Not the squint didn’t give it away.

Socorra coughed into her hand just loud enough to be heard over the music streaming from the doors.

In case that failed to get Thane’s attention, a wolf whistle for some odd reason seemed to come to mind. Highly mischievous, obnoxious, and wholly uncharacteristic. Yet the Mandalorian woman had the urge to do so at the Justicar while he was ahead. She hmm’d to herself. Such a strange impulse to be picking up from home. Or was it from home? The thought caused her to hmm even more. <@185936112441622529>

Marick arrived at the lobby and spoke briefly with the concierge. After turning down the complimentary room, he instead was directed towards the lobby bar, where he–to fit in–ordered a seltzer, but served in a highball glass.

The Elder Arcanist didn’t need to delve too deeply into the slipstreams of the Force to notice a familiar presence. He had always been able to tell when his once apprentice was nearby. He took our his comm and tapped out a message to Socorra.

“` Turi home with Wyn or with Atyiru?

At Lobby. Attempting to rendezvous with the Justicar. Ruka asked to observe Arconans. Ood is present, possibly supervision recommended. ”`

Perhaps letting Bril fly the Nightingale wasn’t the brightest of ideas. At least, that’s what he imagined his Chiss friend was thinking when he finally moored her shuttle into the Yuanming spaceport designated for visiting guests.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it lora?” said Bril with a sheepish grin on his face, knowing that he’d probably scared the life out of the poor woman. Upon receiving their formal invitations to Yuanming after Clan Vizsla’s Kote Ky'ram celebrations began, the two knights had decided that it was the perfect opportunity for them to have a little rest and relaxation. Ancestors knew that they deserved it after everything they’d been through. But thanks to Bril’s poor piloting skills, their relaxing getaway was off to a bumpy start. At least he’d enjoyed himself. He never had much time to learn to fly back on Iridonia, so he appreciated her giving him the opportunity to try it out.

Rising from his seat after pressing a few buttons on the ship’s controls, the young Zabrak spun on his heels and moved toward the back of the shuttle where the ramp was beginning to deploy. Once she joined him there, he extended an arm for her to take hold of if she so desired and began his stroll down the ramp so they could enter the resort proper.

Any passersby would notice that he was dressed to the nines; a form-fitting two-piece suit with matching shoes contrasted nicely with the golden bijoux that decorated the taller man’s form. Amongst the jewelry were a small gold hoop worn in his right ear, and two gold chain with links of modest size - one with that ended in a pendant that draped down the center of his forehead, and the other that hung loose bridge between his left ear and nose.

“However long we choose to stay here, let’s make sure we enjoy ourselves,” he said to Sivall while surveying their surroundings, “This is a time for adventure.”

( <@264959101384130560> )

Anders clasped a hand on Draca’s shoulder, garnering the young teenager’s attention.

“Come now, Draca. The races will start when the races start. I’m sure there will be a big commotion about it.”

“Why don’t you enter?” Draca asked.

Anders was rarely speechless, yet Draca seemed to have a habit of making it a constant occurrence.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re a great pilot, Anders!” Draca proclaimed like it was as obvious as water was wet. “I bet you could win! I was hoping to enter you so you could do your thing and…”

“Let me stop you there, Draca.” Anders held up a finger, silencing him. “My skills as a pilot are not to be sold in some sad excuse for a hooligans race. Am I clear?”

“But…”

“Am. I. Clear.”

Draca’s demeanour visibly deflated. “Yes, sir…”

“Good. If you want to enter that stupid race yourself, be my guest. Ill be here to say i told you so when you realise how big a mistake you made. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find the bar,” Anders began to walk away from him.

“The bar? You never drink,” Draca said.

Anders stopped, sparing him a glance. “I get the feeling I’ll need one today.”

Once Anders was out of sight, Draca pulled the face of a toddler that didn’t get what they wanted. What did Anders know, anyways? Draca had piloted speeders before. He thought he’d be pretty good in a swoop race.

In fact…

“Excuse me, how do you sign up for the swoop race?” Draka asked the receptionist.

The Nehso Retan'ci pulled through the atmosphere of Zsoldos a week after being notified about the Kote Ky'ram event going on. what was unusual was that message he received was that no weapons were allowed at the resort on Yuanming. The shields of the ship heated up from the friction of space to atmosphere for a few moments then it cleared and Brimstone could see the remote island of Du Kang.

K'ebatas, his personal droid, was piloting the ship and punched in the transmitter of the ship to the local dock. after a few minutes, clearance was received of where to land.

“I take it since no weapons allowed, I am to remain with the ship?” spoke up the droid.

“I guess so. perhaps you can use the time to do some maintenance on yourself and the ship till I find out why we aren’t allowed weapons” replied the Chiss, “it is unusual to tell a Mandolorian not to have weapons.”

Brim stood up from his seat and walked to the back, disarming his blasters and other weapons. “Just make sure to keep an eye out for anything of concern incase we need to get into some firefight.”

“Understood.”

Getting to Yuanming was… Interesting. If she was being fair, Bril’s flying wasn’t the worst flying she had experienced but it also wasn’t the greatest. So when they finally landed, she let out a relieved breath. She hadn’t necessarily been worried about herself, but she had been worried for Bril. She could sustain herself for a pretty significant time in space, but wasn’t sure if her Zabrak brother was capable of that kind of feat.

“Maybe next time we can practice somewhere… safer, botumun'i.” She said with a half smile as she took Bril’s arm and walked with him onto the ramp. Her hands tightly gripped his arm as her eyes locked on the throngs of people ahead of her. It was nice that she wouldn’t be alone at the party, but a party was a party, and where there was a party there was a ton of people.

Matching Bril’s black ensemble, she too was wearing all black. She chose a long sleeved dress with a high neck that fit to her body, where the hem stopped at about shin-level, made of a velvet-like material. Her hair itself was pulled into a a neater and tighter bun that usual.

Siv took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Things would be fine, and she would not cry at this damn party. Not this time. Not in front of Bril.

“Adventure and fun,” she repeated to herself, “you might have to teach me how to do that.”

“Okay, fine. Next time, we can take a few spins around some backwater planet to help me learn. But we have to stop to get carryout on the way.”

Leading the way, Bril gave a polite nod on their way in to the uniformed Human boy that was attending the resort’s gilded sliding doors. By the time they entered, Bril stopped at one of two reception areas to get directions to the nearest bar before continuing onward. He was already beginning to pick up on several presences in the Force that were familiar to him, but none that he knew so well that he could identify from memory. He wondered if Sivall could feel the same.

“You’re in good hands, Sivall,” Bril said, using their looped arms to give her arm an encouraging squeeze after sensing the tense energy that was starting to emanate from her. “Let’s start with a drink, shall we? It’ll help you relax.”

All the while, he kept his eye for paths they could take if they needed to make a quick exit. Bril didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed, so he needed to be able to get her out of there if things started to become too much for her.

‘Lets start with a drink’, more beautiful words had never been said. Siv relaxed a little, her grip on Bril’s arm loosening. A drink sounded amazing, especially after the rough ride to the resort and everything she had been through recently. Especially because she could feel Lillian nearby, but not Alex, and was reminded that the Human was practically avoiding her much like others of her clan…. Plus she knew Bril could probably use one, too, with everything he had been through.

“Yes, a drink. I bet they have a nice selection here.” That brought a smile to her face. The pair made their way to the nearest bar and Sivall flagged down the bartender. The quicker she got some alcohol in her system, the more likely she was to be more fun here.

“One Tarkenian Nightflower please, and then my friend would also like to order something.” She looked to Bril with a soft smile, slipping onto one of the barstools to wait. Her black heels clicked together as she sat.

Marick cleared his throat, a trick he’d developed in his efforts not to unintentionally sneak up on or catch people off guard. The retired assassin still walked quietly and tended to make himself stand out as little as possible.

“Knight Sivall, Bril,” he spoke quietly by way of greeting. He paused then awkwardly lifted his seltzer in salute.

Bril looked to the bartender, a Pantoran woman who looked to be of similar age as the two of them, with a grin after he thought of his order. “I’ll have an Antakarian Fire Dancer. Double shot.” The guys and gals back at the Belkada on Canto Bight loved this drink; they were the ones who introduced Bril to it after he earned a spot in the professional circuit.

When he heard their names, Bril turned his head and, upon realizing who it was, tapped Sivall on the shoulder. “Marick, sir, it’s good to see you,” he said with a smile, only to give him a playful frown afterward. “Hey, I’m a knight as well, you know.”

An Antakarian fire dancer? She looked at Bril for a moment, sanguine eyes blinking. She had never heard of that drink before. Maybe she would try one later. She always liked trying new foods and drinks. If not later tonight, she would make note mentally to try one at a later date.

Sivall turned to Marick and smiled softly. While she knew that Marick was a more passive member of Arcona, her brain still spun with thoughts of her first day home after Tekpantli. She raised her hand in a polite wave to return the Envoy’s gesture, the other hand set in her lap.

“Hello again, sir. It’s good to see you.” Her smile turned faintly sheepish. “I hope you’ve been having a good time so far.”

Marick blinked, then realized his verbal communication could have been more specific. He silently swore at himself. “But of course,” he bowed his head forward towards the Zabrak. He glanced at Sivall. “I just got here myself.”

Bril waved his hand to dismiss Marick’s bow, knowing that he had no reason to make such a gesture toward him. “Just giving you a little trouble for my own amusement, sir,” he said with a smile, “This is my first time interacting with anything or anyone from Vizsla. It seems like we’re in for an entertaining night.”

Marick nodded at that, keeping his opinions to himself. “Never been one for swoop racing, but the venue is nice.”

“I’ve had a momentary run in with the clan before,” Siv commented, “One of my first stops before I got to Selen was Sundari Station.” The Chiss’s expression fell a bit, but quickly recovered into a passive look instead. Sundari station was where she had first met Ruka.

“This is a different feel, for sure. Sundari station was more… rugged.” She wasn’t sure if “rugged” was the word she was looking for, but it was probably one of the lesser offensive ones.

The bartender brought her and Bril’s drinks and Sivall happily took the glass into her hands. Her eyes widened slightly as Bril’s drink was set aflame, giving the Zabrak a worried look. He was gonna drink that? She was less and less sure she wanted to try one herself. At least it lived up to it’s name.

Marick tried to catch Sivs eye, and tried to smile faintly as a form of saying “don’t worry, I’ll keep a watch”.

His grin grew when he saw the purple flames rise and dance from the surface of his drink. Wingling his eyebrows at Sivall and Marick, he tilted his head back and downed the drink in one go. And it was a tall drink. He’d even managed to drink all of it without spilling so much as a drop, a clear sign that this wasn’t the first time that the Zabrak had done this. They were here to enjoy themselves, and that’s exactly what he intended to do.

“Do you think they have a dance hall, here?” he asked, while looking between the two Arconans.

Renatus glanced over his shoulder at Evant’s Praetor. He offered a nod of recognition before turning back to his more immediate goal.

“Port in a Storm,” the Justicar requested. “Double.”

Awwww yea! Sagitta could not wait! She could take a bit of a breather though the idea of going with Lillian had, admittedly, made her a bit nervous. That woman was so much better at everything than Sagitta was. Sniping? Lillian. Hiding? Lillian. Standing her ground? Lillian. Just seems to radiance pure confidence?

Also Lillian.

Didn’t help that her dad and Lillian had a huge argument about coming out here, it seemed to add onto the young female nerves. Sagitta, on par, has no idea what the argument was about. Her attention span sucked too much to absorb a damn thing.

They had arrived! She waited for the door along with Lillian as she tilted her head with Lillian putting on a helmet and smiled brilliantly, “I figured! You and dad argue about it all the time! Don’t worry about me here, really! I’m still alive and can handle myself!”

The Mirialam tried to reassure her. Her pink eyes darted to the ship as it was leaving. Alright then! “Anything you suggest? I cannot wait to meet new people, try new foods or even drinks! Hey, do you think they have a bookstore here? That would be silly. Was just trying to think of what to read to you guys tonight. Annnnnd why are we here again? I’ll pay attention to the answer this time, I promise!”

Her dark-skinned fingers flew over the virtual keyboard on her wristcomp with ridiculous speed, the Basic text far more understandable than her accented speech normally was.

“`

Likely both, plotting during playdate. Or she is. I expect Turi and Weyne to be “betrothed” to someone by the time we are back.

Thane is headed your way. Do not fret, I would never steal your ‘bro. Then again…no promises.

Ruka should have brought fam if he wanted babysitters. The observing I shall be doing is Kote Ky’ram and much raava.

”` She peered upwards, searching for the mentioned Ood. It should have been hard to miss a giant sentient tree walking about and yet somehow she had.

I spy, with my one eye, a Neti pot, she mused and headed inside.

Marick blinked twice, processing that information as he read it. He thought about the betrothed comment, had a moment of panic that was quickly dismissed, followed a confused analysis of ‘bro’ in the context of friend and actually brother.

Ok.

Sanguine eyes widened further and filled with awe as Bril inhaled the flaming alcohol. That had to be, funnily enough, one of the coolest things she had ever seen. And she had seen a lot. But, he seemed okay afterwards and that was enough to dissuade her nerves a little. No flaming esophagus, no panic. She took a solid swig of her own drink and practically melted at the the taste– it was a perfect concoction, one she drank often when she had the time. She nearly immediately felt the soft warmth of the rum spread into her veins.

Tonight she would forget about her problems, for once, and let go.

“We could probably find one, or at least ask directions. Fair warning, botmun'i, I am not a good dancer.” Ju'lia had tried many times to teach her how to dance, and despite her being pretty talented in the realm of martial arts, dancing to a beat was beyond her. Or at least it felt like it, with the looks her former owner’s wife had given her.

Lillian couldn’t help the soft chuckle that reverberated out of her helmet. Patting the taller green woman’s arm, the Mandalorian began to stride forward towards the hotel. Always full of energy, Sagitta was. The older woman envied her. Oh to be young again, without aches and pains, and with enough energy to continue on for days. She made no comment in regards to her and Wulfram’s constant fighting. They hadn’t always been like this. They were close once, inseparable.

“It’s okay, ad'ika, some of us just have shorter attention spans. Come,” She gestured for Sagitta to follow. “They’ll have food and drink inside, even alcoholic beverages if you want to take a crack at that. You can stick with me or adventure off on your own– you are a dala, after all.”

After reaching back to place his empty glass on the table and signaling to the bartender to make him another, Bril returned his attention to Sivall. “That’s the beauty of it,” he said, shaking his head to assuage her of any concerns she might have. “You don’t have to be a good dancer to have a good time. You just have to let yourself feel the beat and move.”

His eyes fell on Marick. The man was quiet, and although he wasn’t a part of their group per se, Bril wanted to include him in the conversation. “Do you dance, sir?”

Marick shrugged a shoulder. “When needed,” he replied in his low monotonous voice. “Valuable skill, to be sure.”

He thought of the one dance he’d had to learn recently. It was something from the holonet that Kirra had found while using his datapad. He wasn’t sure how it differed from ‘dabbing’ but it was some kind of line dance to a popular song. “There is the one song my daughter likes. Something about ‘a whip’, and then…‘nae-nae'ing?’”.

He made a gesture with one hand, swiping from left to right across his body.

Then he made a wiggle motion, moving sinuously for a moment before settling back into his ramrod posture and neutral position.

“Something like that…?”

Sagitta gave Lillian a wide and happy smile as her arm was being patted by her. Without hesitation, the woman followed Lillian towards the hotel as she gasped softly in awe, glanced up at the big building. “Oh, it’s so big and pretty, this would be such a nice break from staying in the ship so much! Do you think we have to stay the night here? I wouldn’t mind! Though it would be odd not to have the entire family to read to. Food and drinks! What kind do you think they will have? I do hope there’s new food for me to try! I forget, did you like to try different things too?”

“Beverages, oh man! This trip will be so exciting and so difficult! I would want to try everything but we don’t have that much time do we? And I certainly don’t want to make myself burst. Maybe you can help me with different suggestions! I imagine you had experienced more cuisine than I. And of course, I’ll stick with you! Unless of course, we both go off our own adventures! Meeting new people is so exciting!” While talking, there seems to be a bit more skip in her step as well.

“Now watch me whip!”

“Kill it! Watch me NAE-nae!”

“O-kay! Watch me whip whip.”

“Watch me do it, eyyyy, bae-bae.”

The ridiculous lyrics trailed off into laughter as two women returned to the quieter, gilded bar from the dance floor, one taller than the other, both dressed for a club. The green Twi'lek wore a lot more spikes and leather, though, while the yellow Nautolan was in pink frills, the layered froofy sleeves covering her arms while the skirt stopped barely at her thighs, tall, heeled white boots climbing up over her knees. They leaned into one another, bumping and grinding hips and laughing more, a light sheen of sweat on their skin.

“Oooh, gosh,” the Nautolan sighed as she waved for another drink, hoisting her emptied glass. “Every time. Every. Time. ‘Hey baby, can you whip those lekku?’ I don’t have lekku. At least he was anatomically accurate hitting on you.”

“Two seconds after you,” groaned the Twi'lek, rolling her eyes. Still their spirits were evidently high. “‘You should smile! You’d look so pretty.’ Bruh.”

“Bluh,” the Nautolan flipped some of her short, curly headtails back over her shoulder, the pink glitter on them and her cheeks shimmering in the overhead lights. “I’m so glad you’re here, vod'ika. I needed this.”

L'ara winked at her, ordering another one of the drinks that got set on fire like the pyro she was. Minnow stuck her straw back in her mouth, sucking as she surveyed the bar…and half-choked.

Apparently some new people had shown up since they’d left to dance. Including one of the Arconae and their own Matriarch alor. And…

“Bril…” she mumbled, staring at the Zabrak on the opposite side of the bar. He looked like he was with a very pretty Chiss woman whose dress clung to curves. They matched in black, even. She thought of the robe in her hamper at home.

“What bill?” L'ara asked.

“No, uh– nothing.”

Marick blinked once.

Anders stopped, going stone-cold still at the entrance to the bar. His eyes darted from one side of the room to the other.

Yep, this was a bad idea.

Regardless, he had made his dramatic exit in front of Draca, and if he went back, then he would look a fool.

Anders refused to look like a fool.

He approached a bar area, taking notice of any key figures of interest.

Socorra walked in as Marick wiggled for an audience and she stopped mid stride, blinking her one arctic eye once before slowly continuing on. She sidled up next to Thane at the bar and ordered several bottles of raava.

The patrons already there and more incoming new wide-eyed recruits were loud; not physically, but mentally, and already mentally taxing to the telepath. The woman had a feeling she was going to need the extra booze.

Socorra slightly tilted her raven and white head towards the Firrerreo.

“Did you come last year? I am not sure what to expect, if anything.”

Renatus swirled the glass of Port in a Storm as it was finally delivered to him. It felt like a day had passed since he ordered it, but—quite possibly—it wasn’t a common order and they had to hunt down the powerful wine. What’s worse is he had ordered a double serving.

The glass slid across the counter towards him alongside a datapad he hadn’t previously noticed. Renatus looked up through his eyebrows at the bartender with his black-gold eyes and a questioning brow.

“It’s a waiver, sir,” the bartender explained.

That tracks.

Renatus acknowledged the waiver and gave a nod of thanks before lifting the liquor to his lips. His nostrils flared as they ignited from the aroma alone.

Perfect.

He took his first of assuredly many sips and embraced the supernova coursing down his throat. Smacking his lips a few times, Renatus’ attention shifted to the swoop race outside and scanning the patrons around him. He wondered where Korvis had managed to get to.

<@583854106599489557>

The Justicar glanced at Socorra, acknowledging her question. “I do not recall,” he replied. Not sure if it even was held. I departed Vizsla space almost a week after we established the clan, after all.

He left much unsaid, as usual, opting to think to himself instead.

“I see.”

She was irked at not knowing the order of events; again, if there were any.

“Well. I hear congratulations are in order. And just when I had finally gotten used to ‘Thane.'”

'Hearing’ was a misnomer, having scheduled Evant’s agenda that day.

It was times like the events Minnie just described that L'ara missed the mosh pits of thrashpunk shows. She never had to leave her crushguants at home for those. Any creeps would quickly catch a gauntleted fist to the throat and she wouldn’t get kicked out.

“Is it a guy? Do I need to slap some detonite tape in a sensitive place? I’ll do it, schutta. I’ve done it before.”

It was at that moment that L'ara caught sight of Socorra. Would Jax be there too? She didn’t think so. She kinda hoped not. As much as she loved him, it would be exactly like running into her dad while cutting loose at a night club.

“I do not think I will ever get used to it,” he remarked. His face squinched up in annoyance and then he sighed. “But, thank you.”

Minnie laughed at the image. She’d seen L'ara do worse, but it was still pretty amazing to think of.

And horrific, but eh.

“No, no…‘sides, I already punched this one,” admitted the tiny Nautolan, totally not burbling into her drink. “Which was enough. So be nice, if he even notices us, okie?” She nodded at the couple across the bar beside Marick. “Besides, the bosses are here.”

Bril stifled a chuckle when he watched Marick do his best attempt at a dance he called the “nae-nae”. He hadn’t heard of it, figuring that it was a trend with those younger than he was. “I think you may need to practice that one a bit more, friend.” he said with a smile, turning his head to fetch his drink from the bartender.

And that was when he saw her. A stunning Nautolan woman with golden skin, dressed in clothes far brighter than his own. “Minnie,” he said beneath his breath.

“If they ask I’ll just pull the old ‘I learned it from watching you!’ That always works, because it’s true. Jax taught me almost everything I know… the holonet taught me the rest, thank the Mother for VPNs.”

L'ara started looking around casually.

“So, uh…what’s he look like?”

Had she noticed him? He couldn’t be sure, nor could he stop himself from glancing in her direction in between sips of his drink.

Marick quietly got a refill on his seltzer and did what he did best, blandly blended in and observed everything suddenly happening around him. He adjusted his Golden Envoy Glasses, still getting used to having something on his face, but appreciated the augmented reality overlay of information they provided.

Over his shoulder, his “Shadow” Envoy Corps Droid tittered, shifting its shape and spinning in place like a loading screen.

Minnie did snort into her drink then. “La-La, stooop, you’re being obvious.” She almost, almost though about getting off the barstool, because then she’d probably be out of his sightlines. But also every molecule of her being instantly rejected that idea with the fury of a thousand chihuahuas suns. “He’s right there. Twenty three hundred. Tusk cat with the baby blues with the Chiss and Mister Arconae.”

She could be blind and still pick up on the change in Bril’s demeanor. Her eyes follow’d Bril’s eyesight and landed on a very pretty Nautolan woman— just as bit confident as she was gorgeous.

Despite wanting her botmun’i to stay, she could see he wanted to go. Felt the need echo across the force to her. She laid her hand softly on Bril’s arm and have him a gentle smile.

“Go, botmun’i, I’ll be fine here with the Exarch.”

She lied through her teeth, her smile unfaltering. She could feel a certain redhead Mandalorian moving closer, and with her came questions about her stargazing brother.

“Ooohhhhh… I mean… I guess I see it? You could do better though.”

L'ara tapped the bar for another shot, an Alderaanian ‘Sploder, flaming with popping candies submerged in the liquor.

“But really, he’s not bad. Tall, lean. I’d do it once for the experience.”

Anders walked casually to the bar counter, carefully placing his datapad upon it. He began scanning through the various faces and dossiers of those he recognised in the vicinity.

“Hey, watcha doin’ there, buddy?”

A partially drunken Mandalorian approached, causing Anders to roll his eyes. BUDD-E beeped into Anders’ ear.

“No, no. I have this taken care of,” Anders turned to the Mandalorian. “You don’t care what I’m looking at.”

“I… don’t care what you’re looking at.”

“You want to buy me a drink, like a good friend.”

“I want to buy you a drink like a good friend…”

Anders patted him on the shoulder. “Good man. Cup of Jawa Juice, please, with just a small handful of ice.”

The Mandalorian left to retrieve the drink, leaving Anders to his own devices.

The smallest mischievous smirk lit the corner of her ruby lips. “Collect any more titles and I could swear your spirit animal is Cythraul.”

Feeling Sivall’s hand on his arm brought him back to solid ground, and he turned to look at her with a smile. “No, lora, tonight is our night. I’m supposed to show you how to have fun, right?”

You could do better though.

She was not drunk enough for comments like that, so she tapped for a shot too to go with her cocktail and slammed it back.

“I was gonna…” she mumbled, shameless enough for that much, propping her chin on her hand. Her headtails curled up and down at the tips. “Got complicated. O'sik, I made such a shit of myself, girl. All of those people. Like ten people,” it had been six, but when four were total strangers, she was allowed to round up, “and I cried like, literally actually six times or something. I need to wrestle a krayt just to show my face again.”

She stopped at her straw and got the staccatto skip of the bottom of the glass and ice. Maybe she’d order one of the shakes. They were better for blowing bubbles in and bubbles made her feel better.

“‘Sides, you see who he’s with? Pretty sure he got an upgrade, sis.” She sighed again. “She’s got boobs I’d take a nap on.”

Renatus took another sip of the drink best described as ‘unfit for human consumption’. Good thing he wasn’t human.

“Sounds terrible.”

L'ara noticed the pretty Chiss woman.

Oh. OH?

L'ara had had just enough drinks for this.

“Oh so he thinks he can just pull that kind of poodoo and waltz around like he can do better? Nah, schutta! Lemme go get him.”

By the last sentence, she had developed a touch of the typical accent that formerly enslaved Twi'leks carried. Between the shots and the rage, she had no energy to keep it hidden.

She hopped off her stool, which let her drop to be significantly shorter than Minnie who remained seated.

Oh.

The accent was coming out.

OH NO.

“Frak, L'ara, no, stop” gasped Minnie, and tossed going unnoticed to the wind for the sake of preventing explosive bodily harm or crashing Bril and the lady’s date.

They were lined up just right. She made the short jump off her stool and onto the Twi'lek’s back like a monkey lizard, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and neck and clinging with legs on either side of her sister’s much more voluptuous hips.

“Stooop. Let’s just go dance,” she plead as they wobbled around and spun in place.

She wanted to protest, mainly because she knew she had a tendency to bring people down. She wanted Bril to see the pretty girl he looked at like she wished Alex would-

…. She would unpack that later.

“Bril, you’re allowed to have fun t-“ The chiss was interrupted by a squeal from further down the bar. Her head snapped in that direction, her medic brain fearing the worst, only to see said Nautolan (Minnie, Bril had called her) climbing a Twi’lek like a tree. She took another large swig of her drink, her eyes wide.

“How much you wanna bet that’s about you?”

“Permission denied. Surprised ya actually made it in one piece, Lu. Really need ta get you a better bucket.~”

A familiar voice chipred across the comms, its positive sounding drawl carrying with it a quiet annoyance. And it was coming from a private line. Diyrian wasn’t about to air out their laundry on the spaceport tower line.

The scarlet and forest green hues of the KST-100 Kestrel Transport shone under the sunlight as it lowered to hover in its holding pattern behind the Scyk Fighter half its size. Several switches clicked as the droid brain huffed and attempted to take control back of the cockpit.

“Really it is highly uncalled for to just cease the panel like that. A simple request uttered would have been appropriate for this matter,” L4-C1A complained when the ship stabilized in its course.

“Sorry, Lacia, I’ll ‘member next time,” the faux-Zelosian leaned back in her seat and shrugged at the black-furred Shistavanen sitting adjacent to her. Another buzzing grumble came from the ship’s interface. Diy let it be as her finger tapped near the comms button and the sounds of her KX-series security droid tried placating the droid brain a bit behind her.

“Lu,” she thumbed the button again, holding it, “We gotta talk about the nexu in the –”

“–*Zarkot, Rose Gold? Cleared to land at Besh 5 and 6, respectively. Enjoy your stay on Zsoldos.” The spaceport tower buzzed in on the public airline. Diy recited back the appropriate response and thanked them before poking her human pal once more.

“Right, chat with ya on the ground, babes.”

She nodded up at the circuitry above her head, as if signalling to L4-C1A to do her thing. As smooth as nerf butter, The Lady’s Flower touched down to dock, hydraulics decompressing with a hiss. Diy patted the dashboard and gave a finger guns in appreciation to the droid brain, earning a scoff, before tossing her headgear off.

“Well, ready for a bit of relaxation 'n’ ‘membrance, Paws?” She stood and nodded to Doon.

“IT VILL BE FINE! I DON’T HAVE ANY EXPLOSIVES ON ME! I VON’T DO ANY PERMANENT DAMAGE! I’M JUST GOING TO KEEP A TOOS FOR A NECKLACE! OR MAYBE A ‘ORN!? I 'AVEN’T DECIDED YET!”

Despite Minnie being smaller, L'ara was still not very big, and the sudden unexpected weight had disrupted her stride significantly.

A gruff rumble came from the Black Wolf as he rolled his neck. “Always ready.” He stated simply as he stood and stretched, suddenly taking up much of the room in the cockpit. He allows room for Diy to slip past him before he followed, bare paw pads carrying his weight across the shuttle towards the exit.

As the ramp lowered and let in a nice breeze of air, Doon rumbled over at Diy in a dry, joking manner. “Thanks for the ride. It’s always a smooth one on The Lady’s Flower.” the rumble in his voice continued in a quiet chuckle as he slowly stepped down from the ship, wearing a button up shirt decorated with leaves and flowers. The buttons on it were quite undone, giving his heavily furred torso air to breath.

His eye roamed the landing spot, eventually landing on the nearby pad that hosted a freshly landed familiar ship. He glances over his shoulder at Diy before nodding towards the ship and walking off the ramp. “Let’s see how our friend is doing.”

“You’d be surprised. I havent tried very many new things, despite traveling all the time.” Lillian frowned slightly behind her helm. Her head twinged slightly and she began moving her and Sagitta towards an overcrowded bar with a pair of screaming women.

Giving all that a wide birth, and thankful that her helmet was hiding her entirely unhappy expression, the helmeted redhead took one of the few remaining seats and patted the seat next to her for the foundling to sit in,

“A double of Corellian whiskey please, neat, with a straw… aaannnd-“ She looked at Gita, the wheels in her head turning. The Mirialan was an adult, and she could unleash the drunk young woman upon Wulf when they got back to the ship. A wicked smile filled her features behind the visor.

“One Tatooine sunburn, please.” She looked back at the bartender. They nodded and began to prepare their drinks. Lillian gaze trailed the room as Gita happily chatted beside her, only to settle on a familiar blue figure,

“Oh kark.”

“Yes, I’m allowed to have fun, but with you. That was the point of this trip, remember? Both newly promoted. We deserve it.” He said, knowing exactly what Sivall was thinking despite her not finishing her sentence.

He took another look in Minnie’s direction and nearly spat her drink when he saw her hanging from the Twi'lek’s back. What was she doing? Nevermind, he didn’t want to know.

Taking another hefty swig of his drink, he gave a sheepish smile to Sivall. “I’m afraid you might be right. Our first meeting was … eventful, to say the least,” he admitted. The specific details were something he’d have to catch her up on later. For now, he desperately wanted to change the subject. “How’s your drink? I don’t think I’ve ever had that one.”

“LEAVE HIM ALONE VOD!” Minnie shouted back, and hey, at least she’d had two drinks and a shot already and it was Mando territory. At least this wasn’t a social faux pas, so the only thing to feel self-conscious about was that Bril was probably seeing her now and wasn’t that great.

Oh well. Mans wanted to claim he earned their iron, he wasn’t allowed to judge them in their own bar.

Speaking of, though.

“DON’T MAKE ME GO FOR YOUR LEK, L'ARA, I’LL DO IT! YOU KNOW HOW SHARP THESE TEETH ARE!”

L'ara froze.

She wouldn’t. She might. For a guy? Or maybe just to keep her from starting an inter-clan debacle.

“Fine. The aruetii lives with all his horns and teeth. For now.”

The Mando'a sounded strange with the tinge of her accent slipping through.

Aruetti.

Minnie winced. She’d screamed that at Bril, but it wasn’t true. Outsider? Sure. But not a traitor. Couldn’t betray anything when you hadn’t promised to do right by it in the first place. No, she was the aruetii.

It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me.

But she’d take the victory she could here.

“Deal,” Minnow said, letting go enough to do the awkward slide down L'ara’s back and butt. It pulled her dress up inches that it didn’t have to give, and she brushed the ruffles back down when her toes touched the floor. “Okay, NOW, can we, like, please go back to girls’ night? Let’s do some shooots, babygurl.”

Ugh!

Minnie was insufferable with how difficult she was to say ‘no’ to.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Another round of shots, then back to the dance floor. Maybe we can find someone with a tad less hair gel and no bedazzled tusk cat or dragon on their shirt.”

Seeing the continued antics from the two women made Bril cringe harder. Was it really that serious? The thought of the two of them continuing to tip-toe around each other for the rest of the night seemed ridiculous to him. All they would end up doing was making their nights worse, so, he decided to do something about it.

Reaching through the Force, Bril established a connection to the Nautolan woman as her and her friend started to leave, speaking to her in her mind.

Just come over here already, pur'devsta'ka. Let’s not avoid each other all night.

Minnie giggled. “Gawd, the hair gel. Why do they do that? It’s so much nicer when it’s soft, to like, pet it, yanno?” Then she saw the new arrival and cursed under her breath. “La-La, that’s the alor of Viszla. And Socorra too? What is this, a conclave? Just add Jaxxie and Foxxie and it’d be a Dad party. Dad, not daddy.”

She was just linking her arm with her sister’s, her vambraces underneath her dress sleeve clanking mutely with L'ara’s many straps and buckles, when a voice sounded in her head.

The Nautolan Mandalorian squealed, jumping a little in place in surprise, seafoam eyes darting around to find the source. It took her a few seconds to add two and two together– she knew of such things from Jax and the others of their Clan that worked more directly with the jediit, but had never had it happen to her.

Wait did that mean he was reading her mind?!

Minnow felt herself going pink all over and cringed, hugging L'ara to effectively hide her smaller frame in the Twi'lek woman.

“Ahdjdbsjdjd,” she whined into a very nice green chest. “He just asked me to come over. The space magic way. Frickin’ kill meeeeeee uuuugh–” Pull. Yourself. TOGETHER! “Okay, okay, I’m gonna just. Do this. Please come with me? And be nice?”

“It’s a really nice drink with spiced rum in it, one of my favorites outside of wine actuall-“ The Chiss woman stopped speaking and a worried expression filled her features at his wince. Was it the Nautolan woman? She wanted to reach out again but thought better of it in case it was taken the wrong way by Minnie.

“Are you okay?” She asked, her hands tightening around her glass. To cover the lightening of her knuckles she took another sip— she did not like the emotions Bril seemed to be going through. She knew they were important emotions to go through and process, but she wanted to protect him from them.

Sanguine eyes caught pitch black armor in the crowd and her breath hitched for just a heartbeat, hoping to see a tall brown haired Human following behind it.

But no, just one of the Foundlings. She deflated visibly and took a defeated sip of her drink,

Please ignore me, please ignore me, please- ktah.

The Mandalorian looked straight at her and she slowly turned to hide her face.

She nearly snorted.

Her bottles arrived, only they were not raava, not a chance in all nine Hells. No, not likely requested often. And she did have a monopoly on the Socorran export.

The swath of new Arconans had grown even louder. Regardless of whatever the bottle was it was bottoms up, drowning out the noise. Halfway through it her nose wrinkled yet she didn’t set it down until fully empty.

“No,” Socorra replied, clearing her throat. “But this is.” She raised a burn-scarred hand and flagged the bartender while still having a bit of fun with the former five-minute-Arconan. “Are you intimidated by one as Fierero? I understand. Highly intelligent, fierce, beautiful coats.”

“Besides, look at all that you missing!” she said in between the twitch-inducing squeals in the background.

“Cannot say I find canines as such,” Renatus stated while swirling his drink, not one to get intimidated. He tried to compartmentalize his awareness in an effort to direct all the noise away from the forefront of his consciousness. “For one, I smell significantly better when wet,” he added with a low chuckle.

Trying to keep his focus directed, Renatus’ scanning eyes found their host ( <@583854106599489557> ). The former Vizslan—and Sadowan…and Arconan for all of a heartbeat—offered a nod of greetings.

“Yes, I’m okay.” he said after taking a breath. “I just invited her over. Let’s hope our second meeting goes better than the last one did.”

The knights’ connection through the Force had remained open, though in the background, following Sivall’s initial probing. This allowed him to pick up on the sudden shift in her own energy after she’d looked away from him. Following her gaze, he noticed another figure - presumably a Mandalorian based on the armor - clad in black. He quickly averted his gaze lest he attract attention to them, figuring that that was the last thing that she wanted.

“Are you alright, lora?” he asked, taking a step forward to place himself between Sivall and the person she’d hid her face from. He was noticeably larger than her, so he hoped that would be enough to keep her from being noticed.

A few km out from the city Titius grew tired of waiting for clearance to land, opting to touch his shuttle down in an open patch of land outside city limits. Stowing all his weaponry, he alit from the gangplank. Looking around, he sneered at the denizens looking on.

“Kark your landing authority, Kark this waste of time and Kark whoever’s idea it was to have VIP landing be a thing”

With a sigh, Titius looked onward and began to trudge his way towards the event.

“Really? Aw! We should travel more together. Oh! I know, I could compile a list of drinks and food that’s popular in reach region, maybe a top ten kind of thing? Compile them and we can tick them off! It could be a bucket list thing! They had arrived and instantly met with sounds of someone, over there, fighting.

Sagitta didn’t want to lose Lillian so she quickly followed the mandalorian. Sagitta was dressed up rather casually, with just a jacket, tight pants that hugs her hips and legs, and a cloth that twines to cover her chest. Once she sat down, she looked over to see the two women … fighting? Wrestling? Wait, isn’t that Twi'lek-

"Oooooh! Tatooine sunburn? That sounds so good!” She smiled, rather excited, “So, as I was saying, we can make a bucket li-” She stopped when Lillian cussed. “Eh?” Curious, she followed her eyeline and her jaw dropped. “Oh, woooooooow! She’s dressed so gorgeous, wait why is she ignoring- Ah! Vor'e!” She grabbed the Tatooine sunburn and without thinking or even using her brain (if she had any) She started to take massive gulps as if she was drinking a bottle of water.

Then it burns.

REALLY burns. She gasped softly as she coughed several more times “Holy frack kriffing frack fracking kriff kriff Frack” Then it felt warm. Really warm. As if she was out in a cold and warm soft cozy blanket of fur just engulfed her and full of warm spices “WHOO!” She shouted then smashed the glass onto the bar, “ANOTHER!”

The mention of Foxen made L'ara think for a moment.

Well, maybe some daddies.

But she blinked it out of her mind. She was ninety-nine percent sure he’d rather put a blade in her than put a blade in her. Besides, that was her sister/friend’s brother. Her deeply traumatized brother.

L'ara stiffened at the mention of ‘jediit poodoo’ and mind. The request to join Minnie made the Twi'lek’s mind race.

Do I have time to make a Bothan Cocktail? What could she use as an ignition source? Maybe bum a cigara and a light from the cute bartender? Maybe grab her number while I’m at it. Focus!

No, slipping away with a whole bottle of high-proof liquor would be too difficult and she definitely couldn’t afford bottle service. Now she really regretted checking her crushgaunts at the desk.

Fine. Guess I’ll be nice to this bantha-kriffer.

“Yeah, of course I’ll come with you. I’m watching him though.”

“F-Fine…” She mumbled, “It… It’s just… It’s Alex’s sister. My… friend. I wasn’t expecting her here. I should have…” She sighed softly, downing the rest of her drink. She felt the warmth in her veins, in her chest.

“I’ll be fine botmun’i.”

The small smirk reformed from her satisfaction of managing a chuckle out of him. “I would not know. Sadly I was too late to dunk you in lazy river.”

It did not take a skill in telepathy to know that the woman had absolutely planned to. She wouldnt soon forget the image of Thane blissfully floating down a channel on top of a circular floatation device in some park on Seraph. She still envied Thran’s ability to instantly throw together a massive festival…and have it go well.

You know, you’re cute when you’re flustered. Had I known that this was what I needed to do to get this kind of reaction out of you, I would have done it sooner.

Another message came across his fledgling Force connection with the Nautolan woman, though Bril didn’t look at her as her and the Twi'lek made their way over to them. He grinned against his glass before finishing the last swig of alcohol within it.

Bril turned to Sivall and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, Sivall,” he said, bending over enough for them to more easily make eye contact. He may not have known all the details with her and this Alex person, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable, and he didn’t like it. “Take a deep breath with me and feel what I’m feeling.”

He took the time to project warmth across their bond, as if he were embracing her in a mental hug. Stillness followed shortly after, hopefully to bring a sense of calm to the woman’s nervous energy.

The pale Chiss did just that, closing her eyes. It took her a moment, but she relaxed. Siv opened her eyes and smiled softly, assuring the Zabrak she was fine.

“Thank you. I’ll tell you about it… later. Before we leave. I promise.”

He smiled before standing upright. “Whenever you’re most comfortable, lora. I think we both have a lot to catch each other up on. It’s been a busy month.”

Minnie’s face burned even hotter, and she ground her teeth. Maybe another time she’d have not minded the teasing, but watching Bril turn to his actual date, cradle her, and hold it like some captured crystal moment from a romance holo made the messages a little mixed.

Her boot heel twisted, grinding into the tile, as if she was grinding something else into the floor.

Fine.

Lifting her chin, she exhaled through her nose, hooked her arm with L'ara’s, and put as much sashay into her walk over as she possibly could. Which admittedly wasn’t a lot when you were trying to do it in lock step with your taller friend in different heights of heel but dammit she tried.

She held them back long enough to be polite, headtails curling and uncurling, able to pick up enough you’d close just on the air to know the Chiss woman wasn’t totally comfortable. Why was that? Was she upset? Was Bril upsetting her? All told that didn’t really seem like him. Surely their whole thing was an extreme example…maybe it was the environment. Or a headache. Who knew? It was a really faint read.

Well now she just felt bad for the other girl. And like the problem again.

“Excuse us,” Minnie said as they came up to the pair, softening her tone a little, trying for friendly. She smiled. “Hey, hi, sorry to interrupt y'all…just wanted to say hey to my friend Bril here if it’s okay, then we’ll get outta your way, promise!” She squinched her eye to wink at the pretty Chiss. “Im Minnow, by the way. Love your look, super cute how y'all a matching couple!”

The look that appeared on Bril’s face was one for the holoalbums. Standing there with wide eyes, he looked to Minnie, then Sivall, then back to Minnie. “Wait, you think that she and I are an item?” he asked in disbelief, pointing to Sivall. “She’s my sister, well like my adopted sister. Our relationship is purely platonic, I assure you.”

L'ara bit her tongue, but her face and Lekku screamed paragraphs. Violet eyes shot daggers at the young Zabrak.

What kind of kriffing horny frakboi did he think he was?

The toe of L'ara’s boot twitched. It’d be so easy to just swing it up, right between his legs.

Sister? **Sister??**

“Sister, huh? Gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever held a sibling like that. Only time I’ve seen something similar was on that show with the Mother of Krayt Dragons.”

She cursed herself for not being able to remember the name of the holo. But she was confident that her point was made.

Siv had just received another one of her drink when Minnie approached. The word couple caught in her throat, causing her to sputter on her drink a moment.

A couple?!

The Chiss waved one hand, the other placed on her chest. The comment from the Twilek did not make anything better.

“H-he’s telling the truth,” she cleared her throat, frowning, “I’m sorry for any miscommunications or misunderstandings. I.. I-I have a panic disorder-“ wow, first time saying that outloud felt like a kick to her chest, “- and have troubles getting out of that state. Bril is one of my closest friends.”

I don’t even know if I can love like that… she whispered mentally.

Another figure appeared at the bar in the peripheral of Socorra’s eye, which shifted to see the quiet Chiss in his entirety along with his droid, and stayed there until it flicked instinctively to the datapad he set down. …just in case the display was on.

It was.

Socorra’s picture was enlarged over the displayed dossier, in fact. Her mind instantly sped through its own database, scanning for his image and dossier now. The Seeker peered back up to catch his eye, winking her own at him - granted, with only one, it was more like a long, slow blink. <@837236610684813342>

Lillian’s attention was drawn from her brother’s train-wreck of a crush to watch Sagitta down enough alcohol to make her tipsy. Kark.

“A’dika! Holy kriff!” She laughed, patting the Mirialan on her shoulder, “Look at you go! But.. you should probably slow down with the next.”

She ordered another Sunburn for Sagitta, then stuck the straw of her drink under her helmet and took a sip. A shutter passed through her at the burn of the whiskey down her throat. So good.

She watched Siv out of the corner of her eyes, keeping an eye on the situation. Alex would never forgive her if she let the damn medic get hurt while she was there.

Socorra peered back to the bar patrons. Korvis had obviously entered- even with a single eye he was incredibly hard to miss. Harder than a giant tree that had potted itself.

“Korvis,” she said to the familiar Consul, also with a nod. Her accented tongue expertly rolled his name. “Do you have.. ceremony for memorial? Or just big party today? I miss last year.” If there was one last year. “Was not ready to.. celebrate.”

Having just woken in this time period she had not been ready to accept the recent slaughter of her brethren, by the beloved brother that had adopted her so long ago. It was possible that she was procrastinating now as well by getting drunk first. <@583854106599489557>

Upon hearing that comment and understanding what it implied, Bril’s face shifted from one of shock to one of genuine displeasure. “I'linare be'meni uldo slaret,” he said in Zabraki, his tone accented with a notable thread of irritation. “One’s family is more than blood. I don’t have to explain to you who my family is and why I consider them as such. I was making sure that my friend was okay.” Speaking of which, he sent another warm pulse across his bond with Sivall to reassure her that things would be fine.

He averted his gaze from the Twi'lek woman and returned his attention to Minnie, “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. It’s great to see you, Minnow. You look stunning.”

“Lacia would self-destruct if it was anything but,” Diyrian replied as she slid shades up onto the green curls of her hair. Her grin twisted deeper with a chuff though. Sliding her short sleeve jacket on over her burgundy crop top and olive green shorts, she nodded and followed after Doon towards the landed Scyk fighter.

<@227960499948486666>

Sagitta laughed with Lillian as she was being patted on the shoulder by the Mandalorian, “Slur down?” Slurred Sagitta as she was slightly confused, “But why drink if not drink? It makes me feel soooo wuuuurrrrrm and cossssssyyyy,” purred the Mirialan as she leaned over the bar and waited for the next one. “Vo’re you amazing and lovely thing, absolute perfection to ever exist in this whole galaxy.” Then behold, the next perfection of Tatooine sunburn had arrived! Though she behaved and remembered Lillian’s words as she pouted, cheeks puffing slightly, she wanted more of the warm feeling! With that in mind, she still leaned over the bar, and ever so slowly nudged the drink closer to her as she licked it inside like a damn bloody razor cat.

Bril may have looked away, but L'ara didn’t even blink.

I wanna punch you in the dick so bad you don’t even know, wizard boy.

She channeled the thought at him, practically begging for him to pick up on it.

“Sweet Oceans, L'ara, you can’t just say that to people!” Minnie groaned, and dragged a hand down her face. She quickly flapped her hands in Sivall’s direction, smiling again and cooing, “Hey hey! No need to say sorry! I’m the one interrupting you! It’s really nice to meet you. Don’t you worry about the panic, okie? I get it, really. My family has some stuff too. I made an assumption, that’s on my, yeah?” Another smile. Then she turned to Bril, realizing belatedly he’d called her stunning. “Sorry to you too. Can’t really blame me, thinking you’d be out with someone so beautiful, hey, tusk cat?”

She winked again, to both of them, hoping the double compliment helped a little bit. Her little hand went out towards the Chiss.

“You can call me Minnow, or my friends call me Minnie. This is my sister, L'ara. What’s your name?”

L'ara took a hint, reluctantly, and sweetened her tone a little.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I was just concerned because you look so wonderful I was concerned you might have been here against your will.”

L'ara finally shifted her gaze to the Chiss. She did look amazing.

Bril felt the general sentiment that L'ara was giving off, at least. But he chose to ignore it.

“Tusk cat, huh? Giving me nicknames already?” he said with a smile, “I’m glad you’re here.”

And he needed another drink. “I’m going to grab something else, would you like anything?” he asked, keeping his eyes squarely on Minnie.

Minnow nearly snapped at her sister, but dice Bril seemed to be trying to move on, choose to just kick her foot. She smiled back at Bril, still waiting for if his sister would shake or not.

“Surprise me, kitty. I’ll try whatever you pick,” she allowed.

Renatus’ gaze turned skyward as his rifled through the cabinets of his memory. Ah, yes, the lazy river. Admittedly, that was the first and last time he had worn swimming trunks. The farmboy in him blanched at the thought of the wasted credits on that particular throwaway purchase.

“It was loud, too,” he noted of Thran’s waterpark.

Gorgeous?! Her?! Siv sucked in air and gently took Minnie’s hand, shaking it. Inside she was screaming. Of all the people here, she was not worth the compliments. She wasn’t. Skin and bones and… and…

She shoved the thoughts down again, pushing a smile to her face. “It’s nice to meet you, Minnow. You can call me Sivall, or Siv.”

She wanted to hide. She felt her skin prickling, but she would brave it. This Nautolan meant something to Bril, so she was important to Siv too.

Kitty. I could get used to that. His voice came through their mental link again, accompanied by another, more subtle sensation. If she focused on it enough, she’d realize that it was the rhythmic thumping of his two hearts, which had begun to beat a little faster as he held her gaze. Then, the sensation faded from her mind, and Bril drifted away from the group to head to the bar.

Once he was there, he waited for the bartender to finish with her other patrons before ordering. “Two Port In a Storms, please.”

Now he just had to wait, so he turned around and leaned his back against the polished marble table and started to scan the other patrons in the bar. His eyes stopped when he noticed another familiar face. Was that the Justiciar? Bril leaned over to the Firrerreo man and waved. “Mr. Thane? Is that you? Didn’t expect to see you here. Though, I’m glad to see that even the minister of justice likes to unwind in his spare time. How are you?”

The Justicar turned his head ever so slightly towards Brill with a raised eyebrow. Already the bartender was preparing another waiver to accompany the new order for Port in a Storm. A Zabrak could probably take it.

“I was invited,” he explained. As if that was reason enough for him to be there. The contrast of Bril’s chatter to Renatus’ more direct statements was quite clear, though somehow it wasn’t…well, insulting. There was a calm coldness to the Firrerreo that made him seem merely detached rather than disinterested. “I am healthy, may you be the same.”

Minnow felt heat across her cheeks and stomach again, a little surprised sensation that had her touching her chest as if her heart was skipping a beat; but it was just Bril’s double time. Distracting, but not bad.

She was almost too wrapped up in the little apparently we’re doing this now telepathic back and forth, but she did still notice Sivall’s discomfort continuing. It was hard not to, as they shook hands. The crawling sensation along her headtails usually meant someone else’s was doing the same. She smiled to the woman, thinking of her comments.

“Is it okay if we sit with you?” she asked gently, smiling again. She turned that smile to L'ara, her look to her Twi'lek kin one that conveyed they had a mission. No gal left behind. Then she glanced back. “Tobehonest, we don’t know anybody else here and the guys on the dance floor are just bein’ such sleemoes. Be nice to get to hang out with you. But it’s okay if not! No pressure at all, yeah?”

The woman was caught off-guard by Lady.

Damn you, Zxyl, she mentally cursed the Regent for starting the honorific trend in Vizsla.

“Understandable,” she nodded, at the private memorial. “Something tells me our day will come.” Soon…very soon.

L'ara grit her teeth, but couldn’t stay mad right now, as much as she wanted to. Siv had done nothing and Bril wasn’t present. She remembered what it was like to feel so damn uncomfortable in her own skin. Leering eyes. Unable to escape-

She shook her head. No. Not tonight.

“Yeah, despite the introduction, I think you might be the best company in the place. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier. I was just kinda pissed about…y'know? And stuff?”

Siv nodded, gesturing to the seats. The prickling was still there but less, and she felt like she could breathe again.

“Of course you can sit. And it’s okay, we all fall to our emotions some times. S’what makes us alive.” She knew that maybe better than anyone here.

More people meant more interaction, but it also meant a distraction from her current problems, and her drink was giving her some courage. She stood up a bit straighter, hoping to seem a bit less pathetic.

Of course, he was invited, Bril. He would have been more shocked if the members of the Vizslan summit, whoever they may be, hadn’t invited him. Nevertheless, it was still a bit unusual to see such a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood drinking amongst them. “Thank you, sir. Well, if you and Marick are interested, my friends and I should be heading to the dance floor eventually. You should come and cut a rug, as some say.”

More faces the woman did not recognize immediately. She was slacking. Socorra gave the Zabrak a once-over in order to find them in her mental databank.

Renatus blinked.

First he turned his head towards the dance floor, then his entire body as he ran out of mobility in his neck. His black-gold eyes stared at it for the longest time before he blinked again.

“I fail to see any—” He stopped. It was just a saying. Right. Of course it was. Didn’t need to be taken literally.

Why were there so many sayings?

“Perhaps I will.”

Bril returned the look the Human woman gave him and offered a polite nod in kind. “My apologies. Where are my manners? I’m Bril. I met Mr. Thane a few weeks ago on a mission.” he said, bowing his head in a polite greeting common amongst his people.

Lillian raised a gloved hand and rested it lightly on Sagitta’s head. The Mandalorian would probably feel bad about this later, but all the same it was an important lesson. A soft hum escaped her helmet.

“I wish someone would talk about me the way you talk about that drink. It’s a lucky drink.” She waved to the bartender and ordered some candied fruit— she needed to get something in the younger woman’s stomach before she puked.

Minnie beamed at Sivall, practically skipping over to take a seat next to her and squeezing L'ara’s hand as she did so. A sharp fissure of prickle over her scalp indicated her vod'ika’s bad flash, and the remedy would be more drinks and laughs.

“So you’re Bril’s adopted sister?” she asked to start out. “That’s so nice. I heard about his sister and brother but I probably forgot stuff. I was kinda a mess that day.” Gesturing between herself and the Twi'lek, she added, “Me and L'ara are sisters too, in our Clan. Mandalorian adoption. But she’s also my best friend. So we get it.”

Damn you twice.

Socorra seemed to brighten at the declaration. “Oya!” she nearly shouted, as customary. “The honor would be mine. To fight alongside, I mean. Well drinks are good too, osik. I need another. What was that you order, volcano? Spicy, sah?”

“Ah, Thane’s missions are interesting. I see you have most limbs still, that is good. I am Socorra, pleased to meet you, Bril. Welcome to Brotherhood.”

The welcome was genuine. The woman’s deep accent overenunciated syllables.

Siv’s eyes came to life a little—she had been researching Mandalorian culture recently. She had found herself involved with a whole clan of them, after all. It was nice to think there was threads of things the three of them had in common, even if they were little things.

“Sort of. There’s no official documents or anything, but we joined The Brotherhood around the same time. He’s… he’s been kind to me, even after…” She shook her head, keeping a soft smile on her face. The alcohol was definitely helping keep the spiraling thoughts out of the way.

“We’ve both made some mistakes in our short time here, and it’s nice to have someone not judge you over said mistakes.” She took a sip of her mixed drink, looking between the two.

“It’s good to find friends in your family. Family is more than blood, and everything.” She repeated the saying in basic, instead of butchering it in her still very poor Mando’a. Lillian had explained the concept to her once, and just like everything else it had stuck firmly in her brain.

“Sah! You and Marick, cut rug! Go, shoo!” She waved a hand, as if the air itself would propel him to dance.

“…cut, rug?”

It hit L'ara like a freight truck. It had wormed its way into her brain at first, but now she realized where she had seen Siv’s name before.

The After Action Report.

The After Action Report.

“Oh, you’re Sivall Siv. I’m so sorry. I read the reports. I can’t imagine how hard that was. That wasn’t your fault though.”

L'ara reached out an upturned hand and touched the back of hers to the back of Siv’s in an effort to not overstimulate the poor girl, or imply that she had an intention to hold her.

Bril smiled brightly at the Firrerreo man and gave him a finger gun. “I’m going to hold you to that, T-Man. Tonight we’re going to see those dance moves.”

Once the Human woman, Socorra, mentioned losing limbs, a look of concern appeared on Bril’s face. “Was losing limbs something I should have been worried about?” he asked, briefly shifting his gaze to Thane again. Then, back to Socorra. “The feeling is mutual. And thank you. My invitation to Mr. Thane and Marick is an open one, by the way. Don’t hesitate to join us on the dance floor later.”

The bartender arrived with the drinks he’d ordered, and Bril thanked her before taking them in both hands. “I should be getting back to my company, but I expect to see all three of you out there,” he took the time to point at each of them with a finger. “T-Man, M-Dog, and S-Sizzla.”

He was still workshopping their nicknames, but those would have to do for now.

She nodded emphatically, white streamed bangs bobbing up and down. She pointed at Bril. “Cut rug! What he say. Dance.”

Marick didn’t blink. He just stared, processing the Zabrak’s words and the order in which he used them.

He resisted the urge to check in on Kirra and Weyne. They were surely fine. Wyn and Atyiru couldn’t do too much harm, right?

“Understood,” Marick replied absently.

“Ohh..” she said, and instantly became invisible wallpaper at the very idea of her dancing.

“Don’t sweat it. Have a drink or three, and you’ll be dancing like an akro reed in no time.” Bril chuckled to himself before taking a sip of his drink.

Socorra blinked once on behalf of Marick. She was apparently behind on TikTak lingo as well.

There it was.

Oh you’re her.

Her smile only faltered a little, which took a massive effort on her part. Tema flashed in her mind, along with the wails of his mother. She swallowed hard, then downed a large swig of her drink. The rum would make it better, right? Would chase away the anxiety in her veins of seeing that recognition in people’s eyes?

At least for L’ara, it wasn’t a look of disgust or fear, or disappointment. Siv didn’t flinch away from the Twi’lek’s touch, but her posture was much more rigid than before.

“Ah yes, that’s uh… that’s me…”

Marick lightly interjected, having kept a bead on Sivall.

“Knight Sivall has also already managed to climb the ranks of the Envoy Corps quicker than any other of our recruits. Her work, over the short period of time since joining us, has lead to multiple successes and the improvement of the Brotherhoods position. Her actions on Selen also carry the weight of her promise.”

He listed the accolades mechanically in his monotonous lilt. There was no excitement, but no unwanted air of bolstering bravado. The Exarch simply spoke as if he were recalling a fact sheet.

Which, in a way, he was, thanks to the AR overlay of his glasses pulling Sivall’s mission data in real time.

“We are lucky to have her in Arcona and the Brotherhood, ” he nodded.

Bril stepped back over to where the others were sitting and took a seat nearest Minnie, who he gave a gentle nudge before placing her drink in front of her. “Sorry it took me so long, was catching up with the Justiciar,” he explained, “I got us the Port in a Storm.”

Catching the tail end of Marick’s evaluation of Sivall, he nodded in agreement, making sure that she saw him do so. He hoped the praise of someone she admired as much as Bril knew her to would help her feel a bit more at ease.

The Justicar sent the remainder of his scorching war crime of a drink down his throat before flicking his eyebrows towards Socorra. “I suppose I am up.”

Queuing up several alcohol-infused Hyperdrives to be delivered upon his return, Renatus approached the dance floor. He stood at the side and studied it like one might a puzzle. It was his personal rubiks cube and he would solve it. Or fail dramatically. He would be unbothered regardless of outcome.

He watched the active dancers, seeing how they employed movements and responded to rhythmic shifts in the music. Finally, he tried to quantify how others reacted to different demonstrations. He rated them and organized it mentally before crafting his own approach.

The song changed and Renatus knew he needed to get a feel for it before committing. He felt the thumping in his chest and—all too late—realized he would have to rid himself of his cloak. Perhaps it could be incorporated?

Once he had a feel for the rhythm, Renatus committed to the dance floor. He strut out and found an open space where he could lock himself into a pose just as the beat suspended into a long pause. It shifted into a haunting melody and he slowly awakened, his body seemingly connected to the rhythm of the music. With each beat his muscles would tense and his movements became ever more dynamic.

Then the beat dropped. (And so, too, did his cloak.)

Renatus jumped into action, his feet pounding the ground with precision. His movements were effortless, incorporating elements of popping and locking and even power moves that made his body look like it was defying gravity. It was a performance well suited to a former street rat from Corellia.

Marick clapped, and made sure his droid was recording.

Main Boulevard outside the main event

“SIR, this area is reserved for those serving a active Clan or staff. Furthermore, you must submit for a weapons inspection prior to entering”

Titius looked at the security officer with a look fit to kill outright.

“I am Professional Titius Osseus of Clan Scholae Palatinae. My ship is not registered as I had to land it in a field you mealy excuse for a doorman” Reaching instinctively for a grenade to ram his point home, Titius found only fabric. Pulling his ID chip over his head, he shoved it in the security officers face. “Bring me to someone who is competent enough to check these or I will be returning armed, un.der.stoo.d?”

SEVERAL heavily armed security personel appeared and put their blaster barrels into Titius’ face. “On your knees, Professional or Ill put you there myself”

“What are you going to do? Incompetent me to slee…”

Note to self, flagstone isnt tasty Titius remarked.

Brushing himself off, Titius couldnt help himself. “Oh, lookie loo, a single competent person. Really, you all oughta take those helmets off once in a while, stop your brains rendering out your ears”

He skittered in as the security forces growled and lunged at him.

Maybe it was the heat of the pepper in the drink, but Socorra seemed to flush at the performance. She did not need a droid to record this; her incredible mind already had it committed to memory. Forever. She flagged the bartender for another volcanowhatever and fanned herself.

She turned to Marick. “You’re next.”

Entering the lounge, Titius was forced to adjust his implants to attenuate the wall of sound.

I will fail to understand how this is entertaining to most species. Looking through the crowd, he saw the bar and…

…noone he recognized.

[Several systems away, three sets of pointed ears wiggled as mother and daughter helped baby move a single holo on a desk two inches off center.]

Before Minnie got a chance to enthuse over Sivall quoting one of their most treasured sayings or anything else friendly, L'ara’s comment had already hit like an S-5 Oathbreaker, right through the chest. It was well-intentioned, and obviously involved some grief and mission difficulty, but…

Oh, no, honey… the Nautolan thought. She scrambled to try and think of a way to help, and then was surprised to find Emeritus Arconae speaking to them, and of Sivall. The pieces started adding up. She was an Arconan, and a jediit. That meant they might see more of her, even work with her. That meant this woman held their oaths, even in some small part.

Resigned commission or not, it was her honor and duty to lay down her life for this woman.

Aww, geez, the least she could do was try to get her to laugh tonight.

Only Bril nudging her really got her attention back to him. She smiled at him, a little distracted, and couldn’t help but think of how fitting the drink’s name was.

“Port in a Storm, huh?” she asked, and nudged back, then nudged Sivall with one elbow, since the Chiss hadn’t seemed to mind L'ara’s brush. “We all need that sometimes, huh? I don’t know about you guys but I think the last little while has kicked my ass, so–” she lifted the actually pretty huge drink with both hands. “Here’s to us, here’s to screwing up, here’s to still loving out the other side of it. Now, Sivvy babes, Bril, when you’re with Mandos, you gotta cheer like one, kay? We scream this drinking, fighting, dying, all of it. It means joy. It means living life. Say, oya! Okay? OYA!”

Marick’s interjection blindsided her. Despite him obviously just reading off of a list, the fact that he felt the need to jump in at her defense made her eyes misty. Marick had praised her.

Bril’s agreement and Minnie’s words were enough to make her eyes misty, but in a good way. The usually quiet and reserved Chiss raised her glass alongside the Nautolan and let out an ‘Oya!’ as well.

No matter how bad she screwed up in the future, she would always have this… right? This found family. This connection that the Grants had made her believe she could never obtain and didn’t deserve.

“Oya!”

L'ara cheered with the group smiling, but pulled out her comm and typed up a quick message. She couldn’t sent it, since she didn’t have Siv’s code, but she just slid it across the table.

If you ever need to talk, I’m always around Selen. I’ll give you my comcode later. I’ve had plenty of missions go tits up. I didn’t even make it to the island, that’s how bad I frakked up. I can’t claim to know exactly how you feel, but plenty of us have been in similar situations.

Socorra had no idea what they were shouting for this time but raised her glass as well. “Oya!”

Bril saw this as good of an opportunity to slip one arm around Minnie’s shoulders and, depending on how she received his touch, give her a hearty squeeze while raising his glass. He couldn’t have picked a better Mando'a to be the first, hopefully of many, that she taught him. “Oya,” he said with a beaming smile.

There was no doubt about it, now. Coming to the Kote Ky'ram celebration was exactly what the two of them needed. What they all needed. He took turns raising his glass to each of them, even to L'ara, hoping that she would reciprocate.

With another drink slammed the woman rose from her seat and moved to stand next to Marick. “Ahem. Your turn to dance.” <@189568236201705472>

“I’d prefer not to.”

She breathed in, thinking for a split second. “I will if you do.”

Marick frowned. He took in everything that was going on around him. And while there was a comfort in the amount of Arconans, and even his one “friend” that served as Justicar of the Brotherhood was having…fun, old habits were hard to shake.

“I’d rather not, Socks, please,” he spoke calmly.

She bit her ruby lip and sighed. “Alright. I no ask again.”

The woman raised her wristcomp and tapped a few times before an image of the Exarch’s daughter appeared on the screen. Kirra seemed to age a year every time Socorra saw her. She remembered viewing a young toddler faceplanting into a datapad like it was yesterday, slobbering the screen with kisses.

“Meshla! How are you baby? Aunny Socks misses you. So does Papa. In fact, he so sad, that he no dance! How very sad.”

Socorra realized she may very well regret this later. Beg forgiveness, not permission.

The rejoinder from Sivall, her sister, and Bril made Minnie’s smile stretch even further, all her sharp teeth flashing as she laughed and shouted again, “OYA!” Hearing it echoed even around the bar just from others of her kindred was all the better. When a lithe arm wrapped around her, she didn’t resist or shun it this time, even leaning back into his chest a little bit when he squeezed. She wouldn’t stay there; this was a friends’ night now, not a date, and her new mission was to make as many smiles for Sivall, Bril, and L'ara as possible. But she did bump her hips back in a show of reciprocity before they separated by a few scant inches and she took a drink.

Luka couldn’t help but smile as Diy’s voice came across the comms. They should have known that their roommate also received the invite. Though the question of Bico’s whereabouts made them nervous. “Right. Let’s see if I can land this without pinching any toes. Looks like quite the crowd already.”

The landing wasn’t nearly as smooth as the Flower after them, but they managed not to scrape the already worn paint. The human that emerged from the Scyk was certainly more put-together than their mismatched ship would suggest. Geometric embroidery decorated a black sleeveless tunic in shades of blue, and a golden collar was clasped around their neck. When they saw their friends approach, they held their arms out in welcome.

“My darlings~! Glad to see I won’t be among strangers. Is Bico on the ship? I am truly sorry for leaving her with you. Not sure if pets were allowed, you see.”

Siv took another decently sized swig of her drink, fairly tipsy at this point. Things felt good. So when an offer was made for Marick to dance but he didn’t take it? She looked at the Exarch with the best puppy eyes she could manage– and with her already doe shaped eyes, she’d like to think it was a pretty good one.

“M-Mr. Marick, please? I think you would do super good!” She even added in a pout for extra effect.

‘I wouldn’t look so flattered. The picture looks better than the real thing.’

Anders couldn’t help the small smile that came across his face as he created the telepathic link with Socorra, but considering who was in the room with him, perhaps he should try to behave.

‘Perhaps I got off onto the wrong foot, I do apologise. I am Chief Inquisitor Anderson, though you may call me Anders if you prefer. You are Boss Socorra Erinos-Tyris Arconae. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Though I must admit, I do feel I took a wrong turn and entered Arxonan space rather than Vizsla at the moment, given the… rambunctious company we have right now.’

Doon produced a cigar from his colorful breast pocket. The thing was apparently custom made with a thicker than usual wrap so his teeth didn’t slice right through it. He clamped down on it, slowly rolling it between his teeth as his golden eye lingered on the matching collar Luka wore. He didn’t bother commenting on it, but he gave an obvious lot exaggerated roll of his eye to the human as he pulled a lighter from his shorts. He clicked it a few times, watching the fire spark to life. He didn’t quite light his cigar yet however.

“Good seeing you. Been a while.” His words were only slightly skewed by the cigar he held onto. After a moment he finally lit the end of it, using a paw to block the pleasant breeze enough to get a good ember. He then slipped the lighter away, took a nice deep breath of the cigar and shot the smoke out the side of his mouth as he examined luka again. “Not sure on pets? Seems you brought a collar for one anyway”

Sagitta gasped towards Lillian, a rather dramatic one at that, “You'rrrre soooooo wwwwwwwight” Then her brows furrowed as she sat up and no longer drinking the drink… like a cat, it was then she realized there was a straw there. Ooh. She took few sips of the straw before turning her attention back to Lillian, her head resting on the bar counter, “I should have a talk with Dad. He should worship the ground you walk on, you’re really prettyyyyyyy, fire hair and fire hearrrrrt.” Another dramatic gasp as she was gifted with fruits, Sagitta rose her head from resting on the bar counter, “Oooohhh,” purred the tipsy and clumsy Mirialan, “You absolute magnificent-y magnificent darling,” she took a candied fruit and started to eat. It was then she heard a bunch of attention at the dance floor as fingers weakened and she almost dropped the fruit she was holding.

Someone was busting moves. Holy frack. With a smile, then she heard the Oya as she immediately sat up straight, almost falling sideways in the process before shouting along with them “Oya-ya-ya-ya” She slowly trailed off.

Bril took another generous swig of his drink, swishing it around a bit to savor the taste before swallowing. Zabrak were known for their high tolerances for pain, but many didn’t know that that tolerance also extended to alcohol; at least, that’s what he had gathered from his experiences drinking before. Probably had something to do with the two hearts. Only on his second drink meant that Bril would have a while to go before he would feel even a buzz, which he didn’t mind because it allowed him to enjoy his drinks longer. Once things started to get hazy, he tended to not pay as much attention to small details like that.

Looking around the bar again, first to T-Man who was currently killing it on the dance floor, then to and M-Dog who was doing his best to resist the pleading of both S-Sizzla and Sivall, then to … was that Anders? He narrowed his eyes to get a better look. It was him. The Social really had brought out everyone. Bril stood briefly, his height ensuring that even seated though they were seated, he still was a hair taller than the three women. He lifted a hand high enough that Anders would be able to see and lifted his voice just enough for him to be heard over the music playing from the next room. “Anders!”

That voice… Anders recognised that voice. His attention, for a moment, was turned away from Socorra. He saw a tall, young Zabraki male from Clan Plagueis whom he re organised from a recent Envoy Corps excursion.

So, this party did have others besides Arconans present…

Anders stood to his full height, looked Bril in the eye, and gave him a curt nod.

“Here’s your drink…”

The Mandalorian arrived, presenting his drink to him.

“Thank you very much. You may leave.”

Anders raised his glass towards Bril, and mouthed the word;

Congratulations.

In the background of the screen, flashes of Atyiru lifting up and letting down baby Weyne could just be seen. Kirra’s mismatched eyes, one blind white, one true blue, focused on the cam feed. At first, her little face had been excited to see her aunty. She squealed happily, giggling, “Aunny Sowks! Shh, we doing seekrits for Papa…” and trying to wink, which really was just squinching both eyes.

But then Socks’ words registered, and her eyes went wide. Her freckled cheeks flushed. Her tiny pointed ears folded back and down in distress.

“Ohno,” she burbled, and already, there were tears. “Papa sad? I sorry we moveded stuwffs. I fix Papa no he sad!” It was nearly a wail. After all, her father never said no to dancing with her, and she and Mama and Weyne had just been playing ‘sneaky lettuces’ with Papa’s things, and he must know and be so sad too sad for dancing oh no. It seemed as though her distress should’ve been felt in the Force itself.

Behind her, Atyiru’s voice floated over, “Lunayi, what’s wrong?”

“OYA!” Minnie cheered one more time as Bril started yelling to some other people he knew. She nudged her sister again and turned to Sivall, giggling at her puppy dog eyes. “Hey, sis, that’s great! Turn that one somebody and you’ll get free drinks all night,” she chuckled, and sipped her Port. It was strong. Nice. “So whaddya wanna do? We can go dance? Oh! Or play some games. That’s how you get smashed real fast if you’re not careful.”

Titius finally reached the bar after no less that five elbows to the chest, three angry protests and a very insulted female something that got the wrong idea about him sliding past. Leaning over the bartop, he tried to lock eyes with the service.

A server approached and was given a raised eyebrow and presented with a datapad. Do you have this? Titius mimed. The server promised to check the back and departed.

Diyrian embraced Luka’s forearms lightly , giving a peck of a kiss just shy of their cheek before parting. She tilted her head and gave a smile that spoke something wasn’t exactly what they hoped.

“No, Bicu’s at home. Karran’s watchin’ her. He’s good with animals, got four big ones of his own.” Diy refrained from clicking her tongue at them. The Scyk was not hyperdrive capable. He had left nearly over a week ago to get here. A week with Bicu. Honestly, she adored the cat for all but her tendency to swat her plants off the shelves. Yet the real issue was the human pulling these last minute notice stunts.

“Yer lucky, babes, that I wasn’t on a run for Jeanie or something,” she paused and pursed her lips before waving it off. “No worries, talk about it later? Yer right, Bicu would be a sight at the resort.”

The faux-Zelosian shrugged and offered a small grin. She did glance and raise an eyebrow at Doon’s comment.

<@227960499948486666>

Bril returned the gesture to Anders from across the room before finishing his drink.

“I could go for either, to be honest,” he said to Minnie.

Hia gaze shifted to L'ara, then to Sivall. “But I’m outnunbered here, so I’ll let you all decide. ”

Marick froze in place. While his demeanor remained stoic and calm, and his face an impassive mask, his eyes started to stare out deeply into the slipstreams of the Force. He sensed the disturbance. Socks wouldn’t…

Oh no, she did.

Then Marick heard her little voice. Bright and excited and full of wonder and concern.

Years of hard-earned wards and armored plating over his heart - born not just from his survival, but his success- registered the faintest of hairline fractures.

“I want to enter the swoop race. But I have a feeling I won’t be in any condition to do so while here.”

She thought for a moment.

“I know normally we’d play talyc gaan after a few shots, but that doesn’t quite seem like Siv’s game.”

Bloody hand. Another reason they couldn’t play was a lack of knives…probably. L'ara had come unarmed, but there was no telling how much Minnie would have taken after her brother.

“Nawh,” Minnie said, “don’t think so. Let’s do something more to get to know each other! Plus I only have one knife and I’ll feel like Foxxy if I start stabbing people when I first meet them,” Minnie rambled, giggling again. “We’ll do the races tomorrow, La-La! Mmmmhmmm oh I know! Sivvy babes, you ever played Never Have I Ever? Truth or dare? We could just do shots for every OYA but then we’d be dyyyying.”

I agree. The image does make look like nexufishing.

She already enjoyed this banter.

‘Boss’ is inside joke I apparently need to amend. Socorra would be fine.

Sah, good timing with fresh batch of recruits. Normally it is Vizslan Mandos loud and causing fights. They must be at races.

Titius looked along the bar to see a very loud and very inebriated Nautolan talking faster than a TIE flies. He instinctively reached for his implants before realizing the general noise of the area drowned out the incessant blabbering.

Looks almost like a fish out of water, gasping for air Titius smirked, enthralled in the dark humour.

Just then, the server returned with a vessel filled with a glowing rainbow liquid.

Socorra looked down at Marick in his seat with her one arctic eye, the other lost while protecting him. She watched through the Force as he struggled and changed.

Master, mentor, lover, friend, brother.

All the things that had created their bond over the years. She almost felt bad at abusing it.

She peered back to the screen. “Papa no sad of ‘sekrits.’ He just miss you. Here, you can talk to him.”

I am going to all nine Hells for this. One at a time.

Luka placed a hand on their chest in mock offense to Doon’s comment. “It’s fashion, dear. Perhaps I could give you a few pointers.” They reached out to trail their fingers along the hem of the Shistavanen’s shirt. After giving him a playful smile, they directed their attention to their roommate.

“Yes, we’ll talk about it later. I do hope Karren can handle her. Not quite a fan of men, but we’ll see. A good test for him, yes?” They put an arm around the faux-Zelosian’s shoulders, and extended the other to rest on Doon’s forearm. “Come then, let’s find the bar. Always a good place to find our bearings, or lose them.”

<@160141735354171394>

To be honest, the pale Chiss had begun to space out a bit. Her brain was stuck in a weird spot between trying to observe and be aware of everything as usual, and falling into a blissful fog. Her thoughts drifted to Alex again, watching Bril and Minnie together. Maybe she could send him a message over the net…

Sivall blinked a few times when Minnie called her name, having been mid-sip. She swallowed and shook her head at the Nautolan’s question. She had never had friends before, so most games—especially drinking games —were beyond her.

“No, I’ve never. Never had a chance before.”

Siv smiled softly, which then dropped for a more passive look when she registered likely five minutes too late who Bril had been addressing. Anders? She gasped softly, whipping around to look for the little BD droid that often followed the Chiss.

“Bril do you see BUDD-E anywhere?” Her voice made her excitement evident. The little droid had grown on her, so much that she had been working on getting her own.

At Siv’s excitement, Minnie started to look around. “Who’s Buddy? They can come play with us!”

She was gonna get in so much trouble, but this was worth it for sure. She completely skipped over the comment that Wulf should worship the ground she walked on. She took another few sips of her drink instead, grateful for the shelter of the helmet to prevent the all too perceptive Mirialan from noticing the dip in her features.

“Candied fruits are one of my favorites,” she mentioned, “My father used to get them for me often. Usually as a really poor apology, but all the same. They were nice, out in space. You don’t get a lot of fresh fruits out there.” She would likely bring some up to their room when they retired, so she could eat them in peace. She was an apostate, but would like to keep that bit a secret from literally every Mandalorian that might care about it. Hopefully there weren’t many here.

What were the chances Sagitta would even remember most of what they were talking about right now? Probably pretty slim.

“Things used to not always be like this between me and Wulfram. We were very good friends, once.”

“It’s this really adorable BD droid I met recently on a mission. Sweet little baby. To cssin’s euhn en'kin'at,” She cooed the last part, her smile widening. Sure, BUDD-E had been a handful but aren’t most droids?

‘Then it is a pleasure, Lady Socorra. Perhaps you would care to join me and my companion for a…’

Anders stopped. In all the commotion, holding the telepathic link, seeing Bril again, he’d gotten distracted and lost sight of…

BUDD-E…

The little droid had scampered of after spotting Sivall. Sure enough, when Anders peered over, he saw it approaching the pale Chiss with massive, leaping strides.

Minnie’s eyes tracked movement and she pointed. “Is that him?”

It wasn’t like the Chiss to squeal, but squeal she did as soon as she spotted the familiar droid. Maybe it was the alcohol. She slipped off her stool and picked up the BD droid, hugging him close. “BUDDY! How have you been?! Have you been a good boy? I bet you have~ Has Mr. Grumpypants been treating you good?” The Mr. Grumpypants in question was, of course, Anders. A nickname she had given him mentally but had never spoken it aloud, or dared to.

Wow, was she really this drunk? Maybe she should settle down on the rum.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Who should it be, but Mr Grumpypants himself.

He smiled at her, though his eyes clearly asked the inevitable What did you just say?

“Good afternoon, Miss Sivall. I trust you are well?”

Sivall turned and beamed up at the Chiss, clearly more excited to see him that he was to see her. He looked hole and well too! Was she absolutely oblivious to the obvious irritation? Absolutely.

“Anders! It’s so good to see you and Buddy again. I am well, all things considered. I hope you’ve been well too.” She absolutely was not going to tell Anders that she had been struggling more in the past couple of months than she had ever struggled in her life, which was saying something because she had been living on the streets at some point.

She looked the inquisitor up and down, then smiled even brighter. “You look wonderful today.”

In an instant Minnie was standing there directly next to Sivall as she bubbled on, just in case of needing to interpose herself between that hand and any touching.

“Hi there!” she chimed. “Oh my gosh, vod, are you Sivvy’s friend too? Come sit with us! Buddy can stay too, we’re just gonna play some games!”

Sagitta tried soooooo hard to listen but whooooo this room was a-spinning! Right now, her focus was on those amazing candied fruits and like a good girl (phrasing) she was taking tinnnnny sips from her drink. This friend was going try her damnest to be good company for Lillian, “Yessss, they are so good and soooo niceeeee” But then Lillian kept talking as she hiccuped, her hand went over her lips. A frown formed on her face but then it went away. THat felt weird. Usually she doesn’t frown so of course those muscles weren’t at work.. if ever.

“Buh, why?” She questioned, her brows furrowed in confusion as she pushed herself up to sit up and glance at Lillian… well attempting to. Lillian was wearing that helmet. “Friends. Friends forgive, no matter how bad things get. It’s why we have friends! Go through a lot, forgive, love. LOVE. OH MY GOSH LILLIAN,” yelped the tipsy Mirialan as she attempted to wrap her arms around Lillian’s arm, placed her head on the armor’s shoulder as her head hit it with a soft thunk, “Love, Lillian, love is so important. So is forgiving… no matter how much it hurts.” Then she released Lillian’s arm from the drunken grasp as she sat up with a smile, tapped her burnt cheek, “I mean! Bio dad, bad man. Very bad man. I don’t love him. No. But I forgive him!” She smiled from cheek to cheek as she pouted slightly, “Room is spinning and I don’t think my body is dancing? That is SO going to be something I am going to fix!”

In a moment.

BUT FIRST!

More sips!

Slurp slurp

Doon allowed Luka to rest against his arm, which he kept low enough for them to comfortable use as they walked. He continued taking slow puffs from the cigar, the scented smoke lighting up the scorched nerves in his nose. It was one of the few things the long injured Wolf could easily smell, and enjoyed the sensations the scents awoke.

Despite it being a form of aroma therapy for him, Doon paused outside the door to the bar. He scanned around, not seeing any obvious sign declaring the place off limits to indoor smoking. He let out a large puff, and pushed the door open.

The lopsided trio entered, cloaked in a cloud of thin wisps of sweet, earthy smoke. A few steps in, and the each seemed to get distracted by something else. The people, the music, the bar, even some dancing. Doon himself was drawn towards the drinks, trailing a wisp behind his wake as he saddled up to the bar and ordered a glass of Reserve, double.

Lillian was wincing under her helmet, for sure. She slowly patted Sagitta’s head as the taller woman clung to her her, all the while screaming internally that she didn’t give up on this direction of conversation as soon as it started. She was a master at dodging conversation, surely. That was more than enough talk about “their” leader.

“There there, Gita,” she assured the taller female, “You’re right, of course. Why don’t you go dancing?” She pointed to the dance floor a small bit away. “I’ll watch after you from here. Promise nothing’ll happen to you, yeah? Oyacyir a euk.” Live a little, she encouraged. Hopefully Sagitta would listen.

This one is an anomaly.

Before he went droid hunting, Anders had attempted to bring up the profile of the one known as Minnie.

Nothing.

How interesting. Either she’s not on Brotherhood records, or she’s hiding something.

Anders shook the train of thought from his mind. Not everyone without a clear dossier was like Hector Ricmore. He was here to pay respects, not engage in Inquisitorius activity.

For once…

“I would be delighted,” Anders gave her a small smile. “Though, Sivall. I must ask you something. Are you aware you can use the Force to clear alcohol from your bloodstream?”

The Chiss blinked for a few seconds, obviously confused.“Why would I do that?”

“For future reference, my dear. Or in case you need it. That’s all,” Anders said.

Renatus returned to the bar having completed his obligation. His previously ordered spiked Hyperdrives appeared as if by magic and he gave a thankful nod to the ‘tender. They went down his throat just as quickly as they had arrived.

“Do you normally just grab and call women ‘your dear’ from going on a mission once or is our girl here special for you?” Minnow asked, arching a brow, hands finding her hips. “‘Cause Mis ter Anders, that’s kinda socially infantalizing to say to a woman unless you got a specific rapport, and if she says the word, we will fight.”

Lifting her arm, she left one ruffled sleeve fall down to show her rose gold beskar vambrace.

Marick took the comm from Socorra and held it up. “Hi lunayi,” he smiled at her, the gesture breaking through the clouds of his stoic visage. His eyes, however, narrowed dangerously at Socorra as if to say: This is going in my black notebook

It was extremely difficult to withold the shit-eating grin in reply.

Marick had taught her better than make a spectacle of herself and she would not have entertained this if he hadn’t. The liquid courage also helped. That, and Socorra gave her word. She telepathically heard Zxyl intone somewhere: This is the way.

As Thane returned to his seat she motioned towards her armor, which needed to be removed in order to get this over with.

“Mind helping?”

<@185936112441622529>

My Dear, what was with people and the nicknames/petnames? Lora, Sivvy, dear. Was it hot in here? Siv visibly flushed, a good portion of her skin turning indigo in color. Luckily Minnie swooped in and stopped the Chiss woman from making a fool of herself. Sivall let herself get one more good squeeze in, hugging BUDD-E tightly, before carefully handing the little BD droid back to it’s owner. She needed air. She could feel Lillian’s eyes on her still, and there were beginning to be too many people here. Far too many. Too many bodies, too many compliments, too many things to keep track of.

“It’s okay, Minnie. Thank you, ch'acevi, for the advice. It is most appreciated. As always, teaching me new things.” Siv smiled softly, then softly touched Minnie’s arm. “Be back,” she mumbled, then made her way out of the room and outside through one of the side doors she had made note to spot earlier.

Once outside, by one of the pools, she took a deep breath. The cooler air felt better, and there were much less people out here, if anyone at all. Siv’s body relaxed. She would only need a moment, then she could put on a brave face and go back inside.

“Hm?” The Justicar glanced up at Socorra, his pale cheeks betraying the flush building up. Perhaps the double shot of Port would be his undoing before long.

“Very well,” he intoned. Usually, the Firrerreo would just flick hos fingers and let the Force handle the specifics of the task. However…this was armour. And he was feeling lackadaisical.

With a quiet grunt, Thane hopped to his feet and stepped up behind Socorra. To his credit and that of decorum, he was remarkably task driven about unclasping the armour, managing to avoid any even accidental contact.

Still, he clasped her shoulders with a quick double pat when his task was complete. “It is done.”

He nodded at her before pivoting and walking over to Marick. He slung an arm over the shorter man’s shoulder. “Kid has expressions. Cannot possibly be yours,” Renatus remarked.

“Your face is broken,” he continued.

<@189568236201705472>

“Thank you,” Socorra nodded, and placed the gear by Marick’s chair. Even if she somehow impossibly left it he would make sure it made its way back home.

She took a moment more to untwine the silk wraps underneath and ceremoniously rewrapped them as a veil and headscarf, only allowing her arctic orb to be seen. Dark, mysterious, and clearly dangerous, even without weapons. She turned back to the Hapan.

“As Buir said, the Force is tool, not cheating.” Then she shoved her drink into his hands. “Hold my ale.”

With a feminine swagger the Mando-Sith spun and disappeared into the crowd.

Minnie gestured between her eyes and Anders, watching you, before she quickly followed on Sivall’s heels. She tapped a quick message to L'ara while she was walking.

🐠 : brb ⛲ w siva be nice 2bril plz!🥺 😙 k

Once outside, she easily tracked the Chiss, not only for how the crowd thinned but because Sivall was wobbly with her drinks. She clicked her heels extra loud on the walk up just to be sure she was heard.

“Hey girl!” she called, coming to a stop beside her with a smile. She shot a finger gun. “Sorry not sorry, sis, but no one goes alone at a bar. That’s just the rules, yanno? You okay? Need a minute?”

‘Walking away before I give a response? That seems awfully rude.’

Anders extended his mental link to Minnie, intending to inform her of his views on the matter.

‘I have no desire to fight, clearly I am not as barbaric as you. If you get hurt over a few simple words, then I suggest you develop some mental fortitude. I have no intention to fight, so please do show some self-restraint. If you even can.’

Even while smiling for Siv, Minnie imagined proud double middle fingers as hard as she could. Oya!

Siv turned to Minnie and nodded, her arms softly wrapped around her torso. Her mind wasn’t a whirlpool of thoughts like it might usually be. Thank goodness for alcohol. She looked back at the pool just as the Nautolan flipped off someone in the distance.

“I’m fine! Just needed some air. Thank you for coming, Minnie, I appreciate it.” The flush returned to her face as she thought about her next words, “Just felt really out of place in there for a moment. Not used to being called things other than my name. It’s not a bad thing! Lora and Sivvy are fine, come from a good place. Means wanted, family, warmth. Not like…” She grumbled, her flush deepening.

“Dear is different. There’s only one person I want calling me that and he’s not here.”

Alcohol was also apparently a truth serum.

“Oh, hon,” Minnie crooned, and opened her arms. “If you want a hug I will do my bestest, bet, all three ounces of me. You totally shouldn’t have to deal with some guy just calling you dear! Even if they mean it nicely, that’s not cool. It’s so easily condescending and sexualizing, seriously, happens so often in the service industry. If I had a cred for every dude that told me to smile. They don’t tell other guys to smile, yanno! Oh, but don’t let me rant.” She flapped her hands, arms still out. “Tell me about this boy.”

Doon lifted the provided glass of reserve to his nose. Like the cigar, strong alcohol was something he could usually smell, even if the “smell” was more of a recognition of burning. He turned, back to the bar so he could see the rest of the room.

His gaze traveled from person to person, pausing on a few familiar faces like Marick and Socorra while also trying to commit a few of the others to memory. They seemed familiar at least. Even if he hadn’t spoken to any of them personally. He half sipped, half lapped the drink, letting the burning sensation take over his thoughts as it went down.

Once his mind could refocus, he stuck the custom cigar back between his teeth. He felt like it would be as good a place as any to socialize, but he wasn’t sure where to start. Maybe a drink or two would help him decide.

As if the stage was being set up for some special entertainment, the lights of the bar changed a few times before it dimmed and the obnoxious music stopped entirely. The crowd noise lowered and murmured in response.

The hug was accepted within heartbeats. She closed her eyes, letting the physical contact center her. She was getting better with this whole touching people thing. A little bubble of self-pride worked its way inside her chest. She squeezed the small Nautolan before letting go, kicking off her heels, and sitting on the edge of one of the pools.

“He’s a.. friend? A friend of mine. Alexandyr. Alex. He’s the one who recruited me into the Brotherhood. Saved me from Coruscant. He’s Mandalorian, like you, and a human.” A soft but slightly sad smile appeared on her lips as her eyes locked on the surface of the pool.

All six senses the master of illusions had taught Socorra. Both Timeros and Wyn, but only one of them taught them for entertainment. Although she loved to dance in private, she was not a dancer, or greatly coordinated, not after the long coma. But illusion she could do.

An exotic, haunting melody began playing from the music system and Tthe stage was suddenly bathed in a soft, golden light, with only the silhouette of the woman poised at its center, cast against the back stage wall.

Minnie enjoyed hugging back before she joined Siv. She didn’t take her boots off, but she did turn around and lean back, effectively lying down next to the Chiss and looking up at her while her short headtails just barely brushed the water. She gave a sigh at the feeling of it lapping at them.

“Fair warning, if you touch the water, I’m gonna be able to feel your vibe,” she said, pointing at her head, then went to address the story. “Alex, huh? I can’t just automatically approve of another Mando, but I guess if he saved you, he gets points. And most importantly, you liiiiike him, so if he’s good to you, that’s awesome.” She smiled up at the Chiss, reaching out to take her hand and squeeze. “Could he not come?”

The dark silhouette slowly, sensually moved, swaying and arching and stretching in a display of extraordinary flexibility (or at least extraordinary for a woman that used a cane a mere year ago). But her hips did not lie, speaking volumes and conveying the unspoken words of longing, passion, and mystery. Of an ancient, forgotten world.

The tempo intensified and a powerful superhuman transformation began, as if an ancient force had awakened within the form. The silhouette began to extend and curl with serpentine grace. Majestic wings unfurled from her back, thrusting shadows onto the walls. She was shrouded in a cloud of ethereal darkness as her form became a fearsome black dragon, her wings beating so powerfully it fanned the audience. Several could feel the heat of her breath.

The dragon curled and coiled, dancing in the air as it suddenly transformed into a firehawk, exploding into existence like a supernova. The wings spanned wide again, fiery streaks slicing the air of the stage. Flames danced around her new form, threatening to ignite the bar.

Doon watched the shifting lights, the growing music and the beginning of a dance. A tingle caused him to cough a lungful of smoke into the air, the burning spot near the center of his chest calling for attention. His snout twisted in a slight snarl at himself, and he turned to tap the bar for another double order before taking another long draw from his cigar, eye focusing back on the dancing figure as it performed extraordinary illusions.

The flush was back again, more severe this time. You likkeee him. Did she? Was she even capable of that? Capable for caring for another person to to that degree? And even if she was, did Alex deserve someone so fundamentally broken as her? Someone who crossed his carefully laid lines in the sand so often? Her smile fell a bit more.

“I think he chose not to come? I don’t know too much of his history, but I know it’s complicated. Lots of sharp edges. And… I dunno, sometimes things are weird between us. He’s running, or I’m running, or we both are. Something about me catches on the parts of him that hurt. And I’m…” She squeezed Minnie’s hand back, the other hand gripping at her dress.

“I’m not… whole. I don’t know if I’m capable of doing… that.”

As Socorra grew more comfortable with the illusion, the entire back wall shimmered into a scene of a desert landscape under a moonlit sky. The flames morphed once more, the air crackling with intensity as she melded into a dark phoenix, bursting from the infernal depths of the Black Sands of Socorro. Her beautiful feathers, a mesmerizing blend of darkness and light, radiated both ice and fire while she danced against the full moon backdrop.

The small Nautolan’s heart ached hard.

“Oh, hon,” she whispered again, swallowing hard past a sudden lump in her throat. Yeah, not drunk enough for this. But it was quiet out here, and the water was cool, and Foxen was alive. So. Maybe. Besides, Siv really sounded like she needed to hear someone say this. “Sivvy, look at me, sis. This is important okay? There’s a lot of not whole in the world. There’s a lot of broken. But we still keep moving with all our little broken parts leaning against each other holdin’ us up. And if you’re not able to love like that or be with somebody like that, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be unhappy. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. Being unwhole isn’t something wrong with you and it doesn’t make you less. You hear?” Her voice grew passionate for all she was trying to keep it comforting, raw with honesty and barely healed pain. “You’re allowed to run. To not be ready. To never be ready. You can tell him that too. That you’re not sure. But that he means something to you.”

She squeezed again, tight.

“You are most important, honey. You do whatever you’re going to do when you’re ready. Lay it all out. Communicate. Always communicate! And if he wants to be with you while he’s informed of whatever your limits are, great! If not, that sucks, but you’ll have tried, and he’ll best respect it or else, and you’ll both have a chance to be happier by yourselves or with someone else maybe. But Siv…at the same time…if you’ll take the unsolicited advice…don’t not ask just because you’re scared. If you’re not ready, that’s one thing, but if you’re just scared? Say it. You don’t know if he’ll be gone tomorrow.”

Only a sniffle made her realize she’d started tearing up. He wiped hastily at her eyes with her other hand.

Anders smiled and gently waved back at her.

Sanguine eyes watched Minnie intently, carefully listening to her words. Her features crumpled as Minnie began to cry, her heart squeezing in her chest with guilt and sympathy. She returned the Nautolan’s squeeze and looked out over the water again, the wheels in her head turning. Minnie was right, but gods was she terrified.

Terrified she’d be turned down, or that she’d ruin things. Part of her was okay to stay like this, stay as friends. Part of her knew that as long as Alex existed in her life, she’d be happy. Happy to just exist where he existed, even if it was only for moments at a time. Even if they both were at different corners of a system at best and an entire universe apart at worse.

She didn’t want to lose him, and she wasn’t entirely sure if she could tell him about the feelings she couldn’t even pinpoint or put a name to.

Minnie was right though. Right about the fact that Alexandyr could be gone tomorrow. Hell he could be gone before tonight ended. If she knew anything, it was that nothing was assured or permanent. And maybe that fact scared her more than anything. What if she finally decided to let someone in like that for the first time, and they turned her down too.

“I’m so scared, Min. I don’t wanna lose him. If we stay like this he’ll be here forever, just as a friend, but he won’t leave me. I… I could live with that,” she whisperd, “I don’t know if I could survive him leaving.”

Socorra’s rebirth was a brilliant spectacle as it suddenly took flight and soared above the bar audience. With newfound strength and a fearsome roar she caused heads to turn and those of lesser resolve to duck. The dip into the crowd was partially caused by the illusion, and…maybe some by the free drinks.

But they were not mere parlor tricks; they were manifestations of her newly received Elder power and a reflection of how she had formed as a person - a fallen desert warrior reborn into a new era.

The shimmering, twilight phoenix slowly returned to the desert and with a final cry vanished into the great Sands once more. The lights dimmed as did the music. They flicked back on to reveal the enigmatic woman whole in body on center stage, poised in the original pose as if ready for a dance of seduction.

“You’re stronger than you think you are,” Minnie softly insisted, twinning their fingers around all her rings. The heavier one on her thumb was feeling extra heavy today. “I think you already know the truth there, sis: we don’t get to pick if we survive them leaving or losing them. We just…do. And that’s it. That’s life now. Fall apart or pick up the pieces or just go numb… we’re still here. No matter how much it hurts.” She squeezed again, like a pulse. “And hon*ey, if he leaves because you’re honest about your feelings, then sis he was not that good of a *friend in the first place, nevermind more. It’s okay to be scared tho. Really, I mean it, in your own time and all. I’m not gonna judge you if you don’t say shit. I just know what it’s like to have everything ripped away in a blink, and the retrospect of all the things I wish I’d gotten to say and do.”

Sitting up, she wrapped both arms around the Chiss again to give a better hug.

“Life just sucks sometimes, yeah? Understatements. But we say OYA! And to hell with all the bad. Flip it off, sis. If the world is mean to you, if someone is mean to you, whatever hurt you? Frak it, be happy anyway in any little way you can. It’s not just gonna be Alex. It’s gonna be your friends too and that cutie little droid and a tight pretty black dress that is so good on you and some drinks and whatever else!”

Luka had ordered a tall, fruity drink and stood nursing it as they looked out over the crowd of people. Typically boisterous and energetic, the human seemed preoccupied with thought. Occasionally they would bring the drink to their lips. In the time it took Doon to drink his, Luka had barely finished the one. They watched the dancers, namely Socorra, as the lights and extravagance delighted them.

They set down their drink to applaud Socorra’s performance. “And here I thought I’d be the spectacle,” they said in an aside to Doon. “But here I am with stage fright. I… don’t know many of these people. I have seen some of their faces, but…”

They brought their drink to their chin, but didn’t drink. Almost hiding behind their glass. “Kark, I’ve become an Introvert. Dreadful.”

By this time, Bril had lost count of how many drinks he’d imbibed. Things had become noticeably blurrier since when he first started, and he rubbed his eyes a few times in a futile attempt to clear his vision. He looked around the bar and saw L'ara, but he didn’t see Sivall or Minnie anywhere. Where the kark had they gone? Then, he noticed another man, a blue-skinned fellow, standing there silently. He leaned forward, probably too close for comfort, and squinted his eyes.

“Anders? When did you get here, ya jendovsta?” he asked, stammering through his words and weaving between Basic and heavily accented Zabraki. It seemed that with the alcohol in his system, the young knight had reverted to old ways of speaking. “Dou het hisel, my friend? Why haven’t you qo kal'vyshdi, eit?”

“YES. Dancing. OKAY!” She spun around on the barstool a few times before catching herself. “Oops. Bad idea.” Then she started laughing. Hard. It was soft, strong, and almost contagious. Then a miracle happened.

She was quiet.

Her pink hues watched the scene folded on the stage as her breath was taken away. Oh. Woooow. How did she do that? She had so much to learn and it felt like her time was running. She needed to learn everything! All the things! As of now, the star struck young Mirialan was watching the whole spectacle. Wait! She wanted better view of this!

Frantically, her pink hues started to look around and behind, the shiny chandelier that’s just… resting.

“Oh, kark yes” the Mirialan purred. Before Lillian could even blink, Sagitta made her way. Not to the dance floor, no, but to the curtains. With a laugh and determination, that, to be honest, might be the alcohol talking. Her grip was tight as this athletic Mirialan started to climb that made a squirrel look pathetic and to shame. Then a whoop as she swung over to the chandelier. Sadly, the alcohol was starting to take it’s effect as she felt winded and tired. That did not stop this woman! She grasped the end of the chandelier and pulled herself up. That was too close. “Whew.” She needed a moment.

<@141239709291511808>

Lillian muttered a whole bunch of different swears under her breath as she helplessly watched Sagitta climb the very pretty, probably very expensive curtains like some sort of spider. Well… nothing she could do now. The Foundling was on the ceiling. She inhaled the last bit of her whiskey through the straw, took our her datapad and took a picture, then carefully watched the Mirialan in case she needed to catch her.

Her hand slowly stretched over to the rest of Sagitta’s unfinished drink to finish it while she watched the spectacle.

“Oi! Ad'ika! Be careful up there!”

Bril was, in the words of the Coruscant underworld, hammered. Anders needed a distraction. He had no intention of babysitting someone who couldn’t control their alcohol intake.

He wrapped an arm around Bril’s shoulder. “Say, my good man. Did you know Draca was here?”

The giggling.

Feminine, unidentifiable giggling so close around her was what Saggita heard while up there on the chandelier.

Lillian hollering at Sagitta to be careful had fallen on deaf ears. There was a sound that did not go unnoticed. A chill went up in her spine as she was startled and looking around frantically to find the source of the giggling.

Was she being haunted?

Don’t be silly!

There’s no such things as ghosts!

That didn’t stop from her going, “Who’s there?” rather meekly.

Siv sputtered at the complement, but buried it over returning Minnie’s hug. She held it for a moment, happy for once, be it the alcohol or their bonding, that the hug didn’t feel like she was being trapped. She let out a little mumble of agreement, smiling softly. She would… she would think about it. On the way back.

Noticing how long they had been gone, she tried to reach out through the force to feel how Bril was doing… but with so many people in the bar, and so many loud fracking thoughts, and with her not being the best at telepathy, it was hard to hear him specifically. So, there was only one thing to do.

She rose to her feet and slipped back on her heels.

“I’m… a little troubled that my botmun'i hasn’t joined us out here. Can we go check on him? Bril?” Her eyes were settled on the door leading back to the bar, “I’m better now, thanks to you. Ready to go inside again.”

Luka watched as the Mirialan climbed up the curtains with concern in their eyes. “Isn’t anyone…?” They glanced about to the crowd. “Are they one of ours? Arconan, I mean.” They turned to Doon, brow furrowed. They pointed upward toward the chandelier.

“Of course, Sivvy. Can check on anyone you want.” She got up too, brushing off her dress, then reached for her little purse and fumbled inside it for a tissue and her compact. While she was there, she took out more items.

“Hey, you want some lotion? It’s strawberry cupcake, it’s amazing.” She stuck out the tiny bottle, already wiping at her eyes one-handed. “Be honest, do I look like I cried? That boy has seen me cry enough already. Gosh. Oh, if you want any of this glitter there’s that too. Or lip gloss? It’s cheeeeery~.”

Doon had focused on the second glass he was served instead of Socorra’s finale. He had just started sipping it when he tingles ripples through his fingers. The pain in his chest had gone. Luka’s words snapped his attention back to the bar and he rumbled out a soft laugh. “Luka the Introvert? Cute.”

The wolf then followed Luka’s point up towards the chandelier, squinting at the figure that had somehow managed to get up there. It took a few moments but his shoulders sagged and he set both drink and cigar down so he could step away from the bar. “Yes. She’s one of the new ones. Fell off a high rope climb and landed on me. I’m shocked she made it this time.” As he spoke, he slowly padded towards the center of the room, under the chandelier.

Bril’s eyes narrowed at the comment. This was the second time now that he’d mentioned Draca, once when they first met on their Envoy mission, and just now. “Draca? That stick in the mud? Keyn tze et'shur to me about Draca, okay?” he paused for a moment, lifting a hand to his mouth to stifle the sudden wave of nausea that hit him. Once it had passed, he continued.

“How do you know Draca, anyway? You a spy? Shu fej sharee?”

Bril shrugged the Inquisitor’s arm off of his shoulders and whirled around to order himself another drink. The bartender looked like she was ready to cut Bril off, but a cutting glance from the Zabrak convinced her to change her mind.

The giggle was louder this time and in the corner of her eye she could see a young zeltron woman shimmer into existence, clinging to the ceiling with gloved hands.

“HAI NEW FREN I’M XEE!”

“I uh… don’t usually do makeup. Was never really taught? Owners didn’t see need for that.” She took the lotion and gave it a soft sniff– it smelled good, for sure. She looked up from the lotion and her eyes squinted, trying her best to see through the fog of the drinks she had tonight. Her eyes looked a little puffy, but otherwise, good. She reached out and brushed away an arrant smear of eyeliner, then beamed.

“There. Good. Onwards!” With that she made her way quickly back to the bar to search the crowds for her brother. Which, following his very slurred, very drunk voice, did not take very long. And of course Anders was there. Taking her place beside Bril she placed her hand on the Zabrak’s shoulder, her face crumpled in worry at the expression on his face.

“Botmun'i, are you okay?”

Sagitta was startled and being drunk, she had no balance. Or grace for that matter. All she had in her was a yelp.

All she knew she was falling so she immediately curled into a ball to brace herself for impact. One of the first things she had always learn, protect her head and neck and roll. Course… rolling would be hard when falling so she’s just cannonballing it.

Again.

Owners.

Minnie’s compact cracked in her hand.

Which, ow ow ow o'sik. She uncurled her palm as she followed quickly after Sivall, picking out pieces of plastic and glass from between her fingers. It was a glittery pink eyeshadow grave.

She suddenly was thinking of some other kinds of graves. And the people that she would put in them.

But. But but but but but another time. This was Sivvy’s girls night now. And she was gonna get to have drinks and maybe makeup and fun.

Minnie snatched up a cloth napkin off the bar to wipe her hand and throw the remains in a trashcan as they passed towards Bril…who looked absolutely trashed.

She sent a glare at her sister, as if to ask L'ara why she hadn’t intervened, but of course they Twi'lek just made a face as if to say shoulda let me fight the shab.

“He, uh, looks like he’s had a few too many too fast, Siv,” Minnie cut in gently, observing the empty glasses. So much for her drink, he’d finished that too. “Mister Anders! You’re still here. Ohmigawd, why? You can go now, we got this.”

Doon’s eye tracked Sagitta’s movement, and as he anticipated, she fell. He didn’t know what exactly had seemingly spooked her, but it didn’t matter. He was glad Luka pointed her out, otherwise he wasn’t sure if anyone would have been capable of slowing her descent.

Once more, Sagitta made impact with a soft cushion of fur backed by a wall of muscle. This time however, there was much less shirt between her and Doon’s chest. He held her in a jumble again, before slowly shifting his arms under her back and knees so she’d be comfortable.

His rumbly voice spoke, amusement rising in his tone. “Hello there.” His tail swished through the air once as he continued. “You know.. I could have said something the first time, but falling for me twice is really starting to send me a message.” His words were dry, yet obviously teasing in nature as he peered down at her, golden eye shinning.

“Oh no!” Xi'ana shouted as she scared her new best friend right off the chandelier. She fell so fast and far she could barely get a telekinetic grip on her just enough to soften the fall into Doon-Doon’s arms.

Phew! Close one.

Xee let go of the ceiling and vaulted, somersaulting and twisting her lithe body to dismount expertly to the ground next to them, fully visible now.

Something soft. Wait. This smells familiar, but this time there was a hint of cigar? Her nose wrinkled a bit as she was being unfolded, again.

Then her smile brightened. “YOU!” She patted his chest, “I REMEMBER YOU! Uh… Uh… Food? No. Wait, food sounds good. No, not the point. …. Woon? Swoon… not Swoon, quick what rhymes with swoon?” She asked at his hairy chest. Then something something about falling twice and sending a message? Her brows furrowed, she was feeling a bit sick but NO! SHE WAS HERE TO HAVE FUN. “Message? I don’t have paper or pen.. I can find one! Lillian!” She scrambled in his arms to climb over him and sit on his head to find Lillian until she got distracted by a blur.

The blur was enough to keep Doon’s head safe from her sitting on top of his head as she smiled, remembering, “HI FRIEND.” She shouted back, turned her body slightly to extend her hand for the pink skinned female to shake if she so wishes. Whether she took the handshake or not, she gasped, an idea! “WE SHOULD SING A SONG! All three of us! No wait, Lillian, no wait, I’m suppose to have food.”

Then she mulled for a bit, “What’s the name… Hold on! I went up there for a reason! Throw me back up there! It was fun!”

<@160141735354171394> <@141239709291511808>

Kirra pulled the camera closer to her face, scrunching her nose and puffing her cheeks slightly in a perfect mimic of her mother. “Papa’s face is not bwoken,” she huffed, her white-eye tracking on Renatus.

“Atra is just teasing me, Kirra, it’s okay. Like when uncle Wyn says that Papa isn’t good at telling stories.”

Kirra’s pout evaporated and became pensive as she seemed to analyze this information and pulled back from the camera lens. Some of the messy bangs of her hair falling over to veil her blue-eye, leaving just the blue-eye visible, a mirror of her fathers.

“I see,” she said primly. “Unca Atwra, you are forgiven,” she nodded once. Then she seemed to remember the original purpose of the call. “Oh, Papa, why you not dance? Did Momma forget to pack your dancing socks?”

Marick sighed. He wasn’t getting out of this one.

“No sweetheart, I have them. I’ll go and dance, just once.”

Kirra giggled and clapped her hands together excitedly, which dropped the datapad she must have been holding. It fortunately just landed on the bed she was sitting on so she quickly recovered it. “Okee-smokey, bye bye Papa! Fela say hi…”

There was a soft cythraul howl in the background before the call ended.

Marick glanced up at Atra, who was still hovering. The former Voice trusted very few people in the galaxy, and the understanding he’d had with Darth Renatus was that if he was going to kill Marick, it would be for a very good reason, or he’d at least tell give him a heads up. “You aren’t wrong. I’m not sure how she came from me. She’s perfect in everyway. But, I’m sure you’re not a stranger to the…feeling.” he added carefully.

As Luka had feared, the Mirialan had not learned from her and Doon’s previous encounter. As they had quickly returned to the bar to set aside their drink, they heard a clatter of the chandelier. Fortunately Doon was a soft landing.

They walked over to assess the damage, and chuckled at Doon’s comment. The appearance of the other colorful individual beside them startled them momentarily, but once they were confident no one else would fall from the ceiling they settled.

“I think we should keep both feet on the ground for a moment. Why scurry up to the ceiling when the party is down here?”

Socorra snatched her datapad back before the call ended. “Meshla, of course Papa packed his dancing Socks, I am here.” The faint wrinkles at the corner of her eye lifted as she smiled for the little one. “Is Turi and Weyne getting along? No fighting?”

Of course neither of the babes could be old enough to actually fight.. right? She was suddenly picturing a crib as an arena.

L'ara cooked her head back as if in shock. Then her hands were a blur.

“Frakking horniboi isn’t my responsibility. I’m not his mommy.”

She had to improvise the sign for ‘horniboi’ with her fingers to her forehead like horns and a lewd/ rude gesture with her other hand. However, she figured she and Minnie knew each other’s tendencies well enough to translate.

“Yeah, Siv, we got your back for the rest of the night.”

The number of people that still knew Thane as ‘Atra’ didn’t even need a full set of fingers to count. Fewer still used it. The Justicar offered a small smile and a reassuring squeeze of Marick’s shoulder. Then he found himself pausing and staring into the nothingness of middle distance at Marick’s words.

Memories broke free from the trap of his labyrinthine mind and rushed to the front. He remembered the warmth. The impossibly small hand pressing against his own. The sounds that were nothing but unfiltered joy at the ability to even be making them.

Then he recalled the loss. The pain.

Having Keira back, even as a clone and artificially aged, didn’t just make that go away. Grief…doesn’t ever go away. But it gets easier. Becomes a lighter burden. Transforms.

Then he thought of his granddaughter—technically—the little Ileta. It was its own warmth, adjacent to the emptiness that chiseled away at this core.

“I suppose I am not.”

“Also…we need drinks,” Renatus added towards Marick. Even if yours is alcohol free.

“I did run out of seltzer. Good call.”

“Just peachy, lora,” he said, patting her on the shoulder a few times with a heavy hand, though he didn’t realize he was being as forceful as he was. He then pointed toward Anders with his thumb. “ Naal'tolnitch, this one is a serat'mayneh. You understand? Serat'mayneh.”

When his eyes fell on Minnie, he leaned forward with a pair of wide, crystal-blue eyes. “Hey, por'lorlua. I like you a lot, Sharee tlesu. Sharee tlesu.” He paused, reaching over to grab his next drink and nearly hitting L'ara in the head in the process. After he took a hefty swig, he placed the glass back on the table. At some point during the conversation, he noticed the traces of blood in Minnie’s hand, and he looked back at her with an expression bordering on horror.

“What happened? Shuree tle jenslar.” He reached out to take Minnie’s hand in his own and placed his other hand on top of it. A few moments of concentration was all it took for the injury she’d sustained to be healed completely. Once it was done, he gave her hands a few taps before slumping back into his seat.

Siv smiled softly, she wished she understood. She made a mental note to add Zabrak to all the other languages she was trying to learn. She just about had binary, but still was at a loss for the three other ones she was trying to learn, Selenian included. The pale chiss sighed softly and placed a hand on the back of Bril’s head as he talked to Minnie, closing her eyes and focusing about as hard as she could manage to.

The force was there, but it felt distant.

The cooling sensation she usually felt at her fingertips, like ice on a hot summer day, was muted. She knew she wouldn’t be able to entirely help Bril.. but maybe she could make him coherent. That same cooling sensation would spread to the Zabrak male and chase away a few of the clouds of inebriation. Somewhat disappointed she couldn’t help more, she flagged down the bartender and ordered a double of tequila.

Minnie, eloquently, stuck her tongue out at the Twi'lek in reply, throwing up her hands, less a sentence and more a general gesture of exasperation. I asked you to be nice! We are adopting Sivall though, she’s like us.

The only problem with hand talk was that it got people looking at your hands, and Bril was apparently lucid enough to notice her little injury. A squeak escaped Minnie’s cherry lips when he went from intently staring and saying he liked her to taking her hand and then–

Magic. No, the Force. She hadn’t been conscious the only other time she’d been healed like this, after…it tingled. And itched a little. But it was also warm, like his booze-sweaty palms and nice.

Thankfully Siv seemed to be doing something. Even just massaging the man’s neck. Because Minnie was still clutching her released hand to her chest, cheeks pinked.

Boys were dumb and she was dumb, shut up, L'ara.

With Siv calling for more shots, the Nautolan chewed on her lip, trying to gauge her sister. Someone was going to have to herd this lot back to some bed somewhere. Maybe she should switch to water now.

But maybe one more shot wouldn’t hurt either. She could do juice shots for the rest of their night.

“All good?” she enthused at her hodgepodge trio. “Yeah? Cause it’s Siv’s first time and we promised GAAAAAYMES, BAYBEY. OYA!”

From behind, a sardonic tone came “And what fun are games without an incentive, little fish?”

Titius had sauntered over to the trio, focused on the one he recognized. “Hello, Sival. I do hope you recognize me.” A cruel grin came over his face.

A hand on the back of his head made him jump at first, but his shoulders relaxed when he felt the cool sensation spreading across his head and the back of his neck. “Ahh that’s the stuff,” he closed his eyes, letting the Chiss’ Force healing do its work. The haze that had loomed over his mind didn’t disappear completely, but it did fade enough for him to gain some of his wits about him. Still was slurring his words a bit, though.

Doon swiveled his head as Luka spoke, then nodded and returned to look between Sagitta and the newcomer from the ceiling. “Doubled.” As he went to continue, his ear twitched, flickering as someone called for games. He turned his body, carrying Sagitta with him as he eyed Minnie. “Friends of yours? Even more reasons to stick to the floor. But - if you wish height, I can provide it.”

It was hard not to notice her clambering for his shoulders earlier, so he granted her wish. He lifted her hips until she was half sitting on his collarbone. He kept an arm around her thighs there so she’d remain secure. Even if she chose to get wiggly, he’d have a decent grip on her.

With that done, he looked between the new person and Luka. “Care for some bar games?”

L'ara’s lekku perked. She looked to Minnie as if to ask permission to start something.

“Hey bud, micro-condom user’s convention is at the next resort over.”

Minnie’s arms dropped from her raised cheer as she turned to some blond dude and saw him leering at Siv, and with that tone?

Still sitting in her stool, she gave a nod to L'ara before she lifted one boot and pushed it into his chest, shoving him back slightly.

“Okay, first of all, bud, I’m an amphibian. Second of all, creeper vibe much? You are literally this close to monologuing. So let me be real clear for everyone in earshot here, since the guys in this bar seem to have a thing for slime. ONE MORE PERSON COMES ON TO HER,” she stood up in her chair and pointed down at the Chiss, “AND CLAN ERINOS CALLS FOR A DUEL. Isn’t that right, L'ara?”

Bril’s expression soured when he saw Titius appear from behind Minnie, and his hand instinctively moved to his waist when he addressed Sivall. No saber. Damn.

Although he didn’t say anything because he knew the women were more than capable of handling themselves, he continued to glare at the man.

L'ara took that as permission. She stood and clenched her fists.

“Yer damn right girl. I’ve been waiting to wipe the floor with someone tonight.”

The Chiss slowly shrank in her seat and downed her double of tequila, feeling the room pitch to the side a little. And now the rude guy from the academy was here? She took a deep breath, opting to be the bigger person in this situation despite really wanting to drop kick Titius in the face. She was just beginning to relax. Just beginning to have fun.

Sivall swiveled in her chair to face Titius who had just been pushed back via foot and kept a passive look on her face. “I will not be rude, Titius, I will not stoop to your level. I was told of the things you said when I left in the academy, and I’m am not a fan of you. I doubt that anyone is. I don’t know what brought you to come over here, but you will not get any of the same reactions out of me that you did that day. You can leave. Thank you.”

She sat tall in her chair and held her head high, hands clasped in her lap. She would not let one dude, who seemed barely human, ruin her night.

Minnie let out a whistle. “Damn, girl, you tell him. La-la, I think we’re good. Shots? Shots? Yeah?”

Luka appeared hesitant at first as they looked to the bar, but they nodded and turned towards the gathering. “Games? Always. By the way, I’m unsure I’ve met the both of you.” They looked over their shoulder to the two ladies in their company until they were walking backwards with their destination in their periphery. “Name’s Luka.”

“My, my, now who is being rude. Theres no weapons on the table this time”

Titius turned his gaze to L'ara. “…and is that how you greet everyone or just the handsome ones? And threatening a cripple too. Classy.”

Minnie’s hands found her hips again, though they itched to echo her words. “That’s a pretty offensive term for anyone differently abeled, you know,” she said a little hotly, all too familiar with such insults. “Rude or not, she made her feelings clear. Goodbye.”

Minnie had a good point. Sivall smiled softly, and swiveled back around in her chair. She had no time for these kind of conversations tonight. She would not give him the time of day.

L'ara smiled flirtatiously then quickly dropped it.

Her hand snapped down to her drink and threw it in the intruder’s face.

“Just you. Now piss off aruetii.”

With a fluid movement, Titius knocked the glass up out of L'ara’s hand and caught it. “Hut'uun nari, best you remember your manners. Ill not cry your Thousand Tears.”

“It is a shame that my reputation preceded me. I was rather hoping the inebriation would have improved my social standing.”

Titius took a curt bow, turned sharply on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.

Somehow, somewhere.. Zxyl snickers.

Lillian relaxed back, watching Sagitta. She was in good hands, and as long as she could still see her, the chances of her getting into too much trouble were very slim.

So, instead she just kicked up one leg over the other and sipped away at Sagitta’s drink, smiling behind the visor.

Xi'ana beamed with a bright smile at the offered hand. She did a coy curtsy in her frilly outfit and nonchalantly walked backwards some paces. Making sure they still had eye contact, she sprung forward, twisted, vaulted, and landed squarely on the wolfman’s other shoulder, placing her hand in Saggita’s with a firm handshake.

“Hiwhat'syournameohyeslet'ssingasong!”

“Well, if you asked him, he’d probably tell you that he’s my… apprentice,” Anders shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

Friend of yours? “Eh?” She blinked at the ‘talking’ chest as she glanced over to where he was talking about. “OH. NOPE. Well, except that Chiss right ovvvverrr there the reallllly pretty one? She’s my… I guess, Uncle Alex’s sweetheart!” She smiled widely. She pouted at Luka before sticking a druken tongue at them for being such a debbie-downer but then it hit her. “OH you are SO right! The party is down here!” Something something about height as she squealed softly when her hips were grasped, “What you are- OOOOOHHHH” She exclaimed as she looked around. “WOW AND PEOPLE SAID IM TALL” She tried to squirm a bit, was about to do something incredibly stupid, like standing on his shoulder to go swinging on the chandelier but her thighs were on lockdown. The idea was gone as fast as it arrived.

The new friend took few steps back and Sagitta’s heart sank. She thought she lost a new friend? But then! A surprise! Xi'ana had made her way onto Doon’s unoccupied shoulder and shook her hand. Her eyes brighten at Xi'ana, their energy seems to match, “OH HELLO I AM SAGITTAWHATISYOUR NAME, hold on the singing, we got games! ONWARD!” Pink hues found Lillian at the bar once again as she shouted, clearly, on top of her lungs, “HHHEEEY LILLIAN LOOK!” She waved and smiled then groaned softly. Good thing he had a good grip on her thighs, the room was seemingly spinning, “Hey hey, slow down there Doom, you’re going toooo fast.”

<@160141735354171394> <@141239709291511808> <@264959101384130560> <@227960499948486666>

A few seconds of silence was cut with a sharp inhale from the very tiny, very angry looking Chiss of the group. Drunk, filled with indignation for her friend, and already quick to get angry for the people she cared about. Sivall jumped off the stool, the force funneled into her legs. She would’ve taken off too, if it weren’t for Bril being much more experienced and faster.

Just as she began to give chase, the Zabrak hooked his arm around Sivall’s waist. Bigger and stronger as he was, the catch still made him jerk in his chair.

“It’s not worth it, lora. It’s not.”

Sivall looked at him, anger boiling in her veins, red clouding her vision. She would annihilate that k’on'becsoi for what he did. The Dark Side crept into her, like icy fingers in her brain. Her sanguine eyes locked with Bril’s and she took a deep breath, then another….

She slipped back onto her stool and continued taking deep breaths till the red faded and she felt like herself again.

The Human shook her head, waving back. She would have joined Sagitta if her and the massive Shista weren’t making their way towards Sivall. With all the things she had saw the poor Chiss go through in just the short time she had been watching, she doubted Sivall wanted Lillian poking and prodding as well.

And, well… poking and prodding was about 85% of what she did. So.

She took another sip, perched in her chair, and watched from afar.

Doon swayed a bit as another person landed on his shoulder. He reflexively reaches up, giving them the same secure support. He glanced at Luka, and with a shrug that lifted both women on his shoulders started off towards the call for a game. “We’ll break you out of your shell, Luka.” His dry sarcasm was accompanied by his tail swishing against their side.

Despite Sagitta’s best efforts at wiggling, Doom kept her steady as he approached the table. He was thankful that, at least for the moment, the other as of yet unnamed friend wasn’t trying to throw herself from his grip.

As soon as the newcomer mentioned their people’s genocide, Minnow lunged. Not at him, as much as she wanted to, wanted to go for the throat, but for L'ara.

Because her sister was definitely going to try and kill a man and murder charges weren’t going with girls night.

“L'ara, stop, he’s not worth it!” she snapped in Mandalorian, having to stretch up on her toes to loop her arms under the Twi'lek’s and lock her hands behind her head. She spoke into the woman’s earcone, feeling every bit the hypocrite and hating it, “We’ll answer the insult if we ever see him again, but not here, not now, sister! Please. Please, I’m so tired of fighting right now.”

L'ara snarled, even as Bril stopped Sivall from taking off after the retreating man. But at least she didn’t drop an elbow on Minnie’s head. Still, as soon as the Nautolan let go, the Twi'lek whirled, and her hands flew, barely-restrained rage meant for punches channeled into her words.

Minnow flinched, biting her cheek at the accusations L'ara let fly. Seeing it had her sister throw up her hands, not a sign, just anger, and shaking her head.

Sorry, she apologized, fingers falling. I need to…get air. Not be here.

She turned, and Minnie started after, because no girl went alone and L'ara knew that rule. But the Twi'lek glared back and gestured no.

“Okay, but–”

“I know, I know, Mom, keep my comm on, stick to the lights, blah blah. I’m going to the roof.” Another cringe, and she grimaced again. “Sorry.”

And then she stomped off, and Minnie let her go with a worried look, watching until she disappeared through a stairway door.

- But for all their silent argument the world didn’t slow. A loud group, shouting drunken and bubbly joy, towering towards the chandeliers, washed up next to them like a crashing wave. Wasn’t that one up there one Siv had looked at? And Siv! The Chiss was taking deep breaths while Bril soothed her, murmuring Zabraki. Owners…never had the chance…panic… Sivall deserved to just play a dumb silly drinking game with some friends and get drunk if she wanted to.

Minnie still had a mission.

Straightening her spine, the little Mandalorian put on her war face – blinding smile and happy voice – and knelt up on her stool again to be seen and heard.

“Alright, oya oya OYA! How. Bout. Them. GAMES? Are y'all ready to play? Hehe! Let’s go!” It was practiced and cheery, just like during a show at work. “Y'all coming to play? We’ve got some first timers here and we’re gonna give them a great time! Everybody to that table there!” She pointed. “We’re getting shots, and then…” She shook her sleeves back and clapped her bracers together in a fast, rolling drumroll. “IT BEGINS! TRUTH! OR! DARE! OOOYA!”

The screen went dark and the smile fell. Socorra’s brows furrowed and ruby lips pressed together as the pad mirrored her own mangled face back to her. The woman stared at it for a moment trying to imagine what her family might look like, but the call disconnect was both a metaphor and cosmic karma.

Eventually the datapad slipped from her dark skinned fingers into the gear pile at her feet, cracking the edge and causing the screen to spiderweb. Her burn-scarred hand raised to signal the barkeep. 

“Five these in cactus blossom shooter.. with pepper,” she motioned to her ‘rita. She picked up her gear and returned to the chair on the other side of Thane although remained standing as the shots were poured.

Titius pulled up his datapad. Does this backwater have something interesting to partake in or should I go make me own fun? His thigh itched where his usual stash of fun normally would be. Titus was hating this no weapons policy. Weapons were FUN.

Looking around the room, Minnow figured, in for a credit, in for the chit, and called over to their Clan’s alor, “OYA! Alor'ad Socorra! Gal, ori'skraan, riduur, yaim’ dab'ika! Join us? Bring your friends!”

Siv followed behind minnie, pulling Bril with because if she was gonna get pulled into a game of truth or dare so was he. She settled into her seat and awaited the games to begin, calling over the bar tender to furnish them with some drinks.

“More like rust than a shell, dear. It’s not my first party.” Luka smiled up at Doon and gave him a soft swat at his side. They then gestured for the tower to follow them. “Now onward to games! I’ll find us some seats.” They parted the way for their entourage, toward the table where the challenge of Truth or Dare could be heard.

The human approached the table with arms wide and a broad smile. “Friends and soon-to-be friends! The name is Luka. I heard there were games?”

Sagitta eyes brightened when she saw L'ara “HEEEEY-” But she left as quick as she arrived. WIth a pout she grumbled under her breath slightly. The grouchy attitude didn’t last long, “TRUTH OR DARE!?” Sagitta smiled brightened, “ I NEEEVER got to play that at allllll I’ve heard of it! I CANNOT WAIT. LET’S GO.” Then she looked at Siv, “Auntie Siv! You look absolu-” To Siv’s rescue, the drinks had arrived. They rose the tray so she could grab the drink, despite being on Doon’s shoulders. “OH. KARKING KARK KARK YES.” She, however, took tiny little sips of her drink through the straw, remembering that someone had told her to slow down. Who was it? Lillian? Her dad? L'ara?

Ah well.

“WHO GOES FIRST?!” She, unknowingly, shouted at the Nautolan she haven’t had the honor to meet yet. “Wait, wait, Doomy! bring me down! Party is down there!” She started to squirm against Doon’s grip once again.

“Hiya, Luka!” Minnie tossed them a finger gun. “Oh my gosh I love your look! I’m Minnow, this is Bril and Sivall…” Then the one up high started yelling and the Nautolan had to resist an oh boy, cause she’d sure seen enough people mixing uppers and drinks at the Funhouse. She blamed the pretty lights. Really attracted messes like us them. “Wait, Auntie Siv? Sivvy, you have a niece?”

She had to crane back to try and look at the Mirialan on the humungo Shistavanen’s shoulders. It was like sitting with Jax.

“Well hi, Doom! Luka, and hi, what’s your name?”

Off drinking with Marick—who had a seltzer—Renatus was hit with the sudden realization he never got his cloak back. A quick “c'mere” with his finger summoned the fabric from the dance floor and draped it over his forearm.

“Nice touch.”

Siv choked a bit on her own spit. Auntie?! Gods she wasn’t drunk enough for this. The Chiss’s eyes were wide, staring at Sagitta with a look of disbelief. The Mirialan had never called her that before. Emotions began to well up inside her and her fingers itched with the urge to send messages to a certain Human.

“S-She’s not, um… n-not my niece. She’s part of A-Alex’s… Alex’s a-aliit… One of the leader’s f-foundlings,” she sputtered, teaching for one of the man glasses of water brought to the table. She took a sip and smiled softly for Sagitta once her hacking had abated.

“It’s nice to see you again, ‘Gita. I hope you’re having fun.”

Luka accepted the Nautolan’s compliment with a brush of their garment. “Wanted something comfortable. Wasn’t sure where the night would take me.”

They took a drink from the offered tray and pulled out a chair. Afterward they settled with their elbows on the table, holding their drink between their hands. As Siv sputtered, Luka raised a brow but made no comment. Certainly some good gossip to be had here.

Thankfully, Minnie was able to decipher far worse than some spluttering, patting Siv on the back gently when she coughed.

“Oooooo~ you’re Mandalorian too! OYA! And, even better, you’re vod'e to ~°~°A l e x°~°~,” the Nautolan all but purred. “Oh gurl, you are just what we needed! But I promised games, soz, next time. Just lemme give you my comm code before we leave tonight okie? We have plans to make, sis.”

She turned a wink and a smile on her new Chiss sister too, then nodded to Luka. When pitchers and shot glasses arrived, she clapped her hands together.

“OooooOoooOOOKAY, CAMPERS! So for our uninitiated, here’s how this is gonna go. I’ll start, kay? We’ll go around the table clockwise. Which just means listen to me cause we’re gonna forget which way clocks go real soon.” Another wink, where she smirked at Bril as she added, “Y'all can call me the Game Mistress. So so! Here we go. Truth or Dare is what it sounds like. Whoever’s turn it is, they get to pick someone else and ask them truth or dare. If the person picks truth, you ask them a question, and they have to answer honestly! But this is a fun game yanno so don’t be dicks and if someone seems uncomfy back off or Mommy will ban you. Now, if they pick dare, you get to dare them, challenge them, to do anything you say. These should be, like, reasonable tho. Nothing too dangerous or mean! And we’re in public, so keep those clothes on. Okie? Finally, if someone wants to refuse either the truth or the dare, they take a shot. Does everyone get it? Raise those hands, people.”

Siv raised her hand, smiling brightly. It was hard not to catch Minnie’s infectious vibe. Was she nervous? Kark yes. Was she also excited? Absolutely.

“HI THERE! You are so pretty and my name is-“ she stops, brows are furrowed, “my name is uhhhhhhhhhh” Then her attention was gone when Siv started coughing. Hard. Sagitta let out a rather dramatic gasp. Was her auntie Siv choking?! Does she need to save her?! But it seems Minnie had started patting her back rather roughly and Sagitta felt more dizzy. In fact, she finally feels really sick that it was affecting her a bit.

No!

She was going to hide this! She’s here to have fun and make friends! “Dooooooomy please put me doooooown” finally, she was seated.

“Oh yes! I am having so much fun! Did you see me climb? It was flawless!” Then Minnie talked to her about Alex and needing to give each other comm code, for plans? What plans?

The plan went over her head faster than she could drink. Listening time! She took tiny sips of her drink as a way to be quiet as she eagerly rose her hand up into the air!

Lillian’s eyes squinted as she watched Sagitta, then sighed softly and pushed herself up from the bar to move closer. But first, she inhaled the rest of the drink the Mirialan had left behind and then ordered another double of whiskey before adjusting where she was sitting to another nearby table. Far enough to give Sivall space but intervene with the Force if Sagitta blacked out.

His eyes widened a little when Minnie met his gaze just as she happened to mention her new moniker - the Game Mistress, and he chuckled. He had never played the game before, but it sounded like fun. Especially if Minnie was running it.

“Who will start us off, then?” he asked, scanning those gatheredat the table. “Maybe our Mistress should begin.”

“Good!” Minnie complimented Siv for listening well and raising her hand, beaming at her. To Sagitta, she also smiled, though with more worry, oh boy. And then go Bril, a smirk. “Well when you address me so nicely. Yeah, I'ma start, so you can see what it’s like! So…Sivvy, truth or dare?”

Siv seemed to melt a little at the praise, but then put some serious thought. Untill the room stopped spinning, dare was probably out of the question.

“Truth, Minmin.”

The Nautolan cooed at the nickname. “Omygosh I love that, Minmin. Eee. Okay okay. Let’s see. Hmmmmmmm,” she hummed for dramatic effect, then clapped her hands and lightly booped the Chiss’s nose. “Okie! What’s your thing you own and why?”

The medic blinked at the boop, momentarily distracted by the sudden contact, her eyes crossed for a few seconds before she shook her head. Her favorite thing she owned? Her face scrunched a little as she thought, but then her features relaxed as she smiled softly.

“My very first gift, a friendship bracelet. It’s made of grass so I had to get it preserved. But… well it was my first ever gift. It’s very special to me, and was given to me by my k'ihn, m-my aliit.”

God, did her Mando’a always sound this terrible or was she just that drunk?

It was the truth though. The friendship bracelet that Leda had given her was carefully preserved and present in a frame on her nightstand. But, her turn was over right? So she turned to Bril.

“Your turn Bril, truth or dare?”

Hearing Sivall’s explanation brought a smile to his face. She seemed like she was really starting to get comfortable with group, finding her place amongst new friends. Good. She deserved a night of happiness like this. Maybe this could be a regular occurrence for the duo? He’d have to run the idea by her later to see what she thought.

Minnie would have to come along, as well. The woman’s energy was positively infectious, and he had no doubt that she was a great addition to his sister’s social circle. And he would get to see her more himself, which was always a positive.

“That’s sweet, lora, you’ll have to show me some time,” he said. Bril crossed his arms and lifted his eyes to the ceiling while considering the choice he’d been given. While the thought of what kind of dare his sister could think up was tempting, he decided to play it safe, for now.

“Let’s try… truth!” He beamed.

She took a second to think— she felt like she already knew a lot about Bril. So what didn’t she know? A soft ‘hmmmm’ escaped her as she softly bit on her thumbnail.

“If there was one thing you could do right now, without consequence, what would you do and why?”

Well, that was certainly a good question. Looking around the table, he took stock of those who had joined them in this little game of theirs. All except Siv and Minnie were strangers. Speaking of, he allowed his gaze to settle on the Nautolan woman and did his best impression of a certain eye holomoji that people his age were especially fond of using. The thought made him chuckle and he shook his head afterward.

“In all seriousness, I wouldn’t mind a real vacation. You know, a getaway on some remote, tropical planet where I’m free to do whatever I want, when I want.” It was a simple answer, but all he could think of for the moment. Maybe he would have a better answer later when he was more sober.

Going with who he knew, he pointed to Minnie and asked, “Truth or dare?”

This wasn’t Asani’s usual scene, drinks and merrymaking were not usually in her schedule. Sneaking out of the ship wasn’t either, that was bad. Sneaking out of the ship after hearing a heavy discussion was far worse. Even more troubling was how she snuck out and told no one. She’d get in trouble later, she was sure of it.

But here she was, cam in hand, taking photos of everything interesting; trailing around the area, her short stature keeping her from grabbing too much attention if any. She moved behind people legs, following their stride to stay hidden. She had lost sight of Lillian and Sagitta quite early in her adventure into this mess but with the assistance of that large gentleman from before with the fur and scars, she now had a very clear view of her sibling, which meant Lillian wasn’t too far, she hopped.

She chuckled as she gently approached and took some more photos. “And that ones going framed” she said to herself in a hushed tone approaching her sisters location enough to be able to take better photos.

Sagitta was slightly swaying in her seat. Those who know her, would think that she was being excited and having a hard time containing her energy. Those who don’t know, might assume that she was that drunk.

The truth was?

It was both. Siv went first! Truth! OOH BOY. Then the question was lame. Very lame.

Until Siv answered. Then she started sobbing and sniffing slightly, “Auntie Sivvv that’s so beautifffulll,” she flubbered, using her jacket to dash some of the tears away and shamelessly wipe her nose. NEXT ONE! Bril! TRUTH AS WELL! Sagitta hiccuped as she cleared her throat and pondered for a moment. What was one thing she would do without consequence? Her eyes immediately went to the goddamn shiny ass chandelier. Bril answered! SOON! Three more people until her turn! Or was it four?

But then the Zabrak had to go and ruin it. He pointed at Minnie and entirely skipped poor dear sweet Luka. Who she now noticed was wearing a golden collar, “UH NO, HOLD ON ONE MINUTE,” shouted Sagitta, as she picked up her drink and passed it to Doon, “Doomy, please hold my kracking drink, some Rancor shit is about to go down.” She placed her hands at the table easily and flawlessly, somehow, got on the table, hands on her hips, she looked like a serious scolding mother about to mouth off at her child. Or was it the other way around.

No matter.

“Mister whose name I already forgot at this point,” Sagitta started, hiccuping a bit, “Did you not -hic- hear this beautiful Nautolan!?” She aggressively gestured towards Minnie, “We -hic- take TURNS, or'dinii, TURNS. -hic-” Then she smiled as she easily slid back to her seat, “Let’s -hic- try again!” She clapped excited like a little child about to open some presents on a birthday and attempts to take her drink back from Doon, before leaning over to Xi and Doon both, “Kaysh -hic- mirsh solus….” She has NO idea if either of them even know Mando'a.

Doom arched an eyebrow, watching Sagitta jump onto the table. He inched closer, just in case she toppled backwards. But as she finished spouting off he indeed handed her drink back with a look. “You look like you could use another, I think. Finish that one slow, I’ll replace it.”

He proceeded to order her another fruity, nonalcoholic drink when she was next not paying attention.

Minnie all but melted over Siv’s story, and returned Bril’s look with a smirking bite of her lip. She thought about suggesting Selen when he described a tropical vacation, but decided to save that for later.

And then Sagitta was getting up on the table and…oh boy dear. She was going to have to engineer a little bit here, hmm.

But the protest at hand first.

“First of all, ohmygosh thanks, you’re beautiful too! Second, since we’re going that way,” she gestured broadly and easily from herself to Sivall to Bril to Luka and then around to the others in a big circular motion, “it actually IS Bril’s turn to pick someone. Normally ya you wouldn’t have stuff so clustered up, so it’s confusing, but it so happens that I picked Siv, then she picked Bril, and he picked me. Luka is after Bril. Buuuuut if it bothers you and Bril agrees, we can skip me, he can pick someone else! I promise though, no rule breaking yet! Good job listening, tho. You’re doing so good~.”

With a soft and happy squeal, “YESSSSSSSSS I would LOVE another, you’re so GOOD to me Doooommmyyy!” but then Minnie talk to her. She blinked at the comment of beautiful before looking down at her. Everyone was so dressed up. Had dresses or tuxedos and what have you. And she came in … this. Her everyday kind of attire. Oh well! She’s having fun! That’s more important.

But then Minnie explained more of the game as she looked gobsmacked. “Oh.” Then few more seconds, “Oh kark…” Moved the glass towards Doon once again as she climbed on the whole ass table, again and wrapped her arms around Bril’s neck and pulled him in, “I’m so -hic- sorry, I really am so sorry, that -hic- was so mean and cruel of me, I didn’t mean to scold -hichic- you, scolding is bad, you are good. Good guy. I am so sorry. I’m the or'dinii, not -hic- you”

Seeing the large Mirialan woman leap onto the table as easily as she had came as a surprise, and Bril’s eyes shot open in a shocked expression when the heavily inebriated woman embraced him. “It’s uhh … it’s alright. No harm done, hah,” he replied, giving her an awkward pat on the back before pulling away.

“Now, then,” he pointed at Minnie, “We can double back to Luka. You’re not getting out of this one so easily. Truth or dare?”

Just as she lifted the shot, Socorra’s wrist comm buzzed. The screen lit up this time with a picture of Atyiru, and when the call connected at a tap, the view was…well.

Possibly up a nose? Upside down?

She could hear meshla’s little voice.

“Mama no, you holding it lettuceways,” she was saying, and Atyiru’s ear tip flicked through the sights.

“Oh! Drat. Help mommy, litlun? Socky? Socky dear are you on? We lost the call before the boys got to say hullo! I’m going to give you to Kirra, hold on…”

“Thank you kindly,” the little girl says, and then the camera was facing the right way, lighting up on her mismatched eyes and smile. She leaned over a large crib-com-playpen, holding out her pad as far as her little arm could. Socorra’s wrist screen was suddenly two babies: her own heart and soul, Turi, and smaller, laying on his back and gumming on a first, Weyne. Turi could roll himself over and crawled towards his cousin, who squealed and leaned down to kiss him many times.

“I love you Turi!” she sing songed. “I love you Weyney. Love you Aunny Socks!”

“Buh,” Turi burped, and looked briefly near the camera before his eyes slowly closed as if falling asleep sitting up.

Minnie wished she had easily abusable mind magic then, if only so she could telepathically will Bril into corroboration with her. She widened her eyes and tried to convey by staring at him, no, don’t ask me! Ask her! She’ll probably pick dare and then I can dare her to only drink water the rest of the night, or only take truths, or be my chair so I can keep her from climbing around and getting hurt. Come ooooon!

Sadly, it didn’t seem to work. Total bummer.

Minnie sighed lightly, then stopped trying to project through her eyeballs and smiled back at Bril, throwing a smile to Sagitta too.

“Okie! You got me. Say vod, why not sit back down there so you comfier? Annnnd I guess since I’m showing y'all how the game works, I’ll take a dare, as an example!”

She winked and threw up a double peace sign.

Renatus offered his silence as Socorra presented her toast. It could be considered cheap, considering how common it was on his part, but here it was out of respect for the tradition. He took his shot quietly after.

“I believe we were summoned,” he remarked taking the lead and heading over to where the loud party had assembled for their game. On the way, he idly cracked his knuckles and adjusted the cuffs of his tunic.

Why was she making those weird faces at him? Did she have to sneeze? Regardless, Bril got her to comply, so he went ahead with his question.

“I dare you to speak for the rest of the night in rhymes, like those holomusicals that old people always go to.”

Bril waved to Thane when he arried. “T-Man! Glad you’ve joined us,” he said with a thumbs up, “You killed it on the dance floor earlier.”

Minnie’s jaw…dropped. Her yellow face, pinked-cheeked, looked like a holonet meme of an electric mouse. Then it snapped closed as she lifted a finger to stab towards his face, definitely not pouting.

“Oooohoooohooo, you,” she began, and then sighed dramatically, “are playing well. I’m pretty sure tho this ain’t gonna go…swell?”

Even when the male reassured her that it’s okay and there was no harm done, she couldn’t help but feel so guilty, “I’m still so verry sorry,” She sniffles. When he pulled back and she heard Minnie’s suggestion to sit back down, she agreed, she let go as she scooted back to her seat and saw a new drink, “OH ori'vor'e!” THen she took a sip and squinted. Wait a mintue. This tasted differently. Pulled the drink away from her eyes, she inspected the glass for a moment and shrugged, “Tastes sweeter this time!” As she resumed taking sips through the straw as her eyes widen in excitement. Finally! Someone had chosen dare!

OH WOW.

That was a very hard dare!

Once Minnie responded and kept true to her word, Sagitta surprised laugh caused the, luckily, now virgin drink, to go through her nose, causing her to cough and laugh at the same time as she scrambled around to find some napkins and clean up the mess she just made.

Bril snorted. He could definitely get used to this. “Sorry, not sorry,” he teased with a wink. “You can pay me back later, maybe.”

The Firrerreo raised his eyebrow before nodding appreciatively to Bril. He couldn’t say he was fond of ‘T-Man’ but it was better than an honorific, he supposed.

“Feel free to pull up a chair, my new friend.” Was it appropriate to address someone of such a high station in the Brotherhood so casually? The booze certainly made it seem fine.

“Hey there…T-man?” Minnow greeted the newcomer questioningly. He looked an awful lot like dossier images of the Justicar in the rest of the Council line up. Couldn’t be…could it? “Unless you prefer something else! Uhhh*o'sik*. Something else, you…uh…wouldn’t …ban? Goesh this is gonna be a long night. I’m Minnie! You’re welcome to join us…and …fight?”

Renatus turned his head towards Minnow. “Thane Skotos,” he explained regarding his name, still not going to his Lord title by default. “Thane is adequate.”

He gestured for a chair, since Bril had suggested it and using telekinesis was like breathing for him, and began sitting even before it slid into place. The casual fluidity of it was probably lost on him.

Sivall waved shyly, smiling softly. “It’s good to see you again, L- Thane, sir.” Ktah, she just couldn’t stop doing the whole being proper thing could she?

Frak me it is the actual Justicar, Minnie thought for one wild second before deciding: eh. She smiled at him. “Heya Thane, then! We’re playing truth or dare. Do you know the rules or do you need me to tell y– do you need me to share?”

He affixed Minnow with his black-gold eyes and didn’t even blink. He was thinking. Based on what he had overheard prior, this insistence on rhyming was a new development. Most likely a dare.

“I am familiar.”

The lagamorph upon realizing the golden opportunity she had decided to let fate take a nudge. “Excuse me could you send a round, no, two to everyone at that table, for fun from a friend?” she asked the bar keep, pointing at the table where her sister sat with what she could only guess were now a bunch of new friends she would hear all about when they returned to the ship. The table would be presented with their share of drinks all around as they were directed it was from as they called themselves “a friend”.

Lillian finished the rest of her drink and looked at it. Were they actually giving her any alcohol. She was about to flag down one of the wait staff for shots of something stronger, when she saw someone bring Sagitta’s table two rounds of shots themselves.

Did…?

She reached out through to force, focusing real hard on a signature that should be idling in space. It wasn’t. Asani was down here with them, somewhere. She couldn’t really see where due to the amount of people, but she was somewhere.

After flagging down one of the staff and promptly getting her shots, she sent a message over the net to the littlest foundling.

Get a picture of the Chiss and send it to Alex. Maybe it’ll knock some sense into him.

Then a few moments later another after she downed her three shots of the strongest liqueur they had.

Take any pictures of me and I will promptly destroy them. Ni kar'taylir vaii gar nuhoy, ad’ika.

While Mr. T as in Trial explained he didn’t need any lessons, a sever arrived with more drinks from the bar. Minnie looked at them in surprise, since they’d not ordered more; especially when they had some already.

“From a friend,” droned the employee in a tone she knew well, so she decided not to bother the man. But when she saw Sagitta immediately lock on to all those shot glasses, she knew she needed to intervene.

“Hey~ sweetie~, isn’t that kinda mean, not finishing the one Doom got for you first?” She smiled, punctuating it, pretty sure that the Wolfy man had ordered non alcoholic earlier. If not, well, o'sik. Oh right and her stupid dumb actually clever but stupid dare. “… quench your….thrist.”

Meanwhile, hoping for a little help, she nudged Bril with her elbow while clasping her hands under her chin in a pose like please? to Sagitta. She glanced between Bril, the shots, and the Mirialan hoping he caught on.

While everyone was distracted by the very smashed Mirialan, Siv quickly inhaled her two shots of… whatever was sent. She coughed a little bit, but otherwise did fine.

“HI NEW FRIEND!” Sagitta smiled towards Thane as she waved at him. Then behold! New drinks! Sagitta reached over but Minnie cut her off as she blinks towards her, “OH KARK,” She frowned, “You are SO right, I’m so sorry Doom! I didn’t mean to! Here! I fast drink this then I drink the gift from a friend! Was it you? Thank you!” Her pink hues rested on Thane, wondering if he was the friend that sent the drinks as she started drinking down the non-alcoholic drink before her. “Whoa, hold up,” She glanced around, completely forgetting whose turn it was.

Bril gave Minnie an understanding mood before lifting the tray of drinks off the table and moving them to a different one. He reached out to Minnie across their mental link again. I don’t think I can drink all of these but I can try.

Without waiting for another explanation, the Zabrak started downing drinks one by one.

“Whaaaaatstop!” Minnie cried, grabbing his arm in both of hers and smushing it to her chest. “That’s not what I meant don’t kill yourself ohmygosh!”

Siv quickly tried to snatch another two shots while Minnie was distracted, but only managed to grab one and knock another over. Deciding it was probably for the best, she downed her shot happily.

By the time she’d intervened, Bril had already downed four of the shots. Without missing a beat, he used the grip she had on his arm to spin her around and hug her from behind. “Can you dance? Let’s dance,” he said, words starting to slur again.

Having sent her shots she watched the chaos slowly build, this was only the beginning of the kushibans plan for fun. That is, until Lillian sent her a message. Reading it over it was a simple request. A photo of the Chiss she could do in an instant. Uncle Dyr would be glad to have it.

But then she read what she could only truly take in as a challenge and nothing more than the biggest challenge of all for the night.

Take any pictures of me and I will promptly destroy them. Ni kar'taylir vaii gar nuhoy, ad’ika.

Asani didn’t understand why but it felt like a challenge. There was no real challenge no rhyme or reason to want to defy Lillian only if purely for the sake of defiance. And she never took challenges lightly. One photo is all she needed.

She replied with feigned innocence. Buying herself more time was in her best interest.

I’m not sure why you’d message me? Buir is still mad and I’m not about to get in trouble.

She lied, maybe barely even convincingly, but any time was good time. Now she looked around for Lillian, keeping herself lower still to the ground, her fur matching the pattern of the ground now. She wasn’t about to make herself so easily seen as before. She realized then with so many tall people around, it was actually a bit difficult to find Lillian in this mess.

Minnie gave an eep! as she was spun and grabbed, one just on the line between positive and negative. But with their previous flirting and a few drinks in her, his long limbs and solid, warm frame at her bare-shouldered back were rather nice.

Buuuuut…

She reached up with one arm to tug on a lock of his hair, the other laying over the arm he had around her and drawing her fingers over it, fidgeting with his sleeve.

“Hold on there, tusk cat. Yas, I can dance, but we’re playing a game~. Don’t be rude to our guests or forget about Sivvy, it’s half y'all’s truth or dare first.” She patted his cheek with the hand in his hair before pulling away, letting it tangle still with her fingers, a gentle little suggestion of tugging him along after her back to their seats. “Maybe ya should’ve dared me to dance instead of rhyme.” Which shed stopped doing to prevent alcohol poisoning, shoot. “Now you’ll have to wait for the time.”

Luka had been drifting out of focus as they listened to the two answer their Truth questions. They stirred their drink idlily, lost in their own thought in tangent to what was said. They had been startled when Sagita jumped on the table briefly, but the confusion had been sorted out before Luka could recall if it was their turn or not. Better focus.

But first, shots. Luka downed both. Perhaps the alcohol would bring back the party spirit. They had barely touched even their fresh one.

The shots went down like expected, though Luka caught themselves with a grimace. “Friend or an enemy?” they said with a sputtering chuckle.

They could remember it was their turn, though it seemed the shots had distracted the others as well. As the others caused their commotion, the Human sighed and sipped their drink, considering. Brown eyes caught dark fur still at their side, so they turned with a mischievous smile to Doon. “Alright, then. Truth or Dare?” Spoken as a challenge to choose wisely.

Lillian stared at the reply from Asani with a frown, which was thankfully hidden by the black helmet. Wolsha was still angry? Truly? Had she pushed too hard?

“Pel ruug'la jag, atba'a'yu bid kaden…” she mumbled, flipping on her commlink to message Wulfram instead. Her fingers floated over her commlink as she looked at the blank message screen.

Kark.

She closed the message out and took two more shots, finishing out her five total.

“Okay okay, you’re-hic-right. We can dance later,” He walked, more like stumbled, back to their seats. He plopped down next to her and leaned his head back, muttering something to himself in Zabraki.

Minnie reached up with one hand and started massaging at the back of Bril’s neck. With the other, she rubbed Siv’s back, hoping the woman who’d snuck a bunch of shots wasn’t going to black out on her.

Aloud, she redirected the table, “Okie okie! Y'all’s getting wild so let’s all have a water next! Luka’s turn now, so pay attention, they asked Doom! Mistress says so.” Oh this stupid dare what rhymed with Doom? “Uhhh, spoon…soon…moon? No, no, wrong sound, o'sikla… Oh! That’s the rules of the room!”

Siv hugged Bril’s arm, frowning softly. He seemed so upset… she didn’t like seeing him upset.

“It’s okay, botmun’i.” Her voice, normally soft and quiet in nature, was just about as loud as a normal person now.

Bril did as advised, taking a bottle of water and sipping it quietly while the others continued talking. Although his expression had darkened considerably after those four shots kicked in, Sivall’s sympathetic words and Minnie massaging the back of his neck certainly helped.

Lillian was still focused on Asani’s reply, swirling a Corellian Whiskey sour in one hand while staring intently at her commlink on her kom’rk placed on her opposing arm. There was something at the back of her head, nagging her. She took a sip of her drink, then placed it down and typed the message she had resisted sending before.

“`N'eparavu takisit, Wolsha.

Why are we like this?

Things were easier when we were younger.”`

She took a deep breath and picked her glass up, not expecting a reply at all. Certainly, not quickly. However, Wulfram’s response was nearly immediate.

Atin'vi, Little Dove. I don't hold any of it against you. The helmet was welded to you, you didn't choose it.

She stared at the message for a moment, frowning. Stubborn jerk. Still… he was right. Welded on… Suddenly it felt like she couldn’t breath. Her hand hesitated for a moment for she unlatched her helmet and pulled it off, placing it softly on the table next to her glass.

Emerald eyed squinted a little at the change of the light intensity from behind the tinted visor. Her eyes locked on the helmet for a few moments; it felt strange having it off anywhere other than the ship. She felt naked but she could breathe again.

She grumbled softly, the movement pulling at the scar across her lips. Damn that old man.

Thane watched the group in silence, idly sipping his drink as he observed.

Between the commotion, Doon found time to take his two shots. He knocked them both back without immediate issue, That didn’t mean he couldn’t feel his head slowly spin from all he’s already drinken.

As Luka Picks him out, his eye narrows. But he slowly gives an answer, Glancing at the other, mostly new faces. “… Dare”

Lettuceways.

The sweetness of that alone could melt a star.

Socorra didn’t need telepathy to see Ruka’s long-distance look at her consideration of sneaking a shot while Kirra moved about the room. She pushed the glass to the side..for now. And then hopped a seat and presented her vambrace to Marick.

The camera went up and over the crib railing, as level and balanced as only a little kid can do. Socorra’s heart skipped a beat as the babies came into view, both diapered, drooling messes. Turi, rolling and crawling. Her Little Dragon. It felt like ages since she’d seen his wide, toothless grin and those nearly cyan, pale orbs, little more pigmented than his mother’s. And Marick’s Weyne and his tasty, pruny fist and pinky that traveled between mouth and nostril. She tapped the Hapan’s forearm with a slight smile as the baby clearly had traits of his uncle.

At least they weren’t fighting.. physically at least.

Socorra called to Turi with an impossibly high-pitched voice for the alto-spoken human. “Buir minmin Larel! Oiy kurwaha, haaiirin draigun.”

When the call eventually ended she tossed back one of the three shots and took the other two with her.

“Lessgo,” she nudged Marick with an aggressive-assertive hip, trying to draw him towards the games. <@189568236201705472>

Luka raised an eyebrow and considered for a moment. Though their victim had come readily to mind, what would be asked of him had not. They sipped at their drink to buy themselves time. Once the thought came to them, a breath of a chuckle could be heard.

“The last person you messaged on comms… I dare you to message them how you truly feel about them.” A coy grin followed. How delicious if it was someone at the table.

Sagitta frowned as she saw Bril seemed to be struggling, “It’s okay, burc'ya, you got two pretty ladies to help you feel better!” Slurrrrp. She finished her extra sweet drink, “This was so sweeeeeeet Doomy! Though it was a bit toooo sweet, I’ll order next time, kay?” Though she forgot and glanced at the water on the table and made a stink face. She was feeling sleepy. She doesn’t understand why!

“We should get alllll the pillows and beds down here! It could be ONE giant sleepover!” Sagitta said towards

drumroll

No one.

Drunk off of her ass, she seemed to be thinking the inside thoughts, out loud. “I don’t want to be sleepy, I must wake!” No! Pay attention! It was Doon’s turn. He picked dare as she gasped softly, the dares and truths seemed to be SOO good so far, it was exciting! Now slightly perked up, she listened to Luka as her pink hues widen, and glanced towards Doon, “WOW! So who did you message last, Doooooom?”

“You know,” Minnie began brightly, still lightly massaging Bril’s shoulder. She took her hand off Siv’s back to nudge the water closer to Sagitta. “Water wakes you up! Think about it. When you have caf or tea, it’s made of water, yanno? The more water you have the more awake!” She winked.

Given the relative distance of everyone gathered, some were still a bit anxious around the Justicar, which created available space in which to pull up a chair and sit. It was cute in a way.

I am humanoid just like all of you, Socorra could almost hear him say, complete with no contractions in his usual speech pattern.

She ordered another volcanorita as a chaser to the two shots she still had and sat, slightly leaning towards the Firrerreo.

“What I miss?” <@185936112441622529>

Socorra almost smirked at the coy Ruka-energy pouring out of the Nautolan.

Thane leaned over to meet Socorra. “Nothing of value,” he declared quietly. “A battle over free shots.”

Her dark brows furrowed. “As in, who pays, or who drinks?” She bit her lip. “If it really needed, the boss will happily pay.” Unfortunately it would mean I will have to work now.

“Dammit, Barry. You bumped into me again!”

A worried coo emanated from a tiny Pit droid as it clamped down onto the tattered robe of a young Kiffar.

“You’ll be fine, Mandalorians are rowdy but overall quite pleasan-”

The door slid open, followed by the calamity of a bouncer as he tossed some loudmouthed riff-raff into the street as if he were a piece of trash covered in Hutt-slime.

“See?” Gui choked down some saliva and tried to reassure himself, perhaps just as much as he tried to comfort his companion, “Nothing to worry about, bud.”

Squeezing past the drunken pile of man laying belly first on the ground. Gui peeked his head inside the door and saw a variety of patrons from various walks of life all joined together in fellowship.

“Hm..”

Minnie mentioning water made Siv remember water existed. She reached out and grabbed one of the waters, taking a couple of sips. The water felt great in her system and chased a bit of her inebriation away. She smiled softly up at Minnie.

“Thank you Minmin. You’re so smart and pretty. Thank you for looking after us.” The compliments flowed naturally from her lips before she returned to hugging her particularly somber looking Zabrak friend.

Sagitta looked appalled and offended as Minnie nudged the water close to her as she hears her. “OH! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!” Without missing a beat, she took a glass of water and started to drink it down as she sighed softly. This was odd. She doesn’t have a problem with water so why did she now? While taking sips of water from her straw, she eagerly watches Doon as he has to carry on the daaarreeee

He cracked a slight smile at the Mirialan’s inebriated antics, giving her a nod of appreciation for her kind words.

Upon hearing Luka’s dare, he gave Doon an expectant look, waiting to see how he’d react. “That’s a good one,” he muttered, clearly amused based on his tone. “Could go well or very, very poorly.”

He slumped to the side, leaning his head against Minnie’s shoulder. It would put an end to the lovely massage, but it would help keep the room from spinning, and the closeness to the Nautolan was always nice. “Minnow is right, you know, water is like, the best thing for drowsiness. And, it’ll quench ya.”

He smiled at Sivall when she hugged him again and nodded in agreement with her assessment. “She’s great, isn’t she?”

“Awew, I’m really starting to love the Minmin thing. Gosh you’re so precious and sweet. I’m tryin’, sis,” she laughed a little, trying not to jostle Bril as the weight of his head pillowed on her shoulder. A little pointy, but nothing shifting a bit couldn’t fix, and she didn’t even have to turn her head to smell the sandalwood of his hair like a creepy person. She just could from here. Bonus points. “You’re both real sweethearts. I’m lucky to have you.”

Then she turned her smile to Sagitta and gave a double thumbs up. “Wooo, girl, you go! Wooo for water! Wah wah, wah wah!” she chanted like it was a war cry or a gaming event, like OYA. Whatever would get the woman hyped about hydration, because Oceans Almighty, she was so beyond toasted. She was the carbon fritters that came out of Minnie’s frying pan when she tried to make her and L'ara drunk grilled cheese at 0300.

Having made her fur look more like the shades of the floor, Asani was now on a mission, she would do her best to get the photos requested of her, and those that she was challenged to obtain. She could see the table was full of those inebriated enough that she could pass by without making a fuss, perhaps sneak a photo or two and continue her stride without worry. But this would only work if she made it seem natural. Perhaps her first target should be Lillian instead of Siv.

Before she knew it, she seemed to have chosen the Chiss woman as her target, maybe it was the fact she was closer and Lillian seemed to be elsewhere. She walked by the table, using the same technique as before of others legs as cover. She snuck two photos with the cam, this was bolder than she should’ve been, but at least she manage to get the photos, even if the cam was in the worst possible position at least it was pointed in the right direction. Passing by the table quickly, she resumed her search for Lillian, if she was going to get photos she would get them sooner rather than later. She saw her then, just a bit further away from Sagitta but still within sight and helmetless. Asani needed to get the perfect photo now.

A green floral umbrella lightly rolled along the brim of a glass. Ice tinked quietly against the cup, suspended within orange and red gradient liquid. Diyrian stopped swirling her drink and took a sip as she watched the game goers and their antics. There was a feeling of missing out certainly lingering, yet equally a desire to just meet some new people on a smaller scale – as much as the close proximity was tempting over there. Her gaze lingered on a dark hair Firrerreo before flitting to Doon and Sagitta.

Oh spirits, she’s turnt as hell.

Just as the faux-Zelosian was debating going over there, big sister energy kicking in, commotion at the entrance of the cantina drew her eye in time to see the bouncer yeet a man. Seconds later, a head poked around the doorframe, clearly assessing the interior scenes and patrons within.

Light from outside caught upon a gold and red line inked across the man’s face. Diyrian froze, pausing with her glass mid lowered as her blue-green eyes spotted it. It was so close in likeness to her family’s mark she had to do a double take.

A Kiffar…this could be interesting… The woman leaned back and waited to see whether or not her kin would approach the bar.

Having dealt with droids for much of his life, the Kiffar rubbed his chin with fingers that he had never been able to get completely clean. While the Force had felt so distant to him during his travels. It was alive in this place. A matrix that combined every living being like a fine schematic of intricate wiring.

He stepped inside and with that one step, a journey of a thousand more had likely just begun. Returning from the unknown regions, scarred and silently tormented by the fact that he had found his mother, not that he found her, but riddled with angst for what she had become. Deep inside he mourned for her happiness, but it wasn’t enough to completely lay waste to his trademark smile. It was a smile that those going through dark times often admired and had been an important piece of who he was.

His emerald eyes scanned the crowd and while he recognized many of their faces. He couldn’t help but to notice one in particular. The swirls of blue and green in her eyes were hypnotic as he caught them staring. His peripheral catching a glimpse of the golden tattoo decorating her bronze colored skin. He coyly made his way to her, dragging Barry along before extending a smooth greeting.

“Hi!” He gulped, there may have even been a nervous high-pitched squeak to his voice. Barry just shook his head and tried to process how his master sounded as though he had wrenched his finger with a hydrospanner. Gui had been growing a beard, this was unacceptable.

Doon raises an eyebrow at Luka, but devles into his pocket anyway. He pulls his Compad out and flicks his screen open. He stares hard at the screen for a few moments, mind churning. After thinking for a bit, he starts tapping away. A minute passes before he sends a message to Marick.

Marick. You are a gifted Mentor, Fighter, and Father. Arcona is lucky to have had you as a resource. I am lucky you accepted my request for training. Without it, I do not know where I would have ended up. I have not seen much of your fatherly side, but I have seen some of it. I lost the opportunity I had to grow into a Father, I am sure I do not need to tell you what you need to cherish in life. I look forward to training more, until we are both satisfied with my progress. If there is anything I can ever do for you, Let me know.

With his message sent, he shuts his screen off and slips it back into his pocket. “Done.. unless you needed to read it?” He offered Luka

“Hey,” Diy responded back with a light grin and a small chuckle, an entirely smooth greeting he’d given. It was cute, her interest getting to know the man perked a bit. She gestured to the open seat next to her with a nod, green twisted locs bouncing lightly.

“This one’s empty, take a seat. Ya local or traveled far?” She managed to cover up any pause or hesitation with ease before offering her hand to shake. “The name’s Diyrian, feel free ta call me Diy.”

Elsewhere

Marick skirted the edges of the venue. He found what seemed to be some merchant stalls selling wares for the racing event that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. He was bartering for a small, remote control racer toy he thought Kirra might like. As he readied the purchase, he saw a message come in. He read it twice, processing. Then he replied.

Of course, Doon. Having control is one of the hardest challenges for people like us. But I am glad to hear you find merit in our training. I find myself learning from you as well, and appreciate what you are doing for the Clan and Voidbreaker.

He thought for a moment, pausing his typing. Considering his change of theology. No longer did he walk the line of nothing being true, and everything being permitted. Instead, he had found a new heading and focus for his power and abilities.

“` Just remember; life before death, journey before destination. We will get there together as we protect our friends and family.

Proud of what you have accomplished. ”`

Gui cleared his throat. He was always careful divulging information but there was just something different about her. He leaned into the bar and extended his hand which was typically gloved to avoid unwanted glimpses of things he may not want to see. But this time they were not. He grasped her hand.

“Pleasure, the names Gui. Gui Sol.” He started but paused as Diy froze in place for a moment.

Gui cleared his throat. He was always careful divulging information but there was just something different about her. He leaned into the bar and extended his hand which was typically gloved to avoid unwanted glimpses of things he may not want to see. But this time they were not. He grasped her hand.

“Pleasure, the names Gui. Gui Sol.” He started but paused as Diy froze in place for a moment.

Lillian froze in her spot in her chair as a sense of… wrongness crept to her through the Force, past her drunken haze. Her face scrunched up and she quickly looked around the room but spotted no visible threats.

Her anxiety began to rise. The force didn’t lie.

“Shots were gifted to the table. Not a cost issue,” Thane explained. He, too, had no interest in getting Evant’s interests aimed at the party.

“` Marick had, before slipping away, talked with the bar manager and made an exchange of information and a contact for where to send the invoice. Operating budget.

He also offered a tip to retain logs of information on the gathered party.

Old habits died hard. ”`

Minnie cheered her on as Sagitta smiled, feeling MUCH better! Well. Better about drinking water that was. Doon whipped out his comm and started typing away and the suspense was getting to her. She started to sway in her seat, left and right, hand on the tables to not lose her balance. At least she had SOME sense to do that. “AWWW COME ON,” protested the drunk Mirialan, “Are we not gonna seeee?” Sagitta pouted towards the massive Shistavanen. She stopped. Cold. The burnt side of her face started to get warm as she flinched. Her nerves were sending her messages that something was wrong and she felt more physically sick. Her mind was fighting to clear.

This was making her way sicker. She groaned softly, trying to make sense of what was going on. Was she going to throw up? Or was it something more? Pink hues glanced around, it almost felt like the same feeling when Asani and herself were being hunted. More specifically herself but Asani got hurt.

Was she being hunted again? “I-I-I need to go to the bathroom, I’m fine.” The Mirialan stammered and assured the others as she rose from the chair, WAIT. She needed to use her smarts to avoid being followed, “If not out in ten minutes, send someone, might’ve fallen into the toilet” joked Sagitta. and made her way to the bathroom, she walked quickly and almost damn smoothly as a sober being as she made it to the bathroom with ease and vomited the contents out.

Well, that’s one way to get sober quicker. Closed her eyelids, now she was somewhere quiet as she focused and she couldn’t get it but something was screaming at her to check on her family and the only one here with her was Lillian. (Damn you Rin btw lmao) ‘Ah frack,’ cussed the Mirialan while getting up, she splashed her face and rinse out her mouth moving as hastily as she could. Dried her face with paper towels, the Mirialan set out to find Lillian as soon as possible. Still in the same spot, oh good. She would hate herself if something happened to Lillian. The look on Lillian’s face was worrisome. Wait… her face!? WHEN DID SHE TAKE OFF THE HELMET? “Buir…” Sagitta mumbled at Lillian, her body fighting hard to try to sober but she just want to curl up in a ball by the toilet and hug it. The expression Sagitta has on her face was worrisome, “It’s just… us here… staabi?” She tried to speak clearly to Lillian, who knew fighting alcohol would be harder than a moving target with a rifle.

Emerald hues flew up at Sagitta’s voice. Her face went from confused worry to just straight up worry. The mandalorian patted the seat next to her, not wanting the Mirialan to be standing longer than needed.

“Sit ad’ika. Gar jivaor mare.” You look terrible, and she did. Perhaps it was almost time for them to get a room. The young woman looked like she could go for a nap.

“I think your vod is here somewhere near by. She tried to pass it off as if she were on the ship, but I sensed her on the planet with us.”

Speaking of, where was that sneaky little Kushiban? Lillian reached out through the force once more, searching for that familiar signature… There.

“She’s by your table, plotting, as always.”

Her eyes settled back in Saggita, her lips tightening into a frown. “Are you okay? Do we need to go to a room?” Her tone was very motherly, but also very concerned.

A look of concern appeared on Bril’s face when the Mirialan began to stammer. Was she alright? Her demeanor had changed so abruptly that he figured something must have unnerved her. At least Sivall was already on the case, offering a helping hand to the woman who looked as if she’d seen a ghost.

With Bril leaning on her shoulder and Sivall hugging him, there just wasn’t an easy way for Minnie to get out of their booth before Sagitta got herself upright. She bit off calling after, “wait up, no one goes alone!” but at least the Mirialan said ten minutes…

Watching for her to come back, Minnie redirected the game. “Well, then, Doom, it looks like it’s your turn! Good dare, eh? Pick anybody!”

Thankfully, as she was looking she saw Sagitta emerge and drape herself over a woman nearby. Maybe someone she knew? They were speaking.

Diyrian’s grin broaden as their hands clasped. Her seagreen eyes held the emerald of his gaze, even as her left hand deftly snaked out to brush against the droid beside them. Well, it may had been a couple seconds longer than a simple brush and while her sly movement might have not gotten notice, there certainly was a slight pause in her features as threads of memories leeched from metal to her fingertips.

The smell of smoke and the roaring boom of explosions filled her senses. Ash and debris creating clouds that clogged the throat. Buildings collapsing mere meters away into rumble, what once was a home to many a student. Whimper cries as a hushed tone comes from a young teen, that crimson and gold tattoo catching in the light of fires, crouching to console several children. He had to get them out…somehow–

– the tink of a glass being set down for a nearby patron was the first shift of her senses coming back to present, her fingers slipping from the pit droid and falling to her side.

“Nice ta meet you,” the Kiffar woman offered up a smile, filing away the stolen recollection, and released his hand. She picked up her drink and took a sip before her gaze flicked to him again. “Don’t believe ya answered my question there, Gui Sol.”

One’s home being destroyed or attacked is almost a yearly news it seem. Not that her heart didn’t pang for what that kid probably went through. To Gui, there appeared to be no recognition at the Sol name.

“What fragrance do you use?” he asked, blissfully unaware of how odd a question that was to ask out of the blue. The alcohol had certainly taken its toll. “You smell nice.”

Siv was up, moving before she realized. She had left the table and cloaked herself with the force— it was about as easy as breathing now. Her form shimmered from sight and she followed closely behind the Mirialan. No girl goes alone, right? She would have followed Gita into the bathroom, but the Mirialan had looked back in her direction, sensing something was up. So instead she waited outside.

Once Sagitta returned back to the party, she relaxed. She made her way back to the table and back to her spot next to Bril. She decloaked and watched Bril interact with Minnie, a warm smile on her face.

… She missed Alex.

The little Nautolan smiled and giggled a little. Guess she wasn’t the only one after all. She reached up and patted Bril’s cheek, noting Siv get up but then disappear? She rubbed at her eyes, confused.

“Um,” her response to Bril was slow coming, with her busy searching the crowd for Sivall. One second her eyes passed over a spot, and the next when they went back, there the Chiss was, rejoining them, if looking kind of like she might cry despite her smile. “Probably you’re smelling my lotion? It’s strawberry cupcake today, but I got a lot of them…” Lifting her voice a bit, she called, “Sivvy, you okie? Is Sagi?”

“Judging by those tattoos,” Gui was perceptive, he noticed Diy graze Barry, “I believe you already know the answer to your question. He smirked. She rocked back and returned the gesture.

"New Tython was my home.” He indulged her. “For many years it was all I had ever known. You can say I was forced to grow up fast.” He added, grabbing the piece of temple he wore on his person. It dangled from his cloak along with various other important trinkets. They were windows into the past, memories of brighter days. A scavenger his whole life, where many saw him as an eccentric hoarder of junk. The guru of gadgetry considered himself a sentimentalist in that what he collected wasn’t just junk. There was a much deeper value to every item in his possession than that.

“So, tell me about yourself.” He avoided going into further detail with a redirect but knew that she had already picked up on far more than what he would have told her this early in their meeting.

“Saggita is fine.” Her smile softened, trying her best to not spill her guts, “I think the alcohol is getting to her.”

She pointed to the red head that Gita was talking to, suddenly noticing that Lillian was that close. A significant pause was taken as she searched if she knew the right Mando’a word. Her eyes squinted, then relaxed.

“That’s her uh… B… Buir? Oh gods, I think that’s what she calls her… she’s in good hands. Family.”

This was a challenge, maybe she could even consider it a reconnaissance mission. More training. And yet it was incredibly thrilling, the fun of the chase. It was a fun game, a test of will and skill; but she knew this mission might be a failure if she didn’t complete her challenge.

The Kushiban continued her chase, when Sagitta stood from her table she had to hide again, using some chairs and tables as cover. She watched her sibling dash for the bathroom and a concerned what she could only describe as new friend make chase. She would bide her time and continue to shuffle gently behind other patrons, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

She didn’t need to wait long, Sagitta returned, Lillian giving the poor girl a look of concern only a loving mother could muster. For some reason this was the moment Asani wanted to capture. A quick pair of snaps and there it was, a memory to treasure. “I hope Buir likes it” she shuffled away quickly. Now her goal was avoiding being seen as best as she could until the event finalized or until they were picked up. Perhaps now with her challenge completed she could find something else equally thrilling to entertain herself with. Maybe she should grab a drink.

In contrast to Minnie’s look of confusion, Bril didn’t react at all when Sivall disappeared. Not only did he have no problem sensing where she was in the room, but he had also witnessed her do it before on their shared missions.

Without missing a beat, Bril craned his head to place a kiss on the back of Minnie’s hand. Anything to make her smile or laugh again. “Strawberry cupcake is nice. Makes me hungry, though, pur'ka.”

His eyes shifted to follow Sivall’s gesture, and narrowed his eyes when he saw the redhead in the black armor. That was the same woman she had mentioned before. Alex’s sister. If she was here, where was he? Concerning.

Sagitta didn’t miss the patting of the seat as she sat down and leaned forward, burying her face into her hands as she took a few deep breaths. A soft chuckle could be heard, “I’m sure my looks are matching as I feel right now.” Then her face rose as she gave Lillian a blank look before laughing quietly, “Of course, she’s here.” She muttered in Mando'a. Her eyebrow rose as Lillian mentioned that her own sister was by the table. This whole time? She’s so disappointed in herself. She was never going to drink again and needed to be more alert of her surroundings next time. Sagitta wasn’t even her usual happy and chatty self. She was feeling sick and something felt wrong. ‘Are you okay? Do we need to go to a room?’ Sagitta groaned as she leaned over and crossed her arms on the bar, her head resting on her arms. “Something’s wrong, I don’t know if it’s the drinks or…” She trailed off as she sighed before sitting up. “Water, gedet'ye.” She requested the bartender as she rubbed her forehead, trying to remember all that’s happened.

Oh, wait. She was supposed to play a fun game, with a frown she glanced back at the table where the others were sitting, “I was having fun…” She mumbled, disappointed. Maybe she could muster up a bit more energy to go back. She wanted to go back. She knew, that she wasn’t in any state to be the cheery self. Just like that, she wrote off the alcohol from her list. It increased her personality which she loved but damn, when it brings her down, it brings her down. She started to try to sense Asani. Failed. “As long Asani and you are safe, I’m okay.” She reassured Lillian. But deep down inside, they both knew.

Something was wrong.

Maybe it’s the drinks.

Ah, that was it. Her daughter felt it too— something was off. She rested her hand gently on Sagitta’s head and softly stroked her hair, using the physical connection to pour calming thoughts into the Mirialan’s mind. Tonight was supposed to be a night of remembrance, of celebration, of fun. The redhead sighed softly.

“You feel it too. It’s me, Gita, not you. It’ll be okay. Sometimes the force warns me in… ways I don’t understand, and it makes me anxious. I’m sorry you’re picking up on my moodiness.”

Lillian reached over and downed the rest of her drink with her spare hand, letting out a sigh. This was all that damn man’s fault… if only she hadn’t started drinking. Her jaw clenched and she removed her hand from Saggita’s head and broke the telepathic link before her anger could cross it.

Damn you, Wolsha… she growled mentally.

Sagitta started to feel better and more calm. But the night was still a bit hazy. When Lillian explained that it was her and not herself, she watches her mom for a moment, enjoying the stroke of her purple hair. She was feeling calmer and at peace. Lillian wasn’t in their lives for years but she cared for the girls and Sagitta can feel and see it. It made her care for her back. Which was why her heart breaks every time Wulfram and Lillian have horrible arguments. Her brows furrowed for a moment. “Do you need my help?” She asked her as she placed out her hand for Lillian to take it, “We can try to figure it out?”

After Bril looked to the woman that Sivall gestured toward, a flash caught his attention. “What the…” he raised an eyebrow before rising from his seat. He looked to Minnie and Sivall. “I’ll be right back. One sec.”

Once the Zabrak was out of his seat, he took a step forward and blurred forward with Force-induced speed. In hindsight, using Force Amplification while heavily intoxicated probably wasn’t the wisest of decisions. That became painfully clear to him when he tripped on someone’s foot that stuck out just a bit too far from beneath their table.

Before he knew it, he was airborne. “Oh, frakk.”

Somehow, Bril managed to tuck his six-foot-four body into a ball in time for him to enter a roll just before he hit the ground. Following through, he sprang to his feet without sustaining any injuries and turned to give Minnie and Bril a thumbs up.

Then, he trained his attention on whoever it was who had been sneaking around. A Kushiban. “Oi, ka'le. What’re you doing?” he asked, gesturing toward the holocamera in her hands.

“Oh, her mother?” Minnie asked, translating, smiling back at Siv and then at Bril, cocking a playful brow at the curious Zabraki word and thinking up a retort to his hungry comment. She was just glad both women were back okay…

And then suddenly there went Bril, barely saying his own goodbye warning before he was blurring across the floor in a rush of speed that had her feeling a cold sweat break out across her skin, one that had nothing to do with the sudden departure of his warm weight. She watched as he did some gymnastics or something and landed, giving them a thumbs up, before turning to someone. But the damage was already done. Her body had locked up, and her hands trembled. She hastily knotted them into her skirt, trying to hide it in the pretty layers of ruffles and her long sleeves. When she spoke to Sivall, her words cracked coming out, “W-what do you think th-at’s about?”

She recognized that look, those mannerisms. They mirrored her own. The force didn’t answer when she reached out to it to try and sense why Minnie was upset, but she didn’t need to know. Her new friend was in distress.

The pale chiss moved into Bril’s seat and lightly reached her hand out, letting her fingers gently touch against Minnie’s knuckles like Ruka had done once for her. A gentle offer of a hand to hold, of a point to ground to Nautolan to here. A silent reassurance. It’s okay. You’re okay. No force trickery, just kindness.

She faintly heard Bril talking to someone and looked in that direction, her eyes following Bril’s light of sight leading her to see a very familiar kushiban… with a camera.

A camera.

Asani was here with a camera.

Karkkarkkarkkarkkark.

She quickly looked away and turned her attention back to Minnie, only half succeeding in compartmentalizing her rising panic so that she could focus on the spooked mandalorian. Her already pale skin was a few shades lighter, despite her best efforts.

“I’m not sure, but Bril will handle it.”

The gentle touch was quickly accepted, just like their earlier hugs by the pool, Minnie flipping her hand over to thread it with Sivall’s. If they were both squeezing with a little extra tension, then she didn’t find anything out of place with it, we exactly.

“Yeah, yeah, I. Guess he will.” Deep breath, you’re fine, it’s fine, it’s just Bril. “Thanks, sis.” She made a wobbly smile. “Just a little spooped there is all! Sometimes, I forget how f-fast jediit can move, yanno? But I you probably see him do that all the time.”

Her ear twitched at the sound of something darting, soon she saw someone crash, stand and give a thumbs up elsewhere. Then the very same tall figure stood above her. A zabrak male, as tall as Buir. This wasn’t good, She was caught, and with so many patrons she might catch more attention than she bargained for. She wanted thrill, the force provided in surplus.

“K'oyacyi!” The kushiban spoke, taking a photo of the zabrak without much else to indicate a response. A distraction to attempt a get away, she hoped the flashing light would blind them and buy her enough time to get away. She ran as best as she could, the surprise had caught her so off guard it was making her stumble. She started to mess with the cam trying to send the photos to their intended recipients before she could end up in more serious trouble.

The Chiss nodded softly, an understanding look on her face. Her first amplified sprint had made her never want to do it again, but she was assured she had to. She understood how unnerving it was.

“Yeah. I’m a bit… desensitized.” She squeezed Minnie’s hand before continuing, “It’s easy to lose sight of how jarring it can be to others. Becomes second nature to us. I’m sorry it startled you, I’m sure Bril is too.”

The moment she extended her hand with her palm facing up for Lillian to take if she wished, she heard a commotion. Her head rose as she looked to see what was going on. Sure enough, she saw a white blur and worry rose within her as she saw Bril was giving chase. “Oh no,” She whispered as she got up and started to run, “Don’t you fracking hurt her!” She shouted at Bril, as she grimaced, she did NOT feel good to put up with this shit, “Asani,” Then Mando'a “Sister, please!” Sagitta begged, hoping Asani would turn and run to Sagitta and… not make things worse.

“It’s okie,” Minnie rushed to brush off, “I already knew about Br– wait…‘us?’” she echoed the Chiss’s words. “Are you a j– a Force-User too?” She wasn’t yelling exactly, but it was loud enough still for the table, and her seafoam eyes darted around. If it weren’t for the no weapons rules, how many of the people here would be wearing lightsabers?

She wished suddenly L'ara was still here.

‘Oh’, she thought, ‘I kriffed up, didn’t I?’ She loosened her grip, giving Minnie the chance to let go. She understood the wariness, she understood the fear. Suddenly it wasn’t Minnie sitting in front of her, it was Tema. It was a little tan Selenian boy, staring her down. Feared, feared…

“Don’t you fracking hurt her!”

Siv’s head snapped in the direction of Saggita’s shout. She was rushing towards Bril, all full of alcohol and misunderstanding. The Chiss stumbled up, her selection of footwear betraying her for a moment. She swore and kicked off the heels once she stopped herself from hitting the floor.

• - - - Lillian - - - -

Saggita took off and she swore loudly, reaching out with the force and physically stopping the Mirialan.

“Ad’ika stop!” she commanded, her voice a weird myriad of emotions. She watched as her brother’s crush placed herself firmly between the stopped Mirialan and the large Zabrak male.

• - - - Siv - - - -

Sivall stood with her arms outstretched, panting and heaving. Alcohol and a temper did not mix, and she would not let Saggita hurt Bril. She locked eyes with the Mandalorian and shook her head vigorously.

“He’s not gonna hurt her Gita, issokay. I promise.”

What? What language was that? Before he realized what was happening, the Kushiban snapped a picture of him, and the flash had nearly blinded him. “What the–”

One hand instinctively reached out to grab out at the little sneakster while the other one went to shield his eyes, but he grabbed nothing but air.

He was ready to pursue but stopped in his tracks when he felt something through the Force. Fear. Fear coming from Minnow. What the kark had happened so quickly? The Zabrak whirled around, his expression darkening as he reached to his hip to grab Concord’s hilt. It wasn’t there. Shit. That was right, the social organizers had specified that there was a strict no weapons policy.

He had barely began his return to the table, to Minnie, when he noticed the Mirialan woman rushing toward him. And then Sivall stepped between them.

“I wasn’t going to hurt anyone,” he explained, “Someone was sneaking around and taking pictures of us, and I wanted to know who it was.”

His voice was stern, annoyed. Not because of the misunderstanding, but because this entire situation was keeping him from getting to his pur'ka.

“Some of us have enemies. Can’t take any chances. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He stepped to the side, aiming to move past them both so he could get to her. Are you alright? You felt afraid. He reached out to her with the Force again, not wanting to waste time trying to speak over the raucous that he found himself in.

Luka chuckled at Sagitta’s insistence that Doon show them the messages. “Although my curiosity is absolutely clawing at me, that wasn’t part of the dare. You didn’t seem to hesitate too long. I do wonder, though. Was it someone from work?”

They brought their straw back to their mouth to finish off their drink, but Sagitta’s quick exit gave them pause. They frowned as they sensed distress, without need of the Force. They knew that expression well. Thankfully it seemed she was in better company, as a friend had followed discreetly after her.

Withdrawing to their nostalgia, they finished their drink. It was sweet, and went down much easier than the shots. Even so, it did little to settle the unrest twisting their gut. They tried to focus on the conversation, the commotion, everything, whilst glancing around. Where has Diy gone?

“I should get a refill,” they said as they stood somewhat abruptly. “Unless you’re looking to pay me back for the dare?” They looked to Doon with an attempt at a nonchalant smile, though that mask was certainly fading.

Siv adjusted her position, allowing for Bril to go to Minnie. She couldn’t look at the Nautolan without seeing the little boy from Tekpantli anyways. Otherwise, she did not move, still staring down Saggita.

Sagitta grimaced against Lillian as she was stopped in her tracks, her teeth gritted. She had the instinctive need and desire to protect her sister. While she was happy and less of a troublemaker, Asani was her sister, along with Erin, and she was doing to do everything to protect them. Memories came flooding back when Asani was seriously harmed because someone was wanting Sagitta and Asani just happened to get in the way. Siv got right in front of her as she exhaled slowly and sharply, purple-haired head tilted down as the Chiss and Mirialan had a complete lockdown of eye contact.

Oddly, it helped Sagitta to push those memories away. Her muscles and body relaxed as she exhaled so slowly, not realizing she was holding her breath. Her hands started to shake. “I’m … sorry.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Exhausted, tired, and feeling sick now that the dust had settled, “Let’s get a room, Buir…” Their ship was gone after all.

Lillian moved to Sagitta’s side, releasing her grip on the taller woman. She softly rubbed the Mirialan’s shoulder, then turned and looked down at Siv. The two woman locked eyes for a moment, but it was clear the redhead human was the more dominant presence of the two. Sivall shrank slightly, folding in on herself as her eyebrows knitted together.

It was a weird moment of confrontation, of a challenge. Don’t touch my children. Then Lillian was guiding Gita off, out of the room and towards the front desk to get all three of them a room. She used the force to pull her helmet off the table it had been abandoned on and whistled to let Asani know they were leaving.

Sivall, on the other hand, was left there standing barefoot where Lillian left her, feeling a bit like she had been caught between her two families and that one had judged her as a traitor.

Sanguine eyes turned down to the floor as she willed herself so very hard not to cry. She would not cry at this party. She would not ruin the night for everyone.

The light had worked and she was able to slip away just enough. “Don’t you frackin hurt her!” she heard Sagitta shout. With her cover completely blown there was no real point in hiding any longer. She hadn’t meant to be caught or at least not to cause a scene when she was.

Soon she heard the zabrak explain “Some of us have enemies. Can’t take any chances.” She hadn’t realized how strongly the others felt, to her it was a game of messing with her sister. She stuck her head out from behind the area the group had been sitting at.

She could see she had caused enough tension, Lillian holding and then releasing Gita, staring down at the chiss woman her uncle had been trying to woo. At least she thought he was trying to woo her.

Hearing the whistle she knew it best to follow along behind Lillian. Making herself rather obviously visible to everyone who had been around to see the commotion, her fur a brighter near white color.

She stared up at the people she had spooked. She walked up to the near crying chiss woman “for what its worth…Uncle Dyr really likes you.” she told the woman petting her shin gently. She looked over at the Zabrak “I didn’t mean to spook you. I was only messing with my sister.” she seemed apologetic.

Lowering herself to all fours she ran off behind Lillian and Sagitta, knowing she was probably going to be reprimanded. “Have another round on your friend” she said hoping the alcohol would dull the negativity she had caused.

Sagitta flinched at Lillian’s touch, she was feeling sicker. Was it because of everything? Or was she feeling guilty? Her stomach twisted and she felt a pit in it. She hasn’t felt like that in years. Not since Asani had gotten hurt. “Ugh…” Sagitta said as she leaned against the front desk. Her head is between her hands. “I’m never drinking again… I messed things up… Wait,” She paused, brows furrowed, “What.. were we talking before-” She stopped herself. She felt immensely guilty for becoming rather protective of Asani. Asani had caught up to them as she opened her arms, wanting to hug her sister. Asani jumped up, knowing Sagitta will always catch her. The Mirialan let out a sigh of relief and hugged her tightly. “Why are you here?” Sagitta questioned her sister. “Is Buir here?” Did their dad end up going to the party after all and somehow missed him? She looked at Lillian, “Did Somber Respite come back?” She wasn’t sure how Asani got here and how long she had been here for.

Siv’s loosened hand ripped out of hers as the Chiss took off without saying anything, leaving her without a port in storm– hah, and not the least because Bril had drank the one he got her earlier while they were gone. There was a commtion growing, one that she nagged to intervene in, but the hosts weren’t engaging, and Sagitta’s named buir was already on her way.

Luka stood up to get a round. Doom stared seriously at his comm. The Justicar and Erinos alor done quietly to each other, having sat down but left to their devices. Sagitta looked to be leaving? As her little hodgepodge group of strangers and friends alike began to fall apart, Minnie’s shaking got worse. Her first instinct was to try to hold the party together. Hold all their heads above water.

But she was falling apart too.

The voice that sounded in her mind made her flinch. Not a subtle surprise this time, but a yelp of horror that turned into hiccups lodged in her chest. She scowled at her lap and tried to breathe deep enough to make them go away. To settle herself down. She was fine, she’d been alone before, she’d been alone for the last five years and managed.

But she really did wish L'ara was back.

The Nautolan didn’t know how to make mind talking work. If Bril was just reading her like a trashy holo mag spread or what. Chewing on her lip, she shook herself and looked back over at the de-escalating upset, seeing Bril and Siv standing there, Bril looking like he might run over to her, and Siv without any shoes.

No no no, nun uh. Nobody went alone, and nobody went without their shoes! Bar floors were gross.

Rallying, Minnie shook her head again, then gestured at Bril, hoping he’d catch her motions. She remembered dully too late that he wouldn’t know a thing she was saying. Well, there was still basic body language. Lifting her arms, she made a show of pointing at their Chiss friend repeatedly, then at Sivall’s feet.

Oh, come on, get the clue! I’m not good at charades!

“Good,” she replied. “Maker knows this one of last moment of peace we get.” War is around the corner. None of them are ready.

As if the thought had suddenly sobered everyone, the crowd of nearly all young, new Arconans had died down. There were so many connections at the table: friendships, relationships, hate-ships, ship-not-ships (somewhere Kirra and Zig were conspiring over a crystal ball), it was quite a lot even for the woman whose entire career was to know and remember everything.

With barely a look in her direction Socorra could sense Minnie’s upset, like a lone ship at stormy sea. She downed one of her two last shots.

“Vod’ika?” she called, both vocally and mentally as the telepath was wont to do. The voice itself was a tossed life preserver to that ship, succor as her taken namesake in galactic common.

He gave a knowing nod to Asani just before she and the others departed. “Sorry for getting you in trouble. Hopefully, we’ll meet again on better terms,” he said with a wave.

Focusing his attention on Minnie, he had no trouble understanding what she meant this time. He promptly walked over and picked up Sivall’s shoes, and brought them to her. “Here, lora,” he tapped her shoulder, “Put these on. The floor is nasty.”

Minnie’s head snapped up, called to attention by her alor'ad. Like rote, the Mandalorian also snapped her arms up, her bracers clanging faintly, muted under her ruffled dress sleeves, crossing over her chest. A few years a reservist had not at all lessened that instinct.

“Yes, Captain?” she asked in the same language, focusing, even as the blood rushing in her ears increased. The dissonance was getting high, sharp, keeping her on an edge; the divide between their upscale surroundings and unfamiliar faces and the cute, unarmored outfit she wore and the presence of her commanding officer, the fear, the isolation. She’d never really talked to Socorra Erinos before, but gosh, she’d admired her growing up. But the last time the clan’s alor had been this close…the last time…

“Drink to better terms!” she shouted back, to let the man know she agreed to the idea of meeting up again. Settling into her little sisters arms she began to recount her little adventure. “I snuck out of the ship, I just wanted to keep you both safe and maybe have a few candid photos to surprise you with when you least expected it” she chuckled, her tone showed little to no humor. She knew she was probably going to get twice the scolding, once from Lillian and another from Buir.

“They’re probably still waiting on us. They know im here too. There didn’t seem to be anything important anyone needed to take care of on the ship.” she announced. The fun times may have been too much and too heated for her sibling. The alcohol was probably to blame for some of the problems she had caused as well.

She had messed up and needed to make up for it, and she would in the form of far too much training.

Lillian waved her hand, dismissing Asani’s explanation. She was suddenly tired, and beyond moody. She payed for their room and turned to Asani,

“They should be idling somewhere above the planet. Unlikely for them to come down to get us til the celebration is over.” She walked off to lead them to their room.

Siv carefully slipped her shoes on and then rejoined the group, taking her seat at the table. She intently stared down at her black nails, picking at the paint.

Bril placed a hand on her back when she sat down, massaging it while giving her a concerned look. “Remember to breathe, lora,” he reminded her.

When Minnie began to speak in what he presumed was Mando'a, he watched her carefully, tracing her line of sight over to Socorra. Huh. He didn’t know that she and S-Sizzle knew each other.

Sagitta frowned at both Asani and Lillian as she sighed. So the ship is hovering but it seems that it won’t come back down for a while. “I don’t feel good…” Sagitta whined softly. As they made over to the room, the pit in her stomach was still there, eating at her and just getting bigger. It almost felt like it was going to cut off her heart and drop it into a pit of guilt and despair.

Nah. That’s the alcohol talking. They made it to the room Sagitta took off her jacket and placed it on the chair. Old habits die hard, even when her head was pounding and everything was so loud. The shuffling of her pants was screaming in her ears, but she still did her room check. When satisfied, she threw back the blanket that landed on the floor, reached down for her weapon that she always sleep with, and found.. nothing. She felt naked. With a soft groan, the tall Mirialan plopped onto the bed on her belly. Her arms went underneath the pillow as her head rested on the pillow. Her feet were sticking out at the end. The downside of being tall.

She crashed

Seeing Bril and Sivall come sit back down in her periphery made the Nautolan relax, if only slightly. She’d meant what she’d said to Bril…she just…been startled, was all, as Siv put it.

She dropped her salute, feeling self-conscious now, realizing her captain might have just been calling her attention. She breathed out and leaned forward so she could look over Siv around Bril, offering them both a smile.

“Welcome back, gais,” she aimed for cheery. “Missed y'all. Doom was just gonna pick someone…”

“You can go, Luka, Wouldn’t be fair to toss it back at you this quick.” He rumbled a response but his eye followed the other commotion as best as he could, not quite sure what happened. He scratched at his jaw line, attention turning back towards the others.

It took a few seconds of considering but he eventually Nodded towards Thane. “You. truth or dare?”

The Justicar leaned back in his chair and crossed a leg over his knee. Then he carefully folded his cloak and placed it in his lap before returning his gaze to Doon.

It had been quite some time since the one and only meeting he had experienced with the Shistavanen. Thane contemplated his choice. Truth would be easy, as he never really lied to begin with. Dare could prove cumbersome. Especially lacking enough data to predict how it would go.

“Truth,” he replied.

Once back in his seat, Bril took it upon himself to lean his head against Minnie again while he watched the game play out.

“Maybe take own ‘vice, sah? Sit, have aqua.” Socorra gestured with a terribly burn-scarred palm to an empty seat by her.

Mentally she continued, although slightly waivering under the booze. They need guidance as new recruits, though not coddling. A hefty hangover will teach them far more, especially when Jax runs them through a course bright and early.

She gave the Nautolan a one-eyed wink. The seat was also an invitation to speak with her sometime convenient, which unfortunately was rare lately.

“And you, sit. Tell me, did akro reed dance with me?

With Bril once more pillowing his head on her, Minnie raised her hand in decline of the invitation to sit, at least for now. She stretched that arm over the Zabrak’s shoulders instead, letting her both cushion him and importantly, reach Siv, whose arm she set her hand on trying her hardest to include the Chiss in the impromptu half-snuggle.

Despite the alarm of someone speaking in her brain, an order, or suggestion, was still an order, and the mention of Jax made her snort. She sipped a glass of water, waiting to see what of all things the Justicar would be fessing up to.

Socorra was too sober to not enjoy the coincidence of Doon asking Thane a truth or dare. Her unforgiving, unforgetting mind recalled that it was Thane that asked Doon last at a cantina a year and change ago. Doon accepted a dare, to show off a hidden talent. This time he reacted far better. And now Doon had the chance to ask. She wondered if it would be delicious revenge.

He nodded. “You and Thane both. I was especially impressed with how you used illusions to enhance your performance,” he said, “Very creative.”

His metal tipped claws slowly tap a pattern into the table before he speaks. “What’s the relationship between you, and Emperor Kamjin? I recall he didn’t want to speak much on that topic.” His golden eye peered curiously into The Justicars. Whatever he’s drunk had taken down what little filter he may have had.

Noticing her effort to include Sivall in their contact, Bril smiled and placed a quick peck on Minnie’s shoulder. “Thank you for looking out for her tonight,” he said, reaching up with his other hand to boop Sivall on the top of the head. It was one of the advantages of being tall, he didn’t really have to try to reach her because of his long arms.

Thane raised a brow and folded his arms across his chest. “Lap'lamiz has served as my Hand in the past. I presume that, coupled with his…performance completing recent missions I assigned him might explain his reticence.”

When he was finished explaining, the Justicar tilted his head and let his thoughts travel a little further. “I recall fronting the bill for dry cleaning his pants.”

The volcanorita spit from her mouth at recalling that very unexpected moment. A hiccup ensued.

“Is that one considered hic classified?”

Siv had stopped picking at the paint on her nails and had given in to the liquid courage flowing through her. Having seemingly magicked a small datapad out of thin air, the Chiss was typing away to a certain stargazing sorta-mandalorian.

I wish you were here. I miss you.

She stared at the holomessage, biting the inside of her cheek. If he was in Wulfram’s ship, chasing the corners of the universe, it was entirely possible that he was without service and wouldn’t get the message. She wished more than anything that Alexandyr was here. Minnie and Bril were sweet for trying to keep her into their little bubble of interaction, but it still made her heart ache.

Wish you were here instead, you could meet my mother.

The reply caused her heart to skip a beat. His mother? His mother! He found his mother! No wonder he hadn’t come! And he wanted her to meet his mother! Her! Maybe Minnie had been right…

An indigo flush tinted her cheeks and a warm smile formed on her lips. One might even say a smitten smile. The young woman was so distracted by the text she didn’t react to Bril’s boop. Once her heart stopped flipping in her chest like she was about to have a cardiac event, she replied.

I would be honored to meet your mother. Let’s plan that as soon as I’m off Yuanming.

Thane blinked. “No. Perhaps it should.”

Bril blinked. “Not sure who Kamjin is, but that sounds embarrassing. Poor guy.”

“At least dry cleaning bill if not entire mission.”

I warned him to grab a karkin’ helmet she wanted to say.

“Kam Kamjin’d it up, only has himself to blame. Never leave home without towel.”

I never did get mine back. Not that I want it now.

“There there” Asani rubbed her little sisters back as she crashed, she decided maybe a massage might help her.

“You good Gita?” she asked, not expecting any kind of response, she walked on her sisters back for a while, giving her a massage as best as possible, her short stature served for that at least.

Looking over to Lillian she had noticed the armored woman had been in distress for some time, the distress had built up around both her and Gita yet Lillian seemed especially twitchy and what was usually a scolding turned into mostly commands. “Are you alright? if its about the photos and the commotion I can talk to that group.” Asani seemed willing to make up for her mistake and was more cooperative than usual. She began to make herself comfortable on her siblings back, curling up to try and rest but still vigilant, the lack of weapons made her uneasy, so she opted for sensing danger should it approach.

An affirming hum acknowledged the tattoo comment and reference to her blood, even if she accepted it loosely. Diy leaned against her propped elbow as she listened to his response. New Tython. That sounded familiar…Right! She recalled hearing about the planet from Jeanie, where she first met Kordath and luckily left with him before it got glassed. Kark, Diy couldn’t think of a worse fate to befall one’s home.

Her grin disappeared, replace by a solemn smile the woman offered him. Sighing lightly, she briefly debated his redirected question, considering the chance Gui may have stuck with Odan-Urr all this time.

“As a teen, traveled space with a Zelosian smuggler before findin’ myself on Port Ol'val. Got myself a ship ‘n’ moved to Selen. Right now, I’m workin’ on enlistin’ as an official pilot with the Arc forces.”

She took a sip before offering a brighter smile, “So, have you remained in Odan-Urr?”

Well that was a thing to learn about somebody who was an emperor.

Minnie tried to muffle her snort and tossed aside three different crude puns about pants and excretions; Jaxxie’s influence. She idly watched Siv pull out her datapad and start typing, eventually smiling at the screen blindingly.

The Nautolan cooed before remembering she had a game to run. Hopefully that was about Alex~. She was deffo totally asking later.

“Towels are pretty useful…well then, Mister Thane, it’s your turn to ask someone!”

The Justicar’s eyes twitched ever so slightly at ‘Mister’. He tilted his head to the side and scratched at his neck. If he recalled correctly then the next person who hadn’t gone was…

“Socorra.”

The former Herald peered up at the Justicar, her lone pale blue eye fixated with intensity as she deliberated her incredibly important decision.

Similar to him, the curator of whispers sifted through truths and lies, yet their aims diverged greatly, as did their approaches—except within a literal game of truth or dare, where there existed only a singular path.

A faint smirk lit the corner of her ruby lips.

“Truth.”

Thane worked his lips from side to side as he contemplated the question to ask. He wondered if he could use it to gain some perspective on a similar experience. Perhaps inform his own perspective.

His lips parted and Thane allowed himself a long sigh before asking. “Have you gained as much as you lost?”

He wasn’t purposefully vague. It was just his way. Sometimes he didn’t realize he only said half of what he was thinking. In this regard, he was addressing how much Socorra’s world had changed while she was incapacitated and how it was now.

Luka lingered at the table, curiousity piqued as the Justicar was next in the spotlight. As soon as they realized the question involved work and a name they were unfamiliar with, their interest waned and they drifted towards the bar. They considered chatting up Diy again, but she seemed preoccupied. Instead they chose a seat nearby and looked over the bar menu. Regretting that they never took the time to learn any Mando'a, they set the menu down promptly. “Whatever that Mirialan was drinking earlier,” they requested, gesturing to the chandelier.

As the barkeep nodded and went about making the drink, Luka pulled out their datapad . They scrolled up and down through their contacts, considering. It wasn’t a long list, a handful including two who were already at the gathering. With a sigh they closed the tab and set their datapad with the screen down. “Make that two, actually.”

Once again, Minnie briefly choked on her water.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t just ask a woman about her weight,” she groaned.

The Justicar glanced at Minnie with a disappointed expression.

Hardly cowed, the tiny Nautolan glared back at the J u s t i c a r and his judgy privilege, having absolutely none of this context woo, and turned her attention to Socorra. “Alor'ad, you don’t have to answer that, yanno, it’s supposed to be a fun game! You can just drink. But for what it’s worth, you look amazing. Baby weight shmaybe weight. Like, I totes would if you were single! Right, y'all?”

Since minnie’s exclamation drew her attention, and Alex hadn’t texted back, Siv finally pulled her eyes up from her Datapad. She looked at Socorra for a moment, seeming to be pondering something, before she mumbled softly under her breath in Cheunh.

“Ch'anrutot.” Absolutely.

The Justicar looked confused. “By most measurable standards she is highly attractive, why is this in question?”

Thane’s seeming genuine confusion made Minnow reconsider. Maybe he was like her brother, and just didn’t have whatever made people consider what could be rude or not. With Foxen in mind, her hands fluttered as she spoke, signing along habitually.

“Okie, like…maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here? Buuuuut generally when someone asks about gaining and losing, they mean weight, you know? Like fat? Especially to females, especially mothers, ‘cause various galactic society standards are pressuring and invasive like that. And so weight as a topic can be pretty sensitive or upsetting sometimes! So usually it’s considered impolite, at least with strangers around…” she tried to explain her thought process gently. “So I was protesting that in a game, in case Socorra got upset. Buuuuut maybe that’s not what you meant. Sorry if I assumed.”

“I see,” he answered. “No, I was speaking in regards to the generalities of her life.”

He also took note of her casual signing and decided to sign his thanks back to her.

Minnow looked surprised to see the sign, but then a smile spread over her face. As did a rosey blush. Talk about misinterpreting. She said back, Always nice to see another speaker. You remind me of my brother, and went on aloud, “Geez, definitely my bad then, sorry! Gosh. I’ll just take a shot for that one in penalty, haha…hoo boy. Still tho. Compliment meant.”

So spoken, the small woman poured some of the bottle present into a shot glass and downed it, her headtails curling with the liquid burn.

“It is forgiven, Asani,” she mumbled, beginning to shed her armor. The two sisters curled up on the bed, but she had a feeling she would not be sleeping. No, that nagging feeling at the back of her head was still there— something was wrong. Now free of her plates and flight suit, Lillian flopped into a chair in the corner adjacent of the bed and pulled out her datapad. She looked once more at Wulfram’s message, then again, then again…. Fingers tapped away at a response.

Checking in, Wolsha. Is everything okay? The force is… something is wrong. Please tell me you and Alexandyr are safe, riduur.

She waited, emerald eyes staring intently at the datapad in her hand. Seconds passed, then minutes, then many minutes, then finally a response from Wulfram brightened the now dimmed backlight of the screen.

Everything's fine Little Dove, just had an unexpected guests and got into a bit of an argument. Sasha is entertaining the fairer of our guests right now.

Lillian’s stomach lurched and it felt like someone had rammed a white-hot ice pick into her skull. When the Force came a-knocking, it didn’t give a kriff if you just downed enough alcohol to kill a rancor. Her heart quickened, something was very very—

How could you?! I though we karking trusted eachother!!

Her own voice, and the emotions that hit her with it? Enough to halt the breath in her lungs with absolute certainty. Heartbreak, unyielding rage, betrayal, paranoia— these emotions were heavier than anything she had ever felt before.

Don’t kriffing touch me, aruetii!

She couldn’t stop it now, the contents of her stomach bubbling up into her throat. The redhead rushed for the small bathroom attached to the unit and promptly threw up in the toilet. Images flashed behind her closed eyes; blood, sagitta crying, Alex’s face with a hurt expression. She gasped between the bouts, gripping her crown of red hair.

-

Eventually both the puking and the images stopped, leaving her absolutely exhausted. She took a second to gain the strength to get back up and wash out her mouth before returning to the chair. She messaged Wulfram, letting him know she’d be back as soon as the girls awoke.

Something was wrong. She had a gut feeling her childhood best friend was lying to her, again. She was going to find out, too.

Doon raised an eyebrow at Minnie’s question. He slowly slid his gaze over to Socorra before returning his puzzled look at the Nautolan.

He took a long sip, finishing another drink.

Socorra’s eye darted between everyone. Baby weight. Generalities. Cheunh. Highly attractive. And.. sign language? Pocket and unwrap these later.

Socorra looked off into the distance some where, some time as she spoke to no one in particular. For the perfect memory, six years ago was still yesterday.

“I fell long time ago, not for first time. Each time, galaxy is altered in some way. But this last one, galaxy is entirely alternate timeline. In this one I lost everything. I returned stranger in my home. I was no one.”

Eventually she turned back to Thane.

“Is hard to measure - no tit for tat. I…may have gain as much as lost in some way, and.. mmm.. not so in other. We talk about legacy last year, sah? How important legacy is. Maybe I have legacy now, maybe not. But I take krayt by ear and make legacy. No has-been. Sometime…ambition more than sense..” she shrugged, “life just began again.”

Beg forgiveness, not permission.

With a considerable amount of liquid courage, the woman leaned close.

“I have much to make up for. Could be runway train wreck, but.. if I have my way, you stuck with me.”

Minnie’s face crumpled listening to her alor'ad speak. The feeling of falling, of in this one I lost everything, I was no one.

Her nose dripped, alerting her to tears, and she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a hiccup, wipe it away discreetly. When she dropped her arm, it was replaced by a smile.

“For what it’s worth, alor'ad…I know you don’t know me. I was never that important, not like you and the other Erinos jediit, but…I grew up watching them. Watching you. You were my hero! The one woman among all those men…made me feel like I could do it too, even if I was smaller, yanno? So sometimes… Really all the time…we don’t have any control who lives…and who dies. Or what people say about us. Or…or even how we fall apart. But we do put ourselves back together. And sometimes we have legacies we don’t even know about.”

She looked away, face hot from the admission – meeting your heroes, they said, and hey, she was three for three now, between her brothers and this woman – and from everything she was feeling in that moment, her throat struggling to close up.

Bril looked to Socorra with a serious expression, quietly listening to her answer to the Justicar’s question. He hadn’t expected the answer to tug on his heart strings as much as it had. Although he didn’t know the woman, he couldn’t help but feel the pangs of sympathy resonating deep within him.

Then, Minnie opened up, and he had to take a breath to steady himself in the wake of such an emotional moment. It was clear that Socorra meant a lot to her and when she averted her gaze, Bril placed a hand atop her own in the hopes of providing her some comfort in that moment.

Fetching his glass from the table, he raised it into the air while looking across the table to Socorra, then to everyone else. “To forging new paths,” he said, lifting his glass in a toast, “may how we act moving forward define us, not our past.”

That was certainly a message he couldn’t get behind. As he finished the last of his drink, he let his crystal blue eyes settle on Minnow to give her an appreciative look. It seemed he had internalized the words of encouragement she’d given him when they first met, and was intent on putting them to practice.

Recognizing the sentiment Bril was quoting, Minnow’s flush deepened, but her slumped shoulders lifted slightly. She looked back to the Zabrak and turned her hand over, squeezing his, before mirroring the gesture of raised glass.

Luka kept their attention between the conversation at the bar and the table a short distance away. They were unsure where to be, and part of them wished to be elsewhere. But where? Another party full of strangers and almost-strangers? What would be so different?

Bril’s words gave them pause as they lifted their drink. They could almost hear Vreva’s harsh tone echoing the sentiment. ‘Let the past die. Who the kriff cares?’ No doubt she would cuss them out for moping at a party.

They lifted their glass then finished their drink with a shudder. They regretted ordering a second, but they would need another drink to return to the game. They stowed away their datapad for the time being, though they made a note to send out some messages later. Perhaps a night of carousing would make the words easier to say.

They returned to their seat at the table quietly so as not to disturb the others in such a sweet moment.

Bril interlaced his fingers with Minnow’s, returning the gentle squeeze she’d given his hand.

Once Luka returned to the table, he gave them a nod. In that moment, he realized that he hadn’t introduced himself. The number of drinks he’d downed ensured that he had no recollection of when the person arrived. “My apologies, friend, "he began, "I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Bril Teg Arga. And yours?”

Socorra had no idea how to react to Minnie’s words or what with. It was such a strange feeling as a long time ago she was the young adult looking up to her Erinos brethren and never would have expected the same for herself.

Your song is not yet written, Zxyl once said. Or at least would have- the last drink made it not so clear which.

She raised her glass thankful for Bril’s toast distraction.

“This is the way.”

The human appeared surprised to be addressed. “Hm? Oh! Luka Zarkot. A pleasure.” They recovered quickly and gave a bright smile and brushed back a few stray curls from their eyes. “I, uhh… tend to come and go. Excellent toast, by the way. Wise words.”

They glanced to Socorra, knowing they should say something more but unsure of what to say. Their gaze turned down to their drink instead. A sip brought a grimace. Still not good the second time.

“Get something not good?” Minnie asked sympathetically, catching Luka’s expression and rolling with the movement in conversation. She wiggled her shot glass. “Gotta say this mango rum is good but the straight stuff is a lot after a few, yanno?”

“Thought I would be adventurous, but my tastes have become more subdued over the years. Something to wake me up, at least. That mango rum sounds delightful, though.”

The Nautolan waved at the bottle. “You’re welcome to some! I’m Minnow by the way, I dunno anymore if I said that earlier or just told y'all to call me mistress,” she laughed. “Which reminds me~. If you want it’s your turn, alor Socorra.”

“Oh, ah…” She looked around the group but it appeared that everyone had already had a turn, so she went back to Minnie. “Well, you then. Truth or dare?”

“Hmm~. Well, I guess dare, since I kinda stopped doing my last one, oops. Rhyming is hard, y'all.” The Nautolan sheepishly laughed as she disentangled her hand from Bril’s in anticipation of needing to use one or both.

Socorra cheated a little bit and “borrowed” one of Thane’s dares. “Show us secret talent.”

Minnow blinked in mild surprise, more for her lack of immediate answer than anything else. “Ummm…secret huh? That could proooobably be anything y'all don’t know about me, which is a lot?” Her seafoam eyes glanced around as her lips pursed in a thoughtful pout. “…not sure what I can do here tho…” She wasn’t about to shoot a gun indoors outside of a range, even if she had still been armed, and this bar and hotel were upscale; not really the place to break out dancing and doing splits on rollerskates. “Okie, okie, here.”

Negotiating out of her seat around Bril and Sivall, the tiny Nautolan stood up and reached for several of the empty shot glasses. She lined them up upside down on the table, then rummaged in her purse for a long few seconds until she came back with a bundle of hair ties.

“Never know when your friend’s gonna need one, right?” she said in explanation, before backing up. And up. And up. Until she was well across the bar space. Then she planted her feet, took aim, and fired one rubber band.

Instead of impressively showing off her sniper skills, though, by making contact with the first glass, the band snapped to a stop just two feet in front of her as another patron moved to take a seat. They yelped and spun on her, and Minnie cringed, holding up her hands.

“Ow! Hey, what the heck?”

“Ohmygosh*shit*I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, ma'am, I was just– doing a dumb dare, oh geez, I’m really sorry…”

The other woman glared at her, rubbing the welt on her arm and looking furious. Trying not to sink into the floor, the Nautolan apologized again and scurried past her awkwardly to all but dive back into their booth, pink with shame all the way down her headtails and up her fingers and hiding her face with one hand.

“Oh my god,” she groaned. “I swear, I can shoot, really, gonna do a shot right now, ohnoIfeelsobadthatwassobad.”

“Shoot shots, or shoot a shot?” Doom mused from his seat as his vision slowly unfocused. He rumbled low, the noise a strange chuckle as he spun one of the empty shot glasses infront of him. The large Shistavanen seemed well in the bag at this point.

“Yes,” Minnie replied, and slammed back some of the mango rum in one of the shot glasses she hadn’t gotten to assaulting.

Bril smiled when Socorra returned his gesture. “That’s a Mandalorian saying, right?” he asked. “This is the way. I like it.”

When Luka introduced themself, Bril dipped his head to show his horns. “The feeling is mutual,” he replied before turning his head to look at Minnie, “but I can’t take all the credit for the toast. But the wisdom comes from a good friend of mine.

He watched the Nautolan with a curious expression as she readied her shot. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as she’d planned. When she returned to her seat with a less-than-amused expression, he pat her on the shoulder. "It’s okay, pur'ka, it was a good try.”

“She’s skilled at both,” he chufkled.

“I accept your pity,” groaned Minnow, and looked at the bottle as if debating another shot.

Luka gave a small snort of laughter, hidden behind the back of their hand. They offered up an apologetic look. “I’m sure it’s far more impressive at the range.”

“Bet,” the tiny Nautolan sighed, shooting an unenthused finger gun their way. She poured, drank again, and then passed the bottle over as promised. “Okay, Lukku…Lukky. Truth or dare?”

They rested their chin on their hands, elbows on the table as they leaned in. “Hmm… Truth.”

“HMMMMmmmm,” Minnie hummed, loudly and dramatically, rubbing her chin. “It should be something juuuuicy, rite? Mwah hah hah. Buuut don’t wanna be meaaaan. Hmmmmm~~~.” She stuck up a finger for effect as she spoke finally, as if suddenly inspired. “I know! *What…*was the biggest lie you ever told? A safe one! No trouble here.”

Doon leaned back in his seat, not noticing as it creaked and groaned under the shifting weight. He licks his chops, quite interested in the answer.

He quirked a brow at her dramatic outburst, and shook his head with a smile. Somehow, she became even more animated after a few drinks. It was cute. “Good question,” he commented while turning to look at Luka with an expectant look.

‘A safe one.’ The question still caught them off guard. Luka’s mask fell as their impish smile faltered then faded. Which was the biggest? How many had they told? They chewed on their lip as they considered telling yet another lie to keep this group of strangers at that distance. It was safe.

Two instances came to mind immediately. Of the two, which to pick? Which one was the safer option? They tapped the rim of their glass, honestly considering passing the question entirely. On such a simple question!

No, they’d go with the one further behind them. They took a breath. “I told her, ‘Everything will be okay’. It… well. Wasn’t.” They shrugged,and their lip twitched in an attempt to bring back their aloof facade.

A pause, then they shook their head and seemed to gather themselves again. “Sorry for the sour note. The others are at various levels of confidentiality.” They flashed a more confident smile as they glanced briefly towards Diy.

Minnie’s expression crumpled again, and she was reaching across the table clumsily to grab both of Luka’s hands, even the one on their glass, fumbling for comfort. Her many girly, various shaped rings tinked against the glass, including an obviously larger plain band on the thumb of her right hand that matched one a few fingers over.

“I’m so sorry,” she nearly cried, squeezing. “Don’t APOLOGIZE! I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry. Do you want a hug?”

Luka seemed more concerned for the Nautolan as they readily took her hands, giving them a pat of reassurance. “No, no. It’s fine! It was a good question! And I wanted to give it an honest answer. It happened a long time ago. I’ve just been… nostalgic.”

Though they had completed the question, they finished off their drink and set it far to the side. Sipping at it just prolonged the taste. “Time to switch to something sweeter. I never turn down a hug, though.”

“Heavy,” Bril said. “Glad that you seem to be doing better now, though.”

He considered getting another drink, but decided to hold off for now. Water would do. “Whose turn is it now?”

“Yours, tusky kitty,” Minnie answered, throwing him a wobbly smile before she got up and rounded the table to hug Luka. Sitting down with her short self standing, it might’ve been awkward, if she had any chest to speak of.

Bril nodded and scanned the table. His eyes fell upon the Shistavanen fellow, and he lifted a hand to point at him. “Truth or dare?”

Doon made a soft rumble as he sat back up. “… Truth.” His golden eye tried it’s best to focus on Bril, but couldn’t quite manage to make out all their features

Bril considered the man for a moment. He didn’t know anything about him, so figuring out what would make for an entertaining question. The last two truth questions had resulted in answers that, while appreciated, had given the game a more somber mood. He decided it was time to spice things up a bit.

“Alright,” he began, leaning forward in his seat to give Doon a serious look that belied the ridiculousness of the question to follow, “What’s one of your guilty pleasures that few or no one knows about? A dirty guilty pleasure.”

Siv had been knocking back another shot when Bril spoke his question, and she had to struggle very hard not to choke on the alcoholic liquid.

Her small hands waved a bit before she reached out to grab water. At least the shot hadn’t gone out her nose.

She had done that once before.

Luka gave Minnie a good squish of a hug in return. Their tense shoulders relaxed, and a chuckle rose from them at Bril’s question. “Now we’re getting to the real meat n’ potatoes questions. Or, well… meat.” They gave a hardly subtle wink to the Shistavanen.

“Oh myyy~,” Minnie cooed and then giggled, bouncing lightly and shaking Luka in the process before remembering to let go. She laughed again as she returned to her seat, trailing a hand over Bril’s shoulder as she passed and tugging at one loc. “I was wondering how long till we got naughty. Remember, Doom, you can drink too.”

A look of smug satisfaction crept onto the Zabrak’s features after he saw the reactions of some of the other’s gathered at the table. Based on the Shistavanen’s silence, he figured he’d stumped the man. A shame. He was curious to know the ways in which he got down and dirty.

One hand found its place atop Minnie’s hand after she sat. He absentmindedly traced lines across the back of her hand with a finger while waiting for an answer. “I figured you’d like that one,” he said to the Nautolan.

“Nah,” Gui replied plainly, “I just had to get away. The galaxy is a big place. Had to see it for myself, ya know?”

He leaned back in his seat and ordered a drink.

“What’ll ya have?” Grumbled the crusty bartender.

“Rancor’s breath.” Snickers erupted from those who had overheard his request.

“Ahh, an ambitious drink for someone such as yourself.”

“Just get it, will ya?” He wasn’t sure if this was the way to impress his company. But it was worth a shot.

The bartender grinned as he made the drink and slid it to Gui’s hand. The kid gulped as the bubbling liquid foamed out of the top and puddled beneath the glass.

“Drink up.”

Barry shook its head and turned around, slapping its metal hands to its hip rotator.

“Down the hatch.” Gui hesitated, and sneered as the drink touched his lips and a gag followed. With a deep inhale, he blew away his reluctance and swallowed the contents of the container in one gulp. A queasiness unsettled his belly as the harsh brew churned within. He struggled to keep it down but managed to hold it in.

“So,” he tried to conceal a belch, “you and your Zelosian friend ever been to Kiffu?”

Doon slowly spun a glass around on the table. His metal tipped claws tapped it a few times as he pondered. After a few moments he sat up, and leveled his lopsided gaze at bril. “There are.. many. But as we are all in such pleasant company, I shall stick to.. some.. modesty.” As he spoke, a growl slowly rose in his voice. Not an angry one, more a deep rumble like an engine. An amused, almost playful sound from the massive wolf.

He grinned, an odd sight for any familiar with him, but it offered him the best way to show off his set of sharp teeth which his tongue helped accentuate as it ran across them. “I like to.. leave my mark.” His deep voice carried that velvety rumble across the table to the man who asked the question.

Socorra coughed into her drink at the wolfman’s confessed guilty pleasure. Although his mark had turned into Sith runes as all scars did, Doon was certainly telling the truth. She slammed the last of her drink.

Bril blinked. Well, that was certainly an answer. No wonder it took him so long to come up with one. “Good answer. Seems like that’s a pretty common one,” he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Not wrong,” Minnie commented in reply to Bril, chortling. She didn’t seem phased by the admission, growl, or show of teeth, as if all normal to her. She even smirked at the Zabrak, nose scrunching, a glimmer in her seafoam eyes making the expression look like the tooka that caught the tip-yip. It held for a moment before she toasted Doom and then leaned over to check on Sivall where the very inebriated Chiss had slumped to bury herself in her datapad, bewitched, the faint jewel-tone tinkling noises hinting at her playing a gem game. “How ya doin’, sis? Sivvy? You still wanna play, babygorl? It’s your turn if so.”

Siv jumped a bit, startled out of her drunken haze. It took a few slow blinks and a couple of seconds of looking at the pretty Nautolan before she registered what the woman had said.

“Oh! My turn!” She looked from Minnie to those left at the table and squinted her eyes as if she was having a hard time seeing. She was. “Uhhhhh….” she trailed off, trying to decide who she would pick.

“Mr. Thane Justicar sir, truth or dare?”

In his time away from the narrative focus, the Justicar had procured another drink. It was that drink he was idly swirling in its glass as he pondered which option to go with.

“Let us risk a dare.”

Bril did a double take when he saw the face Minnie was making at him but didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he looked to Thane, then to Sivall. “Make it interesting, lora.”

The Chiss stared for a minute as the gears in her head turned, complaining and struggling all the while, trying to come up with something for Thane to do.

“I dare you tooo… take a shot without using your hands— and no telekinesis cause that’s cheating!”

She was sure Thane could easily float a damn shot into his mouth and where would the fun be in that?

The Firrerreo’s face twisted in a depressed expression when the ‘no TK’ rule was added. There went the easy way.

“Very well,” he remarked. “Line up a shot.”

He didn’t particularly care who readied it. In the meantime, Thane pulled the scarf from his cloak with a loud rip. He could always buy another. It wasn’t like he was spending credits on anything else. He worked a knot around his wrists and pulled it tight with his teeth. The man then wiggled his fingers as if to say, ‘look mah, no hands’.

Then he knelt in front of the table and leaned down over the drink. In a fluid motion he bit around the opening of the shot glass and threw his head back with a flourish. The contents swirled for a moment before draining and a swallow.

His cheeks puffed and the man popped the glass into the air with a hard blow.

“Ta da,” he said.

Minnie clapped lightly, giggling.

Siv joined Minnie in clapping, although a bit louder and more enthusiastically. Her sanguine eyes were filled with awe. “That was amazing!!”

Belatedly realizing the Justicar might be red some assistance, Minnow stopped clapping with an “oop!” and reached over to disentangle the knot, practically laying on her stomach on the table to do it as she crouched up in her seat. Her tongue stuck out between sharp teeth with the effort as her face squinched, but finally, “There ya go! Freedom!”

The Nautolan beamed, and quickly added, No hands go silent.

“‘snothing,” Thane stated as he went to sit back in his seat. Then he looked confused as he heard his own slurred speech. He mouthed his words a few times as if testing his tongue to see if it still worked.

Unfortunate.

His knee bounced as he fidgeted, feeling sweat from the flush in his cheeks. Thane managed to flag down an attendant and ordered a party platter for the table. Then he quite visibly played 'inny-minny-miny-mo’ to pick the next contestant.

He shook his head as he disregarded his own method and decided to return the favour gor his hand-based freedom, pointing at Minnow.

Now that her turn was done, Siv ordered one more shot— her last for the night —and picked back up her datapad. This time she pulled up a medical journal on some infectious disease on Kashyyyk and tucked her once again heel-free feet under her.

One shot down the hatch and she went to reading, resting the datapad on her legs while she fidgeted with her fingers.

When Thane pointed at her, Minnie looked surprised and then pointed at herself, giggling. While she was still feeling short of drunk, she was getting more easily distracted, and decided to indulge.

“It’s noooooht my turn, no hands man, buuuht I suppose I can entertain y'all~,” she trilled, mock bowing in her seat. “Dealer’s choice, hehe! Truth or dare me.”

Thane nodded as he tried to decide which to go with. “Okay, sssso. I dare you to imperssssonate your favourite animal.”

Bril snorted. “This should be good,” he said, winking at Minnie. “Go ahead, pur'ka. Wow us.”

Annoyed at his own way of speaking, the Justicar redid the question in sign language. It would seem, however, one could slur their speech with their fingers as well as they kept getting tangled up as he went through the motions.

Minnie paused, and then started giggling again. “Oh my goooewsh. Okie okie okie. Um. Lessee…” She signed back, in slight confusion, I don’t have any pets, so can’t say what color they are. It was getting harder to multitask though so she focused on the verbal dare after that. “Ummmumumum. Okie.”

Putting both hands up, she spread them with wide fingers on either side of her cheeks, pursed her lips into a line, and widened her eyes as much as she could; awesome time to already have wide, lidless aquatic eyes! For once! Geez. Then she just sort of…wiggled her whole body, as if swimming in place, and butted her head into Bril and then Siv, trying not to laugh. When she paused, she let the air out of her cheeks, going, “foop.”

Bril blinked at Minnow as she did her best impression of some kind of marine animal. A fish? He was unable to control himself when she started nudging him and his sister with her head. “Impressive,” he said between laughs, patting her on the head.

Doon’s answer did not surprise them, though Thane’s act certainly did. This was certainly not the Justicar’s first time. Minnie’s impression was…confusing.

Luka’s brow raised as they attempted to discern what animal they were trying to be. They may have studied galaxy fauna, but with a few drinks their memory was hazy. “Adorable,” they said, attempting to hide their perplexed tone with a smile.

With the table falling silent, they realized the table was looking to them expectantly. “Oh! Right. Uhh…” They scratched at the back of their head, looking for their next victim. “Hmm. Brrrril… Truth or Dare?”

Bril smirked while pointing a finger at Luka. “Dare,” he said confidently, “Lay it on me and make it a good one.”

“Alright…” Luka lounged back in their seat. “A good one… How about you read aloud the last spicy text you sent. No need for names, of course.”

With everyone looking confused, Minnie pouted, cheeks puffing.

“It’s an axolotl…pods of them will swim with us in our home ocean. On Selen. They’re like…like…water kittens,” she explained. And then, hearing the dare from Luka, her pout turned into another impish look at the Zabrak.

Bril nearly choked on his water when he heard Luka’s response. He looked at them wide eyed before nodding his head in a gesture of respect. “Okay, okay, that was a good one,” he said with a chuckle. He supposed it was only fair that he was eventually given a dare like this considering the question he’d posed to Doon. He exchanged looks with the Nautolan sitting next to him before pulling out his datapad and navigating to the top of his comlink’s message list.

His crystal blue eyes briefly fell upon Sivall, and he mouthed the words “I’m sorry” before turning his attention back to the datapad. He coughed to clear his throat, then began reading: “Next time, just invite me over to your place and you can make me bleed all you want.”

After finishing reading the message, he promptly took another sip of his water with a triumphant grin on his face. It was going to take a lot more than that to get him to drink.

Skin that was once blue was now a deep purple, all the way down to Siv’s collarbones. Wide sanguine eyes alternated from looking at Minnie, then to Bril, then back to Minnie, then locked back on her datapad.

Gods, was she ever so glad she didn’t take Bril up on his offer to borrow his datapad when hers had broken. So so very glad.

It was one thing knowing someone close to you was a normal adult who… did those things. It was another to know details. Her very drunk, very out of control brain was suddenly doing a play-by-play of every interaction between Minnie and Bril. Hands reached up to pull her hair out if it’s tight bun, letting her raven waves fall into her face and hide her.

The indigo flush didn’t fade. It was so very hot in here.

“Oho! Spicy indeed! And here I thought we might have had our first pass.” Luka looked to Sivall and gave them an apologetic look in response to their mortified expression. Reaching out, the human gave them a gentle pat on the arm from across the table. “Oh no! Sorry to catch you in the crossfire, dear.”

Doon chuckled at the question, answer, and Siv’s Flush from it. His laugh was soft and deep, ever rumbling like an engine growl.

Minnie was smiling again, a wicked and wide thing, her headtails curling and uncurling playfully as her booted ankle found Bril’s – okay, his leg, whatever, shut up – under the table and nudged it. She shrugged to the others, unrepentant except for feeling a little bad for Siv who seemed to be Actually Dying, and sipped loudly and purposefully at some water.

“You look really pretty with your hair down, sis,” she told the Chiss brightly.

In truth the older child wasn’t asleep so much as she was listening intently with her eyes closed, most of everything she picked up was so muffled it might as well have been static. When she did finally doze off she could hear the distressed fidgeting from her armored guardian, gently knocking at her consciousness forcing her to wake. Upon hearing seeing and oh kark smelling the vomit she grew concerned.

Seeing Lillian mover over and rest upon the chair in the corner from her bout of vomiting Asani stood, walking over gently so as to not wake Sagitta from her slumber. Granted she slept like a rock and was she talking in her sleep?! Shaking her head and chuckling she made her way down the bed and over to the corner.

“Maybe you need some rest. You might’ve had one too many drinks.” she commented while clambering her way onto the chair, braiding Lillians hair once she was at the chairs top, making sure it stayed out of her face and free to be moved out of the way in case of any future vomiting that might occur.

“You keep looking at your data pad like it contains the secrets of the galaxy, we’re here to relax and have fun. Maybe you’ve had too much of one and not enough of the other.” she warned Lillian.

“Im going back out, you should sleep a little, it’ll do you some good.” she warned the redhead. “If you need anything, I wont be too far from the lobby. And if you cant find me there, go to anywhere that has people cheering. Ill be back in maybe an hour.” she was wide awake now and festive, believing she should try to socialize a little to make up for her less than savory introduction. She began to make her way back to where the earlier patrons were, hoping her appearance wouldn’t cause discomfort, maybe she would hold that zabrak to “drinking on better terms”.

Bril kept his eyes forward as he dropped one hand to the side and gave Minnow a quick poke in the side. Was she ticklish? Now seemed like as good a time as ever to find out.

He looked to Luka and shook his head. “I won’t be the one choosing to pass tonight, I can assure you,” he said confidently before gesturing to Doon, “I thought it was going to be the big guy, but he recovered well.”

A sympathetic look appeared on his face when he saw how Sivall was doing. Poor girl. For now, he chose to seal off their Force connection because he was sure neither of them wanted any more intimate details to slip across their bond.

“A Mandalorian knows not defeat,” Minnow proclaimed, squeaking and wriggling away from Bril’s poke as she swatted at his hands. Spying someone hopping towards their table, she realized it was the person Bril had been confronting earlier. Hopefully nothing bad… “Oh, hi there!” The Nautolan went for friendly, throwing her arms out and nearly smacking both Bril and herself in the face as she signed animatedly. “Hi, I’m Minnow! Did you want to play with us?”

Her traversal through the lobby was fruitful, she had found the group and was given a much more warm welcome than she had anticipated. “Oh um Hi, My names Asani. Im Sagitta’s sister. And sure, whats the game?” she asked, interested in what the group might be up to. Waving hello to the Zabrak from before. “I hope we can put the scare earlier behind us” she commented. Not exactly an apology but definitely an invitation to be on friendly terms.

A voice. A familiar voice. Siv peaked from behind her hair and looked at Asani. The Chiss gave a small wave, the indigo still not completely gone from her face. Though it did help that Bril’s thoughts weren’t trickling into her own.

Except now he wasn’t there keeping all the other voices quiet.

“Hello Asani, are Lillian and Gita okay?”

So, she was ticklish. Bril catalogued that information away for later. “How do you say that in Mando'a?” asked Bril, deftly moving his hand to avoid her smack before poking her forehead. “A Mandalorian knows not defeat, I mean.” He had to lean his head back to avoid being hit in the face by the diminutive Nautolan. Flashbacks of his tooth being knocked loose played in his mind.

When Bril noticed the Kushiban woman again, he smiled and waved. “Good to see you back down here,” he led, gesturing for her to pull up a chair. “Come, join the festivities.”

He bowed his head to show the horns that poked out from his coffee-colored locs. “It’s nice to meet you, Asani. I’m Bril,” he said, “And the thing earlier is water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned.”

“Mando'ad nakar'mir rohak,” Minnow answered with half a thought, hands still yapping. She stopped to wave at Asani as the bunny person sat. “Ohmygosh! Sagitta’s sister? Are you also vod? Hi hi hi! This is perfect~! I totally like need your and Sagi’s comms, okie, we got PLANS to make with Siva about–” she stopped, looked obviously at those others present, especially the boys, and then lowered her voice to a dramatic stage whisper, cupping a hand by her mouth, “stuff. But first yeah come play! It’s truth or dare! So somebody asks someone else to answer a question with a truth or they ask them to do a dare, and either they comply or they drink! Less drinks for us tho cause half this table is toooooisty.”

Bril did his best at memorizing the Mando'a phrase, repeating it to himself beneath his breath a few times. Once he was confident that he had it down, he turned to Minnie with a determined look. “Okay, how’s this?” he asked before repeating the phrase aloud.

Unfortunately, what came out was not Mando'a at all, but a confused jumble of grating sounds that didn’t sound like any language, let alone the one that his favorite Nautolan had spoken to him. Even worse, was the fact that Bril seemed sure that he’d done a good job. They called it liquid confidence for a reason.

Thane wasn’t paying much more attention. Instead, he was cradling the rather large glass of water he intended on nursing for the forseeable future.

Asani noticing Sivs wave, waved in return. “Hey Aunty Siv! Gita’s out cold, she might be out for a while. Lillian…might’ve had too much to drink. She looked rough, told her to relax and rest. She looked like she needed it.” Her voice betrayed her concern for Lillian. “Im sure she’ll be fine though.” she said likely trying to convince herself.

Looking to the zabrak man, Bril as he had informed, she replied “Pleasure to meet you” waving back at him as well, looking around for a decently tall chair, finding something comfortable she hopped on managing to sit comfortably enough. “Thank you, id hate to have been the reason the fun stopped.”

She seemed much more at ease without her sibling to play pranks on. She was surprised at how energetic Minnow was being though, but then she realized her description of ‘tipsy’ may have been a bit inaccurate, she seemed a bit drunk. “Yes Im vod” once Minnow cupped her hands Asanis ears pointed intently to listen to her whispers. Plans? She was always ready to be a part of a plan, grinning in a very mischievous way before clearing her throat. “Truth or dare, seems interesting, I’ll give it a shot” she nodded. “I guess we can just continue with whoever’s turn it was.” she let her ears fall back down to their more restful state.

Minnie…cooed.

“Oh, kitty cat,” she hummed, the nickname sounding like honey. She patted his shoulder, smiling at him, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “You’re trying so hard for me, sweetie, I love that~! Good job. Your throat sounds a little dry tho, have some more water~. Mistress says so~.”

Making sure to refill his half-empty water glass, and eyeballing Others’ too as a waiter arrived with large amounts of snack food for the table thanks to Thane’s order, the Nautolan smiled megawatt dimples back at Asani.

“It was Doomy’s turn next after Luka. Then Thane, then Socorra,” she gestured to each named individual, so as to introduce them. “But you’re here now! Why don’t you go! Ask someone, do it do it do it OYA!”

“Ah well sure if its alright with everyone else?” her fur seemed to brighten a bit from the pale near white-grey ish tone, closer to white now. She seemed quite to be happy to be given a turn. Her aunt being the only person she truly knew she wanted to start there but decided to warm up with someone new. “Bril, truth or dare?” she asked the man who’s language skills had been displayed with much fervor. She reached for some snacks while she was at it. She hadn’t notice how little she had eaten and how much she had moved around until she had her eyes on the plates before her and the delicious treats they cradled.

The Chiss sunk into her hair a bit more, playing with the ends. When had the girls started calling her Aunty Siv? She tried recalling back, but her very intoxicated brain wouldn’t let her. She would have to ask at some point.

Her heart did a weird flip in her chest.

Thankful that all of the attention was on Asani, Sivall grabbed some food for herself. Some of the people at the table were definitely toastied as Minnie had put it. Especially poor Mr. Justicar.

It looked like the man might pass out at any moment. Poor guy.

Although his skin didn’t change color as Minnie’s often did when she was flustered, the way Bril’s eyes widened when she leaned over to kiss his cheek before speaking to him in a voice that could break even the most resolute of wills told her - and everyone else at the table - exactly what kind of effect her attention had on him.

He made sure to swipe his refilled glass of water from the table and promptly take as big a gulp as he could muster.

When Asani addressed him, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. Thank the Ancestors, a distraction. Clearing his throat to regain some of his composure, he began, “Me again, huh? Well, let’s go with truth this time.”

Surprised at his choice and seeing his reaction Asani smiled mischievously . “Well you seem to be a good looking man, so here’s a question is there anyone you’re attracted to? romantically I mean.” she asked grabbing a few more items from the trays and snacking slowly staring expectantly waiting for his answer. She looked around at everyone else’s reactions to see if maybe she had struck anything worthwhile or if it was a dud of a question.

Minnie practically cackled, lips curling with he force of her smirk. Her dimples dimpled, and she put her hands under her chin, affecting an innocent look that would’ve worked better if she’d had eyelashes to bat. Stupid eyes. Stupid no boobs.

“Yeeeeeah, Bril, is there anyone you’re attracted to? Tell us about aaalll of them.”

Luka chuckled as once again Bril was the subject in the spotlight. “We’re going to know all about your love life by the time this game is done.” They selected some crackers to munch on, not certain when was the last time they had eaten. No wonder the drink had put them in a sour mood earlier.

Bril tapped his finger on his chin, considering Asani’s question. “Romantically attracted to, huh?” he repeated the question while mulling it over. “I wonder who that could be…”

Of course, he knew exactly who it was, but he wanted to tease her a little just like she had done to him all night. “Oh! I know,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Although … it’ll probably be more fun just to show you.”

With that, the young Zabrak turned to Minnie again and lifted his hand to place a curled finger beneath her chin, using that to pull her closer into a quick kiss on the lips before he leaned back in his chair. Something flashed in his eyes when he shifted them to Asani. “Does that answer your question?” he asked with a grin.

Finally, he looked to Luka, giving them a nod. “It certainly seems like it’s going that way, hah.”

Minnie giggled at the teasing, the wiggle of her headtails – and letsbehonest literally everything else she had goin on smh – giving away her tipsy eagerness for Bril’s answer. She evidently didn’t expect the finger under her chin, her squeak of surprise muffled by the brief kiss.

Closed mouthed, flavored like storm ports and mangoes and sandalwood, just a quick thing. Not much like a kiss she’d had for a little while now. A new one. A first one.

Bril pulled back, turning to Asani then Luka, grinning over his display, and the petite Nautolan just touched her fingertips to her lips, as if to hold the feeling there a little longer. Her chest fluttered.

She swayed a little, back and forth. Not in her seat, but on a ledge. It was hard to stay balanced. So easy to fall one way or the other…

Minnie inhaled slowly, and breathed out, keeping her cool, present, in the moment. She smiled at Bril, squeezing his thigh once to let him know the gesture had been okay, and then turned her grin back on the table.

“So, then, heheh. Good one. Guess it’s back to Doomy Doom Doom.”

He met her hand beneath the table to entwine his fingers with her own, satisfying his desire for prolonged contact with the Mandalorian woman after breaking from their kiss. It didn’t take a Force sense to pick up on the excited energy she exuded after the kiss, their first, and Bril expressed his own in the form of frequent, ear-to-ear smiles–cheesing, as some called it.

“Okay, folks. Let’s get this party rolling,” he said, taking a breath to calm himself.

“Hm, yesss.” Again with the slurring. It was infuriating. “Food has arrived.”

Thane gestured vaguely and looked downright confused and perturbed when he was unable to magically clear the table for the platter of assorted appetizers. Instead, he had to physically do it himself.

Regardless, he got the job done and allowed the attendant to place the large plate. Naturally, he claimed several meat skewers before they could make it to the table.

Doon Took another long slow sip from his freshly poured drink. He then peered over at the newcomer Rabbit-like person who asked the question. An eyebrow raised, curiously. “And.. what about you? Truth or dare?”

Asani looked over to ‘Doomy Doom Doom’ as Minnow referred to him. He asked her, in what she felt was a gentle challenge her choice between truth or dare. “Dare” she replied staring at his face for the first time, really taking in his features. She’d be lying if she said he wasn’t intimidating, but she never backed down from a challenge.

Many ideas crossed the wolf’s mind as he peered at Asani. Eventually one came to the surface that caused him the rumble a deep chuckle out. “I.. want to see you Howl. Fill it with some Passion. Make it mean something” His bouncing chuckle continued rumbling.

Glancing at Sivall, Minnie reached for her datapad and discreetly angled it from below the edge of the table as she pressed record.

She’d delete it later, but if the sleepover for Operation: Sivlex was resisted at all, at least she’d have some extra ammunition.

A Mandalorian did nothing in halves.

His chuckle only fueled her defiant spirit. “A howl? That’s it?” she asked confused as to why he’d want her to howl. But she was more than up for the challenge. She stood from her chair setting herself up in the center of the table after moving some plates around in order to avoid spilling the food.

She readied herself taking what looked like the deepest breath she ever had, lowered her head and soon lift it up with a passionate howl erupting from her. “AWWWWOOOOOOOoooooo” It wasn’t the most wonderful sound you’d ever heard but she was certainly howling with passion. Her fur as white as it could possibly be, her howl extending as long as her lungs allowed it. Once over she sat back down at her chair staring at the large Wolf-like man with a smug expression.

The display drew a laugh from the massive wolf, who nodded at her once before downing the rest of his drink. “Very good” he then glanced around the table. “Who’s next, then?”

Thane glanced up at that and noticed everyone was looking at him. His chewing slowed and then stopped altogether as two skewers stuck out from his mouth. He blinked twice, then pulled them out as casual as possible (if not for the bouncing of his knee).

Finishing his mouthful, the Firrerreo tongued at his enlarged canine teeth while glancing around the table. Finally, he pointed at Luka. “Truths or dare?”

Luka was about to grab a couple of the remaining skewers, their stomach letting out a loud gurgle in near volume to the Kushiban’s howl. They paused as if caught doing something nefarious and retreated their hand. They tapped the table in brief consideration. “Dare.”

Thane smirked and passed Luka two skewers. “Call sssomeone at random and ask fors help burying a body.”

“On speaker,” he hastily added.

“Oooo, this one will be good. Let’s see…” Luka popped a chunk of meat into their mouth and chewed as they scrolled through the list on their data pad. As they scrolled back up, they closed their eyes and poked at random. With one eye peeking, a wide grin spread across their face. “Yes. This will be great.” No hesitation. They switched the call to speaker and held the device aloft.

“My dear Mistress will be delighted,” they said with a snicker as the tone sounded. Clambering could be heard in the background once the call connected.

<@244244400488710155>

“Luka, hello, it’s been– sorry, one sec.” The sound of the comm being somewhat muffled and the cry of a infant? A couple infants? In the background was audible. “Shay, hun, can you get the boys their bantha rattles, please? Kipp green, Bars blue. ᴬˢʰˡᵃ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴮᵒᵍᵃⁿ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᵍᵉᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ʷʳᵒⁿᵍ ᶜᵒˡᵒʳ. Thank you.”

“Sorry. How are you? What have you been up to?”

Luka chewed on their lip, trying to compose themselves. The smile would be evident in their tone if they weren’t careful. “Zuj, I… I need help.” An attempt at a tearful voice that just sounded pained.

There was a pause, and when the woman spoke again her tone had shifted from genuinely warm and friendly to immediately serious and concerned. It was hushed, likely to prevent garnering attention from whomever was with her.

“Are you okay? What’s happened and where are you?”

Minnie’s giggling expression grew a little worried. She bit her lip. Should they really be prank calling someone with babies?

…rattles…

Her lip wobbled.

Sivall perked up at the sound of her Master’s voice. She looked up at Luka and made an excited noise, but let him do his bit all the same.

She wanted to say hi to her teacher so bad she wiggled in her seat.

Bril sat quietly while watching the dare play out. As it turned out, Luka appeared to be a good actor. Maybe they had taken classes in primary school or some university somewhere? He’d have to ask them about it later.

Noticing Minnie’s concern, Luka mouthed It’s okay! before turning their attention back to the dare. A slow inhale before continuing. “I don’t know. Was at the social and I just… There’s a body. I can’t-”

They covered their mouth with the back of their hand to choke a laugh. They sniffed loudly to cover it. “I don’t know what to do with it.”

Apparently inhibitions were out of the window because Siv couldnt keep her mouth closed anymore.

“HI ZUJ I MISS YOU! Im making friends!!!” She clamped her hands over her mouth, wide eyed, appalled she could reach that kind of volume.

Diyrian nodded in understanding. She could one hundred percent see the appeal of wandering the galaxy and seeing it. Honestly, if she hadn’t found some people in Dajorra to care about, she would be doing just that.

The woman continued nursing her fruity drinks concoction with its zero lick of alcoholic ting – this why you add a bit of acid to the mix, get a bit of a bite. She watched the exchange between him and the bartender. Her eyebrow raised and a half-grin slid to her lips when the other Kiffar chose Rancor’s Breath of all things. Could he really handle his drinks? Or was he trying to impress her?

That potential paired with the fact she was abstaining made it hard not to chuckle. She nearly did when she noted his bit of apprehension once the beverage was placed in front of him. Diy would do him the favor and not give him a pity pat on the back.

Finishing her drink, sthe faux-Zelosian was mid setting it down when he asked his question. Kiffu. Her smile waned briefly before she shifted to look at him, leaning against her hand.

“No, we never went there,” Diy sighed lightly and shrugged, “I was told I likely was born there, might have family but by the time we learned what clan they may be in, I was seventeen. What’s the point visiting when so much time lapsed since they probably last saw me, yeah?”

Bril’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Sivall’s outburst. He had never heard her sound so excited, so happy to interact with anyone. Who was this Zuji person, that she mentioned? Their voice didn’t sound familiar, so he suspected it was an Arconan that he’d yet to meet. He would have to ask her about it later.

Be that as it may, he found himself smiling from ear-to-ear while watching his sister react with such genuine elation upon hearing whoever this person was. Then, a thought crossed his mind. He fetched his datapad and quickly snapped a holopicture of his fellow knight. He would have to get it put on display later. If there was one thing he knew, it was that cherishing the moments when we were most happy was important, and he wanted to do that for her so she could always have a fond memory to fall back on in case things got rough in the future.

He smiled contentedly to himself before tucking the datapad away.

Minnow’s concern waned as Sivall burst out , and she couldn’t help but laugh kind of hysterically probably – thankfully – giving away the ruse. She cupped her hands over her mouth to yell slightly towards the comm. “HI IM FRIENDS!”

“Wait, deep breaths. What social? I can’t get to you but Diy can, just where are you and I’ll–” The woman drew quiet when the chiss yelled out followed by Minnie’s laughter. More than a few seconds passed that those present could almost hear the cogs in Zuji’s head turning, processing.

“Hello, Sivall, I miss you too.” A sharp inhale, the kind one expect to see a holo-vid character drawing steepled hands to their lips with. “Luka. Are you in trouble? Or is this a party game dare of some sorts?”

Luka was glad that Sivall interjected, as it was beginning to break their heart with how quickly their Master came to their defense. “It’s a game, dear. Blame the Justicar. Not sure if you’d be able to hear him in the background. My guess this is a sibling of mine?” They held the commlink closer to Sivall so she could be heard more easily.

“Glad that I could count on you if necessary,” they added with a chuckle.

Siv deflated quickly, her excitement disappearing as quickly as it had come. Suddenly memories of her knighting ceremony flashedvin her mind— namely Zuji relaxing as a child left her immediate vicinity. A soft smile filled her features and she buried herself in her datapad.

Right.

Things had changed.

She was reminded of the bear skull trinket of tiger’s eye resting with her belongings on the Nightingale.

“Ah, I see,” Another brief break with a sigh, the sounds of periodic rattling in the background. Zuj seemed more upbeat, relief evident when she continued, “Yes! Sivall is lovely. I’m glad the two of you have met. Siv, I hope you enjoy yourself and am glad you’re making friends!”

“I won’t keep you all from your game. Luka, feel free to call me sometime, likewise Siv. Thane, ‘Friends’, enjoy yourself and take care.”

So, this woman was Sivall and Luka’s master? Good to know. He took notes on his datapad.

“BYE NICE MISTRESS SORRY WE PRANK CLALED YOU!” Minnie said, flailing her hands to sign with the same volume. She hit herself in the face a little.

There’s a choked sound at ‘MISTRESS’.

“I’ll call you again soon. Give the kids a hug from me. I’ll have to come see you all sometime. Bye, dear.” As they disconnected the call, they seemed more relaxed than they had been. “Alright, now that we’ve given mom a jolt to wake up with, who’s next?”

Socorra supposed that meant she was next to both dare and be dared? She scratched her head wondering how to do so. Maybe the booze would tell her.

She downed her last shot.

“Socorra is,” Minnie piped in, still thankfully with enough wits about her to keep track despite her giggles, handiness, and tipsy ways. Everyone needed water. And snacks. Yep yep yep.

“Do memories exist if you forget them?” She asked no one in particular. “Are we currently dreaming? And how would we know?”

She turned to Renatus. “Atra, truth or dare?” <@185936112441622529>

The Justicar looked up while downing the remainder of his water and something stuffed into a puff pastry. “Truth.”

Bril tilted his head at the question. “I would say they do. One might say that our second death is when our descendants finally forget about us, but ours have found a way to persist in some way - an unbroken chain of ancestors. No one understands it, really.”

“As for the second question, I don’t think we would.”

The call to Zuji had ruined just about every bit of fun she was currently having, and some part of her was very depressed that Alex hadn’t messaged her back. She knew she was being ridiculous and that he was probably busy with his mom, but all the same…

She closed her eyes and let the gentle cool of the force wash over her and drive some of the haze from her mind. She slid a plate of yummy looking pastry things towards Minnie and Bril with a soft smile.

Socorra set down her empty glass, knocking it over in the process. Rubbing her face with her hands, smearing the black kohl rimming her eyes, she was definitely at peak drunkenness. If the woman cared, it certainly didn’t show.

“What is..” She chuckled sardonically towards herself, “is worst mistake you ever made?”

Bril smiled at Sivall’s gesture, sending a small pulse of warmth across their bond as he took one of the pastries. “Thank you, lora,” he said before taking a bite. “Oh wow, these are really good. You should try one.”

He gave Minnie a gentle nudge to encourage her to try one.

Minnie seemed distracted cringing at the new truth– she hoped it didn’t go too badly. Bril’s nudge drew her attention to the plate, and then to Siv having pushed them over, and she frowned poutily to see that her blueberry sis seemed off from before. Not smiling at her phone anymore. That wasn’t no good. Why was she sad? Or sleepy? Was it time to get a room and go to bed? Hmmm…

“Hey, lemme just– scoochies,” she said, and then clambered to get around Bril and land on Sivall’s other side, nudging her friends until they’d swapped places, effectively Bril where she had been, Siv in Bril’s spot, and her in Siv’s. Success! And warm seats. Cold butts were the wo r s t.

“There! That’s better!, I was too far from you, sis! Now we can make a Sivvy sandwich!” the Nautolan declared, hugging the Chiss and smushing her into Bril’s side.

Back to the deep questions. Luka watched intently as they stuffed their mouth with kebab, glad to be out of the hotseat again. Not that they hated the game, far from it. They were glad to let their mind and eyes wander.

Sivall seemed distressed after the call. They’d have to talk sometime after the social. They couldn’t recall running into any of Zuj’s other students, and the Chiss seemed lovely.

The desire to lounge on someone themselves crossed their mind, but given the company that wasn’t likely. A glance towards Doon, but brief. Diy was elsewhere. Instead they crossed one arm over their chest and sunk in their chair. Since their commlink was already out, they fiddled with it. A distraction while they listened to the goings-on around them.

Thane pondered for what felt like an eternity. This was what they called a loaded question. There were so many possible answers. Perhaps there was one that could supersede all the others.

“The list is long. Should I have refused Methyas’ hand and never joined the Brotherhood? Or, even earlier, should I have declined the researchers and served my sentence—no matter how false—within CorSec?” As he spoke, Thane’s dancing lilt of an accent strengthened.

“There is no one mistake that is worse than all others. My life, such as it is, is the culmination of mistakes. Each being my worst.”

Socorra ordered drinks for the table and stood to propose a toast but promptly fell on her ass. She blinked but raised her glass from the floor anyway.

“Mistakes.. were made..”

She wasn’t sure if anyone joined her in the toast, and that was just fine. The voices that once filled her mind with their ceaseless chatter was now mere buzzing for the telepath. All sounds were. A meditative droning, almost lulling her to sleep. With soft murmurs in a foreign language, she teetered while sitting up. Then, eventually, in a mess of raven and white hair, the woman slumped over just a few inches to the ground and fell fast asleep, quietly snoozing beneath the table.

Siv was scrambling up as soon as the “thump” of a body hit her ears. Her heart rate increased and she stumbled for the gorgeous Mandalorian lady.

Panic. Panic.

All the possible reasons for a sudden collapse swirled in her mind— from the simple to the severe. But once the Chiss came to a rest beside Socorra her medic alarms stopped going off in her head, because the woman was clearly breathing and a quick check of the wrist assured her that Soc’s heart was also still beating.

She looked up, shoving her hands against her dress to stop them from shaking.

“Can someone please help me get Ms. Socorra to a room so she can rest? Unfortunately I am… physically incapable.”

“Allow me,” Thane remarked. He wasn’t well quite yet, but he was…well enough. The tall Firrerreo went to assist. At the same time, he placed a hand against the woman’s back and allowed his power to suffuse her body with healing energies.

“And this is why we drink wator,” Minnow announced sagely. “Gosh, lemme tell y'all, when I’m the only one not passed out? Doomed-er than Doomy here. I can’t lift nobody.”

Sivall smiled appreciatively to the Justicar. With his help (and watching him to make sure he didn’t faceplant while helping) they got Socorra in a room and comfy, leaving her with the keycard in the room.

“Poor Ms. Socorra..” she mumbled, closing the door.

“Hopefully she’ll be alright,” he muttered to Minnow when Thane and Sivall left to escort Socorra to a room. “Let’s hope that’ll be the last time someone passes out tonight.”

“Yeaaaaah…” Minnie lamented. “Let’s hope. Okay! New dare for the table from Mistress! Drink a water. All y'all! And then we can keep playing or try a new game if anyone wants. There’s Never Have I Ever…”

Doon tilted his head at minnie as he laps from a clean drink of water. “How does.. that one work?”

“Excellent question, Doom! And points for water drinky. Good boy,” she praised, and clapped her hands. “In Never Have I ever, we samesies take turns, but instead of asking someone a truth or dare, you say something you’ve never done! Then, if somebody else has done that thing, they take a shot, or a drink. Or like, eat a cookie. We could do pretzels else all of us are gonna die. Sooooo yah~! For example: never have I ever licked my elbow. But if any of you have, drinks! It’s a social game to kinda reveal stuff about people around you while also revealing something about yourself, hopefully in like a fun group way of oh hey we’re all deviants and not a sad horrible way where some asshole does something like ‘never have I ever been assaulted’ like bruh, no. Anyway…so yeah! Options.”

The Justicar returned quietly from having ensured Socorra’s door was locked. Upon rejoining, he downed an entire glass of water and willed the world to cease its infernal spinning.

Siv returned shortly after Thane, wiggling herself back into her spot by Minnie as the Nautolan started describing the rules of their next game. Her eyes slowyl trailed down to the floor– Oh there were her shoes!

And with that poor Socorra was out of the game. Thankfully others took her to her room, as they would have certainly been no help. They let out a yawn muffled by their hand and sipped at their offered water. No doubt the next game would have them following Socorra if they didn’t start to pace themselves.

Doon was frozen with his tongue extended ready for another lap of water. What did she say? His head tilted as his tongue pulled back into his mouth. “Did… you just call me something?”

Minnie shot him a winked and a finger gun before addressing the the table again. “So, votes?”

“Hmm, are you a good boy, Doom-da-Doom,” Luka purred, keeping their voice low between them.

They finished off their water and requested a refill from passing staff. “I think a change in game would be interesting, but I will definitely need to hydrate if I don’t want to end up like our dear Socorra.”

Across the bridge from the event

Titius was enjoying his walk, listening as the tide hissed across the shore. Still seething from the disrespect shown from the Arconanian delegation, his thoughts turned to his explosives left in his craft.

Stopping himself, Titius decided to reach out to one of his gracious hosts. Palming datapad he composed:

`Proconsul Graves, my greetings and thanks to you for hosting this event. Im seeking some alternative entertainment if you have any tickets available.

The maturity of the original event is unfortunately not to my taste.`

Titius then turned to make his way back to the island. He knew it was a long shot but Graves had a certain reputation for Titius’ tastes in entertainment.

Bril shrugged his shoulders. “The game sounds interesting. Certainly seems like a good way to get even more wasted. Who starts us off?”

A tiny blue hand raised as Minnie requested votes of the next game. “I think it’s a good idea,” she replied, “Anything that gets me a bit more time with you and Bril.”

“akdkdjdnrnd” came the bubbly sound from Minnie’s mouth as she flapped her hands and hugged Sivall. “Ohmigawd youreshoshweet, sissss…we can spend ALL the time together okie we’re totes having a sleepover after this and you have to hang out with me okie please?”

The hug squished extra.

“New game it is.”

Juda’s starport office was one of many he had claimed upon earning his place as Proconsul. It was from this office he could monitor logistics, his specialty.

His loose white jacket illuminated and his datapad chirped. While he watched the festivities from afar, he preferred the company of his generals and personal guard, those sworn to protect him and to safeguard his Sanctum of Blood. The trusted members of Slaret Orat.

When he pulled the datapad from his pocket and read the message. He was presented with an opportunity. Not just to fill this, Titius in on the typical entertainment. But to nurture the potentiality of a new ‘friendship’

His fingers tapped the screen as he took a deep puff of the cigar clutched between his teeth.

It simply read - Come to the spaceport. I may have the type of entertainment you seek, friend.

“Tooth, Nail,” he spoke to the twin Gamorrean brothers guarding the door. “Go wait for him. Let’s see if he’s interested in my proposal.”

“Okie, okie,” Minnow composed herself, but didn’t actually detach from Siv. This was life now.

Food was being eaten, water was being drunk, refills on said water incoming. Good.

“Alright, NEVER HAVE I EVER, OYA! I’ll start us off. Never have I ever…hmm…uhm, oh!” From across Siv’s comfy boobs, she shot Bril a look. A look that said, bitch. “Never have I ever eaten a whole pepper.”

Siv flushed a bit from Minnie’s.. placement, squeezing the nautolan back. She smelled so pretty.

The question was asked and Siv didn’t move. She had tried peppers, but never eaten a whole one. She wasn’t that dumb.

Bril didn’t move for a moment, shooting Minnow a look with narrowed eyes that perfectly conveyed the betrayal he was surely feeling. Didn’t need a Force bond to know that the little Nautolan had just declared war. He muttered something beneath his breath before taking a shot. So, that’s how it was going to go, huh? Okay.

“I’ll go next,” he began, “Never have I ever…dropped into a split between someone’s legs.”

After offering up his own choice, he shifted his attention to Sivall, and he made a face. You okay? he mouthed the the words, blissfully unawares. Was she too warm? Maybe someone needed to turn on the air.

Seeing Siv not move, the tiny Nautolan tapped one also tiny blue hand with her fist. And then Bril opened his stupid hot mouth.

“Oh, it’s on, alright,” she said, and took her shot.

Blinking, Siv came to from some sort of daze as Minnie tapped against her hand. She gave Min a reassuring smile before wordlessly knocking back a shot.

“I roller skate,” Minnie explained, chatty, and hoping to encourage sharing. “For work, right? We do dance routines and stuff too, on the skates. So I’m more used to doing splits like that and deffo between legs for routines and just for fun with the customers. But sometimes also, just for fun, rowr.” She threw Bril a wink.

Off to a great start already. Luka knocked back a shot for the first round.

The second round made them hesitate. Going to knock me out before it’s gone around the table. They sipped slowly, providing no explanation for themselves.

“Remember y'all,” Minnie advised as she thumbed rum off her lower lip. “We can just do "shots” as snacks or water too! Haha.“

The Medic nodded at Minnie, then set into deep thought. She didn’t want to say anything… risky, but also didn’t want to say anything boring or sad. She worked at the inside of her cheek for a moment.

“Never have I eveeeer… went camping.”

There, that was a sufficiently mundane ask… right? She sunk a little and reached for her datapad to check it.

Still no reply.

Bril gave Minnie an incredulous look when she mentioned roller skating, but then a flash of realization appeared on his face. He leaned toward her and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’ll to show me some of your dance routines sometime,” he said with a wink before sitting upright again.

He made note of how many times Luka had taken a shot, giving them a quick eyebrow wag and chuckle before averting his gaze.

A playful scoff came from his lips upon hearing Sivall’s choice. “I guess it’s target Bril night tonight,” he muttered into his shot glass before downing another shot, letting out a dramatic “ahh” when the bitter alcohol registered on his tastebuds. “Minnie and Sivall already know the story, but I come from a large tribe of Zabrak who are primarily hunter-gatherers, though many have begun to transition to agrarian lifestyles. What many would consider camping is just how we lived.”

Doon hastily downed two shots, growling slightly as they burnt his throat going down. He eyed Luka for a moment at the Good Boy Taunting, but decided not to play into it for the moment

Luka took another shot. “I sometimes prefer a night under the stars,” they said, wistfully slurring their words. “It can be so quiet, just you and the world. Hmm…”

They cupped their cheek in their hand, drooping over the table as they thought about their round. “Never have I ever… gone swimming. I should! Probably not now, but those pools were calling to me earlier.”

Doon’s head fell into a hanging position as he sighed and gently picked up yet another shot. “Have you all.. done nothing?”

Bril snorted at Doon’s comment. This time, he decided to not press his luck, and took a shot of water as well. Then, he gestured to Minnow. “Go ahead and take one, love,” he said with a grin.

Minnie’s face pinked as her brows quirked at being called, love, but she decided to allow it, at least for the night. She stuck her tongue out at Bril and took her shot.

“I’m a Mandalorian,” she echoed herself, a statement that was beginning to get a lot of mileage. “Our people are usually nomadic. The Erinos are kinda exceptional. But still. Lots of battlefield camps. And training.”

“Exceptional, indeed …” he muttered, keeping his voice just loud enough for Minnie to hear before taking a sip of water.

“And obviously I’ve gone swimming~.” The Nautolan shimmied in her seat. “I’ve got gills, baby. Nooow uh lessee…eee…Asani! You boop!”

Siv was able to skip two rounds of shots. She had been swimming a few times, the Grants had a pool after all, but swimming lost it’s fun….

Yeah, not thinking about that.

Not thinking about the days she sat alone in the basement doing nothing, either.

She watched Minnie and Bril interact over her and smiled softly. She was in a better place.

Asani was surprised as she had witnessed the group go from one thing to the next to the next. In all her confusion she stammered a bit. She hadn’t really enjoyed swimming, her fur felt uncomfortable in the water and she wasn’t much of an acrobat when it came to doing the splits, she certainly hadnt eaten a whole pepper. She took two shots, giving herself a moment to think of some, anything really. “Never have I ever gotten a tattoo” she stated, her fur was clean. Perhaps others here had more adventurous spirits when it came to making permanent marks on their bodies. She wasn’t sure if it would damage her ability to change her fur color, so she hadn’t tried it at all.

Minnie laughed and grabbed a glass, clinking it against Bril’s this time and poking one tattooed cheek. She went for her water, though.

“I'ma need dis.”

He made a face and took another shot of water. If the game kept going like this, he was going to out of both alcohol and snacks. He’d have to babysit his glass of water for the time being.

Luka rolled their eyes at Doon’s comment. “Not nothing, but… Well, no tattoos. Been considering some, but never took the plunge.” Luka grabbed a handful of chips to munch on. “Would love something to cover all of this up, but not sure what.” They gestured to the gnarled scar on their neck.

“Ooooh, cover ups can get really creative and pretty tho!” Minnie chimed in, smiling at Luka. “I’d show you mine but then I’d be flashing the table in this dress,” she laughed.

Hmm, I knew they would pull through. Spaceport it is.

Titius took off down the thoroughfare towards where he believed he left his ship.

Arriving promptly, he found several children playing around it.

“Scram, lil pukes”, Titius growled as he boarded the gangplank.

A short flight later

Titius touched down on a proper pad. Stepping into the main terminal he was greeted by a stench that could only be described as sodden Bantha excrement.

He donned his respirator…

“Wouldn’t want that,” Luka said with a chuckle. They withheld further comment, glancing to Bril.

“If I recall correctly, it’s Doonadum’s turn next.” They tapped at the table, eyeing him expectantly.

Bril’s eyes moved from Minnie, then to Luka, narrowing as he looked across the table at them.

Doonadum rumbled through a few chips of his own, then downed it with some water. The last shot didn’t go down smooth, but it certainly added an injection of confidence. And a fair share of curiosity.

His golden eye gazed over at Asani while he spoke, single ear twitching. “Never have I ever… been on a date with a Kushiban.”

Siv raised an eyebrow, making a mental note to talk to Asani’s family. As much as she didn’t have… problems, per se, with Doon… Zuza was in bandages for some time because of him.

If they were gonna call her Aunty Sivvy then she had to fill the role, right?

Asani stared back at him.

…been on a date with a Kushiban.

It took a moment to register what her ears had picked up. Her blue eyes gazed at the single golden eye, her fur color began to change, her face ears tail, all of it seemed to morph into a light blue shade. She was flustered and her fur was more than happy to show it. She stammered a little. “W-well i-if you’re ever up for it…we could c-change that” she seemed nervous for someone who had no issues bravely howling out at a room full of people. She was holding her tail in her hands her eyes darting in different directions.

Bril blinked a few times before leaning over to Minnie after watching the interaction between Doon and Asani. “They’re adorable,” he muttered, “Work your magic, will you?”

A deep chuckle rolls from the wolf as he slowly spins a shot glass. “Perhaps we should.” His snarl twisted into more of a smirk, showing pointed teeth. He then glanced around the table, curious who was next.

Luka followed Doon’s gaze to the Kushiban and back. They attempted to hold back their laughter, earning a loud snort instead as they covered their face in their hands. Asani’s response made them further retreat, the tips of their ears turning a shade of red. Get yourself together. “I’ll withhold my commentary. Another round survived, but I need more water.”

They pushed from the table, but instead of their chair coming with them it caught on their leg. With a clatter and a loud Whump! Luka landed on the ground. “I’m fine!” they said with a groan as they tried to pick themselves up.

“I think they have it handled,” Minnie whispered back, and tried to discreetly take a drink of water. She coughed when Luka fell, reaching out. “Oh hon, you okay?!”

Of course, Bril noticed. He gave Minnie a look of surprise. “Minnie . . .you? Oh no, I need details now.” he said, poking her in the side. “Spill the beans, pur'ka.”

“Who says I kiss and tell?” the Nautolan giggled, *eep*ing away from the poke to her side again. She flapped her hand. “Nothin’ much to tell. Just a date, we didn’t hit it off. She was cute tho.”

Doon’s ear perked as he swiveled in his seat towards the clatter. He leaned over, gently scooping Luka up and setting them back down next to his seat. He gave them a weary look, gently patting the top of their head with his large, soft paw. “Water.. is good. Bring me some too”

Luka made a sour face as they were picked up and their hair was ruffled. They swatted Doon’s hand away and ran their own fingers through the mess of brown curls. They dragged their hands down their face after, exhaling slow.

“Got it. Waters for the group. Back soon..ish.” They didn’t bother to check on who needed a refill. They planned on snooping a bit on Diy, and figured by the time they got back they’d all need one. Rubbing a sore elbow, they made their way back to the bar.

Since Thane seemed to be buried in his water glass, maybe talking to it, maybe asleep, Minnow decided to go ahead and keep them moving while Luka got water.

“Okay ummmm. Ummj umumums. Gosh this game’s easier when I’m less drunk. Um.” Putting hands to her face, she tried to think. She’d done a LOT of things. What hadn’t she done? Like. Way more things. It was just hard to think of them.

Well. She could always pick on Bril some more.

“Never have I ever…um…dug up an artifact.”

Siv reached out and took a shot, shuttering as it went down. She made wave motion with her hand.

“Dug up a Sith Artifact once,” she commented, chasing the alcoholic shot with a drink of water.

The Nautolan looked over in surprise at that. She hadn’t really expected anyone else here to be into archaeology but hey cool!

“Hey, cool, sis,” she said, and hugged Sivall again, trying desperately not to think about Sith anything. No no no no nope goooooodvibes. “Did you have fun?”

The lagomorph did not take a drink. “How do you even dig up a Sith artifact? where would you find one?” she asked curious as to what might’ve been an adventure of daring fights or diving into the unknown.

“It wasn’t-“ she stopped herself, biting her lower lip. “It was very hot. On um… Korriban. Lots of sand. And with your hands, mostly. Sandstone and such is.. easy if you have the force.”

Bril felt his lips tighten when Minnie admitted to having never dug up an artifact. During his travels with his mother and father, he’d helped them unearth several artifacts from bygone periods of galactic history. However, the only thing that came to mind when his friends began discussing Sivall’s expedition was the Dathomirian artifact he’d encountered a few weeks prior. Although he hadn’t unearthed it personally, he nonetheless went through great pains to find to locate it, and the pains he endured after wresting it from the grasp of one Draca Zul were greater still. Fortunately, the Zabrak Jedi helped him find the strength to liberate himself from the object’s control.

The knight shifted uncomfortably in his seat, scooting away as a subconscious way of distancing himself from the topic and the thoughts it conjured. The notion of drowning his worries in alcohol didn’t seem so bad, now. He raised a glass to his lips to down another shot and followed it with a hefty swig of water.

Minnie’s lips pulled into a frown. That didn’t sound like a fun story exactly. And Siv seemed anxious. And then Bril… Oh what a dumb thing to ask. He’d told her about Karran’s temple, talk of such things was probably uncomfortable, even if he did love archaeology.

“My honies,” she cooed, and once again changed seats in order to plop herself between them both. She put and arm around both taller Zabrak and slightly taller Chiss and dragged them into a group hug. If she’d had chest to hug them into, she would have. As it was, she just held the pair and pressed Galactic Glam Glitter Bubblegum kisses to both their cheeks. “No bad vibes, mommy’s got you~. Bril, baby, you take a turn!”

A kiss to the cheek was just about the most of a kiss she had gotten since Alexandyr saved her from the slums, not that the kiss had come from the Human himself. Pale blue skin boiled a dark indigo. As platonic as it was, Siv was not expecting it. Not expecting physical contact like that. She grumbled something absolutely inaudible in Cheunh and took another shot of alcohol.

Anything to not feel so weirdly lonely.

Gods she was such a buzzkill.

Her ability to bring him out of a dour mood was uncanny. Bril’s expression brightened when Minnow hugged and then kissed him on the cheek, and he allowed one arm to loosely curl around the middle of her back, inching into a place between her and Sivall.

“Never have I ever … gone skinny dipping,” he offered.

Minnie pouted. In retaliation, she used the arm hugging Bril to reach for her next drink of water.

“I’m an amphibian,” she complained. “We spend the first like, months of our lives in water doin’ the swimmy swims! And you don’t need clothes for ocean diving, nobody’s down there.” Then a pause, and her pout became another giggle. “Okie~ not that I haven’t done it in the spirit you mean tho~.”

“Suddenly, that ocean tour you offered seems more appealing,” he chuckled.

He momentarily lifted his hand and reached across to poke Sivall in the temple.

Doon looked on, slowly sipping from yet another shot. The slight awkward mood shift was evident, but he had no business interjecting. He resolved to continue subtly playing the game.

That was until the shot he finished caused him to cough into a clenched paw. He let out a slight growl as he glared at the empty glass “what.. have we been drinking?”

Bril’s forehead poke brought her back to the present, causing her to register his words and silently take her own shot.

It felt like these shots were hardly effecting her now. She couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.

The Chiss cleared her throat as she thought of her next question, which was getting increasingly harder and harder.

“Never have I ever…” the pale blue woman leaned forward and rested her cheek on her palm, “slept in the same bed as someone.”

Minnow watched as Sivall once again silently took another shot. She thought of each of the previous shots, and she thought of what Sivall had said by the pool. And she thought of this question.

Her eyes grew wet. The tears were heartbroken and angry at once.

Instead of taking a drink, she reached out and once more took the woman’s hand that wasn’t on her cheek, just wanting to hug.

“Will you come stay with me and L'ara tonight? We can cuddle snuggle. It’s the best with friends.”

“I’ve lost track at this point,” he said to Doon.

Thankfully, this round he was safe. He moved a hand to give Sivall’s shoulder a little squeeze and, if she looked in his direction, he offered her an encouraging smile.

“Minnow’s suggestion is a good one. I trust her with you. It’ll be fun, lora.”

“That sounds nice,” she replied softly, trying to fight the aggravated frown that wanted to rise up from bringing down the mood again.

There were very few things she had never done, and what she hadn’t were either sad or boring or outright strange.

Doon makes a vague Whuff noise, watching the slowly devolving situation among the others. He lifts another shot, then stared hard at it. A slight tremble made its way under his eye, then down to his lip, causing his snarl to pull at his mouth more than usual.

His golden eye closes, blacking the world out for just a few moments.

Breath. What can you smell?

He takes a long breath, inhaling through his nose. It twitches once, then twice. His lungs fill with air, but still he tries to inhale. His lungs burn, but he holds the air in and focuses.

Smoke. Alcohol.

He wanted to growl, but instead he silently exhaled. Letting his tensed muscles relax as air drained from his lungs.

Again.

Another breath, another barely withheld growl.

Nothing.

He exhaled once more a he opened his eye. Some fuzziness in his vision vanished, his mind was less of a blur as well. The straying thoughts that had been teetering on the edge of a pit were reeled back in.

With another wiggle of his nose, he tosses back the shot

“We should alllll have a sleepover!” Minnie enthused. “Asani, I need you and Gitta’s numbers okie? You and Sivvy all come over to mine with L'ara and we’ll have a girl’s night!” Her dimples dimpled again. “But for nooow…sleepy sleeps and water, my lovelies. Be good boys and girls for Mistress~.”

Patting Siv’s shoulder, she turned to Bril. “You got a room, kitty? You can sleep on the couch in ours.”

“K'sicen'i, botmun'i.. I sleepy…” Pale blue hands rubbed at sanguine eyes and she let out a silent but wide yawn. The emotions had taken their toll. The Chiss stumbled up, opting to down one more shot before they left the table.

Maybe it would keep the nigthmares at bay.

Bril rose to his feet and stretched his arms out over his head. “I don’t, no,” he said with a yawn, “but the couch sounds nice.”

He moved to wrap one arm around Minnie and Sivall’s shoulders, slouching forward to compensate for their difference in height. “Onward, friends!”

Minnow looped her arm around and under Bril’s, reaching across his back and touching Sivall’s. “What’s kismi?” she tried to mimic, having assumed the other word was a nickname for Bril. She smiled and leaned over towards the Chiss across Bril’s chest as they stumbled altogether. “Is it kiss meee?”

Siv giggled at Minnie’s attempt to speak Cheunh. Most people didn’t fair much better with the language. She had a hard time too, at first. It was hard learning all those complex words as a toddler.

“K'sicen'i– Sister. A term of endearment, like botmun'i. Botmun'i means brother.” She rested her head against the Zabrak between them as well, a content smile on her face.

“ahdnfjsdjsh,” Minnie squeed. “I’d be happy to be your sister! Altho~ kiss offer still stands.” She winked.

“She is a good kisser,” Bril noted with a small burp that tasted of alcohol, “Trust me.”

He had been holding it together for the latter part of their game, but the realization that it wouldn’t be long before he had a chance to sleep resulted in everything hitting him all at once.

Why was he thinking about them kissing all of a sudden? He flicked Minnie on the arm. “Bad pur'ka,” he said, sticking out his tongue.

A soft squeak came from Siv as they exited the main area and started making their way to the hotel rooms. That blush returned with a vengance and Siv adverted her eyes even though the stupid, crooked smile on her face betrayed the fact that she wasn’t made uncomfortable by the offer.

“Sleep. Lets get you to sleep, botmun'i.”

Minnie giggled as they got to the lifts. “Yeah, time for bed, baby.”

Sky-blue features scrunched as Siv stared at the doors to the lift. Her stomach did a gross little lurch at the thought of going up them again. She was now several shots deeper than when she had gone up them the first time.

“What floor, Minmin?” she grumbled, dread sneaking into her tone. She would not puke, she refused.

Once they were inside the lift, Bril leaned forward, slinking one arm off one of his escorts to press a button on the lift operator. Too bad he missed and ended up hitting three of them at the same time.

“Whoops,” he chuckled, falling back into them. When he caught sight of Siv, he narrowed his eyes and got really close to her face. “You don’t look so good, lora.”

“Seven, sis,” she answered, steadily rubbing circles into Siv’s back. “Hang in there, I got some meds in my bag. We can kick our shoes off and go night night.”

Siv was trying so hard to keep it together, between nausea and some other unknown emotion (embarrassment maybe?) welling inside her. Whatever skin had not turned a deep indigo color had desaturated a few shades. She peaked past Bril to look at the numbers he had pressed on the lift.

Thankfully one of them had been seven, but she didn’t know where that seven fell in the order.

She leaned back into Minnie’s hands and covered her face, making a muffled noise into it– an exasperated noise, like a whispered scream.

Bril slumped with his back against the wall of the lift and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. Suddenly, his eyes felt heavy. “Night night, folks..” That was the last thing he said before falling into a deep slumber.

“Oh, frak,” Minnie groaned, seeing Bril slid down and potato. “Why is it always the tall guys, I’m sayin’!”

Stomping one booted foot, she put her hand on her hip that wasn’t supporting Sivall and swore a blue streak in Mando'a before stomping again, this time with more hype.

“Okie, okie, okie, we can do this. We know not defeat! Okie. We’re gonna drag him out of the elevator and then Sis, you watch him. I’ll run back down and grab a luggage hauler. Then we got this schutta. Kay?”

Minnie was so adorable when she was angry. Sivall blinked a few times as the Nautolan Mando'a words she only recognized because she heard Lillian say them came spilling out of her mouth. To Minnie’s earlier question she mumbled something along the lines of ‘the tall people fall harder’.

When Minnie mentioned a luggage hauler, she immediately could imagine pushing Bril down the hall, long limbs hanging over the edges, snoring. The idea alone was enough to make her burst into laughter. The movement, of course, made the nausea worse.

Making a ‘hurk’ like noise, the Chiss stopped and nodded. They could do this right?

“Awesome! Yes! Good girl, Sivvy.” She stopped to cup the Chiss’s cheeks in both hands, standing in tiptoes to look into her eyes, ignoring the obviousness of how her boots and dress might be about to get barfed on. She cooed, brushing their noses, “I believe in you, ✨sweetheart✨.”

As they discussed their plans, Bril slept away. The names of both the Nautolan and the Chiss could be heard, muttering in his sleep.

Putty, Siv went to absolute putty under Minnie’s fingers. Nausea didn’t exist anymore because she was a good girl. A soft giggle escaped the Chiss, followed closely by a hiccup, as dazed sanguine eyes stared into very pretty seafoam ones.

“T-Thaanks,” she cooed, having absolutely lost the plot.

Not exactly one to not recognize this kind of reaction to her praises – it was kinda her wheelhouse – Minnie giggled a little back, smirking and warming all over, before she released Sivall carefully, gently, let her down slow. “Good girl,” she repeated, and waited for the lift to ding.

When it did, the Mandalorian crouched, looped her arms under Bril’s, and heaved, dragging him by the butt across the carpet of the hallway. She set him against the wall there and then went back to make sure the melty Chiss got out too, using a hand at the small of her back to guide her to sitting next to Bril. A caress of one deep blue cheek was where she left it; couldn’t get too flirty with her friends when they were drunk and trusting her. Her first responsibility was their well being.

“I’ll be right back, kittens,” she promised them, kissing the sleeping Zabrak on the forehead and then the Chiss on the other cheek. “Watch out for him, okie? You probably know this but turn him if he throws up. You too. Be riiiight back! Can you do that for me, good girl, wait five minutes?”

A dazed nod was all she could manage, staring at Minnie with a stupid smile on her face. She pulled Bril close and let the much taller Zabrak lean on her as he dozed.

“I have him, Minmin… I-I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”

Her eyes seemed to unfocus a bit as the physical connection to her botmun’i caused her to reach out with the force…

Oh.

Her red eyes widened and her flush deepened, bordering on an almost pure purple now. She shook her head, then gave Minnie a drunken, crooked smile to reassure her that she could do this, at least.

Bril’s dream kept playing in the background of her mind.

Luka watched from the bar as the table began to clear, each headed to their rooms. It was certainly late. They dreaded the trip back, another week or so alone in the cramped space of their beat-up Syck. They would have to set out early.

“Table needs some water, but I’ll be turning in for the night.” After tipping the bartender, unsure whether it was on an Arcona-wide tab or not, Luka left for the elevator up to their room.

As they passed Diy, they placed a hand on her shoulder briefly. “Goodnight, love,” they murmured, though did not stop for a reply. To the table they blew a kiss and gave a little wave before gesturing to the waiter arriving with their water. Have fun, you two.

The crash was immediate upon entering the lift. They leaned heavily against the wall as they watched each floor pass by. For once, they were looking forward to a room of their own.

Gui grabbed Diy by the hand and he felt energized.

“Let’s find out, yeah?” He spoke with excitement and a twinkle in his eye.

Barry tugged at his robes but the Kiffar ignored it.

“Come with me. I have so many questions and the answers have eluded me for too long,” he smiled, “besides, I hear those electrical storms are amazing. If I could harness it-” his mind started to wander.

Barry tugged harder, shaking his head..

“We’re staying near by, i’ll probably see you in the hallway, you guys go enjoy yourselves!” she said to the group as it exited to the lifts. Looking over to Doon she seemed to avoid his gaze a bit, rubbing her ears “So um…Ill be seeing you around…maybe we can go on that date sometime!” she seemed to hide away from his gaze, dashing away after somewhat yelling her intentions. She never mentioned her number or even where shed be staying. It was obvious she was either quite shy, or had no idea what she was doing.

Diy blinked, a bit surprise and taken aback by the sudden surge of enthusiasm. It echoed vibes from romcom holovideos, man takes female leads hand, gets on a knee and professes his love at the most misunderstood time. This wasn’t that, but the mental connection had her bursting into a laugh.

“Sorry, no, I,” the faux-Zelosian stifled her laugh and paused, thinking on his suggestion and not retracting her hand yet. She didn’t need to, her life was starting to get figured out, in a good place, and with people she actually cared about. A part of her, the part that occasionally gets glimpses of camping in the arid landscape, of a woman’s voice singing, smells she can’t place and long forgotten. That part of her was drawn to the offer…

“I don’t know,” Diy finally replied, giving his hand a small squeeze before sliding from his grip. She offered a small smile. “I have some business I gotta settle before can take a trip across the galaxy – but it ain’t a no, kay? I just need a minute to think about it.”

She paused and fished out her commlink, holding it up between two fingers. “Why don’t we swap info ‘n’ keep in touch, eh? Get to know each other first before whiskin’ away to some planet location?”

Barry spun around and slapped his metal hands against his hips, striking an ‘I told you so stance.’

Gui, only slightly devastated, exchanged contact info. Diy’s hip rotator made his neuro processor twitch with hope as he gave her a smile.

“Definitely!” he squeaked and coughed. “I’d like that.”

Barry stomped his foot as Gui tried deepening his voice for the last part. The tiny droid was no Casanova, but he knew that this exchange was, well. Something.

“I look forward to seeing you again.” He said, standing up to flip the bartender a credit for the drink.

“Right back at ya, vornskr,” Diy winked, her wide grin from earlier returning as she noted the intentional voice change. Having already payed earlier, she gave the bartender a nod bidding good evening when she stood too before seagreen eyes flashed back to Gui.

“Until then, yeah?” She turned to head off and raised a hand, calling over her shoulder as she walked off, “Talk to later, Gui. Barry.”

The Gamorrean henchmen squealed as it eyed Titius step off of the shuttle and into an area outside of Juda’s office. The small market outside was known for its assortment of meats. Juda, a Zabrak carnivore enjoyed having it close by. Still, the smell of rotting guts and entrails at times lingered into the streets making air quality around the shack questionable at best.

Like a festering neon distraction, Titius’ eyes were pulled away from the area of commerce and instantly fixated on a rather large building surrounded by signage.

Just above the main door was a strange spiked emblem that looked as if it were bleeding and just inside was the possibility of an increasingly prosperous future for anyone willing enough to hear out the Don of Zsoldos.

There were endless possibilities inside. All one had to do was enter.