Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Watching his vod fight, Range sat still on the stool, relaxing, ducking slightly as a bottle flew past him. Finishing his drink, the small rodent then turned to see an ugly pair, a Bith as well as a Rodian coming forward, wielding for the life of them, a metal pole each. What were they, commong thugs? This was hardly worth his time.
Taking both his knives out, Range looked up to the pair of them, smiling.
"Well then, bug-face and bubble head, what can I do for you?" his highpitched laughter broke out, cutting through all other noise in the area, even the battle.
The pair of thugs merely advanced, looking menacing. Sighing, the rodent leapt into the air, flying with a dive through the Rodians legs as if they were a guiding hoop. As he flew past, his wrist blades flashed and the green skinned creature dropped to the ground, both legs having had their tendons neatly snipped.
Looking to the Bith, the Chadra Fan smiled and watched the look of surprise on it. Opening his mouth, the rodent let out a group of echolocation bursts, things that only he and the Bith could here from the fequency of it. The bubbleheaded alien dropped to the floor, hands holding its head as it convulsed from the noise. With one final burst, it went down, blood pooling out from its ears.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)Yup. That's a Sith alright, Sal thought, watching him swing his lightsabers into opponents. I could engage, but ... I SHOULD engage, but... I'd... die like a youngling...
The thought ripped across Salvador's mind, leaving in its wake the stink of shame. He did not want to engage in such cowardice, but the thought of letting this Sith kill him pointlessly (and he would die... Salvador's skill with a blade had impressed many, but he still had not trained to handle two blades, let alone the sheer anger driving the hand of a wielder of the Dark Side) kept him in his seat.
He had to wait. Wait for a moment to strike. Wait until the Sith let his guard down, and do... something. Anything. Finish... his work on the men around him? Be struck down himself?
... wait.
There was something he could do. Something subtle, but that might save a few lives. Getting up from his chair, he slowly worked around the periphery of the battle, and snuck up to one combatant, who wheeled around and was ready to strike the young man down before he could even raise a weapon. Little did the thug know was that Salvador's weapon was already at the ready, but it could not be seen or touched by mortals.
Salvador locked eyes with the cronie, and before his blade could bite his flesh, he spoke the words, "You want to run," quickly, surely, affectingly. The thug blinked, and parroted the phrase, saying, "I want to run," almost in disbelief. Salvador raised his eyebrows, looking to the door, and, admittedly with hesitance, headed for the exit, in a half-run, but a run nonetheless.
Sal sighed. After all that practice, it worked, he assured himself. And just as quickly, he moved on to the next man...
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema watched a young man wander into the bar, certainly aware of what was going on. He came in anyway? Was he crazy? Still, he seemed like he was--
Oh, he's screwing with their minds. I guess it's better than them kil--
Her thought was cut off as she was shoved aside by two men trying to wrestle each other to the ground. Stumbling away from them, she frowned as the sharp pain in her ribcage shot deeper into her chest. Well, that injury is worse now. She bore it stoically, but in her own mind she had to run through her childhood lessons to keep that composure as she fought the injuries hindering her.
No pain without fear.
No fear without chaos.
The only chaos you can control is inside you. Hold it back.
She couldn't control this fight, she couldn't stop these brawling thugs, and she couldn't even stop them from hurting her, but she could control her reactions. As long as she was in control there was nothing to be afraid of.
Finally her fingertips found the doorframe, and she pulled herself toward it, arching her lekku away from the grasping hands of yet another bar patron. Once out the door, she leaned on the outside wall of the cantina and took a deep breath, clenching her teeth against the pain in her ribs. Didn't matter; it was worth it just to get a breath of open air.
Idly she reached down into her bag to check on her snake, looking for more indications that she'd successfully taken control of the situation. Her fingers dove down into the purse, searching for the smooth, cool ball of python that should have indicated that Haly was right where he'd left him.
Oh... man.... she whined to herself silently.
She looked back over her shoulder. She could leave. It was an option. But that would mean going back to her room alone. Back to the Revenge alone and being alone there, too.
I'm going to become one of those old spinster lizard ladies, she thought as she craned her neck to gaze back into the chaotic cantina. One fleeing patron shoved her roughly out of his way as he fled the bar, and as soon as he was gone she plunged back into the cantina.
Her eyes scanned the floor between shifting feet, scraping chair legs, and falling patrons. She'd never find him like this. He was designed to camouflage himself, and his instincts for secreting himself away and hiding were far better than her instincts at finding him.
She caught sight of that nice young woman with the blue hair, as well. There was a high, near-inaudible whine as she activated her bracelet. The whine died as the weapon reached its highest setting. This was a little irresponsible. She wouldn't even be able to touch anyone with her left hand while it was charging away like this.
Do I really need to be careful of anyone in here?
A quick glance around the room confirmed that aside from Iria, Alema didn't actually care who lived or died. Deciding that it would be unconscionably rude to leave the girl cursing and struggling with a man twice her size, Alema made a very different sort of approach. With the measured sliding step of a dancer she slipped back into the main brawl.
Why is it so much easier to get into a fight than out of it? Almost a life lesson right there, she thought.
She dodged another randomly-swung blow, and winced as she heard the man's fist hit the bar. That couldn't have been good. One less fist for her to fear, though. She couldn't regret his injury. She forced her way over to the bar so that Iria's opponent stood between them. Thankfully she didn't have to overpower him to hurt him, just touch him. She reached up and dipped her fingers down below his collar, pressing her palm against his neck. He didn't notice the touch until a wave of pleasure flickered across his nerves. It hit hard and it hit fast. His muscles relaxed as he stopped feeling the pain from his own injuries, and while it regrettably made Iria's job a little harder in the short term... if Alema could just hold onto him...
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Iria was amazed at how quickly the small fight had explosed into a full out chaotic mess. She could see flashes of golden fur as Cuyan moved about the battle, helping as it felt the need to. Her brothers were in effect kicking shebse to the point of it being almost one sided for them. She was struggling but she was not giving up. So what that she didn't have armor. It just help on keeping down the amount of wounds gained.
When she saw Alema back in the fight she was at first surprised, which gained her another cut from the bandit infront of her. Iria didn't know what Alema was trying to do by holding on to the back of the man's neck but it didn't matter it was enough of a distraction for Iria to bring her boot up into the man's 'bread basket'.
The man doubled over with the wind and some of his dinner knocked from him. His hands releasing their grip on his knives slightly. That was a good thing in Iria's opinion. She used the moment to loosened grip to kick the knives from his hands and then aimed her elbow for his throat. She wasn't sure what Alema's actions did but it seemed to have an effect alright.
The guy was now up and looking off focus but not going down yet. "Osik." she hissed as his left fist connected to her jaw...
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Kane saw the mans fist slam into Iria's jaw and his rage grew. The few combatants between him, Iria, Alema and the thug were knocked aside as a big right hand sailed through the air catching the big mans nose. Blood sprayed everywhere as cartilidge broke through the skin and his nose almost effectively spread across his face. Without checking whether the man had gone down Kane turned to give Iria a hand.
" Copaani Gaan Vod'ika? Ni HuKaatii'ni Shebs ti kama! Oya!" ( Need a hand? I'm covering your back! Let's hunt!)
Kane knew despite Iria's diminutive size she would have given her assailant some serious pain. Kane himself despised men who hit women and once he had finished helping his Vod'ika, he would turn his attention back to ripping the man a new hole!
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
The Mandalorian who'd come to Iria's defense sent her assailant stumbling backward, and for a moment the man was too disoriented to hit back. He stumbled back into Alema, who wrapped her arm around the front of his chest. Thinking perhaps that he'd been caught in his fall by a friend he put his hands up to his nose to check it, and heard a woman's voice in his ear.
"Rudeness," she said. "Is a disease."
She had no way to know if he heard her before his back stiffened and his legs buckled from under him. She let him drop and pressed her hand, still slick with the dark, warm blood from the gash on her arm, against his neck. His nervous system continued to overload and she turned him over onto his back. She looked down at him, listening calmly to the crackling and gurgling that let her know the man was choking. A decent person would perhaps have turned him on his side to give him time to recover. A decent person might even have simply finished him off.
Alema didn't care. Despite the impressions held by her acquaintances on the Revenge, their twi'lek comms officer and resident domestic was not as naturally warm and caring as they believed. Some of her close friends might be surprised to see her crouch on the floor during a bar brawl and coolly watch a man die.
But that's just what Alema did. She watched his muscles tensing randomly as his nerves fired completely without order or sense. She leaned back against the underside wall of the bar, keeping her eyes on her enemy but letting her mind wander. This process was one of the grimmer facets of her training. How to tell when she'd received a beating she could live through... and when she hadn't. She'd definitely broken at least one rib. No way to tell if more than one had gone.
It'd take weeks to heal without bacta, and that would be incredibly inconvenient without proper painkillers. She didn't trust them, though. Best to find some bacta, though it might mean returning back home to the Revenge.
The fight still raged in some corners, but it looked like people were getting tired. The only people left in combat now were the ones who truly enjoyed it. Alema noted that, as usual, many of those seemed to be her allies.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Kane turned to see Alema putting the finishing touches to her assailant, a wicked grin at the Twi'lek confirmed to her that kane agreed with her methods. Without a word Kane strode to the bar, picked up a salt container and smashed it. Kane poured salt into his hand before striding back over to the fallen man. Still convulsing and barely alive as blood still gushed fro0m where his nose used to be, Kane crouched over him and spoke, " Let me assist with the bleeding". Kane then pushed his salt filled palm into the mans wounds. He couldn't scream as he choked to death but the increase in pain would be enough to finish him off.
Standing once more and without looking at Alema, Kane spoke . " Nothing less than he deserved, are you Okay?"
The Mando'ad knew she was, the beautiful blue alien had handled her self quite well and that was enough to gain Kanes respect!
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
The man's fist connected hard with her jaw making her step backwards, her grip did not release on her Verpine, but her beskar dagger dropped to the floor. She was reaching for it when Kane's fist hit the man's nose and literally opened it up. As the man went down and Kane offered his hand to help her up, Iria was torn between embarrassment and annoyance. Did Kane think her weak and unable to fight? Or was he just being a 'big brother' and helping her out just because he could?
Then his words sunk in. " Copaani Gaan Vod'ika? Ni HuKaatii'ni Shebs ti kama! Oya!" ( Need a hand? I'm covering your back! Let's hunt!) She had to smile and nodded as she checked her Verpine and put her dagger away. "Oya Manda!" Iria replied with an impish grin. She'd been impressed with the blue hued twi'lek lady too.
Cuyan came pelting out of the air a moment later literally knocking Iria off her feet. The strill was covered in blood and gore from those it had taken down. Iria ran her fingers over the wiggling strill and made sure Cuyan was not hurt. Only a few minor cuts and maybe some bruising.
The chaos had finally dropped, only a few where still fighting. The barkeeper shot his head up and swore. "WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGES?" he half yelled and grumbled; looking around at those still standing...
"If you give us our drinks, I am sure we can work something out." Iria said brightly as she ordered the drinks for her, Arumi, and the twi'lek lady along with a second bowl of milk for the strill. "Kane what were you having to drink?"
Iria nodded to the twi'lek lady, as she held out her requested blue milk, "Here is your drink."
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Kane smiled at iria " I'll have a Corellian strong ale, I need it after that"
Blood still ran down from the wound he had picked up, it was neither deep nor gushing with blood but it hurt.
Looking down to the wound he couldn't help but comment. " If this scars my tattoo, I'm gonna hunt down that mans family and slaughter each and everyone of them for just knowing him"
Kane took the beer and downed half of it in one go. He wasn't one for getting drunk but it would help dull the pain until he could get it seen to.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema waved off Kane's concern and stood with one hand on the bar. She didn't like to concede the necessity of something to lean on, but it was better than openly displaying the pain in her ribcage. These half-mad Mandalorians could deal out punishment like no one else, but Alema could take it at least as well as they could, possibly better.
Some trade-off, she thought.
The fight was dying down now, and her new Mandalorian allies seemed utterly unconcerned with the remaining straggling fragments of combat sputtering out around them. She grabbed a napkin from the floor next to a broken table and pressed it to the wound running blood on her arm, deactivating her bracelet before she unthinkingly touched one of her allies.
She accepted the glass of blue milk from Iria with her clean hand--the one not covered in her own blood--and chuckled. "Thank you, miss. I'd... forgotten that you offered me a drink." She shook her head and let her eyes wander across the bar's floor. Haly was somewhere in here, and seeing Iria with Cuyan only annoyed Alema. She wanted her python. "If you'll excuse me a moment, I need to try something."
She took her glass of milk and made a lap around the edge of the main room. Her eyes scanned shadowed corners, fallen debris, and refuse from food and drinks that had been lost in the chaos. Occasionally she took a sip from her glass. She clicked her tongue and tapped the floor with her foot at intervals. Sometimes it worked in her quarters to let the snake know that he could expect attention if he came to her.
The twi'lek had made a full circuit of the room before her bizarre behavior got her anywhere. She knew quite well how odd she must have looked wandering around tapping her toes on the bar floor, but when she passed an unconscious patron on the floor, a large brown and yellow snake slithered out from beneath the man to follow her footsteps. Alema turned with a gasp of delight and scooped him up off the floor, setting his familiar weight back over her neck.
When she returned to the bar it was with a very confused snake curling over her shoulders. "Poor thing," she murmured to him. She proceeded to babytalk at the reptile in her own language until he turned to stretch out and flick his tongue toward Iria, apparently deeply interested in the nearby strill. "Don't tease it," she told Haly, pulling him back with one hand. "Sorry, miss. He gets a little cocky when he thinks he's got the big blue woman to protect him. I think Kane and I have met at least once, briefly, but I can't even remember if we were introduced before the fight broke out. My name's Alema, though I also go by Cobalt. Are you okay?"
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Iria gave a wry grin. "A promise is a promise." she said with a nod and watched with curiosity as Alema walked around looking for something. Hearing Kane's comment about scarring and remembering that they'd all gained some wounds. Iria handed over some credits to the barkeeper and asked for his med kit.
She held out a bacta patch to Kane, "This should keep it from scarring." It was going to sting like fire though. Good and bad points about bacta. It worked but it was NOT pleasant as it worked.
She tilted her head gently at Alema. "Iria and this is Cuyan," she motioned to the strill whose red rimmed eyes were on the python. Iria patted the strill's head gently and told it to behave. She put some bacta over the strill's wounds and then looked up at Alema. "Do you want a hand with your wounds?"
He only got five out of the brawl. Two of them in the thick of things, and three after things had died down and they were too disoriented to resist him. He felt like a failure. He had preserved the lives of five criminals, thugs who would most likely go out, count themselves lucky, and flaunt their fortune at the cost of innocent others.
But he'd preserved life. The Jedis would praise him for that small fact. It felt like a hollow victory.
He reassessed the scene. There was a Mando, a human, and a twi'lek at the bar. It felt like the setup to a bad joke. Knowing he didn't quite stand out just yet, he headed to the bar, and sat a bit away from them, eavesdropping, looking for ... a chance to insinuate himself into their ranks? Incriminating evidence to some bigger evil? He was a detective without a crime, or at least, one any authorities would care about.
So, he'd play it by ear. There was sure to be SOMETHING they'd talk about that perked his attention. And, who knew? Maybe he could do a little more good...
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema put up a hand as if to keep Iria back. "You're very kind, but other than the cut on my arm I think surface treatments aren't going to help. I'll probably have to get myself into a tank tonight,"
Which means going home, she thought with dismay. She was like a child who didn't want to go home when the streetlights came on.
She grabbed a dirty bartowel from the floor and held it to her arm to stall the bleeding. "I'll be fine. I promise I've weathered worse than this without bacta. You guys take care of each other," she finished with a nod.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)That was quick.
Without making eye contact, Salvador reached underneath his jacket, and pulled out a small medpac, good only for small wounds, but still sufficient to truly treat the wound.
"I'm trained in first response medical care, miss," he said, finally making eye contact. "May I assist you?"
This may not get me any trust from her, he thought to himself, but at least I'll get some satisfaction from helping another sentient being... I'll still come out on top for this...
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema pursed her lips slightly, a subtle sign of annoyance. "I'm not badly hurt. Really. If you have some clean gauze in there, that would help but beyond that..." She shrugged. "Beyond that, I know what to do. Nobody in this galaxy can live for three decades and not take a beating or two," she explained.
She sighed softly. She didn't want to be rude to the young man. He was expressing concern for a stranger and offering her assistance. Commendable actions, and they didn't deserve a cold rebuff. Alema just... didn't want him closely inspecting her.
"Here, hold on a moment," she said, turning away from the others briefly. She waved the young Jedi over and pulled the towel away from the long laceration on her forearm. It started as a shallow scratch on the back of her wrist down and continued down at an angle almost to the inside of her elbow. When she pulled the towel back, blood welled up slowly and she wiped her blue skin clean with a frown of impatience.
They were only visible upon extremely close inspection, but against the even blue skin on the inside of her arm were a number of long-healed trackmarks. One of the few visible markers remaining of her past. Dark brown eyes rose from the marks to meet Salvador's and she shook her head once, just slightly. The message was clear. This wasn't worth discussing.
"See? Nothing major. Cleaning it and covering it should be enough for now."
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
"Mm. ..." He met her eyes. "A little antiseptic, a little bit of spray bandage, and you'll be just fine."
He had noticed the trackmarks. They were small, yes, but he'd seen them before. From what he could tell from her reaction, she was ashamed of it, or simply didn't want to discuss it. Most likely it was too complex to talk about, and it wasn't really pertinent to anything right now, so he left it be, and would continue to do so until it became relevant, which he highly doubted it ever would.
He examined his medpac, and pressed the button to open the device. He pulled out two small canisters, with different labeling. Shaking them both at the same time, he stowed the spray bandage in his teeth as he sprayed on the antiseptic, then switched the two, sealing up the wound.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema had stoically borne the attentions of a stranger to her injuries. It was appropriate somehow, that an injury caused by a stranger should be tended by one. "It didn't hurt much to begin with, but I appreciate the assistance." She took her arm back and shook her torn sleeve down to cover her skin once more.
"But I'm being very rude. We haven't even been introduced. My name is Alema. Will you have a drink?"
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
"Oh, of course," Salvador cordially responded. "And my name is Salvador Messiah, but you can call me Sal."
Kindness goes so far so quickly... This Alema accepts me already. ... Wait. Am I going to wait for my moment, and then betray this trust of this nice woman? That would be without honor. I ... I will befriend her. Nothing more. What happens, happens.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Arumi finished his last thug before moving towards the females. He spotted the wound on the Twi'lek, one that would take a little bit to heal. He placed a hand on her shoulder and pressed through himself the force. Causing a chain reaction in her body to speed the healing process.
" I am Arumi Zy. Of Clan Bralor. It is a pleasure to meet you Alema is it. Hmm Iria perhaps she should prepare to leave before more jedi are attracted her. As for you jedi, next time you interfere with a kill then you will taste mandalorian steel. For now you are excused from death"
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Alema felt a man's hand on her shoulder and tensed, but when the force of his will began to seep into her body, the feeling was familiar. It was dark and aggressive in a way that had comforted her in the past.
Sith?
She turned to face him, rolling one shoulder as his energy left her and she felt like herself again. Her ribs still weren't perfectly healed, and she wouldn't be able to tell about the cut on her arm until she removed the bandage, but the man had obviously done something."Thank you for your attention, sir." She chose to try and ignore the bizarre moodflip from generous stranger to hostile killer. It was truly odd, and Alema hoped that she wouldn't find herself on the wrong end of that emotional pendulum.
"And Salvador has been very courteous. I'm glad you're not interested in leaping into battle again, sir," she said pointedly. "It's not my specialty and I've had quite enough for one day." As an afterthought she added, "And Salvador, I was just here to get a few days away from home, a little quiet personal time, but..." She shrugged helplessly with a sheepish smile. "It was not meant to be."
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Iria raised her eyes brows at Arumi but didn't really know what to add to his comment. "Here to relax nice to know that, plans like that can go poof." she said with a wry grin. She finished tending to her wounds and handed the barkeep the med-kit back. "Want to regroup somewhere else for drinks and relaxing?" Iria asked looking from Alema, Kane, to Arumi. She wasn't sure about the jedi.
Cuyan stretched and yawned before sitting down beside Iria's boots, starting to leave a drool pool once again....
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Kane smiled, "I think we are safer here, a new bar may lead to a new fight. Now I have no doubts we could win another, but I came for a pieceful drink and this is our territorz now"
Kane turned and held his hand out to indicate a new beer to the bartender. There was a little hesitation before the beer came.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Iria gave an impish grin and figured what the heck. She ordered another blue milk for Alema, got another for Cuyan and asked the barkeep to refill Arumi's drink and then Kane's.
She ordered a new Corellian Brandy for herself and took a slow drink from it before nodding that the barkeep to get the Jedi a drink as well. Might as well see what he'd do.
"Here's to a calm relaxing drink for us all." Iria said after a moment.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)Oh, excused from death, am I? How kind, how charitable. I bet Mando steel tastes like Endor chicken...
He then blinked, noticing Iria. "Oh, you're buying? Thank you, I appreciate it..." He turned to the bartender and asked for an orbalisk. He loved that drink, having gotten used to it at the temple long ago. It was a reddish-orange beverage, concocted of various fruit juices, and looked very elaborate. But it didn't have a drop of alcohol.
It was a bit ironic. He was trained to fight the Dark side, and now he was drinking something named after something that fed on it.
Re: Relax, Regroup, Yeah Right, (open)
Iria made sure that everyone had their drinks and then settled onto a stool at the bar near Kane. She nodded as the Jedi accepted the drink.
Cuyan lapped up the milk from the new bowl that Iria had gotten, not even spilling any as the strill drank.
The strill finished before the others and then stretched before sitting down near Iria's stool, looking around the room as if nothing had happened. Only minutes before.
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