A Conversation

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She gave Jamie a suspicious look, but then quickly turned back to the Pazaak machine.

Playing Pazaak, she had been told, was all about persistence and betting with your winnings. You played off of a certain amount of money but never dipped below what you started with once you started winning. She had already broken that rule, but now that she remembered it...and wanted to prove herself she most certainly would not be doing it again. "Watch this."

She said with all the confidence in the world, taking another drink and starting another round.

This time Aela began to play a bit faster, beating the timer and playing the cards in a near instant. Before the Waitress even returned Aela had managed to blitz through three rounds of Pazaak, winning two of them and only losing a small bet on the third. She gave a twitch of a smile as she started the fourth, drawing a very good hand.

"We'll have to try Sabaac later." She told her padawan.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"You'll have to try it. Not I." She was still anti-gambling. Aela was already falling victim to the addiction, whether or not she knew it. The excitement and energy behind playing the odds was what hooked you.

Besides, Jamie had spent a ridiculous number of credits so far, more than she cared to check even. More so than many people earned in a month's salary. She considered that for a moment, her neck muscles flaring as her lips pulled back in a sort of eek expression. Half of that was quite literally on expensive fruit. The other half, or at least most of the other half was a quirky, perhaps useless artifact of the Force. And the only other item she'd picked up was a stylish handbag that Aela had made fun of her for. That put her in the ballpack of somewhere around 12,000 credits spent in a matter of perhaps two hours.

Yikes.

The waitress returned shortly after Aela began the fourth round of Pazaak, setting down six small glasses, each pair filled with a mystery liquid of varying colors.

"These three are yours, Miss not a beginner." She proudly exclaimed, picking up one very dark shot with a burning odor, handing it to the girl while she picked up the other. "Ready?"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela frowned for a moment and looked at the glasses.

She had no idea what the liquids were, but none of them looked very appealing. For a moment she glanced at her own drink and then back at Jamie. "No."

Almost gingerly Aela picked up one of the tiny glasses from the tray, looking at it, inspecting it and then carefully putting her nose over it. One sniff sent her half reeling back in repulsion. It smelled like a mix of motor oil and...garbage.

"What is this stuff?" She asked Jamie. "Is it used to clean engine parts?"

That's what it smelled like.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"It doesn't matter." She pushed the glass closer to the girl's mouth. "You're not a beginner right? Right?"

It didn't matter to Jamie whether or not Aela drank the shots, it was a win-win no matter what she did. If the girl backed out she would simply call her out on it, and if she did drink it, she would get the pleasure of seeing someone unused to alcohol get tipsy turvy. A terrible grin widened, the whites of her teeth flashing as she waited for Aela to make up her mind.

"It's just straight alcohol. No mixers, no fruity masks, no syrups."

Jamie couldn't help but laugh. "But one of them is minty. You'll have to find out which."

Egging Aela on was now the focus of her efforts. The idea of seeing this quiet, reserved, easily embarrassed woman drunk? It was almost more funny to imagine. "Just drink it. Don't be scared."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She smelled the liquid again.

For a moment Aela thought about using the force to blunt the alcohol. Poison control was a skill that most Jedi learned over time by simple nature. It prevented toxins from properly moving through your bloodstream, sometimes stopped them altogether if the poison was mild enough. Alcohol certainly counted under that list, and it was how she had managed to survive going undercover as a Crime Lord, but here?

Aela looked at Jamie's face, the wide smirk, the mischief in her eyes.

She couldn't help but look down at the bracelet for half a moment, thinking about that feeling Jamie still felt deep down inside. The glance lasted half a second at most, but somehow it made the connection stronger, if only for a moment. At that moment all hesitation drifted away, so did the desire to cheat. Jamie was trying her best to have fun, and if this was her idea of fun then Aela wouldn't shirk away from it just because it made her a little bit uncomfortable.

The Jedi Marshall, famed for the liberation of Coruscant took a deep breath.

Then she downed the liquid in her glass.

She slammed it down on the table and picked up the next, downing it quickly, not even letting it rest on her tongue for half a second, then she repeated it a third time, slamming the glass down.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie blinked. She hadn't even drank the first glass before Aela drowned herself in three. Her mouth fell partway open as she looked at the woman in shock.

"Wh...W" She blinked again, astounded. "You......"

Did she just do that?

The younger girl's brows angled, a look of astonishment along every inch of her face. She simply couldn't believe that Aela had done it shy of two seconds flat. However, she would not be outdone simply because Aela had surprised her with rapidly downing each of her shot glasses in a heartbeat and a blink of an eye. The one Jamie had still been holding was tipped back and quickly swallowed, a grimace on her face as she coughed once before picking up the second and third glasses with either hand. The clear liquid was thrown back, followed by the second dark. A heavy lift and fall of her throat and she choked back the last few ounces of burning liquor, feeling her throat and stomach warm up almost instantly.

Setting the two glasses back to the table she shuttered her eyes and shook off the feeling from her head before turning back to Aela.

"Wow."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She burped.

"Was I not supposed to do it that way?" Aela asked, certainly feeling like that assumption was correct. Her throat burned and her stomach felt like it had just been flipped upside down, gurgling slightly as she sat there. For a moment she was stunned, and then a second later it hit. For a second the entire room was spinning her vision became blurry and she wasn't entirely sure if she wasn't about to fall over in her seat.

A giggle escaped her throat her hand immediately coming up to cover her mouth.

"Wow."

She heard the Pazaak dealer speak, though it didn't really register that it was him that had done the speaking. She took in a deep breath, trying to focus herself, hands coming to rest on her knees as the odd flipping of her stomach settled itself. "Proba--"

Aela giggled again.

"Probably should have eaten something today." It seemed like she'd made a mistake.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

There was a bit of snickering coming from Jamie as she watched and listened to Aela speak, laughter coming from the breaths through her nose.

"No. I didn't mean take all thr--" Her diaphragm contracted, sending her into a small fit of hiccuping. "Three at once."

She covered her mouth, knowing it would likely be a few minutes before the involuntary action would subside.

With her face partially obscured she spoke again. "I just wan--" Hiccup! "Wanted those so we didn't have to wait for each r--" Another squeak forced her body to bounce up and down. "Round."

All three at once was not a wise decision.

After closing her eyes for a second the blurred vision started immediately, not dangerously so, but enough that things were no longer quite in focus. There was one and a half of everything and it was slowly swaying from side to side. Aela laughing didn't help Jamie anyway, as whatever she laughed about was by association, hilarious to Jamie now as well. Trying to hold that back, while simultaneously hiccuping only made the nothing even funnier.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh." She didn't have hiccups, but she did find herself giggling every five seconds at one thing or another, mostly Jamie hiccuping in front of her. She snickered as the girl tried to speak, half breaking out into laughter.

'You didn't say that!" Her voice boomed a little bit two loud, the people at the Sabaac table just around the corner turning their heads towards the two drunk girls. "I thought we were supposed to drink them!"

That was what she had said...at least Aela was pretty sure.

She frowned for a moment, as if trying to force herself not to laugh at Jamie's constant hiccuping. The moment she frowned however she pictured herself frowning in her head which made her burst out laughing, once again nearly falling from her chair, only barely catching herself on the edge of the Pazaak table. The Dealer gently grabbed her arm, helping her back up to her seat while giving her a smile, clearly used to dealing with drunken idiots.

"Careful."

Aela looked at him with big eyes, having forgotten he was even there. She cocked her head to the side and looked at Jamie. "Do we know him?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I did--" Squeak! "I didn't mea--" SQUEAK!

Oh for karks sake!

"IDIDN'TMEANRIGHTAWAY!" She shouted as fast as possible to avoid the inevitable hiccup. The people at the other nearby tables likely assumed they were arguing over something related to the game, and not their rather stupid decision to knock back six shots between the two of them in under ten seconds. It seemed as though while Jamie had received the hiccup plague, Aela had lost all sense of balance, even while sitting. Everything was becoming rather comical, and whenever one started to calm down, the other broke out into meaningless laughter, which then prompted the other to start.

A vicious cycle.

Do we know him?

"No. We don't know him. He's the guy you're playing Patzchak with!" Patzchak? Is that the game? "Patsmack!" No...Poodoo, what is it!? "ZAKPAAZ. HE'S THE GUY YOU'RE PLAYING ZAKPAAZ WITH."

She jumbled the girls chips bucket, bracing one hand on Aela's shoulder for balance, though that may have likely been a bad idea as well. Aela wasn't quite the sturdy rock she had been several minutes ago.

"Remember!?" SQUEAK!

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Why are you yelling?" Aela's words came out so quiet that Jamie would likely have trouble understanding them, though almost immediately after asking she burst out into a fit of laughter that nearly sent her teetering over in the chair, almost taking Jamie with her if it wasn't for the stabilizing hand of the Dealer.

The man didn't say anything, he only looked at the two drunk girls and tried not to break out into laughter with them.

Eventually Aela managed to compose herself, at least somewhat. Taking in deep breaths and stopping her laughter long enough to actually sit up correctly in her chair. She grabbed Jamie's hand with her own, as if pinning her in place so that she wouldn't go anywhere. For a few seconds after Aela simply sat there, staring at the screen in front of her as if she was trying to figure something out but just quite couldn't. She waited a second more then turned to Jamie.

"I don't think we should play this anymore." She looked up at the dealer. "No offenssssseeee."

Her voice became somewhat high pitched as she nearly laughed in the dealers face, then slowly she leaned over to Jamie, dropping her voice to what she thought was a whisper. "Come on, this guy is creeping me out. He's just...standing there."

Aela eyed the Dealer, slowly trying to stand.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I'm yelling?" The blonde squinted, as if trying to look beyond Aela's pupils, into some kind of abyss that housed her eternal soul or something. Then she looked up at the man still standing incredibly patiently. Perhaps he was paid hourly and the less work he had to do the less he cared about watching the two at his table make a fool of themselves. He was nearly statuesque, by the manner he held himself still. He had to have been holding back laughter. If Jamie were sober and saw this, she would have laughed no matter how serious the situation were.

Jamie tapped the table, looking at Aela's bucket of chips, and their two mostly filled drinks still. "T'shame ta waste these, and look!" She said, shaking the bucket. "You have lots of chips still!"

SQUEAK! Her vocal chords chirped again.

OH COME ON!

"I thinnnk..." She leaned close to Aela, one hand on her shoulder, the other cupping her ear. "You're supposed to tip them after you play." She learned that in one of her ethics and economics classes at some point. Though how she drew on that knowledge in the moment was a mystery in itself. Jamie reached into the girl's bucket on her own, taking out a 100 credit chip and placed it on the table with a firm nod, pushing it slowly with her finger towards the dealer while the taller girl began to get up. "Hereyago!" She said with a bright, silly smile.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela nodded, then slowly stood up.

For a second she felt like she was going to fall down, her feet seeming as though they were a million miles away. She didn't even bother with taking her drink, mostly because...well she was entirely sure that ingesting it wasn't a very good idea at the moment. "Come....come on Jamie."

She pulled on her Padawan.

"Come oooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" Jamie was already standing up from her seat and half following Aela. She gave one more look at the dealer, slowly staring at him and then glancing up and down. She waggled his finger at him, and then turned. For a second she appeared as though she was about to walk away, but then suddenly she stopped.

Looking down she realized her backpack was still there. "Oh."

She glanced at the bag and then scooped it up, opening it and staring inside for a moment until she suddenly felt very sad.

"It's empty." Aela showed the contents, or lack therefor, to Jamie, frowning slightly. She glanced at the bucket, then unceremoniously dumped all of the chips she had left into the backpack. "Okay now we can go."

Momentary trauma over with Aela tossed the bag on her shoulder and held onto Jamie, both of the girls stumbling forward.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"B-B--" She swung her hand towards the table to try and grab the drinks as Aela pulled her away. "But!" A frown appeared as the other girl tugged her along. Though the moment Aela realized she'd forgotten her bag and rushed back to get it Jamie took the opportunity to flash another smile at the dealer and scoop up both drinks. She'd be damned if she was going to leave them on the table to be simply tossed away! They could always wait and drink them in a short while after all!

"The bag was always empty Aela!" She said, blonde strands of hair shifting from side to side as the Padawan shook her head. "Silly."

Her hand extended off to the side towards her master, "Here. Saved this for you. Waste of credits to leave it behind!"

A wide, almost victorious smirk cast itself over her as she lifted her own wine glass up to take another sip. If nausea wasn't yet already in her future, it shortly would be.

"Where are we going, anyway?"


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She took the drink without any real thought, taking a sip as though out of simple reaction. The drink still didn't take like any alcohol at all, infact...it tasted less like alcohol than before, something she would have pointed out to Jamie if she hadn't gotten distracted.

"THERE!" The screeched at nearly the top of her lungs.

"Sabaac!' She probably couldn't even comprehend the cards at this point. "Neil taught me how to play!"

She sounded so chipper. "He says it's super easy, that you can actually count the cards!"

As she spoke one of the black suited men seemed to turn his head slightly, apparently the mention of counting cards having drawn his attention. He watched Aela and Jamie closely for a second but then quickly realized the girls were...far too inebriated to do any counting.

"Sabaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac" She told Jamie. "Sabaac! Thabaaaaaaaaac!'

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie flinched as Aela screamed, pointing out the game table. That flinch turned into a cringe as she heard Aela tell her that Neil had taught her how to play. Even in her drunken stupor she remembered Neil, though she quickly discarded the expression so not to remind Aela. Instead she gave the fakest smile followed by an excited nod and tried to just roll past that moment in time as quickly as possible.

"You can count the cards? Isn't--" SQUEAK! "OH COME ON!" She exclaimed. "ENOUGH ALREADY!" The hiccups were becoming annoying now.

Before she had a chance to continue that thought it had slipped away from her, instead she sipped from her wine as Aela cooed the Sabaac table, almost longingly.

"Okay, okay! Let's go!"

There was a nearby table that a few people had just vacated, leaving the poor soul that ran the table to deal with the two obnoxiously drunk girls that stumbled their way into the seats. "Hi!" Jamie waived, setting her drink down on the table. "This is my friend! She wants to win all your chips! Right?" She dug her elbow into Aela's side a pair of times. "She said it's easy!"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Correct." Aela suddenly had a very serious expression on. She managed to hold it for a few seconds before she burst out into another fit of laughter, putting her drink onto the side of the table and chuckling to herself as she retrieved a handful of chips from her bag.

"Here." She dumped them infront of the dealer. The few players that had beens taring angrily at the two drunk girls quickly lost that look when they saw just how much money Aela had brought to the Table. Mostly because she was liable to lose all of it. "Gimmmmmmmmmmmme."

She made grabby hands. "Gimme cards."

The dealer stared at Aela in abhorrence for a few moments, glancing towards the guards that were nearby. They all shrugged at the man. Aela and Jamie still had their faculties...mostly, and she had more than enough money to play, and that meant the casino's were obligated to let them play, mostly because they wanted Aela's money.

As the dealer starting dishing out cards Aela took another sip of her drink.

"Okay. Jamie. Jamie. Jamie. Hey. Jamie." She poked her padawans side as she picked up the cards. "Watch."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Hey! Hey! HEY!" She said, laughing and squirming and batting Aela's hands away from her. "Stop that! You're gonna make me spill!"

Her drink was still in her hand. Force knew if she set it down again she might lose it if Aela decided it was time to go to another table. Now it was locked into her left hand, swaying and swishing along the inner walls of the glass, nearly cascading over the rim several times before she finally shooed the girl away and the dealer began the game.

A waitress began to walk towards the table that Jamie and Aela were sitting at, but was quickly given the hand towards the throat wave indicating that the woman should come nowhere near these two. Jamie gave the man a curious look for a second, turning around to see a waitress quickly do a one-eighty and walk the opposite direction. "Hey!" She started to say, turning back around to face the dealer. "Did you just tell her not to come over here?"

The man simply smiled back at Jamie. "Aela, he told the waitress not to serve us! RUDE."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

For a second she looked around, following the waitress with her eye just as Jamie was yelling at the dealer for shooing the woman away. She had been somewhat busy trying to understand what was going on in the game and before she knew it everything started.

Aela played her first hand, obviously losing. "Rude!"

She agreed a moment after Jamie called out the word. She had lost a hundred credits in one swoop with that hand, and in truth...she barely remembered how to play. A frown settled on her lips as she tried to concentrate, but it was really difficult with the cards moving all over the place and somehow transforming into double versions of themselves. She stared very intently at them for a few moments until finally she took another sip of her drink, something that made the dealer cringe.

"Jamie." She said in that 'whisper' tone. "I don't think I know how to play this game."

The words came as she pushed another stack of chips forward into the pot. "We should..."

She trailed off for a second.

"We should find something else to do." Maybe gambling just wasn't her thing. "I don't think they want us here!"

The last part was nearly a scream.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"You don't kn--" She leaned in close, whispering, but whispering so loudly that anyone who wasn't deaf could probably hear. "You don't know how to play!? I thought you could count the cards!"

This was a bad move. Jamie certainly had no idea how to play. She had never gambled, nor played much of these types of games in her life. If the other girl couldn't remember how to play, they may as well have just handed her chips over to the casino and walked off. Looking back up to the dealer who was far less amused than the last man, Jamie flashed an innocent looking smile. One that begged not to be violently thrown out into the street. "Sorry! We're going!" She stood up, grabbing Aela and pointing to the chips and her bag. "Grab those. Let's go. You lost I think. Let's cash out your winnings." Did Aela have winnings? Or did she just have a bit less than what she started with?

Hard to tell in this state.

"Drink that before we go." Jamie pointed towards the Felucian Sunrise still in the girl's hand, before tipping back her own glass and finishing off roughly half a glass of wine.

Definitely a bad decision.

[member="Aela Talith"]