A Rat's Celebration (Open to All)

[Nyx]

Setting: The Rat Hole​

One advantage to being a semi-successful Coruscant street gang was having your own cantina. Not only did you then have a place to conduct your less-than-legal business right under the Sith's noses, and a place from which to plan out various gang wars and conflicts, but you had a place where you had a pretty steep discount on drinks. Those were the thoughts going through Nyx's mind as she declared that the seventh anniversary of the Street Rat-Red Merge had officially begun, smiling as the cheers from the gang filled the air, joining the dense cloud of deathstick smoke that hung over the place.

The elderly bartender, Aunt Moxy, was offering drinks to any patrons, Street Rat or not, at an extremely discounted price; nearly free, in fact. It wouldn't be a party otherwise, would it?
In accordance to Street Rat tradition, any were welcome to join the festivities, provided they didn't cause trouble. For one night, grudges and hostilities were set aside in favor of having a good time. If the Dark Lord himself walked into the Rat Hole, they'd offer him a drink and challenge him to a game of pazaak.

Nyx herself was currently engaged in an armwrestling match with a Rhodian, who was immediately regretting his admittedly poor decision. The Street Rat had a rather formidable reputation for this sort of thing, after all.
It wasn't long before his arm was slammed into the table. Nyx smirked as her Rats erupted in cheers, exchanging bundles of credits among themselves.
An excellent start to an evening of debauchery.

 

[James Justice]

Nothing drew James than practically free alcohol--except free women. But women were off the menu tonight for James, he hadn't come alone. It was quite rare for him to come to a place like this alone, and a never for him to leave a place like this alone. After Sasha, James wasn't about to form any heart ties anytime soon so [member="Aveira Dax"] was here to stay--but James wasn't about to get his heart broken again.

That aside, he was here also because his new business associate and friend, Nyx, had invited him. The spacer wore his usual black leather jacket and matching pants with his dark tee shirt underneath that hugged his muscled body almost as tightly as the Zeltron on his arm had the night before. The DeathHammer strapped to his thigh clacked with each of James' step. This was the Underworld after all. And after dark. He left nothing up for chance.

Ah yes, the Underworld. Such wonderful memories. He loved that smell of putrid disgusting unrest. There was nothing quite like it in the offices James was forced to be Mr Serious CEO more hours than he knew existed in a day. But this smell, this grime, this level of debauched human anger and lust--this promised a good time. And credits. Always credits. Some days James wondered why he had ever become so successful; he loved this life.

The man gave Nyx a hearty back slap for her victory.

"Mate, it be good to see ye, and the congratulations are in order," he said with a winning smile as he offered his hand--and a cigarette. "[member="Nyx"], this is Ave, Ave, this is a business partner Nyx," he gave a grand gesture, "half the guns you see here passed from my fingers to her fingers."

 

[Aveira Dax]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Nyx"]

The Zeltron companion followed slightly behind James with the slight audible clank of her heeled boots as one of her arms remained wrapped around his nearest. Aveira was dressed in her usual long black trench coat unbuckled and revealing short black shorts and a matching black studded top revealing plenty of the woman’s lightly pink hued skin. Raven black hair with stripes of dark blood red cascaded down past her shoulders as the pair of dark brown eyes look from side to side slightly taking in the settings.

“Nice place.” She said then smiled slightly. Such cantinas and establishments always felt more like home than some pouche establishment. A quite nod that served more a slight bow was given towards Nyx. "Pleasure to meet you."

 

[Nyx]

Nyx spotted her associate and friend [member="James Justice"] enter the establishment, and her smirk grew even larger.
"Hey, Moxy!" She called to the woman, "Get me and my friends here a round, would ya!"
She took the offered cigarette gratefully, grabbing a nearby patron's light to ignite her own, patting him on the head as she handed it back. Her eyes roamed his companion, a slight smile on her face. James appeared to have good taste in women, another point in his favor.
"A pleasure, Miss Ave." She exhaled smoke. "It's not often we have a Zeltron in the Rat Hole."
She gestured for them to sit at her personal table, taking another drag of the cigarette.
"I have to say, Justice, it's good to see ya again. Those guns ya gave us have been putting the pain on the Sithies."
Across the bar, a small fight broke out among a Rat and a Tunnel Snake, but Nyx ignored it. As long as they didn't pull out knives or blasters, nothing was out of hand.
"Tell me about your friend here."

[member="Aveira Dax"]

 

[Aveira Dax]

[member="Nyx"]
[member="James Justice"]

Aveira watched the interaction between Nyx and James as the two friends exchanged greetings.

“I suppose not. It seems like a lot of my kind don’t travel, doesn’t it?” she asked rhetorically while pondering over the fact that she never really did see much full blooded Zeltrons since her sudden departure from Zeltros.

She continued to walk behind James while placing her free hand against the top of her corresponding hip. A small yet playful smirk crosses he face while she heard Nyx’s ask James about herself; leaving it for him to answer.

 

[Dion Kayl]

Dion, blindfolded, slowly raised his dart-- the tiny green projectile was grasped delicately between his powerful robotic fingers, which became perfectly still and poised-- and launched it with a nearly imperceptible flick of his wrist. A moment of stunned silence passed before cheers erupted, and someone whipped the bandanna off his eyes and shoved a beer into his hand. He'd won another game, this time without the use of vision; truthfully, he didn't need to see for his cybernetic body to calculate the simple trajectory of a bar dart, but the feat was nonetheless impressive to the assorted Rats and Reds around him.

It was odd, being both human and machine. Dion sometimes wasn't sure where he belonged, especially in social gatherings like this. Aside from his brain, there wasn't much of him that was still organic, and while people generally treated him like a human, there was an uncanniness to his being that he couldn't quite reconcile. Forcing laughter, Dion raised his beer to the others who did likewise, and then pretended to drink a swig. Alcohol was another thing he had trouble dealing with these days-- people were always getting drunk around him, and Dion preferred to keep a sober head. Explaining why was too much of a hassle, so he played along.

The cyborg wandered away from the gaming area and found a seat at an empty table, then sat and set down his nearly-full drink. Off-duty, Dion usually felt listless and out-of-place. Scanning the room, he observed [member="James Justice"] and [member="Nyx"], two of his employers, both of whom seemed to know how to have a good time-- perhaps that was why he found himself wandering the Underground, to learn from people like these two how to live. But did they really possess some secret? Probably not.

Dion turned to stare at his beer as it bubbled, lost in troubled thoughts.

 

[Dyxra'a]

Black boosts struck softly against the metallic ground beneath the feet of a figure who had shrouded their self in leather and shadows. A wide brimmed, stetson hat was pulled low over the figure's face, hiding all of their feature from view while a thick scar wrapped around their lower face hid what wasn't by the hat.. A dark brown trench coat was wrapped around the figure, the heavy coat obscuring the figure's form making it near impossible to tell the figure's gender. Loose fitting trousers reached down from where the trench coat ended at the knees to the top of the boots. A set of black gloves completed the ensemble, preventing any who gazed upon the figure from seeing any skin.

Pushing their way into the boisterous crowd of the celebrating populous of the underworld, the figure weaved their way around celebrating outlaws of both genders and varying species. As they brushed their way between bodies, the lack of height the figure possessed was made clear.

Just as they were passing past a table at which a dark haired female had just beaten a Rodian in an arm wresting match the figure was pushed. Stumbling slightly, knocking into the woman who was currently being addressed by a Human male and what the figure guess to be a Zeltron female. Murmuring a soft apology, the thick accent belaying no gender, the figure straightened themselves to her less than impressive height and continued towards where the alcohol was flowing from, immediately putting what happened out of their mind.

It was only when the figure was sitting in a shadowed corner of the cantina, that the figure's gender was revealed. Removing the hat from their head revealed the green scaled crest that ran along her head and the soft cheek bones of the feminine sort. Steel blue eyes glared out with a frozen anger as the scarf was removed. Pulling off the gloves, the female, Dyxra'a Khoez - a smuggler and pirate, lay them alongside the stetson and scarf before wrapping her hands around the drink before her, the sharpened nails tapping against the glass with a sharp sound.


[member="Nyx"]

 

[James Justice]

What did James know about Ave? Well, not much, to be fair, but it was common in his choice of women. He had preferred not to get too close. However, since his stint with Udrusa, and the way she had cost him a heavy deal with the Wraith fleet--he wasn't taking chances. His slicers and itnel crew were on a constant back check now, looking to make sure she had no affilations that would get in the way of his work. If they found something, James would simply do like had done many nights; wait till she was asleep in a hotel room, take his coat, clothes, and quietly leave, making himself a distant but very fond memory.

But enough of that, he grinned and leaned on the table, "She's a smuggler, doing some work for me, piloting, carrying goods, that sort of thing."

He said with a wink. However, the way he said "work" he said it with undertones that anyone who knew him knew it meant more than business. Of course, this was James Justice he was talking about. Any female he brought to a party with him--or with him from a party--it was clear what was going on.

That was when the barkeep brought a welcome drink to James. Ah, yes, alcohol. He took a few grateful gulps before continuing, "Mate, I be glad ye are on my side, I tell ye that," he said winking to Nyx. She was certainly not the type he wanted to anger. After she helped him take Dal'Bor as his town, he had a healthy respect and admiration for her. That said a lot, he respected few and admired even fewer. "The next shipment will be half off as a gift saying how grateful I am that ye made it this seventh year marker, and for your help recently of course."

[member="Dyxra'a"]
[member="Dion Kayl"]
[member="Aveira Dax"]
[member="Nyx"]

 

[TI-1027]

TI-1027 exited out of one of the many transportation ships that was next to the Cantina. He proceeded to make his way into the small building as he casually dusted off his leather jacket which had been decorated with various Imperial patches. From the days of when TI was in the Galactic Empire, he continued to make his way inside looking over the various patrons in the Cantina as he tried to find himself a place to sit away from the large crowd of people. Eventually he found a small booth over by one of the windows and made his way over bumping into several people before finally taking his seat. He gave off a slight sigh of relief before setting both of his feet onto the table in front of him attempting to get comfortable.

 

[Aveira Dax]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Dyxra'a"]
[member="Nyx"]

Aveira’s attention and eyes remained a little lower towards the ground as she continues to listen to the two friends speaking (James and Nyx.) A sudden blink was given then a further step closer to James as Dyxra bumps into her side then eases tension as she hears the quiet apology. The Zeltron’s hand moves over and feels against her side pocket of her trench coat, making sure nothing had gone missing.

“Yes. I am…quite flexible…at work.” She said quietly towards the two outlaws while that sly grin crosses her face once again.

 

[Toll Cade]

Cade stumbled on through the door to the cantina. He beelined for the bar, he needed to drink his troubles away. The celebration around him did not seem to affect Cade at all. This had been one of the worst days of business he has had yet. Bringing in illegal goods just to get stiffed and thrown in an alleyway. Damned criminals screwing around with him, last time he did business in Coruscant. He ordered a Corriellian Ale, reminiscent of home. Once the bartender gave him his ale, Cade decided to look around. 'Some sort of celebration.' he thought. Didn't care anyway.

Slowly he mulled over his day in reverse, big waste of credits and time could sum it up in one phrase. Sometimes being a merchant just wasn't worth it, and this was one of those times. He thought, 'You could have been something interesting like a smuggler, bounty hunter or even a soldier!' Then he shook his head, 'No you couldn't ya big idiot, probably would have ended up as some obese Hutt's guard, ready to die at an instant so the Hutt could enjoy his gluttony.' And so he sighed and nursed his ale, trying to blind the mind-numbing pain of his life in a rut.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Aveira Dax"]
[member="TI-1027"]
[member="Dyxra'a"]
[member="Nyx"]

James gave a knowing chuckle, as he slid his arm around Ave's lower back. She was, and he wasn't about to complain about her "work." Still, not here, not now. He needed to behave himself.

He let out a puff of a cigarette smoke into the air, thick and rich. His eyes roved around the cantina. Dion seemed to be having a good time, that was good. There was a minor drinking contest starting up. He would school them in how having two livers was truly an aid in consuming alcohol, later. And then he could see a familiar sight. One he himself had been before. A forelorn alien at the bar, pilot, most likely. Deal gone sour. Ah, too bad. He knew how that hurt, and he was more than understanding when it came down to that. As a free-lancer, before his luck had shifted dramatically, he had more than his fair share of shiftings and slightings on deals. What made him different was he always found a way to get back at the buyer. A shot to the forehead, a drive by blasting, gathering a few allies together and then maybe blowing them all to the Force. In a way, that was how he got here.

"Hey, mate, best not to drink alone," the spacer said raising his glass towards [member="Toll Cade"]. "Come over 'ere, drinks on me."

 

[Nim Stagnol]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Toll Cade"]
[member="Aveira Dax"]
[member="Nyx"]

Like a screeching sound of breaks hitting just before that unavoidable crunch that echoes from an accident that leaves a sickening feeling in your stomach; the sounds of breaking glass as something was thrown against a wall is heard while a tall towering human male who had to be at least six and a half feet tall and beyond well build glares down at a figure in a tethered brown pilot jacket with a black hoodie under with its hood up concealing, sat with a few playing cards in his small blue-green hands.

"You cheating pile of.." The human giant growled.

The voice ended as two large red-golden eyes look up from the hood glowing at the hugely massive man who easily outweighed the hooded card player. "You know you're full of it...right?" the sound of a scratchy deep voice; a bit like a heavy smoker, summoned from the smaller figure which caused the larger human to slam a fist against the table with a thud then draw a blaster down directly in front of the alien's head.

"A..Did I strike a nerve? You do summon enough brains in your skull to know weapon use is prohibited in here, right? That's a big word for not allowed." he continued to verbally assault the larger man, which only made the human grunt and grit his teeth waiting while playing with the trigger of his blaster.

.....The fool of course didn't see the masterful display of slight of hand as the alien moved under the table gripping something as he watched the brute silently.

 

[Toll Cade]

Toll looked over at the generous man, offering him drinks. Free beverages? Toll could never refuse free stuff, "If drinks are on you, I got nothing to lose." Toll lifted himself off the barstool and drifted over to the spacer. Toll began to strike up conversation, "Now, my good alcohol beneficiary, who might you be, and why spare credits for a pitiful fool like me?"

[member="James Justice"]

 

[Aveira Dax]

Notices the man beside her's reaction and wonders now if she had one something wrong. A small squeeze on his arm was given as if signaling to him her concern in some silent communication. [member="James Justice"]

She looks over towards [member="Toll Cade"] watching for his reaction to James' offer to a free drink and couldn't help but smile to his joyful acceptance.

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray walked into the cantina decked out in his full set of armor still on and his blaster pistol strapped to his right leg as always. He looked around the place and noticed a rather nice assortment of patrons. He was surprised, but he actually knew one of them. His new friend [member="TI-1027"] sitting at a table with his feet propped up. He pulled his helmet off and held it at his side as he walked over to the counter. He tried to hail for the bartenders attention in an attempt to order whatever was cheapest. A man with so few credits could use a drink, just not afford an expensive one.

 

[TI-1027]

TI looked up for a moment noticing the same Clone Trooper that he had seen a few days prior. "Hey! What are you doing here Old Man?" he said chuckling and taking his dirty black boots off the table. He soon saw the Trooper placing a few credits onto the counter of the Bar TI wondered to himself if that was all the Old Trooper had? He proceeded to get up from his table and towards the bar placing a bag full of Credits onto the counter. "Here, My treat." he said as the bag of credits jingled around.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="TI-1027"]

Gray was given the finest, most watered down piece of swill that credits could buy as he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He heard the clink of credits hitting the counter and had a quick burst of laughter. He was never one to turn down a drink, but it was kind of funny how big that bag was compared to his not even a stack of credits he had on the counter.

Gray turned and said, " Why thank you young man. It always warms my heart to see the youthful being so generous." He took a drink of his mystery drink before adding, " So what brought you here?"

 

[TI-1027]

He looked over at Gray before taking a sip out of an unattended drink next to him. "Yeah, yeah don't get to use to it. I gotta keep an image here." he said before gulping down some more of the unknown beverage. Slamming down the glass and wiping his mouth of any left over liquid with the sleeve of his jacket. "Ahh...Oh, i usually come here during this time of the day." he said while also yelling at one of the bartenders for another drink his cup banging against the counter before eventually a bartender came over quickly to refill his drink. "Thank you, you're a gentleman and a scholar." he said to the tender in a sarcastic tone before turning his attention back to Gray.

 

[Gray Raxis]

[member="TI-1027"]

Gray took another drink from his drink as the man spoke and ordered his next drink. He looked around the bar a bit as this happened. He said when he noticed his friend had turned his attention back onto him and said, " What do you normally do when you come here? Find a busty gal looking for a good time?" He took another drink before he added, " I would, but you know they don't like us fossils." Gray smiled as he finished speaking.