Arrogance Gets You Further Than Flattery

[Mino]

It was one of those very rare times in the young Mino's life that he started to have second thoughts. His right hand reached up, automatically and completely subconsciously, over his shoulder and gently wrapped itself around the hard wood of his only form of defense. Not drawing his unprofessional looking weapon, Mino stepped further down the very tall steps and was greeted with an even stronger smell of alcohol induced vomit. Side stepping to avoid a large wookiee, he made his way towards the bar.

The young Jedi Student had dispensed with his usual garments, not wishing to identify himself as having any connection to the Jedi as he quietly slipped his way through the Galaxy on public transport. He grew tired of following other Jedi around, not doing anything he wanted to do. He grew tired of constantly being watched as though his every action was part of some intense test. Boarding the first shuttle available, he had calmly moved from Ossus to Tatooine, Tatooine to Coruscant and then finally to the darkest and most sinister looking bars he had ever been to.

Reaching into the back pocket of his civilian trousers, Mino withdrew the identification the bar staff had requested from him. The card read "Mister Sylvester Weir, 28 Galactic Standard Years of Age". It was a card he had pick pocketed at some point on his travels.

"Cain and Strix, double shot." He said, after receiving his fake I.D back. "Set up a tab, and stick a 20 deck of Liewec smokes on there too." Mino had the cigarette between his lips within seconds of the pack being thrown down onto the bar. A further few seconds later, the cigarette was lit and the pale brown whiskey in the short yet wide glass was in his hand. He leaned back onto the bar, surveying the other patrons with casual interest as his combatant's eye automatically gravitated to the bulky, blaster shaped objects jutting out from people's coats. In the far corner, he could make out a collection of Pazaak playing cards strewn across a table whilst a Rodain quietly wept into his hands at everything he had just lost whilst two Chiss men in pilot's jackets gleefully assessed their winnings.

He took a sip of his drink. He took a drag on his cigarette. His eyes never stopped darting around the bar for any hint of a threat.

 

[Isabet Denko]

*BANG*

The noise reverberated off the walls of the bar, followed by what could only be the groan of a wookie in pain. A few seconds later a heavy boot kicked the door of the bar open. Isabet stepped in backward, calling out as she moved. "Next time you won't have a head!" Her voice was sharp and dangerous, but it was cut off as soon as it started. After silencing herself and shutting the door, the bar returned to it's usual quiet atmosphere.

Within a few moments she had ordered her drink, chugging it back in one gulp. Fights made her thirsty. She was comfortably aware of the male sitting next to her, but as per her custom, she made no effort to converse with him. This was her fourth planet visit. It was going well so far, though for some reason she hadn't managed to avoid socialisation as she had hoped. It was invigorating all the same.

@[member="Mino"]

 

[Mino]

Mino had barely flinched as she drew all eyes onto her with quite the spectacle. In fact, he frowned slightly at just how much of a scene she was needlessly creating. Yes, she was making quite a violent threat with enough confidence that made him think she might actually be able to pull it off; but the simple fact that she did not attempt to contain the commotion and seemed almost to enjoy having all eyes on her even for just that brief moment told him quite a lot. It told him, for example, that this woman wanted people to be slightly afraid of her: she enjoyed basking in the glow of other people's adoration and wonder and yet the only way she had been able to find this was by making them fear her. A slight smirk stretched his features as a voice in the back of his head calmly said the words: 'Troubled Childhood'.

Stubbing his cigarette out in the filthy ashtray provided, he turned his head to glance at the young woman once more. His eyes took in her fair yet uncared for hair, her dark eyes and almost vicious expression. It was as though the drink in her hand had dealt her a personal grievance. He noticed her small frame, bulked up with the heavy armour she wore and blaster at her hip.

"Why do I get the feeling that's not your first drink this week?" He spoke with his signature smirk of arrogance, his cocky demeanour quick to irritate most beings in this Galaxy whilst simultaneously preventing them from acting out against him. With one hand, he calmly flicked his second cigarette up and into his mouth, catching it between his lips before bringing the lighter up to ignite the end.

@[member="Isabet Kote"]

 

[Isabet Denko]

"Why do I get the feeling you're overly observant?" Isabet had noticed his staring when she had walked in and the small frown he wore when she burst in. She straightened herself up, ordering a bottle as the bartender made his way past. His cocky tone told her all she needed to know. Either tonight was going to be interesting, or long. She hoped that her first guess would be the correct one, but either way. She would need lots to drink. As she swallowed her second shot, she turned to face him.

"Do you always judge people the moment they walk in?" She had a lot to defend, of course. But her tone was filled with nothing but sarcastic curiosity. It was a mild attempt to appease his cocky nature at the very least. It was almost as if he was asking for a verbal throw down.

@Mr Jack GFX

 

[R. Mino]

Mino raised just one eyebrow at the armoured mandalorian's words, his gaze unwavering from her facial features and the arrogant smirk still casually playing across his lips. He could detect a great deal of self preservation in her words, a tone which greatly intrigued the young Jedi. Very calmly, he withdrew the cigarette from his lips and exhaled a cloud of pale grey smoke which gently spiraled its way up towards the ceiling.

"Do you always make such bold entrances?" Uncaringly, he thumbed the filter of his cigarette, flicking the ash from the end and onto the floor whilst lifting his glass of whiskey to his lips and taking a sip. "With a good drink..." He did not wait for a response to his question, instead speaking with a natural sophistication, an unwavering suave or a cascade of cool. "You don't need to drink it quickly; throw them down one after another to assert your strong stomach over those around you." He turned his head, as though surveying the wall behind the bar and not focusing on Isabet at all. It was this ability to seem completely disinterested and completely at ease that made people almost impervious to his appeal. "You drink it slowly, sip by sip, savouring the taste and feeling every drip trickle down your throat." Speaking very slowly, Mino made it sound as though every word he spoke had the power to send shivers down the spine of everyone who heard him. "Sometimes the drink you buy speaks ten times louder than anything you can say or do."

He didn't need to turn his head. He was in no doubt that the his carefully selected words and beautifully sculpted tone would leave the attractive yet slightly intimidating mandalorian wanting his company for entirety of the night.

@[member="Isabet Kote"]

 

[Isabet Denko]

Isabet laughed. Loudly and almost mockingly. He provided an excellent source of entertainment. She filled up the glass again, grinning to herself as she took a sip. "I don't drink to impress people. I think you make the assumption that I care. Instead of talking bantha balls about what drink makes you look like a pretentious ass, how about you just shut up and drink?" She placed the glass back down on the table, still not finished with her speech. "That's the whole reason you're here." There was nothing more she could say on the matter. She had no doubt he would return with something he assumed to be a suitable retort. However, Isabet couldn't help but prepare herself for another hilarious comment.

@R. Mino

 

[R. Mino]

@[member="Isabet Denko"]

A soft and almost incomprehensibly quiet chuckle escaped his closed mouth as Mino continued to smirk into his drink. On the pretext of lighting his third cigarette, he stole a glance towards Isabet, his gaze taking in her rather cold stance and her battle worn armour. With a long drag on his cigarette, his eyes fluttered closed with satisfaction for a brief moment before he spoke.

"You state the obvious, Mandalorian." Wisps of smoke spiraled up from his mouth as he spoke, dissipating off into the air. "Naturally, we are all here to drink. But we do so for different reasons." Mino's tone depicted a heavy level of arrogance yet a simultaneous air of respect. He was somehow speaking with both superiority and yet reverence. "For example: the man over my left shoulder, sitting in the corner all alone..." Again Mino demonstrated his mastery of conversation. He allowed an ever so slight pause so that Isabet would realise that he had not turned his head to see the man of whom he spoke. "He drinks out of fear of going home."

"Why do you drink?"