Battle of Wills [Scoff-Edition]

[Arage Bao]

Tatooine​

Confederate Space​

Approaching time of Dusk​

[member="Aleidis Ijet"]​

My head went in first, as I crashed through the holo projected window of the local cantina. Now, you might wonder what I did to deserve that treatment, and that is totally fair. But honestly, my head is a bit woozy at the moment, I assure you though. I did nothing wrong. Totally innocent. Y-yeah.

At any rate, I carefully picked myself up from the ground, and dusted my robe off. if I ever needed a reminder why I hated deserts, I just got one. Sand gets into -everything- and when I say everything, I fethdamn mean it. I ain’t gonna go into the specifics, but trust me on my word. It ain’t kosher, and neither is it comfortable.

So, as I was saying, I picked myself up from the ground and dusted myself off. For a second or two I expected them to come out of their fancy establishment and try to kick my ass. Didn’t happen though, seconds turned into minutes, and it seemed the fellas had their fun.

‘Course I did the only thing a proper self-respecting man could do in that situation, I scoffed and started mumbling to myself while walking away. Never said I was courageous or anything.

One step after another, and I left the cantina behind me and with it my pride. Now off to find a different bar, to drink away my problems and doubts.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

I don't like Tatooine.

Really, I get that pretty much everybody hates Tatooine, especially the people unlucky enough to live here. It's hot, there's sand all over the place, and getting anything DONE requires such a painfully routine series of bribes and upselling that they might as well start factoring the cost of extortion into official documentation and store manifests. Which is another indication of how backwards and vile Tatooine is; it's just about the only planet in the Galaxy where things would be made MORE efficient by the addition of layers upon layers of bureaucracy.

But there's more to it than that. There's a negative energy here, a dark tension that pulls at my senses the way you can't ignore the scent of corruption from a room next to your own. Nearly everyone that I pass on the darkening streets is filled with fear, anger and malaise. Those that aren't tend to be confident and malevolent, like a wolf-lizard among docile herd creatures: casing the suckers for their next victim. It's these persons that I avoid most of all - even cloaked as I am, they are all much larger than I. And while I doubt doubt that I could evade an army of street roughs and muggers with little difficulty, my size is a magnet for that kind of person. It always has been. The last thing I want is trouble, especially when I'm just here to find something clean and safe to eat while my ship's getting it's dongles fixed and the calibrators readjusted, or whatever the ship mechanic said needed to be done. He's likely going to inflate the cost and try to make a sucker out of me, too. Maybe I'll take this opportunity to brush up on basic ship repair, see if I can save a few--

With a thunderous crash, a man flies through an adjacent window - propelled by a pair of thugs with biceps as big around as my waist, it seems. Although my better judgement tells me I should just mind my own business and leave him alone, I can't help but get involved: what if he's hurt? Or about to be pursued? When he stands up, I breathe a slight sigh of relief. He's off and walking, apparently no worse for the wear... lucky man.

Still. I'm out here for a distraction, and when I briefly extend my senses towards the man to see how much he's had to drink, I pick up little more than white noise... curious. It's not an earnest attempt of course - not even a probe - but to be passively resisted means that this drunk man isn't just some moron off the street, he's a highly trained moron off the street. And that? That is very, very interesting. Pulling my white-and-grey cloak a little tighter around me and my hood a little lower, I can't help the smile that I feel creeping onto my lips as I begin trailing after the mysterious bar-hopper. Who is he? Where is he going? What is he doing here?

 

[Arage Bao]

Now if someone had asked me if I was drunk, I would have bitten my thumb at them. Men such as I do not get drunk, we merely feel the warmth of the drink embrace and surround us. Sometimes we might not be able to remember our names, or which direction is right.. but that’s beside the point.

The point is.. I ain’t drunk.. much and I attested to this fact by swaggering through the streets of Tatooine, without even crashing down once. I kept struggling not to start prancing about as a little unicorn for a while, until.. someone prodded me.

Now this wasn’t -that- kind of prod, trust me I’d know. Instead, it was one of the mental type. Someone had tried to touch me in the intimates, and I ain’t keen on folk like that. Especially not when I am.. well not drunk, but when my inhibitions are slightly lowered.

Then again, might be I hit my head during the fall, and I am just imagining things. Such has happened before, I reckon. Ain’t no use screaming like a little girl, so I just kept on my swagger.

I rounded a corner, and then another one. Until I found myself.. starting at a damn wall. Couldn’t help but groan just a tad at my disfortune, one of these days I am gonna learn the streetworks of Tatooine by heart.

Or maybe bring a map with me…

Anyway, I decided to turn around and find a different route.

By then I had already forgotten about that scandalous mental prod.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

A random, wandering mentalist - or at least someone with robust mental defenses is more interesting to me than a cold drink when I'm in the middle of the crappiest desert in the Galaxy. I can already see Codi's hands on her hips and the disapproving frown tugging at her lips when she'll invariably find out (as she always does, somehow) that I've gotten myself into someone else's business instead of minding my own and staying healthier for that. That's going to be a fun conversation to have, right?

An internal sigh. Enough mental acuity to notice as my quarry ducks into an alleyway. As curious as I as to where he's going, I'm not stupid; I don't follow. That's a good way to get bushwacked, and when you're dealing with an unknown person of unknown skill and alignment? An ambush is the last thing you want to have to deal with. Anyone knows that. I pause at the mouth of the constricted backstreet, wondering if curiosity is worth a possible conflict, lowering my hood for a moment as the man disappears around the corner to fan myself and get my hair out of my face...

And then he's coming back! Oh crap oh crap oh crap!

Surely months later and this far from the outer rim, he won't recognize who I am, or who I was, right? Grimacing, trying not to look as startled as I am, I try to casually turn around and walk back the way I came before he takes note of me.

 

[Arage Bao]

Our eyes met, and in that moment the silence was tangible. Of course I knew who this girl was, only an idiot or a resident of Tatooine probably wouldn’t have heard of her. The 16-year old leader of the Republic, if my career was impressive… well let’s just say hers blew mine completely out of the water.

My jolly drunk goodness evaporated in the next couple of seconds, thoughts flew in and out of my mind. Attack! Run! Curl up in a fetal position, and hope she ddn’t notice you! A lot of options, but in the end I went with the one that seemed to be the best of all.

Just a couple of short seconds had passed, nobody had noticed the exchange between us yet. So I did the only logical thing, my eyes flew over her; as if she didn’t exist and I continued to walk.

As I walked, my mind brushed hers.

“Get that hood up, woman. We don’t want a legion of deadbeat gangers on our collective ass.”

Supreme Chancellor on Tatooine, oh excuse me. EX supreme chancellor on Tatooine. What are the odds? How do I get myself in these situations? Just wanted a drink, one simple drink. But noooo.. the Force had to throw her into my lap, I continued to grumble for a while.

It made me feel better, don’t judge me!