Mission Don't stop me now, cos i'm Yavin a good time...

[Jack Versio]

Yavin a good time - Yavin IV
​

Time off was always valuable to a combat pilot, and Jack didn't want to spend his at home. He was going somewhere way off the beaten path, away from the GA, and away from the pain of losing the few new friends he had made.

He knew where he was going. Wetyin's Colony, a small settlement on the moon of Yavin IV, which boasted a cantina known as Gully's. Whether it was Gully's tavern, Gully's cantina or Gully's folly, Jack Versio didn't know. He'd heard rumours of the place among the other pilots, and it seemed the sort of place he was unlikely to encounter other GA pilots. He didn't dislike his fellow fliers, but after losing his whole squadron over Selvaris, Jack was pretty wounded, and not looking to get too close to comrades. Being the last man left wasn't much fun, and so he'd taken a trip way outside GA space to Yavin to rest, recuperate, and indulge in exotic beverages.

Jack set his TIE down at the local landing field, rather than leave the ship at the main spaceport. Deciding not to leave her behind, he secured the fighter and brought his astromech droid Ria with him. Accompanied by Ria, Jack made his way through the settlement, the R-11 trundling along behind him for the short walk through town, across the very basic streets to the cantina. It wasn't hard to find.

Like the famous cantina on Tatooine in Mos Eisley, this one was converted from a starship. A boxy bulk freighter set among the prefab buildings lining Wetyin's streets. A hand sprayed sign proclaimed the cantina's name above the main doors, which were an airlock in a previous life. Two bored looking Gammorrean guards standing post either side of the outer doors ignored the pilot and droid as they entered. While the outer airlock doors had been removed, the inner doors had been replaced with a pair of dark curtains, which they passed between into the cantina itself.

​

Inside Gully's was a larger main room than he'd expected, and it was fairly busy. The inside did not look like a boxy bulk freighter, but a well appointed lounge hall. Classic music played from a live band at one end, on a stage that was the only well lit section of the cavernous hall. Dark and smoky with a high ceiling, it was just what Jack was looking for. Out of the way, and exotic enough for him to lose himself for a while. "Yeah, this will do." He said to no one in particular, though it wasn't likely anyone could hear his voice over the music. He looked around admiring the place, wandering into and making his way through the crowded front bar. Some of the patrons eyed him, but no one moved to block his path.

Jack found a table, and a droid found him, taking his order. To Jack's surprise and delight, they stocked Venaarian Cringe-Ale, and the droid soon returned with a mug. It was expensive, but he had combat pay burning a hole in his pocket. Jack took the yellow brew from the droid, saliva filling his mouth with anticipation of the bitter taste. The first sip did not disappoint, and Jack scrunched his face involuntarily as he drank. The scrunch remained after he saw the debit on his account. Feck, he could have bought a barrel of ale at these prices. Well, it was imported, and this wasn't the center of the galaxy. He drank up, punishing himself with the bitter brew, as he watched the band and ignored the dirty looks he was getting from some of the place's less savoury patrons. Jack assumed it was because of his GA patch and not personal. Dirty looks he could deal with. He had his blaster for anything else, and being visibly armed, he hoped, would avoid trouble.

The band were pretty good, he decided by the time he'd finished his first ale and ordered a second. Yavin IV wasn't a wild and lawless place like your Nar Shaddaa or the depths of Coruscant, but it was still frontierish. Jack supposed that was a word somewhere in the galaxy. The clientele were rough looking, but didn't have the vibe that they were looking for trouble. He didn't see any hastily painted over blaster marks on the walls, or any that hadn't been concealed, so he didn't expect serious trouble, though most of the patrons, like him, were visibly armed in some way.

Sitting at his table with the droid being unusually unobtrusive beside him, Jack sipped his bitter drink, and worked on not thinking about his whole squadron getting vaped. "Gonna get pretty interesting by the time I get to drink number eleven." He said to Ria. The astromech deigned to beep disapprovingly, not wishing a drunk human to look after. Jack chuckled, getting the reaction from his droid that he'd expected. "Yeah, it's probably a terrible idea, but i'm gonna do it anyway." Smiling sadly, he sipped at the Cringe-Ale, and stopped smiling soon after. The exotic ale really was something special, with a real kick to the bitterness. He couldn't afford eleven of the damn things though, two had already set him back most of what he'd spend on a night out. He'd switch to something else next.

Valery Noble BB-610

 

[Valery Noble]

Yavin IV

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Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Jack Versio BB-610

"I doubt they'll follow us into this settlement, Bee," Valery said as they wandered through the streets of Wetyin's Colony, a place where civilians lived on Yavin IV. To Valery, it was still strange that this world with ties to the ancient Sith Empire now had people living on it like it was the most normal thing. But a lot of time had passed since that old conflict in the days of the Old Republic, so perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised.

Of course, remnants of those darker days still existed in the jungles, and that's what had brought the pair here. Valery had received intel that a group of smugglers and pirates were after some old artifacts, and knowing just how dangerous it could be for Sith artifacts to be passed around, Valery had brought her friend along to stop them.

They had been successful.

The artifacts were purged and most of the pirates had given up once the pair had taken several of them out without breaking a sweat, but not all of them did. Some were likely still looking for them, but she suspected that they wouldn't dare cause trouble in a guarded settlement. Even with just the two of them, Valery felt confident they could handle some pirates, but here they'd surely find more help if someone tried to gun them down.

"The ship is still at the small port going through maintenance checks, so let's head to the cantina, alright? I could use something to eat and drink, and maybe they'll have something for you, too." She chuckled and patted her buddy on the head, before stepping inside. With a single look around, she could tell that this place wasn't too different from other cantinas out there. Some patrons stuck to themselves, others looked like the types to start trouble, and plenty of people were drunk and either playing games or laughing at dumb jokes.

It didn't matter to Valery, who walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool. "A glass of Muja fruit juice, please," Valery said, much to the surprise of the bartender, who was used to almost exclusively serving alcoholic beverages. "...coming right up."

"Oh, and do you want something, Bee?"

 

[Jack Versio]

Yavin IV - Gully's Cantina

Jack took another sip of his Cringe-Ale, and tried unsuccessfully to resist scrunching his face up at the bitter tang of the beverage. He saw movement at the entrance and noticed a not unattractive woman enter, accompanied by a droid. So, he wasn't the only one with a droid for company here. That was nice. He was too far away and the cantina too noisy to hear what was being said, and he wasn't a lipreader, even if he could have seen that far through the crowd. Careful not to stare, Jack smiled in what he hoped was a friendly way, and then returned his attention to his own small table, and his drink, enjoying the music. Ria was still ignoring him, which was fine, the music was a little on the loud side to make conversation easy.

Nodding his head along with the regular rhythmic beat of the song, Jack took in the crowd, about half of whom were watching the band, the other half busy with their own business. Gully's was everything the rumours said it was. For once, scuttlebutt had been accurate. It was a good place to lose yourself for a while, even if Yavin IV was a bit off the beaten path. Jack decided then and there it had been worth the trip. Now, if only he could decide what to drink next. More Cringe-Ale would bankrupt him. Whisky perhaps? Beer? Something exotic? Decisions, decisions.

Valery Noble BB-610

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Gully's Cantina, Yavin IV |
| TAG: Jack Versio | Valery Noble |


Cantinas were hardly BB-610's favorite stopping points in the galaxy. Far too unsavoury for his tastes, filled to the brim with strangers of poor character and borderline hazardous hygiene that the neat-freak astromech found utterly repulsive. Noisy and crowded, it consistently left him feeling claustrophobic, and this was all without mentioning that he was part of the demographic whose, in the most derogative way possible, "kind wasn't served there". Not all of the galaxy's cantinas held a thinly-veiled prejudice against droids, of course, but BB-610 was seldom ever in the mood to take his chances and risk getting treated as something lesser than a second-class citizen. It reminded him of the assassin droid he and Valery had once fought-- droids truly weren't equals to their organic counterparts, and that remained a thought he didn't wish to humor for the sake of his mental health.

For all of his anxieties, however, Valery remained at his side and provided him the comfort and reassurance he needed. He knew that these settlements were much better regarded for humans, and it wasn't often that the pair got to detox after a mission, and so BB-610 loyally trailed behind his Master with a content bweep. To nobody's surprise, the cantina was chock full of people that gave him bad feelings, but the droid pressed on regardless. Thankfully, his presence wasn't met with scorn, and as he rolled up to the bar alongside the Jedi, BB-610 gave his surroundings a much more thoughtful glance. Drunks, criminals, men that looked one restless night away from losing their sanity-- truly, the best people to surround himself with. Peering up at Valery to shake his head 'no' in response to her question, it was then that BB-610 noticed an oddity amongst the crowd.

Another astromech, just like him. It had taken him by surprise, as he promptly began pondering on whether they, too, were experiencing that same feeling of alienation, or if it was just him. They appeared to be with a man currently drowning himself in what BB-610 could only assume to be an unhealthy amount of alcohol, and through instinctual droid know-how, he could tell that his fellow astromech was disappointed. Perhaps it was simply the bad vibe that cantinas gave him, or the fact that astromechs seemed like fish out of water inside them, but BB-610 couldn't shake the guttural sensation that something wasn't right, especially since he knew just how violent drunken humans could get.

Quietly bweeping at Valery that there was another astromech, BB-610 turned to face her, chirping and clicking as he told her that he felt like something was wrong. Without anything further, the droid began rolling over to the man's table, and without even acknolwedging him, turned immediately to the other droid as BB-610 gently asked if everything was okay with a string of soft binary. Just then, the BB unit spared a glare to the human, but even without the luxury of facial expressions, it was clear just how judgemental a look it was.

 

[Valery Noble]

Yavin IV

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Jack Versio BB-610

"A what?" Valery had been distracted for just a moment when the bartender arrived with her drink, and turned to see Bee already heading off to another droid. She blinked, watched him for a moment, and quickly realized what he had said. It didn't surprise her that Bee wanted to go chat with a fellow droid in a place like this, but it also worried her just a little. There were a lot of awful people here, and the last thing she wanted was for him to suddenly find himself getting chased again.

So the best way to avoid that was to join him.

With her drink in hand, she walked over to the table and spotted the man that accompanied the astromech. He was drinking alone, quite heavily at that, but at least didn't seem or feel hostile to her. As she made her approach, though, she did start to wonder what it'd look like to him.

A woman with a drink approaching him in a bar, joined by her droid. Would not give a wrong signal, right?

"Hey Bee, careful just moving off. It's easy to lose sight of you in here," she said almost with a worried mom type of voice, before turning to Jack Versio with a polite smile. "Hey there," she said, and it immediately felt awkward already. She cringed internally but kept her exterior calm and kind.

 

[Jack Versio]

Yavin IV

"Hey there,"

A voice close by broke Jack out of his reverie. He turned from watching the band to see the woman he'd seen entering with a droid, now standing by his table. He smiled back, while checking behind the woman and then behind himself to ensure this wasn't some sort of robbery attempt. Quickly turning back, smile still in place, reassured he wasn't about to be mugged, Jack remembered his manners.

"Hi." He said, not having expected company, but welcoming the distraction from unpleasant thoughts of the deaths over Selvaris, waving to the spare seat nearby. "The name's Jack. Please, sit down." Jack then looked across and nodded to the BB unit who had rolled up alongside the attractive woman. "Hi there. This is Ria." Jack didn't believe as some did in treating droids like servants. To him, they were friends.

He glanced at his recalcitrant astromech perched beside him. She turned a photoreceptor toward the newcomers, tweeting and whistling a polite greeting to her fellow mechanical. Jack was pleased that Ria didn't air their dirty laundry to their new friends. She was still irritated with him for dragging her into a cantina, which to her mind was no fit place for droids.

His own drink was finished, but he didn't want to appear forward by offering a drink to a lady who already had one. He also didn't want to appear like an alcoholic by immediately ordering a third drink. Confounding his feeling of confusion further was his reluctance to sit idle while a companion was drinking. He could alleviate the circumstances by simply ordering another, but he hadn't yet decided what to partake in. True to form, Jack decided to cheat. "Whatcha drinking?" He asked Valery.

Valery Noble BB-610