Private Fluffy Wampa Nights [Phalsi]

[Abaigeal E'ron]

Terminus
Phalsi Drynchen

Walking across the manicured grass lawn, Abaigeal looked up at the pyramid building which apparently was a large shopping mall. The vast difference between Anoat and Terminus was not lost to her, and it seemed strange to be back in more civilised surroundings. She was here on some well earned down time, after finishing up acquiring items and supplies needed for Anoat, which would be delivered in a week so she had plenty of time to relax and unwind. But it was not the shopping mall she were here for, it was the restaurant located at the peak of the structure. The view was supposed to be spectacular and was the food. Below the restaurant was a hotel, suits ranging from all prices but for the most part it was expensive, but she could afford one night, just to spoil herself, just for one night. As she entered the lower level, the noise of shoppers was almost deafening, the light was bright and filled with colours and all manner of people walked along the level platforms as busy as the skylanes of Coruscant.

It took her a good twenty minutes to find the turbo lift to take her to the upper levels and the foyer of the hotel. She was pleased to enter it just to get out of the bustle. Once she had arrived to reception, the turbo lift doors opened on a soft blue carpet and she was greeted by a concierge who offered to take her luggage, she only had an over night bag which was slung over her shoulder. If the foyer was anything to go by, all gold and chrome, leather and carpet of tasteful quality and style, then she was looking forward to her middle of the range room. Promised a view of the river and the rest of the city.

The promise was met, after Abaigeal checked in and got her keycard.

She threw her bag on the floor, before tumbling on the large bed backwards and just laid there looking up at the ceiling. Abaigeal could feel the weight of the galaxy slip away from her body, at least it felt that way and it felt good. It was silent, even though she knew Terminus was loud with ships and groaning with everyday life outside the metal walls. It was so silent she could hear her pulse in her ears, and a low hum of static which was stranger to her and somewhat disconcerting. Abaigeal stood up and went to the window looking out for her view, and there it was the river. Beautiful in it's own way but she much prefers the rivers surrounded by nature, not metal.

After some time relaxing, she got ready for dinner, dressed in a little smart casual number. Before she would sit down to dinner, Abaigeal will grace the cocktail bar, and after ordering a Fluffy Wampa, the point of her index finger flicked around nuts in a small bowl searching for her favourite.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Terminus
Abaigeal E'ron​

Phalsi had done enough dredging through the archives in her time with the Silver Jedi Order to make some of the people maintaining it nervous as to what her end goal was in the archive. Interesting past events, things of note such as previous masters and assorted artifacts, locations and past deeds. The whole lot of it at her fingertips. Which she happily perused while keeping herself cut off from those around her. It was unintentional, but something self-inflicted no less that she could not blame the others for.

Nor did she have any will to say they had wronged her.

Quite the opposite, having taught her a number of things not only about herself, but of the universe. She had met and worked with interesting people. Fought Sith, even if they weren't the almighty big shots it was still scary, to rescue friends. Helped aboard a refugee station, and even taken part in padawan training a number of times.

Her own mind was her enemy in this case. Thoughts of her previous life and her record of such weighing on her heavily as she quietly dove the holonet while skimming the surfaces of sites that begged to be delved into. Code and other things waiting to be picked through and examined for loopholes or other such things to allow access into private information. Having refrained from it for so long however had not done her any favors, as the familiar itch to use those skills came back.

No amount of personal training and study could distract her from the urge to do those things that had earned her a ticket to the Silver Jedi Order in the first place. Which had brought her to search for what others had done in such circumstances where they found themselves at a loss for how to proceed in their lives. Eyes wandered over the logs of what former masters, knights, padawans, all and in-between had made of themselves after separating themselves.

One of particular note was that of someone that had separated from the order after the incidents that where well out of their control. Especially at such a young age. It was not a terrific stretch to see the reason behind the wish to do so. The question of what the woman did now on the other hand had garnered her attention, as there was a supreme lack of detail. A few months spent digging had led almost no where until a curious detail kept arising across the myriad of searches the padawan had pieced together slowly.

The notes looked as though one was investigating a deep rooted conspiracy theory as highlighted sections and scribbles alluded to different sections of notes for further investigation or details. After numerous weeks spent scouring the details, a curious figure had appeared behind some common factors, and some not so legal cuts into associated law enforcement reports gave her the final details to pin the woman down. The padawan exchanged her gear, leaving a few pieces of it in her room that she did not feel rightly belonged to her. The camouflage cloak being one of them, along with a note.

It was addressed to Kyra Perl to express thanks for being friendly to her, and having enjoyed the other padawans company. Details ranged from expressing her own frustrations with herself, apologies for seeming aloof, and pointing out the good in Kyra. It mentioned a few others by name, but focused on Kyra and wished the padawan the best of luck in the future. It also left Kyra with a holonet email address for Phalsi in case the other ever needed something. It finished by saying she would miss her, and hopefully they could meet again in the future and catch up.

In her, well, new to her freighter she made the trip to Terminus as quickly as she could. It was a stopping point for the woman, and Phalsi plotted the course before donning her final set of armored clothes, fashioned in a more formal look. The Mask was the final touch, setting the vox modulator to that of a young males pitch. She had put a binder beneath the clothes, giving her a neutral presenting image. If the woman in question knew what to look for however, it would be nothing to be found out in an instant however.

She really should have pushed to be more active with the Shadow's she cursed herself.

Phalsi landed, securing vehicle storage before accessing the local holonet and running her pre-programmed systems with keywords bound to the woman in question. She stalked the streets, a ping eventually informing her the one in question had been seen near the pyramid structure. The mask looked up to the structure, her body moving with practiced ease through the crowds. The binding on the other hand made her a touch breathless, having never worn it prior and questioning whether it was actually on right.

Another ping had a visual on the woman checking into a hotel via a camera in the lobby, and a quick search in her mask's access point to the holonet displayed the hotel inside the structure. The Slicing Tool came out, one hand slowly wading through the pre-programmed information bug that latched onto the security system within the hotel. It fed it false data, numerous malware programs that tied up defensive software while it skimmed the newest information entered into the system.

It informed her of a room whose door was activated within the last few minutes, eventually giving a room number as she pushed through the crowds and into the shopping mall. The malware cut off after another minute, allowing the hotel system to remedy the problems it left behind without a trace of it's presence. Another ping in her mask gave her a visual on the woman entering a cocktail bar, staring at the turbo lift controls for a moment with a sigh. She waited for the doors to open, playing back the image with the visual search cue to correctly identify the woman before entering the cocktail bar.

The twin lightsabers where hidden beneath the long tails of the coat just behind her hips, but she was likely a sight without those plainly seen. Not slender or curvy enough because of the slight bulk of clothes to be recognized as a woman, though not nearly bulky enough to be called a chiseled god, wearing a mask that glowed, and not even looking around before approaching the bar beside Abaigeal E'ron . Close enough to be heard, but not enough to crowd as the blue lights on the mask addressed her.

"Miss E'ron. Pleasure to meet you." A young males voice came from the mask, the woman behind the false voice doing her best to not sound at all nervous, or intimidated. Hands went up in a placating gesture quickly realizing the error she had made.

"Not here for trouble, at least...feth. Not here to make trouble. Not for you...I mean. Ugh." It wasn't entirely being nervous that made Phalsi stammer. She had a vague idea of the woman's capabilities, which wasn't hard to guess when you were a jedi. It also didn't help that first impressions had never been her strong suit. Paired with a brusque attitude, she struggled at times to order lunch from new places.

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She popped a nut in her mouth, relished the salt before chewing, at that moment her Fluffy Wampa arrived before her. A smoky white drink, with salt encrusted around the rim and a red cherry to garnish. Abaigeal raised the slipper glass to her lips and sipped, oh it was strong and very refreshing with a delayed kicked. She nodded to the bar keep as approval, he in turn flick eyes toward a new arrival to the bar. Now this was unexpected, Abaigeal doubted that he would do this without provocation.

Abaigeal turned in her seat just as the new arrival sidled up next to her. Now it was obvious why she got the look from the keep. Not exactly cocktail bar attire, with glowing mask and long trench coat. The thing with life in this galaxy is that one can never truly be a rest or relaxed, the only time for that is when you are dead. Anything is possible and anything can happen, and it looked like it just turned up by her side.

She became a little more at ease after the stranger spoke, there was a sense of trepidation in the voice, but it seemed to be altered. There was something in the inflections of the words that give it away. But what was more disconcerting was the fact this stranger new her name. Abaigeal supposed that people might recognise her, but not on Terminus.

“I am pleased you are not here for trouble; I don’t wish to spoil the evening for these good people in the bar”, she placed down the Fluffy Wampa, her words somewhat direct.

“But answer me one question before I offer to assist you”, she turned directly to the masked face. There had better be a good answer from this person that disturbed her evening off.

“How do you know my name?”.


Phalsi Drynchen

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Her mouth opened to speak at the mention of not spoiling the evening for the rest of the folks around them before the woman cut in with a question that made Phalsi blink. She supposed that was in fact, a very proper question given her unexpected and unplanned appearance. Never mind that Phalsi had unintentionally been stalking her. Had been fixating and combing over whatever details she could find about the woman.

Had been scouring for any mention of the woman across numerous servers off world and tracing down a line of events that had led to this moment.

Oh force.

She struggled to not oust herself at that very moment as something more than an ardent admirer. Instead, she ventured down the avenue that had started out in honesty, and ended up with several hacked law enforcement groups and numerous sleepless nights.

"Well. You are in the Silver Jedi Order archive. Brief, but there if you actually look between lessons. And, unlike the good people of that order, I know how to dig deeper." She admitted, the realization of how creepy she probably seemed if Abaigeal knew what she had done weighing on her now as she moved to take the mask off. A button was touched and the release of a seal made a hissing sound. A pull and a few harried seconds of panicked wonder if the thing would get stuck this time, had the other Abaigeal E'ron staring at a young, tired looking woman with silver-gray hair and blue gray eyes.

"Sorry. For the mask, I mean. Easy to be found if people see your face." She shrugged, eyes moving to a camera and making a mental note for later. "Phalsi, former Silver."

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

A slight grin prickled at her lips as Phalsi finished her explanation. So, she is or maybe was, a Jedi with the Silvers. It certainly explained access to knowledge, there was nothing secret about Abaigeal’s time there and history of the family. What impressed her the most was the disguise, after she taken off the helmet a young unassuming girl sat beside her, gone was the male façade.

“Are you on a mission?”, she inquired as it seemed plausible, and wondered if whoever the girl was targeting was in OPA space. Would not be the first time nor the last that fugitives found their way to the outer rim.

“Or are you hiding”, she added, two reasons to hide your face. Either a mission or on the run. “You say you are former Silver. I am sure they will be missing you”. Fishing for information herself here. Now the girl let her guard down, the force whispered an alliance to the middle, which did not speak of ill intent.

It crossed Abaigeal’s mind that Phalsi might be wandering her own path in search of self. She knew this journey well enough having spent years on it herself. It is a hard road to walk alone, and very dangerous, but sometimes that is the only way.

But it was clear that this girl had come all the way to the outer rim in search of Abaigeal, having dug up so much information and to go to such lengths to find her hear. How long had she been tracked? What was more worrying and at the same time, impressive, was that Abaigeal had no clue that she was.

"Would you care for a drink?". If Phalsi had gone to so much trouble, Abaigeal was prepared to hear her out.

Phalsi Drynchen | Enlil

 

[Enlil]

"What do you mean, 'you don't carry Merlot?' Pinot Noir? Anything with a semblance of proper flavor?!' The King was beside himself. He mistakenly believed that if he went to an establishment that carried alcohol, he could find a decent vintage that tasted remotely like the aged, deep red grapes from his Father's orchard. Meticulous studies through the datapad (rather, studies carried out at the hand of Yula Perl due to his technological ineptitude) had gleaned the names of several types of wine and flavors that sounded even slightly similar to the taste he wanted.

To taste it just one more time!

His fist was clenched, and the Judge had a foot on the barstool as he shook the Claws of Aslu menacingly at the barkeep. "What wine do you have?"

"Eheh, beg pardon sir, but our clientele largely consists of spacers and Bounty Hunters. Ain't much of a call for us to stock finery, and that stuff costs a pretty penny to boot..."

"You mean to tell me this is the future Mankind has made for itself!? Reduced to enjoying the flavor of room temperature urine!?"

Several other patrons slid over a stool or two to put distance between themselves and the apparently enraged wine snob. His Ruby eyes glittered with righteous indignation as he tangentially raged about the merits of fine wine.

The barkeep sighed. "Look, there's bound to be someone in Terminus who's got some wine, if you calm down, I'll make a few calls and we'll find you something you can be satisfied with."

Enlil stopped short, somewhere between the appropriate way to taste a wine and the subtleties of mouth feel. "Eh? Truly?"

"Just... calm down, you're scaring the other customers."

"Why, thank you my good man. I could tell right away you were a gentleman and a scholar. Why, in fact..."

As his words went in one ear and out the other, the barkeep wore a solemn expression as he put the call in. Somewhere in Terminus, a comm unit started to buzz.

Peace in the cocktail bar however, was a memory.

Abaigeal E'ron Phalsi Drynchen

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The frown that came from the pair of questions was a sad mix. "Not hiding, and missed by a few probably. But no mission. Didn't feel right...my skills with good people." Phalsi explained quietly. "Don't want to cause them trouble, and hard to leave it alone. So I left."

Suddenly very aware of the area around them, she looked back to Abaigeal with a waning . "That sounds like a good-" The words cut off by a man( Enlil ) down the way as Phalsi leaned back and stared. Expression thoroughly of irritation at the loud noise as her brow knit together, but she said nothing as her attention was put back to the bar. "A good idea to be honest. Any suggestions? I actually haven't drank much. Liquor I mean. Plenty of water, and stuff."

She leaned forward after a few seconds, needing another look at the tender antagonizer. "Almost feels like I should step in or something."

Abaigeal E'ron Enlil

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

All that Phalsi said seemed to ring true, it was something Abaigeal could understand having been through the same feeling herself. She had returned to the Silver Jedi years ago upon her return from running but nothing was the same, she had hoped it was but the Jedi there looked at her with different eyes. No familiar faces anywhere that could have eased the tension and she just did not seem to fit in anymore.

But all things happen for a reason and after she left and headed to Coruscant, life took a very different path. It was not one she was looking for, it just found her. Maybe it was the force, or maybe is was simply happenstance, but whatever it was it was for the better.

Before the conversation could continue however, a disturbance broke the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the place. A haughty aristocrat, a fop of a man, voiced his indignation over the lack of wine in the place. Did he not realise this was a cocktail bar, not a wine bar? Abaigeal shot the man a look with furrowed brow, only to recognise him.

“Oh dear”, she sighed, “I am so sorry Phalsi”, Abaigeal offered apologies before time, as the inevitable would more than likely occur. It was Enlil a newly minted Judge, she had met him before at the meeting with the Eternal Empire.

Always remember your manners, her mother always drummed into her head as a child. Why is it a mother’s voice appears right when you don’t want it to?

“Good evening Enlil”, since there was nowhere to hide in their conversation might as well confront the ‘situation’ head on. “You seem to be having a spot of trouble. While you wait for your wine would you care to join us with a cocktail?”.


Phalsi Drynchen | Enlil

 

[Enlil]

"...so of course, the importance of the wine paired with the dish is paramount. You see, poultry with a red wine is overpowered and therefore, the enjoyment of the dish is neutered. You would want to pair with a white..."

"Mmmmhmmmmmmmm..." the bartender half pretended to hear everything the King said as he sped about filling orders. Between the older man and the cadre of serving droids, it was hardly a daunting task but the man still felt he had done nothing to deserve this kind of divine retribution.

"Yes, exactly! So you see the merits of proper wine pairings!" Enlil clapped his hands merrily, blissfully unaware that the man was far more interested in punching him in the face than any amount of wine. Better yet, it might be nice to have a nice glass of wine just after punching him in the face.

Yeah... the barkeep smiled lazily as the daydream raced through his mind, and he put the finishing touches on another Fluffy Wampa.

When the voice of Abaigeal E'ron broke through the monotony, the King reared his head. Another Sommelier come to discuss the beauty of his favorite pastime? Ah, no, someone who knew him by name!

"Ah, Jedi E'ron! What a pleasant surprise, this fine man and I were just having a most wonderful discussion." Both men looked to Abbie as she spoke, and the Bartender slowly began to see light again. When he realized she was effectively taking the man away, his expression became one of total relief, and he mouthed the words 'thank you.'

It was the invitation, of course, that confused him. Perhaps this was some sort of local ritual, or a strange, modern cuisine he had never heard of. Why, of course there had been many dishes made with it during his tenure as King...

"I see! I had no idea that they had come up with a way to eat the tail of a cock. Certainly, I would love to sample a cocktail with you."

Abaigeal E'ron Phalsi Drynchen

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Phalsi diverted her eyes to Abaigeal when seemed distressed by something, and then she apologized. Which did nothing to stop the quizzical arch of her brow and somehow narrowed eyes. Her face looked more like dour concentration than that of worried curiosity.

"Why-?" the words began before they stopped in light of her speaking, a name coming from the other woman as a blank expression now removed the curiosity and shortly replaced it with thinly drawn lips and wide eyed wonder. How in the verse did these two know each other!?

The man was speaking of the finer points of wine with a meal as Abaigeal suggested he join them. Which prompted Phalsi to twist in her seat and attempt to speak before hearing his words. Again, the sharp blank expression muted the sudden confusion she felt at hearing him speak about tails and enjoying them before wine.

A hand covered her mouth, whether to keep her from laughing at what perhaps was a twisted joke, or simply from sheer bewilderment of not knowing how to address that avenue of thought rather than leave her mouth plainly agape, she remained silent a moment longer. Blinking and clearing her throat, she pushed aside the confusing paths of thought the phrasing this Enlil had spoken of before introducing herself.

"Phalsi. New here. You mean drinks right? I am not in for some kind of hazing right?" She spoke to Enlil first, her eyes sliding over to Abaigeal E'ron after her name was given. At least part of it anyway. She was silently begging this wasn't some kind of hazing ritual.