Private Girls' Night Out

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve had no idea what she was doing here.

Music rang in her ears. The smell of wine and spice smoke filled her nostrils. Every one of her senses were under attack, and around her, men and women danced and whirled, threatening to drown her in a sea of swaying bodies. It was all so overwhelming. So dizzying. The moment Maeve had walked through the front doors, sporting a silk dress on the more conservative side, it was as if she'd stumbled upon an entirely different planet.

The House of Glass. A night club and gambling hall, it was one of the far more wilder establishments in the Coruscant underworld, and host to more drunkards and flushed thugs than an Outer Rim smuggler's cantina. Here, it felt more like Nar Shaddaa. For Maeve, it felt more like the lowest pits of hell.

"So this is what R and R means?" she said, trying to make her voice heard over the sound of music, her back to Valery. Maeve barely hid her nausea and the disgust in her voice as she surveyed the club, watching the patrons with an almost judgmental glower. Anyone who came within two feet of her, she chased away with a glare.

"Remind me, why are we here again, Master Noble? Because I'm starting to think lunging over a cliff would be much more preferable to…"

"…well, whatever the fresh hell this is."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

"This is uh... an infiltration mission," Valery told the woman with a dumb grin while she looked around. Her fiery gaze shifted from the bar, to the dancefloor, and even to the people quietly talking off to the sides. She had been to places like this many times before, usually to blend in and target something or someone specific. Today, however, one of the main objectives was to get her fellow Shadow out there a little.


Which meant...

"I think that guy over there is checking you out," Valery said flatly and without shame. In fact, plenty of eyes were turned to both of them, even with their more conservative dresses, but Valery only paid attention to what she could use to tease Maeve. "Maybe you should talk to him. To... learn more..."

She still hadn't said anything about what they were looking for, and her grin probably made it clear that she wasn't going to just yet.

"For now, we just blend in. So get a drink, maybe dance if you want, and relax."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Someone's checking me out? Who? Where?"

Maeve's head spun around so fast it nearly detached from her neck. Around them, men and women either stared or danced on, and it was hard to pinpoint who Valery was talking about with all the noise and flashing lights. Her keen senses had been utterly overwhelmed. If there was a spy among the crowd, then it was going to be difficult to find and track them down.

Valery didn't seem so bothered. She wore a smile with earrings and a dress as equally modest as Maeve's. She had a husband, after all, and she supposed it wouldn't do for her to be prancing about half-naked in one of the seediest clubs on Coruscant.

Now, while the suggestion and idea of a drink intrigued her, dancing was not something Maeve ever wanted to consider, not in a place like this. Her nostrils flared at the smell of sweat and spice smoke, and again, she envisioned herself smashing her face into a glass bottle before letting herself be gyrated upon by some foul-mouthed smuggler.

"Alright, Master Noble. Blending in. I can do that." Maeve wouldn't promise her that she could relax. That just wasn't physically possible. "I think there's a bar over there," she said, gesturing ahead through the club. "Perhaps we should grab a drink first and scope things out?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

Watching Maeve turn and look around was amusing, to say the least, but to help her out, Valery placed both of her hands on Maeve's shoulders. She then turned the woman, so they were both staring directly at the tall man looking their way. It caught him by surprise but Valery's infinite confidence in these situations had her just grin while he looked away for a moment. "See? He likes you." Valery's tone was clearly teasing, and if Maeve were to glance her way, she'd meet the woman with a waggle of her eyebrow.

"He also just happens to be at the bar... so let's go!"

With a gentle nudge, she pushed Maeve forward and the two reached the bar. They quickly drew a lot of attention, but Valery seemed to intentionally ignore anything except for what was directed at her friend. Not that she'd realize this. "Give us two shots... something strong." Valery looked at Maeve and made some subtle head motions to the man who had been checking her out, all in an attempt to non-verbally ask her what she thought.

"Blending in can be fun, hm?"

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"What do you mean he likes me?" she repeated after Valery, just as confused as the tall man across the dance floor. "I wouldn't be so sure, Master Noble. It may be a trick to lure us in. There's no telling whether he is a spy for the Sith."

Leave it to Maeve to be utterly clueless. She didn't quite understand or care about romance or courtship or whatever the proper term was. When she saw a man staring, her mind gravitated to two thoughts: enemy, or creep. Either way, the chances of her sucker-punching them in the throat went up significantly, and just because the man was tall or handsome or sweet didn't change how severely obtuse Maeve could be.

She was a Jedi, and this was supposed to be a mission, right?

At Valery's guidance, she moved on to the bar, where men and women shared drinks and longing stares with one another, and she settled against the counter. With a wave, a bartender swung by and served her and Valery two shots of an unfamiliar brandy. Still uncomfortable by the noise and chaos of the club, it didn't take Maeve very long to down her glass.

"Sure," she answered Valery, feeling that sweet burning sensation in her throat. "Just… where do we begin? You haven't exactly told me what or who we're hunting after."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

A spy for the Sith?

Valery resisted the urge to rub her temples in response to that. It had been a long time since she met someone so utterly clueless but there was something funny or adorable to it as well. Hopefully, she wouldn't actually view anybody looking their way as an enemy though, or this night was going to end in bloodshed.

"Maeve, not everything is a mission mission, if you know what I mean."

...probably not.

"What I mean to say is, we're not hunting after a spy or Sith. Sure, there are some criminals who operate from this place and we might gather some info, but I wanted you to relax for once. You're always working, and when I used to do-"

Whack

Valery's posture straightened as an uninvited hand slapped her rear, and Maeve would feel the same thing. A tall man without a shirt forced his way between the two women and tried to bring his arms around their shoulders to pull them close. He reeked of alcohol, and his pupils were widened from drugs. "You two are looking fiiin-"

This time he was interrupted, as Valery moved his arm over her head, put it in a lock, and slammed his face down against the bar. Her fiery eyes then shifted to Maeve, allowing her the finishing blow for this creep.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Relax? You dragged me out into this place to relax?"

Maeve shot Valery an incredulous look. No wonder the whole mission, if she could call it that anymore, had come off as so vague and uncomplicated. The only way she'd have ever accepted the assignment in the first place was if it'd been important, or had the potential to reveal valuable information for the Jedi. Now, she was here to what—drink? Dance?

Oh, the horror.

Maeve resisted the urge to snap back, but whatever feelings of doubt she'd felt vanished the moment a hand smacked her rear. She barely moved, though her back straightened and eyes went wide as a voice behind them slurred something that sounded less like a compliment, and more like a threat.

Thankfully, Valery reacted first. She took the man by the arm and smashed his nose hard into the bar, no doubt breaking it, but when she offered Maeve the chance to throw in her own strike, she did so gladly, snatching a beer bottle from the counter and shattering it over the man's skull. In an instant, he was out like a light, slumping onto the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Scum," Maeve grumbled, pushing aside a loose strand of hair.

But that was only the start. As heads spun and the crowd turned to them, many on the dance floor coming to a pause, another man shot his arms up in the air and whooped. "Bar fight!" he cried, and then the real chaos began.

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

Well, at least the man had formed a distraction from the surprise this 'mission' caused in Maeve. But after putting the scumbag in an armlock and breaking his nose against the bar counter, Valery seemed to have changed a bit. She really hated it when people didn't respect her boundaries, and uninvited physical touch was one of the worst offenses to her. It made her skin boil, and she knew that if her husband had been here, this man would have been in far worse shape.

Especially if Kahlil knew how Valery felt about it. But he wasn't here, and he trusted her to handle it all the same.

Maeve, however, filled that gap rather quickly when she picked up a bottle and smashed it against his skull, Valery blinked, let go of his arm, and watched him hit the ground. But even with the man out cold, this situation wasn't over — some other drunks took the chance to escalate things and began to fight with whoever they had problems.

Valery watched it happen but still stood somewhat stunned over the scumbag who had touched her. Almost too stunned to notice the punch coming from behind her. At the last possible moment, she tilted her head aside to dodge and spun around on her heels to smash her own glass against the man's face.

"Coward..." she said through gritted teeth, before turning to Maeve.

"Mission compromised, we should get out of here." She smirked a little again.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

As the bar and dance floor descended into anarchy, Maeve fell back into her Jedi training. While Valery dealt with another drunk, Maeve dealt with one swinging madly at her too, escaping his hands as he tried to deck her in the face. No doubt they were friends of the moron whose head she'd just cracked, which made her feel a lot less bad when she hooked him in the jaw.

The man practically flew. Once he hit the floor with a loud thud, Maeve spun back to Valery, catching her smirk, and nodded once. "Good idea!"

A tiny smirk crept on the edge of her mouth, too. As much of a train wreck this was, she had to admit, beating the snot out of a couple drunks made for incredibly effective stress relief. Call her strange, but she always found fighting as a chance to let loose and unwind. Perhaps that was why she enjoyed hunting Sith so much, because it was a chance for her to escape those annoying thoughts in the back of her mind.

With Valery, together they stumbled away from the bar and, through a side exit, out into a dimly lit back alley. Behind them, the sounds of the bar fight continued to rage, and as the door shut at her back, Maeve caught her breath, turning to Master Noble with a raised brow. "So much for your mission. Where else can we possibly go now?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

Was she having fun?

Seriously?

After trying so hard to get Maeve to relax and enjoy something aside from her work as a Shadow, it's the bar fight that made her the most excited. Valery grumbled a little and narrowed her eyes, but was quick to follow the woman outside through a side exit. The fight was really starting to escalate, and the last thing she wanted was for her reputation to be about bar fights in weird nightclubs.

She couldn't do that to her family, or the Jedi.

"There is plenty to do, but I doubt it'll be as fun as a bar fight, to you." She flashed Maeve a smirk. "But uh, I could get tea somewhere if you want to go in there and watch some dancers?" She pointed at another club and waggled her eyebrows to tease her friend.

"Or we can take a look at the casino. I don't usually go to them, but there are drinks there too, dancing, gambling and... whatever else people do there."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve folded her arms over her chest. Part of her wanted to head back to the temple where she might be able to study in the archives or earn some proper sleep in her quarters, faraway from the underworld and this nonsense, but at Master Noble's teasing smile and waggling eyebrows, despite her own personal doubts, maybe she would give this night a chance.

Valery had already dragged her this far. There was no reason why she should call it a night and abandon her to the dark streets of Coruscant.

"Oh, fine," she said. "Let's head to the casino. I need something stronger than just tea, and I would rather not have another man's genitals gyrating in my face."

Maeve gave Valery a short look, as if to say, You are not hooking me up with anyone tonight. Then, she strode down the shadow-infested alley, searching for where the casino was. It seemed the better option between the two. More than likely the gambling hall was a more respectable establishment, without the insanity of a nightclub or strip bar or whatever Valery thought passed for a good idea.

While it wasn't as exciting as a fight, Maeve trusted it would serve her well. "Where is this casino, anyway?" she asked. "I hope it's on the cleaner side of the city." Which, of course, probably wasn't the case.

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

Valery caught Maeve's look but it only made her grin even wider, "Fair enough, dancers were never my thing either. You... need someone who is classy!" Valery teased while she began to nudge Maeve in the direction of the Casino. With its bright, neon lights, loud music, and tons of people gathering around and inside, it was impossible to miss.

And, of course, it wasn't really on the good side of town either.

There were plenty of richer folks gathering, but most of those retreated into VIP areas that the common citizen could not afford. Other areas of the casino were clearly run by crime cartels or other shady figures. Valery hoped to find something in between. The civilians who were just here for a night out and some fun.

Much like the two Jedi.

"4 shots please," Valery said as they reached one of several bars inside. "Don't care what drink, as long as it's strong." She looked at Maeve and smirked.

"And? See something you like?" She was enjoying this far too much.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Classy?"

Maeve felt oddly threatened by Valery's smile. She normally tried not to care when other Jedi like Amani tried imagining her with other men, but with Valery? It was impossible. She was impossible. And Maeve was starting to suspect that this entire night had been founded on the idea that it would end with her in the arms of some muscular hunk.

But if there was one thing she was good at it, it was evasion, and she was going to evade whatever Valery threw her way.

Of course, unless it had to do with alcohol. That was the one thing she could stomach, and as Maeve strode into the neatly-lit casino, passing rows of gambling tables and machines, she settled against the bar, watching while Valery ordered them a few shots. Relief washed over her when she drank her first and clinked the glass on the table. She sorely needed it.

"Well, if I had say it," she replied, "The only thing I see worth liking are these shots." Maeve lifted the second tiny glass towards her, then drank it down as if it was little more than tap water. The alcohol burned in her throat, stronger than she expected. It was enough to lower her guard. "But… I suppose I wouldn't mind trying my hand at a gambling table."

Maeve glanced around. "Have you gambled before, Master Noble?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

Coruscant

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Maeve Linahan

"You're impossible," Valery laughed when Maeve evaded her real intentions again. "But it's fair, I suppose. The drinks are not too bad." Valery downed her own shot, then grimaced a little. Okay, maybe this stuff really was terrible. Or she just wasn't used to drinking all that much anymore.

Probably both.

Maeve then brought up gambling, and Valery's gaze narrowed even more. She didn't want to meet any interesting people, but she was okay with gambling? Impossible. "I haven't, really. Only a few times when I was undercover — I won a game of Pazaak once that earned me a way into a criminal organization." She chuckled at the thought and raised a hand up through her long hair. Her fiery gaze then wandered around, spotting all sorts of people Maeve could be talking to, but she wasn't going to pressure the woman anymore.

The alcohol would loosen her up instead. She hoped.

"You want to try Pazaak? Or maybe some slot machines?"

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Perhaps let's avoid Pazaak for now," Maeve answered. "I would rather not earn my way into a criminal organization just yet." She polished off the last of her shot glass and nodded to the rows of slot machines on the other side of the casino, comfortably away from the main gambling tables. "Let's start with those. Get our feet wet first before we dive into anything too… risky."

"I can't say I've gambled much before, but I will try."

Maeve stood up from the bar. Although whiskey sloshed in her gut, it hadn't quite yet left the desired effects on her, but it was only a matter of time before she had a hitch in her step and a slur in her voice. As often as she drank and used the Force to keep her standing, she was still forever a lightweight. It did not spell good news for the Jedi.

Making her way across the casino, Maeve stopped short of two open slot machines, one for each of them. She plopped into one of the stools as her gaze inspected the machine up and down. Frankly, she'd no idea how to use it, so instead she turned to Valery, expecting her to go first.

She would see just how the Battlemaster's luck fared.

Valery Noble​

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