Haakun'a Matatya - The Drunken Master

[Asemir]

OOC: Tavern thread. Feel free to join. I don't know where, if anywhere, this is going.

Also, @[member="Ashin Varanin"]

Enjoy!

IC:

It was quite surprising, really, to be seated where he was sitting. The booth was upholstered handsomely, with genuine leather that did not seem weathered by decades of abuse. The table was cut from some type of oak that he did not identify, and its varnish was in fabulous condition. Absent were the expected nicks and cracks and scrapes.

The floor was relatively clean, free of the myriad of cracked nuts and discarded napkins and regurgitated organic matter one might expect to find in similar establishments. The floorboards were of the same wood as the tables, and while scuffs marked where table and chair legs had scraped against the varnish, the planks were in remarkably good condition.

And the patrons. They did not stink of unwashed bodies, that pungent stench of alcohol seeping through the pores, the subtle odor of microorganisms feeding on body sweat and grime. They did not look like horrible representations of various sentient species. Their mouths (where applicable) contained clean and straight teeth, unstained from years of abuse. Their clothes spoke to a recent manufacture or at least a purchase from a store and not an acquisition from an unconscious bum.

Yes, it was quite surprising. The Drunken Master catered to a specific clientele, and a clientele that was rarely ever found in the trillions of bars and taverns flooding the galaxy. Force users and sensitives, Knights and Masters, Padawans and Apprentices, they all made up the patrons that frequented this unique establishment hidden away on the planet Haakun'a Matatya.

It was a place for the elite of the galaxy to come and share a drink, swap stories, and to unwind. It was a place where faction zeal could be forgotten, and death oaths and blood contracts could be set aside.

It was a true gem of the Outer Rim.

Asemir Lor'kora took a sip of his drink, a concoction of grain alcohol and rice wine, something the locals called a PPC. The nearly clear spirit burned as it traced its way down his throat to pool warmly in his stomach. He savored the sensation, knowing that it would not last. His natural metabolism, trained to purge poisons and toxins from his body, would be doing its work. The Forgotten could not remember when he had last been drunk.

Asemir Lor'kora sighed and looked down at his drink. She had said that she would be here. It was nothing, just a casual meeting after a long and exciting mission. To catch up, to see how things were going. After that whole Cult of Shadow incident and the subsequent shadow wars, Asemir needed to unwind. To chill. To rant. To chat. What better way to do all of that than to share a drink with a fellow comrade in arms, or a friend?

Friend. The thought made him smirk. All of his friends were either dead or missing. Except her. She was the closest person still living that he could call a friend. (He wanted to count Shyd, but did not, given their separation. It was still painful to think about.)

A twinge in the back of his mind caused him to glance towards the entrance of the tavern. There! Dressed in mundane robes. That was just like her, to go for a subtle approach. He smiled and waved.

Ashin Varanin approached.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The Dark Lord flopped down in the booth and instantly ordered a milkshake.

"I'd drink with you," she explained, "but I'm watching my back more than usual. It's good to see you, Asemir. What's it been, six, seven months since Arcanix? More?"

She toyed with the knife and fork.

"Just enough time for the fake tattoos to fade, really. And for the scars to get entrenched. I got the Necromonus, by the way -- never told you. I ate its power, bound its spirit, turned the whole thing to dust and good riddance."

 

[Asemir]

"And tell me, how was that, consuming that power and spirit?" Asemir asked, intrigued. He had never studied enough of the arcane aspects of the Force, and this whole absorb-another-being-for-power was unfamiliar grounds. He had seen it give great power, and he had seen it completely corrupt and destroy a person. Ashin was strong enough to harness the Necromonus, he knew, but there were things that weren't apparent from the outside. "Any ill effects?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Always. It's roughly as much of a pain as the poisons in my blood. If Velok or anyone ever tries to convince you to bind a spirit, don't bother. I'm not the sort of person to be bothered by dreams, but one way or another, I don't get much sleep. The brain's part of the body, right? And when you're sharing your body with another consciousness, no matter how fragmented or bound or sessile, neurons start firing."

She grimaced and drained about a quarter of the milkshake.

"More trouble than it's worth. Then again, I seem to recall that you might have a unique perspective on that...sort of situation. Care to share?"

 

[Asemir]

A smile, as Asemir mused about Ashin's question. "Ah, yes, I do have a unique perspective," he said. He paused, thinking how to begin, how to explain what that part of his mind was. "Well, I'll be honest, I don't understand what happened exactly," he began, "but I'll explain as best as I'm able."

He took another sip of the liquor. "Decades ago, after I had slain an instructor for being, shall we say, excessively flirtatious with her students, as I was laying on a recovery bed, a part of my mind cracked. Or maybe it was already cracked, and Sera was simply biding her time? I don't know. In any case, Sera manifested that night."

He saw her questioning look. "Sera is the name I gave to that portion of my sanity," Asemir explained, "because she always said 'sera' when she talked. And I refer to her as a female because that's how she referred to herself. In any case, Sera became another inhabitant of my mind, always chattering and offering her unsolicited opinions. It was quite annoying. I eventually learned how to lock her away, and that's how I kept her most of the time.

"More trouble than it's worth," Asemir said with a sigh, remembering how bothersome Sera had been. More than bothersome. Murderous. "Sera had a nasty streak in her, and sometimes she would actually control me. And bad things happened." He winced. "That's how I came to the Cult. After a particularly bad circumstance," he winced again as he remembered Nycha's passing, "she convinced me to go marauding my way through the galaxy. And then the Cult found me."

This was bringing back painful memories. He thought about Shyd. "Sera was a Force being. Shyd figured this out and eventually drove her off with a null field created by the Inquisition. Something that cancels out Force powers. That happened at the Battle of Arcanix. I suppose Sera is still there, so if you ever want to meet her, we could take a walk through the temple ruins."

Asemir smiled weakly. "Heh, I'm a death commando, and look at me, reminiscing over the past and feeling sad that I've lost so many friends. Family even." He shook his head ruefully. "I shouldn't be feeling this. Should be cold to it all. The war changed me in no way that I or my teachers would have thought." He looked at her. "I never thought I would miss Shyd and Nycha and Lycis and Untai and the other so very much."

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

Before Ashin could reply, a sharp-eared yet nonchalant youngish man slouched across the room.

"That is," he said slowly, "a heck of a story. I didn't catch all of it, mind, but enough to tell me that it's a story worth telling. Normally I go in for lampoons, but..."

He shrugged, and avoided eye contact with the woman who had rejected him on more than one occasion. The woman who, from time to time, served as a source for some of his best work.

"My name's Connory," he said, slipping into a chair beside Ashin. "I want to write about you."

 

[Edward Vyperion]

"Ugh.. I know being intoxicated stops my flamethrowers from working, but I still wonder why it happens... bah..." A droid said near Connory

 

[Asemir]

Asemir eyed the man suspiciously. "I should slay you and sift through your brains to find the idea that led you to believe eavesdropping was a good idea." As he turned back towards Ashin, he overheard the droid and briefly wondered how a mechanical being could become intoxicated. "Ashin, do you know this man?" Asemir asked, indicating Connory with a nod.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Yes, he's...an old friend, more or less. One of Velok's people, and one of mine from time to time. He's on the level...excuse me. I'm a little distracted."

She rose from the booth and hunkered down near Vyperion.

"You have flamethrowers?" she said bluntly.

 

[Edward Vyperion]

"Yup, 2 of them on my wrists, though, when I am unable to focus, they don't seem to work, dunno why that is an issue." the droid said getting over his 'intoxication'
(While he can be intoxicated, it lasts half the time of a normal person, it was something I thought of while making him for some reason XD)

 

[Asemir]

Asemir blinked once. "Tell me, how can a mechanical creature such as yourself become intoxicated? Food and drink shouldn't even be metabolized."

 

[Edward Vyperion]

"It was an attempt at making me seem more human, but the state of intoxication stops my flamethrowers from working." Vyperion said

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

"A drunken droid," said Connory to himself, scribbling furiously on a notepad. "I can work with that. Alas, my drunken friend, you're interrupting."

 

[Asemir]

"And i was hoping for a quiet chat with my friend here," Asemir said, indicating Ashin. The Forgotten shook his head warily. He pointed at the droid. "First, who are you? Why are you here?" Next he pointed at Connor. "Why do you want to write about me?"

 

[Nizzalal'dira]

It felt like spot the odd one out.

When you go to a drinking establishment you expect the rough and tumble type to be lurking around, for any of the pub grub to be at least seventy-five percent grease (at best) and for one arse to be scratching the tables up with a small flick knife but no, this was not the case.

Never before had Nizzalal'dira's eye patch be the wailing alarm siren of scum.

Although, that was just appearances, the Twi'lek was semi-polite fairly decent citizen of the galaxy...but you know what they say about books and covers. She had received a weary glance upon ordering a pint of Corellian Courage but upon dropping that much needed please word the barkeep's suspicions had been dulled. Remember your Ps and Qs, kids! Although, I think it's time to hit the enter key before I start talking about manners in the form of a smuggler.

The woman would have gotten engrossed in the scenery (it really was a nice tavern) but as soon as the word flame-thrower was tossed out into the open Nizza swivelled around on her bar stool and gave a bemused head tilt towards the gaggle of strangers. As it turned out there was a droid, a droid getting drunk?

Well I never...

Clean taverns, drunk droids, was this going to be one of those days?

Swanning over to the group of the hour, the woman hovered around them, not quite lacking the social skills to just scooch into the booth.

“I think the chances of a quiet chat are well out of the window, pal,” she smirked before taking a hearty sip of her fine pale ale, “besides, these establishments are the perfect places to turn strangers into friends, or enemies...”

Or regrets in the morning.

 

[Edward Vyperion]

(Damn internet lagged out...)
"I'm Vyperion, the first and hopefully only Vyperion series assassin droid you'll find in this galaxy. I'm here for a drink or two and to relax."

 

[Lord Ghoul]

A dark haired young man sat at the bar, his back leaning against it as he stared out and surveyed the crowd. A cold glass of Corellian brandy sat in his hand. His eyes gazed with a predatory stare on a female nearby. She noticed his gaze and waved slightly in surprise at the roguishly handsome man. Mikhail smiled and winked, then turned back to his drink. He came to bars basically every night he was not molested to go on some mission. With a few drinks, he could forget he was a Sith. A few more and he could prowl the bar for the unsuspecting woman. And after a night spent in lust he could forget about the pain and drown out the bitter loneliness. But it always came back. So Mikhail always came back... to the bar. To drink. To love. To live.

He was contemplating picking up the waving female and leaving. She was probably some Force user of a distant sect Mikhail knew nothing about, nor cared about. But a dark, but familiar presence entered the room and interrupted his schemes. He turned, his eyes falling upon Ashin Varanin. "Well, there goes the neighborhood," he said in a cheery, but somehow darkly snide tone.

His pale blue eyes followed the Dark Lord as she collapsed into a chair next to another man. The ensuing conversation was... strange to say the least. But it wasn't called the Drunken Master for nothing. Strange things happened when Force users got hammered. And damn, Mikhail was feeling buzzed. He threw back the rest of his brandy and placed the glass back on the bar. He was soooo very bored. He caught Ashin's attention and fluttered his fingers at her, a smirk playing across his lips, but he did not approach.

 

[Asemir]

"And this is why I don't drink," Asemir said as he set his glass down. He did not sip from it. The Forgotten glanced around and grinned, a measure of mirth overriding his usual sense of caution. "A one-eyed Twi'lek, a drunk droid, a Sith Master, a bard, and an assassin. We're either the butt of a joke or the cast of a terrible holovid." He turned towards the droid and bard. "It is nice to meet you, Vyperion and Connory. And, as for you," he said, giving the Twi'lek a quick visual appraisal, "do I take you as a stranger who is now an acquaintance, or a stranger who is now an enemy?"

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

Connory's head tilted.

"So wait, we got the...assassin? ...with two souls, the drunk droid, the Dark Lord, the one-eyed Twi'lek, and me. That deserves some recognition. 'Vyperion, the liquored droid/leaves Drunken Masters so annoyed/he'll find his body disassembled...' Folks, what rhymes with 'disassembled'?"

 

[Edward Vyperion]

"Ya know, I'm a rather calm drunk, then again, there are two signs that I am drunk, one of them seems to be a glitch in my system that hasn't been removed yet." Vyperion said