I'll Stay Here In The Shadows

[Sitara Qin]

It was a cliche scenery. The cantina was poorly lit and people mostly kept to herself. Behind a par was a circle of twilek dancers; their already colorful skin painted with intricate designs. They were almost tasteful, Sitara thought, yet their skimpy outfits drew the eyes away from the artistic patterns and onto the ladies' carnal features. In the middle of the dancing girls was a single man singing a song in a language she couldn't quite understand. He seemed human enough and perhaps the song was written that was for artistic reasons.

Sitara wasn't the type to really judge.

After all, a place like this contained bodies full of stories. Each person drunk with their own reasons. And with the sorrows of the world disillusioning everyone, the glass filled with cambrian wine seemed far more appealing that it already was. The glass was cool in her hands and the liquid was bitter against her palate. She had downed far stronger drinks and learned to stop complaining. No one drank alcohol for the taste, she concluded, they loved it for the effects.

Her face was reddening and she was feeling rather warm. Being lightweight had its risks. Her mind started to collapse on her. "I think I need some water." She told the bartender. He nodded, handing her a glass of water.

"Long night?" He asked her.

"Couldn't be long enough."

​

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

"That's true..." said Jarven 2 stools away from [member="Sitara Qin"] at the bar. "...Everyone's always needing more time. Time helps us forget, but because we're short on time, we turn to other means..." He lifted his hard lemonade in the air. "...like alcohol."

Jarven was dresed in work casual clothing and he had remembered to shave the black fur from his neck, chest, and arms. The social aspects of Jarven's brain had become more and more self conscious about having fur, seeing as how some people viewed it to be primitive. He found himself frequenting these bars more and more often. Long hours working and researching, using his ARC lenses, and acclimating to his new brain+implants led Jarven to need a nice juicy drink that could dull the stress and aches of the day. He could tell something wasn't quite right with his brain augmentation. He increasingly got more headaches and his mental fatigue threshold was slowly dropping. He'd have to run some medical tests later to make sure it wasn't anything serious.

Jarven had just started nursing his drink, so he was plentifully sober. The woman at the bar, however, didn't seem to have had many glasses and yet she was starting to get a little tipsy.

 

[Sitara Qin]

The clean shaved person, [member="Jarven Zexxel"], seemed to have taken notice of her. She grinned. "Well, sir, that's pretty damn deep." She nodded. Her mind wasn't quite comprehending half of the words he said. But the man was still pretty sober, and she enjoyed a good conversation about life philosophy when she wasn't intoxicated. The person was dressed pretty casually. Sitara herself wasn't wearing anything special. She had on a grey mesh sweater and a pair of dark riding jeans.

"I'll drink to that!" She sloppily said, holding her glass up to the air. A bit of liquid spilled off of it, staining the sweater. She took another sip of the fine liquid, wine dribbling off her lips. She was a sloppy drunk. Who gave a chit?

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

Jarven sat there, unsure what to say next. He stood up with his drink, walked over to the stool next to her, and sat down. He took a sip of his drink and then cleared his throat. He looked at her with concern in his eyes. Young people shouldn't be getting sloshed by themselves for no darn reason. That meant that there was likely a reason. "So...Why are you here? Is it the wonderful drinks? The scintillating atmosphere?...Or are you here to forget?"

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

It was a fair variation to the typical "What's a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?" cliche. He seemed to be concerned for her. Cute. She smiled at him lovingly. "Darling, I just really like alcohol." She purred, drinking up the rest of the wine. She set her glass on the table. "Bartender, another!" She cooed towards the man behind the counter. He nodded, and after serving another customer, he slid her another glass of cambrian wine.

"What about you? What's your story?" She asked [member="Jarven Zexxel"], the chilled glass of wine cupped in her hands.

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

"Me? I'm just trying to relax. Too much time at the office has been giving me headaches." As she reached for her new drink and pulled it to herself, her arm bumped another empty glass off of the table. It fell down, but Jarven casually snatched it out of the air and set it down on the table (away from her) like nothing happened. He stared at the wall for a couple of seconds while he thought. He turned slightly to her and said, "I mean, we all have stories. I have a story, but I doubt you want to hear it."


[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

He somehow caught the empty shot glass she had accidentally knocked over. As though in slow motion, his arm swooped in, caught the glass tumbling in mid air, and slammed it back on the table. A few drops of alcohol splattered on the dark floors. She grimaced and looked away, the guy then declaring that he had a story and him sharing it depended on whether she wanted to hear it or not. Tara tilted her head to her side. The man did seem to have a sob story. Whether or not she was genuinely interested wasn't a problem. She had the time to kill to listen to a man's sob story. "Try me." She said, smiling sweetly towards [member="Jarven Zexxel"].

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

Jarven opened his mouth to speak, but something held him in place. What are you doing, Jarven? You've gotten the revenge you wanted. Let it go and stop dredging up those memories. Besides, she probably doesn't care about their deaths. Just talk about something else, for pete's sake...

Jarven shut his mouth and thought about something else to recant to his bar friend. Tall tales, Jarven. Tell her the impressive ones. Drunk people like impressive stories. Jarven grinned and said,

"...I'm sorry, did I say story as in singular? I meant to say stories, plural. There was this one time that I wiped out a whole nest of Kinrath and stole the crystals from their eggs. I took out the heads of four crime families simultaneously. I rode a star ship up into space. I saved a boy from a broken city. The list goes on...kind of. It all really depends on what you want to hear."

Jarven took another swig of his drink, which in turn made him start to feel better.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Multiple stories? Sitara giggled. Men had a knack for stretching the truth, especially when it came to impressing a beautiful girl. She crossed her legs, her chair spinning so that she was fully facing him. She licked her lips. "Well well well. It seems like we got a hero here." She smiled, batting her long dark eyelashes at him. "Saving a boy from a broken city." She grinned. "That's quite amazing."

"Well babe, we haven't got all the time in the world." She said, her sharp grey eyes looking into his. "Why don't you elaborate on your amazing tales?" She challenged.

|[member="Jarven Zexxel"]|

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

Hero? Was that what he was? What had it taken to gain that title? Heroic feats? Wild Experiences?...Bloodshed?....Jarven nursed his drink some more, leaving a small amount left in the cup for later. A quick explantion of your stories then, Jarven.

"Alright, well...It was during the Battle of Makeb. The LZ was hot, so only being armed with a hover chute, a repulsor cannon, a pistol, a whip..." Jarven stared at nothing and his voice trailed off at this point. Dark room. Blood dripping from chandelier. Whip wrapped around the monster's neck. Falling, now. Crunch. Darkness. Come with us, Jarven. We miss you...

His pupils narrowed into those of a cat's and his irises...turned red? Nah, nah. That's crazy talk!...But...his irises definitely weren't brown anymore, that was for sure...The whole aberrant event happened for 3 seconds, tops. His eyes soon returned to their normal state and re-focused on her.

"...and balls of steel, I jumped out halfway inside the Troposphere. I was soon armed with a heart inside my throat...but that's beside the point." He smiled at his own dry humor, partially to convey that he was making a joke and did not actually possess a heart in his throat. "Enemy transport came up from the mining facility that I was supposed to defend and caught me in its path. The chute ran out of juice, so I was along for the ride. They were gracious enough to let me in and I barely got in before we broke atmo...I broke bones, of course, but I was safe."

"After Makeb, I joined the rescue and recovery effort. I wandered the broken streets looking for survivors. I found a boy. I fed him and got him to a camp. Then, a jerk named Jaster made an unprovoked attack on one of the Red Raven disaster recovery agents using one of his droids...Coward. I got her out of there mostly intact. Gave him a nice jetpack flying dropkick to the shoulder before leaving." Jarven grinned once more, although this one was a feral smile.

"The crime families...were a tough nut to crack. I went in on Nar Shaddaa hard and fast. I used their own fears against them. Confusion, speed, fast shooting guns...and good armor. The mob bosses were dealt with swiftly. I met someone who I didn't want to meet...but needed to...I got karked up. Bad....I wish I'd died...I didn't want to die, though."

"The Kinrath were more mundane than one might believe. Sure, it was downright intimidating and scary to have a horde of them charging you, but I had superior "fire" power..." Jarven couldn't help but crack yet another smile. "It turned out to be long and hard work, but the haul was worth it. I actually have one of the crystals right here..." He rummaged through his pockets until he brought out a small crystal that easily tucked into the palm of his hand. He slid it along the counter to her, saying, "Dantooine crystals have an interesting attribute. You see, they can sense and display..."

His voice grew silent as he stared at the crystal before her. As it had neared her, the crystal began to turn dark....Dark Jedi. One Sith, at worst. He intensely stared at her, highly uncertain of what to do next.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

She had let his words pass through her ears as though she was listening. It was something she didn’t really care for, however, men were cuter when they spoke passionately about something. She nodded along to his story, her eyes widening on cue when he spoke dramatically. Her vision shifted for a moment, idly staring at a drunk man at the back of the room who was making a total fool of himself. She met his gaze just as his eyes changed back.

He was talking about balls of steal or something She smiled politely at him after he smiled. It was a war story, no doubt. Just how old was this guy anyways? It certainly did seem like everyone else had more things to talk about than she did. She twiddled her fingers as he spoke, trying to look as interested as possible. Hell, she was too buzzed to really care.

“Huh. Jaster.” She nodded, as though she was carefully following along with the story. It involved a scene of him being heroic, and maybe he wanted her to praise him for it. Frankly, there was really nothing to say as he kept going on and on before speaking about death and not wanting to die. Although she hadn’t been out in the world enough to get a better grip on death, she certainly didn’t want to gamble her own life for anything or anybody, even if it was someone she cared for. He was lucky to survive, she’d give him that.

It was then that he revealed to her a crystal. Sitara’s eyes widened as he slid it alongside the counter towards her. She picked it up, dangling it in front of her face to get a better look at it. it was definitely quite pretty until it started to turn dark. Oh. It was some kind of crystal that identified just where you stood on the light-dark scale. Judging by the color it definitely wasn’t wrong. If he was going to attack her, she’d definitely defend herself. What? Was he sithophobic or something. She smirked.

“Sweetheart, look at me. I’m not exactly sober, and I know better than to play with light when I’m not sober.” She said, smiling sweetly. “And besides, I’m harmless. I promise.”

|[member="Jarven Zexxel"]|

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

HA ha ha...What's the matter, Jarven? Don't you like the Sith? You certainly didn't mind it when they gave you a new body and mind...Frell you! Sith or no Sith, she's still a Dark Force User! Force Users are just flawed people with too much power over their fellow men! Oh, well then you might as well start attacking your own allies, then. I'm sure that Keira Ticon would appreciate it so much if you repaid her by KILLING HER!...This woman's not Keira...Shut up....

Jarven came to the conclusion that [member="Sitara Qin"] deserved to be given the benefit of the doubt. She was somewhat inebriated and it wasn't as though she was cackling malevolently or spewing bolts of lightning into his face. Perhaps he was over reacting. He relaxed again. He didn't want to attack anyone. He just hated the idea of being abused by powers that he couldn't confront. The crystal he had given her was originally pink before it had been given over.

"...Anyway, they reflect a force user's alignment and they supposedly boost a wielder's ability to recover Force energies. At least, that's what the database says." He could see the flicker of appreciation and desire in her eyes and he had plenty to share. "Would you...like to keep it?"

 

[Sitara Qin]

Every facet of the lovely crystal glimmered at her. In her palms it was dark, nearing black but when she held it out to the light it reflected a reddish, almost deep violet color. She observed it for a few seconds, the light tinting her face the same color. She was mesmerized by this simple object in her hand. She smiled, setting the crystal down on the counter.

“Really? That’s sweet of you.” She said, tilting her head a sweet smile playing on her lips. “You know, in some cultures, offering a girl a gemstone is one way for asking for her hand in marriage.” She winked.

“But thanks. It’s quite pretty.” She said, pocketing the small gem. She felt as though it resembled her almost. Judging by its lack of color when it was with him, he was most probably not force sensitive. Also judging by the way he stared at her when it revealed her as a dark jedi probably meant he had a rough encounter with the sith. Or maybe he was just scared, who wouldn’t be? Most dark sided force users were dangerous after all, and when she didn’t get her way she could be deadly.

It was why she liked the company of dangerous people. Although they could turn on you and stab you in the back at any time, it thrilled her. She wasn’t sure if this [member="Jarven Zexxel"] was even a threat considering the way he looked at her when he found out just who she really was. It was kind of cute actually. “You know, I’ve never even gotten your name.”

 

[Jarven Zexxel]

"Well, from me, it's just a sign of friendship." He non-chalantly raised his left hand to show her his wedding ring while looking into the bottom of the hard lemonade he was now sipping from.

"You're welcome."

"Well, of course you never got my name. What kind of horrible parent names their little girl Jarven?" He chuckled and smiled, this time briefly revealing his canines, which were a tad bit more pronounced than the average human's. "My name's Jarven. Jarven Zexxel. What's your name?"

That was when an inebriated ignoramus stumbled to the seat at the bar that was between he and [member="Sitara Qin"]. He glared at the back of the man's head as the man drunkenly said to her, "Heeeeeey, baybeee.....How'sabout---" Now, Jarven wasn't exactly sure why he did what he did next. Perhaps Rage had a stronger presence in his mind than he thought. Perhaps he didn't want an interruption like this to take place. Perhaps it just seemed right.

Whatever it was, Jarven cut the man off by viciously kicking one of the seat's legs out from underneath the man. The man fell over and landed in an inglorious heap upon the ground. Jarven picked the man up by his left leg with his right hand. The man was about...oh, 175. He dangled him in the air from his hand and carried him over to the exit. Upon opening the door, he shoved the dangling body with his foot and released soon after. The man crumpled to the ground once more and Jarven shut the door.

He came back to the bar to find the bartender glaring at him. Once he was seated, Jarven crossed his arms and glared back at the bartender. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'd like another drink...please...." The bartender gave an exasperated sigh and started searching behind the bar for another hard lemonade.

Turning to the lady, he noticed that she was (likely) staring a him. He looked down at the bar and said sheepishly, "Sorry...about that....I just...." He then turned back to the new drink placed in front of him.

 

[Sitara Qin]

The man revealed a wedding ring and Sitara laughed. What’s a man doing in a bar without his wife anyways? Maybe there was trouble in paradise already. Either way, she knew when to minimize the flirting; especially when she wasn’t serious in forming an actual bond with the person. It was always fun and games until someone got hurt, and she wasn’t going to have some crazy wife going after her if she flirted with her man enough to make him deeply infatuated with her. “Congratulations.” She said, holding up her glass. “Obligatory toast to celebrate your wedding?”

She rolled her eyes at the mawkish joke and smiled. Perhaps this guy simply needed time around people. She was happy to provide the company. “Jarven Zexxel. Interesting name.” She nodded, taking a sip out of her drink. “Sitara Qin, but I go by Tara.” She told him. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her name, rather, she didn’t think it rolled well on her tongue.

It was then that a disgusting… vile man who was probably old enough to be her father rolled over and sloppily slammed his arm on the table in a sad attempt to flirt with her. Sitara chuckled at how desperate some people could be. She enjoyed men but she preferred them sober enough to actually start a conversation. “I’m sorry darling, I’m not interested.” Were the words that rolled out of her mouth. She was polite as always although she could probably kick his ass if he insisted on flirting with her.

And then the man slid, his head hitting the cold stone floor with a loud thud. Sitara was taken aback, although she didn’t so much as flinch. She stared at him idly, her gaze shifting back and forth to the drunk man on the floor and onto Jarven. She raised her eyebrows as she watched the gank pick him up from his comfortable resting position and carried him outside the door. Her fingers tapped her palm, obviously entertained by his heroic? act before he reappeared into the bar and ordered another drink.

He turned to her, looking apologetic. She just laughed, happy that at least something entertaining happened to her tonight. She shook her head, raising her hand to gesture that his apologies were absolutely unnecessary. “Bravo.” She said, nodding. “Thanks for that. You saved me from getting my hands dirty.”

“But really, thanks. That man reeked of creepiness.” She smiled, slipping credits over to the bartender. “I’ll pay for your next drink to show you my gratitude.”

|[member="Jarven Zexxel"]|