Marking Time

[Salem Norongachi]

"A point?" Salem thought, looking to [member="Erika Davion"] who seemed to have brightened if only a touch. "No, just experience darlin', and look where its got me." Soon, he knew, he'd be expected back on Roon. Somewhere, some pissy little bastard was hunting for him to sign a form or lead a battalion or...something else as equally tedious. His dark musings were forestalled by the call for more poison.

"As you can imagine," Norongachi began as the frazzled barkeep slipped a fresh drink before him. "I'm not one to refuse the kind offer of a lady." He didn't so much drink it as make the liquid disappear with startling speed. He set the glass down and turned his head at the question from [member="Corvetta Salvo"]. "Salem, a pleasure."

 

[Erika Davion]

From the man's response to her words, it seemed as though he was wrestling with a bitterness of his own, but that was hardly surprising to Erika. Had to be that most of the patrons in this dive were seeking to drown one set of troubles or another, while the other half mostly had the look of sentients seeking to make a few credits from those who were a few dozen drinks the wrong side of sober. Just like pretty much every cantina in the galaxy, now that she came to think of it.

"Erika Davion," she noted by way of answer as the girl spoke her question, "Good to know you Salem-" A nod toward the suit, "And you, Corvetta." A nod toward the girl followed, and then Erika allowed herself a smile as she took up her glass. She didn't look at it - sometimes, it was best just to close your eyes and swallow whilst hoping that the staff at the cantina had the same idea of 'best' as you did - but put it straight to her lips and gulped it down in one smooth motion.

"Hells," she muttered slamming the glass back down a moment later and peering through watery eyes toward the bar, "Nice kick." Motioning for another - a bad idea, given the steadily decreasing pile of credits in her pocket - the mercenary focused her gaze on Corvetta. "So, kid," she remarked, "We know why I'm here, and why our friend in the suit is trying to see if he can fit a lake of alcohol in his guts. What about you? What brings you to this slice of heaven?"

[member="Salem Norongachi"]
[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Corvetta shrugged, finishing the remainder of her glass. Her eyelids flicked rapidly, trying to blink back the mist that had descended over her eyes. "Don't have much of a reason," she admitted, finding the sound of that a little lame. "Never been to this joint before." Doubt I'll ever come back here.

She had convinced herself that was the truth, but there was a nagging realization in the back of her mind that she was working her addiction to lose herself. She had done a lot more thinking than she was comfortable with lately, and with her luck not holding up so well in recent weeks, she had relapsed a few times into her alcoholism. At one point, she had kept herself plastered for three consecutive days in orbit over Mustafar. She still had not figured out exactly how much money she had spent on second-rate alcohol there.

The pilot bobbed her head knowingly. Maybe it was time to be honest with herself. "Guess I really needed a chat."

[member="Erika Davion"] [member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"It did?" Norongachi asked, more to himself than anyone else while looking at the empty glass, and then shrugged and poured himself another whiskey. It was to be expected, at this late stage, that a few senses would give up and go home. While the other two spoke Norongachi drank, he didn't have much to say to begin with and idle chatter wasn't really his strong suit at the best of times. Drink number two was half way to his lips when his comlink beeped, he ignored it, but the noise persisted until he muttered a few choice curses under his breath.

"What?" He snapped before the caller could even speak.

"Almost done?" The voice was female and Salem looked to the bottle, perhaps two drinks left in it.

"Almost.."

"Make almost sooner."

"I don't recall ever marrying you Emah.." He responded.

"I think thats universally illegal and besides I have some semblance of taste." Came the response. "The planetary officials are getting jumpy. You can't park a Star Destroyer in orbit for three days and expect no one to ask questions."

Three days? He thought, he couldn't even remember the Hand of Fate arriving at the planet. Another curse left his lips and he drained the rest of his glass, slapped a heft sum of credits on the bar top and then stood, whiskey bottle in hand he placed it between [member="Erika Davion"] and [member="Corvetta Salvo"]. "On me, its been...yeah." Was all he said and then made for the door. It was ended up being a long road for a short cut, his legs seemingly under the power of someone else but he made it in the end.

"I'm on my way!" He was heard to snap into the comlink as he vanished out the door.