S A N G U I N E
Humbarine. Things had not gone according to plan on Humbarine. Where had those obtuse Mandalorians come from? Why did she pay so many criminal outfits and information brokers if they couldn't be arsed to tell her a bunch of self-righteous, beskar-wearing thugs were going to show up on the planet she was on and attempt to conquer it? Astra hated when she was forced to reveal even the scarcest of knowledge about the Force. No one needed to know that. It was leverage for when someone had to Gungan-fool idea to try killing her instead of giving her what she wanted. And when that happened there weren't survivors for it to matter.
Could have been worse. Could have gotten pulled into that maelstrom of telepathic and elemental fervor they called a 'Storm.' Dangerous game that. Your mind jacked into a collective. Who knew what dark secret might get caught in someone else's mind. Or thought.
Astra snorted at the humor of remembering her time on Humbarine. The Empress Srina Talon herself had tried making full use of that meeting of the minds. Thought to plant a mind worm in their heads. Woman hadn't gotten to her station in life letting a good opportunity pass her by. No harm, no foul. Astra would have done the same if she'd wanted to deal with the headaches that came having the spotlight blistering your skin wherever you went. As Empress what did Srina have to worry about whether anyone noticed or cared?
Red jacket hung up, Astra leaned back against the bar with a drink in one hand. A smile curled the corners of her lips upward. Red glareshades kept the writhing bodies from noticing the way her eyes watched their every move. The way the dancers undulated and swayed. The way lovers touched one another's hands and faces. Rival took turning glowering at one another across the room. And the assassin in the corner booth that'd begun to extract themselves from the scene of a crime; one of the wait staff would eventually notice their 'sleepy' customer wasn't ever going to wake.
The music was loud enough to shatter a person's soul and that was just the way Astra liked it. When she finished her drink, she might slip into the crowd in search of someone to pass the time with. A little company went a long way swallowed by the night.
