Private When The Smoke Clears

[Talin Treicolt]

Even if the Denon was crawling with enemies, there were still friends to be found. She had handed Tansu off to Talsin, insisting they’d be safer if they parted and Talin led any followers away; but not before threatening Talsin that if anything else happened to her sister, even one hair plucked away, she’d take several of his appendages, pickle ‘em and feed ‘em to her chickens when they got back home. After, her and Jon had weaved a maze that made her head spin, trying to shake any tails. When they finally made it to The End Of The Road, she about shed tears. The place was already shuttered, empty of their normal clientele. Good. The suicide slums weren’t so big; too many people would already know what had went down. Talin let herself in with the key Kyric had given her in case of emergency. If there ever was one, this was it.

The place was dusty around the base boards, its chairs stacked upon tables - but the bar was well stocked. Talin flipped on the lights, made a beeline to the counter, and pulled two glasses from beneath. She rifled around for the nearest bottle next. Whiskey - good. Amber filled both cups halfway. Wordlessly, she drained one, then the other, and refilled them again. Only then did one slide over in offering to Jon.

“What a mess.” Her voice was still ragged from the smoke. “But a memorable welcome party?”

She offered a half smile, the best she could do, then gingerly lifted the hat upon her head and laid it to rest on the counter. Her gun joined it - still within easy reach.

“What’re you doin’ here, anyways? Did the tales of the big city entice ya?”

Tonight had been devastating, but she still rode the high of danger, and the jokes came a little easier.

Tags: Jonath Kago
Honorable Mentions: Kyric Talsin Lota Tansu Treicolt

 

[Jonath Kago]

“What a mess.”

What a mess? What an understatement, the group had duck and dodged trouble even when they fortunately escaped the carnage in the Drop. Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was their versatile skills complementing everyone and allowing them to escape with their lives.

What did it matter? They escaped was all that mattered.

Maybe Talin remembered every part of their bloody dilemma; however, for Jon parts of the fight and escape were blurred lines for him. Like bits of memory fading, and behind a heavy fog. His psyche was weird and it was not his first time experiencing this under violent distress. Somehow it made him feel like a trained killer; it made him invaluable to his few friends on Concord Dawn, every brawl turned in their favor with his pair of knuckles. Bar fights and stalking crime from lowlife rogues preying upon people when Concord Dawn was still rebuilding, after a critical Imperial assault years ago.

His body and mind eased up when he and Talin locked up behind an abandoned safe house. Alone with a bar cabinet full of liquor. Something to calm down the goosebumps on his skin. The farm boy joined her at the bar, the girl already downing two shots of whiskey like it was water.

“What’re you doin’ here, anyways? Did the tales of the big city entice ya?”

“I could be asking you the same thing. I didn’t think being around cornstalks would get someone in this shithole,” strong choice of words but what else could be said when walking among bandits and other lawless people?

“I got some leave time and wanted to see what’s life outside of scooping shit from the animals,” a half assed joke, before drinking his shot. Warm and a kick to it with the back of throat feeling the burn of liquor.

“Your parents know you hang around with these kinds of…people? I think you pissed off the wrong crime boss tonight, or those thugs wouldn’t have wrecked that place.”

“Another shot, please.”

Talin Treicolt​

 

[Talin Treicolt]

“We don’t tell ma and pa bout this.”

Talin withheld the bottle momentarily, eyes wide. She may have been an adult now, technically, but the last thing she needed was every friend of the Treicolt family trying to drag her back across the galaxy again, kickin’ and screamin’. Plus, she didnt want to give her mama a heart attack. When she finally poured, she topped up her own glass, too.

“Dunno who it coulda been. We pay our dues to the locals, try to keep cool. Maybe some newbie tryna make a name for himself.” Her grip on the glass tightened. “He’ll learn.”

Ripley kept the place stocked with the good stuff. Between the liquor and exhaustion, the edge was coming off, shoulders slumped in relief.

“How’d you learn to fight like that, anyways?”

Jon’s tactics had been questionable, but effective. Talin still thought on that Ithorian, and the grief in his voice - and what she woulda done to anyone who did that to one of hers.

 

[Jonath Kago]

“We don’t tell ma and pa bout this.”

He raised his eyebrows, not sure if he was comfortable in hiding this little secret of Talin from her parents. Jon had heard many good things about the Treicolts. Good, honest people who tended the land and did right to the people. His kind of folk. Always doing the right thing and disregarding the unnecessary bullshit.

He raised his glass along with the blonde and-

“How’d you learn to fight like that, anyways?”

-stopped before he putting his lips on the brim of the glass. His hand pulled away and rested on the table without letting go of the glass.

“I uh,” trying to find an honest answer to her question. She wasn’t the first to ask him that and it was easily suspicious for a straggler like him to fight with deadly precision. Hopefully she’d be impressed than concerned…like the few friends he had on Concord Dawn.

“I really don’t know, I’ve always been kinda good at fighting. It’s…it’s hard to explain. Whenever shit hits the fan I’m just up and ready. I don’t know, but I’m always an ace in the hole if you need to win a bar fight,” and shot her a smirk, bringing back his glass of liquor to his mouth before drowning its contents. The second shot was always better than the first, no longer annoyed by its burn.

“I think if I didn’t act, one of us would’ve died. That’s not a bet I’m making,” reaching out to grab the bottle to pour himself and Talin another shot.

“And besides, when has a Weequay ever been a good member of society?” An insensitive comment, was that him or the alcohol making him loose?

Talin Treicolt​

 

[Talin Treicolt]

An ungraceful chuckle followed a snort in response to the off kilter remark. Yep, there sure was a reason pops had kept Jon around.

“Well, I sure am glad you’re on our side. But we’ll have to lay low for a little while.” The sigh seemed to reach into the depths of her soul. “Not even sure anyone else will let us promote. Word moves fast around here.”

It was the least of her worries, truly. The pain she had felt emanating through her bond with Tansu took priority. The retribution she craved was more than thieves honor. Joy faded from the blondes features, shifting to something darker.

“I’m gonna find those guys. And they’re gonna be sorry.”

A full plan couldn’t develop, her logical reasoning hazed by a stomach full of amber. Instead, she let it lie at that, and her mind floated to what was after.

“You alone out here, or what? You can’t stay on Denon. It’s probably better if we split up, too, but… when the heat cools, we could meet back on Coruscant?”

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

​

►Talin

·

pizza @ door | yesterday, 08:39pm

Tansu ◄
​

·

where r u?

·

text me back

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if i keep texting u im gonna be like that crazy ex from highschool, pls

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r u with jon?

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tell him "hi" for me, but also

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look at this: A LINK FROM THE BOUNTY BOARD HAS BEEN SHARED

·

it's that cute little fox!! he's got a price on his head for just tryna help us out!!

·

get jon to fix it somehow, he started it

​

____________________________________________________________
Talin Treicolt | Jonath Kago
Honourable mention: Ren
____________________________________________________________​

 

[Talin Treicolt]

There was a buzzin’ - annoyingly pestering. What was that? Oh. Her data pad was lightin’ up beneath her hat, the glow barely visible around the edges. Pickin’ up the thing puttin’ it back on back on her head, she then squinted through blurry eyes at the revealed device. Her heart bought leapt into her chest when she saw SEVEN new texts from Tansu. Had they been found? Had she been hurt ag-?

With clickin’ that link, Talin’s mouth fell open in disbelief. A hand clattered round the back of the bar, using the stool for leverage to reach, till she found the remote to the holovision that hung in the corner. It powered on silently, and Talin flipped through the channels frantically until -

“Several people have been wounded tonight in a thieves den known as the Drop. Two were killed in the violent attack, one trampled, the other at blaster point. Jedi Knight Ren is wanted for question for his involvement in these events.”

Corpo dogs scurried around the news caster, takin’ samples from bloodstains off the ground and logging notes on data pads.

“OHMYGOD.” Talin sucked in a breath. “Jon, we have to help him! He can’t go to prison! Look at him! He’ll be eaten alive!!! Maybe literally!!!!!”

 

[Jonath Kago]

The glass emptied and its volume was refilled, and again the liquor was drank quickly. Again, he poured another shot but relaxed for a moment to think over Talin’s words.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m all out here by myself. Well not entirely alone,” his eyebrows raised for a quick moment, shooting a glance at the blonde. “But uh, I don’t think it would be a good idea to split up. At least for now, I can give you a hand to take care of th-“

Interrupted by the holovision coming alive, Talin changing the channels until coming upon a familiar scenery. The one they had escaped from. Covering the tragedy and informing of the arrest warrant for the Jedi that helped them. Why was there one for the fox and not for the perpetrators?

“OHMYGOD.” “Jon, we have to help him! He can’t go to prison! Look at him! He’ll be eaten alive!!! Maybe literally!!!!!”

Maybe he could be indifferent to the dilemma this Jedi was facing. After all, it would just invite more problems for them and they had enough of those already. But deep down it was something he couldn’t ignore. Every good deed he had done was as if trying to right something wrong…but what? And he only kept on doing it, not content with himself.

“Okay, okay, relax yeah? Let’s just think for a minute, yeah?” Hand released his glass of whiskey to find a solution to this problem. “Oh, I got it. We can find the guy who issued this warrant and try to reverse it. That’ll do it unless you got something else.”