Woozy

[Jairus Starvald]

Rigneldia II - The Centrality​

[member="Calina Ovmar"]​

​

Say what you want about the Centrality, but its worlds did a good job of representing what they were about.

You had your shipyard world in Scillal, the capital with Erilnar, even an advanced center of education and knowledge around Lekua V. Rigneldia II was a different beast, one of iron and steel, infrastructure 'til the horizon was bloated positively in smoke and smog, its surface was covered with the city-sprawl and urbanization ran rampant.

Silas of Ossus wasn't a Sith, at least, he didn't think so personally. But, what he did know, was that Sith were quite good at paying up when you did a good job and the Ysanna was good ad doing jobs. This time around one particular Sith from the Order had tasked him with a little something.

A bird -- part of him wondered what it made him, that he was following orders from a bird -- was trying to strengthen his grip around the Centrality.

But as always you had competition. This time some small-time robber baron Sith making his home around the industrial sector of Rigneldia II.... well, he had made his home there, Silas just returned with blood on his knuckles, the dents on his axe increased by a karkton and grime on his brow.

Now he just wanted a drink. He could figure out the payment after some drinks, food and sleep, the bird had to be happy with how he dealt with the baron, no?

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina had paid little attention to where she was walking, even less so to the bar her feet carried her into, so absorbed in her own musings as she was. She blinked once she'd passed the bouncers, bringing herself back to the current world and cast her eyes around. A live band played a cheerful tune on a stage at the far end of the room, the dance floor beneath, packed with people dancing away their troubles. A few hungry eyes cast about the floor, hunting for the next person to share a bed with.

She smirked slightly at this and meandered her way through tables to reach the bar that stretched the length of the hall, passing a table playing dejarik, all faces involved furrowed in concentration. Another supported a gaggle of females, squealing with excitment, their laugh so shrill it made her wince at the noise. Finally reaching the bar, she shrugged off her leather jacket, resting it on the back of a chair and hoisted herself into place, the room around her fading into the background as she fell once more into thought.

Finally free from the clutches of the mandalorians, she had contemplated a great many things. The first had been to track and kill her mother, though logic overuled such a rash movement. the second had been to go looking for her father and ask why he had not come for her, but the idea of meeting the man in the flesh filled her with a dread she couldn't quite understand. So instead, she had opted for planning. It was past time she made a footprint in the Sith Order, and she had a great pool pf ideas collected whilst in prison, with regards to developing her alchemy skills among other things.

For the moment, she wanted to drown her well concealed anguish. She had grown up believing strongly, that her mother had wanted to protect her from everything. Even the pain that could come from having friends, and yet, when it had come down to it, Anaya fen had not cared at all. She could still feel the chill of the prison, like the cold was so embedded in her bones that she would never be warm again.

"What can I get ya, lassie?"

She looked up at the bartender, offering a small smile. "Whisky, please?"

"Ain't got the Corellian stuff." he replied indignantly.

Calina shrugged. "I don't mind, so long as it burns when I drink it and it gets me drunk."

The bartender chuckled and wandered away to pour her drink. Calina's eyes cast over the crowd in the bar once more. She was not under the illusion that she was alone in her suffering. Thousands, perhaps millions, of children had been abandoned by their parents and while this fact stop her from wallowing in self pity, it did not ease the pain in the slightest. A glas was set before her, and she slid him a cred chit. "Open a tab for me, will you?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

He wandered.

Stalked.

It was a natural gait of a man in his element and throughout the years Silas had walked many dumps such as these. Par for the course with a father as his, you weren't cuddled or kept in a little library safe from the universe -- no, no, you were sent out there with no help or aid, besides your wit and the skills you had been taught prior to the jaunt.

Educational? Surely.

Any other day the Ysanna would have simply cut a path through the bar slash cantina and called it a day, but this time he didn't want any unnecessary conflicts. Whenever he cut a path, he left bruised egos behind which were nursed, until they boiled over. This wasn't something he truly wished to explore this time around, so he slipped around, slipped past and generally slippery sloped it, until he arrived at the bar itself.

He settled down, one chair of safety between him and some blonde lass, who had just ordered some whiskey.

"The usual, Fredo." Silas relayed, right before the bartender could slip away. Another lesson from his dad-o, learn the bar, before you go hunting so you got something good to come back to after the job was done.

"Coming right up." Fredo tipped his non-existent hat to the Ysanna and went to work. There was time to kill, what with the volume of people clamoring for drinks, he started checking up on his nails; too much blood, it had been a messy job, if anything.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina's eyes were fixed on the dark liquid in her glass, she watched it swirl of its own accord, greasy patterns forming on its surface. She picked it up, taking a long sip and relishing, just for a moment, in the heat that flood through her as she swallowed. The air conditioning units kicked into action above them, blowing processed air over the crowd and cooling the room slightly. With it it brought a wave of smell normally concealed, the one that stuck out most, was the one coming from the man a seat away from her.

Her flickered his way, taking in the grime on his face, and the blood on his knuckles. She wasn't unaccustomed to seeing either, but for one to wander so bodly in here covered in both, surprised her somewhat. Judging by the familiarity he had with the bartender, he was a regular and as such, his appearance was considered normal. Still...it was a little unsettling. She took comfort in the lightsaber resting at her hip.

Despite her misgivings, Calina was curious. Turning her face to look him properly she offered a friendly smile. "You know you've got blood on your cheek?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Always keep your nails tidy.

Words to live by and Silas did a lot of living. The glass was offered and he took it cautiously, offering back an appreciative nod and then threw it over immediately. It burned, but it was the good kind of burn - made ya forget for a second about the little pains and the worrying thoughts that clawed at the mind behind.

He didn't look up at the voice, instead Silas opted for a swirl of his drink and watching it roll its amber roll within.

"Is it?" The Ysanna finally asked, weaving a shrug into the question. "Here I thought it was some of da face cream for ya skin."

A look of puzzlement entered the equation.

"Looking back at it it didn't look like a beauty saloon either, so you may be right."

Turned out to be a joke, though, at least looking by the way the puzzlement gave away to an easy grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina's smile did not falter, despite her disgust, she chuckled slightly. "If you walked into a beauty salon, I think you'd send the beauticians fleeing in fear. The challenge to make you pretty would terrify them."

She threw back the rest of her drink and signalled the bartender for a second. "I hope the blood doesn't belong to someone I know, I might feel compelled to do something about it."

A second whisky was set in front of her, and she offered a smile in thanks. "Are you an assassin, then? Or did someone simply rub you up the wrong way?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

"Not sure, they managed to make something outta you, didn't they?" Silas quipped right back, before gesturing for another one as well. In truth he hardly knew how [member="Calina Ovmar"] looked; angle of the light, shadows and no inclination to actually use the energy to turn around and look at her. It as a fun conversation though, he wasn't sure what her angle was- and there was always another angle, but it had to be a good one.

Took a special kind of person to chat up someone like him on a day like this.

"Naw, assassins are far more graceful than I am." And the axe went down, down, down. Chop. Slash, hack. No, there was nothing graceful about Silas of Ossus, once the killing started. His style was rough, his stance was stable like the foundations of an oak and just as hard, he didn't flow as much as crash into you and once your concentration was disrupted... it was all but over already.

"I am a merc, but I only work for a certain level of clientele." He sniffed and then the Ysanna looked over to her side. Ah.... yes, the little lingering turn of the nose in a sneer or a scowl, the eyes set just right as they pondered and wondered- she was already trying to put him into a category, Sith? Probably, but a little one.

Not a big league, not yet anyway.

"What's girl coming straight outta a beauty saloon doing 'round here anyway?"

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina's smile became a smirk. "You mean the clientele with the fuller bank account." She shook her head. "I never did like the idea of paying someone else to do my dirty work.I guess though, it makes sense when you've more than one piece of filth to eradicate."

The second drink disappeared between her lips as he asked her what she was doing here. She flagged the bartender again. "Just leave the bottle." She instructed, turning to face the merc again.

"Me? Well, it's pretty simple really. I'm here to drink this bottle, in the hope that it'll burn away my misery. Maybe I'll find something distracting too." Her eyes trailed past him to the dance floor, scouting the men and women around. "Which one is least likely to be diseased do you think?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The Ysanna lazily turned around the seat, his back now leaning against the bar and his eyes set on the dance floor. One hand was still leaning against the axe hanging from his belt, it had marks on it- damage, but also runes and in the dark it seemed to glow just a little tinsy bit. Blue, blue eyes looked around the dance floor and noted the various individuals, before snorting and turning around again.

"Bunch of little people, beauty queen." Silas said, before pulling down another glass and savoring the taste. "Throw a dice and if luck's on your side, you might walk away without a disease."

Smirk curled up.

"Or an inferiority complex to boot."

He waved his hand, vaguely in the air to wave the issue away entirely. If this one was a Sith, then she was a strange one indeed, still that eyeing to size up the threats but [member="Calina Ovmar"] didn't seem to care much about plotting or anything like that. Silas appreciated that - he had enough plotting for the rest of his life from his dearest father figure - maybe that was the reason why he didn't plot at all.

Just moved along with the tide and see where it went.

"That left one, the emerald twi'lek in the corner warding off those two drunks, just innocent enough she might have accidentally wandered in here though."

He ordered another drink.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina laughed. The sound surprised her a little, she couldn't recall when she last laughed. The rolling banter between them was wearing down her guard. "Pretty sure I've got enough complexes."

She blanched at the suggestion of the twi'lek. "Green's not my colour." She replied, continuing her scan of the dance floor for a moment longer. "I might just stick with the bottle," she drew her eyes away and back to the merc. "Far safer." Her eyes were drawn once more to the blood on his cheek. It was beginning to annoy her.

"So, do you always come here after murdering someone?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

"Strictly speaking it was self-defense." Silas brought up after a brief ponder, before shrugging. "Then again, I did insist on entering the premises without an invitation, which might have made them more inclined to use deadly force in the first place."

The alcohol was smoothing things out for him. He wasn't usually like this, bit of cheery, bit of fun and a whole lotta banter to wit, but it was the alcohol and the blood-thrill still running through his veins. If it had been up to him the Ysanna would have fought the whole night through and then some, but at some point you run out of bodies and you gotta conclude the job was actually done.

Wasn't fun, wasn't fair either, but that was life for ya innit?

"Gave them the first few hits, which I figured was fair."

Silas hummed to the tune of the music; he wasn't a dancer either, but this song was good, quite good. Another glass was turned over and another heavy shrug accompanied the heavy drawl of his voice.

"Lesson I learned early on, though, you got a job in town? Scout out the bars prior, so you got something nice to come back to after the fact." Two fingers went up and away from his forehead, as a salute. "That one is for free."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina nodded. "A sound bit of advice. If I ever consider lowering myself to the level of cleaning up someone else's dirt for money, I'll bear it in mind." The dog was meant in jest...or was it? Calina didn't like killing. Her mother loved it, you could see her eyes light up when the opportunity arose. Personally, Calina found it wasteful.

Still, there was logic in it. Death spread fear and fear was sometimes an ally. "Where are you from..uh.." she faltered, she didn't know his name. Nor did she think he'd give it up easy either. She smirked, recalling a word in high sith. "Siqsa."

That would do for now.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Ah, and there was the conclusion to his theory.

Sith indeed.

Oh, there were other possibilities, but Silas was a great supporter of occam's razor, which was to say that the simplest solution was usually the better one. Could [member="Calina Ovmar"] be simply a scholar or from some other background that allowed her to use the dead language of the Sith? Possibly, yet, the Ysanna did not consider it a likely affair. No, the simplest solution was the best one in this situation and that made him think; what was a Sith doing here and did it have to do with the mission he had just arrived from?

After all, it was some coincidence encountering her here while having just killed for a different Sith.

"We all serve someone, Nwit-skuri." Little singer, quite fitting Silas thought to himself. "As for where I come from; many places. For the purpose of your question, though... Ossus."

Another drink was thrown over and that was that.

The song was getting louder or perhaps he was simply paying more attention to it now, either way... it called for him and Silas wished to dance. Another look was sent to the little singer, before smirked.

"It's time to dance, stay or follow, but the song does not wait."

And the warrior slipped away from his seat and wandered.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"I don't." she replied indignantly. She had never served anyone. And her mother, most certainly did not count, she had avoided the woman ever since her release and there was no way in this life or the next, that she was going to allow that red skinned whore to get her claws about her again. She was free, albeit with a debt to pay to Velok, but ultimately, she was free to go where she pleased and do what she liked. A thought that, in reality, completely terrified her.

She shook her head with a smile at the suggestion of dancing. "I don't dance, Siqsa. Not without a weapon anyway." she waved him off watching him for a moment as he slid amongst the warm bodies on the dance floor. Some gave him a wide berth, unsettled by his grimy appearance, others, women mostly, seemed to be attracted by his nonchalance. The emerald twi'lek he had pointed out before, seemed to be among those making eyes. If she was innocent, as Silas believed, then she clearly had a taste for bad boys. Maybe she was punishing her father for something dreadful like, caring.

She poured herself another drink. Ossus...she pondered the planet, though she had never been, Anaya kept extensive records of her life, the planets she went to, the people she met. Calina had always been fascinated with her time in the Sith Empire, when Anaya had been her age and had manipulated her way into seats of power. She could not, much to her frustration, recall the story around Ossus. A massacre, no doubt.

Throwing back a drink she poured another, intent for that it join it former and add to the haze forming at the edge of her vision. There was an explosion of noise behind her, she peered round. The dejarik table she had passed earlier had been thrown on its side, and while Calina couldn't make out the full details of the argument she deliberated, with some ease, that someone had been cheating. She turned away shaking her head before throwing back the second as the brawl behind her began to expand from its small table.

She began to sing along quietly ith he song that was playing, feeling the force begin to pulse with an anger that was born only from a mob. When clustered so close together people conformed. It was in their nature to. If you stood out, you often became the target of the mob. Someone was thrown into her, jarring the drink from her hand. She watched it, almost in slow motion as the glass hit the bar and rolled away from her, the distant tinkle of broken glass as it disappeared behind the bar and out of sight.

Something inside Calina snapped.

The little ball of anger she'd been keeping locked down for so long rose to her chest like hot bile. She was off her stool, before she had a chance to remind herself she was on foreign territory. She caught the wrist of the first fist that flew at her, the heel of her palm finding purchase on his nose. He was dead before he hit the floor as the shard of bone penetrated his brain. The second to launch themselves her way she dodged, letting him run headlong and drunkenly into the bar. She reached the nearest bottle, smashing it over his head.

She would mourn later when she realised it had been her own.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The fight, the killing, the sex and kissing.

It was all a dance, all a rhythm of bodies acting on the most basic of instincts.

Silas enjoyed it. It allowed him to just... let go every once in a while without having to ponder the repercussions for too long, the axe stayed on the belt and the body roamed. The crowd pulsed like a heartbeat addicted to adrenaline, the rhythm asymmetric and bouncing everywhere- yet even here, the man felt completely at home, he danced... and then it happened.

A counter-pulse. Against the rhythm of the song and the dance, it originated back from the bar and Silas smiled into the green neck. His eyes closed as he drifted on the anger and the rage.

The fun never lasted, though, this was one of the universal truths of the galaxy. Something, anything would happen and that was the end of the dance. This time around it was someone pulling at his shoulder, away from the twi'lek and straight into the trajectory of a raised fist. Why? Why did it always end like this? Just for once Silas wanted to enjoy himself without having to get bloo- well, bloodier anyway.

Precog settled in and he saw the fist coming at him, before it was raised and Silas whirled around his axis. The man seemed surprised as his hand halted- Silas had no reason to wait, his knee was already crashing into the guy's groin, followed up by a headbutt that crushed a nose and send the lad flailing to the floor.

There was a choice here, but it was an illusion... there was no choice at all.

He waded into the brawl.

Sometime later, it might have been seconds, minutes or hours, Silas found himself back-to-back with [member="Calina Ovmar"] again, while avoiding punches and dishing out their own ones in kind.

"No dancer, but a fighter!" Siqsa called out to her over his shoulder. "I like it."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Alarms were ringing throughout the bar as the band scrambled out of sight, heading backstage. A shield had alightd around the bar, and behind it, the bartender whistled as he tidied up the little mess that had come his way, glasses, bottles and people alike bouncing off his protection. Had Calina been paying a little more attention she might have noticed he was smiling. The adrenaline was burning away the effects of the alcohokl, her attacks become more precise with every passing moment.

She merely grunted in response to Silas, as a fist found its way through her defenses, splitting her lip and spraying stars across her vision. She caught his arm before her had a chance to retract it, she twisted it nastily until something went pop, a boot kicking the screaming man out of the way so another could advance. All in all, it was a good brawl.

Though the more she looked at it, the more she came to realise that the patrons had stopped fighting each other and were all taking their chances with the pair who seemed to be so easily deflecting them. Like getting killed was on their agenda for the evening. She caught sight of a slug thrower swinging their way, lifting the next attacker with the force she used him as a shield as the gun rattled three rounds into his back. It was beginning to get nasty.

Seething, Calina stopped playing nicely. Her mind extended beyond her own, touching those around them and she made one very clear and very loud command. "ENOUGH!" the words reverberated through the bar, louder in their heads than it had been from her lips as she drew the lightsaber from her hip.

Snap-hiss.

"The next person-"

With roar, a barabel advanced. She stepped in to meet it, lightsaber plunging into its belly. It's eyes widened in surprise, she deactivated the saber, stepped back and reactivated to decapitate it. Its head thudded to the floor rolling to her feet, she felt sick as the face of the creature morphed in her minds eye to that of Taun Wa. "Anyone else?" she managed, tearing her eyes away from the horror at her feet. She was trembling from head to foot.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

See, in a situation like this... it was a stand-off.

A subtle balance just waiting to be tipped over one way or the other. Silas saw it- saw the resolve wavering of the usual patrons, but all it would take was one especially brave (or stupid) individual to break it and turn all of this to crap. All things considered he was having a lot of fun with it and yet... yet there were sentients who just couldn't take the fun and keep with it. No, they had to pull slugthrowers into it, they had to go from straight-up brawl fight to all-out killing moves that were against the general sentiment of the brawl.

Despicable.

Ah, there he is. Him being a rodian, big one too with a lot of scars and strapping several blasters to his belt, he stepped up and was about to speak. Silas acted before he could utter a single syllable.

One step up, fist flying and connected strongly with the rodian's throat... something crunched and right behind him, some of the patrons grimaced against that very sound. Some would have left it there, but as the Rodian fell, so did Silas' boot come down on the alien's knee... shattering it completely. Bone grinded against the floor and back.

"Anyone else?" The Ysanna got out, while eyeing the bar. His attention had already slipped from the crowd, some of which were holding up their hands, others already fading away into the shadows. One hand beckoned and his bottle with amber flew into his hand.

"Ya don't mind, do ya?" He took a gulp and then ticked [member="Calina Ovmar"] on the shoulder. "Time to go, love, we can find another party to crash."

With that done, he winked at the green twi'lek in the corner and started to move out- patrons giving him wide berth all in all.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina's lightsaber deactivated with a soft hiss, still shaking she followed Silas out. Outside, the air hit her hard and she had to stop for a moment to stop the world from swaying. Once the world was under control again she made after Silas, who was a few paces ahead of her. Slipping her lightsaber back into her belt she caught up with him. She didn't say anything, simply feel into step alongside him, her mind drifting else where. Back to the head at her feet, it flickered horribly between a barabel and kaminoan. She didn't have to kill the barabel, but she was so angry that it was stupid enough to try and attack her, even with a saber in her hand.

A memory echoed in her mind, a soft song she'd heard in her tank, a lullably Taun Wa used to sing for her. A wave of nausea overwhelmed her. "Nope." she said, ducking into and ally and vomiting. Clearly, she wasn't very good with killing people. Digging into a pocket she found a handkerchief to wipe her mouth with, casting it into the bin before steeping out from the alley again. "Sorry." she said earnestly.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Why?

Not sure, Silas, not sure why I am doing this. The lad thought to himself as he stepped in and held her hair up, an instinctive reaction to protect her from her own puke. It didn't faze Silas much, of course, spend a few years trying to survive on all manners of dead worlds and you learn to deal with a lot worse than vomit or blood on your cheek. Far, far worse and in much dire situations than they found themselves right there and then.

"S'allgood." The Ysanna responded with a shrug. "First kill's often the hardest."

"Gets easier, ya know."

It had been meant as consoling, but that probably wasn't the way Calina would take it up. He wasn't like his father though, diplomacy was hardly his strong-suit.

"I remember my first time." He offered easily, maybe hearing another person's experience would make it easier for her to cope with her own. Maybe. He wasn't all that good at this. "I was camping out on Exocron- kark of a world, I tell ya, snow 'til your knees and the icy winds almost rip your skin off, even their lightest breeze."

His voice shifted in tone, it was less conversational and more... an oration. A man telling a story, with the right inflections and hand gestures to accompany the tale.

Maybe there was one thing he had taken over from the old man.

"So anyway, one night my camp got attacked by these raiders, I got the same way as you did. All anger, all fury and blind rage at their attempt to rob me. When the red left my eyes there were only corpses." Silas thought about that for a moment. "Saw later that most of their wounds were old, badly healed, they were skinny too... like they hadn't had any food in ages."

Another shrug as his eyes went away for a while, back into the history.

"Figure they were starving and gotten desperate. Figure they figured they had nothing to lose." The Ysanna looked at her then, brushing a strand of hair away from her mouth. "Puked my guts out right after, wasn't pleasant, but it taught me a few lessons."

"Let's go." And Silas started walking again.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Silas's story didn't make her feel better, but nor did it make her feel any worse. The nausea had passed at least, but she didn't believe that had anything to do with him. She fell into step with him as they walked away again. "There is a difference between you and I, then." she said after a moments contemplation. "I wasn't angry at those people, they were just unfortunate enough to be close by when the lid blew." A look of disgust crossed her face. "Just like-" she caught herself before she continued. "Never mind." she said hurriedly. "I don't dance but I fight. Truth be told i'd rather not fight. Its wasteful. I never did like it."

She cast her eyes about the street they were walking, though she was not really paying any attention to it. She had promised Luke, as she had promised Taun Wa, that she would avenge them. There was only one person in the galaxy she would be content with killing.

"I'm hungry." she said suddenly, looking round. "As the man who scouts his town before he works, do you know anywhere that does a good burger?"

[member="Silas of Ossus"]