A Lesson in People Management

[Asemir]

The whiskey swirled its copper form in the glass. The liquid oozed around the cubes of ice, and Asemir found himself entranced by the way the light glimmered off the amber. He tilted the glass, watched as gravity guided the spirits towards the edge. The alcohol gathered, the hydrogen bonds fighting the pull of gravity.

After a moment, he brought the glass to his lips and felt that smooth burning as the whiskey travelled down his throat.

The bar was nice, the atmosphere nice. He found himself more and more in these establishments, even more so now than in his youth. At least back then, he had others to blame, others to drag him to places he didn't really want to go. But now, it was all his own volition.

Asemir sighed and set the glass down gently against the lacquered bar. He often wondered why he even bothered with alcohol. Perhaps he had grown to like the taste. Maybe. But it certainly wasn't for the chemical effects of the ethanol. It was all reflex and instinct now, for his body to begin that automatic filtering if poisons. Sometimes, he regretted his training. It was too strong and instinctive. It just wasn't possible for him to get drunk.

Not that he even wanted to feel the numbness and fog that came from consuming too much R-OH. It would be distracting and he'd learned long ago that distraction equated to death.

He'd always wondered why he wasn't drawn to the escape alcohol brought, unlike many in his profession. He had many regrets and sorrows and horrid memories, but they never seemed to overtly bother him. Sure, he'd the flashbacks, the sudden fugue moments, but who hadn't? It was nothing he'd call post-traumatic stress. Long ago, he'd learned to accept who he was, and that was that.

Still, he was tired. Exhausted. Directionless. Unsure where his future lay. Did he have a future? If he did, it would be a lonely one he realized for the umpteenth time. And not without a little regret.

Two chances. Two wonderful women. And they were gone now. Dead for years.

Sad.

Asemir glanced around the bar, seeing the other patrons. Some laughed, some talked. All had mirth. It was envious. Sort of.

The Forgotten shrugged and took another sip. It was life, and he'd go on. He'd train his apprentice, mold her into an unstoppable killing machine. Just kidding. He'd teach her and help her find herself. No killing involved.

But then what? He didn't know. Maybe he'd go looking for a companion?

That thought brought a chuckle. Amusing.

Asemir Lor'kora smiled and turned his attention back to the whiskey.

Yes, it was the taste. That was why he drank this stuff.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay walked into the establishment, pausing briefly at the doorway before going further inside. Her eyes adjusted to the lower light levels as well as the smells. Sure she had been to bars before, usually to meet up with mercenaries and offer them work, helping her to free slaves from the Hutt Cartel and others, but that wasn't what brought her here today. No. She just needed to come out from the rain.

She headed over to the bar and sat on a stool near [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] and some others, then placed her satchel on her lap. Kay ordered a glass of brandy. She really wanted to have tea, but that wasn't quite common here, so brandy would have to suffice for now. And besides, with it being one of Commenor's more popular exports, she had grown a bit accustomed to the taste.

As she waited for her drink she pondered on the turn of events that had put her in the position that she was in now. Kay was fired from the Senate. Of course she knew that would happen eventually, she just didn't expect that it would happen so soon. It had been the perfect job. She travelled, gained many allies and was able to use her salary to fund her slave freeing missions. But then politics got in the way. Blackmail, a failed coup, a bad military incident followed by two planets leaving the Republic had all been part and parcel of a bad spiral downwards. Kay tried to fix things, tried using her skills as a diplomat to make it all better, but she failed. And it was a very big loss. She gave away all of her credits to the Mandalorians, liquified all of her assets in order to stave off a war and ratify a peace treaty. But that did little to ease tensions. Shortly after that she was fired, however the 'leak' to the media was a cover that indicated that she resigned. It was safer fir her that way, given how angry people got with her when she told them some of her secrets.

And now she just was a self contractor, no longer feeling welcome in certain parts of the Galaxy. Her adopted brother made sure that she wouldn't be sleeping in the streets or be camping out in the woods. For that she was thankful. Yet it was hard to fight the urge to become a recluse somewhere for a while. Really hard.

That was what brought her here. To be around people and try to keep going. Kay sipped her drink when it arrived and glanced over to Asemir Lor'kora. "Afternoon..."

[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

 

[Asemir]

Asemir glanced over when the woman spoke. He eyed her carefully, not entirely sure if he was being spoken to. But, he soon decided that it didn't matter and the woman seemed harmless enough.

"Good afternoon," the Forgotten returned. There was a pause as he decided what to say next. He decided to be polite. "Is there something I can help you with, Miss...?"

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Help her? Kay opened her mouth like she was about to speak, but then she stopped herself before a word could get out. Of course she could use a lot of different kinds of help, but she was learning through experience to keep a lot of things to herself. More than likely it was better that way anyways.

Still, she didn't want to be rude either. "No, sir. I just came in to dry off and warm up. I'm sorry if I was intruding at all. It wasn't my intention." She gripped the strap of her satchel out of habit, though she kept it on her lap. Her satchel was her crutch, a stark reminder of what she had lost almost a decade ago. Not that she really needed the reminder, but at least the satchel gave her a bit of comfort.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]
[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

 

[Asemir]

"No, no, you weren't intruding. I should apologize. I was expecting anyone to say something to me. I didn't mean to sound off-putting." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"So, please let me try that again," he said while offering his hand. "I am Asemir. It's nice to meet you, Miss..?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"] 's change in tone put her at ease. She let go of her satchel's strap and put her hand in his, giving it a firm yet soft shake. "Senat--I mean, Kay. Just Kay. Lovely to meet you, Asemir." As she let go of his hand, she cupped her glass of brandy as she would her tea cup. A cold shiver ran down her spine as her clothing started to dry off a bit.

"What brings you to a place like this at this hour of the day, if I may ask? Are you drowning out your sorrows like so many do? Or did you come here just to be around people?" Normally she was asked the questions first, and normally they were questions that she didn't want to answer. But this time she got to take the lead in a conversation and that was a bit of a relief in itself.

 

[Asemir]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kay." He took a sip from his glass, but only enough to wet his lips. "I ask myself the same question, sometimes. But, today, it's a little bit of both, I suppose. Not so much drowning my sorrows as I am distracting myself."

Asemir nodded towards her drink. "How about you? Sorrows or people? Or, perhaps, the sorrows are people?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"For the most part I came to get out of the rain. I needed to dry off and bars like this tend to warm up rather quickly as they usually get flooded with people and hardly have any windows open. And maybe...try to find some focus again, do a bit of thinking and planning. For a while I had so very little spare time and now I have too much of it. I just don't know what to do with myself. But something will come up. Something always does."

She traced her thumb along her glass and just gave him a small smile.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Asemir]

Asemir nodded at Kay's words, impressed at how well they described his own situation. "I know the feeling. I grew up with a purpose, or at least purpose that was assigned to me. Years and years, there was a goal, there was structure. I mean, that's what life is, when you're a military brat. There was always someone there to tell you what to do, to give you a mission. But now, I'm out and I've got freedom. Probably too much of it. Definitely far too much time to contemplate what to do with said free time. Which is why I'm sitting here, at this bar, talking to you, instead of out doing whatever it is there is to do."

He regarded the woman before him. Dressed well, proper bearing. And she had stumbled, just a tiny bit, when introducing herself, which meant something had changed recently in her life, recently enough that she wasn't quite used to it yet. Interesting. "Spare time can be good. Gives you opportunity to explore, to find out who you are. What did you do before, that it took up so much time, if I may ask?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay just continued to trace her thumb on the glass. So not everyone paid attention to the holo-news. Good. She pondered on what it was that she could tell him. She had many secrets as most in her lines of work would, some of which were bigger than the others. But she needn't give [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] her life story just yet, most especially in a public place. He was a stranger. They all were.

"I've done many things, but my favourite was freeing slaves. I used most of my salary to go deep into Hutt Space, hire like-minded individuals and soldiers to help me break them out. No two missions were the same. I even saved an entire village from enslavement by ambushing the Jackals as they entered it. Then I'd find them all homes and jobs, places where they could live and work without fear or oppression. It was good to be able to do that, no matter what trouble it got me into. I was almost unstoppable...."

 

[Asemir]

Asemir arced a brow at Kay's story. "Well, that's a good use of time. Very impressive. In my past life, I was involved in the slave trade, in a similar way as you were. Except, instead of financing the operations, I carried them out. They were mostly military operations, of course, but that's what we were tasked to do, to disrupt and hopefully end the slave trade and pirates that made it possible."

He shook his head as he took another sip of his whiskey. "It was satisfying work, mostly, but I never got to see the aftermath of what my team did. Our job was strictly the combat. I don't know what happened to the slaves after we did our job. I hope they made contact with some social services agency to get them resettled. I never thought to ask. I was too young and too focused on being a good soldier to care too much about what happened later.

"What caused you to get into the slave-freeing business, though?" Asemir watched Kay closely. "I mean, most people don't expend for such a cause. After all, slavery is one of those problems that people like to pretend doesn't exist."

[member="Lady Kay"]

OOC:
Sorry this reply took so long. It's been a real busy past several days.

 

[Kay-Larr]

OOC: No worries. Life happens


Kay listened while [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] spoke. At least she was drying off a bit, so her plan was working on that end. And at least she didn't have some drunkard trying to put the moves on her. Instead she was having a nice conversation about one of her favourite jobs. But again there was a misconception about her only giving out the orders and the credits and nothing else. Oh how very wrong that was.

"You sound very much like one of the soldiers that I would have hired. Though I too fought in the battles, broke into the camps and got people out. I went to the locations where I knew the pirates liked to go and discovered their next targets. Sometimes I had to work by myself. The good thing about someone like me is that I can blend in. It's hardly the place that any Senator would be expected to be."

She took a sip of her brandy and pondered on his question, not even realizing her little slip up. "I've never been a slave, though I know what it's like to be oppressed and controlled. I used all the options that I could think of to get out of it and in the end it cost my husband his life. I don't want anyone else to go through the same thing, and slavery is worse than oppression. I'm not naive to think that I could rid the Galaxy of it. But that doesn't mean that those within it aren't worth saving. Everyone should be paid well for the work that they do. It makes for more peaceful societies."

 

[Asemir]

Asemir caught the title but he hid his reaction perfectly. Senator? The only senators he'd ever heard of (or paid attention to) were the government officials of the Republic. Was she being honest that she was or had been a senator? It was an interesting tidbit of information, something that he would file away on the off-chance that it would be useful. For now, unless the situation changed, she would be just Kay.

"I've always respected a commander who was willing to experience the battlefield with his troops," Asemir said. "There are too many who sit back in the bunkers or command posts, and they lose sight of what's actually happening." He saluted her with a raised glass. "And you have my sympathies. I'm sorry for your loss. Your husband died for a worthy cause, to end the suffering of the oppressed."

He rolled his shoulders slightly. They were getting tight, which was odd, given his level of fitness. Perhaps he was getting old. "I assume you've stopped with the slave-freeing business. Why is that?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

OOC:
Again, apologies for the delay. Man, it's been a busy week with work. And then the weekend. Infants make everything tiring.

 

[Kay-Larr]

OOC: No worries. I have a toddler, so I know exactly how tiring it can be

Kay smiled a little at the salute and raised her glass in turn, having a sip. His sympathy was also appreciated. It had been nearly ten years since her husband had died. After she spent a few years in mourning, freeing slaves and working kept her too preoccupied to think about anything else.

At [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] 's question, she tilted her head to the side a bit, staring off into nothing as she tried to figure out what to say. "Well, I didn't mean to stop. I just....had to for a lack of funding. I lost my job and was barred from anything similar. Everything that I had saved up was given to others to cover funeral costs and medical expenses incurred during a battle that I had nothing to do with. Had I of known that I was going to be fired soon after, I would have not given everything away. At times like these I wish that I could see into the future..."

 

[Asemir]

"Lack of funding," the ex-soldier echoed, "I hate those words. I had a number of friends who were in the, shall we say, less privileged units, and they always complained about funding issues. My unit, well, we didn't have that problem, but it was always a bogeyman of sorts."

Asemir paused, thinking about how much he would say. "I used to wish that I could see into the future. There was a period of time in my life when I lost everything. I lost my loved ones, my home, who I was. I wanted to see what the future held for me. Later, I met and worked some people who could see the future, and, well, it's not as great of a talent as you'd think. There's too much of a burden. You're always figuring out if you've been trapped to fulfill the future, if you have any control of your life. I'd rather focus on the here and now, maybe a few weeks or months ahead. But nothing too grand."

He shook his head. "What's next for you, Kay? What's in your future, now that you're out of the slave-liberation-trade?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Her lack of funding was honest and real. She didn't even have enough to really live off of. No hotels or anything like that. And she was just too proud and ashamed to ask her friends for help. She didn't want them to pity what she had become, or for them to get really angry at the Republic.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"] had a good point about knowing the future might not always be a good thing. Would she have been able to prevent half of the messes that she got herself into? Or would she spend all of her time second guessing herself? Her entire life could be full of doubt, and that could be far too stressful than things were now.

"I don't believe that I'm out of it completely. It's just put on hold. I'm not sure what is next for me. Perhaps, Asemir, I just need to swallow my pride and contact my brother." She had apologies to make too, most especially to a Jedi Master that may have felt betrayed by her hiding her Force sensitivity from him.

 

[Asemir]

Asemir nodded and glanced at his glass, noting that the level of alcohol had dipped below thirty-three-point-three-repeating percent. He briefly considered if he should order a refill, wondering if he would enjoy the taste as much or if it were simply becoming a habit. The whiskey would wait, he decided.

"Is there something between you and your brother," the Forgotten asked, before realizing that the subject might be a sensitive or personal one. But, she had brought it up and that made it open for discussion, right? "If you don't mind my asking," he added. "I never had any brothers or sisters, biological ones I mean, and so I always find the relationship between siblings to be interesting."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay took another small sip of her brandy. She smiled a little as he asked about her brother and seemed as though he was curious about a touchy subject. It wasn't though. "He's not my real brother. He sort of adopted me a few months ago. He hired me one day, to help stop the genocide of a village. After that we soon started exchanging jobs with eachother and just drew close as friends. One of our mutual friends claimed that we all created a misfit family pack together. Ever since then, we've called eachother brother and sister. I was an orphan, so I never knew what it was like to have siblings either. And as you can imagine, it can be difficult to ask for help sometimes, especially when I'm so used to taking care of myself."

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Asemir]

"Ah, I see." Asemir nodded in understanding. "Not unlike the way I'd have considered my squadmates as brothers and sisters. The five of us were close, and they were the closest thing to a family that I ever had." As inured as he was to the swiftness of life and death, he always found it odd to feel that slight twinge of regret whenever he mentioned his squad. "And yes, I get that. It's hard to ask for help. What makes it all the more interesting in my situation is I was always trained to be self-sufficient, to be able to complete the mission, especially if I became the last man standing. On the other hand, I was also trained heavily to rely on my squad, to be a part of a team. It almost seems mutually exclusive, but it worked. I don't know how, but we made it work. It got to the point where we really didn't need to talk during an operation, we worked so well together."

He shook his head gently. "Anyways, where is your brother now?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

She frowned a little bit with how he spoke about his squad in past tense. More than likely something bad happened to them, rather than them just being disbanded. If it was the latter, she was pretty sure that he would still be among them or at the very least, around one of them.

His change in the subject gave her the assumption that it was the former. It was funny how people tended to dance around topics that made them sad. But such was the way of things.

"My brother is out and about. He was just elected President of the Free Colonies. It shouldn't be difficult for me to reach him."

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]