A spy, a knight and a businessman step into a bar (open bar thread)

[Danger Arceneau]

Discovered by the Galactic Republic during the Great Galactic War, Quesh's toxic atmosphere made the planet uninhabitable for many lifeforms, and was initially dismissed by the Republic. Years later, however, a young Republic chemist realized potential for some of the chemicals found on Quesh to be used for the Republic, as many of the compounds on the planet closely resembled venenit queshaaga, roughly translated as "Hutt Venom", a primary ingredient in very powerful adrenals...

Something Danger was very interested in getting for herself.

"Well.. i'm always willing to negotiate." Danger would relay in regards to what the pot would be. The gloved hand would curl round her drink, fingers lightly rapping against the stained glass. From behind her goggles, her eyes would narrow, a tinge of familiarity forming but not quite catching.

"But let's start low...we can always work our way up." she'd counter, tossing a few credits out to the center of the table. It was all about appearances to the rest of the crowd. Everything had a purpose, a meaning.

For the now, just like this particular meeting.

"So... where do we start?"

 

[Raziel]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Marek Starchaser"]

The cards flowed through Raziel’s fingers like water. Quicker than the eye could followed he made them dance and flicker through the air. Eventually he slammed the deck back down on the table. In one smooth motion he slid forward enough credit chits to match the starting bet.

As he dealt the cards, he fixed Danger’s gaze and watched her expression very carefully. “Now Ms. Arceneau, I assume you’re not trying to play that old routine of pretending you’ve never played Sabacc before clearing out? I don’t think my wallet could take it,” he added with a thin smile.

Without averting his eyes, he rolled each player a small interference chip, so they could “fix” their cards to prevent shifting.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek raised an eyebrow. He really wasn't sure he knew what was going on with the hood figure. He nodded and pointed back at... him? It? And tried to restate its name. Then pointed at himself. "Marek Starchaser." Because he thought he had this posted already that. But his writer is crazy. "Cards?" Because everyone needed to gamble.

Looking between @Ue-'kuo-'Koe'c'cu-Eou to the more familiar faces of [member="Raziel"] and [member="Danger Arceneau"]. He nodded to the pair, figuring a lot of credits, and information was going to be exchanged. "Whats small blind?" Bright Star Casinos did provide gambling help. By robbing people blind.

 

[Eun]

A bitter taste filled Katya's mouth, a mix between bile and speeder fluid.

"Yeah. That Shorn."

It was always that Shorn. She hadn't even known who he was until... well, it didn't matter now. She'd never met him, but he'd left her two things after death: his useless, mockery of a holocron and a legacy that weighed on her like a mile of chains, always dragging.

For a long time she'd been set on getting rid of his shadow, but lately she was taking some advice from her teachers. If she couldn't run from his shadow, then she would use it to her advantage. People feared the Thronebreaker. She could use that fear.

"Daddy issues. You got 'em?"

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Katya Shorn"]


A hollow laugh escaped Elpsis' throat as she heard the words. "Does two make a club? If yes, we're one. My murderous Sith Lord daddy called Xerexes just didn't hit the news like yours. I'm alive because he raped my mum," she said matter-of-factly with a tinge of bitterness. Neither of them seemed the type to want a shoulder to cry or something like that.


Unfortunately for Elpsis, while her father cast far less of a shadow than the Thronebreaker, he had always been eager to get her into his clutches ever since he had learnt about her existence. A routine mission during her very brief, failed Jedi career had ended with her being imprisoned in his dungeon. It had been...unpleasant.


But now he was dead. Some woman called Siobhan had ripped his spine out and killed him. Elpsis herself had met him in hell again and bashed his skull in. There was no reason to feel afraid anymore. Yet...there were rumours that the barriers to the underworld were porous. Forcing thsese thoughts from her mind, she clinked their bottles together before taking a deep gulp from her whiskey. "Man, this is fething joke. Cheers."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Raziel"]

He said her name.

Danger was not amused. There was a reason why she came her in disguise. Here is to hoping that no one managed to pick that up.

"I know the game well," came out her modulated voice through the lower face mask. The cards came in, she got her hand. Then set up the pot.

Tossing a few credits in, she made the first bet.

"Now the question is, do you?"

 

[Brigid Fitch]

"Awwai, they're bonding over tragedy. Thas nice."

She commented to the barkeep, who clearly had given up hours agao and was just smiling and nodding at this point.

"They can set up a little suicide pact on account of how karked up they are."

This earned her a bit of a worried look.

"Ah, don't fesh yerself. I reckon, if y'got a good enough pal t'have a suicide pact, y've got a good enough reason not to suicide."

She took another drink.

"Here's t'people bein' dysfunctional together! S'a bloody good word that. Dyshfuncshinaaaal."

 

[Raziel]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Marek Starchaser"]

Her sudden change of emotion resonated through the Force strongly. For an incredibly controlled man, Raziel was surprised to find that he almost let a wry smile encroach on the corner of his lips. Then the small part of his brain that was constantly evaluating risk spoke up, and reminded him that he didn't have enough credits to match the profoundly successful and powerful businesswoman if she decided to up the stakes and took him to the cleaners.

He leaned back in his chair, surreptitiously checking over his cards. Not brilliant. The joy of Sabacc was that the shifting phase and drawing phase followed the first bets. So much could happen to change the odds and leave someone who was close to folding early, trumping someone who upped the ante early on. "I've played a little," he said with a deliberate touch of sarcasm. He knew little of the redhead, beyond her public image, and a little on how precious she was about her security. However, he'd be damned surprised if she knew a thing about him.

 

[Frank Scargo]

Would turn to [member="Brigid Fitch"] after finishing his last sip of his 2nd glass.

"Hey, you seem like a nice gal, want to take a little wager? Its a drinking game, the loser pays the bill for the drinks you want to play?"

Would slyly smile to himself, being a heavy drinker himself he knew with every last credit he had, he would definitely win. But felt slightly bad for her.

"So --ah-- what do you say ma'am?"

 

[Corey's OOC]

The talk in the bar, with the women kicking around, and causing their own unique bit of crazy was a great distraction from the sabacc game. With the potential for the trade queen to be in the game, y’know, with pre-arranging meetings and all, Marek wasn’t sure he could keep up his game here. Owning a casino didn’t mean he played all the time. But it was a game between friends, so he wasn’t completely worried.

And for once, it wasn’t Marek’s lack of good smarts that was making someone upset. Nope.

“We can measure y’alls egos after a few hands, yah?” He smirked as he checked his cards, tossing in some credits to the pot. Start of hard, right?

[member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Raziel"]

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Raziel"]

"Pity." came the metallic dry drawl. Her fingers would start to drum a steady beat upon the table. Turning towards the participants, she gave a nod of her shrouded face.

"Then deal."

Game on.

Now, back to Quesh.

After this discovery was made about the adrenals, it was swiftly reoccupied by the Republic who began to invest in its production. However, the Republic engineers were unable to master the process of turning these chemicals into adrenals, so they resorted to an unlikely ally, the Hutts. Three Hutt cartels lended their help in the exchange for a share of the profits. Within a decade, the Republic was fully invested in Quesh's adrenal industry.

It was this industry Danger wanted PharmaTech to expand on.

 

[Raziel]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Danger Arceneau"]

Raziel eyed the two entrepreneurs over his fanned out set of cards. His eyes flicked from one to the other. Yes, today was going to be an interesting day. An exceptional opportunity for learning. His emerald eyes lowered back to his hand. It was poor, very poor.

It didn’t matter. Winning didn’t matter today. What mattered was learning more about these two, than they learned about him. “I’ll up it,” he said, tossing a few more chits into the ante confidently. However, as he did so he played a trick. Long ago he had learned complete control of himself. With his empathy he was mirror, becoming exactly what people expected of him, but he also learned control. He let a small micro-expression appear on his face. The slightest upwards twitch that hinted at a grimace. The Spymaster was planning on faking a “tell” when he bluffed a bad hand, just to see if his opponents picked up on it.

His eyes turned back upwards to lock with Danger’s. Her mask was a problem, he’d rather try and get a read on her without it.

“Are you game, Ms Terry?” he asked, her turn to match or up the ante.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek enjoyed games of chance. It was similar to playing the market, but on a lot cheaper scale. Something he could afford to toss away, sometimes. He had a few rules and typically Alana would cut him off, but now that she was… he wasn’t sure, working with Sasha? Watching the company that he was with, he was going to hope that they were as fun for the game as he was.

Marek ran a casino, but he still had his favorites. Calling the bet, just to see how high things could get, he tossed in some credits.

Miss Terry, ha.

[member="Raziel"]
[member="Danger Arceneau"]

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Raziel"]

So Alisha'ven was sent with the information gleaned from the initial Star Cabal research done. This wasn't the only clue, there were others, but establishing a foothold on Quesh was important. The first steps underway, dealing with the natives and perhaps claiming old factories will expand their research into creating advanced adrenals.

In the meantime...

Emerald green eyes would narrow upon the man. Hmph, came that internal huff, but her mask unreadable. She had worked the business for over fifteen years and in that she learned well about having the perfect Sabacc face.

Her time also working with the Companions and the guildhouse lent a sort of skill at reading others. Granted, this would have worked better under different circumstances. The subtle grimace was there, she caught that.

But then why would he up the pot?

Starchaser would toss in his share and she would ponder what she should do next. Her forefingers would lightly rap against her cards. Not too shabby... now if she could only get the Wheel.

After a moment, a small scattering of chips would also join the small growing pile between them all.