Private Drifting Along

[Skyler]

Drifter

Some Outer Rim World

Some Backwater Bar

"Listen Vin-ney, Vin-o," Skyler slurred and swaggered in her seat. The bar was loud. The floors sticky. Spice and glittersum spun through the air like a lazy summer breeze on Dantooine. Exactly the kind of place the Vahla runaway felt comfortable in. Not to mention the cheap-arsed half-empty cup of lum in one hand. Sabaac controls in the other.

"Not my fault you-hicc-," she paused, "up-lost." A shrug of slender shoulders. "You gotta pay to play if you know what I mean." A lazy wink his way, which caused the trandoshan's reptilian eyes to double-blink. Skyler had hired some service or mook to come transport her to the next backwater bar somewhere. Came with high recommendations. And she wasn't as drunk as she was now when she'd booked the job. And it was always time to leave after a few months before her grandmother or her people started nosing around, looking for their gorram prized oracle. Not to mention the gangsters she'd pissed off by winning nearly every single bet.

Reaching across the table, she went for the credchits only to get a blaster drawn in her face.

 

[Drifter]

Skyler

Not your kowakian-monkey. Not your zoo.

Maybe if he kept repeating that to himself, he would avoid diving in headfirst into another hot mess of trouble. It was annoying, having one voice tell him one thing while another nagged at him that he was raised better. All he needed right now was to enjoy some Nuna poutine wedges, and his beer. Supposedly the poutine was the highlight of this backwater bar, and the price was low enough to spare the three credits. Sure the place was rough around the edges but what backwater watering hole wasn’t?

They didn’t ask questions and they only answered to cold, hard, credits. Or a good barter. Both were good in Drifter’s book.

The past half hour has been spent sapient watching. The highlight of his afternoon coming up with hilarious storylines on why people were here and what they were talking about. Being able to read their body language was cheating, but raised to fluently use kinetic communication meant it allowed him some fun entanglements and more often than once saved his hide from folk who were keen to double cross him.

As it was, the present objects of his attention at turned to the Sabacc game two tables down. Likely cause between the stoic Trandoshan and the Glit-bent drunk lady, the entire event was unfolding like some spaghetti Tatooine western.

From behind his half lifted helm, he stuffed another cheesy, gravy smothered wedge into his mouth, face half covered by the polarized visor that allowed Drifter to observe with discreet interest. Ain’t nothing new to see a blaster pulled out at the end of a sabbac game. What interested him was if the girl had won fair and square or if she’d managed to cheat. Watching her every subtle move was enough to figure it out. But for some reason, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

But what she’ll do next now was anyone’s guess.

Then again, with how wasted she is, she just might slump over...

 

[Skyler]

The oracle knew it was coming. Had seen this moment in time. Then again, it's not like her visions and nightmares of the future ever had a particular order to them. At least, not one she'd managed to figure out when she hadn't indulged in the lum, gen, whiskey, spice, drugs, sleeping stems to block out those horrid pictures that she couldn't control. That plagued her. That robbed her of any precious, forsaken PLANET'S SLEEP.

Cryosleep was looking better and better except she couldn't be sure that EVEN THERE, she'd be plagued by visions of the future and then it'd be a nine-levels-of-hella-lot-worse cause she'd be trapped in the endless cycle.

And Skyler knew there was no changing Frank's mind. That was the trandoshan. She had exactly cheated but, well, he sure as feth thought she had. And now he was a poor, angry gangster. As his trigger finger went down, Skyler was already moving to the right.

Very sloppily.

She wasn't really fast.

She just...knew where he was going to shoot.

And that wide shot went right into the plate of prized poutine that one Drifter was trying to enjoy.

 

[Drifter]

Skyler

The blaster shot left a smoldering, charred hole in the bowl, the poutine Nuna bites and wedges splattering on the table, on his chest, and some even on his helm. The medley of emotions that swept through him was almost overwhelming. First was the shock, as he hadn't been expecting his food to be blasted to kingdom come. The Force didn't give him any inkling as it hadn't been aimed at his person - only his pitiful food. Then was the melancholy, as charred bits of potato wedges smoldered within the bowl. Finally, came the annoyance, which colored the multitude of expletives that came pouring from his mouth.

"Of all the blasted - " Drifter brought his hand up, slapping the helm down to lock in the helm in place. [ Hey! HEY! That was my food you blasted, you scaley bastard! ] he yelled out, coming to his feet, his voice modulating with a mechanical overtone as the clips along his neck sealed, the polarized visor mirroring the chaos that had erupted throughout the cantina. The patrons around him would duck under the tables or try to scramble out of the way.

Was it a stupid thing to do? Yeah. Would Alex yell him later? Of course. But it was the injustice that swelled the ire and the coils of the Darkside taint that enflamed the audacity of the pair ruining his lunch. Now a days, it was so much easier to find himself entangled in one fight or another simply because his patience and mercy were draining low.

Not that the Trandoshan cared. Right now he was pissed off at girl who cheated.

"Ne masssh sha de!" he cursed out at Skyler , annoyed at her deflection, bringing his big meat fist to try and grab a hold of her throat.

 

[Skyler]

Skyler stumbled back, his meaty hand coming around her arm instead and squeezing her throat.

Oh CHIT BALLS that hurt and cut through any haze she'd been pleasantly enjoying by the alcohol.

"Oy, VinnyvinnyvinnyVINNY," she pulled back trying not to snap her arm in the process. A look over her shoulder at the strange, masked...man? Hard to tell with modulators these days. Seemed built like a man. She frowned as she squinted, trying to tell if there were two of him or just one. She caught her own reflection in her visor.

"Oh kark, is that what my hair looks like now?" Hand came up to smooth out those dark, lavender strands as if that was the most pressing thing rather than being strong-armed by a trandoshan. With a strong tug he pulled her to try and pin her against the sabaac board. Her hand reached back, looking for...searching for something. A cup? Another player's board? A shoe? Maybe the actual body of the drifter if he'd gotten close so she could slam it over Vinny's head.

 

[Drifter]

Skyler

Drifter swore, [ Bloody hell! ] the curse erupting from his mouth as the girl and the big lizard began struggling for dominance. He swung his single arm up, jutting it out to cry out again, [ Hey! I'm talking to you! ]

Of course, neither was listening. One was too piss drunk, about to get entangled in that thick mass of bi-colored hair while the other was stewing in his own ire. Much like the annoyance growing in Drifter's chest that caused him, to well, react in kind when people ignored him. Some big, idiotic move that would draw the attention back to where he wanted it; himself.

It was a trick that more often than naught resulted in more than a few bruises. His sisters had reached a level of competency at an early age that required him to train harder and longer to catch up. Figures that the women in his family always seemed to shine that much brighter.

So Drifter made up for it in sheer devilry.

His belly was empty. His lunch ruined. Combined that with a mighty sense of growing injustice - and because the pair were ignoring him - resulted in a perfect storm that ended like all bar fights do. With violence.

One didn't need two hands to do what he did. All that required is a firm grip on the back of the chair, then gravity did the rest. Well, perhaps the swing and the amount of force Drifter added to cracking the chair behind the Trandoshan's back helped a bit.

All the while, in his pocket, a series of messages kept his back pocket buzzing with alerts. Sure, he had some job he had to go meet up for, but he'd been so hungry he wanted to get some food first.

Figures that this shit would happen first.

 

[Skyler]

And as the mysterious helmeted 99% sure was a man crashed that chair onto Vinny's back, Skyler had a mug half-filled with beer in one hand and swung it on what was left of Vinny standing up, sending whatever liquid was in it flying. Only loathe that it hadn't made it INTO HER MOUTH.

Vinny grunted and tumbled to the floor, out like a bantha hitting a flash-freeze zone.

Skyler heaved in a breath as her arm was able to be tugged freed. The sabaac board had pressed lines into her face where she'd been pinned. Definitely had bruises underneath her jacket, HER FAVORITE jacket, on that skin where the bastard had almost broken in.

The wayward oracle still held the handle of the broken glass mug, only one large chunk of glass remaining as she tipped it to the stranger. About the same height as her brother, actually. She tipped the remains to Mr. Mysterious in salute and thanks and went to take a drink only to realize it was a piece of glass she held. And when she realized it was only air, the frown drew further on her face. Brows squishing together.

A sway in her swagger.

Unfortunately, Vinny had friends that didn't take kindly to their friend getting beat down. And those friends had enemies that wanted to capitalize on chaos and violence. So, multiple beings jumped at once.

Skyler took that moment to tug out her comm and type a reply to her contact.

'Imm here. Girl with purpslkejrkej hair.'

Give the girl a break, she was typing inebriated. Enough common sense made her duck as a chair from a stout human with a gut swung her way.

 

[Drifter]

Skyler
[ Hey, someone's paying for my food and getting me another. ] His modulated voice would shout out his demand. Of course, that fell on deaf ears.

[ Hey lady, you listening to me? ] me Drifter's exclamation, watching the skinny woman sway band and forth, doing her best to maintain her balance. How she managed to stay on her feet was beyond him. On top of that, she didn't seem to care at all about the commotion.

In fact, she was too busy attempting to finger out a message on her comm. Women!

Of all the... Another curse would slip out under a muttered breath. That polarized helm hiding the vibrant citrine eyes that would sweep the main level on the four other figures who were not so keen on having 'Vinny' knocked out on the floor.

[ Look, I just want my food. ] He told them, the annoyance and the hanger rising with every increasing second that would tick past. Patrons would peek over their tables, others would try and skimpier out to hide. Meanwhile, drunkie was texting. Texting!

It would be the God's cruel and twisted sense of humor to suddenly feel his own comm vibrate. With another savage curse, he quickly withdrew his comm and took a look at the notification. What he saw made his stomach sink and the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck rise. The terrible spelling. The brief description. The purple hair.

Purple hair.

That polarized helm would immediately swivel toward Skyler .

He began to connect the navpoints.

[ Oh fuck. ]

 

[Skyler]

Look, I just want my food...

"Yeah and I just want folk to stop swernging at me."

She ducked a fist and a chair and crawledm half-tripped under that sabaac table as splintered wood rained around her. A hand fumbled to the blaster that normally sat snug on her right thigh.

Ah kark, she was so drunk.

"Can'talways get what we want, strange-er...man?" She squinted at his boots as she remained under that sabaac table. Finally unlatching her blaster and swinging it around. There was an alien with three big green toes. Squinting with one eye, she squeezed down on the trigger, firing a stun bolt. She tried not to kill when she could help it.

The shot, of course, went wide.

 

[Drifter]

[ Oh, for crying out loud! ] he'd exclaim in exasperation, suddenly dropping a few inches, one hand up as if expecting the blasted woman's shooting to turn into an indiscriminate trigger finger rampage.

Sure the shot went wide, but it managed to strike just above the big-green-toed Alien's shoulder, striking the wall behind him.

Women! Seriously! Nothing but trouble! He learned that quickly with his sisters. All of them were genetically inclined to try and make people's lives difficult. Annoyance grew, his stomach gave another furious grumble, and now he had to deal with yet another barfight. Made him think of when he first met Okkeus Dainlei .

In hindsight, at least that kid knew how to actually hit a target.

With another colorful swear, Drifter shifted his weight on his legs, popping back up. Big Three-Toed guy came charging forward, attempting to his his bulk to try and body-slam Skyler . Without further ado, Drifter would reach out, hoping to grab the scruff of the woman's clothing to yank her out of the way.
He only had one arm, so, actions were limited to trying to keep his balance and keep the drunk woman from bringing them both to the floor.

 

[Skyler]

She found herself hauled to her feet by mystery man-o as her legs struggled to catch up to what was happening. She swayed as the world wobbled, torn between wanting to resist a stranger grabbing her but also just...going with it?

Her boots stumbled and her hips swayed as she wobbled right into mystery man-o with a liquor-stained breath of oomph. Her backside decidedly banging against his torso since he'd grabbed her from the collar of her jacket. Even as she was tripping and losing her balance into him, she managed to bring up her blaster and fire a stun bolt at an angry wookie that was approaching from ahead. This time the shot hit the wookie right in the chest and he stumbled forward into the three-toed green one.

"Ah-ha!" She cried triumphantly even as gravity took over and she realized the masked one was decidedly a male.

 

[Drifter]

Good thing he had his helm. Meant that the only thing he was smelling was his dearly departed poutine fries within his mask and not Skyler 's drunken breath. All legs and arms and bendy body. She was a skinny thing. He didn't realize that it was due to her racial traits as much as thinking that she was just some wraith of a girl who needed to eat more.

The heavy roll of Drifter's eyes was hidden behind the polarized helm, the man attempting the awkward dance of keeping the woman from tumbling and her blaster from shooting him in the head or the foot.

[ Hey, HEY! Give me that! ] he yelped out at her, using the time to let go of her back and attempt to go reaching for her blaster. [ You're gonna get yourself and others hurt! ]

Okay, so maybe that was the goal, considering the last two were coming at them. But between the big lugs and glit-bent drunkie here, he rather takes his chances trying to use her blaster so he could pull the trigger instead.

Enter the most comedic struggle for a blaster!

 

[Skyler]

And she shoved off that armored body. Well, stumbled off it but with GUSTO. "He-ey," she grumbled, then growled as he made a swipe for her blaster. HER blaster. Not his but HERS. Her free hand went to swat at his that went for the grabby-grab.

"HEY," she repeated and went to swat at him again and again. "Didn'tyermother ever tellyah not to touch a lady's assets?" He might not get the blaster the first or second time he lunged for it but if he played his cards right, he'd get it free from her eventually.

Because Skyler was fethton drunk and probably a little high from yesterday's spice.

 

[Drifter]

[ Oh, please sweetheart, you don't have any assets that interest me right now, trust me! ] Drifter shot back, only to go yelp out a, [ WHOA! ] as the blasted woman went barrel pointing around his face and chest. Never mind her incessant slaps and whacks she was giving him, prompting him to try and avoid with a frustrated affront, [ Whoa! HEY! QUIT THAT! ]

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The last one went flying towards his hand again only to land on his helmet. Five fingers and a rosy palm went smearing across his polarized helm; her grubby fingers leaving a grimy trail behind.

[ Oh for the love of Inari--] the Force swept through him in alarm, the tiny hairs at his nape rising. Precognition alerted him and he suddenly dropped trying to grab the stun blaster and instead went to snake around the small of her back.

[ Heads up! ] he cried out, suddenly attempting to dip Skyler back and swing her towards the right to avoid a sucker punch from the right from a brawny Weequay.

Of course it had to be a Weequay!

 

[Skyler]

Assets that he wasn't interested in right now?!

Brow scrunched up. "What does that EVEN mean?!" A demand from breathless lips only to then have his hand snake around the small of her back and she dipped. Purple-feathered strands flung across her face and down behind her as a meaty fist with spikes on it sailed over where her head had just been. Feet shuffled as she swung to the right. Her free hand would fly forward and tug mystery man-o forward with her.

Or try to.

Spinning him away from another swing of a fist from that weequay. Of course, he was a walking tin-can so he'd probably be fine. But still. Skyler supposed she owed him a teeny-tiny bit. And so, she'd start humming a little diddy.

"Hope you'rea gooodancer," she quipped and spun him around the melee, toward the door. Toward the exit and as she watched his back, she hoped he watched hers. Finger fired again only to have the trigger jam.

"Dankfarrik," she swore and swung the blaster like a bludgeoning club instead toward the face of a twi'lek that was about to get too handsy.

Shuffle. Shuffle. Turn. Dip. Swing yer partner round and round.

 

[Drifter]

[ It means - shit! ] wait, what the heck was she doing? Was she humming? She was humming!!? How drunk and high was this girl?!

Not that it mattered; feet followed suit and as Skyler tipsy turvy into her own blasted tune, Drifter tried to keep up. This was no practiced soiree at a ballroom; it was more haphazard, lackadaisical twirling and spinning. Instead of a curtsy and a bow, the motions were replaced by a duck and a punch. In this case, one that leveled right on Drifter's lower jaw.

At least he had his helm on. Not that it mattered much, his head went jerking back and right as it snapped back. The man tumbling while the crazy woman was trying to she-Basalik her way to battering a Twi'lek's face.

Crazy. She was legitly crazy! Drifter swore to himself, staggering to get his balance. By now he was not just hangry, but impatient. Fine. Seemed like the purple haired girl was his contact. He was gonna get his money's worth.

[ It means the only assests i'm interested in -- ] he shouted, reaching down for his own blaster. He unholstered it, drawing it up, leveling it at the Weequay's chest. A single stun shot-blasted right between his ribs.

[ Is my lunch and a heck of a lot of credits! ]

 

[Skyler]

Her humming stopped and she back-kicked that reeling twi'lek as the woman moved to her feet after receiving a blaster to her face only to fall right back down again from Skyler's boot. "Well Mysterman-o." She hiccuped once and as they managed to nudge, push, and dodge past the remaining brawling bar/pop-up restaurant patrons and into the bright light of outside, she released him.

Oh karking kriff, that sun was bright.

"I'mmeeting someonehere, so you're - um - hicc-uuup, free to go findferd." She holstered her blaster after one, no two, no THREE attempts and two finger saluted him. Speaking of. Hands dug into her pocket to find that comm to see if he'd left any messages.

Where was this guy anyway?

So unprofessional to be this late, really.

 

[Drifter]

As the dust settled - and his jaw continued to throb - the patrons of the cantina slowly would peer out from behind their hidey holes. All of Vinny's thug friends were knocked out, and now those who were trying to get out of the way from the line of fire began to straighten and get to their feet.

By the time Ms. Twinkletoes got them both to the entrance, she was practically swaying to and fro. Barely able to stand. How was she even functioning??

At Skyler 's commentary about having to meet someone, Drifter gave an exasperated sigh. Good thing she wasn't able to see his glowering expression - he was still angry - but the body language sure did speak volumes.

Grabbing his comm, his thumb quickly went sliding over the polished surface. Without further ado, he shoved the screen right in front of drunkie's face.

[ I know, Twinkletoes!] he told her, annoyance coating his modulated voice, his thumb slightly uncurling from the comm to jut out at his direction.

[ Me! ]

By Inari, this gig better be worth it!

 

[Skyler]

Skyler blinked, a feline slow blink at the comm shoved in her face. She did have the drunken boldness and audacity to reach out, potentially curling her fingers around his wrist to make him ease back that screen from her face. He was holding it too close for her to really read anything until...there, just there. Free hand tugged out her comm as it chimed in her pocket.

She'd look from her screen to his and back to hers' again.

"Oh rottern nerna eggs," she huffed. Fingers would release his wrist as she took one more good, long look. "Just haveto be sure," she muttered. Because even though she was a little high and more than a little drunk, there were slavers around these parts. And they were always looking to nab the solo traveler.

"Name's Skyler," she offered a hand. "Hope yership'as good as yersuit." Because where they were going? Where she hired him to take her? It would be a long journey and they'd be going through some unpleasant territory.

 

[Drifter]

Underneath his helm, Drifter gave a roll of his eyes, shaking his head. Right now, the surface of his visor had that one large smear from when Skyler had given him the smack fest earlier. While it was grimy, it still presented a mirrored surface that would reflect the red-rimmed eyes from behind high and drunk, the blotchy face from all the booze, and her wild bi-colored hair in a wild mess framing her face.

Not the best first impression, but hey, Drifter wasn't here to be impressed. He was here to get paid for work, and now, he was gonna add to the tally.

[ It's good, trust me, Twinkletoes. ] his modulated voice gave a snorting retort, drawing his wrist back to tuck his comm back in his pocket. [ But now you owe me for covering your hide in there and for my ruined lunch! ] As he only had one arm, Skyler had to pointedly wait a few more seconds before Drifter could offer his.

Although he seriously contemplating bothering.

Actually, as the noise level within the cantina grew, he instead decided to forgo the shake and just try to make a grab for her wrist.

[ Let's go! ] He began, intending to get the pair of them out of this and as far away from the cantina before more trouble came.