Just Your Average Downtime

[Arage Bao]

Rishi, The Raging Hornet
[member="Kalad Shysa"]

"So, this whale appeared outta nowhere, right?" Alavar was almost shouting at this point, her voice raised in that particular rowdy pitch that established she had thrown back a fair few drinks already and wasn’t seeing the end in sight just yet. "Yeah, a whale, look, I am not making this up, I am telling ya- hold on."

Now there was annoyance in the tone and marring the space between her eyebrows. The woman turned around her seat, staring over her shoulder at the bar and the familiar form of her partner.

"Kalad, you lost or something? Get the karking drinks here already, the sun’ll rise at this point."

Boisterous laughter followed from her little crowd of cutters, breezers, gethers and smokers.

They had been on Rishi for a few days now. Just a little vacation after their last operation, some time off the common problems of the Galaxy - and where better than the literal end of the Galaxy and the start of the Rishi Maze? It had taken them a while to find this place, but she liked it.

The drinks were good, the girls were pretty enough with some glasses downed and most importantly… said glasses weren’t too expensive.

"Right, so that whale, right? He had this fething hammer- huge thing. And he started running, running I kid you not, it felt like the gorram ground was shaking with an earthquake."

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Pike Alavar"]

An obscene gesture would have normally arisen from Alavar’s spurring, yet the Mandalorian was too caught up performing the age old ritual of shoving through a crowded bar while keeping two tankards from over spilling to really commit. Fortunately, even this far off the beaten track, the sight of beskar’gam earned him a few concessions, making those that would object to his jostling and pushing think twice about voicing it aloud.

“Yeah, shove it up your shebs, dala.” Kalad shot back as he stole a recently vacated seat, sliding the beaten looking tankard across the table towards his partner. The latest in what seemed a never ending stream of faces, yet one that seemed to have the most potential in a while. Shame about that mouth, though. “Next time you can get your own frakkin’ drink.”

Their coffers still flush from a recent bounty, although considerably less so than they were a few days prior to landing on Rishi, the Raging Hornet provided a welcome reprieve from the hard days of travel and hunting that had consumed the last few weeks. A place to relax, unwind and consider their next move. Worst ways to wile away a little time than a tropical remote planet. Not that they'd seen much of the local colour lately beyond what was contained in the cantina walls.

“Stang, you’re still telling this story?” He snorted, tankard raising to a set of smirking lips. “We at least keeping the part where you yelled like a little girl this time ‘round, or we still strictly sticking to the redacted version?”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kalad Shysa"]

"If I wanted to hear something from ya, you'd know, pretty boy." She responded in between chugging down her last cup, before accepted the next one from him with a nod. Her lips smacked with a sound of appreciation, before taking a preliminary taste of the liquid. It burned in just the right ways and made her start nodding again, with her other hand swinging in motion.

"Right, right. So pretty boy over there was screaming all up my comm about the Whale, trying to get a clear shot. But it's a tight alley way, right? So there wasn't many places for me to- Hold on."

Alavar's frown was back, but now it went from annoyance to something deeper and darker. Next to them there were a bunch of Gamorreans doing their usual winky-wonk fethery that nobody could understand. But it was crowding over to their corner of the cantina, and it started to annoy Pike who couldn't focus on her brilliant story.

"Oi, Piglet. You mind? We tryin' to have a good time here and your oinking is in the way."

There was just silence that followed next. You could taste that silence, feel it clinging in the air and making everything weigh so much heavier, but before it became awkward- the silence broke by the loud, loud laughter of her companions. Clinging cups, one even clapping on the shoulder of one of the nearby Gamorreans... who seemed less amused by it all.

But they didn't reply, just kept that silence while looking at their drinks.

"So what happened next?" One of the men tried to steer the conversation back to the amusing subject.

Her frown was still there.

"Kark it. Pretty boy over there can finish the story, I need some air."

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Pike Alavar"]

The hairs of the back of Kalad’s neck rose as he took a long pull from his tankard, watching the interaction between Alavar and the Gamorreans over the rim with some interest. It didn’t take a Lorrdian to recognise there was a fight brewing there. As skilled as his new partner had proven to be, her true talent lay in her ability to unerringly find trouble. Even, on occasion, where there seemed to have been none to begin with.

“Alavar.” He intoned softly. The lead Gamorrean matched his gaze with his own as he spoke, those watery, deep-set brown eyes contrasting against Kalad’s own sharp blue hues. Unusual for its species, there was a trace of caution to be found in those orbs, hinting that there was perhaps a smidgeon of intellect coursing through the creature. “You wanted a drink, so I got you a drink. Least you can do is sit down and finish the karking thing.”

Like Kalad, the Gamorrean chief knew the moment Pike stepped away from the table one of his lads would likely follow her outside. Unlike Kalad, however, the chief probably suspected the danger lay in the heavily armoured Mandalorian sitting across from him, completely writing off the hundred-pound slip of a girl with the overly smart mouth.

Kark, were they in for a surprise.

“Might as well inish your fairy tale while you're at it, too. Before you lose your captive audience here.” The Mandalorian continued, nodding his head at the sycophants and other hanger-ons that crowded around the brunette. He had little time for them for himself, yet Pike seemed to enjoy the attention they provided. He had found through trial and error that, if they kept her happy, he could generally enjoy his drink in relative peace. “I have the feeling you wouldn’t like the way I would end the story. Especially since I seem to recall you being stuck underneath that same fat whale after I brought him down.”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kalad Shysa"]

Their eyes met.

Her eyes were brown like soily dirt and more. There was no madness behind those eyes, no furious anger that blinded her, just the calm and steady patience of the earth itself.

"What happened…" Alavar responded after a while, without breaking eye contact with the Mandalorian. "Was that Kally here forgot to take in account that the Whale had blubber too as protection, besides the armor."

"The bullet punched through steel, got stuck inches away from the brain and the whale… was less than happy. I had to cut his tree trunks from under him, then gutted him like a-"

Now that smirk returned.

"A fish."

Pike cocked her head just slightly, before shrugging and going for her drink. It was a good drink, a steady drink, a drink that lessened the thirst humming in her chest- not the thirst for alcohol or drinks, but the hunger to cut the head off that pig and roast it, before force-feeding the one to the other Gamorreans.

"I top, I don’t get topped, pretty boy." She finished her glass and placed it carefully back on the table, before finally seeing her crowd again. A frown started to appear again. "Story’s over, we are done here."

Then the woman started to rise again for that gulp of air outside.

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Pike Alavar"]​

A slight sigh escaped Kalad as he brought his tankard up to his lips, draining it in one smooth practiced motion before tossing it on to the table. It seemed there was no way changing course now. Like some prehistoric creature from the Noob Abyss, there was little chance in dissuading Pike now that there was blood in the water. He knew, the Gamorrean chief knew it, even the bevvy of hanger-ons knew it from the way they started to shift back. Like the tang before a storm, death lingered in the air.

“Al’ika, you don---” Kalad cut himself off mid-sentence, giving a dismissive shake of his head. There was no point. They were too far gone for words. Why was it they always end up getting into situations like this? Foolishly he had almost believed this time around that she was going to keep the peace while they were planetside. Her hunger sated by the last hunt.

What an utter di’kut.

A flash of irritation crossed his features. His expression turning dark as he hand strayed from the table. The chief frowned with uncertainty in response, his piggish little brain trying to make sense of the sudden shift in the man’s demeanour.

“Ah, you know what? Feth you, dala. Feth your pissant friends, feth this karked up osik-heap, and more importantly… ”

He was already surging from his chair as the last word slipped from his mouth, his blaster whirling free from its holster to plant two bolts into the stunned looking Gammorean chief’s face. Not waiting for the smoulding corpse – that, honestly, smelled weirdly like charred fish than swine – to fall, the Mandalorian was already moving to close the distance with the rest of the greenskin party, pistol flashing out a flurry of blue death as he went.

“Feth these motherkarkers.”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kalad Shysa"]

She saw the shift in Shysa's demeanor before anyone else did.

Her scowl suddenly lighted up in a heavy smirk at the edge of her mouth, smile curling at the corner. Her hand was already on her vibro-dagger and was send flying the moment Kalad jerked up from his seat, the blaster roaring in defiance. It found its target in the Gran sitting in at the next table -- she had spotted the connection between the two groups the moment she walked into the room.

Sometimes the merc gangs did that, before hitting the town.

Splitting up in two separate groups and try to seem like they weren't together, specifically for situations like these. Where you were only expecting one particular set of problems, but then would be hit by another half a dozen of issues.

There was no wait, no lull in the moment between the throwing of the knife and the next move -- even with the vibro-dagger sweeping through the air, Pike had already launched herself off her seat and towards the second group with her phrik sword already at attention.

Blood flowed.