Private Needing A Hand Or Two

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"It was our first outing together. Certainly something to remember." She smiled warmly at that. Part of the reason Darth Strosius was so trusted in her mind was because of that day. But now.. Alina lead them right to a bar. Her datapad display had the location of all kinds of bars, but the one she wanted to get to was probably one of the seediest around. For good reason.

"Just follow my lead, alright?" A bright smile formed on the young woman's face as she lead the way into the bar. Sure enough, there was not a respectable soul in sight. She went right to the bar, taking a seat. "Hello! I would like a glass of water!"

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Oh I'll never forget it, trust me." He could still smell the swamp water on his clothing occasionally, no matter how many times he washed them. It was a fond memory still, with how close he was with Alina Tremiru it couldn't be much else other than a fond memory in his mind. Although going into bars was not the fondest memories that he had with her, and he doubted that would change.

"We're talking about a bar, this is your home turf Alina." Alisteri replied with a small chuckle as he entered the bar right after her. He immediately did not like the rest of the patrons in there, quick to sit down next to his friend. "I'll have what she's having."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"Water." It wasn't a question or statement or anything. The man behind the counter just stared at the pair before letting out a sigh. It wasn't long until a couple glasses of water were set on the counter. Alina took up hers happily, sipping at it. Under her breath though, once the bartender stepped away, she started muttering to Darth Strosius .

"You any good at getting rid of toxins in your body? If you're not, don't drink that."

 

[Darth Strosius]

The acolyte merely nodded, as if in confirmation even though the bartended didn't ask a question. He glanced at the water, picking up the cup and swirling it around curiously. Right as he was about to try a sip of it Alina Tremiru spoke, causing him to wince and pretend to take a sip instead. He'd rather not risk whatever was in the water.

"So what now?" Alisteri whispered under his breath as he pretended to take another sip from his water.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"We get hunted." Alina downed all of her drink immediately, no hesitation. The effect was instant. Her vision blurred, causing her to groan as she pushed herself up to her feet. "Hoo I think I didn't get water.. We should get going." She stumbled towards the door, barely able to keep her balance. She needed to know the effect of the drug. As soon as she did, she purged it from her system, but kept up the act anyway.

"Aliii. C'mooon."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He raised his eyebrow curiously, a look of confusion crossing his face as she downed the whole drink. It wasn't the first time that he had seen Alina Tremiru just down an entire glass in one go, but it still amazed him each time. After a moment of glancing between his glass and friend, he nodded to the bartender and got up from his seat. "Coming."

Alisteri caught up with her fairly quickly, doing his best not to glance behind himself and instead focus on his friend. Had to appear like a defenseless and naïve victim after all.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

It was probably a bit obvious when she stumbled into one of the darker alleyways, but she did want their pursuers to become victims instead. She snatched Darth Strosius 's arm, giggling happily. Adding a bit of a mischievous reason to go into the alley might make the two that started to follow them more trusting to keep up the chase. She pressed up against a wall where there wasn't a mess and pulled her friend right up against her. To anyone else, it'd certainly look like a couple trying for a private moment but not caring if they were found.

She leaned in, her eyes flicking to the end of the alley where the pair of folks who'd followed them stood. There was a third there now, who started to jog off. Probably to get to the other end. Her voice was a soft whisper in his ear. "We only need one alive, but I count three. When I say so, take out the one that just snuck around to cut off our exit. The cyborg's the one we want alive."

A teched out human, Devaronian, and their muscle as a Wookie. The Devaronian was the one to run around. Her eyes flicked over to the other end, just in time to see the horned figure come into view. Then they all approached.

"Having a good time, I can see. Probably had a bit too much to drink."

It was the cybornetic human that was speaking. Alina laughed, grinning as she looked over to him. "No no, we only had water! I'm not.. Nooo.." Her voice trailed off into a slight giggle. The Wookie and the Devaronian stepped closer, starting to flank the two.

"Shame, that. Water's no good around here. Poisoned, probably. Why don't you come back with us, mm?"

A dumb grin was on Alina's face as she seemed to think about it. The only hint that she was about to move was the soft whisper she gave to Alisteri. In the blink of an eye her metal fist collided with the face of the Wookie, a loud crunch sounding off as she shattered bone with the force behind it. The large figure was sent right to the ground.

 

[Darth Strosius]

He could practically feel someone, well more than one someone, following them as Alina Tremiru pulled him into an alleyway. Suppressing the urge to turn around and hack into their pursuers was hard, it was only natural after all of his time spent in combat. Thankfully, he got a distraction from that via suddenly finding himself pressed up against his friend. Quickly he shot one hand out to lean against the wall, the other moving down to rest near her side. The only part not selling this little act was the fact that his face had heated up again, but thankfully his hood hid that well enough.

"Right. Quick and simple." He whispered back, giving her a small nod as he glanced at the alleyway entrance where two of their pursuers were. As for the Devaronian, he could hear him from the other end of the alley as they all advanced.

I'm going to enjoy this.

In truth, he wasn't too impressed with these people. The best they had for an intimidation factor was the Wookie, and Alisteri had seen a Graug before. Suffice to say, they weren't very good at their job in his opinion. "Drink? No...no we don't drink..." He leaned away from the wall, holding up his hands in peace as he purposefully slurred his words.

"Hey uh...are you all from that one band? You look familiar..."

That whisper from his friend was probably the best thing he had heard in that moment, the goofy grin on his face quickly switching to a more sinister one. He spun around and immediately struck the Devaronian with a solid right hook, his left hand pulling the vibroknife from his pocket and stabbing it into the alien's stomach.

Then with another quick move he pulled the weapon out and sliced across the throat of his opponent, casting a glance behind him to see how quickly the other two had been taken care of.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"So, you got those fancy tech pieces in your head. Must mean you have a wonderful memory." The Wookie was dead. Her punch caved his face in on the first strike, ending his life instantly. Now Alina was currently holding the arm of the cyborg. His other arm had already been badly broken. "The Sangnir. I want information on them. Where they are. What they do." Her voice was cold, just like her eyes. The pain of using her cybernetics like this was a dull ache in the back of her neck and the stumps that remained of her arms. But she needed to.

"You're a crazy queen you know tha- Ah!" Alina tightened her grip on his arm, earning a pained gasp from the man. "L.. Look! They'll kill you. Kill me. They own this part of town. They probably already know about this." He laughed, a pained, crazed laugh. "They'll already kill me. Why should I tell you anything?"

"Because I'll kill you quick. They'll bleed you dry."

That shut him up pretty quickly. He lowered his gaze, grumbling under his breath.

"Go to the warehouse district. You'll find them. Or they'll kill you before you get there."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri smirked slightly as he noticed how quickly Alina Tremiru had dispatched the Wookie, slowly lowering the body of the Devaronian to the ground before joining her near the cyborg. "And I thought I had too many cybernetics, you look like you went through a butcher's farm." He idly circled the cyborg, simply letting his friend handle the interrogation. He was a bit impressed, clearly her new arms hadn't slowed her down nearly as much as he thought. With any luck, she wouldn't need those arms for much longer.

She'd have new ones soon, that was the plan anyway.

He stopped and kneeled down to examine the dead Wookie for a moment, whistling slightly as he glanced over the killing blow. "I'd tell her what she wants to know if I were you. She is very proficient in torture." A small wince for the fallen and he was back to circling. A satisfied look settled on his face as he nudged her, walking in front of the pair as he did so.

"You've got your answer, and with only two deaths. A record."

So the warehouse district would be their next stop then, he hoped that they could find a way there. Hopefully they could find it without asking for directions. "Well let's hope they like surprise visitors."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"Three deaths." The steel hand came around lightning fast once more, crunching cybernetic and flesh as she bashed the man's face in in a very similar way to the Wookie. It wasn't a clean death, but it was instant. She shook her hand to get rid of the blood on her artificial knuckles before once more letting her arms hang limp by her sides. Her yellow eyes found her friend as she gave a grim nod.

"I doubt they will. But I don't think it'll be a surprise." She rummaged around the Cyborg, looking over the various machinery he had until she found it. An embedded com link. She held it up, smirking. "They know we're coming. At least we know where we're going."

 

[Darth Strosius]

A small hum left him in reaction, stepping back to avoid the blood from the last death. "Well we've left this place in a sorry state." He muttered under his breath as he glanced around at the three bodies now sitting in the alleyway. Then again this was Nar Shaddaa, for all he knew they had a special corpse street cleaning service. He wouldn't be surprised.

Alisteri raised an eyebrow in surprise as Alina Tremiru held up the device, taking another moment to glance around as if some Sangnir would jump out at any moment. "Well let's hurry and get there then, don't give them too long to roll out the red carpet." He mouthed with a small wink before strolling past her and towards where they had left the speeder.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

She took the com with them, idly toying with the machine to create a sensor. It wouldn't find anyone with only one com, but a group, a group it would find. Sure enough, as Darth Strosius and her got back into the speeder, she already had a ping. "Follow this. I'm not sure how far away it is, but we'll know when we get there." Alina had already turned off the receiver, so there was no more need to mouth any words. A smirk formed after a moment when her gaze fell on her friend.

"You've never actually dated someone before, have you? You blush way too easily."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He was rather relieved to find the speeder still where he had left it, and with seemingly no parts missing either. Alisteri was quick to start the speeder up, glancing at the com-turned-tracker as it began to ping. "Right. I guess first we find the warehouse district." Soon enough the speeder was back in the air and on a course for wherever the pings would lead them.

He spared a glance at Alina Tremiru and sent her a small glare, an embarrassed look crossing his face. "...No I haven't...it's that obvious?" The last part was muttered to himself with a small sigh. "I didn't really have any chances to date while I was growing up to be fair, and the life of an acolyte is a busy one."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

She gave a nod. The warehouse district was their goal indeed. But her attention was far more focused on the embarrassment she'd inflicted upon Darth Strosius . Alina's grin only grew as she nodded a bit. "I can understand that, somewhat. My mother had every plan to marry me off. Probably still does. I probably shouldn't be sleeping around if I don't want her to kill me, but I do anyway." She mused lightly, her gaze flicking away. She didn't want to see what he might think of the fact she slept around.

"The life of a Sith is hard. Can't even get a chance to truly enjoy someone's company for real dating. Which.. That's why I want to know what it's like. With you."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Ah right...I occasionally forget that you and your mother have a uh...an interesting relationship." In truth he didn't know much about his friend's family, probably for good reason though. He had never asked, and Alina Tremiru had only told in small offhanded remarks and that was good enough for him. "Well if you do become a Sangnir, it will be much harder for her to try and kill you." He offered with a small laugh.

Alisteri went quiet after her last remark, seemingly focused on steering the speeder. "Hard it is..." The fact that he had pulled his hood to cover a bit more of his face did say something however, especially since what little that could be seen was a bit red.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"That's true. I might be able to survive her next attempt so easily she'll give up." Which was incredibly unlikely. If anything, her mother might redouble her efforts when Alina became a Sangnir. Tainting the bloodline, or something. Her attention stayed on Darth Strosius though. The fact his cheeks were still so red was at least a good thing. Maybe.

"You know I can't read thoughts or sense intentions. What are you thinking about?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Hopefully. With any luck she'll just leave you alone to do as you wish." More than likely it was just wishful thinking, but one could always hope. The only response that Alina Tremiru got to her question at first was a puzzled look as Alisteri glanced at her. "...why did you say that like that's a common thing?" He muttered after a moment, shifting slightly in his seat as he thought of what to say.

"I guess I'm still wrapping my head around the whole date thing you know? I always thought I'd be your wingman not your date..." Another glance away as he cleared his throat nervously. "I...I suppose I'm worried you won't be impressed with me..."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

​

"Mm. That's true. You'd probably make a pretty good wingman." It was an idle musing meant to distract herself from her own nervousness. Eventually though, she couldn't deny her own thoughts on the matter. She kept her gaze away from Darth Strosius , leaning against the window beside her. "I'm a wreck. Honestly, I'm more worried that I'll do something to ruin it." She was a drunk after all. Issues with drugs.

"What do you want?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

He seemed to perk up slightly as he nodded, a slight smile coming across his face for a moment. "I thought so too." Yet again his gaze shifted back to Alina Tremiru with a puzzled look, almost an offended one as well. "You're not a wreck Alina. You're just...going through a rough patch in life right now but you'll get through it." He assumed that she meant with her arms, but he wasn't sure.

It took him a long few moments of silence to respond to her question. "I just want you to be happy. Regardless of how this...future date ends up you're always going to be my best friend. Whatever makes you happy, that's what I want."