Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Hin crossed his arms, his serving tray dangling from one of his hands. He heaved a sigh and looked to the other two and walked off. He didn't believe in fairy tales, and no one he had ever met ever, in all the planets he'd run from had ever gotten rich that easy. Let the boss believe in the big score, Hin knew only one way of getting by in this galaxy, and this wasn't it.

"A-alright, alright keep your pants on friend! W-wait, where's my drink? No matter," he waved a hand off, "Through a series of events that are too spectacular to repeat I came and found myself in the possession of the information of how to unlock some treasure on this here planet. Couple o' blokes I met along the way, they all seemed to have another piece. We met, some time back, in another bar or.. pub, tavern maybe?"

"Anyway, we gonna go down there. Find ourselves that treasure and unearth it from that place and go home stinkin' filthy rich!" he exclaimed once more, laughing boisterously.

"Alright! Tell us then!"

"I've not had quite enough my friend!" he shouted suddenly, a wide grin stretching his lips. "Come, come, we shouldn't waste time. You have yet to hear the greatest tale of the greatest treasure hunter who ever lived, eh? You want to hear about my exploits to lands and worlds unknown? Not like those other sorry fools, didn't even bother buying me another round before they went and gone. Cowards. Shame on their mother they are. Afraid of the truth of I, the greatest treasure hunter who has ever lived!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa friend, we thought that we had lost you there for a second. Let him go Clem, he won't need to spend the night after all." Kaneesa looks over the man, "Unless you are short a place to sleep for the night. You've had quite a few my good man."

Clementine, not yet countermanded, hesitated mid-scoop. The pose might have looked familiar, like it echoed someone doing a dramatic big-arms-thing gesture from a famous piece of holo-art.*

*Specifically, the one just to the right of the central figure.

From the sudden shouting and encroaching on his person he awoke like a jaguar, excitable. Flowing back into his story like nothing was lost, "So there I was! You see! Right there in front of... a...aaa... you, know. Whatever, not important.." he glances around. "What.. what is ah.. everyone lookin' at? Something in my beard?"

Clementine, who had been about to reach out to give the sleeping man a probably-too-forceful nudge awake, complied without question. He moved to scoop up the snoring man in his loading claws, a familiar maneuver from his time working at the Codpiece that usually didn't leave more than minor unintentional bruises. There were other maneuvers for intentional ones.

"Oh, for the love a!"""....Kaneesa mutters a number of curses under his breath.

"Take him downstairs. Tie him down. We'll see what we can get out of him."

For a while it seemed the staring of the droid hadn't bothered him in the slightest, the man barely moved. However, it was when Kaneesa returned to the table that his directed speech seemed to provoke something out of the man. A long, loud, snore.

Kaneesa looks around, and between Hin and Clem, they had the group that they were looking for. "Hin, don't worry about it. If it's on the level, Vikki has a nose for this sort of thing." Kaneesa gestured toward the table where Clem has joined the drunk. "Put up your feet for a while."

Kaneesa grabs a fresh bottle from the bar and settles down at the table, nodding in the direction of the drunk. "Now, I came in late, so would you please start at the beginnin'"

HIn reappeared from the back empty-handed. Vikki clearly not anywhere in the bar. He heaved a sigh and darted between drunk customers and cloak-and-dagger-types, as he pressed toward Clem. He approached the droid with a sense of hesitation. He wasn't used to dealing with droids much yet, even after a few months of being with "the crew."

"Umm....C-c-clem?" He hesitated. "Umm...h-have you seen Vikki? T-The boss is looking for her."

He felt so stupid being so shy around the droid, but it was so novel to him. His former master had much preferred slaves to robots...who knows why..

Clementine, on duty but underworked this particular night, had been lingering near the old man as the story had gone on. If he had been a plucky orphan, he might have been caught staring wide-eyed from underneath a nearby table. As a ceiling-scraping loadlifter, he sort of... loomed eagerly.

He had a soft spot for boasts about "big scores" that had worked its way in to his programming over the years. The phrase "retirement money," describing a payout, made him perk up like a Correllian hound. His credulity made him a good audience for drunken boasters, which made him a draw for the Codpiece, in his own way. A small number of underworld types had gotten in trouble trying to make a mark of him with it, either for his labor or his credits. Between Kaneesa looking out for him and his own childlike (read: staggering) capacity to be upset by betrayal, they had lived to regret it.

Hin looked about at the sound then sees the boss. Listening with rapt attention he nods, "I think I've seen her...maybe."

His tone was more sure than his expression as he looked around the room. It was so hard to tell if he truly had seen her that night or if he was just thinking of some other night. "I-I'll go find her."

With that the young twi'lek headed off to the floor the disappeared into where the private rooms were.

"Psst. Hin." Kaneesa tries to give the kid a friendly gesture to come near. "Is Vikki around? There's a guy talking about a big score. 10 to one odds are that itsa anything more than a steamin' Bantha pile, but she would want to know. And hey, he's a good drinker he is."

Hin was ever present. If the bar was open he was working. He floated amid the tables and had paused for a moment when the members of the hyuman's table stood, mostly out of fear of a brawl. Sure most people knew the rules, but that didn't stop a rare few from letting the drink overpower their judgement and suddenly fists and other things were flying. But when they just walked off, he let out a mental sigh and headed to deliver the drinks on his tray to another table.

Towel in hand, he also cleaned up the next table over, collecting a round left mostly drank, but abandoned. Hoisting the tray to his shoulder he returned to the bar to deliver the dirty ones to the washer. As he went there was a light whistle behind him, and he turned to have a Devaronian catcall to him. His companion backhanded the first one's shoulder, "Idiot! That's a male!"

The Devaronian squinted and then laughed, "Moron, there are no male twi'leks! Everyone knows that!"

His compatriot gave a confused expression, "What in the...Who the hell told you that bull$#%@?"

They then proceeded to argue amongst themselves leaving Hin to just go about his work.

"Oh, I'll make sure that you get some more drinks. And I'll see if I can get anyone else for you to tell your story too." Kaneesa heads back over to the bar and drops off the glasses, scanning the bar for other members of the crew. Vikki would be interested if a great fortune was mentioned, but any of the others would do just as well.

"Friend!" the man shouted and threw his arms out into the air above him. Beer foam still clung to the beard near the edge of his lower lip as he laughed boisterously. Smell of the alcohol on his breath nearly overpowering. "My friend, I am so glad you came to hear my story. It is a good one, let me tell you that! But before I go on, shouldn't we find a friend or two more," he referenced his empty bottle a wide grin, "Can't tell a good story without the proper refreshment, eh?"

Kaneesa comes by, busing the table, picking up the depleted glasses. Kaneesa's heard bits and pieces of the conversation, and much of it seems to be the kind of boasting that is fair enough common in these parts. More than one of the beloved regulars brags a bit too much about a job when they've had a few drinks, and tends to stretch the truth in a number of ways. Normally Kaneesa would blow off the man, but the bar owner has seen enough looks of despair and loneliness to see when a customer needs a bit of a nudge in the right direction.

"Come on friend. They're a bit too hardened to the world. We hear lot's a' stories 'bout the big score." Kaneesa pulls out a seat and...reaches out with a feeling. The man needs have a bit of that frustration tempered a bit. Maybe hope...maybe indignation...

Influence-Basic: 1eF 1 Dark Side


The tug Kaneesa sometimes feels isn't there.

Well...it's the old fashioned way then.

"Tell me a bit about it."

Screen opens. A small group has gathered around a single table. At the head of the table sat a man with curly black hair and a rough beard that spoke boisterously to his audience. An Aqualish, a Caamasi, a Dug and a Duros all sat around the table listening to the man spin his wild tales of treasure and glory. While the drinks continued to flow the members of his little audience began to drop off. First the Dug grew tired of his lies, there could be no such thing as what the man claimed there was it was too unbelievable. It was the Duros who held hope until he spoke of the dangers involved but he didn't know where it was he was going, that only another knew, and it was then that he decided that enough was enough of this tale. Next came the Caamasi whom the story teller had inadvertently insulted. Last was the Aqualish who found fault in the gloating of the story teller that he truly was the only one with the key to these riches and the prospect of traveling with this man seemed too much of an effort.

At last the man was left alone without an audience and just the alcohol that sat in front of him, "Come on! Why don't you believe me when I am talking to you, this is real! A real story, a real place, real treasure! I am going to be the richest man in all of the galaxy!"