Just like old times

[Ush]

Ryloss poured another glass full of the sweet smelling drink and placed it in front of the middle aged human he'd been serving. She smiled at him, obviously flirting, and he tried his best not to gag. There had to be at least twenty five years between them but she was still trying to get it on with him. He was thankful when someone else came to the bar. He hid his shiver with his movements.
As he served the next man, he looked around the high-end bar. In the middle was a raised podium, with an instrument he'd never learned the name of and a place for a singer. One occupied the spot. She was singing a tune a bit darker then usual. It was about not trusting yourself but trying to love someone. She was good, for someone who had first been up there not two weeks before.
Shaking his head, he continued to look around. Booths were against the two walls at ground level, while the one with the double doors had it's booths on a slightly raised platform. The bar itself was against the final wall, to the left of the door.
Ryloss finished with the drink and gave it to the customer. He also gave a quick blast of pheromones, aiming to get tips out of it. He did. Quite a bit, in fact. Things like that were why he made more money then anyone else that worked in the Corellian Corvette. The place was named after the owner's old ship. It was also the poshest bar in a few miles. On Curoscant, a few miles was further then it sounded. You had to duck and weave to get anywhere you wanted. Ryloss had taken to just jumping everywhere. He could cover more ground in five minutes then most people could in an hour.
He put his elbows onto the bar, listening to the singer. She really was very good. He slipped into a daydream as he listened.

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

Yuunda made heads turn everywhere he went, probably because it seemed a miracle that he didn't need a life support system to walk around in. A thick scar ran across his cheek from the time he had almost been killed by a Grater Krayt Dragon, he was missing his left eye and most of that side was covered in a thick scar from the time he had been tortured with sith lightning. He was also missing an arm and both of his legs. Not to mention all the other numerous scars across his body as well. He may have been young, but he had seen and been through a lot in his short time in the galaxy.

Now however, he lived in the Jedi temple on Coruscant. Having met with the council after his fall into darkness was something still on his mind. He was glad for their accepting him back into the order, even after all he had done. He was never an evil person at heart, but he had to become one out of necessity in order to live. However, that was all in the past now and he had new things to look forward too. He had taken on two new padawans at the temple, it was still something new to him but they seemed to be good kids. He was walking the streets for a while now, just taking everything in, when he felt his stomach growl. He looked down and thought about where there would be a good place to eat when he saw a sign for the Corellian Corvette. The place seemed rather more posh than what he was used to, but he thought why the heck not and entered.

The door guard held him up a bit, but once he let him know he was a Jedi he let him pass. The band that was playing seemed pretty good, however, he headed straight for the bar. The bartender was a Zeltron and he immediately put up his guard. If there was one thing he knew, it was to be wary of Zeltrons they had a knack for getting you to do things you never intended.

However, this one seemed rather familiar to him he waved him down and asked, "Hey, do you have Boga noga on tap?"

 

[Ush]

Ryloss was startled out of his daydream by someone asking him for something. He turned to the drinks behind him.
"Sorry what was thaaaa-"
He turned slightly to look at the customer. He had never seen someone that battered before.
"That?"
He tried to play it off as a cough, but felt it failed. He then noticed the lightsaber.
"You a Jedi?"
He had never charged Jedi. He looked into the face again. Something about it was familiar. He narrowed his eyes slightly, still not recognizing him.
"I knew someone once, looked a bit like you."
Yuunda Cloudchaser had turned to the Dark Side some time before Ryloss left. The face had just a hint of the human. Ryloss searched the face again. No, he still wasn't confident enough to ask.

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

He gave a half smile that probably looked more like it was a cringe than anything else and nodded, "Boga noga, erm... Hutt Ale I think it's called in basic, and yes."

Yuunda didn't mind the look the bartender gave him, it was something he had gotten used to, "I had some free time before I need to check on one of my padawans. You look familiar as well, call me Cloudchaser, Yuunda Cloudchaser." He said with a slight bow of his head. The band had finished the song they were playing and started up another piece. It was a rather jazzy tune that reminded him of a song he had once heard a very long time ago in a bar at the Anchorhead Cantina.

 

[Ush]

Ryloss tried to keep a straight face as he poured the drink. As he put it in front of his old friend, he flashed him a cocky grin.
"Ryloss Narexsus. How the hell can you drink this stuff, mate?"
He stepped back from the counter, a laugh beginning to rise in his throat.
"Long time no see, Yuunda. I thought you were dead, mate!"
Ryloss hadn't seen Yuunda for years and years. He'd been a friend of Atreia's, she had known him better. But they'd once tackled a Rancor simulation together. He couldn't remember how that had turned out, though.

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

(1000th post baby XD)

Yuunda's eye widened as it turned out to be his old friend, "Ryloss, damn its good to see you," he said, then with a half grin at the comment towards his drink choice, "You know I was raised in the armpit of the galaxy, Tatooine, but nah I'm not dead yet. Came close more than a few times though, but I'm hard to kill."

It was his old friend, memories flooded back to him he remembered that he was going out with Atreia before her untimely death. He remembered the time the took on that simulated Rancor on the Light of the Force, however, it was nothing like facing the real thing. They definitely had a lot to catch up on, so he decided to ask:

"What've you been up to? You look you've had it tough."

 

[Ush]

"****, what I've had is nothing compared to that. What, we didn't go through that Rancor sim enough? What the hell'd you do, brother? Piss off a blender?"
He was looking with open horror at his friend. The scars were openly terrifying. And Ryloss could feel something else about him.
"Yuunda... Wow. You... You fell. Frack, Yuunda. What'd you do?"
The darkness wasn't around him anymore, but he could still feel... Something. Ryloss' own force aura wasn't pure, hell, it was worse then Yuunda's was right now, but looking back into Yuunda was something else. Ryloss remembered something Yuunda had said.
"Hang on a second. Oh. You're a Knight now?"

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

Yuunda took a swig of his drink and let out a sigh, "Ha, the sims are nothing compared to the real things, but no close enough though. This is what happens when you tick off Sith Lord and live to tell about it," he said with a cocky grin then his face turned sober again as he thought about the things he did while he was a Crusader of the Sith, "I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, however, it's not what I've done that scares me, it's what I would've done. The dark side twists you like you wouldn't know, I've killed for the sake of killing. I had lost myself, but if it hadn't been for the duel I lost to Kara, or for Della, I'd still be rotting in a cell on Empress Teta or back in Imp space doing god knows what."

Then Ryloss asked about him being a knight and he smiled, "Not yet, but I'm going through the process. I've only recently been released from the holding cells on Teta and I already have two padawans that I'm training. Can you believe that?"

 

[Ush]

"We've all ****ed up, brother."
He waved to his manager and held up his hand, wide open. He opened it and closed it. The Malarian nodded. Ryloss grinned and poured himself a drink before swinging the counter open and sitting beside Yuunda.
"Well, Della Fray? She's that pure she can bring a man back from damnation? Wow. I'll have to ask her to run me whatever she did to you some time."
He took a long drink before speaking again.
"Well, I fought Lain and got my ass kicked. Still can't move my arm behind me without remembering it. After that I went and got really, really, really drunk on Zeltros. Only place for it. After that I came here and got this job. Basic enough stuff, you know? And I think that the masters are too trusting. Shi-Gel-Hu still one of their number?"

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

"Cheers to that," he said raising his glass and taking another swig of the strong ale, then turning towards Ryloss he said, "She's a heck of a lot stronger than she looks, you know she's married now?" He took another drink as Ryloss told him about his duel with Lain.

"Hey at least you've still got all your limbs attached," he finished his drink and set it down on the counter with a sigh, "you know what I've always found funny? All the women in our lives, or at least in mine anyways, seem to be friggen warrior goddesses or something. I mean my sister back home stormed a Tusken Raider camp once to save my sorry ass, I helped Atreia take down a Greater Krayt Dragon, my old master, Mira Albion, has nearly killed me more times than I care to count, Della's been to one end of hell and back. Makes us seem like cowards sometimes doesn't it?"

He got another drink from the new bartender, he had to be careful now that he was a Jedi again. He couldn't be overindulging, "Shi-Gel? Hmm I'm not too sure to be honest. As I've said I've only recently rejoined the order."

 

[Ush]

"I guessed. She had every goddamn man on Tython after her."
He took another drink.

"I guess I do."
He thought over what Yuunda was saying, about the warrior queens.
"Well, all the important ones, anyway. Atreia could kick my ass on any given day and Lain actually did it. We're just pathetic, we're no cowards."
He took another swig and laughed.
"Well. I'm not, at the least."

Ryloss got himself another drink, too. As a Zeltron, he could drink all he liked. "Shame. Hey, wasn't Albion a Jedi Master at one point?"

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

Yuunda nodded, "Yeah now she has a big Cathar husband to look after her, but she still manages to get into trouble now and then slippery little Snamreg that she is," he said thinking on how she managed so long in Imperial space herself.

"Um, I meant something closer to that," he let slip the wrong word he guessed, "Yeah she was. Mira was my master both before and after she became a sith lord. She's half the reason I look as pretty as I do now," he drank some more of his ale, slower this time, "So you went to Zeltos huh? I've never been there myself, what's it like?"

 

[Ush]

"Ah." He smiled to himself.

He shook his head at Albion's actions. "Bet that's one boutique that sees a lot of service."
He couldn't help but laugh at the memories of Zeltros.
"We've had so many parties, we now have to work on an every second year scheme. One year we have one celebrating us joining the first Republic, the next, on the same day, we have one celebrating our victory over the Vong on our home planet. I was there during it. I don't think I was sober in all the time on that planet. It's insane. And people there will **** anything. I saw a female Neimoidian getting... You know where this is going. There were three of us. Yeah. Not something I ever, ever, ever want to see again."
He shivered at the memory.
"Apart from that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life."

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

Yuunda let out a harsh laugh, "Ha, I'd take that any day from what I went through. On Korriban it was either kill or be killed. Though I must say one of my more vivid memories was the time I was with the High Sorcerer of the Sith at the time. I swear the sith change leaders like a Gammorean likes his food. Anyways I was with her and a small group of acolytes, we headed to a planet called Corbos. Not much was going on there but one of the caves that we explored held a leviathan. Not necessarily the biggest thing I've seen before but hell that thing is strong. It took the five of us just to take it down."

Taking another swig of his ale, he thought for a bit, "Hmm, why does it always seem like I'm killing things? I need to learn not to do that."

 

[Ush]

Ryloss shook his head.
"I've yet to kill someone, myself. Some people say I'm lucky. Others say I'm a coward."
He ran his hand through his hair.
"Anyway, enough of the depressing topics. What're you doing, anyway? With your Padawans, that is? Treating them well, I hope?"
He finished his second drink but decided not to get another one.
"Ach, trying to get drunk during my break always ends badly..."
He sighed.
"They tend to take it out of my pay check. I always forget that.

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

"Your a better man than I've been," Yuunda said finishing his second Boga Noga, however he decided to get a water instead of a third one. He had to remember he was a Jedi now, and couldn't indulge as much as he would've liked to.
"Just going through the basics for now with them, how to hold a lightsaber, force usage, the code, stuff like that."
He scratched his chin as he thought about how he really had no need for money any more considering he had quite the fortune at home, "Here take this," he said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a lustrous blue Krayt Pearl that he had been saving to build a new lightsaber, "You could probably use this better than I could, and if you need help with anything you know where to find me."

 

[Ush]

Ryloss took the pearl in the palm of his hand.
"Gods, Yuunda, I can't take this... Where'd this even come from?"
He gently played it on the table in front of him. He thought back to when Atreia had said she'd gone hunting Krayt Dragons with Yuunda.
"Shit, no way. Did you get this with Atreia?"
He looked at Yuunda with a shocked looked. The thing had to be nearly five years old if he had. He picked it back up and held it between two fingers in front of his eyes.
"Thank you, Yuunda. Thank you so much."

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

He nodded and with a slight smile said, "You should've seen the one she got. You could've bought your own star system with that, but yeah don't worry about it. I've done a lot of terrible things in my life, this is the least I can do to start back on the right path."
He got up from his seat and stretched and held out a hand, "If you need anything let me know alright? It's been good seeing you again old friend.'

 

[Ush]

Ryloss smiled at the pearl.
"It was one of the things she treasured. A sign she wasn't all bad, I think. Or that she could help the light, even in her own small way."
He squeezed it in his hand before pocketing it and standing up.
"I better get back to work. I won't forget about this Yuunda."
He turned away before pausing.
"I might come home soon."
And he left it at that.

(End of thread)