Long nights, short glasses. (Closed)

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Long nights, short glasses. (Ask)

There were few things that could make Lucien Balto melancholy. Losing a card game, finding that a friend has died, and a job going bad. Now however it was the fact that he was running out of credits fast. He had to make good on a lot of debts, pay a Hutt that was blaming him for botching a job, and needing to keep himself alive to pay them. Despite all these things he still saw it as appropriate to drown away his problems in the small glass that sat on the coaster at this bar counter. The small little Cantina called Reginald's Gambit may strike people as a place where only the dregs of society would commune, it was actually just a hang out for university students and the working class after a long day. No place to find clients.

Still, opportunity tended to present itself in the strangest of places, whether it be a chatty urinal patron or a sultry female minx looking for a big strong man to help her through the night. Only to later find out that mistress is a mister and no amount of salt baths may cleanse you of the filth...

Okay, it was probably getting to be too much booze and it was getting late. Doing a quick scan of The Gambit showed that the only people still in attendance were the barkeep, himself, and a group of giddy young students who couldn't believe they weren't ID'd when they asked for drinks. Setting an unshaven and disheveled head down on the counter, the smuggler closed his eyes momentarily.

 

[Emma Lou]

Saying it had been a long day could not even begin to explain the last few hours. She was still job hunting and it was becoming apparently harder than she first thought. It had been some time since she had quit bounty hunting and gone back to train more. She was ready to get back into the grind and leave her grocery store job behind. She was tired of stupid people and their stupid questions. Today had been one of those days.

She had started very early with a nice two hour workout. She loved fighting so that was not what made her day bad. After she got cleaned up she had to go to work for a horribly drawn out shift of twelve hours. Now, it was her time. Well, her time and her alcohol. Maybe tonight would be the night. Probably not.

She decided on a well fitting blue shirt with a pair of black pants underneath. She did not want to wear a dress to this new cantina she was told about. It was called something's Gambit or something along those lines. She knew where it was and that was all that mattered.

After a relaxing walk she found the cantina. It was pretty rundown, but she did not care. She pushed through the front door and looked around the room.

Annoying kids, bartender, annoyed looking man. She choose the annoyed man. She walked over to the bar, where the man was sitting, and took the seat next to him. She ordered a Corellian Ale.

The man looked like a smuggler. She could tell one from miles around since she had come from one of the wealthiest smuggler families in Corellia and grew up among the world. That was the past though and there was no point dwelling on it.

Her drink arrived and it was gone in a second.

"Another, please"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

When one sense is blocked off the others heighten. It was basic knowledge and one of the most simple and effective survival instincts creatures could develope. In Lucien's case, he heard the sound of the stool's legs rubbing against the thin carpeted padding of the floor and he smelt something unmistakably female. Opening his eyes he was greeted by the image of a dame who seemed to be doing as damn good as himself. Letting out a sigh, Balto raised his head. Looking over to the girl again he saw that she had downed her drink already. The smuggler looked down to his glass which he had been nursing for the past hour.

It was his policy though to try and spread some joy where there was none. Digging into his pocket, Lucien produced a few credits and threw them towards the bartender as he gave his new drinking buddy her second drink.

"This should be enough to cover the two of us for the rest of the night," He raised the rest of his glass to the girl, "To dark nights and hopefully brighter mornings."

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee looked over at the man and smiled before taking a drink.

"Thank you"

She took a big gulp then set the glass on the bar.

"Bright mornings never come in your line of work, do they?"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

"Depends on which side of the planet's day/night cycle I land on," Lucien took a drink and took a moment to savor the taste, "It's not that every day is bad, but when it gets to the point that it could be considered bad it most definately is in a major way."

The Hutt that was on his ass would probably be sending out collectors by the end of the week. The first encounter with hired muscle was usually okay. Sure their were threats agaisnt your life and uncomfortable touching but you never get anything beyond a bruise, cut, or have you favorite lamp broken in half. It's the visits afterwards that'll do it. Tilly the lamp is instead your favorite femur bone... or skull.

"What about you, dolly?"

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee thought about how to answer that. She could be a smuggler easily, but she had never really tried her hand it. Bounty hunting has almost gotten her killed. Working a stupid job was not for her. So what did she do? Trained. She could kill you in a second in about twenty different ways.

"I basically spend my days working at a dead end job and spend my nights training to kill people"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Lucien had to chuckle a little, the girl certainly had a sense of humor on her. There was no way a killer would go drinking in this part of town. Maybe in the Blue Sector, but not in this place. So she probably worked a desk or a cubicle. Those places were definately dead end jobs. Unless everyone else in the office has an "accident" and you are the only fortunate survivor.

"Ugh. I couldn't see myself doing the same thing day in and day out. At least with what I do I can see new places, meet new people, and choose how I do it for the most part. Ummmmm. Sorry, that sounds like I'm bragging. Gotta be some upside to it though. It'll look great on your resume..."

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee chuckled a little and took a sip of her ale. She put her hand out towards him.

"Kaylee Lantina"

This man might have heard of her family if he was ever on Corellia, but she doubted it. Her dad had been out of smuggling for a few year now, since his murder.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

"Lucien Balto. So where do you work exactly?"

The door to the Gambit opened and three sentients strolled through the door. The leader of the group was a particularly muscular Twi'lek who was leading another Twi'lek and a Wookie. Lucien caught them out of the corner of his eye and did not dare turn around. They communed amongst themselves at the door and ended up occupying a table near the other end of the bar, oppisate the students.

 

[Emma Lou]

"I work at a grocery store. I used to be Republic Military, but that did not work out so well for me"

She noticed his mood change when the new patrons joined the cantina. She took a drink and then ordered another one. After she received her drink she leaned in toward Lucien.

"Know them?"

She whispered.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

"Can't say that I do... exactly. Only one way to find out though."

Lucien quickly downed his last drink and took a second to let the liquid settle. Scooting his chair out, the smuggler got up and turned towards the trio. They had been watching him and when he stood, so did they. The leader walked forward.

"Lucien Balto?"

"That'd be me."

"Gutha would like his credits now."

"Credits my friend that I do not have."

"You seem to have enough for," The Twi'lek leaned to the side and eyed Kaylee, "entertainment. You best be getting those credits. Either that, or our Wookie friend here gets to choose what limb to rip off first."

"Understood. Tell Gutha that he'll get it all in due time. I always do."

"Oh. He'll be getting his money. As well as interest."

"Now that... is unreasonable-"

"You'll get the money. 'You always do'."

With that the trio left the bar. The smuggler sighed and eyed the students gathering their things and leaving. A little more glumly, he returned to the bar.

 

[Emma Lou]

"Entertainment? Let me at that tail head and we'll see who the entertainment is"

She took another drink and set it down.

"So how did you get into that mess?"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Taking back his seat, he saw that the bartender had been nice enough to fill his glass again while he had been occupied. Lucein nodded thanks to the man while he was doing some fo the closing work for the night. Gripping his new glass who to a sip and recanted the tale.

"So I'm a smuggler. Those guys work for a slug named Gutha the Hutt and a little while back I was given a job by one of his people to move some spice across Republic lines. I was about to take off when pirates began raiding the docks. I was about to be subdued when I offered them the contents of my ships cargo hold. They took the offer and let me go. Needless to say, they found out that it belonged to Gutha and tried to ransom it back to him. He wasn't happy that he had to buy back something he was going to sell and puts the blame solely on me."

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee could not help the laughter that erupted from her. She did not mean to laugh at his misfortunes, but it was something that she could only imagine in a holodrama.

"I could help you with the credits, if you want. There has to be some smuggling job I could get around here...my name tends to make people trust me"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

This was truly an interesting turn of fate. Here he had been, just meeting this girl literally minutes before and she was offering up a way to make a dent in his debt. He hadn't been able to get a job. Gutha had a bit of sway and when word got out about how he botched the job, not to many other employers had trusted him even if they knew about Lucien's virtually spotless track record. That made paying off debts even harder, but now if he had this girl get him some solid jobs then he could get back on top of things. True, she would want a cut and he'd still have to pay for his ship... but it was better than nothing.

"Okay. You've got yourself a deal. It is not like I have any other options."

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee finished her drink and set the glass down on the table. She motioned for the bartender to not give her anymore and pulled her datapad out.

"Alright, meet me here"

She transferred the address of a warehouse to his datapad and then stood.

"See you at sunrise"

She smiled and left the cantina. She had a lot of work to do before the sun rose.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

:~: The next day :~:

Cold rain plummeted from the sky and pounded against the ground below. With all the rainclouds "sunrise" was hard to arrive by but knowing the general time of day that the sun rose would remedy that little problem. Lucien had no shelter from the liquid onslaught that the heavens was pouring down. He has spent his public transportation money on booze last night. Unfortunately, Kaylee had left early and Lucien had to drink her share so his credits hadn't gone to waste. The smuggler was regretting it this morning.

Aside from the occasional speeder driving by to fast, not much agitated the hangover he had. The pouring rain's delightful sound was like a soothing white noise and the cold temperature of the percipitation was offering a natural ice pack to his throbbing forehead. Enjoying his little stroll, Lucien noticed that he was coming upon the warehouse. He pulled out his datapad to confirm this was the right place and of course it was. Lucien didn't know what to expect in there. Kaylee had mentioned something about killing people and it wasn't too much of a stretch to think Lucien had pissed off people enough to encourage his death. Still, he had little choice. Lucien put his hands in his coat pocket and walked the front door as it automatically opened.

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee heard the door open before she say Lucien enter. She walked up to him and smiled.

"You found the place okay, good. Ready to travel?"

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

"Whoa whoa! Could I get a little more information on what we be doin' before I jump on some ship with a girl I met just last night? Forgive my paranoia."

Lucien was ready as these days he seemed to carry most of the things on his back. If he went to the docks to retrieve anything in his ship then they'd hound him to pay those pesky pesky docking fees. It had only been a month or so, think they'd be a bit more patient.

 

[Emma Lou]

Kaylee could understand why he was paranoid and she agreed to tell him what they were going to do.

"I contacted a friend of mine and we will be transporting some kind of Corellian spice from Corellia back to here. It isn't great or anything, but it's a job and the spice is illegal so it's fun"

She waited to make sure he was in.