Re: TRF:Astral Astoria Post - Onboard the Big Hunk of Metal in Space
Reply #1 –
The loud music and chatter invaded her ears as the change in illumination made her nearly blind. Closing her eyes tight, a mental twitch activated a switch embedded somewhere in her optic nerves. When she opened them again, she could see again, but in an entirely different way. Instead of the normal perception that she'd had before, the world was now presented in varying hues ranging from blues to reds, depending on the temperature that emanated from objects and people around her. It wasn't a pleasant way to see, and Allie both physically and mentally cringed at the sight; it was everything she could do to keep from triggering the switch again to turn it back. A sigh. She would have to deal with it for now.
The Lonely Preaky Tavern was moderately populated at the time when Allie entered it. Smoke wafted through her nostrils as the smell of alcohol quickly moved to join it. The afternoon's occupants took no notice of her, as they usually did for most newcomers who wandered in. Even the entrance of someone so young didn't seem to shake the concentration of the bar's patrons. The twi'lek barkeep, however, seemed to at least give her a glance before returning to his work. When he turned around again, he found himself face to face with the girl, who had made her way to the counter and hopped onto one of the mis-matched stools that had been carelessly positioned in front of the bar. The bartender's reaction was a little more callous than she'd hoped, as he leaned across the counter to ask, "Aren't you a little young to be in a bar, little miss?"
The girl exhaled a long breath, perturbed by the twi'lek's choice of words. As usual, Allie thought. I always seem to be too young, a little girl, small, or a child. When will they stop learning to judge me by my size or age? Her dejected thoughts were kept to herself for now, however, and her face and body gave no outward reaction to the barkeep's words. Only the question that he had posed, to which she simply shrugged. "Don't get many 'little miss'es in your tavern these days?" The response was a direct jab at the twi'lek's instant prejudice of her, but it wouldn't do any harm. It didn't usually.
"What do you want? he barked, agitated by the girl's interwoven sarcasm.
She only smiled and tilted her head, "You wouldn't happen to know of a Gavon Cabaril, would you? I've heard he's known to drop by these parts often, close to every day."
The twi'lek jerked his head in response, his lekku's flying out at odd angles as he did so. His head indicated a position back further into the bar, towards the sea of bodies in between the bar and the far wall. "He's usually over there. Haven't seen him today, though. You can check with his buddies, they're always in here, but be warned, they aren't a friendly bunch."
The girl grinned at him, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself." Flashing him another smile, she added a thanks and turned back to where the bartender had indicated. It was farther back, through the masses of people, but once she reached the table near the back, the crowd had thinned, giving her a clear indication of who she had been directed to. The table was circled by five large beings of differing race and size, and attired in all manners of clothing. Three humans, a Rodian and a Wookiee. Casually walking around the table, Allie passed a trained eye over them. All five carried at least one weapon, minus the Wookiee, which Allie supposed was because he could as easily use his own brute strength and claws as a weapon. They were all drinking, sharing stories and laughing to each other, taking little notice of the patrons around them.
One of the humans took notice of Allie, however. Grunting he turned to her and made a sweeping motion with his hand, saying, "Shoo, little girl."
The Rodian took hold of his arm and brought it down. Saying something in his native tongue, the human nodded, "You're right." Turning back to her, he asked, "Well? Come on, out with it girl, we haven't got all day." Turning to his friends, he added, "Well, actually we do, but we're too busy getting drunk and laughing at Fodo's hair."
He burst out laughing at this remark, and the other humans and the wookiee joined him, as the already-blue Rodian turned a deep sapphire color. Sure enough, the Rodian's head was topped with a dark tuff of hair that grew in an odd pattern, almost similar to the rigid mane that topped the blue-robed Chancellor's Guards of the Old Republic. It was amusing, but not something that the girl would outwardly laugh at. Then again, she wasn't drunk.
"You fellas wouldn't happen to know Gavon Cabaril, would you?"
"Know Gavon?" The same human answered her, turning to his compatriots, who all accompanied him in laughing this time. Facing Allie again, he said, "Of course we know Gavon, little girl." He said nothing more than this, to which the girl was forced to pose another question.
"Well, where is he?" She thought she'd try a direct route, who would suspect her of anything? Cabaril's friends seemed to regard her as harmless, anyways.
The wookiee rose from his seat and growled at her, a deep, yet high pitched growl that made the tavern's other occupants turn and look in his direction. The human also rose and explained, "He's right. Gavon's busy, and that's all you need to know. Now shoo, little girl."
The girl thought for a moment before replying. This wasn't going very well. Hoping to salvage the situation, she said, "Just tell me where he is and I'll go bother him. I don't want to bother you."
A second human stood up. Now three of the five were up, the arms at their sides, presumably within reach of their blasters. The second human, obviously more drunk than the first, spoke, "Now listen, keed. We tol you he was busy. He's not here, so busy ees where he ees. Got eet? Good. Now scran!"
Yep, definitely not going very well, she thought. She backed up and found herself against the wall. Oh, just beautiful, she chided herself, Get your back up against the wall facing three humans, a rodian and a wookiee, not to mention a whole tavern. Just beautiful, Allie. It sounded like a bad joke, like 'What do you get when you cross three humans, a rodian and a wookiee?' But the situation was truly serious, and it was looking like the girl was going to be on the receiving end of that situation. And it wouldn't be pretty. The nearest entry was too far away for her to get out the normal way, the only thing left was to try to talk them down. Either that, or start running now.
Allie tried, but her legs wouldn't move. Perfect! she thought. All of that training and my legs freeze up. It looked like she was either going to have to talk them down, or fight them. She had her blaster inside the bag that she wore on her back, but she wouldn't be fast enough to get to it. No, it would have to be the twin vibroknives she had strapped to her ankles. The girl frowned and nodded to herself on an earlier thought. This wasn't going to be pretty.