AU: Bar Crawl

[last_kallig]

After the events at the Foundry, Ibani felt that both she and Ben desperately needed some R+R. There was much research and questioning of her various contacts, smugglers, pirates, spies, and other such folk for good places to drink and eat on Nar Shaddaa.

She has a list! Although her first plan is to ask Ben where HIS favorite places on Nar Shaddaa were and see if any of them exist in her when, because you never know.

In the interests of blending in, Ibani has gone for the smuggler/pirate look in brown and bright emerald synthleather with a vibroblade strapped on one hip. (She has her lightsabers too, of course, but those are more hidden.)

Comments

[last_kallig]

The Tu'kata are predators, their ancestors modified by the Dark Side. They are aggression and predation and frustration that the prey is out of reach to his senses. They feed on the Dark Side as much as flesh.

"They're unnaturally aggressive predators, pack hunters" Ibani explains, letting go of Ben's hands and speeding up into a jog toward where she can feel the Tu'Kata. "Modified by the ancient Sith with the Dark Side to make them better guard beasts. I tried to calm one with the Force once when I was eleven, came within a hair's breadth of dying for my trouble."

The presence is coming from a warehouse and when Ibani kicks the door open, two humans are huddled up on some shelving while five Tu'kata snarl and leap up at them from the ground. There are five empty cages, doors torn off, that suggest how the creatures GOT here, at least.

Funny, there is a distant resemblance to Obi-Wan and Ibani in the two humans, possibly the extortion racket they were looking for?

[acertainpov]

Ben jogs up behind her, stops at her shoulder and peers over before shaking his head sadly.

"They look nothing like us," he complains softly. "Look at that beard."

He rubs his own thoughtfully, but doesn't draw his blaster. Instead he walks calmly into the warehouse, giving some space between him and Ibani, so when the Hounds turn, attracted by the sound of the door being kicked open, they can choose between two targets.

"So what does work with them?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani makes a face. "Definitely not, far too scruffy to look anything like you. And as for HER," Ibani eyes the woman. "It's mostly the outfit we've got in common."

"Calming them might work if you put more oomph in it," she says as the hounds approach. "Was never my strong suit and I was just eleven at the time."

"Otherwise, well, stabbing or blasters are probably our best bets."

[acertainpov]

"Oomph," he mutters, as if the careful blancing act required to communicate with living organisms and overcome forced and deeply engrained instincts was a matter of oomph.

"You go and talk to our impersonators, then. Stay out of their way."

And she's going to have to move fast, because one of the Tuk'ata has broken into a run, beginning to charge them, and Ben isn't moving.

[last_kallig]

Ibani grins at his muttering and leaps up onto the shelving. A normal human wouldn't be able to make that kind of jump, but the Force can be useful like that.

"Who the flark are you?" the woman demands of Ibani. "I could be asking you the same question. I don't appreciate people using my and my husband's reputation to run a protection racket."

There are more Tu'kata after the first, intent on reaching the only readily available prey.

[acertainpov]

He's fairly obvious prey as well, standing where he is as they charge, one hand towards them, and closes his eyes.

He's never sensed this much Dark Side in a non-sentient being. Animals are creatures of emotion and instinct, and he's senses fear before, but this level of hate...

He keeps his eyes closed, keeps his hand out as they race.

He breathes, carefully and calmly, and reaches out to them, past the twisting of the Dark Side, towards their minds.

It feels like it takes forever, every second lasting an hour or more as they close in.

And then, everything gets a bit calmer.

He cranks open an eye and looks down his arm to where the hounds are snarling a few feet away, their desire to tear his throat at in clear conflict with a very strong desire not to do that.

Without letting them go, he flicks his glance over to Ibani, just to check how she's getting on.

[last_kallig]

The duo is staring at the Tu'Kata in shock, and Ibani takes the opportunity to press on them a little.

"It would be in your best interest to stay away from this moon from now on, if you catch my meaning."

She glances at the Tu'Kata, sure that the imaginations of the two criminals will fill in all kinds of threats.

She's impressed at Ben's ability to hold them like that, something she doesn't think she could do!

"Fine, fine!" the man replies, his voice shaky. "Just, just let us get out of here!"

The desire to not tear Ben's throat out is winning, slowly. The snarling is dimming to growls, hackles lowering just a little.

[acertainpov]

It's a struggle, and there's a determined edge to his expression that she won't have seen for a while, not even when he had a lightsaber in his hand. This is a very different process.

Slowly, as if having to consciously think about every move, Ben circles around the group of hounds, and they make unconscious steps together, a little more like nerfs that a pack of predators, although with the occasional snarl and shift of claws to remind eveyone of what they really are.

He steps towards them, and they shuffle back a shorter distance, so while the group is moving in the direction Ben wants to go, the distance between him and those teeth starts to close.

After a couple of steps there is a clear path between the rest of the humans and the door, and without looking away, Ben makes a hurried beckoning motion behind his back.

[last_kallig]

"Move!" Ibani hisses at the two criminals, then she 'helps' them down with the Force. "But DON'T run." She's not sure anyone would be able to hold them back from chasing running prey, after all!

The criminals are out the door and gone as quickly as they dare and Ibani is standing at the door herself. Seeing Ben like this, with such a determined edge, such strength in the Force and such control is kind of hot hitting all kinds of cultural buttons that Ibani's only partially aware of having.

[acertainpov]

The warehouse has a sense of calm growing in it, right at the edge of sensation. The hounds are now in a pack together, one of them whimpering, another scrambling at the floor, and yet another just placid, head tilted and eyes up at Ben like an Akk dog.

The struggle has eased since it was only him and them at risk, although there's still a conflict of wills.

He approaches them carefully, and they back away, towards the cages at the back.

Feeling Ibani's presence in the door he speaks gently.

"Any chance you can find something to fix those doors?"

He doesn't like it, the cages are too small. But he doesn't have any other ideas.

[last_kallig]

"I can fix them, I think, looks like only one pin gave way. And Force lightning can spot weld in a pinch."*

Ibani gets to work straightening bent metal and welding it in place with Force lightning. She IS good at fine control.

When the cages are done, she steps back. "I'll place a holocall, I think I know someone who can take them home to Korriban, unless you have another idea?"


(OOC: Using force lightning to spot weld is something I've seen in fanfic, I think by fialleril on Tumblr?)

[acertainpov]

One by one, they back into their cages, some of them fighting more than others. But once they are all in to some extent, Ben crouches down by the pack leader. He releases his control but not his influence, leaving a hound in turns whining and snarling, worrying the cage door in its frustration.

Against all common sense he places a hand on the bars. Against all rules of universe, he doesn't lose that hand.

"What will happen to them on Korriban?"

They're just dogs, under it all. Bred to be violent and corrupted by the Dark Side, but there's still an animal under there.

[last_kallig]

"They'll be released into the wild," Ibani replies. "I'd ask my contact not to put them anywhere near the Sith Academy, it's a dangerous location for a drop off and the Tu'Kata there get accustomed to eating people quite quickly."

She smiles softly at Ben placing his hand against the bars. She's never met anyone else with so much compassion.

[acertainpov]

After a moment, Ben stands, pulling his hand back while keeping his eyes on the hound. As one final mercy, he nods again and four of the five settle down quietly, heads on their paws for what looks like might become a nap. The fifth, too strong willed, paces quietly, growling.

"Do let me know how they get on," he says, and steps back, into her shoulder with a tired rub of his head. "And maybe find somewhere actually quiet this time?"

It was hard work!

[last_kallig]

"I'll make a call," Ibani says quietly. "And I know somewhere that will definitely be quiet, if you're up for an air taxi ride."

Ibani sends a text message to a contact, calling in a favor. She wraps an arm around Ben, running her fingers through his hair in an attempt to ease the tiredness.

She smiles. "Might as well make use of that Sky Palace I bought as part of my cover here. Got it at a discount after one owner took the wrong Sith artifact in as an art piece and it killed them and the next three buyers. It got a reputation for being haunted."

[acertainpov]

He reciprocates with an arm around her, gently resting his hand on her shoulder and shoots her a small smile.

"Is it haunted?" That doesn't sound quiet!

[last_kallig]

Ibani chuckles. "No, although given the psychotropic effects of that artifact I'm not surprised people thought so. I got rid of the artifact as soon as I bought the place. It's still in a containment vault on Dromund Kaas, since my Sphere wasn't sure what would happen if anyone destroyed the damn thing."

They make their way to an air taxi and Ibani inputs their destination. "I kept the outer rooms, the ones meant for outsiders to see, the way they were. DEFINITELY not my style, but having people see what they expect to see is...useful."

Like most things in her life, a deception hiding the truth beneath, a bodyguard of lies.

The Sky palace floats above Nar Shaddaa, far enough away that there is as close to quiet as it ever gets on this moon. The outer rooms are, well, gaudy. Complicated patterns and entirely too much gilding, meant to flaunt wealth at the expense of any taste.

[acertainpov]

"What a perfect representation of the period and style," Ben says, with only the slightest hint of mocking irony in his otherwise pefectly sincere tone.

He turns circles as he walks through, determined to get every angle of the terrible tastelessness in his sights.

[last_kallig]

"It is, isn't it?" Ibani replies, her hint of mocking irony matching his as she leans into him. Delicate carved patterns that would each be fine individually have been crammed together without regard to period, culture, or context, then entombed alive with gilding or stone inlay

The furniture is both ornate and hideously uncomfortable looking. Delicate looking spiraled Nautolan couches with an aquatic theme cheek to jowl with bluntly square heavy wooden Alderranian tables carved with nerf herders and their nerfs.

Most of the 'art' is urns carved to resemble various nude species of many sexes. Ibani feels that most of the urns look like they are trying to flee as opposed to anything approaching erotic.

There are entirely too many crystal chandeliers illuminating what's below, making the gilding actually uncomfortable to look at from certain angles thanks to the reflected light.

It is a perfect storm of hideous conspicuous consumption.

[acertainpov]

"I can see how you could turn to the Dark Side just standing here," Ben adds. "I absolutely hate it."

[last_kallig]

Ibani laughs, "Oh, I agree. It's an amazing tool for putting people on edge though. I let them cool their heels out here for ten minutes and they're in such a rush to leave that they'll agree to nearly anything."

She inputs a code and they pass through into the private areas. This, THIS looks almost exactly like Ibani's room in Milliways. Warm earth colors, simple lines, only necessary, comfortable, furniture. "This is my work. I was here for quite a while after Thanaton killed me, as I needed to keep my head down."

[acertainpov]

"This is more like it," Ben says, drawing her closer to him affectionately. "More like you."

[last_kallig]

Ibani is happy to be drawn close. "I'm glad you like it," she says sincerely. "Let me grab some things from the kitchen and I'll show you the garden."

Ibani assembles something like a picnic basket using the fruit basket on the kitchen counter: fruit, cheese, sparkling wine and chocolates.

"It's a copy of one my apprentices, Corrin and Kaal, had at their home on Ziost, growing up." The loss of her apprentices will always hurt a little, and now their home planet is gone too, a lifeless husk of ash thanks to the former Sith Emperor.

She sets the basket down and takes off her boots and socks. "I like to go barefoot in the garden," she explains.

[acertainpov]

Ben leans against a wall in order to follow suit and take off his own boots - the knee length red ones he's always been so fond of - and flexes his toes in the air.

"A luxury I don't often afford myself," he observes.

(Sand gets everywhere.)

[last_kallig]

Ibani nods. "I think I know why." She has been to Tatooine, after all!

She flexes her own toes, then leads him through the door into the garden. It's made to look like a natural space, like a meadow with a stream running through it, a tree distantly like a Willow providing an ideal place to sit and observe near the stream. Wildflowers bloom amid the grasses, and water plants grow in between the rocks of the stream. There are no paths, only soft grasses underfoot.

"These are all plants native to Ziost," she explains. "This style is fairly popular there, one that aims to create as natural looking, as wild, a space as possible."

"Was popular," she corrects herself after a moment. "There are other places like this, gardens made by people who took a piece of Ziost with them when they left. I don't know if any of these remain, in your time."

The lighting is made to feel like a single sun, beginning to set.