| abstract
| - The Sandbar: Caspar A large, comfortable room creates the main part of Plaxton City's infamous Sandbar, survivor of no less than three rounds of destruction, once more back on its feet. Refurbished to much the same state it had enjoyed prior to the invasion of Caspar at Imperial hands, the place boasts dark wood panelling on its walls, and myriad booths and tables of occasionally battered but sturdy lighter wood, and a number of both old and brand new holoposters hung here and there on the walls. Several deep blue glass windows allow light in from outside, while keeping the ambient light level fairly low. The marble bar that survived the recent war still remains, more battered than before, but once again serving as the domain of Ariani; the loft, too, has been restored, providing yet more seating and an excellent view of the low stage towards the back of the room, where the local band called the Womprats play each night. Uncustomary for him; Keifan is sitting at a distant table, off in the darker corners of the bar, a large bottle of Corellian whiskey nearly gone, and a fresh one right next to him waiting to be opened. Quiet and reserved, he's just relaxing, watching the entire goings on of the bar, it would seem, from his vantage point that can be likened to a predatory bird, for lack of a better term, and one that would seem to define his current mood; at least upon first glance of the man. Entering the Sandbar, Lynae glances around the room quickly, taking in the assembled patrons scattered around the room before spotting Keifan and, of course, the bottle of alcohol at his table. She moves through the room as silently as possible, trying hard to blend into the room and not stand out for her attire or her appearance, and arrives at Keifan's table without pause. She takes the unopened bottle from the table and holds it as she sits down, "May I join you?" Keifan takes a long slow sip from his whiskey glass, yet still apears more than sober enough, and he smiles, standing up and pulling Lynae's chair out, "Doctor, nice to see you." He smiles and waves a waitress on towards their table, having his own seat once Lynae has taken hers, quickly collecting his glass of whiskey in his hand, and smiling at her, "So...how have you been?" Lynae keeps ahold of that bottle of whiskey as Keifan assists her into that chair, in the best of gentlemanly manners, "Dealing. Living. Taking it one day at a time," she answers honestly. She studies Keifan for a long moment, clearly weighing her unspoken words, "And you, how have you been?" Walking slowly into the bar is a man in a flightsuit with the CDU patches for the Naval AeroSpace Arm. A starfighter Jock. Know for being fast, not only in a fighter, but also in life. This one seems fairly clean shaven and polite. he holds the door for an elderly man leaving the establishment after a hard day's drink. Even a little smile crosses his face. After this, the pilot moves into the room and toward the bar. "Hey Emma." He says with another smile to the popular barmaid. "Core whiskey and juice please." he stands at the counter looking around with vague interest. Keifan shrugs, "To put it simply? Shit flying through a fan at 11,000 miles an hour....hence, me sitting in here, staring at a table for now." He sighs slightly and takes another long sip from his whiskey glass, pouring the last bit of the only open bottle on the table in, and sliding it aside for his server. "Looks at least like things will be fine soon." "Does 'fine' involve me smashing this over your head?" Lynae inquires mildly, lifting the bottle of whiskey slightly to emphasize her point. "You know, as well as I do, the ramifications of continued exposure to large quantities of alcohol, let alone the nasty little additives you've been enjoying." Her voice is very soft, carrying far enough to reach Keifan's ears, her gaze intense, "Now, if you're attempting to make it easier for me to map this by being able to slice your cranium open and dissect your brain one wafer thin slice at a time to track it's progress, let me know in advance. Because if you're bound and determined to make it worse every step of the way then I'll sit back and just track your symptoms from afar. If not, then I ask you - as your friend - to moderate your drinking, or stop all together." Some things in life you just pass over. You hear things every day that your brain just dismisses and tosses out with the day's cerebral garbage. Then, every once in a while you hear something so shocking, funny, or whatever, that your mind just latches onto it and makes it push to the forefront of conscious thought. Jamon hears a barrage of insults coming from a table behind him. he turns, ever so slowly and looks at he man and woman seated near him. He just looks at her, his mouth gaping. Keifan shrugs, "Funny, Lynae....very funny." He takes another sip of his whiskey, "You won't do that; so it may work with people who don't know you;but I think you've invested way to much time into putting me back together..." He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, "In all honesty, I haven't decided yet....there's a lot of things I have yet to do. At least the newest venture will help out Caspar a great deal." Putting his glass down, he crosses his arms softly, and reclines in his chair slightly, putting 2 of the legs off the floor while he looks between Lynae and the bottle. Lynae arches one eyebrow but does set the bottle down on the table, "Your point has merit," she says simply, "as breaking you into your composite pieces would be more work for me as I'd be bound to reassemble you, so that Kiare doesn't strangle me. Your bride to be has quite the temper," she says with a slow smile. "And I'm not jesting about the alcohol. Stop drinking it, or moderate it, or I'll ask that you be stuffed in a drunk tank until you dry out. Now, what's this about a new venture?" she asks. As she settles back in her chair, legs crossing beneath the table and hands resting on the table top itself, she happens to glance towards the bar and notices the man staring in her direction with such an expression on her face that she's half tempted to glance over her shoulder in the off chance there's someone behind her that the fellow is staring at instead. She arches that eyebrow again, meeting his gaze with hers for a pointed moment before turning her attention back towards Keifan. Keifan sighs, and pounds his last glass of whiskey down his gullet before he opens up the next bottle and pouring one, "Moderation in point...." He takes a sip of it, for the first time most people have seen him react to it before he quickly dumps the contents of a tube into the whiskey, and refreshing his glass with a small fizzle, taking a long sip and seeming to enjoy it more now, "What do you know about Maffi, Lyn?" He takes another long swig and sets the glass down, crossing his arms, "As for Kiare, I know she has a temper; but she's just overprotective. Can't blame her." Jamon catches himself and furrows his brow at the woman. He turns himself back around as Emma brings him his requested beverage. he takes a sip and looks at some of the other patrons. His ears, however, continue to monitor the strange conversationalist behind him. What ever Lynae was going to say falls to the wayside as she watches Keifan augment his whiskey with something from a small tube. If her eyebrows went any higher they'd hit her hairline and keep on going, "What did you just add to your drink?" she asks in a low, carefully controlled and quiet voice. Keifan shakes his head and waves it off, at least for the time being, "You still haven't answered my question." He smiles and takes a sip of his whiskey, "Besides, you'd think a doctor who was beyond annoyed with the mind tricks of the force could appreciate andriss." Softly, he rubs his temples and relaxes slightly, having yet another drink of his whiskey before he leans back again, looking as if he was waiting for a response from her. Jamon turns his head slightly, but does not look at the two. "Something about this bothers him so he pays attention just in case something goes wrong. Lynae leans back in her chair again, arms crossed before her as she stares at Keifan, "Beyond annoyed is a good descriptive phrase," she begins in reply, her tone of voice slight contemplative. "And very astute, I did not answer your question. Why is it important to know what I know, or don't know for that matter, about the individual and the organization?" she counters in the same low voice. Keifan leans into the table, with a half smile on his face looking at the table before he looks at Lynae, "Let's just say they'll have some problems diversifying their assets very soon....and find it even harder to just have day to day business." He winks at her before leaning back in his chair, scooping his drink up in his hand quick and taking a long sip. Jamon's back is still turned to the two, but he listens even more intently as the two contend with each other. A battle of wits. He sips his drink and pretends to watch a vid screen with some sport. Lynae points one finger at Keifan, a gesture she doesn't normally give impulse to but seems compelled to do this time, "Stop it," she says bluntly. "I don't want to know. I am a doctor, a scientist, nothing more. If you want to go on a crusade, don't tell me about it. I'll patch you up when you get back, you and the rest of your merry band of men. But I don't want to know." She takes a deep breath followed by another one, "You know why I don't want to know. You have a wife to be and children on the way. Please give them some consideration before you hare off and do something radical and dangerous. There are other ways to .. there are other ways, Keifan. " If something could stop him from sipping a drink, this was it, "Other ways to.....what, Lynae?" He's obviously changed for the last few days, weeks even, and he shifts his weight in his seat, "Ways to keep me from meeting Malign and have him taunt me, things to redeem myself from my past?" He shakes his head and drinks the remainder of the glass quickly before slamming it on the table, "I've been your friend for how long now? Haven't you ever thought this is a chance where I can simply make a difference?" He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, "Without a uniform I'm useless in legal jobs." Uniform? That's interesting. Imperials? If so they are not hiding the fact. Jamon keeps listening, though his anger is beginning to well within him. "Do you want to die, is that it?" Lynae asks in a voice that's barely a whisper, so tightly controlled is her voice as she speaks. "Do you think that this time or the next that he'll just give you a pass. You stroll in to a meeting, with as many guards as you want on you, and you think he'll smile, shake hands, play nice?" She leans forward, her hands gripping the edge of the table, "Make a difference another way. You're still a pilot. Those skills have no faded. You could fight, you could fly, pick another banner to serve. How can you even risk it?" she demands again, going back to the first topic and draws breath to speak when a soft beeping sound draws her attention. She swears, picking out several words in a handful of languages, a break from civility that is not customary for her, leaning back in the chair and closing her eyes while she takes calming breaths. Keifan gives a half swat with his hand, once of the empty whiskey glasses taking flight off towards Keifan's left, before he picks up the other, dropping it on the table and filling it, "Dammit you are stubborn, aren't you." He finishes the next glass in one tip, but strangely puts the bottle down, "It's NOT about him. Besdies, if I wanted him dead, it could happen sooner than later." He rubs his hand on his forhead, a small tremor shaking it lightly, "This is for me. Malign wont go near it." He closes his eyes with a few deep breaths, and has another sip of a freshly poured spiced whiskey, "We're not Imperial anymore Lynae." He leans back, holding the cup by his lips, "We're homeless." There you go. Imperials. But not anymore. Interesting. Jamon turns and looks at the two again. He does not approach as of yet, but is far less careful of his intentions. "You're wrong," Lynae says, eyes still closed, ignoring the sound of glass shattering, "we have a home. We're just forbidden from ever going there again." Her words are squeezed out in the same bare whisper, "Exiled from seeing the curve of Coruscant from orbit. Or dancing a ship among a vast nebulae of stars, feeling the ship respond to my guidance without hesitation. We have a home, we're just exiled." She scrubs one hand over her face, the tiny display in her wrist gleaming in the light briefly for that moment. "What's in it for you, Keifan?" she asks, opening her eyes and happening to catch the gaze of the same fellow from before. She holds his gaze calmly as she continues to speak, "What do you hope to gain from it. And yes, I'm stubborn. Stubborn about wanting to remain alive, when I could've died fourteen days ago by refusing to swear. I wanted to refuse, I wanted to scream my defiance, my despite, but I didn't, Keifan. I didn't, and now I'm here. We are here." Keifan shakes his head, "Enough with the past; you know what's in it for me? Money. Lots of it, and the better part of it; is that my children grow up with those people in our neighbourhood." He shrugs and wishes she were in the same seat, "I don't want you to join Lynae, don't look at me that critical....I ruined enough of you my life; don't make me relive it." He takes several gulps from his bottle before filling his glass again, "I know you didn't want to." He takes a deep breath and sighs, "Neither did I but it's hard to argue with most of your body shattered." "Mmmmph," Lynae sounds as she rubs at her left wrist with her right hand, "you didn't ruin my life. I made my decision. And as the ranking line officer in the room, I have faced the consequences of that action. You didn't drag me into that room. You didn't hold a blaster to my head and force me to say what I said. I did so of my own free will, of my own accord out of my own conscience." She says that last word with such bitter humor. "I wanted to die, Keifan. I wanted it so bad, because I don't know how to live like this. But death would've been a victory for them, not for me. Death is the end, not a .. not an option. So money is the most important thing, setting your family up so that they can live comfortably, and live here, among these people," she reiterates, abruptly switching conversational tracks without pause. "I agree that here, surrounded by all this, by these people, is possibly the best environment of all. But have you asked Kiare what she wants?" At this Jamon cannot hold his tongue anymore. He turns around and steps toward the table where Lynae and Keifan are seated. "You are right. This place is a safe haven. And we work, live and even die to keep it that way. Make sure that whatever demons you bring with you, stay where they are and do not jeopardize my home." It would be evident that this man is human and not Sarian. Keifan shrugs, "She's to be my wife, Lynae. She wants me safe in a glass case based on everything that used to excite my life. Rather be on display than doing something worthwhile." He leaves his glass on the able, and relaxes, offering a courteous nod to the new arrival; but leaving politics alone right now, he just seems content to lean back in his chair for the time being. Lynae rises slowly from her chair to face this new arrival, her gaze locked on his, "We have gone to lengths you cannot comprehend to avoid that, Sir," she says bluntly. Her voice is low and clearly enunciated, eyes sparkling with anger. "We did everything we COULD to avoid bringing a fight here. We put our lives on the line, our bodies, our minds, our futures, everything to avoid bringing a fight to here, to your people. I gave up everything to .. to.. " she is literally incoherent and the alarm on her wrist sounds a bare moment before she gasps painfully and drops back into her chair, eyes rolling, her head jerking back as a spasm of pain hits her and she collapses. Jamon curses as he dives to try and catch her as she falls. he looks at her companion and says, "Don't just sit there, help me get her to a doctor." Before Jamon's words even reach her, the table is flipped out of the way by Keifan, and he is on the floor by her side, quickly checking her pulse, he doesn't pay his words any mind yet, "She doesn't need a doctor, she is a doctor. A nice simple argument will have her killed. Remind me to thank you for the company later." Silently, he has one hand on her wrist and the other on her neck, comparing the two and timing them. He looks up at Jamon, check my coat, now, there should be a several small vials in there, one iwth a standard medication, just a sedative for allergic reatctions; it'll drop her heart rate enough without any problems....." He leans down on Lynae and runs his hand on her face, "Nice try Lyn; you're not gonna get out of our figth this easy.....just hang on." As each subsequent jolt is more dangerous than the preceding one, this time Lynae is truly out cold. Her face is pale, pulse unsteady and erratic where Keifan is attempting to time it, her lips faintly blue tinged as well. Jamon rushes to the coat and searches for the vials spoken of. He finds it and quickly brings it to the strange man. Keifan smiles and spits the cover off one of the syringes, about to slide it into her arm before he stops and pulls the needle back, checking the dose yet again, and nodding to himself for reassurance." A small prick into her left arm, he lets the dose drop into her vein quickly, thankful he remembers it's the shortest trip to the heart. He eyes the second vial right now; but keeps his fingers on her wrist for now, counting silently....and waiting. Lynae's head rolls to the side, eyelids fluttering again, a gasp of a breath that sounds painful as the medication burns along her vein. Her breath comes one after another, ragged sounds before she cracks one eye open and manages, "Not again," in a weary voice, swallowing painfully before she flexes her left hand, right hand moving to massage along her left arm. She makes a pained sound as she closes her eyes for another moment, "Please tell me I did not just hit the floor in the bar, Antoine," she says in that same soft voice, actually appearing to hope that he'll tell her that she really didn't just collapse in the bar. Keifan runs his hand softly along Lynae's cheek, and shakes his head, "no, wasnt' your fault....guess I shouldn't start stripping on the tabletop." He has a feeling she knows he's lying; but then again, dodging the truth now was his only primary concern. "Just lay here for a few minutes. I gave you 3ccs of valoscopine....you'll be fine doing jumping jacks in no time...." He looks up at the waitress, " I need a few glasses of water here Em, please...." Turning his attention back to Lynae, he smiles and shakes his head, "I have enough problems with twins babe, I dont' need my doctor on the floor too..." He winks and just sits there by her side again, finally the roles reversed. Lynae is on the floor, doing her best 'I'm a rug, I'm a rug, I'm a rug' impression, though from the look on her face she's clearly still in pain, and not composed enough to be concealing the expression. "You start stripping and I'll tell your wife to be," she threatens with a ghost of a smile, eyes still closed, rubbing at her left arm and trying to not be so visibly embarrassed. She breathes again, "Yeah, lying here, sounds lovely. View of the tables excellent from here, remind me to put this in my travel guide," she mutters before she nods again, "The twins will be fine, they're developing nicely. As for the doctor, I promise if I don't make it that long then I'll find someone who is just as good before the babies are born," she says quietly. The pilot still says nothing, not sure what to say. He feels responsible for the, well I guess it could be called an attack, but he's not sure what it was. Keifan sighs, and shakes his head, "Yeah; like you'd complain about me stripping." He laughs slightly, and continues to hold her wrist softly, checking her pulse, "Allright, we can get you up on a chair now, as long as you promise to relax and not rip me a new hole for anything....." He smirks but seems to resolve not taknig advantage of that." Just then Emma arrives with the water, Keifan taking a glass and handing it to Lynae still kneeling by her, "Wow, this is a change, huh?" Lynae actually laughs quietly, her eyes staying open as she starts to sit up carefully, mindful of the pounding headache that will soon ensue, which it does as soon as she's sitting up completely. "Ooh man," she breathes, holding her head with both hands as she clenches her jaw, "Yes, this is a change. Nasty change. Not liking it one bit," she mutters, "I hate this. I hate this I hate this," she whispers to Keifan. "Two weeks of this.. this punishment, and I hate it," she opens her eyes again, spotting the feet of the stranger before her eyes move upwards to stare into his face, her blue eyes intense with emotion. "I get to live, if you call it living, like this as punishment for defying the Empire because I wouldn't let something awful happen to one of your people, to his own betrothed. Isn't that enough?" she demands. Jamon steps forward. "I'm very sorry to have upset you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" --
* Conversations_Act2
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