A shark and a Clone walk into a bar [D4|EA]

[Tenzing]

Drezzie's was a kind of home away from home for Tens. It wasn't that he started drinking early, although plenty of his buddies used to, it was the vibe. A good place to relax. Meet a CI. Get the down low.

Also the air con worked great so it offered relief from the heat. With his trusty datapad in hand Tenzing started reviewing datafiles and news clippings. There was something about that Ketsu broad. Something odd. Maybe there was more to find.

In amongst investigating he'd also thought to ask the big shark guy to come for a chat. Phroth had been quiet when he'd stayed on the couch, and Tenzing didn't want to press the guy seeing as he'd just arrived from offworld. Maybe now he'd settled in they could talk. Quietly nursing a beer he became engrossed in old reports about the Salky Raiders.

[Phroth Lissken]

Even after chow while working, the Shark had a habit of still seeking out more to eat. Or more to drink. Finding his way to Drezzie's, he saw the now familiar form of Tenzing. The initial concern over another clone long since faded, but there was always that initial instinct.

The karkarodon maneuvered to take a seat next to him, especially because of the invite. Hunched over the bar, he ordered one of whatever Tenzing had happened.

Breaking the silence first, he looked to the man. "I've not properly said thanks, for the couch. I mean." Clearing his throat

[Tenzing]

Tenzing solemnly raised his beer and gave a little salute before breaking out a smile. "Hey, you're welcome. Glad I could help. Turning up in a strange new place ain't always easy. Done my own fair share of couch surfing too." Admittedly it had been a while since he'd needed to.

"How are you finding the place? Bellionas, Capitol City?" Drezzie got a friendly nod when Phroth's beer arrived. "Bit hot and dry for a Karkarodon, huh?"

[Phroth Lissken]

"A bit. There's some wetlands by the farms that make up for it ." Phroth laughed, taking the beer in hand, and a long drink. "Though there's other concerns as we're getting things ready, as well." He shrugged, setting the beer down again.

"Not every place can be Mon Cala or Karkaris. A hot and dry can be better than absolute freezing. When I was a kid... had to go to an iceball of a planet. Couldn't get enough coats on me."

[Tenzing]

Tenzing grinned. "Only ice I like is packed around a brew." He'd managed to avoid any ice world postings during his service. "I've gotten used to the heat, it ain't so bad once you adjust."

Taking another sip he closed down the datapad for the moment. "Feel free to ask if you need any local knowledge. I can probably help you out. We're all glad of the offworld assist."

His eyes casually scanned the bar. Familiar faces. Nothing too shifty.

[Phroth Lissken]

"Actually, there's something I'm curious about. There's a swamp." He idly kept a hand wrapped around the glass of beer, barely lifting it. "It doesn't feel... it's not right. Feels like... some things from the war." He looked ahead, contemplating, before looking back to Tenzing.

"What do you know about it?"

[Tenzing]

Tenzing gave him a funny look and raised his beer for a long swig. Why did it have to be the swamp? "And there I was thinking 'at least he won't be interested in slogging through a swamp'."

There was a small chuckle. "Well I ain't had much cause to be in that area myself. But let's see if I can remember my local history." He rubbed his temples in the world-weary manner of a seasoned law officer.

[Tenzing]

After a moment he continued. "Yeah, not many that head out there. 'Specially not those I've had cause to deal with. I did once chase a perp way out that way, but he gave himself up rather than try to brave the bugs and whatever else is in there."

Tenzing returned to his beer. "Sorry I can't be more help. Could probably help you find someone crazy enough to explore the place, but it's not somewhere I ever needed to know about." He gave an apologetic shrug.

[Phroth Lissken]

The Karkarodon nodded. "No, nothing to be sorry about. That just tracks with every thing I've heard about it, which makes my own thoughts on it more concerning." His hand rubbed at his chin, before he shook his head.

"You are right. It sounds like the only people who'd willingly go in there are beings who have a death wish or poor impulse control issues." Phroth sighed, another swig from his beer.

"I take it crime has been an issue, for a long time then?" He looked back to Tenzing, changing the subject.

[Tenzing]

With a chuckle Tenzing raised the bottle again. "Sounds like you need to ask some of those crazy swoop racers then. They sure fit the bill."

The beer was getting low already, how had that happened? He pondered Phroth's question. "Yeah. I mean, any time you make a law, there's gonna be someone who breaks it. Bellionas ain't any worse than other places I visited. Sure, there's the usual gangs and shall we say 'Criminal Enterprise', but there was a lot of live and let live. Law enforcement was an honourable profession. Of course then the Empire came in hard and, well, here we are."

[Phroth Lissken]

"S'why there's a difference between law and justice. Nothing about the Empire is just." There was that low rumbling sound as he spoke. "Easy to see how an old republic was so willing to become this new, ugly thing." His maw curled, anger there.

"And not enough wanting to clean up the sins of the past, right now."

[Tenzing]

"Yep. Can't argue with that." He sighed and finished the beer. "You want another?" A small signal to Drezzie was received with a nod.

The shark's anger was noted. "Try having this face and feeling that way. It was years before folks around here learned to judge me by my actions." He paused and gave a wry smile. "Can't blame 'em though."

[Phroth Lissken]

"Yeah, I could go for another." He nodded, looking at the empty bottles. He looked to Tenzing's face, especially after that comment. "I'll admit, I still have an instinct of panic when I meet one of your brothers that I don't know. It's... hard. When you've seen what that face has done."

Then a sad smile. "But like you said, judging by actions rather than the stories. And by new beginnings. We're all just trying to stabd up for what's right and just."

[Tenzing]

Tenzing ordered them a couple more brews. "I'll drink to that pal." He raised the bottle to clink it against Phroth's.

"New beginnings." He sipped and looked back. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for whatever happened to you. Something changed during the war. Some of my brothers went one way, some of us went another. I still don't understand it."

Forcing a smile he looked away and around the bar at the other friendly faces. "Took a long time before I could walk in here."

[Phroth Lissken]

"I was told it was like a switch was flipped. When it all went down. And that... not every one felt that switch, or something else happened. But it was just as bad for you all. And more of how the Republic, we... how everyone lost their way."

He followed Tenzing's gaze, watching the others gathered about. "You've earned their trust. That's what matters. They know you've got their back."

[Tenzing]

"Yep. Like the lights went out." He shook his head at the memories before they could come spilling out. The beer helped. Nodding he pointed to a few of the folks around the bar.

"I fought for it. Bit by bit, day by day." There was a short laugh. "Took a few years to get from the only good Clone's a dead one. But here we are."

His eyes returned to the rather fearsome Karkarodon. "So what's your story pal?"

[Phroth Lissken]

"It's a long one. Been a bounty hunter for the past several yesrs. Before that..." he looked around, then his mouth formed a hsrd line. "I was a child soldier, put in charge of brothers. Barely a teenager, and we were betrayed. I got separated, my mentor killed. Spent a small stint in a Quarren slave pit, got freed by Mon Calamari royal guards." Phroth focused on Tenzing.

"That's the recap, really. Here isn't really the place to go deep on it, though. For reasons."

[Tenzing]

"Child soldier? Oof. Yeah, I hear ya." He reached over and clinked his bottle with the shark's. "Nothing quite like being bred for war. Sounds like you had it rough my friend." Tens took a big swig of the beer.

"You're friends with those Mandos, right? Any good stories there?"

[Phroth Lissken]

"That's the thing, I wasn't supposed to be bred for war. Keeper of the peace in some respects, but I would have likely had my work cut out for me exploring wild space, or deep in the unknown regions. But, that's not how things went. In some respects, your brothers and me and mine? We're all the same victims." He matched the clink of the glass, then exhaled sharply, drinking deep.

Onto happier topics, the Karkarodon's smile broadened into something actually jovial.

"Actually, yeah! Raven, she and I took down a giant sand crab on Kamda. Thanks to the know how of the librarian, Jyr, actually. It was cunning, about swallowed us whole in the sand, but... you should have seen it. It could cause severe issues for outlying settlements. I'll never forget her." Nor could he, not with the calcified item found within the carapace that was the soul of his weapon, the bond to the shark man himself.

"Plus there's everything else that went down on Kamda. Nice to take it to the bucketheads there."

[Tenzing]

Nodding at the Karkarodon's story they shared a moment of reflection before leaving the past where it lay. He smiled at the story.

"You fought a giant sand crab? And beat it with a librarian?! Heh, there's got to be a joke in there somewhere." A wary glance was thrown Phroth's way. "Is that why you're so interested in the swamp? Monster hunting? Never mind." With a grin he changed the subject. "So you made friends with a Mando and then," he lowered his voice, "stuck it to the Empire?"