sneaks in as..

[Tianje Xhu]

..a male, obviously a jedi pushes open the door and walks in ahead of her. staying hidden behind his flowing robes for a brief moment, she slips into the nearest empty chair and tries to make herself as small as possible. people her age werent usually welcomed in bars.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il was handing over her guns to the guard at the door when the Jedi man passed by her, his robes brushing against the back of her legs as he went by. Slipping off her shoulder holster, she turned to watch the Jedi's back with narrowed metallic eyes.

They don't have to check their weapons, but the rest of us do? Typical arrogant sons of -

Her eyes took on a curious look as she watched the small form that had followed the man in.

What the....

s'Il had to smile as the young girl took a seat at the nearest empty table, and dropping her shoulder holster unceremoniously in the guard's hands, she ambled her way over to where the girl had sat.

Hooking a booted foot around a chair leg, s'Il pulled it out and flopped down across from the girl, her metallic eyes smiling. She watched the younger child's face for a few silent minutes, then finally gave a grin.

"You thirsty there, kid?"

s'Il flagged down a server droid and leaned back in her chair. "I'll take a bottle of sake, and she'll have......"

Gesturing to the girl, s'Il bade her to speak up.

[Tianje Xhu]

her instinct was to shrink back even further in the chair 'cept that she was already tucked in as tight as she possibly could be. dark eyes study silently the metallic ones across ones across the table, sizing the older female up. her meager force abilities could sense a good heart in this one, unlike so many of the others she had the misfortune to run up against. if this one was making the offer of something to drink then just maybe food wouldnt be too far following. taking yet another chance she speaks up, her voice soft and low.

"milk?"

she'd have preferred whiskey since that was what most of the ppl she tagged along after drank. it didnt take her long to discover that liquor numbed 'bout everything and being in a perpetual haze wasnt so bad, was it?

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The droid merely nodded and trundled off to place their orders, and s'Il turned back to the girl. Still giving a curoius smile, she leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table.

"You got a name there?"

[Tianje Xhu]

"which one you want? a glass of milk will get you my first or last name, your choice. something to eat..now, that will get ya both."

the corners of her mouth quirk up in hopeful response to the others' smile.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il laughed out loud.

Brutal honesty; reminds me of, well....me.

Brushing an unruly strand of hair back behind her ear, s'Il grinned. "Well if it's food you want, then by all means order whatever you feel like eating. I need something to eat too, so I might as well get you something; no need to eat alone."

The droid returned with their drinks, setting s'Il's bottle of sake in front of her accompanied by a small cup, and the glass of milk was put in front of the girl.

As the droid turned to leave, s'Il rapped his metal casing with a knuckle. "Oi, hold on there mate; bring me some sushi......"

Once more s'Il looked to the girl.

[Tianje Xhu]

she blinked, once, twice, then looked at the droid.

"somethin with real meat in it. anything, i dont care what."

hard lessons learned had taught her you dont get anything for nothin. she might as well go on and find out what this woman wants in return for the food.

"i cant pay ya back in credits but im a hard worker. how many days will this cost me?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il tilted her head; she hadn't really expected anything in return; she was just curious as to what brought the girl to the Bar and Grill.

"Well," she started slowly, pouring herself a glass of the clear rice wine, "I wasn't really expecting anything in payment to be truthful. I was coming here to unwind after some business, and normally I do that alone. Naturally when I see someone sneak in behind a Jedi, I want to know what their story is."

s'Il took a sip of the sake, letting it travel down her throat. "So here's lesson #1: Never refuse a free meal."

The wheels in s'Il's head were turning though; this girl originally intended to pay for the meal in labor, and the metal-eyed woman mulled over this, staring at the girl over her sake cup.

"Though, if you do feel the need to pay me back, I've got a few things I might need help with in the future. Let's just say that in my line of work, even though I'm not all too big myself, there's places I can't even fit into."

[Tianje Xhu]

she nods once, sharply at the woman's words.

"done. no job too big or small when i owe a debt. i got nothin to do after i eat so i can do it then, if'n thats what you want."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il grinned, leaning back. With a hand on the table resting around her sake cup and the other propped up on the chairback, she stared into the dark pools that were the girl's eyes.

She asked her first question.

"Tell me, what do you know of art."

[Tianje Xhu]

her gaze had turned to the droid who was now approaching them, two plates of food and a tall glass of milk on the tray he was carrying. the low grumble in her empty belly was a hard reminder that it had been several days since she had eaten anything near a decent meal and the droid couldnt get to thier table fast enough to suit her. still though, she waited as patiently as she could and turned her hungry focus back on s'il.

"art? ya mean like...statues 'n stuff?" she snickers. "theres this one i seen of a nekkid guy. ya'd think as big as the statue was, his....."

the droid settles her plate down in front of her and the rest of her unfinished sentence is forgotten as her hands dart forward, grabbing the sandwich-like entree up and biting a large chunk out of it.

"i'fve sheen pitures on the shides ov walls thfat pipple haf painedd."

with both cheeks stuffed full, like a pudgy ewok, she relates her full knowledge of "art".

"is thfat wat you mean?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Leaning forward as the plate of sushi was set in front of her, s'Il nodded her thanks to the droid and picked up the provided chopsticks, using them to deftly pluck a piece of smoked maki and popping into her mouth. She relished the wasabi as it fired through her senses.

"Well," she started, laughing as she swallowed, "I'm not too concerned with statues; too cumbersome. I'm talking about painted canvas, drawings, and any other manner of art done with a brush, pencil, pen, etc."

She washed another roll down with a sip of sake. "It doesn't really matter how much you know right now; I can teach you all you want if that's something you're interested in learning more about."

s'Il tapped the edge of her plate with a chopstick, then put forth her next question; this time much more quietly than the first, and only required a yes or no answer.

"Have you ever stolen anything before."

[Tianje Xhu]

swallowing the first bite, she washes it down with a gulp of milk and sets the glass back onto the table, using her sleeve to swipe across her mouth.

"plenty of times but only when ive had to. somethin to eat or somethin to wear..that kinda stuff."

she looks thoughtful as she traces her memory back over the past months.

"i did lift this dagger off'n some drunk guy one time. figur'd i'd need it 'for he did."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Simple robberies then; understandable. The bare essentials one needs to survive. I admire that; in a perverse sort of way."

She gestured with her chopsticks to the occupants of the bar; many of whom were indeed Jedi.

"The Jedi would most likely tell you that doing that would be wrong. That's all well and good, for they have their own code of conduct they follow. But they don't seem to understand the things some people have to do to survive....." She paused, taking a sip of her drink, "or to enjoy certain things in life.

"While I'm not of the former, I'm most certainly a part of that latter category. Simple planning and execution of certain endeavors early in my life has given me the chance to indeffinately pursue my interests from now until the day I die."

s'Il sat back, thinking about her next words. It was strange how she'd come to the unspoken decision so quickly; to offer this girl an intrinsic lifestyle to say the least. Even she herself didn't know exactly what was prompting her to do so.

Setting the chopsticks down, she stared the girl straight in the eyes. "I'm going to offer you that same chance I had; to give yourself the means to enjoy the rest of your life doing something that may or may not interest you; it's all up to you."

[Tianje Xhu]

taking another bite, she chews slowly, wondering if she understood exactly what the lady was saying to her. yeah, so she'd taken a few things that hadnt belonged to her but she had needed them for her own day to day survival. and she knew it was wrong, her mother had taught her this when she was very young. right or wrong now didnt matter to her, not after the hard, ragged band of raiders had roared in with thier swoops and taken anything theyd wanted including her mother. thier home had been torched and her father's corpse nailed to a remaining rafter, as a sign to all. only she had escaped and that was because she had sneaked off in the middle of the day to take a dip in the creek. the vision of what she returned to was as vivid now as it had been on that day. gods, she still could smell the acrid smoke hangin on the air and her father...no! no, she wouldnt do this again! what had been was gone, forever. her throat constricts as she tries to swallow her food and she reaches for her glass to wash down both the food and the lump in her throat. shifting her eyes to s'ilancy, she speaks in low tones.

"youre wantin me to throw in with you and steal from the ones who got nice stuff and give it to the ones who dont got nice stuff. like you 'n me."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth, and she lowered them slowly.

"Not.... exactly....."

How do you word "I'm an art thief, diamond thief, and all 'round high-end liberator of rare goods"?

"Well, it's more along the lines of taking certain things from rich people who aren't smart enough to defend their possessions well enough in order to...."

Another pause. For her it was always hard to explain the desire to simulate the things she saw when she died through painting and the visual medium in general; it had been hard to explain to Grand Admiral Millard as it was.

"....in order to learn more about what makes us yearn for something lost."

[Tianje Xhu]

"youre not makin a lick o' sense, ya know. ya do steal stuff, right?and ya keep it, right? or do ya sell it and jus' keep the money? either way youre stealin, no matter what ya do with the goods."

it was all cut and dried in her mind. she had stolen for practical reasons but the thought to steal and get rich from it hadnt entered her mind until this lady across from her had said it. and it sounded good to her. a big payoff for a little bit 'o work? she was young, strong and fleet of foot. put her in an open market and no one could catch her!

"itd be lots easier if we could jus work out a two way system. go to some o' the races or to the big markets and you point out the pockets you want me to pick and i can have the loot in my hand lickety-split! aint no one or nothin can keep up with me in a crowd!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Making sure to keep her voice low, s'Il leaned forward, her eyes suddenly intense as she began to further explain her 'occupation'.

"Pick-pocketing is nothing. I steal artwork; diamonds; anything with a price upwards of 50 thousand creds.

"True most of the art I steal I keep; but the diamonds I sell; as well as a few of my other endeavors that don't need to be brought up right now. It's a rewarding profession to say the least."

Leaning back, s'Il expelled a long breath. "If you want, I'm willing to teach you everything I know; how to get by security systems, how to be invisible; literally, and everything else that I know."

[Tianje Xhu]

her eyes lower to her plate as she resumes eating. all of what s'ilancy was telling her, she found intriguing to say the least. but priorities first. she was still hungry enough to eat the hind quarter off'n a hutt and the food in front of her had been getting cold. swallowing both the last bite and the last drink of her milk, she sets her glass down gently then swipes her mouth with her sleeve again, smacking her lips in satisfaction. pushing the plate and glass toward the center of the table, she lifts her gaze to the woman once more.

"when were you figurin' for us to get started?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Finishing the last of her sushi, s'Il drained her sake and handed a credcard to the passing server.

"We can leave now. My ship is berthed at the starport, so it isn't a far walk."

The droid returned with her card, the transaction complete, and s'Il stood.

"Are you ready?"

[Tianje Xhu]

rising from her seat, she slides the chair back with a nod and follows s'ilancy from the bar.