You Say Girls Night, I Say Therapy.

[Molly Black]

Apparently she was not ready for the night to be over. Molly had considered it, for all of two minutes. Just strip. Get in bed, try not to think of anything. No restaurants. No crime bosses. No Imperials. Absolutely no Chiss. Yeah, that was as likely to happen as her being a long lost princess. Pffft.

Since she was unable to shut off her brain, she called the one person she knew would also be wide awake, and ready to do something. Ringing this personal comm always made her feel like hot shit, Molly loved having a celebrity bestie, even if it did tend toward attracting attention when she was supposed to be doing anything but.

"Hey Ali!", Molly didn't waste anytime once she had her friend at 'Hello?' "I'm bored, a little drunk and wiggly. We should meet somewhere and dance it off. Say yes."

[Alienor Vankar]

Dressed in basic panties and an oversize red shirt, Alienor didn't look anything like the glamorous celebrity many knew her as. Her blonde mane was all over the place and she was on the last half of the bottle of wine she had started... At some point. She loved her life, but the lonely nights sucked. She groaned as she couldn't find the right notes for her new composition, a dark grandiose piece. She was at her piano, because she most often composed on this instrument, while the violin was her feel good safety blanket. And the harp was that posh shit she was good at but only ever really used when some snotty payer thought they were better than everyone else. Oh well, a girl gotta pay the bills, and she liked the spotlight more than she might admit it too, almost as much as being a pirate and kicking people's ass literally.

Her base on Cloud City was nice, but it lacked trees and gardens. She'd have to go hunt for a new residence somewhere that offered that, and even a lake. She laughed to herself as she poured herself another glass. Yeah right, girl, spend that money! She had no problem earning cash in so many ways, she didn't risk debt any time soon, if ever. Despite her attitude and her expensive tastes for certain things, she hadn't grown up showered with credits, so she knew the value of money and hard work. It also made her a bloody player when she could, or was in the mood to.

Scribbling more notes for her new composition, she still felt out of sorts, but she didn't really have anything else to do at the moment. At least, she thought so until the best ring in the galaxy caught her attention. She lunged to grab the ringing comlink, and answered, a faint smile in her voice, because that was what Molly always inspired her.

"Isn't there that new club in quarter blue 78? I can be there in fifteen minutes."

[Molly Black]

On the other end of the communication, Molly just blinked and shook her head slowly. She was already failing at avoiding her blacklisted subjects for the night. "Blue 78, huh? Figures. Right, I'll meet you there, love. Fifteen."

Molly left her rented apartment without retouching her makeup, or fixing her hair. She'd started the day alright, how bad could it possibly be? Wearing one of her several little black dresses, this one with a keyhole neckline, and black heels with red soles, she clicked along at high speeds making her way to her friend's suggested location, by way of the lovely Cloud City public transportation system. She might look like a million credits, but she definitely did not have it. Not just yet.

Along the way, she sent another message to a different friend, a slightly newer one than Alienor. Now that she no longer looked like the stomach contents of a sea creature, Dendra was welcome to join them if she was still up and about. Her blue hair would add an eye catching pop to their little circle. Her...blue..hair.

Smiling instead of gritting her teeth, Molly spotted the new club. She hadn't been before, but that was not a bad thing. No one would be looking for her there.

Before she entered, Molly looked over her shoulder. She had a strange sensation that she was being followed, but she didn't see anyone being obvious about it. Shrugging, she sauntered in to find Alienor.

[Alienor Vankar]

Alienor didn't necessarily care about what people thought of her, but she nevertheless decided to take a very quick shower before heading off to meet up with Molly. The short blonde put a little halter-neck blue dress on, with high black heel boots, and put her long locks into a high ponytail. That would have to do and it would be practical to dance the night off. She had proven over the years that even drunk, she could strut on stilettos like a pro. She smirked at her reflection in the mirror before rushing out, grabbing a local taxi transportation.

She hoped that Blue 78 would be alright. Based on Molly's tone, she wasn't certain that it was what her friend would have picked, but since they had agreed on it, they would see. It wasn't as if there was a shortage of clubs in Cloud City. And hopefully, she wouldn't have to deal with paparazzi. Those were the worst, though given the number of them she had knocked to the ground with her black belt in the past few years, they tended to leave her alone. There were enough celebrities who just hissed at intruders, instead of tossing them around like rag dolls.

Upon arriving, she easily got inside, and decided to wait for Molly near the entrance. The music was loud, but the lights weren't too crazy. It wasn't a bad start.

[Molly Black]

Spotting Alienor, Molly waved her fingers excitedly from across the crowded room, before reaching her and entangling her friend in a hug. "Hey, girl.. Nice dress.", Molly laughed, giving up. She was not getting a break here tonight.

"No one noticed you yet huh? Good." They could maybe get some talking in before anyone realized this blonde was that blonde, the one enchanting the galaxy with her music. And her piracy skills, those were damned lovely as well, and Molly did have a ship that needed stealing still.

"So I know the plan was to dance off the drinks we've already had, but as we've already had them, there's no harm done in having just one more. Wouldn't you agree, love?"

[Alienor Vankar]

Alienor hugged Molly back. Her friend was one of the few anchors in her weird life and she was so glad she had decided to relocate on a regular basis on Cloud City, in between all her traveling. She could hang out with Molly and get wasted and have girl nights. It might sound trivial to some, but it meant a lot to the young blonde. "Hey gorgeous, you're the stunning one. Black always look so frelling good on you." She winked to her friend.

She shook her head. "Nah, we good."

She pondered - for a very short moment - the brunette's remark about their plans. Grinning, she slid her arm under Molly's and nudged them towards the bar. "I finished my wine at home, I could use something a little stronger. What about you, hon?"

[Molly Black]

This was why they were so good together. Molly was happily dragged off to the bar. "Oh, hell yes! Diva's choice of course! You pick this time."

Sliding into a seat and crossing her legs, Molly patted the empty seat beside her, winking at Alienor as a guy, kind of cute actually, was walking up. Yes, she meant to give him that impression, and was pleased when he changed his mind - and his direction. Not tonight buddy, I'm full up of troubles, hotter ones than you.

Molly had no idea what Ali would order them, but she hoped it was enough to bring a nice fuzzy feeling that would stay with her until she did manage to get home.

[Alienor Vankar]

As much as Alienor liked her cousin Baska, and the goddesses knew what they had been up to together since they were kids, Molly was like family to her. She could talk about everything to her, without ever to think like she had to compete in being tough. With swift grace, she took the seat next to her friend's, having caught sight of the guy trying to come to them. She wrapped an arm around Molly and briefly nuzzled the brunette's hair, whispering into her ear. "Just for good measure, so we should be fine for a while." She giggled and then turned her attention to the choice of drinks.

She hummed a tune, loosely based on her latest composition. "Plage coquine: Naboo peach, Ithorian vanilla, with Reserve Rum, with a touch of Winter orange and some champagne." She grinned and let go of Molly's shoulders, flagging a waiter. "Two Plage coquine, with extra rum." She winked and the waiter scampered off.

"That sounds good." She chuckled, trying to relax though she was still a little antsy. "I'm so glad I relocated here when I'm between trips. It's better to hang out than just talk via comlink."

[Molly Black]

Grinning and nuzzling into her friend's petting, they laughed over the poor disappointed fellow as they continued talking. It was an old ruse, but a good one. Molly didn't care what Ali ordered, as long as it did what it was supposed to.

"I'm sure it'll be fantastic, love. I'm glad you're here now too. We can get into more trouble this way."

Their drinks arrived, and Molly raised hers to her friend. "To trouble?"

"I'm glad you're here now too. Speaking of which, I found someone to get me the credits I need to reopen the Cloud 9. You still want to lower yourself for a Port Town grand opening event? It's not exactly your typical venue."

[Alienor Vankar]

Alienor laughed wholeheartedly to Molly's antics, appreciating the respite from an otherwise depressing evening. She clinked her glass to her friend's. "To trouble!" She enjoyed the trouble. Sure, she liked breaks from it, and sometimes she didn't like the kind of trouble she got herself into, but overall it kept things spicy and life entertaining. She inhaled the rich scent of the cocktail, grinning to herself, before taking a long appreciative sip from it. Then all ladylike pretense dropped and she downed a good third of the gigantic glass. "Dang, I need bottles of that rum in my booze cabinet!"

She looked at Molly in shock when her friend said she found an investor to reopen the Cloud 9. "Oh my heavens and fucking hells, Molly!!! That's fantastic!" She semi-pounced her friend and hugged her tightly. She knew how much this meant to the brunette and it made her so happy that it was happening!

"Oh shush you! I'll be rocking that grand opening of yours!! I wouldn't miss that for anything! Any preference on the music style? I might have a brand new composition depending on when it happens." She waggled her eyebrows at Molly, knowing that premiering a new piece would draw even more people to that opening.

[Molly Black]

"It is fantastic, and it was the weirdest thing. Random happenstance turned in gold. You know how I don't trust the shit that's too good to be true? No sense in it right? Always a trap. I... think he's the real thing!" Molly was still a little afraid to believe in it, but pleasantly optimistic. If he screwed her over, she had people to darken his handsome jaw.

"Guy called Tonyh Vankar. Ever heard of him?", Molly asked, swirling the fruit around in her drink, pondering her meeting with the businessman.

Biting the cherry off the end of the lightsaber embellishment stuck in her drink, Molly considered what kind of opening they should have, and just shrugged. "Go nuts, Ali. No matter what you do it'll be epic, but if you want my opinion, something to get them up out of their seats. If they dance they sweat. If they sweat they need more drinks, and I earn credits.."

And then I can pay Tonyh back.. Someday..

[Alienor Vankar]

When Molly dropped the name of her investor, Alienor's face went blank. She didn't hear what her friend said next about the opening. That was a name she hadn't heard in a while, one she had never forgotten. One she had kept to herself, which was a rarity in her friendship with Molly. Her brain went into way too many directions at once, pulled between, past, present, and what-ifs. She downed the rest of her drink, flagged the waiter for another one, with double rum and triple champagne.

She was staring in whatever space was in front of her. She didn't know what to say, how much to say. She managed to say a truth, at least something she hoped was still one. "The Cloud will be fine with him funding your project."

How in all hells had Tonyh Vankar become Molly's investor? It was insane beyond measure. Alienor didn't know whether karma wanted to bite her ass, but she dismissed that shortly, because it wasn't about her, but about Molly being able to make her dream a reality. It was what mattered.

[Molly Black]

Molly watched her friend with a critical eye. She knew that look. She was a little afraid she was wearing a similar hue.. "Uhuh...Did you even hear me, Ali? I just said I think a polka would be swell, and you just nodded in agreement.", she laughed.

Sliding the blonde's arriving drink in front of her, Molly finished her own and ordered another of the same.. Just one more.. "So.. spill those beans. What's on your mind, love?"

Forget about the performance, she cared more about her friend than a silly show. Well.. a badass, potentially historic credit taking event, that would put the Cloud 9 Bar & Grill back on the Cloud City map, and herself back in business. Still...

"Don't leave out the juicy bits."

[Alienor Vankar]

Molly knew her well enough to guess that something was terribly off. Those had been troubled times for Alienor, and her friend knew about the biggest part of them, but not about the Tonyh part, for this one had been kept close to her heart and memory, more than she would ever admit. Or maybe she would just admit now. No, she couldn't. It would just be sentimental bullshit. She just needed more drinks.

"There's not really much juicy stuff to talk about...." Her voice trailed off sadly.

"Do you remember Jel?" Heavens knew Ali had had a few assholes in her life, but this one was one of the two who took the crown. Molly had been ready to have him buried. Hell for all Alienor knew, maybe the brunette had. She didn't care.

"Tonyh did warn me about him, before things got too far. I guess I threw myself at Jel even worse because I hated that a guy told me what to do. And maybe I was worried that Tonyh wasn't an asshole and that things might work."

She was still gulping her drink in between, feeling so bloody embarrassed. "Last time I saw Tonyh was during the Gelara heist. You know the one that paid for our epic vacation on Ithor? It wasn't supposed to be a heist, but things turned to shit for Tonyh and I. It was a joint project."

She set the empty glass before her, staring at it, not wanting to meet Molly's gaze. She still remembered the last minutes before they walked away from each other as if it was yesterday.

"For all I know, he always keeps his word. You found yourself a good investor, Molly."

[Molly Black]

Molly was not exactly reassured. She was tickled to hear that she'd found a good investor, of course. But at what cost? Yes, she remembered Jel. She also recalled Alienor and the Gelara Heist, and how her friend had come back quietly reserved at first - uncharacteristic, and then had poured herself into her work, turning our some emotional pieces of music immediately after. Molly sensed there was chapters more to the story that she wasn't hearing, but did not pry. Not in this case.

"Well.. he's a financial blessing and pretty easy on the eyes, but if he has to end up at the bottom of a lift shaft, I know a guy.."

[Alienor Vankar]

Alienor was grateful that Molly didn't pry further. Frankly, she didn't know what to say about Tonyh anyway. It was weird that she caught herself into old stuff and what-if, even for the briefest moment. She had better interests in life, like her career, and her friends anyway. It was probably just feeling horribly lonely and having had too much to drink. No big deal, a Tankreyd always bounced back, with more or less bloodshed and tears.

"He screws you over, I'm the one ending him." Alienor replied without missing a beat.

"I didn't mean to pour over old sob stories." She said with an apologetic smile. "It's about you, not me. And you fucking deserve to bring the Cloud 9 to life!"

[Molly Black]

Molly laughed at her friend, tapping her cocktail glass against the blonde's. "Cheers to that, babe." Ali would too. Tonyh would be Dearly Departed Tonyh, so it was better if she got the credits first..

"It's so not about me." Molly shook her head. "In fact, the more we can keep Molly Black out of it the better. I had them put the Cloud 9 in the name of Temperance Minock, just for now. She's kind of boring, but she has benefits.", Molly grinned, swallowing the last of her drink in a single greedy gulp. "Lucky bitch just returned from a honeymoon to the Unknown Regions with a rather hot Chiss husband. Sadly, I seemed to have missed all the best parts of that though."

"So tell me you are going to rock the show, it'll be about our big night and that's that." Molly waved the bartender over for what was turning into a third 'last drink'.

[Alienor Vankar]

Fuck, she loved Molly. She was so glad that she had decided to make Cloud City her home base in between travels. It was so great to hang out and do projects together - legal or illegal - with the brunette again. She took a long sip from her drink and gave a puzzled look at her friend. While she understood that Molly didn't want her name associated with it and keeping a low profile, it was still Molly's baby in her view. And she was happy to support her in this amazing project.

She almost spilled her bloody drink at what Molly said about her new alias. It wasn't so much another alias - because she just knew it was another one with the life they both had - but the latter part that shocked her. "Rather hot. Check. Chiss. Sure, hun. Husband?! What?!!" She stared in shock at Molly. She wanted details, right now. She tapped her fingers on the side of her glass for dramatic effect, and waggled her eyebrows.

She grinned at Molly's words about rocking the show. "Oh, darling, they're going to love it. They're going to dance so hardcore they'll need to drink all the things to stay hydrated. And they'll beg for encores. I have ideas."

[Molly Black]

Molly laughed loudly at her friend's ill concealed quest for 'juicy bits'. There was a criminal lack of them in this case, and Molly was something of an authority on both criminal behavior and juicy tidbits, so she ought to know.

"I believe you, and I can't wait to hear them. I'm having the sound system upgraded along with the rest of it. Thank the maker, and Tonyh if you don't kill him."

Picking up her next drink, molly stirred the fruit around ponderously. "As for my Chiss problem.. He is a damn problem!", she complained. "I'm not sure if I should drag him to bed or just have someone shoot him. The later being the smart choice, but no one accuses me of being smart, Ali. Clever yes, smart.. debatable. Also, I think I'm sinking here, he's just not into me. I'm sure I'd know by now. So what I'm left with is.... what, I ask?" She set her drink down with a thud.

[Alienor Vankar]

Alienor went for another drink yet again, almost on point when Molly mentioned Tonyh again. She didn't think she had such unfinished business with him, but now it was hitting her full blast. To stop the mess in her head, she decided to cling to her friend's words about the Chiss. She agreed that Chiss could be hot, but she had never got them. She was good at understanding a lot of different people and species but Chiss were individuals she didn't seem to connect with, unless she played music and she knew of at least one who was a fervent admirer of her artistry.

"Okay if you don't whether to bang or shoot him, you're in hot waters, hun. Yeah, yeah, you didn't need me to tell you that, but geez...." It had been a while since she had seen any guy do such a number on her friend.

"Whatever you do, avoid the kiss-like-the-world ends in a place that's literally on fire. Epic memories but doesn't necessarily get you where you want." Was she speaking from experience? Dun, dun, dun. Sure, bitch, she was.

Shrugging, she kept drinking, holding her finger up, because she wasn't done. "Did you try to either just point blank kiss him, or talk to him? It's always hard to tell if Chiss love or hate conversation.... I think the push him against a wall and kiss him may sound like your better approach. He'll have to react, right?"

Alienor gave a sheepish smile, and felt like a silly teenager all of the sudden. "Okay, you might not want to listen to my advice for your love life."

[Molly Black]

"I think the only place that I'll be seeing for a while is the inside of the Cloud 9, and I have no intentions of burning it down for the sake of a kiss. Rest assured, he's hot but.. not that hot." Molly muttered.

Molly listened to what her best friend had to say about it. Then she thought about it. Just shove Vilen's blue hotness up against a wall and kiss him, the hell with it? Molly's drink was thrown back quite quickly, and her cheeks were feeling pretty warm. That was an awful idea. She loved it.. If he was here right now she might even have done it, but by tomorrow she'd be less drunk and talk herself out of it.

"Oh, he'd react all right. I'm just not sure how..."

[Alienor Vankar]

"No burning down your baby," Ali confirmed, with a definitive nod. She gave a look at Molly when her friend tied to say the Chiss was hot, but not "that hot." Yeah, right, hun, as if I was to buy that... Alienor didn't comment on it though because she was good at telling herself stories too. Hell she was just too good at it sometimes.

She chuckled at what Molly said next about the Chiss and that he would react. "Well, that's why you'd kiss him in the first place. But as I said, my advice can be shitty. I mean, the day my love life is good, then yes, take my advice. Until then, your own advice can't be worse."

Alienor wrapped her arm around Molly's shoulders. "Just let me know if I need to shoot him. I'd totes do that for you."

[Molly Black]

"I know you would."

Crazy piece of work, I love you..

"Are we dancing or what?" The alcohol had reached optimal buzzing level in Molly's brain and if she wasn't going to work it off how she would have preferred, she might as well dance with Ali. Molly eyed the dance floor like the infested pit it was. Whatever, they were there to dance for themselves, and no one else.

[Alienor Vankar]

Cloud City was one hell of a good choice. Best company ever. Ali had been there on and off over the years but she loved the people she had got to consider as family. They were her people.

She laughed when Molly dragged to the dance floor. "Hell yes!!" She sashayed her way, and couldn't help being a fancy and rather boozed up good as she snaked an arm around Molly's waist as they made their way, flashing bright smiles to anyone who may eye them. The bitches were going to own the dance floor! And they were off limit to anyone who may just go cry themselves to sleep because they weren't good enough for them!

Letting go of Molly as they started dancing, she felt happy again, the liquor and the strong bass doing their magic.