World Tree MUSH

  Aquilaris is a planet in the Aquilaris System of the Sanbra Sector, located in the Outer Rim territories and thus far away from First Order influence. There's not a lot to attract people to the planet aside from the questionably legal sport of podracing: Very fast, very dangerous. Small, one-man repulsorcraft made to keep the craft at a low altitude are tethered to two massive turbine engines by energy binders. They whiz around a track full of hazards, and racers either manage to win by luck or by sabotage. Betting on the volatile sport is pretty popular. Oh, and no human's ever managed to participate. Alien physiologies are much better suited to it.

  Being mostly an aquatic world, Aquilaris is subject to torrential, monsoon-like rain scourging the planet. Its cities rely on underwater tunnels to get around, the transparisteel stretches made to provide spectacular underwater vistas... but some places are seedy.

  It's in one such small seedy cantina in the underbelly of Aquilaris that any recent trail of "Blackout," known Rebel Alliance operative, leads. The place looks recently disturbed: There are tables and chairs overturned. The feel of the crowd is a bit animated but not hostile.

  In one corner, there's a guy who's clearly been knocked out, being mostly ignored by his fellows, amidst his empty bottles. Must have gotten a bit too rowdy or pulled a knife.

  Over in another corner, there's none other than "Blackout" herself. Her pale blonde hair, frosted with silver, are bright under the cheap lighting. She's hunched in a corner table and crushing what looks like an icepack to the side of her face. Her expression is thunderous.

  Whatever's going on the screens at the other side of the room has most of the crowd captivated. They're mostly ignoring the woman and going about their business, watching an explosive podrace live from not too far away from this very city.

  One of the racers explodes in a brilliant blossom of fire, after being muscled into a rain-slicked rock formation.

  Juno Eclipse pulls the icepack away from her face, looks up at the screen, and heaves a sigh of resignation before shaking her head and pressing the ice back against her jaw.

  The old she-wolf winces. That hurts.

    Li-Ming can handle slashing torrents of rain just fine! Especially considering the infrastructure in place to help protect against it! Static noise has always been a comfort and she's mostly managed to seek it out or produce it herself in the quiet hours of her life. Rain, however violent, is still a welcome comfort even if it lies well into the extreme of what she's used to.

    Stalking the corridors, confident but curious, she immediately reconizes the signs of an area with that seedy underbelly look to it. She thrived in this environment until she found her mentors and invited herself in. Though the atmosphere is familiar and there's a bit of nostalgia she ducks her head and turns to one of the festhalls. Is that the appropriate term here? The wizard sniffs, taking note of the racing event on display within one establishment. So, what the hells? She doesn't -quite- barge in to get a better look!

    Though, quickly, her eyes go to the fallen humanoid. This atmosphere isn't any more hostile than anyplace else so far on this world. Good! A place to unwind just a little. So, without really pausing to so much as acknowledge the group and their battered comrade, she turns to regard the human woman with the cold compress against her face- Oh.

    "My word. I thought for sure the next time I saw you it would be somewhere interesting. It seems, however, that I missed the fun." Probably for the best, if we're being honest.

    "Care for company?" She tips her head at one of the displays. "I've never seen anything quite like it before. Quite the astounding display..." Her voice trails off and she winds a finger about in a circle. Rather than offer mockery out loud, her face says it all.

  "Mmm?" The sound is almost annoyed. Juno looks over, blue eyes flicking sideways to... the familiar figure of Li-Ming. One slim, pale blonde brow arches. "Li-Ming." Her speech is a little mushy, and the way she's holding the ice pack against her jaw suggests she might be short a tooth or two. She pulls the ice pack off and gestures to the empty chair with it, before shifting it and pressing it back against her jaw. "By all means."

  Those blue eyes lift to the monitors, and she watches the proceedings with an impassive face. The screens paint her face in harsh shifting light as cameras show panoramic views of the tracks, or zoom in on a racer in the middle of the action. Another racing career ends in a crimson fireball, leaving behind a small pile of slag and a scorch-mark.

  Juno sighs and takes a swig of the whisky with her free hand, before setting the bottle back down with a clunk. "Podracing. Very fast. Very dangerous. Humans don't participate, of course; even I don't have the reflexes to keep up with all of... that." She flicks her hand at the screens. "I mean raw, sensory input. It's more suited to aliens with abilities beyond the human norm."

  "Makes for good betting, though." The blonde general drops the ice pack onto the table, prodding gingerly at her jaw with a forefinger. The way her finger pokes just below the cheekbone suggests a molar missing from its proper place, and she winces, mouth twisting in a grimace. "Bastard. You little shit," she throws toward the downed drunkard across the bar, "you broke my tooth." His cronies flinch a little.

  She sighs, irritably, before glancing over to Li-Ming. "What brings you to this sodden corner of the galaxy? I saw your display, at the compound. Ghastly, perhaps, but effective."

    At least appears somewhat pleasant. No hostile intent, no malevolent aura or any such thing! Thankfully. She counters the arched eyebrow with one of her own. "I didn't take you for the sort to get caught up brawling. Bravo; your opponent looks by far the worse of the two of you!" She sits, for once not covered with ornate armor bits. Nothing protecting her hide but her slightly ostentatious silk robes.

    "Pod racing. I admit, it seems thrilling but I suppose I'll have to settle for watching others risk everything for glory in this case." She feels a bit of a lure toward the sport, though more than the participants are alien to her. Suppose it's as much competetive drive as it is a sort of call of the void. Anyway. The taps a nail on the table lightly, choosing to shift focus as she indicates the ice pack. "Not cold enough?" She casts an impassive glance over at the cluster of patrons and flashes a smile that's Totally Not Dangerous. "At least it wasn't in front?" She straightens and crosses her legs. "Sorry that I can't do much to help that, regardless."

    She pauses at the question and turns up her hands. Not -quite- a strug. "I don't sleep much, if at all, anymore. So I wander, explore and learn." With that note about what she did to that man before still freshly said, one could suppose she does a bit more than live a scholarly life. "Yes; though where I am from magic can be quite constructive and good, most often it's best used to stay alive. My old teachers would be appalled." She failr to fight down a smirk. She's way too smug about that.

  "I don't," Juno offers, matter-of-factly. "He pulled a knife on someone else. I don't particularly feel like Imperial authorities storming the area, so I stopped him." She pulls the icepack away, prodding gingerly at her jaw and scowling before plopping the shapeless bag back into place. "I suppose he got lucky."

  She only shakes her head at Li-Ming's gesture to the icepack. These things happen, Juno's resigned expression seems to say. "I've got a feeling you'd be singularly excellent at making my life miserable, if I actually crossed you. I'll have to remember not to do that." She arches her brows, blue eyes hooding as she pushes the icepack into a better configuration, closer to her jaw. "I travel a lot out of necessity, so I suppose I understand that." Magic. She snorts and sighs, shaking her head. "I'd chalk it up to nonsense, once upon a time, but I'm sure it's very real. It sounds like the Force."

    "Oh? Those men from our first encounter? Though I suppose I can't say we really met, then. "Mm. Luck always has a troublesome way of inserting itself into life." She swirls a finger against the bartop, brow furrowing briefly.

    Offer declined, she simply nods and then pauses. Those words seem to hit a nerve but she doesn't shy away. "More like I seem to make people miserable by being near them at all." She makes a show of a resigned sigh and a self depreciating expression. "As always, I'm working to do better." By exploring, learning and horribly murdering people for their unabashed wickedness?

    "The Force, yes. You invoked that almost like a prayer, before. It's revered in some sense, then? I suppose if it were some unknowable external force that guides and interconnects things as magic often does, regardless of the source, then perhaps that's how I found myself here!"

    That, at least, seems to lift her humor a little. "Though, shouldn't you seek attention for your, ah, condition? I'm no healer but I doubt spirits will do much good in the long term!"

  "Yes, that sounds about right." Juno takes a swig of the whisky with her free hand. "If it's any consolation, I sincerely doubt you'd influence whether I feel any more or less miserable than I do any other time. You're safe with me."

  She turns a bloodshot eye on Li-Ming when the conversation swings back around to the Force. Ah, yes, that's a concept she still has yet to explain to her taciturn travelling companion, too. "Yes. The Force. It's the... uh. The short version is an energy field that connects all living things. The long version is... I don't know, because I'm not a Jedi. The Jedi can manipulate that energy field. Also, they're much better at invoking the spiritual flim-flam than I am."

  "But it's considered a force of good, in a manner of speaking." Juno tilts her head sideways; cracks her neck, casually. She eyes Li-Ming again as she considers. "Perhaps. There's always something to see in the galaxy... the First Order knows better than to harass travellers from the World Tree, so most people sightseeing are relatively safe."

  The general quirks a brow. "This? I'll be fine." She frowns, probing at the empty hole with a tooth. "I've got painkillers aboard the Rogue Shadow. I can take them later. I've had worse." She frowns a little more deeply. "The missing tooth is going to be an annoyance, though. Foolish, drunken bastard. I may not be a Jedi, but I haven't survived thirty-five years outside the cockpit by being slow." She sighs and adjusts the icepack.

  Grumble, grumble. "In the meantime... I haven't finished my whisky." That is to say, she's not going anywhere, just yet.

  "Incidentally, I may have a job for you, but my Rebel contacts are still working on the details. I won't have all the information for a few weeks." Juno pauses to take another swig, grimacing. "Sound like something interesting to you?"

    The wizard turns her eyes up to the display of speeding jet engine sleds. "Mmm." Regardless of her noncommittal almost-reply, she does take a little solace in not being a bother.

    "I suppose I could have guessed as much. These... Jedi? I don't suppose they're a secretive, strict bunch that have very ridid views on when and why and how this Force is used?" It would seem she's tracking to have a fairly dim view of that. She handwaves in front of herself as if fanning away a rude puff of pipe smoke. No, let's not start assuming the worst of other worlds just yet!

    Ah, see? Generally seen as good. A better prognosis than her world's brand of magic ever gets. "Yes, these sorts often travel about in warships, I've heard." Should make them relatively easy to see coming? "Of course, I don't mean to rush you." She settles back in her seat, taking her eyes from the screen again.

    "Certainly not. What I've seen of you leaves no doubt you're formidable. I confess I was amused in particular by your clever use of that man in the heavy armor as impromptu cover." Then, eyebows up. "A job? Certainly interesting. Shall we talk here?"

  Juno lifts her whisky bottle, staring at it with lidded eyes as she sloshes the remnants in it to gauge what's left. It seems like she's not listening, but she is, apparently. Bloodshot eyes slide back to Li-Ming. "The Jedi are a secretive, strict bunch that have rigid views on when and why and how this Force is used." She spreads her arms, shrugging. "In deference to them, though, they're usually correct, and without them, we would have had the Imperial boot heel over our throats decades ago."

  She raises a brow. The First Order? "Sometimes. They have all manner of ships." Juno snorts, but it's a laugh, not an expression of derision. "Thank you. Mando? Yes, that seems to be a recurring strategy of ours. You can't get much better protection than beskar alloy, but it's as rare as it is expensive."

  "Here is fine, for the moment, provided we don't draw attention to ourselves." Juno's eyes lift to sweep the bar, suddenly a great deal more focused and sober than the impression she might otherwise give. Her gaze falls back onto Li-Ming. "I don't have a lot of details, yet. I'm still waiting on most of the information, but an opportunity to cripple an Imperial First Order installation on the high-gravity world of Nordra might have presented itself."

  "Nordra isn't worth much as a strategic asset, but I suppose they intend to use it as a waypoint. It would behoove us to deny them the opportunity."

    Finding herself also staring at the whisky bottle, Li-Ming doesn't seem to mind the state of her host. "Ugh." Of course, they may be correct but that doesn't make them /right/. She puffs out a little breath of annoyance from her nose but keeps it at that; no sense arguing with someone relatively uninvolved about it!

    "I suppose it's for the best, then. I only bring it up because I realized the seeming contrast between your ships and those of... Not so much this First Order but that group of miscreants that attacked that seemingly precarious little Cloud City. Are they known allies? I confess I didn't think to ask any of them."

    The snort is enough of a shift that she laughs behind her hand, "Yes, it is without a doubt effective! He doesn't seem to mind, either." Her own eyes lid and she leans in. WHAT is she implying?! The mention of beskar and it's rarity tickles at the greedy part of her brain but she'll leave it for now.

    "Of course. I'll do my best not to make a scene!" Going forward, not making a scene. Got it. "Ah, some manner of assault? I fear I'm not the most subtle choice though I've never had the opportunity to learn subtlety. It's always been 'Boldly go or die' before." 

    Her teachers would all collectively slap their own faces if they heard that. Not quite a lie, though they'd spent nearly all their time preaching subtlety to the point of it becoming inaction.

  "Oh, those ships?" That's enough to get Juno's attention to swivel back around. She frowns, thoughtfully, rubbing her jaw as her gaze slides away, off to study the floor somewhere nearby. "No, I didn't recognise any of the devices on those. Those were very definitely not First Order ships. Nor did I recognise their commander. I've an idea of the Imperial chain of command at any given time, and it doesn't include that miserable little troll."

  She glances back at Li-Ming when the other comments on The Mandalorian. It's hard to tell what Juno infers from those comments. Her expression is preternaturally still, blue eyes giving nothing away. At length she tilts her head, mouth twisting, and shakes her head dismissively. "If this works out the way I'm hoping, subtlety won't be a job requirement. When the time is right, I want these installations to disappear. It doesn't matter to me how that happens."

  Juno studies Li-Ming for a long moment. Is this a bad decision? Will she regret unleashing a force of such unrestrained violence on the galaxy, or at the very least, against the First Order?

  ...Naaah, nothing bad is gonna come of this at all.

  The old general considers the whisky bottle in front of her before draining it, setting it back down with a clunk of glass on cheap metal.

  "Right." Juno pulls herself upright, squishing the icepack more firmly into place at her jaw. "If you'll excuse me, I suppose I should probably see to this. Force be with you," she says in parting, lifting her free hand before turning to go. Provided Li-Ming doesn't stop her, anyway.

    "It didn't seem so. Their weapons were more of what I'm used to; not any sort of energy weapons like what I've seen here." There's a pause. "That little troll could re-emerge as a problem at some point. I wasn't able to locate him when I... searched that vessel."

    The less said of that the better, probably.

    As to her playful bait, Li-Ming is only somewhat disappointed that she doesn't even get a slight rise out of Juno. Very well, she'd only meant to tease anyway. "Very good! Just let me know! Ah... I'm sure we'll cross paths again."

    Nothing at all! Provided nothing from her so-called Sanctuary follows her here. Regardless, there's every chance that regret could be a part of the deal! WHOSE regret is another matter entirely.

    "Yes, do take care of yourself. This realm will no doubt have need of your wisdom. As well as your iron fortitude." She flicks the neck of the whisky bottle and then casts a little grin. Another half-jest. "Be well!"

  The old general halts, halfway away from the table she'd left Li-Ming at. Her mouth twists, but there isn't much humour in her eyes when she glances back to the sorceress. "Whatever you're implying, that's not the case." She tosses a handful of credits onto the table and turns.

  She checks both blasters in their holsters, and strides for the door.

  Before she does, though, she leaves Li-Ming with a simple explanation:

  "I'm a professional."

  With that, she lifts a hand in a wave without looking back, pushing the door open and trudging out into the driving rain.