Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Myitt]

She flinches at his touch, but doesn't snap, doesn't move away, and doesn't go ape-****.

"I guess we can agree to help one another," says Myitt hollowly, staring down at her drink. Much of her earlier, vibrating anger seems to have dissipated. "I've...been having a bad few days." She gives her drink a watery smile.

She hears Nepek, but doesn't respond. Silently, somewhere unconscious, she thanks him, too.

[guitarhero01234]

With his almost child-like demeanor returning, Guppy smiles at Myitt. "That's the spirit!" he chirps. "And man, I don't doubt for a second that it's been rough for you. I don't think that's something most people can just bounce back from, right? But you got me curious, how did he . . . er, pass, if you don't mind me asking? 'Course, if you don't wanna talk about it, we can change the subject."

[Shenmue654]

Joanne nods slowly, swallowing the lump in her throat. Whatever the relationship between Dalik and his host was, it didn't remotely sound good. "Y...Yeah, okay," says Joanne. She casts a brief, worried glance between the two of them before walking down the ship's ramp and into the night. The way back to the Galaxy's Edge seems longer and colder to her than before, even though the weather never changes here.

<<Most long term host-Yeerk relationships are like that, Joanne.>>

Joanne blinks twice and nods slowly. <<Yeah, Kess, I know, I know, but...It's just wrong. That woman doesn't even know who she is anymore!>>

<<And if I had not decided that I didn't want to be a monster, that day...you wouldn't know who you were either. You have reason to be grateful.>>

It was perhaps a reason that had not occurred to her until now. Joanne swings open the double doors to the Bar and walks in, getting a look around. Myitt was alone, this time. Myitt had tried to murder her. It had all happened in a flash--- The gleam of the knive, the pain, and then she was on the floor. Joanne unsteadily walked half of the way toward Myitt, hand falling naturally to where her Dracon was. It would be so easy to give the woman a shot to the face in kind...but so pointless.

<<I want answers.>>

Joanne stopped in front of Myitt, still standing, cleared her throat and said, "...why'd you do it? Why'd you attack us?"
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Jeffrey sighed. Touchy woman! I only encouraged her to do what she was going to do anyway and the whole freaking Bar just flips out! What, she'll threaten it but can't take the follow-through? It's such bull****. Jeffrey takes a sip of his drink and slams it down.

He glances sideways at Nepek as he speaks, and then says, "Okay fine. Sounds fair. I'll try and see if I can relax for the moment."

[Myitt]

"He was shot," says Myitt flatly. "An Imperial dapsen **** shot his legs half off. My...my other half, Illim. He's still alive. But Daniel..." She trails off, too exhausted for tears, and ends up just shaking her head.

She looks up at Joanne and Keshin as soon as they address her. Myitt, for her part, raises her glass.

"I'm glad you're not dead," she offers, with no further explanation. "And I'm sorry I tried to slice your throat open."

[Terenia]

The hatch closes behind Joanne as she leaves, closing Dalik and Cameron -- and William -- in. It hulks, silent, the ship powered down.


In the bar, Terenia and Fayleth have found themselves a booth in the corner, where they can watch Myitt without inserting themselves into the conversation.

<<She's being an idiot,>> Terenia mutters, not for the first time.

<<She's grieving.>>

<<Grieving isn't an excuse to nearly murder someone. Not here and not even her.>>

<<Oh please,>> Fayleth chastises, eyes following Joanne as she re-enters the bar. <<You were ready to do it yourself, the moment you saw the turelek.>>

<<That's different,>> Terenia broods, bringing her drink to her lips and sliding further into the shadows of her chosen booth.

[Shenmue654]

"Sorry?" Joanne indignantly blurts out. She puts both her hands on her hips and glares down at Myitt, as if her intense stare alone would make Myitt less drunk. "That's all you've got to say? ****in sorry?!" Joanne makes a roll of her eyes and a *tch!* sound. She then poses as if pulling a nun's habit over her head, a mocking apologetic expression on her face. "Oh gosh Joanne, I'm ****in' sorry your ass was bleedin' all over the ****in' ground. I just feel so bad that I nearly killed ya, c'mere let's go get a drink an' a shaved ****in' ice together!"

Joanne throws up her hands in frustration, and then sits down next to Myitt. She crosses her legs and puts one elbow on the table. "You really get my goat, you know that? You don't even have the slightest justification for this loada bull? Nothin'?"

<<We did kill her friend.>>

<<We killed him by accident, I'm telling you!>>

[Myitt]

"No," says Myitt simply. She shrugs. "Not really." Although she does spare Jeffrey the slightest of glances.

<<That's it?>> Tara yelps. <<She's gonna ****in' kill us right back!>>

Pausing halfway between lifting her glass, she adds, "I guess I just wanted you dead."

[Shenmue654]

Joanne slams her fist down on the table. She winces and shakes, and then turns back to glower angrily at Myitt. Her voice is level but ice cold. "That's it? Just wanted to kill me, huh? After all we've been through, after all the **** we keep seein' together, that's your answer? You just ****in' murder me right here?! What the hell Myitt?!" Her voice raises from the cold into fiery anger, but the bonfire seems to die as soon as it's sparked.

Joanne takes a deep breath. "I get that yer bloke just died. I get that you ain't sane right now. I get that you're two steps away from the crazy farm. If Kess died, do you know how ****ed up I'd be? I'd be so ****ed up they'd be cleanin' entrails off the Blade ships. But like, that's me--- And this is you. I can' even tell which of us is in the right right now, and that itself ain't right. Get it?"

[Myitt]

Myitt startles a little as Joanne's blow makes the counter shake.

She winces as Joanne berates her, practically yelling in her ear.

Myitt just looks right back at her.

"It wasn't right, what I did," she says simply. "But we aren't friends, you and me. The two of you...and the two of us." She shakes her head, looking away again. "I wasn't myself. You have..." She punctuates this with a drink, wincing again. "...Every right to be furious."

She sighs, looking down at her empty glass tumbler. "I guess I'm just glad I can tell you all this." Her attention isn't on the glass itself, but on her fingers. She'd used Jeffrey to attack Joanne and Keshin, but it was so easy to see the blood on her own hands.

"Do whatever you want," she croaks at last, setting the wooden stopper in the bottle of liquor and giving it a good tap.

[Shenmue654]

Joanne looks at Myitt with an aggrieved, pained expression. A part of her really did want to respond in kind. To shoot Myitt right here. But that part of her was vengeful. And maybe even a little stupid. She furrows her brow and then breathes out in a sharp sigh. She sits down nearby, on the stool on the unoccupied side.

She holds up a finger. "You know what I want, BT. Make it fast."

The BT nods and the drink simply appears right next to her with no fanfare. Joanne rolls her eyes and takes a long sip. She gulps it down and stares at Myitt sourly.

"...I dunno that I ever had any friends other than Kess who meant me well," says Joanne. "The fights? The weird trips to Hell an' back or whatever? Guess I can' help but think of those as...things we did together. Even if as soon as I get the money, you guys'd all be dead in a hot minute. That guy, the Andalite...He offered to take my sickness away. Make me a combined morph. If...If I did it, I'd ask for one o' the people to be you. We look kinda similar, yeah?"

Joanne smiles sadly. "That's why it hurts so bad. Nobody paid you to do that." Joanne shakes her head. "I'm an idgit."

[Myitt]

Myitt, who had been expecting anything from a numb shot that would end it all to another explosive outburst, stares back at Joanne with her mouth agape.

<<Well,>> Tara muses. <<Didn't expect that.>>

"So you'd kill us," says Myitt slowly, "and then look like half of us?" She struggles with that a moment. "Because you...think of me as a friend. A friend you'd destroy. I don't know whether to be flattered or frightened."

[Shenmue654]

<<Joanne, what are you even saying?>> Keshin thinks this with the Yeerk equivalent of an exasperated sigh. <<They literally tried to kill us. Just now! They are not in any way, shape or form our friends!>>

<<I know, but....>> There was a hesitance, and a sadness, inside Joanne. <...look I'm really screwed up right now, okay? What just happened...This isn't like a normal bout. She tried to murder me for no goddamn reason, and we've known each other for years!>>

<<We've known a couple Vissers for years, Joanne.>>

Joanne sighs."Kess doesn' think it makes sense. And, okay, it doesn'." Joanne takes another sip of her drink. "S' still how I feel. Then again..." Joanne grins. "...you never did believe me when I said you bein' dead was nothin' personal. Always said you didn' know how a turelek thinks. But if you ain' got the same screwed up bits I got....then why are you glad I'm still alive?"

Joanne shrugs with one hand. "Wouldn' the world be  better with one less turelek?"

[Terenia]

From her shadowy corner, Terenia's eyes remain on Joanne, watching as she speaks to Myitt. She doesn't intervene, though one hand falls to rest firmly on the butt of her Dracon. Her other hand remains looped around her drink, feeling it slowly warm beneath her skin.

<<You asked me here to make things easier for you,>> Fayleth murmurs. <<Why are you staying here? Clearly Myitt -- this Myitt has no common sense. And it isn't even the Myitt we came for. The timelines are off. Can't you sense it?>>

<<It's close enough,>> Terenia protests. <<She said Daniel just died. So we're off by...what? A few weeks? A few months? It hasn't been that long.>> An ever-present ache in her chest flares slightly at the thought of her friend. It fades slowly, leaving behind a low simmer of rage.

<<Destroying the turelek won't help. They didn't kill Daniel,>> Fayleth reasons.

<<I know that, and I'm not here for revenge. I'm here to drag Myitt's sorry ass home,>> Terenia seethes. <<But we seem to have stumbled across the wrong Myitt, so I'll settle for making sure she doesn't get herself killed.>> Her gaze drifts from Myitt's dark curls to the back of Joanne's head. <<And maybe a different sort of revenge.>>

Fayleth heaves an internal sigh of exasperation. <<Alright, we're done here. This place is clearly no good for you.>> She seizes control with an abruptness that makes Terenia yelp, though the sound is strictly internal. Sliding free from the shadows, Fayleth stands, brushing off her rebel uniform.

Approaching Myitt's booth, she pauses a few feet away. "Myitt, I'm leaving," she says, taking care to mimic Terenia's surly tones exactly. "You've clearly lost your mind, and I don't have time to wait for you to regain your senses." She spares Keshin and Joanne a quick glance, then looks back to Myitt. "Don't do anything stupid. Anything else stupid."

She turns to stalk away.

[Myitt]

Myitt shakes her head. "No," she tells Joanne. "It wouldn't be a better place with one less turelek. And it wouldn't be better, for me, if I'd killed you."

She shudders. "Now don't make me regret it. Are you feeling okay? Well enough to have another drink with me? Jesus. I almost killed you." Myitt marvels at this last, staring hollowly at - and through - the bottle on the bar counter.

"Bartender, get her a glass." She turns to Terenia, abruptly, sizing her up. Then Fayleth has turned her back. "Hey, what the hell, you're leaving? I thought you were looking for me? Dammit, don't rush me out, okay? I'm just enjoying a drink here with my friend, yes we've tried to kill one another, don't ****in' judge, alright Terenia?"

[Terenia]

"Don't judge?" Fayleth echoes, turning back. She has no difficulty at all capturing Terenia's incredulous tone. "Seriously? Look, I want the turelek dead as much as you do, but Jesus Christ, Myitt."

<<So why don't you kill her?>> Terenia murmurs darkly.

<<You know I don't actually want her dead,>> Fayleth snaps. <<I'm just saying what you would.>>

<<I wouldn't say anything. I'd take my Dracon and end her miserable life.>>

<<And that,>> Fayleth says flatly, <<is exactly why I'm in control.>>

Still impersonating Terenia, she shakes her head. "I'm outta here. Enjoy your time with your new friend."

She turns away again, stalking towards the door.