RPlog:Just Play the Game

Near the battlefront of the war between the Imperials and the New Republic lies the desolate planet Tholatin. A lifeless shell of a planet with no atmosphere that orbits its local star. However, deep inside of the rock lies Esau's Ridge, a fully functioning smuggler's settlement filled with every manner of alien. With no military importance, many had come to the large subterranean colony to escape the war, and for Raxis it was no different occasion.

Stepping into the dimly lit cantina named "Bog's", Raxis is dressed in the very manner becoming of the clientele. With a rogueish grin, he pads over to an unoccupied Sabacc table and sits, ordering a glass of Cassandran Coholl. The dark violet liquid drink is set at his side and a house deck of cards is ordered and placed in a protective box, waiting for the game to begin. With the flash of a lighter, Raxis starts on a cigarette and watches the room.

Raxis is not the only one to come into the cantina with the intention of having a drink and relaxing. Liza soon slips into the cantina herself, dressed casually in civilian attire, not quite blending in but she isn't about to stand out as being the military sort, either. The bar itself is approached where a drink is ordered and once she has her Corellian ale in hand she turns to look around. If she notices anyone she recognizes it doesn't show as this is her first time here.

Raxis is not the only one to come into the cantina with the intention of having a drink and relaxing. Liza soon slips into the cantina herself, dressed casually in civilian attire, not quite blending in but she isn't about to stand out as being the military sort, either. The bar itself is approached where a drink is ordered and once she has her Corellian ale in hand she turns to look around. Being new here, she doesn't see anyone she knows..

Looking up from his table, Raxis lifts an eyebrow as he spies none other than Liza Molokai floating around the bar. Huffing to himself as a takes a sip from his glass, he checks to make sure that his blaster's still hanging from his leg in a gunslinger's holster and watches her from his table as she scans the room.

Liza frowns a bit as she looks around the room one last time before taking her glass and moving about the room, shifting about the crowed room, weaving around chairs and patrons alike while she drifts from place to place. If Raxis takes the time to notice, it'd appear that the pilot's unarmed, apparently not bothering to think about carrying a weapon. It's made painfully aware to her that it wasn't a good idea when she bumps into a tall Chiss male who makes a grab for the startled Sarian. "Sorry.." she mutters but the Chiss looks as if he might rough her up some for her 'offense'.

Rising from his table, Raxis can't believe he's about to do bail out an Imperial, but his mother did raise him a gentleman. With a scowl he stands up and calls out to Liza. "Liza. Over here." Raxis waves to her, glancing at the Chiss for a moment with a stiff nod and a daring look, suggesting that this isn't a good idea for him to be getting into. "Saved you a seat, come on over." He adds, resting his hand on his blaster belt.

The sound of her name being spoken startles Liza and she finds herself staring at Raxis for a moment but then she manages a smile and a quick nod is given to him even as she smiles to the Chiss. "Excuse me. My date's here." The Chiss notices the other man's blaster and lets Liza go, grumbling under his breath while he moves elsewhere. Once he is out of earshot, she looks at Raxis again, frowning as she steps closer to the table. "You didn't have to do that. I am a big girl and can take care of m.." She pauses and then sighs. "Thanks."

"No problem...have a seat." Raxis motions taking his seat again. "Word for future reference. If you venture outside of your regular sectors, especially this place, it's probably best to pack a blaster." He adds with a knowing smile, sitting to sip his drink. "Sabacc?"

Liza sits down while she eyes the deck suspiciously, her nose wrinkling a bit as she does so. "never played.." she then confesses. "My father was not a gambling man so it was not part of my academic studies." Her eyes drift back up to Raxis' face and she then realizes something. "Did you ever give me your name?"

Taking the deck of cards into his hand, Raxis splits and shuffles them in silence for a long time. Dealing to her for a two player hand, Raxis sits back down and watches her closely. "Raxis L'ygr." He simply says, lifting an eyebrow at her.

Liza nods as she takes in his name as well as the way he shuffles the cards, trying to learn how it's done as she assumes she may have to do the very same thing, eventually. "Why the look?" She lifts her eyes again, watching Raxis' facial expressions. "You're looking at me funny." Saying that, along with the realization that he is indeed giving her 'a look', Liza begins to wriggle slightly, almost as if she were suddenly uncomfortable.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Raxis mutters to himself. "Guys are never going to believe this..." He muses, looking back up to her again. "No...no need to be alarmed. Actually I'm on leave. We know eachother, actually. I'm on leave and it appears you are too and I've got the blaster so I'm pretty sure we can manage a civil conversation. I'm Ghost Three."

Liza's face goes red and for a moment her body tenses but she eventually relaxes again, the Imperial pilot not about to cause a scene. "So you were at the awards ceremony, huh?" Pursing her lips, she thinks about that before shaking her head. "You're a fool. A fool, an idiot.." Chuckling, she reaches for her glass with one hand, the glass raised to be sipped from as she watches the human from over her glass' rim.

Raising his glass to her to chime them against eachother. "Damned right I am, and now we're having a drink and playing cards. Cheers." He replies, and will clink his glass against hers if willing. "I tend to roll on the side of luck. I've been shot down, jettisoned, clawed, raked, pounced on by a Nexu...it seems only customary that I don't miss up an opportunity to drink with someone who's tried to kill me often." Raxis chuckles, looking at his cards as he flips her a rules card. "Beats the hell out of monotony."

The card that is handed over is looked at and she finds herself gawking a bit while she tries to make sense out of it all. "Sithspit.." Liza utters out, 'cussing' without even realizing it. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, it isn't anything too terribly personal." She shrugs a single shoulder and tilts her head towards the same side as she does so in a bit of a casual dismissal. "Well, I guess it is, in a way. You are the one who chose to fight for the New Republic, after all."

"I suppose I could give you a load about how you're the one's the choice for me, but we both know I don't completely believe that." Raxis replies, looking over his cards. Looking up slyly to her, he rests back in his seat and sips his drink. "You know...your wingman? I was just trying to disable him like I was trying to disable you. For what it's worth, I'm sorry his reactor breached." He adds, looking back to his cards. "So what brings you out here anyway?"

Liza blushes a bit. "Let's just say that I am on a bit of an imposed leave." Biting the tip of her tongue, she taps the card in her hand before tossing it in front of her, her eyes eventually closing as she does so. "The wingman did what he did for the Empire. I don't know if you understand that...level of loyalty to the higher ups you fight for. But..." Sighing, she shakes her head and taps the table again, this time with a finger. "Are we going to play or what?"

"Sure...we can play, doubt I'll get many chances to play for fun with an..." He pauses, remembering he's in a cantina that would probably dislike the words. "...a pilot such as yourself." He smiles, betting 10 credits into the pit. "But yeah...I understand it alot. You guys are fighting for an ideal. Absolute service for the glory of your government. You keep the bad guys from pouncing on your planets and waking little children from their sleep. Who knows...there might even be a Mr. Molokai back home you're fighting for. Are we that different?" He looks up, picking up the deal to deal. "I call ten."

Liza pulls out a few cred chits from a pocket and tosses one onto the table, matching Raxis' bet. "That enough?" She catches how he stops himself from saying something but she doesn't press it, not up to causing a debate over morals. "The only Mr. Molokai in my life is my father. I'm single." That gets her to blush a bit although it's fairly impossible to guess why admitting she doesn't have a husband or boyfriend would get her to do so. "It isn't an idea.." she eventually comments. "It's about fighting for your beliefs. It's about standing up for what you feel is right. Maybe that is a form of idealism, I don't know.." She shrugs and grins. "Sounds like you've been pretty torn into, emotionally." She is talking about the 'conversation' they had over the comms during their last battle against each other. "What got to you?"

Rolling a small dice, he nods at the roll of four and holds his cards out for her to choose one, and in turn points to one of her two cards. "One of your own, but I won't say who." Raxis replies taking his card from her and dealing each of them out one more. "You see...I'm fighting for my beliefs too. There's too much propaganda in this war, so right now I'm fighting for the guys in the squad and maybe a few things back home. For now that's enough for me. Sooner or later though it dawns on you that be you justified or not, the other side's always going to call you a bastard, and you're always going to be sending some kid's poor dad home in a box." He adds, looking over his cards to bet another ten credits. "The trick for people like you and I, Liza, is really figuring out which of our beliefs are lies and which are truths...I call ten more."

Liza places another chit on the table as Raxis calls it and then picks the first of his two cards before offering him hers to choose from afterward. "Death's kind of one of those absolute factors in war. It's one of those damn things you take in stride. You swallow your conscious and just do what you need to do. Pick what are your own truths, not what people tell you they should be." That gets her to smile. "You're going to wind up with nightmares and stuff if you think too much about it, though. So why are you dwelling?"

Rolling the dice again, he notices another shift and prepares to take a card to her, offering one of his three as well. "Because I'm fighting this war for the kids on your side too." Raxis replies, taking another sip of his drink. "I swallow my conscience alot, but putting it away lately's about as simple as dueling with Krieg. I don't mind the fact that people die. I've lost squadmates and wingmen. I'm a Lieutenant. I do what I do and I know the losses." He looks across the table to her, a wry grin forming at the side of his mouth. "What I don't accept is the war itself. War is a feral concept filled with a bunch of people that try to act gentlemanly in their nice clothes as they fight over turf. I don't find anything fascinating about war. There's people worth fighting for on both sides I'm sure. Maybe you'll meet a man or woman and fight for him too, right Liza?"

Liza chuckles softly as she takes another card, playfully snatching it from him as she shakes her head. "Maybe I have. I don't know. It's hard to say. I really don't think about much outside of flying and making my family proud." She gives her card a curious glance before she rolls her eyes, nothing making sense to her. "War happens because people can't see eye to eye. They can't agree." Of course, people also war to protect themselves from oppression and such, but that's a given and something left unspoken about. "War and death's not pretty. Never has been. But I think I'd rather die in battle than of old age."

"I'll drink to that." Raxis replies, dealing them their second draw of cards. Stopping to look his cards over, he picks his cigarette up from the ashtray, flicks it, and then drags off of it. "Live fast, die hard, leave few pieces and have alot of tears at the ceremony right?" Raxis chuckles, exhaling a small stream of smoke out to the side. "I don't have a family to make proud. Actually it was easier when I didn't give a damn. Now I've seen and met your kind and I'm getting pretty sick of our sides killing eachother and the sooner your people and mine just draw a line and call it a truce the better. Maybe then I'll luck out and find myself a karking woman that'll take me." Raxis muses with a roll of his eyes. "But...I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Ten more." Raxis finishes, flipping another chit into the center of the table.

Liza snorts and looks up, a crease at her brow, now. "You people..oh. You mean us Imperials.." She calms down after taking a moment, the pilot chiding herself for taking offense where there probably wasn't any meant. "You let your shields drop. And I don't mean the ones on your fighter." She points to Raxis' chest, indicating his heart by doing so. "Doesn't that make you feel sloppy? It is hindering your job, after all." The bet's matched as she waits, letting her words sink in.

Lifting an eyebrow at the no shift roll, Raxis looks over his cards and then sets them face down, dealing them each one more. "Shot you down, didn't it?" Raxis replies with a boyish grin on his face as he picks his new card up, looking it over. "I'm saying you people because there are people here that don't like either side of the war. I can acknowledge you for what you are, silly girl." He adds with a playful chuckle. "So maybe I fly with a little bit of my heart in it. I love flying. Really...it doesn't make me feel sloppy. If I were a kid on our side hoping he stays safe from you evil bad guys, you damned well bet that I'd hope that my protectors cared about me too. I can accept losing soldiers. It's just the women and children that don't wear rank I worry more about."

"Ten more..." Raxis chuckles, tossing another chit into the center. "I hope you get paid well, blondie."

Liza nods a bit as she ponders that, Liza looks down at her cards, giving herself a moment to recompose herself as she does so. Another ten is placed in the pot although the way she does it might give the impression that she's not enjoying something. Perhaps she's already bored with sabacc, or perhaps it's the conversation. Either way, Liza's displeased. "I doubt you would've felt bad if I had died." She reaches down and touches her side as she remember her injuries, the wounds healed via bacta; but where she lacks the wounds or scars physically it's fairly easy to assume there are some mental ones lingering. "To be honest, I don't care one way or another. As long as I am doing my job, then so be it."

"Actually...I watched your ship on radar till I jumped and about hit my console when your wingman went out." Raxis replies, watching her over his cards as he rolls a "1" on the die. "I'm glad to see you're alive. Otherwise how else would I be having this charming game of Sabacc with you, defying all rational odds that this would happen to begin with." He adds, giving her a faint smile. Dealing out their last cards he looks them over with a blank face, keeping a good "Sabacc face". "But since you don't want to grow old and die grey, maybe you should stop playing sloppy like I fly and enjoy the game while you've got it." He adds, flipping ten more into the pot. "Enjoy yourself while you have yourself."

Her last bet is placed as she chuckles, Liza amused by something. "I do enjoy flying. Now, this game is another story. How do you know if you win?" Liza eyes her cards and then sets them on the table, face down. "I don't understand why I have such horrible luck when I fly. But maybe things will change?" Raxis is looked at, now, her eyes narrowing a bit before she says, "It is nice to meet you..even if I will have to kill you the next we meet while in our ships."

"I ain't taking it personally Liza. But I'll keep shooting at your wings and I will make it hard for you to kill me." Raxis replies, leaning back to lift his glass and take a long pull of the drink. "We'll see who's luck gets better first allright? We just roll the dice and hope for the best. If it makes you feel any better though, if you kill me, know that I take every opportunity that I can get to have a good time, and don't have any regrets." He smiles, motioning for her to flip her cards over. "Let's see who wins this hand and just see what luck has." He flips over his cards, displaying a value of "ten" in cards.

Liza nods as she regards Raxis quietly, her own hand turned over, now. She's not sure how things are counted so she lets Raxis do the counting for her. "Nothing personal's meant, truly." She sighs a bit before leaning back in her chair, her eyes slipping to a small timepiece that sits strapped to her left wrist. "I need to get back pretty soon. I am sorry."

"Short leave? How long you got?" Raxis replies, looking over her hand. "You know...the smart reasonable man in me tells me to say you lost and take the money, but that'd be a lie." Raxis lied, motioning for her to collect her winnings. "Enjoy the forty credits, Liza. Looks like your luck's already starting to improve."

The creds are taken but she places half of them back on the table, giving Raxis back his money. "Thanks for the lesson. Think I'll stick with flying. At least that won't cause me to go broke." She looks towards the door and then shakes her head, her smile returning although there is something a bit off about it. "I just..need to go. Don't ask, alright?" An extra ten credits is tossed onto the others as she shrugs, the Sarian looking indecisive. "Buy yourself a drink on me."

"Sure you don't want an escort?" Raxis replies, nodding in the direction of the Chiss. "I'd give you my sidearm but you'd probably shoot me."

Liza ponders a few seconds and then nods. "Sure. Come on. You can walk me back to the spaceport." She blushes but she is unarmed and unfamiliar with her surroundings so best let Raxis walk with ier.

Standing, Raxis collects his money, finishes his drink, and without another word, leads her out the door and into the corridors that lead to the starport. "You take a private charter or shall I be casually making myself scarce when I get nearby?" Raxis looks to her, walking beside her.

Liza grins. "Yeah..you'll want to make yourself scarce." She looks up at the sky once the cantina is exited and the trip to the spaceport is made in relative silence on her part until they get there. She stops just outside of the terminal and she regards Raxis quietly before offering him a hand. "See you around, maybe..?"

Stopping with a chuckle, Raxis nods to her and looks at the starport hangar's door with a laugh. "Yeah...you'll be seeing me around. I think I can guarantee that one way or another right?" He smiles, seemingly not bothered by the fact that she's going to try to kill him later on. "Have a safe trip home, Liza."