The sketchiest bar in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday night

[vdistinctive]

Bangkok was a large, gorgeous, modern city, one of the most popular tourism spots in the world. It was clean and bright and vibrant, but it was still a city, and that meant it had an underbelly, and the portal Eliot had booked dropped him and Kanan off right in the middle of it, in front of a hole in the wall bar well off the beaten track catering to tourists.

"Spencer!" the bouncer called the moment they walked up to the door, then followed up with something in Thai that had Eliot grinning.

"Benny, my man!" Eliot and the bouncer exchanged a handshake/fistbump combo that had clearly been practiced a few times. "You still kissing your girlfriend with that mouth?"

"She's my wife now, and she loves it," the bouncer said, following Eliot's lead with the English and giving Kanan an obvious once-over. "Man, I knew you liked 'em younger than you, but come on."

Eliot snorted. "Don't even start, bubba. This here's my friend Kanan. Kanan, this is Benz. He'll help keep the authorities off our backs if we get into too much trouble."

Benz laughed. "Depends on what kind, man. Peach'll kill me if I come home with any more scars."

[for him's what's in the narrative. NFB and likely slow]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan shrugged his shoulders easily.

"Am I?"

Jedi mysteriousness was never meant to be used for evil like this.

[vdistinctive]

"You're kind of an ass. You know that, right?"

[uncertain_dume]

"I spent years perfecting the art, you know."

He really had, was the thing.

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, that's pretty sad, man, I wouldn't let that get around."

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm trusting you with the secret," Kanan replied easily. He took another swig from his beer. "Believe it or not, being an ass has kept me out of trouble."

Well. Out of the sort of trouble he really couldn't afford to get into.

[vdistinctive]

"And how much trouble did it get you into?"

[uncertain_dume]

"More bar fights than execution sentences," Kanan offered.

Look, that was a big deal for him.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot actually totally got that.

"Speakin' of bar fights. More booze, or should we start pushing buttons?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Both." Kanan didn't even have to think about that answer, no. "Both is good."

If he drank enough booze, the other people in the bar might almost have a fighting chance, after all.

[vdistinctive]

Kanan and Eliot together? No one in this bar stood a chance unless they got blackout drunk.

"Jira, two more," Eliot ordered. He shot a glance at the drunks, and added a long string of Thai that had the bartender cracking up as she got the drinks. Eliot handed Kanan his with a smirk. "Basically I just insulted about seven generations of the men in those guys' families."

There was a lot of grumbling from the drunks. And no small amount of confusion about the American randomly showing up and insulting people.

[uncertain_dume]

"That far back, huh?" Kanan grinned. "Makes me sorry I don't speak the language. I can understand Huttese, some Shyriiwook, Ryl and Ithorese, you'd think at least one of those would share a common thread with some Earth language."

But no. Though native Ryl speakers did speak Basic with a surprisingly French accent. And Wookiees mostly just managed to sound like distressed bears.

"I don't even have enough mouths to attempt Ithorese, either."