Astoria Bazaar
Walking out of the marketplace, Kullum smiled to himself. The freighter had made him a respectable amount of cash, enough in fact , to pay his way onboard, at least for the time being. He'd flogged it to some Correllian spacer called
Reese who had shown an interest. Yet another drifter who'd found his way onboard, (Kullum had liked him instantly).
Kullum congratulated himself, for not only had he sold the shabby freighter for a price far more than it was worth, but he'd also managed to lift the man's wallet after.
Sucker.
Now, thanks to this Reece, he'd had enough to book himself a room, and found himself with a little leftover , what he liked to refer to as ‘play dough’
As he sparked up a smoke, Kullum looked around for any suitable entertainment that would suit a modern and discerning adult such as he.
Grabbing the attention of a passerby, a Twi’lek, Kullum smiled amiably,”hi er, just wondering where a guy can get a drink around here”
The alien smiled a toothy grin, and replied “Hades Hive, 111th floor, the bar district, but watch your step, I hear it can get rough”
“sounds like my kinda place” Kullum retorted quickly, causing the Twi’lek to laugh somewhat ominously.
Kullum just figured it was down to cultural difference, and decided to let it go…” so how do I get there?” He asked, “use the shifter” The alien responded, whilst pointing to a booth not too far away.
“right, gotcha, the shifter” He repeated, unconvincingly…
The Twi’lek’s grin widened “ you do know how to use them yes?”
Kullum’s face turned into an elaborate pantomine, as he did not want to come across as a complete newbie to the stranger, “me?…sure!…use ‘em all the time” he blurted out, and as if to reinforce this, he started to walk in its direction, thanking the stranger with a kind of salute.
Glancing over his shoulder to ensure the alien wasn’t still watching, he made his way to the shifter booth.
As he watched other Astorian’s come in and out, a look of puzzlement spread across his face.
Gingerly he entered the booth, there were two technically, one was an exit and the other was an entrance, (he’d figured out that much after some careful observation) He looked at the keypad and jumped as the Station’s onboard computer spoke.
Destination?
“Hades Hive? er..bar district…um…please”
Complying...
Bar District - 111th floor
In a brief white flash, Kullum found himself in a completely new section of the station. Blinking for a moment he exited the booth quickly, perhaps too eagerly since he attracted a few curious stares from a couple of passing locals.
Still slightly disorientated, he straightened his jacket collar and looked around then threw the innocuous looking shifter booth a suspicious glare…
…given a choice he’d probably prefer the stairs.
With a short toke he wandered down the street until he saw what he was looking for , a glaring neon sign serving only to confirm he’d found the right place…
‘Hades Hive’
Making his way through the slightly inebriated crowd of people all out for the same thing, Kullum entered the bar.
The place was in serious need of refurbishment, that much was clear but despite this small fact it had a warm homely feeling to it, ‘lived in’ one could say.
A band of some description was playing on a small stage at the back, which seemed to attract most of the bar’s patron’s attentions , though of course Kullum’s entrance had not gone unnoticed by everyone, there were a few curious glances and ominous gazes here and there.
After making a point of holding some of the strangers stares for a while, Kullum turning his attention to the bar instead , that was when he noticed the bartender. A stocky surly looking horned alien of some description…
Kullum was mindful to not let his face betray his thoughts…
...ugly looking motherfucker!…
In the time it took for him to approach the bar, he had already decided this wasn’t someone he wanted to mess with…
…a tabs out of the question then… He lamented inwardly…
Leaning against the shiny metal bar surface itself , he nodded in acknowledgement to the large burly bartender , and he returned the greeting in kind…
“ got any Brandy?…” Kullum asked , as he eyed the various horde of bottles behind the bar, big and small, exotic and plain, there was surely something here he might recognise...