{{ urbania's void - chapter 10
...urban knights (day sixteen / +16)
The next couple of nights were spent partying and arriving back at the apartment late at night and early in the morning. The four had sat down at the table the first night Khee and Rez stayed there and talked about what they were doing on the Urbania. That's when Rez and Khee found out that Kaidin and Tessick were there to collect a bounty.
Tessick proposed that maybe they would like to help, since he pretty much saved Khee's life. Khee and Rez gladly obliged saying they'd help in whatever way they could. They had nothing better to do, after all.
But, like the procrastinators they were, Kaidin and Tessick spent the next night's partying instead of doing their job. And Khee and Rez joined them.
The Vina Lidrina was packed to the brim, as always. But that didn't stop the four from shoving themselves in. The Epsil, across the busy street had been their first stop. They had seated themselves in a row at the bar and each had a minimal amount of alcohol, everyone drinking Corellian Ale, except for Khee who went for a strong Hapan brew.
"Rez, try some of this," Khee pushed his glass in her face. He was seated on the end, with Rez to his left, Kaidin to her left and Tessick on the other end. Rez scowled and set her own glass down, while smacking his away.
"I don't want any. Hapans make bad alcohol. They can't do anything right." A sneer formed on her face as she took another swig of her Corellian Ale.
"Hey hey hey now." An already drunk Kaidin shoved his pointer finger in Rez's face as he spun around on his barstool. The action was an incredibly clumsy one, but he somehow pulled it off with a suave air. "Hapans can do stuff. They sure know how to look good." Kaidin punctuated his sentence with a feisty growl as he let his head fall on Rez's shoulder.
"Oh come on!" Tessick slammed his glass on the table. "It's only our first stop of the night and you're already swaying like an earless gundark, Kai!" Tessick began swaying back and forth to illustrate his point.
"I'm fiiiiiiiiine." Kaidin seethed as he pulled himself up, crashing down onto the bartop with his head in his hands. As if to prove his point, he hiccupped.
They had left the Epsil, Kaidin skipping merrily across the street to the Vina Lidrina, with Rez frolicking behind him and Khee and Tessick chatting and bringing up the rear. Upon entering, Kaidin was instantly entranced by the music and turning around, he clutched Rez's hips, curtly dragging her towards the dance floor. Khee and Tessick entered in after them, dismissing them to go dance so that they could go get more drinks.
Kaidin recognized the song as a track originating from Nar Shaddaa. The low thumping bass was made by an instrument called a 'lyran' that also came from the Smuggler's Moon. Kaidin remembered wanting to play one when he was younger. The song was fairly new, but it made old memories rush into Kaidin's mind. He let them all ricochet around his buzzing brain as he drew Rez closer to him, his arms snaking around her waist. They were in the middle of the crowd now and Kaidin could feel drops of sweat forming on his brow as Rez's hands rested, clasped, behind his neck.
The beat only drew them closer and soon Kaidin was losing himself in the vivid depths of her eyes, the violet shade drawing him in like a drug. He could feel her breath hitting his face and it fueled the flames inside of him. Tonight he wanted to dance, he wanted to drink, he wanted to revel in the pleasures of the street.
Spinning Rez around in his arms, Kaidin continued to move to the beat staying as close to Rez as possible. His arms were wrapped possessively around her waist as he guided her back in the direction of the bar where Khee and Tessick were seated, cackling about something.
Back at the bar, in the recesses of Tessick's mind, he wondered if Khee was jealous of the way Kaidin was acting towards Rez, but Khee didn't seem to mind. Tessick wanted to ask, but they hadn't had enough to drink yet. Sitting at the bar, the two men laughed, cackled and kept ordering rounds of drinks.
Their cycle was cut short when a man and a woman sat beside them. The two looked similar to each other, brother and sister perhaps, and at first paid no attention to Khee and Tessick.
Until Kaidin and Rez walked up...
"Hello darling," the woman whispered into Tessick's ear. He quickly turned away from Khee and looked to the female, her dark eyes sparkling in the neon lights of the club. Tessick smiled drowsily to her, a lost expression on his face. She had dark purple hair up in a messy bun on her head and Tessick could make out the fact that she was wearing some sort of vinyl dress, but his thoughts stopped there. "How about my brother and I buy a round of drinks for you and your friends, huh?"
Tessick kept grinning. He was too out of it to say no.
"'Keep? Get this fine crew a round of drinks."
Khee was watching the whole scenario between Tessick and the female, Kaidin and Rez whispering into each other’s ears behind him. Khee swore he saw the female wink at the bartender but then he passed it off as a trick of the Hapan Ale.
After the drinks were set in front of the four, the male and female stood up. The male grinned as he passed and the female began to walk by, but only after leaning down and whispering slyly in Tessick's ear.
"We know who you are..."
And with that, they were gone.
"Alright! Freeeeeee drinks!" Kaidin snatched the glass up and downed it all in a few gulps. The other three followed suit; then the four slid out to the dance floor and passed hours dancing and laughing. They all danced with each other, Kaidin with Rez, Khee with Rez, Tessick with Kaidin and so on and so forth. Tessick jumped on Khee's back and swung his glass up in the air. Kaidin dipped Rez. Glasses broke, the music got louder, the dancing got raunchier, and the night continued to roll on.
The middle of the night was approaching when Rez excused herself to go get some fresh air. She had to yell over the music to let the guys know where she was off too. And if they weren't delirious or hysterical by that point, they acknowledged her outing.
She escaped the Vina Lidrina, breathing heavily. The air inside the club was stuffy and claustrophobic. Not that she minded, but she did need a breath of fresh air to help clear her mind.
"Rezzy?" A male voice sounded from behind her.
"Hey Kaidin," a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"You okaaaaaaaay?" He tripped over nothing as he made his way over to her, giggling all the way.
"Better now that you're here."
Kaidin giggled again as he stepped up beside her and leaned back against the outside wall of the club. She stood a few feet away from him, her arms wrapped defensively around herself as the artificial night breeze misplaced locks of hair around her face. Her shirt had no sleeves, just thick straps and the shirt under it had straps that hung off of her shoulders. The overshirt was black and the undershirt, a clean white. He had noticed most of her outfits were black and white, probably to show off her hair. That's what he always thought anyways.
Kaidin didn't know if it was the alcohol talking or if it was really how he felt, he had met her only three days ago. But there was something about her. They way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she reacted.
He wanted Rez. He wanted her all to himself.
As if reading his mind, her eyes coyly caught his gaze and she began backing up into the closest alleyway, motioning for him to follow. He instantly chased after her and as soon as the darkness enveloped the two, Kaidin backed Rez up against the cool durasteel walls and their lips locked. Her lips were soft and inviting; Kaidin's head became light from the warmth he felt radiating off of her body.
The shadows loomed over Rez and Kaidin as they stood there, him pressing her up against the wall. His hands were traveling from her cheeks, down her neck to her sides as his lips continued their ravishing. They could taste the alcohol on each other's breath, but details like that didn't matter now. They were too busy drowning in their own pools of passion and lust.
Kaidin was only a few inches taller than her, but at that moment, he found himself basking in the fact that he felt so powerful. He had her pinned back, his right knee pressed against the wall between her legs and he could comprehend that his left hand was absently toying with the bottom hem of her skirt, running under it and up her thigh. He broke the kiss much to her dismay, but made up for it by letting his lips slide to her neck, where he placed a few tiny kisses before waiting for her to beg for more.
Rez's hands were on Kaidin's shoulders, her fingers running up and down his neck, while his moved up to the buckles on the front of her shirt. His eyes bore into the inane buckles that kept him from what he wanted, but he forgot all of that when he felt her suddenly cold left hand run up his neck. He glanced back up to her face.
Blurry copper hair framed a tan face with cool gray eyes. Her regal expression instantly became quizzical.
"Kaidin?"
Kaidin closed his eyes and shook his head. "Huh?" He looked back to her.
It was Rez Nyena. Blue hair, purple eyes, pale skin. Kaidin hallucinated for a few moments that he had been with the Queen Mother of Hapes, groping her in a back alley.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fiiiiine." He gave up on the buckles and quickly descended back into another immorally delicious kiss, muffling Rez's playful giggles with his hungry lips.
Voices could be heard in the distance.
"Hahaha! Did you seeee the look on his face?!"
"Man, he was like RAWRRRRRRR! IMMA KILL YOOOOOOU!"
"Hahahhuh? What's that noise?"
Coming around the corner of the alley were Khee and Tessick, both heard quiet grumblings and soft moans coming from the darkness.
Rez, hearing the two approach the shadows, quickly pushed Kaidin away and glared at him, a frantic sparkle dancing in her violet eyes. Kaidin got her hint and fell over on the ground, moaning and holding his stomach.
"Oooooo! Poor Kaikai is sick!" Tessick bounded over to Kaidin and Rez, stumbling over his feet. Obviously drunk, Khee followed and they both stopped right beside the two, Rez sneering down at Kaidin's writhing form.
"You're so faking it." Cackling, Tessick crashed his body to the ground, on Kaidin's back, wrapping his arms around his neck. Kaidin stood up and spun around wildly with Tessick on his back, both of them giggling and snickering. Khee tripped over to Rez and put his head down on her shoulder, closing his eyes. He had a blaring headache. It fazed no one that Kaidin and Tessick were cackling and clinging to each other, shouting random words and obscene phrases.
Playfully shoving Tessick away and to the ground, Kaidin sniveled, "You broke us up, 'Sicko."
"Huh?" Tessick sat up, swaying back and forth.
"Me n' Rez." He turned smugly towards her and went to kiss her again, not minding Khee's head on her shoulder, to show Tessick what they had been doing before being interrupted. The alcohol pumped through his system like blood. It blurred his vision and disabled his motor skills...
...but it wasn't just the alcohol.
He went to plant a kiss on Rez's lips, when he stopped inches away from her face. A fading whimper sounded from his mouth.
Khee opened his eyes and moved them up towards Kaidin, his muscles tensing up. He suddenly felt very protective of Rez. He always felt protective of her, but right now more than ever.
Rez stood, arms crossed over her chest, staring into the eyes of a madman. Her black skirt was wrinkled and her hair hung in damp locks around her shoulders. Sweat found it's way to her clothes from all the dancing, as well as the heated moments shared minutes before with Kaidin.
Tessick was pulling himself off of the ground, still releasing hybrids of giggles and hiccups. His shoulderblades visibly moving up and down under the tight black top he wore. His brown eyes stopped their free roaming on Khee who was sick and haggard looking. Tessick tackled him and they started rambling in their stupors.
Kaidin... Kaidin...
One minute he was standing, the next he collapsed to the ground in a writhing heap, coughing up blood. His eyes tried to focus on Tessick, on Khee, on Rez. Nothing came into focus. Nothing. His body was racked with uncontrollable shivers and his breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. Rez looked down to Kaidin and watched the trails of blood seeping out of his mouth.
"Kaidin?!" Her breath shuddered.
Tessick and Khee stopped their drunken banter and let go of each other, gazing down to the catatonic Kaidin. Tessick's brain rushed through the events of the night as well as it could manage. His mind's eye landed on the male and female who bought them drinks.
"His drink..." Tessick whispered. Falling to his knees, he slapped his hand across Kaidin's forehead. He was burning up. "Kriff..."
They had to get him back to the apartment and fast. But with all of them drunk and delirious it was a difficult task.
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