[center] [h2][color=ed1c24][b][u]Aria Saal[/u][/b][/color][/h2]  

[i][date stamp for later weee]
Nar Shaddaa, Galactic Vices Casino [/i]

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The smuggler’s moon wasn’t the most glamorous place in the galaxy, but it had its advantages and Aria could count herself luckier than most Sith her age that she had the freedom to move about (mostly) of her own will. So, when she’d heard of the grand opening of the casino, she’d simply had to make plans to attend. She liked a good round of drinks perhaps too much, so she had incentive to attend anyways, but those plans had gotten even better when she’d gotten to the bottom of the invitation that detailed there was to be apparently valuable artefacts available for auction. Of course, this was the Hutts so there was no telling if they really were artefacts or it was a hoax, but Aria thought it worth checking out. In addition to the ship she now currently piloted, her father had left her a little bit of inheritance and if it turned out that there was something of value at this auction, Aria fancied there wasn’t anything he’d rather she spent it on. 

She’d docked the [i]Cyclone[/i] and killed the engines, and presently stood in the small on-board bathroom in front of the mirror, squinting as she put the finishing touches on to her appearance in order for her to blend in better with the crowd. The bright red lines tattooed along her jawline, chin and around her left eye were marks she usually wore with pride, but in a Nar Shaddaa crowd they would draw [i]unwanted attention[/i] to her, so she made some efforts to conceal them, when she was done she rummaged around for the pair of cheap tinted glasses she’d swindled from a vendor on her last stop-off. They weren’t her usual fashion choice, but she could think of no other way to conceal her eye colour which would be the other dead giveaway of her abilities. And on a Hutt-controlled planet you could never be too careful. The shorter woman didn’t take very much else, simply grabbing her credits, the invitation in case she needed some sort of proof on the door before she’d be allowed to enter, and her cloak which she slung over her shoulder before she exited the ship and left it securely locked in the bay. 

Aria spent the taxi trip from the docking bay to the casino with her head down, absently scanning the lines of the invitation for any further clues though disappointingly she couldn’t suss any out. It didn’t matter, since it didn’t take long to arrive at the Vices venue. Flipping a few credits at the taxi droid for the lift, the short woman approached the large doors to the casino slowly but with purpose, holding her head as high as she dared. She got a few odd looks, and it took a bit more effort to prove she was indeed of age to get through the door, after a frustrating several-minute argument and a [i]little[/i] bit of persuasive eyelash-fluttering, she was finally allowed inside. 

“Extravagant” did not even begin to cover the lavish decor that the casino was adorned with. Though the main floor was faded out, the machines lining each wall were almost annoyingly bright, no doubt designed to entice some poor fool into losing their entire pocket of credit chits. They were of little interest to Aria and she quickly passed them up, instead heading straight for one of the bars and ordered a drink of her own, raising her brows slightly as she passed the large-as-life Dejarik board. Now that was just OVERKILL. Still, it seemed to be amusing some of the patrons, given the crowds of people with the holographic goggles on who clamoured to peer down at the board from the balconies or even the sidelines of the board itself. The human sipped from her drink absently, her gaze naturally drawn to the red-skinned Twi’lek on the pole platform ...what was not to like about that, in all honesty? Though they were hidden by the lenses of her glasses, her eyes blatantly tracked the Twi’lek’s every movement. She could have watched her all day, truthfully, and she did so for an extended period of time until restlessness and perhaps a deeply-buried desire for some form of company with another person prompted her to tear her gaze from the dancer and move to one corner of the sabacc table, drawn by a strong pulse of Force energy though in this crowd she couldn’t pinpoint exactly which of the players it came from. 

She wasn’t great at the card game either, if she was being brutally honest with herself, but it would pass some time before the auction started and she might be able to strike up some sort of chatter with the other players, thus learning some interesting tidbits in the process. Her eyes were keen enough to settle on the bottle of whiskey, moving from that to the man who appeared to have possession of said whiskey, and with that figured out she made her move to amble across to the table where he was playing, sidling into a seat nearby as she watched the hand play out on the table, though she flicked a sideways glance at him every few moments as if she were trying to suss him out. 



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