"You do know you're about to lose, right?" Mara grinned mischievously as she held the liquor glass to her mouth.
A small crowd had gathered around their table, a few of the people even cheering them on. She supposed it was not an every day occurrence that two Jedi Masters held themselves something of a drinking match.
But it was not just a contest to her.
No, Kyp Durron had challenged her. And she would teach her fellow Jedi that challenging Mara Jade was not a very clever move.
She cocked her head to one side after she had downed her drink, satisfied at the sight that met her eyes.
Kyp was leaning against his chair, one arm draped over the back, trying to seem nonchalant. But he wasn't doing a very good job at it. Even without using the Force, Mara was an ace when it came to evaluating human beings and just now, she very well knew that Kyp Durron was drunk.
As stubborn as the younger man was, there was no way he would voluntarily back down and give in to defeat. Especially when his opponent was Mara Jade.
And so he took the next liquor shot into his hand and downed the spicy drink in one motion.
He had a blank expression on his handsome face but Mara had the feeling that Kyp wasn't doing well at all. His skin color had paled noticeably during the last half hour and she could see perspiration collecting on his forehead.
Mara took a hold of the next glass, threw her head back and emptied it to the last drop. To emphasize her point, she turned the glass upside down, her smile widening as a serving droid came their way, a tray attached to its torso, carrying yet another batch of the dark alcoholic beverage.
Kyp sat up straight but held on to the table with a firm and tight grip. His eyes darted towards the five small glasses now in front of him and his expression changed ever so slightly. Mara had the feeling Kyp knew that this time, he would not succeed. And knowing him, it was eating him up inside.
"Give it up, Kyp!" Mara said amusement evident in her voice, "I can take at least another two rounds of this!"
But Kyp shook his head adamantly, "Don't believe you." His speech was slurring just a bit, "I won't give up."
Mara shrugged, "You're the one who'll be kissing the 'fresher all night."
The next shot went down in under a second. Her green eyes darted over to her assailant who took up the next glass and held it to his mouth. He closed his eyes for a moment and Mara wondered what it was that was going through his head.
She counted to three and still he sat there, unmoving, the glass yet to be emptied.
"You know, to win this challenge, you'll have to drink up." She reminded him with a grin on her face. She perched her elbows unto the table, laying her chin onto her palm and giving him the sweetest look she could muster.
"Shut up." Kyp said and swallowed every last bit of the liquor. But for the first time since the challenge had started, his face twisted up in disgust.
Yes, Mara was absolutely positive that she would win.
By the end of the evening, Kyp was no longer accessible.
They had just begun their last round when he had suddenly lain his head down onto the table with a loud thump and ceased to move.
Admittedly Mara wasn't feeling too well herself. The cantina was starting to swim and she could have sworn that there was a slight ground quake somewhere in the vicinity.
Or maybe it was just her head…
She got to her feet after slowly pushing away from the table and walked towards Kyp. Satisfied that he was still breathing she tried to wake him.
"Kyp!" she called but he still did not move.
The crowd around them had dispersed after Mara had evidently won the match and the two Jedi were now alone in the back of the darkened cantina. Music was blaring in the background and people were mulling around. They hardly took notice to two very drunk individuals, one of them hardly being able to walk straight.
"Kyp! Wake up!" she called again, punching his upper arm.
He made a noise that resembled a groan but otherwise kept quiet.
Mara's next punch was harder but he didn't seem to care much. To her dismay, she had to hold on to the downed Jedi's clothing or else she would have fallen to her knees.
The ground quake was getting more violent by the minute…
"We need to get out of here, Kyp." She yelled into his ear and she was delighted to see his eyes open.
"Can't." – was his only reply and he buried his head into the crick of his elbow still lying on the table.
And then suddenly she heard him snore. He sounded like a wild animal off a backwater planet and Mara caught herself laughing.
One hand still holding on to Kyp's clothes, she steadied herself against the chair with her other hand. And she couldn't stop laughing.
She pushed at Kyp's limp body and when again he didn't respond, she punched him. As hard as her tired muscles would let her, she kept punching him until his eyes fluttered open and he sat up.
"Ow!" he yelled at her, "Stop hitting me, woman!"
But Mara hardly understood him. Not only was she still laughing too hard and the music was excessively loud but Kyp's speech was severely impaired.
"We have to go." Mara called hoping to be heard over the noise. She pointed to the exit, wishing she hadn't, since the ground began to move again.
She had let go of the chair and if Kyp hadn't gotten up on time to catch her, she would have fallen to the ground.
He held her for a moment, his head spinning and together they dragged themselves to the exit.
Outside the air was cool and both of them were astonished as they realized it was already getting lighter. The streets were slowly filling with other pedestrians and traffic zoomed by up above but Mara's laughter droned out any other noise.
"What's so funny?" Kyp asked with an annoyed edge to his slurry voice.
Mara straightened up and tried standing still but everything was spinning wildly and she clutched at her fellow Jedi with all her strength.
"I'll fall." She said as if it were reason enough that she was about to strangle him with his own clothing.
"Home?" Kyp asked and Mara nodded before breaking out into laughter again.
They had tried to walk a few meters before a beeping sound suddenly halted them in mid stride.
It was a persistent tone, an annoying tone and it took a very, very long moment before Kyp finally realized that it was his com link stashed in the inside pocket of his jacket.
Mara bit down on her lip to stop from laughing as Kyp activated the small piece of technology and held it to his lips. She noticed that he was swaying back and forth a bit.
"Hello?" Kyp asked in a high-pitched voice dragging the word a little too long, making Mara burst out into laughter again.
"Uh…Master Durron?"
He nodded as if the person on the other line could see him, "Yeah. What's up?" He didn't recognize the voice, only that it was male.
"I'm sorry to have to disturb you this early, but I need a favor."
Kyp gazed down towards Mara who was still clutching at his clothes. Her weight was pulling him down to the ground ever so slightly.
"Anything my old friend!" Kyp called into the com link, stifling a laugh as he watched Mara slowly sliding to her knees. She began to giggle, clapping her hands in front of her mouth, hoping the other person on the com link couldn't hear her.
"Is this a bad time?"
Kyp shook his head as Mara took his hand and pulled him down to the pavement. The two of them sat side by side, Mara biting down on her lip, her shoulders bobbing up and down in silent laughter.
"Nope. Not. At. All." He took a loud steadying breath – a sigh of sorts – as if, at that very moment, he had remembered that he was a respected Jedi Master, a patron people looked up to.
He wrinkled his forehead in an exaggerated gesture of concern and cleared his throat. "What can I do for you?"
Mara noticed his voice sounded deeper than usual and she realized that he was faking it to sound sober. She buried her head into his jacket and couldn't help but laugh again.
"Remember where we left the shipment I'd ordered?" the voice asked with a chuckle. Mara wasn't doing very well with concealing her laughter. "Docking bay 3569-CA?"
"Uh…" Kyp put his com link aside and gazed down at his very drunk friend, "Do you know what he's talking about?"
Mara looked up, tears in her eyes and grinning widely, "I have no idea." She whispered shaking her head.
He cleared his throat and spoke into the com link again, "Sure. Why?"
"I need you to pick it up. They won't let me near it due to age regulations and that nonsense. Can you do that for me? I need it by mid day."
"A mission!" Mara suddenly hissed while sitting back up, "We're going on a mission!"
Kyp frantically waved at her, a gesture for her to be quiet but Mara ignored him as she tried getting back to her feet.
"Who's that?" the voice on the other end asked.
"A friend." Again he cleared his throat, "Consider it done!" he called a little too loudly and he cut the connection.
Mara was swaying back and forth, steadying herself on Kyp's shoulder who still sat on the cold pavement.
He tried getting up but it was a difficult task while Mara was gripping at him as if her life depended on hit.
"Now what?" he asked when he had finally gotten to his feet. The two of them held on to each other before slowly walking down the street towards the inner city.
"Mission!" Mara said again with a smile on her face, "What he just said." She pointed to the com link Kyp still held in his hand. As if just now noticing it, he stashed in back into his pocket with a confused look on his face.
"I don't even know who that was."
Mara laughed again and reached up to pat Kyp's head, "You're so cute, you know that?"
Kyp grinned, "You're so drunk, you know that?"
She nodded pointing at his chest, "So are you!" she said playfully. Taking a deep breath, she let it out with an audible sigh and her former cheery face suddenly fell, "I don't feel too well."
She stopped walking and put one hand to her stomach, "No. Don't feel good at all."
"Let's take you home then."
The cool morning air was doing its best to clear Kyp's mind and he was fairly certain that he would at least make it home in one piece.
At least he hoped so.
"No mission?" Mara asked in a low voice, sounding more like a little girl denied her favorite toy.
Kyp shook his head, "No mission. Not today. In two days maybe. Once I've woken up."
Mara laughed lightly, "You want to sleep two days?"
"I'll try."
Slowly they kept walking, ignoring the looks other patrons were giving them. Indeed, it was a very strange sight seeing two very famous individuals, two celebrated Jedi, not being able to stand, let alone walk, properly.
But sometimes even Jedi needed a few hours of fun.