Rigid  joints  creek,  giving  way  to  aching  muscle.  Her  collapsing  braids  have  been  scooped  haphazardly  into  a  large  knot,  exposing  the  batca  patch  sealed  upon  a  bloodied  shoulder,  a  remnant  from  last  night's  adventure.  Unfazed  by  the  laceration,  the  restless  knight  nurses  a  waning  bottle  of  rum  in  bandaged  fingers.  

  repair torch in hand and gaze locked on the inside of his helm, vyxsis ren seems to completely ignore everything around him — from the knight at his side to the first order stooges who pass their little corner of the cantina every so often. he can't hear their soft murmurs every time one of them catches sight of the pair of knights, but he can feel their unease like small ripples across the force.

  it was the movement of her hands in familiar signs that draws his attention, head lifting to catch the tail end of her offer. gaze obscured by the goggles that protects his eyes from the harsh light of the cantina, it was almost impossible to tell what he thought of her offer. vyxsis rarely imbibes, a fact that karitza was well aware of. to muddle his mind was to muddle his connection to the force, a sense he relied heavily on. still, he reaches out and plucks the bottle from her fingers.

            SHOULDN'T DRINK IN YOUR CONDITION.

THE RIRQAI. a creature from the jungles of umbara, the rirqai is considered an apex predator among umbaran. their hide is made of up thick, triangular plates of keratin that resembles scales and act as armor for the beast; protecting it from teeth, claws, and some melee weapons. usually using its black coloring to blend into the shadowy foliage of umbara, the rirqai can change the color of its hide by manipulating specialized cells within the scales; turning a deep red when feeling aggressive or threatened. attached to the heel of its hind legs is an extra, long claw used for ripping into the flesh of its prey when the rirqai has it by the throat. most often being used to disembowel. like the majority of living beings native to umbara, the rirqai can see in the dark and on the ultraviolet spectrum. in size and shape, they most resemble earth's tigers.

this particular rirqai was found by a young zaes rihl as a kitten, only a few days before leaving to train at luke skywalker's jedi temple in 14ABY. the beast was hand-raised and trained by the young jedi to be, learning how to be the ears zaes lacked. since zaes is largely nonverbal, he never thought to name the rirqai as he mostly communicates with him in hand signals, growls, and whistles.