Log:Information With Unexpected Costs
Information gathered three associates walk out of a bar and into a conflict...
OOC Date: April 29, 2022
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Eriu Jynx as herself and GM, Saturi, Khalim
Eriussa had needed last minute help in regards to information that she desperately needed for House Jynell - now more than just a memory and a working factor in her life. Thus Khalim, Saturi and the Duchess have arrived on Nar Shaddaa and drifted into a seedier bar on its surface. The contact had arrived and all was going as was planned, information handed over and gone through. With her escorts beside her she nods, "This is what I was looking for." Discreetly she passes over a credit chip and nods to him. "You find more you know how to contact me."
Being a Duchess without being on planet has its advantages. He gets up to go and she smiles at the other two. "Lets finish up our drinks, check out New Vertica. Dinner is on me." She has already finished two glasses of Whyvren's Reserve, her favorite of course and is tapping her foot.
TWearing her typical garb for smuggling, the emerald jacket is far too clean for a salt of the earth sort so they are getting a few looks. She dusts a hand through her hair and pushes it back behind her ear. "On second thought lets just go."
Uneasy is the simplest way to describe Saturi's demeanor. Not just with the shady business deal. Not just with being asked to escort the Hapan around for the evening. Being at an eatery with present company is extremely difficult for her, especially on Nar Shaddaa. Polluted air burns her nasal passage as she inhales sharply, having not bothered to order anything throughout the interaction. This, this is business. And although she has occasionally made room in her stomach whilst under the watchful eyes of other socialites, this wasn't going to happen here.
"What exactly is /it/?" The Pantoran asks whilst preparing to leave with the party. She reaches across her body, tugging at her pellucid burgundy cloak. A flash of her scalp only visible in the light for a split second, the minimal illumination glinting off her headdress. "Other than a data card..." Her addition is made in preparation, assuming the worst as a response. An intentionally vague answer!
Khalim is at the far end of the table, which isn't in itself far, it just means his gaze is allowed to shift beyond Saturi, and Eriu, in constant traversal of the bar's dim interior. There were few upon the face of Nar Shaddaa that would prompt more direct vigilance right now than these two. For very similar reasons. Both receive the occasional glance as he pans, and scans, and assesses.
He's not been curt, but the mirialan has been quiet. That suggestion to go has him leaning forward a bit. "New Vertica is a decent option, less..." There's a subtle gesture, encompassing the whole place. It says 'this'. Khalim shifts, ready to rise but not quite bringing himself to do so.
"Question is, though, do we want New Vertica dinner? Or do we want, you know, a more authentic experience. For old times sake." The mild, almost hesitant smile that's born has a light quirk. Eriu would have only for the first time seen this repaired Khalim, no longer partially covered by an eye patch. That line of scarring, faint yet there, pulls ever so subtly with the expression. The once marred eye is now a mirror replica of its opposite. Somehow it manages to retain that little bit of glint that is uniquely the mirialan. Even now. "Spicy noodles?" All it takes is one look to the Pantoran, who hasn't even been given the time to respond, and he's shaking his head. "No spicy noodles." He pauses for a moment, looking back to Eriu. "Yeah, what is /it/?"
The two are a lively pair! At least Khalim has some exuberance and he earns a smile for it. She quietly tucks away the information into a pocket somewhere inside her jacket. It is secured and she brings her hands back out as she pushes herself up, sliding out of the booth. The bottom of her jacket is tugged down, smoothing her clothing into place and adjusting the sword at her hip. "It has to do with House Jynell. I can explain but perhaps somewhere else?" She tilts her head towards the exit, as if to implore them into motion.
"Wherever we go we should leave here, spicy noodles or no. Authentic Nar Shaddaa means gut rot for days. Lets skip that this time around, yeah?" She pauses, Thanks for coming with...I realize this is not the best part of town but I did not wish to do this alone. You two answered."
Shadowport has been quiet as of late and many contacts have been running their own lines around the stars.
She starts for the door only when the two are ready, navigating the standing room. As soon as they abandon their booth another group steps in and slides into place. As the evening grows later the establishments and the walks outside have grown thicker with bodies.
"My brother doesn't care for the two of you." Saturi remarks with a buried angst. It's as if she's a child talking about her parent's restrictive ire...but she's almost forty. And she happens to be the eldest. Abrupt, unprompted, she continues. "Correction." A glance is cast to Khalim, a source of unease! "One of you." The woman sighs with a shake of her head.
"So, this is more for me." She looks to Eriu, failing to accept the 'thanks' from earlier. "He doesn't dictate who I associate with." Golden eyes scan the horizon as they pass through the building's exit. Seemingly unconcerned for her own safety as the sound of a nearby argument bounces off the city pavement. It's just Nar Shaddaa. A cesspit.
Khalim does not object. Rot gut was a Nar Shaddaan speciality that was best experiencved never, and though enough days living on this moon did tend to provide some marginal resistance to the worst of its effects, the mirialan had not really been a resident for some time. Months. Half a year and then some. His resistance had likely disappeared with the days, and each lap of that Scarif surf.
Once outside, and heading back down one of the district's main repulsor thoroughfares, the mirialan slows. His attention is captured, dark brown gaze fixed down an alley. "Ehhhhh..." he says, some concern evident. "Gangland. And looks like the show's about to start." A quick look to his two companions and he adds, "One of us is wearing green. This could be a problem."
Eriussa hears them but she feels something slide out of her inner pocket. That data that was so precious and why they are here. Glad that she caught it before they left it behind or worse, it was stepped on, she reaches down to grab for it when the hustle and bustle of the street brings a body in collision with her's and the disk goes sliding across the mucky ground.
"By all that is good," Eriussa hisses as she starts after it, towards the thick of what is developing into an open fist fight. It does not stay that way, blasters drawn as a few red bolted shots are exchanged, bodies dropping quickly here and there as screams go up and the innocent run, duck for cover and become a herd of self interested people - the most dangerous kind.
Eriussa collides with a fleeing Codru and ends up on her ass, the disk with its information GONE from sight. "I lost it!" Not that the two are concerned about that in the moment. There is an open firefight in the streets.
The blaster fire is enough to get the crowd riled up into a panic. Saturi, although instinctively afraid of being shot, isn't worried about the blasters. They're not aiming at her...allegedly. It's a dispute, not uncommon on Nar Shaddaa...though the size of this one? It screams 'cause of crush' central. Watching with a hawkish glare, the Pantoran breathes deeply as people start to sprint their direction. Witnessing Eriu's mishap, she spares herself no time in making a route off of the street.
"Up here!" It's not quiet a shout, but not her talking voice. It's the sort of volume that is designed not to give the random sprintersby any ideas.
Purplish cloak flapping as she scrambles up the nearby wall with the assistance of a nearby scaffold, she tries to beckon for Khalim and Eriu to follow. From a perched position, she pauses to point towards the data card, blue index finger gesturing to the ground. "There!"
There had a been a brief side-long glance at Saturi's declaration. Was there a member of the pantoran's family not now predisposed to disliking the mirialan? Including the one present, in his mind at least? He would argue an answer to that question.
But they are now beyond that bar, and this mess is rapidly evolving from someone else's to potentially theirs. Eriu's collision sees her bumping into him in return, and it's mid recovery that the Duchess shouts that her prize is gone. Saturi, who had dashed ahead and up, calls out, with a point. Khalim's eye pan, narrow, and... a little datastick, trampled upon. Just there, no more than a handful of meters but that's a handful of bodies away. He dashed, twisting, avoiding, straight-arming a terrified civilian or two aside, and... he has it.
"Eriussa," he calls, voice low, yet empowered much as Saturi's had been. "I have it. Take off your jacket and GO." He makes a chopping gesture away from him. "GO." Looking up to Saturi he adds, voice still strong enough to carry - hopefully - just far enough. "YOU TOO. GO." And just like that his pistol is out, and he's attempting to tail Eriu.
"I didn't plan on sticking around." Saturi responds whilst shimmying over to make room for Eriu on the elevated ledge. This creative pathway is /not/ meant to be transversed. It's nothing more than a combination of random construction materials and other pieces. But, when you can't go anywhere but up, you climb.
Reaching out for the unknown, the blue woman continues to ascend the side of the building. A look down confirms her position, at least five meters above the street. One hand in front of the other...that is until the metal pipe she grabs onto snaps off.
"Aaah!" The scream is released, unable to be squelched as she scrambles for another hold...damaging a part of the wall. "Waaah!" Again, another scream. She continues to make a mockery of this technical route. With enough luck, she is able to pull herself onto a safe ledge, now eight or so meters up. Two full levels from the street.
A glance is made to the destroyed pipe and brick. "It's not safe for you to follow!" She demands.
One up. Two up. Khalim hesitates, if only for a moment, as that moment of decision is reached. Does he climb and follow? Or keep on his feet, and make in the same direction as the rest that are actively fleeing this violence. He looks up and sees both hapan and pantorian scrambling up. He looks out, knowing his feet can take him far, and quickly.
He can't do it.
He begins scrambling up after, a handful of blaster bolts digging little divots into the building's side as he attempts to manage whatever cover is offered. He gains on his associates, though only to the point at which Eriu is a handful of meters above and Saturi...
That pipe snaps off, taking a small part of wall with it. It creates an imperfect climbing surface, but further, a dangerous one. 'It's not safe for you to follow', the pantoran demands, but one look down tells the only tell that matters. "We don't have a choice," he calls back, for both.
"Yes well, I do not think any of us were sticking around," Eriu says, pushing the sleeves of her blouse up her arms past her elbows. As bolts slam into the building below them a few manage to hit the building beside them - one nearly colliding with Khalim as he drew himself up.
EJ glances towards him as Saturi drags herself up, but is soon dangling like the very signage itself, causing her to tense up and hold up her hands instinctively - not like Eriu would likely stop the fall that Saturi would take. Watching as the easiest path up is now no longer an option, her mouth drops open.
"Find a way into the building, we will see about an alley exit!" She calls up, pulling her sword and with a heavy thrust of the hilt of it breaks the window beside them, starting to clear the glass with her boot.
"You first...you have the blaster." She advises Khalim, holding her sword in hand. "Meet you inside. If you can't find us, head for your ship when its safe."
Saturi is left with the option of trying to break into the building - the window she is at is partially open with blinds moving in the air lightly. She might be able to squeeze in - or she could climb.
Saturi's Escape Continues.....
It doesn't take an order or additional suggestion for Saturi to turn and look to the sky. Her facial expression snaps to one of displeasure as she realizes the gravity of her decision. With an additional fifteen meters to go, most of which would require scaling rusted urban environment, the task of climbing up to the next level would be dangerous.
Bolts of red death below, an unsurmountable task above. Take the path of least resistance, she decides.
Reaching out, blue hands are able to jostle the tattered window open. Casting a glance inside, the Pantoran scouts out the living space. "Hello?" She cautiously calls into the empty room whilst crossing over the threshold into the building.
Seeing that the apartment is empty, she turns as soon as she enters, closing the deteriorated glass behind her. That'll stop plasma, right?
The smell is the worst thing about this flat. Its dark, a bit stuffy and packed full of things. The scent of worn clothing and various body odors mixes with the heady presence of old food that has been sitting too long at the bottom of a garbage pale. The only light that is offered is from the neon lights outside so her survey of the interior is limited.
Luckily so far Saturi remains unaccosted.
Whether the window is any protection it certainly does the opposite for the smell. She receives no answer - this portion of Nar Shaddaa coming to life after nightfall means that likely whoever owns this abode is out enjoying it or working in it.
The question is can she navigate the dimly lit room towards the far left corner where one can only assume the door is given the current sightlines.
Thin strips of light keep her body lit as she examines the room.
A childhood of playing in the swamps never prepared her for anything quite like this. Nar Shaddaa is a cesspit, certainly. It's nasty, grimy, and ugly in the lower levels. Sleazy and slimy near the tops...but in all of her misadventures, Saturi has never came across an environment this disgusting. Witnessed on the HoloNet? Sure. Actually wallowed in? Pffft. Her nimble feet have only ever graced the duracrete. This is truly alien.
"Hello?"
The Pantoran knowns that she is invading someone's home. Most of the people she has met on the smuggler's moon are skittish, the others are violent. Who knows who these folk are.
"I'm a little lost." She admits cautiously, carefully navigating the mounds of squaller. That when...a noise shuffles something in the dark room. Her left hand drops into her nearly transparent cloak. With a quick click and flick, the gilded weapon is drawn out, the gold casting a neon reflection onto the wall. "I'm just going to leave."
Invading a home that is more like a hoarders. Given the cots and beds around the room its a group effort towards hoarding and trash. She steps on something and there is a slide of her foot as it SQUISHES into it. Whatever it is, it used to have a fruity smell but there is suddenly the putrid scent of things decaying. Part of the flat is going to be going with her in the form of bits and pieces of unknown matter.
The low shuffling on the other side of the room is thankfully not in the way of the door.
There is an obvious movement of some fabric - likely clothing - maybe as something small moves beneath it. The direction this unknown moving object makes is towards Saturi and there is no answer to her comments as they echo as the only spoken words in that moment.
The door is not so far away, but in the moment it could be miles away for how quickly she can get there. There is a hissing sound as the thing gets closer and stops five feet away.
Ah, yes. Hissing. The sort of sound everyone wants to hear as the traverse a minefield of unattended dirt and junk. Unable to clearly see what...maybe who...is irritated with her she makes a tactical decision. That is...continue to slowly advance over and through the hoarded treasures. "Just leaving...." Saturi mutters as she inches closer to the exit, partially expecting to cross into another room in a similar state. Trying not to vomit, she explains, "...I just didn't want to get shot and now I need to get back to my ship."
"Don't mind me now."
A hesitant step is made over more loose surface. "I promise I won't take anything on my way out."
The rustle picks up as she starts to inch towards the door, more movement that has items shifting and then a pair of eyes briefly highlighted GLOW in the dim light. Warning! WARNING! More hissing follows as she talks and seems to agitate whatever is trailing after her. More like hunting her. Or stalking. Whatever it is doing its not responding with words but rather with passive aggressive hisses.
One can only guess what they represent.
The door is coming closer - no other room to traverse but given the haphazard terrain it is a task all its own. Whatever she stepped in is sticky and every step is coming up with objects before they fall off and away.
There are a few more heaps of unknown trash near the door that are precarilously leaning like they may topple with a breeze.
