Open A Resistance Bounty

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

As the two men exchanged conversation, Casany kept quiet, reflecting the silence of her helmet. This interchange was expected and would end sooner or later with credits in her grip one way or the other.

Jedi… The hunter all but sighed. She had her experience of them and then some. Then came a ship. Shit. As two old friends played 'remember when' the Mandalorian tilted her gaze to the sky.

Telly’s reinforcements came a bit quicker than expected. Queue a standoff between two heads of rebel cells or whatever the hell these fools called themselves. Casany just really didn’t want to be caught in the middle of the battle.

Just want to get paid, for kriffsake. Then came a proposition that may make any warrior hesitate. If they were false, they would not delay in spraying blaster bolts. If they were true, they would not leave things to chance, but fate—

“Okay,” Lohikk stated simply. “Have it your way.” He grinned.

Well, now. This was different. It was also the Mandalorian’s easiest and most entertaining way of determining who would pay her credits in the end.

“Give me a minute.” Like forging a signet. With that, she headed into her ship. Moments later and she came out with a vibroblade that was given to Telly Udon’s grip.

“Do it.”

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Telly Udon]

The two old men circled each other like manka cats in the wild, fairly evenly matched all things considered. The longer reach of the trident was mitigated by Telly's lengthy arms and Telly's decades of experience were put to the test by the Quarren's raw strength.

They circled each other, giving the occasional swing and parry before they were at each other in full force. At one point an overhand swing by Telly was caught in the trident's prongs and the Pau'an's blade was ripped from his hands. That perhaps would have been the end of the battle, had Telly not immediately thrown his large cloak at Lohikk. Lohikk momentarily blinded and restrained by the thick fur, Telly had time to fish his sword from the snow and finish the fight with a quick thrust into the Quarren's heart. The Pau'an rebel may have spoken like a gentleman but her certainly didn't like one.

"I never wanted this Lohikk, you stupid man." Telly said sadly before withdrawing the blade. Lohikk fell to the floor. Telly addressed Lohikk's shocked followers around him.

"By Lohikk's own rules, I've beaten him fairly and should suffer no consequence from you lot. If you want to leave the fight and walk away, I'll not hold that against any one of you. But if you want to join me and fight those bastards for real, we'll have you!"

Telly raised his sword in the air and Lohikk's followers began chanting his name, caught up in the moment and the Pau'an's words. A few stragglers didn't join in and frowned at the Utapauan usurper but they were outnumbered and they knew it. The naysayers slowly and silently left the camp while Telly's new and old followers convened around him. As the noise dimmed down, Telly turned to Casany.

"Sorry he tore up your coat. You can add that to my bill. Let me know what your account is and I'll send over the credits. But is that it for you? I can respect a cheeky blighter who does a job and leaves but we always have need for capable people like yourself." Telly offered Casany.

@Die Shize

OOC: already rolled for Telly's fight with Lohikk. Roll for convincing Lohikk's forces to join with Telly 67/100

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

The two men fought and the one Man watched, standing with her arms crossed. In the end, what better way to settle this business?

Casany knew she would be getting paid a fistful of credits one way or the other, from either fool, and the entertainment leading up to that decision was proving to be worth the effort.

Parry. Riposte. Lunge. Feint. Both opponents were dancing. That was combat, in a sense. Telly stabbed, Lohikk stepped, with a nasty gash across his arm. At that moment, Cas jabbed one of Lohikk’s companions with her elbow.

“See that blow!?” The guy beside her just looked at her. Whatever.

When the furry pink cloak was thrown, the Mandalorian couldn’t help but clap her hands. Good show! Sword from snow, thrust to the heart. So it goes…

Lohikk fought well. Lohikk died well. With a blade that sealed his fate. The same of Telly, though he would live to fight another day.

He spoke, and Lohikk’s folk listened. Even the Mandalorian couldn’t help but be moved by Telly’s speech. Short and sweet. A warrior’s speech. Some left. Some stayed. And the Mandalorian remained.

“Wasn’t my coat,” she grinned behind her helmet, though he could probably detect it in her tone. “Just a trinket from a target I hunted.”

She had hunted Telly Udon no less, from one planet to the other, and here they were, from a forest to a frozen floor.

“I can also respect that I am outnumbered.” Yet no blasters were trained on her, either from Telly’s old company or his newly converted one. That meant something to a warrior. Respect.

“We will talk credits and business, but first…” The woman didn’t know why. Caught up in the moment, maybe, but for some reason she placed her fingers on her helmet.

Then, the bounty hunter Anvil lifted it, removed it, as a long braid of brown hair whipped around her shoulders, a brisk wind bit at her visage, and brown eyes, naked, gazed upon Telly Udon. As a Mandalorian. Forged In Fire.

“...Tell me more about your…resistance.” Casany Praxor insisted.

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Telly Udon]

Well, this was an unexpected turn of events.

Huh. He'd have to tell the old wife about this one. Not only did he feel young again for being able to stand toe to toe with a contemporary in a duel to the death but, evidently, his oration skills still had sharpness to them after all. The woman took off her headgear, revealing a face that was as hard as her helmet, except for some brown eyes that Telly felt looked a bit more hopeful and innocent than the rest of her.

"Rather! As you can frankly see, my good lady, it's fractured, if nothing else. I'm afraid there's not a whole lot of unity to this thing. On paper we're all supposed to be one united front but, in practice, it's a bunch of scattered clans, FWA remnants, radicalized drifters and rebel cells across the galaxy each doing their own thing. But if anyone gives you that "back in the day" nonsense, tell them to shove it. I was in the original Rebel Alliance all those years ago and the in-fighting and fragementation is nothing new."


"This new Resistance started after the Killiks started attacking everything and everyone a few years back. There was a thought that the Sith and Jedi, over the millenia, had always been the ones calling the shot and that meant your average man was trampled underfoot time and time again. Can't say I disagree but, in my experience, the Jedi had always been a little less annoying. Less tyrannical at any rate, wot wot!"

"But the Resistance was supposed to serve as a vanguard against that. Something about defending the common man from the tyranny of Force Users. Never saw the point in going after Jedi, myself, so I've limited myself to Imperial and Sith targets. Took out a few Imperial Knights in their own castle, as a matter of fact. Fought the bastards on Mustafar, Kashyyk, Raxus, you name it. Still alive, somehow but, as Lohikk here would tell you, it didn't make me popular amongst the Resistance. They thought I was betraying the Resistance ideals by not going after Jedi. I could go on but if I may ask, what does a credits-hungry bounty hunter care about the Resistance struggles?"

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

No blasters raised at her. Then again, even a predator knows when it may become prey the next moment.

Truthfully, Casany was in no rush to leave, and curious. Her contractor was dead. His killer, a proven warrior, offered payment instead. Were there more credits than what was promised?

To have a terrorist for an employer would be nothing new for her, really. Helmet off, in a gesture of respect as was given her, yet Telly might not even realize that Anvil wasn’t one of those Mandalorians who kept it on out of ritual.

Maybe it would sell her attempt. Maybe she would still take his head before the end. For now, she simply listened.

Telly Udon spoke of scattered clans, rebel cells, and if there were two beings right there and then who knew what this meant then one was a Pau’an and the other was a Mandalorian, and both had faced hell.

True Mandalorian. She remembered, even when she meant to forget. The more Telly spoke, the more Casany reflected. Granted, she knew some semblance of his speech already, having chased her target, but his Resistance and its politics were something of a mystery.

Sith. Cas bit her lip. She had no helmet to hide it. At the question, she gazed into Telly’s eyes, unblinking, remembering names. Unwavering. Oska. Kratle. Taktik. Adenn. Etr. Zaia. Kotii.

“As I said back in that street,” Casany began simply. “I am a True Mandalorian. Resistance is in my flesh. Vengeance is in my blood. Red and gold.” She tapped on either pauldron, on signet and sigil, on black anvil and golden sun on a field of red.

“I have not forgotten my revenge on the Sith. I am a hunter, but my hunger is not for credits.” So open. So honest. Was this some trick to him? That remained to be seen.

“But what does anyone who is not a Mandalorian understand of a warrior’s honor?” She winked, not with her eyes, but with a corner of her lips.

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Telly Udon]

"I rather like you, miss, I must confess. But what do I know of a warrior's honor? Granted, we rebels will sometimes have to shoot an Imp in the back to shut him up and I've made my fair share of dealings in back alleys and spice den. But, not to blow my own trumpet here, does stepping into a death match against a Quarren three centuries younger than me not display a fair bit of that warrior's honor you so love?" Telly asked, a wry smile coming to his face.

He was being honest - he was starting to like this Mandalorian. Her people had a long tradition of standing up against tyranny and had ties to the original Rebel Alliance that Telly had been a part of. But, Force Almighty, could they wind themselves up about honor and blood oaths and yada, yada, yada. Telly was polite enough to engage but he knew not to press things too hard or he was in for a big lecture about how Clan Vizsla was the most honorable or how Death Watch had no honor but True Mandalorians had lots of honor.

 

[Casany Praxor]

If Casany had taken Telly’s words of liking her as a compliment then she did little and less to show it. What did this man know of a warrior’s honor? Of a Mandalorian’s?

That was an argument perhaps best left to Mandalorians; an endless debate of which way was the way, who was true, whose fight was right.

Telly Udon, however, had already proven himself a warrior to this Mandalorian; and the truth in that acknowledgment did little and less to prevent her question.

Rather, it was because this Pau’an had attacked where he stands, had danced with his combatant with his own two hands, that his worth of a warrior was shown to Cas.

“You can swing a sword,” Casany of Clan Praxor stated simply. She was being honest. Whether she was starting to like this man and his stories was another story.

Her people had a long tradition of standing up against weakness, for Mandalorians eschewed it, embodied strength.

Clan Praxor? Not much different. Their strength was their steel, their toughness their iron, in fire and blood, from fires forged, by hammer and anvil.

“Yet swinging a sword does not make you a swordsman,” Cas promised as she stepped forward toward him. “Nor does your own history make you a conqueror.”

She wasn’t taunting him, if testing him, speaking to him unhelmeted, helmet held at hip, which should just teach him a bit about Mandalorian politics if he wasn’t an idiot.

“Take it from a mere bounty hunter. Yet I am Mandalore in my core.” She crossed a fist over her chest, as if to salute, but who was there to salute amid this troupe?

“And what would your Resistance do with Casany of Clan Praxor?”

@Fantasy Liver (@Telly Udon)

 

[Telly Udon]

"Kill some Imperials and Sith, if it's all the same to you. We can't promise you much credits but we can promise you some good fights. And you've never had a donut quite like our man Chewy can make. Or, our droid, rather." Telly said honestly to Casany. The Resistance had its fair share of starry-eyed recruits, who were ill-equipped for the realities of rebelling against some of the biggest factions in the galaxy. They normally burned out quickly, literally and figuratively. As a result, the Pau'an had long ago learned to be up front with such things. But he had a sneaking suspicion that his pitch may be enough for the hunter.

"I'm afraid that's all I can offer. But believe you me, it's a more generous package than the old Rebel Alliance ever used to give out."

@Die Shize