Ask Among the People

[Vizim]

Vizim watched Lorcan dispatch the dog quickly and took let out a breath as he relaxed his grip in the Force. He wiped some of the blood off of his blade and looked back to Lorcan to see a long string of hand motions being made in his direction. If Lorcan looked closely, he might notice Vizim squinting in confusion for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice.

Before Vizim could say anything else, Lorcan was yeeting himself at the last Kaleesh's suspected position in a suicide charge.

Wait, what?! he said, but it was too late. The Imperial had already thrown himself at net man who was promptly throwing the object over Lorcan's head, entangling him and getting ready to impale him.

Vizim swore, reaching on instinct for the pistol that wasn't there and he swore again, this time louder.

Then he hurled his sword. Now, throwing a sword - particularly an unbalanced one that was absolutely not designed for throwing - was not a great idea. Even stabilizing it with the Force, it still didn't really have the desired effect. It more just slammed into the Kaleesh without doing much damage. All it really did was slow him down enough that Lorcan wasn't immediately impaled.

 

[Lorcan]

Where was Vizzy?

As Lorcan stared up at the Kaleesh about to attempt to skewer him with a trident (of all fucking things), Lorcan couldn't help but think to himself that very, very, important question.

Where. The. Absolute. FUCK. Was. Vizzy?!

A sword flew out from the side of his view, impacting the Kaleesh warrior with the blunt end of the pommel around the upper area of his left arm. It looked in that direction for a split second and Lorcan used it as a chance to move, surging upward onto one knee. As the trident was thrust in his direction, he twisted to one side, grabbing the trident's haft before it could be withdrawn.

Rather than wrestle over the trident however, Lorcan used his other hand to grab the Kaleesh warrior by the ankle and pull, sending the warrior sprawling. With the two of them now scrambling around on the ground, Lorcan was slightly higher and he used this to his advantage, pouncing on the downed Kaleesh warrior and grappling with him.

Both of them roared and raged until, after seconds that felt like hours, Lorcan was able to find the best grip and twisted - snapping the Kaleesh's neck.

He slumped back to the floor, looking up at the sky.

"Where the fuck were you, Vizzy?! I said cover me!"

@Phoenix

 

[Vizim]

Vizim was moving over to provide help, but the fight was over in a matter of moments. Lorcan had managed to get atop the final hunter and snap his neck as Vizim got in range, recalling the sword to his hand with the Force.

And then Lorcan started raging. He supposed from the Lieutenant's point of view it was reasonable, but it still overlooked one very important point. He had simply assumed that Vizim knew hand signals.

No, you didn't say anything. You had a few hand spasms and then ran off on a suicide dash, he said grumpily with a frown. He grabbed a portion of the net, helping pull it free and offering his free hand to Lorcan to help him up.

Someone started saying something in Kaleesh a moment later and Vizim scrambled to pull the small device out of his belt and turn it on.

...expectations, it said. Oh great, so they had no idea what he had said about expectations. "These are our expectations. You've met expectations. We're uncertain of your expectations." Great.

Come eat and drink with me, the voice said, and that sounded like a good thing. Eat some food and get out of here. Not so bad, right?

@Nefieslab

 

[Lorcan]

Lorcan groaned in frustration both at himself and at Vizzy. He had kind of just assumed that Vizzy would know the hand signals of the Sith Troopers and, just like the saying went, he had made as ass of himself. Now Lorcan was not one who usually apologized for making an ass out of himself but he didn't feel like he could really go full asshole on Vizzy so he accepted the man's help, taking his hand to pull himself up.

"...point." he muttered, dusting himself off slightly, "Next time I'll see if I can remember Sith Spook Hand Signals instead of the Trooper ones. Something like this yeah?"

He was smirking as he didn't use hand signals but actually Galactic Basic Sign Language to insinuate that Vizim took pleasure from Gungan dicks. Chuckling a little bit, he tilted his head to one side slightly as the two of them were spoken to and the device translated a second or two later.

Great expectations had been met or something like that. Lorcan just shrugged ever so slightly when he looked at Vizzy.

"They don't seem like the kind of people who poison food and drink." he pointed out, "Just to be safe I'll eat first, yeah?"

Vizzy was the one who had even the slightest amount of diplomacy about him after all. And, unless Lorcan missed the mark, he was 90% sure that Vizzy preferred to stab people through the heart from behind rather than actually engage in diplomacy. Of course that did leave him with questions and a single hope.

"Better not be vegetarian..."

@Phoenix

 

[Vizim]

Vizim imagined that was the closest thing Lorcan had ever done to apologizing in this life, and so he accepted it well enough, though the new gesture was going to earn a comment.

We aren't the peasant infantry. We don't use hand signals, we have telepathy, he said deadpan.

I don't think they will, but that sounds like an excellent plan, he said. Wait, were the two of them actually starting to get along? He refused to believe that, the man was insufferable, but they seemed to have reached... some sort of an understanding.

They don't strike me as the vegetarian type, he said as they were led up to the palace. The chief sat them down and food was placed in front of them as Vizim started to speak.

Your people are great warriors. We'd like to bring your warriors and those of other tribes into our Empire. Give you new and greater adversaries to hunt and war against, he said.

@Nefieslab

 

[Lorcan]

Well Vizzy didn't linger on it like some of the Sith he had worked with before so he was already a step up from the usual twats he had to deal with. Something about being Sith seemed to make the rank and file 'Champions' think they were the Force's own gift to the fucking Galaxy.

Of course Vizzy spoke and Lorcan just stared at him.

"... Vizzy did you just make a joke?" he smirked ever so slightly, "Did it hurt, inside, to let that out? I appreciate you straining yourself like that, I really do."

Indeed, they were not vegetarians and Lorcan was immensely grateful. As the food and drink was set down in front of them, Lorcan made sure his helmet was right beside him rather than taken away. Reaching in front of Vizzy as he spoke to the King or Lord or whatever, Lorcan sampled some of the food and drink.

Both because he had some experience detecting poisons from Ranger and PI work and because he really kind of didn't give too many fucks about if he got lightly poisoned - it would just make a massacre of the locals entirely justified instead of just fun. He nodded to Vizzy.

"Middle one is probably too spicy for you." he warned Vizim not of poison but of actual spice, noting how the boss of the locals seemed to be measuring Vizim's words looking positive but not fully convinced yet, "You're selling this too high - too righteous."

He eyed Vizim for a moment before taking the translation box and speaking to it.

"They pay you well in weapons, armor and money to go and kill people who'll do their best to kill you right back. It's not a hunt, it's a fucking war but it's pretty equal." he pointed to the King, "If their Empire wins or loses, doesn't matter to you and me. We get paid to do what what love to do - sound good?"

The boss stared at Lorcan as the box translated before he burst out laughing and gestured for more alcoholic drinks to be brought to the table. Lorcan shrugged and turned back to Vizim, something in his demeanor becoming more somber and serious than he had been for a very long time.

"Don't preach glory and honor when they'll find out it's bantha-shit in the first quagmire you throw them into because the regs got bogged down." he advised the Sith quietly, eyes distant, "They might be proud but at the end of the day everyone, everywhere, is selfish. Tell them the shitty truth and show them the gold they'll get at the end and they'll crawl through hell in my experience."

@Phoenix

 

[Vizim]

Vizim shrugged at Lorcan's approach. It seemed to be working, and between the two of them, the Kaleesh seemed to be won over.

Greed, honor, other less savory means, he shrugged. He didn't really care why they joined as long as they did. And that seemed to be what the pair had accomplished.

He ate up what he wanted, reaching over and eating the one that Lorcan said was too spicy for him. He may have been a white boy, but he loved spicy foods, eating up more of it than anything else. Speak for yourself, he said with reference to "too spicy." The dealings went on for a short time and considering the two had just killed the Chieftain's men, he didn't seem upset, which was nice.

This hadn't been the worst trip, after all.

//Exit @Nefieslab