Open Asking About a Snake

[Roland Rook]

Corsin, mid-afternoon
✦ THEME ✦​

The air on the planet had a salty taste to it. But that was because a great deal of the surface was coastline. Roland would make a mental note to clean his equipment thoroughly. The last thing he needed was added corrosion.

The mandalorian walked into the cantina and immediately heard the excited shouts of several people. His helmet turned to see some figures settle back down to their table where they had evidently been gambling. But the Sector Ranger was not surprised. People held gazes on him for a few moments longer than what was normally considered appropriate.

Roland did not pay them much mind. His hood over the cross-visored helmet stayed up even as he approached the bar. Resting his wrists against the counter he leaned in to get the bartender's attention. The zabrak bartender came over to take his order. "This is a merc bar right?"

The bartender gave a gentle nod. "Mercs come here. Mostly to spend money on the races. If it's work you're looking for I-" Roland would shake his head. "Not looking for work. Looking for Mercenaries, preferably Mandalorians." His badge wasn't out but he still kept that bit of identity to himself for now. It seemed the Zabrak still believed he was a mercenary or bounty hunter probably though. "I've actually been off work for awhile and so don't about anybody who's been in. I can point out regulars though if you want." The Mandalorian just waved the offer away. "Thanks but I'll just ask around."

"Say, you make anything with a straw?" The Mandalorian asked in a curious tone. The Zabrak smiled for a moment and then realized Roland wasn't joking. Clearing his throat he answered. "Uh yeah of course. What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

The bartender would nod again and begin mixing together a drink for the armored man. "Is it only swoop racing they're betting on err....?" He left it open and looked at some of the viewing screens. There were some showing other types of racing in other parts of the galaxy but majority of them were showing swoop bike races and in an official capacity. Most of the more prominent gambling environments were in the outer rim but Roland knew that Corsin was a beutiful planet that many believed to be an ideal vacation place. The man had learned that even guns for hire took vacations. It was better he was tracking them through this part of the galaxy though. There were plenty of places that were less ideal. "Yeah. Mostly swoops." The bartender confirmed as much.

 

[Casany Praxor]

Music [Recurring]

Spoiler

​

It was a long, hard road that a bounty hunter found herself walking, slinging rope around the feet of those dumb enough to run from her or pelting their backs with bolts because they did. Throughout the blood, sweat and tears, pain and fear, there was something so poetic about unwinding in a cantina after a hard day’s work. In this one, the rough drank with angry brows at whoever came through the entrance, the rueful washed their sorrows away to the bottom of their glass, and the rowdy were bouncing with cheers or curses at the gambling screens.

Cass hadn’t come here for any of that. It was enough for her to relax in her booth and listen to the ambience of the liquored world around her. A bottle of rum was paired with a half-filled glass on her table, a helmet beside it with a T-shaped visor gazing back at the owner. Cass wasn’t looking. Her arms were outstretched over the back of the booth, her head resting against the wall and tilted toward the ceiling as though it were a window and on the other side was a raging crowd calling her name. One day…

She pictured that day; a day of blades and bolts, every life she had ever taken wielding a weapon, every rotten soul or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the lights snuffed out from their eyes. Someday… They were coming for her, she knew that much, just not when. The rope around the feet of her bounties would eventually be felt around her neck, the ground of her grave would shake. The voices chanted as much in her sleep, night after night, taunting and haunting the dreamer. Her day was coming. But not today.

So she settled for smiling at the ceiling, through that window of her future, letting her eyes wave hello to her enemies and the revenge they yearned for. She would be as ready for them as she was for anyone in this cantina. Cass sat there in her red and gold armor wrapped in a poncho of the same palette, the single braid of her hair draping down a shoulder. Others had figured her out at first glance as soon as she had entered the cantina under an hour ago, when she still had the helmet on, some even tutting and muttering, but most people knew better than to mess with a Mandalorian who wanted to be left alone, happy in her castle of lies.


@Darasuum

 

[Venara Tabbith]

Venara found herself in a drinking hole on Corsin while she waited for her ship to be refueled. Today she wore a crimson button down shirt under her blast vest and black cargo pants. Compared to many of the places she had been in the outer rim, this place could be considered... nice. It was a little rough around the edges, but the occupants weren't a bunch of syndicate thugs packing more heat than a PDF squad. So it was nice. She ordered a drink from the bar, and when it was delivered, she paid with Huttese coins. She unfolded the drinking tube in her mask and sampled the local brew. The beer was a bit sour, but Venara quite liked it. It reminded her of the weak ales produced in her clan fortress.

Venara noticed the bartender looking at her, curious about her straw. "It is a pain to remove my mask to drink, so i installed a liquid induction port," she explained. The alien nodded his head in understanding, then moved to service another customer. Venara sipped her beer and looked around the bar. There was a group of mercs on the other side of the bar crowding around several screens. She had seen plenty of gambling like that on Nar Shaddaa, so the sight was pretty uninteresting to her. There was a man with a face concealing helmet talking to the bartender, scanning the crowd. He seemed to be looking for something, and Venara decided it would not be a good thing if he decided what he was looking for was her. She waited until a few more patrons had occupied seats around her and then hopped to her feet into the shadow of the waitress and matched her pace as she walked across the bar.

The young Ubese followed the waitress until she stopped at a table to pick up some dishes. Venara, realizing that her cover was gone, sat in the nearest booth. She was surprised to find a dazed woman lounging there. The Ubese became very tense once she realized her mistake and remained very still, waiting for the woman to react.

@Die Shize @Darasuum

 

[Ranier Carolus Stroud]

Stroud was having a wonderful time in this quaint little bar on Corsin. He was stopping over on the planet for a bit of repairs and refueling, but was finding the people and the food to be just such a delight so he had stuck around a little longer than intended. Currently he was yelling about some form of racing, even though he really didn't know what was going on with it. He never took much interest in sports but in the interest of making new friends he was more than willing to make himself excited for the high speed swoop buffoonery.

It was then, that he was struck with perhaps the most genius idea. A true light bulb moment some would even be inclined to say. It could end up very dangerous, but it could also make him a lot of money. Now he wasn't one to really keep up with bounty hunting, but even he knew of the new bounty on lightsabers. He wasn't really sure why exactly they were being hunted, when it seemed so much easier to just put a bounty on the heads of the actual attackers, but he wasn't about to look a business opportunity in the mouth.

With this genius idea still in his head, he knew he needed a second opinion. He scanned the bar looking for some rough types that seemed like they would know a thing or two about bounty hunting. His eyes landed on a pair of women sitting quietly in a booth, one was quite obviously a Mandalorian, and the other had a mask. They seemed like just the types to know about what he was looking for. He quickly adjusted his silver and blue outfit, making himself more presentable before he wandered his way over with a deferring, yet appropriately upper-class-mans magnanimous smile.

When he made his way over he stopped just in front of the table of their booth, maintained his smile and cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ladies, I don't suppose I could ask you a few questions? You both seem knowledgeable in a subject I unfortunately am not well versed in." He said in heavily accented common, while gesturing to the Mandalorian helmet on the table so as not to insinuate anything uncouth. He was polite about his request, quite honestly there were several other folks he could go to in this bar alone, these two were just the first he saw and incorrectly assumed they were here together.

@Darasuum @Tenagra @Die Shize