Ask [Bastion] Something About a Man

[Malou D'Amaris]

Location: Outdoor market, Bastion
Time: Solar noon

"Fresh fish!" "Fresh fruit!" "Fresh vegetables!"

It was all but aflame outside in Bastion's capital, but that deterred none of the midday markets from setting up their stalls and advertising their wares to the public. The streets were covered partially by colorful fabrics strewn across from building to building to create a cool shade in which buyers could peruse under. Most of Bastion's capital was made up of modern buildings, but the market always sprung up in the old town where the buildings were older than anyone who lived here and the streets were worn smooth by years of foot travel.

It certainly had more character than the newer districts, but it wasn't hard to spot where modernity was creeping in. Malou started to make a game of counting modern amenities among the stucco homes, and she spotted everything from solar roofs to D.I.Y. holoboards slapped onto walls.

"Handmade jewlery from Bastion's finest silversmith!" "Bastion-grown ganja! It's legal--unlike spice!"

As tempted as Malou was to start poking around the market stalls, she was technically here on some mission. The details themselves essentially boiled down to finding some person who was some big shot in the old city. Truth be told, Malou didn't pay all that much attention to the details. It was on her datapad if she needed any of it anyway.

It was honestly about time that Malou got assigned a mission and actually went through with it. She'd been ambitious as an acolyte, but as soon as she became a champion, she'd relaxed a bit. One could even say she'd relaxed a bit too much, as she'd wormed her way out of quite a few things by now. The Miralukan had been under the impression that she'd have a lot more freedom to do what she wanted as a champion, and while that was true it wasn't true one-hundred percent of the time. If she hadn't been assigned this mission with an acolyte instead of another champion, she probably would've tried to avoid this one too. Between boredom and not wanting her master to get on her for avoiding her duties, she'd ended up here.

Just like she'd not paid attention to the details of the mission, Malou hadn't paid attention to who she was meeting here either. The champion had been off on Exegol, so arriving with the acolyte wasn't in the plan. If memory served her correctly, they were supposed to meet one another somewhere in this market. 'Or was it inside one of the shops?' She couldn't remember, but maybe she should get on figuring that out.

"Hey you there! Young lady with the mas-! The blind-! ...the blindfold. Why don't you come look..." The silversmith she'd heard advertising his wares earlier had turned his attention to her. When she turned toward the sound so that her face was visible to him, his voice trailed off as he grimaced at himself. Malou thought it was a funny reaction, but it didn't encourage her to go over to see his pieces. She was half tempted to ask if he knew a local goldsmith, though.

'Now, who is this acolyte?' The Serennian finally pulled out her datapad to check.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was entirely distracted by one of the stalls. He was looking at a selection of herb pipes, and these were luxurious with complicated designs.

“How much for that one?” He asked as he took a picture of a gnarly looking one to send to Cairo.

“150 Crowns.”

“Say what?”

“...How old are you, kid?”

Altair quickly shuffled away, grimacing to himself. That was when he spotted a familiar figure given the way everyone was politely giving her a wide berth. There were many people that had never seen a Miralukan before and assumed it was a lost, blind person that could bump into anyone. The Devaronian smiled and walked over, before realizing that she probably couldn’t see his smile. He stopped smiling like a moron and closed the distance.

“Hey Malou!” He called out cheerfully, “What’re you doing here?” Altair had no idea that he even had an accomplice for the mission he was assigned. Clearly whoever gave out the briefs did a terrible job coordinating. Nevertheless, he was happy to see a familiar face, especially with every other person giving him nervous looks. Malou’s face was normally neutral most of the time, so even if she thought he looked like a monster, he would be delightfully oblivious.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

A voice called out to her and while she didn't recognize it, the voice still sound familiar. What she couldn't miss were the horns which jutted out each side of the caller's head. 'Altair?' She couldn't quite remember if that was his name or not. 'Yeah, he's the one with the good singing voice. Did I ever compliment him on that?' The champion turned so that her body was facing the acolyte. "Some assignment. I'm supposed to be meeting up with an acolyte." Seeing as there was practically no other reason she could think of for him to be here as well, she supposed it was now obvious who said acolyte was. "I guess that's you!"

As Altair got closer, the Miralukan quickly noticed that the wide berth she had been given by the street crowd had grown wider. Briefly, she wondered why. It wasn't until he stopped in front of her that she remembered that the galaxy had a stick up their ass about the Devaronians. She didn't understand the issue. When had anyone ever reacted to a zabrak like that? They had more horns!

That aside, Malou was interested in how things would go between them moving forward. Their interaction at the party they'd met at was brief. From what she knew, both Ashla and Cairo liked him, so he was at least starting out in a more positive light from her perspective. After what had happened between her and Senin on Serenno months ago, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that everything was a show of sorts. They had even made up, but the suspicion still lingered.

Time for conversation. 'Play it cool. Make small talk. Figure him out.' Once she figured out what kind of person he was, she'd be able to relax a bit. "Anyways, I've never been to a market like this. They've got some cool stuff here." Anything sold here she could buy somewhere else for a higher price and better quality, but there was something charming about the handmade wares. It was more personable than anything she was used to.

Malou turned to walk and motioned for him to follow. "I don't think we ever got properly introduced. Altair, right? Who's your master?" There was no way in hell she'd call an exchange of first names in an inebriated state a proper introduction. Plus, she wanted to know who his master was--if he had one. It definitely didn't have anything to do with her distrust of a certain Sith lord.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair’s eyes widened slightly when it became apparent she was his partner for the mission. Damn, did that mean they had to get to work already? He looked slightly crestfallen, though he was glad she couldn’t make out his expression. The Devaronian felt a bit better when she began to talk about the markets instead. He looked out at the stalls, “Really? Never? They’re fantastic. I usually find a space to set up and perform. Brings solid tip money!” He said cheerfully. If he hadn’t run into her, he would probably be doing just that.

The Devaronian grimaced a bit at her next question, “Yeah, Altair. And uhhh I don’t have a master,” He felt strange admitting that. In many ways it made him feel unwanted, but he didn’t linger on it too long. It was hard to believe that Malou, who was only two years older, could technically take on acolytes now. Altair faced ahead.

“Come on, there’s so much stuff to check out here!” He looked down at his chrono, “We have a little bit of time to kill. I’ve been eyeing this particular stall.”

Altair began to walk forth, glancing to see if Malou was coming. For all he knew, she could be all serious and suggest getting right back to the mission. As the subordinate, he would of course oblige. The Devaronian arrived at his destination stall and Malou would smell some very spicy foods right away.

“I’ve always wanted to do this pepper challenge,” He said gleefully. He looked at the others that were trying it and in tears or chugging milk. If you could eat a pepper without spitting it out, you won a cool t shirt. Altair looked over at Malou, grinning, “Wanna try or too porg?”

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Malou didn't miss the saddened look that came over the Devaronian's face, and it was met with confusion on her end. When he spoke though, he sounded cheerful, which only served to confuse the Miralukan even more. Instead of dwelling on it, she cast the thought aside and nodded absentmindedly when he told her he didn't have a master. She had just been curious.

"We can kill all the time we want. I doubt the dude's going anywhere," Malou tagged on as she followed briskly behind him. As far as she knew, the guy didn't know they were coming, so she was sure he wouldn't be aiming to ditch town or anything. She was happy to procrastinate the mission.

The heat of the air only served to amplify the smell of spice in the air, and the Miralukan's nose caught the scent of spiciness without much trouble. The scene around the stall was a sorry sight; more people were drinking milk than chowing down on the pepper. If Altair hadn't challenged her, Malou would've had zero interest in participating. She didn't mind spicy, but she certainly didn't go out of her way to seek it out. Looking at the faces of those coughing from the heat, she didn't doubt it was outside of her tolerance either.

"I- well, sure. Why not." Malou strode forward, plucked a pepper from the stand, and took a bite from the end. It was immediately spicy, but not too bad. For a moment she thought she was in the clear until the heat came on full force. Pain set her mouth aflame, and before she knew it, she'd spit the bit out onto the ground. Malou reached for the nearest container of milk, though tried her best to maintain her composure as she took a long drink of it. She could feel her cheeks heating up even as she tried to subdue the spice, and her eyes began to water under her closed lids.

"Wha- what kind of peppers are these?" she asked of the attendant. Malou did her best to get through the sentence without choking on the heat of her words, but her voice was noticeably hoarse. With an amused smile, he replied, "Bastion Devils!" He didn't gesture to the poster next to him, as he was a bit keener with the eyes than the silversmith she'd spoken to before. Malou couldn't read the text because it was printed on the surface, but Altair would be able to see the pepper's name printed in big, bold red letters. "Ah, okay."

While she waited for Altair's reaction to the peppers, she let her sight wander up and down the street. There looked to be a bar down the way if the group of presumably drunk patrons being kicked out meant anything. The bouncer looked reasonably pissed, and the group of aliens being removed looked drunkenly pissed. Eventually, they were persuaded to leave, and they began to make their way up towards the market.

Curiosity sated, she turned her attention back to Altair.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction to the peppers, though he was impressed she even tried, “Well damn, I guess you’re cooler than I’d expect from a champ,” He said breezily before turning to take his own pepper. He was fully prepared to easily chomp it down and impress her. The first two bites went fine, and he felt exceptionally confident. However, the heat began to get to him moments later. His smug grin quickly left his face as his mouth suddenly felt like lava, “Shit!” He cried out, comically stomping his feet in a panic as he quickly grab a jug of milk. He chugged almost half of it before he began to feel better, thoroughly failing the challenge.

“Ahahaha, even the devil can’t handle it!” The man at the stall chuckled. Altair gave him a dirty look, wiping his mouth off as he set the milk down. Truthfully, he thought for some reason his heat and fire resistance would apply here, but clearly not. He ended up just looking like an idiot around Malou. Just what he needed.

Altair looked back at the champion, his eyes still watering a little from the pepper, “Well.. that wasn’t as fun as I expected,” He muttered, “Got anything you wanna do?” He asked, guessing that she had better ideas than his stupid suggestion that made them both miserable.

The drunk aliens were bickering amongst themselves, half stumbling their way over. One of them glanced over at Malou, “Hey, what do you think you’re looking at?” He began to chuckle as he pointed, nudging his buddy, “Get it? Get it? Ahahahaha.”

“Duuuuuude like why issss she looking at us?” He waved his hands a few times, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Don’t be stupid, she can’t see shit.”

The aliens proceeded to make faces and rude hand gestures at her. At some point Altair had slinked out of view, only to emerge near the two aliens. He held out two of the peppers swiped while the stall guy wasn't looking, “Could I interest you gents in sampling some Stihserif?” He said gleefully, a name he made up on the spot as what was very appropriate for the peppers spelled backwards.

“Oh this looks great,” The aliens grabbed them, quickly munching away. Altair slowly took steps back.

“Enjoy!”

It was only seconds before disaster ensued. The men began to dance around, sweating profusely, moaning from the agony of the peppers. Altair was long gone, ignoring the various curses thrown at him. He promptly grabbed Malou by the wrist and ducked to the side and into another section of the markets, laughing to himself the entire time.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

To be honest, Malou had pretty much expected Altair to chow down on the pepper no problem. Not only had this been his suggestion, but she too thought him being Devaronian would count for something when it came to spice. 'Apparently not!' She couldn't help but let out a good-natured laugh as he hurried to grab a gallon of milk to cool his burning mouth. 'He probably laughs more than a comedian running this thing,' she thought in regard to the man operating the stall.

"I kind of want to go see if there are any local weaponsmiths around here," she began. Before Malou could get to her explanation as to why she was interested, the drunken group of aliens reached her with their comments. Her face fell into a practiced neutral expression, but the Miralukan didn't respond to any of their words or gestures. She was certainly used to comments or jokes about her lack of vision (or, in her youth, her terrible vision), but she was not used to literal blatant rudeness right in her face. It might've gone on behind the scenes back home, but her position within the nobility and within the Sith kept her from noticing, at least.

Malou almost reached out to stop Altair when he began to move but stopped herself before she did. That was for the best, as the aliens' reactions to the heat of the "Bastion Devil" had her laughing along with Altair as they quickly ran from view. "Wow, I can't believe they just ate the peppers without a second thought," she got out in between laughs. After the two came to a stop, the Miralukan took notice of a shoelace unraveled. Without a second thought, Malou twirled her wrist and curled her fingers to retie the boot with the Force. Though it was quite hot outside, she'd chosen to wear such shoes with her outfit in incase anything more than walking or talking occurred.

"Anyway," Malou began, "I want to see if there are any weaponsmiths. I think it's fun to see if a planet has any traditional or local styles of weaponry." She would be surprised if Altair expressed disinterest in such a thing, especially since he seemed like the sort to like weaponry. A lot of Sith did, even if it was just limited to lightsaber weaponry. Malou just liked to collect things, whether it be knowledge of the object or the object itself.

After a few minutes of walking and searching further up and down the market with her Sight, Malou found a stall with a diverse display of weaponry and promptly turned on her heel and headed in the direction. There weren't any guns sitting out that she could see, but there were a plethora of melee weapons displayed behind the attendant's back. Some were more modern in style with obvious technological modding, while others appeared to have been forged by hand.

"Mm, can I help y'all, or just a'lookin'?"

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was still recovering his burst of laughter, and he was delighted to see that Malou joined in as well. At the academy, he was usually around way too serious personalities. He was recently partnered with another acolyte named Zash that was also the super serious type. Altair found it hard to mesh with those types. He didn’t miss the way she expertly tied her shoe laces with the Force, the sight causing his brows to rise. He didn’t have that much command of the Force for such fine uses of it, and the sight was impressive.

“Yeah? What kinds are you into?” He asked, genuinely curious about visiting a weaponsmith. As a Matukai, he would likely never use a saber. Altair followed her to the weapon shop, instantly drawn to the variety of weapons laid out. He looked at the wall, eyes wide as he surveyed the different selections of melee weapons.

“Are those Kage blades?” He asked the merchant.

“Why yes they are,” The merchant, a tone of surprise in his voice as he reached for them and set them out, “Original hilts and engraving. They’re sold as a set. All the way from Quarzite,” The merchant stepped away to shuffle some things around.

Altair stared at the blades for a moment before glancing at Malou, “I was raised Matukai, so we always rely on melee weapons and hand to hand combat. I crafted my Wan-Shen,” He patted the collapsible weapon on his hip, “I don’t think I’ll ever use a lightsaber. I hope I won’t be forced to do it if I get a master..”

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

"Swords mostly, I suppose, though I would like to find anything historic to the region," she answered.

While Altair spoke with the merchant, she zeroed in on one of the swords on display. It was a few feet in length, had a sleek and modern design, but there was a noticeably different texture on much of the sword's blade. It reminded her greatly of the texture found on vibroblades. When the merchant moved away from Altair, Malou caught his attention. "Could I see the blade?" she asked as she gestured to it with her index finger. He blinked at her before he shrugged and agreed. "It's a vibroblade, so be careful not to ignite it. The button is on the front of the hilt," he stated as he placed it on the counter in front of her. Malou nodded, picked it up, felt its weight, then set it back down on the counter. As interesting as it was, the blade was far from any sort of traditional weaponry.

"Are there any weaponsmiths around here that make weapons traditional to Bastion?" she asked as the merchant took the sword back and placed it back on its display. A pensive look clouded his face for a few seconds before he decided to humor her question. "Yes," he began with a long, unsure pause on the vowel, "There's Gabriella, or as the locals call 'er, Gone Gabby. She lives further into the Old City, dunno exactly where though." Curiosity sparked, Malou turned away after thanking the man.

"The Matukai?" she muttered to herself as she tried to recall anything she knew about them. A bit of sparse history popped into memory from an old book she'd read as a teen, but she certainly wouldn't call herself an expert on the topic. "That's pretty cool. Is your Wan-Shen lightsaber resistant?" It would be a shame if his handcrafted weapon were to befall its end at the hand of someone's lightsaber strike. As for whether he'd be required to use a lightsaber, she didn't know.

"I guess...I don't know. I suppose it would depend on the person," she commented after a few moments. She began to walk, heading in the direction the merchant had vaguely gestured toward in her earlier conversation. "Caelestis often had me train with a single saber rather than the two I usually fight with," she added. "I'm sure that even if they were to make you learn to use one, they wouldn't force you to abandon your Wan-Shen." The Miralukan thought it would be a shitty thing if someone took on a Matukai acolyte just to force them to shed their fighting style.

Anyways. "The merchant said something about a traditional weaponsmith further into the Old City—let's go check her out." Malou adjusted her walking speed to match with the crowd, and began to lead the two further into the Old City. As they moved further from the New City to the Old City, they would notice the buildings growing taller. The beige material became riddled with colorful murals and graffiti, and the colorful fabrics which had covered the sky of the market were joined by strings of laundry, paper lights, and electrical wires. The temperature was noticeably cooler here thanks to the constant shade. Bits of the hot sun filtered in through the overhead cloud of cloth, falling down to the street here and there. The loud, excited chatter of the market morphed into the sounds of daily life, which was just as loud.

'This is so...different.' Malou had been to all sorts of places across the galaxy, but this was something different. The Old City, in her opinion, managed to capture the environment of Coruscant's lower layers without the grimy, dark ambiance. 'This place is cool.' She would never want to live here, though. The Serennian was just fine back home in her centuries-old castle.

"He didn't say where she lived or worked, just that we could probably find her by asking around," Malou commented aside to Altair. Who to ask, though? "Her name is Gabriella," she added quickly after remembering she never told him the woman's name.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair nodded at the question, “Force imbued and saber resistant, along with the pole,” Matukai could go toe to toe with Jedi and many of them were even recruited into the Order before. Embracing the Dark Side was something very new for Altair, and he already knew it would take him a long time to channel it well. The way he had been trained before was a very different method of leveraging the Force. He never knew any offensive uses beyond just enhancing himself with it. He eyed her curiously as she described how Caelestis trained her. He couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to have a master. Did it mean feeling less lost and directionless than he felt sometimes?

The Devaronian fell into step beside Malou as they walked towards the Old City, his hands in his pockets. Like Malou, he was captivated by the change in scenery, noting the tall buildings and lights. Everything about this area felt more residential and there were little shops where locals were chatting away and enjoying themselves. The two of them certainly caught more glances here than they did back at the markets, but Altair paid it no heed.

“I guess we just ask the locals here,” He said with a vague shrug, “Seems like they all know each other,” Altair didn’t miss how someone would walk by and someone else from a caf shop would wave to them across the street.

The Devaronian spotted a shop owner that walked outside to change his shop sign. Altair sped up and approached him, dramatically clearing his throat to announce his arrival and not startle him. The man looked up, shocked at first, but he respectfully recovered quickly. He appeared friendly like everyone else around here so far.

“Hello! How can I help you?”

“Hi, we’re looking for a weaponsmith named Gabriella. Know where we can find her?”

The man’s face immediately changed, suddenly looking a mixture of angry and terrified. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he looked back and forth between the two, “Why are you asking? Who told you that?” He said, clearly flustered, “There’s no Gabriella here,” He said flatly before quickly walking back inside the shop and slamming the door shut.

Altair blinked a few times, “Well,” He said after a while, “Admittedly I wasn't too excited about finding her before, but now I sure as hell am.”

He spun on his heel and began to head deeper into Old City with determined steps. Why the hell did that dude seem so flustered about such a simple question?!

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Just talk to the locals. Malou thought such an action was easier said than done. She wasn't much good at just talking to people. Waitstaff? Sith? People her age? That was one thing. Random strangers, of whom she knew nothing about? That was another. Altair seemed to have none of those reservations, so she watched as he approached a shop owner, cleared his throat loudly, then asked for Gabriella.

The man's reaction was surprising. 'Why would such a simple inquiry cause him to act like that?' Though Malou had already been intrigued about this "Gone Gabby", she too was further intrigued by her from this man's strange reaction. Whoever she was, it seemed that man didn't want to talk about it. She noted that this contradicted with what the merchant from before had told her. From the way he'd phrased it, it sounded like it would be a hop, skip, and a jump and she'd appear.

"Yeah, that was...odd." Malou followed quickly after Altair, but before she caught up a man stopped her with a gentle tap on her shoulder and a question. "Excuse me, miss?" He was covered in a multitude of layered clothing that she figured he could only get away with because the streets here were so sheltered from the blazing sun. His hair was pulled back into a bun, and across his back was a stringed guitar of sorts. When he saw her blindfolded face, he mocked surprise. Malou thought it was way too comical to be genuine, but failed to react visually to it.

When Malou turned toward him, the colorful man removed his hand from her shoulder and twirled it around so that his cupped palm faced toward the key. "Could I bother you for a few crowns? Credits even, if you would be so kind. I will, of course, pay you back. I've excellent at finding people, so don't you worry your pretty little head about that. That's all I ask! Could just be one crown, even."

"Good at finding people, hm?" Malou reached into her pocket and procured a few crowns between her thumb and index finger. The man's eyes lit up when the money appeared. "Yes! There is no one I can't find! I would be able to pay you back, so problem at all." Malou nodded as if she understood. "Alright, I'll give you these—and you won't even have to pay me back—if you can help us out. We're trying to find a woman named Gabriell. She's a weaponsmith."

There was a length of silence after Malou's proposition and the man's next words, and during that time it was clear as day to see the contemplation flicker and dance across his features. Eventually, though, he withdrew his hand. "On second thought, I can ask someone else," he said as he retracted his hand. "If you want to find her though, try asking someone a bit er...tougher." Then, without elaborating, he made his leave.

"Damn, why does everyone have to be so fucking cryptic?" Stuff like this, where people wouldn't reveal a whole truth, pissed her off. "Whatever. Someone tougher. Where can we find "someone tougher?" "

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair stared at the strange exchange between Malou and the man. The stringed instrument on his back looked very similar to his own hallikset, and he would have commented on it if not for the odd behavior. Altair eyed him suspiciously the entire time, though he wasn’t entirely surprised when the man withdrew away as soon as the name was mentioned. Someone tougher? He glanced at Malou when she spoke.

“I can’t believe you were forking over money to that random weirdo,” He muttered quietly. As a street performer and overall poor person, seeing crowns just tossed around like that was strange to him. However, he had heard Malou was a noble or something, so this made sense.

“Tougher…tougher…” Altair kept walking till he saw a little granny telling off a man over twice her size. The hulking man looked terrified as she brandished her purse and pointed her finger to tell the man to go away. In the end, the man and his friends all shuffled away, looking more than terrified by this granny in front of her shop.

Altair blinked a few times as he looked at the little old lady, “Um… your turn,” He said weakly to Malou, having zero intention of striding up to her. If she didn’t count as tough, he didn’t know who did.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Malou just shrugged at his comment, not really understanding what the big deal was. After all, if he was asking for money anyways, why not ask for something in return?

At Altair's prompting, Malou took in a deep breath and made her way over towards the tense old lady. After she had finished berating the men for who-knows-what, she had waddled over to a window box of flowers sitting in one of the few rays of sun that filtered down here. She began to fuss over them, and Malou could see that some of the stems were missing their buds.

"Excuse m-" Before Malou could finish her sentence, and without turning around, the little old granny shot a finger into the air and announced: "NOT INTERESTED!" Malou, shocked into silence by the woman's interruption, just stood there for a minute and watched her groom the flowerbed. Damn, okay. She must have to deal with a lot of shit, huh?

When the lady finished fussing around with the box and turned around to glare at Malou for still standing there, the Champion took the opportunity to try again. "I'm really sorry to bother you miss, but my friend and I-"

"Goodness gracious child, just spit it out!"

"I- We're looking for a woman named Gabriella." Malou wondered if she was always this short-tempered, or if whatever those men had done had just royally pissed her off today.

"Mmhm, sure you are. Now, why should I help you two? Never seen you around here. You lookin' for trouble?"

"A merchant up the road told us she was the only weaponsmith here who made traditional weaponry. We're not trouble, just...tourists."

The woman, who had been glaring daggers up at Malou's blindfolded face, took a courtesy step back when Malou finished speaking. At the mention of weaponsmithing, her hardened expressions softened just the slightest.

"Ol' Gabby isn't taking new customers right now, but if you help me out with a little problem I have I might be willing to put a good word in for ya."

Malou stayed quiet for a few moments. She does know the woman, then. Words could not describe how curious Malou was to meet this mysterious Gabby now. Surely nothing this woman needed help with would be all that big of a deal. Probably just errands she doesn't want to run, Malou decided. Should be easy.

"We would appreciate that. What do you need help with?" Now that she'd started this conversation, the Miralukan sincerely hoped it wasn't going to be a pain in the ass.

tag: @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was about to shuffle away when Granny very loudly proclaimed for them to fuck off. However, his shoes squeaked when he abruptly paused to see Malou continue to pursue this. By the time the conversation was done, Altair’s jaw was hanging open.

“Is this lady seriously about to give us a side quest right now?” He quipped at Malou through the Force, staring with disbelief. There was a moment of pause as the lady looked from Malou to Altair.

“It’s my goat, Luna!” Granny cried out in despair and anguish, “She ran away into the woods this town backs into. She’s my lucky goat and has always been such a wonderful guide. Not only that, but her milk sells for 5 crowns!” Granny flashed them a toothless grin, “Bring her back and I’ll help. Oh and watch out for those critters in the woods.”

Altair stared at her. He was almost about to blurt out that Luna was probably well digested fertilizer by now courtesy of the forest ‘critters’ but he held his tongue. The tiefling gave a vague nod of agreement before the two were sent on their way. Altair looked over his shoulder before looking back at Malou.

“Are we seriously about to do this bullshit?” He asked quietly, “You trying to get this weaponsmith to make you something or what?” Altair would have given up on this fruitless endeavor a while ago, but Malou seemed determined.

Ahead of them, they would be able to see a chain link fence. On the other side of it was a forest stretching out for miles and rolling hills. Altair glanced at Malou and shrugged before grabbing onto the fence to climb up and drop on the other side in a crouch.

@lizziie