Bounty on the Bounty Hunter

[Lillianne Crasse]

OOC: I"ll let Aaron answer before I post. It would be weird to interject when these are some valid questions.

 

[Solus]

((Bump :whistle:))

 

[lol not primary]

ooc: Waiting on Brandon to get back to me on a PM guys. Sorry.

 

[Solus]

((No problem. I understand perfectly))

 

[Brandon Rhea]

OOC: What PM? I never got one from you.

 

[lol not primary]

He was a little preoccupied at the moment when he'd spoken, so when River had been alerted to his error in - total call? Protomatics? - He immediately sought to rectify it, after all, Ussej was his only hope at the moment. His current Master he barely knew, and did not seem at all to be... active. Not efficient. Not that Ussej seemed to be, but he seemed like the type to get things done. The only problem was that River was not used to apologizing, and was glad when Ussej brushed it off and reassured him. He flashed the man - boy? - a small, almost unnoticeable look of gratitude, something near a small grin, before it lapsed back into its former stoney state.

"I trust you." He replied simply, almost as if it were a platitude said in some small talk, but for him it meant something deeper. If only he knew how deep. As he watched, he could sense within him that a cloud had passed over Ussej's demeanor, soul, thoughts. If only he knew that the darkness he felt was in him... a darkness that craved his soul. I trust you... but don't trust me. he thought inwardly with a shadow of despair... and hatred.

His face remained without emotion except maybe a hint of curiosity as he listened to Ussej's reply to his question. He nodded slowly. "I admire that one would bother with meditation. I don't trust myself to sit in a room and think for too long. The mind wanders." He stated. "Bu it is very important that I know if I am sleeping in a room with anyone else in it. You wouldn't understand." He said in an almost dismissive voice. He couldn't tell him... yet. He would have to disclose it piece by piece.

"Planning?" He muttered to himself in response to Ussej's question - not directed at him, he noticed. He'd already gained animosity with him... he hated when he did that to people. Looking up at the viewport ahead, he asked, in a nearly monotone voice, "Before we do that, I have a few questions. Firstly, where are we going, and why? Secondly, does the Slayer just kill, or does he commit other crimes? Was the Bendu his first murder? How did he kill him? And where? Was there any provocation, and if so, how much?" He asked, moving through his thoughts systematically. "It helps to know a subject before one tracks it. My race is good at tracking, but not that good."

He thought a moment before turning once more to Ussej. "You do know I'm not Human, right?"

The question asked were very good, Ussej had to admit. Though he didn't know how good his answers could be.

"Well, we're headed to Had Abaddon. More specifically, we're heading to the capital city there to start our investigations. And as far as I can tell, this guy's a Bounty Hunter--a damn good one too--so My guess is that this isn't his first murder. Though I guess You could call it that if you don't count killing bounties as murder. And those last few things I don't know all the details, so I guess We'll find out when we get there, won't we?"

Ussej wasn't surprised to know that River wasn't human. He'd somehow guessed that he wasn't. In Ussej's mind, he'd narrowed it down to an odd culture, another race, or both. Right now, "Both" was looking like the most logical explanation.

"Yeah, I know."

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

Lillianne was impressed with River's questions to Ussej. It seemed he had already been thinking things through. Was that what he was doing while waiting to be picked up?

When the young man revealed that he was not completely human, she dropped her mouth in astonishment. Was that what she sensed that was so different about him?

"You're not human?" she asked slowly, yet with curiosity and not fear, losing track of what she was supposed to be focusing on.

Realizing Ussej was waiting for an answer from her, catching his gaze, she smiled briefly and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry...Ussej," she said, having difficulty in dropping formalities with the seasoned priest. "It's just that I have not met others that were...different."

"Well," she said, turning her face away and furrowing her brows as she thought. "I think we should probably watch the man at first, learn some of his habits before we move in on him. To confront him immediately and not know his actions, habits and demeanor could cause others to get hurt, like a trapped animal lashing out at anything nearby. Still, sneaking up on a bounty hunter will be difficult, won't it? I'm not sure how we could throw him off unless we split up. Fewer persons together draw less attention. Perhaps one of us could even be used as bait to draw him out?"

 

[Solus]

It seemed as if the three of them were not very well informed of their quarry, but they'd think of something. They wouldn't be sent on a mission that they did not have a chance of accomplishing. It seemed that Ussej was somewhat insightful to know that he wasn't Human, something he was mildly impressed with.

He glanced over at Lillianne, who had not noticed his non-Human identity. She seemed curious. "No, I am not. I am an Anzat." He replied to her, calmly, though he knew there might be conflict if either one of them knew much about that race.

However, as he listened to her thoughts, he nodded absently, most of his mind was spent trying to chain the other half from going places it ought not. In response to her last comment, he said, "If this hunter takes regular bounties, in order for us to be bait we'd have to have a bounty. That would require either forging them or getting at odds with the Slayer. There is also pretending that we are one of the bounties that already exist, but this is risky. There are different ways we could go about this bait thing, but right now I can only think of a few. It is difficult for me to think in here." He covered; it was difficult to think, sitting next to someone with such a delicious soul. It was difficult to stay focused.

"One of us could pretend to be an opposing bounty hunter. Or, one of us could hire him to kill one of the other of us. Then, of course, as I mentioned before, there is always forging."

 

[Epic]

Ussej calculated just which one of the plans River came up with was best. Or, more specifically, which one did the least amount of damage or harm to one of them. His thoughts were interrupted for a second as he felt the ship shudder and heard the Captain call back, telling them that they were in Hyperspace.

"Well...", he began. "I think that right now, with the knowledge we have, the best course of action would be for one of us to hire him to capture another. Telling him to kill one of us is dangerous though.... He could use a long-range weapon."

Ussej paused for a moment. "Unless you two think you can handle making sure you catch him before he gets a chance to pick me off at a distance?"

 

[Solus]

"Ah, hah." He said, almost mimicking a laugh. He did not seem to have much of a sense of humor. "I figured that you would be the one to put yourself in danger. You are obviously the most capable of us. As well, you would be much more delicious." He commented, almost in a monotone voice. The last word was somewhat of a poor choice, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

"I am a tracker, I am no good at fighting. I only have stamina. I do not know if Lillianne is any good with combat. So, lets suppose that the Slayer tries to use a long-range weapon. You've let yourself become a target- without it being obvious that you're making yourself a target - assumedly after me or Lillianne has gotten a lead on him and are hot on his trail. He sets up to make a shot at you, lets say, though who knows what kind of weapon he'll use. How would we catch him then? On the other hand, if we offer a high enough bounty for him to go after one such as you - not an easy catch by a long shot I would say - if he is smart, which I assume, he would be much more subtle than that, or so blatant it would be subtle. Either way. Lets say he uses poison. Not the regular poison, I'm sure he would study enough to know that you guys can neutralize it. I'm saying maybe a gas or something, or a poison, or a kind of field that would diminish your connection to the Force of Others, or something similar. I've heard of things doing that - my... sister... has mentioned things like that. I have heard that a Bendu cut off from the Force of Others is weaker than a normal man, due to dependence on it, like a lame man removed from his crutch. What then? I'm sure your survival is top priority - you have high-priced blood. It would be fairly easy to pick you off, though I can tell you have great physical ability it would still be as if you were blind. Then let us say he is a maniac or stupid or it caught in a corner and goes for melee combat. I suppose he is rich from his catches, so he would have some nasty, tricky things up his sleeve. You are obviously good at melee combat, and I'm sure he would study enough about you to know that, so he would either use that as leverage and pull out so gadget or maybe something simple, like a trained poisonous animal or something else like that. Either that or he would die in the attempt. In all cases, either you are the one that kills him, such as in the last scenario, or we are forced to capture him in some way. How would we go about doing that? Did they give us any widgets to help us or something?" He finished. He wasn't normally talkative, but he did like planning things. It helped him clear his mind so that he was not so focused on Ussej's life force.

 

[lol not primary]

"Unfortunately," Ussej said, having listened to River's long-winded speech. "We were given some restraints to hold him when we catch him. Other than that, We've only got our Wits, our swords, and maybe some kinda tranquilizers that we can find in the form of lots and lots of alcohol."

ooc: Short post. Meh.

 

[Solus]

"Sounds like a plan." He said with a ghost of a grin. Ussej was halfway amusing. "The only problem is that alcohol does not intoxicate me."

((Shorter post. Take that))