I go to Steal From Them to Give to Me.

[Black Noise]

A girl stood alone atop an apartment building on Nar Shaddaa. The weapon she held was far too large for her, far too large for even a Wookiee or Kushari to wield elegantly. It stuck into the duracrete and she leaned on it, sighing. Quietly humming, the girl listened to the quiet instrumentals playing into her ears and blocked out all other noise. It was up here that she felt perfect. Up here nothing could touch her.

Her eye seemed to glazed over as she retreated into her thoughts. While the cybernetics never really turned off, Matayn had learned to blatantly ignore them. Wandering into the far off land of her mind, Matayn barely noticed a little rat-like, trash picking creature scurry up behind her and dive headlong into Matayn's small, stolen bag of food. It wasn't till half her food was gone and the other half spoiler that the girl noticed the little creature. Her eye snapped to the side and her hand flashed down with surprising speed.

Snatching up the creature, it cried out in pain as Matayn's strong hand gripped it. Loosening her grip only slightly enough so that she did not injure the creature, Matayn sat down and began petting it. The thing was frightened out of it's little mind, but Matayn's slow petting seemed to calm it's nerves enough after a few minutes that it ceased struggling and relaxed. Matayn's cybernetic eye attempted to assess the creature's vitals and was rewarded with an error and a dear of pain for Matayn. Blinking hard, the girl suppressed the rising anger and simply petted the creature, feeling peaceful to hold something that, strangely, did not attempt to harm her.

It was only a few seconds after that that Matayn let the creature down near the good bag. Hesitating a minute, it glanced at the girl but a moment before snatching up the bag's paper corner and dashing away. Matayn cracked a mirthless smile at the thing before returning to an emotionless face and standing back up. Grabbing up her weapon, she stepped off the roof. A good 50 feet or so she dropped, allowing her weapon to smash into the steel below and, pulling her legs up, allowing her equally strong arms to break her fall by hanging onto the weapon. Setting her feet down, Matayn yanked her weapon out and started heading up the alley. She needed more food now.

Nar Shaddaa, the city of lights, it was even more lively than Coruscant at night. Food wasn't scarce at the bars and small vendors here and there, but Matayn knew she couldn't head anywhere there were too many people to mob her. Spying one little indoor vendor down an alley, she began walking through the crowd towards it. The shady building probably did not have a lot of a food, was likely a cover for a dirtier business, and probably had little or no customers in it. Perfect for Matayn, no customers, less people she had to bat aside, no legitimacy, the less likely she would encounter trouble from any sort of security service.

Pushing open the door to the small mart, Matayn's suspicions were confirmed in all but the amount of people inside. There had to be five or six humanoids and aliens in here, counting the clerk. A pain, but it wouldn't stop her. Shifting the weight of the massive weapon on her shoulder, she began to move down one aisle and start picking out things. While the clerk and other customers likely would not notice, anyone with any training or experience at all could see Matayn had the look of someone who not only could not pay, but had no intention to.

 

[Chairdor]

Coruscant, Coruscant Coruscant, every system seemed to tie back to Coruscant, from Mettelos, 'The Coruscant that wasn't" to Nar Shaddaa the 'Little Coruscant'. Hiro has no memory of going to the actual Coruscant, but if this massive exspanse of urban decay was a miniaturized version than the droid had absolutely no intention of putting it on his to do list. Still something had drawn him here from Mettellos, perhaps some hidden drive core changing his motivation sensors, or maybe something more. Whatever it was Hiro was here upon his silver speeder and he meant to do one thing before anything else. Seeing the heavily armed and dangerous looking individuals up and down the street each sizing each other up like so much meat made the droid come to the logical conclusion that he needed a bigger gun to, least he become a mere pile of scrap to join the many tons that littered this forsaken rubble heap.

Moving down from one flickering street light to the next, Hiro walked alongside Silver, his speeder, its engine lightly humming, just enough to keep it aloft as he guided it's drift into yet another dingy alley. Here the space grew dim, but Hiro merely activated the lights upon his speeder frightening a collective of rats and the drunk Bith they were munching upon, as the alien stumbled into the night, Hiro walked past scanning the area for any other signs of life. None were found however until the droid emerged upon one of the busiest avenues he had come across, a bustling marketplace with many criss-crossing lights and smiling faces. Happiness among such misery only meant one thing to the droids processors, something illegal was going on.

Moving from booth to booth, Hiro found knick knacks and useless bobbles of the same type merely rearranged, he wondered how these vendors all managed to make such a living as to bear such grins on their faces and girth on their bellies, when he detected a small spike of toxic gas. It vanished swiftly, but no one else seemed to register it. Evaluating the small sample he collected in his airway receptors, Hiro determined the poison was undetectable to the nose of most creatures, however it came so swiftly it clearly wasn't intended to kill anyone here. Noting the temperature in the air, Hiro followed the thin trail of variable temperature, a small band of coolness leading into a welcoming shack. Moving away the tent flap, Hiro looked within to spy a toydarian pawning his wares to a vendors droid,

"Is good is good, finest metal, fine fine," he declared lifting his chin with pride as the droid continued to scan it. Hiro attempted to do the same, but found his sensors somewhat muddled making him unable to get a conclusive readout.

"This is the Beskar my lord requires," the droid concluded placing a considerable bit of credits into the flying merchants hand before swiftly departing. Hiro continued to eye the metal until the droid left the tent, then turned back to the large-nosed shop keeper now eying the masked droid,

"So what brings a masked man into Gargo's humble hovel?"

Hiro set his optical scanners on the friendly merchant and tipped his hat, his strange drawl-like voice modulator already speaking for the droid once again out of turn,

"Well pardner, I'm new in these parts and just fancied the look of your lil place,"

Hiro inwardly smacked himself, revealing his newness to this planet brought a near noticeable look of happiness well-hidden by the craft toydarian as he flew around his register to closer inspect his new customer,

"Ahhh a newcomer come to my shop, what an honor, I give you big big discount, come come let me show you my wares,"

Swiftly Hiro was dragged towards the well organized shelves of glimmering goods, Gargo occasionally mentioning one thing or another in particular before swiftly moving on down the line, he at last stopped when they came across a fine sword, black in color the blade glimmered as if sharpened and shined just seconds ago. Referencing many models of the same make, Hiro noted it's obvious appearance of quality,

"My my my that there is a purdy sword,"

"Yes yes purdy" Gargo swiftly agreed, "So friend, want yes? Maybe 3000 credits? No no discount yes, for you I make...2000? Is good yes?"

Hiro looked toward the toydarian shop keep his masked face not allowing any sign of emotion come from the droid's mostly demolished face,

"Sorry pardner, I'm not interested in bringing a purdy sword to an ugly gun fight,"

For a moment the toydarian looked down, his sadness highly notable, Hiro tipped his hat and moved to leave the shop when the aliens hand grabbed his shoulder, "You sure you don't want to buy frieeend?"

That last word came with a hint of malice as Hiro noted the air came with a hint of that strange poison, as a robot Hiro was unaffected and simply stated in his robotic voice, "I'm quite sure"

Gargo blinked in surprise then laughed, "My goodness the voice modulators get better all the time, I thought you were a man," after this moment of lightness the toydarian swiftly pulled out an Ion gun and said, "Droids are much easier to coerce yes?"

Far more swiftly Hiro produced his own weapon and placed it upon the shopkeepers fat temple before saying, "No...this one ain't partner"

Leaving the shop with the unconscious and cuffed toydarian inside with a nice little note detailing his scheme, Hiro looked upon his new weapon he had 'liberated' from the corrupt fellow. Much like his trust six-shooter, this silver gun boasted a small handheld design, but it's chamber contained quite a few more holes than six,

A six-hundred shooter Hiro thought with a bit of positive feedback coming from the slightly original classification. Moving on through the streets Hiro noted his battery was slightly low so checking his credit chamber, the droid swiftly moved into the nearest shop. A small mart with no real defining marks, Hiro tipped his hat to the tired looking clerk then looked about for a battery fitting his specs. What he saw inside was a rather large weapon moving its way through the aisles. Following the piece, Hiro swiftly determined the weapon was attached to a small human, tilting his head at the oddity, Hiro couldn't stop his loose cowboy alter ego from asserting itself once more,

"Well ain't that a fancy thing a ding you got there," tipping his hat the droid internally humiliated by the use of the phrase 'thing a ding' Hiro continued his search for a battery. Finding one that matched his needs the clerk informed him he had taken a display model. Thanking the clerk for making sure he didn't buy a faulty model, the droid returned to the aisle he had found it and noted the girl again, his temperature scanners on as he checked the chemical nature of each battery. Seeing the girl in this way brought something strange to light about her,

"Well I'll be an anooba's uncle, you got some cyber tech in you girl, no wonder you can lug that thing about,"

Slowly Hiro approached the curious specimen in hope of revealing his own cybernetic identity, perhaps she could give him some ideas about his erased past, but if anything there wasn't anything quite like a friendship between outcasts.

 

[Ush]

Good gods above he hated this planet, city, country, whatever you'd call it. If places were people, Nar Shadaa would be the fat, bloated creature who struck out at others from pure malice, poisoned drinks and was generally a nuisance. One day Ryloss hoped it burned. Oh, one day. But that would mean the death's of millions, billions of people. Ryloss shook the the thoughts from his head. He wished that on no planet. Not even one like Korriban. He looked over the city, towards the horizon. He could smell blood. Sweat. Smoke. Sex. He could hear the cries of harlots, pleadings of store vendors and chattering people. He could see the night sky illuminated behind the buildings. But it was hazy from the factory fumes. Curoscant was beautiful. Where it was aesthetic, Nar Shadaa was only crushing. Only intoxicated. He was glad he didn't live here.
He had run through his sense, but he had one more to use. Reaching out with the Force, Ryloss looked for something. Anything. He instantly felt the Force respond. But he wasn't able to pick anything out. There was too much of the Dark Side on this planet. With a shudder, he cut it off. He would no longer look into the Force on purpose. Everyone wanted to kill him, and it would make little difference if he knew about it. No one would try it.
It occurred to the zeltron that those that would were the 'one-percenters' of the planet. Being merciful on Nar Shadaa only got you killed, at best. Raped, hung from a building and tortured could only be the middle-point if it was the Hutts you offended.
"Spare a coin for a beggar?"
Ryloss looked beside him. There was an old man sitting on the sidewalk, but Ryloss could tell it would be a bad idea to give the money. It was in the eyes. People would wait for someone to give it to them and then set a mugger on them. Those that gave had some to give, after all. And everything else would be taken.
As was Nar Shadaa. The worst place in the galaxy.
Ryloss walked off, into the depths of hell. Or at least, as close as any living person could walk on. His bag, hung at his waist, was heavy. No wonder. It contained two lightsabers and several wrapped bottles of strong liquor. He never went anywhere without that any more. Did wonders for breaking the ice. Although by the time they came out it would be near-boiling water...
Sometimes, being him really did help. He could kill about ninety percent of salients, maybe ninety-five if you were feeling lucky, have pretty much any woman he chose and could generally live the high-life. But instead, he chose to hang around filthy planets like this and drink cheap wine until he ran out, at which stage the filth of the stuff would make his skull burn. Knowing Nar Shadaa, he could probably find crap like that if he hunted it down.
Something in a store window caught his eye. A bottle of something he'd once tried and had had a longing for the taste ever since. It was a Zabrak drink, and tasted about as fierce as that people.
Ryloss stepped inside. He nodded to the man at the counter and began walking towards the back of the shop. That's when he saw the thief. She was small, but that sword on her back... How had he missed it? How did she carry it? It was bigger than her! But that would mean that he could call her out should he have to. She wouldn't be able to swing it as fast as he could his own blade. Or, well, whatever the hell a lightsaber was. He always called them 'blades' in his head. He then noticed her face. She was pretty, but she had an expression that Ryloss' heart went out to. She was scared. She was hurt. She must have been starving, the poor girl. He was just about to place credits on the shelf before her when someone else walked up to her. A male, masked, bigger than her. Ryloss immediately stopped, the credits still in his hand. He turned and began browsing the items to his right. If he tried anything, Ryloss was compelled to help. For the same reason he was about to give her money. It wasn't good or evil. It was just the right thing. And that, at the end of the day, mattered more than anything.

 

[Black Noise]

The girl attempted to move quietly, but her feet caused the floor to creak underneath her weight with every step she took. She was not particularly heavy, but the condensed weight made the pounds of pressure per square inch far larger than any normal human. Of course, Matayn did not know this, nor did she really care all too much. It was simply an annoyance that she could never seem to step lightly. Finding all the food she needed, or rather, wanted, Matayn had only begun to take a quick look around when she heard a voice say something in her direction. Taking off her headphones, Matayn waited for a moment and shrugged internally, assuming it to only be her imagination. However, she left the headphones off anyway.

Matayn's eye darted around, fearing someone had actually spoken to her, and rested only for a second on a Zeltron that walked towards her. She hoped he wasn't the one who spoke to her, and instinctively stared down and pretended to let something at the bottom of the rack catch her eye. Not like she could take it though, her left arm full of cans and a bag of bread while her left balanced her sword across her shoulder. A voice, maybe even the same she thought was her imagination from before, spoke again in a weird accent at her other side.

Snapping her head around to look at the man who approached, he was well covered and appeared to have the walk of a mercenary. Her eye flashed over him, taking into account any weapon he had only lightly concealed, and automatically logging that the Zeltron, now browsing items, held credits in his hand. Weird, to hold money in such a seedy place as this. Ignoring the Zeltron for the moment, Matayn locked her eye with the other being for a moment, nodded deliberately, then looked back down at, whatever the thing was below her feet. It looked like a little metal box with wheels.

She was hoping the mercenary would leave her, her face betraying her fear and extreme nervousness, she did not want to fight him when it was time to leave.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro eyed the girl for a moment after his boisterous alternate voice had spoken to her and identified the ear covering she wore were emitting sound, most likely music, but perhaps it could be self-help audio tapes, whatever she was listening too she did not hear the droid's earlier outburst, a revelation the inner intelligence of Hiro found quite pleasant. She did remove the headphones after a moment however indicating she heard something, Hiro was about to speak again to the shifty girl about her large sword and the large bit of food she was attempting to carry by her lonesome when he noted someone else was approaching. A Zeltron male holding a bit of jingly credits, obviously not a local by the look of his stance and the fact that he carried his money openly. Such a proper stance meant this fellow was a do-gooder fool or was quite prepared and able to kill everyone in this mart if they sneezed the wrong way. Every bit of data Hiro collected on this fellow pointed to the latter so he attempted to swiftly diffuse the situation,

"Quite a bag of credits you have their partner," Hiro's disembodied drawl interjected. Instantly the trio gained some stares and extra scrutiny from those gathered inside, but the shoppers were only common rabble, no one quite willing to cut throats in public for a bag of credits, at least not such a small bag. Attempting to recover from this almost threatening outburst Hiro attempted to say something else, something logical, instead he declared, "And you little tyke, yall got a lot of food there, probably need it gettin tuckered out carryin that sword bout,"

Losing control of his arms and waist Hiro's inner voice was silenced completely for a moment as the brash cowboy took full reign puffing out his chassi as he looked toward the pair while holding up another battery to see if it was of proper make for him.

 

[Ush]

"Thank you for noticing."
The words were out of his mouth before he could think. The tone was too angry, too steely for what it would have done had he thought about it. It was his standard Nar Shadaa tone. The basic idea was telling the other guy that you were a bigger asshole than he was. But suddenly Ryloss realized something was off about this guy. If he was an organic, most of him was cybernetic. That would mean that he was, actually, the bigger asshole. If not, then he was a droid. You could never trust fighting droids. Some of them were nasty. And you could never tell which ones had assassin programming.
"I'm sorry, that was not warranted."
He began to release calming pheromones, more out of instinct than anything. Same reason he had spoke as he had. It would do nothing to the droid, but the girl... She looked ready to scream. No, actually, she looked like someone who'd realized screaming was useless a long time ago. His heart went out to her. He'd seen their kind before. The kind who would flinch at the sound of footsteps, who would recoil from the slightest touch. She'd been hurt like no one should ever have to be. She wouldn't have credits. That much he knew. Then he realized that the droid had said something about cyber-tech... Oh, no. No one would have... But... Could they? No, that wasn't the question. Would they?
"You don't need to steal."
He tried to smile, but his head was sending him images he didn't want to see. He wondered how much she had. He looked at her feet, at the floorboards. They seemed to warp slightly under her. So there was a lot of weight there. He remembered how heavy Yuunda was, but that guy was mostly robot now, he wasn't the same as this girl. He couldn't see anything that wasn't non-organic at the surface, but the droid obviously did. He followed her eye to the... He supposed it was a toy. He wouldn't be surprised if it fascinated her. It would also give him a better estimate at what age she had been... Well, he supposed she'd been abandoned. What had been done to her to make her this nervous wreck was even worse than that, though. She might have been sold... Actually, that might have explained the tech. A buyer trying to make the most of his investment.
Ryloss hoped he was dead, and he hoped it had hurt. No one should have been treated that way.
If, of course, he'd figured it all out right in his head.

 

[Black Noise]

Matayn was quiet as the mercenary commented on how much food she was getting. While her face stayed cautious, internally the girl was freaking out. There was a voice inside her head screaming at her, screaming that they knew what she was planning to do and were going to try and stop her. When the Zeltron finished speaking to the mercenary and commented that she did not need to steal, Matayn froze. If it were not for the calming pheromones the Zeltron was instinctively releasing, then Matayn would have struck out in frantic violence.

Yet instead, she only froze. Her grip tightening on the sword handle to the point where her entire hand whitened, Matayn spoke quietly.
"Don't I?"
Her voice was not defiant, but rather carried a tone of intense fear and mild curiosity. It could be easily seen that her entire body was tense and ready to strike at a second's notice. Even though she had not moved the sword from her shoulder throughout her entire 'shopping trip,' the way she looked and held the blade spoke volumes of her confidence in being able to use it.

A tense situation, and a single word could cause it to turn deadly. Someone of a more sound mind may have found it mildly interesting, to Matayn, it was utterly and completely terrifying.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro raised his hand to his hat in a non confrontational gesture toward the Zeltron as he huffed up for a moment at his earlier outburst and lowered it as the tension between the two seemed to simmer down. The droid had clearly missed some data points on what was going down and swiftly reevaluating the situation he sought to pick up the pieces he had missed with his casual once over. Immediately a full scan of the area noted the Zeltron's release of chemicals, their properties unknown though from the reaction of those nearby it was in no way lethal, at least not immediately. Moving on the droid noted the lack of blood flow in the girl hand as she gripped her weapon, her grip tight and afraid, she displayed the same nervous behavior as many cornered animal the robot had reference video on and such corralling often had detrimental effects upon those that attempted to capture the beast, I.E. the Zeltron and Hiro.

"I suppose we got off on the wrong foot little missy, my name is Hiro, I suppose I look mighty spicious with this big ol honkin blaster on my side and mask on my face," gingerly lifting the blaster as he took off the mask Hiro held the gun limply forward before leaning down and placing it on the ground, looking at the girl with his glowing eyes, his face marred and buffeted by the desert sands and some unknown assailants, he looked a tad frightful, but attempted to remedy that by smiling, "I don't want nobody to get hurt," he said making sure to capture both the girl and the Zeltron in his gaze as he said that.

Slipping the mask back on the droid looked at the girl hands by his side as he looked down at her bags, brimming with produce, "I spect you travel a lot, I roam myself, and I can tell ya theres a proper way to do it without stealin, can't say I eat much on account of my robotic nature, but I get fresh oil every ten thousand miles," with this last attempt at lightness Hiro stood a bit taller holding his hat lightly to tip it over his mask just so.

 

[Ush]

Ryloss realized what was happening. He could see it in her eyes and body language, and the droid hadn't noticed yet. On top of that, he couldn't contact the droid without speaking vocally. He intensed the pheromones and reached out for her mind with his emotional abilities, calming and soothing her. The droid, Hiro, he wasn't helping at all. Or at least, Ryloss didn't think he was. If he was right, the girl would have reason to be terrified of people over a certain age, the the droid had a personality and body-type over that age. Ryloss hoped he was young enough. He turned his attention back to the girl, hoping the droid realized that the words he could choke out were numbered.
"No, you don't."
He held up the credits.
"This planet... This isn't a nice place. Only bad things seem to happen here. People are hurt, and no one cares. But on other planets people will feed you, give you shelter and clothe you."
He put the bag on a shelf.
"But don't steal, even here. If you get caught on this planet, they'll hurt you. They'll hurt you bad, because if they don't then people will hurt them. It's like a nasty, evil, cruel circle of life. But you could get off here. Get to a planet where they'd help you, or someone would."
He smiled at her warmly, trying to calm her down. If that sword was made of a weaker materiel, the handle would have shattered by now.
Ryloss began on a tangent in his head about the sword. It had to be made of something like Durasteel, it would shatter because of it's own weight otherwise. On top of that, it would be unbalanced. He wondered how she used it. In a style similar to Ataru would be impossible. Probably Niman, he reckoned. If any at all. She might just swing it around like a piece of metal. It would be interesting to watch all the same.

 

[Black Noise]

Matayn paused, there was something off about these two. They were not attempting to confront her, they were not attempting to physically stop what she was doing. Rather, the mercenary called Hiro, whom Matayn could now clearly see as a cyborg, spoke in a matter-of-fact tone about not taking her current course of action. And the Zeltron spoke in a voice of kindness, something she had not heard in many, many years. The Zeltron also set money on the shelf by her, an action she had only seen done before in a manner of indirect gifting.

Matayn kept quiet for a moment before setting down her bags of groceries. Looking over at the Zeltron, waiting to see if he reacted, she slowly reached out towards the credit bag. If his expression changed the slightest, she would have withdrawn, if it did not then the second Matayn's hand touched the bag she would have snatched it back with surprising speed.

Even though these two did not yet have a confrontational manner about them, Matayn's inner voice was still screaming at her to attack. However, her inner voice had gotten considerably quieter over the past few moments, and she had finally felt calm enough to speak. Her time was quiet and low, yet not so much that she could not be heard. Even though her first sentence was meant to sound intimidating, it really did not. Matayn could say anything, but her voice was not strong nor brave enough to carry any sort of threatening sound.
"I would not let anyone hurt me, I am strong. I can go anywhere I like. But, It, it's pleasant to meet you two. My name is Matayn."

These two were not as terrifying the more she stuck about them, and her gripping fear of the mercenary began to dissipate on the account of him not even being human. The Zeltron's calm nature had a drawing effect on Matayn, and inside she could already feel herself not wanting the Zeltron, who appeared not much more than a few years older than herself, to leave just yet. Slowly, as she reached down to pick back up her bags, the grip on her sword began to loosen enough so that it was no longer painfully tense. Even though she did not speak much, it was painfully obvious through her body language that she wanted to talk, even if only for a moment.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro was glad to have this Zeltron at his side for this rather strange bit of good they were doing. For a moment the droid felt he had to interject on his pink allies wide swathed statements of this world, truly the crime statistics were high, but every place had some good in it, but it was a moot point in the end and the cowboy held his vocal modulator. He noted from the body language of the alien that he seemed to have a connection to this girl, a deeper understanding than the readings of charts or figures or reference tapes on previous expressions and behaviors on similar life forms. Whatever type of connection it seemed to have its effect as the girl's stark white hand began to regain its color as he iron grip on her deadly blade loosened due to their barrage of niceties.

The voice was a voice of a prepubescent life form of a female variety, a small girl, but the words were that of greater life experience. It was an unfortunate combination that did not get across an impression of intimidation or validation that it sought, but Hiro sympathized, sometimes, especially recently, words did not agree with him either, "Pleasure is all mine missy like I said I'm Hiro a droid and I'd give you a designation of my build type but I'll be durned if I remember it, took a good conk on the head unit a month or so back, but thats a sides the point,"

Noting that the girl had already been given money by the Zeltron, Hiro chose his kindness in a different form, lightly kicking his gun down the aisle so he could retrieve it lightly farther from the pair he approached the register of the mart owner, a small old Nagai with a concerned look on his face as he eyed the massive sword of the girl within his shop, "Don't worry pardner she's mighty friendly once you get to know her," the droid reassured him as he placed his own bag of credits on the table, "Store credit for the lil misses shoppin spree, I do hope it'll be enough," slowly the mart owner nodded before swiftly hiding the large bag in his register, Hiro tipped his hat and returned to the two,

"Take your share of food missy it's rightly paid fore,"

 

[Ush]

Ryloss just kept the small smile on his face, barely moving as she reached out. He nodded once, his smile becoming a cheerful grin as she took it. He would not ask for it back. In there was a hundred credits, a substantial amount. He felt incredible pitiful towards this poor girl, especially when she said that she would not let anyone hurt her. His smile became slightly sad, but his pheromones and emotional changing were the same.
"I am sure you can, but, to do that you need credits. As our droid friend here-"
He gestured towards Hiro.
"Is paying for the food, that bag, I think, is all you have. With that you could get..."
He pursed his lips and shook his head slightly.
"A low-level accommodation flight to somewhere like Coreillia, Curoscant and Taris. A big trade world. From there, what would you do?."
He finished the rhetorical question and smiled warmly again.
"I'm Ryloss, Ryloss Narexsus."
And as she began to let go of the sword, he felt pity for her again. She looked like someone who needed a friend, and desperately. The kind of person who would hug a doll because it represented contact with another being. He realized he'd hunched his back slightly. Straightening it, he bowed to her slightly.
"So, Matayn, what are you doing here?"
That wasn't rhetorical, and he thought about his choice of words for a moment.
"I mean, on this planet. Not here, as in this shop. I think we've settled that."
He noticed his prize out of the corner of his eye, the Zabrak drink. But it was too far away, and if he went for it she may think of his sudden movement as a threat or be disheartened by his apparent abandonment of her. So he didn't even let his eyes rest on it for a moment.

 

[Black Noise]

Matayn paused, her thoughts jumbled as these two incited confusion within her. They gave her money, have her a free pass to get food without stealing and injuring others, they even offered suggestions about where she could go. It did not make any sense, Matayn knew she was a miserable, degenerate, good for nothing killer. She had killed her Sith slave owner scarcely a month ago, a crime punishable by a slow death in Imperium space. There was probably a sum over her head for her return, more money than what these two had just given to her. If they fought, one might get off a lucky shot and send her back to, to that place, where they would receive a reward. So why were they being nice to her?

The only conclusion she could draw is they did not know about her, that they did not yet know all the horrible things she had done. Therefore she was a liar, for not letting them know they shouldn't be helping her. She did not deserve it. Looking into the eyes of them both, confusion and sadness was apparent on her face as she tried, and failed to both conceal her emotions and try to read their's. Feeling horrid and hesitating to speak, Matayn finally replied after a minute's silence.
"Th-thank you, for paying, that is. I am here because-"
Her voice caught in her throat, she knew she could not tell them why she was here. Surely they would never understand. Looking down, Matayn finished her sentence, lying badly.
"Because there's good food here, and Nar Shaddaa's supposed to be lovely this time of year."

Her grip tightened again, her mind quickly reverting back into a panic mode. Granted, everything I'm this situation that scared Matayn was simply an over exaggeration played out in her mind. But for Matayn, a girl who had spent almost her entire life alone and inside her mind, even the slightest mental exaggeration could quickly become real. That, more than anything, caused Matayn unnecessary distress and panic. Looking up, she quickly thought up an excuse to go. However, her face was unable to back up her voice, betraying her once again with fear and suppressed panic.
"I, I have to go cause there's a pet at, er- home, waiting for me."

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro was glad to have this Ryloss fellow at his side for this moment, it was clear from every read out he had quickly compiled on this girl that she was in dire need of something rarer than beskar, a good friend. At this time she had two, but that fact was as brittle as an icy twig and at any moment it could snap along with the sword-bearing young one, so with all his circuitry and urging, Hiro hoped his voice modulator with a serious independent streak would keep this even tone at least for now, he wouldn't be able to manage any outburst of pure bravado at this time, that's for sure.

As the zeltron mentioned possible worlds the girl could venture to the droid felt compelled to mention, "Jedi temples, you seem good with a blade and them fellers are all about the sword play, bet they'd love a girl like you,"

He would most likely be ignored, but it was an idea. Looking upon the nervous specimen the robot turned his head as he continually recorded this strange meeting, not to the detriment of anyone's privacy, but due to the fact that recording equipment was the only way he could store much of his memory at least in visual format. Despite the duos mass piling of generosity upon her, she seemed frightened still, perhaps she had been burned before, promised a great deal and then left with nothing, that was the greatest hurt, to take your head out of your shell to take a bite of lettuce only to get your exposed neck stomped on. Though Hiro wouldn't know that, being metal and all he was all shell.

Hiro noted her slight pause in speech before continuing classic sign of a liar, but the droid didn't know why she would lie and sincerely hoped it was one of the white variety. It was one quite poor as she spoke of the fine food around here, to put it mildly, if Hiro could suddenly eat and was starving, he'd walk a thousand more miles before eating the low quality fare around him now. It wasn't inedible, but it was clear some of the expiration dates on the bags and cans had been intentionally rubbed off. Noting that Hiro swiftly scanned the young girls bags to note if there was any abundance of bacterium but found no irregularity with her cans and the cans on the shelf, which was either really good or a lawsuit waiting to happen.

If Hiro had eyebrows installed he would have perked them at the girls next statement, home...pet instantly Hiro noted the lack of logic in this sudden reveal, if she had a pet she was suddenly concerned about, why didn't her bag have any kind of animal food abundant in an aisle not three feet away. Furthermore if she had a home why was she talk about Nar Shaddaa in passing as being 'lovely this time of year'. It was clear the girls mouth was housing a bit more than a pack of lies and it was quite disconcerting to the droid to see such a dishonest individual simply because her motivation didn't seem to be one of malice, but of fear.

"Now just wait a minute missy," Hiro paused momentarily at a loss for compatible speech, but the words swiftly came, "We didn't even get to hear what your plans were and well I paid for quite a bit of food, how about I grab a few bags and walk you to that home of yours I've got a soft spot for pets in my hard metal plate," he said giving a few metallic raps on his noggin for emphasis.

 

[Ush]

Ryloss wrinkled his nose at Hiro, showing his distaste for the Jedi.
"If being a Jedi Knight was all about swordplay, I'd have made it long ago. Skill with the Force is more important."
Something he was lacking in. He'd put all his training into his lightsaber, and had neglected his Force powers. Now every time he stretched his back or bent around he had a reminder of that.
He bowed slightly when she thanked him for the credits.
"My pleasure."
He looked at the stricken expression on her face, as well as hearing her voice catch. Again he felt sorry for her. He frowned when she looked down and finished what she was saying. He sighed at the feeble lie.
"I... Suppose it's as good as anytime, really."
His tone said what he really thought. Basically, so it's absolute shit.
He watched her knuckles tighten and opened the latch on his bag with the Force. It paid to be prepared, usually with your life. She wouldn't notice it at all, hopefully. When she finished, he shook his head with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Matayn,"
Her name was odd on his tongue.
"I can tell you're scared. I can tell you're afraid, for a reason I can't discern. But I'm sure I won't, and mostly certain about our robotic friend here. I'm guessing that you have no home, correct? That would mean if you had a pet you would bring it with you. Calm, and tell me what's scaring you."
He began to calm her down as fiercely as he could, to the stage where his mouth became dry with his pheromone productions. She was so, so scared of them. He felt his knees bow, and his head lower. Usually, he was about six feet tall. Now, he was about as tall as her. Not threatening at all. But her hand tightening was scaring him, too. If she attacked, he wondered if he could restrain her without hurting her. If he could restrain her without hurting himself. Obviously, his lightsaber was a last resort. It always was. There was no coming back from a lightsaber blow.
But sometimes people tried to kill you. Sometimes you couldn't stop them, and sometimes blood was spilled. Or at least, limbs were. The one mercy the lightsaber had was that it cauterized wounds.

 

[Black Noise]

Matayn began to breath heavily, almost panting, as panic began to take here. The metallic man's words were almost instigating, though they carried merit. Matayn was not proving to be very thankful, not that she knew how really. Even though the Zeltron's pheromones kept attempting to keep her body calm, her mind forcibly overrode the chemicals with copious amounts of adrenaline to feed her fear. Matayn's grip continued to tighten as the Zeltron spoke, a thousand different horrible scenarios running through her mind til, finally, Matayn seemed to snap.

Yet, it was not like how Matayn normally reacted. Her mind, despite the falsified scenarios running through it, seemed to almost shut down. Everything in her came to a screeching halt. Unbeknownst to her, it was her cybernetic's natural reaction to an over abundance of chemicals in order to keep itself from damage. But this was the perfect reaction for the moment. Matayn's massive blade slid from her shoulder and hit the ground with a loud thud, a her almost limp arm holding it and keeping it from falling fully to the floor. The thud attracted the attention of the clerk, though whether he stared or not was of no concern to Matayn.

Her cybernetics began to reboot within seconds, which was good because Matayn could not hold the blade of her own remaining muscle mass for long, but while it did so Matayn gripped her arm with her free hand and sighed heavily, releasing the pent up tension and finally relaxing. Even though Matayn wore a thick hoodie, her hand could still feel a few painful wounds on her arm. Ignoring them, she spoke again, occasionally looking up as she did so with apologetic eyes.
"I, I'm sorry... I'm really, really not used to this sort of, thing.. This thing you two are doing. I don't want to go back to the Sith, I'll never let myself go back... I keep thinking the worst and, I don't know... I've been guessing, ever since I got here, on what to do and where to go. Cause I've got no home, though there is a rat or something that follows me around sometimes... And I've never met anyone like you two, I'm sorry."

It was a lot to say, and for Matayn probably more than she had spoken all week. After speech, even though she paused for long hesitations after almost every sentence, she wondered if she'd even be able to speak at all for the next few hours. Yet something in the back of her head told her she would manage it, somehow.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro ignored Ryloss's knocking of his take on the Jedi order as he seemed an extremely polite fellow and Hiro could tell the chemicals he was producing were having a positive effect whatever their overall chemical composition was. He noted how the Zeltron kneeled as he spoke and considered doing it as well, but his knee gave a small spark and a whine from rust and so he swiftly stopped, content to stand instead with a look as friendly as one can muster while wearing a gas mask. As he stood he noted the pink fellow's vitals and realized from a combination of data on his heart rate and body temperature that he was stressed, not a natural stress response from merely having to deal with this albeit difficult child, but a type of damaging stress that comes from pushing a body hard. Ryloss was on edge and Hiro had to do everything he could to make sure he didn't fall off.

After Ryloss's speech a curious reaction came from Matayn. She simple ceased moving, her large sword clunking to the floor its weight causing an old Nagai woman to drop the can she was inspecting in shock. Hiro swiftly switched his optic cells upon the young girl in order to determine if anything was physically wrong with her, after going through temperature and heart rate, the droid was surprised to see something mechanical was amiss instead, the girls extensive cybernetics effectively rebooting as power surged back into her limbs. Hiro didn't know if this was some uncontrolled response, or preparation for battle, but ever the optimist, the optimized machine kept his gun hand tightly interwoven with his other hand making no threatening moves as the girl spoke,

To hear her apologize for the sins of others, these shadowy figures in Matayn's past, these Sith. Well if Hiro had a heart it would be broken, instead he had a mere center for sympathy and at this moment was reacting as heavily as it could without short circuiting. Gripping the brim of his hat somberly as he listened to just a small chunk of the weight this young girl had to bear, he began to speak,

"Lil mis- Matayn, there ain't nothin to be sorry fer. Not to us, not to anybody and you certainly don't have to apologize to those Sith, or return to em. As for a lack of home, its funny, I'm programmed to know where my owners home is, I can summon up its location by simply saying 'theres no place like home'. But since my memory got erased I'm back on factory defaults an that means I get a lil message and you know what it says? Home is where the heart is,"

Hiro took a moment to pause after that as the old Nagai woman's can had rolled towards the droid, gingerly he leaned down and picked it up, handing it back to the near-blind elder. Turning back to the pair he continued,

"I'd always wondered what that meant since well...I'm a machine, I don't have no heart...but then I figured it, home is where the people you care about are, so as I travel the galaxy sure I don't have a house...per say, but in every Cantina this way to Coruscant, I see a familiar face...and then I'm home again so, Matayn, if you be my friend and this fellas friend, well that's two homes right there."

 

[Ush]

Ryloss didn't move when she dropped the sword from his back. He was thinking about how to combat it.
She'll lift it and then swing downwards, use the left handed saber to block it and the right hand to perform sai tok or sun djem. Should she bring it from either side, sai and then disarm her. Should she bring it straight up as an attack, sidestep and disarm.
He kept his eyes focused on hers, at least, the one he could see. He could see she wasn't going to, he hoped so at least. When she spoke of the Sith, he understood. Finally he understood.
"No one deserves to be given to the Sith. No one.
He felt his upper lip raise slightly, and he looked down towards the floor by a fraction.
"It's hard to hate, no matter what they've done."
Are you so sure?
"Only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural."
So which one are you?
"The Sith control through fear. It is better to be feared than loved in a society, yes, but you need complete control for that fear. The Sith don't have that, not truly. Not while the Jedi exist..."
Is that likely for much longer?
"So don't worry about me selling you out to the Sith, it won't happen. They'd take me with you and proceed to scrape any last remnants of 'fun' I had left in my head and replace it with a strong desire to murder."
He slumped against the closest shelf.
"Happened to a friend of mine. He came back, though."
And then he shook his head vigorously before smiling broadly at Matayn.
"Anyway, hun, you have no reason to be feeling sorry. You've done nothing wrong."
He turned to Hiro.
"My home's a ship that's so old I swear the metals so thin in places I can see the closest planet through it. I'm not sure which one of us is worse of, to tell the truth."
And then he stretched his back again.
"Anyway, Matayn, where are you heading now?"

 

[Black Noise]

Matayn waited, listening carefully as these two spoke. She could hear the pain in Ryloss's voice, even if he himself did not consciously try to show it. As someone who had been hurt, disregarding the manner, recognizing a person who still had pains of the past was not difficult for the girl. Matayn could likely guess who this 'friend' was. Once Ryloss and Hiro finished speaking, Matayn hesitated again.

Home was where the heart was, so Hiro said. Her heart, she had not let her heart be touched in so many years. She had become like jagged stone to others, hard and painful even to those who tried to treat her gently, Unbeknownst to her, if it were not for Hiro's nonchalant attitude, Ryloss's gentle outreach, and ample doses of chemicals, someone in the room might not have been breathing at the moment. These two were just the two people Matayn needed to meet.

Gathering up her courage, Matayn looked at the two and attempted to smile. It was a weak, pathetic half-grin that was physically and mentally difficult got Matayn to do, but she tried regardless as she spoke.
"Thank you, both. I, am not sure where I will go, maybe I will find the Jedi. Regardless, I'm glad, glad to have two friends."

Matayn, her strength returning, effortlessly shouldered her blade and began to walk, very slowly, out of the store. She hoped the other two would follow, and even if they did not she would wait for them. She wanted to move out of the building, but not cease to speak with the two. Or rather, listen to them. Matayn enjoyed listening more than speaking.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro noted Ryloss's attitude toward the Sith and received a great deal of positive feedback when he heard one of his friends had managed to escape the dark shackles on their mind. This was good data. This was hope. He didn't agree that it was better to be feared than loved, but judiciously kept his modulator from letting any unprocessed words from escaping, this conversation was as delicate as any gun duel, one single mistake could be the end for many innocent people. Still it seemed to be coming to its conclusion as these two very different people, wanderers both, Zeltron and Droid. One a citizen of the wastes, the other an explorer of the stars. Both felt compelled to help this girl with a troubled past. Perhaps it was so they could believe they might save themselves or that they had function, but Hiro knew that was selfish, instead he simply hoped they were doing it because it was the right thing to do.

Hiro listened attentively when Ryloss asked where Matayn was heading, as he might be able to help her get to where shes going or tell her bits and pieces about the handful of places hes been. When he heard her say she might find the jedi he gripped his hat and tipped in slightly when she said that he and Ryloss were her friends. Hiro was about to say something more when the girl shouldered her blade and moved on, the droid thought she might simply be ready to move on and leave the pair, but he noted her slight hesitation, a small sign in her gait that asked him to follow. So follow he did looking to Ryloss saying,

"Looks like we got ta get our giddyup on,"

Walking with large steps to swiftly catch up with the child Hiro spoke his drawl quite a bit higher in spirit than usual, "Well I'll be I've found plenty of enemies and apathetics on this hunk of rock, but I never thought I'd find a friend. An ya know Matayn, I'm real glad it's you," after a moment he sort of tipped his head forward with an unseen smile and said, "Now I got two more homes if Ryloss I'll be my friend too, and now so do you lil lady,"