Ask Coruscant When the Damsel is a Dude

[Ruus’all Solus]

"Agh!" Ruus gargled as he landed on a landing platform face first.

A band of thugs had just thrown him off a ledge in hopes it would kill him, but to their dismay, Ruus'all Solus was quite alive.

Earlier, Ruus was investigating a potential Spice dealer, and though Ruus thought it was just maybe three or four men, it was around forty. They had been chasing for a solid twenty minutes or so before the cornered him- they wouldn't have been chasing him if he didn't catch them dealing on camera and luckily for Ruus, the dataphone survived the fall, too!

Now, they were blasting at him from the ledge, and Ruus narrowly rolled out of the way before jumping off the land platform onto a slowly elevating starship coming out of the deeper levels of Coruscant. He flipped the thugs off while he continued to dodge out of the way of blaster bolts. When he was a few levels above the common thugs, he jumped onto another ledge- he guessed he was on level 40 or something, but the closer he was to the surface, the better.

When Ruus'all thought he had lost them, kriffing four BARC speeders blazed down the street he was running down and they were blasting right at him! Ruus'all jumped over one and if it weren't for his durasteel plating, the shot to his shoulder would've been a nasty one.

"C'mon! That all you losers got?" Ruus chuckled as he lept onto a wall, pushed off of it with one leg, and with his other he kicked the pilot off one of the BARC speeders. The speederbike flew into a wall and exploded all fancy like while the thug piloting it was out cold. However, now the rest of the thugs knew where Ruus was and began pooling in from all sides.

He was surrounded.

"Not good..." He gulped.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“Oh, please. I know you have better things to do than-”

The sound of an explosion, the clattering of metal, and the screams that followed as people pushed past each other to run the other way caught Zaia’s attention. The twi-lek that she’d been questioning for trying to steal her pouch of credits took the chance to escape in the crowd, and though she was tempted to chase after him, she knew that he’d probably learned his lesson. Besides, with all that smoke generated from the explosion, she knew that something was up here. This wasn’t just some kid playing with fireworks.

With the help of her jetpack, Zaia leapt onto a low roof to get a better look at what was going on. She didn’t even need her scout HUD to see that there was a crowd of men gathering by the scene of the explosion. They were surrounding something that Zaia couldn’t see from where she was, but she was curious to find out what. And when she landed on the roof overlooking the scene, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The remains of a speeder, and… a Mandalorian. He was clearly in a bit of trouble judging by the cursing and yelling of the crowd that was closing in on him. Zaia jumped off the rooftop behind the crowd, softening the landing with her jetpack.

“Hey. Leave him alone,” she said, but when the men refused to budge and started turning around to face her instead, she pressed the button on her left gauntlet. Fire sprayed in the direction of the thugs, though not close enough to hurt them. Nonetheless, it managed to clear her a path to the Mandalorian, and she watched smugly as they rolled to the side, trying to stay clear of the fire. She switched the flame off, then jumped up and landed beside the other Mandalorian.

“Need a hand?” she asked with a slight smile as she tossed him one of her blasters. It’d been a while since she’d seen some action.

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Ruus'all nearly hit the Mando woman with his fist as he turned on his heel sharply to assess the newcomer. Then, when he was face to face with an ally and smiled from behind his T-visor, sighed with relief, and caught her weapon.

"I think I'm in love!" He teased gratefully, cocking his head to see the fire she spewed from her gauntlets. Ruus could do it, too, and without any need for fuel or a compartment to spew the flames. His fuel was the Force- the greatest tool anyone could ever ask for.

A thug rushed the Mando-Jedi, but without even looking and keeping his eyes locked on the girl who had come to his rescue, he arched his knee up to line up for the kick that he made, hitting the thug in the throat and sending him tumbling down the alleyway his buddies were crawling from.

The rest of the thugs simply stepped over their choking comrade and all began to rush Ruus, but the Mando didn't even fire his blaster as he summoned a great fire ball with his open hand and sent it flying towards the group of spice dealers until it enveloped them all in a fiery explosion.

He turned to look at the girl again and offered to shake her hand.

"Name's Ruus'all Solus."

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia rolled her eyes at the man’s comment, not that he could see it, then turned to kick a thug who was rushing at her alone. It was a foolish move, but she had to give him points for bravery to try and take on two Mandalorians alone.

And then she saw a bright flash out of the corner of her eye. It was the man, a giant ball of fire in his hand. Her eyes opened wide, and before she knew it the fireball had exploded in the midst of the thugs. That ought to have done some damage, she thought, looking over at the man in surprise. Either he had some state-of-the-art gear that had just come out, or there was much more to him than it seemed. She figured it was the latter. There was no way for a weapon to allow one to hold a ball of fire in their open hand. At least, that was what the man looked like he was doing.

“Kandosii! That’ll take care of them.”

Still more than a little surprised, Zaia shook his hand when he offered it. He had her full attention now.

“I’m Zaia. Nice to meet you,” she said, then shook her head in amusement. “Should have done that sooner. You put on quite a show,” she teased. “I don’t think you even needed me with... whatever that was.”

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Before Ruus could gloat about his abilities with the Force, blaster bolts began flying the duo's direction. That was why Ruus'all couldn't take them all on at once. There were too many targets that would use too much of Ruus'all's stamina to take care of.

Ruus then drew his own blaster pistol and and began dual wielding, firing off at the crowd that began closing in on them. There were simply too much of them and they were quickly becoming very overwhelmed.

"Useyourjetpack Useyourjetpack Useyourjetapack!" Ruus'all jumped into the air, using the Force to propell himself a good forty or fifty feet in the air just before the mob got him. Hopefully, Zaia could use this opportune moment to sntach him out of the air.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Almost immediately after her previous comment, Zaia had to sidestep to avoid an incoming blaster bolt, glancing over at Ruus’all to see if he was alright. He’d taken out his own blaster and was firing away at the thugs, who were now closing in on them from all sides. With the relentless attack of the men even after a good number of them had been wiped out, Ruus’all clearly had done something to make them mad. Unfortunately for Zaia’s curiosity, this was no time to ask.

“I would have thought they’d learned by now,” she muttered under her breath as she fired a few shots with her remaining blaster at the tightening circle of men. With her back against the wall, she glanced up, looking for some means of escape. Fortunately, Ruus’all seemed to have some kind of last-second plan, based on his frenzied shouts of “use your jetpack!”. Zaia understood what he had in mind when he somehow jumped around forty feet into the air. This man had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and if it hadn’t been clear already, there was something special about him. At the very last minute, Zaia propelled herself upward and grabbed him by his arm, attempting to pull him in the direction of the landing platform nearby in the air. Though as she flew, Ruus’all’s weight was making it hard for her to hold on. One of her hands slipped, and she was left dangling him in the air with just one arm. She tried to pull him up, but to no avail.

“Ruus’all! I can’t-” And that was when her other hand slipped and sent her fellow Mando falling directly above the highway. Before he could be slammed by a speeder though, Zaia managed to dive down and tackle him onto a nearby rooftop. She felt a jolt of pain in her elbow as she made contact with the concrete. Fortunately, she was able to roll to a stop relatively quickly, and she looked over at Ruus’all as she sat up and rubbed her arm.

“Are you alright?”

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

The sister from another mister had gotten Ruus' plan no problem as she scooped him out of the air and headed to another landing platform above the thugs who wished him ill. Just as Ruus thought they were about to make it, the Mando-Jedi felt his savior's grip begin to loosen due to Ruus'all's weight.

As she struggled to muster out a warning, he dropped, free falling down the endless shaft used to descend starships into the lower levels of Coruscant.

"I only ate a breakfast burrito!" He yelled as flipped himself over to see where he was falling an oncoming traffic- but just before he braced himself for impact, Zaia had come to the rescue once again!

Yeah, the landing was a little rough, but Ruus couldn't complain- he was still breathing!

"YES! Thank you...SO much." He sounded exhausted from all of the adrenaline. He sat and took his helmet off, shaking himself off a bit to get the jitters out of him.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia let out a quiet sigh of relief when she heard Ruus’all’s response. She’d been afraid that she’d hit him a little too hard when she slammed him onto the roof, but from his tone, she assumed that he was fine. She peered over to the edge of the roof, looking around to make sure no one had spotted them. A few of the thugs were still on the street, but they didn’t seem to have noticed the pair where they were. That was good.

Zaia scooched over to a thick steel pipe running over the roof and alongside the wall of the building next to them. She glanced over at Ruus’all, noticing that the man seemed to be glad to have a break as well as he’d taken off his helmet. He had quite a handsome face— it would have been a pity had the thugs gotten to him. With a slight smile, she pulled her own helmet off as well to examine her arm, wincing slightly as she touched it. There seemed to be a small cut and a bruise, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

“Can I ask what you did that made them so mad?” she asked in amusement, looking over at Ruus’all. “They were after you like a pack of massiffs.”

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

"Caught them in the act of selling and making spice. It's tricky business, catching drug dealers and such. You need to catch them in act- you can't just say so-n-so did it." Ruus'all explained, sighing as he laid back down to stare up at the busy air-streets of Coruscant. "Turns out, I caught the whole damn load of them. Almost every face you saw down there was caught on video in that factory I was in- still got the video, too!" Ruus said excitedly.

Just to be sure, he took out his dataphone and turned it on to find that it was working perfectly with the video still intact, he pocketed the tech and continued relaxing for a bit.

"Hey," He sat up after a minute or two of deep breathing to calm himself down and looked at the women who saved him. She was pretty cute, too. Something was bothering her arm, so he stood up and walked over to her, gently took her injured arm in one hand and with his other he held it slightly above the arm with the injury. Ruus focused on the transfer of life energy from him to her, feeling the Force shift back and forth until her injury was probably nothing more than just a simple bruise now.

"Thanks for saving me. Now those scum bags have a couple hours left before jail time, heheh." He said seriously, still smiling warmly.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia raised her eyebrows after hearing Ruus’all’s explanation. “Wow. No wonder they were so persistent.” She glanced over the edge of the roof again when he mentioned the spice dealers. The thugs she’d seen earlier were gone, and she once again focused her attention on him. She couldn’t help but smile at the excitement in his voice as he revealed that he still had the recording. It was rare meeting someone so… happy after nearly being beaten to death by a bunch of street thugs.

A few minutes later, to her surprise, Ruus’all came over to her side. When he took her arm, Zaia pulled it back slightly, giving him an annoyed look.

“What are you-” Zaia looked down at her arm, and to her amazement, she realized that the pain had disappeared. He said something thanking her for saving him and mentioned how the drug dealers would be in jail within the next few hours, but she hardly heard him, instead looking back and forth between her arm and his still-smiling face. “How did-” She looked up at him incredulously. “You just-” She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. Her day was getting crazier by the minute. Finally, she managed to put something into words. “Who are you? What you did back there with the fire, that jump, now this-” she gestured at her arm with her other hand, “there’s more to you than you’re letting on. I haven’t seen anything like it before.”

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Ruus wasn't quite sure what was wrong- didn't she connect the dots? Had she ever met another Jedi or Force User before? Ruus'all giggled before placing his helmet back on standing up straight, tossing her borrowed weapon back into her lap- with the safety on of course.

"I'm a Jedi!" He exclaimed brightly, striking a heroic pose with his hands on his hips and chest puffed out before breaking his posture from the laughter directed towards himself. Ruus'all felt inclined to say something dignified like, "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." but he couldn't really have a dad to look up. Or a mom for that matter.

But his mommy and daddy issues were a story for another time.

"Kinda cool, right?" Ruus asked. "That's how I did the jump, the fireball, and the healing thingy. There's more where that came from, too." He chuckled mischievously. "Oh, don't get the wrong idea, either. I'm a cool Jedi- I stole a speeder once to find my apprentice's dog. Beans is real cute- like you, so you."

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“A Jedi?” Zaia held the blaster in her hand, blinking a few times before looking at Ruus’all again. She’d never officially met a Jedi before, let alone a Mandalorian one. The first question that popped into her mind was how hard it was for him. With the history Mandalore had with the Jedi— even with her own clan— she wondered how they would have reacted had she been Force-sensitive. Come to think of it, Zaia had never really paid the least bit of attention to whatever the Force was. Though she knew that it was part of what led to much of the development of Mandalorian technology, the only thing she‘d really cared about regarding the Force was how to fight against it. Yet even with what she was taught about it combat-wise, Zaia still hadn’t fully wrapped her head around the fact that such a thing existed. And yet here he was, a Mandalorian Jedi knight, standing in that hilariously ridiculous pose right in front of her.

“Cool is one word for it,” Zaia responded with a grin, pulling herself up to her feet and dusting herself off with her free hand. Stealing a speeder to find his apprentice’s dog seemed like an interesting story, and she was about to ask more when he commented about her being cute. She arched an eyebrow at that.

“You think so?” Zaia said with a laugh. “Spend any more time with me and I’ll prove you wrong.” She gave him a grin and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You aren’t so bad yourself, fireball.” With that, she put her own helmet back on, sliding her blaster back into its holster.

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

She really was cute thinking Ruus was gonna let her prove him wrong.

"Fireball?...That's actually...really good, I really like that." He grinned a little bigger beneath his helmet at the new nickname. Ruus'all loved giving and getting nicknames- especially the clever ones. As such, he was naturally attracted heavily to the whole "Fireball" spiel.

"Alright, Fumble-Fingers- heheheh, no, I'm kidding that won't be how I remember you." He teased a bit after flinching slightly from the playful punch to his durasteel-plated shoulder. Damn...she's tough, too. Ruus thought as he thought of his own fingers after smashing them in a door once. There had never been a more girly scream in the entire galaxy than the one he made that day- a secret not even his apprentices knew of.

"Maybe "Gorgeous" will have to do for now." The Mando-Jedi giggled again. "But to be serious- are you hungry? I am. Very hungry- and feeling very generous, too. Today is your lucky day! I'm buying you dinner- or lunch...or...whatever the hell the time is here, heheh."

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“Fumble-fingers.” Zaia snorted. “Should’ve dropped you earlier.” She said it good-naturedly though, she didn’t mean it. Ruus’all was proving to be quite a character. When he made his “gorgeous” comment, she rolled her eyes again. He couldn’t see it through her helmet, of course, but the visible shake of her head indicated her disbelief.

He was kind enough to offer to take her out to lunch. Though she wasn’t hungry, there wasn’t really anything else she could be doing. And, she had to confess she wasn’t against spending a little more time with the Jedi. He was surprisingly likable for a force user. From what she’d heard about them from her clan, they were arrogant and self-absorbed and would be nothing without their powers. Ruus’all didn’t seem to fit that description at all, but perhaps it was the Mandalorian in him. Either way, she’d taken a liking to him, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

“Alright. If you really want to,” Zaia said with a smile. “I know a good place somewhere close by. Emmand’s, I think it’s called. Promise it’s not too expensive.” She looked in the direction of the restaurant, scanning the streets for any thugs who might have remained. It didn’t look like they were there anymore. Still, she briefly thought that it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more careful, though she didn’t know how exactly they would manage that. Their Mandalorian armor was easily recognizable. Oh well, they’d just have to deal with it. Besides, she doubted that the thugs would attack them again after what had happened last time. If there was no way to hide from the problem, might as well straight up face it.

“Come on.” She made a gesture for him to follow and slid down one of the pipes, landing lightly on the dusty ground. “Go straight for two blocks, turn right and go forward for one, then look left. It should be right on the corner. Race you there!” she called up towards the roof, and without waiting for a response, she turned and started to run.

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

There might have been just a shred of luck that had been gifted with Ruus'all today. He hoped that just getting it over with and flat out telling another Mando about his Jedi affiliation instead of keeping it for later, and it turned out that telling truth really did have it's benefits.

Ruus knew better than anyone about the tension between Force users and Mandalore- especially when it came to either Sith or Jedi who both had a huge line of oppressing the duo's ancestors. However, when Ruus'all met Russel, his perspective changed a little bit about the Jedi as Russel Monti wasn't a terrible human being who was very down to earth opposed to the conquering Sith that had, more or less, represented the hate for Force users Ruus had been taught since he could walk.

So, Ruus'all made a mental note that he was going to make sure everyone got the great first impression Ruus did when he met Russel. From how Zaia was reacting, he was sure he was doing a good job of that. After giving him the directions to a Café Ruus'all hadn't heard of, the woman bolted off in it's direction.

"Yo! Wait, I wasn't ready!" He stuttered as he quickly began sprinting out of her- and though he knew he could use the Force as an advantage, he was pretty confident he was faster anyway.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia smirked as she heard Ruus’all call out that he wasn’t ready yet, not slowing down a bit. That was too bad. She darted through the streets, dodging people as best she could and occasionally checking back to see if Ruus’all was still there. She couldn’t see him in the crowd, but she assumed that he would be fine— her directions had been clear enough, right?

The cafe was soon in sight, its flickering red and white sign greeting her as she slowed to a stop in front of the entrance. She could feel all the passers-by’s disapproving eyes on her, but she paid them no attention. They could look all they wanted— she only cared about if she’d gotten here first. Beating a Jedi in a race, while a silly idea now that she thought of it, would be something to boast about. She looked around for Ruus’all, but the man hadn’t seemed to arrive yet. It was possible that he’d run into a couple of the thugs and had gotten held up… or he’d beaten her here and was watching or waiting somewhere. Or he’d gotten lost. Perhaps it would be best to check.

“Ruus’all?” she called. “You here?” Zaia tried to keep the hint of worry out of her voice, but was only partially successful. Maybe he had run into some kind of trouble. What if he was cornered by the gang again? She was just starting to like him.

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Ruus'all couldn't believe it- he was losing the race! But only because Zaia had gotten a head-start. The Mando-Jedi was smart, however, and when he arrived Ruus took the back door, slipping through the kitchen and out into the resturant and took a seat by a window right behind where Zaia was. It was the ol' "Take the Back Door and Act like You've Been There for Hours" trick.

He knocked on the window to grab the girl's attention and took his helmet off, revealing a cheeky smirk, an set it down on the table. "Beat You." He mouthed through the window.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

A couple taps coming from the window of the cafe caused Zaia to turn around. When she saw Ruus’all’s smirking face and his silent declaration of victory, she drew her hand across her neck in a cutthroat gesture and made her way towards the door, annoyed at herself for getting even the least bit worried about him. She pulled it open a little harder than intended, and nearly crashed into an Ithorian holding a steaming drink as she tried to enter the establishment. After muttering a quick “sorry”, she headed over to the table where Ruus’all sat.

She pulled her helmet off as she slid into the seat across from him, leaving it at her side. On her face was a glare that she believed could rival her grandfather’s. And that was saying something.

“Alright, I get it. You win,” she said with a scowl as she crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. “You know, you’re insufferable.” She paused, then sighed. “Well, if you’re hungry, I recommend the roast pormork. You can get it anywhere, but this place makes it well.”

@Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Ruus'all giggled like a little Foundling did while he watched the woman walk inside, looking defeated and annoyed. Her death stare was a nice touch, but accidentally bumping into that Ithorian totally ruined any sort of intimidation she had in her.

"I could've sworn I saw a little bit of worry there- you really do care about me, don't you?" Ruus'all teased. Then, she recommended one of the tastiest meals he'd ever heard of. It was like champagne for the ears! He then imagined how good it would taste in his mouth. "Oh, I'm taking one of those alright! What do you want? This meal is on me." He offered with a cheeky smile. Ruus did plan on telling her that she actually won the race, but for now he was going to gloat in his fraud of a victory.

"Where you from, anyway?" Ruus'all asked, after making an order. "Where's your Clan from? You a loyalist or do you kinda just roam around for bounties? That's what I did before the Jedi get a hold of me. Stole speeders...lot of speeders- oh and starships, too! The old ones I scrapped and forged into armor or weapon castes- I love the forge. The heat is my best friend and if I lived without seeing another snowflake, I'd die a happy man." He joked, chuckling a bit.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Zaia snapped after Ruus’all’s light tease. Had it really been that obvious? Fortunately, he moved on to the topic of food.

“I’ll just have a stew,” she said, pursing her lips as she looked around for the server. He was close by, handing over two steaming plates to the Rodians sitting at the table next to theirs. Soon, he seemed to notice her and Ruus’all, and once their order was made he went back into the kitchen. Her gaze followed him until she heard Ruus’all’s question. There was no use pretending to be mad at him anymore, so she decided to just be honest with him.

“Take a wild guess,” she said with a slight grin, gesturing at her armor. “Manda'yaim, of course.” She paused for the second question. Was she a loyalist? She would think so, but she hadn’t exactly done anything to prove it. She wasn’t a bounty hunter either— not a fully fledged one, anyway. No, she was somewhere in the middle.

“Mm, a mix of both,” she said with a shrug. When Ruus’all opened up about how he was a bounty hunter before, Zaia had to admit she was a bit surprised. Ruus’all seemed to be the very opposite of someone who was willing to be hired for some of the dirtiest jobs in the galaxy just for some credits. Well, nothing was ever as it seemed. She’d learned that over and over again. Perhaps that was part of the reason he became a Jedi.

“Do you always blow up the speeders after you’re done with them?” she teased. “Plus, I figured you liked the heat. You were shooting fireballs at those guys. And you didn’t seem to mind when I used this.” She pointed at her flamethrower gauntlet before putting an elbow on the table and resting her chin on her hand. “Did you forge any of your gear, then? I’ve always wanted to learn, but it seems so much more difficult.”

@Charles