Attn: GREAT BAMBINO (Mikhail Shorn/Ask)

[Kitt Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]@[member="Mikhail Shorn"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Attn:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]The sultan of swat![/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]The king of crash![/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]The colossus of clout![/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]THE GREAT BAMBINO![/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]You might think I’m just another fan girl writing you this letter, but I assure you, I am not. Although, being a fan girl did help me get your address when I went to one of the many monuments erected in your honor. Gossip runs like a southern wildfire on whether or not you’re proportionate to the statues in every way. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]But that is neither here nor there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]I have a proposal for you. I’d like to make a bet with you. I bet I could drink more Corellian shots of whiskey than you at the Martin and Lee’s Shakedown Pub and still win a game of darts. If I win this bet, you’ll let me bring you in for that nice bounty on your head. Were you aware you had a bounty? I’m sure a man like you was expecting more than two-million credits. If I turn you in, maybe you can rectify that?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-wink-[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]If I lose, I’ll be your slave for the day. Note, please see slave for a day terms and conditions attached to this letter.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The other hunters say I’m stupid, young, and brash. Maybe I am. Whether it’s stupidity or ballsy gumption, I’m calling you out GREAT BAMBINO. If you accept the terms of this bet, meet me at Martin and Lee’s Shakedown Pub on the penultimate Saturday of this month. I’ll be wearing a scarlet mask.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Your fan,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Kitt Solo[/SIZE]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

@[member="Kitt Solo"]

Attn:
Jail bait

I am sorry it took so long to reply. I have so much adoring fan mail that travels through my house these days, although Alachei keeps sending me hatemail. I'm glad you were able to take the holy pilgrimage to one of the statues. As for proportions, I guess that depends on which statue you are looking at.

Drinking games? Darts? Fanmail? You might think I won't kill you because you are 2cute2fail. Trust me, the sound of your neck snapping will be cuter.

-wink-

If you lose you'll be too drunk, too hungover, and too dead to be of any use for the day. After overlooking the attached terms, I think we'll need to rearrange a few things, later.

You are adorable.

Your god,
Mikhail Shorn.

P.S. Does your mom know you wrote this? I'm sending her a copy.

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

Martin and Lee's Shakedown Pub

2cute2fail. Really? Nothing like an old guy trying to sound cool. No one could see the smirk behind the scarlet mask. She held the flimsi postmarked from the great bambino himself in one hand.

"I'm sending your mom a copy," she scowled, fingering the empty shot glass on the bar top ledge. Then she dipped her voice an octave lower, trying to mimick what she thought Shorn sounded like. "I'm sending your Mooooooom a copy."

Who knows if the dude would show?

If he did, things would probably get interesting, considering the hidden ysalamiri around the bar. Plus, Kitt knew how to drink, yo. Even the Mandalorians couldn't keep up. Especially that Lee guy.

If he didn't show, she'd still have a great story to tell.

Kitt mimicked Shorn's voice again in a slightly feminine tone. "Mooom..."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[*cough* thought I was posting in the ooc thread....umm...move along, move along]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

A raven-haired man manifested in the middle of the bar - literally popped into existence out of thin air. He smirked, looking smug beneath those haunting ice blue eyes. Then he took two steps forward and promptly vanished. He reappeared a few minutes later in the same spot as before, a frown on his features. He ran a hand through his long, dark hair.

"Weird," he muttered.

Glass shattered.

The pale-eyed man turned calmly. A patron of the bar stood, hand still extended, the glass she had been holding was in pieces on the floor. The man smiled politely, though any who stared only into his eyes could see they were cold and hard as permafrost.

"Hi, do you know who Kitt Solo is?"

The Twi'lek shook her head, lekkus whipping wildly, eyes wide in terror. The other patrons hadn't noticed the man appearing out of thin air, it seemed. Too drunk, or too cynical to care. People appearing out of thin air? Preposterous. Give the average person the wildest scientific excuse for a phenomenon he would go about spouting it as if it was peer reviewed truth from the Intergalactic Science Journal. This Twi'lek, however... she seemed to trust her eyes. And her eyes were telling her a man had just come out of nowhere. One point for Mysticism.

"She's somewhere in this bar. Human woman. Find her and I won't kill you."

The Twi'lek ran off, hopefully to find Solo, leaving the raven haired man standing in the bar, a look of boredom on his features.

@[member="Kitt Solo"]

 

[Kitt Solo]

Giggle-snorting into her mask, face became somewhat more somber as a frantic Twi'lek yelled out her name. "....please, please. Is there anyone here by the name of Kitt Solo? Some scary-looking man is asking for her. He appeared out of thin-air! I swear to the Hutts! It's Kitt Solo. Kitt Solo!"

Whelp, the man sure had influence on the locals and knew how to make an entrance, apparently.

"Lady, calm down. I'm Kitt."

"Oh thank the stars! He's, he's, over there," trembling finger pointed across the bar. Spinning in her stool, she crossed her legs and leaned slightly back on the bar, elbows supporting her weight on the wooden surface as her warm, myrtle-ellipses made contact with his icy-blue ones. Summer met winter.

Kinda dreamy for an old guy.

"I'm Kitt," she repeated and hollered across the bar. The other patrons spoke in hushed whispers, a little spooked by the ranting Twi'lek from earlier. Others were just passed out drunk and didn't give a flying bantha flip. Kitt didn't blame 'em. "Mister Great Bambino," a grin, unseen spread across her covered lips, as her hand lazily dropped from her side and patted the barstool next to her. "I've saved you a seat. Didn't think you'd show with all that...fan mail to answer."

Lacking nothing in audacity, she winked.

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

The raven haired man did that... eyebrow thing, then smirked.

"Sorry I took so long, I had to make a little detour. I needed to get a little party favor." He held up a hand, in it was a dead man's switch. "Let's see, Kitt Solo, under 20 girl. Check. Attempting to get a bounty, so someone in the mercenary business, but trying to get a bounty on me so obviously pretty new. Check. With that accent and writing style? Definitely Corellian. So how many Corellian Solo Mercenaries can there be? Turns out, not that many. Just one, actually. One with two loving, caring parents, who are just dying to have their baby back home. Oh, and those parents just happen to be sitting in a cold, dark basement, strapped with some detonators. And I have the switch."

He waved the deadman's switch at her.

"So here's what's going to happen. You are going to get rid of all the ysalamiri in here, or I might just get drunk and let my hand slip."

The smile that followed was one of mad princes, smugglers, thieves, and snakes.

"Oh, and nice to meet you in person Kitt. I'm Mikhail, Sith Lord."

@[member="Kitt Solo"]

 

[Kitt Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]@[member="Mikhail Shorn"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]"I don't know whether to be honored or to feel used that you would resort to such methods for a new, under 20, Corellian merc," tongue clicked against the back of her teeth as her eyes drank in his smile slash smirk. Even with the yslamiri, she imagined she could feel the power radiating off his form. And, like a true adrenaline junkie, she loved it. At the same time, it was enough to scare the crap out of her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]This, this was why she didn’t pursue force training: for fear of becoming the next Bambino and loving it, for fear of what it meant to lose your humanity, for having that same smirk and chilling-cold gaze that only came from satisfaction in being so out of control.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]A dismissive hand fluttered through the air. If she was worried about her parents, it didn’t show. Her mother was high-profile enough that something would’ve come through the bar holonet news. And her dad, well, he could kick anyone’s ass – even a sith lord’s. That’s what you’d expect from growing-up in the underbelly of Corellia and, with his range of connection and contacts, she doubted a hair would go missing on his head without his say-so. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Index-finger lightly tapped against her thigh, sending a morse-code message to her NPC friend, Chuck, monitoring the bar to check it out – just in case. Even if the sith had the wrong people, they were still innocent lives. And Kitt hated killing more than peeling sweet potatoes for all those festival pies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“What does a man like you care about force lizards? You and I both know I’m a gallon deep in oil in this fried pickle. You could break my heart by just winking at me.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Wink.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“I’m a nobody trying to make a name for myself. You have a bounty on your head that shouldn’t be there. You and I both know, only you have the power to allow me to cash in on that reward. You need an opportunity to face your accusers and wipe them out in typical Mikhail Shorn Sith Lord style. How dare they even put a bounty on you – amirite? I need an opportunity to get known in this large backyard galaxy. What’s not win-win about this?” She was tempted to say her mentor’s choice of words ‘you dig,’ but decided against it. Stars knew the man had a copyright on the catchphrase. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Reaching to her side without taking her eyes off the sith lord, she grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took a nice, quick swig. “But where are my manners? Here. Have a drink and think about it.” She lobbed the bottle underhand style at his free hand, some amber liquid splashing and spreading out from the open top.[/SIZE]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

@[member="Kitt Solo"]

All eyes followed the bottle, whirling end over end, then passing straight through Shorn's body. His form flickered slightly. He hadn't even attempted to catch it. Shorn's smile stayed on his face, a permanent fixture. Pale eyes looked down at the area where the bottle had passed through him, faux surprise on his face, quickly turning to snide mockery.

"Oops." He gave a single shouldered shrug, as if dismissing the fact that for some reason his body was ethereal. "Nice speech, but you're wrong." He held up a finger. "A, I'm offended at the amount of the bounty, not it's existence. I mean, come on, two point five mil? That's chump change." Another finger went up. "B, I destroyed the Senate of the Galactic Republic. What makes you think I couldn't do the same to the Dominion? I don't need an Under-20-Something Mercenary Jane."

The bar slowly began to empty. The whisperings had started as soon as Mikhail announced himself. Apparently, a few of them had heard of him. Nobody wanted to stick around Thronebreaker. As the name suggested, he tended to break things. Like thrones, cities, and... people. Lots of people.

Blue eyes turned cold as Hoth. "Now let's list of the reasons I don't trust you. One, your bet was a trap filled with bad juju geckos. Two, you're a mercenary. Three... I don't trust you."

"So how about you step outside the bar, hands in the air, and follow my instructions from there." He waved the deadman's switch at her. "Maybe I have your family, maybe I don't. But are you really willing to risk it, hero?"

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]


A small snort escaped the pointy nose hidden beneath the scarlet cloth. "Hero, trap? I think you've got the wrong Solo. Look around you, mister. There are no other mercenaries. Even a teen, fan girl like me would've brought some back up if this was a trap."

Sliding off the stool she sauntered over to his form and stopped when she was an inch from his face, hands promptly perched on her hips, her voice coming out like warm caramel. "I thought you looked blurry around the edges. Pretty neat trick. And I'll have you know my juju geckos prefer being called Barney, Shakira, and Tumtum."

Twin, summer orbs met winter ones. "Dagum straight you should be offended at the amount! Let me take you in and you can have a quote chat unquote with those folks. I'm sure your bounty would skyrocket after that. I thought you of all people would understand someone trying to make a name for themselves. That's all I want. Weren't you the one who broke the throne but chose not to rule it?"

Leaning forward, she nudged his shoulder, only to come up against no resistance. Eyes briefly crinkled at the corners to indicate a smirk. Face quickly became serious. "As for trusting, you and I both know I'm partially dead staying in here but as good as dead leaving. I don't trust you, mister. I'll come outside but only if I can bring Shakira and a bottle of whiskey along. I'm sure a Sith Lord could feel safe enough around one bad juju gecko."

Nudge. Nudge.

Most everybody was gone by now. The poor bartender was probably drinking himself into oblivion and muttering about why he didn't become a government analyst, level two, instead.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

"Bring whatever you want, oh masked one. I'll be outside."

With that, Mikhail's form began to fade until the only thing left was an eerie, disembodied smile, then that vanished as well.

From the roof of a building, about a half a mile away, real-Mikhail opened his eyes. Finding the sweet spot in the bar where the yslamiri bubbles didn't reach had taken a pretty big toll, even though he hadn't used telekinesis to enhance the doppelganger illusion. Of course, from this distance, non-line-of-sight telekinesis was basically impossible. He had to rely on more... mundane methods. Pale eyes fell on the tranquilizer rifle that rested against the roof's low wall. Shorn sighed as he walked over and picked the weapon up. Assuming a kneeling sniper's stance, with the barrel resting on the wall, Mikhail peered down the scope. Training from his few years as a Republican Army officer, what seemed a different lifetime, made everything feel... right. And honestly, he couldn't wait to shoot this little- Well, suffice it to say that he found Miss Kitt Solo more than a little irritating.

Not irritating enough to kill. Not yet. Besides, the Solo name was a little too familiar to just go around killing them. Tahira might get mad. Tranqing up her relative though? She'd get over it.

Sadly Shorn did not have Kitt's family tied up in a basement somewhere. Too bad. Would've made this whole thing much easier. Instead he had to use stuff like this tranquilizer dart gun. One hit and bam, out cold. From the roof of the building, Shorn commanded of the bar's main entrance. Hopefully she'd be coming out that one. If not well... he'd lure her into his line of sight.

Reaching into the Force, Mikhail produced a doppelganger on the ground. The not-Mikhail stood at some distance from the bar's entrance. Far enough to avoid an yslamiri field, but close enough that Kitt would be able to make out his features. Sith lord or not, he'd feel a lot safer with an unconscious, knocked out Solo than an alive, meddling one.

@[member="Kitt Solo"].

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

“Still no reaction to my offer, Shakira. Can you believe that?” The anti-force lizard looked lazily up at Kitt in the empty bar. Carefully putting the nutrient board and Shakira in the backpack around her bony-shoulders, she peeked out the bar’s front doors.

“Just as cocky as his file said he was…and just as sexy.” Kitt shook her head as Shakira grunted in the pack, a half smirk pulling on her hidden lips. The bastard. She didn’t come all this way just to hide-out in the empty bar, especially if there was a chance, even a small one, that the hoth-eyed sith had her folks.

Swallowing down her coming-out jitters…no, no, not that type of coming out, she strode out of the bar’s entrance and into the sun, spotting what she thought to be the sith-master himself. The whole thing reminded her a little too much of a holo-Western. Myrtle-ellipses narrowed as she thought she caught a glimpse of a flicker run through his form as she drew closer.

Neck craned upwards as orbs of summer scanned the surrounding rooftops. “What, no legion of sith troops with you?” Hands remained half-raised. If she was nervous, it didn’t show. “You gonna consider my offer seriously, or not?” The challenge was certainly not hidden in her tone.

If things went past the Corellian Dixie line, she had a few tricks up her sleeve thanks to Thaddeus, or rather, Bounty Hunter Mentor Number Two.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

The not-Mikhail on the ground stepped forward and opened his mouth as if to speak. Up on the rooftop, real-Mikhail depressed the trigger. PFFFT. A tranquilizer dart zipped straight toward @[member="Kitt Solo"]'s torso.

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

It was simple and dumb luck that she turned. Unfortunately, Shakira, the anti-force lizard, got the hit from the needle. There was a slight stiffening in her pack as the force-lizard went night-night.

Shuffling to a corner with her back and unconscious lizard against the concrete, eyes scanned the rooftop, catching a glimpse of something from the opposite end, a few clicks away. Hand reached back in her pack and took out an anti-force grenade. She pitched it with a force that would even make the Corellian Mets jealous. The grenade exploded, mid-air and a click away from Shorn the sniper, releasing a thick cloud that would mute any force sensitive to their magic-mojo.

"I'm just sad I couldn't see your sexy smile again,"quip carried from her partially, covered position.