Private Dead Man's Gun

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat Rum Hilt didn't like ecumenopolises. He had been raised on the desert planet Sriluur, and from there had worked aboard ships. Being surrounded by tall buildings huddled closely together like whispering giants, covered in windows gazing down at him, packed with people jostling each other (or worse, nowhere to be seen), vehicles flying overhead or past or under; all of these things made Bat Rum uncomfortable. He didn't like Coruscant, he didn't like Eufornis Major, and he didn't like Nar Shaddaa.

But here he was.

To make himself feel better, the pirate reminded himself that the Smuggler's Moon, as it was nicknamed, was at least mostly populated by like-minded beings. Trying to suss out someone's angle was always the trickiest part of a relationship for Bat. Knowing that everyone had an angle made it much easier in his mind.

Hutta Town looked much the same as it did the last time he had visited several years earlier, the distinct smells of the place carrying memories along with it. On one particular street, three buildings from the corner, down a short flight of three stairs, was a sprawling cantina. Bat Rum checked the blaster on his left hip, and the ancient blaster in the cross draw holster on his right, and entered.

The place was crowded, smoke from various inhalants competing for room in his nostrils. Bat Rum made for the bar and ordered a Cheedoan whiskey sour. As he waited for his drink, he looked around the room, immediately spotting the twins in one corner. They had taken up space in a rounded booth, dimly lit in red, as if they were on display. Which they were, in a way, thought Bat.

Taking his drink and leaving the creds, he made his way across the room.

"Hello," he said, sliding into a chair opposite the twins. "My name is Bat Rum Hilt. I was told you might be able to provide some information for me. I have a..." Now that he was about to say it out loud, it sounded absurd. He sighed. "I have this blaster. I think it's haunted."

Willow & Ivy

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Willow and Ivy loved the freedom that they now had. Sure they couldn't go anywhere without escort, couldn't leave the planet, nor could they have any weapons. But still; they got to go from Palace to Palace and every market and cantina inbetween.

And that was what had led them to here.

They were both people-watching in the round booth that allowed them to sit comfortably. Being siamese twins, something as simple as sitting could be difficult. What normal people took for granted such as sitting or running, the twins had to be sure to co-ordinate. The fact that they were linked in mind as well as body was a bonus for them.

Ivy was sipping her fruity drink when Bat Rum Hilt sat down at their table, her eyes roaming him, but not in a crude manner.

Willow listened to him intently, folding her hands on the table. "Really? Haunted?" Most people wanted them to help them find objects or people. But here was something slightly different. "And you are looking for verification?"

"More than that, Willow..." Ivy looked to her sister and spoke quietly through their telepathic link. {He looks a little scared}

The two of them both nodded their heads in agreement.

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

More than that...

"I suppose," Bat admitted. He pulled the blaster from its holster and displayed it across both open palms.

"I found it when I was scouting a cave with some others. The cave was abandoned, but it'd been a base or something once, long ago, during the Clone Wars." He shifted the weight from palm to palm. "I've always been able to...I don't know...feel something, you know? When something is important." He smiled to himself. "Someone once told me I was strong in the Force. When I was young." With a shrug, he continued, "Things happen. I move fast, I hit someone before I hit them, I grab something from across the room without touching it. Parlor tricks. They told me if I went for training...but no one's going to train a little kid running with pirates, hunh?"

As if snapping out of a trance, Bat sniffed once, raised his head, and looked at the twins. "Anyway. I found this blaster, and I took it, because I felt like it needed to come with me. So later, on a different planet, I meet someone, and I hear a voice in my head telling me I could kill her. Not like I should, more like offering me an option, like if I felt that she was a threat, it would... I don't know, come to my assistance?" He put the blaster on the table and slid it toward Willow & Ivy . "I think the voice is coming from this blaster, so..." He picked up his drink, took a sip, waved his hand at the pistol and the twins. "I was hoping, maybe..." he shrugged again.

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Both Willow and Ivy listened to the tale Bat Rum Hilt told them intently. At times they smiled as they nodded, almost in unison. Most especially as he gave them information about being special. It wasn't something that they could see with their eyes, but moreso something that they could feel. It tugged at them, yet in a gentle way.

Willow took hold of the blaster in her hands and closed her eyes. She was the more gifted of the pair when it came to gleening information from objects. And it was Ivy that took on the role of protector, ready to intervene if danger arose. When it came to searching weapons, the pair had to be cautious. Bad things could happen if they were to delve too deeply.

"I see where you found it...And the cave...It was a secret for a very long time. Yet the walls echo with betrayal and blood." Ivy's eyes were open as she spoke, yet she wasn't quite looking at Bat directly. Instead she was looking at what her sister was seeing.

"The red isn't all blood. It is reflection. Shades of light and dark. And moving. Sometimes very quick, sometimes spinning. I feel...a lot of anger and hate, but plenty of confidence too....."

"Be careful, Willow. Don't go too deep...." Ivy could already see the consequences if her sister did. But she knew there'd be help.

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat Rum listened intently, part of him considering how much of a profit he might be able to turn if this turned out to be some sort of lost Jedi artifact, part wondering why it felt like he shouldn't consider parting with it at all, as if somehow it was meant for him. And of course there was the part that believed this entire presentation might be a sham, a huckster's trick to shake up the superstitious, paranoid, or guilty to appease the twins' master. Bat wasn't entirely sure who that might benefit, or not yet anyway.

Best to sit and listen for now.

Willow & Ivy

 

[Willow & Ivy]

"The blaster was not his, it did not belong to him and yet, it was there when he died. Magic helped to make him what he was and it left him when he died, looking up at his brother's yellow eyes....I'm not like you. I never was...."

"Willow stop!!" Ivy quickly gripped her sister's hands and made her let go of the blaster just as Willow's head began to lull back. She cradled her head against her own, rocking back and forth as though she was trying to comfort a small child. Her eyes held the gaze of Bat Rum Hilt . "The magic let go of the body, but not his spirit. He is determined to prove himself. Maybe now through you."

Willow lifted her head on her own now, her soft gaze falling upon Bat as well. Are you in competition with someone? A sibling rivalry, or work related?"

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat leaned forward. "I'm a pirate," he said in a low voice. "I'm in competition with everyone."

Leaning back again, he glanced at his drink, then looked at the blaster, then back up at the twins.

"So what are you saying? I was right, this blaster is haunted? If it didn't belong to them, how did it happen? Who was he?"

The pirate placed the tips of his fingers on the blaster. A wave of psychic energy coursed through him, rolling his eyes back in his head, a flash-tumble of someone else's memories shaking his mind. For a moment time stopped, then stretched, but the thoughts that weren't Bat Rum's slipped through the fingers of his mind like a hurricane through a sieve. Bat Rum knew this had nothing to do with him; this was the residual of some Force trick between the ghost and Willow & Ivy that he'd caught the tail of. He pulled his hand away quickly, looked at it, watched it tremble. Exhaling sharply, he looked back to the twins.

"So what did I miss?" he asked, shaking his hand as if trying to awaken it.

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Ivy couldn't help it but found herself liking Bat Rum Hilt . There was just something about him that she couldn't quite put a finger on. But she knew that he'd owe her a favour and do his best to fulfill it. Flashes of him in action came to mind, though that could also be partly due to the blaster and the spirit that haunted it.

Willow on the otherhand watched Bat while he momentarily lost himself as she had. When he became more focused she respinded. "Magic, especially Dark Magic, cannot so easily be explained." Willow didn't know how to command it, anymoreso than her and her sister could command what it was that they'd see or feel through the Force. It was beyond their skills, for none had ever taught them anything about it. "He was a brother, looking much like his kin, but with each with different pigmentation. They were warriors, in life and in death. Yet this one was unable to fulfill his ambitions while he was alive.. The Nightsisters got involved and...messed things up."

"Attaching to a lightsaber, especially his lightsaber would be far too easy and such artifacts tend to be archived or destroyed. But a blaster....a blaster is easyto slip unnoticed and in some respects, has a higher lethal count."

"If death is what his spirit craves, than a pirate with plenty of competition is the perfect vehicle to fulfill his needs."

"Perfect to slip past the Jedi."

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat's eyes narrowed. The Nightsisters were notoriously problematic. While he'd never personally had a run-in with them, he had heard stories of their abilities, stories which had always effected him more than the chest-thumping evil pomposity of the Sith or the conquering justice of the Jedi.

"Well. Slipping past the Jedi is what pirates do best," said Bat Rum to the sisters, trying to lighten the mood a bit while his mind turned recent events over in an effort to try and piece things together. "So then. This...Force ghost, this warrior with the brother. He was Dathomirian. He got himself killed. He had a lightsaber, but chose instead to place his spirit into a blaster instead, in order to at least try to remain active, in circulation. The blaster winds up in a cave. I find the blaster. The blaster speaks to me." He nodded. "Well, it's not the strangest story ever told, but it certainly poses more questions than answers, doesn't it? Like: why me?" He picked up his drink, swallowed a mouthful. "I guess I was enough to get it off-planet, get it back into circulation. Force-wise, I mean."

Bat Rum scratched between his eyebrows .

"This Dathomirian. He had a name?"

Willow & Ivy

 

[Willow & Ivy]

"You can slip through the notice of the Jedi easier than most."

"You are not what they seek. But he is. You have the qualities that he needs to satisfy his unfinished business.

Willow reached out and placed a hand on Bat Rum Hilt 's, her eyes drifting upwards to meet his gaze. "You are special and you hold the gift too, just like we do. Her eyes rolled back then, similar in fashion to what happened to Bat moments earlier.

After a moment, Ivy quickly removed Willow's hand. "No, Willow! Stop! She intertwined their fingers together so that Willow couldn't reach out and touch anyone. Ivy let out a held breath and looked to Bat. "I know his name and I will tell it to you. But first...I need you to promise me something."

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat nodded. "Is this about sex?" he asked, looking from twin to twin. "Because I must admit I'm curious, and the idea is sort of exciting. Do you share all of your feelings? I mean, if one of you is...being intimate, does the other...also...er...?" He quickly added, "I mean, if not, that's fine too, I'll probably promise you whatever, if you need, assuming it means no loss of profits for me or any immediate danger of self-harm."

Willow & Ivy

 

[Willow & Ivy]

The twins were clearly taken aback by what Bat Rum Hilt had answered them with. It wasn't what was on Ivy's mind when she had asked him to promise them something. Yet still they looked at eachother. Willow blushed a little at first, followed by Ivy.

It was a silent moment before they both looked to Bat once again. "Yes, we feel what the other feels, though neither of us has been intimate with anyone. We've always been just...put on display for our gifts."

"Much in the same way that you came to us now. No one chooses to get near us for any other reason." They hadn't ever gotten so much as a kiss on the cheek, or a hug, or even a dance. More often than not, no one needed to touch them to get them to move anywhere. Instead they needed only a gun or a knife.

"We have had a vision of terrible things happening to us. If we need a rescue...could we call on you for help, Bat?"

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat Rum's brow furrowed at the twins' revelation. That seemed not just unfair, but undignified.

"If you give me enough time, yes," he agreed. "I mean, I doubt I could do it here and now, because I think there are too many people we'd need to get past, ghost gun or no. But I think I could raise a crew if you needed." The pirate rose, holding up a finger. "Excuse me for a moment." With that, he holstered the blaster before walking across the room to the low stage, where a Klatooinian band was playing Tatooine blues. Leaning in, he exchanged words with one of the musicians, then returned to the table, picked up the haunted blaster, holstered it, and held out his hand to Willow & Ivy .

"Come on," he said, as a sad, slow song began filling the room. "Let's dance."

A movement caught his eye as a large Trandoshan straightened up from the wall he'd been leaning on. Bat rolled his eyes, reached into his pocket, and tossed the twins' guard a handful of creds. "Hey. It's just a dance," he said calmly. "Nothing to worry about."

 

[Willow & Ivy]

"Thank you. Now isn't the time, it won't be until much later."

"That is if it happens at all..."

"Yes, we'll try to prevent it from coming to pass." Every little bit helped. Although the twins stopped looking at their own futures, they could indirectly see who would be of help and who wouldn't. Bat Rum Hilt had a special quality that they were certain would be beneficial to them, and not in a monetary way. He was different than their regular clients.

That point was proven as he left the table. For a moment the twins weren't certain of what exactly he was up to. He returned and took hold of his blaster and for a split second they thought he was leaving. That is until he held out his hand.

"Dance? With us?" Willow beemed, with Ivy soon following suit. They both got to their feet and moved away from the table, Willow taking hold of Bat's hand with her own. "We'd love to! We've never danced with anyone before." The twins had only danced with themselves and usually alone in their spacious suite that Broka had given them.

As they moved to the dance floor and found a spot for themselves, there was a moment of awkwardness. They were two and he was one. "How will we do this? Should you stand in the middle? Or..you can dance with Willow first and I'll wait my turn."

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat Rum spread his arms and stepped toward the twins. "I've got two arms and two shoulders to lay two heads on," he said, putting an arm around each of their waists and pulling them closer. "The nice thing about places like this is that we're not even the oddest-looking thing here." He looked to his left and inclined his head to indicate the Lamproid nuzzling the neck of a Baragwin. "Those teeth are going to leave a mark."

Bat knew about feeling different and alone; after all, he was a Human raised by Weequay. But he was also glad for the experience. It had made him the reasonably successful pirate he was today, a life he both enjoyed and could profit from. Knowing Willow & Ivy could probably read his thoughts, he mentally willed himself away from remembering the fights of his youth where he had had to prove himself, and focused wholly on the present: the two women who smelled like incense and something else he couldn't quite place, but that he found quite pleasant, and attempted to distract the pair, if only for a little while. Well, his mind added, unless they decided to take him up on his offer for more intimate physical contact.

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Willow and Ivy beamed as Bat Rum Hilt accommodated them both at once. They both wrapped an arm around his waist, while resting their heads on his shoulders, turned towards his neck. It wasn't often that anyone was more or less standing inbetween the pair and yet here he was. However he wasn't dividing them. Instead he was more or less joining them.

Ivy lay her free hand on his chest, while Willow chose to twirl his hair in her fingers. Their bodies moved to the sway of the music through the course of the song, each of them journeying into their own thoughts. The twins didn't intrude on anyone at this moment, not even on themselves for they just wanted to take everything in. Bat's body was warm, inviting, and much more firm than theirs was. He was strong in ways that they could never be and it was certain that the same could be said in reverse.

By the end of the song the pair stopped and it was Willow that planted a soft kiss on Bat's cheek. "Thank you, Bat. That was lovely. Our first dance."

"And you're her first kiss too!" Not wanting to be out done, Ivy kissed his other cheek. "And now mine!"

"I wish we could keep you..."

"Yes, even if for a little while. You're a very attentive companion."

But he was a free man as most people were. The twins were like a lot of slaves that still worked the area. Only they at least earned a little bit of a paycheque. And had a massive suite to themselves. Not many owned people could say that.

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat squeezed their hands in his. "Well, I had planned on spending the night before I left in the morning. If you have somewhere more comfortable than the hotel on the docks..."

With the song ended, Bat Rum escorted Willow & Ivy back to their booth, throwing a neutral glance at the Trandoshan bodyguard and adding a "Hey. How you doing?" as they walked past. The Trandoshan responded by continuing to clean his nails with a long knife, and didn't bother to reply at all.

As the twins settled back into place, the pirate picked up his drink. The ice had melted by now, watering it down some, but that didn't prevent him from tossing the rest of it back.

"So," he said, rubbing his hands on his pants. "A name."

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Both Willow and Ivy looked to eachother, smiling brightly with hints of blushed cheeks, before turning to Bat Rum Hilt and nodding almost eagerly. "Oh yes, we have our own suite. It's very pretty."

"We don't have a bedroom for guests, but we're sure that our bed is spacious enough for the three of us." Ivy glanced at their guard, though her words were spoken to Bat. "And you'd be most welcome to join us."

They slid into the booth, making themselves comfortable. However his question brought them back to their real purpose there. Or at least his real purpose. Willow leaned forward, causing Ivy to do the same. "His name is a funny one, but perhaps it describes his personality. It's Savage."

 

[Bat Rum Hilt]

Bat Rum smiled at the twins' invitation. "I'd very much like to join you," he said, his mind racing with curiosity and possibilities.

Sa-VAHHJ said the voice in Bat's head.

And that was enough to snap him out of it. "I'll be leaving you on the floor," he muttered aloud. Raising his voice to a conversation level, he said, "Not you. The ghost. He says it's pronounced Sah-Vahdge."

Close enough, said the voice.

"Thank you for helping me out here," he told Willow & Ivy sincerely. "Is there anything else you might be able to tell me about this...Savage?" Bat got the uncomfortable feeling he'd be making a trip to Dathomir soon.

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Bat Rum Hilt wasn't alone. With the ghost travelling along with him, connected to him, he was much like what they were. That was partly what drew them to him. The notion of anyone being similar to them was rare indeed.

Now they couldn't wait to spend even more time with him; alone and without their guards in their suite. Both could see that it was going to be very pleasant.

"He will be with you until he is satisfied."

"Yes, there is unfinished business that he has."

"Even revenge....But ridding yourself of the blaster won't change anything if it becomes too much."

"It will find it's way back to you. He chose you. You are bonded as we are."