Private Failed Pursuit

[Mavo Cortuga]

"Kriff." Mavo whipped her head left to right as she exited the alleyway before starting to shove through the bustling city streets of Terminus. The planet was at an intersection between hyperspace routes, a mecca for any type of hyperspace travelers from merchants to tourists to bounty hunters. Unfortunately, Mavo was part of the latter. This time, like many times, a particular target had slipped out of her hands yet again. Mavo was taught to never give up on a bounty--a far cry from the Bounty Hunter Guild's rulebook, but she followed a different style of hunting. Stay on their tails, wear them down and take them out. Easy. Especially for a price she just couldn't ignore.

He wasn't exactly the target. Not the main one, anyway. His buddy was who she was really after. Someone anonymous, someone who trusted him enough to have him do their dirty work. Someone higher up in the pecking order that needed to keep their identity under wraps. Whoever they were, they were close to him, and he was where she needed to start.

Except he was gone. No hint of him as far as the eye could see. Her rangefinder's heat tracking abilities were virtually useless when she was being nearly suffocated by the crowd of hot, stinking people. Some bounty hunter she was. She pushed through the sea of bodies, still keeping her eye out for a green hood, the hint of a mask, anything. Mavo cursed aloud, not worrying about the volume as the noise of chattering and laughing was enough to drown out her profanity.

Mavo could find him again. She knew she could. She just needed to get out of this damned crowd. Forcing her way through, she finally locked eyes with something she could work with. A parts shop... finally, something that made sense. As soon as she made it inside, Mavo pulled off her helmet and took a deep breath. Repair shops aren't really known for their fresh air, but it was good enough for her after what she had just escaped. She ran a hand through her sweaty hair and sighed, looking around. As she did, she absentmindedly turned the nobs on her neural implants--they were mostly made for combat to help with her aim and reaction speed, but fiddling with them helped her eyes adjust to the new environment.

Mavo kept quiet, trying to stay somewhat conspicuous. She kept her head down and perused the merchandise, feigning interest in the products. In her head, she was already trying to put together a plan to find her bounty again. She could check the shipyard logs, sift through encrypted frequencies to find anything important. Damn it all, it was just such a juvenile mistake she had made! The guy was slippery, but it was her own inexperience that let him get away. Mavo tried not to let it bother her, trying to focus her energy on the task at hand, but shame gnawed at the back of her mind.

Across the store, someone else caught her eye.

Saul Whesai

 

[CT-2282 "Justice"]

N/A

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul was like everyone else in the crowd in this bustling city, anonymous. Dressed in his usual rags, the young man had a duffel bag strapped across his body he didn't look out of place among the spacers and bounty hunters that called this part of Sith space home. The only thing that would make anyone maybe turn their eyes to look at him was the tin mask that was placed over face and the bow and quiver he had strapped to his back. Each arrow he had in the quiver was made from scrap metal; their crude jagged edges looking like the rest of his gear, makeshift.

He would be sorting through a bin of used droid parts as the armored bounty hunter came inside of the store before he finally pulled out a half decent servomotor and gestured to an old black and yellow Zabrak with some broken horns that sat behind the counter for the price. The store opener looked at it thoughtfully and said "Hmm... 150 credits" The wince that came to Saul's lips would tell anyone looking at the interaction that was not the price that Saul wanted to hear. That price could pay for a whole seeker droid. "Oh come on, that's highway robbery!" The Zabrak growled loudly as he reasoned back. "It's the Outer Rim Kid, parts don't grow on trees." Pressing down the desire to throw the motor at the shop keep's head, he could only say back as he walked up to the counter, their faces just inches away as the tin kid "They also aren't as rare as Krayt Dragon Pearls. 100..." Shaking his head, the offer Saul gave him just made the Zabrak look even more annoyed. "150 or get out." It seemed like he wasn't going to win this battle, and he needed this replacement motor. Sighing, he pulled the bag off his shoulder and took out the full number of credits, muttering "I hope you choke on them..." as he slapped them on the counter and put the servo motor into his bag. With only the cursory glance at the armored female as he headed out of the store, he swore to himself that he would only scavenge from junkyards from now on.

He limped through the crowds, struggling to pull his broken left leg along. He had to deal with this lack of mobility for the past couple of days after one of the servomotors had burned out during the transit into Sith Space and he had hated not to be able to fully move around as much as the price gouging around here. Sighing, he internally tried to look at the bright side of things, even if it was hard to do right now. Atleast I have the part... Now I just need to replace with damaging anything else in the process.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo raised an eyebrow at the limping young man, then continued to sift through the spare parts on display. At first she was feigning attention, but at this point she was fully interested. The products were good quality, albeit pricey. She picked up an old ion thruster and looked it over, holding it up to the window to get a better look at it. Through the window, she spotted a figure. Mask and a green hood. The figure stopped, as if sensing that she'd seen him, and started to wade deeper into the crowd.

"HEY!" shouted Mavo. She dropped the thruster and sprinted out of the shop, drawing her heavy blaster pistol. It was more of a kneejerk reaction--obviously, she couldn't shoot into a crowd of civilians. People around her started to avoid her, not quite panicked but still forming a crater in the stream of pedestrians.

The man in the hood and mask stopped walking, causing the limping young man to bump into his shoulder. He whipped around and put a hand on his chest.

"Apologies," said the man. His voice sounded robotic and slightly muffled, with poor audio quality. Up close, one would notice multiple things. His mask was dark and sculpted to resemble a human, but without any eye holes or openings in the mask that would make it possible for him to see. Second, starting at the mask's lower lip was a breathing apparatus that led down his jaw and wrapped around his neck. He kicked the other man in the chest, not with a foot but with a hooked blade prosthetic, slamming him into Mavo and causing the two of them to topple backwards and land with a THUD on the ground.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

The young female voice made him look up, turning his head towards the sound with a raised eyebrow, wondering what had happened behind him. His eyes went wide however as he saw the woman he had seen before coming out of the store. His eyes went wide as they locked onto the blaster in her hand, not noticing the mystery man in front of him stop. The bumping into the stranger's shoulder was enough for him to shift focus back and get real look at the man in green, at least enough of a look before he got pushed backwards into the Young Mando, making his head spin as he wonders what just happened.

Saul grunted in pain as he sat up, wondering what the hell happened. The woman behind him was the least of his questions right now. What he did know though was that man wasn't any good. Reaching on his belt, he grabbed a bolo made out of spare parts and wires, throwing it at the man in green's legs as he tried to get away. Whoever that strange was, Saul wasn't going to let him go till he had gotten some answers.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo scrambled to her feet and watched as the stranger threw the bolo. It spun in the air and the man successfully dodged its grasp, it instead wrapping around the feet of a gruff-looking Ithorian man. He ran off further into the crowd. The Ithorian fell and started taking down other members of the crowd, earning shouts and loud complaints from those around him. The group of people stumbled over each other, trying unsuccessfully to untangle themselves. Mavo groaned and looked around for a foothold.

She took a running start and leapt onto the windowsill, kicking off into the air and activating her jetpack. She flew upwards, making sure not to melt any passersby with jet fuel as she got a better view. She still had her blaster raised, although she still knew she couldn't use it. Soon enough, Mavo spotted her target--rifle raised straight up at her chest. She disengaged the thrusters and dropped onto the ground right as a blaster bolt shot upwards and into the side of the building behind her. In response, the civilians started to cry out in a panic, causing even more of a stir tripping over each other trying to get away.

Mavo's heart sunk to the bottom of her stomach as she looked at the chaos before her. She shouldn't have engaged with people around, but she thought she wouldn't have another chance at the guy. Now, things were worse off than before. That seemed to be a pattern with her, she thought with a grimace. Dejectedly, she got to her feet.

"Shit, man, I'm sorry," she said to the young man whom her target had pushed to the ground. She held out a gloved hand to help him up.

 

[Saul Whesai]

A low wince came from the masked stranger's mouth as Saul saw the havoc unfold before him. Of course, the thing had to tangle up the biggest alien around... The attack had been a long shot from the start, but it had been better than just letting whatever class of miscreant get away. And something told him that that man's story was more than just running away from the person behind him. Or who he thought was behind him...

In all the confusion and alarmed voices, he hadn't heard her take off. He did see the blaster bolt come out of the crowd and smack into the building where her head would have been seconds earlier. Too be honest, he hadn't expected her to offer help. They were in the Sith Territories after all, and he had no idea what temperament the female warrior had under that armor. His view on the Mando's was... mixed as they were. He had seen so much information and propaganda about the different groups that he didn't know what to think about them. He just hoped that the Female Mando wasn't the militant or Neo-crusader type.

Her offer of a hand at least reassured him that she wasn't going to take his head off. He gripped it tightly and hoisting himself up to his feet, wombling a bit as he tried to keep stable on his broken leg. "Hey, it happens." was his only response to herself pity. From her phasing, it was clear she was about his age. Maybe this was her first hunt? She clearly lacked in experience in this sort of work, not that he had been much help. Either way, they needed to move before the people they had toppled over figured out what they had done and became a very angry mob.

"Let's just get out of here before..." was all the young man could get out before police sirens started to sound. They were still far off in different locations but all of them seemed like they were converging on their position. Saul knew what that meant and his face turned from concerned to alarmed very quickly under his mask. "That's the Peacekeepers. We to need get out of here... now!" The Peacekeepers was the Sith Empire's military police force, and he did not want to be anywhere near them with his bum leg. To say a firefight wouldn't last long if the soldiers pinned them down would be an understatement. His only hope was that the young Mando in front of him wouldn't leave him for the Sith Dogs to chew on.


Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

“Okay, c’mon.”

Mavo grabbed the guy by his arm and put it over her own shoulder, providing him some support as she noticed his bum leg. With him in tow, she hurried out of the crowd and into an alleyway. On her wrist cuff she pulled up a holomap of the city. If paid attention, she could get to the shipyard where the Fluke was in no time without even touching the streets. The least she needed was a bunch of Sith asking questions and digging through her ship. Worst case scenario, they’d get their hands on her target before she could. But if she couldn’t nab him, they certainly couldn’t.

Her thoughts remained on her escaped target. What a drag, she thought with a scowl. Every time she got close, he always slipped out of her grasp. She knew next to nothing about the guy and it was a miracle she’d even stayed on his track for this long.

“You need a place to hide out? I can help with that leg of yours,” she said. She figured it was the least she could do after getting him into the mess in the first place.

 

[Saul Whesai]

As they walked, Saul tried to think of something that made the unknown warrior get her mind off loosing what he assumed was her target. Making conversation wasn't his strong suit at times when conversating with someone he didn't know at all, but he had to give it a try. Otherwise, he would have to suffer under her self-loathing and that wasn't an option. Her offering her a place to hide out gave him an opening to distract her. "I guess I don't have a better option. Do you have any discounts going right now? Maybe after 10 repairs, I get a wrist launcher for free?" He was probably falling flat on his face in his attempts to humor her but hey, maybe someone else bombing would be enough to make her focus her attention on something other than her failure.

The sirens and commotion got farther away as they walked. He thought he could hear metal feet of Constable-class Droids clanking far behind them, taking statements from witnesses about what had happened and basic information which wasn't much. With no one having seen their true faces, it would be a lot harder to track them down. The Mando's armor was a lot more distinct, but they could always repaint it if they had too. Which was a shame, he really liked its color palette. The muted colors made him think of Endor or some of the other forest's worlds that he hoped he got the chance to visit someday. Maybe someday I can save up enough to visit after I stop getting hosed on parts...

It was that moment that he heard a hum from behind them that was quietly getting louder. He knew what the sound meant. He hissed "Get down!" before quickly pulling her into another offshoot from the Alley and tugging her down behind a stall. Thankfully, it was vacant after word spread there were shooters on the loose and the vendors thought it was better to go home than risk a blaster bolt. What he had feared soon came down from the direction they came, a police probe droid with its lights on and sirens blaring. Their chances of getting out of here would be a lot worse if not zero percent if they were detected by one. Thankfully, this one only glanced down the offshoot briefly before continuing on down the route they were going to take. The android still held his breath for a while after it left. He hoped that would be the only police presence they saw this night.

As they got up and continued to stealth their way as only a person in full combat armor and someone with a busted leg could towards the spaceport, the android asked his first personal question since the two had met. "So... does my female armored guardian want to tell me their name?"

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo did laugh when he attempted his joke. It wasn’t hilarious, but she was easy to amuse. She was relieved to make some light out of the situation—bounty hunters and other Mandos didn’t tend to have very much humor. “With the prices those things are going for, you couldn’t buy a whistling bird,” she responded. “Nah, you’ll get a freebie, ’cuz I’m so nice.”

When he asked for her name, she hesitated. It wasn’t generally a great idea to give out that sort of information to strangers; it was careless enough that she was taking him onto her ship out of guilt. Mavo didn’t think he was any trouble, but on the other hand, her hunches weren’t usually reliable. “Uh… Mavo,” she said, against her better judgement. “You?”

Eventually, they made their way to the local shipyard. It was cheap, just the way she liked it—old, unenthusiastic workers milled around with vacant expressions, only there to take one’s credits and get out of the way. If anything, it made her ship fit right in: a shoddy-looking Ghtroc 720 freighter fittingly dubbed ‘The Fluke.’ Mavo waited until the coast was mostly clear before she strode up and opened the hangar door. The interior of the ship was worse off than the exterior—it was almost obsessively torn apart, with exposed wiring and machinery making every step of the way precarious. Tools and spare parts littered the ground and any available table space. Embarrassed, Mavo politely picked a datapad up off of a chair and offered the seat to her guest.
“Sorry about the…” she waved vaguely to her surroundings. “… Everything.”

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

That electronic laugh that came out of the living piece of armor was like a breath of fresh air to Saul. He didn't hear laughs a lot among the deepest trenches of city planets where he usually called home, so it was very nice change of pace. "Nah, I think don't trust myself enough to be responsible with that kind of thing. I'd probably make a building into a flaming heap by accident." His aim today also assured him that it was better if he didn't try to fire a rocket launcher anytime soon. He did want to find out what a "Whistling Bird" was though. It sounded very exotic and very deadly.

He regretted asking for her name as he saw her body seize up for a moment. He should have known that she wouldn't want to say her name. She was from a culture where people barely took off their helmets after all. He was about to say that the Mando didn't have to when the name Mavo popped out of her helmet's speakers, making his small smile return. "Mavo... I like it. Sounds like the name of some exploration rover." When she asked for his, he had the same split-second hesitation, but she didn't seem like the betraying type to serve him up on a silver platter to Denon's corporate overlords he had ran from when he was still a child. They both needed to trust the other if this situationship was to work out, however long it was going to last. "Saul, my name is Saul. Or atleast that's what the fake I.D. card I have says on it..." He didn't know his real name and probably never would. Saul Whesai was the only name he thought of in the first years that he had escaped captivity that he had really liked. So, he had ran with the name and would continue to till the wheels fell off.

"The Fluke" was not what he expected a Mando to drive. Then again, he hadn't expected the young women to take pity on him and invite him into her home or question her own actions. He thought she would drive a Firespray or some other Mandomotor's craft. Something more... offensive. Then again, what better way to stay under the radar than piloting an old freighter. And then they saw the inside. Many others would just see a mess, he saw a project. As he took his gear and mask off and put them on one of the cluttered shelves near the ladder well that served as the craft's entrance, his blue luminescent eyes sparkled as he absentmindedly thought what could be done with the space. The fact that it wasn't his ship willfully escaped him for the moment.

Seeing that the Mando's shame etched into her voice, he just shrugged as he waded through mess below him, his glowing eyes helping find his way as he hoped he didn't step on anything sharp. "It's alright... Some of the public transports I have taken have poop stained all over the walls in the refreshers so this can't get worse than what that smelled like." Plopping down in the offered seat what he wanted to say was the lounge area, he pulled his pants leg up and peeled the synthflesh around his knee off, showing her the affected area where the motor that powered his joint had burnt out. His leg looked like they were in surprisingly good shape, even with salvaged parts of questionable quality replaced most of the original. It actually would seem like the bot was actually decent at repair work. After an uncomfortable silence as he waited for her to get her gear together, he said something absentmindly as he looked up, making sure none of the ceiling tiles were about to unglue and fall onto his head. "So... I'm... guessing you have questions...?" It was an open offer for her to ask whatever she wanted about him or his past. If Saul was to gain her trust, he knew he had to put himself out there, even if it was uncomfortable for the both of them.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo’s eyes lit up when she saw his leg—maybe it wasn’t great manners to be excited at someone’s misfortune, but she was delighted to have a fresh project for once. She didn’t get much engineering work nowadays, either. Once she inherited her armor, she was only approached for bounties or smuggling. Plus, Saul’s cybernetics were of a make she had never even seen before.

"Wizard..."

Mavo's helmet quietly hissed as she removed it. Her hair stuck up once it was off, that in addition to her twitchy demeanor and wide brown eyes made her look more like a crazed womp rat rather than a fearsome Mandalorian. She pulled off her sleeves and gloves and tossed them to the side along with her helmet. Now that her hands were free and had slightly more dexterity, she absentmindedly turned the knobs on her neural implants. As she did so, Mavo made her way around, picking up anything that could be useful to repair Saul's leg. The cybernetics that were implanted into her skull were more for in-combat accuracy, but she could toggle them to help adjust her eyes to different surroundings. As she fiddled with them, her left hand twitched erratically—not the best feature for a person with multiple ranged weapons. Her eyes shifted left and right rapidly, as if she were in waking REM.

“Well, I’m not even sure where to start. Just tell me what you know.”

Saul Whesai

 

[CT-2282 "Justice"]

N/A

 

[Saul Whesai]

He couldn't help but chuckle as he saw her eyes light up. He couldn't blame her for being interested into something she had probably never seen before. Besides, it wasn't often that he got to be the center of attention. "I'll take that as a compliment." What he didn't expect for her to take her helmet off. She wasn't the traditional type of beautiful but to him, she seemed like a lovely alien from out of this galaxy. He hoped that she didn't catch him saying "Adorable..." under his breath as she had her back turned.

His leg wasn't an uncommon model, hell it had been around for hundreds of years. For all he knew, it was some surplus kit that his creators grafted onto them. "Do you see that circular hinge that acts like the knee? Thats where the motor goes. It basically powers the whole leg and helps it move. Its why I was dragging it around like a sack of Jogan Fruit earlier. He narrowed his eyes as watched her turn the knobs on her head, trying to guess what those for? Some kind of brain enhancer? He guessed that would be one of his questions. That and why she looked like she was on spice right now... He couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in his seat. The Android knew she had technical skill from her being able to keep this starship mostly in one piece but there was a difference between tinkering and actually repairing something. There were no back-ups to his legs and if made unusable, he wouldn't have a life or be able to work. He closed his eyes, trying to think happy thoughts as he let the first person who ever touched his legs other than him go to work on it in peace without any grumblings, only asking. "Does your refresher work? It's been a while since I had a hot shower."

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

"Hm? Yeah, sure." She knelt down in front of his leg. "You can do that right after I finish."

Mavo pinned back the synthetic flesh and got to work. She replaced the servomotor with careful precision, making sure to steady her hands as to not err, then tossed the old one to the side. More repairs weren't necessary for function, but she couldn't help herself. She removed some parts to scrape away excess grime and rust, allowing for better mobility; replaced some wiring; improved processors. It didn't take too long, as she worked quickly and expertly.

She hadn't worked on many cybernetics besides her own neural processors, but the schematics were easy enough. All machines had a pattern. Cause and effect. Everything has a place, everything has a purpose—if one understood what things were and why they were there, they didn't even have much of a need for blueprints. Technology was the only thing it seemed like Mavo could understand these days.

"What about you? Do you have any questions?" she asked.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul raised his eyes in surprise as he watched Mavo work. He was stunned by her ability to take care of mechanical parts. Her vision and careful touch were worth more than their weight in gold. "And I thought I was good with Machines." As she finished, he flexed his machinal toes and bending his leg. It almost felt like new. Getting up to test it, walking around the Fluke's main deck before coming back to her, only able to say. "Wizard..."

He thought a minute as he pulled the synthflesh back up into place, trying to think up some questions he could ask that wouldn't land him in one of the shipyard's waste disposals. "Well, you aren't the usual Mandalorian so I'll ask this. So why bounty hunting? You clearly have a talent for fixing things, so much so that you probably could charge thousands of credits to fix up any mining guide's machinery with your skill. Is it just your upbringing or something else?" He had one other question that was bouncing around in his mind, but he didn't want to ask her about that shaking in her hands he saw just yet. Instead, he asked one follow-up question that he thought might make her smile. "What's your favorite machine to work on?"

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

She beamed proudly when he said ‘Wizard.’ At this point, she’d almost completely forgotten about her failure catching her target. Almost. She stood up and stretched her legs. “Better now?”

At his first question, she sighed. She meant more about the prosthetic and how to keep it up—that was a more interesting subject, she thought. Mavo looked at her mother’s helmet on the table, laying on its side and almost gazing up at her expectantly. “It’s cultural,” she said with a furrowed brow. “I dunno. People take one look at me and they don’t ask for repairs. Hunting’s more suited for a Mando, anyway.”
“Look, what you saw earlier, that doesn’t happen often. I found a good bounty, a pricey one. He…” she picked up her gauntlet and pulled up a holographic portrait of the same masked man from earlier, “… is how I find the real bounty. All I know is that they’re close. Turns out, he’s slipperier than I thought.” Her expression turned into an irritated grimace and she switched it off, tossing it back onto the table. “And I haven’t failed,” she said, more trying to convince herself rather than Saul. “I’m still on his trail.”

At his third question, she raised an eyebrow at the quick turn of subject. “Uh…” she leaned on a counter. Despite her sour mood, she did crack a smile. “My jetpack. I can’t make many modifications, ‘cuz the technology’s been honed for thousands of years, but that’s why it’s so great.” She unhooked it from her back and set it down with a heavy thump. “There’s no improvement to be made with Mando jetpacks. They’re perfect.”

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul grinned at her like a Loth Cat as he nodded, his legs reacting better to his wants better than he ever remembered. "Much, I might have you tune up my other limbs later if you have the time." If he was going to help her with this bounty like he planned to do, he might as well be at 100 percent.

That sigh was why he changed the subject so fast. His smile turned into a frown as he saw her reaction. He clearly had asked the wrong question aka anything that wasn't based on mechanical items. The look that she gave her helmet "I guess I'll be the one person who will then. And if you want help, I will. Not like I have anything else to do on this rock." He really did have nothing better to do. The port would probably be on high alert after tonight, making getting off world for him difficult and while there always was some pilot that would take the risk for enough credits, the sensible thing was lay low on world. Besides, it wasn't very chivalrous of him to leave a lady in a lurch after all.

He internally breathed a sigh of relief as she cracked a smile, relieved that he could still keep up a halfway decent conversation with someone despite his years of mostly isolation. The response to his last question made him wonder if his best tactic was just shutting up and nodding. Thankfully, jetpacks were something he could at least talk about. "They are near perfect maybe. Nothing is perfect. Last time I checked, Boba Fett didn't fall into the sarlacc because he was clumsy but I take your point." He stepped forward, examining it closely, trying to think of anyway it could be improved. "But your right though, something simple is the best design ever. The only improvement I could say is maybe fins to direct your flight, but these packs aren't really made for sustained flight, aren't they?" He stepped back, smiling softly as he enjoyed her company. She was easy to talk to, or at least easier to talk to the usual sort of people he ran into. Pulling away, he gestured to the room he thought was the refresher. "The shower is this one, right? I better get one before I stink you out. I'll see you in a bit." And with that he walked into the bathroom, stripping out of his clothes and getting into the long-awaited feeling of hot water dripping across his skin.

"MAVO! MAVO! I NEED YOU!" Wherever the Mando was at, she would hear Saul's voice screaming for her with the sight of a dripping wet Saul running up to her with one of her towels only covering his bottom half. This couldn't wait till after his shower was finished. He needed an answer to what this substance was, and he needed it now. Gripping her shoulder, he thrust a bottle of what would be her shampoo in her face. "WHAT IS THIS AND WHY DOES IT SMELL SO GOOD?!" If she wasn't too shocked at his sudden entrance, she would see something no other person other than his makers had seen, a bar code style tattoo over his right peck, marking his skinny body as an object to be used rather than a living human being.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

"I'll take the help where I can get it. We'll split the cost down the middle, 60/40." Before he could question her logic, she continued. "Okay, I got more questions." She leaned in close to his face, studying his glowing cerulean eyes. "What other cybernetics do you have? How'd you get them? Where'd you get them?"

When he mentioned that nothing was perfect, she shook her head. "Believe me, if there was an improvement to be made, we'd've made it. Thousands of years, remember? Every possible shortcoming has been accounted for. That's why it's my favorite." As Saul stepped towards the shower, she nodded, then said, "Wait! Uh, find some food or something real quick." She went in and closed the door behind her. Quickly, she picked up some old clothes and trash off of the ground. Mavo didn't usually have visitors, and she definitely hadn't expected to have any over. She tossed her armful of laundry and waste into her room. The bathroom still wasn't quite clean, but at least now it wasn't fully disgusting.

While he showered, Mavo sat at her table and did some more research. She sifted through frequencies, listening for any information on any leaving or incoming ships. She also went through some security droid footage by slicing into internal networks. Before she could make any leeway, she was interrupted by a naked Saul bursting into the room, demanding to know what shampoo was.

"Ay--" Mavo kept her eyes on the ceiling as he approached. "It's shampoo, hair soap!" She grabbed the bottle and poured some on his scalp. "Get out of here! Dinii." She waved him away, keeping her eyes averted.

 

[Saul Whesai]

He accepted her terms with an eyeroll. He would have accepted a lot less money to be honest for the sake of having a new connection. It was clear she wasn't done with the cybernetics though and as she examined him further; he couldn't help but get them feeling she was going to rip them out. "Umm it's just my arms, legs and eyes. As for the where and how..." He took alittle breath, not sure if she really wanted to hear this story. She had asked though, so he might as well tell her the full truth. "Umm... Let's just say I was a... experiment for one of the corps on Denon. My oldest memory was when I have is when I was... 5 maybe... when I woke up in a cell. Basically, the short story is the Corp wanted a trained agent with no hesitations toward killing... The only way I got out is one of the researchers took pity on me and had remorse about supporting the product. Finally, when they thought I was ready, I woke up to a blaster, a small number of credits and some various tools on the floor to help me get out helped me escape and I managed out... I've been floating across the galaxy ever since. His eyes looked at the wall behind the Mando as he remembered getting out of the facility. He had just barely got out of there alive, escaping into the facilities sewers covered in blood and oil from both organic and droid guards. That was the most... sanitized... story he could tell... He doubted she wanted to hear how used as a lab rat, getting injected with different cocktails to make him some super soldier and not feel anything but red cloud over his eyes as he hung by his restraints, trothing at the mouth as he called out for something to kill as various executives looked on in amusement. These were not happy memories...

He snapped back into focus as she talked about the jetpack, managing to offer a polite smile as he let her clean the bathroom, letting out his breath and scratching the back of his head. He hadn't thought about his stay in that cell for a long time and he hoped he never would have too again. Following her suggestion, he got up and found the kitchen. Searching for something, he found some sort of... cake maybe... that had nuts and dried fruit in. Taking a small slice, he carefully took a bite and groaned in satisfaction. Oh Eternals... This is the best thing I've ever taste... It took all of his self-control not to eat the whole thing. He was guest in this... house and he didn't want to overstay his welcome.

Well, he didn't mind stretching his welcome out just a bit as he stood in his towel, snickering as he watched Mavo look at anything but him. "I didn't expect you to have luxuries like these." He was usually lucky to find some place to wash off at all, let alone have shampoo. He should add a bottle of this to his kitbag though, he could get used to its wonderful scent. "I don't know why you can't look at me though, I'm just a human male just like a normal human male." He was trying hard not to laugh as he said. "Maybe you're afraid you might fall in love with me if you do or maybe you just can't handle my... g... g... GUNSHOW!" He pulled away from her, striking ridiculous bodybuilder poses as he gave sound effects, his scrawny chest making him look like anything but. "Take this! Bam! And this! Ka-pow!" Feeling her ire reaching critical levels and fearing that she might actually throw him out of her ship, he ran off only after a few poses, guffawing his way back to the bathroom. Maybe he had come on a little too strong, but he had to make up for that extra 10 percent he was losing on this job. He still hoped it wouldn't be his only job with her and that maybe... just maybe he could help loosen her up just a bit so he could see that smile again.

Mavo Cortuga