Let's Have Caf (Dagorn)

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

For the life of her, she couldn't remember how this particular blind date had come about. Mutual friends, perhaps -- outlaw techs here on Ord Mantell or maybe on Nar Shaddaa. Whatever the case, she was assured that [member="Dagorn"] had a killer personality, a passionate outlook on life, and a great smile. A little intense, she was told, but after her on-again off-again relationship with a nearly adolescent sentient plant -- incredibly sweet, but such a twink -- she could go for intense. And from what she heard, they had some subjects of common interest.

She'd arrived at the caf shop a little early and picked out a corner booth, back to the wall. Old habits, old training from Mom and Dad alike: now she could never be comfortable with her back to a window. She hadn't ordered yet, so as not to be rude. Instead she farted around on her datapad, reviewing crystallography data. She'd dressed to impress, but hadn't gone overboard: black slacks, dark leather shoes and belt, a silver ear stud, a charcoal button-up shirt with the cuffs rolled back. Nothing ostentatious.

 

[Lok Xiangu]

A date? What the heck was a date?

Never mind that now. All he had to do was meet this [member="Mara Merrill"] and see what was up. Maybe she had a handsome amount of Jagganath Points that the Scorekeeper could give to Dagorn. Or maybe she wasn't. Either way, it really didn't matter because he would be out with the masses of the public. It only took one murder before someone would call the authorities and play cat-and-mouse until the Trandoshan escaped or was captured and sent to prison. And quite honestly Dagorn was trying to avoid all methods of capture, so that he wouldn't be a shame to his goddess and be stripped from all of his Points that he worked for hours upon hours.

The reptilian had just arrived at the caf shop where he was suppose to meet this Mara, and was right on time. He came only with his SMG and an armorweave bodyglove. His infrared eyes scanned the area until he found a lonely woman who had her back against the wall. Chances are that this was his date, or some other girl waiting for someone else. He approached the female and did his usual thing which was his tongue slithering just to smell her odor. Human, with a hint of Zeltron in it.

"Sssssssso, are you Mara Merrill?"

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

"And you must be [member="Dagorn"]." She glanced at the distinctive round-backed outline of an old Republic-issue SMG, strapped to his armorweave bodyglove. "Is that a Neutralizer in your pocket, or you just happy to see me?"

The question lacked an edge. If you weren't carrying on Ord Mantell, you got taken for an easy mark. For her part, she had only a hold-out blaster in her boot. She leaned back in the booth and grinned. He was taller than she'd expected, maybe six-ten. A lot taller than Mara, that was for darn sure. Not the worst thing in the world, though. She'd had dinner with a Bimm astrogator last week, and she'd been the tall one; that hadn't worked for her. No, better tall than the opposite.

This caf house had an order panel built into the table; she tapped it and a tiny holo-waitress flitted to life. "What can I get for you?" said the little projection.

"Hot chocolate, large, extra whip." Mara raised an eyebrow at the big man across the table. "What's your pleasure?"

 

[Lok Xiangu]

What answer was he supposed to give to Mara's question?

Oh, he had no answer for that whatsoever. Save for his forked-shape tongue slithering and licking his scaly lips. Questions that got him stumped didn't get an answer from him for most cases. But he was quite surprised that this human didn't had a problem with having him as company. Most normal people would turn around and leave. Mostly because of his figure, and the history and culture of his fellow Trandoshans which they took pride in and was never ashamed of the past of their kind.

And was that a grin on her face? He responded to that with a wide and toothy smile which showed sharp and clean teeth.

Then a holo-waitress came to life before the two and asked what they desired to drink today. Mara gave her order and asked Dagorn with an eyebrow. He barely came to caf houses, but he always loved that one specific drink. Too bad he couldn't remember it.

"I'll take sssssssomething...cold," cold just like his blood.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Dagorn"]

Ooh, that smile. Dental hygiene. Good sign.

"Get him an iced dark-chocolate caf," said Mara. "It's got this rich, almost meaty kind of flavor. Can really sink your teeth into it."

The holosprite repeated the order and vanished. Still leaning back in her side of the booth, Mara laced her fingers over her belly. One boot brushed his clawed foot. Probably an accident.

"So Dagorn. The folks that hooked us up said we've got something in common." She felt downright energized, plus a hint of on-edge. Like a date crossed with fun, frankly. She leaned forward conspiratorially and rested her elbows on the table. "Little common ground. I hear you might be the kind of person who could tell me the best ways to hunt. Say...Mandalorians."

 

[Lok Xiangu]

She specifically ordered him a drink which he didn't cared at all. She could order the worse drink on the house and he still wouldn't care. The only things he did care was his Points and people not respecting him. The moment those two factors were put in danger, he would react in a violent and aggressive way. A trait that most of his kind possessed.

The holo-waitress dispersed from the air after taking the orders from both Mara and Dagorn, and something brushed his clawed foot. He peeked down and the only thing he could see what his own feet and the human's own pair as well. Did he mind at all? Not really as he assumed Mara didn't do it on purpose.

Then she talked and spoke about the two of them having something in common. What in the name of the Scorekeeper did they had in common? Dagorn was a hunter, murderer, and a religious zealot. Was Mara any of those things? But then she opened up at the last words of her sentence. Hunting Mandalorians? Oh, that would grant him a dragon's hoard of Jagganath Points. The thing about hunting Mandalorians was that it was much more difficult, to Dagorn's perspective, than fighting a Wookie in unarmed combat. Luck was more relied on than skill.

"Mandaloriansssss, huh? That's a lot of Pointsss, and I know a few tricksss or two on hunting one," the Sith Trandoshan said, giving a positive reply to Mara with a malice grin on his face. "When do we ssssstart?"

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Dagorn"]

As an empath, reading other species took practice and insight but was totally doable. She finally locked in on his state of mind. Personal interest: zero. That was a pity, but it could be overcome in theory. Especially since his interest spiked when she dropped the hunting-Mandos bomb.

"You want to get out of here once we get our drinks? I've got a thought or two for where we can go. While we wait...let's hear about these tricks. I've never hunted Mandalorians before. They hunted me once, and I mean to return the favour. So tell me what I need to know, and we'll go make a dent."

 

[Lok Xiangu]

Oh, he couldn't wait to get those drinks and head off to do some hunting with Mara. How long did it take to get these drinks? They better be done and delivered here as quickly as possible; however, in the meantime he and the human could spend their time on just talking and discussing how to hunt a Mandalorian and how to tactically approach one.

"Now before I tell you how to fight one, you gotta know how to find one. Mandalorianssss jusst don't fall out of the sssssky. Do you know how to find one, Mara?"

There were many answers to that question. One of them was to go to Mandalorian Territory, but that was a one-way ticket to their graves so that was opted out. He wasn't seeking for some suicide mission just to get a treasure amount of Points. Greed sometimes had its limitations.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Dagorn"]

"In my experience? Best way to get Mando attention is threatening to nationalize their corporations. Since neither one of us is a government, though, my first thought would be to go looking for the target of a bounty. Bound to cross paths with some kind of Mando sooner or later, even if it's the crap kind without connections. But all that is just off the top of my head. Guesswork. I'm hoping you can give me something stronger to work with."

At this point, her guess was that he was asexual, or just absolutely without imagination. The half-innuendos were, by now, for her own private amusement.

 

[Lok Xiangu]

He chuckled at the reference said by Mara about nationalizing and stealing assets and corporations of the Mandalorians. He wasn't the smartest Trandoshan or sentient in the Galaxy, but he knew that the Galactic Republic karked up when they planted their flag on Mandalorian property. Dagorn didn't mind dealing with one or a squad of Mandos, but he wasn't going to fight the whole pack.

But other than that, she did gave a good answer on locating a Mandalorian. It wasn't the one he was expecting to hear, but there was some merit to it. Pick up a bounty target that is worth a handsome amount of credits and hope and pray they would cross paths with one.

"We could do that. But you wanna know what isss the bessst way to get a Mando to come to you? Put a bounty on yoursself or sssomeone elsse."

Another wide, toothy grin was on his face. Did he catch that half-innuendo? Unfortunately, he did not as he had no imagination for those types of things.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]