Private Never a Bad Deal

[Jonah]

TATOOINE - BAZAAR

The heat was nostalgic.

Having been raised a stone's throw from a desert, Jonah was no stranger to the arid conditions of Tatooine. The endless sand and pronounced lack of moisture reminded him of home. It had been months now since his departure from the Expanse. Months since he decided to try and make his own way about the stars. He hadn't spared much in the way of thoughts about his kin until he started wandering about the busy street. Yet now? Jonah's mind couldn't help but remember the packed streets of his hometown.

Were it not for the fact that he had a job to turn in, he might have wandered more with his head in the clouds. However, the messenger bag on his shoulder demanded a hand-off. Within the confines of the leather vessel was a vivid confirmation that his task had been complete. And, as was the case when he accepted the job, Jonah dipped within a back alley and strode into a building whose door was simply a lines of beads. Within sat a shrouded woman, puffing on a pipe of sorts.

"Well aren't you punctual." she said between huffs.

Jonah descended upon one of the cushions, placing the messenger bag on the floor. "Time waits for no one." he said, before sliding it closer to the woman. She flipped open its lip, grimaced, and flipped it close. "That's one way to undercut the competition..." she mused, before reaching for his compensation. "Before I pay you, just know someone was asking about this trinket. Offered a hefty sum of credits to take it off my hands."

Jonah raised an eyebrow. After his experiences on Nar Shaddaa, he was not above killing the woman for his pay. "If you aren't able to make good use of it, I'd recommend seeking her out. Nothing like a fresh stack of credits, dear." she said, eventually placing a jewelry box before him. Jonah flipped open the lid and confirmed the contents: an amulet of sorts. At face value, it was just an archaic piece of jewelry. But Jonah could feel something about it. He couldn't quite place it.

But with his deal concluded, Jonah tucked the amulet into his pack and departed. If nothing else, he'd try to make contact with this interested party. If it could help him in his journey? He'd keep it. Otherwise?

Credits were never a bad deal.​

 

[Loxa Visl]

Said amulet had no right being in Tatooine, passed on like some everyday tab to be paid for civic duty. Its history, while certainly not an ancient one, was deeply embedded into things far darker and greater than its found use today. Once upon a time it had been a piece of a whole, wielded by a Priestess of a witch coven belonging to a power that many either could not remember or would not mention for fear of what it represented.

Loxa knew nothing of these things presently, but what she did know is that her dreams had lead her to Tattooine and within those dreams was the very same amulet that now sat snugly in the pack of Jonah Verd.

From her current station on the outskirts of the bazaar, the witch sat supping upon a local brew at a vendor hutt. Her prior call to the dealer had proven fruitless and spoke on her dislike for presenting falsehoods. She had just enough credit to her name to buy lunch and potentially haggle for a ride off this planet on a trade vessel; she certainly didn't have the amounts discussed with the dealer and had hoped that the lie would at least lead to arranging an in-person meeting. No such luck.

Now the amulet was on the move.

"Sante," she spoke to the vendor, her tab left on the bar alongside her empty cup. It was time for her to move as well, so she took up her staff, pulled up her hood, and pushed a pair of aviator sunglasses onto her nose. Off she went into the crowd, trailing the pull of the trinket.

 

[Jonah]

After passing through the beaded entryway, Jonah was about to head in the general direction of the spaceport. However, he couldn't so much as stride in the right direction. There was a...an unspeakable urge. A longing? It ripped through him like a magnet being in proximity to metal. Jonah blinked and grimaced, confusion crossing his face. "What the hell?"

It was then that he felt warmth, which was saying something given the ambient temperatures of Tatooine. He reached into his pack and felt the amulet's box, only that it was the furthest thing from the cool container from moment's before. Carefully, he pried the jewelry into his grasp and marveled at it.

There was heat radiating from it. Energy coiling within its stone. But most importantly, it was urgently wanting to move. Wanting him to move. "Well damn..." he muttered, before stuffing the amulet into his coat pocket. Jonah was looking for a direction, and now he had literally found one. He then moved from the alleyway and into the Bazaar proper again.

His heading was the general direction of one Loxa Visl , but he had no inkling of this truth just yet.

 

[Loxa Visl]

With the knowledge that her amulet was now on the move, Loxa faced the moral dilemma of how to go about regaining ownership. While most witches held no compunction for violence or brute force, her own origins often swayed her towards more peaceable means. Pickpocketing wasn't out of the question, but that toed the line of right and wrong so strongly that she might as well simply kill its new vector for mobility and take it that way.

Her ponderings followed her through the crowds like a shadow, but where Jonah was given only a general direction - Loxa was driven like a compass directly to it. She could sense its presence, and when she closed her eyes to blink she could see the golden glow of it through the bodies of the market as if a beacon. Whatever means she employed, doing so in the middle of the busy square likely wasn't the best locale.

Would it follow her, she wondered, were she to suddenly change course.

Only one way to find out: Loxa veered right, slipped through the current of market-goers like a fish through a slipstream, and stalked off down a side alley between two sandstone buildings. With any luck, it would follow and lead its holder out and away from the crowds.

 

[Jonah]

Jonah continued to move casually through the Bazaar, doing his best to follow the urging of the jewel in his pocket. As he moved, the amulet's temperature only seemed to rise. It was not uncomfortable, but it was certainly more than enough to get the point across. Whatever it was that the amulet wanted was drawing near - and it was excited.

Then, there was a shift. A change in direction. Jonah felt pressure on his mind, demanding that he draw his attention towards an alleyway between buildings. He turned, obliging the amulet's urging. And when his gaze fell upon the figure on the far side of the path, the pressure mounted. That's who the jewel wanted. Needed. Screamed for.

There was a longing pressed against Jonah's mind. It was so sharp and so sudden that he had to will himself not to take off after the figure. Instead, he maintained a casual approach and kept his guard up...and waited.

For there was no telling what the other soul was feeling, if anything at all. And if they wanted to get grabby with his prize? Well, he'd certainly take issue with that.

Loxa Visl​

 

[Loxa Visl]

That...turned out far more effective than she'd anticipated. Loxa did not look back. Did not need to. The presence of the amulet told her its new holder was following, but now she was struck with what to do once she did turn to face them.

Her staff lead her strides down the alley and into another narrower street behind the buildings where again she cut right and turned to a stack of crates and supply boxes. When Jonah turned the corner, he'd find her some non-threatening distance off, patiently seated with one hand holding her staff while the other elbow leaned her weight onto a knee.

Loxa peered at him from behind the aviators and offered a simple smile as she noted just how young the man looked. Youth did not equate to peaceful, but she wasn't want to take advantage of the young unnecessarily.

"Peace," the woman spoke, her voice low and rough, "This One means no harm to a man."

 

[Jonah]

The amulet continued to guide Jonah through the alleys.

Soon, it had him cut right into a path where there was no way through. The far end was closed off by numerous crates and other miscellaneous supplies. This was the perfect spot for an ambush, and thus Jonah slowed his approach. The amulet, however, had different plans. Being so close to reunion, it began to levitate within the man's coat pocket, attempting to cross the gap for him. "Now hold on just a dam-" he snapped, fishing the amulet out before it took his coat with him.

"Will you chill for five seconds?"

Of course, he didn't realize that he wasn't alone until he was already a sentence deep into speaking to an inanimate object. Upon hearing the woman's voice, his gaze slid forward. Aviators met shades. Jonah wanted to scoff at the woman's words, given her choice in locale, but decided against it given how badly the amulet wanted to fly in her direction.

"Yeah, well this one would love some answers." he replied, taking a couple paces into the alley. "Starting with: do you know anything about this rock? Because it apparently, it knows something about you."

Loxa Visl​

 

[Loxa Visl]

The witch continued to peer at the young man and found that for some very strange reason... he looked familiar. She made a thoughtful sound as her eyes then drifted to the glint of amber and metal caught between his fingers. The magnetism toward it was the strongest she'd ever felt since arriving upon the staff she now carried, all those moons and stars away.

Her eyes narrowed - not that he'd see it - as she listened to his words, parsing meaning of the few between the many. Her friendly smile faded into muted pondering.

"Sah -" she began, phonetically stuck on how to respond with words that meant anything to him. Her weighted hand lifted to run thumb over the visible scar crossing her chin before finally replying at length, "no." As a woman of truths, Loxa could not bring herself to lie about the rather complicated intersection of life within which they found themselves.

"This One knows not of a rock, mas -" she pushed herself back to her feet, "a man can trade so This One can learn, yes?"

 

[Jonah]

The woman's accent was not one that Jonah could place.

But that wasn't saying much, given that he had only been to a handful of worlds outside of his hometown. However, she answered in a way that he considered...acceptable. Why? Because he didn't find himself staring down the barrel of a blaster or other weaponry for starters. In fact, the woman offered to trade with him. She didn't know a thing about the amulet, but she was willing to compensate him to find out.

Jonah's fingers tightened around the amulet while he offered her a nod in response.

"I can work with a trade." he began. "Spent a day doing mercenary work and this was my reward. Got anything equal to a day's pay?"

If nothing else, he was going to get his money's worth out of the rock.

Loxa Visl​