This Place Gives Me Flashbacks (Rawnie)

[Doctor Azure]

Onderon... A beautiful planet, if you ignored the fact that the scenery had an overabundance of rich snobs... And, y'know, the fact that Lorane was practically dragging another Chiss across the ground until he could finally get to the point where he could drag him up some stairs. The doctor raised an eyebrow at Rawnie, smirking slightly.​

​

"So, where am I dragging this idiot to?"​

​

[member='Rawnie Tal'verda']​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie checked the information on her datapad, reading the address of the bounty office. Close. Quite close.

"Not far," she answered, checking her map now, "Looks like... two blocks over. Hopefully someone'll be there to pay us."

She'd been on too many hunts where the di'kut didn't want to pay for the job when it was done. Rawnie hated being... disappointed. She adjusted her helmet, one hand on her vibroblade. This job would go smoothly, or she'd smoothly cut off someone's head.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane chuckled at the thought of what would happen to whoever ended up defaulting on his and Rawnie's bounty.​

​

"I'll rocket my knee into the guy's face if you knife his hand to the wall."​

​

The man in the headlock under the doctor's arm groaned and looked up at him. He looked back with an unsympathetic raised eyebrow.​

​

"Try to bite me again, and I'll use this goddamn shock gaunt."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie raised an eyebrow as the injured bounty groaned and tried to struggle. Yeah. It hurt getting shot through the foot, or, well, anywhere really. Rawnie had her share of scars, enough to know first hand. All part of the job.

"He's worth less dead," she reminded the doctor, "I'm in this to make credits, not lose them."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane crookedly grinned at Rawnie as he dragged the man along.​

​

"'Course I'm not gonna kill him, Icy. Just gonna zap him a little. I don't enjoy other guys trying to bite me."​

​

He mentally facepalmed as he realized how that sounded, but whatever. It wasn't like the blonde Mando was going to make too much fun of him, right?​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The mando grinned as they followed the map to their destination.

"I don't mind it," she teased, "Would you like it better if I bit you instead?"

Sweet stars, what was she saying? She wasn't drunk still. Was she flirting? No. Just trying to make him squirm.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane's facial expression said Goddammit, Rawnie better than his mouth could've. He contemplated flashing her a one-finger salute, and then realized that the hand he would've used was being occupied by threatening the man in the headlock with physical pain. Instead he settled for his exasperated look and kept on dragging their bounty target along.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

And it worked. The look on his face was priceless. Better than any bounty could pay. She laughed just as they reached the building. It wasn't tall like some of the others, in fact, compared to the lavish beauty of Onderon, this place stood out like a black bantha.

"Well, this is it," she said pressing a button so the door slid open, "Let's drop this one off and go."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane hauled the other Chiss up into the building, looking around the inside with a little bit of something that felt like paranoia... He dropped the man on the floor and pulled out one of his guns. At the sound of the weapon cocking, he saw a furry little girl come out and point at the groaning blue man on the floor.​

​

"Uncle Ceil! Did Daddy send somebody to catch you, again?"​

​

Daddy? What the- Lorane watched as a Bothan man roughly the size of a truck step out of the next room. Holy frakking hell...​

​

"Ummm... So... He put that bullet and blaster hole in his own leg."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Uncle... what? The blonde was thankful for her helmet. It hid her confusion quite well. If only Lorane had one too, because he looked like he's been slapped. She'd have to talk to him about working on his sabaac face.

"Ah, there you are," she said casually, as if greeting an old friend, "I brought what you wanted. Di'kut tried ta fight me off though. Things got the tiniest bit messy and he shot himself. It's alright though. I patched him up a bit."

The Bothan snorted in her direction. Rawnie did not move a muscle. This one, she knew, had worked with her mother once upon a time. She knew how to handle him. And if he didn't pay up, well, she knew how to deal with that one too. Of course, the little girl present told her that she really wouldn't have to worry about it.

"So, I think our deal was eight thousand. Split two ways now, so four thousand each."

"He's damaged," the bothan snorted, "You get half."

"The deal was dead or alive," she reminded him, hand falling casually to her vibroblade handle, "He ain't dead, is he?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane's confused look was replaced by a look that meant oh god, you're a huge furry jackass.​

​

"I should've kicked his ass, really. Your friend, here, bit me."​

​

The little girl pulled on his sleeve, and he raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her.​

​

"I taught Uncle to do that! Can I see it?"​

​

The doctor looked around at the guy on the floor, who shrugged nervously, and then at the girl's father, who continued to attempt a menacing scowl.​

​

"What the frak is wrong with you people?!"​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie's eyes flickered to the girl, the giant bothan, then the bounty. The bothan shrugged, making it very clear, he didn't want to pay the whole amount.

"Alright then."

With the slick sound of metal sliding free, she pulled out her vobroblade and pointed it her bounty's blue chin.

"Don't need him alive very much, do you? You're going to pay me for a corpse? I'm gunna give you a corpse."

She wished she could gesture to Lorane with her eyes to grab his guns, but all she could do really was nod at him and hope he's get the message.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

With non-gloved hand, Lorane drew his gun and cocked it. His gloved hand glowed with electricity as the shock generators activated themselves.​

​

"I will so zap you maniacs into oblivion if you don't give Rawnie the money. Dragging this poor guy's ass to you after he temporarily crippled himself trying to escape didn't put me in a good mood."​

​

Okay, no, that was a lie. He'd had a whole lot of fun talking to Rawnie the night before. And a bit of fun threatening the guy on the ground with violence. All in all, his whole what the frak?! mood had actually not dampened his cheerfulness at all.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Oh good. He got the message. And so did the bothan. Rawnie heard him snort and wave to the little girl. She scurried away and returned quickly with a large stack of credit chips.

"Lor, take it. Count 'em. If there is even one missing, I swear I will stick 'im with the pointy end."

The Mando had slipped into an accent, mimicking the way her mother spoke. On the job, dealing with people like this, they were more willing to work with someone who didn't act like they were above them. That's what mom taught her, anyway.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane picked up the bag of credits, counting 'em out as he looked. He nodded at Rawnie, and then turned to leave before the girl pulled his sleeve again.​

​

"Mister... Daddy needs you and the Mandy lady to make somebody go boom."​

​

The Chiss doctor gave the large Bothan man a pained look and then put his hand on Rawnie's shoulder, dropping his voice to a nearly inaudible whisper.​

​

"For the love of everything, can we please leave this guy and his psychotic daughter alone, now?"​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Good. At least they knew how to count. Not a credit off. She'd be angry if they tried to cheat her out of her hard earned pay. She was ready to go with a nod when the creepy little girl stopped them.

"Boom?" she asked, "I don't think so, friend. Ya already tried to cheat us once. I ain't working for you again."

And that was going to be that until-

"I will pay double."

Rawnie stopped dead. Double. sixteen thousand credits. She could do... a whole lot with that. She glanced at her chiss companion, then to the bag of credits. That could hold clan tal'verda over for a few weeks, but what then? She was only getting half. Four thousand wasn't much to work with...

"Whats the job?"

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane sighed resignedly as he saw Rawnie stop. Sure, they'd only known each other for a couple of days, but the body language was enough to make his brain scream insults at everything in sight.​

​

"I swear to my nonexistent agnostic deity that I will take any job that doesn't involve babysitting your daughter, Your Furriness."​

​

He was totally serious. Even if he didn't intend to directly get any money from being the blonde Mando's partner, he was pretty determined to rack up money for her to use. Hell, if she insisted he keep his half, he was going to sneak it back to her somehow.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The Mando stepped forward and a data pad was passed over. Rawnie lifted an eyebrow, but quickly remembered that her face was quite hidden behind the mask.

"You want us to-?"

"Yes."

"You are out of your mind."

Rawnie handed the datapad back with a snort, then motioned for her partner to follow her out. Bombing the current Senators residence. That was big time crime. Rawnie was no criminal. She did legal bounty hunting. It wasn't glamorous, but it wouldn't land her in prison. What the bothan wanted was terrorism. There were planets that offered the death sentence for less.

He'd have to pay a lot more than that. A lot more. Enough to live off of for years to come. And Rawnie was certain he didn't have that kind of money. No. And there was no way he'd have come up with this job on his own. Someone put him up to it. The question was, who?

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane followed Rawnie out the door, glancing at her as they walked outside. He couldn't tell whether she was angry or simply disappointed that they couldn't take the second job.​

​

"Soooo... On a scale of 'one' to 'Lor, take Bluebird and bomb the hell out of them', how bad was that job offer?"​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie waited until they had gotten the hell out of there before answering.

"It was bad, Lor," she answered, picking up her pace, "Bad enough that I don't want to stick around. We won't be going back. Something's going on with the Bothan, He got himself involved with something big. Something I want no part of."

And now that they knew, they'd be a danger if they stayed. The bothan was no doubt watching them, just to make sure they didn't go to the authorities and turn him in. No. Rawnie knew the drill. Turn down a job? You get your shebs out of there, unless you really aren't attached to your head. She wasn't like mom. She didn't take more risk than she needed to. Mom did well enough with her work, but Rawnie knew that without what she was raking in, half the clan would starve before the freezing months of winter set in. She couldn't end up in prison.

[member="Doctor Azure"]