Public Toshara Tonsils

[Davik Lorso]

Perhaps Davik shouldn't have been surprised that as soon as the ramp to his cargo bay was lowered, there were three Pykes standing there waiting for him. When you're transporting Sansanna from Oba Diah to Toshara's capital city for the Pyke Syndicate you knew they'd probably put a tracker in one of the crates. 'Oh hey there,' Davik smiled as he waved for them to come up. Only one of the Pykes did, however, as the other two began carting a hovercart over to the ship.

'You Davik Lorso?' the Pyke asked as he produced a datapad from a black shoulder bag, 'show me your flight log since departure from Oba Diah'.

He was serious, Davik knew. When it came to transporting Sansanna the syndicates were meticulous in their record keeping. Smugglers were way too keen to make a little stop along the way, siphon away some of the sansanna and top the crates up with some random sand in an attempt to cheat the syndicate. A few decades ago one of the smuggler who did that on the regular got caught when a Crimson Dawn kingpin happened to be on the same space station. Ever since they demanded a strict record keeping.

Having expected it, Davik pointed towards the screen that was mounted on the wall on the Pyke's left. 'Plug in and see for yourself,' he smiled and suddenly grabbed his right hand with his left due to spice withdrawal symptons but the move itself made the Pyke suspicious and more eager to check even the finer details for tampering. Meanwhile the hovercart had reached the ramp and started the incline while the two other Pykes began lifting the crates and discussing what would be the best load order to put them on the cart. Apparently, Davik only managed to overhear some bits here and there of this dicussion, the loading order mattered greatly to pass through oneven parts of Mirogana's inner city towards the Pyke-controlled District.

'Alright, seems fine.' the Pyke seemed to give up his scrutinous look at the Catscratch's flight records and cargo manifest. 'Go to the Dusty Dewback Cantina for payment. Rollo will pay.'

As usual, Davik mused as he watched the Pykes take the hovercart full of Sansanna crates into town, he realized that he was about to get played. Again. It would have been so simple to just pay him directly on delivery, but they knew Davik, had heard of his vices, and somehow the smuggler had no doubt that this Dusty Dewback Cantina offered an empty seat at the Sabacc table and a spice dealer with a pocket full of uppers to make sure he'd gamble and drink away his entire payment. Kriff, or even land up in a debt. Again.

Twenty minutes later he discovered, upon entering said cantina, that all his worries had been warranted. There was indeed an empty seat at the Sabacc table and one Pyke that sat watching the game turned her head towards Davik the second he entered, displaying the grin of someone that is about to make bank. The forty-something smuggler sighed. He knew he wasn't strong enough to resist his addictions, but he was going to try it anyway and marched straight up to the bar. 'I'm looking for Rollo' the bartender gave a knowing smile in return and nodded towards the Sabacc table; 'It's the zabrak there at the table.'

He didn't need to introduce himself to Rollo, for the Zabrak immediately offered Davik the empty seat and tossed the chips. 'Tell you what, Davik. You bet your payment on a game of Sabacc for a try to quadriple it. Drinks and uppers are on the house when at the table."

Kriff. Kriffing Kriff. Kriff.

'Alright, I'm in.'

_______

[OOC: Anyone up for a game of Sabacc? Three rounds, Roll two d6 to start. Each new round either dont roll (Stand) or roll one of the two dice again. Specificy which in the roll comment. Score is the difference between dice. Smaller difference the better. Lowest equal wins.]
_______

The droid in the center of the table shuffled the cards and placed two in front of Davik. He looked at them first and then lifted his eyes to look at his opponents in turn. First was Rollo, the Pyke-aligned Zabrak who was probably a skilled Sabacc player, but who were the others? Easy game or the sector's best players?

 

[Arcadian]

Tags: Davik Lorso
Location: Mirogana, Toshara

Arcadian of Uba was known for many things. Spicing, gunrunning, looting, killing. Playing Sabaac was not among his multitude of unsavory accolades, but there was a time when he had never run a freighter full of spice before... never sold guns, or looted corpses, or been the one responsible for those corpses in the first place. There was a first for all of these, and here across the table from Davik Lorso and Rollo appeared to be his first time playing Sabaac.

"I'm in," he said heavily, his lungs still acclimating to the sandy winds that carved at the amberine canyons of Toshara. The Ubese placed a handful of credit sticks into the shallow plate atop the dealer droid's weathered head. He accepted the pair of cards before him, peering at Blood and Sand through his visor. A sharp breath followed, then he tilted his head to Davik. "Do you play for the Pykes, or the Dawn?" Neither option felt right to Cade. He played for himself, always.

He hoped Davik did, too.

 

[Kaila Irons]

Kaila was still getting used to places like these. In fact the secret apprentice turned criminal might have looked out of place in a bar like this, sat at a sabacc table wearing fine, albeit revealing suit that only a woman who made her money by breaking rules would wear.

But despite the suits, the silken hair or the dark-cherry lips, any seasoned underworlder worth their spice would see that she wasn't some stuck up core worlder nor a wide eyed dantooine farm girl. She smiled confidently despite losing a couple hundred credits to the Pyke-aligned zabrak just moments ago, yet it was not a naïve confidence, but the confidence of a woman with powerful friends. Not far behind her stood a tall mercenary, his species no longer recognizable due to cybernetic enhancements and heavy armor that bore all the hallmarks of the Haxion Brood. And he never strayed far from her either.

Now, one might think it odd to see members of The Brood here in Pyke territory but if there was one thing Kaila had learned since digging her fingers into the underworld it was that the Pykes were by far the most reasonable in that they kept to themselves if one paid their dues and did not disrupt the spice. Not like Hutts who had their grubby paws in so many businesses that everyone was a rival. It made Pykes seem relatively friendly.

It didn't hurt that sometimes sold them stolen equipment that the brood wanted people to forget about.

But that wasn't why she was still here. Gambling, a little drinking, it was fun of course and she was learning to take much needed breaks, but the ever curious little workaholic had noticed a pattern which she wished to exploit...

She wanted smugglers of her own to transport unusual cargo but lately it felt as if all the good transporters were being hogged by the Pykes. It wasn't until one of her trips that she realized they were often here playing sabacc, and losing. There were two kinds of smugglers it seemed; An unreliable smuggler and a loyal smuggler, and the only loyal smugger was an indebted smuggler.

And so, she'd just have to wait for one to play and lose, and then do them a great big favor. That is to say, make sure they were indebted to her. Not the Pykes.

And just like clockwork, two individuals joined the table and the Zabrak began the next game.

"You know what, Rollo?" She smiled at the whole group.

"I'm feeling lucky this time, count me in"



edit: I've never used the dice mechanic and i think i did it wrong lol

Davik Lorso Arcadian

 

[Davik Lorso]

Davik looked at the other players. One Ubese that would be impossible to read to to his helmet and a (seemingly) young woman. He figured he had more luck reading whether Rollo or the woman had good or bad cards, so he had to make sure to derail the Ubese as much as possible. 'I play for myself,' he replied, trying to pull the Ubese in, 'My name is Davik, by the way'

As the droid turned to him he signalled he wanted to draw a card and discard the old one. 'I'm an independent transporter,' he suddenly had some trouble focusing his eyes clearly on the Zabrak and quickly motioned for the spice dealer slash bartender to come a bit closer; 'Three uppers and a glass of bantha milk.'

After received and swallowed the uppers and finished them off with a large gulp of Bantha milk, the forty-something smuggler grinned. His teeth were slightly blue-ish from the milk. 'First time playing Sabacc?'

Arcadian Kaila Irons

 

[Arcadian]

Tags: Davik Lorso | Kaila Irons
Location: Mirogana, Toshara

“Good,” the Ubese said. Depending on where he was, his name varied greatly. On Uba, he was a Traitor. On Kessel, he was Spice Baron. Here, he was simply Arcadian, not yet having earned a different moniker on Toshara. “I am called many names, but Arcadian is the one my people gave me.” He looked at the 1 and 2 in his gloved hands and decided to toss a chip into the pile. “First time with Sabaac. First time on Toshara. First time with Pykes,” Cade said, eyes on the Zabrak.

His helmet tilted to the young woman who had joined them. “The Brood,” he grumbled in a gravely voice that was still irritated by the sands outside. “Brave for Haxion to play with competitors.” It was no secret that the Pyke Syndicate had deep roots in Mirogana. They were followed by the Crimson Dawn, a close second clinging to its own district in the northern bands of the city. The Hutts had connections here too, or so Cade understood. Now the Haxion Brood.

He himself favored the Black Sun, but lately the contracts were few and far between. The Bounty Hunters Guild was proving more successful, but they were forming close bonds with the new League that was growing where the RTL used to stride. Times were changing, it seemed.

 

[Kaila Irons]

Kaila kept her cards close but opted to draw another while the boys introduced themselves, to which she would wave with a slight smile.

"They call me Kaila. My first ended shortly before you two got here, but the Zabrak is not easy on beginners" She smiled again, but if one were to look closely they might see a certain sharpness in the way she glanced at the Zabrak in question.

“The Brood,” he grumbled in a gravely voice that was still irritated by the sands outside. “Brave for Haxion to play with competitors.”

"Hm?" She turned to look at the Ubessian "Oh yes, you've seen my bodyguard then?"

"I can handle myself, Ubessian. Besides I've found bravery to be very... liberating"

Keeping up with the theme of bravery, she dropped credits into the pile, Staring down Arcadian the entire time with a subtle smirk playing at the corner of cherry red lips. It was a ploy of course, trying to get the others to lose more money, maybe by trying to one up the overconfident Vahla woman. Was she truly overconfident? Absolutely possible, but if she played her cards right then she didn't need to win, she just needed one of the smugglers to lose, offer them a way out of their debt and reap the rewards of having her own smugglers. There were easier ways of course, but this seemed like more fun. An entertaining little experiment.

"You should both try it sometime"


Arcadian Davik Lorso

 

[Davik Lorso]

Kaila Irons (OOC: Looks like you messed up to rolls. Your current score is 1 and 1, which is Prime Sabacc and the best hand)
Arcadian

____

Davik didn't understand this talk of the Haxion Brood, but then he didn't much care at the moment as the uppers were kicking in. 'Arcadian, Rollo and Kaila,' he grinned as he tossed in a chip to draw another card. 'Not everyone gets the pleasure of being defeating by me,' he meant it as an intimidating boast. As if he was just that good at Sabacc. Ofcourse, in his current state he failed to realize that if not many people had experienced being defeated by him, then that probably meant he was usually the one that lost. Which, for the record, was true. It wasn't often that a spice addict won anything at Sabacc and any reasonably intelligent onlooker would know that Davik, after swallowing three uppers with that intoxicated grin, wouldn't be making any smart decisions anytime soon.

'So just remember,' he discarded one card and watched how the droid in the center of the table scooped it up, 'the name Davik Lorso.'

Davik had now had his third turn, which meant that the difference between the cards he was now holding was the score that needed to be compared to that of the other players. Once they had finished their turn he would reveal his cards be a rich man. He was sure of it.

 

[Arcadian]

Tags: Davik Lorso | Kaila Irons
Location: Mirogana, Toshara

Arcadian's glare at Kaila Irons could not be seen through the tint of his dusty visor, but she would no doubt sense his lack of humor. The Ubese were a serious people, aloof and often off-putting to outsiders. But in a way, each of his Sabaac partners were just as off-putting as he was. An Imperial-loving Pyke, a spice-addled criminal, and a Haxion agent too cautious to enter the Sabaac pit without a bodyguard. It felt like the setup for a bad joke, at their collective expense.

"In my experience," Cade ventured, "if you must say aloud that you can handle yourself, you usually cannot... and the bodyguard is proof." A deathwish, perhaps, to threaten the pride of a syndicate agent so brazenly, but was such an act not brave? He certainly felt... what was her word for it? Liberated.

"I draw," the Ubese announced, tossing another chip into the pile. This was his second trip around the table, and what he really wanted was a one or a Sylop. He would settle for a six, if for nothing else than to avoid the tax.

 

[Kaila Irons]

"Usually, perhaps. But you can never know for sure" She forced a smile at Arcadian , despite the intensity of her glare. Kaila hated having to keep up appearances, that was one of the few downsides she found in her line of work. What she wouldn't do to use her official imperial titles against all these mercenaries and Pykes who looked down on her. A little Lightning here, a little Pyromancy there, she could burn down this whole place if she wanted to. Hell, if she were any less... self controlled, she would be tempted to simply force choke the Ubessian under the table.

The bodyguard? All for show, to make the non-Sith underestimate her. It was working, evidently...

Then she dropped the glare and turned to Davik Lorso

"Daaavik... A pleasure to meet you! I'm afraid I may have to decline, however"

She played her hand, sliding her cards forward. Prime Sabacc.

"I'm tired of my losing streak, you see"

Kaila reclined in her seat and gestured for a drink, sure of herself that she'd just secured the win. Now she just needed to study her opponents if that were true, see who seemed the most desperately in need of credits. A part of her hoped it would be the Ubesian, she'd certainly feel pretty smug if she could bind that one in debt to herself. Besides, it never hurt to have dangerous employees in this line of work. Although there was also Davik, whose age was likely indicative of experience too.

What about both? That would certainly be a happy turn of events for the rising syndicate boss. Taking such dangerous and experienced individuals off the Pykes payroll would weaken The Brood's competitors and strengthen her own cell, at least until their debt was paid. Perhaps she could sweeten the deal when the time finally came, buy their continued loyalty.

So many options...

 

[Davik Lorso]

A heavy pit immediately formed in Davik's stomach as he realized that his entire payment for the sansanna job just went to the young woman. Judging from their conversation she was part of the Haxion Brood and while he had no real encounters with them, something was beging to dawn on him that they were another (perhaps just starting) syndicate that could soon rival the others. It would be an immense problem to owe another syndicate a lot of credits, but..

'Double of nothing. You guys in?'

He heard himself say after confirming that Kaila's Prime Sabacc was better than his 1 and 2. A difference of only 1 didn't beat an equal set of cards, but nothing beat an equal set op 1's. Dank Ferrik. It didn't really matter then what cards Arcadian had, because whatever he had, Davik would still lose his hard-earned credits.

'Let's turn her from the brood into brooding, eh?' he smiled towards Arcadian in the hope that the Ubese joining would mean Kaila felt pride-bound to accept Davik's wager. Ofcourse, the aging smuggler couldn't afford to pay up if he lost again and would owe the winner a lot of free smuggling jobs to pay off the debt.

Trying to appear really confident he immediately motioned for the droid to start shuffling again after the Arcadian would reveal that he had the same cards as him, thus confirming Kaila's win. 'You know what they say,' Davik turned his head towards Kaila, 'first win is a fathier's luck and it is always followed by a Bantha's bust.' he grinned, having made that up on the spot, 'no one keeps a winning streak.' It was the downfall of every gambler on every planet everywhere: the firm conviction that a winning streak can never go bust.

The droid shuffled the cards until Davik tapped the table, 'deal me in', and two cards appeared in front of him. 'Deal them in, too'

Kaila Irons Arcadian

 

[Arcadian]

Tags: Davik Lorso | Kaila Irons
Location: Mirogana, Toshara

“One and two,” Arcadian said, dropping the blood and sand onto the table. Foiled, by the cocky Haxion agent. His pride was not as injured as the Pyke Zabrak, who likely did not take pleasure in losing on his own turf to a rival syndicate. Davik Lorso seemed put out over his loss, too, but to Arcadian’s surprise, the human wanted to play again.

Cade’s pockets were full from a Crymorah job through Smuggler’s Run, so he nodded at Davik’s invitation to stay another round. The dealer droid spun round, offering a pair of fresh cards. Cade took them silently, observing their values with interest.

 

[Kaila Irons]

'Let's turn her from the brood into brooding, eh?'

Kaila was about to reach in and grab her "hard earned" credits when the smuggler who she assumed would have cut his losses by now. It's what she would have done if it were she who had just lost all that money.

"Davik, don't be so mean" She forced a chuckle, but internally she was screaming.

Because if he won the next game, then he longer had a reason to accept whatever job she proposed, and it would be back to square one when she should have just hired a smuggler like a normal person. And the previous win would ultimately mean nothing. She had no choice but to play really.

'You know what they say, first win is a fathier's luck and it is always followed by a Bantha's bust.'

"I'm sorry, who says-? actually never mind, just deal me in please"

She practically snatched her cards, knowing that either scheme was shot or that she'd have to win again. Kaila had never asked the force for anything, but by the bogan was it tempting.


Davik Lorso Arcadian

 

[Davik Lorso]

Good. His taunt had been succesful and they had both joined in. Ofcourse, looking at his cards he knew they were shit. Davik silently wondered whether he'd soon owe indentured servitude to either the Ubese or the so-called Haxion Brood. Not a good look for his career of independence. Not a good look for his life expectancy. In a syndicate you'll either die young or become a kingpin at thirty. Joining one at the absolute bottom while in your forties? Kriff. How loud can you tell someone they missed their shot..

'Bantha milk with a pinch on Glitterryll,' he said as he turned towards the person that had brought him is uppers earlier. He needed something to calm him down now. It was never a good thing to mix anxiety with uppers and feeling like his life was literally on the line was definitely anxiety inducing. The glitterryll was a good downer and with a proper dose he'd be blissfully out of it for a couple of hours. Adding a pinch of it to bantha milk usually managed to countereffect the uppers just fine. The bantha milk was to ease the craving for more by reducing the dry mouth. He knew he'd probably get sick after the match if he didn't score a proper dose or counteract the downer with more uppers. Kriff. The hangover would be horrible.

Arcadian Kaila Irons
[OOC: You both forgot to roll for your starting hand, so I made a little filler post]

 

[Arcadian]

Tags: Davik Lorso | Kaila Irons
Location: Mirogana, Toshara
Round 2 Hand 1: 2 & 3

Cade watched with unjudging eyes through his visor as Davik Lorso mixed another glass of bantha milk and more drugs in his gut. He couldn't chide the man, even if he wanted to; there was a time in Arcadian's youth when he'd mixed far more of far worse, and it cost him more than he'd ever admit while sober at a Pyke table. "Chit will rob you or kill you," he said flatly. It sounded more like an observation than a threat or warning, exactly how Arcadian meant it.

"No additives for you, Brood?" Arcadian asked, nodding to the young woman's drink. Kaila Irons could ask the same of him, he figured, but he never removed his helmet on foreign worlds. The Tosharan winds carried fine amberine dust that would wreak havoc on his scarred lungs. Simply not worth the tradeoff for a few hours of artificial serenity. He would find that instead in the satisfaction of taking Pyke credits from Brood hands.

 

[Kaila Irons]

"Hm? Oh, I'd rather not risk being given the wrong thing in Pyke territory"

"No offense to you, Rollo" She chuckled at the Zabrak before sipping her otherwise plain drink.

Truth be told she had ways of knowing if anything was tampered with, it was more so that wanted to remain focused while playing. Besides, after seeing what her fellow brood were peddling, and knowing it's true purpose, she'd have a hard time ever trusting syndicate merchandise again no matter how small the dose. There were worse things than spice or glitter.

"Besides, I'm after more... exotic experiences, so long as it's in a controlled environment. Either of you ever heard of... Passion's embrace?"


Arcadian Davik Lorso