What Do You See?

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

"These people aren't all that smart." He was generalizing a bit to be honest, but from what he'd seen of this place most everyone was either a refugee or someone trying to prey on a refugee. That created a vicious sort of cycle, and though it didn't effect intelligence, it most certainly effect behavior.

That gang or whatever they were ruled this town. They held sway here simply by the fact that they were willing to use violence. That violence meant people were scared, and when people were scared they tended to not fight back. Eira had fought back however, and that meant they needed to make an example of her. Though she hadn't struck out at anyone, she had survived one of the thugs, and that meant others could too. Val knew how these people thought, he'd put down more than enough of that for that.

"Most of them will be out looking for you, probably at the starport, the markets, those places.." He pointed to her as they walked. "Their camp will have some people but less than are currently scouring the village for you."[/color[

He hoped so anyway.

There was always a chance that he several underestimated the number of gang members, but given the size of the town? Val was pretty sure he was right. Besides, he didn't exactly have a better idea at the moment. "We go to their camp and either steal a ship or enough money to buy one."

He had no moral qualms about stealing from thieves, though Aerith likely would have given him some lesson on why it was still wrong.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Eira could handle herself against a thug with a knife, or a baton. She could handle herself in a battle of reflexes and minds. But she couldn't fight off half a dozen gang members, or twirl around a lightsaber. If Val was banking on those skills to help accomplish the task, they were both better off climbing into a six foot ditch and covering themselves now. It would save the time. "I hope you're right." Hope.

"And if there are more of them? Do you have a blaster or something I don't know about because I certainly don't have any weapons."

She didn't even know how to operate a blaster, let alone have any skill with it.

"I'm no Jedi."

Better to get that out of the way now, before he expected her to work some kind of miracle in the thick of things.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

He smiled at her response. Of course Val hadn't exactly thought the entire place would be empty, but they had more advantages than she thought. Sure she couldn't fight, but he could.

Slowly Val leaned in towards her. "Have you seen me?"

A smug sort of expression crawled across his face. While Val wasn't usually one to boast, he was more than aware of his stature and what it could do. When he'd fought in the planetary defense forces he'd had more than one pirate simply run off when they saw him. Of course it also helped that whatever amalgam of genetics his father had given him also made him stronger and faster than he had any right to be, but Val didn't feel the need to share any of that with Eira.

"If there's fighting." Which he wasn't really banking on. "We can handle it."

Blasters or not.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Eira stopped walking and lingered. In her attempts to make herself less conspicuous to others, often times she forgot herself that she blended in much like an ordinary human and that others simply assumed she was an ordinary human. The cybernetics were there for that reason, to make it look like she possessed both eyes and normal human vision. That was in fact false, and while she could see through the Force, that wasn't exactly the same as what Val took for granted.

She could see shapes, sizes, structures, outlines, that sort of thing. She could sense through the Force the dispositions of others that were touched by the Force. She could sense impending danger and could often times see into the projected future. Her vision even allowed her a degree of vision beyond the metal and stone that separated her from buildings and such. But she could not see what Val could see. The Miraluka did not develop eyes, and the vast majority of her people took to wearing some form of mask or cloth to obscure what most would consider deformities. This made them appear more approachable, more human. Less, strange.

"No." She finally admitted, answering the more literal meaning of his question than the figurative implication. "I cannot see what you can see."

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

He frowned for a moment.
Val already knew that she was a force user, but he had no idea exactly what force users could do. His knowledge in that subject extended as far as what he had been told, and what he had personally seen. He knew the force could choke people, push them, pull them, and spray them with lightning. Beyond that? Well Taheera had told him some more mystical things about staying awake longer but he still wasn't entirely sure that she'd been telling the truth about that.

The Giant frowned for a few seconds, and then shrugged, still leaning in rather close to the woman. "Huh, our eyes must work differently then."

He of course didn't recognize that she was wearing cybernetic implants, mostly because he'd never seen such a thing before and the idea that such a thing could even exist never even came to him. Yet he took her words at face value and guessed that perhaps her species had some sort of sight problems. He knew that Umbarans did, so maybe she did as well.

In light of her statement however he gently reached out and took her hand, without a word he placed it on his bicep.

"See?" The Giant stated simply, drawing her palm up and over him so she could feel how much taller than her he actually was. "I'm huge."

 

[Mariya Pyne]

She didn't know this man well enough to divulge what she was, nor what she could see. Sure, she couldn't perceive colors or detailed features the man possessed, but she could see translucent shapes. She could even see through most solid objects. It had come in handy on more than one occasion. But the whole reason she had cybernetics was to appear more normal. It tricked most folks into believing she were something of a normal human. As far as Val knew, she just had trouble seeing.

Eira was fine with that.

"Your flesh doesn't protect you from blasters, though, does it?" Unless his skin was unlike other fleshy species, a shot from a blaster would harm him as much as it would her. "I'm guessing they'll have plenty of those."

It was a gang, after all.

"They'll probably use them if we barge on in."

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

Answering that question was actually a lot harder than one might expect.

Val wasn't exactly blaster proof, but he could take a hit better than most humans. His skin wasn't thicker or even really tougher, but he had quite a bit more endurance than most. On his adventure with Taheera he'd been shot three or four times, a memory that wasn't pleasant but at least gave him confidence in the fact that he probably wouldn't die. He did however hope that the Thugs weren't professional soldiers who'd lost their jobs, mostly because he'd prefer them having terrible aim. ”I'll be fine.”

He told her, choosing to be vague.

There was no need to talk about his odd...genetics at this point, not when she wasn't hopping to explain her strange eyesight. His fingers unwound from around her hand finally and his gaze settled on her curious eyes. He smiledz though he of course now knew that she couldn't actually see him doing so.

”If not, you can play nurse.” amusement filled his tone, and before she could properly answer he turned and began to head towards the edge of town.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

His much larger strides made for a bit of work to keep up with. Tall as she was, he was much bigger than any other human she had come across. Next to a typical person she would seem rather tall, or at the very least the galactic standard for average, but next to Val she was severely dwarfed. "I said I wasn't a Jedi. I can't just waive a hand and heal your wounds. I'm also not a nurse. I can't stitch you up any better than one of these thugs can." In fact they were probably better equipped to such a task.

"You wouldn't want someone like me threading a needle with no training in the field of medicine. Might prick an artery or something and you'd bleed out faster than a stuck Bantha at a slaughterhouse."

Grim imagery.

"My point is, don't get shot. I can't exactly carry you."

Eira likely couldn't even drag him. He looked to be several hundred pounds.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

Val was quickly learning that whoever this woman was she had no sense of humor. Part of him began to miss Ryssa, mostly because the treasure hunter would at the very least banter with him while they were being chased by cultists. He frowned for a moment, a brief flash of memory taking him.

His head shook, and slowly he glanced towards the girl. ”So on your planet.”

Val began as he continued to head towards the edge of town. He had no real way of knowing where the bandits were, but if he were with them he'd place the camp to the north of the village facing the mountains. It was unlikely they'd ever be attacked, and thus they'd probably want to take the nicest spot around for themselves. The northern part of the village was the ‘richer’ side of town, though from what Val had seen of this place so far that probably meant the houses had two bedrooms instead of just one. Either way he was confident they'd see the bandits before they saw them.

”Do they not have jokes?” He asked, smiling and thinking of the fact that Aerith would likely have swatted his ears for being so rude. ”I know some species don't. “

Their eyes worked differently, maybe their sense of humor too.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Jokes are usually reserved for times when death isn't something to worry about." Why he wanted to joke when they were trying to escape a bloodthirsty gang was beyond her. It didn't help that Eira also had a poor sense of understanding when it came to the finer points of sarcasm and humor. It wasn't that she didn't find things funny, it was just that she generally took things in a very literal perspective, so separating the joke from the intent was occasionally a difficult thing for her. "If we survive I will tell you a joke, how about that?" He likely wouldn't find her jokes all that funny, but if that made him take the situation a bit more seriously in the immediate future, then all the better they would be.

There's always the classic 'blind woman walks into a cantina' joke...

"I'm still trying to process your plan of walking into the manka cat's den."

That's what it felt like, anyway.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

"To the contrary." Val countered as they took a left, his head peeking around the corner for just a moment as he tried to spot anyone that might be lingering in front of them. "When you're about to die is the perfect time to tell a joke."

He still wasn't so sure her assessment was correct. Walking into the Nexu's Den was the perfect move when the Nexu weren't home, especially when you'd seen the Nexu leave. Sure there would be one or two left behind, but most often they were the runt of the litter. The fact of the matter was there was no other way out. They couldn't go to the space port, and if they headed out into the wastelands around the town and tried to reach another settlement they'd likely die of dehydration.

"But I'll wait for your joke." He told her with a smile, his hand coming up to stop her.

His ears perked slightly, his lips pursing for a moment as he heard voices in the distances.

"Ye, shes 'gun regret messin wif telki, he always overreact to fings lik dis."

Val blinked a few times, trying to decipher the horrible basic that was just spoken. He frowned for a moment and poked his head around the corner, spotting two being standing by a doorway. Both of them were holding blasters, but neither of them looked like they were really paying attention. "If you're so worried about the Manka cat, let me go first."

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"You have a strange idea of what's a good and bad time for things. Now I understand your reasoning for coming here."

Eira paused herself mid-sentence as Val appeared to be focusing more on the voices of the members of the gang the short distance away. At least her own had subsided for the time being. They came and went as they chose, often at the worst of times. Thankfully now they had chosen to remain silent, lest they get her and him killed.

Does he think I meant an actual Manka C....

"I'm not being literal this time, about the Manka Cat...I mean you're walking into the place blind with nothing but bulging biceps against blasters? Is that how you joke where you're from? To me that seems just like asking to be shot."

They really were on different wavelengths when it came to sarcasm, jokes, and seriousness.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

He looked down at her, unsure if he should actually respond to the fact that she thought he had been talking about an actual manka cat. He frowned for a moment, opened his mouth, and then slowly closed it and shook his head. Val decided that the argument wasn't really one worth having at the moment, especially considering that it seemed this womans culture was somewhat alien from his own. They would have to talk about it later though, mostly because of his own curiosity.

"They won't shoot at me on sight." Val told her with an unreasonable amount of confidence in his tone. These men were not trained soldiers, they were barely paying attention and on top of that Val wasn't even anyone that they were looking for. As far as she and Eira knew the thugs were only searching for her, Val hadn't done anything at all to wrong them.

That was a good bonus.

"I'm going to walk up to them, ask them a few questions, and then before you know it they'll be on the ground." Not dead, but certainly unconscious. "Then we sneak inside."

The word sneak was used in relative terms here, Val was rather constrained on that front due to his size. "Just relax, let me handle this and then we can have all the conversation about jokes and literalness you want."

He tried to console her, though oddly enough he was reminded of just how much Taheera had been against him doing something similar.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"You hope." She added to his confident statement. Eira was certain she could handle herself, but she wasn't above letting Val do the brute work if it was simply easier. He seemed oddly put off by her use of the Force earlier, and that was more or less everything she had going for her. She wasn't savvy with a blaster or a sword, wasn't an intimidating giant, and had no natural defenses that would otherwise be useful in this sort of situation.

"Right. I'll wait here then."

Remaining out of sight unless something went wrong would be preferable. If the others spotted her things could get quite messy quite quickly if the gang members were tipped off that they were right under their noses.

How in the galaxy he planned to sneak anywhere was nearly enough to make her laugh. Forcefully she stifled that laughter between the crook of her arm as he started off towards the others.

Sneak. Ya right. The only way you're sneaking around is if everyone's asleep or blinder than me.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

"Good." He much preferred that.

Taheera had been completely and entirely unwilling to let him actually do anything without her standing right there doing the same thing. It had been maddeningly frustrating, mostly because Val knew his own limits but if he had someone else standing there he had to worry about them too. It had been an argument he'd had with Aerith many times, though after she'd gotten a bit older his late wife had learned to just let him do things his way. It was easier than arguing.

He stretched for a second, then pulled the pack from his back. "Stay here."

Without another word Val swung himself around the corner, his hands forming into fists as he approached the two guards. Both of them didn't take a single notice of him still deep in conversation about what now appeared to be some sort of Courtesan in town. Val wandered towards them with a bright smile on his face, his body language at ease.

"Hey!" He called out as he reached only a few feet from there. "Do you guys know where the nearest Tavern is? I'm a bit lo-"

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Val immediately throw up his hand as the more intelligent of the two 'guards' pointed his weapon at him, though he didn't stop walking. Instead he stepped closer and moved right into the guard, his eyes latching on him until finally he replied. "Woah I'm just trying to get some he-"

The Giant cut himself off, his body suddenly moving forward with an inhuman speed. He closed the distance between himself and the guards in an instance, his hand wrapping around the barrel of the blaster pointed at him and bending the metal. There was a slight pop as the man attempted to pull the trigger, but a quick swing of Val's left fist saw him thrown to the ground. A moment later he turned, grabbing the other man and practically throwing him into the nearby wall.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Eira had remained unseen in the darkened street, vision hardly phased by the lack of light. Her perception of light and dark made no difference within the Force. Quietly she observed, allowing Val to do as he wished, though ready to help in some way if necessary. Thankfully it hadn't been, and with a groan and thud, the second man was out and on the ground. As she approached, the blaster on the ground next to the thrown man was picked up.

She had no training or understanding how to use such a thing, other than to point it at what you wanted to shoot and squeeze the small lever. Simple enough.

"Lets go. There might be others."

At least now there was something to even up the odds a bit, if not frighten the thugs with a bit of firepower they weren't expecting.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

Val smiled at the girl as she approached, clearly rather pleased with himself and the work that he had done. Fighting wasn't exactly Val's favorite thing, but there was something very satisfying about taking someone down who had just a moment ago been threatening your life. He was sure that Eira would understand that, though as she urged him forward he didn't make a point to ask.

From here on in he needed to be sneaking.

Unlike Eira Val didn't grab the blaster that had fallen to the floor, mostly because he'd bent the barrel and as such the weapon would be completely and utterly useless. He shifted his weight, glancing back for a moment to ensure that his pack would remain where it was before he quickly followed Eira inside. As soon as they stepped through the doorway loud music began to echo and thump, ringing over and over again. Val frowned slightly, covering his ears.

"Too loud." He said quietly, not loud enough for Eira to hear.

His ears were sensitive, and music this loud was bound to drive him insane if they didn't shut it off soon.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

A club? Her nose shifted, a displeasing look falling over her face. Carefully the woman slipped the small blaster pistol into the back of her pants, hiding it away with the help of her shirt. Being noticed with a weapon in a place like that would cause trouble, especially if that blaster was something of a commonality between the gang members. Thankfully Val was also rather good at obscuring her comparatively smaller frame given his large stature. Made her look less incriminating to others.

The air was rather foul, as if spice and cigarras were smoked and used on the regular.

The light haze of smoke enveloping the area wasn't any trouble for her to see through, though speaking to Val would be rather difficult in this situation unless they located the source of the music and silenced it. All she could do for the time being was follow along, and remain alert.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Eira Sjona"]

By the expression on his face it was clear that Val was not enjoying the deafening tones all around them. His face had turned to a scowl, his ears seemed to twitch, and his body language spoke of an odd sort of rage. His orange and blue eyes shifted from place to place, locating speakers and trying to find any way to turn them off before the headache he'd already gotten turned into a full blown migraine. The Giant stepped into the small crowd still hanging around in the nightclub, people once again parting for him.

He frowned slightly, then noticed a back door within the club. Another man stood next to it, his back straight and his eyes set dead ahead. Val frowned for a moment and then gently caught Eira's arm, getting her attention before leaning down and attempting to speak to her for just a moment. "That's the back room."

They would find no ship there obviously, but perhaps enough money to buy one.

It would be difficult to get back there, but slowly a plan came together in his mind.

"Distract him!" Val didn't really care how she did it, but if he could get the drop on the man then things would go much easier.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Her vision shifted towards the door, and a human beside it. Beyond the durasteel frame that natural eyes permitted she could see a staircase leading up. Her head lifted with it, noting the room overlooking the club below. Several outlines of humans stood within the semi-large room beyond. That was all she could pick out from where they stood on the floor. Distracting the guard would hopefully be simple enough.

"There's stairs beyond the door! The room upstairs has three people inside!"

After shouting above the noise and crowd she broke away from Val, weaving between the sea of crowd towards the guard next to the door.

"Hey!" she shouted from a few feet away, hand tugging at one side of her off shoulder top. She was taking a portion of Val's earlier advice, though a much tamer manner in which he had suggested it. She offered the man a devious smirk as she further revealed the tanned flesh beneath. Index finger curled, the galactic symbol for come here, to draw him away from the door, if only for a brief moment. Eira even went so far as to play off the teeth on lower lip pose. To show she was 'serious' about her offer she gave him a quick glimpse, before retracting the shirt back over herself, waiting for him far enough away from the door on the dance floor so that Val could slip past.

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]