[Jessari]

 

Talyc sighed, armored foot tapping an irregular pattern on the cobblestones. It was a beautiful day in the little seaside town, but he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to enjoy it. A man and a woman, both in the large straw hats that identified them as tourists, stared wide-eyed in his direction. The heated glare he directed back at them had the couple scurrying past as fast as they could.

He was used to people staring at him; Mando warriors weren't exactly common in this part of the galaxy, and the black armor with dark orange detailings drew a lot of odd looks. Those kinds of looks didn't bother him anymore. No, what had him in a bad mood was the fact that these people weren't staring at him; they were staring at his daughter.

Cuyan, the feral child he had adopted only a couple of weeks ago, was currently crouching underneath the table sitting outside a small bakery. Although she looked to him as a leader and a protector, he had yet to coax her to remain in a chair for more than a minute at a time. At least he had convinced her to remain clothed. That was a step in the right direction.

[Jessari]

One of the cafe workers delivered his order, a large bowl of hot soup and an M&M-studded cookie. A throaty growl emitted from the child underneath the table, startling the poor waitress and nearly making her lose hold of the soup bowl. "K'uur, Cuyan," Talyc commanded, and although the growling didn't stop, the volume went down several notches. He waved the waitress away, and she disappeared as quickly as she could.

He tore off a chunk of the cookie and held it under the table, where it was promptly snatched away. Although his lips remained in their normal grimace, there was a hint of a smile in his eyes as he heard Cuyan munching away. She dearly loved her sweets. He hadn't realized, when he first chose to adopt her as his own, how much trouble it could be to raise a 'special needs' child. They had had a very rough start, and things still weren't exactly going smoothly, but the bond between them was deepening. He had even begun teaching her a few basic words of english. Unfortunately, one of the first she had picked up was the word 'no', and she used that frequently.

K'uur - be quiet

[Jessari]

Had this been a free day, Talyc would've expended more energy on getting his daughter to act like a normal human being instead of the Khimera she had been raised as. Today, however, was a work day. A local had been robbed a few nights ago. The woman who'd committed the robbery had chosen the wrong man to steal from, the owner of a large nightclub. The man had promptly hired Talyc to track her down. If the size of the bounty hadn't been so tempting, he would've turned the guy down. He'd only just taught Cuyan to walk down the street without attacking other pedestrians for walking too close, and Idris was off romancing yet another woman. Talyc was fairly certain he had things in hand, though. How hard could capturing one woman be?

[ToxicShadow]

Day or night, it hadn't ever mattered to Kryss, not ever since she became one of the chosen ones to play The Game. Genetics were cruel to her, for that reason. Had her genetics not been the correct ones for The Game, she would have never been subjected to it. It was far too late to do anything about it now, though, for she'd already been playing for such a time that she was labled as one of the most difficult players to defeat, even with anti-gravity boots and lazer shooters in hand. She was lover of defeating males especially. It had always been an unspoken pact between herself and the small population of other female players to target the men before targetting one another, if they had the choice.

The mindset from her gaming days was still fresh in her, having only been in this strange world for a few mere weeks. She'd already picked up on English, her world having used a language rather similar to it. In her mind, her language was the advanced version of what was used here. Here, it was barbaric. Still, she spoke it, mostly in threats.

She'd chosen to only traget men in this world as well, as per the rules of the unspoken pact. The women here, too, seemed subjected to the men trying to overrule them. Already had she witnessed women flinch when a man moved to face her too quickly. It was a sign of fear.

At one point, it even came to her stepping in. A man had risen his hand to strike the woman he had been walking and arguing with, and she came behind him and twisted his arm until it snapped. The sickly sound had made her smile like a mad man at the time. In turn, the woman ran off screaming rather than thanking her, but at least she had been set free.

[ToxicShadow]

Walking down the streets of Jawan, it never occured to the woman that she might have ever been in danger. She'd been in this specific location for about a week now and, yes, she'd robbed a few different men and food stocking locations they seemed to own, but she was a confident lass. None of these pathetic men could ever bring her any harm. She wasn't too worried about disguising herself, either. She was proud of who she was and that she wasn't one of them. Never could she allow herself to be marked as a weakling.

In an ungloved hand she held a large, unbuttered roll that had just been snatched from a market cart when the man running it had turned around. Kryss snatched it up as if it was nothing and made it into her lunch. She'd pick up a few other things to complete the meal as she walked about, biding her time in order to find something a little more interesting. Tonight, oh, tonight she would have to commit a larger robbery again. It would be her last before leaving this city to find another. Never would she be able stay in one place too long, if she continued to survive the way that she did.

[ToxicShadow]

Like Talyc, the fighter got strange enough looks offered in her direction. She wasn't as eye catching as he was, however, she was different enough with her musty orange clothing and dark armor bits that clung to her form. Unlike Talyc, Kryss was often too preoccupied with her own thoughts to take notice. They were lower than she was anyway, so she saw no reason to even bother with them.

A man and a woman wearing funny hats out of what appeared to be hay closely crossed her path, slowing down ever-so-slightly in their steps to gawk at her as well. "Do you think it's a popularity to wear strange clothes here?" The woman asked her husband after just having passed Kryss up. This caused the fighter to stop in her tracks and turn to stare at their backs as they kept walking. For some reason she couldn't quite figure out, the comment struck her as an odd one. She hadn't seen anyone else wearing anything similar to herself in all the time that she'd been here.

Well, it was none of her concern anyway. She didn't expect most of the women that gave themselves away to men, like that one clearly had, to be very wise. That mistake would come back to haunt that woman some day. It just left Kryss baffled, once more, to why a woman would ever do such a thing. Why ever cuddle up with a man, holding his hand and giggling pathetically as they did while walking together? It was sick. No matter how much she tried to figure it out, while meanwhile on auto-walk-and-eat, she never could.

[Jessari]

"More!"

The word, issuing from lips that was only just learning a human language and inflection, sounded nearly happy. "More, please," Talyc stressed, breaking another portion of the cookie off and waiting. Nothing but a quiet purr came from under the table, and he felt Cuyan pressing her small body against his leg, a silent plea for him to bend to her wishes. Talyc knew that Mando's were supposed to be strict with their children, unyielding in their upbringing to get them used to the hardness of life, but that was most definitely easier in theory than in practice. Maybe he'd let her get away with it just this once... He sighed in resignation, leaning down to hand her the cookie.

When he straightened, training his eyes back on the pedestrians filing by, he nearly missed her. Talyc hadn't really expected to see her today, not in broad daylight. He'd been looking for someone in a disguise, a wig, a ball cap, or even simply a pair of dark sunglasses. What he hadn't expected was to see a woman who fit the robber's description to a tee, right down to the odd clothing his employer had mentioned. So bold was her move that she was halfway down the block before it clicked in his mind.

"Cuyan, come." Talyc was on his feet, reaching a hand down for his daughter. The child, no older than eight or nine, placed her small hand in his, allowing him to pull her out from underneath the table. He mentally sighed as he took in the state of her clothes and hair; both seemed to get shabby after five minutes, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. "Let's show you what it's like to bring a mark to heel."

They started down the sidewalk after the woman, Talyc maintaining his grip on Cuyan's hand to keep her from dropping to all fours, a more natural way for her to walk. They would follow her for a while, in hopes that she would take a turn into a less-populated part of town. Even if she didn't cause much trouble herself, sometimes bystanders were tempted to step in on the mark's behalf, especially if the mark was female.

[ToxicShadow]

Busying herself in contemplation, Kryss was ignorant of the passersbye and, basically, the whole population of the city. She didn't appear to ever have a care in the world, which would have been clearly observed by anyone that watched her for even a few moments. That was, until she had went to take another bite out of her roll and found nothing remaining in her single gloveless hand. She stopped walking for that moment, only to make a face at her empty hand, come to the conclusion that she'd have to grab something else from the next cart or food stocked location and then kept on walking.

Thoughtlessly, the fighter removed her headset and hooked it onto her belt. The action was promptly followed by her having pulled her hair out of the high ponytail it was in, combing it back with her hands, and placing it back up in a neater ponytail all while she walked.

A corner soon presented itself and she turned, it leading onto yet another market street of Jawan. It was a smaller area, though, with much fewer shoppers. She was now in what was considered to be the bad part of town, the one the tourists didn't typically enter unless they were entirely lost and just happened upon it. Slipping into one small, hole-in-the-wall market, she was gone for only a few minutes, before she had come back out with a small, but bulging satchel. She fussed with one side of her belt, as if she was returning something there. Stealing was nothing to her, after all. It was just all in a days survival.

The strange feeling she was being followed had finally kicked in when she left the store. Her in-game logic told her to be on her toes, while the more cocky portion of herself told her that nothing in this world had ever proved to be a threat to her. Nothing in this world was really worth it, after all. There had yet to be anything to tie her to this world. So, mentally, Kryss shrugged.

For now, she would need to find a place to hide-out and relax. She needed to decide which place to hit tonight, and in which direction she would be fleeing in later. By now, she had a pretty good mental map of Jawan and knew exactly where she was going. Just a few more blocks down, and Talyc found his opening when she turned onto an empty alleyway.

[Jessari]

Talyc watched the mark, amused as she walked unguardedly down the streets. He didn't even need to worry about putting on a show of not following her, for she never glanced behind her to check. She was extremely sure of herself, which showed that either she was a di'kut, or she was more dangerous than she appeared. His dark eyes narrowed, no longer amused by her carefree gait. What was this woman's game?

Cuyan, seeming to sense a hunt in progress, pressed close to him, her own eyes forming into slits as her muscles tensed. Not in fear; no, Talyc knew her much better than that. His little girl was just as anxious as he was to bring the mark down. He made a mental note to reward her later; she would do well as a bounty hunter when she grew old enough.

The rest of the tailing went without incident, save for one spot where the woman ducked into a shop, then returned a few minutes later. Her hand fumbled at her side, and Talyc's hand dropped to his blaster, expecting to see a weapon. Her hand came up empty, however, and she was soon walking again. Finally, she entered a more run-down section of town, and the Mando knew the time was near. She turned down a dead-end alley, and Talyc paused just out of sight. "Cuyan, stay here," he whispered, putting a firm command into his voice. Trailing a mark was one thing, but he wasn't ready to take her in to a potentially explosive situation. Reaching down to his belt, he unclipped the helmet that hung there and slid it into place over his head. Then, blaster in hand, he rounded the corner after the mark.


Di'kut - idiot

[ToxicShadow]

[First thing first, I must apologize for the delay in my posting. I suddenly wasn't home for a few days. If my post seems a little bland, also, I'm sorry for that. My head is a little scrambled at this time of night with life eating at my face. ^ ^;; ]

Logic would have claimed that a dead-end alleyway would, indeed, be without an escape route. What the tracker failed to consider, however, was that it wasn't typical of any person whom was walking just to walk into a blocked alleyway and have to turn around. It was a needlessly dangerous thing to do, so it would make no logical sense for Kryss do such a thing. In Kryss' case it was a tad bit different, much to her own luck. It didn't end for her, not exactly. Within the alleyway there laid stacks of a few large, wooden crates. The woman had hopped up onto these crates and then up upon the shorter roof of one of the buildings.

Talyc's short pause had given the woman enough time to get where she was and, when he turned around the corner, she had been in the middle of her instinctive check on her trail. In this one place, she had to be careful in order to prevent anyone from spotting her little hideout and giving her away.

Eyes widened at the sight of an armored man holding an unfamiliar gun in an mixture of an offensive and defensive manner. Had one of the male players had their coordinantes scrambled up too?! It would have explained her strange feeling of being followed. Her gaze soon became critical, pulling a slightly peculiar gun from her belt in an instant. Her mind began working at a mile a minute, just as it always had when she was in-game. In a matter of seconds she had alreaady gone through all of her options, making her decision and quickly jumping behind a large metal vent. Back against said vent with gun in hand, she listened carefully for any sound of the man persuing her. Now that she was aware, sneaking up on her wouldn't prove to being as easy of a task as it had been to get this far.

[Jessari]

She was gone.

Talyc paused in the mouth of the alley, deep orange eyes flicking from side to side. There was a dumpster against the alley wall, along with several garbage bags that had missed making it in. Against the end, several large boxes, but no woman in sight. Perhaps she was more perceptive than he'd suspected. A grim smile twisted Talyc's lips as the thrill of the hunt sparked within his chest. He preferred a challenge to a brief snatch-and-grab any day.

He risked turning his head back in the direction he had come from; no sign of Cuyan yet, which meant she had decided to obey his order. Good. Unlike him, she had no protection or training for this sort of thing. He dearly wished Idris were here so his partner could watch Cuyan, but he wasn't. He'd just have to deal with it, carefully.

The bounty hunter began a slow walk down the center of the alley, alert to any movement or sound. Was she in the dumpster? Hiding within a pile of garbage? Behind the boxes? Or was she up on one of the roofs? It may have seemed a bold move, as bold as Kryss walking around in broad daylight, but he'd learned to depend upon his armor and his reflexes to get him out of the worst of situations. Hopefully his actions would unnerve his target, flush her out of her hiding spot.

* * * * * *
Cuyan peeked around the corner, head low to the ground as she watched Talyc move down the alley. She hated being left behind like this. Pack was supposed to stay together, not go hunting alone. There was safety in numbers, she knew. Why didn't her Alpha think this way?

A small motion caught her sharp eye, and she glanced up at the roof. There was someone hiding there, her instincts told her. Someone was watching her pack Alpha. A soft growl vibrated in her throat, though she was careful to keep the noise from reaching his ears. By his actions, and the tone of his voice, she knew she wasn't allowed to follow him. Cuyan didn't pause to think that maybe he hadn't wanted her to move at all. She was going to help her Alpha in this hunt.

Turning away from the alley, she began moving along the sides of the surrounding buildings, searching for an alternate way to climb onto the roofs. The child dropped to her hands and feet, a more comfortable walk and one more fitting to a hunt in her mind.

[ToxicShadow]

Lady luck must not have favored Talyc today, for even as he hunted for his target she did not show herself. No, she refused it entirely. She wasn't down below, anyway, so his hunting there was useless. He didn't know this, of course, and Kryss intended to use his disadvantage to her advantage. If she took the chance and shot at him now she would reveal her position, but it wasn't as though he could easily reach her from where she was. Logic claimed that if she didn't want to take the risk of shooting then it would leave things unfinished. If he was after her, then he must have had a reason.

Her mind went through all of her reasonings and over all of her options, finally coming to her conclusion. She nodded to herself and set into action. Shuffling as lightly as her feet would allow her, Kryss moved to the edge of the vent that hid her and peered down at her new male enemy.

She mentally made calculations regarding his armor. She'd never seen anything like it, but she didn't doubt that all armor followed the basic rules.

It was only seconds before the woman made a shot, her current weapon loaded with small level exploding bullets designed to embed themselves into their traget and exploded moments later after roughly seven seconds of beeping. Her target? Talyc's gun. First thing first: work on disarming him. Her conclusion stated that his armor was too extensive to go after him first.

She ducked back behind the vent instantly, fully unaware that he wasn't alone and she was being hunted by another.

[Jessari]

Talyc had made it halfway down the alley, eyes darting back and forth in search of movement. The pile of garbage bags lay to his left, and he was just considering giving them a good, swift kick when a small flicker of sunlight caught his eye. His muscles tensed. Sunlight off a weapon? Instinct screamed at him to run for cover, but he reacted a split second too late. Thud! Talyc dove for the dumpster, the nearest shield available, his mind registering mid-motion that he hadn't been hit. The next thing to register was the beeping coming from his gun. He flipped it sideways, holding it in gloved hands, only to find that although he hadn't been hit, his gun sure had. That wasn't good.

He flung the gun down the alley, digging for his holdout as he waited on the blast he knew was coming. And it did. Even as he bemoaned the loss of his gun (the holdout was most definitely the inferior weapon), something akin to a sincere smile of pleasure touched his lips. The bounty was making him think, something the past several bounties had failed to do. It was a nice feeling. He'd get to her eventually, he always did, but it wasn't going to be easy. At least now he knew her general location.

Moving to the edge of the protection the dumpster offered, he poked his head around the corner. Bringing up his gun hand, he fired off a couple of shots towards the roof, hoping they would keep her from firing back as he figured out exactly where she was.

* * * * * *

Cuyan had nearly circled the entire block, garnering odd looks from the rare passersby, before she found a fire escape. If she'd had the twin tails her brothers possessed, they would have been twitching happily. As it was, a very un-human purr vibrated in her chest as she clambered up to the top story. Perching precariously on the railing, she leaped, catching hold of the gutter and pulling her small body onto the roof.

The child perched there, twitching nose tilted towards the sky as she got her bearings. Just as she took a step in Talyc's direction, an explosion made her crouch low against the rough tiles. Worry thrilled through her mind, worry for her Alpha. If he'd been hurt...she'd rip the female apart, one joint at a time.

Cuyan set off across the rooftops, headed ever closer to the roof that held the threat.

[ToxicShadow]

Listening to the muffled clatter of the enemy's gun hitting the ground and the shortly following explosion, Kryss couldn't stop herself from smiling. She'd hit her mark without a hitch and now one of his weapons was out of commission. Not for one second did that lead her to believe he was unarmed, however. The woman had already learned that lesson the hard way while in game. Every player always had at least one back-up weapon. Surely this case would be no different.

Sucking in a silent breath, the woman's mind began to fly though the situation and each option she had, including all the likely reactions to her possible actions. Somewhere within her mind a tickle came, warning her that she wasn't alone on her perch. Disobeying the natural instinct was never a good idea.

Her lips twitched, her right handed grip on her gun tightening ever-so-slightly. Her left hand slid down her thigh, beneath a single layer of clothing, recovering a switch blade she'd left there. If it came to hand-to-hand combat, she wouldn't be taken by surprise.

Meanwhile, her mind was still working on a solution to this little problem of hers. That man down there wanted to shoot her, for which she had no understanding as to why. She was no longer a player in a game, so who would be brave enough to take a shot at her? The creatures of this world were spineless. Gah. She was thinking too much. This world was polluting her mind.

His tricks, she knew them. While some refused to move when their enemy shot off random shots, that's exactly what they were- random. Random meant that he didn't specifically know where she was, but it also meant that he was trying to track her down. It would have been against her better judgment to sit still. The instant after Talyc's shot in one direction, Kryss shot out from the opposite side of the vent, bobbing and weaving in each of her steps. She reached the edge of the roof in seconds, crouching there. As she ran, his location had registered in her mind. There weren't many places for him to hide.

Gun wielded in that direction, she spoke, "This isn't a game. We're both armed. You can try to shoot me, but you will miss if you remain in hiding. You have a better chance of survival if you come out."

[Jessari]

She was a feisty one, wasn't she? Offering him advice as if he were a wet-behind-the-ears beginner. This mark acted as if she knew what she was doing, as if this was far from the first time she'd been in a stand-off. And who knew? As little information as he'd been given (even her name hadn't been on the list), she might very well be a professional.

"You'd have a better chance of survival if you found cover."

It would be so easy to just duck around the corner and go for a headshot. The strange armor she wore protected her chest area, but nothing shielded her face. It would be a shame to waste her, as talented as she was, but it wouldn't be the first time Talyc had picked off a woman on a job. Lucky for her, his employer wanted her alive. Perhaps it was time to see exactly how strong that armor of hers was.

Leaning out from around the dumpster, revealing his upper torso, he glared at the mark over the barrel of his back-up pistol. Even as part of his mind registered the stunning figure she cut, outlined against the sky, his finger tightened on the trigger...

...but before he could take a single shot, another figure came into view on the roof, a small and very familiar figure. He rose quickly to his feet, stepping fully out from behind the dumpster. "No, stop!" It was half-shout, half-growl as anger at his daughter's disobedience vied with worry for her safety.

* * * * * *

The sandpaper-roughness of the roof would've hurt any other child's feet and hands, but thick calluses protected Cuyan as well as shoes and gloves would have. The closer she got to her prey's location, the slower Cuyan went. She was stalking now, each step silently and carefully placed. A strange type of euphoria trickled through her as the activity triggered a part of her brain that had been largely unused since before she'd been captured. The only thing that was missing was hearing the soft footfalls of her brothers hunting alongside her; her Alpha had left them back on Mandalore.

Up ahead, movement caught her eye, and she was surprised to see her prey dart from her hiding place to perch near the edge of the roof. Though she kept moving, a tense anticipation made her motions rigid as she stalked closer. Wide eyes were trained upon her prey, already working on where the best place to sink her teeth would be. She would bring down this female. She would make her Alpha proud of her.

At last, she was close enough. The child broke into a short dash, leaping upon the female's back. What Cuyan lacked in strength she made up for in sheer ferocity, teeth and nails seeking for purchase even as her legs wrapped tightly around the female's torso. The female's shell was troublesome, and Cuyan worked to find a way to pry her out of it so she could cause her more damage.


Mandalore - Homeplanet of Talyc's people

((Yah, I know she's a little girl attacking a full-grown adult. You've got my permission to NPC her a bit...just don't create any lasting damage, kays? ))