Cowabunga

[Crix Dolan (TL8)]

Cowabunga

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The sewers on Taris were strikingly different from the one's he'd grown up in on Coruscant. The architecture was more intricate and the ceilings were higher. Hell, if he was being completely honest, this was one of the nicest sewers he'd been in. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure Raz was still behind him. Dopes was pretty eager to continue the massacre and Crix appreciated his enthusiasm.

The smuggler wasn't exactly enthused to be in this situation, but if Rusty had more information on those Modified XS-100's this'd be worth it. Well for him it would. He wasn't sure why Daniel and Raz had chosen to stick around, but he wasn't made about it. He hid a small smile, It was nice to have some company on crap missions like this.

The sewer was dimly lit by service lights, and Crix lent his flashlight to their path. He'd acquired the flashlight and a few other supplies from rusty for agreeing to take on this little errand. He'd snagged a few extra power packs to replenish what he'd spent earlier and he'd also helped himself to a couple grenades, just in case things got wild. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized they were in the possum den. Crix suddenly felt eyes all around him as he proceeded down the slowly darkening corridors. Pretty soon the only light they had were the ones they'd brought.

Rusty marked the areas most likely to nest on his personav, and Crix slowed as they approached the first opening. It was eerily quiet as he passed through the archway and into the pitch black maw ahead. Aside from the normal disgusting smell of the sewer, Crix could smell something sickly sweet. It was a smell he'd only come across a hand full of times in the sewers of Coruscant's undercity, but it was one he'd never forget.

The pure white beam of his flashlight illuminated a bloated... and half eaten... corpse.

"Well, there goes my appetite...." He murmured doing anything to avoid looking at the grotesque form in front of him. He scanned the room and his flashlight came across a massive body with coarse salt and pepper hair across it's back. Crix covered his flashlight immediately, that wasn't a karking possum it was a HIVE RAT!

The smuggler swallowed hard as a tendril of fear curled it'self around his heart. With great hesitation, he removed his hand from the beam and did a quick sweep of the room. It was FULL of hive rats. This certainly explained the sudden influx of possums. The Hive Rat's had moved in on their territory. He recovered his flashlight and slowly started to back out of the room. Unfortunately, he didn't realize his boot had come unbuckled and he tripped over his own feet.

He landed with a splash dropping his flashlight in the process, the beam of light landed on the initial hive rat he'd seen when they'd first entered. Only instead of being curled up sleeping, it was glowering at them with a bloodthirsty menace.

"Oh shit."

@Sreeya
@Lucid

 

[Raz Solus]

To say that Raz was pissed was an understatement. This situation progressively kept getting worse and worse, “I don’t understand why you didn’t just let me threaten to torch his ass,” She hissed at Crix as she walked through the sewers behind him. She was a god damn House Leader, she didn’t need to be scurrying about like some disgusting rat. Raz looked down as some gunk splashed onto her shiny armor and she had to bite down to keep from whimpering in despair. She purposely avoided looking at Dopey, who would probably be gazing around happily at being inside a sewer. Nothing could dampen his spirits, even being knee deep in literal shit.

“You owe me big time,” She growled at Crix as as she followed wherever his flashlight lit up, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. Every now and then she could hear things crawling and scurrying around, and it made her cringe and practically hide behind Crix. She was a terrifying human being, but certain things completely made her a pathetic wreck and apparently possums was one. Raz ran into Crix as he paused, and she peered beyond him to spot the corpse, “Yum,” She muttered under her breath. The stench was unbearable, and she had to fight back the sudden wild urge to shove Crix’s face into the bloated thing for payback in making her come here.

In the end, Raz did some quick breathing exercises to curb her rage. When his light landed on a… she didn’t even want to know what it was, “Nope,” She said simply. She placed a hand on Crix’s shoulder and shoved him out of the way, which probably helped him fall on his ass. Without a second thought, she activated the flamethrower on her wrist, sending a massive blast of fire directly towards the rats.

“Enough with this shit,” She growled as the entire space lit up, the fire exploding out to engulf the screeching creatures in sight. Of course, she had probably made the situation worse as more of them began to scurry and claw to get away, some of them climbing on Crix. Raz was too focused in her maniacal rage at burning the disgusting shits alive to help.

@Zay @Lucid

 

[Daniel Solus (old)]

Theme

Daniel was, indeed walking happily behind Raz and Crix. The smell didn't really bother him as he looked around, fascinated. So this was a sewer! Cool! The way the bricks arched endlessly over their heads and the little ledge they walked on beside a river of feces, it was all so well thought out. He didn't understand why Raz was so upset, sure it smelled bad and was a bit dingy, but it was a unique experience. Couldn't she just be happy to be with her friends?!

He sighed at his leader's peculiar neuroses and looked along the bottom of the ledge, there were a few bricks missing down there and he thought he heard an animal crying quietly. His kind nature got the better of him and he stopped walking, the others didn't notice. Bending down, he looked into the little den and saw a baby possum lying next to the obviously dead body of it's mother. It was such a tragic scene that he just had to do something. He scooped the baby up gently, it seemed a bit frightened but recognized a helping hand. Cradling it--him, the possum's name was now Sam--gently in the crook of his left arm, he dug in the many pouches on his belt until he found a bit of dried fruit.

He held the morsel in front of Sam's tiny nose. The pink nose twitched inquisitively then, Sam opened his mouth, revealing an astonishing array of tiny, sharp teeth. The fruit vanished in an instant and the baby possum looked up at Daniel as if to say 'Well...is there more?'. He tickled it gently on the belly with his finger, grubbing around in the pouch for more while Sam squirmed happily. He was feeding the possum more dried fruit when a light blossomed up ahead. It had the distinctive bright orange of a flamethrower. Daniel went cold. What was going on?!. Holding Sam tightly he sprinted along the ledge until he reached Raz and Crix. What he saw left him slack with horror.

"Raz! What are you doing!" He yelled as terrified possums ran in every direction. She was burning them. Sure, he had killed a bunch too, but that was before he had realized just how cuddly they were! "STOP IT! Look!" He held Sam up gently in both his hands to show him to Raz. "They're not bad! This little guy lost his mom! Isn't Sam cute!? Crix don't do that, you'll scare them more!" He added as Crix screamed and tried to brush the adult possums of his pants. He was sure that she would understand. Raz was a reasonable sort of person.

@Sreeya @Zay

 

[Crix Dolan (TL8)]

"Raz, no..." Crix mumbled as the Mandalorian set fire to the 3-meter long hive rat. The beast released a chill-inducing screeched and as if sounding the horn of war, hordes of possums began pooling into the room.

"Possums... it HAD to be possums." He said sardonically as he was slammed into by a wave of rodents.

Crix fought for his life as the possums avoided the fire breathing demon and attacked him. He was able to get his DH-7 out of its holster and fired off two shots away from Raz and Dan.

"They're not bad! This little guy lost his mom! Isn't Sam cute!? Crix don't do that, you'll scare them more!"

Crix shot Dan a scratched up scowl and said, "I'd keep Sam away from Raz, she's full-blown mando rage!"

The smuggler took aim at the frantically flailing Hive Rat, and fired off two shots. Both shots hit home, but the tenacious rodent refused to submit as it turned it's attention toward Crix and charged. The Smuggler's eyes widened and suddenly he was running for his life, his body reacting in fear before his mind could process the scene unfolding before him. The scoundrel ran toward the nearest wall the beast just on his heels, at the last second he doves to the side inches from the duracrete wall directly in front of him. The massive rat slammed into the wall, momentarily extinguishing its head leaving it with a dumbfound expression before collapsing over onto its side.

The beast was momentarily stunned as the smell of burnt possum began to fill the air. Crix thought he could hear Raz's maniacal laugh as she set the hordes ablaze. Crix could only assume this was what hell was like. Well, at least the devil was on his side. The smuggler finally made it to Dopes' side. He was introduced to Sam and agreed that he was adorable. He looked at Raz, then back to Sam and finally, to Dan.

"We're probably gonna have to run..." he said, realizing that Raz probably wasn't in control anymore, she was full kill all the things mode. And even though he'd never admit it to Dan, it was kinda awesome.

@Sreeya
@Lucid

 

[Raz Solus]

Raz was even more infuriated as the possums, rats or whatever the kriff else kept scurrying out. She whirled around to look as Dan came out of nowhere holding… “What the kriff are you doing?!” She hissed, reaching out and all but batting the baby out of his arms. The little possum ran away frightened, but ultimately escaped the cruel fate of being burned alive. She switched off the flamethrower, beyond angry now. She watched the rat thing chase after Crix and then topple to its side.

She didn’t waste time, leveling a pistol and firing a few shots into it to make sure it was dead. Raz was calmer now, kicking one of the possums out of the way. The creatures ran in all direction, and she took shots at them as they did. Despite being angry, she was quite good with a gun and popped a bunch of them in the head to kill them. After a moment, things began to quiet down, and the path was clearing up.

“No need to run,” She said grimly, “We keep pressing,” Raz didn’t even look at the others, obviously still very grumpy. She stepped forward, not caring that she was stepping and crunching on possum bones and carcusses. A few of them twitched, but she paid it no heed. The opening led to another narrow tunnel that they needed to walk through. She couldn’t see anything and glanced back at Crix.

“Go ahead of me or give me the flash light,” She muttered, giving him the choice on whether he wanted to be the first explorer or not. It didn’t exactly turn out so well for him last time, and she wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to take cover. He looked traumatized, and no doubt so did Dan from the loss of….for kriff’s sake he even gave the thing a name. Raz had to breathe out slowly to keep from getting angry again.

@Zay @Lucid

 

[Crix Dolan (TL8)]

Crix snapped too and covered Raz's flanks as she blew generations of Possum families to smithereens. The Smuggler was glad he wasn't a possum. The red armor clad Mandalorian destroyed possum's indiscriminately and for a moment he worried for Dan's new little buddy. Crix winced as she slapped the little guy out of Dopes' hands and breathed a relieved sigh as it escaped the carnage of the scene. Thank goodness. He thought before killing two more little bastards hissing a swiping at his ankles. The horde began to dissipate as the constant blaster fire thinned their numbers. The trio had two more locations to check, and with things settled here, it was time to move on.

Raz led them to a nearby opening and Crix stepped ahead. The initial shock of the previous room finally wearing off.

"I'll take point, boss," he said passing her quickly and illuminating the path ahead. They pressed onward into the narrow pathway and the corridor became so narrow that Crix had to shuffle sideways for a time before it widened and then eventually opened into the next marked location. Crix scanned the room, but this one was empty. He breathed a little sigh of relief as he continued into the room. He quickly scanned the perimeter looking for their next uncomfortable conga line corridor. The sound of tiny claws skittering across Duracrete caught his attention and he shined his flashlight in the direction of the sound.

A possum fled from the light disappearing into a pathway outside the strength of Crix's flashlight. He cross the gap between himself and the possum's vanishing point.

As he closed in he called over his shoulder, "Looks like the last path is right he--AHHHHHHHHHhh!"

With his attention on his comrades behind him, the smuggler failed to realize the pathway was actually a steeply set drain, and as soon as the heel of his boot hit the algae covered duracrete he lost his balance, the flashlight, and any shred of dignity he'd somehow maintained over the course of his friendship with Raz.

The Scoundrel landed hard on his back driving the wind from his lungs and creating a starburst of little lights in his eyes as he helplessly slid into the darkness. His voice reverberated off the tight walls as he prayed to any preternatural force listening to protect his blinded wild ride. He grunted in shock as the path sharply dipped sending his stomach into his throat and then back into his torso as the slide whipped upward turning into a ramp. Crix went airborne and colliding with the ceiling and splitting his lip and ripping at the skin on his forearms. He growled in pain as he was thrown back onto the slide and was left to fate. After another moment of twists and turns the embrace of weightlessness revisited him and panicked filled his brain as he realized he was falling much further this time.

The helpless smuggler howled into the darkness as his body slammed into an undisturbed draining pool. Crix gasped for air as he broke the surface thankful he'd landed in the water rather than becoming a pancake on a sewer floor. The irony of his blunder wasn't lost on him. Out of everyone here, he should have known better than to lose focus. He mentally berated himself as he paddled toward a service walkway. He pulled himself out of the water and made a mental note to get kelto shot after this...

He hailed Raz, "I'm alright... watch that first step, it's a trip."

Crix checked his location wondering how far he'd just delayed the mission, but to his surprise, he was actually just outside the final room. Once the others caught up they'd be able to clear the room and get the hell out of here. Crix set to wringing out his clothes while he waited, he reloaded his gun as a smile settled on his liquid detritus covered face. As soon as this was done he'd be a one step closer to the ship of his dreams.

@Sreeya
@Lucid