Every Man Has His Price

[Uhtred Wardruna]

Every Man Has His Price​

Uhtred had been to Kafrene before. He still remembered the sight of a city whose sky was a city. Streets of filth, smog and pollution excised into space, almost creating what one might mistake as being a nebulous cloud enveloping it. It was in seeing sights like that, living in those particular moments, that Uhtred became increasingly grateful for the Deucalian, or even Mandalorian, ways of life his parents taught him.

Uhtred's boots made lightly metallic thumps as he walked down a durasteel alleyway. Smog was so thick, he couldn't even see the skies, or even a full kilometer skywards. Lights flickered on and off, and were unnecessarily tinted, so that being around them too long gave one a headache. In truth, Uhtred couldn't tell if he was looking at poverty of just people that couldn't have cared less about their standards of living or their lot in life. Coughing gags and the vomiting of drunks were all around... and ironically, that was the one thing he didn't _mind.

"Leggðu það í vetrarbrautina til að finna leið til að gera óhreina heiminn enn meira lífvana", Uhtred remarked, subtly sneering at his surroundings.

After a brief moment, Uhtred paused as he caught sight of a sign finally bearing the symbol he was looking for. The script was in Aurebesh, reading "The Isonic Union"., a mining, trading, shipping and salvaging corporation, part of the much larger Commerce Guild. But what gave everything away was the symbol used as the company's crest. A black raven against a banner of moonlight, with the mark of the Andar upon its right wing. To most, it would seem as nothing more than a company logo. But to Uhtred...

"We're here. And there it is, hiding in plain sight", he said, gesturing a pointed finger toward the logo of Isonic Union's sign. "They've altered the design a bit, but there is no doubt about it; that is the crest of Clan Rhorlak. Our information was good."

Entering into the building, which seemed more like a large warehouse with several offices attached to it, Lysandra, Tyraré and Uhtred's presence immediately drew an unexpected level of attention from most of the workers. It was subtle, but Uhtred could see it... see it in subtle styles of their hair, in the tattoos mostly covered by grease and worker's uniforms, in the way they noticed these specific three individuals entering their place of business. It may not have been all of them, but it was a lot of them, most of them.

Deucalians, Uhtred mused. Or at least the descendants of them, knowledgeable enough about who they are or once were to recognize their kinsmen at a glance.

"And we're even prettier up close!", Uhtred yelled out, grinning widely as most either snickered or quietly scoffed, shaking their heads as they returned to work. It was one way to break the ice, he'd supposed.

"So before you all pretend to forget that we're here... Gheleon Rhorlak. Is he here?", Uhtred asked aloud, not to anyone in particular as his eyes glossed over the room, looking for an authoritative figure. "Gheleon! Gheleon Rhorlak!"

@Iridescence @Panda @Valen Pelora

 

[Tyraré]

The Deucalian Civil War had been tearing their people apart for a long time now. Brothers and sisters in arms fought among themselves for petty reasons, or good reasons they mistakingly directed toward their allies. She hated it, there was no reason for their people to fight at all, no matter how dire their situation was. One of the defining and strongest traits their species had was their familial connection, now this was threatening to upend even that. It had to end, and soon, or all that'll be left of Deucalia will be trinkets and baubles that'll be passed around like collector's items, gathering dust while their owner goes unaware of their true significance. To that end, here they were on Kafrene, hopefully about to secure the first piece of the puzzle that would mean putting an end to this pointless war.

Tyraré followed close behind Uhtred, her hood practically clinging to her hair in a place like this. She wasn't too sure about Rhorlak's views on traditionalism, but all things considered, she wasn't too interested in dropping the hood and finding out. "Well, it is a minin' company based here so ye know they're trying their damndest to go even further," She said, smirking at her own joke - you know, like most comedians. As they passed the symbol of Clan Rhorlak, she stopped for a moment and traced her fingers down its laminated surface, committing it to memory. She was going to need to improve a lot if she wanted to get things done, her mind would need to be sharper than ever before, and she would need to remember all she could about the clans off by heart.

It was a few seconds before she finally entered the warehouse with her compatriots, strolling back alongside Uhtred and glancing toward Lysandra with a cheeky wink. She liked that her sister was along for the ride this time, it felt like an eternity since they did something together. "C'mon lads, we won't bite! Free bottle a' mead for the first to point us to him!" She called, pulling a pristine bottle of Deucalian mead from her satchel and holding it aloft for all to see. That would hopefully loosen their tongues a bit.

@Korvo @Iridescence

 

[Lysandra Soleil]

Lysandra knew their information had to be good, she had done some the of research herself. The negotiating was coming up next. Doubt tried to sway her mind to let the other two do the talking, to let herself take the backseat. But, self growth was not going to achieved if she did that. Lysandra was a step behind the other two the entire way, letting herself observe and absorb information.​

​

Her eyes darted across the surroundings, the dinge and dirt. She was used to larger cities and heavily traffic areas, the dirty areas that nobody wanted to walk in at night. Lysandra had to be physically alert, even as a diplomat. A blaster or a melee weapon could be pulled out at any moment.​

​

As they walked into the warehouse, Lysandra immediately smiled politely at the workers that looked up at her, and she audibly groaned as the other two began to speak. Yes, they are absolutely going to tell three strangers where their leader is.​

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The stupid ones could tell that Uhtred was a fellow Deucalian, but it could potentially take the other ones to figure out the other two if not by association. So, the element of omission was out of the question. Lysandra stared blankly at the other, rolled her eyes, then sneaked past them. She walked, confident but cautiously, towards the back where the quieter workers are.​

​

“Excuse me, would you like to point me to where Rhorlak is? We have a proposition, and I am sure we would love to include you,” she whispered, in an almost sultry voice, scanning the worker’s face. The worker nodded and jammed a finger upstairs. Lysandra straightened her back and waved towards her group, jerking her head to the direction of where the worker had pointed.
​

@Korvo @Panda

 

[The Storyteller]

Gheleon was every inch the man he was claimed to be. The Union was a vast and powerful enterprise that required a steady hand. Gheleon had been that hand for nearly a decade. He was a hard, but fair man who took his position deeply seriously. The people who worked for the Union counted on him to ensure the ship was steered properly. They trusted him, just as they had trusted their leaders centuries ago. The hints of their hidden heritage were still littered around them. It was not a secret but nor was it widely known. It was dangerous to admit what they were.

Gheleon stood from his office at the sounds of commotion. He opened to door and stepped out onto the small platform with stairs leading below. His eyes immediately snagged on the interlopers. He scowled. Troublemakers. Every few years a foolhardy youth would come through seeking to unite the Clans, to heal the divide. It never worked. Gheleon took one look and knew it was more of them. “Nope, not doing it. Go home kids.” He had real business to attend to. @Iridescence @Korvo @Panda

 

[Uhtred Wardruna]

Getting right down to it when all was said and done, Uhtred truthfully didn't know what to expect. Outside of the clans of his mother and his uncle, fellow Deucalians were a fairly rare sight to behold. Some kept to the old ways, and a whole lot didn't. And every once in a while, you'd come across the ones that just decided they didn't want anything more to do with their people.

"Whoa, fyrir Sáldœm sakir, would you hold it?", Uhtred said, reaching out with his hands as if to calm the man down.

If his luck held true to the way it always had been, Uhtred would venture a guess that Gheleon was a man of the latter category. Osik

"You haven't heard us out—you don't even know why I'm here. You're a busy man, yes, I get that. What you have here, it won't all fall to pieces with your back turned for ten minutes", Uhtred said, giving his characteristic smile again. That was usually his response to everything, whether it worked or not. "Ten minutes., that is all I ask... I promise, you'll want to hear what I have to offer you."

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[Tyraré]

Well, this was certainly off to a fine start...

Not mere seconds after taking the first step toward their goal and the three of them had started to splinter already, even if they didn't entirely know it. Uhtred had appealed to a sense of patriotism that probably wasn't there for a lot of them, Lysa had opted to use her own beguiling charm which, to be fair, was pretty effective, and Tyraré? Well, bribery wasn't exactly a lost art or a new concept was it? Still, the moment the foreman walked out that door, she knew they had made a mistake. She looked up toward the fellow Deucalian and saw the face of a man who looked extremely annoyed, but it wasn't the normal kind.

Sure, he was annoyed they had just barged in here and started throwing their weight around, but there was a familiarity in his eyes, the way he looked around at his workers before fixing his gaze on them. That was the kind of look she would get with her own crew, whenever they did something reckless or annoying or stupid, it was annoyance born of worry, attachment. He cared for his workers and his job, what they were asking could risk it by upsetting the status quo, but all the same, they had to ask. To convince him, it would take understanding, empathy, but most of all, teamwork. She walked up beside Uhtred and looked up at him with a hopeful expression on her face.
"Mr Ghaelon, I'm sorry we disturbed you today, we know that you have an almost insurmountable amount of work on your plate, and we know even stepping away for a few minutes can seriously impact that, especially for one who takes his work as seriously as you, so please understand that we would not ask you to give us this time if it weren't of the greatest importance," She explained, gesturing toward her friends. "I know you are skeptical and probably have seen people like us before, but please consider this, if we succeed in what we're endeavoring, then what would ten minutes be to you compared to the potentially greater position you and your crew could be at in the future?"

Here goes nothing...

@Iridescence @Korvo @Valen Pelora

 

[Lysandra Soleil]

Lysandra clicked her tongue loudly, staring at the man and narrowed her eyes. Sure, he was hard to read, but men like him had a pattern. What was best for them? What could make them more money? More power?

She really wished that the other two would have let her talk, but that was her cockiness settling in. What did he like? Did he prefer people who sat and agreed and was respectful? Or a brash bitch? A kiss ass? Many options were apparent. After she drew attention to herself, she pushed past the other two. Her eyes met her sister's. Please don't judge me. You're judging me.

“Listen. You’re having three experienced ‘kids’ coming up to you. Offering not only what Uhtred has, but also a debt we will owe you for a lifetime,” she spoke, her voice offering her a sultry assertion. She sauntered to a chair in front of him, and sat down. “Name your price, we’ll do it, we’ll succeed,” she leaned back, crossing her long legs.

Lysandra brushed her mousy bangs to the side. “Every man has his price, and what’s yours?” She thought for a couple of seconds. “Hells, I’m almost hoping it’s a dinner for two.” She tapped her foot on the ground, pursed her lips, and raised an eyebrow. Doubt trickled through her brain, but she tried not to visibly grimace. Lysandra could call in a few favors. She had to think of every scenario that could follow through in the next moments.

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