Ask Hidden Gems

[Braclin Grello]

Brac wasn't sure what he had done to deserve a shipmate who was also a barista.

It wasn't even, typically, a joke; it was genuinely rather nice to have someone on board who could actually brew a cup of caf that didn't make the drinker want to throw up after drinking. That she managed to accomplish this with nothing but some basic-ass caf grinds and some fancy sugars was enough to convince him that she was absolutely worth keeping around.

"This is some gourmet shit." he complimented her as he took a sip of his caf, leaning against the side of their ship's ramp as he waited with her, "Seriously. Never thought a professional caf maker was much of a job before but now?"

He noisily slurped some of the caf.

"This almost makes up for the fact that it's fucking raining and our contact is keeping us waiting because he's a waste of fucking skin." he expanded, glaring off into the distance as the rain lashed down around them, "If his credits weren't usually good I'd have had issue with this... but we can lug cargo, right?"

After all - that was all they were doing!

They were hauling cargo and that was true. The legality of said cargo was very much up for debate but he didn't really feel like admitting that to her. She had either figured out they were smugglers by now or there was wilful ignorance going on which meant she wasn't ever going to 'find out'. Honestly? He could work with either.

@Killa Ree

 

[Keena Zuli]

Keena had had plenty of time to adjust to her new life.

Between fainting after their grand initial escape, managing to convince Brac to bring her Lothcat with her, and hotfooting it, she knew her life was entirely going the way most of her kind did.

Smuggling.

Still, she beamed at Brac's compliment, holding her own caf in her hands. She had to hold back the stream of commentary she was aching to tell him; that the dragonfruit reduction was a good way to cut down on the acidity and give it an almost floral fragrance, and the d'narral root and cinna powder was what gave it a real energy kick. But seeing him enjoy it was enough... for now.

She still hadn't entirely forgiven him for shutting her down when she last tried to explain. She knew what he liked after day two.

Still.

"Shouldn't we already have issue with this, tho?" she asked innocently, blinking over the edge of her cup. "Credits are credits. And we're getting wet in this---" she glanced outside their ship, a twist of annoyance on her lips, "...hole."

Still. She had to admit, if they weren't waiting for something illegal, it would have almost been cozy. She would have gotten out her frother to make a killer cup of hot cocoa with lavender and vanilla, and listened to some music with Mr. Flickerwhiskers in her lap---

She was almost distracted from this happy fantasy, when suddenly a noise cut it off. Or perhaps... just a sense. A hint of a noise. She whipped her head around, peering through the rain. She couldn't make anything out, but she could almost swear... they were being watched.

"Brac. I think we have eyes on us," she whispered from the corner of her mouth, feeling anxiety curl in her stomach. Should she duck inside? Throw her caf? Sic Brac on them?

@Nefieslab

 

[Braclin Grello]

Hmm, maybe she had been paying attention.

Specifically paying attention to him because he was the one worth paying attention to after all. He slurped at the caf a little bit more, swirling it around in his mouth before swallowing. Was she right though? Should they already have an issue with this? Abso-fucking-lutely. Pinkie was god-damn right and he was going to acknowledge that because he was just so nice these days.

"Well I'm not exactly happy about it, so yeah guess so." he agreed, setting down the caf cup he had been using on the edge of the ramp, "Guess we can always move onto another source for a job."

He, typically, liked working jobs for people he knew because he knew how to fuck them over if they decided that they wanted to try and screw him over first. Credits were, indeed, credits and could be gathered any number of ways but mutually assured destruction was something that had to be gathered over longer periods of time than were typically available when dealing with someone new.

Oh well.

"Hmm?"

Lazily he turned his gaze to where she was looking, raising an eyebrow before letting out an explosive sigh.

"... if he thinks he can just take the cargo at blaster point, I owe you a snickers."

@Killa Ree

 

[Keena Zuli]

Moving on seemed a best bet, but...

She couldn't help the feeling of eyes on her. She knew she ought to be used to it by now, but... she was just a barista! Just another civilian wandering the galaxy in need of credits, much like the rest of the galaxy.

Are you really, tho? A voice in the back of her mind hummed. You certainly didn't have much trouble shooting down that used spaceship dealer, did you?She shivered once, putting down her caf cup as well. She didn't like the voice... nor the actual silence around them. Her senses keened, and she attempted to lean casually against the ramp of the ship.

Her holdout blaster was still strapped to her hip, next to the hoodie. She never forgot how to use it. Still, at Brac's words, she raised her brows, giving him a slight sideways glance. "...What's a snickers? Is that some Outer Rim thing?" She slipped her hand down, grasping the pistol firmly.

If she had to, she'd use it, but she really hoped they didn't bleed on her clothes if they got too close. It was currently the only clean hoodie she had.

@Nefieslab

 

[Braclin Grello]

Brac was barely paying attention to Keena when she started talking about what a snickers was - or when she seemed to get lost in thought for a second. Instead he adjusted how he was standing slightly so that the carbine, carried by a strap over his shoulder, would hang looser than it had been previously. Before it had been tight to his side to avoid knocking around but now it was basically swinging free by his side.

"Kinda." he answered with a small shrug, "Chocolate and some kind of nuts - I forget what's in it really. Only eat 'em while hungover."

He spoke without actually looking at Keena but he did give her a little signal but deliberately kicking her foot slightly as he stepped forward. As he did so, a trio of people arrived. One of them was a Rodian in a hoodie, the other two rather dirty-looking humans. They looked nervous and suddenly Braclin knew that the air was going to get cooked with the smell of ozone pretty karking quickly.

Seeing them twitching as they walked, he let out a sigh of annoyance before nodding to them as he approached.

"Braclin."

Brac smiled thinly.

"Viggo."

The Rodian tilted his head to one side.

"Tomas sends his regar-!"

Viggo the Rodian didn't get change to get his full phrase out before he was unable to speak - Brac's carbine catching the Rodian in the face with a blaster bolt. Having swung as he walked, Braclin was able to grab the short carbine much faster than the Rodian or his friends could draw their blaster pistols. Firing another shot into one of the humans - into their heart - Braclin was caught off guard as the second tackled him to the ground and the two began grappling. At a disadvantage, Braclin soon found himself on the ground with the other man reaching down to choke him while Braclin desperately tried to hold his hands at bay.

@Killa Ree

 

[Keena Zuli]

All her senses were already on high alert, but with the three appearing, she had to take a breath. She had to remember to breathe. She could feel her hands begin to shake at seeing the three thugs appearing, and she gritted her jaw, attempting to calm down, to chill. But she couldn't help it.

When the second human rushed Brac, she reacted.

Almost instinctively, she brought the holdout pistol up. She wasn't aware she had moved, but she carefully aimed. Just like her old boss taught her. Her heart was still thumping wildly in her chest, and her hands threatened to shake, but for a moment, a glorious moment, she was bubbled in calm. Brac was getting hurt.

He was getting hurt.

That was what snapped her. She let out one, two, three shots. The first hit the man in the spine, and he jerked back, uttering something she couldn't discern. The second caught him in the shoulder.

The third hit him in the temple. By that point, she had moved closer, and she watched as he slowly fell over. Let out a shaky breath, and slightly lowered the pistol. Just like she was taught.

"Brac. You okay?" However, she kept a lookout, just in case the Rodian had more friends around. She wasn't sure if she was up to moving dead bodies just yet.

@Nefieslab

 

[Braclin Grello]

Non-consensual choking was just the worst.

Being killed by it was just not on his agenda of things to get done today but, thankfully, seemed that Keena was on the same wavelength. The first short landed hard enough that the guy loosened his grip, the second made it even better and by the time the third was inbound, he was basically moving the man's head into the path of the bolt. The smell of burning flesh and hair was fucking rank but it beat being dead.

"Ugh." he vocalised as he tossed the corpse off of himself to one side, staring up at the sky, "Now that smell's going to be stuck in my nose for weeks... fucking assholes..."

He waved at Keena's general direction.

"Yeah yeah just give me a second... one two... yup!"

With the last sound, he stopped rocking on the ground and kipped up to his feet in a rather impressive display of athleticism for something so minor. He grabbed his gun back off the ground, holstered it and began rooting through the pockets of the thugs and stealing anything worth more than a rolled up blunt.

"Right Keys. Decision time." he prompted her, clicking his fingers to get her attention, "Our job source has decided to fuck us, hard, up the arse without prep time. Call it! Do we fuck'em back or do we fuck'off?"

Brac wasn't the kind of person who went in for revenge when it involved anything more than immediate action. Stabbing someone who tried to stab you was revenge and he was all for it because it would be in the moment. But going out of his way to get revenge felt like something he didn't really want to waste effort on.

That was one argument.

The other argument was conveniently titled Fuck Tomas - fuck him over, fuck his wife and fuck any of his little plans he had going on because this whole mess meant that this whole fucking planet was burned now. No one here would do business with him if Tomas was on his arse.

They'd only do business with the survivor.

@Killa Ree

 

[Keena Zuli]

What would Fendel do?

She blinked, looking over at Brac while he stepped up to loot the corpses, mulling his words over. Old Keena would have already thrown up just thinking of touching those bodies, but one thought about her old boss stopped her. She liked the older Fondorian. He was good to her, let her get a job and keep herself clean without expecting the stigma of her people's reputation.

What are the first rules of running a business? she remembered him asking her, a cigara dangling between two long, slender pale fingers. It was her first day on the job. He turned to look at her, just as she mutely shook her head.

The first rule is to watch. And if they've fucked you over once, they'll do it again. Dropping the dreg of the cigara into a crystal ashtray, his violet eyes bore holes into her, his voice a gravelly rasp.

"Fuck them right back and cut them in a way that hurts. Hurt them in a way that makes them regret ever crossing us, and go a little farther than that."

She spoke the words quietly, softly, but yet, she stared at Brac when she did it, swallowing once. She couldn't deny she was nervous; she had never taken a life before, and it left her feeling a little sickly, but no worse than usual. Tightening her grip around her holdout pistol, she jutted her chin up, leveling Brac a calm stare.

"I say we fuck 'em up."

Gamble big, win big, that was how the galaxy worked, right? Though there was also the possibility of losing big too... but they had to try, right? This Tomas guy couldn't get away with much more if he backstabbed others with the same lazy method.

@Nefieslab

 

[Braclin Grello]

Brac was mid-looting, lamenting the quality of goons these days if they came with such shitty pocket-loot, when he heard Keena speak up and actually give him an answer. He stared at her for a moment before just kind of blinking at her and nodding along - she had a very good point.

"Alright Keys, we'll try it your way." he laughed a little bit to himself, "Can't believe that 'your way' is the most violent option... you've been stepping up your game face Keys - appreciate that."

Patting her on the back as he passed her, Brac started heading back for the ship. As he did so, he made sure to keep an eye on the surrounding alleyways to make sure that people were watching - this kind of thing worked best if people were able to go back and report that they were leaving town.

Were they? Fuck no.

But they didn't need to know that and Brac always enjoyed doing the unexpected. As soon as Keys was onboard he would pass her the keys to actually fly the ship.

"Keys - we're going to go scorched earth here, alright? I know where he lives and I know what businesses he owns. So rather than go in there and challenge him to hand to hand combat or whatever the fuck honourable people do - I want you to fly to those locations, I'm going to use the gunnery controls and I'm going to blast them to pieces... then we're really gonna need to run because even here we'll get law enforcement on us. So..." he grinned, "Think you can fly me around so I can fly-by shoot them?"

@Killa Ree

 

[Keena Zuli]

If it were anyone else patting her on the shoulder, she'd have fought the urge to vomit or peel off the hoodie. As it was, his praise was... nice. If not a little off-putting. Glancing at him with owlish eyes, she couldn't help but feel a slight clench in her gut.

Just because I suggested it didn't mean we had to do it, she wanted to say, but her throat closed up. Instead, she nodded and took the keys from Brac, stalking towards the pilot seat. Funny; the pilot usually was in charge. Did that mean she was in charge? She cocked her head at him, and gave him a slight grin.

For the first time in her life... Keena felt like she was in control.

"Let's light him up, Brac."

She'd purr the engines to life, taking care to only grab the parts of the controls she knew she wiped down already; her hoodie sleeves did in a pinch if she had to press buttons that weren't already cleaned off. "Just guide me where to go and I'll strafe it," she spoke up. She began a slight altitude, and a gentle acceleration to not provoke any law that could be lurking around--- if even there was any. Once given the coordinates, it was easy flying.

Almost too easy, their target would be a prime place for Brac to hit even with his eyes closed.

@Nefieslab

 

[Braclin Grello]

This was going to be a quick and bloody affair and Brac was HERE for it - anything that kept the manhours down and the revenge quick and easy was a win in his books. Grinning a little bit to himself, he settled in behind the gun controls, gripping them tightly as if excited to get started.

Really though he was kind of just glad that they were making this so much easier on him.

"Just past the warehouse district but before you reach the residential area - looks like it has a roof that might have been sunset orange if the dude was colour blind."

He also gave her some of the co-ordinates that he remembered from the last time he was there because although the rooftop was very distinctive, Brac figured she'd probably want more certainty before letting him do a strafing run near a residential area. Spotting it, he sighed and began to just... casually unload the mounted gun directly into the top of the roof.

"Ah... should of done this years ago. Honestly. So what kind of job do we want to try and get neck? Ship stealing or kidnapping or something?"

@Killa Ree