Roulette's just not the same without a gun... (Ask/Invite)

[Storm]

Phraetiss. A Core World, and yet one of the most calm, backwards, slow places in the galaxy. Relia expected this sort of stuff from the back world planets in the Mid Rim, somewhere like Xa Fel, Foerost, Atar or somewhere... To be fair, this was her first visit to Phraetiss. And she was here on a mission. Relia Corrde was a bounty hunter. Relia Corrde spent her time on the job searching for various men and women wanted by various other men and women across the galaxy for various reasons. Actually, she felt rather mixed feelings about today's job. Today, she'd been hired to kill a mercenary. All well and good; she had no love for mercenaries, and no bounty hunter invisible code of honour prevented her from doing it; he wasn't a bounty hunter. It was the authenticity of the accusations which caused the doubt; she'd refrained from trying any sort of remote killing, as she actually doubted that this was a mercenary. She was pretty sure this man, this Rylan Belikov, was a bounty hunter. And she wouldn't kill a bounty hunter.

Therefore, she'd have to confront him to find out first.

The long, tall grass that covered the planet in broad, wide swathes danced beneath the caress of the wind's fingertips, as the wind swept from the mountains in the far distance of Relia's vision. Her fingers outstretched, Relia brushed her way through the grass, feeling the soft touch of the plant on her fingertips with a sort of shivery pleasure. She was clad in black, leather-type combat gear, her brilliant red hair blazing down her back like the sun. If needs be, she'd tie it up and shield it. But she didn't want to appear as if she already had the intention of killing this man before she'd found out just who his allegiance was to. A heavy combat blaster was attached to her waist band, in addition to a number of other weapons. For last reliance, she had a knife strapped to her ankle and a small combat blaster strapped to her wrist; useful only for close range. But Relia wouldn't allow herself to be disarmed to the level of having to rely on that singularly.

She just hoped she'd be able to keep control of it herself.

The mountains in the distance were where she'd come from. The hill she was climbing now was where she expected her target to be. She'd made no attempt at hiding herself yet, and only hoped that this Belikov wouldn't try and abuse that by killing her outright from a covert position. But, from what she knew of this man, she didn't think that'd be true. She'd made no noise yet, and yet hadn't made major attempts to be quiet; she was giving off no aura of hurried pursuit, yet she wasn't giving one of a covert, subtle approach either. A happy medium had been reached, and Relia felt a hard nub of anxiety in the pit of her stomach as she considered, once again, the risks. She could rationalise and plot all she wanted, and yet none of it would matter if he chose to shoot her. She felt a bead of sweat run down the arch of her back under the eye of the sun as she pushed back the anxiety; if it came to trouble, that wouldn't help.

And if it came to trouble, she could quite easily defend herself.

 

[Regret]

Phraetiss was the perfect type of planet for a person like Rylan. It was in the core so it wasn't a large trek to any planet that actually mattered but it was so backwards that nobody really cared to go there. Seclusion was easy to achieve on Phraetiss and that's exactly what Rylan loved. He had built himself a small house, well more of a shack really, on the backside of a hill in the middle of one of Phraetiss' many gargantuan grass plains. Not out in the open but not so secluded and hidden that Rylan couldn't find it if he happened to be on a drunken walk home.

Rylan had just gotten back from one of his personal missions on Coruscant and was feeling a little drained. Killing people did that to you sometimes. Don't get the wrong idea though, Rylan was no radical merc or a bounty hunter or any of that riff raff. He was a teacher of the ways of the Force. But sometimes teaching people that their way of life is wrong and.. stupid for the lack of a better term can get you into trouble from time to time; especially on a planet as ignorant as Coruscant. But no matter, Rylan would continue to travel the galaxy and spread the teachings handed down to him from his Master.

It was a typical day on Phraetiss as Rylan stood outside his cottage and gazed down the hill at the flowing grass. The wind was blowing steady and it felt nice; like someone dragging a sheet of silk over your back.But something odd caught Rylan's eye as he scanned the plains. Some of the grass was moving in a different direction than the rest; like someone or something was walking through it. Phraetiss wasn't known for it's savage predators but Rylan's occupation was. The odds pointed towards another person walking through the grass to his shack. Rylan's lightsaber hung heavily on his waist, it's silver hilt gleaming brightly in the Phraetissian sun. Hopefully it was just a lost stranger and he wouldn't have to use it to dispatch any unwanted visiters. Rylan stood, his back straight and his gae set, and waited for the stranger to reveal them self.

 

[Storm]

The sun was shining down on Relia as she strode further up the mountain, bending to brush her fingers along the grass of the mountainside which was much shorter here than it had been below. Particularly on the main plain, the grass was coming up to almost shoulder height. Here, it was more normal, more flat, with rocks and trees and other scrubs and shrubbery interspersing the grass. It was dry, warm, and yet there was the feeling of moisture beneath, like rain could fall at any moment. Relia gritted her teeth; that would be awkward, and would complicate things. Visuals were so much worse, and she could easily be mistaken for someone with decidedly violent intentions in the rain by this man she was chasing. Although, to be fair, the same could be said in the bright sun, where she'd stand out like a sore thumb. Especially with her fiery hair as it was... Relia looked up at the track before her, having steadily been watching her feet in an almost submissive display as she climbed.

Was that a hut further up?

Yes. Yes it was. That must be the house or dwelling occupied by the man she was "chasing", so to speak. That's where she'd angle towards. The sensors she were carrying weren't picking up anything, but they'd been faulty with the long grass messing up the readings for days now. She gritted her teeth; she'd have to go in metaphorically blind, against whatever her adversary might pit against her. The bastard might even have droids... Somehow, however, she doubted it. The logistical problems in addition to the problems of getting the power from point one to point two would be colossal, and she doubted he'd want to waste his money on this sort of stuff anyway. He had a pretty high reputation as kills went, and perhaps he was more interested in doing things himself, the old fashioned way? A man after Relia's own heart. Perhaps she'd have to talk more with this man.

Providing none of them came out of this little encounter dead.

The thought made Relia's blood run cold and the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Perhaps she'd never laugh with her friends again, collect another amount of pay... No. She resolved her mental attitude. She'd been in this job long enough to ignore such risks. After all, life was about risks, was it not? Live hard, die hard. You can only live life once. Without realising it, Relia had reached the shack. Somewhere nearby, a bird hooted. She could see her adversary, now, standing before the cottage. She was alive, and so was he. Time to make sure that remained pretty similar. "Alright." She raised her hands, but made sure she was ready to flick out the mini blaster if needs be. "I've been assigned to kill you, but I'm not sure I want to. If you're one of those mercenary bastards, we may as well get this over with now. But if you're a bounty hunter, I have the sense of honour not to kill you - not to want to kill you." She gulped.

"And I really hope you're a bounty hunter now I've revealed my hand..."

Somehow, the joke wasn't that funny in this predicament.

 

[Regret]

Rylan watched as the red-haired stranger made her way up to his humble abode. So far she didn't seem to be a threat and Rylan hoped she would stay that way. Rylan watched, unblinking, as the stranger began to speak. A bounty hunter eh? Well it didn't seem that she was very good at her job, no; if she was Rylan would have been dead ages ago. For some reason this girl had in her mind that maybe Rylan was a bounty hunter too. Odd, one would think whoever hired this girl would have told her what I was and just how dangerous I could be. But it appeared that that this girl didn't really want to kill Rylan, not if he was a bounty hunter too. Maybe a little white lie could stave off an attack long enough for Rylan to figure out just who this person was and who hired her to kill him.

Rylan cleared his throat and blinked slowly. He would have to proceed with caution, one wrong move or a misused word could cause this situation to escalate. Not what he wanted at all. "Yes," He started, keeping his voice calm. "I am a bounty hunter. I'm glad to see that you have the honor not to kill one of your brothers in arms, which is more than I can say for most bounty hunters." Rylan flashed a quick smile, which he didn't do often, so it may have come off a little more menacing than he wanted it. "I only have one question for you Miss. I want to know who hired you to kill me."

 

[Storm]

Relia had the distinct idea that the man had known full well that he who he had hired Relia to kill was a bounty hunter, and she got the distinct impression he'd been trying to dupe her. Having met the man this further compounded this opinion. Not today. She thought, grimly. Stupid bastard. Should have known better. She felt no loyalty to him, and her code of honour did not extend to men like him. Relia took a deep breath. "His name," she began, "is Yurik D'sall. Luckily for us, he's currently on Phraetiss. And I get the distinct impression he's been trying to dupe me." She frowned. "And I don't like that. Obviously you don't harbour happy feelings for the man either. You fancy taking him down? I can lead you to him and so forth." Relia breathed in. "And then we can take him down." Relia wouldn't be violent; the man was a fool, a manipulating fool, but she didn't want to cause unnecessary pain. Looking sidelong at her, what now seemed to be, ally, she wondered if the same could be said about him. Would he be merciful? Would he?

Somehow, she doubted it.