Ask Stolen Skin

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

Of course Reiel was unaware that her joke was horrible. But Gett'se's chuckle made her think otherwise and so she mentally gave herself a pat on the shoulder, feeling proud for all the wrong reasons.

Humming in response, her focus returned to the task at hand. The path before them lay unimpeded after the sentry blaster turret and while it would offer relief to any other hunter, the complete lack of traps only set her further on edge.

She smiled at Gett'se as she followed after him in approaching the exit, but it was strained. Something felt off, hunter's paranoia clawing insistently at the forefront of her mind. Reiel was not anxious by nature (or so she liked to believe), but given their line of work her buir had taught her to trust her instincts without skewing her perceptions and judgement call whenever she found herself in a pinch.

Unlike her vod, Reiel looked away from the light's glare, eyes narrowed as she surveyed the pipeline for any trap it might be hiding. Stubbornly refusing that there were no more traps, she kept her helmet's thermal vision active despite the brightness, despite the near sensory overload, still scanning – still believing that danger remained lurking before them–

And she was right. It came in the form of a trip mine sensor beam that Gett'se was close to approaching. There's no time to picture the damage it would inflict once activated, prompting Reiel to act without really thinking.

"Gett'se, wait!" she shouted in time with her movement, scrambling forward to catch up to him and mirroring how he saved her from the blaster turret earlier. Unlike Gett'se, however, Reiel's movements were rushed, reckless and uncalculated, as she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him towards her – back to safety – with much force than necessary–

Metal clanged against metal, Gett'se's jetpack hitting Reiel's helmet as the force of her pull sent him crashing against her and away from the trip mine's sensor. She fell on her butt, taking him down with her. Reiel groaned loudly at both the impact and the muck splashing them, her hands still on his shoulders. At least he didn't fall on top of her. That would be really awkward. Not to mention embarrassing on her part.

"Trip mine sensor beam up ahead," she told him, removing her hands from him and struggling to get up on her feet. Reiel stepped in front of Gett'se and offered him a hand to help him get up. "Maker, I pulled you back so hard, I'm sorry! Now there's muck everywhere!"

She gestured at their armor as she let him go, cringing underneath the cover of her buy'ce. Contrary to her exaggeration there wasn't muck everywhere on their armor – not that much, anyway. There was no time to let the disgust settle in, however, and her gaze soon found the trip mine overhead.

"They want their pursuers dead so bad? Well, let's go 'kill' ourselves with that trip mine," Reiel remarked a little too brightly. She would begin to lead Gett'se out of the mine's blast radius while pulling out her blaster pistol from its holster. Once they've put a considerable distance between them and the mine, Reiel would take aim at the explosive. "Give the acquisitions a false sense of security, make them think we're careless enough. If they're somewhere close enough to hear the explosion, that is. But here's hoping they're not – I'm sure the droid will be able to tell that we're still kicking."

If Gett'se was against the idea, Reiel would stay her hand and listen for any alternative. She was more of a follower than a leader, after all (but always ready to take up authority should the situation call for it).

But should she receive no resistance nor advice against her plan, Reiel would shift her focus back at the mine before pulling her blaster's trigger – the blue bolt finding its mark with deadly accuracy. She sucked at melee fighting but if there was one thing she could be well and truly proud of, it was her marksmanship skills. Reiel's strengths, after all, lay in long-range combat.

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

The arrival at the tunnel had been slow going. Gett'se still felt a little shaken by the event from earlier. Everytime he closed his eyes he saw that blaster barrel turn on him, the hot smoke thermal image still peeling off the barrel from its previous shot. Best just to keep his eyes open. His eyes had shifted restlessly in search of more traps as they had walked, and he had almost breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of light.

He had been distracted. Unfocused.

Reiel's voice sounded out behind him and then before he knew it he was falling backwards. His head rattled as his the back of his helmet clanged against her cuirass before he slipped off of her an into the muck. Laying there like an awkward turtle for a moment, head rattling, arms and legs doing a slow wave as he tried to gain his bearings.

Clasping Reiel's arm, he let her help haul him to his feet. Shaking his head, he cleared his vision and let his eyes focus on her visor. "My trust was well placed." He said, not forgetting his words from earlier. "A little sooner than I expected though." A single amused chuckle ended the sentence as he turned his eyes to the trip mine.

"Agreed." He said as he let Reiel take charge on the destruction of the mine. Her shot was true and the trip mine exploded, a visceral display of what he had nearly walked into. His beskar might have kept him alive. Just barely. Maybe he'd be able to walk again after some serious reconstruction and a few months of rehabilitation. Maybe.

Shaking his head and clearing the observations and fears from his mind, he pushed forwards. "Let's go before they decide to check it out."

Slipping out of the tunnel, they found themselves near the top of a hill. It had a steep incline and led to the swamp below. Ahead they could see large support structures stretching up from the swampy floor to support the undercity above.

His eyes scanned the terrain, spotting the support girdles that stretched above underneath the city. Glancing over at Reiel, he noticed her lack of a jetpack. That wouldn't work then. Unless.

"How do you feel about playing bait?" He asked. He wasn't excited about the prospect, but chances were high that one of the acquisitions would swing by to check out the explosion if they were still around.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

It was hard not to imagine how an armored Mandalorian would fare should they get caught up in the trip mine's explosion. Reiel was simply grateful that she had successfully saved Gett'se from–

She holstered her blaster, dispelling the image of blood, charred flesh, and bone from her mind. There's no use in dwelling on what should have been when she had prevented the possibility from happening. Reiel moved forward, now walking beside Gett'se, but staying a little closer to his personal space. Protectiveness and caution still rolled off of her in waves, the feelings shown through her tense shoulders and both hands resting atop her blaster pistol and one vibroknife respectively.

Mandalorians were few and far in between. Meeting Gett'se must have been a product of fate's machinations, or the will of the Force her few Jedi acquaintances and friends talked about. She felt it her duty to keep their number from dwindling, even at the cost of her own life.

Now that's just contradicting yourself. You're one of them, di'kut. The numbers will obviously dwindle if you get killed.

"A little sooner is better than never having to find out if said trust is well placed."

Out of the tunnel and into the light of day, Reiel switched her helmet's thermal vision off and gazed at the scenery before them. Their targets did well in hiding both their presence and their ship. But finding them won't be an issue – with combined efforts with her vod, Reiel assured herself that they would be fine.

She looked up at Gett'se, a small grin making its way on her face. Reiel was not new to the prospect of playing bait – far too often, when a hunt required for such role, she would either volunteer or let her buir instruct her to take the part.

"It's humiliating," she grumbled, faking annoyance. Always up for a joke just so she could distract herself from falling prey to anxiety and fear. Reiel soon chuckled, amused. "I'm kidding. I've played the part a lot in the past – way back before meeting my buir. You can say it's almost my forte."

She looked around, taking advantage of their position. There was a probability that their targets heard the explosion if they were somewhere close by. It was simply the matter of drawing both of them out into the open, or so Reiel assumed as to why Gett'se asked her about playing bait.

"I can be your bait. What exactly do you have in mind?"

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se was about to start rethinking his plan at the annoyance in Reiel's voice when she backtracked with a laugh. Another joke. He had his own brand of humor but he was used to being the one making the jokes that nobody got. It was refreshing in a way.

"I can fly up to the support girding," He said as he pointed up to the superstructure above, up there he would be almost impossible to spot in the shadows. "While you make the descent down the hill and into the swamp. While they're focused on you, I can drop down behind them and get the jump on them."

He would have preferred they both hide in the shadows above to ambush the marks when they came to investigate, but he had to work with what was available. Looking down the hill, there appeared to be some cover but it was few and far between. With the heat the droid was packing Reiel would be pinned down once they were on her. It wasn't favorable, but it was the best he could come up with given the situation. "Unless you have a better idea." He would offer. They didn't have much time however.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

"Yours is much better than mine, so let's go with it," she told him with a nod of approval. Pulling out her blaster once more, Reiel lifted her free hand to give Gett'se's shoulder a supportive squeeze before heading off. "Oya Manda!"

Shooting him a smile hidden by her buy'ce, Reiel would begin her descent from the hill. Slowly, deliberately, eyes peeled for fresh tracks left by their targets and senses on high alert. She was exposed out here, to say the least, what with the hillside offering covers that were few and far in between. The image of the beskar on the Trandoshan's chest flashed in her mind, and that was enough motivation for Reiel to continue. That, and her vod somewhere up above behind her.

The swamp soon caught her attention, and surprisingly still no sight of either their targets or their ship. A sudden noise caught her attention, her free hand flying up to the side of her helmet to adjust its audio receptors. Reiel surveyed the area before her, stepping ever closer towards the swamp, when she caught movements from the cover of the trees.

A red bolt whizzed past Reiel, soon followed by a barrage of blaster fire that almost felled her had she not been quick to run for cover. She jumped behind the nearest rocky outcrop as D34-TH surged forward from its hiding place in the swamp, the droid's rotary blaster firing off a continuous salvo towards her direction. Gritting her teeth, she took out one frag grenade from her utility belt, set it to detonate on impact, then straight-up chucked it blindly towards the droid's general direction.

The blaster fire ceased, replaced by the grenade's explosion. It wasn't as powerful as a thermal detonator, but at the very least it did the job of giving her the time to get her bearings and prepare for a counterattack.

Raucous laughter soon rang from the swamp. Huh. Must be the Trandoshan scum. Were they having fun that they're making sport of gunning her down and making a prize out of her armor? And what was that kriffing skinstealer talking about, his next shot hitting the exposed area where her helmet and chesplate met–

Pain flared suddenly on her side, just below the coverage of her chestplate. Reiel realized a little too late that the first shot that heralded Death's attack did not actually whizzed past her – it had hit her right waist.

Huh. So that was what he was talking about. Lucky it hadn't hit the frag grenades strapped to her utility belt, though. That would've been... messy, to say the least.

Ignoring the injury but pressing her free hand hard down on it nonetheless to stop the bleeding, Reiel moved to fire her own blaster at the targets, her shot pinging off the droid's head. Ducking back for cover as Death resumed gunning her down, she gritted her teeth and scanned for the next nearest cover she could use.

She hoped she had gotten the targets' attention enough for Gett'se to catch them unawares.

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se surprised himself as Reiel put a hand on his shoulders and proclaiming the hunt. Reaching out with his own hand, he clasped her shoulder in return.

"Oya Manda." He proclaimed with a nod as he squeezed her shoulder. Turning from her as they broke apart, he looked up and shot into the sky on the thrust from his jetpack. Flying in between two of the support girders, he cut feathered the thrust down to a hair and came to a landing on the bar. He walked along the narrow beam, balancing as he went and keeping an eye on Reiel's descent.

Dropping down to sit on a cross beam as he saw her switch her visor, he unslung his rifle and scanned the treeline of the swamp through its scope. Glancing out of the scope as blaster fire shot out of the woods, he fought the urge to check on Reiel and instead focused on where the shots had come from. She didn't need him worried about her, she needed him to eliminate the threat.

"Another helmet for my collectsssion Mando!" A scaly voice shouted form the swamp. Focusing his aim on the voice, he spotted the skinstealer perched in a tree with a sniper rifle. Aiming for the acquisition's head, he exhaled and then pulled the trigger. His rifle thumped and the acquisition dropped.

Shifting his aim for the droid that had been crossing towards Reiel, blaster fire pinged against the steel around him, whizzing past his head and making the area suddenly far less than comfortable.

Letting himself fall from the girding, he activated his jetpack after dropping ten or so meters. Blaster fire chased his path as he twisted and veered to the right, angling to half lay on his side as he aimed down the sight of his rifle and sent three bolts screaming at the droid. He only got a quick glimpse through sight before he spun into a dive, but the droid looked like it had eaten a frag grenade on its side with its armor torn and blackened. blaster fire from the droid's rotary cannon cutting through the air he had occupied and Gett'se worried his time was limited as a rising phoenix as he imagined one of the bolts grabbing him out of the sky.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

This was not the first time Reiel got shot, but it would be the height of hypocrisy to deny and downplay the pain she was feeling at the very moment. She winced as she kept her free hand over the wound, pressing her trembling hand harder over the area to stem the bleeding.

She was tempted to hurl her own brand of insults at the Trandoshan and the droid, more so at the skinstealer's triumphant shout about claiming her helmet as another prize to hang to his wall. Was the Mandalorian whose armor Kazhka now wore not the only one to fall prey to the thief's dirty hands? Reiel tried to steady her breathing, to keep her anger at bay. Her emotions were already at an all-time high and she need not delve into rage any further. Heightened emotions made your brain think that your body needed more oxygen, thus sending signals for the heart to beat faster. She was already bleeding, kriff's sakes – there's absolutely no need to get more blood leaking out of her wound.

The trajectory of the droid's blaster fire changed and Reiel instantly knew that Gett'se had entered the fray. She peered at the hunk of junk from her hiding spot, a grin splitting her face upon finding out that her frag grenade had done its intended damage. Her amusement was soon cut short, however, as the droid focused on shooting her newfound vod to the ground. Reiel attempted to get up on her feet so she could run out of her cover to hopefully keep it's attention away from Gett'se. She was still technically the bait, after all. Her gaze found another rocky outcrop that looked like it could handle a barrage of blaster fire approximately five meters away from her hiding spot. Perfect.

"Dank farrik, just. Move!" she hissed at herself, grimacing both in pain and annoyance. "You've handled injuries worse than this!"

With a defiant roar, Reiel shot up on her feet and made a mad dash for her next destination, firing one shot after another of her blaster pistol at the droid. The young Mandalorian did a quick calculation in her head and was relieved to see that Gett'se was far up high and well away from within a frag grenade's blast radius. Successfully catching the droid's attention just as planned and before it could aim the rotary blaster at her, Reiel had already flung another grenade at it – once again set to detonate upon impact. The grenade, wet with her blood, hit the droid's head with a satisfying thunk before exploding. It was by sheer, dumb luck that Reiel had not stumbled on her way for cover and had already slid behind the outcrop just as the grenade exploded.

That ought to turn that murder machine into a useless pile of scrap, stars willing.

The sudden rush the adrenaline sent her slowly receding, Reiel could only let out another groan of pain as she rolled onto her back, T-visor gazing up at the sky. Her blaster slid out of her grasp, both hands now finding their way to her wound. She could feel warm blood trickling past her gloved hands and black dots were already dancing almost gleefully on the edge of her vision.

Don't close your eyes, ad'ika. You can't afford to fall asleep before you can even attend to your injuries.

"Just... Just a few seconds, buir," she mumbled, eyelids fluttering close. "'M just gonna– gonna rest my eyes. Not– Not gonna fall asleep on you..."

No, verd'ika. Open your eyes. What would Gett'se say?

Reiel frowned, eyes now closed. How did buir know Gett'se? They never even met yet!

"He'd say... it's okay to sleep, I guess...?"

Reiel. Stay awake. For me. Gedet'ye?

She couldn't, not for any longer. Reiel could feel her grip to consciousness slipping away slowly, but since her father insisted that she stayed awake she would do it. There was nothing she would not do for him, for that stoic but loving Zabrak who hung the moon and the stars for her. And besides...

What would Gett'se say if she fell asleep on a hunt? For all she knew, the Trandoshan could still be out there.

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se continued making evasive maneuvers and taking potshots as he tried to close the distance and find cover. The closer he got though the closer the heavily armed droid got to blasting him out of the sky. A pair of bolts stitched his breastplate, sending him spinning as a third sliced across his thigh.

He dove to escape the hail of blaster bolts as Reiel started blasting at the droid. She looked hurt, had she been hit during that opening volley. Focus Gett'se forced his concerns aside as he took the opportunity to fly closer. The droid's head exploded as he began his approach, and a piece of shrapnel dinged off his pauldron. He felt a sharp tug at his right arm.

Deactivating his jetpack as he dove at the staggered and torn droid, he rolled his body and tucked his knees as he reactivated the jetpack, reaching for the beskad on his back with his uninjured left arm. The burst of thrust slowed his momentum enough to not break any bones as he cannonballed into the droid, burying his beskad in the droid's neck with a downward stab as he crashed into it.

He hadn't slowed down nearly enough as he barreled into the droid and flew over it, rolling roughly in the muddy swamp. Staggering to his feet, he shook his head and looked first at the droid and then for Reiel. The droid was down, sparking at the neck where his beskad had pierced its neck joint and nearly ripped its head off as he had ran into the saber's hilt as he continued on his way.

He didn't see Reiel.

Running up the hill as best as his limping leg would take him, Gett'se found her laying down beside's a rock. "Osik." He cursed under his breath as he came sliding to his knees next to her. Her hand was clenched against her side and he pulled it away to reveal the blaster burn there, blood trickling from the wound.

Fumbling with his medkit, he cursed again as his swamp mud covered gloves slipped on the thing. Removing his gloves, he tossed them to the side as his hands dove into the medpac. He cut away some of the burnt flightsuit material around the wound and hastily cleaned the wound of whatever sewer swamp mess might have been on Reiel's gloves before spraying the wound heavily with a bacta spray. The stuff would stop the bleeding and accelerate the healing process.

"Still alive in there Reiel." He asked as he injected her with a mild wake up stim from the medpac before he started bandaging the wounds as best he could. He was focused on his task, trying to tape the square bandaging to her skin with medical adhesive and didn't hear the skin stealer approach as a blaster bolt smacked into the back of his buy'ce. His head rang and he dove over Reiel as another bolt pinged off his helmet, sending his head ringing. He tried to look at the trandoshan, getting a glimpse of the beskar'gam clad reptile holding a pistol with his right hand, the left arm hanging awkwardly.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

Oblivious to the fighting going on ahead, Reiel drifted on and off into unconsciousness. Her eyes were barely open, unresponsive, as a shadow loomed over her. She weakly fought against the figure as they removed her hands from her wound. Couldn't they see that she's bleeding? Did they want her to bleed to death?

The effects of blood loss continued to kick in, making her groan as a sudden wave of nausea hit her. She would have regretted that stunt she pulled earlier if it weren't for Gett'se's safety. Of course, woozy and disoriented as she was at the moment, she failed to notice that it was her fellow Mandalorian who had been busy patching her up. Reiel weakly pushed a hand against his chest, trying and failing to get him off of her.

"You won't ge' m' helm't, piece o' shiz," she slurred, bloody, gloved hand slapping against... a helmet?

Gods fecking damn it. Did the kriffing Trandoshan get his filthy hands on her buy'ce already? Reiel's eyes snapped open, relief coursing through her along with the wake up stim's effects. Her helmet was still on, the HUD blessedly present in her field of vision, and laboring over her blaster wound on her side was Gett'se. Awareness crept back to her, and she lifted her head slightly to check on him.

"Get– Gett'se. Gett'se, it's– 'M good. Alive so far." Gaze finding the injuries on his arm and thigh, she sucked in a sharp breath in worry. "Ah, s-shite... you're hurt," she mumbled feebly, hands already mindlessly patting over his helmet and chestplate. Suddenly unheeding of her own injury at the sight of his. "Medpac... hafta– have to patch you up–"

A blaster bolt pinging off Gett'se's helmet cut her off. He dove over her as another shot found his buy'ce once more. Reiel's weapon hand closed around nothing, her blaster lying forgotten somewhere. The Trandoshan marched resolutely towards them, fury burning in his eyes as he prepared to shoot Gett'se for the third time. She looked at her fellow Mandalorian, her eyes finding the heavy blaster pistol at his hip.

"I will kill you both, you misssserable wret–!"

Mustering every ounce of strength left in her, Reiel swiftly drew the blaster on Gett'se's hip and aimed at the skinstealer once the latter's face entered her field of vision. She took aim, eyes narrowed in anger and concentration, and – target on lock – pulled the trigger without any hesitation.

Kazhka didn't stand a chance after exposing himself to the two Mandalorians – a wrong move on his part, really. The blaster bolt found its mark, taking out one of the thief's eye and drove further in – through brain matter and out of the back of his skull. The skinstealer dropped, well and fully dead, the new hole on his skull still smoking from the bolt it received from Gett'se's blaster.

Reiel dropped the weapon, tilting her head to gaze at her companion.

"Looks like we... did it," she told him, grinning widely under the cover of her helmet. "Got the beskar'gam back. We got banged up pretty bad for it, but it's worth it."

Without any warning her hand would find the back of Gett'se's neck, pulling him down to her for an awkward half-hug.

"You– 'M sorry for being an awful bait. Are you... You're not hurt pretty bad, aren't you?"

She would let him go slowly, wincing as she tried to get up.

"Did we get the droid as well?"

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se's head rang as he tried to reach for his blaster. Curses. His arm didn't want to move. It felt weak. He glanced back at the Trandoshan as he approached, determined to look his death in the eyes when he felt a tug on his hip and then the Trandoshan's face was ripped in half.

He looked down to see Reiel looking up at him as she spoke. He couldn't see it but he could tell in her voice that despite her injuries, she was smiling. Then she pulled him into a hug. Not something he had experienced a lot of. Trying to not collapse on her with his weight, Gett'se found a hard time putting weight on his right arm, and as she released him, he rolled over into a sitting sprawl next to her.

"I thought i got him." He said first, in regards to the Trandoshan. He had been sure it was a hit, but apparently his shot had went low. Shaking his head, he looked down at his right leg where one of the droid's bolts had grazed his thigh. It had nearly cut the strap to his holster clean off. Hod Ha'ran's fickle attention indeed.

"Grazed, on the leg." He said, then remembering the weakness in his numb feeling arm. Perhaps he was in shock. "Might have took some shrapnel in my arm." He said as he reached for his right arm, fingers catching a gap in his flight suit and coming away slick with blood. Looking at the blood, he nodded to himself. "Yeah."

His head turned towards the open medkit laying on the other side of Reiel, but he felt a wave of weakness wash over him. Instead of trying to reach the medpac, he just sat there. He had forgotten to answer a question.

"Droids dead." He remembered flying at the droid just after its face exploded, piledriving into it with his beskad and nearly ripping its head clean off. So thats where he picked up the shrapnel.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

She listened quietly as Gett'se spoke, letting his voice wash over her to remind her that yes, he's alive, both of them were, thank the stars we'd both hate it if one of us kicks the bucket in this Manda-forsaken hill and we didn't need to live with that kind of guilt.

Kazhka's head was still smoking from the blaster fire it received, a macabre parody of a dying campfire. Trying to prop herself up on her elbows, Reiel winced as she got up on a sitting position. It was probably not a good idea to move a few minutes after getting herself shot, but she trusted that Gett'se had done well in patching her up and that the bacta was already working its wonders on her wounds. The thin line between dying in the hands of the skinstealer and fighting to survive made Reiel feel as if time had slowed on purpose so she had seen how his arm remained immobile when the Trandoshan approached, how Gett'se's body tensed in preparation for his own demise, resolve fueling him to look his own death in the eyes. A true mandokar'la, a thing she dearly wished to achieve.

Her quick draw had saved them both from impending death. No – she was an accomplished markswoman and a quickshot, yes, but it was her buir's teachings that honed those skills to perfection. It was all thanks to him that the skinstealing scum now lay dead.

She'd have to thank buir the next time they meet.

Reiel saw the slump on Gett'se's shoulders, the weakness that had overtaken him. One hand found the medkit beside her while she carefully moved from her seat to face him, still mindful of her bandaged side. Her gaze found the more serious of his injuries while she pulled her dirty gloves off before attending to his right arm. She cut the fabric of his sleeve to have better access to the wound and began to clean it thoroughly, noting that it most definitely needed stitches. The cut was bleeding sluggishly but steadily, a small piece of shrapnel sticking out of it.

"Bear with me, Gett'se, okay? I promise I'll be quick."

A comforting squeeze of her hand on his uninjured one, and she set off to work. Reiel was not the best at medical work, but at least she wasn't faced with a major surgery at the moment. Steadying her hands, she gripped his injured arm with one hand while the other quickly but carefully tugged the shrapnel free from his flesh. The bleeding began anew and she stemmed the flow by applying pressure on it while she retrieved a bacta spray – Reiel thanking the stars again for being with someone who was prepared for situations such as this.

It was simply a matter of mirroring his earlier actions when he patched her up, but with the addition of stitching up the cut before spraying it with liberally with bacta. Her hands began to tremble when she started to bandage his arm, and it continued even after she had patched up the graze on his thigh as well.

Done patching each other up, Reiel momentarily closed her eyes for a much needed reprieve. But they needed to move soon, unless they want someone to see two injured Mandalorians with their beskar free for the taking. Not that they won't fight for it to the death. Dying, however, was not part of Reiel's plans when she came to Ord Radama.

"Got a ship somewhere, Gett'se?" she asked him faintly, her buy'ce hitting his right pauldron lightly. He'd given her a mild wake up stim earlier and yet here she was, almost nodding off and clanking her helmet against his pauldron already. Maker, the two of them needed some decent shut-eye. "Can't exactly walk back to the guild looking like shit, huh?"

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

"I'm still here." Gett'se reassured Reiel as she cut at his flight suit open to get to the wound. He grunted when she pulled the shrapnel free and gritted his teeth as she stitched his wound shut but otherwise did not complain. He tried to focus on the dead skin stealer and his droid, one with a campfire for a head and one with its head half ripped off. He did notice the exhaustion in Reiel's movements, the shake of her hands as she cleaned and bandaged his leg.

Knocked out of his daze when Reiel's buy'ce drooped against his shoulder, he knew he had to do something. A ship, that was right.

"Yeah, I'll signal my droid to bring it down." He said quietly as he sluggishly moved his arm to press a homing beacon on his wrist. The ship should be there in a few minutes. He needed to get up, to retrieve the beskar'gam and proof of acquisition. Instead he let his head droop, resting his buy'ce on Reiel's as he closed his eyes. Just a moment. He breathed. He was alive.

"Or smelling like it. We smell like devlikk shit." He laughed weakly, keenly aware of what they smelled like even through his helmet. Both them and their beskar'gam could use a good washdown. If they could even make it into the ship. Gods he just wanted to keep his eyes closed and fall asleep where he lay. Just for a moment.

"This is nice." He mumbled. thinking out loud as his mind tried to drag him to sleep. They were out in the open and had just been in a very noisy blaster fight. They had work to do. They had to collect the armor. He just wanted to rest. Just for a moment.

Moment over. Opening his eyes, Gett'se groaned as he force himself back up. Making sure he didn't end up dumping Reiel onto the ground, he staggered his way to his feet. Once he had his footing, he'd extend his left arm down to Reiel. He didn't trust the right one right now. "Oya'karir cuyir va jaon vod, bat gar taab verd." He would help pull her up to her feet, and support her if needed.

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Reiel Mal Crowholde]

She returned his laughter with a breathy giggle, one hand automatically lifting up to carefully grasp the back of his neck when she felt him rest his helmet atop hers. And Reiel agreed with him – this was nice, indeed, finding even the briefest of reprieves after almost getting themselves killed. Her thumb brushed against the back of his collar soothingly, something buir did to calm her whenever she was anxious or afraid.

Relief washed over her at the confirmation that Gett'se did have a ship. More so at the knowledge that they didn't need to limp their way to wherever it was docked. Droids and their many uses, huh.

It was with great reluctance that she let him go when he forced himself back up on his feet. They needed to rest, mostly Gett'se since he did almost all the work in this job. With half-lidded eyes she watched how he staggered and kept himself upright, sleep wanting to claim her as much as it did with him but prepared to offer him her support should he lose his footing.

Gett'se didn't, and she admired him for it.

Reiel accepted the proferred hand, hauling herself up while trying not to be too heavy or too much of a burden. The bacta might have been doing its job to hasten her injury's healing process but the sudden movement still sent her a fresh wave of pain as she got up on her feet. She bit back a groan, leaning slightly against him as she mirrored how he regained his own footing earlier.

"Ni kar'taylir," she murmured, gaze searching for the skinstealer and the droid. One lay dead, the other destroyed. Reiel huffed out a laugh, remembering her earlier vow to Gett'se about leaving the Trandoshan to him while she dealt with the droid. "Mhi kyr laam jardr lenedat, vod. I didn't end up wrecking the droid until it couldn't function any longer."

Testing her own strength and finding it sufficient for the time being to move on her own, Reiel would attempt to peel herself off of Gett'se's side to slowly approach the dead Trandoshan. Their discarded gloves and weapons caught her attention first, however, so she moved to fetch those. Hers and Gett'se's gloves tucked to her utility belt and her own blaster back to its holster, Reiel chose to hold on to his own blaster first, not sure if she should strap it to her bandolier for safekeeping or hand it over. Later, she decided, settling for strapping the heavy blaster to her bandolier. Give it back later–

"Huh," she exclaimed, now staring at the skinstealer's face. What was left of it, anyway. "I was supposed to be aiming dead center. Was hoping to have you present a pair of pretty reptilian eyes as proof of termination. That would've been wicked. Guess we'll have to settle for giving the guild a hand, huh? Get it? Because you gave them a hand in bringing the target dead, and... heh. If we're inside a building I would already be showing myself out."

Her face turned red and it wasn't even from exertion or pain. She guessed she should have called it a day for jokes when she made Gett'se chuckle back in the sewers. Wincing both from the pain and the effort to lower herself to the dead Trandoshan's level, Reiel would begin to remove the beskar'gam from the skinstealer's corpse. Between her and Gett'se she was the one who had two working and uninjured arms. It was unwise, to her anyway, to have him already exert pressure on his right arm for fear of ruining his stitches.

She could do this for him. It was the least she could do for him for saving her hide. Twice, in the span of a single day.

@Arclight