Ask Onderon The Conquering Heroes

[Kliedden Raxx]

Klied ignored Poffo being himself and taking advantage of the bang-corn machine. He was surprised that old thing even worked, it must not have been touched in decades... He would need to remember not to eat it. Instead his eyes were fixed on Ali as she cried, feeling sorry for her. Even though he'd stood up for Tegan in the moment, the boy had said some truly awful things to the Togruta. The Onderonian would ensure she'd receive an apology from her fellow ex-slave, but it would be a sincere one. After he had cooled off and realized his mistake on his own.

When Aska finally spoke up Klied turned to look at her, quirking an eyebrow as she stopped herself. At least she was aware that she indirectly had a hand in this disaster as well. "I'ts okay." The hunter replied simply to the clone's apology. And she was right. It was better to get back to business and let this whole disruption just slip away. Reaching into his pocket the Onderonian produced a bounty puck and placed it on the table. As he continued to speak a holographic image would appear, displaying a series of very beautiful and intricately designed jewelry.

"The Crown Jewels of Onderon." He explained as he stared at the image. "They've been missing for a good few thousand years. Long story. But the Royal Family has a standing bounty of two million credits for their return." He looked between Aska and Poffo. "Thing is I've got a buddy on Devaron who might have some intel on their whereabouts. We track them down, not only do we get a nice head start on funding this venture, our name becomes all the more famous and we'll have the King owing us a favor or two."

He watched to see their reaction, but it certainly sounded like a good deal to him. A fast way to put themselves on the map and make a ton of credits doing so? What could be better?

@Isen @Tulos @Bex

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo took the first batch of bang-corn and started divvying it out to those that would want some as Klied started to speak. The fireworks didn't last as long as Poffo would have wanted, and damn if the bang-corn wouldn't have tasted better with some violence and cussing. Poffo was already stuffing his face when he started to catch wind that the group may be going after some royal jewels.

Poffo put down his bag of bang-corn and started rubbing his hands together. He started to think about things out loud, getting some ideas. "Hmmm....mmmm....hmmm, yeah, yeah..Mr. Famed Bounty Hunter, you're bringing down some news of a very important nature, yeah. Filling us in on what the experts might call a cold case, if ya dig. Thousands of years! Yeah! That makes it colder than a tauntaun's frozen ass in the Hoth night, yeah, it does." Poffo rolled his neck and tensed his muscles. He was getting worked up. "Oh, yeah, and if I understood you correctly, you mentioned there were some crown jewels that were missing and waiting to be found. That's what I heard I believe it was."

He finger-flourished at Poogulga for some unknown reason before looking back at the main group. "And now the galaxy is sending me some vibes, yeah, some big-wave vibes riding the electromagnetic continuum from star to star and planet to planet using me as a nexus portal for greatness!" His voice got soft and he looked at each one of them as he lifted his sunglasses. His eyes were eyed like he had hit some really damn good spice, but it was just Poffo being Poffo. "I would imagine that there is a crown among these crown jewels...yeah, yeah I imagine that would be the case. If there was no crown but a scepter, they would be called the scepter jewels. That's big brain deductive reasoning, and I'm on top of that game. No question about it."

He held out both hands with all fingers pointed outward. "Take a moment to consider a real crown on the head of this guy right here, yeah." He was now pointing to himself. "We could be looking at the Macho King! With Liberty and Madness for all, OOOH, YEEE-AH!"

He ran his eyes across the group, person to person to gauge their interest. "What do you guys think?"

"I think the bang-corn machine was firing off more than whatever you have rattling around in that ugly-skull of yours," Poogulga said.

Poffo tried to backhand him, but the Dug was already on the move and out of bitchslap range.

@Reyn @Bex @Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska did her best to listen as Klied began to elaborate on his first steps to establishing his mercenary company but she struggled to shake both the anger and guilt that bubbled within. Though there was undeniable provocation, she had begun to notice a trend of her losing control of her emotions. Allowing them to dictate her actions. First with Trench. Now with Tegan. Something was happening to her and while she could not be sure, the warming feeling that emanated from the pocket than contained her ancestor’s holocron supplied her with enough suspicion as the Padawan Fiach’s words returned from memory;

“It’s more about it’s potential impact on you that bothers me. Dark-sided holocrons deceive and corrupt. Thats what they do,”

Perhaps returning to Onderon was more than a simple detour? Perhaps it had stirred the device from it’s slumber. Perhaps Fiach had been right all along. Either way, she needed to be rid of this thing. The sooner, the better.

Fortunately, Poffo’s theatrics snapped Aska back to reality as he rambled on about crowning himself King of the Deranged. While she was still coping with what she had done, she couldn’t help but feel a smirk form.

”You? A King?” Aska chuckled weakly. ”The only throne you’ll ever sit on is made of porcelain, Macho. Upstairs and to the left,” she joked as she lit a cigarra, panning her eyes back over to the still sobbing Togrutan.

@Bex @Reyn @Isen

 

[Alisaah Tila]

When the popcorn was finished, Poffo kindly started to share it out whilst the business discussions continued. Teela's mechanical arm held a packet that the Coruscanti gave to her and the astromech chirped at him and Poogulga in thanks. The little droid then scooted off back towards Ali and Meela. By this point Ali had calmed down enough to the point where she was no longer sobbing, but was still wiping a few tears from her eyes. The T7 series came over with the popcorn and Meela picked up the packet from the droid's grasp. "Thank you Teela, that's very sweet of you" she said, waving the packet in front of the Togruta. The smell of the popcorn was very enticing and as it was freshly made, it was warm too, the perfect time to eat it. "Have some Ali, you might feel a bit better" said the Twi'lek.

The Togruta timidly looked at the popcorn packet and took a couple of pieces. Eating popcorn might have been unremarkable to most people, but Ali had never had it before. It wasn't really the sort of food that they had at any of the places she'd lived previously and certainly not something the slaves would have been given to eat. Gingerly putting a piece in her mouth, she crunched on it, tasted the warm, salty, slightly greasy texture of the popcorn and swallowed it. It was quite pleasant, but she could tell she wouldn't want to eat too much of it because it felt unhealthy. Ali had always taken very good care of her physical health, because it was a large part of what made her valuable as a slave. First and foremost, owners did not want slaves that got sick all the time or were infirm. But in addition to that, as a slave dancer, Ali not only had to know how to dance, but look good doing it. For that reason she had regimes for her fitness, hygiene and beauty. Unfortunately popcorn it seemed would not coexist, but it was a new experience and one that at least for the moment, took the sting out of how bad Ali felt in that moment.

Tegan's words and the feeling that she had let down and disappointed her mistress would haunt her, and no doubt the tears would return in full force when she retired for sleep at the end of the day, but for now, Ali sat nibbling on the odd piece of popcorn with Meela whilst the others talked business.

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

Klied smirked weakly at Poffo's usual grandstanding. "I'm sure Onderon would last all of five minutes with you as her ruler." He joked. "Don't get me wrong, it would be a glorious five minutes. But personally I'd rather have the credits." He turned his attention to Aska. "Besides, it's you who'll be hunting down these jewels. I need your name plastered all over the holonet. Poffo already has a head start on you there, after his little adventure on Rattatak." The Onderonian would then turn his attention back to the brawler.

"In the meantime the rest of us will be going house shopping on Dxun. We'll do a flyover, find a Mandalorian ruin that looks in good enough condition to be renovated, drop in, kill everything in the area with a pulse, and we'll have our base of operations. Simple." He very much doubted it would be that simple, but nothing had managed to kill him and Poffo yet. 'Raxx Attack' and 'Macho Madness' were a combination that just couldn't be beat. He glanced briefly at Ali, still trying to collect herself after that emotional shitstorm that had just blown through, and looked back to Aska again. He spoke in a softer voice.

"And it's probably for the best we keep her and the kid at arm's length until things have settled down a bit." He said, nodding to Ali. "Time heals all wounds right? By the time you get back I'll have Tegan properly repentant." He inclined his head slightly. "And you blow off all the steam you need out there so you can leave it at the door back here eh?" He finished with a slight grin.

@Isen @Tulos @Bex

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo was leaning back eating his bang-corn. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to keen on the idea of King Macho, but being royalty was more of a state of mind anyway, he supposed. If little girls can walk around call themselves "little princesses" and full grown women can say they're "Queen" of this or "Queen" of that, then to hell with it. Sauvage figured he could live in fantasy land just like anyone else.

"So, if I understand you correctly, Aska is going to be blowing stuff...." He lifted a brow and turned his head slightly toward Aska before turning it back again to Klied. "Sounds like wishful thinking on your part to me, yeah it does just a little." Of course he had to show just a little visually with the index finger and thumb of one hand before making a fist with the pinky extended and saying, "Yeah" again. "But until that tiiiiiiiiiiime, if I understand the company agenda, and I think that I got a firm grasp, yeah, is we're going down to Demon Town and finding a little fixer-upper. Aaaaaaaaaa-yaaand, as an added bonus, if I can get some precious screen time on this very bearded, masculine, but ultimately sensitive to a female's need face, then take advantage of the situation."

The Coruscanti nodded and looked at all them. "For that, I got something up my sleeve, yeah, yes, I do. I got a little invite to a Huttball invitational match. On the Holonet, galaxy-wide, yeah! Amazing jackets...this beautiful face....total devastation, yeah! Going to be the best advertising that nobody can buy, yeah!"

He leaned back again and stared filling his face full of bang-corn again.

@Reyn @Bex @Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

As Klied made the point clear that Aska was the one going to be chasing after the crown jewels, the clone leaned back in her chair and took a pull of her smoke as Poffo made his usual crude commentary.

”Tracking down a thousand year cold case isn’t going to be a walk in the park… but if your buddy has information that can help us, I’ll check him out and report back,” Aska replied to Klied with a nod before ashing her cigarra on the floor. As the Onderonian added on the bit about Ali, she found herself unable to disagree. Besides, she wasn’t about to leave her here. ”Devaron is in Republic space. Should be relatively safe enough for her and I to handle it together. Still, I think it’s time that we got you something more protective than some denim shorts, kid. In the morning, how about you and I take a trip into town and see what we can do about that?” Aska requested as she looked to the Togrutan girl.

That was when Poffo announced the invite to the huttball game. Now that sounded interesting. Deskar often had the games on the screens of his bar when there weren't any podraces and while she didn’t give them her full attention, she knew just how violent they could be. There was no denying that was right in Poffo’s area of specialty. Turning in her chair to properly face the brawler, she raised her chin in his direction.

”That sounds like fun. Besides, after all the shit we’ve gone through we could probably use a bit of a distraction,”

@Bex @Reyn @Isen

 

[Alisaah Tila]

Eventually Ali stopped munching on the popcorn. She had barely eaten any of it. The gesture had been a nice one, but she was conscious of eating too much of it and her nerves over the whole slavery situation and the drama which followed meant that she did not have much appetite to begin with. The Togruta's eyes felt very sore from all the crying and the emotional release was making her feel very tired. Combined with the nerves, she wasn't feeling particularly great. The slave tried to remain listening in to the others. They seemed to be discussing a plan to go treasure hunting for some crown jewels, which would involve a deal of groundwork beforehand in order to identify their location. At one point Klied had lowered his voice to speak with her mistress. He was nodding in her direction and Ali supposed it had something to do with what just happened. She began wringing her hands nervously on the counter top, remaining very self-conscious. In the meanwhile, Poffo had started to tell everyone who was listening about his intentions to play in a big Hutt Ball game.

After Klied had finished speaking with Aska, the clone had turned to her slave and returned to the original conversation about her attire. Ali looked down at her denim shorts, still very confused as to what was wrong with them. She liked them very much, but then she supposed when they had gone into the lab on Coruscant, any one of those zombies could have taken a chunk out of her leg and she'd have met a fate worse than Poffo had losing his entire caboose. Perhaps her mistress did have a point after all. Hopefully whatever they found for her to wear did not feel too restrictive. At Aska's invitation into town, the Togruta turned her sad little face to her mistress and nodded. "Y-yes... I'd like that very much" was her only reply. It was a genuine response, she enjoyed spending time with Aska, but moreover, it would enable her to not be anywhere near judgmental eyes.

Shortly after answering Ali was surprised by a yawn. Her tired eyes widened, covering her mouth, embarrassed. Meela simply smiled at the Togruta. "Tired ma chérie?" she said, prodding Ali with her finger. The slave became flustered and the Twi'lek chuckled before turning towards Klied, "Caveman, I don't suppose you have some rooms for us to stay in? I think maybe this one should get some rest" she said, ushering Ali to her feet. They would wait until the Onderonian gave them directions before leaving, followed closely behind by Teela the astromech. The Togruta was grateful for the chance to just be somewhere quiet and perhaps have a sleep before her trip into Iziz with Aska the next day.

/Ali, Meela and Teela exit thread.

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

As Poffo made his joke Klied fixed his eyes on the counter and didn't respond, feeling a bit warmer in the cheeks as he quickly downed the last of his whiskey. He grunted afterwards and looked back at his companions, nodding to them both in turn as they seemed to be in agreement with his plan. "Excellent. I'm glad you're all onboard." He took a deep breath. An awful lot had happened in just a few minutes. It would take some time for him to process things. He poured himself another glass of whiskey and would raise it for a toast. "To... Well, whatever the hell this is." He smiled and would drink again, shrugging non-committedly as Poffo mentioned a Huttball game. Not exactly his thing, but press was press, And Aska seemed eager to do something non-life threatening too. "I suppose we could..." He agreed, although a social event wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. It was something he'd need to start getting used to.

As Aska turned the subject back to Ali Klied would nod in agreement. If she was going to be sticking with them she would need to learn how to defend herself. They might not always be there to look after her. "I could show you a thing or two about blasters as well." He offered the Togruta, smirking a bit when she yawned. "Once you're well rested of course." He would then turn his attention to Meela as she spoke up. "West Wing, third floor." He answered her. "Take your pick, most of them should be cleaned up by now." He stood up and drained his glass again before putting it upside down on the counter. Standing up straight he adjusted his collar. "Now if you fine folks will excuse me... I have some parental guardianing to do..." He said with a sigh. He had known Tegan would be a handful when he offered to take him on but he hadn't expected things to get so out of hand so quickly. Hopefully the boy had settled down somewhat. Otherwise this was going to be a rough couple of weeks. And on that note he would exit the cellar.

/Exit Thread
@Isen @Tulos @Bex