Ask Ossus The Fox and the Vermin

[Grin]

Every day Grin amazed himself in one way or another. Usually, he was impressed by his own boldness, his ability to take charge, his strength, his knack for tech, be it to blow shit up or be a bit more discreet, and, most often than not, his absolutely gorgeous looks...But he was capable of doing some self reflection. So, today? Today he was kind of amazed by his own sheer dumbassery.

Truth be told, the Imperial Foreign Legion was a rough place to be in, it was attached to the Imperial military, but they were still "mercenaries", so they were looked down on by most other forces, usually tasked to deal with bullshit that the normal imperials didn't want to waste their troops on. And yet, every time, they managed to pull it off, for they were an unorthodox bunch with unorthodox tactics, abilities that the average imperial bootlicker didn't think of, or at least that's what Grin thought, that's why he dealt with the stuff he was tasked to do with a grin on his face.

But when Grin and his squad were tasked to deal with the worst part of the operation for the one hundred and eighth time, only for some asshole lieutenant to sneer at him instead of feeling grateful, the Verminion kind of lost it. First it started as a shouting match between the two of them, but it quickly ended with Grin biting a sizable chunk out of the other lieutenant's neck.

"Shit shit shit shit shit fuck!" Fast forward two hours later and he was in the lowest parts of Ossus, having narrowly dodged yet another Imperial patrol as they searched for him all over the planet, dried blood on his mouth and teeth as he hid away. While he could manage to hide for a while, there was no way he could leave the planet, they were obviously guarding his ship very closely "Fuck my life..." Grin exhaled sharply through his nose, looking down at his IFL badge, so much time of his short, precious life wasted on the empire just to end up losing it all over a heated argument...What the hell was he supposed to do now?

@Sreeya

 

[Z'Kair]

Imperial worlds always made him uneasy. It didn’t matter if they said Sith were totally out, Kai didn’t believe a word of it. He was convinced that most of the seedy districts still had weird cultists running operations. One thing was for certain - ever since the exodus, the value of Sith artifacts shot through the roof. There were vaults and buildings under Imperial lockdown with stockpiles of goods that the Crimson Dawn would love to get their hands on.

Kai was in a hole in the wall cantina in a poor district of the planet. He was seated at a table playing Pazaak with some rough looking men. A cigarra dangled at the corner of his lips as he played to con everyone else out of money with his trick cards. The cantina was a haze of smoke and spice, women dancing on poles in the background. Kai paid it no heed, entirely used to scenes like this. He was here for information and this place usually had the low level crooks that ran in the same circles as corrupt Imperials. If there was a place to find out more about Sith artifacts, it was this. Actual Imperials gave this place a wide berth on account of disappearing often.

The cantina was also a safe haven for criminals in general. Even the local authorities had been paid off to leave this place alone. Word was that there was some local crime boss that ran this establishment, and it was one Kai had no intention of pissing off.

@Versok

 

[Grin]

Eventually, after carefully dodging Imperial patrols and hiding in trash containers, the Verminion made his way towards the very same cantina. While he had never personally entered the place, he knew of its reputation because he was far too lenient when it came to his subordinates, deciding that it was fine for them to unwind and talk to that kind of people as long as they didn't bring him into it. But now? Now Grin regretted that, chances are what came next would've been much easier if he had been a corrupt bastard and had made friends with the people in there.

The Verminion opened the door to the cantina. Even though he was a tall alien with very sharp teeth, not many people decided to pay attention to him not at first at least, everyone in that cantina looked and behaved like a crook so he was just a little scarier than the normal patrons, but not that different.

However, once he arrived at the bar and the weequay bartender took a longer look at him, he didn't hesitate to duck, grab a scatterblaster and point it at Grin, who immediately had both of his hands up in the air as a result "Yo, what the-" Grin exclaimed out loud, the blaster now pressing against his chest "Oh...OOOOOOOH. Okay, I see what's happening here!" The Verminion casually said as his smile returned back to him "It's the badge! Look man, I am no longer part of the IFL, like, look at this!" Grin pointed at his teeth, who were still red from the dried blood coming from the other lieutenant's carotid arteries "Me? I am the reason there are patrols all over this bloody city, I am no Imp pig no more man!"

The Weequay silently stared at Grin for a moment before pulling the scatterblaster away, who exhaled from relief before looking back at him.

"And, totally unrelated to that, I need to get on a ship off this planet and pronto, do you perhaps know a guy?" Grin asked, now leaning on the bar and being a bit more casual about the conversation.

"It'll be 5000 credits" The Weequay replied without missing a heartbeart.

"Eh, sure!" Grin said, his smile getting even bigger before opening his mouth once more "Can I pay you after-"

"No."

"Fuck." The Verminion let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head with his sharp claws as he realized that he was quite screwed "Just...get me something to chew on, haven't eaten anything in two hours and this shit got me starving" The Weequay nodded and went to bring him the same stuff that they used to feed the dogs, knowing that Verminions could eat pretty much anything and anyone. Meanwhile, Grin simply shut up and started thinking, but unfortunately he found no answers to his problems inside his head.

@Sreeya

 

[Z'Kair]

Kai had to scoff at the alien waltzing around while still sporting a badge. What a moron. He rolled his eye and returned to his game. He showed his hand and chuckled as his fellow players groaned. Kai swept the chips towards himself, taking another long drag of his cigarra. His ear swiveled as he overheard the verminion ask anyone that would listen about a way off. Loudly proclaiming about not being an Imp was the telltale sign of someone working as an Imp.

After a while, however, Kai began to consider things. He hadn’t had much luck with a lead into the vaults. It wasn’t long before Grin would be thrown out of the cantina - either cussed out or physically. The Weequay actually had walked away under the pretense of getting more food, only to bring back henchmen. Grin would be left to his own devices. However, when he turned a corner, Kai slinked out of an alley. He was still smoking his cigarra, decidedly unfazed by the massive verminion. In his line of business, he had to learn not to show fear in front of figures that could intimidate him.

“I can get you off the planet,” Kai said simply, “But you’ll have to do something for me,” He added. It was clear that unlike the others, Kai wasn’t looking for credits.

@Versok

 

[Grin]

Once the bartender came back, the Verminion quickly noticed that he had not come alone, his smile, while not disappearing, getting a bit shyer as he realized that they were bodyguards of some kind "Huh...Can I at least get some takeout?" Grin would ask only to receive a stern look from the bartender while the bodyguards got a bit closer "No? That's totally cool, yup...I'll be leaving now" The last thing Grin needed was to get into a fight with bodyguards from a cantina related to a crime group, so, in an excepcional display of common sense, the Verminion left on his own, not even taking a bit out of someone to sate his hunger.

The ex-lieutenant stepped out of the building and went around the corner, trying to find yet another safe place for him, but stopping on his cracks as a sentient stopped him on his tracks, feeling something crunch under his foot as he accidentally stepped in something. Was he a catperson? dogperson? Grin wasn't quite able to tell, not being one with much of an education, but he didn't care. The man had said the magic words that immediately grabbed his attention and that was enough.

"Really now?" Grin said, smile wider as he realized that he may get out of the planet yet. Of course, he was a dumbass, but not dumb enough to not realize that this was either a dangerous job, something that would end up with him backstabbed, or both, but what choice did he have? "Well, you got my attention fluffy ears, let's hear it." Grin said, his attention almost completely grabbed by the man. Of course, part of his attention was diverted towards what he had stepped on, which turned out to be a dead rat. As one would expect from a Verminion, Grin promptly grabbed the rat corpse and had it as a snack, his demeanor casual as he ate the carcass bite after bite, bones cracking and breaking as his teeth broke them, a scene out of a circus' freakshow, but it was how the Verminion survived.

@Sreeya

 

[Z'Kair]

Kai was entirely unfazed by the Verminion munching on a dead rat. Though it wasn’t his preferred manner of eating, he couldn’t deny he had resorted to some questionable things on Nar Shaddaa. The Fiani only hoped the guy wasn’t entirely stupid, “Since you’re fucked anyway, I suppose you won’t mind messing with the Imps on your way out.”

He put a cigarra to his lip and lit it, offering the Verminion one if he wanted one, “To wash down the rat,” He said with a smirk, “There is an Imperial garrison that has a stockpile of Sith artifacts. The patrol there is lax, but it needs codes and access keys to get in. Get me in there and I’ll ferry your ass outta here.”

When he rattled it off like that, it sounded so simple, but really the man would have to prove himself before Kai risked smuggling a fugitive out of Imperial space. On the plus side, however, Grin would be able to keep a share of the profits. Not that Kai was sharing that detail just yet.

“We got a deal, Bones?”

@Versok

 

[Grin]

"Well, I suppose I may get my head blown off by the imperials one way or the other" Grin said, not taking much time to think about the fox man's proposition. Of course, he felt kind of bad about betraying the people that had given him a job for most of his ridicously short lifespan...But that feeling was quickly brushed away as he thought of every single time he was treated like shit and the fact that no one in the force would mourn him, not even his underlings.

Grin grabbed the cigarra and put it on his mouth, getting done with it quite quickly as he took excessively long and hard drags from it, a side effect of wanting to do everything as quickly as possible "Ah yes, I've been assigned there a couple times, although my clearance won't be able to get us all the way in there." He shrugged.

Grin didn't sound or look worried about that fact, leaning against the wall and calmly taking another drag from the cigarra "But that's fine, I like playing with locks from time to time, once you know how to deal with one, you know how to deal with most of 'em...Especially imperial ones" At least not Imperial garrisons, there was a reason artifacts were kept in sith temples before they were kicked out.

"I suppose I am in then! " Grin grinned once more, spitting the now finished cigarra before stomping on it "Name's Grin, by the way" A clawed finger pointed at himself before pointing at the fox "What do I call you, Ears?" He asked, better to know who was either gonna get him out of the planet or get him killed.

@Sreeya