Private Blood in the Mud

[Arris Windrun]

She shook her head at Valery's question about Austuan's position on the ladder. "The Hutts are too careful to allow weak links. Their system is more fortified than you might imagine," she stopped for a moment, wondering exactly how much she should say.

Even if it was true that Valery could and indeed would deal with anyone who came after her, Arris cared about her reputation in the underworld. After all, it's how she made all her credits previously. She took another puff and then continued. "Austuan does his job and pays up to the Hutts. If their power is ever questioned, they might send in a team or an 'advisor' but it's rare. I was told long ago it served as a way to insulate them should an underling go rogue."

Arris was careful not to say more than that. Her expression changed suddenly, more relaxed and a little embarrassed. "But then again you're asking a girl who knows nothing. I'm a shockboxer, Valery... Val? Can I call you Val? People like Austuan are my path to prosperity, even if sometimes they get a little handsy." Her brow furrowed and the next drag burned the roll to ash and released a fog into the room. A glance into the strength of her artificial lungs.

"Men like him are not my type... Well, men at all really." She crushed the remains of the roll in her hand and scattered the ashes.

"But why do you care?" She turned the questioning back on Val. "Most people are happier with Hutts than the alternative. Most worlds out here can't afford to stay independent, but they suffer more under the larger regimes. Getting rid of losers like Austuan is one thing, but I won't sell out the slugs." She spat the words.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Smuggler Outfit
Weapons: Blasters

Valery smirked as Arris rattled off her thoughts, her words carefully chosen, her loyalties — or at least her priorities — made clear. Smart. She wasn't one to sell out people who could still be useful to her. Valery could respect that. "Val works," she murmured, her voice dipping just slightly into something more familiar.

She let Arris talk, let the sharp bite of her words settle in the air, but at the mention of the Hutts, the fire in Valery's gaze sharpened. "You think the Hutts are the better option?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. "I've seen what they do beyond these streets, past the smugglers and the fighters and the local bosses who keep the 'peace'." Her voice was steady, her tone quiet but edged with certainty. "Slavery. Trafficking. Entire worlds drowned in their poison just to fatten their wallets."

Her smirk returned, but there was no humor behind it. "Not everybody gets the luxury of calling their rule the better option."

Then, she moved. Not much, just enough.

Valery leaned in, closing the space between them with slow, deliberate intent. The air shifted, thick with something heavier than just the scent of marcan smoke. The way she lowered her voice, the way her lips curved into something just shy of a tease — it was calculated, but not forced. She knew how to play this game. How to press just the right buttons.

"You don't want to sell out the Hutts? Fine," she murmured, close enough now that the warmth of her breath could just barely graze Arris's skin. "But everyone has a price."

"So tell me," Valery mused, her gaze flicking up to meet Arris's with something far too knowing. "What's yours?"

Arris Windrun ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris rolled her eyes at Val's words regarding the Hutts. "I'm not ignorant," she retorted, "But you can't really believe these problems are absent elsewhere. Do you know how often a nation will show up, bringing food and medicine, promising solutions to every problem?" Arris exhaled to keep a steady pace on her words.

"They stay around for a while, reshape the local government, and set up institutions that are entirely dependent on credits and protection from distant worlds and bureaucracy." She spoke of personal experience from the uphevals on Talus during her youth, and from the scars she saw on the worlds she's traveled. "And then... A decade, maybe two later? They're gone. Like a spine ripped from the body, the worlds burn. The Hutts have been around for a long time. They aren't perfect, but I dare say they know better than the Core."

Her kneejerk reaction was to grab another roll but she stayed her hand at the last second, instead taping her fingers gently against the metal of her knee. Then Arris froze up when Valery moved closer, she swore her artificial heart skipped a beat. Either a figment of the mind or a deeply troubling error that needed correction later. She tilted her head just enough to see Val's body language at the edge of her sight.

"My price?" The words escaped her loose lips like a whimper. The question struck a chord deep inside her stomach, the neurons in her head fired around buried feelings. What she wanted, Arris really wanted was the peace to be herself... An absence of carpets beneath her toes ready to be pulled. She wanted the weight of an anchor to keep her steady, a sense of gravity to still her freefall. But none of this came naturally. No matter how much she desired stability, she always chased chaos. Or at least allowed it to catch her.

Arris' head tilted a little further, this time to make eye contact. Her eyes were low, they looked down and scanned up inch-by-inch until her pupils met Val's. Her lips kept parting but no words rose above the nerves. Then, in a moment of strength or panic--or at least the offspring of both--Arris slid a small amount away from Val and looked away with a stupid grin. "I wish I had an answer to that question."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Smuggler Outfit
Weapons: Blasters

Valery didn't move as Arris tilted her head up, their eyes locking, something unspoken crackling in the space between them. She saw it — the hesitation, the buried weight behind her words, the way her lips parted, only for silence to take their place. It made Valery wonder, but she wasn't going to pry just yet.

But then, at the last second, Arris broke. She slid away, that easy, little grin of hers slipping back into place like a well-worn shield. A retreat. Valery smirked and rand a hand up through her hair, "Oh, I think you do," she murmured, voice dipping just enough to press against that lingering tension. "You just don't want to say it."

She let the words hang in the air, let Arris sit with them, before pulling back just enough — just to be merciful. For now. Then, with an infuriating little grin, she added, "Or maybe you just don't want me to hear it."

She paused again and tilted her head.

"This information is important to me. I do believe it can genuinely help people, so please, what's your price?"

Arris Windrun ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris put on a show of strength. She was paranoid, uncertain as to the line of questioning, and instincts gave her ever reason not to show it. Was Valery, actually, a Jedi? If so, then fate had an ugly way of delivering Arris problem after problem. It wasn't so much that she hated Jedi, but the attention that came with authority figures always had a bad habit of ruining her life.

"Why don't you just go back and take Austuan?" She asked. "He knows a lot more than me, and you sure as hell can put him in his place."

There was a second rush of frustration, not at the interrogation but at Valery's suggestion--no, insistence--that she had a price. Arris liked to be known, beloved in the way a fan does their favorite star, but she didn't want to be known. So readily understood in such little time. The fact that Valery might actually get somewhere with this drew Arris crazy.

"Listen..." Her voice brokered with vulnerability. "I just want to leave this place, okay? I'll... Let's make a deal," she sighed. "You drop me off at the spaceport, make sure I get there safe and sound... And then I'll answer questions. Specific questions."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Smuggler Outfit
Weapons: Blasters

Valery watched Arris carefully, the way frustration flickered through her expression, the way her voice wavered just slightly — not in weakness, but in something raw, something reluctant. She was putting on a show, trying to keep her cards close, but Valery had played this game before.

And she wasn't about to push too hard.

"Austuan?" Valery echoed, arching a brow. "Sure, I could take him, but that would just make things messy. The second he disappears, the Hutts start asking questions. The second they start asking questions, my window to act closes." She tilted her head slightly, amber eyes steady on Arris. "Learning from you? That doesn't alert anyone. It buys me time."

She let that settle, gave Arris a moment to process it before her smirk softened into something more thoughtful.

"Getting you to the spaceport safely in exchange for a few specific answers?" Valery exhaled, pretending to consider it, but she already knew her answer. "Alright," she said, nodding once. "I can do that."

Then she straightened, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Come on. We shouldn't stick around too long."

Arris Windrun ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Some part of being the 'only viable option' really pissed Arris off.

All she wanted to do after that fight was get high, have a drink, and then drag herself into her bed or someone else's by early morning. Instead, she was being interrogated by a Jedi-probably-a-cop with a taste for distracting outfits and tactful skull cracking. Her skull didn't want to be cracked, and yet here Arris was spilling words and cutting deals all for what... a ride to the spaceport? Where's a mother when you need one.

The cyborg's frustrations weren't just an internal monologue, either, she made no effort to hide her distaste as she continued to pack and gather her things. A handful of belongings, clothes, and drugs. Mostly drugs. Stuffed into a bag that looked ready to burst.

"I'm hurrying as fast as I can!" Arris snapped a little, not in a way that was really directed at Valery but the sort of impatience one has when they're focused on another task.

"Alright," she said and hauled the bag over her shoulder. "You uh... Don't have a speeder nearby, do you?"

If not, they were going to go 'browse' for one on the street.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Smuggler Outfit
Weapons: Blasters

Valery didn't react to the snapping.

She'd been around enough exhausted, half-furious, stubborn people to know when someone's bark was just stress talking. So she let it roll off her, the same way she ignored the definitely not legal contents of the overstuffed bag slung over Arris' shoulder. That wasn't her concern right now. Her only focus was getting them both out clean — and maybe, just maybe, getting the answers she came here for.

"I do," she said with a smirk, jerking her chin toward the alleyway just beyond the building's side door. "One-seater, but lucky for you, I'm willing to share."

She turned and headed that way without waiting, boots echoing softly off the uneven ground. Her speeder bike was sleek and worn — not flashy, but clearly modified. The kind of ride that didn't draw attention unless it had to. She swung a leg over the seat and powered it up with a low, smooth whir.

Then, glancing back over her shoulder, she smirked again. "Come on, hold tight. Don't fall off — I don't feel like doubling back."

And just like that, she fired up the engine, waiting only long enough for Arris to climb on before they peeled off into the city, headed for the spaceport with the wind at their backs and the neon lights blurring past in their wake.

Arris Windrun ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris followed Valery out to her speeder. Of course, she glanced every which way, half-expecting an ambush or some other disruption to an already bad day. When they arrived at the speeder without so much as one solicitor, Arris let out a small sigh and glanced over the maybe-a-jedi-probably-a-cop's ride with a sly grin.

"You know I used to boost chit like this as a kid," she remarked.

Her grin was quickly replaced by a dumb expression at the realization of it being a one-seater. "Of course..." She muttered under her breath and made sure her large, heavy bag was slung tightly on the back of the speeder before she climbed snuggly between it and Valery.

Arris wrapped her arms around the woman's waist and leaned forward a little. She made sure to keep her chin just from touching Valery's shoulder. The speeder broke its paces with the usual surge of power and finesse that Arris had come to expect from such vehicles. Indeed, aside from shockboxing the cyborg was a swoop racer, too, and was used to far more dangerous excesses of speed and jerky maneuvers that would cause most humans to black out.

But something always clicked anytime she was on a speeder, whether as pilot or passenger, and tonight was no exception. Her gaze and senses darted ahead of every single thing. Objects, pedestrians, signs, and displays of trouble. She glanced at an alley, her grip on Valery tightening in an unusual anticipation, just before a large freight speeder nearly rammed into them.

"Whoa, you're quick!" Arris shouted over the wind at their near-miss. "Are you a racer?" The question was her only way to grasp Valery's quick reflexes.

Though when the speeder turned to match their trail, Arris knew it wasn't an ordinary transport. "Kark... You think they're after us!?" As if providing an answer, the pursuing speeder kicked into overdrive and was now flanked by two swoop bikes.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Smuggler Outfit
Weapons: Blasters

Valery felt the slight tightening of Arris' grip just seconds before the freight speeder blasted out of the alley. Her body shifted instinctively, one hand yanking the speeder hard to the side as they narrowly slipped through the gap between two delivery trucks. The repulsors shrieked, the air howled — but they were still upright.

And still moving.

"I've been in a few races," Valery called over her shoulder, lips curling into a grin. Her voice cut clean through the roar of the wind. "Still do when I get the chance." The bike surged forward again, weaving effortlessly between lanes and lifting slightly off the ground as she pushed the throttle.

Valery flicked her gaze to the side mirror, catching the twin lights flanking the larger speeder that now bore down behind them like a hammer. She leaned forward slightly, guiding the bike into a tight curve around a support pillar. The sudden turn kicked out the back end of the speeder, sending up sparks — but she handled it with practiced ease.

"Yup," she said flatly, voice still calm despite the chaos, "They're definitely after us." Then she made her decision. "Hang on," she called back. "I'm gonna bait 'em — take 'em somewhere we can ambush them." She shifted again, leaning into a sudden drop off a sloped side street, and the speeder dipped down into the lower tiers of the city — where the roads narrowed and the light dimmed. The sounds of nightlife faded, replaced by the hiss of old pipes and the electric hum of neon graffiti.

Up ahead: a construction zone with plenty of half-demolished scaffolding. She shot through it, her speeder tearing a path across the terrain.

Valery smirked. "Here they come," she said, as she slowed down and gave Arris a chance to hop off. Whoever these people were, they wouldn't see what was about to hit them until it was too late.

Arris Windrun ​