Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Public Cantonica Canon

The Catscratch's hyperdrive had been busted for almost a year now. At first Davik had seen it as an opportunity: Being on the same planet as his mate Gentis, it seemed to be the perfect moment to play a couple of long cons with the locals. They tried to fix a few Fathier races by bribing jockeys, but when that didn't really turn out to be profitable they bought into a Fathier stable with less than legal tactics only to find out that there's always a bigger fish in the underworld. And by bigger fish I mean Gentis and Davik were goldfish and the actual owner of the stable was a Great White Shark.

Davik had managed to placate the shark with a shipment of Crimson Dawn artefacts that he was way too late delivering anyway and the bounty fod with his name on it was already at the Eriadu guild office by that time. Needless to say they went underground for a bit, crashed in safehouse along the South Stretch and then slowly popped back out doing some minor things like a bookie hustle for those unfortunate gamblers that had been barred from the usual monitored haunts.

For the past few months they had been running a Sabacc Den that the local gang had explicitly told them they weren't allowed to operate from the basement of a drainage pumping station. It positively reeked of sewage that the Boonta Incense could only mostly drown out. A rusty droid with outdated software was the doorman who, upon uttering the phrase "The HoloNet Datasheet said that it rains every Tuesday on Tatooine" would open the sliding doors and reveal a cramped six by six room. In the middle a round Sabacc table stood and enough room for five stools, including the dealer. The thick musk of sweetened Boonta incense filled the room and the muck that covered most of the walls was only barely noticeable.

Behind the dealer was an old grate at about the size of a kath hound with rusted outsticking bolts that were used as coathangers by the man sitting in front of it: Davik Lorso. His greying hair was greasy and slicked backwards and his two-week old beard mostly unkempt with thinner on the right side of his chin where he plucked at it whenever he contemplated cheating.

To any newcomer he would smile heartily, offer them an empty seat and whenever they put down the twenty credits buy in, exchange it for a filled glass of Ripe Binka-Flavored Moonshine. 'You are very welcome at the Freemso-' Freem and Lorso '-Sabacc Den. I'm your dealer Davik and you'll get a chance defeating our reigning champion Gentis Freem himself.'
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[OOC: Anyone up for a game of Sabacc? Three rounds, Roll two d6 to start. Each new round either dont roll (Stand) or roll one of the two dice again. Specificy which in the roll comment. Score is the difference between dice. Smaller difference the better. Lowest equal wins.]
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Was the game rigged? Most likely. Were Davik and Gentis good enough at rigging a Sabacc game to account for the luck and skill of their players? Roll a dice and find out.
Davik, on his account, took a shot of the moonshine regularly and his eyes were already bloodshot as he swayed looking from player to player. 'Sabacc is a simple game, you take two cards and each turn you exchange one in your hand with one in the deck. When the cards in your hands match, you stand down until the reveal.
 
The speeder slid low along the neon strip, its bodywork all sharp chrome edges and tinted black transparisteel. Canto Bight's skyline spilled across the reflection like a kaleidoscope, broken and bent by the curves of the machine. At the wheel sat a polished service droid in a matte black shell, lenses glowing pale blue, hands smooth as they gripped the controls with inhuman steadiness.

Cassel Vorren leaned back in the passenger seat, fingers brushing the collar of his midnight jacket, every seam tailored, every line immaculate. Off duty didn't mean off brand. He had built Helios Broadcast out of nothing but style, speed, and nerve, and he wasn't about to let himself be seen looking like one of the stim addicts staggering out of the alleys.

The speeder dropped to street level, repulsors whining low, before gliding to a stop outside the cantina. Cassel's gaze swept the frontage, quick and calculating, the same way he scanned a political scandal or a gambling fix, always reading the angles, always hunting the story. He stepped out, shoes hitting the permacrete with a confident rhythm, the night air alive with the hum of cheap holo-ads and the smell of synth-spice drifting from the doors.

Canto Bight wasn't just a playground, it was a goldmine. Everyone here was selling something: a scam, a secret, a sob story dressed up as opportunity. And Cassel Vorren was in the market.

He adjusted his cufflinks, smirk tugging at the edge of his lips, and walked inside. The lighting was low, all smoke and shadow, the kind of place where people gambled not just with credits but with their reputations and their lives. Perfect.

The droid driver eased the speeder away behind him, melting back into the night traffic. Cassel's eyes scanned the room with professional curiosity. He wasn't here for the cards, though he'd play if it helped. He was here for the people. Sources, marks, maybe even partners. Helios needed new blood, new voices, new dirt to feed the HoloNet stream.

He cut a line through the crowd, shoulders squared, carrying himself with the ease of someone used to attention. Every glance was an opening, every half-smile a potential lead. A place like this was a living network, if you knew how to tune in to the right frequency: and Cassel always did.

At the end of a corridor he found the door, a rusted panel with a tired droid slouched beside it. The thing's photoreceptors flared faintly as it sized him up. Cassel leaned in, voice low but steady, smooth as a broadcast line. "The HoloNet Datasheet said that it rains every Tuesday on Tatooine."

The lock groaned open, metal scraping against metal, and Cassel stepped through into the cramped chamber. Incense clung to the air, thick enough to almost mask the sewage stench seeping from the walls. Neon from a battered wall-strip threw jagged light across the sabacc table at the centre, casting the players in shifting shades of red and blue.

Cassel moved with unhurried confidence, shoulders relaxed, eyes sharp, taking in the setup before fixing on the man by the grate, Davik, by all appearances. He adjusted his jacket, let a slow, knowing smile play across his lips, and walked toward the table like a man arriving at his own broadcast stage.
 
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The burly Klatoonian, Gentis Freem, let out a low snigger as he brought Davik's attention to the Den's newcomer with one of his thick thumbs. A clean-shaven young man in a meticulous suit positively screamed that he was an easy mark. Davik couldn't help but nod and flash a grin of unbrushed teeth,

'Welcome, kid.'-he reckoned he had about twenty years on the newcomer, perhaps even more seeing how fast his spice-addled body was aging these past few rotations, 'My name is Davik, this here-' he nodded towards the Klatoonian, "-is our Den's champion, Gentis."

Next moment he tried to size him up as he pulled out an empty shot glass and filled it with moonshine, "Buy-in is one-hundred credits." He figured the man in the expensive suit had some money to burn and if he came all the way here then he had already been kicked out of the clean places. "You lose more than you can pay, Gentis here gets to one free punch on your jaw-" and boy that Klatoonian was muscled up so much that one free punch could straight out murder. As he had.. five years ago, just before those four years in that Republic prison ship. But who's counting!?

"-so what do you say, zoombatta," Davik placed the shotglass in front of the empty side to his right. "Think you can handle it?"

Nor'baal Nor'baal
 
Cassel slid into the empty seat with the easy grace of someone who’d walked onto a hundred stages before. His jacket caught the neon’s edge, flashing sharp lines of midnight and silver as he settled in. He didn’t so much as glance at the moonshine (it was probably half rust by now) but let his hand drift into his jacket pocket, producing a slim credchit case in polished durasteel.

“One-hundred it is,” he said smoothly, laying the credits on the table like he was paying for front-row seats at a show. His eyes flicked to Gentis, then back to Davik, and the faintest smirk tugged at his lips. “As for the punch...let’s hope your champion doesn’t get the chance. I’d hate to have to explain a broken jaw on my next broadcast.”

He slid the shotglass a measured inch closer, fingers tapping the rim once before pulling back. Every movement deliberate, every word polished. Cassel Vorren wasn’t here just to play cards, he was here to be seen playing them.

“Deal me in.”
 
Davik couldn't believe his luck. One-hundred credits was a bigger sum they had expected to cheat anyone out of tonight and neither he nor Gentis could stifle a grin. "Good decision, let me deal you in," Davik said as he snatched the credit chip from the table and started shuffling the two decks of Sabacc cards. Gentis' snigger turned into a low growl as the large Klatoonian tried to gain some measure of composure and a poker face. He wasn't the smartest partner Davik could have wished for, but considering all the cons they had played here on Cantonica for the past months then... wait, they'd all failed so far.

Davik gave both players two cards and thus the game of Sabacc was underway. "So, what kinds of broadcast can we know you from?" The aging smuggler wasn't completely oblivious to the going ons in the Galaxy, mind you, but reception while in hyperspace wasn't the best and when planetside he most often visited the kind of places that didn't fancy playing Galactic News on a loop. "You're not on CBHN, are you?" Davik's eyes narrowed as he tried to match this young man's face to one of the broadcasters he'd seen on the Canto Bight HoloNet News. He didn't usually stop and watch, but the other day they had this gorgeous Catharese presenter that purred at the end of every other sentence and it had Davik under a total spell the entire time. Well, the fact he was high probably didn't help much either.

He tried to remember her name, but "You don't happen to know this presenter from Cathar? She does local news on, eh-" kriff, he hadn't actually remembered anything about what she had been saying. He knew the color of her eyes and how her high cheekbones accentuated her chipped ears and majestic brow. Not to mention how shiny and soft her fur looked, as if begging you to--

"-ahem, what can I call you, young man?" Davik was flustered by his own thoughts and forgot to call him kid this time. An extra shot of moonshine would straighten him up, surely.

Nor'baal Nor'baal
 
Cassel let the cards fan into his hand, face unreadable under the shifting neon glow. He held them light, careful, like a man who knew presentation mattered as much as the play.

“CBHN?” he echoed with a small laugh, the kind that carried just enough polish to sound genuine. “Not quite. I used to be with the Bulletin back on Coruscant. Now I run something of my own, Helios Broadcast. Faster, sharper, glossier. We keep the giants honest by being hungrier than they are.” His eyes flicked between Davik and Gentis, weighing their tells as much as their words. “So if you’ve seen me, it was probably breaking down a council scandal or tearing a celebrity apart for cheating on their third spouse.”

The mention of the Catharese presenter pulled another grin from him, this one edged with amusement. “Ah, yes, I know who you mean. She’s got half of Canto Bight entranced. I can’t say I know her personally yet. But she’s exactly the sort of voice I like to keep an eye on.”

He placed his cards flat on the table for a moment, fingertips resting against them like a seal. “As for what you can call me, Cassel Vorren.” The name was delivered with a subtle rhythm, practiced, almost like the drop of a headline.

He picked the cards back up, tapping them together once. “So tell me, gentlemen, do you always run your games from the basement of a pumping station, or is this just a temporary home while you plan the next big con?” His tone was light, teasing, but his eyes stayed sharp, already calculating whether their answers might be worth more than the credits on the table.
 
Hubert strides into the canteena with shoulders hunched, and his eyes on a swivel. He knows little about the area, and being a wanted fugitive doesn't do any favors to ease his tension. Bounty hunters seemed to lurk wherever he set foot, it was only a matter of whether or not they were actively looking for him...

He managed to land (If you can call barely managing to reach the planet's orbit on an empty fuel reserve, and slam into the ground below a landing...) without a scratch on him, his ship however was not as fortunate as he. At least it wasn't his ship. He shuffles his way through the crowd, doing his best to keep from slamming into the other patrons that surrounded him in a claustrophobic melting pot of different faces. He set out on this voyage to meet a client whom left him a rather cryptic request to transport some sort of contraband from point A, to point B. Their meeting point was set to be at the local canteena, in the back corner of the room. The last few words of the holo-message wail through his memory like a siren.

"If you are late, the contract will close."

'Well it isn't my fault the bastard didn't fill his ship up...' His inner monologue protests, as if to plead his case to his own demons that were currently beating him down for his mistakes. He takes a long drawn sigh, and approaches the bar, flagging the bartender and ordering a pint of spicebrew. As he takes the glass into his hand, and brings it to his lips for a long draw, another thing comes to mind...

Some suit he klepped a particular set of keys from, just so happened to be planet hopping to burn more money on pleasure in a few nights, than most would see in their entire lives. Canto Bight was his previous stop, according to the ship's logs, and to Hubert's astounding luck, the idiotic owner of said craft kept a journal that logged all of his nefarious stops and purchases. A datapad full of receipts of sin.
amongst the location in the datapad in which he currently sat, the words, "Sabacc Den," next to, "The HoloNet Datasheet said that it rains every Tuesday on Tatooine."

Upon remembering this, his eyes begin to swim around the room in dissecting patterns, looking around for a table surrounded by low-lives whom would just as soon shoot their opponent on a whim as greet them to the game. Only there was no table, the low-lives in sight definitely aren't playing Sebacc...

Finally his eyes fall upon a lone door, in front of which stood an old droid. Hubert's brow furrows in contemplation as he collects his glass and makes his way to the door. He observes the droid from only a few feet away, as if he expects it to do something in response to his presence, but alas, it simply stares back into his eyes, simply waiting.

"Uhm..." He clears his throat abruptly.

"The, uh... The HoloNet Datasheet said that it rains every Tuesday on Tatooine." He says softly to the droid, checking over his shoulders one last time for any bounty hunters that may be following his trail. As the droid subsides, and the door shoots open, he is met with a table that again, to his astounding luck, only seems to have room for one more at the time. Upon meeting each pair of eyes in the room, he nods in greeting, and takes a seat, pulling a deathstick from his inner coat pocket and lighting it.

"Already goin' broke, might as well test my luck. How much?"
 
Just when Davik was about to call the first round, the door opened to reveal another young man. This one, admittedly to his own disappointment, didn't seem to be someone with deep pockets. "Ah just in time-" he gestured towards the empty seat and put a shot of moonshine in front of him, "Buyin is one-hundred credits-" which, by the look of him, Davik wasn't entirely sure he had on his person, -and if you don't have that on you I can extend a line of credit once," he didn't mention that if the young man wouldn't win the game on an open line of credit, Gentis would sucker punch him on the jaw. The trick was simple, after all. You pay or you get punched.

Davik turned dealt the newcomer a set of cards and then turned back to Cassel Voren; "Cassel Voren, eh?" he pursed his lips, "Tell you what. You win today and I'll give you my comcodes. I know some people between the Outer Rim and Corporate space," meaning, in smuggler code, that he ran spice from Pyke and Hutt-controlled worlds to the black market of Etti IV. At least, that's what he did when the Catscratch was still purring. The broken hyperdrive and lack of spare parts in his price range had put a temporary stop to all that. "There's nothing old Davik can't deliver. Spice, Talent, Droids and Information. All for those that can pay my price," a price that, at the moment, was a working hyperdrive.

Finally he turned back to the other newcomer, "Ah I forgot. Davik's the name and I'm your dealer for today. Your opponents are Cassel Voren," he motioned toward the man in the expensive suit, "and our Den Champion, Gentis Freem." The Klatoonian grinned a greeting.

Nor'baal Nor'baal Hubert Starhopper Hubert Starhopper

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[OOC: I've decided to do all the rolls for the Sabacc game. Just tell Davik IC when you want to replace a card (or make an OOC note like this)]
 
Cassel let the cards rest in his hand, gaze flicking between Davik and the Klatoonian before landing back on the dealer. The offer drew a measured smile across his face, one that never quite reached his eyes.

"Comcodes are a valuable prize in their own right. But what interests me more is what you just said, Davik. Spice, talent, droids and information. You and I both know information is worth more than all the rest combined. What kind of information are we talking about? Cargo routes? Names? Blackmail material?" His voice stayed smooth, curious without looking desperate, the kind of tone he used on guests in a studio when he wanted them to say too much.

He shifted his attention to the newcomer across the table, giving him a brief nod, the kind that mixed acknowledgement with appraisal. "Cassel Vorren. Helios Broadcast," he said by way of introduction, clean and clipped. His eyes flicked to the deathstick, lingering a fraction of a second before returning to Hubert. "Bold choice, lighting up before the first hand's even played. I admire the confidence."

Cassel tapped the edge of his cards against the table once, thoughtful. "As for me, Davik… I think I'll take another card." He leaned back, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. "Let's see how generous this deck really is."
 
Admittedly, to none other than himself, Sabacc is not a game Hubert is necessarily familiar with. The sight of an unknown set of card in front of him, and the significant dip in his wallet for it put a sinking feeling in his gut on top of the already twisting, nauseating feeling that has been eating at him since he entered the city's limits. His eyes shift around the room, revolving back to his cards. His one advantage is that his opponents may misread his confusion for despair, and luck brings him a winning hand. However, the expression on his face quickly changes as he hears mention of a smuggler, offering his services...

"You wouldn't be needing a pilot 'er mechanic by chance, would 'ya?" He asks, wasting no time, his common projected with a rather sly accent. "There ain't a ship out there I can't strip down and build up again. And as it happens, I know my way around flyin' 'em too." He takes a drag from his deathstick, letting the smoke slowly roll from his nostrils as he peers at his cards again, for a moment, confusion taking his features again.

"Change." He says, trying to instill as much false confidence as he possibly can into himself, poking his finger on top of his cards. IN a moment of forgotten manners, he looks around the room again to meet their eyes in a rotative sweep. "Hubert, by the way. Good to meet youse'."
 
So far so good. The Sabacc Den had a full table and the buy in had been much bigger than usual. It was time to make sure Gentis gets a winning hand and what better distraction was there than sincere interest in his players; "You're a mechanic?" Davik asked Hubert, "Specialized in starship engines, per chance?" Although Davik had enough know-how to fix his own hyperdrive once he got the parts he needed, someone who was actually trained to do so was in high demand in the galaxy. Anyone can be trained to fly a ship from A to B, after all. The difficult part of flying is trying to fend off pirates by engaging in a dogfight. Davik had thirty years of experience on the hyperlanes and even he couldn't pull that off. But mechanics? Most corporate bulk freighters had droids pilot their ships and employed only a crew of mechanics to keep both the ship's engines and the droids intact. If Davik had chosen that as career path he'd have been rich two decades ago.

Meanwhile the players received their new cards and Davik refilled their glasses with the Ripe Binka-Flavored Moonshine.

Turning back to Cassel, Davik winked, "Knowing something is much less valuable for me than it is for you," the Black Market on Etti IV had strict anonymity structures in place to make sure that the buyer, seller and procurer of information deals would never have to meet. They weren't in corporate space right now, though, and on Canto Bight all that really mattered was a good poker face and credits to burn. "But if your information is in a place that I can find on my charts-" and as an experienced astronavigator Davik's starmaps were comprehensive, "-then the only thing standing between you and you knowing what you want, is the price you're willing to pay."

Nor'baal Nor'baal Hubert Starhopper Hubert Starhopper
 
Cassel lifted his fresh card, eyes flicking over the face before sliding it back into his hand without betraying a reaction. His expression stayed composed, the kind of calm that looked good on a broadcast feed and worked even better across a sabacc table.

He let Davik and Hubert's exchange play out, gaze moving between them with quiet interest. A mechanic's skills and a smuggler's routes were a story in themselves, but Cassel kept that thought behind his eyes. When Davik turned the conversation back his way, he answered with the same easy polish he used on air.

"Information at a price. That's the oldest trade in the galaxy, isn't it?" His tone was conversational, though his eyes never left the dealer's. "But you'll forgive me if I don't buy blind. Give me a taste. One thing you know that would be worth Helios paying attention to."

He swirled the moonshine in its glass, set it down untouched, and let a faint smile touch his lips. "If the sample's good, then we can talk about the price."

With that he tapped his cards once against the table, settling them flat. "And for now, I'll stand."
 
"Course. Had to piece together an old scrapper ship from an old Jawa sandcrawler to get off of Tatooine. Granted, some of it was parts on it, and not in it. But the fact I got their junk to work again is a miracle in itself- psh..." His eyelids flair wider for a moment, and he shakes his head as if to add emphasis onto his point. It was less of a brag on his part, and more of a genuine recollection of surprise. He takes a drag off of the deathstick hanging from his lips, bringing a hand up to rub at his face, adding a few more streaks of black oil to his face, already blackened with a thin, soot-like layer of it. His hands alone attest to his knack for engines, stained with years of work, mind body and soul- sacrificed to the very engines that he blesses with his touch.

Needless to say, he keeps his hands away from the cards out of respect, allowing them to lie on the table. 'What harm can it do? We're only trying to get to twenty-something.' He thinks to himself, his eyes quickly darting around all the faces at the table. Shortly after he begins to doubt his own thoughts, but he never expected to win anyways.

"Hit me again." His tone carries his words in a cool tone, much more confident in his ability than he is. This confident facade is broken quickly however, as the two before him exchange uncomfortably false pleasantries at one another. Another drag is taken, blown to the side to avoid clouding them in the smoke anymore than they already are in the tiny room. Hubert is beginning to wonder if that vent works at all.
 
Davik filled his own glass of the binka-flavored moonshine and poured it down his throat in a hoarse cough just so he could stifle the grin he felt coming up after Gentis gave him the sign. When one cheats at Sabacc you need some kind of system and theirs was quite simple: If Gentis had the highest possible combination of cards at the end of the second round he would hum the tune of Preef Callo's Tatooine western. It was a tune Davik was familiar with because that Holoflick had been stuck in his ship's holonet receiver for the past three years. "Uhh-" he coughed and then dry-swallowed as he closed his eyes for a moment to regain his composure.

"Yah, so I'm still alive. Don't worry-" he smiled at his players to make sure he didn't just choke on his moonshine. "Gentis and Cassel stand, Hubert exchanges a card."

As he got a good look on the newcoming mechanic there was something odd that dawned on him. The young man was drenched in motor oil as if he had just bathed in hyperfuel. He reeked of the stuff, too, and didn't even dare to touch his cards to see if he had a hand that was worth anything. Was he a professional boy-wonder at Sabacc, or was this the easiest one-hundred credits Davik had ever made? Most likely the latter, because he knew Gentis had prime Sabacc. The best hand possible.

Finally, Davik turned back towards the journalist and slowly nodded his head. "Ah taste to test out a new source," he stated, remembering how on Etti IV this was usually how they did things first whenever an information contract came up. First proof you have the contacts to get the information the potential client wants, and only then do you get the contract with promise of payment. "What about a piece of rampant corruption at the Canto Bight Fathier races?" Davik grinned in unison with Gentis, who too knew a bit about what went on there. "Ever heard of the Hutt Cartel?" a retorical question, "One of their Vigo's-" somewhat of a Hutt's lieutenant, pretty highranking officials in Hutt Space, "A weequay named Dram Smollet, he is a silent partner in the Fantastic Fathiers Stable here on the outskirts of the South Stretch," this happened to be the racing stable with the highest quality of racing fathiers. True pureblooded racing royalty. For some reason they had been on a losing streak for a while and Davik and Gentis bought into the stable thinking they could turn it around. "Turns out, Dram gets frequents comms by Hutts that place high-stake bets to launder their spice profits and he tells the jockeys to throw the races." Davik leaned back into his chair, a satisfied look on his face while Gentis backs up the story with a sturdy nod and a snigger.

"I can get you proof, for a price."

Suddenly a loud banging on the door startled the fifty-something smuggler as his head jerked in the direction of the door. There was an awkward moment of complete silence followed by a loud CLANCK as something made durasteel was smashed against the door. "Open this door!" a deep male voice demanded from the other side, "Davik open this door! I forbade you from operating a Sabacc Den on my turf and now they tell me you got a HIGH ROLLER in there!?" Davik looked at Cassel Voren. They must've had someone on the lookout and if anyone but a penniless chump turned up.. they'd want that person at their own Sabacc game. Made sense.

"Davik, lets finish this quickly-" Gentis begged as he revealed his cards, "-because I win with prime sabacc." the large Klatoonian barked from laughter, but then Davik turned the other cards and they realized he wasn't the only one. "Kriff, Split pot."

Davik grabbed all the credits chips on the table and quickly stuffed them in his jacket pocket, "We divide the pot once we're out of here!" and kicked open the grate behind him just two seconds before the banging on the door stopped and a blaster shot rung through the door's control panel. The door opened, revealing a fat chiss man in an expensive, but tacky, suit. His goons, three humans with blaster pistols wanted to go inside, too, but with the large chiss, the confused droid (the chiss hadn't used the passphrase), the table and the players, there wasn't enough room for them. Davik didn't waste any more time and quickly ducked and left through the narrow low passageway.

It was little more than a crawlspace for 20 feet before Davik had to pry open another grate that opened up to narrow alley that he could only maneuver through sideways. He had prepped this eventuality, though, so he knew it would fit and more importantly he knew the way. "Follow me and keep silent, they'll lose track of us in a minute or so," because as the game had progressed, so had the day and there was no natural light entering his narrow alleyway. You could traverse it if you knew the way, but if you didn't...
 
Hubert has gone through his fair share of scams. Growing as an orphan, he learned that the galaxy does what it will to benefit itself, and take advantage of those who don't know any better. Years he went through face after face, skimping him on the pay for this job, or double-crossing him for the bounty on his head at some point in the witness-less void of space.

His experience in this field is beginning to leave him with a bad feeling about this game. Something about the way the man before him perked up as his friend begins to hum. Given the breaking in pitch, singing isn't something that he does in his spare time. The demeanor in his speech heightening a little doesn't help with these internal accusations.

Hubert opens his mouth to speak out against it, likely ruining the night for everyone, but alas... He was beaten to the spotlight. As the door behind him is slammed upon violently, and the voice comes roaring from the other side, Hubert looks to Davik and a toothy grin slowly spreads across his face, accompanied by a low chuckle.

"Someone's been bad." He jokes, standing from his seat, and crushing his deathstick onto one of the cards that were laid before him, his manners and showmanship of respect completely evaporating as he realizes Davik wasn't going to show him his goodside either. Another verbal protest begins to form at the mentioning of the pot being split after this small underground group kicks it into hyperdrive, and bolts, but again, it is stifled as the grate is pried open, and everyone begins to crawl through.

He makes his way to the entrance, slipping through as Davik's surprise caller blasts the panel and the door slides open. Blindly now, he follows the very man that (presumably) cared about nothing more than Hubert's credits that were now quietly shifting with little clacks and jingles in his pockets. Blindly he follows this very man, who now promises salvation from the very situation that he had gotten the lot of them into.

"This is the last, DAMN time that I trust a Toydarian..." He mutters, referring to the contractor who had asked him to meet here.

"Go to Canto... Transport some goods, what can go wrong? Been a shit-storm since I crashed here...-Tch."

He shakes his head, more for himself than any of his newfound group as they are shrouded in a darkness that seems a lightsaber couldn't cut through.
 
Cassel’s eyes narrowed slightly at Davik’s story, though the rest of his face stayed as smooth as glass. Vigo Dram Smollet, silent partner, laundering spice credits through fixed fathier races. That was more than a “taste.” That was a headline. Helios Broadcast lived off spectacle, scandal and the stink of corruption, and this was all three wrapped together with a Hutt’s fingerprints on top. Proof would make it untouchable.

He opened his mouth to press further when the pounding on the door shook the Den. The fat Chiss in the tacky suit filled the doorway a moment later, flanked by his armed muscle. The words “high roller” hung in the air, aimed like a blaster at Cassel. He met the man’s glare with a faint smirk, adjusting his jacket with deliberate calm.

“High roller. I like that. Good to know my reputation gets here before I do.” His tone was easy, polished, the sort of line that sounded like it belonged on a holofeed. Inside, though, he was already calculating: too many bodies, not enough exits.

Gentis barked out his win, only for the pot to split, and then Davik swept the credits like a gutter rat and made for the grate. Cassel’s eyes flicked from the Chiss to the crawlspace. The choice was simple. Information walked on Davik’s heels, and information was worth more than credits or pride.

He slipped from his chair with practiced composure, moving quickly but without panic. A crawlspace was no place for a suit cut in the Core, but survival and the story came first. “After you, gentlemen,” he muttered as he crouched low, voice dry but steady, before ducking into the narrow dark behind Davik.
 
It took a minute before they reached a populated street where they could blend in among the South Side's working classes. Around this time, while the rich dress up to go to dinner, the working classes of Canto Bight were finally able to clock off from their jobs and able to walk home. There were kids around, excitingly telling their exhausted parent about the fun day they'd had at daycare. Some workers seemed to scan the signs to find a new place to gamble their wages away looking for some kind of thrill that they're missing in their lives. Mostly, though, the street was filled with the tired air of exhausted people just wanting to go home, take a shower and get into bed. Tomorrow will be another exhausting day. So will the day after tomorrow and the day after that and so on.

"Okay, so-" Davik turned around to see who had all followed him out now that he had the space to do so. "-normally someone would accuse another of cheating, we'd have a fight and after knocking everyone out, Gentis gets the pot, but-" he took the two-hundred credits from his pocket and handed Cassel and Hubert their buy-ins back. "-while three prime sabaccs in a single game is-" strange, well, statistically nearly impossible, "-suspicious," he eyed both Cassel and Hubert closely for a moment, as if he had missed some kind of cheating act they had performed. "You were both smart enough to get away from Fat Woozy Doozy," the Chiss' name was Wos'shidothilin'mirko, which Davik couldn't pronounce even when he tried sober, "so the Freemso Sabacc Den of Canto Bight closes forever but knows no losers, only the host." As it is customary to tip the dealer out of your winnings, since there were no winnings it seems Davik is the only one that truly missed out on some credits tonight.

"The price just went up for that story," Davik turned to Cassel, "As staying in Canto Bight to get evidence has become more dangerous for me." Davik also didn't have a choice as his hyperdrive was still broken, but Cassel didn't need to know that Davik needed the payment for the story to buy the parts needed to fix his ship.
 
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Hubert cannot believe his luck has gotten him here. Usually, it's pulling him out of situations that aren't particularly choice. But today, it seems to just keep flipping him out of the frying pan, and into another frying pan. He observes the credits in his hand, and slips them into his jacket pocket, this time, a cigarette is stuck between his fingers. If he's going to get shot in an alley because of some drunk, he's going to have a last smoke.

"So Davik..." Hubert begins, moving his lighter away from the end of his cigarette, and slipping it back into his coat.

"Bout that mechanic spot... Still need one? Quite frankly, I'll take payment in form of transport. Seems that might suit your wallet a bit better anyways."
He cracks a smile, his dimly yellow teeth seemingly porcelain white amongst the clash of his grease-covered face. His sand-colored top-knot frayed and disheveled along the top. Despite the charm in his grin, he is as desperate as Davik to remove himself from this planet, and never look its way again.

He takes a drag from his cigarette, blowing the smoke between them. The neon lights bouncing into the alleyway grasp the cloud in a glowing haze.

"Whadda'ya say, chum? I fix what may or may not need fixin', and youse' get me off'a this rock. Gotta' deal?"



















 
Cassel took the returned credits without hesitation, slipping them back into his slim case with a flick of his wrist. No fuss, no gloating. “Rare thing,” he said lightly, “walking away from a sabacc table without bruises or losses. I’ll take it as a professional courtesy.”

Davik’s look of suspicion earned only a faint lift of Cassel’s brow. “Three prime sabaccs in one hand… some would call that destiny. Others would call it bad statistics. Either way, I don’t cheat. My reputation’s worth more than a pot of credits.”

The announcement of the Den’s closure pulled a dry smirk across his lips. “A shame. ‘Freemso Sabacc Den closes forever’ would have made a fine headline. But then, stories have a way of outliving the places they’re born in.”

When Davik turned the conversation back to the story and its price, Cassel’s focus sharpened. “So the cost rises with the risk. Fair enough. Proof of a Vigo fixing races in Canto Bight isn’t pocket change. It’s the sort of scandal that lights up the HoloNet and sells subscriptions for weeks. Helios can afford to pay for something that hot.” He paused just long enough to let the words settle, then added with that same broadcast cadence, “But if I’m buying, I expect more than whispers. I want records. Messages. Something that can’t be laughed off as smoke in the cantina.”

He adjusted his jacket, eyes steady on Davik. “You bring me that, and we can talk numbers.”
 

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