Chances

[Riamah]

Ra has been working many jobs over the past few months and has made a small amount of credits. Enough that she can take some time off for herself. She had met a Jedi recently in her travels and had noticed his lightsaber at his side. It looked very similar to an item she owned. The item didn't work, but Ra thinks it belonged to one of her parents. She did a little research and learned it was a hilt to a double bladed lightsaber, how it worked Ra has no idea. Figuring to expand her knowlege, she decided to learn how to use a staff and in the future possibly fix the broken hilt.

Picking a planet with a smaller population and quite a bit of nature, Ra leaves her ship. The location though lowly populated, still has a small spaceport and town built around it. Ra picked this planet so in her practices, she was less likely to hurt anybody else. It is also large enough that if she hurt herself, help wouldn't be hard to find.

She carries a small case containing a training ball and her new staff on her shoulder. Her white hair is pulled back into a tail, but not braided. She's wearing a loose peasant top of a crimson color and loose black pants tucked into her boots. Her various weapons are hidden, only one visible is her staff of which she has no clue how to use yet.

The air is mild with a crisp breeze, but not cold. Small clouds scatter the sky with no rain in sight. Ra walks through spaceport, looking around at the people. Most are working, a few taking breaks and even fewer appear to not be doing anything. She passed them all, not drawing any attention to herself and headed out of town.

Not seeing anybody near her, Ra realises she can take her facade off and actually show emotion. She's never seen so much green in one place and she stops to look at the trees, flowers and other plants around her. Ra listens to the music of the birds around her and the other sounds of nature. A butterlfy goes past her and she follows it into the woods. It leads her to a natural clearing that provides a break from the breeze and she watches as it settles onto a flower.

Setting down the small container holding the training ball, Ra takes it out of the package. She turns it on and waits while it warms up. While she waits, she twirls the staff around a few times and tries not to hurt herself. The ball beeps, indicating it is ready and Ra turns to it.

"Well, let's get on with this."

[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

WILD SPACE​

850 ABY​

Running.

He was running, just like they always do. Typically that's what one might do when someone is after their head. That, or you fight back. Normally, people go for the latter when they hear my name. They underestimate me. I've always felt like I've been fighting an uphill battle.This one, on the other hand, was smarter than the rest. Ran and ran he did, and now he was trying to hide. But it was too late. I was on the hunt.

Normally I look down on bounty hunting, but at the same time I love it. It's a savage, primitive way of earning credits, but it also helps cleanse the filth of the galaxy. I like to take a contract here and there when I feel like it's just. In this case, there was a bounty of twenty-thousand on some two-bit slaver named Dresh. Of course when I tracked him down to his compound on Nar Shaddaa, he made a break for it leaving me with his mini slave empire. Great and all, but it was his head I was after, and it was his head I would get.

I'd traced his whereabouts to some backwater planet in wild space. I couldn't bother with the name of it; I didn't really care. But from its coordinates I could tell that it was in former Mandalorian territory, before their clans pretty much got wiped out, at least somewhat. As I made the jump to hyperspace, I took a spin around in my swivel-chair, as per tradition.

"Hey Kaz, did they say they wanted him dead, or alive?" I called out to my Toydarian shipmate.

"Uh... they said... specifically- 'head on platter'." he replied, groggily as usual.

He was always a bit of an alcoholic. At times I was sure his blood was at least 10% alcohol. But anyway, I was in the system within just a few short moments. I gazed down at the planet below from the cockpit of my ship. It was green and arid, similar to my homeworld Corellia before... Well, before the Event. Shaking the thoughts of the past from my mind, I brought my ship down to the planet and landed it nearby the village he was rumored to be hiding out it.

​

MINUTES LATER​

It didn't take long for me to find the slimy prick. The scumbag was camped out with in the shed of some farmer, eating food scraps like the swine he is. Oh, how I enjoyed the thought of butchering his pathetic, worthless soul. Deplorables like him belong in a grave. Unfortunately he managed to get away, even after I tagged him with a blaster bolt to the shoulder. I had to chase him out into the woods.

Trees and flowers zoomed past me as I chased my target, Dresh, deeper into the foliage. The scenery was actually rather nice- flora, fauna, all sorts of nature. This rural planet was... Actually sorta beautiful. Too bad it'd be stained with his blood soon. As I was gaining on him, I was almost ready to take him down when I saw something else in my line of site. It wasn't like the other wildlife I'd seen around, in fact it sort of looked like a person. I couldn't make them out very well, but I saw Dresh running directly toward them.

[member="Maulkat"]

 

[Riamah]

Ra started practicing with the ball and unfortunatly the small shocks hit her far more often than she was able to block them. Luckily they were only shocks and not real bolts from a blaster or anything stronger. A bolt hit her yet again, this time on her hand and Ra squeaks slightly, drops her staff and shakes her stinging hand a few times.

She steps back to the box that had carried her training ball and bends over to take a quick drink. The ball floats patiently waiting for her to return for more torture. Setting the bottle back into the box, Ra turns again to face the ball with her staff. Her hand no longer stings and she prepares herself for more shocks.

Even with the mild day, Ra has a fine of sweat on her brow, but the look of determination in her eyes and face. Learning something new takes time, but she hopes that by the end of her practice session, she will be blocking more than getting shocked.

As she steps up again to face the ball, but before it could shoot at her again, Ra heard what sounded like a small stampede coming her direction through the forest. Suddenly, she was no longer alone in her practice and an unkempt man ran into the clearing and obviously in her general direction. As of yet, he hadn't noticed her because he was too busy running away from a second person.

The second person, followed the first. As much as the first of oblivious to Ra, the second had already noticed her. Though his target was the man running and not her.
Taking a step to the side, Ra got out of the way as the first man approached her. However, he noticed Ra far too late as the staff she had with her, she held low to the ground and made an attempt to trip him. She watched as her staff connected quite soundly and he went flying through air slightly due to his momentum and then clearly face planted the ground. With the wind knocked out of him, Ra waited to approach the dirty man. He was in no condition to go very far or fast anymore and when he moved to roll onto his back, she stepped forward and placed one of the ends of her staff on his back, holding him down.

Ra had been quite unprepared to meet anybody, so isn't sure if she could put her façade on quick enough before the second man reached her. Deciding to risk the chance, she looked up at Myles as he finished chasing down his target. Her takedown of the runaway had happened in just a few heartbeats. She kept the end of her staff in the man's back, giving Myles a moment to catch his breath.

"Um, hello."
​
[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

Before I knew it, the prick tripped and ate crap. As I came to a sudden halt, I almost tripped as well, but I skidded to a stop as I came upon some weird lady in the forest. At first glance, she seemed rather old, but that was just because of her long, silvery hair. As she turned to face me, she actually seemed rather young. Oddly enough her eyes were yellow. Echani? Probably not. Do Echani have yellow eyes? I dunno.

I shook myself back into focus, still having my K-16 Bryar pistol in hand. Wasn't too sure if she'd attack me or not, or if she'd try to take the bounty for herself, so I kept it aimed right at her skull. Keeping it aimed at her, I carefully moved around the side toward Dresh, whom she had pinned down with her staff. I slowly pulled the prick aside and off the ground and shoved him into the tree. Finally, I'd got the scumbag and he had nowhere to run.

Since she hadn't attacked me by now, I decided to sort of let my guard down. Still, I hadn't said a single word to her as I prepared to finally off my target. He was yelling at me, pleading for mercy, but I didn't catch a single word he said. I don't know if it was gibberish or I simply didn't care enough to listen. Maybe both. I brought my blaster pistol up to his face and smacked him with it, letting him fall onto the ground. I knelt down beside him, pinning him down on the floor with my hand around his neck.

"No more running, eh Ditzy?"

Those were the final words I spoke to him before I held his mouth open while I stuck my blaster inside it, firing a single shot down his gullet. A burning hole simmered at the back of the corpse' throat as a trail of smoke began to rise from within his mouth. The job was done. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I stood up and met eyes with the woman that just witnessed me kill a man in cold blood. I couldn't really tell if she cared or not, but the case was likely that poodoo didn't. These days, you could slice a man's tongue off and no one would bat an eye. Times were rough in the galaxy, like there was constant warfare wherever you went.

"Hey."

That was all that I said to her. Truth is, I wasn't really sure what else to say. I stared back at her with a sort of emptiness, just waiting for her to say something. I'm pretty sure she didn't know anything about the bounty, so I didn't say anything about it. Hopefully I'd be able to make it back with little complications. But I had to make sure this lady wouldn't do anything. I still don't know whether or not she's another bounty hunter, or if she'll say anything to the authorities.

[member="Maulkat"]

 

[Riamah]

Ra watched as a quick series of events followed in front of her. When Myles moved to take the man out from under her staff, she lifted it up high enough for him to do so. He knocked the dirty man around a couple of times and dropped him to the ground, taking a choke hold on him, Myles proceeded to blast him through the mouth. Whatever that man had done, she wasn't sure death had been the correct repercussion. Not one to be a judge though, Ra did not and wouldn't have been able to stop Myles from any action he had picked to do.

Her mask not fully in place, Ra narrowed her eyes slightly when Myles killed the man. He did not seem to be a danger to her personally, but Ra kept her guard up. At the short distance between them though if he chose to shoot her, she wouldn't be able to escape.

Perfectly aware more of how treacherous the galaxy is these days, Ra almost wondered what the now dead man had done to deserve such a fate.

When Myles fired his single blaster in the clearing, the wildlife around them had scattered and there was now silence there. Only noises to be heard were distant.

Seeing Myles wasn't going to hurt her, Ra relaxed and lowered her staff. He acknowledged her with a, "hey", but nothing else.

Ra lifted her chin in the direction of the two of them and looked Myles in the eye, she raised one eye brow slightly before speaking.

"I sincerely hope I'm not going to meet the same fate this day."

After speaking, Ra looked at the man standing in front of her. Not just his outward appearance, but how he carried himself and how he stood there. He stood with confidence in himself. He wouldn't be one to back down from a confrontation, but then again Ra felt he wasn't one to seek it out. There was also something else about him, something different, but she just could not place what it was.
​
[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

I gave her a slightly odd look. For a brief second I contemplated just killing her, since she was a witness anyway. But ultimately I decided that it was unwise to start something, and it wasn't like she did anything wrong, or at least to my knowledge. She remarked about not wanting to 'suffer the same fate this day'. I'm guessing she was questioning whether or not I'd try to kill her. But I'm a reasonable person. At least I think so.

"Not that you have to." I said, trying to sound as vague as I could.

Judging by the look on her face, she was probably taken aback a little by how young I look. It was something that happened often, and I've gotten remarks about it before. Personally, I like to think of myself as a 'young adult', but a lot of the older people I meet just call me a kid. This woman, however, didn't seem like there was a big age gap between us. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're somewhere around the same age. Anyway, I digress. Contemplating on how to deal with the situation, I considered any possible outcomes. I doubted she'd say anything, but I couldn't take the chance. Maybe I could convince her some way, somehow.

"Look- What happened here was nothing, okay?"

Really? That's the best I could think of? Okay? Whatever, hopefully she'd get my point as I was trying my best to be polite about it. But then, I noticed a training probe hovering around. Piecing together the droid, the staff, and the isolation, I considered that this could be a Jedi- maybe even a sith. My brows furrowed slightly as I clenched my hand around my blaster, which was still in my hand. If this was a Force-wielder in training, I'd have to proceed with caution.

It was actually kinda awkward and quiet. The forest chirped with nature as the cool breeze took us in its embrace. The leaves ruffled slightly as the wind took it in its stride. Once again, I had to admire the beauty of this place. Almost surprising how sparsely populated this planet is, but maybe that's for a reason. I kept a short distance between me and the woman, with the corpse of my target at my feet. We exchanged gazes from just a few feet away. I guess she was trying to figure out what in the kark was going on, while I was trying to figure out what to do next.

[member="Maulkat"]

 

[Riamah]

Ra could almost see different thoughts going through this man's head as each crossed it. Should he kill her or let her go? What sort of threat does she pose? Would she say anything about what took place in this clearing? Those thoughts passed through his mind and Ra read them clearly on his face.

He replied to her statement about killing her and Ra knew he wasn't going to...at least not yet. She let out a sigh, not even knowing she had been holding her breath. She herself had never killed anybody, but she had witnessed death first hand. Not that she was a familiar to this situation or anything.

She planted the end of her staff on the ground and leaned against it slightly as they looked at each other in the silence of the woods. He claims that his previous actions were, "nothing", but Ra knew there was some story behind them.

Tilting her chin at the dead man, Ra looked calmly at the victor.

"What sort of nothing did he do?"

Ra had regained mostly full control of her facade and faced Myles with an almost expressionless face. Only her eyes truly showed how she felt.

Her eyes were a dark gold, fading into brown now. Feelings were meant to be something private, but the eyes are a key to the soul. They showed she was apprehensive-almost a flight or fight reaction. Deer in a headlight type look. Outwardly though, this could not be seen. She didn't feel like fighting this man, but to run could be seen as a weakness and it would open her back to being shot.

[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

By the way she looked at me, I could sort of tell she wouldn't tell a soul. But I still kept my guard up. You never know when someone might turn on you, for whatever reason. I also noticed that the color of her eyes shifted slightly as she stared at me with her blank face. It was almost a little bit creepy, but I'm not one to question.

I holstered my blaster and bent down to pick up the body. Damn, he was a little bit heavy, but I managed to sling the punk's corpse over my shoulders. I could smell the burnt flesh of his trachea as drool and blood leaked from the body's mouth and spilled near my foot. I'd have to make a conscious effort not to let that crap get on my clothes. As I did so, she questioned me about what he did to deserve such a fate.

"A bad nothing. And that's all you need to know."

Once again I tried to remain as vague as possible. I shifted my arms to get a better hold on the corpse, but I could feel it slipping an- KARK! The dumb bastard managed to get drool on my new pants. Even in death, he's a pain in the ass. Luckily though, my coat was nice and clean and drool-free. I'd have to haul this damn thing to my ship... Or maybe I could enlist some help?

"Oh, and the name's Myles, by the way. Just Myles."

I still wondered what in the hell she was doing in the middle of the forest. That was creepy enough. Much of this person remained a mystery to me- the training probe, the staff, the shifty eyes... There was something a bit off-putting about her, but I just couldn't place my finger on it. I knew she looked at me in a strange way, like she felt the same thing. But I could tell that she hid it. Her expression was emotionless, almost too much so. But I'm never one to judge.

"Listen... Uh, you think you can help me out with this?"

I gestured my head to the dead body over my shoulders.

[member="Ra'a'mah"]

 

[Riamah]

Myles kept his watch on her, but put his blaster away and moved to pick up the dead body at his feet. While not positive of what action, if any, to do, Ra relaxed her own guard when that blaster wasn't pointed at her. The man said his name is Myles after he had the corpse on his shoulder, though it was badly balanced and could fall at any time. She watched as Myles tried to stand up AND keep the last vistages of the newly dead's life off his clothes and failing.

If the situation hadn't been so dire, she would have smiled. Not even knowing it, Ra's mouth twitched up at the side slightly.

"Call me Ra."

Now knowing the name of the man in front of her, Ra lowers her staff and he asks if she could possibly help him move what she could now assume was sort of bounty.

She walked over to the practise ball, grabbing and deactivating it, Ra headed back to the little case she had brought. Ra picked up the case with one hand and considered how best to assist Myles and carry her staff. Shrugging slightly, she put the staff in the same hand as the case.

"That was enough practise for me anyway."

Stretching her shoulders, she walked over to Myles and the corpse. She raised one eye brow, looking at the two of them. If she wanted to, Ra could have reached out to touch either one.
​
"What sort of help do you need? I don't have any sort of cord or something to tie him with."

Ra's chin titled, indicating the stinking corpes of the man on his shoulder. She watched as the last bit of life exited his body, anything that had been in there- urine and defecation. Not having witnessed death before, Ra had no idea it could smell so foul.

[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

Apparently, her name is Ra. Like raw steak? Man, I could really go for some steak. I always get mine cooked rare. Juicy and soft- who cares about tapeworms anyway? Anywho, she mentioned 'practice' which I kinda pieced together by now. Soon after she gathered her belongings and approached me. A little too close for comfort for a random stranger hanging out in the woods, but it's not like I haven't experienced worse. Maybe she- Ra, was actually trustworthy.

She looked a little bit confused, like she didn't know what I'd asked her. The lump of dead meat on my back started to ache, and my shoulders slowly started to give out. A little bit heavier than expected. Just then, it started to smell like... well, death. Had this chick farted? No, not even farts are that sickening. I started to hear a dripping sound, and looking over to my right I saw piss dripping down the corpse's leg. What the actual kark!? Luckily, he was wearing pants, and it didn't seem like he had a heavy breakfast. I managed to keep myself clean somehow, and carefully flipped the body over so I could carry it in my arms.

"Uh- Maybe you can grab the head, and I'll carry the legs."

I finally gathered my thoughts which were sort of racing around my head after the chase. I thought to myself, who even is this... Ra? Sort of odd for her to be around here in the middle of the forest on some backwater planet swinging a stick at a floating ball. Then again, I've seen weirder things. It then occurred to me that I simply ran into her by chance, and the only reason we crossed paths was because I was chasing down the body I carry in my arms. It's almost crazy to think about.

"Sorry to interrupt your training, uh, Ra... Maybe I can buy you a drink later to compensate?" I said, feeling a little bit compassionate. But then I realized what I said was a little bit flirty, which wasn't exactly my intention. Sort of made me cringe a little. I get socially awkward like that sometimes...

[member=Ra'a'mah]

 

[Riamah]

Ra watched as Myles tried to juggle the corpse before he could get any more of its bodily fluids on him. He managed quite handily and got his bounty into a different position. Awkwardly, Ra slipped her bag over her wrist, keeping a hold of her staff, she reached out to take a hold of the dead man's shoulders, grabbing him under the armpits.

"A drink would be nice, Myles. Ah I wasn't really training, just trying to figure out how to use this staff. A practice more or less and my first time."

The smell was bad, worse than Ra thought it would be. The foul stench of soiled clothes as well as the personal body odder of the remains. Trying not to smell, Ra breathed through her mouth.

She had not walked too far into the forest and hoped the destination Myles had planned wasn't much further.

[member="Myles Vylumnar"]

 

[Myles Vylumnar]

Spoiler

Just decided to change my writing style a little bit. Hope you don't mind.

As Ra carried her half of the body, its eyes rolled back to stare into her's. The expression was ghastly and honestly quite eerie with the mouth gaping open like that. By now the body had already started losing heat. Myles was used to the smell of death, but that didn't make it any better. Like always, he just stuck through it.

Damn... At least he had a light breakfast. Ship's not far from here... Might as well make some small talk.

"Training, huh? In the middle of the woods on whatever this planet's called? Oddly exclusive choice of training area. What're you trainin' for?"

He started moving toward the direction he came from, walking backwards so that Ra wouldn't have to shift her body any more awkwardly. The whole process was a little bit awkward, but it was much better than carrying the body by himself. They'd just have to cut through the forest, around the farm, and past the town. It sounds like a good distance, but really it's just a short walk. Myles stuck to the edges of the forest. No need to disturb the townspeople.

"Uh, ship's not far from here. Just past the town."

As the two passed by the farm, Myles could see a figure out the corner of his eye. It was... the farmer. He stared with his hands on his hips with a stoic face from a distance. Simply watching. Myles traded glares, returning the stare for a brief moment. Slowly, the farmer's head turned as Myles and Ra walked along the edges of the forest.

It's... like he saw what happened. He watched it happen. Maybe Ra hasn't noticed him yet... He's just... looking.

[member="Ra'a'mah"]

 

[Riamah]

The head and eyes of the dead body, rolled and "looked" at Ra. Though she knew it was part of death and this guy wasn't going to magically come back to life, it was still rather creepy to her and she kept her eyes facing forward. She was looking at [member="Myles Vylumnar"], walking backwards as he made a little small chatter.

"How to put this? I'm training for myself, I like knowledge and learning. There's also the need to defend oneself."

She would have made a motion with her hand, but it was occupied with supporting the dead man's remains.

Almost smiling outwardly, it showed in her eyes though.

"Of course, your ship wouldn't be far. There's only one spaceport here."

They were trudging past ​the farm, the owner stopped what he was doing and just looked at the three of them without emotion as they walked past. Ra was too occupied carrying the body and her other items to really do or say anything. What was there to say though? They weren't doing anything wrong and they doing this forest a favor by removing the carcass of the man in their hands.

"What did this guy do?"

Nodding her head slightly, she indicated the body they were carrying.

[member="Myles Vylumnar"]