First Reply Downtime Downtown

[Tohu]

Club Vertica,
Nar Shadaa

Cantina Rocks sounded off from the next door hall where a small-time crime lord, affiliated with the Syndicate, was throwing a party. Here, in the game chambers, those too sick with the gambling malady treated themselves with the cure of… more gambling.

“Don’t lose your courage till the next draw’s flourish.”— everyone who had been to Nar Shadaa knew the slogan by heart and many took it up as a life mantra.

But Tohu? He just stubbornly misdiagnosed it as boredom.

With his head resting on his palm, he sat at an empty game table waiting for the next patient to come in and test their luck. Beside him, Looming over the table was a nosy Duros croupier who craved to ask clients questions.​

 

[Jonath Kago]

He had purpose to be mixed in with all scum and villainy surrounding him. Not for the credits or for some street fame, but to be be a loose vigilante to prick the Syndicates and their immoral affiliates. A way to do some good in this Galaxy, and it helped to give some sense of peace to himself. Enough to be able to sleep at night.

The Club Vertica presented a ripe opportunity to make a mark on crime.

Jon offered a nod to Tohu as he pulled a chair and sat at the table, no longer a table of one.

“What’s with the noise next door?” as if not already knowing the gossip of the party being thrown by his target.

Tohu​

 

[Tohu]

Dark eyes lit up when a man, as unruly looking as Tohu, finally sat at the game table. It takes two to gamble. One to win and one to lose. Pulling several betting chips out from his pocket, Tohu set them neatly on his side of the table.

"What's with the noise next door?"

"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow. So drowned was he in the prospect of gambling that his surroundings had blurred into background noise and color. "Oh, Mellyn Qorm's throwing a party." shrugging, uninterested in the details, he averted his gaze back to the table.

"Yes, big party. Dozen more spice corners for Black Sun. Big work Mellyn Qorm done." the croupier chimed in, red eyes swirling in a vortex of impudent gossip... and probably a little bit of spice.

"Yeah, yeah." Tohu said, "Put the Beast Wars game on."

Without shifting his prying gaze from the newcomer, the Duros tapped on his console several times. Several holoprojections of various beasts of the galaxy materialized from the table in blue-hue light. Tohu picked the Nexu and waited for his opponent to choose his own.

"1k, right?" he asked, the Duros nodded, and he set aside a chip.

"Why ask you, Mister ....?" the croupier inquired, staring at Tohu's opponent.​

Jonath Kago

 

[Jonath Kago]

"Why ask you, Mister ....?"

“Hamid,” giving his false name at the ready to the inquiring Duros. “Trent Hamid,” the very name Jon had been using for a while, having a list of false names ready in case he had to retire one of his monikers. The holoprojector presented a variety of beasts for the game, the vigilante picking a Vornskr right after his opponent.

“I think it’s pretty normal to ask why there’s a loud ruckus, or no?” staring back at the croupier and then presented a a chip of exactly one thousand credits worth. “Would you say a guy like Qorm could use some more muscles for the shit he’s running?” inquiring more about this crime lord, masking his true intents as a matter of finding employment.

“All you,” nodding at Tohu , waiting for the first move to be made.

 

[Tohu]

Duros said, "Hamid. Mr. Hamid." he was dotting down the name at the back of his head for later, forever; someone was going to ask for it, they always did. "Yes, very normal, very."

Cheek still resting on his palm, Tohu gently drummed the table's surface, watching Hamid talk with the croupier. He had a dirty, curly blonde hair and a cold glint to his eyes. He looked the kind of guy who had a long shadow he was running from. Not unusual on Shaddaa -- everyone here was running from something, most the times from themselves. Just the kindda guy who'd end up muscling out corners for Qorm.

Duro paused, looked up at the ceiling with his finger tapping on his chin, then said, "Mr. Qorm always look for more muscle. Yes. Now more than before."

"All you," Hamid nodded at him.

Tohu said, "Finally," and tapped the red, glowing button on the screen that said fight. The small, hologram of the Nexu hurled itself at the Vornskr, tiny white pixels sharpened into fangs, playfully cutting into the canine's neck. It was supposed to be a child's game --some educational holobook his mother once scrounged up enough money to gift him for Life Day -- and Nar Shaddaa said "why not?" and turned into a sugar-coated slot machine, spewing money, like everything else.

Duros asked, "Both you in muscle business, yes?", his eyes appraising them like he was going to catch 'em in some lie.

"Nope. Bounty hunting." Tohu said, believing it. He felt like he'd done enough already to not mop floors for a fish like a Qorm. Now he was a Syndicate man and soon as he'd got them to sponsor his license, thugging for small hotshots like Qorm would be a thing of the past.

Jonath Kago ​