It's all in the little things

[Arage Bao]

Nar Shaddaa, approaching night-time. ​

Little Coruscant had its own charm. Well, perhaps charm was a bit overstated, it was more a cesspit, but instead of literal crap it was filled with murderers, rapists, guys who run around with dragonwings and… then you have those other type of guys.

The folk that try their damnedest to hug the shadows and not stand out too much, they are the true plague of this proverbial pearl.

Oh.

I am one of ‘em.

Awkward.

Anyway, I have been standing in the gutter for about thirty minutes now- been casing this joint for the longest. Nothing too fancy really, just a gambling den, but it was game night.

You know what that means.

The House will be carrying the motherload.

 

[Hades Michae]

There was a man who cared little for whether he was in shadow or neon lights, perhaps didn’t even notice which of the two he was gravitating between. This ‘cesspit’ was home, and spend enough time in it and its all one muddy color – all one greenish poodoo-pile.

Regardless, there were some more attuned to the heartbeat of it all and though Hades wasn’t one of them he could at least understand the motivations of those who were.

So when he was about to pass the kid in the shadows he slowed, taking a deep drag from his cigarette and illuminating the valleys of a face far older than his age. He stopped, turning to look at the face of the building that kid was casing. (He knows. He’s been here 33 years and casing was one of the things he did for a living, next to murder and a type of information extraction that defied explanation.) He doesn’t much care that he’s standing pretty obviously across from the den – no worse than standing in the shadows twiddling your thumbs for half an hour.

“Wouldn’t be too hard,” he says after a minute in a voice that it sounds like it took gargantuan effort to produce, not looking at the younger man as he took another drag.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Hades Michae"]

In any other scene, any other night Khaleel would have ignored the man and went on with his work- guy couldn’t have known what he was doing here, so he would have been just some jackass thinking he was funny or an addict thinking he was a wise guy. Sadly this was one of those nights.

You know what I am talking ‘bout.

Those nights when nostalgia settles into the back of your spine, a night where you can’t just stop and think that maybe, just maybe… things weren’t exactly as you always thought they were. That the world shifted on its head just by looking into the eyes of this particular stranger.

Could feel my shoulders slump just a touch bit, affected by the man’s perception and my own neglect in being more discreet about my purposes this night. Instead of being an ass about it though I gave him a short nod, definitely one of the kin, he had the look and that was enough for me.

‘Got any tips, old man?’

 

[Hades Michae]

If he were someone else he might have cracked a weary smile at the jab, shrugged and nodded. (Yeah, I look old and tired as hell, I know. Been a rough couple years. Rough couple decades, actually. The drugs didn’t help.) But instead he just shifts his head enough to look at the kid, taking the kind of pull that consumes half the cigarette before dropping and squashing it under his heel. (Still no expression, like he might be just a body someone reanimated, awake but nobody is home.)

He considers the answer, rolling his tongue in his cheek before joining the urchin in the shadows. It’s not exactly a fitting term as though the other man has a look of the pit-city about him he doesn’t look like one of the rats Hades grew up with. But then again, neither did Hades – he’d been too good at what he did to stay living hand-to-mouth.

He hustled.

The kid looks like he might have pulled something like this before, just being careful so he'd have success again. Hades could respect that. On a planet like theirs losers went very hungry, or dead.

Leaning one shoulder against the wall, he spoke again. “I’m sure I don’t gotta tell you its game night in there. Now, they’re not gonna keep the credits in there overnight. Nah, once the doors close they stack it up and ship it out somewhere more secure.”

He’s craving another cigarette between his fingers, or maybe a drink in his hand. “Alls you gotta do is stop it from getting wherever that is.”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Hades Michae"]

Without even considering any other option Khal pulled out his pack of cigarettes, opening up the lid he could see he only had two left. Two. Not Five. Not Four or three. No, no. Two.

Two.

Khal sighed and offered one to the guy next to him, there was a time to be a wisecrack and there was a time to be courteous when someone was sharing some know-how. It was all about respect. Even with ones such as them the most important thing on the street was respect, respect and credibility.

You don’t get that by pissing on people’s boots without reasons.

You got it by giving respect first hand.

He was finding himself nodding in response to the reasoning of the man, and then Khal said something that he hadn’t been expecting to say.

‘Want in?’

 

[Hades Michae]

He was about as surprised to hear the invitation as the other guy seemed to be at offering it, but in typical fashion the emotion was more a flutter – a fraction of what someone else might experience, not quite making it to his face as he lifted his lighter to the cigarette he’d been offered.

Nodding once he’d had a nice drag, he decided while they waited it’d be best to satisfy that other craving he had. Besides, he had to pay back for the kid’s last smoke. Most people were poodoo, worth little more than the dirt he was walking on. But someone else in the life was worthy, someone else in the life knew that was what you did when someone else let you in on a profit.

Even murderers and thieves had a code.

“Yeah. Thirty percent. And in the meantime, let’s get a drink,” he said, nodding his head lazily towards the establishment across from the den. They’d be able to see from there and pass the next few hours waiting somewhere decidedly more comfortable than the street. The idea that Khaleel was a lightweight struck him as funny so he wasn’t too worried – for his part he was a functioning alcoholic of the worst kind. One vice for another. He walked over to the bar, the cold metal of a blaster tucked against his back - reassuring, an old friend. "Name's Hades, by the way."

[SIZE=14pt]Six hours later…[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The lights go off inside the Den.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The neons light the shadows of six men taking a black, armored box out of the building and down an alley.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Get to it before they load it up and take it away?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Too easy.[/SIZE]
​

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Hades Michae"]

Thirty ain’t nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially if it meant a guy who knew what he was doing having my back, ‘sides… like I said. It had been a busy night for dem fellas in there, which meant one thing and one thing only for the likes of us.

Cash in spades.

They wouldn’t be all that heavily-protected, you might ask yourself why, convenient no? But think about it closely, really consider the situation, the place it went all down and the rep these guys had. One, you don’t rob Jimmy, two… you really don’t rob Jimmy, three (I promise this ain’t a repeat) ya only get more attention if ya put in twenty men to guard your shet. (told ya I wouldn’t repeat myself too often)

Gotta admit, this was making my blood pump only faster, adrenaline rush and all that beauty. Jimmy was King around these parts, but ever since I was a kid I hated him, smug nerf herder who thinks he’s the shet ‘cause he was in it with one of Popo’s underbosses.

It allowed him leeway, straight connection to the ringleaders, big turf without worrying ‘bout people engrossing into it, ya know the deal. Anyway. This haul would be a fine one, it would have to be pulled fast and pulled hard, make sure we get outta there immediately and hide the stash.

Won’t be able to use it for a while, too much heat. But [member="Hades Michae"] and me knew the risks of the game, that was the whole point of it, no? Why bother fekking around nine ‘til five, if ya can find yourself a quicky, dirty road to victory?

‘Ready.’ I didn’t whisper, didn’t talk, hell I doubted Hades could afford a commlink, I sure couldn’t. Handsign, language of the noses, learned it when I was a kid. When ya live off the streets, you better learn to talk the talk, otherwise you ain’t getting nothin’ from dem noses.