First Reply Luck Optional (Open)

[Kitt Solo]

'Never trust a Hutt with perfect teeth.'

Kitt wasn't entirely sure where she'd first heard that nugget of wisdom. Her dad? A drunken spacer? Maybe it had been printed on the back of a ration wrapper. Either way, the saying felt relevant. Mostly because the Hutt currently trying to sell her a "genuine Jedi relic" had the whitest, straightest teeth she'd ever seen.

"Bummbowsa," she drawled, one gloved finger poking the rusty hydrospanner resting atop a velvet pillow. "This is a hydrospanner."

The Hutt smiled wider.

"It was owned by a Jedi."

"Uh huh."

"It has sentimental value."

One hip cocked to the side as she gave the Hutt a look. "It has rust."

"Authentic rust."

"Gorram." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "You almost had me." Almost. Not really.

The bustling market around them swallowed the conversation whole. Hawkers barked over one another. A trio of Rodians argued over whose turn it was to cheat at sabacc. Somewhere nearby, something with far too many legs screamed like it had just discovered taxes. Kitt loved markets. Everyone came looking for something: credits, information, adventure, sex, lunch.

She stepped away from the Hutt's stall before she accidentally bought something stupid. Again. Last time it'd been an "ancient Sith compass." Turned out it only pointed toward the nearest cantina. Useful, admittedly.

A warm breeze carried the smell of fried nuna and engine coolant across the promenade. Her stomach immediately sided with the nuna.

"Traitor," she muttered to it.

The bounty puck in her jacket chirped. Myrtle ellipses narrowed beneath the brim of her beat-up flight cap. Pulling the puck free, she frowned at the flickering display.

PRIORITY CONTRACT AVAILABLE.

That wasn't strange. The reward amount was."Well butter my biscuits." Someone had either done something spectacularly illegal or spectacularly embarrassing. Either way, there were enough zeroes on the display to make even honest people consider a brief career change. "Knew I should've skipped breakfast."

She thumbed the file open. The image never fully rendered. Instead, the puck hissed, sparked, and projected a burst of static that danced through the air like blue lightning before dying altogether. Gorram it.

Around her, conversations faltered. The market seemed to inhale all at once. Her senses prickled. Myrtle ellipses scanned the market. Someone had come for the bounty.

Or, someone had come because of it.

"Please don't be a Sith. Actually, scratch that. Please don't be paperwork." She slipped the dead puck back into her jacket, absently resting one hand near the blaster hanging low on her hip while the other reached into a paper sack she'd bought three stalls ago.

Crunch.

The candied meiloorun chips were excellent. If she was about to have the worst day of her week she figured she might as well enjoy the snacks first.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Braze had come to the marketplace in pursuit of an elusive man whose face was never truly his own. The shapeshifter had made a habit of murdering political figures, assuming their identities, and quietly redirecting entire governments toward policies that served his private interests. Trade agreements shifted, whilst investigations vanished. Public funds bled into shell companies and hidden accounts until his profits reached an obscene scale, all while the dead continued smiling from podiums through borrowed flesh.

Finding him had proven another matter entirely. Braze moved through the crowded stalls with his hood lowered and his pale hair left visible, searching for the smaller inconsistencies most people ignored: an accent that belonged to another province, or even just a gesture repeated too carefully, or a familiar face that did not recognize its own acquaintances. Somewhere among the merchants, travelers, and wandering hunters, his quarry might already be wearing a new life. Braze slowed near the edge of the market, jade-green eyes passing over the sudden quiet as one hand settled near the concealed hilt at his side.

"Where... are you... "

 

[Kitt Solo]

She leaned against the side of a vendor's stall, swallowing that chip. Eyes scanned the crowd. Picked up on a cloaked pale-haired stranger. It was a useful skill when your entire career revolved around finding people who did not want to be found. Also because the guy had the unmistakable energy of someone who looked like he'd rather interrogate a criminal than admit he needed directions.

Classic.

And he was on the edge of the quiet crowd. Kitt tilted her head, myrtle-ellipses narrowing. Fingers deftly stuffed meilroon chips back in her jacket pocket. Giving them a light pat and satisfied they were safely tucked away, she let herself disappear into the rhythm of the marketplace, tailing that mook. There was something about him that felt focused. Like he wasn't here for credits. Most bounty hunters smelled desperation. This guy smelled like purpose.

That was usually more dangerous.

Could be here for any number of reasons but Kitt bet a credchit it was for the same bounty she was after. All she had to go after was a partial image. She was pretty sure it had been a Zeltron. And in front of that pale-haired stranger there was a Zeltron who ducked into one of the seedy cantinas. Fingers lightly brushed that blaster on her hip as she continued to tale the mysterious cloaked stranger Braze .

At least she'd get a chance to wet her whistle.

 

[Braze]

Kitt Solo
Braze was fairly small, standing only about five-foot-two for a young adult male. He possessed a lithe figure, draped in a wraparound dark cloak lined with rich black fur, its folds concealing the small arsenal of weapons hidden beneath.

A pair of compact droids accompanied him. One, shaped like a small saucer, hovered nearby; the other perched within the furred portion of his cloak where it wrapped around his neck, often nestling beneath the resting hood while keeping watch in several directions at once.

He entered the cantina at an unhurried pace, offering the room a quiet, searching look before making his way toward the bar. There, he ordered a glass of hydro flavored with jogan syrup and settled the tab immediately.

Braze hopped up onto one of the stools and perched there, his feet hanging far above the floor. He took several measured sips from his drink while his jade-green eyes moved across the cantina’s patrons beneath the low light.

The particular shapeshifter he had come looking for was rumored to have stolen his visage and had already begun causing problems under his name. Braze could not permit that to continue, though he was not entirely certain whether this latest acquisition was the same shapeshifter who had been plaguing his life.

Regardless… he intended to find out. For what it was worth he didn't seem to notice the girl following him or if he did he didnt draw attention to it nor did he seem concerned. He was hyper vilggilant and focused on the task at hand.

 

[Kitt Solo]

Kitt followed the short figure, Braze , inside the cantina at an appropriate distance. She stepped inside the familiar cocktail of spilled ale, grease, and poor decisions replacing the biting air outside. Myrtle-ellipses adjusted to the dim light while gloved fingers lingered near the holster at her hip. The Force brushed against dozens of emotions at once—drunken laughter, quiet desperation, greed, and fear. It was the same song every cantina seemed to sing.

Her gaze found the small figure she'd tailed into the cantina. Five-foot-nothing, wrapped in enough fur to survive Hoth, with a droid hovering faithfully nearby. He wasn't the reason she'd come. He was simply following the same trail. Her senses reached beyond him, riding the currents of emotion flowing through the room. A spike of apprehension. Nervous anticipation tucked beneath practiced confidence. Someone watching the watcher.

There.

Those green eyes of hers settled on the Zeltron. The bounty puck tucked inside her jacket had been accurate after all. A corner of her mouth twitched upward.

"Gorram it..."

Not because she'd found him. Because he'd chosen this cantina. The Force remained open as she drifted away from the entrance, weaving between tables with the unhurried confidence of someone simply looking for her next drink. She didn't acknowledge Braze. Didn't need to. Whatever game he was playing with the Zeltron wasn't hers. Not yet.

Instead, she angled toward her quarry. She stopped alongside the Zeltron with an easy smile, resting an elbow against the edge of the table as though greeting an old acquaintance. "Mind if I join you?"

A beat.

"I've been looking all over the galaxy for you." And that's when the Zeltron whipped out his blaster and fired.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Braze frowned as he watched the girl approach his suspected target, irritation drawing his brows together. He had little time to grouse over the intrusion before the cantina erupted beneath the sharp crack of plasma fire.

Patrons scattered in every direction. Some threw themselves behind overturned tables, while others reached beneath coats or across holsters for weapons of their own. Glass shattered against the floor, and chairs scraped violently across the boards, as frightened shouts rose beneath the repeated fire of blaster bolts.

Braze slipped from his seat and lowered himself behind the nearest table, one hand disappearing beneath his cloak to settle around the hilt of his lightsaber. He resisted igniting it just yet.... Announcing himself as a Jedi could bring the entire room down upon him…and he still did not know whether the girl was an overeager hunter, or a rival of his target.

His jade-green gaze followed the shooter through the sudden confusion, searching for an opening as he shifted closer to the aisle. He placed himself where he might intercept another bolt should it be aimed toward the girl or the fleeing patrons.

 

[Kitt Solo]

Braze

Well.

Someone woke up and chose violence today.

The first blaster bolt screamed past her shoulder. The second shattered the bottle behind the bar, showering her jacket with amber liquor and razor-thin glass. "Not my jacket," she groaned and dropped, boots sliding across the cantina floor before she tucked herself behind the nearest overturned table. Another bolt carved through the space where her head had been just a moment earlier.

"Gorram it."

The Force surged around her in a tidal wave of panic. Fear. Confusion. Adrenaline. Patrons stampeded toward every exit they could find while others made the galaxy's worst decision and reached for their own blasters. Of course they did.

Myrtle-ellipses swept through the chaos instead of locking onto the shooter. One target was easy. Finding everyone else that didn't deserve to get hit? That took work. A flash of jade-green caught her attention. A man. Low behind another table.

Too composed. Too deliberate. His emotions didn't spike like everyone else's. They narrowed.

Interesting.

Not security.

Not some trigger-happy local trying to play hero.

Her empathic senses brushed his presence for the briefest moment before another bolt slammed into the table between them, spraying splinters across the floor. "Little busy!" she called toward the unseen shooter, dry humor surviving where common sense probably shouldn't. One gloved hand tightened around her blaster as she risked a glance over the edge of cover.

She caught the muzzle flash before the figure disappeared behind another wave of fleeing patrons.

Juuuuuuust great.

Professional enough to use civilians as cover. Her jaw tightened. "Real classy," she called to everyone and no one. Rather than return fire into a crowd, Kitt shifted sideways, keeping low as she moved from one piece of cover to the next. She was trying to head off his exit. The stranger with the jade gaze lingered in her peripheral vision, seemingly positioning himself instead of running. Whatever game he was playing, she hoped it was on the same side as hers. Because getting shot at alone was overrated.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Kitt caught Braze's attention as she attempted to cut off the shooter's escape. He moved in behind her, trying to surreptitiously support her efforts by blocking the route ahead.

Reaching out, Braze drew upon the Force. An abandoned table lurched across the floor at his urging, skidding toward the clearest path between the shooter and the cantina's rear exit. It was not aimed to strike him, only to close the corridor and narrow his available routes.

So much for remaining inconspicuous…

Braze sighed before rising properly to his feet.

The violet-bladed lightsaber came free from beneath his heavy cloak. Its blade hissed into being as the Echani stepped into the open, angling the weapon toward the next line of fire while placing himself between the gunman and the retreating patrons.

"Hunter," he called toward the woman without taking his eyes from the Zeltron. "Keep him away from the crowd."

 

[Kitt Solo]

Braze

The unmistakable hiss of a lightsaber cut through the chaos. Myrtle eyes darted sideways just long enough to catch the violet blade. Had to be a jedi. She rolled her eyes.

As if today hadn't already been weird enough. The table screeched across the floor, boxing the Zeltron in. Nice move. Shame it also meant every pair of eyes in the cantina now had a new thing to panic about.

"Yeah, yeah!" she shot back at Braze. "No pressure or anything."

Hunter.

She'd been called worse.

The bounty hunter didn't hesitate. Boots dug into the floor as she cut hard toward the Zeltron's flank instead of chasing directly behind him. Running at a blaster usually ranked somewhere between "bad idea" and "Kitt, what are you doing?" But if she could get ahead of him. Even better.

A chair caught her eye. Perfect. A flick of her boot sent it tumbling into his path.

"Hey, pretty boy!" she called, spreading her arms with a confident grin. "Eyes on me." Because if he was shooting at her, he wasn't shooting at the civilians. Swiping another chair she raised, it catching one of his bolts as her other hand brought her blaster up, firing a swift stun bolt at him.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Braze watched the hunter cut across the Zeltron's flank, turn a chair into an improvised shield, and return fire without placing the fleeing patrons in danger. There were only a few viable exits left, each narrowed by the crowd or the furniture they had drawn across the floor.

"Nice moves," he called as her stun bolt streaked toward their quarry. Braze advanced behind it, violet blade angled in readiness. Upon closer examination this was likely not who he was looking for. He didn't seem to pursue or press for violence if they target had been temporarily neutralized but he remained aware.

 

[Kitt Solo]

Myrtle-ellipses flicked toward Braze as her bounty hit the floor with a resounding thud. Body unmoving. One problem handled.

"Thanks."

Kitt slowly lowered her blaster, listening to the sudden quiet settling over the cantina. The civilians were still making their way toward the exits, some looking back over their shoulders like they expected the whole place to explode. It wasn't.

Miracle of miracles.

She nudged the bounty with the toe of her boot.

"Stay."

Because apparently that needed saying. Then she looked back at Braze, eyes dropping briefly to the violet blade before returning to his face.

"So what's your story? Pretty dangerous to whip that thing out," her chin motioned to the crackling lightsaber he held. Kitt holstered her blaster and crouched beside the stunned bounty, patting down his jacket for anything that might make the trip to the authorities less annoying. "Someone you looking for, too?"

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Once the danger had been averted, Braze sought out his two small droids, Gidgit and Gizmo, making sure they were all right. They seemed perfectly fine.

"You're welcome," he offered in reply, falling back on what he thought counted as good manners.

"There is someone I'm looking for… but I don't think this is them." He sighed softly before deactivating his blade and returning it to the ventral-mounted holster.

"The person I'm looking for is a shapeshifter stealing my looks… seen me around anywhere by chance?" Braze asked gently as he stepped over to peer down at her captured quarry.

"Need any help moving him?" he added, glancing between her and the fellow passed out on the floor. He didn't seem particularly interested in stealing her acquisition; if anything, he appeared to simply be offering another pair of hands should she want them.

"Oh, sorry… I'm so forgetful. My name's Braze."

 

[Kitt Solo]

“Kitt,” she offered. Taking a pair of bounty cuffs from her belt and getting the mook situated. A glance between Braze and the deadweight cargo. She could handle it all byherself.

She was a big girl.

But it never hurt to have a pair of helping hands…

A small shrug as she stood, hooking her arms beneath the armpits of her quarry and lifting. “Sure…knock yourself out. Wanna get the legs?”

Myrtle ellipses looked Braze over one more time. “Nope. Don’t remember seeing another you wandering around. But I wasn’t hunting you, either. Could've missed it. I imagine that would cause all sorts of trouble. Why would they pick your mug?”

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

Braze nodded curtly and moved to assist her with the man's legs. He wasn't the most physically impressive in stature by any measure, but his strength was surprisingly considerable for someone his size… for some reason.

"I don't know," he admitted, concern drawing his brows together. "That's what I'm trying to find out. Whoever they are, they've already caused trouble wearing my face."

He glanced down toward the unconscious Zeltron as they carried him.

"What was this one wanted for, anyway?"

 

[Kitt Solo]

“Him,” a low snort as they carried his dead weight and it or the cantina and across the village toward the spaceport. “Cheated on some noble woman.”

It was a classic story of love smighted. Kitt didn’t know what that woman had seen in this dude, though. What a mook.

“Ship’s over there,” Kitt motioned to landing pad two. “Thanks back there for the assist. Looks like things where we part ways, pal.”

 

[Braze]

Tags: Kitt Solo

​

"Oh, I see…" Braze offered with a slight tilt of his head, looking the fellow over curiously. He wasn't terribly experienced in the ways of romance, at least not in any realistic sense. He was, after all, a Jedi, so such things were rarely at the forefront of his thoughts.

He offered Kitt a curious glance then, his brows rising slightly at the explanation.

"…That's it?"

His gaze drifted down toward their unconscious cargo, studying the man for another moment as though expecting some considerably more impressive crime to reveal itself through examination alone.

"All of that over infidelity…" There was a note of genuine bewilderment in his voice. "People are strange."

Once they reached the ship, Braze carefully lowered his end of their burden before straightening and dusting his hands against his cloak... He hesitated as she made to part ways.

"If you happen to see me again…"

His jade-green gaze settled upon Kitt more seriously.

"…and I insist we've never met, I'd appreciate it if you assumed I'm the other one and killed him for me."