Bounty Paint it, Neon

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Tayl was, on most days, an eerily calm young woman. Unblinking. Uncompromising. Stoic as a Mandalorian possibly could be.
On most days, she wouldn't be using her aggressive charm to encourage Aruetiise. Especially, Jedi. But this wasn't most days. Today was desperate.

Today she was also talking to an undressed Jedi whom she expected to be behind a curtain when she turned around.
So she just looked her over, instantly regretting this mistake, and turned right back around. "Iris, I-"

What a weird krifing day.

"Senator, I have need of uh, funding. To hire a Mandalorian. This is Tayl. I'll uh, leave it to you two to discuss terms. I'm gonna shower now."

She was still wide eyed the two Aruetiise quickly moved onto business. Probably for the best of things, But Tayl was still a bit shook. The chip regulated adrenaline, dopamine, short term stress and the most intense of battlefield passions. Not, whatever this was...

"Hello, Tayl. You can call me Hope." The voice paused again. "Sorry for the secrecy. I'm not sure how much you've been told, but... it's necessary. What we're doing here is dangerous." There was a dark edge to his tone. Ponderous, yet sharp.

"So... How much do you know?"

"Mhmh" Tayl clears her throat, still staring at absolutely nothing, which was at least something she could view openly, and thinking about... something. Whoever genetically programed her to fixate on specifics, and latch onto things like a bloodhound back on kamino, was a real karking ass!

"I uhm. I understand the secrecy, Hope" She takes a deep breath, shifting her focus to the matter at hand "I know that your little bird here has been busy. Got extensive notes on spice trade; Names, locations, routes. Some real operator chit" She half chuckles, glancing to the curtain over her shoulder "And something about 'Giggledust'. Can't say I'm familiar"

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Yeah. More than meets the eye alright​

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Iris Arani \\ Alicio Organa​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris continued to shower, for the time being. Major introspection hours there. More than she actually figured, any way. She closed her eyes as she let the water run over her face. Let herself drift, just a little. Until the warm water ran out and she immediately yelped as almost frozen droplets hit her skin. A wave of her hand turned off the water before she slipped out and snatched a towel to dry off.

Wrapped in just that towel she'd come out, half listening to the conversation as she decided to actually make something to eat. Canned food. Delicious, processed pasta.

Tae'l Vizsla | Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

"I know that your little bird here has been busy."

The voice on the other end of line practically scoffed in surprise. He hadn't thought to think of anyone as his 'little bird', least of all Iris. If anything, they were partners. Sharing the danger, working together towards a better Denon. But maybe that's the game he was playing now.

Spymaster Organa.

"Well, to begin with, Giggledust is a drug," the voice said, returning to a mask of seriousness. "I don't know much about it myself, but I do know it's a big cash cow for a few criminal organization on Denon. Lives are ruined over it."

The voice paused, as if trying to decide exactly how much to say. "If you've spent any time in the poorer sections of Denon, you'll have seen it's effects. Along with high crime rates, homelessness... people turning to anything to keep afloat."

"That's the fault of the Corporate Authorities. 'Corpos'. Megabusinesses who run Denon, and who care more about turning a profit than ensuring the livelihood of their citizens. Uh... my 'bird' and I," Alicio continued, still not sure what Tayl knew about Iris, "...are trying to bring the crimes of the Corpos before the entire Alliance. She's collecting evidence, and when we have enough, I'm going to present it to the Senate, with the hope of instituting change for the people."

"I'd be willing to pay you to help, Tayl, if... if she trusts you. How do you know each other?"

- Tae'l Vizsla - Iris Arani -

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Wait... she's fighting Corpos? It became very clear to Tayl, Very quickly, that Iris was in way deeper than she thought. And now, Tayl was about to be. The little Jedi she had come to collect for a simple bounty put out by an angry club owner, wasn't just here to fight a few thugs. She's at war with entire goddamned planet.

And she yelps like a Carosi pup...

Tayl herself was quick to squint at the shower for just a moment. 4 years in the underworld, places just like Denon, had made the poor girl paranoid, it seemed. She even caught herself with a few fingers already on her holstered blaster, deciding to pull away and leave a thumb in her belt while "Hope" continued to speak. "You good, Jedi?"

Yeah. yeah, she'll be fine.

She just leaned back against the shelf, absorbing information piece by piece and handing off a can of...
Pasta maybe? to Iris, as they approached the shelves.

Hope brought up an interesting point though. Despite looking like every other urban hellscape she'd been forced to crawl through, specifically each level of Coruscant down to 1313, Denon almost seemed more desperate than usual?
She chalked it up to just being a bad place, same old story. But maybe it was a worse neighborhood than she initially thought.

"I'd be willing to pay you to help, Tayl, if... if she trusts you. How do you know each other?"

"Mhm" She crossed her arms over her armored chest, mulling this whole thing over. It was trouble, that's for sure. More trouble than she had any right to take on under the current circumstances. But her mission needed money... Her mother deserved to see the sky again...

"Yeah, we've known each other all of two minutes after I invited myself in" She hummed, pushing herself off the wall grab some coffee for herself "We're like peas in a pod, Aren't we babe?"

Despite shaking her head and smiling at the absolutely ridiculous situation she had put both herself and Iris in just by being here, she meant to help.

"Jokes aside, I don't think we'd be having this conversation if she didn't know that I was good as my word. Loathe as I am to say it, I need help... And help begets, well, help? That's what you Jedi-types do, isn't it? Help? So here I am, exchanging myself for the good of another"

Well, Hope might not even be a Jedi. Who knows, but Iris is! So maybe that weird council or temple thingy of theirs was involved too.

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Alicio Organa \\ Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris hummed a little tune before just stepping over to the holocall. Into view, somewhat. Babe. That was a new one. She squinted at the Twi'lek for a moment before turning her gaze back to Alicio's hologram.

"She found my old place under a hunt for the bounty put on Tagger. I didn't notice until after she'd already seen my face. I'm not saying I'm hard to find, especially by coming back here, but she's already proven to be resourceful. And she's a Mandalorian. It'd be better to hire her than incarcerate her until we've finished here." For all intents and purposes, the Tagger was supposed to be gone. Next time she needed to make sure to check her security feed before just walking into a place.

Her expression softened as she leaned on the counter, casually scooping up some of the Chef Droid R D ravioli to take a quick bite. Then offered some over to Tayl. "There's no deceit in her colors either. And.. She needs help, just as she said. I trust that."

Tae'l Vizsla | Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

At hearing they had known each other for all of less than a day, Alicio paused, his silence deafening.

How could they possibly trust a bounty hunter to keep their secret? Even if she was a Mandalorian, Tayl was a mercenary. Their enemies had far more credits than they did. What was stopping her from betraying them, revealing everything to the Corporate Authorities?

Hope took a deep breath.

Trust, Organa. Trust.

"Okay," the voice said, regaining a bit of composure, and smiling a bit at the Mandalorian calling him a 'Jedi-type'. He took it as the highest compliment. "Okay. In that case, I'd be happy to give you a job, Tayl. Anything you need. We can negotiate a price."

"It's simple work. Just collect videos, pictures, recordings, eye-witness testimonials, of wrongdoings committed by the Corporate Authorities. I'm not asking you to break any laws." He had to make that clear. Alicio wasn't some dirty politician, paying bounty hunters to circumvent the statutes of his own system. "But... don't get caught. Be safe."

The voice turned to address Iris. "Ah... 'Tagger'. I think all I'm gonna say is 'good work', and 'be more careful next time'. Yeah?" The hint of a smile could be heard through the call.

"If you need anything at all, let me know. Hope out."

[exeunt thread, pursued by bear]

- Tae'l Vizsla - Iris Arani -

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

She just took the ravioli with a dumb, fanged and very much smug grin on her face. It was actually kind of fun to tease the Jedi, maybe she could get used to this after all.

But of course, they were here on business now. So she shifted her attention back onto the voice of Alicio Organa , whoever they really were, to absorb all the details she'd be given. And honestly, it wasn't much to go off of. But still, there were a few key details that stuck out to the young Mandalorian;

I'm not asking you to break any laws."

Like taking ALL OF THE FUN OUT OF IT? She had spent the past 4 years on Coruscant doing her own brand of vigilante justice, enacted on every poor thug that had so much as spoken to the little monsters of Apollyon The Betrayer . And he didn't want her breaking any laws?

HOW THE HELL DO YOU QUESTION SOMEONE WITHOUT TAKING FINGERS?!

She just... sighed. "Gotta admit, hope. I'm not usually the Bounty Hunting type. I usually fight my battles directly, This was a rare exception... But I can watch your Jedi's back while she does the uhm... sensitive, stuff" LIKE QUESTIONING IDIOTS, APPARENTLY. Seriously, What a Killjoy.

Once the call had ended, she just kind of stood there leaning over the table, waiting until she had finished chewing to speak up again. "Jedi... This gonna take awhile, isn't it"

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Iris Arani \\ Alicio Organa (?)​

 

[Iris Arani]

Oh boy.

Iris could already see her annoyance with the stipulations. They flashed in the colors like.. Well a flash. She took another bite, just listening to Alicio. Gave him a thumbs up as she chewed. Careful is what she would be. It wasn't just her butt on the line anymore if she actually got caught. She hummed as the call ended, frowning just for a moment. Good work and be more careful.

She was trying to be.

".. Probably. Which is why when you need help we'll go there first. It's a lot of investigation. I know it's not like, exciting work. But it would be nice to have someone to watch my back. Couple people, actually."

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Okay... I can work with that" She nods to herself, taking a deep breath. Admittedly, she wasn't actually sure how to feel about working with, or for, The Jedi. Not just Iris but potentially the entire council. They weren't like the sith, from what she'd heard, and often worked together in groups. Always two, Mother said? A master and a Padawan, or something. Or maybe that was the Sith??

Okay so, Angry religious zealots versus less angry religious slightly less zealots? She needed to ask some questions and study some holobooks.

Anyway...

"So... You building a team or something? I mean, I'm carrying enough firepower to compensate if not" She chuckled nervously. Honestly, she could afford to lose a few pounds. Of gear. A few pounds of gear- Tayl is actually thin for a Twi'lek!
Most of that weight is muscle, thank you very much. Because... muscle is heavier than fat. Granted Lekku are mostly fat, which in theory might add a little weight but-

Is this because of the whole shower thing? There isn't anything to worry about, Iris couldn't have seen much, certainly not as much as Tayl had-

Getting of track, Tayl...!

"An-anyway," Tayl cleared her throat abruptly, turning to stare idly at the many notes strewn around the hideout. Some of them now stained with pink paint "I know a thing or two about you and your... associates, roughly. But do you have... questions? I realize I kind of just showed up in your life out of the blue, tried to capture you, invaded your uhm. personal space, And yet, I haven't been the most polite of guests. That's not usually my MO, honestly? Sorry"

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Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"Kind of. Getting help from some of the locals and.. Others that technically can't help me." They were going to, of course, but if there was any connection between her and the Vigilantes revealed, well. All of her evidence would amount to nothing if there was something they could pry apart and turn against her. "There's so many eggshells to be worried about stepping on. That's just how entrenched they got here. But.. This is the only way. Just killing the Corpos won't solve anything, anywhere. People abused the system. It's time to fix it."

She grumbled as she took another bite though. She really didn't like politics.

".. Oh uh. I mean. You can tell me whatever you want but uh, I don't really uh.. Need to know? Your colors, they tell me everything I need to know. You're worried about your family, you're annoyed that there are rules but are willing to follow them anyway. You're trustworthy. You're.." Iris squinted for a moment as she searched through them again. "Uncomfortable? .. Oh, I'm in a towel. Should I get dressed?"

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Pff! no..." She waved dismissively, shaking her head until... "I mean- not if you don't want to! It's your house, your rules"
She gave a sidelong glance to feign attention neutral attention, But her green eyes were still a little wider than before. The "colors" weren't exactly uncomfortable, more like, She didn't want to make Iris uncomfortable.

So she just crossed her arms, nodded to herself and pretended like everything was fine and that she wasn't losing her composure at all "In Death Watch, we had co-ed barracks and shipboard quarters all the time. Can't be in our armor all the time, sadly, you know how it is"

She failed to mention that they usually just wore their flight suits when they slept or just athletic wear, and literally all of her squad-mates were Men that she had little to no interest in, but the story suited her needs at the moment. So she just sipped her freshly made coffee, which had waaaaay too much sugar to even count as coffee anymore, especially to a Mandalorian.

Hold on... colors?

they tell me everything I need to know.

She mulled over those exact words several times over. Thinking on it, If her chip regulated Adrenaline, Dopamine and other chemicals, but didn't suppress the dopamine once it reached a high unlike other chemicals in her system- and then it suddenly hit her like that train on Ordo; Iris could just read her kriffing mind???

One could hear the slight gurgle as the coffee became stuck in her throat for just a moment.
"Mhmmh. strong coffee!" She swirled it in the mug, just staring down into into the creamy void.

"Well, If you can just, tell everything I'm thinking than I guess we already have an accord, huh? I should uh, go call in the ship and my pet. Be back in a few"

She then waved Iris goodbye while turning, headed for the stairs as she passed the coffee off at a nearby shelf, leaving just a little creamy, barely even browned coffee in the bottom.

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Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris blinked slowly. In surprise. Tilted her head. Embarrassment? A lot of embarrassment. She didn't dare press on it, instead just nodding as Tayl ran off. Instead turned her gaze towards the room. The ruined notes. With a sigh she'd gather them up and use her datapad to at least store them. Save what she could salvage while she waited for the Mandalorian to return.

Oh and actually get dressed, at some point. Street clothes at that. Jeans, a top. No point in letting her be embarrassed.

Tae'l Vizsla