Private The Particulars of hunting [talohn atar]

[Kat Kenrid]

Talohn Atar (sorry for delays. Gonna be slower than normal for another few days at least)

Kat nodded at the preferred use of a vibroblade, "They're certainly not a poor choice, long as you don't remove your own limb." she said with a chuckle. Though not as notorious as lightsabers for dismemberments, she knew what a vibro-blade would do if only pressed against the skin while turned on. They were designed to shred by touch, not by cutting ability alone.

She listened earnestly at their talk about slavers. Even the droid seemed to resent them, which was certainly good. He wouldn't always kill them, but it did sound like they were preferred that way. "I absolutely agree. They're filth." she wasn't sure what else to say there. He then talked about sith, and them being reasonable. Which was a bit surprising. She hadn't run into them herself, but she often avoided their territory. She hadn't heard such reasonableness about them herself. And, having been warned of being taken advantage of by force users when she found out she was one, she honestly wasn't actively seeking them out either. Or most jedi for that matter.

Talohn seemed to have his rules and stick by them. Even when the hiring party was sith. And...aparently 15. Goodness they started young. Guess they were just raised that way. Or perhaps she was just used to the amount of time she had left, compared to the average sentient. She didn't think of it too often, but she did understand she'd probably outlive most people she met...assuming she wasn't killed first.

He brought up her change of skin color and she made extra sure her skin was back to its typical green, "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I'm Falleen remember." she shrugged, "Sometimes our skin color changes...based on emotion. I have a bad history with slavers. My mentor, honestly more of a mother than mine was, raised me into bounty hunting. But I still avoid slavers, and when I meet them things don't exactly often end peacefully. Outside of them, you might be surprised how low the death rates are. I don't enjoy killing...but I was definitely taught how to do it well."

He'd shared, wasn't wrong for her too either, even if she didn't say everything right away, "She's the reason I have the armor. It's...kind of a tribute to her that I use it. I try and follow her code, even if it's not what every mandalorian follows. But I didn't follow them, I followed her."

 

[Talohn Atar]

"Ahhh, mentor, that's always nice to have. Other than swordfighting, most of what I know, even Madlad's creation, was self taught with research. Wasn't easy." he he made Madlad with only his own brains, this man should be out curing plagues without even trying. Talohn peers out of the window, eyes catching the incoming platform. "Seems we're arriving. Hey, Madlad, do a comm scan of the area to see if you can catch anything of interest. Yea?"

"Can do." The droid responds. "The twi'lek I mentioned, so naive. Shes talking with her mom, excited to get a fresh start. She's headed here, so we're in the right place for sure. Can't wait to strangle that ithorian scum." Talohn points at Madlad. "No strangling. This one is supposed to live." Madlad emits grumbles of irritation.

With that, Talohn looks back to Kat. "Following your own code is better than following one hundreds follow. If hundreds follow, then it's just a cult. Being in a cult is bad. Gotta have a mind of your own, y'know? Think for yourself and all that. S'why I'm not a fan of the jedi. They aren't much for independent thinking. The sith beat them in that regard, despite being assholes." He nods at the bad history with slavers. "I don't have a personal history with them, but they've hurt my people enough. Old wounds on a culture run deep. Some of my people still hate mandos despite how long it's been. Me?" he chuckles. "I'm just beskar jealous." He laughs.

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

Kat furrowed her brow. Did he just say the skills he used to make Madlad were self taught. It was one thing to self teach how to aim. Marksmanship with a pistol was all about practice, with only tidbits of knowledge. But the ins and outs of droids were very much not something that you could generally teach yourself. Slicers had an easier time to, they could take existing code and alter it. But making an effective combat droid was an entirely separate matter. "That's quite a skillset to have." her words didn't betray just how impressed she was by that skill, though they did show only a piece of the respect for that amount of effort. It was pretty significant.

Apparently they were here, she glanced out the window thoughtfully, the droid apparently had done another tap into the comms systems. Probably illegal, but they were authorized to hunt somebody by the law. And sometimes the law broke their own rules. She wasn't going to get picky about this one.

She glanced back at him as he started talking about codes, cults, and who he works with. She definitely didn't agree with him about codes that hundreds had being a cult, but it was hard to be in a cult if you didn't follow anyone. Short of anarchists, but they were less a cult and more just...actually she didn't know what they'd be called. He was right about jedi and independent thinking though, at least for common jedi. Her own group that had started teaching her had not only not wanted to prevent her from bounty hunting, but actually said that it was pretty much the perfect job. She hadn't changed a thing since joining, she'd only begun to train in the force and practice it.

He didn't seem to hate mando's that was good for her and all, though he did really want Beskar clearly, "That's fair. I can't say just how useful this stuff is. Blaster bolts, melee weapons. It's practically indestructible. Never had to go up against a jedi or sith with it, but I know that it's supposed to block lightsabers as well. You know, the Mando's may have a terrible reputation from some people. They don't have a good history for mercy. But when it comes to craftsmanship they sure do know what they're doing."

She chuckled, "There's another bonus to this armor aside from just pure combat ability. Two, actually. For one, it hides my face. People can't really tell what species I am, so they generally assume I'm human. For two, mandalorians have a reputation. It lets me go to some places pretty easily, and keeps some people from trying to screw with me. On the downside, you can really stick out if you're in the wrong place in this kind of armor."

Kat cocked her head at him, switching back to previous topics as she waited to get out. She'd follow out whenever they did arrive, "You said you self taught to make Madlad. How could you have managed that? And why not make more than one? Seems like a whole crew would come in real handy."

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

"Mandos get the job done, I've got a professional respect for them in that regard." Talohn nods. "In terms of beskar, it's all well and good if I can get some to make my own armor. But I want to get that beskar on him." He points at Madlad, who chuckles darkly. It's a terrifying thought, that droid with beskar. Could probably fight a force user at that point. "But yea, having beskar also screams 'steal from me' if you aren't careful about it. But not being able to discern your species is good for your sort. Zeltron, Falleen. Having to constantly deal with weirdos offering you drinks doesn't sound too pleasant."

"You offer girls drinks all the time." Madlad comments. Talohn raises a brow. "True, granted I'm not an idiot who tries hitting on the person who could rip me apart with crushgaunts." He coughs, looking a bit awkward now. "Plus it's best to be professional when on the job..." Madlad then makes it worse, like it always does. "You're just coming up with excuses to hide your twi'lek fetish." If Talohn didn't have fur, he'd be red right now. He points at Madlad. "Droid, I fucking swear...."

Then she changes the subject. Thank god. Talohn is quick to answer and move on from the cursed discussion of before. "I could make the body again, sure. But making madlad's body was years of work, of upgrading parts, adding new ones, wiring new components, madlad is a work made from multiple years. I could probably make a good chassis as it stands now though. The main issue is..." The droid cuts Talohn off. "I was an accident. Kitty cat here fucked up my mental programming so bad that it circled around to making me more intelligent than most droids. He can't replicate it." Talohn sighs, crossing his arms. "You don't have to put it that way...."

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

Kat had to raise an eyebrow again, he wanted to put Beskar on the droid. While it made for a great idea in theory, a beskar droid would be almost impossible to break. It could have way less weak point than an organic and require less of the material. But on the downside, repairing the darn thing would be absolutely nervewracking. Not to mention putting it on that droid was downright insane. "You serious? I mean, good luck. But that sure does sound like your droid will start getting all the attention, if you can even get the beskar on him without...breaking something. I haven't made beskar myself, but my mentor told me that it was not a very well known method to actually know how to make beskar properly."

He was definitely right about beskar screaming 'steal from me' if you didn't look like a mando at least. The stuff was not incredibly easy to come by, or form. And it could sell for quite a market if you knew what you were doing. If you weren't prepared, you could easily have it taken from you by a group of overly proud pirates or a knowledgable cantina owner.

Ah, and then the two went off onto another one of their own conversations. About weirdos offering people drinks in bars. And about Talohn offering people drinks in bars. She tapped her fingers on her helmet just watching the two in amusement. Each sentence tossing out something even better than the last. She chuckled to herself, "Well well, can't say you two are the most normal troop. Aside from the twi'lek part. There are three things you get compared to when people are trying to tell you you like nice, Twi'leks, Zeltrons, and Angels. And that last one is definitely of a later kind." she shook her head, "Wasn't all bad though. Eventually I learned how to set them on each other, and when that happens all I have to do is sit back for a little. Take a free drink, and leave before they're done. By the time they realize I'm gone they're too exhausted to try and chase me down."

Apparently, his droid was just too much work. He might be able to remake the body but it would take so long that he could probably profit comparably more without doing so. And then the truth comes out, Madlad was an error. "Ha! Yet again, an error is the explanation for a droids behavior and intelligence being beyond what they should normally. You know you'd think by now someone would have figured out how to cause these 'errors' on purpose. Though, I'd honestly be afraid if the police force was run entirely by Madlads. No offense."

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

Madlad of course, is not done. "You're right Talohn, I apologize. It is not that you have a Twi'lek fetish. It's that you have a red twi'lek fetish." Talohn puts his head in his hands. "I need a nap..." It really is such an odd droid. After teasing Talohn further, it begins an even odder droid behavior. Roarous laughter. It even slaps itself on the knee with a loud metal ring. Then Kat mentions the thing about attention, and the droid's gaze turns to her. "More attention means more skulls to bash if people decide to be fools." Scary.

Having recovered from further embarrassment, Talohn speaks up again. "Yea, I decided to stop trying on the logic that a being as violent as madlad, if the sith got that mental programming...or the CIS..." He shakes his head. "I'd rather not be the cause of the most violent droid army in history." He's got a point....the droid is definitely on the eccentric side. He then chuckles. "Angels, twi'lek, or zeltron, eh? I'd compare your beauty to that of a falleen, if I'm being honest." He doesn't flirt while on the job, he's just making a really corny and terrible joke. Even madlad reacts to the joke with a deep sigh. A sigh of disappointment.

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

Kat put a hand over her mouth and glanced out the window hiding her amusement at Madlads continued joking about Talohn and his own reaction. The two of them truly were an odd pair. A droid with a personality like a complete sentient and even the physical movements of one, but with the addition of enjoying things that certainly would be criminal. And, in spite of having no reason to believe she would end up on the receiving end of it, was still intimidating. Especially if Talohn ever managed to actually encoat the thing in Beskar.

It seemed Talohn was content with not sending out murderous robots onto the market, in spite of the potential profit of it. Well that was certainly promising. He had some sense, it was also comforting to know he didn't make the droid this way on purpose. Whether or not he still kept it around knowingly or not. She shook her head, still smiling, at the mention of comparing her beauty to that of a falleen. Then made a clearly sarcastic face, though enjoying herself, "Well that's so sweet of you. Comparing me to the epitome of beauty, naturally, my own species."

Her jokes were definitely not any better...if not worse at the moment. "You know. I don't always work with others, but it sure does make it easier when they aren't unfriendly about it." she admitted.

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

"I will say I'm out of my element here, to be honest. Usually I'm asked to shoot someone down, or beat them up. I'm not the best at capturing without causing a bloody nose, but credits are credits." That's when the ship lands, and Madlad alerts them. "It seems we are here. I am sad I will not be able to break this ithorian's spine over my knee, but life is unfair." The droid stands up, and leads the way out. He always takes the front. Despite it's bloodthirsty nature, Madlad always honors it's most treasured rule. Protocol one, protect the child. Talohn stands up after, following his droid. Halfway down the ramp, he looks back at her. "Come on 'epitome of beauty'." He states teasingly, a smug grin on his face. "We've work to do. Wonder if they sell any cool helmets around here.... I know whether or not a helmet looks cool shouldn't matter, but I don't want to walk around looking like I work on a hutt sandcrawler, y'know?"

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

She clicked her tongue, "Yeah that is more a mercenary element than hunter. I don't do mercenary work so much. Not that I completely exclude it, it's just I don't trust many people with long term contracts." she said. Madlad mentioned their status, and his disappointment at the lack of hostility in the job. She picked up her helmet, again tapping many of her equipment to make sure they were there as they left the taxi. She shook her head, with a smile, as he called her out and she stretched afterwards.

He mentioned wanting to find a cool helmet, regardless of it's tactical ability, "Why not get something to go over a helmet. Then you can get one that looks nice, but underneath is functional." She suggested with a shrug, then chuckled, "No need for me to worry. I look awesome." there was a moment where she frowned after that. She almost felt guilty making a joke involving the armor. In her mind, it wasn't hers. It was her mentors.
Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

"I don't do many long term contracts either." Talohn states, ignoring Madlad's further lamenting about not being able to commit manslaughter. He nods in regards to the idea of putting something over a helmet. "They I'm dealing with too much extra weight, and that's just a problem in general. It's a precious balance you need to keep, y'know? The main perk of those mando helmets is the wide visor, doesn't create any troublesome blind spots to deal with."

He then peers back at her. "Yes, you do look awesome, thanks for reminding me." He grunts, now a bit sour in the way a child would be. Course, his attention is quickly caught instead by a passing red twi'lek. "Eyes front." Madlad states, snapping Talohn back to reality with an embarassed cough. The droid points at a restaurant on the side of the street. "This seems a proper place to wait. Shall we wait for the scum who..." Madlad's shoulders slump. "I will not get to rip and tear apart..."

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

He mentioned that the extra something would just be too much weight. And then commented also on the wide visor, which also happened to make her chuckle, "Oh there's some extra tech you'd like. This can use 360º infrared view." she said proudly patting the helmet she had at her side. "There's just about no sneaking up on me when I'm wearing this. It can be a bit disorienting if you aren't used to them. But you'd love to see the expression on someones face when you stab them in the leg when they thought they had the drop on you."

He seemed a little bit jealous at the armor she had. Though he was quickly distracted by a red twi'lek passing by. Which Madlad immediately recognized in spite of being at the front of the party. She shook her head smiling, "Man you'd go absolutely nuts if you met a Red Twi'lek who makes Beskar'gam." she laughed patting him on the back as the droid mentioned being at the place, but also that he would unfortunately not get to tear apart the Ithorian today.

"And aren't I glad about that. No need for extra violence."

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

Talohn nods. "The 360 sounds nice, though I bet it's headache worthy at times, to be honest, since the brain is usually only meant to see what's in front of the eyes." He states, tapping his head. Madlad leads them into the store so they can find their food. "Sustenance.... I have never tasted it, I suppose flavor is a pleasant feature, but in my opinion, flavor is irrelevant as long as it gives energy." The droid states. Talohn shrugs. "Flavor is nice to have, but sometimes I crave simplicity, a simple raw steak does it just fine sometime." Raw?! Then again, cathar are likely one of the races that can eat that without any health issues.

It's then she mentions the twi'lek of his dreams, and the Cathar cackles. "I'm not that lucky. Besides, my charm success rate isn't that high, if I did meet such a girl, I doubt I'd get anywhere." After that, Talohn takes a seat at the bar. Madlad decides to comment on Talohn's words, looking to Kat. "The corellia incident was a serious blow to his confidence. Y'see, he-" Talohn cut the droid off. "We don't mention corellia. Ever."

When Kat mentions the lack of violence, Madlad scoffs. "That's like, your opinion I guess."

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

"You might be surprised how much the brain can adapt too. Course, I've been using it for years. I had the time to get used to it." she responded. The droid would talk about flavor, and the use of energy. Talohn wanted the flavor, though, he did seem to want it raw which even to Kat's tastes was a bit on the extreme end of things. Some things were fine raw, if made right. Like fish, she could accept that sometimes a fish could be well made raw, but only with something else or for a special recipe.

He did seem to have low expectations of his own charm succeeding, which had a story...which apparently she wouldn't get to hear. He scoffed at her comment on violence, she cocked her head as she looked at him. She knew full well that, when it came to hunters she was often on the more reserved end about violence. But Talohn was more a mercenary in his own words. Their whole job revolved around violence. "I am aware I may not share those sentiments with others in my...job type. But I've never exactly fit in with the crowd. Any crowd really. I'm more expressive than most Falleen would like, the mandalorians probably wouldn't actually consider me one of them, and there are so many hunters that would rather get to kill their target." Trandoshans in particular. There was a fourth group she didn't mention, the force sensitives. She was still training, working hard. But...she was new to it. She didn't follow an order exactly. She was taught by people who journeyed often, like she did. And so there was not exactly a temple to go to, even if she had time. She mostly was hoping that with them giving her an opening she could continue to learn alone...that was not an easy feat.

She sighed, "It's not that I think killing is wrong. But there are consequences when things break out into outright battle."

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

Madlad simply stands, as it usually does. It's a guard droid after all, thus it's job is to stand guard. Talohn orders himself a form of light wine, That's how he is, always drinking some form of alcohol or another to calm his nerves. "Keep an eye out for ithorians, Madlad." The droid nods in agreement before it's single eye begins scanning the room. With that, Talohn turns his gaze to Kat. "Come on, take a seat. I suppose food is on me."

Once Kat takes a seat, Talohn speaks his mind in regards to her vies on violence. "I don't try to kill, but if someone's shooting at me, I'm going to shoot back. if I wound them, I wound them. If the blaster happens to hit them in the forehead, they die. Long as I come out alive. Slavers though, I don't let them live. Also, call me racist all you want. But I don't really like letting trandoshans live either. Fucking lizards." He states, Taking a long drink from his wine. "OOh...this is a goos year. You should try some of this."

"I see killing as a necessary evil. That's the thing, if someone is a horrible monster and you don't kill them, you've indirectly killed even more people to selfishly preserve your sense of self justice." He shakes his head.

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

Kat smiled and sat down, slightly adjusting herself to make way properly for the sword, and then setting the helmet on the table to the side. But close enough she could snatch it, or shoot someone, if they tried to nab it. She ordered as well, preffering something non alcoholic since they might be fighting soon and she had no care to risk trying a new alcohol at a time like this.

He responded about the matter of violence and killing, also trandoshans. They were pretty messed up people, to be fair, she'd never met one that wasn't probably guilty of enough to deserve getting killed. And really, so far, she didn't disagree with him. He added a short bit about the wine and she smiled, "Heh, maybe after. Don't want to drink too much before the job."

However then he tried to say that by not killing a 'horrible monster' you were responsible due to some sense of justice. She narrowed her eyes, "No." there was no emotion again in her voice, it wasn't violent, but it wasn't friendly either, just...empty, "I'm not saying they don't deserve it. I'm not even saying that, if the person was bad enough, killing them wouldn't even be wrong. Or if you can't trust the government to do its job."

She leaned back in her chair and took a drink of her own, tasting it in her mouth to make sure it fit what she was expecting. "We've lived different lives. You said you were a mercenary, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not even gonna tell you to change how you go after bounties, or work, or any of that. But it does explain why you've got the view you do. I had to get used to the...subtleties. I saw crime without the ability to truly act for awhile, so I get a little more intimate view. Nothing wrong with killing a monster, for goodness sakes if they all died I'd be all the happier for it." she let out a breath, "But when you kill a monster, you kill his secrets too. The corrupt businessman working with a network of slavers, all that contact and information he had is gone. The slaver who was in charge of one group, could give up his allies just so his execution gets delayed. This target, his schemes and allies would vanish. But if we bring him in, they can discover who he works with, if he does have others. Does he deserve anything for it? Nope. But the more people nabbed the better. I think that one death of a monster isn't as good as nine monsters in a cage."

She didn't think he was a bad person for believing monsters should die. And certainly not slavers. But it was just she thought there was more behind how it should be brought about. In a perfect universe, they'd all die. But it wasn't one. And to her, just as she was working with him and his probably criminal droid, she thought it was best to find the right choices to get the most.

Talohn Atar

 

[Talohn Atar]

"You put up a fair point." The cathar agrees, taking another sip from his wine. "I'll usually interrogate and get some info if I know they're related to slaving operations. When dealing in those, my priority is to free people, not kill people." Madlad adds to Talohn's statement. "Getting to snap slaver spines is just a very delicious perk." The droid says, with another dark chuckle. This droid is possessed or something.

Talohn, ignoring one of likely to be many of Madlad's horrifying quotes today, moves on. "I don't just chase bounties though, I'm general purpose. I've been called in for hostage rescue before, which isn't actually that hard. Similar to a bank he-" He coughs, stopping himself. "Nevermind. Anyways, I never really have any issues extracting info from people." He leans his head in the direction of the cursed droid for a moment. Makes sense. "I myself love a drink gun fight. Makes the lasers look more pretty."

(Sorry for short post. I'm on the sick side)

Kat Kenrid

 

[Kat Kenrid]

Well he wasn't entirely unreasonable. Just different. That wasn't wrong. The droid, that was psychotic. If Talohn wasn't there, she probably wouldn't want to be near the thing at all. At least not unless she was planning to shoot it. He started talking about comparing hostages to what was presumably a bank heist. He had a lot of near slip ups. But again, she wasn't really going to judge him harshly. Not like she hadn't committed crimes before, not the thieving or robbery kind though. But she'd probably transported stolen goods before.

He mentioned drunk gun fight, she shook her head but still smiled. "Nothing like potential near death while inebriated." it was half a joke. She had to let herself get behind just a little bit of the fighting spirit. Live in this type of life and you either had to take it coldly or take it with some courage and a touch of fun when it was an option.

Talohn Atar