Private What's in the Box?

[Kuzo]

Chaldea
Nezamiyeh

So this was it. This was the big wide galaxy.

Kuzo stood with his paws on his hips and surveyed the scene before him.

The big wide galaxy, Kuzo thought to himself, had rather a lot of plants and maybe needed a gardener or three to tidy it all up.

The nezumi had been lucky, in a way, that the first transport ship he'd been able to sneak onto was heading for Chaldea, even if he didn't know it. Solidly inside the borders of the Galactic Alliance, relatively lightly populated, to the point that, in the city's only star port he could just stand there, looking around out in the open and not get immediately stepped on by much larger creatures. The city itself, from this vantage point and time of day was a riot of flora, and coming from a fairly crowded nest-ship, the only place Kuzo had ever known, it was a wonder in and of itself.

"I think I will like it here!" He stated out loud, just to see how it sounded to say it. Ears swiveling to catch each sound, he shook out his body and tail before deciding that-

No, that wasn't a thing to say yet.

Dropping down on all fours, he scampered off of the tarmac and into the city, using the creeping groundcover at the edges of where buildings met the sidewalk, giving him a perfectly verdant highway with which to find.... something.

Kuzo now needed something to sell- preferably to a very gullible person who wouldn't know what they were actually looking at- but Kuzo didn't know what, or who yet.

It was okay, he thought as he darted around a corner and down an alley. He'd figure it out.

*****

Several hours later

It had taken a bit to find anything, but really, even more important than the thing itself?

Kuzo had found a BOX.

It was a great box! A bit taller than Kuzo and in good condition. Kuzo had also found something PUT in the box, but that was less important than the box itself. The box itself was white and waxed, perhaps to keep out water? Kuzo wasn't sure. Why someone had thrown out such a perfectly good box, well, the Nezumi certainly didn't know. Finding something else, something heavy, had been easy. Getting it into the box? A bit more of a challenge.

Pushing the box all the way to the market?

Kuzo was huffing and puffing by the time he got it there. After sitting for a few minutes, splayed out against the box, he'd managed to find a bit of one of the plants that bled some sort of green sap. With no concern to what ELSE the sap might do, he happily wrote a message on the box and then, he waited.

Someone would be interested, surely, after all.

Very Inmportint Sith Jedi Artaefackt

Yes. Someone would come along and pay OODLES of credits for this. Kuzo just knew it.

Shem Spinner

 

[Shem Spinner]

Chaldea, Nezamiyeh
Tags: Kuzo

Goldwing​

Shem took one step out of his Epo-1 and took in a deep breath, taking in the air of brand new adventure. He may have very well been a Jedi Padawan, but the fledgling Rishii was not the type to remain idle at the Jedi Temple. How could he when the winds of the wider galaxy were calling his name? Chaldea had wound up on his radar for no particular reason. He had quickly found that Jedi weren't exactly tolerated, forcing him to come up with a story about being a nomad who was traveling from Rishi. They ate it up, of course, and the boy was free to explore their capital to his heart's content.

"Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide."

The fledgling sang as he fluttered through the streets, plucking at the plasma string of his bow like an instrument. The acoustics of the alley he wound himself in naturally carried his voice as he sang.

"I've heard it too many times to ignore it..." A frown came to the padawan's beak. "No... that part comes later... Huh?"

A glint had caught his eye out in the nearby market, light reflecting off of a white box. His keen archer's eye narrowed in on the text poorly written on the container.

Very Inmportint Sith Jedi Artaefackt

At the mere thought, Shem's eyes dilated with excitement.

"Wowie!" he exclaimed. "An artifact!"

Uncle Spinner would be thrilled. He had to get a closer look. The fledgling flew over, landing in front of the box and leaning down to look at the small rodent-like fellow who seemed to own the box, a look of excitement on his face.

"Is that a real artifact?" Shem asked, much like a child might naively ask in regards to a fairy tale.

Much like a story to a child, the Rishii was completely enamored by the object.

 

[Kuzo]

Most people ignored the little Nezumi. Most people probably didn't even notice him, standing there with, at first, an expectant and avaricious expression on his face. Kuzo positively radiated the vibes of greedily rubbing little paws together, without actually doing the motion itself.

But as the afternoon wore on, Kuzo took to pacing. Ears slowly dropping as the pace became a march became a plod. Until finally he plopped down on his tail, so he could rub is sore feet. Con artistry was a lot of work! He thought to himself, a touch of chagrin even in his own inner monologue. But then, nothing worth doing was ever easy, wasn't that what Aunt Nina always said? And Uncle Ijo, and Cousin Shima-

So it was in this contemplative and frankly down spirited mood that the fledgling Rishi found the would-be-hustler in. But Kuzo's ears perked right up with the exclamation, bouncing to his feet as though he hadn't a doubt in the world.

In that moment, indeed, he did not.

"It sure is!" Came the tiny, squeaky voice. Was the little creature at Shem Spinner 's feet male or female? Honestly, there was nothing in particular to give that away, one way or the other, and the high pitched, equally excited voice didn't help at all. "Yessiree, 100% genuine, uh, Jedi, yeah," surreptitiously checking the box out of the corner of his eye, to remember what he'd written on it. Jedi had seemed safer, after all. "Artifact. Guarenteed to wow and amaze!"

Reaching up to tug on his cloak in a very 'see I am so proud of myself' sort of gesture.

"But you understand, it's very special. Can't just sell it to ANYONE, nosir."

 

[Shem Spinner]

Chaldea, Nezamiyeh
Tags: Kuzo

Goldwing, Epo-1, R5-T399​

"Yessiree, 100% genuine, uh, Jedi, yeah,"

"Wow!" Shem exclaimed.

A 100% genuine Jedi artifact. That had to be a really impressive find, right? Uncle Spinner would be so impressed with him if he could bring that back to the Jedi Temple. But then something less exciting was said. Something about... selling it? A frown came to the Rishii's face as he thought about the things he always remembered to grab when leaving for an adventure.

Bow... check. Ascot... check. Lucky dice... check.

Did he grab his wallet? In truth, it didn't really matter if he had his wallet or not. Shem, of course, had very little to his name in terms of credits. Still, the fledgling wasn't just going to steal the artifact. He was a bird of principle after all.

"Oh, you'd better be careful," he quickly improvised. "The Chaldeans don't like force users or their artifacts. Hey, I had an idea!"

Now the cogs were turning in his head.

"If you get that artifact safely off-world and to the Jedi, I'd bet they'd financially compensate you big time," the Rishii told the small rodent salesman. "They are backed by the Galactic Alliance after all. There's gotta be a whole fund at their disposal."

Foolproof.

 

[Kuzo]

Excited was good, yeah? Kuzo was pretty sure of that. Granted, he didn't have a lot of experience with excitement in other species, but the Rishi positively radiated to to the point that even HE could see it.

But then, his eyes widened, and it was clear the little nezumi was hanging onto every word.

"Uh, oh, um. Well." A nervous glance around now because no, he hadn't known that. By this time, a couple of people had noticed the exchange- none of them CARED of course, outside of some idly curiosity, but Kuzo's mind now saw things in their expressions that hadn't been there a moment ago. Was that bemused smile actually a sneer? Was the concentrated frowning actually malice?

Oh no.

He inched over, to try to block the word Jedi written on the box with his back, trying to make it look casual.

A blink and his ears flicking- he'd gotten a little distracted in his paranoia and lost track of the words coming from Shem Spinner . But after a moment they (or some of them anyway) registered, and he nodded emphatically, ears flopping every which way as he did.

"Alright, that sounds good! Yes." Having only heard half of the thing meant that now his mind was turning.

"I accept. You bring me to the Jedi and I'll split the profits with you!"

Yeah, that sounded good.