In Which Djonwi (lisipuska) goes out to hire another mercenary into his crew and gets completely derailed by Herasek (saljamka).
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Even though her contact was now more than a little late, Herasek hadn't once asked anyone for the time. She sat at the far corner of the cantina with her back to the wall, heavy boots crossed at the ankle on the table, and skimmed through the hits that came up on her search for a 'Mr. Wilkes'. After dismissing some of the more bland results, the picture of who she was supposed to be meeting got more and more odd. An ex-pit fighting Twi'lek with a metal arm. Okay. If nothing else it was going to be interesting.
She reached forward for her drink. There was an empty glass sitting waiting on the table, but it hadn't been used, that was for the company. Instead, she picked up the entire pitcher of beer and sipped at it through a straw. Drinking right from the jug would have been rude. Hera flicked her gaze over the rim towards the door, even if she wasn't checking the time, she was still checking out the comings and goings of the place.
Soon enough a light pink Twi'lek with a red cap, goggles, and a long coat stepped inside the cantina in absolutely no rush at all, and a red monkey-lizard perched on his shoulders, its tail wrapped around the other's neck. The man, whose face and lekku were covered in various blinking cybernetics, stepped over to the bar first to have a chat with the bartender. He very obviously flirted with her, and then kissed her on both cheeks and left after his pet acquired a treat. He, however, stopped yet again to talk up a Cathar woman. It looked like he was boasting about something or perhaps telling a joke and she laughed.
The monkey-lizard smacked him over the head a few times and pointed at his goggles and then hit some buttons. The Twi'lek swatted at him for that and then excused himself from the Cathar before doing a quick scan of the room. There we go--the Rattataki woman came up on his goggle's UI. He gave his pet another treat and finally made his way over to the table.
"Good evening, miss!" Djonwi said with a shallow bow at the waist. "Mr. Wilkes at your service. Might you be Herasek?"
"Huh." Hera looked him up and down then jerked her head towards one of the free stools, keeping her head tilted. "At my service, eh? From the way I read it, I figured you wanted me to service you." She teased, her wording very deliberate. Setting the pitcher back onto the table, but making no motion of moving her feet off of it, she gave him a small lop-sided smile.
"Oh, I think we could arrange that, too," the Twi'lek chuckled mechanically and took a seat at the table. "I hope you don't mind my friend Camawee here." He nodded to the monkey-lizard which jumped from his shoulder onto another stool. "But business first, yes? Tell me what it is you do specifically. I want to make sure I contacted the right pretty face," he grinned and took the pitcher to pour himself a glass.
"Well," She started, hissing a breath through her teeth, "I like variety. I also like credits, and morals don't fill my stomach." Hera looked him up and down again before stretching one gloved arm out to scratch under Camawee's chin. "I'll haul cargo - any cargo. I can help procure rare and expensive goods at a cut down price, but I'm also partial to kicking faces in if that's what you want."
"Interesting, interesting." Djonwi took his glass and sat back in his chair, taking a drink, his own cybernetic eyes glowed behind his goggles as he in turn looked over Herasek, a curious smirk on his scarred face. "I think this'll be more of a--case by case thing. I won't just be travelling around, plundering ships constantly," he chuckled. "But I need some skilled hands, you understand. I'm tougher than my soft exterior would lead you to believe, but my place is behind a computer."
"I have skilled hands, trust me." Hera removed her hand from the monkey-lizard and picked up the pitcher again. "You still a fighter?"
Camawee gave an enthusiastic nod and reached for his master's drink. Djonwi took his glass away but picked another one up from a passing waitress and poured a drink for his companion, setting it down for him.
"I wouldn't mind seeing for myself just how skilled you are with them." The Twi'lek smirked at the woman, but shook his head. "A fighter? What gave that away? The bruises on my face?"
"Bruises on you face just means someone else hit you." Hera shrugged, finally dropping her feet off of the table to lean forward. "I did a little reading between your message and now. Some things were pretty interesting."
"Hah, you should see the other guy!" Djonwi laughed and took a swig of his drink. "I'm curious what it is you read about me," he said with a smile and leaned in. Camawee rolled his eyes and groaned before guzzling down some of his own beer.
Hera leaned in closer, smiled, and then sat back again having grabbed the pitcher from the table. "You used to be a pit-fighter, why'd you stop?"
Djonwi flashed a toothy grin and sat back in his chair, flexing his left arm. "It's pretty stupid to continue fighting creatures in a pit after you lose an arm and crack your skull open."
"I dunno, I think it'd make you more of a threat. You come back from that, people're gunna notice." Hera kept focused on him while trying to find her straw, which only managed to spin it away from her.
"Probably," Djonwi said and reached over to stabilise Hera's straw. "But I'd probably be dead by now too and I like credits and spending credits too much to die fighting a Wookiee just to entertain some Hutt."
"That's why you do it for fun and credits in other pit fights." Hera said, giving him a wink and blowing him a kiss before taking a sip from her straw. "Wookiees are crazy fun to fight, so much air time."
"Now and again, sure, but I'm not at young as I was."
"Saying you can't keep up any more?" She smiled.
"I'd argue that's not the case but," Djonwi smiled in return and curled a plump lek around his shoulder. "I wouldn't say no if you wanted to test that for yourself."
"I said 'keep up', not 'keep it up'." She took another sip from the pitcher. "I'm pretty sure you can still do the second bit."
"True," the Twi'lek laughed and turned to Camawee. "You know, it's been a long time since I've sparred with a Rattataki. Especially such a pretty one!" The monkey-lizard cackled in response and held his glass out to Hera and pointed at the pitcher for a top off.
"That better not've been a sarcastic laugh there, little man." Hera said, flicking her gaze to Camawee. She leaned over to pour some of the beer into the offered glass, whispering something to him before sitting back. Hera set the jug down, the contents now nearly finished. "It's good you've sparred before, you'll know what to expect when I beat you."
Camawee cringed and pulled his glass back defensively, shooting a glare at Hera. Djonwi shook his head and waved a hand at the monkey-lizard. "Ignore him, he's just jealous," the Twi'lek smiled and spun his glass a little. "I'm curious what you do with your conquests in battle."
Hera quickly grabbed Djonwi's collar and tugged him closer, meeting him halfway to whisper in his ear.
Djonwi smiled broadly and whispered back, putting a hand on hers. His monkey-lizard watched the two and narrowed his eyes; he wasn't having any of this. Camawee squawked and jumped onto Djonwi's head, knocking over some glasses on the way up and started smacking at the buttons on his master's goggles, continuing to make a ruckus.
"You little--!" The Twi'lek stood up quickly and grabbed at Camawee who jumped right back off again.
Falling back into her chair, Hera started cackling just as loud as Camawee been earlier. She offered no help, only watching the other two as well as she was able to with tears of laughter, and nearly a full pitcher of beer, blurring her vision. "Your little friend wants a three-way!"
"Maybe I can send him to a pet store." Djonwi pulled his goggles off to reset them and glared as best as he could at the monkey-lizard with his cybernetic oculars, swearing to himself a bit. Camawee seemed to get the message, for now at least, and settled back down on his stool. "Right. Okay. So, Herasek? How about you and I go back to my place, hm? We can talk more--business there," he said with a mischievous grin.
Hera placed both hands on the table and pushed herself up after wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sure, after I add some more bruises to your collection."
"And I'll be sure to last longer than a few minutes in the sparring match," Djonwi said with a laugh and held an arm out to her. Camawee knocked back the rest of his own drink which he'd miraculously not spilt, and then hopped back onto Djonwi's shoulder.
"Hopefully not just for the spar." She said with a smile. Hera thought to herself for a second, gauging the effects of evening of drinking before taking his arm. "You wouldn't want to disappoint me."
"I've yet to disappoint in a--business meeting! And I'm sure this'll all be very profitable." Djonwi laughed and patted her hand, leading her out if the cantina.
Djonwi and his monkey-lizard Camawee playing slots on one of the barges last night.
I’m going to just headcanon it as Djonwi and Camawee slicing the machines because he won three Vector Magnuses in a row and then just to make things better he broke the machine.
