It stank. Rotting garbage and items the Ryn would rather not take the time to identify littered the street, right alongside the beggars huddling together under blankets. He’d lived a few years on this moon but even he’d been smart enough to stay away from this district. Life moved on and circumstances changed, though, and now he found himself there on Clan business. Normally he enjoyed a foray back to Nar Shaddaa but this place made his stomach turn. He’d already made the drop, he hadn’t asked what it was and he didn’t want to know. Something to do with all this Lotus crap and Resistance stuff his boss was getting into. Bleu wanted nothing to do with it all, he just wanted to survive the next storm blowing through the Brotherhood.
What he really wanted was to get home to a long, hot bath. First, he had to find some traveling money. The Consul always had some reason or another to be annoyed with him and finances were tight back home so they’d done the usual to the Ryn. Given him the message and a one-way ticket to the Smuggler’s Moon assuming he’d find a way back home on his own. Which he usually did just fine but he’d have to make a move towards one of the wealthier districts if he really wanted to lift some credits off the pedestrians. Except…
He spotted the dirty, yellow-haired man as he rounded the corner to another poorly lit street, old signs for bars and shops flickering and half dead. The man’s attire was too clean, too well tailored for this area. Which meant either he was incredibly dangerous or immensely foolish. Squared shoulders and a sure step suggested he was well built under the duster, but the Ryn wasn’t looking for a fight. To him, the Human looked bulky and slow, which meant he was as good of a mark as any to the Arconan.
Kordath slipped a hand into his coat and pulled out the bottle within, popping the top off and taking a fierce and fortifying swig. He quickened his pace as the man neared one of the many alleyways that crisscrossed the sector, though he looked to be moving onwards. Even as he put his plan into motion the Human glanced over, strangely hued eyes of blue and gold sweeping over the Ryn. Bleu took a stumble, waving his bottle as he did so while putting on his best drunkard face. When the man looked away it was the Ryn’s hope that he’d been dismissed as a threat. His stumbling grew worse as he closed the distance before he barreled into the Human and tangled his legs with the mark. They both hit the dirty street, hard, Kordath clutching his bottle and holding it from the ground like a proper alcoholic.
“Em sorry, mate, losht mah feets, hah” he slurred out, pushing himself up and trying to pull the man off the road. Bleu tucked his bottle into a jacket pocket to free up his hands, using them to straighten the Human’s coat and acting like he was dusting the man clean.
“Stop it, let go, HEY!” shouted the blonde man as the Arconan abruptly turned on his heel and dashed down the alleyway. Kord was annoyed, he’d not even found the man’s wallet before he’d noticed the pair of blasters he had tucked under the coat. That and he’d sensed impending violence. All he’d gotten his hands on was some kind of weird looking set of knucklers with thin blades coming off of them.
Great, now I’m gonna have ta find a pawn shop on me way out.
A warning through the Force caused him to duck seconds before blaster fire streaked overhead. It took him a few moments to realize the shots hadn’t come from behind but above and to his left. He glanced over and saw the man running across the low rooftops, his pace steady but still falling behind the quicker Ryn. Still, something seemed off, the way he moved looked almost unnatural as if his speed was being enhanced somehow.
“Oh bugger,” he muttered to himself,”how do I keep tryin’ ta pickpocket bleedin’ Jedi?”
Relying on his natural speed and talent for running away from people with blasters, Bleu took the next right turn he saw. A look over his shoulder showed the man jumping from a shop awning and across the way, scrambling up the front of the buildings to keep up with him.
At least he put tha bloody pistols away ta do that. Alright, Bleuboy, ya need ta find an exit and find it right quick.
He nearly skidded as he took the next corner and continued to take them at random, hoping to lose the blaster happy Human somewhere in the maze of alleys and filthy streets. As he ducked down another side street he came to an abrupt halt, the Force screaming at him to stop before it was too late. A speeder truck came roaring through from his left, passing before him in a blur. With a moment to catch his breath, he watched the truck recede in the distance and stretched his neck, loosened his shoulders and got ready to move again. He took two steps before stopping, confusion evident on his face as he tugged his tail against some unseen force.
Looking back he saw the tuft ended appendage sticking straight back from him, parallel to the ground.
“Well that’s new,” he muttered before seeing the Human further back, one hand outstretched, the other on his knee as he sucked in air. “Bugger.”
“Alright, little thief, give me back what you stole.”
“Kark off, mate, if ya didnae want it taken ya shoulda kept a better hold on it!”
“Fine, I’ll beat it out of you then. This is your own fault, though!”
Stall him, come on, bit closer… he thought as he channeled the Force through towards one hand. “Oi, you’d beat on a short guy? Must make ya feel all big and tough.”
When the Human came in close, taking an odd stance and a fluid motion, the Ryn got worried. The level of confidence was unnerving, and even as he used his own natural nimbleness and speed to avoid the flurry of attacks that followed he sought an exit. He disliked the way the Human fought, spinning kicks that came from odd angles keeping the Arconan on his toes. When he felt more certain about the power he’d gathered he knocked aside the foot that nearly took his head off and barely pushed the follow-up palm strike away, turning his lithe body sideways to do so. A fuzzy hand raised up towards the Human who dismissed it, the Ryn wasn’t moving to strike why would he need to guard?
The flash of light that erupted from it, fueled by the Force, gave him an abrupt and blinding lesson in how the tailed thief fought. Kord followed up with a swift kick to the man’s left shin, eliciting a yelp and sending the man down. While the Human tucked himself in, covering his head in expectation of booted blows to it, he instead heard the receding sound of running feet as the Ryn fled the scene.
