It Started At A Catina (SW SE)

[Emperor Demonking]

The Meat Bags

It was early in the Catina, at the quietest time of the day. Aside for yourselves only four people were in the Catina or at least your area of the Catina. Two humans, one dressed like a moisture farmer and the other in good quality clothes. One Gungan and a Gotal were talking.

The Droids & anybody with the droids

The two druids both, coincidently, tried to enter the Catina at the same time. The Barkeep gets in front of the droids, stopping the druids from entering. “We don’t let droids in here.”

[Ascension]

"I understand," the mechanical voice of Hakka's vox box replies.

He turns to MBG-1 and says, in Jawa Trade Language, "Wait out here."

Then he enters the cantina without the droid.

[Mando Knight]

As a Human Replica Droid, most people can't tell that DWN-∞ is a droid.

He resumes entering the cantina.

[Liliedhe]

The tall Togorian sits at a table in the darkest corner of the room, out of the sunlight. Her catlike eyes half closed, she dozes in the heat, an empty cup in front of her. She doesn't look up as the Jawa enters.

[Emperor Demonking]

DWN and the Jawa both go in. The barkeep waits for the droid to move before going back to the bar.

[NEO|Phyte]

MBG-1 dutifully waits outside of the cantina, watching beings come and go with mild disinterest.

[Kantolin]

Tassk glanced inside the bar as he walked in, red eyes and black pupils piercing the dim light with ease. The desert planet was expectantly hot, and thus the Trandoshan's robes were in his pack, leaving his chest bare.

“We don’t let - "

When the bartender began this, Tassk tensed a bit, fingerless gloves tightening. His tail - still very odd for a Trandoshan to have - halted its swishing back and forth, as he prepared his mind for his response.

"- droids in here.”

And he relaxed, just a bit, tail resuming its more casual momentum. He'd figured he would've had to defend Hakka's presence, but apparantly that wasn't necessary.

"This shouldn't take us long." He said tersely to MBG-1 before stepping following Hakka inside. Glancing around, he picked a location with a couple empty seats and sat at it, glancing around, keeping his senses aware of people in the bar - particularly the Gotal and Togorian.

[Statistikx]

Zebron

Zebron slighly turns his head to the noise, and reaches out to his glass. He misses it once, then slowly sweeps his arm back until he touches it, grabs it, and takes a sip from the cold liquid within. He thinks to himself 'My, what a unusual droid design. Must be custom. I wonder how much that Jawa would let it go for?'

[Ascension]

Hakka takes a seat beside Tassk.

"That went more smoothly than expected," he remarks, "Maybe they're beginning to learn a little tolerance here.

[Kantolin]

Tassk glanced about a bit more before responding in the same tongue. (Jawa Trade) "Or possibly apathy."

He gave his typical half-smile. "Still, that's a good sign - progress." And then, almost muttering as he wished to keep his voice a bit lower, "Aren't even any stares, which is even better."

He continued looking about a bit more, before finally being relatively content that nothing poblematic was in immediate view. "Know what you want to drink? I can order for you."

[Ditto]

Sunb Toun

Sunb was slumped lazily on a stool at the bar, munching on steamed azna as he waited for his contact to comm him. He looked as his chrono and wondered idly when TaubTek would learn to stop sending runs like this out to backwaters like the sandpit. Sunb hoped that decision would leap to the lips of some higher-up if only for his own benefit, since he was not a fan of such an arid climate. For now, he just kicked his heels on the legs of the stool and listened to the synth music the Byss band was playing.

[Graybacca]

For Jaster Dorran an out of work and down on his luck Mandalorian mercenary, probaly the best and wort thing he could do was walk in to the Catina, it was the best thing because it was so much cooler in doors, the worst because more then like he would wind up spending the last of his Credits. Even so Jaster walks up to the Bar and says, I'd like a Black Ale on the rocks.

[Ascension]

"Apathy, schmapathy. It's good enough for me. See if they've got any Old Janx Spirit."

[Emperor Demonking]

The barkeep went back inside and served everyone.

Zebron: The Gotal gets up and excuses himself from the Gungan. He then started to walk over to Zebron. As he sits down, he says. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

MBG-1: As you wait outside the Catina, two Jawas come near you and start to look you over, checking whether or not they should take you.

Jaster: The moisture farmer got up and walked to you. "Are you a mercenary? Looking for work?"

The tall Togorian: The well dressed human started to walk up to you, a smarmy smile on his face. First he spoke in basic. "Do you understand Basic?" he then straight away continued in Huttese. "Do you speak Huttese."

DWN-∞: The Gungan went up to you, a smile on her face. "Mesa think you look lonely. You wanta company?"

Taask & Hakka: From your view point, something around you looks weird but you can't quite tell what it is.

Then after all that

Sunb: A human male came in and looked around before shouting. "Which one of you the slicer?"

[Liliedhe]

"Basic is fine", Karrha answers, while looking up to the human with unveiled curiosity in her yellow eyes. "What do you want?"

[Mando Knight]

DWN sits, and motions for the stool next to him. "Go ahead. I'm mostly here to get out of the heat."

[NEO|Phyte]

[Jawa trade language]"Before you two get too interested, you should know that my current owner and his trandoshan friend are just inside, and would most likely become very unhappy if I were to not be here when their business is concluded. I am giving you this warning because he is also likely to become unhappy if he finds the bodies of two of his kinsmen at my feet. If you wish to acquire me, go inside and speak with Hakka."

[Ditto]

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Holy crap, they make lady-Gungans?!

Sunb

You'd think he'd have the courtesy to comm. Sunb was just out of direct view of the door, partially peeking around the hookah/beverage station mounted on the counter. He stood from his place at the bar and waved the human over to him with an irritated gesture.

[Mando Knight]

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Holy crap, they make lady-Gungans?!

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Well, where do you think Jar-Jar came from? BRIAN BLESSED?

[Statistikx]

Zebron

Nodding to the gotal, Zebron says "Go ahead, if its open. I don't own this cantina"

[Ditto]

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My thought process went between 'Gungans are the spawn of hell' and 'George Lucas had a big day for word-vomit'. It never occurred to me that they populate in the normal fashion. With Ewoks I can at least tolerate their existence, just not their PChood.

[Kantolin]

Tassk glanced around, as people began shifting.

Growing up on his homeworld taught one a good sense of paranoia - keeping aware of your surroundings was key to survival - a weak Trandoshan could not get far. Tassk in particular had to be more aware than most, as he was one who'd watch out for more than just himself.

But if he kept himself on edge all the time, he'd go crazy.

Now that said, he still had the feeling that something was up. Thus, he still found himself looking around a bit more, listening, even as he'd tried to convince himself that nothing was happening - too much paranoia would mean when something did happen, his mind wouldn't be keen.

Shaking his head to clear it, he nodded, turning to the bartender and speaking Basic. "A Silverback for me, and some Old Janx Spirit for my friend here." A silverback was somewhat weak ale, but that was fine for Tassk - he wished to keep his head.

"Which one of you the slicer?"

Hearing that, Tassk had to surpress a chuckle. Mentally, his response was, "Not someone who's going to answer that." He was then very surprised when someone did, in fact, answer up. The drinks arrived and were paid for, and Tassk focused his senses on their conversation, while carefully pretending he was most interested in his drink.

[Graybacca]

Taking his helmet off so he can take a sip of his Drink, Jaster turns to the Farmer Yes and yes, Why you got some.

[Ascension]

"That slicer isn't much one for self-preservation, is he?" Hakka asks rhetorically, with a laugh, "The stupid client must have offered him much money if he's willing to publicly identify himself to get it."

[Ditto]

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Slicing is a perfectly legitimate occupation... it has a negative connotation, just like 'hacker' (functionally the same thing in Star Wars), but it's really a blanket term. This guy isn't coming in and shouting, "Who's the illegal computer security breaching specialist looking for illicit work?" Or, he may be, but if he isn't actually Sunb's contact he'll disappointed.

Sunb is a info security specialist for a technology/shipping consortium, on official business at the moment. If somebody says, "Gotcha, ya dirty slicer!", he'll say, 'Yup!' and pull out his ID badge & credentials. (There's always slicing on the side and his remarkable skill at forgery to question... but *that's* not a handle he readily associates with his real profession. It's a pretty good cover, though, ain't it? Hiding in plain sight.)

And Tassk, you don't even *have* ears.
Yeah, I went there.

[Ascension]

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Ahem.

"Slicers essentially had two, or sometimes more identities. In place of their true identity, slicers generally used code names; even regular business associates would not know a slicer's true identity. Keeping their true identity a secret was very important to successful slicers; they would rather not have to spend their time evading law-enforcement personnel, bounty hunters, and fringers with personal vendettas."

[Kantolin]

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Hey, that same link says that most slicers conceal their identity to avoid trouble; slicing may not be 'Guards, seize him!', but even you pointed out that it's a bit unusual to walk into a cantina shouting for one, as opposed to getting your attention in a slightly less overt method. ^_^

Either way, it's not meant to be a problem or anything - just a shouted event that stands out enough that it's worth listening into. Similar would've happened had someone loudly stated 'bounty hunter', which also has a permit. This is more of a 'Huh. Weird. Let me listen to this' reaction. I apologize if it feels like a 'Tassk will not trust you' or something, as that was unintentional. If anything, it suggests that this particular middleman isn't the greatest. :P

And whoops - I remember noting that I wrote 'ears', but apparantly I didn't think to alter it by the final post. Silly me. :P I will fix a bit later.

Edit: Also, if it irritates you, I apologize: I can downplay responses now, and will make it a point not to bring it up in the future unless it is brought up. Goal here isn't to irritate you, so if I did so, I apologize. ^_^

Overtly, Tassk seemed interested in his drink. In honesty, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was overlooking something - or someone. Still, the best way to keep your mind off something was to focus on something else, thus he continued to listen in on the slicer's conversation - or to attempt to, anyway.

[Ditto]

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Not a problem at all, a purely academic point. Just wanted to make sure out expectation of 'slicers' match up so we're talking about the same sort of person in-universe.

That said, point taken. As a travelling commercial slicer, meeting customers face-to-face is a necessary evil. He still has a codename for business dealings. And that bears no relation to his private slicing. But the work he does for TaubTek is really more of an anti-slicing nature, so the need for dual identities (in this situation) is obviated by the fact that he's never bothering anyone by stealing their data. It is indeed somewhat remarkable for a guy to stand up and say 'Yo!' when asked if he's a slicer. He's volunteering himself because he knows what the human is actually looking for. He won't quibble if people call him a slicer when he slices to protect their interests.

...I really hope he's looking for a TaubTek hacker and not freelancer.

[Emperor Demonking]

Karrha: The man speaks to you. "Are you looking for a job?"

DWN: "Mesa think this plantet too hot too. Mesa going off this planet, soon." Said The Gungan. "Whysa you on Tatooine?"

MBG: The two Jawas disregard your warning and look at you. In the Jawa Trade language, they say. "Follow us."

Sunb: The human walked up to you. "Now, you can slice datapads or just computers?"

Zebron: The Gotal sat down and smiled to you, before whispering. "Hello, Jedi."

Jaster: "Yeah, I do." bSaid the Moisture Farmer. "Some new "crime lord" is stealing our water. So can you, like, guard one and then kill him when he goes to steal it?"

[Ditto]

Sunb

"I can do whatever you require of me, as agreed to by my employer, Mr. ...?" He slipped a miniature datapad and consult it as he waited for a response from the human. When he answered, Sunb would need to double-check the name of the man he was supposed to be contacting. It wasn't someone he'd worked with before, but he'd been given the relevant info on him.