Old Friends [D3EE, The Cave]

[Manny Donos]

Manny's stare, not exactly full of alert cunning to begin with, got gradually more blank as Nara spoke. But a few words got thorough... crime... friendly... Manny... his expression lit up.

"Hi, Nara! Yeah, she's cool." He nodded to the others. "We met in a swamp!"

He nodded towards the table. "Nara, you're in for table apps, right?"

[Nara Phln]

Manny's stare, not exactly full of alert cunning to begin with, got gradually more blank as Nara spoke. But a few words got thorough... crime... friendly... Manny... his expression lit up.

"Hi, Nara! Yeah, she's cool." He nodded to the others. "We met in a swamp!"

He nodded towards the table. "Nara, you're in for table apps, right?"

"Are there any other kind? Just no double dipping since that's gross!"
Nara offers Manny a fistbump while muttering
"Swamp bros."

[Jyrvess Ertil]

Jryvess remained surprisingly cool at the sudden interruption. With a deadpan look she responds, "I'm a Librarian. Mr. Donos is four months late on returning." She whips out her datapad and randomly taps a few buttons. "Baby Bantha's First Primer on the Basic Alphabet. Which is a serious crime to be sure. Other children are in need of the book."

[Sholua Tempes]

Sholua just takes the Chiss in her stride . . . otherwise she'd have been doubled up laughing.

"Hi, Nara. Sholua."

Feeling the pulse of the table she also lazily offered a fistbump from her position draped over Manny. And then Jyr filed her riposte. This time Sholua did laugh.

[Manny Donos]

Tucking away his cards in a pocket that wouldn't nudge Sholua, Manny added to the round of fistbumps. "Hey, I read that one!" Manny nodded to Jarvis.

But he knew Jyr well enough to know when he was going to be getting a lecture on 'tradecraft' later. He mentally added scolding time to his calendar.

"Uhhh...." He cast Jyr an apologetic look. "Hey, I think Jarvis was gonna tell us about why he's late returning the book. Let's see what he says, huh?"

[Jarvis]

And with that, he had met one of the most talkative, emotionally expressive Chiss he had ever interacted with. Sure, Jarvis could count on two hands how many he had met, but at least this one was as sharp on the social cues as all the others.

"Oh then, I see this is also your new crewmate. You lucky man to have someone so lovely with you at your side. And so energetic to boot."

Jarvis doesn't break his smirk as he looks to the 'librarian.' "We are all very concerned about you being unable to return that book. Manners, Manny. Manners. Making Jyr here worry over your tardiness. But yes, it does seem we are expecting a bit more people. A booth and some apps would be wonderful."

[Manny Donos]

Manny was all too happy to lead the little group to a booth. He was also ​happy to sit so that Sholua could remain draped over him. He was also happy to flag down a server and order "something fried, with an awesome sauce, or both, also beers", tossing a credit chit (not an egg) with something resembling flair. Was Manny becoming big time?

Smirking he reached up, pushing on... nothing. "Oh dip, right, I'm not wearing my hat." Well, maybe not.

"So... what's up, Jarvis? Tell us more about this hero stuff. That sounded pretty great." Manny nodded, smiling again.

[Nara Phln]

Nara responds to the fist bumps and greetings enthusiastically and sits in the booth. The Chiss looks around for a moment before realising nobody had turned up to drape themselves over her so she just shrugs and puts a pillow in her lap.


“I’m also super interested in this job stuff. Although why do you need a librarian... unless you’re planning an assassination via boring someone to death, which could be super exciting actually.”

[Jarvis]

There was a small stare at Nara's comment and at Manny before giving a small look of sympathy at Jyrvess. He then turned his head to Manny. "I like your enthusiasm, Nara, but let's keep the talk of killing to a minimum. As I said before, I am here to help make some heroes. Well, let's get to it. Not my usual sort of job, so you can imagine my surprise when someone reached out to me about it. Got a call here last night. Seems someone's gone missing down in the lower end of this city that needs some rescuing. Held by some gang or something named the Gonks. Like the droid, you know? Never quite understood where gangs got strange names for themselves."

He nods and continues. "Anyways, got a contact from a friend of the man's wife who's distraught over his disappearance. Apparently he's gone down there a few times before. Always made contact with her to let her know he's okay, but now he's gone dark for a few days. Offer me twenty thousand to get some people together, head down there, and go confirm his status. Now, I'm not one to turn down such a generous offer, even if it's not necessary my particular skillset. However, I have no problem making a subcontract with some people who are a bit more capable to operate in the field. Let them take the credit, get me out of the spotlight a little and do a good deed while lining their pockets."

He looks at Manny and smiles. "So, my thoughts went to you. And, oh fortune of fortunes, you happen to be on the very planet this task was given to me. Why, it's serendipitous, I would even say."

[Manny Donos]

"Yes... very serpentlicious..." Manny said, nodding and narrowing his eyes.

"But yeah, that sounds great! We just gotta know some more stuff. Like... where does he go, when he goes down there? Also, who is he? I mean, what's his name, so we can be like, hey, have you seen this guy? I guess a picture would be good, too. Basically, more stuff."

He looked at Jyr. She knew what stuff people needed to know...

[Jyrvess Ertil]

Jyrvess just shook her head at the display and took her own seat. How she had gotten pulled into another scheme involving Manny and Jarvis was probably something for the Jedi's philosophers to ponder...if they weren't more or less all dead.

"You would be surprised at what skills a librarian picks up for their job." She smiled slightly at that, truthfully Jyrvess was as much a librarian as Jarvis was just a friendly imports/exports man.

As Jarvis speaks Jyrvess listens quietly. In truth the job was not her sort of work but she can provide aid regardless.

She was about to start asking questions when... "What...is a serpentlicious? Are you sure you read the ABCs book?"

Shaking her head Jyrvess recomposed herself. "Beyond the details of the individual do you know anything of the area in question. Or anyone who does and is willing to give that information out. Or the Gonks themselves...any rival gangs that might be willing to stir some trouble as a distraction if needed?"

[Nara Phln]

“Yeah, that’s all important and stuff. But the most important this is how much of that 20,000 goes to us and what our rules of engagement are?

Like, I’m a weapons free girl, always have been. But does the client want it done discreetly or without bloodshed?”
Crossing her fingers
“Or do they want to send a message?”

[Manny Donos]

"Something a snake would think was cool?" Manny put in. He didn't really want to interrupt the flow of information though, so he kept it quick.

[Jarvis]

"Now, Manny." He pauses and smiles, making a motion with his hands at him, moving them around slightly as he was speaking. "You're asking all the right questions. Shows how much you're improving, and I know I made the right call bringing you in. But, there's a question you're missing. A very important question. The first question you should ask is 'How much?'. Or, in the instance where I brought up a total already. 'What's my cut?'

His fingers immediately go to Nara. "Sharp woman, that one. I'm starting to warm up to her more. To answer the question, I'll take 10%. In return, I'll offer you logistical support. Give you some supplies for the job that you may need for it. Most of it will be on loan, mind you. If you want to buy it afterwards, we can come to some sort of arrangement. If that sounds fair, we'll go on and get you up to speed."

[Sholua Tempes]

"Fee sorted, my next question would be . . . just who are we looking for and will anyone else be looking for them as well? The Gonks are pushovers individually but there are a lot of them and they usually react to anyone entering their territory with extreme violence."

She grinned at Jarvis.

"Sorry should have said I actually live in this hell hole, unlike these visitors."

[Jarvis]

"Ahh, perfect. You can help fill some holes in all of this, miss." Jarvis turns on a holoprojector and places it on the table, showing the picture of a Chiss man.



"Chiss man named Corswu...Cowsru...Coswu...Crow...ua...shuso. Worked as a independent contractor of the medical facility here. From what I was told, he often went down there to look for additional supplies. May have likely been caught by the Gonks. Now, what I've been told is they tend to prefer actually capturing people, rather than keeping them alive. So, good chance if he was caught by them, he'll be still alive. At least according to the boss. Simple task, get down there, get a answer to the 'living or not' question, and if he is, pull him out. Simple, right? Easy creds?"

He shakes his head. "Catch is, we can't go in guns-a-blazing. They'll get spooked and, if he isn't dead already, will likely make sure of it. So the obvious solution of 'hiring a bunch of Mandalorians and pull a rescue op' isn't going to work. Wouldn't hurt to do some recon before you go in. It's not your normal job, either, but the creds are legit. It's why I was late, after all; making sure this was all on the up and up."

[Sholua Tempes]

"A Chiss doctor missing in the undercity while looking for medical supplies. Probably captured by the violent Gonk gangers. This is beginning to sound like one of Manny's holovids."

[Manny Donos]

Manny nodded. "Just so long as no one gets their skeleton punched out."

He looked around at the assembled... ladies he knew. Did he need more guy friends? Still, they had quite a collection of skills.

"Sounds good to me!" Manny gave a thumbs-up. "We'll check it out. Ummm... you mentioned you had some stuff for us to borrow. What stuff?"

[Nara Phln]

He shakes his head. "Catch is, we can't go in guns-a-blazing. They'll get spooked and, if he isn't dead already, will likely make sure of it. So the obvious solution of 'hiring a bunch of Mandalorians and pull a rescue op' isn't going to work. Wouldn't hurt to do some recon before you go in. It's not your normal job, either, but the creds are legit. It's why I was late, after all; making sure this was all on the up and up."

"Awww man, I knew there was gonna be a catch. One day I just want a client with the same casual disregard for collateral causalities as me. I guess the target is cute though, nice eyes."

Sighing
"At least you didn't hire any Mandos. For them it would just be a 25 to 47 minute self-contained adventure that's only loosely connected to a fairly weak overall narrative premise. Much better to hire us. We'll be in and out but it'll feel like it takes a couple of days, more significanct that way."

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"How long do we reasonably expect them to keep a person alive." Jyrvess asked, "Or are the gonks slavers as well? Should we be worried about them trying to move him off world?"