Wires Crossed

[Meira]

"I don't have anything for you today. Come back tomorrow, maybe something will come up then."

Yanna stood outside the repair shop as the owner turned and walked back inside, closing the door behind him. Zozo's photoreceptor moved back and forth between her and the door, before it gently rolled forward to nudge her leg. At the contact, Yanna looked down at the droid. It beeped and whirred in sad tones and Yanna nodded her head.

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow."

The two moved through the crowded streets, keeping to the sides where they could. Yanna kept her head down, avoiding all eye contact with others and practically holding their breath until they got to the less crowded side street where their hostel was located. As they rounded the corner, she leaned against a wall, taking several deep breaths. The streets were hard enough on her nerves. Bacco's rejection had almost wrecked her.

A soft tone sounded as she and Zozo moved through the hostel's front door. Yanna moved through the small lobby, her steps a memorized route. "Hello Roxana." she said automatically as she passed the front desk. She was nearly to the lift up to the rooms when she caught a glint of light from the corner of her eye. On the floor between the front desk and the lifts, there was a small pile of belongings. A single bag, a tool belt, and a cube shape covered by a thin blanket.

"Those are my things." Yanna said, pointing to the small pile and looking up for the first time toward the desk.

"I told you this morning, Yanna. If you cannot pay, I have no choice." Roxana, the female Toydarian proprietor fluttered over.

"Bacco didn't have any work for me." Yanna said, she was looking around, mortified that two other beings were in the lobby, watching. "He said maybe tomorrow..."

"He said that yesterday too, dear." Roxana gently reminded her. "You should go down to the refugee center. They're-"

"No." Yanna said, stepping over to her pathetically small stack of belongings. She pulled back the blanket to see that it was covering Mr. Cuddlebutt's cage. The fwit, seeing his master, screeched out his indignation. Yanna opened the cage and Butt immediately positioned himself by her legs, quietly growling at the two bystanders until they vacated the lobby. "I'm fine. Once I talk to Ronen, I'll be able to go. I don't need charity." Yanna collapsed the cage, slung it and her tool belt over her shoulder and hefted her bag.

Roxana hovered, uncertain. She was not a cruel woman, but she was no charity either. "I'm really sorry, Yanna."

"I'm fine." Yanna repeated as she shuffled out of the hostel and back into the night. Zozo bumped her leg again and Yanna repeated the mantra for a third time. But she strap the collapsed cage and tools to the droid to lighten her own load. "We just need to find a ship."

The trio wandered the streets for a time, eventually making their way to the docks area. Yanna had been hoping to simply get in contact with her brother when she arrived on Circumtore. He'd send a ship, or at least the funds for her to charter passage to Prazhi and that would be it. But it had been weeks and she could still not get through to him. At first, she'd written it off as the chaos of the conflict and its aftermath. But at time moved on and things settled, she became more and more worried that something had happened to Ronen. In her fear, she'd not acted. She burned through what money and valuable assets she had just... waiting. Now, the only thing she could trade was her skill as a mechanic.

The first three ships she tried turned her away outright. They had no space, and no need for another mechanic. The fourth ship was willing to take her, but they were going to Ryloth, not Prazhi. Two more chased her off, thinking she was scavenger scum looking to steal what she could. It had been enough to send her into a minor panic attack. She'd escaped down an empty alley, folding in around herself by the wall as she struggled to breathe. Butt sat with her, purring and pressing against her side until she calmed. He then saw a rodent and promptly went to chase it down for dinner. Yanna had her face on her knees when Zozo chirped in surprise.

"Well, hello there, sweetheart." The voice was deep, matching the large silhouette that blocked the light from the street. "What are you doing here in the dark? This ain't a safe place for a lady to be all alone."

"Not safe at all." another voice said, stepping out from behind the first figure. This one was not quite as tall or wide, but it moved with a wiry grace that immediately set Yanna's skin to crawling.

"I'm fine." Yanna said, her eyes darting around. She could see no details of the figures, and she had nothing within reach to defend herself with. Zozo had her tools, and reaching toward the droid would be too obvious.

"Sure you are." the first figure said, taking a step closer to her.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Vivi hated it on Circumtore. It was crowded, and dirty, and boring, and etc etc etc. Crowded she could deal with, dirty she could tolerate, but boring? Vivienne Hawke did NOT do boring, no way no how! People got hurt when Vivi got bored, and that was all there was to it. At least on Nar Shaddaa she could get into fights and no one much cared. Well, no one important much cared, anyway. No one important to her much cared, anyway! Jeez!

So now she was at the docks prowling for either a spot of trouble to smack down, or a cute piece of tail to have her way with. Or both, she wasn't feeling especially picky. Sadly there didn't seem to be a whole lot of either going on, and a dull fugue state threatened to overtake her. She hated fugue states!

Shouting reached her ears, and she turned towards it before she registered what it actually was. Not like she cared. Shouting meant excitement, shouting meant raised emotions! Shouting meant trouble! Hell yeah!

She got herself so worked up over the break in monotony that she didn't even register the disappointment of noticing it was only a ship's crew rudely turning away some vagabond or another. Red head? Maybe, hard to tell beneath the dirt. Poor thing sure was running off fast though. Was it worth going after her?

Vivi was leaning towards not when she noticed that she hadn't been the only one who'd noticed the brief diversion. Two ornery looking thugs had their attention on the fleeing woman, and the looks on their faces... well, "charitable" wasn't an appropriate adjective here, to say the least. Her boredom melted away as self-righteous feminist rage took over, and she hefted her hammer and followed after the two soon-to-be-concussed would-be rapists.

Down the dark alley, around the corner... oh hell no, this was some noise she straight up would not abide! "HEY FUCKSTICKS!" she shouted, shrugging her hammer off her shoulder and thumping the ground with it; the concrete cracked and little shards flew into the wall. "D' you know where the HELL y'all are?! Three seconds t' fuck off 'fore ya git fucked, GOT IT?!" She thumped the ground again and her hammer sparked ominously. "ONE!"

[Ysmir]

---

"Why, though? Why Circumtore, of all places?" Brent asked with clear exasperation on the other line of the holocall. Jack couldn't see, but he guessed that the man was holding a palm to his head, clearly done with Jack's shit. The thought made Jack smile as he piloted the View through the foggy night sky.

"'Cause Nar Shaddaa is on lockdown right now, Cisco. I know you're some kinda big-shot legitimate trader now, but you can't have forgotten our wise words already?" Jack replied as he zeroed in a docking bay that accepted his landing codes. He made his way there as Brent sighed.

"I just don't see why you couldn't take one of a thousand other opportunities. Circumtore is basically Nar Shadda whittled down to its barebones, with twice the thuggish freaks looking to jump you at every opportunity," Brent insisted as Jack went in for a landing.

"Exactly. And after I blast 'em down, that's more creds in my pocket," Jack said with a wider grin, looking to rile Brent up.

The man on the other end of the call groaned in frustration as T7 rolled his way to the main hold to prep the landing gears. "Fine. Whatever. Do what you want. I'm not your babysitter anymore. Just call me once you're on your way back to the Core. I need your help with a few things, alright?"

"You never were my babysitter, Brent. Love you," Jack said as he swiped the holocall away on his screen, just as the View began to touch down on the landing pad amidst Circumtore's spires and domes that dotted the artifical ring's surface. Much like a stock corvette, it was pretty to look at, but had almost nothing of substance beneath its fancy panelling and "state-of-the-art" construction. Regardless, Jack had come after answering a holonet request for an escort service. Not the dirty kind of escort, but the kind that called for one to be skilled with a blaster and even more skilled with their wits. For once in the last few Galactic standard months, it was a clean job with clean pay, something to break the mould of the underhanded and shady work he had been dealing in since the end of the Archeri Crisis. Variety is the spice of life, so they say.

The loading ramp of the ship fell open as Jack and T7 made their way down it gingerly. Jack stuffed his hands in the coat of his jacket, removing one to toss the dock tender a few credits -- he felt these underappreciated souls deserved a tip every now and then.

The astromech by his side rolled along at equal pace, examining the many back alleys and dives that were in close proximity to the docking bay. "Be-reet deet beep?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, buddy. Places like this are a dime a dozen," Jack said to his companion as his eyes shifted back and forth. Some of the residents passed him by without incident, while others seemed to regard him curiously, as if sizing him up. "Nothin' to be scared of, though. Just two-bit pistol jockeys with a mean streak. We've handled that before, right?"

T7 whirred and beeped excitedly in response, and Jack smiled. The smile, however, was short lived, soon to be replaced by an expression of curiosity as he heard some very impassioned yelling from a small ways away. Putting a hand tentatively on the holster of one of his blasters within his jacket, he and T7 slowly stepped toward an empty side street away from the scattered foot traffic of the docking sector. Peering down from around the wall, Jack raised a brow as he took in the sight.

Two thugs, one at a loss for words and the other more confused than Jack himself. A positively psychotic looking chick with a hammer the size of T7. And near the side wall...

Jack felt a pang of guilt in his gut. The woman there, he had seen the look in her eye before; a look of hopelessness, of fear, of anxiety. This was completely outside of his area of expertise, and he felt no obligation to interfere at all... but something about her vulnerability spurred him to do something. He sighed. Brent would kick him right now, were he here.

Jack stepped around the corner and into plainview in the alley, his hands still tucked within his jacket.

"Uh, excuse me?" he said indignantly, to draw their attention to him. "Not that I care or anything, but you guys're kinda making a fuss right now. And people're noticing. Might wanna tone things down a bit before you attract a little too much attention, yeah?"

T7 rolled up behind him afterward, beeping curiously as his blue viewfinder scanned each subject in the alley. It was a half-truth; most denizens of the ring were making their way past the alley with little care. But the Shell Hutts were infamous for their greed and desire for order, so Jack hoped his faux warnings would at the very least ward the thugs off without incident.

[Meira]

"I don't have any money." Yanna began, eyes fixed on a patch of broken duracrete just to the side of the bigger man. "Please just-"

"HEY FUCKSTICKS!"

Yanna and both men swiveled their heads toward the voice. The smaller of the two men cocked his head to the side as he took in the strange sight of this new arrival. Yanna's heartbeat skipped into overdrive at the sight of the hammer, and the woman's tone as she continued with her threat didn't help at all. The two men laughed as the woman started her count. The smaller of the two stepped back toward her.

"Listen, little mama. No need to get hysterical." he said, giving her a wink. "No reason you can't join us. Right Gann?"

"Sure." the larger man said with a chuckle. "If she says please."

Yanna didn't even know where to look now. Which was the biggest threat? she pressed her hands to the duracrete, all of her muscles coiled and ready to spring as she watched the two men react to this terrifying woman. She'd make a run for it, the other way down the alley. It was dark. She'd lose them if she was fast enough. And if she didn't trip over anything. Or get lost. Or...

"Uh, excuse me?" Yanna's head snapped in the other direction, a yelp of surprise and fear escaping her as yet another figure appeared in the alley.

Surrounded! No way out! Gonna die... gonna die. She couldn't even hear what this man was saying. The sound of her blood surging in her ears drowned everything out. The two thugs went back to back, the larger staring down the man while the more wiry man leered at the woman with the hammer. Against the building wall, Yanna was practically rocking in fear. Zozo inched closer, hesitant at first, but then rolled up right beside Yanna as it became clear that the thugs had turned their full attention on the two newcomers. Zozo whirred quietly at Yanna, reminding her to breathe.

"Now you..." the larger man said, leveling a meaty finger toward the shadowy figure, "can piss right off. This don't concern you."

The more wiry thug, leaving the other threat to his friend, moved closer still to the woman with the hammer. He smiled, showing yellowed teeth and reached out a hand to take the end of one of her pigtails between his fingers. "Whatcha say, puppet?"

[Karl the Unfettered]

'Little mama?' Vivi's snarl deepened at that, and she wondered why they weren't immediately put off by her threats. She wasn't used to people not reacting when she threatened them, after all! Were they drunk, or high? That had to be it. She'd been perfectly fucking clear about what would happen if they didn't clear out posthaste. Hadn't she?

It crossed her mind that maybe it was just a matter of reputation, that these creeps didn't know they were supposed to jump at her every command since she was kind of a big deal. Except she was a big deal on Nar Shaddaa, not Circumtore. Not yet anyway! She was determined to be a big deal though, starting with these clowns!

Oooh, and speaking of clowns, here was a new one now! Bit generic though, some shadowy guy with a droid and possibly a blaster hidden away. Didn't he know that shadowy gunmen were a chit per dozen around here? Goddamn meddlesome losers anyway, didn't they kn-

No, they didn't, she'd already established that no one here knew who she was! And that she'd have to change that one cracked skull at a time!

And as the skinny clown reached out for her hair, called her a puppet, she decided the time to start cracking skulls was RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

"Aw, baby wanna play?" she crooned playfully, reaching up to bat his hand away. "Baby wanna lose his hand?" She gripped his wrist and twisted, yanked; there was a snap as his hand broke in a couple of places, and she shoved him to the floor and brought her hammer smashing down onto his elbow! "TWO AN' THREE, FUCKOS! TIME'S UP!" The hammer came back up and she got ready to crack skulls!

[Ysmir]

Oh, boy. Why was it always him?

Quick assessment of the situation drew up more questions than answered, but quick-eyed as ever, Jack divined some context; pig-tails was axe crazy, the two aformentioned two-bit pistol jockeys were probably trying to shake down the poor girl for credits or something even less savory, and Jack had walked into the middle of it. Pig-tails was the wild card, though; tough to tell whether she was here out of the goodness of her heart or simply looking for an excuse to crack as many skulls as possible with that giant hammer of hers. He didn't even wanna think about how or why she was strong enough to use that thing; unimportant.

Jack's hands were flat by his side, his finger twitching as he felt the tensions rising in the air. His eyes flitted between each individual in the alley, focusing for a beat longer on the woman rocking against the wall. Jack whistled lowly, drowned out by the yelling coming from pig-tails' direction as she began her beatdown on the wiry thug. T7 heard this signal and made a beeline toward the woman on the alley wall, positioning himself protectively between her and the thug -- a maneuever that got the pudgy one's attention.

Gotcha.

Jack flicked his jacket back and revealed, briefly, the crossdraw harness he wore beneath it; from within, he produced his dual blasters and levelled one with expert precision at the thug. A loud FWOOM accompanied the crackling blue bolt of energy as it struck the stout thug's own blaster at his side, causing it to explode into a lightshow of sparks and flame that burned his thigh. As he spun in place and yelped in pain, trying to douse the flame, T7 inched forward and extended his slicing arm, zapping the thug on the rear end. This caused the man to pathetically tumble over as Jack advanced forward, one blaster levelled toward the hammer-wielding psycho, the other on the pudgy man who had managed to put out the fire.

"Go away, don't come back. Next one's goin' down south," Jack muttered to him without taking his eyes off the other two down the alley. The thug needn't be told twice, and he scrambled to his feet to book it out of the alleyway.

Jack gave a concerned look to the woman and her droid, whom T7 began conversing with through binary in a questioning manner. Then, he turned his eyes back down the alley -- his stomach panged slightly as he saw the meaty remains of the wiry thug's head after pig-tails had her way with him. He aimed both blasters her way, now.

"Hey. Hi. We good? 'Cause I didn't come here to get into some half-backed back-alley brawl," Jack quipped as he slowly lowered his aim from her. "Should go somewhere a little less exposed and talk things out. Yeah?"

[Meira]

In the next moments, Yanna could only scream as the alley devolved into a living hell around her. The woman was making quick work of the smaller thug, but that was further away. All at once, the droid beside the shadowy man rushed toward her and Yanna instinctively kicked out a foot in a pathetic attempt to defend herself. Zozo rushed forward, one of its many tools springing out from its chassis and sparking menacingly toward the other droid. But it, like the man, seemed to have its attention on the larger thug.

Yanna screamed again at the loud shot, and the wet thunks of the woman's hammer. She covered her eyes with her hands, trying to make herself small. Wishing desperately to be anywhere that wasn't here. And then, just as quickly as it had escalated, the alley fell quiet as the larger thug retreated. But Yanna kept her eyes covered, her head low, folding in on herself and breathing in frantic, tiny gasps.

The other droid whirred and beeped at Zozo, but it received only a repeated Back! Back! in response as Zozo continued to brandish a tool arm blue with arcing electricty. The man was speaking to the woman now. Yanna could hardly register his words. It was all she could do to keep herself from passing out from sheer panic.

A high pitch growl echoed suddenly in the alley as a blur of movement shot out from the shadows and leaped into the air. The strange blur landed, or rather collided with the man's leg. It hopped, tried to grab with tiny claws, and bite with even tinier teeth. It growled and snarled, but its teeth could not get purchase past the man's boots.

"Butt! NO!" Yanna shouted, her eyes shooting up at the sound of the fwits attack on the man. "C-c-come here!" she implored.

The fwit swiveled its head at hearing Yanna's voice, then looked back toward the man, as if sizing him up. He growled once again, but stepped back away. The fwit never broke eye contact with the man as he backed toward Yanna who scooped him up and crushed him close to her chest as soon as he was in reach.

"I'm sorry. I don't have any money. P-p-please just leave us alone!"

[Karl the Unfettered]

The skinny thug's mouth was moving, but no one could hear him over the sound of Vivi's manic laughter as she brought her hammer down on his head. Once, twice, three times! Blood, bone and brains went everywhere, and the body jittered from misfiring neural signals for a few seconds until it fell still at last.

Vaguely disappointed that it had only taken three swings to pulp the thug, she nonetheless turned her laughing gaze on the others. Aw, what? The fat thug was running away, the weirdo was pointing his guns at her, and the girl who was the center of all this was cowering against the wall with her critters trying to defend her.

"Put them pea-shooters down, pal, 'n we'll be FINE," she told Jack, twisting her hammer to flick the gore off and splatter it against the wall. Now that the immediate crisis was over and done with, Vivi could prop her hammer on the ground and lean against it as she looked down at Yanna.

Who... still seemed to think shit was going down? Vivi sighed and cleared her throat before speaking in a much gentler tone of voice. "Heyyy, hey, take 'er easy, lil' girl. Th' bad guys is done for, see? They ain't botherin' no one never again." Well, unless the fat one had more friends somewhere else. But they'd better be damn well-armed if they wanted to make a dent in Vivi's optimism, is all she had to say about it!

The panic was rolling off of her in waves, Vivi could feel it. She'd never been so empathic before, was it more of that Force shit? Probably. Whatever. She stepped forward and held a hand out for Yanna to grab onto. "Y' wanna stand up now? No one's gonna 'urt ya none, not while I'm here." She remembered the other guy. "I guess he's helpin' too. I'm Vivienne, by the way, Vivienne Hawke, but call me Vivi."

[Ysmir]

T7 whirred and jostled in place as Zozo threatened him with the slicing arm. His head spun about on his cylindrical body in frantic fashion, trying to convey hurriedly that the duo meant him and Yanna no harm, though backpedalling in his place nonetheless; electric shock was a droid's greatest enemy, after all. That, and ion. Eugh.

Meanwhile, Jack was doing his absolute best not to lose his lunch as the woman casually flung bits of bone and brain matter onto the wall at her side. He'd seen some gnarly things in his time, and he was no stranger to the deep anatomy of most sentients, but this was pretty gross.

Just as Jack went to holster his two blasters in a flashy manner, something caught his eye. Before he could move his leg out of the way of whatever had leapt at him out of the shadows.

Jack let out a yelp of surprise as this ugly little thing tried and tried with all its might to scratch and gnaw at his leather boots, to no avail. He shook his leg back and forth to try and wrench the thing free of its clutches, at which point T7 spun about in place to take in the view and let out a slew of beeps and whirs -- noises which Yanna, and especially Zozo, could recognize as amusement. Meanwhile, Jack made eye contact with this little beast as it stopped at Yanna's behest. His eyes widened and his brow quirked up in shock.

Did she just call this thing Butt?

Jack shook his head. He must have been hearing things in all the excitement. Nevertheless, he holstered his blasters and kicked out his leg once more for good measure before returning to his calm, collected stance. T7 let out a few more beeps and mews, something of an astromech giggle. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure; laugh it up, tin can." Jack walked by T7 and gave him a playful kick in the rotor, stopping before he reached Yanna, Zozo, and... Butt. He held out a hand in a placating gesture. "Not here for you, or your money. Don't worry."

Jack's eyes turned over to the girl -- who called herself "Vivi" -- as she introduced herself, rather casually, to the shellshocked and shaken woman. Jack could almost facepalm at the absurdity of it all, but decided not to make any sudden movements around the psycho who'd just turned another man's head into a pancake. At Vivi's insistence he was there to help, Jack shook his head. "No, not helping -- more passing through. Don't like bullies, is all."

Still, despite his assurance otherwise, Jack felt that similar pang of guilt as he looked upon the girl clutching her ugly pet to her chest. He chewed on his lower lip in thought, his pragmatic nature fighting a losing battle against his inherent righteousness. Before long, he caved, and released a sigh as he looked between the two.

"Look, I'm all for pleasantries, but you just murdered some mook. Let's get outta dodge before somebody catches up to this scene," he said in an apologetic tone, but his words held merit. It wouldn't be long before someone came around and noticed the bloodied corpse laying just a few meters away. He looked to Yanna. "My ship's docked not far from here. You're welcome to hang around 'till you get your bearings straight."

Then, he looked -- warily -- to Vivi. There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. "Guess you can come, too."

T7 rolled up next to Jack and looked between the three, beeping curiously.

[Meira]

Not leaving. Still there. Gonna die.

The thoughts played on a loop through her mind as Yanna squeezed Butt and clenched her jaw against further screaming or crying. She rocked, hoping that they'd eventually see she was telling the truth, that she had nothing of value for them to take. But then the woman moved closer and Yanna jumped to her feet. Adrenaline kicked in and she was prepared to run. She backed away several steps from the woman, but the movement caused her to stumble against Zozo, whose attention was still firmly fixed on the other droid.

Zozo whistled in surprised, rolling back as Yanna flailed to keep her feet. Butt was dropped to the ground, where he growled and snapped in warning at both the man and the woman. But then, Butt raised is head, nose sniffing the air. After a moment, he let out a squawk and scurried over to the corpse where he quickly began to nibble at the exposed remains. Yanna's eyes were drawn by Butt's movement, bringing them to the gory display. She immediately turned, doubled over, and vomited. Luckily, she'd not had much at all to eat that day, and so there was not much for her body to expel. Her head swam, suddenly unable to orient itself in the space. The two others were speaking, but it was as if she heard them through several thick layers of clothing.

"Please... just..." She tried to turn, to focus her eyes onto either of them, but several identical copies floated around, and then...

Yanna collapsed back onto the ground, unconscious. As she did, Zozo shrieked in alarm, rolling closer to her, but unable to do anything with its limited form. After a moment of fretful chirping over its master, Zozo turned to the other droid and repeated Help. Help. Help.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Vivi's brows knit together in consternation, and she sighed. Was this chick really worth her time? Freaking out over a dead guy or whatever... "Now lookit what ya did, scared 'er senseless," she griped at Jack, rolling her eyes. "Well whatever. Where's yer ship, pal? We best lay low, like ya said." She turned to the dead guy and wiped the remnants of the gore and blood off her hammer with the clean parts of his shirt, then slung it over her shoulder where a magnetic holster of some kind held it in place at her back.

Then she walked back to Yanna and knelt at her side, ignoring the droid and the critter for now. "Heart still beatin'," she muttered after holding a finger to the woman's throat for a few moments. Then she slid an arm beneath and pulled upward, standing up and putting Yanna over her shoulder in a casual fireman's carry. That left her other arm free to do whatever, luckily.

"Lead th' way, pal, we're followin'." She eyed Jack expectantly, her slim and curvy figure at odds with the weight she was so easily lugging along. Privately she wouldn't mind if the girl stayed asleep for a while longer, that way she wouldn't have to deal with all the panic and fear cascading off of her. "You two stick aroun', yeah? This ain't no place fer a coupla loose pets!" she added to Butt and Zozo.

[Ysmir]

"Oh -- Oh no," Jack said as he covered his mouth and looked away from Yanna's wretching. It was immensely odd how legitimate blood and gore didn't faze him in the slightest, but the sight of someone else churning up their lunch did.

T7 whirred and beeped frantically as Yana collapsed, and Jack turned his attention back to the group. T7 rolled up to Zozo and reassured him, in their astromech way, that they wouldn't just leave her like this. Jack didn't vocalize his feelings -- in fact, he didn't even have the chance to before Vivi reprimanded him and began checking the woman over. He blinked in confusion, and then his brows furrowed inward.

"Me?" he asked incredulously, turning to the bloodied corpse of the man she had just battered into mush.

Nope. Not even gonna get into it. Not worth it.

Jack sighed and removed his hands from his pockets, waving a hand toward Zozo and T7. He gave the fwit an uncertain and menacing glare, but relented, motioning for it to come along as well.

"Come on. It's just down the way."

---

When Yanna awoke, it was on soft white sheets with a warm light hanging overhead, dim enough to not harm her eyes. T7 and Zozo were off to the side chattering in binary as T7 familiarized Zozo with the View's somewhat-dated-but-still-functional operating systems, specifically those related to the medbay. The medbay itself was decently sized, with a personal kolto tank occupying the far corner next to a medical locker that looked somewhat understocked, but with enough emergency supplies to stabilize somebody in need. T7 chirped curiously as he noticed Yanna's eyes open.

Meanwhile, in the main hold, Jack had gone about checking his holdings on the central console as smooth synthrock played over the sound system embedded into the ceilings. Vivi was made aware of the many custom outfittings that Jack had added to the freighter over the years, including (especially) the self-service bar in the corner.

"Make yourself at home, no tellin' when she's gonna wake up," Jack said with an off-hand wave, before standing to remove his jacket. His cross-holster bandolier against his black undershirt was seen plainly now, as well as a utility belt lined with a few mines and thermal detonators. For all his suave and smooth demeanor, the man was certainly packing beneath that nice leather longcoat.

He crossed his arms as he observed Vivi. Then, he lifted a brow. "... what is it you do, anyway? Usually got a knack for pinnin' people down on first impression. Not so easy with you."

[Meira]

Sparks arced across the metal fencing, causing a number of screams to ring out along the line. Over it, the grunts and squeals of the Gamorrean guards persisted, urging the confused and frightened refugees ever forward along the narrow path. People of various shapes and sizes elbowed and pushed, trying to keep ahead of the tusks and stun batons. They had no choice but to go forward, and if one was too slow, they were pushed past or trampled.

It had rained at some point. There was still a light drizzle -more a mist- in the air and everything smelled damp. The ground below was a series of acrid puddles, piles of trash and dropped belongings, and possibly... no, definitely, excrement. She tried to breathe through her mouth so as not to smell the inevitable stench of too many bodies forced through too small of spaces, but it was no use. If she wasn't smelling it, she was tasting it and that was just as bad, if not worse. She was one of the last to make it from the cargo ship to the intake station. She was slow, frightened, and refused to leave her droid or Butt's cage behind. They were all she had.

A Gamorrean grunted right behind her and Yanna was suddenly shoved forward. She tripped over a dropped and forgotten suitcase and fell to the ground. Butt's cage clattered, the door popping open. The fwitt jumped out, taking up position atop his owner and gnashing at the Gamorrean. The guard, indignant, raised his stun baton. But when he squealed again, it was in pain as Zozo zapped him. The guard stumbled away, grunted, and moved on to torment a less combative refugee. Butt hopped off Yanna's back, coming around to her face where he nuzzled against her, prodding her to get up.

---

Yanna woke to the feeling of Butt's forehead gently pushing against her cheek as he softly chirped. Her eyelids flitted open and it took several moments for her mind to begin processing her surroundings. Just as her eyes were starting to widen with fear at the unfamiliar room, Zozo was at her side, whistling and softly beeping. Calm. Breathe. Safe. It repeated these to her over and over as Yanna fought back the panicked instinct to hyperventilate. She caught movement in her periphery and swung her head in time to see another droid, similar in make to Zozo, rolling out of the room. Zozo repeated its mantra, and Yanna tried to comply as she looked around.

She was in a med bay. "VX-00." she said, under her breath. "Tank added." she amended. Zozo trilled and Yanna's eyes returned to the droid. "Who?" she asked, and Zozo repeated. "Where?" Zozo whirred, then rolled back as Yanna swung her legs down from the bed. Slowly, she transitioned her weight to her feet. When the room did not spin and her stomach remained fairly calm, Yanna determined she likely did not sustain any cranial damage. Butt hopped along the bed beside her, eyes watching her closely before hopping to the floor. He chirruped, dancing around her legs as she took a few tentative steps. Through the open doorway, she could hear the muffled sound of voices not too far away.

Careful. Me first.

Zozo maneuvered around Yanna and into the doorway. Its head swiveled, looking both ways along the corridor before turning right. It paused in the space, waiting for Yanna to follow. She did, nervously. As it moved ahead, Zozo picked back up on the mantra from before. Calm. Breathe. Safe. But Yanna could detect the slight warble that denoted Zozo's uncertainty on the last word. As she rounded a corner and came to the entrance to the main hold, she became suddenly aware of why. Ahead of her were two of the dangerous people from the alley. Yanna's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock. She stepped back, almost trampling Butt as her hand caught a wall to steady herself. Butt, seeing her distressed, jumped between her and the two humans, growling and snapping but not approaching. Zozo moved back to Yanna's side. Safe. Safe. Safe.

[Karl the Unfettered]

What passed for the law on Circumtore was apparently slow to react. Either they'd been quieter or more isolated than Vivi had thought, or things like what had just happened, happened all the time and no one really cared all that much. She preferred to think it was the latter, as that gave her more license to be a huge bitch!

In any event, no one felt like challenging the woman carrying another woman, not with the guy and the ugly cat-thing and the two droids along too, and they made it to Jack's ship without incident. Then she dropped Yanna at the medbay and followed along behind Jack for the tour. "Ooh, liquor," and she immediately reached for a bottle. 'Make yourself at home' he'd said!

Popping the top off the bottle, she shrugged her hammer off and flopped back onto a handy bench, sighing as she threw back a swallow of the strong stuff. "Mm, nice." She let the burn run through her for a moment before eying Jack and considering his question. "Me? I work fer th' Exchange, pal. One a' their best underbosses! Primo ass-kicker too, as y' saw fer yerself."

She had another swallow, and that was when Yanna reappeared. Vivi sighed; she was still panicking, great. "C'mon in, girly, have a drink," and she waved her bottle about slightly. "Tell us about yerself too." Who was this random waif she'd gone out of her way to rescue, anyway?

[Ysmir]

Jack leaned his hip onto the center console. Then, his brows lifted.

Exchange? Oh, Space.

An underboss, no less? Just his luck. He was beginning to think Brent might have been right about this job -- nah, impossible. Brent's never right, especially when he is. Jack could never admit that the man had the better intuition.

Regardless of her loyalties, however, it seemed as though she didn't exactly mean him any harm, so long as he meant her none in turn. Long held grudges aside, Jack could recognize the many changes in infrastructure the Exchange had undergone, although there was only so much one could see from the outside looking in. Had they completed the heel-face turn that it seemed they were gunning for? Only time would tell. For his part, Jack would remain wary, but courteous, at least until she tried anything funny.

That big hammer wouldn't touch a hair on his pretty head if he had anything to say about it.

Before Jack could respond in kind to Vivi's answer, he became privvy to the other guest. Her arrival was preceded by the utility droid -- the one T7 called "Zozo". Jack approached Yanna and Zozo cautiously, holding a hand out level with the ground in a steady motion.

"Calm down, alright? Don't mean any harm," Jack stated gently, before eyeing down to the fwit that growled and gnarled venomously at his feet, "to you or your... stalwart guardian." He kicked his foot gently at the creature to get it to return to its master, before returning his gaze to Yanna. "You conked out pretty harsh back there, almost knocked your head. And with the scene we left, didn't really feel right leavin' you in a heap. This is my ship. You're safe, promise."

T7 exited the medbay after the intrepid trio, rolling up alongside Zozo. The astromech ejected something from its chest via actuator arm, a small pill bottle of some basic but potent anti-nausea tablets in case Yanna experienced any more discomfort in her time here.

Jack's brows creased inward at Vivi's rather flippant demand. He eyed the woman on hislounger, shooting her a look, before turning back to face Yanna. "I'd bet you're all sorts'a mixed up. Take your time, get your bearings. No rush."

To the mechanically gifted, the freighter beyond the medbay was hardly recognizeable from the stock model. Bits of panneling in the walls had been removed and re-grafted, a method Yanna would recognize as useful for reducing total hull weight and thus allowing more cargo to be efficiently stored -- usually for illicit reasons. The main hold had been completely redone from the ground up, as even the central console had been replaced with a far more advanced and pricey model that was generally only employed by important executives and other business-types, two things Jack certainly was not. Jack returned to his spot by the console, crossing his arms and leaning back onto the lip as he gauged Yanna from a short distance away.

"Call me Jack, by the way."

[Meira]

To the two onlookers, Yanna was frozen. She hardly moved a muscle. The only signs that she was even conscious were her wide open eyes and the shallow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed... and that she was standing of her own free will. She heard the man speaking, though she consciously processed the sound of his voice more than the words themselves. He was attempting to calm her. Butt, not actually as brave as he tried to project, snapped but then jumped back as the man shook his foot toward him. It was his form bumping against her leg that stirred Yanna slightly. In halting, uneasy movements, she crouched down to scoop the fwit up and hold him with one arm as her other continued to reach out so that she could grip the doorway opening.

Yanna became suddenly aware that there was an expectant silence in the room. She'd been staring at the hammer, but now tore her eyes away from it. They landed first on the other woman, then on the man. Each was looking at her... waiting. A slight furrow formed between her brows as her eyes moved back and forth. Her mind began to attempt to replay the last few moments, searching for the point where he's missed some cue, or made some mistake. Simultaneously, she was analyzing the danger of the situation. The woman, certainly, was dangerous. She'd murdered a man in cold blood. No, he wasn't exactly a good man, but the ease and possible glee that she woman had displayed in the objectively brutal act suggested a certain mental instability that made her unpredictable.

The man was likewise an unknown. He'd made it clear, both just now and in the alley, that he intended her no harm. But the fact that he had agreed to an extended amount of time with the woman on the lounge bench indicated a severe lack of common sense. Then again... they could have killed her, left her behind, stolen her belongings, or worse. They did none of those things. They brought her to a safer place. The man's droid was even offering her medication. Yanna took the bottle and looked at the pills. They were clearly marked with the standard code for anti-nausea medication. She slipped them into a pocket. Safe, she thought, relatively speaking.

Then she remembered the cue she'd missed.

"M- m-my..." she swallowed. "Yanna." she managed. "T3-Z0," she continued, pointing at Zozo, and then she shrugged the arm holding Butt, saying "Mr. Cuddlebutt." Butt growled at Jack with as much malice as his tiny form could muster. Yanna, seeing this, dropped him gently to the floor and shooed him away.

"Thank you... Jack." she said, looking somewhere around the man's shoes. "And you, Miss...?"

[Karl the Unfettered]

Why was she staring at Vivi's hammer? Vivi tried to see things from the other girl's perspective. Innocent broad, caught in an alley, goons thumped... ohh, that was probably it, she was traumatized by seeing the one goon get brained! It wasn't any good making it worse or waving bad memories around, so with a sigh she reached back, pulled the gigantic thing off its sling and dropped it behind the couch out of sight.

Huh, now she could lean back properly. So weird.

Still she stood there, glance flicking back and forth, and Vivi was starting to wonder if she was broken when she finally spoke up. Yanna she said. The pets were introduced too, the ugly fwit looking as pleased as it could probably.

"Vivienne Hawke, but call me Vivi," she offered, draining the glass and reaching back to refill it. "An' yer welcome! Weren't gonna let a coupla lowlives get away with takin' advantage a' ya! What kinda gal would I be?"

A sheep, is what kinda gal she'd be. A scaredy-cat sheep who let life happen to her and kept her nose down when shit was happening. Vivi wasn't a sheep! Her nickname was The Hammer after all, not The Sheep!

What kind of name was Vivi the Sheep, anyway?

If she had to guess, she'd wager this Yanna was a mechanic of some sort. The clothes and the droid sort of pointed in that direction, and it'd account for why she was wandering around the docks of a place like this. But she'd wait and let her explain herself if she wanted before forming definite assumptions.

[Ysmir]

Mr. Cuddlebutt?

Jack wore visible confusion on his face, almost not hearing her -- Yanna -- when she introduced her droid, shooting that confused glance the ugly little fwit's way. Confusion turned to annoyance and disgust when that little fwit growled at him. Jack sucked his teeth and shook his head once Yanna sent him away, the little shit scurrying down the hall toward the cargo hold. What's that thing's damn problem with me, anyway? Jack shook his head as he refocused on the tiny, awkward woman now in his ship.

She was much more meek than he gave her credit for beforehand. But now, seeing her in the flesh and cognizant -- well, as cognizant as the bundle of anxiety could be -- he could further appreciate just how out of place she was on Circumtore. This was a rather rough-and-tumble place, notorious for being held in an iron grip by the offshoot cousins of everybody's least favorite space slugs. General traffic consisted of mercenaries, spice runners, fixers, black market salesmen, and no small amount of hitmen and Exchange buffs, like Vivi on his sofa.

So why her? Jack furrowed his brows and tapped his fingers along his crossed forearm.

T7 rolled alongside Zozo after examining him curiously for a time. It had been awhile since the astromech had seen a T3 model in the flesh, and he wasted no time in chirping and whirring in excited tones toward his droid brethren about all of the upgrades and mechanical work he could potentially fit into his chassiss. A blabbermouth on the same pedestal as Jack could be at times, T7 fervently showed off his many aftermarket modifications that Jack had installed on his frame; a plasma torch, a slicing arm, various highly illegal grenade compartments, the works. It seemed T7's comfort levels had grown exponentially after seeing that Yanna was finally up and about.

Jack nodded his head to Vivi's words. It was true; he hated getting involved with other people's business if he could help it, but for some reason, after Coruscant, he found ignoring plain injustice to be a lot harder these days. The woman before him clearly couldn't harm a fly. How'd he sleep at night knowing he let two thugs get away with pushing her around?

The smooth synthjazz filtering through the speakers shuffled to another song on Jack's sizeable playlist. He tilted his head toward Yanna.

"Sorry, but I can't shake this. What's someone like you doing on Circumtore, anyway? Clearly, you didn't grow up here. So what gives?"

[Meira]

The thump of the hammer hitting the deck caused Yanna to flinch, but she'd already been clenching her jaw so she managed not to yelp. Zozo rotated its head to regard the mechanic, but the other droid was so insistent that Zozo had to trust that its master would be alright. Zozo humored the other droid with well timed, affirming trills as it cycled through displaying its various appendages and functions.

Yanna's eyes widened at the man's tone as he spoke again. She glanced up, mind racing as she tried to decipher what he might have meant. Was he accusing her of something? What? He was looking at her... judging? Appraising? Yanna's eyes darted away, landing on the woman... Vivi. She too had a look in her eye. Inquisitive, perhaps simple curiosity. Yanna blinked, looking back at Jack and then away again to the floor.

"I... no." she said. She squeezed her hands into small, nervous fists, then released them, crossing her arms instead. She was quickly regretting having let Butt go.

Zozo, seeing the increased anxiety in its master, rolled away from the other droid and back closer to Yanna. Safe. It began to repeat this again at her in binary until Yanna nodded her head. "Teth." she finally managed. Glancing about, she spotted a seat that was a comfortable distance from Vivi. She moved, keeping the others in her line of vision, and then lowered herself down onto the chair. Zozo rolled alongside her like some protective nanny droid.

"I was g-going to Prazhi when..." she trailed off, not wanting her mind to flood with the imagined horrors her parents must have suffered. "Rerouted to Nar Shaddaa... then here when..." again, she trailed off. But she cleared her throat, doing all she could to push the memories away. This was a ship, after all. It could be her chance. Yanna flexed her jaw, willing her tears to wait for some more private moment. "Still umm..." she said to her hands, "Prazhi... I can work." She stopped, mentally kicking herself. She was blowing it.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Stars above, would this chick ever chill out? Probably not, not while Vivi was around at least. But she couldn't just walk out on these two, what if this Jack fellow was a scumbag? She didn't think a droid and a fwit could hold off a determined man if he wanted a piece of Yanna, that was for sure. Let alone two men, the exact situation that had started all this!

"What's on Prazhi? Place's stuck up as hell, I'll tell ya right now. All their treaties 'n neutralities 'n shit." She clearly had a low opinion of places where she couldn't cut loose, hence her preference for relatively lawless spots like Circumtore and Nar Shaddaa.

It kind of hurt her feelings when Yanna sat as far from her as possible and wasn't even subtle about it, but she wasn't going to do anything else to traumatize her further. Not if she could help it anyway. Splattering a dude's brains everywhere was enough mayhem for a while, at least.

In any event it was Jack's ship, and with Yanna bargaining for passage Vivi was starting to feel like a third wheel. Jack didn't have any reason to carry her around, after all. She thought about offering to pay for the girl's fare.