And Who Said Chivalry Is Dead...?! [Zha]

[Rabbit]

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Bars. Dives. Cantinas.

Rowin thought he had quite possibly visited every dump in the galaxy. From Tatooine to Zeltron, the Lepi was quite convinced he'd "seen it all." Though, he hadn't really seen much of the Core Worlds - places like Coruscant and Kuat. He had only visited Coruscant a handful of times - all related to business of one sort or another - and never before to Kuat.

Rowin was looking forward to taking a little time to himself and enjoying a shuttle to the planet surface in a day or so. Until then, though, he was stuck on the artificial ring that circled the planet, in the Drive Yards. Business was what it was and he still had to "cash in" with a Republic officer in the KDY after delivering the required bounty.

In a different turn of events, the bounty Rowin owed was one concerning information. He wasn't a spy, per se - he definitely didn't have the subtlety for that sort of gig - but he did have big ears and a deceiving demeanor. Rowin always heard...things...in the dives and dumps he frequented across the galaxy and his contacts in Republic Intel had figured out a way to put the Lepi to surprisingly good use.

He never really knew what specific information they were looking for. His orders were usually along the lines of - "go here, to this place, listen for x amount of time, then come back and tell us what you heard." It was an easy way to get a few credits, so Rowin didn't ask questions. He knew one thing, though - as seemingly inane as these "information bounties" might have seemed, they did serve a grander purpose. As a bounty hunter of nearly 10 years, the Lepi knew only too well how a random bit of news could snowball into deeper ramifications. And while he didn't know what the Republic gleaned from his bits of sporadic cantina gossip, Rowin was fairly certain that it served a higher purpose.

And, truth be told, it helped him along in his pursuits as well. He'd heard many interesting things in the places he'd gone to on behalf of the Republic. Things that often lead to side-bounties and smuggling jobs that he might have missed, otherwise.

It was a win-win arrangement.

Rowin was all about the win-win.

The Lepi shoved his hands inside of the pockets of his beat-up-and-much-patched bantha leather jacket and stopped to ponder a restaurant sign that was blinking just above his head. For once, he wasn't wearing his stolen Mandalorian armor - it really was necessary and would have just drawn unwanted attention to his already attention-grabbing form. More than one pedestrian had turned his or her head to stare at his gawky, ambling, lop-eared, pie-bald appearance; Rowin barely noticed half of the reactions.

He was used to it by now. No one ever missed the Lepi in the room, that was for sure. Unless of course, that Lepi was metaphorical....

Rowin's stomach growled. Well...metaphorical Lepis didn't have hunger pains, so he figured that the chances of being ignored were nil. Not that it really mattered...he didn't care how much attention he garnered, as long as the pay-off was a large chunk of medium-cooked steak and a few cheese-smothered fried spuds on the side.

He'd been in far too many cantinas, bars, dives, and dumps in the recent months. He had more than enough credits for a good meal in a nice restaurant - why not? So what if he wasn't dressed to code? He pulled the edges of his jacket a little closer to each other - that just meant he'd have to keep his blasters a little better hidden while he noshed.

Rowin reached for the door and would have continued merely on his way toward a plate of steak and spuds...

...When a vision of loveliness entered his field of vision and he stopped dead in his tracks, transfixed.

A Lepi couldn't be missed in a 4-by-4 room. But, apparently, a snappily-dressed Farghul female could stop a whole street.

Lepi included.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Note: Pre-Diana

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As she stepped briskly down the corridors of the KDY toward one of her usual haunts (here anyway), Zharra already knew today was going to be an interesting day. Now, typically, spending her days on the KDY was not her idea of fun. In fact, it was quite the opposite for the feline-esque Farghul femme fatale. Well, she appeared to be one anyway, with her figure outlined nicely by a silken and form fitting top in a deep, wine purple, color with long, belled, sleeves, and black pants that fit her well (no one needed to know they were her old uniform pants) that were tucked into short-heeled boots that came to the middle of her calf. Of course, the blaster on her hip, boot knife and single dagger didn’t help any…neither did the claws tipping each of her fingers. However, whether being on the KDY was fun or not in and of itself, seeing people’s reactions to her was always amusing, especially when they finally noticed the rank bars pinned to the left side of her chest.

That was typically when they really started gawking, and sometimes stammering…sort of like the poor young man she was dealing with at that exact moment in time as he tried desperately to explain to her why she couldn’t bring weapons into the restaurant beside the one the transfixed lepi had just paused at. Now, Zharra had been around on the KDY long enough, and had been frequenting this particular restaurant long enough because of it, that most of those who worked there knew her…it was the unfortunate man before her, however, that happened to get her on his first day as host. So, only moments after arriving, she stood there, leaning casually against his podium with one forearm across the edge, her elbow propped on a corner, and her chin on her fist as she smiled mischievously at him. Her tail flicked and swayed, turning circles in the air with her amusement, and her ears perked forward as she listened to him try to explain to a captain why she couldn’t bring her sidearm in.

Of course, she knew by now she couldn’t…knew that she’d have to hand her weapons over for keeping before she could enter…but this was just too entertaining a possibility to miss. So she didn’t. It was the Farghul in her…it had to be. That, or her own unusual sense of humor. Perhaps it was both.

”So…you’re telling me that I have to hand my sidearm over to you?”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

”…and my boot knife, and my dagger as well?”

“Y-yes ma’am…all your weapons.”

”I can’t give you all of them even if I wanted to, however, so that seems like foolish notion…taking all the others.”

He had to blink at her after that statement, unsure of how to reply. “What do you mean, ma’am? Of course you can.”

”No I can’t. I can’t remove my claws, give them to you, then be able to put them back on again. So if I’m going to be armed anyway, why take my other weapons?” She couldn’t help but smirk as she tapped the fingers (and therefore the claws) of her free hand against his podium lightly. He looked from her, to them, then back to her, then seemed to try and restrain himself from looking around for help. His eyes, however, still darted from one side, to the other, then back again before looking back at the feline before him. ”Besides, how do you know I’ve not had to register myself as a weapon? If I have, does that mean that I’m not allowed to enter at all?”

His eyes widened and he stammered the beginnings of several sentences (she thought that’s what they were anyway) swiftly before falling silent again. “I…uh…but…we just….there’s um…the policy…erm…it’s just…only…I mean if you can’t…that is to say, Ma’am…”

She grinned at him, not unkindly, and chuckled as she stood from her leaning position and took the blaster and holster from her belt, unfastening it from her thigh as well. Little did she know (or care) that as she stooped to unfasten the bottom of the holster from her thigh, and pull her boot knife from her boot, that she was giving the Lepi behind her a rather nice show of her figure. She wasn’t a jedi, after all, and hadn’t sensed him ogling her…nor was she perfect, so (for once) she’d missed seeing someone paying such close attention to her. Well, she did for the duration of time she’d been tormenting (oh so kindly) the poor young man before her. As she stood again and removed her dagger and sheath from her belt as well, she began to get the feeling of being watched, one ear twisting around to listen behind her. Still, she never lost that mischievous smile as she handed her weapons over.

”Well, I still think it’s a silly rule, and I shan’t be giving you my claws. Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering, I do have to register myself as a weapon. I do so hope that doesn’t keep me from being able to eat here since I’ve had my heart absolutely set on it all day.” She was, of course, playing…mostly. Well…alright, only in the fact that she’d had her heart set on eating there all day. In reality it had only been for the past two hours or so.