A while since we talked...

[Grym Kandle]

Nar Shadda was as slummy as an entire city-like planet could come. Parts of Coruscant were bad and then some were worse. All of Nar Shadda was bad and Grym could tell this bar wasn't the exception. But it was the only bar for parsecs around that had a human dancer. Twi'leks were great and the mess of other races but a human dancer attracted other humans, those generally looking for some familiar shades of skin. The planet was not even close to having a noticable amount of humans on it though so that attraction of business was not much.

Grym's aesthetic taste in others had been lost some time ago. He had seen what far too many people looked like from the inside to enjoy outward appearances. But nonetheless he was here to see her, the human dancer. Bambi... The time between each time he had visited her had become longer and longer. He had never told her what he had gotten into, the syndicate jobs. There was too much risk in her knowing, not that she would betray him but in her becoming involved.

They had been friends for about 11 years, becoming more and more distant in the last six as Grym picked up the darker arts of his trade. Also in the later years, she had watched Grym's transformation as his drug abuse scarred his once charming face and body. He began wearing gloves and then a cloak. He had not used his mask around her before but he chose to for this occasion. Things had definitely taken more drastic turns as Grym appeared this time with more on his mind than to just visit.

As noted, Vin's Starlit Night fit well with the slime of Nar Shadda. Grym sat in the back in a booth comfortably facing all exits and the stage. The waiters would come back this far only after they had run by the front booths and tables twice. He had caught the attention of one though and had given him the note to pass to Bambi once her shift had ended. It read:

Waiting in the back is a Kandle to light the darkness.

His last name had been a bad running joke between the two for a while and he always used it get her attention. He had seen when she came on the stage earlier but he had not paid that much attention. He knew she was beautiful, he had been taken with her at first but as time had gone on, he'd enjoyed her friendship alone as his lingering item of his humanity, his occupation had torn the rest down.

He lounged with is leg up, his lanky frame unfolded and his white gloved hand resting on the table. His hood was down but his mask was still on, the white frame covering his face and ears. Black material from his suit covered his neck and no skin was visible. His platinum hair was unkempt but that usually was hidden beneath his cloak as well. His small versatile weapons and accesories were hidden on his person and nothing else was of notice. He was willing to take the mask off if she asked, but a tinge of anxiety at how Bambi would respond... he tried to move his thoughts away.

Something had come up now and he felt as if he should share it with her. He looked around and could see and smell the grime of this place. No, she deserved better, like he had thought long ago. And now he had the ways and means to accomplish that much. He was not optimistic about it either, Grym was very much the realist, weighing lives in his credits. Viewing her proffesionally, she had the potential.

[Bambi Maddox]

The face looking back at her in the mirror was passable, she mused critically. Not her best look, after a set, but Grym had seen her on better days and knew that her complexion always tended to be a little wanting after removing her stage makeup.

She shrugged her slim shoulders in resignation as she ran a clear gloss over her lips. She was what she was. Bambi had come to terms with herself years ago and was happy, more or less, with the whole-meal-deal that was her.

Opening again the hand written note, she well recognised the small concise script. So, he was in the mood for an old friend, was he? Good, so was she. The local company of scum was just what she did not want again tonight.

Grym's visits had been too few and far between in recent years. Bambi feared one day would be the last one without either of them knowing it. And that would truly be a shame.

She pushed herself up off her chair, twisting momentarily to check the shape of her butt outlined in her silver pants. The reflection was not a disappointing one. Bambi smiled, satisfied, and exited her changerooms to search for her friend.

Approaching the figure lounged in the booth with head bent over his drink, Bambi greeted him with one of her usual cliche's.

"As a moth to a flame"

Grym looked up, and her smile froze in place.

The mask was unexpected.

"Whats this?" she uttered more abruptly than intended, the shock of the white featureless face throwing her off balance.

[Grym Kandle]

Grym's laugh came out to sound like he was merely breathing faster. He had looked up from the drink he had not and would not touch to a familiar yet rarely heard remark and then recieved a response that he was not sure could have been more expected. He would wait though until she directly asked him to remove the mask. Grym was more than sure that her moment of shock would happen again if that occured.

"It's a pleasantry I assure you."

The voice came out mechanical and distorted to the point of monotony. The gloved hand quickly jolted to the side of the mask and pressed at the edge of it. Grym spoke and this time his original voice could be heard,

"Please take a seat. You've had a long night."

A raspy chuckle was emitted as he continued,

"You should be glad we're in such bad lighting or I'm sure you know I'd tease you about your complexion."

Actually, the mask was currently giving Grym perfect vision, as if it were day, but he enjoyed musing with her as she would not know the difference. And he really could only tease her about it. Managers at places like these were extremely picky about their dancers and an ugly twi'lek could beat out a gorgeous human so Bambi had her evidence there as a worthy and attractive dancer. But he moved onto his familiar offers he gave everytime they met.

"What would you like to drink? Anything to smoke, sniff, shoot up, or inject?"

He laughed the at the end of that as well. They had both always taken up on at least two of those, usually the drinking and smoking.

[Bambi Maddox]

The server beat her to her reply to the drink offer, placing a bottle of bourbon and two shot glasses unbidden on the table as she slid into the booth beside Grym. Bambi was a favorite among the staff, as well as the patrons, and it was status quo as to what her usual poison was.

"Thanks, Leonard" she said,sincerely. A toothless grin and a shy bob of his head, the server retreated off to other duties.

She poured two drinks, and pushed one over to her companion.

"Ill have a stim if you've any spare" she said, directing her gaze about the room, and noticebly away from the mask.


Quietly, as she sipped her drink, she asked with voice betrayed by sadness.

"Is that really necessary?"

The question hung, both of them knowing that what she was really asking was if he had fallen so low as to even have to hide himself from her.

[Grym Kandle]

Grym reached within the folds of his cloak and withdrew a small black case. Opening it, he pulled out two finely crafted stims, of the highest degree it seemed. He rolled one across the table to Bambi and then set the other to the side as Grym slide the black case back into his cloak.

He did not respond right away to Bambi's weighted question. He sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly in resignation. He had not removed the mask in public really in quite some time. He was surprised he would even now break protocol for her. Grym felt a stab of guilt that he had almost thought 'he would even now break protocol JUST for her.

"Somethings might seem to be unnecessary but if only everything was as it seemed."

Grym's hand reached up and slowly pressed on one edge of the mask. A sound almost as if it were depressurizing occured as it slipped from his bowed head and fell into his other hand. He laid the white face down on the table and slowly looked up at Bambi.

To say Grym was scarred was an understatement. The entire left side was a pale green and appeared as if every vein had protruded and solidified. The right side had streak marks down the side of his jaw and the right side of his mouth was pulled tight as if permenantly cramped. His eyes were still as sharp and aware as normal but the left eye seemed bloodshot. A closer examination showed that the glitterstim had even saturated its way that far. Once mal saturation had occured, the glitterstim would crystalize in the veins causing the green tint that Grym had and also causing them to expand as the blood flow was still required.

Grym's eyes did not meet hers though, he kept his eyes on the mask that was staring back at him. He grabbed the stim at his side and lit it up, taking a strong drag before pushing the mask aside.

"How long has it been since the last time we met?"

[Bambi Maddox]

The awkwardness Grym's removing the mask created would have stilted conversation to brittle silence had it been two lesser people, with two lesser histories sitting at the table together. But Bambi and Grym were neither of them of a delicate disposition, and both were more comfortable saying and hearing the hard things, than giving or receiving polite platitudes of consolation.

"Krassssssst" Bambi breathed out as she looked frankly at her friend's much deteriorated appearance. "About as long, I guess as it took for half your face to go green."

Bambi left the glitterstim where it was for the moment, and shifted in her seat, settling in for a detailed explaination.

"You want to tell me whats been going on?"

[Grym Kandle]

He tilted his head back and took a longer drag. He smiled, which was a barely noticable tug of his thin lips, at the dry humor in the question. No he did not want to tell her but she had asked.

"That idle warning about these things,"

lifting the stimstick from his mouth with two fingers,

"will eventually kill you is more than true. But I've far surpassed this simple method of getting the spice into my system. I need direct injections most of the time just to get the feeling you would after three stimsticks."

Placing the stim back between his lips and breathing in, he continued, his eyes finally matching up with Bambi's.

"We both started out pretty idealistic. You a dancer and me bouncing at the bar. Simple lives that we lived pretty well I'd say. But then I figured my journeyman rank in echani dueling might get me somewhere, as you knew. You were at some of the matches, remember? The pit fights and all that rot. Good times in my book, I won, you and I went to a bar and drank and smoked the prize money away. You kept dancing, proved a frell of a lot better than most managers thought you would make out to be. I'm trying not to sound too nostalgic about all this but trust me, its about to get to the good part."

He could remember the series of events that led up to this point all too well.

"My reputation went farther than I knew. The time when my visits started to become more and more infrequent was when I first started to pick up jobs for a syndicate. The Crimson Eclipse was small time in bis business and they got to me first."

Not many knew of the Eclipse. It never had glory days but it held up in the underworld and Grym had served it well. Their lead assassin had been a god in hiding and had taught Grym as much as she could before the Hutts had tracked her down and had her executed. Grym had assumed the lead assassin role then and had retained it for several years until recently as the syndicate met its demise.

"I know you've seen the streak marks and the scars at our previous meetings but things have stepped up in the last year and a half since we've met. For the last seven years, my job as an assassin has gone fairly well. Approximately six months ago, the entire syndicate was wiped out in a backyard massacre."

Grym was not skipping a beat in his words; the sentences coming out as if he were talking about the weather. He had never lied to her but Grym had omitted this part of his life from her knowledge for her safety. Grym had seen how other syndicates found weaknesses and he could not allow her to be a weakness that someone might think to exploit. He would rather have her alive and possibly hurt than dead.

"After you see how the underworld is sometimes, you start to crave the otherworld. So I jumped the scale on my spice intake. But that part of the story is over and done with."

He took another drag of his stim as if the insignificant amount of spice would actually do something.

"As for now..."

[Bambi Maddox]

He told his story in understated aplomb, and Bambi listened in similar measure. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask - who'd he kill? How'd he do it? Did it give him nightmares? Was the money good? But the drastic events of his life which he was speaking of rolled of his lips as if he were talking of someone else entirely. As though it did not touch him. The proof of that misrepresentation was told in every bruised and blownout vein on his skin. She decided to wait on pressing him for all the more intimate details until a more appropriate juncture. Maybe after a few more drinks.

The boy had been up to some wild stuff since he's been away, she observed to herself.

"And so, after all this assassining - is that a word Grym?"

He exhaled heavily without answer. Maybe he didn't know. She continued on.

"...... After all this killing for contract and the wiping out of everyone you were associated with - you escape with your life and a hefty dependence on stim. Or past dependance on stim." She obviously was not convinced in that regard. "And now, you come to see me?"

Grym shrugged, as if to ask what could be more logical.

She sipped her drink, eyeing him over the glass rim.

"You never used to be a killer, Grym. How'd you change?"

The question was asked in earnest and without judgement. Bambi had known Grym for a long time and if she'd been asked ten years ago where she saw him in his future, a calculating killler would not have been the first thing to spring to mind. A personal trainer to some rich fat socialite, maybe.

She was curious as to his career choice and if, perhaps, she was made of similar mettle. Could her path have gone just as easily the same road his had, given she met the same people?

[Grym Kandle]

Wryly smiling across the table at her and taking another drag, Grym could see the look in her eyes, that questioning look that betrayed her, at least in his opinion, inquisitive nature that led her to most of her good conclusions. When given the time, the trait was a blessing, his killer's instincts told him otherwise if they had not the time to spare.

"It's a lot easier to become something else when you don't even know it until you are waist deep in the thick of it. The syndicate offered me a high pay job as a pit fighter at first. They set me up against fighters that fought to death only. I had no clue at the time so when my opponents tried to kill me, not just win, I adjusted to their rules. Eventually, my first rule in fighting became to kill them before they even thought of killing me, regardless if they meant to just win or kill me. I could not risk the chance. The funny thing is that I never had much on the stakes. I've never had a lot to lose but my own life and some of my opponents were retired bounty hunters and the like. Risking my life for what? That used to be the big question."

His small smile did not fade as he set the stim down and took a long swallow from his drink. It burned like hellfire going down his throat, part of the digestive tissue having corroded from his habits. But it tasted good as always when he first put it to his lips and once it settled.

"The rest fell into place from there. Once I was willing to weigh lives in that sense, the syndicate started training me for other purposes. By the time that was over, I did not have questions anymore on why I did what anymore. My journeyman echani skills helped with that. As you know, my fighting's like your dancing, all about expression to some degree or another. There was no question to death because it was my applause."

And it was exactly that. She understood the concept well enough. when they had first met, he had explained how the Echani fighting style he used was similar to dancing as it mentally consisted of expressing oneself to a degree. When he fought, his mind was focused and his "message" was in his style.

"Does that answer that question? It's my turn..."

He took another long swallow and then set the glass down, retreiving the stim.

"Do you like what you are doing now? I mean, do you love it? The environment, the conditions, the people, the pay?"

[Bambi Maddox]

"Are you serious?"

She laughed lightly.

"Im bored outta my mind."

She poured another drink.

"Oh, the dancing's always good. Like you said, its a part of me - self-expression and all that. But this crowd" she gestured with the glass tumbler "aren't exactly a challenge, if you know what I mean"

A hearty cheer from the patrons punctuated her point as another favorite took her place on stage and began her routine.

"Simple minds. Simple pleasures"

She leaned back now, nursing her drink in the palm of her hand. The initial shock of Grym's appearance had receded and the years of non- contact faded. Like a familiar glove, or old comfortable shoe, the easy friendship between the two was donned once more.

Bambi smiled out of the corner of her mouth. "Come to take me away from it all, have you?

[Grym Kandle]

Grym snickered another breath out of the stim before he continued.

"I'm not here to do anything but talk. If this is where you wish to be, its not my place to suggest otherwise. But, if you want something more than this..."

His hand gestured to the scrabbling lifeforms at the front of the stage.

"... then I've found the way there. It won't be so easy though. It will be nice but I am sure that nothing about it will be easy."

This was not like before, when one of the two friends would discover some secret and both would go after it eagerly. This choice was something that could ultimately lead to a very messy ending. No, Grym, would not force the Underworld on anyone but those willing to deal with the shadows and darkness that came with it.

"I'm willing to go the very sun itself. If you want to come along, I'll be there. But this sun burns black and it casts more shadows than any star ever should."

He could not just say out in the open what he intended, joining Black Sun was quite an accomplishment; mentioning the powerful syndicate's name in public was asking for it.

[Bambi Maddox]

"Ooooh, sounds spooky" she teased, exagerrating a shiver.
Her eyes danced as she looked at him, and then she dug him in the ribs as if he was a jokster playing a prank.

It was typical Bambi behaviour, and Grym well knew that she had understood the import of what he had just said. She was just giving herself some time to process it. He idly watched the smoke from his stim curl upward as he allowed her thoughts to run their course.

The Black Sun. Undoubtedly that was what he was referring to. Bambi couldn't help the prickling of her skin at the nape of her neck. The Black Sun organization was big time. Serious people there, as far as she'd ever heard. By the way Grym spoke, he'd heard the same.

Could she handle something like that? It was not a thing to be considered lightly. She wasn't sure. And for her own sake, as well as Grym's, she had better be sure.

Serious once more, her tone thoughtful, "You'd do that for me? Go there, and take me with you?"

[Grym Kandle]

"Yes."

Grym was dlad that Bambi was still human and not transformed like so many others on Nar Shadda. Humans, while widely thought to be inferior by the Outer Rim species, just had their own level of communication. One of many things that put them in a category of their own.

His gloved hand moved to his mask and rested upon it's surface, the fingers running along the defined eyebrow and nose as he stared at it. The mask was ivory white with two horizontal marks made of a gem like glass. The marks were actually where the majority of the masks advanced sensors were located and protected. The right eye was closed and the left eye was open, one red gem that glowed when activated served as the main sight for the mask. The mouth was only a small slit; the small line in the chin and forehead were the vents. And the audio system for translating and adjusting Grym's voice were located on the back of the mask, creating a displaced sound to his voice when he spoke. A piece of work but still...

"But this would not be the only mask I wear. Masks serve as articles of protection. Where I'm going, the upper hand is everything and the losing side usually faces the worst case scenario. I can and I will if you're willing but we'd each have to wear our own masks to protect one another. We can't give anyone the upper hand."

He knew he could do it and so could she. But all precautions would have to be taken from turning this into a most tragic disaster.

[Bambi Maddox]

"I can do that" she stated confidently.

Heck, she smiled the sweetest smiles at all these drooling morons for years when she would have preferred to vaporize their heads with a laser instead. They would tip her heartily, not having the faintest clue.

Still, drunken patrons and sharp-eyed assassins were not to be compared, but the basics were the same. Never betray emotion, get the job done.

She pulled the ivory mask to her with one forefinger. Taking it up, she put up it to her face. Grym could see the shine in her eyes through the narrow slits.

"You'd have to show me the ropes though"

[Grym Kandle]

Smiling at his own "face", Grym gazed at it for a moment before taking another sip from his drink. That face, emotionless yet dramatic when seen in action, had been the last thing that so many had seen. Some faces were easily forgotten and some were not, but THAT face was somewhere imbetween. Kandle noted the necessity of it but duely noted that the mask was just as much a part of him now as any other part of his skin.

Horribly mimicking her voice, he repeated her answer to him before.

"I can do that."

Laughing into his drink, he set it down and held one hand out before her. The gloves were white and made out of a smooth but deceptively durable material and fit snug to Grym's long hands and down to his forearm. With a fluid movement of his wrist and hand, a slim blade slid up from somewhere to between his fingers.

"Anything you need. Things need to be severed as soon as possible though. For the moment, staying in one place for too long might lead to other problems."

[Bambi Maddox]

"I can go anytime Grym. Ive got no ties to keep me here"

"Ties" meaning no "one" to keep her here. Family, well, she had none. A man that would miss her? Perhaps a few here might for a short while, but none that she had ever cared about.

It was sweet of Grym, though, to pretend like maybe there was. Bambi had never been a girl to loose her head to her heart. Not in all the time he'd known her, anyway. And that was time enough.

She lit the stim now and drew deeply on it, crinkling her eyes to slits as the smoke rose to sting them.

"Yep, anytime"

[Grym Kandle]

"Saves us both time then. Though, if there is anyone who might remotely think of you later... just keep that in mind. If anything comes up, tell me. Until then..."

Grym slipped a datacard across the table for Bambi.

"Do not lose this, I'm sure this is redundant dren for you, but precautions..."

Grym's voice had taken a much harsher tone at the warning but it just as easily slipped back into the normal tone as he continued.

"The datacard has the name of a ship and a list of docking bays. The ship is registered at any of those given bays. Just look it up and find which one it is at when you have everything you need to leave. My contact information is also on there if an emergency comes up. Otherwise I'll meet you at the ship when you get there."

The blade between his fingers disappeared as he reached for his drink again, taking another small sip and then inhaling a small breath from his stim. Bambi was a good gal, Grym really did not expect anything to go wrong but he had built his proffesional career on caution and would not compromise it now.

Some tried to reason out how a personality such as Grym Kandle could have a career of death and then live and think normally on the side. Grym knew the truth was that nothing was never really normal and his career definitely affected the way he looked at his "life" and yet, somethings never changed. Or better put, had yet to change.

[Bambi Maddox]

She picked up the datacard and held on to it, not having any pockets to slip it in to.

"I can clear out my gear and get things tied up on this end in about four days. Five, tops.

What do you plan on doing until then?"

[Grym Kandle]

"I've got some contacts to maintain and information to gather. Why?"

Four to five days was good. Morgan was due to deliver his next package of information in the next few days and then Grym could move into the next phase of setting up his glitterstim business. Evanar was pulling through so far as a reliable slicer. Which was good, because enough money was going into just retrieving the necessary information.

[Bambi Maddox]

Bambi shrugged noncomittally.

"I don'know. Just figured if we are going to be partners of a sort, I should know what you're up to."

Perhaps that wasnt how this was going to work.

She let her answer hang, to see what Grym thought about it.

[Grym Kandle]

Partners... Grym easily hid the smile that had tried to make its way from his throat to his distorted lips. Partners? He'd never had an equal insofar as to be considered as a partner. Never someone he willingly split the share of success with 50/50. All that dren about getting what you deserve was not true, the food chain was though. Bambi was right in one aspect though, things did need to be confirmed to a degree.

"Okay. Partnership of sorts. It's nothing like the old days. I've been alone for a while. Once we get established... whatever. We'll figure it out when you get to the ship."

Grym smiled wryly before downing the rest of his drink. It burned so much but he needed it at the time.

[Bambi Maddox]

"Okay"

Her answer was light, even flippant. A transparent attempt at nonchalance.

Bambi had been on her own for a long while too, but she didn't feel it necessary to be so cloak and dagger. She guessed the difference between her and Grym was that she hadn't been living life expecting a knife in her back or a laser bolt through the coconut at anytime. She'd have to learn to play things close to the chest. Like Grym.

She could do that.

Bambi stood up, calling it a night.

"I will see you" she said flipping the datacard over and under the fingers of her one hand and back again, like some card-wielding shaman, "in five days"

She bent and kissed the top of his head.

"Dont keep me waiting, ok"

[Grym Kandle]

"Never."

His reply was only a whisper though as she turned to walk away. Grym dropped his stim into what was left of his drink and stared at the ceiling, listening to Bambi's footsteps as she left. It was hard dealing with people, much less friends, on such terms now. He had to struggle not to cut people off, or just push all the normal dren he usually did in other's faces just to get a brutal fact across.

No, he wouldn't keep her waiting. That last major... epiphany had brought her up. Something waited with Bambi Maddox, Grym needed to know what.

He donned the mask and pulled his hood up before standing. The night was not too late to still get a little work done. He had a pilot to contact before he could return to the ship and so on and so on. A long night still lay ahead.