Twilight Shadows (open)

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn O'Conner stood leaning against a wall, brushing some of her dark hair out of her face. She watched as people passed by her. This was the time of evening when this area of Coroscant was the less populated.

She lit up a cigarette and took a drink of the whiskey she held. She hoped someone would stop soon so she could have an intelligent conversation, something she'd been deprived of for awhile.

[Christoph Ramm]

"Miss, you do know that will kill you." Christoph said after he nearly bumped into the woman as he came out of a small bar. Christoph wasn't completely sure what he was talking about, he had definitely become aquainted with alcohol these past days.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn had been pushed forward after the man had hit her. She looked at her whiskey, then at her cigarette and smirked.

"Which one?"

[Christoph Ramm]

Christoph returned the smirk, "Both, I suppose. But not that it matters. Your body, your rules." He straightened up and leaned against a wall, glancing at the sun setting over the sea of skyscrapers.

"I'm Christoph." He said and held out his hand in a friendly gesture expecting her name in return.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn threw the cigarette away, and switched the whiskey to the other hand. She took his hand and they shook.

"Linn O'Conner," she said, turning her head and breathing out the last of the smoke from her mouth. "Nice to meet you."

[Christoph Ramm]

"So everyone has got a reason to be on Coruscant, what's yours?" He asked. "Business, residence or..." He trailed off waiting for an answer.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shrugged, gulping down the rest of her whiskey then throwing the glass off and listening to it shatter.

"Well," she considered. "I little of both, but mostly business."

[Christoph Ramm]

"Ah." He said and his eyes followed the glass until it clashed with the ground. "And what is your business?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smiled. She would've told him, but she didn't even know him, so she sufficed to tease him a little.

"Depends on who's asking."

[Straffe Stormrider]

Straffes presence to those near by made them shiver, like a cold chill down their spine. His cloaked figure drifted across the room as he took a seat. A server droid braught him a Chocolate milk, even though he was of legal age, he still prefferd it. He smirked at all those in the tavern as they had no clue as what he was about to do...

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn felt an odd presence in the bar and glanced around the door into the tavern to see if she could see the source of the cool feeling in her chest.

No one out of the ordinary came immediately to her attention, however she continued to scan, for the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, and her warning lights were going off.

[Straffe Stormrider]

HIs sense twitched as he knew someone was looking for him, this entised him even more. He finished his glass and put it gently on the table. He quickly flew the glass into the air with the Force and made it explode into a million sharp peices. Shards of glass drove them selves into all of those nearby

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn jumped violently at the action that just took place in the tavern. The guy she was looking for was not happy, and he had the power of the force, meaning all hope she could've had of having the upper hand was now out the window.

Linn continued to discreetly search the bar, then spotted a lone figure in the corner, his hand raised in the air. Linn pulled herself back out so she could not be seen.

[Straffe Stormrider]

The guards stormed their way towards Straffe with their stun rods in hand. He simply flew the table towards them without getting up or useing much effort. His face remand hidden but he found the person that was looking for him. His voice sounded cold and hollow within her mind

"Why were you searching for me...inticed by my magic"

He stood up and walked towards her, grinning under his hood

[Linn O'Conner]

why were you searching for me...inticed by my magic?

The voice in her head was cold and distant, like someone was yelling at her from far off. Linn looked around the corner again and saw a person coming towards the door.

Her mind raced and for a moment she had every intention of pulling out her blaster, though it wasn't going to be much use against a light saber, assuming he had one. She turned and began nonchalantly walking away from the tavern.

[Straffe Stormrider]

He spoke within her head again

"Whats the matter....scared?"

He floated beside a cowering man. Straffe looked down, picked him up by the throat and launched him into the stumbling guards

[Linn O'Conner]

What's the matter...scared?

Linn ignored it. She knew bounty hunters like herself who go insane if called scared. But her? She knew when she was probably going to get beaten. This was one of those times. However, she let her hand wind tightly around her blaters.

[Straffe Stormrider]

he snickered under his breath

"No nead for those..."

In an instant the blasters were ripped from her sides and shot through the window

"I just want someone to talk to..."

He grinned under his hood

[Linn O'Conner]

This was serious. Linn's pace quickened as she unsheathed a longsword and threw a look over her shoulder. She didn't know what he meant by 'someone to talk to', but she was sure she didn't want to him.

She turned into an alleyway, her hand in a white knuckled grip on the sword.

[Straffe Stormrider]

"Like cat and mouse..."

He appeared infront of her, face to face and almost running into him. She got a glipse of his ice blue eyes and the big grin on his face. He spoke softly

"Mommy told you not to talk to strangers?"

He snickered as he could feel she was nervious, panicky, making the mind clouded

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn's deep brown eyes met harsh blue ones and she found that the man was very close to her. She took a step back.

"Mommy told me it's every man for himself," she growled, pulling her sword from under her cloak and stabbing him in the shoulder before turning and bolting the other direction.

[Straffe Stormrider]

The metel tore through his flesh, making him seer with pain. It ran throughout his body as it gave him shivers to feel this good again.

With a flick of his hand she was stopped dead in her tracks. He walked towards her as all her limbs were frozen in place. He came face to face with her

"Every seen fear?..."

He sniffed her neck and the aroma of fear was makeing him excited (ooc: not in that kinda way :p). Straffe pulled out a dagger from with in his cloak and slowly put it to her face

"Its a shame that you have a pretty face...I wouldnt want to mess it up"

He drove the dagger into her shoulder, tearing her shoulder ligga ments

[Linn O'Conner]

The pain was like white hot metal burning through her flesh. She did not cry out. She did not beg for mercy. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd won.

"What do you want with me?" she purred.

[Straffe Stormrider]

"Just someone i can trust with information..."

He pulled the blade out, licking the blood

"Interested?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn sneered. She'd seen some rough characters. And she didn't think herself prim and proper, but this guy? There was something wrong with him.

"Not really. I don't feel drawn to help someone who asks by hunting me down in such a savage manner."

[Straffe Stormrider]

"I like to see what my...Accosiates can take"

with a wave of his hand she had feeling back in her body. He pulled back his hood, revealing his golden spikes

"Are you interested...If not i will have to dispose of you like those meddlesome Jedi"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn tripped forward at her sudden ability to move. She turned and saw that the man had revealed himself. She wiped her blade on her cloak and sheathed it.

"Perhaps. I'll need conditions and a name."

[Straffe Stormrider]

"No names...I just need someone to lure young Jedi to me so I can silence them like they should be"

He stared into her dark eyes, trying to read her thaughts. Smileing and woundering if she liked the Jedi or had a pasion for hateing them like himself

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn considered. She was close to a Jedi. He was one of the nicest people she'd met. She didn't necessarily like Jedi, but she didn't want them all dead either.

"What's in it for me?"

[Straffe Stormrider]

"Depending on your aligences, I would say i could protect you to a certen extent and maybe make it quite profitable"

He pulled out a small bag and chucked it towards her

"Say yes and thats all yours"

She opened the little bag and found 5000 credits

"Say no and ill let you suffer like the Jedi"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn rolled her eyes. She'd killed one person for more than this. However, she did not doubt that this man, whoever he is, would not hesitate to rip her apart.

"Look, don't give me your name, but give me something I can call you. I record all my employers."

[Straffe Stormrider]

Straffe chukled

"I sense that you are displeased by my offer...Maybe this will satisfy your hunger"

He pulled out another 5000 creds

"All this just to lure a young Jedy i can feed on...Call me Strider"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn took the other credits. This was somewhat better. She looked at him.

"Strider then. Call me Conner," she paused pocketing the credits. "You have a certain Jedi in mind?"

[Straffe Stormrider]

"Any young, helpless Jedi who is new to the order. I want to iradicate them...Why not start of with the next generation"

He grined as the thaught of a young Jedi being terrified at his sight

[Christoph Ramm]

As panic ensued throughout the area, Christoph found himself alone and at the same time surrounded by masses of screaming people. He swore loudly at the situation and decided to do something about it. He reache dinside his jacket and pulled out his badge, not the typical Coruscant police, special forces rather, butwho was going to get a close enough look at it in the mess of people?

"Everyone calm down!" He yelled and flashed his badge. No one was listening. Swearing again, he ran to the widest section of walkway and began to push object that were in the way out. "Come on you lot!" He yelled again grabbing some people's attention. "This way is clear! Let's go!" Organization is key, the quicker civilians were out of the way, the better.

As the masses began fleeing in the general direction that Christoph had cleared for them he noticed the girl he had been talking to escape from the bar, persued by a cloaked man. For the life of him, he couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but logic pointed to the cloaked man as the source of trouble. He pushed his way through the masses and followed from far behind until he came to an alley way, just on time to see the cloaked figure jab his dagger in the girl's shoulder. Quietly he crept through the alley way, listening in on the conversation as he crept. The cloaked figure was obviously focused on watching the girl for any sudden moves, and the hood was blocking his periphial vision. Silently, he withdrew his blaster from inside his jacket.

"Any young, helpless Jedi who is new to the order. I want to iradicate them...Why not start of with the next generation" the cloaked figure said.

Christoph pushed the blaster against the skull of the figure and kept his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot at a millisecond's notice. "Alright pal, don't move or it's a bolt in your brain."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn jumped violently as the man she had been conversing with what seemed only two seconds ago shoved his blaster into the temple of the man called Strider.

Bad idea.

Linn had pocketed the money, and now obliged to wrap her fingers around her sword. She could not believe she had been talking to a cop, as she saw from the badge.

[Straffe Stormrider]

In an instant he felt his heart race as his adrenaline pumped in excitment. The metel pressing against the back of his head made him realize that he had to do something about it

'Hope you are ready to die...'

The agent tightened his grip around the handle of his gun ready to pull the trigger but stopped. He was frozen in place. Straffe turned around and looked through his cold blue eyes to the man

'Your blaster has no use here'

The force kept the man from moving a muscle, making him quite vulnerable. Straffe grabbed the barrel of the blaster and pryed it from his hands. He looked at it then shot it in the air, in a second his saber was out and sliceing it in half

'Now why is it everytime I try to have some fun, someone has to ruin it...'

He stood face to face with the man and stared into his eyes

'So...are you ready to die?'

[Christoph Ramm]

Well, this guy is a Force user. Great. Christoph thought to himself. He was about as fond of Force users as he was of aliens. They always caused trouble, Jedi or darksider like the man before him.

"So... are you ready to die?" The darksider said. Did they always have to deliver such corney lines?

Christoph was always ready to die. It's was his job. Was. Sequence of disasters had about ruined his life. Ready to die wasn't the right word, willing, was more appropriate. All the while he knew that the Darksider probably was peeking into his head, knowing Christoph's thoughts.

Go ahead, I dare you. He thought to himself, but intended for the Darksider to listen.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn slowly unsheathed her sword. She held it low at her side, biting her tongue and narrowing her eyes.

Now there were two guys who wanted to kill eachother and probably would stop at nothing. Great.

She took two steps forward, clearing her head so this Strider guy couldn't read it and know she was going towards them. She didn't necessarily want either of them to die, but if she had to choose, well, she figured it would be obvious.

[Straffe Stormrider]

Straffe read his mind alright and smiled that he figured it out

'Fine by me...'

His senses tingled as he felt the woman running towards him. With a slight movement of his hand he sent the man flying into the closest dumpster and turned around to face Linn, with saber in hand

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn saw him throw the man and turn to her. She didn't know what he was going to do. It was very difficult to read the thoughts behind his emotionless, bottomless ice blue eyes.

Her hand was wound so tightly around the hilt of her sword that the knuckles were white. She steeled her brown eyes, throwing any kind of emotion out the window and cutting her thoughts away so he would not be able to read them.

[Straffe Stormrider]

'Do it he wispered...'

Into her thaughts his voice ran

'Cut me...'

He smiled and waited for her reaction

[Linn O'Conner]

Do it...

Linn heard the voice in her mind and something about it made her angry and weak at the same time.

Cut me.

Linn scowled flashing her sword. She sneered. Something was wrong with this guy.

I would dearly love to, Strider..., she thought. Give me a reason. Give me one reason.

[Straffe Stormrider]

He snikered

'You know you want to. Your anger inside wants you to hurt me. Let the anger flow and do it!'

Straffe tensed up his body waiting for the cold steel to run through his body

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn went rigid. His voice was nearly identical to the one that had told her to kill someone she cared for so long ago. She'd done it then. With no remorse, no regret. Just a happy customer and 15,000 credits to blow on anything she pleased.

She snarled, lifting the sword and pressing it against the man's neck, cutting it ever so slightly. She desperately wanted to let her sword rip through his willing flesh. She wanted to spill his blood. More than anything right now.

But she couldn't. Linn could not bring herself to press her sword any harder. The woman growled, pulling her sword away from him.

"I will not."

[Christoph Ramm]

Christoph had blacked out for a moment as he was sent soaring through the air towards the dumpster. His whole body was aching, it must have been a side effect of the man taking ahold of his muscles. It didn't really matter though, what mattered was that he was covered in trash and if he didn't move soon, he feared some little scavanger might naw on his face. He kneeled up, throwing the trash everywhere, and took in the scene.

"I will not." The girl had said.

Why not!?! Christoph thought silently to himself. She had him right there! But after judging the scene a little more closly he realized that neither were going to hurt each other, he was mistaken before. Christoph knelt down further to keep the man from detecting that he was still conscious and withdrew a vibroblade from his inside pantleg. If that man so much as pushed his finger over the edge he'd pull back a stub; maybe he would be smart and not peer in. Through a whole in the rusty metal he continued to watch things unfold.

[Straffe Stormrider]

Straffe giggled to himself and knew she wouldnt hurt him. He slid his finger on his cut and licked the blood off

'I knew you wouldnt hurt me. Now go and find me a Jedi...'

Straffe turned around and put his hood baack on. He walked slowly towards the end of the allyway but turned around and spoke aloud

'This wont be the last time we meet Chris...'

He smiled and continued to walk away

[Christoph Ramm]

From the dumpster he heard the hodded man talk, speaking to him. No. No it won't. He thought to himself. Next time he was going to be prepared to him. He wasn't sure how, but he was going to get him without a doubt. Christoph slid his vibroblade into his belt and stood up from the dumpster. Throwing off a few bits of trash he climbed out and approached the girl.

"Ok, you wanna tell me whats going on here?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn's gaze was following the shadow of the man and when she heard the question, it seemed just a jumble of words. Finally she looked the other man straight in the eyes. She slid her sword into its sheath and secured it with a bit of leather. Linn reached up, brushing away some hair.

"He wants me to lure Jedi to him so he can kill them. Plain and simple," she said. She pulled the ten thousand credits he forked over to her and let the bags swing from her finger. "He gave me this to do it too."

[Christoph Ramm]

Christoph wasn't exactly a huge fan of the Jedi, it was something about them having superior power over the majority of the people that made him uneasy. But whether it was Jedi or just an ordinary person that was intended to be killed, Christoph wasn't about to let that happen.

"And you're going to do this? Why?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smirked.

"I didn't say I was going to do it. I just said what he wants me to do."

[Straffe Stormrider]

Straffe was walking away from the ally, well out of their earshot. He was listening the whole time through the Force. He smirked and spoke to her through the Force

'Hopefully you will be smart and not betray me with our arangment...'

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn jolted suddenly at the voice in her head.

Hopefully, you will be smart and not betray me with our arrangement...

Linn sneered, pocketing the money again. She thought words, knowing he could hear them.

'Do you think I will?' She smiled. 'This guy'll start suspecting something if I don't talk to him for talking to you in my head.'

[Christoph Ramm]

"Hello?" Christoph asked and looked at her strangely for some reason she wasn't responding to what he had said. He waved his hand by her face to grab her attention. "I said: And how do you plan to capture a Jedi?" He added. "Even if you decide to do it." Though he suspected that she was going to, she did have the credits in her hands.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shook her head and her eyes focused back on the man in front of her. She put the credits back into her cloak.

"He wants me to lure them to him. But I don't know where he wants me to lure them to. He did not say where he was going to be."

[Christoph Ramm]

"Hmm..." he mused. He plucked one more piece of trash from his pants. His mind returned to the panic scene back in front of the club. He needed to speak with the police, and they'd probably want to speak with him.

"Alright, well, good luck with your Jedi hunting, then." He said and made his way back to area of paniced people. Dispite the way it looked, Christoph wasn't going to just leave the woman to hunt down anything. After the night was over, he would find her, as he always found anything he was looking for with relative ease. By then that man will likely have contacted her and given her the last of the details. Time was all it took.