A Killer, from Cradle to Grave

[Serasai Onashi]

"Oh! Onashi takes a hit to the chest and sprawls against the Cage! Will Ferrig manage to capitalize on this?"

Way back when he'd been just a child, his father was fond of saying many things.

Women are weak, boy. Don't let them distract you from the Art.

An Artist's duty is to the weak. Soldiers and thugs kill, but an Artist protects.

His father was a coward, and stupid. But he'd been so gifted in the Art, that now Serasai wondered if he were able to tap into that mystical Force they loved to harp on about. He certainly knew how to teach; that or Serasai knew how to learn despite a horrible, if gifted, teacher.

"Onashi ducks, and unleashes a devastating series of punches into Ferrig's diaphragm!"

He'd been taken from home when he was six, on what then had seemed to be the most epic training journey ever undertaken. Eleven years learning from every master they could find and convince to teach them, from every continent on the world. It had seemed huge at the time. Now, with at least five hundred years travelling at the speed of light between him and the world of his birth at that moment (he'd been farther), he knew that there was far more out there than he'd ever see.

That wouldn't stop him from trying, of course, but stagnancy and complacency meant death. He'd already died to the Alliance, though they would probably find out soon that he'd survived that epic battle. His blood still sang remembering it. Here was his chance to live again, and why shouldn't he live the exact same way in his new life as he had in his old one?

He was still Serasai Onashi.

---------------------------

"You shame me, boy."

His father sat cross legged on the mat in their hometown, looking at him and his gear with an expression of disgust.

"Fuck that," Serasai spat at him and sneered. He could hear the women gasping behind them. His wife was quiet, her hands resting on her huge belly. Bearing his child had changed her, and the seventeen year old found himself annoyed and wanting the fiery noble-girl of fifteen he'd first met back.

"Who's the one who got us this place?" He growled, an ugly, hurtful smile spreading across his face. "My dick got our family this house, and the lands, and the titles, and the servants."

His wife remained silent. He found himself getting even more annoyed.

"You started a war - "

"And I won it."

Silence dropped.

"People are already calling it the 'One Man War'," Serasai said with satisfaction. "All that protecting the weak can be done now without me. It's hers now."

He jerked his thumb to Fen, who looked at him with surprise. Despite being heavy with child, he found himself attracted to her. His eyes drifted down to her mouth and lips in thought, but he drew himself away.

"Yeah. Hers. Well, technically it's still mine, but she's got all the say in it. So shove that agreement with your old friend engaging me to that little bitch of a daughter of his up between your ass cheeks and use it to wipe your shit, because that's all it's good for now. The Emperor blessed my marriage, Pop. Ain't nothing can nullify it."

His father sat still, but he could tell that the old man was angry. He grinned, egging on the old man some more.

"Thought you were gonna get a free ride from me?" he said, strapping the blaster rifle to his duffel and slinging it over his shoulder. "Thought you could train me up and make me dumb, and then marry me off and live off my earnings and fame?"

Serasai snorted and spat again. They'd be cleaning this room for hours to remove the stains of rudeness from his spitting. The spirit of the house would be unbalanced.

"I'm done with this place. I'll be back to put another kid in Fen if this one ain't a boy."

He marched out of the house and down to the gate, where a man sat, kneeling by the gate guard. A small table was in front of him, with a steaming cup of tea sitting untouched on it.

"Who're you?" he asked, settling one hand by the pistol he had strapped to the back of his belt, and the other resting lightly on his sword.

"I am Daishu Morike," the man began, rising gracefully to stand. "And I have come to challenge you. While you have brought honor to our people with your victories, I cannot bear the thought of one such as you becoming a lord, or infecting the young warriors with the use of your foreign weapons, and their soulessness. Face me."

"Sure," Serasai said. He pulled out the blaster pistol, and shot Daishu. He holstered the pistol. "I win."

----------------------------------------------

"Onashi wins! An elbow to the jaw brings Ferrig down, and Onashi's winning streak continues! He'll be going on to face Charr'rin, a Cizerack practitioner of... the Cizerack traditional martial art, on Carshoulis Prime!"

He stared down at Ferrig's unconscious body as the referee and Ferrig's team rushed over to drag him off the mat. He smirked. They were probably scared he'd crush Ferrig's throat just like that Gamorrean back in the underground league. He briefly felt wistful (though he'd have picked Ferrig up and snapped his neck with his hands rather than do a heel stomp to the throat) for the days in which killing some opponents was necessary if you wanted to see your next match.

He raised his fists in the air, and watched as the audience continued to cheer. His eyes alighted on one particularly delectable female, and he grinned and winked. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip.

He knew who he was doing tonight.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

It paid to have a reserved clubhouse at the Jurru'tai'laa arena. Well, it wasn't hers, per se, but living off mother's good graces was more or less an eventuality. Good excuse as any to come home for a weekend, at any rate. Lobbying for business interests on Onderon certainly paid the bills, but it was crushingly dull in terms of trolling for a social life.

"Ja irra, Rai'fa! jI brrought parrtjy favorrss!"

Lounging on one of several chaises at the edge of the large window overlooking the fighter's arena, Rai'faani flung an impish grin to her friend Indaarra as she walked through the clubhouse doors with a gai'chee hooked on each arm. It wasn't exactly hard work to find a pair of handsome boys who would want the best seat in the house for a blockbuster bout. It wasn't a free ride and they knew it.

"Blonde orr gjingerr, Rai'fa? Hosstesss'ss pjick."

On cue, the two Cizeri males lost their tunics, giving Rai'faani the privilege of making an informed decision. Rolling over a bit on the chaise, she gave each exposed crotch a mildly disinterested inspection, pursing her lips a bit as she propped her chin with a hand.

"Blonde."

The blonde eye-candy took his spot next to her, caressing her thigh and nibbling at one of her ears as she pulled a drawstring at the shoulder of her dress, letting out her breasts. Indaarra started a little more eager, propping up on her chaise on her hands and knees while the ginger Cizerack approached her from behind.

"Do jyou know anjythjing about the man who'ss fjightjing Charr'rin?" Rai'faani asked, more interested in talking than fucking. She glanced out to the ring as her blonde plaything ran his tongue over one of her nipples.

"Ssome hyuu-man." Indaarra replied, rocking a bit from her perch. "Ssuppossed to be rratherr good. Forr a hyuu-man."

"Hmm."

The blonde's hands carefully traversed her inner thighs, and Rai'faani lay back for a moment to have him.

"Have anjy monejy on the match? The ginger Cizerack clamped his hands at Indaarra's hips for purchase, as she arched her back.

"Fjive thoussand on Charr'rin." The young Meorrrei gestured flippantly as the blonde raised her legs with each arm. Before he could make good on his intention, her tail slapped at his chest and she sat up on her elbows.

"Djid jyou brrjing anjy jeeta?"

[Serasai Onashi]

The arena was well apportioned, with most of the best seats either high up in the air above the seats, or right next to the Cage, which was a circular dais closed off by a metal fence. At matches in the underground leagues, if the matches wore on, the fence would be conducting a charge which would kill the fighter who connected it. At high stakes matches with lots of betting, the cage would be replaced with columns of arcing plasma in the later rounds, forcing many of the spectators to watch the holoscreen instead of the actual match.

"We're ready."

Onashi looked up from An Anatomical Overview of Non-Human Species by Wyl Wygraant, an Imperial xenobiologist. Mostly it was filled with doctrine rather than facts, but Imperial books were good for making note of weak spots and places where debilitating strikes could be thrown on them without couching it in a lot of jargon. Given their penchant for war on a huge scale and the sheer number of species they fought, it was a part of the Imperial machine that couldn't help its efficiency, given the sheer amount of experience it had garnered in just over thirty years.

He closed the book and ran through the information while he walked out to the press room and stood next to the towering Cizerack male.

"Cizeri (or Cizerack) males and females are both well muscled, with extremely good respiratory systems and acute vision and hearing. Standing roughly at 1.56 to 2.43 meters tall on average, with the males tending toward larger scales of both muscle and size. However, stamina and endurance are not quite human level, and their bone structure, while sturdy, is not quite as solidly built as humans' can be. Muscling occurs most densely around the shoulders and hips, secondly around the wrists and ankles. Their abdomens are rather thinly muscled, compared to humans on average."

Charr'rin grinned at him as he brought himself up to be weighed. The Cizerack was taller than him by two heads, and his shoulders were broad and well muscled, but it looked as if he had been brought into the pit from hard labor rather than actually training and lifting weights. His endurance should be better than the book estimated.

"Cizeri also sport nerve clusters throughout the tail and at the base of the tail especially. Their ocular cavities are larger than would be indicated, probably a holdover from an earlier evolutionary species. The larger sockets and the softer nose tissue make these areas especially debilitating when damaged."

Onashi stepped off the scale and shook the Cizerack's hand.

"Good luck, hyuumann," Charr'rin growled affably.

I'm going to kill you, Onashi thought as he smirked back. Knife strikes, and blows to the lower back and neck and diaphragm. Step on the tail. Disable an arm, and then hit that side of the face until he goes down.

The crowd began cheering loudly as they were marched down to the cage. This wasn't a tournament match, and betting wasn't extremely high, so the cage was of normal linked metal wire.

He stood on his side and removed his tunic, tossing it to his empty side of the ring. Charr'rin handed his robe to the male standing just outside his section of the Cage, and strode in.

Onashi grinned, and moved his slippered feet back and forth across the surface to see how much resistance it offered. Charr'rin was barefoot.

"BEGIN!" the referee called. Onashi slunk forward aggressively while Charr'rin splayed his fingers and readied his claws. Onashi's grin stayed in place as Charr'rin's arm swung out and it only widened as he caught the arm between his forearms, and applied pressure.

"One minute into the match and Charr'rin's arm has been dislocated at the elbow!"

Onashi's smile turned feral. This was going to be fun.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani's eyes widened at the sudden strike, now on top and straddling her blonde plaything so that she might have a better view of the bout. So far, it wasn't going as planned. Charr'rin, to his credit, managed to hook a clawed hand across the forrda's back, using the pain of sunken claws as leverage to drive a knee into the human's midsection. Still, with one arm effectively useless, his odds were looking bleak from the outset.

Irritated, the Meorrrei heiress was further annoyed by Indaarra's full coital moaning as the brunette woman was paying less and less attention to the fight. Fair-weather fans were the worst sort.

"jYou moan ljike a sshaak jin rrut, jyou know that?"

Indaarra, for her part, snapped her tail like she was commanding a stallion to pick up its pace. Her sweat-glistened face showing Rai'fa an open-mouthed smile as she re-doubled her vocalization.

Charr'rin kept his body close to Onashi, battering at him with the crown of his shaved head as he contorted his larger frame against the human's, trying to force him to ground. Rai'faani squeezed her thighs around her gai'chee, mmm-ing a bit as she hooked a claw into the small pile of brown powder that rested on her partner's bare chest. Bringing it to her nose, she gave a sharp sniff, rocking back a bit as she continued to watch the fight.

[Serasai Onashi]

The Cizerack's scream of pain and anger was music to Onashi's ears, though the music quickly ended when Charr'rin ruthlessly dug his claws into his back and tore at it. It was Onashi's turn to scream, only to be cut off with a devastating knee to the stomach. Even with the preparation for the attack, the pain was intense.

Charr'rin kept close to Onashi, intelligently keeping from facing the smaller human face on and only showing his side with the good arm. Onashi tried to keep closer, negating the reach of his one good arm and the danger of a one-armed hold. Already a number of head strikes came down after a solid step forward to keep from being tripped, and the working arm wrapped around, looking for a solid grip.

Onashi couldn't allow that. Using the minimum amount of force necessary, he pushed his opponent's arm up, and stabbed into the armpit with a knife hand strike. Even as he was striking, he was pivoting down and around to settle behind and to the side of the larger Cizerack, and already bent over, he used the momentum of the pivot to strike backwards with a kick just on the base of Charr'rin's tail. Even with the leverage and momentum, the strike only caused Charr'rin to stagger forward one step. Onashi didn't let up, striking with another kick to the back of his opponent's knee and a right cross into Charr'rin's shoulder, jarring his dislocated elbow, hoping to force him down for a good chop to the back of the neck.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The jeeta Indaarra had brought along began to do its work, and Rai'faani's pupils dilated slightly as she watched the human continue to defy the oddsmakers. Her blonde toy sat up in a crossed-legs embrace as he thrust, the spilled drug on his chest rubbing between their glistening bodies. Her breasts bounced with the enthusiastic motion, but the heiress kept her attention on the fight, panting slightly through open lips as Charr'rin managed to bull his neck back and deflect the knife edge of the human's hand with the base of his skull.

Losing the initiative, the Cizerack fighter stumbled a few steps out of reach, rebounded, and then sprung at Onashi with an open tackle. It was desperation and lacked the guarded poise of A'ziir Traai'jaari, but Charr'rin was fast running out of options.

Indaarra fell forward against her chaise, the last of her blissful moans mercifully drawing to a close as she suddenly remembered there was a fight on. She frowned.

"Ai'kosa, the forrda's makjing sshorrt worrk of ourr man. Djissgrraceful jif jyou assk me."

Rai'faani said nothing, her eyes fixed on Onashi as her teeth bared slightly.

[Serasai Onashi]

To both Onashi and Charr'rin's surprise, the desperate tackle worked; Onashi's hasty defense was obliterated by the Cizerack's larger mass. Onashi let the fall carry him down and raised his legs, planting his feet against the Cizerack's chest to keep enough distance between them so the referee wouldn't start his counting. The Cizerack's eyes were wide with pain and anger, and he swing down with his claws at Onashi's face. The human brought his arms up to take the blow, and Charr'rin's claws tore them up.

Onashi didn't wait until the strike was finished. He clenched his fists and sent one punch into the grappler's jaw.

And like that, it was finished. Charr'rin sagged, fighting the encroaching darkness of unconsciousness, but Onashi pushed him aside and slipped out and stood up slowly. One hand went toward his ribs, and he watched the still struggling Cizerack for one second before making his way back to his gate and snagging a water bottle from where it hung on the Cage.

"Winner, Onashi!"

The crowd's ensuing cry was a cacophonous wall of sound, like an ocean. Onashi let it drift over him as he watched the Cizerack's team pick him up on a stretcher and carry him off the mat. Onashi lifted one bare fist and stood straight,wincing at the lingering pain in his torso and the stinging coming from his back and arms as sweat mingled with the open wounds.

The announcers came onto the dais and held the microphone to him.

"Anything you want to say about your fight?" one asked. Onashi looked at the crowd and smirked.

"Anyone else?" he asked.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Five thousand du'arrii down the drain. No matter.

Rai'faani's breath stopped in her throat momentarily, then gasp-shrieked in climax as claws dug into her partner's shoulders. A few more thrusts, slowing gradually as her half-lidded eyes watched the boastful human ask for an encore. Through her ragged panting, she licked an errant smear of jeeta off her blonde gai'chee's face.

"jYou'rre jin good sspjirrrjit, even afterr lossjing that much monejy."

Indaarra's nude form rolled on her side, receiving an offering of Pai Leeha and Nyaakii egg from her paramour.

The Meorrrei heiress didn't seem to mind the loss. Dismounting from her male - who in turn rose to tend to her refreshment, Rai'faani sucked his blood from her fingertips as she sprawled on the couch, legs rubbing against the cushioned fabric as the tactile stimulation of the drug reached its zenith.

"jI want to meet hjim."

Indaarra, in the midst of cracking her Nyaakii egg open, paused.

"Who?"

"That forrda."

Rai'faani now traced the contours of the couch with her fingertips, sighing as the feeling of touch seemed to become as melodic as music. She waved off an offering of wine and sajoi, beckoning instead for some water.

"Lookjing to challenge hjim at a game he'll losse, Rai'fa?"

The peeping of an unhatched chick could be heard as Indaarra finally pried the egg shell apart, and was promptly ended when she tilted the egg back to devour the contents within.

Rai'faani didn't immediately answer, taking the water offered her while running her free hand down her side. Finishing the glass, she let it fall to the carpet by her chaise, and fell forward onto a pillow.

"Contact hjiss people..." she sighed, claws kneading at the pillows beneath her as she closed her eyes.

[Serasai Onashi]

"Onashji, Sserrrasaji."

He hissed in pain from the disinfectant applied to his cuts and looked up at the Cizeri attendant in the doorway to the infirmary. Charr'rin lay unconscious a few beds down, but he had been much more interested in the fine looking healer they'd procured; a young female Cizerack with exotically green eyes and a pattern down her face that matched the ones running along her ears.

He grunted.

"Ssomeone verry jimporrtant hass called to mjeet wjith jyou. Wherre arre jyour other tjeam memberrss?"

"No others," he grunted. "Just me."

This information confused the attendant, but she quickly processed it and continued.

"Verry well. jI sshall wait herre to esscorrt jyou to Mjiss Meorrrei's prjivate box once jyour jinjurrjies arre taken carre of."

Onashi's eyebrow rose, and he paused, giving the healer a wink and directing her to be more gentle with his forearm cuts by taking her hand as she did so. She pulled her hand away quickly, her eyes darting quickly over to the attendant.

"Nah," he responded, not looking back at the messenger. He leaned back and let the healer place a pungent salve on his ribs. "You can go and tell what's her face that if she wants to talk to me, she can come down here. I don't feel like walking anywhere for a day or so."

He let the healer continue for a few moments, as her position allowed him the most teasing view of pert cleavage he'd seen in a while. He glanced back up at the messenger, and frowned in mock confusion.

"Go on then. I've got... healing to do."

The door closed on them and Onashi made his move. He was pleased to feel her reciprocate eagerly.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Upon the news that the Champion was in no mood to be summoned, Rai'faani muttered "pri'maai arr'moa" in contempt at the victorious male's moment of self-importance.

"Fjine, fetch a holodrrojid."

Indaarra had predictably returned to a state of patrician uselessness by being fed caviar off her man's fingertips. Rai'faani remained in blissful nude repose as a hovering droid floated in front of her, syncing its comms with an opposite number in the locker room.

[Serasai Onashi]

When the holocom flickered to life fifteen minutes later, Mei'faani was in the middle of an intense orgasm, and he wasn't stopping his thrusts to accommodate that. There was a sound like a clearing throat, and he turned to see a naked wench reclining on a divan projected out of the wall.

"What do you want?" the fighter asked, feeling Mai'faani freeze underneath him, and keep her face buried in the pillows. He'd managed to find one of the few bashful types on a planet full of hedonists. He pulled out and faced the woman in the hologram.

"I was in the middle of something I was enjoying very much."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Still basking under the ecstasy of jeeta's influence, Rai'faani arched her back slightly as she talked, her tail slinking around her.

"jIn the Jurru'tai'laa, rrjich matrronss pajy handssomeljy forr the companjy of the brravesst of champjionss."

Craning her neck slightly, the Meorrrei heiress looked down to spy the nurse trying to hide her face like an eopie. She smirked as her ears flicked.

"Perrhapss jyou ssold jyourrself too cheap?"

Still, the lack of motion at the present moment was to no one's benefit, and she frowned.

"But don't sstop on account of me, Sserrassaji Onasshji. Watchjing jiss no harrdsshjip."

[Serasai Onashi]

"I need to see cash up front before you get any kind of show from me," Onashi yawned, caressing the base of his current bed-warmer's tail. He needed to keep her ready for when this ended, because he wasn't even close to finished.

"And she seems a bit camera shy," he added. Her tail flicked up into his face and he grinned at the display of some spirit. He leaned back, enjoying the aroma of drying body fluids mixed with the strong scent of the salve for his ribs. "So get with the talking, so I can see if this is something I can just hang up on or if it might actually be interesting..."

His smug grin returned.

"...compared to this."

He smacked Mei'faani's ass, eliciting a gasped yelp from her.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI notjiced jyou have no managerr to handle jyourr affajirrss and bookjing."

Rai'faani paused, eyes continuing to wander as she wet her lips with a pass of her tongue.

"jI would ljike to rreprressent jyou."

Behind the heiress, Indaarra sat up a bit, no small amount of surprise on her face to hear her friend making a spontaneous business deal while high.

[Serasai Onashi]

"Affairs?" he repeated, glancing down at the nurse before realization dawned. "Oh."

He glanced back at the hologram woman measuringly.

"Huh. Maybe the reason I don't have 'em is that I don't need 'em, eh?" he said, but he looked a bit interested despite himself. After another swift moment, he nodded.

"All right. You've piqued my interest. But I was serious about not walking anywhere for another day, and I'm still hard, and talking business will kill it in about three seconds. They put me up in some hotel..."

"Preei'ja Gauu'tai La," Mei'faani murmured from behind him. He frowned and glanced down at her. She looked bored, and was reading a small flimsi she'd fished from his trousers' pockets. He shrugged.

"Preei'ja Gauu'tai La," he repeated loudly, unsure if whatsherface had heard it. "FG-355, or something like that. Tomorrow, call me at 1200 standard."

He closed the connection and shut the console for it down to ensure there wouldn't be anymore interruptions.

"Now, where were we...?" he asked. She showed him exactly where they'd been. "Ah, right. Well...!"

Damn, if he didn't love the Cizeracks' natural ability for great sex.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The comm ended, and Rai'faani fell back on the chaise, again content with stretching languidly and running her hands along herself. Indaarra blinked, dumbfounded, behind her.

"Traanjirra'ss jinferrno, jyou'rre ssaltjy. jYou losse thoussandss of du'arrii, chasse the grreen sstalljion, and talk bussjinesss wjith forrda whjile wetterr than Fey'dann ssprrjing. What would yourr motherr ssajy?"

Meorrrei, for her part, simply rolled on her side to let an unimpeded view of her backside be her answer.

"A sajoi forr motherr'ss opjinjion."




The next day: Carshoulis Prime - Roa'kuutha'koi District, mid-levels

The champagne & pearl Sorosuub sedan glided down through approach lanes to a bustling and seedy district on the outskirts of the capital city of Kreeto'kreessaarra'saanja. Roa'kuutha'koi held a wildly exotic cosmopolitan flavor as an "immigrant zone" where forrda were expected to seek trade and residence, instead of sullying the rest of the city so openly. While the Cizeri aesthetic prevailed, it wasn't hard to see Bith, Toydarian, Pantoran, Iridonian, and the whole galactic host in the cramped sky concourses and narrow shopways. A Wookiee hawked some manner of skewered barbecue on a portable cooktop cart at the corner of a bodega across the way from the neon embrace of Preei'ja Gauu'tai La. The intent of the hotel, if it wasn't obvious from its other seedy trappings, was put to rest by a half-broken sign that displayed a cartoon of a male with a cartoonishly exaggerated endowment.

Coming to a stop, the speeder chauffeur emerged to open the gull wing door in the back of the craft, allowing a woman in a blue silk dress to emerge. Her eyes shaded by large dark glasses, she tapped the comm on the front of the durasteel gate that covered the actual door of the establishment like a scab.

[Serasai Onashi]

A portly older Cizerack female answered the door, yelling something behind her.

"We can't stajin the carrpeting, orr who'll beljieve jit's Alderaanji bantha wool?"

"But the smell!" a male's voice called from further in.

"Can we say the smell jis part of the authentjicjitjy?" a female's tones joined in.

"Now, jif jyou're lookjing forr rroomss, therre arre vacancjies..." she trailed off and took in the Meorrrei heiress's garb and glasses. "jYou're not herre for the Alderrraanji rug, arre you?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani smacked the gum she was chewing as the older Meera'in woman addressed her. Her nose wrinkled at the assault of a myriad of odors, which ranged from annoying to offensive. It stank like an economy brothel and cheap stims. Inwardly, she had to wonder if there was a special layer of madness about this Forrda. She knew how much purse money he'd taken for last evening's bout. And he stayed in this place?

"Sserrassaji Onasshji."

Her eyes tracked to motion at her right, as an older Cizeri woman led a Zeltron boy who couldn't have been more than seventeen into her room.

[Serasai Onashi]

The matron's brow furrowed as she looked at Rai'faani for a moment before her eyes widened.

"jI know jyou! jYou'rre that... that... that Meorrrei daughter, ain't jya? Well come on jin! Come on!" she ushered Rai'faani inside and glanced behind her, checking to make sure that no one else was around before closing the door.

Inside the hotel was at least somewhat clean. Most of the smell seemed to come from a large filthy rug hanging from lines stretched across the main floor's bar. Three females and a male were regarding it thoughtfully.

"jI think we can make thiss worrk guyss," the male said. He was tall and stringy, with slightly bony features. Two of the females nodded, but a chubby one crossed her arms and shook her head.

"No one's gojing to beljieve thiss iss Alderaanji bantha wool. Look at jit!"

They all frowned and looked down at the floor beneath it, where some of the colors were dripping onto the floor.

"jI thjink she'ss rjight," the third female, obviously related to the bony male, said. The male seemed ready to argue, but the matron leading the Meorrrei heiress into the bar caught his attention.

"Guyss! Guyss! Look who jit jiss! A Meorrrei daughter! Herre jI thought jyour old mama had forrgotten me!" the matron said laughing and nudging Rai'faani on the side. "jI'll call herr let herr know jyou're herre!"

"Meorrrei, jyou mean Meorrrei? Like, fjilthy rjich Meorrrei?" the male asked, regarding Rai'faani again while the old woman waddled off to the comm. A smile wound it's way across his face.

"Well, hello," he purred.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The degree of familiarity these proles extended to Rai'faani's family name was nauseating. She moved to remove her sunglasses, pausing when jostled by the heavyset matron of the establishment.

"jYou know mjy motherr?"

It was spoken not as a question, but rather the Meorrrei heiress held the hypothetical familiarity up to sunlight to examine it's dubious truthfulness. Speaking of dubious truthfulness, her eyes tracked to a large swath of rug that was both assaulting her eyes and nose. A malnourished male approached her with misplaced amorous intent, and she pushed away at his chest like he was an over-curious pup.

"What jiss that?"

Rai'faani gestured at the 'rug' with her now-removed sunglasses, a look of disgust on her features.

[Serasai Onashi]

There was a pause as everyone's attention once more focussed on the stinky and very ugly rug hanging in the middle of the bar.

"jIt's a rrug," the last female said, while the stringy male frowned and backed away.

"She's gotta be gay," he murmured to the chubby female.

"Maybe sshe'ss jinto guys who arre morre bujilt?"

"jIt's an Alderaanji rrug?"

The male's frown deepened. "jYou thjink sso?"

The matron waddled back in.

"jYourr mama's on herr way, don't jyou worry!" she announced.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"No doubt to bujy jyourr...rrug."

Again her eyes moved to the odiferous, dripping thing that they tried to masquerade as an Alderaani. Not that she knew one iota about rugs, but they probably didn't run the risk of staining the floor below them.

And Onashi still was nowhere to be seen. Rai'fa could feel a headache coming on, possibly complicated by the odor coming off the rug.

"Ljike jI ssajid...jI'm herre forr a human. Sserrassaji Onasshji."

[Serasai Onashi]

"Who?" one of the females asked.

"Oh! jYou know, that guy... he rrented a rroom upstajirss," the matron said. The females' eyes all widened, and narrowed.

"Hjim?"

"That asshole?"

The male shrugged. "He wass cool wjith me."

The matron shrugged, and waved her hand at the stairs.

"Go get hjim, wouldja? And Meoulli, jyou have ssome tojilets to clean, rrjight?"

"But, therre was a darre and jI... won... okay..."

All this activity was interrupted by a banging at the front door, followed by a rain of sparks from above it. The matron's eyes lit up.

"Oh! That must be herr!" she waddled off, followed by everyone in the bar. The door opened, blocking the view of the newcomer, and the matron was speaking way too loudly, which covered the sound of the other's voice.

"How'rre jyou dojin? We'rre all rjight. jYeah, jI found yerr daughterr. She's jinsjide!"

The matron re-entered the bar followed by a middle aged woman who didn't even resemble Rai'faani, wearing an old, beaten shawl around her shoulders, and a horribly floral printed dress that hung down to her ankles.

"Oh mjy daughterr!" the obviously blind woman wailed, and walked into the bar. The matron turned her to face Rai'faani and let go, gesturing for Rai'faani to play along. "Oh, mjy daughterr!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani's mouth gaped a bit at the predicament she was in, then promptly closed her mouth and eyes as the blind woman ran her hands over her face. Of all the...

She didn't even know what to do. Angry and humiliated, and now she was getting a headache as this poor grubby person was mistaking her for her daughter. Was this some horrible con? What was she even doing here? Her tail jerked wildly erratic, wondering where the hell Onashi was.

[Serasai Onashi]

The matron waddled over quickly as the old woman's hand started to wander to Rai'faani's face. Her look of bliss was quickly replaced by thoughtful concern.

"Overr herre! Now, jI rrememberr that therre wass a rrewarrd forr fjindjing jyourr daughterr, rrjight?"

The old woman blinked rapidly and focussed on the matron.

"Well, jyess, but..."

"Grreat! jI'll tell jya wherre to ssend the crredjits!"

At that point, Onashi wandered into the bar, looking tired and hungover. He was shirtless, and scratched idly on one of the scars still healing from the bout the night before. He blinked at the scene in front of him and smiled at the rug.

"So you did show up!" he said on seeing Rai'faani. "Was wondering if you would."

As he spoke, he walked past her and sat at the bar. "Gimme a smoked sajoi and tubers."

The female the matron had referred to as Meoulli glanced at the others, who all studiously looked at the different corners of the room.

"jI guess... jI'll make jit then guyss."

She wandered into the kitchen.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jYou arre makjing me rregrret mjy decjissjion, Onasshji."

It should come as no surprise, given the state of the establishment they now frequented, that a sajoi ran loose on the counter as they talked. It didn't run very far as Rai'faani took out her frustrations on the rodent with a flick of a fingertip, claw spearing the chirping rodent to the counter forcefully as it squirmed painfully.

"Whjy arre jyou sstajyjing herre, of all placess? We both know jyou can afforrd betterr?"

Not just staying in this dump, but reveling in it like a Gamorrean in slushtime rut.

[Serasai Onashi]

Faster than anyone expected, the sajoi and fried tubers were placed in front of the ex mercenary.

"Yeah? So?" he asked as he tucked in, looking at his prospective... employer? Financier? Business partner? "So what's your point?"

The tubers were soggy and the sajoi looked a bit raw, but the human ate without the slightest squeamishness.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Mjy pojint?" She blinked, as if she'd expected a better defense rather than simply stoic ignorance. "jIt'ss a matterr of perrceptjion."

Rai'fa retracted her claws, letting the wounded sajoi limp away but not very far, before spiking its tail with another pained chirp, letting it run around uselessly like a junebug flapping on a string. The heiress's eyes panned over to the fighter, watching him slouch over his warmed over halfbreed gruel like he knew a secret the rest of the galaxy didn't.

"And perrceptjion becomess rrealjitjy jif jyou'rre jin a bussjinesss wherre jyou'rre bejing pajid to be watched. jYou could pummel a dozen Charr'rin'ss, and jyou'd sstjill be a bum jin a two-bjit fuck housse that jusst happened to be good at one thjing."

Rai'fa released her hold on the sajoi once more, only to bat it with her right hand back into the grasp of her waiting left.

"jYou have a sstorrjy to tell."

[Serasai Onashi]

Onashi half looked at her while he polished off the lightly cooked sajoi, and pushed the empty basket away. A couple credit chits were tossed onto the table, and he leaned back.

"I've got a lot of stories," he said, taking a toothpick from a jar on the bartop and picking his teeth nonchalantly. "But you want me, right? You're bored or what have you, and there I am, kicking ass, and you think, 'That'ss jinterresstjing.' Do you all think in that accent? So you come in here, and try to entice me with glory and victory and fame. But I'm not in this for fame. Or glory. I'm in it for money. And because I like to fight. And underground fights are a hell of a lot more interesting on the whole than these above board matches."

Behind them, the matron of the bar/hotel was leading the blind woman out the door. She waddled back into the bar and shouted in joy.

"We'rre rrjich! Fjilthy sstjinkjing rrjich!"

"Sshe bought jit?"

"Rreally? Wow. How much djid we get?"

"We?" the matron glared at the younger Cizerack in consternation. "Oh. jI djid say we. Well, jI meant me. jI'm rrjich, and jyou're not sseejing a crred of jit! jI djidn't ssee jyou calljing herr! Orr convjincjing herr that we'd found herr daughterr!"

Onashi was watching this all with an air of satisfaction, the outraged shouting of the younger ones almost bringing his smirk to a full blown smile.

"Is that the story you wanted? I can make up something if it's not," he said, pulling out a stim and lighting it, and taking a long drag.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani let loose an exasperated sigh, once again spilling the hapless sajoi on the table as she looked at Onashi like he had Kowakian Monkey-Lizards crawling out of his ears.

"Glorrjy and fame arre monejy, human. Do jI rrealljy have to explajin how that worrkss?"

The sajoi made another run for it, and was caged by a handful of claws again. The Meorrrei heiress sighed, flicking her ears as she apparently had to do exactly that.

"Makjing a messs of ssomeone that a few thoussand people wjill ssee takess jyou farr to ssome degrree, but a name and a sstorrjy behjind the man who deljiverred that beatjing..."

Her cherry lips parted into a fang-tipped smile.

"...that'ss how jyou make ssurre thejy talk about jyou long afterr the deed jiss done. And thejirr frrjiendss tell thejirr frrjiendss, and thejy all have monejy."

The commotion among the owners of the establishment dimmed Rai'fa's smile considerably, and her hand drew closed over the caged sajoi, that protested with a weak squeak. Eyes returning to Onashi, her ears too tracked back to him.

"Asss forr the sstorrjy? We can make jyou whoeverr jyou want. The trruth doessn't jinterresst me terrjibljy."

[Serasai Onashi]

The ex-mercenary actually seemed to be listening to her, if his quirk of the mouth could be considered thoughtful.

"Ten percent of my earnings, winnings, whatever, and you have a deal," Onashi said. "As long you get me as many fights as I can possibly have. Make me the bad guy. The one people love to hate. That'll keep me busy, I expect."

He scratched at another healing scar along his unclad torso and watched as the group fought over a datachit the matron had held in her hand, probably with the reward for finding her daughter. The chit fell to the ground, and suddenly all of them were on their hands and knees looking for the money, which had disappeared.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani shook her head at the fighter's naive offering.

"Ten? No. A quarrterr take. jI'm not ssome amateurr sstuffjing holo-leafletss jin sspeederr wjind sscrreenss. jI'm talkjing rreal expossurre, rreal monejy, and sspeakjing of, jit cosstss rreal monejy to get both of thosse thjingss. We'rre talkjing about expandjing jyourr take bjy a factorr of fjive orr ten. jYou can prrobabljy fjind a wajy to make ssurre therre'ss ssomeone on Corrusscant who notjicess jyou, Sserrassaji Onasshji..."

The Meorrrei heiress smirked self-confidently.

"...but jI can get jyou notjiced therre and to the Rrjisshji Maze and bejyond."

Rai'fa turned over her closed hand, drawing the struggling sajoi up to her mouth. Her mouth parted slightly, and just before she took a bite, a sniff brought something unpleasant to her senses and she made a face, tossing the hapless rodent away to the floor. Speaking of the floor...Rai'fa's eyes followed the sajoi to the bickering scrum that was still clawing over their ill-gotten gains.

"Anjimalss..."