EliteCommander

Star Wars: Coruscant Underworld [Always accepting!]

From where Tir was sitting, she could see and hear the scene unfold between this Tiss’shar male and those around them, provided she focused on them. Or at least, she heard most of it. The woman at the counter identified herself as “Teema” towards the Besalisk, which, given the name of the diner, almost certainly meant she was the proprietor of the restaurant. She seemed brusque, fast-talking, and even for Tir, a bit difficult to understand. The Besalisk appeared to simply be a customer: one who was at least friendly enough to strike up a conversation with strangers. Although, she supposed it was possible that he did actually know the Tiss’shar, and had simply never been to the diner. As for the Tiss’shar himself, she found that there were some details she noticed which made him seem more familiar than she would have expected.

While the general noise of the restaurant did make it somewhat difficult to hear clearly, Tir thought she heard the proprietor refer to the Tiss’shar as “Dyno,” or something similar. Tir could have easily misunderstood the woman’s accent, but his voice also had a familiar sound to it, which gave her an educated guess as to who he might be. However, she was pulled away from her eavesdropping when a waitress, a Falleen woman evidently named “Phabbs” stepped between them, asking for her order in a voice that was just barely rude enough to still have some plausible deniability. Tir had not actually intended to stay in the diner for long, being that she had only arrived in the first place for a matter of business. However, this Tiss’shar had her curious, and besides which, she supposed the smell from carrying around that severed head for the past few hours had given her a bit of an appetite.

Since Tir had not so much as seen a menu, she decided to order something common, and simple. ”Hmm, yes, thank you. I’ll have a gizka steak. Raw, if possible. And a glass of water. That will be all for me.” She answered, simply and directly.

Tir gave the waitress a chance to write her order and get on her way before she focused her attention back on the Tiss’shar. Seeing as her booth was rather close, she decided it couldn’t hurt to simply walk up and introduce herself. There were certainly many people in level 3030 who were rightfully afraid to so much as be around strangers. Generally, it was the new arrivals who would make an effort to be open and friendly, but Tir was something of an exception in that regard.

Standing up from her booth, Tir left behind the now-empty pouch the Devaronian had given with her payment to mark the booth as taken, then walked the short distance towards the counter. Stopping just in front of the Tiss’shar, she leaned herself against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. For a brief moment, she was silent as she curiously looked him over, apart from the rhythmic tapping of one of her metal claws against the wall.

”I will be entirely honest, I did not expect to meet one of my own kind today. Or any day, really. The name’s Tir-Nem-Saral. A pleasure.” Tir said politely and directly, which frankly could be seen as strange in this area.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma’tanza was confused at first by what Tzirret was saying, but that confusion ceased to matter when he mentioned that his beast spirit was staring to act up. At that point, the only thing that mattered was that they find a way to calm him down. ”Okay, okay, just…we need to get you calm. Okay.”

Pulling her shackled hands over to her left, she reached up and put her hands over his head so that she could get her arms around him. She ended up pulling Bheja over towards her in the process, but a mild inconvenience for him was not important at the moment. Ma’tanza pulled Tzirret closer while maintaining firm, unbroken eye contact. ”Alright, let’s just…breathe slowly then. Just focus on Ma’tanza; nothing else matters. One…two…three…” She began, giving one count for each of the slow breaths she exhaled.

---

Meesei leaned herself against the wall immediately beside Gallus. Most of the crew was busy above deck, but she still spoke at a whisper that was only just audible to him at that distance. “I will be fine. I can maintain the role of the confident enchanter as long as needed. Though, I believe I will avoid direct conversation with the crew if possible.”

Closing her eyes briefly, Meesei gave an uncomfortable sigh. “As for sneaking down to the clan…as much as I dislike saying it, it may not be worth the risk. They have eaten today, and they will be given food and water tonight, so they should not be particularly hungry until morning. We just need to keep an eye on the crew to make sure they do not suspect anything. We have put on as complete of a façade as possible, but there are some details they may notice. I expect that it would take them much longer than a single night to put together the pieces, but I will be ready to give the signal early regardless.”

Meanwhile, Colors was also in the room, though he was standing far enough away that he could not hear what they were saying clearly, and was quite obviously uncertain of what he should be doing. He had performed his role well in setting up the deal, but there was little left for him to do now other than to make sure their deception was not discovered.

Star Wars: Coruscant Underworld [Always accepting!]

I'll get to meet people soon. Just need the DJ raptor. Though for now, I'm heading to bed. Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma'tanza still continued to look around the hold nervously, though there was only a slim chance of actually identifying anyone beyond a short distance away from them. "M'ibasa was supposed to shackle himself close to us. He might have waited too long and ended up shackled somewhere else. Oh, if he's on that other ship, he's going to be so afraid. This one hopes he is somewhere near at least someone he knows."

Once Ma'tanza turned back towards Tzirret, being one of the few she could actually see clearly, she noticed he looked somewhat strange. When he said that he had an issue with confined spaces, she looked at him with concern, then moved her shackled hands over enough to place a hand on his leg. "Are you going to be alright, Tzirret?"

---

Meesei was sat on the edge of the bed, of which there was, unfortunately, only one in the room. Loading the clan onto the ship had been an altogether uncomfortable affair for everyone involved, and though she would not say it aloud, part of the reason she had gone to her room early was so she would not have to witness the remainder of it. She felt immense guilt for putting her fellow lycans through such an experience, but if it guaranteed their safety, she supposed it would be worth it. Regardless, she still put on something of a smile when Gallus entered the room.

"Yes, it is just a matter of waiting now." Meesei said quietly as she stood up and walked over closer to Gallus. "I shall give the signal tomorrow morning, once we are far enough into the Topal Sea. I just hope the clan can hold strong until then."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Hello

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Alright, goodnight, then.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Once on the deck, the slavers halted the group, then opened up a hatch leading down below. As the stairs were not exceptionally wide, they were led single file down, first to the crew deck, then to the deck on which they were intended to spend their entire journey. It was a deck that was dark, with only small amounts off light filtering in through the floorboards above, and almost entirely empty apart from two support columns near the center. The slavers shouted for them to stand precisely in rows, exactly where they were told. On the floor beneath them, there were chains attached to the floorboards, which could then be attached to their shackles. Once they were all in position, the slavers attached the chains to the shackles of every other Khajiit to keep them securely in place. Once all of their "slaves" were secure, the crew members headed back up to the upper levels. As much as the members of their clan among them would have liked to stay to comfort their captive brethren, they were forced to follow as well.

What became immediately apparent once they were locked into their positions was how little room there actually was. To say that they were shoulder-to-shoulder was no exaggeration. Those who were at the edge of the group did have some room to move, but the chains kept those in the middle from moving too far. And, it was made worse by the fact that they were all wet from having to wade through the water, and given that nearly all of them were Khajiit, they would all be wet for some time. Nevertheless, the captives all started to settle in as best as they could. Overall, sitting down was more comfortable, but it made the issue of space even worse. They had almost nothing in the way of leg room, so they had to accept that their legs would be pressing against those around them.

A few minutes after she sat down, Ma'tanza began looking around the large, compact group more and more nervously. "Tzirret...do you see M'ibasa anywhere?"

Above deck, the slavers were loading the last of the Senche into their cages. They all had iron collars that were indeed enchanted, though only with simple illusions. Their crates of supplies and equipment would be loaded next, during which time all of the clan's "slavers" would be required to pack away any weapon larger than a knife. It was a measure meant to protect Orub's crew, though being unarmed would matter little to a clan of lycans.

Since Meesei was already unarmed, she looked briefly to Colors and Gallus nearby. "I believe I will head down to our room now...dear." She said, barely able to get out the word without a break in her tone. "Feel free to visit if you like, Gallus."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sorry for any delays. I get home late on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I'm rather tired.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "I'll be fine. I just need to keep these two close, and well-behaved. When it comes time for us to break out, I'm not going to join the fight if I can help it. There are far more of us than necessary to overpower them. I'm just going to keep the children safe."

With a reluctant sigh, Ahnasha reached down, then snapped the shackles around her wrists. However, as soon as she looked back over to Fendros, she leaned in and gave him a long, drawn out kiss. "You just take care of yourself. Oh, and make sure you get onto the same ship as me. I don't want to be caught on another ship from you for the next week or two.

Just as Fendros had said, the ships were not far behind him, but the clan was in position and ready by the time the vessels came into view. The ships sailed as close to the shore as was reasonably safe, stopping with one in front of the other. The crews of the ships threw ropes over the edge and sent a few of the slavers down to make sure their "cargo" was ready, though it took another ten minutes for those still on the ships to actually prepare them for boarding. Since there was no dock, a normal ramp could not be used to get aboard. However, the slavers were prepared in that regard. They had brought with them two, extra long loading ramps, which had to be assembled on the deck, then carefully lowed down into the water. Their length allowed the incline to be reasonable enough to climb, though it would still require the "slaves" to wade out about waist high into the water in order to board.

The Khajiit, apart from the Senche who were bound separately, were all bound to one another in a single, long chain, so the slavers had sent down a particularly strong Cathay-raht with a few tools to break the chain in the middle, in order to separate their cargo into two groups, for the two ships. Fortunately for Tzirret, the midpoint was far from himself and his new friends.

Once they were ready, the Orc leaned out over the railing on his ship and shouted out his orders down below. "Alright, let's get this moving! Slaves first, then the rest of the cargo."

With that order, the slavers, both those from the clan playing that role, and those that had been sent down from the ships, started to guide the two groups onto the ramps. The Senche would be loaded last, after the bulk of the clan was below deck. For all of those acting as slaves, they had been told to speak only Ta'agra when around the slavers. Although, they would still need to watch their words, as many of the slavers were likely knowledgeable in the language. The largest reason to restrict them to that language was to further sell the illusion that they were mostly captives from nomadic Khajiit tribes.

Peiter, and the others acting as slavers, had been told to show no kindness to the clan. As much as he disliked it, Peiter put on an impatient, angered glare at the clan as he helped to shepherd them into the water. He prodded a few of them with the blunt end of his spear if they started stepping out of line, though he put in not a single bit more force than necessary.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter did his best to put on an encouraging expression. "Yeah, I think we'll just be maintaining this ruse through one night at most. And, once that's over, we'll be making sure these slavers cannot do anything like this to anyone again. So...there will be some good to come out of this." He reasoned.

Ma'tanza looked down at her bindings and let out a sigh. "Yeah, at least there's that. It is awful to think about all the people who get put into bindings like these, but are never able to break out. All the actual slaves out there that are forced to work like animals for people who don't care about them. At least we'll be doing something to make that even just a little less common. And, we'll be able to get to Orcrest in no time. It will all be worth it." She said, though by her tone, it seemed like she was trying to convince herself more than anything.

Elsewhere in the growing mass of Khajiit, Ahnasha was knelt down next to the shackles she would be putting on, with both Rhazii and Newt in front of her. She had saw Fendros come back a few moments ago as well, so she knew he would be seeking her out shortly as well. She put a hand on the shoulders of both Rhazii and Newt and looked back and forth between the two with a gaze that was serious, but hopefully reassuring. "Okay you two, I need you to make sure to stay right next to me the whole time, alright? No running around, and especially no talking to any strangers. I know it might get boring, but it's only going to be until tomorrow morning at the latest. When you see me transform, I want you to follow and stay right next to me. I'll make sure you both stay safe."