[D0] Morning Pilgrimage

[Kaddhur]

Olon sometimes had tasks for him, in the morning. Or if not her, one of the others, although he did not try very hard to seek them out. Kaddhur did not like asking Syn, who he always suspected was laughing at him. Kaurin Vizla he found familiar in a way that is sometimes painful, like being ambushed with the sudden smell of the grasses of Arar. And Gruwmun, of course...

He grew suddenly angry, and before he thought of it his foot lashed out. A barrel full of salvaged antenna rods rang and rattled as his armored foretalon glanced off, and the being behind the booth grumbled at him, their facial tentacles waving. Their ire was half-hearted, however, and perhaps only even half-awake, and Khadurr stalked on without paying it much mind.

When Olon's tasks were complete, or if no-one had any tasks for him, then he would allow himself to come here and look. He did this wherever he went, searching, torturing himself both when he could not find what he hoped for and when he did, because he could not afford it. Even now, with the carefully saved and repeatedly counted credits nestled safely in the feathers of his breast under his armor, he hesitated.

There were not, after all, so many in Port Nowhere. Few enough they could each be carefully considered in turn. He could tell you about each one, which merchant offered them, when they had appeared on the market. He also had many thoughts on their condition but found himself doubting his own judgment, circling back to ones he had considered and rejected before. Some of the sellers no doubt thought it odd, but Kaddhur, by turns self-conscious and self-absorbed, had not noticed.

He moved through the bazaar, the lingering turmoil in his mind lending his movements a false air of purpose.

[Alsten Linth]

Alsten had met Kaddhur enough times to know what the bird brain was likely doing in the bazaar, the feathered guy was always staring at the fiery death devices that came in backpack form. Not that Alsten really balmed him, je packs were pretty cool. Over priced, but cool.

Spotting the other in the crowd he made his way over, hands in his pockets and abesntmindely chewing on a stick of gum. "Anything new around?" He asked the other man as he made hsi way to Kaddhur's side.

"Or jsut staring at the same olf shit?"

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur is not really surprised. This thought is as reflexive as if he found himself a fledgling again, his grandformel Bagvaakhai taking him out for hunts and, finding him daydreaming, buffeting him into a tailspin while crying out "A true warrior of Arar is always aware of their surroundings!"

But Alsten had come up on him without being noted except in a corner of his eyes and mind. This is probably no real lapse. While he has suffered from lack of wordliness since stepping out in to the wider galaxy, he was never especially vulnerable to simple ambush. A cutpurse or assassin he would have noticed (he's sure), but Alsten had grown familiar. If Kaddhur was inclined to be reflective, being comfortable with what grandformel Bagvaakhai would call aruetii (with a beak-click so contemptuous that it bordered on the vulgar, like a human spitting on the ground) might have been as disconcerting as the idea that he could be caught unawares by them.

Kaddhur is not reflective, and instead of thinking about this he instead just feels annoyed, and the feathers around his neck ruff out, forming a wide collar between the metal and fabric of his helmet and his breastplate. "Just because the steppe is still covered in grass does not mean that a warrior stops watching it." In self-conscious matching of actions to words, and unconscious agitation, his head darts about in quick movements, side to side, taking in Alsten and the surroundings in turns. His helmet visor, the traditional Mandalorian T-section with the crosspiece bifurcated to accommodate the extra eyes, catches the bazaar's mixed interior lights with each tilt and twist.

"Why? Did you see something new? Or hear about it?" he follows up suddenly, undercutting any air of noble or veteran wisdom he might have hoped to cultivate with his previous adage.

[Alsten Linth]

Bored warriors could watch whatever they wanted to as far as Alsten was concerned, because if you were watching grass you had to be bored abotu half to death. Whatever the case Kaddhur was greeted with a shrug. "Well, there is alwys new stuff popping up around here. You know how the bazaar is." Or at least he should by this point.

He let sit for a few moments before adding. "Still word is that Elmo got something in that's a bit pricey. Peopel say it's a neon yellow though, kinda catches the eye from a distance."

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur's feathers smooth and he cocks his head at yet a new angle, this time his full focus on Alsten. He doesn't speak for a moment, which might lend him an air of inscrutability behind his mask. In fact, it is mostly him trying to balance eagerness with the fear that Alsten is messing with him.

"Haat?" he says in Mandalorian, then in Basic, "You speak the truth?" His head starts moving again, now looking everywhere except Alsten, pretending disinterest. "You did not come here to tell me that."

[Alsten Linth]

"I speak rumormill, no way to tell without going to look ourselves." Alsten repleid with a shrug. HE tended to hear a lot of things though and not all of em were fact.

"But nah, saw you on the way to do some shopping of my own. Figured I'd let you know." No harm in that right?

[Kaddhur]

"I understand." Kaddhur head movements become a quick, affirmative bob, then resume their air of disinterest-yet-vigilance. Now a questioning tilt, one set of eyes looking at Alsten again. "What do you seek?"

[Alsten Linth]

"Odds and ends." Alsten replied with a smirk. "I was hoping to get a bit of mod work done on my blaster if I can find someone with the skills. I just need to parts to start." Alsten repleid with a shrug.

Not that he figured it would be easy to find someone able to do the work. "Might be able to find the stuff at Elmo's he continued as his feet started to move in that direction.

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur's feet followed automatically while his head continued to look all around them.

"Your blaster," he says, suddenly looking fully at Alsten, all-over attention replaced with keen focus. "May I see it?" His own weapon, a sleek, angular, short-barreled rifle, is slung over his shoulder. It's clearly an expensive piece, and well-loved, but maybe not by somebody who was as wealthy now as they had been when they had been able to buy it in the first place (and of obviously Mandalorian make, if an observer was the enthusiastic sort of sapient who could tell their Adostics from their Amberlandraxes).

[Alsten Linth]

"I suppose." Alsten replied, digging under his coat to pull out the piece, it wa sa simple blaster pistol made by merr-sonn it seemed and had what looked to be a magnetic tether attached to it.

"It's not much of nothing, but it gets the job done." Whatever the job might be was hard to say.

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur stops walking to examine the weapon. He does it at some length, from various distances and angles, and if anyone suspected Kaddhur of being subtle they might wonder if it was supposed to be arch commentary on the size or quality of Alsten's armament.

When he hands it back, though, he speaks with as much gravity as his age and somewhat chirpy basic can bring. "This is a good weapon," he says. "Tell me, have you fought many battles with it?"

[Alsten Linth]

"I don't really try to fight many battles at all if I can help it." Alsten replied before putting the blaster away. "They're a good way to get shot after all."

"Been in a few scuffles though." He motioned to the blaster riffle Kaddhur carried. "How about you?"

[Kaddhur]

Khaddur takes Alsten's apparent fear of physical injury in stride (literally, in that he starts walking again). Alsten is not a Mandalorian, and so while it is baffling, it is not especially blameworthy.

In response to the question he lifts one hand, held flat, and tilts it up and down in a rising-and-falling gesture. "Some. There have been no wars among the Mandalorians of Arar in my time," he says, sounding slightly disappointed, "but there are always ge'hutuun, bandits. Like everyone of age I have stood watches for the camps and for the herds, and fought to protect my family and what is ours."

He shrugs, the gesture a more open admission of embarrassment than he would normally allow himself. But Alsten intimidates him considerably less than most people he is at all familiar with, and no bird is an island. "But as enemies, they are barely worth speaking of. Kih'parjai, naasad kyrbej." Little victories, no battlefields. "I had hoped that when I left the planet..." he trails off.

[Alsten Linth]

"That you would find some battlefields worth fighting on?" Alsten asked raising an eyebrow. That sounded at least like what the other man wanted to say.

"Well, I can say they are out there. I suppose it all depends on how picky you are about who you are fighting and what you are fighting for." If you didn't care it would be pretty easy to find a fight. Alsten at least knew that much.

[Kaddhur]

"Yes!" says Kaddhur. He's not exactly sure how he'd say it in Basic, but having Alsten seem to understand even a little makes him enthusiastic enough not to worry. "For Araran warriors, with no wars at home, we seek honor and wealth in the stars. It is the same for other Mandalorians, I understand." He makes a diving motion with one hand. "I do not think I am 'picky.' But it has been difficult..." he trails off, either uncertain of how to describe the difficulty or unwilling to go more into his troubles. He shrugs his shoulders, more-than-subconsciously aware of the weight missing from his back.

[Alsten Linth]

"well, maybe it's not as easy as I figured too?" Alsten offered with a frown. He didn't know much about finding fights. "I'm not exactly am expert on worthy battlefields after all."

"I'm sure you'lll come across one eventually though. It's just a matter of time when you in the galaxy at large." He paused a moment thinking. "Maybe if nothing else you can look into a worth while hunt too? Fighting dangerous creatures seems liek a worth while battle to me."

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur brightens. "You are a hunter? I love the hunt! What is the greatest beast you have brought down?"

[Alsten Linth]

"I mean sure, I've done a bit of hunting." Alsten replied with a half frown on his lips. "There are no real great beasts where I'm from though."

"So i don't really have anything to brag about."

[Kaddhur]

Kaddhur smiles, an expression shown on his lipless face by flattening of the plumage on the cheeks and tightening the bare skin around the eyes.

"I'm sure we'll both have plenty to brag about before this is over." He gives Alsten a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Oya!"

(I'm fine with that being /scene...?)

[Alsten Linth]

"Aye, likely so." Alsten agreed with a small smile as they entered Elmo's shop.

/scene.