Dragons and Bounty Hunters and Arbiters, oh my!

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TorTracyn

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Praxis sighed heavily as she walked off the ship and onto the docks of Venocrys34. Asearin seemed anxious, but then again, it could just be a dragon-person thing for all she knew. Honestly, the trip hadn't been all roses for Praxis either. She pulled her hat down low over her eyes as she normally did and moved out of the way of anyone trying to disembark after her.

Draxis stopped beside her sister, a bag over her shoulder and very plain clothes covering her identical frame. Her hair and the scar that crossed her face (and Praxis's) were covered with a plain, dark blue scarf to match her dress. "What's first on the agenda?"

"I went over the agenda with you yesterday."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, Praxis. I want to know what part you want me to play in things today."

"We're looking for the Conotox. Find their base of operations and let me know where it is."

"Are you going to take both of them with you?"

"If you could take the Arbiter with you..."

"Oh, the one that thinks I'm hotter?" She smirked.

Praxis finally turned to eye her twin. "Unless you want the dragon who likes to throw his money around before I have time to negotiate."

"He seems nicer. Maybe we should let the boys pick." She turned around and grinned at Asearin and Nix. "Who wants to come with me and who wants to go with Grumpy Gills here?"

Grump-er-Praxis rolled her eyes and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Make your decision fast. We have an agenda to keep." Hardly. She just wanted to get their business done there quickly so she could get a drink. Ok, honestly, she didn't want to leave a young girl in the hands of slavers any longer than she had to, but she wouldn't admit she had a heart. That was what Draxis was for.
 
Nixios glanced between the twins who seemed to constantly be bickering. "My choice would be to go with the one that doesn't hate my guts..." He said with a sigh, pulling his long leather coat around his repaired weaponry and adjusting the hat on his head. He'd tucked his badge away deep in a pocket, deciding that it wasn't a good idea to go flaunting that around while on a hunt for slavers.
 
Asearin looked between both twins, truly thinking about that decision even as he didn't really care who he went with as long as they started the work on finding his sister. The dragon knew that if he went with Praxis, he would most likely end up frustrating her as their method of doing things seemed to be very different. He didn't quite know how Draxis worked or what she was like when she gathered information, but he felt he might have better chances with her. And as much as Nix and Prax wanted to deny it and hate each other....Asear had smelled them against his better judgment and there WAS a mutual respect there even if neither of them would mention it.

They'd be fine and perhaps if they got their arguments out NOW, they might be bearable to be around later...

"I'll go with Draxis. I assume we'll meet back here?"
 
"Yes! Ha!" She laughed and hurried over to the dragon. "Prax and I will keep in contact through our HUDs. I need a place to change into my Praxis costume." She smirked and hurried down and into the bustling planet with him. "You know, Praxis isn't all that bad..."

"No! Wait! Damn it! Nix technically picked you too! F***!" She sighed and turned around to glare at the arbiter. "Great. I'm stuck with you, huh?...Lets just get going." She stuffed her hands into her pockets and stormed off into the crowds. "We're going to start on the lower districts of the planet while Drax takes the upper districts. She does better up there. She's...often better at subtlety than I am..."
 
Nix shrugged and cracked his neck, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "That's fine with me, those who live below the sight of others tend to know more anyways." He said, slipping behind her, following in her wake through the sea of bodies.
 
Asearin glanced down at the woman at his side briefly at her words and then looked back up, taking in the bustling planet around them. As a smaller planet, it seemed to be more crowded, busier with commerce and trade. For the dragon it was a wave of differing languages, smells, sights and sounds. It was overwhelming in a way he recognized and accepted, working past each distraction with efficiency. The first planet he'd gone too years before....well, that had been an interesting trip. Now, though, Asearin still didn't LIKE it, but he was better acclimated.

The hover cars overhead still made his shoulder blades itch like crazy with tension, though.

He did his best to ignore it, keeping his tail close as the streets got more crowded so as not to hit anyone or be stepped on. It had probably been a good three minutes before he answered Draxis, but the way he did it almost made the wait seem like it was normal. "I know you sister is not bad. She hurts inside and she doesn't trust others to not hurt her further. That doesn't make her bad."

His blue-violet eyes flickered down to his smaller companion past his red hair. "If she were bad she wouldn't be helping me."
 
Praxis gave a curt nod to Nix and kept walking. Her presence, the way she held herself, it just made people move out of her way. "I don't know why the dragon thinks this is going to only take a few minutes. I mean, I have connections, but finding one of their cells isn't exactly going to be easy...."

Draxis looked up at Asearin and smiled. "Well, as long as we don't have to go to Earth to find your sister, she'll be...cooperative at any rate." She shrugged and lead the dragon off and towards a public restroom where she excused herself. Inside, she changed into an identical outfit to Praxis. Tank top, sleeveless long tan trench coat, pants, a plethora of belts to hide a plethora of weapons, and the cowboy hat with the integrated and hidden HUD. She walked out, her old clothes in the bag over her shoulder, and stuck her hip out, looking at the dragon through the hidden HUD in her hat. "Lets get this shit over with." She really did have her sister's mannerisms down perfectly. It was almost creepy, really.
 
He nodded. "I agree... they're not stupid, and are known for covering their tracks well." He said, sidestepping someone who stumbled in his way. He had a different presence about him, one that seemed to make him almost slip into the crowd, unnoticed.
 
If he hadn't seen them in action before, Asear would have been completely startled at Draxis' demeanor, her completely shift in attitude, voice, even the way she carried herself. She and Praxis were very, very good and the dragon could see why they'd been able to keep up their ruse for so long. He found lips twitching upward in amusement that was rare for him to show and he controlled it a minute later, face going neutral again as he nodded.

He was more than ready to get to work and he was going to be more useful than he knew either twin thought.

As they started walking again, Asearin seemed to grow more distant as his movements became more fluid, avoiding the people around him even though his blue-violet eyes held a slight glaze to them, like he couldn't see anything. And right now he really wasn't. Every dragon was born with the ability to track, but some, through years and hours of practice, can hone the skill to something that is almost ethereal and Asearin had been very motivated.

Every ounce of excess energy he had at the moment was going into his sense of smell, into sorting out dozens of them in the time it might take someone to blink, hundreds in about three minutes and thousands after that. He searched for one smell in particular, one he wouldn't forget as long as he lived and when he found it, there would be no losing it for him, no matter where it led.

Asearin just had to locate it, but he knew it wouldn't take as long as someone might think.
 
Praxis made her way into a lower district and into a bar. She took a seat in a booth near the back and ordered a round for the both of them. She motioned for Nix to sit across for her, eyes locked on the screen in the brim of her hat. She sorted through the information it was putting in front of her. "What do you think about our traveling companion?" She asked, avoiding the word 'dragon' just in case someone was listening in.

Draxis did notice the change in Asearin's demeanor, but she wouldn't bring it up. She figured it was a dragon thing and it interested her greatly...but she had business to tend to first. And that business had everything to do with a young girl's life. She started looking for little signs that every planet had, covert things that would point the knowing in the direction of the black market. Contrary to what most people thought, it was usually located in some of the fancier districts. One just needed to know how and where to look.
 
He sat down and took off his hat, setting it on the table as he kept en eye out behind her, assuming she was doing the same with him. "I do not trust it." he said, scowling. He made no habit of showing any sort of hospitality towards the dragon after their encounter with the Daemon. He still believed that Asearin was some new form of Daemon, using them to get to some poor girl. He intended to rescue her from the slavers, then destroy Asearin and free the girl from his clutches. "His control over creatures of the Warp is... unsettling."
 
He didn't smell her. His sister wasn't here. The realization as it washed over him caused Asearin's heart and hopes to plummet even as his blood boiled with anger. The only thing that gave indication of either of his emotions was the sudden lashing of his powerful tail, almost hitting several people over the head before he brought it under his control again with a slight growl deep in his chest.

F*** it!

The dragon forced himself to breathe and get back on track, following Draxis blindly as he was sure she'd know where she was going better than he at the moment. He was now searching for Conotox scents and that was a bit of a harder task considering there were many places they could be. It was a matter of locating the freshest scents now, the most potent as those would be areas the aliens congregate. He set his mind to the task, but he no longer cared how they went about it. Tivinia wasn't here. They could burn every slaver hub to the ground for all he cared and if Draxis, Prax and Nix couldn't get the information they needed...he wouldn't hesitate to start tearing into throats until someone decided their life was worth more than their loyalty.

He'd done it before and he'd do it again.

Despite his thoughts and the anger that was probably radiating off him past his neutral expression, Asearin spoke rather calmly. "Two blocks over. There's been Conotox activity, a few dozen of them, within the last.....week." Asearin's eyes cleared then and he glanced down at Draxis, reminding himself to think of her as her sister for the time being. "We might start there if you're willing."
 
"Control? It was scared of him. I don't think it was a matter of control." She shrugged. When the waitress walked up, she sat back. "I'll have a Ginger Bite and my friend here will have a Comit-Kaze." She let a smirk play on her lips. "And we're both interested in an order of Zeruvian Neckties." She watched as the waitress nodded and walked away. She put her elbows on the table and sighed. "I'll admit, he's weird...but that doesn't exactly mean he's Warped."

Draxis ducked the angry tail deftly and stood back up, adjusting her hat. "That would be the entrance to the black market, I think." She said, looking in the direction he pointed. She smirked and nodded. "Yeah, that looks like a good place to start." She pulled her hat brim down and sent the information to her sister.

She pulled her hat brim down. "Drax found the marketplace..."
 
He glanced at the waitress, then back at Praxis. "Already? That was fast..." He said, frowning. "Any chance it's a trap?" He asked, his hand sliding into his jacket, playing with his lighter idly.
 
They made their way through the crowd easily enough and Asearin kept his eyes open for any of the alien race they were searching for. He didn't see them, though, but he smelled them, residual scents and they were coming strongest from one building. He pointed it out to Drax, but he didn't go toward it. The last time he'd been with Prax, she'd wanted to take the lead, discover information on her own terms and the dragon would let her twin do the same as they seemed to have a good system. There was also the fact that he'd hired them for a reaons. His own results...yeah, he got the information but it was never in a subtle way and it had kept him from his sister for six years.

It had also gained him a reputation that was less than discrete and any Conotox within the galaxy was not going to talk to him willingly.

No, he'd let Drax decide who they spoke to and how they came upon the information they needed. And if the twins couldn't THEN he'd step in.

Asearin looked down at the twin beside him in question, eyeing the green and pink hair peeking out from the hat for a moment before he brought his focus back to Draxis herself. "Do you have contacts on this planet?" Would they be going through them or would they be heading to the direct source of the scents the dragon was picking up?
 
"My stars you're paranoid..." Praxis narrowed her eyes at him. "There's no chance we're just that good, huh? Or that we know how to find black market hubs?" The waitress came back with their drinks, both hissing and fizzing. And only Praxis had a napkin under hers. She picked up her drink, slammed it back, and put the glass down, off the napkin. She picked the napkin up, unfolded it half way, and looked at it. "She may have found the black market, but you and I are on the trail of the slavers market." She smirked and looked at him. "Finish your drink. Because I've found out where we're going." She waved the napkin a bit before tucking it into her jacket.

Draxis looked over at the building, sliding her hands into her pockets. "We need to hit the black market, first. I need a new pair of gloves." She read a message from her sister and smirked. "My sister is on her way to the slavers market. You and I are after information though. Not quite as direct as my sister is taking it." She said, hands stuffed deep in her pockets and her shoulders shrugged up near her ears. She headed to the building the smells were coming from and walked beside it and down to an alley. She stopped by a thick metal door and kicked it a couple times. A slat popped open and green eyes peeked out from the darkness. 'Praxis' whipped out a card from inside her pocket and held it up. The door was open and the pair was let in. Apparently the twins were card carrying members of the black market district or something. She walked in to the surprisingly well-lit bazaar inside the building and smiled, taking in a deep breath of...filthy, nasty air. Why didn't low-lives ever bathe?

She stiffled a cough. "C'mon." She muttered, heading down the rows of weapons and explosions and spy equipment and horrible nasty things. She seemed like she was looking for someone in particular.
 
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