revivalproject | Cobb's Event Catch All

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Cobb's Event Catch All | Open

WHO: Cobb Vanth & All
WHERE: Various locations across Coruscant.
WHAT: Adventures across the planet
WHEN: Event
WARNINGS: Cussing. Angst. Possible violence. Will update as necessary.

This was not how Cobb imagined his first time off Tatooine. Then again, with his history, maybe he should have expected his first trip in space and to a Core world would be against his will. These Agrii fellas needed to learn to ask for permission. He would've said yes if they had asked. Instead, there was a little bubble of resentment brewing towards their alien captors.

But that anger could wait. A lot of people here had no idea how to navigate any planet in the galaxy much less one like Coruscant. Stars, even Cobb was a little out of his element but at least he could read the writing and understand how things worked in general. The first thing he focused on was getting everyone else settled and comfortable to go around by themselves. It was a lot of explaining how credit worked and offering to help if anyone needed it.

It took a few days before Cobb disappeared on his own one morning. The credits provided by the Agrii and the few he had on him when he got taken were burning a hole in his pocket. He went to the market and found himself some pieces of durasteel armor and a padded armor suit to wear underneath. It was, without a doubt, the nicest thing Cobb had ever owned, gleaming a brass-gold color against the black padded suit and soft green cloak he also bought to hide the scars that peeked out from the suit.

Damn if he didn't feel guilty for the two-thousand credits he handed over to buy it.

He just couldn't help but think of all the necessary things he could buy for home or this group of people at that cost. Two thousand credits would never got that far on Tatooine where everything was so damn expensive but it could've done something good. But after putting it all on he looked like he belonged on a Core world instead of an outsider in ragged clothes. Clothes he kept because they were still good enough for home and no one wasted anything on Tatooine. The armor though... wearing it he felt... like someone important and wasn't that a heavy thing?

Not only did the armor protect him and help him blend in, now he could get into better bars and taverns where they played high stakes sabacc. Cobb had learned his numbers playing the card game and was damn good at it. Good enough to win games against rich fools who tossed credits around like they could be dug up from the sand. That real vindictive part of himself really enjoyed it.

And everything he won now went to what they'd need to survive and anyone else who needed a few spare credits.

After all, he could always win more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Seventy-six cards with specific values. That was a lot of homework, but Cayde was already committed the moment he'd asked what Sabacc was. "Sounds kind of like an Earth game I know. I needa show you how to play when we get back." He paused, casting almost a longing look towards the gambling tables. "Would they let me play?"

The horn, the horn. The Exo grinned, gesturing towards his metal features the way one showed off priceless jewelry. "My beautiful horn is part of my beautiful face," he said. "But yeah, I did consider that. I figure that with the faces I've seen on some people around here, it might not be that big of a problem."

"No, droids brains are too good and too hard to read. People don't let them play." But Cayde wasn't a droid. He was something else entirely. None of that would matter to anyone sitting at those tables. "Bet you'd be real good too once you got it down."

Cobb figured if anyone could make him a better sabacc player it'd be Cayde. Or maybe one of the Jedi with their strange powers. Could he teach Mando's kid? That could be fun.

"We can buy a deck and I'll teach ya. Bet a few people from around here know how to play." It could make for a good time when they got back to the ruins. "The problem isn't the horn. It's..."

All of Cayde.

"If we can hide the face, though, you could stand a chance."

The Exo couldn't help but preen a little at that observation. "I do know my way around a gambling hall," he said with a crooked smile. Little good that'd do him if they wouldn't even let him have a crack at a game.

He didn't look particularly amused to be implied as a major problem. And here he thought he'd finally be able to have some fun somewhere!

"Right, so we go do some shopping then, get a crash course in how they game around here, and then maybe have some fun?"

Yeah, he got the sense Cayde was good at bullshit which is really all a gambler needed. He chuckled into his drink. It was hard not to like the man even though Cobb wasn't so fond of droids himself.

"Oh, I think we can find some fun. It's a little too bright in here. Might have to go to the lower levels for a game with you," Cobb said as he poured himself another drink. "Low lights, a little touch of armor to disguise you, we can definitely get you into a game."

It'd be more dangerous than playing in the more respectable bars Cobb's been cleaning out but they could handle themselves. "Gotta get a deck to show you the cards."

That sounded fine with Cayde. "The underground's where most of the excitement is just about anywhere," he said as he picked up his glass again, tossing back the rest of its contents. Then he nudged the empty glass towards Cobb for a refill.

"Well, I'm in. You find us a deck and we can get things rolling."

"People know how to have fun when they've got very little else." Cobb leaned back further in his chair and caught the eye of the waitress. She sauntered over and he turned on the polite charm, all smiles and warm voice.

"Darlin', could we get a sabacc deck? Just to keep my hands busy while I'm talkin' with my friend here. Drinkin' without the cards just ain't the same." He grinned but the waitress didn't seem terribly impressed by him.

Ah, well, she still went off and came back with the cards. Cobb tipped her for putting up with him. He offered Cayde the cards to look through first. "Best to just look first."

The Exo gave him a knowing nod. More to gain, less to lose too. He watched as Cobb spoke to the waitress again, hiding a snicker behind his hand. As she went off, he helped himself to more of the spotchka.

"Ooh, these look fun," he said as he accepted the cards and began rifling through the well-worn deck. He started dividing them up by like-symbols as he saw them, figuring it might make things easier for Cobb to explain.

“You got your four basic suits. Sabers. Flasks. Coins. Staves.” Cobb tapped a finger against each suit. “You got your basic numbers in those suits. Those have the value on them. Then you’ve got your ranked cards. Commander is twelve. Mistress is thirteen. Master is fourteen. Ace is fifteen. Some versions of sabacc it can be one as well. Just make sure you know what style you’re playin’ and you’ll be fine.”

Cayde started to lay out the face cards, two sets of eight. He tapped a finger against the first one Cayde laid out. “The Star. Negative seventeen. All the face cards have negative values. Real important to remember that when you’re building a hand.”

He went through the rest of the face cards. The Evil One, negative fifteen. Moderation, negative fourteen. Demise, negative thirteen. Balance, negative eleven. Endurance, negative eight. Queen of Air and Darkness, negative two. Idiot, zero.

“Best to memorize the values first before you learn how to play. Adding things up in your head can get tricky fast if you don’t have the values down.” Cobb had learned numbers with the cards before he learned how to play the game.

As Cobb explained each card, Cayde assigned names and made connections of similarities in his head, nodding along. As the ones he laid out were explained next, he hummed thoughtfully.

"Wow, these names make it sound like you don't mess around with Sabacc," he chuckled. He was already working on committing the values and cards to memory, knowing that he wasn't the only one musing over them. Both he and Sundance figured it was better she stay out of sight in public around here.

"No one messes around with Sabacc. There's two pots to win. And in some places the cards are digital. Dealer will switch them up so your winning hand suddenly becomes a losing one."

It was supposed to stop cheating but Cobb had never played a game with a big enough buy in to see digital cards. Even here which was pretty high money in his opinion they still used good, old fashioned, real cards.

"Just gotta be good at numbers and a little lucky." He poured himself another glass. "I'll buy a deck and we can play games around the ships. Maybe get a few of the folks from this galaxy to join in. It'd be a better way to learn than just playin' against me."

"Digital cards? What fun is that!" Cayde snorted at the very idea. Holding actual cards in hand was part of the experience. "How do you know the dealer ain't cheating on you with digital swap-outs?"

He knocked back his second glass of spotchka. "Sounds simple enough. I'm not bad at numbers. And I've got lucky pants." The latter was debatable but he was still pretty confident in his abilities. Anyway, you couldn't win them all, although it'd be pointless if he couldn't even get himself to a table without people thinking him mighty suspect.

"Sounds good to me! We need more ways to pass the time. So I guess next we do some shopping."

"The droid is programed not to cheat." Which really illustrated the differences between droids and Exos. Droids were programmed to behave a certain way and follow orders. Their free choice was very limited.

Lucky pants made Cobb chuckle. Yeah, it would definitely be fun to play against Cayde. He'd probably be a talker during the game. Cobb had a gut feeling about that.

"Well, you wanna go shopping put the cards back and finish your drink." Otherwise, Cobb would sit until the bottle was finished.

The Exo makes a face but he otherwise isn't surprised. "They hack-proof?" There are still ways to cheat if someone had the mind to, but unfortunately Cobb's point just underlines how much robots here are more like glorified accessories.

"Yes mother," he says as he starts gathering the cards back up. He sets the deck down and tops off his glass with spotchka before knocking it back. "All right, whenever you're good."

"It's not easy but if you've got a death wish messin' with someone's dealer droid you could do it." Cobb wouldn't try it. He had stirred up enough trouble taking on Red Key. He didn't need to take on more syndicates as well. They ran the gambling halls back home.

He finished his glass and put a generous tip on the table then got to his feet. "I can take you to where I got this armor."

That seemed like the best place to start on finding a disguise for Cayde. Probably just had to hide his face and no one would know he was a 'droid'. It would be real trouble if anyone found out though.

Once they were walking through Coruscant's streets Cobb looked him over. "Where's your floating friend?"

"Oh, I wasn't volunteering. I was just asking," Cayde said, raising his hands. He'd rather stick to physical card games. Digital just sounded like it catered to a different crowd, the fluffy, high-society type that didn't want to get their hands dirty.

Standing, the Exo nodded and motioned for Cobb to lead on then, but not before he stopped at a random table in passing where a lone drinker sat. He picked up the man's glass, staring him straight in the eye.

"No one will ever believe you," he whispered, capping it off with a grin before he tossed back the glass's contents, set it down and then sauntered out after Cobb.

While he ignored most looks once they were back out in the street, Cayde wasn't afraid to meet curious gazes and offer a nod in casual greeting to anyone who gawked longer than they should. "Sundance? Oh, she's safe," he said. "Figured it's better she stay outta sight."

Cobb didn't know what was Cayde was up to until he saw him pick up the drink. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, that was definitely going to help Cayde blend in. Given that he wasn't above petty acts of revenge himself Cobb wasn't going to judge too harshly.

"Because she looks like a droid too?" Cobb could understand that. People on the street stared at Cayde enough as it was. The little floating friend he had would get noticed as well.

At least while he walked with Cobb no one would ask any stupid questions about where Cayde's person was.

He seemed determined to make an impression some way or another.

"That and I like having an extra ace up my sleeve," the Exo chuckled. No point in drawing extra attention, but no one had to know someone was always keeping an eye on his six as they navigated these busy streets.

It was a little annoying noticing how much less the eyes tended to follow them once Cobb was taken in. Cayde figured he was going to have to reconsider his earlier anticipation about the whole trip. Still, if this helmet deal worked, it might not be so bad. Still slightly annoying, but not workable. It wasn't like he didn't wear helmets back home, but it had been a long while, and he wasn't Shaxx.

"I guess she'd be a good pair of eyes. Eye?" Cobb wasn't sure exactly what Sundance was but he'd admit she seemed useful.

The armor shop was run by a pair of Mirialans who complimented Cobb on his fine armor with a little laugh. He chuckled and thanked them.

"Lookin' for a helmet, ladies. Mind if I just take a look around with my friend here?" He jerked his thumb to Cayde. They said to ask for help if he felt he needed it. He figured while Cayde browsed Cobb would just keep him company.

Cayde had to smile at that. Always a plus when people had a sense of humor. He gave the women a nod before turning to inspect the hardware, so to speak.

"You know, I don't think I've bought myself any armor in a long, long time," he mused as he looked over some of the sets. Not that he had any desire to. He doubted he'd ever want to replace the gear he currently wore, as much a trademark of his now as it was a reminder and perhaps to some degree, a burden. Yet he wore that tattered cloak, the worn leathers and scuffed armor with pride.

Reaching up to pluck a helmet from a shelf, he turned it over in his gloved hands before replacing it. Not quite big enough for his metal noggin.

"I used to wear a set of beskar," Cobb said with a little fondness. "Until Mando came along and asked for it back."

If Cayde wanted the details Cobb would tell him the whole story of killing a krayt dragon together but he kept it simple for now.

"I don't miss wearing a helmet though. Never liked the way I had to turn my head to see anything." He scanned the shelves and displays. Nothing really tempted him though. He had his armor and it felt like more than enough.

Cobb didn't want to spend another five hundred or more credits on a helmet that he wouldn't wear that often anyway.

"Beskar? -Mando, oh, helmet guy? Heh, was it his? Spare set?" Cayde asked, glancing briefly over his shoulder at Cobb before he moved on to peruse another line of helmets. He hadn't really sussed out many details about the armor-wearing one save that he was a hunter too, and appreciated a good gun.

"No good if you can't see anything. You'll protect your head but it's better to be able to see so you can avoid that close-call, and any others." The Exo chuckled as he picked up another helmet with a broad sort of top that made it look like it had a hat of some sort fused to the rest of it. "Well, at least I'm used to helmets looking impractical from back home." He set it back down, scowling. "Also more used to just picking up armor out in the field, comin' across abandoned caches and engrams. Oh do I miss engrams."

"Beskar. It's a metal the Mandalorians make. Real tough. Strong enough to stand up to blaster fire which this will do to a point." Cobb tapped a knuckle against the durasteel chest piece. "There's nothing like beskar in the galaxy. But it's scared to him and his people so me wearing the armor of a dead Mandalorian was... not good."

Mando had explained it to him that night in the Tusken camp. He had always known the armor was important to Mandalorians but he hadn't know to just what extent. He had no hesitation about giving the armor back after their deal was complete.

"I bought the armor from some scavengers. Jawas. They found it by a wrecked sand barge. The helmet would definitely not fit you." Cobb was sure they'd find something though. Armorers had all sorts of heads to fit and they included ones with horns and tentacles.

And the grand take-away was... "-wait, so Mandalorians are like a group? And our guy is either "hot stuff," as Tony Stark would so eloquently put it, or just likes running anonymous?"

Not that the subject of beskar had been lost on him. That sounded like some handy material. Who wouldn't like super-durable armor? He supposes finding any around here would be slim though, and their helmet-wearing parent didn't care for non-Mandalorians having the stuff, it would be difficult to keep from him. ...difficult but not impossible. Cayde filed the thought away.

"Oh no, if it's anything like his helmet I doubt it'd fit me either," he said as he studied yet another helmet that at least didn't look completely ridiculous, nudging back his hood before sitting it on his head in testing. "If it gets stuck do we still have to pay for it?" he asked, mostly in jest as he eased it on.

"Yeah, they're a group. All follow the same Creed. Sort of like the Jedi." Cobb understood that much about the two groups who weren't currently trying to kill each other. "In our time Mandalorians aren't welcome most places. People hunt them for their armor or just want 'em dead. He's both hot stuff and anonymous."

During the few days they spent together Cobb hadn't once asked for Mando's name. He had stuck with nicknames and well, that had felt right. Partner rolled off the tongue well especially after fighting side by side. Maybe he'd ask for the name now that their paths had crossed again.

"Probably. I've got a little tool kit back at the ships. We could try removing your head to give it back," he said with a teasing grin. No way did something as complicated as Cayde have an easily removable head.

Sounded fair enough to Cayde. He nodded as he frowned. "Seems like having the super strong armor doesn't help a whole lot." But then if there were people wanting it bad enough to kill a Mandalorian, they weren't going to be fair about it. "If they're all shiny bright like our Mister Mando then they've got guts."

He was being careful with the helmet in case his horn got caught on anything inside. Cobb wouldn't see the scowl for it, but the Exo turned his head towards him, the expressionless helmet emphasizing the flat look he was surely giving beneath it. "Try it and I'll shoot you," he said.

It felt like the thing was on all the way, and the visor did nothing for its limited peripheral, not to mention the crap sitting in front of it from the outside. "Sundance, you're probably going to have to do a lot of extra radar work," he muttered. "I'm assuming there's a built-in HUD- ah, there it is. ...that's definitely going to be annoying. Maybe this is why I don't wear helmets anymore."

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