#on top of caring more about guild wars than real world religion for the former's entire 17 years of existence. i mean lbr.

[anghraine]

kjadfk;j a family member was like... I feel like you've spent more time caring about Guild Wars than Jesus lately. Maybe I should get you a picture or statue.

me, stealth agnostic: Uh, I, uh—I feel weird about Jesus iconography, honestly.

her: Really?

me: Yes, it makes me uncomfortable.

her: Half your family is Catholic. They have all kinds of stuff like that.

me: ...I am aware.

[startrekandwars]

Appearances are Deceiving

Word Count: 1919

Summary: Baves Urety finally reveals who he is to Din while also trying to avoid being killed by Bossk, a bounty hunter who is after the former Jedi. 

Tags: None

AN: Written for @celebrate-the-clone-wars prompt Always A Bigger Fish

Din Djaren has been traveling with Baves for some time now. His new partner wasn't the most talkative person, but he was far from quiet. The thing that Din noticed was that Baves was mostly observant. Maybe too observant. The child seemed to like Baves, and it was hard to fault the poor kid. Baves has this... aura that puts you at ease and makes you want to like him. He's so optimistic even if he doesn't voice it. It's written all over his face. 

The few times Baves has talked about his past, he just mentions his father taught him just about everything he knows. If it wasn't his father, it was one of his brothers. He also mentions that before the fall of the Empire, he worked as a bodyguard, and then decided to become a Bodyguard for hire. People used to pay this man to protect them. They used to pay him a lot.

Now is a good time for Din to observe Baves. He was an inch, maybe two taller. He could only be a couple years older than him too, though it's hard to tell because Baves keeps his face clean shaven. Baves says that he doesn't remember how old he is, and judging by how familiar the miralian is with a blaster, the mandalorian believes him. Baves isn't the strongest person. He looks like he should struggle to hold the child, all long limbs, and not a lot of muscle. He's also flexible. Din has watched Baves twist in ways he didn't realize a humanoid could twist their body. Baves looks like he couldn't hurt a fly, and he often tends to talk his way out of problems. It often works too. His royal blue eyes help soften his face, and the fact that there's a permanent smile on his face helps a lot. Even with out that, there are the beginnings of smile lines around the corner of his eyes. Din has never seen Baves's hair, and he had a feeling he never would. He could guess that his hair is jet black, if he were to judge it based off of the man's eyebrows. 

Din just can't place his finger on it, but he can tell Baves is holding back. He's too aware of things to not be holding back. It's like he knows what people expect him to be able to do, and he tries to embody those ideas. 

Even now, as they were walking through the market and Baves looks like he doesn't have a care in the world, Din has also learned that he is drinking in as much information as he can. "Oooooooh, Din look at this scarf!" Baves picked up a dark green head scarf with teal embroidery in miralian styles. "It's stunning!"

"You have seven scarves on the ship, Baves." Din countered, watching the man. None the less, the look in his eyes was hard to say no to. "When would you even wear it?"

"I don't know, around. I wear all seven of those scarves by the way." Baves countered, looking back at the scarf. "It's very pretty... But I suppose I don't need another one until something unthinkable happens to a scarf, like a grease stain." He put the scarf back, bowed politely, and kept walking. "I'm going to see if I can find any jogan fruit."

Din simply nodded and watched Baves walk away. Oh yes, that man could wrap just about anyone around his finger. Not because he was trying to be malicious, but because he was just so... kind. He was the sort of person you would want to protect. 

"Is that young man with you? Because if so, good for you. I don't know what a Mandalorian such as yourself would see in a man as kind as him, but if you want to win his heart, you should probably buy that scarf." The shop keeper said, sounding amused. She was a Miralian, but unlike Baves, she didn't cover her hair all the time, it was jet black and feel to her shoulders.

"I'm not-" How does he explain that he's not romantically with that man? "He's an associate of mine. We're not involved." 

"A pity, you don't find men like him everywhere in the galaxy. He's really one of a kind." She answered, looking back at Din before going to help a different customer. 

Din simply nodded. "That he is." The bounty hunter started to walk in the direction Baves had walked off in until he heard blaster fire and screams from that direction. Then he started to sprint. 

In the middle of the commotion was Baves, standing light on his feet, but looking relaxed. "Well that was rude!"

"Baves Urety- I am here to collect the bounty on your head. You can come quietly or loudly, but you will be coming with me." Bossk, a Trandoshan. And a member of the guild. Apparently there was a puck on Baves, and if Bossk was here to collect, then it was some bounty.

Baves sighed. He looked... bored. This happens to him a lot. "You know, a wise man once told me that there are always bigger fish out there. So you think you're the bigger fish in the ocean?" His question was really more of a statement. "Listen, Bossk. I just want to buy some jogan fruit and then I'll get out of your way- I'm not really looking for a fig-" When Bossk shot at Baves again, he side stepped, like he knew it was coming without even taking a breath from his sentence, "-ht today. We could leave in peace."

"No way, that bounty on your head can buy me a small planet!" Bossk countered. "Now come quietly. I would hate to make a mess of you."

The Miralian just shrugged. That was it. Bossk has two inches on Baves and several pounds of muscle on him. Anyone else should be very afraid of staring down Bossk, but the fact that there has been noise so far means that Baves Urety had managed to avoid Bossk for this long. "Fine, we'll do it your way. I can't give you a real fight to remember, but I can at least give you a run for your credits." That was when Baves chose to make his first move. He moved fast, faster than anyone can just run. He avoided Bossk's follow up shots with ease, a practiced ease, before jumping high over the Trandoshan, flipping and landing quietly on top of the roof of a shop. "But first you'll have to catch me!" 

Din could have sworn Baves glanced in his direction. He was acting as a distraction, buying Din time to get back to the ship and make sure that the child was still safe. He was doing this intentionally. Din didn't even have time to consider shouting Baves's name. The miralian was already running in the exact opposite direction. So Din was running towards the ship.

~*~*~

Bossk isn't an easy bounty hunter to avoid, Baves just had to hope Din understood what he was doing, that he was buying them time. Besides, he was a bit of a romantic who had trusted Din with his lightsaber, even if Din didn't know he had it. So the name of the game was evade Bossk long enough to get him out of civilization. Or at least innocent bystanders. "Wow- they call you a bounty hunter? I wonder what the Score Keeper thinks of you? I've fought clankers that have better aim than you do!" That being said, Bossk was getting familiar with how Baves was evading him. 

Once Baves could see the end of the market, he grinned and used the force to leap even further than he normally tries, turning around in the air and firing two rounds at Bossk. They were both close but neither of them hit the bounty hunter. "Kriff I miss my lightsaber."

"Running isn't like you- Urety, but it makes for a good hunt!" Bossk kept shooting at him, and Baves was all out of cover. He's good, he can evade people shooting at him for a while, but without his lightsaber, he was going to get shot eventually. 

"Well, I've really needed the exercise and it's been a while since people have tried to kill me, so I'm just drawing this out for as long as I can!" He countered, trying to find anything he could use to his advantage. 

Bossk shot at him again, and this time, Baves decided to get up close and personal. If he was too close for Bossk to use his gun effectively, then the former jedi could last a little bit longer. Again, Baves sprinted, using the force to move even faster and decided to disarm the Trandoshan with the force, flinging the weapon out of his hands, "Now this is what I expect when I made you my prey!"

"You talk too much," Baves countered, blocking the flurry of punches and opting to try to knock Bossk onto the ground. Sure he could use the force but he tries not to. 

Bossk had a wicked smile on his face, and the Force warned Baves of what was about to happen before he could process it. He ducked low, barely avoiding a flurry of blasts from an assassin droid. "Kriff!" He was standing too close.

Overhead, he could hear a ship. Din's ship. Din didn't say anything on the ramp, he just tossed Baves his lightsaber. Din trusts him enough not to just disappear with this apparently. 

Baves caught it and ignited it, the green blade humming into life, just in time to deflect the shots back at the assassin droid, taking it out. "That's better."

Bossk hissed right before Baves hit him over the head with his lightsaber hilt, "Oh shut up please! I've had enough of you for one life time." 

Instead of waiting for Din to land, he just leapt up onto the ramp, turning his lightsaber back off and handing the hilt back over, "Here."

"No- I'm a Mandalorian, weapons are a part of my religion, and I know just what you're doing when you're handing that over to me." Din countered, closing the ramp once Baves was back inside. "You're a jedi."

"Well that's one thing to take away from today- you got the jogan fruit?" Baves had been focused on trying to do what he felt was right until he saw the real prize of today. "How?"

"The shopkeeper was grateful since you managed to not destroy any of his property. I also got you that scarf." Baves didn't need to force to know that Din was watching him as he set the lightsaber down on the seat, picking up a jogan fruit. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The miralian turned and shrugged, "Mandalorians hate the jedi, for good reason, but you need someone to teach the child how to use the force. And I am a Jedi." 

Din looked at Baves, his expression unreadable with his helmet on. Perhaps that's for the best. "So you trusted me with your life... You were right about one thing though, Bossk wasn't the bigger fish."

"True, but there will always be another. Thank you for coming back for me." Baves's signature smile was back on his face, but it was sincere. 

"Least I can do. Besides, you're handy in a fight." With that, Din climbed the ladder back into the cockpit.