Eopi-aye-oh!

[Dence Lichenlode]

[member="Ilia Linus"] [member="Julian Valentine"]

Nadiem could be a tough planet to search. Nobody had responded to his Rubac transceiver, but after being so long lost from home they’d have little reason to wear it any more. Even less reason here, for the farmland was spectacular. Should a Rubacker have made it back from the dead they would hardly seek to move on any further from here. Nonetheless the planet’s agrarian pleasures were exactly the reason for Dence’s visit. He needed a break from the monotony of metal and plastic spaceports.

The town around this latest space port was simple. The low rise buildings were arranged in concentric circles, many made grand with white spires that mimicked the rocks in the distance. The townspeople were akin to himself, draped in simple homespun clothes. They preferred lighter colours which emphasised the dirt that clung to them. His own clothes of felted moss were darker but cleaner by comparison.

Their faces bore no distrust or connivance. Nonetheless Dence was reticent to ask for help just yet. He instead chose a bench on one side of a broad town square where he could learn more by watching. He glanced up instinctively at the oddly blue sky. Even the safest place could turn on him. He’d once been mistaken for a Jedi, apparently a people of much ill repute today, despite all that was said in the history books. In response to that he no longer wore a scarf, and kept his farming implement inside his shirt. Who mistook a gardening fork for a lightsaber anyway? He certainly did not want to attract any more bounty hunters.

A farm hand led an eopi across the square. Dence had never seen first hand a farm that had trees and animals. He was looking forward to getting beyond the town limits. The snouted creature acted harmless enough. Perhaps it had confidence born of superior strength. It was large enough to be deadly.

Dence stood rigidly beside the bench, watching everyone carefully while doing his best to appear nonchalant.

 

[Lief]

"Do we have to sell him?"

Ilia walked on the other side of the Eopi from the silent farm hand his Father had hired for the season. "We have room for all our Eopi, even the ones Aida just had..."

Pouting, loathed to get rid of one of his favourites, Ilia crossed his arms and stomped along the streets. Had his Father been the one accompanying him he would never have acted in such a way, but he was frustrated. "And Opana is one of our best" he whined.

The man just grunted, Ilia hadn't really expected a change of heart or even a response but the silence annoyed him all the same.

Reaching a hand up to the mottled skin of the creature, Ilia petted down his flank and sighed. "This wasn't my idea, Opana. I'd never sell you."

The farm hand just rolled his eyes at the boy and led them toward the center of town. Then he grabbed Ilia by the arm and hoisted him up onto one of the unoccupied benches. Maybe he really is a mute the boy mused; this was a subject of much debate between he and his brother. None of the farm hands ever said a word.

Frowning in the man's direction, and sticking out his tongue when he turned his back, Ilia glanced around at the moderately busy street and breathed in. Then he said, at the top of his voice, "Eopi for sale! A perfect male specimen! Bred to carry all manner of burdens! Get your Eopi here!"

His face, however, spoke otherwise. He really did not want to lose this one. So instead he smirked a little bit, and raised his voice again.

"Get your stinkin' Eopi here! Have him reek your house out, and eat all your-- OW!"

Ilia stumbled from the bench as the sharp crack of a stick met the back of his head. "Easy with that damn crook, will you? I was just poking fun."

Rubbing the sore spot, Ilia reluctantly returned to the bench and continued with the calls. Poor Opana...

[member="Dence Lichenlode"]

 

[Junker Pugn]

<sorry ignore this post>

 

[Dence Lichenlode]

The farmhand had stopped his eopi across the square beside another bench. Walking behind them had been a farm boy, who was now lifted up onto the bench. If that was how they used benches around here it was a good thing Dence had not considered sitting on his.

They spoke, out of earshot, until the boy raised his voice and offered the eopi for sale. A number of folks turned to look. Dence was definitely not in the market for an eopi but he was fascinated by the boy’s voice. It was much more confident and eloquent than the mossherd had been as a boy, or any other boy he’d known. Living in a meteor zone did not encourage frequent social gatherings, a fact which made him nervous in crowds. His own speech was simple and his accent apparently made him sound like a Gran. But he checked the meteor-free sky and started walking forward before his nerves could do anything about it.

Dence had almost arrived when the seller announced the odorous qualities of the eopi. The farmhand clearly agreed it was an odd feature to highlight when he knocked the boy off the bench with his stick. By the time the boy had climbed back on the bench the mossherd had arrived among a half dozen other curious onlookers.

Nobody else appeared to fear the eopi. Dence kept one man between him and the beast. Glancing at everyone he saw nobody was looking at him when he arrived. They were all clearly farmers, with dirty knees and clod-clad boots. Dence could smell the fertile soil and their labour upon them, but there was no great stink coming from the animal.

“I… I can’t smell the eopi no more than I can smell you,” pointed out the mossherd, trying to help the boy with his sale. It had seemed like the right thing to do, but the laughs from the other farmers made him unsure. The farmhand was also bracing to laugh, but then stared at Dence as his jaw dropped. Almost recovering, the farmhand pursed his lips as if to speak, looked suddenly sideways at the farm boy, then looked down silently at his feet.

That was odd. Recognition? A Rubac exile would recognize him but the farmhand’s skin was not mienmoss green. Was it that Jedi thing again? Hopefully the bounty on his lookalike Jedi did not extend to farmhands. He touched his shirt where it concealed his gardening fork to assure himself it could not be seen, but also to be sure it was there. His fear of speaking was finding allies among his uncertainties and he looked furtively at the crowd around him, at the eopi, at the farmhand and the farmboy, and at the sky. At this moment everyone was looking at him.

Perhaps sensing the drama, the eopi broke wind. In the next moment everyone was looking at the eopi. Then the man nearer the eopi staggered away from the beast, coughing, “Who the hell trains an eopi to do that?!”

[member="Ilia Linus"]

 

[Lief]

It seemed as though a few people had turned in his direction, though whether because of the real calls or the silly one he had added in Ilia wasn't sure. Glancing across to the poor Eopi he was selling off, Ilia pouted.

But such was life. And if he returned home with Opana he'd be in big trouble with his Father.

A man stepped forward, and immediately caught the boy's attention. He looked different than Nadiem's natives, his skin was green! Well, the young rancher had never ever ever seen a person with green skin before, just Eopi.

Mesmerized, it took a few moments before he realised that he was staring. Awkwardly he coughed. But it hadn't seemed to bother the man, who tried to lighten the situation and get people back onboard.

Thank you he mouthed to the man, before turning and gesturing to Opana.

"Now that I have your attention!" he began, with added flare, making as if his little childish tangent had been intentional, "Let me present to you Opana! The most wonderful Eopi in all of Eopiville!"

A couple of people laughed, many smiled, and only his grim-faced farm hand looked unimpressed. Ilia was a child. Sometimes things had to be a little childish to win people over, especially on as monotonous a world as Nadiem.

All at once, however, Opana let loose the most disgusting stench. Ilia held his nose and gagged. "Cor blimey, Opana! That's enough to keep any wild beast at bay!"

[member="Dence Lichenlode"]

 

[Dence Lichenlode]

Dence wondered how far away Eopiville might be. How would the boy get home without the eopi? On the other hand there was the farmhand too. Perhaps they did not ride the eopi. But if not, what was an eopi for? As a vegetarian by fate the mossherd could not image eating something that smelled so foul.

The smell was really beginning to rankle. Perhaps it was time to light a match. No, the fireball could not be predicted and the moss felt he wore was somewhat flammable.

But, ooh! The boy said that Nadiem had wild beasts! Dence instinctively looked up at the sky, in case of meteor-beasts. None again. Wild beasts indeed. The mossherd’s home planet seemed much safer by comparison, with no fauna at all to speak of. Just so long as one minded the meteors.

The crowd had thinned a little, with some farmers departing holding their noses, while others simply took a few steps back. Dence took a few steps back in case there was a risk here that he did not know about. The suspicious farm hand was still standing beside the farm boy. Speaking louder to still be heard he asked, ”Are you both from Nadiem?” The farm hand was looking up at the green-faced visitor again, but upon being referred to he looked sidelong at the farm boy. He seemed to mouth a couple of words out of earshot as he poked the boy with his elbow. What was the relationship between the two?

He was eager to hear the boy’s answer. The boy was probably from here, given his accent, but wherefore art thou farm hand? Before the boy had a moment to answer, the mossherd’s risk management instincts broke through. ”And what are the wild beasts of Nadiem?”

Dence frowned at having interrupted the boy. He more urgently needed to know more about the farmhand.

[member="Ilia Linus"]

 

[Lief]

"Oh, no, don't go, c'mon... Haven't you ever made such a stench?"

The boy was doing his best to draw back the crowd, he really was, but Nadiem wasn't exactly lacking in Eopi. And boy did Opana reek! The farm hand glared at him, and Ilia knew that the moment they were on their own, during the long journey home, he would be in for it. After all, the man wasn't known for his gentle hand. Quite the opposite. Ilia never said anything to his Father though. That would just draw attention to his silliness. Mind always had to be on the game at the Linus' home.

"Hey, why don't you try drawing them back instead of standing there all stupid. You're not mysterious, or edgy, you're just ignorant!"

Another crack around the head. Boy was Ilia coming to hate that damn crook. Almost as much as he hated his Father's hired hands.

With a grumble the boy slumped down from the bench and rolled his neck, working out the aches and pains he felt. What a sorely uneventful morning. Then, from within the crowd, Ilia heard something. A voice. Hope! Not that he wanted to sell Opana, he just didn't particularly want to face the farm hand's wrath later.

"Wild beasts? Here?" Ilia chuckled and shook his head, "The Eopi are as wild as they come on Nadiem, and they wouldn't harm a fly unless they sat on'em. Which they wouldn't."

The man seemed genuinely afraid, though. Ilia took a slight leap forward and beamed a smile up at the strange green man. "You aren't in the market for an Eopi are you? They're great! I promise. I don't even wanna get rid of Opana, but stale face back there insists."

[member="Dence Lichenlode"]