Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Healing the Galaxy: Endor (Fringe)

Endor
Spaceport
Midday

Hemlock had just landed on the forest planet from Bakura. The Fringe had heard word of pirates taking base on Endor and kidnapping the Wisties in the area. Wisties were a luminescent species native to the planet who floated around and appeared as though they were ablaze in beautiful shades of gold, white, red, or blue. They were called fire fairies by some, but they were peace loving creatures who only provided beautiful light-shows amid the dense forest spreading over the moon.

Hemlock took the job without a second question. He had recently taken more lessons on how to weild a lightsaber for defense and figured he would be able to quell the pirate group without taking any lives. Sometimes the peace loving Draethos knew he had to use his blade to save the lives of those worth saving. These little creatures had done nothing and yet they were getting sold on the black market by thieves and collectors alike, only to be locked away for someone’s sick pleasure.

There was at least one other person coming along, a fellow healer and empath. The Fringe had sent him too, he was to meet him near the outpost. The other padawan was also a follower of peace, so hopefully with their combined efforts no blades would be drawn, but that wasn’t always possible.

It wasn't long however before the beautiful greens and browns of the towering trees outside the spaceport lured the rogue padawan away from the hustle and bustle. He had about a mile to go before he hit the first Fringe outpost where he could find his speeder bike. From there he would have to travel several miles to the rumored outpost. There were about fifteen pirates in all the scouts reported, carrying automatic weapons and some grenades, the criminals likely were as dangerous as they sounded.

The brown robes over his purple skin tone seemed to get sucked in by the lavish hues of the forest, it was like camouflage if you weren’t paying attention. Hemlock was hoping that he would find the other healer soon; he was likely to arrive at the same time. The Fringe was a very close network of planets. It was exciting to get to do good in Fringe space. Hemlock prided himself on following the living Force to wherever it guided him, causing only good wherever he went. It wasn’t often that the Fringe had problems, or at least ones he could solve without losing his head, but it was nice to be able to support people he knew were going to appreciate it.

@[member="Anders Sivas"]
 
Governor Blackmoon was filled with emotions. A band of thugs had set up a base on Endor and were terrorizing the local population. Why? This was her first encounter with pirates. She wanted to keep it quiet, low profile. She needed to prove that to Lord Cordel that she could handle any situation. Someone, maybe Sargon was watching out for her interests. Her momentary feelings of rage changed to calm knowing that he had her back. A communique had come over her security system that two Jedi were dispatched to Endor.
Meret zipped along the verdant landscape in her land speeder to towards the space port to meet these guardians. She brought an assortment of animal skins and craved tribal ornaments with her. Jedi robes were recognizable. She spotted him. Meret slowed down her land speeder and stopped close to the Jedi. She got out of the vehicle and introduced herself "I am Meret Blackmoon, Governor of Endor. Get in my speeder and we can talk back at my cabin. Where is your partner? I thought two were coming?"
 
I landed some time before my buddy was supposed to, so I could get a feel for the place. Endor's one of those places I can sit back and breathe. The Ewoks had strong minds, but they were shifted enough from humanoid I don't get more than an empathetic emotional flow. I've been sitting on a moss covered log kicking my brown booted feet up and down for a while, soaking it in. Pirates, no problem!

Am I right? Hopping down and dusting off my hands on my green cargos, I tug at the lapel of my canvas jacket, making sure my blaster is in its holster good and proper. Naboo special. More of a stun gun really. . . I don't even know how to throw a punch. Getting on my 'borrowed' speeder bike, I woosh back to the spaceport in time to see @[member="Hemlock Briar"] and @[member="Meret Blackmoon"] talking. Pulling back my floppy blonde hair, I wait for the inevitable: 'He's just a kid'. Yeah, I am.

Part of the allure. "Hey, Hemlock! Ma'am." I pull a polite Naboo bow and offer my hand to both of them. Then it hits me: Have I met Hemlock yet, or is he going to be freaked about the whole name thing? There's some tension somewhere, can't narrow it down but someone's concerned. Beyond the rest of it all, I can see a better lightness from Hemlock, he's definitely someone I think I could have a conversation with without the whole manic crazies thing. "Anders Sivas, at your service. And, was sup? Like the boots? They're new. This dude @[member="Sargon Vynea"] bought them for me, and it was like, the nicest thing anyone had done. Don't you just love nice people?"

Yep. Right here. Pirate Stopper, quit now fairy stealers. Yo ho.
 
The sudden bombardment of words drew the Draethos out of his meditative gate, instead drawing him back to the realization there were big problems to deal with. The blonde woman who had whizzed up to him on a fancy diplomat’s speeder sounded with authority in her voice. He quickly picked up her message, his head still half stuck in his admiration of the forest moon. Hemlock was very polite to her, bowing after she finished her sentence, getting ready to oblige her right when the other healer arrived.

Hemlock offered another solemn bow to the arriving one, he was a hair taller than Briar and a bit more built too, the predatory Draethos species generally were very slender and light on their feet compared to Humans. Slate green eyes looked them both over. Neither were as orthodox appearing as Hemlock who was dressed in typical Force User robes with his green bladed lightsaber tucked away at his side and his standard issue all terrain boots with insulation, all in all the Draethos fit the stereotypical Light Sider role pretty well.

“It is an honor to meet you both.” Hemlock shook both their hands before continuing, they had a mission to accomplish. “Mrs. Blackmoon here was just about to take us to her cabin to give us the details, Anders.” The alien placed one of his hands on the speeder’s shell, it had been far too long since he rode in a speeder. “Would you be interested in joining us?” He motioned to the speeder young Anders rode in on.

@[member="Anders Sivas"] @[member="Meret Blackmoon"]
 
Meret look at Anders and was fascinated by his speech pattern. It was colorful and to the point. He could educate a few politicians in the art of brevity. "My land speeder if only seats two so you two will have to call for the front seat. The other one will have to sit on the back. I can pop the trunk and give you a little space.” She acknowledged Hemlock with a respect nod. “ We must hurry, you too stick out like a blurrg in a desert. We can talk at my cabin. There must be another reason why this is all happening. “
@[member="Hemlock Briar"]
@[member="Anders Sivas"]
 
"Honour's mine. And yours. And hers." I chuckle lightly, shrugging. "Cabin, woods, lessgo."

There was enough going on that @[member="Meret Blackmoon"] didn't want to say anything in the clear, and that should have me concerned, but for the peace I feel coming from Hemlock. Pitching into another pirate scheme sounds like the way to get to know the Fringe a bit more, settle in and find some other fragment of myself. And save wood pixies. "I can follow. Beats hanging off the trunk in terror." I hop back on the speeder bike and rev the engine, a gentleness to my face I haven't felt in a while. Must be @[member="Hemlock Briar"]. He seems like the kind of guy I want to emulate, my empathic gift not giving me a choice.

"Stick out?" Is there a bright colour on my jacket? Was it my boots? My awesome boots? I keep checking myself over looking until Meret drives away.
 
Hemlock sat himself in the passenger side of Meret’s transport, he was pretty certain the younger healer would rather drive himself anyways, being the lively sort he was. Hemlock quite enjoyed the healer’s company so far, he was a breath of fresh air from the other more elitest Force Users. There was a certain air of mystery to Anders however, one Hemlock would eventually figure out. He usually did one way or another.

The fact that Meret thought they stuck out was an indication that there may be pirates watching the spaceport, waiting for whatever or whoever is going to try to stop them. That though was a little strange to the Draethos but nothing he hadn’t come to expect from the galaxy at this point, people were always looking over their shoulder, and yours.

Hopefully they would arrive at the cabin soon and they could talk openly about their plan of action.

@[member="Anders Sivas"] @[member="Meret Blackmoon"]
 
The threesome arrived at Meret’s cabin in a short period of time. She parked her land speeder in a camouflaged lean to on the side of the cabin. Meret motioned to Anders to stash his bike next to the land speeder. She ushered them into the cabin and showed them to a lanai in the back. A staff member brought a tray of drinks and fresh fruit. She asked them to have a seat while she explained. Meret paced slowly as she spoke. “ I am new, here, I have embraced the local populations. They look to me for protection from outlanders. I want to maintain their cultural purity. But to do this I am in negotiations with the Republic and the Empire to mine energy resources. I need the profits to preserve and maintain the tribal rights and protection. It sounds like a contradiction but my staff accessed locations of resources and design sustainable safeguards to make it work. Both entities agreed to my guidelines with strong resistance. My concerns are that something bigger is at hand. These pirates did not show up to torture firefairies. What are your ideas?“ Meret grabbed a handful of red berries and popped them into her mouth as waited for their response.

@[member="Hemlock Briar"]
@[member="Anders Sivas"]

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Speeding through a landscape's got the same effect of watching space go by in a ship with hyperdrive. Try making out the individual planets and stars in hyperspace. Try it, then tell me what you see. Nothing but blazes of light and moments of fog. The beauty of motion is in its radiant ability to mar the emotional landscape until it's at a level I can take. Coming to the cabin, I stash the bike in the lean-to and stay outside for an extra minute or three to seep in the empathic landscape.

It's more than planks in trees, well lit estates in the forest. There's a traditional vibe, stuffy cultures building on each other with that self-same traditional mindset, the inner machinations of staff trying to get promotions, or used to the place. The further out I extend my senses in the Force, the more I feel a daunting pressure in the background, as if this whole planet was set up out of papier mache and plasticine for some larger hand's amusement. Taking my last breath of fresh air, I trot into the room and put a smile on my face, crashing on a comfy chair and popping miscellaneous fruit in my mouth.

"So the deal is these pirates are bullying faeries, and you think it's a front for a larger movement. What value would the whistles have on their own? @[member="Hemlock Briar"]? Why would anyone come to Endor? The energetic resources seem keen, but establishing the cultural and ecological purity would put a crimp on greed right quick. . . feels like the bigger picture's around the corner and down the bend but it's there. We'll figure it out, @[member="Meret Blackmoon"]." I smile with the warm grin of a long time confidante, a face I've worn in many symbiotic aspects of the universal 'we'. I lean closer to her and Hemlock, nodding my head. "Where are the pixies being taken? What info do you have on the pirates, beyond them running surveillance and smelling ghastly?"
 
Anders asked about the pirates terrorizing her fire fairies. She did not have much information but had some ideas. She sat down on a fallen tree that made a natural resting bench along side the path. Meret motioned for Anders to sit next to her. She spoke softly to be one with the forest. “I think the Empire has something to do with it, by proxy, using Black Sun or pirates for hire. They want the natural resources from Endor without paying for them or protecting the land.”

Months later…

Meret rode along the forest path where the Whisties had shown themselves. She sang in a silly child like voice…”I see you do you see me?” After dismounting her horse, Meret took a basket filled with delights from her kitchen and open it. She spread a white linen cloth on the fallen tree. She place some sweets on the cloth hoping it would attract a fire fairy and not a wild boar. “I see you…” crunchhhhhcrunchhhhhhhhh Meret held her breath because whatever was making that noise was bigger than a Whistie and smaller than a rancor.
@[member='Anders Sivas'],
 
"Which Empire is that? The Sith? Galactic? There are many an empire in the political miasma." I take what she gives, the information and the impression of a woman who wants her planet to function as it was meant, not as others saw it - a resource for exploitation. As I left @[member="Meret Blackmoon"] that day, I felt an odd tug in my chest. The tug lasted beyond proximity and I don't recognize it beyond wanting to see her again.

It's been months since then, I battled pirates and infiltrated the Suns doing myself little credit in the process. Not that the I matters, Anders is on a mission, I've got to save the Fairies and somehow see a relaxed look on Meret's face. I reach for the sky, breathing deep of the forest and feeling the flittering signatures of the fairies hiding behind every glance I can make. "I see you, too" I sing back, trying on my best lullaby voice.

My smile dresses the forest and I feel the moment of hesitance in Meret. A glancing hope that I wasn't a monster or opponent she couldn't take. "Hey Meret, how's the forest?" The forest is her, rich and filled with whimsy, a stroke of innocence behind the reality of life and death. I hope it is a beautiful day in Meret's dominion.
 
Meret was lost in her own zone by concentrating so hard to hear the fairies sing back to her. Anders’ voice startled her. “Meret” “Ahhhhhhhh” she screamed while turning 360 degrees. Her foot tripped over a tree root, leaves flew into the air, and down she went! “The forest is one with me Anders.” She stood up and gave him a big Ewok hug, holding him close for just a moment. “ I guess I scared the fairies away. We’ll have to wait for them to sense that I am just fine.” Meret straighten the cloth on the fallen log and reset the sweets in their positions. She handed Anders a cookie. “Tell me, tell me all about your adventures. The pirates are still here but the Whisties are smart and have changed their habits. They are cautious and only seek out friends…"Meret caught a sparkle in his eyes. It was a sign that he enjoyed Endor and the forest and more.
 
I vie to catch her, to stop her from becoming more a part of the forest than she already is. Grass stains. They're not the best. Whether I catch @[member="Meret Blackmoon"] or not, the smell of the forest coming off her is intoxicating. Lively and soft, dressed on the inside with the cedar-strong backbone of a vehemence I've known from others - never myself. Who am I but a reflection of what the stronger person requires? What am I but a satellite floating in serendipitous orbits until the next in severe gravities consumes my conscious mind? I like the forest, I like how it feels and how it grows. There's a lot of good resting on Endor and it makes the dismal and the hidden bearable. If I could bottle it, keep the forest with me, what could I be?

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'd be a hero. "Shouldn't take them long. I feel flickers nearby, cautious which is good for them." I nod, digging into the hug and lifting her up just a second. Honey and fir trees, a floral scent I don't recognize and don't mind it passes me by as exotic and un-knowable. Plunking myself down by Meret's side, I take the Endor air deep in my lungs and let it slowly go. "They're not here for the fire fairies. The Whisties are a cover for more dangerous machinations. Someone's spreading rumours there's more to Endor than forests. Resource piracy and some kind of science. I infiltrated a band, they're not working for the Galactic Empire, we had no contact with them, but the Pyre? I went as far as the middle of Black Sun territory before I had to slide away. We ran from Mandalorians, hid in a solar system with a purple sun, it had golden sunspots, and cast pinks, lilacs and cerulean blues into the nebula where we laid adrift. It was beautiful. I kept thinking 'why this fighting? When we can explore, you know? Universe is chock full of beautiful things, if we all took more time with those, left our squabbles and complications and relied on those intrinsic desires…

Galaxy is full of minds. I get to feel them all, each one that gets close enough. Sometimes they're overwhelming. Encompassing. No matter where I go, whatever culture or credo rules the day, folk aren't intrinsically different. Deep down, everyone wants basically the same things, or with the lack of those things fight to get them back, or make revenge when they feel those things are lost. These pirates, they've lost something. I don't know what it is, but it's driving them in a loose package together. Like a bag of cats that're all running in the same direction. . . "

I shake my head and chuckle softly. "Sorry, I got carried away. Must be the forest."
 
Meret munched on her sweet cake and wondered how they could squeeze some information out the facts that they knew. “ Sometimes you need to step back to see the tree in the forest. I have an idea, let’s leave the cakes for the fairies!” She took Anders’ hand and skipped down an over grown path. There was a barn like structure in a clearing. Large yellow flowers towered over the sliding door. Meret let go of Anders’ hand and motioned to him to help her push the door back. Together they pushed open the large wooden door. A transparent skylight illuminated the barn. It contained blank wall panels on adjustable easels. The angle of the wall panel could be adjusted to control the spreading of the pigment.

“It’s my art studio. We can use the colors as a diving tool, as an oracle, as dowsing rods…” She showed Anders a rack filled with a rainbow of paint balls. Each ball when thrown and making contact with the canvass explores distributing the pigment, and then the panel could be rocked back and forth to control the flow. There was a collection of brushes and palette knives to shape images and add details.

Meret picked up a red paint ball and a small lavender paint ball. She held the red ball “This is the pirate!” She threw the red ball and it splattered in the middle of the panel. Meret stepped to the side and skimmed the lavender ball so it would hit the canvass three times “Whisties! Your turn! GROK!”
 
"Have a great meal, fairies. Enjoy every sugary bit." I whisper outward, sending with it my best of intentions. I often wonder what beings who sense intents and emotional landscapes make of me, this cub born a little bit wrong. @[member="Meret Blackmoon"]'s hand bursts against my skin with a sunshine yellow, combusting with the same sensation I got from that Kiffar the day Sargon bought me these boots. I see age in the forest, age resting beyond the growth and happenstance of the people on it. For a moment I am the forest running through my own skin with Meret and I feel the aches of it, the boredom, the mischief brought forth by the fauna to thrill themselves into a greater sense of adventure. As Meret let slips my hand the rocketing cavern of my own mind shunts me from the magic of the place as Meret sees it, as she lives within and around it. I push at the door, heave it.

The Art studio hits me like a memory from Naboo. A glad childhood where I was the favourite 'cause I always gave everyone what they wanted from an artistic, musical little boy. "Aw, is that Theedan canvas? I used to paint with it all the time, wow! Went to this Art Academy outside Theed. Music, art, theatre. . . is this easel . . . this is all yours?" I quirk my head to the side, trying my hand at adjusting the tilt of the nearest one and my shoulders relax. This. This is something I can be Anders in. I laugh aloud, hefting a burgundy ball and skimming it up from the bottom, a thick line swooping between the whistles and the pirates, curling toward the whistles.

I pick up a smooth yellow paint ball and throw it. "This one's me." It skips off at odd directions, leaving little but staccato pings on the canvas. The dots scatter, swirling and absorbing into the other colours, until the yellow's all but gone. "Yep. Looks like me." I laugh, brushing my knuckles against the thick burgundy line.
 
Meret picked up a peachy pink paint ball and aimed it so the splash would be next to the yellow traces. "Wait I see something!" She stepped back looked, squinting her eyes..."Yes you are there with the Whisties!. I am closer to the pirates..." She disappear into the perimeter of the studio and then reappeared rolling an elevated scaffolding with had brushes and an assortment of paint pots. She pushed the apparatus next to the panel. She dipped a brush into a cerulean blue and sketched a laurel wreath, and a profile and two azure eyes..."What do you see?" She extended her hand grabbing Anders' strong forearm and pulled him up to the scaffolding. She offered him a brush and challenged him "Your turn Maestro! "
 
I stand back and watch @[member="Meret Blackmoon"] bring me out of the background. Bits of yellow appear where they'd faded in obscurity and even if this moment lasts for only a few paltry seconds, I'm glad. I feel settled in my bones, as if this being in front of the spunky, honest Naboo/Kiffar made by her clarity, is worth being exactly the same a lot longer than the present moment. I glance at the canvas, seeing sparks of yellow pock around the pink and burgundy. I gravitate closer to Meret's shoulder, "Yes, there you are. Seems they're going to be making a run for you. See that streak? It's barging in on your colour."

Lifted up, I join her on the scaffold and take another shade of yellow and add some highlights to the profile and eyes. "I see victory. Maybe not in the way we'd expect, but I see it coming through." The yellow sets itself down and a rose-tinted orange comes up into my hand. I start tying some lines together, swooping in with waving flows from the whistles to the pinks and yellows. I see connection, thankfulness, joy, and the burgundy shadows looming ever in the deep. "What do you think, Maestra?"
 
Tears filled Meret’s eyes. They were tears of joy. This was a defining moment for her, Meret remembered her strength and character. “It’s amazing but I need an escape.” She took a brush with black paint and lay in a bridge. At the end of the bridge she smudged a small door. Meret leaned back to see more then turned quickly to face Anders and accidentally splattered some paint his cheek. She tried to rub it off but now it look as if Anders was sporting a black mustache Meret added a pointed beard and started to laugh.

Meret handed Anders a brush and stuck her chin out. “What do you see now?” The canvass was ever changing with the colors moving. A drip of green pierced the burgundy streak stopping it from penetrating the pink.
 
The bridge was definite and cutting, slicing through the rest of the colours and complications to simplify our quest for the door. As water strikes her face, I brush at them with the backs of my fingers, knuckles grazing her cheek. This homeland mix, breath-taking fighter is a single blessing in the symbiotic grey of my life. I hear my own laugh as Meret starts using me as the canvas. "Ah! Haha! W-ok now we need to stick my face on the …. I'd look good in a beard, hmm?" I stroke my chin, hamming it up just enough.

My lips shut, I take the paint brush and dip it in the nearest colour (just my luck it's the pink-yellow orange one) and paint extensions of a smile on either side of @[member="Meret Blackmoon"]'s lips. My hand cups her chin, thumb shifting gently on it as I peer at my handiwork. "I see…" My head ducks in close, and drink of the intoxicant Meret becomes within my mental battle to be individual and special. "Beauty. I see beauty. A fight worth having, adventure …" Her lips are pink and they look as soft as any lips. It strikes me that I've never kissed a woman as Anders before. It's always been some emotional imprint which holds me in sway, doing whatever the woman wanted. What she thought a man should do. Hanging in this self-space, I don't glean the intentions off of Meret, she's striking and impermeable, her own star.

If I kissed her, if I ducked my head down the remaining inches, what would it be? My fingers slide onto both her hands, feeling the warm tactile sense of temporary belonging I know will never last. But while it does? It's my world.
 
Meret looked into Anders’s eyes, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him but she would surely fall off of the scaffolding. She held on to the railing and jumped down and ran to the storage area of the barn. There was a system of metal hangers used to store long draping canvas, one after another. It was a tight squeeze. Meret ran and slid herself between two canvases hoping Anders would follow. The hanging canvasses created a maze of fabric, color and texture in which someone could loose herself. He was behind her. Meret extended her arm and pulled him close. They were sandwiched between a mountain landscape and an abstract interpretation of the Force. Her warm breath invited Anders in. They were so close that the ethers could not pass between them. She clutched the canvas behind Anders and lifted her body up slightly so they were face-to-face, eye-to-eye, and mouth-to-mouth. She did not ask, hesitate or waver. Meret kissed him so hard that his painted mustache was not part of her smile. She wrapped her body around his.
 

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