Hunting for Chocobos...Wait, Wrong Universe

[Anastasia Verd]

Her attention returned to Father as he called this event Trial by Fire. They would be learning Beast Taming or Animal Friendship today which would let them pacify and tame a variety of creatures which would be useful on primitive worlds for missions. They'd learn it through a herd of Varactyl already waited for them around the corner. Which would be before they ventured into the wild to find a bigger prey to utilize the power under pressure. Charming.

Anastasia glanced at @[member="Phoebe Verd"] for a quick second second before she followed @[member="Isley Verd"] and everyone else where she could hear the noises coming before she even say the reptilian creatures which father had called Varactyl. Not a beast she had encountered before. Then again, Anastasia had never had reason to come in contact any wild animals.

She heard further explanation on what Beast Taming was, an expension on telepathy. First, she would have to contact her mind to the beast and calm it after which she had a variety of options. She could either befriend it by making it feel safe or intimidate it and bend it to her will through fear. Anastasia already knew which one she wanted to go with. There was nothing appealing about those creatures, not one big.

The shot fired made the creatures become startled and thus louder. Father gave the go. Anastasia walked over to one of the creatures, her chin rising a little as she looked at it. Nasty animal. Then most were. It seemed to be watching her, pointy beak directed at her. Anastasia began to concentrate on the Force, calling it to her. Telepathy was already within her grasp so part of this task was easy. Lowering her head, her black irises stared into the animal's as she reached for its mind, pushing herself in, linking herself to it. With it being an animal, step one was easier than it would have been on humans. Sssh. Everything will be alright. She pushed the thought to the animal's mind. Quiet. Relax.

It should have been noted at this point that Anastasia has never had a single a bone of her body that brought trust in others in others. The spirit never even had a single nurturing quality about herself in order to calm children. So when she attempted this, her mental tone didn't soften not even to fake it and as her hand reached forward to the beast, it reacted, opened her beak, attempting to bite her.

Anastasia gasped and jumped back, falling on her back. Her eyes narrowed at the creature. She got up right away off and dusted herself off, glaring at the animal ahead of her. "I'm going to tame you so bad, you're going to wish you never hatched." She muttered at it then.

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Curupira giggled quietly as @[member="Nima Ven"] jumped to the sound of her voice before she finally relaxed and greeted her back, moving in closer to you. "I love your shade of red," the woman said practically at random and smiled.

Someone started talking during her conversation which made Cura look around for the source of and saw @[member="Vorhi Alestrani"] as he greeted them and welcome to camp Verd. And connected this to Trial by Fire. "This is not a Trial by Fire," she said without missing a beat. Curupira had passed her Trial by Fire. That stuff wasn't easy.

Another familiar voice reached her ears and Curupira soon found @[member="Marek Starchaser"]. "Hey, kid," the redhead said. She didn't know how old he was. He could have been same age she was or maybe even older but Ket called him a kid so it stuck with her.

Then finally @[member="Isley Verd"] started talking. He too was now using the term Trial by Fire but Curupira had said her piece they could do whatever they wanted now. They were hear to learn Beast Taming to pacify and tame a variety of creatures. Always fun. And to teach it, he'd prepared a Varactyl herd to practice on and then the real fun would begin. As soon as he explained, he wanted them to follow. Curupira glanced at the Twi'lek girl and gave a tiny smile before following in a slight skip in her steps despite her high heals.

The moment Curupira saw the large reptilians, she grinned. Isley was explaining how Beast Taming came from Telepathy and explain the process. After which she could be friend or scare the Varactyl. Aww, why would he do that? That was silly. She had no reason to scare such a beautiful creature. But then, the creatures were calm so Isley made fixed that by using his slugthrower, upsetting the animals. Curupira pouted. That was just plain rude.

Before she moved, the Sith noted others had already began and some of the animals were going in for a bite while others were reacting nicely. Curupira looked at one of the beasts and smiled at it. She called for the Force, her mind reaching for the mind of the animal as she took a step forward, sending soothing thoughts to it. Nothing coherent, just short, soft. And she took a step forward as she continued the process, continuing to keep a smile on her face the entire time. "We're going to be friends, aren't we?" She quietly said, not letting go of the Force or the animal's mind. Then another step forward, stopping when she was just at the reach of the animal.

Varactyl kept looking at her for the longest time before he finally lowered his head slightly before it lay down on the floor. Curupira smiled then and approached it, the Force telling her she was in no harm. Gently, her palm patted the side of the animal's head. It howled there, softer then when threatened. Concentrating again, Curupira used her Comprehend Speech on the Varactyl and the animal would hear her Basic in his way: "I'm Curupira. Do you have a name?"

The beast looked at her, somewhat oddly, as if he was trying to figure out how this was possible but then he grawled out: Gnarls. Her mind noted the word and smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Gnarls. We're gonna be good friends, I can tell already." She noted as she continued pat the side of his head.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Hearing a familiar voice, and someone that was important to his Master, Starchaser nodded to the Vicerine. “Hello, miss.” Yeah, he still had no clue how to greet that one particular woman. “How are you?” More rhetorical and polite, as was typical with him and speaking.

Looking and listening to @[member="Isley Verd"], Marek nodded. So there was a bit of Beast taming going on. That was going to be interesting. Sure, he might focus himself with working on technological creations, but being a survivalist at heart, this was going to be something useful, no matter the world he was on. Something he could work on and work with. Listening to Master Verd, the Knight was nodding.

And then the other shoe dropped. Right, because working with calm animals was just silly. Grinning at the Master, he removed his weapon belt, with only his slugthrower and lightsaber on it, a light package for the day, and placed it on the ground. Watching the group, he keyed in on @[member="Sophia Walsh"], because, really, who wouldn’t? Maybe he could follow her lead.

Reaching out to the Force, he was trying to find which Varactyl was the one for him. Who was he going to bond with easiest. And of course the Force was calling him to the crazy one. Terrific. Looking at the varactyl, the one still bucking and apparently afraid of slugthrowers, he nodded. What was his luck? Reaching out with the Force, he was trying to send a wave of calm. The next step would be to try to fight the mind into submission. He really wasn’t sure that would work in this situation.

 

[Voroll]

This was beginning to become a habit of his; not necessary arriving late but being late to actually participate in activities with a large group of people. He just stood there, soaking in all the information of the situation: the emotions of those who scattered to the stables, the feeling of the wind brushing through his hair and around his face and the general appearance of the inside of this Camp Verd and the planet it was based.

The firing of the slugthrower shocked him into movement towards the stables where the rest of the group had mustered. Individuals had moved to separate areas of the large enclosure of dragonmounts to locate the future being they would use the Force against. This whole thing was a test to see who could calm a temperamental (at the time) beast capable of tearing flesh from bone.
And apparently most of them knew what they were doing, which unnerved Voroll even more than long thrashing beasts.

When he arrived closer to the stables, his vision cleared. He could finally see each varactyl as they moved between one another, tails and paws merging and splitting into as many as three each moment. Shortly before he entered his feet stopped and his mind seemed to clear itself of his own fears. As if instinctually he turned to gaze upon the others learning the power to befriend these animals, picking up their emotional mind set as they applied their knowledge through the Force.

 

[Rusken Shaxx]

All of these creatures, scattering about all because of a noise they had heard. So useless. Absolutely of no interest to the Ex-Jedi Hunter as he slowly and casually approached one of the Varactyl which seemed very apprehensive of him. Zius blinked at the abrupt break in silence, but not even a flinch escaped his posture. All his former experience had hardened him, molded the young man into something unnaturally inhumane as opposed to his origins. Peace and serenity weren't the qualities he was concerned with while obtaining his pet, and he'd let it feel his void of ever-lacking empathy.

"Obey me or you won't be of much use..."

Zius stared the beast down as he continued to approach it, his red cybernetic eye piercing through its conscious as it began to hiss and retort aggressively with fear.

"You... will... listen..."

That's when something clicked. The Force itself was beginning to meld the two in a state of understanding as the Varactyl let out a deep growl, feeling the malice and rancid nature of the Dark Jedi. This bond was not one Zius had expected to happen, but the moment persisted that advancement take place and that the line between man and beast be made whole. He held out his hand as it was mere inches from the beak of the relatively large creature, channeling the seething spite into the body and mind of the entranced target. Zius' voice invading like a needle.

"Become my instrument and I will grant you the blood of the people that oppress and torture your kin. Be broken free of these bonds placed upon you, and I promise your hunger will be met; we're both predators here... allow us both to hunt as one."

The Varactyl slowly and silently bent its head down in a submissive manner, allowing the hand to be placed gingerly upon its head as the darkly clad man expressed a moment of genuine satisfaction. Cracking a weak grin as his blade-tipped fingers caressed the flesh of the beast.

 

[Voroll]

Eventually Voroll garnered enough courage to actually walk towards the stable and towards an individual varactyl. A few were thrashing in a large group, but he started to walk to the left, following the stable around. The groupings became thinner and thinner until he spotted a few Templars from the group going at their attempts to tame a beast to be their own. It seemed easy, from what little he knew about the technique. Just walk in and touch its head, right?

When eventually he reached a distance at which he could no longer perceive the emotions of the other Templars, even if most were calming, he stopped and gazed towards the beasts in the stables nearest to him. The frightened things were still on edge, even at the appearance of the physically inferior being such as Voroll. He spotted one that seemed to differ in colouration than the rest. While most were shaded in hues of blue and green, this one appeared to have brown stripes running down its back and legs. The skin itself appeared a very light shade of pink and its feathers were blue, but tipped the same colour as the skin. Maybe such a beast was rare, but maybe they were bred such a way – this seemed to be accurate since at least two more were physically similar to the one Voroll had seen first.

Was this one to be his? This colourful beast to be tamed as a mount for his own riding pleasure? Brought with him everywhere so that it would not grow to distrust or forget him? He was unsure of their mental capabilities; if their brains had the processing power to distinguish between humans. Perhaps he would find out, if it did not tear him limb-from-limb first.
He walked into the stable, where this peculiarly-coloured beast seemed to roam. Behind it was a caged door that had seen some beatings, but beyond that a pasture of green and pleasant land where, he assumed, these dragonmounts were free to roam.

As soon as he entered the stable he knew how the beast felt. It was not just agitation, but confusion as well. It did not know what a slugthrower was, that it was dangerous or why Isley had fired it. It only knew the sound that distressed it so. It was a loud bang that echoed for klicks around the camp. It was startled and became scared. Perhaps it thought the noise was a predator capable of doing much more harm than it could to the pitiful beings that came to tame them.
In the same moment that he knew how this beast felt, he knew that he could not even attempt to calm it in this environment. Not with his knowledge of the Force, or therein lack of.

He eyed the gate. The varactyl eyed him.

In a mad dash he ran for it, right to the beast. It was even more scared, so it tried to run around him. But with its size it could have easily stood on him. His body lowered back to the floor while a foot rose over him. It felt like instinct, but had never performed such a move before. When it rose up he spun around and leapt over the last foot and tail, spinning so that his back was now facing the gate. The unmounted-dragon was at the other side while he fumbled for the gate controls. He dared not take his own blue eyes from the likewise eyes of… Norru? The name had appeared in his mind when he first entered the stable, or cage, but only now really seemed like it belonged to the beast as it stared him down, ready to strike against him.

Tail swished against the edge of the enclosure and peaked suddenly. Fear turned to anger. Not his own. His hand smacked the controls for the gate and it swung open. Norru’s feet pushed against the dirt and sand and raced towards him. His own hands shot up and grabbed the top of the gates with a little jump. His body curled up; legs resting against his now painful arms. Within that moment his own feet pushed off and he landed on the back of the beast as it thundered its way onto the wide, open pasture. He faced backwards, so did not see where it was going, but knew where he was coming from. As best he could his hands grabbed for support, maybe the feathers, or the loose flaps of skin. He hoped it wouldn’t throw him off and return to trample him.

 

[Lauren Walsh]

@[member="Krest"]
Lauren smiles and waves " Hey there, you're here to! " She said wondering what exactly she was suppose to do here. It wasn't everyday she go somewhere for a mission like this. Curions to what they exactly were going to do, she stood there lost like usual, she might of had her ear buds in during the breifing.

 

[Voroll]

The beast came to an eventual stop, the heavy feet having pushed mud and dust into the air for at least a mile behind. It breathed and dipped its head to drink from a small pond it had reached. Voroll slid from the back of Norru – the name that had appeared in his mind while still in the stables – and touched his hair. It was swept up, as if it had been styled in front of a large fan. Fortunately he could not see his reflection through the ripples of water.

Norru felt calmed, but more-so now than before. That was a good sign. Easier to bond with, even through the Force. Voroll also felt calm. During the run he had on for dear life, his heart racing and mind trying to keep up with the impulses that it had been sent: the colours that raced past and the smells and sounds and even the memories and thoughts that strolled on in.

After taking its fill of the water, Norru seemed to wander over to a shaded patch of green grass under a sparsely-branched tree. It seemed like it was withering, but Voroll knew nothing of the world, nor anything of the fauna on it. The varactyl, with its piercing blue eyes stared at the empath while curving its body around to gather most of the shade. It was not much, since Norru’s tail and feet stuck out in the sun – which was not that had nor were they particularly restful.
Then, suddenly, he had the feeling, a growing urge, to try and use the Force. To hopefully tame it. Never before had he used the Force to such a degree before, but there was always a first time for everything.

His hand outstretched slowly, fingers wide, and he moved towards the beast. He tried to think of calming thoughts, more-so than what he felt currently. But more-over, he tried to think of friendship. The warmness he felt between genuine, true friends; their unexpected arrivals and their adventures and inability to stop laughing when reminiscing. It brought a smile to his face and a fuzz at the back of his head (he hoped that fuzz was not his hair falling back into a normal style).
When finally his hand made contact just above the eyes of the beast, he seemed to enjoy the same feelings, as if it were sentient. Beak clacked gently, twice, and head turned slowly as if Norru wanted to catch Voroll’s glance, and hold it. It did hold, for a brief few seconds, until a native bird seemed to call out loud, nor far.
Norru’s head moved, pushing Voroll’s hand away, to the direction of the bird. Her trademark echoing chime, much like the rest of her species, chimed in. She (Voroll now knew that Norru was a female, despite his inability to tell the difference) rose from the ground and nudged into the empath. Her head turned to spot him, and seemed to wait.
“What?” He said aloud. Eventually he had to guess what the beast that had scientifically not been classified as sentient was telling him: get on. When he climbed on her back, which she lowered for him, she thundered off to chase the bird.