Life's Always Better, Down Where It's Wetter (Republic)

[Aeron Zambrano]

Her ears should have been ringing after hearing such language but for her it was sweet relief. [member="Moroi Wareyasui"]’s extremely colorful vocabulary meant he was alright for the moment – perfect, since the thing had finally ripped the robe from its eyes.

And with that he was up and moving, giving her that smile that simultaneously gave her butterflies and made her very, very concerned. She couldn’t remember many situations which included that smile that ended in a manner that wasn’t insane, which Moroi seemed determined to confirm when he yelled over his shoulder that she should push him. Her stomach tied in knots – push him!? He gave her no choice to refuse the plan and it made her sick. If something happened to him…

She realized she was letting fear creep in again. A different kind of fear to be sure – less the immediate shock from the terentatek and more a bone-deep, overwhelming, paralyzing fear that Moroi was sprinting in to his own death. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, let fear rule. She would keep him safe. She had the power within her and together they could get out of this.

She wasn’t going to let that ugly thing eat Moroi.

When he leapt, knees tucking towards his chest and seemingly completely relaxed as his voice blasted over the sound of the creature’s angry growls, she drew her good arm up and closed her eyes. Every ounce of her strength in the Force went towards pushing him, imagining the Force as a wind, looping beneath him and speeding him faster and faster towards the beast. She was surprised at just how forceful the push sprang from her, almost a wave blasting from within her. She called for calm, the sounds around her fading away as she concentrated on her half of what she knew was probably their only way out of this mess.

The terentatek lifted its beady little eyes to Moroi, starting to swing it’s hands up to try and grab him mid-air.

 

[Moroi Wareyasui]

Moroi wasn't especially fond of the ugly thing eating Moroi either. He rather enjoyed being on top of the theoretical food chain and he was not remotely enthused about dropping himself a few pegs, but this was the only way to kill this thing and what was sitting in his gut, twisting, was no longer fear. It was excitement, thrill, adrenaline. Moroi had never been able to explain it, throughout his life he had always been lucky, he had always been "blessed." Maybe not in the conventional sense of the word, orphans weren't typically considered protected by god while they were scrounging for and stealing food, but even in the more archaic corners of the galaxy where actual belief in a divinity persisted, as opposed to the belief in the Force, Moroi would never be their example of blessed. He was, however, in a strange way. He knew later, or at least theorized, that it was in some way the force working through him, but Moroi always seemed to have the next step in a plan work out for him, resolve itself. About the be caught while slicing a door? A womprat would suddenly break out of the ventilation system. Guards about to close in on him during his escape? They all inexplicably come down with...unmentionable ailments induced by food poisoning. Fortuitous random circumstance had become so ridiculously common that they stopped being mere coincidence a long time ago. Moroi was sure that something was looking after him for the longest time and when the Jedi found him, The Force was the most likely explanation. It was what let him act fearlessly...usually foolishly, and he clung to it now.

It was an odd feeling, almost like being swept up in to a river, as the concussive power of Asa's force push collided in to his back. He knew [member="Asaak Tey"] was rather powerful in the force, but she still caught him by surprise with just how much force she had put in to the blow. Moroi did not have much time to revel in his strange mixture of fear and admiration for her abilities as he was being rocketed at one of the foulest abominations in the history of the galaxy. The exchange that followed was almost like a choreographed dance. If it wasn't happening in front of their very eyes, it'd be hard to believe it wasn't all thought up in the mind of an unseen and unknowing force. Coiling his abdominal muscles, Moroi would roughly jerk his waist, putting centrifugal force on his hips and causing him to spin in the air through his travel, speeding toward the Terentatek like a bullet. His luck was in full force today, as the monster's arm shot up to snatch him, the boy's rotational force allowed him to roll past the creature's arm and hand, continuing unimpeded and as the monster's head turned, those dangerous tusks threatening to skewer him. The lightsaber in his hand ignited and in a flash of light, the weapon cleaved straight through the tusk, the growth flying toward Asa and crashing in to the ground before her. Still, in one unimpeded motion, Moroi's arm looped wide and with his momentum, Moroi violently stabbed upward, the weapon crashing straight through the roof of the monster's mouth, the one place where its thick hide wasn't present, and shot straight through to its brain. Its pained cry was muffled by the boy partially lodged in its mouth, but the beast had seen its last day.

Gravity had not, however, and without the monster's muscles to keep its bipedal form upright, gravity claimed its next victim. Moroi and the terentatek fell, their bodies landing in a heap as Moroi bounced off the significantly larger creature. As it's head turned however...Moroi's luck finally ran out. As her fell, the boys arm clipped the venomous tusk of the creature, the sharp extension slicing through his shirt and arm rather easily as Moroi finished falling to the ground. Thankfully, the soft cry of pain that left him was muffled by the creature's death throes and its girth would graciously block Asa's sight of them. He couldn't let her see what had happened, they had to finish their mission. Moroi extended his unwounded limb toward his now rather disgusting cloak and pulled it toward him before quickly putting on the, now with multiple fluids, soaked cloak and hiding the wound he had accrued. The venom would not act quickly, and he was a Jedi, he could suppress the effects for a time, hopefully long enough for them to get to the holocron, destroy it, and get home before he was forced to seek help. There might be other obstacles, he needed his friend to stay focused if she was going to live through this. Shakily rising to his feet, Moroi flashed another grin at Asaak, his foot turning to step on the tusk that had wounded him, covering up the blood, his blood, that was left on it. He just had to last a little bit longer.