Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Private Paradise Found

Quiet.
That was what he'd first noticed when they disembarked Beholder and came unto the world itself. How quiet it was. Not charted upon any star maps, no name to speak of, they had no clue what they were walking into, only that scans indicated it was indicative of life. Standard gravity, standard pressure, breathable atmosphere. From space it had seemed verdant, yet with varying climates. A desert to one side, a strange coloured surface elsewhere, but plenty of greenery.
He'd set them down among the latter.
Birds called in the trees above, creatures chittered and chattered, croaked and chirped, but all of it was natural. No soaring speeders or descending crafts, no muffled sentient voices, just... Life.​
Arcturus' hand reached out, and effortlessly slid into Ishani's. No Station, no student, no tasks to complete, no studies... Just the four of them: a family.​
Eloise and Marcus had begun to inspect their surroundings almost immediately, though they didn't stray far from their parents at all. Hesitant, but curious, they stooped down to smell flowers and to watch as critters hopped about and crawled up leaves. For his part, Arcturus said nothing.​
He just breathed it all in.​
 
You sure do know how to pick ‘em, Mr. Dinn. I suggest we go on vacation, you pick an uncharted world.

Uncharted, but not unheard of. She’d tracked down records, did some library-hunting for information on the mysterious planet. Was the air safe to breathe, devoid of harmful microbes? Was the wildlife dangerous? Which animals were venomous? Answers were hard to come by, but at least she hadn’t found anything that leaped out at her like a giant neon sign yelling “do not set foot on this deathtrap world”.

The last explorers who set foot here didn’t bother to name it,” she went on. “They just called it, uh, ExGal Delta, I think? Not very catchy.

The air had a sweet, warm, vaguely sticky smell. A summer scent. Arc’s hand was warm in hers, and the twins were tottering about looking at flowers and bugs and—

“Horse!” Eloise yelled. “I see a blue horse!”

At that, Marcus ran back over to his parents. “I don’t like horses,” he said, hiding behind them. “Let’s go now please.”

 
Rather than enjoy the moment, Ishani took the opportunity to poke at him about his choice in destination. "Well, it is beautiful" he stated in defense of his decision, giving her hand a light squeeze. "You're right, that's a pretty shoddy name..."
Before he could think up anything else - as though he had any right to try and rename a planet - Eloise's voice rang out toward them in excitement. By contrast, he watched as his son scurried over to hide behind them.
"Nonsense," he soothed, reaching down to scoop the boy up. Arcturus went so far as to plop him up on his shoulders, one hand still raised after the fact to hold the Marcus' timid hand. "There's nothing to be afraid of, son, I promise you. Did you know that I can keep even angry creatures calm?" He tried to peer up at the kid, but obviously that wasn't so easy.
He led them both forward to meet with Eloise, and then peered through the trees at whatever it was she'd discovered. "This doesn't seem even remotely angry though, does it?"
 
A blue horse?” Ishani echoed, crossing the field to where Eloise stood. The little girl pointed through the trees and across a stream, to where a distant blue figure stood among tall grasses. As she watched, the creature came more into focus. Its lower half was indeed horse-like, with four hoofed legs. But it also had a long tail that curled up rather than hung down, tipped with something sharp—a blade?—and its upper half was more humanoid.

That’s not a blue horse, that’s a blue, uh… Chironian?” She name-dropped the centaur-like species. It was the closest comparison she could think of to what she was seeing.

"This doesn't seem even remotely angry though, does it?"

She turned toward Arc, who had a wide-eyed Marcus riding around on his shoulders. “I wonder if they’re sentient,” she murmured. “Well, none of the records mentioned any sentient species here, but they didn't describe anything like this either...

As they watched, the creature moved away from them, heading deeper into the forest. “Should we keep our distance, or follow them?” she asked Arc. As for herself, she was admittedly curious. This entire trip was rather adventurous, why not be bold about it?

 
He pondered the question while observing the creature, doing his best to try and figure out a good course of action. Were it just the two of them there wouldn't have even been any hesitation, but the kids changed things.
Even so though, he couldn't deny his curiosity.
"We can follow, but at a distance. Last thing we need is to spook it." If it wasn't sentient, then it was likely to bolt if it thought it was being hunted. If it was?
Well maybe it would turn and tell them to back off. Either way they'd have an answer, right?
"What say you, my brave boy?" He tapped Marcus' leg to get his attention, before peering down over Eloise. "And you, my fearless 'lady. Would you like an adventure?"
 
Eloise was jumping up and down with excitement. Marcus looked worried, clinging to his father for dear life.

Awww,” Ishani went over to soothe the boy. “Do you still want to be a knight, Marcus? Knights are brave. Be brave.

“I only wanted to be a knight because I thought Daddy was a knight. But he’s not a knight, he’s a wizard. So now I want to be a wizard also.”

Oh, okay.” Ishani shrugged. “Uh, well, wizards are brave too. So let’s go.

As she turned and started walking, keeping Eloise in her sights as the girl skipped on ahead of her, she could still hear Marcus talking to Arc behind her.

“Daddy, are you gonna shoot lightning at them if they get mad and chase us?” he asked, poking Arc’s cheek with his finger.

 
Arcturus let Ishani take the lead with consoling Marcus, and instead focused on the route ahead. He watched Eloise bob up and down in excitement, a spring in her step as she skipped along without any concern to be had about the nature of the creature they were following.
When his son asked him a pointed question though, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"No... I don't think I'll be doing that" he said, gaze shifting briefly toward Ishani who had gone on ahead with Eloise, "If it gets mad, it's likely because it's scared. Take a closer look at it, Marcus... It doesn't even have a mouth." Of course, expecting the boy to notice that when there was so much else odd about it was probably asking a lot. Now that he'd drawn attention to it though, hopefully he'd relax.
Of course, that just left Arcturus with more questions himself. How did it sustain itself without an obvious mouth? Something to observe, he supposed.
"I don't think it will come after us in hopes of eating us or anything like that. No... I'll calm it down if that happens. There are other ways to handle scary situations than to lash out, one day I'll show you how okay?"
 
Marcus’ confusion at the idea of not having a mouth was palpable. “How does it talk? Or eat?”

That question wasn’t easily answered, at least not from observing at a distance. As the family followed the creature, it slowed its pace, eventually coming to a stop in a clearing. There it found another of its own kind—smaller and less developed, with pale spots along its blue fur which the bigger one lacked. The two started to head out together, the younger creature sticking close to the elder.

A twig snapped loudly underneath Ishani’s foot. A heartbeat later, the Force rang out a warning.

Ishani flung herself forward, pushing Eloise down underneath her as the creature’s tail whizzed past her head, the blade on the end of it whistling as it sliced through the air. It might’ve stopped short of hitting her, might’ve been a warning shot, but she wasn’t taking chances. Not with Eloise so close by.

The little girl started to cry, startled rather than hurt. Ishani held her close, but stayed down for now.

 
"Not everything communicates vocally" he informed the boy, a soft teacherly tone overcoming his voice as he did. It was almost whimsical. "Did you know the sound crickets make is done by rubbing their wings together? Some animals don't even make a noise at all." Well aside from like, skittering legs. But still. As for how it ate..?
"I'm not sure how it feeds. Maybe it's like a plant, and photosynthesizes." He realized all at once what a big word that was, and how the kid likely had no clue what he meant. "They get much of their energy from the sun" he explained, with a small smile, "Though even they need nutrients from the soil. Maybe we'll get to find out?"
His danger senses flared though the distance between he and Ishani was thus that by the time he covered that ground in as safe a manner as he could with the boy on his shoulders she'd already ducked and pulled Eloise out of the way of the creature's tail.
"Woah there, easy," he told the understandably defensive creature, raising his free hand. The air between he and it shimmered some as he drew upon the Force and held dominion over it. "Easy... Calm... We mean you no harm..." Once calmed, his gaze shifted down to his girls. "Is everyone okay?"
 
Any queries young Marcus might’ve had about photosynthesis were prevented by the attack of the creature. The boy clung even tighter to Arc, terrified. From his perspective, he had seen the creature’s every move—the halt, its eye stalks swiveling around, and the whip of its agile tail.

The creature froze as Arcturus wove his spell around it. Now that they were up close and facing it, more details were visible. The creature had four eyes—two on its face, in the same area where a human’s would be, but much larger in size, and two mounted on stalks atop its head. It had pointed ears, and a flat nose. Humanlike arms hung at its sides, delicate limbs with six fingers on each hand.

It was sentient, but primitive, frightened, and obviously very wary of these strange aliens.

Ishani stayed down until she was certain it was safe, stroking Eloise’s hair in an effort to soothe her. Slowly she started to rise, keeping the girl close. “We’re fine. Are you… getting through to them?” She wasn’t totally sure what Arc was attempting to do, only that he was the most qualified person to do it. He’d always been better at making friends than her, be it people or animals.

 
After taking notice of the fact that neither of them were harmed, he was quick to return his gaze to meet with the creatures. Well, one set of them at least, the more human of them due to closer proximity.
"I know you were protecting your young" he said aloud, though even as he spoke he sought more to project those ideas through the Force toward it, to bridge their differences and provide it with a clearer understanding of his words and intentions, "We mean you no harm..."
He didn't look to Ishani, though it was clear the next few words were directed her way. "It's hard to tell, at the very least they're calmer now though whether that will hold once I relinquish it is hard to tell. Here, why don't you take the kids and take a few steps away just in case?"
Reaching up, Arcturus gently pulled his son back down from his shoulders, and offered him out to Ishani. He did it without breaking eye-contact with the creature.
"We have our young with us too" he said, back to addressing the creature. He waited until his family was clear from the tail and the creature's immediate vicinity, before slowly beginning to ease up on his hold of it. "Go now in peace." One final command, before he released it and primed himself to defend should none of his words have gotten through to it.
 
Ishani took Marcus, holding each twin in either arm as she slowly backed away, her eyes glued to the creature. If it attacked Arc, she wouldn’t hold back.

But the creature remained perfectly still. It was hard to tell how much it understood, but after the words “go now in peace” fell from his lips, it took one step back, then another, before it turned and hurriedly herded the child away, back into the forest cover.

Ishani finally exhaled. “Okay. We’re okay,” she whispered to the children, gently setting them down to relieve her arms. Waning adrenaline made her laugh nervously. “Arc, you’re a lifesaver. Oh wow…” She sat on the ground, then flopped on her back and was quiet for some time, waiting for her heart to stop racing.

 
Arcturus did not turn away from the creature, watching its path as it headed away from them, until it was clearly gone from their general vicinity. He monitored it through the Force for a short while longer, just to make sure, and then finally he span on his heels to face them.
"Everyone's alright?" he asked again, eyes scouring every inch of them for any sign of injury. Then he closed the distance, and sank down to his knees in order to scoop both of the kids into a relieved embrace. By this point Ishani was lay on her back, and as he held the kids close his gaze strayed past them and to her.
"Next time, let's not stalk a creature we know nothing about" he chuckled, now that the immediate danger was over. "I don't know how I missed that mean tail when I first checked it out..."
 
You’re the one who said we should follow it!” But she was laughing more now. It all seemed almost silly in retrospect. Sitting up, she crept over to join the huddle, kissing the kids and Arc one by one. “Have I told you all lately that I love you?

She let the peace and quiet last a little while longer, then caught Arc’s eye. “Did you have anything in particular you wanted to do here? I know you said exploring, but… I assume we’re not going to be making camp if we don’t know what might be out there.” This wasn’t like Lao-mon, when they’d had no choice but to make shelter with what they had. If they were going to use Beholder as shelter, though, they couldn't stray too far from it.

 
"You asked!"
Just as humoured by the whole thing now that the threat was out of the way, Arcturus shook his head and chuckled. "So we're in agreement... No more chasing wild animals."
Ishani joined the snuggle-huddle, and he shifted so that he could try and wrap the trio in his arms. Not an easy feat, but hey at least he tried. Soon enough though it was time to pull back some, so he released his arms and slowly rose back up to his full height, settling a hand on each of the kids shoulders in the aftermath.
"You wanted to get away, I wanted to get away, I figured why not explore some." She was right though they couldn't just make camp. If it had been just the two of them sure, but the kids? "I doubt the kids would want to camp, at least not until we find somewhere we know is safe. Still, we can wander as long as we get back here by dark?"
Tomorrow they could even move Beholder to another part of the planet, so they'd have a chance to explore another part of it. Best part about owning a ship, in his opinion... All the options!
 
“I wanna go camping,” Eloise protested, her arms slung around Arc’s neck. With the scratchy stubble gone, she could press her cheek to his again. “Can we still have marshmallows?”

Marcus was about to deny her (as her brother, it was his job to be the contrarian to everything she said) when he realized he also wanted marshmallows. Closing his mouth, he looked up at his parents hopefully.

Do we have any?” Ishani asked. With a sigh, she muttered, “I love how we’re ‘wizards’ with all sorts of powers, yet we can’t just magic ourselves some marshmallows.

What a strange conversation to be having in the wake of a wild animal attack. She snorted happily. Staying right here like this would’ve contented her for some time, but the kids were getting antsy. “Well, since you decided which way to go last time, does that mean I have to pick a new direction?” she asked, glancing at Arc. For a few seconds she just stared at the wonderful sight of him and their children together, before she grounded herself again. “Did you see any interesting looking landmarks on our way here? I was in the ‘fresher while we were landing, so I didn’t get much of a view.

 
"Marshmallows?" he asked, perking one brow in surprise, "Who gave you marshmallows?" He glanced at Ishani, then back at the kids, then sighed in defeat, "If there's any on the ship we can have marshmallows. Later... First, we have to earn them..."
A mischievous glint entered his eyes then. "Now, are everyone's ears nice and open and ready to listen?" He looked between the twins, then up at Ishani with a grin. "Scavenger hunt time..." Arcturus proceeded to list off a small handful of items for the kids to keep an eye out for as they walked. The standard tropes; a leaf, some sort of tree nut like an acorn, a smooth rock, to name only a few. Not too many though, they were still only children after all and he had nothing to actually write them down on. Easy to remember.
At least that was the hope.
"I saw some structures on the warmer face" he stated, "well, really it looked more like rocky outcroppings that sort of resembled structures. Probably nothing, and not something we can feasibly get to today. I was thinking though, maybe tomorrow we can take Beholder and search another part of the world?"
As for their immediate surroundings, well most of it was covered with trees. Hard to deduce much of anything.
 
“Uncle Ganner did,” Eloise replied. “He came to Grandma’s house and built a big fire in the backyard and let us roast marshmallows in it. Mine kept getting on fire and it turned black and got all crunchy.”

Ishani scratched the back of her head, trying to look casual. In all the time she had known Arcturus, she’d neglected to ever mention that she had a brother. Probably because Ganner had problems, and the two weren’t particularly close.

She was relieved when Arcturus didn’t say anything (initially, at least), instead shifting the subject to a scavenger hunt for the kids. Eloise sped off at once, Ishani trailing after her. For someone with such little legs, she sure could move fast.

Arcturus mentioned seeing structures on the warmer face of the planet that they might explore later. “Sounds good to me,” Ishani called over her shoulder—only to freeze, spotting yet another weird thing up ahead. “Ellie, come back over here.

Eloise didn’t have to be told twice, returning with an acorn clutched in her hand. The two eased back a little, giving plenty of space to the… giant walking mushroom slogging along the forest floor up ahead. It was munching dead leaves and other debris from the undergrowth. Unlike the blue creature from earlier, this thing seemingly had no sentience whatsoever and paid them little heed, content to simply consume.

 
Uncle Ganner?
More and more he was made to realize how little of Ishani's life he actually knew beyond her time in the Academy. She'd done so purposely, of course, he knew that she was running from it all, but still to have it thrown in his face so blatantly was more than a little jarring. He didn't let it show though, instead he just ruffled Eloise's hair.
"Marshmallows are mostly sugar" he explained, "And sugar burns really easily. Was it tasty, at least?"
Soon enough the kids were in full excitement mode, with the scavenger hunt underway. Arcturus moved to stand alongside Ishani as they walked rather languidly, though even that was halted pretty quickly after with the emergence of another strange beast.
Arcturus' danger senses did not kick in this time, the creature was no threat to them, but all the same Ishani called the kids closer. He peered past them to the weird fungi-thing, and observed it as it munched on the undergrowth.
"Fascinating" he breathed, wishing he could have more time to study it. "Come on," he said, ushering them off to the right in a path which would avoid it entirely, "Let's leave it to its feast..." His eyes didn't stray from it even as he led the way through a different set of trees, and only once it was obscured did he turn his head back to where they were headed.
"The fauna here are bizarre" he mumbled.
 
“Yes,” Eloise replied, her curls bouncing like springs. “I ate five of them.”

“I did too,” Marcus announced. “But then I threw up.”

Sounds like Uncle Ganner shouldn’t have let you have so many.

“But they were good!”

Too much of a good thing can be bad.

The conversation was put on pause by the sighting of the giant walking mushroom. Once they had moved past it, Arcturus commented on how strange the locals were.

I’m sure we’ll stumble across something that looks humanoid soon enough,” Ishani remarked with a sigh. “There’s always at least one species like that on every other planet…

A few moments later, she mused aloud, “I think I’d like to be the ruler of a planet like this. Or, maybe not the ruler—but the, uh… guardian or protector of it? Queen Rhiannon of ExGal Delta, defender of the realm, and her heirs Prince Marcus and Princess Eloise.” She winked at Arc. “King Arcturus, her consort, and… Nostre, the court mouse.

At the sound of his name Nostre peeked out from among Marcus’ hair, sniffing the air. Ishani pet him with one finger.

 

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