Yavin Rendezvous (Montana)

[Slot 21]

Wind. Unkempt, in-captured, untamed. Free to move, free to fly, free to sail. Katar was like the wind that day.​

​

She hardly touched the thickly-covered ground as she sped through the trees. Not even the Whisper Birds could keep up with her. The jungle was nothing but a blur of green in her eyes. All her senses were sharper than they ever were in cities or towns. Every smell, every sound, every movement she could sense. This was her heaven. Her freedom.​

​

Katar slowed her all-fours running when she spotted a decent-sized tree. The perfect climbing material! She used her claw-like finger and toenails to scurry up the trunk and seat herself on the lowest branch. She was just in time to watch a family of Woolamanders making their way through the dense canopy just across from her.​

​

This couldn't be a more perfect day!​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

The morning on Yavin IV was quiet and peaceful. The sun was breaking through the clouds and the wind danced around the trees like old friends. Montana couldn’t get enough of it. It was truly ideal research weather and the scenery was beautiful. Every shade of green occupied Montana’s field of vision as he walked from his makeshift hut and to the area of abnormal Chagre grass he had found a week before. More samples were needed if he wanted to confirm his theory of the plant’s evolution and origin. This time, as he came across the grass patch, he found a couple of Runyips eating it. He’d need to shoo them away if he wanted the grass if not they’d only cause him trouble. He hid behind one of Yavin’s trees to formulate a plan and as he did the screeches started. The screeches were loud. Loud enough to stun Montana for a couple seconds before he could realize what exactly was going on.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

Katar was content to sit in her tree for a while longer. Of course, that was before her Force Sensitivity picked up the signature of another like her. It wasn't unheard of for other people to be here. It was a very interesting planet, after all. But this didn't feel like just any person. It was a Force User. And the signature felt very... Light.​

​

Overcome by her curiosity, Katar climbed down from her tree and began sniffing the air for an alien scent. She followed it, as well as her Force senses toward the source. Just as she was reaching a field of tall grass, a screech pierced the air. Then there was another, and another. There was only one animal that screeched like that: Howlers. And whoever was on the other side of this field was about to be in some serious trouble...​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana got his bearings together. He began to focus less on his hearing and more on his other senses, which didn’t shield his ears from the pain but it did allow him a clearer head. He stepped out of his hiding place behind the tree and watched a stampede of Runyip come straight for him. He reached out through the force and manipulated his body airing over the first row of the stampede and landing on the back of a Runyip that bucked helping to launch him higher and into the canopy.

Montana grabbed a tree branch and pulled himself up as the rest of the stampede galloped by. In the distance he could see the cause of the screeches and stampede. A group of Howlers had invaded the patch, some with dead Runyip in their mouth and at their feet. They stopped their screeching to feast. That is when Montana realized it was time to keep stealthy, if not he had a fight on his hands, and the opportunity to become Howler chow.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

Katar stayed very low in the grass, her eyes wide and alert should anything come her way. Howlers didn't like surprises. Especially when they were hungry. The person from before was still nearby, and their signature was still very strong. Well at least they'd made it through the the herd from before.​

​

Her ears listened intently as the Howlers consumed their prey. She could try to calm them down... No. When animals were hungry and eating their kill, they were much more difficult to tame. Katar couldn't risk them getting agitated any more than they already were. So, she decided that she'd better check on the Force User and see if she could get them to safety.​

​

Katar slowly and quietly began to move through the grass. She used the Force to soften her footfalls, making her almost seem completely invisible. All she had to do was get to the tree they were in. she could figure a path out from there.​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana’s next logical step would be to find a way out of the area for now until he had a better way of dealing with the Howlers than just slashing them with his saber. For that he reached out with the force and listened to his instincts to provide direction. In doing that he felt the presence of another being nearby, intelligent like him, not like the Howlers or the Runyip.

If this person had heard the screeches of the Howlers they’d likely be in the same mood and have the same goal which was to fly under the Howler’s radar. That’d make it easier to establish telepathic communication with them. He focused on using his connection to the force for communication and to see if this person would let them into their mind. Not everyone took kindly to telepathy, even some in the order.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

The tree was coming into view. Now if she could just- What the Hell?? Katar stumbled from the sudden sensation of feeling another presence... In her mind. Her hand landed on a twig, making a very audible snap. She froze in place.​

​

One of the Howlers had stopped eating. Either it was full, or it had just taken interest in what she'd done. Katar closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She slowed her breathing. She gently and carefully lowered herself all the way down on the ground, making herself as flat as possible. She then honed in on the animal itself. She listened to it's heartbeat, it's breathing. She listened to the rhythm in which it walked. And then, ever so gently, she slipped her way into it's mind.​

​

It was no longer hungry. That gave Katar an advantage. She slowly started to seep in an overwhelming sense of calmness inside the Howler's mind. If it was calm enough, it would forget about her, or even go to sleep. She didn't try to go too fast so as not to damage it's mind in any way.​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana’s focus snapped with the audible snap of a twig and the alarm of the person he had attempted to contact. The nearest Howler was now up and away from his meal. The others looked at him but didn’t follow still focused on their meat. Montana’s hearing was shot thanks to the Howler’s screeches. He even had his sap-like blood coming from his ears. He’d need to heal himself soon if he didn’t want the damage to be irreparable.

Because of his injury Montana heard no twig snap but he did feel the person’s alarm he attempted to contact. And he could see that the Howler was clearly searching for something, scratch that, someone. Montana took a deep breath as he reached out through the force grabbing a branch in the opposite direction of where the howler was headed and past the patch of grass. With a pull he broke the branch from the tree and let it fall to the ground. The other Howler’s separated from their meals to investigate. But what about the Howler who had already wandered away?

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

The thunk of a nearby tree limb could be heard through Katar's ears, but she didn't even notice. She was busy sending a Howler to sleep. It was so close now, she could even feel it's eyes drooping. The minute it's head touched the ground, Katar leaped from her position in a full-on sprint. The Force aided her speed so that it took her mere seconds to reach the tree and climb up it. She slid past the person already on the branch and perched herself a little bit further out on it.​

​

Katar watched the remaining Howlers like a hawk as they examined the tree branch from before. Good. They hadn't noticed her ascent. Now she had to find a safe way out of their range.​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana watched as the Howler fell asleep and the girl popped up from the floor to the branch he occupied. He was surprised to see her and surprised at her ability to use the force. He could feel the force flowing through her as she sprang up the tree. He wanted to say something but his volume control wouldn’t be great with his hearing in bad condition. Instead of failing at speech and alerting the Howler’s of their presence he nodded to her and looked past the trees. The howler’s had made it to the fallen branch and were examining it. It wouldn’t be long before they came back to the grass patch but that wasn’t what Montana cared about. He wanted to get back to his Makeshift hut and Miniature Green house so he could formulate a plan.

He reached out through the force trying to sense the safest way back. Through the tree line and in a straight-line back to the Hut, is what his instincts told him was safest so he listened. He motioned for the girl to follow him. He wouldn't be watching out for her though she seemed capable.

Montana made his way back, jumping from branch to branch with the aid of the force to control his momentum, landing, and volume. Once he was near the hut he dropped down from the trees and let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t have to fight the Howlers and he hadn’t gotten that girl killed back there. This was turning into quite the day.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

Katar did as she was bid. She followed this- Hmmmm.... He looked very feminine, but Katar wasn't so easily fooled when it came to gender. But, there was something odd about him. His scent.... It didn't smell.... fleshy. It wasn't secreting the pheromones that humanoid skin usually does. It smelled... Sweet? Kind of like a flower....​

​

These thoughts occupied her mind as she jumped from branch to branch as gracefully as a cat. She landed quietly next to the flower man, and commenced to stare at him with her large, vibrant green cat eyes.​

​

Her curiosity led her to start getting closer to him, sniffing him both for his scent and to see if he was in any way hurt. His ears smelled so sweet that they almost made her recoil. A very odd man, indeed...​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Quite the day Indeed. Montana thought to himself, a little weirded out, as the girl began sniffing him. Regardless of his feelings he let her sniff away because… because it was evident this girl was not normal. The first indication of that was when Montana looked into her intense, green, cat-like eyes. He had never seen eyes like that before and doubted he would see them again. He also got a glimpse of her sharp fingernails that were bordering on claws, but the claws of what? Certainly not any sentient he had ever seen before.

She seemed to rear back just a bit as she sniffed near Montana’s ears. After that he reached up and felt the sap coming out. It was worse than he thought. He was going to have to combine some herbs from the greenhouse and heal using the force immediately if he wanted the best results. “I- Achhhhh” Montana spoke and screamed as his ears rang. His scream was muffled and his ability to control his voice was nonexistent ending up with an even louder scream that just hurt his ears even more.

He cupped his hands over his ears and tried to calm down before waking into the greenhouse.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

The man seemed to be in pain as he touched his bitterly-sweet ears. She flinched as he yelled suddenly and loudly. Either he wasn't feeling well, he was naturally loud, or he didn't like Katar. None of which was cause enough for her to just leave him here.​

​

She followed him into a small hut with what looked like an enclosed garden or something back behind it. It was small, and extremely quaint. But the coziness of the room couldn't be denied, even by her. She watched the man curiously, studying his movements as well as what he was doing.​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana walked around the greenhouse methodically. He picked several plants out of the soil, root and all, and placed them all on a wooden table. He separated each one leaves from stem, and stem from root. Through the force he emitted his emotions to the cat-eyed girl as opposed to his specialist telepathy. A smart idea considering how well his attempt at telepathy had faired before. Nevertheless Montana emotions communicated a sense of urgency and the idea that he was in need of some help. He motioned for the girl to follow his lead with the separation of the leaves, stems, and roots from the plants he gathered.

He began to mash the leaves together in a bowl until they resembled a moldable green blob. He took this green blob and put into a pot and filled the pot with water. He moved around the greenhouse, as if each step was calculated. He was a man on a mission and his mission was to speed up the healing process of his inner ear. With the pot filled up to the brim with water and the green leafy blob fully submerged he picked it up walked through the adjoining doors of the greenhouse into his hut. He then placed the pot on a hotplate in the kitchenette. And now the time had come or the waiting game. Soon the blob would flatten on the bottom of the pot and turn to wax under the heat. Until then he would find a way to kill the time. He looked back to the mysterious girl, picked up a pen and pad and signed his name “Silat “Montana” Sul.” Hopefully she was capable of reading, he thought as he passed her the pen and pad.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

The man was very quick with the plants that he was preparing. Katar could sense an urgency to make something with them. As he darted back and forth, he reminded her of a Nabooian Hummingbird.​

​

It appeared her he was making a thick sort of salve, which she could only assume was for an injury somewhere on his body that she hadn't detected. While it was cooking he wrote something down on a paper and handed it to her. Silat Montana Sul... His name, perhaps? Was it possible that he didn't talk? Katar pointed to herself and replied in a small voice. "Katar...."​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana’s head sunk into his chest in the dimly lit hut. Montana could see the girl speak, her response to his written message, but her response didn’t help him. Loud screams would be muffled with the state his ears were in, so a low voice like hers didn’t register at all. That fact scared him a bit. The inability to hear, even temporarily, could prove quite dangerous for a Jedi. A truer statement in permanence although there was the use of the force to rely on. Montana, who often found himself impatient would utilize the force for much, he would even use it for minor tasks that didn’t call for its use.

Communication wasn’t considered minor so Montana reached out with the force attempting to communicate his thoughts and feelings to the cat-eyed girl. - I can’t hear you, I’m sorry. The Howler screams burst my ear drums. The bass in my head is almost too much. - He turned back to his organic concoction to check it’s status. It was almost ready for use. Just a little more time and heat. With the press of a button he increased the heat level of the hotplate by just a bit. Before turning back to the mysterious girl.

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

Katar's eyes widened considerably when a voice penetrated her thoughts. She stood there, almost in awe, as she heard the man speak to her without moving his lips. She'd never experienced telepathy before. It had always been a bit difficult for her to communicate with people who relied on her ability to speak. But this man... He could talk to her easily!​

​

She decided to think up a response to see if it was a two-way thing.​

​

You.... You can hear my thoughts, can't you? ​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

Montana could feel the emotion and the focus of the girls's thoughts and tried to hone in on her exact words, which was easier said than done. Telepathy wasn't a two way street or a holocomm, at least not without the aid of a bond and the force on both ends. After a bit of training though, Montana found, early on, that he had been able to surpass the need of a bond. His affinity for telepathy was remarkable; although not without it's limitations. Close quarters were needed if he were to bridge the gap between who he was trying to communicate with, both in speaking and in listening.

What made listening most difficult was if the communicatee instituted little to none of their force ability. It put more on Montana to open the gap between the minds and only made it harder to listen to their thoughts.

”I can hear you, but just barely.” He replied. “If you use the force, if you focus on communicating and reaching out to me I think it would help.”

Montana then turned the hotplate off and drained the pot of everything but the green, waxy paste that stuck flat to the insides. He ran his index finger across the warm ointment picking up a dollop of it. He then rubbed the dollop around and in his ears. The concoction was supposed to accelerate healing in the areas applied. All Montana could do from there was hope for his eardrums best and reach out to the force to assist in the healing.

“I’m sorry about earlier. It was a little crazy back there with the Howlers, wasn’t it?”

[member="Katar"]

 

[Slot 21]

Katar did her best to listen to what Montana had told her about. She shrugged a little at his question before focusing with the Force on his mind. It was a bit easier for her now than it would've been a few years ago, thanks to her Force training. But since she'd never done it before, she still had to concentrate very hard.​

​

I have been through much worse in terms of confrontation with other creatures. I'm just happy that it didn't come to bloodshed. Killing wild lifeforms isn't a task I enjoy very much.​

​

It felt weird to be talking to someone else like this. It was like... someone looking through your window while you were sleeping. It just felt creepy. ​

​

[member="Montana"]​

 

[Montana]

I can understand that. I don’t like it either. He thought with a smile. He and the girl had something in common, even if it was just their view on violence. Extinguishing a life was hard, even harder if one is a pacifist. Many Jedi who devoted their life to the belief usually had to go against it at least once in their lifetime. Montana knew that more than most. Being a pacifist and guardian meant managing life as a walking, talking contradiction. And somehow he did it well.

So what was your name again? I couldn’t hear it before. He thought as he grabbed two flasks of water out of the kitchenette's miniature cooling chamber. He then tossed one to the cat-eyed girl.

[member="Katar"]