I've got a BAAAAAAAD feeling about this.

[Otterling]

Jaeden stood in the middle of the clearing, staring around with wide eyes at the flurry of life all around him. The canopy high above blocked out the sun to some extent, casting variant shades of green light down upon where the Jedi had begun to set up their impromptu encampment and only tiny shards of golden sunlight filtered down through the dense foliage. The four Jedi had landed on the thickly forested planet only six hours ago and since then, they had been marching farther and farther into the wilderness. Jaeden wasn’t entirely sure Master Cree or Master Sellah knew where they were headed but he figured it didn’t much matter. They were there to learn survival techniques so anywhere that was away from civilization would do. Jaeden, for his part, was absolutely thrilled to be lost out in the jungle with his master. After his rough first mission, he was grateful for the comforting solitude of the jungle. Here, he could feel the Force radiating strongly from all the life that teemed around them.

He smiled up at a few strange looking primates that chattered in a nearby tree before finally turning back to the task he was supposed to have been doing. His sleep tent had yet to be fully erected and he frowned down at the two pieces of pole in his hands. “This thing had to have been designed by a truly evil being,” he muttered under his breath, once again consulting the set of directions projected out of his datapad. It lay on the ground beside him and he stooped slightly to read it once more. He wasn’t sure how everyone else was faring with their own tents but his directions, he was fairly certain, had been written in a foreign language he didn’t understand. He fitted the pieces of pole together in every way he could imagine before finally sighing in frustration and rolling his eyes when he realized he had the wrong piece in his left hand. He squatted down and rooted through the stack of pieces at his feet until at last he produced the right part.

It took a full fifteen minutes, three pinched fingers, and a lot of frustration but finally Jaeden managed to get his tent put together right. He grinned down at the set up with pride and then turned to rifle through his small pack and take note of what he had brought with him. The padawans had each been supplied with a small med kit, a few rations, a simple compass and a small collapsible fishing rod. It should be more than enough, when paired with their training sabers, for them to survive. The idea behind the exercise was for the Masters to get them thoroughly lost and for the padawans to both provide the basics of what they would need to survive for a few days. It would teach Jaeden and Ekerin the valuable lesson of teamwork as well as how to manage on their own should they find themselves lost on a world they didn’t know.

Jaeden was already looking forward to all of it. He’d never met Ekerin before they had left for the trip but he found the young Amaran to be nice enough. He’d seen the other boy in the library from time to time and had discovered on their trip out that they both enjoyed reading and learning. He couldn’t imagine he’d have any trouble at all getting along with Ekerin as they both seemed to want to impress their masters by doing their best on this trip. Jaeden smiled at his fellow padawan and gestured with his head toward the inviting woods to his left. He was sure he could hear a waterfall back there somewhere that he was eager to go see. He then turned to his master, “The tents are up, Master Cree. I think Ekerin and I can go get some firewood now before it gets dark.”

[Kella]

Sellah was acutely aware of the forest. Her small ears twitched back and forth, following the many sounds of the forest, from the trilling of songbirds above, to the screech of a raptor in the distance.

"Listen closely," She told Ekerin, strolling near to the edge of the clearing. "Sweep your ears back and forth, collect all the sounds. Let them fill you up, become lost in them." Sellah stopped walking, and allowed Ekerin to pause, and ponder. "Can you hear the herd in the east? They make the ground shudder. The rush to the south means water... There's a rat in the bush to your left. Don't just listen, though, hear. The forest has its own language, just like we do, or the Force does. What can you hear?" The words were hushed, carrying among their sounds a great and valuable secret...

Sellah watched Ekerin intensely as he reported. She noted that his species was even better suited for listening than hers, and she knew that if trained in the right mindset, his sense of hearing would far surpass hers. There was much a Jedi could do, even without the help of the Force. She released him from his task with a sincere, "Well done," and her muzzle crinkled in thoughtful approval.

As she guided him to the other end of the clearing, Sellah let the scent of the forest fill her lungs. Every breath brought into her another drop of the forest's essence. Scent was even more abstract than hearing, so it was a skill for another day. The current of the wind shifted, and Sellah detected, ever so slightly, a musk mingled with the lightest stench of rotted meat... a predator, to the northeast. She would pay close attention to that scent.

The tree litter crunched below as Sellah came to a halt at the edge, and looked down at Ekerin.

"Now, I would show you how to construct a tent; however, Master Cree is more than happy to pass on such a gem. I," She cast a sidelong-glance at the aforementioned master, "Have absolutely no patience for the things." Sellah turned back to Ekerin, having concluded a trademarkedly Selonian display of honesty. "In any event, 'tis better to be able to survive without your pack. Just in case, no?

"Yavin is a great place to become lost, if there ever was one," she continued. "The Yatow tree grows very strongly here. It has a tall, strong trunk, with purplish-grey bark. Spot one?" Sellah took two steps past the clearing, and stood next to a particular tree. "If you could gaze, all the way up to the top," Sellah pointed with a claw towards the canopy, which was obscured by distance, "You would be able to see its crimson leaves. Yatow means blood-tree, for more reasons than one. The red leaves are blood thinners, and can be used in an emergency. But more than the smallest amount causes one to bleed uncontrollably, which usually leads to a slow death by exsanguination from the eyes, nail-beds and lungs." Sellah sounded as she usually sounded, utterly sincere, and deathly serious. "So do be careful."

It was odd, this imparting of knowledge. Sellah doubted that she had ever spoken so much in her life, but communicating every fact was of the upmost importance.

"The structure of the tree is most important. See how there are five main stalks, twisted around each other? At the base of the tree, they split and splay into a cage-like structure." Sellah bent down, and gestured for Ekerin to look through one of the gaps between the interwoven roots. "It is hollow inside. Animals often dwell under the Yatow, and the space inside is often cleared out, or dug down into the ground. The entrances are usually quite obvious." Sellah stepped around the tree, and showed Ekerin a place where the ground had been dug out, under the roots, to create a small entrance. "If you ever need to expand an entrance, use your saber to cut through the root. It solidifies the sap, and makes a clean cut, despite smelling quite awful. Never," she made sure Ekerin's eyes were locked with hers, and she spoke the words with a deep gravity. "Attempt to cut the Yatow's roots with anything but a lightsaber. The sap will flow out like water for a few moments, as much as a quart comes out. Within five seconds, it will have become a sticky tar, and within thirty the stuff is harder than cement, almost too much for a lightsaber to cut through."

Public Service Announcement concluded, Sellah straightened up again. "You can lie much of anything-- a tarp, fronds, even animal skins over the framework of the roots to keep out the water and the wind. If you push any sort of tack, knife, or sharp stick into the bark, the sap will hold it secure as soon as it hardens around the wound. Something stuck in the bark can't be removed unless you cut out part of the tree, so it's a splendid way to secure a wind-guard, or insulation. Oftentimes, an animal will have already done this to his burrow-- that is why you will see vines woven in and out of some of the Yatow trees. However, if you see this, don't attempt to steal the burrow -- those animals are far too well-established to be moved easily, unless you are desperate. The Yatow tree will provide you a good shelter in a pinch, and is much quicker than a tent." Sellah nodded with finality, almost forgetting to observe her Padawan's emotional state as she led him back to the clearing.

Her lecture concluded, she suddenly wasn't sure what to say... Sellah was still quite new to this whole master business -- being in charge was not something she was accustomed to.

"Do you have any questions?"

Her sharp ears suddenly caught Jaeden's announcement.

"Or, if you'd like, you could go with Jaeden. That's perfectly acceptable."

Sellah hoped the subsequent moment of waiting wasn't as awkward for Ekerin as it was for her, and her whiskers twitched with uncertainty.

[Twysper]

Ekerin devoured knowledge from Sellah's words like a voracious scavenger as they walked around the vibrantly colored clearing. Every syllable was picked bone-clean, and then carefully hoarded for later examination and reflection. Scraps of auditory stimuli that he originally considered too small to be noted were made into the most relevant, choice points under the Selonian's guidance. At first, the padawan was frustrated when he tried too hard to listen to everything at the same time. Noises were jumbled and mashed together, coming from all directions at once, creating an obnoxious wall of white noise. Then he sighed and relaxed, and everything came back into perspective. It was similar to adjusting a pair of binoculars, too focused, too blurry. It was all about balance, something Ekerin knew the Jedi advocated in most situations. Quietly, and with ocean blue eyes still closed, the Amaran started to tell Sellah what he could hear, what he could feel; in the forest around them. The force combined with his sensitive sense of hearing made for an effective hard-wired radar indeed. Sellah was satisfied with his report.

The lithe twelve-year old was infinitely thankful that the council had seen fit to appoint him as Sellah’s apprentice. It would’ve been hard, to say the least, for another to teach about his species’ hearing in the same fashion as the Selonian currently was. Only of course, because most other species didn’t possess such heightened senses. It was one of those facts of life that sadly, couldn’t be helped, but allowed the pair to empathize together easily.

The forest was indeed quietly resonating in the force as Ekerin focused on it again as per instruction. It managed to be a swirling mix of slightly familiar and deeply foreign at the same time, for there was his master’s guiding presence next to him, comforting in the midst of the diverse flora and fauna of Gargon. He closed his eyes again. Jaeden and Master Cree were behind them; not quite as different in comparison to the forest, but yet also not as familiar as Sellah. He took an extra moment to muse quietly to himself. Soon enough he would be paired and tested with the human boy on the application of survival knowledge. Ekerin wondered what Master Cree had been teaching Jaeden. Perhaps the two padawans could compare notes later, as the Amaran had a suspicion each one of them were being given half the information they would need for their test. His russet tail flickered anxiously behind him like a candle flame as he peered over his shoulder at the other padawan putting up tents.

He also noted with a small degree of pride that his master did seem to know something about everything, and while she was deathly serious when teaching, she did also have a wry sense of humor. As evidenced by her frank honesty in regards to putting up a tent. Absently, the Amaran wondered if there was a story to be heard there; had she gotten her claws tangled once? A mischievous smile tinged his features for a fraction of a second as his imagination played out the scene. Then he was following Sellah’s instructions to further examine the Yatow tree. After receiving her stark warning about the sap of said tree, Ekerin nodded quickly, even as his curiosity tempted him to poke it with one sharp claw. He clasped both furred hands behind his back ruefully to keep himself in check.

"Do you have any questions?"

Master and padawan’s ears tweaked to catch Jaeden’s statement at the same time.

"Or, if you'd like, you could go with Jaeden. That's perfectly acceptable."

"Thank you for the lesson, master Sellah.” Ekerin intoned respectfully before nodding and loping across the clearing to meet the other padawan. Mentally, he readjusted his mindset back to being a slightly more talkative entity as he proffered a smile to his new temporary partner. As far as the Amaran could remember, Jaeden was a studious individual like himself, he had been selected as a padawan at roughly the same time as Ekerin had, by the Ongree Master Creemor Lek (he had even been on a mission already!), and there was absolutely no reason they shouldn’t get along splendidly.

“So firewood right?” Ekerin usually preferred to skip hellos in favor of actual matters that needed attending; this was made blatantly apparent as he fell into step beside the red-haired padawan. He waited silently until they were a short distance away from the clearing before starting to speak again. “Isn’t this fun? They don’t have most of this stuff in the archive. Or at least, the part younglings were allowed to view. Waste of resources if you ask me.” Ekerin stopped and held out a clawed hand apologetically as his eyes sparked with undisguised laughter. “Ekerin Tavres.”

OoC// I apologize for the delay. But there we go. ;D

[Otterling]

((Well, I am going to go ahead and post so we can keep this running but should Cas or anyone else want to join in, just feel free to toss in a post here. ^__^))

Jaeden grinned brightly as Ekerin bounded across the space between them. The other padawan was interesting indeed and while Jaeden had met many different races in his years at the Temple, he’d never spent much time interacting with the fairly uncommon Amaran race. The boy was bipedal, lanky like Jaeden himself, and his fur was a shade not so different from Jaeden’s hair but that was where the similarities ended. That dense red fur covered every inch of Ekerin’s body save for the areas around his nose, the insides of his arms and his chest where the fur faded out to a creamy white. Two large ears topped his head, swiveling to catch every sound and his face sported a long thin muzzle behind which sat two bright blue eyes reminiscent of the cool waters of Alderaan’s shoreline, a sight Jaeden hadn’t seen firsthand but that he knew of through holo-vids. The boy’s fingers were long and tipped on the ends with fierce looking claws and his digitigrade legs terminated in paws instead of feet. A long sweeping tail swished behind Ekerin and Jaeden had to wonder whether it ever got in the way.

Regardless Jaeden had found the other boy to be companionable. Jaeden’s love of books and learning seemed to be shared by his counterpart who absorbed information with the same gusto and both boys were full of the boundless energy that came so naturally to younglings. Ekerin wasted no time getting right to the point the minute he pulled to a stop by Jaeden’s tent and Jaeden happily returned the smile he was given. “Yup! Come on, let’s head out this direction.” Jaeden turned toward the area where he’d heard the waterfall and pulled out his compass to input their current location, thus making it easier for them to find their way back. He grinned over his shoulder to his Master. “We’ll be right back, Master!” With that, the boys disappeared into the thick undergrowth with Jaeden forging a rough path toward the waterfall he could make out in the distance.

“Isn’t this fun? They don’t have most of this stuff in the archive. Or at least, the part younglings were allowed to view. Waste of resources if you ask me.”

Jaeden had to agree and he nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, you’d think they’d let us read anything we wanted. After all, shouldn’t they encourage learning?” The whole situation hadn’t ever made much sense to Jaeden but he’d stopped asking after datapads in other sections after being gently herded away from them multiple times. The librarians had taken to watching him carefully whenever he came in because while he wouldn’t openly break the rules by wandering into restricted sections, he had been known to let his curiosity lead him to datapads left out by older Jedi who had wandered away. The information the adults read had always struck him as more interesting than the limited selection the younglings were relegated to.

Jaeden’s thoughts were interrupted as Ekerin pulled to a stop and held out a hand for formal introduction. The young human beamed at his new companion and took the offered hand with enthusiasm. “Jaeden Dresden. Nice to meet you. So you’re with Master Sellah? Is she a good teacher? Master Cree is a great Master,” Jaeden said with obvious pride as he turned and continued through the brush, “He’s really smart and is a great swordsman. He’s strong and he’s funny too.” The boy’s voice held all the telltale signs of complete hero worship when it came to Cree. His master had been there for him on multiple occasions when he’d needed him most and for the impressionable youngling, that had elevated the High Council member to an almost godlike status. No one could best his Master for long and while he was willing to believe that there were other Jedi that could equal Cree, he couldn’t believe for an instant that anyone was better.

Jaeden worked his way toward the rumble of water he could hear in the distance, his mission of gathering firewood having been obviously forgotten in favor of getting a better look at the waterfall. “There’s got to be a river or something up ahead,” he said with a note of excitement, “Let’s go look.” He contented himself with the idea that maybe there would be some driftwood up by the water and that they could still gather what they needed while getting to see the falls. After a few minutes of trekking through the undergrowth, Jaeden could make out a clearing up ahead and something sparkled there in open sunlight. The sound of rushing water was louder and Jaeden shot Ekerin an excited look before rushing through the last of the brush in his way to the clearing. When he stepped out at last into bright sunlight, it was indeed to see a waterfall though it wasn’t quite what he’d expected. The ground below him had firmed to solid rock, the thin layer of topsoil in that area being unable to support much more than moss, and the stone jutted up suddenly from the forest floor, extending into a wall of thirty feet in height. White water burst over the upper lip of the stone to fall straight to the floor of the forest where it disappeared into a yawning black crevice in the stone. It looked like the planet’s crust had, at some point long ago in its history, been pushed up at this point, shoving one tectonic plate onto another and forming this low wall of stone which extended out beyond Jaeden’s sight in either direction.

“Wow,” he breathed in awe as his eyes followed the water down the face of the stone. The hole it disappeared into was about six feet across in every direction but Jaeden couldn’t see how deep it went. The hollow echo of the water told him it was pretty deep though. “It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

[Twysper]

The snow white tip of Ekerin’s tail flickered out of sight behind the dense foliage as he contentedly followed Jaeden farther into the forest and away from the vibrant clearing. The Amaran’s pointed ears, so ready to be utilized after Sellah’s lessons, piqued as they focused on the sound of the waterfall, and then keyed sideways towards Jaeden to better listen. It was another equivalent of making eye-contact for Ekerin, a way of showing his full attention.

“Jaeden Dresden. Nice to meet you. So you’re with Master Sellah? Is she a good teacher? Master Cree is a great Master,”

“He’s really smart and is a great swordsman. He’s strong and he’s funny too.”

“Master Sellah is a wonderful teacher.” Ekerin said with a thoughtful nod, stepping onto a thick twisted root with nimble paws, one clawed hand scratching lightly on the bark of the trunk as he used it to steady himself. He took a moment to scan the forest from his vantage point before stepping back down carefully.

“We are both similar, in physical traits,” Ekerin’s tail flicked pointedly to emphasize the fact. “And mindset.” The padawan’s ears tilted back towards the sound of water as he continued talking absently. So he had technically assumed that last part, Sellah was a pretty frank being, it was unlikely that she had misled him through her behavior and actions. “As far as funny goes, I s’pose the word for her sense of humor would be wry.”

Ekerin had heard the note of praise in the other boy’s voice, and he mused over whether or not he was doing his master an injustice by not imitating this. Sellah was a wonderful master for sure, a godsend for the furred Amaran, but he still had far too much to learn about her. It would be nonsensical to make further assumptions, yes?

This mission was a learning experience, and a chance to prove merit. Ekerin had no intention of disappointing his master so early in their relationship, and his blue eyes, like twin sapphire-lensed lighthouses, skimmed wistfully over the dark forest floor in search of wood sunken from the above emerald waves of leaves as he trailed the path-clearing Jaeden. It would be more than a little awkward and condescending to remind the other padawan of what they were supposed to be doing. The point was teamwork; Jaeden had the goal in mind, he had to, but in case he didn’t…. The Amaran wrinkled his muzzle, chiding himself. Less thinking, more action.

As they continued towards the sound of the waterfall, Ekerin started to gather gnarled pieces of deadwood from around the base of ancient trees adjacent to the path they were taking, keeping his claws well clear of the trunks he quickly identified as belonging to the name of Yatow. He pictured his furred hand becoming glued to said tree with the adhesive sap and frowned ruefully as his pointed ears again reminded him that the waterfall was near. Soon he had a small bundle of dried out twigs and sticks under his arm…

Which were dropped, of course, in favor of loping after Jaeden when the boy burst into the clearing ahead. What met Ekerin’s eyes as he pushed his way through the thinning brush was fascinating, what met his ears was worthy of a lifetime of pause and reflection. Underneath the perpetual rush of water from above, a whimsically timed harmony of soft, bright drops shattering on the dark rock face from an offshoot rivulet. Accompanying the soft droplets and steady roar was the hollow continuous whoosh as the falling liquid in turn caught the sunlight for a sparse moment, and then dropped into the shadowed, worn crevice in the stone to disappear into the black. The breeze created from the water’s motion ruffled Ekerin’s fur amiably before passing to teasingly caress the tree branches behind him. Their whisper was quickly blended into the compilation of sound.

“Wow,”

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

Jaeden’s voice cut through Ecky’s evaluation of the exact tone the droplets were making as they plipped off of the rock, and he jolted back to using his other senses again.

“Absolutely.” The Amaran mused to himself quietly for another moment, and his tail batted at the air behind him as he tapped a clawed digit on the hilt of his lightsaber. There was so much to see. This was just a little piece of one planet; one note in a symphony whose sheet music spread across the universe. And the note was perfect.

Ekerin loathed, totally and utterly loathed having to be the one to again break the ethereal song again, but Master Cree and Master Sellah were probably waiting for them.

“Jaeden!” The Amaran cringed in spite of himself, and his ears flattened as he turned his head to regard the other padawan sheepishly; jeez that had sounded loud. “Um, should we rummage around for some firewood now?”

OoC// Sorreh, it took me absolutely forever to write the last paragraph. -_-

[Anna]

"Alright PD, now that we're here, we might as well start loading the ship up with our cargo"

Rafael surveyed the area close to the ship. He was in a small corner of forestry with a large clearing that the ship had landed near. A cave was nearby, which was were Rafael and his 'partner' PD-1 were standing right now. Beeping cautiously, the droid set off on it's 'legs' into the cave, while Rafael followed behind him.

Immediately as Rafael stepped into the cave he was hit by the heat, as he always was when he was here. Already he had started sweating. Grumbling under his breath and wishing there had been some other remote place he could have set up his operation on this stupid planet, Rafael kept his eyes on the silver mettalic dome of the droid in front of him. Enviously looking at how the droid seemed perpetually un-affected by the heat, Rafael almost wished he was a droid himself.

No more feelings, no more morals, no...vulnerabilities even. It had a lot of positives he supposed. But without intelligence, without that drive, Rafael would have died long ago, and the Exchange would have gone on in it's quest for power.

Not only that, but just the thought of being a droid...disturbed him.

Snapping out of his reverie, Raf saw they had arrived at their destination. In front of him sat several rows of regular boxes. Smugly smirking, Rafael grabbed a crowbar off the table near the entrace and walked towards the boxes. Crouching down, it didn't take long for him to pry open the lid of the box. As the box sides 'deflated' a folded up green and black object was now visible. Probing around on the top of the object, Raf pressed a button and stepped back.

Whirring sounds accompanied by a creaking sound filled the room as the object unfolded itself almost robotically, finally standing up to it's full height it swiveled it's head to look first at the droid, then at Rafael.

Still smiling, Rafael crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the droid with interest. The HK-50 droid didn't look to be in bad shape, certainly. The Green and black paint even looked fitting for the droid, especially considering how it would blend in with the foliage out on the planet.

He would keep this and several other droids for himself, but the rest would go to his....employer. And in turn, Rafael would be paid a rather high amount of credits for smuggling them. Then the employer could do whatever the hell he wanted with them. Rafael would probably use the money for something, though he wasn't certain what yet.

"Alright, HK. Begin loading the rest of these boxes within this cave onto my ship; which is just outside. Be careful with them though."

Rafael then turned to PD.

"You do the same PD. I trust you'll be able to do the same quite efficiently."

Still smiling as the two droids began their job, Rafael went outside for a smoke. Lighting up, Rafael thought about the operation. All was going well. He hadn't encountered anyone in all his time on this planet. It was almost the perfect place for his operation. Almost. But after this, he probably wouldn't use it much. More things to do, out in the space of the universe.

[Otterling]

((OOC: Sorry for how long it took me to come up with this. I've been trying to figure out how to get our boys into trouble. Heh. If you're trying to figure out what the heck is going on, I'm thinking that the cave the pirate is using might be one that's connected to the waterfall one. It's a little ways off but the sound would travel well through the underground.))

Jaeden glanced over at his new friend and watched the boy with a lopsided smile. Ekerin was a strange creature to him seeing as Jaeden was used to more humanoid beings in all his classes. The twitching of ears and the almost erratic movements of Ekerin came across as hurried to Jaeden who wasn’t sure what to make of it. Between the tapping of the claw on the Amaran’s lightsaber to the way his fluffy tail swished behind him, it looked for all the world like the boy was incapable of sitting still for long, a feeling Jaeden could well relate to. Jaeden had always been opened minded and overtly friendly though and his lack of friends during his youngling years had been more due to the older boys picking on him than any lack of trying on his part. There hadn’t been many who were willing to go up against the stronger and bolder younglings that had tormented him but that was all in the past now and Jaeden intended to keep it that way. He was a curious and eager boy by his very nature and he found himself just as fascinated by watching Ekerin as the waterfall.

The boy turned his bright green eyes back to the water and he edged a little closer to peer down into the darkness, careful to keep his footing on the slick rock. Thick sheets of lichen had grown there along the edge of the abyss, clinging to their precarious ledge as they drank in the spray from the falling water. Jaeden was about to sink down to his hands and knees for a closer look into the hole when his name was suddenly shouted out behind him. He jumped a bit in surprise and slipped on the slick moss, landing hard on his hands and knees. “Ow…” he grumbled as he sat back on his heels to examine his now dirty palms. A nice sized scratch was running along the side of his left hand and he shrugged and wiped it off against his pantleg. He peered up at Ekerin with a frown. Why in the Force did the boy scream his name like that? He’d scared Jaeden half to death. Still, Ekerin had a point that Jaeden couldn’t argue even if it had been declared a little louder than was strictly necessary. They HAD come out on the pretense of looking for firewood, it would behoove them to actually try doing that now that the waterfall had been found.

Jaeden nodded his assent and rose stiffly back to his feet. His knees were going to be a tad bruised tomorrow but he couldn’t say he minded much. It wasn’t the first time he had fallen and he doubted it would be the last. He had a knack for being a little clumsy and it had haunted him most of his young life. “Yeah,” he said with a little wistful sigh, his eyes locked once more on the waterfall, “you’re right. I thought maybe there would be some driftwood nearby the water but no such luck.” He grinned at the other boy and jerked his head toward the falls. “We’ll have to come back here. I think Master Cree and Master Sellah would like this. Maybe we can bring them out here.” The thought was a pleasant one for the boy. He’d had a fairly rough time on his first and only mission so far with his Master and the scenic foray into the woods was a nice change. He figured Cree would enjoy the falls quite a bit and could only imagine that Sellah would too since it had certainly seemed to enrapture her student.

Jaeden turned and walked easily back toward the wood line. He’d only gone a few steps when he heard a strange noise that stopped him in his tracks. It had sounded sort of like a beep but hollow and echoing in a way that confused him. He waited for a few seconds, casting a perplexed look at his companion to see if Ekerin had heard it too. After a few seconds, just as he was about to play it off as his imagination, he heard it again. It was quiet and sounded far away but it was definitely there. Jaeden wheeled back to the falls and took a few tentative steps toward the edge again. “Did you hear that?” he whispered harshly, “I….I think it came from down there.” Jaeden pointed into the darkness. He knelt down and scooted closer to the edge to listen again, trusting that even if HIS hearing wasn’t sharp enough, perhaps Ekerin’s would be. He gestured for the other padawan to join him and then scooted close enough on his belly to hang his head just over the hole.

The beep sounded again, distant still but definitely there, echoing up at him from the darkness. “It sounds like a droid,” he said in wonder, “What’s a droid doing down in a hole?” The thought was worrisome for him. What if the poor thing had been lost down there for a long time? What if some explorer had dropped it or lost it and it had been waiting down in the darkness for someone to find it? Jaeden pulled out his flashlight from his belt and shined it down into the darkness. It bounced off a few rocks and after sweeping it around a bit, he paused with it shining on what appeared to be an opening in the rock face on the wall opposite from them. The hole was about 20 feet down and he couldn’t tell how deep it was but the sound seemed to be coming from down there.

[Kella]

ooc// Aaaaah, been a while since a wrote for a good creepy... his role will become apparent soon enough. //



The earth was black, black as the nothing of Space. Dark branch-less trees grew in a forest across the ground, which pulsed with an inner heat. Suddenly, a great divide broke the earth, and its burning red core was revealed, glowing light illuminating the blackness. The burning red made a pool like the crown of some great sphere, and at its center was an endless pit, a deep black chasm. The darkness reached from the black, and all souls disappeared into its depth...

The beast opened its glowing red eyes. There was no transition. There was no flutter. It was asleep. Then it was awake.

Though liquid most often pours toward the core of the world, this time, it poured upward to the sky, and a great shadow came up off of the ground. Darkness clung to the vague shape of a quadruped, long, broad tail hissssss, hissssssing along the forest floor.

Onyx robbed from the depths of the earth formed claws, wickedly curved and set in the end of broad, muscled feet. Their tips sliced clean holes through the dead leaves of the forest litter, digging down deep into the soft, moist earth.

The growl of an earthquake rumbled in its throat, subtle and chilling. Rapacious lungs devoured a sample of air, pulling it slowly over the palette, extracting a delicious array of samplings...

Breath heated by the molten rock of the core hissed through a cave, twirling around the slimy, forked tongue that lay upon the floor. The invisible tendrils pushed on to strain through the jagged stalagmites and stalactites that rimmed the opening, serrated and ruthless, colored by the red drought of death.

Ssssksssssssss, skssssssssss, the tail licked the hissing leaves.

The best was one with the shadows, and as it moved they clung possessively, obscuring the form, save for one feature...

Blood-red eyes.

[Casual]

Camping. Why had he agreed to this? Cree hated camping. It wasn't the peacefulness. Or the feeling of the living Force flowing and drifting around them. It wasn't the company, or sleeping under the stars. No. It was the enviornment. The bugs, the humidity, the camping. It was just uncomfortable. He looked forward to his meditations though. Gargon was amazing for such things. He was here now, though, and it wouldn't do to dwell on the negativity of the moment. This was a great experience for Jaeden, and it would give him a bit of taste in survival and endurance. The lessons that were to bolster him would soon be gone, and he would have to start getting rougher on the boy, he needed some tough love, as Cree's current exuberance and gentleness would not make for a good Master.

The tents are up, Master Cree. I think Ekerin and I can go get some firewood now before it gets dark.

Cree wasn't ignorant to Jaedens real motives, as they shone off of him brighter than Cree's own Force Blinding, but he had no problems with them. Cree's own adventerousness was really rubbing off on the boy.

Go on ahead, just don't get yourself into too much trouble

It was then that Cree heard the selonian Master Sellah's remark about tents. A slight shudder ran through Cree's mind. He had absolutely no idea how to construct a tent. He didn't even really trust the things, much like people, but that was a different kind of trust. Either way, he was the wrong person for the construction of tents. He had actually used the Force to set his own up, performing multiple movements of pegs and flaps at once that it may be constructed somewhat decently.

He watched the boys go off into the woods, and in an afterthought, moved to unpack the medkits, they'll likely be needing them when they returned.

//OOC: If I missed something let me know, I read through this like, 2 days ago, and I'm going by what I remember xD //

[Twysper]

Ekerin cringed a second time as he saw that he had startled Jaeden into falling. He chastised himself mentally.

Oh no, no, no... It was going so well...

It was in the midst of opening his muzzle to apologize that the Amaran realized he could do something to fix the rueful Jaeden's bruises and scratches. He had always been interested in healing. Not that he was adept at it. The life-blood of the waterfall continued to rush behind them in the background like a vertically-inclined bullet train as Ekerin mused to himself, unsure of his ability.

"Yeah,” Ekerin's ears distinctly caught the note of disconsolate inflection in the human's voice, and acquiesced thoughtfully. “you’re right. I thought maybe there would be some driftwood nearby the water but no such luck.”

The Amaran's thoughts twisted back towards the small armful of deadwood he had gathered earlier, now laying on the ground back behind tree cover. How long had they been gone? Would Master Cree and Sellah come to find them standing flat-footed and sidetracked? Ekerin stretched his presence in the force to just past the edges of the clearing and sighed in relief when his search came up empty.

“We’ll have to come back here. I think Master Cree and Master Sellah would like this. Maybe we can bring them out here.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. They'll probably have something to say about tranquility." Ekerin nodded assent to Jaeden's suggestion cheerfully, mood slightly brightened as they started to trot towards the path. Sellah could duly appreciate the sight and sound here. The Amaran had almost asked Jaeden if he could hear the soft, symphonic undertones like himself, but had opted against it so as to not seem boastful. He wanted so much to befriend the other padawan...

Then Ekerin heard the low beeping at the same time as Jaeden. His ears piqued with curiosity, firewood instantly forgotten, and the padawans exchanged glances at the same time. “I heard it too.” Perhaps he hadn’t given the human’s hearing enough credit.

Regardless, it had also drawn his attention, and Ekerin trailed Jaeden back towards the deep hole in the ground. While the latter laid down to peer into the darkness, the former proceeded to watch anxiously, tail flickering like a drafted candle flame. “What’s down there, Jaeden?”

“It sounds like a droid,” Jaeden said in partial disbelief. “What’s a droid doing down in a hole?”

The question may have been rhetorical, but Ekerin felt compelled to throw in his two cents anyways, a curious glint suddenly in his eyes, impulsive daring edging his voice like a blade, thrust into the heart of the decision. They both had their lightsabers and utility belts, not to mention the Force. They could probablyhandle anything they might run into. “Should we go find out?”

OoC// Fluffeh like a Space Otter!

[Otterling]

((OOC: Not sure really whether we're doing a posting order in this one since everyone is sort of split up at the moment so I'm gonna go ahead and post. If anyone needs me to not do so, let me know. ^____^ ))

Jaeden stared down into the darkness for a few silent moments, his thoughts swirling like a torrent as he stared into the abyss. His first mission, from which he’d only recently returned, had tested his own confidence in a way he certainly hadn’t expected and though everything had turned out ok in the end, it had left its mark on him. His old self doubts had come up multiple times during that mission and though he’d put them aside in the end, he could still hear that tiny nagging voice in his head. If he and Ekerin went to go check that out, it would mean doing so on their own. He’d come out alive after his last mission but much of that was because he’d had not one but TWO High Council Members with him. He wondered how well he’d fare if he was on his own and something happened. As he glanced back up at the Amaran standing behind him, he could feel that self doubt melt away into a resolve. He wasn’t alone. They had been brought to this world to learn teamwork and what better way than to risk a little adventure?

If he chose this path, Jaeden knew it could cause trouble. If he and Ekerin got stuck or had to call on their masters for help, Cree would probably be pretty upset with him…but then, if they managed on their own, he could show his master that he was indeed capable of standing on his own when need be and that he was able to work with a teammate to achieve a goal. Cree had been trying to bolster his confidence right from the start, Jaeden could see that plainly enough, and the whole camping trip was about working together so wouldn’t he be proud if Jaeden and Ekerin managed to take care of this simple thing on their own? After all, it was only a twenty foot drop into a small tunnel…and their masters wouldn’t need to come all the way out to the falls just to help get a droid out of a hole…and they could be back before dinner….and what if the droid moved off, or worse, misjudged the ledge and fell into the dark?

Jaeden’s mind offered up a dozen reasons why he should at least try this and he let himself hold to that instead of the one voice telling him this would probably land him straight into trouble. “Ok,” he breathed excitedly, “I’ll go first, then you follow me.” Jaeden sat up and pulled a small grappling hook from his belt, unwinding a bit of it into his hand. He searched quickly around the area before finding a deep groove between two stones near the edge of the woodline. In this, he shoved the grappling hook, wedging it tight to make sure it would bear his weight before he approached the edge of the hole again. He attached the other end of the line back to his belt and then turned to face Ekerin, his back to the hole. A thin lipped and admittedly nervous smile played over his face as he edged backward and stepped off into the darkness, his fingers feeding out the line enough to let him fall about five feet. From there, he planted his boots against the rock face and began to walk down toward the hole he’d seen.

The waterfall quickly swallowed all other sounds as it echoed around him just as the walls of the chasm swallowed the light little by little as he descended. After about ten feet, Jaeden was forced to pull his flashlight back out so he could see where he was headed. He gripped the light between his teeth as he lowered himself. The hole began to incline inward as it got deeper until Jaeden was soaked from the spray of the waterfall. He peered through the rush of white water illuminated in the beam of his flashlight as he made his way down until, at last, he caught glimpses of the tunnel on the other side of the falls. Jaeden closed his eyes and let himself open to the natural flow of the Force there. It swirled and rolled around him, bouncing off the walls like an echo all its own and reflecting of the crystalline droplets of water that rushed past him to continue their path to the bottom. He pulled that energy to him and used it to heighten his awareness of everything around him. The tunnel across the way came into view in his mind along with the water and the slick rock he was braced against. He imagined himself being propelled across the way to the opening in the rock face and then summoned the Force to help him make the leap. His legs tensed and sprang, kicking off and throwing him directly through the cold spray of water. He rolled when he hit the floor of the tunnel and finally came to a stop a few feet in.

Jaeden peered around, shining his flashlight down into the depths of the tunnel he was now sitting in. It was tall enough that he and Ekerin would be able to stand but he doubted his master would fit in it without having to bend over. It also went a lot deeper than he expected and his light was swallowed up into the darkness again after 25 feet. The water had been cold and his tunics were soaked, hanging heavily off his shoulders while his hair plastered itself to his face, but it was the dankness of the tunnel itself that made him shiver lightly. There was no sign of the droid he’d heard and he listened intently for a few moments with no company but the rush of water behind him. “H-hello?” he called softly, his voice echoing back to him in the cramped tunnel. For a second, there was no answer. Then, out of the darkness ahead of him, Jaeden heard the beep again. It sounded fairly deep into the tunnel. “Blasted droid,” he grumbled. It had obviously moved farther into the recess than before and now he and Ekerin would have to go chase it down.

Jaeden made his way to the lip of the tunnel and peered up to the small circle of brilliant blue sky above him. “It’s all clear,” he called up to Ekerin, “come on. I can still hear it but I think it’s gotten confused and is heading deeper. We’d better catch it before it gets too far.”

[Twysper]

Ekerin's thoughts lay along the same tangent as Jaeden's. Teamwork through inquisitive exploration of things perhaps best left alone!

The Amaran waited semi-patiently for Jaeden to make a decision, paws tapping out a staccato rhythm on the moss-covered rock as eyes ablaze with curiosity watched the darkened crevice worn away by the constant flow of water. Ekerin wondered if the hole had been there forever; if the water cascading down towards them had, long ago, forged a path through the terrain to comply with gravity's demands. Had it instantly broken through a thinner layer of rock upon impact, or was it a gradual process? What creatures would have observed that phenomenon? Was it quiet or loud? Maybe it was an earthquake!

The padawan's tangent of thoughts occupied him long enough for Jaeden to put his personal doubts to rest. Then it was Ekerin's turn to stop and think about his master's own reaction to what they were about to do. Sellah was an infinitely practical being, this much he had quickly ascertained from the training sessions and lectures he had been given. Ekerin tried not to mess up, but sometimes what was practical ran on a different level then what was fun. The fact that Jaeden got to go exploring first mildly tweaked his sense of curiosity and accomplishment.

First. The position of first was to be sought after and desired, first was remembered. Second was occasionally acceptable, if only because it came before the rest; excepting first of course. The same competitive drive that the Amaran had used to fuel his learning as a youngling, in preparation for being a padawan, had all the potential to one day conspire against his aspirations.

Ekerin observed carefully as Jaeden went about fastening his grappling hook in place, playing out the line until he was balanced on the edge. The Amaran saw the other boy's nervousness, and flashed him his own (slightly predatory looking) grin and a thumbs up before finally seeing the shock of red hair disappear into the black like a will-o-the-wisp.

Thus began the stereotypical longest minute of Ekerin's life, as he waited for the other padawan to give the all-clear. Those sapphire-lensed lantern-eyes, lit again by the flame of overly inquisitive behavior, cast around the immediate landscape for a suitable spot to anchor his own line, while his tail erratically churned the air behind him like a man flailing in the midst of a heart attack.

Eventually, a keen ear piqued and picked up Jaeden’s echoing call coming from inside the cave, initiating a slightly hasty response from the padawan. In a trice, he had fastened his grappling hook in the same fashion as Jaeden’s and started his descent, rappelling on the inside of the wall. Soon the rushing, crashing noise from the water bordered on a level that was painful for the Amaran to focus on. Ekerin used the light Jaeden held to view his surroundings for a moment before realizing that he was to jump through the cascade of water to reach his partner. Thus began a long moment of quiet consideration and dubious glaring at the water, because if he got his fur wet it would most probably fluff later, and he did not want to fluff. It was a shallow, selfish, juvenile train of thought and Ekerin did not want to be seen as such. He was a Jedi padawan now, after all.

That did it for his resolve. With a final glare, the Amaran silently tensed to the crag-splashed wall before propelling himself through the water and across the gap, landing lightly on the hard floor that had been ground into a dark, glistening pane next to Jaeden. Ekerin rocked to his feet with a wry grin and absently smoothed bright droplets of water from his fur.

“That wasn’t so bad.” Ekerin mused as he again rested his long-clawed hand on the hilt of his lightsaber out of habit and cast blue eyes around his new subterranean surroundings. “Where’s our little friend?”

The question was more for the sake of making conversation than a need to know. His sense of hearing had proved itself invaluable again as another pitched ping echoed through the tunnel. The Amaran started to move further into the cave after it and clicked his own light on, playing the beam off of the walls.

OoC// So sorreh about the wait, had to get some things straightened on my end. x.x