Log:Narrow or Part Minded

Narrow or Part Minded

OOC Date: December 27th, 2015
Location: Niima Outpost - Jakku
Participants: Alana Zee, Rey

-- Niima Outpost - Badlands, Jakku --

       This is a small scavenger settlement, it rests ontop of a flat-land hill amidsts the endless dust fields of Jakku.
       Here one will find a series of many tents and mud-adobe strectures setup inside the metal walls that surround the compound. This settlement is one of the small hubs for inter-planetary travel and scavenger markets. People come here to buy the parts scavenged from the old Ship Graveyard to the east. 
       Some people do indeed call Jakku home and this is one of the small settlements that they live within. Safety here is not a promise, as there are no official law-enforcement officials on Jakku, one is left to defend themselves.
       Unkar Plutt's Roadhouse is the most traversed place for people looking to relax, and scavengers can often be found outside of it turning in their daily 'finds' to attempt to receive food handouts from Unkar Plutt himself.

--

There can't be many visitors to Jakku, but Alana Zee is one. She's just disembarked from the 'Firith', which touched down and then left rapidly from just east of the settlement. Perhaps the pilot didn't want to be seen as an 'opportunity' by the scavengers out here. So here comes Alana, goggles over her eyes to protect against the desert sun and wind, but otherwise woefully underprepared - no sign of a water canteen upon her, no sign of an inertial tracker or anything that could prevent her getting lost in the badlands, and her only weapon a vibrodagger on her hip. Crazy girl. She has a lightweight duffle slung over her shoulder, and she strides into the settlement looking about as though hunting for a guide.

Ships coming and leaving from Jakku are something that the scavenger known as Rey usually watches with interest. Shortly beforehand, the woman clad in dirty grey clothing is busy dragging a net filled with parts across the small stretch of sand toward the Roadhouse where she will exchange them for portions. The noise of a ship taking off is unmistakeable and calls to Rey on a very deep level. She pauses for a moment, looking upward, watching the Firith launch upward out of the atmosphere again. Her usual headgear is tossed back off her face and hangs against the back of her neck, revealing a wistful and sad expression as she watches it disappear.

As soon as the ship is gone, the scavenger sets her shoulders and continues a drag forward with her dirty parts, nearly running right into Alana as she does so. "Pardon," she says automatically to the other woman. It takes only a moment for Rey to assess that she's not from here. She has no water, diamonds in her ears, looking as if she has a purpose - a reason for being here. For a moment, she can't help the curious look she gives Alana. "You're not from here, are you?"

Alana Zee smiles a somewhat wary smile as she finds herself conversing with the scavenger. "No, I'm not from round here. I'm from Nar Shaddaa, and I'm looking for water, shade, and the nearest trader outpost, in that order." She moistens parched, chapped lips that are only getting more parched and chapped in the desert heat and squints, despite the shade of her goggles, at Rey. "I'm Alana Zee." There's self-confidence there. Pity that self-confidence didn't extend to bringing a canteen with her, right?

The name certainly doesn't sound familiar and Rey studies Alana again at the confirmation that she's not from here. Not many come to Jakku for reasons that are not illegitimate. She doesn't have a problem with that, per say, but she also has a living to make. A head tilts slightly to the left before she responds. "Water's hard to come by," she tells Alana truthfully. "Usually have to buy it." One hand remains of her net as she points forward toward the Roadhouse. "Not much of an Outpost, but Plutt has the resources if you have something to trade." A clatter of metal sounds as Rey starts to drag her haul forward slowly. "Not many people come here on their own."

"If you're selling water, I'll buy some from you," Alana offers, stepping forwards and falling into step beside Rey, although she doesn't offer to pull the clattering haul. "If you're not selling water, I'll buy some for you. You gave me information, and one good turn deserves another. Plutt. I have nothing to trade, but I hope to make him an offer he can't refuse."

Rey continues her slow pull forward of her parts. There is absolutely no expecting of Alana to help her with her haul. Jakku is a place where isolation and fending for oneself is the law of the land. "I've none to sell," she quickly tells Alana at the offer. The offer to buy some for her is met with a stopped progression forward. The young woman eyes Alana suspiciously. "All I did was point you in a direction you were already moving," she tells her. However, she doesn't refuse the offer of bought water. It's hard enough to come by on this desert planet. "Offers mean little to him," she warns. "He has a narrow mind that's regulated to parts only."

"A narrow mind regulated to parts only," Alana Zee repeats, savoring the words. "All the better." It's not clear, on first listening, whether she prefers the narrow mind or the parts-only mind. She certainly seems keen to meet the fellow. "You got a name?"

Rey has been on Jakku long enough that she does not quite know what to make of someone here exhibiting enthusiasm. The emotion meets with a curious and wary look before she decides to move forward. "Rey," she tells Alana, at least giving the woman her name. There's little else the young woman can offer the newcomer other than what she's already done. That accomplished, she decides to pull her scavenged things more toward the cleaning stations."I'd find some water," she warns over her shoulder. "The nights are just as hot as the days."

And it's there that Alana's and Rey's paths start to diverge, the former heading towards Plutt's place. Odds are high that she won't survive the first few days, for either she's a penniless waif who can't afford the water needed to sustain life, or she's gotten enough money about her that she is ripe for plucking by one or another of the less savory sorts round here. Still, she gives Rey a jaunty wave and calls, above the wind, "Thank you!"