Log:Stranger Danger
Stranger Danger
Location: Jakku
Participants: Rey, Sirus Yume, Suoh Yume, Raim Rhah, Mee, Rheisa Dirleel
Niima Outpost - Badlands, Jakku This is a small scavenger settlement, it rests on top of a flat-land hill amidst the endless dust fields of Jakku. Here one will find a series of many tents and mud-adobe structures 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.
The twins are currently sitting in little folding chairs and just talking their secret plans done at least last night in the dead of night. New spice following throughout the planet and hoping to get a few good customers. They did this by using disguises and a few well played bartenders and the such. It would not find their way back to their doorstep for that is what they do best. They are smoking a hookah shared at the moment Sirus's long hose is Purple and the other one is a deep red in the hands of Suoh. They are talking quietly at the moment as the sun sinks over the desert.
From the tents come the one armed mechanic with empty hand. He sighs and glances at the tents one last time before heading to where the twins are. Upon reaching then, he smiles."Bosses." He murmurs and takes a seat by Suoh's side on the ground and leans backwards on his arms.
Well rested, well fed, and toting a little canteen to help herself to a refill at the local well, Rheisa returns to the outpost for another hunt. This time, though, it's not meat she's after. Just a face to match a name. Or two. The Togruta's draped in a sun-shielding shawl still damp from the morning's attempt to wash it. Under the scorching sun, it feels quite lovely, while it lasts.
Suoh had a little set up sitting next to his brother. He propped up an umbrella and as keeping his ivory, echani skin under it out of the sun's rays. Suoh nods to Mee, who joins him. "Hey, don't sit on the sand. It's hot." He scans the horizon and the little outpost. He catches the Togruta moving about and waves. "Hoy! Rhesia. Where are we going?"
Moving through the sands from the direction of the ships comes the blue hued form of Raim Shah. His feet shuffle through the sand, tracks leading all the way back from the direction he came. A thin sheen of sweat glistens on his forehead as he spots the rest of his troupe and begins to head over. "Hey guys, what's the plan?" he says.
"Well mine is just to relax and smoke for a bit." Sirus then looks at them with a huge goofy grin with the hose in hand."But unless you got something better to do." He nods towards the others and looks at Mee with a smile."How comes the ship dude?" He then exhales the blue smoke into the air slowly with a soft chuckle and washing it down with a swig of his water from his silver flask.
"The ship small repairs are done. But better avoid those asteroids in our way out of this planet." Mee answers standing up due the hot sands. He then pushes his scarf upwards, to cover his very pale face, leaving bare only his feet. To the others, he just offers nods and smiles.
"Reestkii. I hope." Rheisa answers Suoh after closing more of the distance between. She keeps upwind of the blue 'fumes' wafting from the shared pipe. The tented head turns, regarding Raim with a soft smile and wink of teeth. "You must be tired, if I move faster than you." She points to the shabby-but-bustling roadhouse. "Alana say to ask Uunkarr Plutt, or a girl. Rrrey," she chirps.
Suoh sets his hookah hose down like he was not smoking it. He slowly exhales through his nose. Complete deniability. He nods to Mee. "Well we will try not to pod race it home." He sighs a bit. "Alana from here? Whose Uncle Plutz? And a Rey? Calmari girl? Sounds like a Calamari name."
Raim nods his head in reply to Rheisa. "Reestkii it is, then. Let's get this show on the road," he says in a falsely cheery voice. His scarlet eyes flick toward Rheisa and he chuckles, "I have been out in the sun all day, not hanging about the ship after your little breakfast this morning!" he jokes back at the Togruta.
Rheisa shakes her head in response to Suoh's question. "I do not know..." and then tilts her head curiously back towards Raim. "'All day'? What you do? Find funny droid again?" Her left hand rummages beneath the garment and pulls out her canteen. Unlike most of her personal effects, this one was not created from some poor meal's hide, but rather a product of the modern wonders of the galaxy. It's metal. She plods on ahead, bare toes cutting uneven tracks through the packed sands towards the well.
It's the end of Rey's work day. After having sold her scrap to Unkar and given a measly amount of portions to continue to survive, the decidedly not Calamari woman is divested of her burdens and tossed her net over her shoulder to move back toward her run down speeder near the ships and landing field that Niima uses. There are not often visitors or ships that she does not recognize there, but today she sees both. Curious, but not willing to stop in order to investigate more, the sand covered scavenger moves to her vehicle and starts strapping her things onto it in their proper places.
Suoh sharp steel eyes shoot to Raim's direction "Rhesia, made you breakfast?" He stands in one quick movement. He gaze goes back to Rhesia. His expression looks like the smoke he had was bad and he follows after Rhesia. His attention gets pulled to the locals, but tries to stay focused.
Mee, the one armed umbaran just stands in the shadow, watching the locals doing their own things while the others deal with more important stuff. The human girl is noted with a side glance, but ignored since she doesn't even bear interesting pieces of devices.
Nodding his head in reply to Suoh, Raim says offhandedly, "Yeah, Rheisa cooked this morning, it was pretty good, even if I am not sure exactly what it was." He smiles and then begins slogging through the sand after Rheisa and says in reply to her, "Well, I did a bit of poking around, just in a circuit around the ships, never too far. I looked for the droid, but couldn't ever find him."
"Well a droid is good at hiding when they don't wish to be found." Sirus exhales the smoke again and standing up slowly."So off to that place to drop off the goodies." He then starts to move towards the others with a grin and looking at the hookah."Free hookah." He mutters loudly and then stands next to Rheisa with a huge goofy smile.
Finding herself suddenly quite surrounded, the Togruta pauses in her drink efforts to pull back her wrappings of a hood and squints at the lot of them. "It was late in night, when prepared. Cooked slow, so everyone could eat in morning. If awake." Wiping at an eye, she steps up into the vacancy left by a local and draws up enough to splash her face and fill her vessel. The passing of a girl carrying a net though, namely the net, catches the corner of her vision and she turns her head to watch..."Speeder," she points. "Maybe she knows where we might buy, if not want to fly?"
The Echani twin Suoh, glances to Rhesia, then is a sigh of relief to his shoulders as he relaxes. "Oh breakfast for everyone..." He says softly. He nods and his attention goes to where Rheisa is pointing to the lovely humanoid. "Well, maybe she knows where we can drop off charity." He touches his chest. "I think.. I'm not well .. I'll catch up later." Suoh looks a tad green about his gills and he makes a hasty exit.
Rey deftly attaches her netting to her boxy speeder, nimble fingers making quick work of it. Then, she pulls the strap that attaches her staff over her head and stuffs it between the holes of the net in order to keep it trapped. Her eyes quickly survey the speeder to ensure no more dents of harm came to it while she was away and then, before putting her hand on the handlebars and climbing onto it, she studies the visitors again. She can't help it. When there are newcomers, she always has a strangely hopeful voice in the back of her head. Maybe this is the time. However, she has already been burned recently and is apprehensive of it happening again. There's not much hurry in her movement, but she is also not waiting around for tourists.
Mee continues watching people talking about the charity thing and about the human girl. But he's just a mechanic with no skill in socialization, so he leaves this part to the others and continues resting in the shadows. Watching. Eventually, he glances at the human girl once or twice, just out of curiosity.
Raim follows along behind Rheisa as she points toward Rey. The Chiss lifts a hand as the woman climbs aboard her speeder and calls out, "Hold up, miss! Please, can we speak with you a moment if you don't mind? We need some directions!" He picks up the pace, forcing his weary legs to carry him onward as he tries to get within easy speaking range before she speeds off.
A girl. There are many females, human and otherwise, in this settlement. But how else to begin than pick one and ask? Bright eyes affix Rey within a contemplative gaze that borders on predatory. She did not appear to represent a threat, but in her many months on Nar Shaada, Rheisa Dirleel has learned well that persons are not always what they seem. And then Raim speaks her mind. The Togruta follows slowly behind, hands kept within sight in show of good intentions, while configuring her shawl to free her skull and its appendages to the air.
The human girl watches the approach of the strangers with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. A hand behind her speeder goes to her staff. While it may be trapped in a mesh against her speeder, she knows both well enough to either rip the netting or extract the staff to defend herself should these strangers with predatory looks and questions should attempt to get out of line. "Directions?" Rey replies, eyes equally distributing time between each of them to get a brief picture. "To where? There's nothing here but sand, scrap and more sand."
The umbaran glances at Raim, Rhesia and the human girl. He blinks a few time, but its too hot to him. Then, he takes a deep breath and goes to get closer to the group. Just in case one of them need an one armed mechanic. His pace is slow and he keeps himself a few feet away from the group.
Raim smiles in a friendly way, his white teeth glinting in sharp contrast to the deep sapphire of his skin tone. He lifts a hand in greeting once more and then extends it toward Rey. "Hello there! My name is Raim Shah... this is Rheisa, and Mee. We flew out here from Nar Shaddaa and are trying to find a village by the name of... Reestkii?" He glances toward Rheisa with an upturned brow as he says the name slowly, as if clearly intending it be said right. Glancing back to Rey he drops his voice lower so as to keep any of the other villagers from hearing and says, "We have brought a few supplies that we raised money to purchase and want to deliver it to help them. Can you help us?"
"There is much sand, yes" murmurs Rheisa, flicking a glance to the young woman's mounted belongings - her staff, most worthy of notation. Gray lips, parched in this climate, twitch into the likes of a smile and bare toes that nearly blend with the clay-colored sand wriggle for effect. "It is different. But like my friend say, we did not come for sand. We have map, some knowledge of this place. But we are not of this land. I know, outsiders are sometimes not welcome. That is why we ask for help. To help others, who have less than these people here. Seeds. Medicines. We have these things, and more. Could make trade with you. A woman we travel with has come this way before. She say to ask for 'Rey'. Do you know this person?"
And that, is perhaps the most words in a sentence the seemingly feral Shili native has spoken all week. From the belt at her waist, she produces a few colorful, glass beads and a tiny, wooden carving. Much in the way she'd tested the local on the day of their arrival, she offers these things, palm up, to the wary girl.
Mee notes the talkative mood in the Togruta and arches a brow in surprise. And when Rheisa offers a gift to the human girl, the mechanic can't avoid glancing at the things that lie in Rheisas hands, with a mild curiosity.
Rey looks between Raim, Rheisa and Mee for a few more cycles as she attempts to figure out who they are and what they actually want. People don't come to Jakku to help others - they come here because they want something. That is all that she's known of this place. "Reestkii." The repeat of the town's name is met with a skepticism that cannot be faked. She has yet to answer whether she will help.
As Rheisa attempts to appeal with an offer, she sees the beads and the tiny wood carving with a curious, but suspicious look. Especially as she mentions her by name. Stepping backward, a hand quickly goes to hold onto the staff in the netting on her speeder. "Which person is this? And why would she have you ask for me?" she demands.
Raim holds out his hands wide, showing that he is not meaning any harm. There is a blaster at his hip that he hasn't once reached for. "Look, I know that this place is a pretty cut throat planet. I know that people would stab you in the back to take what you have and that they don't. If it would help you to trust us, I will take you to my ship and show you the supplies. I swear to you, we are only here to help the people of Reestkii and then be on our way." His eyes widen as Rey reacts how she does and he shakes his head quickly, "Alana is just one of our group, she said that she has been here before and she gave us your name. That is all!"
Rheisa doesn't seem cowed by the defensive nature of their potential guide. If anything, there is empathy setting into new-formed creases around her eyes, the white markings contorting into a squint. One by one, her fingers seal around the miniature bits of art. Once again, she's content to let Raim do the talking. He is better at it, after all, and a little less fangly. A quick glance cuts to see how their one-armed man is doing, then she focuses again on Rey.
The pigmented bands encircling her headtails lighten just a touch, becoming almost fuzzy at the edges, less defined against the rest of the stark white flesh. The tips tense inwards, just a hair, as they contract subtly against her frame. "I will show her, if three is too many," she finally offers and shifts her weight aside, drawing her right leg a touch forward to expose her own, old injury that hobbles her still. Or appears to as she steps a few stiff paces in that direction.
Mee's comm beeps and the voice of Suoh is heard. The one armed man bites his lower lip and just turns around, heading back to the Lucky Strike without saying a word to his crew members. But a few paces ahead, he turns his head to take one last look at the human girl and he smiles. It's a concealed smile though, since he has a scarf covering most of his face.
Unlikely to trust offworlders in this manner, Rey keeps her hand steadily on her staff, though she has yet to pull it. She needs no empathy or understanding, she wants answers. "I'm not about to go aboard a strange ship with strange people," she tells Raim decisively. It does not matter if it is Rheisa or Raim or Mee showing her the ship. Wounds can be faked, as can limps and people. She knows quite a few tricks of the trade in order to steal scrap in order to get more portions. It's why she has learned to defend herself so well. "If you wish to find Reestkii, it's quite a distance that way," she points toward the north. "Avoid the Kelvin Ridge and I would not walk it." That is her advice.
Raim smiles disarmingly to the woman. "Alright. You don't have to board the ship. What about this... it can't be easy to find food here. What if we give you some food as well? You can follow us, stay aboard your speeder. I will go aboard the ship, get you enough food to show that we are indeed what we say we are and that our intentions are genuine... Will you be our guide, then?" He maintains that smile, his hands held to either side as he says, "Come on, Rey... We need your help."
"Then we fly," Rheisa nods, watching Mee go ahead of them. Working at the rate he is, he ought to earn that new arm soon enough. Pending those results, she just may reconsider the natural status of her own faulty limb. Maybe. Slender, calloused fingers return to fish from within the hidden 'storage' folds of otherwise revealing garb. A moment of debate follows, as she feels the shapes within. In the end, it's the Akul fetish that wins out. Small, easily stood in one's palm, the amber-colored, wooden effigy snarls out at the world, one forepaw clawing the air.
"Rrraim," she turns around to touch the Chiss on the arm. "When Jaren find me, I like this 'Rey', here. I bite. Is hard thing, to trust a stranger." A soft thrum purrs in the deep of her throat and she shows the hand-carved figurine to the local. "For your help, already given," and tosses it at her. "Is what I do," she points at it. "Art. Also, tell stories. Want to tell, for the children, where we go. Maybe, if you decide to follow, you listen, too. And eat." Tipping her montrals into a respectful bow, she backs up two steps, then turns to trudge back up the sandy hill.
Rey says nothing toward either Raim or Rheisa as they debate amongst themselves. Her hackles remain raised, her hand remains on her weapon and she is ready to jump aboard the speeder to escape. Instead, she wordlessly watches them retreat. Her shoulders slowly start to lower as the strangers move away from her, but she also does not simply speed away. Instead, she watches them as they move back to their strange ship as she mulls over the discussion and pleas they made to her. Only once they are far enough away does she climb aboard the speeder, coaxing it into life and then disappearing off into the distance toward her meager home.
Raim's head turns fractionally as he listens to Rheisa. He dips his head into a nod of understanding and slips his arm around the Togruta's shoulders in a friendly way. His scarlet eyes return to Rey, watching her for a moment before he says, "If it helps you, I have spent most of my life as a servant to a Hutt against my will. I worked for them and all of the fruits of my labor went directly to the Hutt Queen that 'owned' me while I got barely enough to survive. I existed in this way until I was finally able to buy my freedom and since then I have worked and earned myself a decent life. I /want/ to help these people, and you, if you will let me." He smiles faintly and then turns along with Rheisa and walk alongside her back toward the ship.
