In The Jungle Two, One Pink One Blue

Strix

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Induomodo

Strix stood up in his small rented room. He couldn’t take a single step toward without bumping into anything. The room was already small, and in adding all his tools and equipment to the room it was near impossible to navigate. Instead of risking the damaging of one of his tools, he simply starting packing it all up right there. He started by applying all the clothing he could. He wore his ragged shirt and pants first, then covered it with his best jacket and trousers. They were his one and only go to article of clothing when he was meeting someone for the first time. His sparse armour pieces, portable Experimentation Station, and safely sealed homemade remedies and serums were all placed into the bag which he carried at his side. Lastly on his hip his sheath and vibrosword rested dangling near his leg, placed strategically so the ornate handle was always visible. With that he exited the room.

Outside he was greeted by the lovely couple that had let him stay for the night. He was supposed to meet his contact here today, but miscalculated the times between planets and arrived a day early by accident. He gave an overly regal bow and left. The nice lady smiled and slapped her spouse who scoffed at Strix’s out of place gesture. He was on Induomodo, a curious jungle planet and was in one of the very few habited areas of it. He quite enjoyed it. No matter which direction he walked in, he would soon be in the jungle, surrounded by the planets flora and fauna. The particular fauna he was chasing after today however was the kouhun. He’d heard from a mercenary that they were very potently venomous. He had worked with various venoms previously, but he was curious to see what properties this brand may have.

For now however, he walked in the direction of the only cantina possibly on the entire planet. Even by Wild Space standards it was barebones. It wasn’t even a closed building, just an open courtyard in the middle of several homes with tables all placed in a circle around the ‘bar’. The bar in question was just a slightly larger table with crates of prepackaged booze from several nearby planets and one or two branded drinks. He had walked by it yesterday during his perusal of the town looking for a place to stay. Today he was begging for shelter, but in his mind he was already envisioning a castle that reached the clouds all trimmed in gold and surrounded by a security force made of entirely of genetically altered Chiss. As his mind wandered with delusions such as these, he arrived at the ‘cantina’. He hadn’t gotten a description of his contact, the one who would be his guide and aide on his expedition, so he stood there; sticking out like a sore thumb as he began to scan the crowd for any signs indicating that his contact was here.
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea sat at the small bar counter, the place fairly vacant considering other cantinas she had been to in the Rim. Apparently, someone had needed help tracking something on this wild planet. Frontier worlds were always something that seemed to interest uneducated idiots, and the Zeltron only hoped that her potential employer was smart enough to know a thing or two about the wildlife and flora here. First off, the jungles were lethal, literally lethal, and there were all manner of poisonous and venomous things that had evolved specifically to kill humanoids in a hearbeat. Atmosphere was thick and humid, which made slugging through the kriffing Jungle Soup that much harder to do. And don't even get started on the beasts. All kinds of creatures, including the kouhun, a disgusting centipede that Halea would gladly chop in half at first sight.

The door to the cantina slid open, briefly bringing with it the stench of the jungle and the mugginess too, before it slid shut and the atmospheric conditioning readjusted back to something reasonably more comfortable. The woman turned her head and saw red glowing eyes through the darkness before a humanoid figure with the skin tone of a Pantoran appeared under an overhead light. There was an ornate handle on what appeared to be a sword, and the guy was dressed quite oddly, considering their surroundings. Only one person that could be, someone so pompous as to hire their own personal tour guide to accompany them in some of the most dangerous jungle there is to wander through. Had to be her employer. Well, that was just delightful.

Halea rose an eyebrow and turned in her seat slightly, whistling quietly to attempt to get his attention.
 

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Strictly continued to scan the crowd, fearing his contact hadn’t showed after all. Then, through the typical banter of the cantina he could hear a a faint whistle. As he turned and found the source his eyes widened. Standing right there was a creature he had never seen before in his life. The rest of the patrons were typical species of Wild Space and he had grown accustomed to them. But this, this amazing creature was whistling at him. He simply stared, unaware of any attention he might be drawing to himself. Her skin was a beautiful pink hue, her hair a dark purple and striking eyes that met his. As unwitting to his outward appearance as ever, his face lit up as he raced to the creature’s table.

With little regard for the patrons he disturbed he rushed past and sat down in front of her. He stared from a closer distance eyeing her features, trying to identify the presence of any unique traits. He checked the neck and nose for aquatically adapted respiratory systems. He checked the eyes for a potentially different spectrum of view, they were purple after all. He looked at her hands to see if there were any out of the ordinary appendages or characteristics. Finally, exhausting any information he could discern with just his eyes he returned his focus to her face. Finally funny back into the world around him the onslaught of questions began.

“What are you? What is your species called I mean? Why is your skin pink? Is it a side effect from your planets sun? Byproduct of your natural diet? Does it function as a camouflage in your natural habitat? What about your eyes, do they serve a purpose beyond standard humanoid vision? Is there anything at all your species can do especially well? Any special traits? He had begun this little rant without even checking if he understood her, but he was working under the assumption that she spoke the trade language commonly used in Wild Space, Sy Bisti.
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea winced as the man rushed over, bumping into people and generally causing a bit of a disruption here and there and then sat down directly across from the Zeltron, uncomfortably close. Studying. Then he grabbed her head and moved it around, seemingly examining it for any notable features, then grabbed her hands, in which she took as the last straw and swatted his arm away. Kriffing lunatic. Some kind of scientist? Biologist? No damn idea. Then he began rapidly asking questions in a language she wasn't terribly familiar with. Sy Bisti, that's what it was. Wild Space used it all the time. Luckily, the tender here knew enough basic to understand 'whiskey'. The woman caught a few words here and there, mainly 'species', and a few colors. She shook her head with a partially confused, offended, and angry face.

"Tell me you speak Basic. I sure as hell don't speak Sy Bisti."

Last thing she needed was for this guy to only know Bisti. Almost nobody spoke it, including her. She could speak just about any scum language like Rodian fluently, or at least understand it, but an obscure language that was fading into obscurity? Hell no. Halea also didn't exactly like being kriffing examined like some kind of experiment. He was Pantoran or something, right? Had to speak Basic. But she'd never seen glowing red eyes on a Pantoran before. Maybe some kind of rare subspecies.

Ah, well. As the woman waited for the mysterious whatever he was to reply, she ordered another drink. From what she hoped, there was decent money in this. At least a few hundred credits.
 

Strix

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Strix has ignored the slap to the hand, he had received far worse reactions for his studious nature. It was his complete lack of communication that made home fringe. A deep, long fringe as he realized his error. He hadn’t spent too much time in this galaxy outside of the Ascendancy, regardless he would try his best to speak Basic, he needed to practice anyway.

“A... uhm, of sure. Let me try over. My name is Huss’tri’xinio. You are contact? I regret for the scanning. Your face is new and weird. But very nice, very um, how to say, pince? Pinks? He continued, hoping he had cleared the air. He was all too aware of his lack of regality right now. He was supposed to be the authority in this scenario. Giving his best stern voice he said:

“Hear, I am charged. We go to wet forest and track kouhun. Small bug. Sickness inside. I need sickness for my collection. You help me into wet forest, we track kouhun, together not die, then I have you for money. Good deal?” He awaited her response trying not to show his eagerness. In truth, he didn’t have a lot of money, but he had brought enough of his possessions from the Unknown Regions to sell here, garnering him at least a bit of capitol.

With any luck, this amazement of a species could help him with tracking the kouhuns, since he usually tracked larger beasts and he could sell whatever findings he could manage.
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea winced as the blue-skinned scientist attempted to speak Basic. Where was he from? Didn't the whole galaxy speak Basic, or at least some form of it that was understandable to everyone else? Some kind of planet that had shut itself away from the rest of the greater dustballs and taken on Sy Bisti as its prime language? Only a few words she knew from that crazy language. Luckily, the man's Basic could have been completely worse than it was, and it turned out to be decently understandable. The Zeltron replied once he was finished describing the job that they were taking on.

"Kouhuns. Poisonous insects. That's brilliant. And you pronounce it as 'pink'. And sickness inside...you mean the venom? You want venom from a damn kouhun. Never heard someone say that in my life. Money sounds fair, considering we, or sorry, I will be risking my life out there. Say it as 'I have money for you', though, otherwise it's just wrong. When do we head out? And can you speak any other language except Bisti fluently? Rodian? Huttese? Hell, Ryl? Last thing I need is to get my face eaten off cause you couldn't figure out 'Look out!'."

She shook her head with a slight purse in her lips. This was going to be a damned death sentence once they got out there.
 

Strix

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Strip listened intently as Hale spoke. No sings of a unique language barrier such as with a species like the Mon Calamari. Even so, every word had a slight accent to it, leading him to believe it might be an accent unique to her home world. He took mental notes of the words and phrases she used. Pink, venom. He didn’t quite understand where he went wrong with the offer of payment, but it was something he’d look into nonetheless.

His face lit up when he heard the word Huttese. It was his third best language. Chiss was of course his first, Sy Bisti was usually taught to the Chiss when young, but Huttese was his way into the galaxy. He was practicing Basic for when he would get to the more civilized worlds. But he already understood that the Hutts would be the perfect blend of the rich and the underworld, where he wouldn’t have to deal with pesky hints like documentation and regulations.

In gutters he said “Ah yes, the language of the Hutts. As I understand it the language of the Outer Rim, no? Let me clear up anything that might’ve been lost in translation. See I’m looking for kouhun venom, very lethal. But as proven in the past certain venoms when dealt with properly can actually have, er, let’s say medicinal properties.” He couldn’t quite read her but he had a feeling she wasn’t yet on board.

“Listen, I truly understand the dangers, and I will be right there alongside you. So it is we who will be risking our lives, if it makes you feel any better. I have hunted many beasts, however always with my vibrosword. I fear I am ill-equipped to deal with such small creatures, as opposed to your ehem, crackshot ability. And, just to sweeten the deal, if the expedition is a success I’ll even give you a personal batch of the formula. Now, it should be about a days hike to find the koi hubs as the locals have wisely spread all kinds of insect killing chemicals to protect their little settlement here.”

And with that, he did a final once over of his equipment while Hale did anything she needed to do before heading off. As they entered the forest he asked “So, now that we have a common ground in Huttese, tell me, what species are you? Do you possess any characteristics some would call unnatural? Are all of your species born naturally attractive? Is your pink skin a side effect of your planet’s sun?”
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea nodded as the blue-skinned man began speaking in Huttese. Pretty fluent, too. That was good. Meant that she could actually understand something he was saying. Though, sadly, he seemed to have the curse of drawing out sentences, regality to be specific. Must have come from one of those high-class worlds. That just made things better. He confirmed that he was looking for Kouhun venom, and then attempted reassurance that he was using it for 'medicinal purposes'. She didn't really care if he used it to torture someone or to save the galaxy either way. As long as she got paid. Then he went on and tried the sympathy card, even including all of the nice little 'I will be right there alongside you' kriffloads of guilt tripping that people who were decently good at getting what they wanted always seemed to try on other people. When he offered, a personal batch, she couldn't care less. It'd probably end up in her bag somewhere, totally forgotten. Or maybe she'd be able to sell it off and make some money. Sounded like a good plan.

The Pantoran-or-something then seemed to check his equipment as Halea reluctantly agreed to follow him outside. Then they were in the jungle. Well, here went nothing. She kept her eyes out past the trees, seeing if something had picked up their scent, or maybe was stalking them right now. Two humanoids wasn't much of a fight for a big beast or a fast, venomous mongrel. She continued scanning the brush, attempting to listen to who she guessed went by Strix as he asked questions in his overly-enunciated and slightly distracting Huttese, answering them when she could.

"I'm a Zeltron. We got pheromones that, well, allow us to more or less get our way with people more often than not, when we want to at least. Mostly, yes, Zeltrons are kriffin' born naturally good-looking, at least according to the rest of the galaxy. Don't really know what our pink skin attributes to, I'll be honest, I don't really remember my home planet, only I was born there. Normally us Zeltrons sound like a bunch of Coruscanti wannabes in our accents, but how I talk is a side effect of livin' on the frontier. Pretty special, more or less. That's about the only thing I think good about being a Zeltron, or more specifically, myself. I ain't like other Zeltrons, and Zeltrons ain't like every other humanoid out there."
 

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Strix listened intently as Hale answered his questions one at a time. Very rarely did he meet someone who would put up with all his questions, so he took an almost instant liking to her. He opened his notepad, by today’s standards an ancient relic from before datapads, but he enjoyed doodling with a physical object over the touch screen of the datapad. He wrote down all of her answers trying his best to comprehend it all. Some of the more technical or informal phrases he had yet to comprehend. Things like ‘kriff’ and ‘Corusanti Wannabe’ were meaningless to him, he’d ask about those later.

Now with a few answers, he was satisfied as they moved more into the forest. He soon realized his error in wearing his best attire over his usual hunting attire. He had underestimated just how damp and humid the jungle would be. He was caught between two choices: Take it off, or sweat through it. He considered his company, believing in this instance that his compatriot was not the kind who would sponsor him in any way, so he went with the former. He tried to hang back casually, letting her take point for a little bit as he awkwardly took off his suit and tried his best to fold it and place it in his pack neatly.

He caught up with her easily, trying to measure her reaction to his new attire. Sadly, he was much better at judging animal behavior. His new getup, was much more battle worn, with tears and claw marks all over it. Dried stains of various bloods from his previous hunt splattered across in a haphazard fashion. It was for all intents and purposes his hunting attire, and gave off no regality, which he struggled so hard to come off as. Still when he spoke he put on his best regal voice, not yet confident enough to speak freely with her, as he tried to distract her from his new getup.

“So, ahem. You mentioned pheromones. If I remember correctly those are social chemicals, correct? Do you happen to know if they’re alarm, reproductive, or trail pheromones? Considering you’re a tracker I’d lean more towards trail but I’ve been wrong before. Is you’re birth planet far? I might want to stop by just to see what it’s like, maybe conduct some research. And if all your species are as attractive as you, I wouldn’t be opposed to spending time there, certainly. By the way, what does krife mean? I fear that’s a word I haven’t hear— encountered previously.”

He was quickly running out of ‘big’ or ‘regal’ words he knew in Huttese, so he hoped he wouldn’t have to keep up his act any longer, fearing she’d catch on. So he simply kept himself quiet as he waited for her response.
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea hardly cared as the man hung back, though as strange as it was, her thoughts were soon answered by him returning with a more practical outfit. Better to get out of that ridiculous suit while they overheat in the jungle. At least he was slightly smart. But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction. He went on to ask more about her species, which she answered with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Mainly reproductive. Pretty potent, too. We use 'em more for fun and mischief than anything else. Or, at least, normal Zeltrons do. I'm not what you'd call normal. Normal is partying back on Zeltros, which I neglect remembering exactly where it is from here, as you'd expect. And yeah, I'm sure you'd like to conduct plenty of 'research' on my kind. I've heard the whole thing before. And kriff? Think of it as a strong word for strong emotions. I'm sure wherever you come from has profanity, too. If you're running out of fancy talk, just talk normal. I don't like listening to it, either."
 

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As Hale spoke, Strix made sure to log her responses, silently curious of just how potent Zeltron pheromones were if they could in fact be used casually and without great effort as he seemed to gather from her description of it. He also noted the planet name of Zeltros and added it to his list of planets to visit. He also made a big, large circle around the word kriff. He had been waiting for his first taboo word ever since entering the galaxy, and was eager to use it in practice. He wondered how common it was in the galaxy, although he hoped he’d found a term most species could relate to, considering he didn’t feel like learning a curse word for every species he’d encounter. A fun notion for his inner child, but impractical.

He winced slightly as she saw right through his trouble with Huttese, and figured he’d come clean with his language just as he had his clothing. Again, believing such formalities were wasted on the mesmerizing Zeltron. “I’m sorry for talking like that, I’m just not used to being in charge. I’ve been trying to be more ‘regal’ lately. I guess I gotta work on it s’more huh?” He fell silent once more as they trekked deeper. Along the way they encountered a few small creatures, none terribly interesting enough to warrant stopping, although he tried to do a quick sketch of any reasonably pretty creatures, be it for color or for grace. Hanging back more as the sun began to set, he began to sketch Hale as well, hoping she’d pay little attention to him as she’d done previously.

Finally, as the last trickles of sunlight left the jungle Astrid conceded the hike over, begrudgingly beginning to set up camp. If he wasn’t so eager, he probably would’ve set up camp sooner like a reasonable hunter but he felt like he had to prove himself as a survivalist. Paying no attention to Hale he began building a shelter for them, not refusing help but trying to work faster at every turn. As the night critters began to replace the relative quiet of the jungle he turned to Hale
“So, speaking plainly, I’ve never worked with crawlers before and I ain’t sure how to deal with me so we don’t get stung in our sleep. Do you have any ideas?”
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Eventually, it got to the point where they were losing light rapidly. Halea probably should have warned of the need for shelter many hours earlier, and as they pieced together a decent lean-to she couldn't help but be exasperated at her poor judgement. Soon it'd be dark and they'd be tying sticks together in the pitch black. Luckily, however, they managed to get the shelter done, and her employer asked on advice about fending off against wild animals. She shrugged and spoke.

"Fire tends to help. They don't like it. Seeing as there's no fire to be made as it's already kriffin' pitch black, best we can do is patch up the shed as best as possible and hope for the best. Plenty other critters to eat out here besides us. Plus, if you're scared of a little bug, I'll gladly squash it for you. These jungles aren't anything remarkable in terms of danger."
 

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Strix glanced at her, then in mock indignation said “Are you mocking me? Miss ‘I’ll be risking my life over some kriffn’ kouhuns’? I’ll have you know I’ve done many treks into jungles.” He got up with resolve in his stance. “I’ll go make fire, if youll excuse me.” He wouldn’t have his skills in the forests doubted. His indignation was only slightly exaggerated. It was definitely dark, but he managed to find some serviceable wood that wasn’t soggy like most of the surrounding branches. Normally, he’d be just fine, but for what he was planning, he’d need her trust. And he couldn’t have her doubting his skill.

It took so long to start the fire he doubted she managed to stay awake to watch the whole ordeal. Three trips back and forth in the pitch black to gather wood. However with his slightly infrared vision he could more or less manage the nighttime darkness. Finally, with a fire going he began phase two of operation earn trust. Trusting she was asleep, he took off his shirt, setting it by the fire to hopefully dry while he hunted. As he stalked a small reptilian creature through the brush, he relished in the relative cool of the night, especially now with no layers he felt closer to the life that surrounded him. With a deft slice he lopped th reptile’s head off with a single motion. It never suspected a thing.

He brought back the dead critter, leaving it to cook over the fire he’d crafted. His thoughts drifted to the future. He’d need allies. He’d need money. But first and foremost he’d need results, something he sorely lacked at the moment. He had yet to make any significant breakthrough. All he had to show for his work were the scars and malformed tissue all across his body. The subject and testing ground of all his concoctions. He’d considered using others previously, but he had always maintained that the one time he used another test subject, it would work, and they’d have the power he so desperately reached for. As his mind drifted he began to fall asleep. It had been a long day, and even though he had yet to redress, and even though the meat was still cooking over the fire, he was swallowed by the darkness of sleep.
 

Halea Hendarsin

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Halea woke up with a start, flinching slightly. It was warmer. The jungle. Kriff. She had been through another one of her bad dreams. Or rather, flashbacks. Reminders of when she was a kid. Back on Tatooine. She blinked and looked to her right to find the mysterious blue man to her left, grimacing before throwing on her jacket and clearing her throat. Apparently he had made a fire. The tickle in her throat from the smoke was clearly indicative of that. The woman lightly elbowed him.

"Hey, we overslept. Must be late mornin' by now. Daylight's tickin', let's go. You wanna find your kouhun or not?"

She stepped out of the shelter, pulling her hatchet and a small rock out, briefly striking the stone against the edge before putting her hatchet back on her belt. Work to do today. She wasn't keen on spending a week out here.
 

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Strix woke with a start with a light jab at his side, he looked up to see Hale standing over him. His eyes squinted against the morning sun, realizing that it was indeed a late start to the day. As quickly as he could he gathered his equipment and put out the fire. As far as he knew, neither had been stung in the night. A good start to the day by his standards.
He watched as she sharpened her hatchet. He had seen the weapon in many different forms, but he never reallyliked the feel of one. It seemed to give less option for combat when the time came. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that. Looking back at the extinguished fire, the dead critter was definitely overcooked but he grabbed it anyway.

As they began their trek he split the critter in half, handing one half to Hale as they walked. He ate the ashen creature, not very tasty as it was blackened and charred but it was food nonetheless. He had eaten far worse before. They were now definitely in kouhun territory, so he began to slow. “They should be like, everywhere by now. I haven’t seen a single one.” Something was definitely wrong. The kouhun deterrents must not have reached this far, right? He began to poke around every nook and cranny of the forest, searching high up in the trees and between their roots as well. He was getting frustrated pretty quickly, and in a moment of anger he kicked the tree. Suddenly, hundreds of mouth us began to pour out, pooling at his feet.

He jumped out of the pile of kouhuns as they pursued him in a million bug mob. So many came out that the leaves above could no longer support them as they began to fall to the ground sometimes landing on his shoulders. He took out his sword trying his best to hack at them, knowing full well he’d never make a dent in them. He just couldn’t stand there and do nothing. Turning to Hale he yelled
“Any ideas before we get eaten alive?”
 

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Halea sighed as her employer seemed baffled by the fact that there wasn't a kouhun in sight. What kind of professional did he think he was? She shook her head as he began searching for the creatures, leaning against her own tree as the blue skinned humanoid's blood began to boil. She held her little snack in a hand, quietly biting at it before Strix kicked the tree. She chuckled and shook her head, swallowing a bite before beginning to speak: "You ain't gonna find no kouhun with that attitude, Lightbulb-"

Then they began pouring out of the tree, and she cursed, tossing away the creature as the man fought his way out of the growing bug pile. Oh, hell. It just had to be one of those days, didn't it? She grimaced as he asked her if she had any ideas, and she looked around. Vines. Leaves. Maybe flammable. Few dry branches here and there. Of course, again, she was left with the kriffin' responsibility of saving their rear ends.


"Uh, give me a second!"

She climbed up a tree and grabbed one of the branches, wiggling it free as it snapped and she fell down, then pulled her sharpening stone and hatchet from their respective places as she wrapped a piece of cloth from her sleeve around the branch and poured some of her whiskey from a flask onto the cloth, striking the stone against the hatchet as it sparked and lit. Fire. She stood up, putting away her hatchet and stone while also grabbing the makeshift torch, waving it in front of the horde while also shoving the man behind her.

"You mind findin' us a way out of here while I hold back the Bug Brigade?! Hell, I'll take a cliff if we got one!"
 

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Strix was grateful for the brief respite the torch gave, but it wouldn’t be long before they made their way around it. Stuck in a tree wasn’t the best place to formulate a plan but he had no choice. They could try running treetop to treetop, but if they fell... No. What was he thinking? He couldn’t leave without the one thing he had come for. Quickly, he opened his canteen, dumping all the water out onto the kouhuns. Some fell but he didn’t even make a dent in them. But he wasn’t trying to kill them with water. Angling the canteen carefully, he reached down into the approaching swarm and scooped a few into the canteen, narrowly missing a possibly lethal sting more than once. He closed the canteen and placed t in his pack. Turning to Hale he said “Now we can escape.”

He was all turned around, but he did remember passing a gorge with a running river in it. “This way!” He yelled. His plan was to travel by treetop, but as he had never done so and missed the very first jump. “Come down! We’ll lose them this way!” Without looking back he sprinted for the gorge. He followed the sound of rushing water until we was at the edge. It was a longer fall than he remembered. “Well, not exactly a cliff but close enough!” Knowing the kouhuns were still chasing he jumped feet first into the crushing river. He was under for a good while, struggling to resurface. Finally, spitting water he reached the surface, wiping the water from his eyes. Trying t sound nonchalant about his little misstep he said “How refreshing.” Then he turned around. And the last thing he remembered was plummeting down the waterfall.
 

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Halea cursed under her breath as the man took a few kouhuns in his canteen by wasting water, which they probably were going to need later on, and then he had the bright idea of running from treetop to treetop, and, unexpectedly, completely failed and hit the ground, getting up quickly and sprinting as she followed behind, not dumb enough to attempt the circus stunt. The rushing water grew nearer, nearer, and then they were there. A gorge. Then he jumped after presumably saying something smart, and she pulled off her hat, jumping in not too far behind. She surfaced right after he did and had enough sense to see the drop coming, about to say something before they both took a plunge. The woman couldn't do much except for scream in both surprise and a bit of irritation, after all this wasn't exactly her bright idea, and was submerged below the surface as the current swept her up again, pushing her down to the riverbed. Waterfalls. Don't swim up, swim away. Halea struggled to regain her bearings and swam sideways, away from the weight of the water, and soon got brought into the current, rapids causing her to hit rocks a bit too low under the water to see, knocking her off course and cutting her before finally a low hanging vine caught on her arm, which she quickly grabbed ahold of and stopped short of continuing down more of the deadly rapids.

She groaned and pulled herself farther up the bank, knowing that she probably had multiple cuts on her extremities and probably a good gash on her forehead. But it could wait. Right now, she just needed to get her sense back together. That really, really hurt.
 
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He was in a field. A wide open plain with grain and small animals bouncing about. He looked down at his hands, they were larger and an odd color. He got up and bounded like the creatures around him. Had he done it? He had been successful in replicating a species’ abilities? He turned around. Behind him was a magnificent structure. So impossibly high it was double the size of any he had seen on his homeworld. It was a grand white and gold with different colored waters pouring from fountains thousands of stories above him. Grand statues of magnificent beasts adorned the entrance. He had done it. Somehow he had done it. As he approached however, the waters became a single color. It wasn’t as pretty but maybe they alternated. Then they began to spill out. It began to weep under his grand castle. From behind the structure a massive wave of water and it was sent tumbling down, crashing all around him and sweeping him up in the tidal wave along with all the debris. He was pulled under, none of his advancements helping him swim under this massive pressure. He sank deeper and deeper and deeper...

Strix wake with a start. Everything hurt. He was at the side of a lake, his head barely above the water. He tried to crawl farther up onto dry land but was stopped by a serious chest pain. Suddenly he was heaving heavily until water came out spilling along the floor in front of him along with some bile and bits of sand. His ribs aches from the effort and he lay on his back to rest. He could feel cuts all along his arms and legs and serious bruises on his torso. His rags were now beyond in ruins, now nonexistent. In his bare state he could see all his cuts and bruises. He wasn’t queasy, but seeing so much blood at once threw him off his already unstable state. Between his lack of breath and blood loss, his vision was blurring. And hard as he could, which wasn’t very loud at all he tried to call for Halea. “Halea! Hale are you alright?!” The effort was enough to to welcome him back to unconsciousness and the nightmares it brought with it.
 

Halea Hendarsin

Character
SWRP Writer
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
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A wave of pain washed over Halea as something brushed her leg in the water. She opened her eyes and found her hat , still miraculously floating, and reached to pick it up, sluggishly taking it out of the water and placing it beside herself. Now that she was awake, if only briefly, she noticed just how cut up she was. Her clothes were scratched and ripped but otherwise in one piece, but she was bleeding from more than a few of the rips and was completely sure her nose was bleeding, as well as possibly a head wound. Her arms were all scratched up too, and her hands looked like she'd just stuck them into a sarlacc pit. She groaned as she heard her voice over the roar of the water. Kriffin' hell, he's still alive?! You've gotta be kidding me...

Halea sat up again with a grunt, and bent her right knee to get ready to stand, but as she put weight on her left calf she realized something was wrong, and cried out slightly. Could have been dislocated, maybe even broken. Wasn't shattered, otherwise the leg wouldn't have moved at all, at least before she would have passed out. Dislocation...aw hell, this would be painful. But she'd dealt with dislocations before. They looked nasty, but most of the time were operable once they were back in place. Hale grabbed her leg and felt for where it was, which it appeared to be at the knee down to the calf. Made sense. She counted to three in her head, but popped it in place at two, a resounding crack that was just quiet enough to not be audible over the rapids. Then the woman stood up, grabbing her hat and looking around. It wasn't a terribly loud yell from what she percieved, which meant that he was nearby. Limping through the brush, she soon ended up at the calm lake where the rapids ended. And there he was, scratched and with shredded clothing but otherwise looking okay. Or so she hoped. Last thing she wanted was to drag his ass out of this jungle with a bum leg and a dream. What a kriffing day.

"Well damn, you still alive down there, you crazy son of a bantha?!"

She limped over and grit her teeth before dropping to a sitting position rather roughly and shaking the man. Kriff, hopefully he didn't have water up his lungs. Flushing that out was gonna be a pain in the behind. But what did she care? She could just leave him behind. Why the hell not? He'd live from those injuries, and she wouldn't have to worry about him no more. Only problem is, she wouldn't get paid. And pay was just as important. May as well get back to civilization and then ditch.
 
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