Oddi & Funani: The Junkyard Debacle

[Oddi Xon]

Coruscant Underworld

Location: Level 1782, somewhere under CoCo Town
Time: Early evening​

((Continuation from Underground (Under Where???)))

The portal transport shot up quickly from the lower levels of the ecumenopolis, stopping on various levels in between. Finally, after what seemed to be about a half an hour of crowding and breathing in the body stink of a variety of sentient species, Oddi Xon and Funani Avanti stumbled out onto the platform of Level 1782… and right into a horrendous stench.

Oddi’s face wrinkled in pure disgust as she held her nose. “Oh my kriffin’ stars! It REEKS to high heaven!!!” She glanced over at Funani, trying to gage whether he was having as hard of a time of it as she was. “It smells like if a pile of rancor feces an’ some rotten eggs had a giant mutant-baby that was never put out of its dang misery!” She pulled out a handkerchief and tied it around the back of her head to cover her nose and mouth as her eyes scanned the scene. “I sure as hell hope we get used to this quick.”

When they called this layer “the world of rot and refuse,” they weren’t kidding. There were mounds upon mounds of scrap metal, old electronics, totaled speeders and their parts, dead batteries, rotting foodstuffs, shattered glass and plastics, busted blocks of concrete, a piece of droid here, a piece of droid there, and, um, hopefully not a dead body? Nah… it was just another droid. There was some lighting, fans, and ventilation, but several of the large fans didn’t seem to be operational, nor were there any service droids working on the dang things. Figures.

Despite the lighting already supplied it was still a bit shadowy, so Oddi broke out a small flashlight and examined the scene as they walked. “Okay, so I see a nice pile of discarded electronics over thar, an’ it looks like there’s a busted electronic billboard too. It don’t look too old. An’ several bits of protocol droid… an’ that there is one of them medical droids. We got a lot ta’ work with, I reckon! Let’s find a spot first ta’ get our bearin’s an’ also to take a peek inside a’ that port scanner.”

 

[Funani Avanti]

Having a large part of your language scent based had it's perks, you could have secret conversations with other Jawas, You had a much better sense of smell by nature meaning you could pick up scents that would slip by others (You don't want to know what ammonia gas smells like). Another nice thing was that in a way it meant that places sort of talked to you in a way. You could get a feel for the air and vibe of places, what's been going on, who may be around, do people bath here all of those sorts of things. All however that was doing for Funani was telling him that this place smelled like embarassment, shame and what would happen if a hutt exfoliating his skin, a trandoshan with dysentery and a horny, drunk as hoth Zeltron spewing pheromones everywhere had all been locked together in a portapotty... that hadn't been cleaned in months.

"Ugh would it kill them to hang up an air freshener atleast?" Funani replied to Oddi's comment about the smell. He wondered if getting used to the smell would be a good thing or if it meant that he would become a walking biohazard risk. Whatever the answer was a shower afterwards would be wonderful. For the first time since Funani left Tatooine it actually seemed nice. I mean sure the only thing noteworthy was the sand, and the deserts full of sand, and the massive dunes with more sand, but atleast it didn't smell like this.

Still when Funani could focus on something other than how offensive this place was to anyone with noses he eyes started to widen...

There was mountains of stuff just thrown away! Most of it even looked salvageable! On Tatooine you started wonder if there was a god if you spotted a droid with most of it's limbs left, but here they just were everywhere. Funani's brain just broke processing all of the bits and pieces he could salvage and make things with just... wow. They could ship this stuff to Tatooine and the people there would take it with a smile... Funani frowned as a bit of the reality of wealth inequality in the galaxy dawned on him just a bit more, it made him excited to see what he could find but also saddened that this usable stuff was just wasted.

"We need somewhere quiet and out of the way, don't want anyone to watch and run off with our things. Also we'll need something flat we could use as a workbench... Wait that tunnel ugh pipe thing might work looks to be big enough for us, small enough for everyon' else. Might lead to a nice hidey hole."

Funani spouted off to Oddi so he could focus on something other than his potential spiral into radical economic thought and theory. The pipe tunnel thing looked like it may have been used for sewage, or mainly for some sort of industrial high volume application like water supply or heavy duty hydralics. Perfect sizing for them or atleast that was what Funani was eyeballin' it to be. It jutted straight out of a pile of trash that Funani couldn't discern. As Oddi shun the flashlight down the pipe Funani noticed that it seemed to go off for about 15 meters before exiting out the other side, also that there appeared to be some light at the end of it hinting that it may have an opening on the other end. If it was an enclosed area it would be perfect for them to quickly set up shop.

@Zanna Black

 

[Oddi Xon]

Oddi had to hand it to the jawa. He had a really good eye for a quiet spot… and this spot was nearly perfect! They only needed to check out where the pipe lead, then it was time to put together a makeshift workbench. “Alrighty, I’m headin’ down to th’ light at th’ end of th’ tunnel. How optimistic of me!” she joked as she climbed into the pipe.

There was a weird sort of echo with every step that the small explorers took through the metal tunnel. Oddi had to resist her youthful urge to whistle and sing to hear the sound effects that it could potentially create. (After all, who knew what was at the other end?) The light from the other side seemed to brighten as they made it to the end.

The sight that met them was nearly ideal for their needs, with the exception of a decline off to the left that seemed to be filled with a liquified mess of rotting organic material that was probably once food waste. It pooled into a smelly pond with an oily surface. It looked quite disgusting. Otherwise, there was a spot where the floor was visible right before them, and if the junk were to be swept aside it would leave a wonderfully level surface. A flattened island in a sea of debris. Oddi hopped down to get a better look of the perimeter and pulled out her blaster. “Just wanna make sure that there ain’t nobody or nothin’ hidin’ out here… can’t be too careful.” she told Funani in an uncharacteristically lulled voice as she made sure the pistol was still set for stun. She attempted to sneak around, but she found it quite difficult to do so without causing a commotion. Next thing she knew, her foot kicked an empty canister, which clunked its way ahead of her.

This was not working.

Sighing and rolling her eyes in frustration, she said, “Aw, kark it. ANYONE HIDIN’ OUT HERE???”

She listened all around her, but the only real noise was the working fans and Funani shuffling about behind her. Satisfied, she eased up. “Eh, I think we’re good fer now,” she surmised, still holding her blaster but adopting a more relaxed stance near the pool. “Let’s find stuff ta’ make a table.”

Meanwhile, a tentacle had crept out of the water, eagerly inching toward her fleshy, juicy foot…

…but it missed as she stepped away.

 

[The Storyteller]

Hungry… eat… hungry…

See small things! Small things run close… grab small things… come, food!

The creature in the pond could not actually formulate these words in its head, but if one were to interpret its thoughts, this is what they would probably translate to. It was so close to its prey. It only had inches to go. But just as it reached for the olive thing’s ankle, it had stepped out of its reach. The creature grumbled and bubbled in disappointment and despair.

Too long no eat. Look tasty… smell tasty… want eat… wait for small things… wait…

Eat… hungry…

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani was on a roll now finding the perfect little spot to set up. Sure the smell could be better but he was finally getting used to it. Funani smirked at the antics of Oddi, sure she may have a chip on her shoulder with regards to age but it was adorably child like the way she carried herself down the tunnel. It reminded him of when he explored the crashed remains of ancient ships that you occasionally found on Tatooine, the desert doing a marvelous job preserving them making them ripe for exploration. He felt like a kid again and even had a bit of a skip to his step walking down the tunnel to the unknown.

As they near the end Funani raised his hands the modicum of light now becoming blinding again after adjusting to the tunnel. As his eyes adjust he was delighted to find his gut was right to take the Tunnel, there was a nice flat clearing and even *gasp* Visible floor the most rare of finds in this place. Funani then noticed his partner take out her blaster pistol and proceed to take out his own blaster rifle in response looking at the etched engraving that read out "Emilee". Funani made sure to put it into a state jokingly referred to by Jawa's as "ready to panic". The rifle still safe but with the bolt pushed forward so that if trouble came by all he would have to do was rotate the bolt closed to make it live. Funani made note though that Oddi carried the pistol with a lack of confidence. Her aim was wavering and it was quite clear that it was more used to scare people off then it was for defense. Maybe later he could set up some targets for her to practice... after the droid and port scanner.

Funani was finally easing down the tunnel into the ground when Oddi yelled out. It made Funani jump a bit to go from echoed silence to screaming out in the open but it died and he set about looking for something to use as a table. there were still hills of junk to scavenge and Funani spotted what looked like an old one person holobooth. It electronics was gutted so there was nothing useful to it other than it's new roll as a table. it was sitting at a 45 degree angle meaning it would likely take a two person job to drag it to it's new destination. Well a little manual labor never killed him... yet.

"Hey I think we could use this. Think you could give me a hand. I would like 'crushed by holobooth' to stay out of my obituary." Funani called out.

Meanwhile in the sludgy pool that Funani found no use for other than to maybe push Oddi in as a prank, a single eye crept out. The two rapscallions were too preoccupied with setting up a table to notice but it noticed them. It stared at them for a few seconds observing them and suddenly growing ever more hungry now that fresh food was presented to it. It's eye plunged back into the sludge and it's full biomass started to move it's way towards the Jawa and Clawdite. Getting to the edge of the pool nearest for them, patiently waiting for it's opportunity to feed on something that didn't taste like rotting methane.

@Zanna Black

 

[Oddi Xon]

Oddi chuckled at Funani’s sense of humor. She found herself remarkably at ease with this jawa. He was nothing like what the Holonet had presented jawas to be. Who’d a’ thunk it?

She grabbed the other side of the holobooth and heaved, her feet shifting slightly due to the trash giving way underneath. Despite this, she managed to not drop her side as they hauled it over to the bare floor. After kicking several random knickknacks out of the way (one of which hit the creature right in the eye), they finally set it down. She stretched her back a bit. “Hoo-wee! Gettin’ ma exercise for th’ day over here!” She bent her head to the side, making a cracking noise. “Why don’t we crack that scanner open now? Willin’ ta bet that this holobooth has some of the parts we need right inside.”

First, she looked around for a small flat container with edges, which was easy to find. (She would need something like this to ensure that no screws or parts would roll away on her.) She then held the device in her left hand as she pulled out a small screwdriver. “I gots some tools, but I may need to get my hands on a small soldering iron… an’ some solder too.” She pulled out each screw one-by-one, verbally numbering each one as she set them down in the box in a meticulous order and making sure that Funani could see everything that she was doing. Soon, the covering was off, and Oddi could see the components clear as day. “That’s all there is to it? But that’s easy!” she declared. “Funani… can ya make sure nothin’ falls off th’ work area? I’m gonna pull out th’ motherboard in th’ holobooth. It should have more than what we need.”

Then she got on all fours and began taking apart the computer inside the booth, unscrewing any and every cover in there and disconnecting the wires that held the motherboard in. She also snagged a couple more components just in case.

Four more tentacles began to worm their way out of the murky and oily mess of water. The creature had its sights set on the little olive thing. It looked absolutely delicious! The other one? Well, where was it’s flesh? How much meat was on it’s bones? It just couldn’t tell… so it went with what it did know. That scaly little morsel needed to be devoured. Soon.

“Here we go!” Oddi exclaimed jubilantly. She shimmied her way out of the booth with the motherboard and the covering. She glanced at the covering as if she was unsure what to do with it. “Feh… guess we don’t hafta worry ‘bout litterin’ round here…” she shrugged as she callously tossed the covering toward the pond without looking. The creature saw something fly through the air and into it’s pond. Food? it hoped as it slithered and slimed it’s way back to the pool where whatever it was plunked in. It slid back into the murky depths to find whatever it was.

Oddi looked toward the pond now. She thought she had heard some water splash and saw a rippling in the pond. But then she remembered that she threw something over there. I must’ve disturbed some trash. That’s all… she thought as she brought her attention back to the table.

The creature examined the thrown object. Not food… it realized, wanting to cry. Now, it wanted that morsel more than ever.

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani was trying to ignore the fact it felt like his muscles were screaming 'Why?' at him and tried to observe Oddi work her magic. It was relieving to see that she knew her way around a screwdriver and was taking it apart with ease. keeping mind to put away everything in a container (funani had flashbacks about combing the desert to find that one last screw or motherboard standoff. Funani also had a kneejerk habit of periodically touching the metal exterior of the booth to regularly ground himself. Then Oddi just jumped down into the booth and freed the motherboard from it. Funani had expected it to be completely scraped but maybe that was just his Tatooine instincts. Surplus was something Funani never really had the luxury of having.

Funani had been studying the motherboard as oddi speculated what to do with the covering to see what could be salvaged and what was still good. To his delight he found that the RAM, the cpu and the cpu heat sink and all of the power connections seemed to be intact. The RAM clips weren't broken. There wasn't any warping on the board or bending really all it needed would be power and it should boot up. To Funani's dismay he noticed the solid state holo drive screwed into the board had cracked into two pieces if they wanted to store a OS and all the software to make this thing a port scanner on it, they would need to find a replacement drive. Still before even that this would still need a lot of work as it really was just a basic board. Plus there would be some basic TLC that ought to be done to it as well. Funani however elected not to mention any of this as it seemed like a good knowledge test for Oddi.

Funani had then took out a bunch of tools that would certainly prove useful: A hydrospanner, a soldering iron with solder to go with it, a tube of thermal paste, a standardized I/O socket and various wiring with all sorts of different power plugs depending on what type of port was used. Thankfully everything was relatively standardized between computer components with really size and form factor being the main differences. A power cell could slot into a ATZ form factor board as well as a ITZ board same with almost all parts being interchangeable.

Funani's brain was now in full computer mode until he realized he had started staring off for what felt like an eternity with Oddi's comment about disturbing the trash snapping him away from his thoughts on computer building. "You mentioned something about disturbed trash? Didn't know trash had feelings" Funani responded with the awkwardness of someone who had dozed off mid conversation only to realized they were being asked a question.

"Uh never mind I'm going to look around for something we can salvage a screen from." Funani muttered, as he picked a random trash hill to start digging through. Funani however felt safe here he wasn't worried about bandits, debt collectors or sand people so he was able to just devote all of his energy into searching through the trash. He even started humming a song that got stuck in his head that he heard browsing the holonet on his way to Coruscant. Funani was completely relaxed here, what could possibly go wrong?

Spoiler: OOC

I apologize if I went full computer nerd writing this post.

 

[The Storyteller]

It was angry now. Angry and desperate. It crawled back out of the pond, tasting the air and observing all around it. There she was… right in front of the creature. It had her in its sights, and there could be no more distractions. It was ten feet away… five feet… it had her. It had her!

Now!!! Eat now!!!

 

[Oddi Xon]

Oddi examined the motherboard herself. “I’ve mostly found everything here… but th’ holodrive is damaged. Probably why they shot th’ whole shebang out.” She squinted at the scanner’s motherboard, then back at the holobooth one. “If ya see an old datapad that’d be perfect. If not, an’ if you don’t see mucha anythin’ else, then I’ll take apart th’ one I have,” she called out to Funani, oblivious to the dianoga squirming and inching toward her feet.

She brought her attention back to the motherboards. Let’s see now… that’s th’ memory controller and th’ expansion controller, so if I connect this with that… an’ hopefully Funani will find a new drive out there… She began carefully removing the broken components from the old board. She casually tossed the old holo drive over her shoulder and expected to hear a small clink as it landed, but instead her senses… those senses… locked on something behind her. Something alive.

What the… Her thought was disrupted when a tentacle suddenly wrapped around her face, covering her mouth and keeping her from calling out for help. Another one had wrapped around her ankles, pulling her off her feet and forcing her to fall to her side. Unable to determine what had her bound and why, she reached out for anything to grab on to, but it was in vain as the creature pulled her away from the table and toward the murky, oily liquid. Her nails scratched the floor surface as she desperately tried to keep from being dragged any further. What is this? What th’ kriff has me? her mind cried out in panic. As the tentacles encoiled her further they twisted her toward the beast, when she finally got a good view of the thing.

It had one eye, just one big eye, sticking up on a fleshy stalk like a lens on a periscope from a strange mass that seemed to shift colors a bit. The tentacles that held her had adapted to her shade of skin, and her eyes followed them toward the underside of its body, which seemed to consist of a mass of long, gnarled, pointed teeth and the ugliest mouth she’d ever seen… and she was being pulled toward it. She had no way of getting Funani’s attention. She was on her own for now.

Attempting to swallow her fear, she gathered her strength and began punching the tentacle that had wrapped over her mouth. She might as well been punching a rubber wall… the creature hardly noticed the punches as it continued to pull her in. Now the tentacle was starting to cover her nose too, cutting off her ability to breathe. The blaster! Use th’ blaster! she shouted internally. She reached for her holster and undid the latch, but the creature chose that moment to give an extra tug. The blaster fell to the ground as she was moved out of its reach. Aw, dammit all to hell!!! she screamed in her head.

The tentacles moved her side to side, bringing her close to the pistol, then away, then close, then away…

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani was squirming, digging and throwing junk in a chaotic flurry hoping to find something to scavenge. He heard Oddi correctly note the damaged holodrive, every minute he had more and more faith in his choice of partner and was now trying to think about how he could properly compensate his partner. This could turn out to best part about leaving they could really go places, open a business, buy a ship, kill pirates to works. Funani was about to give up from his current mountain of trash when something caught his eye buried in the sand.

It looked like the top of a datapad but there was a cable sticking out of it. Funani started to careful dig around this device eventually freeing the dirt and muck covered device. With some brushing from his hands Funani realized that it wasn't a datapad at all but a Holoman! Excitement brewed in the small Jawa at the piece of old world treasure he now found. Everything was still intact and he pressed the power button and the screen flickered to light gloriously and Funani gasped at the music library he now possessed. There was countless amounts of songs of all kinds just waiting to be listened to. Funani always wanted one of these but they were unicorns on tatooine highly sought after collector's items, and now he had one that worked!

Funani put the headphones on, set the holoman to shuffle and hit play. The song entered Funani like a gentle lover putting him in a trance as he stood, shut his eyes and let the music take him. He could hear the singers lulls of sadness, desperation to reach out and want to be loved. It was bringing tears to the Jawa's eyes (though he would never tell anyone that). It was the most beautiful thing to grace his ears.

As Funani became entranced by the lullaby behind him was the splashing flailing of clawdite wildly trying to escape from the Dianoga's grasp. The struggle got more intense with each moment transpiring getting more violent and desperate for Oddi. This was however completely off Funani's radar as the song started to reach it's crescendo chorus fully caught in the moment and loving this song he listened to. Just turn around, turn around and meet that person you care for so much! This was so beautiful to listen to as Funani completely missed how oddly literal the song was becoming trying to command him to see that his friend was in danger. As the Clawdite and Dianoga continued their dance of death there was one particularly heavy splash of the oily water that managed to have a few drops hit Funani in the back. Funani didn't think anything of this as he thought that it was just the sheer power of music.

 

[Oddi Xon]

Almost got it… don’t got it… Almost got it… don’t got it… Aw, poo-doo!!! Oddi’s thoughts yelled in frustration as she kept missing her chance at grabbing the blaster that was so close yet so far away. The dianoga gave yet another yank and now the blaster was even further from reach. Her tiny hands gripped onto the tentacle that had latched onto her face, tugging and ripping until it gave just enough to allow her nose to inhale deeply. It didn’t last, as the tendrils tightened again, re-establishing their grip.

She was close to that oily, murky basin now. She knew that if she didn’t break its grip or get Funani’s attention somehow then she may wind up being digested inside a giant fleshy trash-nightmare with teeth. They say, “you are what you eat,” but she was not ready to become one with the tenta-freak. Her eyes darted around frantically, looking for any way out of the situation. Despite knowing she couldn’t reach it, she instinctively reached out for the blaster once again, desperately willing it toward her hand.

It slid several feet toward her.

Oddi’s eyes widened in realization. Th’ Force!!! I can try to use it!!! She recalled the trick that Carthus had shown her back in the Uscru district. The necklace… he willed it to float in his hand. Could she use this energy to will the blaster to her hand???

Not wasting another second to think, she reached for the blaster once again, this time visualizing the space between her and it closing, with the gun giving way to this new source of gravity that was her hand. The blaster shook, as if making a decision on whether to go to her or not. Suddenly… her state of mind altered. She now knew that having the blaster in her hand was to be the new reality.

The grip of the blaster flew right into the palm of her tiny hand.

Without hesitation, she shot the creature behind her with a stun blast. It didn’t hit full on but several tentacles took a hit as the tendrils that engulfed Oddi unraveled. She gasped for breath and kicked the creature from her feet. She began to crawl away but the dianoga managed to latch back on to her left ankle. She looked out at the mounds of trash but could only barely spot Funani rummaging. He obviously had no clue what was happening.

“FUNANI!!!” she cried out… in vain. He had something over his ears. Didn’t that figure?

As another tentacle latched to her right leg, she knew that desperate measures were needed. She needed that jawa’s attention, and dammit… she was going to get it! She flicked the switch on the gun from stun to full power and aimed for the large pile to his right. Don’t shoot th’ jawa… don’t shoot th’ jawa… she told herself as the tentacled mess drew her closer. She aimed as best she could. He only had to see the shot. He only had to see it.

*PEW PEW PEW!!!* Three shots flared out, blasting some loose rubbish ten feet from Funani, with one small piece of scrap pinging him right in the forehead.

“FUNANI!!! HE’S GONNA EAT ME!!!”

 

[Funani Avanti]

"Turn around..." *Pwsh, bwip, bam* Funani went from serene bliss to being shot at by something and a karking can (or was it sharpnel or actual crap) flying into his face. Funani dropped to the ground in panic and armed his blaster rifle. "Nekkel juuvar obwegadada! Ny shootogawa! Ny shootogawa! Funani screamed out cowering a bit expecting more blaster fire only to have... nothing happen. In the chaos the next track button on the holoman was pressed changing the song.

Funani lifted his head now to look at the fustercluck before him. Oddi being approached by the ugliest creature he had ever seen. Realizing that his new favorite assistant may become a snack Funani had to do something, just what? Funani's panicked mind started racing before coming to something that at the time made total sense but he would later look back as a crowning moment of dumbassery.

"TANDI KWWAAA!" The Jawa screamed out as his chosen war cry. Noise exploding from the tiny creature as he started to charge towards the dianoga, his blaster rifle firing in the general direction of the creature hitting everything but the dianoga and luckily Oddi. Funani was too hopped up on adrenaline to rational think about what this would actually do. Still continuing his charge passing Oddi like she didn't exist only the dianoga stood before him.

As he neared the murky sludge he started to swing his rifle wildly at anything that looked like a tentacle. Screaming still and firing freely around trying to scare off the beast and assert his dominance as alpha Jawa. Meanwhile a thousand meters away a lone alcoholic was minding his business alone in the junkyard to enjoy his moonshine all to himself when suddenly he heard something off in the distance. First an echo but now a definable noise.

"NNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYY WWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The alcoholic looked down at his prized bottle of hooch now contemplating something to himself.

"Man, I'm done with this ----" The low gravely voice that was like sand paper to a person's ears rang out as he tossed the bottle away and moved on with his life.

 

[The Storyteller]

The dianoga couldn’t feel two of its tentacles now, thanks to whatever it was that the little scaly thing did to it. Any other day… any other day it might’ve just let the thing go, as it was not worth the hassle. But desperation has a way of overriding a creature’s sense of self-preservation.

No get away! Must eat!!!

It managed to grab the thing’s bottom half now after it tried to crawl away. The thing started making more loud noises, but that didn’t matter. She was going to be food.

Then... strange noises happened all around it. Scary noises that it couldn’t identify. And the next thing it knew, the other little thing, the one that was covered with that brown thing, was swinging something at its tentacles and screaming wildly. What the heck was going on here?

Never mind. This was an opportunity to possibly snag a second helping. It kept trying to grab the brown thing, but the brown thing kept waving the black thing at it. Vicious little thing, the brown thing. The dianoga would have a well-earned meal tonight.

 

[Oddi Xon]

The dianoga had stopped dragging Oddi into its toothy doom when Funani finally got involved. Oddi almost forgot to get out of its grip, as she was bewildered by the crazy display that the jawa presented. Is this th’ same guy that hired me??? she wondered as she stared bug-eyed at the spectacle. After several moments, she snapped herself out of it and took the opportunity to fire again at the creature… forgetting that she had set it to full power. The laser grazed the tendril that had ensnared her legs, which caused it to cry out in pain as it unraveled and recoiled from her. It didn’t like that at all.

Oddi grimaced sympathetically as she backed away. Sure, the thing almost ate her, but it was only trying to survive. After using the Force, she found that her senses had opened up enough that she could sense its desperation. She glanced over at Funani, who was wildly swinging around a strangely designed… rifle?… at the thing like he was trying to swat away a cloud of tiny bloodsucking insects.

“Funani! FUNANI!!! Tone it down! WHOA!!!” She ducked as a tentacle flew over her head. “Ai Mabara! That thing’s got reach!!!” She switched the blaster’s setting back to stun just before it got knocked out of her hand. It went off as it landed, hitting the tentacles closer to Funani. Those limbs recoiled and moved weirdly, as if it was trying to regain feeling. Her blaster had fallen too close to the creature. She didn’t feel that she had it in her to try and use the Force to pull it back again.

“Funani! Stun the dang thing! Yer rifle can do that, right???” she questioned. “It’s just hungry!” She couldn’t help but wonder if they couldn’t find another food source to appease it. There had to be something edible somewhere in this part of the dump, right? It’s a dump!

 

[Funani Avanti]

"AAAAAAHHHHH *cough* *cough* *weeze*" The Jawa's lungs finally giving up on him. Well his scream at the thing tactic actually worked and you know they say: "If it's stupid but it works it's not stupid.".... maybe. Still Funani was now able to calm down from his brief period of maddening blood lust to actually hear Oddi, asking him to stun the tentacle monster. Stun it? Really that was enough to snap Funani out of any remaining rage. Funani had no idea if he still had any shots left with his charge pack giving the recent spray and pray plus well Emilee never had a stun function. On Tatooine if you got into a blaster fight life or death was the way of the wind there.

"Wait wha- ahhh"

Funani distracted by his train of thought created an opportunity for the dianoga to grasp the pondering Jawa and started raising him up high above the sludge. The Dianoga then preceded to slam him down into the ground a few times for good measure. Dazed and confused for what seemed like an eternity Funani's body started to go into fight or flight mode. He was lucky the dianoga failed to bind his arms and he still had grasp of his rifle though the way he was oriented and the Dianoga was trying to thrash him about meant he couldn't get a clear shot.

Come on you wermo. Think. Think. Funani thought to himself when suddenly an idea came to him. His rifle didn't have a stun but the bolt that served as the gun's safety was an electrical connection from the charge pack to the firing mechanism and it's flesh was likely to be conductive. Funani pulled the charging bolt back on his rifle then pressed the top of the rifle against the surprisingly soft flesh of the tentacle. Sorry emilee Funani thought as he slammed the bolt forward and rotated it shut. The Dianoga roared in pain as it felt some of it's flesh get pinched and torn by the bolt before though before it could process that Funani pulled the trigger a blaster bolt firing in the sky confirming the theory as the Dianoga spasmed the violent shock coursing through its whole body. In the chaos the tentacle holding Funani suddenly jerked in a random direction as it's grip released the Jawa. Funani was sent flying off the other side of the sludge landing in a pile of smelly decaying food stuffs high above from the Dianoga's grasp.

 

[Oddi Xon]

“Funani!!! Aw kriff!!!” Oddi yelled helplessly as she watched her new employer get tossed around like a rag doll in a concrete mixer and flung way up to the top of a junk pile when he zapped the creature using the charging bolt of his rifle. It was a brilliant maneuver, but he may have been hurt in the process! The creature itself had collapsed, spasming and convulsing as the shock coursed through it. It was still alive… Oddi could sense that much… but the defending strike had taken its toll.

She attempted to climb her way up the steep pile of scraps and waste to reach Funani but found it a struggle as pieces of metal and plastic tumbled down at her from where Funani had been thrown. At one point, a peel from a fruit that Oddi couldn’t identify plastered itself right over her eyes. “Gah!!! Why is everythin’ touchin’ my face today???” she cried out as she ripped it off her face and tossed it down, where it landed next to the dianoga. It took several minutes to get up to where the jawa landed, as he kicked and screamed and swore in Jawaese… well, she assumed he was swearing anyway. He couldn’t have been too badly hurt.

“Funani… still alive an’ kickin’ I see…” she observed, half laughing and half concerned with his welfare. She dropped to her knees. “I was so absorbed in puttin’ together a port scanner that I didn’t notice th’ thing till it had me! I’m real sorry ‘bout that… you okay???” She observed him for several moments, to be certain that he wasn’t dying of pain or humiliation. She glanced back down at the dianoga.

It had reached out a tentacle, and it was grabbing the fruit peel.

“Ahh! Look!” she exclaimed. “It’s goin’ fer that fruit skin! Funani… are you kickin’ around in food waste?” She stroked her chin. “Huh… maybe we can appease the thing so it’ll leave us alone? Think it’ll work?”

 

[Funani Avanti]

"Uggh.... mom? is that you?" Funani asked at the silhouette looking down at him. Funani had a raging headache and the most pungent smell forced into his nose. After the figure spoke he realized it was Oddi and the sheer embarassment of that propelling back to his senses.
"Oh Oddi It's you... uh forget that thing I just said I'm fine..." Suddenly the Jawa now became deftly aware of the fact that his entire body ached from being used as a Dianoga's ragdoll. "uh... Ok maybe not fine, but I'll *oowww* live." It was a sorry sight but hey when your alone in a trash pit with a Clawdite and a tentacle monster you had the privacy to nearly be eaten and then look weak.

Oddi mentioned feeding the monster and while in most circumstances he would love to get down there and teach that Dianoga a lesson in what happens when you mess with Funani Avanti, his body was telling him to just lie down and dream this entire nightmare away.

"Uh sure feed it but could you help me out of this, first? Maybe if this works we can see if there is a nice mostly cockroach free mattress lying around?"

Funani would certainly chalk this up as one of the more eventful days of his time on Coruscant, and when he remember that entire thing about being here to find a droid and reverse engineer a port scanner well let's hope that if the day nearly kills that it's a sign your going to get what you want. Funani then realized that well his assistant could of died due to his negligence and had a tinge of guilt run through him.

"Hey also, sorry for the whole almost letting you get eaten thing too." The apology was clunky but probably was good enough Funani never was one to say sorry much but then again this was the first time in years he was ever around anyone he cared enough to apologize to, Funani may of hired Oddi as an assistant but for the Jawa it was already becoming more than that. Maybe Oddi was turning out to be one thing the Jawa secretly craved for more than anything: a friend.

 

[Oddi Xon]

“Hey… yer not from ‘round here, an’ I’m not from ‘round here. How could we know that there’d be a one-eyed garbage-squid waitin’ to eat us?” Oddi reasoned with Funani as she helped him out of the stinky pile of refuse. As she did so, it released a puff of stink into the air, making her cough. “Ai… *Cough cough* Jus’ when ya think it can’t stink any worse!”

She looked back down at the dianoga, which seemed to be placing the peel into its mouth as it slowly sank back into the sludge dejectedly. She frowned at this… she could certainly sympathize with a creature taking desperate measures for its survival. “If we’re gonna work in peace then we’re gonna need to placate that thing.” She eyed her surroundings for a large container, which she found quite easily. She started tossing in fruit cores, rotting maggoty meats, breads, vegetables… anything organic. Note to self… invest in hand sanitizer, she thought disgustingly.

When she was satisfied with what they had found, they made their way back down toward their designated workspace, taking care to keep a safe distance from the liquified wastepool. She checked the workstation. Miraculously, everything was as they had left it. Whew! “You should sit yerself down somewhere. Yer limpin’ somethin’ awful.” she told Funani. She smirked a little. “Not tryin’ to be yer boss, though.” She then brought the canister closer to the water and started tossing in a few of its contents one by one. Cautiously, she inched her way closer. Seeing no movement yet, she quickly dumped the rest close to the edge and backed up swiftly… and watched.

The oily surface began to ripple, then wave. One tentacle crept up to the surface, then another, then another. One large red eye began to elevate out of the pond, eagerly eyeing the feast before him. He heaved his body onto the landing, exposing his underbelly and his gaping, toothy mouth. He gathered the mound and brought it to his body. His eye rolled in delight as he gorged on the waste, growling in ecstasy.

Oddi was both disturbed and fascinated by the sight of the creature as it masticated on its smorgasbord. She scratched her head. “If that don’t beat all… what is this thing, Funani?”

 

[Funani Avanti]

"Ugh I've seen sand people, ugly scamming hutts, and Krayt dragons but never anything like THAT. Honestly I don't know what to call it." While the monster seemed happy about it's offering Funani was still pretty uneasy about the whole thing. Looking back at the satisfied monster which was it... purring? Growling? This day was just getting weird. Still happy tentacle monster makes for a happy life a bit like how letting the wookie win keeps you intact.

"At this point I'm just glad it ain't trying to shove us into that mouth...beak....tooth.... mouth... thing. Oddi when you eventually slice your way into that kriffing library could you find out what the feck that thing is?"

Still Funani realized that he just needed to sit down as his limp and walk made it look like he had tried to drink a deucalian under the table. Funani scanned around and noticed that the trash around where the Holobooth looked soft with a torn tarp and some vague masses that altogether looked like sitting there wouldn't feel you were jamming a thousand needles up your bum. Funani slowly pushed his body over using the image of a comfy bed as motivation to get over to the trash pile finally upon reaching there his body wanting to drop did exactly that. Funani shut his eyes, leaned forward hoping to meet the embrace of something cushy like a soft pillow.

CLUNK​

Instead Funani's head made contact with something distinctly solid and metallic. Funani could tell this because his headache had just found a way to get exponentially worse like a pulsing migraine mixed with a hangover just all sorts of fun to be had.
"Ra'ti Ra'ti Ra'ti Ra'ti!" The Jawa swore waiting for the pain to die down to look at what the kriff he just hit his head against. It was concealed under the tarp a barely noticeable bump that Funani only now could notice was there. Pulling the tarp away Funani's eyes widened as the pain was forgotten about.

Utinni! Funani screamed in Delight as he realized he was looking distinctly at the head of a 2B Protocol Droid that was just buried in the trash. A haul like this in tatooine would be a miracle for one days look but you could find seemingly everything in this craphole!

Hey Oddi! When you get done with that port scanner come over here. I think we found our droid!. Oh also here take this Holoman, You could probably uses this to salvage the drive and put the new Mobo in it.

 

[Oddi Xon]

*CLUNK*​

Oddi watched as the jawa seemed to have hurt himself again, and she wore the pained facial expression on his behalf. But that expression changed to that of pleasant surprise when she saw what he had found. “Well, color me impressed!” she exclaimed. Then she couldn’t help but snicker a little when he handed her the Holoman. “Hey, if all goes well we can hook up a sound system in that there protocol droid an’ teach it ta’ dance. Heheheh…” she joked, although she wouldn’t have been opposed to following through on that comment.

Before getting back to the port scanner, she glanced back at the creature, which seemed satisfied with its meal. “If we’re ever gonna use this space again I suppose we’ll hafta bring snacks from now on. An’ honestly, he might make a good deterrent for someone else if they come by.”

She took apart the Holoman and found exactly what she needed. Then she examined the scanner once again to make sure she had everything right in her brain. There were several moments in the beginning of her work where she had to run out into the junk pile to pull pieces from random electronics, but after a while, she was satisfied with what she had. As she continued working, she spoke each action aloud so that Funani would know exactly what she was doing. There was a moment where she second guessed herself, but then she mumbled aloud, “Naw, I had it right th’ first time.” (Meanwhile, the creature had fallen asleep before finishing its meal, as it was quite exhausted.)

After a time, she made the final adjustments on the motherboard and began to piece together the outer casing. Before she closed it up, she called Funani over. “Th’ casin’ is a bit unorthodox, but that may only confuse someone if they ever try t’ confiscate th’ thing. That’s our advantage. But here… that’ll work, right?”

Suddenly, a large belch emitted from the creature as he woke himself up. He slowly squirmed back into the pool until there was nothing but oily bubbles in its wake. “G’night Oscar!” she called after it casually. Feeling Funani’s eyes upon her, she explained. “Yeah… I named him… Oscar. Yeah. I don’t know why. It just fits.”

Now she felt self-conscious.