Taming the Beasts

[Alysanne Drast]

Great Plains, Naboo​

Having made contact with the Gungan High Council and brokered something resembling an agreement with them, the Rebels had but one obstacle left in their path, convincing the Gungans that they were worthy of being their allies. They had some weird traditions, these amphibious natives of Naboo, and while their leaders agreed that the Rebels had much to offer in exchange for permission to settle on the surface, they still needed to convince their people of the same. And these trials were how they were going to win the respect of the locals.

This third and final trial was helping them learn a little more about the Gungan culture, and about the fauna on Naboo. The Gungans had demanded that two Rebel warriors prove their worth to the locals by undergoing a rite of passage that almost all Gungan warriors had to pass. The plains they had been brought to were full of life, among them being the zalaaca the rebels were supposed to track and tame.

Like the other trials, the rebel contingent was allowed to be present at hand to witness the trial, but they could not help them in any way, and Alys and the others had to watch on as simple spectators their two champions took on this next challenge.

@Farnis13 @GABA

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn walked through the marshy woodlands, pistol and vibro blade on her hip. The missions was a little... strange. She had to go out with another Rebel to tame some sort of animal, something called a Zalaaca. She didn't have much experience taming something, although she did have experience hunting which counted for something she supposed. Not many rebels came with them to view this new world that the Gungans called Naboo so by default she supposed she was the best suited for the mission.

Still though, it was a completely foreign environment and that put her on edge. She didn't know any of the plants, the wildlife, or even the natives of Naboo. It was an absolutely gorgeous planet, and she honestly hoped that the efforts to settle here for the Alliance bore fruit. Shed love to have a home here to come back to some day.

Ok, back to the mission at hand. Evelyn thought to herself. She continued creeping through the forest, looking for any sign of her target. She'd had the animal described to her so she figured she ought to be able to track it. Maybe.

@GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda felt out of her element for the time being; living in the slums and the city of Coronet was vastly different from the unexplored swamps of Naboo. However, the natural beauty and wildlife sparked nostalgia within the girl as it reminded her of her homeworld, to be away from the duracrete and steel walls and back into the clean warm air of the natural world. The worst part of it though, it reminded her of happier days she held with her family and village and she felt a yearning to revisit those members, she couldn't remember the last time she had honored her ancestors and family.

Though it would have to wait as her and another member of the Galactic Alliance were tasked in taming a zalaaca beast. They weren't given much information on the creatures and only their description and a general idea of where they liked to hang out. She recalled the herds they used to shepherd up and down the mountains and occasionally pulling in a wild one that had strayed off from other villages.

"I used to watch my father tame creatures in my village growing up, he would be excited to see us doing this and then if we were successful, we would be lectured on everything we did wrong." Arda spoke, breaking the silence. She had no clue on anything about this woman who was paired with her, "I'm Arda Breaux by the way, how do you think we'll find these zalaacas?" she asked glancing to the dark-haired woman just long enough to not watch her step and her boot sunk in mud. The girl grimaced as she slowly pulled her foot out, now ever more cautious about her surroundings.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn smiled a little bit as Arda recounted the story. The nostalgia was obvious and she enjoyed being shared a piece of this woman's memory. She then said, "I'm Evelyn Fest, it's good to meet you Arda. I'm glad i've got someone with experience taming animals with me. Between the two of us, we should make short work of this."

Evelyn looked around the area, trying to find any sign of what could be a Zalaaca. She frowned as she tried looking for a sign of anything out of the ordinary. Finally she said, "We should start by looking for a watering hole I think, some place the Zalaaca prefer to drink. Most likely deep water and out of the way."

They began walking around the marsh, trying to find any sign of their targets. Evelyn kept her eyes to the ground, boots squelching into the mud. Occasionally she'd hit her head on a branch, due to her focusing to much on the ground rather than what was in front of her. At one point, an animal made a call in the distance, causing her to whirl around to look. But it was just a strange looking bird.

Finally however, Evelyn saw some tracks furrowed deep into the mud. They were three toed claws made by a heavy being with four strong legs. It seemed to match the description of what they were looking for. Evelyn smiled broadly and whispered, "Arda, I think we're going the right way. Come on."

Sure enough, in the distance they could see two Zalaaca by a pool of water. One of them was laying on a rock in the sun, enjoying the heat. While another was swimming about in the water. They seemed to be taking it quite easy and just enjoying the day. It was actually a little cute, to Evelyn at least.

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda grinned, she was glad her teammate seemed to enjoy the story, but she worried about her own abilities and hoped that her observations from when she was a child would be useful today. However, Evelyn was confident that they would be able to accomplish the task. Arda slowed down her pace, careful not to get too far ahead of Evalyn, she had a quick step, probably thanks to the urgency of getting where you needed to go in the Corellian slums before you were stopped by a patrol or gangs. That threat was not here though, surely there were probably beasts around that could most likely eat them, but the girl decided not to fret on that idea.

She kept her focus on the present, trying to keep a lookout for the zalaaca beasts as described by the Gungans. She wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for and hoped the description they were given was accurate enough to pick them out of such a foreign environment. However, Evalyn thought she had found something, stopping to point out the tracks in the mud and Arda raised her eyebrows in excitement as she was confident also it was the beast they were searching for in the marsh. Evalyn lead the way as they quietly followed the tracks and Arda was careful not to let the squishing of mud cause too much noise that would scare away the animals.

Soon enough they were able to see something and Arda mouthed "whoa" to see the large beasts enjoy a leisure afternoon bathing in the sun or the water. She watched them for a little while longer trying to figure out the behaviors of the beasts, but the one sleeping didn't offer much help and the swimming one gave her just the bare minimum. Arda titled her head, favoring her right ear to listen for their calls; there was a soft rumbling and the girl frowned, glancing at Evelyn, though kept favoring her right ear to listen for new calls of the Zalaaca.

"So, we should track them for a little bit, we either need to figure out what food it eats or a social call...but I think we'll figure out the food before the social call." Arda peaked over the fern, watching them for a moment. However, the forest began to echo with a low rumble followed by a trumpeting call that even bothered the birds from rest and back into the sky. Whatever this call was seemed to attract the Zalaaca's attention as the one on the rock sat up and echoed a call back; the one in the water climbed out and its body rippled with a shake to dry itself off. Another call, and the Zalaacca's answered and took off away from the two girls.

"OH MERDE!, C'mon!" Arda jumped up, but paused, realizing she shouldn't swim across a lake that she didn't know and started to run around, her speed slowed by the mud until she lost her boot, her foot sliding out and the girl huffed, careful not to lose her balance as she slid her foot back into her boot and even more carefully wiggled it out of the mud. "We were so close!" sighed Arda.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn stood a moment, staring into the forest and trying to gain a glimpse of the Zalaaca. But they were simply too fast, and the delay cost them too many valuable seconds. Evelyn frowned and said, "Shit. We lost them."

She helped Arda get her foot out of the mud and said, "Come on, we should at least try and see if we can find where the call was coming from."

The duo walked through the Marsh, occasionally hearing more calls of the Zalaaca throughout, however there were too many calls in too many directions for Evelyn to get a good bead on them. She finally stopped, realizing after a while that they were just going in circles at one point. Evelyn sighed, looking around for something, anything, to help pick back up the trail. But there was nothing.

Evelyn stopped and shook her head saying, "We lost them. I'm not sure what we should do next. Maybe we can head back to the water they were just at? They might return at some point."

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda felt just as much disappointment as their beasts disappeared from sight; she thanked Evelyn for her help and they continued through the marsh, trying to find any sign of where they had run and if they gathered with others. The rumbling sound was all over and Evelyn was having a hard time pinpointing; even with hearing in just one ear, Arda struggled too, "Maybe..." she raised her eyebrows and a small smile formed as she tried to mimic the zalaac calls they heard through the forest. With loud Oos and Uhs the forest seemed to fall silent to Arda's ridiculous sounds - even the girl thought it was pretty silly too, but it seemed to cause all the sounds to stop in the area.

That silence didn't last long though as Arda giggled to her silly plan, "I don't think we lost them, they're around, but maybe waiting as you said, that might be a good plan." she agreed, stopping to look around to see exactly where they were. Arda wasn't one who liked to wait, but in this time, it seemed most appropriate. They couldn't necessarily chase sounds that they couldn't pinpoint and the tracks were not of use.

Arda placed her hands on her hips as they continued their way back to the watering hole where they last saw the beasts, the marsh was humid, the sun now rising high in the sky and the temperature was rising. She almost wished she was back on Corellia, winter was about to hit, and the cold city air would have been a welcome relief from this climate. When they returned to the lake, Arda climbed up on the warm stone where the beast was lying and laid across the top; the warm stone felt great against her back, "Ooo, I can see how they liked this..." Arda whispered and then sat up and crossed her legs, waiting.

And wait for a long time they would.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn sat with her for a long... long... long while. Evelyn was just about ready to give up when they spotted two Zalaaca exiting the treeline towards the watering hole. Evelyn wasn't sure why or how, but something in the back of her mind told her that these two were the same Zalaaca they had seen before. She could feel it, if that made any sense.

The Zalaaca didn't seem threatened at all by seeing the two girls. In fact they just kept on walking along, as if they owned the place. This was obviously an area they came to often and considered it their turf. No way would any animal, even a foreign one, try anything there.

Evelyn glanced over to Arda and didn't say anything, just looked excited that they were finally reaching their goal. Maybe. Evelyn started to slowly walk towards one of the Zalaaca. This one seemed friendlier to her, somehow. She wasn't sure, the animal just felt right.

As Evelyn approached, the Zalaaca looked at her expectantly, waiting to see what the strange new flesh animal was attempting to do. Evelyn slowly held up a hand as she walked forward, trying to seem open and non-threatening in her advance. At one point the Zalaaca made a noise in its throat that caused Evelyn to stand stock still. However it just seemed to be doing the equivalent of coughing and didn't make any other sudden moves.

Finally, Evelyn came up close enough to brush its nose. The Zalaaca stiffened a little bit, as if to run away, but did nothing so far. Evelyn began to run her hand along its snout gently. She had read before that when it came to trying to calm someone, it was much about making your presence peaceful as it was about the calm and quiet moments. So she did just that. Evelyn didn't really know how to do so, she just tried to mentally open up to the animal.

Whatever she was doing seemed to work, as the Zalaaca loosened up a bit and even dipped its head forward to let Evelyn continue to rub it.

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda made herself comfortable, sitting silently as she focused on the world around her, listening to the birds, the calls of creatures that inhabited the marsh, it was in a way, serene, even through the stickiness of the heat and humidity. The day carried on though and Arda's sitbones begun to grow sore against the stone and the girl laid down on her back with a long sigh. She closed her eyes, letting the sun beat down on her eyelids, it wasn't before lone did she hear a rustling of the ferns and bushes and her eyes shot back open, but she kept still, turning her head to watch as the beasts came back. Evelyn met her eyes and Arda raised her eyebrows in surprise and wonder.

The girl didn't move though, watching as Evelyn approached the zalaaca, hand extended, her steps slow until it allowed her to touch it. Arda's jaw fell agape, but as the one beast was busy with Evely, the other decided it wanted it's spot back on the rock and approached where Arda was laying.

She looked up and the beast gave her a nudge with its snout; it was large and strong enough that Arda' couldn't stop the momentum of rolling to the side of the stone, her legs dangled over the side. However, the Zalaaca climbed up on the stone and laid down with a loud huff, and laid on its side. Arda frowned and watched for a moment as the Zalaaca got comfortable before slowly climbing back up on the stone. She could see Evelyn on the other side, her own head just peering over the belly of the sleepy zalaaca as she mouthed, no way! in disbelief, the creatures were so docile around them. Then again, they probably never seen humans on its world before.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn glanced at the other one, seeing how friendly it was also being to Arda. Evelyn felt a bit nervous starting this off, as odds are if she was able to successfully mount this one, it's friend would be more willing to be mounted. The Zalaaca seemed to be social creatures, taking cues on danger from it's companion.

Evelyn moved to it's slide with slow, obvious, but sure movements. She continued rubbing her hand along it's side as she walked along it, comforting the beast. She stopped at it's side, finding a divet that would probably seat her somewhat securely. She took a breath and then with one sure motion clambered up onto the creature.

She managed to sit on top of it fully before the Zalaaca realized what was happening. It started hopping, bucking, even screeching a little as it attempted to buck Evelyn off. Evelyn kept a grip on one of the frills on the back of its neck, tightening her legs grip on the Zalaacas side.

Evelyn must've been shot one too many times during her service with the Alliance because for some reason, sitting on the back of this wild animal never before seen in the galaxy, that could easily trample her, and was currently attempting to throw her off, she was having the time of her life. One of her hands lost its grip on the frill and she found her keeping it to the side, getting somewhat cocky. A high pitched, almost panicked laugh came from the woman's mouth as she managed to stay on for a few more moments.

Then slowly, the Zalaaca stopped bucking. It shook a few times, still unaccustomed to the rider on its back, but ultimately settled down. It let out a low grumble within its stomach as it got used to the feel of having someone on it's back, but wasn't actively trying to throw her off.

It seemed Evelyn had managed to break her Zalaaca.

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda frowned, seeing her beast was on a strict nap schedule, a feeling told her it was going to be tougher than it would look. While Evalyn managed to gain the second zalaaca under her command, this one slept, its belly rising slowly up and then back down; she wondered what her father would say if he saw her trying to climb onto a wild animal while it slept. Inside she grinned at his reaction and cautiously climbed onto the zalaaca, who woke suddenly and turned it's head to her and then laid back down, seemingly unconcerned by the girl's presence. Arda frowned and sighed, trying to think how to get the creature up and going; she leaned forward and patted gently against its neck, trying to get it to at least stand-up and for a brief moment Arda' thought it worked. The Zalaaca raised its head, tucked it's legs underneath in order to rise, and then shook...sending Arda' flying off the zalaaca and into the water.

Though inconvenient, the cool water was refreshing as she broke back to the surface, treading water for a moment until she swam back to the shallow end to climb out. Evalyn seemed to have accomplished the task as the zalaaca seemed to accept the small creature riding it's back.

Climbing back up on the rock, Arda climbed onto the creature, soaked from her unsolicited bath as she laid along it's back, resting her right ear against its body, listening to its slow breathing and heartbeat. Gently she patted the creature's side, "C'mon, up." she commanded softly, giving a slight squeeze of her legs until it turned to look at her. Arda braced for the creature to throw her off once more, "Up." Arda commanded, "Up!" she demanded, now more annoyed it was unconcerned by her presence, "C'mon, your buddy likes my pal here..." she said looking at Evalyn and gave a shrug, bewildered by the creature's docile temperament.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn frowned and saw the Zalaaca was just refusing to rise. Maybe she could encourage her own mount to assist? She nudged her heels into the side of the Zalaaca, hoping to get it to make a noise, rear, something.
And yet, Evelyns Zalaaca seemed just as mild mannered. It huffed a little in annoyance but didn't do anything obvious. Arda's beast just seemed intent on lazing about. Evelyn would've found it pretty funny if this wasn't a trial that would cement relations with the Gungans.
Evelyn glanced over to Arda and said, "He seems intent on just lazing about. Got any other ideas?"

 

[Arda Breaux]

Not even Evalyn was certain of what to do, the beast's laziness seemed to also be contagious as it's partner let out a snort of noncompliance. Arda sighed and closed her eyes, feeling herself beginning to succumb to impatience and she reached into her senses, feeling the life of the zalaaca beneath her as she patted gently, trying to get it up, but still no success. She sat there for a long time trying to think of any other ideas in order to get it up and moving, but it didn't view her as a threat, nor superior to it and well in all things considered, Arda guessed that was a positive. The last thing she wanted to do was come across some flesh-eating predator on a world she had no knowledge about.

However, there was always the notion that this was just not meant to be. She was uncertain of how their warriors, who probably were training since birth, managed to do such a task. Not even her old village required such a rite, hunting was more important. Arda looked around to all the ferns and grasses and an idea popped into her head. She climbed off the zalaaca and pulled on some of the leaves of the plants around them, but it was then after all that effort, the Zalaaca stood up.

Arda watched in awe and suddenly elated as the creature stretched and the girl quickly tried to climb back up, though instead, leapt off the rock and took off into the forest, disappearing among the trees and plants. Arda's jaw dropped and her arms did also as she dropped the leaves she gripped. It was gone, she had failed the task.

Evalyn did marvellously, but perhaps for Arda, it certainly was just not meant to be. Wet, sticky, hot and disappointed she looked to Evalyn, "Returning with one would be better than neither, wouldn't it?" she asked, nodding her head to gesture to start heading back.

@Farnis13

 

[Evelyn Fest]

Evelyn nodded, feeling a little bad that they couldn't get the second one, but she held a hand down to help Arda onto her own Zalaaca. Once they were both mounted, Evelyn dug her heels into the Zalaaca and it began walking along. Evelyn felt proud of her accomplishment and hoped that she'd get to keep the Zalaaca. She'd kind of gotten attached to the creature.

She glanced over her shoulder to Arda and said, "They probably didn't expect a pair of humans to have gotten as far as they did. One is better than none."

They continued on, following the trail back to the gungans with their prize.

[OOC: End thread unless you wanted to post anything else GABA