Ask This is The Way

[Oren Zapan]

This was supposed to be an adventure that helped to bond the relationship between him and Nashyr, and it was something the Jedi Master had been looking forward to for weeks. She was gone now, and it was up to him to continue along the path that they had laid for each other. She had given her life, so that others could live, and he had to try and keep her memory alive, the best he could. He would find this holocron, for her and Saul. One of the locations he had discovered when looking over the map was Cyrkon, a toxic world that was home to pirates and smugglers, but rumor has it that world had not always been this way.

The Jedi Master was not aware of what he was looking for, instead he wandered among the crowds of smugglers and bounty hunters as he ventured through a crowded trader's market. The force would guide him on this journey, he just needed to open up to it and find the path, whatever it may have been.

tag: @Feng Mian

 

[Song Wren]

Song was visiting Cyrkon looking for a place to simmer down, or an oddball job to pick up. The Guild was never dry of bounties, but the Mandalorian wanted some time to cool off. A chance to relax from her many months of hunting. Then again, there was nothing “relaxing” about the planet. A toxic cesspool, stuffed to the brim with smugglers and pirates and low-tier criminals. She had earned herself a few nasty glares for her armor, but she was stacked enough to hold them off.

Others, however, were and would not be so lucky.

While she stood chatting it up with a local vendor in search of an easy job, Song noticed a sleazy-looking girl slither her way through the crowd. There was a starved look in her eyes, aimed right for a strange, oblivious man with a face covered in markings and scars. The Mando watched as she picked up her pace, then “accidentally” slam into the man’s side. Her fingers were quick, fast enough that not even Song could see them move, but she knew the girl had dipped her hand into his pockets.

She heard the girl apologize faintly, almost sincere, before running off back into the crowd.

Song figured she should get involved. Warn the man, chase the girl. Instead, she stayed her hand a moment, just wondering if he knew, and what he might do.

@TWD26

 

[Oren Zapan]

Oren was not a stranger to mingling with scum and villainy, he had served two years in prison and quickly learned how to deal with criminals and gangsters. He had been wandering, knowing fully well in his black and grey tunic that he stuck out like a sore thumb, but he was not naive. He saw the girl come towards him, and he knew what was going to happen.

His hand would slowly grip her own, as they slid into his pockets, he could feel her fingers wrap around Nashyr's crystal, "You want to go home and rethink over your life." He would say in a gentle whisper, as his words carried a suggestion through the force. The girl would peer up to him, before slipping off. To anyone watching it most likely looked like he hadn't seen himself get robbed blind.

He would continue walking as he made his way towards what appeared to be an eccentric old Weequay, who was tinkering away with various old antiques and relics. "Excuse me," he'd ask in a gentle voice, "I'm looking for two things," he'd ask as he watched the old man turn towards him.

"Can you help me make a necklace from this crystal?" His voice would crack slightly as he held it out for the man to inspect.

"I cannot right now, I'm too busy," he'd throw his hands up as he waddled over towards his things that he had begun to pack. Oren could sense the pain in the man's words. He was feeling them too.

"Is everything okay? Maybe, I could help you..." The Jedi Master would ask with a soft smile, as he slowly slid the crystal back towards his pocket. He wouldn't ask the man about the strange puzzle clue he had, Find the Rock that Glitters among the stars... The words rung through his head, as he watched the old man huff.

"My boy, I lost him...and I don't have the credits to have him delivered across the countryside so he can be buried with his mother, my legs and back are too weak, and I..I know that I can't do it myself, the Temari Basin is too hot and acidic for my old bones.."

Oren would frown slightly, as he took a deep breath, "I..lost my own lover, a few weeks ago." His nostrils would flair slightly, "Let me take your boy to the site, I will make sure he rests.."

The old man would turn towards him, watching him for a moment. "Why..help me, I just refused you," he'd grumble. But, the Jedi Master understood the pain he was going through, and how hard it was to let go--truth be told he still hadn't himself. He would slowly remove the crystal from his pocket and would place it onto the table.

"If you could make a simple necklace from this, I will be back in two days, your son shall be buried, you have my promise."

"You have a deal, but was the other thing you were looking for son?"

Oren would begin to collect his own things as he shook his head, "I believe it's something I must find myself.." He'd peer towards the large dewbacks that waited outside of the gates of the town, and rows of dead bodies which had been neatly wrapped. "I will see you soon." And so he was off towards the edge of the town, prepared to make the journey--his thoughts reflected and focused on Nashyr.
tag: @Feng Mian

 

[Song Wren]

It went nothing the way Song imagined it would.

At the last second, while the girl had plunged her little fingers into the man’s pocket, the man seemed to pause. If she blinked, she might’ve missed it, but she was a Mandalorian. Her eyes were always open. Even though she didn’t catch his lips move, the way the girl looked after she left was strange. Like a spell had fallen over her. She wasn’t moving onto her next victim. No, she was leaving the market entirely. Calmly.

The man looked perfectly oblivious, like nothing had happened, but Song wasn’t too sure of it. His appearance was another thing, too. Almost familiar.

Ignoring whatever job-hunt she was on that day, she instead decided to shadow the man. Although it was hard to blend in as a Mandalorian, she kept her distance, making every effort to look and appear normal. When he stopped at an antiques stall, she stopped beside a vendor selling spotchka and blum-fruit close by. Her head was low, inspecting the fruit, but her eyes never left the stranger.

After he was done speaking with the old vendor and left, Song moved in. Not to him, but the stall, and quietly questioned the Weequay. “That man. What did he want from you?”

The vendor blinked, looking at her with a deep lack of trust. “I’m sorry?”

She glanced down to see a translucent-looking crystal seated in the old man’s palm. When he noticed her looking, he closed his fingers around it. “Can I help you? I'm busy right now,” he said, suspicious.

Song sensed something was afoot. A mysterious stranger, obviously new to the world. A kyber crystal, a discreet trade? She could have flashed her blaster, intimidated the old man into telling her what she wanted to know, but the Mandalorian was better than that. If she wanted answers, she’d follow the source.

She’d follow the man.

“It’s nothing,” she said, before leaving the old vendor.

Song moved twenty paces behind the original man as he made his way to the town gates, where a row of bodies waited. Contraband? Bodies he was planning to hide away? Her mind was going haywire, full of unanswered questions. She could be stumbling into a sprawling criminal underground and she didn’t even know it.

Little did she know it was much worse than that, because she was stumbling into nothing at all. Led by poor judgment and a simple misunderstanding.

@TWD26

 

[Oren Zapan]

"I'm looking for the body of Xath Tindor.." The Jedi Master would say as he peered towards the many wrapped bodies, some of them decorated with beads and other assortments of items and collections. It seemed to be a tradition here, among those that actually lived on the planet and weren't here to simply rest and hide from the law.

The Rodian in charge would grunt, dragging a plain clothed covered body towards the Jedi. It seemed that the body had been there for several days. "Poor ol' kriff finally got someone to take the body," the Rodian would chuckle in Huttese with his race's high pitched sing song voice. "You must really need the credits, pirate."

Oren would simply nod, as he went along with the man, "His father is a good man, and has helped me and my crew several times..This is the least I can do to help him." He'd smile as he slowly pulled the body onto an old wooden traditional sled. He could feel someone watching him, but paid it no mind.

Instead, he would hitch the sled to a dewback and would mount--his eye focusing on the toxic wasteland and desert that lay ahead. It would be a shame if someone tried to attack him while he tried to bury someone's child. But, that thought didn't cross his mind; He thought about Nashyr and her sacrifice, his hands clenching along the reigns as he slowly snapped the dewback to begin the slow tread across the unknown.

tag: @Feng Mian