Open Onderon Victory Parade

[Thayd Karkoza]

(OOC: Open to all Jedi and Jedi-friendly Independents.)​

Huge crowds roaring, cheering. Laughter, music, dancing in the street. In the aftermath of their victory over the Sith, Onderon’s capital was positively engulfed in jubilation. Bright confetti filled the air. Horns rang out with the songs of triumph, and people sang with them, making up lyrics on the fly.

An impromptu victory parade was slapped together and everyone had gathered out onto the capital’s main thoroughfares as the Onderon defense forces streamed through the city, grinning ear to ear like they were gliding by on clouds. Some took their helmets off and the civilians would fill them with beautiful flowers and pastries and coins and stupid little coupons and other nice things.

There was a carnival atmosphere, myriad attractions crammed the parade route. A zillion food stands dispensing all manner of street food and fried desserts. Silly games and benign temptations everywhere. An old fashioned dunking booth, folks lined up at a “ride the jetpack for 10 credits!” sign, abandoned imperial vehicles converted into harmless bumper cars — floats of all sizes, shapes, designs, sometimes running side by side in friendly races.

A giant model of Darth Raze’s helmeted head had been made up. Big as a cottage, crude, janky, wrought with a caricatured expression of impotent rage somehow discernible even through its monster mask. This Darth Head trundled dumbly along the parade route on a wheeled platform, chased by dozens of little children all screaming and singing and gouging the head with blue and green plastic toy lightsabers as it bled candy onto the pavement...

---

One of these floats was literally a mobile, open air bar called the Onderon Overload. Just a straight up full bar on a vast levitating platform under a big tent roof. This establishment was accessible to anyone, and people hopped on and off as they pleased. It drifted down the route slow as hell, occasionally weaving among the other floats and reordering its place in the parade lineup. Thayd was seated at the bar, and had a drink with a lil umbrella in it. Comlink in his hand. Talking to someone. Laughing it up.

“It’s all good baby. It’s all good.”

Nodding his head. Motioning to the bartender to refill the glass. “Yeah I know. Yep. Not as many refugees as they thought! How ‘bout that! Nice change of pace isn’t it? Mhm... yeah... Of course I’m okay. Of course. Almost got vaporized but I’m fine.” He laughed again. “Nah they can’t touch me. Like I said it’s all good. Alright. All right. I’ll see you when I see you. Take care.”

Thayd hung up, put the comlink in his pocket, sipped his drink and smiled. He sat back, content to watch the city waft on by, like scenes from a dream.

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade swiveled a champagne glass in her hand. She wore a fake brown mustache and fake brown eyebrows hairy and crawly like caterpillars. Her brown hair was crownbraided in rows of mini buns. Brown smudges smeared her pants and t-shirt. A red and green parrot perched on her shoulder. Its orange beak sniped at the olive in her glass.

Everyone seemed so happy. Onderonians clapping their hands, singing songs. Kids climbing into parade floats and bouncing around. On the side of the road, a giant portrait of King Hakan had been set up. The King, caped and royal, had those painting eyes that followed you no matter where you went. Candles dripped wax into silver plates encircling him. “They will burn till our dear leader’s soul finds its way to heaven,” a robed woman shouted to the sky.

Jade chuckled. She hadn’t spent all this time in the jungle digging holes for the monarchy. Soon the planet would be colonized by the Wookiees, and she could make amends.

She climbed into the levitating, no-walls bar with Master Thayd, scrambling onto the floor, levitating her champagne glass with the force as she entered.

---

Thayd turned his head to the side and gawked at Jade.

“It’s my newest disguise.” said Jade. “I need it to evade the bad guys from my wedding.” She stroked her shoulder-parrot.

Thayd shook his head and laughed.

Jade continued, “Anyway good job, real good job. I heard you manhandled two Sith and sent them running home to their mommies–" her parrot cawed in agreement–"That’s why you should train me. I'm back with the Jedi now; my spirit cleansed–" she raised her glass to the sky–"Master Silex is dandy and all, but she hasn’t faced combat like you. Frankly, I have a feeling I'm gonna push more people's buttons, even though I don't mean to... and yeah, getting a power level boost may stop people from bullying me.”

@Evan

 

[Thayd Karkoza]

"You're fulfilling a prophecy, you know that?" Thayd eyed the parrot on her shoulder. He stirred his drink with its tiny umbrella. The Onderon Overload eased along on time's lazy river, the sun a bit lower over the blown down roofs of Iziz. "I did a prophecy this morning that you'd show up and tell me something like this."

Thayd seemed ambivalent, letting errant meditations strike him. For a short while he gazed off in the distance, like he saw some Jedi ghost standing in his grave-robes at the bus stop shaking his head solemn and dire-eyed, mouthing silent omens. After a moment his attention was drawn to a holoscreen hanging from the ceiling behind the bar. Some news channel, sound muted, text scrolling at the bottom of the frame: KING OF ONDERON DEAD. STABBED THRU HEART. Eyes flicked back to Jade, running back in his mind the list of things he knew about her. Excommunicated. Amputated from the Force -- self-sewn back on again, stubborn miracle, half-laced still with rot accrued on Nar Shadda. Her eyes bright and toy-blinking, like charged thermal detonators. It was just appalling, her coming up to him saying these things.

"Fine--" slapping the table done deal style, ice cubes bounced in the glass chiming like a cash register, "but I have conditions."

@Taygood

 

[Jade Hart]

Jade looked where Thayd looked and where Thayd looked so looked the parrot. Outside the parade rolled on under languid winds and the pretense of peace. Jade was jocular, sweating her plum-cheeks raw. “Conditions? Oh I have conditions too.”

On the holo flashed new headlines: CELEBRATION PARADE. FLOATS GALORE. DARTH RAZE BEHEADED? Some old bearded Jedi came on saying the display was unwise. He rambled on amid a storm of holo static and white fuzz. Jade cracked her jaw with a sickening pop. She crossed her arms, elbows crusted white, no-nonsense now, Thayd-centric.

“Condition 1: Silex is my master too. That doesn’t change. But, you can be master number two.”

“Condition 2: You don’t hold anything back because I’m an exile.”

“Condition 3: When the time comes..."– Jade felt the wind knocked out of her. She gripped her scarf, uncut fingernails digging deep into the skin, and swallowed hard– "I intend to hunt down the one who wronged me and kill them in cold blood… Actually, this is less of a condition than a statement of fact.”

@Evan @Reylo4evr

 

[Hauron Solus]

Spoiler: Music

It was an odd sensation to be thanked for protecting a world that was not his own. "Hey Mando! I saw you out there! Way to go!" That and other variations of appreciation were displayed towards Hauron and the few fellow Mandalorians that had chosen to reveal themselves and fight the Sith invasion.

Hauron had his helmet to thank for hiding his sheepish expression. He had not fought the Sith with the civilians in mind. Or maybe he had and not realized it. The emotions that had come over the young warrior in the heat of the battle was aggression and hate, not love or the desire to protect the innocent. What's more, he had felt fear in a deeper sense than he had in a long time. So he felt like the praise he was receiving might not be as well earned as some might think.

The young Mikkian was not too surprised to later hear and see the presence of the Jedi Order on Onderon. The Mandalorian had crossed paths with a strange exile a few days prior to the thwarted invasion. But there were Jedi that had fought on the battlefield and won against the Sith. Maybe it was worth a shot to try and talk to one of the star traveling monks and get a better understanding of their organization.

Perhaps more importantly, Hauron was still excited to be on the winning side of this fight. Regardless of his intentions, the combined effort of the Mandalorians and the Jedi had beaten the Sith invasion. There were lost lives but the people of Onderon seemed happy to make the most of their freedom and party.

Behind his black and red helmet, the Mandalorian was smiling at the excitement the civilians and military expressed. He walked along the perimeter of crowds and looked at the different food stands, not wanting to take off his helmet and reveal his face. The smell was enough to leak into his helmet and make his stomach grumble slightly.

He decided he would try a few of the carnival games and forked over the credits for tickets. First he tried dunking the man with painted on red and black tattoos with what looked like glued on zabrak horns. It was only after the third ball that he managed to make the teasing 'Sith' into the pool of water, earning him a cheer from the crowd that had gathered. One member of the Planetary Defense raised a hand and it took Hauron a moment to realized he was high-fiving the Mandalorian. Smiling, slightly embarressed for having taken a moment to realize, he brought his hand up and clapped it against the palm of the soldier, earning him another cheer from the soldier and his buddies.

Chuckling to himself, Hauron went on to the next game with limited luck. The games were simple but clearly it they were somewhat rigged, though not impossible to beat. The Solus used the last remnants of his tickets to earn a small keychain with a minature plushie fambaa which Hauron clipped to his belt for the rest of the day.

The Mandalorian was masking a slight limp he had earned from the battle. Bacta had thankfully healed most injuries but the warrior had a tendril scar down his right leg from the brief electrical damage from one of the Sith's force lightening attacks. The best fix for it was probably a drink, which was why he was heading towards one of the floats acting as a mobile bar.

Hauron arrived at the Onderon Overload in time to see a bushy browed and mustache wearing pirate, lacking a cliche peg leg. The person was talking to another individual whom the Solus recognized though it took him the time to walk over to where the drinks were being served to fully remember the man. The bushy browed companion with a parrot on their shoulder spoke in a voice that seemed vaguely familiar. "I intend to hunt down the one who wronged me and kill them in cold blood… Actually, this is less of a condition than a statement of fact.” The tone seemed almost casual and caused Hauron to raise an eyebrow as he saddled up along side them. "Whatever y'all are talking about...it sounds interesting." He spoke clearly enough from behind his helmet to announce his presence to both of them. "Congrats by the way on a victory." He said the last sentence towards Thayd, having seen the Jedi later in the aftermath as Hauron had flown over the battlefield. He knew the mysterious man had taken part in the fight and helped deter the dark side threat. "You mind if I buy you a drink?" He meant specifically for the question to be directed towards Thayd, but he was feeling generous after his own survival against Sith champions. The best things in life were shared and that included libations.

@Taygood @Evan @Faded @LadyRen @lizziie