Ask Welcome To The Jungle

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Selvaris.​

Most people couldn’t even pick it out on a map. It was just the way Sevrin liked it.

The twin suns of the planet were bearing down on them and the air felt like hot soup. The tall Sephi was largely unbothered by this, his demeanor calm and poised as always. Beads of sweat lined his forehead as he waited for the padawans to arrive. He surveyed his surroundings, keen eyes picking up every detail in the distance and his ears making out the subtlest movements and noises around him.

He didn’t look at the padawans once they arrived, his gaze still fixed ahead towards where he knew there was a village.

“Cannibals,” He stated simply, “It is a tribe of vicious cannibals that are incredibly suspicious of anyone not from their tribe,” Sevrin turned to regard the padawans at last.

“You will not reveal you are Jedi in any shape or form. They are impervious to mind tricks and any active use of the Force will draw them on you,” His hands were clasped behind his back as he walked around them, “You will need to blend in and convince them that you are from a friendly tribe and you are here to trade. Your objective is to get them to trade you a basket of jogan fruit.”

His face was blank as he spoke. Sevrin didn’t mention anything about how they would need to strip down and paint themselves appropriately to blend in as tribal villagers. He would leave it up to them to do their research and figure out the best approach. This was a test of resourcefulness, survival, and sheer wit. He paused his pacing to regard them, “You will need to do this without rousing suspicion or getting yourselves killed. You will have no comms device or any technology on you. Any questions?”

@Nefieslab @Raydo

 

[Crix Aran]

Selvaris was about as far from the streets and skylanes of Coruscant as it was possible to actually get so it was likely to the surprise of no one that Crix found the planet to be... slightly unnerving. He has spent some time on Kashyyyk but that same time, in the Shadowlands, had given him a healthy respect and caution when it came to tropical locations. Selvaris was already slightly hotter and more humid than Kashyyyk too, because it had a second sun quite close to the planet from what he could tell.

Coming up on Sevrin, Crix kept an eye on the treeline before abruptly coming to a halt as he spotted the village in the distance. At the Knight's words, Crix blinked a few times, suddenly very glad he hadn't come in with his usual cheer and volume. He had been told that this would be a training trip unlike any of the ones he'd ever had before and now, looking at how serious Sevrin was and hearing about the Cannibals? Crix believed the warnings now.

Impervious to mind tricks and capable of immediately noticing overt uses of the Force?

They sounded like they'd make for great Jedi Killers and the Galaxy was never short of people who would be on the look out for them. Eyeing the village from a distance, Crix lowered his hood as he frowned ever so slightly. He had questions and one of them was more burning than any of the others.

"Are they only humans or is there a mixture on the planet?" he asked, making sure to check the village that he could see from this angle, "Need to know if I need to acquire some hair."

Losing the horns was possible because they'd grow back but he didn't want to immediate resort to that if there were other options available. He did, however, start making plans on how to acquire some hair as he took his lightsaber off of his belt and toyed with it in his hand. Leaving it felt... off but he wasn't going to be leaving it forever so he was able to bundle it together with his pistol and stun baton before wrapping it in the outer layer of his jedi robes. Hiding the bundle under some loose rocks he would be able to pick out in the future, Crix mentally started preparing himself.

Sneaking in sounded easy - but he was very much trying not to think about how failure likely involved being eaten.

@Sreeya @Raydo

 

[Jacata Lurel]

He had no idea where they were, but as far as he could tell it was just about the furthest you could be from anything and still have land beneath you. It was hot, though he held in his displeasure at that. He had spent time on Ajan Kloss as a child so he was used to more tropical climates but this had that beat hands down.

The Jedi didn't introduce himself and went right into their mission briefing. Jacata frowned slightly as they were given objectives and told the rules they had to follow. He briefly looked to Crix and down at himself. They made an awfully odd tribe. It would not be an easy sell.

Jacata was decent at a handful of things, but sneaking was not one of them. His bright green skin would make him stick out anywhere where the Galaxy's diversity was not the status quo and from what he could tell, they didn't sound like the type to welcome other species into the fold.

He started taking off his robes, which he was glad to do so given the heat. Without the use of technology, equipment, lightsabers, and the Force, this would be a difficult challenge. That didn't even take into account the cannibalistic tribe they knew nothing about.

"Do we have a time limit and do we know where the tribe is at?" he asked when given the opportunity.

@Sreeya @Nefieslab

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin was pleased to hear neither padawan had particularly dumb questions or complaints. This was already a marked improvement from his usual cohorts. The Sephi first looked over at Crix, surveying him, and then he did the same with Jacata.

“This tribe is predominantly human, but they understand that other tribes have other races. It all depends on how convincing you are,” Sevrin stated matter of factly. He could sense the two were concerned, and they were right to be concerned. However, he also noted that they cut right to the chase.

“There is no time limit. It is better to take your time to survey and observe before you execute a course of action,” He looked from one to the other, “Work together. You both have skills the other does not possess. Find where your skills complement and utilize them to your advantage.”

Sevrin reached into the folds of his robes before handing them both paper maps. He had marked where the target village, the one they could observe from here, was along with a few surrounding villages they could learn from as well.

“They do not speak Basic, but that is okay. None of the tribes know one another's language. They communicate with trade and general hand signals. Pick up these nuances and apply them as needed.”

@Nefieslab @Raydo

 

[Crix Aran]

So they were primarily human but the two Padawans not being human wasn’t going to be the sticking point – the sticking point would be if they couldn’t convince the tribe that they really were from one of the other tribes. It did mean, however, that Crix wasn’t going to need to find himself some hair to disguise his horns. That was good because he’d been seriously eyeing up Sevrin’s ponytail and considering how best to ear it once he’d cut it off.

He could probably have pulled off a look that involved sweeping it off to one side when it was firmly attached to the top of his head but he ignored his previous plans as he took the map gratefully. Looking it over silently for a few moments, he did an actual double take at how quick the other Jedi was to start stripping down. Crix had taken off his outer layer but Jacata seemed to be going further.

He hadn't misunderstood what kind of manly training this was, had he?

“Jacata, right? Crix.” He introduced himself, trying to defuse any awkwardness he felt and having heard of the other Padawan through the Temple Gossip Groups but having not actually met him, “I think it’s an idea for us to go to one of these other villages first – recon them and see what we need to look and act like before we approach the main target.”

That sounded like it made sense, right? They needed to do recon on where they were going but they were supposed to be pretending to be another tribe so best to check to make sure they didn’t have to meet some special requirements. As far as they knew, the tribe they were going to pretend to be from could practice ritual scarification or something.

Hopefully it was something they could imitate without permanent damage and, hopefully, something he could work into his existing markings.

“I’m an engineer by education – mainly droids and other mechanical and electrical systems.” He admitted, “Not sure it’ll be too much help. Also got some training in hand-to-hand and I’ve picked up some pickpocket skills.”

Corellia had been fun like that. Still, if Jacata was on board, Crix would give Sevrin a nod before heading off toward the second village, the one closet to the target village actually as well.

@Raydo @Sreeya

 

[Jacata Lurel]

He listened as Sevrin answered their questions as he swatted a large mosquito away from his face. "Great, This was just going to be great." he thought to himself. As the Jedi Knight finished, he felt his partner looking over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Nice to meet you man," he responded warmly.

He listened to Crix's plans, it was a solid one, though he wasn't eager at possibly having to encounter another cannibalistic tribe. They would need to gather intel if they had a chance at hoping to pull this off.

With the plan settled, they left the Jedi Knight and moved off into the jungle unarmed and without any supplies.

"I'm a halfway decent pilot," he replied with his own useless skills once they were out of earshot. "And outside of a lightsaber..." he trailed off. "I could probably work with a spear if we could make one. Had a teacher once who was pretty adamant about using old weapons," he said with a shrug. "Truth be told, I am definitely out of my element," he said as he vaulted himself over a log.

@Sreeya @Nefieslab

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin caught Crix looking at his hair, and the Sephi’s eyes narrowed. He grasped a hold of the ponytail and tossed it over his shoulder to make it abundantly clear that the Knight didn’t find the line of thought amusing. And yes he had caught Crix looking.

The two padawans listed off their skillset and Sevrin pulled away from the conversation by then. They would learn nothing if he had to guide everything along. The Sephi gazed off into the distance towards one of the neighboring villages. He turned to look at them when they finished speaking.

“This will be the rendezvous point until you figure out a clever way to communicate with me,” He gave them both a grin, “Jedi have been known to form friendships with animals,” He said vaguely before turning and walking off without further explanation. Sevrin didn’t bother introducing himself because both padawans would have been given his name and rank as part of their mission briefing. He would hope they bothered to actually read.

---​

The villages were all very similar in nature. The houses had straw roofs and were made of clay. The villagers largely relied on farming and fishing for trade. Clothing was sparse, and they all had different paints covering their bodies. Rank was designated by the kind of headdress someone wore, and it would become very clear that there were known paths the villages took to get to and from places.

All of the villages spoke vastly different languages, and they all had their own systems of communication. Depending on which the padawans chose, they would have to learn its own specific nuances.

@Nefieslab @Raydo

 

[Crix Aran]

Ah hell, Sevrin had caught him looking at his ponytail and getting ideas... Crix just grinned and shrugged unapologetically. It had been a valid idea and he was sure that the knight could pull off a look with shorter hair! Honestly, species with hair were always so protective over it and Crix just didn't see why it was such a big deal.

"An engineer and a pilot walk into a cannibal infested jungle - sounds like there's a punchline in there we'll need to look out for."

Listening to the helpful hint and the information about the rendezvous point, Crix nodded a little bit and saw Sevrin off with a jaunty little wave. He was hoping to impress the guy and not just because he had that slightly-older-than-him sex appeal. The fact that he seemed like a well-rounded Knight was the main appeal.

Making their way through the jungle was fairly easy as they found a path toward the village they were aiming for not too far from their starting point. It was narrow enough that it didn't look like a pathway that was used very often at all. Coming up to the edge of the treeline, Crix attempted to start observing the the village from the relative safety of the trees.

What he hadn't expected, or taken into account, was that the locals knew the area far better than they did. And with some tensions between tribes and outsiders, they knew the approaches to their own village and had them monitored. Almost immediately a call was sounded from within the village and a finger was pointed at the treeline.

They didn't appear to have seen them so much as they could tell that something was wrong. Crix grimaced.

"Do we try and communicate or do we book it?" he asked Jacata as the sentry started to gather some more attention to himself, "Shrak we gotta choose now..."

@Sreeya @Raydo

 

[Jacata Lurel]

"Its a joke I wouldn't mind being unfunny." he said as he exhaled. They made their way into the jungle, walking down the overgrown path. Bugs swarmed them, making Jacata's skin crawl. He hated bugs, especially the giant ones they were contending with currently.

Unsure what to expect, they remained mostly silent as they made their way to the village. Finding a spot they both agreed would give them a good vantage point to observe the village and form a plan, they moved into the brush and waited.

Whether they had just hidden poorly or the villagers were hyper-observant or maybe even both was unclear, but what was clear is that it only took them a handful of moments before they were discovered. As a group formed and started their way, he looked to Crix who in turn, asked what they should do. They probably could have run away, but they likely wouldn't get another chance to observe them. Maybe they could be communicated with.

"Time to find out the punchline," he said as he pushed out of the brush into the clearing. The half-dressed Padawan, held up his hands as the village guard approached, pointy spears in hand. "Uhhh...Hello There. We.." he stumbled for words, knowing they wouldn't understand. "come in peace?" he sounded unsure.

Before he could say anything else, an arrow came from an unseen person in the woods. Jacata moved to dodge, urged to move by the Force but he was still too slow. The arrow that was meant to pierce his heart, went clear through his left shoulder, sticking out the front of him.

He stumbled forward, carried by the momentum of the shot.

@Sreeya @Nefieslab