Ask Crash Landing

[Maura Starwalk]

"Okay so the mission debri- debref- the mission details say we gotta go talk to some dudes and like..." The teen's words trailed off as she squinted at the datapad with confusion clear as day on her features. "...and like, resolve a dispute?"

Blue lights ran in a million lines outside the viewport as their borrowed ship hurled through hyperspace toward their destination. The two padawans had been assigned on a relatively simple mission together, but the girl had lost a lot of her excitement for the assignment after reading the debriefing. She didn't want to act as a mediator between two parties! That sounded so incredibly boring to the kid that she couldn't keep her disinterest in it off her face. She wanted action!

"Okay, well... we have like... twelve hours until we get there anyway. Do you wanna see this new game I got on my datapad? It's called Crush the Sweets!" Maura whipped out her datapad, opened the colorful app, and then eagerly pushed it into Ruz's face so that the Togruta could see the game. "You match the candies and get points! There's like a million levels! Isn't that crazy? Cupcake Run isn't even that big!"

Maura reclined back into her co-pilot chair and began a mad dash to complete the current level she was on. Her fingers moved with the fury of a hyper child, swiping left and right, up and down. She continued on that for a while, gracing Ruz with a rare period of silence from her. In fact, she only looked up when their cabin was suddenly illuminated with flashing red lights and a very shrill voice announcing, WARNING! WARNING!

"Uh... do you think that's a bad thing?"

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

Ruzaan, who was probably closer to Knighthood than he liked to admit, had heard plenty about the Jedi Trials; trials of Skill, Courage, Spirit, Flesh, and Insight that measured a Jedi's readiness to take their solemn vows and ascend to the rank of Knight. In the Togruta's opinion, however, there was one trial missing.

The Trial of Maura.

Usually a Knight was required to go on missions such as these, but the Council had seen fit to pair him and Maura together. Initially, Ruzaan was under the impression that this mission was a litmus test of sorts to see how well he would do as a mentor to a younger Padawan... but as the increasingly long hyperspace trip continued, Ruzaan began to suspect another possibility; there were simply very few Jedi who could handle Maura's unique presence for more than a few hours at a time.

He'd quickly learned that time with Maura passed differently. There was always something going on with her that was exciting, new, simulating, or engaging, which made time seem to move more quickly. Then, you checked your chrono and realized that only a minute had passed since Maura had brought forth a new topic or interest. The end result was, in Ruzaan's limited Maura experience, more than a little draining; even for a social species like a Togruta. Ruzaan hoped that, with some time together, he could get a better sense for her rhythms and energy in order to better engage with her. There was nothing wrong with Maura; she was simply someone who he had very little experience with.

That didn't make the present any easier, though. Despite the desire to connect with Maura, Ruzaan found it difficult to relax around the girl. She had thus far showed little interest in the mission- a diplomatic one, by the looks of it- and the Togruta was beginning to wonder exactly how the negotiations were going to go if one of the mediators suddenly pulled out a datapad and began playing Crush the Sweets (with the volume on).

"We're being sent to help negotiate a transfer of power in Oseon" Ruzaan said, naming one of the planets in the outer edges of the Tund system. "The previous leader died in office, and she left no clear heir." It was a testament to the current government that the system hadn't already caved to infighting, but Ruzaan didn't anticipate the mission being easier, either. "There's two legitimate claims to..." he trailed off, realizing that Maura had focused elsewhere.

Taking a moment to breathe out his mounting headache, Ruzaan weighed going for a short walk. Unfortunately, such a move was just as likely to have Maura tag along, anyways, and there were only so many systems he could pretend to check elsewhere on the ship to try and get some much-needed personal space (another thing Maura didn't seem to understand). A datapad with bright lights and colors was thrust in his face, then removed just as quickly. "Good luck!" Ruzaan just shook his head, bewildered. Technology had never been his strong suit, but Maura's datapad was always in her hands. On the occasions that she was actually looking at it, he was actually afforded some silence.

Predictably, the silence didn't last long; but somehow, it wasn't Maura's fault this time. Klaxons blared and warning lights began popping up across the dashboard; eye-popping colors all screaming for attention that something very bad was happening. "Uh..." Ruzaan said in response to Maura's question, processing the myriad of yellows, oranges, and reds popping up across the console. He didn't know what any of them meant, but taken together they spelled more than a little trouble for the starship. "Buckle up, I'm going to take us out of hyperspace." he said, strapping himself in and checking to make sure that she was as secured as Maura could be before easing back on the control. Hopefully we won't break apart doing this he thought to himself.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"Ok yeah, I think this is def a bad thing then." To her credit, Maura did immediately clip the bucket across her midsection and stow her datapad away, but she certainly wasn't bracing to drop out of hyperspace. The change in speed caused her to jolt forward, and the acceleration caused her seatbelt to lock into place and catch her. "Where do you think we're going to- OMPFH! Where are we?"

Her words were interrupted by the impact of the belt against her stomach, but she changed the course of her sentence once her eyes locked on the planet in front of them. She didn't recognize it at all, but it was growing steadily closer.

"RUZ! WE'RE GONNA CRASH! WE GOTTA SLOW DOWN!" Maura lurched forward and latched onto the co-pilot wheel. Her hand punched into the brake button, forcing the ship to begin slowing down way faster than necessary. The console began to flash with a wide array of colors, and this time it was accompanied by an "ENGINE FAILURE" scrolling text across the holographic information screen.

"Uh, does the ship have like...the uh...life...pods? ESCAPE PODS! Do we have escape pods?" Maura unbuckled her seatbelt and bolted to the back, but very quickly realized that they did not in fact have any escape pods on the ship. "NOPE!"

"It's fine. This is fine! We'll just land the ship just like they do in the holovids!"

The kid rushed back up to the front of the ship, rejoining Ruz as their ship began to descend into the wild planet's atmosphere. Miles and miles of what looked like untouched wilderness spread out in front, growing ever closer by the second.

"Okay so you know those holovids where the good guys don't die by pulling up on the wheel really hard so the ship doesn't dive straight down? I think that's what we have to do!" Maura grabbed the handles again and pulled back with all her might, struggling to straighten the falling ship. Hopefully, Ruz gave her a hand, or they were screwed.

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

To Ruzaan's immense relief, the ship didn't break into a thousand pieces upon reentry into realspace. To his surprise, Maura was indeed buckled up and didn't go splat against the windshield. And to his dismay, he didn't know which control to use in order to slow the ship down. Technology had never been his strong suit. "I agree..." he mumbled, eyes frantically scanning the console; which was agreeing with Maura's assessment that they were going to crash.

Maura found the control first, and Ruzaan was once again jerked against his safety harness as the ship slowed considerably. The console, on the other hand, kicked into overdrive, with new warnings and even more flashing lights. "Critical engine failure" intoned the ship's voice, matching the text that Maura pointed out.

Just as Ruzaan began processing this new, unwelcome information, Maura got up from her seat and began looking for escape pods. Ruzaan, who had been over every inch of the ship trying to get some personal space from Maura during their trip, was hoping that there somehow was a part that he had missed. If anyone could find the nonexistent escape pods on this ship, it was Maura, but unfortunately she came to the same conclusion that he had; they were going down with the ship. "Critical engine failure" repeated the ship's voice, helpfully.

"Buckle up!" Ruzaan said, trying to push Maura back into her chair as she returned. As rough as their reentry and subsequent extreme braking had been, a date with the surface of the planet was going to be significantly worse. At least this one appeared uninhabited; no chance of collateral damage or civilian casualties, at least. Also no hope of a rescue... the Togruta didn't say that out loud either; he was too busy pulling up on the control sticks on his side of the console alongside Maura.

Ruzaan watched as the surface of the planet, wild and untamed, grew closer at an alarming rate. May the Force be with us Ruzaan thought as they impacted.

((OOC: Rolled an 8/20 for crash severity; minor failure))

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"AAAAAAAH!"

Maura screamed almost the whole way down once they broke the atmosphere and the orange and yellow flickering of flames engulfed their ship from all sides. She kept her position though, using all her might and a bit from the Force to keep the yoke pulled as far back as she could. Between the two of them, it was just enough to spare them a fatal landing. It was terrifying in the worst way, but the amount of adrenaline coursing through her veins - rivaling the temper of a Kaminoan typhoon - kept her together.

The padawan pulled the Force around her before they hit the ground, hoping it would protect her somehow. Her concentration was lost almost the second they hit the ground, but the two of them managed to level out the ship enough. By the time the ship finally came to a stop, wreckage of burned and broken trees trailed behind their equally damaged vessel. Smoke began to filter out from the console, tainting her nose with its choking smell.

"Urgh... are we alive?" Maura, still in a daze, unbuckled herself and wobbled over to the fire extinguisher off to the side. She fumbled with the pin, then sprayed the console until it choked out the smoke and left a thin white layer of residue on top. The movement helped to clear her mind a bit, and once all her wits were back about her, she shook the rest of the dizziness out of her head. "We're alive!"

Maura grabbed Ruz's shoulder, shook the Togruta padawan, and excitedly repeated her exclamation. "We're alive!"

Surviving the crash was the least of their problems now. The forest behind their crash path had been cleared for several hundred feet, but the trees in front of the ship were thick with vegetation. A heavy canopy darkened the ground, and even Maura could sense all sorts of lifeforms around them.

"Wha- what do we do?"

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

As the ship slammed into the surface, Ruzaan felt the resistance in the control sticks cease, allowing him to pull up even further; wouldn't that have been nice about thirty seconds ago? Then, he realized that the control sticks had broken off the console in the crash, and tossed them aside after the ship had come to a halt.

Internally, he shared Maura's immense relief that they were, in fact, still alive, although the Togruta was less demonstrative in expressing that thought. In contrast to Maura, Ruzaan simply sat in his chair, taking a moment to process their near-death experience. By some miracle, neither of them appeared injured, but it was clear that the ship would never fly again.

Several priorities ran through Ruzaan's brain in response to Maura's question. What should they do now? At some point they had to get in contact with the government of Oseon, to let them know that the Jedi coalition was... delayed. The Council should probably be notified as well. There was also a fire to put out on the ship's console, which Maura helpfully took care of.

"Um..." Ruzaan tried to stall for time as his heart rate began dropping to a more normal beat. "Let's see what shape the ship is in and what kind of supplies we have." There had to be food on board, he thought, as one of his stomachs grumbled.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

The challenge ahead of them felt equal parts exhilarating and hopeless. It was an odd mixture of feelings for the girl, as she wasn't quite sure what to make of being both incredibly excited by what seemed like an adventure and at a loss for words on what they should do. Did she give into her naive glee at the chance to play survival, or did she give into her hesitance and worry about the situation? The kid didn't even have the words to describe her emotions, nor the emotional intelligence to properly express them even if she did. So instead, Maura's hyperactivity began to bounce her heels and fidget with her fingers.

"This reminds me of the first time I went off Yavin! Me and a buncha other padawans crashed into a swamp and got attacked by a bunch of crotch-monsters! Oh, and our lightsabers all turned into swords! And some cool dude gave me a bottle of fire!"

Maura blabbered on as she absentmindedly floated toward the back of the ship, very clearly venting her anxiety through speech. They'd taken a little transport vessel, which meant it wasn't all that big and the cargo capacity wasn't all that either. The padawan passed by the cots, the little kitchenette, and entered the cargo hold shortly thereafter. Her pupils widened in the dim light and settled on the room.

"This looks bad..." Either they or whoever had been in charge of stocking the ship had forgotten to secure stuff down, so boxes had been tossed across the room in the crash. Crumpled metal broken bits of metal had been strung across the room. It was not a good sign. There was a lot of damage.

She dug her nails under the lid of one of the less-damaged boxes and lifted. Inside was about a weeks worth of rations, though some of them had been damaged by an impact wound in the box.

"We have some food!" she yelled back in Ruz's direction. "But there's a lot of damage!"

Just then, the smell of smoke hit Maura's nose again.

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

Things in the small craft were not shipshape by any stretch of the imagination. Ruzaan had to credit some of the mess to the fact that they'd just lost a game of chicken with a planet, but it also appeared that not everything had been secured properly in the first place. Of course, whomever packed their shuttle probably wasn't expecting them to crash, but it was more than a little disheartening to have to pick one's way through what had been a functional and tidy ship just moments ago.

As they passed the kitchenette, his nose picked up the smell of smoke. Ruzaan gasped in alarm. In all the excitement of their unplanned landing, he'd forgotten all his baking. No wonder he was hungry! Instead of help Maura sort though the cargo hold, he carefully pulled out a pan of a dozen piping hot delicacies; and not a moment too soon.

"Do you want a spinach puff?" he asked Maura, entering the room. "Careful, they're hot!" Experience had told him to wait a little to eat them if he wanted to avoid a burned tongue, and he didn't exactly trust Maura's impulses around food. "And don't worry about the smoke, that was just some extra batter on the pan getting crispy."

"Wow, this place looks like it got hit by a Krayt Dragon" he said as he surveyed the mess. Bits of boxes, smashed supplies, and debris littered the room. Very little would be salvageable, from the looks of things. "Do you see any communication equipment here?" If they could get some kind of signal out it would drastically help their chances of a rescue.

Then, the Togruta noticed that the smell of smoke was still strong; a visible haze was beginning to cloud the cargo hold, and the direction the smoke was coming from was near the engines... and the fuel tanks. Sudden realization put an edge to Ruzaan's tone. "Maura, we need to get off this ship. Now." Hoping that Maura was right behind him, the Togruta bolted towards the nearest exit, still clutching his pan of spinach puffs.


((Fire severity (higher is better): Nat 20?!?! Muse says otherwise))
@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"Of course I want a spinach puff!" Maura spun toward Ruz, reached out for the treats with greedy hands, and snatched up two in each hand. She immediately regretted the move and was soon juggling the piping hot pastries to keep from burning herself. The kid shoved one in her mouth and began to quickly chew, making breathy gnawing noises as she kept an open mouth to try to not burn her tongue. "Wow! These are really Go-"

The thick smell of smoke hit her lungs again, and the padawan began to cough and choke on the puff pastry. Through her watery eyes she noticed Ruz making a dash for it, and soon the cry of his warning reached her long ears. Without thinking she followed, running with her arms extending towards the ground to keep her balance in her mad dash and ditching the spinach puffs in the process. Maura leapt from the ship just as the fire reached the fuel tanks, and the shockwave from the resulting explosion sent her tumbling into the foliage and Togruta ahead of her.

"Incoming aaaAAAAH!"

For the second time in the last half hour, Maura was thrust forward and reacted by screaming at the top of her lungs. The kid was thrown into Ruz, and tumbled into the ground shortly after. A piece of shrapnel was speared to her left - about twice her size - which motivated her to scramble to her feet again as soon as she rolled to a stop.

There was a high-pitched ringing in her ears disorientating her, but she was aware enough to move away from the roaring heat she could feel behind her. Maura crawled away from it, then collapsed thirty some feet out, exhausted from the impact, bleeding from various scratches from flying shrapnel, and coughing from the smoke that filled the air.

"Ruz?!" She slowly lifted her head and looked around for the colorful Togruta. Instead, she saw the flaming ship, and felt a knot forming in her throat. "Fuck..."

No guilt for that thought. She was well within her right for that one.

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

One second, Ruzaan was running, clutching his pan of spinach puffs, vaguely aware of Maura hot on his heels as they made a mad dash through the jungle to put as much distance between themselves and the doomed ship as possible.

Then, suddenly, he was flying, lifted up and blasted off his feet as the fuel tanks detonated behind them. He felt Maura slam into him in midair, but he managed to keep his pan of spinach puffs more or less balanced throughout his impact with the ground.

Perhaps, Ruzaan realized as he inspected himself in the aftermath of the explosion, he should've put less effort into saving the spinach puffs (Roll: 16/20) and more focus into landing safely (Roll: 4/20).

Maura's search for Ruzaan would bring her back in the direction of the ship; the immediate danger passed, but parts of the wreckage were still burning. Nearby where she had initially hit the ground after the explosion she would find the Togruta, sitting with his feet stretched out in front of himself with his back leaning against a tree. The pan of spinach puffs was held in his lap a bit awkwardly, as if he was covering something with it. "You ok?" he asked weakly, clearly putting on a brave face for his fellow Padawan, unsure how to broach the fact that he had a massive thorn, about a foot long, impaled a couple inches into his abdominal area from when he'd landed. "I... uh... don't think it's poisonous."

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura crawled over toward Ruz after finally spotting the Togruta, soiling the knees of her pants with dirt in the process. She hadn't spotted him until he called out to ask if she was okay. Her answer? "Yeah, I think so." Though she didn't feel too good, nothing hurt so much that she couldn't move without stabs of pain.

Her eyes fell down to his stomach and the surviving tray of spinach puffs only to spot the throne impaling his side. They widened, and her mouth fell open as he spoke. "Are- are you okay?!" Maura's voice heightened in pitch, and her hands came up into the air as if she were about to do something but didn't know what to do.

"Think! Think, think, think..." What was someone supposed to do if they were impaled with an object? Had she slept through that bit of class?

"Should we... should I pull it out?" Maura hesitantly asked. "Wait! No, no, no... you're not supposed to remove stabbed things right?" How long would it be until they could get help though? They had to remove it! The only way they had to heal things right now was the Force... and Maura still couldn't manage to do much more than scab over a scratch.

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

Ruzaan was pretty sure that Maura was correct about not removing impaled objects, but he wasn't sure how that worked with Force Healing. At best, it'd push out the thorn as he healed himself, and he didn't want to spend too much time thinking about the worst case scenario...

"I think you're right, but I don't want to be walking around with this stuck inside me" he said, grimacing as he indicated the thorn. "I can heal myself" he said with more confidence than he felt- he didn't exactly have a good track record with Force Healing- but being stranded on whichever planet this was without medical help or supplies meant that he didn't have much choice but to try. Even worse, poor Maura had a grisly part to play whether she liked it or not.

"Uh... I hate to ask, but can you pull it out when I say so? I can start stopping the bleeding and such but that'll take all my focus."

Closing his eyes to concentrate, Ruzaan began calling on the Force to begin repairing the damage done to his torso, mending where the thorn had punctured his skin and embedded itself inside of him. Beads of sweat mixed with the condensation of the planet, but he managed to stay conscious this time and soon he could tell that it was time to remove the thorn. (Healing roll: 14/20)

"Maura, now please" he said, voice tight and controlled as he prepared for the fresh pain that was about to follow...


@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"B-but you're not supposed to remove impaled objects!" What if he started bleeding out? She couldn't heal others! She could barely concentrate the Force enough to do it herself! "I- I mean, I can... but you're not allowed to bleed out okay? You have to... not do that."

Hesitantly, Maura curled her hands around the width of the thorn that pierced his abdomen. When Ruzaan gave the word, she did her best to pull it out as quickly and steadily as she could. There was a bit of resistance at first, but once her muscles tensed to react to it, the thorn slid right out. It was only as she rocked backward with the bloodied object that she realized she'd been holding her breath.

Sharp breath. Maura sucked air in through her teeth as if she could feel the pain Ruz was surely feeling then, even if the only pain she felt was far from being un-impaled. There was blood on her hands, blood on her arms, dirt on her clothes, and the ash of smoke on her face. She could feel the rhythmic thumping of her heart in her chest as she watched Ruz concentrate on closing his wound. And as this was all going on, one thought swam around in her head: "We're on our own."

She couldn't go running to any of her teachers for help. She couldn't call on her master or bug a knight to teach her something. It was just her and Ruz. Maura could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and though she tried to keep them there, she couldn't. She'd always insisted she was independent. That she could do things on her own. That she didn't need help, but she always had it if she needed it. This?

"This sucks," the kid sniffled as she wiped her eyes and smeared dirt across her cheeks. "What are we gonna do? I don't know- I don't know how to hunt!"

The kid wiped her eyes again, trying to get rid of the tears that brought color and warmth to her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I know it's stupid to cry. I'm trying not to."

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

Ruzaan managed to stay conscious when Maura removed the thorn- no small feat, but he'd come a long way since the battle of Felucia. The Togruta slumped backwards against the tree, taking a moment to rest as the fatigue from healing himself washed over him. It wasn't fully healed and he'd have to be cautious lest he open up the wound again, but the bleeding had stopped and the worst of the pain had subsided.

Then, his heart was ripped out along with the thorn as Maura began crying. Ruzaan didn't blame her, and briefly his mind flicked back to one of his first missions where he'd broken down, too. He had probably been no older then than Maura was now, and with a pang Ruzaan realized just how much he'd grown in the past two years. Part of him wanted to break down sobbing just like Maura, but there was time for that later; right now, Maura could use some support. What would Atris do? he wondered.(@llamallove)

Not fully ready to stand just yet, Ruzaan settled for trying to comfort Maura from his seated position on the ground. "This does suck, and it's ok to cry" he agreed, nodding in affirmation of the girl's feelings. "We don't know where we are, our ship blew up, and my spinach puffs are getting cold" he said, indicating the pan on the ground next to him; maybe Maura would like another while they were still warm. "But what we do have is each other, our training, and the Force" he continued, trying to spin their situation as positively as he could.

"Besides, I spent the first 14 years of my life in the outdoors. I know a thing or two about wilderness survival, and the Grandmaster doesn't just take anyone as their apprentice. We'll be just fine" he assured her, hoping that he'd projected enough confidence for the both of them. Then, a thought occurred to him. "Do you still have your datapad?" he asked. Maura seemed pretty good with technology; perhaps she could figure out some way it could be useful in their current predicament.


@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura managed a chuckle in-between sniffles when Ruz mention the spinach puffs. "Not the spinach puffs," she half-heartedly joked. She reached out and pulled one from the pan with her fingers, then stuffed it into her mouth.

Not only was it harder to cry while eating, but it made it easier for her to really listen to Ruz. "Each other, my training, and the Force..." He was right, she supposed, but was it enough?

"Really?" she said, mouth still full of spinach puff. If Ruz knew how to do wilderness survival stuff, maybe they would be okay. "...yeah! I'm the Grandmaster's apprentice!" Her master was the most powerful Jedi ever! That meant she had to be good enough to overcome this challenge!

"My datapad?" Oh no! Did she have it? The padawan's hand reached for the pockets of her trousers, and to her relief, she found the device in one of them. "Yes!"

Quickly, Maura pulled it from her pocket and held it in both hands. There were two pretty big cracks on the screen, but it still turned on."I don't have any signal," she sighed. "Or a way to charge it. I guess no games for now..."

That was okay. They would be plenty for her to occupy her time with, right?

"Do you think we can salvage anything from it?" she would ask, turning to look at the burning ship behind them with a doubtful expression. Thick, gas-fueled black smoke billowed up into the air and above the treeline. It'd be a while before they could look, anyways.

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

The datapad route wasn't helpful, unfortunately, but at least his pep talk had managed to help Maura calm down. Seeing the younger Padawan's confidence return did wonders for Ruzaan's own mental state as well; Maura's enthusiasm was infectious.

It took more effort than usual to stand- the side effect of his abdominal injury and the subsequent blood loss, he presumed- but Ruzaan managed to make his way to his feet as Maura voiced the hope that they might be able to salvage from the remains of their crashed ship. Ruzaan considered the idea, poking his head around the tree he'd been sitting against to take a look at what was left of the shuttle.

"I suppose it might be worth a--"

The rest of his sentence was swallowed up as something else on the ship blew up spectacularly; a stunning visual that, while oddly beautiful, immediately answered Maura's question.

"Uh, nevermind" the Togruta pivoted, mind racing as he tried to think of what their next steps should be. One hand protectively covering where the thorn had pierced his abdomen, Ruzaan turned to his fellow Padawan.

"Ok, so we should probably get our bearings and see if there's any landmarks about." He had no idea how long the days lasted on this planet, and as it was the Jedi were lucky that they'd landed on a planet that could sustain life. Finding shelter- or better yet, a settlement- could help them plan their next steps.

"How do you feel about climbing up this and taking a look around?" he asked, tapping the sturdy tree right behind him.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Ka- BOOM!​

Maura watched as their ship exploded into a fireworks display of reds and oranges, her ears flattening against her skull at the sight. "That's not good..." The padawan was infinitely grateful she had her lightsaber on her still. She'd be devasted to lose it, even more so than her datapad (which she luckily had on her anyway).

"I like climbing!" She was eager to distract herself from the shitshow burning in front of them. Maura rose to her feet, winced slightly at the bruising and scratches she'd obtained, then took a running start at the tree. She leapt for it, reached out for a low-lying branch, and latched onto it with her claws digging into the bark. It was quite easy for the agile padawan to curl herself up onto the branch, and it wasn't long before she was making headway into the towering plant. "Be right back!"

The kid moved from branch to branch, using her long arms and clawed hands to aid in her climbing. The tree was tall, wide, and covered in all sorts of foliage that made it difficult to spot even her brightly colored hair as she got up higher and higher. By the time the branches began to become thinner and smoother, Ruzaan would lose sight of the girl altogether.

"Whoa..." Maura couldn't help but gasp in awe at the sight that greeted her once she reached the top. The forest stretched out for miles and miles in all directions - an endless sea of greens. Far, far out to the West she could just barely make out what looked like several thin streams of smoke wafting into the atmosphere. "Bingo!" Maybe there was some sort of village that way, though she had no idea what sort of people might be living on this wild, unknown planet.

"Ruzaan! Ruz! I see smoke! Like, campfire smoke!" He would barely be able to hear her at first, but she would repeat various iterations of the phrase multiple times as she practically catapulted herself down the trunk of the tree. "There might be peo-"

Snap!​

Maura landed on the wrong branch, and before she could catch herself, the dead wood snapped under the pressure of her landing and sent the gremlin teen falling hands first toward the ground. She tried to catch other branches as she fell, but just ended up shoulder-checking most of them as she went. The impacts hurt more than usual, leaving bruises on top of bruises and scratching up the padawan even more than she already was.

"Aaaah! Ruz!"

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

To Ruzaan's immense relief, Maura began scrambling up the tree in pursuit of a good vantage point from which to take in their surroundings. The distance would give him time to explore just how much he could move around and do given his injury. He'd done a decent job healing it, but one did not simply bounce back from being impaled.

Wincing and groaning softly, the Togruta began a series of stretches and movements to test his flexibility and pain level. Quickly, he determined that it was best to avoid physical exertion as much as possible lest he reopen the wound he'd worked so hard to close. Just as well that Maura was in good physical condition, or they'd be completely screwed.

Even better, she'd spotted nearby campfire smoke! Apparently this planet wasn't as deserted as it seemed. The girls' words had just registered on Ruzaan's montrals when her screams- rapidly approaching along with the sound of breaking branches- alerted him to the fact that she'd fallen from the tree.

Gray eyes snapped upwards, searching for his fellow Padawan. A flash of incoming rainbow- her unique hairstyle, he realized- alerted him to her location, and Maura would feel the Force wrap around her as Ruzaan attempted to slow her fall before she hit the ground, vanishing into a bush with a flurry of leaves disturbed in her wake (Catch attempt: 9/20).

It was a harder landing than the Togruta would've liked, but he didn't get very far as he tried to hobble over to where Maura had landed. A bright blue bolt landed squarely between his shoulder blades, sending him falling limply to the forest floor, and Maura would be able to hear the sound of a nearby voice just a few seconds later.

"There'sss one of them ssstunned... where'sss the other?"

"Sssearch for her while I tie thisss one up" came the reply.


@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Thump!​

"Ow..." Maura's groan of pain was barely audible and came only after she was able to get back the breath that was knocked out of her upon impact. Without Ruz's attempt to slow her fall she might've broken a bone or two, but as she tested her body - wiggling her toes up to rolling her neck - she felt no sharp pains. Just the loud ache of her muscles from the inevitable major bruising. The bushes and branches had saved her too, but left her robes ripped up and her skin covered in more small cuts.

"R—?" She'd just been about to call out to the other padawan when two unfamiliar voices appeared. "Where's the other?" Maura clenched her teeth as she rolled over onto her stomach, keeping in any groans of pain, and clawed herself forward until she could peer in the direction of the voices.

What she saw shocked her. Two creatures, each with a humanoid torso and a snake-like lower half, stood ahead with some sort of blow dart each. One of them began to carefully and securely bind an unconscious Ruzaan at the wrists and ankles, while the other slithered off to look for something.

"Me…" She had to get out of here! "But I can't leave Ruz!" Maura pushed her forearms into the ground and got on her knees. "Everything hurts…" She was in no condition to fight, and these dudes were big. Their torsos weren't any longer or wider than your average person's, but their snake bodies were easily twenty feet long made them seem a lot taller.

"I think it'sss over here. In the busssh." The voice grew closer. "Shit! Think! Think!"

Maura didn't do so much thinking at first. The padawan immediately slumped to the ground, closed her eyes, and pretended like she was unconscious. "I'll wait for them to tie me up, and then tense when they tie my wrists! Then I can easily slip out when I relax, just like in the movies!"

"Found her. Looksss like ssshe'sss already unconsssciousss."

It worked out, for the most part. These snake people - "Sneople!" - were really good at tying knots, and even though she had tensed up Maura couldn't wiggle her wrists completely out of the ropes.

They carried her and Ruz for a little bit, but the two of them were eventually laid down in a dark, slightly damp, enclosed room in a small hut of sorts. Maura, who had been awake the whole time, opened her eyes the moment they slithered out the door and turned to her companion next to her.

"Ruz!" she hissed through her teeth. Maura repeated his name again, but this time used her bound wrists to try and shake him awake. "Ruz!"

tag: @SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Ruzaan Kai]

Ruzaan groaned softly to himself as he came to consciousness. Getting hit with a stun bolt was preferable to actually getting shot, but that didn't mean that it was pleasant, either. His face was pressed against damp, soggy ground that smelled like loam and fallow earth. The space they were in was dark and dank, although the slight feeling of fresh air was comping from somewhere. His robes were soaked, too, from where the front of his body was pressed against the ground. A quick tug at his bound wrists told him that he wasn't escaping them anytime soon, although it was enough to get the blood running to his hands again. His ankles were similarly bound, severely hampering his ability to do anything about his current position.

Something- or, more accurately, someone- was shaking him slightly. "Maura?" he asked, craning his neck to try and see his fellow Padawan. "What... what happened?" They'd been captured- that much he was certain- but by whom and why remained giant question marks. His most recent memories were of Maura plummeting towards the ground. "Are you hurt?"

At least their captors hadn't removed his lightsaber. Ruzaan wasn't about to complain, however, even as he pondered how exactly he could even make use of the weapon without hurting himself or Maura in the process. Elegant as lightsabers were, it would be incredibly risky to try to cut their bonds with them. "I'm sorry" he said, shame crashing in on him. He'd been taken by surprise and that left Maura alone against their captors. "I shouldn't have been captured so easily" he apologized. Montrals strained to listen; he could hear no signs of whomever their captors were, leaving the two Padawans alone for the moment.

@lizziie