Ask Puppy-Dog Eyes

[Ke'rena]

Elphrona, 15:00 local time, Ogden's Hope City

Elphrona was a rocky planet in the Outer Rim. It had harsh weather, lots of mines and ore, and parts of the planet were affected by some weird magnetic field that prevented aerial transport. They were headed for a place called Ogden's Hope City, the planet's de facto capital, to help with some issue that many hands would make lighter work of.

Or something like that. Rena had been paying attention, but their grasp of basic was still iffy. They were just happy to be brought along, especially since this was their first time ever visiting another planet! The excitement was practically bubbling out of them.

Shortly after the ship entered the atmosphere, Ogden's Hope City came into view. It was a mine that had evolved over the years into a fully subterrestrial city built into the side of a plateau. The mines were optional still, but the upper levels had been dug out and built "up" into the city it is today. The shuttle slowed during its descent, then landed neatly in an open hagar.

Rena rushed to grab their little bag with their things, then hurried to the middle of the shuttle where the others would surely be gathering as well. There were five of them in total, plus the Knight who was conducting this little expedition. He was a zabrak of considerable stature, with deep brown skin, and light eyes, and he had a very calm air about him.

"Alright, we're here," said Knight Kene, the zabrak. "Let's try to be on our best behavior. If things go well today, it could be beneficial for the Jedi." The knight padded his side where he kept his lightsaber. "Try to keep these out of sight. And Rena? Try to stick with the group. Don't need you going missing on your first trip away from home. You as well, Alhazred."

Rena's ears perked up at the sound of their name, and they gave a quick and serious nod. They were essentially a tag-along with the group since they were only an initiate. Alhazred was too apparently, the strange-looking green one. They didn't know him at all. In fact, the only familiar face for Rena was L'Veth. The other girls here — the humans, one with red hair and an older one with brown hair — she'd never met before a few hours ago, either. Not that Rena minded at all! They were beyond ecstatic to be here in the first place.

"Any questions?"

@Logan @GABA @TheDudeMike @Narzen

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie yawned and stretched upwards as she walked out of the little nook she'd been curled up in for the flight. For once in her damn life, she wasn't wearing black robes! This time she was sporting a hoodie and jeans. Her saber hilt was concealed much the same way that the Knight had theirs hidden. She had to say, even with the saber hilt digging into her hip it was still way more comfortable than those unflattering black robes she always wore. Wonder what Mr. Jawline would think about this outfit? Probably something a long the lines of "closer, Padawan Hopeless, but teal was three months ago!" All while doing his stupid, gorgeous broodi- WE ARE NOT RUINING THIS SHIN-KICKER FIELD TRIP BY THINKING OF HIM.

At the very least Theia would be around. Despite herself, Natalie was growing to enjoy Theia's company quite a bit. They had survived the cafeteria food, bonded in the fires of combat with a bitch of a zabrak girl, swam in the gravity-less pool of doom, and even shared a cup of ramen. If that didn't make someone your friend, Natalie didn't know what would.

Stuffing her hand into her back pocket, Natalie pulled out her EZPhone and started watching short videos for short attention span people. She was DEFINITELY the target audience. Nothing the Knight said registered with her, she was too busy watching cute animals do cute things. Something about benefits, and keeping the initiate out of sight? Not sure what benefits the Jedi would get. The cafeteria food would still be hot garbage. Unless, of course, the Knight meant they were getting vending machines?

Natalie stole a glance at the young fiani girl. Adorable, of course. Her eagerness to follow the rules upset Natalie. It was a good day for the darkness, as their shins would be protected by the distracted kickers. Woe be to the galaxy. "Hey Theia, check out this nexu cub," she said, lifting her EZPhone for better viewage. A baby nexu was on the screen, spending fifteen seconds chasing it's siblings tail and trying to catch it.

@lizziie @Logan (Happy Birthday) @GABA @Narzen

 

[L'Veth]

Little more than music filled L’Veth’s ears as she gathered with the rest of their little troupe and the Knight said whatever it was that he was saying. She watched his lips move and attempted to feign interest, picking up the important parts. It was a skill that L’Veth’s over-fondness for loud music had necessitated ever since she was a little kid. She wasn’t going to just disrupt her music to listen to people talk, so she learned to read lips instead.

Unsure of the exact nature of their expedition, L’Veth had opted for a casual outfit instead of the boring and frankly entirely unappealing robes that many Jedi opted for. She was glad to see at least one other person had gone the casual route with her, noticing Natalie’s outfit was at least in the same vein as hers even if it was..a little basic and boring.

Once Knight Kene had finished his spiel, L’Veth would turn to Ke’rena and flash the girl a smile for both being the only face here she recognized and knowing that the young girl was probably a little intimidated by all of the things going on, considering it was her first real outing as a Jedi.

Don’t worry kid, you can just stick with me. L’Veth said in her best attempt at speaking Fiani, her native language but not one she had a lot of practice with. Her accent was probably terrible, but hopefully it got the job done.

No questions from us, Knight Kene. L’Veth said, nodding in Kene’s direction as she shuffled a little closer to Ke’rena to indicate they were obviously a pair on this excursion.

I’ll make sure Ke’rena doesn’t get lost, or, well, at the very least that she doesn’t get lost without me. Can’t make too many promises.

L’Veth would shoot Ke’rena a side-eye glance, the sparkle of mischief evident in her eye. Was it really a Jedi outing if they didn’t get into a little bit of good natured trouble?

There was no fun to be had by following all of the rules, after all.

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @GABA @Narzen

 

[Alhazred]

“When the planets align, Knight Kene” Alhazred whispered the Aklo vow with a nod of his head at the Jedi’s command about sticking with the group. Truth be told, he had his doubts about the others following such a command. They were a bit more excitable from what he could tell. The moment this thought entered his head however, the Nu-Vaal mentally kicked himself for thinking such a thing. He was their equal, not superior.

Still… Alhazred thought silently as he looked over the group as they spoke with each other. The friendly chemistry they had with each other was unmistakable. If anything, Alhazred felt a little out of place among them. Alhazred mentally vowed to himself to not be the old ‘stick in the mud’ to these youths. But if he could help maintain a grip of maturity on the group, all the better.

Alhazred adjusted his black turban and Jedi robes, and quietly stuffed a hardened nutrient cube between his mouth tentacles into his toothless maw. A little something to keep the juices flowing for the day.

“This should be…exciting, should it not, fellow padawans?” Alhazred whisper-commented to the others, trying to open up to the younger beings.

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @Logan @GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia was more quiet than usual on the transport to Elphrona; she wasn't too enthusiastic about going to a planet that was as harsh and dingy as this place, but when she learned Natalie was going, she decided she could tough it through. There were several others aboard, including an initiate who was getting their feet wet with what the Jedi did in the greater galaxy. She wasn't too clear on the objective today, but hopefully it wouldn't be as difficult as some of her other missions she had attended. Dressed in something more common among cities in the galaxy, Theia wished she could be watching space!Clock videos like Nat as she worked on her drawing. She was well away into her classes and it had been quite a challenge as she learned new mediums and how to create from what she had.

She practiced by watching those on the ship, sketching and shading until Nat showed her a video of a nexu kitten, "Aww! Its so adorable. I tried talking my Mama into getting a lothcat for so many years, but she always said no, something about excessive cat hair around the home and Uncle Em would be sneezing every time I visited (@Sreeya)." Theia sighed, her gaze drifting until they were notified of the ship landing and the Knight that was accompanying them announced the mission's importance. The girl frowned and glanced at Nat with a raised eyebrow, trying to figure out what they were doing in the first place where he had to warn for them to be on their best behavior. Her gaze glanced to Rena and Veth (@Logan @lizziie), who she gave a small wave to the fianis before her attention turned to the oldest of the padawans, Alhazred.

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention..." Theia whispered to the emerald-toned padawan (@Narzen), quickly putting her art supplies back into her pack and swinging it over her shoulder, "Is this like make people happy type mission?" she frowned, never really liking the idea of arriving to worlds to impress for likability points.

 

[Ke'rena]

Rena's eyes snapped from the knight over to Natalie when she started to play some sort of video, then over to L'Veth when she addressed them in fianan. "I have a really good sense of direction," they stated matter-of-factly in response. "But I've never been in an underground city! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" They didn't seem to mind L'Veth's terrible accent, evidenced by their immediate and excited response in their shared tongue.

They were itching to explore the city. Hopefully, there would be time to outside of the group's intended purpose here. This place looked so cool and they would honestly rather run around and explore.

The green one — Alhazred — addressed the group, albeit quietly. Rene's eyes twitched at the quiet sound, and they turned to give him an enthusiastic nod. "Yes! Very exciting!" they answered in a thick fianan accent. Unfortunately, they couldn't explain what the group would be doing to Theia because Rena wasn't sure either. They were pretty sure Knight Kene had explained it at the start of the trip, but they'd only understood a fourth of his words and had since resigned to just going along with whatever happened.

"If there aren't any ques- "

Rena threw their hand up. "We can go get food? I am hungry," they called out, looking up at the knight with pleading eyes. As if on cue, the loud rumble of the fiani's stomach could be heard. The knight sighed. "Yeah, we should have time. There's probably a market or something inside."

"Alright, off we go." With that, the knight set off, leading the group out of the ship and down into the subterrestrial city.

@Logan @GABA @Narzen @TheDudeMike

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie turned to Theia with an inquisitive look. "Why don't you just get a lothcat now? Don't you live in the dorms?" she asked. As happy as she was the hear that the Thorne family was allergic to felines, she wouldn't be able to effectively use that as ammunition against Mr. Jawline. Not only would bringing a cat with her around him be dangerous, it was down right sadistic to force someone around their allergies. Natalie would know, she was allergic to boredom.

The moment the fiani began talking amongst themselves and to the Knight, Natalie turned her attention to the green padawan. Of course, the very first words out of their tentacles were something even more cryptic than a Jedi Master presenting a slide show on the Force acting in mysterious ways, so she turned her attention back to Theia. "Did you sleep through the briefing too? I thought I was the only one."

Of course, that was when the younger fiani mentioned the sacred word. Food. Sadly, Natalie only had enough credits for vending machine snacks, but she'd picked up a cool trick to do with the Force that meant she always had credits. The secret ingredient the whole time was crime! "I could go for a snack or something." Like Mr. Jaw- NATALIE NOT THE TIME.

Maybe she should put in her EZPods to actually be able to understand what people were saying? Nah.

@lizziie @Logan @Narzen @GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia grinned when Nat mentioned sleeping through the briefing. It was just difficult at times to listen to some of the elder jedi, they just droned on and on, and she can't help it if she was distracted by the terrible craftsmanship of the loaner freighter they flew on to get here. Though when Rena mentioned she was hungry, Theia like the rest of the younger jedi seemed to all agree they could get an extra bite while here. She was never down for the rations or the jedi cafeteria food, at least street food was way better than anything that was offered so far.

"I am hungry too!" Theia chimed in as they already were passing food vendors. "Ooo, Nat, you'll have to try one of my Mama's pastries one day, they are amazing. Never too sweet, nor too bland, I don't know how she does it all sometimes, because she can't cook anything else." she sighed thinking about the one time her mom made, or tried to make breakfast, but ended up with a porridge that morning. Theia slowed down her pace, feeling as though the Knight was passing up all the good spots to get food and making an executive decision to not really go any further until she got something fried on a stick.

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @Narzen @Logan

 

[Alhazred]

"I've heard that this time-eaten place held Jedi relics of temporal estates long ago..." Alhazred commented at the others lack of knowledge at their purpose here, his Aklo to common translation showing itself. Truth be told, he didn't know either. "Days of the high Republic I believe."

Alhazred notably bristled in excitement his own words. His desire for knowledge was a known factor throughout the Jedi, as he had spent most of his free time studying Jedi texts and recordings on everything under the stars, and even those beyond the star's reach.
An itch on his forehead caught his attention. Swatting at his own face, His webbed hand caught the thing that had landed on him. The miniscule heat-fly squirmed in his hand before he released it.

"Pesky insects..." Alhazred commented as the bug flew away. "I do hope there won't be too many annoying things like that..."

The other's talk of food attracted his attention. The nutrient cube in his mouth was already losing its taste. Unlike many of the others, he had a longer lifetime of wages to fall back on when he needed something, and the Givin academia payed decently enough to save up some.

"If we can find something meaty like Bantha Bites or some Nerfy Jerky, or maybe even some freshly cooked seasoned Scrimpi, I wouldn't mind. By the stars, if you haven't had some seasoned Scrimpi, you are missing out. When cooked right with some Munka, the taste buds sizzle and sing with praise to the Force itself. I'd be glad to cover the costs if its out of your price range. "

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @Logan @GABA

 

[L'Veth]

All of the talk about food definitely pulled L’Veth’s attention away from being her usual dour self and into genuine interest. She was actually surprised when the Knight seemed to be allowing them to search it out, usually Jedi outings were so by the book and stuffy. It was one of the reasons L’Veth tended to avoid them.

Either way, once Alhazred started talking about scrimpi, L’Veth needed no further convincing on what she wanted to eat.

Hey, if you’re paying, I’m down to give it a try. If it’s half as good as you’re claiming, it’ll be the best thing I’ve eaten in weeks, Alhaz. L’Veth didn’t know if the green padawan was partial to nicknames, but she figured she’d test it out and see how he reacted.

You see any place around that might have some?

L’Veth wasn’t particularly versed in the culinary arts, so she wasn’t realy sure what kind of restaurant would serve scrimpi. Judging from the looks of a lot of places they were passing, it seemed like a lot of the food options were on the lower end of the price range. But there had to be at least one place that served higher end stuff, right?

Plus, since she wasn’t the one to be paying, she wanted to take Mr. Moneybags up on his generous offer. L’Veth wondered how many scrimpi she could eat in one sitting. Probably enough to put even Alhazred’s bank account into the red.

Hopefully he didn’t regret his offer too much, if they ever did find a place to eat.

As luck would have it, though, as they continued to walk, L’Veth spotted a place with a sign out front that mentioned they had the best scrimpi in the area. A nice looking restaurant called La’Poot’s Potpourri and Eatery.

Time to make good on your offer big guy. L’Veth said, jutting her head towards the restaurant before grabbing Alhazred by the arm and dragging him inside.

It was scrimpin’ time.

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @GABA @Narzen

 

[Ke'rena]

Ke'rena happily trailed along with the group, sticking close to L'Veth as she offered while their bright citrine eyes eagerly drank in the environment around them. Since the city was built into a massive plateau, there wasn't any natural light. Instead, everything was lit up with artificial lights. It was really weird but neat at the same time. Still, they'd have plenty of time to drink in the sights later. Their stomach was rumbling and L'Veth was dragging Alhazred into some sort of building that smelled nicely of meat.

"Wait for me!" they called out as they scrambled after the two of them, leaving the others on the street to either follow or find their own place to eat.

"Is this alright with you two?" the knight asked of Natalie and Theia as he gestured toward the store the other three had just run into. "If you go elsewhere, just make sure to meet us back here."

@TheDudeMike @GABA @Narzen @Logan

 

[Natalie Hope]

Natalie grinned at Theia. "I am a sucker for a good pastry. Especially the ones with the syrup stuff on top," she explained, keeping pace with Theia. As she slowed, so did Natalie until they were at a complete stop. It was then that Natalie's attention was drawn away from her friend and her need something fried on a stick to the green Padawan with tenticles on their face. TentiTurbo would be his name now. Yeah, Natalie liked that.

She liked what he was saying less though. What would be the punishment for clocking a fellow Padawan? Eh, better play it safe and keep her hands to herself. The food he described sounded delicious. It was the "look at me and my money" that Natalie hated. She was still rocking the never ending coin trick on vending machines just to keep that coin in her name. Pop it in, get a snack, use the Force to pull the coin back out. Classic.

Her hazel eyes shifted to the Knight as he addressed her and Theia. Fishnets had whisked TentiTurbo away and Yet-To-Be-Nicknamed had scurried off with them. Rambuctious bunch they were. Natalie turned to Theia. "What'ya think? Think I saw some Tatooine street food a couple shops down."

@GABA @lizziie @Logan @Narzen

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia was half listening to Alhazred and trying to focus on Natalie and the others as they started to pass more and more street vendors. He was describing something that was making her mouth water and she had wipe the corner of her lip with her sleeve, just to make sure she wasn't actually drooling. She was going to have to do so much smoothie cleansing after eating here, but she was certain it was worth it.

The Knight waited for their response, and Theia nodded her head, "Let's go, especially if Alz is going to treat us all!" she said excitedly, having to resist the hop as she took her next step toward the Tatooine food vendor. She inhaled deeply, taking in all the different aromas of spices and combinations.

"I wish more jedi trips involved eating good food." Theia said as she waited with the others to get their portion, "Especially at the temple; how are we supposed to become better scholars and warriors if we keep eating bantha slop." the girl complained out loud, unable to keep her thoughts inside (this often happened when she was either tired or hungry). Theia leaned in closer to Natalie, making sure the Knight couldn't overhear her, "Psst, I was able to hack the password to the hanger locks, so we can take a ship out if we want to get real food."

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @Narzen @Logan

 

[Alhazred]

Being the small individual he was, Alhazred was easily pulled to wherever anyone wanted him. His 'host' had seen to the fact that his birthing process was done lacking certain nutrients to make him shorter than most Nu-Vaal. While being shorter certainly helped his being fit in the tight and claustrophobic quarters of spaceships, it certainly carried more disadvantages on the open ground with humanoids who were often a foot or two taller.

The inside of La’Poot’s Potpourri and Eatery made Alhazred's front tendrils drool with digestive juices. The smell of the meat being cooked alone was enough to make his love of culinary delicacies flare with passion. The hissing of skillets, the chit-chat of other beings, the smell of herbs and spices, the humid air of meaty juices evaporating... for a moment, Alhazred might've believed he died and gone to some form of afterlife.

"One portion of Scrimpi for everyone please..." Alhazred whispered to the owner behind a glass counter. The owner didn't even look up, unable to hear the Nu-Vaal's whisper over the noise of everything in the eatery. Alhazred groaned to himself and had to knock on the glass several times to get the Sullustan's attention.

"What's that squidface?" the owner asked.

Alhazred pointed towards sign that said Charhound Fire Scrimpi *CAUTION: 3 OUT OF 3 FLAMES HOT*, and then held up a singular digit, followed by pointing towards each member of the Jedi that came with him, starting with L’Veth. The Sullustan looked at everyone and nodded and quickly got to work.

"You mind taking the Blackhole Scrimpi Squidface? Less spicy but just as good..." The Sullustan asked loudly as plates lumped with steaming meat coated with pepper-infused Glockaw sauce were handed to everyone . "That's the last of peppers for them. Damn Hounds got the rest. Credits or Chromium?"

"As long as my friends get to try your very best..."

Alhazred looked at his credit bag and realized that he barely had enough to cover for everyone. Until he got back to the Temple, he was a broke Nu-Vaal.

"Dig in my friends..." Alhazred whispered to the others. "Taste the wonders of spiced Scrimpi..."

Without waiting to find a seat, Alhazred had already shoved a bite through his front tendrils into his toothless mouth. Such delicacies were best tasted fresh from the skillets.

@lizziie @TheDudeMike @Logan @GABA