Ask Wasteland, Baby!

[Soleil Altan]

One benefit of all the for-fun reading and research Soleil went through was he sometimes stumbled across some tidbit of information that looked promising. Tracking down more clues and hints got him a place to explore in the Outer Rim, the prospect of leaving behind the stillness of temple life for a little while exciting. As much as he enjoyed the quiet, he got a little stir-crazy and liked to see things for himself.

One downside of his bookworm habits was he rarely had anyone to actually go with. Most folks paid his quiet self little mind, after all. Luckily he'd run into a certain Devaronian at a party. The man wasn't hard to spot in the temple now that Sol knew his face. Altair was invited- through text on a datapad- to go off on a treasure hunt on Elphrona! Which one of them couldn't use a little extra money, right?

Their borrowed freighter wasn't the nicest, but it flew places. Really the only requirement as far as Sol was concerned. The Black Bantha would touch down in a dusty open-top hangar in the town of Ogden's Hope, a place that mostly consisted of miners, their families, and the groups that owned them. They'd need to get some local info if they wanted to find anything of worth.

Smelling of ocean salt and sunscreen, Soleil peeked out of the ship's entrance as its ramp creakily lowered to the sandy ground. He instantly disliked how dry the air was, making a face, and went back inside to change around some of his clothes and get a wide-brimmed hat. There'd be no hoodie today, Sol was pretty sure he'd literally die wearing it. Just in case he changed out the cloth covering of his neck for a new one, a layer of gel on the inside over his gills, then triple-checked his backpack's contents.

Green eyes looked up to see how ready Altair looked for their little adventure.

@Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

There had been a bit of a panic over safely landing the freighter considering the planet had magnetized fields that made it difficult to navigate. Of course, panic meant Altair was panic blabbering and Sol was making frantic hand gestures or trying to write something down on a datapad. No one would guess that as the ship finally parked and they both strolled out.

Altair didn’t mind the heat, and he was adorned in a simple t shirt and casual pants with sneakers. He sported some shades that adjust to his pointed ears. The Devaronian looked out at their destination and smiled, only to have Sol squirrel back into the ship. He waited till the dude came out, now sporting a ridiculous hat. Altair blinked a few times, but didn’t judge.

“Dude I really hope we run into one of those charhounds,” He said excited as he walked down the ramp, “Like can you imagine taming that as a pet? Sick,” He said, glancing over at Sol. Oh yeah, he couldn’t talk.

“Yeah, bro! Charhounds be lit, yo,” He answered on behalf of Sol. Clearly Altair had no problem listening to the sound of his own voice. In fact, he even packed his hallkiset for the journey so he could jam to and from the planet. Altair carried a backpack and his wan-shen, but nothing else in particular.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Sol re-emerged from the borrowed ship with his hat and bonus pair of Crown store aviator sunglasses covering his eyes, grimacing briefly up toward the sun above. The other dude's enthusiasm for charhounds was met with obvious excitement from the silent Sol, his face lighting up a bit with a grin and the universal "OK" hand-sign. He gave Altair a look over speaking on his behalf but made no complaint, just nodding with an expression like he was about to laugh.

Aside his backpack of miscellaneous supplies he had his vibroweapons, the dagger on the back of his belt, sword tucked beneath the pack. While Altair had his hallikset, Sol brought some basic art supplies. He'd obviously had no problem with the other man playing away on the way over, vibing to the sound as he worked on whatever it was he'd been working on at the time. He looked around the sandy town with a pensive expression, wondering where exactly the pair should go next.

Honestly, he was already a little uncomfortable from the dry weather, but he'd live. Sol habitually brought, like, so much water. Plus the prospect of seeing creatures he hadn't before had him visibly excited, practically bouncing off his heels as he exited the hangar bay. Immediately he lowered his hat's brim to keep the sun out of his eyes, looking around for something informative.

In the midst of the pair attracting grumpily curious glances and stares from the locals, Sol lightly elbowed Altair and pointed toward a building with a worn-out Blackwell logo stamped across the front. His hand extended pinky and thumb and shook a bit, the glint of excitement clear in his eyes while he headed straight toward it without a second thought.

"S- Xxccrt- Sir!" came a voice from the side. Sol stopped in place and looked around. The pair was being addressed by a very, very, very rusty droid half-buried in sand sitting on the side of the road. "H-ha- sshsrrt- you need of a d-d-droid's service? Xtt" Sol stared blankly at the machine, looking bewildered but curious.

@Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair looked over when Sol nudged him, following his gaze to the old Blackwell building. He began to walk in that direction when the droid came out of nowhere. The Devaronian blinked a few times, “Uhhh maybe,” He muttered, “Are you expensive?” He looked back at Sol and shrugged vaguely, waiting for the droid’s response.

He looked past the droid, “We’re looking for an old abandoned outpost,” He explained, “Do you know any place like that?” Altair wasn’t entirely sure what kind of ‘treasure’ would be left behind in an abandoned old place, but Sol seemed way too excited about it. It was enough to pique his curiosity and come to the planet. So far, however, his main interests were the fauna.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Soleil squinted at the sand-covered droid. With all the rust on its surface and the rust-orange colour of the sand around from all the iron content, the droid blended in a little too well. It also looked like complete shit, if the sputtering vocabulator didn't immediately give away it's poor state. Sol was pretty sure its right arm was a stiff breeze away from falling right off.

The silent acolyte gave Altair a perplexed look and shrugged right back. He certainly didn't think they'd need a droid, especially on this planet. Magnetic storms ruined droids faster than anything short of an ion blast. Aside which, droids made Sol a little uncomfortable. They were, like, not alive. Or something.

"Err-r-r-r, outpo-post?" the droid stuttered. "M-many of those he-he-ere." Its neck creaked like an old hinge as it turned its one working photoreceptor to look between the two. Sol was squinting at the droid suspiciously. Why did the people here just leave it in the sand? "W-w-why, back in m-my day, the-er-ere was a- erm-er-erm-" before the droid could get to rambling about some old people shit Sol started rapidly signing something-or-other with his hands in the hope it was one of those droids that could interpret.

"Eh?" The droid paused mid-ramble. "Tha-a-at one? I w-was there, loooong.... Long, a-go." Sol looked surprised, looked at Altair, took his datapad out. Looked annoyed- no signal or this hell planet- put the datapad back in his pocket, and sighed. He walked forward and waved to Altair, pointed to the droid, and made a lifting motion with his hands. Then he walked to the droid and got to excavating it from the sand.

Hopefully without ripping it in half or something. If they had a heading, then they just needed transportation!

@Sreeya