Ask When At First You Don't Succeed

[Reikki]

Spoiler

Dear Diary,

It has been a miserable interesting past few days. After returning to our ship mostly in one piece, we had to depart Cyborrea immediately to find Bacta so that Kai and I could recover. I suffered a hefty laceration along my forearm and a nasty bite wound on my calf. Kai was shot — by my sister no less — but I think she was otherwise okay.

Of course, there has been a bit of tension on the ship since. Since we failed didn't succeed on our first attempt, I think everyone's been feeling down because of it. Kai is rightfully pissed at Kali, and I can't help but feel subpar for my failures during the fight as well. Almost every incantation I try when it really matters seems to fail, and I feel lucky that I was able to even summon a sword. I don't have Kali's prowess in battle and I'm certainly not tech-savvy like Kai. So if I could just figure my shit out...

Regardless, we'll be landing back on Cyborrea in an hour or so. A day in Bacta and a day to rest hopefully did us all well, and I think we'll be much more prepared this time. We could really use the money if we want to keep setting out on the Galaxy like this, so failure really isn't an option. So you know what they say, "try try again"

Also, Kai keeps talking about the dogs we encountered too. Turns out they're called "neks" which is funny because they have very thick necks. I'm not sure if the name and the anatomy are related, but it would be funny if they were. I think she wants to capture one if we encounter them again. I'm not so sure though, since adult animals are notoriously hard to train. Maybe if we found a baby...

Reikki finished detailing the last few days in her diary, jumping around from topic to topic and scratching out the occasional word to replace it with something else. She could hear the navigation up in the cockpit beeping, indicating that they would be dropping out of hyperspace soon, so she closed off her sentences and closed the book. "Egap ot rehtael dna repap ot repap dinb." She clapped her hands together, and in a flourish of green, the diary flipped shut. It was glued to itself until she undid the incantation, preventing her nosey-ass sisters from snooping in her private thoughts.

The ship dropped from hyperspace. Reikki slid into the pilot's seat and began guiding the ship steadily downwards, heading toward the same spot they'd landed a few days ago. "KAI! KALI! FIVE MINUTES!" she called out as the landing gear extended and the ship settled into place. Rei hurried to get ready herself, sliding on her boots and slinging a bag over her shoulders. This time she carried more than just her magick on her. A vibroknife, a GPS, and a collapsable energy bow all hung from her belt.

Reikki waited outside for her sisters to join her, squatting down on the ground and placing small rocks in a growing spiral as she did.

@Logan @Arcangel @Altaria

 

[Kaiyak]

Kaiyak was well into the process of repairing her plasma bow as she heard Reikki's voice call out the five minutes to reversion. Her leg ached a bit but was healing well with the aid of a dip in the miraculous bacta. Still, they hadn't been able to afford a full treatment and her leg would definitely scar. A reminder of how her own sister, her flesh and blood, had shot her.

That would be a sore spot for some time and Kaiyak wasn't sure if she was quite ready to forgive Akkali. It had been an accident, in the middle of a vicious ambush. That accident had almost cost the Nightsister her life though. A shudder went through her as she pictured the alternative. A vision of four snarling Nek dogs tearing at her flesh after being shot down to the ground by her sister flashed through her head.

She shook her head and returned to her work, finishing things up with a final couple bolt twists. Thankfully she had had enough material onboard, combined with some replacement bits purchased planet side. Practically good as new... as long as you didn't pay too close attention to the teeth marks that marred the bows frame. Still, it was functional.

Kaiyak collapsed the bow and slung it over her back. She wore an old blaster pistol on her right hip as well, one she had scavenged from the fields of Dathomir from some long ago battle. It had still worked even when she had found it... After some poking and prodding at it's internals anyways. A vibroblade sat sheathed at the opposite hip.

The Nightsister stepped down quietly from the ship, back into the heavy gravity of Cyborea. She glanced down at her sister, not the one who shot her, and smiled to herself as she watched the girl place out a spiral of rocks in the dirt. "Watcha doin?" She said loudly after padding quietly behind her, hopefully quiet enough that she didn't hear her coming.

Dice roll: plasma bow repair success 15/20

@Logan @lizziie

 

[Akkali]

It had been an awkward couple of days, that was for sure. For the most part Akkali had stuck to her own room, the door locked and little sound coming out of it other than the thumping of her stereo. She'd recently gotten into a genre of music called Midrim Emo and, given the events that proceeded this self isolation, was very appropriate for how Akkali felt.

Obviously she hadn't meant to shoot her sister in the leg, it was an accident. But it had been an avoidable accident of Akkali hadn't failed miserably at one of the few things she was supposed to be good at.

A million different scenarios had run through her head since then, thinking about how differently things could have gone. Both in ways it could have been better and ways it could have been worse, the latter of which tended to haunt her daydreams and nightmares more than it should have.

A cigarette hung idly from Akkali's mouth as she put the final touches on what she'd been working on. It wasn't much, but she felt it necessary. It was an "I'm Sorry" card for Kai, on the front of which was a sucker Akkali had drawn. She'd embellished it a little bit with some glitter and made it green, and underneath were the words "I SUCK (I'm sorry)."

Inside, a drawing of the three sisters. Akkali was no amazing artist, so they were just stick figures, but it would be clear who was who from her drawing. It was a scene of all three sisters standing triumphantly on a mountain of nek corpses, each striking their own style of victory pose.

Hopefully her sister would like it and maybe stop being so mad at her.

Heading for the ship's exit upon hearing Rei's unnecessary shouting, Akkli grabbed her card and her gear and went outside. Walking up to Kaiyak, Akkali handed her sister the card with her best "Sorry I shot you ):" face before looking at the ground to see what Rei was up to.

Yeah Rei, what are you doing?

@lizziie @Arcangel

 

[Reikki]

Kai quite easily scared her squatting sister, causing her to squeak in surprise and scuffle up a bit of her little rock spiral. She shot a glare at Kai, but answered the question

"I remembered that Mother once told me about a trick for maintaining concentration under stress," she started, referring to the Whispering Grove Clan Mother. Rei placed her finger above the middle of her spiral and traced the pattern out toward the end.

"She said it kinda feels like drawing out a pattern — the focus with that — but still being completely aware of your surroundings..." Rei stood and pushed her foot sideways, erasing her little activity. She looked a bit disappointed.

"Obviously you scared me, so I guess I haven't quite figured it out yet," she grumbled. Reikki adjusted the duffel bag slung across her back and sighed.

"Okay. Round two?" With that she would head off straight toward the same path they'd taken before.

@Arcangel @Logan

 

[Kaiyak]

Kaiyak laughed as Rei squeaked and scrambled, clearly caught by surprise. All had gone as she had foreseen. Muahahaha. The nightsister was broken from her mental celebratory evil laughter when her other sister popped up next to her, surprising her. Before she could react Kali shoved something her hand while making a face that could only mean she was extremely constipated.

Kaiyak looked down at the object, a page that was green and glittery. A bit of the green stuff got on her hands, and would likely remain there forever no matter how much she tried to get it off. I SUCK was emblazoned in glittery green on the front, with a little 'I'm sorry' underneath. Opening it up she saw the scribbled picture of them standing victorious over a bunch of... really buff animals. Nek dogs, she realized. She glanced sideways at Kali, stuck somewhere between laughing and crying.

"Yeah. You do suck. And you're stupid, thinking this was gonna work." She said as she turned away, sniffing and sneakily swiping a tear away from the corner of her eye as she stuffed the card into her pack. There was a faint smile on her lips though as she turned her back to Kali. She was still pissed, but that card... Her sister was such a dork, it was hard to stay mad at her.

"Round two, lets go." She nodded to Rei, following her down the path. "No friendly fire this time." She said, glancing over her shoulder at Kali and sticking her tongue out at her.

@Logan

 

[Akkali]

Akkali watched her sister's reaction to her card with bated breath, hoping that her little gesture would result in something positive. She couldn't help but feel a little deflated when she heard Kai's response, though she noticed the whisp of a smile that snuck its way onto her face and knew she had been at least a little successful.

Round two it is. She said, pulling a cigarette out of the pack she kept in her jacket. Couldn't possibly be any worse than last time. She said it jokingly, but it was pretty true. Akkali figured the only possible way it could be worse is if one of them actually died this time.

Heading vaguely in the direction of their objective, Akkali dragged on her cigarette lazily while her mind wandered a bit as it had a tendency to do. She kicked a stone along the ground as they walked, wondering how long it would take to turn the jagged little thing smooth by just kicking it. Probably forever.

What do you guys think about trying to find some more of those neks? She asked, casting a sideways glance at her sisters to see how her question would land. Some of the young, obviously. There has to be some without parents given how many of the big ones we managed to kill the other day.

The neks were ferocious predators and Akkali couldn't help but find them a little endearing. They reminded her of the creatures on Dathomir, and if those could be tamed and turned into pets she didn't see why the neks couldn't be too.

I feel like we could use a guard dog. She paused for a moment, considering a couple of different ways they could go while she field stripped her smoke and tossed the butt into some under brush.

I'm thinking we name it Beefcakke. Thoughts?

@lizziie @Arcangel

 

[Reikki]

"Gods I hope not," Reikki murmured in response to one, maybe both of them. Last time had certainly been the furthest thing from fun between Kaiyak getting shot in the leg and her own getting mauled to bits. But she had higher hopes for this try. After all, they knew a little bit more about what to expect.

They walked on for a while, continuing down the path they'd taken the last time. Reikki was quiet for most of it, humming on occasion as she busied herself with observing the natural flora and fauna of the land they were traveling through. That wasn't to say she wasn't paying attention when Akkali posed her question to the both of them. She thought about it for a few seconds, less concerned with how they would acquire one and more about how they'd care for one on their rinky-dinky ship.

"As long as you're on poop duty," she would finally answer with a shrug. "But I think we should wait to look for any orphaned pups until we're on our way back. Not sure I want to babysit a puppy through old republic bases n' such," she added on.

Speaking of, the three of them were already approaching the same clearing they'd been ambushed in before. Reikki could feel the hairs on the back of her neck begin to stand up as she recalled their last experience here. Her dark eyes landed on the torn-up ground tangled with roots and the two-day-old corpses that littered the clearing. A flock of vulture-esque avians was already tearing into the bodies, and the arrival of the three sisters didn't much spook them. They were regarded suspiciously, but not fleed from nor attacked.

"It doesn't look like it's rained since," Reikki remarked casually. There was still plenty of dried blood on the forest floor. "So we shouldn't have any problem tracking back to a den or something."

"Shall we continue?" The nightsister held up the GPS which was indicating that they weren't too far off from their first destination. Another hour or so of walking.

@Arcangel @Logan