Worst Possible Outing

[Viabuck]

​

Curo had never been particularly good at planning things that weren't directly related to his duties. Once as a surprise for his master, he had acquired a cake which he intended to share upon the completion of their current lesson. That very important lesson lasted two months longer than he had intended and to call the cake dry and unfit for Togrutan consumption might have been a terrible understatement to say the very least. This trip with his new found friend, Ashanna was likely going to prove to be very much the same in many regards. Despite his best intentions, it seemed as if one, Curo Kaal, should have instead stuck to what he was particularly skilled in, such as fighting and things of that nature.

"So. I've decided that it would be interesting to venture to Jakku."

Why in the name of everything good in the galaxy would anyone say such a thing? Well that was a -very- good question but one that Curo had been very prepared to answer as the transport which they had made use of descended upon the desert world, the light of the nearby sun making it almost uncomfortable to gaze out toward through the front of the ship. Without the vessels heat shielding, it very probable that the two would have already been drenched in sweat which only begged the question further, why would anyone -voluntarily- come to such a place? It really had very few redeeming qualities.. So -why-.

"I've heard rumors of the Jawa's that migrated to this world peddling a few artifacts which may pertain to the the Jedi. Lightsaber crystals, emitters for lightsabers, a few other rare goods... While not exactly an -official- mission.. I thought it might be fun to get away from Lothal for a bit and get to know one another... Perhaps test our skills on our own terms." he mused, sparing a glance over to his passenger, almost as if he hoped to justify his choice in some way.

"I've also humored the notion of finding a Droid.. Perhaps they'll have some available.. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have one around.." he went on, a hand coming up to passively scratch between his rather impressive montral, his blue eyes set upon the humanoid specimen that had traveled along with him, finding her presence to be quite pleasant, even as the ship began to descend toward the sands, quite literally in the middle of no where, only a distance mining colony of some sort visible off in the distance, massive dunes of sand on either side of them and the sun beating down from up above.

While they might be safe from the heat while they remained about the ship, upon departing the two would potentially be in for something of a surprise..

​

 

[Asinine Soup]

Sitting in her seat was a brown-haired Jedi but a young woman by the name of Ashanna. She sat curiously upon observing her celestial surroundings whilst listening to Curo as he chimed his narrative along.
"So. I've decided that it would be interesting to venture to Jakku." he said. These weren't words that Ashanna were used to hearing, and as a fact, her very first thoughts on the matter were, "I've never heard of such a place, but it must be nice if Curo's suggesting it." And so she simply smiles and nods, not caring for the vast details by him for the details would soon be revealed.

Whether those details were of import or not, however, was what was to be determined in the next stages of their adventure - each one yields its own fruit, yet each fruit is different.

Ah, but the fruit of life is nutritious indeed. As the transport rears in the glare of the sun, Ashanna displaces her attention elsewhere, not wanting to peer directly at the fury of the celestial body in the distance, rather anticipate landing on the planet that had been caking beneath it for multi-millenia, more likely than not: another Desert planet. The duo enter the atmosphere, and as if on purpose, her new friend lands the ship at co-ordinates of nothing of import. Just sand.
Deja-vu indeed, for she'd just been thinking the same thing while being stuck on Tatooine.
"...it's always sand. Why is it always sand?" she questions to herself - or to perhaps someone else - of her curiosity. Whether she got an answer or not, the hiss of the bridge for the ship extends into the sand, leading a modestly cloaked and hooded Jedi and a graceful-moving Togruta leading themselves into the world to take a breath full of sand and dust and heat.

It sure was a lot hotter out here than she thought. But the Force works in many ways to keep the body balanced - so she allows it, feeling nothing more than a slight discomfort at the prospect of intense heat.
"I wonder what it's like living here." she finally states as the bridge hisses back up, her boots sinking softly into the sand beneath them. Hopefully they didn't land over a pot-hole; that would suck for both them and their ship, and would ultimately leave the two of them in the same situation as she'd been in on Tatooine.
"At any rate, where are we to go? Lead the way, my friend." she indicates with a smile, clearly simply happy to be along for the ride. She couldn't wait to see what was in store. The desert wind picks up for the briefest of moments to alert the pair of its presence by rippling their clothing in its brisk awakening.

 

[Viabuck]

Sparing a questioning glance in Ashanna's direction when she questioned the presence of the sand and why in fact it always had to be grainy collection of particles beneath of their feat, Curo would step down from the ship, his own head being left uncovered, his red reddish orange skin being heated by the sky above.

"I take it you've had a recent outing to a similar locale?" he inquired, glancing around the area, his right hand coming up and pressing to his forehead as he attempted to shield his eyes from the suns harsh light. Regrettably in his experience, the fashion industry had not been particularly kind to his people, the utter lack of helmets, visors, or even shades of some nature proving to be problematic in these situations. With only the most basic of ideas of where exactly he was intending to head towards, he caught sight of what he could only assume was the nearby mining shanty town that he had seen on their approach and silently started treading off in that direction, ensuring that his pace was kept alongside his friends.

"I'd imagine it's quite hot and genuinely unpleasant... I find it remarkable that life can even exist in such a place.." he remarked in response to the female's question pertaining to what it must have been like to reside in such a place. "Though I imagine that Akul aren't as prevalent here as they are on Shili.. So I suppose it's a fair trade off.." he went on, giving pause to clarify, "That is my home world of course. Shili that is... Akul were the things that tried to devour us.." before continuing on, offering a brief smile in Ashanna's direction.

Under the hot sun of Jakku, the walk toward the settlement wasn't particularly enjoyable but it wasn't anything that Curo would complain about, the notion of expressing complaints regarding the environment feeling like a wasted effort. There was little that could be done in such a situation and it wasn't as if they would be stuck out in the open for long. Surely they could be accommodated in one of the many tents in the tow---...

"... Oh."

As they entered a better visual radius, smoke could be seen drifting upward from the grounds, flames burning away the tents and the entire area was left in a state of total disarray. Bodies littered the ground, the causes of death being plentiful in nature ranging from blaster burns to stabbings to flat out physical trauma inflicted by something. Getting closer, the fact that the corpses were relatively fresh would also become woefully apparent, prompting the Togruta to utter the word, "Oh.." once again, his hand moving toward his lightsaber, his eyes scanning the area.

"This looks as if it might be something of an issue."

 

[Asinine Soup]

The wavering haze of the heat of the desert planet create mirages that stretch out into the groggy distance, the only thing visible for kilometers in all directions - save one, that one being the village up a ways - just being sand. So much sand.
The strikingly hot sun reflects from the dunes and waves of the grain, and as Ashanna's Togrutan companion explains something about his planet, she would only smile and nod from beneath the hood. It had been a struggle to understand anything that he was talking about at first; something about Akul and Shili - things she's obviously never heard of - turns into a wonderful little side-note about the Jedi Knight's past and home!

"Ah, I see. A lot of the animals on my planet were never given official names, " she explains, the pair beginning to pace through the sand toward the settlement up ahead, "but we still had our names for them nonetheless. Most of nature avoided us Ysanna, however." She would leave untold whether that meant her people were at the top of the food-chain upon her planet, or if her planet's ecosystems simply respected the humanoid presence and left a mutual truce upon it's surface.
Such an efficient method of survival.
"What kind of foods serve as your primary nutrition, Curo?" she then asks, her interest within the Togruta renewed once again - it had been just like it was aboard the ship. It would be obvious she held an apparent and obvious interest toward him. She hadn't stopped asking questions for the majority of the trip - although it took quite the trip in hyperspace, what time wasn't spent meditating and navigating and (even to an extent) adventuring within the cabin was spent asking the occasional question about Curo's life, homeworld, and cultures. It would seem the duo's conversation would remain upon the subject until a sand dune hill had been climbed to reveal the villa--

"Oh..." Curo cuts off, Ashanna's eyebrows suddenly falling in surprise. She hadn't felt this?...Why hadn't she felt a disturbance?
"What is this?" she questions, her eyes beginning to dart the horizon and tents lining the post as she opens herself fully to the Force, its energies radiating through and about her. Flames licked at the tents and the smell of spilled blood and death certainly caked the smokey aura.
"What's responsible for this?" she asks aloud, her lightsaber's hilt finding its way into her outstretched palm with a flick and slap; Ashanna half-jogs into the middle of the path marked with footsteps within the sand of others who had frequented the section of sand.

She peers left and right, only looking for a culprit or a survivor as she kneels down to inspect the first corpse she comes across. After inspecting, she'd peer up toward Curo and shake her head as though that was the confirmation he needed.

 

[Viabuck]

"This isn't proper.."

It was probably the most obvious thing that the Togrutan Jedi Knight could have said in the current situation but it was frankly the very thing he could vocalize when surrounded by such brutality. While not a particularly squeamish person, every fiber of paranoia was screaming out in the male's mind, urging him to exercise caution and avoid the fate that had befallen the mixture of sentient beings that laid scattered throughout the wreckage of the tent city. Bringing his lightsaber out to the side, the knight momentarily reached down to inspect the body of the man that Ashanna stood nearest.

Lightly taking the jaw of the fallen rodian, he would ease the man's head to the side, this victim proving to have a particularly gruesome set of neck wounds, looking as if they had been torn at by a massive set of teeth, something which understandably drew quite a bit of concern from the Togruta. A skilled hunter almost by his very nature, the various causes of death was certainly a sign that no one being was responsible and as he would dwell on his thoughts, the force would cry out, his head darting to face the direction of their ship..

Just in time to witnesses a massive fireball emerge from the region in which they had left it, metal and flame being lifted into the air as an explosion rocked the area, Curo's heart almost sinking in that moment as he drug his thumb along a switch on his lightsaber just as he -felt- something change in the environment around him, a massive upheaval of sand erupting behind him as a gigantic towering worm of some nature erupted from the sand, it's quad directional mouth opening wide as it ascended into the air and came down toward the Jedi who narrowly sprung from the ground avoiding the attempted consumption.

"Something is wrong here, Ashanna!" he decreed, leaping up in a somersault as he noticed the earth beneath of his feet beginning to tremble as the beast erupted once again, missing the Togruta and instead lunging downward toward Ashanna, seeking to devour the other Jedi with it's initial prey escaping it's jaws.

"There's too much going on here!" he called, his green lightsaber burning as he contemplated how best to bring the sand burrower down.. And ascertain exactly what was happening, how they would escape the planet, and who was responsible for this... slaughter.

 

[Asinine Soup]

It was indeed interesting how every time the young Ashanna stepped foot on a desert planet, she ends up being completely stranded - she'd never be stranded on Tython or Alderaan or Coruscant or any place that anyone ever wants to be. No. She gets stranded on a rock with sand and two suns beaming down on it.
...and she'd been tasked to find water on such a planet. Master Jedi are certainly confusing sometimes, but what did she know - her last adventure provided a cup of water as well as a new friend.

"This isn't proper..." the Togrutan says.
"...your observation skills are superb, my friend - do you sense any survivors?" she states, her voice much the louder as Ashanna certainly knew the time to be an upstart and assume control. Lifting from her knee as a sudden inclination of 'look behind you' whispers to her subconscious, she looks behind her to see a...quaint sight, one such sight both familiar and depressing. It was the sight of their only transportation onto the planet had mushroomed into the sky, sending durasteel and flame licking the hot desert air.
"...always on a planet of sand," she murmurs to herself, "I swear, it has to happen on purpose."

As the pair continue to inspect the poor Rodian who met his fate beneath this cruel sun, the sand was suddenly shifting beneath them. Something was coming. "Blasted adventures!" she thinks excitedly, adrenaline beginning to kick as both Curo and herself look over to spot a gigantic worm-like creature with four claws for a mouth machination explodes from the sand. The scary part? It didn't make a single sound. It was a silent killer, despite the ambush of sand.
The large creature began to arc, and it was in that moment that Curo and Ashanna both leap out of its path in the same instance, different directions as sand escape the tips of their toes in their evasion. The creature slams into their previous position with the intent to taste prey, but instead ate sand - somehow, Ashanna didn't feel it would acquiesce and flee at a failed attempt.

"Something is wrong here, Ashanna!" Curo yells!
"I feel you should stop stating the obvious, Curo! It's very distracting!" she answers in earnest at a yell, very much valuing her friend's opinion, but its charm had eluded her within the heat of survival (where, ironically, communication is key!)

"There's too much going on here!" Curo yells as her own weapon springs to life, activating its vibrant azure beneath the oppressive sun up high - a sky cloaked by the dust floating around in the air. At that very moment, a second giant worm explodes from the sand, this time arcing toward Ashanna's new position. While she did agree with the Togruta's observation, she couldn't help but to chide in at last moment - "Curo, the dangers multiply the more you yell! Cut that out!"
He was like the correspondent or marketing producer of Worst Possible Outing Inc. He could will negative outtings into existence. Maybe being Jedi wasn't the best job, though it's sure to have its excitements!
As the worm closes the distance, Ashanna repositions herself along the footpath to allow the worm to fly on through - right through the tip of her lightsaber. It seemed she was just close enough to probe at the creature to test if its skin were able to be frayed with the use of the Jedi's multi-tool.

 

[Viabuck]

Offering a slight scowl to the sarcasm that was offered in response to his observations, or more so, what he was assumed was sarcasm, Curo gave his lightsaber a spin before kneeling down and lunging upward into the air. Descending through the sky, the Jedi Knight would descend, one of the two blades being plunged downward, thrusting straight down into the sand burrower's... had? Did they really have heads? Segment of the body that the mouth was attached to might be something that could be considered to be more accurate.. In any case.. As with Ashanna's test on her respective devouring dance partner, the lightsaber would be met with minimal resistance, the weapon cutting deep and penetrating the flesh causing the creature to flail back, throwing the Togruta from it's mount and causing him to land with a hard thud in the sand.

Clearly the beasts could be wounded with their lightsabers, but the question remained as to how they would make use of it. Did these things even -have- vital organs? There was only one option that Curo could think of...

"Cutting it's head off.." He reassured himself, starting to walk in semi-circle, contemplating what he had learned about the creature to that moment. Glancing off to the side, Curo would open his hand, visualizing the nearby smoldering speeder wreckage from one of the villages residents, he would throw it straight up and then send it crashing down into the ground, the massive creature's mouth opening wide as it lunged toward the source of the noise.

These things couldn't see.. They hunted based on sound.. But how to convey that...

Taking off running to the sand burrower he had designated as his opponent, the Togruta would kick up off of the ground and descend just as the worm closed its jaws around the bike and began to whip around, savaging the transport. This was an ideal time to test his theory once again, figuring he would cut in on Ashanna's dance with her worm, a smirk forming across his face. "They hunt based on sound and vibration!" he shouted, hopefully causing the worm that his friend was battling to lunge in his direction and into the other whom he would kick off of the sand burrower the minute he made contact, intending to cause a collision of the two.

 

[Asinine Soup]

Ashanna was certainly not being sarcastic - she tended to be just as genuine as her 'alien' friend when it came to matters such as this. With a shift in her posture and watching as Curo's mind worked to attract the beasts, the giant worm wriggled past her extended lightsaber blade and seared its own claw-like tooth appendage right off. It hissed as it was cleaved, though still the creature didn't make a sound - did they not have organs to make sound?
They truly were eerie hunters. Worms were carnivores, after all.

She couldn't help but to think that Curo had spoken these hunters into existence.
"Are these anything like those Akul you were talking about?!" she yells out playfully as the worm burrows into the sand, lapping the waves and dunes as though it were a fish. It makes a long arc to come right on back to the yelling Jedi woman who just so happened to be sprinting in Curo's direction. Unluckily for the worms, however, the pair of Jedi just so happened to be proficient enough to have a high survival rating. As sand skids from beneath her boot, it seemed Ashanna had been able to lure the second worm right into the first, and as they crash into one another's clawed faces, sand explodes from the skin and cartilage can be heard snapping and crunching.

Now.

"Now!" Ashanna clips toward Curo, eyes wide as she'd utilized the Force to enhance her speed and agility to make it in time. With a graceful leap, dust flickers from beneath the woman's boots, and in short order, she spirals down atop the worm on the far side with her blade held downward at an angle. Her weight and speed is able to cleave a hissing, sizzling, bloody hole right along the worm's neck and face.
It still doesn't shriek. Such strange animals. As soon as the Jedi hit the sanded ground, she didn't wait to see if her technique had actually left the hunting worm dead; she would simply leap away from the scene, hoping Curo was able to take down his foe as her action likely implied. Unspoken teamwork was important, and so it seemed, the two were fairly good at coordinating.

Perhaps she spoke too soon? The other worm had begun to regain its composure, wriggling its mandibles and attempting to burrow right back into the sand. Ashanna couldn't allow that, and so she assists Curo with handling it by reaching out with the Force! Her grip was tight and kept the dangerous Jakkuan beast from escaping its fate.

 

[Viabuck]

Everything was going according to plan. Ashanna was handling her end of the exchange well and Curo? Curo wasn't having the slightest bit of difficulty bounding through the air with the greatest of ease, staying out of reach of the beasts as they lashed about and assailed the two Jedi. In the end though, despite the size of the creatures in comparrison to their humanoid foes, it truly wasn't a fair fight at it's very core. There was simply too much working against them. Too much skill. Too much training. Too much force... And in the Togruta's experience, when the force was on ones side, the battle would was never a fair fight to begin with and the 'predators' were nothing but prey.

Jedi were at their very core, the most fearsome of predators in the galaxy, a discovery which the Sith Brotherhood might be discovering in the days to come... But something that was neither here nor there for the moment. Incidentally, during the time in which Ashanna was was so gracefully dispatching her target, the Jedi Knight she had aligned herself with had taken to a tactic all of his own. When dealing with a difficult foe, it was best to strike at vulnerable organs and quite simply, the carnivorous alien male had identified a rather large one.

Waiting for the beast to attempt to burrow once again, in spite of woman's efforts to restrain it, Curo would rather boldly walk directly into it's path, a pleasant smile forming over his face, his lightsaber being held at the ready. With the worm's massive jaws opening up it would make it's lunge intent upon devouring it's prey.. Right until the spinning began.. And the Togrutan Knight held up the promise he had made... In a way. In a vicious display of efficiency, the very face of the worm would be sliced away in slabs as if it were slabs of meat being cut and prepared in a shop.

It wouldn't' take more than a few passes before the creature would be reduced to a set of involuntary motions, it's body writhing about operating off of impulses, Curo would make a quick leap away from the immediate area, landing gracefully next to Ashanna, his body rather unceremoniously decorated in worm entrails which he would begin to swipe away from his body, casting it off onto the ground. "Well then.. I believe we should consider our investigation.." he started, glancing around momentarily before he reached up and plucked a chunk of flesh from his montrals. Now with no impending source of dismember coming his way he continued.

"We'll need to discover who is responsible for this and find a means of escaping this world.. I've got a bad feeling that the information regarding artifacts may have attracted attention from certain -other- sorts of individuals outside of the Jedi Order.."

 

[Asinine Soup]

A bit of dry air and the scent of disgusting worm body fluids accompany her friend and ally's bound, sliding backwards through the sand to land beside her. Ashanna curls her nose and shakes her head, sighing was she continues to utilize the Force to keep her body temperature at the healthiest it could be beneath the harrowing sun.
"I can't say that was necessary, but it was a nice spin-combo - I give it an eight out of ten. Coulda' been nine if you could've avoided getting all dirty." She pauses.
"Well then.. I believe we should consider our investigation.." Curo indicates, and as he looks around, Ashanna simply continues.
"You know the sand is gonna' be sticking to your skin with all that slime on it...right? Ew, I'd hate to be you." She was smiling, and as she walks forward to bypass Curo, she gives him a playful nudge with her elbow - the same elbow she bends to place a hand on her hip and inspect the field as well.

Husks of smoke emitted above the charred tents and heat-soaked corpses.
"Your feeling is in the right place, I think," she would ascertain following the voicing of Curo's intuition, "the Force is whispering that it's deeper than what it seems, here. Check for tracks, I'll give the tents a sweep - a good question is 'why was this village attacked'." Which was true. Running through Ashanna's mind were several questions, most being the typical 'are there any survivors?', 'was there a VIP in the area?', and even a 'was there something of value worth the trouble and the death to retrieve?'

She begins her trek through the footmarked-and-smeared terrain to locate anything that would lead the Jedi duo into the right direction.

"We're going to need some speeders or a map or something, at the very least..." is placed within the Togruta's head after she makes it out of earshot, rustling through a burned tent's rubble and still-burning documents and small, durable datapads. Some of it was surprisingly salvageable.

 

[Viabuck]

Frowning slightly as his performance was rated by his partner, Curo would quietly remove his tunic, taking it from his torso and going about the process of turning it inside out. Proceeding to slowly wipe away the entrails that covered his face, montral, and lekku, he shrugged his shoulders in response. Packing careful mind to neatly fold the tunic, the next action he would take would be to wipe down his arms which while not a perfect solution -did- remove a lot of the chunkier bits and reduce -some- degree of the stickiness that threatened to inhibit him on their journey.

Discarding the entrail rag that had once been his shirt, the Togruta adjusted his belt and reattached his lightsaber to it's latch on his belt. "It's not so bad being me. Now I get to enjoy the sun all the more.." he remarked, offering the girl a pleasant little smile before turning to observe the direness of the situation that existed around them. As he had previously mentioned, there were in fact a great number of things which would need attending to as per his own suggestions.

With the duty of tracking being offered to hi, his next notion was to kneel down upon the ground, looking at it closely for a moment. With every passing breeze, the shifting sand would of course obscure the tracks though in a way, it assisted in determining just how old each individual imprint was. As one might imagine after such careful observations, Curo would come to quite a few conclusions..

'I don't think we'll find any speeders..' he remarked mentally, as he paced through the village, his eyes scanning over the fallen bodies, occasionally kneel down next to one and patting it down, seeking out any valuables that might be present and ultimately finding none. Whomever had initially attacked this village had taken it for everything that it was worth and then some.. So what were the odds of finding transport out of this desolate town?..

Ashanna meanwhile would find herself having better luck int he process, eventually recovering a datapad which while shorting out when activated would eventually display a trade route leading from their current local to a small village which by the appearance of the map seemed to be much larger than the area they currently inhabited... Of course while she was discovering this, Curo would emerge a short time later to the sound of pounding footsteps, a Bantha being led along with him.

".. So it's a ride.."

 

[Asinine Soup]

Ashanna inspects the datapad. Most of its files were corrupted and corroded, however with every slap at its side, she was able to see the image of what appeared to be a map of the local area. How did she know? She could only orient herself based upon the sun's direction and the North/South indicators upon the flickering, static-fused map of unreliability.
She could only make out one of two things: the area had been decimated and the map was otherwise incomplete...or...

"...the rest of the village is under us?" How could that be? The Force spoke nothing of such a notion - she hadn't sensed even the slightest inclination. Without being able to arrive to a conclusion by herself (she was never the most tech-savvy person by far - she'd seen a Hologram for the first time during her training on Tython), she takes the datapad and searches briefly for anything else that may assist with the task at hand. If nothing was found of value, she'd leap from the desert tent and land in a huff a fair distance away from where she felt her Togruta friend's presence - that, plus the beast-and-companion that was heading a bit closer.

It was refreshing to feel something before it came...she thought the Force had abandoned her along with all luck upon this desert planet. Always on a desert planet.
"First Tatooine, now this place..." she mumbles to herself - not out of anger, rather disappointment. She'd have to tell Curo about her travels to the planet of the twin suns someday.

...if they survived this place, of which she had no doubt they certainly would. Hopefully.
"I have something you should take a look at before this presence gets any closer - probably a slaver looking to trade?" she calls out in a commanding tone, extending the datapad for the Togruta to inspect. "What does that tell you?" she asks inquisitively, hoping her answer was incorrect.

 

[Viabuck]

Giving the Bantha that he had located a light pat atop it's head earning a light grunt from the creature, Curo would turn his attention now to Ashanna, taking note of the datapad and giving it several light taps. Examining the device for several moments he would narrow his eyes, his index finger tapping the screen several times before leaning his head back away from it as if he was adjusting his view of the object. Doing his best to make sense of what the device was showing to him, he would stand there for several moments before grabbing up his lightsaber and plunging it into the ground beneath of his feet, the green blade hissing and popping as the sand was super heated by the weapon... Ultimately to no effect other than producing a rather unpleasant smell which caused the orange skinned Togruta to lightly scratch his chin.

"I think this thing is incorrect.." he responded, his own senses attuned to the approaching life form that existed outside of himself, Ashanna, and his new found Bantha which in their short time together he had actually grown somewhat fond of. For a fierce hunter, the man had a rather powerful soft spot for animals and not even the beast of burden was an exception to this.. Though what approached quickly brought about a mixed feeling of sort as to whether or not he would feel anything positive for the newcomer.

"Ubanya ashuna nufuzu?"

Approaching them a cloaked figure stop a short distance away, a Jawa given it's height and odd yellow eyes, it was trailed by a rather poor looking protocol droid, most of it's outer plating stripped away leaving a barely functional, corroded appearance. Given that Curo didn't -speak- the language, he would look expectantly toward the droid.. Who did not speak and instead simply repeated "Ubanya ashuna nufuzu?"

".. Who in the world has a protocol droid that doesn't translate?.." Curo questioned, looking over his shoulder to where Ashanna stood.

"Upezo Mnutta. Upezo Mnutta!" the creature insisted, scurrying over to the duo and looking at the bodies littered about for a moment, looking to the two Jedi, then to their lightsabers... Then back to the bodies.

"Utini..." the little Jawa remarked, reaching a hand out and attempt to lightly take Ashanna's hand and lead her toward one of the dillapidated tents. Kneeling down and pushing the sand about for a bit, the little alien would eventually uncover a trap door which upon opening it would reveal a staircase.. Which actually appeared to descend for quite a distance.

"Ashuna! Ashuna! M'nuta!"

".. We should go with him.. I have a feeling that it's our best shop of getting out of here.." Curo remarked, looking slightly sad for a moment as he looked to the Bantha. "You'll need to remain here."

With another light pat and the creature urging them on, Curo would descend the steps (taking the lead if Ashanna didn't trust the creature and hesitated) and come upon something.. Quite.. remarkable. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs the duo would find themselves in an underground city, positively bustling with Jawas and a few alien species, all of the little cloaked beings seemingly trying to pawn a variety of goods off on one another and their guests.

".. By the force.. It's a... Jawa City?..."

This wasn't going as he had expected it to.

 

[Asinine Soup]

The sun beating high overhead, Ashanna gives the approaching Bantha a skeptical glimpse; she'd never seen anything like it - it couldn't possibly be here naturally, could it? If that were the case, it would have to be a predator...unless it ate sand?
Curo then quickly splaying his lightsaber into the sand, hissing and cackling as the grain superheated to glass. The item is yanked back out as though the conclusion was that there was nothing beneath them. Ashanna could conclude it as well. She felt nothing beneath them. There was likely nothing but miles of sand beneath them.

And then a second presence, faint with the presence of the Force comes strolling along with a droid. Both Curo and Ashanna turn to inspect the approachers with curiosity, both jabbering some sort of squeaky language.
".. Who in the world has a protocol droid that doesn't translate?.." Curo asks.
"Ah. Jawa," Ashanna murmurs in response, watching carefully the approach of the two jabbering individuals, "native to Tatooine, though. Saw plenty of them in Mos Eisley, but...what would one be doing on its lonesome without a tribe or sandcrawler?" she ponders curiously, watching as the midget species drew even closer and began to express its thought and verse through indication and gesture.

"Uh. I hope he doesn't think we killed them all..." she vocalizes, peering over toward the giant worms that were dispatched but a few moments earlier. Had the approached because of the noise?
It was then that the little guy reached for her hand. She grinned and accepted it, being led through the sand, the heavy footsteps of the Bantha shifting the sand beneath them as they approached a no-longer-usable tent. Smoke to flickered in the air from the flame that was cooking, but the air around it was so hot that no tangible fire could be seen. Just smoke.
The droid clicks and whirls as it moves through the sand, and the Jawa uncovers a trap door. What was this?...His former home? She gives a cautious look back to Curo as though asking for a penny for his thoughts - she didn't like this, but she received no warning signs from the Force.
".. We should go with him.. I have a feeling that it's our best shop of getting out of here.." he says in return to her look, to which she nods and remains silent. She would trust her friend's decision.

The steps trailed within a long, narrow, and absolutely dark cavernous stairwell. It shot straight down, the sound of footsteps and bootsteps heavily ailed with grain emit along the wall...and slowly but surely, a soft hum of a crowd of meshing voices and activities had begun to enter her ears, the combined energy of all that was incoming slowly seeping into her focal point. Was this truly a good idea? Were they being led to an army?!
...And then they escape the narrow hall and dispatch unto a balcony that ultimately led to more stairs, but keenly overlooked a large cavern...filled...with Jawa...

".. By the force.. It's a... Jawa City?..."
"...did we just stumble across the...Jawa Black Market? This...is an actual thing?" she murmurs to herself, scratching her head quizzically.

"Bada bishta! Tooma!" the jawa squeals, still holding Ashanna's hand as it points off into the distance as though relaying something important. Expectantly, the Jedi peers up to the droid, who responds to the intended translator role with a confident response:
"Bada bishta! Tooma!"

Ashanna sighs then shakes her head. Hopeless.
"I guess if it all comes down to it...we can try to locate a beacon to contact a shuttle to pick us up. If not? We might have to see about alternative means of transportation," she empties into Curo's mind, not knowing what alien life could understand the Basic she spoke...and what value of others said information was.

 

[Viabuck]

While certainly not the most elaborate or complex of locales, the underground marketplace was certainly intriguing in it's own right. If these creatures were truly natives of the planet Tattooine, what had they done to end up on this world? Why were they underground? How did such creatures construct such a place? If they didn't construct it who did? Why was something calling to him deep within this long forgotten place and were his thoughts clouded, a certain degree of uncertainty nagging him after every passing moment. Why was this place calling to him and yet the force was continuously bombarding him with warnings that something was amiss? The conflicting emotions were troublesome but not anything that he intended to dwell upon for entirely too long.

'I concur.. Though we should investigate further. I would like to discover what was responsible for those bodies on the surface before whatever it was discovers the location of these Jawa. While I certainly don't find myself particularly fond of them it would be regretable if they were to be done severe harm.. I believe we should attempt to find a proper means of communication first and foremost.' he responded, sparing the girl a glance as his mind did the speaking for him, his attention now turning to the protocol droid for a moment.

Why was this thing not functioning?.. Why was it speaking Jawa and not translating to basic?.. Was there something amiss?.. Was there a means to correct this?..

Suddenly a hand was swung up and the hilt of his lightsaber struck the mechanical construct alongside of it's head, the lights behind it's eyes flickering numerous times, the Jawa at it's side leaping back though refraining from saying anything (in all probability due to it's desire to eventually sell the pair something) as it stood watching it's Droid return to normal.

"Oh my! You struck me! Why would you strike me?!"

"My apologies... You were just.. Well you're fixed now. Could you clue us in on where we are?"

"Welcome to the Jakku Jawa Colonial Market of Acquired Goods! My master welcomes you and commends you on slaughtering the competition on the surface! Because of this! He s willing to offer you both a ten percent discount on anything that you may wish to puchase!"

Curo could only stand there in stunned silence for a moment, looking to the Jawa and then back to the Droid and then back to Ashanna.. and once more the Jawa. What was wrong with these creatures? Should they have gone down these stairs? He should really clarify rather than stare.

"I assure you, we didn't do any of that and.."

Immediately the Droid would look to the Jawa, the two having another quick conversation in the native Jawa language before the Droid looked back to them.

"No discount then! A shame you are not a ruthless band of savages! Perhaps you could have been of use! Now then! What can we help you with? I assure you that you will find no greater supplier of any and all of your needs on this world! Something tells me that you may be in need of a ship!"

A stern glance was suddenly paid to the Droid, his eyes drifting to Ashanna.

'They either saw.. Or they were involved.'

 

[Asinine Soup]

Ashanna watches the droid as it jabbers on, occasionally taking a mild step closer to inspect it - it surely was interesting, the way it moved and spoke like sentient life. She'd never seen anything like it. If the Jedi heard Curo's voice within her head, she certainly didn't seem to indicate as such.

"Curo?" she starts after the droid mentions their situation regarding their lack of a ship, "Can we buy the droid? It's very interesting." She gathered closer and slid a finger across its domed head, ever the curious girl in her endeavor to understand the universe around her while being in the disadvantageous state to do so.
"Or can we buy the Jawa? He's adorable." She peers down to the Jawa and smiles, leaning her torso and grinning with her eyes closed. "I'm sure he'd taste delicious, too~"

"Um, madame, I don't believe that would be entirely--"

Was she up to something? She couldn't be serious about eating a Jawa, could she? Either way, the droid and Jawa seemed to be getting rather stiff and nervous, the woman's brief tone in basic seeming to gather the attention of some of the others lounging and strolling about.
"After all, none of the people who were here when we got here seemed like they tasted good at all; not even those giant worms could handle the heat."

Hopefully Curo could catch on to allow his sweet words to seduce the Jawa into making a deal he felt he wanted to save his own hide, lest he be eaten by this strange seductress of a human! It was evident the merchant had become fairly silent and hesitant to speak. With that, Ashanna's eyes flicker back to Curo in wait, a knowing glimmer held within the dark irises she adorned.
"I have quite the appetite now that we're stranded on this planet. I could eat an entire Bantha!" she exclaims, though then begins rubbing her chin as though an idea had struck. "Hey...wait, there's a Bantha right up the stairs!"
"Bawa tawa?"
She squeals with delight and makes to walk back that direction, unless stopped - hopefully the duo could keep this manipulative momentum going. It was evident. What was evident?

Why, the anxiety that was currently within the air, buzzing on borderline paranoia...and maybe even fear.

 

[Viabuck]

This was quickly taking something of a turn..

Standing in silence, Curo would spare a glance from his new friend to the Droid and then over onto the Jawa. Initially being taken slightly back by the 'odd' behavior, it wouldn't take -that- long for the Togrutan Jedi to piece together exactly what was going on. If they were going to have to play a part to get through this, then he could probably manage it well enough. Deciding to use his rather sudden outburst of corrective violence as a jumping point for his own entrance into the game that Ashanna had begun, he gave his eyes a brief roll, a hand suddenly jutting out and seizing the girl by the arm and tugging her over to his side.

"Bantha are too tough..." he muttered, looking over to the Jawa for a moment, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, his sharp canine teeth revealing themselves and actually seeming to gleam in the dim light of the underground city. ".. Jawa?.. Jawa aren't that tough.. They're soft.. Small though, it takes a lot to make much of anything.. But y'know, it looks like we got a lot to pick from around here.."

"Now I assure you! That will be quite unnecessary! Honestly you're not much better than that silly cult! Oh my me! This day is just getting worse by the minute! What have I done to deserve this?!"

"Cult?"

"Yes! Obviously you've heard of them! Perhaps not a cult! But they're recruiting. They're the Jedi who came and then never left! Please by the maker's tell me you aren't here to join them!"

"... Certainly not.. But how long have they been troubling you here?"

"For far too long! Months now! They've taken over the entire southern district and it's just getting worse by the day! Not even my battle droid counterparts can keep the market safe! They just come and go as they please and none of us can hope to stop them! It won't be long before they breech the center of the city and get access to the Chieftan's private vault! Oh my it'll be dreadful! Just dreadful! It's just a little sculpture they said! It won't do any harm! That awful pyramid! That hideous amulet! Even those books! It's gotten worse with each one that we've recovered!"

"Slow down.. What are you talking about.."

Suddenly it was all beginning to make sense. The tugging paranoia, his own outbursts? The pull that he felt when he utterly decimated the sand worm? Something -was- tainting this place and even well outside of it's radius they were in danger of falling victim to it's pull.. This was becoming far more trouble than he had initially bargained for.. But outwardly he couldn't show it, he could only stand there with his grin plastered on his face trying to come across as confident.

"The artifacts from the wreckage! You don't understand the trouble it's been! But the master's won't part with any of it! The conniving bunch of little hoarders! Oh they're just awful!"

"Settle yourself.. We'll handle your problem.. You just have to let us get to a communication device and we'll.."

"THEY'RE ALL GONE SIR! THEY WERE THE FIRST TO GO! THOSE AWFUL, AWFUL JEDI!... Not you of course sir! You're quite pleasant by comparison! BUT THEY DESTROYED ALL OF THE COMMUNICATION RELAYS!.... We're all stranded here now! We're all doomed! DOOMED!.."

"... I'm going to smack you again."

 

[Asinine Soup]

Ashanna, grabbed by Curo, couldn't help but to pause and wait as the Togruta did more of the talking. Artifacts? Wreckage? Jedi?
Slowly and slowly, this trip to Jakku was becoming something far more...complex than she imagined. Why were they here in the first place? She eases her away from Curo's grip as she continues to listen, her full attention forward.

"THEY'RE ALL GONE SIR! THEY WERE THE FIRST TO GO! THOSE AWFUL, AWFUL JEDI!... Not you of course sir! You're quite pleasant by comparison! BUT THEY DESTROYED ALL OF THE COMMUNICATION RELAYS!.... We're all stranded here now! We're all doomed! DOOMED!.."
"... I'm going to smack you again."
"This is the last time you're choosing where we travel to, Curo. First and last time. How did you get us tangled up in this?" she offers patronizingly, obviously entertained and excited they had been caught up in a mess such as this. So far, her first vibes coming from what was happening was...well, obviously a group of Jedi stumbled across something they weren't meant to. She understood the Force, and she understood it's totality - including the seductive pull of the Dark Side. If they destroyed the only relays that were projecting signals into space, it was fair to say that these dishes were well beyond repair - likely in pieces, if not set to flame as well. If anything, rogue Jedi were efficient - but something was telling her that it was more than just rogue Jedi. It had to be these...artifacts in question. Maybe...just maybe...it was a holocron?

"Have you ever read between the lines at the Temples on Tython? In the Halls of Wisdom?...This has the Dark Side written all over it." Her voice intruded Curo's mind one last time as her deep eyes peer upward to lock onto his, despite the extreme lack of height difference between the two.
"...it's our duty to help...but...I'll leave it up to you whether we'll dive into this mess like this. But you have to promise me...that you won't fall."

A wise Jedi once told her that patience was required to think of every side of the picture - the determine each and every puzzle piece. Here they were faced with opportunity, the thought of Jedi having succumbed to something so sinister that it enslaves an entire area. Jedi.

We are Jedi. The same couldn't possibly happen to us...could it?

"How far from here is the South District, mister droid? If you tell us what we need to know, maybe we won't eat you - and more importantly, maybe we'll help you and your master." Her eyebrow lifted as her gaze finally breaks from Curo and trails between both the droid and the Jawa down below. Her smile was easy-going and her presence was warm and friendly, but there was something else behind that glint in her eye...something deeper.

 

[Viabuck]

Curo stood in quiet contemplation for several moments, a curious look forming across his face as Ashanna's voice traversed his mind. Rolling them around in his head for several long moments, he slowly turned his gaze to meet the woman's own. While what she spoke of was certainly true, the ending is what ultimately gave him pause and caused him to deeply consider exactly what was on the line in this situation. Almost certainly, those that had come before them had never expected to fall victim to the allure of the Dark Side.. But was he really someone that was considered to be a risk? He wasn't really sure and it was that very doubt that almost caused him to waver... For but the briefest of moments.

'I have no intention of falling Ashanna.. I assure you that I am quite capable of handling the situation in whatever form it might take. I've spent the entirety of my training with my master resisting its pull.' he would telepathically respond, almost feeling as if he were in someway insulted by the notion of it. Why though? Why was he suddenly so preturbed by the notion? What was the sudden source of his irritation? He would certainly have to be more mindful of things if he was going to come out of this in tact. 'We'll simply have to keep one another in check. From what my master shared with me, those who call upon the dark side of force are dangerous adversaries and if a Holocron is showing them how to manipulate it, they could be lethal opponents..'

With that said or more so thought, Curo would break eye contact just as the Droid began to speak again, looking to the Jawa who produced a datapad and offered it over to it's servant. Activating it, a proper map designated in blue outlining the city while directly across the middle, a thick red line separating a red territory was present. Not exactly having to ask what he was looking at, much to the Togruta's chagrin, he would receive -very- detailed instructions.

"Sir and Madam! I should share with you that this is in fact a map! It details the layout of the city! Here in the north most section, you'll see the temporary Chieftans compound! It's where the Jawa leader currently leads from and where our vault has been temporarily relocated to!... To the south you'll see all of the territories those dreadful Jedi have captured!"

".. Please refer to them as something other than Jedi. It may become confusing.. Or irritating."

"Cultists have captured! As you can see, it includes the original palace. They've taken it as a base of operations and approaching it may be somewhat tricky! You see, the last time we sent a team of mercenaries in they proceeded to reactivate the automated defenses and they were torn to shred! Oh my it was such a mess.. With any luck though you'll manage to get by them.. And then there's only a large collective of bandits, some treacherous Jawa, and two or three Jedi to contend with! I say two or three because we may have killed one of them!... We're not quite certain yet! Thermal Detonators tend to not leave much in terms of reliable corpses to identify! Now then best of luck you two! We'll instruct the security detail to allow you to pass into the sealed off section of the city.."

And just like that? It seemed that they were off again, Curo not bothering to ask questions considering that besides some broad details?.. Everything up to that point had been pretty hit or miss. Waiting until he was certain that Ashanna was with him, the Togruta began to move through the streets, his height enabling him to tower over the Jawa populace and earn quite a few stairs as they moved along.

"And to think all that I wanted was a few lightsaber parts.. Maybe a droid.. You're quite right Ashanna, you should pick our next destination." he half joked, going about the proces of binding his lekku behind his head in preparation for the conflict they were certainly heading into.

"Hopefully one of them is wearing their temple robes.. Had I known I'd be left wthout a shirt so long I wouldn't have cleaned myself with my own.. " he grumbled, looking down to his reddish orange skinned torso which was admittedly causing him to catch a bit of a draft in the cool cavernous city environment. Glancing around as they walked through the expansive marketway he would fail to locate any clothing or armor vendors, catching only sight of a massive wall made of scrap steel and crashed ships, likely the barrier that was constructed to cut the city in two.

"We really should have backup for this... Kind of makes it exciting though."

 

[Asinine Soup]

"Seems I hit a sore spot." Ashanna thinks to herself at hearing the telepathic message given back within her mind. Curo sure was the confident man. Be it his naivety or be it that his youngling trials went far smoother than that of her own...she told herself she'd trust his intuition for now.
"I hope that's confidence and not bravado." she softly murmurs as it seemed the pair would be diving into a cesspool of Sith-induced mess, her ever-present warmth radiating with a calm, semi-visible smile. Or smirk. She wasn't certain of the problem the pair had gotten into, but two or three Jedi and a band of firearm-wielding sentients seemed to be quite the handful.

Within the underground metropolis of Jawa, alien bartering, and post after post, the 'city' noise became more and more muddled within the sound of the cavernous wind howling and humming throughout the tunnels. They were nearing the area that plenty of this place's denizens seemed to know was off limits - why couldn't Jedi follow the status quo? Ah, but that would be easy.
And boring.

"We really should have backup for this... Kind of makes it exciting though."
Ashanna could only smile gently in return and shrug, nudging her partner with her elbow and voicing a gentle, "Don't go getting cold feet, Curo - your Master did a good job." Although she knew it wasn't reassurance that Curo sought, rather he seemed to be seeking a voice of reason - perhaps the one screaming 'don't do it, by stars, you're walking into a deathtrap' not being loud enough - Ashanna was along for the ride. The Force was telling her since they first stepped foot upon the staircase leading down into the city that this wasn't the best idea, and the anxiety the ever-present energy was pushing unto her was beyond that of discomfort. She'd never ignored the suggestion of the Force before; was she overconfident that Curo and herself could handle things?
"...we can do this. Right?" she asks, remembering her fight with a single Jedi Master. He was beyond skilled - what if those tainted Jedi were of his caliber, or stronger? The doubt within her own voice gave way to the slightest glimmer of insecurity - one that forces the girl to frown and look forward once more before Curo could formulate an answer, her fingertips reaching forth and the very air surrounding them bending to her will and renewed sense of focus...

...and maybe even fear.
"What am I saying," she says confidently, matter-of-factly, "we're Jedi Knights. The Force moves through us. We shouldn't be asking if we can do this..." she says with a power in her voice. Her arm held forward and fingertips spread, she makes the slightest flicker of her hands and then - with a draw back as though pushing an invisible item forward - empties the Force forth in a wave that ripples her clothing and Curo's tied lekku and lifts dust off the ground in its wake. The force slams into the mess of durasteel and scrap, sending its aching whine resonating through the tunnels and rolling forth with a screech to clear the path for both herself and her companion. Being as the scrap pile was meant to section off the entire city, this would be the more cost-effective way to handle such an inconvenience.
The wreckage submits to her will and finally slides to a halt, leaving a space big enough for a small team of Jedi accompanying their Padawan to fit through. Ashanna lowers her arm and hand, still looking forward as her hair and robing flickers back down to a rest, finally.

With a 'hmph' and a thin smile, Ashanna takes her steps forward as though leading the way and calls forth her lightsaber's handle. It is held in her hand, thigh-length but at the ready, as for the next stage of their adventure was likely going to be messy. If this truly was the work of a holocron or two, then any denizens within the fallen Jedis' reaches could have fallen to the corruption as well. Whatever was on the other side of this wall had to be met with certainty and handled with clear and conscious action.
"We should be asking 'will it be completed before dinner'," she completes with a troublemaker's grin.

Which was exactly why Ashanna announced the pair's presence with the removal of the barricade in as loud and forceful of a fashion as she could muster at the moment. Dust was still flittering down and about as the southern territories would be reclaimed soon enough, in her mind.
All the while, the Force desperately tries to gain her attention. It was hard to be like water on a desert planet...