Corner of The Galaxy

[Placeholder 0128]

Larriks were a troublesome sort. They were violent, stubborn, and most of all, dangerous. Still, they were by far one of the most advanced civilizations on Crystalsong, and Cedric was finding them to be more than a little fun.

They didn't get angry like the colonists did when he walked on their land. Perhaps it was because they considered him a child - not that he was one. Cedric was ten years old! Almost a man in Mandalorian culture; at least that was what his father said when he asked the old Jedi about them. That and that they liked to show off, which Cedric could understand. If he went around shooting blasters and fighting bad people for a living, he might be a little eager to let everyone know too.

He knew the Larriks weren't exactly keen on his brethren - tensions between humanity and the reptilian species were certainly there. Still, there was no all out war, and his family was not technically a part of any colony. They just happened to be the same species as the majority of the colonists.

"Lll-long walk leere?" His friend Jibs asked. The adolescent Larrik was two years his younger, and a foot taller. He knew better than to ever bring that up to his little human friend.

"Yeah. I finished feeding the nerf so...I thought I'd come say hi." Cedric shot back as they walked down the paved trail to the city Laaha. Crystals lined the pathway on either side, casting the duo in a soft azure glow.

"Seeee the Ambllasador." Jibs replied in butchered basic. At least he was trying.

"Maybe. I just heard he was coming down today...I woulda come anyway Jibs."

"Toooo lind."

Cedric breathed a quiet sigh as they cleared one of the side gates to the great city. The Larriks were known for their love of diplomacy and their general ability to know if one was lying or not. Cedric was admittedly a little curious to see it in action - an ambassador representing a semi-united human front was supposed to be visiting. His name was Jerec Straff, and it was said he wanted to unite Crystalsong in some kind of alliance.

Cedric didn't particularly know why, but if it kept the Ulki away, he wasn't going to complain. They'd butchered more than one of his parents' Uxi beasts.

So he and Jibs went through the bustling streets of Laaha, heading straight for what they believed might be a political rally. That, or it would be some boring peace conference. Bummer.

 

[Weaves The Stars]

Was it really that surprising that a crystalline spider would eventually become interested in a planet called Crystalsong? Weaves The Stars was having an incredibly good time so far. She'd established that while unfortunately most of the crystals were useless as anything other than decoration, a few were of the sort that could be coaxed to grow into crystal ships, or modified to act as the power source for such. Not that you were ever supposed to let non-Lucents know how it was done, but she would live for a rather long time, and it was possible something might happen to her ship during that time. It wasn't even just a matter of heading home to fetch another, if anything happened to her current ship she doubted she'd be able to get home. Metallic ships just weren't made for it.

Beyond that she'd found a truly bizarre group of creatures, apparently calling themselves Nioks. Whether that was the name for the entire species or just this group she wasn't entirely sure. What she did know was that rather than the common negative reaction they'd seemed quite pleased to see her! This made the spider very happy, which only seemed to make the Nioks happier. Now they were going on a trip to a town apparently.

Unbeknownst to the Spider, the Nioks, empathetic and welcoming as they were were also wholly and entirely focused on selling crystals to make money. So when a walking talking crystal spider wandered merrily into their midst what they mostly saw was a credit sign. It wasn't that they were slavers, or lacking in morals, it was that they had no basis for viewing crystals as sentient beings, even when this was clearly the case. So they were taking the creature to the nearest city to sell. It just so happened to be a Larrik one.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Quill]

Well.

This happened. Again.

Quill worked on kicking herself out of the crate she'd found herself in, grabbing a branch outside of it to try and lever herself free. Damn, idiot slavers kept grabbing her and putting her in boxes. For once, the Qwohog would like to -not- be in a box. But being a nearly endangered species, she didn't see that happening any time soon.

Once she'd managed to bash her way to freedom, Quill took a moment to stop and actually realize what the branch was made out of... crystal..? What in the name of the Pools.. She eyed it closer, shining the light through the branch. Fascinating.

She clambered the rest of the way out of her box, looking behind herself. Ah. Wreckage. Good. Quill was glad that her biting off of one of the crewmate's hands had worked in her favor. Someone screwed up royally, and now she was free. Free to swim, hunt... and watch a giant spider be carted off by some indigenous species that she had no basis of knowing.

She stopped and stared for a moment. Then she glanced down at herself. Hmph. Naked. She hopped out of her holding tank, scrounging the wreckage for some body armor, food, and water. She took her new, trusty crystal branch as a weapon, following the path after the giant shimmery spider.

[member="Weaves The Stars"]
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Placeholder 0128]

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yui_TikKqvY&index=1&list=PLpNM9M1ghd0EJ3O6s7SlHZEmMY8UO07ao

"Do the Nioks come here a lot? They never come around the farm."

"Tooooo sell ler crystallls. Yiis." Jibs managed, stumbling over basic like so badly that he might as well have been a Bantha running down a hill. Cedric did his absolute best to make out what his friend was saying - something about selling crystals. That sounded about right, given the Nioks single minded drive to shove the stuff onto anyone foolish enough to actually buy from them.

It wasn't like they lived on a planet with crystals everywhere or anything.

The big political rally - a gathering of about a hundred Larricks, a few Nioks trying to make their trade, a number of humans, and a Twi'lek or two - wasn't exactly big. A few hundred people had shown up, which on a backwater would have been a nice turnout. Issue was that the Larrik city was enormous, and when you had large cities, there were going to be a lot of people. A lot of people who weren't interested in an alliance apparently.

Jerec Straff was standing atop a pedestal along with the Larrik delegation. They were talking about something, though even with the loudspeakers Cedric couldn't make out what they were saying. Mister Straff was smiling though, an the Larriks didn't look displeased. Maybe things were going better than Cedric thought.

"I leard a buunn...buunk....buun-cheh of Nioks llound a crystal spllider." Jibs waved his datapad. "Theeeyy are loing to be talllking for suum time. Waaannaaa go see spllider?"

Cedric paused halfway down the street. He turned to his younger friend, and the Larrik just shrugged. Crystal spider? He'd never heard of that before. The boy wheeled around on his heel toward the gates.

"They have to go through the big gates to get to the trading center right?"

"Yiiis."

"Then let's go! I wanna see it!"


[member="Quill"] [member="Weaves The Stars"]

 

[huggin_munnin]

Ceska sighed with a long-tried patience as she trailed after [member="Cedric Grayson"] and his friend. Since she had returned to Crystalsong, her old Master had asked her to discreetly look after his son. He thought it would be a less obvious way of keeping tabs on the boy. The Jedi knew differet, the boy having the keen intelligence that belonged to a 10 year old. He picked up on things quickly and would've made for a strong Jedi but for lacking the spark of the Force.

It was only because she could feel him within the Force that she had any idea of where he was. Ahead of her and through Larrik land he had run off. She nodded politely and made her way quickly past their dubious stares. They didn't like humans, she knew without even sensing it. Really, she couldn't blame them. Her Jedi robes clearly marked her and perhaps that gained her some small measure of leeway. Still, she chose not to press her luck and made her way quickly.....

@Quill@Weaves The Stars

 

[Weaves The Stars]

"I take it none of the gentlebeings on this planet climb well? How inconvenient that must be!"

Weaves The Stars commented, chittering to show that she felt for them and their sorely lacking skills. It was the giant ornate gates that had sparked this comment. Walls and gates were not particularly practical when dealing with a spider who could walk straight up them. This one had the gates open.

"Ah! There are many reptilian species, this must be predominantly their dwelling place then yes? Are we going to see them? How exciting, I've not yet met a reptilian being."

The Nioks mostly kept nodding agreeably and urging the easily distracted Spider along.

"I note there seems to be some tension, though I could be misreading the social cues, I find fleshy beings very hard to interpret. The Reptilians and the humanoids do not get a long? Oh! Is it because the Reptilians are forced to repress their predatory instincts? Evolutionarily that would make sense! How dramatic! History unfolding! Do you think it is better that they are trying to rise above base instinct or would it be nobler to act as they were designed to? What a difficult question!"

Her hosts/captors had largely given up trying to answer or explain, nothing really stemmed the exuberant if melodically chiming commentary anyway.

[member="Ceska Starshield"] [member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Quill"]

 

[Quill]

Quill was idly wandering along the group. The spider seemed to be somewhat benign, but that was by no means a sign for Quill to get any closer to them. She did not want to join their merry band of .. giant spider.


She simply took in the scenery as she trod on.

[member="Weaves The Stars"] [member="Ceska Starshield"] [member="Cedric Grayson"]