Home, sanguine home

[Kiandra Kinases]

Dathomir.... Finally.

The rain poured down atop her head and shoulders. It was the heaviest rain she ever felt upon her skin. Her insides felt as if they were eating themselves. Nerves racked her body. This hostile place was the home she never knew, as she stood there all alone she couldn't help but feel it was all a mistake. On Coruscant she was treated with respect, she made lifted even the poorest beings up with her charity, she made even the most hardened criminals smile....

But that was just it...

She was surrounded by criminals, her whole life was a lie and the credits she used to feed the poor was blood money. Her whole fantastical life was a lie. She knelt down and openly cried. The formerly happy-go- lucky, million credit princess of the underworld finally let go of her disappointment, her anger, her sadness.

Alone in the middle of the Force-forsaken jungle....

She had expected this experience to be more sanctimonious... Perhaps even being greeted by a mother that she never knew.... A missing piece she never experienced...

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

As the tears washed away with the rain she slowly began to compose herself amidst her hopelessness. She wasn't ready to go back to a lie of a life... No matter how wonderful the fantasy was....

She rose from the soggy earth, mud and foliage clung to her like the darkness of her past. She had to press on but she didn't know where she was going. She felt like such a little girl so unfamiliar with the Galaxy around her. She was a city girl who always had others taking care of her, she didn't know how to survive in the jungle. She had a few skills, none of which seemed useful now. She had to find some sort of civilization out here...

A cracking, like thunder sounded off in the distance, "Great." She said sarcastically at the thought of an approaching storm. "One-one th-" she said counting how far from the eye she was only to be silenced by another crack.

"Close." She said as another loud crack followed, it was then she realized it wasn't a thunderstorm she needed to worry about....

A few more moments and few more cracks sounded as she saw trees falling in the distance. It was not thunder or lightning. Something large was approaching her and quickly.

"Oh, no..." She said turning around and running as quickly as she could in the slippery, shoe-grabbing mud...

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

Great. This was just GREAT. Bhaltair kicked the side of the broken down rental speeder and his big toe immediately hated him for it. Limping towards the edge of the pseudo-trail, he yelled aloud,

"Hello!!" for anyone who might hear him. He hoped for potential civilization nearby, but remembered he was on Dathomir, of all places. He started to quietly curse to himself as he mused over the events that lead him here...


A simple business run, they said. Make good with our allies, they said. People in need, they said. A charitable venture, they said. With his recent success with Crescentia, Bhaltair was absolutely fine with dolling out charity. One might think that cybernetic services would be needed on a backwater planet such as this. But, NOOOO. Very few of the Dathomiri were receptive to his services or even in need of them, claiming that their magic would service them far better and with much more efficiency on this planet. After the third trip across this part of the world, he was inclined to believe them and head home.

What he HADN'T counted on was becoming stranded in the middle of "And He Was Never Seen Again" Land.

Suddenly, there came the sound of feet crashing through the forest at a sprinting pace. He lifted his briefcase defensively to his chest and stepped slowly backwards towards the broken down speeder, bracing for whatever may come out of the foliage...

[member="Kiandra Kinases"]

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

Kiandra exploded out of the brush falling to the mans feet as she lost her other shoe in the mud. She truly has the look of a wild woman, covered in mud and barefoot.

She breathed heavily now glancing up at the handsome man. She smiled at him coming to the perhaps false realization that she was safe, so often had she been protected that she had come to expect it. She scrambled to her feet and moved behind the man, as the 'thunder' got closer.

"Oh, sir, there's something coming. Best prepare your blaster." She said more calmly than ever pushing him gently toward the oncoming sound.

It was just then a bull rancor pushed past a tree not 20 meters from them and bellowed a mighty roar. Kiandra smiled at the sight knowing the 'hero' would find a way to best the beast. Perhaps she had seen too many holodramas.



[member="Bhaltair Dhimani"]

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

(Oh, boy. This is gonna' be a lot of fun. XD )

He flinched backwards when he saw the "wild" woman collapse to the ground before him. He glanced around instinctively, wondering whose crazy family member or friend this was. Was he so used to the city that he kept forgetting he was in the middle of nowhere? When her head was down, his OCD told him to pluck the singular, random dead leaf poking out from her hair as he got down to help her up onto her feet.

She got up and then angled around to stand behind his back, away from the trail edge.

"Blaster?" he replied incredulously. It was then that a bull rancor crashed through the forest out of the blue. His head spun around to face the monstrosity and his eyes grew wide. His hand came up towards her in a gesture that suggested remaining quiet and still. A quiet "sshhhh..." escaped his lips. The bull rancor made no move towards them, but also did not deign to move away. It just stood there, shifting its head and sniffing the air around him. Bhaltair turned to face [member="Kiandra Kinases"], wide-eyed fear etched into his features.

"We have to go, now..." he softly whispered. He slowly turned them both away from the beast's location and guided her off the trail, his hand in the small of her back as a form of guidance. "We'd need a hulk to take that guy d---" His foot stepped on a branch that he hadn't been looking out for and a loud crack of dead wood filled the air. A chill ran down Bhaltair's spine as he quickly turned his head to see the reaction of the bull rancor. Of course, the bull was now staring them down as it released a roar and lifted its feet to give chase to them.

Bhaltair grabbed her hand and yelled,

"Run! Run between the trees and find someplace he can't get to us!"

They tucked their gallant tails between their legs and fled. Perhaps there was some dense foliage to hide in until the bull passed along. His briefcase had long been abandoned. It had held nothing but brochures and other business related items that had gone to bust on this whole failed venture.

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

Kiandra quickly noted the despair on the man's face. He told her they had to leave which initially she doth protested.

"Now hang on, sir!" She replied as he nudged her away from the path, "You're supposed to..."

It was then the man broke a twig and yelled at her to run as he dragged her along with him. She realized this was no fantasy at all. Perhaps her former life was better after all.

The Bull was in a full charge directly behind them as they weaved through the jungle.

Suddenly, Kiandra's feet were no longer beneath her and she was tumbling alongside her 'hero' down a slick hill.

When she landed on the floor she was on her back looking up at the still charging Rancor and he was closing in on her fast. She believed her life was dwindling down to moments. She put her hands up and felt the drool on her fingertips.

"Stop!" She yelled at the beast as a last desperate attempt... as if the beast would understand her...

But it seemed as though it did. It sniffed her for a moment and simply turned away and moved back up the hill whence it came. Her eyes widened and her brow furrowed, totally confused by the chaos of this planet.

"Um.... What just happened....?"

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

They were dead. D-E-D. Deader than a door nail. Toast. Wasted. If some mysterious third party had taken a picture of the bull rancor looming over their two prone, muddied and ragged bodies, it would be a picture that you show to kids and say, "And then they died. Immediately." The fall down the hill had taken the wind right out of him as he lay on his stomach. He wasn't the physically adept type and they had been running a long ways. He could hardly move, but he still tried to keep the sound of his heavy breathing as quiet as possible. He craned his head to the side and stared in horror at the monster. Maybe, if they stayed really still and silent, the bull rancor's poor vision would pass over their dirty bodies and he would move on!

"Stop!" She yelled at the beast as a last desperate attempt

Well, she's screwed. I may still have a chance of survival by playing dead...This is horrible!

But...Nothing. Nothing happened. He heard a loud snort of an exhale and the thundering footsteps of a retreating Bull Rancor. He slowly raised his head and...it was, indeed, gone. His eyes went wide again as he looked at her.

"Um.... What just happened....?"

He turned back on his breath, not yet replying. He stared at the darkening sky and tried to process all of this. Then, he looked at her face and said,

"I should be asking you that! How?...Who!?....What just happened...."

Without waiting for an answer, he got up onto his feet and offered his hands to help her stand up. Once they were both up, he started looking left and right, this way and that. Nothing but this hill, clearing and moar forest. A spark of memory lanced through his mind and he quickly felt around for his datapad/comm unit...and it wasn't on his person. More than likely, it was back in his briefcase...which he had left back at the busted speeder. He exhaled in frustration through his nose before turning to [member="Kiandra Kinases"] with hope in his eyes.

"Hey! You're a native, right? Does any of this look familiar to you? Do you know how to get home or, at least, back to that trail?"

(Not your traditional Prince Charming, I know. )

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

She was helped to her feet, her fragile princess bones hurt worse than they ever had before. She pondered silently over what had just happened. Did that raging beast calm simply at her request?

....couldn't be....

It was then 'Hero' asked her for directions... Really her of all people. He then asked if she was a native, a compliment to be sure. It gave Kiandra a sense of belonging.

"Um... About that...." She said pulling some mud from her hair, "Yes... Kinda." Her smile wobbled awkwardly from cheek to cheek. "I was abducted when I was a baby... You probably know more about this place than I do." She frowned.


(Much better for storytelling purposes imho)
[member="Bhaltair Dhimani"]

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

You probably know more about this place than I do.

Bhaltair lowered his head, closed his eyes, rubbed his temples and couldn't help but chuckle softly. He was the last person to ask directions around here. If the "Yes...Kinda" native thought he knew more about this area, than they were probably doomed to wander the forest and live like wild people whilst his company was picked apart by the competition back on Phindar and Mandalore. It didn't help that her admission of childhood abduction made him feel like he had just been dropped in the middle of that "Dr. Pheel" reality show.

Where they currently were, they were facing a hill. The hill and a small area past the foot of the hill were cleared and the clearing went on to curve around the base of the hill. However, he knew this wasn't their original pathway. He did his best to calm down and think through the situation rationally, to retrace his steps. If they got back to the hill, it should be easy to follow the trail of destruction, left by the bull rancor, all the way back to the speeder and, hopefully, to the briefcase with his comm unit. Then, they could call for help.

"Let's try and head back to my speeder. We can call for help from there," said Bhaltair right before an enormous crack of thunder sounded close. His body jerked in surprise at nature's wrath before he straightened himself and started walking up the hill. He tried to pick his way carefully up the hill; to step on the tufts of grass and avoid the mud patches. Sometimes, he would reach back to guide and/or steady [member="Kiandra Kinases"], but he would keep facing forward and work his way up the hill. Once they got to the top, thunder sounded once more, but appeared to come from farther away, so it didn't scare him this time.

A large drop of water plopped on his head and then was followed by a pattering of droplets. Pretty soon, the rain was coming down hard and they were sure to get soaked. He looked left and right for shelter and found some. He guided her over to a natural open space inside the base of tree.

"Let's wait here 'til this pushes over," he said to her. There was enough room for the two of them, but they'd have to stay pretty close. He didn't want to encroach on her personal space, so he simply squatted outside the hole and tried to remain under the cover of large-brimmed leaves, from the tree, above his head. It was half-effective. The rain would sometimes pool up a little and then spill through the openings in the shifting leaves, dumping a small bit of concentrated water onto his head or shoulders.

There's no place like home...


(Sorry for the shiftiness of the text size. I'm constantly experimenting with font and size, nowadays. Each of my characters tend to have a different style.)

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

Kiandra curled up underneath the leaves. As the rain came down cold starting to set in. She tried not to shiver as the cold wind with past her bare toes. She watched as the droplets were redirected from leaf to leaf. She extended her hand palm out and began collecting droplets in her hand. She splashed the water on her face attempting to clean the grime off. She repeated the process slowly revealing her beauty beneath all the mud. She let out a small sigh as she continued to wait for the rain to pass. She stared off into the distance frowning, knowing that somewhere out there were her people somehow surviving in this. She wanted to keep looking, she didn't want to sit still.

"I'm Kiandra." She finally said breaking the silence. "...Kinases." She followed up with her legendary last name... Well legendary in the inner rim anyway. Her father was a infamous mobster in his day... well before he fell down a turbolift shaft onto some blaster bolts anyway... The Echani Enforcer is what they called him. She wondered if he was even her real father, she had been lied to so much she didn't know up from down.

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

[member="Bhaltair Dhimani"]

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

( XD Are you just using a phone or a tablet? If you're on a computer, you just have to hover your mouse over the post you want to edit. When you do that, in the bottom right corner, you should see Edit, Multiquote and Quote appear. Click Edit so you can go back into the post and change what you want.)

Ever since he left behind his greedy brother and his quiet, introverted, younger sister, Bhaltair had mainly been mucking about in the mid-rim. It didn't do to dabble much in the inner rim without some major faction trying to snatch you up and keep you cooped up in a lab. If that happened, Crescentia Industries never would have happened.

"Nice to meet y..." replied Bhaltair before his voice trailed off. My, she was beautiful. Young, maybe even too young for him by galactic standards. Potential "barely legal" cases of beauty always made him feel the most "on edge" and nervous to stare at...Just like he was staring at [member="Kiandra Kinases"] right now. At least this wasn't a city street, where someone would likely be calling the police, right about now. He cleared his throat and averted his stare before turning back to her and speaking up.

"You, it's good to meet y---" he started to stutter before another leaf gave way and dumped more water on his head. Nature's way of saying he needed a cold shower...

"Pleasure to meet you, Kiandra," Bhaltair finally spit out before turning away to look at the sky. It was still raining, but they would only have about an hour or more of daylight left. He started to shiver from the soaking, cold clothes and pouring rain. The rainfall wasn't as bad now as it had been a little while ago, so that gave them a couple of options. A] stay here for the night, set off in the morning and risk the equipment getting soaked/ruined or B] take our chances, hope the rain doesn't pick up and find somewhere else to camp out until help arrives.

"Kiandra, we have to make a decision. Leave now and try to call for help before dark or take our chances out here until the morning? I'd rather we came to agreement, cuz I don't want to leave you alone out here."

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

([member="Bhaltair Dhimani"] eh too lazy btw 16 is considered adulthood for 'humans' in the greater part of the galaxy)

"You know people usually respond with their own name during an introduction." She said drumming her fingers on her knee. "But that's cool, 'hero' maybe they don't assign names where you're from." She said with a vibrant smile. " But henceforth, you're 'Hero' to me." She said sardonically.

She rose to her feet and peered out the leaves. "If it's all the same to you, Hero, I say we press on." She said seemingly reinvigorated by the rest.

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

(Dang it. I forgot to put my name introduction into the post. XD Oh, well...This is just Bhaltair's knowledge of that aspect of life, which was only gained in passing while focusing on university. His planet had a limit of 18+, in regards to minors, so he figures that those are also galactic standards.)

Dammit, I'm so awkward. Can't even remember to say my own name. Do I tell her my real name now or keep the nickname? It's some kind of female-attributed pet name, though, right? Or is it affection? What do I do now...Focus, that's what. This isn't worth worrying about. You have to get going.

Bhaltair stood up, knocking aside yet more wet leaves, and reached his hands out to help [member="Kiandra Kinases"] out of the tree hole. He was feeling miserable, but he knew it would be well worth it when he got back home again to a soft, familiar bed. Actually, at this point, the bunk in the living section of a transport would be so much nicer than current conditions. Especially sharing a bunk with---never mind. Those were dangerous and inappropriate thoughts.

"Hero sounds good." He'd tell her his name later. It was embarrassing enough without the mind numbing chill of rain-soaked clothing lingering on your mind.

They began to trek their way through pre-dusk jungle/forest. The squish, squish, squish of feet on rather large tufts of grass and soggy ground were the only sound for a bit before they began to talk to each other.

"My name is Bhaltair Dhimani." He didn't expect her to know the name. His business was in the process of becoming Tier 2. He wasn't quite a starting up nobody, but he was still relatively new at driving a ship like this..."If you want to keep calling me Hero, I don't mind. Is there a name you'd like me to call you other than Kiandra or should I wait to make that name up all by myself?"

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

She smiled at his awkwardness, she didn't quite get it. She always had a knack for talking to people and she took pride in making others around her comfortable. This didn't seem to be the case with [member="Bhaltair Dhimani"] but she'd keep trying.

It was true things were awfully quiet, maybe even too quiet for a jungle rich with life. She could get used to this solitude she believed. It was way different from the cityscape she was used to.

She let out a small inviting laugh and her eyes shined in the light of the rising moon. "You know I've had a few nicknames, none of which I'm too keen of." Some called her the princess of the underworld and given her jovial personality she just didn't think it fit, that said her works of charity on Courascant gained her the title of Saint of the Undercity. Her nicknames were too wordy for her tastes.

Just then in the distance she saw a light flickering, perhaps it was a fire. She didn't really know what to expect anymore but as the chill settled around her she truly hoped it was a campfire and one someone wouldn't mind sharing.

She placed her delicate hand on [member="Bhaltair Dhimani"] "Do you see that?" She asked pointing toward the light.

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

"How about..." He threw his hands up for an added dash of drama. "...Princess of the Rancors or Charmer of Beasts or Lucky Daughter Of A Gun?" He was starting to feel more relaxed around her, but there were still plenty of things that kept him from becoming and staying loose: the rain, for one, but the fact that she still remained a stranger stranded with him in the middle of "jungle hell nowhere" caused him to perpetually stay on edge, at least for now.

Suddenly, [member="Kiandra Kinases"] started pointing at something off in the distance.

"Do you see that?"

He turned to look where she was pointing and, lo and behold, beyond all hope, someone had set up a campfire in these damp conditions. It didn't look quite like fire, though. It had this ghoulishly green tint, but he was okay with that as long as they could get warm.

"Yeah, I see that. We should probably head over, but give me just a minute or so..."

However, before they moved off the path and lost it in the dark, they needed to make sure they could find it again. He looked around to try and find some kind of marking tool, but then realized that one of the trees was completely knocked over and on its side. It'd be too hard to miss that. However, he did grab a fallen tree branch so that he could set it on the ground outside the campfire range and it would point their way back to the path, just in case.

They came upon the campfire and found it to be devoid of anyone. The greenish fire still burned strong, but the lack of an owner was disturbing. However, the area around the fire had been cleared of grass, leaving dirt. What should have been mud around the fire was simply warm, packed, dry dirt. It was, thankfully, devoid of little pebbles that one might accidentally sit uncomfortably on; just plain dirt. When they exited the rampant jungle grass and walked into the clearing, they both sidled up to the fire to capture that forgotten feeling of warmth. It was then that he noticed she was barefoot.

Without saying anything, he simply reached out and tenderly grabbed her bare foot. He then started rubbing it to coax the blood to flow properly again and to let the relative warmth and friction of his hands to give her heat. He wasn't worried about germs, at this point. She could have risked losing her foot if they hadn't found this campfire, so he was overly glad they had foregone progress back to the speeder in favor of this godsend fire.

"By the way, we never truly discussed what exactly happened back there, down that hill with the rancor? We should have been eaten alive, for sure." He furrowed his eyebrows, but kept rubbing her feet and remained curious, more than anything. "Who are you, Kiandra?"

 

[Kiandra Kinases]

As the two of them got closer, the emerald fire caught Kiandra's eye like a snare. She stared deeply into it, forgetting the potential danger she was in. Completely entranced by the beauty of the flickering green lights she didn't even notice [member="Bhaltair Dhimani"] rubbing the soles of her feet. She truly didn't notice anything around her. Moments passed before words found their way into her ears.

"Hmmm?" She said snapping out of her trance-like state, "Oh, just your average near-human girl." She said with a warm smile in spite of that not being exactly true. Most 17 year old girls didn't have quite the same bank account, or ties with the mob.

"That was weird though, hmmm?" She said as she remembered feeling the Rancor's breath on her face. "Any theories, Hero?"

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

His ears twitched upwards and his brow furrowed. She was being particularly vague, obviously distracted and seemed to be dodging the question. He set down her foot...so that he could pick up the other and rub that one. Well, for whatever the reason, she was being cryptic. It could be she had something to hide or it could be that she was simply a female and that was that.

"Theories? Nothing as thought out as that, no. We're still on this roller coaster. Not enough time to figure out what happened. But, if I had to gander...Are you a Jedi or something?"

He asked this seriously, but, after a couple of seconds of thoughtful pause, he shifted gears and said in a faux-sinister voice,

"Or, perhaps you're a dastardly Sith luring me into a trap."

He laughed at his own joke depending on how she reacted. A little chuckle if she was cold, a full-hearted, longer chuckle if she found it amusing as well.

"At best, I know that we're quite lucky. Or, as some like to say, The Force works in mysterious ways."

At some point, he would ask her,

"So, what do you mean by near-human? It's fascinating to find out about different types of humans. At least, for me, it is."

[member="Kiandra Kinases"]