Mists and Clouds of Red

[Rakieh Atur]

Rakieh's master, Syn, didn't explicitly suggest that Rakieh train on a planet with a jungle so dense that the mere sight of it would choke you, as though its density filled the entirety of the air and consumed it. He didn't mention going to Felucia. In fact, he might not have mentioned going off world at all explicitly. Might have thought it. Maybe said it once or twice in passing. Never acted on it though.

So here he was. All the reading and the thoughts passing through his head needed to be put to a stop, and, ironically, based on what he had read and what Master Syn seemed to be suggesting was that the best way to do so —and subsequently continue one's training— would be to meditate on the light side of the Force; and what better place to do that than a jungle that would kill you in the instance that you would blink in its direction?

Rakieh sat, perched upon a branch of large tree, his head pointed up as though a Miraluka like him could see the light dripping through the canopy. Regardless, he could feel it, and despite the heat and the humidity and the sweat that dripped down his bare face, the feeling of the light's rays on his face was a soothing one. The sounds of bugs in all directions, calling and talking —and doing what it was that bugs did— was soothing as well. In all his time, Rakieh had never experienced something so invigorating at the planet of Felucia.

Then, as if all went silent for just a moment, he could hear the faintest cracking of branches below him.

All the sound began to return, and slowly, picking up the vibroblade that he had borrowed in place of a training saber —his logic being that he wasn't going to be sparring if he needed it—, Rakieh looked towards the ground, the floor of the jungle, scanning to see if he could see the thing that was almost just stealthy enough to pass by undetected.

If his eyes could widen, they would. If he had eyes, that is.

...Oh my.

Perhaps the thing he saw wasn't try to stealth by. How could he know? All he knew was that it was big, and he had never seen something so terrifying in his life.

What kind of trouble have I gotten myself into?

[member="Red Cloud"]

 

[Red Cloud]

[member='Rakieh Atur']

Red Cloud had come to Felucia on another hunt. The hunt was what drove him, he saw himself as a great hunter. But this one would prove to be different… He was hired by two different employers. One job was to collect a Sarlacc spore sack and another was to hunt down a Rancor. He figured what better place than Felucia, it was the only place he knew of that had both. The mission was half over. Just a few hours ago in the early morning, he had hunted down an alpha Jungle Rancor and loaded his body into his starship. The thing barely fit.

Now he had greater things to worry about. He had to track down a Sarlacc and somehow extract its spore sack. Red Cloud stalked through the colorful jungle. This was his element, and he moved like it. There was fluidity and confidence in his steps. After all, he was an alpha predator himself. Crafted by an even deadlier environment on his home planet of Van. A world where even the gravity was an adversity. Red Cloud had left his gigantic HAS-50 Scattergun on board his ship, he moved faster without it. Though not to say he wasn’t armed. He had two Electro-Vibro Blades sheathed in an X pattern across his back. As well as two heavy blaster pistols on each hip. Other than that, all he was wearing was his scale tight, red spandex-like durasuit.

He was indeed moving with stealth, not on purpose. It was just a habit for the young hunter. That is, until he came upon a large jungle tree. A tree that a certain Miraluka fellow just happened to be meditating in. Red Cloud decided now was a good time to get a view of the land from a higher vantage point. So he started to ascending the tree. He didn’t notice that someone had spotted him as he started bounding up branches like a swift monkey. Rakieh would have seen him approach from the bottom of the tree, but he was approaching with such amazing speed. If Rakieh wasn’t able/willing to react, Red Cloud would ascend all the way up to his branch and come to a sudden halt as he almost smacked into Rakieh. Red Cloud would let out a curse in his native tongue as he somehow managed to shift his massive body to instead land next to Rakieh. "Hi" was all the young Vanguard would say after staring at the padawan for a moment.

 

[Rakieh Atur]

Rakieh had let a very awkward pause between the two occur. He had never seen nor heard of a creature such as this, let alone one native or with business on Felucia. For a moment, his hand stood firm on his vibroblade, but after observing carefully, his hand left the blade, under the assumption that if the creature didn't attack him now, he probably wasn't going to. Besides, there was no sickening feeling in the back of his mind. No pain. Nothing similar to the feelings he had experienced when in captivity with Dravis.

"...Hi."

His reply was hesitated, coming after only a few moments have passed between the two in silence. A few more would pass at that point as Rakieh continued to examine this creature in front of him, curious as to its origins and its existence, but not wanting to offend, as it clearly had some sort of sentience if it was able to speak to him, even if it were to only play out in crude speech.

A nothing few moments of examination later, and the Miraluka's eyebrows cocked to one side. They then furrowed as he began to examine his face, running his hand across it, then, in some frantic desperation, patting his unusually thin set of clothing, his Sasori robes missing many of their layers due to his fear of dehydration on Felucia. Perhaps not a smart emotional thought process to play into, in hindsight.

After examining his clothing throughly among the surface, Rakieh stopped, crossed his legs, and bowed his head down to the creature in some form of shame.

"You must forgive me. It seems as though I have forgotten my mask in my robes."

The Miraluka sighed. It took him a moment, but Rakieh supposed, finally, that the best way to try and communicate with this creature was to do so as he would any other individual.

"I am Rakieh Atur. You are?"

[member="Red Cloud"]

 

[Red Cloud]

[member='Rakieh Atur']

The Vanguard shifted himself on the branch so that he was turned towards Rakieh. His four arms crossed across his chest as his four eyes examined the young padawan. Red Cloud didn’t understand what the padawan meant. He had no such social shame when it came to clothes or concealment. “I am Fights-With-Vigor of Van. But most just call me Red Cloud. You are very interesting to me, Rakieh Atur. Are you human?” just as Rakieh had never seen his kind, Red Cloud had never seen a Miraluka. Red Cloud had only been in “civilized” space for a bout a year now. And most of that time was spent with a Mandalorian mercenary group that didn’t do a lot of socializing.

But he wasn’t done talking yet, he would send out another question, “And why are you here? No offense but you don’t look like much of a hunter”. Red Cloud couldn’t understand any other reason why someone would come to Felucia and sit in a tree, outside of hunting. Sure, Felucia had its beauty. But it was just as deadly as it was beautiful, if not more so. Just a couple miles due west there was a sizable heard of Rancor with their young. And you definitely don’t want to me anywhere near a female Rancor’s baby. Rancors were surprisingly protective of their young. Many similar creatures on his home world ate their offspring.

 

[Rakieh Atur]

How curious. He's more eloquent than I gave him credit for... Red Cloud.

Rakieh slowly shook his head in response as he rose his head to look up at the Vanguard.

"No, not quite." Rakieh's finger went from 'eye to eye,' pointing out the obvious lack of such organs on his person. "Apparently not having eyes is enough for the entire galaxy to distiguish something as 'not-quite-human.' Near-Human, some would say. Miraluka is what we say. The mask is generally our societies way of blending in with humans, as I understand it."

The Miraluka couldn't help but smile at Red Cloud's remark and question to follow. It was, of course, a smile of irony: he knew quite well the dangers of Felucia, and furthermore knew quite well that someone of his stature didn't exactly mingle well with the Felucian wilds, but alas, it was a journey, and one undergone to find answers in peace and harmony. What better place to find that than in perhaps one of the galaxies most dangerous planets?

"No, I'm hardly a hunter, but if we're judging on looks, Red Cloud, you appear to be one yourself. Definitely a hunter, as I take it."

There was a pause as Rakieh took a moment to gather his thoughts, leaning in and resting his head on his fist.

"I had happen to be meditating. Felucia makes for quite an interesting spot to do such a thing... And speaking of curiosity, what exactly are you, Fights-With-Vigor of Van? I've never seen someone quite like yourself. And if I may, I wonder what you might be doing here. Hunting, I take it?"

[member="Red Cloud"]

 

[Red Cloud]

[member='Rakieh Atur']

His four eyes blinked in unison before the brolic Vanguard scoffed, “Don’t blend in with the humans, it’s best to stand out from them”. Red Cloud definitely wasn’t the biggest fan of humans, most of them were nothing but rude to him. Or terrified of him just for his appearance. He also did not respect many of them outside of Mandalorians and the like. Jedi were also something he had yet to fully understand. He had yet to run into one, only Sith and rogue force users.

Red Cloud nodded his bull-like head to Rakieh “I am a hunter, and I am here for a hunt, indeed. It is what my people do, our way of life. We hunt for the challenge of it. But we are not mindless killers, we hunt for pride and sustenance. Every piece of the prey will be used in one way or another. I’ve already had a successful Rancor hunt, now I only need to find a Sarlacc. That’s why I climbed this tree, to get a better lay of the land”. As he finished he would start to ascend the tree again. Red Cloud called back to Rakieh, “Sarlacc’s tend to leave an indentation in the landscape. But the jungle is thick so it might be hard to tell, even from all the way up here”.

 

[Rakieh Atur]

"Well my friend, as you can see, I have a tendency to do alienate myself from them by sheer accident as it is."

Rakieh began to observe the Vanguard climb further up the tree whilst listening to his account, and found himself rather curious at the prospect of hunting a Sarlacc. In response, Rakieh stood on the branch he was once meditating on and prepared to start climbing himself.

"If it's all the same to you, do you mind if I join you in your hunt? Not only am I quite curious to see —if not participate in— Sarlacc hunting, I'd like to see you commit to this event. I will say, I am quite curious about your culture, Red Cloud. Hunting cultures are not terribly common, and where they are prevalent, you tend to see... well, I hear that you tend to see some fairly unfortunate events occur. The Mandolorians come to mind, or at least, the stories involving the more vicious and ruthless ones, the bounty hunters."

[member="Red Cloud"]

 

[Red Cloud]

[member='Rakieh Atur']

Red Cloud reached the top most portion of the tree. His four eyes slowly and thoroughly scanned over the horizon. Picking out geographical details of the jungle and mulling them over. It was hard for him to tell anything from the top of the tree. It just wasn't high enough. But off in the distance... there could be a way for them to get a better view. Quickly, he descended down to meet Rakieh, who was just starting to make his way up.

"Mandalorians... Hah, they're cute" he said with a sly grin before continuing, "You can hunt with me. And I could tell you about my people. But first, what skills do you have?" he asked as he pointed off in the horizon. "I can't see anything from the top of this tree. But out there is a mountain. if we climb it, I might be able to see something" it was almost frightening how casually he spoke about climbing a mountain. It was a challenge for most, but he spoke of it as if it was a walk down the street. He wouldn't wait for his answer, instead making his way off the tree. But if there was no clear reply when he reached the jungle ground, he would wait for one.