Searching for a Remote

[Cotan Sar'andor]

For all that he had been helping out the Jedi Praxeum, Cotan's experience with the rest of Eira Pechal was somewhat limited. As such, for all that he had heard that Ishin's Hope, despite being the largest settlement on the planet, was rather bereft of the modern technology he was used to, he hadn't ever really considered what that might actually mean. Now that he had made his way into the middle of the town from the Jedi Praxeum, he could understand.

Some of the centuries-old technology from when the colony ship that brought them out was still around, and used, albeit very sparingly and rarely. And there was some modern technology slowly filtering through the community from the Praxeum and the new visitors—he could see a few recent datapads moving around. But it was still something that was far below the galactic standard, despite the fact that the colonists all knew what their history had actually been, the technological level their ancestors had come from.

Seeing all of it, Cotan still had trouble with the fact that he didn't have to look both ways on the street before crossing, lest he have an unfortunate meeting with a landspeeder.

However, although he didn't necessarily enjoy the lack of technology, he did enjoy the outpost itself and the people within it, from the few he'd met at the Praxeum and the others he'd seen today. Between the lightsaber at his belt and the regularity with which he visited the Praxeum, he was recognized as a 'Jedi' among the people, and the fact that they had built their society on a basis of Jedi morals and traditions meant that this garnered him a unique respect among them. One he didn't even get among the larger, so-called "civilized" galaxy.

That respect would hopefully prove useful today.

"Hey, could you help me for a moment?" he asked, after being invited into one of the dwellings he'd been directed to. The home of one of the leaders of the community; looking at the woman inside, she certainly looked the part. If she'd been at the Praxeum instead he'd have assumed she was a wise, old Jedi Master. Grey hair, wrinkly, small, wise-eyes. It was almost laughably stereotypical. "I'm looking for a kid, kinda short, long black hair, a bit doofy-looking, think's she's sneaky...?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, giving Cotan a look that made him feel like he had started to sprout a second head from his shoulders. "Why?"

"She goes and hangs around the Praxeum sometimes," he supplied. "Might run off with things from there every now and again as well. Just want to talk to her is all." It had been a little while since he'd had tea with Arcanus and met the kid, but when he'd checked at the Praxeum, she wasn't around there at all. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember her name, even though after he'd met her she somehow still managed to make off with the remains of one of his remotes. The woman, however, seemed to know who he was referring to.

"Ah, you mean [member="Kaya Neri"]," she said after a moment. "She's probably off running around the center of town, somewhere. Your best bet might be to go look there." Cotan nodded, supressing a groan.

He'd just been at the center of town. "Thank you for your time," he said after a moment, giving the woman a smile and a small bow, and quickly exiting the home. Time to continue the search.

So it was that he ended up spending a significant portion of the day walking around Ishin's Hope, keeping both eyes wide open to spot the girl, as well as searching out with the Force. He asked after the girl as well, and quite a few of the adults wandering around tried to give him some helpful tips, though none of them really panned out.

Knowing his luck, it'd be more likely that, though he was the one looking for Kaya, she would be the one to find him.

 

[Irajah Ven]

Kaya was in the center of town.

Until she wasn't.

It was generally how that went.

The teen didn't stay put much during the day. Sometimes at night as well, but that was a different issue and one she'd get in trouble for if she got caught. Night was the worst and most dangerous time to head out of the Spring Canyons and yet....

But during the day, she could be found somewhere around the town. As Cotan would soon learn as he wandered around, following in her wake. Chatting with an ancient woman weaving on the corner. To a younger man who repaired tools from a cart in the square. To a group of kids who had gotten their ball stuck in a tree. Each pointed him on in a sort of leap frog passage, never quite catching up to the teen. It was late afternoon by the time he did, finding her crouching with a group of very young children, all clustered around something he couldn't quite see from his vantage point.

The low urgings of the younger kids murmured things like "Go Pinkie!" and "Hurry up you're falling behind Lani!"

It wasn't until his shadow cast over the group and they all looked up that he saw what they were doing.

Beetle racing apparently.

Every now and then Kaya would reach out and separate a pair that had gotten tangled, and it was clear that her position as 'referee' was at the childrens' request. Patient but not particularly engaged in the end result of the race- such as it could be called. She looked up after disentangling a metallic green beetle and a smaller one with a bright pink carapace. Face going from open and smiling at the smaller kids to cagey and closed off.

"You. Uh. Wanna bet on a beetle?"

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"]

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

To say that Cotan was somewhat peeved, after having had to nearly turn the town upside down to find Kaya, would be a bit of an understatement. What he had hoped would be a relatively simple trip ended up turning into an hours-long venture, with nobody in the town able to help him pin down his quarry, only for him to randomly find her engaged in some sort of game with younger kids. He was absolutely, full-blown annoyed and grumpy.

So when Kaya turned to look at him and her expression changed nearly-instantly, Cotan decided it was time to have some fun of his own. He faced the girl with an extremely stern look, one that made some of the other children shy away. "No," he growled. One of the other children skirted even further away. Cotan reached up, stroking his beard for a moment, though the stern glare didn't diminish.

"I believe you have something of mine, Miss Neri," he said after a moment, his tone low and almost menacing. "I would very much like it back, if you don't mind." Still the glare didn't let up. After all the time he'd spent searching for the girl, Cotan was going to make sure to string her along as much as possible thinking that she was the actual target of his annoyance. She was only an associate to it, really, but Cotan had still had other plans for the day, plans that were broken as surely as if they'd been tossed off a cliff and dashed against the rocks below.

[member="Kaya Neri"]

 

[Irajah Ven]

Kaya looked up.

Kaya looked down.

She shifted, then paused, handed a beetle to one of the other kids, and then shuffled around in her pockets.

Mouth went to one side, then the other.

She dug deeper.

"Nope, don't think I do!" She said cheerfully, turning her pockets inside out.

She smiled, broad and easy. She'd been dealing with grown ups her entire life, most waaaaay scarier and with way more ability to actually punish her than this one did. Did she know what he was talking about? Absolutely. But the point on that was moot for a number of reasons at this point, and she'd be happy to enumerate on them for him if he wanted to try it. But for now?

Kaya wasn't impressed by the dark and stormy act. Well, she thought it was an act. Wasn't entirely sure. There was a chance he was gonna get pissed now and she knew it.

She had a plan for that too.

Wasn't a GOOD plan, but she had one.

"So. The pink one's pretty fast, but it doesn't like to go in a straight line. But the brown and green one is more reliable." She picked that one up and held it out to him like the thumb sized beetle wasn't a really weird thing to offer someone.

Something else happened though as well that the Jedi would likely notice, even if the smaller kids weren't conscious of it. Kaya shifted, settling herself a bit more firmly between the angry Jedi and the group of kids. If he *did* get mad? He wasn't going to spill it out on them.

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"]

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan's eyes narrowed at the relaxed response, though he thankfully managed to maintain the glare for the moment. It seemed like Kaya knew that it wasn't real, though, even if he'd maintain it. "Perhaps you'd be willing to help me find it, then?" he asked, while thinking, Am I really that easy to read?

Yes, he figured after a moment, he probably was. Not that he wasn't good at reading people himself; he'd seen the recognition in her initial expression, showing that she remembered who he was and most definitely would know what he was talking about. Admittedly, he didn't much care about the remote (although he would still like it back, if only for spare parts); its location was merely one of multiple questions he was seeking answers to.

He glanced down slightly as she shifted her position. He pursed his lips, glancing over the stance. "Your feet are a bit too wide," he said critically, ignoring the beetle she was holding out to him. "And you should shift your trailing foot a bit more behind you." He glanced back up to her face, offering her a small smile. "As things are, you'd be a bit easy to knock over, and I don't think your friends behind you would much like having to try and catch you. Shoulder-width is a good rule of thumb to stick with." He shifted his own feet around, towards a basic fighting posture.

"Of course," he began, starting to take on the lilty tone of voice he used when cracking jokes at others' expense, "You might have a better clue for this sort of thing if you'd actually watch what people were doing at the Praxeum...rather than just sneaking around like a thief."

[member="Kaya Neri"]

 

[Irajah Ven]

"I mean. I don't know where it IS. But I know where it'll BE."

And then he decided to be an absolute walnut of a grown up.

Why did they do that? She wondered. Assume that kids wanted their input on every little thing? Talking down to them just cause they were literally taller (and older, but she dismissed that as an accident of simply having been born first. That wasn't anything other than LUCK.). She debated, quite seriously for a moment, showing him exactly why he was a stupid adult instead of telling him.

She'd get in trouble. Inwardly, she sighed.

"Maybe if YOU paid more attention to the places you went instead of assuming yer better just cause you're a Jedi, you would have a better clue that the beetle I got stuck in yer face sprays stuff that makes your eyes burns and smells bad." She said, clearly annoyed and not trying to hide it. "Just cause someone knows different things than you doesn't make them dumb."

She stood up. Then handed the beetle back to one of the other kids.

"And I didn't STEAL it. You left it broken on the ground. You know you're not supposed to litter right?" She turned away, stalking off, muttering something about off-worlders. "You want your thing back or not?"

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"]