Sunburns & Hyperdrive Troubles

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt didn't follow her, at least not at first.

Instead he looked around.

The waterfall was a natural clear blue, it's water coming from the top of a reaching rock formation that plateau'd and likely turned into a river or a stream of some sort. He was more than willing to guess that following it would likely eventually reach to some outlet from the mountain itself, though that was hardly what interested Kurt in that moment. Instead he looked for any signs of anything man-made. He had no doubt in his mind that if someone had constructed something here at one time they would have marked or labeled it.

When Kurt found nothing, he only friend, as if somehow disappointed. "Careful!"

Kurt called aver Kaile as she began her descent down towards the falls below. He wondered briefly if this was a good idea, or perhaps they should make camp on the rocks up here instead of the cove below, but he quickly realized that the cove was likely far more defensible anyway, as long as they set up towards the back.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"I am!" Kaile called up after him.

Granted it would figure she would trip at that time. "Whoa!" she gave a slight little squeak. Thankfully, the waving of arms for balance and her quick reflexes were able to halt her teetering straight into the pool of water. She gave a rather nervous chuckle, after her heart was at her throat and kick started her breathing. "Okay... maybe a little bit less excited, and a bit more careful."

Her prize for her abruptness was a glare from the pilot, and she again, gave a sheepish grin. "Come on, "She beckoned with her hand. This time she took the time to be extra careful with her steps. Kaile took the last few by sliding down on her butt, scurying down until her feet hit the wide area near the pool of the waterfall. From this distance, she just felt so... small.

The roar of the waterfall was loud, but not overwhelming. A light spray of water would float down, and Kaile could only grin as she held out her hand to try and catch some of it. As the pilot dropped down beside her, Kaile shot a grin over her shoulder. "isn't it amazing?!"

They would be able to clear some of the brush a bit further back from the edge of the pool. Once they did that, setting up camp would be easy.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt wanted to make sure that at least one side of their camp faced the rock wall. He knew that it was a silly thing, but if an animal or something of any threat approached them during the night then he wanted the option of being able to stand and fight, not to mention the fact that if it rained they could angle the tarp down from the wall and run the water straight into the pool with the waterfall. It just made sense to place it there, and slowly as Kurt walked forward he made his intention more than clear.

He moved quickly over to a small alcove, the rock having been bent and broken by something there. He frowned for a moment, checking the tough stone for any cracks or suspicious spaces. When he found nothing he unslung his backpack and threw it onto the ground. The tarp and rope would be needed to create a nice little camp, but for now Kurt simply felt like sitting down for a while.

"Let's take a breather." Kurt said spinning on his heel and dropping down onto his rear. "Just sit for a bit."

The roar of the waterfall was calming, almost enough to make him sleepy.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile in the meantime had decided to inspect the pool itself along with the water fall. The waterfall was first. She wanted to know if this was freshwater. The odds were high, but hey, one never knew. Spray would float upon her, clinging to her sweaty cheeks and on her clothes. Climbing carefully over the black rocks, she came as close as she could to the falls and held out her hand. Crystal clear water splattered upon the shell of her palm, splashing everywhere.

Giddy, she brought it up to her mouth. Taking a small sniff, she checked for any sort of sulfur or minerals that would indicate something might be wrong with it. Smell check? Pass. Bringing it up to her lips, she took her first sip. Eyes went wide and she cried out excitedly over to Kurt.

"It's fresh!!"

The natural volcanic layers and lime stone indicated that this was fresh. Where the source of the water came from was anyone's guess. But perhaps a spring.

This was great news. Water was one of the most important items they needed to survive. If this was fresh then that meant that there just might be some sort of freshwater fish -- and all animals required fresh water to drink.

This was great!

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Well that was something at least. "Maybe we should have landed on this island."

Kurt joked with her, though he was more than serious.

It seemed that this island was far more plentiful than the other, the one that they had made their home on with The Messa being far more sparse and less filled with life. He wondered why that was since technically the two islands would have the same environment and the same conditions. Perhaps it was a trick of the weather itself, perhaps for some odd reason this island received far more rain than the other. He mused slightly as he leaned back against the rocks, tapping his chin lightly as though he were deep in thought.

"Any fish?" Kurt asked quietly. "It'd be nice not to have to walk back to the ocean."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Fish?

With a curious perk of her brows, Kaile took a step back from the falls. Fish should be plentiful, but so close to the falls was unlikely. The young woman would walk along the bank of the pool, feeling the spray of water fall over her. It was actually a bit refreshing, especially after the hike. be nice to take a water wash up too...

"It would have," Kaile told him, answering his earlier quip. "But I reckon parking would have been an issue." There wasn't really a good flat area for them to land the Messa. She hopped from on small Boulder to the next as she continued. "Still would have had to hike a bit. "

Coming up along to where the water cleared, Kaile took a gander over the rippling water. This would be where the Force came into play. Holding her hand out, she shut her eyes. A little bit of focusing did the trick. Sensing life was easy. There were at least a dozen fish down there. Maybe more. If she took the time to check, she'd see the dark, fat shapes.

"And we have lunch easily accessible!" There was joy in that from the girl.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Well that was something at least. The easier it was to live at their base camp the easier their exploration would be. Right now it looked like this little alcove offered them quite literally everything that they could want, water, food, shelter, and perhaps even a source of natural protection. If someone were to come looking for them? Well they could hide behind the waterfall. Of course that kind of thinking was simple paranoia, Kurt knowing that Pirates and the like probably wouldn't appear here any time soon.

"Well." Kurt said as he began to stretch. "Lets set up camp."

"You handle the fire I'll handle the tent?" Tent of course was a rather loose term, all he would be doing was setting up the tarp in such a way that the splashback from the waterfall wouldn't touch them and if it rained they would be able to stay dry. Not really anything magnificent, but enough to keep them comfortable at night.

That's what would matter anyway.

That they were comfortable enough with their little shelter that they could live here for a day or two.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


The brunette gave a happy nod, hopping and skipping back from the edge of the pool back over towards the pilot. This was great. Spending time out here in the jungle was sure to be fun. The last time she did this, it was on Endor. That was an experience. At the end of it, she discovered she really enjoyed living in a tree house. With the night sky overhead and no artificial light --- it had all been so beautiful.


“I can do that.” there was sure to be plenty of tinder around. Her boots gave a slight thump as she took a small jump off the last rock. Swinging her back off her shoulders, Kaile set it down besides Kurt’s own. First off, she gave a good stretch. Swinging her arms over her head, a deep yawn along with the stretch of fingers and toes gave her that little extra boost. So much better

Okay, bringing her hands to her hips she gave their little area a small inspection. While Kurt busied himself with the tarp, she first went searching for a nice flat area. “Stones… for a firepit.” she mumbled to herself. With being so close to the waterfall and pond, this made it easy.

Kaile began collecting stones, grabbing as many as she could and then bringing them back. Once she had a small pile, she crouched down, setting them up in a circular pattern to be the safety barrier for the firepit.

Now all she had to do was grab some tinder. Glancing up, she gave a slight frown. Hmm…

Digging into her back, she pulled out her multitool. Time to get to work.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Fire.

Okay so she had fire covered.

His job was shelter. Immediately Kurt set to work creating a small bastion of sturdiness and rain protecting. The tarp was of course really all that he needed, that and a few branches and rocks. He had planned ahead well, and the massive green piece of plastic could stretch out far enough that it would give them a nice bit of coverage. He moved away from the waterfall for a time, leaving the small cove and rummaging around in the woods around them.

The Courier picked up logs from the ground, large sticks and even a fallen tree that he would drag back to their home and passed Kaile. When she looked at him Kurt only smiled, waggling his eyebrow and continuing with his mission to build a proper shelter.

Eventually the shelter began to take shape, the massive fallen log propped up diagonally against the large rock wall, tied in place with rope and then leveraged on one side with an entire stack of tree branches. Those branches quickly formed a roof of some sort, a wind barrier away from the coves outside. Those branches were then covered in the heavy tarp and pulled down over the other side, creating a tent flap like opening that would allow Kaile and Kurt to move in and out of their shelter as needed.

It wasn't fancy, it wasn't ground breaking, but it would work.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


Kaile spent her time inspecting the local jungle area. Knowing that Kurt was still very anxious about anything brightly colored, Kaile instead focused on what she knew and grabbing tinder. Being a wet jungle meant that there wasn’t much in terms of dry foliage.

However there were some green coconuts. She wandered off for a few minutes, still well within earshot of Kurt. Her boots crunched on the ground, and in her search she found more animals and critters wandering around. There were plenty of birds, a flock that managed to scare her a bit as they went soaring into the air.


It made her smile none the less. This was paradise. If there was a way to live here forever, she’d have taken it. It would be nice to be able to live here every day. Knowing Kurt, he’d feel the same.

Curses that they had to worry about such things as credits and paying for fuel.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

By the time that he was done with it all the Sun was past the midday marker, passing overhead and burning down onto the pool of water. Briefly he wondered how this had all managed to stay untouched, how no one had come to these islands. It was still a mystery to him, a complete and total enigma.

It was all so beautiful, so serene.

"Done yet?" Kurt said as he tied down the last of the rope. "This thing could handle a hurricane."

Probably a bit of an exaggeration. "Maybe a tornado too, force I'm good."

The Courier stepped back a bit, looking at his shelter with so much pride that he was nearly beaming with it. Shifting slightly he gazed over towards Kaile, a grin pulling at his lips that stretched nearly from ear to ear. It was clear that he was proud of himself, especially since he had constructed the entirety of it by himself with only the most meager of supplies.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


“W-oow,” Kaile’s twang came out in that one, her eyebrows arching high. She even gave him a low appreciative whistle. “My aren’t you handy with your hands.” Oh there was a knowing tease in that one, along with the scrunch of her nose in humor.

Dropping the twigs, and coconut husks she managed to gather, the brunette plopped herself down for the long haul. She had a small fire starter they could use - no need to go crazy in using twigs - and once she piled up the husks and twigs, they could get started. They would need to find larger pieces of dead wood, hopefully dry enough so there wouldn’t be too much smoke.

“Yeah, just need to get this done.” she told him, flashing him a grin. For Kaile, everything seemed to be a work of art in the making. That was exactly what Kaile did here. She set down every twig in a circular pattern, making a teepee of some sort with the husks.

When she started humming ‘Just a smalltime Tatooine girl’, oh it was on!

A small click of the firestarter would slowly ignite a small patch of the tinder. Coming on her hands and knees, she shoved her face near her creation. Granted, she also made a hilarious image with her pert rump in the air, cheeks blowing out as she directed air for the fire to catch the rest of the tinder.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt watched her, eyebrows slightly waggling. "Just a little more, I think."

The Courier said the word as her rump went wiggling in the air. It was a sight to see, a joyous one that Kurt would never in a million years complain about, inf act he was quite enjoying the view. He smiled slightly, his eyes moving away from Kaile's pert rear and over towards the jungle that lay ahead of the cove. He couldn't help but wonder what was out there, what sort of beasts lay lurking. They had seen the small rabbit like creatures, but there had to be more, something...bigger.

He doubted that those things were so scared of humans, he doubted that they had ever even seen humans before.

There had to be something else on the island, something bigger, something that liked to eat those little rabbit creatures. He could only venture to guess what exactly might be there, but the very thought made him want to reach for his blaster and sleep with it in his hand. Eventually his gaze returned to Kaile's rear, his eyes settling.

"Little deeper I think." Kurt said. "You gotta really focus on those embers."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile gave a glance over her shoulder. “You sure? How deep should I go?” add in another delectable wiggle for emphasis.

“Like this?” at that, she made a great show of getting real low, her face near to the ground, head slightly canted. Her back gave an arch, lifting the curve of her rear up with an impish devilry.

Lips pursed together into a small ‘o’, and with a knowing expression that deliberately watched the pilot, Kaile gave a long, slow blow. The flame flickered, catching against the tinder and igniting. Aware that her tease had a limit, she gave a laugh and continued to blow. Sure enough, flames began to lick through the coconut husk and twigs. A curl of smoke rose, then grew thicker.

Blowing harder, Kaile felt the heat of the flames warm her face. “Almost got it!”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt grinned, though he didn't comment further. This was part of their fun as friend, part of how they treated one another. As she wiggled it occurred to him that he could very likely get a rise out of her doing the exactly same thing, maybe with a little less wiggling in fact. The thought amused him, causing him to bark out a small chuckle before he quickly quieted himself and drew back, turning away from Kaile's wiggling rear to try and focus on something just a tad more productive.

"Well, you get that going." Kurt said slyly, trying to hide his amusement.

"Why don't I see about exploring a little bit around us?" He suggested. "Not far, just get to know everything immediately head of us."

Not to mention behind them. The sheer cliff face that climbed up behind them was intimidating enough that Kurt wouldn't think a predator would scale it, even if they were looking for food, but if a band of pirates or hostiles came around? Kurt and Kaile would be sitting ducks for anyone with a rifle.

He'd rather that not happen.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Dropping back on her haunches, Kaile sat herself crosslegged while she tended to the fire. The sound of crackling flames and wood would get louder, with Kaile using her hand to blow a bit more air on the husks. Some of this was still a bit green, but there was no helping that. They would just have to deal with the extra bit of smoke until the fire properly settled.

“Okay,” Kaile told him, her ponytail bobbing as she shot him a smile. “Just be careful,” she’d remind him. They still weren’t quite sure of what else was out there. “What direction will you be going? Will you be following a specific path to explore?”

That at least was important, in case something happened, then she knew where to start. Her hand would wave at a steady rate over the growing fire, slowly tiring her arm out. It would only dawn on her in hindsight hours later that she could have used the Force to help out with that. That would make for a joke for another time.

“Take one of the canteens with you too.” at the very least, as long as he had some water, he should be alright.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"South." Kurt answered as he scooped up one of the canteens. "Then maybe a little to the west. When we were up on that rock I saw a clearing not too far from here, I want to see if I can get to that and find anything there."

That clearing could have pretty much anything in it.

What really interested him the most was finding out why this place was uninhabited. He didn't understand it, why this world would be completely and entirely devoid of any sentient life. They had scanned the planet before landing of course, searching for any holo-net signals or transceivers and had found absolutely nothing, they had even done an aerial flyby of this island and the others within the chain and had found nothing, though of course on this island that was a rather useless endeavor given the Jungle that protected everything.

It was a mystery, one that Kurt desperately wanted solved. "I'll be safe."

Kurt said the words as he was already on the way out of the camp, his hand wrapped around one of the canteens and the other gently resting on the handle of his blaster pistol.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Okay." a pause then a shout from her. "I have my comm so comm me if you need anything!" she had a small Browncoat datalogger she kept at all times. It was now in her bag as she didn't want to get it covered in sand or broken. But once she pumped up the volume, she'd be able to hear if he sent her anything.

Bending forward, Kaile went back to work on the fire. Smoke was starting to billow, but it was more of a white char smell than the eye-watering black that green wood had a tendency to make. Not too shabby, she praised herself, proud of her contribution to this little excursion on the island.

That was the neat thing about working along with Kurt. They complimented each other well. He had skills and talents that weren't really Kaile's strengths. He was a fantastic pilot, knew things about survival she didn't, and had a knack at things that Kaile still was trying to work on. She was clearly the better cook, but her ease at being able to make a home out of the Messa was a trait she knew Kurt appreciated.

"Hmm," Kaile pondered to herself, giving the fire a few more swipes of her hand. "Time to see what we can catch for lunch..." Maybe forage around a bit. She would have to be extra careful.

The last thing they needed was to eat something that would kill them both.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt wandered off into the jungle, his steps careful and his body weaving and ducking below branches, vines, and everything else that got into his way. The foliage was thick and unforgiving, the humidity rising as he pressed deeper between the trees. He found sweat once again pooling within his shirt, causing his clothes to cling and stick to him. Droplets fell down his brow, his eyes closing every time one threatened to fall into his gaze.

The Courier's free hand went to wipe away the sweat. "God this place is awful."

No more jungle worlds. He made that pact to himself right there and then, stopping for a moment to take a simple drink. The humidity seemed to trickle upward even more as he went deeper into the jungle, the heat touching his skin so thoroughly that he thought his flesh might begin melting from his bones.

"Dear force." Kurt cursed as he began again. "This place couldn't get any worse."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Unlike Kurt who was currently melting into his clothes, Kaile was having the time of her life. Her preliminary investigations around the immediate area were mini victories. She found wild bananas, which while had a plethora of seeds, were still edible enough for them to enjoy. More coconuts and even a cacao bean tree. There was one particular berry bush she was curious about, the bright red cherries baking in the sun. She would have ignored their bright colors, had it not been for the distinct scent reminiscent of caf that came from them.

Could it possibly be a caf cherries? It was something to consider, so she picked a few to bring back for further evaluation. By the time she was finished, she was covered in a thin layer of sweat, but she had a nice collection from her forage.


“Okay… now we need to see what we can do about those fish…” she mulled aloud, her hands on her hips. A fine gust of wind blew across their little camp, ruffling her hair and sending it trailing in the air. Moving to her bag, she went looking for what she could craft.

Maybe if she made a spear of some sort….

With that thought in mind, Kaile went to work.