Private The Great Hunt

[Jonyna Si]

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Cathar
Mid-day
<Catharese>"Basic"​

The Reaper touched down, Jonyna's mechanic Rala meeting them as they did. Jonyna had invited her mate Taam Moghul , and her daughter Rayia Asai on a hunt. The rainy season of Cathar had lingered, a light shower coming down on the ship as they landed.

<So Rayia, you been practicing your catharese?> Jonyna asked, hoping to casually test her padaughter. <You're gonna need it, people 'round here don't speak a lot of basic outside of the star ports.>

 

[Taam Moghul]

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Tag: Jonyna Si Rayia Asai

Disembarking from the Reaper, Taam greeted the now-familiar Rala, clapping his large hand on the Cathar mechanic's shoulder.. <Hello, Rala.> The Cathar couple and Felacatian padawan continued on, ignoring the light rain that fell. Taam had also helped teach Rayia some of the Cathar native-tongue, though not too much, his dialect was a bit different than that spoken on Cathar itself, and he didn't want to confuse her.

Taam was eager for the hunt. It was a rare pleasure that he and Jonyna had, and special. Hunting was one of the first things they did together, literally the day they met. To bring Rayia along proved how much the both of them were invested in the young Jedi. He hoped she was able to relax and be herself.

 

[Rayia Asai]

Jonyna Si Taam Moghul

---

The golden green ball of Cathar looming in the viewport brought a rush of emotions back to Rayia. She had many memories of this planet and it held a special place in her heart. ‘Imagine that. That I could grow so attached to a place because someone deigned to help an overwhelmed individual with a rush of nausea,’ Rayia thought to herself. In fact, she was thinking of calling this place her second home.

She had been delighted when Jonyna and Taam had invited her on a hunt. In fact, she was planning to share the news with them when the hunt was completed. ‘Perhaps, I’ll even ask Jonyna about applying as an official citizen and resident of Raan Dom Kuun. A home at the bottom of the tree might be lovely,’ Rayia mused.

Jonyna’s sudden burst of Catharese as they disembarked startled Rayia, and she glanced up as her ears twitched to full attention. Golden eyes skipped to her mother mentor’s face and there was a pause in silence as Rayia digested what Jonyna said. Rayia’s lips moved wordlessly, shuffling the unfamiliar and yet reminiscent growls and vowels into an understandable pattern.

“<I…am getting better. I can understand if one doesn’t speak too fast.>” Rayia replied. The Felacatian spoke Catharese with an odd lilt. Not as if she was searching for words, but as if there was something unfulfilled that should be filling the spaces and wasn’t. Rayia felt her heart ratchet up two degrees. A faint flush touched her cheeks at the realization that a stranger was there to listen to her stumbling over her words.

 

[Jonyna Si]

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<She's getting pretty good at that.> The Male Denik spoke, Jonyna chuckling.

She spoke a bit slowler. <Just keep practicing. You'll get the hang of it eventually. Rayia, this is Rala. He's the Reaper's personal mechanic on Ran Dom Kuun. Hired him a few weeks ago on a trip back.>

The male waved, offering a smile. <Heard you guys were having some new installations in the pool area?>

<Yeah, new resident. Want her to have a good bathroom set up, she's an aquatic species.>

<Ah! Alright, I'll get started on that with the boys.>

<Thanks Rala.> Jonyna smiled, looking to Taam Moghul and Rayia Asai with a smile. <So how we wanna do this? I'm thinking we do it like we did Rayia's blood hunt. Minimal gear, just what we can carry.>

 

[Taam Moghul]

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Tag: Jonyna Si Rayia Asai

Training a padawan meant using teaching moments. When it came to Rayia, Jonyna also filled the role of mother-figure, which meant she took every chance she could to nurture the promising Felacatian. Rayia took the sudden challenge in good spirit, answering in a heavily accented but technically accurate reply. She really was coming along. Taam gave Rayia a wink and a small nod to show his pride in her progress.

Once Rala had departed to work on the Reaper, feline trio moved on with their big day.

<Yes, like it should be, minimal supplies.> Taam agreed. They were all hunters by biology and instinct. <Who we are as hunters best come out when we must rely on instinct, instead of technology and gear.> Taam continued, with an obvious excitement in his voice. He was truly looking forward to hunting with his mate and the Felacatian they both felt was more than a padawan.

 

[Rayia Asai]

Jonyna Si Taam Moghul

---

Rayia’s ears perked as she heard Rala evidently commenting on her Catharese. He was certainly polite enough as he spoke, but Rayia had not been around him long enough to read his intent properly. He could be offering her a backhanded compliment for all she knew. Yet, based on Jonyna’s reaction, his words were genuine. And Rayia dipped her head in his direction as Jonyna introduced her.

Jonyna’s efforts to speak slightly slower were much appreciated. Some of the tension in Rayia’s face dissipated as evident when the slight crease between her brows disappeared. Taam’s smile and wink tugged at the corners of Rayia’s lips. A flickering smile appeared on her face before being snuffed out.

On the other hand, Rayia felt a small twinge of embarrassment rise at realizing that someone regularly came across the destructive evidence of her shifting episodes. “<Apologies, Rala. I give you more work to do,>” Rayia said, dipping her head yet again.

As Rala moved off with his instructions, Rayia turned to face Jonyna again. The topic was shifting to the upcoming hunt with Jonyna proposing that they do it with minimal gear. ‘I wasn’t aware that was a thing,’ Rayia thought to herself. Weil was a low technological world, meaning every bit of technology was put in to maintaining critical systems. It was sparse and rarely seen.

Besides which, Rayia came from a nomadic tribe. So it was as Taam said, minimal gear was simply the natural thing for Rayia. She shrugged, seeing no real reason to argue. Taam’s excitement was infectious and Rayia soon found herself swept along with it. Seeing as everyone was speaking Catharese now, Rayia stuck with it. “<What are we going to be hunting?>” Rayia decided to ask.

 

[Jonyna Si]

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<Depends. Do we wanna go out in the savannah and hunt a Wark, or go into the jungle and hunt a Skih Rých> Jonyna offered, leading them down into the trees towards their home. <Try and keep up you two!~> She called out, smiling as she tree-surfed down. Part it was to mess with Taam. Part of it was to push Rayia to keep up. She wanted her padawan to be able to hang with the rest of them as a Cathar.

Tag: Taam Moghul Rayia Asai

 

[Taam Moghul]

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Tag: Jonyna Si Rayia Asai

Taam pondered the choices, even as they began to make their way through the trees. They had hunted mostly in the jungle lately, but he would let Rayia chime in. This was their first hunt together, and he wanted her to have a say in what she was interested in going after.

Not waiting, Jonyna, ever excited when on her homeworld, took off, surfing down the thick branch of a tree and leaping to the next, taunting her companions. "Here she goes..." He murmured to the padawan with a grin. "Nothing can stop her once she takes to the trees. Come on."

Looked to Rayia with a tilt of his head, calling her on. Taam managed a controlled slide down the first branch, but was a neophyte compared to Jonyna, her preferred to run and swing. His powerful claws could dig firmly into the wood, allowing him to race along limbs and trunks, and his strong, agile frame pushed and pulled him from branch to branch in pursuit of Jonyna.

 

[Rayia Asai]

Jonyna Si Taam Moghul

---

Rayia blinked as Jonyna explained their options to them. ‘Well okay, I know what one of those is,’ Rayia thought to herself. Jonyna, Ko, and herself had seen a Wark during the Bloodhunt that Jonyna had set up for them. Rayia remembered a large, plodding beast with leathery, mottled skin and a large, frontal horn. If she was honest, Rayia would have immediately chosen the descent to the Savannah. Not the least of which because she had her own reasons for wanting the open expanse of the plains.

But this hunt wasn’t just about her. This hunt was about the three of them and the relationship that the two Cathar would have with their adopted daughter and padawan in the future. So Rayia said, “<I do not mind either way. Though as of right now, I would be more comfortable on the ground.>” She tried not to grumble too much as Jonyna swiftly left them behind.

She fixed Taam with a morose look as he chuckled to her about Jonyna’s taunts. Shaking her head, Rayia bit back a muttered curse about how felines belonged in the seas of golden grass and not clinging to the side of trees praying they wouldn’t fall. ‘The universe would just love that irony,’ the Felacatian thought to herself as she watched the backs of her two Cathar mentors pull away in front of her.

Standing up on shaky legs, Rayia descended the branches in small, skittering slides using her sensitive tail to help her counterbalance and pick up on the vibrations of her own movements and the swaying of the tree branches. Most of her descent was made with long, curved claws sprouting from her toes and fingers as they gouged rough tracks deep in the wood. At least until it came time to pounce from branch to branch. That, Rayia could do flawlessly.

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Down to the savannah it was then. Jonyna had always made a show of doing it. Sliding down and flipping as they reached towards the bottom. She'd teach Rayia the proper way to treesurf one of these days. Maybe it was just natural talent for her, but she much preferred the trees.

As they reached the lower level of the Si household, Jonyna found herself immediately more loose in her movements. She was home, and she could offer it to both her mate, and her daughter. Inside, she grabbed Liz and Sally. She wouldn't need her sabers. For now, she wanted only steel. <Grab whatever you can carry. I'll be taking the girls for now.>

 

[Rayia Asai]

Jonyna Si Taam Moghul

---

Rayia’s legs continued to shake as they descended the tree towards the lower levels of the Si family home. Still, despite this awkward, jittery descent Rayia thought she was doing well enough. At least until they reached the last branch before their destination. Rayia’s claws caught on a gnarled knot in the city tree. Her momentum and the sudden increase in friction sent her sprawling to the platform outside Jonyna’s home. Her quick reflexes allowed her to land on her hands and feet, arresting her slide across the sap-slicked wood.

“Ow.” Rayia muttered slowly pushing herself to a standing position as Jonyna ducked inside. Stepping into the threshold of her mentor-mother’s home, Rayia patted the red, leathery pouch at her belt. “I have everything right here,” she replied. It was one of the benefits and curses of her situation. Rayia travelled light with all she owned squarely on her back, so to speak.

Noticing that Jonyna wasn’t bringing her saber with her this time, Rayia began rooting around in her pack. After a moment, her clawed fingers withdrew wrapped around a rune embossed, hilted fang slightly longer than her forearm. Slipping the loop adorning her heirloom fang into one of the hooks on her belt, she patted its bony surface. “Been a while since I’ve used this,” she said.