Faction The Next Step (SJC opening of Commenor Temple)

[Tarish Galland]

He peeked into the entrance hall, noting the gathering and looking back to Naria with a confused look. Kids had to learn sometime in their life when to poke and when that poke was going to be rewarded with a snap.

"If we save his butt every time he sticks his foot in his mouth, he isn't ever gonna find a date. Besides, what is the worst that could happen? We have a medical facility nearby, right?" He shrugged but turned back to Cato Harth with a wiggle of his hand in his direction, rating the interaction at a so-so level before glancing towards Naria once more. "Not like any boot is going to be permanently lodged. Sides, he's pretty quick."

"And Ayden Carter is there too. Couldn't ask for a better wing-man, right?" He smirked, steering well clear of the group gathering there by mimicking Risen and hanging out toward the edge for the moment.

 

[Risen]

Objective: Get food.
Dramatis Personae: Knight Gang, Yula Perl , Phalsi Drynchen

Risen snatched the credit stick out of the air. Thank the river, he thought. Anything he could put his mind to was welcome, especially as the longer he stood off to the side, the more awkward he felt there. He even eyed the other knight, Yula, and the padawans Phalsi and Acaadi as he walked past, scanning them like they might pose some threat.

Idiot. Risen tore his gaze away, embarrassed. Can you be a normal person for one second?

Food. Returning himself to the task, he went in the direction he saw Ayden headed and hoped some signage pointed to the mess. He hung back for a moment to see if Tarish Galland would follow as Naria suggested.

 

[Acaadi]

Naria

They were getting drinks. There were conversations going on. The general ebb and flow of a group who knew each other well. It mostly went over his head. Acaadi was prone to turning in on himself when he could have been turning to others. Despite being an excellent student, some lessons he was slow to learn.

There were too familiar faces, he finally realised. Kyra's sister was here. He had met her once briefly. He had been trying to sneak into a club with Kyra. More accurately, he has been caught up in Kyra's wake and left in a trendy club wearing his padawan robes.

There was Phalsi too. He had decided she was definitely cooler than him. It should have been determined by her shady past and independence, but Acaadi always judged people by their interest in ships above all else.

"Was someone getting beer?" he asked tentatively.

Naria wasn't shouting at him. Given that, he probably shouldn't have tried to push his luck.

 

[Yula Perl]

"Hey now, we're all friends here. Uh, I think." Yula yawned into her hand. Still laying down, the Zeltron maneuvered onto her back so that she could at least face the rest of them. “And Kyra is Kyra.” She pulled a face and waggled her hand in the air as a response before stretching her legs across Phalsi’s lap. Yula wasn’t sure who the woman was, but unfamiliarity had never stopped her from being familiar before.

Less groggy now that the room was filling with activity, she snickered at the back and forth between the pair.

“Fortunately-“ Yula threw her arms wide, shifting her back just slightly as she stretched. “-we don’t have to leave the couch for that. One beer delivery, coming up.”

Fetching her commlink from her pocket, Yula dialed into Emily, the little spider droid companion she’d built back on Terminus. “Emily, can you bring—what are you jabbering about now? No, I-we’re not in Sith space!” The others would be able to hear an incessant warbling coming from her earpiece. “Then download the updates from the holonet already. It’s Commenor. Look, you know that crate in the back, behind all the scrap? I need you to bring it inside the temple. Yes, now.”

Clicking the comm off so that there’d be no further protests, Yula turned to the others. “It’ll be a few minutes. Hope you guys like Elba beer—not the smoothest, but dirt cheap.” She flashed them an apologetic grin. “Anyway, I’m Yula. Though…I think at least you already knew that.” The Zeltron gestured to the woman next to her, suddenly wondering if she’d seen her anywhere, or if her memory was just fried.

A young man appeared, inquiring about the beer. “On it’s way!” Yula chirped, before tilting her head. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

Cato Harth | Ayden Carter | Phalsi Drynchen | Acaadi

A little spider droid trundled through the halls, dragging a modestly sized crate by the grappling hook from its abdomen. Emily would wander past Risen , uttering a string of clicks and whistles in exasperation as she went.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Cato Harth Ayden Carter Yula Perl

The tough crowd comment earned him a tongue being stuck out in Cato Harth direction. Though the creeping smile she wore was a sign of her slipping into a far more amiable attitude. Her eyes squinted a little as she spoke, smile never quite clearing away.

"That was friendly. As for hints. At least it was from a friend instead of some rando in a back water or high falutin place that could do some damage. We are friends right?" She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth before looking between Cato and Ayden, thoughts flashing in her silvery blues before a snort seemed to chase away the trouble that glittered in her eyes.

"Kyra is most definitely Kyra. You know-" She paused as legs were placed in her lap but only long enough to make sure they were both comfy. She stretched out where she could also, the pair now commanding the seat as she plopped a hand over a calf.

The exchange between earpiece and droid happened, holding the thought further before Yula switched gears. A wicked smile formed at the hint of knowing her already.

"Phalsi. Eldin didn't say anything about the little slicer shadow he had for a while? Rest of them is a guess though." She snickered before holding up the mask for Yula to see. Whether the man had actually shared anything was entirely on him, since she hadn't made any attempt to be entirely a shadow in his presence. Of course, Enlil might have very well told Yula about her also given the boisterous mans tendencies.

Acaadi made himself known before too long and Phalsi gave him a smile and a small wave in kind.

"Hey! Didn't know you drank. Come sit down, don't be all lonely boy over there. A-" She paused again before looking back to Acaadi with a serious squint.

"Did you tell kyra I was back? Or what you did?" She hissed as she half leaned to look at him without moving her arms, overly dramatic in her tone and movement. She may have sounded upset, but she was most certainly just razzing him.

 

[Senari Gravis]

"Sithspit, Naria, were you listening to me?" Senari asked, turning back to the younger knight quickly. "And here I thought I was talking to myself." He might have gone entirely off-line for a moment there, though, he wasn't sure. Too much introspection, not enough observation; maybe the hyper-rapture was getting to him, after all. How long had he been looking out the viewports on the way back? Too long, probably. He glanced over at the group of the others, just as Yula decided to call in some drinks, thinking through his response.

"Well, I was already here, wasn't I?" he asked after a moment. "Just back and forth from Deneba up here through Commenor, even after what Master Arenais did and the siege the Sith laid here." Nevermind that now Deneba was under the CIS, most of the old Commenori space was split up between the Galactic Alliance and the Silver Concord, and he had no clue who he was a citizen of, if any of the groups. "So I suppose I should be asking you that. Isn't your main temple based on Kashyyyk, after you all left Voss?" He paused, looking around again at the space of the temple.

The all-new temple.

"Or is the entire Silver order moving to Commenor? Looks like this bit of space is getting busy again."

How he could have missed something so obvious was anybody's guess, if he even had missed it. His blank expression would give no clue, though Naria would no doubt pick up on the flicker of concern that passed across his features. "Go sit down, Naria, get some rest. You're making me feel all tense and tired just looking at you." Hidden in a joke though it was, Naria would recognize the tone of a command coming from him just the same as she often used it with the others. "You just helped take down a slaver ring and saved a Padawan in the middle of it, you deserve a break."

 

[Cato Harth]

Yula Perl | Ayden Carter | Phalsi Drynchen | Acaadi

Cato quickly took his credits back with a nod, and snickered as he saw Tarish’s rating of the interaction. He flashed him an “OK” sign back, himself satisfied enough with how things were going.

“Suuure, we can be friends. But it's a legally binding contract, I’ll have you know.” Cato whistled to himself, raising a brow in amusement as Yula began to argue over her commlink.

“Hope you guys like Elba beer—not the smoothest, but dirt cheap.”

“Well, I don’t drink alcohol because it’s nice to me. I’m just trying to get drunk.” He gave the two girls a quick salute, “I’m Cato, by the by. And did someone say slicer?” Evidently he wasn’t the only one with a bit of tech savvy in the room. Kindred spirits. And also competition.

Acaadi leaned into the group, and Cato put on a fake fatherly tone, ”Excuse me, young man, are you sure you’re old enough to be drinking?” He was mostly joking. Mostly. Cato was a bit of a troublemaker, but he usually liked to play within the confines of The Rules, if you will. It was more fun that way. Even if it occasionally meant being the party pooper, especially regarding padawans. Luckily he didn't usually have to take the heat for it. Chances are if Cato was disapproving of something, so was Naria. And she was a bit more vocal about it.

 

[Acaadi]

Apparently Yula had already ordered beer from somewhere. Trust a Perl. Acaadi would have uttered thanks but Phalsi addressed him directly.

"Did you tell kyra I was back? Or what you did?" She hissed as she half leaned to look at him without moving her arms, overly dramatic in her tone and movement. She may have sounded upset, but she was most certainly just razzing him.

Acaadi was too tired to pick up the joke. He grimaced.

"Kyra isn't around here much right now," he said quietly. "She knows you came back and mostly knows what I did. I mean, I did..."

Acaadi trailed off and sat bolt upright, gaze locking onto the spider droid, hand going to his saber.

The tiny monstrosity was dragging a crate of beer along in its wake, which revealed who had summoned it. Acaadi settled back down and hoped no one had noticed how much "Emily" had unsettled him.

 

[Naria Harth]

Naria slid the new chips over to herself, counting them each out.

Dorms are currently open. If you decide you want one just hold it to the door and input your code. If the room is free it'll lock up and become assigned to you in the system. Look for the rooms with the green lights on the keypads.

She tucked the chips into her side pocket, taking a deep breath as she finally looked to Senari. "Maybe if you were around more, you'd know." She brushed past him, ignoring his predictable agitation as she beeped herself in past the common room doors. The buzz of the public area faded behind her, the woman taking it upon herself to go to the dorm hall and assign them each their space. Strategically of course.

Blessed be the others, she left before the beer.

"We've been bought out by the government. We work from here now." Though SIlver Rest still remained headquarters and home for the padawans. Naria didn't bother explaining that.

The slender hall opened up before her, white and pristine and very different from the temple amongst the kashyyyk wilderness. She stepped into the first room, peering curiously around.

"You didn't answer my question, Senari."

Senari Gravis

 

[Tarish Galland]

Risen

The man was waiting for him it seemed as the conversation shifted when the young woman spoke into her ear piece. His own eyes wandered around for Naria and a bit of scolding on her part before the phrasing of her words finally clicked.

"Oh...she meant with the food." He shrugged before following Risen toward the snack area.

"Why don't you go help, Tarish. Why do you have to joke right now, Tarish? Why can't you take this seriously, Tarish? Bah. Life's no fun if you keep a stick stuck-" He silenced the muttering to himself with a shake of his head.

Wasn't fair for him to snark at her. She had her own worries as group leader. He just tried to break the tension. If the worst he got was a reprimand while seeing the corner of her mouth twitch from holding back a smile, the effort was worth it.

"You have anything particular in mind big guy?" Tarish asked Risen while they walked. "Not sure what I want just yet."

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Objective: Get settled in. Don't traumatize any Padawans. Try and be friendly.
Tags: Open to all!

Red sat in the main hall, where plenty of others were congregated. His helmet lay next to him, and he wore his armor. He had just came back from a mission, so he was still filthy. Mud and dirt caked his armor, and some flecks of dirt were splattered across his face. His red hair was a mess, well, more of a mess than usual, if that was even possible. There was even some blood splattered on him, visible specks of blood on his face and multiple others on his armor. Whose blood it was, it was hard to tell if it was Red's or someone else's, but Red just sat there, cleaning his blaster rifle of the mud, dirt, and dried blood on it.

Okay, so maybe he was a little intimidating, but he couldn't help it! He wasn't all that great at interacted with people, as he was physically made to be a badass supersoldier. That was his entire childhood, growing up and training to be the best, they didn't really ever go over how to interact with other people. Social interactions were not his forte.

Since becoming a Knight, Red had been more busy lately. Then, the Commenor Temple opened. Finally, someplace he could stay closer to his various assignments. The Silver Rest felt way to far away for him to frequent, so this was perfect! He was just waiting for another one of the experiments to show up, Subject 648 Slipknot , a Jedi Padawan, and a genetic experiment like Red. Red had already picked his dorm, so now he was just waiting for his friend to show up. So, he waited, cleaning his weaponry, looking definitely menacing...

If it wasn't for the pit droid sitting next to him, putting on his helmet, and doing a little dance.

"Pitt! Put my helmet down!" Red barked at him.

"Oh! Look at me, I'm Red! I'm so menacing and serious! I can rip your stomach out with my bare hands! Look at me! So serious! Pew pew!" The droid said mockingly, running around.

"Pitt! I mean it! Put it down! That's not a toy!" Red told the little droid.

"Look at me! I have so many weapons! I like to completely annihilate the enemy cause I'm so awesome!" Pitt continued, still mocking Red.

"That's it! You're gonna get it!" Red said, standing up and slinging his blaster rifle over his shoulder onto his back. Red lunged at Pitt.

"Ah!" Pitt exclaimed, and jumped out the way, Red missing him entirely. Pitt ran off further into the Temple, trying to escape the pursuing Red.

"Get back here you little mynock!" Red shouted, then chased after him.

Pitt dodged and weaved, running past many people passing or just hanging around. Red was right behind him, having to dodge the bystanders, trying to reach Pitt. Red was still shouting at him. "When I catch you I'm going to toss you into a trash compacter! Get back here!"

Pitt ran past a group of people ( Phalsi Drynchen , Acaadi , Yula Perl , Cato Harth ), yelling, "Help me help me help me help me help me help me! He's coming after me!"

Red followed soon after. "You're dead Pitt!"

The chase continued down the halls of the Temple. Eventually, Pitt ran down a corridor, and found himself in the Knight dorm area. Pitt ran down the hallway, trying to reach the room that Red had chosen. He reached it, but he couldn't reach the panel for the keycode. Curse his small stature! He looked at the door next to Red's, and saw that it was taken, and he could hear somebody moving around inside. The room number said Room 323 ( Samara Raine ).

Pitt started banging on the door. "Hey! Anyone in there! Somebody, anybody! Please open up! He's coming! He's coming to turn me into scrap metal! Come on, please open up!" He shouted, trying to get the person inside to open the door before Red caught him.

 

[Senari Gravis]

Senari let himself get swept up in Naria's wake, following along behind wordlessly as she went to start inspecting the rooms. He wasn't entirely surprised that she ignored his suggestion to go and sit down and relax, though he was finding her tone and word choice to be moderately concerning. "I hadn't answered yet?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware." Blatant sarcasm.

"Like I said, I was already here. Have been for a long time now. And I don't plan to leave just because a new group of Jedi is setting up here to replace the old." As he spoke, he was carefully watching Naria, studying everything about her body language—beyond even the facial expression, because he had no doubt she'd learned how to hide that by now, but everything about her posture and the like as well. He wanted to be more to-the-point with the conversation, and ask her where all the seeming-resentment was stemming from, beyond everything else she'd already demonstrated to him in how she led the group.

But as long as she refused to get to the point with him, he'd take his time getting to it with her.

"Maybe you heard me, but just didn't listen?"

Naria

 

[Risen]

Objective: Get food.
Tarish Galland

"You have anything particular in mind big guy?"

“Food.”

The word sort of bled out. It came from the place he stored orders, a black box in Risen’s head that repeated his current goal, and buzzed annoyingly when he took a step against it. Right now it said, Food. Buy food. Find the mess and buy food.

He shot an apologetic glance at Tarish. They didn’t talk much, but he seemed like the kind of person people got along with. Risen knew he could be trusted in a fight. Maybe this would be a good chance to practice conversation?

“Um,” he said quietly, after several empty seconds of thought, “I like flatbread.”

As they got closer to the mess, Risen sighed and surveyed the hallway. “Don’t know what they even have here, I’ve never been to Commenor. Spent the last three years on a nighting moonbase.” If Tarish was well-informed of these things, he’d already know about Risen’s assignment as a bodyguard on Antar, and his failure.

But as unpleasant as that thought was, the mention of distant moons reminded him of what happened on Tython, looming as those memories were. He was pretty sure Tarish and Amani knew each other. How to bring it up…

“Have you heard anything about Padawan Serys?”

 

[Tarish Galland]

Risen

Food

If he had reason to mentally stumble, it was because of the man's alarming clarity of thought. One of the things he enjoyed about Risen to be honest. There were no fluff and frills. But he couldn't hold a conversation usually, leaving him at odds with Tarish from time to time.

The apologetic glance from Risen was met with a middling shrug. Wasn't any offense taken, and certainly none meant. Man knew what he liked. Then the revelation of the century. He actually had a preference.

"Flatbread isn't a bad choice. Lot's to do with it. Tomato, leafy greens, a bit of cheese and some seasoning and you have got a decent nutrient and calorie meal to boot." He offered, filling the air a little as they walked the hallway. "There was a recipe I seen somewhere about some meats wrapped in a flatbread for a sandwich, forgot it though. Will have to holo my sister about it."

More came from Risen, and Tarish did little more than smile at him. Was nice to see him trying to hold a conversation outside of discussing orders. Man was a steel trap for them, but always came off as uppity half the time. Misconception likely, given how he had phrased things.

"Commenor isn't a terrible place. Decent food, granted I think the mess might be serving basics or snacks given the time. Caf's usually have easy stuff this time, grains, caf drinks, milk, simple things. Might be some vendo's down here though at least." He offered, another shrug as he kept smiling. Then the bit about the padawan came to light. A sincerely sore subject it seemed.

As it seemed to drain all of the joy from moments ago.

"A number of things. Lot's of opinions without substance. Or at least the answers I am looking for. I haven't been able to contact her to-" He shook his head.

"Amani was a healer in training. Good kid, right attitude. Bit soft, but weren't we all at some point? I was charged with taking care of her on Yurb but...I flubbed that up pretty badly. Even still, she wasn't mad." He spoke quietly, eyes looking far beyond the walls of the place. "She was upset, blamed herself for not being better on Yurb. I have mixed feelings about what I have seen, heard. It doesn't add up."

His face was somber, mood swinging dangerously low at the thought of Amani actually being sith.

 

[Yula Perl]

Cato Harth | Ayden Carter | Phalsi Drynchen | Acaadi

“Ohh, right, right. Eldin’s slicer friend, yeah. How’s he doing, by the way?”

The little spider droid skittered into the common area, making a beeline for Yula the moment she caught sight of the Zeltron’s pink skin and head of dark hair.

“Thanks, Em!” Yula twisted, reaching down to fish a bottle from the crate Emily had since dragged in. She handed one to Phalsi given that she was within reach, and motioned for the others to help themselves. Popping the top of the bottle off using the table’s edge, she snickered. “Listen, I don’t sign no contracts without reading the fine print.”

Yula tilted her head back for a long drink, draining half of the bottle before finishing with a satisfied gasp. She side-eyed the Acaadi and Phalsi when talk of the littlest Perl came up.

“Oh? What did you do?” Leaning forward, she tilted her head to look at Acaadi, her stare a little too intense and her tone a little too interested.

 

[Risen]

Objective: Get food.
Tarish Galland

He hadn’t ever considered putting anything on the flatbread. Except maybe seed paste, or herb oil as a rare treat, which reminded him of home in a way that distracted him. So he pushed the memories away, attending to Tarish. Mountain bless the man — his ability to fill the dead air took some pressure off.

The part about the recipe caught Risen’s attention, and he eyed Tarish for a moment. How long had they fought together, and still… “Didn’t know you had a sister.”

He watched Tarish’s countenance fall at the mention of Amani. They’d been close, but Risen didn’t know how close. He wanted to tell the man about Tython — about twin moons, maniacal strength, a blood-red saber. A healer maybe, once, but something else now, something dangerous. But telling him now would bring to light Centin’s unsanctioned mission. More than that… could he even bring himself to explain that it was all true, and worse?

“What answers you looking for, Tarish?”

 

[Naria Harth]

Naria shot him a glare, her dark gaze piercing.

If looks could kill. She pushed past him, ignoring the room and leaving it unclaimed as she moved onto the next. She was silent as she poked in and noted its emptiness. She worldlessly checked around for signs of windows, and then poked her head out of those, her lips pursed as she followed the long way down to a balcony below them.

She pushed off the ledge, the blinds closing as she move to exit again. Like before, she did not claim the room. Instead she moved onto the next, repeating the process. If he was waiting for her to speak, he'd be waiting a long time. Her lips remained pursed, holding back thoughts that Force Knows would not come on their own.

How many were in their squad now? She counted, pausing to give him another hard look.

"Listen, do you need one or not."

 

[Tyaxiv]

Location: the Archives
Objective: Fix your maps!
Tags: literally anyone

A voice bounced through the halls, interrupting many as it passed. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE?!" The source? A young wyrru diplomat in the archives. More accurately, the translator droid of said diplomat, with its volume dialed up to 200 to mimic the yelling of vocally communicative species. Peaceful Chaos would later learn this was much to high a volume, as it temporarily deafened many of those in the library and scared away birds half way across the planet. The second one is, of course, an exaggeration.

Peaceful Chaos was aware this galaxy knew little of the universe, but they hadn't expected the state of their maps to be so poor. They could barely travel a single galaxy out! "This cannot do! You don't even have the Ocean Lightning Galaxy!" The name of the galaxy, spoken as ocean lightning in the descriptive sign language of the wyrru, was pronounced as the "Vuskigt galaxy."

With a flick of the force, a holopad is pulled out of a repulsor lift backpack and held in front of the wyrru, who is facing an increasingly distraught librarian. "As you ally, I will not allow this thing to move. You shouldn't be ignorant of these things." Advancing towards the rodian, Peaceful Chaos' headdress rang with the sound of metal hitting stone and vice versa. It didn't bother them, they couldn't hear it.

Perhaps it was the fact that what was, for all sake and purposes, and oddly headed fifteen foot long rainbow snake was approaching at alarming speeds, maybe it was the painfully loud yelling, or even the asserting confidence and odd colloquial language, but one of these three, or indeed perhaps all of them, sent the unfortunate knight toppling backwards.

"I'm sorry s-sir, you're not authorized to change any of the- of our records." The young man stuttered, obviously overwhelmed by the odd being before him.
"I'm not a sir! Though your language has a poor translation for what I am. I am a them, an in between if you will! And I would not be changing it, you would! I would just be giving you the information to change. Airsick planet bound, can you not understand how helping works? It wouldn't be helping if i just did all the work for you!" Thrusting the holopad forward, the wyrru watched as the man only stumbled farther back, having not yet risen from tripping and falling over the chair. This was fine with them, in fact it was seen as polite. He was at there eye level, and staying far enough away to stay out of their blind spot when directly in front of them. Of course, to most species this was an alarmed gesture, one of defenselessness and panic.

 

[Acaadi]

"What?" went Acaadi, eyes going a little wide at the question fro Yula.

A few options flashed through his mind as he worked out what he was being asked. He realised that she was obviously following on from Phalsi's question and not prying into anything else.

"Well, I borrowed Kyra's Holomail to...trick Phalsi into meeting up because there was a bounty on her." Acaadi looked towards Phalsi and offered a shrug. She knew how out of his own depth he had been. "To convince you to come back here."

Acaadi looked to the beer, then he looked to Naria, then back to the beer. He wasn't certain where they all stood on the subject. He had known his footing with the old padawan crowd. Now they were spread to the winds, going independent or much, much worse.

Naria Phalsi Drynchen Yula Perl

 

[Ayden Carter]

Location: Common Area​

The spider droid that came from Yula gave Ayden the creeps. Not that it wasn't a useful companion, just gave him the creeps. It scattered along the floor to retrieve drinks for the group and at a fast pace. Hopefully, they were cold at least.

And a new person joined the sitting circle, a young man yet seemingly shy. Ayden didn't really know the boy but he knew Naria had some interaction with him back on Chroma Zed. And two people Ayden did not know the name of quickly ran past, causing quite the commotion. After a couple of seconds, the noise quiets down, and Ayden shrugged it off. Didn't want to know what was going over there.

Faster than expected the droid had come back, leading the beers behind it. Finally, liquid satisfaction. Ayden got off of the couch to grab himself and Cato a beer. He handed it over to him. "Well, I fulfilled my promise. I got you a beer. Credits please." He said as he forcefully popped the cap off of his beer.

Yula Perl | Cato Harth | Phalsi Drynchen | Acaadi ​