Private Welcome to the Jungle

[Cambyses]

"Arorua housed monsters that were spawned from Sith sorcery."

―A mention of Arorua extracted from the Chronicle of Jen'jidai Sorzus Syn, 6900 BBY​

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Iren always wanted to explore Arorua.

The stories always made it sound like a paradise. Jungles packed with Sithspawn of every variety. It was a planet that had escaped much notice in the Galaxy by all accounts. No major battles, no galactic superpowers expanding there... and that meant one thing. The creatures there were allowed to live and thrive without any interference. This was the perfect place to be for a budding alchemist and would-be creator of beautiful abominations.

Even now Iren was still stubborn in his assessment that this had been a wonderful plan.

Even while being chased by some huge creature, the size of an elephant and three times as angry with large tusks, tendrils and other assorted mayhem. It was only his size that kept him from being flattened or crushed. It was relatively easy to run away, jumping between trees, stone crevices and stay just out of reach.

The creature on the other hand?

It was busy rushing through every obstacle.

It probably made a lot of noise.

This is great, I can't wait to tell Qora about this... Iren thought to himself as he leaped over a drying river bed. She won't believe it...

Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Any jungle, Sithspawn-infested or mundane, demanded respect. Preparation: high biteproof boots, immunizations, antifungals, antihistamines, hover belt, wet wipes, gloves. All that and more, and Quill still didn't feel safe.

The jungle went silent, then loud. Birds and bugs exploded from the canopy as trees fell in bulk, far but getting closer. Head on a swivel, Quill straightened up from the half-buried stone tablet he'd been transcribing. He got no clear sense of whatever was approaching. On this world, the Dark Side clouded everything.

A younger man, or at least a more limber one, sprinted through the nearby woods a stone's throw away. Trees parted, splintering, and here came the source of the noise. Quill got one good look at the unfamiliar critter -- tusks, tendrils, the bulk of a battle walker -- and scrambled aside.

The big head turned, tusks obliterating the woods with casual ease, and one yellow eye glared at Quill. Would it keep going after Cambyses ? Would it change its mind and go for the easier prey?

Probably depended on just what Iren had done to piss it off.

 

[Cambyses]

Jend-Ro Quill

The beast paused in its track once the new sentient came into view.

This surprised Iren and he skidded to a halt, wondering why the magnificent beast stopped chasing him. "Oh, hello!" Cheerful wave of the hand as he kept one eye on the animal. It seemed to be struggling between the new option that dropped in his lap and the old one. Lucky for Iren he hadn't done anything outrageous.

Just 'accidentally' wandered into the nest and took a look around.

He had been very careful not to hurt the beast.

It was slowly starting to turn towards Quill.

"I believe it can sense that you are a touch older, friend." Iren supplied helpfully as he watched that movement. Perhaps with a little bit of relief there, because he hadn't been sure how long he could keep it up.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

The moment took on a familiar shape: the angry creature, the bantering Sith, as if Quill was trapped in a pit looking up.

Foghorn steam blatted from the thing's nostrils as it made up its little mind. It shook a tangle of liannas off its tusks and refocused on Quill.

To the old hermit's surprise — it was always a surprise — his bag of tricks applied, skills he'd learned from alien elders on his way out of the Jedi path. After the manner of the Gutretee shamans, or the elders among the blue banthas of Entooine, Quill touched the Sithspawn's memories and made the last five or ten minutes go away.

Tension faded. The big creature's blood was still up, but there'd been no intrusion, no chase. Just a strange way to wake up from a nap.
It blinked, shuddering, and then a mental nudge sent it ambling back down its trail of destruction.

Leaving Quill alone with the pale young man who'd cheerfully consigned him to probable death.

"Hrm," said Quill, disgruntled and ill at ease. He could tell on sight that this person enjoyed small talk.

 

[Cambyses]

Jend-Ro Quill

Hands went to hips as he watched the creature trapeze off like it had no more business here.

"That... is fascinating." He finally said while wandering over to where it had been a moment ago. Looking at the paw marks left there, but there was no sign at all of any physical contact. No, somehow Quill had just turned the creature away and put it back on its path. But not in a way that Iren was used to at all.

He had some experience with animal control.

This had seemed different however.

"Okay, I am beat. How did you do that?"

As if Iren hadn't just been entirely comfortable watching Quill be hunted for sport.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill strongly considered trying the same trick on Cambyses — but letting someone wander the jungle after a memory wipe just wasn't conscionable.

How, then, to move him along and get back to cataloguing the huge stone tablet for the ever-hungry libraries of the Selab?

"A vast distraction," he said at last, which was approximately true. "A matter of memory. Not something the Sith or the Jedi could teach you. And no, that's not an offer."

 

[Cambyses]

Jend-Ro Quill

He chuckled.

"I doubt I would be very good at it anyway." Iren responded with a shrug. "My brother is the mentalist, I am more the creator in the family." For a moment his attention shifted back to the path the large beast had created. You could still hear him stumble about, making noises and frightening away other animals.

"You are neither then..."

Oh, Iren felt he wasn't wanted here, but curiosity had always been his weak point.

"What are you then?"