Shadows of Bankor

Sinnya planned on heading to the berry festival in the afternoon, but after yesterday’s adventures she couldn’t stand to wait even that long to get the hells out of Rygor. She needed air.

So it was that she happened, right now, to be walking along the bank of a small river up in the hills, with some food in her bag for lunch—and her eyes alert for animal sign, a good fishing spot, a fallen log where mushrooms might be found, or anything else she might add to her personal harvest.

She whistled softly to herself as she crunched along through lichens and last year’s tree needles.

Dak had seen the worry Twilek cross some of his land on her way out deeper into the hills and he decided to sneak up on her and maybe give her a bit of a start. The Cathar slipped on his jacket and quietly left the cabin heading towards where she had been his boots of soft leather barely disturbing the ground. Just as he came around the bend he saw her and made his stealthy approach.

Perhaps he was too focused on her, perhaps he was just off his game but his foot his a leaf with mud underneath that slid on the road causing Jurdak to do a bit of the splits before falling on his face just barely catching himself before a totally wipe out but the slight Yelp he let out would have certainly given him away.

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Fluffy stealth vs Sinnya hard with an upgrade and a set back correct pool: 1eP+3eA+1eC+2eD+1eS 0 successes, 2 threat

Failure and 2 strain

Sinnya whirled around, dropping to a crouch. That doesn't sound like an animal--

Then her eyes picked out the humanoid figure in the foliage. She pressed her fist to her mouth, partially concealing a snicker. "Good afternoon, Mr. Dak," she said sweetly, straightening up again, the lines of her body relaxed once more. "Imagine meeting you here."

((On the bright side... you got those blanks out of the way on a fluff roll? ))

Dak straightened and brushed some dirt off his coat and cleared his throat "uh well yes Sinnya, things are going ok I suppose." He smiled and ran a hand through his hair regarding the girl with his warm amber eyes "Well you did pass not too far from my cabin, I'm almost insulted you didnt come say hello."

Sinnya grinned. "Most people who live out in the middle of nowhere do it because they don't want just anybody dropping by on a whim. Don't they?"

"Well you know or they dont want particular kinds of visitors, you're always welcome. So what are you up to this afternoon? Any particular plan for this little outing?"

"I needed to get out of town." Sinnya waved an arm airily at the primeval scenery surrounding them. "Breathe some real air. And I've had enough of sand lately, so the desert was out." She hooked her thumbs comfortably in the shoulder straps of her bag. "Thought I might pick up some game or go fishing, if it comes along easily--but I have an afternoon date with the cramberry harvest, so I didn't load up for a long hike or anything."

"Well mind if I join you? Any of those activities sound pretty great right now. Though if we go hunting we gotta be careful, I saw an Acklay out here yesterday while I was hunting, I might organize a hunting party for it later but for now it's probably still out there roaming around."

"An acklay? Here?" Her lekku twitched as she tensed--surprised, but also excited. "I've only seen those in holos! I wonder how it got to Bankor." Now that would be the hunt of a lifetime.

Synn bit her lip, thinking. "You'd need the right gear. Big guns, or a hell of a snare. Vehicle backup in case somebody got hurt badly." Fingertips drummed on her backpack strap. "This area is wild, but it's not far from farm country. If some day hikers ran into an acklay, or it decided to come out and start taking livestock from farmers... that might get messy."

A beat, and then she shook her head a little. "Just thinking. Not much we can do about it now, right?" She quirked an eyebrow at Dax. "How does fishing sound?"

Dak just smiled as the girl listed all these things off, nodding along "Yup with a little time and planning it could certainly be something that would be a life long memory."

"I do think fishing would be a great way to pass the time before the cramberry festival later. A good way to relax, I've had a very busy day so far." He said with a chuckle.

"Sounds good." Sinnya waved him onward, starting back toward the riverbank again. "I was just now looking for a good place. This is your backyard, though... any suggestions?"

He chuckled a little "Yeah I suppose you're right, let's see theres a pretty good spot down stream a little where two rivers meet up. Usually a good amount of fish there." He said with a smile as he took the lead and headed down a hill and around a bend to a fairly picturesque river, with the sun shining and wild flowers about it's something you would imagine a scenic painter would draw inspiration from.

"You got a pole I could borrow? I left mine back at the cabin."

"Just my folding one." She patted her bag, adding with a half-smile, "If I needed anything bigger... I planned to improvise. Anyway, easy to rig something with some extra hooks and line." An open hand indicated the wilderness around them. "Find a cane or a nice skinny sapling. Or we can take turns."

She walked quietly for a bit, feeling the clean air infiltrate her lungs and wash out (at least in her mind) the gritty dust of Rygor. "Do I want to know what you were busy with?" she ventured after a while. Sometimes she and Dak were on the same professional wavelength... and other times, the jobs he took were not ones she'd want at all.

Maybe that was why he had a snug little cabin and she was still crashing in hostels most of the time. Or on the other hand, maybe that was just because he was old(-er).

Dak smiled at Sinnya's question "Now Sinnya I've told you before I dont want to talk to you about my side business. The less you know about it the better kid." He took a deep breath "but no I did a little light bounty work but nothing violent, heck I didnt actually bring them in, made a new business partner even. Plus I bought a new speeder so the trips to and from town dont take so long."

He looked about and found a useful looking branch that could make a useable pole. He kept some extra line in a pocket of his jacket. Fashioned a pole that was nothing special but it was functional which was the most important thing.
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D2 fluff make a pole roll average survival: 2eP+1eA+2eD 1 success

"Hmm." That sounded fairly reasonable, and also not especially interesting (which had probably been Dak's intention). "If you want to be in business with the kind of person who gets a bounty put out on them..." Sinnya's smile was wry. "But that's why you live all the way out here where you can see trouble coming, huh?"

"So... what kind of speeder?" She wasn't a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate a bit of speed and flash.

Dak gave her a grin "You're a quick one, harder to sneak up on someone when no one else is supposed to be out here. Much easier than in the city where there are always strange faces around every corner." He found a good spot and cast his line out looking over the clear waters of the river a small smile on his face.

"The speeder is nothing special just a x34 landspeeder, it's a two seater of you ever want to go for a ride some time."

"Maybe." Sinnya flicked one lek, archly, as she twisted the sections of her collapsible rod together. "Going to hot-rod it? Overload the repulsorlifts so you can run away from all those angry strangers?" The smile with which she said this was friendly, her tone light--a gentle jab, not a harsh one.

"It isn't so hard to disappear in the city, either. It just makes me so tired. Easier for me than you, though, I suppose." She cast her hook into the stream a safe distance from Dak's. "There are more Twi'leks in Rygor than anybody can count, but not that many Cathar."

Dak shrugged "There arent many Cathar anywhere. You can thank the Mandalii’kesh for that." He said the word with more of a growl than his usual tone and a slight shadow passed over his features. As suddenly as it arrived it passed and he gave her a smile "but yes blending in as a twilek is a bit easier." He slowly pulled his line in and saw nothing so he cast it back out and played the waiting game.

"Manda-lee..." Sinnya tripped on the word. "You mean the Mandos? The armor people?" She jiggled her pole gently.

"Mandalii’kesh." He repeated "it is the word my people have for the genocide the mandalorians, the armored people, committed against the Cathar during the old times. The Cathar were almost entirely wiped out except for any that were off world and a small number that escaped to resettle on another world. The Cathar wouldnt return to their homeworld for over a hundred years." Dak may not have been one for history or schooling but all Cathar knew the story of the greatest tragedy their people had faced. He delivered the story with a stoicism "it was a long time ago, but ripples are still felt today."

"Oh." That definitely wasn't history one learned in the inner-city schools of backwater Rygor. Sinn thought it over as she reeled in her line and cast again.

"That's awful." If her education had misplaced a whole entire genocide... that implied disturbing things about the number of such events in galactic history. "I knew they invaded Bankor, a long time ago. The stories from my mother's people call them Sky Devils, so they can't have been good to us back then in the before times." She frowned. "But I never knew they were that bad."

Dak had.....mixed feelings about Mandalorians he knew none that were alive today committed these crimes. He had even met a few that were good people. But he was distrustful of anyone who chose to follow a creed that had led to such things. "They are not all bad and it was a very long time ago. Most cultures have things to be ashamed of at some point in their history. Just some more than others."

"I never talked to any of them much, but they do seem really proud of their culture." Sinnya chewed her lip, thinking, as she watched the sunlight play on the surface of the river. "My own pops was a gutter schutta but I don't act proud about it."

Dak shrugged "and that's good of you Sinnya but it's different for some people. Some mandalorians take pride in their warrior past and see what happened to my people as another in a long line of conquests. Some see it as a mark of shame to be carried and learned from. Mandalorians are am odd people and their culture grows from reproduction, finding kids and people just joining. Some are good some not so much. I try not to judge people until I know them better."

"If it was me, it would be weird not knowing which kind of Mando I was talking to until I spent that much time getting to know them." Sinnya was distracted by a nibble on her line, but either it was only a bit of junk floating downstream, or a clever fish got a free snack without sticking itself on her hook. She busied herself attaching a fresh bait cube.

"But that's like anybody, I guess. Just... more so. You can't know right away what people think of you."