Session export: A Found Family
Selen, Dajorra System 42? ABY
Sunlight cascaded over a crystalline turquoise sea and poured onto the white-gold sand. All sorts of animal cries emerged from the verdant jungle and brush, rife with life, vines and fruit and blooming flowers. Some small distance away, the landscape rose into the mountain peaks where the Citadel sat watching over Estle City, but down on the beaches, it was nothing but lapping waves and tropical heat.
It was to this paradisical plane that Rue summoned Jelc from the Giletta spaceport, having welcomed new friend for the visit. The hybrid waited anxiously with Koda and Alk, the gentlemott, thinking he should have gone to the port and escorted Jelc himself.
“I should have gone,” Rue worried allowed, picking at the folds of his skirt and gnawing holes in his lip as was his habit.
As Jelc guided his freighter ship into the hangar, the words again echoed in his mind. Family.
It had been a long time since he’d dared to recall anything from that time, and part of him didn’t want to, but maybe…He should talk with his new family, figure out some things, and have an action plan. He felt nervous as he parked his ship.
“What if they don’t like me, Xiffan?” His wolf whined at him and licked his fingers.
“Ah, that’s just nervous me, pay it no mind. This whole thing reminds me, you know, of the time I first met Yev-” A small smile. “Yeva’s parents, when I was determined to marry her. Nervous as a Bantha in a Krayt dragon’s lair. But I somehow won them over. I am sure we will be fine, boy.” He chuckled as he rubbed Xiffan’s ears.
He stood up and stretched for a moment, taking a look at himself in the mirror. He was wearing his short black leather jacket with the diagonal zipper in front, the one that showed his more toned midriff. Xiffan tilted his head to the side as he looked at his master.
“What? I will have you know, Xiffan, this is the same outfit I wore when I tried to impress my wife.” He laughed as he examined his matching black leather pants and boots. Satisfied, he took a small brush and fixed his hair a bit. His long black hair fell to his shoulders as he created two small handfuls of hair on either side of his head. He let them rest towards the front of his face, just in front of his crimson pointed ears.
“Well, that will just have to do.” He then took some horn polish and wiped his two black, spiral horns till they shone. Xiffan whined again.
“I know you want out. I am almost done, just let me get the keys to the speeder.”
Reaching up onto a small shelf, he grabbed the purple colored speeder keys and whistled to Xiffan. His Cythraul followed obediently by his master’s side as he opened the ship’s hangar door.
Smiling, he jumped into the driver’s seat of his black and Cyan colored XJ-2 Airspeeder. It had been a while, since he last drove this around for fun. Turning the key and poking at the terminal, the speeder roared to life. Jelc’s grin got wider as he gave it a little rev.
“Oooh listen to her purr.” Happy, he whistled again. “Xiff, let’s go!” Barking happily, Xiffan took a running leap and jumped into the passenger seat.
He then sat himself down as Jelc drove the speeder out of the ship, closing and locking the freighter up before zooming out towards the beach location given to him by Rue.
“Well, whatever happens, I am sure we will have fun.”
“I’m sure they’re fine, Rue. It’s not like you have them the wrong coordinates, right?” Koda joked, trying to ease Rue. Koda rolled up the sleeves on his jacket, Tracyn stuck to his shoulders and glancing around. “Worst case scenario is I teach you some of my tracking tips.”
Rue considered for a moment, just to be sure. “No, this one gave the correct coordinates. This one would be gratified go learn of this tracking, however. It seems imminently useful.”
Still, the hybrid chittered with worry despite the possible distraction. Thankfully, though, the pair of brothers did not have to wait too much longer; the sound of engines growing closer soon came through the jungle, and soon a speeder bike was blasting to a stop, a horned red man and a wolf astride it. Alk, who had run behind Rue at the noise of the bike, immediately charged back out, tossing his head at it, as if in greeting or challenge, the little pygmy mott barely reaching its nose.
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“Well look Xiffan, we have a welcoming party!” He replied as he stopped the speeder and parked it. He gave a small wave to Rue and the pygmy mott as Xiffan hopped out and began to sniff about.
Seeing the pygmy mott, the wolf put its front legs out, bowing a bit as the fluffy tail began to wag excitedly. “Wrrrf!”
Koda stood up tall and crossed his arms, showing little to no expression on his face, putting on a tough guy act. The small reddish merqaal on his shoulders attempting to do a similar judgemental glare. Tracyn always felt powerful from her perch.
Koda’s facade faded a little at the playing pups, giving a slight smirk.
Jelc glanced up at the human taking in the crossed arms, neutral expressions and very judgemental glare. He knew that look well. A protective family member and rightly so as technically he was just a stranger that Rue met and immediately trusted. As Jelc also studied him for a moment, he gave a nod. This man had been through enough experiences to understand not blindly trusting people. At least even if the human did not accept him as family, he understood it was to protect Rue from being hurt by someone they didn’t know. That he could respect. What he did want to do though is to show him that he could be trusted and not be a stranger.
“You must be the family that Rue talked about so happily.” He gave Koda a small smile. “I am Jelc Rovint, a simple bodyguard to Tasha’Vel’s sweet Twi’lek child Lyna’vel. We were at the Shame Corner when I first met Rue. He was immediately accepting and welcoming. It took me by surprise at first, as I am not used to people who are immediately trusting of strangers. However, his sweet openness actually was very comforting. I guess he sensed a lot of my loneliness and searching.”
Jelc swallowed as he steeled himself a bit. He could feel his eyes tempting to mist as he let out a sigh.
“I don’t blame you for not trusting me, Rue just seems to have this innate ability to read people. As for why he told me that I can be family as well because..” He could feel his voice starting to choke up slightly. All these years of acting tough, surviving for five years without Yeva and Karra, never given the time to actually grieve for them properly, now rose to the surface.
“Because I do not have any family. I did once five years ago actually, a wife named Yeva and a sweet little five year old named Karra. Happened to be in the Devaronian Military and we were set to transport to a different planet. I was escorting the transport that had my wife and child when…”
He could see it again, he is in the cockpit of his ship, watching..the transport moving along, a sudden shift in the stars near them. That hellish black and Red pirate ship phasing into view. His eyes wide as he saw the pilot…wave at him before firing upon the transport. Nothing, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t stop it..Screaming for them.. “YEVA, KARRA!” Tears began to flow down his face as he snapped back to where he was looking at Koda. “When a red and black pirate ship decloaked and fired upon the transport that held my family..I lost them all. My sweet Yeva and dear Karra. After they died, I retired from the military and tried to find some other job, after a couple years, I found that Tasha’Vel was searching for a bodyguard and the pay was good so I took it. Then I met Lyna’vel. She was so much like my daughter that I just decided to stay and protect her. From there well, the rest as you see is history as I am now here.”
“I hold no love in my heart for such marauders. I have my own vendettas against their kind.” Koda motioned to his bandaged eye, “I know what it’s like to lose to them. But ironically they’re how I met my wife.” Koda eased up on his sternness, “My trust you will have to earn. But if Rue thinks you’re a good soul, I trust his judgement enough to be an ally.” He extended his cybernetic left hand.
“As with anything.” He smiled shaking Koda’s hand. “Might be a long shot, but have you ever come across a Trandoshan pirate?” He asked.
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that, I’ve ran into quite a few. A particularly mean one took my eye, but I took at least half of his face in return.” Their handshake was firm and brief, “They’re not exactly an uncommon species to go into that line of work.”
“Really, well, that does really narrow it, and yes, I think we have a common enemy. Because I remember tracking a trandoshan, wasn’t scarred in the face though last I saw it.” He thought. “But one can hope maybe it was the same one.”
“If he is, then you and I will be quick friends.” Koda joked, “But onto other matters, I doubt Rue had in mind that we’d just talk about our dark pasts and enemies. But I’ve been wrong before.” He turned to Rue.
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Rue, who had been frolicking about, doing Stompies, Alk’s favorite game, and apparently also one Xiffan liked, was only partially paying attention to the conversation. He could overhear them discussing him, of course, but he could overhear many things and had long been trained not to mind– he was a thing, after all. Now though he knew it to be polite not to eavesdrop. So he just played happily until addressed. Then, the hybrid spun about and away from stomping and dancing with his animal friends, scurrying nearer and stopping close with a kind look and a hug for Jelc.
“We can speak of whatever it is that you would like to,” he assured them both, from his lanky hold about the Devoarian’s shoulders.
Jelc welcomed the hug openly. Last hug was Lyna telling him goodbye as he drove her home. She was still wearing that adorable shirt she got with Rue’s family. He chuckled, patting Rue’s back softly.
“Thank you both, this place is gorgeous. Xiffan and I have always enjoyed beaches whenever we could. He of course loved to play fetch and run into the waves.”
As the baby mott stomped about, Xiffan sneezed as sand got into his nose. He put a paw up to his nose trying to scratch it. “Wrrrf…”
“It is beautiful here,” Rue agreed, cooing to Alk and Xiffan. And of course, there was Tracyn, whom he reached over to pet now that he was close again. “Alk belongs to this one’s dear friend Hunyi, who is a Wookiee, and he respond to Shiryywook commands, such that this one began learning the language also to speak with Hunyi natively, as she was its first and dearest friend. Also I am still learning Mando'a, which is slightly more difficult, as Elly does not speak it very much, but Sulla and Lektra and I are learning together. Koda got Tracyn…?”
He left the appropriate conversational cue of The Small Talk for Koda to tell the story.
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“On a whim, mostly. There was an animal fair thing that my wife suggested I check out, good for learning to care for a creature and such.” Koda reach up and patted the armored creature, “She’s fesity and grumpy to sum, but an absolute sweetheart when she wants to be and with the kids. They’ll use her as a pillow and she reluctantly agrees.”
Tracyn gave a gave a grumpy mewl but happily accepted pats.
Jelc chuckled. “Well she is pretty cute, I have to say. Xiffan I had gotten from when I was parked near a hub station on tattooine. He was beaten, half starved and his owner wanted to use him for illegal fights for the Hutts.
I just couldn’t stand for a creature being abused like that so wound up in a fight with the owner and came out with a black eye and one very happy Cythraul.
Owner last I heard, had to get some robotic replacements to his right arm and left leg. But Xiffan to me was worth it.
Bought him some treats and toys, and anything he needed to feel comfortable. He was very shy at first, but he came around and just loves kids and other pets.”
He smiled as Xiffan ran circles around the baby mott, playfully barking and letting it try to charge and headbutt the Cythraul. A few times, Xiffan pranced around and licked the mott’s right cheek as he wagged his beautiful furred tail. He then let out a happy howl.
“Awooooo!”
“So tell me Rue and Koda, what are some things you enjoy doing here at the beach?” He smiled as he walked on the sand heading towards the blue ocean waves crashing softly against the shore.
“Oh, everything!” Rue exclaimed, skipping along merrily as he was wont to. “The beach is wonderful! The sunlight, to simply exist in, is enough. It is why Hunyi and this one live here.” He gestured towards their camp. “But there is also the swimming, which she and Elly taught this one, and the building of sand-the-castles, which Sulla did, and stompies, which is Alk’s favorite game. This one has also seen people do other activities but has not tried them itself. Things with speeders on the water, and balls with a net between them. What does Koda think?”
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“Beaches aren’t my normal preferred activity. But I do enjoy insert Star Wars volleyball here from time to time. Elly knocked me out with a ball to the face one time.”
Jelc chuckled. “I forgot to bring my board, I do enjoy a little surfing myself and beach volleyball is always fun. This Elly sounds like a lot of fun. Might have to meet them too.”
“She is our sister. Sir Koda’s moreso than this one’s, of course. This one does not know the volleying of balls or the surfing. What are these?”
“Ooooh these are a couple fun activities, volleyball is basically two teams that are trying to pass a ball over the net without it being intercepted to get points and win. They team that scores the most points wins.”
“This sounds interesting,” Rue wondered. “This one could foresee the Kendis all playing it quite vigorously against one another. Everyone is rather competitive. Perhaps Jelc could win with Koda even.”
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