Once Avera was finished with her minor break down, she took stock of the situation once more. She was reasonably well equipped, even if it was disgustingly hot. Thankfully it was a dry heat, with no wind whipping the sand in her face. Decent enough walking weather, and she would have a clear line of sight to see any landmarks or signs of civilization. Plus, she was...reasonably certain she could pull off the thing that had landed her here in the first place.
She hoped.
Still, standing around and endlessly planning for contingencies would only make her dehydrate that much sooner. Cradling her lasgun, she set her sights on a distant spike of rock jutting from the sand dunes, and started forward, carefully listening for any potential foes. Her first instinct had been to abandon her heavier clothing and flak jacket, but she discarded that idea. If nothing else, the spire was close enough to where she could gauge if the heat would keep her from functioning if she kept it on for a longer period of time.
As she walked, she thought about just what, exactly, had happened to her. She had seen the Emperor, that much was certain. She had also seen the dark monstrosities that He was fighting against in the Warp. His light was...well, it was many things. It made her want to bow her knees in supplication, but at the same time she barely understood all the things she had seen as she passed through that space inbetween Laufey and...wherever she was.
An open mind was a fortress unguarded, as the saying went...but still, did one not have to open the gates to send an army forth? She was far, far too curious to not try and see what she had seen again, hopefully minus the terrible things she was trying very, very hard not to think about.
So she reached out, and nothing happened. Frowning in concentration as she kept walking forward, she tried to reach inwards. Nothing.
She kept trying, nearly giving her a headache as she tried every single possible mental trick to call up that feeling again. And then...she carefully, carefully reached
elsewhere.
And the colors sprang to life.
This wasn't seeing, however, far from it. This was much more of a feeling of certainty that transcended the senses. She could feel the burning suns above were filled with Red, while the land beneath her feet was a mix of White and Red. The Spire up ahead had a very, very small pool of Green far below it, so distant she could barely feel it. Life, perhaps? Water? It was hard to tell. Blue was altogether absent here.
But strangely, there was a great mass of Black far beneath the surface of the world, so deep that she wouldn't have felt it if it weren't for the fact it didn't just encompass her patch of the desert, but the entire planet. It wasn't malevolent, however. It was like a dead thing at peace, long buried underneath the white blanket of sand. She could almost feel the colors...reaching out to her. The desert, blasted landscape it may be, was still a thing that existed. And everything that existed had life, of a sort.
The sensation was still disturbing, and served to make her cast her senses elsewhere. She focused them up ahead, searching...it was hard to do, and she nearly stumbled once or twice from the concentration it was taking. But she kept at it, sharpening her senses. Eventually though she dropped it, unable to maintain it. She felt winded, more than just from the effort of walking however.
After a good half hour of walking, she was at the base of the spire. Panting, she made her way towards the side where the sun wasn't beating down on her head and unhooked her canteen and took a drink of it, gulping down a mouthful with glee before resting against the smooth stone for a moment, doing her best to rub the sweat out of her eyes.
Then she rubbed her eyes again, because she couldn't believe what she saw. People! Actual, human people!
They were distant, travelling over a set of dunes at least five minutes minutes away back towards wherever they had come from, but she could easily sprint the distance and meet them.
Gathering her things up, she grabbed hold of her rifle from where she had set it down, and quickly jogged the way, her heart filled with a certain level of hope.
"Hey! Wait!" She called out, trying to get their attention once they were only about a dune away from her. She thankfully caught their attention, the trio of beings coming to a halt to turn around to face her. And, thankfully, they were indeed human.
The one in the center was a female, clearly in command of the group. She had dark brown hair that came down to her ears in a rough style, her violently green eyes examining Avera with a clear look of caution. Oddly enough, this woman was the only one wearing any form of outer coat, which took the form of a roughspun brown cloak that looked almost like something a farm hand would wear as a tunic.
The second female on her left was wearing a much lighter outfit, which Avera at first mistook for being completely immodest, until she realized that the cloth covering the rest of her body was very close to skin tone, perhaps to elicit such a reaction in the first place. It was all made of some sort of leather-like material, the darker portions woven in such a way that it gave structure to the rest of the outfit. It looked practical for comfort, but nearly worthless in terms of protection. The woman gave her a cool gaze, her steel gray eyes almost hypnotic.
The man to the right wore an awfully bright orange jacket and brown trowsers, his hair thinning ever so slightly around the edges. A stern frown framed by a light beard and mustache was firmly afixed to his face, his dark eyes scanning her body in a manner reminiscent of a fellow soldier sizing someone up for a fight.
When she looked again for any weapons they might be carrying, however, all she could see was a small pistol clipped to the man's belt. The women both had some strange looking cylinder attached to their waists, but Avera couldn't determine what exactly they were. All in all, she didn't like her odds if she got into a fight. The pistol was far less bulky than her rifle, and if the two women were packing any firepower, she would be dead before she could shift her aim to the others.
Thankfully, Avera looked more comical in her getup than threatening. She was still clad in her standard issue armor, complete with blocky helmet. It looked entirely uncomfortable to them, not to mention impractical in the hot climate. And, other than the tan pants, the forest green armor provided little concealment in any environment that existed on Tatooine. There was also the matter of the comically oversized blaster rifle she was still cradling in her hands.
"Are you lost?" The leader said, still a bit wary to Avera's eye, but non confrontational. "You're dressed strangely for a mercenary."
"Thaya." The woman to the right said, leaning over to whisper something in the cloaked woman's ear that Avera couldn't hear. The man perked up, clearly interested in the byplay happening in front of him, but maintained his position, keeping his eyes squarely on the unknown in their midst.
The leader, Thaya, straightened up a bit. "I guess since you flagged us down though, you must want something. And since you aren't trying to shoot at us or eat us, which is better than most things in this desert, I'm half inclined to lis-."
As luck would have it, it was precisely at that moment the universe decided that Avera hadn't dealt with enough life threatening things today. A great chorus of howls echoed through the air in a brutish warcry that set her hair on end. Turning around, she saw a small horde of creatures dressed in ragged cloaks cross the dunes with frightening speed. Some of them were brandishing rifles, others wicked looking clubs tapered with spikes.
"Bastila, cover them!" Avera heard Thaya said, springing ahead with incredible speed. With a
snap-hiss, a blade of pure green plasma sprang to life in Thaya's hand, deflecting shots from the approaching enemy with a precision that went beyond anything a normal human could do. The movements were fluid, precise, and spoke of a lifetime of dedication.
Avera could only appreciate this for a moment, however, instead opting to scramble out of the way of the oncoming fire, bringing her rifle about to snap off a few shots at their attackers. Some went wide, burning the sand into glass where it connected, but she tore holes in two enemies. The other woman, Bastilla, had a strange double bladed version of that plasma sword (this one curiously enough colored yellow), the tips of the blades whirling about in a defensive dance that covered her and the male, who was plucking away at their enemies with that surprisingly deadly pistol of his.
Watching Thaya cut through the foe like a deadly whirlwind, however, was quite impressive. Her enemies were slaughtered to the last, quickly, precisely. It was combat as an artform, and it made Avera feel...
[] Starstruck.
[] Humbled.
[] Renewed.
[] Thoughtful.
[] Envious.
[] Write in her reaction to the display.
Well, it made her feel like that. And just as suddenly as the attack began, it was over. Their enemies were cut down, and Avera found the other three looking at her again, even more curious than before.
The man glanced at her and huffed. "Never seen a Blaster quite like that before. You mind telling us who you are, and what you're doing in the middle of the Dune Sea dressed up like you're headed to war?"
_____
GM Note: Here it is, delayed horribly but still. Also, don't forget to write in your reaction to seeing Lightsaber combat for the first time.
Questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to ask. Active discussion is loved. Also, if you can't tell, we're in the Jedi Civil War era, and Thaya is this universe's Revan.
Plan Label
[] Tell them the truth.
[] But leave out the part about the colors.
[] Lie about who you are.
[] And just who will you be if not Avera, Imperial Guardswoman? (Write In)
[] You've successfully tapped into your ability to sense the colors. What will you do with it?
[] Try and use the color sense again. You haven't used it on people before.
[] Don't. It can dull your other senses, and you can't make mistakes right now.
[] You've felt...something strange, when you touched the land. Should you try to reach out to it again?
[] Yes, you should learn everything you can about your abilities.
[] Neither the time, nor place for that now.
[] Ask them questions?:
[] Ask no questions. You don't know these people, and while they dont seem like they want to kill you, you're certain they're not your run of the mill citizens of the Imperium.
[] Only ask important ones. You don't know where you are, but you also don't want to give anything away that they don't strictly need to know.
[] Ask many questions. You don't know where you are, or who they are, or what weapons they used, or anything. Play the stupid card to get some information, after all, knowledge is power.
____
Skill Change:
Mana Sense (0) -> Mana Sense (1)
Skill Discovered
Landbond (0)
Oh well, can always push that way.
