Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Quinn had heard tales of the forest. It sounded like the kind of place she just *had* to check out. Alone, preferably. So she'd arranged for some transport, early in the morning when she could easily sneak out without anyone asking questions. Soon, she'd actually made it to the forest, and then past its outer boundary. Good thing she'd taken her scanner goggles with her. They should allow her to see perfectly in low light conditions like those found in a dense forest.

Once she was in deep enough, she reached out through the force; like she'd been taught; and sought out the lifeforms that were nearby. She wasn't sure what she was looking, but she didn't feel entirely safe trying this sort of thing back in the city anyhow.

Sense: 1eF 1 Light Side

Around her she could feel... everything. This place was overflowing. Bursting to the seems with life. Flora and fauna surrounded her in every direction but through the darkness and the goggles she couldn't experience the true majesty of any of it. Yet still the view and feeling she received was immense, unbelievably welcoming.

[Give me a Hard Survival Check, Boost for the goggles. Also, lets upgrade that check one for reasons.]

[That makes the Dicepool I am giving you read as: Two Purple, One Red, One Boost]

Quinn was not particularly good at outdoors stuff, she might otherwise readily admit...

... but she was one with the force, and the force was with her.

Survival, boost, DESTINY: 1eP+2eA+1eB+2eD+1eC 3 successes, 1 Triumph

There was serenity surrounding her, despite the stillness of the air there was a coolness that calmed like a gentle breeze. Around her the tree's reached high up into the sky, blotting out all light. For now, she felt safe. Here where no other person aside from her stood. Alone in this deep and dark forest she should by all rights have felt fear of the unknown, fear of what dangers might lurk around one tree or the next but instead she felt an overwhelming calm.

Through this calm the forest seemed to beckon her to remove the goggles. Called out to her in a way that was hard to describe. There was no way she could rationalize it but she felt what the forest wanted her to do.

Thinking she could always just put them back on if she got lost, Quinn removed the goggles from her eyes and let them just sit around her neck instead as she gazed on the forest without its aid.

All around her there were dots of bioluminescent plants. Some dotted the ground in little dots of color, purples, greens. Others crawled up the side of trees in dull oranges and light reds. Most striking was a deep blue that appeared as segmented rings flowing out along the ground floor not but a few feet in front of where she was. Strange though, the light was, for just a moment prior there had been nothing that appeared quite like it could have been the culprit of such a beautiful light.

For a second it lay there until it burst into life, running up a tree the lights curled around it and then slipped back into view. Once on the right, once on the left. Something small was held atop the tree in front of her and she could easily feel it's gaze upon her. So easily that the little sounds it made didn't come as much of a surprise.

"Uhm... hello?"

She wasn't sure what it was up there. If it was even alive, and if so, capable of understanding her. But still, saying hi seemed like the first thing one'd try regardless.

There was silence at first, a pause that held in the air as the creature appraised the sound. Letting out, in reply, a soft chirping like sound.

"Are you a bird?"

Stupid!

As soon as she asked the question she rolled her eyes.

Of course it's a bird!

The Force... the force was... not something she fully understood. She knew, though, that it was the sort of thing that had purpose. Fate. And all of that. And it was hard to deny that lightshow just now. Was that the force? Or just the forest? And either way, what was it about the bird, or the tree, that was so important? Maybe the bird was injured, and the forest wanted to help it. Maybe the bird was guarding something. Or maybe none of this mattered at all.

"Should I... come up there?"

Why do I keep talking to the bird?

The chirping like sound seemed to answer but to Quinn's perception of language, well, she wasn't whatever the thing chirping about in the dark was. Once again the lights moved, however, dancing their way around and around the log back to the ground in front of her. That sound of movement came from just a foot or so in front of her, the lights that circled around something like a tail showed the creature to be something of length.

Rushing about on the floor the lights stopped in front of her suddenly, she could feel the presence of something rise up from the ground a little bit more and that same chirping like sound came out from about a foot or two in front of her. It sounded higher than the ground though by about a foot or two.

"Uhm..." instinctively, she took a step back and took out her 'stick'. Which right now just looked like a short cylinder but which could elongate when called upon. "...Good little, creature? I'm friendly? Are you friendly?"

It's not going to be friendly!

Oh gods, please let it be friendly!

It was quiet for the moment, Quinn could feel the creature reaching in from where it sat to examine the object with an investigative sniffing. After an investigative prod it slipped back down to the ground and Quinn could feel it slip between her legs and run off to the other side of her. There it waited circling about, showing where it was with the bioluminescent lights on its tail. Seeming to wait for her.

She turned around, following it with her eyes.

"Uhm..."

Well it wasn't attacking, which was good. Just so long as it wasn't just the calm before the storm, at least. Having an idea, she reached into a pocket with her other hand, and fished out one of her survival ration packs.

"You want food?"

She brought it up to her mouth, ripping the packet open with her teeth, before squeezing the contents so that they'd stick out. She considered holding it out for the creature to eat... but reconsidered. The thing might take her arm off too if she did that. So instead she carefully placed the packet down on the ground in a way that made it seem inviting; and without the contents touching dirt, of course; and then took a step back.

"It's not great or anything, but it's food."

The lights came up to about a foot away from Quinn for a second, she heard the sniffing, and then it darted back away. Off over between two trees that were lit by the flora crawling up their trunks. It waited there and she could feel the creature watching her, waiting.

She picked the ration packet up again, took an overly dramatic bite from it, and then placed it back down. Maybe the creature was just skittish. This time, she took a few more steps back than she previously had... and then waited.

There was no response for a few seconds but then the critter quickly moved back over to her. Running between her legs and around in circles the creature made it's light chirping sound once more before running back off to the space between the trees. The lights of its tail, through the quick motion, looked as if they were pulsating or flashing where it ran.

"Huh, do you want me to follow you?"

Guess he isn't hungry.

"Alright then..."

She followed, moving to the space between the trees, careful not to spook the creature with any sudden movements.

Excited chirping like sound followed her approach as the creature skittered across the forest floor. Careful to guide Quinn in such a way that she didn't trip upon anything that may lay on the forest floor. Guiding the way in the utter darkness with the lights of it's tail and the surroundings.

Quinn would keep following it to wherever the creature might lead her.

For something like ten minutes the creature guided her around tree after tree. Finding, occasionally, a bunch of rock forms that blocked passageway and called for the creature to carefully guide Quinn around it. Eventually, however, Quinn started to notice that her vision was getting better. There was more light coming from somewhere that placed everything into a light blue tinge. Following the creatures tail around that last bend Quinn was confronted with a small lake. A small lake filled with something, little blue dots that gave off a great deal of light for their size, that floated about in the water and seemed to be suspended within it as well.

Sitting at the edge of the pool sat the creature. It was about four feet in length, walked on four feet, and at about the halfway point was where it's fur layer became light enough that the bioluminescent skin was able to show through.