The disembodied voice probably has no idea what Blake is saying. Because it doesn't answer him. Same could be said of Bethany, but she does answer him. "Uh... I dunno?"

The person answers Nathan/Mittens, however. "I like chocolate. And ice cream. But this place charges so much for ice cream. What I really want is to be safe."

Nathan nods in reply to Blake.  "'I like chocolate and ice cream, but what I really want is to be safe,' is what I got in reply."

"Staying safe is a real challenge on Tatooine, isn't it?" he replies to the mystery person, "Me and my friends might be able to help out with that.  Interested?"

Pyrus lands next to the group, Mittens laughing and dismounting.

Again out loud and telepathically, "An honest enough answer!  My fave is the swirl kinds.  Where there's several flavors all at once.  As for safety, anybody who attacks me sure isn't safe!"

Pyrus beams proudly.  "Yeah!  But I've never actually seen you fight anyone before."

Mits blushes some.  "That uh...  p-probably for the best.  But I'll bet you will eventually."


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:46, Thu 12 Dec 2019.

  Alas, that this Mittens doesn't have a suitably boneless monster friend to practice True Muppet Frenzy with.

  "Not having to watch you kill murderous psycopaths also means Pyrus has also never any murderous psychopaths in the first place. Hopefully. He might have a tragic backstory too he's not telling us."

The person responds, "I'm interested. What's it gonna cost me?"

The sensitives can sense the person is now stationary again.

Bethany looks at Pyrus. "DO you have a tragic backstory?"

Pyrus thinks on the tragic backstory question, "Don't know my family.  Just hatched.  Guy who hatched me was mean beastmaster.  Sold me to an ugly gangster.  Who kept me in a dungeon.  Kept saying to his friends that some day when I'm bigger he'd feed me his enemies.  But Mittens' Master rescued me!  I miss him.  He was nice."

Mits considers the cost question.  On the one hand, "It will cost you your freedom for the rest of your life!  Your new master will monitor your every move!"  On the other hand, "Of course the alternative is you become some lunatic murder-kill monster villain and I'll have to hunt you down and calmly kill you."  For once, she stays silent.

Nathan is relieved Mittens didn't scare off the mystery person by blurting something out.  "Well I supposed that depends on if we're able to help.  But for negotiating a price and figuring out if ours is the kind of help you want, some of your time will have to be spent.  But I do have some conditions.  For one, I need to know that where you choose to meet with me isn't too dangerous for me or my friends.  Know of a place like that?  This is my first time to this planet."

  "Yeah, that's usually the sort of thing people regard as tragic backstory." If more like a 4 out of ten, upscaled to a 11/10 if they end up later killed by a protagonist during 'fed enemies' duty.

Disembodied voice replies, "Everywhere is dangerous on Tatooine. I'll come meet you."

Bethany ohs and nods to Pyrus, then gives him pets.

The person approaches the group. Within minutes, the person comes into view and it is clearly a young human. A little blonde girl, probably about 10 years old or so. She is wearing what looks like jedi robes, but the outer robe is red while the inner robe is white and the sleeves and pants are royal blue. On her hip is a lightsaber.

She approaches until she is about 15 feet away from the group, then stops, her hair blowing in the wind as she stares at the bunch.

Pyrus reacts happily to Beth pets!  n.n  And is oddly happy to hear that his backstory would be considered tragic.  Maybe thanks to hanging out with Mittens, tragic backstory has become synonymous with "becomes a cool character in the movie."

"It is?  Cool!"

"Hi.  I'm Nathan.  This is Blake, Bethany, Mittens, and Pyrus.  What's your name?"

Mittens whistles a famous jingle from a gunfighter movie, and dramatically faces Liberty with a huge smile on her face and an exaggerated squint.

"'The two gunfighters locked eyes under the blistering heat of the twin Tatooine suns!  A breeze blew a lonely tumbleweed between..."

She looks around, "Aw c'mon!  Where's a tumbleweed when you need one!?  Pretend there's a tumbleweed."

  Okay, so clearly this is a 'Save Tatooine from them' situation rather than a 'save them from Tatooine' one.

  "Mittens, if I die it needs to be with you knowing you've gotten the genre wrong.  You have swords, not blasters."

  Maybe Mittens's choice was because it's harder to whistle the soundtracks to those movies?
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:34, Thu 12 Dec 2019.

The girl says, "My name is Liberty. Why would I be pretending there is tumbleweed?"

Bethany says, "Pleased to meetchya, Liberty!"

Evil Dad: "Movies are a waste of my time!"

Master Antedeluvian: "Sure we can watch movies.  Afterwards we can meditate upon their deeper meaning."

Mittens sweatdrops that there's another being in the galaxy that missed out on watching movies for a big chunk of her life.  "Seriously?  Haven't you seen any gunfighter movies?  There's always a tumbleweed.  I need to show you some movies."

Pyrus nods sagely.  "Movies are fun."

Mittens considers the deeper meaning of Blake's words.  "I think I get what you're trying to tell me.  In a swords movie, guns never hit unless to make the protagonist look all the more gritty when he cuts down the shooter in spite of the injury."

She thinks back on her experience.  "Huh.  Maybe that's why Evil Dad, Master Prehistoric, Nathan, and the rest of the Jedi Order all avoid blasters."

"Unless piloting a fighter ship," Nathan clarifies, "Ship combat doesn't include swords.  And no, that's not the reason.  Not my reason, anyway."

He looks over to Liberty.  "As you can see, me and my friends mean you no harm.  I am a Jedi Knight, and my Order is based upon defending people who need help.  You look like you may have had some experience with a Jedi.  I hope it was better than Mittens' experience with a Dark Jedi."

  Well, Mittens isn't wrong about her assumptions.  Which is just the sort of 'technically correct' Blake also tries to coast on at times, no wonder they hang out together.

  "I would suggest discussing this back on the ship Nathan, but they only gave you a taxi."  Blake went along with it because it means getting his own not exactly fit for a full adventuring party ship designated as a narrative target.

Taxi man is, in fact, still there and never left. Partly because the GM forgot it was a taxi, but also partly because the group hasn't gone but a few steps outside the ship.

"It's really hot." Bethany says, waving at herself.

Liberty nods and says, "Inside is better..." She then looks at Mittens. "Avoid blasters because movies say so? But that wouldn't make sense since you just said the dark one didn't watch movies..."

She then looks to Nathan. "I am not Je'daii. I am neither Ashla nor Bogan. I am Bendu."

Nathan nods.  "Inside is better, yes."

On the way inside, Mits answers, "Oh I dunno.  Life mirrors art and vice-versa.  Something I learned from Master Gumsmack.  So just 'cause Evil Dad didn't watch movies doesn't mean he didn't sound exactly like all the crazypants villains in them"

Out comes a Dark Jedi action figure.

"'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.'"

Pyrus raspberrys at the action figure.

Nathan looks curiously at Liberty.  "I'm not sure what you mean by, 'Ashla,' 'Bogan,' or 'Bendu.'"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:14, Fri 13 Dec 2019.

  "Probably just the hundredth 'these is our words for a color spectrum' from context alone.  None of you ever could make up your mind what to call The Force, you only ever agree with crushing people you don't like with your mind, literally or metaphorically.  And the occasional sword."

  He looks back to Liberty, "Unless that lightsaber is for show, which would be the first I've heard of such a thing.".

  Ah, Mittens with the Sith Speech.  Why does the crush all the weak beneath my boots club have a more heroic sounding speech than the emotionless zombie speech from the Jedi?

Liberty looks at Blake curiously. "...is any of that a bad thing?"

Liberty then answers Nathan, "Ashla; the light. Bogan; the dark. Bendu; ...grey. Middle."

Bethany says, "Oooo..."

Liberty looks at Mittens, "I am not sure, but I think I have heard you make reference to two masters... Prehistoric and Gumsmack? How many masters have you had?"

Mits smiles.  "Oooh!  Ashla is sooo much better of a name than, 'Light Side Of The Force!'  Though admittedly 'Bendu' sounds like a brand of drinking straw, I'll take that over the dumb name, 'The Force.'  So what's your name for 'The Force' in general?

"Mittens has had 3 teachers.  Nathan, Evil Dad, and third guy to whom she gave a zillion nicknames." 

Pyrus chimes in happily, "I have nicknames too!  'Lava Lord!'  'Death on Wings!'  'Cuddlewumpkins!'"

Nathan sweatdrops.  "I should hope that you would consider being crushed with The Force a bad thing..."

To Blake he admits, "Sorry, but uh...  I've only ever known it being called, 'The Force.'  Not scholarly enough to know any other names.  So I can't really offer any speculation on why the Jedi like calling it that over what other cultures might."

Mits scoffs.  "To sound mystical and religious without admitting to it being a cult that worships some unknowable and bi-polar psychic power."

  Okay, it could either be a good sign or a bad sign his girl is as honest as Mittens about 'Well DUH you, that's what it's for!'.

  Thankfully, a name like Liberty is the wrong kind of name to categorize under 'I chose this name for IRONIC EDGELORD REASONS' "Like many things in life, the circumstances around it tends to be the important part. So, hopefully not a bad thing."

  There goes Nathan being all reasonable again. "It's okay Nathan, I cheat with hypernet searches."  It can't really compete with having a career funny cat standing in his proximity, though.

Cats do so love walking all over keyboards, tis true.

Liberty looks at Nathan. "Me being crushed is a bad thing, sure. My enemy being crushed is a good thing. Even the Je'daii believe that or they wouldn't wield weapons."

She looks at Joe. "Yeah. It all depends."

Lib looks at Mittens and gives her a small smile*, relaxing a little. "...I like you."
* https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/...onde-1078065_640.jpg

Then says, "Unfortunately, those who referred to themselves as Ashla called the Force "Ashla" and those who referred to themselves as Bogan called the Force "Bogan". I like what the Mustafarians call it: The Life Current. But if I'm honest with the way it acts, "The Force" seems the most appropriate name for it."

Bethany says, "This all sounds very interesting... do you trust us enough to come with us on the taxi ship?"

Liberty glances over her shoulder then back to the group and says, "....I trust you all more than I trust anyone else on this world. So yes."

(Forgot we already entered ship)

The ship takes off.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:43, Mon 30 Dec 2019.

Nathan ohs to Blake.  The Jedi library gives the impression that nothing there is for public consumption, but now that he thinks about it, keeping everything secret would be against the Jedi Code.  So yeah.  Probably a ton of stuff on Jedi lore readily available on the holonet.  Just for some reason people don't bother reading if the way people treat Nathan is any indication.

Mits smiles back at Lib and winks.  "Mittens likes you as well."

Nathan lights up upon mention of the Mustafarians.  "I'm in love with Mustafarian folk music!  Unlike anything else in the galaxy.  What they can do with their vocals is incredible.  Listen to this."

He pulls up a song on his Star Wars iPod and sings along.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80gwh6La8J0

"That's entirely acapella!"

Yeah.  Beatboxing not very much a thing in the Star Wars universe unless R2 counts.

"Mittens looks over at Nathan in surprise.  This is the happiest she's ever seen him.  Nevermind what insights on the psychic god these aliens might have.  Nay, it is the music that he's so excited about."

Nathan blushes.

Pyrus bobs to the music.  He dances his way over to Liberty to give her a hug, lick her cheek, and draw her into dancing with him to the music.

  Blake's life as it often does, grabs the 'from a certain point of view' ball and runs with it.  Nathan is right about how much people can't be bothered to read even if they had access.  Just like Blake can be right saying he has very definitely never had to slice into or photocopy the Jedi Temple's data storage.

  Of course, you would probably need to be a force user to tell what's accurate and what's fake from those who claim they have... Then again, Blake can tell when a planet goes missing from a star chart through raw nitpicking reflex, so maybe he's just a huge nerd.

  "On the off chance you were not born here, how did you end up on Tatooine in the first place, Liberty?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:30, Tue 31 Dec 2019.

Liberty slowly looks towards Nathan. Then says, "What if I told you there was someone who learned how to use music to manipulate the Force?"

Liberty answers Blake, "I got to Tatooine just a couple weeks ago. I had followed someone onto a ship and the ship took off with me in it. It took me here. The person I was following, turns out, works for a hutt named Jabba. Jabba is the crime lord who lives near the area we just left."

Bethany says, "Where were you born then?"

Liberty says, "Coruscant. But I've moved around a lot. I never really had a home for longer than a couple months and even that was rare."

To Pyrus' attempts to lick, hug and dance, Liberty is surprised and then smiles and dances.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:00, Thu 02 Jan 2020.

Mits has been doing some "research" of her own into Jedi lore.  Watching holovids about the legendary antihero Revan and her sidekick Bethany and how they stopped the evil Rachni Queen from conquering the galaxy with her legion of xenomorphs.  But only the weird one about magical sword muscle man ever mentioned anything about manipulating the Force through music.

"Wowie zowie!  I hope you've got the number of this someone!  'cause I'd love to fuse my lightsaber with a keytar!  ♪ Bow bow bow, bow-ba-daw, zoop zoop zoop!" ♪

Pyrus loves the taste of Liberty cheek.  :9  But refrains from overdoing things and leads the dance to the rhythm of Mittens' "music."

"Yeah even Evil Dad knew not to mess with the Hutts.  Their superpower is putting huge bounties on people they don't like.  Works even on Force users.  'course Evil Dad would cash in on those bounties from time to time, so we weren't hurting for money.  You remember your real parents?  I only ever see mine briefly in a recurring dream."

Nathan smiles at the adorable dancing children.  "Hadn't heard of that.  When I asked if it were possible, I was directed to the Library.  And I'm not terribly good at research."

  Blake can't decide if he should file Liberty's answer under 'Force BS' or 'Every Day Coincidence BS'.  Yes, even with a Jedi literally ordered by other Jedi to find the Not Jedi.

  "Ah yes, 'unless it's inconvenient'. The main thing the Sith has in common with most world views in practice." How dare an overgrown slug not bow to ME-oh he's hired HOW many idiots with guns? Eh, he's beneath my notice, honest.

Liberty is trying for a simple, swaying dance with Pyrus and says, "I was grown in a laboratory. I was never really born. As for the musical force user, I was asked to never give her number out. But I will be telling her about you all as I get to know you and if you leave a good impression, she'll come meet you."

https://media.giphy.com/media/...WCVzaCx7TW/giphy.gif

Still dancing, Liberty then looks up at Nathan. "Don't they have a librarian? Or a scholar who would be able to help you search? It's not hard to learn how either. Unless the jedi specifically made their archives user unfriendly..."

Bethany joins in the dance, copying Lib's moves.