Log:Explorer's Guild: Bimmisaari Safari

Explorer's Guild: Bimmisaari Safari

OOC Date: October 19, 2017
Location: Bimmisaari
Participants: Explorer's Guild: Corr Waldin, Netep Muri, Rato Darsi, Sugg, Eilam

Bimmisaari, the crown jewel of the Halla sector shines green and blue against the backdrop of space as the explorers arrive from here and there, winking in from hyperspace throughout the day to gather in the capital city and strike out as a group.

The planet's temperate climate supports a stable ecology that is dominated by rolling plains where the cities are generally built and the ancient forests the Bimm refuse to defile. It is to the forest that the explorers are bound, leaving the plains and the cities, with their white plastered brick walls and distinctive tent-like thatch roofs, behind. Thanks to Muri's gifts, they depart in good grace from the local government. Riding in on hired land transports, the trees gradually thicken around them to the point where it is no longer safe to travel at anything above walking speed and the transports, recognizing the geofence ahead where vehicles are not permitted to travel, stop working anyway.

"The general area the first Bimmifly was sighted in is right up ahead," Corr informs everyone as they trudge along, a couple hours into the forests now. The tree canopy is thick, dappling the ground below with the dimmed sunlight and filtering it green, an iridescent shade that seems to dominate everything within view. "Whatever you do, don't interfere with any of the Bimmisaari tiga loreng," he continues, leading the way. "It's a brightly colored bird and it's protected by the government here, so unless you want to get us all locked in the Tower of Law, don't mess with any. We're just here for the Bimmifly." Everyone was given a print-out of the artist's rendition of the mythical insect, a black delicate thing with huge, spreading blue wings that shimmer with that naturally-occurring spice that's worked its way into the creature's body. In theory. "And keep an eye out. We're not the only ones huntin' for Bimmiflies." Occasionally, a treebranch will move more than the wind can explain. "And don't piss off the trees, neither."

Everyone has been outfitted with (1) telescoping insect net. It collapses down to lightsaber-size. Too bad Sar isn't here to get one.

"I've no intention of infuriating /any/ of the locals," Muri murmurs, having been unusually quiet for the hike thus far. "Cept perhaps for the poor Bimmifly." Her net is telescoped still and clipped to hip - easily accessible but leaving hands free to do things, like point. Or fidget, and roll up her sleeves as she starts to warm a little.

While Rato Darsi may have decried the entire ride to the planet and insulted the beautiful city under her breath, the Togruta has less to say about their new jungle terrain. Contrary to expectation, however, none of it is good. "I am missing Nar Shhhaadaa." Rat grumbles, slipping in alongside Corr. She's got armor on, but has yet to find a helmet that will suit those montrals, so her head is bare. Still, that perception those horns aware come in handy. "Soil is poor, all'a green is lie." The slicer thumbs at the net they've been given, eyeing the movement of the trees as she idly brings the device to her mouth to give the edge a testing little nibble. "Is death on surface. Green is greedy."

Sugg is walking along with the rest of the group, dressed as impeccably as ever. It seems as though the Rodian can't go anywhere without looking like a hot piece of... Explorer? In any case, he is walking with his bug net on his shoulder, with a safari hat pulled down over his head, two holes cut in the front to allow his antennae to stick out. He looks left to right as he walks, commenting idly to whoever is listening, "We have inthectth on Rodia, of courth... but they are mathhhive thingth that hunt you, not the other way around. There ith one that will thuck the blood out of a fully grown Rodian. Thugg hopeth we are not finding thothe here. But don't worry, Mami," this said toward Netep. "If we find one, Thugg will protect you." He shoots a withering look toward Rato.

As with the last time Eilam was out and about with the group, the Ghostling was covered in a thin, albeit completely covering set of clothes and a light cloak otherwies to protect himself, though after the last one - was it obvious Eilam was a tiny bit concerned? He was. Last time he thought 'exploration' would be... just that, not fighting beasts. And now there's concerns of competing interests here? This time, though, Eilam didn't have anyone directly to hide behind, so they were just quietly staring down everything and trying to appear less than obvious. Even if their faint glowing might attract insects. ...and others.

"Yeh, the... the green is a lie," Corr agrees with Rato in a conciliatory gesture, hoping to keep the nigh-feral Togruta gal calm and relaxed for as long as possible. "And there's no reports of anything like that here, Sugg, so if we /do/ find one, well, that might be a bigger deal than the Bimmifly," he adds, with a tight grin. "Now everyone keep an eye out for the Bimmimoss. It's a particular strain with pink spores sproutin' up outta the middle. There's theories the Bimmifly might feed on it, what with the trips the spores have been known to give people."

"Death on surface and greed..." Netep smiles a sly smile at the Togruta. "Sounds a /little/ like Nar Shaddaa." Moss that'll get you high? That's worth keeping an eye out for. Problem is, there's too /much/ to snag one's visual attention here while feet keep one tromping along. And she's endeavoring to see_it_all. Sugg gets just a fleeting smile for his chivalry "I've no doubt of that, after the harvap incident," but in the event of hungry vines or cats....the little explorer increases her stride but /just/ a smidge.

"Is /lie/." Rato hisses under her breath with a look passed between Corr and Netep, fearing that the others do not take her distrust of the landscape as seriously as they should. Thankfully, she is still calm, though had Rato a tighter grasp on literary techniques, she would have caught the foreshadowing and been less so. "Moss." The Togruta grumbles instead, still not keen on their natural environment. Who would have thought the savage would miss the duracrete jungle of the Smuggler's Moon? She inhales deeply and twists slowly as they walk, still occassionally chewing on the net as a nervous habit. "Is here." She points out abruptly, stopping dead and shooting a look back at Thugg. A lip curls in a little growl like 'yeah, bitch, I found it firtht papi.'

Sugg walks along, not seeming to notice either Netep's quickened stride or really what Corr or Rato are discussing with all of the lying dirt and fake greenery. It looks pretty real to him. His overlarge eyes continue to scan the trees nearby, gesturing with his blaster, "Theemth like there ith a lot of mothhh on thethe treeth." Finally he looks around to spot that growl Rato sends his way, not seeming to get the meaning of her gesture, so naturally he slides her a wink and blows her a kiss in reply.

"I do not know much about insects, or... how they feed. Do they just come to wherever it grows, or do they actively search wherever they are? Like... if we pick up and take this stuff with us, will they come to us? There is a whole lot by that rock, too." Eilam takes the opportunity to walk towards where he saw a whole lot of moss on a rock. Ahead of time, Eilam takes out the telecsoping net and extends it, just in case he sees anything.

"I don't know," Corr replies to Eilam, staring at the moss as a breeze drifts through the forest, carrying a breath of fresh air towards them, and incidentally, a fine dusting of spores. The spores that get you high that we just talked about. "...I don't know much of anything, Eilam. We're gonna find that Bimmifly, though, I know that," he continues, seeming more relaxed and content than usual. He even tries on a smile. "Let's go that way. Everyone, keep your eyes open, and just... just have a good time out here, okay, we're gonna find it."

Netep closes her eyes against the breeze, inhaling a deep, refreshing breath of the primeval scent. She digs it. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't 'fun'," she informs Waldin in passing, blue lashes fluttering against a piece of something stuck in them as she squints ahead. "Pink!" is all she says, and plunges on ahead towards the denser patches spotted up there. "S'like from a storybook," she can be heard to awww, following the fairytale trail toward the thinning of trees. "Might have a clearing up ahead! Good place for sun, to show off one's pretty colors..."

Sugg's gesture is answered with a showier flash of canines and a deep, throaty snarl from the Togruta before she whips her attention after Netep. Rato doesn't see the moss so much as she can feel the spores whispering past her horns, hear the soft, peaceful lullaby of the forest calling to her... It's gross. "Crazy is right." She attests, following Netep.

Maybe it was good luck, but Eilam had the foresight to completely cover himself from head to toe, as well as a covering over his nose and mouth - habit from Nar Shaddaa. You don't live on that acidic nasty shithole of a moon without learning how to protect yourself from the environment. And in this case, alien environment is no different. ...maybe. Still, it was in theory lucky. Nothing directly seems to be bothering him. But he wasn't going headfirst into bloom yet.

"Should some of us stay back? If others might be looking too, if they see us all going in... could they not just wait for us to come back and try to take stuff from us?" He didn't stop going forward, though, it was just an idea and perhaps everyone would ignore it. Or it's a bad idea.

Sugg walks along after the rest, grumbling under his breath about being out in the forest with a damn net. He doesn't see those spores at all, but then again... he doesn't have a discernible nose like the rest do, and his mouth is pretty small. "Where are you going!?" he grumbles after Netep. "Do you see one?"

"Whatever you want to do, really," Corr answers vaguely to Eilam, tromping ahead towards the clearing along the path Muri and Rato have indicated. The trees move in the breeze as more and more spores become airborne, an arm of a tree lifting out of Corr's path as he goes to make things easier for him. At least it seemed that way to him. "Haha, did you guys see that? Never been in such a nice wood before," he chuckles, pushing forward, looking around with less a sense of caution and more one of wonder, which seems a bit out of character for him.

Netep hasn't hung around Corr long enough to pickup on his easy-going attitude shift as being so far beyond his usual grasp. Or maybe she's just too relaxed to notice. When you're less worried about what's potentially stalking you from everything direction though, you're free to take notice of other things. Little things. Random things. Even unimportant things!

Or, you can notice the Bimmifly.

Muri stops ALL motion in its tracks as a blinding flash of blue winks back at her from juuuust above eye level, across a patch of clearing. Her left hand twitches, fingers fumbling with the net pole retracted on hip. Her right hand slooooowly rises to form a fist. Her eyes have grown to resemble that plate-sized span of gorgeous wings, perched so delicately on that branch. Her mouth remians frozen around the word it was about to speak. By the glory of the stars above, they've FOUND IT. "C---c--cam.." is the best she can do, for instruction.

Yes, yes: this is the way. Rato's pace starts to quicken as she and the Muri woman launch themselves along the path that only they have seen. The Togruta, slight of build but apparently posessing of the immunity of an armored AT-AT, is unaffected by the spores as she rushes forward, the blood pounding in her ears (ears?) - /the hunt/ is afoot! Unlike Eilam, she isn't covered head to foot - though maybe that neck-down armor helps her out some.

And then she sees the thing. The Togruta skids to a halt, nearly crashing into Netep, and presses the release on her own net, snapping it into it's useable full-length. Her new cybernetic hand is raised as a sign to those following - including Corr, whom had taken to strange behavior that she would have to insult him for later - to halt and lay low.

THE HUNT.

Does Sugg even have a nose? He keeps grouching to himself as he tries to follow along behind Netep and Rato, not /really/ seeing the path that they're taking in all of their excitement to press forward... or that stick laying on the ground. He trips, falling face first onto the ground with an oof. "Uunnnghh," he complains as he shoves himself up to his feet. "Why can't we explore thome old thity thomewhere? Thothe can't be too hard to find, right?"

"Is that what we are here for?"

Eilam paused where he was, just staring at it and considering what he should do, if anything. "Here." he said towards Rato, offering forward his net too. From what he knew, Togruta were decent at hunting stuff, probably a lot more than he was. Might as well give her ammunition.

Corr, the fearless leader, moves ahead far too quickly for any sort of stealth, although he does seem to be trying in a bumbling sort of way. He's just having really bad luck at actually being quiet, fumbling with his cam and ignoring the other's signals to slow down and hush up, evidently, an easy smile plastered on his face as he raises the device to start snapping. When he does, the shutter sound is still on and makes a loud click, causing the Bimmifly to flutter up off the branch a few beats before settling back down. The man chuckles at this, looking over at his crew. "Heh, scared 'er. We gotta catch it too!" he reminds them in a loud stage whisper.

"SHH!" Netep hisses back just as loudly as Corr gets all loud with his everything. She waits only until he's taken some footage, then resumes her only clumsier-than-desireable movements. She's torn between being suuuuuper stealthy and being quick before it can get away, but rather than making a direct approach, she fans out, away from Corr, thereby presenting the Bimmifly with two moving things to worry about, and tries to cut a roughly circular arc around. That damn pole /finally/ pops out. Loudly.

"Oh, I see." Rato says in a falsely amiable tone as Eilam hands his net over. "Give Togruta net, yeah? Togruta must be best hunter in land." She rolls her eyes, but doesn't give the net back. "Corr, you are not only racist here." She continues to dual wield because, well, racist or not: it's true. She twirls, holding both nets out to her sides like wings. "Is trick of hunter, I am just blimpyfly." She stage-whispers as loud as Corr, trotting after him. Okay, now the 'gruta is acting strange - forget everything about how her constitution is iron-clad. As the Bimmifly flutters away from Corr's camera and Netep, she growls - again, not a silent pursuit, but something in that predator brain breaks and she /goes/. Still clutching both nets, the Togruta races forward and swipes at it with her right hook, then her left, and then - "IS SPICY FLY!" She hails victoriously, the thing trapped beneath her net and pinned to a rock. "No eat." She reminds herself softly, though she has started to drool. "No eat spicy fly..."

Sugg is having absolutely no luck at catching Bimmiflies, he just can't see the damn things. BUT, he can hear quite well with those little umbrella capped antennae atop his head. "Everyone thutup!" he calls, whipping his hand to his belt and pulling free a grenade. "There are people running thith way! Thoundth like a lot of them!" Sugg says, barreling forward to stand protectively close to Netep, shouldering Rato out of the way as he goes. "Thall I throw firtht and athk quethtionth later?" he demands of his inebriated guild leader.

"..."

Eilam wasn't even familiar with the concept of what Rato accused him of. Though to be fair, Eilam wasn't feeling too familiar with anything. Perhaps some of the spores had finally gotten inside his safety net of a get up enough that the Ghostling just kind of lingered quietly, not seeming to echo any concerns further. Sure, he'd mentioned to be careful before, but now? With Sugg saying there were others coming. He didn't hear anything. Probably just people coming to see the bimmi bug too.

But what was it they were talking about earlier again? Hm... Eilam paced slowly where he was trying to think on it before the idea of other hunters finally returned.

"Sugg... if they are coming from where we were, can you blow up that big rock over there? All of this pollen is from the moss on it. It should make it... hard for them to get through unaffected. Like we are."

The Bimmifly preens majestically beneath Rato's net, the high-tech fibers knowing enough on their own to avoid damaging the insect itself or its beautiful, shimmering deep blue wings. Curled antenna rest atop its delicate head, a thing of beauty here in this forest filled with mind-altering spores.

Sugg is right, though, and suddenly figures spring from the surrounding undergrowth into the clearing, closing in on the Explorers in a circle, spears held at the ready, and one or two blowguns, darts laced with who knows what, raised to their furry lips. Feral Bimms! Little furry people, dressed in grass skirts and decorated with brightly-colored plumage, they eye the strangers with suspicion, especially Rato, who the largest among them points at with his spear, demanding in a singsong chant "Hom wakki wakki untodo Bimmi tiga luna?" At this, all of the others join in, chanting in harmony, "Bimmi tiga luna!"

Corr's hands raise, but he seems to be pretty relaxed about this development. "Don't do that Sugg. Not yet, anyway, let Muri try to communicate, she's still got some nice.... things they might like." He pauses, glancing over at the woman abruptly. "You do, don't you?"

"Em..." Netep flicks nervous glances between the beautiful Bimmifly and the surrounding natives. Bimm. Bimm 'A', to be precise. She's not entirely sure what little nuances differentiate the two on a deeper, cultural level, in terms of aesthetics. Hence the odd assortment she'd brought with them. But all those are gone now, bartered/gifted away in town. "Yes!" She decides. "Yes, I do..." And lifts her hands slowly to do something in her hair. It's tough work, judging from her facial expression, or maybe she's just trying not to sneeze. Finally, she lowers her hand and unfurls her fingers to reveal and handful of beads! And a feather. "Come!" she invites with a little wave of her hand and squats down to get more eye-level while offering her palm's contents up.

Sorry Eilam, Rat will forever peg you as a space racist now - but he may be in luck as her mind has slipped from personal slights to the weird urge to taste those shiny, shiny wings. Mustn't... Eat... Spicy fly.... Must... No! Rato shakes her head to clear the idea from her head. Eating spicy fly is bad, /bad Rato/! She manages to keep ahold of herself long enough to find herself in the middle of... Whatever this is. "Tiga luna?" She repeats lamely, feeling it somehow directed at her. She keeps her prey pinned to the rock - her's! No one can take it. She takes a step forward to protectively shield her catch from the encroaching Bimm, letting Netep work her magic. She hisses, but her brain is fuzzy and it doesn't feel as scary as it should. She basically mewls at them.

Sugg looks toward Corr as the director tells him to hold off on the grenade pulling and explosive chucking. It sort of... does seem like a good idea. And then the group of aliens are upon them, forming a ring around their little posse. Sugg looks around from those in his own group to the aliens that he can't understand... and suddenly he just knows. He steps forward, patting a hand on Netep's shoulder and shaking his head. "No, no, Mami... Thugg knowth the way," he says softly, reverently, as if he has seen it in the beyond. He holsters his blaster, then unclasps the belt from his hips and allows it to clatter to the forest floor. His weird suction cup fingers come up to start pulling open the shirt over his armor, and soon his hips start to shimmy. "Thugg knowth what you want," he says in a seductive whispery lisp, rolling into a slow cartwheel that drops him into a graceful landing in full splits, his tight white pants almost squeaking on his hips. A turn and then he is on all fours and begins twerking at the aliens.

The Ghostling of the bunch just quietly watched the going ons, at this point the spores were starting to get to him and he knew it. He didn't /mind/, but Eilam was... familiar with the concept of being inhebriated, and especially so when he wasn't planning on it. Being a slave to a Hutt and a dancer at that around slimey people prepared him for such things all too well. So, part of him decided to just... bluff. Hard. Standing up, Eilam... found himself /staring/ at Sugg. And whatever it was Sugg was doing. "..."

"..."

He'd seen a /lot/. He was a dancer at slimy hutt bars, he'd seen far more than anyone should. That was still enough to leave him speechless. And Eilam doesn't even judge!

But that aside, Eilam just calmly walked right towards the closest of the Bimms completely casually, ignoring them entirely. He wasn't even looking at them, he was looking past them, leaving. It was a strange tactic, but it was a similar concept he knew worked as far as keeping others from bumping or jostling him on Nar Shaddaa. If you looked nervous or were careful, people would walk into you or jostle you. But if you were simply looking past them and kept walking, something instinctive usually nudged people to just... move without thinking about it. That, and he reached out to try and take Rato by the hand, "Come." It wasn't really a request, Eilam simply told her to come along before he simply tried walking right out of the circle of pointy stick-wielding Bimms.

It is a moment of panic, it is a moment of calm. It is a moment of disgust, it is a moment of arousal. It is a moment of rapture, it is a moment of despair. It is the twerking of Sugg.

The Bimms don't seem to know how to process this turn of events. Ignoring Muri and her beads, the poor girl, they're completely fixated on the Rodian's dance of woe, on the tight white pants bouncing along to their demented rhythm. "Ikta nimgo maldinate," the leader cautions warily, holding up a pawlike hand towards his people, eyes staring wide at the horror on display. "Nimgo! Bimmi vamto hag, tiga-otay makku makku maldinate." It's hard to say what that might mean, but the tone is a sort of confused, repulsed reverence.

Corr watches in vague fascination both as Sugg gets down with his bad self and as the Bimms begin to back away, their weapons lowering, until, as a unit, they break and run into the woods as quickly as they appeared. Meanwhile, Eilam's ploy seems to have worked just fine, especially with Sugg doing the heavy lifting (yeah that's a fat joke). "Amazing," Corr breathes, pushing away from the tree he'd backed up against and starting after the Ghostling and Togruta.

Muri's hand doesn't move. It just can't. Someone seems to have hit 'pause' on Muri's button. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's confusion. Maybe she's high as a kite. But her brain's will to do /anything/ right now has been overidden by....that. Ass-shaking, hip-gyrating Rodian. She can't look away. What Bimmifly? Oh. That one, that's walking away, with everyone else, leaving her here...with Sugg. And his asspants.

She drops the beads then, leaving them as an offering to the forest itself or whatever tiny hands might come back to reclaim, and oofs up to her feet to scurry-skip on after into the explorer train. "We got it!!" she whispers overly loudly into Corr's ear. "We're going to be so famous! Published, perhaps! Or dead." Because jealous entomologists. "Good snag, Rato!" Still noisy whispering, pitchy with excitement. She just might burst - or is just trying really hard to distract herself from what just transpired in this hidden glade in the heart of Bimm country.

What - what is happening? What is this? Rato hates it. Rato /hates/ it... But also Rato... doesn't? The Togruta starts as Eilam takes her hand; she's transfixed by the Rodian's spell. Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's Thugg's overpowering magnetism; either way, she does not like.

And she kind of likes.

Normally, Eilam would lose the hand for such a transgression - but Rat seems to have been broken. Still clutching her net and spicy fly snack - er, scientific acquisition - she allows herself to be led: dead eyed, mouth hanging open in a numb, shocked silence aside from a final, whispered "spicy."

Sugg continues to gyrate, his glorious booty bouncing up and down as he seems to amp himself up just by being... Sugg. His head lolls left to right, spinning in a wide circle as he hums his own little tune and then leans back, all the way back until his back has bent near parallel to the ground, head curling back as he tears his shirt open. "You're in love with a thtripper!" he sings out, chest bared to the sky, eyes open wide to see that... everyone has left. "Hey!" he squeaks out in anger and shock, rolling over to grab up his gun belt and run after the others. "That is the thecond time Thugg hath thaved your athheth on one of thethe tripth. Thugg needth a raithe!"

"Yeah, I see it," Corr answers back at Muri as she all but shouts in his ear. "We're gonna get all the... the accolades, Muri! The song and dance, the- the respected journals publishing our photos, Muri! They're gonna call us 'adventurers!' 'Explorers!'" He glances over at Rato abruptly, to throw in another reminder: "/Don't/ eat it."

Luckily, the effects of the spores are short-lived, in terms of, you know, fungus, and things will be back to their normal cranky selves in a few hours, and they'll all likely have killer headaches in the morning. But at least none of them died from a Bimmifly overdose. The trek back to the shuttle in the city is largely uneventful, and on their return, they are greeted as heroes, as much as five people who went into the woods and came out with a Bimmifly can be, anyway. Here's hoping Professor Mafinno isn't too upset! The specimen securely delivered for preservation in a museum, the group return to the shuttle for the trip back to Nar Shaddaa.