Glitterstim Cowboys

[Markos Thrule]

Rocky's grin was infectious, and Markos gave him a firm pat on his shoulder.

"I know you will, Buddy."

There was a level of deep trust that ran directly beneath their bantering and pestering, and it was very nearly unbreakable.

"Should think about getting out though, to get a lay of things and to see where we're sitting."

Stepping away from his Wookiee companion, the blonde headed back through the long main corridor into the body of the King. He wasn't so sure about Rocky, but for himself at least he'd have to pull out the snow gear. Insulated jacket, padded trousers, lined boots, and thick gloves. There was more of course, but for a quick trip out, he'd probably only need the basics.

Opening the cold-weather locker, he reached in, pulling out a bright, multi-colored knit scarf and hat combo, holding both up.

"You gonna use the stuff Teag made you?"

[Rocky]

A sense of macho pride ran through the Wookiee, and he shook his head emphatically. He wasn't a kid anymore, and his coat had come into it's prime. If anyone needed the decorative knitwear, it was Markos.

With a bit of confidence, Rocky popped the hatch to step into the great frozen outdoors. It only took a second for him to stand there, snowflakes blowing into his fur, before he realized something.

He'd made a big mistake.

[Markos Thrule]

For his part, Markos had only given a shrug, moving on to pulling on his own cold-weather gear. He grabbed a pair of goggles, and as an afterthought stuffed the scarf and hat in one of the deep pockets of his down-filled overcoat. Shimmying up the ladder that led to the top hatch, the Lupine heaved himself up and out.

The first thing that struck him was the biting wind. Quite literally, in fact.

Instinctively his entire body tensed as his eyes looked out over the vast, white-washed expanse. It was pristine desolation.

A sidelong glance to Rocky. The Wookiee held a look that wasn't often telegraphed, but there was something that Markos could feel. Something that made him frown.

"What's wrong?"

[Rocky]

So much for pride. Stinging winds and fat snowflakes finding the gap between fur had a good way of humbling you. The Wookiee whined against the gale, keeping his teeth from chattering somehow.

"Augwhawaa..."

Grabby hands gestured at the bulge in Markos' coat as he asked for the warm clothing he knew the human had brought along anyway. Rocky was a humbled, but warmer man.

"Hhrwoo."

Giving a nod to his partner, he was as ready as he was ever going to be to brave the cold. As an afterthought, he adjusted the heavy repeating blaster's strap at his shoulder. Probably not necessary. Not much could survive this icebox.

[Markos Thrule]

Giving another look out to the desolation before them, Markos frowned. A glance to Rocky, then he turned to the King. The damned ship didn't look too bad, but enough of it was buried in the snow to hide anything particularly terrible. And knowing their luck, there was surely a hull breach somewhere. More than likely along the underbelly.

A stray hand wandered to the blaster at his hip, and then out of habit ran his gloved fingers over the leather and metal gauntlet on his right forearm. concealed beneath the bulky material of his overcoat, the contours seemed muted.

"I'd ask if you could smell anything, but hells; even I can't get a scent out in this white wasteland."

[Rocky]

"Harrruuf."

Rocky offered a noncommittal affirmative to Markos, squinting his eyes against the bright white landscape. Smells came clear as the bell chimed in the cold, Lupine or Wookiee. But he was right. On a world as sparse as Rhen Var, it didn't get you far.

But there were other senses. Senses they both possessed, even if they denied them. Years felt shorter in these moments, and Rocky could return to the World That Was with greater ease than his friend, because maybe it was a world he'd simply known longer.

Even if on most days he renounced it.

Through the snowy gale, the Wookiee pointed in the distance.

"Gnarruuwoo aawr harooo."

He knew it was the way. And if Markos really had to ask, deep down he also knew.

[Markos Thrule]

For his part, Markos gave a slight side-long look to Rocky. Even through the cold and the not-really-silence, he knew what his partner was on about.

"Yeah, yeah."

It wasn't exactly a brush-off, but it was just that all the same. He didn't have near the amount of fond memories for Ossus. Let alone the reasons he had for setting off alone with Rocky.

He pulled out of the fog of his subconscious, only vaguely aware of the massive shoulder he was draped over...

"I hope you've got your walking boots on."

[Rocky]

"Hrrrg raaarrr" Rocky smart-alecked right back, thankful at least that he'd been an active enough padfoot to have some protective skin on his feet.

The pair of adventurers trudged on, following the contours of the gentle grade down into the narrow valley they'd nearly reached. The winds seemed to relax at the lower elevation, and the snowfall came now in a more gentle clip. As an afterthought, Rocky pulled a pair of goggles from his pack, sliding them around his head. Their misadventures around the Pantoran moons a year ago had given him a useful lesson about avoiding snowblindness. The tint adjusted on the goggles, tempering the brilliant reflection of the midday sun.

The walk turned into an hour. Into two. Into three. The journey wasn't treacherous in the valley, but there also wasn't a sign of civilization or good shelter to be seen there. And despite Rocky putting on a good game face, the cold in his feet was beginning to wick into his legs and up his spine.

"Gnauwaauwuh!" he whined, his words coming out in a puff of steam as he stopped walking. The cold was sucking out his energy, and he was too tired to even chatter his teeth. The Wookiee sat on the ground with an exhausted thump, sinking down a few inches into the fresh snowfall. He rolled onto his back, and began to push some of the snow lethargically into a pile.

[Markos Thrule]

Markos watched his companion with only a partially detached sense. More than anything though, there was a longing in his own eyes behind the goggles he wore. He wanted to sit down also. He wanted to make snowpiles, and burrow nose-first into a mound of snow...

He shook his head of the bizarre thought. It had come unbidden.

"Come on, Rocky," Markos stared down at the Wookiee.

He could certainly understand the despondent feelings he was sensing. The lack of any sort of habitation on Rhen Var was more than discouraging.

"Maybe there's something over that range, up ahead?"

It was a hollow bit of encouragement, and after another few moments he too slowly sank into the pile that Rocky had pushed together.

"We made the landing," he propped himself on an elbow, "... so that means we won't go out like a couple of frozen popsicles, right?"

[Rocky]

"Hnaa naa hraww wraa nguuhhhwwruuf."

Rocky nodded, shaking some snow out of his hair as he sat up. He may be the brains of the outfit, but Markos was the heart of it. He'd always been a great guy, even when he was little. Maybe because he'd been one of the youngest Padawans on Ossus, that was why he'd taken a shine to the Lupine from the start. It could sometimes be daunting to grow up in a village where everyone was not only older than you but could also read minds or levitate boulders with their mind.

The Wookiee gave the snow bank a push with his paw, noting that the compacted snow no longer gave ground.

"Hnnnnn wrroo."

Sitting up even more, Rocky pushed more snow into the pile. Then more. Slowly the pile took on a curved shape, and with it, an idea formed in his head.

"Auu hrrurr gnaawaawarroo grroooaahh!"

The snow had a little dampness. Not too much to become slushy ice, but enough to make sure it could hold together if pressed. With enough of that layer pushed and pressed the right way, they may not have to gamble on pushing on to the end of the valley today. They could make their own shelter! The spark of discovery brought an easy underbitten grin to Rocky's face, who always seemed most at ease with the world when it gave him problems he could sort out with a few tools and some know-how.

[Markos Thrule]

An hour or so of work yielded the two a decent enough shelter. And just in time, too. The sun was beginning to dip lower, just barely meeting the edge of the mountain range.

Pausing, Markos sent a look up to gauge how much time they had left of usable sunlight. By his estimation it wasn't much. A few minutes later found him leaning back, hands going to undo the buttons of his thick jacket.

"You better make sure to bundle all my clothes up tight this time," he halfway looked towards Rocky.

"Last time we did this everything was soaked with melted snow."

[Rocky]

"Gnaaagnaurr hrrowaarff grraaghh mrooa maahhrruuooggh?"

After all, Markos was the metamorph, so why did metamorph planning always fall to him? A flimsiplast rubbish bag in the bug-out pack. A pretty cheap way to avoid a whole lot of trouble. Rocky was too cold to be irritated though. He shrugged his shoulders even as he began to spark the small can of heating element in the center of their makeshift igloo.

"Owwrauuw hauwruuf." he gestured for the Lupine's weatherproofed jacket, already pulling a bundle of elastic ties from his pack. A scant few other supplies had already been laid out along the igloo wall, including the can of pseudo beans. Rocky gave the shameful can a glance, shaking his head. How hard should it be to actually have real beans. That was scraping the culinary barrel enough already.

[Markos Thrule]

Shedding his overcoat, Markos handed it over. Next came his gunbelt, and after that he almost reverently undid the fastenings of his gauntlet. The artful display of etched phrik and stamped leather was carefully placed in Rocky's outstretched hands. The rest of his clothing came off in layers until Markos knelt in their makeshift igloo, naked as the day he was born. His body was lean; certainly not a perfect specimen, but there was at least some muscle on his slender frame. His height made him seem almost scrawny to some, but there was strength in him that many never expected a man of his build to possess.

He shivered involuntarily, his arms wrapping around his shoulders as he canted his head to the side, an audible pop coming from his neck.

Already his teeth began to chitter.

"We got this, yeah?"

[Rocky]

Rocky gave his friend enough decorum to at least find a patch of igloo worth looking at. At Markos' search for reassurance, the Wookiee gave a sagely nod.

"Hrruu."

What else was there to say? They were joined at the hip. Brothers in that way that so often defied blood. They'd survived Ossus. Survived way worse than this. A bit of ship trouble and some cold wasn't going to shake the foundation.

Rocky kept his eyes away. He'd never been asked not to look, but it seemed wrong to somehow.

[Markos Thrule]

A long exhale, and Markos let his shoulders sag while his arm fell away, knuckles dragging lightly through the packed snow. His brow furrowed then, one corner of his lips coming up in a strange expression as his outward breath became a labored groan punctuated by the first ugly sounds of stretching tendons and joints snapping out of their sockets. The blonde fell forward, placing more weight on his outstretched arms as his back arched up. The vertebrae in his spine shifted beneath pale skin, his ribs pushing outward like a splayed hand before coming back in. He gasped, head dipping low as his dishevel sandy mop of hair spread down the back of his neck and between his shoulder blades. Like a wildfire the golden hue of his pelt spread across his body. Hands that had once been hands were now massive paws as his legs reformed themselves.

Minutes later the blonde vornskr stood, slightly hunched as he angled his head to the side.

He looked up, tawny eyes on Rocky. A moment passed before he lurched forward, legs still a little unsteady. His mother had always said that he'd managed to retain the gangliness of his youth when Changed. Long legs and a lazy stride, seemingly oversized paws that followed him into adulthood...

Perhaps she was right.

He hurfed then, trying to cover the panged memory of his mother with nonchalance.

And as he sidled up to Rocky, the Lupine lifted his head to give the Wookiee's arm a nudge with his nose.

[Rocky]

"Annnhwrraau naarrrhrwoof hurrghawaraa."

Rocky gave his head a sheepish nod as he shrugged. This felt weird. It always did. But you know what felt weirder? Hypothermia. And even in vornksyr form, Markos couldn't match Rocky for shagginess.

With a grumble, the wookiee laid out the small travel tarp in his pack. It didn't offer much, save for keeping wet off the fur. That was enough.

At least he got to be the big spoon, Rocky thought with a weary chuckle.

[Markos Thrule]

With a knowing whurrfle, Markos shuffled back to allow Rocky enough room to maneuvre, and once the tarp was set out he edged back forward. Rocky sat down heavily, and the Lupine was soon to follow. He huffed out a breath, circled in place a few times, and settled himself down into as tight of a ball as he could all while trying to scootch as close to his friend's larger body as he could. With his bony tail curling around his body, Markos let out a low grumble of unintelligible sounds.

[Rocky]

This other side of his friend had always been a curiosity to Rocky. He couldn't parse what the lupine actually said, but he was reasonably sure that he understood enough of the tones and inflections of the yips, barks, and other sounds to get a read for what was on Markos' mind. At least the comprehension worked just fine the other way around.

"Hnrrauu gnauruuff..." the Wookiee monotoned, shifting his body to accomodate the lupine as he curled up. In short, the sooner they nodded off, the better chance they had of getting a decent bit of sleep before first light. No sooner did Rocky set the agenda before he fell asleep like a rock. Surprisingly, the makeshift igloo did a good job of keeping the elements out. The rest was taken care of by body heat and fur. Sure, a mattress would've made the ramshackle almost homey, but it wasn't bad as far as roughing it went. Rocky slept soundly.

A bit too soundly.

What woke him wasn't the creeping glow of rising sun against the snow on the entryway. It was something cold and metallic prodding him roughly in the shoulder. A drowsy eye cracked open, slowly fixating on a familiar sight that his brain was slow to process.

It was the barrel of a blaster.

[Markos Thrule]

He was dreaming again. The one with the white tooke. He always chased it, yet never seemed to be able to catch the damnable thing. In the world of his subconscious he dashed after the small rodent as it bolted, changing directions rapidly. And though he kept up well enough, he couldn't ever really catch it.

In the world of the living, his twitching body seemed to jerk, his legs spasming as they played out the chase that his mind was teasing him with. Laying on his side, Markos jerked as he continued to dream, and it wasn't long before a series of stuttered yips escaped his toothy maw, ears shifting back and forward.

So close... he could almost catch its' back legs...

The Lupine shot into the waking world just as his jaws closed around the tooke's tail, and with a bark he burst awake, panting. The first thing that he noticed was the distinct lack of food in his mouth, and sitting up groggily, the shaggy vornskr lolled his head to the side to look down at Rocky, yellow eyes slowly shifting to the blaster and the person holding it.

[Rocky]

"Nee bakwa tu tak sawa Kanjiklub kobatko!"

Huh??? Rocky gnuuurred in incredulity, to which the Gotal behind the blaster responded by priming the weapon as a sign that he meant business.

"Sobak! Tu waacha!"

The huttese was easy enough to parse, but this jittery buffoon had mistaken him as one of Kanjiklub's goons...somehow.

"Hrrau hnaagh auwagwaag!"

"Neekta taaku!"

...and then it became abundantly clear that his accuser had absolutely no idea how to speak (or at least hear) Shyriiwook, and was absolutely not in the humoring kind of mood. Grudgingly, Rocky raised up both paws in supplication.

As he considered the whimsy of the cruel force that had landed them in this predicament, Rocky painted the situation in his mind as he best saw it.

A Wookiee who could understand basic and huttese but speak neither.
A Lupine who could do the same but speak nothing at all.
And a Gotal who knew huttese (and probably basic too) but had no one to speak to.

My entire shitty kingdom for a protocol droid, Rocky thought darkly.