Scout (Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
burnsbright) wrote2013-01-16 12:14 am
burnsbright) wrote2013-01-16 12:14 am
(no subject)
@ distant_skies
ABOUT YOU
Name: Joysweeper
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: Luke Skywalker, Janine Farehouse
CHARACTER
Name: Scout. Her full name is Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy and Scout is her nickname, but sheâd only give her nickname.
Canon: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Age: Around sixteen.
History: When Scout was a toddler her dirt-poor parents begged passing Jedi to take her so she wouldnât starve. Whether this is true or not - she inferred the story from something one of the Masters said - she was raised in the Jedi Temple as a Jedi initiate. There, she had a strictly managed schedule and almost never left the bounds of the Temple. She enjoyed a lot of study and meditation and all kinds of lessons taught by many teachers, including Yoda.
As she got older, it became apparent that while her body grew steadily, her strength in the Force didn't. It was increasingly suggested that she focus on skills that would be useful in the Service Corps, like encouraging the growth of plants, but she refused - she adamantly wanted to follow the Jedi path. She got her nickname at some point due to those Force talents she was proficient in, and embraced it.
When she was eleven and called to a private talk with Yoda, Scout thought she was being sent into the Service Corps. She cried the whole way there and snuffled defiantly even inside, but she wasn't sent away - Chankar Kim had picked her to be Padawan. In the three months that followed, Scout built her lightsaber and saw a little of the galaxy.
Then came the start of the Clone Wars. Chankar Kim left her behind - said she had rough edges to polish off - and died on Geonosis. Becoming an orphan nearly broke Scout, but she was a fighter. She knew she could only become a Jedi by being made a Padawan again, which meant making a good impression on prospective masters.
Scout had never shirked, but now she threw herself into her studies, physical and mental, with bloody-minded determination. She built muscle, taught herself to ignore pain, and memorized everything she could. She got to the top of class after class that didnât involve using the Force, though in those areas she had to study with eight- and nine-year olds and watch as they surpassed her. Initiates who aren't picked by thirteen are sent to the Service Corps. Scout got a pass even when she turned fourteen, because she had been a Padawan, however briefly. Still, no one chose her and she became the oldest human Jedi Initiate.
Thirty months into the war she entered into an initiate tournament and studied the other entrants for the six weeks prior, coming up with plans to defeat them. Unbenownst to her, Yoda made a deal: if she placed low she would be sent to the Service Corps, if she placed high she would not, and if she won then a skeptical Knight, Jai Maruk, would take her as Padawan.
Most of Scoutâs opponents were around her level or, thanks to the Force, above it; she was physically one of the strongest but could not rely on the Force as they could. She beat the first by pretending to surrender without actually giving the proper cue, then taking advantage of her opponentâs desire to be a good sport and shake hands. Her second, by interrupting her own sentence with an attack, then taking cover behind watchers and the referee in order to make her opponent too angry to call on the Force properly, taking advantage of a reluctance to cut her when she was pinned, and finally grabbing the other girlâs lightsaber through the blade and choking her with her other hand. The blade was on low power, but Scout still had to go to the infirmary for that and came back limping and bandaged.
The rest of the tournament was a surprise free-for-all in the cafeteria. Scout saw it coming and flung a cup of juice into an opponentâs face, then choked him into surrendering. The last one left, the very powerful Whie, got her in a lock but was too polite and genteel to break her thumb when she resisted, so she was able to escape the lock, beat him, and win.
She was then assigned to Jai Maruk and immediately sent on a mission to Vjun with him, Whie and his Master, and Master Yoda. It was through her ideas that they were able to smuggle the instantly recognizable Yoda out undetected on civilian transport. Scout healed from the tournament on the way there, and struggled with the realization that her master didnât like her - actually he did, but thought she would die quickly and didnât want to get attached - but she bore on anyway.
On the mission she met some droids that belonged to Whieâs family and befriended one, then did it a favor that meant both Padawans were away from the Masters when the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress and an escort of assassin droids attacked. Scout fought some of the droids and was hurt, but Whie saved her. They saw Ventress kill Whieâs master and mortally wound Jai Maruk. Ventress gave Whie a speech, trying to get him to doubt the Jedi, and left. Scout got to weep over her master as he smiled at her for the first time, promised he would never leave her, and died.
The mission continued, though it was delayed as, for the last leg to get to the planet Vjun, Master Yoda purchased a used starship from a junkyard and made the Padawans install an engine starter and load it with supplies by themselves so that the deaths would be less immediate for them. On the way there there was a degree of catharsis and mourning; Yoda was well versed in helping his pupils through grief. By the time they reached Vjun they were able to think and act without it weighing so much on them.
Scout and Whie moved through a system of caverns with one of the droids while Yoda took some other route. The Force was strong enough in unpleasant ways there that Scout picked up on it and found it creepy, but when Whie was almost washed away by a sudden flood she was able to call on it to save him.
The droid turned out to be a traitor and led them to Ventress, who cut Scout, made the droid kill itself, and tried to lure Whie away again. She knew Whie was forming a crush on Scout and used the Force to hold Scout still and make her smile as she encouraged the boy to kiss her, and he wanted to. Her talent or her own faith suddenly, briefly strengthened Scoutâs grasp in the Force so that she was able to break free, tell Whie he would make the right choice, and not get killed by Ventress. The droid she had befriended held the Dark Jedi off long enough for the Padawans to run.
After that they ran into Yoda, along with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, whoâd been summoned to Vjun. Whie spontaneously hugged Anakin, crying that he was glad Anakin wasnât coming to kill him - heâd had prophetic dreams that a Jedi would kill him and subconsciously knew which one it would be - and Ventress got away in Kenobi and Skywalkerâs ship.
The new party got off Vjun by hijacking two Trade Federation gunships, which was done by having Scout commandeer them - âQuick, Lieutenant - the Jedi assassins are getting away in their Chryya! Weâve got to scramble up some ships and follow them!â - as the others backed her up with mind tricks. The gunships were sold to a shipyard and they got back to Coruscant in another repaired secondhand ship.
Scout felt changed; more humble in some ways, more confident in others. She still had some esteem issues and couldnât see how great a part she had played, but she was confident now that she would never be sent to the Agricultural Corps. The Jedi were stuck with her now, and she could more than dare to hope, she was certain that she would one day become a Knight.
Still, there was a mourning period, in which it wasn't considered appropriate for her to be chosen as someone else's Padawan. Scout resumed her training, proving to be a little better at the Force, if still weak. She exchanged letters with friends out in the galaxy, including Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
Six months later came Order Sixty-Six and Anakin's betrayal. He killed Whie and a lot of others. Scout, having one of her rare surges of greater strength in the Force, would have fought but heard Master Maruk's voice telling her to run. She escaped the Temple and went into hiding on Coruscant. Initially there were many other fugitive Jedi hiding on Coruscant or trying to escape it, but most were caught or turned in by citizens who believed what the new Emperor said.
Scout survived briefly with other fugitives, and then alone for several months. It was rough, and involved having to be on the move almost constantly and being repeatedly betrayed whenever someone thought she was a Jedi. She did eventually meet with and find some security with Master Fy-Tor-Ana/Solace, one of her Jedi instructors who was now leading an underground resistance movement, but Solace had never wanted a Padawan and didn't have the time or ability to take one in now.
Soon enough Scout was passed on to Jax Pavan and Laranth Tarak, a pair of Jedi masquerading as private investigators and trying to smuggle people off Coruscant. They took her in for a time but as she was younger than them and more personally affected by the situation, they convinced her to take a freighter to Mandalore along with Kina Ha, a Jedi whose reaction to the genocide was to blame other Jedi. They stayed at a Mandalorian stronghold called Kyrimorut.
Mandalorians believe mercenary work and bounty hunting to be the most honorable professions, and most are vehemently anti-Jedi, which sat well with Ha. A few of them took to Scout anyway and gave her work as a medic, but she was still an outsider. One Mando, Bardan Jusik, had been a Jedi but had quit and joined the killing-for-the-highest-bidder life before the genocide began, and liked trying to convince her to follow his example. Mandos will accept anyone, but only if they reject their pasts and become Mandalorian themselves, and even after everything, Scout loved and believed in the Jedi too much.
Point in canon: Three months after arriving on Mandalore, about two years after the end of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous.
Window Location: The forest around the stronghold Kyrimorut, on Mandalore, well away from the usual paths.
Universe: The Galaxy Far, Far Away. The Clone Wars have ended, and the Republic has become the First Galactic Empire, which the Emperor is rapidly changing to suit him. Jedi are being hunted across the galaxy, and writings by and about them are being censored and suppressed; several small resistances have formed and been crushed. A general atmosphere of suspicion against Jedi and anyone with Jedilike attributes pervades the populace. Dark times have fallen.
Abilities: Scout is Force-Sensitive, and as such her reflexes are a bit faster than human-standard. Inherently she tends to be âluckyâ, too; if thereâs a coin toss, she tends to call out the side that lands face up; when sheâs randomly wandering and there are things of note around sheâs likely to find them; and the Force may call her to notice important details that might otherwise be overlooked. When hurt in a fight she generally manages to twist around unthinkingly so that her wounds tend to be superficial and heal quickly. Itâs not a guarantee and she can get lost, miss things, get severely hurt etc, she just has a better than average chance.
Sheâs got a particular talent for scoping out a situation and reading it just a little faster than everyone else; whether or not it's Force-based, itâs where her nickname comes from. Scout is definitely gifted in anticipation; her danger sense is good, if she's open to the Force she can have flashes of precognition, knowing what others will do in tense situations a moment before it happens. Since she's a quick thinker, she can often turn this to her advantage.
However, she is weak in the Force. When she's flustered or upset she can't anticipate anyone. Other Jedi abilities, she has even less talent in, and itâs not even always related to her emotional state. She canât reliably use the Force to sense her surroundings or precisely where other people are or what they're feeling, unless theyâre very powerful. There are other Jedi skills that she canât execute at all.
She does seem to have strengthened slightly due to the trials experienced on Vjun. From her performance there and while returning to the Temple I believe her telekinetic abilities have become more stable. She still can't exert much force and sometimes her âgripâ weakens, but she doesn't accidentally crush things or fling them in unwanted directions anymore and can use telekinesis readily. This might have been because she became a bit more confident in herself.
In certain dire situations the Force swells up and is strong in her, but she canât predict or rely on this at all, and situations which leave her mangled arenât quite dire enough. It happened during her second confrontation with Ventress, letting her break the hold the Dark Jedi had on her and parry her lightsaber. It also happened the night of Order Sixty-Six, helping her escape during the slaughter. At those times she may be guided by the spirits of either of her Masters, or those of her friends.
Serious Force-based healing is beyond her, but if injured and made stable she can meditate on herself and encourage her own body to heal more quickly and without serious scars. Itâs still not something thatâs over in a few hours or a day.
The Force is omnipresent. Where there is life - or was or will be or could be - there is the Force. However, it can be locally changed so that she canât call on it.
More normal skills... The most obvious is her skill at the Broken Gate school of unarmed combat. Scout is a master of joint locks, hitting nerve clusters to numb limbs, throws, and several versions of choke and strangle hold, the most dramatic of which is said to invariably induce unconsciousness in ten seconds as she reduces bloodflow to the brain. Notably most chokes arenât the classic hands-around-throat manual strangling, but use her arms or legs and sometimes the victimâs clothing, so she can do this even when a victim is much larger and stronger.
She can fight well with a lightsaber and generally in hand-to-hand sheâs good, but her main focus is on getting in close and disabling someone. Actually, Scout tends to drop her lightsaber when thereâs a chance to get in close and the chance will be over soon. It should be noted that sheâs absolutely at her best against a single unarmored or lightly armored melee fighter, and Broken Gate is designed to incapacitate more than it is to kill. Scout's a decent shot with a blaster and is pragmatic enough to use it.
In addition she has extensive knowledge of how bodies are put together and training on what to do, both from the Temple and a Mandalorian medic. Mind, sheâs best at field-dressing recent wounds, with less focus in other medical skills. She can concentrate well regardless of distractions and has very high pain tolerance. She has some mechanical aptitude and can change a starshipâs engine starter without relying too heavily on the manual. She can survive in many kinds of wilderness, climb most things, tie and untie a wide variety of knots, and drive a speeder (though not much of anything else). She's also a startlingly good dancer.
Possessions: Scout is wearing plain, sturdy gray clothes. They include an overcoat with a passing resemblance to an outer robe, but all in all these clothes are much more akin to the sort of things Mandalorians wear when not in armor.
Sheâs got a set of chopstick-ish eating utensils and some basic survival items - a vibroknife, dry rations for a few days, a small canteen with a filter in the opening, some cord, a fire starter, a little glow lamp, a thin and tightly compressed waterproof blanket, and an emergency aid kit. That consists of thin gloves, gauze, bandage wraps, bacta patches, a cold pac, a datapad with first aid instructions loaded in, and a half-empty container of burn-and-wound ointment. Sheâs also got a heavy blaster pistol in a holster, and extra power pacs and Tibanna gas canisters for it.
And sheâs held on to her lightsaber. The hilt is worn under her clothes against her skin and has been disguised as a personal shaver, it canât be accidentally activated, but it would take only a few minutes to be made functional again. The blade is blue. Itâs got two power settings, with the lower one able to painfully burn skin but not cut through it, and the higher setting... well, you know lightsabers.
Personality: Scout is tricky, brave, resilient, and refuses to give up. Sheâs not curious about her birth family, but she is unhappy that they live in grinding poverty while she alone was given this incredible chance to make good. She has to take it.
She's well aware of her lack of ability in the Force and canât stand being pitied for it; itâs given her a bit of a lingering inferiority complex. While sheâs proud of the skills sheâs mastered, she constantly believes she doesn't measure up in other areas and doesnât consider herself important.
Scout loves being a Jedi, considers the Jedi her ârealâ family, and has a strong drive to become a Knight and work some good in the galaxy. With the Jedi Order all but gone sheâs had to slowly, torturously accept that sheâll never be a Knight, but she still considers herself a Jedi and strives to live up to what parts of the Jedi way she can. Sheâs just had to become secretive about it and her powers. She doesnât quickly or easily tell people what she is, now - her low levels of Force-Sensitivity make it harder for Jedi hunters to pick up on her, but she knows she has to stay covert anyway, lest she be reported.
As a Jedi she is, unsurprisingly, deeply spiritual/religious, though itâs a pretty quiet sort of faith. She doesnât talk about it, but she was taught and believes that the dead are still around, just in a different form, part of the Force. Itâs small comfort when grieving, but there are times when she feels like old friends and teachers are still with her. Scout meditates often. To disguise her highly illegal faith sheâs taken on the trappings of an obscure ancestor-worshipping religion, and sheâll stop at shrines sometimes.
One of Scoutâs signatures is that she works long and hard at everything she does, applying herself fully. Sheâs sharply observant, adaptive, and keeps herself in practice. If she knows something is coming, she plans meticulously for it, making detailed preliminary observations and strategies of action, honing herself however she can to prepare. If sheâs surprised she tends to lose her head and just fling herself in rather than freeze up, but she can make quick calculations at times.
When fighting, she often gets injured, sometimes badly, due in part to her drive and willingness to be hurt on the way to a goal. Scout never focuses on this. When recovering, sheâs fairly casual about it, neither bemoaning her sorry state nor angering the medics by pretending to be fine. She burns herself with her lightsaber regularly so pain won't distract her.
If competing with or comparing herself to people with greater powers, Scout will often feel intense, bitter jealousy towards them. They donât need to work as hard as she does yet are, she thinks, more beloved. When that situation is over, this jealousy usually evaporates unless they decide to lord their abilities over her. In general, during stressful situations sheâs extremely focused. She can be playful in times like that, but is tightly controlled about it.
In other settings, sheâs much more friendly and willing to chat and share observations, even with people who donât seem to like her much. Scout's not really deterred by neutrality. While she enjoys minor arguments for the sake of arguing, tends to be bossy, and will correct anyone who she thinks is misinformed, she tends to fold if it gets bitter and she doesnât have strong feelings about the issue.
These days she doesnât believe that a place - any place - is really safe. Sheâs got a justifiable paranoia now, and some of her foreplanning goes into plotting out how she could escape from a given situation if need be. She knows that most people wouldnât betray her, but she canât tell who would - after all, the Traitor himself had been a Jedi who showed younglings combat tricks and made jokes. Being convinced of this hasnât made her unfriendly, she just doesnât trust people very far without good reason, and if she has to talk about her past, she keeps it vague. The Jedi becomes "my family". The Temple and early training becomes "my home and school". By now she is able to use half-truths and outright lies fluently.
She is kind when someone is distressed, even someone sheâs argued with, and has become better at seeing other points of view. Though she doesnât think of herself as a particularly good person or a good Jedi, she shoots for âgood enoughâ and knows that sometimes âpretendingâ to be good and wise is all there is. Sheâll take strange unorthodox options and bend or break unspoken rules if she has to, but she is fully committed to being honorable.
Although sheâs learned to put a stoic face on when she needs it, Scout feels emotions strongly and usually shows them, flushing and paling. When sheâs sad she cries inelegantly, when sheâs angry she snaps and growls and swears, when sheâs happy she grins broadly and laughs and makes silly comments, when sheâs afraid it shows, and when sheâs grouchy she gets sarcastic. Despite her seemingly un-Jedi-like open emotion, her moods never get away from her; she doesnât know it, but sheâs like Yoda in that way. In a book with a constant subtext of characters drawing on the Dark Side without meaning to, or being worried about falling, no one believes Scoutâs personal honor will slip that far unless she felt like the Jedi Order betrayed her.
In casual settings she has a tendency towards giving very informal, often mildly insulting nicknames to groups of people and to individuals who won't tell her their real names; even once sheâs been told a name, she sometimes calls them that at least in her head. Her sense of humor, just in general, is irreverent and a little absurd.
Even under horrific levels of tragedy and awfulness, Scout can bear up. She cries about it and rages and doesnât simply âget overâ anything, she is marked and scarred by having people she relies on either betray her or die or turn her away, but she doesnât forget to eat and pay attention to her surroundings for long, and she doesnât shut down emotionally. Rather than buckle or isolate herself, she grits her teeth and applies herself to things. Scoutâs a survivor and has learned how to work with grief and trauma.
Her two goals these days are âsurviveâ and âbe Jediâ. Ultimately âsurviveâ is strong, which she feels incredibly guilty about, but sheâs repeatedly had to run and hide her Jedi nature so people wonât report her. Sheâs very willing to die for a good cause - part of her is looking for that chance - but not to throw her life away. Scout has vague, vague plans of passing on her knowledge in some form.
I do think she has a degree of PTSD. For the most part she can manage fine, but she has bad days when sheâs reminded of those scars, blames herself or thinks sheâs not worthy of surviving, feels some of the emotions present in those times, and has difficulty functioning. Scout hurts herself so sheâll be accustomed to pain, yes - but she also sometimes does it for other reasons.
Thread Sample: Eaten by a giant tadpole with Mal
Prose Sample: âTallisibeth, when you think about it, really, the Order kind of deserved it.â
Grunting noncommittally so he wouldnât just say he was ignoring her, Scout poked at the fire and fervently wished Bardan Jusik would shut up. She wouldnât tell him that, of course. Heâd have enjoyed the rise, the vigorous debate, heâd have probably hit her eventually to make a point she couldnât deflate. Jusik had absorbed the Mandalorian way well.
She remembered seeing him a few times in the Temple, one of hundreds of vague tall shapes, older Padawans who wouldnât make Knight in time for her to take much notice. He should have washed out long before getting that far. It would have been less of a waste to abandon the Agricultural Corps.
âHonestly, taking slaves! Thatâs what the clone troopers were made as, you know. Slave soldiers. I knew it was wrong right from the start. No wonder it happened. Youâll be happier, Tallisibeth, when you put on the beskarâgam and fight for real, youâll see.â Scout wondered now if his vehemence came from the same place as Kina Haâs, a desperate desire to see the universe as fair and thus the dead had done something to deserve it all, or if it was all just parroting what the Mandalorians said. She wanted to ask.
âGet me more of that ujj,â she said instead. He passed her a wrapped piece of dense cake and she filled her mouth with it. She didnât care for the sticky stuff, but it gave her a good reason to be silent. Sometimes he just went on about these things and she could just... not listen, but the other Mandalorians had been going on today about how true Mandoâa are never ignored when they speak.
âI donât regret it,â he said firmly. âNever for a moment. The Mandoâade are more a brotherhood than the Jedi ever were, and your conscience is clean. We go after criminals and military targets anyway, itâs the same - are you going somewhere?â
Sheâd gotten to her feet. âI need to stretch my legs. Too long sitting, you know? See you later, Bardâika.â
He smiled to hear her use the pet name they used with him and let her go. Scout headed aimlessly off into the veshok trees and made herself pity him. A mercenary trying to believe his life was more honorable now than when heâd protected civilians, because he could never go back and what was the use in wishing?
It was harder than hating him, or Kina Ha, or any of these people, even the clones whoâd defected from what was now the Empire. Out of sight, Scout closed her eyes. It was so hard, sometimes. But the harder way was the better way. She would not hate. It wasnât Jedi. Instead of letting it fester, she would give her pain to the Force, and let it flow over her and away.
Master Solace had died today, and others whose names Scout wasnât sure of. Maybe she and the Erased had finally taken too big a risk. Scout had no idea - sheâd just come out of meditation to find herself sure of it. Jedi were dying less often, now. Those who were left - if there were more than here at Kyrimorut, and there had to be - they were better at hiding.
âWhy am I here?â Scout asked in a whisper. Leaves rustled in the wind. âWhy me and Ha and Jusik?â Solace had run a resistance movement. Pavan and Tarak, who were still alive as far as Scout knew, found meaningful work of their own. Here... Ha and Jusik couldnât get past the pain so they did nothing, if she put the most charitable spin on them that she could. She couldnât get past hers enough to help them - to really want to help them, to not think of them as horrible in the back of her mind. But couldnât she do anything else?
She heard crashing in the brush and identified it as shatual. Rather than stay there or go back to the fire, Scout set to climbing one of the trees. The branches were well spaced and it was easy going to anyone who knew what they were doing. She broke through the canopy quickly, and closed her eyes against the brightness of the stars.
This was a good time and place to meditate, to try and let go of... everything. Even her love of the Jedi as they had been was an attachment, wasnât it?
Scout got her breathing under control and found a decent place to brace against the branches. The mantra was there, always. As she survived it would survive. Willingly Scout lost herself to it.
âThere is no emotion...â
Plans: Finally someone whoâd actually be fine with becoming an employee. Scoutâs unwilling to casually let on that she has powers, however weak, but her skills can still be useful.
Iâd like her window to be lost. Scout would regret that a little - she's stopped getting attached to possessions and people but it's never fun abandoning everything - but not try that hard to find it again. Really though, itâs because Luke would very likely decide to do something, and she wouldnât tell him no. Figuring out what he would do with that version of the galaxy... augh, man. It's exhausting even from a distance.
Thereâs gonna be some muncest.
DĂMON
Name: TrĂ kata
Sex: M
Form: Mantessan panthac. The wiki article doesnât go into a lot of detail, but thereâs more in Ultimate Adversaries.
Panthacs are only about half a meter long - as big as large housecats and vaguely feline, though more powerfully built. Despite their size they are apex predators. A pack can target one elephant-sized bantha out of a big herd and kill it. Individuals may sacrifice themselves attacking opponents and buying the others time to escape and regroup, and they often choose to take out that enemy later. Fearless and determined, panthacs are also able to work out weak points through observation and intuition, and will stalk prey or opponents for days waiting to take advantage.
Mantessan panthacs most commonly have tails completely covered in long fur, and manes, and the rest of their bodies have shorter, coarser fur. However, their pelts change according to their environments. Fur in colors, thicknesses, and lengths appropriate to their surroundings grows in - or none grows in at all, depending - as the existing fur drops out, a process that takes about a month to complete. They always have the same pattern of stripes, but the colors of their skins and hairs change and so these stripes are not always visible. Their paws and prominent claws also change depending on the terrain. The claws are never able to retract, but they may change shape and can be short or as long as ten centimeters, blunt or sharp, even hooflike as with tusk cats, with thumbs or dewclaws still separate.
Highly invasive, panthacs removed from Mantessa and studied have a worrying tendency to escape and take over, causing ecological upheaval. Ultimately they are truly dangerous because of their deeply loyal pack behavior, above all else. Kits are born into the pack and travel protected with it until theyâre old and strong enough to go on hunts.
Additional notes: Because Scout lost... well, everything and this has profoundly affected her, TrĂ kata has scars across his back and flank. Some have a curious similarity to lightsaber burns. Theyâre not normally all that visible under his fur, when he has fur of any length, but they arenât fully healed and may reopen if Scout is badly triggered.
Why this form: Panthacs reflect Scoutâs insecurity about her powers and place, in that they are rather small. Their willingness to tackle larger things, and their studious determination before doing so, is like hers. Both go to great lengths to adapt in stressful environments and survive whateverâs thrown at them.
Scout also had a âpackâ, the Jedi Order, which was far greater than her and to which she is still strongly loyal. She would have settled while realizing that yes, she really did belong with it. In a sense other members sacrificed themselves that she might live. If sheâd had the choice, she would have died to save them instead.
distant_skiesABOUT YOU
Name: Joysweeper
Are you 18 or over?: Yes
Other characters played: Luke Skywalker, Janine Farehouse
CHARACTER
Name: Scout. Her full name is Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy and Scout is her nickname, but sheâd only give her nickname.
Canon: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Age: Around sixteen.
History: When Scout was a toddler her dirt-poor parents begged passing Jedi to take her so she wouldnât starve. Whether this is true or not - she inferred the story from something one of the Masters said - she was raised in the Jedi Temple as a Jedi initiate. There, she had a strictly managed schedule and almost never left the bounds of the Temple. She enjoyed a lot of study and meditation and all kinds of lessons taught by many teachers, including Yoda.
As she got older, it became apparent that while her body grew steadily, her strength in the Force didn't. It was increasingly suggested that she focus on skills that would be useful in the Service Corps, like encouraging the growth of plants, but she refused - she adamantly wanted to follow the Jedi path. She got her nickname at some point due to those Force talents she was proficient in, and embraced it.
When she was eleven and called to a private talk with Yoda, Scout thought she was being sent into the Service Corps. She cried the whole way there and snuffled defiantly even inside, but she wasn't sent away - Chankar Kim had picked her to be Padawan. In the three months that followed, Scout built her lightsaber and saw a little of the galaxy.
Then came the start of the Clone Wars. Chankar Kim left her behind - said she had rough edges to polish off - and died on Geonosis. Becoming an orphan nearly broke Scout, but she was a fighter. She knew she could only become a Jedi by being made a Padawan again, which meant making a good impression on prospective masters.
Scout had never shirked, but now she threw herself into her studies, physical and mental, with bloody-minded determination. She built muscle, taught herself to ignore pain, and memorized everything she could. She got to the top of class after class that didnât involve using the Force, though in those areas she had to study with eight- and nine-year olds and watch as they surpassed her. Initiates who aren't picked by thirteen are sent to the Service Corps. Scout got a pass even when she turned fourteen, because she had been a Padawan, however briefly. Still, no one chose her and she became the oldest human Jedi Initiate.
Thirty months into the war she entered into an initiate tournament and studied the other entrants for the six weeks prior, coming up with plans to defeat them. Unbenownst to her, Yoda made a deal: if she placed low she would be sent to the Service Corps, if she placed high she would not, and if she won then a skeptical Knight, Jai Maruk, would take her as Padawan.
Most of Scoutâs opponents were around her level or, thanks to the Force, above it; she was physically one of the strongest but could not rely on the Force as they could. She beat the first by pretending to surrender without actually giving the proper cue, then taking advantage of her opponentâs desire to be a good sport and shake hands. Her second, by interrupting her own sentence with an attack, then taking cover behind watchers and the referee in order to make her opponent too angry to call on the Force properly, taking advantage of a reluctance to cut her when she was pinned, and finally grabbing the other girlâs lightsaber through the blade and choking her with her other hand. The blade was on low power, but Scout still had to go to the infirmary for that and came back limping and bandaged.
The rest of the tournament was a surprise free-for-all in the cafeteria. Scout saw it coming and flung a cup of juice into an opponentâs face, then choked him into surrendering. The last one left, the very powerful Whie, got her in a lock but was too polite and genteel to break her thumb when she resisted, so she was able to escape the lock, beat him, and win.
She was then assigned to Jai Maruk and immediately sent on a mission to Vjun with him, Whie and his Master, and Master Yoda. It was through her ideas that they were able to smuggle the instantly recognizable Yoda out undetected on civilian transport. Scout healed from the tournament on the way there, and struggled with the realization that her master didnât like her - actually he did, but thought she would die quickly and didnât want to get attached - but she bore on anyway.
On the mission she met some droids that belonged to Whieâs family and befriended one, then did it a favor that meant both Padawans were away from the Masters when the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress and an escort of assassin droids attacked. Scout fought some of the droids and was hurt, but Whie saved her. They saw Ventress kill Whieâs master and mortally wound Jai Maruk. Ventress gave Whie a speech, trying to get him to doubt the Jedi, and left. Scout got to weep over her master as he smiled at her for the first time, promised he would never leave her, and died.
The mission continued, though it was delayed as, for the last leg to get to the planet Vjun, Master Yoda purchased a used starship from a junkyard and made the Padawans install an engine starter and load it with supplies by themselves so that the deaths would be less immediate for them. On the way there there was a degree of catharsis and mourning; Yoda was well versed in helping his pupils through grief. By the time they reached Vjun they were able to think and act without it weighing so much on them.
Scout and Whie moved through a system of caverns with one of the droids while Yoda took some other route. The Force was strong enough in unpleasant ways there that Scout picked up on it and found it creepy, but when Whie was almost washed away by a sudden flood she was able to call on it to save him.
The droid turned out to be a traitor and led them to Ventress, who cut Scout, made the droid kill itself, and tried to lure Whie away again. She knew Whie was forming a crush on Scout and used the Force to hold Scout still and make her smile as she encouraged the boy to kiss her, and he wanted to. Her talent or her own faith suddenly, briefly strengthened Scoutâs grasp in the Force so that she was able to break free, tell Whie he would make the right choice, and not get killed by Ventress. The droid she had befriended held the Dark Jedi off long enough for the Padawans to run.
After that they ran into Yoda, along with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, whoâd been summoned to Vjun. Whie spontaneously hugged Anakin, crying that he was glad Anakin wasnât coming to kill him - heâd had prophetic dreams that a Jedi would kill him and subconsciously knew which one it would be - and Ventress got away in Kenobi and Skywalkerâs ship.
The new party got off Vjun by hijacking two Trade Federation gunships, which was done by having Scout commandeer them - âQuick, Lieutenant - the Jedi assassins are getting away in their Chryya! Weâve got to scramble up some ships and follow them!â - as the others backed her up with mind tricks. The gunships were sold to a shipyard and they got back to Coruscant in another repaired secondhand ship.
Scout felt changed; more humble in some ways, more confident in others. She still had some esteem issues and couldnât see how great a part she had played, but she was confident now that she would never be sent to the Agricultural Corps. The Jedi were stuck with her now, and she could more than dare to hope, she was certain that she would one day become a Knight.
Still, there was a mourning period, in which it wasn't considered appropriate for her to be chosen as someone else's Padawan. Scout resumed her training, proving to be a little better at the Force, if still weak. She exchanged letters with friends out in the galaxy, including Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
Six months later came Order Sixty-Six and Anakin's betrayal. He killed Whie and a lot of others. Scout, having one of her rare surges of greater strength in the Force, would have fought but heard Master Maruk's voice telling her to run. She escaped the Temple and went into hiding on Coruscant. Initially there were many other fugitive Jedi hiding on Coruscant or trying to escape it, but most were caught or turned in by citizens who believed what the new Emperor said.
Scout survived briefly with other fugitives, and then alone for several months. It was rough, and involved having to be on the move almost constantly and being repeatedly betrayed whenever someone thought she was a Jedi. She did eventually meet with and find some security with Master Fy-Tor-Ana/Solace, one of her Jedi instructors who was now leading an underground resistance movement, but Solace had never wanted a Padawan and didn't have the time or ability to take one in now.
Soon enough Scout was passed on to Jax Pavan and Laranth Tarak, a pair of Jedi masquerading as private investigators and trying to smuggle people off Coruscant. They took her in for a time but as she was younger than them and more personally affected by the situation, they convinced her to take a freighter to Mandalore along with Kina Ha, a Jedi whose reaction to the genocide was to blame other Jedi. They stayed at a Mandalorian stronghold called Kyrimorut.
Mandalorians believe mercenary work and bounty hunting to be the most honorable professions, and most are vehemently anti-Jedi, which sat well with Ha. A few of them took to Scout anyway and gave her work as a medic, but she was still an outsider. One Mando, Bardan Jusik, had been a Jedi but had quit and joined the killing-for-the-highest-bidder life before the genocide began, and liked trying to convince her to follow his example. Mandos will accept anyone, but only if they reject their pasts and become Mandalorian themselves, and even after everything, Scout loved and believed in the Jedi too much.
Point in canon: Three months after arriving on Mandalore, about two years after the end of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous.
Window Location: The forest around the stronghold Kyrimorut, on Mandalore, well away from the usual paths.
Universe: The Galaxy Far, Far Away. The Clone Wars have ended, and the Republic has become the First Galactic Empire, which the Emperor is rapidly changing to suit him. Jedi are being hunted across the galaxy, and writings by and about them are being censored and suppressed; several small resistances have formed and been crushed. A general atmosphere of suspicion against Jedi and anyone with Jedilike attributes pervades the populace. Dark times have fallen.
Abilities: Scout is Force-Sensitive, and as such her reflexes are a bit faster than human-standard. Inherently she tends to be âluckyâ, too; if thereâs a coin toss, she tends to call out the side that lands face up; when sheâs randomly wandering and there are things of note around sheâs likely to find them; and the Force may call her to notice important details that might otherwise be overlooked. When hurt in a fight she generally manages to twist around unthinkingly so that her wounds tend to be superficial and heal quickly. Itâs not a guarantee and she can get lost, miss things, get severely hurt etc, she just has a better than average chance.
Sheâs got a particular talent for scoping out a situation and reading it just a little faster than everyone else; whether or not it's Force-based, itâs where her nickname comes from. Scout is definitely gifted in anticipation; her danger sense is good, if she's open to the Force she can have flashes of precognition, knowing what others will do in tense situations a moment before it happens. Since she's a quick thinker, she can often turn this to her advantage.
However, she is weak in the Force. When she's flustered or upset she can't anticipate anyone. Other Jedi abilities, she has even less talent in, and itâs not even always related to her emotional state. She canât reliably use the Force to sense her surroundings or precisely where other people are or what they're feeling, unless theyâre very powerful. There are other Jedi skills that she canât execute at all.
She does seem to have strengthened slightly due to the trials experienced on Vjun. From her performance there and while returning to the Temple I believe her telekinetic abilities have become more stable. She still can't exert much force and sometimes her âgripâ weakens, but she doesn't accidentally crush things or fling them in unwanted directions anymore and can use telekinesis readily. This might have been because she became a bit more confident in herself.
In certain dire situations the Force swells up and is strong in her, but she canât predict or rely on this at all, and situations which leave her mangled arenât quite dire enough. It happened during her second confrontation with Ventress, letting her break the hold the Dark Jedi had on her and parry her lightsaber. It also happened the night of Order Sixty-Six, helping her escape during the slaughter. At those times she may be guided by the spirits of either of her Masters, or those of her friends.
Serious Force-based healing is beyond her, but if injured and made stable she can meditate on herself and encourage her own body to heal more quickly and without serious scars. Itâs still not something thatâs over in a few hours or a day.
The Force is omnipresent. Where there is life - or was or will be or could be - there is the Force. However, it can be locally changed so that she canât call on it.
More normal skills... The most obvious is her skill at the Broken Gate school of unarmed combat. Scout is a master of joint locks, hitting nerve clusters to numb limbs, throws, and several versions of choke and strangle hold, the most dramatic of which is said to invariably induce unconsciousness in ten seconds as she reduces bloodflow to the brain. Notably most chokes arenât the classic hands-around-throat manual strangling, but use her arms or legs and sometimes the victimâs clothing, so she can do this even when a victim is much larger and stronger.
She can fight well with a lightsaber and generally in hand-to-hand sheâs good, but her main focus is on getting in close and disabling someone. Actually, Scout tends to drop her lightsaber when thereâs a chance to get in close and the chance will be over soon. It should be noted that sheâs absolutely at her best against a single unarmored or lightly armored melee fighter, and Broken Gate is designed to incapacitate more than it is to kill. Scout's a decent shot with a blaster and is pragmatic enough to use it.
In addition she has extensive knowledge of how bodies are put together and training on what to do, both from the Temple and a Mandalorian medic. Mind, sheâs best at field-dressing recent wounds, with less focus in other medical skills. She can concentrate well regardless of distractions and has very high pain tolerance. She has some mechanical aptitude and can change a starshipâs engine starter without relying too heavily on the manual. She can survive in many kinds of wilderness, climb most things, tie and untie a wide variety of knots, and drive a speeder (though not much of anything else). She's also a startlingly good dancer.
Possessions: Scout is wearing plain, sturdy gray clothes. They include an overcoat with a passing resemblance to an outer robe, but all in all these clothes are much more akin to the sort of things Mandalorians wear when not in armor.
Sheâs got a set of chopstick-ish eating utensils and some basic survival items - a vibroknife, dry rations for a few days, a small canteen with a filter in the opening, some cord, a fire starter, a little glow lamp, a thin and tightly compressed waterproof blanket, and an emergency aid kit. That consists of thin gloves, gauze, bandage wraps, bacta patches, a cold pac, a datapad with first aid instructions loaded in, and a half-empty container of burn-and-wound ointment. Sheâs also got a heavy blaster pistol in a holster, and extra power pacs and Tibanna gas canisters for it.
And sheâs held on to her lightsaber. The hilt is worn under her clothes against her skin and has been disguised as a personal shaver, it canât be accidentally activated, but it would take only a few minutes to be made functional again. The blade is blue. Itâs got two power settings, with the lower one able to painfully burn skin but not cut through it, and the higher setting... well, you know lightsabers.
Personality: Scout is tricky, brave, resilient, and refuses to give up. Sheâs not curious about her birth family, but she is unhappy that they live in grinding poverty while she alone was given this incredible chance to make good. She has to take it.
She's well aware of her lack of ability in the Force and canât stand being pitied for it; itâs given her a bit of a lingering inferiority complex. While sheâs proud of the skills sheâs mastered, she constantly believes she doesn't measure up in other areas and doesnât consider herself important.
Scout loves being a Jedi, considers the Jedi her ârealâ family, and has a strong drive to become a Knight and work some good in the galaxy. With the Jedi Order all but gone sheâs had to slowly, torturously accept that sheâll never be a Knight, but she still considers herself a Jedi and strives to live up to what parts of the Jedi way she can. Sheâs just had to become secretive about it and her powers. She doesnât quickly or easily tell people what she is, now - her low levels of Force-Sensitivity make it harder for Jedi hunters to pick up on her, but she knows she has to stay covert anyway, lest she be reported.
As a Jedi she is, unsurprisingly, deeply spiritual/religious, though itâs a pretty quiet sort of faith. She doesnât talk about it, but she was taught and believes that the dead are still around, just in a different form, part of the Force. Itâs small comfort when grieving, but there are times when she feels like old friends and teachers are still with her. Scout meditates often. To disguise her highly illegal faith sheâs taken on the trappings of an obscure ancestor-worshipping religion, and sheâll stop at shrines sometimes.
One of Scoutâs signatures is that she works long and hard at everything she does, applying herself fully. Sheâs sharply observant, adaptive, and keeps herself in practice. If she knows something is coming, she plans meticulously for it, making detailed preliminary observations and strategies of action, honing herself however she can to prepare. If sheâs surprised she tends to lose her head and just fling herself in rather than freeze up, but she can make quick calculations at times.
When fighting, she often gets injured, sometimes badly, due in part to her drive and willingness to be hurt on the way to a goal. Scout never focuses on this. When recovering, sheâs fairly casual about it, neither bemoaning her sorry state nor angering the medics by pretending to be fine. She burns herself with her lightsaber regularly so pain won't distract her.
If competing with or comparing herself to people with greater powers, Scout will often feel intense, bitter jealousy towards them. They donât need to work as hard as she does yet are, she thinks, more beloved. When that situation is over, this jealousy usually evaporates unless they decide to lord their abilities over her. In general, during stressful situations sheâs extremely focused. She can be playful in times like that, but is tightly controlled about it.
In other settings, sheâs much more friendly and willing to chat and share observations, even with people who donât seem to like her much. Scout's not really deterred by neutrality. While she enjoys minor arguments for the sake of arguing, tends to be bossy, and will correct anyone who she thinks is misinformed, she tends to fold if it gets bitter and she doesnât have strong feelings about the issue.
These days she doesnât believe that a place - any place - is really safe. Sheâs got a justifiable paranoia now, and some of her foreplanning goes into plotting out how she could escape from a given situation if need be. She knows that most people wouldnât betray her, but she canât tell who would - after all, the Traitor himself had been a Jedi who showed younglings combat tricks and made jokes. Being convinced of this hasnât made her unfriendly, she just doesnât trust people very far without good reason, and if she has to talk about her past, she keeps it vague. The Jedi becomes "my family". The Temple and early training becomes "my home and school". By now she is able to use half-truths and outright lies fluently.
She is kind when someone is distressed, even someone sheâs argued with, and has become better at seeing other points of view. Though she doesnât think of herself as a particularly good person or a good Jedi, she shoots for âgood enoughâ and knows that sometimes âpretendingâ to be good and wise is all there is. Sheâll take strange unorthodox options and bend or break unspoken rules if she has to, but she is fully committed to being honorable.
Although sheâs learned to put a stoic face on when she needs it, Scout feels emotions strongly and usually shows them, flushing and paling. When sheâs sad she cries inelegantly, when sheâs angry she snaps and growls and swears, when sheâs happy she grins broadly and laughs and makes silly comments, when sheâs afraid it shows, and when sheâs grouchy she gets sarcastic. Despite her seemingly un-Jedi-like open emotion, her moods never get away from her; she doesnât know it, but sheâs like Yoda in that way. In a book with a constant subtext of characters drawing on the Dark Side without meaning to, or being worried about falling, no one believes Scoutâs personal honor will slip that far unless she felt like the Jedi Order betrayed her.
In casual settings she has a tendency towards giving very informal, often mildly insulting nicknames to groups of people and to individuals who won't tell her their real names; even once sheâs been told a name, she sometimes calls them that at least in her head. Her sense of humor, just in general, is irreverent and a little absurd.
Even under horrific levels of tragedy and awfulness, Scout can bear up. She cries about it and rages and doesnât simply âget overâ anything, she is marked and scarred by having people she relies on either betray her or die or turn her away, but she doesnât forget to eat and pay attention to her surroundings for long, and she doesnât shut down emotionally. Rather than buckle or isolate herself, she grits her teeth and applies herself to things. Scoutâs a survivor and has learned how to work with grief and trauma.
Her two goals these days are âsurviveâ and âbe Jediâ. Ultimately âsurviveâ is strong, which she feels incredibly guilty about, but sheâs repeatedly had to run and hide her Jedi nature so people wonât report her. Sheâs very willing to die for a good cause - part of her is looking for that chance - but not to throw her life away. Scout has vague, vague plans of passing on her knowledge in some form.
I do think she has a degree of PTSD. For the most part she can manage fine, but she has bad days when sheâs reminded of those scars, blames herself or thinks sheâs not worthy of surviving, feels some of the emotions present in those times, and has difficulty functioning. Scout hurts herself so sheâll be accustomed to pain, yes - but she also sometimes does it for other reasons.
Thread Sample: Eaten by a giant tadpole with Mal
Prose Sample: âTallisibeth, when you think about it, really, the Order kind of deserved it.â
Grunting noncommittally so he wouldnât just say he was ignoring her, Scout poked at the fire and fervently wished Bardan Jusik would shut up. She wouldnât tell him that, of course. Heâd have enjoyed the rise, the vigorous debate, heâd have probably hit her eventually to make a point she couldnât deflate. Jusik had absorbed the Mandalorian way well.
She remembered seeing him a few times in the Temple, one of hundreds of vague tall shapes, older Padawans who wouldnât make Knight in time for her to take much notice. He should have washed out long before getting that far. It would have been less of a waste to abandon the Agricultural Corps.
âHonestly, taking slaves! Thatâs what the clone troopers were made as, you know. Slave soldiers. I knew it was wrong right from the start. No wonder it happened. Youâll be happier, Tallisibeth, when you put on the beskarâgam and fight for real, youâll see.â Scout wondered now if his vehemence came from the same place as Kina Haâs, a desperate desire to see the universe as fair and thus the dead had done something to deserve it all, or if it was all just parroting what the Mandalorians said. She wanted to ask.
âGet me more of that ujj,â she said instead. He passed her a wrapped piece of dense cake and she filled her mouth with it. She didnât care for the sticky stuff, but it gave her a good reason to be silent. Sometimes he just went on about these things and she could just... not listen, but the other Mandalorians had been going on today about how true Mandoâa are never ignored when they speak.
âI donât regret it,â he said firmly. âNever for a moment. The Mandoâade are more a brotherhood than the Jedi ever were, and your conscience is clean. We go after criminals and military targets anyway, itâs the same - are you going somewhere?â
Sheâd gotten to her feet. âI need to stretch my legs. Too long sitting, you know? See you later, Bardâika.â
He smiled to hear her use the pet name they used with him and let her go. Scout headed aimlessly off into the veshok trees and made herself pity him. A mercenary trying to believe his life was more honorable now than when heâd protected civilians, because he could never go back and what was the use in wishing?
It was harder than hating him, or Kina Ha, or any of these people, even the clones whoâd defected from what was now the Empire. Out of sight, Scout closed her eyes. It was so hard, sometimes. But the harder way was the better way. She would not hate. It wasnât Jedi. Instead of letting it fester, she would give her pain to the Force, and let it flow over her and away.
Master Solace had died today, and others whose names Scout wasnât sure of. Maybe she and the Erased had finally taken too big a risk. Scout had no idea - sheâd just come out of meditation to find herself sure of it. Jedi were dying less often, now. Those who were left - if there were more than here at Kyrimorut, and there had to be - they were better at hiding.
âWhy am I here?â Scout asked in a whisper. Leaves rustled in the wind. âWhy me and Ha and Jusik?â Solace had run a resistance movement. Pavan and Tarak, who were still alive as far as Scout knew, found meaningful work of their own. Here... Ha and Jusik couldnât get past the pain so they did nothing, if she put the most charitable spin on them that she could. She couldnât get past hers enough to help them - to really want to help them, to not think of them as horrible in the back of her mind. But couldnât she do anything else?
She heard crashing in the brush and identified it as shatual. Rather than stay there or go back to the fire, Scout set to climbing one of the trees. The branches were well spaced and it was easy going to anyone who knew what they were doing. She broke through the canopy quickly, and closed her eyes against the brightness of the stars.
This was a good time and place to meditate, to try and let go of... everything. Even her love of the Jedi as they had been was an attachment, wasnât it?
Scout got her breathing under control and found a decent place to brace against the branches. The mantra was there, always. As she survived it would survive. Willingly Scout lost herself to it.
âThere is no emotion...â
Plans: Finally someone whoâd actually be fine with becoming an employee. Scoutâs unwilling to casually let on that she has powers, however weak, but her skills can still be useful.
Iâd like her window to be lost. Scout would regret that a little - she's stopped getting attached to possessions and people but it's never fun abandoning everything - but not try that hard to find it again. Really though, itâs because Luke would very likely decide to do something, and she wouldnât tell him no. Figuring out what he would do with that version of the galaxy... augh, man. It's exhausting even from a distance.
Thereâs gonna be some muncest.
DĂMON
Name: TrĂ kata
Sex: M
Form: Mantessan panthac. The wiki article doesnât go into a lot of detail, but thereâs more in Ultimate Adversaries.
Panthacs are only about half a meter long - as big as large housecats and vaguely feline, though more powerfully built. Despite their size they are apex predators. A pack can target one elephant-sized bantha out of a big herd and kill it. Individuals may sacrifice themselves attacking opponents and buying the others time to escape and regroup, and they often choose to take out that enemy later. Fearless and determined, panthacs are also able to work out weak points through observation and intuition, and will stalk prey or opponents for days waiting to take advantage.
Mantessan panthacs most commonly have tails completely covered in long fur, and manes, and the rest of their bodies have shorter, coarser fur. However, their pelts change according to their environments. Fur in colors, thicknesses, and lengths appropriate to their surroundings grows in - or none grows in at all, depending - as the existing fur drops out, a process that takes about a month to complete. They always have the same pattern of stripes, but the colors of their skins and hairs change and so these stripes are not always visible. Their paws and prominent claws also change depending on the terrain. The claws are never able to retract, but they may change shape and can be short or as long as ten centimeters, blunt or sharp, even hooflike as with tusk cats, with thumbs or dewclaws still separate.
Highly invasive, panthacs removed from Mantessa and studied have a worrying tendency to escape and take over, causing ecological upheaval. Ultimately they are truly dangerous because of their deeply loyal pack behavior, above all else. Kits are born into the pack and travel protected with it until theyâre old and strong enough to go on hunts.
Additional notes: Because Scout lost... well, everything and this has profoundly affected her, TrĂ kata has scars across his back and flank. Some have a curious similarity to lightsaber burns. Theyâre not normally all that visible under his fur, when he has fur of any length, but they arenât fully healed and may reopen if Scout is badly triggered.
Why this form: Panthacs reflect Scoutâs insecurity about her powers and place, in that they are rather small. Their willingness to tackle larger things, and their studious determination before doing so, is like hers. Both go to great lengths to adapt in stressful environments and survive whateverâs thrown at them.
Scout also had a âpackâ, the Jedi Order, which was far greater than her and to which she is still strongly loyal. She would have settled while realizing that yes, she really did belong with it. In a sense other members sacrificed themselves that she might live. If sheâd had the choice, she would have died to save them instead.