Something local onna stick (D4, MM, Bazaar)

[Mir]

Finally the big aliens moved out of the way, revealing an obese, purplish smiling toydarian that fluttered by his grill. The toydarian danced his trunk over the charcoals, using his (or hers!) olfactory senses to ensure that his offerings were mostly well cooked. On the blackened, sticky grill laid several skewers, most sporting a charred fish with few having several crustaceans stuck on them.

"How I may serve yoy, good people?" the floating alien asked the two jedi.

[Eir]

"I'd like two skewers, please," Eir pointed to the fish, "and, how many do you want, Mir?" she asked the farghul.

[Mir]

"Two." the farghul nodded happily. "Oh, that critter must have been cool. The ysalamiri." thought of something that exotic managed to distract Mir from the food for a moment. "I wish I had seen it." his ears flopped down for a moment before he was about to partake to some fish. That cheered him up and so his ears perked once more. "Uh yes, two for me to please." Mir blinked his eyes at the fluttering alien that swiftly moved to grab two skewers from the coals.

"For, the lady, hot or zesty?" the toydarian gestured at two pots sitting by the grill, his voice full or pride. "My hot sauce is family secret. Very good going in."

[Eir]

Not so much coming out, Eir assumed. She didn't want to be incapacitated for any part of the trials by a violent case of Toydarian's revenge, "zesty for me, please." The girl decided to wait until they had their food safely in hand and paid for before continuing about the ysalamiri.

[Mir]

"And for your furry friend?" the toydarian asked, fluttering towards Mir ever so slightly. The farghul gulped and pointed at the zesty pot. "Four sticks zesty, all right-o".

Moments later the two were meandering towards the beach with a fish-onna-stick in each of their hands/paws. Mir was gently nibbling one of he skewers in hopes that that way he'd be able to enjoy it longer. "So the ysalamiri. Where they found those? On Coruscant?"

[Eir]

Eir paid the toydarian, and pulled a hunk of fish from one skewer with her teeth, the zesty sauce was good, and she was quiet for a few moments. "Yeah, so, ysalamiri, they're from a forest planet called Myrkr. They have a sort of symbiotic relationship with a type of tree there, their claws dig right in through the bark and absorb nutrients that way."

She ate another piece of fish, that zesty sauce really was delicious, "well, maybe it's a more parasitical arrangement," she added thoughtfully. "They take nutrients from the tree, but unless the other pests of Olbio trees are repelled by the Force suppression, I don't really see what's in it for the tree."

[Mir]

"Issee. Why'd anyone want to drag them to Coruscant then?" Mir wondered as he took a small bite from one of his fish, happily licking the grease from his chin afterwards. "So there are trees that push animals away with Force?" his eyes widened. "I wonder how the kriff that happened. Like, one day there's a tree and the next, you can't get close to it." Mir pawed at air as if he was hitting an invisible barrier.

[Eir]

"I mean, it's the ysalamiri that repel the Force, but they are, well, permanently attached to the tree," she clarified. "They're pretty cool, it was awesome seeing them up close. Weird, but awesome. So I'm kinda glad that someone did bring them to Coruscant."

Finished with her meat, Eir gnawed on a skewer absently, "you can walk right up to them, it isn't like a force field or anything. You just, kinda, cross that line," she drew a line in the air in front of her, "and bam, Force gone."

[Mir]

"Oh I see. So they brought them with the trees? To Coruscant I mean. Or did they find them some local trees to hand on?" the poor farghul sounded still rather confused.

A group of tanned, sleek humans glad in skimpy clothing carrying large conical boards walked past them. At least Mir thought they were humans. They all had flowing long hair and wore shades. There seemed to be a lot of fuss about something gnarly a mate had done the other day.

"Lots of people here." Mir mused. "With no poor people around. I wonder where they hid them."

[Eir]

"Dunno," Eir shrugged, "they were bred in captivity, but I don't know if that means they were born on Coruscant, or somewhere else. I think I read something about if you try to take them off their tree, they'll die."

She watched the humanoids pass, Coruscant tended to be kept fairly cool and most people dressed warmly there, but she'd seen enough holoshows to recognise bathing costumes. "They probably chase them away from the tourist areas," Eir answered, "so people on vacation don't have to deal with that reality while they holiday."

[Mir]

"That sounds complicated." Mir was trying to imagine a life spent hanging from a tree. At least Coruscant had large trees to let him try to fathom that idea. "Sounds kinda boring. Were they big? Like more than small." he spun his paws and the fish-sticks maybe a feet apart.

"Ooh, that'd make sense. There were few places on Doloran like that. The highest levels of guild halls. Oh and casinos. Otherwise, well. Too many slaves, too many uses for slaves." he shrugged. "Both indoors and outdoors. Scrappers, haulers, cooks, dancers, what have you."

[Eir]

Eir held her hands about half a metre apart to indicate the size of the ysalamiri. “I don’t get it,” Eir said, “how does it make sense, like economically, to house and feed and trade slaves instead of employing them?”

[Mir]

"Ooh, pretty big." Mir nodded, impressed. "I guess I can try to sneak to see them when we get back to Coruscant. Or are they hidden somewhere?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

They reached the beach with dozens and dozens of aliens lounging in the sun. A quarren kid ran past the two, it's tentacles wobbling in the air. A frustrated looking parent ran after the squidling, yelling in an alien language. "Ulle, dur måsste vantä ossh." Hearing this, Mir paused to push his tongue out of his mouth, wondering if he mouth could make such sounds. Shrugging, he figured that he didn't strictly need to and he instead took a bite from his fish.

"Uh, well. People who work for free are cheaper." Mir suggested, unsure what Eir meant.

[Eir]

Eir rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to tell you where to find them. You can’t just go sneaking in places uninvited.” She tossed the empty skewers into a nearby trash receptacle. “Are they, though?” She was no economist, but she suspected that slavery looked good on the year end balance sheets, but might not be so thrifty in the long run. “Think about it, are slavers more likely to be swayed by ethical and emotional concerns, or economical ones? If you could show them, even if you had to get a bit creative, how much money they would save by ending slavery,” she shrugged.

[Mir]

"Spoilsport." Mir flbflbled his tongue at no-one particular, dropping the topic. If Eir wanted to keep her silly lizard secret, so be it. While Eir was done with her snack, Mir was still gnawing his - his paws woefully stained in fish grease. Not that this bothered him, he considered the grease in his paws a snack for an another time. "Well, they are cheap, the guilders. And nothing's cheaper than slaves." the farghul was no economist either. "And there are always more slaves on the Rim. So, I guess there's need for them." the fur on his tail was standing a little by now. "Well, if that was the case that'd be easy. Should ask one of the archivists if it can be done. Numbers usually just hurt my head."

[Eir]

Shrugging again, "it's going take way too long to shove all the slavers into a, what did you say? a naxxa pit?" She side-eyed the farghul with a smirk, "gotta think bigger, young padawan," she teased.

[Mir]

"Bigger naxxa pit!" Mir figured. "Naxxa is big lizard that has a huge mouth. Can swallow small people whole." he moved his paw bit above Eir's height. "The guilders have them fight for fun."

[Eir]

Giggling, "bigger," she encouraged Mir, "you'd need a naxxa the size of a gas giant to fit them all in."

[Mir]

"Well, they can stand in a queue for a while. Like we did when we queued for food." Mir huffed. "Sounds fitting, doesn't."

[Eir]

That sobered her up quite a bit. “Ending slavery isn’t about your vengeance, Mir, it’s about helping the slaves.”