Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter three; bad dreams

Mara had decided that she should refer to BB-8 as a he instead of an it. Frankly, it seemed impolite to refer to something lesser than it was, and BB-8 was quite the character. He deserved to be something more than just an it. And perhaps Mara just found it more comforting she would be talking to a someone instead of a something.

She had also decided the droid had several different ways of communicating; beeping, singing, blurbing, and some sort of small moaning. He would alternate between all of them, making him quite vocal.

The droid produced a sound akin to a sigh when the evening sun dipped low under the horizon. Mara waited with BB-8 as he angled his little 'eye' above them to the receding sky, seemingly waiting for some kind of craft to appear. For a moment, the woman searched the upper atmosphere for any signs of ship besides wandering scappers. Traders and other scavengers had departed earlier that day. Whatever appeared now may be the astromech's owner.

The sunset's colors drained away as they always did in her two years of being on this planet. No ships came. A small hope in her plummeted when she glanced down at her newfound companion.

"Sorry, bud. It's not safe to stay out at night unless you want to get gobbled up by a happabore."

A string of mechanical murmurs relayed the droid's unsettled state at the insinuation.

Rustling came from inside the makeshift home they'd created from the over-turned AT-AT, signaling Rey had begun her nighttime routine as Mara's stepped through the threshold, "Kidding, kidding. A bore wouldn't even look at you. C'mon in."

By the time they'd shut and sealed the AT-AT's main door shut, night had completely blanketed the sky, stars revealing themselves in the dark's stitching. Rey had been able to make an old lighting system work, so dim light allowed the naked eye to see most things. Rey's night vision googles still were needed if you wanted to find something specific. For example, Mara tossed one of the blankets she had recently acquired from a trade onto her bed, but it took five minutes and two miscellaneous things falling to find it. BB-8 had settled himself in the corner of the room while the two women arranged their sleeping quarters.

Within the hour, the two were in their beds, lights all off. Weapons were laid within reach if an attack came. Goggles and head wraps were put in their respective containers. All that was left was the darkness and the wind stirring up a small sandstorm outside.

A pit lodged itself in Mara's stomach when sleep failed to find her. As the night progressed on, BB-8 cringed in the corner of the slanted room. He let out quiet purrs of fear, cowering against the wall. The storm had begun to pick up, small bits of Jakku sand seeping through cracks in the hull. A particularly strong gust of wind shook the walker and the astromech let out another small cry of fear.

Out of a compulsion to ease the droid, who was so out of place and unfamiliar with his surrounding, Mara rolled onto her side to face him, "You're good. Just a small storm."

This didn't seem to convince BB-8, who continued to chatter on in a fast manner that was just quiet enough not to wake Rey. She was fast asleep, soft rhythmic breaths escaping from her and echoing off the walls. Mara kept her voice low in an active effort to both soothe the droid and not encounter Rey's sudden anger when woken.

"No, this ones not even close to big." She continued. BB-8 had stilled to listen, "The huge ones last for days. Those are called X'umR'iia. Translates to R'iia's wrath. R'iia is kind of like the native god to some of the people here. They say she made Jakku so deserted and hot, cursed with cold at night."

The droid blurbed back to tell Mara that wasn't a comforting thought.

"My opinion?  I think it's a bunch of Acklay dung. You can actually predict the storms by atmospheric changes and all that complicated shit. Rey's actually really good at it. But no need to worry. R'iia isn't plaguing us tonight."