AN:Okay I'm back after a somewhat long absence.  As a college student my schedule is pretty hectic so releases will be sporadic.  As I said in the synopsis I don't know where I'm going with this so I'm going to take a lot of ideas and toss them around.  Tell me what you think works and what doesn't work as well as suggestions for new adventures for our MC.  Other than that, I will probably take a lot of artistic liberties with the setting so for those hardcore star wars fans out there, this story is not for you.  That's all.  Enjoy!

"" Dialogue

[] Internal Monologue

**Sound effects

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The fearsome looking woman held me in her arms and crooned softly to me.  I of course began to cry.

Well to be truthful I was trying to say something along the lines of "Let go of me woman!" But the words didn't come out right.

As I cried, an even more fearsome looking man came into view.  Like the woman, he too had a face covered in tribal markings but he also had a head full of horns!  And when I looked closely, the woman also had horns although they were much smaller.

At this point I was just acting on autopilot.  Clearly something catastrophic had happened to me and I needed to calm down and take stock.

The man said something to the woman and they both looked at me with faces that were full of... something.  It was hard to decide what exactly the two were feeling since their features were so scary looking, but from their faces it appeared that the couple were looking at me with love...

"!)*(&FDS:JF *)##@"

"SDPIUFY)#*&#@):JPF &#@"

"#@)*&(#@FDH:!"

The man and woman continued to speak but it came out sounding like gibberish.  Clearly the language spoken here was not english.

All the stimuli overloaded my mind and I began to feel tired.  Even though it had only been a few moments, they were so action packed that I felt completely exhausted.

As I relaxed in the comfort of the woman's arms, I let my mind drift off into slumber.

The last thing I heard was a soft repeating noise.

"SDPI@#)(*"

"ARP*&)#R@"

"Aur..."

"Aurum... my son."

---------------------------

The next day I woke alone in a cage with no ceiling.  The walls of my prison were painted a cheery yellow and above me hung some sort of...

Oh...

That's right...

I had been reincarnated as a baby.

Let's skip forward a bit and get past all the embarrassing baby stuff that I had to endure during those first few months.

To summarize, my name is Aurum.  I apparently had been reborn in this strange new world to a couple of friendly Zabraks.

As far as I could tell my new family was of simple origins and lived an equally simple life.

As a baby Zabrak I lacked the horns that my parents both proudly displayed, however my skin was also patterned with a series of tribal tattoo looking pigment formations.  My base skin color was also a different color, a deep yellow close to gold in color which prompted my parents to name me such.

As a baby there was little I could do about my situation but sit and think about life, the universe, and everything.

There were several things that I picked up over time however so it's not like I did nothing during my infant stage.  For starters, I learned the majority of the language my parents spoke which was named the trade language.  There are apparently a massive number of languages given the size of the universe, but a common language had emerged from the combination of millions of others which was now used as the intergalactic standard for communicating with other worlds and their inhabitants.

I also learned how to walk, albeit unsteadily given my lack of musculature, and perform basic tasks as I regained control of my motor functions.  I learned much about the world I lived in as well.  Apparently I lived on a planet in the outer rim called Tatooine [yes I know it's cliche but cut me some slack].  The planet was mostly desert but with advanced hydroponics and small scale environmental adjustment, it was possible to cultivate a variety of plants.  

My parents worked two jobs.  They owned a house out in a somewhat fertile canyon valley where they maintained a medium sized farm, and my father also worked as a robotics repairman.  He was actually quite skilled and probably could have made a living on one of the major trade worlds as an engineer, but for unspoken reasons he had chosen to settle down here away from heavily industrialized areas.  He specialized in astromechs and droid repair so every week or so he would get on a speeder and drive off towards town.  When he returned, his cargo attachment would be loaded down with all kinds of damaged mechanical devices and miscellaneous junk.

I was mostly left to my own devices as a child.  The boonies on Tatooine could be dangerous and my parents had to work hard to sustain our family so there was limited time that they could spend with me.  A jury-rigged star fighter droid had been placed in the house to watch over me and alert my parents if there was danger.

I of course learned how to turn the little robot off within 2 months so I could have plenty of alone time whenever I wanted.

At 6 months I could already walk and talk a little if I concentrated.  I knew the language by now but my vocal chords were still developing so it was difficult to form proper words.  My parents were overjoyed when they caught me walking unsteadily in my room.  They swept me up and praised me for my talent even though it was something as simple as walking.  I guess it is somewhat impressive given the average learning curve for infants, but they really went overboard on the celebrations.  At least I finally got to eat something other than milk even if it was just baby food.

Tomorrow I'll try to find some books or something and learn how to read.  My mom has been reading to me at night and I think I finally have a crude understanding of the alphabet they use.  It is similar to the Arabic alphabet that is used for English but with several more phonetic symbols to incorporate a wider variety of sounds and a few vaguely oriental symbols that I still don't understand the point of.

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Today I awoke to a strange phenomenon.  I felt the same as always, but at the same time my instincts told me something was different.  I looked around me trying to find the source of these feelings but everything seemed normal.

The star fighter droid stood in the corner immobile but watchful.  The house was quiet, but I could hear my father in his workroom outside.  The air was cool and dry, despite the heat from the sun that burned the atmosphere of this dusty planet.  The small decorative plant in the corner was glowing softly like normal.  And the...

Wait a minute...

THE PLANT IS GLOWING?!?

As I disabled the locks on my playpen, I kept my gaze on the now glowing plant.  The plant looked the same as always.  So why was it glowing?

I approached the plant carefully trying to think about the situation logically.  Carefully I reached out and touched the potted plant.

The light glow coming from the plant felt...good somehow.

The light waves coming from the plant seemed to contain a feeling of tranquility.  The feeling went away when I stopped touching the plant but I still remembered the sensation.

Eventually the glow dimmed and disappeared.  I tried to regain that feeling I had when I saw the glow, but nothing happened.

Suddenly a scratching came from the window by my crib.  I turned to face it but saw nothing in the open window.

Still...something was bothering me.  I reached out with my sense the same way I felt the plant and tried to see if I could feel anything.  I concentrated harder and harder.  I stared at the window for all I was worth until...

I sensed a small ball of emotions coming from the window.  This of course was nonsensical since a window could not feel anything, but I ignored this fact and continued to concentrate.  The glow of the plant returned but I ignored it trying to feel out what the ball of emotion meant.

After a while the feelings I sensed coalesced into a single thought in my head.  

It felt hungry.

I grinned at the implication of this feeling.  Still smiling I walked to the kitchen area and picked up a fruit from one of the sacks in the pantry that I could reach.  Carefully balancing my new treasure in my arms I toddled back to my room and approached the window.

I smashed the fruit on the droid to open it and ripped off a small piece.  By this point I was somewhat exhausted but I persevered.

Finally clutching my prize, I took the hard won piece of fruit and threw it out the window.

A rustling noise could be heard outside.  I couldn't see what was making the noise but the ball of emotion I felt did not seem hostile.  After a while the sounds stopped.  Then more scratching noises came from the window.  A small, scared face appeared in the window.  

The little ball I felt belonged to the creature I saw before me.  It looked something like a lizard crossed with a rabbit or ferret.  It had a small face, with pointy ears, a mouth full of tiny fangs, the legs were lizard like but more heavily muscled, its skin was leathery and had patches of feathers in odd places.  It reminded me vaguely of the depictions of Quetzalcoatl on earth.  

The animal watched me carefully for a little while dividing its attention between me and the fruit it wanted.  It slowly crept closer until it reached the edge of the window.  Deciding that I was no threat, it gathered its courage and tried to climb down only to lose its grip and fall the rest of the way.  The creature rolled over and began to squeak.  I approached it slowly and gave it half the fruit.  The animal looked at me silently then crawled forward and ate its portion.  I took a bite of mine while I waited for it.  When it finished, it looked at me and I felt a surge of emotion from it.  It took me a little while, but I worked it out to discover that it still felt hungry.  So I laughed and gave it the rest of my portion.  

This time the lizard thing came much closer and ate the rest of the food from my hand.  Satisfied it rubbed up against me and then fell asleep.  I too felt exhausted from all the work I did and laid down next to it.  I could feel the animal's sleepy emotions if I concentrated like I did with the plant.  I couldn't see a glow around the lizard like I saw around the tree, but the feeling was the same.  I fell asleep next to my new friend.

Hours later I awoke when my mother screamed and dropped a bottle, which clattered to the floor.  The lizard creature was startled and hid behind my back.  My father came running inside to check on my mother.  When he saw me, he froze like my mother and stared in shock.  I just sat there confused.  My parents were clearly afraid of something but I did not understand why.  After sitting still for a little while my parents tried to make me crawl to them by softly calling my name and telling me everything was alright.

I just sat there wondering what they were all worried about.  Eventually I decided to pick up my new pet and walk towards my parents, but this seemed to make them more worried.  Still they stood there and encouraged me, only now they tried to get me to let go of the lizard.

Using my o' so dazzling intellect, I deduced that they were afraid of my new friend so I of course tried to show them it was harmless.  They grimaced, but did not back away.  They refused to touch it but patted me on the head and told me I was a good boy.  My father formed a make shift basket with a towel and tried to pick up the lizard creature, but it hissed at him and scampered away.  My friend ran up the wall and jumped out the window.  I was a little sad about that and cried a bit even though I tried not to.

On the other hand my parents were relieved and hugged me tightly.  My father closed the window and rebooted the droid I had forgotten to turn back on.  He then left with my mother and held a quick conversation that I couldn't hear in the hall.

I was still tired from moving around so much and I had a small headache from concentrating so hard earlier.  I decided that whatever my parents had to say could wait for later and closed my eyes again, drifting off into pleasant dreams.