Adventures of a Pet Rock

[Jaime]

Corellia, On the eastern shoreline

It was a beautiful day today at the beach. The sun was alone in the sky, warming the sand to a degree where it was pleasant on the feet. The water washed gently on the shore, soothing the soul. The kind blue sea was pleasing to the eye. There were thousands of rock on the beach, each touched and unique in their own way. One could be temped to skip one in the water, build a castle, toss them at a friend.

Or even, if it was pretty or significant enough, keep one as a friend.

[member="Jannik Morlandt"] [member="Kalinai Soluza"]

 

[Kalinai Soluza]

[member="Jaime"]

Kalinai Soluza, Empress of the Universe, Pirate Queen of the Space Lanes and 2nd Placed Contestant on ‘Coruscant’s got Talent’ (she lost because she hit a judge with a fiddle), collected seashells.

Those impressive titles somewhat obscured the fact that Kalinai was just a little odd. She had managed to get herself frozen in carbonite and transported 800 years forward because she’d chosen the wrong place to have a nap, true. However, she did have a ship, the Flying Pineapple, with which she roamed the space lanes for…reasons.

Either way, she was on the beach, collecting sea shells and dabbling her feet in the water. As she did she talked to a rock in her hands. This was Rocky XXVII, the 27th in the long line of unfortunate pet rocks she’d had. Even though most might consider a pet rock a joke pet, experience had showed Kalinai that it was anything but. Her pet rocks tended to wander off, transform, metamorph or even in extreme cases, implode. She didn’t know WHY this happened. On the other hand, she had stopped at least one invasion with a pet rock, and beaten up a Jedi Master with another, so…it evened out.

“Ooh…look Rocky! It’s a spectacular Lace Murex shell!” She picked it up, revealing the rock beneath. The ROCK OF DESTINY. Possibly.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

Corellia, Corellia.

He'd never been, but he'd been assured of the peacefulness of its shores... and peace was exactly what the doctor (or Jedi healer) ordered. Not that he was injured, but his mind and his current way of life were not quite on the same page. He was saddled with quite a burden, and his acceptance of it was at the best grudging. No matter how much he wished to be rid of this 'ability', it wasn't going away anytime soon.

It wasn't going away ever... but enough wallowing in haves and have-nots. There was a beautiful shoreline to explore and reflect on. Sand or rock, it didn't matter to him. It was the first time outside of Tython that he'd been near a body of water in his entire life. Coruscant wasn't all that good for that kind of thing. Water as far as the eye could see still captured his attention with awe, and as he wandered the rocky shore, he breathed in the salty air, and let the feeling of the place sink into his bones. There was nothing to detract from these moments, away from the hustle and bustle of busy ecumenopolises and Jedi academies. He crouched, letting his eyes slip shut a moment, getting in touch with the Force around him, feeling the water, the rocky surface beneath his feet, and...

...significant life? His eyes popped open, and he looked this way and that, but there was no-one there. Or there was, as he craned his neck around, and saw a blonde woman. A pretty one, at that.

Talking to a rock.

And 'ere I was thinking I was nutters.

He stood, smoothed out his trousers, and wandered over to her.

"Oi, nice day, innit?" He called, making his way over... except he'd stepped wrong, or onto something not-quite-flat, lost his balance and stumbled a bit, his arms windmilling slightly before he regained his footing. He laughed sheepishly, giving the blonde a look, then looking to the rocky surface, in which there was a fair-sized divot, holding a oblong, smooth stone roughly the width of his fist, that nearly blended into the larger rock. He bent down, and ran his fingers over it, picking it up, while glancing again at her. "Seems you an' I both are 'aving encounters w'inanimate objects t'day."

Not your worst small-talk, lad.

"Nice shell," he added, "D'ye like sh-"

And then it hit him. A doozy. A flash of an image in his mind, that had him blinking, and shaking his head. After a moment, he looked at [member="Kalinai Soluza"] again, offering a sheepish smile, but beneath it, he was suddenly nervous. This had to be the worst time for that to be happening.

"...sorry. D'ye like shells?"

While he awaited her answer, he went over the image in his mind, trying to make sense of it, not immediately noticing that the stone in his hand had shifted slightly. Between what was going on in his head, and paying attention to the girl, things weren't clicking right off.

[member="Jaime"]

 

[Kalinai Soluza]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"] [member="Jaime"]

There was a man! A manly man…a man in tights!
Well, probably not.

The man also seemed to be talking with some sort of weird Cockney accent. Now Kalinai, or this incarnation of her at least, didn’t know what that word meant, but probably would have guessed ‘git’ if asked.
Then he fell over. Or almost. He stumbled over the ROCK OF DESTINY. Probably, it wasn’t clear.

“Och aye, Jimmie, Lannoch m’ ol’ suit m’ lad!” she rambled. Too much? Probably.

“I love shells, me old fella-me-gore. What’s your name, Stumbles? I’m Empress Kalinai the First, but you can call me Kalinai the Calamatous. Or Kally. Whichever. Do YOU like shells, hmm, old curtain?”

Poor guy had no idea what he’d gotten himself into.

 

[Jaime]

Corellia Shoreline

He watched as the woman went along the beached, collecting sea shells and talking to another rock. It was kind of cute in a way. There was also a man who seemed to be searching for some inner peace and relaxation. Jaime the Rock had to agree, this was a perfect spot to look for it. Suddenly his eyes opened as he seemed to have found something. He went over to the pretty woman to attempt some small talk when he fell over another rock. He picked up a smaller rock laying on top of the rock he tripped on. He continued to talk to her until something caught his attention.

The woman seemed to like him for even after his fall, she continued to talk with him, even though she mimicked his accent. They both seemed to have a mutual interest in rocks and shells. Maybe fate brought them both here for a reason. The man ([member="Jannik Morlandt"]) suddenly felt movement in his hand. Should he look, he would he find that the rock he found was actually a shell and inside was a hermit crab. Jaime wondered how the man will react when he found out. Jaime watched from the shoreline as the girl ([member="Kalinai Soluza"]) waited for the man's response.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

Had she just been... making fun of him? Well, it wasn't the first time someone had mimicked his voice - it didn't seem to be a common accent anywhere he'd been - and he doubted it would be the last. He'd seen shells before, mostly in some of the more homely, modest jewelry shops back on Coruscant, and in the windows of travel agencies, but he'd never been in their element.

"Curtain...?" He said, looking a tad confused for a moment, before answering her question. "No... ah mean, s'pose so. Yes. They seem nice enough."

It was then that the supposed stone in his hand moved again, only this time, he felt it. Jan looked down at his hand, curled open his fingers, and saw the crab, immediately dropping it, and scuttling several steps back, soundless throughout the entire knee-jerk reaction. He'd learned not to yell, screech, or scream in these instances years ago, on account of teasing. He watched the little hermit crab scuttle away, surprisingly uninjured.

"Ah've marked m'self as not one o'th'locals, now, 'aven't I?" He muttered, with a short huff of a laugh as the crab went. Jan looked to [member="Kalinai Soluza"] again, and both his eyebrows went up.

Empress? He thought with mild amusement. Sure.

"A pleasure t'meet ye, miss Kally," he said, accompanying his words with a mock-bow and a flourish of his left arm, quickly rising again as he gave his own name. "Jannik Anders Morlandt. Ah'm a Jedi, an' ye ken call me Jan."

[member="Jaime"]

 

[Kalinai Soluza]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"] [member="Jaime"]

Kalinai watched as he dropped it and stepped back. Moving forward she scooped up the ROCK OF DESTINY and the crab.
“Hey there, little nipper! Don’t worry, Kally’s here for you. Look, Rocky, I’ve got a friend for you!” she said. Rocky didn’t say anything, he was the silent type, Kalinai liked to say.

Looking up, the man was still there, a Jedi too. That probably impressed some people. It did not impress Kalinai.
“Jan, huh? Well Jan the Jedi, you really should be more careful, you could have hurt the little crab here!”

She narrowed her eyes and peered at the man. “Do I know you from somewhere? Hmm…Citadel Station? No, no, that was a wookiee. Hmm…Tatooine? Nonono, too much hair. Huh, maybe not. Still, pleased to meet you Jan the Jedi!”

 

[Jaime]

[member="Kalinai Soluza"] [member="Jannik Morlandt"]

As expected, the man was very surprised and instantly dropped the hermit crab. Jaime has been a rock too long to give himself away by something so simple (and funny) but it was amusing none of the less. Luckily for him the girl was too preoccupied with a rock and the hermit crab. The man introduced himself as Jannik and the girl (Kally maybe?) was happy to meet him. It was heart warming. This is why Jaime enjoyed being a rock. It gave him the ability to watch these kind of moments without tainting it with his presence.

A bit of water landed on him from the tide. Yet again, been a rock too long to show it but he hoped they moved on soon. He didn't want to be here when the tide came in.