In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle, the Lion waits to eat you...

[Arabella Darkhold]

Location: Vena

Objective...........hmm undecided.

Jungles are fun.

Arabella sat at one of the many restuarants looking at the Jungles. A friend had set her up on a blind date, for some reason they believed she needed to have a little fun in her life.

Didn't they know she had fun every day?

She was a long way from home and right a distraction really did sound good, now she did have it set up that her ship would buzz her in 30 minutes, and if she wasn't having a good time she could leave. Otherwise she'd stay.

So who was this guy again, [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"], so who was this?

Only time would tell.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

-Another- blind date? Josh had the weirdest friends. Jak in particular. He'd been trying to get him laid since his last relationship had ended several years ago. Of course, while the Jedi Master had seen his share of small time flings, a few spats of fun here and there, he hadn't been able to sink his teeth into a real relationship in a very long time. And Jak knew it was something he wanted, even if he didn't convey it. Stupid plant. While his last blind date had worked alright, she hadn't ever actually called back, and that was enough to warrant Jak setting up another one.

This time, he didn't know who this had been set up with, it wasn't the dating service this time around that it had been sent through. He had a feeling this was going to go bad, and it ending up on a jungle planet only set him more at unease. But yet, there he came. As Vera was a planet that was not very kind to formal attire, he had decided to forgo it, and had shown up in a black leather jacket, a blue t-shirt, black pants and black boots. The Jedi scanned the area, looking around until he found the table he had been assigned to. Finding that his "date" was already here, he would smile as he took his seat.

"So you must be her then?" Josh would inquire as he looked her over a moment, before extending a hand. "I'm Josh, it's a pleasure to meet you, miss...?"

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"Well aren't you just a smooth devil" She arched a brow and extended her hand, "Bella, short for Arabella" She looked him over not sure what to think Izumi kept saying she needed to get out so here she was out.

"Have a seat, so do you mental clock that's ticking down saying when to run?" She smiled might just as well get it all out of the way right. If she had one, he had to have one and if he said he didn't well she might have to release her force sense and figure it out.

Ok at least he was not bad looking, even if he came off like he'd done this a hundred times before and was only here to make a friend happy. She laughed, well she was doing the same thing wasn't she.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Charmed" He would respond, smirking a bit in turn. Well, she was certainly a cute one, that's for sure. If he could have shown up in a suit or something, he would have. But on a jungle planet, you were just asking for it to be ripped, and when you were a Jedi on Jedi wages... Suit repairing money wasn't really what you had in spades. But.. He had a weird feeling about this one, admittedly. A feeling in his gut like there was something.... Off. But for now, he would just try to enjoy the date and hope that this one didn't find itself going south. Granted, there wasn't much that could go south as much as that time he went mud wrestling with another council member...

"Darling, I didn't come all the way to a jungle planet to run from this date the first chance I got" The blonde would tease with a playful little smile. Well, at least she was a joking sort. That was one thing they had in common he supposed. Hooray for small victories, right? By expression, it was pretty clear she'd just been set up on a blind date and didn't have much choice in the matter.

"So what do you do for a living?" He would inquire curiously as he peeked down at the menu.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"thank you, and I sit around Hyogo eating bons bons daily, what do you do?" Hyogo was her father's ancestral home on Atrisia and while he was away Bella saw to the upkeep and lived there.

He had this odd look on his face like for a moment he was thinking of something else, she couldn't read his thoughts though if she touched the force or dropped the art of small she could and then what would happen? Hmm was he force sensitive? Would she have to throw him in the mud?

She smiled though, she was glad that he had a sense of humor some folks just didn't know how to laugh.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Slaver hunter" He responded. Not entirely a lie. Until his reinstatement into the Order, he had spent his time liberating slave camps all around the Outer Rim, and taking out slave rings everywhere he went. He wouldn't call it his official job title, but he used it when he wasn't really talking to people that he'd tell he was a Jedi. It was a full time job, sure, but being a Jedi was dangerous. And also not something you told someone on a date unless they knew already, and at that point it was redundant. Hey, I'm a Jedi! I deal with dangerous magic evil space wizards all the time and dating me is the equivalent to setting yourself up on the noose for a Sith Lord to knock the stool down on! Yeah, not really something you said on a first date... Or a blind date, for that matter.

"You sit around Hyogo eating bon bons, huh?" He asked, chuckling a bit. "So are you a bon bon taster or do you get paid to stand around and look absolutely ravishing? Because with looks like yours, you probably make quite a bit doing it if so" He would joke again, with a light smile. More lighthearted flirts from the Jedi Master, as per usual. He wasn't laying it on too thick, just being casual and making flirtatious jokes, not too much, not too little. Though it might be a little thicker then most people had the courage to do so casually...

He noted the look on her face, and considered dropping the hiding act on his Force Sensitivity to see if she was so herself. The question was... What would he find?

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"Oh no I eat them myself no concerns on anyone trying to poison me, least not that I am aware of. As for the ravishing part, thank you and it's not hard to do just need a good makeup artist" She smiled on so he had some charm to him,

"but now this Slave hunter thing you got going you hunting slaves to take them back or hunting them to find them new holes, what exactly do you do as a slave hunter?" She smiled yes did he kill slaves? Rescue them? or something more heinous like sell them. She wanted to know and why had nothing to do having any slaves for they did not have any on Atrisia within House Togashi.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]​

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"No, no, slav-er hunter" Josh would explain with a laugh. "I hunt down slave camps. I hunt down slave rings. I liberate the slaves and send them back home. And then I kill the slavers so they don't just kidnap them again" Josh would explain with a light half-smirk crossing his lips for a moment. "I used to just spare them, the whole honorable shindingdong, you know? But the problem is, they caught on. I'd get repeat slavers. Then they did things like taking hostages, or being sore losers and murdering their own slaves because they knew I'd just KO them and send them to the law anyway. So while I generally like to No-Kill these kinds of things... They have a special place in hell for me, so I kill them. Slav-er hunter. Slaver hunter" He would explain. "People as property.. Come on, what short sighted idiot thought of that? I wonder if the guy who invented the concept of slavery ended up a slave himself?" He would joke. "A ghost to his own vices... It'd have made for an interesting story."

"But speaking of interesting stories..." He began as he looked her over. "What's a beautiful flower like yourself trying to do with her story, by having blind dates? You could probably get just about any man with looks like yours" He would tease. A joke, of course... Josh knew full well that the most beautiful woman in the world was monkey butt ugly if she was ugly inside.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"ah Slav-er somehow with your accent I didn't hear an R." She smiled, "so you hunt down those folks, hmm" She thought for a few moments about this, "I don't like slavers they're cruel for the most part and barter upon the souls of people for personal gain"

Slavers were in her top 3 of galaxy could do without list.

"Oh well I suffer from a couple of terrible diseases busifacitis, judgmentus, and last an far from least 2cuteformyowngoodviratus." Translation, she was always busy, had poor judgement, and was considered too cute to approach. Then there was a very real disease that she didn't mention much for it wasn't funny and some found it unbelieveable, additionally it was a weakness that she had a hard time accepting.

A lack of sunlight brought on Seasonal affective disorder and that wasn't easy to deal with and some did not put stock in it, but truth was for her without the sun she became darker more easily. A bright light might help for a bit but sunlight was the cure.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"I'm a man who likes to preserve life... But with slavers, I'm afraid there is no choice" Josh would explain with a sad smile. "They have no regard for the lives of others and see them as only property. They don't deserve their own lives, much less to take ownership of the lives of others as though they are some blasted plaything for their amusement. They kept taking advantage of my mercy.... So they lost my mercy. So I hunt them, yes. I hunt them, I sabotage their operations, I kill them, and I send their prisoners home from whence they had been kidnapped and removed from their families."

He let out a sigh. "I spent my early years dealing with nothing but tragedy and loss, and even my adult life is fraught with it. I know what it's like to be removed from the life you knew and being used for the amusement of others. The least I can do is spend the rest of my life making sure it doesn't happen to others."

He couldn't help but laugh at her list of "diseases". "Well, you're certainly the latter" He would tease, with a wry smile as he would make a motion toward the waiter that they were ready to order. "Any dreams? Aspirations perhaps?"

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

"Well keep the slavers away from my home and I'll be grateful" She smiled again something she wasn't accustomed to at all. "Dreams and aspirations" What were her dreams? "I want to feel peace within myself, and I want to see the galaxy bucket list of planets to go to, things to do? What about you?"

She had the menu in hand making sure to keep her wine glass filled, and then she ordered the bantha medium, with all the side items. She was a carnivore by nature while vegetables were ok and she knew she needed them a piece of meat seasoned and grilled yumm.

He was teasing her, "So my father tells me" she remarked back about her fourth disease.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"That's the point" He remarked with a chuckle in turn, and a charming smile to boot. "Last time I did a run, I met a kid from Tatooine. Farmer. He'd smuggled aboard their ship because they kidnapped his parents for no reason, tried to run off to the outer rim to traffick them without the Republic getting them. The kid was about to storm the place himself, didn't even have a weapon, and was bound to get killed if I hadn't shown up. It's one of the reasons I do this. So kids like him don't get slaughtered trying to be a hero. So people like his parents aren't kidnapped, flat out, for no reason besides greed."

He cracked his neck and called the waiter over, deciding to order a drink. A bit of steak as well. A side of fries perhaps. With that in mind, he would listen to her apparent aspirations. "Me... I'd like to be financially well off, fulfilled in my life and satisfied with what I've done, made the galaxy a better place for a lot of people... And then I'd like to settle down, start a family somewhere quiet. Maybe a private property out in Naboo or something. Give a kid the childhood I never got to experience" He would remark with a casual shrug.

"Well, I certainly agree that you're a cute one" He would tease again with a wry smile.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

He cracked his neck and Bella cringed internally, how crass she thought. Well he might be charming but that habit not something she would find endearing. She however did her best to smile through it.

"Yes my father always said that I could charm the pants off a snake charmer, course I've yet to find a snake charmer to experiment on" She took another drink. "Those are sound goals, many would like to do just the same. Do you have a particular order in which those should occur?"

Did he want to be settled down soon, or was it later. Those goals sounded as if they needed to be planned around events, and his age. Unless of course he was going to take some drugs to alter his...ability to well perform. She smiled as these internal thoughts moved through her mind.

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smiled apologetically when he noticed the look on her face after he cracked his neck. "Kink" He would speak calmly, yet casually, to explain that he had a kink in his neck that was causing the constant neck-cracking. It was something that happened to Jedi sometimes, after too much time spent in meditation. It also could happen to pilots as well - though Josh avoided the latter by having an astromech handle the wheel once they had lifted off. Josh would handle it later on, he just needed a spare moment to get it checked out.

"I suppose it's a bit of both. I'd like to have things squared away before I settle down but.... Well, when love strikes, love strikes" He spoke softly with a light chuckle. "Fate is an ever moving thing, so whatever order that comes, I'll accept it. I'm still young, after all, I have plenty of years to complete those goals. And perhaps, when I do, I'll set new ones. I'm not someone who will be satisfied once I've accomplished them, after all.. There's so much to do in this galaxy, so much to see."

He laughed a little. "Maybe I'll try your dream... Seeing different planets and different places. I've been to many places but never for pleasure... I've never been able to take in the sights and sounds, as much as I would have liked to. I'll have to change that one day."

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"Might not hurt you to visit a few places and just relax, love usually happens when you aren't looking for it, the problem is the type of love it is" Arabella picked up her glass and drank a bit more.

"So many variations too, many think lust is love, some think love is all flowers and rainbows, and then there are those that actually find it nuture it and hold tight." Bella thought of Muadie again, theirs had been the last one, they held onto it but fate, the force well has it's own path.

"You should look at things Josh, life could end tomorrow and what will folks say, he did a great job. Hell of an epitaph. So..where would you go first?"

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Love isn't something to look for, I found that out long ago. I find it comes to you, indeed, when you don't expect it" He spoke with a light chuckle. "Not that this isn't fun, with your company, of course" He teased with a wry smile. "But you're right. It'd be good to visit a few places... As a tourist, instead of as a warrior. I think it could be fun" He would admit as he took a drink from his glass.

"Love.... Lust... I've seen cases of both, but how do you know what love is true?" He would ask. "It seems like it's just a load of trial and error... Pain, and pain, over and over again... Until you finally flip that right card and find the person who truly loves you for who you are. Not for money, not fame or glory, not for benefit... But because they look you in the eyes and see the person they love and want to spend the rest of their life with" Josh spoke softly, with a sad smile. It was interesting that he was a soft romantic at heart, considering his style of flirting jokingly all the time. Deep down, he just wanted to settle down with a family and live his life in peace... He could be a committed boyfriend and husband and drop the flirting act when he had the opportunity. The question was... How much crap did he have to sift through in order to find opportunity?

"I thought I'd found that person many times in the past. But... Fate decided they weren't the one" He spoke softly. "So I guess I gotta keep trying, right?"

He considered for a moment her next question. "A tropical planet would be nice. Sandy beaches, palm trees, some good sun. Could get myself a tan" He cracked with a hearty laugh.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]​

​

"Love" she smiled seemed everyone looked for it, "what is it really about being in love that you think drives us all to try and find it? I mean, someone rips your heart out stomps all over it and you look for someone to do it again"

She laughed now, "we must all be gluttons for punishment" "Do we have to keep trying is it our genetic make-up that says...do it again"

She shook her head, and drank deeply of her glass. Sometimes there was never enough.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Jedi let out a sigh and buried his cheek in his palm, his elbow propped up on the table as he thought about it. "Love is a weird thing... We need it, but we hate it. We hate it, but we need it. It's in our genes. Our genetic code. We yearn for it, we want for it... And it turns around and slaps us in the face. Over and over again until finally it grows tired of treating us like play things, and gives us the happiness that we have sought for. And even that's not all sugarplums and rainbows... Even the love itself, once brought together... Is still painful. But in the end, it was still all worth it... Right?"

His voice trailed off as he sipped his glass. He wasn't sure about that answer. But deep down he knew it.

"Relationships aren't kind to me, sadly. They don't last" He would admit with a sad smile. "Last two I can remember, one was a Force User, one wasn't. Non-Force cheated. Caught her in the act. In my own home.

The other...."

He bit his lip, looking over to see if their food was ready.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]

 

[Arabella Darkhold]

"My last relationship he went absolutely off the deep end" Bella looked over, "happens sometimes nothing to do I guess but keep going" She picked up her glass, "Aren't we a fine pair of naysayers"

Their food was coming over as they were finishing up their discussion of former lovers, "Oh look food" She smiled, "guess we needed a break anyhow huh" She took a breath, "Dont' worry Josh things will look up, few more glasses and we'll be dancing on the bar"

She nodded to the server to bring her another glass, only because it would help wash dinner down.

"Ever done anything out of character?"

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Well, I suppose EX stands for EXample in many cases, doesn't it?" He would joke with a bittersweet smile. "My first ex, like I said, was a demanding, needy, egotistical... Well, I won't go beyond that. Her cheating was no shock. I can admit that I didn't shed any tears when her boyfriend turned out to be targeted by bounty hunters and they were both shot. I guess -that- is a little out of character for me, but... Well, while it's a shame she had to die, she kind of deserved it" He admitted sheepishly, with a light chuckle. "I guess it's up to the cards. Is it right to be indifferent to someone's misfortunes when they have wronged you without a single hint of remorse in their being? Or does one have to be compassionate and sympathetic at all times? Right and wrong are so skewed... It's a confusing thing - that" He added.

"My last ex... She was a... Unique one. But she was a sweetheart, in her own way. We had some problems to start, our ideals were different. Her lifestyle choices made it difficult at first. And at times she seemed like she was uncaring. But when the chips were down and when it counted most, she was there. And... I suppose that's what I'm looking for in a relationship, really. Understanding, compassion, someone who loves you the way you love them, and no matter how bad things get, sticks by you no matter what. We live in a cruel galaxy... Having someone who understands you and would never turn their back on you for the world is one of the greatest things you can have. But also one of the easiest to lose" He would admit softly. "Her former employers got her. She told me one day she had a realization, that she'd been employed there because she wanted power, because she thought they could make it happen. Because she thought that would fulfill a void. It turned out... Power, and her lust for it, wasn't the answer. What she'd wanted was there, all along. Of course, when she quit... Well, her employers didn't see it that way."

He smiled sadly. "I'm sorry that your relationship went south as bad as it did. I hope that happiness does find you. You're smart, with a sense of humor, a charm and a wit. A smile that would be wasted without something or someone to make you happy."

"But enough about the sad parts" He spoke as their food arrived, and he would chuckle at her remark about dancing drunk at the bar. "I don't know about that... But out of character? I suppose my work, to be honest. I'm not a murderer by origin. I'm a non-lethal fighter, but slavers... Well, they're different. I've never spared a slaver and not regretted it" Josh would admit. "And yourself? What have you done that's out of character? I would hope something less gritty then mine" He joked, that witty, cheeky smile presenting itself once again.

[member="Arabella Darkhold"]