Private Slow Ride, Take it Easy (Paddy Pack)

[Mejalie Sato-Viren]

Location: Jedi Praxium on Ossus
Objective: Socialize

Mejalie was trying to read in her small dorm room of the Praxium. The issue was that her roommate had decided to listen to music at blaring levels. Wasn't this supposed to be a peaceful meditative place? After reading the same sentence three times she tossed the book sideways and got up off the small bed. She entered the hallway and headed towards the cafeteria. Sometimes the other padawans got lunch around this time and maybe she would find someone to socialize with. Or maybe she'd find something heavy to hit her roommate with. Either way it was a win in her book.

As she roamed the hallways toward the cafeteria she heard shouting coming from up ahead and cringed. Could nobody be quiet in this place?

 

[Iris Arani]

Sometimes there was an advantage to being lost to her colors. No matter where she went, no matter how loud people might be, all she had to do was listen to the swirl of colors and everything fell silent. This was one of those moments. Near the back of the cafeteria Iris sat alone, humming softly to herself. She'd already eaten, evident by the empty tray that once housed this days lunch beside her. The only reason she lingered was to instead draw.

Sketch pad in hand she did something most people didn't expect from her. Abstract graffiti tended to be the medium everyone saw her use, or at least the result as she wandered the halls ever covered in paint. Right now? She had a pencil, calmly sketching something more specific than the random colors.

A duck.

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Iris Arani Mejalie Sato-Viren

<What's that?>

Kai pointed over Iris' shoulder. He had been sitting behind her, watching the drawing take shape.

Apparently, despite eating many different memories from many different minds, none of them had ever seen a duck before.

 

[Iris Arani]

<A duck. Well, duckling. We had some back..> Iris trailed off for a moment. She'd turned her head to look back to Kai Bamarri , but already her gaze was growing distant. Distracted by thoughts, not by colors. Where had she seen a duck before? Her home that she remembered didn't have them. The only animals that lived in those slums were womp rats.

<Cute, right?> Which was an actual question. Iris didn't have much of a concept on what was cute or not.

Mejalie Sato-Viren

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Iris Arani Mejalie Sato-Viren

<Back where?> he asked. But she was already distracted, staring off into space. He waved a hand in front of her face. <Iris. Kai to Iris, over.>

She snapped out of it and asked him if it was cute. He looked at the drawing again, then shrugged. <What's "cute"?>

 

[Iris Arani]

<I dunno. One of the others said I should try to draw something cute instead of what I usually paint. When I asked they said 'small animals are cute try them.'> She flipped back a couple pages, which all had things like a Krykna sketch and other, more monstrous if small animals. <They didn't like these ones though. So they said draw something helpless and ducklings are pretty helpless.>

Kai Bamarri | Mejalie Sato-Viren

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Iris Arani Mejalie Sato-Viren

Kai cocked his head at her other drawings. <What makes the duck cute, but the spider isn't? They're both small.> He pointed to Iris herself. <You're smaller than me. Does that make you cute?>

He frowned. <So for something to be cute, it has to be small and helpless?> But wait. He'd been called cute before, by Damsy and Aeris, but he was bigger than both of them, and certainly not helpless. His brow furrowed, his confusion growing...

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris just shrugged before flipping back to the duck to keep on working on her sketch.

<I dunno what makes something cute. That's just what they told me.> They being another Padawan who's name she couldn't remember. <Your guess is as good as mine. I like like drawing them.>

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Iris Arani Mejalie Sato-Viren

<And I like like watching you draw them,> he teased.

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris opened her mouth as a confused expression took over. Then she closed it, shrugged, and went back to drawing. She was more distracted than she figured. <Then.. I like like you watching?> This was a joke now. She smiled faintly before focusing on the art piece.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

The common room the Jedi Padawan's used as their mess hall, was filled with wooden tables of varying heights and benches, chairs, ledges, and even nests - all to accommodate a broad variety of different sizes of shapes and anatomy. Dozen's of students of different species sat together, eating various foods common to their own kinds.

Briana had found a table at the large end of the hall, with Justice Lesan , Vizion Trozky , and a couple of other acquaintances she'd met that week. She'd tried inviting Iris Arani to their table, but as per usual, the girl hadn't heard or even noticed Briana - not out of any malice or rudeness, as the young Sal-Soren was learning. Iris was a devoted young Jedi with many of her own talents and obstacles to overcome, and Briana couldn't help but harbor some fondness for the girl. One day, yes, one day - she was determined they'd have a lengthy conversation that lasted longer than the 5 second intervals that were customary.

But today would not be that day.

From the corner of her eye, Briana noticed one of the more troublesome young students snickering from afar, as service droid after service droid brought a smorgasbord of treats and foods to their table. Briana raised a brow, but sought to ignore Kensan and whatever mischief he was up to, swiping a few bowls of soup, some fruit, and the last jug of fresh blue milk for her and her friends from the automated servers before it could pass by Kensan's table again.

"How did you get ole'uncle Merrick to agree to that, anyway?" Briana asked, picking up their conversation and leaning over to swipe a few berries from Vizion's plate, giving him that innocent look that always seemed to float over her face whenever she was doing something she shouldn't be. "What? There's only so much fruit and I can't live off a diet of starches, you know."

Just before Viz could respond, a glimpse of movement caught her eye, Kensan stalking over to their group. His flashy robes dragged on their table as he leaned over it, causing Briana to pull her bowl of soup closer to her chest to avoid his sleeve getting in it.

"Hey, that blue milk was supposed to be ours - it was the last one and you guys stole it." Using his Jedi abilities, Kesnsan tried to lift the jug of blue milk from the table, causing Briana to abandon her bowl of soup for the prized jug of milk.

"Bug off Ken! You and your friends already guzzled down most of the juice and no one can 'steal' or call 'dibs' on refreshments, it's first come, first served."

Kensan leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest with that annoyingly smug look that she so often wanted to smack off of his face.

"Alright Sal-Soren. How about a friendly challenge then? Whoever wins gets the blue milk?"

A glint sparked in her eyes, one that anyone who knew anything about Briana would instantly recognize.

"Oh, you're so on."

_______________________________________________________
​

Twenty minutes into the challenge, and things were getting more and more ridiculous by the second. The tables and chairs had been pushed off to the sides to create a 'platform' for the two Padawans, who looked something like circus performers at this point, rather than respected members of the Jedi Order. A small crowed had gathered around to see who would be the first to break.

With one hand planted firmly on the ground, the other behind her back, and legs in the air - Briana concentrated. She could feel the muscles in her arms tiring after fifteen minutes of holding this pose, eyes closed as she focused on keeping other students donated food trays afloat.

The challenge was simple enough, in that whoever 'broke' first, was the loser.

Who knew that her Jedi training, and floating rocks, would have come in handy so soon?

Justice Lesan | Vizion Trozky | Iris Arani | Mejalie Sato-Viren | Kai Bamarri ​

 

[Teru Challo]

The common was far more rambunctious today it seemed. It sounded as though an issue for refreshments had sprung up, causing a series of sounds that he could remember being chairs and tables when he had first bumped his way through the area. He hadn't bothered the assistant droid with questions about what was happening.

It had already ran to refill his water however many times and he was thankful he hadn't been forced to make the trip.

His query about his soup was met with an affirmation that the bowl was indeed empty.

His hands slid across the table slowly, grasping the cool cylinder he had been drinking from earlier. Water was the choice of drink. Everything else was to much. Blue Milk was thick, juices either sour or sharply sweet. Everything was just to much aside from water.

The sounds were getting to loud as well, a small request to leave met with a request for patience as the droid rose to return the utensils and plates.

Teru wished it would hurry. Sometimes the patience of a droid was impossible for an organic, and even with the rather tame whoops and hollers that seemed to be close by, he could barely hear himself think.

Wanting nothing more than a bit of quiet meditation, he kept his hands on the table and waited for the droid to return.

Briana Sal-Soren | Justice Lesan | Iris Arani | Mejalie Sato-Viren | Kai Bamarri

 

[Justice Lesan]

Justice sat in disbelief as he watched Briana Sal-Soren levitate what she could for as long as she had. It was simple challenge but she wasn’t about to back down. It was what he liked about her, and the one thing that scared him too. She would get in over her head soon enough with that attitude. Justice needed to be more like her, but she also needed his caution. It was why they worked.

“You’ve proven your point, Bri. You can come down now.“

His arms folded over his chest as the young Lesan tried to look disapproving. It was hard because he secretly admired her. The feeling was odd, but the boy knew it went beyond what it likely should. Justice would support her no matter what, after all, she’d done the same for him since they met.

Iris Arani | Kai Bamarri | Mejalie Sato-Viren | Teru Challo

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

“Not … until … I … W I N.” Briana labored each syllable, finding every second that she had to keep this up, more and more unbearable. Just as Briana was readying to concede, unsure how much longer she could keep up the acrobatics, she noticed from out of the corner of her eye what appeared to be a small Gokob scurrying towards them. It must have crept in to look for scraps.

“Juusttiice!” she tried to warn, but the rodent had already made its way to Kensan - crawling up into the other padawans' exaggerated sleeves and scampering about. Rightfully so, Kensan screamed, losing his concentration in the Force. The trays he was responsible for levitating wobbled before launching through the air, spilling deep purple juices, puddings, soups, and even eggs onto their fellow classmates.

Trying to think of how to control the situation, Briana dove onto Kensan in the hopes she might somehow catch the Gokob before any more havoc was wrecked. Her own trays went flinging in the process, a platter of marinated noodles splattering near Iris.

“STOP MOVING!” she screamed, rolling on the floor as she tried in vain to grab the little rat.

“LIKE FRELL I WILL! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME!?”

She twisted her body around until she got him on his back, using her legs and squeezing hard to keep him pinned down on the floor. It was a move she’d used on Brandyn several times to win their sibling brawls, and it’d serve her here as well. “STOPRUGGLING! IAlMOS GOTEM!” The minute the Gokobs tiny head peaked out, Briana reached for it.

That’s when the stench hit.

“UGH! Aw, what in Shiraya’s name!?” Little known fact she’d forgotten, when a Gokob was frightened, it admitted a strong, horrid ordor to try and get away. No longer did she care about saving the rats life, it was every man and woman for themselves. Scrambling on hands and knees in a desperate attempt to flee, Briana found she could barely see from the sulfery-egg smell completely overpowering her senses, knocking over tables in the process of it all.

In the midst of the ruckus, a full on food war had begun, with those in the middle running for cover from the putrid stench.

Justice Lesan | Iris Arani | Teru Challo | Vizion Trozky | Mejalie Sato-Viren | Kai Bamarri | Valery Noble ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris had pretty much been off in her own world the whole time. Always drawing. The duckling. At least until things kicked off in the worst of ways. Food was thrown, horrible smells were unleashed. Chaos, everywhere. She blinked, lifting her head in time to watch as a particularly large amount of pudding ended up being thrown her way, hitting her dead in the face. Then slopping off.

Onto her sketch pad.

She blinked slowly, turning her gaze down to the now ruined artwork. The Padawan said nothing, and just stared even as more food ended up hitting her in the crossfire.

Justice Lesan | Teru Challo | Kai Bamarri | Vizion Trozky | Mejalie Sato-Viren | Briana Sal-Soren | Valery Noble

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Kai was a bit more aware of his surroundings than Iris. He noticed the competition going on between students, and while he sat back and observed it, he didn't try to interfere.

At least, not until food started flying. By the time Iris had received a glob of pudding to the face, Kai had joined in on the fun.

Someone bellowed into the minds of all those present: <Food fight!>

All hell broke loose. Kai grabbed a cup of pudding that had been abandoned on one of the tables and lobbed it at the back of the head of one of the Padawans ( Teru Challo ), before reaching back to grab more ammunition.

Iris Arani Briana Sal-Soren Justice Lesan Teru Challo Vizion Trozky Mejalie Sato-Viren Valery Noble​

 

[Teru Challo]

The droid had been taking its sweet time in getting back, and the noise around Teru had been all the more concerning when he heard something scurry by. There was a strange tug on his path, as though an unseen hand were attempting to move him through the space around them.

He ignored it initially, not trusting of the unknown as the sound around him intensified into what seemed to be an ensuing fight between Briana Sal-Soren and someone else. Letting the tug continue, he felt no hand on his arm and his chin twitched to the side in recognition.

"I am one with the force." He mumbled, letting the unseen hand guide him as he seemed to maneuver himself between the scattered chairs and tables. The sounds of things flying past something he only recognized from sitting down during the more exciting events of padawan training. Something whizzed dangerously close to his head, having felt a pressure on the back of his head to lean down.

The shot from Kai Bamarri grazing a few hairs with pudding as the majority of it went into the face of another.

Guiding him through the chaos, the little hand pulled him along.

Iris Arani Justice Lesan Vizion Trozky Mejalie Sato-Viren Valery Noble

 

[Justice Lesan]

“JUSTIIIIIICE…”

It was too late. Just watched on as the plates flew about and considering his proximity to Briana and Kensen, half the food now coated his clothing, face, and hair.

“For frak’s sake Bri…”

She wasn’t going to hear him in all the ruckus, especially when the odor hit. Justice wanted to cry it was so bad. What only made it worse was how much seemed to waft right to his eyes. This was one of the occasions Justice was certain his friendship with the Sal-Soren was going to get him killed.

Then the words Justice really did not want to hear erupted.

FOOD FIGHT

“Frak.”

Valery Noble | Briana Sal-Soren | Kai Bamarri | Iris Arani | Teru Challo

 

[Vizion Trozky]

LOCATION: The Mess Hall
TAGS: Briana Sal-Soren | Justice Lesan | Iris Arani | Kai Bamarri | Teru Challo | Valery Noble

"How did you get ole'uncle Merrick to agree to that, anyway?"

He was only at the Praxeum on Ossus part time, owing to the fact that missions with said "ole'uncle Merrick', who was his master, took even more of a priority now that the older man's children were at the Praxeum full-time; a fair chunk of Vizion's time on the ancient Jedi world was spent helping with classes for the younglings and padawans, giving him some small taste of the duties that were to come.

"My master trusts me to handle my training without his direct supervision, Bri," he started, "and..." then she was pilfering from his plate, earning her a half-dirty look on his part, "okay, but..." And then she was distracted. '...but only because you're a growing padawan' would have been his reply. His mouth became a thin line, a sort of grimace as the adversarial part of her nature (which he had long borne witness to) took over, and he pushed out his seat and stood. "...okay, while you do that, I'll go get the datacron so I can show you."

He could nip in the bud, but the window to do that in had already passed, and if Briana Sal-Soren was anything, she was stubborn.

---

On the way back to the makeshift mess hall, it was his nose that caused regret at leaving the situation to fester, whereas the sound of the ruckus coming from that same location was predictable and had lost its ability to provoke regret a long time ago, where she was involved. All that was left, a large majority of the time, was patience.

"Oh, feck.." he groaned, waving a hand in front of his nose as if that would do anything, before resorting to force-borne methods of filtering out the stench as he got closer to the room; they were all going to need to wash their clothes several times over to get that particular aroma out, "...you really do go all in, don't you, Bri?"

Of course, when he reached the threshold, nothing could prepare him for the sight of his oldest friend scrabbling about on her hands and knees in an attempt to remove herself from the situation. He very much resisted the urge to laugh while pocketing the datacron, even going so far to obscure his mouth with the other hand, looking pensive instead as he craned his head around the entrance to see a half-finished pudding flying for his head, which he dodged with ease, rather than returning it to sender.

"Let me guess..." he began, turning his attention back to the crawling Sal-Soren, "...the food fight isn't your doing, and the Gokob was acting on its own?"

There wasn't anything other than a Gokob that smelled this awful in the whole of Ossus. Nobody's flatulence was this bad.

"It's a real shame the environmental controls aren't online in this part of the complex yet..."

 

[Iris Arani]

It was hard to tell when exactly it happened, with all the chaos of the food fight and yelling around all of them. But Iris was gone from where she was sitting with her sketch pad. The ruined book was in the seat she was just in. Covered in a mix of various foods she was finally seen by the door just as Vizion Trozky stepped in. In her hands, the Gokob. It was far calmer than when it was chased around. Currently being pet by the Padawan who had a faint smile on her face. She wasn't leaving, instead protecting the smaller animal until people would calm down.

"I think this is.. Fun? Their colors seem to think so. You don't think so though, do you?" Yeah, she was talking to the rat as she continued to skritch behind it's ear.

Kai Bamarri | Teru Challo | Briana Sal-Soren | Justice Lesan