Log Date: 6/13/99 Log Cast: Jairen, Shenner, Bazil, Lon, Solarius, Karanda Log Intro: In the weeks since the ending of the war with the Empire, Shenner has been training more and more often with her friend Jairen Windchaser, learning his particular style of swordplay -- and to her delight and the satisfaction of her curiosity, rather more about Jairen himself and the world and culture he comes from. She's learned some fascinating things about him -- such as, for example, the fact that he hadn't known before what Jedi Knights are. And in turn, she's found herself admitting a secret or two of her own to him. But over the last day or two the silver-haired swordsman has grown a little more elusive as of late, moody and odd, and Shen is beginning to grow a trifle concerned, wondering if this has to do with the things he's been revealing about himself to her... ---------- You walk into Fountain Square. Fountain Square - Plaxton City The huge buildings in the background threaten to take over this small patch of green that is the center of Plaxton City. A stone fountain -still in place from another time- sits in the center of the square. It depicts a young woman looking into the sky. water flares around her and bursts into a star pattern ten feet above her head. The inscription at the base of the fountain is written in the aging language of a more romantic time. 'Farewell, for all journeyers that leave this place shall always return to call it home.' Wandering the square throughout the day are Caspar Marines; some off-duty and enjoying their downtime while on-duty commandos in full armor and uniform keep watch over the area. Despite the commandos' aggresive appearance, they are viewed with admiration and respect from most of the citizens, some of them even joking and talking with families. The dusk sky above is full of clouds with light rain coming down. -=-=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=-=- => Bazil => IGNews Terminal - Caspar => Mail Terminal: Caspar -=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=- ndbar leads to The Sandbar. outh leads to South Mergansar Ave. - Plaxton City. ast leads to East Blake St. - Plaxton City. orth leads to North Mergansar Ave. - Plaxton City. est leads to West Blake St. - Plaxton City. Jairen enters the square from the west. Jairen has arrived. Light rain coming down. It's a pleasant switch from drenching thundershowers, and pleasant enough that Shenner, sans umbrella, personal forcefield, or any other gadget either high-tech or low that would keep water off one's body, is in high spirits as she saunters down Mergansar Avenue into the Square. Jairen strides through the rain, hands resting nonchalantly on his sword hilt. He's soaked through and through, but doesn't seem to mind or even take notice as he moves through the puddles with very little sound. His eyes scan the crowd lightly as he walks through the western part of the square. A somewhat tallish man stands around near one of the terminals, staring intensly at the readout as it scrolls by slowly. He occasionally looks up for a moment, before looking back towards the terminal intent on finishing. "... hey diddle do, tell me whatcha will... dance all day with the cat and the fiddle, come and lay with the heather on the hill..." Singing absently under her breath, Shen ambles towards the public news terminals as well. Jairen has no real intrest in most of the public news terminals. As a matter of fact, to the highly perceptive, it can be noted that his breathing is a little faster and deeper than it is normally, like someone who just got done working out. Any sweat that might be evident of course has been covered up by the water from the rain. Bazil shuffles around, under the water streaking down from the sky, and squints, finishing up the last few words of the story. He nods with approval, as he closes the story, and pays his fee. Looking up for a moment at the onslaught of water, he turns, looking around the square a little, before walking away a small bit. "Thanks, pal," Shenner interrupts herself to pipe out to the man who'd been using the terminal in front of her. With that, she casually leans against the thing, feeding a few credits into it before tapping out light, swift commands to get to the news data she wants. As she does, she starts up the singing again, softer this time, though clear and rich. Jairen continues towards the fountain now, moving across traffic with ease and seemingly little reguard of being struck by any moving vehicles that might enter the area. As he reaches the fountain, he stops. Placing one leg on a bench next to the fountain, he reaches down with his hands formed in a cup and fills them with water. He brings the water up to his face and drinks it. The man walking away from the terminal regards the woman for a moment, smirking slightly to himself, before he continues off again, stepping through the light amount of people in the square, and over to the fountain. As he walks by, he brushes his hand through the water slightly, amounting to nothing with the imminant water floating down from the sky. Bazil Bazil stands before you calmly, relaxed. He looks at you briefly, before turning back to what he was doing. His head is covered in a mess of brown hair. His clothing consists of a pair of casual shoes, khaki-colored snug-fitting pants, and a green jacket thrown over the whole mess as if he had been in a hurry. Under the jacket lies a white shirt, with the word "IGNews" stitched in small lettering on the upper-right breast pocket. -=-=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=-=- => DataPad The news terminal, perhaps having gotten rained on too much, chooses that moment to blank out in the middle of Shenner's trying to access an article under the Entertainment section of the news nets. "Ahhh, karkin' hells..." comes her disgusted oath, as a good swat to the side of the thing fails to bring her article back. Jairen retrieves a few more drinks the same way he had previously done. Upon hearing a certain voice swear a certain oath, he straightens himself, hands again resting upon the ornate hilt. As he looks around and spots the young redheaded woman, he smiles a small smile to himself. Bazil, with little regard for the swear, or perhaps not even hearing it, continues on by, and towards east blake street, now completely drenched and lathered with water. He slows his pace slightly, and mumbles something inaudible about the weather. Bazil walks down East Blake St. Bazil has left. Hrmph. For good measure, Shenner kicks the bottom of the terminal's stand -- and, contrarily, _that_ makes the thing's screen rezz back into life. But now, Shenner's lost interest in looking up the tallies on how much her recent favorite holovids have earned, and she turns away to face the rest of the square. Spotting Jairen by the fountain, however, considerably lightens her mood. She steps in that direction, calling out, "Fancy meeting you here." Jairen still has an amused look on his face as he moves towards the young woman and the now reactivated news screen. "Most interesting. I do no think I have seen anyone repair an electrical device's malfunction in such a manner." Shen casts a darkly wry glance over her shoulder at the terminal, then looks back to the pale-haired swordsman, that lopsided grin of hers flaring into being. "It's amazing how many things a good swift kick'll fix." "Indeed... though, such a method used in a confrontation with another being might be considered rude." Comes the response from the swordsman as he reaches Shenner's position and stops a few feet from her. "How is your research coming?" An Ambulance goes tearing through the Square, heading for the Hospital. Behind it a Black and Green Limo, with the Words McTavish emblazed on it. Lon walks into the Fountain square, his hood up to protect his head from the soft rain. His strides bring him from the north...his shadowy figure only accented by the overcast, dusk sky. He pauses on the side walk, watching the ambulance and the limo...then crossing after it passes. Shenner snickers a little, though the whizzing past of the ambulance and the limo, their engines whining in the stress put upon them by high speeds, distracts her attention a moment. Only when the vehicles have vanished eastward does she drawl to Jairen, "Yeah, well, I try to reserve kickin' people for special occasions. As for research, well." She shrugs. "Kinda taking the day off today." Bazil walks into the square from the east. Bazil has arrived. Jairen also gives the ambulence and limo a cursory glance as they pass by. Turning back to the woman in front of him he says, "All need a day or two off at one time or another." Bazil walks in from the street, looking behind him for a moment as the ambulance and limo flash into the hospital... he continues on, face confused slightly, going south... Bazil walks to the south. Bazil has left. Lon's feet take him to the news terminal where he finds an empty vid scree. He lowers the cloaks hood to reveal his long blonde hair and pale white face. Around his neck, his medalion swings loosely as he leans in to read. His shifty eyes scan the screen and the surronding areas in turn. Well, yeah, that _is_ what she'd said, right? Shenner, though, has gotten used to placid and wise-sounding words from the man who's teaching her swordplay, and she accepts this latest observation of Jairen's rather equably. "Yeah. So I've been just kinda boppin' around tonight. Howsabout you?" She raises her eyebrows, her gaze arch, teasing. "Keepin' tabs on the Initiate?" Jairen glances out of the corner of his eyes at the man who just approached the terminal he and Shenner are standing next to, then looks back at Shenner. "Perhaps. It is one of my required duties." He responds, though it is not clear if he's joking or not. As for the placid, wise-sounding plattitudes... well... the last one was merely a statement of the obvious. Lon changes the channel on the IGNews terminal. Shenner, though, responds as if Jairen had told her a particularly witty jest -- or perhaps had challenged her somehow. A wide grin flares across her face, white against the falling rain and her own pale skin. "Yeah? Anything you're supposed to keep an Initiate from doing, out of general interest?" "Getting killed..." is a rather quick and cryptic answer to that little question. However, Jairen doesn't seem to be all his witty self this evening, his eyes looking a little distracted. Lon changes the channel on the IGNews terminal. Shenner might be rather coarse around her edges, but she's sensitive to the moods of a small set of beings. Jairen is one of them. Her smile dims down somewhat, and she eyes him askance before venturing wryly, "Well, that ain't on my agenda tonight, if that's any help. Goin' up to the Blue Nebula, maybe, or the Oceanside or somethin', yes. Gettin' killed, no." Solarius enters the square from the south. Solarius has arrived. To this, Jairen's mood seems to return to a semblence of normal, a small smile crossing his face again. "True... I know few who intentially puts 'Getting Killed' on their agenda book at the top in bright red ink." Solarius leaves the square to the north. Solarius has left. "Puts a real big damper on your day, not to mention plays bloody hell with your ability to dance." Shenner grins, a touch relieved that Jairen rallied from whatever had just crossed his thoughts. _I'm supposed to be the broody one, ain't I?_ "So. Any bright ideas about how to spend a wet Plaxton City evening?" Lon smiles faintly as he scans the screen. His eyes leave it briefly and focus on the bard next to the term. However, they do not linger long tonight before he heads to the Sandbar... Lon enters the Sandbar. Lon has left. Jairen looks around slightly, water still dripping from him. Turning back to shenner he shakes his head. "Not a clue, to be honest. Yourself?" Shen huhs. "This town could _really_ use a Free-Flight Dance Dome," she mutters absently, glancing around the square, lifting a hand for a moment to shove loose russet strands out of her eyes. Then she glances back at Jairen, and grins, a smaller edition of her earlier one. "Though the place'd probably drive you nuts. The music there was a lot louder than we do at the Sandbar." Jairen doesn't respond right away, seeming to be staring at something. Blinking as he realizes Shenner is talking to him again, "What exactly is a Free-Flight Dance Dome?" "Er, hailing frequencies open there, pal?" Shenner prompts, as her sword-wielding friend seems to phase for a moment out of attention to his surroundings. When he speaks again, she grins, devilishly. "It's a joint they have on Etti IV. The dance floor has antigrav generators, so you can dance in a zero-g field. Can't say much for the city around it, but the Dome, anyway, was really riff." Her eyes light up, in memory. Jairen says, "Riff?" Shakes his head. "Slang was never one of my stronger suits when learning languages." Shenner props a foot up on the fountain, grinning through the rain. "Riff. Fun. Great. One helluva keen way to spend your credits. I used to go there every other night or so when I was on Etti IV." Jairen ahs. "I see... and you enjoyed this non-gravity dancing then?" Shenner tosses off an airy shrug, but she's still grinning, an ever so slightly yearnful look glinting in her eyes. "Yeah. Some of the best karkin' dancin' I ever did. Nothing to match it here." Jairen smiles slightly at something then. "It is a shame you could not visit the homeworld or could stomach Faerwine then, Shenner. Then you would experience dance and music unlike any I've seen in the galaxy." Shenner tilts her head a bit, studying the swordsman's expression, trying to figure out what might still be lurking behind his eyes. "Why couldn't I?" she asks, straigt out, one eyebrow still arched. It's a cousin of the look she's often gotten when proving to unwary spacers who drop by the bar that, why yes, a daintily framed redhead _can_ put away four Corellian Suicides, thank you very much, and then stagger home under her own power. Jairen says, "Why couldn't you which? Stomach Faerwine or go to my homeworld?" "Both," is Shenner's undaunted reply. Her gaze has planted itself solidly upon her companion's visage, expectant, just a trifle defiant. But because this is Jairen, and because she herself has matured over the last several months, she merely interestedly awaits a reasonable argument as to why she can't do something that sounds, for all intents and purposes, 'riff'. Jairen pauses for a moment before he answers. "You cannont visit my homeworld because by the time you got there you would be perhaps 60 to 65 years of age and not /able/ to dance. As for the Faerwine, we have yet to find a race other than Jaer that it does not adversely effect." Jairen says, "Something about body chemistry. A visitor to my father's court tried to explain it once after analyizing it on his ship." The first half of that information seems to stagger Shenner, just a little. She slowly sits down on the fountain's rim, trying to fathom exactly how far away a system would have to be in order to take so long to be reached. "Damn," she murmurs, sounding just a bit rattled. "Clear over from the other side of the galaxy...? But now hold on... we have ships that make it pretty quick from the Core Worlds clear out to the Outer Rim, this isn't making sense." She lifts a confused gaze up to her pale-haired friend, expression now reflecting intense interest and an attempt to make sense of all she's being told. Jairen simply stands in the rain, hands on his sword hilt, watching the young woman before him as he gauges her reaction. "You tellin' me you come from outside the known galaxy?" Shenner asks at last, her voice small, but her eyes no less intent. "Quite." is the only response. His eyes have never looked more serious. "What the kark're you doin' here?" is the first question that pops into Shenner's mind, and she is too stunned to hold it back. The redheaded musician's voice remains a thunderstruck murmur as the implications of what she's just learned sweep across her consciousness. Jairen grins at this. "Exploring." Must be a one word answer night. D2 enters the square from the south. D2 has arrived. D2 leaves the square to the north. D2 has left. "Sixty, sixty-five years...." Shenner breathes. Her brow creases in consternation. "In _hyperspace_, right? Not just sublight?" Jairen nods. "The trip, making multiple hyperspace jumps on the most efficient the crew could find took aproximatly 40 plus of your years." Shenner blows out a long breath. "Shiisa. Oh, holy karkin' suns... I think I need a drink now. Wanna go to the Oceanside and get out of the rain?" Jairen motions for Shenner to lead the way. Karanda enters the Sandbar. Karanda has left. Shenner rises, still looking just a touch dazed, and gestures her companion off to the west. [And shortly...] You step onto the slidestair leading up and are swiftly carried up to the Infinity Casino. Club Infinity - The Oceanside The entire scape of Plaxton City and the ocean is amazing. Being one of the highest points in the city, the restraunt's encircling windows allow you to see all the activity and buildings of the city below. No movement can be felt, even though the restraunt's floor slowly rotates, changing the view while you are here. Large exotic plants fill the room, and even hang down on platforms from the domed ceiling. Several tables and booths are set in various vantage points, and a high, black bar occupies one side of the large, central column, that also serves as the kitchen, and where the slidestair is located. Type "Place Help" for help finding a table. Type "Bar Help" for help obtaining a drink. Type "Dining Help" for help ordering food. -=-=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=-=- => Bianca => Moliari -=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=- lidestairs leads to Entertainment Center - The Oceanside. Jairen steps off the slidestairs. Jairen has arrived. The Oceanside is a rather classier establishment than the Sandbar, but this doesn't appear to bother Shenner as she makes her damp way into the place. "Been up here a coupla times," she mutters sidelong to Jairen as the two of them make their way in. "Quieter than the Sandbar..." Jairen nods absently as he follows Shenner into the club, hands still on his sword hilt. "Indeed. quite a bit quieter it seems. I would also guess less roudy at times." Shenner smiles faintly, as she steps up to claim a couple of unoccupied stools at the bar. "Mostly 'cause the rowdy types come to the Sandbar. You can hear yourself think in here. Good change of pace." She sinks down onto her stool, waiting for the bartender to come and take her order, and seems not to mind that the woman looks busy for the time being; something about Shenner suggests she's still rather thunderstruck. Jairen stands at the bar, not sitting down, also waiting for the tender to come take orders. However, he remains quiet and introspective. Shenner hadn't said anything during the walk from the Square; now, though, she turns round to consider Jairen, beckoning at the stool. "You gonna sit?" she asks gravely. Jairen looks over at Shenner, then sits without a word. He remains that way for a while longer, staring off into space, seeing who knows what. Bianca eventually makes her graceful way over to the newest customers at the bar. "May I take your orders for you, miss, sir?" she inquires pleasantly. "Uh, yeah." Shenner glances around to the well-dressed woman, and says gruffly, "Bring me a Bonch cider, will ya?" And she glances to Jairen, to wait for him to chime in if he wants anything; his usual chilled wine, perhaps. Jairen looks up quietly at the 'tender for a moment and says something that sound very musical, but is completely incomprehensible. Bianca's elegant eyebrows go up, her only sign of being taken aback. "I beg your pardon, sir," she says politely, "but I'm afraid I don't speak that language. If you'd like to try Basic, or perhaps Sarian...?" She glances, then, to Shenner, and adds with that same affable grace, "Alternately, if you understood him, miss, perhaps you could be so kind as translate...?" Shenner eyes her companion, unaccountably struck by a sense of deja vu for a moment or two, and never mind that Jairen Windchaser has very little in common with Paul Nighman except for being male. "Yo, Jair," she prompts quietly. "Try that again? Basic, this time?" Jairen blinks a few times, shakes his head, then rubs his eyes with his fingers. "My appoliges, m'lady." he says in basic this time. "I shall have a chilled wine please." "Certainly." Bianca smiles radiantly to both the redheaded musician and the silver-haired swordsman, promising, "We'll have your drinks for you in a few minutes. If you would care to see a dinner menu for the evening, I'll be happy to provide those as well. Thank you for your patience." And with that she's off again, to take further orders from the other clientele that visit the Oceanside this evening. Shenner, in the meantime, glances at Jairen again, her gaze bemused and concerned. Once Bianca is out of earshot, she asks softly, "You okay, pal?" Jairen nods slighlty, not saying anything for a moment, leaning on his elbows on the bar. "A little homesick, perhaps." he offer, then straightens. "Either that, or getting senile in my old age." smiles disarminly, or at least attempt to. Shenner's seen plenty of disarming smiles before; she's been suspectible to particularly devastating ones from a certain Corellian who she keeps deliberately thrust to the backmost corner of her thoughts. This particular smile doesn't faze her much, and while she recognizes it for what it is, she's waiting for another hint of what's hiding behind it." "Anything I can do to help?" she asks, her gaze steady, unhesitant, but gentler than normal for her. Jairen shakes his head. "Not unless you can find a way for me to contact home or teleport me there." _He's stuck here._ That implication of what she's learned hadn't made it across Shenner's mind before, but it does now. Her green gaze turns liquid, though no less steady. "Wish I could," she replies in husky, regretful tones. That a friend is displaying -- even if in the barest small glimpses -- distress is enough to provoke that expression of hers, that tone of voice. "I ain't even got a ship." One corner of her mouth curls up a bit. "I can offer to distract ya, if that'd help some. Or if you wanna talk about it... home, I mean... well." A small shrug. "I'm here. I got the night off." Jairen chuckles, still staring off into space. "Home... it is a place that is beyond words that I know of in Basic... unimaginitively beautiful landscapes, blue green sky, crystal oceans..." sighs slightly. "Forests that would put even the Wookiee homeworld to shame..." Bianca comes back with the drinks, then, Shenner's cider and Jairen's chilled wine. The musician bobs her head at the waitress, just enough to relay silent thanks; most of her attention remains on Jairen. His words by themselves, reverently delivered, might not necessarily be poetic -- but Shen's musician's mind provides her with the wistful chorus of "Hills of Alderaan", unbidden. And she sings it, impulsively, barely above a whisper, but more than loudly enough for Jairen's sensitive ears. "Though many fair worlds we have walked upon / Seas have traveled on, skies have gazed upon / Though many green hills we have wandered on / They are not the hills of home." Jairen sips his wine, a small smile creeping onto his features. "That is quite an interesting song, Shenner." glances over at her. "And quite correct. I have seen thing that some people in this part of the galaxy only dream about, yet, I would give it up gladly to go home again." The redheaded girl smiles a bit in reply. "It's actually about Alderaan blowin' up -- but that bit seemed apt, anyhow. Never really felt too much for that song -- I mean, aside from, well, Alderaan blowin' up -- till I moved here and had a home I started carin' about." She considers, then adds, "I ain't sure what'd be worse. Havin' the Empire takin' over the place, or bein' so far away that I couldn't ever come back again." Her eyes turn more liquid, and she concludes softly, feeling it important to say, "I'm sorry." Jairen shakes his head, sipping his wine. "Don't be. It was not your doing. I was the one who wished to travel as much as I could. However, the only one I know of who knows how to get to my homeworld again has long since died of age and I am quite stranded here." Inclining her head solemnly, Shenner affirms, "I'd clued in on that much." For another few moments, she has to flounder for words, and so she settles for swigging down some of her cider. Then, she ventures, "You said somethin' about your father's -- wait, court?" Her eyebrows go up. "You some kinda noble?" Jairen blinks, looking at the young woman oddly. "I thought I told you. I am the Primary Secondary Warrior of the Tribe of Windchaser, clan Cloudstrider." As if that is supposed to make everything clear. Shenner's crooked grin blossoms into life. "You told me that, yeah," she agrees readily. "And you're in the Order of the Grooved Blade, sorta kinda like a knighthood. But you said your dad has a court; nobles have courts. Like... uh, like Princess Leia Organa-Solo." Jairen hmms. "Well.. let me try to explain this better..." he seems not to register exactly what Princess is. "My father is the Primary Warrior of the Windchasers. He leads the tribe. Our tribe is the Primary tribe of the clan, so he leads the Clan Cloudstrider as well. His children are called the Secondaries. I am his first child, therefore I am the Primary Secondary." Jairen pauses a moment, sipping his wine again. "So... being the first born, when the Primary passes on, the Primary Secondary becomes the Primary, taking on leadership. I am already the Primary Warrior of the Order of the Grooved Blade, therefore I lead the order. When my father passes on, if I am home by that time, I will become Primary of the tribe and clan." Pauses again. "Do you understand?" Listening to all of this, Shenner drinks in the information with the same readiness that she drinks down the mild fermented cider in her glass; the former makes far more of an impact upon her than the latter. "Translation," she says gruffly, trying to suppress a sudden flare of shyness, "you're a noble." Jairen blinks a couple of times. "In the most basic sense of the word, yes." Jairen says, "Though, I am not sure of the Basic equivalent for it." "Depends on what planet you're from, really..." Shenner shakes her head, finishing off her glass. Once more, she sounds a little rattled, though the skewed grin she's wearing speaks of a valiant effort to conceal that. "Sorry, pal. I keep meeting the damndest people -- two Heads of State, a Princess, coupla Generals, and three Jedi. Not bad for a street rat bar singer. Speakin' of which..." She trails off, not entirely sure how to phrase the questions now springing to her mind. How in the world does a human fit into the tribe and clan structure of a race she's not likely to ever meet? The answer to that question is not coming forthwith. At least not tonight. The swordsman stands. "An impressive list whomever you are. In any case, I must depart. I have need to be alone for a while. Good eve to you, Shenner." With that, he bows rather deeply, like he did when he didn't know her very well, then turns and walks out without so much as a 'by your leave.' [End log.]