Shadows of Bankor

Many things could be found at the Golden Market. It didn't have quite the selection that some of the great shopping centers on Coruscant did, but that wasn't a fair comparison. It still had more than enough goods to satisfy just about any sentient.

But did it have enough to make a former Jedi appear fashionable? That might be a challenge for even the hippest of stores.

Petrus looked around uncertainly as they stepped through the sliding automatic doors. "Are you sure about this?" He murmured in an aside to his companion. "You know I'm just fine shopping at Sacks R Us."

"Oh please," Dove rolled her eyes, walking casually inside with her jacket effortlessly tossed over one shoulder. The heat on Bankor was quite intense compared to what she was used to. "I've seen hobos dressed better. Just because we live on the edge here doesn't mean you have to completely dress like one."

"And besides," she shot him a sly grin, "getting you out and about is good for you. You spend too much time pent up inside watching those holos, kid."

Petrus chuckled. "Hey, it's what I'm used to. You should give it a try. Although I bet you'd find the best-fitting sack in the store." He cast a sidelong smile at Dove who, he couldn't help but note, really did make a lot of things look very good.

"I've been out." Petrus said. "Lots of excitement. I'll, uh, tell you later." He smirked. "Now, if you wanna hear about the latest episode of Warrior's Heart, I can tell you about that right now."

Petrus looked around uncertainly. So many clothes...

"Sure thing. We can fill eachother in on the... juicy details later. Bring some food over and we can do a team huddle and stuff." She shrugged, enjoying the air condition of the location compared to the temperature outdoors. "Ah, you still watch that?"

Dove chuckled and began sashaying towards a rack of some clearance items. Just because it was time to make Petrus look better didn't mean they couldn't be a bargain. "Alright, so what's the latest on that front then? That girl still in a coma?"

Petrus chuckled again. "Not that juicy. At least, not what I've been up to. But..." He paused a moment, his expression strange. "... interesting. Really interesting."

He swallowed, watching as Dove sashayed over, then followed, shaking his head. "Nope." He said, grinning. "She woke up. But she has amnesia. And she's a Caamasi! They can remember everything, y'know?" He shook his head. "I wonder what that would be like..."

Frowning, he looked at the items on the rack. "You think any of these would look good on me?" He held up an emerald-green bowler, his frown deepening.

"Sounds like it will be a treat for later for us all then," she gave him a knowing glance, indicating that she had interesting news to share as well.

Gray-blue eyes gave the item a scrutinizing glance while listening to Petrus summarizing what was going on in his favorite soap. "I see... and no, that isn't really your color. And well, you need an entire new outfit to go with a hat like that."

Dove had some vague idea of what it was like to remember everything, though not to the same degree as a Caamasi could. Probably. She couldn't recall having asked one about such things. "You didn't strike me as the type to wear hats, Petrus."

Slowly, Petrus nodded, meeting her knowing glance. Jedi were always humble, but there was a difference between that and subtle. The past three years had given him lots of experience in the latter.

"Yeah, no kidding." Smiling wryly, he put it on his head. Noticeably too small, it perched there at an angle, clashing with his existing plain reddish-brown clothes, his red hair, his even features, and his personality. He placed it firmly back on the rack.

"So... what should I wear?" He picked up a pair of black pants, frowning at them. They were some sort of leather substitute, clearly tight. As he held them up, Dove could see that they had 'Juicy' written on the butt in white letters.

Eyeing the garment, Dove broke into a short laugh. "Kid, your booty isn't nearly juicy enough to qualify for that one yet. Work on getting those buns of durasteel for a week, and then you can consider it. But then you also have to deal with being picked up cougars." She shook her head as she laughed a bit more.

"Anyway... I think a suit or something like that is a bit out of your price range. Even if you'd look nice in something a bit more dressed up... hmmm... maybe start with some accessories? Hat was a good start, but you're not limited to that. It could be gloves, a cool scarf, or another type of hat. Maybe."

"What?" Petrus turned the pants over. He blinked, then reddened, blushing noticeably. "Uh... yeah. Don't think I could pull that off. And don't think I could deal with... never mind." Coughing delicately, he put the pants back, too.

"Yeah." He sighed. "No suit." He spread his hands, turning to Dove. "What do you think? You're the expert. Come on." He smiled. "Make me over."

"Ah yes," she smirked, "the pinnacle of creation, reduced to a personal shopper. But very well, I will try my best." Smirking confidently, Dove turned her attention to some of the garments on another rack, and started grabbing items with colors that at least would suit Petrus. Shirts, pants, jackets, vests...

"Didn't think you'd be afraid of cougars though. Or just the ladies in general?"

Petrus walked slowly around the rack, moving to stand next to Dove. He watched curiously as she selected items. Damn, she really is better at this than I am... Even he could see that these were better than the things he'd selected. Especially that terrible hat.

"Ladies? No." Awkwardly, Petrus rubbed the back of his head. "I mean... no. Not exactly." He flashed dove a pained smile. "You probably know what I mean. Just... a little out of my experience."

"Well, you know there is only one way to get experience," she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him, maintaining her lopsided smirk. "Don't worry too much about it though, but... just don't be scared about it? If that makes sense. You don't need to shelter yourself, you know."

She stretched out her arm, holding up a shirt against Petrus' frame to give it a quick measure to see if the size would fit him. "Because you've been in love, or had crushes before, right?"

"Uh... yeah." Petrus blushed again. "I know my old teachers said to learn by doing, but I don't think that's what they had in mind." Do, or do not... Petrus shuddered, putting the thought of a weirdly smarmy Yoda out of his mind.

He shifted, holding his breath a moment as Dove measured the shirt against his lean form. "Love? Yeah, right." Petrus snorted. "When would I have done that?" He remained silent on the other part, though.

"Because people always fall in love, regardless of circumstances. And if those soaps teach you anything, you'd know that forbidden fruit is the most appealing of them all to young and impulsive folks."

She placed the shirt back on the rack and found another one in the right size. "Where's the dressing rooms I wonder..."

"Can't say you've really lived if you haven't fallen in and out of love, made some stupid mistakes over love... stuff like that."

Squinting, Petrus looked around. "Back there, I think." He gestured towards the well-lit rear corner of the store.

Clearing his throat, Petrus held his arm out, ready to be loaded up with garments. Or perhaps just one. "Forbidden fruit... yeah..." He sighed, closing his blue eyes briefly.

Tilting his head, he gave Dove a look. "So... does that go for you? You've... done the whole love thing?"

"Ah, well-spotted. Good!" she chirped happily and dumped the garments in his arms. "Just try those out. See if there's anything you like. Giving things a try is free, after all!"

Half the fun of shopping was trying on clothes after all.

As Petrus tilted his head, she mimiced his movements so they both looked at eachother with tilted heads. "It's... well, a rather risky thing, in the line of work I've done. I guess I've been in love, and out of love, a couple of times. And then sometimes I'm not and it was all just a game. Hmm... I think you better ask Mia about stuff like that, you know."

The shared motion made Petrus smile; he tilted his head just a little farther, his smile growing. "Huh..." He said. "Is it... I don't know... real each time? You know?" He shrugged. "If that makes sense."

He sighed as they started walking over. "I guess I don't get it. How do you tell the difference between just a crush, and love?"

"Honestly... I don't really know the answer to that one myself. They say love is like... really deep and soulful, you know, but... eh," she shrugged, "it was real each time to me, and for me, I guess that's enough? Can't say I've had the feeling of having some deep and special connection to someone though, to be honest."

And not everything was suitable to poor Petrus' ears to share details about. Poor thing, he'd probably collapse in a heap of flushed embarrassment.

"I guess it's always been much more... physical for me."

"Oh. I gotcha." Even that was enough to make Petrus blush a little. He gave his friend, his extremely attractive friend, a glance. He might be a Jedi, but he certainly wasn't dead.

He cleared his throat. "Well, I can't say I've had either. Just... you know, maybe a little of each."

The dressing area was a series of stalls. He slipped inside one with his collection of shirts. The rustle of cloth was audible as he changed.

Dove took up the place beside the dressing room, as a guardian of sorts, casually leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

"So what would you look for in a girl... or guy, for that matter, Petrus? A damsel in distress for you to rescue like in your holo-show, or someone to come rescue you instead?"

"How does a shirt have this many buttons?" Petrus' muffled voice came from beyond the door. There was a brief pause. "I don't know. You think I could do a big rescue, swing in on a rope or something?"

Another pause. "But I don't know. Maybe... a little of both. I like to help people, but hey, sometimes even a tough guy like me needs rescuing, huh?" He laughed softly. "An equal, I guess. Seems balanced."

He stepped out, his arms spread to better display the first garment.

"That seems fair," she agreed with his take on a relationship, and filed it away into her folder of [find a date for Petrus].

"Oh hey," Dove chuckled as he stepped out. "Now you're looking like you're listening to those My Hydrochemical Romance-folks, sitting in your room and talking about how your moms don't understand you. Very edgy."

A snicker. "Maybe too edgy for you."

Petrus did his best to twist his even, honest features into his best approximation of "angry punk", his lips pulling back into a sneer. It didn't work. At all. After a moment, he snorted. "Yeah, probably not. Okay. Besides, I tossed all my My Hydrochemical Romance disks a while back." He disappeared back inside the little changing room.

When he spoke again, it was muffled. "Anyway, it's not like I'm hopeless, right? I learned all my best flirting moves from Dacen Stormheart." A brief pause. "On second thought, I might be in trouble."

Petrus stepped out again, wearing another garment.

Dove snorted a chuckle. "Oh, you're in major trouble then. By the way, you didn't strike me as the type to have listened to My Hydrochemical Romance... was it just a mood thing, or a phase?"

She gave him another scrutinizing glance as she stepped out with the next one. "Red looks good on you." There was no denying that Petrus was fit, so he could certainly wear something as tight as that. "Might be a good one to have for workouts. Looks good for that. Go jogging around the neighbourhood, flex your muscles to the cute girls."

Petrus chuckled, but he paused a moment. "Just one. Mood thing, I think." During some of his... less-happy stages, he'd experimented. A normal person going through what Petrus was might have turned to drugs. For a Jedi, angsty music was a big enough step.

"Yeah?" Petrus couldn't help but smile, although he did redden just a little. He looked down at himself, covertly flexing just a little. "Huh. Put this in the maybe pile, then."

He disappeared back into the changing room. "I don't know. I'm not that muscular, really. Don't you need to be really ripped, and all grrr and stuff for that to work?" Like Dacen Stormheart. That actor certainly didn't skip gym days.