Jackboots at Work [Day 0 - MA]

[Dapper Dog]

Liua wrapped an arm around her legs in the chair and said, "Sure big guy if the big bad Empire comes for us just stand behind me. I'll protect you."

[Brother Sloan]

"Sure big guy if the big bad Empire comes for us just stand behind me. I'll protect you."

That got a hearty and slightly horrifying belly laugh from the giant.

"My knees will thank you for taking the blaster fire." Sloan gave a mock salute with his claw.

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus gave Sloane a smile. Nothing like bonding over being targeted by teenage cynicism. "Hey, if the Big Bad Empire comes, we'll all stand together. That's what we were just talking about, right?" Doubt flickered in his blue eyes a moment later, though, a flicker of remembered pain crossing his features.

Sitting back, crossing his own arms over his chest, Petrus coughed. "So... tomorrow? Bright and early? Early bird dodges the stormtroopers."

[Brother Sloan]

"So... tomorrow? Bright and early? Early bird dodges the stormtroopers."

"Yes, that sounds agreeable. Is this early bird some sort of proverb where you're from Petrus?"

[Dapper Dog]

Liau blew out smoke and said, "Just means stupid early, big guy."

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus grinned at Sloane. "I've heard a lot of variations. Kath hounds, womp rats, manka cats. You know, just take one early animal doing something to another animal, and you've got the right idea."

He shrugged. "Don't remember where I first heard it. Probably a holoprogram or something. It doesn't sound like..." like any of my senior Jedi. Petrus cleared his throat. "Like anyone I can remember." Worms, the early bird will catch. Yeah, that didn't sound right at all.

[Xanna Teevou]

"Boring is just a state of mind. One that doesn't involve Stormtroopers, so... I will take it." Xanna's shoulders shrugged lightly, her hair spilling back from where she had tucked it earlier.

"Now that we're all good friends, albeit with slightly reduced life expectancy, I am rather looking forward to this." She gave Mahon a curious look. "So where do we meet you at 'stupid early'?"

[Mahon Jiut]

Mahon said, "Meet here in the morning at [Mid Morning], I need my morning kaff."

[Petrus Karath]

"Now that we're all good friends, albeit with slightly reduced life expectancy, I am rather looking forward to this." She gave Mahon a curious look. "So where do we meet you at 'stupid early'?"

Petrus looked over at her. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." He said, his voice soft. Sad.

After a moment, he shook his head, his red hair swirling about his temples. "But right. Tomorrow morning, kaff, and then we're off. Maybe make it a double for Sloan here, huh?" He gave the Trandoshan a quick friendly grin.

[Xanna Teevou]

Xanna reached over and placed a hand to cover one of Petrus'. She squeezed it gently. "Well that is sweet, and I agree, but I was talking about the smoke inhalation." A thumb gestured to their rebellious new friend. An apologetic smile was forthcoming, perhaps not exactly what he had been hoping for, but it was technically a smile.

"It seems we have a plan. Kaff all round and then a road trip. We still have rest of the day to warn as many beings as we can about the likelihood of Imperial action tomorrow."

[Petrus Karath]

"Oh. Right. That makes sense." Petrus smiled sheepishly, his blue eyes glancing away. They glanced back after a moment, his hand warm in hers. His smile grew less sheepish, more genuine, to match hers. Hey, that's worth half-credit, right?

He turned to look at Liau. "See? Slightly reduced life expectancy. She knows what she's talking about. And it'll make you run out of breath faster, too." A quick glance through narrowed eyes at Mahon.

[Dapper Dog]

"Guess I will be dead by 16, damn such a shame," she said taking another drag. "If I am lucky, could be sooner."

"My kind of odds," she finished exhaling more smoke.

[Mahon Jiut]

Mahon just sipped his kaff, he wanted none of this.

[Xanna Teevou]

"Well, either of those is possible." Humans... Inwardly Xanna imagined rolling her eyes, but outwardly kept her composure. She sniffed at the air. It had an acrid tinge to it that distinctly reminded her of burning battle droid. A hand waved absently as if she were half-heartedly swatting at a fly. "I have smelled worse. Still, you might as well enjoy it now because there will be no smoking at my apartment."

[Dapper Dog]

"That's fine," she said finishing and then dropping it in the cup with the kaff and trandoshan drool.

"Oh man, my lungs... I feel like a new person," she said in a dry tone. "So have any of you ever actually met one of these J-guys... were there J-girls?"

[Petrus Karath]

Once again, there was that brief flicker of pain across Petrus' features. He'd known a lot of sixteen-year-olds, or even younger, who'd been killed. But a moment of averting his eyes, and it was over.

"Sure, there were J-girls." Petrus said, smiling again. "J-both, and J-other, too. Not every species could be Jedi, but pretty close." He cleared his throat, glancing carefully about. "Pretty much every species who could feel The Force had Jedi."

[Dapper Dog]

"What's a Force?" she asked. "Force of what? What does it feel like? If there were so many where did they go? This must be a Core thing huh?"

[Mahon Jiut]

Mahon just grinned interested to see how the young adults would answer this question.

[Xanna Teevou]

Xanna coughed loudly when Petrus began to say the J-word. "Oh dear, excuse me. I am not sure if was Liua's smoke or Petrus being demoted to assistant junior dish washer, but do go on."

She lifted her kaff, which was mercifully free of anyone's drool but her own. Her eyes flicked around the other patrons in the practiced manner of someone who had street smarts.

[Dapper Dog]

It didn't seem like anyone was listening too closely, a few glances at the giant Trandoshan, but nothing glaring.

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus grinned. "Assistant junior dish washer? Oh man, Xanna. Do I even get a sponge at that level, or do I have to study up for one?"

He let his grin linger a moment longer before turning back to Liau. "Well... there's a few stories about what happened to the Jays." Petrus said, tone and expression serious. "The captain back there would tell you that they were traitors, and they were arrested." His lips pressed together tightly for a moment. "I've heard that they were killed, to keep them from from standing against people like him."

He sighed. "They would have, too." Would they have? He had to believe that, even if he sometimes... lacked the conviction.

[Xanna Teevou]

Well, this was getting interesting. Maybe Petey wasn't a pirate after all. "I have heard it said that The Force is in everything. That it binds everything in the Universe together. That it has darkness and light, and that some beings, like the Jay's, could sense this."

She shrugged lightly. "But people do not talk about these things now like they used to. What was once a topic for speculation is now considered by the Empire to be sedition." She finished the kaff and set the cup down on the table.

[Dapper Dog]

"I don't get any of that, it sounds like weird magic or something," Liua replied.

"But if the Imps want to hunt them, then I am all about the Jays then, kriff the Imps. Just saying," she finished looking down trying to act like nothing matters.

[Mahon Jiut]

Mahon added, “Basically what the kid says is right, it is like magic but wasn’t mysterious it’s everywhere right now. We normal folks we don't see it but it still is in us, affects us, and even guides us according to some folks.”

“Like the pretty lady said, there is a light which is like good and the dark which is bad, and the J-crew they served the Light and were defenders but things got bad, and the way I hear it they got betrayed shot in the back really by people they trusted, people they thought of as friends and then everything went upside down. Suddenly we were an Empire and suddenly the J-crew were the bad ones all along.”

“Someone in the Empire is scared, they want us to forget, they want us to turn our back on what was good. We can’t let them kid, so yeah kriff the Imps and step up to the real fight.”

He finished his kaff and added to Xanna, “Just my two creds. Oh and you ever do any modeling?”

[Petrus Karath]

"Well..." Petrus frowned thoughtfully, leaning his head to the side. "There's light and dark, but then there's balance and imbalance..." He spread his hands. "But what do I know? I'm just some guy. Assistant junior dish washer." Having an informed debate about the nature of the Force was a bit of a giveaway. He sighed. "But... yeah, that's pretty much right, betrayal and all."

When Mahon asked Xanna his question, Petrus looked at her with a nod and a smile. "Yeah... Wait, what?" Clearing his throat, Petrus took a sip of... air, since his kaff was empty. Was that flirting? As if he would know flirting if he saw it. I don't think Dacen Stormheart is a good model for flirting, anyway. His expression bland, Petrus took a second sip of air.