[D1LE] Dining In

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

He took a breath. "Well, you know when I said Xanna stood up to that Imperial Captain? ....

A mouthful of Batha Biscuit prevented Vaya from indignantly interjecting No, I didn't know that! Instead, she spent the rest of the exchange trying to un-aspirate her dinner. A variety of things to say sprung to mind while she was fighting for air around an esophagus full of biscuit, all of them echoing Jenna's concern but considerably more cutting. She was just washing it down with a swig of Ardee's and getting ready to lay in when Petrus said,

"Some things, you just need to stand up for."

She fell quiet instead, just for a moment, and then spoke up. Instead of sarcastic, she was quiet, almost hesitant.

"Petrus, can you break that down for me? Pretend I'm a, uh, Academy cadet. And you put... whatever happened before me, as a dilemma, and tell me that what I should do is... what you actually did. And I point out that whatever the Captain is doing to her, he can do a thousand times worse to me, and everyone I know, and just might if I rub him the wrong way." She looked at him, open and waiting.

[Jenna Karath]

Petrus' account, likewise, made Jenna pause a bit herself but mostly because he was right, in a sense, and part of her held onto that even now. However, she looked down and sighed. Listening to Vaya, she echoed Jenna's own fears, the same fears that would keep her from doing perhaps what would have been the right thing to do. There would be so much more riding on that decision that she'd have to know, prepare for, and be able to handle.

These days.. she wasn't sure if she could, she was tied down... attached. Afraid of losing everything she'd fought so hard to gain.

[Petrus Karath]

"Petrus, can you break that down for me? Pretend I'm a, uh, Academy cadet. And you put... whatever happened before me, as a dilemma, and tell me that what I should do is... what you actually did. And I point out that whatever the Captain is doing to her, he can do a thousand times worse to me, and everyone I know, and just might if I rub him the wrong way." She looked at him, open and waiting.

Petrus chuckled. "Alright. Sure. This was an easier one. At least, as far as this sort of thing's ever easy."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Reverence and respect for life is kinda a Jedi thing. I mean, not just a Jedi thing..." He waved a hand. "You know what I mean. Now, there's lots of suffering in the galaxy, and a lot of it you can't do anything about. But if you see some that you can do something about, well, you should."

He frowned a few moments, pressing his lips together. "It can be hard to know when to act. Do you give money to someone begging on the street? What do you do on a planet where slavery is legal? Or..." he smiled, "-where there's the fear of retribution?"

After a few moments, he shrugged. "We don't have a set of rules covering everything. Far from it. Instead, a Jedi is supposed to trust themselves, and trust the Force, and they'll know the right thing to do."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya listened, her face an unusual combination of focused and uncomfortable. Her usual expressions were either a blankly pleasant concealment, undisguised amusement at the galaxy’s expense, or thoughtfulness tending towards the academic. Her attempt to try and listen and understand, rather than merely dissect, clearly didn’t come easily.

When Petrus finished, she nodded slowly, and spent a while eating in silence and looking out the small, dirty window of the apartment. She thought about all the less-than-admirable things she’d done because she’d thought through the options, or because her instincts told her to. Clearly neither of those was the Force. But then she had had a moment, when it felt like she was in touch with something larger. Nothing as clear as instructions had come from it, but she had been left with a feeling of what she should do. Or no longer continue.

“So you’re saying…” she said slowly, and then tossed a small, solid QuickSnack to bounce off of Petrus’ two-dinner stomach, “a Jedi should trust his gut?”

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus grunted as the snack slipped past his hand, hitting him in the stomach. He was still fit enough to have stomach muscles, even if not quite as much as he used to... and perhaps less noticeably now after his second meal. Wow, I'm really out of practice.

He set the snack aside, shaking his head. "They never said gut. I always heard instincts, and the Force." He considered that a moment. "I guess the difference is the gut is emotional, maybe? I don't know."