revivalproject | It's a Good Day to Jedi

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It's a Good Day to Jedi

WHO: Cal Kestis, BD-1 and you?
WHERE: This spaceport thing
WHAT: Things
WHEN: Yes
WARNINGS: N/A

Sometimes even space monks or former space monk-apprentices turned scrappers need to enjoy themselves and take a break from being busy. Not that Cal isn't going to do his part in finding the necessary components to fix things up back at the Agrii ship, but so long as things feel that way down below Engineering, he knows he won't be much help. It bothers him, but not so much as not knowing the reason that it feels so volatile down there.

Spaceports and people...it's a big shift. He hasn't been around this many people since... Well, his time here before he was sent back and brought again just makes things a bit hazy, time-wise. The most people he's ever been around recently has been the Agrii, and before that, overly generous amounts of Stormtroopers. But there's something nice about being here, around people going about their business and lives. Maybe it's the fact that there's no war going on somewhere, or an overly oppressive Empire trying to change all the rules.

"Just voyeuristic aliens with some twisted ideas of entertainment," he mutters dryly, earning an inquisitive beep from the droid hanging off his back. Cal chuckles a little, shaking his head. "Just thinking aloud, BeeDee."

One can find the Jedi perusing the offerings in the makeshift open-cargo market, mostly out of curiosity, partially out of hope of seeing something that might be familiar, some hint that maybe a galaxy he knows is still somewhere in this universe.

Otherwise you might find Cal having a bite of some greasy street food or another. Sticks of barbecue or something fried, whatever he's munching at the moment, if he catches sight of someone from the ship, he'll grin, just slightly guilty, but holds out some for them to try. "This is probably really unhealthy but it is so good."

Or you might catch him just as he drops down from a wild wall-run to grab the other end of a slipping cord before the lamp connected to the other end goes crashing down on anyone below. Just some casual heroics, you know how it is. Sure, he probably could have just used the Force to grab it but where was the fun in that?

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Radley can't resist good food, so he grins back and reaches for it. "Thanks." He tries it. "You're right, this is good. Kinda reminds me of home."

"Got a friend who loves cooking greasy foods any chance he gets. Our meals are guaranteed to be tasty," Cal laughs. "And I guess the extra calories don't hurt when you're always running and jumping around."

"Yeah, I can't deny greasy food tastes good," Radley says. "I have to admit, I serve a lot of it at my diner back home. But I try to balance it out with healthier options too."

He chuckles at the last part. "We are pretty active. Are you active back home too?"

Cal smiles crookedly. "Yeah, you could say that," he says, shrugging. Single-handedly taking on enemy forces, running around old, crumbling ruins. Pretty active.

With the vague answers, Radley has generally adopted a policy of not pushing it. He just nods. "I usually drive around on my Harley back home," he says. "It's the best kind of motorcycle. I've wanted to build one here. I got some parts in Temba, but I feel like I could probably find all the rest of what I want here. Maybe even motorcycles themselves."

As he's not sure Cal will know what a motorcycle is, he opens the pictures on his phone from home and shows one of his.

Not that Cal wouldn't mind explaining, but sometimes some things are better left unsaid.

"Motorcycles... Those have wheels, right?" he asks, a faint memory of another life tickling somewhere at the back of his thoughts. He looks down at the picture. "Like a swoop bike! Just more...ground-oriented."

"Yeah," Radley smiles. Intrigued, he asks, "What's a swoop bike? Like a hoverbike?" He's heard of those in fiction, and from hearing that guy Fang talking about his.

"It does hover," Cal concedes. "They're powered by repulsors and most can get a pretty good height. But then in places like Coruscant, height's kind of necessary when there's no immediate ground beneath you."

"My friend Scotch would love to try them out," Radley says. "Are they dangerous?" Being up so high sounded rather alarming, but he supposes it's a way of life in that world.

"Usually. Well, mostly in swoop races, but those are illegal because of the fatality rate," Cal admits.

Radley cringes. "And I'm guessing a lot of people probably do them anyway?"

Cal breathes a laugh. "Yeah. People do a lot of crazy things for money and fame."

Radley smirks darkly. "They sure do. That's something that never seems to change between worlds."

He knows it firsthand all too well.

"True enough." It's both a weird comfort and terribly concerning. People were willing to put everything on the line and spit in the faces of authority, but Cal knows it's not always about the money or the fame. Some people just like that sort of adrenaline rush. Still, he can understand it to a degree.

Radley saw it time and time again with people all too willing to sign up to play the Duel Monsters card game for him or for his rival Malcolm, all for the promise of money even though there was the risk that they would lose and end up working in their mines instead. He was always upfront about that and they would still duel for him anyway.

"People's greed and love of risk is often their undoing," he remarks.

His own, as well. He had been trying to keep Malcolm from taking over, knowing Malcolm would make the town even worse if he had complete control, but Radley knew he hadn't been immune to the love of wealth that came from the mine.

The Soldier wouldn't say that the spaceport was full of gawking crowds for every little thing, but a few people had stopped to watch, either in horror or in train wreck fascination. The Soldier himself watched quietly, standing unobtrusively off to the side but ready to jump in should an issue arise. It didn't surprise him that he wasn't needed; he fully trusted Cal's skills.

What he did do, once Cal got the fixture secured, was start a cheer of support and gratitude for the heroics, a cheer that was quickly picked up by the surrounding people. The Soldier enjoyed a certain amount of celebrity on the station so why not share it around? The least it could do was net Cal a free lunch, right? Hopefully the Jedi was prepared to deal with the onslaught of appreciation that greeted him in the crowd on the ground.

Not that showing off had been Cal's intention, but it was kind of nice being able to do something a little wild, something he knew he had complete control over. He hadn't seemed entirely expectant of the attention once he'd turned around, the cheering even less so. But it was...nice. Catching a falling fixture wasn't as world-changing as helping rescue imprisoned people but the sentiment was the same, and Cal couldn't deny that the appreciation felt good.

He grinned as he gave an almost sheepish wave at the ones gathered, fully prepared to just leave and be about his own business. Behind him BD-1 tweeted and the Jedi blinked before taking a second look around, between the faces of strangers.

It was nice seeing Cal celebrated for the minor heroics, seeing the smile on his face. They'd dealt with so much negativity lately, and Cal had experienced a pretty miserable time on the ship. It was nice to see him looking a little more carefree, and the Soldier would have left it at that.

But Cal turned around at just the right moment, and their eyes met. The Soldier shrugged a shoulder, one side of his mouth working up in half a smile. He knew when he was caught.

Cal ducked away from the attention, and at least there didn't seem to be any great attempt to hinder him as he excused himself. He blinked and paused only briefly as something was slipped into his hand, a voucher for some percentage off a meal or a drink- he wasn't too sure since it was in a different language, but he smiled all the same to the alien who'd passed it off to him before resuming his walk.

"One day we'll get that laugh," he said by way of greeting, smiling crookedly. "You enjoying yourself?"

"You're getting closer," he replied in answer, nodding to BD-1 as well. "You might even get to see it before we leave this place, who knows?"

He felt a little more freedom in the spaceport as compared to trapped on the planet or ships. Maybe it was due to the absence of the immediate Agrii presence. Maybe it was because here he needed to be more of what he was in the Fleet. Either way it just felt like he had more room to breathe, and the Soldier welcomed that more than anything else.

"Enjoying your heroics. Looked like fun to me."

"Hear that BeeDee? New goal," Cal grinned, earning an almost mischievous borble from the droid.

The Jedi had to laugh himself then, as much of an admission as anything. "Yeah, kind of was," he said. "Probably not encouraged to go running around places here but this'd be the first time I've done it somewhere that wasn't either abandoned, ruined, or enemy-infested territory."

"Ha ha." Though maybe Cal noticed that the Soldier seemed a little more relaxed in the spaceport than he normally was back on the planet. Certainly being around the various aliens seemed not to phase him, even when he couldn't understand them.

"I'm certainly not gonna stop you," he admitted. "Might even join you one of these times. Always good to keep the skills sharp."

He could certainly sense it in a way. Maybe it was just the absence of the usual tension, a sense of the negative space, so to speak.

"Well, I'll keep an eye out for any potential obstacle courses," Cal laughed. "Might be fun to have someone else along." He paused at BD-1's beep of protest. "-well someone other than you, BeeDee, I know you love a bit of trouble."

Maybe it was.

And maybe the spaceport, though they had an important task here, also represented a chance to relax.

"You had better." Though the place was so oddly built in general that if they really wanted to, they could have a ton of fun. But the Soldier also didn't want to let loose unnecessarily, as they had to retain some goodwill while they were here. "If you're not careful I'll start inviting the two of you on my runs."

At that, Cal exchanged another look with BD-1 before they both looked over at the Soldier. "That a threat or a promise?" he smirked. Although running hadn't been particularly his favorite activity, mostly because he'd had to do enough of that on a general basis back in his own galaxy, things had been a lot different and it seemed long enough since he'd last had to do so because he was being shot at. It was tough when you were considered an enemy of an evil space empire.

"Find anything interesting around here?" he asked, gesturing in suggestion that maybe they can walk while they continued to converse.

Edited 2024-03-21 16:52 (UTC)

"Which one intrigues you more?" Not that he would ever deliberately harm Cal! But some of the Jedi's skills echoed parkour and that was adjacent enough to the Soldier's own skills that they could probably have fun turning the city into an obstacle course.

He nodded at the invitation to walk, falling in at Cal's side. "With this many shops it's almost easy to find something interesting. But yes, I am enjoying the chance to explore."

"The one that'll be more fun." Cal paused before adding, "-threats usually aren't, just to be clear." Running about the unbeaten paths would definitely make for a more interesting run than simple laps around an amphitheater.

He nods as they walk along then. "Always something new, but even something considered familiar would be a welcome sight too. I doubt we'll have a chance to get bored around here, that's for sure."

"Give me some credit. I've threatened enough people to know they generally don't enjoy it." Considering his whole background and all, the Soldier well knew that his very existence was enough to threaten some people. He had no desire to go back to that.

"Hmmm..." he mused, "missing something particular?" Or was Cal just feeling the years of their occupancy on the Agrii planet, the struggle to continue repairs on the infrastructure, the distance from their home spaces? "Or just thinking of the possibility?"

Cal held his hands up, but he was still smiling a little. He'd been joking, of course.

He shrugged as he looked around. Things were busy, reminding him both of Coruscant and some of the places on Bracca where the scrappers went to splurge what little earnings they had, just to forget about the work they'd be returning to come the morning.

"Little bit of both, I guess," he admitted. "Things are so...alive around here. People are mostly happy. I haven't had much experience lately around places where people are just getting by without much worry about something happening."

Would the joker find it funny when someone came knocking on his door for an early morning obstacle course? One way to find out.

"I think that's why I like it too. It's alive." And for the most part they could just blend into the crowds. Or stand out, if needed; the Soldier still attracted a lot of attention, especially given that he'd started to offer self defense classes in exchange for currency. But now, just walking with a friend, taking in the sights and sounds he felt at ease much more so than he had at any celebratory gathering the Agrii had thrown for them. "If you see anything familiar, let's stop and check it out."

Bring it soldier boy. Jedi training didn't really ever consist of sleeping in!

"Yeah," Cal said, smiling a little. A glimpse of what the galaxy could be like without a looming shadow of a greedy politics.

"Sure, we'll do that. And if there's anything that catches your eye, you let us know too." There seemed to be plenty enough to occupy their time. Even if they didn't find anything specific, it was nice enough seeing the man who was normally so tense, so cautious, able to relax finally. Proof that he wasn't just a weapon like he seemed so convinced of.

The Agrii also seem not to be fans of sleeping in, judging from the number of times their devices have gone off in the wee hours of the morning. But those thoughts were far away in the busy spaceport, with so much to see.

"I think I can agree to that." A day just exploring a completely new place? Honestly it seemed too good to be true but here they were, just two aliens in a crowd of aliens. "Lunch eventually, I know that'll catch my attention. But right now just happy to try to take it all in."

Cal laughed. "Good call. We definitely need to see what kind of food they have around here. Something definitely not peanut butter-related."

He was however in agreement about just soaking things in. There seemed little enough opportunity to do so under ordinary circumstances, and it was funny and maybe a little sad to think that this was actually more ordinary than the life they'd found themselves to be stuck in.

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It's a Good Day to Jedi

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casually heroic;

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