Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum?

[Sha'so]

Sha'do had never seen a tree before.

Or at least if she had, she was too little to remember it. She had seen flowers brought in to her Master's compound, she understood that fruits and vegetables were plants or grew from plants, but she had never seen any honest to goodness foliage.

Until today.

Sha'do was in the shopping district of Nar Shadda. The commando team that had raided her Master's compound and freed her were now in a debrief before leaving this world. While they were in their meeting, she had been sent to get some new clothes so she didn't look like a sex slave as she did now. She was supposed to have a soldier watching out for her, but she seemed to have gotten separated from him. She knew it was imperative that she find him again in case her Master found her, but she was so distracted by one of the garden beds on the concourse.

It was a small garden bed, mostly fern ground cover and a few bushes sporting long stalks with purple flowers that somewhat resembled a calla lily. She didn't even know what a calla lily was! In the midst of the garden bed was a holographic projector set with the image of a tree. It was a very lovely tree, but she knew it wasn't real, and she suddenly realized that she longed to see a real tree. Until then, she sated her curiosity on these strange little bushes, plucking one of the purple flowers with a smile. So pretty!

Deciding it was time to go find her shopping companion and finish her shopping, she turned and slammed right into something tall and immovable, knocking herself to the ground with a soft 'oof'. She picked herself up quickly and with no complaint dusted herself off, then prepared to make a hand sign that she had been taught to make as a way of offering an apology since she could not speak. Sha'do looked at the person she had bumped into and then looked up. And up. And up... Her eyes grew wide as saucers when she saw how tall this man was, having to stagger back a couple of steps to take him all in. Next to her slight frame, he was truly a giant!

But strangely enough, as Sha'so looked at this man, there was no fear. Oh she was agitated plenty from being out in public and terrified that she was going to be discovered by her Master, but there wasn't an ounce of fear in her towards this man. He'd given her no reason to be afraid other than by being big, but so what. If anything, it was something of a curiosity to Sha'do, and she blinked up at him with an almost child-like innocence and wonder, even a hint of awe.

[member="Ajax"]

 

[Ajax]

Nar Shaddaa is not my favorite place in the galaxy. For one, they don't have a professional gravball team. Hutts couldn't even dunk if they could fly, so I guess I can't expect much from them. They haven't even seen the light of the dunk, until now. For the twenty-third time this season, I was signing a contract with a shoe company, this time going by Nebular Footwear. 2.5 million credits for one year, that's a sweet deal. I'm still the highest paid gravball star of all time, and this would just be adding to my riches. They had me on the planet for a promo, basically the usual bicep-kissing, autograph-signing, dunktastical event that I do every other week. The cameras in the back were picking all of it up for my new reality show: "A Day in the Dunk." The crowd loves to see my showboat, and since I brought a ball with me, I start spinning it around, flicking it off my shoulders, arms, head, and even having it spin on my watermelon-sized biceps for a few moments. The crowd practically swoons at the show. Some people are just too easy to please.

As I'm getting ready for my autograph-signing event, a feel something like a flea brush up against me. I dismiss it at first, but I see people staring at the ground next to me, so I glance to the side. To my surprise, there seems to be some sort of cat-human hybrid thing standing next to me. She's real short, I can tell, not proper dunking material. Unless of course, she's the "ball". She's not afraid of me, that's a first. Most people have the sense to quietly soil themselves when they see me coming. I swear, sometimes I'm the only reason we employ people to clean up the courts during timeouts. Too much blood, tears, and human waste for pleasurable viewing experience. Still, she seems pretty lost and to most people, I guess she would be kind of cute, with her cat ears and small figure. But me, well I'm Ajax, the Dunkmaster, and people love to see the disrespect. Thus, I throw the ball at her, hearing the gasp of the crowd, before catching it a fraction of an inch from her face, before saying, "Who the hell are you supposed to be? The mascot?"

[member="Sha'do"]

 

[Sha'so]

(ooc- amg, I cannot put into words how much I love Ajax. Bravo)

Sha'do tilted her head curiously, reaching out to touch the ball with one of her claws. She'd never seen a grav-ball before either. The force with which he threw the ball and the reflexes needed to catch it before it could hit her were both very impressive! Although she could have caught if he had let her! That thought left her with a small pout as she thought of all the ways people underestimated her. She traced the lines on the grav-ball as she thought of all the ways she proved people wrong. Then she looked up at the giant with a smile and held out her hands, silently asking for the ball.

[member="Ajax"]

 

[Ajax]

After dropping some patented disrespect on the catgirl to my left, I turn back to the crowd, idly spinning the ball up and down my left arm. The crowd is still looking to my left, and at first I assume that their simply staring in awe at my skill, before realizing that the girl is still there. She's tracking the ball with her eyes, watching it go up and down my arm. After a second, she holds out her hands, wanting the ball. Can't she just wait in line with the rest of the people? Well, my agent has said that it might be good for PR to show a good side to myself every once in a while.

I fired him yesterday. Easiest decision of my life. He didn't understand the art of the disrespect, or the prophetic nature in which I dunk. Spinning the ball around the girl's head, I note the time. I should be signing autographs in about thirty seconds. Rather than making my fans wait, I nonchalantly pop the ball off my elbow, watching it spin towards the girl's head.

"Treasure the moment, kid. Not many people come in contact with perfection. Count yourself lucky," I say, flipping out a pen as the crowd surges forward.


[member="Sha'do"]

 

[Sha'so]

Sha'do caught the ball with a huff. Kid? She was not some kid eager to drool over him! As he turned away to start signing autographs, Sha'do decided to steal the spotlight. She began juggling the ball off her feet, knees, elbows and head with an impressive display of coordination, agility, maneuverability, and speed. She may not know how to play grav-ball or be able to throw a ball with as much power as he, but she could outmaneuver the brute! And she was definitely attracting attention. She heard some 'ooh's and 'ahh's and even a few encouraging claps. She had also managed to catch the attention of O'Riley, the soldier who was supposed to be escorting her around. Time to go!

Sha'do kicked the ball high and, with a little help from the Force, launched herself into the air after it. She tumbled gracefully in the air and slammed her foot into the ball, sending it hurtling back to the giant man with an attitude problem.

[member="Ajax"]

 

[Ajax]

As I sign autographs, I do some more posing for the cameras. Flexing, flaring my nostrils, kissing my biceps, wiggling my pecs, anything that will keep the audience happy. The crowd is surging closer to me, clambering for an autograph. Behind me, I can hear some rapid thump sounds, and some murmurs for the crowd, which then turn into claps of encouragement. At first, I think they're for me, but after a few seconds I figure out that they're for the girl behind me, the kid. I glance backwards briefly, seeing her dribbling the ball around her and doing some acrobatic feats of juggling. I snort derisively, as I go back to signing a man's forehead. Everybody thinks they're special because they can juggle a grav ball. There were probably more people who could do that then there were grains of sand on Tatooine. A dime a dozen. Being able to dunk a grav ball, especially without the use of hoverboots, now only one man in the known galaxy could do that. That man was me. It's like I always say: Somebody had to be me, might as well be me.

The dribbling behind me stops for a second, and I hear the sound of the ball being kicked by the girl. Was she trying to hit me with it? After over a decade and a half as the world's best gravball player, I have developed an unrivaled sense of where the ball is. Hell, I won my third championship with my eyes closed and my ears stuffed. A couple critics liked to say it was the Force, it was no secret that I was Force sensitive, but the only force when I play is the unstoppable force of pure, uncensored, straight-from-the-source, Dunk.

Without even turning my head, I grab the ball at arms reach and pop it with one hand, roll it up, and toss it into a trash can about a hundred feet away. Stealing the show from me? I am the show. I turn around and face the girl, staring her right in the eyes, before saying, "Careful, kid. Throwing the ball that hard, well, you might almost kill a fly!" I hear the crowd laughing behind me, enjoying the spectacle. I hear a couple people mutter, "Now that's just absolutely Ajax." A copyrighted phrase, of course, but I'll let it slide.

[member="Sha'do"]

 

[Sha'so]

Of all the- What a pig-headed, egotistical, brute! Sha'do was not a kid and she was tempted to take off what little clothing she was wearing to prove it! People really went for all this showboating? Was that all there was to his life? Didn't he want for something more? If not then what a yawn! In fact, Sha'do yawned, just to prove a point. Eventually, the fandom would die down and then he would be left with nothing. She was really wishing she could speak because she had a whole load of insults and taunts she wanted to throw at him. But alas...

O'Reilly had caught up to her and started pulling her away from Ajax and the crowd, Sha'do found her flower and waved nonchalantly to the giant man, eager to forget him at the first opportunity.

[member="Ajax"]

 

[Ajax]

I watch as the kid I'd just humiliated walks away with a soldier, who decides he'd like to give me a withering glare. He can glare all he wants, he still can't dunk. I turn back to the crowd, seeing their awed faces as I go back to signing autographs. That had been an interesting encounter, and I don't really know what to make of it. Of course, the newspeople will be all over it. "Ajax Humiliates Girl," "Has the Disrespect Gone Too Far?" "Another Shameful Display by Ajax!" The usual poodoo, of course. People love to hate me, and I love their hate. It is truly a love-hate relationship with the fans, but hell, I'm not complaining. I've got a gravball made out of pure diamond and a court in solid gold, that's how filthy rich I am. They say I'm getting towards the end of my career, but this Dunk Train sure ain't slowing down yet.

Finally, I finish with all the autographs, pose some more, and sign the shoe deal, the bright lights of holorecorders illuminating the Nar Shaddaa promenade even further. I see the girl disappear around a corner in my peripheral vision. Maybe in a women's gravball league she'd be a star, but I highly doubt that's where she'll wind up. More likely she'll wind up dead in some alleyway in a few years, like most people who stay to long on Nar Shaddaa.