[OSL] A Night to Relax

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Elijah Henson"]

"Sounds like you've made a thing or two in your time. But that's all part of growing up, isn't it? Learning to embrace the possible. Having patience with yourself. Keeping the perfect from being the enemy of the good."

She took another drink, this one longer, and rested her elbows on the oak table. Old injuries complained, but not as loud as when she'd been leaning back. Her green Kilian dress was just as archaic as the surroundings​, complete with a high neckline, but a blue stone on a silver chain slipped out to dangle on front of her chest. She didn't bother to put it back.

"You must be quite a Padawan to be considered a teacher," she said. "I'm Mara Merrill. I used to be a Jedi Padawan too, once upon a time. I'd thought Padawan and teacher were mutually exclusive terms." She raised an eyebrow. "What do you teach?"

 

[Elijah Beckett]

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. But there's also that risk, the potential for what you've created to be destroyed, and even before it can come to fruition..."

Elijah's eyes shifted away again, a dark look looming over them as those bad memories began to stir. But a quick delivery of alcohol was a sure-fire way of drowning them out, if only temporarily.

When he looked back at Mara, he was immediately drawn to the necklace that apparently all of a sudden appeared on the woman. It's blue colour was an immediate stood out against the green it rested on, but there was something else about it. Again it was through the Force, was this what had initially pulled him over?

Elijah let out an amused snort, leaning back into his chair a bit.

"Oh no, I'm not a teacher for anything Force related. Heck, I've only been able to use it for a year now. No what I teach is more...well I help those inexperienced amongst the Order understand what exactly they're going to be getting into when entering a hot zone, or active battlefield."

Elijah drank some more.

"I've had plenty of experience in that field."

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Elijah Henson"]

"Far as I'm concerned, I make things in stages. Every stage is its own project, self-contained, a foundation for five or ten other options. If I lose one, I haven't lost everything, and I've still finished plenty." Mara smiled faintly over the top of her mug. "It's all about managing what comforts you when things fall apart. Little wins. Gathering, not hunting. Learning how to lose and live with it."

She took a bit to mull over his job description. Two tables over, some kid pulled a noisemaker. Conscious thought recognized the sound as fundamentally different from Mandalorian gunfire, but conscious thought couldn't out-draw a flinch. Her eyes and empathic senses flicked up to Elijah: had he noticed?

"Could have used a few lessons from you back on Yavin, at the Praxeum when it was running." She drank deep, closed her eyes, and drained the mug. Scar tissue itched furiously on her back, but like feth would she scratch herself here and now. "Then again, Elijah, I can't think what kind of lessons would have prepared me for the first time I got shot. So what's your strategy?"

 

[Bethany Kismet]

It wasn't difficult for Bethany to thread through the crowd. [member="Michael Sardun"] broke through more like a stone in a river, parting the crowd around him as he moved behind her. She glanced back, smiling before finding her way to their friend.

Bethany stifled a smile as [member="Hal Terrano"] stumbled on. Finally, she reached out, placing a single finger on his forearm just for a moment. She understood that casual touch was not a comfort to Hal, so she was conscious of it. It was a small thing she could do to make her friend more comfortable.

"I'm glad you came," she said warmly. "There is a booth selling tea, if you'd like some? Or we can leave you to your own devices if you'd rather."

She had found that addressing the options directly with him was more helpful than 'what would you like to do?' If there was something else he wanted, he had no trouble stating it. But the open ended questions were harder and usually left them both at a loss.

 

[Elijah Beckett]

"Not everything can be created in stages, like for instance the more natural creations. They tend to have a strict path they follow, and if you lose it; or its taken then its gone in one fell swoop." Elijah chugged almost the entirety of what remained in his tankard after saying that. As he pulled it away from his lips, he swished it around a bit, disappointed it was almost empty.

Then the noisemaker nearby cracked to life and Elijah froze up. His grip on the tankard's handle tightened, almost to he point of breaking it. Elijah's free hand slipped beneath the table, obviously instinctively going for a weapon. And finally his eyes snapped over to the source of it. If he hadn't already consumed a fair share of alcohol before now, his reaction would've been worse.

He looked back at Mara and took a moment to collect himself, grumbling to himself about annoying kids.

"I make it a point to be blunt and never sugar-coat things when I teach. They need to learn just what can potentially happen in the heat of things, especially when something can occur abruptly without warning. But you're not wrong, the true experience comes from the moments themselves."

Elijah was reminded of his more damning scars; the entire right side of his body. You could tell someone all about what being near an explosion was like, but the reality of having the fire scorching your skin was something else.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Hal Terrano"] | [member="Bethany Kismet"]

The Jedi Master looked from Hal to the clouds and nodded in agreement.

"I agree. This weather is quite perfect for this level of engagement." Sardun stated quite surely, because it was the truth, was it not? The sky was clear, the sun shined brightly and bathed the valley in a warm light of day. This was exactly the kind of thing this party needed to live up and let everyone have some fun. It was completely lost to him that Hal's remarks might not have been all that charismatic or suitable for the moment.

It seemed quite obvious to him that observing their surroundings was the best way to start a conversation.

But that might have been the soldier and general talking, not the man behind it, who seemed to be just as much ill at ease at such events as Hal. He was simply much better at hiding it - discomfort cloaked by stoicism and a straight, rigid back with radiated confidence.

Hands locked behind his back as he looked away from the clouds and the sun, paying attention to them again.

"The tea is quite warm though." He had already sampled it a bit. "Perhaps something cooler? I spotted other refreshments being given out by the other booths."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Elijah Henson"]

"You've got a point," she admitted. "I don't dabble much in nature, so I couldn't say myself. I've gardened a bit, lost a few crops along the way, but that's as close as I get to what you might be talking about. Then again I'm hard pressed to figure out how to tie all those general principles down to the real world."

Mara didn't miss his flinch; it matched or exceeded her reaction, and even if she'd had her eyes closed, his brief spike of alertness and tension would still have registered clearly to her empathic senses. Diagnosed or not? she almost asked, but post-traumatic stress wasn't something to talk about at a party. Not in so many words, anyway.

"Bluntness is good. You're talking about the expectations game. Teaching them how to lose instead of escalate, how to brace themselves for moments they can't control." She eyed her empty mug and set it aside, leaning back again. "How to take a hit without their world shattering so all they want to do is hit back."

 

[Hal Terrano]

Mercifully he was stopped.

A small touch upon his arm indicating that he could cease dictating over-rehearsed lines about the weather. His eyes settled upon the woman's finger for a moment, observing her movement before moving upwards and trying to settle upon both of their faces (which ended up with him ultimately staring at the small space between the pair).

At least somebody was glad that he had come. It made the entire venture feel slightly less pointless on his behalf, which was a rather callous thought to have at a social gathering. Mercifully, Hal kept that to himself as he was informed of tea, which then lead into Sardun continuing the weather conversation path.

Which was not exactly what Hal wanted.

“Contrary to popular belief, drinking hot tea will cool you down, Michael.”

At least random facts came somewhat naturally.

“Tea would be nice,” Terrano replied in his usually clipped tones with a brief nod of the head, “could you show me where the booth is? The square is quite busy.”

---

[member="Bethany Kismet"] [member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Elijah Beckett]

Elijah let out an amused snort at Mara's words, indicating he wasn't directly talking about nature itself. That and a sowing your seed joke immediately sprung to mind, but he decided to not voice it.

"Indeed, best to know about what to expect - to help ease the surprise of when that first blow hits you. It's of course nothing compared to the when it happens, but that knowledge can help the person not panic in the aftermath." Elijah finished off his drink and let the now empty tankard slip from his hands and tumble down onto the table, managing to stay upright.

"So..." He began sitting back into the chair to get comfortable. I was time to get to the reason he had come over. "I take it you have some questions about the Order?"

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Andy Khor]

The bards ended their song, saying goodbye to everyone, taking their instruments with them. Hex and Andy finished placing the equipment around the stage, lights and amplifiers were the last things. It wasnt as big as other events where he opened, but at least the audience was quite large. "Alright you know what to do" "Yes sir!" "Try to be fast. I will do some edits on the playlist. Meet me here when you end delivering the flyers and telling everyone"

"Excuse me sir" said talking to [member='Elijah Henson'] , who was sitting at the time "Mister Andy is going to play in a few minutes. Its going to be in his words...The revolution of music. You too should assist" said leaving two flyer, the other for [member='Mara D'Lessio Merrill'] . After that, he left a colored paper on the table. The droid was leaving and pasting flyers everywhere.

"Miss Bethany right? Here take this. Mister Khor is going to DJ in a few minutes at the stage. He would appreciate if you were in front of the stage. Oh and you dont need to pay any entrance. Its totally free!" said handing out the flyer ([member='Bethany Kismet'])

Just when he was about to distribute the rest of the flyers "Wow dude" said colliding with [member="Michael Sardun"] at a slow speed. Hex levitated back up "Excuse me for that. In a hurry and couldnt process fast enough to evade. You must be a guard of the place. You should take a rest from that and go to the DJ who is going to be presenting in a few minutes. Nothing bad could happen for just a couple of minutes watching at one of the best DJ in Nar Hutta"

Andy set up his scenario in moments using the force. He didnt had any assistance but that wasnt an excuse. The stage needed to be ready. Hex arrived "Sir everyone got noticed. The crowd is grouping in front of the stage and everything is set" the DJ was sitting at the stairs editing a couple of last things, configuring Hex, the lights and the amplifiers, all linked to the helmet for more control.

When the sun went down an alarm started to ring in his helmet "Lets do this then" Andy stood up and yellow and white lights pointed towards the stage. Without delaying more, he went out with his hands waving at everyone "Hello Leonasa! Name is Andy Khor..." said standing in front of his table and with Hex position himself at his side, controlling the lights, and making Andy`s job more easym but waving at the crowd too "...and here i present to you, the Revolution of Music. Everyone catch a drink, catch a dance partner, jump, sing, get crazy to the sound of music" with that being said, the lights changed colors and Andy began...

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QrdTzCQrIU[/media]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Elijah Henson"] [member="Andy Khor"]

"I've got a couple questions, sure. All predictable-"

She broke off as a droid blitzed through the pavilion, handing out flyers. It might, she realized, be the first time since landfall that she'd seen a droid or a piece of mass produced printing. Was 'anachronism' the right word for a piece of the present or future out of place in the past?

If the slick flyer was any indication of the music to come, she'd have plenty of time to decide what words to use.

"I'll make them as quick, as I can," she said. "Something tells me I'm about to get drowned out. What's your authority structure like: Grandmaster, Council? Appointed or elected? Any accountability mechanisms? Policy on tolerating, including, trying, extraditing, Darksiders or known criminals? Preferences on materialism and celibacy?"

The music began, every bit as loud and modern as she'd feared. Anywhere else she'd have liked it; here she found it jarring. She raised an eyebrow at Elijah and tilted her head toward the nearest exit.

 

[Elijah Beckett]

The moment the bards were finished, Elijah's eyes lingered over to the stage to see what exactly [member="Andy Khor"] had in store but it became pretty apparent when the amplifiers were being hooked up. He had nothing wrong with the music, but if he and Mara were going to be talking - it wasn't exactly going to be ideal. When Hex came buzzing around dropping off flyers for the both of them, Elijah said nothing then looked over to Mara.

It seemed like the woman wasn't entirely too pleased about the upcoming music either - though for other reasons it seemed. And after a quick look around, reminding him of how very low-tech the town was. Elijah let out a chuckle at the thought of how the people Leonasa were going to react. It was certainly going to be a change of pace for them, and at the very least Elijah had given the Mayor a heads up that one of the Order would be bringing their own music.

After Mara had finished listing her questions, Elijah opened his mouth to speak only for the music to begin the moment he did. It immediately struck Elijah's head like a drum beat, indicating he was probably going to be suffering a headache from tonight. Ah who cares, I'm already probably going to be hungover in the morning.

He certainly didn't waste a beat when Mara had silently indicated for them to make their exit. Elijah was likely to return, but for now he had Order business to deal with. He was up off the seat and leading the way out of the Zonif Square, down several streets until they were a comfortable distance away that the music wasn't too overwhelming for talking. With some stacks of crates and barrels, Elijah tested the crates against his weight before hopping up and using them as a seat.

"Feel free to sit somewhere if you want." Elijah began, his hands fidgeting due to now lack of a tankard in his hand. "To begin with, the Sacred Lotus is run by the Council of Elders which currently consist of [member="Bethany Kismet"], [member="Hal Terrano"] and [member="Michael Sardun"]. Though positions are open - for both Force users and not, which are appointed by the council." Elijah shifted around slightly, not particular comfortable as indicated by the fact he kept trying to reposition his body. Eventually he just sat back abit so he was leaning against the building's wall.

"I'll assume you're referring to what our policies are on Order members, in which I do believe if say we discover one is a criminal or another finds themselves falling to the dark side, we'll deal with them fairly - so a trial and we'll go from there. On the topic of materialism and celibacy, well..." Elijah paused briefly as he thought on it, his fingers drumming against his knee without any real rhythm. "The Order strives to find a balance between such things rather than just prohibiting completely. But it is understood that what the 'balance' is very much different per individual."

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Elijah Henson"]

"You'd include Force-insensitives in your council? That's kind of egalitarian. I like it. Frankly, I like all of it. Seems a sort of common-sense approach, and that's in short supply these days."

She scooted onto the top of a barrel, heels knocking against the staves.

"So I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your Padawan training takes you to the field. War zones, disaster areas, that kind of thing. How does the Order work? Who's your teacher, and what kind of teaching does the Order use?"

 

[Elijah Beckett]

"Generally Padawans have lessons here on Monastery. Sometimes they're within Sanctuary, or we'll go somewhere else on the planet. But given the nature of the Order's work, Padawans are able to go out on the field whenever we're called to aid someone."

Elijah folded his arms against his chest, his eyes wandering around a bit as he thought on what to say. Eventually though he did look at Mara again.

"I suppose I'd say [member="Bethany Kismet"] is my master, but she generally teaches all the Padawans unless another master takes an interest and takes them on to train themselves. Which is more of my situation at the moment, don't particularly have someone specific to teach me - but then my current situation within the Order tends to have me off-world quite a bit."

He paused briefly to think over what he had learned about the Force since he had come to Monastery.

"Well, as you would imagine what's taught is very light-sided. All about learning to care and heal with the Force, to find a connection and balance with nature and to leave it as undisturbed as possible."

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]