Everything Has Gone Pear-Shaped

[Befallen]

Branden thought he knew the meaning of heat. There were days he could remember from his youth. Terminus could get hot. Especially on a windless day. With all the wash spewed from the exhausts of the countless of thousands of ships that zipped across the sky, there were hot days. And plenty of them. You couldn’t walk two feet without feeling sweat form on your brow and stick to you back. You’d wish for relief. All that took was walking into one of the many skyscrapers or cafes. Zonju V was different, though. There was no relief here. It mattered little if he were indoors or out. And when night fell, he found himself wishing for the heat of day. All this, he reflected on as he meditated in the early morning. Seated outside, crosslegged and facing towards the rising sun, he stared towards the horizon. Of course, like most days, meditation can uneasily for him. It wasn’t so much that the practice felt unnatural as the act caused disquiet in him. Sitting so quietly, doing nothing, but trying desperately to empty his mind caused the opposite to happen. It filled to the brim and overflowing with information and memories; with his thoughts and feelings about things. Often, he found it all overwhelming. This was the principle reason he disliked meditating so much. Yet, it was precisely because he thought so much that he always came back to it. It was almost like a game he played with himself. Maybe today, he would think to himself, maybe today I will do it. Yet, like most days before today, meditation did not come quietly. His mind railed at the hope of serenity. His thoughts flitted from Terminus, to his parents, to the dame he had a crush on. The danced from Master Layla Armstrong, to to his Mother and the Grandmaster - tromping from visions of every female in his life past and present. He thought of the current affairs of the Galaxy. He thought of the invasion of Klatooine. He reflected on the losses at Arba and Anoth. The face of the girl he dreamed about swam before his eyes. Bran watched her cheeks brighten, heard the soft giggle escape her pouty lips. Saw her eyes dip close and watched her lean forward. He imagined what it would feel like to receive a kiss and felt his heart quicken. He blushed at the thought, suddenly embarrassed and looked away - even though none were around to witness his foolishness. Finally, before he gave up, he thought of his Father. And while, that should have spurned him to try harder, it did not. It was the last straw in a long series of frustrating distractions. It was with a disgruntled groan that he untwisted his legs and fell back against the wall to which his back had been in front of. From his pocket he fished out the old and worn black datapad, with its tungsten shell and glassteel face. His index finger slid to the power button and he watched as the face lit up. From memory, he absently slid the menu over until he found the music player and opened it. Moments later he was placing the headphones that had wrapped around his neck upon his ears as the player came aloud and a song began. For a time, he stared at the landscape before him and listened. In doing so, his thoughts slipped from his mind until all that remained was the music whispering in his ear. September whispered hauntingly in his ear and before long he was nodding his head in tune with the melody. Before long he had risen from the ground to stand, feeling the rhythm reverberate throughout his being. The beat took him and he moved in step to it, gliding across the hardpacked earth. It was ironic. Unassisted and by himself, he could not find solitude nor serenity, but with his father’s music in his ear it came as naturally to him as breathing. For a long time, he danced to the beat of Earth, Wind and Fire, kicking up dust and muttering along passionately to the songs. The rising heat that came with the coming dawn was forgotten. The pressures of living up to his father, forgotten. The pressure of being a Jedi, forgotten. As he danced across the courtyard of the Saloon, safe haven of the Waste Rangers, he began to smile. Today would be a good day, he was sure of it.

Spoiler: OOC Statement

Alright guys. So, as promised this social misadventure filled with shenanigans is getting underway. Its open to Jedi, Waste Rangers and Cartel Members alike. All I ask is that no one crashes the thread just for the hell of it. There's going to be no bounty hunting on Jedi. That, and please don't post one-liners. Or anything incredibly short. Otherwise, lets have ourselves a pear-shaped adventure!

 

[TAC]

Do you remember? The twenty first of September?

The good old days.

Long past.

The alliance between the Waste Rangers and the New Jedi Order was a strange one, as for more than a decade their thoughts on other people were 'hide.' This change was a needed one, but as a man who had worked so hard to see the Order shielded from the galaxy, it was still strange. There couldn't be a better place to start, either- the man had run a handful of missions with the WRs after the Fall of Coruscant, they were good people. Little had been done by the aging Jedi in the past several years, though, and he knew that he needed to get re-acquainted with the workings of the Jedi. They were undoubtedly different. And that started here.

Master Fang was the Jedi's liaison to the Waste Rangers, and the older man had almost sent him a memo saying he would be going. But he had decided that he wouldn't, which perhaps wasn't exactly correct according to procedure, but he would deal with the consequences. He had always found that having an unadulterated view of operations, as a stock member of the Order, was more valuable to him.

Zonju V was just a few short transport jumps. He had all the right codes and security checks to gain access to the Waste Rangers, they had changed since he had last been there, years earlier... but not altogether that different.

Entering the facility quietly, his presence hidden in the force well enough that none but a half dozen in the galaxy could find him, he was greeted with a strange sight. A young man, no older than he when he had joined the Order, was dancing. The boy must have been enjoying himself, as well, as there was a large smile upon his face. Quietly, the man emerged from the shadows. He had a traveling cloak on, and he tucked the hood back to reveal his weathered face as he grinned at the boy.

"What's playing?" he asked with a few more steps forward.

 

[Wit]

Inside the Saloon, surrounded by a wall handful of nocturnal beings like him, insomniacs, unfortunate souls coming in after finishing jobs at the wrong time of the day or in some unique cases beings for whom the concept of sleep itself was alien, Hal slapped down another large tumbler onto the table in front of him. Like the more than half a dozen others resting on the table besides it, it was completely empty. The fellow in front of him, a grizzled old man whose name Hal hadn't been able to learn, groaned as he raised the half empty tumbler held in his unsteady hands to his lips and forced the contents down with visible hesitation and discomfort.

"Another?" He asked just as the man suddenly tipped forwards and collapsed onto the table, scattering the empty tumblers and sending more than a few crashing to the floor. Laughing with the others, Hal felt only a slight pang of guilt as slaps of encouragement descended on his back. Maybe it hadn't been a fair contest, after all his healing factor did make it a little difficult for him to get inebriated, but it had just been a little game, some fun between friends. And that felt odd to him as he rose from the table, turning down invitations to share a few more drink, not the fact that he already considered some of these lawmen as his friends, but the very fact that he had friends. For a long time he had lived a closed life, a lonely life, this sense of camaraderie was a change, though a pleasant and welcome one at that.

Stepping out into the blazing morning heat, he let out an explosive yawn as he stretched, already feeling the alcohol's lingering influence start to vanish, his mind becoming less and less groggy by the minute. His eyes were drawn to a young man moving about in what his sleep deprived mind mistook to be a rather weird training kata, but what he soon realised was a simple dance. He was about to burst out laughing at the confusion when he noticed the other man, the cloaked fellow he could not sense in the Force. Somehow, despite being in need of sleep, oh so slightly drunk and having just spotted the man, his mind zoned down on that simple fact and pushed it to the fore front. Hal wasn't really surprised by what the Force was, or in this case wasn't, telling him, a trick wasn't really all that impressive once you learnt how to pull it off yourself, but he was surprised by the man's presence here. He wasn't aware that they were expecting another Jedi here, and this man was a Jedi or an ally, that much at least the Force was telling him.

Instinctively shutting down his own presence in the Force, wondering if the man would that, he started walking towards the duo, his approach silent as he stepped up behind the mean just as he questioned the boy about his music.

"Sounds," he said with a wide grin on his face as he came to a stop behind the man, "of Silence."

 

[Hishamori]

By all means Hishamori liked knowing that the waste rangers were open to the order, and was glad to be able to relax and unwind so to speak, she had done a good job in a sense of doing the vanishing act and being fading away so to speak, she didn't do it entirely on purpose. But considering that very few fellow Jedi came with her in the evacuation and after ward she ended up dropping them off at other locations that they had wanted to go to. Which for her wasn't a problem, except for the fact she was once again alone in her ship.

Hish sighed as she stopped reading the datapad in front her and decided to look around, Hish was bit surprised to see a bunch of what look to her like Jedi talking over by a radio, one guy was dancing, and the other two seemed to be watching or talking about it. Deciding to try and socialize, Hish got up and walked over to the small group.

She stopped and folded her arms as she watched the guy still dance, and she glanced over to the radio, wondering what was playing, but decided to ask after the guy stopped dancing. She look towards the other two Jedi and just raised one of her hands into a sort of wave "Hi"
She said while she folded her arm back just right under her chest, and she continued to just watch.

 

[FrostFall]

Aryan was a rather new member to the Waste Rangers but had already made himself right at home in the saloon. Sat on a stool he gazed towards the Bespin Liquor laid on the counter begging for him to pour another glass. As Aryan began to pour his drink he noticed a show being broadcasted an interview with some important imperial general, he had no patients for imperial propaganda he turned and looked around the bar to see the usual type of people overly drunk, quiet unsociable, the aliens and the people who wear hoods thinking they some how are hiding when there the only ones wearing a hood indoors.

Aryans communicator started going off "Aryan are you in another bar I swear every time we go do the delivery you find the closest booze whole." The voice snares and then in a calmer tone adds "we need you to do a system check on the ship since Benny is with us." Aryan groans placing a credit chip on the counter and taking the bottle as he picked up his dark brown leather trench coat and heads towards the door.

heading out the door the sun hits him "damn it how long was I in there for." He moaned a puzzled looked came across his face as he looked over at the people gathering by the boy dancing. "never mind how long have I been in there, how much have I had to drink." he wasn't sure if it was real or the alcohol talking but he decided to walk towards them as his ship was in the same direction. As he walked towards then he was mumbling to himself "stupid toydarian take them to his fancy house with a pool and Ice cubes and dumps me in a saloon. I wish I could kick him right in his fancy pants." His approach was slouched with his coat tossed over one shoulder's and the bottle in his other hand.

 

[Befallen]

With the beat of the melody guiding the rhythm of his steps, he continued to glide across the courtyard, unassisted by the Force and unperturbed by prying eyes. Before long every part of his being was jerking and moving in step with the beat. A silly expression upon his face as he danced, wholly innocent, wholly gleeful. As September began to draw to a close, his steps became more elaborate, until, he began sliding backwards across the hardpacked earth in an illusionary manner. To the untrained eye it would simply seem that he was raising and lowering his feet in a graceful manner, but that shouldn’t have allowed him to move in any direction, least of all backward. Earth, Wind and Fire faded from his ear and in that momentary silence, he stopped dancing. He looked up to see a small group of people standing before him, watching him. Some looked entirely confused and drunk. Others seemed politely curious. Two of the four, he could sense in the Force, one of them much stronger than the other. His gaze fell to the freakishly tall and buxom woman in their midst. Lacking subtlety entirely, Bran’s mouth parted slightly and his eyes went wide. This woman was several inches taller than him. That, however, was quickly forgotten. Despite his best attempt to stop it from happening, his gaze fell to her very ample breasts, his mere expression saying: holy crap! Unceremoniously, he blushed and looked away. When he returned his focus to the group, he noticed that all eyes had fallen upon him. Feeling embarrassed, he decided to play it off. Placing his headphones back around his neck, he cracked a wolfish grin and chuckled. It was about then that the first arrival, an aging man of height and weathered visage spoke up asking the question that was on everyone’s lips. Bran’s grin fell and his gaze drifted from him, to the much younger and roguish looking man who had just given a glib reply for him. Bran blinked, the joke momentarily flying far above his head. Moments thereafter, he remembered the very drunk man who appeared wholly puzzled and the freakishly tall, buxom woman that portrayed innocence. Wafting from his headphones Meeting in the Ladies Room by Klymaxx caused his head to bounce subtly to and fro. He remained silent, staring at them, a sense of awkwardness emanating from him. Finally, with a smile and small chuckle, he set himself to answering the weathered man's question. “Oh,” he began without skipping a beat, “September by Earth, Wind and Fire,” he stated with a charmed smile. Despite the rock of his head, he became contemplative as he stared at the gathered individuals. “What’s up?” He lacked any sense of decorum. Of course, he had no way of knowing that the two individuals that hid their presence in the Force were ranking Jedi, let alone the rank of the third Jedi. Although, had he known, it probably would have made little difference. Bran wasn’t very fond of titles. His mother had never made him call her ‘Knight de Luna.’ He’d only ever known her as some affectionate shortening of 'mother.' His father had been equally bad about teaching his son etiquette. Not that these people would know any of this. Still, as he stood there, waiting for a reply to his open ended question, the music slowly began to take him again, causing him to bounce his head in step to it. His shoulders weren’t long in following, but otherwise he remained planted where he stood. It hadn’t dawned on him that a dancing Padawan Learner would be an odd sight. Nevertheless, a dancing Padawan Learner who moved to music only he could hear as the coming dawn continued to rise at his back. In the silence, as he waited, his gaze returned to the woman in their midst. He stared at her, a growing roguish grin crept across his lips. A playful thought formed in his mind. “Hey, Mystery Lady,” he sang as Billy Ocean boomed in the background, cascading from his headphones. The volume having grown louder as he slid a hand into his pocket to increase it so that he might hear the melody and follow along. “Can I spend the night with you~?” No longer caring how strange he might have appeared, he began dancing again as Mystery Lady played. Without moving in any one direction, he began to slide in place, leaning forward with each slip of his foot as his shoulders rocked up and down. An impassioned expression took hold of his visage as he snapped his fingers in time with the beat. “Can I have your number~? I’ll be anything you want me to--” he spun, kicking up a small cloud of dust before he came to a stop abruptly, laughing a little. “By the way, who are you guys?" He asked warmly. "I’m Padawan Learner Branden de Luna. Nice to meet ya’ll!”

 

[TAC]

Every day Larik appreciated vitality more and more. He wasn't an old man, but his body had suffered through a lot in the few decades it had managed to survive. Meditation and a daily physical regime kept his body, as well as the body of men Jedi, in far better condition than it would have been otherwise. But Larik hadn't near the amount the groove as the young Branden.

There were several others throughout the facility, and Larik could feel them move even as he shielded his own presence. Several were moving toward them, as well as a flicker. Whether it was a person or just a whisper of the force Larik did not know so deep in his hidden state, but he imagined it wouldn't take long to find out. And indeed, as the boy finally stopped slowed his groove to a slight simmer, three others groggily joined Larik and oblivious boy.

"Sounds," came a reply from behind Larik, "of Silence."

Before Larik turned around he grinned, having locked on to the signature of the hidden speaker as soon as the first word came from his lips. He extended his hand, taking Hal Farstrider's, and not doing much to contain his grin as he met eyes with the young Jedi Knight. "Hal, good to see you," the Jedi Master said, before turning back to the other three. Hal Farstrider hadn't been on Arbra long before the evacuation, but Larik had met him, and the young Jedi had helped with the evacuation, which Larik had greatly appreciated.

Turning to the other two new comers, his grin faded but did not leave. One was a Padawan he remembered from Arbra with a rather long name, in fact, he thought he remembered seeing her with Knight Farstrider during the evacuation. He must have picked her up along the way, though, because Larik didn't remember sending her with him. The last newcomer was, hopefully, a Waste Ranger. Otherwise it would have just been a pow-wow of Jedi making themselves at home in a dusty saloon.

"Nice to meet you too, Padawan Luna," he replied, turning his attention to the young man. "I'm a Jedi learner as well, one could say! There's so much to know." His grin returned at his own cleverness, although he knew his little stunt was probably up. He figured the Jedi Knight might play along, but he didn't know anything about the woman. Maybe she wouldn't recognize him. He was only wanted for War Crimes, Murder, and Thievery by the Imperials. He had one of those "don't try to capture, just kill him" tagline attached to his picture and name throughout the galaxy, but there were those who had it worse.

 

[Virgil]

Vekk had just turned in yet another bounty, this time to a ranger on the harsh planet of Zonju V. Vekk looked around the saloon, its lot mostly drunken patrons attempting to beat the heat and take a load off. "Not a bad idea." Vekk muttered to himself, second naturedly stowing his newly earned credits away. Bidding the ranger farewell, Vekk turned and headed for the door, but was stopped by a corellian almost half a meter taller than himself. "Can I help you friend?" Vekk said, offering an extended hand. The man simply slapped his hand aside. "We don't need your help around here bounty hunter, why don't you just go on and leave." Vekk shifted uncomfortably, looking down at his hand, then back to the drunken ranger's reddened face. Vekk was glad his helmet blocked out smells, as the man undoubtedly smelled heavily of liquor. Not wanting to cause any trouble in a den of rangers, he nodded his head and moved around the large fellow, and brushed through the saloon doors.

Vekk's helmet softened the harsh blast of light that greeted him once outside, even then he squinted, focusing his vision to try and direct himself to a general goods store, the Brigand's supplies while not dwindling, were in need of replenishment. Gazing out over area Vekk could not manage to make out much. He did however notice a group of individuals gathered round a young man dancing. An entertainer perhaps, Vekk thought to himself. Figuring one of them might be able to help set him in the right direction. As he approached them, Vekk pondered a good way to unwind after this last trip.

Upon approaching the group Vekk could over hear the young man who had been dancing mention something about earth, wind, and fire. Vekk couldn't make any sense of the words and waited for him to finish before introducing himself. "Hey there" He simply chimed in.

 

[Hishamori]

Hish raised an eyebrow when the kid noticed her and saw him stare down at her breasts, she quietly giggled when he finally snapped out of and became all flushed, she looked toward the other two Jedi, both she knew from the temple, One was Hal,the Jedi knight she worked with, and the other was the Jedi master that gave them the what they had to do.

She completely raised her eyebrow at the mystery lady thing, but figured the kid was singing along with the music. So she didn't feel all that bothered. "I'm Hishamori Hashama, you can just call me Hish so that way it's easier. I'm a padawan, going onto knight, I just have been a bit lazy in trying to get the position." Hish being quite honest, and rubbing her cheek with one of her fingers, she looked towards the Jedi master when he said he was a padawan learner, and simply shook her head.

"Hey there" Hish was a little surprised but was successful in not doing something rash she then felt a little stupid for not paying attention, but she let it go as being tired, she turned around and looked towards a guy who looked like he was a bounty hunter, and raised an eyebrow but shrugged a bit before turning towards him fully. "Hi. Can I help you with something?" Hish asked honestly as she looked slightly down towards the bounty hunter.

 

[FrostFall]

Aryan was walking past them when the kid started singing to Aryan's surprise the reason he was singing was because there was a woman there "I really should quit drinking." Aryan rubbed his eyes before waving "I guess it's only polite to say hello since your in between me and my ship." he paused for a moment when a newcomer came and introduced himself "I'm Aryan Rivia captain of the ship Clear Skies." he said to them all with a smile.

Since his crew were off to some fancy place leaving Aryan with the task of keeping the ship well ship shape. He decided he could waste some time and finish off the bottle and get to know some people, who knows he could pick himself up a small job as a result. The two gentleman in robes screamed either jedi or cult he hoped it was jedi since he only ever met one but she was a stuck up twi'lek who only ever shouted at him.

 

[Wit]

Hal, his Force facilities nowhere near as refines as the older and far more experienced Jedi Master, didn't recognise the man until he turned around with a smile on his face and finally let Hal catch a glimpse of his face. Old man evacuator! he thought as he fished around in his still buzzing head and the older man's name popped up a moment later, reaching out to shake the offered hand. "Good to meet you too Ma.." the words stopped in his mouth as his eyes drifted to the side to enquire the source of the greeting offered the side and came to a spot on the tall padawan's more than ample bosom. Expecting a woman from the pitch of the voice, he had instinctively lowered his eyes in expectation of someone shorter, which only resulted in him ending up making eye contact with the woman's chest and not her face as he had intended. As his eyes drifted up to her face, he recognised her as one of the other Jedi he had become acquainted with during the evacuation of Arbra. What were the odds of that, running into Larik and Hishamori at more or less the exact same moment.

The dancing padawan, Hal noticed, had an even worse reaction to Hishamori's voluptuousness, which Hal ignored with nothing more than a widening of his lopsided grin. But during all that he somehow managed to keep his mouth shut for long enough for Larik speak up once again, before Hal addressed him as Master and ruined whatever the Jedi Master was playing at. Hal for his part was more than happy to play along.

"Hal Farstrider, he said, introducing himself to the younger Jedi, "thinking of ways he could exploit his position as the ranking Jedi in attendance."

 

[Taz]

It was early, even for a backwater kriff filled planet such as Zomju V. Axe docked his old bird in that last open dock in the local spaceport. "For a fracking wasteland this place is sure full up", he thought more or less to himself as he grabbed his gear out of the storage compartment behind his pilot seat. "Stay with the ship for now Six", he commanded his droid as he slid his pistolinto it's thigh holster home. Axe wasn't expecting trouble but as a Bounty Hunter for the Cartel and former ISF, it was better to have it and not need it the to need it and not have it.

He walked for a bit threw the slums and alleyways until he found the only watering hole open at this dawning hour, in fact there was some indication that it may have never closed at all . As he past the crowd to enter, he was surprised to find the place a buzz. He spotted Vekk first and gave him a quick nod, though he seems entranced with the cleavage of the mountainous female before him. The rest seemed to be comprised of locals and what he knew were several Jedi. In almost comedic fashion Axe moved back out the door and read the sign allowed to himself "The Saloon", he shrugged and walked back in this time making a line past the group and bellied up to the bar."You got a drink fitting of the atmosphere?", speaking to the bar keep as he continued to look around.

 

[Virgil]

The woman of the group, whom Vekk couldn't help but notice was remarkably tall, turned round to face him. Her height forcing her to look down to meet Vekk's own gaze, an occurrence Vekk was not used to dealing with quite as frequently as he had today. "Hi. Can I help you with something?" She asked plain face honestly, another custom Vekk was not used to. "Yeah, I was just looking for a general goods store. My ship's stores could use replenishment. Any idea where I could find one?" He finished his neck sore from having to look up to speak to the woman, despite not having held the angle for very long.

Before the woman could answer, a man caught hold of Vekk's attention. Greeting him by nod from afar. Vekk couldn't be sure but he thought it might've been another bounty hunter. Before Vekk could inquire however, the man slipped into the saloon for a drink. Hopefully he would receive better patronage from the bar than Vekk himself had.

 

[Hishamori]

Hishamori had to admit by all means, she was finding many things very amusing right in that moment, but did her best not to break out laughing since she didn't want to insult people. "Yeah, I was just looking for a general goods store. My ship's stores could use replenishment. Any idea where I could find one?" Hish who was going to answer, suddenly noticed the bounty hunter look suddenly to another who entered the place, she looked towards the other bounty hunter that entered, before he in a somewhat comedic fashion backed out the door only to come back in. She had to admit that was a bit humorous.

She then turned her attention back to the other bounty hunter and answered his question "If your looking for the general store, or stores, there's one over by the space port, and the other is if you go out the door and turn left and walk straight until you see a large building with a sign saying GS, it's the main general store here." Hish finished with a small smile "Hope that helps" Hish said in a honest tone, since she was sure her directions made sense, but you never know.

And she overheard Hal's introduction to the younger Jedi and turned her head toward him a bit and nodded in small greeting towards him before turning her attention back to the bounty hunter.

 

[Virgil]

"Thank you very much." Vekk replied before adding "So if you don't mind my asking, what has you all gathered here? This young lad an entertainer?" Vekk inquired, and as he did so his hand dropped to where he had secured his credits. Turning to face the young man who had started back up dancing. Vekk couldn't help but chuckle, the noise startling himself as his voice mask distorted it, the sound coming out twisted into an almost mechanical noise, like air hissing from a pipe in a series of bursts.

 

[Hishamori]

Hish shook her head no at the bounty hunters question "No, he is not, he's just a padawan learner who's really into his music." Hish said honestly, she didn't really mind telling the bounty hunter that fact, since it was doubtful for bounty hunter who looked like he worked for the cartel, would want to try and get any money from the imperium simply due to the fact that the imperium is attacking the cartel.

Hish rubbed the side of her chick with one of her fingers again before turning to the bounty hunter again. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you work for the cartel?" Hish asked honestly with curiosity also showing in her expression.

 

[Virgil]

"Me and the Cartel are on pretty bad terms at the moment actually. The Hutts always get so angry when you interrupt their slave trading, or kill their enforcers, or shoot up their cantinas." Vekk paused for a moment thinking about how often he'd upset the Hutts affairs. Shaking his head, Vekk continued. "So as of late I've been helping the rangers here on Zonju V. Its good lay and typically I don't have to look over my shoulder every ten seconds" Once again looking at the dancing man. "He is really getting into it Say there friend where'd you learn to dance like that?"

 

[Befallen]

For a time, Bran seemed to disappear into himself. It wasn’t something he planned on happening. Nevertheless, what he wanted was rarely what happened. As he stood there, the world slowly began to recede. There wasn’t anything overtly strange about it to the lad. He just zoned out. It was a rather useless talent he had acquired from his youth and one that was well-used. His gaze became caught on a particularly enrapturing ball of tumbleweed that lazily bounced and jounced across the courtyard. Intensely, his eyes followed it, as if he were searching for some hidden truth in its existence. From his neck, his music could still be heard, but it seemed that even that barely registered with him. All around him, the various strangers began responding and introducing themselves. As they all went around introducing themselves, Bran began to abjectly blink, transfixed upon a new distraction. His gaze fell towards a small ant hill some several feet behind the ‘Jedi Learner.’ Enthralled, he watched the colony move in and out of the mound, ferreting food in and leaving again to forage. Unaware, side conversations arose whilst others fell silent. Eventually, he became disinterested with his intense study of the ant colony and returned his attention back to the gathered group of Jedi, smugglers and mercenaries. As was common for someone who had so utterly spaced out, his expression took on a childish look of confusion. His brow raised, his head cocked to one side and his maw slightly agape, he stared between those gathered. Yet, he lacked anything of embarrassment. His confusion was as genuine as it was unabashed. Several moments later, he shrugged his shoulders, eyed the Jedi and clucked his tongue. All in a manner much reminiscent to the non-verbal expression of ‘oh well.’ It was about then, that his attention was drawn to the entirely armored, short individual and the very busty Padawan with the long and difficult name. The burning of his ears had drawn his gaze to them. He had felt as if their conversation had drifted towards the topic of him. And, what kind of man would he a have been to ignore such a thing? Especially, when he was within line of sight and earshot. Blinking again, he furrowed his brow slightly as he listened to the exchange. Branden found it strange that his dancing would arouse such interest. He didn’t think his skills were anything special. It was true, he had rhythm and a love for the classics, but still, it wasn’t like he was breakdancing or battling anyone. The thought of a dance-off did make him curve the corner of his lips in excitement, though. He found himself wondering who among them could match his 'modest' dancing skills. When the conversation became directed towards him, he initially shrugged. Explaining how to dance was not something that made sense to him. One either innately knew how to or not. Nevertheless, he earnestly began answering the question. “Terminus.” came his simple reply. “My dad taught me rhythm, my mom taught me how to feel the beat. Then, of course, practicing daily didn’t hurt. Never know when dancing might come in handy.” He smiled slyly and rolled his shoulders, palms outstretched. “...For instance, it never hurt when impressing the ladies.” His gaze shifted from where he thought the armored fellow’s eyes were to the rather tall and buxom Padawan. Once his eyes rested upon hers, they began to dance with innocent mischief and he winked before proffering her a wolfish grin. He then passively waited for her response, but would be unaffected in the event she rebuked him. His manner of flirtation was, honestly, innocent and somewhat clumsy. Regardless of the outcome he rolled his shoulders and allowed his wolfish grin to soften into a genuine smile. Turning his attention to the group at large, he spoke to them, “So… what’s there to do for fun around here?”

 

[Hishamori]

Hishamori looked over and down towards the kid, and deciding to humor the kid winked back, of course she broke out a bit of a smile on her face afterwards that was full of humor, and she shrugged at the question on what to do.