Do You Wanna Break the Rules? (Postman)

[Squee]

Coruscant - About Four Years Ago---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valis stared at the grayness of the ceiling, only a couple of feet from her nose. Arms folded on top of each other, she tapped her fingers against her forearms. She turned her face to the glowing lavender display. Dead middle of the night a.m. With a soft grunt of effort, Valis pulled herself to the edge of her bed and leaned over the side. Two, glowing green eyes peered at her roommate, a pretty zeltron girl.

“Zeeva. You awake?”

… No answer. Pushing covers off, Valis slithered quietly and dropped softly to the floor. Manually pushing open the closet door, she grabbed clothing and slinked into their shared personal refresher. For a zeltron, Zeeva had a very poor sense of adventure and fun. Dressing swiftly and catching a bottle of skin lotion she knocked off with her elbow, Valisilwen poked her head out to check on her roommate. Still sleeping smoothly. Carrying her boots, Valis tiptoed from the refresher into the hallway. Hopping on one foot down the hall, she tugged on one boot after the other.

Knocking on the first door, she called Travis’ name. Her human friend, usually up for midnight escapades, turned her away. Some training exercise early in the morning with his master. The Harver turned her away. She passed Telsay’s door, knowing her poor falleen friend had fractured her foot in the obstacle course training room.

“Oh come on, Gyra!” she pleaded with the zabrak girl. “Sleep can’t be that important.”

“You’re going to get yourself in serious trouble,” Gyra only chastised. And Valis swiped her hand at her friend dismissively as she walked onward.

Finally, she resorted to merely knocking on any door and asking if anyone wanted to have an adventure, lying about the time, and doing her best to charm. Making new friends was hard in the middle of the night, but it could be done.

Once again she knocked on another door. Calling through the thin metal sheet for a door, she said, almost singsong, “Do you want to break some tame rules? How about have lots of fun? This could be a super time, all you got to do, is come out and play. What’s up? Kaalsa, isn’t it?”

[Postman]

Kaalsa was resting in his room, exhausted from saber training during the day. It hadn't gone well, and he had gone to bed angry. Restless, he tossed and turned in bed, sore and irritable. His master had been excessively demanding today and though his master had said nothing, he knew he wasn't pleased with the outcome. Kaalsa kept tossing and turning and finally decided that he would go for a walk outside of the temple to clear his mind. Getting out of bed, he grabbed his clothes and put them on. As he was tying the laces of his boots, a sudden a knock sounded at his door and a female voice asked him if he wanted to break some rules.

I shouldn't answer the door, he thought, I should just pretend I'm asleep. Unfortunately, curiosity was not something he had learned to control and he answered the door. A girl stood in the doorway, she was short, but Kaalsa sensed a spark of intensity from her. He noticed her pointy ears and wondered what species she was while becoming painfully aware of his missing horn.

"Yes, my name is Kaalsa. Who might you be, and what rules are we breaking exactly?" He asked raising one hairless eyebrow.

[Squee]

Valis shook her pointer finger at the young iktochi man as he confirmed his name, a look of pleased thoughtfulness on her face. “See, I knew you were Kaalsa. I am good. I’m Bored. The skies awake, and so I’m awake.” She skipped back a step, and bowed from the waist with an arm across her and the other sweeping up into the air. “But, really, you should call me Valis.”

Standing upright, she brushed her braid back over her shoulder. Immediately, she launched into naming off exploits, counting on her fingers. “And we could go trample among some plants in the gardens, scale the waterfall, um, raid the kitchen for snacks, um…” Performing a full spin, Valis started walking backwards down the hall. “Talk badly about old crotchety Jedi masters, graffiti, or… hm… think we could sneak into our masters’ chambers and draw mustaches on their faces? Maybe we should do that one last…”

She pivoted around to walk forwards again, sliding into step with Kaalsa. “Or what ideas do you have?”

[Postman]

Kaalsa was stunned. For it being so early in the morning , Valis was very awake. Even so, Kaalsa was intrigued by her and studied her as she spoke noticing how animated she was. As she described all of the potential plans for the evening, chuckling internally at most of them, he wondered if she was serious. Once she had finished he knew she was being completely serious and quickly became uncomfortable.

"You can't be serious? If we were found doing most of those things the amount of trouble we could get in is astronomical." But secretly he thought they did sound like fun and began to consider his master with a drawn on mustache and couldn't help but laugh out loud. She looked at him with a face that told him he was being a goodie two shoes and it made him think that maybe he was too uptight.

"Fine, how about for starters let's sneak out and get some food. I'm starving. After that I'll follow your lead, though I might regret saying it by the end of the night."

[Squee]

“I’ll let you in on a little hint, Kaalsa. The trick is… not to get caught.” Though about fifty percent of her time, Valis found on the opposite side of a barbed tongue. There was absolutely no way that Valis could assure Kaalsa and she wouldn’t get caught. Then their middle of the night escapade could turn into being dragged by the pointed ear, or horn, to be thrust upon their masters with the expectation of bootlicking. “Besides, we’re not five. Or even twelve. Curfews and stuff should be a thing of the past when you’re twenty. Though we should have grabbed datapads or something, so we could look studious while we walk. Since the only exception to curfew is library time. But, oh well!

“Plus, it isn’t like our masters didn’t do these kinds of things themselves. Who are they to act high and mighty with their righteous noses in the air?” Valis huffed out a quick sigh of frustration.

A moment later, Kaalsa conceded to snatching some food. “Oh goodie!” And then he mentioned the likelihood of regretting his actions by the end of the night. “Oh, now you’re spoiling the fun before it’s even began.” She gave him a light, friendly shove. “If you don’t want to, don’t feel you have to. I’ll just knock on some more doors. And if that doesn’t turn out, I’ll go climb the waterfall by myself, I guess.

“Right, anyway, food. The kitchen will be locked up tight. Thankfully, our esteemed masters have helped us in the arts of telekinesis, no?” Valis flashed a smile. “Though, really, we should get all day, all night room service. Sometimes I wake up in the middle night because I’m hungry. Especially if Master and I just came back to the Temple and we missed prime dinner time and snacks are all we manage to grab or whatever. I’m told I shouldn’t be so driven by food, but… Belly God gotta have his sacrifices, wouldn’t you agree?”

[Postman]

Kaalsa wondered how many time Valis had been reprimanded for her escapades, noticing the familiar tone she spoke with but agreed with her that they were old enough to not have curfews. At the mention of a data pad Kaalsa smiled devilishly, "As it so happens, I never leave without it." And he pulled one out of his robe. Valis looked at him as if he was dork and Kaalsa hurriedly put the data pad back in his robe feeling embarrassed.

Thinking of his master running around breaking the rules seemed completely alien. He severely doubted that he had done anything stupid in his entire life and made a mental note to ask him the next time he saw him. Returning to the conversation abruptly by a shove from Valis, playful contact he had never really experienced, he awkwardly laughed. After she had mentioned that the kitchen was locked up tight and mentioned her belly god, he laughed; but Kaalsa couldn't stand the thought of eating another Jedi meal. "No, I am already awake and, honestly, I need to blow off some steam. Also, I was thinking that instead of eating the same old food we eat every day, lets go out and get some food somewhere we've never been. Who knows, we might get into some trouble on the way."

Feeling rash, he grabbed Valis' arm and headed for the door. Kaalsa was tired of the regimented lifestyle of the Jedi and wanted to do something different, something rebellious. Valis' attitude had begun to rub off on him and it was catching like fire on a pile of dry logs. They exited the temple and Kaalsa waved for a taxis. The night air was brisk but it woke him up and the slight breeze felt good on his face after being in the temple for so long. A taxis landed in front of them and Kaalsa looked at Valis and said, "Let's have an adventure, shall we?"

[Squee]

((Roleplay mentoring shall begin after your next post.))


“Instead of eating inside the Temple? Ooo…” Valis had only snuck out the Temple once – or maybe twice- before but never very far. Not far enough to find some other place to eat. “You sure?” She asked Kaalsa. Her new partner had seemed hesitant to take on any of her actions. Now he wanted to take on the rashest action that would lead to perhaps the greatest punishment of all time?

Eh, whatever. “All right then! Though-“ Valis was momentarily jarred as Kaalsa grabbed her arm. “-we have to be careful! There will be guards and Knights and such!” The volunteers who looked after the entrance of the Temple would have to be skirted. “Not that way! This way.” Valis had rotated her arm to grip at Kaalsa’s forearm. “If we go that way, we’ll get caught. And the camera will see us. And we have to act as if we’re Knights, not like a couple of sneaky younglings.”

She pulled herself from Kaalsa as they neared their exit. “I’ve learned that if you walk with a purpose, no one really bothers you.” Straightening herself, Valisilwen walked the path with the most statues and pillars in the way of the main path, on the side more shrouded by shadows. Though she paused once at a pillar and held her hand out as a guard walked by. She waited until he was several feet away in the opposite direction before she took off again. Though once beyond the immediate boundaries, she giggled and picked up her pace.

“Not here. He might come back and we’ll be caught! Come on, we’ll walk down some ways using the bridges. Besides… I didn’t bring money for a taxi, so it might be best to stick to the free transports.”

Coruscant was always in constant hubbub. It made Valisilwen miss the quietness of Dantooine. How did anyone manage to get any rest on Coruscant? There was so much sentient life energy that pulsed through the enormous city, giving the sensation that the planet beat with its own heart. It was difficult for Valis to ignore, and therefore it was hard to find sleep amid the restlessness she sensed in the Force.

“I suppose Coruscant has a beauty of its own,” she said. “But it lacks plantlife. It lacks quiet. That’s why I can’t sleep. Are you always on Coruscant? Because my home temple is actually Dantooine.”

[Postman]

After Kaalsa grabbed Valis' arm she quickly reversed the grip, pulling him in another direction, which was probably the smarter of the two ideas he thought to himself. After they had dodged a guard by hiding behind some pillars, they then headed towards some path that Kaalsa had no idea of. Valis had informed him that if you walk with a purpose that usually you were left alone, so he straightened his posture and tried to make confident strides. Internally, though, he was becoming nervous as his brash attitude had lost all of its steam.

Valis lead the way to some bridges that Kaalsa did not know of, for he did not get around too much due to his reclusive personality and he tended to stay indoors. She mentioned the hustle and bustle of the planet and how it thrived with activity, something Kaalsa knew all to well. "I understand what you mean, the planet is always moving, always-active. There is never any rest it seems, and the pressure of it is strong. Being Iktotchi, It makes me even more sensitive, so I understand what you mean."

Valis then mentioned that her home temple resided on Dantooine and he replied, "Yes, I have lived here my entire life. Excluding any missions that my master and I are given, I have not experienced much outside of the temple. A boring existence, wouldn't you say?"

With this he huffed in an ironic fashion and rubbed his horns; he often did when thinking. Valis was unlike most of the padawans he had encountered. In fact, she was unlike any species he had ever met. Coming back out of his head he agreed that the free transports were a good idea and followed relatively close behind her. Curious, he asked her about Dantooine in a low tone, forgetting the facade of walking with a purpose for a moment.

"Tell me, Valis, what is it like on Dantooine? I've never been, but I have always wondered the difference between it and Coruscant. Data pads and archives can only tell you so much."

((I'm not really sure how to progress the thread in any specific direction.))

[Squee]

((Since we’re not long time rpers, I know it can be hard to distinguish how fast a thread should go. I consider myself a pretty laid back rper, so I’ll go with the flow a lot. If you have a question about how far you should take it, feel free to send me a message! But, again, I’m pretty much good with about anything.

Excellent job to keeping to your character this time around. This allows me more freedom to respond with my character. Excellent use of questions from your character to mine, since now we can keep things lively while we decide where we want to go. It’s setting up a chance for us to explore each other’s characters (or in my case, explore my own as well), and entertain ourselves and any readers. Trust me, people read threads.

Since you have a handle on English and writing all together, I’m simply going to focus on rp based skills. As you mentioned, it is different than writing short stories. Sometimes it can seem a little choppy to do stuff in groups. Once you get the hang of it, though, it’ll become second nature.

So, the first thing I’ll address is description. I’m working on mine too. Talk about the world. How it personally feels to Kaalsa. Or what he sees or what he hears and how he reacts to it. Explore your imagination through the eyes of the character. What do you see that would be nice to put in the post? Play with words and figurative language, comparisons and such.

And then the thing that made me stumble a little was this:

With this he huffed in an ironic fashion and rubbed his horns; he often did when thinking.

What’s so ironic about his huffing?

Also, you could have gone in more about his thoughts about Valis. What’s so interesting? What about her species? With this kind of thing, you do have to tell rather than show.

First comments. Don’t be intimidated! Allonsy!))

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“Boring?” Valis questioned the word choice. “Maybe not. Missions are interesting. It only gets boring when you spend days at any temple at any given time.” She glanced up as a particularly loud, chugging vehicle passed in the nearest lane. “His engine doesn’t sound too good, does it?”

Even for it being considered nighttime on Coruscant, their walkway was busy. Sentient creatures of all shapes, sizes, and colors glanced at her and Kaalsa as they walked by. The looks didn’t phase Valis. Most of the time, these people seemed to want to leave the Jedi alone. Just as they wanted to leave the Jedi alone. Some looked at her with suspicion, others with curiosity, some with expectation, and still some with respect.

Those who looked at her with fear or suspicion made Valis’ heart hurt. Who knows what beliefs they had, what they knew about the Jedi, what some Jedi had or hadn’t done for them. If Valis could help it, they would all look at her with expectation. They would look at her as if she could do good and only good. They could expect her to help and be kind and generous and loving. They shouldn’t have to be afraid of her just because she was a Jedi.

“Mmm?” Valisilwen’s attention jolted back to her companion. “Oh… Dantooine? Well…” She smiled at Kaalsa. “It’s a lot different than Coruscant. The cities are not nearly as huge. You can’t see the ground here on Coruscant.” She paused by the side railing and looked over it. “See?” She pointed down, where visibility of the buildings disappeared into the orange fog of pollution. “The air smells cleaner. Here, Coruscant always smells… well, it smells sick. The planet smells sick. The plants and gardens people keep here have to be maintained in their own environment to thrive. The air here is choking on poisonous fumes, exhaust, and smoke.

“Dantooine smells like earth and animals. Not that animals always smell good. I mean, sometimes they smell like poop! But at least poop smells natural. But after it rains on Dantooine, it always smells fresh, not like chemicals. Outside the city, which ends, there’s farms that are all spread out. There are lakes and ponds and canyons and oceans. It’s all natural. The planet shaped it’s sceneries for itself, by mere cause and effect. It’s not manmade. You can also see the stars and the moons with absolute clarity.”

Valis paused on their walk across a bridge and looked upward. Just the same as looking down, she would only see the twinkling of building lights as it disappeared into the bronze haze above them. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the stars, Kaalsa, but I think they’re one of the most wonderful thing to look at. No planet’s stars look the same in its sky. You might be looking at the same stars, but they’ll look different because you’re in a different position of space. Each planet has its own constellations. You can’t see Coruscant’s. Because it’s all covered in… in…” she waved her hand in the air as she searched for a word. “Rubbish pollution.”

She leveled her green gaze on Kaalsa. “I miss the sky. I miss the stars. I miss the moon. I miss the plants. I miss… nature.” Then she shrugged one shoulder and continued on. “At the same time, each planet has its perks. Coruscant doesn’t have nature, but it has plenty of places to eat different kinds of food. Provided we don’t eat food we can’t ingest! Have you ever done that? It is one of the most miserable experiences ever. Of all time.”

[Postman]

((Am I supposed to reply to each post? Or am I just to take the advice and implement it?))


As they walked on the walkways of Curscant Kaalsa watched all of the different species as they stared at both him and Valis. It was strange and more than uncomfortable for him and he knew that his missing horn made them stare even harder, this struck a very dissonant chord in Kaalsa's heart. Their eyes were mixtures of reactions, some positive, but most anxious. He knew that the Jedi's ways were not always welcome, but he had never experienced blatant fear. The Force was tinged with sparks of fear, doubt, and, in some cases, hatred. His ability to sense these emotions hurt him deeply and he was second guessing his acceptance to go on this escapade once again. Bright neon lights flashed all around him and the noise was crashing in on his ears; living at the temple in so much peace and stillness made this street close to deafening. Kaalsa felt overwhelmed by it all and began to feel even more uneasy.

Valis' voice snapped him back into reality. She mentioned a vehicle's engine, which sounded like a beast dying, and it was like a splash of water hitting his face. He often lost himself in thought, but for some reason she was able, without knowing it, to bring him out of it. She began to smile as she spoke of Dantooine and its pristine natural habitat. Valis pointed out the fact that Coruscant had no ground and that it reeked of chemicals and pollution. Her description of Dantooine moved Kaalsa profoundly. As she kept describing all of the natural beauties of the planet he longed to see it and experience it. His whole life he had lived on Coruscant, his actual place of birth was only assumed to be on Iktotch for he had been told that he had been found on Coruscant, abandoned. A world of green, isolated and clean, was a beautiful concept to Kaalsa.

Valis paused for a moment and looked up at the sky that was blanketed by all manner of vehicles going to some destination or another, and the towering buildings creating little fake stars of their own. Pointing, she spoke of the stars and how terribly she missed them; it hurt Kaalsa's heart to hear her speak in, what seemed to him, so solemn a tone. Already, even though he had only known her for a brief time, it seemed unfitting for her to be solemn.

Suddenly, she locked eyes with him and he noticed how green her eyes were; green, like the nature she spoke so passionately about.

"I agree completely. Coruscant is the center of the galaxy, but, even so, it is riddled with crime and pollution. I have always wondered what the planet might have looked like before it was turned into a planet-city. Perhaps there were rolling grasslands and indigenous wildlife that roamed the planet? Who knows what beauty it might have held?" He looked around for a moment and spoke again, "Though, I suppose Coruscant has its own beauty, however filth ridden it may be."

"As for the stars, I have only seen them as I have traveled through space, really. Most of the time I am too busy to take time and appreciate them. That being said, there was a particular time where they captured me, mind and body. My master and I were on a simple escort mission for some senator, and as I sat looking out of the window into the vast blackness of space the stars began to mesmerize me. There were billions and billions of them and all of them seemed to stare at me. I became transfixed on them and lost all track of time as I wondered at them. I sat there the entire time we traveled." Kaalsa stared off into the distant of Coruscant's sky as he spoke in a dazed tone.

Blinking a few times he came back to reality and smiled out of of corner of his mouth. She commented again on mission nature, and then shrugged. It seemed as if she was shrugging the mood off and then she asked him if he'd ever eaten food he couldn't ingest. The thought of Valis struggling to eat made Kaalsa laugh until his sides hurt. Once he had finished taking large breaths to recover he replied, "Well, I did try to eat a gundark claw once. Lets just say that they taste as good as they look."

They continued walking down the street looking for a place to eat. Suddenly, Kaalsa wondered what food Valis actually liked, and what particular species she was.

"Valis, I hope this won't sound rude, but what species are you? It's a little obvious what race I am," and he pointed at his one horn, "But I don't know I've ever seen your kind before." He quickly added, "The only reason I asked is I don't know what you like to eat!"

Now embarrassed, he looked away from her as his face began to feel hot. He thanked the Force that he skin wouldn't obviously display his blushing face.