Fountains {Reemu, sparrow}

[Rugs]

"Come on, Locke now you're just being silly."

"I am not. You owe me a lunch for finding your missing flimsie, Jeirvil. If you'd just admit it, we could all call it a day and be happy and move along."

Locke's companion, a fellow Investigator named Jeirvil, snorted as the duo walked into the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Jerivil snorted and looked at Locke flatly.

"Oh come on, Locke, I found it mys-"

"After I told you where it was," Locke cut in, grinning wryly. "Did I not tell you to look under your bed."

"Well, yes, but-"

"Ah!" Locke raised a hand to silence his friend. "There's an admission! You owe me lunch. You made a rather explicit agreement, you know. Can't go turning back on it now."

"Now you wait just a minute, Locke," said Jeirvil, pausing as Locke stopped and turned to look at him. "I did not agree to get you lunch if any of your ridiculous suggestions happened to work out..."

Locke chuckled. His slate grey eyes twinkled mischievously. "Is that so? I remember you saying it when I pressed you while you were having your crisis."

Jeirvil sighed and shook his head. "Look, so maybe I said it when I was getting annoyed with you, but that doesn't mean I actually meant it."

"Doesn't it?" Locke asked, lifting a brow. "I think it does, dear friend. Jedi's word and all that."

The Epicanthix Investigator sighed and shook his head. "Locke... sometimes I wonder..." His voice drifted off and he started to smile as a thought crossed his mind.

Locke didn't like that smile; it was disconcerting to see such a mischief on the face of anyone that wasn't him. "What are you smiling at?"

"Oh, nothing," Jeirvil said innocently. "Though... if we're going to talk about owed lunches, I seem to remember you agreeing that if you lost our last little sparring match, you'd get me lunch."

"Well...." Locke began slowly, thinking over his response, "that would be true, were it not for the simple fact that you cheated, Jeirvil."

That got a laugh from his friend. "Cheated? I did no such thing, Locke."

"Oh, but you did! You kicked me! When I remember expressly saying that we'd be having a no-kicking match!"

Jeirvil laughed more at that, waving dismissively at Locke. "Force Locke, I swear. Sometimes...." He shook his head again, chuckling some more, and finally sighed. "How about we call it even? Negate the owed lunches between us?"

"Hm...." Locke's brow furrowed deeply and his expression grew thoughtful as he scratched at his scruffy beard. "You push a hard bargain, Jeirvil. Buuut, I can accept that." He held a hand out for Jeirvil, who promptly took it and shook.

"Good. Now I need to be outta here. Somehow I let you drag me away from where I was going again..."

Locke chuckled. "That does seem to happen a lot doesn't it? Take care, Jeirvil. I'll catch up with you later when I'm not with the students."

"Sometimes I wonder how they let you have two..." Jeirvil muttered amusedly, shaking his heead. "Anyway, it was good to talk, Locke. I'll see you again sometime." And with that, he turned and left, cloak swirling behind him.

Now finding himself without company, Locke chuckled and tucked his hands in to the pockets of his long coat. He was in a quiet period in the day, between his own duties and the training of his students. He started walking again, moving into the Room at an easy pace. Maybe I'll be a good Jedi and meditate.

Or maybe he'd find someone else to badger.

[Reemu Kraj]

While there's something to be said for having time to relax, and Reemu often regretted not having much of it, now that he finally had an extended period of time without a mission he found it much more challenging than he remembered. Sure the first few days were a nice change of pace as he was able to meditate and train on his own schedule as well as see old acquaintances that he rarely had the pleasure to encounter while on his travels things had become monotonous recently.

Sighing slightly Reemu raised himself off of his bed and threw on his robe, deciding that a walk through the temple would do him more good than staying in his room. Master Horis always used to go on about finding the meaning in even the most trivial things, using them to better ourselves. It's a shame I don't have his resolve.

Lacking any specific obligations for the day and already having trained quite vigorously the past two days Reemu was bereft of things to do. He had already met with Master Horis and the young padawan Akos Elek and his Master Tao Van Lorn, and all of his other acquaintances were either away on missions or busy with their own business.

Finding himself wandering aimlessly throughout the halls the Jedi Temple, Reemu eventually made his way to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It has been some time since I sat in this room. While the Jedi Temple was often seen by the devotees of the order as a pillar of consistency, the interior workings of the temple changed far more often than people would care to admit.

Reemu didn't recognize a single face as he continued his walk, finding himself smiling at the realization that the lack of familiar faces was likely due just as much to Reemu's own introspective and quiet nature as any change of inhabitants within the temple.

When seeking a reason, first look inwards. Most often we are the source of our own mysteries.

Staring at the ceiling, Reemu shook his head ruefully. It just wasn't in his nature to speak to a random passerby, whether they were a fellow Jedi or not. Often seen as reflecting an aloof nature, it was really just a general shyness, and one that has maintained its presence even as Reemu grew in stature over the years.

"Oh well, there are worse things."

[Rugs]

Locke kept on walking into the Room proper. He still wasn't sure what he'd do, really. Meditating and being quiet would be proper for the setting, he supposed, but he wasn't really sure that he was in the mood for it. Perhaps that was the curse of being such an active and high-spirited individual.

More like the curse of not bein' enough of a Jedi, he thought with a sudden snide amusement. Sure of the masters would agree.

Not that he really cared what the masters thought about him; if they weren't used to Locke Nemsee being Locke Nemsee by now, odds were they never would be.

Locke stopped a few paces further into the room and looked at the fountains themselves for a moment. Then his attention drifted to some of the other inhabitants--a few younglings, a handful of padawans, some with what he assumed were their masters, and a sprinkling of Knights and Masters.

They all seemed to be occupied in some form or fashion, at least as far as Locke could tell. That was all well and good, but occupied people usually didn't make for good conversation. And, bold as he could be, he wasn't going to go barging in and disturb a Knight working with their student, or another Jedi who was actually trying to meditate.

It really wouldn't have been a problem if Locke had actually come here to meditate, but he hadn't. Besides, his favorite meditation spot was elsewhere, on the base of one of the great statues that lined the Processional Way.

"Oh well, there are worse things."

"Yeah, I guess so," Locke answered without really thinking about it. Then he blinked, realizing someone had spoken, and looked to where the voice had come from.

It was another Jedi, standing a few paces away from him. Locke didn't recognize the fellow, though he looked like he was somewhere in the neighborhood of Locke's age.

"Musta been readin' my mind over there," Locke said to the fellow, grinning wryly. Deciding that he might as well introduce himself, Locke turned and walked over to the man. Maybe he'd found a conversation partner. Couldn't hurt to try; it was leagues better than just standing around looking at nothing.

"Name's Locke," he said, pulling a hand from his coat pocket and holding it out for the fellow to shake. "Don't believe we've met before, stranger."

[sparrow]

"You've been incorporating more Makashi techniques into your Niman since the last time we sparred, it seems."

Elsie Therin nodded as she wiped the sweat from the forehead with a towel. Her former master, Dimir Saren, was at the small table at the edge of the training room, pouring out two cups of jasmine tea.

"But you still fall into patterns too easily." He paused. "Catch." He raised one of the teacups, gave it a push. It floated across the room into Elsie hand. Elsie said nothing as she plucked the cup out of the air and took a small sip. Dimir continued talking. "Remember, with Niman, your strength is versatility. If you can't consistently take advantage of that, you might as well be practicing Ataru or Djem So instead."

"I'm working on it."

"I know you are."

Both master and student stood silently for several minutes as they sipped their tea. Finally, Dimir sighed as he placed his cup down. "It's been too long. You should come by more often, though I'm sure you have plenty of other tasks on your hands to be hanging out with your old master all the time."

"I've been busy, but I'll try." She smiled.

They hugged as they parted ways half an hour later. Elsie watched as Dimir walked away and disappeared around a corner. Spending time with her old master was soothing. Her muscles still ached slightly from the spar, but on the whole she felt incredibly relaxed. She thought that perhaps she would pass through the Room of a Thousand Fountains on her way back to her quarters.

[Reemu Kraj]

To say that was Reemu was surprised to hear a reply to his unintentional verbal musing would be a tremendous understatement. He hadn't even completely realized there was anyone near him, and the sound of the man's voice saw Reemu turn his head sideways and examine to whom it belonged.

He appeared to be about Reemu's age, give or take a few years obviously, and had a rather large grin on his face. Within seconds the man had introduced himself as Locke and stuck out his hand in greeting. More than slightly caught off guard, Reemu looked at the man for a few seconds in surprise before realizing he was being rude and promptly shook Locke's hand and said "Pleased to meet you. I am Reemu Kraj."

Pausing slightly, Reemu contemplated what to say next. Usually that would be all, but perhaps now was a good opportunity to leave his comfort zone and actually talk to a stranger. Alas, if only it were that easy. Can't hurt to try though, I suppose.

"How was I reading your mind?" To say Reemu was bad at smalltalk would do a disservice to all who are actually bad at smalltalk; Reemu was utterly awful at it. He just didn't know what to say in situations where something serious wasn't being discussed and he was never much of a socialite, even in his younger years.

Still, there was nothing else to do but wait for this man named Locke to reply and see how the conversation progressed. And to reinforce the building walls in preparation for the inevitable collapse.

[Rugs]

The other Jedi stared at him.

Locke just stood there, hand still held out like a fool, waiting for the guy to do something. Maybe he'd picked the wrong fellow to talk to. Well it was too late for that. The moment had been seized, and Locke wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon.

Or at least not until he got his handshake and a proper introduction.

"Pleased to meet you. I am Reemu Kraj."

The other Jedi, Reemu, reached out and took Locke's hand, giving it a proper shake. Locke's smile grew a bit and he nodded as they shook hands. "Pleasure, Reemu. I was starting to think I'd spoken at a bad time..."

He chuckled and let the other Jedi's hand go, stuffing his own back into his coat pocket. Another lull in arose, but it was thankfully briefer this time.

"How was I reading your mind?"

Locke arched a brow ever so slightly at the tall fellow, unsure if he was making a joke himself or if he was actually being serious. It was the tone of voice really; made it hard to tell. Locke decided to humor him.

"Oh, you know," he said casually, "I'd just been wondering about where to meditate or if I was even in the mood to meditate. And then you came along, saying there could be worse things." Locke nodded sagely. "Your timing was impeccable. See, now I can talk to someone and not worry about meditating at all. Lovely solution you brought me."