Guys Just Wanna Have Lunch (OPEN)

[Karl the Unfettered]

A not atypical day, and Tajima was stuffing his face in the cafeteria of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Eating was something he did a lot of, although one would hardly guess this from his gaunt frame. The scars on his face stood out especially that day, and the necklace of old teeth and claws around his neck clinked faintly as he chewed and swallowed.

He paused to scratch irritably at his face; he hadn't shaved in a week, and it was starting to itch. "Oughta shave, 'ead in fer an 'aircut," he muttered to himself as he resumed eating. What was he eating, anyway? He didn't care; it was hot, and nourishing, and for a while anyway it would fill the hole in his guts. That was all he asked from food, and the majority of the time, it was all he got.

For the most part he was left alone when he ate, which suited him just fine. Talking distracted from food, and food was important. It wasn't like he had bad manners or anything; he chewed carefully before swallowing, used his utensils properly, never spoke with his mouth full. Not that it would matter, given his accent.

Abruptly he realized his tray was empty; with a scowl he stood up and went to fill it again.

[DreadPirateMike]

It was funny, how a place could seem so different when for all intents and purposes, you were the only thing about it which had really changed.

Well, that wasn’t QUITE the case here. A lot of the faces were different from the ones Rikkavi remembered, most of his youngling clan having gone on to different things in one way or another. But it was still the same Jedi Temple. Same walls, same teachers, same surface tranquility enforced by such a heavy hand that he’d rarely found it genuinely peaceful...though he understood mileage tended to vary on that point. And why should any of that have changed? His time as Verity’s Padawan had come to an end here less than a year ago.

But whether it had ended a week or a decade ago, the point was that it had ended. That made him a knight, and outside of the few specifically restricted areas, nobody really questioned the comings and goings of a knight here. They certainly didn’t ask if he had anyone’s permission to be there, or if he was dodging an assignment. Only the few teachers on whom he’d once made an impression had bothered asking him about such things at all, and even then it was with a usually affectionate resignation and the knowledge that they no longer had any actual authority over him.

And in the absence of the police, he sure as hell had no interest in policing himself when he visited here. As a tiny Youngling, he’d been uncertain about some aspects of the Jedi teachings. At this point in his life, he figured those teachings had nearly gotten him killed on more than one occasion. A fair few of those red lightsaber swinging psychopaths had started out in the Order, after all. So yes, he absolutely felt entitled to take whatever liberties he could get away with now. If he wanted to sleep in the library, then he would sleep in the library. Or if he preferred some shade in the gardens, then he’d earned that too. And if he wanted to eat more that was strictly socially acceptable in the cafeteria, then you guessed it.

Which was how he found himself in his current dilemma: himself and some scarecrow looking jackass simultaneously reaching for the very last arguez sausage. A dilemma he would of course attempt to resolve in the finest traditions of the Jedi Order.

“Eat that, and I eat you in hopes you’ve soaked up some of the flavor. With the greatest respect. Force be with you and stuff.”

[Karl the Unfettered]

Even though he had already eaten food for three men, Tajima's stomach still growled. Could he ever be full? At times yes. But today it seemed fullness would not come easily. He was fortunate in that Knights were not so carefully policed as children and Padawans, or he likely couldn't get away with such indulgence. Even so, he sometimes heard the cooks groaning when his shadow darkened their doorway; it had ceased bothering him long ago.

Unfortunately, someone else seemed to be overly fond of their food too. Overly fond of the jackass projection too. Tajima blinked down at the fuzzy younger Knight. He wasn't that fond of arguez sausage and would have let the boy have it readily enough, but he had to go and make a Thing out of it. And Tajima was not the type of Jedi to let a Thing go unchallenged.

"Boy," he replied in a low voice, stepping in close, bending down so his scarred face was inches from Rikkavi's, "ya dunno 'o ya messin' wit. Step off 'r be stepped on, seen?" The growl in his voice was matched by the growling in his stomach, oddly enough.

He slapped the other Jedi's hand away, snagged the sausage and brought to his mouth in a gesture almost too quick to follow, where he bit it in half and chewed on his, and dropped the other half on Rikkavi's plate.

Of course, by then the cooks had another platter of sausages out, so it was all moot by then. Tajima didn't care, he'd already brushed past Rikkavi, dismissing the incident in favor of food and more food. Kids these days, he thought to himself with a mental shrug.

[DreadPirateMike]

“...huh?”

Was that Basic? It sounded like Basic...if Basic had been translated back from Shyriwook by a trash compactor droid. The shaggy stranger’s actions were easier to understand of course, as tended to be the case. Admittedly, really processing it took a second. The movement of Tajima’s hand wasn’t QUITE too fast to follow, not for eyes evolved to track quick darting prey. Nevertheless, he was shockingly fast, and Rikkavi barely had time for a surprised and indignant “Hey!” at the slap before half the sausage had disappeared into the brute’s gaping maw.

That just left the question of what to do about it. His default response would be nothing, and he couldn’t think of a single sensible reason to shake things up now. Nobody liked being bullied, physically or otherwise, but years of it from Jho had taught him patience in such things. Only once in his life had he ACTUALLY been pushed to the point of inflicting injury with the weapons nature had given him, and it had left him violently ashamed. If the scarecrow was actually high strung enough to take his stupid and obviously empty threat seriously, then distance was his friend.

Scrag it. With a shrug, he tossed the remaining half of the sausage into his mouth and chewed away happily, though not nearly so happily as when the new tray was brought out. Soon enough, the incident was all but forgotten...until he got back to his table and fired up his holonet link.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Ah, nothing made a meal complete like a rousing round of shitposting on the public holonet. He needed to do it more often! He smirked at Rikkavi, although the scars on his face made the gesture somewhat grotesque. As if it wasn't obvious who they were, although the random lurkers were random and he doubted they were even on the same planet. Whatever.

He plowed steadily through the latest plate of food, pausing now and then to post more trash on the 'net. Once he was done he logged off and took his plate to the trash, pushing his remnants off into the bin and setting the plate and utensils down where the attendants could reclaim them later for cleaning. Then he threw a rude hand gesture at Rikkavi and stepped on outside, heading for the practice rings as he'd promised.

Whether the fuzzball followed or not, he'd still get a good workout in. He took the long way around to allow his body time to digest, and when he arrived he found the rings largely empty; a master and her Padawan were sparring at the far end, so he sat down on the edge of the ring closest to him and began meditating.

He'd give Rikkavi a few minutes to show up. If he did, they'd have a bit of fun; if not, he could always queue up a couple sparring droids or a hologram simulation.

[DreadPirateMike]

Thirty minutes later, a good half of it spent lying flat on his back as he let lunch settle, and Rikkavi couldn't believe he was actually here. Even in his Padawan days, he'd very rarely made any forays into the training area unless he was being - occasionally literally - dragged there by his Master. Admittedly, he felt like that was a lot. He certainly hadn't had any interest in a visit for old times now. But this was where Captain Shag had challenged him to come meet him, and he knew he had to answer that somehow.

He'd almost gone another route entirely. He'd been uncharacteristically motivated to seek out some young and wide-eyed Padawan, give them five credits, and have them deliver a holo message. One in which he held his ignited training saber in hand, blade pointed skyward, and inform Tajima that if he wanted practice, he could go ahead and practice some sick spins. But there came a point where one reluctantly had to admit they weren't a Padawan anymore, nor the washout they always expected to be by this point. He was a Knight now, and there was only so much immaturity he could get away with.

Also, he couldn't find any of of the little ankle biters not tethered to their Masters by disapproving stares. Once more, scrag it.

"Alright, alright," he announced himself with a sigh, calmed in no small measure by the presence of others in the area. Far off, but still within range of sight and hearing. This guy may have struck Rikkavi as kind of an unhinged wackjob, but he doubted he'd do anything crazy under those circumstances. "I'm here. Whaddya want?"

[Karl the Unfettered]

Rikkavi didn't show up right away, which was fine. Tajima took the opportunity to warm up a little, stretching and limbering up, making sure his muscles were all supple and loose. Once that was done he activated a couple droids and set up the hologram projectors, giving himself a couple random Sith and some gunmen to deal with. He cranked the difficulty up and set himself in the center, Tremor Sword in one hand and blaster in the other, waiting for the simulation to start.

The droids activated, and the projectors enveloped him in darkness; lightsabers hissed to life and he found himself facing two cloaked Sith, one swinging to one side and the other charging to meet him head-on! From the darkness, bolts of green light erupted, from random directions!

Tajima leaped over the initial volley of shots, deflecting the attacker in front of him and shooting at the other "Sith", who deflected the wild blasts and sent one or two right back at him, while the first "Sith" smoothly parried and countered in Djem So ferocity.

The skinny Jedi grinned and laughed, imagining the taunts and jeers that would be thrown at him if this were real. That was one flaw in the holograms, he thought; they didn't fully replicate the sounds and distractions of real battle. Other Jedi probably saw that as a feature, though, and would claim that they were but practice before dealing with the Real Thing.

In any event, Tajima made steady progress against the droids and holograms, until Rikkavi arrived. The holograms were meant to accommodate audiences, and so the Selonian could see everything that was happening even while, from Tajima's view, the fight was wrapped in nightfall. "'ang on, pally! 'm almos' done 'ere!" he called out, his already blurry form moving even faster as he made to finish the simulation and bring it to an end so he could address his fellow Knight. From Rikkavi's point of view it might be interesting to watch; the scrawny Jedi was already moving quite quickly, but a surge in the Force heralded an abrupt and startling acceleration as he moved with extreme speed, almost becoming a blur. The droids tried to compensate and failed, and were quickly beaten down in a flurry of Juyo-inspired moves, followed by the blaster-wielding thugs in the background of the hologram.

The holograms powered down, and the broken droids were dragged from view by hidden mechanisms, to be rebuilt and redeployed later. And there was Tajima, panting a bit and wiping his brow but exhilarated and happy. "'ey pal, sorry 'bout snappin' at ya back in th' lunch room," he said as he put his weapons away, stepped out of the ring and approached Rikkavi. "I'm Tajima, Tajima Yasaotoko, 'n I'm a Knight," and he bowed to Rikkavi.

He straightened again, still grinning. "So! I'se wonderin' if'n ya wanted a bit a' satisfaction, eh?" and he waved at the now-empty sparring ring. "You 'n me, 'ard at it like th' duelists a' days gone by? Mebbe we'd learn a thing 'r two from each other." There was a lightsaber clipped to his belt, made of some long, sharp-looking tooth, but clearly he was comfortable with his sword and his blaster.

[DreadPirateMike]

“Uh...yeah, I prefer to do my dueling across a Dejarik board.”

That was certainly true in a general sense. He didn’t bother to add that what he’d seen since entering into the training area did less than nothing to change his mind in this particular instance. It wasn’t like he didn’t know this guy was fast; their brief exchange in the mess had made that much crystal clear. But to see the Force thrown behind it...yikes. He didn’t think he’d seen anyone move that fast since Verity. If that was the scarecrow’s idea of a light post-lunch workout...yeah, no thanks. Good as the Healers were, he was still a whole lot harder to put back together than a busted up training droid.

“Look, I’m Rikkavi. And I just came here to apologize for being an ass, alright? I’m in the AgriCorps, and concern about acting like proper Jedi really isn’t a thing there, since...you know, most of them aren’t. Go long enough with nobody batting an eye at an off color joke, and you kinda forget things work differently here. Don’t get me wrong; you totally overreacted. But I DID technically start it, so...my bad. Won’t happen again.”

With that, Rikkavi took a quick glance over at the piste, and winced upon recalling any number of painful and embarrassing memories.

“But as far as satisfaction? Thanks for the invitation, but I seriously doubt I could teach you anything. And I’ve gotten the crap kicked out of me in this very room more than enough times to know it doesn’t exactly get my thrusters firing.”

[Karl the Unfettered]

"Then le's do somethin' else," Tajima replied with an easy shrug. "Go at 'em bare-'anded, eh? Betcha yer more a brawler 'n I am." That was not hard to accomplish, the scarecrow Jedi knew only the basics of Broken Gate after all.

"'r better yet, we'll 'ead for th' h'obstacle courses 'n I show yer a thing 'r two 'bout evasion 'n free-runnin'." Too many Jedi thought all they had to do was Force Jump around and go over everything, in his opinion. Well what if you were in a situation where such blatant Forcing would be detrimental? Or what if there was no going over it, whatever it was, only through it?

For those reasons and more, Tajima liked to think he was an accomplished free-runner. Most of the time, anyway.

[DreadPirateMike]

“I’m not completely useless at hand to hand, I guess.“

Technically, that was selling himself a bit short. Theoretically, he was actually pretty dangerous in an unarmed fight, But then, that was largely due to theoretical cheating. Compared to humanoids, a Selonian was never really unarmed. Holding back from using that natural advantage, as he always did with that glaring and aforementioned exception, bound by sparring rules, he was...pretty decent? Good enough to safely subdue your typical drunken thug without much trouble, anyway.

More at the forefront of his mind was how he wanted to respond to this line of thought in general. So far, these ideas all sounded like the endless gym class he’d fruitlessly tried to dodge growing up here, but this Tajima was evidently one of those hardcore types who lived for that stuff and hadn’t gotten it out of his system in five years of war. Rikkavi tended to find the very sight of such people having their “fun” exhausting, but nor was there any value in further offending such a man, especially if this was his idea of mending fences.

And besides, he HAD been slacking on training of late. Maybe this guy COULD show him something useful. It seemed more likely to him that this would boil down to watching the older man show off, but if that allowed him to come out of this happy...meh, no real fur off his tail. He’d looked for the path of least resistance all his life, and right now it felt like that meant meeting this Knight halfway.

“But sure, since you seem hot on the idea. Show me what you’ve got, fancy feet.”

[Karl the Unfettered]

'Fancy feet.' Well, if the shoe fit...

"C'mon then," and he turned to lead the way, waving for Rikkavi to follow along. Although the younger man probably already knew the way? Whatever, it was Tajima's idea and that was all that mattered. Fortunately the obstacle courses weren't too far from the sparring rings, so it was a quick walk.

They were, of course, met by a long hall divided by high walls into separate chambers, in which a variety of scenarios could be set up by hydraulic lifts and platforms of every shape and size. It could even simulate bottomless pits via a nasty but ultimately harmless electric jolt.

Tajima stepped up to the console in front of one of the chambers, thinking for a second before bringing up an intermediate, Knight-level challenge. "Show me wha' yer made of first, pally, 'r else this'll be me showin' off all af'ernoon 'n 'at won' get us nowheres."