The Park, Friday Afternoon

[uncertain_dume]

It was practically ritual by now; collect his swords, lightsaber and bamboo training sword both, and make his way into the park early. Go over lightsaber forms while waiting for Gratuity to show up for her lesson. Last week he'd told her to be ready for a spar today, and so it was going to be the first lesson in a few weeks that he didn't just hand her his lightsaber at the start of the class.

Which wasn't stopping him from having it out and ignited while he waited, of course, nor was it stopping him from having his bamboo sword in his other hand, running over old Jar'Kai forms that he hadn't touched in ages. He wasn't a complete lost cause in the technique, and never really had been, but once he'd been taken as Master Billaba's Padawan, his focus had shifted mainly to Soresu, as she used, with the understanding that he'd have a chance to explore other forms after the war, when there was time to experiment with minimal danger involved.

That hadn't worked out.

Still, just because he only had one blade didn't mean it would do to let that knowledge completely slip away. He just had to be careful to not let one weapon ruin the other. While also keeping tabs on his dog, who had come along today as well and who was busy trying to make friends with the ducks. Again. Stance was probably never going to win them over, but it wasn't as though Kanan was going to deny him his attempts at finding companionship that wasn't Chopper.

[OOC: Open!]

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[1000yearstoolate]

Issa had struggled in Seivarden's arms before they reached the park, and when she sat the cat down on the grass, she darted in under a bush.

"Don't you want to play with the dog? We can come back another time when he's not here."

Or his owner. Seivarden could see Kanan at the other edge of the park.

[uncertain_dume]

There wasn't much chance that Stance would ever be here without Kanan along. Unless Hera was walking him, maybe. Or Chopper.

Kanan would actually pay good credits to see Seivarden meet Chopper.

As it stood, Kanan was going to firmly ignore that Seivarden was there at all. Stance, meanwhile, was going to bark one more time at the ducks, and then turn tail and come running at the bush to say hi. Because HI!

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden would be appalled at how badly they controlled their AIs in Kanan's universe. Unless Chopper was just a really bad model.

Issa jumped out of the bush and sat down in front of it tail curled around her leg, waiting for Stance to reach her. Oh, here was her friend. Good. She wanted to play.

Seivarden sat down on a nearby bench, ignoring Kanan.

[uncertain_dume]

Chopper was Chopper. Chopper was what happened when a droid went without a memory wipe, was allowed to form his own personality. And really, Kanan wouldn't have him any other way even if it was his call.

Restraining bolts were something the Empire used.

Stance caught up to Issa and did a happy little prance in place. Friend! His goodest most bestest most newest friend! The ducks would have been the newest, but they weren't looking for a friend, he supposed. But cat friend wasn't like that. She knew how to play.

A little smile pulled at Kanan's lips as he shifted into the next stance of his forms. He wasn't so much as looking at the pair, but he'd opened himself up to the Force enough that he knew what they were up to, just to be on the safe side. It was hard not to smile at Stance's enthusiasm.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden didn't have that advantage, but she smiled too when she saw Issa reached up a paw to poke Stance. It was a good game to start with, wasn't it?

[uncertain_dume]

It was! It was the best game! Stance knew this game already, and even leaned his face down so that she could get him on the end of his nose. Because she liked seeing him sneeze, he supposed? Which he did, of course. He sneezed. And then he raised a paw of his own and attempted to return the favor with a poke of his own.

[1000yearstoolate]

But Issa didn't want to have her nose poked. She jumped, and then bolted, because they had some much space to run here, didn't they?

[uncertain_dume]

There was so much space! It was one of Stance's most very bestest favorite places on the whole island because of that! Here and the beach and the woods and walking down the streets and along the rocky bits and-- Oh! They were running! Stance barked happily, and then gave chase after her.

Kanan grinned as he turned on his heel, moving into his next pose. Okay, regardless of how he felt about Seivarden, bringing Stance here for playtime today had been the right choice.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden looked worriedly after the two of them, because no matter how much they seemed to like each other, her cat was being chased by a barking dog.

Issa dived in under a bush.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was back this week... and immediately distracted by watching the dog. Because there was a dog.

[uncertain_dume]

And he was a very friendly dog, too! Friendly, if colorful. But what were a few rainbow spots around this place, right? Especially when they were attached to a pup who was almost immediately trotting over to greet the new person who seemed interested in him?

Kanan chuckled as he moved into the next step of his forms.

"Stance, buddy, don't jump up. You've got mud on your paws."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had zero experience with dogs, which was the saddest thing ever. So she crouched down to reach out to Stance, then stopped and thought to ask, “Can I pet him?”

[uncertain_dume]

"You sure can," Kanan replied, giving a little nod to back that statement up. "He's a friendly one, and he loves attention. Besides, I think the ducks would be grateful for the break."

Stance loved playing with the ducks.

The ducks were still largely undecided about playing with Stance.

[thatwaslucky]

Then Stance was getting all the pets. Just, all of them. “He’s so cute.”

[uncertain_dume]

"And he'll let that go right to his head if he hears it enough," Kanan chuckled as Stance wiggled right into those pets, tail wagging a mile a minute. "Have you got much experience with dogs, Rey?"

He had a few suspicions about the answer, really, but he'd leave it to her to confirm them.

[thatwaslucky]

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that wasn’t on TV,” Rey admitted. And she didn’t watch a lot of TV.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan nodded in understanding to that.

"I never really spent time around dogs until coming to this world, myself. And Earth dogs are far more like wolves than any dogs I've seen back home."

An akk dog, Stance was not.

[intotheout]

"Now hang on. I'm definitely not sparring you if you get to have two swords."

Tip was running a little bit late today since her mun had a 700 page tax bill report dumped on her head, but was otherwise as cheerfully snide as usual.

[uncertain_dume]

"The lightsaber gets put away," Kanan promised with a bit of a laugh, finishing through on his next few steps, and then shutting it off and clipping it to his belt. "Just like that. I figured I was going to kill some time brushing up on my Jar'Kai while I waited."

Which actually wasn't a knock on her punctuality, so much as that was basically how he spent every Friday at the park. Show up early, train, and then train Tip from there.

[intotheout]

"You realize that's just another term for me to mutilate when I'm making fun of you," Tip said with a smirk. "But, sure, practice your jai alai all you like."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan rolled his eyes, but there was a grin to go with it.

"Maybe when we're done sparring," he replied. "I don't think your sword would play nicely with my lightsaber, anyway."

What with being all flammable and stuff.

"If you learn to say the name right, I might be willing to teach you how to handle two swords someday, though. It wasn't my preferred form when I was a kid, but I remember enough that I could probably teach you how not to cut off your own hand if you wound up with an extra blade."

[intotheout]

Tip could say the word just fine -- she was very good at picking up weird new terms, thanks to hanging out with J.Lo for years. She'd save it up for a rainy day, though. When Kanan had earned something special.

"I'm definitely in favor of not cutting off my own hand," she said getting out her bamboo sword, and giving it a little spin like the one Kanan had done last week. It wasn't as fast or as smooth, but she'd clearly been working on it on her own time. "That happen a lot, where you're from?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Not these days," Kanan replied, shrugging his shoulders like it wasn't really a big deal. It always sort of was, but he'd had years to perfect the act. "Not our own hands, generally. One of the things we were taught was to take an opponent's hand. End the threat, non-fatally."

There was a fancy phrase for that, too. Cho mai.

[intotheout]

"Wait, seriously? That's like . . . the go-to example of excessive justice where I'm from. 'Oh, that place is crazy. They cut off people's hands just for stealing', or whatever."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan raised an eyebrow.

"Generally, if it comes to that, it's because they're in the process of trying to shoot us," he noted. "Or cut off our heads. It's typically for something a little more serious than being caught stealing, and preferably still a last resort."