The Park, Friday Afternoon

[uncertain_dume]

Okay, so it was a little wet out today. Kanan had brought along his lightsaber, of course, which would probably be handed over to Gratuity again so that he could walk her through some more forms. Maybe try her on something a little more complicated, though eventually he was going to have to figure out where the physical ability line was drawn between 'intermediate sword student' and 'Force-sensitive youngling training to be a Jedi.'

Aside from Tip, he really had no experience with that first one.

He'd brought his usual kendo shinai along as well, though he'd wrapped it in a makeshift raincoat fashioned out of a clear garbage bag and some tape. It was propped up against a nearby park bench, waiting to be used.

And Kanan? Well, today he was actually sitting on the ground as he waited, eyes closed, consciousness reaching out through the Force. He didn't do enough of that these days. And there were probably better times to do it than when waiting for one's student in the rain, but he'd meditated alongside Master Billaba under worse conditions, all for the sake of making a connection.

Granted, today the connection he was making was mostly with his dog, who was once again attempting to play with the ducks. Details.

[OOC: Open! Possible bouts of SP while I'm at work, as usual.]

Comments

[intotheout]

It honestly took Tip an extra minute to find Kanan this week, with him sitting down and all. "Wait. I'm not late this week, am I?" She checked her phone; in fact she was early. Then she realized what he was probably doing and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Crap! Sorry! Meditating! Oh my god Tip shut up. . . ."

[uncertain_dume]

The corner of Kanan's mouth twitched a little, pulling into a slight smile. He'd sensed her coming, of course, a little earlier than usual, and had in fact been bracing himself for the inevitable interruption.

"It's fine," he offered, cracking open one eye and grinning up at her. "I can do more of this later. Unless you wanted to join me and give it a try for a while."

You'd get a wet butt, Tip.

[intotheout]

"Um," said Tip. Because meditating did seem like a useful skill, but. . . . "Yeah, my brain doesn't really shut up. I'd last, like, thirty seconds."

[uncertain_dume]

Well, now Kanan was curious. He opened his other eye too, and looked up at Tip curiously.

"Have you ever tried before?"

[intotheout]

"Not . . . formally?" Tip admitted. "But when you're taking a flying car to Jupiter, you end up with a lot of time to sit and not do things. I just get really bored."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan nodded a little, and then shrugged out of his coat, laying it out across the wet ground beside him.

"Come on," he said, "take a seat. I've never taken a flying car to Jupiter, but I know a thing or two about having a brain that just won't shut up. We don't have to jump all the way in or anything, just spend some time being mindful of the world around us."

[intotheout]

The look Tip gave him was deeply skeptical, but she sat down anyway, setting her bag and her practice sword off to one side. "Aren't I supposed to fold my legs a certain way or something?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave his shoulders a shrug.

"However you're comfortable," he replied. "Cross-legged, up on your legs, whatever you prefer. Just make sure your posture is decent when you do."

Because he couldn't just let chaos reign, here.

[intotheout]

"Posture. Right."

It was very seriously possible that Tip had never had much education about posture while sitting, before.

"Um."

Crap, how did people sit, again?

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan blinked, and then ducked his head slightly, trying not to look too obviously like he was grinning. Even though he absolutely was.

"Here," he offered, "just follow my lead."

He shifted his weight around so that he was sitting up on his legs, hands on his knees, and then nodded for her to follow suit.

"If it gets uncomfortable just let me know, and we'll switch it up."

[intotheout]

Tip scrambled up onto her knees, settling easily into position once she knew what that position was. She shifted her weight back and forth a little before finding a spot where the ground wasn't too bumpy under Kanan's jacket, then shot a glance at him to try to get her back and shoulders going the right way.

Right. Posture.

"I feel very official now."

[uncertain_dume]

"There you go," Kanan said with a chuckle, "you're halfway to meditating already."

There had been times in his life when he'd wondered if the Jedi sat that way just because it made them look better. So.

"Okay. Now I want you to take a deep breath. Close your eyes, and exhale."

It wasn't all going to be breathing exercises, no, but that seemed like a good place to start.

[intotheout]

"I can do that," Tip said. "You know, once I actually shut up."

You couldn't take deep breaths while speaking, after all.

She inhaled, closed her eyes, and told both her mouth and her brain to be quiet for once, then slowly let the breath back out.

She wondered what Bill made of all this. He was just hanging out on her head as usual, after all. And what about Stance? This must be so boring for Stance. . . .

Yeah. Her brain really wasn't very good at shutting up.

[2_old_for_this]

Peter was enjoying the slightly warmer, wetter, darker weather.

Peter also had an umbrella.

He chuckled and walked over to hold it over Kanan, too. He thought of pointing out there were such things to hold off the rain, but he looked to be concentrating or meditating, and anyway just having one himself was probably enough of a point.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan actually made a light huff of a laughing sound at that. Of course he'd sensed Peter coming over, even without listening for the sound of the rain on the umbrella.

"Making a point, Peter?"

[2_old_for_this]

"Sort of." Peter grinned back. "Why, are you?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Not a point, really," Kanan replied, opening his eyes and looking up at Peter with a wry smile. "More like a connection. And I don't really see much point in trying to stay dry, anyway. Once I start training it isn't as though I'm not going to get wet."

[2_old_for_this]

"You could train inside," Peter pointed out. Not that he hadn't trained plenty in the rain himself over the years, but not generally by choice.

[uncertain_dume]

"I could," Kanan allowed. "But there's more space in the park. And Stance would miss the ducks anyway."

[2_old_for_this]

"But would the ducks miss him?"

Peter dropped to sit nearby instead of looming. "Been a while since we sparred."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave another little huff of a laugh at the comment about the ducks, and then turned a little smile Peter's way.

"It has," he agreed. "I suppose we've both had things going on. Or maybe we just let that ball drop. Looks like you survived that weird flower holiday."

He wasn't going to apologize for Summer's crazy rose order. That hadn't been his fault.

[2_old_for_this]

"Little bit of both," Peter said. He huffed in laughter. "Yeah, it was pretty crazy for a while. Next bad one isn't for a month or so, though." He grinned. "Pretty sure I saw your name a few times on tags."

He hadn't been paying much attention to who got what, but he'd still noticed a few things.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave an expressive roll of his eyes at that.

"I got one from Skywalker just to tell me that he put no effort into telling me he hates me," he explained. "And one from Kitty just because it isn't my holiday. The insane selection of roses was entirely just Summer messing with me."

... Look who wasn't at all mentioning the times he put his name on the tags himself.

[2_old_for_this]

"That's one way to get them," Peter said. "What else have you been up to lately?"

He missed their movie nights, even if he understood why.

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, my Fridays are spoken for here, training Gratuity with the sword," he explained. "Other than that... mostly just running home and back, causing trouble with Hera."

Insert stupid face, here. It would wear off someday. The feeling that went with it whenever he spoke about her never would.