The Park, Friday Afternoon

[uncertain_dume]

So, Kanan's sword student was in China. And the student who had taken to showing up on Fridays to watch him awkwardly be a Jedi around the park was also in China. And the student who had never been his student but who had given him a nickname based entirely around the fact that he'd driven a bus that one time was in China.

Basically anyone he knew who had any manner of connection to the school was in China.

But that was no excuse for Kanan to not come to the park to run through forms, anyway. He had his lightsaber out, and his practice sword off to the side in case someone managed to show up anyway, mostly because it didn't hurt to be prepared. Stance had tagged along again, but had been given strict instructions to entertain himself as far away from the ducks as possible without leaving the park. And Kanan was running through forms.

Maybe now wouldn't be a bad time to try to run through his Jar'Kai again. One lightsaber and one bamboo sword. Yeah.

He really needed some real action, damn it. Whether it was another job with Hera or bloodying up his knuckles in a bar somewhere didn't much matter to him.

[OOC: Open park!]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

Raven had actually stayed in town the last couple of nights. Having everyone who had any manner of connection to the school out of town made the town a much nicer place, in her opinion. She was having a leisurely glide over the park when she spotted the guy swinging around a glowing sword and decided to swoop down and investigate.

She perched on the back of a nearby bench, still in falcon form, content to just sit and watch for awhile, and having no idea that she was only adding to Kanan's confusion about the prevalence of sapient avian life on Earth.

[uncertain_dume]

See, and this was what Kanan got for taking Eliot's word for it. He ran through his forms once more, gave a little grin as he decided he was actually improving in his Jar'Kai, and then glanced toward the bird on the bench curiously.

"Enjoying the show, there?"

She didn't feel like a bird. Not really. And if she was one, it wasn't as though a falcon would judge him for striking up a conversation.

[tigerundercover]

Beaks weren't great for speaking English, so Raven finally shifted, though she stayed crouched on the bench. "It's not bad. Would be cooler if both your swords glowed, though."

[uncertain_dume]

Huh. Well, that was a neat trick. Kanan had seen shapeshifters before, though none of them were quite so... blue.

He shrugged it off easily, either way.

"Wouldn't it, though? I have to make do with what I've got to work with, though. The glowing ones aren't easy to come by these days."

[tigerundercover]

Really? But his world was chockful of literally-colorful characters! Raven was mostly just pleased to get so much of a non-reaction from someone who didn't already know her.

"They're not really the most stealthy either," she guessed. "Light that sucker up in the woods on a dark night and everything knows you're coming."

[uncertain_dume]

Sure! But she clearly wasn't a Chiss, and she had too much hair for a Twi'lek. Maybe Pantoran? But with shapeshifting abilities...

Eh, multiverse stuff.

"Between the light and the sound?" Kanan waved the saber around to emphasize that telltale humming noise. "They really aren't a stealth weapon, no. Not unless you wait until the last moment to ignite it, anyway."

[tigerundercover]

"So it's not all just for show, then," Raven mused. "I wondered if it might be kind of like those fire spinner things people play with sometimes."

[uncertain_dume]

"Definitely not for playing with," Kanan replied, then held up a finger for a second before reaching down and picking a stick up off the ground. He tossed it up into the air, and when it came down again he used his lightsaber to cleave it clean in two.

There was burning involved.

"It's a plasma blade. Not something you want to be on the wrong end of."

[tigerundercover]

Raven's eyes went a little wide at that demonstration, and she leaned forward in her perch to peer at the burnt stick.

"You could kill so many zombies with one of those."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan shrugged and shut off his blade.

"When I used it the most, it was droids," he shared. "It can reduce metal to molten slag just as easily as it destroyed that stick. Zombies probably wouldn't fare very well either, no."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden definitely wasn't here for sword practice with Kanan.

Issa jumped out of her arms as soon as they reached the park and headed towards Stance with determination, just as uninterested in sword practice as Seivarden. She was here to play!

[uncertain_dume]

That was fine. Kanan was perfectly happy to ignore the hell out of Seivarden, too.

Stance, on the other hand, was making a beeline for Issa, tail wagging behind him.

... Though he did kind of stop halfway across the park and prance a little in place, afraid to get too close to the water, today.

[1000yearstoolate]

No playing with the ducks today? There were other things to do though.

Issa reached up a paw to poke his nose, because that was usually a fun greeting.

Seivarden sat down on a bench and poured herself a cup of the tea she had brought. While she might not enjoy spending any more time around Kanan than she had to, seeing Issa happy like this made her smile.

[uncertain_dume]

Ooo, the nose thing! Stance did enjoy that! He sneezed - she had him well trained to do so by this point - and then let his tongue loll out of his mouth before he pranced in a little circle around her.

Hi, friend! Hi!

[1000yearstoolate]

The sneezing was such a fun result. Now, though, Issa darted through a bush and out on the other side. Chasing was fun too, wasn't it?

[uncertain_dume]

It was it was! Stance gave a bark and bounded off after her, but not before checking for stray ducks.

... He never wanted to see a duck again.

[1000yearstoolate]

But ducks were fun! And Stance had dived into the water to chase them for her. Issa had fond memories of that, and had almost forgotten how he had shaken the water off next to her afterwards.

She rushed towards the pond, certain that Stance would follow.

[uncertain_dume]

Stance did follow! He followed for... about five steps, and then kind of pulled up short and whined, watching after Issa with his tail between his legs.

He loved the pond! He really liked Issa! But the birds were evil. They were evil birds, and they had big pink backup, and his person had given him a stern warning to stay away from them from now on.

[1000yearstoolate]

Issa stopped too, and looked at Stance, not sure what this was about. This was a fun game! Why was he doing this?

She walked back and poked his nose again, hoping that would make him get back to normal.

It wasn't a reset button, Issa.

[died8yearsago]

Now that Arlo 2 was comfortable in her new home, she was getting a little restless, and while Rosa would rather get a root canal than socialize, she knew that it was very different for a new puppy. So she sucked it down, grabbed the leash, and went out for a walk, drifting to the park. She kept a pretty tight hold on the leash, for now, because letting her run around like crazy wouldn't well if she was going to train her to attack criminals and tear into their jugulars and what not.

...If she'd wanted that kind of a dog, she probably shouldn't have gone with a notorious loveable breed, but nurture over nature, maybe?

She was going a good job, though, standing at attention with a wildly wagging tail as Rosa stopped for a moment and narrowed her eyes, because she was pretty sure the trainer dude with the dumb duck dog's sword was glowing and it definitely didn't seem like just a trick of the light. Did she just not notice it last time? She was probably too distracted by the whole duck thing and the kids if it was.

[uncertain_dume]

Yup, glowing sword. Well, one of them was. The other we just bamboo.

Kanan went through another full round of his forms - no sense stopping if somebody wasn't actively talking to him - and then lowered his lightsaber and shut it off, turning to look Rosa's way.

"Got one of your own this week, huh?"

Stance was behaving himself today, standing at attention and staring intently at the other dog.

[died8yearsago]

"What?" Rosa asked, distracted and confused, her mind so much on the unusual weapon that made the cool sounds that she thought the guy was asking about that. "No." If she had her own, why would she standing there gawking at his like an idiot? "I--"

And then her brain caught up.

"Oh, right," she said dismissively. "The dog. Yeah, she's new."

But more importantly...

"Where did you get that sword? How can I get one? That thing is cool as hell."

Which, really, was practically Rosa fawning with praise over here. While Arlo 2 nearly tumbled over with excitement at the sight of another dog. She'd missed being around other puppies! She danced a little on her paws, tail wagging so much it kept threatening to knock her down (balance was not her strong suit), and she did little pounces and soft arr--oo sounds because she knew she was supposed to stay and be good, and she was nervous because this was all new and she didn't know this puppy. Eventually, she settled down in the grass, tail still wagging, looking hopefully at the other dog...and then slowly inching forward on the grass because she couldn't stay still and maybe no one, least of all the other dog staring right at her, would notice.

[uncertain_dume]

"This?" Kanan held up his lightsaber's hilt, just the hilt, not igniting the blade just yet. "Made it myself. There was a whole excursion to get the supplies for it and everything. There's not really much of a chance of that happening again, unfortunately."

And even less of a chance if you weren't a Jedi, no matter how cool you thought it was.

Maybe if you were Sith. But Kanan wasn't going there.

Stance, meanwhile, was prancing in place now, because that much tail wagging and excitement was hard to say no to. He looked up at Kanan for guidance, and Kanan just kind of waved a hand in his direction, a sort of unspoken, 'Go ahead, but don't get too excited about it.'

Which meant, of course, that Stance was trotting over to investigate. Because puppy!

[died8yearsago]

"You made it?" Rosa sounded skeptical. But mildly intrigued. "How?"

Once there was trotting, Arlo 2 figured the whole gig was up, her cover was blown anyway, but she might have enough time to still throw in a little surprise. She stopped scooting along the grass, but her tail was still wagging. Her tail and her butt, in an effort to gain the momentum needed to launch herself up in the tiniest, cutest (and Rosa would say, a little pathetic; they had so much training to do) little pounce for the other dog she could manage. Clearly the best way to say hi!

[uncertain_dume]

"With metal, wiring, and the right crystal," Kanan replied. "I can take it apart if you're interested, but you probably won't be able to reverse-engineer this one just by looking."

The crystals weren't exactly common.

Stance, meanwhile, was having a great time! A pounce!? A pounce! From a new friend! Oh, he was going to show her all the important stuff that dogs here needed to know, like the best trees, and the best fences, and the best lampposts...

He barked, then tried to pounce right back. Playing! His favorite!