Two. (Open to All)

[beforethedarktimes]

It had taken time, but Obi-Wan had become familiar enough with the holodeck to create a program for the room. Of course, as a first attempt, it was a far cry from some of the programs he’d seen. There were no characters, no costumes or props, but it suited his needs nonetheless.

It was a perfect recreation of one of the numerous training rooms within the Jedi Temple, or at least as perfect as he could make it from memory. The walls were smooth metal, curved and fitted as though they were part of some seamless, organic whole. Familiar tapestries adorned the walls, displaying the tenets of the Jedi Code, and the hard, tile floor bore the symbol of the Order in a ruddy, red stone.

There were a few details he couldn’t fill in of course. The room was the right size, but it didn’t feel quite as … open, as the genuine article. That, and the symbol on the floor was the wrong shade. Too light, or too dark, though for the life of him he couldn’t remember which. But it was close enough. Close enough that, for a moment, it felt like he was home.

It was a welcome change of pace.

While everyone else was busy preparing for the holidays, Obi-Wan could be found in his tranquil recreation of home. The sapphire-blue blade of his lightsaber was lit for the first time since he'd arrived. Despite his lack of practice, he showed no signs of rust as he flowed with practiced ease from one stance to the next.

Comments

[neverlosemyfocus]

There was something… comfortably familiar about sparring with Obi-Wan. She KNEW him, knew him as well as she knew herself, sometimes; they’d done this plenty of times before, and fought side by side more. And despite the change in location it was the actions themselves that held the familiarity, not the location. Although stepping into the holodeck program that Obi-Wan had created was familiar in another way. It felt, for a moment, like coming home. As close to coming home as they were able to get, for the time being.

She leaned against the wall, arms folded, watching Obi-Wan run forms with an amused, crooked smile on her face.

[beforethedarktimes]

He was glad for that. It was his goal when he set out to make this program after all. A little island of familiarity in a world that was still very alien to him.

There was something especially nostalgic about Siri's presence. It'd been years since they'd been together in one of these training rooms, over a decade. The last time had been back when they were both Padawans. It was something that he accepted would never happen again, yet here they both are.

He'd had some difficulties accepting it at first. He kept expecting her to fade away like a dream, but the longer she stayed, the more he was convinced that she would. He may have felt her pass into the force over a year ago, but she was back, and that familiar, crooked smile was a welcome sight.

He only now realized just how much.

"Are you planning on joining me, or just standing there?" He asks, finishing the last of his forms with a flourish.

[neverlosemyfocus]

He wasn’t the only one who had had difficulties accepting it at first. She still was, sometimes. But it was becoming clear that she wasn’t going anywhere. Not yet. And rooming with him had been... helpful, on that front. Even though the Force took more effort to reach (although not nearly as much as it had after first arriving; she’s been working on strengthening her connection to it, here), his presence was reassuring.

Familiar.

She laughs, unclipping her lightsaber from the belt of her dark blue unisuit and striding forward. “Hm, I wonder.”

[beforethedarktimes]

He grins from under his beard and steps back towards the center of the room to give her space.

"I figured it was a safe bet." He admitted with a shrug. "I just don't know that I've ever seen you stay on the sidelines for so long." Even after they'd grown too old for their attempts to one-up each other, he'd always enjoyed their friendly rivalry.

Besides, he knew that he couldn't be the only one getting restless. He was thankful for the quiet of the Enterprise after two years moving from battlefield to battlefield, but he'd grown used to that faster pace. As grateful as he was to be away from the war, he simply had energy he didn't know what to do with.

[neverlosemyfocus]

She’s missed that grin of his; saw too little of it during the war, even though she’d only seen the beginning of it before being brought to the Enterprise.

“How could I? I always had to come riding to your rescue,” she teased. It’s the truth; she’s pulled him out of the kriffing fire more than once, been there beside him in the heat of things. “It’s been a while since I’ve beaten you soundly.” From the way her blue eyes are sparkling, she’s enjoying this; and she enjoyed their friendly rivalry just as much as he did.

Restless was putting it mildly. Patience had never been one of her strong suits, and while she’s gotten better about it with age, being stuck on a ship with nothing to do led to restlessness and excess energy with very little outlet. Which never helped her patience.

[general_chang]

"Why is your sword a laser?" is the question Chang finally asked when he'd taken in the room and the man in it. Energy weapons he gets. Swords he gets. The point of combining both seemed... well, it perhaps unfair to consider it 'childish' but the image of a child putting everything in one bowl and mixing it up comes to Chang's mind anyway.

[beforethedarktimes]

Obi-Wan glances towards the newcomer, a Klingon, if his efforts to learn the races of this new galaxy have yielded any results. He managed to suppress an amused smile. It's a fair question, he supposes, though not one he's ever had to answer before.

"Where I come from, for many, a lightsaber is the symbol of my order. It's the weapon of a Jedi." He rolls his wrist, slowly swinging the lightsaber in a wide, lazy arc. "If you're wondering about practicality, it can cut through nearly anything and deflect fire from energy weapons."

[general_chang]

"Most of my battles have been ship to ship," he replies. "Such a weapon will do more damage to the ship than the people against it."

[beforethedarktimes]

"Whereas most of my encounters have been on the ground." Something he isn't eager to change. While he wouldn't say that he hates flying, he certainly prefers to have his feet firmly on the ground.

[disneydescendant]

Sneaking into someone else's holodeck was probably rude but as Henry hadn't been on the ship for long, he didn't really know the social protocol's of the place. Followed by a small dalmatian puppy, the boy entered the program and stared around as he recognised the place.

It wasn't until he spotted the man with the obvious lightsaber than he grinned and advanced slowly so he didn't get hurt by the weapon. He even picked up his puppy so that his best friend didn't accidentally decide it was a chew toy.

"Hi there." He said, announcing his presence verbally even though he was sure the man knew he had arrived anyway.

[beforethedarktimes]

Indeed he had. His motions were careful and deliberate, adjusted so that he wouldn't hurt the new arrivals. A moment later, he finished the series he was in the middle of, and stopped, deactivating his lightsaber.

"Hello there." Obi-Wan says with an amiable smile. "What brings you here?"

[disneydescendant]

Henry smiled and approached closer now that the weapon was no longer dangerous. "Just looking around. I arrived a few days ago."

Mister Spots squirmed out of his master's arms and ran over the other man to sniff him out. He had to double check he was safe. Protecting his master was important in this strange new place.

"I'm Henry by the way. And this is Mister Spots." Despite thinking he knew the man, he'd let the Jedi introduce himself. It was more polite.

[beforethedarktimes]

"Ah," Obi-Wan nodded understandingly. He knelt down as the dog moved towards him, holding a hand out for the animal to sniff and get a sense of him. "A long way from home, I take it?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi." He introduces himself. The manners didn't go unnoticed. It was certainly more polite than Obi-Wan had been at Henry's age. "Nice to meet the both of you."

[didnotwant]

Marion couldn't deal with the holiday cheer. Literally just could not. Last year had been an emotional sucker punch to the gut. She was sure that was why even if she harbored feelings for a very idealistic captain she just couldn't really fully let him in.

Letting someone close to her was a bit dangerous anyways.

She had borrowed a practice sword from the gym and was going to hit up her training program. A few hours of just letting go and being herself away from everyone seemed like next to perfect therapy for the werewolf.

"Aw geezs." She just quietly plants her face in one hand.

"I'm really sorry pard," the Texan drawls. "I should've checked. Didn't mean to barge in on anyone."

[beforethedarktimes]

Obi-Wan paused as he heard the pneumatic hiss of the door opening, and glanced in it's direction.

Her reaction gets a slight smile from the Jedi, but he quickly holds up a hand, waving it as if to wave away the notion that this is any sort of problem. "It's quite alright." He gestures relatively wide open space around him. "There's more than enough room for two."

[didnotwant]

Marion tries to not smile. She is glad that the new comer to the ship doesn't seem to mind company.

"Thanks,"she starts with a slight nod. "Normally I use one of the training programs that I've found."

Still she can go without one. Marion has made due with less than this on the past. She sets the sword aside for a moment to do some much needed stretches first.

[beforethedarktimes]

"I'd considered it myself." Obi-Wan nodded, stepping back to give her a little more space for whatever training she intended to do. "I suppose I've been a little homesick."

He spared a moment to glace at her sword on the ground, then picked up where he'd left off, smoothly gliding from stance to stance.

"I wasn't expecting to find other swordsmen here." He said, sounding like he took it as a pleasant surprise. "Were you part of the class, or is this an older interest?"

[abyssum_invocat]

"That's pretty."

It may be easier--not to mention better if you're unused to the idea of teleportation--to not ask where the child now studying the lightsaber came from; much like Obi-Wan Sinthia is not preparing for the holidays, and has some free time. She's safely out of reach of the thing he's got in his hand, though even if she weren't she was improving at keeping her whole self intangible long enough to get out of the way.

"The blue, I mean."

[beforethedarktimes]

Obi-Wan blinked at the sound of her voice. He hadn't sensed her approach. He knew his connection to the Force had been dulled, but he had still though that he was more aware than that.

All the same he paused, and glanced down at the flickering blue blade. A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, and he looks up from the blade to the girl.

"I thought so too."

[abyssum_invocat]

"Is it a kind of sword?" she asks, tucking a stray piece of short-cut hair behind one ear. Hers isn't exactly boyishly short, but severely cut around her face, a sharp swing ending at her jawline.

"And do you know why it's blue?" Swords not usually being, in her frame of reference. Then again, they also don't usually glow.

[beforethedarktimes]

"Yes." Obi-Wan replied with a nod. "A lightsaber."

He tapped his finger near the midpoint of the hilt, roughly where the crystal was. "Every lightsaber has a crystal, one that focuses the energy from it's power cell - a sort of battery - into a blade."

"This one is blue," He started, "because of the crystal I chose for it when I built it."

[jadedassassin]

Whatever was going on with the so-called holidays, Mara had no care to find out more about it. She wasn't exactly in a celebratory mood, to put it lightly. She was still irritable and on edge. She still felt wrong with the severed bond to Palpatine that now left her feeling adrift. She felt as though someone had ripped part of her very soul out. Though of course she wasn't going to voice such pains. It would only be viewed as whining. And really, who could possibly understand what that Force Bond felt like? It wasn't an ordinary bond one had with a very close friend. This was one that went deeper, that had entwined itself within her. And then it had been ripped out of her unceremoniously when Q brought her here.

As such, the assassin silently walked the halls, intending to try and get some training under her belt to work out the restlessness building within her. Mara didn't do well when she didn't have something to do. And being on the Enterprise was quickly driving her crazy.

Though upon arriving at the holodeck, she found herself seeing that Jedi she'd met shortly after her arrival on the ship. Mara saw the symbol of the Jedi Order on the floor. It made her feel a mix of repulsion and disgust. Though was it disgust at herself? How many Jedi had she hunted down and killed for the Emperor? She had killed a few. But by and large, the Jedi had been purged, and the few survivors had fled into hiding across the Galaxy by the time she was old enough and strong enough to undertake missions.

"So this is what it looked like," she commented nonchalantly, arms crossing over her chest. Mara didn't exactly care if she was bothering him, she was making a comment. She'd never actually seen the Jedi Temple. Only heard the stories of the day Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, had attacked it and killed everyone he could, including children.

[beforethedarktimes]

Obi-Wan felt her presence a moment before she arrived. A whisper in the Force, though whether that was her doing or his own muted connection to it, he wasn't entirely sure.

He paused mid-form, turning to face her. Something about what she said clearly piqued his interest.

"As close as I could make it from memory, at least."

[jadedassassin]

It was difficult to tell, honestly. Mara was strong in the Force, so perhaps it was some combination of both the muted connection and her own doing. Nevertheless, Mara wanted to get her connection to the Force back to where it should be.

Or, better yet, be sent back to where she belonged so she could finish her work and tell Palpatine that she hadn't actually killed Dequc.

"I have never seen it nor have I heard tales of what it looked like. But I had been curious as to what it did look like before the Empire came to power." Mara was pointedly using past tense, which could be a clue, but she also wasn't outright stating that the Jedi Temple had been attacked and made into a ruin, at best.

[beforethedarktimes]

"The Empire." Obi-Wan repeated. "You've mentioned it before."

Her use of the past tense hadn't gone unnoticed. It's what had piqued his interest the most. There were numerous small factions in the galaxy that fancied themselves empires, but he was certain she meant something else entirely. Something that he'd not yet seen. He'd like to know what that is.