Fwurg

[Salia]

"Doesn't that hurt?" she asked a little worried. "Also, do you think if there are more Astians on Unity, they would want to play hide and seek, because nobody ever wants to play hide and seek though I can usually find kids to play ball with but its not fun when the older kids join in because then they use the force and you can't touch the ball any more and that's not fun for very long and I think it is sort of cheating, especially when it isn't their ball, because you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you because that is stealing and stealing is bad because it is against the law which is also sort of like cheating." she reasoned.

[Nebesnogo Sveta]

Nebesnogo watched the byplay between the large metal man an Salia. "Privet comrade Nathan my name is Nebesnogo Sveta its nice to meet you." He said after having gotten over how tall he was. After a moment something seemed to click with him and he flew up so that he was a chest level with Nathan and offered his hand for a hand shake.

"I don't know if he wants to play with us most adults don't want to." he said looking at Salia for a moment.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

Nathan turned his attention to Nebesnogo and shook the Mudrys small hand. "The pleasure is all mine." he said looking intreaged as the mudrys wings flaped. Lookin from Nebesnogo to Salia sighed. "I'm sorry, but playing hide and seek is a bit unfair with me. As you can see I am quite large so finding a good hiding place is hard." he explained. "And if I where to search I could easily spot you with my infrared vision." He made a small apolligising bow.

[Salia]

"Nobody ever wants to play hide and..."

Suddenly Salia inhaled loudly as if she had just gotten a fantastic idea.

"We can go and cartwheel! Its fun and I was doing it before, and it isn't all that hard if you know what you are doing and I can teach you if you do not know how because sometimes you don't know how and then you have to learn and practice except when it isn't any fun because then it just does not make sense, like meditation, because that is just really boring and I think that is why the Jedi Masters are always so stern and up tight because they have to meditate all the time and it leaves them really really bored, even when they don't want to play hide and seek because sometimes when you are bored nothing sounds like it is fun even though it is so I always just get started doing something fun and that's why I am never bored except when I have to meditate or study or things like that because those are boring, but cartwheeling is really fun and you'll like it!" she suggested.

[Nebesnogo Sveta]

"I think he means that it would be no fair and then no fun." he thought about the cartwheeling.

"you mean the stand on your hands thing you did earlier right? I have never done that before." he said suddenly looking nervous.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

"I think the Jedi Masters try to teach you to meditate to calm your mind." Nathan said. He was a bit startled by the way Salia spoke about them. The Jedi Masters are superior officers and he had always learned to respect his superiors. Even in the Marines he had known the officers always had the best intentions towards their subordinates.

"And have you ever considered they enjoy meditating?" He said, trying to get Salia to have a more positive look at the Jedi Masters.

"Studying may seem boring, but learning can prevent you from making mistakes." The end of the sentince was said quietly and in a sad tone. Looking away for a moment Nathan unintentionaly placed his hand on the Mark of Regret.

[Salia]

"You mean they enjoy being bored?" Salia seemed to think that a very silly notion "I think that's silly, because if they are bored how can they have fun, because you cannot have fun when you are bored because you are bored instead of having fun." Salia was a master at clarifying such issues.

"I'm going to cartwheel again." she decided, handing comrade frog back to Nebesnogo before racing off a few steps and putting her hands down on the ground, cartwheeling off in the direction Shebi Ajava had fled in earlier. "Wheee!"

[Shebi Ajava]

Shebi Ajava was sure she had moved away far enough from the children, and was currently sitting in lotus position on a large stone.

Shebi Ajava was relatively young. At only 83 years old, her parents didn't even consider her fully grown. On the evening she left for Unity City, to join the Jedi, she received a stern talking to about the dangers of falling in love. During her training with the Jedi, she carefully controlled her emotions as the Jedi code demands it, but this became more difficult over time.

Master Screetor advised her to meditate on the issue, and to slowly deconstruct the impulses she felt. She suspected that he did not really know how to handle it. Which she though weird -- Ajava thought the Jedi would have experience with such issues, after all the human reproduction rate was even higher than that of the veolians, surely they felt the same things?

Regardless of her opinion on it, she heeded the masters advice. So after being interrupted, she again found a quite spot in the garden and sat down for meditation.

[Salia]

"Wheee!" Salia cartwheeled happily along the path, not seeming to "Wheee!" have a care in the world about people wanting to meditate on "Wheee!" complicated issues such as love, self control and "Wheee!" deconstruction. In fact, the girl did not seem to "Wheee!" care much about where she was going and who might be in her "Wheee!" path.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

As Salia took off cartwheeling, Nathan shook his head. After a quick glance at Nebesnogo, he bowed and walked back to the tree he was sitting against before.

Relaxing against the tree once more, he noticed someone new. A blue woman was meditating. "Perhaps not a bad idea." he murmered to himself.

Slowly exhaling, he disabled his hearing. He concentrated on his breathing and tried to empty his mind...

Ten secconds later he fell asleep.

[Nebesnogo Sveta]

"Bye comrade Nathan." Nebesnogo said waiving towards him as he walked off clutching comerade frog to him with his free hand.

"Come on comrade frog lets put you back in the pond with the other frogs." He said to his frog before flying off to put the amphibian back into the pond. He Put the creature down next to the pond and watched him jump into the pond with a big splash.

He then went of for a corkscrewing and loopdelooping flight of the garden following the sound of Salias whees.

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava just sat down, and already she could hear the 'Wheee!' coming her direction. Again. Opening her eyes, she looked at the little girl cartwheeling along, seemingly oblivious to any issues in the world. "Must be nice", Ajava thought, "to just do what you want without a care in the world."

Shebi Ajava shook her head, and stood up. Today the garden was taken over by happy children, pulling anyone in their path into their chaotic world.

Ajava left the gardens, this time for real, to go and speak to master Screetor about some things.

[Amilia]

Stepping onto the gardens, Amilia look around. Her smile grew wider, the gardens where prettier than she had amagined. She closed her eyes as she listened to the birds sing. A meter behind her a Lady-Priestess of the School of Blood followed her.

A small bird landed on the High Priestess' shoulder. "Hello, little one." She said turning her head towards it. Extending her index finger toward it, it hopped onto her finger. Bowing her head at it, she wispered: "May the Goddesses bless you little one." then the bird flew of.

Gently walking further into the gardens she smiled when she saw Salia cartwheeling and cheering with glee. She crouched near a bed of flowers and took in their smell.

"They are beautifull aren't they?" She asked her guard. "They are, Your Holyness." Came the responce.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

Jolting out of his sleep, Nathan woke. An icon appeared in his vision. The unmistakable icon of an admiral in the STF Navy. Looking around for the officer, he jumped up and stood at attention.

"Officer on deck!" he shouted automaticly, loud enough for everyone in the gardens to hear it.

[Amilia]

The High Priestess and her guard looked up at the commotion.

The Lady-Priestess gave an apologetic bow to Amilia, then turned toward the commotion and called back: "As you where, soldier."
Smiling at the situation the High Priestess walked towards the Astrian man, followed by the slightly confused Lady-Priestess.

"Hello. Might I ask you your name?" Amilia asked the man.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

Nathan relaxed when he was told to stand down. Only to realise he had just embaresed himself. Luckely he couldn't blush.

When he saw a woman walking towards him, followed by a fully armored Lady-Priestess, who asked for his name he awsered clearly.
"I am Nathan Miodrass Asillion."
Wait... A fully armored Lady-Priestess? He suddenly realised who the woman standing before him was.
He dropped down to one knee.

"Your Holyness, please forgive my earlier rudeness. I wasn't aware of your identity."

[Shebi Ajava]

Having determined to leave the gardens, Shebi walked towards one of the exits, only to hear a loud 'Officer on deck!'. Not recognizing the voice she becomes curious. This is a garden, and not a military vessel.

Walking towards the sound, she deftly dodges Salia on her path of chaotic joy.

Arriving at the scene, she sees one of the full-cyborg padawan, whom she had read about arriving, kneeling in front of a young woman. And a fully armoured guard of some kind.

Not liking this scene at all -- in the Veolian Commonwealth kneeling is only done to show fealty to some higher ranking person, and is a very serious thing -- she walked up to the young woman.

"Hello. I am Shebi Ajava, a padawan with the Jedi. And I am not sure who your are, but I am reasonably sure you are not a Jedi master. You can't just walk in here, and have people bend their knee to you. Not even if you are as pretty as you are."

'Oh, vai! Did I just say that last part out loud?!' Shebi tought to herself, while a light blush crept up her cheeks. 'There goes my impressive entry...', she realized.

[Amilia]

Amilia's guard stepped between Shebi Ajava and the High Priestess, blocking Shebi's path.
Amilia turned towards the padawan.

"I have never asked, nor demanded that anyone kneels or bows before me, miss Ajava." Looking at Nathan she added: "Nor do I want them to."

Nodding to the Lady-Priestess, she continued.
"As for my being here, I have permission."

The Lady-Priestess extended her hand, palm upwards, to Shebi. A small holographic projector extended out of the palm and displayed the mail sent by Jedi Master Screetor. ((OOC: In case your interested this mail:http://fwurg.xs4all.nl/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=760))

"I am High Priestess Amilia. A pleasure to meet you, miss Ajava and thank you."
'It's probably good I'm not High Priestess Shiria, she always had a thing for blushers.' Amilia thought to herself and her guard thought among simmilar lines.

[Shebi Ajava]

Shebi Ajava's blush intensified when she was addressed by her first name. Not sure whether the woman did that on purpose, or was just unaware of the Veolian naming scheme, Ajava decided to ask her about it.

"Forgive me, priestess", she said while bowing. "I was not aware that someone of your station would be arriving."

Stepping a bit to the side, so she could look past the guard and directly at the priestess, she continued.

"In the Veolian Commonwealth, kneeling is seen as a sign of fealty, and I wrongly assumed that you forced a padawan to swear fealty.", Ajava said. "Are you familiar with veolian customs? If not, please allow me to explain something else. We put the family name first, and follow it with our given name."

Ajava realized she was rambling, but couldn't stop herself.

"So I'm actually Ajava from family Shebi. Using only someone's given name can be seen as either inappropriate, or as a proposal of sorts...", Ajava seemed to blush a bit more while explaining

'I hope she knew... eh... didn't know. I would look foolish if she did', Ajava thought to herself. She split of part of her consciousness to think up a few nice compliments she could use to flatter the attractive priestess. A small part of her brain was nagging about master Screetor's advice, but she ignored it.

Mustering her courage, she looked directly at Amilia and asked "Would you like a tour through the gardens, high priestess?"

((OOC: Reference for your convenience: Veolian Commonwealth Naming Scheme. I must admit that I sometimes use the names incorrectly in a narrative context, such as in the last sentences in my previous post, but in an IC context I pay close attention to such things ^_^))

[Amilia]

The Lady-Priestess stepped back, having concluded the veolian padawan had no bad intentions.

Nathan had risen back to his feet.

'I sincerly hope this girl never meets Shiria, for her own good.' The High Priestess thought before speaking.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I've offended you, miss... Shebi?" She said. "I wasn't aware of your culture's naming scheme."

Giving Ajava a reassuring smile, Amilia tried to put her at ease by placing a hand on Ajava's shoulder.

"I assure you I would never ask anyone to swear their loyalty to me. It would go against my duty as Lady of Purity and the White Goddess I reprisent."

Her smile became warmer.

'And I would love a tour of the gardens if your offering."

[Shebi Ajava]

Shebi Ajava calmed herself, and got a grip on her nervousness. Subtly, she split of another part of her consciousness to analyse the facial and other social cues the high priestess emitted during her talk.

"I did not take any offence high priestess. In fact, I am rather flattered that you would use my given name... Amilia.", the veolian padawan added the high priestess' name after a little pause, as if she took a while to think about the name.

"I would be remiss if I did not offer someone of your appearance a tour of the gardens, you are a high priestess after all. Please, this way."

Shebi Ajava indicated the path that would lead them to follow the stream into the more jungle-like parts of the park.

[Amilia]

Amilia was pleasantly suprised by Ajava for using her name. The only others that adressed her so informal where the other two High Priestesses. She liked it.

She followed Ajava, still smiling.

"So, would you prefer miss Shebi or Ajava?" she inquired. Her guard didn't follow them, as she had been silently ordered to do.

[Shebi Ajava]

Walking next to each other, Shebi Ajava led them toward the stream, planning on leading the attractive priestess to the most Mirda-like area in the garden.

"The depends on your intentions. I do not know the customs of your culture, but I have found that some other cultures have big issues with two women being together...", Shebi Ajava blushed a little while she explained.

"So it is up to you. I would like it very much if you'd call me Ajava."

[Amilia]

"Ajava it is then."

Amilia looked around in amazement. She had never seen any of these plants.

"My, are all these plants really non-carnivorous?" She asked.

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava smiled at Amilia's amazement about the jungle they were in.

"Well, I think the gardener makes a point of not having the more dangerous plants in the garden. Some of these, such as the Lornars bloom", Ajava walked a little futher on the path, looked around for a bit and pointed to a small purple flower, "do eat flies and other small insects."

"Don't worry Amilia, none of these pose a real threat for you." Ajava said while smiling. "Though if this were really the jungle on Mirda, there would be some plants that are very nasty. Luckily, most plants aren't dangerous for intelligent species, but a few very specialized plants on Mirda have actually evolved that attack veolians. Most just stick to small animals though."

Ajava looked at the astrian priestess while she looked at the different plants.

"Amilia, did you have plans?", Ajava asked after a while. "If not, I know a nice spot where we can sit down for a bit."