milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Okay, this time there's really a Robin in the bar - ~~and if the Internet conks out for another nine hours her mun is going to smash something, arghhh!~~

Well, to be technically correct, there's a Steph, and she's outside, by the lake, jogging. It's freezing, and she's absolutely loving it - another thing you don't get to feel when you're a ghost is cold. Flushed cheeks and red nose, and that big, cheesy grin's still there. She's almost finished her laps - come join her!

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In which case Mel will. Matching Stephs pace exactly and looking for all the effort like she's taking a stroll.

Don't you just hate her.

"So I'm thinking - welcome home party?"

"Totally!" Steph cheers. "Best idea yet! When? Where?"

Steph's super out of condition. Not having muscles to exercise for four months'll do that to you. So Mel gets a friendly tongue stuck out at her, in between breaths.

"Not sure when exactly," Mel says, returning the raspberry happily, "Lilly seems to be coming down with a new cold every week - but soon, at my place? I think it's still the biggest suite."

And Mike can just not come if he's still avoiding people.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," Steph grins. "Parties rock! I'll be there. Hey, speaking of, did you know Hank's totally getting married tomorrow?"

Mel pauses for a while, and rolls her eyes, more at herself than anything else

"Oh, yeah, I did! I'm invited and everything. Ooops."

"That's so cool! I've never been to a wedding before. Hank asked if I have formal clothes, but what sort of formal clothes should I wear?" Steph slows down and stops, stretching. "Man, I love being back where things happen." A huge grin.

Mel overtakes the halted Steph before turning back and mimicing the stretches. More out of soemthing to do than a desire to outdo her.

"I have no idea. I'm just gonna where the slinky dress Mike made me. Maybe he'll even fix the holes int he back from my scythe."

Steph laughs at that. "What, you're not gonna wear your scythe? How will people recognise you?"

"Of course I'm gonna wear my scythe!" Mel says, completely missing the point.

"Mikey got me this cool sheathe for Christmas, look!"

She spins around there, showing off the black leather holder strapped across her back and holding the weapon snugly against her.

"Shiiiiiny!" Steph approves. "And it won't tear your clothes, either. Perfect partywear for the latest in Millways fashions!" She giggles.

Mel grins again, and runs a hand through her hair, which she's letting hang loose today.

"Yeah I think he was gettin tired of me ripping all his clothes when I borrowed them."

"I would've," Steph says, grinning. "Smart boy, that one."

"...Wanna go for a swim? I dare you." She's eyeing the lake, which looks ... chilly. ~~And her mun is eyeing bed, which looks tempting, oh yes. Slow or fade? either fine.~~

Mel doesn't need to be dared. She grins, and strips off her shirt and sheath is one completely shameless motion.

"Raceya."

[OOC: That looks like a fade dearheart {snugs}]

"You're on!" And they sprint for the water together.

[g'night! ♥!]

There is a Jedi near the lake, going over a lightsaber kata. He seems to not have noticed Steph yet...

Ah, who's he kidding? Steph waves, and then pulls up nearby and sits down to wait till he's finished. She's had enough jogging anyway - she definitely needs to catch her breath.

And soon he is finished, and bows to her. "Stephanie. How are you?"

"Great! I'm absolutely awesome! I'm heaps out of shape, though, but I'm working on that." She's bubbling over with sheer pleasure in being back home and having a body again - nothing's gonna take this good mood down. ...touch wood. "How are you? Everything okay?"

"That is good, very much... and yes, I am well." He nods.

Steph beams. "It's been ages since I saw you!" This is probably her fault, having been out of the bar for months, but it doesn't make her any less happy to catch up with her old friends.
"What have you been doing? Are you getting married tomorrow too or something?" She grins. "Hank is, and I wouldn't put it past you to do something like that..."

"It has been a while, indeed. I busied myself with classes, practice, and writing my memories and a compendium on the history of the Galactic Republic." He almost smiles, and shakes head. "Jedis do not marry."

"What? Really? How come?" Steph folds her legs under her and looks incredulous and curious at the same time. "That's totally weird."

"Being a jedi is not a job; it is a lifelong commitment. A Jedi can not dedicate himself to his duties and to a family, not on the level either deserve...."

[ooc: slowtime? it's way past my bedtime, but this looks like an interesting conversation. :D]

"Well..." Steph looks like she wants to argue that a bit. "I guess. I mean, Batman's totally devoted to the crime-fighting thing, and he never married or anything - but he's still got a family. We're a family. And, like, there's been heaps of times when we would have totally crumpled without each other. Don't you think you need a family to, I don't know, support you or something?"

"We have the order. Jedis do not work alone, and are surely not hermits. We trust a commitment of duty, and mutual support, without any kind of romantic or deep emotional relationship, mainly because we are often forced to take very difficult decisions, and those do not need to become even harder by adding emotional charges."

(Sure! Sleep well!)

Emotional commitments definitely make it harder - Steph can vouch for that. But still...

She cocks her head to the side. "But ... it's worth it, isn't it? I mean, even though life's been so hard since I met - Robin - I mean, y'know. Some things are worth the struggle. If I hadn't joined the Bats I'd still be alive, but ... I don't regret it."

"I dont understand. We had the order, and the support of the other Jedi. The Order was our family. For a few, it was not enough, and every time a Jedi sought a romantic involvement, it ended in disaster."

Steph takes this in. "Really? I wouldn't have thought ... I met some Jedi here, and isn't one of them getting married next week?"

"They are a new organization. New people, different ideas, much less focus..."

"Okay," Steph says. "That makes sense, 'cos I know their where had some huge upheaval just recently. I still reckon it's ... kinda denying yourself, isn't it, if you won't let anyone love?"

Steph is young enough to be a total romantic. What's life without love when you're sixteen? Pff, hormones.

"A jedi had to choose: every padawan is taught it, explained it, and reminded of it. To become a knight, he must accept the rules of the order. If he wants to have a family, he can not be in the order. The Galaxy was our family, the republic, the idea of civilization. None of those who violated the rules, could claim the order was unfair. They accepted the price. You can not be commited and not commited at the same time, a Jedi in doubt will hesitate at the wrong time, and will fail."

Steph is Not Convinced.

"That's ... a bit arbitrary, isn't it? They just decided that those were the rules? Maybe you'd all function better if you were allowed to have real families."

"The Jedi order existed for a thousand generations, following the same rules. And fell, because one young knight betrayed us all to the sith, to save the life of the woman he was obsessed with. Hundreds of Jedi, thousans of padawan and younglings, countless supporters. Massacred, because Anakin Skywalker was afraid of losing his secret wife, and the sith promised to help him." He is radiating a cold feeling of anger... "Because one weakling decided, that if he could not follow the rules of the order, the rules were to blame, not himself."

"...oh." She's slightly taken aback, and a little nervous. Making powerful men angry isn't always smart. "...I didn't realise. I'm sorry."

And as quickly as it came, its gone. "Why he did not just ask to be dismissed? He could have openly married her, and had a dozen children. Why? From where he got the idea that being a Jedi was about glory and being an acclaimed hero?" Mace sighs. "We taught him, and he learned not."

"I'm - I'm sorry," Steph says. "Sounds like you had a bad time with this guy."

"He murdered my friends, killed my family, and destroyed my home. Had a bad time sets a new level of understatement"

"Well, I'm a bat," Steph offers, a bit helplessly. "Understatement and quips is what we're good at."

She's not sure where to take the conversation now. Might have just opened up a whole new bunch of misery.

"But it is past. May the Force be with this New Order. They will need it, to build something that will last."

"Yeah," Steph agrees, politely. "And, uh, yeah."

"You intend to resume your training?"

"Absolutely," Steph says. "It's ... thingy." She looks away. "It's the only way I've got to remind myself I'm a Bat, now. If I don't keep up to form, then I've got nothing at all."

"Very well." He seems pleased with that, her resolve.

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