Open Social Padawans Got it Going On

[Prani Shalrazi]

Prani beamed as both Theia (@GABA )and Roanoke (@Graveyard Shift ) complimented the dessert, “Have as much as ya like!” She turned to regard the boy, “Yep, made it myself!” She said cheerfully, proud of how it turned out. Prani giggled at Roanoke’s words, “Ya def came in clutch,” She agreed. It was one of the few phrases that she actually picked up since being out in the wider galaxy.

When a giant bug landed on his plate, Prani gasped, “Golly, that’s one big fella,” She said, blinking in surprise. As a ‘nature freak’ as some of the Padawans called her, she wasn’t entirely fazed by insects. Theia’s loud scream made Prani wince and soon enough the near-foot-long insects were buzzing all over the place.

She looked up to see Roanoke step in front of her like an action movie hero, casting a barrier against the bugs. Prani smiled to herself, giving him a nod as she summoned the Force to her palm, calling from her strong connection to the Light Side. As a result, she produced a small, but brilliantly bright orb. Prani held up her hand and the insects started to gravitate towards her hand. They began to collectively gather and suspend in the air around that light. Prani didn’t care if they touched her hand, having dealt with enough bugs and outdoor critters during her time with the caravan.

She began to gingerly step towards Syr Bors (@Narzen ), “Get that box ready!” Prani called out to him as she walked his way to guide the bugs back into the box.

While this was effective, Regina and Stacy were extremely unhelpful. Regina dramatically threw her arms around Shaw (@throwitintothefire ), “PROTECT ME!” She screeched. Stacy glared at this.

“Oh come ON!” She huffed right as a bug landed on her head. With a scream, she plucked it off and chucked it, the bug landing right on the hot grill.

Stacy continued running and tripped over Syr Bors and into the box, popping it wide open.

 

[Roanoke]

He doesn't see the gestures Theia sent Prani's way, and perhaps it is for the best. Besides, the flying bugs are now causing enough of a distraction, and Roanoke is determined to protect the table laden with food. Prani's gooey apple bread, Zessel's delightful macarons, all the grilled meat Shaw's been preparing, and of course the veggie snacks Roanoke brought. Man, he's getting real hungry just thinking of them.

Prani's help is very much appreciated. When Theia shrieks, Roanoke makes sure to extend the Force barrier over to her so the bugs won't accost her no longer. But just as their teamwork is beginning to bear fruit (he also noticed another Padawan [@Darasuum] dealing with the bugs in his own way), the girls flocking around Shaw screw things up.

Instead of being helpful, one decides to be a damsel in distress and clings to Shaw (@throwitintothefire) while the other makes the mistake of chucking a bug on the grill then tripping over the Pango (@Narzen) and into the box.

Roanoke, stomach already grumbling with hunger, feels his eye twitch.

"Who're those helpful, delightful girls?" he asks Prani (@Sreeya), seemingly unaware that despite his friendly demeanor, a hint of sarcasm now laces his voice.

Roanoke's a nice guy, and he's always striving to be kind. Except the hidden sass suddenly surfaces, and it's all because he's getting hangry.

 

[Kaedan]

Kaedan's mental psyching up was interrupted when he heard the scream of Theia. Ready to take action, he moved from his propped position on his bike forward towards the area. His fingertips brushed his lightsaber hilt as he saw the cause; giant bugs. Just as he was about to pull the weapon from his hip, a curly haired padawan created some sort of light orb with the force. It was fascinating. Thinking it was all under control, he relaxed his hand.

As the box was knocked open by the clumsy girl, Kaedan sighed and reached out with the force. He tried to hold the bugs desperately trying to escape in place. "Beware of where you step!"

 

[Dumaagorn Yagah]

Duma soon heard word from around the temple about the cookout. And he wasn't one to not get involved in such a party, especially as he didn't even need to go far to attend. He only had to follow his nose to find it, and find it he did, seeing many around he hadn't met before. He was wearing a comically large short sleeve blouse, and wearing a pair of sunglasses while in one hand a large container filled with smoked ribs.

He was not one to refuse a cookout and the opportunity to pass around some of his famous smoked bbq chilli ribs.

He headed to the grill, trying not to knock into too many people along the way, as his large frame took over quite a bit of space. He saw a bunch of other pageants gathered around the grill so thought it as a good a time as any to get suck in and introduce himself while offering the ribs for the grill. Although he was somewhat confused by the sight of what appeared to be oversized bugs. No way he wanted them on his ribs. His eyes widened with horror as the grill was violated by a bug on it.

Somewhat confused as to what exactly was going on, he approached whoever happened to be in control of the grill at that moment. Only at that moment the box opened and bugs went everywhere, forcing him to duck his head as one came low, and chaos ensued with bugs everywhere. He wished he had a large can of bug spray at that moment.

With the Force he tried his best to get some back towards the box, placing the container of ribs by the grill ready to grill once this was dealt with. Bug catching wasn't exactly what he was expecting when he came.

He called out "What's going on!? Just got here, and it's invasion of the bugs!"

@Sreeya @throwitintothefire @Narzen @StephDLegend @GABA @Graveyard Shift @LouJoVi @Interdictor @Darasuum @Zay

 

[Syr Bors]

The chaos o the bugs would've been entertaining in any other situation. A bunch of young padawans having their beach grill day messed with by flying insects? It was comedy gold of the Tree Pango variety. However, given the mess was Bors' fault, the Giant Pango found no such comfort in the idea.

"Oooh, good idea friend!" Bors said as one of the padawans (@Darasuum ) began to move the insects via the Force. "I wish I knew that ability. Okay, just a little more and...

"...nevermind" Bors stated softly when the young man's concentration was broken. A scream came from somewhere. Bors looked up and tried to wave at the girl.

"They don't bite!" Bors shouted at the screaming female (@GABA ). "I swear! You could even eat them raw if you had to defend yourself!"

The longer brown haired Jedi female (@Sreeya ) gave an order. However, with all the confusion going on, Bors didn't hear, and instead was surprised when she toppled over into the very box that was meant to hold the crawling and flying insects. If there were any still contained, they were out now.

"Ach! Get up fair one, get up!" Bors began to order back desperately. With one clawed hand, he began to try to bat and roll her off the box, an impossibly flattened object at this point. "EEEEP! Don't squish them! Or they will cook unevenly!"

It seemed the one called Kaedon (@StephDLegend ) had similar thoughts, as she began to tell others to watch their steps.

"Ah, um...oooh! I got an idea!" Bors shouted. With the box completely flattened, the group needed other ways of containing the insects. Desperate to save the snack, Bors scooped up a few insects into his palms and began to waddle-run towards the nearby grill.

"Throw them into the grill! We can shut them inside and cook them!" Bors ordered back at the others, before colliding wuth the almost similarly sized padawan going in the direction of where the box was (@Akheron).

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw really thought that being the grill man would be a lonely job. That he would just be over by the lake's edge by himself grilling up the patties until they were done, but the grill was hoppin tonight. It was nice to have the company, right up until Stacy chucked a massive cockroach with wings right onto the grill. She couldn't have aimed better if she had tried, the bug landing directly onto a burger patty.

"EWW!" Shaw cried, flicking the roasting bug off with his whole hand before it could start to smell. "Don't worry!" he assured everyone close by, pointing to the defiled patty, "I'll eat that one." He had an image to uphold if he hoped to be the grill man again, but he didn't wanna lose another patty either.

That was when the party descended into chaos. Shaw heard a drawn out, piercing shriek that he would recognize anywhere after what had happened on Qatamer. Theia. ( @GABA ). He looked around trying to spot Theia or catch a glimpse of her braided red hair, but that was when a pair of arms were thrown around his neck, dragging him down to Regina's level as she screamed, "PROTECT ME!" directly into his ear.

Regina had a death grip on Shaw. Stacy tripped and flattened the box holding the rest of the bugs. Syr collided with the new comer by the grill. Now there were giant flying cockroaches everywhere, and Syr was trying to put more of them on the grill.

"BRO!" Shaw exclaimed, stepping around in front of the grill and waving his arms. He had to drag Regina with him because she refused to let go of him. As grill man he had to defend the grill. "You are NOT putting those on the grill!" Maybe that was a delicacy for his species, but Shaw was pretty sure no one else wanted roasted cockroaches on their burgers. @Narzen

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

When Roanoke (@Graveyard Shift )asked about the ‘delightful girls’, the sarcasm was so thick that even Prani caught it, “Oh that’s Regina and Stacy! They..they ain’t that bad,” She added with a measure of difficulty. In truth, they bullied Prani worse than anyone else, but she wasn’t going to talk behind their back.

She still had the bugs swarming around her hand, preparing to guide them back into the box. Stacy virtually made that impossible, which left Syr (@Narzen ) to make a suggestion that caused Prani to gasp, “I AIN’T GONNA THROW ‘EM ON A GRILL! THAT’S CRUEL!” She screamed, appalled he would even suggest such a thing.

“EWW EWW PRANI YOU’RE SO GROSS WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THEM HERE!” Stacy screamed at Prani, shoving her hard enough for Prani to land with a thud on the ground. This broke Prani’s concentration and the light disappeared, the insects bursting away as a swarm.

“Aww biscuits!” Prani sighed, but she didn’t give up yet. Now on the ground from being pushed, she unleashed a powerful push with the Force, which collectively sent the swarm away from the party. While this released them out into the open air, they were at least moving away from the padawans.

Prani exhaled, shaking her head while still on the ground.

 

[Zessel]

When he reached the table, Zessel let go of Caul and rushed to help Roanoke save the food on the table. He arrived right on time to see Prani using the Force to create a ball of light to attract the insects and send them back to Syr’s box. The half-Arkanian smiled, the crisis was going to be averted.

Then the girls that were trying to attract Shaw’s attention messed up with everything, with one of them tripping on Syr and making the Pango release the remaining insects from inside it.

“Come on!” Zessel exclaimed, staring at the new wave of giant bugs that was flying toward the table. “What are these girls doing? It is to help us, not the bugs to get free.” the half-Arkanian said, annoyed by the one that was trying to grab Shaw rather than help and by the other that tripped in Syr.

While Roanoke maintained the shield, Zessel used Force pushes to send the bugs away. He stayed outside of the shield, helping with the defense. Soon, beetles were being sent in several directions, but especially toward the nearby lake.

One of them, however, was hit by Zessel with too much strenght and was sent toward the girl that was still grabbing Shaw. It had been crushed by his Force push, and its broken remnants would fall on her head, with green goo covering her face. If she didn’t stop screaming for Shaw to save her, some of it would enter her mouth.

The half-Arkanian wouldn’t even notice it, being more concerned in saving their food, since Syr was trying to fill the grill with more bugs. “My gosh! This one already smell terrible enough!” he screamed, before hitting another insect. “Stop trying to thrown more of that stuff in the fire!”

Then he saw one of the inept girls push Prani on the ground. "This wasn't cool! She was trying to help and doing it better than you, idiot!" he screamed, Zessel hated bullies and wasn't going to watch it without doing anything. He summoned the nearest thing for him, one of the bland decorated cupcakes, and threw it on her face. Unfortunately, for her at least, the sugar made the bugs turn their attention to the girl.

@throwitintothefire @Sreeya @Graveyard Shift @Zay

 

[Shaw Amaris]

There was no way Shaw was going to let anyone put a bunch of cockroaches on the grill. No way he was going to let the burgers he had worked so hard on be ruined. He was the defender of the grill. He wouldn't budge, wouldn't abandon his post, wouldn't— hold up. Was that Prani? And did Stacy just shove her?

Shaw deserted the grill. There was no one to defend it now. No one to stop Syr from dumping a bunch of live bugs inside to let them cook if he really wanted to. Shaw didn't even realize that he drug Regina, still holding onto him, with him. She gave a startled yelp along the way.

"What the kritt's gotten into you??" he snapped at Stacy when he reached them, bending over to help Prani back up. His voice was harsh and unforgiving, his eyes narrowed and hard, but the hand that would pull Prani to her feet was gentle. Still addressing Stacy, Shaw would add, "Either you can start acting your age and apologize to Prani or you can leave."

Stacy looked totally caught off guard by this turn of events, and her lower lip quivered. "Yeah, Stacy!" Regina would chime in from beside Prani and Shaw once she realized what the general consensus was, "That was sooooo not cool! You can't treat Prani like that!" she would berate Stacy, totally throwing her best friend under the bus. @Sreeya

 

[Levet Vizsla]

Someone screamed, people were freaking out, the food was at risk of being tainted. It was chaos. Dubrillion was calmer than this padawan party. Levet was unbothered by the insects considering he was an animal lover though he was still on the fence when it came to eating them. But he reminded himself to step outside of his comfort zone. That was the whole reason he had come here.

The young mandalorian's eyes were drawn to the light produced by the brown haired padawan. ( @Sreeya ) Levet had heard of the technique before and was curious to learn it but mostly he was impressed by the quick thinking. The ingenious use of the technique made him wish he had thought of that. Then again he did not know how to do it in the first place so it was not exactly in his skillset.

Levet had nothing to add to the noise, not that anyone would listen to him even if they could hear him. So he did his best to not get in anyone's way. Some of the kids were clearly older than him and even more adept at using the Force. The bugs ended up being scattered by the same girl that had attracted them with light. Levet looked down at the ones he had in each hand before offering them up to the sky. It appeared like he would not be trying the bugs tonight and maybe that was for the best. Still, he could not help but feel like it was a missed opportunity, one he was okay with delaying for now.

"Be free. You live to be eaten another day."

The Vizsla clan member felt his stomach growl. The smell of the grill caused his body to react involuntarily. He walked towards the grill again, empty handed this time. Considering it was unmanned he kept an eye on it to make sure nothing caught fire. Meanwhile he let the various social dynamics hash things out. Levet was glad to not be entangled in all that drama. He was far too hungry to deal with it anyways. Considering there was free space on the grill, he took some of the vegetables and added them to the grill. Now he just wished to have had the foresight to bring kebabs. As the grill sizzled he hummed to himself and enjoyed the view of the lake, occasionally looking towards the other padawans and trying to understand what he was missing.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Nikko Ivita]

Nikko was about to compliment the boy ( @LouJoVi ) when he turned to talk to someone else. Frowning, she was about to turn back to the snack table when chaos erupted behind her. A girl ( @Sreeya ) and a big Pangoli were trying to wrangle a bunch of bugs. She was about to step in, but another boy showed up and seemed to hold the bugs in place. Nikko sighed, but stepped up and gave what assistance she could, using the Force to keep a last few escaping insects at bay. "Couldn't go one day without something stupid happening," she muttered. When the big creature said they should grill them, Nikko gagged. Okay, nope. It seemed that the boy from earlier thought the same, based on his reaction. No bug burgers.
@throwitintothefire @Zay @Graveyard Shift @Narzen @GABA

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

Truthfully, Prani was entirely unconcerned about being shoved. She was more focused on ensuring no one was getting swarmed by the bugs. Before she could peel herself off the ground, Shaw abruptly arrived near her, offering a hand up. He wasn’t looking at her, but her heart fluttered all the same. He effortlessly pulled her to her feet and she dusted herself off. Prani frowned when she heard the icy tone from Shaw, glancing over at him. She didn’t like seeing him pushed to such extents.

Meanwhile, Stacy was completely and utterly betrayed. She winced at Shaw’s tone, shrinking back slightly. This was made even worse when Regina threw her under the speeder. She stared in shock at her friend before looking back at Shaw.

“What’s gotten into me??” She screamed, “That freak brought the kriffing bugs over this way! Led them right to us!” She said as she pointed at Prani, “Why do you always take her side anyway?!” Stacy shrieked, hurt bleeding into her tone. This was awkward and painful. It was no secret she had been rather fond of Shaw for a while.

Everything was made far worse with Zessel’s reaction of throwing a cupcake on her face.

“No!” Prani gasped as Stacy shrieked, some of the bugs swarmed toward her. Fortunately, Stacy remembered to use the Force and sent a blast of it back at the bugs. This caused a few of them to explode, some splattering Zessel. Stacy bolted in the other direction, leaving the party entirely.

Prani sighed, dismayed at the outcome of the events. She felt as if this sequence was entirely her fault, but seeing Shaw reminded her to never go into a self-despising spiral. She turned to look at Zessel, summoning some of the napkins she brought with the Force. She extended them to Zessel (@LouJoVi ), “That wasn’t nice either,” She said quietly, “I know yer heart was in the right place, but it don’t do us any good if we’re all actin’ out.”

With the bug crisis finally resolved, Prani turned to properly greet Shaw at last, “Uh.. hey,” She said with a sheepish smile. Like he often did, she cleared her throat and changed into a formal voice with a proper accent, “I may have to write a citation against your dining establishment Shawsome Burgers,” Prani said, stifling a grin. She didn't want him to stay grumpy, “It’s a health code violation, sir.”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Theia Durand]

Roanoke summoned a shield for Theia, protecting her from the one beetle that seemed to be attracted to her bright red hair as she tried to keep it away from her. Her thoughts crept with the feeling of their legs crawling on her and a long shiver ran through the entirety of her body. However, the glow of light caught Theia's attention, Prani to the rescue! Theia was awed by the teens' ability to call them to her, like a pied piper- Pied Piper Prani!

Theia watched as another flying insect came towards her and the Force danced through her finger tips, flicking it with the invisible energy and watching it tumbling backwards through the air. She could hear someone else screaming about Prani being the cause and when Theia turned to yell at them, she watched as Stacey pushed down her friend. Theia's jaw tightened with displeasure, her fingers curling into her fists as she started over there as Shaw helped up Prani. Theia was already removing her earrings and tucking them into the front of her dress for safe keeping.

Theia was looking to for a reason; Stacy, now leaving it left Regina, who gave Theia the should check earlier, but as Prani smoothed things over, Theia guessed she would wait, however knowing that those bugs were on the grill, she couldn't help to think of their bug juices now all over the burgers.

"I am ordering Pizza, anyone have special requests?"

@throwitintothefire @Sreeya @Narzen @Akheron @LouJoVi @Graveyard Shift @Darasuum

 

[Dumaagorn Yagah]

After being knocked down from colliding with the scaly giant reptile ( @Narzen ) Duma stood back up, a bit annoyed as his sunglasses were crushed beneath the beings overly large foot. He restrained himself, and walked away instead observing as a rather mean girl pushed another brown haired padawan (@Sreeya ) over. He wasn't happy about it and hated bullies, so was about to do something when another padawan, a white haired teenager ( @LouJoVi ) apparently had the same idea he had and threw a cake at her.

He laughed as the cake splatter her face and bugs swarmed her. To his teenage mind she deserved it for what she had done although he also knew he shouldn't perhaps be laughing at her misfortune especially when she bolted and exited the scene and the rest seemed to sort itself out. He was a little dismayed when it appeared no-one would get a chance to try the ribs, although when he heard the word pizza he lit up.

It was one of those things he was growing to like since he had been in the galaxy.

He made his way over to the red haired human, a big smile on his face.

"Did you just say....pizza? I would love a meat feast! I'm Dumaagorn but you can call me Duma."

@GABA

 

[Arandur Teltathlal]

Arandur had heard of a cookout hosted by other padawans. He was making his way towards it when his sensitive ears picked up the screaming. He casually pulled a pair of earplugs out of his pocket and put them in as he continued making his way. Normally he’d stay to himself, his lack of facial expression caused other padawans to steer clear of him. This party was different, Shaw, the host, was the apprentice to Sevrin Valtiere. The heir to the Thursta throne, and a renowned Jedi Master as well.

Arandur was dressed a mix between casual and formal. As he got within eye view of the party he noticed several large bugs flying around being corralled, released and…is that one being cooked? He looked down at the box of veggie snacks he brought suddenly more thankful he thought to bring them. While he wasn’t opposed to eating meat, he grew up eating meals that would be considered mostly vegan in nature.

He got to the party and pulled out the ear plugs as it seemed the shouting had subsided. His ears flicked with excitement for a brief moment, this was a chance to make friends. He heard one girl (@GABA) asking if anyone had a special pizza request, “I’d like a veggie one.” He stated, his gaze looking over the party goers. He was trying to figure out who any of them were not having met any of these people before. His ears once again twitched with excitement as his gaze found Shaw, he was talking to a girl it seemed. He wondered if it would be considered rude to interrupt, Shaw was the host and Arandur brought food. It was proper to ask where to put them wasn’t it?

He walked over to Prani (@Sreeya) and Shaw (@throwitintothefire), “Where do I put this?” He asked, raising the clear container with the snacks.

 

[Syr Bors]

Bors was shocked at how many people yelled at him NOT to throw the bugs onto the grill.

"But...but..." Bors began to stammer slightly. "They're delicious and....I figured people would like to try something different..."

Bors seemed to hear the shouts of his fellow padawans. For all his eagerness earlier, he did stop before he threw all of the bugs in his hand onto the grill, and simply watched as everyone else tried to handle the remaining fleeing bugs. He gave a slight sigh and looked down at the squirming insects that roasted slowly.

Despite the sweet smelling juices that began to leak out of the carapaces, the organs giving a natural glaze over the meat that would taste slightly sweet and salty, Bors could not reach forward to pick the cooking bugs. Instead, his body drooped slightly. Perhaps he wasn't doing things right as a Jedi. Perhaps he was not crusader material like he thought. After all, he couldn't save lives, he couldn't protect wookies from slavers effectively, he couldn't introduce people to new food dishes without making a mess...what if he...

Bors suddenly straightened up, a new found sense of denial enrupting inside.

"NO!" Bors said loudly. With little care for his own hands, he began to rotate the bugs on the grill with his own claws, cooking them evenly. He even began to crack a few open into halves, letting the shells become little plates for the bugs innards. Bors glanced around for anything like salt to top the insects. By the Force, someone was going to like these things!

"Its time you all tried a real dish! Something better than simple and bland and basic! After all, we are Jedi and we are beings of culture! We are not bred for safe things like...pizza!" Bors declared loudly to anyone who would listen, a hint of emotion leaking through his voice.

 

[Zessel]

Zessel closed his mouth shut when he saw the insects explode. Some of it hit his face, but he was successful in avoiding swallowing it. However, he still needed to find something to clean the stains on his cheeks and forehead. At least it didn’t fall on his hair, because it would be difficult to wash right now.

Then, Prani walked toward him and offered some napkins. He grabbed it and started to clean himself, while she talked about how he shouldn’t have thrown the cupcake. “Thanks.” he said, after having finished. “I'm sorry. I had suffered my share of bullying years ago and couldn’t stand them doing it with someone nice like you.” he smiled at the girl. “But you are right. I'll think before acting.” he would try, because the half-Arkanian was still a bit impulsive.

Once Prani walked away, Zessel rushed to wash himself and clea returned right on the time that Theia was offering to buy pizza. It was a good idea, the burgers were covered with bug's goo and the half-Arkanian didn’t believe that it would be the best seasoning for the meat. The smell of a burned one was terrible, the taste shouldn’t be the best.

“I want a mozzarella pizza, please.” he turned to look at the others. The bugs fled to the forest, the desserts were saved, Prani was going to talk with Shaw and peace had returned to the party. It seemed that things would be normal now.

Well, not so much for Shaw. Because right when Prani was going to talk with him, another dude appeared from nowhere and interrupted them. Yikes, another blocker. Zessel thought, feeling annoyed with the people that couldn't read the situation around them.

It seemed that people around here didn’t want Shaw to have a conversation with the girls.

@throwitintothefire @Sreeya @Javier esschoolbus @GABA

 

[Roanoke]

So much stuff are suddenly happening all at once and they're all nearly enough to make Roanoke snap. He can't remember the last time he felt this irritated, but the sight of Prani getting pushed and blamed for this whole debacle when none of it was her fault is the former acolyte's undoing.

He's been bullied before. Heck, he was practically the punching bag—both physical and emotional—by his peers back when he was a Sith. And while he's not outright being bullied for being ex-Sith by the other Padawans, he knows in his heart that he won't just stand and watch his friends get bullied or thrown under the bus.

Even as Regina, Shaw (who thankfully helps Prani up on her feet), and Zessel (bro has a goodaim) all rounded on a now tearing-up Stacy, Roanoke stomps towards her with a deep scowl on his face. He removes the remaining bugs on her, retrieves a handkerchief from his pocket to help wipe the cake from her face as best as she can. He does all this with an unnerving silence, and when he's satisfied that Stacy's cleaned up as best as he can, he glowers at her—

—except it's softened by the sight of her tears, her bottom lip quivering.

Roanoke sighs, a touch of annoyance still marring his scarred face.

"It's not Prani's fault," he tells her, surprising even himself that he's not snapping at her even as his stomach is positively grumbling now. "And don't call her gross. Why are you being mean? Do you get some sick kick out of it?"

He doesn't realize that he's holding Stacy by her shoulders now to keep her steady. He also doesn't realize that his much larger frame is partially covering her just in case any of his friends—or worse Regina—decide to jump on her or something.

And then Stacy is pulling herself off of him to bolt away out of the party, making Roanoke jump. He watches her, torn between running after her and staying. She's a bully, but he feels that she at least deserves to be gently told that she's wrong for being needlessly mean. Roanoke sighs again, shifting his attention back to Prani. He smiles when he sees her trying to coax Shaw out of his anger.

"Hey, man, you cool?" he asks Shaw, not wanting to see his first real friend in the Order frown any longer. He notices how Prani looks at him, saw how Shaw protected her earlier. Roanoke's grin widens, sensing something sweet going on between the two.

When Theia asks about pizza, Roanoke looks at her and gives her a bright, hopeful smile. "Anything with mushrooms and I'm good!" he tells the red-haired girl, looking like a puppy with a rapidly wagging tail. Man, he's still hungry, and he's not going to say no to more food. "I'll give you my share of the pay later, thanks!"

@Sreeya @throwitintothefire @LouJoVi @GABA @everyoneelse

 

[Shaw Amaris]

The whole situation went from bad to worse. Shaw was pissed off with Stacy, sure, but he didn't want her to leave. One apology was all it would have taken, and then all could have been forgiven and forgotten and the party could carry on as normal. If an infestation of bugs could be called normal. Maybe Stacy would have apologized if Regina hadn't chimed in when she did, but it was too late to deescalate the situation now. What was done was done. If Shaw didn't see Stacy around he would swing by tomorrow just to check on her. They had always gotten along fine until tonight. Maybe she would be able to see things more clearly in the light of day.

"Hey, Prani," Shaw smiled, frustration melting away in the face of her sun kissed glow. That sheepish smile that crossed her lips made it really hard to stay in a bad mood. "Sorry about that," he apologized, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. He knew she hated conflict, hated even more to be at the center of it. If he knew her at all he knew that there was a part of her that was probably blaming herself for what had happened. "You okay?"

Shawsome Burgers had a nice ring to it. It was a lot more clever than Shaw Tours that was for sure! "A citation? Opening night, too?" he played along, grin growing. "You haven't even tried one yet." He glanced back over at the grill and sorely wished he hadn't. Syr had dumped a handful of those bugs on the grill and was cooking them up. Looks like no one else would be eating them either. The burgers were a bust. Shaw's heart sank, but he didn't say anything. At least everyone else had brought plenty of food, so no one would go hungry.

"Prani, you like vegetables," Regina stated matter of factly in response to the newcomer's ( @Javier esschoolbus ) question, ever so helpful. "Why don't you show him where they go?"

Shaw playfully rolled his eyes at the teenager's antics and offered Prani and the newcomer a smile. "I can show him where they go." Shaw didn't actually know where everyone had been putting the snacks, but he would figure it out. "So what's your name?" he asked the sephi as they walked away, but not before casting Prani a glance that said I'll be back. He didn't want her ducking out on the party before they actually got a chance to talk. @Sreeya

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

Prani could put up a front with almost anyone, but Shaw (@throwitintothefire ) always saw right through her. He had seen her when she broke down crying at the museum after lying to him that she was fine. She had since realized that she wasn’t going to fool him - nor did she want to. He knew she was on the precipice of a spiral, but she actively caught herself this time. Prani gave him a genuine smile, “Yeah, I’m okay,” She said, “Thanks."

Prani wasn’t exactly surprised when someone interjected (@Javier esschoolbus ), glancing over to regard the newcomer. Shaw was popular to begin with and being host meant he was always going to be the focal point of the evening. She smiled and was about to help the new guy already when Regina loudly attempted to shoo her away. Before Prani could act, Shaw volunteered. Prani only shook her head, chuckling to herself as she waved at them both.

She turned back to Roanoke (@Graveyard Shift )who walked over. Prani hadn’t missed his original tense demeanor which eventually eased up and he was going to kindly talk to Stacy. With everyone else occupied, Prani smiled at him, “Hey, while we wait for the pizza, why don’t I play ya somethin’?” She asked him, having spotted his gaze flicking to her hallikset earlier.

She was only playing for one person so it wasn’t a concert. Never mind that everyone could hear. It wasn’t a damn concert. Prani drew out the instrument, tuning it briefly before her gaze panned across the crowd. Her usuals were too dramatic and soulful, so she would liven things up.

Prani began to pluck at the strings, but she alternated with slapping the board of the hallikset to a rhythm, using the side of her hand and her palm to drum. Her calloused fingers worked like magic as they traveled across the strings and alternated with keeping a steady beat to play a very catchy song. The song was vastly different from anything Shaw had ever heard play despite her playing several songs around him before. Her hands were a blur of motions, her passion for the art blatantly obvious. None of her nervous or shy demeanor existed here, not while she played. While she played, she was the queen of her musical kingdom, the master of her artistic domain.

It was a song where anyone listening could start dancing together. But the way Prani kept her gaze on Roanoke reminded her she was playing for him and only him. This wasn’t a concert!