Childhood Memories

[Verana]

The grounds seemed quiet. The signs of construction work and maintenance still lingered a little bit everywhere you turned but it was certainly shaping up to become something new and invigorating for the faith as a whole. If one would call it that. What did you actually call the Jedi faith thing? Faith to Vera had often been a belief in false idols and symbolism, the kind of stuff her parents had raised her to see past.

The Jedi faith seemed to go a bit beyond that, what with its ‘power’ being something actually observable from the sidelines. Maybe they were just guidelines? That was what Irma had said when they both tried to make sense of it back when they had first joined the Silver Jedi. And now here Vera was, not even part of the Silvers anymore on a planet that felt even further away from home than Kashyyyk ever had.

Still, she had Alden here, and Harper too. She had good people that surrounded her even if they were admittedly people she still hardly knew. So, what better way to get to know people than to babysit them? Right? Vera knew it was a mistake, she had never been a great watch dog when it came to her own siblings, but she wanted to put the effort in to be useful to more people than just Alden and those that they surrounded themselves with.

And today, that meant taking care of some Zak Dymo kid. She had been warned, she had been told to be patient, and Vera had listened to what they had to say. But in her pride she had waved their concerns aside. She had grown up as the middle child, she knew how to take care of both elder and younger siblings. This kid was in good hands.

But they had tried to warn her. It was not the kid who was in her hands, but she who was in his.

The day was young and the patience at top. Though the question remained for how long.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The life of a Jedi Youngling was not for the faint of heart.

The young Nautolan crept through the shadows of the construction that was taking place around them. They were building a Jedi Practicum, or something.

In his mind's eye, this was no Jedi Practicum... it was an Imperial base! On a world deep inside Remnant territory.

The green-skinned boy was not more than eight or nine years old. Not quite into the awkwardness of "tweens" but still cast into the wonder and imagination of childhood. Having captured the plans to the super top secret Starkiller super weapon -- which very closely resembled a Biscuit Baron take-out menu -- the boy was making his way through the secret Imperial base.

Coming up to the end of a row of port-a-potties, the green amphibian dropped into a low crouch as a pair of construction workers came by.

...in the child's imaginative play, these were Imperial stormtroopers.

The boy waited until the stormtroopers had passed before making his sudden, sprinting escape.

It probably went without saying that he was wearing some kind of sheet or towel as a cape. Because youngling.

Barreling across the yard, the boy saw a shadow suddenly leap out at him, realizing too late that there was someone standing in his path. Trying to stop, the child instead went sliding across the floor to collide with something.

Or someone.

He wasn't really sure just what the case may have been.

When he'd opened his eyes, he realized there was an adult type person there.

"Hi!" the boy offered cheerfully.

[member="Verana"]​

 

[Verana]

[member="Zak Dymo"]

… Yet the silence that Vera had observed was quickly broken by the sound of rapid footsteps that seemed to echo around the site. She could recognize by the rhythm that it seemed to be someone in play, but with the size of this place it was hard to really pinpoint where it came from. She squinted and tried to find her ward for the day, but as luck would have it the kid found her instead.

Something soft ran straight into her legs and she stumbled forward from the impact. An amused smile spread on her lips as she turned around to see the Nautolan kiddo that had run into her and his cheerful greeting.

“You must be Zak.” She said with a slight laugh under her breath. She knelt down in order to get down to his height and gave him a quick smile. “I am Vera, I’ve been assigned to you for the day while the masters are out on errands.”

Her eyes wandered around the room before they set on the boy with a curious smile.

“What are you up to?” She asked him. “Anything fun?”

 

[Micah tol Powl]

Captured!

On a mission to aid the Jedi, Secret Agent Zak Dymo, Double-Seven-Zero, finds himself in the evil clutches of the dastardly Darth Vera!

“What are you up to?”

The intrepid, intergalactic Nautolan of mystery was interrogated by the Sith Lawd! Ever the evil enchantress of envy, Darth Vera pressed for secrets of the rebellion.

...wait, were Girl Sith still called Lords? Wouldn't that mean they were boys?

“Anything fun?”

"The ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny!" the Nautolan declared, with one fist triumphant in the air. Unfolding the paper restaurant menu in his hands, the youngling showed the woman the various artistic depictions that he had covered the loub-paper in. The crude drawing appeared to depict blue lightsaber wielding people fighting red lightsaber people. "I'm trying to get stolen Imperial data to the Rebellion against the Sith Empire," the boy added.

Then a random, "Are... are, like, there girl Sith?"

No one could do random like a youngling.

"Are they, like, still called lords?"

[member="Verana"]​

 

[Verana]

[member="Zak Dymo"]

The ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny! Vera’s brow went reaching for her hairline with an amused smile. She had always had good memories of taking care of the twin brothers that came after her. The kid reminded her of them in a sense, though perhaps he was a bit more energetic than they were. The imagination was there, but the questions were already firing at a far more rapid pace.

Vera blinked for a moment trying to find the answers.

“Uh, yeah, probably. I mean, I’m a Jedi girl, ain’t I?” She spoke with a soft smile yet the confusion remained ever so evident on her face. “And I imagine they can be called Sith Lords too, or Ladies if they desire. I never really thought about that.”

“So this Imperial Data…” Vera spoke and shifted her attention back to the game with a squint. “Does the Emperor know you have this information, Jedi?”

“Maybe I ought to report this transgressio- trans- error-” She struggled with words. All things considered, Vera didn’t come from a very educated background. “I will report you to the Emperor myself, and then you will be in some serious trouble, mister!”

The kid would be quick on the uptake, right? Vera knew her part, and she was willing to play along with it. She was just some six or seven years or so into double digits after all. There was no way she would have forgotten her inner child just yet.

Hunching over to let the kiddo make his move Vera mimicked the stances of the Sith from the movies that she had seen in the libraries on Kashyyyk before she had come here. Imposing but stupid looking.

“I will give you a head start at a count to three before I come and get you.” She spoke with a mock bad-guy voice for emphasis. “One…”

The countdown began.

 

[Micah tol Powl]

It was the FINAL COUNTDOWN!

The small Nautolan was scrambling, running in circles while yelling loudly. Possibly his favorite past time. Once he'd found some traction however, the boy was bounding off in search of a place to hide.

To be honest, he'd already forgotten his question regarding Sith Lady Lords. So her answer sailed right past him. At the moment, his mind was entirely in the play zone. It didn't help that Zak's fickle attention span really only had about enough bandwidth for just one thing at a time. And right now, that thing was tag.

Or Darths and Droids.

Or whatever it was that they were playing. To be honest, Zak would have just been happy running in circles, squealing a lot. Probably not everyone else that was in earshot, but Zak would definitely be happy with that plan.

Ducking behind a tree, the towel-caped super agent man paused for a reprieve.

[member="Verana"]​

 

[Verana]

[member="Zak Dymo"]

The problem with this whole arrangement was that Vera was very much a child at heart still. Her connection to her family had always been something that she treasured and the relationship she had with her siblings was something that kept her heart warm. So, when she was assigned to take charge of a small child — or a youngling as they were called for some reason — they probably expected something else out of her. Responsibility? Duty? She wasn’t quite sure what it’d be, but probably not what she was doing in this very moment.

“Two…” She called out with her eyes still closed to give the child more time to hide.

She wouldn’t use the force just yet. She was a hunter since birth almost, a child would be a good test of her skills and an even better way to keep them sharp. Not that she had ever seen reason or need to hunt a child, but tracking them down was always going to be somewhat something of a specialty for her.

“Three…” She let her voice lower into a whisper.

Her eyes opened and the hunt was on. The circles on the floor gave away the kid’s fascination for running around. She knelt down and touched against the trail for good measure and tried her best to trace the steps. It had been hard to miss his happy screams, of course, but this was a visual exercise more than anything.

She found the steps had trailed off from her leading out from the building towards the more open courtyards. Her hand pointed at the latest track as she began to walk forward, mostly as a way to memorize where exactly it was that she had last seen the trail that the kid had left behind. It was a weird habit, but one that she had picked up from her older sister and brother when she had followed them on their hunts as a child.

Reaching the archway leading outside she welcomed the fresh air with a deep inhale and quick exhale to let herself focus again.

He was somewhere around here, wasn’t he? Her eyes trailed along the trees…

“Come out come out wherever you are…” She called out with a big toothy smile and a laugh. “I will find you sooner or later, Jedi.”

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The caped crusader of the seven seas was crouching behind the tree.

Huddled with his knees against his chest, the abyssal eyed imp had his hands over his mouth as he giggled intermittently. He'd totally lost her...

“Come out come out wherever you are…”

The boy's head-tails quivered as his his head came up. His common sense was tingling. And it was saying Stranger Danger.

IN THE DANGER ZONE!

Looking left, then right, the young Nautolan decided to make a run for it. Sprinting from out from behind the tree, the aquatic short change hero ran with his arms held behind his back. Just like the Atrisian ninjas on a popular holo-cartoon.

Because he ran way faster like this.

In his own mind anyway.

[member="Verana"]​

 

[Verana]

[member="Zak Dymo"]

The small snickers coming from behind one of the trees made it all the more obvious where the kiddo was. Vera let herself stroll over there at a slow but ever so sneaky pace in the hopes of catching him off-guard but the kid had other ideas. As she approached the trunk she saw the shape of a small nautolan child burst off into a sprint with his hands stretched out behind him as if he was in a freefall or something. Her brow perked and she laughed, but she didn't question it. Children would be children and she promptly gave pursuit.

Vera kept her pace slow enough to give the child a chance. It was a game, but there were no winners. It was to have fun, blow off some energy and in a sense bond. She knew these rules very well. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t throw some curveballs at him though.

With a careful glance ahead Vera would pull out a few crates to obstruct the escape path just to see how the kid reacted. As a test of sorts to see how younglings acted when faced with obstacles that might have been too big for them. Then again, they had probably been born into the order whereas Vera had not. Perhaps the field was equal, what would she know?

“Look out, it’s a trap!” She exclaimed to warn the child of the crate, just in case it had missed it. “It’s a bomb!”