Private Making New Friends!

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Dreidi had been crying again. Though, if she had been honest, it was hard not to be crying lately. Leaving the SJC had been tough but she was sure it was the right decision, they let her father fight Sith in his condition! It was inevitable that he was going to die if they let him go off and fight Sith, she couldn't believe that there was no one stopping him from jumping into action. Heartbroken and angry, she left the SJC abruptly and hadn't really looked back on the decision, she was right, or she was adamant that she was right about this decision and it also meant that she was closer with Asaraa, her Master, sister and someone she could open to about her feelings surrounding her father and his recklessness. Who goes fighting Sith when they have dementia?! Stupid old fool, she was angry at him as well as the SJC. Apparently being angry is fine and part of grief but it also gave Dreidi a new ability in the Force but she wasn't sure what it was. Whenever she was screaming in frustration, with all the emotions she was feeling lately, there would be a blast in the Force from her voice. It meant that her room was a mess of destroyed objects and flipped furniture.

Today, today Dreidi had been tasked with making a friend in the CIS, someone her own age to help distract her from her grief even if it was for a moment. She was wearing a colourful t-shirt and well worn jeans, sighing, Dreidi didn't want to go out of her bedroom but she decided it was important to listen to the advice she was given. Sighing again, Dreidi stepped outside and wiped the tears from her eyes, which were red from the constant crying that she had been going through. She wrapped her arms around herself and wandered around, she was meant to be meeting someone around her age. Dreidi wasn't sure what they would be doing or what they would get up to but she was already regretting leaving her room. Everyone was too happy, too joyful, her dad was dead and nobody around here seemed to care about that. It was only getting her more angry at the moment, but at the same time it was good to see people just living their lives and not have them stopping her to say sorry for her loss. So, in a roundabout way, her feelings were just mixed and she was just wanting to be angry at everyone and maybe destroy things. At least destroying things felt good for a short bit.

It was certainly going to be interesting for the person she was meeting today.

Alfhildr Ótta

 

[Alfhildr Ótta]

The Dorms
Knights Obsidian Headquarters
Naboo

After being, in reality, alone for so long, bereft of parents she never knew but for stories, and the loss of her brother, taken during a hunt... after coming into Freya's protection and finding safety and affection with the bond came to be between them, to be left in the care of unfamiliar others, to be effectively be alone again, caused so much more than tears. It brought on the nightmares again, the images of shadowed hands enveloping her and dragging her away, only this time there was no Wolfswood, no Freann to flee to, the spirits so out of reach, the essences of her forebears beyond her ethereal grasp in this distant place, without the earth beneath her feet, without the envelopment of the trees.

Because Freya needed to go to him, her brother, and danger might follow in her wake. But why here, of all places? Here, for it was said she would know when she saw them, when she encountered their scent on the breeze. That they were alike yet not the same. That there were many more of what they were, in essence, but with a warning: their minds differed. That is to say, they were unknowing of the Gods, but then, that realm was her responsibility to keep, and to hold her tongue on the matter. They were long severed from their ancestors, long separated from the culture that birthed them, a loss of who they might have otherwise been. She couldn't imagine being without that aspect, so woven into the fabric of her being as it was.

But here? Here she was just a girl, and in the interest of her well-being, and adaptation to the galaxy outside of Islimore, she had been set up to make friends her age, when she had never met anyone less than that of an adult, outside of her own brother when she was too young to understand what the difference meant. For now, she was just a girl; the Change had frustratingly eluded her. Barely thirteen, and without the powerful form of her soul, which brought misgivings until she fervently went through the texts again, reminding herself of her forebears, of her unsullied lineage. She was Lupo, through and through, without a doubt, and maybe... maybe she was impatient. She was the right age, but there was nothing that claimed it happened on the very first day, or week, or month. It would come, in its time, and she had to keep faith that it would.

So, looking at herself in the mirror, checking out the apparently appropriate clothes she had been given to wear out of several pieces to choose from, long, thick red hair left untied, she left the room, relying on the clock being truthful, rather than the unfailing celestial movements: the sun always rose and set in most climes, the moon had its hours, and the stars... but the stars were so different here. She would need to learn them, and it was the thoughts of how she would go about this that occupied her mind, to the point that she almost ran right into someone! Whipping around, looking quite surprised, the young Islimorian Lupine tried to address what had just occurred.

"Aah! Aer..." no, Alfhildr, you're not in Freann, not in the Wolfswood, not on Islimore, "...I'm... sorry?" She looked almost sheepish, it was still a bit hard to get the customs right when things went the unexpected way, "I'm sorry!" But when she actually looked at the other girl, who looked as angry as how sad she often was, Hilda's blue eyes widened, "Are... are you..." okay? no, no, it wasn't right to pry with a stranger, "...are you who I'm supposed to meet today?"

Was this how it worked?

Chaos NaNo: 635 words

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

As she walked to the meeting point, someone with red hair almost ran into, Dreidi jumped back and tried to collect herself. Breathing slowly and trying to let her emotions and anger not lash out on someone clearly made an accident, it was hard to bite on her tongue and hold back from saying something but Dreidi just had to remember balance. Her father was always about balance, he would say that a Jedi had to maintain balance, to adapt to the way of the Force, because the Force was not purely Light or Dark, it was grey, balanced and if one would find their balance then access to the full range of the Force would open up. Dreidi thought he was being preaching and an idiot when he would rant on about balance but there was some wisdom to his words, or at least now he was gone she was willing to give his way of life a go.

The person who bumped into her seemed to switch from her native tongue to basic, which Dreidi was so glad for, her father was some sort of expert linguist but Dreidi was far from skilled in speaking anything but basic. Attempting a weak smile, Dreidi looked over the stranger, she seemed to be the right age and appearance of the person that Dreidi was suppose to meet. Shrugging, it was either them or someone else, Dreidi doubt it mattered who she was meant to hanging out with as long as it was someone her own age. At least that was what she figured Asaraa would be wanting. Sniffing and trying to steel herself up, putting a brave smile on, she extended her hand to shake hands with the stranger.

"Probably? I was meant to meet someone, but I seem to have forgotten the name. Either way, I am Dreidi Xeraic, Jedi Padawan." Dreidi introduced herself, hopefully this meeting would go well, otherwise she might as well just remain in her bedroom forever!

Alfhildr Ótta

 

[Alfhildr Ótta]

To Dreidi's proffered hand, Alfhildr offered momentary hesitation, followed by a bright, genuine, toothy little smile, her two gangly arms arising to envelop the other girl's hand with the slim fingered two of her own, in a steady yet gentle grip. Handshakes, as much of the galaxy did them, were so impersonal, aloof, reserved, or businesslike. What both of them were here for, what both of them needed was connection. What both were set-up to do, making the meeting unnatural, but there was no reason to hold back. No reason to not make the most of what could be a very long time in this foreign place; her hesitation was quelled by such reason. Her hesitation was the bed in which a decision was made to be present, to be here, to try.

"Well met, Dreidi Xeraic," she greeted, holding on, still, "I am Alfhildr Ástríðr Ótta, but you may call me Alfie," she paused, a brief moment of consideration, releasing Dreidi's hand, her arms falling to her sides; Alfhildr's head cocked a shade to one side, "unless Hilda Ottum would be better? Humans may prefer that, my societal name... or so I was told..."

She trailed off, a mite pensive, conferring with her shackled apprehension. She had to continue to trust Freya's counsel; the galaxy wasn't Islimore, not every human was like those that made her kind nigh-extinct. She blinked, coming to the here and now, cheeks lightly rouged at this mental divergence that split her attention, embarrassed that she wrestled with her preconceptions in front of someone she was supposed to be trying to befriend, all because the blonde girl appeared to be human, when she had learned and knew that appearances could be deceiving. She herself wasn't at all as human as she appeared.

"...sorry. I don't mean to assume," wide-eyed, her hands went up, palms out, worried that this might anger Dreidi, "I mean to say, I don't mean to assume what you are," her fingers curled in towards her palms, "that's..." and her arms went down again, "...that's not fair, it was rude of me, and I'm sorry."

Her shoulders were tense. Her all of her was tense. She had never interacted with a non-Lupine in her life, until coming to Naboo, and had never lived in a city. Trying to enter the city meant certain death, only the depths of the Wolfswood, her birthplace, were safe. Freann was safer still... to a certain point. She had never felt trapped, with a life in hiding, but had trouble feeling free so far from the reasons for that hiding. She had never spent so long in a building in her life, and it had only been three days. She still wasn't sure how she felt about being inside a ship, and she had spent months travelling with Freya before being deposited here. She let out a long breath she hadn't intentionally been holding, and unfurled her clenched fists.

"Um... how long have you been on Naboo?"

Chaos NaNo: 500 words

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

The handshake seemed awkward and overly formal, Dreidi was regretting the decision to do a handshake, it was clear that she should have waved or done something less formal. The awkwardness held in the air for a moment until Alfie introduced herself, it seemed that she was not use to being around people outside her own species, which is pretty normal. Living in the Silver Jedi capital, it meant that she found plenty of different races and ways of life, at least ones that followed the Jedi codes. Moving to the CIS space, Dreidi realised how limiting her view on things had been, she was meeting radically different people and it was really interesting for her. Dreidi was also curious about the Sith ways of things and how the Sith of the CIS view Jedi and their ways in comparison. She had always heard Sith were brutal and aggressive both in life and in training.

"Alfie is fine! Nicknames are the best, well usually, my nickname is horrible. My sister calls me Deedee which is just horrid, at least the way she says it is horrid." Dreidi chuckled a little to herself then thought about what she was, she knew her father was human and her mother was a humanoid species but not human, so what that made her was impossible to say since she wasn't sure what she was, half human? Half human seemed possible? "My father was human but my mother isn't, so think that makes me half human?" Dreidi mentioned, figuring there was no harm in being honest in her uncertainty as she just didn't know and it didn't bother her too much that she was unsure so she was comfortable in admitting that. Her mum tended to play things close to her chest, though Dreidi hadn't really shown much interest in finding out. Getting a tail seemed uncomfortable and hard to find clothes for!

Dreidi couldn't help but laugh since Alfie was stuttering and apologising for presuming her race. "It's fine, don't worry about it! I think I follow my dad more than my mum, my sister looks like a younger version of her so I probably look more human than any other race." Dreidi said, offering a warm smile in order to lighten the mood. Stretching her limbs, Dreidi thought about how long she had been on Naboo. "Not long, I came to understand the CIS more since moving here from SJC, my Master is in charge of a system elsewhere which is where I think I will normally be but Naboo seemed a good place to visit to understand the CIS better and meet new people and become friends with others. My master is insistent that I gain new friends, she's also my oldest sister and can be a right pain!" Dreidi giggled softly.

"How long have you been on Naboo?" She asked curious.

Alfhildr Ótta

 

[Alfhildr Ótta]

Relief was plenty evident on Alfie's face when Dreidi turned out to not be angry. The reassurance, the somewhat light-hearted reply relaxed some of the tension in the young lupine's shoulders, and altogether the other girl's response made her let out a light giggle when it came to the mention of Dreidi's older sibling being a pain. She had... had? has? an older brother, too, and the subject of a family link reminded her of one of her most important goals and wishes: for Åsmund to be found, if he had been permitted to live (she felt this to be certain); whether he was still in the grasp of the Fayth, or had been shipped offworld to places unknown, as she in a way had willingly submitted to, herself. None of these thoughts made their way to the surface, however. Grief had long morphed to acceptance, but anger remained a a pit in her stomach, if she was lead to dwell on it. He was all she had left, unless, somehow, others of her clan existed out amongst the stars, unless she considered Freya, who was the same as her, to be some manner of family as well.

"Um..." how long? Galactic calendar? Most didn't speak in moons, "...three days?" Approximately. "And I'm Lupine," Ish; the day would come, but she was pretty much just a girl, for all intents and purposes, a human one until then, "But I haven't undergone my first change yet." Shorthand for 'don't worry, I won't eat you', maybe? Depends. She liked to think she was more civilised, but to be fair, she did grow up in the forest. Being in a city, in a building, was still so surreal, and uncomfortable, alien all at once. "Do you get lost in this place?"

She did. It was some small miracle that she remembered how to navigate to the meeting spot, when all the walls looked the same, when it was so closed in. She quashed the frisson of anxiety at that fact. It had been worse for the first while that she was on a ship, which was even more confined than this.

"Do you... think we're allowed... is it okay..." her brow knit, she bit her lip, "...can we go outside?"

Dreidi Xeraic

377

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

It was good that Dreidi was able to help the other Padawan relax and even let out a giggle. Dreidi use to try and be upbeat and very silly or amusing when she could be. It was why she loved to play pranks on people when she wasn't training, however, more recently she had been pretty solemn so it had been tough for her to make others laugh or have fun. So, hearing Alfie laugh brought back Dreidi's old self a little to the surface and she grinned and she nodded her head. "Lupine sounds cool, maybe that is what my mum is... I know she has a tail, yellow eyes but not Sith kinda yellow, sharp teeth and a wolf pet familiar that she keeps close. What are Lupines like?" Dreidi asked genuinely curious as she didn't know lots about other alien races outside ones she frequently met in the Temple.

"Oh, I get lost plenty, I swear that people build Temples and places like this purposefully to get you lost! I mean why else have all the doors, hallways and rooms all look the same!?" Dreidi moaned as she was so use to the SJC where she could walk around blindfolded so being in a completely new place meant that she was getting very lost all the time and was amazed that she even found the person she was meant to meet today. It was clear that Alfie was not an indoor person and she was feeling a little anxious about being indoors still. Dreidi hadn't really been bothered by it, while weather had been pleasant, she wasn't really looking to be outside lately however, she wasn't going to refuse the chance now.

"I can't see why not, I mean we might be Padawans but we can look after ourselves and we deserve to have some fun outside." Dreidi grinned, even if she had been told not to go outside, Dreidi wasn't going to let that stop her. If she wanted to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air then she would do it. Kinda stubborn but she didn't care.

Alfhildr Ótta