Private Missing Parts

[Valora Starchaser]

The living room floor was covered in something electronic. It was hard to tell what with the guts unscrewed and spilled all over the hard wood. The culprit for the destruction was not in sight, but she could be heard digging through a toy box in the connecting room.

Valora was too old for toys now, but the good ones always had a spare screw or spark she could scavenge for her projects. Problem was, most of her things had already been used for one thing or another. Her stash was looking a little...

She kicked at the broken plastic of a hoverboard.

Pathetic.

Valora sighed and left it all for a trip to the kitchen. Chips break.

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Celeste fixed herself a cup of calming tea and held the warm mug between her hands. She drew in a breath of the herbal steam and relished the quiet. Wait. The... quiet? When -- as a mother -- was quiet ever a bad thing? Her dark eyes narrowed slightly as she thought of the possibilities: Coren had taken the kids out on an adventure (good, but she'd have to patch someone up when they returned, no doubt), everyone was asleep (nope, not at this time of the day)... that could really only mean one thing.

Trouble.

It was a sense of just knowing -- and it wasn't a Jedi sense at all; it was a mom sense. Celeste gazed over the top of her mug as she took a sip, just in time to catch Valora entering, her shoulders drooping forward just so. She could guess what was wrong, but she decided to ask, "what's up?" Celeste offered her daughter a smile. "Are you hungry?"

 

[Valora Starchaser]

"Yeees," she answered slowly, distracted. She helped herself to the cabinet, ruffling until she found a stale bag of chips she hid behind the baking goods last week.

Bingo.

She paused, then pulled out an electric can opener as well.

"Hey, mom, do you need this?" Nothing good ever started with that question. She drooped into the bar stool and shuffled the bag of chips around to her other hand.

How would she open this thing anyway... She flipped it around.

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Celeste watched as Valora pulled a bag of chips — that she didn’t even know they had — out of the cupboard. Canting her head to the side, she considered her daughter’s question concerning the electric can opener. Her default answer was ‘no, please go find something of your father’s to take apart.’

Coren Starchaser was already the cool parent. And, despite what the children might say, Celeste did actually get tired of saying ‘no’ all the time. So, she let Valora keep turning the can opener over in her hands.

“What are you making this time?” She did want to encourage Valora’s interests, even if she didn’t understand it herself. “Does this have the part you need?”

 

[Valora Starchaser]

"Idunno," she shrugged. "Maybe." There was one way to find out. But first-- She put down the can opener and ripped open the bag. Salt and vinegar, yum.

"I'm trying to make the vacuum mow the lawn." Never mind that they already had a droid for that-- it was charging. And never mind that they had more beach than grass to worry over-- she was bored. She noticed the silence then and looked around.

"Where is everyone?" She chirped, with the faintest hope that Valerie had conned Dad into getting pizza for dinner. It was only 2pm.

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Celeste's brows arched slightly upon hearing her daughter's plan. "I see," she said. The battle for the electric can opener was good as lost now; victory would go to Valora. She drew in a breath and concentrated -- feeling the hum of the force around Valora -- and the more distant aura of Coren and Valerie.

"They aren't far," she said with a nod. "Probably at the temple."

She watched Valora for a moment. The image of her eating chips reminded her of when she was a little girl, putting anything she could grab into her mouth. Even back then, she'd had a fondness for electronics it seemed. Many datapads had been sacrificed and remotes, too. Sometimes, she wished she could will time to slow down. The twins were growing so fast. Though, the two of them would be sheltered in their parent's embrace for a few years yet... the day would come too soon when they'd leave home, too.

Just like Atticus had done.

It made her heart full and achy at the same time. Best make the most of it now, she reminded herself. "So, little inventor... will you show me how you're going to make this mower?"

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora perked.

"Ok, but Imma need your leg shaver thingies annnnnd some tape-- you know where dad hid his super glue?" She jumped off the seat, greasy fingers picking up can opener and hauling it with her towards the bathroom.

"I swear I won't stick my fingers together this time. Unless your gonna give me the pin for his power tool cabinet, I gotta make the metal stick together somehow. Pleeeeeeeeeeease?" She pried, grabbing Celeste's razor from the bathroom shelf. They were hardly sharp enough to cut hair, never mind grass, but that was besides the point.

"I'll let you put it on instead!"

Celeste Rigel

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Oh, goodness.

Celeste started to follow after Valora, but halted when she caught a glimpse of the living room. However, her attention was torn in two directions — the rather large mess of electronic parts strewn about the carpet and her child’s requests. The healer knew this could go two ways: enter mom mode and chide about the living room or go with the flow. In the end, she chose to indulge Valora.

“Fine,” she said. “Just as long as you help me clean up when we’re done, okay?”

She shaded the PIN number with her free hand, watchful prying eyes and all that, and retrieved the glue. The little tube indicated it was ‘starship strength.’

“All right, then,” Celeste smiled. “Show me where you need glue — I’ll do it.” She really didn’t want Valora to glue her hands together, force healing could only do so much.

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

"Okay," she rattled pacifyingly.

She kneeled back between the screws and random bits, and studied the razor for a moment before opting to simply hit it against the ground. A few wacks later broke off the head from the handle. A screw driver quickly unwedged the blades all together. She shimmied forward on the ground and began to point to places she thought the blades would best go. Sometimes they were on the moving rotators of the vacuum, sometimes they weren't.

"Dooooooooooo you think Dad's going on a trip again?" She hedged, picking up on the subtle signs that Coren had picked up a job-- A late night mommy daddy convo, phone calls, a subtle preoccupation with his holo pad. He was preparing for something.

She was ready for it.

"Cause like. I'm older now.... don't you think?"

She smushed the blades down onto the carefully applied glue drop and caught a smidge on her pinky.

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Celeste watched Valora's nimble fingers work. And, with some finesse, broke the razor from the handle by hitting it against the floor. Well, that was certainly one way to do it. She pulled the little cap of the tube of super glue and held it ready. Then she put small dots of it where Valora indicated with the tip of her finger.

"All right," she smiled. "Done."

Her brows arched as her daughter dropped a not-so-subtle hint. Celeste ought to have known; Valora was quite keen, she likely picked up on it straight away. It was true, too. Valora had grown – in many ways. But, perhaps it was because she was their mother, she still saw children when she looked at the twins.

Overprotective mother bear, yes, that was her role.

She stood without a word and fetched a damp wash cloth, knelt next to Valora and sought to dab the glue caught on the girl's little finger. But she paused and proferred the cloth instead. Maybe she did baby the girls a bit much.

"You are older, yes," she said, a hint of a sigh escaping with her words. "I wouldn't be opposed to you joining your father on a research trip..." Something boring. "But I can't have you running around on battlefields." Coren had changed in the years since their marriage. However, old worries died hard -- or rather, were ressurected time and again.

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora perked, her features exploding with energy.

"Reeeeeeaally?" A beat. She squealed and burst up, wrapping Celeste in a hug that would threaten to knock her off balance. "So I can go on this one? Can I have a backpack? Will there be bad guys? Are you coming?"

Unwiped glue would inevitably end up in Celeste's hair, and it would only be seconds until it sealed to Valora's finger. Saved money on hair cuts, one would guess.

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Celeste laughed when Valora nearly knocked her over, and she wrapped her arms around her daughter in a hug. And she followed the flurry of questions the best she could, but took a rather long moment to think it over. Was this a terrible idea?

"Well, I suppose..." Celeste started, only noticing now that strands of her hair seemed to be connected to Valora's finger. In a swift motion, she used the wet cloth to separate her brunette strands from her child's finger. "There will not be any bad guys." That was a certainty as far as Celeste was concerned. But, perhaps, just to make sure -- it would be good to go along with Coren and the girls. "I'll go. Just so I can keep an eye on everyone." A knowing smile formed on her lips.

It had been a while since she'd been away from the temple, and she'd accompanied Coren on artifact hunts many times before the twins were born. This sort of thing really was in their blood, wasn't it? She flashed Valora a look as if to say 'don't make me regret this.'

Valora Starchaser

 

[Valora Starchaser]

Valora raised her hands innocently, a wordless promise that she'd be blameless in any trouble they came across.

"Well no bad guys per say... but definitely like. At least one security checkpoint," she tried to bargin, using topics she definitely didn't understand.