O, Jedi Where Art Thou? (Heavenshield)

[Micah tol Powl]

Help take care of the younglings, they said.

It builds character, they said.

A Jedi should demonstrate service before self, they said.

Welp. Now I'm stuck crawling around a ventilation shaft, chasing after a two year old who wants to play prison break, and what am I getting out of this? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Zed. At least babysitters get paid for the poodoo we put them through...

That's what this is, isn't it? This is some kind of karmic revenge for that one time when [member="Kana Truden"] babysat me, isn't it? Because, that had totally washed out the next day...

The boy arrived at a grate, inspecting it to see if Captain Training Pants might have bailed on him. The grating seemed secure enough, however. It didn't give when the Nautolan tugged at it. The sounds trickling up from below told him it must be the girl's refresher. Which, they were even uglier without their clothes on. And he should know. Growing up in a mixed gender youngling clan, the boy was accustomed to both male and female undress. Shaking his head, the green-skinned amphibian continued onward in the search for the wayward walker.

A loud bang echoed through the air shaft.

Was that the kid? Scurrying ahead, the Nautolan arrived at a drop in the chute. Shimmying down, the Nautolan caught a glimpse of the black haired nymph. "Ha!" the boy cried, letting go of the sides of the ventilation shaft as he dropped down to grab the boy.

Except Zak weighed a good bit more than Theo did.

As the Nautolan's weight dropped onto the lower ventilation duct, the bottom gave way.

And so did the ceiling beneath it.

"Umph," the boy uttered, feeling some of the wind knocked out of him as he started slipping through the hole he'd just punched through the roof. He might be in trouble... Gritting his teeth, the child pressed his hands against the sides of the ventilation duct and tried to hold his weight. Kicking through a dust of plaster and duct work, the lower half of the Nautolan's body jutted through the ceiling of [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]'s office. Before the surrounding parts gave way, so that the amphibious youth tumbled from out of the brand new skylight he had just installed for the Silver Jedi Grandmaster.

He was in trouble!

Eyes wide, the child fell from out of a plaster dust cloud toward the unforgiving floor below.

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"]​

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

[member="Zak Dymo"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

​

Small hands reached up to the control panel by the door, father always leaves his door open, why not now? He could not reach it. Even if he could, the door would not open, the infiltration of the two had set off alarms around the temple as the security system had shut down the room. All avenues of escape gone, gone! Théo's face turned white, he is trapped, they are trapped and it would only be a matter of time before someone would come to find them there in the mist of the destruction.

But what of his pursuer? Théo turned to see the dust settle around the head of the young Nautolan, who sat there in a daze for a moment. "You alright?", he asked now concerned for the kid, that was not supposed to happen and somewhere in the back of Théo's mind he knew Zak was only looking out for him and that this was a game.

Théo looked up to the hole in the ceiling and grimaced, "We get out?", he said once more but this time it was not for the sake of the game, but for their hides. Wasting no time, Théo discovered another panel on the ceiling directly over one of his fathers cabinets in which he might keep important stuff, but Théo cared little for the contents, but it would make a good platform to reach the panel in the ceiling. He climbed up on a table next to it, accidentally kick over a statue of the former grand master which fell to the floor but did not break to Théo's relief, but his mind was on his objective.

He climbed up onto the cabinet and stood before pushing open the panel, it took little effort and sat to the side easy enough, but his footing on the cabinet was not so secure and the cabinet began to teeter, trying quickly to amend his footing, Théo only made the situation worse and the cabinet toppled over and crashed to the floor, the contents spilling out. Théo is left hanging by the metal supports of the ceiling, his legs swaying and kicking trying to find any footing at all.

Yes they are in trouble, big trouble if they can't get out.

 

[Micah tol Powl]

The young Nautolan had the wind knocked out of him.

The sound of something hitting the floor with a heavy thunk prompted the green-skinned youngling to sit up. Rubbing at his bruised tailbone, the boy looked over to discover a statue on the floor.

That was a very odd place to keep a statue.

Turning his large, black eyes up the young Jedi was presented by the sight of a now familiar rump and a pair of feet scaling over the top of a table. And that was an ever odder place to keep a toddler.

Also, odder was totally a word.

The boy gave a squeal as he got back to his feet. His butt hurt, and they hadn't even been caught yet. Which, Zak wasn't certain just what he'd done -- other than try to catch an escaping toddler from day care prison break, but he had every idea he was in trouble. He was probably going to be the youngest padawan ever banished from the Order of the Silver Jedi. Which, after today, sounded like a welcome respite from the prospect of going back to taking care of the next generation of padawan menaces.

Younglings were crazy!

Hoping that the very near human boy wasn't about to join the statue on the floor, the Nautolan made his way over to the panel by the door. "I think it's locked," Zak noted aloud, playing with the controls for a moment as he tried to get the door open. Some kind of intruder protocol had been triggered... but this was Voss. Did the Sith even know this planet existed?

...oh, duh.

They were the intruders.

If the alarms didn't already have about a million Silver Guardians headed this way with a million-and-one very bad things ignited in their hands, then the sound of the explosion which had just stood all fourteen of the child's head-tails on end probably signaled the apocalypse and/or Zak's life sentence to service in the AgriCorps.

Whipping around, the Nautolan was presented by an office that was now in catastrophic disarray. A cabinet was upended and the toddler was dangling from a panel in the ceiling.

Zak jumped on top of the fallen cabinet, but the ceiling was too high for the small boy to reach the dangling toddler. This didn't present the Nautolan with a lot of good options. He could try to Force Pull the boy... except Zak's telekinesis was poodoo. Manipulating toys that weighed next to nothing was a good parlour trick, but the reality was that Zak couldn't even lift a single Muntuur stone on Ossus. Like not even budge! So trying to levitate the toddler? Sooooo not a good idea.

So what option did that leave him?

Pushing outward with both hands, the Nautolan instead sent a Force Push up -- in the hopes of boosting the other boy up into the panel. That would at least eliminate the immediate risk of falling.

What next?

Zak... had no idea.

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"]​

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

​

A heavy wave of fear washed over Théo, his grip was slipping as his hands became sweaty. This small fingers unable to grasp the metal support with much strength let alone set a firm hold. He decided to stop kicking that made it worse but between his arms he looked down hoping to find a soft area for his fall, and the fall would come. All he saw was the hard and unforgiving floor covered in all manner of father's things. This sight puncuating the fear ten fold, what would father say about all this? Not to mention mother when she found out.

"Help!" came the feeble call and help arrived. Just as Théo's fingers gave way. He felt his stomach lurch as his body lifted upward at a rapid rate, something had taken hold of him and threw he skyward. Not having time to find out what, and his eyes firmly set on the rapidly approaching roof above his father's office, Théo curled into a ball to try and shield his body from the impact with the roof. This was going to end in tears, he knew it.

But the impact never came. Only inches away from the roof, Théo opened his eyes as his body began it's descent, and he is now out of control of his own destiny.

The sudden thud against his body as he landed on one of the panels in the ceiling, knocking the wind out of his lungs and the shock of the impact dulling his senses for a moment. Then came the sound, cracking sound. What was cracking? The panel gave way.

Free falling, stomach in mouth, yell in the throat that would never grace the ears of any around ... and the noise of someone at the door. Théo felt the presence of many, Jedi Guardians at the gates! and not happy.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

The door slid open as a weary Thurion stepped inside, rubbing the back of his neck. He'd returned from another meeting with the Silver Council discussing the Primeval encroaching on their protected worlds. The Sith were still wrecking havoc on the Republic and Mandalorians, but now with this new organisation at their doorstep this war could escalate to immense proportions. If it came down to it, the Silver Jedi would not retreat nor surrender to leave the good people of the galaxy to their fate. They were protectors first and foremost.

What he saw upon entering his office, however, was utter chaos brought on by two young boys. Was that... Théo? As the lad fell, Thurion's hand reached out and caught him mid-air, using the Force to gently bring Théo's descent to a stop. Now he was hovering in place as his father strode up to him. "Théo," he said with raised eyebrow. "Zak," he continued as he looked over at the Nautolan boy. "You two mind explaining yourselves?" Not waiting around for them to find the right words to decribe their situation, he plucked Théo out of the air into his arms to hold him in his arms.

"I'm not mad at you. Frankly, I'm amazed at the level of destruction you boys pulled off by yourselves in a seemingly short amount of time. I just want to know what happened, and why this little one isn't where I left him at the daycare."

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"] | [member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Micah tol Powl]

As the door opened behind him, the young Nautolan turned around.

And then looked up.

Hello, Thurion Heavenshield. Master Thurion Heavenshield. THE Master Thurion Heavenshield. As in, Grandmaster.

You know, that brah.

The Nautolan's head-tails seemed to sag and go limp. The boy's hands came up to his waist, plucking hold of the front of his tunic. Pulling on the material nervously, the youngling fought to try and come up with an answer. "He..." the boy began, stuttering slightly as he started and stopped. "He found the ventilation system."

Stop in the kitchen to get a mouthful of Toastios and next thing you knew, that grate covering the air shaft was gone. Along with the toddler.

"I squeezed after him to... to try and get him out," Zak continued, his head turning as the boy gazed back to the Nautolan-sized hole in the ceiling where the youngling had fallen through the ceiling. Then at the cabinet. Then at the statue. Then back to the grandmaster.

"...it hasn't exactly worked out like I thought," the Nautolan confessed, looking at the man with large, black eyes.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] | [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]​

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

[member="Zak Dymo"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

​

He felt the hand of his father through the force. The sudden stop of the fall as the force wrapped around his body in a gentle hold, always there to protect him, always there in the time of need and there always with love. HIs father's voice not harsh or angry .. just a bit confused possibly and held concern for the two. Théo looked over his shoulder as he took him in his arms. The Silver Guardians behind the grand master looked on with astonishment at the destruction of the office, only two young boys could do, but realising that the threat was not danger to the Temple and the grand master himself they retreated which a bow to Thurion.

Théo turned back to look at his father's profile, then toward Zak who tried to explain what had happened. "Théo wanted out", he said as Zak finished. To Théo's mind of course, this actually was his father's fault! For leaving him in that less than humane prison, with snotty nosed babies penned in bars, who lacked the sense of their plight or a want to escape. Girls! of all the horrid things in the galaxy .. girls that wanted him to play dolls and stuff, honestly why did they need to exist? Théo shuddered at the thought of them. And finally, his nemesis that horrid boy that stole his toy. The place was evil itself.

But Théo was not going to tell his father it was actually his fault! Maybe when he is older, no... never. He began to fiddle with the collar on his father's robes. "Théo not like it", he added with his limited words. "Zak looking for me". No it was not Zak's fault at all, finally he looked into his father's eyes, only to see himself mirrored there and his own looking back at him.

"Sorry Papa".

Then he returned his gaze to Zak standing all alone and awkward. Théo wriggled a little, to indicate to his father he wanted to get down. After his father had placed him on the floor, Théo moved to stand next to Zak. If they are going to be in trouble for his destruction, Théo will stand beside his friend and take whatever punishment was coming their way together.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Thurion listened to the less-than-adequate explanation for all this mess, but would show no signs of anger towards the two younglings. Instead, he kneeled down before them as they stood together and placed his hands upon their shoulders, one significantly taller than the other. "It's alright, boys. Nothing got broken that can't be fixed. My only concern is your safety." He turned to his son first. "I'm sorry for putting you in that daycare. We didn't know you hated it so. Me and your mother should've known you'd rather run free." With his Jedi training approaching sooner than he would've liked, that would no longer be a problem. "Zak," he turned to the Nautolan. "Thank you for looking after Théo. You did good." He then pulled the two into an embrace.

"Théo, would you like to stay here for now, with me? You could help daddy out with work," he said as the hug ended. "Zak, you should probably return to your duties. I hear Master Abrion could use a hand in the courtyard training grounds." He offered the boy a wink, knowing he would know it concerned lightsaber practise all boys find exciting.

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"] | [member="Zak Dymo"]​