Private Snow Blind

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

Valery blinked at her son when he pointed something out that most wouldn't ever expect from a kid. But as quick as he was to do that, he also left to go make pancakes. Vera had run off to set the table, and the triplets were crawling around their toys to play with them. They were all far too distracted to listen to the conversation, though Gatz seemed to think otherwise. She could feel his discomfort when she proposed to bring him along on a mission.

He had a tendency to think too much into things.

"Briana is on the other side of the Galaxy, so she's not going to be anywhere close for a while," Valery countered with narrowed eyes, "You're going to stay and eat first. You still need food in your stomach if you want to fight or be out there, after all." She nudged him towards the table, where Vera had already gotten a plate for him ready.

But no knife or fork, much to Valery's amusement. There was only one way to eat pancakes, after all.

"I wasn't kidding about your help being useful either, Gatz. It's... also totally fine to want to use the things you've learned to help out more and more. You're doing great, and it's okay to be proud of that."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil and Aris went about making the pancakes in the other room, idly holding a conversation with themselves. Nothing too important, but it was nice to have that kind of just fun banter with his son. Kahlil smiled as they flipped pancakes together, ignored the dull throbbing in his head from the injury, and generally had no real issue functioning otherwise. It'd heal by the end of the day, if he was able to guess the severity well enough.

Which, he was plenty used to guessing.

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

"Briana is on the other side of the Galaxy, so she's not going to be anywhere close for a while."

She's a lot closer than you think, Val. But he shook that thought from his mind, before he could voice it.

Valery's eyes narrowed at him, which was the usual sign that she was displeased with him. It was an expression that Gatz was, unfortunately, very familiar with. She'd caught him not eating once, and that had not ended well for either of them. If he skipped dinner, Gatz was pretty certain a fight like that was going to break out again. That was about the last thing he wanted.

He watched Vera set the table and smiled. Troublemaker or not, she was a good kid. Far better than he'd been at her age. Though, she seemed to have forgotten the silverware.

Valery comforting him was nice, and he did understand that she was just trying to find avenues for him to feel useful. He supposed it just stung, to have her voice that out loud, to people he didn't quite feel comfortable sharing that with. But then, the children were busy either playing or helping, and so the only person who'd really picked up on it would have been Kahlil, who had probably already picked up on his... inability to be useful.

"Am I really doing great, Val?" Gatz asked quietly, "all I ever do it get hurt, and you have to drag me out of danger. I'm no closer to helping anyone than I was a year ago."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

"I'm no closer to helping anyone than I was a year ago."

Valery raised an eyebrow, "That's a strange thing to say after you extracted my husband from a planet with Sith on it. You've made plenty of progress and you'll do just fine if we take you on a mission that's fitting. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and you're in a learning process. Some missions will be better for you than others." And slowly but surely, he'd be able to take on a lot more as well. She knew it, and she had a feeling he knew that too.

He just needed to accept it.

"Daddy?!" Vera yelled from the table. "Are the pancakes done yet?!" She was already getting impatient and kicking her feet back-and-forth beneath the table. She could smell the pancakes, so why weren't they on her plate yet?

"Sweetie, your sleeves," Valery said with a chuckle, and Vera was quick to remember to roll up her sleeves. She had no intentions of eating with silverware, and Valery wasn't even thinking about putting it on the table either. Too used to eating pancakes the way she did.

"Maybe you can join my husband and I for something a little more relaxed. We have assignments that don't involve dangerous Sith or beasts too, you know."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Mm. They are now."

Kahlil stepped out into the dining room with Aris in tow, and plates of pancakes. Enough for all of them to at least have three if they wanted. And of course, fillings. Toppings. All the works, really. Kahlil set down his plate with a smile, glancing towards where Valery and Gatz were. "Come, eat. We can talk about missions or the like after some food. Both of you."

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

"I—" Gatz cut himself off, frustration filling him.

Words meant to placate only made the claws of self-loathing dig deeper. If he had to find missions that were 'fitting' for him, then he wasn't good enough. Gatz didn't want to have to pick and choose how to help people. He should simply be able to see someone in need, and be able to help them. It shouldn't matter if a job was 'better' for him. The only thing that should matter is that he could get the job in front of him done.

The fact that Valery was pushing him toward something relaxing, the fact that he needed a second Jedi Master to supervise him because he was that prone to screwing up, the fact that she was trying to keep him from the dangerous jobs as if he were a youngling—it burned him up inside. He needed out. Out of here, out of this place, away from everyone, before that fire bloomed from him and consumed everyone around him.

And he couldn't leave. Valery wouldn't let him. He was stuck here, drowning in his own inadequacies, as Valery unintentionally hammered in every nail of his every insecurity.

So instead, he offered a tight-lipped smile. Removed his jacket, set it on the chair, rolled up his sleeves, and sat down.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

"Pancakes!"

"Pancakes!"

"Pancakes!"

"Pancakes!"

Valery looked at Vera and triplets eagerly waiting for food to arrive, and soon enough, both Dad and Aris appeared. She offered her oldest son a grateful smile for helping his father, and leaned in to quickly kiss his cheek when he set her plate down in front of her, "Thank you, sweetie," she said before turning to the table. Kahlil and Aris both had silverware, but Vera had no intentions of grabbing some for herself.

With bare hands, she reached for a pancake and carefully held it up, so the syrup wouldn't fall off. She then stuffed as much of it into her mouth as she could, and bit down, "Hmm!" She giggled and licked the syrup that tried to escape from the corners of her mouth away. "Yum! They're very good!" Vera nodded and continued to eat like a gremlin. The triplets were awfully quiet, and waited for their Mom to cut their food into smaller pieces before eating.

Valery herself... was better than Vera, but she wasn't reaching for silverware either.

"So... was the escape from that planet easy? Or did you two run into trouble trying to get back?" Valery asked with a curious brow raised. "Sith don't always let people get away so easily."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"The blizzard made it easy, I think."

They couldn't see them, so the Sith weren't able to follow. He glanced briefly to Gatz. Frowned for a brief moment. He really was intent on just beating himself up. It wasn't going to lead to anything good, but Kahlil wasn't going to say anything for the time being.

"They'll be ready for people to come back, though. If they don't abandon it to move to the next and rig the outpost to blow."

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

"The blizzard helped a lot," Gatz agreed, almost distantly, "and you know me."

That was not a boast. It was not a pat on his own back, or acknowledgement of his own skills. It was only self-depreciating. Gatz was ashamed of those skills. He'd been a smuggler. Avoiding detection was part of the job. He'd slipped in and out of hundreds of systems without anyone noticing. It was the one thing he was truly good at; the only thing he'd ever been able to make a career out of.

And it was the skillset of a scumbag.

Before he could get too lost in that thought, however, Kahlil brought up a good point: the Sith knew they'd been sleuthed out. Kahlil had only been shot down because they'd spotted him. By the time he and Briana got back to Vandor, they'd probably be long gone, and they'd probably try to scuttle their base so that there was nothing left behind to dig through.

"Probably. Still, we'll check it out. Maybe we'll get lucky, and they'll have left something behind and—"

Gatz stopped, staring at Valery as she ate with her hands like some kind of animal. Vera, he understood. She was a little gremlin. Valery was a forty-year-old woman. For the love of— he'd been raised dirt poor, his jokes were crass and inappropriate, and he'd spent six years as criminal scum and even he still had enough table manners to use silverware.

"Valery. What are you doing?"

Apparently, even a street kid from Theed was more refined than a Jedi Master from a bygone era.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

Valery nodded in agreement, "It would be a good idea to go back, just to be safe. Maybe try a scan from afar, too. There's a good chance they left, but they could have also done the opposite and called in reinforcements to set a trap." It was unlikely, but best to be safe and suspect the worst. If they went in knowing what to expect, she was certain Gatz and Briana could handle it.

Valery and Kahlil would also be one call away if they wanted any kind of back-up too. He had helped Kahlil as well, after all.

After taking a bite from the pancake she had rolled up, Gatz spoke up and Valery blinked, "What?" She aksed with a mouth full of pancake. Realizing how inappropriate that was, she quickly swallowed her bite and tilted her head. "This is how you eat pancakes. Aris makes mine thinner and wider, so you put something on it, roll them up, and eat them." She nodded and Vera nodded along in agreement.

"You guys are weird," the young Noble echoed.

Valery smirked and looked at Gatz for a moment before turning to her husband, "Do you know where the other outposts are?" She asked like her eating habits wert completely normal. Because they were.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil and Aris both continued to eat their pancakes with fork and knife, but they both understood the gremlins that were Vera and Valery. And they weren't going to say anything. Kahlil shrugged at Valery's question though. "They're hidden. I've been trying to find links between the ones I have found, but I'm not surprised I can't find much at all. Carnifex wants this to take as long as posisble."

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

"So uncivilized," Gatz nudged Vera, "the both of you."

But there was a smile, however small, on his face.

These two wouldn't have lasted a minute at a Nubian dinner table. Kahlil and Aris, on the other hand, were actually gentleman instead of wild animals. Gatz could actually be seen in public with them. He wasn't sure he'd ever let himself be caught dead at a restaurant with Valery and Vera. His reputation was garbage, but not so low as to be seen eating without utensils.

The topic turned back to the outposts, and the Sith that manned them. Valery pitched a fair idea, but Gatz wasn't certain of how much luck he'd have with it. The Red Night was well equipped to jam scanning, and fake transponder codes, but it wasn't really equipped with deep scanning equipment beyond what was stock. Nevermind how useless all that would be, if he and Briana ran into another blizzard.

But then a vaguely familiar name came up.

"Carnifex?" Gatz raised an eyebrow, "isn't that the Sith Lord who made that broadcast to Coruscant a few months back?"

Gatz wasn't exactly up-to-date on his Sith Lord lore, but he had been on Coruscant for that very chilling message.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

"Relax, we just eat pancakes this way. Because it's the right way~" Valery smirked and turned to Vera, who gave her mother a high-five before she returned to her food. The pancakes tonight tasted amazing, so the kids were all awfully quiet as they focused on stuffing their faces with food. A rarity in a house full of energetic Nobles.

But that was the power of pancakes.

Well, Dad's pancakes — Mom's weren't as good according to the council of kiddos.

"He's also Kahlil's father," Valery said, but she figured Gatz might already know that? "He has caused a lot of trouble for our family, but for the Alliance too. A lot of them dating back to when the Sith still ruled the core decades ago." She knew little about the One Sith, but enough to know that they left behind problems.

"Maybe finding the outposts is something Gatz could help out with even more?" A former smuggler surely knew how to hide, so finding hidden things might also work quite well. It also gave him reason to work more closely with the Nobles, which he seemed to like quite a bit.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"More eyes that can look, the better. With the Mandalorians and the Sith Order's activities it's getting harder to be everywhere at once." Not that they were everywhere, but it did stress the issue with keeping up with everything. Kahlil let out a sigh before taking another bite of his pancakes. It was stressful, trying to balance everything. Stressful and tiring. "I'm not sure what to do with it all. Which to prioritize."

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

The reveal of Darth Carnifex being Kahlil's father had Gatz choking on his pancakes. He coughed for a few moments, before downing half his water in an attempt to prevent suffocation by delicious pastry. No, Gatz had no idea who Kahlil's father had been. Valery had only told him that Kahlil had been both smuggler and Sith, before he'd become the Jedi Master Gatz had met today.

She rarely spoke of her family during their time together. He had always assumed that was to protect them and their identities from people who might misuse that knowledge.

"So," Gatz started, a little hoarse after choking, "I take it family reunions are real awkward?"

He really hadn't been expecting such a reveal at a simple pancake dinner. The Nobles' lives were something he'd expect to play on the big screen, not something real that happened to real people. But then, Gatz should have known better, even after just his first meeting with Valery. Galaxy altering things tended to happen around her.

"I swear Val," Gatz shook his head, "my life was somewhat normal before I met you."

Not better though. Happier? Sure. But also far more selfish. Most days, Gatz would take being miserable and doing right, over being happy and doing wrong. Most days.

"One thing at a time," otherwise things would get overwhelming, and he was just one man who happened to know many Jedi, "we'll start with these outposts. After that, we'll talk about what to do next."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
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Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

While Kahlil was a little distracted talking to Valery and Gatz, Vera took the opportunity for a dangerous quest. A syrup-covered hand sloooowly extended towards Kahlil's plate, hoping to snatch some of his pancakes. Valery watched it happen, smirked, and just kept her focus on Gatz and Kahlil for now. There was no way Kahlil would let their gremlin behavior catch him by surprise anymore, so it was just waiting to see how this would play out.

"Family reunions for us always involves fighting," Valery said with a dip of her head. "It has been a while though." The last time she had a direct confrontation with Carnifex was back at the Wellspring of Life, when she had fought together with Kahlil and Thurion to keep the Dark Lord out.

A successful battle, though one that had nearly cost their friend his life.

"You think my life isn't normal?" She then asked with a chuckle. "I can agree the Jedi stuff isn't, but this..." she looked at her happy family enjoying some pancakes at the dinner table. "I'm glad I can consider this normal. The war might try to change that for us all again." Which was the hardest part about it all on a personal level — the way it was going to impact her family.

"Maybe..." Valery paused and looked at Kahlil again, "We should let Gatz stay in the guest room tonight. It's getting late, and I think it might be better to get rest before heading back out? We could even help or have him join us for tracking down the other outposts."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil didn't even spare Vera a glance, instead just moving his plate away from her before nodding once in agreement with Valery. "We've plenty of room. I don't see why not. Tomorrow we can discuss more in depth on how to handle the outposts." A proper discussion would be good. Kahlil took another bite, glancing briefly towards Valery before again looking at Gatz. He wasn't going to make the man stay.

But he was welcome to.

Valery Noble | Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble Kahlil Noble

Gatz watched Vera being a little gremlin with a smile. Even funnier was how Kahlil dodged her attempt at swiping a pancake so nonchalantly. Pro Dad move. With a shake of his head, Gatz plopped his last untouched pancake on her plate, so that the others might be spared the pain of Grand Theft Pastry. A cruel fate, should he let it come to pass, especially with how good Kahlil's pancakes were.

He liked the troublemaker. She was his favorite.

Valery mentioned him staying over, and Gatz immediately knew this was about to turn into them bickering. Val always got her way, at least when he was concerned. Maybe it was because she was more assertive than he was, and he deferred to her on account of being in debt to her for the rest of his life. Still, he was going to at least try to argue.

"I appreciate it you guys, but the soon as we finish the dishes, I should really get going." Gatz was still working on an angle to convince Valery, "besides, I'll have plenty of time to sleep in hyperspace. I'll be as well rested as I can be."

Which wasn't much, but it wasn't like he was going to sleep any easier in their guest bed. Unless their bed magically warded off nightmares.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
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Tag: Kahlil Noble Gatz Derrevar

At first, Vera pouted when her father slid his plate away far enough for her to not be able to reach it. How had he been able to spot her? She couldn't understand it with him sometimes, but she fell back into her seat and grumbled to herself. Until Gatz offered up one of his own pancakes, "Oh, thank you!" She smiled brightly and went straight back to devouring more of the meal her father and brother had made.

Valery watched it happen and chuckled, though she turned to Gatz with quite a look when he argued against the offer. Normally, she wouldn't have been bother by people deciding not to stay. But she knew why he was doing that, and she clearly didn't like it. Even the kids picked up on that look she had, but said nothing.

"Ah yes, sleeping on your way to an outpost potentially filled with Sith. That's a very good idea," she told him sarcastically before she stood up to pick up not just her own plate, but everybody else's too. Kahlil had cooked dinner, so she was going to handle the dishes, and she'd never allow a guest to help with that.

"But if you really don't want to stay, I can't force you to. I just felt it was better for us to hit a few of the outposts in one sweep after resting up a bit. This just seems unnecessarily risky."

Overhearing the conversation, Vera looked at her Dad and blinked, "Is Mommy annoyed?"

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Likely. She didn't like it when I continued to try and punish myself either." He smiled down to Vera at her question before he reached out to ruffle her hair. And send her along to wash her hands since she certainly needed to now. Along with the rest of the kids, really. Just so he'd be left alone with Gatz for at least a little bit. Once the kids were gone he looked to the other man. Smiled softly.

"It's easy to punish yourself and think you're unworthy. But you're not going to help anyone thinking you're worth less. Take the time you need to sort out your head, but until you can stop looking at yourself as the villain you're never going to be able to move on."

Gatz Derrevar | Valery Noble