| Friends will be Friends By Jemmiah |
"New kid." Gilda had noticed, keen eyes watching Master Sheedi steering a small boy with flaxen hair and a floppy fringe through the dormitory, herding him over to the beds. "Looks very young to be through here." "Some clever kid no doubt, that impressed everyone by making a few training spheres float trough the air." Mace Windu summed him up swiftly without even looking around. "As long as they keep him as far away from me as possible I don't care what he does or how old he is. Have you seen my book chip, Gilda?" "Sorry." Gilda's sharp little features continued to eye the new boy with interest. She wondered how old he was; certainly he looked very young indeed to be away from the crèche. The youngest child in the dorms was Vernice Ashdal but being of a tall and slender build the girl appeared much older than her tender years suggested. This boy certainly didn't seem to lack for confidence, taking in his surroundings with a measured coolness that she'd never really associated with so young a child before. It wasn't that long since she could remember being in his place, led through by Yma Sheedi with the master's hand gently placed on her shoulder. Gilda wasn't ashamed to admit that she'd felt daunted her first day away from the crèche. This boy however was an extremely different creature indeed. The joyful, bouncy spring in his step seemed a little out of place amongst the more sober atmosphere of the dormitories. "Corellian, at a guess." Hazarded Gilda as Mace rummaged through his drawer, sifting through his spare tunics and underwear. "Great." Muttered Mace. "Just what we need. Another Corellian." "Oh, that's a little unfair. Just because you read in that history book the Corellian jedi used to have their own code of practise. Ever since then you've been the most anti-Corellian person I know!" Gilda's young voice was surprisingly tart for someone her age. "I believe in the code of the council. You shouldn't get any special favours just because you happen to come from a certain planet." Mace replied haughtily. "And I can't find my book chip anywhere. Maybe Qui-Gon's borrowed it…" "He'd have asked you first." Gilda pointed out. "Qui-Gon doesn't sneak away things without saying." "True." Admitted Mace just a touch grudgingly. Gilda continued to watch, wondering where Yma was going to put the little boy. There were several spare beds in the dorm including one next to her. Well, even if Mace was going to be indifferent Gilda decided that should the Corellian kid be put next to her she'd make an effort to be polite and kind. He had a friendly face, one that Gilda thought she could grow to like, even if there was barely disguised mischief in the lively green eyes. Perhaps there would be some fun in the offing! That would be good, she thought pleasantly, as Mace's continual morose manner could become grating on the nerves after a while… No…Master Sheedi had not berthed the kid in the bed beside her. Gilda found herself feeling a little disappointed. Instead she saw Yma pointing over at the figure of Qui-Gon, who stood speaking to Marja Reutwin (the acknowledged mathematical genius of the dorm) who was waving a flimsy copy of what Gilda guessed was his incomplete math lessons. So…what did this mean? Was Yma putting him beside Mace?!? No. Far worse than that! "He's getting the top bunk above Qui-Gon!" She replied in a delighted voice, giving Mace a large dunt in the ribs. "Look!" "You are joking!" Mace spun around disbelievingly, mouth agape. "I wanted that bunk!" "Maybe it's because you're not Corellian." She replied sweetly, tapping her toes against the floor. "He looks like a nice kid, Mace. You should give him a chance." "I always give everyone a chance." Windu answered loftily. "I would hardly be a jedi if I didn't. Although that doesn't exactly endear him to me, I must say! A new kid straight out of the crèche and he gets the top bunk! Hardly fair, is it?" "Seems fair to me." Gilda smiled prettily, giving the new boy a small wave of her hand. The fair-haired boy saw her, grinned massively at her - then bowed low in chivalric fashion so that his hand all but scraped the floor. "I like this one!" beamed Gilda. "I think we should say hello!" "I'm in no hurry. Besides, I've got to find this book chip! I can't go on with my lessons without it and Master Sheedi will not be happy if I've managed to lose it. You can say hello if you want." Mace snorted, burying his head again in the drawer housing his spare tunics. The Corellian had other ideas it seemed, having wandered rapidly away from Master Sheedi over to the double bunk bed where Qui-Gon stood with his back to him, and stared up at the taller boy from behind with large, emerald eyes. If Qui-Gon sensed his presence he made no voluble show of it, remaining deep in conversation with his fellow scholar. "I can't get the equations to work out." Jinn shrugged at Marja, who in return frowned right back at him as if he were mad. "But they're easy!" "Maybe to you, yes." Qui-Gon brandished the flimsy once again. "But I am still having great difficulty in…hey!" He gave a startled yelp as something tugged him by the back of his hair, pulling sharply at his scalp like tiny, clawing birds talons. Wide eyed and startled, Qui-Gon whirled around on one heel, only to find his adversary to be… A small boy? The boy blinked at him and solemnly held out his hand. "Hi," he said breezily, "I'm Dex. I'm your best friend." Qui-Gon regarded the one called Dex for a moment before deciding that the boy was reasonably benign and hadn't actually wanted to cause any permanent damage to his hairline. The nerve! The temerity! It took a Corellian to do something like that and no mistake about it! But the young face was earnest and the small out-stretched hand remained unwavering, so that Qui-Gon found himself curiously intrigued. Best friend, eh? The poor kid was probably scared, being his first day in the dorms with the older children. If nobody else would show proper manners then he at least could…besides, there was something artless about the way the youngster was looking at him. Maybe he had foreseen that they would become good friends with the passage of time? Before he had realized, Qui-Gon found himself smiling back. "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn." He replied, shaking Dex's proffered hand slowly. "Welcome to the dormitories." "I'm going to be your bunk mate, I think." The youngster blinked at him, wondering what Qui-Gon would think of that piece of information. "Leastwise Master Sheedi said so." "Then it is so." Jinn's smile grew bigger. Secretly he was relieved that Mace wasn't going to get the top bunk as had been previously mooted around the dorms. Whilst he had ever sympathy, Mace had on occasions been known to wet the bed due to medication for a reoccurring kidney infection and Qui-Gon wasn't too thrilled with the idea of him sleeping directly above. "If you haven't already been introduced to the others then I will show you around." Qui-Gon caught sight of a rather amused looking Yma Sheedi standing by the doorway and took that as tacit approval. He started by introducing Marja to Dex seeing as she was close to hand, but everything had been observed by the delighted Gilda Amaline, who shook Mace by the sleeve to get his attention. "Hey, Mace!" she whispered smugly. "Looks like he's stolen your best friend, too!" Mace allowed all his tunic's to drop to the floor as he once more turned to face the direction of the young boy, who had stood himself right next to Qui-Gon in the same way that an annoying little brother would attach himself limpet-style to the side of his elder sibling. At least how Mace imagined an annoying little brother would behave. "That just takes the cake." He grunted dispiritedly. "I think I'd better go find out just who he is, don't you?" Gilda thought that perhaps Mace was at long last prepared to be polite and considerate to the new kid, but she rapidly revised her opinion when she saw Windu snake his way past all the beds over to where Qui-Gon was talking, mathematics assignment evidently long forgotten in light of the new arrival. Mace looked somewhat sour, although Gilda contented herself with the thought that it was quite normal for him to be so. "Hey Qui," he interrupted bluntly whatever uninteresting thing Marja may have been speaking about, "Who is the squidling?" Dex's cheerful expression remained radiant and unmoveable, in fact if anything it appeared to grow bigger. He fixed Mace with a pleasant enough smile although Gilda thought that some of the troublemaking mirth she'd seen earlier was all but bursting to explode from him. "I don't know." Dex replied casually. "Who are you?" It was all Qui-Gon could do to stop himself from laughing at the retort, most inadvisable to be sure as Mace glared daggers at him, but unavoidable all the same. Stifling a smirk with his hand, Qui-Gon thought it best if he continued with the introductions lest blood be shed in the dormitories. "Mace Windu, meet Dex…Sorry, I didn't catch your name." Qui-Gon prompted. "The name's Berlingside." Dex puffed his chest out. "I'm Corellian by the way." "Thanks, I worked that one out immediately." Mace nodded politely enough at the young boy before making a show of looking on the ground with his feet, prodding in amongst the floorboards for sight of his missing piece of equipment. Dex, surprised at being ignored by anyone - something he wasn't particularly used to - watched Mace with rapt fascination. "Whatsup?" he asked chirpily. "You lost something?" "No, I usually walk this way." Mace retorted sarcastically. "Oh, okay then." Dex shrugged, pulling himself up into the top bunk of his bed. "Coz I thought you'd maybe lost something." "I wish you'd get lost." Mace muttered under his breath. Gilda decided to step in before things became more heated. "Mace has lost his book chip." She smiled mercilessly at the dark skinned boy. "Again?" Qui-Gon shook his head. "Yma won't like it." Mace raised his hands in defeat. He'd turned the whole place upside down but all to no avail. It was as if the stupid thing had deliberately disappeared off the face of Coruscant into some unknown void! At the back of his mind Mace bet had something to do with the appearance of the small blonde child, if not actually down to him then down to some Corellian god having a laugh at his expense. "Well, it's not here. I give up!" he stormed off in a huff, walking rapidly towards the doorway to face whatever fate Yma Sheedi might have in store for him. Whatever it was wouldn't be pleasant. It was the third time that month he'd managed to mislay his book chip. Probably he'd have to spend his spare time washing the floor outside the dormitories in time honored tradition… "Nice knowing you, Windu." Jinn waved at him. "Yeah, yeah." He was all but out the door when a singular, squeaky sounding voice hailed him shrilly, halting him in his tracks. "Hey…MACE!" Berlingside waved him back. "It was Mace, wasn't it? I'm always bad at remembering unimportant stuff." Mace bristled visibly like a Dinko about to attack. "What is it?" he asked stonily. Dex held up something flat and disk shaped between his small finger and thumb. "I found this," he gazed at it thoughtfully, resting his head on one hand whilst merrily kicking his feet up and down towards his head and back, lounging along his bed, "and I thought you might want it. I guess you must have left it up here. But what it was doing in MY bunk I dunno…" Mace's face remained icy neutral as he returned to thank Dex for retrieving his missing property, but the look in his eyes had more than alerted the boy that he had made a formidable opponent that day… |
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