Private Fool Me Once

[Jem Fossk]

Waiting for Saan'an to get out of his lessons was becoming The Norm.

Jem hated it.

She hated waited, she hated smelly books, but above all she hated the shriveled, old archivist that was too blind to realize her padawan had a sister and she was waiting out here bored. Books weren't everything. Even Jem could see that.

Jem hung upside down on the bench as she waited, her legs hooked on the backrest as her head wedged into the ground. Blood had long since pooled into her face, turning her golden skin into a dark bronze as she watched the feet walk by.

Eventually, the pressure in her head grew too much. She let herself crumble to the ground, her gear left on the bench as she laid beneath it. This was certainly NOT how people were suppose to conductive themselves in the archives. Jem didn't care. A tack in hand, she began to carve her name under the hard wood of the seat.

It was just one in a series of ways she had entertained herself over the weeks. All were destructive, and all were done without getting caught.

J E -

Aeris Lashiec

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Jem Fossk

For weeks now, Aeris had seen her library defiled. Improperly sorted books — while not exactly out of the ordinary — were accompanied by other smaller tidbits of vandalism. So far it had been nothing major, but these were the sort of things that over time began to add up. Aeris not being one to merely let these things go, and especially not one to let Saan’an go until he was done with the day’s exercises, took the moments between his lessons to patrol the archive.

And so — as the saying went — fool me once, I won’t get fooled again.

Once more, same as she had in the last few days, she saw Jem lying across one of the benches in wait of her brother. In many regards it was almost amusing to see the future of the Jedi so haphazardly laid out on a small surface, small tack in hand as they carved something underneath a seating arrangement like a vandal fresh out of high school.

For some reason she wasn’t surprised. Although she had no real experience with Jem personally she had always struck Aeris as the more vivid of the two siblings, and vivid she knew how to deal with. A peeved librarian stepped into view from above the restless Gaelor with her arms crossed firmly before her chest.

“Having fun, Padawan Gaelor?” Aeris asked and extended her hand for the tack. “I’ll be taking that, if you please.”

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem gasped, her body swinging- THUNK. She fell back down, a groan coming from under the bench as the mischievous padawan cradled her forehead.

She slithered out, her vision blurry as she beheld-- a few blink brought clarity to the looming form. She frowned, writing Aeris off as one of the many archivist helpers that floated about. Or whatever they called them.

"I was just removing gum," she lied, releasing her head to turn over the tact. The red bump receded, practically before the woman's eyes. Firrerreo. Jem picked herself off the floor and reoriented her training garb back on her shoulders.

"I didn't put it there, either," she added, plopping back onto the bench and kicking out her legs.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Aeris grinned, she positively covered her mouth to hide it, as the padawan struck the floor. The excuses came out and the librarian gently chuckled at them both. The teenager before Aeris had the same descriptors of a suspect in a similar incident. Her eyes peered up at the light fixture above them, still broken from a week ago. Yep, the trails were aligning.

“Well, that’s very kind of you.” Aeris said with a skeptical glance as she offered her hand to pull Jem up off the ground. “So what you are saying is that it should be perfectly fine for me to check beneath this bench, right?”

Aeris slowly began to kneel down in an effort to grant Jem the chance to come clean.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem's lips parted in subtle surprise.

"Um,' she reeled, her swinging legs freezing. That'd be a 'nope'.

"Yup. No gum under there," she confirmed, raising to the challenge she would surely lose, even as Aeris was backed into calling her bluff. "No gum what so ever, cause removed... it..." she finished off lamely, seeing the recognition in the woman's eyes as she came to find Jem's name half etched into the wood beneath her.

Her shoulders froze, coiled as she stuck her hand under her legs. Busted.

"... Well. There is no gum," she deflected.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Head beneath the bench, J-E- and nothing more. Aeris let out a sigh as she stood up again.

“Well, you are not wrong.” She said and took a seat next to the troublemaker. “But it also seems that there are hieroglyphs down there as well. Something about J E, and I assume M.” Aeris smiled as she turned and shifted in her seat to face Jem. “Which if what Saan’an has told me about you is true, makes you his sister.”

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem shot the smart woman a severe look, one whose meaning was very clear.

What's it to you. She practically glowered at the master of her brother and member of the council, unaware of just who sat besides her. Ignorance wasn't always bliss. This was a card tower due to topple over at any moment.

"His twin. Not that he seems to remember. You'd think that old hag was now his family with how treats her-- what are they even doing in there, anyways? A padawan belongs in a training room. I bet she can't fight for chit."

Each sentence was a hole dug deeper, but she didn't care. She kinda wanted to see the library helper reel back, aghast. At least then this sense of rejection would be of her doing.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Old hag? Aeris recoiled for a moment before the realization dawned upon her that Jem had no idea who it was that she was talking to. The confused grimace quickly faded into a warm smile as she chuckled and readjusted herself in her seat.

“You know, you speak the truth. A bit abrasive in how you voice it, perhaps, but you have a point.” She said and glanced around them at nothing in particular. “And from what I hear, you are probably right. Head archivists? Fighting? I bet if the Sith were to blow a hole in, say, that wall over there,” She pointed at a random wall, perfectly unaware what would be happening to that very wall in the coming days. “She would just try to throw trivia at the invaders or something.”

The joke got a few laughs out of Aeris for a moment before she let in a deep breath and a long sigh.

“But,” She said and gave a slight shrug. “I will take your feedback into consideration and maybe shift his curriculum around a bit. Try to, you know, give the two of you more time together.”

“But then, maybe instead I should talk to Dagon. Make him add some more library hours to his apprentice’s schedule, hm?”

 

[Jem Fossk]

“She would just try to throw trivia at the invaders or something.”

Jem snorted in agreement, her sourness softening as the woman entertained it with humor of her own. "Or books," she added. Saan'an was such a book thrower. ...Or maybe that was Jem when she was trying to get his attention... he was annoyingly good at tuning her out.

The calm genes had clearly all gone to the eldest. As could be seen when Aeris cracked her next words.

Alarm shot through her veins. Her head whipped to the side, locking on the unwithered skin of the woman who spoke about powers that only...

Her skin shifted silver, betraying her utter distress. "Master... Aeris?" She echoed unwillingly. "Did I say old hag? I meant... Beautiful lady.... whose definitely not old and is kind and-- Pleasedon'ttellthecouncilaboutthis," she uttered, dissolving off the bench and onto her knees.

"I'm sorry."

No more games, no sass, not even the sith had managed to cut her to the quick like this. Of all the first impressions she wanted to give to the council, this was not it.

That lunch taco was no longer agreeing with her.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Humour was a good way to deflate situations that otherwise could have been tense. Aeris sympathized with Jem, but she wasn’t beyond poking a hole in her shield for a moment just to knock her back down for a few. But when that down became a quite literal ‘down on the ground and begging forgiveness’, things took a bit of a turn.

Aeris placed a hand on Jem’s should to soothe her nerves.

“I have been called worse by others.” She reassured Jem as she slowly motioned for the girl to sit back up on the bench again with a pat on the bench. “Besides that, there are more pressing matters for the council to look into than a padawan or two acting up. That falls more on their mentors to take care of.”

“Your secret desire to vandalize my library is safe with me, provided that you stop.” She joked again. “Just calm down and refocus.”

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem looked up at the person she both hated and idolized, the clashing nature of her irrationality becoming apparent to even her. Her finger tips tingled as she slid back up from her apologetic bow.


"I'll stop messing with your library," she confirmed grimly.

The horror of her overstep did not subside from her insides, not even as she recomposed herself and returned her normal hue. Jem was proud, but behind that bristling composure was someone that cared.

A little too much.

"Please... don't tell Master Dagon either." The plea was hard to utter, but something bigger than her ego was at risk here. What it was though, was left hanging in the air.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

“Hey, hey.” Aeris tried to calm Jem down. When it didn’t seem to work she put her hand on the girl’s shoulder with a gentle emanation of the force. “I am not angry, Jem. We deal with these small forms of rebellions all the time, it’s a natural part of finding your place in the galaxy. So, just… Take a deep breath, okay?”

She waited for Jem to do just that.

“Now, why wouldn’t I want to tell Dagon? What kind of trouble are you expecting?”

 

[Kyra Perl]

.

 

[Jem Fossk]

Oh great. Now she was drawing more attention to it. Jem locked her body down, a feat which was subsequently undermined by a gentle release of tension through her muscles. Her lunch taco calmed inside her stomach. The end of the world sensation slowly lessened. Her ears tipped red as she look up at the soothing Jedi.

"It's not that, I just... I'm not sure he actually wants to be my master... Or if he actually is. I don't want to give him a reason to change his mind and ship me off to the outer rim with the rest of the rejects."

That was an oddly specific concern, one she had confessed to Saan'an in the past. He had sworn he'd quit it all and walk away with her if that was the case, but the longer she watched him flourish in his new role...

The more precarious her situration became.

"I need him."

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

“Dagon would never do that.” Aeris reassured Jem. “He may offer tough love at times but his heart is always in the right place. For better or worse, he is yours to shape just as you are his to shape. It is more symbiotic than anything else.”

“Maybe Dagon is nervous or even anxious too?” Aeris asked Jem and raised her eyebrow. “You are his first student, just like Saan’an is my first proper student. It is a special form of weight to know that someone depends on you. Maybe you should speak to Dagon about it, and if he says no, tell him that I told you to do so. That should get him to open up real quick.”

“And, you know, whether or not your brother is by your side in person, he is always by your side in here.” Aeris said and covered her own chest with her hand. “You already know that the force is our most powerful ally, and the glue that binds us together. Trust that it would never do anything to deliberately see you driven apart.”

“And failing that, trust that the Council would never deliberately see you torn apart. That would just be cruel.”

 

[Jem Fossk]

It was uncomfortable how quickly this stranger had gotten to know her. Jem would much rather be known as a vandal than a girl with problems and concerns. That desire was neither here nor there now as Aeris leveled her advice. Jem hadn't considered Dagon's distance might be due to insecurities of his own.

Guess he didn't trust she could handle things on herself. Could she change that with him?

Jem swallowed past a lump in her throat.


"You sound like Saan'an. Trust trust trust. ... Guess you guys really are like... well matched, or something" she begrudged. "Better than an old library hag, anyway. Are you really on the council?" The skepticism was clear. Aeris was not what she expected.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

“I am, yes.” Aeris nodded. “We are all a bit young, and in truth I am not sure what my purpose there is, but I offer book smarts and mediation when needed.”

A soft chuckle blew from Aeris nose and rumbled in her chest.

“As for trust, and teaching, and Saan’an… You have no idea how terrified I am of each lesson I have to give him.” She admitted and shook her head. “What if I tell him something wrong and he takes it to heart? What if he doesn’t want to be tutored by me? Why did they assign him to me? Where do I go from here? What is expected of me?”

“What I am trying to say is…” Aeris sighed. “Just give Dagon some time to melt. He will find a way to guide you both forward.”

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem crossed her arms over her midsection.

She guessed that was reassuring. Was probably not the most jedi thing for her to internalize everything being about her. She could just control herself though, she couldn't control other people.

Even if he didn't come around, at least she wouldn't be sent away. She could figure something else out then. Find another mission.... prove to the council she was ready to progress.

She had an in now. ...Kinda.

Jem grimaced.

"I am sorry about those books the other day... there's probably something in the code about that too..." she admitted, trying to make final amends with the Liberian she had been tormenting for weeks now.

Even if it hadn't all been discovered yet.

"I'll try be more patient. I just-- You really do take up all his time lately."

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Aeris chuckled.

“No, the books are—” She stopped. Her eyes peered down onto Jem with a grim stare that could pierce through her very soul. “What have you done to the books, Jem?”

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem's expression caught. ...Had her brother's Master not... known then... She had talked like she.... Jem clamped up, uttering dumbly.

"What books?"