Private We're Not Nerds, We Just Like Books

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Aris Noble Toby Perris

Returning to the Order had been a stressful, hectic mess.

Gatz had never been much of a reader, but with how much of it he was doing, he may as well have been a bookworm now. There was still so much to catch up on, and he had made so little progress. But now, he had hit a wall in his study of medicine. There were questions he needed answers to, and the textbooks he was reading simply lacked those answers. And he had no one to turn to when he had questions like that... so he was on his own.

But the knowledge in the Jedi Temple was not the end-all, be-all. Maybe what he sought could be found elsewhere.

There was another thing on his mind, however. Vera and Aris had just assumed the role of Padawan, much like he had. And while they were technically of equal rank, he was still an adult, and he wanted to keep an eye on them. There was a lot resting on their shoulders, considering who their parents were, and (unfortunately) who their grandfather was. Not to mention that they were now the students of one of the finest Jedi Knights to have ever been trained.

He could do right by Valery and Kahlil by checking in on them from time to time. And maybe he could lighten the burdens the two of them were sure to bear by letting them just... be kids every now and again.

That was the motivation behind Gatz knocking on Aris' door this morning. He was already headed into the city proper, to find a bookstore. And Gatz knew that Aris was "a nerd," according to his own mother. He also knew the kid liked books—hell, he didn't know it yet, but there was a wrapped book coming to him on Life Day, courtesy of Gatz himself. So, all things considered, why not shoot two birds with one stone?

"Hey, Junior," Gatz rapped on the door lightly, "it's Gatz. I was going to head to a bookstore in the city. You wanna tag along?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Bookstore?

That was enough to get Aris's attention. The Jedi Temple had much for books, but the city would always have more. The Jedi archives only had what pertained to the Jedi. There were all kinds of manuals and instruction books on the various other cultures of the Galaxy that he'd want to read up on. Especially the other warrior cultures. With only his lightsaber to mark him as a Jedi, it'd be good to incorporate everything he could to keep his opponents from knowing him.

So he hopped right up, offered a brief smile.

"That sounds fun, Padawan Derrevar. Are we leaving right away?"

Gatz Derrevar | Toby Perris

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Aris Noble Toby Perris

So the kid did know how to smile, even if it was a brief thing. Gatz wasn't sure why he felt so much relief in seeing Aris' lips upturned. But there was a sense of peace in seeing the normally stoic boy—so much like his normally stoic father—show something akin to childish joy. It was a small victory, and maybe a weird one to celebrate... but Valery's family had been through so much.

The whole point of this endeavor was to give Aris a chance to just be a kid. And so Gatz was glad to see proof, up close, that such a thing was possible.

"You can just call me 'Gatz,' Aris." He smiled, "I've had pancakes at your dinner table. No need to be formal."

Back on track... the bookstore. Although Gatz had initially intended to just grab Aris and go, he wondered if he shouldn't stop by the common area. Or lounge. Or whatever they were supposed to call the room that Padawans hung out in after their studies. Point was: if the two of them wanted to go to the bookstore, maybe someone else would too.

"We're gonna get going, yeah," Gatz confirmed, "but I want to swing by somewhere in the Temple first, and see if anyone else was interested in coming along."

Dear lord, he was becoming a chaperone. Him. A chaperone. Man, he used to transport drugs. Now he was taking kids on a field trip. What in the world was his life coming to?

Something good, he reminded himself.

 

[Toby Perris]

FLOWING FORWARDS - PEERING BACKWARDS

CORUSCANT JEDI TEMPLE
TEMPLE DISTRICT ☛ GALACTIC CITY ☛ CORUSCANT
Gatz Derrevar • Aris Noble

Today, Toby was going to get a book. Or... at least see if the bookstore had what he wanted. He had a good list to start with, to deep dive into lore, from Iskendyr Yvarro and the other guys on the WarAxe70K Dishorde server, but there was always a chance he might have to put in an order. Now that was a thing he was used to.

Normally he'd be salivating over whatever historical treatise or account that he might want to get his hands on, but ever since he'd moved into the temple, the archives had scratched that particular itch abundantly. So, it was with his list, and a mostly empty bookbag that Toby set out from his dorm room.

Of course, it was only as he walked that it occurred to him he hadn't thought to figure out where the bookstore was. He was so used to going almost mindlessly to the one nearest to his house that he'd had a lapse of brain and somehow forgotten he wasn't on Corellia, despite being here for several months already, "Is this why everyone drinks caf?" he mused to himself - he'd yet to acquire a taste for the stuff - as he turned a corner and in doing so, laid eyes on two guys with lighter hair than his own. The taller one looked old enough to be a knight... well, maybe he'd know?

"Hey, ah, 'scuse me," he said, on approach, looking towards the older guy, "do you--" then he figured either them could know, and quickly looked at Aris as well, "--do either of you know where I can find a bookstore around here?"