spncentral | Of Sith And Street Rats

Between thinking it best to steer as far away from the Core as possible given the current regime, and needing repairs to his ship, he finds himself on some backwater planet in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, but so far as he could tell, there were only a handful of cities worth the name with one of them being the capital city. Which was also oh-so-imaginatively named Capital City. It seemed to be his best bet, so it was the one he chose to land at.

While his ship was undergoing repairs, he heads out into the city. The workers don't need him breathing down their necks, so he may as well see what, if anything, was of interest. So lightsaber firmly hidden in his jacket, and anything the mechanics didn't need access to firmly locked, he heads out. May as well start with the market. Wherever it is.

Current Mood: calm

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"All right. You know where to find the galley if you want to drink more of your juice if it's been long enough for you to be thirsty again," Garth'zel says as he rises from his seat. "I'll go toss your things into the dryer and come back."

Whether or not Ezra's thirsty is hardly the point. Ezra's hardly going to turn down a chance for more juice. That's not something he can take with him as easily as food, and he still can't help but think like a kid on the streets, that he needs to take advantage of opportunities for food when he can, because he doesn't know when he'll get one again.

"Okay!" he says quickly, getting up from his seat, too. His hands dart under the dejarik table for his box of food - still saving it, but not willing to leave it unattended. Another hangup he can't get over yet.

So while Garth'zel is busy, Ezra busies himself, too, finding and drinking the rest of his juice.

And maybe investigating the galley for a few minutes. You know, just looking. He just wants to know what's there. (If Garth'zel comes looking for him, he's likely to find Ezra poking his nose into a storage cabinet. Otherwise, the boy will head back to the lounge once he thinks it's likely that Garth'zel will be back too.)

It really doesn't take long at all for Garth'zel to move the clothes and set the dryer for fifteen minutes. They might need more time, but he rather doubts it. For all he knows, fifteen minutes is more than enough time.

After stretching out with the Force to see where Ezra was, he heads for the galley, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm going to need to teach you how to sense the location of other people, I see." Given he just caught him rummaging through the cabinet.

Ezra jumps a little when he gets caught with his head inside one of the cabinets. With a hasty jerk of alarm, he pulls back out and whips around. "I didn't take nothin'!" he quickly protests. "I was just looking! Honest!" And really, it's true! But he's used to expecting people not to believe him when he says he's innocent.

Garth'zel's eyebrows just slowly go up as he crosses the galley to rinse out and set Ezra's glass aside. "Don't forget to breathe."

As opposed to panicking.

Ezra stares up at Garth'zel. What does breathing have to do with anything?

"I'm not forgetting." Who forgets something like that? "I promise, I didn't take anything. I don't even have any pockets."

"That basically meant calm down and don't hyperventilate." In other words, stop panicking.

"I may already be aware that particular shirt of mine doesn't have pockets," Garth'zel says dryly.

Sarcasm and young children don't always mix very well, especially when the child isn't very familiar with the person using it. All Ezra gets is that he may be getting made fun of here, and he scowls as much as an eight year old can.

"That doesn't mean you believe me," he says, hunching sullenly. "You could still say I took stuff an' hid it, or- or put it in my box."

Garth'zel bends over to be eye level with Ezra. "Well, did you hide anything in the box you're borrowing?"

Besides what was supposed to be in it, obviously.

Ezra lifts his chin defiantly, daring Garth'zel to call him a liar. "No, I didn't," he insists stubbornly - and he didn't. All he has in the box he's borrowing is the food he put in it originally. He doesn't steal from people who are nice to him.

He wouldn't steal at all if he didn't need to to survive. Unless maybe someone really deserved it, like the Empire.

"Then I don't see the problem," Garth'zel says, straightening back up. "Ready for more dejarik, then?"

Assuming Ezra doesn't decide he needs to burn off his energy somehow.

...that's it? Garth'zel just believes him like that? It's what Ezra wanted, but actually getting it is something he never expected, and it leaves him staring up at the Zabrak flatfooted.

"You believe me?" he asks, more because he can't believe it himself. Most times people don't believe him right off. Even when they do believe him, it's never so fast, never without any doubt.

"I can generally tell when people are lying to me," Garth'zel says with a shrug. "So, are you going to make a thing of it, or are we going to get moving?"

"Really? How can you tell?" Sure, Ezra will trot along at Garth'zel's side, but he's definitely going to make a thing of it, too. Curiosity coupled with amazement guarantee that.

"The same reason I knew what was coming when we met and was able to move that glass without touching it." In other words, because of the Force. If someone's skilled enough it's harder for him to tell, but an eight-year-old doesn't have those skills.

"You used a Force?" Ezra presses, just to be sure. "So I could learn that, too?" He's not even paying attention to where they're going anymore, or thinking about the dejarik game at all. This is a lot more interesting to him right now, and Garth'zel doesn't seem to mind him asking questions.

(He's really different from most of the people Ezra's met on the streets before.)

"The Force. There's only one Force, although there's more than one aspect to it," Garth'zel corrects gently but firmly. "Eventually, yes, although I think you're a little young to have it work well."

Once they're back in the lounge, Garth'zel reclaims his previous seat.

"Can I still try?" Ezra climbs into his seat, but makes no move for the dejarik controls. Garth'zel was right to predict earlier that an eight year old's attention span wouldn't hold for long. Now that there's something much more immediately interesting to talk about, the game just doesn't hold the same appeal.

Garth'zel shakes his head. "You barely know the Force exists, much less how to use it properly. You have plenty to learn before you can get to that point. And I'm not going to be on Lothal forever to teach you."

Meaning Ezra would need to leave with him if he was to learn.

Oh. Of course he was going to leave. That's what space travelers do. But somehow Ezra had forgotten to think about that, and now disappointment pulls heavily on him. He should have known better, really, but the offer of a job and a safe place to stay had felt like something more permanent.

"You can't stay a little longer?" he tries to wheedle. "What if I have lots of stuff to show you?" Even with as short a time as he's known Garth'zel, he already doesn't want him to go.

"Eventually, you'll run out of new things for me to see," Garth'zel points out. "I'll probably be here for about a week. Maybe a day or two less."

Depends on if there's a need to wait for parts to fix things on his ship. At least this way, he'll have plenty of time to find things to restock his ship.

Every word crushes Ezra's hope a little more, until he's just looking down at the table, kicking his feet in the air. A week or less... That's hardly any time at all. Not when there's so much he wants to learn. It's not easy stuff either. He couldn't even get the plate to move when he tried. Maybe he won't be able to learn anything before Garth'zel goes.

I wish I could go with him...

It's a brief, fleeting thought. He's never thought of living anywhere but on Lothal, and there's still that hope that maybe his parents could still come back someday, but...

But it's been nice, being here with Garth'zel. He's given Ezra food, and cleaned him up, and he's talked to him like Ezra's a person and answered all the questions he has. He's even played a game with him, and... and Ezra hasn't felt lonely even once, and...

And of course it was too good to last.

He probably wouldn't want me around anyway, Ezra reasons. No one does.

Still...

"Will you stay until I run out of stuff to show you?" It's a small straw to grasp, but he'll grasp it.

Garth'zel nods. "I think I can manage that."

Even if he has the feeling he'll be twitchy about staying on the planet too long by then.

He reaches out to put a finger under Ezra's chin to tilt his head up to make him look at him. "I'll try to teach you what I can in the time available. Although as I said before, I'll need to remember how I was taught so I'll be able to teach you properly."

Ezra's mood lifts with that promise. It's not as much as he wants, but it's better than nothing at all. And maybe he can find something new every day to keep Garth'zel there a little bit longer.

Like an open book, it's easy to see when Ezra's expression changes to something a little happier, more hopeful, if still tempered by disappointment. "I'll come back tomorrow," he promises, coming to a decision he hadn't settled completely on yet. But Garth'zel's been nothing but kind to him, and Ezra's been around him long enough now that he doesn't think it's a trick. (The promise of money and more food helps, too. One good meal, or even two, just doesn't erase the memory of desperation, or fatten up a child who's still way too thin.) "Will you a'member by tomorrow?"

"I'll remember," Garth'zel says with a nod. "I'll just need some time to wake up properly first."

In other words, try not to show up too early in the morning. Let him have time to drink some caf and wake up. Although he'll hold off on making breakfast. May as well not only make food for the both of them at the same time but time it so Ezra's will still be hot.