Thunk (open)

[Kwiet Ideya]

Thunk.

A small dagger with a diamond shaped blade impales itself deep in the side of a tree in the garden, pinning a falling leaf to the trunk. The handle of the dagger is thin and ends in a ring.

Thunk.

Another one buries itself further towards the top of the tree, catching another leaf. Kwiet Ideya smiles proudly. No one can throw so accurately, except for him. He learned it from his second father figure, this ability to throw blades. And it's not just these special throwing daggers, either. He has a pouch on his belt for stars, too, and can throw any other bladed object that just happens to be lying around with that same accuracy.

"If I can't pin twenty leaves to the tree in a row, I'll have to hit the middle of a bullseye forty times."

Thunk.

Three leaves. This is how he learned to throw. It's also how he intends to impress his new mother. Twenty leaves pinned to the tree as they fell...that would surely make her proud.

[Shade Magus]

Shade had been watching the boy for some time and impressed was an understatment for the word he was lookng for. The kid was good, there was no denying that. Carefully Shade walked over to him and spoke softly, so as not to startle him into throwing one of those knives at him. "Impressive aim you have there."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet jumps a bit, almost letting the last leaf slip by him. It gets nailed to the bottom of the trunk as he draws a star with his left hand, tossing it at a leaf that's half-way through its descent.

"My second daddy taught me," Kwiet answers, watching carefully for another leaf to fall. "He said if I learned to throw good then I would get a mommy."

[Shade Magus]

Now that was a shock and not an answer he had been expecting. "He did, did he? Why do you have to throw good though? Why not find something else to be good at?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I dunno," he says flatly, pinning down his sixth leaf. "He just said that I needed to throw good to impress a mommy into adopting me. I practiced hard every day from when I got up to when I went to bed, and I did it for months and months until I could hit bullseyes and cockroaches and leaves."

Thunk. Seven.

[Shade Magus]

"Well I am not sure why thowing was the chosen preformance, but you are very good at. Better than anyone I've ever met."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet pulls two stars and tosses them both at once, adding two more leaves to the tree.

"He said I had to be better than anyone else, and that when I was the bestest ever I could go out to his job with him and help by throwing things and hiding. I only got to go with him twice though before I got a new daddy."

[Shade Magus]

Now Shade was beginning to get confused about this boy's parents. "Wait..so you have a new daddy and a new mommy?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I don't have a daddy," he answers, sighing as the tree blows leaves off the back of it, wishing one would come down in front of him. "I just have a mommy. I used to have a daddy, but he's gone now."

[Shade Magus]

"I see, and who is your mommy?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Dae Jinn," he answers, reacting quickly as a few leaves blow up off the ground from his right. Four leaves join the previous nine as he flings two stars in each hand, each pinned at the edges.

"I almost didn't get those ones..." he mutters. "That's thirteen...just seven more."

[Shade Magus]

Dae Jinn. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time, Shade thought. He knew her through his freind Verse Dawnstrider. He knew she was a Padawan here, but hadn't seen but glimpses of her. Never did he imagine she had a child though.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Fourteen..." There's a long pause. "Fifteen..."

Kwiet watches the tree, but the breeze that knocked down his last two leaves has died. He hazards a glance at Shade.

"So what are you doing here?"

[Shade Magus]

"I was just walking around thinking. Then I heard you throwing and came to see what was going."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Abel used to do that," Kwiet says, casting a look back at the tree to confirm that no leaves were falling. "He'd wander all over the church house staring at the ceiling, and we'd follow him around until he'd turn and trip over someone."

[Shade Magus]

"And who is Abel? Sounds like we have a few thigs in common. Both like to walk around and we both trip over stuff."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"He was the first daddy. He was the youth guy at the church house where I started." He sees a leaf blow by and makes a fast throw, but a change in the wind carries it away from the blade. Fifteen!

"I was so close," he mutters dejectedly, walking over to the tree to pull out his throwing stuff. Once he's got it all he takes a dagger and starts to carve a bullseye on the tree.

[Shade Magus]

"If he was the first then why didn't you stay with him?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Because the second daddy promised to get me a mommy," he says, finishing the big outer ring. He puts his next line a few inches in and starts to carve a second ring. "Abel used to always just tell me to be patient and wait and someday I'd have one."

[Shade Magus]

"Well sometimes it is good to be patient. You were for some time and you did geta mommy."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"But I had a bajilliontrillion daddies first!" he points out, making the last ring of his bullseye. "They all said they'd get me a mommy, but they didn't, and then when I left I found a ninja guy and HE got me a mommy and taught me illusion stuff! He's the best daddy of all."

The boy steps back to Shade, marking a line in the ground.

"Now I gotta hit the bullseye forty times."

[Shade Magus]

"Well, I am sure you will do it." Shade sat down to watch the toddler.

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet knows a shortcut for getting back the knives he's thrown. There's a hole in the bottom of the handle for a reason. He reaches into a pocket on his pants and pulls out a long piece of string, tying one end to the knife. The other he manages to fix around his wrist, leaving the rest of the string trailing across the ground. The boy steps up to the line, making sure not to step on the string, aims carefully, and throws!

"One."

A sharp tug on the string pops the knife out of the bark, and he reels it in to throw again.

[Shade Magus]

Shade can't believe his eyes. This kid was realy something else. He had almost everything planned out.

[Kwiet Ideya]

He tosses it again, sighing almost boredly as it makes a notch in the center next to the first one.

"Two..."

He hauls it back and throws again.

"Three... He looks over at Shade. "I got this big string from a fat daddy with four arms. He said he didn't want me stomping all over his clean floor and making a mess."

[Shade Magus]

Shade couldn't help but chuckle. "Well atleast he gave you something useful."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Yeah. He kept whapping me on the head with his spatchala," Kwiet adds, wrinkling his nose at the memory. "Don't run on my clean floor! Get out of the freezer! Don't touch the oven!" he grumbles in as deep a voice he can manage, making another bullseye. "That daddy was stupid."

[Shade Magus]

"Well I wouldn't say that. I am sure he had a good reason...not sure what it could be though."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet jerks the dagger back to throw it again, counting as he continues his conversation with Shade.

"Five...yeah, maybe. Six...so what are you good at, mister? Seven..."

[Shade Magus]

"Well...some people tell me I'm good at lightsaber fighting. They also say I'm good a talking and some think I'm at listening."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Yeah, you're a good listener. Eight...you've listened to me lots already...nine...I guess you're a good talker too, but I dunno about your fighting. Ten..."

[Shade Magus]

"Well that's understandable, you've probably never seen me fight. Maybe sometime i the future, you can see, but I don't hope anytime soon."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Okay. Maybe you can teach me about it! I'm in a bunch of classes, but they're not teaching me fighting."

He counts a few more idle bullseyes.

"Hey, you could practice your fighting here, if you wanted, Mister...um...Mister."

[Shade Magus]

"Just call me Shade." He looked around and his gaze settles on Kwiet. "I'm not sure here is a good idea. Besides, I think I'd want to have your mommy's permission first."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Even to just practice by yourself like this?" he asks, making his fifteenth bullseye. "I don't know what's wrong with that. You're not swinging at me, or anything."

[Shade Magus]

Shade nodded. "Fair enough. What would like to see then?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet makes bullseye sixteen, stopping to scratch his head.

"Um...do an attack!"

He turns his full attention onto Shade, leaving the knife stuck in the tree for now.

[Shade Magus]

Shade cocked his head to the side. Well that leaves it pretty open. Hope my imagination is still there, he thought as he stood up. He unclipped his lightsaber, and activated it. The green blade shot forward with the familiar snap-hiss. The Jedi made sure he was far enough away from Kwiet and leapt into the, slashing and cutting down a branch off of a small tree. He was able to slice it once more before hitting the ground.

[Kwiet Ideya]

The dagger clangs dully as Kwiet pulls it out of the tree. He still has 24 bullseyes left, but he's mesmerized by Shade's prowess right now. His lips curl into a smile, his eyes grow wide with awe, and a slight sound begins to rise from him.

"YEAH!" he yells, jumping up and down as the small sound breaks into a full cheer. "That's awesome! Do another one!"

[Shade Magus]

Shade had a smiled one his face when he landed. It was nice to see someone enjoying themselves. As soon as his foot touched the ground, he pushed off again, feeling the flow of the Force more freely now. He slashed a another branch and as he came down this time, he cut the wood neatly in half and agian, making four neat pieces. He used the Force to push them down into the ground so that they were lined up into a neat little row.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Oohhhh," Kwiet's now staring wide-eyed and slack jawed. "Cool!"

The wind blows and brushes the string against his palm.

"Oops, I'm supposed to be throwing." He pulls back the knife and resumes his exercise. "Can you teach me to do all that stuff, Mister Shade?"

[Shade Magus]

"I don't see why not. It doesn't take much really."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Awesome! But...I gotta ask mom."

He wrinkles his nose. Permission sucks. He throws a few more bullseyes and looks back at Shade.

"Is that your specialty? Mine's illusion."

[Shade Magus]

Shade thought about it for a moment. "For the most part yes. I am pretty evenly matched with my empathetic abilities and my combat skills."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"What's empapfatic mean?" he asks, throwing another three bullseyes.

[Shade Magus]

"It means that I can feel out other life forms, and to a larger degree tell what they are feeling and sometimes thinking. Sometimes I can even influence another's mind."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Ooh! I can do that! I can make illusions and make people think something's real or not real! I once made an illusion of my mom and made the boost teacher flip out. It was cool."

[Shade Magus]

Shade chuckled. "Sounds like a pretty good joke. I'll have to try that sometime."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Thunk

"Wanna see?" he asks excitedly.

[Shade Magus]

"Sure. Why not?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

He concentrates hard, disappearing quickly before Shade's eyes. Soon a beautiful woman with short, shoulder-length blonde hair is standing before him, wearing a pair of running shorts and a paint-spattered tank-top that's falling off of one shoulder. Kwiet makes an "ahem", then speaks with his mother's voice.

"I'm good at it, huh?"

[Shade Magus]

Shade couldn't believe his eyes for a moment. He nodded. "Truely amazing."

[Kwiet Ideya]

He leans over and winks. The only giveaway that it's a child to newcoming passersby is the fact that the woman's face has a sneaky expression, rather than a coy one.

"You wouldn't know it was me if you hadn't seen it, I'll bet."

[Shade Magus]

"I'm not sure. I might have been able to guess from the Force signature, but seeing as I haven't really met your mother and never seen you before, I guess you're right."