Child's Play (Under 7 set only)

[Hana Forester]

<font size=1>child characters only please!</font>

Shiny black shoes tapped their way across the floor of the Yogs. White socks slouched messily inside of said shoes, worn by seven year old Hana Forester. She had just finished another day of school, and had decided to see "what all the fuss was about those Jedi people", as her mother would always say. Her white and blue school-uniform and small size set her apart from the usual patrons, sitting chatting in nearby booths, dressed in typical Jedi fashion.

She stopped in the middle of the room, her over-sized bookbag slipping off one shoulder. Big green eyes gave the room a quick once-over before she pulled herself up onto a stool at the bar. Picking up a menu, and putting on her best "grown-up" face, she tried to decide what to spend her pocket money on.

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet is lurking today, but not in his usual methods. Before he would have simply climbed a booth on the wall to get into the air ducts, but now that he's an illusionist, he's got a better way to spend his time in the Bar and Grill. He's there as an adult today, sitting to Hana's right. So far no one's caught on, but Hana's arrival blows his cover as he jumps down a stool.

"A girl! Eeww!" The grown man turns into a child with blonde hair and orange clothing, who sits wrinkling his nose at Hana. So far all the girls he's known are stupid. Apparently he thinks the same of her.

[Hana Forester]

Hana gives him an "excuse me?!" look, one she has been practicing in the mirror at home. Setting down her menu, she sticks her tongue out at him.

"I am not ewwwwy! I'm Hana Forester!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Well I'm Kwiet Id--" The boy pauses, then determinedly sits forward and declares a little more loudly than he means to, "I'm Kwiet Jinn! And I think you ARE ewwwwy! Girls have wierd germs and stuff!" He pinches his nose and sticks his tongue out at her. "Girls are icky!"

[Hana Forester]

"We do NOT!"

Hana's voice rises unintentionally, matching Kwiets. "Boys are all smelly and DUMB! You stinky...dumb boy! I bet you haven't even had your cootie shot!"

With a loud "HMPH!", she turns her attention back to the menu -- all the while sneaking glances at Kwiet, waiting for his reaction.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I'm not DUMB!" he argues back. "I'm really smart! I know how to do lots of stuff!"

He scowls at her, hunching his shoulders and glaring.

"I can throw good and do illusions! I went to school until the first grade!"

About half-way through that school year he'd been "adopted" by his second father-figure. Since then, he's not set foot inside a classroom.

[Hana Forester]

"Well, I'm almost in the second grade! So there! And my Mummy gave me money to come here, cos I'm so smart! I got all A's and stuff!"

She keeps her eyes on the menu, even though his mention of illusions has caught her interest. She isn't exactly sure what the word means, but it sounds really cool.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"My mom sent me here by myself, too!" He chooses to focus on that, since he'd been through only half of the first grade. "I got money to spend too, and I'm the best in all my Force classes!" There...that's the same as getting all A's.

[Hana Forester]

"Well, I don't even know what that is!"

Her cheek flushed - Hana always liked being the smartest in her class, but she has never heard of the Force before. She set the menu down again, shifting in her seat to face him.
"Are you one of those Jedi people?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Haha! He has one up on her! The boy's mood towards her softens as he feels a swell of pride.

"Yup!" he confirms with a big grin. "I'm a Jedi Padawan! I even got a Jedi Master and EVERYTHING!"

[Hana Forester]

Her little lips turn down in a half-frown, half-pout. SHE doesn't have a Jedi Master (whatever that is), only a teacher. And she's just a student, not a pa-da-wan.

"Is it fun being a Jedi padawan? Do you have to do math and practice your letters with your Master? Do Jedi's have reccess? If you're bad, do you have to write lines?" Hana begins a long line of questioning. This boy must be really smart to get to be a Jedi Padawan!

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Yep, it's lots of fun! I haven't had to do math or letters yet, and we have recess whenever we're not in class, and if we're bad we usually just get a lecture and harder work to do."

He's feeling very proud of himself, and can't help thinking this girl might not be half bad. She sure seems interested in what he can do, which is always a welcome thing with the boy.

[Hana Forester]

"Wow. I wanna be a Jedi Padawan too!"

She grins. Maybe if she asks her parents nicely, they'll let her become a Jedi. Then she won't have to do math or learn to write the alphabet and get to play all day long.

The two children continue talking, not noticing the bar-tender standing in front of them. He clears his throat.

"Can I help you two?"

Hana looks up, quickly grabbing her menu. In her best "Mommy" way, she points at her menu and orders. "I'll have the triple fudge sundae. With light whipped cream, I need to watch my girlish figure."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet cocks an eyebrow. She sounds like his mom! Wow, she really isn't so bad.

"Um...I just want a soda!"

He slides his money across the bar like he's seen all the other patrons do and waits.

"I had to talk to a ninja guy first," he says as the bartender goes for the orders. "Then I had to talk to a guy with glasses, and then I had to find my mom, and then I got to be a Jedi."

[Hana Forester]

Hana follows Kwiets lead, sliding her money across the bar too.

"That sounds like a lot to do just to be a padawan." She huffed, then smiled. "Maybe you can help me, Kwiet! And then we can play together and eat sundaes and drink sodas all the time!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"YEAH!" he half-shouts it, holding himself in a bit from his normal outbursts. "We have four classes for different things. Illusions isn't a class, so I hafta learn that from my Jedi Master! He's cool. He's alot better than all the class teachers!"

This is only because Akrabbim knows illusions and the rest don't. Kwiet doesn't much like the other skill anyway simply because he's less proficient with them.

[Hana Forester]

She giggles. "Yeah! And then I can have a Jedi Master and learn to do that stuff to! After we eat, we should go find that ninja man or the glasses man so I can get a Master."

The bartender soon approached, setting a large sundae and glass of soda in front of the pair. Hana takes a large spoonful and sticks it into her mouth with a satisfied "Mmm!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet looks jealous, but he was only given enough money for a few sodas. He drinks his slowly, watching her idly out of the corner of his eye. Oh, that looks good...but he's not about to ask her to share. She's a cool girl, yes, but as a girl she's still kinda icky.

[Hana Forester]

"Want some?"

A sloppy spoonful of ice cream gets pointed at him, little drips falling on the floor. Hana smiles as she offers him some.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Um..."

He looks at the spoon as if it may bite him.

"That's been in your mouth. You eat it."

It's tempting him though. He puts his soda down and look back at the bowl, then to the spoon.

"Well...Okay."

[Hana Forester]

"Oh."

Hana lowers the spoon before setting it back into her bowl. Her little face looks as if Kwiet as just told her dog had died. The helpful bartender leans over, spoon in hand and gives them a wink.

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet starts to reach out for some ice cream, and looks surprisingly embarrassed.

"Hey, um..." he starts, scratching his head. "I'm sorry Hana."

It's the first apology he's made to one of his peers since coming to GJO. And he really, truly is sorry.

[Hana Forester]

"It's okay."
She slides the bowl a little closer to him, taking another scoop herself. She smiles a little.

"Have some, silly."

[Kwiet Ideya]

He takes a bit reluctantly, eating it with a half-smile.

"I'm still sorry," he insists. "You want something to drink?"

[Hana Forester]

"Nah." She says between mouthfuls of ice cream, remembering her manners and not speaking with her mouth full. "I'm alright."

She tries to think of other things to talk about - besides Jedi.
"So, you live here with your mummy? Do you have a daddy?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I've only got a mom, but I only need a mom," he answers, eating some more of her sundae. "She's real nice and takes good care of me. She's the first one I ever had, and she's my favorite person in the whole wide world."

[Hana Forester]

"That's good." She smiles brightly. "I have a mummy and daddy. We live here on Coruscant. They're both my favorite person in the world."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I've had lots of daddies, but only one mommy. I'm tired of daddies. I like my mommy just fine."

He drains his soda after he says it, holding in a burp.

"My mommy's a Jedi, too. I don't know what she's good at or who her Jedi Master is. She's real nice though."

[Hana Forester]

"You're so lucky. My daddy works in an office, and my mummy is a "social-lite". They're nice, but I bet they aren't exciting like a Jedi mummy would be."
She wonders what he means by "lots of daddies", but doesn't question him about it. "I also have a puppy. His name is Binx. Do you have a pet?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Um...I had a big, furry lizard for a while," he says. "My second daddy left me with a crazy guy, and he gave me a big furry lizard. Then I went to live with the third daddy, and I didn't have it anymore."

He takes some more ice cream.

"I don't have pets now though."

[Hana Forester]

"A crazy guy?!"

She stops mid-scoop.

"Your daddy left you with a crazy guy??? What did your mummy do?! Didn't she get mad at him?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I didn't have one then. That daddy said I had to stay there sometimes when he had business and I couldn't go with him. I snuck out sometimes and wandered and got lost. That's how I met my third daddy, and lost my big furry lizard."

[Hana Forester]

Hana's mouth drops open, but she quickly closes it. She leans close to Kwiet.

"You're weird. I like you."

And *muah*! Kisses him on the cheek before bursting into a fit of giggles!

[Kwiet Ideya]

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Kwiet falls off the stool, blushing deep red and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT DIDJA DO THAT FOR!? YOU KISSED ME! ICK!"

He rubs his face on his sleeve, shuddering from head to toe. He got kissed by a girl! Now he's gonna get cooties! He calms himself slowly, still burning red, and mumbles, "I'm not wierd..." He's glad he likes her though. Now he has a friend around here.

[Hana Forester]

"You are SO weird!"

Hana slips off her own stool, reaching out to help him to his feet. When Kwiet won't take her hand, she sighs. Boys were so weird. Hopefully they'd make more sense once she was older...

[Kwiet Ideya]

He stands up using the stool, hefting himself onto it and looking at the salt and pepper shakers on the bar.

"Am not..." he mumbles. "What didja go and kiss me for?"

[Hana Forester]

Hana looks shyly at her feet, standing behind him. "I dunno. I'm sorry."

She returns to her own seat, mushing her sundae around with her spoon.

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Well...that's fine," he says, lacking any other answer. He orders another soda, thinking to himself about how wierd Hana is. What'd she kiss him for? He's convinced she knows why, but just won't tell him. There were kids like that in the church house where he grew up.

[Hana Forester]

Hana continues to mush her sundae under her spoon, turning it into a melted brownish mess. She's a little embarassed about Kwiets' reaction -- it's not like she has cooties or anything! She sighs, and pushes her bowl away.

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet sighs. He really feels bad now. It doesn't feel fun anymore, now there's just a big, unhappy feeling in the bottom of his heart and a weight in the pit of his stomach. His gaze tries to catch her eye, but he doesn't seem to be doing it well. Abel always made it look so easy. With a sigh he looks over at the bowl, and after a few long moments of staring, mumbles a short, obvious phrase.

"It's goopy."

[Hana Forester]

"Yeah."

Her voice sounds a bit sad, but she puts on a smile. Even if it's only a half one, it's better than a frown.
"It's kinda gross."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I'm sorry," he apologizes. "You surprised me!"

She did, but that's not all of why he reacted how he did. It's also part that he's a little boy with superstitions about girls, and also part that he wants to be her friend, but doesn't know how to ask her if she would like to be him to be her friend in return.

[Hana Forester]

She laughed.

"No, silly! I meant the ice cream!"

Hana rolled her eyes and then laughed some more. Kwiet was so silly -- she was having lots of fun hanging around him. Even though she's supposed to be walking home, she decides to ask him something else.

"Wanna go play?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"But I wasn't talking about the ice cream," he mumbles quietly. He chooses to ignore that though. She seems to be feeling better now, and she wants to play! "Yeah! Let's go play!"

He hops down off the stool, going to the door and shaking the security guard's pants legs. Ever since his last escapade in here, they've started taking his belt. The guard hands it back and Kwiet puts it on, checking all the pouches before holding open the door.

"C'mon, let's go!"

[Hana Forester]

Hana skitters out the door, pulling her backpack on tighter. She stops, waiting for Kwiet to catch up, and they walk down the street together.

"So, where do you wanna play? The Jedi playground?" She asks, certain that the Jedi do in fact have a playground. How else would they have fun?

[Kwiet Ideya]

"I don't think there is one," Kwiet says with a frown. "I've never seen it. There's just a big garden with lots of trees and really big rocks and stuff. There's a playground close to it though, about a block away."

[Hana Forester]

"Okay."

The pair continue walking the crowded streets. Hana began lagging behind, being smooshed and pushed by adults on their way to and from work.
"Kwiet! Wait up!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet has always been nimble in crowds. Abel used to hate that, how easily the boy could navigate through people and become lost to sight in the blink of an eye. His silent demeanor at the time hadn't helped matters much. He's making good time through the sea of legs when Hana calls from behind. He weaves back through, stepping between the people with uncanny agility, and takes her hand when he gets to her.

"Don't let go. Then we won't get lost."

[Hana Forester]

"Okay."

She holds his hand tightly as he leads her through the crowd, her other hand holding on just as tightly to her backpack strap.

[Kwiet Ideya]

He squeezes in between people, shouldering against a few of them to get Hana through the tighter gaps. Her backpack keeps her from moving sideways through people, a thing he'd realized after the third or fourth time they'd nearly tripped someone with it. After a minute or so of walking he sees the top of the tallest slide over the adults' heads, and begins to press over towards that side. When they finally get out of the crowd, they're standing right where they need to be, inside the gates of the playground.

[Hana Forester]

"Wow!"
Hana runs for the swings, letting go of Kwiets hand in the process. The little boy is left in the dust as she jumps onto a swing, giggling.
"Come on Kwiet!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet jumps into the swing, pushing it high up as he lands in it. He kicks with the swing's rhythm, getting it as high as it can as fast as possible.

"Ever jump out of a swing?"

[Hana Forester]

"Nope."

Hana pumps her legs harder, trying to catch up with him. She can't get nearly as high up as he can, but she's trying her best.

"Have you?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Yup! You get as high as you can, and then push yourself outta the swing! You go really far!"

The swing has reached it's height, but he's still going, trying to coax a bit more height and speed out of it.

"Wanna see?"

[Hana Forester]

"Uhhhh..Okay."

She isn't going to say no, she doesnt want to hurt his feelings. Secretly she hopes he won't get hurt though...

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet swings his legs harder, leaning forward and letting go of the chains, balanced carefully as he gets ready.

"One...two....three!"

He throws himself forward in time with the swing, propelling himself out into the air. His arms windmill as he gets his feet underneath himself and lands in a low squat a few feet away.

"YEAH!" he yells, standing and turning back to Hana, with arms folded over his chest. "AWESOME!"

[Hana Forester]

Hana peeks out at him from behind splayed fingers. Once she sees that Kwiet is fine, she claps and cheers for him.

"Yeah! That was awesome! You're so cool, Kwiet!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

He grins proudly.

"You can do it, too, Hana! C'mon, try and jump outta the swing!"

He runs out parallel from his landing point, standing in front of her swing.

"Try to go farther than me!"

[Hana Forester]

She shakes her head. "No no no! I can't! I'll fall on my face!"

Her swing has slowed, almost stopped as she frowns worriedly at him.

"I can't do it, I'm not good at jumping like you are."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet drags his toe in the dirt to mark how far he went, then goes to Hana.

"You didn't even try yet!" he says. "How do you know if you're good at it if you don't try? My second dad told me that."

[Hana Forester]

She doesn't want to tell him she's afraid of heights..."Fine. I'll try it"

Kwiet moves out of the way as she starts swinging, pumping her legs hard to make her swing go up higher. Once she gets up high enough, she closed her eyes tight, leaning forward and jumping as the swing goes up.

She lands in the same way Kwiet did. Except for falling hard on her bum.
"Owww!!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet squats next to her with a worried look.

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt or nuthin', huh?"

If she's hurt, it'll be his fault, because he told her to jump out of the swing.

"You gotta put your feet under you when you land so you stand up..."

His voice fades away as finishes speaking. He should've told her that before, but he was too excited.

[Hana Forester]

She wipes her eyes and nods. "I'm okay, I think."

A few tears slip down her cheeks and she quickly wipes them away. She doesn't want him to feel bad about it.

"Ow..I just fell on my bum." She starts to laugh getting up and wiping herself off. "I told you I wasn't good at jumping."

[Kwiet Ideya]

He sniffles a bit, suppressing a few tears of his own, but manages to smile.

"There's a slide and monkey bars, if you wanna play over there...and a merry-go-round, and a see-saw..."

The boy looks around the park. His mom usually sits on a bench by the slide to watch him. Which reminds him...

"Hey, is your mom gonna come get you?"

[Hana Forester]

Hana smacks her forehead! She had totally forgot about meeting her Mummy at Yogs! She starts to cry.

"Oh no! I was supposed to stay at Yogs and she was gonna come get me!"

She starts running back the way they came, having no trouble since the crowds have all but disappeared.

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet runs after her, picking up her stuff from the play ground and tossing it over his shoulder.

"Hey, wait! Slow down!"

The few people that are left all seem to be in the way; he scuttles around them, adjusting the cumbersome backpack on his shoulders as he runs. He finally catches her about half-way there, running alongside her.

[Hana Forester]

Hana keeps running, and soon, they're back where they started. A tall man in a black suit is standing on the curb, looking at his crono with a slight frown. Beside him is a stylish black speeder. Hana stops in front of him, panting.

"I'm...sorry...I'm late. I was playing."

[Kwiet Ideya]

Kwiet just gawks, dropping the backpack in his surprise. Who is this big wig guy?

"Um...is that your dad?" he asks quietly. He has to be one of the most intimidating people the little boy has ever seen. He sure hopes Hana isn't in trouble with this guy. That would be bad, worse since it's not her fault. "Uh, hey mister? I took her to the playground, so its my fault..."

[Hana Forester]

The man smiles, taking the backpack from the little boy.
"It's fine, young man. Miss Hana isn't in any trouble, I was just a bit worried about her."

Hana giggles.
"He's not my daddy, he's my daddy's driver, Matthew. He's really nice and cool and stuff."

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Oh," Kwiet answers, turning red. "Is your mom here? You said you were meeting your mom, not a driver."

Oh, he sounds concerned over where her mom is, but in reality he's thinking "Wow, a driver! Like the rich people on TV!." He scratches the top of his head, craning his neck back to see Matthew's face. Now that he's smiling, he sure looks nice enough.

"Um...I'm Kwiet! I'm Hana's friend."

[Hana Forester]

Matthew hold out his hand, shaking Kwiets. "Very nice to meet you, Master Kwiet. Miss Hanas' mother had a party to get ready for, so she sent me to pick her up."

He opens the speeder door for the young lady. "We really must be going, Miss. We're going to be late."

Hana frowns. She wants to play with Kwiet more! "Can we come back later so I can play with Kwiet again? PLeeeeeeeaaase?"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Yeah! Pleeeaaaaase?"

If Hana gets to come see him more, then he can show her all sorts of neat stuff, like how to throw good, and climb into air ducts and trees, and they can sit and watch cartoons on his mom's big holoscreen. That would be awesome.

[Hana Forester]

Matthew laughs. "I'm sure you can come and visit Master Kwiet as much as you like, Miss. You'll just have to let your mohter know before-hand. Maybe you can get his comm number so you two can speak on the phone? Or his address, so you can meet there instead of at this..bar?"
He chuckled. It was odd - two youngsters meeting in a bar. Hana grins.
"Yeah! Then we can play together all the time, and you can come to my house, and we can go to your house!"

[Kwiet Ideya]

"Okay!"

Kwiet begins to search his multitudinous pockets. His mom wrote down his address and phone number so he could see it if he forgot it, and now he just has to find what pocket it's in. At last he pulls it out of his star pouch, holding it out to Hana.

"Here's my stuff! You can come over whenever you want!"

[Hana Forester]

She giggles more, taking the paper and putting it carefully into her pocket. Matthew gestures for her to get in the car -- they are really late, and her mummy will be upset if she's not ready for the party.

"Okay, I'll see you later Kwiet!" She gives him a big hug and another kiss on the cheek before getting into the speeder. Matthew closes the door, then gets in himself and starts the engine.

[Kwiet Ideya]

He manages to hug her back really quick before she kisses him and jumps in the fancy speeder. He rubs his cheek on his sleeve half-heartedly, watching the car drive away. Man...now he's bored. Seems there's nothing he wants to do now that there's no one to do things with. He turns and shuffles back towards the Jedi dormitory, to tell his mom who he met today.

[Hana Forester]

Hana meanwhile is watching Kwiet out the back window as the car drives away. She can't wait to come back and play with him again.