Kanan and Hera's apartment, Saturday morning

[futurespacemom]

Master Kiwiiks had been surprised to wake up and find herself...here, wherever here was again.

Not to mention in bed with someone she didn't recognize.

She slid out of bed, found some clothing, and went into the main room to kneel and meditate. The currents in the Force were just as chaotic as she vaguely remembered from before, and it was always best to have information before doing anything.


[For the one there, but open post!]

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[uncertain_dume]

"Water will be fine," Caleb replied, watching his egg intently while Frumpkin kept an eye on things behind him. As it cooked, he used the fork to nudge the edges of it into a neat sort of order, rounding it off so that the egg was frying evenly in the bacon grease.

It was something to put his focus into, somewhere to channel his anxiety.

"Water is always good."

[futurespacemom]

"Water is important to most forms of life," Master Kiwiiks agreed. She found a couple glasses and filled them from the sink. "Sometimes simple is good." She kept looking and found plates and another fork, and set it all out on the table.

[uncertain_dume]

And wouldn't eating at a table that wasn't located in an inn be novel, too?

Caleb nudged the edges of his egg a few moments more, and then attempted to use the fork to flip it.

The yolk broke, and he made a faintly disgruntled face at it. So close.

"I am not one to turn up my nose at simple," he noted. "... Particularly not when waking up in a strange home I may or may not be welcome in."

He hadn't even seen a single book in this place, yet. He was kinda judging whoever lived here.

[futurespacemom]

"As we've woken up here, whoever's house it is will simply have to indulge us," she answered. "Should they show up, we can come to an arrangement, I'm sure."

Because Jedi.

"Will you tell me something about yourself, Caleb?" she asked. "How did you come to be free of the Empire?"

[uncertain_dume]

It really was a shame the 'record scratch' sound wasn't really something that existed in Wildemount. It was very much the sort of noise that belonged right there in tandem with the faint intake of breath, the way Caleb's entire posture tightened before he almost mechanically reached for a plate, to put some bacon and his - sigh - broken egg onto it.

"Free of it?"

That would sound way more casual if he was talking to someone who couldn't sense that he was pretty much just constantly screaming internally, right then.

[futurespacemom]

Fortunately (or unfortunately for Caleb), she could.

Master Kiwiiks sent waves of soothing through the Force. "Wherever this is, the Empire holds no sway over it. You are free, at least for now." She eyed him sympathetically. "Do you still live under it at home, then? I'm sorry. I wish I could help you."

[uncertain_dume]

After a few moments, Caleb gave a slow, almost relieved exhale. He wasn't sure why, really had no idea quite what to make of it, but suddenly and inexplicably, in spite of the conversation at hand, he felt just a little bit more at peace.

"I will be fine," he replied. He didn't believe that, really, but he was going to say it. "I must find my friend, though."

Maybe she'd gotten The Itch again. Maybe all he had to do was go looking around the town for deep pockets belonging to oblivious locals and there would Nott the Brave be.

He was not so sure this would be so.

[futurespacemom]

Master Kiwiiks nodded. "I imagine your friend is still back where you came from. When you return, you'll find them there. For now, use this as an opportunity to learn."

[uncertain_dume]

"... About bacon and eggs?"

Caleb did not think he was here even remotely for 'bacon and eggs,' no. But he couldn't imagine why he was here, and latching on to the banal was infinitely better than discussing his escape from the Empire.

"It makes little sense," he noted, "that I would be brought here, as would my cat. But not my travel companion."

Okay. It actually made more sense than one might think. Frumpkin was, after all, less 'cat' and more 'fey entity who preferred to be a cat.'

[futurespacemom]

"I've already learned about them," Master Kiwiiks said, smiling. "Now I know what a chicken egg looks like. You can learn about this place, I can tell you of the Republic and the Jedi if you like. All of life is learning."

Especially when you were a Consular.

"The ways of the Force are strange at times. All we can do is try to discover what it's trying to tell us."

[uncertain_dume]

There were a lot of words being thrown around that made very little sense to Caleb. Oh, the sentences were full and complete, the thoughts were definitely structured well, but...

"The Force?"

That one was just as new as 'Jedi,' to him.

[futurespacemom]

"The Force is the life-energy of the universe," Master Kiwiiks explained. "It flows through all things and links them all together. As a Jedi, I listen to what it says, what it tells me about everything around me. It's a guide and a help."

She smiled. "I don't know why it's brought me here today, but it tells me you're troubled, and if I can help, perhaps that's reason enough."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb cleared his throat, looking vaguely uncomfortable as he made his way toward the table with his plate.

... Leaving the stove on behind him. Hell, he was still puzzling over how it had turned on in the first place. No fires had been lit.

This was not a bad thing.

"Your concern is..." Noted? Appreciated? Unnecessary? "touching."

Useless...

"Though I am afraid there is not much to be done about my situation. Not from here."

Wherever here was.

Didn't even have books.

[futurespacemom]

That was okay; Master Kiwiiks was getting up to make her own food now. She could turn it off behind her.

"You never know," she said. "Is there anything that you could learn that might be a help? Or anything you would do if you had the means and time? Perhaps here you do."

[uncertain_dume]

Turn back time?

Return what was lost?

"There is little not worth learning," he allowed after a few moments, taking a seat and staring down at his plate, fork in hand. "Should I have the opportunity, I would like to find my way to a bookstore, or perhaps a library."

[futurespacemom]

"Then why don't we look for one?" Master Kiwiiks said with a smile. She scrambled her own eggs and put the rest of the bacon in for good measure. "I'm sure there must be one somewhere. I'll see if the Force can lead us, and if not, we can always ask someone."

[uncertain_dume]

"This Force of yours seems to be a quite useful guide indeed," Caleb mused, and then paused a moment to more or less shovel his food into his mouth. It was here in front of him, he wasn't about to pass up this opportunity for a free meal just because of some conversation. "If we can locate books," a faintly judgmental glance around the apartment, "I would be... most appreciative."

If nothing else, maybe something in one of those books would tell him why he was here.

[futurespacemom]

"Then that's what we'll do," Master Kiwiiks said. She smiled at him and finished cooking her bacon, then brought her own plate back over (and did indeed turn off the stove).

"You're a scholar, then?" she asked, hoping this would get a better response than asking him about the Empire.

[uncertain_dume]

"Scholar? Of a sort, I suppose," Caleb replied. "I am a man who prefers to keep his mind engaged, and for that, I use books."

Any information that could help him keep two steps ahead while still moving forward.

Although up until very recently, 'two steps ahead' was hardly the case at all.

As he ate, Frumpkin jumped up to drape himself around Caleb's shoulders, making himself quite at home there.

[futurespacemom]

"It's good to keep your mind busy. Learning is important. I'm a library sort myself, when I can be," she confessed.

She laughed at the cat. "He's quite comfortable on you. He knows he's in charge, doesn't he?" Because cat.

[uncertain_dume]

In reply to that question, Caleb actually gave a small, genuine smile.

"Frumpkin is very much the boss cat and he knows it," he agreed, and Frumpkin gave the sort of self-satisfied slow blink that confirmed that this was, in fact, the case. "He has earned that place, of course. He has been very good to me."

[futurespacemom]

"I'm glad to hear it." Master Kiwiiks smiled back at them both. "Everybody should have someone or something they can count on."

She ate her bacon, then tore off a small piece and gestured at Frumpkin. "May I?"

[uncertain_dume]

"You may," Caleb replied, and gave Frumpkin a glance that more or less said, 'it won't kill you and it would make me happy, at least it isn't an entire saucer of milk.'

Frumpkin, in turn, gave Caleb a look that more or less said, 'you're lucky I like you,' before hopping off of Caleb's shoulders and plodding across the table to sniff at the bacon.

It was such a hard life, to be Frumpkin.

[futurespacemom]

"I'm sorry, I know it's cooked," Master Kiwiiks said to him. "But it's still meat."

[uncertain_dume]

Frumpkin kind of sneezed at it, but took the morsel in his mouth anyway and - sigh - ate it.

'Cooked' was not the issue, really, but he could hardly communicate as such, and his person was quite happy to throw him right under that cart, since seeing him do the eating-cat-face thing seemed to bring him pleasure.

"There, see, you like that," Caleb informed him.

Frumpkin's eyes were not built in a way that would allow for an expressive eyeroll, so he just settled for padding back across the table and getting back up onto Caleb's shoulders again.