The rest of the day was exhausting even by Maren's standard. Zrie, the name of the red girl, he now was intimatly aware of after he by mistake called her "red girl", causing her to miserably cry and took some for Maren unusual precise manouvering to de escalate the situation, dragged him to all kinds of distinct places. One of them was where you put some kind of helmet on and suddenly you were in a totally different place another a dark room where people hide and seek each other. He was still tired from the fight before, because if not he would have crushed this challenge too... naturally and not get caught in the first minute. The rest of the evening he played some games on a board with her. It has to be said he would have beaten her in these too if he was not so worn out. Right now however he had to watch her unintentionally gloat.
"Aaand the Rancor goes here and... I won, I WON." The girl jumped up and down in glee while Maren could do nothing more than seethe, nostrils inflated, breath heavy.
"Yeah you wwwwonnnn." The last word he had to basically pull out of his throat. One day...
All of it lasted until a chime indicated it was time to get nourishment. This time it was uneventfull. Maybe the people had no reason to bully her anymore now as she had a friend or it was the fact Maren looked like he wanted to eat somebody's face off and they were scared. Some mysteries can never be solved. The red girl in the meantime had a great time chatting about all sort of things. Unexpected how some of these things were were not a total waste of time to listen to like how and when the Initiates become Padawans and the trial they have to go through. When it came to this subject her demenor became instantly very solemn.
"Master Quinn said that nobody will want me as their Padawan. I am too bad for that", sobbed the girl browbeaten.
"Who the hell cares what this old sack of bones says. Just crush anything they dare put in front of you and they will have to bow before you."
"B-b-bbb-but what if I can't do. I tried the whole time and I still got no better with the force."
"Well good that I am here. I shall be your shining idol or a mortal enemy to you. With this you will have the incentive to become the strongest. Trust me as I did the latter a lot of times." Maren told her looking into distance indulging himself in sweet sweet nostalgia.
She in the meantime fumbled nervously around on her seat before she spoke.
"I- I don't want you to be any of this. I- I would like it more if we were friends. O- O- Only if it's ok. I- I never had one, d- don't misunderstand I still appreciate you trying to help me."
Oh Maren did not misunderstand. He knew how rejection felt like. He just wanted to give her advice and she immediately stabbed him in the heart. How much betrayal could he take.
"Fffffinnne. If you think that this is a better idea", Maren said snippy.
"Yayy, friends forever."
She did not spot his frustration and so the rest of dinnertime went without any excitement.
After dinner Maren had to walk the red girl back to her room where she sprung into his arms giving him a big hug. She gave a silent "goodnight" and went through the door to her room. The young boy was still puzzled by the sudden show of affection he had never experienced in his sorry life.
'I wonder how my Master's hug would feel like. Apropos I did not see her since this morning.'
In that instance he heard a mechanical rattle and as if she just popped out from the very air the woman of his thoughts appeared before him. Close to her the droid.
'Thinking of which.'
"Good evening Master, how was your day."
"Grrreat, I looked into our case with the idol and found out the first hunches on who made the hit. It was probably the mob, using that crazy guy."
"Then the next question is why they targeted her."
"I knew you were a smart boy my Padawan", she said nuzzling her cheek against his. Maren did not stop her.
"Problem is her Manager refuses to cooperate, saying it was just a crazy fan, she doesn't know anything and not to traumatize his client even more. And technically I as a Jedi am not apart of the law enforcement. So everything got really complicated."
"And the police guy we captured?"
"From him I or we better said, got the information about the mob. He first refused to talk, but after a while he squaled. Apparently he got his orders from way up, waaay up, but sadly he didn't want to tell us who, beacuse he is afraid they whack him otherwise... for now. These guys always rat tjeir buddies out in the end. For now he is in his cell and is guarded by our Templeguards so no abrupt whacking occurs. Snitches get stiches as they say and he's a biiig snitch."
"Good. That should be adaquate."
"Oh by the way I have something for you, do you guess what it is?"
"No", Maren answered deadpan.
...
...
...
"It's your own galactic translator, so you can understand your classmates. Yay applause, applause", she proclaimed, clapping her hands.
"Oh how thoughtful. This will prove really helpful. My gratitude." Maren made a slight bow only for her.
"Hehehe am I not smart. Isn't your Master clever."
If she would have put her nose even higher she would have broken her neck.
Maren put the button-looking devices in his ears.
"Now then good night my precious Padawan, I see you tomorrow", she said with a cheeky smile pinching his cheek.
Before she could go away the boy asked with no alterior motive: "Master, I heard that physical contact is important to form a bond and the bond between Master and Padawan is most important, is it not?"
The woman turned around with surprise, the droid impishly making different beeping sounds, showing he knew what's up.
The Jedi then snapped her fingers as if she just had a great idea.
"You're right and I have the perfect idea for that."
And as if she could read his mind she went up to him and enclosed him into a big hug. Even better for Maren she hugged him in such a way that his face was pressed against her chest area. It was lovely. For now sadly he had not the capability to fully explain why he is so fond of this feeling. For the time the only thing he could say was, that it was lovely.
"Don't forget to brush your teeth."
She stroked his cheek one more time with a smile, the droid made a sound comparable to a sigh and then they left the boy. Maren now stood alone in front of the door to his room.
"Man I just keep winning today."
As soon as he entered the door Maren's question about his bunk neighbour got solved too. He sat in the dark just looking at the floor. Maren switched on the light and the pink creature jolted up, blinking because of the light and in confusion... and the fear. Maren without saying a word went to his desk as there were some utensils positioned with little markers there. One was "toothbrush" another one "toothpaste" etc.
Mare noticed how behind him fidgeted around anxiously.
'Please no not again.'
"What is your plight, my dear compatriot", Maren said, as friendly as it was possible to him, which was not much.
The compatriot started to fidget even more, playing with his thumbs, sweating and eyes darting around like a scared animal.
Maren who had no time for this now demanded: "Out with it. NOW."
After a few seconds of shaking like a leaf and testing Maren's patience he finally squeaked: "Sorry for what Squall did today."
...
....
.....
"Who?"
"T- t- the guy who punched you today."
"Ahh that guy. Yeah was awesome was it not? But if you meet him next time say to him this was the last time I let that happen." Maren's face became a horrifiying grimace saying this phrase. The Nightbrother in him wrung his ugly head, but this time he let it.
"So what is your hangup?" Maren asked without malice.
The pink one started to squirm again.
"I- I- I don't have one."
...
"Yeah sure whatever. I go find out how to use this 'toothbrush', so... see you later."
"Y- y- yeah, later." The boy gave a weak smile trying to hide his fear.
Maren in his glory went to the bathroom and did all necessary steps one has to make before going to bed. Even after a bit he found out to handle a toothbrush. On Dathomir they used crushed bone and a finger. He looked in one of the mirrors to view his face. His palest of skin, almost ethereal was the first thing that stood out. An... unnatural colour for his kind. Some of his clan mates even said he was cursed, but Maren did not care about the yapping of little people. Next he examined his face with black markings every Nightbrother got, which were present all over his body. Next he inspected his eyes. Just as always they were black as obsidian with a green iris. As he looked closer he saw how the green appeared to be fluctuating, flowing like waves on an ocean or the lights in the sky only more heinous. So... nothing out of the ordinary.
Now that his teeth were brushed he also took a look a his perfectly alined pearly whites. He was happy they had the same colour as the other bipedals unlike his finger and toenails which were so dark in colour they seem to absorb the loght around them. Could someone imagine pure black teeth. Hilarious. Thing was his gums and tongue were this colour. All in all Maren was an oddity and knew it and did not care. Every bodypart of his furfilled its function ot supposed to so he had nothing to complain about except cosmetics and the fact that most were absolutely horrified of him, but that is a plus so what is there to complain. To make a long story short he was awesome and he knew it. After some more self-adulation he packed his stuff up and went prancing back to his room.
On the way he suddenly felt something, something indescribable... but familiar. A feeling of darkness, hatred and malice. And of course it came out of his room.
'Rancor's rancid behind what is it again' , the boy thought as he ran the rest of the way to his room. When he opened the door he was greeted with the sight of his bunk buddiy holding a sphere like object in his hand. Mesmerized and without blinking he looked intently at it muttering some unrecognizable words. The sphere itself emitted a green hue that hurt Maren's eyes and watching it as it almost swam in the air gave him a huge headache as if a sight like that should not be observed. Additionally it gave off a hum which made his bones crunch and shook his very core. Just walking towards it was a onerous fight in itself. The closer he came the more insidious the chanting and its promises got. Luckily his extreme predjudice against everything Nightsister shielded him from its onslaught.
"Give me that", Maren exclaimed forcing the sphere out of the littel guys hand, only it was extremly hard. He held onto it like his life depended on it, maybe it even was, but Maren had not his well being in mind in the moment. Finally with more strenght than he imagined he seperated him from the artifact.
"So no more of th... WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE."
The pink boy jumped at Maren with distorted grimace. Teeth elongated to sharp daggers, eyes bulging in black and green and the mouth went from ear to ear. All in all not good for Maren. He leaped with a savage jump at Maren, his claw like nails digging in his flesh leaving bloddy marks on his black and white skin. Thanks to his sharp reflexes Maren used his free hand to grap his attackers throat as he did not want to experience what his bite strenght was. Still it took most of his strenght to keep him at distance. Maren had to think fast. He could not hold him off for long. Think fast Maren.
"EMERGENCY KNOCKOUT!"
With a thounderous crunch their to heads collided. Maren felt how the whole body of his attacker trembled like a leaf upon impact. Then he all of the sudden stopped moving, his eyes wandered back to his skull and plopped onto the bed.
"Sweet dreams."
Maren gazed upon the sphere now as silent as always giving it a displeased look.
"Well great. As if I do not have enough to take care of already."