Ask Pen and Paper

[Soleil Altan]

Despite how quiet Sol was and the subsequently reduced attention he got, the silent acolyte actually did well at the academy. Memorization and problem solving came especially to him. His good marks, combined with his goal for getting unrestricted access to Sith archives across their space, convinced him to take up a side gig for Drommund Kaas Academy. Tutoring assigned students didn't just help with networking and add nice little notes to his file, it also increased his granted 'allowance' from the academy. What wasn't to like?

Sure there were all kinds of people who ended up acolytes but Soleil was pretty relaxed as a person, typed quickly, and had decently neat handwriting. If someone had a problem with the whole 'mute' thing they could suck it. With any luck, Cairo wasn't secretly one of those people since Sol thought he was kind of a cool dude from their limited interactions. Tutoring today took place in the Wrean's dorm room, where he was waiting. Cairo'd been told by text just to knock and walk right in. The roommate was 'otherwise occupied' for the night. Which probably he was staying with his girlfriend.

Inside on Sol's side was cluttered, but organized. Little collected knick-knacks were placed wherever he could put them. Second-hand books sat on a shelf with borrowed dataslates and tomes from the library stacked on the top level. Dried plants hung near a window by his bed, a couple of little living ones he watered every day sitting on the windowsill. Seashells and a small jar of sand were collected along another few shelves near his folded-up skimboard. Band posters were up on the walls while pencil drawings, charcoal impressions, and oil paintings were pinned up on a corkboard.

A cheap tin box sat next to them, a little green leaf sticker half worn off from uses slapped on the lid. The cleanest space was the standard-issue desk, currently set up for two people to use. In the small 'kitchen' area an electric kettle was boiling water.

There were also snacks in plastic shop bags sitting by the desk. Couldn't study without snacks, especially for anything university-related. Or without music, in Sol's opinion, low-key and beat-y songs playing in the background. Sol sat in plain dark gray sweatpants and a black low-side tanktop with 'All panic, no disco' printed on the front, borderline pajamas. While he waited he worked on something in his sketchbook, pencil scratching over the off-white paper, steadily forming a native Drommund Kaas flower he'd seen around.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Cairo Kisufi]

Cairo, as instructed, knocked and walked right in. His eyes were ablaze. He had gotten stoned before the tutoring session, an effort to make it less boring, but it made him late. Herbs, too, helped distract from the crippling effects of Wildfire, the ticking time bomb that wreaked havoc on his, Altair's, and Veles's nervous systems. Every time he thought of that, he thought to the party. He had seen Sol there. At least, he thought he had. Most of that party was an unpleasant blur.

The aftermath of said party had given him time to reflect. He had realized that no one was coming to save him, no one would be able to fix the problems of his life for him. He had to take initiative for himself, and today, he thought the best way to do that was apply himself to his studies. Armed with packets of instant noodles he planned to use as a bribe to Sol in lieu of hard cash, which he had wasted over the course of the past month on drugs, clothes, and haircuts, in that order.

He walked in with a sheepish smile, flashing a peace sign at Sol. He was mute. Cairo assumed that made him smart, assuming silence to be a sign of intelligence. But, that was only because him and Altair talked a lot, and they collectively shared one brain cell. He tossed an instant ramen packet at the student, gesturing to his backpack. When he opened the bag, papers, textbooks, and datafile chaotically spilled out, revealing him to be a less-than organized student.

His thoughts often went to college now, after Zana had mentioned her attending South Point. He didn't expect to have the intellectual gifts to attend there, because Zana was the smartest coolest girl in the galaxy of course, but he hadn't seriously considered it a possibility for himself. No one in his family had ever been, and he, frankly, didn't even know Sith were allowed to go. He hoped now to change that.

"I, uh..." What did he want to work on, specifically? Malou had once talked about history, the subject lighting an ember in her spirit that Cairo desired for himself. Maybe Sith history and philosophy would actually help him make sense of where he was at? "Bombed the 'Sith History in Antiquity' midterm."

"Cool if we study that?"

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Soleil turned to look as his fellow acolyte walked into the room and gave the dude a quick once-over. He somehow looked less than stellar, although Sol couldn't precisely put his finger on how. His first impression was 'sweatier' but then the last couple times they'd met had been at parties, so that wasn't much to go off of. Cairo also smelled of herbs, but again, not news. Would've been more surprising if he didn't, honestly.

He was offered a lazy grin and shrug, then waved his arm toward the desk to welcome Cairo in. Sol wasn't the formalities type as evidenced by how he'd dressed. A hand came up to snatch the thrown noodles, blinking at it. Shrimp flavor. Lucky guess he supposed. His eyes stared for a moment at the chaotic backpack eruption of random stuff.

Great start. Soleil tossed the ramen bribe onto his bed for now while Cairo suggested ancient Sith history. His eyes flicked up and left for a second, then he nodded and lazily rolled is chair slightly to reach his bookshelf. A truly ponderous tome was hefted off and thunked down on the desk, topped with an unused ring of cheap flashcards. Sol rolled his chair back into place and slid a notebook page over to where Cairo's chair would be. On it were several questions and a note written with semi-neat penmanship.

> I don't speak. Just talk like usual.
> You don't have to answer these, but they're helpful.
> Any dyslexia, dysgraphia, or similar?
> Best way to study? Copying, practical, etc.
> Studying or cramming?
> Any major?
> Last relevant exam scores(s)?
> How high are you right now?

All important questions he couldn't ask aloud. Meanwhile, Soleil was scrolling on his pad to his own notes on that particular class, head bobbing slightly to the background music.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Cairo Kisufi]

Cairo looked curiously at each of the questions as Sol wrote them, considering how to best answer them, before he reached the last one. A wide grin crawled up his face - he had been caught. "You, uh, want a j? I brought one. We could smoke while we study." He flicked it into his fingers from his pocket.

"Dyslexia, dysgrafia...nah, I don't think so. Just been distracted, man. They work us so much, you know? Between missions and class. I'm just a little distracted." And wildfire addiction. Can never forget that!

"Just studying. Got a 33 on the last test." Out of 333. Sith scores sometimes had weird numerology around them. "Umm, I dunno how I study best. I usually just kinda wing it." He paused.

"What should I be doing? I can't just read the textbook end to end, right?" RIGHT? That would be a horrible fate - if he actually had to read it end-to-end. Don't people make flashcards just to avoid doing that? Ugh, he was fucked. But complaining wouldn't help him out here.

"This is cool for you? Just like, helping me study?"

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Sol glanced at the J, fixed Cairo with a flat look, and jerked his head toward the slide-open dorm window. He didn't smoke inside with all his books because he was pretty sure the librarian, who kinda liked that he didn't cause a ruckus in the library, would mount his head on a wall if anything came back smelling like herb. Luckily smells didn't carry in the permanent rain of Drommund Kaas and people couldn't see shit through his window. Sol lived in an outer door that faced the wilds, a very climbable tree outside.

The rest of his answers got a couple of nods and an 'OK' hand sign at the end. Except for the score, which got raised eyebrows. Cairo really did bomb the fuck out of that test. He didn't know what 'distracted' meant here but it also wasn't much his business. Just the studying part.

The silent had to consider how other people studied partly because memorization came stupidly easy to him, making rote-style tests a breeze. He read books end to end, but then again he also enjoyed it. Luckily for Cairo, there was kind of a workaround. Soleil opened the big book- covering Korriban's ancient history and the creation of the original Sith Code, things like- and quickly flipped to a particular page. He turned over his notepaper, glanced up to the left, then wrote a series of page numbers to slide over to the other acolyte.

Start with these it said below the numbers. They covered key events more likely to be on a test rather than more rambling passages, descriptions, or suppositions. His eyes looked up from the page to meet Cairo's brown when he asked if this was all 'cool' for him. He blinked, a wry look with curled lips on his face as he slowly nodded and just kinda gestured vaguely at the studying setup. Soleil looked just as relaxed as when Cairo walked in a few moments ago.

@Fine Dining Set