TITLE: Size Matters Not!
By Jemmiah
Set at various times, starting post snapshot 'From Little Acorns' and ending just before A Night to (Almost) Remember.'
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"Master Jinn?"
Qui-Gon looked across the table at the ten-year-old, who in turn regarded him with a devilishly bright and cheerful smile; a smile that meant that she was no doubt after something. The master had been about the galaxy long enough and known enough women in his time to be aware that females would use all their wiles and allurements to get whatever it was they were after. Whenever Jemmiah was so utterly polite and attentive Qui-Gon knew that, whatever it was she was after, it was bound to be something that he wasn't going to like…
"Yes, Tangles?" he replied, the spoon in his hand hovering just shy of his mouth. "What is it?"
"I was hanging around some of the kids in my class at school today…" she continued, pausing so that he might recognize that this was leading up to something.
"Yes?" Qui-Gon smiled inwardly, waiting for the inevitable begging and pleading to start. "And what did they have to say for themselves?"
"Not much. A lot of them have started to wear make-up and stuff…" her eyes caught Qui-Gon's and she could see instantly he had already decided against whatever she were about to suggest.
"Absolutely not." Qui-Gon replied, cutting off any further conversation on the matter.
"Not what?"
"You were about to suggest that it would be a wonderful idea if I let you wear make-up to school. The answer is no. You are too young." The jedi looked down at the bowl of nasty, green looking soup that Jemmiah had made earlier that day. It tasted very good, but the truth was he never knew exactly what she had done to it, or whether he had cause to be afraid there might be some foreign body in it, especially in light of what she had done to the erstwhile Sophie Digwurt.
"But all the other's are doing it!" Jemmiah let her spoon fall back against her bowl with an outraged clatter.
"Do you want to be a nerf, and follow the rest of the herd?" Qui-Gon asked her pointedly. "Jemmiah, you are simply too young. Painting your face to make yourself look grown-up, at your age! It's ridiculous and unnecessary!"
"It'll stop me from being picked on." Jemmy groused. "I'll be the only normal one there! Awwww, go on Master Jinn! Please!"
"Tangles, I'm sorry. The answer is no."
"Not even a little nail varnish?" Jemmy wheedled, holding out her fingernails. "See, it's clear! And it's all the fashion right now!"
"Jemmiah…"
"You can hardly see it!" Jemmy sighed, rapidly beginning to run out of arguments. "Oh, please!"
"If you can hardly see it then what's the point in wearing it?" countered Qui-Gon, making an examination of her fingers. It was true; even he had to admit it. Unless the light struck the varnished surface in a certain way you could hardly tell she was wearing any at all. Even then it gave the mildest hint of a rainbow, pearlecent surface - hardly the most garish thing in the galaxy. If it would keep her pleased whilst not compromising his own principles, Qui-Gon was prepared to relent slightly if only to show that he wasn't completely inflexible or deaf to her pleading.
"Very well. I think that's acceptable. But that is all!" he cautioned her with a raised finger. "I do not expect to see you with any make-up until you turn fifteen, and even then I'd better be able to hardly see it, as you so eloquently put it!"
Jemmiah stood up and leaned across the table, giving him a small hug.
"You're wonderful." She grinned.
"You mean I'm an idiot…" Jinn muttered under his breath. It was nail varnish today, but what would it be tomorrow? The worrying thing with Jemmiah was he could never quite tell…
*****
"Master Jinn?" Thirteen year old Jemmiah batted her eyelashes up at her co-guardian with all the beguiling sweetness that she could manage in order to secure her heart's desire. On this particular occasion the desire extended to a rather smart pair of boots that were cut to just below the knee, but with a heel on them that Qui-Gon had thought far too impractical when she'd shown him a holo pic of them on the shopping channels.
"No, Tangles."
"I can pay for them myself!" Jemmiah pouted. "I'm not asking you to pay for them or anything."
"That's as may be, but they're not suitable for school and you're not having them." Qui-Gon attempted to bury his head in his study notes. "And the fact that you are asking me this instead of Evla suggests that you already have and met with equal lack of success, am I right?"
Jemmiah all but stamped her foot against the ground with frustration.
"I hate how you know that stuff!" she groused at him.
Her petulant expression was rather amusing for once and Qui-Gon very nearly indulged himself in laughter at the Corellian's expense. Large, wounded looking eyes regarded him as if he were some kind of devil intent on stopping her from enjoying all the good things in life. That of course wasn't so, but the older he got the more Qui-Gon had realized that the good things in life invariably always came at a price…
"Well then, you should also know that I'm not going to back down on this." Qui-Gon replied, reclining easily in his comfortable leather seat. "You're thirteen years old. You have years ahead of you to wear impractical garments. You're most likely to break your ankle on a heel like that…" he sniffed, regarding the picture once more.
"Awww, Qui-Geeeee!" Jemmy's hands balled at her sides in frustration.
"Nope, that won't work. I'm impervious to your pleading and begging. I'm a cruel and wicked guardian and what is more I intend to stay that way." He smiled, covering his face with one of the flimsy reports he was reading so that she couldn't see his mirth.
"Bassalads!" growled Jemmiah.
"Pardon?"
"I said that's not fair!" The Corellian placed her hands one across the other, trying to face him down.
"Such is life." Observed Qui-Gon casually, still smiling away from plain sight. "However…"
"Yes?" Jemmy held her breath hopefully, taking a few expectant steps towards him.
"I am prepared to compromise slightly, if only for the sake if my sanity. Now, I'm no judge of high fashion…" Qui-Gon began to say.
"You can say that again." Grimaced the Corellian crookedly.
"...but if you were to choose something a little less impractical, from the page before maybe?"
Sith, Jemmiah was across that room and holding the page out in front of him before he the words were out of his mouth! Somewhere at the back of his mind the master had the feeling he'd been deliberately duped…
"How about those?" Jemmy pointed to a slightly less expensive pair, who still looked distinctly dangerous to Qui-Gon.
"No."
"But why?" Jemmy asked in an engineered, sulky sounding voice.
"Because they are NOT practical."
"The heel is hardly noticeable." Jemmiah responded enthusiastically. "You can hardly see it!"
Why was it, Qui-Gon wondered absently, that he was experiencing a considerable amount of déjà vu?
"If you can hardly see it then why don't you just get a pair that has no heel at all?" Qui-Gon felt obliged to point out.
"Coz I'm small and I need all the height I can get!" Jemmiah reminded him testily. It wasn't a lie; she was certainly below average height for her age, but Qui-Gon had been more than a little aware that she was finally beginning to grow, her face somewhat less elongated and her chin less pointed than before. One day height would not be a great problem for her, and then her silly fad for boots would be a thing of the past…
"I can see the heel." Qui-Gon remarked, knowing he was about to give in to her yet again. "It's not invisible to me…"
"Please? Quiggy?" she began to make nerf eyes at him. "I promise I won't bother you until the next time!"
Qui-Gon gave a small, heartfelt groan.
"You'll break your ankle for certain." He muttered as Jemmiah placed a warm, affectionate kiss on his forehead. "And if you do, don't come running to me!" Qui-Gon was about prepared to put money on the fact she'd deliberately engineered the whole thing, showing him an expensive pair with a bigger heel that she hadn't really wanted just so that he would relent and let her have the pair that she really DID want…
It was only after she'd had left the room that Qui-Gon frowned, thinking over something Jemmiah had said.
"I promise I won't bother you until the next time?" he repeated, pulling a disgusted face. "What sort of promise is that?"
Knowing Jemmiah, a very truthful one indeed…
***********
"So," Qui-Gon turned to his friend, Dex Berlingside with an abjectly mournful look, "it appears that my padawan has decided to ignore all my warnings and asked Jemmiah out. I don't know what to do, Dex. I'm at a total loss for what to say."
The blonde haired master tucked his fingers into the side of his belt, letting his robe flow backward from the shoulders, lending him a mildly heroic air - or so he liked to think. Qui-Gon's problem was that he worried too much. So what if his padawan decided to have a little fun? He was a red blooded male just like most in the temple. It wasn't as if he was about to run off and marry Jemmiah, was it? It wasn't like he was going to do something silly and pledge his life to the girl? Dex had more than enough experience in that department; certainly enough to know how stupid commitment was. Then again that was maybe just the bitterness talking…
"Qui, the more you fight this the more they'll hide it from you. They'll find a way: you know it's true. Look at you and Sal! Proof that I'm right if ever it was needed. Don't push them into a corner, because that's when they'll go behind your back and do something you don't want them to!"
"But if I let them it will be like I am condoning their relationship!" Qui-Gon shook his head miserably. "Dex, she's too young! And he should be focusing on his studies!"
"Maybe they'll surprise you." Dex clapped him playfully on the back. "Perhaps it will all work out for the best. Sure, Jemmiah's young and slightly wild…but time is a great cure for that, I believe! And as for Obi-Wan, I'm sure he knows exactly where to focus…"
Qui-Gon and Dex turned round simultaneously to see the red-dress clad, curvaceous figure of sixteen year old Jemmiah Gleshan come striding down the corridor armed to the teeth with large shopping bags whilst teetering precariously in boots that most definitely would not have been Qui-Gon approved! Slightly wild, Jinn wondered briefly? Slightly suicidal, more like! What was it with women and shopping? Why did they always buy such impractical things???
"Hi!" Jemmy smiled at the pair of them, placing a deliberate kiss on Qui-Gon's cheek so that it left her trademark scarlet lipgloss behind on his skin. "Oops! I seem to have marked you…hold on. I've got a handkerchief somewhere…" Jemmiah put her parcels on the ground for a moment and fished around in her bag, letting Qui-Gon see the equally bright red nail varnish adorning her fingers. Whatever happened to subtle, Jinn wondered? Whatever happened to hardly visible?
The master took the proffered handkerchief and started to wipe at the oily spot on his face that Jemmiah indicated with her painted nails, yet always his eyes strayed down to her boots. Sixteen years old now and STILL wearing the ridiculous things! It wasn't as if she was short of height any more, the girl had long since turned from the delicate bud into a blossoming flower. Obi-Wan had certainly noticed the fact that she'd grown, Qui-Gon thought with narrowing eyes. Well, he could notice all he wanted because that was all he was going to get to do…
"I take it you've been shopping." Jinn deadpanned.
"What gave it away?" Jemmiah beamed back at him, enjoying counting the multiplying creases on his forehead as he frowned at her.
"It's amazing," Qui-Gon pointed at the packages she was struggling to balance as she picked them up once more, "I didn't think there was room enough for a whole department store in there but it looks like I was wrong!"
"Ha ha!" Jemmy wrinkled her nose at him. "I've had a great day! I bought lots of things…"
"You don't say!" laughed Dex.
"No, it's true! I love to shop. I'm blaming Master Jinn here for starting my obsession by letting me wear all kinds of things when I was younger. Nail varnish…high-heeled boots…you name it!" The expression on the Corellian's face became impish, but Qui-Gon looked aghast all the same as she inferred it was all his fault somehow! "Anyhow, I'd better go before I drop all this stuff. It wouldn't do to let it get trailed all over the floor. I got this wonderful two piece bathing outfit, really tight! I thought Obi-Wan might like to see it…"
"Oh, no you don't!" Qui-Gon scolded, blocking her way by stepping directly in front of her.
"Master J, I assure you there's nothing to worry about!" Jemmy grinned back at him.
"When you mention the words two-piece, bathing costume and Obi-Wan all in the same sentence I think I have plenty of reason to worry." Qui-Gon refused to budge.
"It's only for show!"
"That's what worries me!" confessed the master. "I'm sorry Jemmiah but I'm not going to permit it and what is more the temple won't either!"
"I'm not going to go trailing around the temple or running about the gardens if that's what you are worried about." Jemmiah would have given him a friendly hug had her hands been free at that moment, but she was juggling with her packages again and was intent on edging her way past Dex and Qui-Gon as fast as she could. "Nor am I going to wear it infront of the initiates or padawans at the swimming pool. This is so I can go sunbathing on the balcony."
"Ah." Qui-Gon relented, slightly more mollified than before. "Well, I suppose that is acceptable, given that it's in the privacy of your own apartment."
"Need anyone to rub the cream in?" Berlingside grinned, before receiving a warning thump in the arm from Qui-Gon. "Sorry." He added. "Reverting to type there, I think!"
"Just stay away from Obi-Wan whilst you're catching the sun's rays." Demanded Qui-Gon, adamant that this time he was going to set some rules that she would have to follow. There would be no wheedling her way round him this time…no twisting him round her little finger as she was want to do.
"I promise you faithfully Master Jinn," Jemmy began to walk backwards from the scene, the presents she held in her arms stacked right up to her chin, "you needn't worry about the bathing costume. You can hardly see it, you'd never know it was there…"
"Well, that's alright then, I suppose." Qui-Gon shook his head as Jemmiah treated Dex to a playful wink. He watched her sidling backwards down the corridor as fast as she possibly could go under the heavy burden of all those bags and boxes. "You know, it hardly seems like yesterday since she was a child. They just grow up so quickly, it sets your head spinning to think about it."
"Uh huh." Nodded Dex, watching the Corellian's shapely rear wiggle down the corridor. "Very true, my friend."
"Keep your eyes to yourself." Jinn gave him another friendly slap on the arm.
"It's Obi-Wan you should be saying that to, not me." Retorted Dex with a wry chuckle. "But as I say, things will no doubt work out in the end."
"Maybe." Admitted Qui-Gon, not sounding altogether convinced. "But as you say, they're decent youngsters at heart, and Jemmiah's a good girl. She wouldn't dream of doing anything that she shouldn't…hang on!" The master's face rapidly contorted with alarm. "What does she mean…you can hardly see it???"
Dex's face lit up with ill-disguised glee, but wisely refrained from saying nothing further whilst Qui-Gon dashed down the corridor in an effort to catch up with the wayward teenager.
"Jemmiah!!!" he called out, ignoring the strange looks he was garnering from several young knights in the immediate vicinity. "What do you mean - I wouldn't know it was there!"
"Look if you don't like it I won't wear it!" Jemmiah answered, her voice echoing against the pillars.
"Good!"
"I s'pose I could just go topless…"
"What!!!" exclaimed Qui-Gon in disbelief.
The impudent voice that floated back around the corner sounded somewhat smug.
"Well, it's like you said. If you can hardly see it, what's the point in wearing it?"