Year Six – Day 321

Dooku is sitting at the foot of his bed, scratching a rash on his arm. There is also a rash on his neck and he's trying not to scratch there as well.

Healer Ioyna says I'm allergic to Kashyyyk vine snapper, that's why I'm scratching these rashes. They itch. I shouldn't be but I can't help it. Master Naki says its my fault for hiding in a thicket of them in the gardens and I suppose it is since I didn't listen to the Force telling me not to. It was the perfect place to hide from the others, especially after I made sure to lead Jocasta on a wild nerf chase!

He catches himself reaching up to his neck and purses his lips. Dooku experiments by sitting on his hands but it only lasts for a few seconds before he has to scratch his arm again. He sighs miserably.

We were playing hide and seek with a couple others from the clan. Lorian and Medea. They are not very good at the game like Jocasta and I are. I'm good at it because I can hear the Force telling me where to go. Jocasta never told anyone how she does it but I was able to coax it out of her a while ago after another game of hide and seek in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. I don't think she's told any of the masters yet though.

He pauses and looks up when Master Naki comes into his room with a small jar no bigger than her palm. Dooku squirms a little when she sits down beside him and starts applying a white cream to his rashes.

Ioyna says not to scratch these and to have this applied every time you feel the urge to. Trust me, Yan, this will make it feel better.

Dooku's expression softens to relief as the cream begins to work.

Better?

Yes, Master.

You will have to remember to stay away from that section of the gardens from now. No more hiding there, alright?

Dooku nods unhappily. Naki finishes applying the salve to his rashes before leaving the jar on the nightstand next to his bed. She makes sure that he's alright one more time before leaving him to his recorder. Once she was gone, Dooku turns his attention back to the device. He is no longer trying to itch the rashes.

What was I saying? Oh yeah! Jocasta's ability to find me when we play hide and seek. She explained it to me once and I don't know what to call it, nor does she. Jo said she can see what happened to an object if she focused on it. I'm not quite sure how that works, but she says it is how she was able to find me quickly. When I asked her to explain, she told me all she had to do was find something I've recently touched and she can see which way I went.

Since then I've been leading her on wild nerf chases whenever we play. I purposely touch things for her to follow and when I do hide, I do my best not to touch anything. She likes it, I think. At least that's the impression I get when she does finally discover where I've hidden myself. I'll have to ask her next time if she doesn't mind me tricking her.

I know I enjoy it. It's not easy trying to deceive someone who can follow you into the past and find where you really are. Jo is smart so it makes it harder to trick her and I like the challenge. It kinda makes it hard to keep secrets from her too. There was this one time, and I didn't know how she did it either, where I had borrowed something from her room. Well, I wasn't exactly borrowing it. Lorian wanted me to take it so he could use it and Jo refused to let him. So he got me to take it since she doesn't mind me in there.

Lorian wouldn't have that kind of trouble with her if he'd just stop teasing her, you know? I think him taking that book from her a few months back finally put her off him. It was the first time I saw her be brought to tears over something and I know Jo is tough, really tough and I guess Lorian's teasing was just too much that day. It took me to get the book back for her and telling my best friend off.

She.. uh... kinda gave me a kiss for it. On the cheek, that is.

Dooku blushes and then coughs as he rubs the back of his head.

Besides that, there really hasn't been much going on worth noting. Well there is this course that I'm interested in taking next semester. It promises a chance to get out of the Temple finally. That hyper-comm I was working on a while back, it didn't work out like I hoped. One of the Jedi Knights monitoring communications discovered the signal and traced it back to me. I had it taken away by him and got an earful about unauthorized communications. But I was able to get a hold of my father at least once before I was discovered.

He was surprised to hear from me. Told me that he thought I was not allowed to speak to my family and I told him it's true. I'm not allowed. I told him I miss home and what has happened to me and... and... He told me he was proud and that I only had a few more years to go before I could come home if I really wanted to and that I should focus on my studies and make him even more proud by becoming a Jedi Knight. I...

He swallows thickly and looks away. After a few moments he regains his composure and looks back at the recorder and changes the subject.

Denton hasn't been around the Temple, thank the Force, so it's been rather peaceful this year. I should be focusing on getting a master's attention now that I'm old enough to be taken on as a Padawan, but I'm confident I'll get one. The Force assures me of it. I've worked on my lightsaber technique and finally got use to the curved hilt I had built mine as. I have a few burns on my legs to show for it. I'm glad that we didn't get to construct a real blade cause I'm certain I would have lobbed off a leg or two by now.

He grins a little and then reaches forward to shut off the recorder.