How many days spent here, and Obi-Wan has yet to achieve anything remotely resembling peace?

ENCOY is not quite enough like Coruscant to settle him. The trees and rivers, further out beyond the city, do not make meditation any easier when he is so disconnected from the Force at present. At times he tries to tell himself that it's only natural to be so unbalanced without it; at others, he scolds himself for being unable to accept his shortcomings. He is failing to find serenity at every opportunity. He can do nothing about his present situation until he acknowledges that, but it hardly seems like a time to self-reflect.

That may very well be the largest of his problems. Even now he cannot be patient, not with himself and not with this world. This place only frustrates him. It has been full of nothing but unpleasant surprises for what is turning into weeks, now.

It should be unsurprising, then, that he manages to encounter one more as he half-heartedly investigates historic Old Yesteryear. Even still, Obi-Wan is entirely unprepared to find what can only be a ghost standing among the denizens that mill up and down the sidewalk. Over a decade of learning to pick his former master out of a crowd makes the man's profile alone almost impossible to miss. Obi-Wan grinds to a halt all the way down the street.

Qui-Gon is exactly as he lives in Obi-Wan's memory ( on the best days. on others, Obi-Wan instead thinks of nothing but standing before the pyre until the flames had died and only ashes remained, ) painfully alive and unburdened by both the many years that have passed for Anakin - a young man, here, whose childhood disappeared without Obi-Wan getting to witness so much as a moment of it - and the grief that Obi-Wan has spent so many days trying to leave behind.

For a moment he is terrified that the Force has returned to him only to show him this vision. But he feels none of his missing connection, and beyond that, this is so far removed from any glimpse of the future - or the past - that the Force has brought to him before.

Maybe he's overthinking this whole thing. He isn't entirely sure if Master Qui-Gon was serious about getting him a loaf of bread and dropping it off at his abode, but he lives so close by he sees no reason to risk it. Besides, it gives him a good opportunity to know the Jedi better; he didn't really know him before.. the obvious. So, one trip to the grocers later, there's a knock on Qui-Gon's door and a Jedi Knight waiting on the other end.

The course is called 'Modern Science for Beginners: From Atoms to Astronomy.' Some kind souls in Encoy were very upset at the thought of newcomers arriving here with little to no knowledge of the very subjects that they and their peers dedicate their lives to. They are very passionate about helping even a student with no knowledge gain at least a working idea of what is known about the universe.

Giangio prickles slightly at those words; "for beginners." He was one of the more accomplished Alchemists in Arche Abbey, the mysterious island fortress not far from Krat. The Alchemists of the Isle were a little obsessed with physical appearance, and strength especially, more than ever in their later days when Simon Manus took over. All Giangio had to compete with them were his sharp mind and skilled hands... and he did. It could really start to threaten his pride if he let it. Losing being good at the one thing he was good at.

But a true scholar would be overjoyed, not depressed and egotistical, to find a huge trove of new information. And so, humbly and step by step, he does his best to walk the way of that true scholar and learn what he can. If he could make impressive things with only the knowledge of the 1800s, what could he make with the knowledge of centuries beyond that?

Today's class was challenging for him. The instructor had a lot to say about space. A lot of it was sensible enough, but he still had a lot of questions, most of them sounding something like: how in the world can you know that? He has a sinking feeling, as well, that the development of the sciences in his own world may have been stunted by the Alchemists' religious underpinnings and pursuit of things like sleeping gods and immortality. And all the money they poured into commissioning giant statues of snakes. He has a lot of questions he could ask, but asking them out loud makes him sound uneducated. And he is uneducated, which is the worst part! So he only took detailed notes and identified some ideas to research more about on his own. Perhaps he'll ask the professor about some things directly during office hours.

Today's class was surely challenging for everybody else, too, unfortunately. Giangio's variant of the petrification disease is flaring up from the stress of needing to adapt to a new place very suddenly. And so he kind of. Spent the whole lecture coughing.

He turned to the student next to him several times to apologize quietly. It's hard to get a read on the man, though! He's very tall, and the way he concentrates on a lecture makes it hard to tell if he's... actually very interested in learning about space, or quietly plotting murder in case his neighbor's sickness isn't fatal.

Class ends, and Giangio runs to catch up with the giant... gentle or otherwise.

"Heyy, I'm really sorry for all that racket," he says with an easy smile, and a tone that manages to sound more friendly than desperate despite conveying 'don't kill me' at its core. "I'll sit in the back next time! I-i-it's hard enough to keep up when I attend all the sessions, so I can't afford to fall behind.. I-I-I hope you can forgive me!"

Wincing at the thought of giving the man a proper chance to respond and being scolded or even intimidated, he can't help but try and force the conversation on. Quick, what should he talk about? Class??

His door closes behind him with a clicking noise, descending the few stairs from his living space to sidewalk. He can't say he's grown accustomed to the living space, but it is.. easier, now. He can properly pick it out from the other houses lined up besides it, and he's starting to feel just a little less on edge existing in it. One hobby he's picking up is visiting the small store beneath them at least once a week, feeling guilty for living atop their place of business, and buying and item or two. He's just on his way to do that before a stray glance to the side causes him to do a double take.

There, two houses away, was Qui-Gon Jinn.

His first instinct is that he's having a waking vision of some sort - that he's a specter of the force, the voice of his dead prior master finally made manifest. He's heard him often enough throughout his life; as a child, following him into adolescence, before coming to an abrupt halt after... his mother. It throws him entirely off kilter to see him now, although at first he's open to the idea of dismissing it as another vision that would be less painful to ignore - until someone waves to the man, and he acknowledges them back.

He's real.

In that moment any prior task is disregarded, and he takes off sprinting towards him. He catches himself soon enough to stop a short distance away, eyes searching him as if trying to fully grasp what he's seeing.

Thank you for completing your paperwork in a timely manner! Now, let's see here…

The eccentric figure takes back the clipboard and reads through your answers carefully, polite interest in his expression as he nods.

"Oh - you know about that.. force thing, too? I assume you know the other one that came in, then.. either way, I'm glad to hear we can be friends! Most people aren't as open to the idea. Anyways, I think the best place for your eccentricities will be LUCTENMIRE, the coastline shrouded in mystery. Theatricality is above - and present in - everything. Personal style, celebrations, religious ceremonies… you name it. Just, uh, careful with the canine beast that roams around, I think."

With that, they leave you a gift bag containing the following items:

A house key for LILAC STAY 401,

A palm-sized cellular device, complete with access to the internet!,

A singular wrapped butterscotch. Enjoy!,