Private Another Day, Another Would-Be Jedi [Zaiya Ceti]

[Balun Vale]

"It's just a drag; we're almost adults ourselves; we should be allowed to do what we want after fifteen years of daily listening to the same old lectures. Do you not find them irritating?" Balun answered her and soon ended the remark with a question as if her lack of complacency was entirely foreign to him. Balun wanted to be independent, to call the shots for himself and to work life out of his own accord. In any case, Zaiya Ceti had explained a bit more about this angry guy that she and Aris Noble had run into; "Nevermind, let's concentrate on sorting out this scream-thing", he concluded, falling silent shortly after that in consideration of the girl's description of the enemy.

"So...Angry. I'm not sure I can make myself that angry to make me want to hurt anyone...But give me some time, I'll try and meditate on it..." Balun suggested, soon repositioning himself to kneel on both knees, rolling his shoulders in a bid to loosen them up and relax his upper body; "The way I figure, if I can think about something that makes me angry or sad, maybe we can imitate the same kind of thing if that makes sense?" he explained, his question rhetorical as it made sense in his mind and that's what mattered for the one attempting the ability. "Get yourself ready; do what you need to do; this should only take a moment", he smiled, nodding towards her side of the sparring mattress, assuming she might need a bit of space between them were he to actually pull something like this off.

Fifteen years of growing up in the New Jedi Order had taught Balun a lot, and one thing that came to mind with this situation was drawing upon his memories of the past to draw upon those negative emotions and simulate something similar to what Zaiya explained their opponent had done. The memory or thought that he chose was simple: his parents had abandoned him to the New Jedi Order. They didn't want him, he wasn't good enough, they didn't love him, and naturally, he had come to believe that no one ever would.

A sadness fell over him, having fallen deeply enough into a trance that he had blocked out Zaiya's presence entirely and no longer felt he needed to mask his feelings. His brows furrowed, his knuckles tightening as he gripped at the loose fabric of his leggings. He yearned for independence because he had learned not to rely on others for help, support, or affection. It enabled him to take care of himself but left him feeling deeply lonely despite being within the Jedi Temple, filled with countless thousands of other people.

Balun's eyes opened, though he remained silent while his mind returned to the present. His previous enthusiasm, passion for independence, and confidence in the task had seemingly been lost. It felt like he had meditated for half an hour or more, but it had merely been five minutes, and he was already climbing back to his feet, standing upright, and arching his back for a moment to stretch. There was a calmness about him, though Zaiya might find it an eerie silence, the air of the room feeling dense, heavy as if the weight of his insecurities had darkened the room around them. "I'm not sure how this will work, but I'm ready when you are", he confirmed, awaiting Zaiya's word to proceed.

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

​

"Oh, I'm not sure. I've always listened to my professors and reviewed what they've instructed me to do, but that's because it made sense since they are teaching me a topic I have no understanding or little understanding of," it wasn't that Zaiya wasn't questioning the information presented by her university professors, it is because that is what one did in an academic setting. If it was a paper that required critical thinking and an opposing framework, Zaiya could provide that. Dr. Isak left her to her own devices as long as she maintained the utmost safety and had Nana with her.

Perhaps Balun had a different experience with his studies. "Were you with the Order since you were young then?" She asked, considering he mentioned having the same lectures for the past fifteen years. Is that how old he was?

Either way, it appeared Balun would like to get started and Zaiya was just happy he was willing to help her - perhaps naively so.

Watching Balun Vale get ready was interesting. It also felt... weird. Maybe it was because of how Zaiya had been practicing sensing the Force and trying to discern the differences and the emotions she felt that the Lovalla teen could pick up on the emotions Balun was trying to channel.

As he tried to channel the darker emotions, a slight rush of electric energy seemed to dance over her skin, making the tiny hairs along her forearm stand on edge. Already, the mottled spots and stripes over her face were starting to react to the shift of the Force, darkening slightly as a mild, gut twisting anxiety began to built.

Wait, was this a good idea? How else was she to test it out, right?

Deciding to not listen to the flutter in her gut, Zaiya activated the aural dampeners and gave a nod, "Okay! Ready!"

 

[Balun Vale]

Closing his eyes once more, Balun visualised where he had left Zaiya Ceti standing. He needed to concentrate, summoning the Force to his centre and shaping this power into something corporeal, something with form, fluid and yet able to be directed as though one might summon the air with telekinetic propulsion. He could feel the power building within, growing stronger by the second. Until it became uncomfortable, his body feeling cold as though a shadow had fallen over him and raised every hair upon his skin.

Balun ignored this, instead seeking to prove that he was capable of doing something like this, achieving something foreign on his own, without the guidance of the older Jedi. Balun's eyes opened suddenly, his body reeling from the collection of ethereal energies swelling within him. It was exciting and yet intimidating all at once, and he hoped that if this really was how it felt to pull something like a Force Scream off, Zaiya would not be injured at all.

With his hands consciously kept at his side, Balun drew his head back and inhaled deeply through his nostrils, feeling as though the moment his mouth opened he might lose control of the power that he had summoned. As his lungs filled and he could no longer draw in any more air, Balun honed his focus on Zaiya, and with his voice, he also drove every ounce of power from his body, screaming as loud as he could whilst trying to direct the Force at her as though one might do with a telekinetic push.

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Balun Vale | Rik Perris
That sinking, terrible, nauseating feeling she had felt before was nagging at her like a whisper, telling her this was a horrible idea. This time, it came with a louder knocking on Zaiya's head. By then, it was too late.

Balun had successfully deployed a Force Scream, the collection of nauseating ethereal energies blasting out toward Zaiya. To Zaiya's tinkering credit, the aural dampeners worked like a charm. They reacted to the sound waves, and perhaps if Zaiya knew how to Force imbue them, they might have reacted a shy millisecond earlier. Either way, they did their best to dampen the scream's concussive force and the piercing sound waves.

However, they did nothing to stop Zaiya from suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the nauseating, concussive force on her own body. The vibrant hues of her skin blanched, and she stumbled back, only to fall on the ground with a thud. She landed on her shoulder, thankfully protecting her head, but the recoil of it all was enough for her stomach to revolt, and all of a sudden --

That bantha burger she ate earlier? Yeah, it all came tumbling up. Poor Zaiya couldn't hold it in; the hand that clamped over her mouth was no match for the hurling sensation that followed.

It was not her best moment.

 

[Rik Perris]

Zaiya Ceti | Balun Vale

He had been in this place before, picking up on the unease in the air and finding it familiar. That it was so familiar always bothered him; it was a symptom of the situation they all found themselves in, whether they fully realised it or not. Today he was on his way to a training room that served as a space to practise and test abilities and techniques in a ranged setting, a shotgun that could be loaded solely by the Force slung over his shoulder. Though there was a small thrill in the idea of testing out this piece of tech that had recently come into his possession, what drove him was that very unease. That encroaching reality of the darkness at the galactic doorstep to this place.

This ‘Light Blaster’ would have some use in beating back the Dark, but what he wasn't expecting was that he might have to use it so immediately; what he wasn't expecting at all was to feel and hear a sudden influx of the Dark Side in use in such close proximity today when there had been no such presence noted within his awareness mere moments before.

And it had come from one of the training rooms just ahead. He picked up the pace of his walk, taking long strides that got him there just after the Lovalla girl had emptied the contents of her stomach on the training room floor, the stench of stomach acid and partially digested food greeting him as he turned into the threshold. And his solid, heavily muscular, and tall frame filled that doorway, leaving scant space to see beyond it.

What he saw at first was a girl and a boy who were effectively children. Padawans, more than likely. Rik frowned, assessing the situation further with a moment's prolonged and stern look, eyes shifting from the victim, who he stepped to stand beside, then over to the perpetrator. His gaze leveled on the boy and bored into him, analysing, his brown eyes briefly narrowing; the lack of physical signs of corruption - no telltale tinge to the eyes, for one - and the waning darkness leaving no committed source was… a further unexpected thing. Was this a mistake, or…? His tension ratcheted down a notch, and his finger remained laid against the trigger of the shotgun at his shoulder, rather than moving to curl around it.

“I suggest you explain this before I decide what it is.”

The tone of his voice implied it would be in the boy's best interests to do as asked.

 

[Balun Vale]

Balun staggered a bit, a fleeting stumble to the right as it felt like all of his strength had suddenly left him, yet his excitement at the fact that he had managed to pull off a Force Power that he hadn't been taught nor even heard about before, initially filled him with pride; "Holy chit, I did it?" he muttered under his breath in awe.

Zaiya Ceti on the other hand wasn't faring so well. As she had described in the battle between herself, Aris Noble and whoever their opposition had been, she once again felt the full physical impact of the soundwave. She promptly keeled over to unload whatever she had eaten throughout the day, vomiting over the sparring mat that they were standing upon. "Kark, are you al-..." The presence of another cut off his voice.

Rik Perris , an adult. A ranking member of the Order, one of the Masters or Knights. This was exactly what Balun hadn't wanted when he first got back to Coruscant. He wasn't on the best of terms with the ranking body and this would be the first time he was forced to engage with one since he had left to pursue his own interests.

"Uh, we're alright thank you Master..." Balun attempted to dismiss the situation before them, "We were testing Zaiya's Aural Dampeners" he elaborated as he began walking over to the pair. While he didn't want to implicate himself in any wrong-doing, he was also concerned for Zaiya who didn't appear to be in the best shape; "I'll take Zaiya to the medbay, she's not looking so great" he suggested, hoping to get rid of their new-found company as quickly as possible. "Sorry if the noise was too loud, we didn't mean to startle anyone" he added apologetically. However, upon getting closer to the pair, his eyes would soon capture the sight of the light-blaster that Rik held leaning against his shoulder. He hadn't seen it at first as Rik had moved to Zaiya's side but now turned to face Balun, the boy stopped immediately in his tracks.

He had a rifle of some sort. A firearm. In the Training Wing, no, in the room with his attention purely on Balun. A sudden fear had stood him still, now realizing that, were the Master there for Balun, armed....-Fight or Flight. His instincts kicked in at the risk of being addressed by the blaster. Balun's hand moved swiftly to his belt, detaching his Lightsaber from the magna-lock clamp in one swift and fluid motion drawing the hilt and turning side on, making himself a smaller target. The blade did not ignite however, Balun refraining from activating the weapon until he knew for an absolute that the rifle had been meant for him.

It was an obvious overreaction, and in hindsight, Balun would see this. But in the moment where his body reeled in the aftermath of such exertion, and his endeavour to avoid the senior members of the New Jedi Order in fear of repercussions of his running away over a year ago, now presented with a firearm, he wasn't sure what to do. "Hey look man, I'm not looking to get shot! I was just helping her out. Contact my Master if you have to but I'm not down for a fight" he spoke defensively, his words firm despite his aching body. The boy's emotion had heightened, no longer seeing room to dismiss the situation as a non-issue while the older man held the rifle. It may not have been aiming at him as of yet, but it was a clear enough show of force to put Balun on his immediate guard.

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Rik Perris Balun Vale​

Oh, this was utterly mortifying!

Not only was the stench terrible, but Zaiya also felt so embarrassed! Her skin had blanched to a pewter hue, and her mottles spots and stripes were a deep, iridescent coral tone, detailing just how mortified she was regarding the entire situation.

"I'm... fine. Oh g-geez... I need a towel." There was nothing like having sticky fingers, and now the front of her dress was also splattered in puke. She didn't even have a change of clothes on hand! Pinpricks stung her eyes along with waning nausea. The only good thing was that the aural dampeners worked.

Score.

It was just about that time when Zaiya took notice of someone. Tall, broad, thick beard, and his mere presence indicated he meant business. Oh no, was this a security guard? A Jedi Knight or Master? If anyone found out she was sneaking - ehem - visiting the temple and using their grounds, would they kick her out?

Part of her wanted to see if she could call Aris Noble , Braze , or Loomi to come vouch for her. ANother realized if she did, she might also get them in trouble -- besides she was testing out Aris's gift!

"Oh... no wait, B-Balun was just helping me test out my p-prototype to see if it could block off Force attacks that would do c-concussive sound damage to the ears." With a grimace, she wiped off her hands on her dress and pointed to her ears, where the earpiece shone.

"S-sorry we didn't mean to make a hot mess... well I didn't mean to. I knew that particular trick made me queasy, just wasn't sure how queasy it would make me.... is there.. is there a towel somewhere? I need to clean up."