Private A Road Not Yet Travelled

[Max Wayne]

Planet: Coruscant - Jedi Temple Main Entrance
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Looking up at the steps leading to the entrance to the Jedi Temple, Max felt... well not afraid exactly, more trepidation. The Jedi had always been nothing more than figures of myth and legend in the lower city of Coruscant, stories told to children to keep them on the straight and narrow. Even during those very few and rare times that a Jedi had been seen in the lower city, they were entities of power that had descended upon the lowly citizen to save them from the worst of the worst. In the end, after they left they were nothing more than whispers carrying a warning to criminals and vagrants not to become so bad that they summoned the Jedi upon them all. Max wasn't entirely sure what he had heard about the Jedi was exaggerations or what was the truth. They were space wizards, warrior priests, and wise monks all wrapped up into beings that could do the impossible. And here he was standing in front of the massive temple with the idea in his head that he might be one of them.

Max knew he was different, knew that he had a power within him that was both frightening and exciting. He knew he needed to learn to control his abilities, knew that if he didn't someone was going to get hurt. He didn't want to hurt anyone, well except the few individuals that had come after him in the past. Even then he wasn't a killer and if he didn't figure this whole Force thing out he would end up killing someone by accident. Still, when Adonis Angelis IV had suggested that he come to the Jedi to learn from them, Max had been skeptical. He wasn't a joiner. Well, he hadn't been in his entire life to this point anyway. Joining meant meeting expectations and opening himself to the opportunity to be disappointed. That wasn't something he felt comfortable with anymore. Life had taught him that eventually, everyone would disappoint. Adonis hadn't though, he had saved his life and been there when he needed and he trusted these Jedi, so maybe he should give it a try. Maybe...

"What have I gotten myself into?" Max asked Blue, his little BD-Unit droid companion as they walked further up the steps. Massive faceless statues in hooded robes, lined the entrance dwarfing everything around them, making even the impressive steps that seemed to go on forever look small, and made Max feel even more out of place. He was still getting used to the concept of an open sky that seemed to reach out forever above his head. Before recently, he had spent his entire life, well that he could remember anyway, in the lower city of Coruscant. Where the streets and everything had a ceiling or building blocking off the view of the infinite above. Even in his newly acquired ship, the environment didn't feel this... big. The Jedi Temple seemed to designed to make everything seem even bigger, even more expansive, and Max small.

"Maybe we should just hope into the Horizon and fly away," Max said more to himself than the little droid, but when Blue chirped at him with an angry sound Max almost laughed. The droid had become good at reading his moods and keeping Max from doing something stupid. Max was just being a skittish Bantha, and he needed to get over himself. Max needed to be here, needed to learn, even if he did want to run away. "Yeah, yeah," Max sighed, resuming his long march up the steps. "I'm going."

When Max reached the top, most of the people going in and out of the temple around him seemed to be ignoring him, busy with their own tasks. Many didn't seem to be wearing the traditional robes the holonet showed Jedi wearing, so he just assumed they weren't Jedi, just regular citizens coming and going from this public entrance on business with the Order. So instead of stopping anyone to ask where he needed to go, he walked over to what looked like a protocol droid giving directions. Droids are more his speed anyway, he could talk to it without having to worry about looking stupid or fumbling over his words when his stomach decided to start doing somersaults.

"How may I help you sentient?" the protocol Droid asked after a Sullustan merchant left after he had asked the droid what felt like a million questions about the Jedi and the Temple. Many of the questions the Sullustan had asked were things that Max wanted to know as well, so he was happy to wait, getting the information he wanted and needed without having to actually ask them himself. Max almost said thank you to the man before he trudged off into the Temple entrance but decided it would be rude to acknowledge that he had in fact been eavesdropping.

"Ummm.." Max started already stumbling a little over his words before actually saying anything. "I need to be trained in the Force, who do I talk to about that?"

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Jannik Morlandt Auteme
Adonis Angelis IV (If you want to join you are welcome as well)

 

[Auteme]

Max Wayne | Jannik Morlandt
​

Unlike the boy on the steps of the Jedi Temple, Auteme had few qualms about admitting her eavesdropping. Not that she'd been intentionally listening in, just that she happened to be passing by and overheard what the young man was saying.

"Are you sure you're Force sensitive?" she asked. Before he answered she glanced to the droid. "I can take it from here."

The droid acquiesced, stepping aside to speak to whoever was next. Auteme looked back to the young man. "I'm Auteme, by the way. It's nice to meet you -- would you like to come in?"

She gestured into the Temple.

 

[Max Wayne]

Max actually had to physically bite his tongue to stop the snarky remark of, 'of course PooDoo brain,' from escaping his lips when who assumed was a Jedi joined him. It was in his nature to shoot off a quick barb, but he needed to reign it in, for now, this was important. If this woman was a Jedi she deserved his respect, especially if she was able to help him get this power under control. He hadn't killed anyone yet but throwing lightning when he was afraid would eventually lead to someone's death.

"Can't...." Max started but stopped trying to find the right words. This whole space monk Jedi thing was still completely new to him. "Can't you, I don't know sense that? Or something like that?"

Max was genuinely confused. From what he had read Jedi were able to feel out others like themselves or sense the connections to the Force. Or was his freak of nature power something else? Maybe he wasn't a Force Sensitive at all and this whole lightning thing was something else entirely. Adonis had said he was a Force Sensitive, however, and Max trusted his opinion. Maybe she was testing him? Seeing if he was a brat with no self-control that didn't deserve to be trained, or testing his resolve to learn from the Jedi.

"I think I am," Max began, making sure the tone of his voice was the appropriate mix of respectful and timid. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could fool this woman into thinking he wasn't thrown by the whole situation, false bravado would get him nowhere. So instead he decided to go with honest and open. "I sometimes know things I'm not supposed to know, and umm..." he paused knowing the next thing out of his mouth could end this entire venture. He was probably going to end up locked in some cell somewhere never to be seen from again. He just hoped they let Blue go, maybe to Adonis. "When I'm afraid or feel threatened electricity or lightning comes flying out of my hands."

"Thank you Auteme," Max said when she offered for him to join her in the Temple, and hoping she wasn't either about to rescind the offer or throw him into a dark hole he would never get out of again. "The names Max."

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Jannik Morlandt Auteme

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

Going planetside and visiting the temple - or any number of centres of light-side congregation and learning - was a necessity of sorts. The need to refuel and resupply aside, it was all too easy to deviate down a fruitless path with one's own self for company for too long, but Coruscant was a mixed bucket of memories, at once fond yet also undesired. Many of its locales had long-since become unrecognisable after the ravages of the One Sith in years past, and he had hardly taken the time to reacquaint himself with the old haunts of what used to be home, since… or whatever stood in their place.

Even the Jedi Temple Complex, it most of all, had changed, but sometimes he could still feel, hear, see the shadows of decades past in this place, where he had started his life as a Jedi in earnest, moving through the fear of his gifts and into the Light. The temple and the spaceport were the most familiar, nowadays, but with much of his Jedi years spent out in the black, coming here was to push past apprehension, each time.

Contending with challenges within and without was a hallmark of Jedi life; avoidance was rarely the answer, so here he was, ascending the many main steps into the temple, despite being rather capable of avoiding the effort. The ascent was time for further thought and consideration, oftimes, but today a conversation at the top of the stairs caught his ear and notice - the sharp restraint the lad brought down on his own impulses was useful, a starting point, in light of his other admissions.

"That you're here is responsible," he commended, upon reaching the top of the steps, "better than I managed."

A frank admission… Kira Talith was one of the few who knew that piece of his past, of how he came to be with the Jedi. He tipped his head towards Auteme in acknowledgement of her presence, and took the few paces needed to join her and the newcomer.

"Alas, there's little that can be done to control visions," the only control came in how he reacted to them, and how he managed his experience when they occured - a firm smile came with that fact, "but there's hope for ye, lad."

He tugged at the strap of his satchel, repositioning it across his torso. It carried various things of use to a practitioner of the Force (a deck of sabacc cards, and a Dantooine Sphere among them), some other personal items, and fresh strings for his quetarra. The stringed instrument was one of the only things, aside from memory, that came with him from his life before the Jedi, and refinishing it, refreshing it, was a recent project.

"I'm Jannik," the pronunciation (Yah-nick) still correct, though much of his accent had long faded, "Master Morlandt. So, Max, laddy, that… knowing things ye shouldn't," he started, "how do ye come to know those things?"

He patted his satchel.

"Could ye tell me what's in my bag by looking at it? Would ye need to go rummaging through my mind to find out," there would be no luck of that, unless he were to allow it, "or does the galaxy reveal its secrets to ye, through touch?"

The lightning was simple enough to interpret, by comparison.

Tags: Max Wayne | Auteme

 

[Max Wayne]

'Responsable?' Max wasn't sure when the last time thought to call him that. 'Street rat', 'slicer scum', and 'stupid kid' were the more common ones he heard as he tried to survive in the harshness of the lower city, but not 'responsable'. Max was kinda flattered by the idea. Especially after some of the more questionable jobs he had taken as of late just to make ends meet. Maybe this Jedi thing wasn't going to be so bad...

"Nice to meet you" Max said smiling and trying to be polite, even though his stomach twisted a little with nervousness. "Ummmm.... Master Jedi?" Max didn't mean fo the title to come out as a question, he just wasn't sure what to call him. Was it polite to use a Jedi's firstname after he gave it? If he was a client Max wouldn't have hesitated to use the man's first name, but he had no idea how to act her in the surface of Coruscant and on the steps of the Jedi Temple. Would they take offense? Max bit his tongue a little again, just to stop himself from starting to ramble.

Vision control? This Jedi was more worried about him knowing what he wasn't supposed to know, rather than the lightening that he had no control over and could actually kill someone? He would have thought they would be strapping him down, pumping him full of drugs, or at the very least locking him up until they got that under control. If they weren't concerned about that, maybe it wasn't as bad as Max thought.

"I don't... I don't know," Max confessed stuttering a little, his mind having difficulty switching gears. He had been so focused on the lightening that he never even thought about the other thing. How long had he been able to know what he shouldn't logically be able to know? How did it work? He never really tried to do it independently, it was just something that was always there like a whisper in the background. "Never tried to make it happen before, doesn't seem to matter what I'm touching, it just kinda happened when it wants. Like occasionally I know where something is without ever having seen it before, or know something or someone is dangerous."

Max decided it was worth a shot to try it though, so he squinted his eyes slightly as he focused all his attention on the bag. He could feel his brow crinkle with the effort, and for a moment he thought nothing as going to happen but him looking like an idiot, when it hit him. "There are long string, made of metal maybe, or something strong but also delicate..." Max paused and instead of straining so hard, allowed his body to relax while his mind focused. "They are for some sort of instrument, one I have never seen before, but old, well cared for, and important to you."

"Also," Max started but stopped to smile. "You're a gambler, you carry a sabacc and favor a few in the deck a little too much. You need to mix things up of become to predictable." Max was guessing of course on that last bit, a few cards stood out as more used than others, but from what he had seen of the game players needed to be flexible, not predictable. All the cards were important not just a few, so the guess was a good one.

"A few other items, but the only other one that stands out is a weird durasteel ball of some sort. Delicate, intricate and a test of some sort." Max opened his eyes and looked at Jannik Morlandt , not entirely sure what any of it meant, or even if he was right. Maybe it was just his brain playing tricks with him, but he felt it in his gut that each of those things were in that bag. "So?" Max asked, "am I right?"

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Jannik Morlandt Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Max Wayne Jannik Morlandt ​

Though Auteme initially had trouble telling what language Master Morlandt was speaking, she did stay quiet and listened, watching closely as the Jedi Master administered his test and Max went through it. When the boy was finished she stepped over to take a peek into Jannik's bag.

"I was asking if you'd tried having a blood test," she said. "But it seems you know quite a bit about the Force already, even if those preconceptions might make some things more difficult." Like interacting with Jedi.

"If you'd like, you can come inside, and we can talk in my office- ah, Master Morlandt, you're welcome, of course." She didn't know the Master well, but any Jedi was welcome at the Coruscant Temple. "Or, if you have other things to do, you have the run of the Temple. Most of it's empty, anyways."

Her gaze wandered to the distance. Far, far below at the very bottom of the steps leading up, a small crowd was slowly getting larger, both from their advance up the steps and the agglomeration of new people. If Max was to be their newest initiate, she'd rather initiate him inside.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

It was of interest, and of worth, to hear and observe the lad explain his experience, and interpret his own intuition - intuition that could only be borne of the Force - while he at first tried to urge the all-encompassing to speak to him, until it occurred to him to ease off, relax, and let it come to him… all without an attempt to intrude on Jannik's mind.

"Almost entirely right, lad," he opened the flap on his satchel, showing the contents for all to see, "but a gambler I'm not. The cards have other uses."

His easy smile reached his eyes, where lines encroached, and Jannik fished the deck of cards out, offering it to Max to have a closer look and feel, while Auteme clarified what she'd been asking. She wasn't wrong in her assessment of how his lived experience coloured his thoughts and how he held his body in relation to it - one reason (however flawed) for the policies of an ancient Jedi Order.

"I'm happy to join ye both," he reliped, his gaze following her own to the growing crowd of people, easily skimming her feeling on that reality, and finding himself in agreement with it, "lead on, Miss Auteme."

Auteme | Max Wayne

 

[Max Wayne]

"Why would I need blood tests?" Max asked before he could control himself, not sure if he was talking out of turn or not. He was used to people avoiding him for being poor, looking dingy, and for being from the lower city but they generally didn't think he was medically dangerous. Did the Jedi think he carried infections like some kind of vermin? Or was she worried about something else? Her tone didn't suggest that she meant to harm him or had malicious intent, but he didn't know these Jedi enough yet to be sure. Despite his newfound ability to know things before he should, that didn't mean people couldn't fool him. Many had in the past. One of his previous foster homes seemed like a good place at first, it even had been for a few days, that was until they went out for a drink with friends and things turned... dangerous. "I can assure you I'm healthy, not carrying anything dangerous."

Her other statement was even more confusing. He didn't know anything about the Force. Other than a very vague concept presented in the holo-dramas, that it was what gave the Jedi their powers, he didn't know anything. Was that what was happening to him? Was this Force the reason he could know what was in Jannik's bag or how lightning came from his hands when he felt frightened or threatened? "I don't know anything about this Force." Max admitted, "Is that what is happening to me?"

When Jannik Morlandt mentioned that he wasn't a gambler, Max couldn't help but frown at that, he was sure he was right. What other use would Sabbac cards have than gambling? Still, he knew that some of those cards were touched much more than others in the deck. He just had no idea what for at this point. Maybe he would find out, but he didn't intend to ask right now. The two Jedi were now discussing entering the actual Jedi Temple, so he decided to wait. Instead, he just found himself following them quietly.

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Auteme Jannik Morlandt

 

[Auteme]

Max Wayne Jannik Morlandt
​

Auteme was confused by both his comments. "Didn't you come here asking to be trained in the Force?" For a moment she eyed him with suspicion, wondering if he was hiding something, but he was sincere enough. Most people associated the Force with the Jedi, even if they didn't know what it was -- something, something, "It's a power the Jedi have", however wrong that statement was. Still, Max seemed to have a number of preconceptions about what a Jedi could do. Sensing, lightning-hands, et cetera. They had their work cut out for them.

She started to lead them into the Temple. While the outside grew busy, the inside was only sparsely populated, giving room to appreciate the grandeur of the great halls they walked through. She imagined it would've felt the same at the Jedi Order's height; given the size of the place, there was more than enough space for everyone. Yet compared to the ten thousand Jedi Knights of old, along with their myriad of supporters and staff, the New Jedi Order had just under a hundredth that. Many were out in the galaxy or aboard the Prosperity. So, the Temple was quiet.

"Midi-chlorians," she gave a belated answer to his question, "they're linked to the Force, in some way. Micro-organisms living in your cells, supposedly creators of life. It's not a direct correlation -- the, ah, Yuuzhan Vong, for example, are definitely alive, though most are cut from the Force. The Sovereign Imperator, Irveric Tavlar, is also notably 'Force-dead', though that does not indicate his midi-chlorian count, I believe it simply means they're inactive. And, ah- the easiest way to test for them is through the blood."

Admittedly she was unsure if many institutions had access to those sorts of testing kits, or if they even taught much about the Force in schools these days.

"Of course, I don't think you'll need one."