Private Extra Lessons

[Ara Sheridan]

New Cov/Jedi Temple Training Grounds​

Late Afternoon/Cloudy​

After hours, far away from any prying eyes, Ara stood with her new lightsaber in her hands. The hilt was still uncomfortable and needed to be replaced, but she was proud of her new weapon. Her new responsibility. The only problem was her issue with the lessons to use the damn thing. Sure, master Sol'yan was patient and worked well with her to go through the forms. But just like the Force stuff, she struggled to get a hang of using the lightsaber as fluently as others.

And so she trained, far from judgement and prying eyes.

A holoprojector was on the ground next to her, taking her through the various forms step by step. She watched and followed with each step, taking care to check her form and footing. But when it came to the jumps, flips and spins, she faltered and fell almost every time. She needed to use the force for these moves, naturally, but she was lost on how to use the Force to bolster her own body. A matter that even annoyed her master, she was sure of it. After crashing into the grass once more, she got up and kicked the holoprojector off the cliff in a fit of rage. "Karking useless piece of junk!" She shouted as she threw her hilt to the ground and sat down with a huff on a nearby stone bench.

Her gaze travelled to the cliff where the projector disappeared over, regret sinking in. "Great... I hope it ain't expensive..." She grumbled. Her green eyes turned to the lightsaber hilt on the ground as she sighed. A hand rose towards it as her eyes narrowed, her focus completely on the weapon. "Come on..." She grumbled. The weapon started to shiver and roll slightly, until it finally flew towards her... then past her and towards the cliff face. "Oh kriff!" She lunged after it as it skidded along the ground, barely managing to halt it.

In mid air.

Carefully the lightsaber came back into her hand and she stepped away, the weapon clutched tightly against her chest. "That was close." She muttered, lighting up a cigarette. After her time with Kyell, she wanted to quit... but kark that, she needed one.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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After finding out that Kahlil had gathered a group of Jedi to rebuild her old Enclave, Valery found herself spending more and more time within the familiar walls and on its vast Temple grounds. Without any staff or the constant presence of young Jedi running around and training, it was often a very quiet place to be for meditation or personal training.​

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Especially now that she felt so exhausted, it was something Valery could appreciate a lot more.​

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So after spending the night in one of the Temple's quarters, she stepped out with both lightsabers attached to her hips. She yawned, stretched, and made her way over to the training area just in time to see a Padawan training. Or well, she likely had been training before Valery arrived — right now she almost threw her lightsaber off a cliff in frustration.​

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For a long moment, Valery watched quietly but when the young woman went for a cigarette, she made her way over and cleared her throat to get Ara's attention.​

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"There are better ways to handle your frustration," Valery said but not with a lecturing tone. Her lips were curled into a kind smile, and when Ara faced Valery, she'd be greeted by a respectful dip of the woman's head.​

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"Did something happen during your training session? Or is it just... life in general?"​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Ara barely had time to to enjoy the first drag when someone spoke up not too far from her. She immediately chucked the cigarette over the cliffside and turned to face the woman. ”I ain’t done nothing.” She defended immediately, knowing that she was caught.

Sure, she wasn’t discreet about it, but she was hesitant around masters. Any wrong moves and it would reach Sol’yan in an instant. However the woman’s next comment flew over the defensive girl’s head.

”What? You trying to imply something, sis?” She scowled as she studied the woman. Definitely a master...

Kriff. Well, no turning back now...

”I am perfectly capable and my training is going great, kark you very much.” She continued as she gripped her lightsaber tighter. ”If I wanted advice from a broad with a face like a loth-cat’s scratching pole, I’d ask.” The walls hardened and the pressure skyrocketed as Ara turned to walked over to the cliff’s edge. She hoped that the bad lighting and her messy hair concealed the faded burn mark across her left eye and cheek, just in case the very innocent and intimidating woman tried to think of her own remarks. She looked the type.

Far below her was the sparking remains of the holoprojector. ”Crap.” She grumbled. With a huff she clipped her lightsaber to her belt and avoided eye contact completely as she tried to walk past the woman.

Hopefully she didn’t see her training attempts... and she was bad enough at Force stuff to not feel Ara’s embarrassment...

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

​

Valery raised an eyebrow at the girl's comments and while she could have easily struck back with her own remarks, she would never handle a situation like that. She just watched her peak over the cliff and felt Ara's embarrassment echo between them through the Force. The highly Empathic Keshian had no trouble picking up on it at all.​

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The stubbornness and desire to not actively accept help wasn't really too new either — she had once been quite like that herself. When she was younger, and before her face was scarred.​

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"Perhaps you should learn to ask for help, before more projectors are kicked off cliffs or worse, you end up hurting yourself." She said as the young woman tried to pass by to get away from the situation. "Equipment can be replaced but if you don't want your face to look like a loth cat scratching pole, I suggest you toughen up and work to get better."​

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She could have just as easily been overly kind and supportive, but some Jedi required a more direct and challenging approach. Valery didn't know Ara at all, but she got the feeling that this applied to her as well.​

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"I don't care about what you did to that projector, but I can't stand seeing Jedi give up when training gets tough. If you want to do something about it, grab your lightsaber and step into the training area with me. Or walk away and give up. It's your choice."​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Ara halted and turned to face the woman with a frown as she dropped her bits of advice, drawing the girl towards her. "Toughen... excuse you, lady!" But the woman continued, challenging her to the training ring only a few steps away from them. She looked at the ring then back to the master, jabbing a thumb against her chest. "Lemme tell you something, lady. I am tough. I don't need some master with a silver spoon up her ass bossin' Underworld rats like me around from her posh little temple room."

She stepped up to square off with the taller woman, glaring up at her. "You know what? I can read. And I've read what it's like growin' up as Sith. If I had the choice between growing up as Sith or growing up again in the guts of Coruscant, I'd be the most powerful Sith in the galaxy. Don't tell me to toughen up, you don't know me." She gave the woman a shove and turned to stomp away, fuming and grumbling insults under her breath...

But she stopped by the gate for a second before turning around. Stomping right back to the woman, she unclipped her lightsaber. "Okay but teach me then! Let's do this." She walked past her and into the ring, setting her lightsaber to the training setting before the green blade burst to life. There was thankfully a semblance of a proper stance in her posture, though behind the hard and determined face hid a firm layer of nerves. "If I was known for giving up, I wouldn't be in this temple right now. So come on, I can take ya." She spoke, taking a deep breath.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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It was somewhat amusing to hear the accusations the Padawan made about what kind of person Valery was, but she showed no emotional response at all. To lash out or say something mean in return wasn't going to get this anywhere — she just wanted to spark something within Ara to drive her back into training and improving.​

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That, at least, seemed to have worked out somewhat.​

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Ara moved past Valery at first, shoving her shoulder into the Jedi Master, but Valery remained exactly where she was and began to internally smirk when the Padawan turned back around. She got her attention, alright. Following her into the training ring, Valery unclipped one of her two lightsabers from her belt and drew the weapon into a two-handed grip.​

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The violet blade exploded into existence, and her fiery gaze narrowed at the Padawan.​

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"If I was known for giving up, I wouldn't be in this temple right now. So come on, I can take ya."​

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"Calm down first. You want me to teach you? Then I need you to be focused first. Show me what you got and I'll help with the things you find difficult." She said, her tone a bit less challenging now that Ara stood ready for the duel. Then, with a burst of Force-augmented speed, Valery closed the distance and aimed a fairly telegraphed, horizontal sweep to the Padawan.​

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A simple move, but it was the speed that made it tricky — a test to see how Ara would respond to it.​

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[Ara Sheridan]

The Jedi master gave her instructions and Ara was ready to respond with another quip, but she thought about what she said for a moment. With another deep breath she focused on her teacher. Her master's words hovered in her ears as another deep breath escaped. The woman finally made the first move and managed to startle the padawan quite a bit with her speed.

Ara stumbled back as she held up her lightsaber to block the hit, but an instinctual punch launched towards the Master's face before Ara moved to the side to get some room between them. She adjusted her grip on the lightsaber and checked her footing for a quick second as she paced around the woman. "Yo, I gotta learn to do that..." She muttered, studying the woman for the next move. A simple back and forth, that's all this was. Yet a chunk of herself really wanted to show the Master that she wasn't a joke or some lost cause. Beyond the simple, friendly duel, she wanted to make the woman take her seriously.

Despite the reality she was ignoring as hard as she could.

The girl launched forward, lightsaber held low for a swing to the woman's legs, but at the last moment she feinted and brought her lightsaber up for a swing to her upper arm. She even had some decent speed behind the swing! Though her eyes telegraphed pretty much everything she had planned...

"You never told me your name, by the way!" She spoke up with a breath as she jumped back again, lightsaber at the ready.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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The speed of her attack had taken the Padawan by surprise a little, but Ara was luckily not one to panic, and blocked the strike. But rather than attempting to counter with her blade, she aimed a punch towards Valery's face, who moved her head off-center and dodged it before Ara jumped back to gain some distance.​

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At the words that followed, Valery would smirk but she'd offer an explanation later, as Ara now moved to engage. The Padawan's movements were quite fluid and certainly weren't slow, but her eyes betrayed her intentions and Valery had tapped into the Force to read the flow of the fight as well.​

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So as Ara's initial attack shifted target, Valery responded and angled her blade to cover the arm she was looking to strike at. The plasma of their lightsabers clashed again, and now it was Valery's turn to counter-attack.​

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"Master Valery Noble, and what I did wasn't too difficult." Valery said before she quickly crossed the distance to aim another telegraphed strike, this time a verticals sweep down at the top of the Padawan's left shoulder.​

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"If you're calm, you can be in control of the Force that flows through you." The woman then said before she followed up with another horizontal strike to maintain some pressure while she explained Force Speed. "Feel it, guide it and channel it through your muscles. Be explosive."​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Naturally the woman blocked her blow quite easily before introducing herself. Ara scoffed at the comment as she adjusted her blade to block the Master's counter. "Yeah, easy for you to-WHOA!" She instantly shifted again to block her second blow, shoving the woman away as she jumped back again to catch her breath.

"I don't know how the Force thing works, okay!" She practically snapped. "I try to be calm, I try to do the whole thing to try and connect, but it doesn't just happen for me. I can do the usual stuff and my master has tried, but I don't know!" She admitted, stepping out of her stance for a moment as she stared at the woman with a hardened face. "I can do it. I know I can... and it's not my Master doing a bad job, the dude's awesome! Closest thing to a dad I ever had in my life. But... It's not just something I can switch on or off, it just comes and goes for me. I don't know how it works." She paused for a moment to look away, realizing that she just opened up entirely to the total stranger.

Oh well, stay the course...

She sighed and extinguished her blade as she stared down at the weapon. "You know how embarrassing it is?! To hold a lightsaber that belonged to some super badass Jedi, to have a Master as amazing as Sol'yan, to have my mom supporting me and to be surrounded by all these air-headed mudscuffers who just click it all super easily? And then to not be able to just do the Force thing like everyone else? I... I ain't a quitter, otherwise I'd have been dead years ago... but this ain't right." She ranted away as she paced around for a moment with deep breaths. "And I know I can't use emotions 'cause that's a one way ticket to downtown Sithville, but damn! They might be onto something, I'm tellin' ya!" She ignited her lightsaber again with a deep breath.

"Come on, I need to hit something so let's just keep going." She grumbled as she waited for Valery to ready up. "The name's Ara, by the way. Ara Sheridan." She muttered.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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Good, she was blocking the attacks despite the speed Valery was using against her. Whenever Valery trained with younger students, she tried to push them just beyond their comfort zone through a combination of speed, precision and difficulty in her attacks. Thus far, Ara was keeping up but she wasn't quite connecting with the Force yet.​

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The young Zabrak jumped back and while Valery was expecting her to return with a counter-attack, the young woman stopped and disengaged her lightsaber. Valery narrowed her eyes, stood up straight and listened quietly to what Ara needed to get off her chest. Throughout her explanation, Valery remained calm and showed no signs that she was judging her in any way.​

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She had trained many students and understood where Ara was coming from.​

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"Perhaps after this little spar, I can teach you something that will help you connect, then." Valery offered. "There is a style of extremely physical meditation called Alchaka — it clears the mind and attunes you to the Force, but it's a good workout as well. If being calm through meditation doesn't work, it's also a good alternative."​

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Valery then stepped back into her stance while Ara introduced herself, and dashed forward even faster than before. Her blade came up and this time, she aimed a more diagonal sweep down across the Padawan's torso, hoping to again push her a little further.​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Ara didn't respond to Valery's offer verbally, but a smile cracked through her frustration in reply. She never entertained the thought, meditation through fighting, thinking that it was likely what the Sith used to amp up their game in a fight or something. After all, emotions can run high in a fight for your life. But for the struggling girl and her inability to figure out the Force, it sounded like the right thing for her.

It was Valery's turn to engage again and Ara was ready for her. The speed, however, was a lot quicker than the previous two dashes. She managed to bring up her lightsaber to block the blow and immediately pulled back to swing at her legs, then again at her body. She focused on the fight, drawing on everything she could remember from those boring lessons with Master Sol'yan as well as her own experiences. The focus showed in her movements as she attacked with more intensity. Despite using simple form 1 attacks, befitting a struggling padawan such as her, her blows had more power behind it with quicker movements. She was unaware of what was happening, but the Force was flowing through her to bolster her efforts. What also became concerningly frequent was the low blows and sweeps befitting an Underworld thug.

The Zabrak's intensity came to peak when she swung down at Valery's legs again to draw her blade down, then somersaulted over her head for a strike to her neck with the non-lethal blade. Upon touching down, she froze up with wide eyes and beaming grin on her face. She wanted to drop her weapon and shout in raw triumph of the accomplishment, but she was still in the fight.

With a breath she spun around to deliver another blow to the woman's torso. "Did you see that?! I've been trying that move for MONTHS!" She called out with a maniacal giggle. Deciding to try her luck, a hand stretched out to launch a powerful Force push towards the Master, hoping to send her flying out of the ring and leave Ara as the victor... that was not what happened. She simply stood in place with an outstretched hand and defenceless posture, looking very surprised.

"Ah kriff..."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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While Valery's expression barely betrayed her thoughts or the way she was feeling, the woman was actually quite happy to see that Ara was falling into the rhythm of the spar. The speed had gradually increased, forcing Ara to push herself a little further after each exchange of strikes, and she had been properly using the Force to do it.​

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A strike down towards Valery's legs followed, drawing her blade down into a defensive guard but while the Padawan's speed was impressive, it's what happened after this attack that finally brought out a gentle smile on Valery's lips. With a Force-empowered jump, Ara made her way over Valery and aimed her attack at the Master's neck. Valery fluidly spun around on her feet and directed her blade up to block, and simply dipped her head to Ara when she landed to show her approval.​

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"Well done, Ara."​

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The younger woman, however, wasn't quite done yet and tried to direct a Telekinetic push at Valery after their blades clashed again. The gentle smile on Valery's lips shifted into a slightly bigger grin, and she made a sudden dash forward. But somewhere along the way, the Jedi Master made a wrapping motion with her fingers and tried to pull Ara's legs from underneath her, right before Valery would move into striking range.​

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If the girl were to fall over, she'd simply hold her lightsaber down towards Ara, rather than make an actual strike. But she was ready to sweep her lightsaber into another attack as well if the Padawan resisted the pull.​

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[Ara Sheridan]

The moment she moved, Ara knew she was done for. Her legs gave way beneath her and she crashed into the ground with a loud grunt. When her senses came to, she was staring at the tip of Valery's lightsaber with a deep frown. Disappointment swelled in her as her green eyes stayed on her blade for a long moment, then shifted up at the Master behind the hilt.

She smacked her blade away and heaved herself off the ground, pacing back and forth for a moment as she worked on cooling off from the embarrassing defeat. Finally, she clipped her hilt to her belt and turned to face Valery. "I almost had it." She finally said. "I almost karking had it." She muttered again as she sat on a nearby bench. "I got the jump, I think my form was getting better there for a moment, all that jazz. But why the kriff can't I use the Force?!" She turned to face Valery with outstretched hands.

"There's nothin' wrong with me! I wanna be able to help people and do something with my life! I'm tougher than any other padawan in this temple, I can hold my own! So why can't I use the Force?" She buried her face in her hands with a frustrated sigh. "Kark it, let's go again!" She rose and gripped her hilt as she hopped back into the ring, fuming and ready to go again. But behind the walls, she was frustrated and furious. She couldn't figure out why she was struggling so much after so many years, with very little progress in areas where it mattered.

She desperately hoped that the more experienced Master would have an answer or solution for her. But even that felt like a stretch.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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When Ara swatted away the violet blade, Valery hit the ignition switch again to disengage her lightsaber. She then offered a hand up but it wasn't too surprising that the Padawan didn't accept it and jumped back up herself — there was a noticeable frustration that echoed from her, even just at surface level.​

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"You did fine, Ara," Valery said as her gaze followed the younger woman moving over to a nearby bench. She was about to make her way over as well when Ara already got back up and returned to the training ring, earning a blink from Valery who studied the behavior of the student more closely.​

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"There's nothing wrong with you and I know you're tough — that's not the problem," Valery said, not accepting the offer to go sparring again. She just stood still with her lightsaber clipped to her belt and her eyes focused on Ara. "During our spar, your use of the Force got better the more intense it got, and the more focus it demanded from you," she explained. "But I believe that you can lose that focus easily if you get frustrated or angered."​

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"I don't think a second round is going to help you but I can offer to run you through an Alchaka routine. It's not quite a combative thing, and it works best if you develop your own routine, but I know it's going to make using the Force easier for you in the long run." she offered, hoping the young woman would accept the offer to at least try it.​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Despite her desires to go again, to keep fighting until she either couldn't or everything suddenly started to work for her, her opponent refused to raise her blade again. Instead, she gave some insightful advice that completely flew over Ara's head in that moment. The frustrated teenager lowered her blade with a huff as Valery continued to speak.

"What's makin' me frustrated is the fact that none of this is working for me!" She shouted, hurling her lightsaber against the ground as she turned to leave, her face red and her brow curled up into a harsh scowl. "What's the point, anyway?! All I've been doing is disappointing and hurtin' people! My mom ended up in the hospital because of me. My master probably hates me. Everybody else think I'm a joke because I can't even lift a karkin' cup of caf on my own. The kriff is some funky meditation gonna do for me, huh?!" She dropped down against the ring's low wall and pulled her legs into her chest as she forced her forehead down. What took her by surprise were the droplets on her cheeks.

She only ever cried once before in her life. Despite everything she lived through, she never shed a tear until the day her mom hit her head on that counter because of her. What made this instance much worse was the fact that a total stranger could see her. She tried to hide behind her arms as she hugged her legs, to stifle the tears, to hide her weakness from the Master.

"Wait..."

Through the tears, anger, frustration and embarrassment, she realized something. And that realization left her in complete confusion, with no idea on how to react on what to do.

"Do you..." She cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes. "Do you... ever feel afraid? Like... worry what people think of you? If you're gonna win or lose? What to do if you lose? Basically..." She wiped at her eyes again as she tried to think of better wording without calling herself out. "Do people get to you?" She asked her as she stared up at the woman. Despite knowing that they were pretty much the same height, she felt small compared to her. But she felt an odd sense of comfort around her that she normally only felt around Master Sol'yan or her mom.

"Because... I'm not sayin' that's what I'm feelin' or something, i-it's just..." Her sad attempt at trying to cover her own tracks failed miserably. Her green eyes shifted to her lightsaber hilt for a few long moments. "How do I stop it?"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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Valery blinked as the lightsaber was thrown against the ground, but she said nothing. She just quietly watched again and allowed Ara to get anything she wanted off her chest. But the frustration and anger that her words started out with shifted into a more saddened tone, as the woman dropped down by a low wall and hugged her knees to her chest.​

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It wasn't just her demeanor that changed though — she began asking questions that displayed the internal problems she was struggling with, and Valery offered an understanding nod as she walked over.​

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"I don't think there has been a point in my life where I wasn't afraid of something," Valery admitted as she lowered herself down by the wall as well, at a distance where Ara wouldn't feel like she was getting too close, but also not so far away that she felt distant. As an experienced Jedi Master, an empathic woman, and a mother, she knew how to approach people.​

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"There was a time when I struggled with something similar to you. Right after I got this scar, as a senior Padawan, I struggled with just being myself, and I suddenly wasn't the promising duelist anymore. The easy balance I always had between my body, mind, and the Force was gone, and I kept to myself a lot. There were some other Padawans who naturally noticed that shift and well... they did get to me. I spent more nights crying myself to sleep than I can remember," She said before she let a moment of silence linger. There was no embarrassment in the Master's words, just calmness, and comfort.​

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"These days, I sometimes feel afraid when it comes to my family and those who have actively threatened them. Even my baby daughter's life has been threatened already, and well... nothing scares me more than that. So those people do get to me, but it's never going to bring me down. There will always be people who want to bring you down, but they aren't worth anything compared to those who support you and build you up."​

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"When I was a Padawan, some friends I eventually made helped me get through it all. Nowadays it's my husband and some of the new friends I've made," she turned her gaze to Ara, "Some problems can't be fixed quickly or easily, and many you won't be able to solve alone. But that's not something to be ashamed of — turn to those who want to help you and no matter how long it takes, they will help you each step along the way. Through it, you learn to value their opinions and kindness, and what others think of you will start to matter far less."​

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"You have to surround yourself with the right people."​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Ara tensed up slightly as Valery sat down next to her, a combination of embarrassment and comfort setting in as she looked away again and listened to what the Jedi Master had to say. She was silent as the grave as she focused on anything and everything Valery had to say to her, to look for any answers that could help her with what was, in her eyes, the thing that held her back from excelling in the ways she wanted to.

It took a few moments after the Master finished for Ara to do or say anything, but a sniff escaped her before she cleared her throat. The same issue was still persistent in this scenario, the lack of relating to someone. But she felt a lot closer to this woman than most. "You know where I come from? Where me and my mom come from?" She asked softly as she glanced to the woman next to her. "Underworld. But not the typical spaces, thirteen-thirteen and those luxury areas. We stayed low. My mom was in a gang and that's where she met my dad, kark his zabrak ass, but she had to give me away. I didn't have anyone I could trust... except Vince. But he was a rough dude, I couldn't always hang out with him." She relaxed a bit and turned to face her, though her gaze turned away. "You didn't trust anyone. You always watched your back, 'cause you don't know when someone's gonna try to sell you off or drag you away for a good time. I've killed people before, had to if I wanted to stay alive. The pigs wouldn't help you, the people on the street wouldn't help you... you only have yourself down there."

She looked to her lightsaber lying on the ground only a few meters away. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me... and, I mean, my mom and me are cool now. But here... it feels like I joined the pigs, you know? Crossin' the unspoken rule. You don't turn your back on your hermanos and you don't snitch, no matter what. I crossed both of those lines... and now I'm here and it feels like nobody understands that. I feel like I'm low as dirt in other people's eyes. A gutter rat with no future. Master Sol'yan is amazing, he's been the closest thing I have to an actual dad... but it never feels like anyone understands exactly what it means for me to be here with that in my hands." She pointed to her lightsaber before looking at Valery with a mixture of anger and grief.

"And now I got this boy I've been hangin' out with and it only feels like the expectations get worse, 'cause he's real cool and I li- don't wanna let him down either. On the one end I wanna show everyone who doubts me that they can shove it, but on the other end I don't wanna disappoint the people that believe in me. 'Cause when you join the pigs, you either come to your senses or you die knowing that you dropped everyone you know. People don't get it, and no matter how many people I meet and try to act like an air-head padawan, I haven't met anyone that gets it." She sighed and rested back... carefully inching closer to the Jedi Master.

Her gaze was focused on her weapon, with a hand stretching out towards it. She took a deep breath as she focused on the hilt, though it only seemed to rattle on the ground.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

​

Valery sat close to the younger woman in silence while she listened, her gaze focused on the lightsaber that Ara occasionally gestured at. Hearing all that Ara had to say reminded Valery of just how easy her own upbringing had been. Sure, some would argue that leaving your parents as a child to become Jedi was quite the thing, but life at the Temple was far easier than one in the Underworld. Valery's life only got difficult when she was a bit older and experienced enough to go out in the Galaxy alongside her Master.​

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"Well, it's likely that nobody truly will ever understand," Valery said after Ara finished and began to shift over a bit. She didn't mind if Ara wanted to sit closer or needed more comforting, but she wasn't going to force it either. Ara didn't seem like the type one should pressure too much.​

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"Your life is your own, unique, and most Jedi you'll find here haven't lived through the same things you have, so they can't exactly understand. But them not fully getting it doesn't mean they don't care. Your Master, your friends... that boy — they might not fully get your history, but they respect, like, and care about the woman who came out on top at the end of it all. That's why they matter and those who doubt you don't." Valery smiled softly and gently leaned in a bit closer, her side softly bumping up against Ara.​

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"You show the doubters by making it clear that they don't get to you. That you're surrounded by better people, and that you're in control of your own life. It's easier said than done, but be yourself around those you care about, and I'm certain that everything will turn out alright for you."​

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She then paused for a moment and turned her head to better look at Ara.​

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"I know you've had it difficult, but you're a tough one. You'll come out on top again and again."​

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[Ara Sheridan]

Her eyes lingered on her weapon as Valery gave her some very reassuring information. She finally looked at her as she bumped the Zabrak, drawing a smile onto her features as she gave a light nod. "So basically, haters gonna hate and they don't matter?" She asked her. It was a gross oversimplification, but Ara understood what she meant. She was incredibly self-conscious, about her actions and appearance, where she came from, even her status as a Jedi, but she needed to work on leaving that behind.

"Thanks, by the way." She muttered, wrapping an arm around her for a very quick hug before letting go. She hoped that nobody saw that. "So... what's the deal with this funky meditation style you were talking about?" She asked as she stood up and picked up her lightsaber.

As she came to a halt, she studied the hilt for a moment. "Also, after this... you think you can point me to someone that can help me make a new hilt?" She asked her. "Don't get me wrong, I love the weapon, I ain't ungrateful. The previous owner was a rather big deal way back in the Clone Wars... but the grip ain't for me." She ignited the weapon and gave it a twirl. There was still a lot she wanted to say, ask and discuss, but this wasn't the time for it now. She was more interested now in learning this funky meditation technique.

She did have a lot to think about now, though. Something to focus on. The whole time, she didn't know how to handle it... now she at least had an idea of what to do. And she also had a new contact to hit up whenever she needed a pep talk.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: New Cov​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Ara Sheridan ​

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Watching a smile form on Ara's features made Valery brighten up a bit more as well — the Zabrak understood what she was trying to say and that was the first step to getting that confidence and comfort to not be bothered by what others said or thought about her. "That's right, there will always be... haters," Valery chuckled at the choice of words and leaned in to return the quick hug. With where they were, nobody could see them, which mattered little to Valery but she figured Ara preferred the privacy.​

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"Alchaka is a form of meditation where you bring really demanding physical exercises together with exercises that require use of the Force. They can be static or dynamic, but the former is easier to start with. An example that fits into an Alchaka routine could be making a handstand and while you're in that position, you stack some rocks up into a tower."​

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"The key is that you perform a high number of repetitions and that you develop a personal routine. It can get really complex, dizzying but if you do it right, the body, mind, and Force will all become really synchronized." Valery said as she got up to her feet herself. She stretched her legs a bit and watched Ara closely.​

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"A new hilt? Well, I was an Artisan once, so I could build you a new hilt if you have some ideas in mind. Only for really complex weapons or lightsabers that use very tough-to-handle crystals, I would definitely not be the right person to help. But I built my own lightsabers, and they have served me well."​

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"I can build yours and even show you a few things so that you can modify them and later build them yourself too." Valery offered with a slight grin. Of course, she wouldn't mind pointing her into someone else's direction for this as well, but if Ara felt comfortable enough around Valery, she might as well help with that too.​

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