Fly Over States

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Behind Ashin, the hatch hissed open, and she closed her eyes in resigned recognizance of the moment that was about to happen. And then it did. She took a step to the side, got out from between them, and let Yarva get an eyeful of her wife. Still youngish, blonde, out of her league, and wearing one of Ashin's workout shirts and a thin pair of lounge pants, all liberally festooned with flour. One would never think she could take a sniper bolt to the face and laugh it off. Even the better part of a decade after the Battle of Aargonar, that moment tended to stick with Ashin when she thought about Spencer's connection to the Force. Even when their roles had been reversed, when Ashin had been the Master and Spencer her First Apprentice, even then she'd known Spencer's Force-sensitivity eclipsed hers. Now it wasn't even a contest.

She still looked like a twenty-something blonde caught between yoga and a baking accident. Which was close to two-thirds true. More if you counted the blondness.

Ashin's lips twitched. "May I introduce my Master, Yun-Harla. It appears she's made waffles. And this," she said to Spencer, "is my new student. I haven't caught his name. We were about to do the introductory tutaminis fireplace exercise. Is the grill still hot?"

 

[Carbon]

Yarva was momentarily taken aback by the mobile waffle factory formerly dressed as a yoga instructor, and then his attention turned back to black and old. Not because the two of them stood out as 'why are they together.' For all he knew they were literally the last two lesbians on whatever planet they were from. No, instead he connected 'waffle' with 'grill' and 'his hand.'

He liked his hand.

He liked it not smelling like it was put in a waffle iron.

Why did he sign up for this. "Hi."

That's all he could think of to say.

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer picked up what Ashin was doing. She held the bed breakfasts and nodded her head. Demeanor remained the same as her smile never faded. "Hi. Nice to meet you." Looking towards Ashin she nodded again. "It's still hot, he's unsure still. I'll have medical supplies on hand."

The bubbly blonde's face turned serious as she turned her back on the pair. Glancing over her shoulder she spoke quietly. "You won't get hurt as long as you trust your ability and the Force."

She led the two back towards the kitchen.

[member="Yarva Adisu"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"][member="Spencer Jacobs"]

"See, that much I sensed on my own." For once. With a shrug, Ashin stepped inside. "Come on, kid. I'll do it first, and I'll show you how. Or we can cover 'staying warm while locked in a freezer', or maybe 'how to cool your stimcaf so you don't get scalded.' It's all the same thing, but I assumed you would want your first lesson to be something more memorable than caf or a fridge. Your call. Close the hatch after you."

Leaving the hatch open, she followed Spencer inside and sat down in the kitchen of the Vagrant's Pride. 'Kitchen' was something of a misnomer: they cooked in a corner of the hold, right by where the ramp rose into the ship. A door ahead offered a view into the cockpit and their quarters; she closed the door with a quick gesture and sat down at the table to serve herself waffles. Nearby, Yarva might spot a deep freeze, a stimcaf maker, and a grill.

Spencer's love affair with baked goods had stood her in good stead. The waffles were, as ever, excellent. Ashin tackled them like that New Order temple she'd torn down to the roots.

 

[Carbon]

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Yarva just blinked violet eyes, entirely unsure what strange universe he'd stepped into. In what part of the galaxy was putting your hand on a grill deemed good training, other than for teaching your kids not to touch hot things? That's how he had learned fire was bad. Put your hand in it, cry, never do it again.

Good lesson. Stays with you.

He failed to see how putting your hand on a grill could teach you anything about the Force, or what 'tutaminis' was. Though he had a feeling it had something to do with a hope, a prayer, and a whole lot of nerve ending lighting up.

Or maybe it was that weird thing she did to block her face. They had a week.

"Alright, fine. I'll ruin my hands." He says, doing as told by closing the hatch once he'd stepped inside. Almost immediately he pulled the hat from his head and took off his helmet, revealing the youthful Mirialan and his jet black hair. "Wasn't using them or nothin'."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

"Don't feel the need to be hasty about it," said Ashin around an indecorous mouthful of waffle. "We need to talk theory first. Fundamentally, being able to shunt energy away, or keep it inside you, is all about belief. You believe it can happen, so it can happen. I believed your blaster bolt wouldn't hit me, so I still have a face. But what you believe, the details of it, the extrasensory perception and intuition that guide that belief, that requires education. If you put your hand in the fire and expect to be unburned, it's because the heat will have warped around your hand, or been absorbed and converted into another form of energy before it can raise your body temperature and cook you from the inside. The other form would be a broader kind of energy, non-electromagnetic -- not heat, basically." Her head tilted as she chewed. Maybe I should dumb this down. "You can turn a fire or a blaster shot into usable Force energy. Or you can just not let it in at all. My Master prefers the former kind, I prefer the latter. The first requires a deep and intuitive understanding of heat and cold, and that can only be gained through experience. The latter requires an absolute belief that nothing -- not a blaster, not a fireball, not a thermal detonator or a turbolaser -- is getting through, even when the occasional strike does get through. The first way is called tutaminis; the second is called Force protection."

 

[Carbon]

Yarva wasn't eating. Electro-whatsit didn't allow his brain to process 'chew' and 'giant words' at the same time. These were entirely new concepts to him, and like anyone having his reality shattered he wasn't much able to concentrate on anything else. Brow furrowing in confusion and shock, albeit only slight shock, he frowned.

"So if I believe... I can fly?" He asks suddenly.

Because that was logical.

If all you had to do was believe, then screw gravity... and science. "But like, my options are just ignore, or use to my own advantage? Is that an actual question?" To anyone raised by Mandalorians, the answer would be obvious. Take every advantage you could.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

"The Force is limitless. Your ability to use it isn't -- but yes, flight's possible, if you spend the next ten years plugging away at it. If you feel like learning to levitate yourself while you meditate, that's something many apprentices learn. At your level, strong belief and focus can do interesting things. The Force starts to bend to your will. Think of it like developing a muscle: while focus can objectively improve performance, the more often you use it, the stronger you'll become in the long term. Alternately, you can spend a whole career stagnating and learning nothing of worth, not unlike many of the Force-users you'll encounter.

"As for defenses...well, there's slightly more to it. While it's possible to absorb energy attacks and use them for other things, Force protection is a flat-out forbidding. You could have attacked me with a slugthrower or a vibroblade or a speeder bike collision, and it would have had about the same effect as the blaster bolt. There's nothing stopping you from learning both, of course; Force protection is my specialty, but I use tutaminis regularly. Where other people spend their time learning to kill, I spend mine learning how to take their most pyrotechnic abilities to the face or the chest or the back without effect. But I've been doing this a long time, and my mobility isn't what it used to be."

 

[Carbon]

"Killing is great and all, but what good is killing going to do you if you're dead because you didn't cover yourself." He says. It sounded like an epiphany, but it was just one of those things that often went unsaid long enough that by the time it was given voice... it may as well have been one.

One corner of his mouth lifted upwards in a thoughtful fashion. "Guess why not both." He says with a shrug. "At least enough to get me started."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

"That's the general idea," she admitted, examining a forkful of waffle. With the precision of a blademaster, she applied extra syrup, then chewed in a meditative way. "And I'll let you in on a secret. Most high-level Force-wielders don't have the patience to wear you down. If you can withstand their first couple of attacks, they'll get frustrated and annoyed and maybe intimidated. They'll lose interest in the fight and start making mistakes. Just about anyone can wear me down -- anyone at Master level, anyway -- if they recognize that and play their hand accordingly. Even for me, permanent invincibility isn't an option. That's why I'll only use those techniques for a few seconds or minutes at a time, so I can try to outlast what I can't overcome. And in the end, enough Masters are incompetent that I'm not...beatable. I can't defeat other people easily, unless their judgment is terrible, but I haven't been taken down very often either. In the old adage of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object, everyone tries to be the first one. I am the second one.

"That is why you should touch the stove, or crawl inside the freezer. Becoming impregnable is seriously underrated."

 

[Carbon]

There was a slow nod from the boy, who tilted his head faintly. "Didn't know crawling into the deep freezer was an option." Pushing himself up, he did just that. Go to deep freezer, get inside. Why? Why not. What was the worst that could happen besides, well, hypothermia, frostbite or death.

Watching her eat was boring. He needed to be doing something.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

"Oh, I certainly told you. But my wife was walking away at the time, so I can't blame you for missing it. Her backside has the unique ability to disrupt the thoughts of men." Straight-faced, Ashin continued eating waffles. She gestured at the deep freeze with her fork and swallowed.

"You'll figure it out soon enough. Or you won't, and you'll be cold. Not the worst thing in the world."

 

[Carbon]

Grumbling something about not being interested in her wife, the boy lowered himself into the deep freezer and settled in for a nice frigid morning. Maybe he should have thought of the correct way to approach this before getting in. Right now he was just cold, but before long he would be shivering and his core temperature would plummet.

So just believe he was warm?

Or make his body better for the cold? Become the ice?

Become the ice sounded like a bad advtertisement from before the War, but it did make him chuckle. Frowning, wrapping his arms around himself, he settled in and closed his eyes. Cold seeped into his bones, chilling him to his core. Being tight like this kept him residually warm a bit longer than normal, but before long there he sat, shaking and shivering.

Become the ice. Let winter be warm.

It wasn't an easy thing to convince himself of, but he started feeling a bit warmer the more he concentrated on making himself comfortable with winter. That might just be something worse settling in. But maybe he was on the right path. Believe yourself warm, and you would be.

And just like that he was cold again.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

After a suitably long time, the freezer door opened. Ashin squatted in front of it, elbows on knees, and peered inside. Though she wasn't much for sensory abilities, it didn't take much to feel that the kid was very, very cold.

"Well, that's one way to do it." She stood up. "Come on out, warm up, then either give it another try or go for something more basic. Depends how comfortable you are and how much you want to work."

 

[Carbon]

All he could concentrate on was the cold. How he was cold. How this freezer was cold. How stupid he was to actually get in a freezer to 'learn.' Grumbling to himself, he kept his arms tight across his chest and frowned.

Stupid cold. Hanging around him.

Couldn't stay warm like this.

Then the freezer door opened, and there was the dark skinned woman again. Cold meant his mind wasn't working. Had she told him her name? He thought so. No? Agh, whatever.

Coming out of the cold hole, he moved to sit down, still shivering and shaking. It wasn't a minute or two more before he realized he was still just as cold. He had been so focused on being cold he had brought the cold with him.

Somewhat, at least.

"I'm not warm yet." He mutters petulantly.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Yarva Adisu"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin grunted. "Boneheaded Mando grunt didn't know when to quit." She raised her voice, calling forward through the ship's cabins. "Oh honey. Someone's gone and got himself hypothermic." Spencer was much, much better at both healing and delicate energy manipulation. Plus she could use something to do. Spencer generally didn't start baking things until she was bored out of her skull.

Shaking her head, Ashin activated the caf machine. "You'll be warm soon enough. I'd do it right now, but you probably wouldn't enjoy it."

 

[Allyson Locke]

Lucky for the Mando Grunt and Ashin, Spencer had been lurking around the corner watching. She was bored after cleaning the kitchen a few times and organizing everything on the ship. Her mind was too wild to meditate so she decided to spy on the two and watch the lessons. She couldn’t help but snicker, as she turned the burner on full blast and act as if she was washing her hands in the flames. Waiting till she figured she had enough of the thermal energy absorbed she moved towards him. Her hands warm from the tapas she was currently using the absorbed energy for. The temperature was warm enough, but not too hot.

“If it gets too hot please tell me. I don’t know you very well yet so I can’t use my empathy to help me.” Nodding, she placed her hands on one of his. Keeping her focus on the tapas she carefully transferred the heat towards him. “Now that you have some warmth, focus on it. Focus on trying to pull and to spread the warmth all over you holding it in your core.” Tilting her head, she tried to think of a better explanation. “Its like when you eat hot soup, you feel it go from your mouth to your stomach right? It’s like that, just focus on that and you’ll be warm faster than you think.”

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Yarva Adisu"]

 

[Carbon]

All but curled up in the chair, the Mirialan had a very surly look plastered on his clean shaven face. It was almost cynical, and mostly radiated from the violet of his eyes rather than the furrow of his brows. It was as though the fire was anathema to his existence in that moment. Grumbling something as she came over, he frowned and exhaled, letting the warmth bleed through his body slowly.

Just like soup but without the sustenance.

He still felt a bit cold, but it was better than before. Frowning a little, he blinked, looking around. "Still feels cold." He adds, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe just the hypothermia. He'd been so focused on being cold though, maybe he should just focus on being warm.

Warm wasn't coming from outside, it was coming from inside.

And slowly, he didn't feel as cold as before. Better.

He relaxed. "You're both weird. You've got this 'hands in fire' obsession. You'd probably like the Krovarans. They're a surly sort, but they like fire too."


[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Yarva Adisu"]

"Depends what part of Kro Var you visit," said Ashin without missing a beat -- even if that planet inspired as much guilt as this one. "They follow a four-cornered view of the elements, so your average Shaper is just as likely to be a specialist in air, water, or earth as fire -- and those paths are often mutually exclusive. Simplistic and superstitious people, the Shapers. They'll call a typhoon or an earthquake, but Force help you if you so much as lift a pebble off the ground."

She delved him with the Force as best she could; it wasn't much. Spencer's healing seemed to have done its work, not that Ashin had doubted. "What's your contact with the Shapers? Kro Var is eighty thousand light-years from here, and well off the beaten path."

 

[Carbon]

Yarva blinked. "Kro Var." That was the first time he had heard the word separated. He tested it as it rolled from his tongue, a child with a new toy. Blinking again, he looked to her blankly. "They have a small outpost in the border areas. Real surly lot. They're the Krovarans." Not Crow-Varr, but Crow-ver-ens.

Different, and entirely built off them not having a single idea that Krovaran wasn't the name of some weird religious sect but an actual planet with a Force tradition. "They avoid everyone else."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]