Private Force and Perception

[Aadihr Lidos]

FORCE AND PERCEPTION

Outfit: Casual Attire
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

The grand arches of the Jedi Temple echoed with the soft shuffling of robes and the murmurs of anticipation as a fresh class of Padawans gathered in the spacious training chamber. The room was suffused with the warm glow of the setting sun, casting long shadows across the polished stone floor. The air was charged with anticipation, as Aadihr Lidos, the Jedi Knight, took his place in front of the class.

This was his first time leading an introductory session on Force Sense; both a lesson and an assessment of existing capability. While his eyeless face is veiled by a blindfold, his expression was open and earnest as the students gathered. He knew the weight of the responsibility placed upon him to guide these young minds toward the light, and his confidence in his own abilities did not waver. The ages of the students varied significantly, some were practically younglings and others almost adults themselves.

He had brought a box with training materials, including several smaller containers stashed around the room - some empty, some with nonliving organic material, and some with plant life. Spare blindfolds, padded sticks to test reflex, and more.

Aadihr kept an eye out for one Padawan in particular - a Kiffar. Aadihr had some capability with basic psychometry, but had prepared a few items beforehand to test this student in particular, though he didn't have anything dead with memories to read, he was curious what the student's inherently capability would be.

Aadihr set his staff to the side and watched the lingering force signatures outside the room trickle in.

Kaelos Vryn​

 

[Kaelos Vryn]

Location: Jedi Temple
Tags: Aadihr Lidos ​

Kaelos was impatient.

That was an understatement, actually. He'd been with the New Jedi Order since he was a small child and he'd seen people be taken on by masters who were younger than him. He was getting irritated at the fact that he was left at the Temple and was just expected to study with everyone else.

He took a breath. It was the will of the force. That was his constant reminder to himself. The force had a plan for him which involved the waiting. Everything would make sense in time, once the plan unveiled itself. He would then know why he'd been left for so long without a master.

Slowly, he made towards a class that had been arranged. It was an introductory session on Force Sense, one he'd been signed up to without really having a lot of say in it. Precognition was something that came naturally to him, something that he'd been able to utilise since his first day in the Jedi Temple. Even as a child, he remembered the visions and the unnerving feeling of impending danger. It was only when he'd begun his training he realised what it was, of course.

Making his way into the room, he set straight for a seat towards the back. Many of the others who were attending the class were younger, just beginning their adventures with the force. For them, the lesson was likely to be one that was useful. For Kaelos, he couldn't help but feel like he was being taught how to do the basics for the seventh time in his life.

He took his seat, and cast his eyes towards the front.

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

FORCE AND PERCEPTION

Outfit: Casual Attire
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

The moment the Kiffar entered Aadihr could see the spikes of irritation in his aura. It didn't take long to introduce the basics of the curriculum for the younger ones and pair them up with blindfolds and padded sticks with enough instruction not to hurt themselves. Intentionally, Aadihr saved the older student, the Kiffar, for last.

"It looks like there's an odd number of us, so I'll pair off with you - though I don't think we'll need to trade blindfolds" Aadihr joked, sporting the beige armored synthweave blindfold that Azurine Varek had so thoughtfully given him for life day after his keepsake was lost in the battle for Iridonia.

"I can tell you've been through this before - you hide it well enough, but the frustration does color your presence in the force. I'd like to both thank you for your patience up to this point and, if you're willing, practice a few more advanced exercises to demonstrate to the rest of the class when we wrap up?"

Aadihr pulled a still to sit at an even level with the Padawan. "Let me address the obvious - you're older, you've been with the temple a bit, and maybe you feel like you've slipped through the administrative cracks a few too many times?"

Aadihr extended his hand in greeting - sporting heaven scarring on the front and back of the palm, and two ring-like scars where his fingers had been reattached with Bacta treatment after the Mandalorian raid on Keshi. "Allow me to teach you at your pace. Kaelos, correct? Why don't we assess your capabilities and determine what exercises and areas of growth you wish to pursue. Tell me about yourself - no actually - show me what you have learned so far. It doesn't need to be force sense specifically, but let me observe what you're capable of with the Force, regardless of what it is."

Aadihr studied the aura of the padawan afterwards, watching for the shifts in their emotions and intention, seeking to better align this lesson to their needs. His own tutelage had been a nightmare; even if this was Aadihr's first formal class and he was deviating from curriculum, he would not stand for a temple leaving a Padawan without support, like he went through in Naboo. But this was about Kaelos, not Aadihr and his former master.

Better no mentor than a cruel one, Aadhir thought, finding a silver lining to the padawan's struggle, though he did not seek diminish the Padawan's rightful frustration by voicing this.

Kaelos Vryn​

 

[Kaelos Vryn]

Location: Jedi Temple
Tags: Aadihr Lidos ​

The young Jedi cast his eyes towards their tutor.

Even throughout all of the instructions, he hadn't noticed that their tutor was blind. He hadn't been paying that much attention, if he was honest. It was only when the man was stood in front of him that it became obvious. The beige blindfold was a pretty big giveaway, he had to admit that.

Kaelos listened as the Jedi Knight spoke. He offered a smile when the man acknowledged that this wasn't his first rodeo, wasn't the first time he had been through a class similar to this. He appreciated the offer of advanced exercises more than the Jedi Knight would ever know, he'd been so used to being treated the same as the younglings it was brilliant that he was being given the opportunity to show more of his potential.

"I know I shouldn't" he spoke finally. "I've been here since I was a child. I've watched Jedi younger than me be taken by a master and go exploring the galaxy. I've watched Jedi older than me study the force and do things no-one thought possible" he continued, shaking his heads. "I completely understand that this is the will of the force, but the force seems like a cruel mistress at the moment"

He cast his eyes towards the man's walking stick upon the request to demonstrate his powers. "May I?" he requested, closing his fingers around the walking stick. Psychometry was a power that came as naturally as breathing to those of the Kiffar race and Kaelos had found it useful in more than one situation.

Closing his eyes, he looked into the past of the weapon.

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Casual Attire
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

Aadihr handed over the staff to the pupil. His own experience with psychometry was minimal, closer to reading a stain of the force to him, but always unclear. He was interested in what one who was a natural could glean from touch.
"By all means," Aadihr replied earnestly.

Spoiler: Psychometric Memories

What seemed to be a walking stick was a wooden facade over a Lightsaber Pike. The staff was made by an eager boy under the oversight of their master - a woman who saw only the future destructive capability of the weapon and its wielder.

The staff held mournful memories defending the boy who could not keep pace with the other students. Inability of the wielder was mistaken for insubordination. The staff supported the boy leaning upon it - bruised, fractured, and being healed only to head directly into training. One by one, other belongings were deprived from the wielder, 'distractions' taken away until nothing but the blindfold and the staff remained. The only things the master valued.

The staff was there the first time the boy deflected a blaster bolt without use of the crystal's blade, survival and avoidance learned instead of of aggression and subjugation.

The staff and crystal waited as the boy meditated, sending his Sight far from where the weapon kept silent vigil over the Padawan. It fought alongside the apprentice as they attempted each trial, retaking again and again, practicing in between the continued punitive sparring sessions to 'draw out' the force capabilities the Master tried to coax, growing more resentful through the years.

The staff remained by the boy and the blindfold's side as they aged into a man, through their knighting ceremony, through his escape into exile - finally free of the master. The staff, blindfold and man wandered the outer rim, never lighting the crystal in anger or for violence. They reminisced together at news of the Master's passing. They supported each other as they returned to the Jedi Order. Through chaos and conflict, the staff fought to protect peace, and the man who had become a healer. The staff wept with the man as the blindfold, the only other companion, was lost in the flames of war on Iridonia. The staff and crystal of the pike remained steadfast, allowing it's silent protection of the eyeless boy to be read by a pupil of the boy.

The pike shared its wielder's resolve to protect the future of the Jedi Order from itself, permanently stained by the colors of shame for the boy it could not protect when he was most vulnerable.

"Psychometry, correct? What can you read from the staff?" Aadihr asked, unaware of the depth of memories the dead wooden veneer stored and shared.

Kaelos Vryn​

 

[Kaelos Vryn]

Location: Jedi Temple
Tags: Aadihr Lidos ​

Kaelos took a breath.

Psychometry was a useful power, allowing the Kiffar to view memories like he was there. The act of touching an object and of seeing the memories imprinted within was intimate. It also held the risk of being overwhelming depending on the memories held by the object itself. Some objects within the galaxy had dark pasts, twisted and evil backgrounds.

It wasn't a walking stick he was holding, but a weapon. A lightsaber disgused as the aid of a disabled man. He got to witness the day of it's creation, the young boy so proud and the mentor so focused on the destruction that it could cause.

He got to witness the teaching style of the master, the way she took items from the boy in an attempt to get him to focus. He watched the boy fall behind, but he could tell it wasn't through a lack of trying. Inability of the wielder was being mistaken for insubordination.

The young Jedi watched progression, he saw the wielder of the blade progress through his trials. He saw the wielder progress into a life of exile, only activating the weapon to protect peace and to serve the Jedi. He watched the war on Iridonia, watched loss as the wielder lost his blindfold.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime the Kiffar let go of the wooden cane and took a breath. "Hurt" he responded in answer to the question posed towards him. "The wielder of this blade has been through so much hurt. You. You've been through so much hurt"

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Casual Attire
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

Aadihr offered a comforting smile as he reclaimed the staff. Kaelos's aura had shifted drastically during the brief time he had interacted with the weapon, and the Miraluka feared the reading may have been overwhelming for him.

That response though - it implied not only breadth of history encompassed with the reading, but also the depth of experiencing the memories. It was fascinating to Aadihr, who at best could read the last time someone slammed a door shut by touching handle - if he really focused.

"Whatever memories you experienced may still be fresh and raw to you; thankfully they are old and healed for me. It seems you've got significant capacity for psychometry - I underestimated you; I hadn't considered how taxing that may have been for you when I handed the staff over. For that I apologize."
Aadihr bowed his head formally. "Do you have control when reading through such vast swathes of memory? To selectively experience memories note, or do you find yourself swept up for the ride, so to speak?"
Aadihr's curiosity was getting the better of him, but he had a few more questions to indulge before he forced himself to act professionally once more. "In the same vein, are you forced to read anything you touch or do you have to open yourself to the memories of the object?"

Aadihr took a breath and sat up straight.
"Regardless - I understand your frustration; having capability, experience, and time spent, yet still limited by circular curriculum. If ever you wish for training or practice beyond what has been assigned, I'd be happy to assist. I'm frankly quite rusty with my saber forms as well; I could always use the practice one way or another."

Kaelos Vryn​

 

[Kaelos Vryn]

Location: Jedi Temple
Tags: Aadihr Lidos ​

He let out a sigh.

"Psychometry comes naturally to those of the Kiffar race, as I'm sure you are aware" he spoke softly. "It comes more naturally to me than most, it's something I found control over. In answer to your question, I can see both sweeping memories or focus it in to something specific as long as I know what I am looking for" he continued.

"Reading the memories of the object is a choice, something I open myself up to" he responded to the Jedi Knight's curiosity. "In terms of being taxing, it can be" he continued. "Feeling every emotion and seeing every memory linked to an object can indeed be extremely overwhelming at times. The reward can outweigh that though" he finished, offering a small smile.

Kaelos listened as the man offered his tutorship, and his smile grew slightly wider. "If nothing else, I wish to venture out into the galaxy and explore. Learning is somewhat limited in the temple I've found, limited to only the experiences that the tutors allow. There's very little real world learning in here"

The young Jedi shook his head. He had always learned better with hands on experience and he found that lacking in the temple. There was nothing better than getting out into the field and experiencing using the force in the real world.