How about a magic trick?(Selena)

[Nikolai Siviyr]

Nikolai sat within the training chambers of the great Jedi Temple on Coruscant. In his right hand was a deck of playing cards, he folded and moved segments of the cards together and separate them all in his right hand. He did it over and over again in a rhythmic motion, seemingly concentrating on the cards and nothing else.

He watched the cards with utter and complete fascination as he moved and shuffled them between his fingers. The young magician wasn't even aware that a small crowd of younglings had gathered before him, watching him as he rhythmically moved the cards over and over again. Nikolai let out a soft breath as he finally stopped shuffling the cards and lifted his head upwards. It was at this exact moment that he spotted the crowd that had gathered around him.

Ten to twelve younglings stood before him, watching him with complete awe. Nikolai looked at them for a few seconds, and then lifted his hands. The deck of cards in his palm almost immediately sprang up into the air and scattered in the sky, then seconds later they burst into a massive plume of flames. For a few seconds the flames lasted in the air burning brightly, then they shifted into several different colors. First blue, then green, a bright purple, and lastly a massively bright white.

The flames then shifted and formed into a blazing white playing card, a massive joker card floating within the air. The younglings looked at Nikolai in awe and then he simply closed his fist. The flames disappeared in a heartbeat, and then the young Magician simply smiled.

"And thats the end" Nikolai said with a wave of his hand. Several of the younglings giggled and even laughed, and then they scattered. The Magician smiled, entertaining children was the easiest and perhaps the most entertaining of all crowds.

Of course that's not why he was here. Nikolai wasn't here to entertain or to teach children how to do card tricks. He was here to learn things himself, to master the force in ways he couldn't even imagine. He just needed a Master to teach him, and thats why he sat here, he was waiting for a Master to come and teach him.

With a soft sigh Nikolai pulled another deck of cards from his sleeve, slowly he once again began to shuffle them between his fingers.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

Selena was less than pleased at this moment. It was not anger that was in her, at least not in the way most people thought of it. Selena was such an oddity in the emotional plane that it was hard to really place where she was. She was calm, level headed, and carried no characteristics that resembled anger or frustration, but she was not happy. The council had assigned her a padawan. She thought for sure she would never be given one again. Most had died. Her last just before the clockwork rebellion. An accident when chasing a swoop gang in the underbelly of Coruscant. He had never seen the bus coming.

To say the least, she preferred not having a padawan. Relationships were not her thing, and being a mentor to her was the worst of all. At least the worst of the ones she was forced to be in. And the worst of those that she was not pretending to be someone else during. When the order came down that another had been thrown at her she was not happy at all. The histories stated a time when a master would actually pick their padawan and not have it selected for them. However, here she was. Making her way down to the training chambers on Coruscant, a wing of the temple she never entered since she did what little downtime training on Tython.

Her white clad form entered just as her future padawan began his little trick for the pack of younglings. Their dissipating after the trick made for an awkward sea of small figures to walk through. She had disliked being young. These kids seemed to be enjoying it more than she did though. Perhaps things had gotten better in the last fifteen years.

"That was cute," she said when she got to the man named Nikolai. He did not look any younger than she was. A late addition to the order, she knew this though. She just saw the risk in them, and really could not imagine effectively reaching him on the value and necessity of killing emotions. "Well, Nikolai... you are in luck. The council has seen fit to make me your master."

 

[Nikolai Siviyr]

Nikolai looked up almost immediately at the woman that appeared before him, he couldn't help but elevate an eyebrow as she began to speak. She was to be his teacher? She wasn't even...well she was probably his age to be honest. He stared at her for a few minutes, and then respectfully took a bow. If the Jedi Council had assigned this woman to mentor him then they probably knew that they were doing.

The young magician was no stranger to having mentors. He had learned most of his tricks from one teacher or another. He was used to being a part of a student teacher relationship, once he had even learned a trick from a ten year old. Learning from a woman wouldn't be a problem either, even if she was attractive.

“In luck? You must be a fantastic Jedi then.” As Nikolai spoke there was no hint of sarcasm in his voice, though the statement itself seemed to be entirely formed of it. Still the look on his face and within his eyes appeared to be entirely genuine. He smiled at Selena, and then stuck out his right hand. A long winding tattoo wrapped around his palm that was easy to see, its purpose however was more difficult to discern. “I am Nikolai Siviyr, pleased to meet you.”

Again he seemed to be genuine with no hint of sarcasm or attitude.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

The Knight ignored the tinge of sarcasm she felt was in the words. Sure, she heard none but vocal cords were easy to control, after all she had to act quite frequently like she was many things she was not. Selena did not shake his hand though. They had already greeted one another by bowing. No reason to do so twice, and the clasping of hands was not a custom among Jedi. A tattoo, she thought upon noticing that detail, where do we find these people?

"Likewise," she said quickly, "follow me," she continued with a turn.

She turned and made her way to one of the hallways. Down it was the training room she had been provided with for the purposes of instructing her new padawan. From her knowledge of this area of the temple it was not an overly large area but it would do. She did not intend to do much at all. Just gauge his talents. She was not one for training rooms. Hours after hours upon more hours in them during her childhood made her sick of seeing them. Life was not training after all. As they walked she said, "I read that you are gifted with telekinetics. This is good. I can offer no training in that area, only theory. Not wasting time on it is good. What I imagine is foreign to you though is the use of a saber. This is where we shall start, and in this discipline, I am rather gifted."

 

[Nikolai Siviyr]

Nikolai threw his hands up in the air as Selena walked away without shaking his hand. He didn't do it as a sign of disrespect but more exaggerated exasperation. Quickly however he followed after her, listening to her words. He nodded when she spoke of telekinesis, there was really nothing for him to learn in that area. Nikolai regularly used the fore in his acts to manipulate objects and people in certain ways and having her try to teach him how to do it better would be a massive waste of time. He was glad she wasn't going to try.

When she spoke about lightsaber combat however he stopped dead in his tracks...figuratively. The magician didn't comment for a few seconds but instead just stared at the back of her head. Combat of any sort was a problem for him.

Nikolai had a quiet upbringing, he had never been in a fight, never thrown a punch, never even picked up a weapon of any sort...except for when they were needed in his act. He had never found the need to fight. The one time someone had tried to beat him up Nikolai had used his agility and a part of his act to get away without ever needing to do anything aggressive. Fighting with a lightsaber somehow but him ill at ease. He didn't comment on this however until they stopped walking.

"I've uhhh. I've never even picked up a lightsaber...or anything of the sort." He spoke rather sheepishly at first, but then admitted to his failing. He had no idea how his new Master would react.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

She keyed the door to open to the training room. Before walking in she said to her padawan, "Even trained fencers find the lightsaber an awkward weapon because its lack of weight. It is a unique weapon, unless you are trained in it you might as well be new with it." It was not entirely true, but very close to the truth. The lightsaber was its own class of weapon entirely separate from swords. Though, depending on the style it could be closer... from what she understood saber lances were actually rather similar to how real lances were used.

The room reminded her of the training rooms on Tython. Barren. White walls, white floor, nothing much in the way of features. A small door the had a closet with various training devices. Small training rooms like this were loathsome. The large ones were better. Filled with obstacles. Freer for group exercises. All around far better. But this was how it was now. Then again, she did not intend to work in these white walled coffins for long.

She opened the closet door and grabbed a training saber. In the back corner she saw a training droids. I could just... no... that'd be wrong. As she walked back to the center of the room she tossed the lightsaber hilt at him. Once out of her hands she pulled the long hilted one off its clip and dialed down its strength. "Alright..." she started then thought... where does one start lightsaber training. "we will begin with the basics. Decide if you prefer one handed or two handed grips..."

 

[Nikolai Siviyr]

Nikolai stared at the woman once again, unsure of himself here. She seemed to determine to teach him how to use a Lightsaber. He supposed he had to if he was going to be an actual Jedi, though using an actual sword still sat rather uneasy with him. The young Magician stared at the training saber that she offered him, an uneasy frown entered his face and he shook his head slightly as if to say no to her offer. Then he explained himself further, though he spoke uneasily.

“I...Isn't there something less...sword like?” Before he finished he realized just how stupid he sounded when he said that so quickly he corrected himself. “Like a lightsaber....staff.”

There, that made far more sense. He had no idea if lightsaber staff's existed, all he knew was that there were swords made of plasma. The only lightsabers he had ever seen were the standard hilted ones that resembled regular swords, he had never seen a lightwhip, saber-staff, or any other unique variety of Lightsaber.

He was very much a noob.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

All sabers were sword like. The technology was kind of given to that. Lengthening the hilt could give one more the impression of a lance, but that was not a usual configuration. His words were a familiar term to those within the order. A saber staff had a particular meaning but the Knight did not think he meant what instantly came to her mind. She mentally shrugged nonetheless and turned back to the storage room. This time pulling out a longer looking training saber built in traditional saber staff form. Its hilt just longer than her own lightsaber's extended style.

Like the last saber she had gotten out, she tossed this one to the man. "This is referred to as a saberstaff. An unusual weapon that can be deadly for the user almost as much as the opponent. Far more difficult to master. If it is what you would prefer to practice with then you are free to do so." But it was going to be difficult for him to grasp, she imagined. This might delay her intention to take him out for missions... by a day.

 

[Nikolai Siviyr]

Nikolai gripped the weapon by the middle of it. Immediately he could feel the heft, and he frowned slightly. This wasn't much better than the other thing...but at least it would suit more to his style. The weapon was far flashier than a regular sword, and he was willing to bet that fighting against it would be much more difficult and set someone off balance...exactly what Nikolai was good at, setting someone off balance. The padawan seemed to nod to himself as he lifted the weapon in his arm.

Suddenly Nikolai reached up and touched one of the training sabers upper parts. Immediately he rebounded his palm, pulling it back with a loud curse. That had not been a clever thing. A training saber hurt when touched, and it also contained a numbing agent to teach a lesson. Nikolai shook his head slightly, and then looked at Selena.

"This will do i suppose." He calmly spoke to her, as if what he had just done didn't at all happen.