Faction I Just Happen To Have A Chance Cube Here (any Jedi)

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jedi were not supposed to be prideful. Yet he knew he was a little guilty of the sin. Despite being out of his depth and out of practise he felt that with his experience and holocrons he had hidden away that he could teach her.

This lesson was useful, he thought. Getting her to meet other students and teachers was still important. After what had happened - one of their own bringing down the Alliance - he did not trust easily.

"Let's try this then," Jacen said, stepping forward and releasing the droid. He grimaced briefly at Serya. His expression said: please try not to break anything for a few minutes. He gave a small wave for her to stay with Jend-Ro Quill for now.

The sound of the drones dredged up older memories. His fingers flexed, remembering the feel of a lightsaber. He had not used one in years.

Jacen stepped forwards, trying to hold those instincts down. He walked in a straight line trying to concentrate - but also not concentrate - on swinging the odds in his favour.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya was all too happy to stand and skidattle with no further comment made on herself. He gestured her to move to the side and she did so, picking at the singed bits of her only damn shirt. A puff of frustration escaped from her nose. She had been taking such tedious care of it too.

Never mind that, she released the cloth, taking his place besides the old man. As Jacen prepared himself, she shot a flickering grimace down at the droid Jend-ro had stop from smashing a nose.

"I can't believe you actually zap each other," she snuffed. She tucked her hands under her knees and leaned forward, brows furrowing at Jacen's careful walk.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jend-Ro Quill Serya Talith

Jacen hissed as the first bolt lanced out and struck him. Given that their targeting was supposed to be off, he had to hope that he hadn't managed what Serya had with the cubes. If he had reversed the odds then this was going to sting.

Even as he tried to walk calmly he started to favour one side, advancing further with the leg foot. He hadn't even started Serya off with a training blade yet. He had not even recovered his own lightsaber. The buzz of drones had his body remembering all the old training sessions.

"No need to panic if you - ah feth - get hit," Jacen called out to Serya. He fell silent, not being able to concentrate on talking and taking hits at the same time.

 

[Serya Talith]

She had to admit, from the outside looking in, it looked a lot less... dire. A smidge of embarrassment hit her cheeks as she took the chance to look around. She started to see it now-- the hints of ...militarization among those gathered.

Weapons at their belts. Muscles on their arms. Training devices that shot at you. All that, and Auteme 's words, clicked into place inside her mind. Where exactly had he brought her? When he said they would be safe from those pursuing them, she hadn't... pictured this.

It was the barest glimpse to mystery behind Jacen, but she didn't push it. A smile crept upon her dour expression, the teen unable to help the bit of amusement at seeing him zapped. Uhuh. Right. He was saying?

She rested her chin in her palm, her eyes alight as her finger twitched ever so slightly. The force surged around his ankle, like a string pulling taunt as he stepped forward.

A laugh caught in her nose, betraying her poorly veiled prank.

Oh sush, it was payback.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen was a simple man. He was a soldier who swore under his breath but gave inspiring speeches. He liked tangible things. His power didn't come naturally to him, not like his son, he worked hard through frustration to get to where he was.

Having this new ability so difficult to measure was beginning to irk him.

Serya tugged at his ankle and he went down. The little drones delivered a rather evenly random lasers around his person. Two of them struck him.

"Serya," he groaned. He didn't sound amused, pushing himself back to his feet. His expression notably smoothed out when he saw her trying not to grin. It was nice to see her look happy for once.

Jacen gave a shake of his head. A drone buzzed by his head and he waved at it. He sent it flying towards the wall. He caught it before it got there, shooting Jend-ro a guilty look.

"Did you want to take a break?" he asked Serya.

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra decided to try her hand at the droids as well. A couple nearly struck her, but she twisted at the last instant, only to get hit by three more. She yelped in surprise at the sensation, but kept going, and the droids managed to miss her.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Auteme Jacen Voidstalker Serya Talith

They'd gone from an extended stretch of work with chance cubes and chalk to a few minutes against remotes - with mixed results. And even if they could learn to pull that off, good against remotes was one thing; good against the living was something else.

Quill caught the edge of Jacen's comment to Serya, and the timing lined up well enough. He clapped once for attention. "Been a busy evening so far. Let's call it there, get some dinner, and I'll make remotes and such available again afterward for a while. The blizzard outside looks to be getting worse. There's a decent chance a neighbouring settlement might call for an avalanche digout at some point during the night. If it happens, we'll need to be well rested."

Whether the Suerton technique could help forestall that possibility was, as always, an open question. One major challenge: it was hard to not care about a village getting hit by a hypothetical avalanche.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya flushed in natural embarrassment, his offer feeling like a public callout that quickly had her checking her mischief back into place. Fine, fine, time and place...

Sorry not sorry.

She stood up as the older man dismissed them, pushing away her concern that she might be to blame. "I don't get it," she clipped to Jacen, her voice hushed as she came to his side and plucked at the marks on her shirt. Goosebumps speckled over her bare arm, the change in climate earning a chill that she was doing a fine job at ignoring.

"Shooting at each other? Really? Why would they do that? How does that even help you stay calm?" She didn't mean to cold shoulder the others in that moment, but there was a distinct feeling of disconnect growing inside of her. She tilted her shoulder into Jacen's side, almost like a pack animal keeping to her kind.

"They're jedi, arent they? Or- the shots- so sith?" He had not broken into this with her. Not since that first day. She didn't take it well then.

She was asking now.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen gave a slow nod and walked away from the group at a pace that put some space between them before it became rude to answer. He turned around the face Serya directly. The tone of her question was enough to know that she needed honest answers.

"This is a Jedi temple," he said. "But please believe me when I say that putting you into a war is the very last thing I want to do. Truly."

He didn't try and hide the pain. Pain that spoke of past mistakes where he had put people in harm's way.

"I wasn't going to teach you any specific Jedi philosophy either."

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya softened, his pain taking her by surprise. She knew he had a past. By rule neither had asked, but pressing her anxieties further felt like a betrayal of that.

She raised both her hands, her words coming in with more tact than before. “That’s not what I meant. —I know. It’s not like-“ She fumbled, a self conscious look tossed over her shoulder as those gathered began to leave for dinner.

“I just thought we were trying to be safe. Doesn’t a place like this draw attention? Whatiftheycome?” She uttered tightly, her apprehension barely contained.

“What if they bring more this time? There's children here-- with weapons. Jacen, whatiftheygethurt?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"We're a long way from any fighting," he said, voice dropping low to try and calm her. He wasn't a quick learner, he had been reminded. What was was good at was becoming an island of calm in a storm. Several victories for the Alliance had revolved around him standing his ground when everything had been going wrong.

"I'm not going to take you anywhere I think there would be danger. I am...glad that you realise I'm not trying to turn you into something. Not doing the thing I warned you others would try to do."

He smiled faintly, taking a breath. If he let his own fears control him then he would start to walk to dark path. He had gone that way before, briefly. He never would again.

"Why don't you get some food with the others? If this storm hits we'll be here for a while anyway."