Private Light Fingers

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Now I was worried about you being found by those people. I'm was not, however, worried about them finding me. On the other hand we shouldn't get spotted by people and worry them so...you try and float that whilst I look around."

Jacen was glad that the atmosphere had changed a little. Her suspicion had been entirely warranted. He could not fault her for that. It made the learning far easier when she was actively excited about what she could achieve.

Jacen just hadn't seen the danger yet.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya murmured a word of acknowledgement, content to be left to her own devices with the rock and space magic as he was left to make sure they were in fact unobserved.
It became an easier task the more she tried, her own limitations being fussed out as she began to learn the feel of overcommitting and under.

Odd enough, it was all about intention. ... which gave her a faint insight to why he was so stressed about her doing this one emotional.

Not that she understood it much beyond that. It was after a bit of exploration that she could be spotted hovering the rock. Then another. Then a few more. She picked up the task quickly, her own limits found on her ability to apply what limited understanding she had.

He had made a smilie face. She tried to juggle them. They display lasted for only a few moments before her feeble attention shattered and sent the rocks raining back down on her.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

She had more potential that he had hoped for. Perhaps that should have been more potential than he could have feared. He knew that family line well enough, knew how effortlessly they could use the Force. Trextan was like that. It came so easily that it just frustrated Jacen to try and get him to listen.

He couldn't be frustrated here. He had already snapped once and assumed there was a good chance she would just run away if he was too harsh.

"Most students take...about a week just to lift a stone," he said.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya rubbed at a forming welp on her temple, her wince of frustration catching at his words. "...Really?" She asked, stalling. He was joshing her. Her disbelieving look told him she thought so. "Don't they like join as babies or something though?" she grumbled, collecting the rocks back into her lap and starting again.

The first rock hovered up before her, nearly steady as it hit eye level. She glanced right, another rising to join it's peer. Left, a third, then forth, a slight wobble hitting them as she struggled to keep her attention on them all. Her brows furrowed, her attention finally falling to the heavier brick. As it started to rise, the one to the far left fell of her thoughts and tumbled back down.

She made a noise of frustration, the whole mess falling back down again.

"How many can you lift?" She challenged, the compliment not enough. He had made a smilie face.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Probably not as many as I used to," he said. He held his right hand up in front of his chest, closed into a fist.

"We had a test once. Seven stones. I know it doesn't sound like much. The first weighed as much as a child, the last a land speeder. You had to lift each in turn, holding each until you had all seven."

Jacen smiled, he looked back fondly. For a while he had been respected by large number of people. He had made a difference, been there when they liberated Coruscant. He could bemoan the downfall, but there were moments he was glad to have experienced.

"I only ever made six."

He opened his hand.

All but the brick shattered into pieces. Each little piece stayed suspended in the air.

 

[Serya Talith]

Her brick!

Her eyes widened, nostrils flaring in shock as it remained suspended in dust. Just 24 hours ago, none of this seemed real. The stories were fairy tales and her abilities... explainable accidents. Normal. Nothing to consider.

But now the brick floated shattered before her face, undeniable and real. She stared at the swirling dustmotes, thoughts slowing to a trickle. Her eyes swam, black tendrils twisting across her vision for a spare moment. Her heart ponded in her ears, a sense of light-heatedness erasing the enviroment from her. She crumbled to the side in a sudden faint, unconscious for a pulse before coming back with a slight groan. "Wha-" She complained, getting a mouthful of grass.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The pieces of rock slowly fell back to the ground. Jacen took a breath.

"Oops."

He hadn't sensed her exhaustion. Probably too caught up in her finding success to realise she was draining herself fast. He knew he was a determined man and he also knew that he could narrow his focus sometimes..

"Just stay on your side," he told her. "Wait until everything comes back."

Jacen placed a hand on her shoulder. It was supposed to be reassuring, but also to stop her sitting up too quickly.

"Feel dizzy?"

 

[Serya Talith]

HERPA DERP FIGURED OUT HER SITH MAGIC hand waves all previous inconsistencies

She breathed heavily, the presence of heart slowly leaving her ear drums. "I- uh... yeah... She blinked, rubbing feeling back into her face. "What happened?" she breathed. Was it another rock to her head? It had taken her as suddenly as it had surprised him. She tried to push off the ground, her face pale against the afternoon sun warming her.

She shivered.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"You'll be fine. Used your new ability too much, too quickly is all. Just sit for a few minutes and we'll get you a sugary drink. Your blood pressure has probably tanked."

Jacen didn't sound entirely convinced by his own explanation.

"I should have made you take things slower. Got a bit caught up in watching you race on ahead. My fault."

 

[Serya Talith]

"Wh-what?" She echoed, slowly finding her way to sitting back up. The weak spell clung to her limbs, the tingle creeping through her as she slowly got her bearings.

"There's a limit to it?" How inconvenient. Her disappointment crept into her tone, her hands rubbing pointlessly at her face as the weakness lingered.

"How can I get anything done if I can only lift a few rocks? I thought you said people get work with it."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"There is not a limit to the Force, but there is to you. Think how you went from barely feeling the stones to almost sending one through the clouds?" he said.

His thoughts were not quite as calm as his tone suggested. As he thought about it, she did seem to have turned very suddenly. He was going to have to make her take things slowly and watch her very carefully.

" Starting to feel any better?"

 

[Serya Talith]

Too fast? Too fast.

She rubbed her face, strands of grass catching in her hair as she tried to will it all away. "Fine," she lied. She wanted to do it again. She looked up and around, the wheels already turning.

"How are you not down?" Came the question, a determined twinge to the tone.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The urge to pluck those blades of grass away was tempting. Jacen had to resist it.

In truth he was slightly taken aback by her sudden collapse. Right now, Jacen decided it was best not to show that he thought it a little out of the ordinary.

"I have been practising for too many years. I'm afraid it is like all things and requires some patience and dedication. Probably not something you want to hear," he said.

 

[Serya Talith]

Her expression darkened, confirming what he suspected. No, she did not want to hear that. "I only have 6 months." Or rather, that's what he told her it would take to prepare her with the basics before she could be left on her own devices again. He meant it as a helpful guideline for her own concern about time, she took it as a hardline time limit she had to learn from him before she was solo.

There was no time to stop then, not when practice was everything and a few rocks had downed her.

Her attention turned to him, brows furrowed in an almost mischievous twist as one of his words came to mind.

Some rocks were the size of full grown men.

She reached her hand out, the force wrapping around him in an attempt to lift him like a rock.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"No..." he warned. He gave a wave of his hand and broke the telekentic lock she had around him. His clothing fluttered as he felt the pull of gravity again.

She was strong. He had a thousand battles of experience trying to outmatch sith, and yet it was not without a serious exertion to hold her at bay.

"One: I said take it easy for a bit and two: that's just plain rude, to try and work out how much I weigh," he laughed. He would have been sterner, had he not already snapped at her during the lesson.

"Does six months not seem a long time to you?" he asked.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya was left doubling over as her effort crashed, spots appearing in her vision as the display of power visibly left her drained. Perhaps it really was just a matter of acquainting herself and building up her endurance, no new padawan found themselves the conduit of this much power. It was hard to say what that experience might be like.

She knew none of this. She had no context for her experience besides what he told her. She made a noise of frustration, finding herself right side up as she faced him again.

She swallowed hard, visibly without a response. "I just want to be prepared," came the clipped, cryptic response.

"Know any human-sized bolders?"

SINCE HE WASN'T VOLUNTEERING.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Right let's...take a moment and breathe..." he said.

Jacen took a few moments to think about how he was going to keep her from doing something dangerous to herself or others. After all, that was the point of this. He was supposed to be mitigating that risk and not making it worse.

" I will find something like...a bowling ball in weight. For later. Remember how you threw one rock skyward? Imaging throwing something human sized around without control."

Jacen swung out an arm to indicate the park with very real people walking around.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya paused, his words striking a reasonable tone inside of her. She sat back on her heels, her throat bobbing as she looked around them.

“There’s nothing normal about all this, is there?” She finally asked, her expression withdrawn.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"No, welcome to the...I don't even know what to say. Club? Mad house? You get used to it. Most of the time you just listen to the Force."

"Trust me enough to go a little further away from people and we can try with a bigger rock? This afternoon though. You need some time."

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya's shoulders dropped, a heavy sigh of acceptance falling from her lips. Perhaps this was too much too fast. She was just all in or all out with her focus, she couldn't help it. She was intense. She had to be. There was no flexibility to relax and take things easy out on the streets. There was do or die and no in between. Use or be used.

Maybe that wasn't the way to go about learning this new ...skill set. Hell if she knew. She nodded at his request, the heaviness of her eyelids driving home a point he didn't have to make.

"Was that really a lot for the first time?" She asked, huffing as she lifted her body up. Alright, she was ready for that coffee now.