Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Welcome, young acolyte. I'm Janick, and I have a special trip for you, all expenses paid, to the Kinetic Massacre on Chelloa. It is an horror-themed amusement park that occupies part of an actual cemetery; sure, it touts guaranteed thrills or money back, but I feel we will get our money back"

Would [member="Vilka Pharro"] prove different from past those ladies that showed some promise but ultimately were, at best, flashes in the pan, in that they only showed their true potential for a short period before returning to obscurity? Only time would tell. Chelloa being in former Alliance space, she would still be at least somewhat welcome, unlike in the mother of all horror-themed amusement parks, the Galactic Cemetery on Jiroch-Reslia. And the place was somewhat northeast of Dagobah; it wouldn't take that long from Utapau. From what she learned about the amusement park, it was built over the remnants of a town called Jenith so the park was, in fact, an actual ghost town. With a rather grim landscape much like Malastare's, building roller coasters in dank caves much like Dagobah's (even though she never actually went inside the caves) or other haunted houses, zombies or other implements of that nature, even dead Sithspawn bodies left behind when rogue elements among the Alliance attacked various locations in Alliance space. Just that, if she was to teach Memory Rub by infusing it, she will have to be mindful of her bandwidth vs. Vilka's total throughput.

"Before we arrive on Chelloa, the agenda will include two things: Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge. All other lessons will take place inside the Kinetic Massacre theme park" she told Vilka before boarding the yacht bound for Chelloa, chartered by a local band of thrill-seekers, on which Janick booked a two-seat cabin.

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Vilka hated this. She really hated this.

Though she might have claimed it was because the very foreign concept of a theme park was naught but a 'grotesque and foolish masquerade', a part of her wondered if the truth might have lain elsewhere. But for great power, sacrifices must and had to be made. Not everything was an illusion, or a mockery of reality- this was truly a place of darkness, and the weight of abandoned lives hung in its spirit. Vilka could feel it on the air, and no doubt the sorceress, Janick, had brought her here for a reason- even if she found plastic skeletons were slightly unnecessary.

The alchemist's promises were certainly great- to meddle with the mind of another was to interfere with their most intimate centre. All lies and truths might be laid bare; Vilka hoped not all, but that was another matter. Her intense aversion to pumpkin-centric paraphernalia had likely best lie hidden. It would not do to indignify oneself, as an acolyte of the Sith. Nonetheless, she could not deny she was excited by what Janick had promised.

"I must confess, these powers you speak of are alien to me- can they truly be learned so easily?" She grinned eagerly through black lips. Inarguably Vilka was, at least, dressed for the occasion; one of the few occasions where the dark robes of an acolyte might be understated, she supposed.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Ladies and gentlebeings, please fasten your seat belts and put your seats in an upright position, we are preparing for takeoff" the pilot of the yacht announced to its occupants.

Only once they broke atmosphere could they actually unlatch their safety belts. It was at that point that they could actually think of getting the first lesson done. The irony was that [member="Vilka Pharro"] would be learning Memory Rub by being subjected to Memory Rub, that is, Janick will infuse into her the very knowledge of Memory Rub as well as its caveats. By now I have this down cold, better memories will make infusion and draining easier but alterations harder. Meanwhile, accidental forgetting is a thing that is more likely to occur in people with worse memories when altering or draining, and the bandwidth consumed by accidental forgetting is also a factor to consider for pain purposes. Vilka's mind seems to be fast enough for me to infuse at speed, or for her to drain at speed, Janick thought, while realizing that Vilka's brain was knowing that often limiting the amount of pain is crucial, much more often than maximizing it. Then again, it's still a pretty large datapacket that she would be infusing onto Vilka, while, of course, still preparing to infuse what amounted to a summary.

"Before I proceed with the infusion, there are a few caveats. If you want to limit the amount of pain to a minimum, please be mindful of not infusing, altering or draining knowledge in a person faster than the target's total throughput. For this reason, appraising the target's mind is important to do beforehand, the quality of the memory and the total throughput"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Appraisal of the target's mind? Unease swept over Vilka; she glanced about the yacht with concerned eyes. This might be becoming more than she bargained for. It was one thing to control the mind of another, but if this Janick wanted to meddle in Vilka's own thoughts... she gritted her teeth at the prospect. All for the purpose of greater power. It had to be, at all costs. The witch evidently understood what she was doing- perhaps too well for Vilka's liking; surely an individual like Janick, in the trade of manipulating minds, had her own angle to play. Either way, it seemed almost unthinkably reckless to surrender her own mind to what was barely more than a stranger. A cunning stranger at that, it appeared. Could she fight back, within the confines of her own thoughts? Would such a thing even be necessary?

"I implore you to be careful in there." She said tersely, through gritted teeth. "Don't spend a second longer than you absolutely must." She bore Janick no particular ill will, but it always paid to be careful. Even Vilka recognized that there were more battlefields than the physical; deeper conflicts than those with blasters and starships, waged across the galaxy. "This is ...safe, I take it?"

There was always, she supposed, one definitive way to find out.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"All right. Typically appraising a person's mind the way I mean it takes only a few seconds at your mental speed. I promise you that I won't intrude in your mind any longer than I absolutely have to. That said, I typically use Memory Rub to teach new things by infusing knowledge, especially the stuff that is very dangerous to practice"

So her memory was, in fact, pretty average. There is, in fact, a risk, not guaranteed, that she could accidentally forget something, she thought, before proceeding to infuse the datapacket of Memory Rub in [member="Vilka Pharro"]'s brain. She kept a close watch on not infusing so fast that it would exceed the ability of Vilka's brain to process it, so while the infusion would still take a few minutes, by the end of it, Vilka would know how to infuse knowledge, that is, upload mental memory files to someone else's memory, and also how the method changed for altering a person's memory files, including but not limited to, editing or deleting a memory file. And also that a target having a better memory would make uploading or downloading memory files from someone easier, but make alterations difficult. With the final caveat, applicable to both Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge, that a worse memory can increase the chances of causing someone to accidentally forget something, and maybe even of causing pain, so that's why Janick kept some wiggle room. But now that the infusion is over, the mental datachannel was closed, too.

"The infusion is over"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Dangerous to practice? Now Janick was getting somewhere.

"'Memory rub'? Beauchamp, this is beginning to sound indecent-" Vilka slurred the rest, her tongue falling limp. What? Slack-jawed, she was a prisoner in her own body- her muscles had locked tight, her eyes frozen in place; only the unconscious rise and fall of her chest, and the myogenic beat of her heart, yet persisted. Her entire body felt heavy as a stone, dead weight frozen in space, as if no thought could pass from beyond the bounds of her mind. This was going to be sore. Then the convulsions began. Deprived of neural activity, Vilka's muscles began to twitch; she felt the chemical beginnings of rigor mortis as she crashed to the ground, limbs clattering against the yacht's durasteel decking. Her entire body was on fire, and she was nothing but its slave. Then, everything stopped. The last thing Vilka felt was like a great portal opening, and one by one, all of her thoughts slipped away, vanishing into the dark.

"The infusion is over."

When the world returned, whether an hour, a second, or a century had passed, she could not know. Her body ached, indeed, but her head- she felt like she'd been sat on by a Hutt; every sound was a new kick to the skull. Her mind swam with fog, every thought and memory unfamiliar- it was hard to separate the new from the old, her own from those Janick had added; together they formed a great, ever-changing nebula of ideas. But there was certainly something new within her, she felt it; power crawling at the edges of her mind. So it had worked- Beauchamp could do these things. Vilka picked herself up with a groan; she felt a hundred years older. She wiped the drool from her face- tongue must have been out. Shaking her hands clean, she spun to face Beauchamp with a snarl. "We will never speak of this. Memory rub that one out of yourself, if you must."

Or, if needs be, I'll do it for her - I'll need more than knowledge drain to forget that. "Where did you even learn such things?" She blinked for a moment. She could have sworn Janick had told her, and yet so many of her memories seemed distant; "What now?" She felt the shuttle begin to descend, furrowing her brows; by definition, it was impossible to estimate how many memories she had lost. "Wait- where are we?"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"What I mean when I said stuff that is too dangerous to practice, it's typically more about teaching stuff such as Memory Walk, Neural Storm, and other very dangerous knowledge to put in practice or demonstrate that I would typically learn via Drain Knowledge, or feel it's safer to teach by infusion than using conventional methods. As for where I learned Memory Rub, it was in a holocron that was on Yutan back then but I think the Sith stole that particular holocron when they attacked the place"

If she's asking where we are, it's probably because she may have accidentally forgotten where we were going. I kind of expected accidental forgetting from her part, but I never made the infusee catatonic before. Then again, I could have understood it if she was from another species I never performed knowledge infusions on, but she is a human, a species on which I made several infusions, Janick thought, while the grim realization came that [member="Vilka Pharro"] became catatonic while the infusion was underway. It was as if she was using Neural Storm in a more anaesthesic way, simultaneously with Memory Rub, for some reason, even though the other uses of Neural Storm she made in the past, while nonlethal, weren't anaesthetic at all. Looks like Vilka had a lot of questions and she also realized that there were things that were likely to be of interest. Of course, among the list Janick suspected Vilka wanted out of her memory were Force-fear, Art of Movement and also precognition and psychometry, with precognition being the one that didn't lend itself well to the more traditional teaching methods even though it wasn't dangerous for someone to use by any stretch.

"We're in Chelloa's orbit, and once we land on Chelloa, we go to the Kinetic Massacre, a horror-themed amusement park. As for Drain Knowledge, it's not about causing someone to forget something, but it's related to Memory Rub in that it's still about mental data transfer. This time around, it's about forcing copy-pasting of memories from someone else; in that sense it can be useful to learn something faster, but I don't think you should attempt a forced copy-paste from me just yet. I want you to recover enough to contemplate the drain"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

"Death by teaching, you say? I'm sure the Jedi would baulk at the thought. Perhaps the Sith took your holocron for the best." Vilka smiled, the effects of Janick's memory rub beginning to wear off; none too soon, at that. Perhaps the Sith really were better having that holocron- she'd be lying if she said part of her didn't now fear what Janick could do. Anything could have happened during the data transfer whilst she'd been... drooling. Once more, she swallowed her doubts and pressed on; now, the real prizes awaited, and perhaps fewer cases of total paralysis.

'Recover enough to contemplate the drain.' She could say that again. Either way, Chelloa loomed through the viewport, and they were drawing close at last. "I take it that the user of these powers is, themselves, safe in beginning the transfer? There's no risk of information flowing ...backwards?" Her head felt less secure by the second; in the presence of Beauchamp, thoughts seemed to become little more than credits, passed from hand to hand. "And I take it we're not heading to this so called 'Kinetic Massacre' for the rides." Vilka certainly hoped not; she could do without more queasiness. "If not, then what brings us there? No doubt we both sense the darkness on Chelloa- will this serve your coming teachings?"

If nothing else, it was an excuse to wear black.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"But don't worry about the holocron: they won't know about me having used that holocron in question until they use psychometry on it. Plus there aren't that many that would even think of using Memory Rub: most of the Sith favor what can be used in a physical confrontation: they won't even think of messing with someone else's mind"

Most historically significant Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge users are famous for something other than mental data transfers: my claims to fame are about alchemized electronics and advancing the scholarship of mental data transfers. Surely Vilka has started to realize that her mind is perhaps her most important Force-instrument. Typically one has to try very hard defending from a knowledge drain for the original user of Drain Knowledge to leak knowledge into the target, Janick thought, while thinking of an answer to [member="Vilka Pharro"]'s questions. Plus queasiness is nothing new to Janick: she feels exposing acolytes to it at some point in their pilot training is a must for Sith that intend to pilot. She often feels that Sith training can be brutal but it tends to focus on certain varieties of brutality while other varieties of brutality are overlooked, such as the sort of queasiness that result from high-G maneuvering. Once the yacht landed on Chelloa, she had a few instructions to make before they board a shuttle bound for the Kinetic Massacre, along with the other occupants of the yacht: hopefully Vilka will have made the copy-paste by the time they get into the line for the Kinetic Massacre's ticket booth.

"I believe not, unless one tries hard defending against the forced copy-paste. As for why I brought you here, yes, we are, in fact, going to ride a ride or two: no trip to a horror-themed amusement park would be complete without those. But you're right in that we won't be there just for the rides. I want you to learn mental data transfer in both directions and thus far, we only covered one direction. If there is one power I want you to learn today that I'd rather want you to attempt copy-pasting it from me into your memory, it's precognition: it's about seeing into the future and it's very difficult to teach by conventional methods"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Unfortunately, Janick was all too right; subtlety and guile evaded the Sith more often than Vilka cared to admit. Passion and fury could mean more than large shoulder-pads and impractical spikes- but that was a different matter, for a different place. The alchemist represented a wealth of subconscious trickery that was somewhat alien even to Vilka, and it began to dawn upon her that perhaps it was better, for her sake, if others kept their focus on physical violence. A world of Sith, armed to the teeth with psychic weaponry, hurt a little to even think about.

As they moved from the yacht to the shuttle, she felt her head shudder once more- like grains of sand, falling between the chambers of an hourglass, once more her thoughts became liquid as the transfer neared completion. Old and new ideas had finally come to reach a kind of psychodynamic equilibrium; the Hutt seemed to have slithered off her head, so to speak. Vilka feared she might see him again, depending on how the coming infusions proceeded. Perhaps her mind would more readily come to accept the transfers with time, some form of neuroplasticity. She wondered if a little piece of Janick hadn't rubbed off onto her after all.

"If you insist." Vilka groaned through gritted teeth at Janick's promise of rides. Perhaps they did not share so much after all. Nonetheless on the whole prospects were still looking up- the mention of precognition. When Vilka had first found the force, a slave then, what had most affected her most had not been its scale, but its sheer magnitude- precognition, as she understood it, was but the art of gazing into the force's multitudes and understanding where its vast tides would sway next; the art therein, she supposed, must be what she had to learn from Janick.

"I feel myself recovering from the first transfer," Vilka glanced with one eye to the stain on her robes. "For the second, that upon yourself, I trust my newfound knowledge of memory rub will be sufficient?"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I trust you will be able to download the knowledge of precognition from me with your newfound knowledge. In the long run, your memory will become better the more information you get infused into you, or the more you download information from other people, as your brain gets more used to processing large datapackets. Which also means you could become smarter in time, too, since your brain works hard to process the knowledge when you get knowledge infused or downloaded from someone else, so these are interesting consequences of neuroplasticity. And you probably understand just how important your mind is as a Force-instrument"

If there was that sort of neuroplasticity that made anybody, like [member="Vilka Pharro"], get more used to Force-powered mental data transfers, it would likely make her mind use a greater portion of its processing power when in use. Or make her memory better. It also made it so that Janick could have people download any amount of data from her brain using Drain Knowledge without any risks of people accidentally forgetting anything. Then again Vilka is clearly smarter than one's average dark-sider; however, I know dark-siders come in a wide variety of intellectual compositions, so if she did drain knowledge regularly, she could then become a very smart girl, a genius even, she thought, while her mind was ready for the acolyte to attempt downloading the knowledge of precognition. Janick must know the whole who's who in the world of mental data transfer by now... and she could feel Vilka's brain pulsating in the Force because it is very active. Then again, Vilka could likely feel the same in reverse, probably because an active mind would pulsate more intensively the Force.

"Now, try to download the knowledge of precognition from me as fast as you can"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

In part, Vilka agreed with Janick's words; a sharp and wilful mind was no doubt a catalyst for the force, one the witch evidently possessed. But the Force was more than thoughts and words, at least to Vilka's eyes- though Beauchamp was clearly no stranger to passions, in her hunger for knowledge, Vilka wondered perhaps, if in her pursuit for great knowledge Janick had forsaken the innate drives of a true Sith, the dark hatred and fury that had spurred them on through millennia of conquests. It was just as likely however, she supposed, that the witch was simply powerful enough to mask them, to channel them into another, more elevated means. If there was ever a time to find out, it was now. Vilka would go straight to the source.

"I trust this will not hurt you," She outstretched a pale, bony hand with a narrow smile. "But if not- call it a necessary evil." Narrow strands of purple energy arced from her fingers, dancing across Janick's mind; Vilka let out a quick gasp, and her whole world faded away, to a single white dot. Here, the force resonated from all directions, shimmering like ripples through water; and in the far distance, something stirred, something both alien and familiar, encroaching with the sound of waves. Her fingers twitched again, her energy intensifying- the crash of waves became thunder, and at last Janick's mind was opened to her.

"I.. I feel it. So many things..." For the moment she was blind, and yet she could see so many things; the tempest of thoughts was almost too much to bear, but she had to wade on, on through the darkness, following the ethereal motions of the force, until, with great effort, she at last broached the knowledge she sought. Precognition, a swirling web of futures; she closed her fist to draw the power back to her own mind, watching it divide like ghostly cells so that each party would retain the same knowledge- with a flash, the world returned, and her hand fell away.

"It worked, it truly worked-" She grinned with pointed teeth. "Your thoughts... for a moment, but a mere glimmer in time... they were mine."

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

So it was that Janick was subjected to forced downloading of knowledge so many times that her own brain was accustomed to it, and in fact, she felt no pain whatsoever, even at the speed at which [member="Vilka Pharro"] downloaded the mental datapacket associated with precognition. But she could feel Vilka had a few questions about her: exactly how she could keep her impulses and more primal emotions under control. It just couldn't be intellect alone: mad geniuses existed throughout history. But in the time it took Vilka to download the data packet, the line advanced far enough that it was their turn to purchase the tickets to the Kinetic Massacre, with the roller coasters, such as the Daimanite Cavern, and other horror-themed rides, such as the Kinetic Corruptor, built inside the remains of an actual kinetic corruptor, profiling in the horizon. And also unidentified skeletons of dead Jenith residents or Daimanite troopers adorning the entrance gate and ticket booths. But the first thing Janick intends to do with Vilka before riding anything is, of course, eating, provided the food is not as horror-inducing as the rides: she could feel that the acolyte's Force-energy reserves were perhaps a little low.

"Welcome to the Kinetic Massacre. May I take your order?" the cashier told Janick.

"Two tickets please"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Curious. Beauchamp hadn't even flinched at the transfer, when Vilka herself had gone out like a light- experience was, it seemed, a factor. The mysteries accumulated by the minute- learning memory rub had only taken her an instant, and yet performing it herself had taken long enough for them to get through an entire queue. Practice, Vilka realised, would certainly take time. Luckily, she was nothing but eager to get some. But apparently all good things had to come swiftly to an end. Rides. As far as she'd gathered, here on Chelloa they truly were little more than deathtraps, repurposed industrial systems lined with real corpses. The more she thought about that, the more it appealed, but the idea of doing anything quickly at this moment made her feel queasy already.

"Two tickets please." Vilka raised a hand to stop the cashier.

"You wouldn't happen to ...have a paper bag, would you?" The shame nearly killed her, but better that than the ride, if they were eating first- she turned to Janick with an indignant expression. "I'm a Sith acolyte! I don't ride rollercoasters, and I certainly don't order food." Her tone faltered, coming to the realization that she really wasn't getting out of this. "Just ...get me whatever you're having." She muttered.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Keep any paper bag close to you: you're going to need it" the cashier told the both of them.

"You're lucky that I will allow you to carry a paper bag in rides, but there could be some actual Sith lords that won't. Then again they typically use different methods, like making acolytes sleep on beds covered with nails"

To be fair, there was no need whatsoever for IDs or anything, there were no season passes, just one flat fee per ticket. That certainly made the queue servicing much faster, but [member="Vilka Pharro"] saying that she was not ordering food ran counter from what Janick heard about Sith training. A different variety of humiliating, where acolytes were instead made to cater to their masters' whims, such as ordering food for them. In fact, many Sith sought reformation, redemption because they could no longer stand what Sith-hood stood for while still acolytes, or were otherwise mistreated badly enough that they were written off. And yet, riding rollercoasters, such as the Daimanite Cavern, and the Odionate Valley, were small fry compared to what other Sith lords subject their acolytes. She had every intention to make her ride both, and also ride the Kinetic Corruptor. But before they could ride the Daimanite Cavern, they stopped by a concession outlet that sold ants climbing a tree, even though there weren't any actual ants in this spicy, Atrisian meal. In fact, it was the only main course on the menu. She ordered two servings of it, with the smaller one being for Vilka because of her smaller body frame.

"One large and one medium serving of ants climbing a tree please, with soybean milk, and also a paper bag"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Vilka turned to Janick with a dour expression.

"Then in that case, I'm certainly appreciative of your benevolence." She hissed through gritted teeth. The bed of nails almost seemed preferable- at least she'd be laying down. There was, nonetheless, a lesson here in tolerating discomfort. So far today there'd certainly been no shortage. Vilka suspected this was unlikely to change, but it at the very least did appear superior to indentured slavery at the hands of a Sith lord. All things given, this was a relatively gentle time, though with the Kinetic Corruptor looming, she wouldn't count on it.

At last there was food. Vilka made a half-hearted attempt to look disinterested before wolfing down her share. It felt like she hadn't eaten for a thousand years. Clearly the transfers had been draining. It was, she understood, the position of some schools of thought that a Sith ought to be able to sustain themselves purely upon rage and passions alone- on this occassion, she had to disagree. What could she say- the Atrisians knew how to cook a good meal.

"So- onwards. What's first?" No doubt Janick would sense the less-than-slight hint of dread in her voice.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"You're right that I'm much more benevolent than your run-of-the-mill Sith lord. Or at least on the surface. And there is just no way to sustain oneself upon negative emotions, including but not limited to, rage, nor passions: not even the dark side would negate organics' need to eat"

After digging into the ants climbing a tree, and eating she handed the paper bag to [member="Vilka Pharro"]. Sure, she could feel that the acolyte was somehow dreading the Kinetic Corruptor, but the Kinetic Corruptor is kept for last for this reason. Because it was the Corruptor that gave the most dread of the three rides she intended to ride before the trip was over. And she intends to teach her the remaining three powers before Vilka could go on any rides on her own. Or leave the amusement park altogether. She can reasonably teach the first two items left on the agenda before riding the Damanite Cavern. Also she prepared to dash to the waiting line of the Daimanite Cavern, intending to give a head start to Vilka because Vilka just wouldn't be as skilled in using Art of Movement as Janick is. Very similar to the holo she watched called Jiroch-Reslia Ren Prep, that a pilot that fought on Lothal showed her, where teen-aged Force-users were trained in the dark side in part in the Galactic Cemetery and in part in the eponymous school. So, before they could actually ride the Daimanite Cavern...

"Now, if you're familiar with metabolism, Art of Movement amounts to using your rage, passions and whatnot to accelerate your metabolism and improve your agility; then you will feel able to run faster, jump higher or longer or turn tighter as your body will allow it. Try to run up to the waiting line for the Daimanite Cavern, while your metabolism is accelerated with the Force"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

"Not to sustain biologically, no- but nothing sustains one's will more powerfully than hate." Vilka grinned. "Surely you should know best that an unbent will, an indomitable psyche- these are some of the greatest allies of the Sith. The drive to do what is necessary, where others would shy away in cowardice." Some decried such pragmatism: the Jedi, their allies, and all those who would walk between dark and light; all too afraid to commit.Alas, now fed and rested, Vilka knew it was time to learn something new. The power of metabolism.

"What differentiates Metabolism from Force speed?" She raised an eyebrow in Janick's direction. Nonetheless, this power seemed a simpler feat than delving back and forth between minds- the physical body was little more than a biological machine; it could be understood, and it could be controlled, if one took time to study it. Some mysteries of the Force could elude even a master, but this mass of muscle, and connective tissue- this hid no secrets to one who knew how to manipulate it.

Closing her eyes, Vilka felt a rush of blood, the twitch of muscles, cortisol rushing from her glands; it was as if the world around her had been compressed by a tenth, each physical obstacle shrinking away as she bolted forth. Her body was by no means athletic, gaunt and lanky, but through the Force, she felt herself transformed, and the Daimanite Cavern nearing fast.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"The one main difference between Metabolism and Art of Movement, which includes Force-speed, is that you can use it to keep yourself warm in cold areas. But be careful: your body gets tired more easily after a while" she answered before the acolyte sped off.

With that said, after [member="Vilka Pharro"] made a dash towards the line of the Daimanite Cavern, Janick made hers, too, feeling her world shrink, dashing towards her acolyte, while at the same time, feeling the flow of anger hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, in her bloodstream. Not only that, but her heartbeat was getting louder and louder the faster she ran, and with it, the bloodstream got faster. It's nothing new but I know it can be used for losing weight, she thought, while at the end of the dash, she was a little winded physically. So she took the time to catch her breath, while also leaving Vilka the time to do the same, and the queue was advancing by chunks in the meantime. She could hear the screams of the people riding it, and also the screams of people riding the Odionate Valley, as well as other rides. The waiting line had not only pumpkins, but also, in the case of the Daimanite Cavern, millenia-old skeletons of Daimanite troopers. And a Mirialan entertainer in a zombie costume was, in fact, slowly crawling the waiting line in an attempt to simulate the process through which the Mirialan zombies are attempting to eat brains of unsuspecting sentients.

"You can even attempt to project emotions onto someone else, such as fear. It's similar in some respects to infusing knowledge, but emotions typically are temporary so people are less tempted to resist it since the effects of Force-fear don't last that long. Now you can attempt projecting fear on the person in front of you in the queue, if you have fears to project, that is"

 

[Vilka Pharro]

It couldn't just be easy. Vilka heaved as her body gasped for sufficient air to fulfill the extreme demands Art of Movement had placed upon it. This'll be sore tomorrow. Catching her breath, she glanced about in no small amount of disbelief at the bizarre, macabre display that surrounded her. With a grimace she noted the pumpkins. The real skeletons were a nice touch, nonetheless; she felt a hollow shadow of the Force surround them, a distant echo of lives over a thousand years-past. Each with a life, and a story, now reduced to... this. Decorations. Vilka couldn't help but smile at the idea of such an utterly pitiful end. There was something darkly humorous in the thought.

"So to project fears, you use your own? Ironic, in its way." She closed her eyes, closing and opening her palm as she searched within herself. All things given, for a Sith, this was no hard task- by feeding upon their own anxieties, their own burdens, by nature such emotions could only grow with time, nurtured through insecurity, until in its way, their fears would rule them. Vilka simply thought once more of the Daimanite troopers, their millenia of indignity, their total insignificance. She allowed herself to be overcome by the notion of such an awful fate, until her pride ached, and her stomach seized, and when at last she could bear it no more, she forced all of these awful emotions outward, the force becoming a conduit for her emotions, and projecting them onto the woeful soul ahead.

For a moment, with their minds fused, she felt his mind screaming too; and then, just as soon, they became seperate once more.

She couldn't help but give him a look of pity.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]