Seeing without Eyes

[Shuduc Macar]

"When one relies on sight to perceive the world, it is like trying to stare at the galaxy through a crack in the door."
―Kreia


As she stood abroad the station in one of the training area's Macar had taken to meditation, she was expecting a more senior member to join her wishing to learn the ability to view the force. While she was did this she'd been trying to think on how to teach somebody through practice what she knew by instinct. For this among her sisters she'd grace those who came with a rare thing her mask lay beside her the ever present blank slate would not hide her visage in this place today for people here might have to realize with stark reality that the force did not need eyes to see. So for now she waited and meditated her back to the door.

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

A trues Sith does not consider rank upon finding an ability they wish to learn. While Darth Ophidia was an expert in the art of remaining undetected, she would now be adopting the ability to detect others. A curious turn of events, but a useful one, and where better to assimilate the knowledge from than a species known to inhabit true Force Sight naturally? Certainly she knew this would be difficult for the acolyte to explain, but it would serve as a useful experience for the teacher as well as the student. It was never too early to learn to teach, and teaching is central in the philosophy of the Sith.

Darth Ophidia would glide through the halls, her presence in the Force shrunken to the size of a minuscule insect, hardly detectable even for one who could see it. Perhaps she would look like one very angry mosquito. It had become a habit for her to adopt such techniques of stealth in her every day life. She stopped in the door and gave a small bow while she allowed her presence to take its full form. It would blaze out like a sudden burst of fire.

"Shuduc Macar, I presume."

[member="Shuduc Macar"]

 

[Shuduc Macar]

As she heard the voice and steps before that she stood up slowly. "Yes, And were I not to miss my guess Darth Ophidia if your name. And your presence in the force is hard to see, you are but an outline.A shadow of a shadow. Seems I must be careful to watch for you." She turned to face her first "student" so to speak. She bowed in kind showing respect for the one before her. For she had already proven herself capable in her duties and was not here to prove her worth to others. her face unmasked was actually fairly pretty for one without eye sockets. The flesh had formed in ways that made it perhaps less marring of one's physical beauty depending on one's tastes. But it likely if she was not used to seeing one without their typical veils or blind folds seem strange perhaps more alien than most. "I hope my appearance is not too startling but I felt it better among my sisters especially when teaching this type of ability to not hide behind my customary mask. However if required I can put it back on." It was rare for her people and she herself even more to let others see her face in it's entirety, only Dark Venefica her mistress had seen it in recent times.

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"No, I prefer to see your face."

Granted, it was an odd sight. but Ophidia was less put-off and more morbidly curious. She had once ripped the eyes out of a fellow gladiator's head when she still lived on Rattatak, this Miraluka's face was far more pleasant than her old opponent turned out. Her hands -one pale grey, one black as ink- tipped the Rattataki's hood back. Allowing her full features to be seen. Her baldness did not take away much from her appearance, but she had a certain dominating quality to her, enhanced by the long, slender neck on which her head rested. She stepped properly into the room and intertwined her fingers over her midriff. Her eyes rested on the acolyte, seemingly without blinking.

"So, shall we begin?"

[member="Shuduc Macar"]

 

[Shuduc Macar]

She nodded. "Indeed let us." She took out a long piece of embroidered cloth. She'd worn it as a child however now she wore the mask. "First to see in a new way you must stop using the old. You are not seeing the force through eyes but shape it to form the images in your mind of what you seek to view." She offered the blindfold of sorts to the in her mind pretty Rattataki Letting her consider it perhaps. "I once used this for traditions and social reasons, now you will use it to deny yourself sight how you know it so you may learn sight in a new way." She then waited and once she was ready she'd have her begin. "Once ready try to focus on the room to see it by letting the force take shape. Like a bat uses how sound reverberates let the emotions and lack of such, the life and the unliving objects show as an echo of the force then let it become more solid. You should see objects but they will be as but translucent objects in a living universe. You should not see by your eyes or by just sensing the force. It is ...perhaps best to say you are seeing by seeing how the force sees things."

"Perception is the most important skill we both know in any situation. It separates victors from the defeated. But our people's perceptions can deceive them so we must not rely on any one sense. For me this is no issue but be weary, if you use this over your own eyes constantly we have medical evidence of ones eyes atrophying. Becoming weak from lack of use and becoming useless. Then you would become more like me than you know."

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Nodding, Ophidia took the blindfold and tied it tightly around her head, covering her eyes. She checked that she could not see under, over or on either side.

"Thank you."

She had no intention of wearing the blindfold constantly, while eyes could be deceived, they were inherently useful to see things that the Force could not reach, such as the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, it served a purpose at the moment. Ophidia relaxed into her state of blindness and reached out to sense her surroundings. She could feel the emotions, and feel the Force reverberating, but it was difficult to translate it into sight. She tried to step back from the concept of light, First, she could envision the room. perhaps it was from memory? She leaned more into the Force, stepping away from memory as well. Still the room took shape as it had been described. It was difficult, but she was getting somewhere. See how the Force sees things. Very interesting indeed.

[member="Shuduc Macar"]

 

[Shuduc Macar]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

As she waited she nodded to the thanks and for a moment let her just focus on what she said, it was not easy explaining what one saw normally to those without the ability but she'd tried her best. "It may not be perfectly clear at first, the focus required it seems is less easy for those used to normal sight." She noted based on her own research on the subject from those who did not learn this as a baby. Some masters noted how hard it was to focus ones sense of the force and condense it down into such a structured image.

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"With practice, I am sure I will be able to see perfectly."

The room had been very fuzzy, as though she had a sun in her face. It was still very confusing, and she had a hard time orienting herself. Yet, she saw something and that was a start, at least. What threw her off was the lack of a natural source of light, which played tricks on her perception of depth. It seemed to her as though everything cast off some degree of light, but Shuduc was something she had never quite observed before. It was the first time Ophidia actually saw a Force Aura, and it appeared far more alive than she had imagined. Ophidia was still not able to truly focus on this sight, but she was going somewhere with it.

"This all feels very strange."

[member="Shuduc Macar"]