Private Sparks

[Kyra Perl]

Tapas were incredibly frustrating.

Weeks had passed since their trip to Klatooine, and still Kyra had made no progress with the skill. None. Nada. Zip. She did, however, discover that she could influence fire. ...Not the best thing for a spitefire like her to discover, especially when something so exceedingly frustrating as tapas first started with a candle, but! Working outside mitigated the worse of the risks. The green grassy gardens of Silver Rest contained far too much moisture to ignite quickly. Thankfully she had made it through the self-imposed session so far with only two burns.

She was gonna get this down pat if it was the last thing she did. See if that pig-faced paddie with perfect hair could say something about it again!

The girl sat cross-legged in the grass. The night was cool, the spring chill bringing about an urgency for heat that she hoped would motivate her. Kyra was shite under pressure. A shiver racked her body. For the umpteenth time, the girl yanked her eyes open and let out a curse. Where was the heat?!

Sparks jumped off the small candle flame she sought to steal heat from from. They exploded like miniture fireworks. One hit her pants. She wacked at herself, movements frantic.

The was not the kinda warm up she was looking for!

"Son of a ----" Exclaimed the padawan. What. It was a release. Emotions were her enemy here.

Josh Dragovalor

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"If you you're looking to siphon heat, you're too tense. Lower your shoulders, take a deep breath. Look at it like borrowing heat, instead of siphoning. Like you're borrowing a book from a friend."

At some point, the Jedi Master had stopped to watch this display, monitoring carefully the Padawan's attempts to siphon heat and use it to conjure fire. The explosions, the flames on the clothes, the works. Experienced in the art of pyrokinesis, and using it as one of his signatures, it was easy for him to tell where things were going wrong. He had found himself leaning against the wall watching the whole thing, until her cursing prompted him to speak up.

"You also don't need to siphon unless you're looking to strengthen the fires, or if you're low on reserves. You can conjure it naturally by focusing on heat while channeling your signature, similarly to what you do with most Force abilities. But there's no point in trying to siphon if you don't know basic control first" Josh advised calmly once he had seen enough. "Why don't you start by using your energy reserves to conjure heat, first? Use the same advice I gave you for siphoning, and go from there. Once you're more comfortable with control, then we'll take it from the top for siphoning."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra blinked, abashed heat hitting her cheeks as she looked up to find someone had seen her do that. She gave him a small look of guilt, the cursing cut right back out of her vocabulary. Whoops.

"I-um," she rattled, taking about by the string of suggestions from the man. He clearly knew a lot about what she was trying to do. Not for the first time, she wished she had paid more attention in that class. Maybe then what he was saying would make more sense! She flustered, pushing the candle further away before she accidentally made the flame jump again.

"I dunno, this is what Master Kei told me to do. Everyone else did it- but I-..." She was struggling to connect herself to the heat from the candle, her thoughts too scattered and uncontrolled.

She blushed deeper, knocking over the candle to snuff out the flame. "I'm done for the night," she mumbled, embarrassed. "It's fine." Like always, Kyra stood up to leave when the going got rough. She wasn't very good at seeing hard tasks through. She didn't have the patience to be bad before she got good.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Are you sure? It seemed like you were just getting started."

Practice makes perfect. While he wouldn't completely stop her if she wanted to leave, he didn't want her to do so only because she had gotten discouraged from a failure to make it work the first time. Holding out a hand, he would quickly conjure a tiny candle's worth of flame from his finger. He would then lay down his fingers as the flames would form into a fireball. Holding out his other hand, he would drain heat from the source she had been trying to use earlier, the fireball growing rapidly in his hand. Taking a deep breath, he would then hold his palm out as it launched the fireball.

It would whiz just a little ways from the side of her head, and the Master would make sure she saw it before he would snap his fingers and the fireball dissipated instantly.

"Takes practice. Don't be afraid to fail the first time, the second, the third... And so on and so forth. Get lots of it, and you'll get it eventually" He encouraged with a gentle smile.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's eyes went wide, a sense of curiosity sparking at the ball of fire he controlled. It whizzed past her head, garnering her undivided attention as her chin whipped to follow it.

"Whoa," she murmured, hearing nothing of the lesson but loving the show. She turned back to him, her gained interest evident by the life reentering her features. Where she was defeated before, she was now intrigued-- her posture pulling straighter, a grin forming.

"Are you a sith?" She chirped, the question blunt and unapologetic as it exploded into the air. She didn't appear to be afraid of him, perhaps this was just bias over what he had done. Fire balls-- very evil in movies. She looked eagerly on, adoring him regardless.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Her interest and imagination sprang to life in an instant, and just like that, his mission was complete. Her posture straightened, color returned to her face. A previously rejected complexion had regained its fire. She had her spark back, so to speak. Exactly as he had planned.

He laughed a bit at her question. "I sure hope not. That would be awkward" He responded back, at the least amused by the question. "If I was to guess, I was around your age when I first learned how to do this. It took me a long time, but I'm pretty confident in my ability to do this now after a fair bit of practice. I even teach it to my class when they're toward the end of their training. Bit of an incentive to keep working hard."

He held out a hand to shake. "Josh Dragonsflame, at your service. No, the hand isn't on fire, it won't burn you."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gave him an invigorating 'shake shake'. "Kyra!" She chirped. "Kyra Perl. I'm glad you're not a sith, but you know you wouldn't be the first I found on Silver Rest. Bryn Celli Ddu , she sucker punched me in the face." She pointed to her eye socket, where no mark remained.

"It's okay though. I brought her to the light." The statement was dropped nonchalantly, a simple shrug being given before the girl passed onto her next, rapid thought. She spoke quickly, not even a breath sparred as her words poured from her like a babbling brook.

"You gonna teach me it then? You should. I've been here for like, a year now. Which is practically the end. I'm ready for it-- all the others say so. I fought in Kintan! Were you there?"

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He blinked a few times when she brought up a Sith that was brought here and sucker punched her. He thought he might ask about it, but didn't know how at present. Not that he had time to ask, as the "babbling brook" kept on in a hurry.

"Time does not decide readiness. Readiness decides readiness" He advised calmly with a small smile when she brought up that she was "practically at the end". "Nor does war decide readiness, as much as some might tell you. Don't dismiss your Padawan days as simply something to move on from. Enjoy it. Take it in. Learn everything you can while you're in this stage, for the Padawan stage is the most important. A rushed Padawan stage can set you back years as a Knight, and as a Master."

Didn't he know it? It took him years as a Master to actually feel like a Master instead of a Knight with a fancy title. War had given him quick promotions... But the costs didn't stop accumulating when the body count stopped rising.

"Yes, I'll teach you. Do you remember what I mentioned about how to conjure a flame on your own? Can you try to do that?" He inquired, referring to using her own energy as the draw. Learning to walk before learning to run, so to speak.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, nope." She popped the p, giving an unhelpful shake of her head. He'd quickly realize her attention span was as short as she was. And she had selective hearing to boot.

"But you can show me again." She scooooooted backward, hurriedly clearing him a spot on the grass as she pushed her back against the tree. The sun was beginning to dip below the mountain line, but the time seemed of no consequence to the padawan. She brushed burnt matches and snapped candlesticks to the side, giving him place to settle before him as she pulled out a fresh candle.

She herself made a show of readjusting on the grass, her posture straight and alert as she folded her hands on her knees. She was listening!

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

She stated that she didn't remember a thing, and he let out a small sigh in exasperation. This was going to be harder than he thought. And for someone that wasn't even his own Padawan, at that. But teaching was his job, so he supposed he could deal with her being a bit of a hardcase. Oh well. Had to earn his paycheque somehow.

He took a breath, though when she would ask to be shown again. He didn't know if she was asking with intentions to learn or if she just wanted another light show. But he supposed he would oblige her either way and hope for the best. The Jedi would hold out a hand. "You've used the Force plenty before, which draws on your reserves. So try that, focus... Imagine heat. Channel heat" he instructed as a candle flame would burst from the finger tip on his pointer finger. "Then focus, and shape" the Jedi added as the flames would begin to grow and be shaped into a ball.

"And once you have it, there's plenty you can do with practice" he instructed as he willed the flames to move forward, similarly as to if he were controlling them with telekinesis. The flames engulfed the candle for a moment before he would withdraw them, lighting the candle in turn.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's expression slowly crunched, his exasperation tangible. What the Master did not know was that he sat before a very sensitive empath. His frustration, was understandable, rang through her core with clarity that stung. Kyra had not yet mastered the art of minding her own business and blocking out her mind. The further decision to entertain her while rather being else where drove a sudden wash of moisture to her eyes. Kyra did not like being viewed as a problem. It was a facet of her Caedyn Arenais knew only too well.

The excitement snuffed out of her. Her voice growing tight.

"Oh. Ok. Thanks." And without looking at him, she began to pack back up. It would make no sense to him, but to those close to her... they would have seen this coming. She stood up, clutching the haphazard bundle to her chest, looking strangely upset.

"Okbyethen."

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Misread these feelings, the Padawan had. Was he minorly exasperated at the fact she seemed to have listened to little that he had said? Certainly. But it was nothing he didn’t deal with on a regular basis with his own students. And Josh enjoyed teaching. Why else would he take several Padawans at a time and teach in bulk? And he genuinely did want to help Kyra learn. It was something he wanted to do, not something he felt obligated to do. Setbacks were exhausting but they were par for the course. He wouldn’t have remained as calm as he had through this if he couldn’t handle them.

He frowned when she suddenly tried to pack up and go. Her expression had changed all of a sudden when he was just trying to show her and instruct her. He thought back for a moment on what could have happened to solicit this reaction. He’d let out that sigh, hadn’t he? Had he put her off by doing so, maybe given her the wrong idea by showing that too strongly? Not knowing she was an empath, he had to question whether he showed that minor exasperation too strongly, and made it too visible. He didn’t think he had, it was only minor after all, but…

Either way, he didn’t feel right just leaving it like that. And she wouldn’t learn if he just left her to that. His guess was she was concerned that she was an inconvenience and he wasn’t too sure how to show otherwise without her saying it. The gesture of trying to get out of his hair was touching but unnecessary.

“If you can conjure a fireball, I’ll get out of your hair” he spoke lightly. If she turned, she would see a smile had crossed his face. “Don’t fret about taking your time. I don’t mind” he promised as he would conjure flame in the shape of a fireball. “Come on, want to at least see you try. I’m not so old and boring that you’d leave me hanging, am I?”

That was a joke, he swore. He wasn’t that old.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gripped her supplies tightly to her chest, everything from her posture to her intense need to stare at the ground suggesting a sense of smallness that she did not express.

"...It doesn't work like that," she finally told him, her voice tight. She didn't look up at him, a bit a shame that wouldn't make sense to him hitting her cheeks. He couldn't know how hard she had struggled recently. He couldn't know how behind she was. A simple fireball felt immeasurably large to her-- and it was the fear that clamped down on her progress.

It always did.

It wasn't that she was incapable. She was just so often afraid of failing that she threw in the hat the moment the going got rough. No wonder she was falling behind.

He assumed this could be something she got with a little elbow grease and his time. She assumed it'd take all night. And then some. This wasn't her first attempt at this skill. "Another time," was her excuse, too abashed to subject the stranger to that.

Kyra didn't like being vulnerable. It was another reason she wasn't progressing. You had to try to fail. She hated failing.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh was no empath, but he had taught hundreds of Padawans in his time as a Jedi Knight and as a Jedi Master. He knew self confidence issues, and nagging self doubt when he saw it. It was a fairly consistent thing with students, and one he was pretty used to trying to help them work through at this point. Even he had dealt with his own, many times. Sometimes he wasn't sure if he ever even got past them all himself.

"You're right. -I- think you could if you put your mind, to it, personally. But I won't keep you if you don't" he answered softly with a gentle smile. "So, tell you what. Why don't I instruct you just enough that you've got enough to practice on your own time, at your own pace?" he offered, wanting to try and be as fair and understanding as he could be. "And after that, if you have any questions, run into any difficulties, or if you just want to show off when you get it, you can come find me" he added with a small grin. Notably, he said "when", not "if". He had every confidence she could do it. "I'm happy to consult some time whenever I've got it. So please don't hesitate."

Of course, if she said no to the rest of the lesson, he wouldn't keep her. He'd prefer to at least help a little bit, but in the end it was up to her.

Kyra Perl