Faction Thinking Outside the Box: Jedi Philosophy Class [Tython]

[Jobbi Chantin]

Pet (hair): Fuzzy (Sha'rellian toop)

The others seemed to already have an idea of how this thing is supposed to work. She rotated the box in her hand, not seeing any clear seams that weren't decorative.

"Chut chut.."

Well... The white hair droid guy didn't say they couldn't work together.

"Do any of you know how this opens?"

She asked in heavily accented basic. Surely pooling knowledge and working together would be the best approach - after all, no Hutt works alone.

Braze Tel Ahren Roten Dezorath Barcu Gem-in-Trash Sienna​

 

[Braze]

"Chuba, uh... Could you show me how to open it?"

"Do any of you know how this opens?"

TAGS: Sienna Jobbi Chantin Tel Ahren Dezorath Barcu Gem-in-Trash Roten

Braze might have smiled at her if he could have. Instead, he simply turned those pale green eyes on her and slowly raised a single finger to where his lips would be, if not for the cloth mask concealing the unnerving prosthetic beneath. The gesture was soft 'Shhhh.'

That finger then shifted, pointing to his eyes in a silent cue. He flicked his gaze toward a few of her classmates who had already begun progressing through the puzzle box's sequence.

Then, he turned his head fully, fixing a long, unblinking stare on Tel Ahren as if he had sensed his attention... Those eerie green eyes locked onto the student's, holding the contact for an uncomfortably long few moments before moving on.

Braze glanced to Sienna next, something curious in his posture. Did she have an eidetic memory? Fifteen steps was a lot to retain, even with psychometry.

"Some challenges are solved with strength. Others with instinct.... or patience, awareness, and adaptability. The lesson isn't in how fast you open the box; it's in how you approach it."

He trailed looking about.
"It seems a few of you have found that certain panels slide,"

he finally said, tone mild but clearly pleased. "Very good."

He made no move to stop them from sharing hints or strategies. That, too, was part of the lesson. The boxes all looked nearly identical, with the same size, same shape, same faint etchings and patterns, but each one had a unique pattern of steps to open. No two were truly the same.

Inside, for any student who managed to unlock theirs, rested a handcrafted Carved Kyberite Pendant.

" They all look the same... and that's the trick. Like many things in this galaxy, appearances are often a lie. Look deeper, and they'll tell you exactly what you need; if you're listening.."

​

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Gem's ears perked up when Braze spoke about the boxes. She had wanted to help Jobbi Chantin with hers without simply doing it for her, and learning that the boxes were different gave Gem an idea.

"Okay, Jobbi, watch me. Your box is going to be different from my box, but if you watch, you should be able to get started. It's about feeling the box, sort of listening to it. It's okay to not understand right away, and it's okay to learn from someone else first. But you will have to figure out your box, you're the only one who can open it."

Gem focused on her box, showing her stages and trying to mumble through her thought processes to her Hutt friend. While Gem was smart and usually good at helping other Padawans, she became too engrossed in her puzzle box to effectively walk Jobbi through the steps.

Gem gave a sigh after a bit, "Sorry, Jobbi. I guess that wasn't that helpful. But see, I made progress on it! You just gotta...I dunno, focus on the box and really give it a try. It's like, uh...What's your favorite toy? Or game? Something you hold in your hands. You get used to how it's shaped, how much it weighs. That's kind of what you're looking for. I think."

Gem's progress: 4/15 stages
0 Critical Failures
0 Critical Successes

 

[Roten]

Tython
Tags: Braze , Jobbi Chantin , Gem-in-Trash , Dezorath Barcu , Tel Ahren , Sienna

Kiba no Shimai​

Roten's surroundings vanished. He was fixated on the task at hand, remembering sequences in his head. His claws input combination after combination, as though his actions were clockwork. There was almost a mindless commitment to the completion of this task. After all, the more the box seemed to crack open, the more something powerful seemed to call out from within. It wasn't the dark kind of call like the old man's artifacts either.

It was warm. Comforting.

Inside, for any student who managed to unlock theirs, rested a handcrafted Carved Kyberite Pendant.

" They all look the same... and that's the trick. Like many things in this galaxy, appearances are often a lie. Look deeper, and they'll tell you exactly what you need; if you're listening.."

The Bursantian's box popped open about as Braze stated this. The purple-furred young man slowly peeled the top open, gazing in at the pendant that lie within. It was only then that he realized that what he had felt had not come from the pendant itself. It was taking energy in, as though it were a piece of iron in an ion charged bath.

A conductor. It had been drawing in the Force energy that Roten had utilized to help him keep track of combinations to open the box.

Roten gently scooped the blue stone up onto his hands, running a clawed finger over the surface.

"Odd..." Roten remarked with a frown.

He didn't know if he should be thrilled or not. Roten had enough experience with the Force, even as Kalrath refused to train him beyond a year's worth of material, to recognize the value here. This was something that could bring your own power to the next level as opposed to granting it from another source.

Perhaps that was the biggest issue. It was him. Roten wasn't sure how he felt about using his own power now.

He knew what it had done.

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Tython
Tags: Braze | Roten | Jobbi Chantin | Gem-in-Trash | Dezorath Barcu | Tel Ahren | Sienna

---

Jackie had always wanted to travel. To see what the galaxy actually looked like past the smoggy sky veiled in light pollution. Or depicted through screens and holograms. After Bonadan took everything from him he would refuse to let it take his life as well. Promising himself that he wouldn’t die there.

Now, although the grass was quite literally greener on the other side, such as here on tython, it didn’t really feel like it. Traveling for the Jedi in his mind had somewhat cheapened the experience for him. Even though he was getting to do what he wanted to do, there was no agency from him. It was chosen for him.

For the punkish zeltron if he couldn’t control where he had to be, he could at least have some control in influencing when. People like his master were powerful Jedi, but even he couldn’t control time. No amount of lectures and discipline could undo his tardiness. A juvenile way for Jackie to express some sense of self determination. However, for some reason he always had the feeling that even when tardy he arrived when he was supposed to…

Eventually Jackie made it. His hands snuggly set within the pockets of his leather jacket as he looked around the garden and other students. Braze was now a knight, which was surprising to the pink teen. Wondering perhaps if he had misjudged the age of the echani. Perhaps they were older than they seemed. Or perhaps that wasn’t really something that determined rising the ranks of the Jedi.

Without saying anything Jackie noticed how the others around had boxes. Looking like they were trying to open them. A puzzle? Jackie stepped over to where one of the spares. Withdrawing a hand from his pocket he leaned down and picked it up. Feeling and hearing a slight rattle from something inside. He looked over at the young instructor with a raised brow, silently questioning what he was supposed to do with it now.​

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Roten Jobbi Chantin Gem-in-Trash Dezorath Barcu Tel Ahren Sienna Jackie Rosso

Braze looked over to Jackie and, without the ability to smile, offered a bow of his head. He was doing this much more often now, as he had no idea how to be approachable or acknowledging without simple facial gestures he clearly took for granted.

"Welcome. I'm glad to see you've made it, and I'm happy you've decided to join us. Feel free to take a box and join in. There's a prize within if you can open it. But the box is part of the gift, so don't try brute-forcing it. The item inside is also fragile, so doing so might break what's within," Braze advised. If anything, this might serve as a good lesson for Jackie Rosso too.

The whole setup was designed to let the students decide how and when they reached their goal. Each one was different by design, yet they looked similar on the outside. Whether or not any of them realized this nuanced bit of philosophical exercise in relativity, to each of them and their own journeys through the Force...was hard to say.

Braze notably didn't scold the Zeltron for being late. He himself was often late to many of his own classes for a multitude of reasons. He was just happy that Jackie came and seemed interested in participating.

He looked to Gem-in-Trash .

"Yes, it can become like a game if you memorize all your steps for the box. Fifteen is a big number of steps to keep in mind, but once you have it, it becomes easy. Learning something for the first time on your own can feel like a monumentally difficult task as well. But little by little, if you keep trying, things do eventually become easier… eventually, you might be able to open a box with a better and better time each time."


He turned to look at Roten .
"Ah… very good. Have you ever seen kyberite before?" Braze asked, seeing that one of the students had opened their box.

​

 

[Jobbi Chantin]

Pet (hair): Fuzzy (Sha'rellian toop)

"Okay, Jobbi, watch me. Your box is going to be different from my box, but if you watch, you should be able to get started. It's about feeling the box, sort of listening to it. It's okay to not understand right away, and it's okay to learn from someone else first. But you will have to figure out your box, you're the only one who can open it."

Job I nodded along at first, but as Gem kept talking they spoke faster and faster and Jobbi couldn't keep up with translating from Basic to Huttese in her head.

The Cathar' movements also sped up, as they fiddled with the box faster than Jobbi could actually follow along with.

"Jee hagwa tinka Jee kava wata it lik da..." The Huttlet muttered.

"Sorry, Jobbi. I guess that wasn't that helpful. But see, I made progress on it! You just gotta...I dunno, focus on the box and really give it a try. It's like, uh...What's your favorite toy? Or game? Something you hold in your hands. You get used to how it's shaped, how much it weighs. That's kind of what you're looking for. I think."

Jobbi tried as Gem suggested. She closed her eyes and imagined the box was an oddly stiff, cubic, Jawa plushie.

She just sort of sat there like that for a few minutes.

She grew frustrated.

She tossed aside any notion of solving this in any sort of "right or "intended" way. She began to think like her father would. Strip down the requirements to the barest truths, then find your own way through.

The important thing is that the box was intact by the end - and that the instructor couldn't tell that it had been broken. Perception was everything. The object inside was fragile.

"Eniki Jobbi, vota da hotshuh banka fo uba."

She pulled on the Force and tried to feel around the box and inside... It felt like a box.

Instead, she slithered over to a nearby pond and dunked the box inside, watching for where air bubbles emerged from as she rotated it, making note of each of the gaps that weren't watertight until the box was full and no more bubbles emerged.

Then she pulled the box from the pond, sliding the decorative pieces that leaked water the most, noting which changes increased the rate at which water flowed out.

She dunked the box back in and repeated this process until the time to fill and time to drain had become shorter and shorter.

By the end, she had nothing but one frustrating sliding square piece that connected the two unhinged sides and prevented it from opening.

Jobbi glanced left. The instructor was talking to a Zeltron who showed up late.

Jobbi glanced right. The others were busy with their own boxes, save for the one observing the amulet.

Jobbi pries the last square free from the box, weakened by the repeated dunking, it bent and only slightly cracked, but it was enough to free the hook from the locking mechanism. She opened the box, snatched the amulet from inside, and put the square back in place, bending it back into place and smudging a little bit of slime to make the frayed wood fibers stick to each other again as they dried.

She returned to the group with the crystal in one hand and the seemingly unbroken, unopened box in the other.

She did not boast - she knew enough to lay low until any chance of suspicioun passed.

Braze | Gem-in-Trash | Jackie Rosso | Roten | Dezorath Barcu | Tel Ahren | Sienna​