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

Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"


TAGS: Tel Ahren Tel Ahren Jin Kimura Jin Kimura Mykel Dawson Mykel Dawson Jobbi Chantin Jobbi Chantin Jackie Rosso Jackie Rosso Roten Roten | Open to jedi Newer students prefers but all welcome
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Jedi Knight Braze Kai'el had, for once, chosen to host his lesson outdoors.

The morning air on Tython was crisp, the kind that whispered through temple courtyards and rustled the robes of early risers. Sunlight filtered softly through the canopy of swaying trees, casting mottled shadows across the grass. Overhead, birds chirped unaware that something unusual was about to begin.

In the center of a well-swept clearing near the west garden, Braze knelt and began arranging a series of curious wooden objects. There were few dozen of them, each roughly the size of a bread loaf, and each crafted with a distinct, meticulous beauty. Fine woodgrain swirled through every piece; teak, cherry, walnut, and lighter inlays of ash and birch. Their surfaces gleamed with a smooth polish, Intricate geometric patterns repeated across their faces, maze-like paths, latticework etchings, and subtly raised grooves that invited fingertips to explore.

They didn't appear to be containers at first glance. More like ornamental blocks, each one different, but all clearly cut from expert craftsmanship and intent. But if one tilted them slightly—gently—there was a soft rattle within...

This wasn't a lightsaber exercise nor some agressive sparring class. It was… something else.

Braze had left flyers across the Temple, tacked beside dormitory doors and posted in communal spaces. He'd even reluctantly submitted a notice on the holonet.




Jedi Philosophy Class




[Class Offering]
"Thinking Outside the Box" – Jedi Philosophy with Knight Kai'el
Location: West Garden | Time: 10:00 | Open to initiates and Padawans
Bring your patience. There may be a reward.




Now all that remained was to wait, and see who was curious enough to come.
 


Tython
Tags: Braze Braze , Others...

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Bring your patience.

To Roten that sounded like a challenge. Frankly he didn't much care for what philosophy could be spouted at such a lesson, he was looking to prove that he could be patient. Matthew of Valendale Matthew of Valendale was a strange man. He had grown less weary of him after repeat training sessions, but there was still a lot he wasn't able to understand. Maybe a little meditation was worth while. He could probably use a little introspection.

Strange. He wasn't acting like he used to. The Bursantian was more flexible than he had realized. Something about the change in environment had altered him in ways he hadn't accounted for.

Was that why the old windbag hadn't taught him?

So here he was, on Tython. The place the Jedi Order itself was birthed. Strange... war had ravaged this place, yet it seemed so alive. The air was light here. Liberating. He moved through the garden and sat himself down in a grassy knoll, observing what had been arranged. Blocks. Lots of wooden blocks, arranged in a way that spoke to some intentionality. Not any he could understand though. He watched as the young knight who had organized the class arranged them.

How curious. They looked about the same age. This one must just be some sort of prodigy who came to the Order young. That must have been nice...

All Roten had was violence.

He set his satchel down and chose to wait silently. The Bursantian didn't much like being social anyways.


 
Sure, Dezorath was older in age, but age and thus time was so very relative. This couldn't be anymore true than for the Gen'dai species as well. Dez had experienced just over 150 cycles and yet he was still considered a juvenile. A juvenile with rapid regeneration, a urge to prove himself and the strength to crush speeders with his bare-hands. Normally combat training took the prize for Dez, but when he saw a listing for a class on Jedi philosophy?

He couldn't resist. You see Dezorath and his family line were quite different than the few majority of Gen'dai in the galaxy. His species were hermits and philosophers by nature and to miss a class that corresponded with his peoples culture was to shame his own none the less.

Dez lumbered into the west garden and joined the rest of the padawans and apprentices where they were. Looking down at them he smirked, thinking he had an edge for whatever mental gymnastics were to come.

Tags: Roten Roten Braze Braze
 

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

Jobbi made it to the class on time. Tython was pretty but it was dry compared to home. She made sure to stay hydrated to keep her skin slimy even despite the lack of humidity and grease rains.

Something about this place made Fuzzy act up, protesting and giving her a bad hair day. What made it all worse was that she forgot to pick up her specially sized Padawan robes before catching the shuttle, so she was at this lesson in the big fancy Tython place wearing a Sleemo shirt. Maybe other Jedi listened to Sleemo too?

She nervously approached where the other students (who were all so thin and pretty compared to her) gathered near some weirdly made building blocks. Jobbi was only 85 years old, but she forgot how long that was in human years.

She anxiously slid her fingers along her cheeks while waiting for class to begin.

 
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"


"Welcome, students…"
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Braze's vocoder stuttered slightly as he moved, arms full, toward the center of the clearing. He set down a small stack of boxes, then began handing one to each student.

"The test is simple today,"
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he said, tone dry but steady. "Open the box. Claim the prize."
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He paused just long enough to let their curiosity grow.

"I've placed a gift inside each one… all you have to do is open it. But—please—don't break the box."
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He tapped the lid of one gently with his knuckle.

"These come from a tiny planet in the Unknown Regions. Handcrafted by Veridian artisans. They're part of the gift too. Well-made. Sturdy. Meant to hold something worth keeping.... if you break the box you might break what's in side too. They aren't super sturdy so be careful. "
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Braze might have smiled if he could to set the students at ease but he couldn't...

"If you find yourself growing impatient, that's part of the test too. You don't need to rush. Focus. Let the solution come to you."
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"See? I'm OUTSIDE now! On my SKIMBOARD! Like I was EARLIER!" Gem shouted, breaking the pensive peace that the other Padawans had come with. A Jedi Knight had their hands on their hips as they followed Gem, trying to herd the Cathar to the lesson. Despite, indeed, being on a Skimboard, Gem obeyed the commands of the Knight, rolling in with an annoyed grunt.

"See? I'm here. I'll do the lesson. But I was told by the GRANDMASTER that I could skimboard OUTSIDE."

"Not IN A TEMPLE!" the Jedi insisted.

Gem threw up her hands, "EVERYTHING is a Temple! It's TYTHON! None of it's in use anyway! And I'm outside, I'm following the rules!"

"Not. In. A."

"Temple, yeah, whatever. You'll see, I'll get permission to skimboard anywhere," Gem insisted, stepping off her board. She turned her back on the Jedi who had forced her here before they had a chance to respond. Gem was complying. That was the best the Knight was going to get. She walked up next to Jobbi Chantin Jobbi Chantin and let out a frustrated huff. She was about to say something to her Hutt friend when Braze Braze began to give the explanation of the test.

"Oh no, not another box test, I already did one of these!" she let out a dramatic moan as she accepted her box. She studied it. The box was actually pretty interesting, and if she actually got to keep it, the box, itself, was an interesting prize. She'd already gotten a meditation stone from the last test. Hopefully this was a different prize, though she wouldn't mind another meditation stone. Maybe she could start a collection? Gem liked shiny things.

Gem put her skimboard on the ground and sat on it like a chair, keeping an impeccable balance as she did. She liked the sensation of her board pushing up off the ground, like a pair of magnets repelling each other.

Gem pulled out her meditation stone, gave it a little kiss, and held it between her palms, "Okay, little box, let's see what you're made of."

She held the box between her folded legs, and began to turn her hands over in a spiral over the box, using the Force to get a feel for the structure of the box. Despite her impertinence to the Jedi Knight that brought her here, she seemed to be throwing herself into the lesson with interest. Likely she would have come to the class if she'd done more than pass over the posters when she'd found them - there were so many interesting places to Skimboard on Tython, after all. She could not see how the box was built, but she might be able to feel it, get an understanding of how it was held together. She avoided thoughts of trying to guess how it worked, and let the Force guide her through the puzzle. The Force would be her sight.
 
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Pet (hair): Fuzzy (Sha'rellian toop)

"The test is simple today,"
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he said, tone dry but steady. "Open the box. Claim the prize.""I've placed a gift inside each one… all you have to do is open it.
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A gift!

Excitedly, Jobbi squeezed the box to crush it inwards as soon as she translated the instructor cute droid-voice boy's words from basic into Huttese in her mind.

But—please—don't break the box."

"Oh..."

Jobbi looked around to see if any of the others noticed. Her eyes started welling with tears, loudly sniffling despite her desire to conceal failing the test.

She looked down at the crunched box in her hand and fruitlessly tried to prop it back up like it were a cracked eggshell.

"Oh...Oh no..."

The more she tries to put it back in place, the more it folded in on itself. She started crying.

 
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"

Braze paused in front of the young Huttling. Without a word at first, he extended an open hand and slowly knelt, balancing his voice through the vocoder with as much clarity as he could manage.


"You can have mine," he said simply, offering her another box... one still intact.

He gave her a moment, then added, "This time… try to go slow. Think first. Work gently."

There was no scolding , just a quiet nudge toward self-control.

"These boxes are sturdier than they look. Well made. But even strong things can be broken when handled without care."

He waited, watching to see if she'd take the second chance, not just at the box, but at the lesson beneath it.

 
friendly neighborhood vampire
There'd been a notice tacked to the door of the room that he'd been assigned. He'd been on Tython for a day and someone had already stuck a class notice right on his door. It felt targeted. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but it felt targeted, like it was coming from someone that had actually noticed that he was a bit behind the curve. So, while he did elect to go to it, it was with no small amount of internal grumbling.

Maybe a little external.

As he arrived to the class location, looking out at the set of boxes that were arrayed in the clearing, the 'Knight Kai'el' that was hosting it decided to speak up to the rest. Talking about the boxes, and the point of the lesson.

He squinted, and his cheeks itched. Something seemed familiar about the short Knight, but he wasn't sure what. He was certain he'd never run into another Jedi dressed quite like that, and whatever the vocoder was concealing, such mechanical voices were distinguished as much by how mechanical they were as anything else, so it wasn't like that could be a source of recognition.

And, of course, he wasn't really sure of anybody he'd run into that had to use one like this. Sure, some people had helmets or other masks they had to wear sometimes that would purposefully modulate or even garble their voices with other vocoders, but one who seemed to have to rely on it? He wasn't sure he'd run into anything like that.

So—puzzle boxes, huh?

He took his and went and took a seat, looking it over quietly. Not quietly for long, however, when the hyperactive Cathar girl he'd seen back on New Cov groaned about having to do another test with boxes, and then the Huttlet Padawan a ways away managed to crush theirs almost instantly. He stood again, walking over and looking at the crushed box quizzically.

He thought he could catch a glimpse of something crystalline within the splinters, as the Knight offered another box to the Huttlet. He put one hand on their hair, and was shocked when the hair squealed like a pig. It didn't feel like hair, either, it was soft and sticky under his hand. A baleful yellow eye looked at him from one side of it.

A Sha'rellian toop. He'd read about them before. A special breed, or a mutated one, given that it looked more like messy hair than the slicked-back styled look that the main breed had. He pulled his hand back, resisting the urge to wipe it on his pants.

"You really should take a look at what you've got there, too," he said, gesturing at the broken box with his own after the Knight finished talking. "Might get a hint or two that can help with the next one, or at least an idea of just what's inside. Doesn't that sound better than crying over it?"

...

He hoped that didn't sound too insensitive. It was mostly meant to try and get the Huttlet to think about what she could pull out of the mistake rather than dwelling on the mistake itself. He held his tongue afterwards, though, rather than risk digging a deeper hole trying to explain away something that, maybe, didn't need any extra explaining. He walked back away with a small wave, sitting down again with his box.

Running his fingers over it, feeling at each little alteration in the surface that he could find, trying to mentally gauge just how long it might take him to figure out the puzzle itself...before thinking back on the voice that had been following him around for a while now.

Hey, Jo'han. Any idea what's hidden inside these things?
 


"These come from a tiny planet in the Unknown Regions. Handcrafted by Veridian artisans. They're part of the gift too. Well-made. Sturdy. Meant to hold something worth keeping.... if you break the box you might break what's in side too. They aren't super sturdy so be careful. "
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Roten reached out his hand, pulling a box towards him with the Force before grasping his claws around it. Ornate, and there was a slight rattle as the object within was jostled around, but no clear signs of an entrance. Was there any sort of indication on how to open it?

"Oh no, not another box test, I already did one of these!"
"Oh..."

Jobbi looked around to see if any of the others noticed. Her eyes started welling with tears, loudly sniffling despite her desire to conceal failing the test.

The Bursantian's fur bristled in irritation. There were too many little kids here for his liking. It didn't matter if tangentially speaking the Hutt was older. They still acted like a little kid. Why were they crying, hadn't they caused their box to break? And the other one was just loud. Focusing on this box was going to be much harder than he had anticipated.

At least the Gen'dai and the humanoid seemed to be older. It made him feel a bit less out of place.

"So what, is there some kind of internal mechanism to these things?" Roten frowned, his fangs prominent as he frowned. "If there's supposed to be a puzzle it isn't exactly good at telegraphing it..."


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

Jobbi cried more when the cute boy gave her his box instead. Now they were seeing her and she was crying and slimy and not wearing her stupid Sleemo shirt instead of the robes she was supposed to and the droid voice guy was being nice to her and she was crying.

Dad would say Hutts don't cry but Xoff would always tease him about that. The teacher reminded Jobbi of auntie Xoff, showing the patience and kindness and second chance.

Jobbi reduced her tears down to a sniffle and nodded, gingerly taking the box and holding it like it was a baby bird. She no longer cared about what gift was in the box, the box itself was a gift from the white haired boy and he asked her not to break it, and she didn't want to let him down.

She barely registered Fuzzy's squeal when the other Padawan approached. The other boy made sense, at least for seeing what was in the box, but she was so caught up about destroying the old one that she hadn't looked inside when trading for the new one.

"Uh... Nobata—no, Meesa didn't look"

Braze Braze | Gem-in-Trash Gem-in-Trash | Tel Ahren Tel Ahren @Others/Open​
 
friendly neighborhood vampire
Tel sat in place blinking to himself for a solid ten seconds.

Look, man, it's not my place to tell people how they can or can't cope.

Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't made his own share of bad jokes like that before. At least he got a pity laugh from Shan for one. The Huttlet had seemed to stop weeping openly, at least, which left him a bit more quiet to focus on the box, alongside whatever little treasure was rattling around inside of it. He wasn't entirely certain that knowing what was in it would really give him a head start, given that having the patience to actually figure the box out rather than just bash through it seemed to be the point of the lesson more than the reward inside, but he was also fairly certain that Jo'han knew that as well as he did.

Which meant that the ghost voice was just being his usual mildly difficult self.

As he thought to himself, his wandering fingers found a small spot where the geometric inlay on the box was finished just slightly proud of the wooden surface it was set into, giving just the right amount of purchase under his thumb. He pushed slightly, and a thin panel barely the width of his smallest finger moved a fraction of an inch.

There was step one, at least.

What do you think, simple box, only a few steps? Or is this going to be one of those where there's a dozen or more to get through?
 

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Gem opened her eyes when sheset, and Hutts weren't exactly subtle with their emotions. Gem didn't need to be able to sense she was upset. She looked over, and saw the broken puzzle box that Jobbi was trying to put back together. She knew that the instructor probably had some lesson or words enough to say, but Jobbi was new, fresh to the Jedi, and new to the standards of being a Padawan learner. Braze Braze offered Jobbi a new box, and a chance to actually try the test. Gem stood up, holding her own box in her hands.

"Hey, Jobbi. Don't dwell on it too much, okay? Nobody's hurt and nobody is mad at you. Take a breath, and let your feelings flow through you. If it helps, last time I had a test that involved a box like this, I wound up getting distracted for over an hour and nearly gave up. Don't overthink it, and trust what you feel. Even when it's hard to not let your feelings control you. But it gets easier. That's why we do it again. Now look at the box, and try to get an understanding it. Then, once we've opened our boxes, we can talk about it, so next time, we do better."

Gem looked down at her own box, and then at her meditation stone, "I think I'm overthinking it."

She sat down again, putting her meditation stone away, and began trying to solve the box with good old fashioned awareness and trial-and-error. She kept her focus on her box, getting a feel for what parts would give way, and which parts remained stubborn, just to get a start on it. Before too long, she began making progress on manipulating its mechanisms.
 
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"So what, is there some kind of internal mechanism to these things?" Roten frowned, his fangs prominent as he frowned. "If there's supposed to be a puzzle it isn't exactly good at telegraphing it..."
"I think I'm overthinking it."
There was step one, at least.


"Perhaps…"
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Braze tilted his head slightly, addressing the purple-skinned student. "Have you ever known a puzzle to be straightforward?"
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He stepped back gently from the Huttlet, the crushed box cradled in one hand. With a practiced flick, he slipped it into his sleeve; gone from sight a moment later, as if it had vanished entirely. His now-empty hand reemerged almost instantly.

"The test is simple,"
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he repeated calmly. "Open the box without breaking it, and claim your reward."
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When Gem-in-Trash Gem-in-Trash chimed in, Braze gave a small nod of agreement, a faint rasp of modulation curling through the vocoder.

"Overthinking is easy to get caught up in,"
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he said. "I do it too. I get so wrapped up in my thoughts that I miss what's right in front of me. When I really want something… I find I lose patience. I lose focus."
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He glanced between the students, watching as they handled their boxes one by one.

"And when I fixate on the problem itself...on how hard it feels...it becomes harder to see the easier way around it."
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Braze seemed to offer some insight in reply to them. " Very good Tel. "
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He offered seeing one of the first to get some gleaning information. Now was when the fun began. Who would notice and who would get frustrated. 15 steps was a big ask for those not accustomed to such puzzles in truth.
 

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

"The test is simple,"
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he repeated calmly. "Open the box without breaking it, and claim your reward."
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Hmm.

She didn't have great control over her hands, and Jobbi's slime would only make it worse.

Could she simply ask?

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

That was how Dad did things. He asked other people to do things and they did them, sometimes even if they didn't want to. But Dad did it in a scary way, not like how Xoff does it.

 


"Perhaps…"
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Braze tilted his head slightly, addressing the purple-skinned student. "Have you ever known a puzzle to be straightforward?"
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"Nothing is ever free..."

The statement was less of a jab and more of an affirmation. That was the way of the world. No give without take. If he was going to have what lie within, it was going to take his time. It seemed he was in this for the long haul. Someone nearby seemed to cause a click within.

So the box had things that were difficult to see, did it?

Voice was the conduit of power. The old man had taught him that much, even if he was a fool hellbent on some worthless revenge. Maybe he simply had to twist his words and make them his own. He brought the box up to his mouth, speaking toward it in a voice that echoed softly, wafts of Force energy on his breath as he let words spill forward.

"Show me where they are..."

There was a faint shine in the Bursantian's large red eyes, as if they were reflecting something that had appeared upon the box. A window into what only he could see. The box was unchanged to those around him, but for Roten the various buttons and mechanism on the outside lit up, revealed to him through Force Sight... True Sight.


"Right... a hundred different combinations... straight forward enough."

He took note of the location that Tel Ahren Tel Ahren had clicked in first before starting himself, beginning to input each combination one after the other. Roten was going to brute force it until he had the right combination...

At least he packed a meal.


 
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Dezorath didn't reach for a box right away.

Instead, he stood at the edge of the group, arms crossed over his broad chest, watching the other students fumble with theirs. Some tried peeling off the lids slowly, one corner at a time. Others poked and prodded at the seams, a few already getting frustrated. One student even tried using the Force to pry the top off—and nearly cracked the delicate construct in the process. Dez didn't say anything. He just watched, quiet, like a storm cloud holding back rain. Finally, he stepped forward and picked up a box of his own. It looked tiny in his hand. Too tiny. If he wasn't careful, he could crush it without thinking. He kneeled down in the grass, setting the box on his armored palm. He didn't try to open it. Not yet. He just looked at it—really looked.

I could rip this apart like paper, he thought. But that's not the point.

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

For some of the others, the Force came like wind—fast, loud, always moving. For Dezorath, it was more like pressure. Deep. Heavy. Hard to lift. He couldn't throw rocks around like the others, not easily. But ever since he was a kid, he'd had this strange connection to objects—especially machines. He could feel how things were made. Sometimes even how they were meant to work. His father used to call it a gift. "Not every weapon has to be swung," Kezeroth had said once.

As Dezorath focused, the world around him quieted. The rustling leaves, the soft murmurs of students—all faded and his minds eye ignited with vivid lucidity and understandings.

Tags: Roten Roten Braze Braze Jobbi Chantin Jobbi Chantin Gem-in-Trash Gem-in-Trash Tel Ahren Tel Ahren
 

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