To Control One's Will

[Caelag Vass]

• Wearing: Black Dress
• Carrying: Officer's Will

Silence was the music of a sniper's soul, and it wasn't that bad for fire shaping either. Complete silence let Caelag focus, and even her limited ability in control could manage just a bit more than usual. So that was what she sought, believing her abilities somewhat, frowned upon, considering its origins, and knowing that she had to find a way to prevent any accidental burns. Therefore, when she found an empty training hall at the Silver Rest, she took the opportunity and secured it for herself. Empty, open, the wooden floor felt cool to her bare feet as she stood in the center of the room. Her weapon was drawn, and one of the few sources of light that was present. The soft yellow glow of the blade, from the outside it might seem the room was empty, an oversight on Caelag's part.

But now she wasn't focused on that. With a deep breath, she gave the sword a slight flick, held in both hands, which caused the blade to ignite the air around it, wrapping it in flame. The light in the room grew, and she turned her head to the side. There were sconces she had set up, metal pedestals with flammable material resting, ready for ignition. She drew her blade up into an ox guard, and stabbed forward, sending the flame straight to the first sconce, and lighting it. With a source, she doused her sword with her will, and sheathed it. Caelag was quite capable at shaping, but lacked two things you see. Control, as mentioned, which meant she needed the practice to keep her flame within her will.

She also wasn't good at creation of the flame itself, not yet. She could do it, with some time, but this was easier. Now, with one sconce lit, and several others around the room, she lifted a hand, and focused. The fire split, a portion of it leaping free, to rest in Caelag's hands so to speak, not directly of course, but comfortably resting as if in the palm of her hand. She begun to go through several motions, (poorly) mimicking different martial art stances in her movements to send the fire from her hand to another sconce, and another. The room slowly began to light up more, as Caelag manipulated the shapes further. Balls of fire, spears, simple shapes she could control, more or less.

All the while, her bare feet slapped gently on the floor with determined steps, and her focus blinded her further to the world outside of herself and her flame.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

"Curious." THe jedi master said it while looking over some of the things here... She had taken an interest in the caves Wu and this mercenary Kurenai had discovered... Inside they had found sithspawn and things brought in the attack... but there was some problems she was going over. They had been designed older then what she had been expecting to see. She also had reports from other teams spread across the galaxy, there were researchers on Ando going over the facilities she and maple had discovered the skoan technology based on the kwa well would hopefully be fruitful, there was what work she and Jyoti had done that she was curious about... chiss engineers and the work they had been doing in the hell hoop.

Then something flared across her senses." The pendant on her neck glowed as the jedi master raised an eyebrow and was moving swiftly. A means to work with what she had learned... thirty years traveling around the galaxy to visit different force sects, different groups within the force that searched and trained themselves. She had visited many of the groups and found a purpose among them... learnign the ways and her work with the Aing-Tii had given her a chance to really learn when she focused her mind in the solitude of the Rest. FOr now though the sound of someone else in the lesser used and more secluded sections brought her interest.

The jedi master could move almost soundlessly when she stood there and dampened her presence in the force, she folded it smaller and smaller until it was nearly a molecule of presence to see. SHe was observing the woman with the weapon and made a few notes. Her presence in the force was different from many of the others, she seemed more rigid which was akin to Willa and Kei. So some type of combat training.... maybe, sash over the eyes could mean miraluka or blind herself.... or she was testing herself and could see just fine. Either way she would need to be actively using the force here and a small smirk on the jedi masters mouth.

She hovered up a little onto the wall seeing the fire and didn't speak but she knew those flames and her experiences with the shapers was soemthing she knew well. The lessons on her skin under the robes before the jedi master finally spoke staying there but ready to control the flames should be need it. Instead her hand was out with her thumb and finger there. She snapped and a spark went up, exciting the air, making it vibrate to heat up and bring a small flame to her hand. "Impressive, there are not many who can shape fire and don't go full angry. MOst seem to prefer lacking the control of the emotions and flames."

 

[Caelag Vass]

The surprise caused a sudden spike in Caelag's emotions, causing the lit sconces to flare up dramatically for a brief moment, before settling back into their resting, natural flow. The fire in Caelag's hands, however, died quickly as she pressed her palms together, smothering it before it had a chance to burn her skin. She'd done that a few too many times, and she'd just recently made a full recovery from the last self inflicted burn. She was hardly in a mood to let a small slip up cause her to do so again, and spring the uncomfortable explaining. "A wildfire spreads, and could do more harm than intended. It is better to focus it towards a goal than allow it to spread wild and free."

She sighed quietly and ran her hand over the bandages over her 'eyes'. Her crown was not with her, being less fit for physical activity than her bandages, and being far easier to keep on if someone were to bump into her, or push her over. That was never a fun situation, nor was the one she was now in. Surprised, a bit uncomfortable, and hearing a voice disembodied even as she turned her head to where it came from. There was... life.. but she couldn't tell if it was the speaker [member="Matsu Ike"] or just natural Force energy in the air. She stared hard as she spoke, still trying to discern the truth. "Not to mention it is far easier to shape my will into a tool to protect than it is to shape it into a tool of anger. Passion to protect can produce a knife while passionate anger could produce a club. Which one has more use?"

She couldn't tell still. Another sigh and she grabbed the sheathed sword resting on the ground. "On another note, can you not do that please? I can't see you when you're making yourself so small. Not clearly enough anyways."

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

She looked at her and stopped, unfolding and bringing her presence to bare. Years of the lightside could be very good for the body and mind while the jedi master was moving around. "A blade or club can be useful, a club for a moment can release a lot of tension because you are just using it and then you move on." SHe had seen many jedi suppress their emotions and then they let them out to fall.. she knew ther was a purpose in a release without just giving in all of the time. Matsu waited there though clasping her hands behind her back. "I am Master Ike and I apoligize. It is just different seeing all of these new padawans and people who have come while I am in the library." SHe didn't mention the library was a massive jedi ship able to travel around the galaxy and filled with artifacts but hey mystery.

 

[Caelag Vass]

The muscles around Caelag's eye sockets twitched instinctively, good lord she was bright. And again, she was called a padawan, though the mild irritation of being put on a jedi's pedestal was becoming more tolerable it still felt wrong, to a certain extent. But that was neither here nor there, what mattered was being polite to the Master. So, Caelag did what felt most natural, and stood up straight, giving [member="Matsu Ike"] a salute. "Major Vass." Was there more to say? It depended on if Master Ike decided to question how she didn't know of any newly promoted majors. If, that was, she kept track. If she didn't, perhaps that was Cael's own luck beginning to not be its usual abysmal self. Not that she wouldn't try to distract her from it, just in case.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me I shouldn't be messing with this, are you?" The Miraluka woman asked as she walked over to a lit sconce, gently easing a small flame out into her hands. Her concentration was split now, so she couldn't afford anything more than practicing with small amounts of flame like this.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

"Would you like me to?" Matsu moved on the floor but kept her footsteps muffled with the force itself so she didn't make a sound and a small bubble around herself where she could move. "I might have a good one about darkside corruption, how it rots the flesh and causes decay in the cells so you'll begin to slowly fall apart." She was playing with her, while she stood at a place to the side and held a hand out. "I trained with shapers, studied them, learned from them plenty. FOr just over thirty years I've traveled around the galaxy learning different aspects and schools of thought for the force. FOr good or for ill so Major unless you are here to try and tempt and corrupt the others. I see no need to preachy." She offered a small smirk. "Besides Commander [member="Willa Isard"] is a vahla, one of the few who didn't jump to the sith because darksiders united. If she isn't going to fret then you should be fine." THere was also the group of shapers who had been in and well taught lessons in the twilight sepulcher a silver jedi temple.

 

[Caelag Vass]

"I can promise I've heard that one before, even if it wasn't directed at me. Unavoidable when you've work alongside Jedi on the regular in the past." She gave a dry, halfhearted chuckle at her own comment in response. Preachy-ness was something that jedi were undeniably the best at, even if they had good reason. She listened quietly, sensing her moving closer as she continued to manipulate the small fire between her hands, as mentioned before she was good at changing the shape of the fire even though she was poor at conjuring it. And with so little, it was even easier to create the shapes in her mind. "Corrupt? I believe you have it mistaken Master Ike. I don't like to focus on the shadows my fires cast but the light they bring forth. This nebulous energy is all I truly understand anyways, it's easier to form in my mind the heat of fire than a physical object." She hummed, waving a hand and sighing. "Well, if not to preach, what brings you down here?"

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

"Well I recently spent some time in the presence of an ancient force demon that showed me there is still a great deal of the force I have not learned. Namely how to connect and see parts of the galaxy more keenly instead of just feeling the echo that something happened." She said it and stopped there while holding a hand up and creating her own fire between her fingers with a spark. "If it helps there is a brief moment when you create the spark and ignite it you can see the edges of it. COntrol them and shape the fire to your will." She looked upon it and swirled the fire with her finger. "Finding you major was just an accident. THough meeting a new person and getting to learn about them is never a bad thing." She said it and moved up, sitting with her legs crossed in the air as she moved hovering around her giving a little look. "SO how does a miraluka come to meet the shapers? The luka are usually fairly seclusive."

 

[Caelag Vass]

"A spark I can manipulate. My difficulty is making that spark without great assistance. Metal on metal alone can help, as can my Will." She motioned with her head to the sword she'd picked up and put back on her hip. "With it I can will my inner fire into existence with less effort. Though it does have some, application difficulties." No harm in telling her. She could find out if she tried anyways. Her question made Caelag pause, thinking how she wanted to respond. Were Miraluka seclusive? She bit the inside of her lip, that made her even more unlike her people, then. "I didn't grow up with Miraluka. Only met another one.. twice maybe. Same one both times though if I remember right. So I don't have anything relating to that culture, aside from a mask. Although I'd argue that's just practical."

The fire danced around Caelag's hand, eventually forming a solid ball in her hand. Fire laced out of the surrounding sconces to feed it further, letting it grow in size. "Besides, I spent so much time working I learned to be a little exploitative. A little creative. A non-shaper introduced me to the art, and from there I sought them out until I found one who helped me learn more. Getting the shaping down further..." The orb in her hands began to look similar to a sun, in that little flares spiraled off of it, licking the air with their gluttonous tendrils. Caelag had to stop it, and began working to smother the flames in her hand with noticable difficulty. "It's still difficult to direct, to tame."

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

She was watching and listening to her speak. Stopping when she was close but in a more neutral space to stand there. Both out of range of each other but she was still curious. "I see well it is different but welcomed none the less Major. THank you for telling me but come." She said it and held her hand up as she moved and worked at some of the flames. "What you describe and want to look for is less trying to visualize it. Anyone for the most part can see a flame, you can fel it. What I want to see and would sugest is look deeper. Your sight allows you to see more clearly then many others can, you can observe the energy that binds the galaxy together without efforts and from there if you can focus. Find the smallest points to excite and vibrate to create your own spark."

 

[Caelag Vass]

"Give me time, and I can create an inferno if I so chose." Caelag replied, having smothered the small fireball with her hands. The heat was gone now, and her hands weren't burnt for all the danger her art had posed. Even as lackluster as she was, she seemed to at least instinctively know what she wanted to do, even when she couldn't push it into the foreground of her mind. "I am not unaware, Master Jedi, of how it works. I can think, feel a point, and heat it. Observe.." She held out her left hand, palm upwards, and focused on the point in the middle of the imagined sphere of heat. The air there began to heat up, rather quickly to be fully honest, yet lacked the sort of spark that Caelag described before. "My Will, the sword, speeds this process up for me. Now I could give someone a slight burn perhaps if I were to press my hand and the air against them, but it is stopping the climb. Beyond this point it's..." She strained for a while longer, focusing on the point, before releasing it with a sigh of frustration, and a bit of exhaustion. "But beyond that I cannot quickly create enough heat and energy to spark my fire. As you say, I can see the energy, I know I'm doing something right, but once I reach that point, nearing just enough heat to spark it's as though I cannot will it further."

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

Hmm she was listening and observing her.. if she couldn't get past that threshold to spark the flames herself it could be a barrier she could train for. "Well then there is something you can strive for." She said it and remained still to not just grab her hand. THis one seemed more reserved compared to some of the jedi and her method of showing them and teaching with the force might not go over well before she was looking with a small grin. "Teaching you if you want how to push beyond that and spark your own flames would be a thing... not small but not something as big." She crossed her arms though and knew a few secrets to try and teach... fireball and pyrospray were good ways to teach.

 

[Caelag Vass]

"If you have some idea on the situation, I would be a fool to turn you away. Though be well prepared for failure, it seems my life's main theme lately." Two failed governments, failure to live up to the demands of reality, honestly even her life as a schoolteacher ended in something of a failure. Would hardly surprise her if this ended the same. Still, it was one of her more successful ventures, so the help might break such a cycle... "Well, Master Jedi, what would you propose I do?"

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

"Well first." Matsu stood there and moved to the side motioning for her to come and join her. "I would say you should dispel that doubt. You have the power within you just need to work on that confidence in yourself and your abilities. It might sound sappy but the force responds to you when you believe in yourself." It didn't exactly sound scientific as it were but your own attitude was important within learnignt he force. If you thought you were going to fail then you were more likely to fail but if you believed you could succeed the you might have a beter chance as the jedi master waited there with a look. "We'll start by focusing and concentrating on the air."

 

[Caelag Vass]

"Confidence in my abilities? I'm very confident in what I can do, Master Jedi. But forgive me for being a realist in my approach, when even at my best I have a tendency to get shot in the stomach." Repeatedly, consistently, across time. Caelag might not fully understand the Force, but she could see patterns well enough. Of course she was making the mistake of confusing luck with the Force, but progress was, slowly, being made. Slow progress, but for one so firmly rooted it wasn't something unexpected. Frankly if her mind was so easy to change it would be more concerning than not. "Well, concentrating on air I can do. Shall I close my eyes and start focusing then?"

For someone so self conscious of her lack of eyes she certainly seemed open to making jokes of it. Perhaps because [member="Matsu Ike"] hadn't commented on it, nor did she feel like other Humans. Must have been how bright she was, the Light she produced was calming enough to put such fears at ease for now. She didn't feel the necessity to keep her guard up, she did anyways of course but the feeling was nice. "Is there anything in particular you want me to focus on with the air?"

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

She was watching her and bowed her head as she held a hand up and focused the force to move the air. "Start small, so small in fact you can't actually see it normaly. Look for what connects the molecules in the air and go from there. Once you pinpoint it, once you feel it you can trace it in your mind.. you can make it almost a familiar feeling. That is the basis of the force yes but the Ta-Ree mind set and it can be a powerful thing." She said it and had experienced it first hand from the spirits of bedlam and the priestess to a force demon and creatures that could use the force in ways few jedi could ever imagine. The Ta-Ree teachings taught her how to manipulate and construct with the force from the molecular level until she had something materialized through art of the small at a level only a handful of jedi had tried.

 

[Caelag Vass]

"So small you can't see it. Right that should be easy for me." Perhaps rude but Caelag's point was obvious enough. Even if Miss Ike meant it with her force sight, it was still a poor choice of words for giving instructions. Still she understood what she was talking about, more or less. She recalled something from listening to her teachers, something about molecules and the energy of bonds holding them together. She'd never tried looking for that energy itself, perhaps not thinking she could, so perhaps the Master was onto something. So, Caelag took a breath, and focused. Whatever could be there... she focused on trying to find the energy, and it was somewhat obvious she was struggling by the expression on her face. She knew it was there, and even had an idea what to look for, but the smaller her scope of focus got the more she struggled. This was vastly different from using her Sight normally, focusing on what was normally a passive action was almost painful to a level. Focusing her sight forward, expanding how far she could 'see' was one thing, compressing it to a point...

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Caelag Vass"]

Matsu was watching her and worked to remain there when she listened to the woman. Not showing it on her face and this was going to be a struggle. She was going to have to make this her own trial of patience and acceptance that Caelog was not the type of student many had but.... hmmm she had an idea. "Hmmm." SHe said it and was focusing the force itself into herself so that she would glow a little brighter and holding a hand to excite the molecules around them. "Allow yourself to drift and focus, calm your mind and see." She was drawing and generating the energy to let small illuminations of the bonds between them appear. Generating was made to also draw power from the planets itself like a massive ever lasting force battery.... or as she had seen with the heart of the universe connecting to the galaxy and universe itself to draw in force energy.