Training Day (For X)

[sulon_jedi]

He sat, legs crossed, waiting. He had gotten good at waiting, at patience. It took time - ever so much time - but he had mastered it. Now he waited for someone who was...remarkable. A new presence in the Force.

Perhaps they would be a student, perhaps not. This was all by ear, all outside of the experience of any Jedi. He wondered what Rahn would say, or Luke. Even Jan's advice would have been most helpful. But, in the continuing story of his life, he was once again working without a net.

It would prove most interesting.

Comments

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[X is arriving only a few minutes late, having had a bit of business to attend to before. Cat fur still stubbornly clings to his shirt, with the offending feline currently nestled into his hair, the tiny kitten purring contently.]

Good morning, Kyle.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He opened his eyes, nodding slowly.

"X."

He looked at the cat for a long moment. "Hope it doesn't grow roots up there," he said, with a slight smile.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[This gets a laugh, and X reaches up to scratch it behind the ears.]

She was stuck in a tree, believe it or not. I didn't feel right just leaving her and nobody around was looking for her. If you're allergic, I can take her home and change.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"No, I don't think I am. It's alright. Might want to remove her from her perch, though. The small furballs make concentration notoriously difficult."

"And you're going to need your concentration."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[He nods, removing the kitten and setting her down on something comfortable nearby. She mewls a bit, but once it's clear X isn't leaving, simply stretches and curls back up to nap again.]

All right. Where do we start?

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"I don't even know," he said, with a small chuckle.

"Nobody has ever tried to train a robot with a soul in the use of the Force before. It's all uncharted territory. I don't know what abilities you'll have, if any. You might never have anything beyond a few glimmerings of instinct."

"This training," he adds in a small test, "might just be a complete waste of your time."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[He chuckles a bit.]

I doubt that. The only thing that's a waste of time is something where you don't gain anything. If nothing else, I'll learn I can't use it, so it's hardly a waste.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He nods. Good, that was the response he wanted to hear.

"Right. Make yourself comfortable. We'll begin right away."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[X settles himself cross-legged just in front of Kyle, running his hands through his hair to fix it a bit from the "nest" the kitten had made.]

Ready when you are.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He says nothing for a long moment, closing his eyes.

"I want you to reach out, with your mind. Feel the world around you. Sense it without using your eyes, or sensors, or anything. Tell me what you feel."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[He closes his eyes, exhaling softly and trying to do just that.]

There's a calm current to everything. In and around here... in you and the cat, everything around and under us. It doesn't really bend... it seems to flow in place, like a fountain.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Reach out with your mind. Touch it, see what happens. What can you sense?"

He's curious what the robot-man will find.

"What does it feel like?"

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

...I'm not sure. I feel like I'm touching dry water. It seems to flow around me if I come close, then resettle when I draw back. The same as slowly putting my hand into a still pond, then just as slowly taking it out.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Calm and concentration, erase your anxiety from your mind. Reach out, concentrate on the living things around you. What can you sense of the creature beside you, for instance?"

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

The "water" is a lot weaker, but feels "brighter." There's a lot of space around it, as if there either used to be more or soon will be more.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He nods, a smile on his face.

"Push further. Can you sense its intelligence? Its sentience?"

He sees the Force differently, that much is true. He really shouldn't be surprised by that, when he thinks about it.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I can't separate much from the water right now but the space.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Interesting."

He opened his eyes, watching him. Or, more correctly, watching the Force swirl around him. It connected...strangely, sporadically it seemed. Perhaps it was still 'settling' on him. He really couldn't tell.

"Direct your energy further. What can you feel?"

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

More of the flow in everything around us. I can't tell if it's close or not. Some of it has a strange... "tint" to it.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about this 'tint'", he said, standing up, walking around X, completely at home in the Force. It covered him like a blanket, with the warmth of an old friend.

"Feel the differences, the vibrancy."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

They both seem to glow, but one's bright and calm, while the other's dull and frenzied.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Alright, focus on the calm one. What can you tell me about it?"

He senses how the robot-man feels the Force, and how it...well, how it comes to him. It is strange, like...like an organic data query. Strange.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

It feels serene and relaxing. Not the strongest feeling, but content.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Can you reach into that feeling further?"

He asked only a simple question this time. He knew something of the method, now to examine the depth.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

Somewhat. It feels mostly the same, but the further I go, the more calm it feels.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Alright. Pull back, if you can...see how far you can stretch your senses. How far can you reach, and what do you feel?"

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. I can feel a lot of different concentrations of that water, some with one of those tints, but I can't tell what they are or where they are.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"Interesting. Now, tell me, does it feel taxing? What is its effect on you?"

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

I feel... strangely calm. Like everything that's ever bothered me has been washed away, leaving just peace.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He nodded. "Excellent, but what of the physical effects?"

There were usually some at least. He had to hope there were some in this case.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

It's straining, but in a different way than I've ever felt.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about it," he said, settling back into position in front of him.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[He remains still for a moment, then exhales, opening his eyes.]

What was that?

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about the strain. How it effects you."

There is something, a deep instinct, that says training a potentially endless battery in the Force would be a dangerous undertaking indeed.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

It's not exhausting, but it's a drain on something I've never felt drained before. It isn't enough to deplete any of my energy, but it certainly felt strange.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

Inwardly, there is some relief.

"The Force can wear, take away at energy unnoticed. The dark side...the dark side corrupts, slowly, unnoticed. The light will tire you, but it will be there for you in times of need."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

Is that what those tints were? The "sides?"

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about the tings. I suspect that is the truth...you felt the light and the dark. The darkness is seductive, always, even to those fully part of the light."

"It corrupts even the supposedly incorruptible. There is no place too far from which to fall."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[X cringes, sighing -- it certainly reminds him of the virus, in a way.]

The duller tint did feel something like that. It was pulling, in a way, but unlike the bright tint, there was an unnerving sense about it. Like falling into a pit you can't climb out of, but in a way that tried to make you want to step into it.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

He remembers that particular axiom of Luke's, originally from his own teacher, Yoda.

"Or at least," he adds, "most of the time. Sometimes, you can escape the shadow."

He certainly had.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

I didn't trust the feeling I had from it, so I avoided it. I've seen how people can turn first hand. I don't need to suffer that myself.

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"It won't always be that easy," he said. "Sometimes it will look like something good, sometimes it will look like truth."

"Beware, always, the dark side. There is nobody - nobody - immune from falling to it."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

I understand.

[X's voice sounds heavy, of a weariness Kyle likely knows.]

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

"I fell, once. But I had friends, people to pull me back. Friendship, love...they'll save you, nurture you in the Force. Jealousy, well, that can lead to the dark side, but love? Love is redeeming."

Something the old Jedi had failed to realize, really. They had locked it away, made it forbidden and taboo, and turned the greatest strength of the Jedi into a weakness that Palpatine had exploited. Thankfully the Corellian Jedi had essentially just defied that. But then again, that was kind of what Corellians did.

Small wonder the Imps had always said that two Corellians together was a conspiracy, and three was a fight.

"Let the emotions of life fuel you, give you strength."

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

[To say that was a bit puzzling to X wasn't a stretch, but he simply nodded, genuinely filing away what Kyle had said.]

[sulon-jedi.livejournal.com]

He smiled. "No comment on all that? No questioning of my fitness to teach?"

The light in his eyes was mischievous.

[infinituslumine.livejournal.com]

None at all. I don't know anything about this energy, but you do.

[He laughs gently, and it's almost like the chime of a small bell.]

I'm not exactly in a position to judge you.