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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 1, 2008 21:42:53 GMT -8
Lents was just barely able to dock the Illuminant Rush in the small opening in the foliage near the enclave, and once he had it settled and on standby, walked back through the trees into the main area, greeting a master with a few padawans learning to lift pebbles as he searched for the master that had given such potent advice before, so that his telekinesis could become stronger, but also to figure out why his innate talent for touching minds had failed him so as it had on Nal Hutta. That had never happened before to him and he wondered if it was perhaps linked to his sudden spike in telekinesis successes...
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 1, 2008 22:05:31 GMT -8
Lents quickly scouted out the master who had given him such effective training. Once he found the man, a cerean with a long shock of brown but greying hair, he confronted him. Respectfully.
"Excuse me, master?"
"Ah, yes, Padawan Terria, I see you are back. And yet you seem to be missing your companion, the neodark sider."
"Oh, right. Skeang. He didn't have a reason to come back here. After we took a successful bounty hunting mission, I was able to see how well-developed my skills truly were. I'm here to train for a short while longer, and yet I also want to know if you could lend some insight as to why my skill in other talents has decreased significantly."
"Please explain." The master asked inquisitively, cocking his head at an angle.
"All my life I've possessed a natural talent for more mind-based powers. I could influence others' thoughts, and had a very basic level of communication with some animal species. With some success I could give them instructions, and yet..." Lents paused. "I saw a small rodent, not unlike many of the other animals I've seen. I tried to calm it, and yet, when my mind touched its, it panicked even worse than it had been and ran off. This has never happened to me before, but I also think I should mention that my skills in telekinesis have grown much more rapidly than I could have ever imagined. A few weeks ago, I could barely move a lightsaber, but during the bounty hunt I was able to push three whole people back."
The master stopped and contemplated for a while. "Hmm. It may have to do with the change in mindset I offered you. Let's perform a simple test. I want you to try to touch my mind. My defenses will be completely down, just try to connect our thoughts."
"Well, okay." Lents agreed, and closed his eyes. He reached out a tendril of thought towards the master, and pushed a very gentle contact point. Just contact. No influence.
"Are you doing it?"
Lents nodded, and the master mumbled, "Well that's interesting. Let's move a little farther. Lents, try to influence my consciousness. Try to alter my current mindframe in some way."
"Alright." Lents tried to read the master's thoughts, and even though intuitively Lents could tell the master was completely open, his mind was very hard to decipher. He caught a few wisps a curiosity and contentedness, and tried to push some blankness into the master's mind, a simple technique that if successful would leave him confused and unaware of what had happened and was happening for a short while. As he pushed, the master cried out and immediately an durasteel-solid wall fortified his mind and pushed Lents out. Lents also went flying back a couple of meters in space. He grunted hard as he landed on the ground awkwardly from such an unexpected strike.
He rubbed his shoulder where he had landed as he stood up, asking "What happened?"
"Sorry about that," the master apologized, "It seems to me that now that you think of everything in the most physical of manners, it seems to me that when you tried to influence me mentally, you accidentally influenced physically, and pushed my brain against the inside of my skull."
Lents gasped. "So..."
"It means you have to choose."
"Choose...?"
"Choose which path of training you will take. It seems now you are ready to decide your specialization."
*Note from Oct 7, 2010: For the rest of the thread, the Nameless Master will be in green because that's the color I had him in before he officially became color=orange.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 6, 2008 7:37:06 GMT -8
"Choose?" Lents asked, brow furrowed.
"It seems to me that you have one sort of viewpoint at any given time. To become stronger to unite the Jedi, as you expressed the last time you were here, it seems that you need to choose one and go with it."
"So I can either continue training in more physical aspects or go back to my more mind-oriented skills."
"Yes, but it might be difficult letting go of the physical world aspect I taught you. You have embraced it quite remarkably, but if you were to desire going back to your other ways, I don't know how easy it would be for you to unlearn that which you have taken so well to. Just keep that in mind when you make your decision."
Lents acknowledged that, and walked off into the forest for some solace while he meditated about his big decision. He sat and thought, and communicated with the force, to see if it had any input, even if it was just a tiny push in one direction or another. After a while he opened his eyes and folded the fabric of reality around a pebble, causing it to lift off the ground and hover about a half-meter up in mid-air. The rock stayed there for a little bit, wavering slightly, but Lents set it down and began to listened to the sounds of the forest. He listened to the animals and plants, feeling them through the force. When he sensed a small avian up in the tree against which he was sitting, he reached out and sensed its mind, trying to get an intuitive feel for its workings as he had been able to before he had visited Ossus previously. But the natural inclination never came, and Lents didn't just feel how the animal was working. He tried to push his force tendril into the avian's mind, becoming frustrated, and the avian let out a harsh squawk and flew off, pushed by Lents' accidental physical influence. "I just can't seem to get it." Lents thought, letting go of his frustration before it could turn to anger. "No matter how I try to let go of world as objects sitting amidst a flow of the force, I cannot seem to revert to the simpler, more natural way of reading and influencing minds." He pondered the turn his skill had taken and how he had developed since the beginning of his journey. "But it is true. Before, I had a basic understanding of the force, but my skills were more intuitive and Master Beckoaret couldn't get me to embrace the more physical aspect of it. He helped me become stronger in my mental powers, but the base had always been blind and in the dark, even if I had felt my way naturally. Now, I have a more solid understanding of the way the force works, and regardless, I seem to have grown. I think this would be the best route to continue upon." He suddenly froze as he all-of-a-sudden remembered his childhood, and the bear-reptile that he had accidentally used to kill Qall, getting him exiled, even by his parents, from his home. That's how he had made his way to Coruscant. With resolve in his heart, he decided he'd never risk losing control like that again, and at that moment decided on the path he would take.
He returned to the master in the center of the camp.
"I have made my decision."
"Yes?"
"I will continue my path, training in my more physical powers."
The master smiled. "Then we have work to do. Come on, let's get started."
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 12, 2008 17:35:44 GMT -8
Lents had trained for days on end, working with the master, forgetting all his intuition and learning the skills he needed to become closer to the force, while slowly becoming more and more able to affect the world around him. The master pushed him but not too hard. If Lents fell too close to frustration, the master would stop the exercises and let Lents rest, while instructing Lents on how to keep his mind focused on the right methods.
Soon, Lents was able to lift his lightsaber with ease and make it move around his body with some degree of control. That day, the master began to instruct him in telekinetic lightsaber battling, where Lents fought with his lightsaber controlled with the force. "To be frank," the master had said, "Your Omwati body is not built strong enough to compete with other more stronger species, even with the force." He stopped, rapidly deducing information from Lents' expression and furrowed brow. "Like your Gen'dai friend." The master stopped again, to make sure that no fear or anger was seeping its way into Lents' mind. When he recognized acceptance in Lents' mind, and a will to overcome the challenge, he felt quite proud. He could make something strong out of this padawan. "But there is another option. I cite a poor example, but have you ever heard of Darth Traya?"
Lents shook his head.
"Darth Traya was an old human Sith master over four and a half thousand years ago. She was able to control three lightsabers at once with the force, telekinetically moving them about to fight against opponents physically stronger than her old body. I don't recommend following her path, because she was in the end betrayed by her two closest companions, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus. Quite fitting actually, due to her nickname, the Lord of Betrayal." He paused again, lost in thought. "Regardless, it was an example to show you that it is possible. With your rapid mastery of telekinesis and hard work, you can use your mind," the master tapped Lents' forehead, "to compete with the bodies of others."
Lents thought about this for a long while, realizing that were he to choose this path, he would have to further increase his concentration to control both his own body, to keep from being hit, and his lightsaber. It would be a challenge, but the payoff would be great. He reasoned for a minute, and came to the conclusion that that was the only way to maximize his own potential. He then remembered his battle with the pirate commander in the Star Destroyer above Ylesia. He had done just that then, but he had been reckless then with his own body, focusing only on his lightsaber. He realized that whether he wanted to or not, he had already started down that path. His fate was sealed, and he resigned himself to it. "Alright," he said, "I am willing to learn."
The master smiled. "Alright, let's begin. First, stave off these strikes with your blade. Do not let it fall to the ground, and do your best to keep control of it against my own blows. Defend yourself!"
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 15, 2008 17:29:51 GMT -8
Lents flicked his hand to the left and his bright yellow-colored lightsaber folowed, catching the master's own shining green double-bladed saber and being easily swept right with the master's own strength. Lents hopped back as the master stepped in, swinging his low blade near Lents' chest. Lents focused on his lightsaber and brought it swooshing in from the right at the master. Lents wasn't worried about harming the master; he knew the master could take care of himself. The master caught Lents' blade with the lowerblade, arm slightly contorted to offer greater leverage. But instead of sweeping it aside, he barked at Lents "Focus! Use your Omwati mental strength to keep your blade steady."
Lents clenched his eyes shut, pushing his mind at his blade, keeping it angled against the master's blade, fighting his slowly increasing pressure. Sweat beaded on his brow as he felt the master's physical resistance push against his mind. The master suddenly dropped back, halting his pushing, and advanced towards Lents
"We'll keep working on strength, but now keep your speed up!" And he swung his lightsaber near Lents' legs. Lents brought his lightsaer flying in, fighting back the master's blows, trying to keep the strength, but focusing more on speed, as with every light touch, the master would back off as if Lents had powerfully battered the double-blade aside.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 22, 2008 9:42:57 GMT -8
After many long days of training, Lents soon became somewhat confident in his abilities. He wasn't a master yet, not by far, but he was powerful enough to lead him to believe he was ready to become a full-fledged Jedi Knight, instead of just a Padawan. When he asked the master, the master replied "I have trained you well, and you are one of the best students I've had in a long while, but I do not think it is my job to give you that title. For that, I recommend you go back to your original master. He's the one that knew you best, and could most easily tell whether you are ready. If it's any consolation, Lents, were you one of my own, I would happily give you the title, but it is not my place." He paused. "Will you be leaving?"
Lents thought about it for a short while. "Yes, I'm going to go." He bowed his head. "Thank you for everything, Master..." It was at this point that Lents suddenly realized that he never acquired this master's name. His eyees widened as he froze in the bowed position.
"Something wrong, Lents?" The master asked inquisitively.
"Umm, Master, I've never learned your name..." Lents let this hang in the air, and he stayed bowed, to maximize his respect.
The master laughed. "I was wondering when you'd ask. You may stand straight," he offered. Lents unbent his body and cocked his head, looking at the master. "It is a very long story, but I abandoned my name long ago, vowing never to use it again."
"Why did you not take a new name?"
"It's not the name itself, it was the principle of having a name." The master sighed. "People here usually call me Master, or when talking about me, the Master, against my wishes. I cannot change what the others think about me, so if that name suits you, you may call me as such."
"...Alright. Thank you for everything... Master." Lents bowed quickly one last time, then turned and exited the vast covered chamber to go to the smaller opening adjacent, and boarded the Illuminant Rush among a host of other ships parked there, prepping for flight, then leaving Ossus.
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Post by Rayn Ares on Dec 22, 2008 15:39:27 GMT -8
After a few days in orbit, Rayn lost count of how long he had been waiting for the ship.
"Why... why am I still waiting here...why did master have to teach me to be excrutiatingly patient...?"
Rayn then reached back and opened the rations box behind his pilot's seat--empty...
Rayn let his head drop in defeat, "Dammit...."
Moments later the radar began beeping.
"Aha, finally!"
Rayn quickly regained his composure and opened a comm frequency,
ooc:
Don't worry, I've actually been pretty busy myself lately so I haven't been waiting intently for you to finish. I just wanted to post this since Rayn really hasn't been doing anything but sit here this whole time ^_^
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Post by Eth Erzin on Dec 23, 2008 9:49:21 GMT -8
Exiting Ossus' atmosphere, Lents received a message from the Bes'uliik that had been waiting in orbit during his entire stay on Ossus. He had written it off as a derelict, but now that obviously couldn't be the case. Suspicious of the ship's intentions but curious as to the pilot, Lents also realized that the ship had been in orbit for days on end. He reasoned that it must have had a reason for waiting. The main question was the reason of the pilot's wait.
Why would a pilot stay in orbit for several days over a planet that just happened to have a Jedi enclave on it? Was it indeed a Sith? Maybe it wanted to follow Lents to get to the Jedi, in which case Lents' blood ran cold, as he had forgotten about this Bes'uliik fighter and taken off straight form the enclave. Before he could curse his carelessness, however, Lents told himself that that wasn't the only possibility. The only clue to the ship's motive could be something in the words of the message. Scanning over the transmission again and again, Lents tried to deduce deeper meaning in the words.
The pilot was... distracted. What could that mean? And then it wanted Lents' reasons for being on Ossus. In case of suspicion Lents was absolutely not going to just tell this pilot that he had been training with Jedi. Then realizing that he had forgotten the entire time, Lents remembered to reach out with the force to try to get a bearing on this pilot's force compass. Reeling back in surprise, Lents detected niehter good nor evil. The pilot was definitely force-sensitive, but he had no alignment. Alright, Lents did detect a little bit of the light side, but it was less than even the newest of Padawans. Maybe this person had learned of his (...or her...) Lents thought, force sensitivity and was coming to find the enclave to try to train as a Jedi. But then why wait in orbit? That just ran the risk of exhausting the life support systems and supplies. Were the person to know in the first place that there was an enclave, he could just as easily do... nothing, Lents remembered, landside rather than in orbit. But that brought him again back to the question of why this person had been waiting for so long.
Thinking that it would be suspicious for him not to reply to the message, Lents quickly pulled together an alternate story so he could talk to this mysterious pilot and try to glean more facts, instead of meandering speculation.
He typed out a message and hit send.
Lents felt sorry for bringing Skeang into this, but it was the best story he could think of, and it held at least some basis in truth. He was a bounty hunter, and had worked with Skeang, and Skeang had been to Ossus. Why Skeang would come here though, was a detail he had failed to work out, so he got to thinking about why he would be here, in a sense coming back to square one.
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Post by Rayn Ares on Jan 5, 2009 16:29:29 GMT -8
[glow=blue,2,300] A bounty hunter looking for another bounty hunter?[/glow] Rayn thought, [glow=blue,2,300]On Ossus? I find it hard to belive it would take so long to look for someone unless he had to do it on foot with neither of them having any form of communication device-- which is unlikely. A bounty hunter would more likely be looking for a bigger prize here- like a jedi.
Of course, if that were the case he probably wouldn't still be here. And even if he were good enough to capture a jedi even I should be able to sense some kind of distress. [/glow]
"Wait-", he suddenly thought, " maybe.."
Rayn reached out toward the ship and tried to feel the pilot's presece in the force. He felt a strong presence there, but there didn't seem to be any sort of ill-intent there, just caution.
[glow=blue,2,300]A Jedi?[/glow]
There wasn't anyway to know for sure, but there didn't seem like any other reason for his being here.
Rayn opened up an audio frequency.
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Post by Eth Erzin on Jan 6, 2009 17:59:40 GMT -8
Lents froze as he read the words. So the pilot definitely was here for the Jedi, and reaching out with the force, he couldn't sense anything definite. The pilot did have a connection, but Lents couldn't deduce a solid alignment. True, he leaned slightly light-side, but Lents knew that it was possible for a Sith to hide his motives, like Darth Zannah three and a half millenia ago. She was able to walk freely about the Jedi library without rousing an ounce of suspicion. So what was this man? He could be a Sith that didn't have a perfect alignment shield, but then again, he could just be a force-sensitive looking to further his Jedi training. And then there was yet the mystery of the pilot's prolonged silence. Lents responded with a message that he joped would not make him seem overtly like a Jedi, in case the pilot was indeed a Sith, but give enough information that if the pilot were in fact truly a slightly light-side force-sensitive, he could pick up on Lents' status as a Jedi. --Even though I'm not quite a knight yet--
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Post by Rayn Ares on Jan 8, 2009 20:57:09 GMT -8
[glow=blue,2,300]Hm, quite a textbook answer,[/glow] Rayn thought, [glow=blue,2,300]Well I guess I'll go along with it for now.. but something tells me I should still keep an eye on him..[/glow]
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Post by Eth Erzin on Jan 8, 2009 21:44:18 GMT -8
Lents rubbed his chin. Interesting... this Rayn character is interested in where I'm going. He decided he'd be truthful but word the message so that it could be taken two ways. If Rayn was a Jedi, or force-sensitive who wanted to be a Jedi, he should take it to mean that Lents is also a Jedi, but if Rayn was with the Empire, then hopefully the message could throw him off Lents' scent.
Hopefully...
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Post by Rayn Ares on Jan 9, 2009 15:52:59 GMT -8
[glow=blue,2,300]Well[/glow], Rayn thought, [glow=blue,2,300]this guy definately doesn't seem the type to work with imperials; does that mean he's planning an attack on the Empire? Not in just that ship, that's for sure... Maybe his accomplices are on Coruscant-- and if he's a jedi that would mean...[/glow]
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Post by Eth Erzin on Jan 9, 2009 16:49:36 GMT -8
Now that's intereesting... Lents thought. This Rayn person was looking for some clients in the same way that Letns implied his own duties against the empire. Whatever Lents thought he was before, this certainly changed things. Best-case scenario, this person was a Jedi. Worst case, well, it seemed to have been eliminated. Interesting. Very interesting
Deciding to accept Rayn's offer, Lents resolved to trust him this time but maintain caution in case something was awry.
Lents sent the message then promptly routed the jump coordinates over to the Bes'uliik Starfighter's address.
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Post by Rayn Ares on Jan 11, 2009 21:16:38 GMT -8
"Okay," Rayn said to himself ",that worked out well enough. I wonder how this is all gonna turn out... "
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Post by Eth Erzin on Jan 12, 2009 17:05:32 GMT -8
Lents punched the ignition on his hyperdrive and the surrounding stars blurred into illegible lines as his ship slipped through realspace towards Coruscant.
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