Public A Healthy Way to Start Your Day [Character Introduction]

[Amani Serys]

Amani paused, then spoke up,

"How do you mean, it wasn't what you imagined?"

She didn't mean to sound prying, but she was quite curious by now. Amani was not very exposed to any sort of major violence or conflict, and it was something that she was frankly a bit nervous about. She figured it would be bound to happen in the career of a Jedi, but she always held on to a glimmer of naivety regarding it.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi took a deep breath, more to stabilise himself than for lack of air. It had not been a pleasant experience, but if you locked that bad away it just became a dangerous thing trying to escape into the rest of your mind.

"You...imagine that because you've been trained as a jedi that everything will be controlled. That you're an island of calm, but you get swept up in the storm. Violent creatures we've been immersed in violence for decades don't really...stop for a few jedi tricks."

 

[Acaadi]

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani was surprised by the trouble this thought seemed to bring to Acaadi. She backpedaled on her curiosity.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for prying. I didn't mean to bring back any unpleasant memories."

She quickly tried to rememdy the situation,

"We could always talk about something else, if you want."

 

[Acaadi]

"You don't need to say sorry about it," Acaadi replied. "If I put it completely out of mind then it's only going to get worse. I don't want it becoming a dark thing that just...stays down there. Does that even make sense?" he asked.

Acaadi turned back to his breakfast. He needed to eat quickly enough that he could grab a sonic shower before the healing class. He was going to be unpopular if he didn't.

 

[Amani Serys]

"I think I get what you're saying. It can't all be bad though, right? I'm sure you've still got a lot of experiences ahead of you, and you're still young, so there's a lot of time to gain that wisdom."

Amani was perhaps being optimistic, but in reality she really didn't know what she was talking about. Her own experiences were more limited than Acaadi's. She also began to turn her attention to her food, realizing that class would be soon approaching.

 

[Acaadi]

"Yeah, yeah that's true," he replied. It was nice to hear it out loud, to have someone else say it. It was difficult when you were so used to having everything come easy to arrive at an answer that there was no immediate fix to the problem. Only time and mote experience could help. He was quite aware that it was his own arrogance that made it hard to swallow.

"Do you mind if I ask, are you from Mirial? I grew up in a mirialan colony and I've always wondered what our home world is like," Acaadi said, shifting the topic. It was a curiosity that he had always held, having felt slightly removed from the spiritual home of his kind.

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani shakes her head.

"Ah, no, I'm afraid not."

She looks up and away from her plate as though daydreaming, recalling parts of her childhood before the Jedi Order.

"Well, I was born there, but I never knew what it was like. We left Mirial not long after I was born. My parents raised me on Tython, which is where I stayed until the Order found me. I've heard it was a bit cold, so I suppose I'm not too upset about missing out on that."

That said, Amani herself was certainly curious about the Mirialan homeworld herself. She had thought from time to time about traveing there, but as it stands her Jedi duties lead her elsewhere, not to mention the galactic politics and/or tensions that plague so many systems these days.

 

[Acaadi]

"Huh," he went. Another mirialan in a similar position. It still tickled him that their names were so similar. There weren't even that many green skinned people around the entire academy. She was also very pretty which meant she was destined to be his crush for at least the next week.

"I guess sometimes I feel I don't know as much about my people as I should..."

"Look, I've got to run and shower or else I'm going to be so unpopular at class. Meet you there?" he asked

 

[Amani Serys]

"I know what you mean." Amani finished her meal around the same time as him.

"Look, I've got to run and shower or else I'm going to be so unpopular at class. Meet you there?" he asked

Amani nodded her head. "Sure thing, I'll see you there." As far as making friends goes, Amani thinks that was a pretty good start.

 

[Acaadi]

"Psst," went Acaadi as he approached Amani Serys from behind her left shoulder. The padawans were arranged in a semi circle around the central area. They had soft cushions on the ground to sit or kneel on. Acaadi dropped himself onto the one beside Amani. He now wore his full padawan robes and, more important, no longer stank.

Master Gylenni hasn't arrived yet. The kaminoan jedi master often drifted in and out of her classes. Acaadi had expected something more clinical to their healing lessons, in fact they were quite open talking shops as she explained biology and the more abstract nature of Force healing.

 

[Amani Serys]

Acaadi's whisper startled Amani out of her thoughts, though she wasn't so much irritated as she was just surprised.

"Oh, hey," She whispered back. "You said this is your first time in this class, right?"

She held her voice low so as to not disturb the class. Gylenni was a nice enough master, but Amani still dared not do anything that may invoke her ire.

 

[Acaadi]

"They only just let me up from the absolute basics class," he admitted. "Honestly I wasn't..."

Master Gylenni looked over the their direction, turning her impossibly long neck. Acaadi fell silent until she looked away.

"...sure I should even bother."

 

[Amani Serys]

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine. Today's class is supposed to be a little easier than normal, I think."

Amani sat up straight and attentively, Master Gylenni was a creature of habit, and Amani knew the signs that meant she was about to start lecturing.

She turns back to Acaadi again briefly, "If you ever get confused by something, just do whatever I'm doing."

 

[Acaadi]

Amani Serys

"That works as long as I can do what you're doing at the time," Acaadi mused, flashing a mischievous smile.

Acaadi sat more upright, turning for the teacher. His parents had installed a healthy respect for learning in their only child. He might have smiled as if he was trouble, but he didn't like being told off.

"Today," the master said in her soft, sing song voice, "we're going to spend some time learning how to diagnose with the Force. Pair up and we're going to go over how to go over sensing the parts of the hand. Or we'll learn that for the first time for those new to the class."

 

[Amani Serys]

"Sounds like your lucky day. You can pair up with me, if you want."

Amani moves around to sit and face Acaadi, getting into position for the lesson.

"This shouldn't be too bad, especially since we're working together. Two heads are better than one, and all that. Just follow my lead."

She holds out her hand to initiate. She had done this before a number of times, and was used to it by now.

 

[Acaadi]

"Do you want to go first?" Acaadi whispered. He was glad to be paired up with Amani. It was nice to get to know her and she had already shown her aptitude for the subject. It wasn't really in his nature to go looking for help, but all the recent incidents where he had come up short had taught him there was just an endless volume left to learn.

"Are you slightly nervous that I'll boil the blood in your hand or something?"

Acaadi hadn't noticed that the class teacher had already gone straight to the other pair with a first timer to help and would be with them soon. Amani seemed to have garnered a lot of trust from the kaminoan.

 

[Amani Serys]

"Are you slightly nervous that I'll boil the blood in your hand or something?"

Amani quickly retorts, "No! No, nothing like that." Maybe a slight overreaction, but she didn't want to make Acaadi feel like he was incapable or untrustworthy. She relaxes a bit and lets herself stifle a small laugh at the question.

"Since you're new to the class, I just figured I'd show you what I do. Here, hold out your hand."

Really not even giving Acaadi a chance to consider, she pulls his arm up into the center, palm facing up. She then lays her other hand down just over his, so that they are barely not touching. Amani stares intently down at their hands, calling out to the Force. In her moment of concentration, she can't help but barely stick her tongue out the side of her mouth, it was a habit she had when she was focused on a task. Before long, she began to sense parts of his hand with the Force. A feeling like water running throughout his hand came to her, and it came to him as well, a feeling like someone gently pouring a bucket over his hand, running along his fingers and palm. It was soothing, in a way. Really, even by now Amani was unsure if this was a universal feeling, or if it was specific to her applications of such Force usage.

 

[Acaadi]

Amani Serys

A shiver ran down his spine when he felt the touch of the Force. It didn't brush up against his consciousness, something he was used to from having an empath for a best friend. Instead it was weaving itself through his hand. It felt cold.

Acaadi looked up, seeing the intense concentration on her face. He grinned at the sight of her sticking her tongue out, but only for a moment before his gaze was drawn back down.

"And you can feel inside my hand?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He didn't want to break her focus.

 

[Amani Serys]

Acaadi

"...Something like that." Her response came off a bit disinterested, like she was only half-listening to Acaadi's words. Really, she was just too focused to think too heavily about anything else. She stared intently as she continued, the feeling starting to weaken as her mind continued to wander further.

"It's like..." One last ditch effort to hold on fails as she tries to follow through with the conversation. The sensation fades, and Amani drops her hand to her side, sighing in annoyance. "Ugh."

She sat back up and brushed off her disappointment, it wasn't all that big a deal here, now.

"I try hard to not actually think too deeply about what exactly it is I'm feeling. If I ponder it too much I get a little existential. It's like when you stare at yourself in the mirror for too long, y'know?"

She paused a moment, her green-skinned cheeks turned a darker shade, akin to a human blushing. Did blurting that out made her sound totally crazy?

"...That's not just a me thing, right?"