Private Brave New World

[Dagon Kaze]

Temple Dojo,
Prosperity

One of the rare instances in which Dagon Kaze found himself on the Prosperity rather than Coruscant was when he took a day's rest from a mission before turning back home to the Queen of the Core. This wasn't any different. After a flood relief mission to the Colonies, he was on his way back and the Prosperity a part of his stops.

He seized the day by practicing his sword work in the Dojo with a training droid. As much as he would've wanted to delve into the Prosperity's library, he still had to keep shape. Oceiros Sunstrider willed it. One's physical shape was as important as their mental fortitude.

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

She had left the Room of a Thousand Foundations reinvigorated and at peace, but now just a short walk later she was back where she had started. The walls which lined the hallways appeared sinking, as though cascading down upon her in hopes of swallowing her whole, and though she tried to ignore it she could feel the thrum of the ships core. If she really strained she swore she could feel it moving. Well... she supposed it was moving. But nobody else seemed to notice or care.​

​

After a sheltered life hidden within the quieter throws of the Galaxy, where nature was abundant and the many threats were squashed before they appeared, her presence upon such a vessel was rather momentous. Auraya could not recall the last time she had boarded a ship, and had to wonder if she'd found it quite so repulsive then as she did now.​

​

She slowed to a crawl as she reached the training grounds, and let out a slow breath to steel her mind. Without anybody to look to for guidance she had found herself at quite a loss throughout their journey to the Core, it was up to Auraya to decide her own regimen. Meditation had been achieved, however short lived; there was time enough still in her afternoon to pick up a training saber.​

​

The first door she found was the one she chose, though upon entering she discovered it was not quite so empty as she had anticipated.​

​

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon took the brunt of the droid's onslaught, its configuration mimicking that of Juyo practitioner. With careful, efficient defensive strokes typical to his Soresu form, Dagon waited for the right opportunity for a counter-attack. The droid dived deeper into its assault and the Jedi parried the blow away and snapped a Shii-Choo riposte ending the threat. The droid's servos whirred and screeched before it deactivated its saber and rolled away revealing a girl at the door of the dojo; she looked lost.

He deactivated his saber, clipped it to his belt and ambled towards the girl.

"Hey." the Jedi nodded a greeting, then added, "Come right in, I am done for the day." he assumed she was looking to train herself.

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

Though she knew she should not have, though it betrayed some of the manners she'd been raised with, Auraya could not help but stand and stare at the Jedi before her, witnessing his calm and patient use of Soresu, in conjunction with some carefully executed Shii-Cho. To say that he put her skills to shame would be an understatement. He could only have been a few years her senior... Had he also been raised within the Order? Had he simply taken to his training far swifter than she?​

​

That wasn't exactly difficult, was it? She was a well known disgrace.​

​

The droid which had lingered between them moved away, powering down in wait of its next opponent, revealing her by the doorway. Busted. She tried to fight back the slight colour which raised in her cheeks, to seem like anything other than a fly on the wall to his training, and stood firmly in place as he approached. Every fiber of her being begged her to flee, but this was a starship they were upon. There was only so many places to hide.​

​

"Hello," she responded, hastily bowing her head by way of a more formal greeting. At least she could show she had some sort of manners to her. "Thank you. You have quite a way with that thing."​

​

She took a couple of steps forward, at his behest, and glanced past him at the dojo beyond. Would she too make use of the droid? She'd be lying if she claimed she knew how to program it to be more in tune with her level of skill... But asking seemed a harder task to bear.​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"Thanks." he replied with a slight smile, followed by a long, awkward silence. She seemed oddly shy and he seemed oddly lost on what to do.

"You wanna train with me?" Dagon asked, or rather stated as he telekinetically pulled a training saber from nearby, "Come over." he basically shoved the hilt on her and started walking backwards towards the dojo pad.

"Name's Dagon, by the way. What's yours? Don't think I've seen you around before."

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

That awkwardness seemed to stretch on far longer than it actually did, time slowing to a crawl as they looked at one another - each as unsure as the other on how to proceed.​

​

And then out of nowhere a training saber was darting through the air and into his hand, as he inquired as to whether or not she wished to train alongside him. Strange, given that he had just finished his own session. But in the whirlwind that had suddenly ensued around her she found herself quite caught up in the moment.​

​

"Um, sure. Yeah, why not..."​

​

Chances were she wouldn't ever see him again, after all; the Galaxy was a vast, incomprehensibly large place after all... Even if she embarrassed herself, would it ultimately matter?​

​

"I'm Auraya," she informed him with a smile, as she dipped her head into a light bow and took the offered saber from him. One step back, before the tell-tale snap-hiss of an ignited lightsaber bounced around the room alongside a bright blue glow attributed to the blade. She adjusted her grip slightly, getting used to the weight of the tool, before nodding just once.​

​

"I haven't seen you either, Dagon. Must be from different Enclaves."​

​

Because, of course, as a fellow Padawan he had to have come from an enclave... right?​

​

"So, uh, what do you want to practice?" As if she knew anything outside of the basics of Shii-Cho...​

​

Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

He lit his own blade and tinkered with the intensity dropping it down to that of a training saber.

Enclave?

Dagon raised an eyebrow, blinking, at Auraya slightly confused.

"Enclave?" did she mean...like--what did she mean? "Uh, Coruscant, I guess."

The young Jedi padawan struck a standard Soresu pose.

"You ever trained Soresu from...uh--where are you from?" her mention of an enclave baffled him, then with a whisper he hinted, "legs shoulder-width apart."

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

Coruscant.​

​

That would explain it. No doubt he was far more worldly than she then. Interesting.​

​

"No, not really, but I'm open to learning a thing or two..."​

​

He didn't need to know how little she actually had in her arsenal of knowledge, right? Learning something new would mean she had cause to fumble and falter. Provided he was okay with helping her through the basics of the form.​

​

His query on where she was from was an interesting question to be sure, one she couldn't rightly answer. So she shrugged her shoulders, and matched his stance.​

​

"I'm not sure, really. But it was very green and lush. Just... an enclave."​

​

They hadn't ever really put a name to the world. No doubt in hopes that it would remain undiscovered...​

​

"But I'm going to Coruscant. It's exciting, isn't it? To see more of the Galaxy..."​

​

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

She doesn't know the name of---what?

Baffled, he tried to make sense of it but failed. Did it really matter? Not exactly, but his curiosity topped even the most severe of bookworms of the Jedi Order.

And those breathed learning.

Dagon looked her over once more - she looked Human, a few years his junior. The Force hinted at the rest - confusion and eagerness.

"First time? Coruscant, that is." he smiled softly recalling his own 'maiden voyage' to the capital of the galaxy. From the wilds of Ruusan to the infinite cityscape of Coruscant, the sensory overload could not be described. The padawan shifted into a Shii-Cho stance; not his preferred one but quite viable for their little sparring match. "Soresu's strength lies in its simplicity - the efficiency of its movements. Not one motion of the blade is irrelevant."

He further elaborated on the Form for a painfully long time but stopped when he felt he was dropping far more information than anyone could assimilate.

"Ugh, I might've gone on a tangent a bit." Dagon admitted, shifted back to Soresu and added, "Just follow my moves."

He would demonstrate the tight motions of the blade befitting Form III, while in-between explanations and corrections, he would ask her, "Is someone picking you up from here for Coruscant? You could always hop in with me, I am leaving later today."

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

His next question was met with yet more unsatisfying answers from the girl. She nodded, a firm enough response to his question, mirroring his stance as she stood across from him. Shii-Cho, she knew Shii-Cho... kind of. But his words spoke of Soresu, not Shii-Cho; she would be learning more than she bargained for then. Two for the price of one, given it was a refresher in Form One's stance if nothing else.​

​

"First time, well, anywhere," were the words she uttered, gaze shifting around the interior of the room as though realizing that this space counted as somewhere. "Well, other than the Enclave and this ship, of course..."​

​

She fell into a nice, quiet silence and took in all of the information he was willing to divulge. Conservation of energy, biding ones time, an immovable rock against a torrent of unending water. To wait for a break in those waves, and to follow through and capitalize upon it. It was a Form for a specific kind of person, one who could remain focused in the eye of the storm, who did not lose their cool, who could remain patient no matter how long it took for that break to appear.​

​

Truly, something about it spoke to her. She was not blood thirsty, she did not enjoy the art of swordplay, it was simply all a means to an end for her. And one she wasn't particularly good at, either. That certainly didn't help.​

​

"I liked hearing about it, if that helps any," she smiled, as he seemingly shook himself out of the theoretical and into the practical. Though she wasn't particularly good, her form often lacking, she found in the man a certain patience that was not often displayed by her fellow Padawans. Not when they were trying to get a point across, at least. She appreciated that patience more than she could express. He corrected her form, her stance, what few strikes she mimicked.​

​

Progress might have been slow, but it was progress no less.​

​

"I think a shuttle is supposed to pick me up," she said, though she didn't sound all that convinced, "I could message ahead, and see if that would be okay. It would be nice to go into the unknown with someone who isn't a total stranger..."​

​

She knew deep down that she was far from prepared for the greater Galaxy.​

​

But what she did not know was just how unprepared she was.​

​

Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

First time anywhere, huh. Not too surprising, he assumed. He had been just a few years younger than her when he had ventured off-world from Ruusan. Alas, the memory wasn't pleasant, especially not the reason for which he had departed his homeworld.

But the Force worked in mysterious ways.

Their lesson continued for around an hour, more in remarks about the actual form of Soresu rather than anything personal. Small talk had no place in the dojo, Dagon recalled someone telling him.

Returning the training saber back to its place, the two drifted off into the Prosperity.

"My stuff's already on my ship." he noted. "Let's get your stuff and leave for Coruscant."

My ship was a stretch. It was the Order's merely leasing it to him.

Dagon mulled over prodding more about her. Hesitance flashed only for a moment before curiosity took back control.

"Say - you leave behind anyone important? I mean, back on that green and lush planet."

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

Their session lasted as long as it needed to, with all that Dagon was willing to share, though the remainder of it lacked the same amount of small talk as the start had. It made sense, of course, learning required focus, more so when blades were involved, and given that Auraya was a very eager student she fell into the rather silent state with a sense of ease.​

​

By the end of the session, she was mentally and physically drained. She had returned the borrowed training saber to its place, and then joined Dagon out in the hall as they began to venture toward their next destinations. First to grab her things, and ensure that a message was sent ahead, and then to his ship.​

​

Simple enough.​

​

"Great!" she said, with a grin, "I just have a pack in my cabin, shouldn't take long at all."​

​

She was traveling light. What possessions could she possibly have, after all, having lived her whole life among the Jedi? The answer was very little. A couple of changes of clothes, a datapad, commlink, and the training hilt on her belt. ​

​

Was she forgetting anything?​

​

If she was it didn't matter, because it all fit perfectly within the pack.​

​

Then a question as posed, breaking up some of the time it spent to reach her cabin, and she immediately shook her head.​

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"I spent my whole life there, but I have no family or anything among them. The friends I had have all moved on, most of them are preparing for their trials. I'm, uh..." she let out a slight sigh, and looked away from him in hopes that she could find something else to distract her. "I'm the one who lagged behind, I guess..."​

​

Would she continue in much the same way? Was that all she'd ever amount to?​

​

Force if she knew.​

​

Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

A warm smile curved his lips and he set his arm on her shoulder reassuringly. He had never been able to match his brother's martial prowess as a kid and always lagged behind in that aspect. Where Aeric swung the sword, Dagon learned to carry the torch. Every piece has its place in the puzzle, more or less. He was no master duelist, even if his physical capabilities were quite strong, the padawan's strength came from his wits and thus his touch with the Force.

"Don't think that." he said. "Comparing ourselves to others won't ever help us. Our only benchmark is us yesterday." Dagon recalled Oceiros Sunstrider 's inspiring words during his physique lessons under the Jedi.

"Come on, get your stuff - don't know what they've taught you at your Enclave but the New Jedi have a different outlook on things." Dagon smirked but behind it a shade of grim. In a galaxy of Jedi indifference, Ryv had raised his sword against the encompassing darkness. The young, the New, had rallied behind his cause.

From the lush, green world she had departed, Auraya was about to come face to face with the harsh reality.

And light the way with her saber for the others.

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

His words were oddly inspiring, though she had never intended to glean anything of the sort from him when she'd spoken. All she'd done was offer the truth, there was nothing more she had than that after all, just the reality she had known for sixteen years, and the unknown which lingered on the horizon.​

​

She returned his smirk with a smile, and nodded her head some.​

​

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, yesterdays me knew nothing of Soresu so I thank you for that."​

​

They reached the door swiftly enough after that, and it opened with a hiss. Inside the room was sparse, and as she'd indicated one simple backpack lay upon the made bed. She hadn't left anything the way she hadn't found it, everything was as it had been.​

​

She shouldered the pack, then turned back to him.​

​

"Alright, let's go then."​

​

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a comm-device, and as they ventured forth toward his ship she used it to call on ahead in warning. No issues presented themselves, so long as she arrived by the time and date she was expected then all was well.​

​

Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"Exactly." he nodded with a lopsided smile. Always be better than yesterday.

It didn't take them long to reach the ship - a small freighter, old model but retrofitted and modified. Not great, not terrible. The ramp opened up and in they went. Nearly spartan. Fitting for a Jedi. Or for some bureaucrat in the Alliance trying to cut costs.

"It ain't much, but it'll take us from A to B, no problem." Dagon said as they shuffled through the ship's interior towards the cockpit. "Uh, ignore the mess." he muttered glancing at a desk in the main hold; chaos in the form of holocrons and datapads sprawled over it. The padawan tended to be a little more organized usually, picking up on Auteme 's impeccable tidiness. He'd spend hours upon hours slamming his head at the wall researching.

"The autochef back in the main hold's pretty decent, though, I won't lie. Makes burgers nearly as good as Hutta Burgers." he chuckled stupidly.

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

"Hutta... Burgers..?" she inquired, with a look of pure confusion upon her face. Not even confusion, really, just an inability to truly comprehend what he'd said, to conceptualize it in her mind.​

​

As the ship was opened up to her and she looked around she immediately took note of the various avenues of knowledge upon the desk. Though she would never actually pry or look through it, there was a small amount of excitement and curiosity which ran through her mind at the sight of it. What wonders lay within?​

​

"Thank you for this," she said, quite enjoying the more sparse interior in truth. It allowed for a bit more room, space to breathe. "It's nice not to go into the unknown entirely alone. How long have you been a Jedi?"​

​

He seemed far more experienced than she was, though that wasn't difficult. She'd been in one place her entire life, and even there she was the mediocre, failing student.​

​

But Coruscant... Maybe Coruscant would make all the difference.​

​

Right?​

​

Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"You really come from nowhere, huh?" Dagon chuckled as he lit the engines up, plotted the course, set it on auto pilot and turned back from the cockpit toward the main hold. "Come over here I will show you." he wasn't any different when he'd been a starstruck boy from Ruusan leaving the sparsely homeworld behind.

The Jedi stopped at what looked like a worktable. Another glance at it and one would figure out it was an autochef machine. A control panel lit to life at his touch and he tapped to order two Hutta-esque Burgers. Even Jedi needed junk food, come on.

"Thank you for this, it's nice not to go into the unknown entirely alone. How long have you been a Jedi?"

He averted his eyes from the autochef machine at work, he'd always seemed fascinated by it for some reason.

"Uhh, about--uh, a bit less than a decade, I think." he squinted trying to remember exactly the date but it fled his mind.

"And you?"

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

"I did warn you..." she mumbled with a mock pout, before it devolved into more of a grin. Much of the worries she'd had initially had begun to melt away, with nothing she absolutely had to do it was like she could simply exist, be a kid for once instead of constantly fretting over what she was or wasn't doing.​

​

She followed him to the back where the auto-chef was held, and as he made use of the device she kind of just... stared at it. Bewildered. She wasn't new to technology in general, of course. But the Enclave certainly hadn't had anything like this on offer. How did it work? Why did it work?​

​

He explained the length of time, seemingly distracted by the machine also, and she too had to force herself to look away and glance at him so as not to be rude.​

​

"All I've ever known," she explained with a shrug, pondering again on how futile her attempts must have been if someone who had only been there for part of the time she had was so clearly surpassing her. It was nothing new though, she'd been slowly falling behind her fellows for quite some time.​

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Dagon Kaze ​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

The autochef groaned, rather than beep, signaling both the readiness of the burgers and its own badly maintained state. He offered one to Auraya before unwrapping his own and taking a large bite out of it. From all his curiosity, Dagon had forgotten how hungry he had been. While it did not match Hutta Burgers' taste, it sure did come with a leak-proof package. No rivers of grease to be seen.

Munching on the burger, the Jedi pressed a few buttons and two carton cups materialized. The machine groaned again and began filling the cups with soda. Off-brand, of course. Sugar prices had spiked apparently. This time it beeped just as it slid two straws into the cups. Dagon took a gulp straight from the cup washing down the bite, then, "All you've known, huh?" he raised an eyebrow, musing for a long second.

"Lucky." he smirked. Or not so much. Dagon wondered how he would feel or actually be had he known nothing except the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. "Much less baggage that way, I think."

"Why didn't you stay at the Enclave? Lots of Jedi still do." the padawan asked. He had his own mixed feelings about that but he didn't voice them. Jerking his head at her burger, "You like it?"

Auraya Irath-Ur

 

[Auraya Irath-Ur]

"I suppose," she said, as he expressed that she was lucky to have no external ties, "I mean, sometimes I wonder... You know, who they were, or why they left me with the Jedi, but I suppose it does no good to dwell on it." She had made peace with that a long time ago. Sure it hurt to know that it wasn't a necessity, that one could exist within the Jedi and still have those ties these days. This wasn't the days of the Republic, after all, there were no rules against it. ​

​

But this was all she'd known. Nothing she could do to change that.​

​

She took a bite of the burger as he asked another question, and mulled it over for a second.​

​

"I think they'd lost hope," she confessed, her voice quiet as though by uttering it she might speak it into life, "A lot of them had tried to take me on as a Padawan, but their methods didn't... click? I don't know. Hopefully there'll be someone on Coruscant who won't be so quick to decide I'm not worth their time."​

​

She shrugged. There was no use in denying the truth of the matter, she was a hard worker, she put her all into it, but that didn't stop her from struggling all the same. One would think that Jedi would show patience abound, but evidently enough had been enough.​

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"If not, well... There's gotta be something out there for me, no?"​

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She smiled, and then nodded to his query about the burger. "It's good, thank you..."​

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Dagon Kaze ​