Private Drunkle Damian & Cocky Caden

[Caden Evesa]

He ran his hand through his hair.

The last time he had seen Damian was when the older gentleman had taught him the elegant form of Makashi. That day had been years ago and Caden remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered his fight with Damian, the training spars that they had up on the mountain's of Commenor. He remembered leaving Damian's side, not knowing it would be the last time for a while.

Since that day, Caden had trained in combat with the Mandalorian soldiers. He had served in numerous wars and been in numerous battles. He had been on a ship as it had crashed, fought people that should have been his friends. He had entirely changed since the last time Damian had seen him, since the last time Damian had spoken to him.

Until now.

Caden walked across Kashyyyk. He had reached out to Damian and the older Jedi Master had given him a location out in the forest. Caden wasn't surprised in the slightest that they were meeting so far away from everyone. If it was anything like their "training" session the last time they met, a few trees would lose their lives.

Damian had been one of his first friends in the Silver Jedi, a mentor to him. He was more like an uncle figure to the young man and Caden appreciated his guidance every single time it was offered. The man had the experience and wisdom where Caden had reckless youth and the maturity on his side.

Not to say Damian wasn't mature, but he was certainly more like the relaxed uncle.

Caden adjusted his lightsaber that sat at his waist. He'd set it to a training intensity before he went head to head with Damian. Accidentally killing the older Jedi Master wasn't something he wanted to do today. He was surely going to get a bad reputation if he accidentally killed the man.

"Master Starchaser"

Caden grinned as he approached the man.

"It's been a while Damian."

Damian Starchaser

 

[Damian Starchaser]

And there he was, teaching again. It seemed like the only thing he really did anymore, and that was a sad thing. There was a time when the last thing anyone would have thought to do was ask Damian Starchaser to teach anyone anything let alone an impressionable youth and yet here he was in front of him. Truth was Damian was a clone and the person in front of him wasn’t that much older than himself, but don’t let technicalities get in the way of a good gripe.

“Right.” He said looking at the youth. “First thing first, you won’t be needing that lightsaber right now.”

That was probably a shock. Didn’t Damian say last time that the best practice was doing? Sure he’d spar, but maybe later. “You gotta walk before you can run,” Damian said. Little did Caden know how accurate that comment was.

“Follow me,” Damian said walking towards a sandpit. The ground was soft, loose, and filled with posts a little over knee high to Caden arranged in a pattern of offset pairs.following one another in a large circle. “Right. So.” Damian said kneeling in the circles edge. “You’re going to do this.” Damian walked making circles around the posts with his feet and barely scraping his behind on them as he passed over them, leaned down with a proper bend to his knees.

After demonstrating the walk around the circle he stopped and stared at the youth. “But it isn’t that easy. Get too low you scrape the back of your leg or ass on a stake. Go too high….” Damian reached behind him and grabbed a stick which he started to swing at a height above Caden’s head. “Well you might take a bonk to the head. Time to learn to walk again.”

Caden Evesa

 

[Caden Evesa]

Caden wasn't surprised that he didn't need his lightsaber.

Damian had already used the idea of an all out spar, he wouldn't recycle ideas unless absolutely necessary. He seemed to creative for that, too inventive. His mind seemed to be full of potential life threatening situations that taught you exactly what you needed to know.

The young Padawan remembered the first time he'd experienced Damian, the time he had touched the weapon of the man and seen the fight he had been involved in. He didn't seem to be doing much fighting anymore, he tended to only be seen teaching students.

What a waste of talent.

The Jedi Master in front of him was extremely talented and it seemed a waste of all that talent, his force gift, to stick him in a class room and have him teach. Yeah, Caden had asked him but that was different. He wasn't sure how it was different but it was different.

Casually, he followed the Master into the sandpit. The ground was soft, loose and full of posts that came to just above the height of his knee. Damian's demonstration of what to do was pretty simple, but Damian wasn't one for simple and Caden had expected the extra challenge.

Yet, he did it. It took him a few attempts and a lot of scraping of the back of the leg, but he did it. He managed to circle the posts without too much damage. A little bit of minor bleeding and a gentle bruise that would form on his face from where he smacked his head up on the stick above wouldn't hurt anyone.

Yet he had beaten Damian's first task.

Damian Starchaser

 

[Damian Starchaser]

Near the beginning he’d given the boy a number of lumps on the head encouraging him to stay down, which resulted in some scraping legs, before the youth finally got the hang of it. Damian smiled at the progress, which indeed it was. Step one was completed, or near enough. Personally he’d like to make him do this little exercise until his legs gave out and muscle memory took over. Still it was good enough for now.

Damian closed his eyes for a moment before sitting down envisioning his route. “How are you Caden?” he asked. This was something a mentor figure, which he’d insist he wasn’t, would ask. “Have you found anyone to help with your gift of psychometry.”

Without missing a beat Damian started to stretch out his legs and arms cracking a shoulder as he rotated it and leaning into a long stretch of his legs. He was preparing for something, limbering up, and hoped that Caden would take the hint.

Caden Evesa

 

[Caden Evesa]

Damian's hint to get warmed up was pretty much taken.

Within seconds the young man was stretching and preparing himself for the physical exertion that was certainly going to take place. Caden hadn't expected anything less, especially after the last time they had trained like this and they had nearly killed each other.

"Surviving"

It was the most honest way to answer the mans question. He hadn't had chance recently to sit down and question how he was. He'd floated and bounced from battle to battle, from war to war, from fight to ship crash. He'd been through hell and not really had time to process any of it.

"Psychometry, as I learnt, isn't one of those things that someone helps with. Honestly, I learnt how to control it through experience. I studied everything from a small rock to a blaster rifle. You eventually learn the things worth looking into and the things you absolutely want to avoid"

He looked at Damian. Again it was the truth, he'd learnt to control his gift through sheer experience. The gift had shown him both peaceful calm and chaotic horrors and it was honestly the best way he had found to learn to control it.

"What about you? Surprised you're not on the front lines"

Damian Starchaser

 

[Damian Starchaser]

Damian listened to Caden for the moment without replying before the boy asked him a question. Why wasn’t he on the front lines? Truth was that wasn’t exactly his style. He’d rather sneak, steal, lie, or manipulate from behind the scenes. Still it was a question he’d asked himself and one he was sure ‘Uncle’ Coren would bring up. Why wasn’t he on the front lines? The truth was he wasn’t so much use there. He’d failed in every engagement he’d had and seen his body broken. First by the bloody emperor who he had failed defeat as a padawan, then his friend Hion the herglic who turned to darkness, and then by the giant known as Velok. Overall his battlefield performance had been rather unsatisfactory in his mind. He forgot easily the situations and the merits of his own performance in them.

Well the question was easy enough to answer for Damian, because he’d choose not to. Standing up looking up at the sky he considered for a moment. “You know I imagine a rock that has been around for a billion years has seen as much death and destruction as a blaster that’s been around twenty, more even. Granted the blaster probably had it happen in a much shorter time.”

Looking back at Caden he considered and smiled. “The difference is the rock has seen mountains form, tree’s grow, and the little things that make life flourish and happen. I am no expert in this ability of yours but I think trying to focus on the positive would do you good. It might be more about expectation than actual events. Think about it, you pick up a blaster and what do you expect to see? It's use as a weapon. You're not thinking about it's construction, it's testing. You're not thinking about a soldiers care to it's maintenance. The force is very mental thing in my experience.”

Was it good advice? Probably not, but it was the best Damian had.

Caden Evesa

 

[Caden Evesa]

There was worse advice in the galaxy.

Damian's wasn't exactly awful, it hit the idea on the head pretty well. If he focused more on what he wanted to see, he'd be more likely to see those bits instead of seeing all the violence and chaos and carnage that came with things like blasters and weapons and corpses.

Corpses. He was glad he had never used Psychometry on corpses.

Caden wasn't surprised that Damian avoided the question about not being on the front lines. Caden had seen what happened on the front lines, he'd lived out the fight that had occurred between Damian and The Sith Emperor. He'd witnessed every emotion, all of the fear that Damian felt.

Then he found it.

The first thing he felt was desperation. He saw the juggernaut, the monster in front of Damian. He felt the desperation from the man as he fought for his life. He felt the pain as the big man grabbed his hand and began to crush it. He felt the agony that Damian felt.

He relived everything, all of it. He felt every emotion and saw every action. The lightsaber had seen so much anger and pain. He found himself feeling sorry for Damian, the man had been through so much and still maintained such a positive, cheery attitude.

Then his eyes snapped open.

It was a memory he replayed a fair amount, the memory of touching Damian's lightsaber and seeing everything that had occurred. The memory of seeing the struggle, the agony that Damian went through and that Damian was feeling. It was a horrible memory.

"Maybe. I like to think the force shows us what it wants us to see, what it thinks will be helpful for us. If that means having to replay all the damage to the galaxy then so be it, if it furthers me towards the end game the force has put in place then surely it's a good thing?"

Damian Starchaser