Private Focus & Control

[Kara Jade]

Now Kara wouldn’t openly admit it, but the Prosperity had already become something of a home for her. Not just a place she had to stay, somewhere she was told to return to. But rather a place she was happy to be at. Thus, when Kara heard the ship had survived the defence of Tython, she was relieved.

She had made it abundantly clear early on, she wanted nothing to do with the wars that were going on. Not like the Jedi were going to force Padawans onto the battlefield; at least she hoped that wasn’t the case. But Kara knew where her skills were, and it wasn’t fighting in wars.

Her time away from the ship was spent visiting old stomping grounds, reuniting with old friends. It had been a pleasant time, but all the while Kara had to keep a lid on her Force connection. As unwieldy as it still was, she’d been advised to not use it unless it was an emergency.

But now she was back in the Prosperity and equally as frustrated as when she had departed prior. With the vessel still handling repairs after Tython, there had been an increased bustle of Jedi coming and going. Fortunately though, Kara was still able to find her little space to recluse and study. Taking up one of the tables in the library, tucked away in a corner.

The blonde Padawan was seated at one end of the table, eyes focused and one arm stretched out towards the opposite. At the other end was a group of metal spheres. Consisting of one larger orb surrounded by five smaller ones. Kara’s attention was solely on those, trying to reach out with the Force. When nothing happened, the woman sighed slumping down onto the table.

“Ugh, why does this have to be so boring…” She grumbled, her words muffled against the table’s surface.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Prosperity
Items: Necklace

These days, Valery rarely found herself at the Prosperity — the Coruscant Temple was almost rebuilt, so she was overseeing it and already staying there from time to time. Today though, she paid a visit to see how the repairs on the large ship had progressed and to use it as a quick stop before heading out into the war again. Her fighter was being checked by maintenance crews in preparation for that journey, so she decided to spend her free time in the library to read up on a few things.

But after retreating into a quiet corner with some datafiles, she felt another Jedi. That alone didn't make the woman stand out though — it was the fact that she seemed to be tapping into the Force and felt frustrated at the same time

"Boring?" Valery asked right as she stepped up behind the younger woman and noticed her failed attempt at manipulating the metal spheres. Hoping Kara wouldn't mind some company, Valery walked over to the table and offered a kind smile, which she followed with a dip of her head.

"Maybe I can offer some help to make it more interesting?

Kara Jade ​

 

[Kara Jade]

To Kara’s credit, she didn’t jump when the voice suddenly spoke up behind her. Hell, she barely even reacted to it. Perhaps the weight of her boredom had kept her still? Either way, her curiosity was piqued, and she turned her head as she heard the woman walk around.

She blinked upon seeing the woman’s face, something sparking in the back of her mind. But Kara brushed it aside with a sigh.

“Honestly…” she began, finally lifting her head up and sitting up straight. “I’ll take whatever to make this more interesting.” Kara waved her hand over at the spheres, the motion accidently sending one of the smaller balls rolling off the table.

“...Of course you’d move now.” The blonde grumbled, standing up from her seat and walking over to the fallen sphere. She flashed a small apologetic smile towards Valery, before crouching down and picking it up. “The objective of this exercise is to be able to levitate the larger sphere, then the smaller ones, one by one until they’re orbiting the first.”

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Prosperity
Items: Necklace

"A good exercise to practice Telekinesis..." Valery began after Kara explained what the objective of it was, "...but not very interesting, right?" She smiled and held up a hand to levitate the metal spheres, the smaller ones orbiting the larger one. "Training is important but finding the right exercise to motivate you can make a difference."

She gently set the spheres down and bowed her head again, "I don't think we've met before, I'm Master Valery Noble," she finally said to introduce herself, that kind smile still on her lips to match the calm, almost comforting tone with which she spoke. "Are you here to practice on your own while you wait for your Master?" It wasn't uncommon for Padawans to not have Masters at all these days, but she wasn't going to interrupt if Kara had plans already.

But something told her that the younger woman could use a hand.

"If you'd like, I can help you with your training."

Kara Jade ​

 

[Kara Jade]

“Definitely not interesting, that’s putting it mildly.” She wondered how younglings had the patience for this kind of thing. Kara knew if she was younger, she’d be pulling her hair out all the same. But that was the crux of the issue, if she had awakened her connection years prior, then maybe this wouldn’t be a problem to begin with?

“Like I get it…” Kara began, watching as the Master levitated the spheres with absolute ease. “I need to find a means to ‘feel’ with the Force, be able to stretch it out without a violent reaction.” The blonde sighed as her eyes tracked the metal spheres as they were placed back down.

Valery introduced herself, and Kara’s eyes widened, her hand and mouth moving quicker than her brain.

“That’s why your face is so familiar!” She exclaimed, pointing a finger at Master Noble.

Silence.

Kara blinked, her brain finally catching up as she realised she had spoken out loud, and with a great deal of enthusiasm. The pointed finger quickly became a hand slamming over her face to hide the increasing redness in her cheeks.

“Sorry, I uh-” The young woman muttered, looking and sounding embarrassed at her outburst. “I’ve had a few boring evenings lately, and ended up reading through the public records in the Archives.”

Kara chuckled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

“I’m Kara Jade, and I guess so? I mean he left me with the activity to do, but he’s currently away from the Prosperity.” It was their unfortunate circumstance, given Kara’s stance on not getting involved in the ongoing wars. “But yes, I’d really appreciate any help you could provide.”

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Prosperity
Items: Necklace

"Without a violent reaction?" Valery tilted her head slightly and seemed curious about it. Jedi training revolved a lot around control with the Force to avoid unwanted consequences. If she struggled with that, it would be an important thing to address through training or other methods.

Then her introduction followed, and judging by the reaction, Kara seemed to recognize her. Valery just chuckled and offered a smile that would hopefully make it easier for the moment of embarrassment to fade. "Nothing to worry about, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Kara," Valery said with a short dip of her head.

"Alright, let's head to a training room, and we'll do something more interesting to spark the connection. But if you can tell me more about this violent reaction you mentioned, I'd appreciate it," she said before she turned and gestured for Kara to follow her. The Prosperity had plenty of large training rooms, so her plan was to bring her to one and set up a different exercise.

First though, she needed to know as much as she could about Kara's struggles.

Kara Jade ​

 

[Kara Jade]

Kara was relieved the outburst wasn’t received poorly, although internally the young woman was berating herself, she was a grown adult for chit sake, not a teenager.

She didn’t miss a beat as she followed Valery out of the library. As much as she was fairly familiar with the Prosperity, Kara knew she was highly likely to get lost if she had tried to lead the way. The sound of ‘training room’ though caught her interest, it promised something a lot more active than the stupid metal spheres.

“Ah right, well I should start with some context. You see it began a little while ago…” She began to explain the initial event. Having been at a bar, drinking the late evening away. A drunken idiot got too handsy and Kara retaliated with a push.

“Thing is…it was quite the ‘forceful’ push, and I sorta threw him across the venue and crashed into the opposite wall.” Kara went on to explain that she had gotten arrested, although it went no further as it was deemed an ‘act of self-defence’. But in turn they also had to alert the NJO about the incident.

“And thus, I was brought here. Had a few other Masters examine me but they only had speculation and theories. The common threads being that one, my connection is innately strong. And two, it awakened far too late.” She wasn’t a youngling, and never trained in the Force alongside managing her emotions.

“That’s the crux of the issue, I try to use it but nothing works…until I get frustrated about it, which leads to a more violent reaction.”

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Prosperity
Items: Necklace

While they walked to the training room together, Valery listened to Kara's story. It was very normal for emotional outbursts to spark unintentional use of the Force — it's how many children are discovered to be Force-sensitive. But it was rarely paired with the same person struggling to connect outside those more violent moments.

Whatever was happening to her, it seemed that tapping into the Force required a powerful spark.

"I can see why that's a problem," Valery said with a dip of her head, but there was a comforting smile that quickly followed. She was by no means the first Jedi to deal with complex problems regarding the Force, so she still felt confident something could be done about it.

Perhaps they could figure it out together.

"Does it really only work when you get these outbursts? Or is it just fickle, and sometimes you can control it well enough?" Valery asked as a small follow-up question.

"Either way, an idea I have is to train together, and I'll push you beyond your comfort zone. It might provoke the emotions for you to tap into the Force, and then we'll work on controlling it all."

Kara Jade ​

 

[Kara Jade]

The young woman chuckled sheepishly at Valery’s question. It was not too dissimilar to the line of thinking that Kara had been on as of late. While she hadn’t been able to get a grasp on the practical, she had been reading a lot on the theory. Of how the Force connected with people, particularly in younglings.

Where they typically didn’t establish a connection through an emotional outburst. Rather part of their teaching growing up was to balance their emotions in tandem with the Force. Which led Kara to a conclusion.

She was working with a handicap from the start.

“I mean it probably isn’t only during the outbursts, I have been able to control it very minorly. But like…” Kara drifted off, thinking about her past attempts to stabilise the connection. “I’m talking the slightest little wiggle of an object, barely anything at all. Which leads to frustration and annoyance, which then leads to an outburst.”

Eventually, they reached the training room in question, but before they could enter Valery had continued. Kara’s eyes practically lit up as she nodded in agreement.

“That…sounds good to me. One thing I’ve worried about is like…’letting loose’ and potentially damaging something, or someone.” She remembered the almost mangled mess the guy had been in, once they were able to peel him out of the wall. Drunken idiot he might’ve been, Kara still felt bad about what she had done.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Prosperity
Items: Necklace

Valery dipped her head in response to Kara's answer — it was useful to know that she could sometime still feel the Force and connect with it, even if it was minimal. If it was purely contained to powerful emotional outbursts, it could be even more difficult to spark something. Either way, she planned to do her best to help the young woman.

"That's a valid concern, and why it's likely best to train or work on this situation with someone experienced," she paused and offered what she hoped would be a comforting smile, "You don't have to worry about hurting me, and the training rooms here are designed to withstand a lot. But even if something gets damaged, it's not a problem. It happens from time to time and is all part of it."

Valery then stepped into the center of the training room and removed the hilt of one lightsaber from her belt. She set it to a low power mode and turned to Kara, "Alright, your task is to land a hit with your blade. But I'm not going to make it too easy for you," Valery said with a slightly challenging grin. Usually, if a Master or Knight sparred with a Padawan, they made sure to match the Padawan as best they could to push them, but not overwhelm them.

The idea she had involved getting a little more on Kara's nerves by not making this a fair spar.

Kara Jade ​

 

[Kara Jade]

Kara stood there for a few seconds, just staring blankly as Master Noble looked at her expectedly. It…admittedly took the young woman a couple more seconds to realise what she was waiting for. Kara dashed over to the side, grabbing one of the training sabers and returned to her spot.

The sheepish expression on her face faded when she ignited the weapon. It ignited with a low powered hum, but Kara’s eyes were glued to it nonetheless.

She had heard about lightsabers, seen them with her own eyes, but this was the first time actually holding one. Even if this wasn’t the real deal, Kara was fascinated by the lightsaber. The blonde swung it around slightly, taking in the feeling of the blade being far lighter than anything she had wielded before.

This is going to be interesting.

Kara shifted into a stance, a pretty bog-standard one if you were wielding a vibroblade, not a lightsaber. A second later she ran towards Valery, intending to strike at the woman’s right.

She had to land a single hit, how hard could that be?

Wasn’t like she was sparring against a renowned Battlemaster or anything…

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon| Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Prosperity
Tag | Kara Jade

Valery watched Kara closely and felt the woman's emotions and intentions bleeding out into the Force. They always did moments before any living being moved to strike against another, and reading the flow of combat like this was among the reasons that Valery always seemed to be steps ahead of her opponents.

A sweeping strike was aimed at her right side seconds later, which Valery responded to by raising a vertical guard. The two blades connected and hissed against each other, but Valery kept them locked, and suddenly removed one hand from the hilt, her palm facing Kara's chest and face. With a sudden push of the Force, she then aimed to send Kara flying back, not with enough strength to cause great harm, but hopefully enough to knock her off her feet a little.

She wanted to provoke and test the younger Jedi, and so all of this was part of her little strategy.

​

 

[Kara Jade]

Okay, so even Kara wasn’t arrogant enough to assume she’d land a hit on the first swing, but what she was anticipating was the sting of the lightsaber against her skin. So she was sufficiently thrown off when Valery Force pushed her away.

For a brief moment Kara’s feet skidded across the mat, before the combination of the force and tripping over her own feet, sent the blonde crashing down to the floor. The blonde just laid there for a few moments, staring up at the ceiling.

Alright. So that’s how it’s going to go is it?

Training this might be, Kara was a bit of a competitive sort. She was not about to let herself get knocked on her arse for a second time.

Kara curled her legs up towards herself, before swinging them out and jumping back up onto her feet. She stepped to the side, picking her training blade back up, before slipping back into a stance. It was the same as before, but her feet were angled differently.

The Padawan dashed towards Valery, bringing the lightsaber up to aim for the woman’s left this time. However, as the blade drew near, Kara suddenly pirouette on her heel, swinging the weapon around to strike at Valery’s right instead.

Unfortunately, Kara didn’t account for the weightlessness of the blade, and it swung wide…leaving her just as equally open.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon| Appearance

Outfit | XoXo
Location | Prosperity
Tag | Kara Jade

The Force push connected and had the intended effect — it sent Kara back and forced her to stumble onto her rear, where she remained completely still for a moment. Valery just assumed her stance again and kept her eyes fixed on Kara who, after a moment of internal contemplation, jumped back up to her feet.

"Again," Valery said without her usual encouraging tone, but a slightly more challenging one.

Now back up on her feet, Kara collected her training lightsaber, readied herself, and moved in to engage Valery. Again, the Jedi Master focused on emotions and intent that flowed through the Force and tapped into the futures that were created by them. Picking up on what was coming, Valery stepped back and raised her blade up in front of her to shield herself just in case.

The strike, however, went wide and left Kara open once again.

Rather than tossing her around with the Force, Valery stepped in and aimed a quick sweep at the exposed arm that was facing her, followed by a grazing strike at the top of her thigh. In a real fight, they would be non-lethal but somewhat crippling attacks if they were to connect. Right now, at most, they would sting if they were to land.

But Valery was making sure Kara could not escape her onslaught too easily. The Padawan had to be pushed far.

​

 

[Kara Jade]

Kara’s eyes widened when the realisation dawned on her, seeing Valery’s blade swinging towards her exposed arm. Panic struck, for a brief moment logic flew out the window and Kara forgot it was set to non-lethal.

Fearing for her arm’s dismemberment, the blonde Padawan immediately disengaged from her attack, only to leave herself further exposed. The blade struck the upper part of her thigh, a stinging sensation shooting up her body.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Kara cursed as she hopped backwards, somehow managing to keep her balance while only one leg. Eventually though, she placed the foot back down and looked at the spot that had been struck.

No damage was done, just a stinging sensation that was more annoying than debilitating. Logic had returned, and the Padawan remembered they were only dealing with training lightsabers.

"Again," ​

Kara’s eyes snapped over to Valery, who stood ever at the ready for the blonde’s next attack. The Padawan took a breath, then immediately dashed towards the Jedi Master. No stance, no fancy footwork, Kara just charged at her.

Just raw aggression.

She swung at Valery without pausing, one attack followed another. Be it a swipe, a slash, a stab, aiming high or low. And yet, every single time the lightsaber was either dodged, deflected or parried.

Every. Single. Time.

Frustration was building within Kara, and it started to seep out into how hard her swings were coming in. All that was needed was a little…push.

Valery Noble​