Private Getting back to lost lessons

[Bettany Sal-Soren]

Location: Jedi temple
Objective: Meet with Aiden
Tags: Aiden Porte

Wearing this

The teenager walked through the temple toward the place she had arranged to meet with her new instructor, master? The word didnt really feel right on the tongue. But he was a family friend so if she was going to feel awkward it might as well be someone who knew the eccentricities of her family. She wasnt really dressed like most of the jedi here, but that wasnt really important, at least her look being her own would relax that part of brain.

She leaned through the opening and saw all manner of training equiptment, how long had it been? Two years since she had set foot in a force dojo? Well it wasn't her fault that acting took up so much of her time and that it was just so much fun. She smirked, she should probably warn him to try and make this a fun version of whatever jedi training entailed or this "intervention" as Bastila Sal-Soren had called it, would not last long at all.

"Aiden?... oh Jedi Knight Porte..." she tapped on the archway and stretched her neck around to see if she would spot him. "This is the right time, right?" she added. One thing she was good at was keeping to a schedule, directors would not abide any lateness on set.
​

 

[Aiden Porte]

Bettany Sal-Soren​

Aiden heard her before he saw her.

Her voice carried lightly through the training hall, uncertain at the edges, but confident enough that it didn't belong to someone who feared this place. He was finishing the last adjustments to one of the balance platforms when her footsteps paused at the archway. The soft tap on the stone made him glance up. There she was, leaning in, half-curious, half-wary, dressed nothing like the young Jedi who usually filtered through this room. And Force bless her, she looked like she'd walked straight off a holoset and wandered into the wrong building.

"Aiden is fine," he said, voice steady, friendly, amused. "If you call me 'Master Porte,' I'm going to assume Bastila put you up to it."

He stepped forward a few paces, meeting her at the threshold rather than making her come to him. It was a small courtesy, but one he knew mattered, especially for someone walking back into training after so long, and especially when said training had been labeled an intervention by her mother.

"You're right on time," he added with a nod that was both approving and lightly teasing. "Impressively so. If you can handle a film shoot, I think a Jedi schedule won't scare you off." His gaze drifted, taking in the room, the equipment, then her posture. Not judging. Just observing, reading her the way he read every student: where the tension sat, where the confidence sat, where the spirit lived.

"You look...unsure if you should be here," he said gently, not unkindly. "But also like you're already planning how to negotiate your way out of this."

"Thank you for showing up. That part matters more than you think."

Aiden showed a small smile and crossed his arms. "So tell me, what really and truly brings you here today?"

 

[Bettany Sal-Soren]

Location: Jedi temple
Objective: Meet with Aiden
Tags: Aiden Porte

Wearing this

She smirked, she would have to note that Master Porte was a potential button she could push later.


"Honestly?" she let out in a bit of a sigh. "You are right. I don't think I'm supposed to be here. Dont worry, I'm not gonna be a pain in your ass. Its just hmm." she couldnt think how to put it into words, there was no sense in lying and saying how thrilled she was about having to take time out to do this. But Aiden wasnt some random dude in a cloak, so she would rather not be rude. She was young, pretty, talented and was in demand right now, she didnt want to waste focus and find her self 23 years old and left on the heap having missed her next big break.


"Let's just say it was probably good they recommended a friend of the family." she laughed and lifted and eyebrow. She didnt expect to be asked why she was here? Had he not been told?

"Thats a good question. Discipline maybe? Future proof myself. I think everyone thinks i'm about to run off and join some celebrity cult or something." she gave that comment the addition of a bemused look, she felt she was stronger than those petty temptations but what teenager didnt.

​

 

[Aiden Porte]

Bettany Sal-Soren​

Aiden didn't interrupt her. He let the pauses sit where they fell, listening more to what she wasn't saying than what she was. When she finished, he gave a small, understanding breath, half a nod, half a smile that carried no judgment in it.

"Honestly," he said, echoing her word gently, "that makes sense."

He shifted his weight, folding his arms loosely rather than letting the silence harden into something formal. "You weren't sent here because anyone thinks you're weak. Or reckless. Or about to lose yourself." His gaze stayed steady, open. "You were sent here because people see how fast your world is moving, and they're afraid of what it does to people who never get taught how to stand still."

At the mention of a friend of the family, the corner of his mouth twitched. "For what it's worth," he added dryly, "that usually means they trust you enough not to break you by accident."

He considered her for a moment longer, then spoke more quietly. "Discipline isn't about chains. And it's not about killing ambition, either. It's about learning where your center is before everyone else starts pulling at it."

He paused for a moment, voice a bit softer now.

"You don't have to prove anything to me. Just know your heart has to be in this, otherwise you won't give this a full chance." His shoulders relaxed. "All I care about is whether, five or ten years from now, you recognize yourself when you look back."

A faint, almost wry smile surfaced. "And if it helps, celebrity cults tend to have worse attendance than people think."

He tipped his head slightly, inviting rather than pressing. "So. You don't have to belong here forever. Just long enough to decide what future-proof actually means to you."