Harry Potter and the Mental Treadmill

[Cathul Thuku]

Before Lokthra and Cathul could deploy on Kaeshana, it was beneficial for Lokthra to learn a few basic Force-powers. Oh, she could tell that the Mirialan lady was mentally pretty agile, and more intellectually-inclined (of which she mostly knew about Lokthra's relationship to the art of naval warfare). And also knowing that the main two Jedi orders (and it was also true of the Sith Order if what she knew about them was correct) had a relationship with their respective military forces that entitled even entry-level padawans to temporary field-level commissions on land (major, colonel) and command-level commissions in space (commander, captain). Which, of course, wasn't without headaches for the career soldiers, and many were reluctant to serve under Jedi, especially in the Navy. Infantry units were usually more willing to give Jedi a chance, especially the lightsaber jockeys among them. She could sense that Lokthra was a little raw with the Force... and that she seems not to have the best opinion of the last Force-trainer she had, expecting that Cathul would be better.

"[member="Lokthra Dawning"], beyond any fleeting practice you had with me, did you have any Force-training?"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

"No Master"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

She could tell that, like many Force-sensitives at that position in the learning curve, often had one Force-power or two as a foundation: Force-sense and a second power that was their main proof of Force-sensitivity. She heard about a number of spells that untrained Force-users learned on accident: telekinesis Instinctive Astrogation, Art of Movement (any combination of Force-speed/jump/agility), mind trick, alchaka, tapas, and Force-comprehension were common cases, while others who got training later in life could even subconsciously be using mechu-deru (Jessica comes to mind to this effect, and also for Instinctive Astrogation Control; IAC is more about the mathematical talent of its user than anything pertaining to its Force-power, so padawans). For [member="Lokthra Dawning"], that was the mind trick. She wanted to fleet? All right, she would. I have seen many Force-using idiots who amounted mostly to using a lightsaber in combat, and very little command of the Force, and still want to become Jedi - or Sith, for that matter. Especially in Mando-land where it was considered fashionable to just fly around the galaxy with a suit of beskar, a lightsaber (preferrably red if one was a dark-sider) and the light or dark side of the Force: this one promised different, she thought.

"I can feel that your mind is warming up. You're just awakening to its power. There is a reason why I took you: you seem more interested in witchcraft, that is, using the Force, than in using a lightsaber. I am here for the more unconventional padawans, in terms of their objectives as Force-students. Let's start with telekinesis. Try and lift the comlink off the ground without physically touching it" she told Lokthra with the comlink on the ground in front of her.

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

"O...Ok master?" Lokthra said in a questionable fashion.

She looked closely at the comlink, imagined it where it was. She then closed her eyes and imagined nothing else but the comlink. Lokthra moved her hand out and steadily began to raise the comlink. It didn't go far before it fell, but a few centimeters to her was all but a wonderful first attempt. Perhaps she had some skill and knowledge in this area without knowing so?

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"I know it is just the beginning, but you will find that, the more you use a given Force-power, the more you will be able to do with it. The Force is infinite but a person's ability to use it isn't: impatience is a path to the dark side"

Oh, for sure, it's easy to just issue warnings about what leads to the dark side, but there was a reason why [member="Lokthra Dawning"] was seemingly drawn to her: she wanted to become a fleeter and Cathul instinctively knew she would have sufficient intellectual firepower to be effective in that role. The only fitting Jedi in the Alliance admiralty were either Zark or Cathul, even though Cathul was known in Alliancist circles as a witch kind of Jedi. If Lokthra even learns Force-healing or Detoxify Poison, I will have to warn her about how she shouldn't expect near-instant healing: that warning is more effective if delivered early in the training. She knew, however, that impatience was a problem that could befall both the master and the apprentice. But Lokthra lifted the comlink just a few centimeters on her first try, which was to be expected of someone that has no real experience using even the basic Force-powers. Hopefully she would be able to do better on the next try...

"For now, though, try again"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Without hesitation, Lokthra tried again. Closing her eyes, imagining the comlink. Feeling it in her head. She raises her hand out and begins to manipulate the force. The commlink raises in the air. She opened her eyes, and much to her surprise it was lifted some meters in the air. Feeling shocked with this she begun to explore this power, doing somersaults and loop'de'loops with the comlink.

"Master, I.. I think I did it," She said happily

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Now that you have a clear grasp of telekinesis, you already used it to do somersaults and loop-de-loops to the comlink using telekinesis"

Clearly Cathul was happy for [member="Lokthra Dawning"]; she was on the right track. Even though doing somersaults and loop-de-loops to a comlink using telekinesis was perhaps a display of exhuberance that she didn't see in previous padawans, she interpreted that display in two ways. One: it was a well-chosen moment to issue a warning to Lokthra about arrogance leading to the dark side and two: it was also the right time for the Mirialan to learn about the Jedi Code. And perhaps contrast it with the Sith and Mando Codes, she thought.

"There are certain things that come more easily for certain people than others: Force-speed/jump for those who are naturally agile, or cognition-intensive Force-powers for those who are naturally smart, and also other things. Also there are some powers that overlap one another. There are many paths that lead to the dark side, arrogance being one of them. Don't get too cocky, don't go out thinking that just because you can use two powers at once, you can do everything. That said, there is a place for happiness. Just don't let it cloud your judgment. Now, I suppose you have heard it once or twice before: There is no emotion, there is peace, there is no ignorance, there is knowledge, there is no passion, there is serenity, there is no chaos, there is harmony, there is no death, there is the Force. I feel that many Jedi seem to want to protect innocents from evil on a smaller scale, where the risks of collateral damage are lower, while you want to be able to protect innocents on both small and large scales"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

"I will honor the Jedi code and through doing so, live my life up until the day I make the final sacrifice"

Lokthra thought about how it would happen.. Most of what she imaged was grim so she stopped almost straight away. On with the next task she thought.

"Patience is a virtue" she mumbled under her breath.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"It's easy for someone with an intellectual makeup similar to yours to be tempted into rushing the learning process. As you said, patience is a virtue, but succumbing to the temptation of rushing the learning process of the Force is a path that leads to the dark side. That said, there is a difference between being a Sith and what Jedi traditionally warn against: a Jedi falling to the dark side isn't, by default, a Sith, no more than a Sith going to the light side is a Jedi by default, and often a lack of discipline can cause people to change Force-alignments. Hence the whole notion of Dark Jedi and Light Sith. Perhaps I am victim of my own misconceptions here. Perhaps the STGFS is a little inaccurate. The Star Tours Guide to Force Specialties talk about Dark Jedi as people who use the dark side of the Force to protect innocents from evil, and Light Sith are described there as people who use the light side of the Force for evil. You see, the Star Tours Guide treats light-vs-dark as a question of what emotions they use when they use the Force, and the denomination as a question of good-vs-evil in their use"

Lothal definitely dispelled any notion of Darth Veles actually being a Light Sith, due to reports from that planet that contained his use of the dark side under the form of Odonjinya, which ensnares its target into a web of dark side energy from which they cannot escape when in effect. And that was the name most commonly circulated around the galaxy for a Light Sith up to this point! If she had to guess who would be the most circulated name to this effect at present, that would be Darth Erebos. And she could sense that [member="Lokthra Dawning"] wanted to learn something new. She tried hard to find a training candle.

"Pyrokinesis. For you, as it is now, that might be more useful for damage control, since you can use it for welding, than for cooking, which is the other use I'd recommend for beginners in pyrokinesis. At higher levels you can even use it for defense against boarding actions and heat the weapons of the enemy boarding parties to disarm them - or even roasting them to a crisp. Use the Force to light a fire on the candle's wick"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Lokthra looked at the candle, imagined it's position and what it looks like. She closed her eyes once again and imagined the candle, in particular, the wick. It was a new white wick. She felt since it was new, it should in theory light easier, in comparison to a well-worn one. Then she imagined heat, and she sure felt it too. She tried to apply the heat to the wick. It failed the first time. She tried again, to no avail. Yet on the third attempt, it was lit and it felt hotter than the suns of Tatooine.

"This one was trickier, do you have any tips aside from practicing more and more?"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"You need to be in control and have focus, but that holds for just about any Force-power you can use, and for those you will learn along the way. You have to feel the flame if you want to control where you want it to go"

Even though, for her, it was a question of calculating the root-mean-square speed of the target (rotational if liquid, translational if liquid, plasma or supercritical fluid) at the desired temperature and, if the target undergoes a phase transition, accounting for its latent energy, few people could actually use pyro/cryokinesis that way. That, even though it allows for unparalleled precision. And she would bore most Force-users if she began talking about the thermodynamical and stat-mech implications of it all, or, if you preferred, the physico-chemical implications. [member="Lokthra Dawning"] might seem like a smart cookie in the Force but Cathul has no real idea of the actual extent of her physical knowledge, nor of her computational power. She had brains, she had to accept as much. To Cathul, though, cryokinesis should be taught simultaneously with pyrokinesis: they are highly inter-related, and should be acknowledged as such.

"Cryokinesis is the reverse operation of pyrokinesis, in that one cools down the target rather than heating it up, and padawan-level practitioners can use it for cooking or air conditioning. You may use it to extinguish the flame on the candle"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

She imagined the fire, it burned fiercely. She could feel the heat emitted, it felt as hot as a volcano. She imagined that, a volcano. She imagined it's heat, felt it go around her, through her. She felt like a forceful deity. Extending her reach around the volcano's heat, pushing it back inside the volcano. It took some doing by the deity, but the heat all got back in there. She opened her eyes, and immediately felt a shiver. The surrounding temperature fell some 10 degrees, it was comparable to a snowstorm in Hoth.

// ooc Sorry I wrote it as if she had a very high control rate. I wrote it that way by complete mistake. I wanted her to have a relatively easy learning rate at pyroknieses and cryokinesis as well as force pull/push. I hope that it isn't classed as unrealistic due to being fluent in multiple areas at the beginning? Cryokinesis and force push are the only two moves she has a relatively high control of, without actually knowing of course.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

OOC: What would be realistic in these circumstances would be that you run out of Force-energy.

IC: Cathul is now quivering in cold; that much she had to acknowledge. It also means that [member="Lokthra Dawning"] got cryokinesis right this time around. But the operation of putting the heat back into some Force-volcano is the same as putting the heat back into what witches often call the spirit ichor. But she had this weird perception of spirit ichor; it's as if some cosmic dark energy (dark not so much as is usually understood in the context of the Force, but because it is not directly detected by electromagnetic radiation) was at the basis of the Force. Cathul is not going to teach her more Force-powers until the Mirialan's Force-batteries, so she shifts gears towards wisdom. She knew that smarts were not the same as wisdom. That much was clear to her: often people expect of people with intellectual compositions similar to Lokthra's or hers to be really wise as well, but not everyone could be both at once. She knew as much about both herself and Jessica, but unfortunately she had little knowledge of her wisdom. Then again, it was just the beginning.

"Now, your Force-batteries may be running a little low, exhausted even, but the room will return to its normal temperature soon enough. Honoring the Jedi Code requires one to carry confidence but no more than you can carry given your knowledge of the situation and the relevant strengths and weaknesses. And many Jedi, several of whom can be thought of as rogues, not only lack self-awareness but also carry more confidence than they should. Self-awareness is key"

 

[Diysuperguy33]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Lokthra had completely exhausted her force batteries, and it took quite a lot out of her, too much in fact. She managed to break a smile to her Master before feinting.