Public Healer's Balm (Force Training Open to All Light Siders)

[Manu Xextos]

OOC: Open to any Light Sided Force User, who wants to up their skills in Healing, Calm and the Living Force.

Mandos. It always has to be Mandos, doesn’t it? Me, good traditional Echani I am, who do I get as the first non-Echani Padawan in five hundred years?

Yes, a Mandalorian.

Not only that! But [member="Kaine Australis"]. Kaine Feth-You Australis. Alor of Augh Not Again! Man of many complicated wifely attachments, and father of the most adopted and genetic babies I’ve seen since Darth Carnifex discovered how his hips moved to music. Although estranged from my Padawan, it’s impossible to miss the HoloNet stories of the pig-nosed (or was it headed) green clad Mandalorian Alor.

After a few of them, I figure in order to restore some form of Balance, I might have to teach a few pacifistic skills to make good on the dude who learned how to surf in my pool. I recognize most Jedi haven't heard my name in, okay most of them probably have never heard my name. Ego can sit where it belongs, in a very tiny box next to a collection of recycling on the curb.

My aura of peace, of healing and calm should do enough to call those who wish to learn here.

By the Light. In the rags of the Mandalorian retreat, where do I find myself again? Watching politics stretch across the stars. And yet I’ve removed myself from the vestiges of my hermitage on Sabarene to once more trod the space lanes. Teach a healer’s trick or two.

All because [member="Livia Maddox"] commed me up with a place, a time, and a lesson plan. I might have deleted the lesson plan, and by might have I mean I hit the delete button faster than Livia gets a sideways glance from her husband the Pirate McGuffin or whosawhats.

There were Light Siders who required lessons in the Light’s mercy, in its’ resilience and healing without falling to the ravages of ‘ends justified’ Dark.

One in particular was worth the entire trip: [member="Taozi Fuyuan"], whose medical work I’ve kept a tab on for some time. Call it a fellow doctor’s fascination at new methods and surgical technique.

I plant my white robe clad backside down on the grass and set my elbows on my knees. Inhale the Venan air and hold it. Let it ruminate. Exhale into the breeze.

See who turns up.

 

[Taozi Fuyuan]

Taozi was unsure of how she felt about being snatched up by one [member="Livia Maddox"] in the fastest Alor-napping the doctor had ever seen, just to be told she's getting trained in the Force...

Granted, she wouldn't have been able to say no to the Pirate Queen if she tried.

Whether Taozi knew it or not, she needed this break. Dark circles under her eyes peeked out from behind the makeup she wore to hide them, even as they got darker the more she worked and the less she slept. In the wake of the Mandalorian's retreat from their homes, the doctor had buried herself in her work and neglected her own health... Particularly her mental health, though Taozi would never admit it. By the ancestors, she avoided poor [member="Mig Gred"] asking her if she was getting help!

A sigh escaped her lips as she walked across the grass after being told where to go. She wished she hadn't gotten snatched up from the hospital, hair tied up in a now messy braid, dressed in her pink with candy print scrubs and white doctor's coat. Curse her vode for not stopping Livia! This was no attire to meet someone in outside of a hospital! By the ancestors, if her grandmother could see her now, she'd be disappointed and toss some formal dress over her while fixing her hair to be more presentable.

As [member="Manu Xextos"] came into view, Taozi wondered why Livia had even brought her here. Sure, she was Force Sensitive, but she had never even thought of seeking out training.

Truthfully, Taozi had been afraid of her Force Sensitivity at first...

Perhaps she still was.

As she approached the Echani man she was meant to be meeting, Taozi stood at a respectable distance from him before bowing in greeting, a fist wrapped in her opposite palm.

"Greetings, I am Doctor Taozi Fuyuan, Alor of Clan Tal."

 

[Subject 74 Lucky]

[member="Manu Xextos"] [member="Taozi Fuyuan"]

Lucky stepped off of the ship he had borrowed from an ally. He looked around. He didn't even know where he was. He didn't even know the name of where he was. He just got a message from some random person telling him about this Force training for healing. Seeing as how Lucky was both Force sensitive and a medic, it seemed good enough, He got the coordinates and everything. And, in perhaps the stupidest decision of his life, he went to the location. Yes, it was a bad idea, and yes, he could easily die, and, more than likely, this could turn out really bad. But Lucky was an experiment, he could handle himself. He was trained for bad situations.

He walked forward. He could see lifeforms in the distance. He walked forward towards the lifeforms. One of them identified themselves as a Doctor Taozi Fuyuan. So, he was at least in the right place if there was a doctor here. "My designation is Experiment Number 74, specialized role is medic. But you can call me Lucky." He introduced himself. His right white eye and black left eye looked over the two in front of him. His white hair stood out clearly, while the left side of his hair, which was black, stood out in stark contrast against his white hair on the right side.

 

[Mig Gred]

Mig walked up slowly, keeping his eyes on Leddie as she ran around and looked at everything. He chuckled, calling her over.

"Remember, I want you to watch what we're doing." Leddie sighed a little, looking up to Mig.

"But why Jagyc'buir (dad)? I can't do all this stuff you do." Mig leaned down, rubbing Leddie's shoulder and giving her a calm look before answering.

"You may not be able to use the Force, but learning how it's used is still important. If you know how it's used, you'll know how to counter it. How to fight those that use it." Leddie looked and her dad, nodding a little. Mig didn't want to say it, but he feared the wars now wouldn't end by the time Leddie was old enough to fight. He wanted her to be ready for anything, including those who commanded the Force.

As he and Leddie walked up, Mig took notice of faces new and old. [member="Taozi Fuyuan"] seemed worried, but it was nice to see her training her skills finally. [member="Subject 74 Lucky"] was a new face to him, and he wasn't sure how to react. Then he eyed [member="Manu Xextos"] , and palmed his Echani vibroblade slightly. Maybe he should've left the weapon on the ship, but it was too late now. He walked up, giving the man a slight bow.

"Hello. I'm Mig Gred, Alor of Clan Gred, and this is my daughter, Leddie."

"Hi" the little Zabrak said with a wave, not really knowing what the bow was about.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

[member="Manu Xextos"] [member="Taozi Fuyuan"] [member="Subject 74 Lucky"] [member="Mig Gred"]

Half the people here had 'Alor' as a last name, as far as Quill could tell. On top of his general discomfort around people, he had an awkward feeling that he'd shown up to a family reunion or some such. But Xextos was a known healer, at least two others were medical professionals, and this did seem to be the right place.

"Jend-Ro Quill," he said a bit too quietly. He dropped his pack and unfolded the camp chair he used back home on Hoth, where sitting on the ground was not an option. Besides, age.

 

[Manu Xextos]

[member="Taozi Fuyuan"] looked a shade better than a coma patient, and the reason my Padawan and former naval Captain nudged my silver-headed splendour halfway across the Galaxy comes readily into a raw focus. Physician, heal thyself. The scrubs! Gosh, they’re something where did she even find candy printed scrubs!? I give her a warm smile, the corners of my eyes crinkling in ‘old’.

A few folks arrive, all in various states of wary or cautious it seems. Course Taozi looks about ready to have an aneurism and the way she tugs at her scrubs has me shoving a smirk off my face. Oh, Livia.

“Welcome, Lucky. Grab a patch of grass and relax. It’s dry, the sun is shining, and we’ll get started in a fragment of a tick.” Dude. Lucky’s hair. By the Light, that is one heck of a look and I’m aware enough of my own frivolousness to wonder what I’d look like if I were half that brave. [member="Subject 74 Lucky"]

“Manu Xextos, Jedi Master of Aberash Temple on Sabarene. Think you’d like Sabarene, Leddie. Could build one heck of a sand castle on the beach.” Bless my nerves and call me a whippet, another Mandalorian and he brought a kid. ‘Cause nothing says ‘teach me’ like ‘I have a potential hostage’. Doesn’t take long to see the intrinsically Mandalorian penchant to relieve their perpetually beleaguered population numbers through adoption between this ‘Mig’ and ‘Leddie’. Daddy daughter days've changed since my [member="Chiara Viren"] was young.

“Manu. I’d say pull up a chair, but you have. Jend-Ro, you are the wisest of us all.” [member="Jend-Ro Quill"] is a smart man. Gee, maybe I should’ve brought a chair too… my backside’s getting cold. A familiar vibroblade design at Mig’s hip causes my eyes to narrow, one more glance up at [member="Mig Gred"]. A trophy?

“When I was a baby, my mother and I fled Biss, after Palpatine was testing newborns for high Midichlorian counts. Spent enough time as a spacer to… love how a planet breathes. Bits of wind, the flow of air currents…” I raise my hand, summoning the Venan breeze to quicken and soften like a series of breaths. Nothing but the harmless application of a bit of Alter Environment to punctuate the first of many points. “… can’t do that on a ship. Can’t do much when we detach from the worlds around us, which puts us healers in an awkward spot.

Eh, Dr. Fuyuan?” Silver eyes flicker to the uptight candy-clad doctor, a genteel smile on my face.

“As healers, our instincts are to react to every pain we find. We rush into battle with… a certain intention. And it’s to many people’s credit they push through fatigue, exhaustion or energy-deficits to keep going. Heal everyone but ourselves. Caring for us, when we're still standing, that's selfish, right?

But, like being raised on a ship, that is a closed system. We inevitably peter out. We do no good to ourselves or others if we can’t sit in the stillness of the Force, feel what passes for sunlight on our faces, and soak it in. Step one.

Breathe in the calm. Feel the sun, the breeze, relax. Whatever that makes you feel, allow that sensation to come to the forefront of your mind. Inspect it without judgement, and let it go. If it’s important enough, it’ll swing round again.

Once you feel that sense of calm which comes only from the present and living Force, share it with me. My mind is open.”

I stay sitting on the grass with my forearms on white clad knees, a bit of grass stain scuffed on my boots. I breathe, opening myself to the calm of a picturesque scenery, even with the entire state of wary minds around me. Step one, see how this disparate group of people handle being told to relax and calm down.

 

[Daria Cavill]

More than any other type of person, save smugglers or spies, healers had a habit of crossing the lines of a war to meet and exchange ideas. Daria had seen it during the last big war, she was seeing it now - summits and camps and meetings and collectives of healers and doctors getting together to train or discuss what happened next. Healing was primarily a Light Sided proficiency, and like most things that required finesse or care, Daria had shown no skill with it as a Jedi padawan. There were a few Sith healers, too, but she'd never met them - and her resources as her father's acolyte had been rather limited. He hadn't wanted a weak, supportive healer as the scion of his family name. He'd wanted a warrior. Somebody like him, who could charge headlong into armies of men and come out relatively unscathed, leaving devastation in his wake.

Awhile ago, contemplating that kind of power would have left her dizzy and eager to arrive at the point where she was functionally invulnerable. Wisdom had tempered that. Invincible warriors died every day out there in the field, the Galaxy had so many of them that you couldn't go a half a year without a new war-to-end-all-wars breaking out somewhere. Revolts and suppression were commonplace, and no population stayed subdued for long. No empire reigned mighty for a lifetime, let alone several. Whatever the invincible warriors of the Galaxy were doing, it wasn't working, Daria had concluded. The old institutions had failed, were failing, and she saw it, would continue to fail.

Which had brought her to this meeting. Daria wasn't a healer by any measure, but... she wondered if she could be. She'd failed as a Jedi because she'd been too angry and brutal, but struggled as a Sith because of her compassion and protective reflexes. If any place in the galaxy would have a seat for her to sit quietly and learn, she hoped it'd be a place like this. The worst they could do was turn her out, right? Accuse her of being a Sith infiltrator or something, possibly.

Taking a deep breath, the curly-haired young woman left her pike leaning against a nearby tree and quietly joined the circle. She avoided meeting eyes and tried to be inconspicuous in spite of her large frame, hoping that nobody would question her presence here. As she joined the circle and sat in the grass, Daria slipped her glasses off and hooked them into her shirt, following [member="Manu Xextos"] 's instructions.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Contemplate the sun.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Contemplate the breeze.

 

[Tiland Kortun]

There were those among the circles of the Jedi who remembered the ancient past, at least fragments of it. Tiland was one. Others he had come across or heard about. There was something special about the bond of having lived through days that the rest of the galaxy considered myth and legends. But is also aged one, even more than the whole process of living for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

He had sensed something in the Force that drew him through the stars to this spot. It had radiated in the Light and drawn him forward. So, he came, staff in hand, and gourds of tea tied to the end. They clacked gently with each step as he approached.

Tiland caught the tail end of the conversation from [member="Manu Xextos"], ,and nodded, with a faint smile visible across his face. Someone who understood what it meant to be a Jedi. What the name meant more than the ability to use the Force and wield a lightsaber. The Anzati sat cross-legged, himself on the ground, and nodded to the ones he had met before. [member="Jend-Ro Quill"] he remembered from several occasions. The rest were new to him and unless he was mistaken, many were Mandalorian.

It was horrific what had happened to their world. Their culture had been essentially exiled from their homeworld and brought under the rule of the Sith. It was a fate he wished on nobody. But perhaps this was a chance to bring about a change in their collective destiny.

 

[Mig Gred]

Leddie smiled when [member="Manu Xextos"] mentioned his daughter, chuckling. She looked up at the man, seeming excited.

"Really? That sounds awesome! Maybe we could go sometime?" Mig smiled at Leddie, looking over to Manu, and taking note of the look he gave at seeing the vibrosword. Mig unclipped it, figuring it would be best to show the Jedi, and get this out of the way in case it would cause issues.

"It wasn't gained by blood, Master Xextos. I had given an Echani one of my family's weapons as a way to sort of honor and protect them. They gave me this blade in return, and it's saved my life more than once." The Mandalorian didn't try to hide anything in his mind, knowing it could cause as many issues as the blade. It was then that Manu began to speak again, and the air around them seemed to breath. It was then that the Jedi began to instruct everyone. He watched [member="Daria Cavill"] as she began to follow the exercise. After checking everyone else, he sat on the ground, closing his eyes, and slowly breathing. This wasn't something he hadn't done before. It was common, especially now, for Mig to have to recenter himself in the Force. He finally started to relax.

[member="Tiland Kortun"] [member="Jend-Ro Quill"] [member="Jend-Ro Quill"] [member="Subject 74 Lucky"] [member="Taozi Fuyuan"]

 

[Taozi Fuyuan]

Taozi gave Mig Gred and Leddie a nod of greeting as they approached, before quirking her brow upwards at the sight of Subject 74 Lucky . The doctor knew she was pink from head to toe, but split colors? That was new for her, and she'd seen some poor farmer boy with a spoon stabbed through his cheeks!

She eyed Jend-Ro Quill curiously as he sat in his chair. At least one person came prepared, it seemed, in contrast to her being kidnapped and dropped off before being told to walk in a general direction. Though when a teenager approached, Taozi wondered how Daria Cavill was so... Nervous. The poor dear looked out of place, like a ball of teenage anxiety ready to run at the first moment eye contact was made.

Granted, that was most teenagers, wasn't it?

She heard more than saw Tiland Kortun approach, and quirked a brow up curiously. Another Jetii? Taozi was under the impression this lesson she was kidnapped for would be more... secretive from how Livia snatched her up with no indication of where they were going. Even Mig was here! Was there some kind of galactic notice Taozi didn’t know about?

The doctor set her gaze on Manu Xextos when he mentioned her name, and narrowed her eyes slightly at his words. His words, though meant to be positive, felt to her like a... What did the kids call it? A call out? Yes, that was it!

Oh how annoying.

Taozi sighed through her nose as the group was told what to do, and watched the others around her for a moment, before sitting down, calves beneath her. Resigned to her fate, Taozi closed her eyes, and laid one hand above the other, palms up, and breathed.

In. Out. In. Out.

And don't fall asleep.

 

[Subject 74 Lucky]

Taozi Fuyuan Mig Gred Jend-Ro Quill Daria Cavill Tiland Kortun Manu Xextos

Lucky noticed the reactions to his hair color. Yeah, that was normal. Of course, he was born that way, it was his natural hair color. Of course, he could dye it all black when he wanted to, to go undercover, and to look normal when it was necessary. Right now, it was not necessary, so he kept his hair color normal.

Then, Manu told them to relax. Lucky was surprised at this. He had been raised to always stay vigilant. Still, if this would help forward his progress, it was worth trying. Lucky closed his eyes, and cleared his mind, and tried his best to relax.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Subject 74 Lucky Mig Gred Taozi Fuyuan Daria Cavill Tiland Kortun

Quill was not, to the best of his own knowledge, a people person. Manu Xextos ' deft interaction with each person present set him aback - not in an offended way, more a matter of uncertainty. He felt quite out of his depth.

But Xextos was starting with meditation and some talk about self-care, and this was familiar territory. And at least Tiland Kortun was here, a familiar face who demanded nothing of him. Quill settled further into his camp chair, closed his eyes, and pondered. Once he found the requisite Force-driven sense of tranquility, he reached out to Xextos and the others present, and shared some of it. The sharing didn't require words, conversations, so that was fine too. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

He found himself remembering an encounter not long ago: a young man called the Wonderworker, a healer in pain who had the talent for taking others' wounds on himself. Quill had learned that skill, but it hadn't given him the power to take away the conflict and damage that the younger man faced on a daily basis. Being a healer meant reckoning with your failures and moving on to help the next person, if you could.