Faction I Just Happen To Have A Chance Cube Here (any Jedi)

[Jend-Ro Quill]

HOTH JEDI ENCLAVE
IN A BLIZZARD

Wind bashed against the stone walls and buried Jedi ships in snow. The old enclave served as a warm and sealed refuge, so long as the hot chocolate lasted and nobody cracked a window. Quill didn't much enjoy company - but he'd found he did enjoy giving shelter and sharing skills, so his mood was good. Sipping hot cider, he settled into one of the soft armchairs he'd installed in the small but growing library. A few other Jedi sat in similar comfy chairs or browsed the shelves.

"There's a species called the Suerton whose Force-sensitives have a natural, often unconscious gift for bending probability. Auteme and I-" He grinned at his longtime research partner. "-have been studying it for a good while. If you're here, you probably read the intro materials I sent you, so you should all have the general idea. Now it's time to learn for real."

Leaning forward in his chair, he pulled out a handful of scuffed red-and-blue chance cubes and tossed them in the middle of the room. Every one of them came up blue.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

They had been somewhat late to the temple. Jacen blew some steam from his mug of hot cider and looked towards Serya Talith and gave a subtle shake of his head.

Don't worry about the reading materials, he managed to say with that look. He knew she would be aghast to have missed out on some reading. Just listen and learn anyway.

It was a long time since he had been to Hoth. They could remain here for some time. There had been rumblings of the First Order trying to re-establish itself in the outer rim. He hoped they stayed there. The last time he had seen this frozen world it had been dotted with their military installations.

---

"You know the policy by now," Jacen said, his voice trembling just a little. The winds were buffeting the small shuttle. The temple was hidden in a mountainside and the winds were moving all kinds of directions today.

The policy was simple: silence for landing. Serya had asked if he hated flying. He didn't enjoy it, but it was the landings that he truly hated. Jacen was no pilot.

"We'll be safe here," he said. Assuming, he thought to himself, that they survived landing.

---

Jacen leaned forwards. There had been no obvious telekenetic trickery to flip the chance cubes back to blue. It had all happened too quickly for that. He was interested.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya gave Jacen a look of abject horror.

She had missed out.

She could feel him try to redirect her back to the man's words, but her thoughts spun circles over the material they had arrived too late for. She was meticulous with his teachings-- no longer willing to progress without due course. Every word had to be memorized and mastered as a fundamental building block before she was willing to move forward. It was nothing short of obsessive, but it was how she coped with the mistake she made that day on the train.

It was just a cube, but it felt like the deep end.

She picked her cuticles in agitation, watching the cubes come up blue.

She paused, not feeling any manipulation over the cubes to suggest the force. She leaned forward, her brows furrowing. "...Weighted?" Came her soft-spoken guess.

That was how they did it on the streets.

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra, always eager to learn, watched clclose, eyes wide as if she were a youngling. Could I have learned this? She asked herself. Would I be able to do this if I hadn't been kidnapped?
She turned to Serya Talith . "I don't think so. He did mention bending probability. It probably has something to do with the Force."

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"No weights, though I guess you'll have to take my word for it. The same principles can go...bigger. It's not certainty, though, not always, not usually."

Quill got up and went to open the shutters of the room's only window. Snow had piled halfway up the transparisteel. What remained offered a view of a dull, overcast, whiteout evening on Hoth.

"Just for a sense of scale, if Auteme and I did some meditating, we could probably...well, right now, the forecast says this storm's guaranteed to stick around all night. Call that ten times out of ten. If we worked together, we could bump that down to, oh, three times out of ten. Bending probability doesn't mean certainty, doesn't mean success is yours to grasp, heh. But it does mean that when your droid tells you the odds of survival are three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one, well, maybe it's not quite that grim."

He left the window and sat back down.

"The key, and this is a really nasty bit of cognitive dissonance even for Jedi, is you have to not care, I mean at an emotional-investment level. That's how the Suerton do it. Go on, pick up a chance cube and give it a shot."

He spent the next five minutes or so explaining what, exactly, 'give it a shot' entailed. Knowing a thing could be done wasn't the same as knowing how to do it, which in turn was only a fraction of being able to do it. But with luck - heh - they'd all take a first faltering step or two.

Jacen Voidstalker Serya Talith Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Deciding that spontaneous laughter would be disrespectful at the lesson, Jacen resisted reacting to Serya's look of shock.

Weighted cubes, he wondered if Serya had used that trick herself or merely seen it done on the streets.

Maths. This was a maths lesson hidden inside Force teachings. Jacen had been a lazy and arrogant youth and the idea of doing a maths lesson actually have him reason for pause. He hoped Serya didn't notice.

He listened, he tried, but it wa hard to tell if the cube was falling on blue more because he was playing with probabilities or just rolling more blues right now.

 

[Serya Talith]

She didn't get it. The memo, that was. She didn't get the reading, so she shouldn't even be here. Everyone else had already studied. Everyone else knew about variant probables and how they related to snow storms. She wasn't ready to pick up the dice.

Everyone else picked up the dice. After a self-conscious moment, she do so too, eyes flickering up to the sharp-jawed teacher as he went on about what it meant to 'give it a shot'. She barely heard it, thoughts always two step backwards trying to memorize what he had said before.

She let out a stressed breath, giving Jacen another look as rolled his own dice across the ground. She chucked hers at his, trying to get his attention. It landed blue side up, knocking his over to red.

'You promised me holocons,' she accused, mouthing silently through the air. She called the dice back into her palm and tossed it again, bumping his to another red side as hers landed blue. She didn't notice, more aware of the pinching in her chest than the point of this lesson. It snapped back into her palm.

She went to toss it a final time, but the excessive force caused it to hit its corner and fly wildly another way.

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra shrugged. It can't be that hard, she thought, picking up the chance cube and tossing it, raising an eye marking when the cube landed on red. She picked it up and tossed it again, only for it to land on red again. Well, third time's a charm. She tossed it again. Three out of three? Shouldn't it have landed on blue at least once by now? The Togruta Padawan grinned when it landed on blue the fourth time.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Jacen Voidstalker , Serya Talith , and Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri - each of them had specific needs, and as he watched them try, Quill did his best to get a sense of what those needs might be.

He went to Serya: she felt on edge even before her chance cube pulled a ricochet. It paused in midair and bobbed back to float in front of her so she could grab it. "For another touch of cognitive dissonance...trust instinct as much as thought." A reframing of the classic 'feel, don't think,' which would lead them astray in at least two ways. "Relax. Find clarity, get out of your own way, yes?" He glanced at Voidstalker - a well-known Jedi Master and possibly the girl's primary teacher. Voidstalker might be getting it; at minimum, he'd be better equipped than Quill to help her find the right state of mind.

Quill moved to Kuxirra, the Togruta Padawan. "A chance cube has the same odds as flipping a coin - heads or tails, red or blue, fifty-fifty. Let's try you with something a little different." He handed her a box of archaic chalk sticks. "If you drop a stick of chalk, it's almost certain to break. But there's a tiny chance it'll, oh, land just right or bounce off the toe of your boot or something, and stay together. If you succeed in making that small chance a reality, you'll be able to drop piece of chalk after piece of chalk without them breaking. Go on, give it a shot."

He glanced back at Serya and Voidstalker. "There's plenty of chalk if you want a change of pace."

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra nodded, listening to the advice Jend-Ro Quill gave Serya Talith , and picked up a stick of chalk, dropping it. It landed with a crack, breaking in two. The girl found the sound oddly satisfying, even though it wasn't the sound she was looking for, and picked up another stick. As she dropped the stick, she decided that whatever the outcome, it was kind of a success—it broke and made an interesting sound, or it didn't break. I don't care if it breaks. It's a win-win. She looked down, smiling broadly when she saw it still in one piece. She picked it up and dropped it again. This time, it bounced off her bare foot and landed in one piece again.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"I think I will stick with the cube for now," Jacen replied.

It didn't fit the surroundings, but Jacen drew a small datapad from his pocket. As he rolled the cube he started marking down which colour it landed on.

He felt like a school child back at one of the maths lessons he didn't understand, but he kept those feelings from sneaking onto his expression.

Instead he watched Serya carefully. He was distinctly interested in not interfering with the lesson. He wanted to see how she reacted to a different style. She had probably learned by now that she could back chat him probably far more than she would to another master.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya took the cube from its spot in the air, her mind tinging against the memories its smooth surface held. She blinked from it and shook her head, her expression softening on the Master who stood before her. It was objectively harder to be frustrated with a stranger than it was herself or Jacen, particularly when he spoke kindly and leveled an accurate set of words.

"Relax. Find clarity, get out of your own way, yes?"

A beat... her shoulders dropped, a nod of understanding given to him as he left her to it.

She took a deep breath in and out, mindful of her emotions, and rolled again. Red. Another breath in and out, the pinch in her chest loosening. Red. She closed her eyes, trying to feel like she had the bricks and the minds and the thoughts.

Red.

Once more time, her brows furrowed on the cube she willed to fall blue.

Red.

Her face crinkled in a series of 'What? How. No way. You've got to be kidding me.' Each expression growing in life until Jacen was level a dramatic 'da feck'. She called the cube back to her and rolled it back to his feet. Red.

"Maybe the force is colorblind," she mused.

 

[Auteme]

Jend-Ro Quill Jacen Voidstalker Serya Talith Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri ​

In truth, the probability manipulation was the antithesis to many things Auteme believed. She cared about people. She cared about what happened. How could one let go of their emotions, their attachments?

Hers was an easy focus to break, no matter how well it'd served her in the past. To accept result, no matter her feelings on it, was a difficult thing. But it was necessary. The luck she'd learned from her studies was empty and peaceful. It was impartial; however she felt, it'd only listen to her when she wasn't listening to herself. It was a matter of trust. She trusted the Force to guide her.

"It's possible to do a lot with this," she said, her eyes wandering to the beautiful dark-haired girl who'd voiced her concerns immediately. "We wouldn't be very good Jedi if we brought you all here just to trick you with weighted dice. We wouldn't be very deceptive, either."

She laughed.

In truth, the reading was only cursory -- Auteme had done most of it (in part because Jend-Ro was less likely to go on tangents in the middle of a section). A well-read Jedi was as likely to master the ability as one who'd never read a book in their life. Something, something, random chance.

As it was his Enclave -- and he was a better teacher -- she let Master Quill handle the explanation. As ever she was amazed by what he could do when he was in his element. Teaching and talking, as nervous as those things could make him, somehow drew out his best. She sat at the front, rolling her own six-sided die on the table absentmindedly.

Six.

Six.

Six.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill nodded in approval as Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri got the basic hang of it - or else she'd just dropped an especially strong piece of chalk. That was where replicability came in, bending the odds over and over until you could call yourself a reliable probability warper or some such. It had taken him and Auteme quite a while to go from chalk and dice to greater things; these really were the first tiny steps, the seed of future learning and hard-won experience.

Since Kuxirra and Voidstalker seemed content to plod along, Quill refocused on Serya.

"You know, you should've rolled blue by now. I think subconsciously you're doing everything right, just...backward. What you're seeing is your frustrations. Call it a good sign - you can clearly affect probability consistently. Doesn't matter at this stage that it's all, ah, bad luck."

Serya Talith Jacen Voidstalker

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra picked up another stick and dropped it. It stayed in one piece. She picked up both and dropped them. They both stayed in one piece. "I think I've got it!" She exclaimed joyfully, a smile plastered on her face as she dropped them again and again.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

So he got a nod and focus? No back chat, no arguments. Just a nod. Jacen knew he would never get that again.

Enjoy it whilst it lasts, he mused to himself silently.

He could not feign disinterest when Serya was told she was doing it backwards. So far he had counted twenty rolls and fourteen of those had been blue. It didn't feel very much like he was having an affect.

Now his attention was very squarely on what Serya said next.

After that he would collect some more cubes. Perhaps throwing more at once would show up any affect he was having.

 

[Serya Talith]

Steal a man's wallet once and get labeled a backtalking brat, I see how it is.

Never mind that she used tricks to do it. ...Never mind that she had often tried to do it to him again. Their dynamic was entirely their own, but that wasn't to say she didn't recognize a teacher when she saw one. Not that he had learned about that part of her past yet.

Serya was blind to Jacen's subtle attention, her focus furrowing on the disobedient dice.

Kuxirra picked up another stick and dropped it. It stayed in one piece. She picked up both and dropped them. They both stayed in one piece. "I think I've got it!" She exclaimed joyfully, a smile plastered on her face as she dropped them again and again.

Serya blinked up in shock. "How-" She bit back the words, watching the others.

The chalk was falling with near perfect success now. Another girl rolled a numbered die effortlessly. Serya was typically one to learn things fast-- too fast, actually. To stutter here of all places fed into that frustration.

She had destroyed a train for force's sake.

She rolled again. Red.

"You know, you should've rolled blue by now. I think subconsciously you're doing everything right, just...backward. What you're seeing is your frustrations. Call it a good sign - you can clearly affect probability consistently. Doesn't matter at this stage that it's all, ah, bad luck."

Serya glanced up, her brows raising before melting into troubled lines.

"You say it like I want myself to fail." It sounded ridiculous, but she flinched internally at the faint ring of truth.

She grimaced and called the dice into her palm, clutching it tight as she mulled. She looked everywhere but at Jacen now, ignoring the thought she was sure they both were having. He was wrong. She wasn't ready for this. She let out a heavy breath and looked to the girl who had spoken earlier, her short hair bobbing around a set of serene features.

Auteme was past the colors and onto numbers, rolling with incredible success. Serya watched with building curiosity, her golden eyes following every bounce of the dice.

'It's possible to do a lot with this.'

"...What else have you done?" She finally murmured, her curiosity winning out.

 

[Auteme]

Serya Talith | Jend-Ro Quill Jacen Voidstalker Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri
​

"Hm?" Her rolling was stopped by a mumbled comment from the girl who'd guessed that the die were weighted. Auteme's own dice bounced on the table, landing on a two this time. She glanced over and smiled to herself before turning to approach the girl.

"Well -- the Suerton have made their homes on dangerous worlds. Their homeworld and Chanceuxi both are in systems that contain stellar aurora fields, and those planets are susceptible to great storms, tectonic movements... yet, their cities still stand," she said, taking a seat in a chair beside the girl. "Master Quill and I have practiced it, but a great number of Suerton can make incredible things happen just by being there.

"Me personally, well... I've made my friends refuse to ever play card games with me." She grinned.

"But... Bastion, I think, it came into play the most. I was there when the New Imperials attacked Ravelin. I'd been there for a few days before, actually. Me, a Jedi, in a city full of Sith and soldiers being fortified for a siege. I still have no idea how I survived, how I stayed hidden for so long. The Force tends to help if you let it."

She picked up the chance dice, looking at the red and blue faces. "This is good practice. Don't think about it as a skill -- just a mindset. A mindset where you can be impartial, where you can remind yourself that sometimes things happen and you can't always control it," she said, placing the dice back in the girl's hand. "Accept the outcome. What's the worst that could happen here? You roll, and it comes up on a color you don't like? You don't lose anything. It's just a roll of the dice.

"When you can accept small things, you can accept bigger things in worse situations. And if you don't get it? Who cares. Most people get along without luck just fine." How curiously contradictory.

An encouraging smile spread across her face. She patted the dice. "Give it another try."

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra, now tired of just two pieces, grabbed a handful of chalk sticks and tossed them up in the air. She watched them fall, shrugging when a couple sticks broke. It was bound to happen eventually, she thought, but at least they make a fun sound.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill resisted the impulse to gather up the chalk sticks that Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri had tossed. "You've got the hang of the basics - but watch out for impatience and boredom. That's sort of a broader Jedi lesson. Any number of Jedi have made any number of mistakes because they were impatient or bored. Don't let early success go to your head." He smiled gently, with a decent amount of humour. "Could you clean up the chalk and try again a little more...tidily?"