Private In The Dark Of The Night

[Lief]

The Halls of Training were unnaturally quiet for such a densely populated world, but then it was the middle of the night. Most sane people were fast asleep, and those who resided within the Jedi Temple were usually no different. Despite this, the occupied light on one door was active.​

​

Inside sat a boy in a hoverchair, who grimaced as he tried to call one of the training blades into his hand; they were lined up in a rack on the wall, it would have been easy for him to levitate over there to grab one, but he didn't. The Force was difficult to grasp at these days, but that didn't mean he shouldn't still try. Being cooped up for so long had left him feeling a little defeated, incapable of doing much of anything. He couldn't keep hiding though, couldn't keep avoiding the Temple and the Jedi within.​

​

He'd be back on his feet one day, hopefully soon, and then he'd be back in the field. Letting out a soft sigh of aggravation, he lifted his hand again and watched as the blade in question wriggled in place. "Come on" he huffed, as he clenched and unclenched his outstretched fist, "Come on... Just work. Why won't you work?"​

​

A sudden flare of emotion warped through him, and much to his displeasure it resulted in the blade hopping forth from the wall and into his grasp. Disgust ran rampant when he realized what he'd done, and he dropped the training blade down to the ground.​

​

"Not like that" he muttered to himself. "Never like that..."​

​

He took a deep breath, and tried again.​

​

Jalen Kai'el ​

 

[Jalen Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Lief

​

Jalen didn't regularly go in to train in the dead of night. He usually spent this time alone in his room (as alone as one could be with a roommate), listening to medical records and keeping up with his studies as a healer. But recent expeditions made it abundantly clear to him that if his force sensitivity was as unstable as he had demonstrated recently, he needed some more practical skills for combat. So he figured that he could slip in to the Halls of Training past regular hours and jet in some reps with a seeker droid.

Until he heard a thud, that is. Someone was in there. Feeling through the doors, Jalen felt extreme frustration, then a moment of... degust, or shame it seemed. Strangely enough, judging by their aura, they seemed to be sitting. He considered turning back and returning to his room. The last thing he wanted was to make someone else's training session super awkward.

"No," he decided out loud. "You have to train. Come on, Jalen."

He hesitated for a moment, then mustered up the courage to slowly creek the door in, poking his head through first.

"S-sorry," Jalen immediately apologized, "Y-you don't mind if I..."

Jalen died a little inside. He probably looked stupid.

 

[Lief]

He'd tried a couple more times to move one of the blades from the wall without succumbing to his frustrations, yet he'd succeeded in none of his attempts. Was this how it was to be for him now? No Force, no Saber, no, well, anything...​

​

Eliphas was about ready to throw in the towel, find some dark corner of the temple to curl up in and forget himself, when the training room door opened and a stranger dipped their head in.​

​

Turning abruptly in his hoverchair, Eliphas looked at the individual and immediately noticed the pale state of his eyes. It was hard not to look, actually.​

​

"Erm" He took a slow and steady breath, and forced himself back to a more neutral state, "Not at all, by all means..." He gestured the man forward, then nervously looked back toward the blades he'd failed to summon forth. "Can't sleep?" he inquired.​

​

Jalen Kai'el ​

 

[Jalen Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Lief

​

Jalen sighed with relief when the padawan already in the training hall seemed unbothered by his entry. Jalen got a much better idea of why he was sitting as well. The whirr of a hoverchair, a sound he had gotten used to hearing while taking classes in the Halls of Healing, quickly confirmed that he had some issue walking, for one reason or another. As someone who had suffered debilitating injury himself, he could relate to the stranger a little. Judging by his voice, he seemed older. Jalen could only imagine what he did before his injury.

"Can't sleep?"

"N-not exactly," Jalen frowned. "I-it's hard to sleep when you can't stop thinking."

And boy was there ever things to think about. His unstable force connection, his excursion on Batuu... the fire. There was always something that kept his mind turning. It was just hard to scathe off some days more than others.

"Figured I should be productive at least," he sighed, trying his best to come off as not nervous (which he was very much failing at).

Jalen cautiously made his way over to where the training sabers were found, reaching out to grab one. Nothing. He tried the next slot. Nothing. Soon, he was running his fingers through every nook and cranny he could think of.

"Strange..."

What had happened?

 

[Lief]

It took Eliphas a moment to realize that he recognized his fellow Padawan. What had his name been again..? "Jalen, right?" he said, hoping that his memory served him well. "You were at Alicio's wedding."​

​

When Jalen expressed the fact that he couldn't sleep due to an excess of thoughts, Eli felt a wave of empathy. "I get that" he replied, voice soft, "Anything I can maybe help with? I'm not a half bad listener..."​

​

Watching as he approached the rack of training sabers, only to find it devoid of anything useful, the Tetan grimaced apologetically. "Oh, uh, that was me... Sorry. I was trying to--" Maybe Jalen didn't need to know about his Force struggles, he seemed to have some pressing matters of his own, so Eli trailed off and leaned down as far as he could to just about grasp at the hilt of one of the training blades.​

​

"Here, I'll put the rest back."​

​

Hovering over to where Jalen was blindly pawing at the weapons rack, Eliphas held out the blade for him.​

​

Jalen Kai'el ​