Private Of Mynocks and Masters

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

Another lecture from Dredi, she was still convinced that Voli was curious about the Dark Side. Her suspicions weren't unfounded as despite her now growing doubts, Voli still wanted to learn more about the Dark Side. There were so many mysteries surrounding the Sith Holocron that she bought to the Temple. Every day, Voli could hear faint voices from the Holocron calling to her. What the voice said wasn't clear but Voli wanted to unlock the Holocron, she wanted to know every secret that it possessed. It could help her control the Force the same way Dreidi was helping her. "I don't agree with Master," Voli thought. "I just..... ugh why are words so hard to form?"

"Yes Master," was all Voli could say in a hollow tone. Right now all she was focused on was training.

Voli remained silent while the remote droid fired a small, yellow blaster bolt towards her. Immediately Voli raised her Lightsaber in a horizontal stance batting away the bolt as it hit the corner of the room. "Ha!" Voli smiled bursting with pride. "I sensed where that droid was going to fire before it even shot at me! I've been working on those training exercises you told me to do Master!"

Who knew blast deflection would be so easy?

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

Dreidi watched Voli closely, seeing her block the bolt from the droid. The glee from Voli was good to see, though she knew it was never as simple as fighting a droid. People were chaotic, random and were not programmed to perform in such organised ways. Fighting in an actual battle was a far cry from what the simulations like this would ever be.

Though she kept that part silent for now. There was a time and place to temper Voli to harsher realities and push the Padawan to the limits so that she knew how to face real dangers.

"As long as the corner was where you wished the bolt to go, then you are doing well." Dreidi mentioned, there was no disappointment or concern, merely assessing that intent of the deflection was as important as deflecting a bolt. No good deflecting an attack and harming an ally or worse, an innocent civilian, one must be able to deflect with purpose and control the direction.

She waved her hand and the droid froze in place. Whether it was Dreidi doing so with Magick or something a command to pause the training exercise was impossible to tell from merely looking at the gesture. She walked over to Voli and placed the helmet with a blast shield down. "While being able to deflect with your eyes is good, eyes can deceive you. You must trust in the Force and understand that the Force will warn you of oncoming danger."

Stepping back out of the ring, she waved her hand again and the droid returned to function and began to move around again, ready to attack.

 

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

"Wait!" When Dreidi placed the helmet over her head, her vision was obscured by the blast shield. "Master? The blast shield is down! I can't see!" The young woman was blind as a Exogorth. Was this some sort of sick joke by Dreidi?

The only thing that was guiding Voli was the hum of her training Lightsaber. "I did redirect that blaster bolt towards my intended target though," Voli muttered still a little miffed that she's unable to see. She could hear the buzzing of the small training droid but it was moving so fast that Voli wasn't sure of its location. It could be right of Voli or the behind her. It was like trying to catch a fly.

Just then, Voli sensed a disturbance in the Force, the droid began firing multiple blaster bolts. In a split second, Voli heard the shots and attempted to hold her Lightsaber blade in front. She deflected one bolt, then two however because of her lack sight multiple blaster bolts began pelting her chest, shoulder and stomach as she fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Uggghhhh......" Voli fell back first onto the floor no doubt her body was bruised. She could hear her Lightsaber fading as it rolled from the palm of her hand. "You know Master?" Voli said still flat on her back. "I never knew what's it like to have your stomach being turned into soup."

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

"Good to hear, then being able to redirect bolts when you can't see them coming is just as important." There were going to be times she was attacked from behind, shot at multiple times in a row. Dreidi wanted to make sure she prepared Voli for such ordeals.

There was a strong start from Voli when she deflected the attacks, Dreidi nodded her head approvingly, then noted the issue. She wasn't being quick enough and as more shots were fired, Voli struggled to keep up and took several to her torso. Waving her hand again, she froze the droid in place and walked over to her Padawan. Helping Voli onto her feet as Dreidi removed the helmet.

"Just be glad you still have your stomach. If this was in a battlefield you would be dead." Dreidi stated, "now, what do you believe caused your failure to protect yourself here?" Curious to see what insight and self reflection Voli could give herself in this moment. It was important to be able to see one's weaknesses and know where to improve.

 

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

"Yes Master....." Was all Voli could muster as she continued to lay on the floor. First day of training and already Voli experienced so many fails, she wasn't going to give up but it was disheartening that was for sure.

"For one," Voli said gingerly getting up. "I couldn't see a thing in that helmet." She sighed looking at Dreidi. "Master how am I supposed to fight if I can't see?" She asked. "It's impossible!"

She was starting to think that Dreidi was pulling a prank on her just to punish Voli's cockiness.

"Or maybe I'm just missing something," Voli sighed. "Am I not trusting the Force enough?"

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

She listened to what Voli had to say. It seemed the Padawan did not see her point, the lesson that she was trying to instruct. Letting out a small sigh, Dreidi took the helmet and lowered the blast shield. Stepping into the middle of the room, she activated three remote droids, and activated her Lightsaber.

As soon as the droids began to fire upon her, Dreidi swiftly deflected each attack, moving as if she could see everything and even predict the movements of the droids. Dreidi disabled the droids within quick succession and ended the training simulation, taking the helmet off. "It is impossible because you limit yourself, Voli." Dreidi stated, "if you only ever use your eyes to see then you will be blind to everything that the Force is trying to communicate with you on."

"It is not just merely trusting the Force. It is knowing how to use your powers correctly. And it is accepting that some things take time. We cannot rush training." Dreidi reassured Voli, "now try again. Listen to the Force, feel it, sense how it flows all around you." She handed the helmet back to Voli to try again.

 

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

Voli felt her helmet being removed and the first thing she saw was Dreidi's disappointment etched on her face. She got the feeling that she was going to see that look a lot during her training. "The Force has no limits," Voli said getting to her feet and dusting her robes off. "But we do and it's hard to imagine myself as having no limits."

She remained in sullen silence observing Dreidi's placing the blast shield helmet over her head and effortlessly blocking the blaster bolts with Lightsaber. Each the bolts ricochet off the green blade and hit the ceiling. Voli's jaw dropped a bit wondering how her Master was able to move with such speed and precision. "It's the Force," she thought. "I just didn't believe it."

"Okay Master," Voli said when Dreidi placed the helmet over her head obscuring her vision. "Trust in the Force."

But more importantly trust herself.

Taking a deep breath, Voli closed her eyes trying to clear out any semblance of fear, frustration, or doubt within her. She could feel the Force wrapping itself around her like a puppeteer controlling the puppet strings. It felt nerve-wracking but at the same time.... comforting knowing that amidst the darkness, Voli wasn't alone. When the whine from the first blaster bolt shot, Voli didn't hesitant allowing the Force to guide her blade to deflect the bolt back towards the training droid. She could hear a small explosion before transitioning her training saber towards the next blaster bolt batting the bolt away.

Voli was deep into the Force moving in unison with it and the next thing she knew she was deflecting blaster bolts by the remaining two training droids.

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

Dreidi silently watched as Voli put the helmet back on and gave it another attempt. She was glad that her demonstration had helped somewhat. It allowed Voli to see that things were possible, it was a matter of belief and attempting these things with an open mind. The next attempt when even smoother than when she had the helmet off, demonstrating how much more connected she was in this moment with the Force than she had been before.

Gesturing the remote droids away, "good job Voli, much better improvement and you did even better with the helmet on than you did first time." Dreidi praised Voli with a pleased tone of voice, it was good to see her Padawan was making progress. "Keep up the practice and tighten up the movements and you'll be handling these droids with no issue. Then we can progress you to the actual training." It was one thing to handle a simulation that was structured and predictable to someone without the Force. Another to know how to handle someone organic and chaotic shooting at you.

That was the progression that Dreidi wanted Voli to be capable with.

"Now, demonstrate some kata again. Remember, you are always connected with the Force. Deflecting bolts is one part of the combat style of a Jedi, here, this might help." Dreidi tapped the controls of a console and a droid with four arms holding training devices stepped out and approached Voli. "See how accurate you can get against the droid using the techniques I showed you earlier."

Dreidi figured that being more practical could assist Voli in understanding the combat elements more.

 

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

Though Dreidi's praise was mild, Voli felt pride. It was a frustrating first lesson with Voli desperately trying to catch up with the younger students. "I'll probably need to pull all nighters studying the Force." Voli thought. "So basically it's just like School all over again."

At least the NJO will have topics that she's actually interested in.

"Wait a minute," Voli said while she witnessed Dreidi activate the training Droid. "You mean the stuff we were learning WASN'T the actual training? What are we're doing, training for the training?"

Voli gave out a chuckle before giving the Droid a strike with her training saber. She repeated the methods that Dreidi taught her in a sloppy albeit fluid motion. "So far so good," Voli said smiling.

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

Shaking her head, "it is all one lesson. Think about it, we started with the katas, you learned to develop your instincts and accuracy against the blasters, trusting in the Force. And now you are being tasked with demonstrating how accurate you can be with the blade against an opponent with a blade." It was allowing Dreidi to know how capable of a fighter Voli would be. While going to war and fighting enemies was not something that Dreidi wished for any Padawan out there in the galaxy. She knew far better than to dream it not to be.

She lived through wars and invasions on her own.

Dreidi knew that she was doing better for Voli by training her to survive and to know how to fight.

"Tighten your movements, attacking sloppy leaves you vulnerable for counter strikes and potentially losing a limb or life." Dreidi mentioned as she observed held back, taking in everything that Voli was doing. "Remember how you were with the helmet on fighting the remote droids. The sense of being in tune with the Force." Dreidi reminded Voli.

 

[Voli Cholrass]

Current Outfit

Voli was disappointed in the fact that what she did was just the bare minimum. To think she was going all out trying to master these techniques. "If I'm struggling with the bare basics of swinging a saber." Voli thought. "I wonder what the actual kata will be."

No amount of reading prepared Voli for the realities of saber training. Reading and imagining was one thing, but actually getting up and putting the theories and dispelling the romanticized fighting in your head was another challenge of its own. Voli nodded and began to tighten her movements, her training saber hummed as she began to call upon the Force for assistance.

"The Force is what?" Voli said as she began to strike at the training dummy. "A tool? Or a thing? Do we use it? Or does it use us for...... whatever it intends to do?"

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Nightsister Energy Bow
Tag: Voli Cholrass

Dreidi could sense the disappointment in Voli, she sighed, her pupil was wanting to leap before she could even walk. "Remember, these might be basics. But it takes years for a Padawan to master the techniques enough to become a Knight and takes even more years to master them further to become a Master." Dreidi stated. Offering an understanding that patience would be key in all this.

Shaking her head, "the Sith see the Force as a tool, as a weapon to use. However, we see it as a guiding force of nature. Something that flows through us, guides us at times and that we must be in tune with the Force to use it. Hence the meditation, the acceptance that there will be things we can do and can't do."

"The Dathomiri, the call the Force Magick, the ichor and connection with our ancestors is what powers us. Our emotions and fires power the Magick within us and that the connection we share to Dathomir is a connection we cannot afford to lose." Dreidi commented, giving us inclusion on how others who weren't Jedi and Sith on how they saw the Force.