Private Skill Is Important

[Aris Noble]

Aris was ultimately an introvert. He could walk alone, be a lone, and feel at peace with himself and his surroundings. Too many people around could actually stress him out. And he wasn't the best at social interaction. Many jokes often went over his head as he took everything others said at face value. He wasn't used to there being layers to conversations. It was difficult enough to follow along without wondering if there was something hidden deeper below it all.

But he was still aware enough to know someone was feeling distracted or upset.

Endor's challenge was a simple one at the end of the day. A five v five capture the flag challenge, but working together with the others was the biggest challenge of it all. One of them in particular had stood out for him. Ayhan . An older Padawan much like the others, which left him alone in the age bracket. They probably had problems they were facing that he didn't understand, or just couldn't. But he also couldn't ignore the fact there was something bothering the older Padawan.

Things had calmed down enough. The actual challenge wasn't there yet, and they had already made their base. So he stopped in front of him. "Hey. .. You okay?"

 

[Ayhan]

There was much preparation to be done in camp. Shelter, food, not to mention fortifications. The other's might've been satisfied, but Ayhan was not. The walls were weak, and would not withstand anything larger than a wild boar. They had no weapons either. Not enough concealed traps for his liking.

Though the environ was far more lush than the Cage, it was still altogether too reminiscent of the simulated forest. All it was missing was the speaker system ordering Ayhan and his siblings to deadly trials, and the droids who forced the noncompliant into submission.

The forest itself wasn't the problem. It was the challenge itself. Construct shelters, pit ally against ally. Survive. Ayhan's fight or flight instincts had kicked in as soon as the Padawans had been briefed on their missions. Every cell in his body screamed at Ayhan that he was in mortal danger, that he needed to do whatever he needed to to ensure he'd live until tomorrow. To ensure Mahsa would. His instincts told him to act first, to remove the threat permanently, and to ask questions later. But the Firronthix fought against every primal urge to do so. And thus far, Ayhan had thought that despite his rock-set jaw and his taut muscles, he'd hid his struggle from his fellows fairly well. The Knights had noticed of course, but they had sharp eyes, years of experience that the other Padawans didn't.

Except one, apparently. The 'youngest' of the group, Aris, Ayhan recalled, approached the Firronthix, and asked a small question as Ayhan rigged a trip-wire. "Yeah. I'm good," Ayhan replied without so much as looking up at the older Padawan. Ayhan tested the tension of the tripwire, and the rasp of leaves brushing against each other mingled with the clatter of branches knocking together. A makeshift alarm.

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris crouched beside him, his eyes scanning over the tripwire. Traps weren't his forte, if he was being honest. He knew how to hunt, and had with his father for some dinners back home, but he never felt a need to use a trap to do so. He could just catch the animal with his bare hands if he wanted to, after all. Probably not something to end up speaking about, if he was honest.

"I would normally not pry, but we are working together to win. There is something bothering you, so please tell me what it is so we can plan around it."

Ayhan

 

[Ayhan]

The older Padawan knelt down beside Ayhan, sharp eyes examining the tripwire laid out before him. Just one sentence. As much a question as it was a demand, and Ayhan frowned at the Padawan. It wasn't exactly something that Ayhan was eager to speak about, and the Firronthix was about to tell the other Padawan to mind his own business when he reconsidered.

The boy was right.

Ayhan looked behind him towards the others, each completing different tasks. His eyes quickly found Mahsa, her shorter stature easy to pick out. "Mahsa and I, we grew up in a lab, in a simulated forest," Ayhan began to explain. "We were bred to be slave-warriors. Perfect soldiers. Everyday, we fought whatever was thrown at us. We killed our siblings. We survived." Ayhan turned back towards the tripwire, tightening it slightly, before deciding he was satisfied. "It looked a lot like this..."

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

"Oh."

That wasn't what Aris had thought was wrong at all. He blinked in surprise and sort of just knelt there for a moment longer in silence before clearing his throat. "I'm sorry." The words themselves sounded hollow, even to him. He didn't understand the emotions something like that might bring. Hell, he barely understood emotions in general. He frowned further, mostly at himself.

His failings, especially for his allies.

"I was grown in a vat to be a back up body. I wasn't supposed to be alive or conscious." No, no. Empathy started with shared experiences. It wasn't the same, but maybe he could understand, if he explained. That's what he homed at least.

Ayhan

 

[Atin Tracinya]

delete

 

[Ayhan]

"Oh."

Well, that was a kind enough response, Ayhan supposed. Not dissimilar from how Master Vahr had reacted when Atin had told her. Quietly, she'd sat there and just nodded. Somethings didn't have words, it seemed.

"I'm sorry."

And others had wrong ones. Ayhan frowned at the apology, but made himself busy, walking towards another vulnerable spot in their little camp. "Why? You aren't at fault," the Firronthix said, more annoyed than anything. He didn't want anyone's pity. And it also wasn't due to be angry with Aris either, who was trying to be kind. Who was also vat-born, like them.

"And yet, here you are," Ayhan answered him, deep brown eyes locking onto Aris as he began to rig another alarm. "So what do you make of it? Being alive when you should have never been in the first place?" It was a callous question, but even with the brusque tone that Ayhan used, a hint of sincere curiosity somehow made its way through. Almost like he'd asked himself the same question time and time again.

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Callous as it would be to another, Aris only took it at face value. Logically it was a sound question, even if it was one where the answer could only come from emotion. "A freak accident that I fortunately benefitted from." That would be the cold honest truth he could think of. The factual truth. He was very lucky with both when he woke up, and who had found him. Or as the Jedi said constantly to him in particular, it was the will of the Force. There were no coincidences.

"I don't know what else to make of it, though. I think I'll figure it out, maybe. But right now I am content with just living day by day. .. What is your answer to that question?"

Ayhan

 

[Ayhan]

Aris' response was just as Ayhan had expected. Certain of the answer, little to no hesitation at all. They boy had found his answer, as far as he seemed to care at least, and was content with. Ayhan nodded silently as his eyes went back to the alarm he was fixing, fingers tightening a knot. The boy wasn't necessarily wrong either. If no higher power existed, if the Force did not have a will as the Jedi proclaimed, then perhaps Aris owed his entire being to mere chance. And that was that.

"I don't know what else to make of it, though." The words caught Ayhan off-guard, and his eyes flicked back over to Aris. "I think I'll figure it out, maybe." Always certain, this one was. No doubt in his mind. Ayhan felt a small spark of admiration for the youth as he went on to say he just lived took it all a day at a time, and asked for Ayhan's thought.

"Life is tragic, messy, and ultimately pointless," Ayhan said, just as quick as Aris had. "And if the Force does indeed have a will, it also has one cruel sense of humor." Cold, wet, the twine between his fingers became the damp rag he'd tried to cool her fever with. "That, or its just bad luck. Either way, we were, at best, mistakes, and at worst, the products of intentional malevolence. I'm convinced that the cosmic consciousness has it out for me and my kind for simply existing." Ayhan said with a shrug, turning towards Aris again, but his eyes slid past the boy, towards the smallest of their group. The runt.

"But...every once in a while life's kind enough to give us something worthwhile. And then we choose, and make of it what we will." Ayhan focused back on Aris again. "And so, if I'm alive in spite of everything, I choose to spend it protecting what I care about."

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris blinked in surprise. Ayhan had a lot more figured out than Aris did by far. He only briefly glanced where the seemingly older boy did, but it wasn't hard to hazard a guess on what it was he meant to protect. A couple thoughts went through his mind, but they pretty quickly contradicted themselves. Aris didn't know enough about this, about these kinds of bonds, about what Ayhan might've gone through because of how he was born.

But he did smile.

"Sometimes all it takes is having someone to protect, right? Shall we finish the traps?"

Ayhan