Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos
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Public The Smallest Presence - [Ossus]
- Thread starter Braze
- Start date
Crime-Lord Prince
"You trailed off when you were giving rule three," Leos sighed. "I bet you were waiting for me to ask about that too, huh?"
Surely he could have just finished his thoughts when he spoke them originally. Asking about if he could stand, sure, but it was just one thing after another. Was Leos getting straight answers or was he just being yanked around? At this point he wasn't all too sure.
But what other choice did he have?
"Will... I have to stay sitting then? Since I failed to ask?"
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
Braze smiled. " Very good, You're catching on fast. I am waiting for you to ask. Feels good to learn huh?" Braze asked gently... perhaps... seemingly still waiting for him to ask what exactly rule three might be. In a round about way he was already testing Leos' commitment to training and weather or not he could communicate when situations were difficult, to find the simplest solution when under pressure.
"Well... that depends... how do you intend on figuring out the answer ?" Braze asked as if perhaps... hinting that he could still ask him anything he wanted... it was less of a question of knowing what Braze wanted or what he was expecting now perhaps, and just to see that Leos would follow through on his own.
"I get it rules aren't that interesting... perhaps if they were more interesting you would have asked by now. I hated rules growing up in the temple... But I understand exactly why they are important... Would you like to know why?" Braze asked perhaps seemingly letting Leos suffer knowing full well it had to suck to just sit there like that. Either he could ask directly and maybe Braze would tell him the answer and release him from the metaphorical hell, or see if he gave up and just stood up, in a way daring to disobey his new teacher. The result was sure to be useful information either way.
Crime-Lord Prince
"I know why rules are important," Leos retorted, pouting slightly. "Without structure people act without thinking. Not having consequences can turn anyone into a menace to society. It's easy to be selfish if you know nobody will hold you accountable..."
His sentence trailed off. That definitely spoke more to his experience than anything, didn't it? Maybe that wasn't what Braze was trying to get at. Leos turned his head away for a moment, trying his best to recompose himself and move past what he had said. He wasn't really in the mood to have his upbringing picked apart by someone he had just met.
"Will you tell me the third rule please?"
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"Those are important too, I suppose… But I like to think rules should be made because they're meant to protect people. And if they stop protecting people… maybe they aren't worth following anymore. Most of my rules come from wanting to keep you safe," he said simply.
"Oh...yes. I'll happily tell you," Braze added gently. "Rule three… I make the rules. Now come on up. "
Crime-Lord Prince
Leos sat there in a daze for a moment. That... was it? What a silly thing to hold so close to one's chest. After a moment, however, the Themian did stand. His legs ached, having fallen asleep under the weight of his body. Now they throbbed with irritation as his blood pumped faster to try to equalize once again. He bit his lip in irritation at the sensation.
"That... just feels like a way of saying the rules will change based on your whims," Leos remarked with a frown.
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
TAGS:
Leos
"In a way, yes... but not for the reasons you might think," he offered lightly. "Sometimes things come up that I hadn't considered yet. I will make mistakes, and when I do, I only ask that you be patient with me...and communicate how you feel. We can always revisit and discuss things later."
Crime-Lord Prince
"That's... actually rather reasonable," Leos mused.
He wasn't expecting an answer like that for something that initially seemed like a safety net for someone who hadn't put in the work of creating a comprehensive list of rules. It was.... new. Different. Those who made rules in his life did so for their own selfish reasons.
Perhaps he needed to keep his mind more
"Okay... I'll... be patient then."
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
TAGS:
Leos
"Okay… a lot of younglings start by focusing on meditation or practicing telekinesis," Braze said, easing the words with a patient tone. His hand drifted to his pockets as he searched for something small. "Have you ever managed to lift anything without touching it, just by reaching with the Force?"
Crime-Lord Prince
"Yeah, that's easy enough," Leos nodded. "I watched my... uh... I watched someone else do it enough times."
Boy, he was getting too loose lipped around this guy.
"What am I lifting?"
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
Braze reached into his coat pocket and removed a spherical object. It was a Meditation Sphear with all kinds of small, moveable parts. He tossed it to Leos.
"Try using that," he offered gently.
Seeing it done and doing it were two entirely different things. Braze understood the lesson well, as he struggled to control reaching that unique state of zen and that calm flow state when he was young. Control was important. Braze picked up a stick and started to write out the code as he explained in the dirt by the encampment leaving Leos to focus on that task for now.
Crime-Lord Prince
Oh. A sphere? That should be easy enough. Except when he did pick up the object, all the components began spinning at once. Immediately Leos was overwhelmed with just how many components he was suddenly in control of. Or maybe he wasn't really in control at all.
Sweat very quickly began to form on his brow as he tried to rein in his focus.
"This thing... sure moves a lot..." Leos muttered.
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"Would you like a simpler object to start with?" Braze asked curiously. He was, perhaps, subsequently aware that others didn't quite need the overwhelming stimulation he did.
"I have a few beads we can try instead. You want to picture the item and let the Force flow through your being… become the gate and let the water through." He offered metaphorically, moving to select a few colorful beads from his breast pocket and offering them over.
"Sometimes it's easier to start smaller and work up.... Like building up your stamina... it takes a lot of energy to do certain things. "
Crime-Lord Prince
"Yeah... that sounds fair."
Leos was disappointed, but he wasn't going to fight to do the harder thing first. That wouldn't do him any good, right? He needed to not worry about being unable to match a full-blown Jedi and just try his best to get better.
"I bet I'm at a major disadvantage," Leos remarked. "Don't most Jedi start their training as little kids? That's a lot of time to 'build stamina' or whatever..."
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"Yes… it's easier to work with children. Their little minds are like sponges, open and accepting of things. They haven't been jaded by life's cruelties yet, haven't experienced hardships, or become preoccupied with worry for basic needs. It's much easier to train and study when you are blissfully ignorant of such things," Braze explained gently.
"I find… what helps is realizing... and I mean really realizing.... that you are just one person. No one person can save the universe on their own, and you shouldn't expect to shoulder such an immense burden." Braze finished his writing before walking over. He took a seat across from Leos and smiled.
"It's a hard lesson to learn. Even when one matures, they might get stuck in the self-sacrificing manner of viewing things. That isn't bad per se, but if you get yourself killed for a minor act, you lose out on time you could spend elsewhere. Make many smaller ripples rather than one big splash in the universe to have a greater, overarching effect. Don't make life-changing decisions rashly, or in a snap decision, ya know? No one person can really save the whole universe really... but you can certainly tip the scales if you know where to put your efforts. "
Crime-Lord Prince
"I... suppose."
Still, didn't somebody have to make those decisions? It's not like there was always an option on what to do when push came to shove. Was it wrong to sit back while someone else sacrificed themselves?
"When... does somebody become allowed to make those decisions?" Leos asked. "What it it comes down to... I dunno, like a lives of the many over the few sort of scenerio. Soldiers sacrifice their lives every time they go out to battle. Somebody has to be making those life-changing decisions, right?"
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"I've asked myself that same question more times than I can count," Braze started softly. "I don't know if there's ever a point when you're truly 'allowed.'... Maybe it's less about being allowed, and more about being willing to bear the blame when it all goes wrong. Because... it will, eventually. People will die. And the question becomes… can you live with being the one who decided it had to be them, instead of someone else..? " He trailed looking directly at
Leos
"No one is ever truly 'allowed' to make those decisions. You just… accept the weight and live with the consequences. Soldiers, generals, and Jedi... every one of them carries scars from the choices they made, or failed to make. The only wrong choice is pretending you're not responsible when others suffer for it.... But..."
He trailed, eyes down for a moment before lifting them again, voice quieter now, but steadier.
"...but if you carry that burden with honesty, if you never stop remembering the lives behind those choices... then maybe that's what keeps you from losing yourself to it. Maybe that's the only way to make peace with it... by never letting it grow easy."
His tone shifted, firm now, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"But I'll tell you this much—you're young. You haven't lived much yet. And you've only got one life... so don't waste it."
Crime-Lord Prince
Only one life...
It sure didn't feel like Leos had been spending the one he already had very well. Surely being the street-rat son of a crime lord was a waste of skin. It didn't help that he had been too much of a coward to leave that life behind sooner. Even as he lived and breathed detesting that existence, he never once tried to escape Daiyu until now. Maybe he had just been afraid of his father.
Maybe it was comfortable. Even if he hated that life it was all he had ever known.
"Fine," he relented after a moment of silence. "I'll... try not to die then."
Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
"Good… I'd hate for my teaching, and all of our time and effort, to end up wasted," Braze said, this time letting a thread of humor color his voice. He eased back in his seat, setting the small trinkets he'd been using as props down in a neat row: a string of beads, and a glass marble that caught the light with faint glimmers.
"Now…" He drew in a breath, leaning forward slightly, one hand gesturing toward the practice space. "Again."
Crime-Lord Prince
"Right."
Leos turned in the direction of the beads this time, which were supposedly easier. He glanced back at Braze. Instead of waiting for instructions, this time he spoke up.
"How is it that these beads are supposed to work?" Leos asked.