Jaina Solo (ex_jainasolo771) wrote in parabolical, @ 2008-04-19 02:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | andrew wells, jaina solo |
Who: Jaina Solo and Andrew Wells
What: Training her new Padawan
When: Early afternoon
Where: The Hyperion
Rating: TBD
Status: In Progress
Note: The first half of this scene was done via AIM. The second half will be finished the same way, or completed in the thread.
Jaina stared up at the hotel that loomed before her, taking in the obvious signs of a recent battle across its front lawn and the building itself. The uppermost floor looked as though it was frozen solid with ice caking the widows and outer ledges. The grass all across the front was uprooted in large spots and clumps of roots were exposed. Some even appeared to have clothing attached to them, as though people had gotten tangled in the roots at some point recently.
Yet, even with the destruction, there was a positive energy about the hotel that helped put the Jedi at ease. The Force wasn’t dark and clouded, here. This was definitely a place for those who tried to do good. The fact that the man she’d agreed to train was staying here was most assuredly a good thing. For now, at least. Eventually he was going to have to be closer to where she was, or she was going to have to come here, but for now it was good that he was with people seeped in light rather than darkness.
Her lightsaber hung at her hip, her outfit was the same one she’d been wearing when she’d arrived here. The clothing of this world was somewhat strange – though comfortable – but trying to train someone while wearing the constricting denim jeans was out of the question. Jaina was small, extremely tiny in fact, and she needed the ability to move quickly in order to maximize something that had always appeared to be a weakness. Jeans didn’t give her the chance to do that.
This entire thought process took her from the curb outside, up the walkway, and into the hotel itself. Pausing in the lobby she glanced around. Not spotting anyone immediately, Jaina cleared her throat lightly before calling out, “I know someone is here. I’d like to speak with you.”
Andrew was, needless to say, incredibly excited. Incredibly might not even be a big enough word to express just how overjoyed Andrew was with even the idea of having a Jedi be willing to train him. It was like a kid on Christmas morning after spending the entire year working for a charity that helped puppies with cancer. At first, he can speeding down every time he heard any sort of voice in the Lobby. However, after a few hours with all the traffic the hotel had gotten as of late, and after enough verbal threats, he stopped.
By now, when he heard the voice of someone asking for someone to speak to, he didn't bother to even slide down the banister while blasting "Duel of the Fates" from his handheld stereo. He waited, figuring someone else (someone else more important) would tend to her. He fidgeted. What if it was HER? What if she was going to LEAVE? He fidgeted again. He gave in. He burst into the lobby, decked in his Official Lucas Approved brown Jedi robe, making a grand entrance. "Good to see you, it is, Master."
For a second, all Jaina could do was stare at the young man wearing the robes. Just… stare. She was torn between being highly amused and highly annoyed. On one hand, he seemed sincere, which was good. And he didn’t seem to take himself too seriously, which was also good. However, he needed to be serious about this if she was going to be able to teach him anything. And his little entrance had her questioning that fact quite severely.
Still, Jaina wasn’t one for backing down from a challenge and when she gave her word she did her best to keep it. So rather than cast him aside as a hopeless cause, she made a decision to at least give him a chance. She just hoped he didn’t make a fool out of himself and, by proxy, her.
Her lips turned upward into a hint of a smile as she tipped her head lightly at him. “You, as well.” There was a pause before she added, “Though if you keep speaking like Master Yoda, we might have an issue.” Her smile increased a bit at that, more joking than anything, although hearing him speak backwards was going to get old fast.
"Right. Sorry." He fidgeted again. This was pretty nerve wracking since he had only waited his entire life for something this sweet to come up- not that raising demons and fighting ultimate evil wasn't sweet.
"I brought my own lightsaber! My friend Jonathon built it a few years ago but we obviously didn't have any real Jedi crystals so it's all synthetic.... but it works really great, after the cat incident, my other friend, Warren, his mom wouldn't let us keep it inside the house." He went, already beginning to babble in his excitement. "It's based on a Darth Maul prototype from artist renderings released on Lucasnet before the movie was even released, so it's not exact... so... how long have you been a Jedi Master? You look kinda young..." He said, finally realizing that he wasn't exactly dealing with someone of the likes of Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Qui-Gon.
Wow, but did he like to talk. Jaina listened, doing her best to keep up with his ramblings. Something about his own lightsaber, a brief mention of Darth Maul, and a cat. Then came a question, and one she could fortunately answer.
“Actually,” she said lightly as she stepped further into the lobby and toward him, “I can’t be an official Master until my Padawan becomes an official Jedi Knight. So I suppose that answer is going to depend on you.” Her infamous Solo semi-smirk was still present as she studied him for a minute before asking her own question.
“Is there somewhere in the hotel we could get some privacy? We have a lot of work to do,” Jaina paused then added, “Although you having your own lightsaber does bring us a step closer. One of the first things my Uncle Luke had me do was build mine. It becomes a part of you, that way.”
"Ooooh..." He said, noticing that his Master had an oddly familiar smile that he couldn't quite place. "Oh! Yeah, we can use the basement, that should be empty. Hopefully all the water and those snake-things are gone.... That Merlob never was killed... did you see that guy?" He said, as he lead her down to the basement. "He was totally big and mean and.... piratey. He was totally badass, I heard a rumor that he punched a hole clear through Angel- our Champion- which is odd because Angel usually beats everybody with the whole immortal vampire thing. You know about vampires, right?" He swung open the door to the basement.
“Merlob?” Jaina questioned as she followed Andrew down to the basement. She blinked at his next question but, before she could answer he was already opening the basement door. Without hesitation she used the Force to slam the door close again and spun him to face her, a hard look replacing the smirk that had been there before.
“First lesson,” she stated simply, “you don’t go strolling into a room that could still be dangerous. Especially not in front of me. If there are still snakes inside there, you have no hope of defending yourself and from this point on you’re my responsibility.” Her tone wasn’t harsh, but there definitely wasn’t room for arguing either. She meant what she said.
Studying him for a second longer her expression softened a bit and Jaina stated, “In answer to your question, yes. I know what vampires are. I came across them right after finding myself here. Now, if you don’t mind, step aside and I’ll open that door.”
"Ah-...... Oooh." He said nodding to her every word. "Heh. Ladies first." He said with a chuckle as he stepped to the side. Oh, if Warren could see him now. Too bad he was filleted.
At least he didn’t try to argue with her. Jaina had to give him credit for that much. Drawing in a breath, she once more used the Force to re-open the door as soon as Andrew was out of the way. Silence seemed to great them for a second before there was a semi-lunge from around the corner. A flick of her wrist sent the nearly-dead snake smashing into the door. It fell at her feet, dead, although she wasted no time in removing her lightsaber and slicing its head from its body just to be certain.
Stepping into the basement, she glanced around and wrinkled her nose. “Well,” she said, “besides that one, which was just about dead anyway, it looks clear enough.” She glanced toward Andrew. “The smell is karking awful, though.” Her attention went back to the room and the piles of dead snakes lying about. Clearing away most of the area by use of the Force, she said, “This is going to have to do. First things first. I want to see your lightsaber.”
Andrew wasted no time grabbing his lightsaber from his side and igniting it. It extended a reasonably smaller distance than a standard lightsaber, it was a problem the boys had encountered in its own engineering, but that didn't matter compared to the light color the blade emitted: a lovely shade of neon carnation pink.
Andrew nodded in self-satisfaction. It was his most prized possession, and now he was going to be blessed with the ability to use it beyond his home videos of twirling it around with home acrobatics.
"Pretty neat, huh! Not bad for a Earthling!"
Jaina stared at his lightsaber for a moment and tried her best to keep the look of horror from her face. “It’s pink,” she said in a faint tone, her gaze flickering from the shorter, brighter blade to the man responsible for it. “You have a pink lightsaber.”
This wasn’t happening. Was not happening. She had not agreed to train someone who owned a pink lightsaber. If Jacen ever found out about this, he would never let her live it down. Ever.
Still. She’d given her word. So with a deep breath meant to calm her nerves a bit, Jaina re-collected herself and gave him a smile. “Though it is impressive, since this planet doesn’t have what you need to make one that isn’t so… unique.” Her own lightsaber returned to the hook on her belt as she spoke.
“Now, we’re going to start simple. Just like my uncle once did.” Pulling a small, spherical device from her pocket, she activated it. The device rose into the air and began humming, slowly hovering in place until it locked onto Andrew. Or, more importantly, his lightsaber. Immediately a shot rang out in the room – little more than a warning zap, really – and Jaina stated, “Here’s your chance, kid. Show that thing whose boss.”
If there was one thing Andrew knew.... it was summoning demons with his magic flute. If there was another thing he knew, it was video games. Andrew readied up like he was ready for a run through the simulation arcade. In a cross between a sword stance and a baseball stance- and remembering Luke's own training of the flying doohickey ball- he stood ready to combat it. It immediately zapped him in the hand.
"Oowww." He whined. "I totally was ready for that one. Okay now I'm- Ooow!!" It zapped him again. "Grr." He stanched and tried to swipe at it. He got lose, but no cigar. "Force. Use the Force." It zapped him again. "Okay, not feeling the Force." It dodged it attack before zapping him again. "Definitely not feeling the Force-- can you put it on easy-mode? This isn't really-- oww!"
To anyone else, the situation might have seemed comical. Actually, in retrospect, it was downright hilarious. However, at the moment, Jaina was finding very little humor in the situation. In fact, she was slowly starting to think this had been one rather enormous mistake.
With a sigh, she picked up her own lightsaber and ignited it. Instantly the ball turned toward her and fired. Jaina waited until the last possible second then raised her blade, deflecting the shot and sending it directly back to its source. The ball let out a loud whine then fell to the ground, disengaged. Jaina lowered her lightsaber and looked to Andrew.
“That was the easy mode,” she said in a low, gruff tone. Studying him for a second, she sighed. “Look, I think this was a mistake…”
Then she paused and really thought about what she was about to do. He had potential. She just knew he did. He needed a chance, is all.
With another sigh, she tacked on, “Clearly, we need to start smaller. Deactivate your weapon and come sit down across from me.” As she spoke, she had already returned her own lightsaber to her side and was sitting down on the part of the basement that was padded and not covered in water and bits of snakes.
Andrew pouted. "I can do it, I'm just... it's all a little bit overwhelming. You honestly don't understand, I've wanted to do this since.... since I was a fetus. It's.... It's just so cool!" He said, following her orders and sitting down across from her.
"I have the reflexes of a cheetah. The eyes of an Eagle. The resourcefulness of a beaver." He continued, even though she made it clear she was going to give up just yet. "I can do it; maybe I just need more time because I'm not a youngling. Maybe--"
“Andrew,” Jaina interrupted him, her tone not so much harsh as firm, “stop talking and listen to me.” Her legs crossed ‘Indian-style’ in front of her; she rested her hands on her thighs and met his gaze. “I’m the daughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa. If I give my word, I keep it, no matter what. I said I was going to train you, and I will. We just have to go about it a little differently, is all. Now I want you to stay quiet, close your eyes, and try to clear your mind.”
This, she thought, was probably going to be near impossible for him. However, she was hoping her own link to the Force could help him find his. Once again she reminded herself that he did have potential.
“I also want you to hold out your hands, palms facing upward. I’m going to see if I can help you sense the Force.” It was going to be trickier – trickier than most anything she’d done before, most likely – but Jaina really did think Andrew could do this. Provided he could find his inner balance and focus.
Andrew obeyed, putting his hands on his knees and closing his eyes. He concentrated on feeling the force. He always wondered what it felt like... he always imagined that it felt sort of fuzzy. Like an ongoing hug from the universe. Or a turtleneck. He also assumed that the force was that fuzzy test pattern you saw behind your eyelids when you tried to sleep at night but couldn't because you were too interested by the random colors and patterns on said lids. It made sense to him, except when he saw argyle. Why would the force he argyle? That was just silly. Andrew giggled a little bit at the thought before biting his tongue and continuing to concentrate.
Jaina watched him for a moment before reaching out and placing her hands over top of his with her palms facing downward. She made sure they weren’t touching, leaving a scant few inches between them. At his giggle she frowned. “Concentrate,” she hissed, before sliding her own eyes closed for a second.
Feeling the Force within her, around her, in the very air that surrounded her, Jaina gently forced it outward and downward. She willed it toward him, doing her best to make as much of the Force as she could brush against his palms, his arms, up to his shoulders. She made certain not to use the Force against him but more make its presence known to him.
“You need to set aside everything you think you know,” she said calmly as her eyes slid back open to watch his progress. She pulled her own hands away slowly but kept her center focus enough to keep the Force swirling around him just begging to be acknowledged. “You need to keep your mind clear, free from any notions you might have and open to anything that might happen. The Force is everywhere… it’s up to you to find it rather than assume it exists.”
She didn’t know if this would work. She’d only read about it being tried once before, and never knew the outcome of the attempt. But she was quickly running out of options and, if Andrew didn’t get in tune with the Force soon, she wasn’t sure what else to do.