Drops from a Pond

[Rameth]

[Invitation only]​

Hal sighed, wiped the sweat off his brow and sat down on the flat boulder. He had just finished filling the last 5 gallon water bowl and was slightly winded. He glanced over at the empty jugs that lay in a pile and shook his head. He should have had a droid come help him. At least he was smart enough to carry the jugs on a repulsorlift. Still it wasn't like he was new to physical exercise.

Taking his datapad out of his pocket he noticed it was almost time for Saia, and whoever she decided to bring with her, to arrive. He hopped off the rock and went to making sure that nothing would get in the way. He had set up several water bowls around the clearing, home to randomly shaped boulders scattered about. This was commonly a training or meditating area for Jedi from the temple. It wasn't far, only a fifteen minute walk or a minute or two speeder ride away. Though he was surrounded by trees there was a clear path to where he was. It wouldn't be hard to find, at least he hoped not.

Turning around he decided to practice a little. Bringing his hands close together he leaned over the water bowl he had just filled. Concentrating he reached out with invisible hands cupping the water and raising it from the bowl. His fingers moving gingerly he brought the small portion of water close to his face. He splashed his face with the water gently, as if he was holding it with his own hands.

"Well at least I remember the basics well enough.", he said to himself, "Now on to something more complicated."

After his last words Hal reached out with one hand and swept his hand across the body of water his hand moving toward one of the nearest rocks. As fast as his hand moved a small ball of liquid formed from the larger body and shot from the bowl exploding harmlessly against the boulder. The bowl itself moved slightly, spilling some of its contents. For being out of practice for so long he considered it a success. He turned hearing someone arriving from the temple.

 

[Xyrael]

Saia trotted through the forest with a bounce in her step, her usual ponytail bouncing up and down with enthusiasm as she stepped into the clearing, pausing for a moment to smell the wood and rock and everything that was nature. It was a refreshing change from the stale, recycled air aboard the Will. She looked over to Hal, someone she had only met a few times, and cast a smile in his direction. She had been invited by him, and she hoped that Matsu and Akacen would follow suite, but one could never be sure with those two. They were their own people, and they were beyond prediction.

Regardless, she decided to say hello. "Hey, Hal, what's with the uh..." she nodded to the pile of plastic jugs, "oversized water bottles?" She had, of course, seen the bowls before her, but she was still curious whether or not he'd been crazy enough to carry it all himself. Boys were silly sometimes, their single-mindedness and stubbornness was a trait she had started growing accustomed to.

 

[Syn]

Matsu had been invited by Saia to something she wasn't really sure what, but she still came as she walked through the forest. It was an interesting place and then she saw several water jugs and looked at Hal and Saia as she spoke raising an eyebrow. "Interesting, what are you planning for us to do?" Slowly Matsu slid her coat off and took away the lightsaber placing them by a tree. She came to look at Saia and gave a questioning gaze as her eyes turned to Hal. She wanted to say something clever but didn't know the boy enough. She had jokes but either Saia would find them in bad taste or she would blush. Slowly Matsu just stood there and turned her eyes to the rock with the splash on it. "Oh I see, you want to get us wet. I am game then." Matsu gave a smile as she reached over a jug. She was ready and waiting for Hal, her time with Saia helped her learn control better and she could hopefully do it.

 

[Master Maverick]

Akacen at first debated on whether or not to join Saia and his new compatriot to make a new acquaintance. He started to tire from meeting new people. It's not from the number, obviously, but that he put quite a bit of energy into his relationships. Or, at least, he did to/for himself.

He walked, forsaking the path and went north, among the trees and vegetation. He didn't worry about what they would be doing. It would be interesting, he was sure. Saia was quite clever, and Matsu always a bit energetic.

He was wearing casual semi-training clothes. Loose fitting, as was his preference.

He felt around him with the force. His fascination with trees absorbing his attention, he almost didn't notice the presence of some Jedi off to the south-east. Immediately he could tell one was Saia. It was unmistakable to him now. The other took him a moment more, but found it was Matsu. The third was foreign to him, but new it was the man they were going to meet.

He reached the glade within the minute and just smiled and raised an open hand in greeting. He was a bit intimidated by the large man, who was quite a bit older. He tried not to show it, but his face didn't cooperate as such.

He noticed the bowls about and was curious. "How are we?" he asked in his usual greeting. "So, what's the plan?" He asked after waiting for their responses.

 

[Rameth]

Hal was glad Saia accepted his invitation. He was finding it hard to stay acquainted with the many Padawans in the Order. Hopefully his luck was turning around. He was just about to answer Saia when her friend Matsu walked up behind her. They were both curious about the water jugs, which they should be. Hal didn't explain what they would be doing here cause he only just thought of it a few hours before. Trying to speak up to answer the both of them another showed up. He must have been another friend of Saia's. Looking around he noticed how short everyone was compared to him. He felt like a giant compared to the others. He shook his head and laughed quietly to himself.

"Of course I didn't carry them all here myself. You think I'm a shaved Wookiee or something?", Hal joked. He continued to answer the others, "Okay. Now that everyone is here, we should get started. I was thinking I could get a few Padawans together and have some fun. Not all training needs to be serious. If I remember correctly I think I've met all of you before. Saia I know, a little at least.", he turned towards Matsu and Akacen, "I haven't talked to either of you much but I think I remember both your names. Matsu and Akacen, right?", Hal hoped he had remembered their names correctly. Meeting so many new people constantly was becoming a hassle.

After making his introductions Hal turned and walked toward one of the other bowls. Gathering an invisible force from within himself self he turned quickly his arm mimicking throwing a ball. Three orbs shot from the bowl toward each of them, stopping abruptly before making contact. Hal was sure they would wince not expecting that. He smiled making sure they knew he meant nothing from it. The orbs floating in front of each of them dripped slightly as if the invisible ball holding them was cracked. Holding three at one time was hard concentration but Hal managed to speak regardless.

"This is what I planned for us to do. If you can grab hold of the water in front of you. There's plenty of water scattered around the clearing so don't worry about running out. That's what the .", the smile faded from his face taking on a mocking serious tone.

 

[Master Maverick]

(OOC: I didn't know if there was a posting order, so I'm sorry if I'm posting out of it... just PM/VM me!)

Akacen simply nodded in confirmation to Hal asking his name. He noticed the man from somewhere, but couldn't quite remember.

He didn't really have time to think about it as he noticed an orb or water flying towards him. He tensed visibly, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. He, however, didn't have the instinct to use the force to stop it. He was a bit unimpressed by this display, and the smile faded from his face. First impressions were quite important to him. He reacted to how people acted, and acted accordingly.

Now he looked around and located a number of the water filled bowls, getting ready for the game ahead.

 

[Syn]

Matsu looked at Akacen and then Hal as she went to a water bucket and held out her hand getting some water to float. She didn't know if they were going to throw it like they had the snow in the mountains but she grinned and spun her hand around tossing it at a rock for practice. "I am ready when you are."

 

[Xyrael]

Saia let out a small scream as the ball of water shot at her, smacking her hand at it trying to swat it away like an ugly bug. "Eep!" She realized how foolish she must have looked, and cast a scowl at Hal, wrinkling her nose at him in mock anger. She flicked the drops of water off her hand and at Akacen with amusement, sticking her tongue out at him. "Okay, I'm ready!"

 

[Master Maverick]

Saia's recoil made a smile crawl to his previously serious expression. Her reaction was amusing. Though, he was somewhat unimpressed at her attempt to make him wet, though the water didn't even hit his skin, so it didn't really bother him.

He watched as Matsu went over to a bowl and practiced with a shot at a rock. Without moving, he tried from his distance from the bowl to manipulate the water in an orb, a bit smaller than any of the previous, so it wouldn't be so difficult to control, nor would it be as tiring.

He was about 2 feet away from the closest bowl, it was a bit in front of him, to his left. He reached out his left hand, and moving his fingers gently, flowed a small amount of water out of the bowl in a ball and held it there. It was a bit more difficult than other small tasks he had tried, but he felt he would get used to it soon enough. Though, the challenge would be sending it towards someone, while keeping his focus on it not breaking.

Simply moving his wrist, he made the water flow around him in odd circles and figure-8's, practicing moving it. by the time he had finished, only a little bit of water had been lost. However, with the smaller size of the orb he had started with, it was quite a substantial amount relatively.

He brought it back over to the bowl and brought more water to it, and concentrated a bit hard on it. With that, it was dripping much slower, hardly at all, but he was a bit distracted by this and could easily miss what the others were doing.

He simply looked at the other 3 and nodded in confirmation, choosing not to say anything in front of the strange, yet familiar man. He wasn't comfortable enough yet.

He would, though, answer a direct question. He wasn't that shy, introverted and rude.

This will be most interesting. He thought to himself, a smirk raising the left corner of his mouth.

 

[Syn]

Matsu looked at Saia and giggled as she got another orb of water and spoke towards Saia with a laugh. "It almost looks like your eyes." Then Matsu shifted her hands and pushed the orb at Saia as she scooped up another and pushed it at Hal. She had been taught control by Saia and would use it mainly to pace herself.

 

[Rameth]

((OOC: Sorry for late response, got busy yesterday. Also no need for posting order after this.))

Hal patiently waited for Akacen to finish practicing. There would be no use playing if one of the players didn't know how. Hal quickly noticed how Saia and Akacen acted toward each other. He should let them hit each other more often, Hal knew what it was like to be young. Hell he was still young now.

The slow coming ball was almost to easy to dodge so Hal decided to let it hit his hand as he moved to side, almost like he was trying to catch it. The water harmlessly splashed against his palm and he made a mock catching motion. Grinning he gathered an orb of water himself. Looking at all of the others he made a serious face.

"Alright, try not throw them to hard. Ready...GO!", he shouted, laughing afterward despite trying not to.

Hal waited a few seconds before he moved, allowing anyone who wanted a free chance to hit him. He threw his own water at Matsu's legs, around the knees. He figured starting low and making his way up would be the best course of action. He would also try to avoid the face, he wasn't sure how they would take getting hit in the face by someone they barely know.

 

[Xyrael]

"Oh, I'll try," Saia grinned, immediately tumbling at the word 'go' towards the nearest bowl at her right, crouching at a knee and forming an invisible sphere with her hands. A ball of water coalesced and rose from the bowl as she rose the sphere of her hands; the ball of water was relatively large, larger than Akacen's. She grinned mischievously, throwing the orb towards Akacen's face, hoping to catch him off guard and get him soaked, before rising to her toes and sprinting towards a bowl on the other side of the grove to get distance. She knew she'd have to be on the defensive, she knew Matsu was just itching for a reason to get her wet again.

 

[Syn]

Matsu looked at Saia go as she ran more and scooped some up, She could feel Saia and threw an orb at her while spinning and using her hand to make a wave pushed the force to create tiny orbs from it. She had a small wall headed at the three and grinnedtrying to control their form... Maybe it had been a bad idea as she concentrated and left herself open.

 

[Master Maverick]

Akacen wasn't surprised at the orb coming towards him from Saia, nor her endeavor to get some distance. With the Force, he took control of the water and flung it around him, having it gain speed and thrust it towards Hal's waist.

It was then he noticed Matsu's wall headed towards all of them, and ducked behind a rock, letting the water splash against it.

 

[Rameth]

It seemed Akacen had targeted him when he wasn't really paying attention. The water soaked his midsection and Hal made a run for it to the nearest rock. He scrambled to get away from Matsu's shower of water. He was surprised that she decided to target all of them. An interesting choice of tactic. Still running he saw the bowl of water, he might have an advantage because he place them but he didn't think about that. Picking up a ball of water from the bowl he dashed around the boulder seeing Akacen's back against the rock. He flung his orb in his direction hoping for payback from before.

 

[Xyrael]

Saia saw the wall of water approaching her, though now at range it became less and less contiguous in its form. She used the Force to part it around her, collecting three smaller orbs from within it. She held them aloft in place, then used her hands to project an invisible force around them and hurl them. Her main target was Matsu, and she flung the small balls one at a time, maintaining enough control over them with the Force as they flew to resist Matsu taking control of them, and to alter their course and home in on her no matter where she moved. She grinned, using her finger to direct the path of the first missile, hoping to hit Matsu in the butt.

 

[Syn]

Matsu saw the orb tracking her and went to move in a spin getting hit in the front of her leather pants and she looked at Saia with a fake gasp of surprise and then grinned. Quickly Matsu moved as she went towards Saia and ran her hands over the tops of two buckets bringing orbs to her hands and tossed them at her sides as she jumped in a tackle. She wanted to scare her a little and knew she was going to land just in front of Saia and planned to quickly pull some water from behind her to go down her back.

 

[Master Maverick]

At the last 2 seconds, Akacen noticed the orb coming at him and he only had time to lift his hands to block the water physically. It splashed his hands and got a bit on his torso and face.

He was not happy... He found a bowl nearby and, from the distance, gathered 3 orbs and flung one at Hal, keeping control of it in such a way as he could only dodge it by some tricky acrobatics, or something else, he guessed, as he would stop it and maneuver it around rocks or other obstacles.

While doing this, he pushed his senses out to look for the other 2. They were in a bit of a duel with each other. With the other 2, after finishing with his first one, would try to surprise the other 2 and hit them at the same time while they were preoccupied.

 

[Rameth]

Hal didn't expect the quick reaction from Acaken. He didn't try very hard to get away from the orb. After all it was a game, this was supposed to be fun, not serious. He ran away from the water but didn't make it to the rock in time. The orb collided with his back making him now officially soaked. Hal gathered water from the bowl nearest him and peeked around the corner. He hadn't managed to do much other then peg Akacen twice now. He needed to broaden his target base. Hopefully this would work.

Using the Force to strengthen his legs Hal jumped on top of boulder sitting in front of him, bringing his three orbs along. From this high he should be able to see everyone, that also meant everyone could see him. Hal launched all three of this orbs at the all the others. He hoped they all would hit but was aiming mostly for Saia and Matsu, to be fair.

 

[Master Maverick]

Akacen sensed, with satisfaction, that he had hit his mark. Now he concentrated at getting the other two.

He rose from behind the rock and looked for them. Quickly, he sent both of the orbs towards both of them, concentrating and controlling them perfectly, and making them follow like heat seeking missiles toward his 'opponents'.

Because of this, he didn't notice Hal's orb coming at him until it completely soaked his head, down to his knees, and he lost control of the orbs. They fell to the ground and splashed, soaking into the earth.

He was a bit annoyed, but not wanting to be the object of attention of Hal, created 2 orbs and sent them, again, towards Matsu and Saia, faster than before, and again concentrating and controlling them so it would be nigh impossible to miss.