It's About Time (Owyn Deak's Training)

[Raif]

Owyn cocked his head to the side when asked what he would like to learn next.

"I don't really know, to be honest master. I'm sure whatever you choose to teach me will be valuable. You are the master after all."

OOC: would you prefer I RP with morganis or do a montage on my own of training with a random padawan?

 

[Void]

"Well we... could... work more on telekinesis like we have been doing so far, I have a couple more techniques to show you. We could work on sense, seeing or hearing. I really don't mind it is up to you."

 

[Raif]

Owyn considered what his new master said before replying.

"Well, I am enjoying what I'm learning about telekinesis, but I don't want to burn out on it. Let's give Sense a try."

 

[Void]

"'Kay then, I will have your training ready tomorrow."

 

[Raif]

Thank you, master. I will return then.

Bowing deeply, Owyn left the training room with Tikk bouncing along at his side. He tried hard to keep a neutral look on his face as he walked through the halls of the temple towards his quarters, but as soon as he got behind closed doors his face broke into a huge grin. His mind and heart were racing with the excitement of completing his first training session with his new master, and Tikk's fur was a rainbow of emotion as well. And oh, the possibilities! Owyn already felt that his telekinetic abilities had doubled with just the tutelage he had received so far. And what else would he learn? The possibilities boggled his mind, but before he could get too carried away he refocused on the task at hand.

Changing into a fresh tunic, Owyn quickly headed for the mess hall to grab a bit of nourishment, and then strode towards one of the temple's many courtyards. As usual, his natural inclination to be outdoors took over, and he preferred to do this next training in the fresh air.

Owyn lucked out in that shortly after he arrived at the courtyard, another young padawan - a Rodian female named Zukha - came out, intending to participate in some independent training as well. After briefly explaining the task Shingen had set before him, Zukha agreed to train with Owyn.

The two padawans took turns on "offense" and "defense," working first on push, then pull, then back to push, never allowing themselves to fall into too much of a routine. The minutes turned into hours, and still the two young jedi practiced on. By the time dinner-call was made, Owyn was able to slip into the proper mindset for telekinesis with almost no hesitation, and his ability to either push or pull the small rock Zukha was manipulating -for, as padawans, neither had a saber just yet- had skyrocketed to the point where the chances of the rock breaking his defenses were becoming increasingly slim.

Realizing this, Zukha grew slightly frustrated and headed into the temple for the evening meal, but Owyn was invigorated by the training and stayed in the courtyard. Though he no longer had a partner to train with, he occupied himself for several more hours coming up with as many telekinetic "games" as he could. First he would push a rock away from himself as hard as he could and then immediately try to catch it with the Force before it reached the ground. Then, he attempted to stack as many small, uneven stones on top of each other as he could using just his mind.

He was in the middle of trying to balance a sixth stone on top of his pile when a mighty growl from his stomach interrupted his reverie and all of the rocks clattered to the courtyard floor. Grinning in a bit of embarrassment, Owyn realized he had completely forgotten dinner in the midst of his mental-exercises. Glancing over to the edge of the courtyard, Owyn could see Tikk munching on some sort of large insect. Obviously the small primate had grown tired of waiting for dinner and had procured a meal on his own.

Owyn shook his head in wry amusement, gathered up his small furry friend, and headed to bed - with a quick detour by the mess hall to scrounge up a late night snack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owyn Deak woke at sunrise the next morning, as was his habit, and hurried through his morning ablutions before completing his daily run through the wilds of Ossus. Then, after a quick and bland breakfast, Owyn made sure he was mentally and physically ready for the training session to come before opening to door to the training room and bowing to his master.

Good morning, master.

 

[Void]

Shingen turned from the empty wall in front of him as his padawan entered the room. "Good morning to you to Owyn. I hope your personal training went well? I hope the temperature of the room will be ok with you today, there was an accident with one of my other padawans last night and they forced the glass out of the window." He walked into the center of the room and sat down like always. "What would you like to learn today? It was sense you wanted to work on correct, what in sense would you like to learn."

 

[Raif]

Owyn walked over to the blown-out window and whistled as he surveyed the damage.
Must have been quite a training session. I must admit, I like the change though. I have always felt a stronger connection to the Force outdoors. Plus, I do enjoy fresh fruit in the morning.

As he said this last part, Owyn reached out with the Force and plucked a piece of fruit from one of the trees swaying in the breeze. He took a bite, then gave the rest to Tikk who fled to a far corner of the room to eat in peace.

Turning to face his master, Owyn chewed thoughtfully as he readied himself to answer the question of his next round of tutelage.

Honestly, master, I want to learn any and all of the sense abilities that I can. Sensing plants and beasts has been second nature for me since my time in the jungle; I would like to become that way concerning all aspects of the Force, not just wild creatures. And, to be truthful, the accounts in the Archives of Jedi Masters using telepathy, or precognition, or Force meld have always intrigued me. I would love to find out whether I too can master the Force in those ways.

 

[Void]

"If you would like we could aim to enhance your hearing, but to do so we will have to first work on your overall speed if that ok?. We could then go outside to do so."

 

[Raif]

"That sounds great to me. Lead the way, master."

As Owyn finished speaking, he held a hand out in the direction of Tikk. The little monkey-thing bounded across the training room, leaped onto Owyn's outstretched hand, and then scramblem up to a comfortable perch on his shoulder.

 

[Void]

Shingen lead Owyn out of the temple, the temple grounds through the forest and to a large open grassy plain. He pulled out a training saber he had picked up as they were leaving and threw it about 200 meters away. "I would like to see how fast you can run to there and back and when we have a baseline time we can work on improving your speed."

 

[Raif]

Owyn followed Shingen out into the wilderness, breathing in as many deep lungfuls of fresh air as he could. It always felt like a warm embrace from an old friend when he moved from indoors to outdoors.

Arriving at the clearing, Owyn paid attention as his master laid out his next task. Nodding his head that he understood, he took the liberty of taking off his heavy robe and engaging in a few quick stretches to limber up his body before beginning his run.

Staring intently at the training saber laying a ways away from him, Owyn took two deep breaths to center himself before taking off like a flash. He was doing this first run completely au natural - without the aide of the Force - but he still prided himself on his physical condition and wanted to set the bar high for the rest of the training session.

Pumping his arms at his sides, he lengthened his strides to eat up as much ground as possible, while leaning forward almost to the point of falling so that gravity would aide his forward momentum. Streaking across the clearing, he skidded to a brief halt when he came up to the saber laying on the ground, and then turned and continued sprinting back to where he began.

Arriving back to where Shingen was standing, Owyn bent over at the waist and panted heavily for a few seconds. In the backrgound, he could see Tikk clapping like an idiot but refused to allow himself to smile; the little monkey didn't realize the seriousness of most occasions.

Once he had caught his breath, Owyn straightened up and addressed his master.

"Well, Master, how was that?"

 

[Void]

"That was a much quicker than I was expecting. Next I would like you to try and use the force as you think you would to increase your speed."

 

[Raif]

"I guess asking for a hint would defeat the purpose of the exercise..."

Standing straight, and continuing with his deep breathing, Owyn closed his eyes for a moment. He was familiar with the principle of what he needed to do, having been taught the basics of Force Jump already, but he had never tried to use it to enhance his speed. Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

Opening his eyes, Owyn focused again on his goal - specifically, the deactivated training saber. He had to get there; he must get there, as quickly as possible.

"Speed, I am speed..."

After whispering this little motivational mantra, Owyn once again took off, focused as intently as possible on the fact that it was imperative that he move as quickly as possible. He would will himself there and back if that is what it takes.

Immediately, the young padawan felt a difference. The wind was whipping by his face, and the jungle in his peripherals was a green and brown blur. The distance between his strides seemed to increase two- or even three-fold. This was incredible!

Owyn let out a cry of excitement as he neared the training saber in half the time it had taken him before...and then he tried to turn. He had not taken into account his drastic increase in speed, and when he attempted to turn to complete his return leg he went ass over teakettle in what could only have been described as a magnificent tumble.

Staring up at the cloud filled sky, Owyn allowed himself a moment of sheer, unadulterated embarrassment before Shingen's words from yesterday came floating through his mind, reminding him not to view it as a failure.

Springing back to his feet at gracefully as possible, Owyn purposefully took no notice of the disheveled state of his clothing before using the Force to sprint back to his master. This time, when he approached the end point, he made sure to slow down. Oddly enough, despite moving mich faster, he barely felt out of breath.

"I am almost afraid to ask what that looked like from your angle."

 

[Void]

"It is a common mistake that even I over look sometimes even now. I would now like three things from you, first explain tome as best as you can how you were getting yourself to go faster and then try it again now that you know the turn is tricky."

 

[Raif]

Owyn sat himself down on the ground to rest up as he spoke with his master.

"Well, I just focused really intently on where I was running to, and how important it was that I get there as quickly as possible. I put as much emphasis on this as possible, to the point where, at least for that moment, there was nothing to me as important as getting to that training saber in a flash. At the same time, I opened myself up to the Force in the same way I have been for our other exercises, and I guess the Force took my intent to move quickly to a whole new level. Obviously, I should have been focusing a bit on slowing down when the time was right as well."

Owyn chuckled at himself, relaxing and enjoying the time with his master. Since his time in the jungle he was not usually quite so laid-back, but Shingen's open and warm personality was bringing him out of his shell little by little.

Unless Shingen had any major critiques of his explanation, Owyn then popped back up onto his feet and repeated his Force speed performance. This time, though, he had an idea of how he could make the turn without sacrificing too much speed. As he approached the training saber/halfway point, he reached out with the Force into the ground itself, using Force pull in an attempt to root himself to the spot. It did not work perfectly, as the ground crumbled a bit and he almost lost his balance, but he did feel he was able to turn much quicker without losing all of his momentum.

"So, Master Shingen, what did you think of that?"

 

[Void]

"I couldn't have put it better myself, you have shown that you can use the force in new ways and that you can adapt to new circumstances when they arise. I will possibly look at taking you on your first mission much sooner than expected." Shingen smiled.

"Now we can move on to your hearing. The hearing technique is much the same as getting yourself to run fast, only instead of concentrating on your legs and willing yourself to move faster, you concentrate on your inner ear. It has to be the inner part because the outside doesn't actually have anything to do with hearing. That is almost how I was informed by Master Nuka when I was being trained. Try giving it a shot."

 

[Raif]

"Thank you very much, Master. I look forward to our first mission together; I want to get out there and do something, you know? Anyway, let's see what I can hear..."

Casting about, Owyn looked for something to focus his hearing on, and saw Tikk at the far end of the clearing munching away at some sort of fruit.

With a target to focus on, Owyn fell into the familiar action of opening himself to the Force, and found that it was much easier this time, either from repetition or his recent frequency of use he didn't know.

Repeating his mental motions from earlier, Owyn focused with all of his might on hearing the sounds of his friend eating, and then...

"Aaarrgghhhh!"

Owyn fell over, clutching his ears, as he was bombarded by a level of sound he had never heard before. Ever whistle of wind, every crinkle of grass underfoot, was like like a blade stabbing his brain. The pain was so intense, Owyn could only stand it for a moment before blackness took over his vision and he passed out from shock.

----------------

When he came to, Owyn was still lying down, but the pain was gone. And there was Master Shingen, standing over him.

"Oww...I really hope that isn't what was supposed to happen, because I can do without Force hearing if it hurts that much."

 

[Void]

"I remember when I blacked out in front of Nuka for the first time. The circumstances were completely but it is quite funny looking back on it now."

He raised his hand and the training saber shot over to him. "Why exactly happened? Was it the surrounding environment creating noise. Sorry if it was, I spent quit a bit of time practicing inside in silence before I went out to try it, so it never crossed my mind. Would you like to try again now or wait until we are inside?"

 

[Raif]

Owyn was surprised to hear that Shingen had also passed out during his training; it was hard to imagine him as a padawan at all, really. Though they had only been training together for a short time, Shingen was firmly established in Owyn's eyes already as Master.

Kipping back up onto his feet, Owyn thought for a second before replying to his master's query.

"I think it was all of the background noise, Master. I hadn't expected to be bombarded by it the way I was. I think, this time, I can filter it out since I know what to expect."

Preparing himself mentally, Owyn did everything just like he had done before. This time, though, he visualized the sounds ruching towards him as if they were physical objects; almost like the training saber Shingen had thrown at him during their first training sessions. Just like then, he was able to nudge them out of his way, thereby filtering out the sound they represented.

Aftering filtering for a few seconds, Owyn could almost see the noisees Tikk was making so far away, and he latched onto with the Force and pulled it towards his inner ear.

And just like that, he could hear every crunch of teeth and smack of lips created by his feasting friend. His eyes snapped open, and he looked over to Shingen with excitement coloring his face.

"I think I did it!"

 

[Void]

"'Kay then I see a test coming along. I will throw this saber and when it is what I feel to be a desired distance I will activate it and would like me to to tell me when this has happened. But of course I don't want you to look at it."

Shingen lobed the saber and then his own appeared in front of him and activated. The persian green beam created the perfect distraction.