A Fresh Start (Garrett Swenson's Training)

[glswenson]

The one thing Garrett had remembered to do before he fell asleep the night before was to set his alarm for half an hour earlier, so when the alarm went off and he followed the same daily routine as before this time, he was thirty minutes earlier than the day before.

"Good morning, Master." Garrett gave a bow as he entered the room.
"I hope I have made better time than yesterday."

 

[JMocks]

"Tell me Padawan," Josh started as he turned to face Garrett. "When is it deemed necessary to kill a man as a Jedi," he said, awaiting his response.

Upon Garrett's answer to the question would determine if they would begin Force training. Or lightsaber training.

 

[glswenson]

Garrett cracked his neck 'When is it necessary..' he began to use both common sense and his teachings.

"The only time it would be necessary to kill a man is when there is no other options. If you are not able to make him see the light, or disable him with non-violent means."
He was hoping this was a good answer, but he was not sure.

 

[JMocks]

Josh stood and squinted his eyes at Garrett. "Good answer my Padawan. Now. Based on your answer, we're going to be going over the aspects of the "Force". This is what separates us, the Jedi, from normal humans. I want you to tell me everything you know about the Force. I say this because I want to start at the right place with your training. I don't want to start too far ahead or too far behind," he said with a clam voice, as he made his way towards Garrett.

 

[glswenson]

Garrett was very happy, he had never been able to truly channel the force, and although he didn't want to admit it he felt very handicapped because of it.
"The force is everything, It fills every living being in the Universe, but not all can use it. We all have Midichlorians which allow us to communicate with the Force."

He was sure that was entirely basic information for any Jedi, but he always had trouble with the Force.

 

[JMocks]

"This is all you know," he questioned Garrett. "I'm not saying that as a bad thing. Usually those who are found Force sensitive, and brought in at an older age have no clue what the Force is. They only know what it does. The ones who are taken at birth grow up learning what the Force is and how to correctly use it. Like you said, the Force is in everything. It allows us to manipulate objects," he said as he used the Force to bring an apple over to him.

"We use the Force out of compassion, selflessness, self-knowledge and enlightenment, healing, mercy and benevolence. We don't use the Force for hatred, fear, covetousness, anger, aggression, jealousy and malevolence. Only the Bogan do. Now. I want you to try and pull this apple to you, using the Force," he said as he stretched his arm out towards Garrett, apple in his palm.

 

[glswenson]

"Right.." Garrett spoke slowly as he stared at the apple.
He opened his palm and faced it towards the red, juicy looking apple.
He focused on the apple, thinking of nothing but it, but he could not get it to move.

"I.. Cant.." he said, but not willing to give up just yet he repeated the action and tried harder, letting only the image of the apple fill his mind.
The apple began to shake a little bit, but nothing more than that.

 

[JMocks]

"Padawan. You must not concentrate too hard. Over concentrating will yield the same effect as if you weren't concentrating at all. Free your mind of the distractions that bother you. Act if like the apple was only an inch away from you. You must commit yourself to the Force. Let it run THROUGH you. Not AGAINST you," Josh said, giving Garrett encouraging words to push forward.

 

[glswenson]

"Right.." Garrett said slowly, trying to do as his instructor had said.
He let himself feel as if he was able to just reach the apple, as if his arm was going to just pick it up as if he was in an Apple Orchard.

A feeling flowed through Garrett, it was warming and he could feel the apple, he could feel it with the fibers of his being. The next think he knew he opened his eyes and the apple was firmly clenched in his hand, a little too tightly, he was beginning to bruise it.

"I did it!" he yelled, then quickly regained his composure, he had never been able to willfully control the force like that before.

 

[JMocks]

"Good," Josh said as he used the Force to quickly snatch the apple back. "Now. I want you to try again. This time, there will be some resistance. It wont be alot. It will be very minimal at most," he said, holding the apple out again for Garrett.

As he held the apple out, he used the Force to keep the apple steady. He was going to play tug-a-war with his Padawan. He wanted to test his power potential. How he did on this test, would point them in the direction for their next test.

 

[glswenson]

"Oh.. Great" Garrett mused lightly.
He wanted to keep his eyes open this time, be able to focus with the force while still perceiving his environment.
Garrett held out his palm once more and felt his hand grab the apple, this was an even eerier sensation with his eyes open because he could see how far from it he actually was.

Garrett could feel a tugging on the apple, as if he was trying to wrestle it out of the hand of another, the apple was suspended between him and his master. It was an odd sight, and he had a feeling he was not going to come out on top of this one.

He wasn't exactly sure how to increase his pull on the apple, so he just kept his hold on it, at times he could feel like the apple was being pulled towards his fingertips, but at others like he was gaining more control, and it was sinking deeper into his hand, these feelings kept fluctuating.

"How do I-" just as he began to speak the apple shot back to his master's hand, him speaking had made him break his concentration.

 

[JMocks]

"I can see you will need alot of Force training. You are weak in the Force, my Padawan. However, do not discourage. As you use the Force, you become stronger with it. As you grow, your bond with the Force will increase. But first, I want you to get use to the motion of using the Force, and picking up an object. Follow me," Josh said as they both made their way towards the garden outside of the Great Temple.

"Now. As you can see, there are pebbles all around us. What I want you to do is, pick a pebble, pick it up, and put it down using the Force. This will get you use to the Force motion, and help build your strength. Now. Please begin," he said as he took a spot behind his Padawan.

 

[glswenson]

Garrett made his way behind his master as they left the Temple, the garden was vast and beautiful, Garrett eyed the pebbles covering the ground and held his hand out towards one, compared to the apple his grip came much easier on the apple.

He could feel the pebble lift off the ground, and he saw it levitating there.
Now, getting it down again was very foreign to him, but after a few moments of trying the pebble rested very neatly back in the place it was plucked from.

Garrett found a larger rock adorning the ground and did the same thing with it.
"This is much easier than the apple." he told his master.

 

[JMocks]

"Good, good," Josh cheered. "As you use the Force, manipulating objects will become easier to you. Now. I want you to try and pick up, two pebbles at once. It may be harder, but its necessary. You may proceed, Padawan," he said as he kept his stance behind Garrett.

 

[glswenson]

Garrett let out an exhale of breath and held his hand out in front of him once more, it was seemingly easy to get them to rise, but not to fall.
Whenever he tried to lower them either only one would fall a little bit or both would rise.
After a small bit of patience and trial and error he got both pebbles to rest on the ground.

"That was.. odd." Garrett spoke slowly.
"I want to give it another go."
The two pebbles lifted from their resting place, and he was easily able to set them down this time.

 

[JMocks]

"I want you to now pick two pebbles up, make one go left, and the other go right, bring them back together, then lower them one at a time. Picking objects up as a whole are easy. Manipulating both to do something different, that is a little harder. You may proceed, Padawan," Josh said from over Garrett's shoulder.

As he watched Garrett train, it reminded him much of himself when he started his initial training with the Bogan. He struggled to use the Force at first. As the training progressed, he was able to tighten his grip upon the Force. The same pebble technique is the same the Bogan Crusader Katarn taught him. It was an effect training technique.

 

[glswenson]

"Oh, wonderful," Garrett mused again.
He lifted up two of the rocks easily, but they both began to go right, then they both began to drift to the left.

Garrett drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, as he did so he let the two pebbles drift slowly apart.
"Now for bringing them together.." he was able to speak without losing his hold, he was pleased by this.
As he focused on them moving together they would not cooperate, they were moving in tangent like they were before, he was beginning to get frustrated and the two pebbles shot together very quickly, now Garrett was suspending a large pile of rock dust to the ground, which he lowered slowly to the ground.
"Tada...."

 

[JMocks]

"Interesting," Josh said as he rubbed his chin. "Now for your finally test in this training session, I want you to pick up ALL the pebbles. Then lower them one by one. This may take you a couple tries. Actually, it WILL take you a couple tries. Really, a few days. Once this task is completed, we'll move on. And don't worry, I'll know once you've completed this task. The right way," Josh said as he walked away from Garrett.

This exercise was going to teach his Padawan multiple things. Patience, Force strength and endurance, and the ability to be obedient. If Garrett couldn't follow a simple command, he wouldn't be able to follow a order handed down by the Jedi Council.


[OOC: You can just RP your character trying multiple attempts to do this; then finally completing it. I'm expecting a long post. But its not really mandatory or necessary.]

 

[glswenson]

"Oh.. how fun." Garrett sighed and cracked his neck as he held out his two hands in front of him, in a powerful position.
He envisioned the rocks as a sea, a sea of stone that would behave as water, he would be able to manipulate it, make waves, make ripples.
The rocks all began to shake, but none even came an inch off of the ground.
'Maybe I should focus on one section at a time.'
He focused on a small key of the entire sea, a small section of the pebbles, about 1/4 of them.

The pebbles began to shake again, rising about three or four inches off of the ground before crashing back down to it.
Garrett let out a sigh and head indoors, he was going to train early in the morning, give himself a rest. He was going to have to set his alarm very early.

Garrett woke up at 5:00 the next morning and got ready in a brisk ten minutes before making his way outside, to the garden.
He stood at the edge of what he saw as the sea of rocks, and tried to manipulate the quarter section again, but only resulting in slightly better results as last time.
'Maybe I'm going about this wrong, a sea is too malleable, I should imagine all the rocks as one whole, one giant rock.' he thought to himself, this seemed like a much better idea.

Garrett felt as if all of the rocks were part of a larger, more superior rock, although it was much more intimidating than the ebbing sea, it was much more effective towards his cause.
He held out his hands in front of him again and felt himself grip the giant rock, it would budge slightly under his grip, but he was not able to move it, and the strain was beginning to physically affect Garrett.
'Damn..' he thought to himself.
Garrett began to shake and tremble, he could feel his veins being strained, but the rocks were beginning to move, the entire mass slowly moving up into the air about a foot before quickly crashing to the ground.

Garrett began to breath heavily and had to lay down, he felt completely exhausted, like he had just been sparring with a dueling robot set to Jedi Master skill level.

 

[JMocks]

Josh was far from Garrett. He wanted to keep a distance. He also had a small task to complete within the Order. However, he could feel his Padawan gaining his strength and improving. His Force endurance was rising even if it didn't feel like it to him. He was still two days out from the Great Temple on Ossus. But he knew by the time he got back to the garden, he'd be able to see his Padawan complete the daring feat.