Ask Yavin IV Catch Me if You Can!

Maura Starwalk

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Yavin IV, 11:03
Jedi Temple, Forest trails


"Alright everyone let's get lined up. Sort yourselves so we can count off."

The gaggle of padawans began to sort themselves into a line, using whatever system had been decided beforehand. Master Tarabel, a middle-aged Nikto woman, waited at the head of the group with her hands clasped together as her two-pupiled eyes scanned the group. She would be leading them on a little field trip into the forest to conduct a little lesson on Plant Surge. The trip was voluntary and the group consisted of padawans of all ages and skill levels. Despite that, the majority of the group were padawans from the younger classes. Once everyone settled into line, Master Tarabel hovered a datapad in front of her and began to read down a list of names.

"Caty?" "Here!"

"Asvos?" "Present."

"Bryler?" "Here."

Master Tarabel continued down the list, checking off names as she went. When she got to Maura's name, she called out the girl's name as she had for everyone else. When there was no answer, the Nikto looked up and called the girl's name again. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed that there was a notable lack of rainbow hair in the line.

"Does anyone know where Maura is?" sighed the Jedi. There was a moment of silence among the line until Caty threw her hand straight into the air and loudly announced, "Maura went off by herself! She said she was going to get something!" At this revelation, Master Tarabel sighed even louder. Before she could reply, the muffled sound of running could be heard approaching from the forest. Within moments, a herd of runyips emerged, with none other than the rainbow-haired Maura riding the herd leader, holding onto its antlers for dear life.

"Hey guys!" The girl had a giant grin on her face as she rode her runyip through the line. She laughed as the padawans scattered, and laughed even harder when Master Tarabel started to shout for her to get off. There was a fat chance of that. Maura had decided that this class would be much too boring, but she'd already signed up, so she had to find a way to make it interesting.

"See ya' later suckers!" Maura yanked on the runyip's antlers, pulling them to the left, which caused the herbivore to make a sharp U-turn back towards the forest. A couple of the herd animals followed, a couple stayed, and within a couple of seconds, Maura's rainbow hair had disappeared into the forest brush. Her laughter could still be heard, but it was growing quickly more distant. She had no idea where she was going, but she wasn't going with Master Tarabel!

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Laeonas Tannaras

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Every productive run-- recreationally, that is-- began with stretches. The Padawan had come to learn that over the course of his time with the Jedi; not because of sagely wisdom, but because hours spent running on the treadmill or through the forests surrounding the temple lead to cramps if muscles weren't loosened. Most all of the running Laeonas had done before arriving at the temple hadn't been for fun, ofcourse. For the first time running wasn't a matter of life or death, but sport.

He was doing some hamstring stretches right now, toe pressed up against a stump he'd been sitting on moments earlier. Once finished, he'd reach down to touch his toes, satisfied as he felt tension release as he came back up. There was one knot he had to massage out of his calf, but as he checked the chrono on his wrist, the man realized he'd already been stretching for five minutes.
"Should be enough." He muttered to himself, rolling his neck and grabbing his water bottle. At that, he was off-- but not for long.

He hadn't gone half a kilometer before he'd come upon a small class of Padawans, and a spikey faced nikto. The man was ready to pass when the master began to call for one student in particular. Passing through, he'd give the woman a passing nod-- one which she'd return, before noticing the dangling braid hanging from the left side. She wouldn't question his movement ofcourse, and she'd return to her roll call-- and a missing student-- just moments later. Laeonas had slowed down a little, but he picked up right after--

--and than came the herd, crashing into the group.

More specifically, a runyip ran straight into the 28 (or 29, he wasn't really sure) year old at full speed.
"KAAARK!" He'd cry, getting tossed a couple meters back. His side was sore, but as his eyes flicked back up to where he'd been moments ago, the aquamarines were caught by a long haze of color. On top of one of the beasts-- a runyip-- was a girl. A padawan, from the looks of it, wearing... "Th'at an actual Ghucci belt?" He'd mutter to himself, squinting to get a better look. "Where did she scrounge up the lunch change fer a karkin' Ghucci belt?!" He'd continue, staring in bewilderment.

Than, as quickly as she arrived, the Padawan was gone, rainbow hair flying in the wind. Was he suffering from long term psychosis after he'd done all those hallucinogens? Looking over at the crowd of padawans, they seemed just as confused as he was, and the runyip who'd bumped into him was still there, now munching on some of the brush. Laeonas looked over at the nikto instructor, who was... well, lost for words. She saw him, and glanced off into the forest, than at him again.


"...you can't be serious." He'd say aloud, looking off with a confused, but amused expression. The nikto said nothing else; she was stuck with a bunch of similarly aged padawans, and couldn't just leave them unattended in the woods. The man had to do a double take, repeating, but not even trying to moderate his voice, "Ya can't be kriffin' serious." To which one of the children gasped.

"Can he say that?"

"Course he can, he's grown!"

"He's got a braid on, that makes him a Padawan to."

"He's a padawan? But he's gotta be like... really old!"

"Ayy, Ai ain-- I'm not that old!" Laeonas protested, before pointing at their teacher. "She's probably older than I am! How old are you?" He'd ask, to which she'd reply, "26." To which he'd reply, "ohmaegawdaimold."

The human glanced off into the forest again, hearing the fading laughter of the girl. She was putting more and more distance between them every second he stood here. "...well, better catch up quick." He'd think to himself, glancing down at the runyip. The Padawan seemed to be riding the beast fine; perhaps she'd used one of those beast taming techniques he'd learned of? He hadn't studied them for long, but they couldn't be to difficult. Runyips were dumber than sacks of topatoes, after all.

Reaching out and focusing with his mind, Laeonas would begin to project calm.
"Hey, beast, obey me, will you?" He'd exasperatedly command. The creature looked more and more relaxed, and Laeonas would begin to approach slowly. Than, it lifted up it's hind leg.

The man stopped immediately, pulling away from the beast before it could ruin his running shoes. The padawans let out cries of disgust, and the man looked off into the forest. It seemed like he'd be following the girl on foot.
"Karkin' 'ell..." He'd mutter, digging his heel into the ground.

Than, he ran.


@lizziie

 

Maura Starwalk

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Riding the runyip was really fun, but it was hard to control the beast. The more Maura yanked on the creature's antlers to try to force it in one direction or another, the grumpier it became. It wasn't trying to buck her off though, so after a fit of fighting the creature, Maura decided to just hold on and see where the thing would take her.

They went farther and farther into the forest, and Maura laughed all along the way. It was only once the runyips began to veer off the forest paths that the padawan decided she had enough. She swung her legs over onto one side and pushed herself off. Her boots hit the ground and for a moment Maura thought she would be alright, but then inertia caught up with her and she stumbled over onto the ground. By the time she picked herself back up, the herd had galloped off and left the rainbow-haired girl in the dirt.

'That was so fun!' Maura grabbed her hat off the ground and plopped it back on her fluffy hair, then began to survey the area around her. The forest here wasn't super thick. The three were fairly spaced apart which let sunlight flood down in little yellow streams of light, but the branches were too far from the ground for her to reach on her own. Maura spun around and looked back in the direction she came from, and her ears twitched at the sound of distant boots hitting the ground.

'Someone's coming!'

Maura looked towards the canopy and selected a tree, then began to back away from her chosen branch. After a few meters, she stopped, braced herself, then began to run full speed toward it. The kid concentrated on the Force around her and pulled it to her hands and feet. When she jumped the Force aided her, and Maura sprang up into the canopy with ease. She overshot her jump a bit, so instead of landing on the branch she'd wanted, she flew upwards into the thinner branches and leaves.

"Oh crap oh crap!" Her hands grabbed indiscriminately at the branches as Maura desperately tried to get a hold of something. Luckily, her palms found something, and Maura latched on. A giant grin replaced her formerly worried expression as she began to swing back and forth from the branch. Her feet dangled in the air then dropped down to the thicker branch below.

"Ha! E-Z," she chuffed to herself. Her black eyes scanned the forest below as she perched in a cat-like manner on the branch she had dropped onto. She was partially obscured by the various leaves and branches, but it still wouldn't be too difficult to spot hr rainbow hair.

'I wonder if it's Master Tarabel? Ha! I didn't even know that old woman could run.' Maura grinned at the conjured visual of the Nikto shuffling angrily through the forest. It fell into a grumpy pout after a moment. 'Ugh, am I gonna get in trouble?' She had signed up for the trip but she didn't know it was going to be Master Tarabel. The woman was so boring! How was she supposed to learn anything from someone so dull?

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Laeonas Tannaras

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Why was this girl so FAST? Laeonas was tearing across the brush like an x wing on reentry, and yet every time he caught site of the girl she was further away. That mess of rainbow hair would stick out in the sea of green foliage around him. For a moment, Laeonas actually lost her completely, and the man would stop dead in his tracks. He’d look around, progressing at a normal pace in the last direction he’d seen her, before stopping again. The throbbing knot in his leg was acting up again, and he'd take a moment to massage it.

When he finally came up, he'd be facing the sky-- or more accurately, the canopy of green above. It was all the same; an endless mesh of increasingly thin, gangly branches the higher up the trees went. Looking along, he'd see the occasional flash of color, with-

"What tha-- HEY!" He'd cry. The man had spotted a mess of color on one of the more distant trees on the edge of his peripherals. Promptly, he'd spin on his heels, calves shifting as his muscles tensed up all at once. His toes dug into the brush, and he'd start running-

Pul-
THROB

A scream tore out from the Padawan's lips as pain tore up through his leg, his entire right hemisphere erupted in agony, spreading out from the knot that had been in calf. A string of profanity in what sounded like a foreign language tore from his mouth, but it was really just screams in his heavily accented basic. Both Padawans had run so far that the others wouldn't be in earshot, but if they were, they'd all get a very good education on the things one shouldn't say in casual conversation. Eventually the man shut himself up, grabbing the scruff of his robe and biting into it-- screams muffled. He'd look up at the trees again, and, if the Padawan was still there, try to rekindle a positive expression.

"...sorry you 'ad ta see that." He'd call, gasping as he'd try and straighten out his leg. "Just a... really bad cramp is all." He'd add, looking around for something to stand on. "Uh... hi, I'm here to make sure you... aren't out here alone!" The man called, not telling her that her master seemed to want her back. She'd never go with him-- or even stay here-- if she thought he was just going to lead her back to the woman she'd fled from. What mattered at the end of the day was that the kid was supervised. He knew from his own experiences that a child running around in a jungle-- concrete or alive-- could get into serious trouble.

"So- aaAAAAHHHhhhh..." He'd begin, finally standing up-- and wincing in further pain. "...Ai think ya should come down. That can be pretty dangerous, even if you know how to soften your fall!" He'd continue, limping his way over slowly. "I can't exactly chase you anymore so you don't have to worry about being taken somewhere you don't want to go." He'd add, gesturing to his limping leg. "I think there's actually some pretty sweets in the mess hall that I can get for five creds."


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Maura Starwalk

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'Hmm...that's definitely not Master Tarabel.'

Maura snapped her attention to Laeonas at the sound of his pained scream shattered the natural quiet of the forest. Her ears rotated closer to her skull ever so slightly, and her black eyes narrowed at his figure down below as yelled at her from below. Her expression remained fairly neutral while he spoke to her, trying to convince her to come down.

"Pffh," Maura scoffed to herself. 'What a loser.' He chased her all the way out here to try and convince her to go with him to the mess hall? 'A likely story!' She didn't believe for one second that Master Tarabel hadn't sent him after her. She certainly didn't recall seeing any adults in the group. So where had he come from?

"How did you hurt yourself by running?" Maura called down to Laeonas while stifling a laugh. She hadn't seen what he had done to himself, but she assumed he must've hit the ground wrong and hurt his ankle or something. The kid dropped into a squatted position so that she was perching on the branch in a cat-like manner. "Did Master Tarabel send you? 'Cause if she did, I'm not going back to the group. I thought we'd be doing something cool, not learning how to grow flowers." Not that plant surge wasn't cool. Well, it wasn't really that cool. It could be cool, in Maura's humble opinion, but growing flowers did not fit the specifications of "cool" to her.

After a moment, a mischievous grin spread on the kid's face.

"I'll come down if you answer a riddle!" she called down to him. She pulled a hand up to her mouth to hide and muffle the snicker that followed. "What has two legs and can jump really really far?"

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Of all the expressions Maura could've taken, amusement was the last he'd expected. The question caused him to give her a confused look, before glancing down at his leg. "...have you never heard of a cramp before?" He'd ask, looking back up to find the girl perched in a... bizarre position. "...why are you sitting like that?" Laeonas asked, glancing off to his sides. "What've Ai got maeself into..." The Brentaalan muttered, glancing down at his own feet.

Her complaints and questions snapped him out of his confused musings. Looking up at her, he'd get a better look at her. She had a darker complexion, and her ears were easily the largest he'd seen on someone who wasn't an Amaran. Her outfit was... a lot. Her personality seemed eerily similar to a human boy he'd known back home; one who leaned on walls to act cool, talked smack to people three times his age, and wore gold chains to make himself feel cool. That pale, dark haired boy had grown up though; whether Maura would turn out like him was a mystery.

Lying to the girl would only make her trusting him worse, so he wouldn't. "
She sent me, yeah," He'd begin, "But I don't plan on sending you back-- unless you want to." Laeonas would add, shrugging for ambiguity. "Your... lesson isn't really what matters right now. I just want to make sure you don't get gobbled up by some klikniks, or fall from one of those trees." The man clarified, before adding with a smirk, "Though, there's a whole lot more to plant growth than flowers. One time, I met the grandmaster, and she wrapped up some guy in a bunch of branches!"

It was a half truth; Laeonas would never admit to the girl that he was the one the grandmaster had wrapped up. Either she wouldn't trust someone who the grandmaster had attacked, or she'd make fun of him for it. The last didn't matter much, all things considered; she'd have to dig really deep if she wanted to get a proper rise from him. The kid could probably be convinced, and tha-

...why was she smirking like that?

His answer came immediately, as the girl demanded that he solve... a riddle. Laeonas let out a long, audible groan.
"Fer kark's sake, just get down 'er-" he'd snap, before pursing his lips together. The human took in a long, deep breathe, before he'd look back up at the girl. It was obvious that the request bugged him, but he was trying to keep his expression professional. "...alright, a riddle?" He'd repeat, begin to pace back and forth.


Theme

"What has two legs..." He'd mutter, glancing down at his own feet, "and can jump really... really far..." The man asked nobody, putting on a facial expression that showed deep contemplation. Than, his lips curled into an absolutely devilish grin.

"Me."

The human hopped onto one leg, and the force would wrap around him. Than like an artillery shell, he launched into the air, kicking off his legs. For a brief few moments, he'd soar-- rocketing towards one of the neighboring branches that Maura was hanging off of. Landing quickly, Laeonas flashed her a grin, quipping, "Ya didn't come ta me, so Ai came t'ya!" With that, he'd throw himself forward, reaching to seize the girl with the force.


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Maura Starwalk

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Irritation flickered across Maura's face when Laeonas looked up at her with an annoying smirk and concluded that he was the answer to the riddle. 'No! The answer was supposed to be me! He ruined it!' The kid wasn't happy and her face reflected that, but it was soon replaced by an expression that could be paired with the expression "oh shit!" His one leg pushed in up in the trees toward her with a Force-aided jump.

"You lied!" Maura cried with an accusatory gesture toward the older padawan. She felt the Force tighten around her then, but she defiantly pushed it away. As soon as she was free, Maura would shoot forward out of her crouched position on the branch. Like Laeonas had with his jump, Maura used the Force to amplify her leap. Her tangle of rainbow hair whipped behind her as the kid jumped into the forest and toward the forest floor. She easily cleared thirty meters, and when she came to meet the ground, she tucked and rolled to maintain her momentum.

"Catch me if you can!" While the kid had just been in a playful mood before, her feelings had been hurt and she wanted nothing to do with the man who had decided to try and grab her. Maura would then sprint off into the forest, leaving Laeonas behind.

'Run run run run run...' Maura kept up her sprinting through the forest for a bit. Eventually, she made her way to a bit of a clearing in the forest populated by a herd of runyips. They didn't seem to be the same ones Maura had harassed before, so she squeezed her way into the middle of them and plopped down out of view.

"Adults sucks," she informed a runyip. The girl reached out her hand and began to pet it, to its displeasure. It mooed at her then turned away which caused her to pout. "Aw, c'monnnn! I'm just petting you!" Maura crawled forward after the creature, unaware that a swarm of piranha beetles had begun to close in on the herd of runyips.

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Maura's response to his actions were predictable, to say the least. "Where's tha lie?!" He wanted to call out to her, chuckling a bit as he heard her words. His intentions hadn't changed; he wanted to keep her from getting herself hurt or worse. Letting her jump around in the trees or wander through the forest unattended was a recipe for disaster. He'd been diplomatic, but now he was taking matters into his own hands. Besides, hauling her off was probably the nicest thing he could do.

What was less predicable than her verbal reaction was the ease by which she shoved off his grab. Laeonas' amused expression twisted into surprise as he felt his attempt at a grip shatter.
"Shite!" He hissed to himself, hopping onto the branch she'd just been perched on. "She's a padawan ya karkin' moron! Course she could break outta yer flimsy grip!" He thought, chastising his attempts. The man had barely put any effort into seizing her, and as a result, she'd just as easily broken free. What could've been a quick end to her escapade was now going to turn into a chase.

Her calling to him seemed a lot less teasing, and now more like a bitter challenge.
"Ya'v gone and mucked it ya daft prick! Now she'll never trust ya!" The man thought, continuing to berate himself for the failure. Laeonas pursed his lips, and took in a long, deep breathe. Remembering the familiar calming techniques that his teacher had taught him, Laeonas began to draw on the force. He felt the connections of life through the forest; the herds of runyips, the stagnant pools full of bacteria and bottomfeeders. His frustration disippated, and as he came out of his trance, he began to repeat a familiar mantra.

"Emotion, yet peace. Emotion, yet peace. Come on Laeo, you can fix this." He told himself, cracking his neck. "Follow her, apologize, offer to take her back to the temple." The man told himself. It was a very basic plan, but he hoped to high hell that it worked. He didn't want to babysit her for the next few hours, especially out here.

With that, Laeonas leapt off the branch he was perched on. Fingers would wrap around a similar branch on a nearbye tree. Swinging off there, he'd land on another branch. Than another, and another, and another. Maura was still putting distance between the two of them, as tree jumping wasn't nearly as quick as running. Her hair was like a beacon through the brush of the forest, and he could still see her, even as far as she was.

By the time he got to her, he could see that she was fraternizing with some runyips. Her fascination with the beasts eluded the man; they seemed like big, stupid beasts (and they had a tendency to slam into people). This one didn't seem particularly friendly either, turning away and ignoring her. The man smirked a bit, amused at her failures. He began to focus on his surroundings though, taking in the details. They were in a fairly wet area, near a large pond. Half the herd was knee deep in water, while the other half were grazing by the edge. Around them were trees, with a number of smaller animals, all seemingly harmless.

Except for one.


"...oh no." The man breathlessly whispered, smirk fading as he saw the mass of red in the distance. "Oh shite, oh kriff, oh shite, oh kriff..." He began, panic radiating off of him. The emotions came off in waves, an involuntary impression that all living things could feel. The trees released stress hormones, the critters scattered-- and the runyips, who'd been docile up until this point, would begin loudly mooing, with Laeonas' panic initiating a herd response. It was than that the horde of insects began to descend on the herd-- and all hell began to break lose.

Caught in the middle of it was Maura, who'd remain unaffected by his involuntary pulse due to her own connection to the force. He'd planned on a careful response, imploring from a distance, reasoning as best he could. All that needed to be thrown to the wayside. What was about to happen was a possibly life threatening situation, and there was no time for discussion. The determination to keep her out of harms way helped to suppress the panic he felt, and so what came out next was in a clear, composed voice.


"Girl!" He called down to her, voice booming through the forest. The runyips were beginning to scatter-- just as one started to scream as it was swarmed by beetles. "Run back in the direction you came-- now!" he cried, standing up to make himself clear--

SN-AP

The branch he was standing on-- a thinner, weaker branch that he'd been precariously placed-- broke under the sudden movement. Wide eyed, he'd have nothing to grab onto. In a split second, he'd gather as much of the force as he could-- cushioning his fall, but not enough to stop himself from landing with a thud. "GAAAH!" He cried, having landed on the leg that had already suffered through a cramp. Looking out at the herd, the site was an absolute mess. Runyips ran in all directions-- especially theirs.

"RUN!" He cried, trying to stand up as best he could.


@lizziie

 

Maura Starwalk

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Maura's fingers just barely brushed against the hide of the runyip when the herd began to loudly vocalize their anxiety. With puzzled brows, she withdrew her hand and made some distance between her and the creature. It was just as her hand dropped back to the ground that a high whine filled the air, followed by the all-too-familiar shouting of that man. Black eyes darted up to the sky and widened as the sky blackened with insects.

Laeonas wouldn't have to tell her twice to run.

The kid scrambled to her feet and prepared to make a run for it, but the sound of him crying out in pain stopped her. She didn't like him--not at all--but there was no way she'd just leave someone behind. He was standing all weird with a tense expression. It looked like all his weight was being pushed to one side. She had to make a choice, and quick.

'That would make such a cool story...'

Okay, decision made.

Maura darted towards the man and gripped a palm around his forearm when she reached him. The kid made no effort to slow down, jerking him along with her as she attempted to pull him into the trees. Her strength compared to his was incomparable, but her sharp fingernails might encourage him to struggle along with her.

"Come on!" she hissed. "We have to lose the runyip! The beetles want them, not us! We're too bony I think!"

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Laeonas gripped his side, splayed on the ground as he tried his best to stand upright. The situation had gone from calm to chaotic in a matter of seconds, and even the man's analytical mind was failing to gather all the information he needed to in order to make a coherent, informed decision. His senses were overwhelmed as he saw runyips running everywhere, heard them making all sorts of distressed noises, and felt as some trampled over him. Reacting quickly, the man used the force to push the closest ones away, and the rest tried their best to steer clear.

Sitting like a rock jutting out in the middle of a running rapids, it would take remarkable agility for one to slip through the herd shoving past him in order to get to him. Yet that was exactly what the other Padawan possessed, as proven by the extended pursuit through the woods. As she came upon him, Laeonas would look up with wide, concerned eyes. Before he could protest, she was digging those very sharp nails of her into his arm. Yelping in pain, he tried his best to stand up, drawing on the force to help numb his leg.

The runyips would continue there stampede, but Laeonas' attempt at keeping them away from the two padawans were successful-- barely, that was. They came within centimeters of slamming into him or Maura, and at one point, it was Laeonas' turn to yank her, pulling her backwards before one rushed past where they were. From there, the two would walk side by side, the girl maintaining her quick pace, and Laeonas hobbling along with her. Even with the force, the pain was doing a number on his senses, and only after they had walked out of the immediate vicinity of the lake, Laeonas collapsed.


"Aaaarrrrghhhh..." He groaned, looking down at his wounded limb. It hurt from both his still healing muscle cramp, and the high fall he'd suffered from just a minute beforehand. Breathing hard, the man's brow furrowed, with him placing a hand on his knee as he tried to stand up again. "C'mon ya useless 'unk of meat, stand!" He hissed, with any suppression of his accent that came from his diction training melting from the heat of stress and pain.

The man looked at their surroundings, avoiding the now grizzly scene of the runyip that had become the prey of the swarm. This might have been the single worst thing that could've happened out here, besides a kliknik deciding to try and make the rainbow haired girl lunch. Privately Laeonas cursed his misfortune for the circumstances; but even he had to admit that the both of them surviving was a miracle. With his thoughts slowly calming, Laeonas would draw on the force and the little peace he had, and begin to visualize his leg.

Muscles would begin to relax, blood vessels would begin to heal, and bruises would begin to soften. The pain he felt dulled significantly, and as he opened his eyes, that leg that had been in absolute agony barely even ached anymore. "Still got it." the human thought to himself, before quickly turning to the girl.
"Ya were right a'bout those beetles not bein' int'rested in us-- but we've gotta keep moving!" He exclaimed, quickly shifting back into a jog, this time yanking the girl along with him, as she'd done to him just seconds earlier.


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Maura Starwalk

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"Hey! Why'd you stop?"

Though she clearly disliked the fact he'd collapsed with her hand still attached to his arm, the kid didn't make any more fuss than her exclamation. She stood over him with a worried look. That worried look turned into awe when he placed his hands on his leg and began to heal himself though.

"Whoa! Are you healing yourself?" Maura leaned in closer, ignoring any want of personal space the man might have. None of her lessons had ever touched on Force healing, partially because it was just a little outside her skill level. "Can you show me how to do that? My one teacher said she would teach me actually, but she had to go on a mission so I think you sh-" Before Maura could finish trying to convince Laeonas with her lies, the man grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her along.

"Hey! That hurts!" The girl began to wiggle and twist around as she stumbled to get her footing. Once she wrenched her arm out of his grip, Maura was able to get her footing and she kept alongside the man easily enough.

After about a minute of running with nothing obviously chasing them, the rainbow-haired girl came to a sudden stop. She dropped down on the ground, planting her behind firmly on the grassy forest floor. As if they hadn't just booked it from a swarm of piranha beetles, she began to fuss with her messy hair. Bits of sticks and leaves had gotten tangled up in her rainbow locks. She decided now was the perfect time to wrestle them out.

"By the way, I dunno who you even are." Maura had yet to meet the other padawan. She wasn't even aware the man was a padawan like her. "But I still think you should teach me how to Force heal, 'cause I think it's cool and I wanna learn because I'm also cool."

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Peace, calm, concentration-- a serene focus. That was what was required for a Jedi to effectively heal anyone, especially themselves. It had taken months-- years of training, and Laeonas was still only mediocre at best when it came to the technique. The girl's sudden questioning nearly broke that serenity, going on and on as he spoke. Thankfully he was nearly finished when she actually bothered to notice. He barely paid attention to anything she said, and only when she riggled out of his grip did he finally start paying direct attention to her.

That she'd stopped at all confused him-- if she were hurt, he was ready to try and heal her, and if that didn't work he'd simply carry her on his back. However, the girl seemed much more focused on fixing up her hair. Even as focused on his own appearance as he was, Laeonas' jaw practically dropped as he saw her untangling her hair. The shocked expression was exaggerated as she began asking him to teach her how to force heal. Part of him couldn't believe what he was hearing, and the other part was getting increasingly frustrated as he heard it.


"...d'ya-- do you have any idea about how close you were to getting killed?" Laeonas suddenly asked, his response to her request probably being the furthest from what she could've wanted or expected. "Those piranha beetles were just a few meters away from eating you like a ckichen wing, and now you're sitting down picking at your hair asking me to teach you how to force heal?!" He asked, eyes wide and brows arched. "I'm not a teacher-- I'm not even a knight! I came out here on a RUN this morning, but instead I'm out here with a busted up leg and I've gotta haul some youngling with a death wish all the way back to the temple!"

The man stood there for a moment, voice trembling, chest rising and falling as he breathed rapidly. His talks with the girl hadn't exactly been pleasant before, but now, his frustration had completely poured out. She'd been completely delinquent to her teachers, had run away from him when he'd tried to just bring her back to the temple, and now she was picking at her hair and asking for lessons after nearly getting herself killed. He'd never met anyone as bullheaded, irrational, even possibly crazy as--

"...well, th'at just ain't true." he thought to himself, letting a sigh escape from his lips. The man was getting older, but his memories of his youth and the trouble he got into were still vivid in his mind. "Hell, compared t'ya, she ain't even 'alf as mad." The Brentaalan thought further; after all, the girl wasn't robbing people and doing spice-- yet.

"...I... I don't mean to come off like some strict prick... it's just that, well, that could've gone really badly, and I don't think you realize that." The man explained, trying his best to imitate how his mother would talk to him whenever he'd come home from a near death experience. "Running off in the woods without your masters or anyone else doesn't make you cool-- it makes you stupid. But I don't think you're stupid. A stupid girl wouldn't have been able to outrun me like how you did back there." He explained, giving her the slightest hint of positive reinforcement over her obvious agility.

"...if you come back to the temple with me, right now, I might be able to teach you a little about force healing." The man finally offered. "I'm-- well, I'm still not a teacher, so I probably won't be able to teach you 'real well. But, uh, Ai'll-- Ai'll-- I'LL do my best." He added, fumbling over his words at the end.


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The moment Laeonas began to raise his voice, tears began to well up in the girl's black eyes. To be clear, she wasn't upset she had put him or herself in danger. She was upset that he was upset with her. The girl would've gone on to crying, but a particular phrase stopped her dead in her tracks and dried her forming tears.

'Did he say he wasn't even a knight?' Maura had a puzzled look on her face as her eyes darted to his hair to look for the braid or braid-adjacent decoration every padawan had. She didn't spot it, but that didn't mean all that much. Maura had one, but her hair was so fluffy and out of control that it was pretty much hidden. She even suspected the braid itself was matting as well with how little she tried to brush her hair. 'Maybe his braid is hidden in his hair, too.'

"Wait, you're not a knight? But you're old!" She continued to look at him with a mixture of disbelief and offense. He was a padawan! That meant he wasn't in charge of her. "Actually, because you're not a knight that means I'm just as important as you and you're not allowed to boss me around anymore. So stop telling me what to do!" Her voice gradually increased in volume the longer she spoke, and her tanned skin was warming up the angrier she got.

Maura scrambled to her feet and began to march back in the direction of the temple. "I wanna go back now," she declared after a few seconds. If Laeonas followed, she would refuse to speak to him until the forest began to thin and the temple came into view. Master Tarabel and her group were nowhere to be seen, which gave the girl a little sense of relief. She had cooled off by then, so she didn't feel so angry.

"Okay, we're back. Can you teach me now? Please?"

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...she hadn't listened to a word he'd said, had she?

Ofcourse not. Even if she had, it wouldn't have made a difference. Laeonas had always committed what his mother told him to memory, and went on acting like she'd said nothing anyways. The Padawan would've probably nodded along at what he'd said, and than in a week she'd dive into a cave full of klikniks chasing after some rat she wanted to make a pet. All he could hope was that no matter how many times she'd risk death, she managed to escape. It had worked out for him, after all.


"...nah. It really didn't." He thought to himself, looking down at the girl with a resigned look as she told him to stop telling her what to do. "Am Ai really even bossin' 'er a'round? Pretty sure it's all been suggestions or requests." he thought, but to the girl it clearly hadn't mattered. The man stayed silent all the while, following after her, and suppressing a scream as she declared her intentions to go back to the temple-- exactly where he'd just asked her to go. "Keep it cool Laeo, keep it cool." He whispered to himself, letting out a long, long exhale.

They hadn't been out of the forests for ten whole seconds before Maura had asked him again. His lips were pursed, and they opened as he drew in another breathe, and let one right back out.
"...hhhoookay." He'd say aloud, turning to look down at the girl. "Aiii..." He began, trying to think up an excuse. "...need ta go t'tha-- to the medbay. Force healing isn't perfect, and I just want a ten minute bacta dip." he stated, trying his best to sound reasonable.

"...you should go get lunch in the meantime. Or wait around. I dunno what you younger ones do in your freetime." He suggested, glancing off to his side. "But-- I'll try and teach you once I'm out of the tank, okay?" He added, a very hesitant, very forced smile on his lips.

He didn't really want to teach the girl. But, he didn't want to lie to her either. It'd set a bad precedent if she wasn't able to trust adults with the truth. Normally, the man couldn't care less about the childhood development of the younger padawans, but this one was a special case. The girl was wild as all hell, and if she didn't grow properly, she could become an absolute menace, to both herself, and to others.


"...okay Ai'm gonna go heal bye." He said, before he began to speedwalk off. He didn't even try to keep his accent suppressed. "Meet me wherever, aidunno-- maybe by one of tha gardens?" He called.

This day was going to be very, very long.


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He was going to teach her! Maura pumped a fist in the air and gritted her teeth together in a wide-lipped grin. "Score!" There was nothing but victory in her voice despite the danger they had just encountered. She also had no intention of letting him walk off without her, though.

"Okay! I'll go with you so you don't get lost or fall or die or get lost!" His day was going to be even longer apparently because she quickly matched his pace and began to trot alongside him. "I do whatever I want in my free time!" she announced proudly to the injured man she was bothering to the best of her ability. To her credit though, she didn't bother him with too many questions. She was actually quiet for most of the way there, except to excitedly wave and shout at one of her friends she spotted down the hall. "He's gonna teach me how to Force heal!" she announced while pointing aggressively at Laeonas.

Maura wasn't allowed inside the medbay with him, so she sat her butt right outside the door, procured her datapad from her pant pocket, and passed the time by playing various games. Jumpy Porg didn't last her attention very long before she switched back to her utmost favorite, Cupcake Run.

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Something people had begun commenting on over his years as a Jedi were his very sudden and erratic mood swings. He could go from balling his eyes out after waking up from a terrifying flashback to the horrors he'd experienced on Firrerre, to laughing in the middle of a sparring match, all within fifteen minutes. He still dismissed it out of hand; it was perfectly normal for people's feelings to change. Yet as he looked at the younger Padawan, who'd gone from crying, to bossy and frustrated, to eager and victorious in such a short period of time, the man could only wonder if there was something to what he'd been told.

At her next comment, the man opened his mouth to tell the girl that he would be fine, but he closed it. Instead he'd nod and add, "Thanks." with pursed lips. "I do to; most of the time it's in the gym, or in my room meditating." He answered, leaving out the illegal drinking he'd slip out on occasion to participate in. If he were going to be a roll model, he wouldn't want to demonstrate such blatant disregard to the rules in front of her.

Once he left the medbay, he slipped back into his running clothes-- still matted in sweat-- and would walk out. Turning to his left, he immediately noticed the rainbow hair and pointy ears low to the ground. Turning to look down, he spotted what looked like a bunch of cupcakes swishing across a screen, eyes widening in confusion. "What tha f- heck are you doing?" He'd ask, staring in utter confusion. The man who'd grown up in apartments where cold water was a luxury had only recently started getting used to anything beyond simple datapads and comms, and here was this girl, playing what looked like some futuristic game about desert.

"...nevermind. C'mon, follow me. I know a really good place to teach you this stuff." He commanded, waving for her to stand up and follow. They'd walk for a little bit, until they found themselves in a garden not to far from the medbay. He'd trained here on many occasions with Ephiny, and the natural beauty and surrounding life had always helped center his connection to to the force. It was useful for a man who had such a troubled past, and for such a fiery youth, it might help the girl as well.

"Before we start, I'd like you to tell me a bit more about what you can do with the force-- and provide a demonstration of your abilities." He asked, trying his best to mimic his own teacher's speech patterns and mannerism as he did so.



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When Laeonas finally exited the medbay, Maura jumped up from her seated position. Briefly, her head tilted to the side as she was curious about the meaning of his surprising question. "What's feck?" she went to ask, but before she could finish, he waved his hand and told her to follow. "Wh- Okay!"

Maura shoved her datapad into her back pocket and began to skip on after the older padawan. She was so excited! "My teachers always say that Force healing is really super-duper hard so I think it's so cool that you know how!" If he thought this was gonna be a nice, quiet walk he was dead wrong. "Maybe you can do it 'cause your old. That's okay though! You're gonna show me, and then I'll be able to do it and I'll be super cool! Even cooler!"

The kid continued to chatter on for the rest of the trip. She talked about her classes, insinuated he was old a couple of times and talked about her favorite games. Once they got to the garden though, she finally shut up. Why the garden? she wondered. Did plants help with healing?

"Uh, I can move things? I'm really good at making myself go fast and jump high though!" He'd already witnessed her doing that, though. "Show me how to Force heal!" What were they going to heal? The plants? The kid began to bounce up and down, hardly able to contain her excitement.

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Between his telling her to follow him and her compliance, the man failed to notice the brief question about what feck was. It was a good thing that he hadn't-- hearing the girl utter such a curse would've won an... intense response from the man. As they moved on and started walking, the girl proved that when she wasn't actively running away from him, she would constantly run her mouth. "They weren't wrong; it is hard. This is probably gonna-- going to take a few hours for you to figure out at least." He explained.

At the mention of his age, he'd squint a little, glancing down at the padawan with narrowed eyes. "Ai'm only twenty nine." He replied, before blinking. Why was he justifying himself to this child over such small comments? Why was her opinion actually getting under his skin? His mind drifted back to his own youth, when he'd pelt rich folks walking through his neighborhood with bits of trash and call them names. He'd been a scraggly little monster of a child, a tall, thin, pale boy with shoulder length hair and a high pitched, incomprehensible voice. Yet most of the adults around him had tolerated him. What right did he have to such thin skin?

All the while as he thought about this, the girl kept on chattering. She brought up her classes and her classmates, games and how she played them. All the typical things children focused on-- and things the man really couldn't relate to. He'd never been to school, and his teachers up until Ephiny had been either the occasional gangster or datatapes and old holorecordings. The man's commlink was incredibly basic, so there weren't any games for him to play either.

How would he have turned out, growing up in a place like this? Surrounded by people that cared about him, wanted to help him grow and succeed, to teach him the ways of the force and help him become strong. He'd often wondered about what his life would've been if he really did have the last name Tannaras-- if it weren't a title he'd slapped on, because he thought his father was a lord. But would growing up in a palace been better than growing up in a place like this?

He let that train of thought fizzle out as they finally arrived in the garden. "That's a good baseline-- and you clearly have talent in those skills." He'd say, teasing her with a compliment as he'd sit down on the grass beneath a tree. "Force healing is... a little bit like that. You draw on the force similar to how you'd draw on it while speeding yourself up or improving your jumps. The difference is in how you put it to use." He explained, repeating some of his teacher's words, as well as drawing on his own thoughts on the matter.

"Healing yourself is a lot easier than healing others. But you won't be healing any injuries today." He declared. If they were going to go down that route, she would've had to injure herself, and he might actually get in trouble if he let a younger padawan get hurt under his supervision. Beyond that, this would be her first time force healing-- trying to heal a genuine injury would take forever. So, the man suggested something different.

"Before ya start chompin' on yer-- your own wrists, or finding a stick to scrape your leg on, I want you to start running in place-- and I want you to keep doing that. Only stop after your muscles really start to ache, when you really start to sweat, and when you really start to get tired. After that, I'll show you how to heal your own fatigue." He instructed. Exercise fatigue was it's own form of injury-- the microtears in her muscles and the strain on her heart and lungs were, however, very easy to "heal." It was a perfect introduction to the technique-- and she'd have to really, really screw up to actually get injured while running in place.

What could go wrong?



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He said she clearly had talent, and Maura took that to heart. She puffed up her chest and grinned triumphantly. Of course she clearly had talent, that's what she'd been trying to tell everyone!

When Laeonas began speaking in that teacher-esque voice, she plopped herself down on the ground into a crossed-leg position with her arms placed firmly on the ground before her. Her long ears perked up slightly, and her big black eyes stared unblinking at the man. Healing myself is easier? The girl blinked, then looked down at her arm. Not a single thought crossed her mind as she lifted her arm and prepared to chomp down on it. If Laeonas hadn't specifically told her not to, she would probably be teeth deep in her arm.

"Aw, c'mon!" Her eager, curious expression turned sour and pouty when he instructed her to stand up and start running in place. "That's boring! I wanna learn how to heal wounds!" Maura bet she could run forever before she ever started to feel tired. "That would take ALL day!"

Incredibly dramatically, Maura threw back her arms and fell backward onto the ground. "Ughhh!" Woe was her! This adult man padawan was going to make her run? Her eyes drifted from the sky to the gardening behind her, resting upon the planted flowers behind her. She noticed one of the flowers had a broken stem, causing it to bend over at a 100° angle. Maura's exasperated expression quickly morphed into excitement, and she shot back up onto her feet.

"The flower! What about ble the flower?" A long finger thrust excitedly at the broken stem behind her. "Can you show me how to do it on flowers?"

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There was something about the way she puffed out her chest in such a display of pride that amused the older man. He had to admit, the sight of the tiny, rainbow haired girl acting big was funny enough on it's own, but there was something else in there as well. The man couldn’t really put a word on it, but it reminded him of when he’d play “kick the ball” with the children on his block on occasion.

Whatever it was, it made him ignore how such displays of pride were quite un-Jedi like. He should’ve chastised her about such emotions, but he didn’t bother. He’d tossed her a compliment, and she’d been proud— that wasn’t giving into emotion, it was being human. Besides, it’s not like he didn’t regularly indulge in such small infractions— and he was nearly 20 years older than she was.

His attitude finally started to shift when hers did. He hadn’t even really noticed her slowly moving her arm up to her mouth, but upon her protests, he quickly picked up on the convenient positioning. He remained stunned for a moment, both because of her reaction, and the fact she’d… actually do what she suggested she would. That was ignoring that his first instinct on trying to learn how to force heal was to try and break his thumb, but that was beside the point.

“And it’ll take ya just as long ta ‘eal a wound as it will ta run in place and heal fatigue— difference is, yer not actually ‘urtin’ yerself when yer just runnin.’” He responded, dropping all diction discipline as he delivered the snappy responses. “May as well try ‘ealin’ one of those poor beasts from earlier.” He muttered, remembering the heard attacked by piranha beetles.

It only got worse the longer Maura went in. Next, she asked him if he could teach her how to heal… flowers? He blinked a few times, turning to look at the girl in bizarre fascination. Children were… odd creatures, and that was evident in the girl’s shifting desires. Here she'd been acting like she'd wanted to "be cool," but now she wanted to... fix a broken flower? "...th'at's..." He opened, before taking a long, deep breathe, "That's not the same as force healing." He stated.

The man didn't say anything more. He didn't want to tell her that there was a technique to heal and influence flowers and plant life-- though if she already knew there was nothing he could do about it. He could tell her that his own teacher hadn't actually taught him the technique-- yet. But why would he admit that to her? There wasn't much of a point-- the girl would probably start acting like he didn't know anything (despite her knowing even less.)

So, he did something else.

"I thought you wanted to learn how to force heal because it's cool." He said, cocking an eyebrow. "Learning how to do anything with the force isn't gonna be cool on it's own-- but what you can do at the end can be." He went on, holding back a smirk. "I think it'd be pretty uncool if you backed off of learning something like healing just because it would take to long. You think Luke and Rey Skywalker figured out how to destroy the Sith in a day? You aren't even gonna take that long." He went on.

It was as basic a manipulation as any he'd done before-- but against the prideful child, it might just work.



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