[FLASHBACK] Tricks of the Trade

[YOLT]

Clack,clack,clack​

Her boots clicked on the stone of the Temple's halls, her lightsaber thumping at her side a constant reminder. From outside, the late afternoon sun streamed through the windows, shining bright on the tiles. They threw her shadow on the wall every time she passed a window. Soon the sun would be setting, making the Temple as dark as she felt. Another day,another failure. Day after day she passed through these halls, bright and shining with the sun and the Force and the smiles of young students, only to be darkened with the night and her scowl.

Today was the worst yet. She was irked. Her instructor's pitying look was beginning to make her angry. The stares and whispers of other padawans felt as loud and heavy as if they were yells. And for what? Because she could not use a lightsaber, or remember the Code, or pick up a book with her mind?

Her traversing brought her to a large room attached to an open air balcony. She wandered out to the balcony and hefted herself onto the railing, swinging her legs in turn. She looked out at the sky bleeding into the forests of Tython. The planet was beautiful, if only it could have better associations in her mind...

 

[Beta12]

It had been a while since he had been able to do this, a balancing act. He had been so busy practicing lightsaber combat and attending classes that he felt as if he was losing a bit of himself. Sure, he never regretted the choice he had made to join the order, but a small part of him missed the excitement and constant change of years on Zeltros. Most of all, he missed the little things he use to do, tricks, acrobatics, and the like. Of course he still did all of these, sometimes, but growing up so fast to slow down just as quickly left the young Zeltron reeling. It was peaceful her, a bit too peaceful for his taste. He was use to the cities, the bright lights, people, there wasn't a lot of that on Tython. It was just another forested rock floating in space, barely receiving much but Jedi and the occasional outsider. Though, it was necessary to continue his path, after the disappearance of Mira, his Master. He had never really been told what had happened to her, most likely for his own benefit, but he had heard the rumors enough by now, and it made his stomach churn.

All of these thoughts and homesickness weighed down on the boy, but he would not give up. He had no training sessions or classes today, so the young Jedi spent most of his time sleeping, and when up and about, climbing. Today, he found himself balancing on a pole jutting out from the wall of the temple. The simple metal bar hung above an open air balcony that lead toward a large room inside of the temple. If he fell, which he wouldn't, he would have a relatively safe place to land. The Zeltron boy stood on the pole for, pacing on it back and forth, jumping from time to time to break up the rhythm and continued to pace once more. This went on for what seemed like an hour before he heard footsteps clacking toward the balcony.

A girl with orange hair close to his moved out onto the tile, hefting herself onto the railing to sit upon it. She didn't seem like she would be going anywhere soon, and Dyson himself was getting bored with walking back and forth on the pole, so the Zeltron boy did what any other performer would do. He jumped off. Now, there really wasn't much danger of toppling overboard, and his shoes caught the railing right in the middle, stabilizing him as he landed. He hoped he didn't scare her because in moments he was sitting a few feet away from her, dangling his feet around. During his time at the temple, Dyson had started to wear more loose clothing, but he was clearly uncomfortable in them. He tried not to let that show as he turned his head to gawk at her. "Hey there. You look like you are having a bad day." He stated, looking her up and down without trying to hide the fact that he was. "Ever see a guy juggle six rocks at once?" He asked, flashing a bright grin toward.

 

[YOLT]

Mikey was so far lost in her brooding she didn't notice the Zeltron approach. So when he jumped up beside her on the railing she startled, crying out. "Gah!"

Her eyes stopped bugging out of her skull when she realized he must have been a fellow padawan. She found his smile to be contagious and despite her foul mood the corners of her lips twitched up minutely. "Every day is kind of a bad day..."

She glanced down at her lap where her hands laid intertwined. Then she turned her head to face him quickly."Yes I have...once."

Honestly it had been her instructor playing around on her first day. But he didn't have to know that. She doubted, if he really wished to show off, this Zeltron would use the Force.

She noticed his blatant staring and took the moment to do some "observing" of her own. She'd never seen a Zeltron Jedi, or a Zeltron of any kind her age.

((Derp derp derp lameo post is lameo to the maximo XD ))

 

[Beta12]

He had scared her, for a serious moment Dyson thought that she was going to fall off the railing, but thankfully she quickly came back under control. Apparently she wasn't use to street performers popping out of the woodwork like he had, if she had ever seen a street performer before, that is. As she finally responded to his question, the young Zeltron's grin only widened. So she had seen some sort of performance before, he would have to think of better ways to entertain her then. Before the boy could respond with any other questions, he noticed the girl who he sat by return his stare. The young kedi perked slightly at her gaze, puffing out his chest. After a while, he gave her a playful wink and stood up. "Well, miss. You've seen a juggler, but tell me, have you seen this!?" He asked, taking a single step back and right off the balcony railing. The fall was only about four feet, his feet landing firmly on a metal pole jutting out from under the balcony overhang, he had spotted it earlier and would have moved to that one next, if it had not been for this girls arrival.

He hoped that she would freak out a little, hopefully she didn't try to reach out to catch him and fall herself. She wouldn't die, she'd get a few broken bones though and that wasn't really the second thing he wanted on first impressions. Besides, he'd have to try and catch her himself, maybe breaking a bone of his own, and that wouldn't be fun at all.

 

[YOLT]

She leant forward a bit to get a better view as he jumped down to the pole. She was slightly amazed. For one thing, she had seen something akin to this stunt before. On the other hand, this was significantly more dangerous. She had a dim memory of a fellow performer who spent what seemed like ages talking about life in some circus and all of his fans and how he walked a high wire and did acrobatic stunts. She barely registered these facts however. He talked in a grating monotone. But this, this was different.

She stared in barely hidden amazement and excitement, mind racing in all different directions. He seemed set on doing these stunts and...amusing her? She suddenly wished she had her old supplies with her. That worn, torn deck of cards suddenly meant a lot more to her. But that wasn't the only trick up her sleeve, pun intended.

"Hey, bet you've never seen nuttin' like dis!" She slightly cringed at her slurring accent but continued, sliding off the railing back onto the flooring. Then, leaning over the rail and peering down at the boy, she held out her hands. "See? Nuttin' dere."
She lifted an eyebrow, then, rubbing her hands together, she held out her hands again full of cards. An entire deck of cards, tangible cards, lay splayed out in her hands. A nifty trick she had found out she could do. It was mighty useful.

"Now pick a card,"she winked down at him.

 

[Beta12]

It had been a while since Dyson had been able to perform for anyone. He was having fun, watching her expressions as he stood on the metal pole, balancing on it with ease. When she spoke, the grin on his face became ever wider, she had an accent that he had barely heard before. He couldn't quite place it, the slurs weren't that dynamic or complicated, so he guessed she was not from a planet near the outer rim, but that was just a performers first judgement, and he had not been out and about for a while. She responded to his trick with a trick of her own, climbing back to the safety of the balcony, she showed him completely empty hands, after what he guessed was a slight of hand.. somehow, she revealed an entire deck of cards.

Now, he had seen many sleight of hand tricks before, but this one was a bit too uncommon for him to judge what had really been going on, if those cards were really there anyway. Force business was all still pretty new to him, and he knew illusions could be created by the force. Either way, the trick had caught his curiosity. Dyson threw a quick glance at the deck of cards and pointed one out. "That one!" He called out, pointing to one on the far left. Unsure if he should take it from the hand himself, he cautiously moved his hand toward the deck and grabbed the card. before the girl could continue her trick, the Zeltron asked a question. "Got a name?"

 

[YOLT]

She smiled. She had learnt pretty quickly about people's tendency of picking cards on the far ends. So she quickly figured out to conjure up certain cards in particular on the ends. 'Ace of spades on far right. King of hearts far left.' "Now look at the card and put it back where you found it." After he did that, she shuffled the cards.
As she did this she answered his question, "They used to call me Mickey."

That wasn't a total lie...once someone heard her wrong and called her Mickey. But that wasn't important anyways. She finished cutting the cards and held them in her right hand, while her left hand reached behind his ear. Her smile was now reigning free on her face as she pulled her hand back, with the King of Hearts in it. "Is this your card?"
She handed it to him, "Go ahead. Touch it, bend it, rip it even. It's real."

Her right hand went behind her back when he wasn't looking and came back empty.

 

[Beta12]

Dyson went along with the trick, a continuous curious look spread across his face as she continued. he had picked his card, looked at it, and then put it back into the deck. King of hearts, a small chuckle emanated from the boy as he watched her shuffle the deck, her fingers seemed to work magic across the cards. What he didn't expect though, was the deck of cards to go in one hand, and her free hand go behind his ear. The side of her hand tickled at his skin as she yanked back her hand to reveal his card. He had seen a lot of card tricks, but he had never had one pulled out from behind his head, hey, she was probably using force powers, but the trick was still pretty good. Dysons grin fell slightly as he wiped the curious look off of his face, trying in a vain attempt to not look too impressed as she spoke again, inviting him to check the validity of the card.

"Mickey huh? I once knew a guy named Mickey, boy could he dri..." Began the Zeltron, only trailing off and stopping his sentence completely as he took the card from Mickey's hand and put it in his mouth, attempting to tear a piece off with his teeth. The clean and rhythmen ripping sound coming from the corner card seemed to convince him that it was real. Hoping that she wouldn't be put off by the damp and torn corner of the card, he handed it back to her, a smile returning to his face. "Interesting name anyway. My name is Dyson, obviously, I am from Zeltros. Where are you from?" He asked, giving her another quizzical glance up and down. You're very pretty." He added, a natural habit that he had still yet been unable to tame.

 

[YOLT]

She smirked as he tore the card apart, not flinching as she took it back. Just for fun she clenched it in her hand and when she opened her hand again there was no trace of the card. Instead, a tiny purple butterfly appeared.

"Corellia."her eyes followed the butterfly as it fluttered about before disappearing. "Nice to meet you, Dyson."

Her mouth twitched up into a smile and she was unable to hide the light pink that worked its way onto her cheeks. "Thank you,"she mumbled.

 

[Beta12]

Corellia, a world Dyson was largely unfamiliar with. It had its history and its rumors, but Dyson had only met a few people from there, out of those people most of them were on Zeltros to waste away thousands of credits on girls, guys, and drinks. So far, he had only been t all of three planets, Coruscant, Zeltros, and Tython. Out of those three, he would always think that Coruscant was the most impressive. An entire planet covered in one massive city was a very astounding thing to the boy, knowing the dirt that should usually be underneath his feet was buried under massive amounts of metal buildings, thinking of the amount wonders that could be hidden down there made his brain ache. "Corellia? I've heard of it. Never been there themselves, they sure know how to enjoy some Zeltronian Spiced Wine." He offered with a small chuckle, wincing as he realized that she probably did not understand the ludity behind that statement. "Ah well, I am from Zeltros, the party planet." He stated, noticing the girl's red cheeks toward his previous statement.

 

[YOLT]

"Zeltros...I've met a couple of ya'll. However I can count 'em on one hand. I know nothin' about the self proclaimed party planet."
She smiled crookedly. She had seen maybe one Zeltros in the bar, two in her classes, and then Dyson. So roughly three or four Zeltrons she had seen, and she had talked to...one. She couldn't even find Zeltros on a map. Corellia, everyone has heard of Corellia. It's one of the filthiest, most scum filled places in the galaxy, on parr with Mos Eisley and the Corellian underground. People were loud and crazy. Children were unruly and undisciplined half the time, and people danced and drank till the sun rose. But despite all of that she could still think fondly of her planet. Everyone knew everyone and you formed a bond with people of the same trade. Criminals had each others back for the most part (even if that meant stabbing them...in the back). Street performers worked together and split the rewards evenly. It all centered around trust and respect. For the most part.

"So Zeltros? What's it like?"

 

[Beta12]

Dyson scoffed lightly at the phrase, 'self proclaimed party planet'. Zeltros was the party planet, not matter what anyone else said. Open air parties on every continent every single day was not an exaggeration when it came to his home planet. When she asked him what the planet was like, he opened his mouth and close it up again. In truth, Zeltros could be described as hedonistic and jubilant, a girl from Corellia might understand some of his peoples philosophies, but not all of them. If Dyson learned anything on his time away from Zeltros, it was the fact that the rest of the galaxy was filled with a bunch of prudes, a word used heavily on Zeltros. "Do you want the full version, or the.. er... not fall version.. yeah, that?" He asked, stumbling around his wording only slightly. He didn't want to offend the girl, or cause that light blush to turn a deep shade of scarlet.

 

[YOLT]

She had to raise her eyebrow in that 'I know what you said but I don't know so let me think yeah still confused' sort of way. So if Zeltros was so bad it's description came with a warning label did she really want to know? Yeah, she did. "I don't frighten easy. So give me the non-censored version. I can take it." she almost laughed. There was nothing new under the sun, so she was told. So she doubted 'THE' party planet could be all that bad. Even if it was as raunchy as he implied it was, she hadn't lived under a rock for fifteen years. Nothing really surprises you about humanoids anymore after you see them at their best worst and worst best.



((Ecclesiastes 1:9 KJV: The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. ))

 

[Beta12]

Dyson gawked at her for a little while after she told him to give her the full story, he looked her up and down one more time, as if gauging whether or not she could actually handle it before he finally relented. "Ok, well... Zeltros is the party planet. My people believe in love and happiness, when I say love.. I really mean love." He put emphasize on the last 'love', and quickly glanced downward before meeting her eyes again, to make sure she got what he was saying if she hadn't already gotten his subtle cues. "You could classify Zeltros as a luxury planet, meaning most of us there are constantly having a nice time. We sing, dance, perform, drink, and give into passion. People come from all around the galaxy to either retire there, or spend a good chunk of their credits buying women, men, alcohol, and the likes. We love to gamble, many many gambling establishments as well as street gambling can be found everywhere. There is literally parties on every continent every day." He stated, glancing toward the city from the metal pole the boy still stood on. "You wouldn't see our art in a museum with sexual morals, and I also have two livers, so I could drink almost anyone in this temple under the table." He added, rubbing his right hand on his arm, thinking of other things to mention. "Oh, and monogamy is a quaint idea to most, if not all of us." Dyson stated, purposefully keeping out the well known, to most, fact that Zeltrons were also very gullible, he hated that. He also didn't want to mention that he had experienced every single one of those things, as most Zeltron teens usually did, but him more so, being an orphan for almost six years since he was eleven.

 

[YOLT]

She glanced up at a random spot on the ceiling as she nodded slightly, digesting the facts. "Sounds like a pretty cool culture,"she shrugged.

So Zeltros was a vacation hotspot with block parties, bars, casinos, performers, and lots of...people like her mother. She pushed thoughts of her mother aside angrily. Zeltrons believed in free love and open relationships. (OOC: So Zeltrons are hippies and Zeltros is the 60s? XD ) She mentally shrugged, if you can mentally shrug. Nothing seemed wrong with that at all.

 

[Beta12]

(OOC: Well not really, just think about Rome and Roman culture, but put it in the future.)

Dyson watched the female above him as she digested the facts, he took it as a good time to jump up from the pull, grab at the railing, and pull himself up over to land in a sitting position. A small sigh escaped his lips as he leaned back against the cool metal, looking up to the Padawan as he did so. She seemed to be thinking about what he said, and even looked a bit jaded for a moment, maybe it had something to do with her past growing up, or maybe she was simply offended that Dyson thought she couldn't handle the information he had given her at first. "I guess, it is what I grew up in." He responded, watching her closely before he asked a question of his own. "What is Corellia like?"

 

[YOLT]

The question made her pause. She had never had to describe her homeworld before, most people knew exactly what it was like.She hopped back onto the railing opposite Dyson. "Well I only know about where I lived. It wasn't the best place at times. Crime is pretty rampant. But it's...homey. In my opinion, it's...oh I don't know, fast paced? It's always go, go, go. People drink and race and fight, while people like myself make a living in the streets. You can find performers on every corner. But that's the norm for us. We don't believe we're missing out on anything."
She paused constantly, looking for words to describe her little piece of paradise. "If I had to guess I'd say just about half of the people on Corellia are off worlders. Criminals, smugglers, thiefs, and general scoundrels hide out there. Thanks to some kind of laws people come to hide from the law there. A good amount of the businesses on the planet are cantinas, when some people are living in alleys. I can't say I love everything about Corellia, but I could've grown up in a worse place and position than I did."

 

[Beta12]

Dyson continued to watch Mickey closely as she spoke. Corellia sounded a lot like his world, in most parts. Sure, criminals came to Zeltron all the time, but everyone was there to party, and that was pretty much that. Zeltros had quite a big population, and a lot of that included people who just wanted to have fun. Dyson was guessing the people who went to Corellia weren't looking for the same type of fun, or the same type of fun wasn't as accepted on Corellia. A small hum emanated from the boys mouth as he looked around, then back to the girl. "So, why are you out here? You seemed to be bummed about something, we could talk about it." He offered, bringing his knees up to his chest and letting out a small sigh. "You home sick too?"

 

[YOLT]

"I...came here looking to do something different with my life. When the Jedi came and said I could train, my mother and my friends said I should stay. They didn't think I could do it. So I came to prove them wrong. But now I think they were right. I can't do this. I'm not cut out for protecting the galaxy and fighting Sith. I can't even use a lightsaber! And the Force...I know how to amuse people with it, but I can't figure out anything else. It's like I have just enough sensitivity to pull off illusions and make things float."
She sighed heavily and shrugged. "But I can't go home a failure. Yet, I can't stay here. I don't know what to do."
She unclipped her lightsaber from her side. As she tested its weight in her hand she thought of how proud she was to have made it. It was light and simple and it's orange blade was elegant. But despite all of her hard work she couldn't use it. And that fact made her want to toss it over the railing and hope it shattered when it hit the ground.

 

[Beta12]

Dyson felt a twinge of sadness as Mickey related to him his story, he had lost his family when he was young, but he knew what it was like to leave friends and family behind, especially if their goodbyes had been less than good. Dyson for example had been abandoned by all of the 'friends' he hung around as soon as he told them he was going to train under some stuffy group of monks in the galactic Hub. Dyson, however, was unsure what drove him to do what he did. Maybe he wanted power, and to understand the extent of his abilities, or maybe he just wanted a semblance of family again, a unity he sorely craved since the death of his grandfather. "Well.. practice makes perfect. I wouldn't give up yet! If you wanted, maybe I could try and show you a thing or two with a lightsaber. Or, I could show you a very cool trick my master taught me before she er.. disappeared." He offered, trying to give her one of his biggest smiles. he could tell the situation was weighing down heavily on her, and he wanted to try and do his best to turn her frustration into happiness. Maybe he could help her get back on track with her training.