[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
Edit: Didn't see the write in. Eh, I'll throw my vote to it.
Also hey, we know Barriss and she likes us! We should learn healing from her, as she's not that much older than us and we might be able to influence her away from doing a dumb.
Seriously we're on the path to be good friends with Ahsoka and Barriss. You think if Anakin heard about our nightmares and lingering bond with our mother he'd approve of us? Getting those three to mentor us would be great, also we might be able to influence certain parties away from doing stupid shit. Or atleast tell Anakin to help better with all the things going to happen to Satine, get Obi-wan to like us.
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] This… plan of his. Why is he being so mysterious? Why is Master Windu's departure important. Master Bell, though, sometimes likes to be mysterious. Or at least… careful in one way, but not in others.
edit: and yes, not only I feel caring about him as a father-figure and as a mentor-esque figure would be a nice touch on Nima's character, I also think he kinda...needs someone to care about him in this way? Well, not needs exactly, he is an old Master, he knows how to take care of himself, but it'd certainly help him.
Ehhh.
I am pretty sure that, sapients being sapients, Jedi are flexible on this one.
For example, Yoda genuinely cares about his younglings, and about Jedi in general.
The point, if I understand what they tried to go for, is to not let attachments cloud your judgment and control you, not to be beep-boop biorobot.
Though from what I can tell, the Bariss in the Clone Wars is actually in some ways very different than the Bariss-the-Healer in Legends/EU. Sorta like how in Legends Depa is, you know, Shatterpointed, whereas in the Disney Canon she isn't.
But I probably will check them out today. Though I actually am sorta-kinda doing my own thing with Bariss to a small extent, as you might have noticed. Or might not have? But I will check those episodes out, as soon as I finish watching Coco (bought it last night.)
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] This… plan of his. Why is he being so mysterious? Why is Master Windu's departure important. Master Bell, though, sometimes likes to be mysterious. Or at least… careful in one way, but not in others.
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
I sort of headcanon it as Bariss getting tired from being literally elbow deep in a constant stream of casualties after years of war and just.... snapping.
Adhoc vote count started by ImmortalsBlade on Mar 25, 2018 at 3:36 PM, finished with 864 posts and 33 votes.
[X] This… plan of his. Why is he being so mysterious? Why is Master Windu's departure important. Master Bell, though, sometimes likes to be mysterious. Or at least… careful in one way, but not in others.
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Nima's Mother. Master Bell hasn't ever told Nima any more about her, but perhaps now is the time to press a little more. Surely, even if Nima's never going to see her again, he could tell Nima more than that she's 'okay.'
[X] The war. He retook an entire system. What was it like, what did he do, how did it happen? Who was with him? It's hard, being so far away from it, listening in… so why not an up-close story.
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
I'm wondering if there are differing fractions- some want to kill us and some want to hear us out. B/c if this was a full-blown assassination attempt, then they should have followed up the arrows with a lot more people attacking us. Instead it looks like one of the Rangers got pissy and started shooting us.
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
[X] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind? No. of Votes: 19
[X] This… plan of his. Why is he being so mysterious? Why is Master Windu's departure important. Master Bell, though, sometimes likes to be mysterious. Or at least… careful in one way, but not in others. No. of Votes: 16
[X] Nima's Mother. Master Bell hasn't ever told Nima any more about her, but perhaps now is the time to press a little more. Surely, even if Nima's never going to see her again, he could tell Nima more than that she's 'okay.' No. of Votes: 2
[X] The war. He retook an entire system. What was it like, what did he do, how did it happen? Who was with him? It's hard, being so far away from it, listening in… so why not an up-close story. No. of Votes: 1
[] Write-in: Master Bell himself. The war is hard on any sapient. How is he holding up? How are his anti-slavery plans proceeding with this all in mind?
"But how are you doing?" Nima asked, softly. None of the other questions, none of the other concerns, mattered nearly as much. His emotions, which had been so clear on the approach, were now opaque. Of course they were. He was good at hiding them, at using them. Any Jedi was, or else they were so simple and uncomplicated that they had nothing to even slightly obscure.
"I've been up to a lot," Master Bell said, with a shake of his head. "The war has been dominating things, but--"
"No. Master Bell," Nima said, leaning up and wrapping her shoulder a little harder around his. "Not what, how?"
"You've been reading, haven't you?" He sounded so fond, so familiar, that it made her heart ache. She'd been missing him, without even quite being able to realize how much.
There were philosophical tomes that spoke about the importance not of what you were doing, but how you were doing… or even how you were doing it. The focus not on the external, but the internal. Master Bell wasn't always a fan of that sort of philosophy, but she wasn't him, and her respect didn't mean she'd agree on him about everything. "I do that," Nima said, softly. Teasing him.
He laughed. "I really do walk into these things when I'm tired. I've been doing fine. I've made quite a few new friends, but… being a commander, being a warrior, it's rough. But very familiar, really." Master Bell shook his head, those wild eyes sparking a little more as he clapped his hands on his knees, the sound seeming like the toning of the chimes that determined when an Initiate could be out and about. "I've fought all my life. It's just different for it to be part of one thing."
"You've made friends with some of the clones?" Nima asked. Curiously, not willing to judge. It was always best to try to lay yourself out, as if you were floating in a pond and listening to all the animals that came to drink. That was what she believed, though people like Hannah made it hard, sometimes, to put into practice.
"Yes. Several. But like the boy with the hole in his bucket trying to water his plants, just as soon as I fill myself to the brim I flow out," Master Bell said.
"Oh," Nima said. There were many stories that came with philosophy. Many ways to express the same truth. That which you gained flowed away, whether it was wealth, friendships, knowledge if left to go rusty. Expecting anything, needing anything, could be very dangerous in a world that was always shifting. "The war, it's… is it getting in the way of your work with slavery?"
"It is, and isn't. I'm trying to do what I can against slavery, and yet it's true that sometimes a large evil hides a subtler, deeper, one. I wish that something could be done about the Hutts. If I were in charge, I'd bide my time, win the war, and then do something about the crime families while there is still an army to deal with them."
Nima smiled at that. "Ah," she said.
Of course he'd see an army as a way to achieve his goals. But he thought the clones were people like anyone else, and had befriended them, as Bell often did. It made her wonder how that worked, where the line was. Of course, he was not adverse to risking himself as well, and that worried her sometimes, because she couldn't be sure of holding onto everything she cared about any more than he could. People died, because that was a war.
...No, Nima thought. That was life.
"You're thinking," Bell said, looking at her. His eyes, normally so forceful, were now so soft as to be almost liquid, as he looked her over. She wondered if she'd ever meet someone who understood her as well as Master Bell.
"The friends you've made… you're giving them orders. The orders could… kill them. How--"
"Do I stand it? Sometimes I wonder if there's something wrong with me that I can." He shook his head, stroking his beard. "I can handle it, because I've often lost people, and I've often seen conflict and war, even if it's small-scale war, the raids and violence of slavery. I haven't thought the galaxy was truly at peace, in the way others think, since I saw the first slave expelled into the vacuum by a smuggler who didn't want to get caught with his prize. I can handle it. But the Temple? How is the temple?"
"It seems… empty. And more full at the same time," Nima admitted.
"What classes are you taking?" He asked it was if it were a small question, but from the set of his mouth, he clearly set a lot by this.
"Philosophy, and Art of Movement."
"So, then. Has Fy-Tor-Ana had the dancing lesson yet? She usually does it right before the worst weeks of the class. Old Master Nuxi, who taught it before her, never did something like that. But she always said that it was part of movement too, and helped teach Jedi diplomatic manners. But really, I think it's because she found Master Nuxi's classes so boring. He was a stickler, the kind of person who did the same challenges again and again and just added more and more difficulty until you inevitably failed. Then you tried it again until you got it, then he made it harder. It was only the first time I hunted through a battlefield dodging frags and blaster bolts and climbing on the wrecks of combat vehicles that I realized that Nuxi'd probably saved plenty of lives, his way." Master Bell shrugged, but of course what he was giving Nima was a gift just as meaningful as any trinket he could possibly have given her.
His opinions, his reflections. How he felt and what he felt. She knew, even, or at least she suspected, that the hunt through a battlefield wasn't the Clone Wars. So to him, this was taking the darkest parts of the Galaxy and spreading them out, making it a universal problem.
"No, I haven't seen anything like that," Nima admitted, embarrassed not to be able to reciprocate.
"Then there you go." He said it with a nod, as if he suspected as much. " he war is taking that away if she hasn't already, because she should by now. Just an entire week on most of the formal and popular sorts of dancing. It's always been one of the favorite parts of her course."
"And that's a loss for the Temple?" Nima asked. "Not being able to dance?"
"For everyone," Master Bell said, his expression almost grim. "I can survive the war, because my expectations of the galaxy." What he expected of the world and what he expected for the galaxy were often different things. "But the Jedi, but our traditions? It makes me wonder. It makes me question. Most of all, it makes me feel old, to worry about the next generation like that."
Ah, Nima thought. It made sense. He was always looking forward, always finding out what he'd do next. That wasn't the same thing as thinking about children. But was he wrong to be worried. "I… understand your fears."
"If even Master Fy-Tor-Ana is changing. Then I think it's time you met my Master, Master Tray'lor. And got to know a few more of my friends in that regard."
"Master Tray'lor?"
"He's in the… well, the retirement wing."
Many were the old Masters who were too old to really go out and have adventures anymore. The Temple and the Order cared for their own to the very end. It was something Nima was proud of, since she knew that the whole galaxy wasn't like that. Wasn't like that at all.
"Is he nice?"
"Very. He's old now, and so his mind wanders. But when it's on focus, he's as sharp as can be. You should meet him, and be mindful of Master Hrild, Knight Smiths if he comes around here…"
Nima blinked, and then realized what he was saying. "I'll learn who they are, but… I'm not worried. Maybe I should be, with the dreams. But I don't have nightmares about you, not really."
Of course he'd want to tell her names, for if he died. People she could rely on, people who could help her. It was all very well, but she didn't want to have to lose people like that. She just hoped it wouldn't happen, and it felt to her as if going out of the way to prepare like that was almost jinxing it.
"You're so predictable, Nima," Master Bell said, stretching slightly. "Preparing or not preparing doesn't stop what happens."
Nima flushed. "Sorry, I just--"
"I understand. I was young once. I actually lived about five doors down. I had silly crushes and dreamed of being a Knight, of the adventures I'd have, of the people I'd help. As for your nightmares, if you're still having them in a month, go to Master Yoda. That's all but an order. You should go now, but I'm sure you won't."
"It's… not that big of a deal," Nima said. That was a lie, but like all good lies, there was a little bit of truth within it. Compared to the chaos and misery of the war, bad nights and lingering fears weren't all that important.
"It is to me. Consider it, Nima. Consider it strongly. But in the meantime, I do have a gift for you." He fiddled with his backpack, and a moment later pulled out something purple. An expensive, hand-dyed purple ribbon.
Nima knew exactly what it was even before he handed it. It was a Vah'kagrei. It was most popular on Ryloth, and she picked up the pair of them, squinting to see if she could make out the prayers. Prayers, sometimes in one Twi'lek religion, sometimes in all of them, were written on the cloth before it was dyed. It wasn't that the prayers were meant to be read, so much as felt. It was something you gave to a child when they went off to college, or became an apprentice in someone else's household. It was one of many signs of growing up.
She knew what it meant. Perhaps it was the Force, though it felt different than that. "Is… that a promise?" she asked. She didn't even have to say what it was, not really.
"Of course it is. I'd be happy to… once the war is done."
"So that's a promise too, that the war will be done before I have to be a Padawan or bust?" Nima asked, amused.
"Yes, yes it is, Nima Tyruti," Master Bell said. "If I have to wring Count Dooku's neck personally."
Nima winced at the imagery, though in another circumstance it would have been almost funny to imagine both of them down on the ground, wrestling, lightsabers cast aside, as Jordyan Bell choked the Sith.
But when thinking of the death and chaos, the people that Dooku had already killed...
"Thank you, Master Bell," Nima said quietly.
The actual material was somewhat stretchy, meant to accommodate her lekku growing as she did, and Nima resolved to wear them from now on. The Jedi didn't approve of costumes outside missions, but small things like this, cultural artifacts or symbols, were approved of and even cherished. It was the only gift of clothing she would have felt able to wear.
"Also, I know it's hypocritical to complain about the militarization of the Temple considering my plans, but just know, and you'll know when you see it, that I have larger goals, ones intended for after the war."
"Of course, Master Bell," Nima said, moving to put on the Vah'kagrei. Of course he had plans to save the galaxy.
"Also, I'll be here another day, if you'd like to join me in the Archives, I'll show you a little about Astrography I think would interest you. It'll help you contextualize the war, at least. See it in perspective."
Well, what really mattered, Nima thought, was which perspective.
*******
Classes, and life in general, continued. She could feel herself growing stronger thanks to the training she was doing and the classes she was taking, and faster as well. Most of all, though, she benefited from an increased endurance, which apparently was going to help, as Master Fy-Tor-Ana announced that the next two weeks would be the hardest yet, starting with an unorthodox test, and then a test that focused on endurance, a course so long that she apparently felt obligated to warn people to, "Make sure to bring water. And if you feel like you need to rest, you should rest."
Nima didn't rest. The nightmares kept on coming, though now they sometimes had mentions of Clones. But they were all nightmares of defeat, of trouble and danger. There were none of victory, but she didn't know what that meant. Was it that her nightmares could only show her the ill and not the good? Though there didn't seem to be much good news in the galaxy. Quinlan Vos, a prominent Jedi, had apparently defected to Dooku's side, one of several such recruits.
Initiates whispered that there was going to be an invasion of the Temple, or that there was a secret Sith Empire somewhere out in Unknown Space that was the source of the dozens of acolytes that they were sure Dooku had. The battle of Falleen wasn't a rumor, nor were dozens of conflicts that left the broken and dead to be brought back to the Temple. The pyres burned again, and again, and Nima tried not to watch, tried to focus on what she could control, and what she could change.
Wessen seemed to be getting more confident, and Ayguin was in a good mood, having apparently decided to exchange letters with Bariss. Rather more interesting was the fact that Scout got a letter from Ahsoka.
But the letter was a little bit baffling.
"Sky… guy?" Nima asked, reading through it.
"And, oh, I have a secret mission, but I can't tell you about it!" Scout said, pacing. "It's horrible operational security. It's just like her." Scout couldn't help but smile. "It's so like her it's painful."
"But… didn't Anakin only just become a Jedi Knight? Why would they send someone to him to learn?" Nima asked.
"Unless there's some sort of lesson he has to learn as well," Scout mused. "After all, the High Council is very wise."
Nima nodded, tilting her head a little. She hadn't said anything about the new clothing to Scout, and Scout hadn't commented. Surely it'd be a sore spot to talk about having all but a guaranteed Padawanship when Scout was struggling and fighting so hard. And it was clearly a lot of work trying to keep up with everyone. But it was paying off, day by day. Just like Nima, though farther along and even faster, she was toughening up, gaining just a little bit more muscle in just the right places to hit harder and faster than others.
But it really was… Nima had only seen hints of it, because Scout avoided trying, but the few times she'd practiced lifting things with the Force, it had made Nima realize just how much she took certain things for granted, growing up as she did.
"They are, but… I've met Anakin."
"How is he?" Scout asked, pursing her lips.
"I think… decent. Hasty, sometimes a little rude. Very young," Nima added. "He's not even twenty, I think?"
"Huh," Scout said. She shook her head, dismissing her worries. "I suppose we just have to wait for more letters, then?"
"We do," Nima admitted.
"So, where were we?" Scout asked, drawing the training lightsaber.
Nima still lost each time they fought, but it was closer now, and she could see it, the way that Scout was good, but struggled to be great, for the best masters of the blade sank so deep in the Force that there was no thought, no doubt, just power and grace. It wasn't something she could manage, but she could one day: would Scout?
Which meant she had to find other ways to be useful.
Nima wondered what Scout would think of Master Bell. Perhaps they should meet.
"Have you thought about what Ahsoka said?" Scout asked, as she feinted as if she were going to attack to the right. Nima fell for it, once again. Scout should have been easier to read than she was, though Nima was getting a hang of her.
Nima backed up, keeping in a defensive position. "Maybe. We'll see. I don't know."
"Well, just saying. Form I doesn't seem to fit you," Scout said. "I finally agree with Ahsoka on this."
"I'll think about it," Nima said, and then tried to go on the offensive.
*******
Meditation was supposed to help. It even did, a little, but the problem with making yourself empty and allowing the Force to flow through you didn't help when it was the Force itself that seemed to be sending…
No, that wasn't the way it was at all. The Force didn't have an agenda in that sort of way, it wasn't a God, though some Twi'lek believed it was, a Goddess who created the universe, and thus also the Force. It wasn't even a forbidden idea for Jedi to think that, though it was… philosophical, more than actual, the point. The Force was.
So what were the Nightmares?
She didn't know, and yet she sat, legs folded, and tried to not concentrate. But when she stopped thinking for real, she started feeling around her, and that brought up memories that disrupted any real meditation.
It was a troubling problem, and meditation wasn't the right tool.
So when they announced that they were dropping down to three meditation sessions a day, she was almost relieved. Almost relieved, despite the fact that this was yet another concession to the war. To the dangers and the intrusions of the outside world. It made her wonder what would happen next.
The changes were still shifting the Temple. She wondered who she'd be, by the end of the war. She had to hope it'd end, she had to hope the Republic would win.
But all it was, at this point, was hope.
*****
With her free time, what does Nima do? (Choose 1)
[] Spend more time in the Archives, studying. She already gets plenty of physical activity from the training, so something more sedate might be interesting.
[] Go down to the gardens. It's peaceful there, and perhaps contact with nature will help her get a better handle on her nightmares.
[] Master Tray'lor is someone that Master Bell advised her to see sometime. Perhaps now is the time?
[] Spend more time with Wessen, Ayguin, and some of her other friends. More time doesn't mean she has to do new things, necessarily.
[] It'd be the most work of anything she could do with her downtime by far, but could she talk to other Initiates and Master Ty-For-Ana around to doing some sort of dancing lesson, or a small dance just for fun and to unwind from the stress of watching the war from afar.
[] Write-in.
*******
A/N: So here we go! This is yet another vote, though we are building towards certain things. This is a short update, but hey. It is what it is.
[X] Master Tray'lor is someone that Master Bell advised her to see sometime. Perhaps now is the time?
I'm not committed to this vote yet, but I'll leave it here for now. I have to say, I'm really liking this slow approach you're taking with this! Nima's slow growth and the subtle changes to the temple are interesting to watch.
