Bankor

It had been a long day, Garth had tried to distract himself with physical activity, but it had not had the desired effect. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw her face, her eyeless staring face. He hoped the exertion would exhaust him to the point where his brain couldn't concentrate enough to recall the image, but it still haunted him.

And so he sat here on the couch, constantly fidgeting as he tried to zone out in front of the TV.

Lunda sat on the couch on the opposite side, “Hey… don’t tell me… you’re the pilot, Garth right? What are you watching?”

Snapped out of his slump, Garth tosses Lunda the remote.

"Nothin importan'. It's jus' background noise to try and avoid wha's in meh head. Had a bad dream last night...but I don't think tha's quite the word fer it."

Lunda looked up Season 2 of Vera Hawke and was ready to binge. She replied watching the screen, “Dreams are interesting… what did you see?”

"My mother," Garth replied, a touch of seriousness creeping into his normally jovial tone. "Not the ma what raised me, but mah real mother. The one who gave me this." He adds as he pulls the necklace out from under his shirt.

"Only she had these horrid holes where her eyes should be and she was blamin' me for it. I dunno how I know it was her, I were only a babe when I saw her last, but....I knew. Ya know?"

"That is intense, what else do you know about your mother?" she asked.

"My ma don't know I know, but I overheard her saying to pa that she was one of you. A Jedi." Garth's fingers start tugging slightly at the hem of his jacket as his gaze drops a little.

"She din' wanna tell me, in case I decided to go and sign up, like it's as easy as joining a sabacc table."

“The Jedi actually seek out Force sensitives when they are young, they rarely accept adults into the order. Too many ties to the outside world,” she responded.

“Odd she would hide you… I mean unless you’re not Force Sensitive, I guess.”

"Dunno that she had much choice. Ma told me I landed near her house in an escape pod, barely old enough to walk. Not sure what led to that point, but..." Garth shrugs and sighs in frustration.

"Like ye say though, m'path is fairly set, but how'd ah know if I was...sensitive. Is it a genetic thing? From m' mother?"

“It can pass through bloodlines, some families have stronger connections than others… it can be recessive too,” she responded.

“I don’t know the tests, so I don’t know but if you feel things without seeing them or reflexes that border on precognition, you could be Force Sensitive. If we had a Master here it would be a simple matter.”

“They can do anything.”

"I feel....somethn'. Specially when I fly or race, like I can see the universe unfold before me and yeah I can do things I nevah thought poss'ble."

Taking a moment to compose himself, Garth places one hand on the arm of the couch before slowly lifting himself up and balancing all his weight on that precarious position.

He feels the energy that he can tap into, as well as the edgy side urging him to show off, to impress the girl with his raw power, but he draws only from the clean, pure energy this time.

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D2 EE Fluffy force enhance stuff: 3eA+2eF 2 successes, 1 advantage, 2 Light Side, 2 Dark Side

“Well you have your mother’s connection to the Force… sadly you’re too old for Jedi training,” she does not seem surprised though.

“Connections through the Force linger even after death, perhaps your mother is telling you something. Warning you about the Dark Side.”

Garth ponders her words for a second as he lowers himself back down carefully.

"Well, last night....there was a moment, I reached out and saw a way I could help maybe hundreds of natives and refugees. It only hurt a few of the Mandalorians to do it, it seemed....efficient."

“But it drew upon something that made you feel… sick maybe?” she asked.

"Not physically so." Garth tried to explain. "At the time it seemed like...well ah have a dangerous career. Ah have needed to kill on occasion, but this it made me feel...less than ah was before."

"Probably makes no sense huh?"

“The Force is not about making sense it is about connections, you drew upon the Dark Side and your connection to your mother got twisted up,” Lunda replied.

“It’s different for all of us, heard it described as being mired in black mud… or finger nails on a board… the Dark Side takes many forms and it wants to be used, wants to draw us in so it can twist us up.”

“You have to fight that urge to use it,” she said honestly.

“For pretty much the rest of your life.”

"Dun s'pose there's a manual?" Garth jokes as he tries to deflect the seriousness of it, though his eyes betray the concern behind his words.

"It's all...you guys expect kids to handle all that and not crack? Must be some bunch of kids."

Garth Wayne wrote:"Dun s'pose there's a manual?" Garth jokes as he tries to deflect the seriousness of it, though his eyes betray the concern behind his words.

"It's all...you guys expect kids to handle all that and not crack? Must be some bunch of kids."

"You don't start there Garth, it took me over twenty years to get to this point, and I am barely above the surface," she said in reply.

"Ye paint a pretty demanding picture. What if ah ain't strong enough?" He enquires softly.

“Because it is demanding… it takes everything to be a Jedi. The Dark Side is always there waiting… kind of like a cake. Cake can taste good, but you know it isn’t good for you, but it tastes good so you eat cake… but now you want more cake… and maybe you need different kinds of cake to feel the same way… and then before you know it you have fallen to the Cake Side,” she joked to lighten the mood.

"Ah din' ask for this." He grumbled at the universe.

"So now I gotta live like you or Aran? Follow this righteous path or risk becoming....somethin' else? But I ain't fallen yet right? So I can't've been doin' too bad before this, right?"

"No, just try not to give into your base impulses especially when drawing on the Force," she responded.

"Easier said than done 'round here." Garth answered before he realized he'd even said it. His baser impulses had gotten in the way earlier today, and Nai'tiri wasn't the only one triggering them.

"This is a war zone after all." He added in an attempt to cover up his truer meaning.

“I guess I could show you some meditation techniques, but I don’t have any easy answers,” she responded.

Garth bows his head in thanks. "Ain't looking fer easy, just fer possible. A little trainin' could be a big help."