Log:Lira: Saber Construction 1
Lira approaches Qutha about building her first lightsaber
OOC Date: January 2, 2023
Location: Hidden Jedi Enclave, Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Lira'una, Qutha Buvu Pah
Floating, always floating... or at least when he can. In commune with the Living Force, Qutha, several porgs, Oh Bother and even several pillows are orbiting the Kyber Lotus. The zelosian's face, eyes open and seeing in many spectrums, towards it. A look like fascination on his features, like a fluttering insect caught in the mesmerizing glimmer of a candle flame.
A beacon of peace and serenity in the dark chamber, where the musty scent of the underworld of Nar Shaddaa can't quite be covered over. A lingering thing that, perhaps like the Dark Side in places saturated by The Light, threatens to overwhelm if steps are not being taken. Perhaps this might be why the Knight influenced Rey so to make the meditation chamber here. In this spot.
Uneven floors, the periodic flicker of light, the noise of the starport and that odd smell. All those things that seek to chip away at the resolve and focus of a Jedi. To take them from their study and peace.
It's been... well, still not even a year since Lira joined the Jedi Order, though it was growing ever closer to it. Life Day was behind them, now, and even non-Wookiees were able to use the galaxy-famous celebration as a marker of time passed. The last Life Day, she'd spent it with her family at the circus. This Life Day, she'd been on the Puddle Jumper, earning her way in a galaxy that had no mercy for her presence in it. She'd made a lot of mistakes. She'd make many more, but she was constantly evolving, constantly refining what it meant to be Lira'una, Jedi Padawan, Lira'una, Ship Captain, and Lira'una, friend.
A many young people do, the little lavender Twi'lek had a tendency to over-correct when she felt like she'd made a mistake. It had led to her doubting herself, doubting her worthiness of being in the Jedi Order, doubting her ability to make good, safe choices for herself, her friends, her mentors, and her crew. But every time she made a mistake and over-corrected with being /too/ cautious, she'd eventually drift back to something more level-headed, and that ease would show in her features, her gait, even her mere presence... something calm and more confident, like it is now.
Walking slowly through the enclave's hidden halls with one palm held up in front of her, a trio of chance cubes slowly orbit one floating stationary in the center, all just above her hand. She doesn't even really seem to focus too much on it, anymore -- while her attention is certainly there, she's also watching where she's going, and her smile warms as she steps into the meditation chamber to find Qutha there doing exactly the same thing... just on a MUCH bigger scale, and including himself in that orbit.
"Qutha," the girl says softly, not harsh enough to be abrupt -- but then, she was sure he sensed her coming from a LOT farther than the hallway.
"Bud"
The voice emanating from him as much as spoken, his slow bobbing carrying him in his continued orbit about the Lotus. Eyes open, seeing and not, hands folded in his lap and his robes flowing in non-existent winds. Inclining his head towards her and Oh-Bother turning his head before waving a paddle like foot.
"C'mon n'have a seat... less y'need t'pull me somewhere t'speak more private like." tone still mild while he gives the potential options. Several of the lights above, weak and flickering as they typically are, shift in their seatings to keep illumination on him - an unconscious resistance to his phobia of darkness... conscious or otherwise.
"Hope y'us've been well, with all that Wookiee excitemen' n'aught else out there f'late, eh?"
"And The Brotherhood.. they're getting bad down in Ko Hentota," the lavender girl adds with a thin smile as she moves closer, careful not to put herself in the path of orbit of the Zelosian or the various other things in orbit of that crystal. Even as far as she'd progressed in the last year as a Padawan, joining his circle of levitating objects was beyond her skill. And so, instead of trying, she waited until one of those cushions was flying past and then plucked it out for her own use.
Tucking it under her, she slips down to the floor and crosses her legs on it, smiling up at him.
"I have been, and it's nothing private... actually, I learned a little about building a lightsaber from Huyang... and I was kind of hoping you could tell me more. I saw you'd taken yours apart. And.. I'd like to try building one of my own, soon, if you think I'm ready." A little pause, then, and a grin. "And.. assuming I can find the parts I'd need."
"Findin' th' parts, I kin he'p wit'. But it's much a pers'nal thing as it kin be ac'demic." eyes turning now towards Lira, head tipping to one side. "There ain' specific parts, 'sides the mos' tech'nical, f'course. His own saber drifting from within his robes to float towards the twi'lek and away from his own position in the lazy orbit he is taking. The device tumbling slowly within easy reach before his voice returns,
"Er'thing is pers'nal... That wood is from a branch of th'firs' tree I done planted, for instance." dipping and bobbing in his trackless path, "Ilum is gone, which makin' findin' the Crystal the more diff'cult part..." brow creasing some as he speaks, head tipping as if to look up into the cosmos for answers, and perhaps he is. "The Crystal connects t'you, it is sync'd witcha... The manufacture of the housin'... the saber itself, I kin teach an' I'd like t'think I'm a fair shake at it... N'I kin try t'h'ep y'find your Crystal... But meetin' it, n'bondin' wit' it, is sommat I kin give advice, but ult'mately... it will be a pers'nal journey that I kin walk 'sidesja wit."
Lira sits up a little straighter when that saber drifts towards her, watching its approach until its close enough for her to reach up and pluck carefully out of the air. It's clear, somehow, that she's not afraid of it -- the grip she has on it, though gentle, is more reverent than timid. She'd seen it plenty of times -- it had saved her life more than once -- but she'd never held Qutha's saber, before. It felt weird in her hand, curved quite unlike the stunsaber she carried around with her.
"I was thinking I might be able to use one of the trapeze bars for the hilt."
She turns the saber over, thumb carefully sliding over the wood with a small smile. Those personal touches weren't lost on her. Qutha had become like a second father to her, and here she was touching the wood from the first tree he'd ever planted.
"It would be thinner than this, but..."
She looked up, wiggling her fingers a bit to show the smaller size of her hand in perfect proportion to her five-nothing frame.
"..it's something I'm used to holding on to. I might even be able to find one of the ones I learned on..."
Which would require her to speak to her parents.
Which led her mind back to Na'luna and the fact that she was going to have to confront her parents, anyway, at some point. They hadn't spoken much, if at all, since she'd gone off to join the Jedi Order. It was a nagging thing in the back of her mind... the fact that she'd left them all behind to pursue this new life. At least she and her brother still spoke, sometimes.
"I'd like to try," she says after another moment of quiet reverie, the ripples of worry that had been tangible through the Force fading away once she'd gotten control of them again. Then she holds up the saber again on the flat of her hand for him to reclaim.
Lifting up, the saber joins the orbiting objects and slowly angling closer to the zelosian while he continues to bob in his waking meditation. A small raise at the corner of his mouth causing creases in his features as he nods his head, "You will, or y'won'... There isn' 'try', li'l Bud." Eyes swimming briefly into focus when Qutha turns his gaze on her.
"Tha's a fund'mental. If y'think in manners'a Try, then y'won' do..." smile remaining, faintly, as his focus swims away once more with his slow orbit, "Y'succeeded at learnin' the trapeze... or y'fell. Y'fell 'cause y'din' know what y'did when you succeeded. Y'did not, till y'did. But there was no half matter. Nothin' real is done in half matters, y'ken?"
His orbit slows, while other things continue, his saber slipping within his robes while the orchardist comes to halt and float facing Lira.
"You've been talking to Master Yoda."
Once her mentor has finished reminding her about the pitfalls of /trying/ to do something, those words escape Lira's lips along with a soft, bashful laugh that colors her cheeks darker purple.
"I remember... from Tempes. I only used his holocron a couple of times. That's one of the bad habits and you and he have both corrected me on, in the past." She nods, though, smiling. "I'll do better." Not try to do better. Just do better.
Then there's a pause for a second. Blue eyes look up at the floating man, a child looking up at a parent, working up the courage to ask for permission to do something that was probably just out of their grasp... and yet, that's the nature of things, for the child to keep pushing those limits, trying to find out how far they can go before they fail.
"I'd like to build my lightsaber," she says finally, the words having taken some amount of extra courage for her to admit. 'Try' softened it. 'Try' admitted that she might not be ready. 'Try' anticipated failure and wouldn't be such a blow to her ego when she did. Admitting that she wanted to /do it/ was somehow harder, both in terms of asking permission and committing to putting real effort into it that would hurt her pride if she didn't succeed.
"What should I do?"
"Find them things that y'think will connect it t'y'us. That trapeze y'think y'un't t'have... Or sit in med'tation, t'see what comes to you; what will mean the most. Sabers is deeply pers'nal. It's part'a y'us." Qutha notes, as if it was going to a bodega for blue milk. "Firs' instincts can be good, but they kin be wrong too... My first thought were t'use part of th'haft of m'spear. I had it ready, cut away, prepped... N'then I realized it don't fit right. So I sat an' I thought... n'then I reached out wit' m'feelin's."
Legs unfolding to put boots on the floor while those things caught up in the swirls of his meditation begin gently floating to landing places he fixes his gaze on Lira, head canting to the side while the faint smile remains. "It's a lotta searchin' self, s'much as aroundja." hands coming now to fold within the sleeves of his robe while he shifts as if to work the sleep out of his joints.
"Once y'know what'cher gonnar make it outta, we'll see where y'instincts leadja for your crystal."
"I will," Lira promises, rising from her own cushion and straightening her robe around herself. She folds her hands in front of herself, watching the man in front of her land with a gentle smile. "Thank you, Qutha."
She rocks a bit up onto the balls of her feet, and not seeming to be able to help herself, she moves forward to hug him tightly. She might be /working/ on growing up... but she wasn't too grown to give him a hug, pressing her cheek briefly to his chest before releasing him and stepping back again.
"I'll put some thought into it and let you know as soon as I have those things together."
She rocks a bit, apparently preparing to leave but not /quite/ ready...
"At some point, maybe we can go back to Zelos II again... I miss just kind of spending time with you." A little quirk of a smile. "...and your family."
She doesn't linger, though. With a final smile, she turns to make her way back out the way she came, a little more bounce in her step than when she'd come in.
