Ikia pets Mittens' hand caringly, as if firmly believing the force was not enough; the hand needed love in addition in order to heal. For such a strict stickler, she has a gentle touch. "Do not be afraid of the emperor. Like any tyrant, powers or no, fear is his most powerful weapon. Just like myself, the Emperor may be powerful due to the force, but he is still mortal and can die."

Mits snickers at Matt's commentary about Math being selective with when it wants to be taught.  "Considering The Force is so moody, and is known to have a wildly different Dark Side, one could argue that it is bipolar schizophrenic."

She pretends to shoot her hand and then her hand dramatically coughs and swoons.  "On no!  I'm bleeding!  That means Matt likes me less!"

Mits grins impishly.  "Just teasin'!  I get what you meant.  Thanks!"

When she feels a gentle pet Mits freezes in terror!  Memories of an especially creepy dark jedi come to mind.  Bat at least the gentle pet isn't on the back of the neck this time.

"Eheh.  I uh... appreciate the sentiment.  Just try and understand that it isn't easy to stop being afraid."

The captain nods.  "It's good to avoid under-confidence and over-confidence.  I seriously doubt any of us will ever have to directly face off against The Emperor or Vader.  But if so, by the time we do, we'll be ready for 'em."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Tue 26 July 2016.

  "Being blown to bits is often the great equalizer, yeah.  Though it can be avoided a lot better when the smaller stuff like thermal detonators U Turn away from you."

  Matt is glad that Ikia is adorable enough to get away with it, because he expects slapstick injuries to commence if he tried comfort pats.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Fri 29 July 2016.

Ikia turns to face the commander and srgt. "We have demonstrated our ability. Now what shall we be learning?"

Mits is still working on not reacting poorly to people who don't mean her any harm, but at worst she'd yelp and jump from unexpected comfort pats.  Three Stooges eye-pokes are a thing of a past for her now.  (Those knuckleheads totally had it coming!)

The officers nod grimly to Matt's statement then turn to answer Ikea's question.  "Basic training.  There's a lot of useful survival skills you'll cover in basic.  Such as first aid.  We want to make sure you are at least as prepared as a standard grunt.  as you pass tests, you'll be advanced accordingly.

Mits shrugs.  "No one ever bothered teaching me first aid before.  Guess I'll see how quickly I can breeze through the other stuff."

---

I plan to grant us all a bunch of freebies.  A rank of treat injury for example.  And w/e else makes sense for basic.  Such as proficiency in rifles or w/e.  Anything redundant to stuff already paid for with chargen feat slots etc will be refunded for use however you want.

  "First aid training means being able to identify where I got shot better than 'the place that hurts', so there is that too."

Ikia seems to have a highly cooperative approach, be it to her teachers or her friends. Her teamwork skills require only the knowledge the srgt has, but once she learns the techniques, she has them down pat. Despite this, Ikia seems to have high expectations from her allies and a strong belief in finding a proper teacher for any given topic, never counting herself as a capable teacher. Her ranged combat potential seems average, but since she isn't terrible, she winds up learning all the same, just like the other recruits. Her melee combat with any saber-like weapon is phenomenal. Ikia learns first aid at about an average rate also.

"Mittens also really hates it when she can't name where it hurts."

As might be expected for a former dark jedi's apprentice, she finds certain aspects of basic training to be a breeze...  others notsomuch.  And it is really hard to not cheat and use The Force to compensate.

But when she gets caught, the drill instructor makes a good point.  "You already admitted that The Force is fickle.  Which means you shouldn't bet your life on it working all the time.  By cheating, you're only weakening yourself and putting your fellow soldiers at greater risk in the long run."

"Nya."

  "It hurts because it's true.  Also because of the bruising."  Matt is good enough at any given noncombat subject to never make things worse.  My, what an oddly specific phrasing.

  Both of the hairy girls are better at him in close combat overall, though his inclinations towards not getting hit in the first place will probably do wonders for not getting shot without playing blaster tennis.

  Speaking of blasters, he's hardly some crack shot savant.  But already knowing how to trust a gun sight instead of his instincts certainly helps matters in not missing targets in the first place.
This message was last updated by the player at 05:58, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

As some tests get harder, Ikia also finds herself tempted to cheat. While she refuses and in fact, becomes a bit upset with herself for being tempted at all, Ikia finds Mittens beginning to give in to temptation makes her feel like she's not alone. She secretly celebrates that she is a normal person underneath, but upon remembering how frustrating it feels to not only be caught cheating but how much the truth can hurt, Ikia heads over to Mittens and reassures her. "This is not an obstacle: It is a challenge. One I am positive you can overcome."

Ikia is also sure to give positive comments to Matt whenever he looks frustrated. For example, with melee, she assures him that in the case of Jedi training, he simply took a different route. So his lack of choosing melee is not because he lacks the skill to learn it. But in military training, learning it is less an option and more a prerequisite.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:23, Tue 16 Aug 2016.

Mits would sooo make things worse.  She's so bad at non-combat things, she'd blind and deafen the whole team if she were looking for an obvious ambush.  Kidding.  When it comes to lightsabers, she finds it hard to hold back and destroys a practice droid or three.  When it comes to guns, she's almost as enthusiastic, if nowhere near as deadly.  When time comes to again be comforted by teddy bear pets, Mits doesn't freeze up in terror!  Progress!

Mits beams at her friends and exclaims, "You two are the best friends I've ever had!  Thanks so much!"

  "Thanks Mittens.  You are the nicest Not Sith I've ever met." Best friends by default is an easy bar to meet.  Matt fortunately is not so cynical to think Ikia and himself do not rate too poorly anyways, though.

  "I'm sure my close combat results would look more impressive were I compared to other fresh recruits, instead of a girl roughly half my size kicking twice as much ass, Ikia."

  Parry and blade lock spam is a very particular mindset that would mostly bore enemies to death, if not for allies.  Now, if he could use Blade Mode™ after a parry? Things would be a different story.  But that is an entirely separate franchise.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:06, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

Ikia says, "I just do not want you to be discouraged, Matt."

Ikia nods to Mittens and even smiles. "Thank you."

(Short post is short, but I couldn't think of anything more to post)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:22, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

Mits blushes from the compliment, thanks, and smiles.

"Aww, shucks..."

Being treated well in spite of failure is still a new concept for her.  Still, it'll take some getting used to.

The rest of basic is rather quick since the Jedi are already very fit.  The other recruits are amazed at how fast the 'accelerated recruits' are pushed through, (they haven't been told that they are Jedi), but no one can deny how elite they are in drills.  The three are given legit uniforms, rank, and unit insignia.  Then sent to the specialized classes they asked for.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:38, Tue 23 Aug 2016.

  Matt refrains from joking about trash compactor maintenance.  "I doubt we have enough time for career mechanic capability.  But with how much stolen or limited quantity hardware any rebellion has to work with, knowing enough to keep it working long enough to get the job done and leave sounds like a good idea."

  Sir, this bomb's timer is made out of an old tamogatchi... it will go off once it gets hungry?! You fool-*Kaboom*

Ikia says, "I am not personally looking for a career at being a mechanic, but if that is what you wish to do when all of this is over, I will support your decision. As for me, I plan to be a career jedi."

Ikia wonders what all she will be learning in her specialized class, but hopes her allies will not be far from her when they are each taking their classes.

Matt finds that his mechanics instructor agrees with the practical approach to patching stuff up.  But he also often reminisces about the glory days of the Republic where you could simply order in the correct replacement part and do the job right.  Now with the Empire in power, honest shops are forced out of business by the Moff's nephew who doesn't know a wrench from a hole in the ground, but customers have no choice but to put up with the shoddy work and monopoly prices.

Shayock's instructor has a "expect the unexpected," mindset and trains her in being effective in spite of being blinded, deafened, drugged, dismembered, etc...

Mittens' instructor is a believer in taking death-defying risks... if and only if you'll be saving the galaxy in the process.  Doing so just for kicks will see you grounded permanently and demoted.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Sun 11 Sept 2016.

  "Some days it's hard trying to work out how the Empire can be both so lacking in talent, but still pumping out things like star destroyers."  Well, assembly lines are much more effective when it's the job that sucks the least for several lightyears even ignoring automation.

Ikia LOVES her instructor for doing this. No matter how frustrated she gets, she keeps thinking to herself that it is either be a little frustrated now, or die later.

Ikia answers Matt, "Law of averages. Throw enough people at a project and it will get done because they make up for each others' incompetence. An army, no matter how incompetent, would still spell certain death for you or I if we tried to take it head-on. On top of that is luck factor. Remember that before underestimating the competence levels of your opponent; I do not want to see you dead. And I'm sure you don't want your epitaph to read: Killed by an incompetent." She pauses a moment, as if thinking about something. "I'm saying this just as much to myself, Matt, lest you think I am lecturing you."

Mittens starts hand-puppeting, "'Slave labor!  The Republic was foolish to be so squeamish about slavery.  Well now those self-righteous fools are the slaves!  And churning out way more work hours than they ever did under their so-called "Civilized" government.  Why, we've made more progress in the past few years than they ever did with their vaunted "ideals" like "liberty!"  Fah!  Just flowery words for being lazy!  Well no more!  You'll be amazed at just how motivated an engineer is to make improvements to our technology with his family's lives hanging in the balance!  Mwah-hah-hah-haaa!!!"

While her hand laughs villainously, Mits headbutts it!  "Ow.  Got carried away there.  Point is that a star destroyer is over 99% slave and droid labor.  The villains who threaten the rest wouldn't have the gall to face Matt in combat for the most part.  So they instead hire thugs in droves to leverage frightened masses into lethal armies.  Who then make their evil masters more money.  Who then hire more thugs.  Who leverage more worlds.  And on it goes."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Sat 08 Oct 2016.

  "I suppose the phrase 'quantity over quality' falls a bit short when you have enough quantity to build quality."

Ikia says, "Mittens, has anyone ever told you that you are crazy? ...and that you make crazy look cute?"

That's right. The straight-laced jedi just called you CUTE!

"Mits is pretty sure she saw that, 'Quantity is Quality' slogan somewhere.  Was it the Tai factory?  Or the Tai Pilot Barracks?  I don't remember."

She grins sheepishly to Ikea.  "Look who's calling who cute!  You cuddle-licious fluff ball of adorableness, you.

"Thanks, though!  It's nice to have someone say something nice about my personality for a change.  Though I admit to often getting a kick out of hearing some jerkface officer scream, 'Darn that crazy cat!' after he found his datapad glued to his precious mahogany desk.  One of the few benefits of being an inquisitor's slave is getting away with sooo many pranks."

  Matt has tried to avoid outright calling Mittens crazy, but that's more because his barely functioning tact couldn't make it sound good like Ikia can.

  "I'm just going to assume there were many 'desktop computer' jokes at their expense."

Ikia lip-sinks "cud-dle-li-cious..." to herself, as if trying to figure out the word. "Uh... thank you?"

The tale of "sticking it to the man" (get it?) has Ikia chuckling. "Some day, we must share tales... but I worry my stories would bore you since I do not have a mischievous streak."

Many a tale of her and Matt doing many a straight-laced thing. Very exciting. Of course, Ikia IS a Jedi... there is bound to be excitement in there she takes for granted as "just doing her job"