This thread is a re-writing of events that happened in Star Wars.

Thirty-two years ago, Senator Sheev Palpatine mysteriously vanished. While there was the usual concern of the disappearance of a senator, he was replaced all the same. Queen Padme Amidalla of Naboo took the senator seat to represent her homeworld. Life moved on and over the years, the fact a senator disappeared was mostly forgotten.

Galactic politics continued on as usual with the Jedi Council occasionally working to keep the peace. But the media was wise to them and knew that the Jedi Council knew something they weren't telling. Many were rumoring that these so-called mystics were worried about something.

It was about twenty-two years ago "The Dark Wave" began. Many people reported phantom pains, dejavu, and strange nightmares. These reports seemed to spread to more people until one day, three years after the incident began, the jedi council closed its doors, saying only that they needed to debate something of great importance. Many fearful rumors spread as months passed without a word from the jedi council, but after four months, their doors were reopened. They had nothing to say about their silence other than they were not at liberty to discuss it.

That was nineteen years ago and most have forgotten about that bit of silence. An entire generation of young people didn't even really live it and think it is just something the older folk like to be overly dramatic about. Today has been no different than any other day, after all. The past nineteen years... heck, the past thousand years have gone by without any real incident. Why should today be any different?

But there are still people from the previous generation who continue to be haunted by the Dark Wave, never having had an explanation for it...

OOC: For benefit as all of you will probably have at least met someone who experienced the dark wave anyway, I typed up a sample:

Sample Darkwave man: Age 40. Was 18 when the first people started experiencing it. He thought it was just some kind of new mental condition. Then around 19, he experienced it himself. He felt a sharp pain in his chest while walking home from grocery shopping. Felt short of breath for a bit and then back to normal. From then on, at random, he would either get a nightmare about watching his hometown become a war zone, or while awake, he would sometimes feel like he was a ghost even though he can't phase through things and was still very much not a ghost. These symptoms have stayed with him the rest of his life and by now he's used to them. Says it seems to make him more grateful to be alive than most, but a lot of people consider him either jaded  or somehow dark. (he doesn't see himself as jaded or dark)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:48, Sat 09 Nov 2019.

Nathan's pretty boilerplate Jedi.  Into the whole hippy Zen and crystals "peace not war" thing.  Would rather create art than pay any attention to politics.  Buut Gangsters are still quite evil even in a Galaxy that didn't spiral into genocidal tyranny.  So there's that.

Like we were saying.  Boilerplate.  Stab villains with laser sword while preaching that life is sacred.  Master explained it away with metaphors that kinda made sense when not in an actual fight.  Now a long-time Knight with a student of his own, Nathan struggles to cross that last river needed to become a Master officially: forever turning a blind eye to just how much the philosophy he grew up on is a contradiction.

And it doesn't help that his student is constantly questioning the sacred Code.  So he's taken to distracting her with amusement so he has a moment to clear his thoughts.  Maybe even find inspiration for a satisfying work of art or music to pour himself into so he has an excuse to stop thinking on the hard questions.

(Turns out it's very important that Nathan be just shy of 22 years old.  So he's just shy of 22 and hasn't been a Knight all that long after all.)

Once upon a time there was a Jedi Master who's student went full-on Darkside.  And in his super evil McEvilface Tornado of MurderKill, he found himself a prodigy child whom he twisted to the Darkside and used for his evil purposes.  Then the inevitable confrontation with Master happened.  Master lost a limb or three in the confrontation, but managed to slay his former student.  And though the sorta kinda adopted grandkid was a prodigy, she was no match for Master's mind control suggestions.

Too ashamed to admit to the Order that his former student had gone so over-the-top Darkside, Master simply vanished with the child to try and heal her of the Darkside's influence.  Once he succeeded enough that it no longer registered in her chi and basically took from her most of her raw power, though she still carried a lot of those aggressive personality traits that lead to the Darkside, he came out of hiding to enroll her with the Achademy.  As he lay dying of old age and complications from his wounds, his final deathbed wishes were for her was that she remain with the Jedi Order and keep his secret shame hidden.

Heck of a thing for a young teen to carry with her.  But Mits has so far kept her promise to Master Grandpa who killed her savagely abusive Evil Dad.  Yay.

Today she's having fun playing in an X-Wing simulator at an arcade, unaware of her Teacher's own inner turmoil.

  Really, by comparison a questionable dead father figure logic of 'I have cured my adopted son's tragic blindness, I don't know why people told me cybernetics wouldn't work... What do you mean he's an All Force Using Species that has evolved to have gross vestigial eye sockets rather than close them up like a sensible sci-fi evolution?' is pretty tame.

  Much like rumors of some guy going around getting a high score exactly one point higher than the top one when nobody is looking, that having anything to do with Blake would be crazy.  Craaaazy.

  Also crazy, Rancor attacks!  In spaaaace-wait, no. That's just a rancor plushie being tossed into the Simulator.

  "That was the last one in the claw machine. I've also told several small children that you have it. One of these facts is a lie."

Today, Pyrus is engrossed in a virtual firefight against Mittens.  https://tinyurl.com/yxuxe3jj  He was losing right up until she was distracted with surprise plushy.  Now he's gained the upper hand!  "Yeah!"

Off to the side, a girl walks in, looking around at the arcade in wonderment. Mittens would recognize this girl as someone who appears locally from time to time. Although she doesn't frequent the arcade, is fully willing and capable of playing videogames. But Mitts has also seen Bethany at the academy, though she isn't a jedi. She even saw Beth go into the chamber of the council once. Bethany always seems either happy or curious or both. This girl is an adult, but oft acts like a kid. She's fun, funny, and eccentric.

There are all kinds of people at this arcade. And for as often as Mittens comes here, she has some friends here, as is evidenced by the kind if eccentric Blake who freely gifts oddly specific plushies to certain kids.

Mittens' arcade buddies include:
 - Blake (duh)
 - Pyrus (also duh)
 - Meekla (a 14-year-old ewok girl who is considered the queen of the arcade)
 - Tanai (a 14-yr-old Zeltron boy who thinks Pyrus is cool)
 - Crystal (a 15-yr-old Arkanian Offshoot "bad" girl who is known to cheat to win)
 - Ulchi (a 15-yr-old Pantoran girl who is Crystal's bff)

Meekla is idly checking yet another mystery high-score she has to beat* when she spots Mittens and smiles, trotting over to see how well Pyrus does with the brief advantage he was given.

*as a fellow troll and videogame enthusiast, she appreciates the higher scores on two levels: First, as an obvious troll maneuver, but also as a challenge to beat it. Sure, she'd love to meet the person behind the troll scores, but at the same time, she likes the mystery...

Soon, the other three group over to the X-wing simulator. Tanai says, "Aww sweet! The rancor!" he doesn't mean to be a further distraction, but it is what it is.

Meekla says, "Don't distract her, Tanai! This game's intense!"

Bethany begins making her way to the small crowd that has formed at the X-wing simulator. She waves at Blake with a smile.

Nathan's pretty happy to have familiar adult present, especially one who doesn't speak Jedi-ese.  Unfortunate reality that most Jedi aren't very interesting to talk with.

"Good to see you, Blake.  How goes?"

Mits didn't sense any danger, so she's taken by complete surprise by plushy rancor attack!  "What the..?  OMG!  Eeeee!  So cuuute!"

Rancor gets glomped and cheek-rubbed.  Which means her X-wing is flies unpiloted for a short while, making it an easy target for Pyrus.  HP is lost.

But then the newcomers arrive, and between mention of THE rancor and Mittens' reaction, Pyrus' curiosity gets the better of him and he takes his eyes off the screen to see what the big fuss is about.

"Woah cool!  It's the last one!  Can I have it?  Pretty please?"

He crawls toward Mits to try and persuade her with puppy eyes and beggy paws ( https://fmlainsights.lexblogpl...-begging-208x300.jpg ), so his game is abandoned for whomever wants to sit on his tail to try and take over.  Mits surrenders to the temptation to fire a missile to finish off Pyrus' defenseless fighter.  Should anyone take his place they'll have a hard time of dodging.

(Pyrus begging kitten to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulCDeqLsrfk )
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:09, Sun 10 Nov 2019.

  Blake does the minimum threshold of manners thing "Hi, Bethany."

  Less polite is the fact he has used a toy as a distraction, which has gone well beyond expectations.  Or is it still polite because it's free toys?  Honestly 'screw with the Jedi, it would be funny' looping around into being considered 'Kind if eccentric' is hardly a surprise from his player, if a change of pace for the Character last seen playing 'Bad cop, also bad cop' with a Mandalorian.

  "Pyrus, I know you're easily led but I did say one of my claims wasn't true.  And clearly you qualify as a small child told it was the last one."...  Well, TECHNICALLY Small, more of a principle of the matter small child really.

Bethany trots over.

Meekla flops on the seat the moment Pyrus leaves it, "What are you doing?!" and gets to the controls just in time to pull up and do a loop-de-loop maneuver to just BARELY dodge, but it's one of those things where the rest of what follows is a fight to regain control and she is half-sitting half-laying on the chair. If Mittens acts fast, she can easily take advantage of Meekla's desperate fight for survival to shoot her down anyway.

Crystal blows up on her hair, "It's just a game, Meekla. Calm down. And it's his game to give up if he wants."

Ulchi says, "Awww? Who can say no to a face like that?"

Tanai chuckles.

Bethany looks at Nathan and gives him a nod. "What's going on, Nathan? Blake?"

Mits laughs at Pyrus being adorable and gives him a pet while nuzzling him with the rancor toy.  "Don't worry, Pyrus, I'll share.  I shall name her Cuddles T. Rancor!  Thanks, Mr. Blake!  Hi, everyone!"

Hands occupied with loving her new toy and old pet dragon, Mittens has to resort to telekinetically controlling the game.  But that too also gets derailed when Bethany's name is mentioned.  Mits' ears wiggle in surprise, and Pyrus' tail wags, probably making Meekla's attempts at salvaging the game still challenging in spite of Mits' many distractions preventing her from taking full advantage of Meekla's plight.

"Imma gobble you up, Cuddles!  Rawr!"

Pyrus nomfs the toy, but gently enough to not do any damage.  His wings flap happily and he turns an impish glance at Ulchi.  The one dogs give when they want master to watch them play with the chew toy.

Nathan smiles at the playfulness of the kids and nods to Beth's approach.  "What you see is what's going on.  Taking a break for some fun times.  Yourself?"

  What is the polite way to phrase 'a whole lot of pleasant nothing'?  Because someone not wasting arcade credits being the reason people are diving around is still preferable to most causes.

  "The same reasoning as Nathan, really." There we go, copy the people with more tact.

Meekla finally adjusts herself properly and thus, stabilizes her X-wing.

Ulchi pets Pyrus and indulges him with watching him play with the toy. If he'll let her, she'll scoop him out of the simulator so she can flop him on the floor and give belly rubs, etc.

Crystal says, "Sorry for the distractions, Mittens. May as well give up, though, now that Meekla has control of Pyrus's craft."

Meekla says, "Don't discourage her! You don't get better at games by quitting!"

Tanai says, "Finish the game, Mittens."

Bethany smiles from Nathan's response and Blake copying that, thus assuring her things are just spiffy! "Much the same for me too! I was between jobs, so figured I'd come check the arcade to see if you all were here and if you guys wanted to eat pizza together."

All the teens' attention is now on Bethany. Meekla's ear wiggles to indicate she too was enthralled by the talk of pizza, but has her eyes focused on the screen.

Tanai asks, "I'd love to have some pizza..."

Crystal says, "Me too!"

Ulchi calls out, "Me three!"

Meekla holds out for Mittens' response.

You would think teddy bear would be easier to take on than dragon.  Go figure.  Mits is now on the defensive, knowing full well she can't win against Meekla in a fair fight without a lot of luck.  But what better way to learn how to survive in a real dogfight than to pit yourself against a worthy simulator opponent?  So tempting though it may be to telekinetically pull Meekla's hair over her face at a crucial moment, Mits restrains herself to focus on the game...  and gets owned handily.  Oh well.  She shrugs sheepishly to Crystal.

"Mittens too stubborn to ever quit."

"Pizza?  Me infinity!  I want all the fish toppings on mine."

Pyrus is big enough for Mits to ride on his back, so it's easier to just tell him - oh he's already on his back ready for belly rubs.  "You're the best, Ulchi!"

Nathan smiles at Beth's generous offer.  "Thanks, Bethany!  How nice of you to offer."

He waves over the arcade's droid to take the order.

  Blake is assuming they have at least enough time to eat pizza, otherwise Nathan and Mittens would be having official horrible doom premonitions already.  Rather than his own natural state of 'clearly pirates would attack in the next five minutes, if that meant no pizza' cynicism.

  "I'm fairly certain there are some movies where the moral is that the only winning move is not to play.  But that clearly does not apply in this case, as demonstrated by Meekla."

Meekla goes for a high-five on Mittens. "Stubbornness is a virtue! I didn't get as good as I am at games by giving up."

During pizza time, Bethany says, "I never did ask you guys about your families. What are they like?"

Tanai says, "Mom's really nice. Dad can be gruff at times, but he's dependable and strong."

Crystal says, "Mom left home when I was three. Dad likes drinking a lot. He has a job as a starship salesman."

Ulchi says, "Mom's an engineer and loves talking about racing. Dad's got a home business where he creates holonet sites and on the side, helps mom sell her services."

Meekla says, "My dad's a Togorian warrior. Don't have a mom. But I do have some wookies on Kashyyk who consider me kinda like family."

Beth looks expectantly at Nathan, Mittens, Pyrus and Blake.

Mittens immediately raspberries Nathan as soon as Meekla defends stubbornness.  Though the case could be made that proper Jedi are very very stubborn, Nathan has been trying to get Mits to understand that stubbornly resisting the teachings is not a good thing.

Pyrus playfully barks at Tanai.  "Grrruff!  Gruff gruff!"

Nathan's trying to think on how to tactfully answer Beth's question when Mits just blurts out, "Don't remember my birth parents.  My first adopted 'dad.' was a serial killer.  He liked to torture me and hated it when I called him 'daddy' in any way shape or form.  So I called him daddy a lot to torment him.  Then a super old Jedi Master killed him and adopted me.  He was much nicer, but died.  Now Nathan's my new 'dad' but he's kinda too young to really be my dad, so...  big brother?

"Couldn't find anything on Pyrus.  Not even a homeworld for his kind.  And Nathan...?  How have I never asked?  Always just assumed he was like all the other Jedi and taken from his real parents before he was two."

Mits makes her pizza talk, "No, Mommy!  Don't eat meee!"

"It'll all be over soon, my cheesy child, but scream all you like.  Your suffering adds flavor."  Nomf!

Nathan stares at Mittens in shock.  After collecting himself, figuring this to be more of her silliness, though strangely ringing true, he nods.  "Yes.  I was raised in the Achademy by several different teachers like most of the others.  It is considered wise for Jedi to avoid creating strong familial ties."

  All this trusting exposition, so of course Blake ruins it by not providing any.  It's slightly considerate, because it means he is not following up Mittens's (probably) not made up revelations with 'oh, MY possibly insane adopted dad DIDN'T suck'.

  ...Wait, that means he can't take a verbal jab at Nathan how clearly 'weak' family ties worked out soooo much better for Mittens. Curse you, bare minimum of tact!

  "The important thing is that regardless of the cause, Nathan is not a huge asshole.  So try to follow them in that surprisingly difficult life goal Mittens, and it will... probably, turn out adequate."

Meekla is giggling from Mittens' nomf antics.

Crystal curls her lip in disgust and horror. Starting with Mittens' backstory, but mostly at Mittens' eating antics. To Meekla, her eyes go wide. "Woah... Togorian dad? Wookie extended family? Badass!"

Ulchi says, "How is that thing your child? It was made by someone else and you just met."

Tanai glances between Mittens and Crystal and asks, "I'm sorry about your being hurt in the past... but can you please *not* ever do that with your food again?"

Meekla says, "Lighten up! She's obviously making a reference to All You Can Eat Extreme." a LOT of video games are weird and some just go straight for the far realm at times.

Bethany says, "Ooooh..." in wonderment at each person's story. From the mundane to the drama-packed, all seem equally amazing to her. To Nathan she nods and says, "If Mittens' story is any indication, I can see why the jedi would be scared of families, especially adopted ones as jedi would almost certainly be. But Meekla seems to have no problem and she's adopted. Hmm... what's the take away? Is it a 50/50 chance of torture or bliss? I don't have any family that I know of, so should I get one or not? Oh well! Guess I'll let nature take its course..."

She looks at Blake. "What about you? What's your family like?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Tue 12 Nov 2019.

Blake is sooo right.  But Mits is not going to admit that she was gradually getting more like Evil Dad before Master Dentures took over raising her.




Mits quickly looks up what a Togorian is and widens her eyes.  "Woah.  Dang.  Yeah!  Hope to meet your awesome family some day, Meekla!"

Pyrus just busts out laughing from Ulchi's question.  "She's pretending, silly!"

Mits sweatdrops from Tanai and Meekla's comments on her food silliness.  "Um... no promises.

"Sounds like a fun game!

"Mittens wouldn't exactly call life with Master Ancient "bliss."  Only by comparison.  Nathan's adequate too.  So 2 for 3 is pretty good, I suppose."

Nathan chuckles.  "A ringing endorsement.  I doubt the risk is quite so severe as 50/50.  But considering how extreme the consequences are for a Jedi should you have poor luck with relationships, it's probably best to err on the side of caution whenever possible."

  Blake is someone who in practice knows what social behaviors are, but fails to use them a lot.  To him, Beth certainly feels like somebody got that backwards, though he could see why if she is the end result.

  "What passed for my family was well meaning.  Though most of the good they did for me was in spite of expectations rather than because of them.  Better living by telling people who know better to go **** themselves, isn't the sort of moral you get to put in a children's show, though."

OOC: While it doesn't scream, I'm aware of at LEAST a sushi eating contest based combat game released in the US.  But even that's less crazy than current game me and my brother are playing with gameplay elements such as "Don't worry, this baby in a bottle lets you sense ghosts.  Now get out there and deliver mail and rescue your Sister the president from zombie terrorists. In that order."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:39, Thu 14 Nov 2019.

Bethany ohs! She puts her finger to her mouth and rolls her eyes upward in thought, as if pondering Blake's words.

Ulchi looks down at Pyrus and says, "...what's so funny?"

Tanai is staring at his pizza and looks away like he doesn't wanna eat it now.

Crystal glances at him. Then, although trying to be subtle about it, breathes slowly and gets to nomming her pizza.

Tanai slowly glances back to his pizza and starts nomming. "Hey Nathan... do your records show there ever being a zeltron jedi?"

Meekla nods proudly at Mittens realizing how cool togorians are. Then at the mention of All You Can Eat Extreme being fun, she grins and nods. "Especially for people frustrated by their physical limits for stuffing large amounts of food into their faces."

Mits blinks in surprise at Blake.  "You're on a Holonet show?!  Which one?!"

Nathan chuckles.  "I think he's making a comparison to our current gathering."

He ponders Tanai's question and checks his datapad.  "Dunno.  It says, 'Visit the archive for a more complete database of the Jedi roster.'  But I imagine so."

Pyrus grins at Ulchi.  "Mittens' silliness and the way you reacted to it were unexpected."

He'll lick her face if she allows.  Maybe not all that unexpected, but hopefully the point will be made that the unexpected makes one laugh.

"Mits wonders if there's a Force power for binge eating.  Probably requires you learn a separate one first.  'Before one can binge, one must know how to purge.'"

  "Sorry Mittens, but I was not secretly a famous sitcom actor the whole time.  I'll be sure to mention it if that somehow happens." Even if his life practically is one, just with more explosions.

Tanai says, "I would be curious enough to go with you to check the archives..."

Mittens' comment about purging, however, causes Tanai to laugh while the girls are mostly being all "eewww". Tanai's laughter idles out into nervous chuckles.

Bethany continues with idle chat. Meanwhile, Nathan gets a message from the jedi. It reads, "Need you to investigate an occurrence on Tatooine. Coordinates included. You can take whoever you want, but be informed the location is dangerous."

Mits's disappointment that she doesn't actually know a Holonet star is short-lived.  She grins mischievously because her joke went over so well.  And well... it's nice to be able to mock The Force and get away with it.

Pyrus doesn't really get Mittens' joke, but is happy that everyone is apparently having a good time.

Nathan looks at his message and shows it to the adults.  "I'm tempted to pretend I didn't notice this message.  At least for a little while longer."

Mits is of course in immediate and extreme need to know what's on his datapad, so she grabs at it.

Nathan frowns, but allows her to take a look.  "Mittens, please try to be more polite.  Such as asking first."

Apparently ignoring him, her eyes go wide upon seeing the message.  "OoOOOooh!  A secret dangerous mission so secret and urgent they expect you to go there without even a boring briefing to tell you what happened!"

But she's thankful enough that he allowed her to satisfy her ravening curiosity that she'll consider his polite request.

Nathan chuckles.  "Not hardly.  'Take whomever,' does not a secret mission make.  Tatooine is in Hutt space, and that would be why it's dangerous.  Whatever this occurrence was is clearly nothing of great urgency, or they'd have used voice, not text."

"Pretend it's urgent and secret!" Pyrus answers.

  Nathan is a big boy who can clearly avoid from getting themselves killed. Probably. Maybe.  "Did you actually want any help, though?"

  If Blake doesn't remember anything significant about the coordinates, that's what cyber linked Not-Google is for.  He wonders if people skimp on anything but 'Here is the X/Y location' just to gloss over how mission reports don't sound as official with 'next to the bowling alley' or such in them.

Meekla says, "Pff. Why face real danger when you can be perfectly safe facing fake danger in the safety of an arcade?"

Tanai nods. "I'm with Meekla on that one."

Ulchi is too busy playing with Pyrus to really pipe in.

Crystal is quiet lest she look less cool by opting for safety over adventure.

Bethany says, "I'll go if you want. I always enjoy going to places I haven't been to and I'm sure I'd be safe as long as I stick with you."

Nathan thinks on Blake's question.  What's a nice way to say, "It's not the Hutts that worry me, it's having to babysit Mittens without anyone to keep me from losing my mind that worries me?"  The answer to that question doesn't present itself, so he simply gives a nonchalant nod.  And smile pleasantly at Beth's offer.  "Thanks."

Pyrus is too busy playing with Ulchi to really pipe in.

Mits blinks in surprise at Meekla's question, as if she were speaking a foreign language.

"Um...  Gee.  Never really thought of that.  Evil Dad said that danger is just a fact of life.  You can either cower and die, or sink your teeth into danger's throat and survive.  And then he'd toss me into nightmarish struggles for survival.  Then Master Wrinkleface came along and um...  Danger was STILL a fact of life.  Only difference being that you now had to face it calmly lest you fall back to the Darkside and wind up just as nasty as Evil Dad."

Nathan looks surprised at Mittens lack of understanding and reminds her, "Jedi face danger so that your friends don't have to.  But if you think you'd be better suited to the safety of The Service Corps of the Jedi Order, you can choose to abandon the dangerous path of becoming a Jedi Knight.  In fact, it would probably be the wisest-"

"DANGER IS YUMMY!" Mittens interrupts nervously, "Mittens loves calmly sinking her teeth into ravenous monsters!  No need to bring up farming as an alternative."

Nathan isn't surprised, but is sad for her none the less.  Is Beth a member of the Service Corps?  Probably.  He's never seen her with a lightsaber and would be shocked if she has it in her to do another person any harm.  Maybe her example will persuade Mittens.  Was it really wise of the Council of Reassignment to allow a Darksider's former apprentice to be handed over to a newly Knighted Jedi?  Must be they saw a premonition and were following the "Will of the Force."  But to be fair, could be they didn't know.  He's only found out just now himself.

"I'm a monster!  Rawr!" Pyrus playfully exclaims.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:47, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

  Well, that nod answers that then. Cyborg Mercenary Babysitter, sounds like a Hulk Hogan movie.

  "I can hardly fault people for wanting to pursue a lifestyle that means getting shot at less.  Even if I tend towards the contradiction that is 'I hate getting shot, but other people getting shot is fine' in my own."  Granted, it's a very COMMON contradiction.  Just not one may people take an active role in.

  "If it helps, the Service Corps tends to send you to the horrible places that most sane colonists would avoid.  Lots of boredom mixed between moments of fending off swarms of bugs the size of womp rats when the static field generators break down. They don't get the cool monsters like Pyrus."

FAST FORWARD!

A ship is waiting for the group at the jedi academy. Basically a taxi, and large enough for a few people while also not being overly big.

The taxi pilot is a sullustan named Numnor. He's fine chatting or being quiet. Which means Bethany makes it a point to talk to him at some point.

The trip is relatively uneventful, but soon the group is on Tatooine. When they arrive, Bethany is asleep.

Pyrus smiles and tail-wags proudly at being called "cool."

Nathan can't help but chuckle at Blake's jab at the Service Corp's tendencies.  It's funny because it's true.  Though he understands the reason for it.  Boredom is from the Darkside and will usually turn a force user to mischief much faster than if they felt like their special powers were needed at their post.  Such is the catch-22 of Mittens' case at least.  Risk of slipping to the Darkside through dangerous missions verses the certainty of her falling if she didn't have that excitement.  But Meekla's idea is worth pursuing.  Nathan writes a formal email to the Council.

"I'm writing you because I have just learned that my apprentice Mittens was once the apprentice of a Dark Jedi.  I was unable to look into her mind to verify it, but judging from the way she brought this up, I'm convinced that it is not one of her pranks and something to be taken seriously.  I'm recommending she be assigned to a Master with more experience with guiding a former Darksider..."

Mittens snatches his datapad.  "May I see what you're writing thank you!"

Nathan skews his lips.  "I appreciate the effort in trying to be more polite.  I'm sure you know that you have room for improvement."

Mits stares at the datapad and pouts, "You don't want me as a student anymore?"

Nathan sighs and shakes his head, "I've never had an apprentice before.  I feel like I've been dropped into the final boss fight without ever having had a chance to get used to the controls much less grab any power-ups.  Nothing against you personally, Mittens.  You are aware that you're at a higher risk of falling back to the Darkside with an inexperienced teacher such as myself, aren't you?"

Mits looks stunned. "You're a gamer?!"

Nathan laughs.  "Don't act so surprised.  Not like gaming hasn't been around for thousands of years before either of us were born."

Mits thinks on it and looks at the datapad again.  "Well...  Lemme predict the future of what you're suggesting, then.  I get reassigned to a new master.  He's had experience with former Darksiders.  And they usually turn out bad.  So right out of the gate he refuses to let me experience life outside the Achademy until I stop being so Mittens-like.  So I either learn to master faking being a boring old Jedi in order to escape, or I lose my mind from boredom and the Council uses their powers to brainwash me.  Either way, I lose who I am.  And I can tell you with certainty that without Mittens' Mittensyness, Mittens will become a very miserable thing indeed - perfect for going Darkside!

"You haven't filled my brain with visions of being torn apart.  More than that, you don't even threaten ultimatums like, 'No new lightsaber techniques for a year if you do that again,' when I snatch your datapad.  You're doing better than even Master Geriatrics!  Hold off on this email."

Nathan thinks on her words.  What's a nice way to say, "My Knight Trials were a breeze by comparison.  The frustration of putting up with you has done more to tempt me to the Darkside than anything else I've ever experienced?"  The answer doesn't come.  But he's pretty sure he can keep her from reading those thoughts, at least.

  Blake wonder if there have been budget cuts, or if the true reason for 'Personal ship? No, you get a taxi!' is specifically to annoy Nathan, like the Jedi might suspect Mittens specifically was assigned to him because somebody knew she would drive him crazy.

  "Beth, We're here."

Bethany wakes up, startled and looks around. Then to Blake. "Oh... heh. Thanks, Blake... sorry, I was dreaming."

She yawns and gets up before following the bunch. She looks at Mittens and says, "C'mmere." and hugs her for no apparent reason. Then looks in Nathan's direction and says, "Hey Nathan, you ever have any experience with younglings in the academy?"

Nathan's landing location is still not quite the location of the coordinates. Following the coordinates will bring him to Mos Eisley. Specifically, Chalmun's Cantina.

Nathan hears owning your own ship is a severe inconvenience.  Constantly having to pay for fuel, pay for piracy insurance, they break down a lot, etc. etc.  Just not worth it.  Space Uber is way more convenient.

Mits was riding on Pyrus' back, so she thought she was safe from surprise glomps.  Pyrus made no effort to save her from Beth and grins at the pair.

He's loooving the heat of this planet.  Like being wrapped in pajamas fresh out of the drier and walking on radiant heated floors.

"Mittens will have you know that she is an adult in her culture and does not want to be called a 'youngling.'  What's with the random hug?  Don'tcha know that surprising teenagers with grimdark pasts is dangerous?  Rawr!"

She pretends to strangle Beth.

Nathan too smiles at the pair, "I'm guessing by that you mean looking after persons younger than myself.  My only experience is with Mittens, so very little."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:51, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

  Blake's player then remembers the experiences of 'ships in a campaign' vs  'ships in the movies' and is suddenly very thankful for Space Taxi.

  "Edgy, you may be. But Edgelord you are not yet." Blake, that's a terrible Yoda/Vader impression.

In a tone that suggests Mitts just taught something new to Beth, Bethany says, "I did not know that, Mittens! But the hug was to let you know you are loved." bright smile. "And Bethany will have you know that she didn't call Mittens a youngling in the first place. Besides; I was using the jedi definition of youngling, which is children from age two to age ten, who train at the jedi academy, but have not yet earned the status of padawan."

She looks to Nathan as she pretends to be strangled by Mittens, flailing her arms! *choked voice* "So that answers my question. Wowie it's hot here!" her smile betrays that this does not annoy her.

Thankfully, it isn't that far to walk to Mos Eisley. Nathan can sense someone strong in the force in the direction of his destination.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:15, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

Mits echoes in a skeptical tone, "Loved?!  You hardly know me!"

But she grins that Beth is playing along with her silly gag.

"Mittens is a FUN Lord!" Pyrus counters.

Mits beams at Pyrus' praise.

Nathan chuckles.  "I sense something strong in the Force at our destination.  They can probably sense us.  So let's approach slowly to give them the opportunity to choose whether they want to approach us."

Mits rolls her eyes and telepaths in the direction of the destination what she's saying out loud, "Helloooo!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:21, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

  "Some people find it easier to move past casual acquaintance than others.  So I think it's less about you, and more about Beth there."

  Meanwhile, some people find it easier to use adorable girls as potential cover than others.  Like Blake, slowing slightly as they approach the oncoming plot point.

There is no telepathic response from the person at the cantina. However, the group can sense the person is moving away from the group immediately after Mittens yelled.

Bethany nods to Blake as if he answered for her just fine.

"Shut up, Evil Dad.  I like Beth, and I like that she likes me.  Erm.  Not directed at you, Mr. Blake.  Mittens was talking to the imaginary ghost in her head."

Nathan turns an unamused look to Mittens.  "You spooked 'em.  Please try and restrain yourself and let me take the lead when we encounter new Force users."

"C'mon, Pyrus!  Let's cut 'em off at the pass!  Onward!"

Pyrus grins and takes off flying with Mits on his back to try and get past the mystery person!

Nathan sighs and telepaths in the general direction of the person while speaking aloud for the benefit of the adults present, "Please forgive my over-eager companion.  She means well.  To prove that I mean no harm, I will now stop advancing on you."

As promised, Nathan stops.  He coms Mittens, "Please come back.  You'll only make them all the more nervous."

  "Well, be sure to let me know if they become a non-imaginary ghost in your head Mittens.  I can't hurt their feelings if they aren't actually there."

  Well, that's Mittens and Pyrus doing the expected of Mittens and Pyrus.  Blake isn't quite sure yet if it will mean it's safe or not if Beth decides to continue onward, but if so it would proooobaly work out to follow her.

Bethany decides to follow Nathan's example and stops walking.

For those who can sense it, the person begins changing direction and is heading deeper into Mos Eisley. A telepathic message is sent to the group, "What do you want?"

Mits laughs upon hearing Blake's comment through her com.  "Will do!"

To the question from the mystery person she answers, "Fun!  But chocolate will do.  Why, you offering?"

Mits indicates to Pyrus to return to the group since her quarry has decided to make things difficult.

Nathan is relieved that communication has been opened.  "A civil conversation was what I had in mind before my chocolate-loving friend jumped the gun and hollered at you.  Apologies for that.  Outgoing, isn't she?  May I ask what it is that you want?"

  Clearly not a Maverick then (unless that's what Maverick WANTS you to think) if whoever this is shows up as a loud presence on Force radar.  Clearly they should learn to quiet themselves to blend in with samey NPCs rather than become an obvious blank spot in the force.  Not that Blake would know anything about that, that would be crazy.

  "So," He asks out loud, "Things are not horrible yet?"

The disembodied voice probably has no idea what Blake is saying. Because it doesn't answer him. Same could be said of Bethany, but she does answer him. "Uh... I dunno?"

The person answers Nathan/Mittens, however. "I like chocolate. And ice cream. But this place charges so much for ice cream. What I really want is to be safe."

Nathan nods in reply to Blake.  "'I like chocolate and ice cream, but what I really want is to be safe,' is what I got in reply."

"Staying safe is a real challenge on Tatooine, isn't it?" he replies to the mystery person, "Me and my friends might be able to help out with that.  Interested?"

Pyrus lands next to the group, Mittens laughing and dismounting.

Again out loud and telepathically, "An honest enough answer!  My fave is the swirl kinds.  Where there's several flavors all at once.  As for safety, anybody who attacks me sure isn't safe!"

Pyrus beams proudly.  "Yeah!  But I've never actually seen you fight anyone before."

Mits blushes some.  "That uh...  p-probably for the best.  But I'll bet you will eventually."


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:46, Thu 12 Dec 2019.

  Alas, that this Mittens doesn't have a suitably boneless monster friend to practice True Muppet Frenzy with.

  "Not having to watch you kill murderous psycopaths also means Pyrus has also never any murderous psychopaths in the first place. Hopefully. He might have a tragic backstory too he's not telling us."

The person responds, "I'm interested. What's it gonna cost me?"

The sensitives can sense the person is now stationary again.

Bethany looks at Pyrus. "DO you have a tragic backstory?"

Pyrus thinks on the tragic backstory question, "Don't know my family.  Just hatched.  Guy who hatched me was mean beastmaster.  Sold me to an ugly gangster.  Who kept me in a dungeon.  Kept saying to his friends that some day when I'm bigger he'd feed me his enemies.  But Mittens' Master rescued me!  I miss him.  He was nice."

Mits considers the cost question.  On the one hand, "It will cost you your freedom for the rest of your life!  Your new master will monitor your every move!"  On the other hand, "Of course the alternative is you become some lunatic murder-kill monster villain and I'll have to hunt you down and calmly kill you."  For once, she stays silent.

Nathan is relieved Mittens didn't scare off the mystery person by blurting something out.  "Well I supposed that depends on if we're able to help.  But for negotiating a price and figuring out if ours is the kind of help you want, some of your time will have to be spent.  But I do have some conditions.  For one, I need to know that where you choose to meet with me isn't too dangerous for me or my friends.  Know of a place like that?  This is my first time to this planet."

  "Yeah, that's usually the sort of thing people regard as tragic backstory." If more like a 4 out of ten, upscaled to a 11/10 if they end up later killed by a protagonist during 'fed enemies' duty.

Disembodied voice replies, "Everywhere is dangerous on Tatooine. I'll come meet you."

Bethany ohs and nods to Pyrus, then gives him pets.

The person approaches the group. Within minutes, the person comes into view and it is clearly a young human. A little blonde girl, probably about 10 years old or so. She is wearing what looks like jedi robes, but the outer robe is red while the inner robe is white and the sleeves and pants are royal blue. On her hip is a lightsaber.

She approaches until she is about 15 feet away from the group, then stops, her hair blowing in the wind as she stares at the bunch.

Pyrus reacts happily to Beth pets!  n.n  And is oddly happy to hear that his backstory would be considered tragic.  Maybe thanks to hanging out with Mittens, tragic backstory has become synonymous with "becomes a cool character in the movie."

"It is?  Cool!"

"Hi.  I'm Nathan.  This is Blake, Bethany, Mittens, and Pyrus.  What's your name?"

Mittens whistles a famous jingle from a gunfighter movie, and dramatically faces Liberty with a huge smile on her face and an exaggerated squint.

"'The two gunfighters locked eyes under the blistering heat of the twin Tatooine suns!  A breeze blew a lonely tumbleweed between..."

She looks around, "Aw c'mon!  Where's a tumbleweed when you need one!?  Pretend there's a tumbleweed."

  Okay, so clearly this is a 'Save Tatooine from them' situation rather than a 'save them from Tatooine' one.

  "Mittens, if I die it needs to be with you knowing you've gotten the genre wrong.  You have swords, not blasters."

  Maybe Mittens's choice was because it's harder to whistle the soundtracks to those movies?
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:34, Thu 12 Dec 2019.

The girl says, "My name is Liberty. Why would I be pretending there is tumbleweed?"

Bethany says, "Pleased to meetchya, Liberty!"

Evil Dad: "Movies are a waste of my time!"

Master Antedeluvian: "Sure we can watch movies.  Afterwards we can meditate upon their deeper meaning."

Mittens sweatdrops that there's another being in the galaxy that missed out on watching movies for a big chunk of her life.  "Seriously?  Haven't you seen any gunfighter movies?  There's always a tumbleweed.  I need to show you some movies."

Pyrus nods sagely.  "Movies are fun."

Mittens considers the deeper meaning of Blake's words.  "I think I get what you're trying to tell me.  In a swords movie, guns never hit unless to make the protagonist look all the more gritty when he cuts down the shooter in spite of the injury."

She thinks back on her experience.  "Huh.  Maybe that's why Evil Dad, Master Prehistoric, Nathan, and the rest of the Jedi Order all avoid blasters."

"Unless piloting a fighter ship," Nathan clarifies, "Ship combat doesn't include swords.  And no, that's not the reason.  Not my reason, anyway."

He looks over to Liberty.  "As you can see, me and my friends mean you no harm.  I am a Jedi Knight, and my Order is based upon defending people who need help.  You look like you may have had some experience with a Jedi.  I hope it was better than Mittens' experience with a Dark Jedi."

  Well, Mittens isn't wrong about her assumptions.  Which is just the sort of 'technically correct' Blake also tries to coast on at times, no wonder they hang out together.

  "I would suggest discussing this back on the ship Nathan, but they only gave you a taxi."  Blake went along with it because it means getting his own not exactly fit for a full adventuring party ship designated as a narrative target.

Taxi man is, in fact, still there and never left. Partly because the GM forgot it was a taxi, but also partly because the group hasn't gone but a few steps outside the ship.

"It's really hot." Bethany says, waving at herself.

Liberty nods and says, "Inside is better..." She then looks at Mittens. "Avoid blasters because movies say so? But that wouldn't make sense since you just said the dark one didn't watch movies..."

She then looks to Nathan. "I am not Je'daii. I am neither Ashla nor Bogan. I am Bendu."

Nathan nods.  "Inside is better, yes."

On the way inside, Mits answers, "Oh I dunno.  Life mirrors art and vice-versa.  Something I learned from Master Gumsmack.  So just 'cause Evil Dad didn't watch movies doesn't mean he didn't sound exactly like all the crazypants villains in them"

Out comes a Dark Jedi action figure.

"'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.'"

Pyrus raspberrys at the action figure.

Nathan looks curiously at Liberty.  "I'm not sure what you mean by, 'Ashla,' 'Bogan,' or 'Bendu.'"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:14, Fri 13 Dec 2019.

  "Probably just the hundredth 'these is our words for a color spectrum' from context alone.  None of you ever could make up your mind what to call The Force, you only ever agree with crushing people you don't like with your mind, literally or metaphorically.  And the occasional sword."

  He looks back to Liberty, "Unless that lightsaber is for show, which would be the first I've heard of such a thing.".

  Ah, Mittens with the Sith Speech.  Why does the crush all the weak beneath my boots club have a more heroic sounding speech than the emotionless zombie speech from the Jedi?

Liberty looks at Blake curiously. "...is any of that a bad thing?"

Liberty then answers Nathan, "Ashla; the light. Bogan; the dark. Bendu; ...grey. Middle."

Bethany says, "Oooo..."

Liberty looks at Mittens, "I am not sure, but I think I have heard you make reference to two masters... Prehistoric and Gumsmack? How many masters have you had?"

Mits smiles.  "Oooh!  Ashla is sooo much better of a name than, 'Light Side Of The Force!'  Though admittedly 'Bendu' sounds like a brand of drinking straw, I'll take that over the dumb name, 'The Force.'  So what's your name for 'The Force' in general?

"Mittens has had 3 teachers.  Nathan, Evil Dad, and third guy to whom she gave a zillion nicknames." 

Pyrus chimes in happily, "I have nicknames too!  'Lava Lord!'  'Death on Wings!'  'Cuddlewumpkins!'"

Nathan sweatdrops.  "I should hope that you would consider being crushed with The Force a bad thing..."

To Blake he admits, "Sorry, but uh...  I've only ever known it being called, 'The Force.'  Not scholarly enough to know any other names.  So I can't really offer any speculation on why the Jedi like calling it that over what other cultures might."

Mits scoffs.  "To sound mystical and religious without admitting to it being a cult that worships some unknowable and bi-polar psychic power."

  Okay, it could either be a good sign or a bad sign his girl is as honest as Mittens about 'Well DUH you, that's what it's for!'.

  Thankfully, a name like Liberty is the wrong kind of name to categorize under 'I chose this name for IRONIC EDGELORD REASONS' "Like many things in life, the circumstances around it tends to be the important part. So, hopefully not a bad thing."

  There goes Nathan being all reasonable again. "It's okay Nathan, I cheat with hypernet searches."  It can't really compete with having a career funny cat standing in his proximity, though.

Cats do so love walking all over keyboards, tis true.

Liberty looks at Nathan. "Me being crushed is a bad thing, sure. My enemy being crushed is a good thing. Even the Je'daii believe that or they wouldn't wield weapons."

She looks at Joe. "Yeah. It all depends."

Lib looks at Mittens and gives her a small smile*, relaxing a little. "...I like you."
* https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/...onde-1078065_640.jpg

Then says, "Unfortunately, those who referred to themselves as Ashla called the Force "Ashla" and those who referred to themselves as Bogan called the Force "Bogan". I like what the Mustafarians call it: The Life Current. But if I'm honest with the way it acts, "The Force" seems the most appropriate name for it."

Bethany says, "This all sounds very interesting... do you trust us enough to come with us on the taxi ship?"

Liberty glances over her shoulder then back to the group and says, "....I trust you all more than I trust anyone else on this world. So yes."

(Forgot we already entered ship)

The ship takes off.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:43, Mon 30 Dec 2019.

Nathan ohs to Blake.  The Jedi library gives the impression that nothing there is for public consumption, but now that he thinks about it, keeping everything secret would be against the Jedi Code.  So yeah.  Probably a ton of stuff on Jedi lore readily available on the holonet.  Just for some reason people don't bother reading if the way people treat Nathan is any indication.

Mits smiles back at Lib and winks.  "Mittens likes you as well."

Nathan lights up upon mention of the Mustafarians.  "I'm in love with Mustafarian folk music!  Unlike anything else in the galaxy.  What they can do with their vocals is incredible.  Listen to this."

He pulls up a song on his Star Wars iPod and sings along.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80gwh6La8J0

"That's entirely acapella!"

Yeah.  Beatboxing not very much a thing in the Star Wars universe unless R2 counts.

"Mittens looks over at Nathan in surprise.  This is the happiest she's ever seen him.  Nevermind what insights on the psychic god these aliens might have.  Nay, it is the music that he's so excited about."

Nathan blushes.

Pyrus bobs to the music.  He dances his way over to Liberty to give her a hug, lick her cheek, and draw her into dancing with him to the music.

  Blake's life as it often does, grabs the 'from a certain point of view' ball and runs with it.  Nathan is right about how much people can't be bothered to read even if they had access.  Just like Blake can be right saying he has very definitely never had to slice into or photocopy the Jedi Temple's data storage.

  Of course, you would probably need to be a force user to tell what's accurate and what's fake from those who claim they have... Then again, Blake can tell when a planet goes missing from a star chart through raw nitpicking reflex, so maybe he's just a huge nerd.

  "On the off chance you were not born here, how did you end up on Tatooine in the first place, Liberty?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:30, Tue 31 Dec 2019.

Liberty slowly looks towards Nathan. Then says, "What if I told you there was someone who learned how to use music to manipulate the Force?"

Liberty answers Blake, "I got to Tatooine just a couple weeks ago. I had followed someone onto a ship and the ship took off with me in it. It took me here. The person I was following, turns out, works for a hutt named Jabba. Jabba is the crime lord who lives near the area we just left."

Bethany says, "Where were you born then?"

Liberty says, "Coruscant. But I've moved around a lot. I never really had a home for longer than a couple months and even that was rare."

To Pyrus' attempts to lick, hug and dance, Liberty is surprised and then smiles and dances.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:00, Thu 02 Jan 2020.

Mits has been doing some "research" of her own into Jedi lore.  Watching holovids about the legendary antihero Revan and her sidekick Bethany and how they stopped the evil Rachni Queen from conquering the galaxy with her legion of xenomorphs.  But only the weird one about magical sword muscle man ever mentioned anything about manipulating the Force through music.

"Wowie zowie!  I hope you've got the number of this someone!  'cause I'd love to fuse my lightsaber with a keytar!  ♪ Bow bow bow, bow-ba-daw, zoop zoop zoop!" ♪

Pyrus loves the taste of Liberty cheek.  :9  But refrains from overdoing things and leads the dance to the rhythm of Mittens' "music."

"Yeah even Evil Dad knew not to mess with the Hutts.  Their superpower is putting huge bounties on people they don't like.  Works even on Force users.  'course Evil Dad would cash in on those bounties from time to time, so we weren't hurting for money.  You remember your real parents?  I only ever see mine briefly in a recurring dream."

Nathan smiles at the adorable dancing children.  "Hadn't heard of that.  When I asked if it were possible, I was directed to the Library.  And I'm not terribly good at research."

  Blake can't decide if he should file Liberty's answer under 'Force BS' or 'Every Day Coincidence BS'.  Yes, even with a Jedi literally ordered by other Jedi to find the Not Jedi.

  "Ah yes, 'unless it's inconvenient'. The main thing the Sith has in common with most world views in practice." How dare an overgrown slug not bow to ME-oh he's hired HOW many idiots with guns? Eh, he's beneath my notice, honest.

Liberty is trying for a simple, swaying dance with Pyrus and says, "I was grown in a laboratory. I was never really born. As for the musical force user, I was asked to never give her number out. But I will be telling her about you all as I get to know you and if you leave a good impression, she'll come meet you."

https://media.giphy.com/media/...WCVzaCx7TW/giphy.gif

Still dancing, Liberty then looks up at Nathan. "Don't they have a librarian? Or a scholar who would be able to help you search? It's not hard to learn how either. Unless the jedi specifically made their archives user unfriendly..."

Bethany joins in the dance, copying Lib's moves.

"Woah cool!  Were you engineered for combat?!  That'd be awesome!  Never met a gene soldier before.  I thought all that stuff was stopped after the Clone Wars.  Heh, I guess you can't keep a good technology down."

Pyrus shrugs.  "You look, taste, smell, and feel like a normal human to me, Liberty.  I think I'm a test tube baby too.  Natural birth is overrated."

Nathan can't hide his excitement.  "I'll really appreciate that, Liberty.  As for the library, the staff is comparatively small.  Their job is to teach you how to do your own searches.  Then it's up to you to find that needle in the hey stack.  Which takes time.  I figured since there weren't any teachers alive today, there was no sense in trying to find historical data on the topic.  Glad to hear I was wrong!"

  Regular clones are easy (Well, TECHNICALLY).  Force sensitive clones are straight up plot device territory however.  So Blake is more curious if whoever made Liberty are all dead, or if they are desperately scrambling for ways to claim everything is going according to plan.

  "Pay attention to which Jedi actually ask about your welfare before they ask 'where were you made? Like Nathan.  Also, Nathan, it will be cheating if you warn your co-workers about good first impressions they don't quite grasp compared to you."

  Force using Test Tube baby? Nathan's too busy gushing about libraries to line up with bad stereotypes.  Just another reason somebody smart (or lucky) stuck him with Mittens.

Liberty says to Blake, "Thanks for the advice... I'll keep it in mind."

Lib looks at Pyrus. "Thanks. I hope you were not hurt like I was."

Liberty looks back at Mittens. "Ever kill anyone?"

Bethany says, "That's an odd question."

Mittens reminds herself why she won't allow herself to get annoyed with being answered with a question.  Come to think of it, she's probably been inoculated against a lot of little annoyances thanks to Evil Dad flying off the handle at every little thing.  But this is probably a case of, "No, I've never killed anyone," answered with, "Thought so.  You wouldn't have been excited about me being a gene soldier if you had," so all the more reason not to get impatient.

"Sort of.  I've killed a lot of training droids, if that counts.  And I was 'partner' to my Evil Dad in a lot of murders, which counts in a lot of courts.  But he never trusted me with a real weapon on any of those missions.  So I'm happy to say I've never directly killed any biological people.  Not for a lack of wanting to in some cases."

Nathan's a few kills to his name.  Kinda hard to make it to Knight without killing.  But that's not something he's going to offer without being asked.  Still, he can't help but inwardly frown on the fact that a girl who spent years as a Dark Jedi's apprentice has less blood on her hands than he does.

Pyrus shrugs.  "Thanks.  I'm OK now.  And so are you.  'cause you're with me.  And I'll protect ya.  Mittens and Nathan too."

Nathan looks quizzically to Blake.  "I take it, then, that yours was not a good first impression?"

Considering that all the Jedi masters keep insisting he should be stoic, he's wondering how any Jedi can give a rude first impression.  Mittens doesn't count.  She started her Jedi training way late.

  "Oh, nothing major Nathan. It's not like they mind tricked me into giving them my parking space or anything. That would be crazy"  Now, if a Jedi decided to  mind trick people to get out of tickets for parking in a handicapped space? Blake had to leave that to his imagination.

Liberty says, "I am engineered for combat, to answer your question. They were trying to narrow down some psychic genes. Reading minds, affecting minds... those are very useful. But they also narrowed down other genes like strength, speed, dexterity, toughness... The people who made me were not nice. I'm just glad I escaped and then wound up with a kind teacher."

Liberty then looks at Joe. "If you remember who that was, then you should report what they did."

Bethany looks at Liberty and says, "But he said that wasn't what happened and it would be crazy..."

Liberty blankly stares at Bethany before saying, "She's... honestly lost on sarcasm."

"Of all the petty..."

Nathan calms himself.  He doesn't know the full story.  Perhaps they had some life-or-death reason.  Like they were on an urgent mission to smuggle secret weapon plans away from dangerous pursuers and didn't have time to... find a parking space.  Nope.  That's far less likely than a master convinced of his own self importance, already well on his way to falling to the Darkside.

And then he inwardly kicks himself for getting so riled over his image of the Jedi Order being challenged sooner than confessions of little girls forced to live with heartless monsters.  He'll just tell himself that it was the shock of hearing of such a petty Jedi master that broke the camel's back.  He's always been more one to challenge the self-contradictions of the Order's teachings than to seek out hypocrites.

Mits is amused to hear of the petty Jedi master.  "Heh.  Clearly wasn't a Darksider, or he'd've sooner flipped your speeder instead.  Outside Nathan, sounds about right for a lotta Jedi I've met."

A Jedi master action figure appears and lectures, "'The Force is srs bzns.  You should never use it like a toy.  But my using it for my personal convenience is perfectly fine.  Especially when reading the minds of catgir-what is wrong with you, youngling?!  How in the world did you advance so far in the Order with such a cluttered mind?!'"

Mits answers the action figure, pretending to be wise, "'Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble.'  Nor should you peer into the mind of a Mittens when unprepared for the puppets within."

Fortunately, Master Antiquity was fully prepared for what he found inside her skull* and was able to skillfully repair most of the damage Evil Dad did in there.  But in spite of his best efforts, he couldn't get her to see the difference between using The Force for personal amusement and using it to grab a Space Ensure from the fridge rather than trouble your old bones with getting up from the couch.

Unable to find a counter to Mittens, Nathan nods to Liberty then looks to Blake.  "I agree.  It sounds like that Jedi is walking a very dangerous self-destructive path, and is in need of guidance."

Pyrus raspberries.  "That dumb old Jedi should get a taste of his own medicine!"

*(( Couldn't decide between Pon Pon Song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g
Tooth Ache Muppets, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJDlMOxXo-o
Or scene from Pigs in Space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PidZ3amIrB4 ))
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:56, Thu 09 Jan 2020.

  "See Liberty, The mere idea of abusing parking options makes this guy upset, even when it's a joke." Yes, tooootally Joking... Or at least, unless the GM thinks it's funnier for it to have been true.  "That's why I won't be surprised if he ends up with several more troubled youths under his wing in spite of his protests he's unqualified."

Liberty glances at Pyrus, then back to Mittens. "My teacher told me that everything has a time and a place. A time to be serious and a time to have fun. A time to use the force casually and a time to refrain from using the force. He also told me that a lot of times, people who experience something bad will go full-throttle in the opposite direction to avoid that bad thing. So the guy who told you the force isn't to be used as a toy probably had a bad thing happen when he used it that way. Or someone else before him did and so they made sure he never did. In the same way, if you only ever treat it like a toy and never respect how serious it can be, you will hurt yourself or someone you care about."

Bethany says, "Wow you seem to know a lot about this."

Liberty says, "Just quoting my teacher... and this was one of the things he repeated. He said he didn't want me making the same mistakes as those who follow only the light or only the dark."

Nathan blushes from Blake's compliment and gives him a bow.  To Liberty he says, "I'm intrigued by your teacher.  Do you think he's safe?  Do you have a place where the two of you can meet up when separated?"

Mits chuckles.  "Maybe?  Maybe the old masters let the Force using toddlers toy with the Force and make sure they wind up hurt from it so they wind up with a deeply ingrained phobia of toying with the Force.  Erm, Ashla.  'cause I keep hearing, 'The least little glance in the direction of Bogan and forever will it dominate your destiny.  Devour you, it will.'  But from all appearances they just use scare tactics about Bogan."

Nathan asks Mits, "And what does your own experience with the Dark Side tell you?"

Mits skews her lips, "That it's the most frustrating existence ever to be a Dark Jedi.  Which is why I let Master Raisinlips reprogram me.  Figured anything's gotta be better than ending up like Evil Dad.  Even if it means being some stoic monk.  But Lib here is offering an option 3 that I'd really like to check out."

Pyrus looks deep in thought and eventually asks, "So... that was a joke?  There wasn't really a rude Jedi?"

  Perhaps even four options, Mittens... Nah, probably not. Non-existent Option #4 would be way too boring for Mittens even compared to Stoic Monk Life anyways.

  "There are as many rude jedi as there are rude everything else, Pyrus.  I'm constantly rude myself, anyways.  Though the part about resorting to the Force over a parking space was an exaggeration." Unless it wasn't.

Liberty answers Nathan, "My teacher said that whenever we get separated, he'd wait for me on Planet Atollon in the Lothal sector."

She then looks at Mittens. "Pursuit of the darkness on its own is the problem there. The je'daii are right that it will devour you... if that's all you pursue."

She returns her gaze to Nathan, "What has been your experience with the dark side, Nathan?"

Bethany is in pure listen mode at this point and doesn't want to interrupt this riveting conversation. But she does idly pet Pyrus since she knows he likes it.

Pyrus ohs from Joe's answer and smiles from Beth's pets.

Mits hrms at Lib's point about exclusively chasing Bogan.  "So.  I keep hearing that one can easily fall to The Bogan even while focused exclusively on Ashla.  All it takes is telekinetically tweaking someone's nose to get him to drop his blaster."

Yoda puppet: "Directly do harm with The Force, one must never, or instant Darksider, one will become."

"You telling me that Jedi wisdom is a lie?  That would line up with Evil Dad's mantra.  And if so, exactly how much pursuit of Bogan is OK before one goes over the deep end?  25%?  51.32%?"

Nathan shrugs.  "My experience with The Darkside has been little to none, to be honest.  My master had plenty to say on the topic, but even his experience with it was pretty much non-existent.  According to what I was taught, Mittens' Evil Dad is so extremely rare as to be possibly the first known case of a Dark Jedi in the Galaxy for about a thousand years."

Come to think of it, why have I been taking her word for it that she was raised by a Dark Jedi?  Her word against nobody's.

"So maybe there's something to be said for all the scare tactics if they've worked so well for so long.  Even if it takes over half your focus on The Darkside in order to fall, why devote any focus at all when staying safely focused on the Light Side means you aren't risking getting closer to going bonkers?"

  "That seems to be a very 'exact words' outlook if a direct quote from Yoda, Mittens.  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of seemingly hypocritical rules are only dressed up as morals because it's easier to convince impressionable students that way, rather than bore them with metaphysical sciences."

  Okay kids, we shove people off cliffs or drop steamrollers on people because that way we can trick the emotional but stupid space magic into thinking gravity is to blame. Because we would need at least an extra weekend training you to resist cosmic blood thirst if you start tearing people in half directly, and then we're to blame if you screw up later.  Can't have that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:37, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Liberty says, "I don't have *all* the answers, Mittens; I'm not my teacher. But if what I understand about it is true, the answer to how much bogan is: It depends on the person. Nathan is right; if the jedi wisdom was completely wrong, falling to the dark side would have happened a lot more. Besides, *everyone* is a little wrong in some way. Finding what is wrong, being willing to acknowledge it, and then being willing to correct it... those are what is needed to fix what is wrong. Which can be hard because people have different opinions on what is right and what is wrong."

Just look at all the alignment wars among tabletop gamers.

Liberty looks up at Nathan. "To answer *your* question.. because the darkness has something to offer that the light does not. If people refused to even touch water for fear of drowning, nobody would learn to swim. If nobody picked up crayons for fear of making a mess, art would not exist. And so on. But just like art and swimming are not for everyone, neither is the bogan, ashla or bendu for everyone."

Liberty looks up at Blake. "I wouldn't know. My knowledge of the je'daii is still kinda small."

Bethany says, "What's boring about metaphysical sciences? I wanna learn..."

Mits taps her cheek in thought.  "Science can be made boring.  Like when your Evil Dad can only find a tutor droids that require that you learn physics before it will teach you how to fix your Evil Dad's food processor.  Holovids on Science tend to be way more fun than actually learning it."

To Lib she continues, "But from the sounds of things you and your teacher think the Jedi are wrong in a major way.  You compare learning Bogan to learning to swim.  The Jedi compare it to toying with an extremely addictive psychedelic drug.  Whoever's wrong would be wrong in a big way.  I'm all for learning how to crayon.  So long as I'm not gunna turn into a raving loonie just for looking in the direction of crayons."

Nathan assures Mittens, "I'll be the one doing the looking, then.  I can understand your reluctance after what you experienced.  Nevertheless, because Dark Jedi are so rare, so too is any information on how to cure them of their addiction.  And if there's any wisdom to be learned from Liberty and her teacher on that alone, it is worth me risking myself.  Bethany can supervise to make sure I don't go too far.  But trying to decide on who's right or wrong when we haven't learned enough of both philosophies isn't going do any good."

Pyrus wants to contribute to the conversation.  "Swimming's fun!  It's like flying in slow motion.  And you don't even need wings!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:20, Thu 16 Jan 2020.

  "Well not like I'm a Jedi either, Liberty.  But 'well technically we're right' mindsets are hardly limited to them either."

  He nods to Mittens's comment about physics before mechanics.  "Required reading is always just somehow worse, even if it's something you would have read eventually."  I read like, thirty books during the summer.  Beep Boop Only two of those were on the summer reading list.

Liberty looks at Nathan and says, "You're willingness to learn and explore is admirable."

Liberty looks at Blake and nods, "Spirit of the law vs Letter of the law has been a thing in all cultures through all time. But we all know Letter of the law is mostly used to cover up looking bad because people think admitting to being incorrect is a bad thing. Sadly, because people put each other down, people are right to be afraid of looking bad."

Liberty turns to Mittens and says, "Even if the je'daii are wrong in a big way, it's much like if a town was wrong about banning fire. They'd be a bit colder in winter, but they are less likely to burn their homes down. I try not to embrace extremes like "wrong in a big way" or "right in a big way" because the darkness loves to embrace absolutes at the exclusion of anything gray. Some things are absolute. But making a habit of dealing in absolutes leads to an imbalance in favor of the dark. And that one in particular is one of the more blinding aspects. For example: The idea of 'you are either for me or against me.' If there is no such thing as a neutral party, then anyone who disagrees with you is against you and thus automatically an enemy. And when you view every disagreement as grounds for being an enemy, the least slight is worthy of death. But then... I'm saying that as much to remind myself. My personality lends itself to the darkness, so my teacher taught me how to temper it with the light without destroying who I am. Which is why I can so freely smile or be angry or suspicious without being homicidal or overly paranoid. Too much light, however, and I would feel imprisoned, the opposite of my namesake, and the more imprisoned I feel, the stronger the desire to break free. Thus, ironically, too much light would lead to too much darkness. Does that make sense? I feel like I'm rambling..."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Sat 18 Jan 2020.

Nathan would like to think that thousands of years of Jedi wisdom amounts to more than just "technically we're right," but last thing in the world he's going to do is argue a point he's not fully convinced of himself.  And yeah.  Lots of boring required reading in Jedi school.  At least 80% of which he's forgotten.

Nathan offers a thank-you bow to Liberty for her compliment and counters, "The use of the letter of the law can be for good as well.  It tends to be how disputes are resolved.  So if the Jedi resolve a conflict on a technicality, being technically right can be a good thing as well."

Mits balks at Nathan snatching away a dangerous quest from her.  But can't deny that she really is scared of looking into Bogan.  But then Liberty's rambling clicks with what she remembers hearing from Evil Dad's rants about the Jedi.

"Rambling beats ranting any day.  Evil Dad was always ranting about, 'Light Side is prison!  Dark Side is freedom!'  So I guess maybe he could be held up as an example of what you're talking about.  Master Sack-of-bones never wanted to talk about what went down with his former student.  But even judging from the only side of the story I got, no amount of leniency would have kept him from going full-on Darkside.  'Crush rejected me, Master held me back, my supremacy was unrecognized because of favoritism, Jedi Order is organized hypocrisy, blahdey blahdey blah.

"I'm guessing that the answer is, 'What works for Liberty may or may not work for the vast majority of Forcerers.'  But Mittens is much like Liberty in the, 'if you forbid a thing, I'm all the more tempted by it' sense.  So maybe the Liberty Way will be what saves Mittens from herself."

Nathan tries to hide his surprise.  His former student?!

  "While it sounds simple Mittens, 'Try not to be an asshole' means you won't be burning down any grocery stores over hypocrisy in the post office.  Just because there are less words doesn't make it any less hard, but it gets the point across.  Edgelord Dad sounds like he would kill the pizza guy for a late delivery and then tell you that you can't have any because only the strong get slices."

Bethany doesn't hide her curiosity. "Former student?"

Liberty looks from Beth to the others. Nathan is personally trying to not look surprised, so Liberty is forced to believe Mittens told him. Blake always looks unsurprised, so Liberty is forced to believe Mittens told him. She forgets that jedi are very practiced in not showing emotion while her own teacher is more expressive.

Liberty nodnods to Blake's explanation of non-assholery. Meanwhile, she ponders Nathan's words about technical correctness. It's not like she is uncharacteristically quiet or anything, Bethany asked a question that Liberty wants to know the answer to also.

How did he know?  Mittens doesn't wunna talk about that one.

"'What goes around comes around,' was something both Evil Dad and Master Fossil agreed on in their teachings.  Only, Evil Dad didn't really live by it.  Mittens would rather live in such a way as to get people to throw smiles and candy at her instead of rotten veggies.

"Oops.  Wasn't supposed to let that slip.  Main thing is that the Jedi bosses don't hear about it.  Master Cadaverous was worried that if word got out about his student going dark that it would hamper the prospects of all his students and tarnish the rep of the Jedi Order as a whole.  So please don't be as blabbermouthed as Mittens."

Nathan thinks on it.  "I dunno.  Could be very important to share what we know.  But timing is important, so we should meditate on when would be a good time to share, if ever."

  "I'll probably keep it secret Mittens.  But I might rub it into anyone's face who tries to pretend the troubles of your life are only one generation deep just because to admit otherwise would hurt their standing." Yet another problem Mittens won't need to worry about from Nathan.

  "Of course, being ready to be treated how you treat others won't keep people from freaking out about such sayings even if you use gentle language.  Your life was clearly full of cliche villain speeches.  But don't forget the awkward horror of realizing your greatest weakness is overestimating people. Mittens."

  Only a stupid drooling idiot can't handle this REAL oldschool sonic gameplay and ask for it to be dumbed down for children.
  You big silly head, REAL sonic games DID have mercy invincibility!
  HOW DARE YOUUUUUUUUUU!

  Not all standards involved the fate of the galaxy or magic powers. Some of them are just dumb.

Outside discussing the societal do's and don'ts alongside the topic of The Force, the trip is pretty much uneventful, the ship makes to to the jedi academy and lands.

Yoda is out front, waiting for the team's arrival. "Welcome."

Bethany says, "Hello, Yoda!" and trots over to him happily before kneeling to shake his little hand.

Liberty raises an eyebrow. "...Yoda? I didn't know this guy could be seen talking to people."

Yoda moves his ears a bit as if hearing Liberty and does that laugh of his. "Personable I am. High and mighty, I am not. Enjoy the air of the outdoors I do... whenever I can."

He smiles and closes his eyes briefly as a breeze passes through the area.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

Mits gives Blake a thumbs-up.  "Overestimating people?  Meh-uh-eh.  Mittens always figured her greatest weakness was the temptation to make fun of rude people.  And chocolate.  And interesting looking doohickeys that probably do something fun if you fiddle with them.  And...  Yeah.  Come to think of it, Mittens has so many greatest weaknesses that overestimating people is probably among them."

Nathan half chuckles.  "You and me both.  Minus the doohickey one.  Unless it looks like a musical instrument."

During the trip, Pyrus tries get the youngsters to play with him.  Mittens is happy to oblige.

Upon arriving, Nathan was nervous to see Master Yoda waiting for them.  Probably means something terribly serious.  Oh.  Just a "coincidence."  (A word that Jedi always use with air-quotes or an exaggerated wink.)

Never could get used to the casual way Beth treats legends.  Still.  It's very affirming that neither Mittens nor Liberty are causing Yoda to grimace just from being in his presence.  That's a very good sign that there isn't even a whiff of the Darkside on the girls.  But that begs the question about whether what Liberty's been saying is true.  Nathan gives a stoic nod to Yoda and keeps quiet.

"Oh sweet!" Mittens cheers, swinging an invisible lightsaber around while making woob-woob sounds, "Everyone keeps bragging about how tough the Yoda lightsaber lessons are!  Does this mean I get to start now?  I'm pretty good with glowstick dancing, but I've long wanted to know how I measure up to a real Yoda trainee."

An apprentice of her age asking that question would likely be very out of the ordinary.  Yoda lightsaber lessons often start at around the same age as learning the alphabet if episode 3 is to be believed.

  Ah yes, Yoda without that dash of swamp crazed senility.  "They would have a very hard time doing their job if they had to hide while talking to people, Liberty."  Blake, Blake you're being needlessly overly literal for your personal amusement again.

  A is for aaaargh, B is for Blaaaarg, C is for Cauterize.  The Lightsaber ABCs have a theme they need to stick to, okay!?

Liberty answers Blake, "Not really. I held a conversation just fine without seeing you guys face to face. Unless... is telepathy a thing Je'daii can't do?"

Yoda says, "Telepath we can, young one."

He looks at Mittens. "The kind of training you need; Lightsaber is not. Serenity you need. Come in! Talk inside we will."

Yoda waves the group towards the entrance as he heads in himself. "Knight Nathan; Fill me in, you will?"

Bethany hops back to her feet and merrily follows.

Liberty starts following. She looks over to Mittens. "There are forces in the universe stronger than The Force. Chocolate's one of them. People who aren't weak to chocolate aren't real, Mittens. Only people who can pretend like it doesn't tempt them and then they sneak chocolate when you aren't looking. But overestimating people... how is that a weakness?"

(( Ha-HA!  Liberty takes you literal in return!  Take that, Blake! ))

"Mittens figured she'd get a 'Serenity, you need' type answer.  Maybe so, but Mittens is hoping that this 'Serenity' is a cool combat teacher."

Nathan's eyes go wide.  Woah!  Yoda knows me by name?!

Ehem.  Nathan gives another stoic nod to Yoda.  That's proper etiquette, right?  He's never been trained in grandmaster manners, so he's just guessing here.

"I was assigned to investigate a 'strange occurrence' on Tatooine.  My friends volunteered to keep me company.  Upon arrival I sensed our young friend, Liberty, whom I guessed was the most likely to be involved in an 'occurrence' that would catch the attention of the Council of Assignment.

"She's been separated from her guardian.  They have a set rendezvous in the event of separation, but considering our location at the time, I figured it wisest to keep radio silence and return here first before preparing to continue on to the rendezvous."

Mits nods.  "Good call, Teach.  'Hey, crime lord!  There's a Jedi nosing around on your planet!  Come and get 'im!'  Probably woulda resulted in a swarm of bounty hunters shooting at our cab with their military grade fighters.

"Overestimating being a bad thing might be something like expecting Nathan to fend off a city's worth of deadly bounty hunter ships with his glow-stick."

Pyrus notices how slow Yoda is moving, cuts off the old man's path, lowers himself, and nudges his snout toward his back.  "Hop on if ya wunna ride in style, Mister Yoda."

Nathan's face turns beat red.  That's most certainly not the polite thing to do.  He means well, but...
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Sat 25 Jan 2020.

  Blake totally deserved literal feedback loop.  Also, In another place, another time. A man assumed a group of heroes were smart enough to not think an artifact known as 'volcano in a can' was hot sauce.

  Also, look how polite Pyrus is.  Offering the tiny man a ride isn't something Blake was willing to do after all.

  "I've had to stop relying on 'They will know that I know that THEY know I know' style plans for good reason.'" There is also expecting your enemies to be only KIND of stupid, not so stupid it loops back into metagamey genius.

Yoda smiles at the dragon. "Thank you, young one. Accept your offer I will." he climbs onto Pyrus in his muppetty way.

He points a cane at Mittens. "Then find Serenity your next mission will be. Find her on Corscucant, you will."

He then points his cane to Nathan. "Wise indeed. Take needless risks you must not."

Yoda looks at Liberty, casually leaning on Pyrus's head and says, "Darkness in you I sense. Many things to say you have. Wisdom you offer. But wisdom do you seek? Yes... yes... sense wisdom you do..."

Liberty looks like she was going to answer Yoda before he answered him for her. "...I seek the truth."

Yoda says, "Seek truth, many claim. Few, however, those who truly seek it. Honest, you are."

He looks at Mittens. "Kindred spirit to young Mittens, you are."

Yoda looks to Nathan, "Saddle you with more responsibility, I will not. See this one safely educated and safely home I will. But come on journey with her you may. Learn something you might."

He looks at Blake. "Forget you I did not. Wise you are. Better though. Loyal. Yes. Good friend you are."

He then looks forward, away from the team. "Secrets I have. Secrets I will soon share."

Pyrus grins proudly.  Mittens was excited about this guy and Nathan's showing deference, so it's obviously something special to give him a ride on your back.

Mittens is mouthing the words that Blake just spoke.  They know I know they... I... know.  Yeah.  I get it.  Totally.

Woah!  Nobody told Mits how muppety Yoda is.  Does he know the muppet frenzy style?  Of course he does!  This guy's turning out to be way cooler than people make him out to be.

"Just kidding about personifying Serenity, Mittens was.  Aware that the word is part of The Code, she is.  Amused to be right that Serenity is a cool teacher anyhow, Mittens is quite."

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say," Nathan mutters, hoping that Yoda won't take offense at Mittens mimicking him.

Uh... So he does sense Darkside in her.  He's sure taking it in stride.  Stoic bow.

"I'm still learning to ask the right questions, Master Yoda.  Perhaps someone more qualified should...  Nevermind.  I really want to learn more about the musical friend she mentioned.  I'll be happy to be her guardian.  But is Mittens really ready go to Corscucant on her own?"

Mits' ears perk.  "Secrets?!  If you were trying to bait me into giving you my full attention, it totally worked!  We can hammer out logistics later.  Double time, Pyrus!"

She picks up the pace, and so does Pyrus.

  Blake is just a guy with some standard in a galaxy that sets the bar very low, but he's sure the green muppet means well.

  "Nathan, once again I'm reminded of the things we have in common." Wildly spiraling between feeling like the babysitter and a lucky idiot.

Yoda stays on Pyrus because it's fun. Even laughs like he is having fun when Pyrus speeds up. The group is soon inside the jedi building.

Yoda says, "Fear not, young Mittens. Speaking in riddles, I am not. Real person Serenity is."

He looks at Nathan. "Ah... Emerald Haynesworth, you speak of. And go alone, Mittens will not. Accompany her you will. Await you all many adventures do."

Liberty asks, "So what's this about secrets?"

Yoda's expression becomes more solemn and he says, "Yes... Yes. Heard of the Dark Wave, have you? Pain have I felt. Yes. Immune to the Dark Wave I am not. Much research into the Dark Wave the council has done. Continue it will if left unchecked. Strangely the Force moves. Choose you to find the final answers it did."

Pyrus so happy the little green man had a fun time.  n.n  He doesn't want to admit he's got no clue about any Dark Wave, but it sure sounds serious.

"So... Blake really loves making music too?"

Mittens jaw-drops and stares wide-eyed and speechless at the Big Reveal.

Nathan gulps.  "Us?  Golly."

He looks around at the group.  "All of us?"

Mits recovers and chuckles.  "I guess this confirms my theory that The Force has a sense of humor!  Some crazy guy I once knew kept going on and on about how 'The Dark Wave is the portent of the glorious return of the return of the Darkside to it's rightful dominance in the Galaxy!'  Ha!  Little did he know that the annoying little kitten he hated so much was going to be part of the team that would unravel his vaunted 'Return of Darkminance.'"

  "No Pyrus, that's an unrelated subject."

  Then Yoda makes his... Okay it could be Blake's own Biases that make him consider this not much of a secret or reveal at all.  'Dark Wave is a thing, it's kind of a downer' makes up the 90% of public knowledge already.  'Oh hey it's still happening' being confirmed by an official muppet aside.

  "Mittens, I will be marginally displeased if your evil dad starts to haunt people just to say 'I told you so'."

Well there is the fact at least someone in the team is being chosen to find out more about the Dark Wave. Only the players really knew that.

Liberty says, "Find answers? Like... what caused it?"

Yoda says, "What caused it, pretty sure I am. Positive, I am not, but pretty sure. More important stopping it is. Know how to stop it, I do not."

Bethany asks, "Ooo... so what do you believe caused it?"

Yoda closes his eyes. "Time travel. The dark one who would claim to be master of Mittens.. have NO idea did he. The Dark Wave... death throes of a slain timeline it is. A sign of darkness rising, it is not. Evidence of darkness crushed it is. But... grow it shall. Until stopped."

Liberty says, "Time travel?! Who has the ability to time travel?!"

Yoda says, "Know this I do not. Sensed them I did. But move about do they. Haunted many people and places are due to Dark Wave. The Force predicts it will grow. Stop it... you must."

Yoda then looks at Nathan. "Whether it is all of you, I know not. Anyone specific, I know not. That it is of you. Among you. This I know. Maybe other heroes join. Maybe some leave. One or more among you will find the answer."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:51, Sun 26 Jan 2020.

"Well I guess now Yoda knows that Mittens was partly raised by crazyman.  But yeah.  Sadly, Evil Dad would totally annoy you with a haunting even if all he were allowed to do was say, 'I told you so.'  But not very likely or he would have done so already."

Mittens annoyed with strict Jedi rules:  "I told you so!"  Annoyed with being preached at:  "I told you so!"  Etc.

"Time travel?!  Epic!"

Nathan looks around and wonders who among them is among the Destined Ones.

Pyrus grins and thumbs at himself confidently.  Mits winks at him and nods.

Nathan asks, "Golly.  So um.  Hmm.  Do we have any leads?"

  So Time travel already happened, but then wouldn't that always be the case with time travel-oh no, no.  Don't think about that just yet.

  "So even ignoring the implications of what could have been changed, the problem seems to be keeping the universe from going from 'whiny tantrum' to 'destructive tantrum' over not getting it's way."

Yoda says, "A tantrum, I doubt it is. If facing corrective surgery without anesthesia, say "ow" you would. Possibly get infected. But theories these all are. The whole truth, I know not. For you to find, the whole truth is. This I know: Restore the timeline to what it was, you must not. Only if there is no other way will you restore the timeline. Most terrible the original timeline was. Most terrible."

Yoda then looks at Nathan. "A lead we have. Time traveler's last location; also Coruscant. Same neighborhood as Serenity it is. Hand you coordinates, I will."

He inputs coordinates into Nathan's datapad.

Liberty is staring in unbelief. "Can't believe this is happening. How many of us wouldn't have even been born in this other timeline..?"

Yoda glances. "Know which of you weren't born then, I do not. Bethany maybe... not sure. Careful, you all must be."

Mits' brow furrows.  "Wait.  So saying, "ow" when in severe pain isn't throwing a tantrum?  Shoulda known."



Well that was affirming.  If even Grandmaster Yoda gets defensive when someone speaks ill of The Force, Nathan can forgive himself of that weakness.  No.  More likely that I don't defend The Force because of my weak faith.

"Quite so, Master Yoda.  And Blake.  So the doctor would do well to treat the patient accordingly: with patience and compassion."

Nathan accepts back his datapad and looks at the information.

"I'll keep 'em safe!" Pyrus boasts.

Mits grins at her buddy.  "Thanks Pyrus!  Will do the same for you!"

  "Just the current cosmic complaining would be justified.  It's the potential for 'and then they destroyed the universe over a flesh wound' that I'm understating by calling it a tantrum.  But Yoda wouldn't be making such a big deal out of it if things were going to stick to spooky visions in exchange for 'It sucked, trust me' being canceled."

Yoda says, "To Coruscant you go. Then Planet Atollon. Stay a while before going if you wish. But recommend that sequence of locations, I do."

Liberty says, "I don't wanna keep my teacher waiting."

Yoda says, "Only a recommendation it is. Choice is yours."

Liberty says, "Nathan wanted to know some stuff from the archives."

Bethany says, "Tell ya what. I'll stay here and be on-call for any questions Nathan has from the archives! I wanted to read through 'em as it is."

Mits smirks.  "Looks like calling your teacher, 'Master,' is losing popularity."





Mits turns to Liberty.  "Why not just call your teach?"

Nathan figures Liberty would have thought of that and suggests, "It is safe to attempt contact from here.  If your teacher is unreachable by coms, then we can call a courier near your rendezvous to deliver a message to meet you at Corescant.  That way they don't have to wait."

He turns to Bethany.  "Remember.  You may be the Destined One to avert a calamity.  And given that you're the most likely to cease to exist should altering the timeline happen, you have a double interest in staying with us.  The bit about looking into the archives was just a curiosity."

Pyrus noses Beth's hand.  "You're nice.  Stay with us."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:13, Mon 27 Jan 2020.

   Blake thinks there is the distinct possibility Liberty's teacher doesn't even have a com number to call long distance.  But then a whole lot of people only have local numbers or 'call my ship' anyways around here.

  "We all like Beth, Pyrus.  But I get the feeling there are reasons beyond possible prophetic labels she should take it easy in the archive for now."  coughnotjugglingasmanyaltscough.

Bethany says, "Then don't alter the timeline without me!"

Then awwws at Pyrus and glomps him and pets him.

Yoda offers, "The archivist's number you may have. Bethany you may take."

Liberty says, "I can't contact my teacher. So a courier would be a better idea."

Yoda says, "Handle that, I will. Choice of when to go to Coruscant is yours."


While the player appreciates that Blake's narration was correct, Bethany will tag along because OOC reasons don't factor into IC without solid IC reasons. And who can say no to a baby dragon nose-nudge?

(( If there's a need to trim down the cast, there's options such as Beth gets a call and says, "sorry guys, I've got something I've gotta do." ))

Pyrus smiles happily, wags his tail, and licks Beth's cheek.

Nathan's not going to refuse an offer like that.  Yoda gave me your number.  Be so kind as to look up what you've got on the Dark Wave on Corescant.

Stoic bow.  "Thank you, Master Yoda.  The sooner we depart, the better."

Mits is hopping with excitement.  "I'm so stoked!  Meekla's gunna be so jealous my life is a video game plot!"

She texts her friends with an update.

  Blake isn't surprised the suggested first destination is Coruscant, given they are already there.  That is a much faster trip than another planet... Well, depending on the traffic anyways.

  "My ship doesn't exactly have seating for guests, but a Taxi probably won't cut it much longer."

Bethany says, "Then let's take my ship!"

She leads the group to her ship, which is parked nearby since that is where she landed before going to Tatooine with everyone. It is a modified YT-1930.*

* https://cdn.obsidianportal.com...131399/yt1930map.jpg

Bethany sings, "Doop-de-doo..." as she presses a button on a remote and the ship starts revving its engines as the landing ramp comes down. A soothing male voice can be heard coming from inside the ship saying, "Welcome back, Bethany. I hope you had a pleasant time while you were away."

Bethany says, "It was really interesting and I made a new friend. Levi, meet Liberty! And along with her are some of the other friends I told you about: Blake, Mittens, Nathan, and Pyrus!"

Liberty blinks in surprise. Is she being introduced to a... ship? As she walks up the landing ramp, she looks around, expecting to find a droid but doesn't see one.

Not enough room for the group to travel in a cab?  Hail two!  Ooor have a gigantic talking cargo ship of your own.  Yeesh.

"Wow.  Levi is big enough he might be able to carry Blake's ship along, too."

Pyrus is just as mystified as Liberty and follows her lead, copying her movements.

Mits, on the other hand, is quite impressed, and races for the cockpit.  "Talking ship!  So epic!  Nice to meetcha, Levi!  We haven't far to go for this first trip, but will be looking forward to spending more time with ya!

"Also, extra points to Beth for not including the 'Master' protocol when droidifying your ship."

She selfies brags again on the Holonet's social media.  #talkingship.  "This is me, Galactic  Hero of Destiny, Chosen of The Ancient One, boarding Levi, Bethany's talking ship!"

"Nice voice!  You ever karaoke?"

Nathan smiles broadly from Mits asking that.  He's hoping to soon be singing a duet with Beth's ship.

  Blake's ship takes inspiration from the wrong franchise, one of 'Oh that's a cool looking star fighter... What do you mean it's the size of the millennium falcon!?' because scale is a suggestion more than a rule when it comes to sci-fi.

  Which of course, means Blake still hasn't had the chance to prank Mittens with 'Actual size' reveals yet.

  "There are a lot of debates about it now that drone fighters have fallen out of style along with the trade federation.  But really a lot of it comes down to 'it's easier to plug a droid into a ship than make the droid the ship'".

Bethany says, "Thankies! I programmed the A.I. myself! And... I didn't realize adding 'master' was a requirement. Oops?"

The ship says, "Bethany prefers 'friend' over 'master' anyway. A pleasure to meet you all. Also, yes, I can sing."

Liberty says, "I agree with Mittens that 'master' is only for people who own slaves. My teacher said that my feelings aside, it is used in positive ways like how the je'daii use it... but I just can't shake how I feel about it."

When the ship takes off, Beth is able to set it to auto-pilot to the coordinates given and easily cruises there. The destination is, however, a slummy part of a city.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

Short trip is short.  And though Nathan is disappointed he didn't yet get to sing with the ship, he's not forceful enough on the topic to insist on taking time for a sing-along now that the group has arrived.

Mits bounds down the ramp, calling out behind herself, "Talking ship is way cooler than just getting a boring old off-the-shelf droid pilot.

"And no, the Master protocol is most certainly not required.

"As Mittens takes in the scenery, she wonders whether it was 'The Will of The Force' that someone as awesome as Liberty should become her friend.  (A term that even Jedi Masters struggle to understand, let alone clearly communicate.)  Is the disembodied psyhic spirit that permeates the Galaxy sentient?  If so, does it struggle to relate to corporeal creatures, unable to communicate with words like they can?  Is it suffering from Bipolar Disorder, one moment tempting good people to become monsters and in the next empowering superheroes to defend justice in the Galaxy?  Will it cause a group of desperate slum gangsters to fail to recognize the boring attire of the Jedi and hold up a group of seemingly unarmed upworlders just so they can look awesome using their superpowers to overcome the threat?

"Mittens hopes that something like that will happen so that she can show off her cool combat skill for her new friend."

Pyrus offers a ride to Liberty and explains, "Mittens likes to narrate."

Nathan follows along, inwardly grating at Mittens' narration.  Partly because he's wondering the same things, and hearing her say it out loud so bluntly is embarrassing.  Well on the bright side, her having a big mouth means I don't have to feel guilty about forcibly invading the mind of a child in order to keep her from falling to the Darkside.

  If there were any sign Mittens would become a proper Master Jedi herself, it is her experience in giving exposition.  Just look at 85% of Yoda's dialogue, after all.

  Blake is hardly any stranger to 'The slummy part of X', but still is well aware of the difference between it no longer being mandatory for him to be in such a place, and for those it remains so.

  "You wear boring clothes not for humility, but because you attract less beggars and muggers when you look poorer than everyone around you." Said the man wearing sunglasses over his robot eyes.

Liberty takes Pyrus up on his offer and gets on his back to ride him.

Liberty says, "I hope that doesn't happen. I don't want to attract attention before I've reunited with my teacher. He'd be... upset. If some goons try to intimidate us, can we please just lose them?"

Liberty looks at her rather colorful robes and then back to Blake. "Now that you brought it up, my own clothes are far from boring. Should I get changed into something else before we go on this adventure?"

Bethany says, "Don't worry about it, Liberty. My own outfit is kinda eye-catching too. We're not here for a fight anyway. We're here to make friends! So glad you like my ship, Mittens! I'm going to wear pigtails now!" and with that, Beth pulls the scrunchie out of her puny tail, then pulls her hair into two pigtails and scrunchies them in place.

Bethany is excited by the topic Mitts brought up and says, "I like to think the Force is not just light and dark, but also a rainbow and shades between light and dark besides! And since the Force is in all living things, and the universe has everything from bright light to darkest dark and so many styles of such, so too does the Force. The real question is: Is the Force what makes us light or dark? Or is it us that makes the Force light or dark? Or is it a bit of both? I really wanna know. But finding an answer to that has proven difficult."

"All your outfits are cool," Pyrus asserts.

Nathan's mind boggles at the worm canning factory that is these girls.  He shakes it off.

"While very interesting, all these questions are probably just academic when compared to averting a catastrophe."

(( https://upload.wikimedia.org/w..._of_worms_(1999).jpg ))

He calms himself and opens up his mind to the flow of The Force, expecting to be led directly to Serenity.  Assuming he's right, he'll signal the others to follow and head toward her.

Mittens is perfectly comfortable in the slum setting.  Plenty of time spent slumming around with Evil Dad while he was hunting bounties.  Only now she's free to use The Force to do the things she wasn't allowed to with an Evil Dad who was trying to keep as low a profile as a super-powered homicidal loonie could.  Things like remotely tie together the shoestrings of the mean guy yelling at some bum for daring to beg for a scrap of food.  And give him a telekinetic wedgie.  Etc.

"Mittens can't think of a better topic to discuss openly at the moment, so may as well ask: Is it personal bias that makes you want to think in terms of rainbows, Beth?  Or did you have some amazing spiritual awakening that enlightened you to this possibility?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:01, Sat 01 Feb 2020.

  "Honestly the bigger question would be if The Force can ever change.  Varying shades of monochrome or color won't matter so long as the long history of 'and then because of The Force, the most horrifically melodramatic thing happened instead of just regular horrible' continues."  An outlook only feels more certain with the implication visions of things like Alderaan exploding at the whims of some guy making speeches about the force are echos of an aborted timeline.

  "So hopefully, some day. If I am faced with a planet destroying superweapon. The force doesn't demand I tear my eyes out because it will ensure I miss if I don't turn off the targeting computer in my skull and make the shot blind."  Blake is assuming THAT was just a Freudien dream, because that would be too stupid to be a vision of an alternate timeline. Right?
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:58, Sat 01 Feb 2020.

Bethany answers Joe, "Change is the only constant in the universe. And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. So can the Force change? Yes! But it will be the same anyway. It's the same with the universe, isn't it? More tech, more advances. Same old stories of light and dark. With or without the Force."

Beth then answers Mittens, "Mmmm... I dunno. Bias, I guess? I like rainbows!"

Meanwhile, the Force seems to be "guiding" Nathan to a particular alley, even though he isn't really sensing anyone strong in the Force per say. But as the group turns the corner to that alley, it is clearly an alley with punks. There are neon lights advertising gambling, games, drugs, the whole nine.

Those who feel like saying they overhear it overhear a punk saying, "Chill, Serenity. I'm just sayin'."

But all the punks look at the group as they enter the alley. "What the hell..." one says, looking at the bunch.

Mits gave Blake a look that said, "Well dang!  That's one heck of a metal nightmare!"  Then said as much out loud.

She chuckled at Beth's honesty and answered, "Figured.  Still, would love to find out that you're right."

Mits overheard!  Nathan thinks he heard someone say 'Serenity,' but couldn't miss the second part.

Mits steps forward and speaks for the group.  "Greetings!  I am Mittens!  A one-of-a-kind Jedi who isn't all boring and stuff.  Glowstick twirl as proof!"

She has her lightsaber spin around above her head with telekinesis.

"Mittens is on a quest to save the Galaxy from a melodramatic calamity - the kind that will be far worse than a normal calamity!  The legendary holy warrior, Grandmaster Yoda, said that Mittens would find Serenity here, and that she would supply what Mittens is lacking.  Which is apparently not more combat training.  Seems Yoda thinks Mittens has plenty of that."

Nathan sighs.  "They're going to think you're insane instead of just silly.  Please put away the lightsaber."

He looks to the group.  "I'll buy lunch for whomever can direct us to someone named Serenity."

  Bethany likes rainbows is like saying Mittens likes Puppets.  Another constant in a changing universe.

  Now, on the one hand Blake could point out that they were already obviously talking to Serenity thanks to NPC speech bubbles.  But on the other hand, Nathan has already resorted to the big guns of Free Snacks.  So it would be a shame to waste that strong opening move.

  "Mittens, I know I trust you." In spite of logical reasons against it "But like Nathan is being polite about, most people are justifiably iffy around flying death swords."

At first, the punks looks really weirded out. Then Mittens does her thing and they laugh a bit. "The circus is in town and nobody told us! They must be the latest act at Jerry's or somethin'."

Nathan's offer didn't go unnoticed, though, and one of them says, "Oh yeah? Who wants to know? Crazy weirdo freaks? Listen, the snack offer was a nice one, but not only do we not know you from Jack, it looks like you're the kind of trouble we don't like."

One of the bigger, thuggish guys says, "Suppose we walked into your neighborhood and asked for, say, that pretty brawd with the white hair. By name. How would you feel, eh?"

Bethany says, "I'd feel special!"

Liberty is keeping an eye on Mittens, figuring Nathan will keep his eye out for Serenity.

There are about a dozen punk guys and half a dozen punk girls among them.

Mits slouches and puts the lightsaber away.

"AWESOME weirdo freaks!" Pyrus corrects, puffing out his chest and wagging his tail.

Mits busts out laughing and hugs his neck.  Beth just makes her laugh all the more!

Nathan sweatdrops at Mits and Beth.

He then puts on an apologetic smile then addresses the ladies and gentlemen, "Apologies for the awkward introduction.  Things started off just about as awkwardly when Mittens was so forward with Liberty here.

"I'm happy to see that you're protective of Serenity.  If I may offer my contact information, you can let her know that Nathan from the Academy would like her to call him on an important matter.  I would appreciate it."

He slowly reaches into his pocket with only his thumb and index finger so that it's clear he's not reaching for a blaster.  Assuming the crowd doesn't object, he'll pull out his wallet and hand it over to the big guy.

  "I mean, you don't seem like a bunch of assholes. So unless I'm horribly wrong about that, Bethany probably has the right idea there." Blake, don't tempt people into admitting they are assholes just so they can say you are wrong.

Liberty smiles at the cuddly dragon/kitten combo, but is still cautiously paying attention to what is going on.

"Alright alright..." a girl's voice calls out. Serenity pokes her head between the two guys and puts an arm around the guy who first spoke up, half-hanging from his side in a relaxed pose and puts a hand on her hip. "Thanks for covering for me guys, but these people seem alright. I'm Serenity. Whaddaya want?"

The lepi girl is wearing a black open hoodie, tight jeans and a gray t-shirt with skull and crossbones.

"AH!  Cuteness!  Bunny!  Eeeee!"

Mits flails like Kermit.  Pyrus giggles then gives Serenity a friendly wave.

Nathan puts his wallet away.  He's having a hard time keeping his cool, but is relieved that Blake's jab didn't escalate things.  Was it his abrasive comment that convinced the girl to show herself because abrasiveness is what she's comfortable with?  The mind boggles.

"Nice to meet you, Serenity.  Just a moment while I write down my answer, if you don't mind."

He writes a quick message then offers his datapad to Serenity:  "Not sure how comfortable you are with talking openly about a Jedi Master prophesying that you have an important role to play in my student's maturing.  But everything Mittens said technically is true."

Nathan then says aloud, "We were led to believe that you would not be against helping.  Unless...  we have the wrong Serenity?  If not, I guess I owe you lunch for starters."

  The sith mastery of pain allows Mittens to actually break her arms into dozens of pieces on demand for more authentic Kermity flailings.  This is the totally accurate not made up legend of mittens.

  "I have the feeling if she doesn't want to help, it would be for well meaning reasons anyways." 'Make the catgirl more mature? But why?! That would be boring!' Reasons.

Serenity peers at the message on the datapad and gives Nathan a "really?" look. But shrugs and hands him his datapad back.

Serenity says, "Well since you offered snacks, how's about we all go into Toni's and have a pizza party?"

The other punks make various happy sounds such as "yeah! pizza!" and "now THAT's what I'm talking about" and other such like.

Bethany says, "Sounds great! I love pizza!"

(Although the RP started with pizza, it does take several days to get from Corascant to Tatooine, so the team hasn't had pizza today.)

Soon, the group is in Toni's and eating some pizza. Serenity got supreme, so she has meat and veggie on her pizza. Other punks prefer pepperoni. Others meat lovers. Still others plain pizza.

Serenity sits next to Nathan. "I'm just some punk. I can't imagine why you or your ilk would wanna have anything to do with me. Prophecies or no. Don't you peacekeeper types look down your noses at punks like me?" Nom! Yummy yummy pizza.

Liberty is happily nomming a pepperoni slice while Beth eats a plain cheese slice.

Unless someone offers to chip in, Nathan puts the whole order on his expense account.  Pretty easy to file it under "diplomatic expenses" guilt free, since that's honestly what his intent was.  Keep things from devolving into violence.  And if even the tight-fisted accountants of the Jedi Order object to pizza instead of violence, he's going to raise hell.

Mittens will go for the most exotic option available.  Always on the look-out for new flavors.

Nathan starts with just plain old cheese for now.  He's of the opinion that the best way to appreciate a chef's mastery is with the simplest dish.

"'Those who look down their noses, leave themselves open,'" Nathan quotes, "Please accept my apologies if one of my unenlightened colleagues was rude to you.  The take-away is that you've already provided proof that a Jedi would have something to learn from you.

"I do not have any specifics, and I doubt Yoda does either, on how exactly The Force expects you to help out Mittens, but I can take a guess.  She's told us that she was raised by a sadistic serial killer who abused her horribly.  A Jedi Master was able to heal the majority of the mental scars, but...  Transitioning from what she grew up with to the contemplative lifestyle of a Jedi is rather extreme.  I'm guessing that one such as yourself could help bridge that chasm better than I ever could."

Mits shrugs.  "Eh.  I dunno.  I doubt The Force expects Serenity to be my therapist.  I get the Jedi Way.  It's not that hard, really.  Spout words of peace while you chop up villains with a cool glow stick.  I've got the chopping techniques down, so all that's left is to get good at the preaching."

  "Nathan is that rare special snowflake of Actually Living Up To The Intended Reputation.  When he does have to cut people in half he's not mad, just disappointed." Usually.  Sometimes he cuts them in 1/4th.

Serenity looks at Mittens and then Nathan. "Glow stick? Chop up people? What?"

Liberty says, "The lightsaber is a kind of sword where the blade is made of hot energy that can cut through almost anything. The jedi are trained in how to use it for self defense."

Serenity shrugs. "I have 19 brothers and sisters, so.. I have experience with babysitting. But disturbed kids who were abused by murderers, while that sounds tragic and something I'd actually care about, also sounds way out of my league. And why use energy swords as weapons if you're peacekeepers? Why not your own two fists like me?"

Liberty says, "Nice as that would be, I doubt you can deflect lasers with your fists. Proper lightsaber training, however, and a jedi can deflect lasers. Sometimes back at the person who fired it."

Serenity says, "Badass and all, but why not just wear armor? Like a normal person?"

Liberty says, "I've heard armor helps. But lightsabers flat-out prevent."

Serenity says, "And why kids? What gives? I've got younger sibs older than these two tykes who're talking about killing and chopping and stuff."

Bethany shrugs. "Why not? Laser fire doesn't discriminate between a child and an adult, so best to equip 'em ASAP, right?"

Serenity strokes her chin. "Alright, alright. You weirdos have me intrigued. I'll run with you for a bit. But you gotta feed me as long as I'm with ya."

Liberty leans over to Mittens with a big smile and whispers "Yay bunny... did you see how she wiggles her nose from time to time?"

Serenity then looks back to Nathan. "And to clarify, I don't have any personal experience with the jedi or nothin'. Just that authority figures in general don't like people who question authority. Which I do."

(( Doesn't need a lightsaber to block blaster fire.  Check.  Can disarm an opponent without having to use a lightsaber.  Check.  Come to think of it, Darth Vader was more ready than Obi-Wan to diffuse a deadly confrontation without resorting to killing or maiming. ))



Mits has her face leaned in her hand during the exchange, trying to figure out if she's a hypocrite to boast about her lightsaber skill, but cute nose wiggles make her squeal and flail.  So to Beth's question she buries her face in the nice lady's shoulder and says with a muffled voice, "Yes."

Nathan is trying to figure out if Mits was kidding.  Or Blake.  But either way, he's not about to get defensive of the Jedi's teachings on the justifiable use of deadly force.  As for the lightsaber exchange...  Looks like Blake's claim of people not bothering to look up even the most basic of lore is proving to be true.

"Blaster fire is apparently especially attracted to people who are Force Sensitive, I'm sorry to say," Nathan observes, "So young Jedi generally aren't permitted to leave the academy till they at least have a decent chance of surviving the violence that will inevitably find them.  Thank you, Serenity.  For what it's worth, I think it wise to question things.  Authority included.

Though he'll have a hard time answering.  The Jedi are awful vague about things like jurisdiction, search warrants, arrest authority, etc. etc.  He's perfectly aware that the police have to swear an oath to uphold the law, but he never had to.  Master's history lessons explaining why this is the case kinda made sense?  ...but only if you assume that the Jedi Order is incorruptible.

  What's more funny than deflecting a blaster shot back at someone? Deflecting a lightsaber back at someone!  Or so we'd assume.

  "Pretenses explain the robes cliche more than practicality.  No matter how dangerous or peaceful you are, people will put more assumptions on if you show up in obvious armor or not than if you are waving around a blaster or throwing speeders with your mind."

Serenity says, "It's worth plenty."

Serenity has joined your team! Music plays!

Bethany pets Mittens when she buries her face in Beth's shoulder.

After the pizza party, Serenity gets on board Bethany's craft and admires it. Bethany gives Serenity the nickle tour and asks, "We going to Planet Atollon?"

Liberty says, "Yes please!"

Bethany is the first to ask Serenity about her falling star fur pattern; Serenity claims it is a genetic thing from her family specifically and the family name, as such, is Starfall. She also says she has another falling star going from her right hip down to her knee.

Serenity is happy to chat about whatever, but seems interested in learning about the jedi, of all things.

Bethany sits next to Serenity attentively as if just as eager to be taught whatever is being told to Serenity. The way Beth wiggles her bottom in anticipation one might almost think she has a tail. But while Serenity's hips remain stationary, her tail does wag and twitch.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:47, Fri 14 Feb 2020.

Nathan marvels that people have been trusting him so easily so far.  Hi.  I'm a perfect stranger.  I'll give you some unbelievable story about being a goodguy, offer no proof, then invite you to a space ship of no return.  Sure!  You're polite, so it must all be true.

"Good point, Blake."

Meanwhile, Mittens and Pyrus both are certainly in the tail-wag team.  Closest Nathan gets is the occasional stretching of wings.  He's nowhere near cute enough as an adult to flappa-flap.

"Mittens would be happy to give a full exposition of Jedi History in puppet show form, but she gets the impression that Nathan would much rather have the Jedi reveal stuff be put in a nicer light than the Crass Kitty would."

Nathan shrugs.  "I can handle boring Jedi History.  You can puppet show the fun part - The story of how we met Liberty and wound up on this grand adventure."

Mits' eyes go wide.  "Wow really?!  PERFECT!  You're not so bad after all, Teach!"

And thus, Serenity gets her answers in two very different styles.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:04, Fri 14 Feb 2020.

  Nathan rates honorary flappa-flap privileges, duh.

  After all, he's cool enough to willingly allow flail flail exposition.

  Speaking of exposition. "Any should have been obvious but isn't stuff we should know about Atollon?"

Serenity seems half-bored/half-interested with Nathan's explanation, but Bethany is enthralled! She asks the occasional key question of Nathan, some he knows and some he doesn't know.

Serenity, Bethany, and Liberty, of course, ALL love the puppet show. Liberty is laughing while she says, "Yup, that's pretty much how it went!"

Liberty says to Blake, "Atollon's mostly barren, but it's atmosphere is breathable to most races. It's covered in rock, is hot like Tatooine, but has lots of caves and such. There is a predatory race of giant spiders there, but they are repelled by sensor beacons, so my teacher should have one such beacon where he's waiting."

Serenity says half-jokingly, "We're going someplace hot? And me without my bathing suit."

Bethany says, "We can stop to shop before we go, you know?"

Serenity giggles. "Nah, s'alright." then leans towards Nathan and asks him in a quiet tone, "Does Bethany understand jokes or sarcasm?"

Mittens is ever so pleased her puppet show was well received.  Nathan is more surprised by Beth's reaction to boring Jedi exposition than Serenity's.

"Sounds great!" Pyrus says of Atollon.

Mits chuckles.  "Your kinda place, huh?"

Pyrus nods with a happy flappa-flap and tail-wag.

Nathan mouths Beth's words.  "Wow.  That just rolls of the tongue.  And you made that poetry on the fly?"

He gives a helpless smile and shrug to Serenity.  "Humor, yes.  Sarcasm: not that I've seen.

"So now that you know our story, care to share with us yours?"

"Yoursey," Mittens corrects.

Nathan chuckles.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Sat 15 Feb 2020.

  Blake is fairly certain that Bethany is selectively understanding. A handy tool for making people suffer deep self reflection on their morals, or just because you thought it was funny.

  "If the spiders try to eat us, how many people will act sad if we shoot them." some moral reflections are not very deep.

Bethany grins at Nathan. "Yes! But don't get used to it.. I'm no poet."

Liberty says to Blake, "That depends. If you consider the spiders people, then their colony will be sad. Other than that, well, what few who live there won't cry any tears over dead spiders. But keep in mind they are resistant to laser fire. So maybe use a different kind of weapon on them if you find yourself facing one. Like a sonic weapon or a cryo weapon or a shock weapon or... well you get the idea. Anything besides lasers against them."

Serenity says, "Eh. Not much of a story to tell. I grew up in a family of adorable bunnies. I'm a little bit of a rebel, so I made friends with rebellious types. So I'm a punk who hangs out with punks. The end."

Bethany starts examining Pyrus' wings as if wanting to know more about them.

"Bite back," Mittens answers Blake, "Who cares if anyone acts sad?"

"Laser-proof giant spiders..." Pyrus muses, half grossed out, half nervous, "We don't have those weapons.  We should all just stay inside the ship and stay in the air.  Liberty can use her mind-talk to find and meet up with her teacher."

He likes Beth's attention and smiles at her, wagging his tail.

Nathan chuckles and nods to Beth.

To Serenity he gives an impish smile.  He takes out a mini karaoke machine and begins to sing to the music it plays:

♬ "One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead
I met a girl there
And she almost knocked me dead
Punk rock girl please look at me
Punk rock girl what do you see?
Let's travel round the world
Just you and me punk rock girl." ♬

(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7opUfjL7Q ))
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:34, Mon 17 Feb 2020.

  Blake is once again justified for his hobby project, Galaxy's Most Over-engineered Holdout Slugthrower.  As cool as blasters are, they can't shoot James Bond Junior tracking ammo, among other things.

  "Pyrus, in spite of many similarities, blaster proof is not the same thing as fireproof." That's why monsters list both separately! ESPECIALLY the ones claimed to be scary to Jedi, thus are vulnerable to lightsabers and force senses while immune to blasters and scanners.

  Not that the guy with cybernetic eyes and in no way force sensitive would know anything about that. That would be crazy.

Serenity taps her foot to the rhythm of the song Nathan sings, bobbing her head from side to side, making her ears sway. "I have heard that one. Old, but good. Surprised you know it."

Bethany says, "Oh! Don't worry, Pyrus. I have a blaster for each kind of method of doing damage." she hasn't bothered inventing custom blasters, though. So Blake's custom slugthrower will likely really make Beth happy if/when she sees it. Possibly inspire her to try inventing a gun or two.

Soon, the group arrives at their destination. Liberty points out where to land and as they approach, the group can see a man standing there waiting for the group.

Nathan grins proudly at Serenity.

Pyrus smiles at Beth.  "Yay!"

Nathan addresses the ship, "Please land us a polite distance from the man so he's not blasted with thrust wind, Levi.  And keep us informed if anything potentially dangerous is approaching."

Once safe to do so, he'll open the door and exit the ship.

"Mittens wants to look cool for Lib's teacher, so she rides on Pyrus' back.  Epic entrance of magic wand girl on dragon-back accompanied by angel, grey forcerer, inventor, gang bunny, talking ship, aaaand...  What is Blake, anyway?  Mercenary?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:22, Sun 23 Feb 2020.

  If Jedi can love their murder swords while proclaiming to love peace, then it is perfectly fair to love guns that were already called 'Deathhammer' before you even got there while claiming to love not having to shoot people in the face with them.

  "Yes Mittens, that would be what to call me. If only because 'A Professional' eludes me"

  OOC: I still love how it went from "Haha look at that name" to "...Oh my god, it's MY meta" realization Deathhammer stats are "We didn't give it better stats, we simply removed all the penalties."

The man greets the group as they approach. "Welcome back, Liberty! Greetings, travelers, and thank you for keeping Liberty company."

Liberty hurries over to the man to hug him. The man pets her and smiles to the group.

Here is what the guy looks like:
https://beagamecharacter.com/w...4/05/Galen-Marek.jpg

The teacher says, "My name is Galen. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Bethany says, "Hi! I'm Bethany! This is Mittens, Pyrus, Blake, Nathan, and Levi!"

She of course, pointed to the ship when she introduced Levi.

Galen looks at the ship, then back to Bethany inquisitively. Liberty explains, "Levi's the ship, Mr Marek."

Galen ohs.

Galen Marek!  The very... NOT famous person.  Who DIDN'T do history-changing things that wound up with his family crest becoming the symbol of the Alliance.

"Mittens knows Evil Dad's perspective on the purpose for mercenaries, but one who hangs out with Jedi kiiinda clashes with that.  So...  I'm guessing the Jedi Order hires you and your fellow mercs to guard backwater facilities that they themselves don't have enough manpower to guard?"

Mittens isn't ignoring Galen.  Just Blake answered Mits first.

Nathan smiles at the cute hug and odd ship introduction.  He's also happy to not be sensing an overwhelming Darkside presence from Galen.  That'd be awkward.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance as well.  The air conditioning inside Levi is quite agreeable if you'd care to join us.  Liberty enlightened us with some on your philosophy, and I'd love to hear more from you in the comfort of the ship."

"I wunna see Beth shoot spiders," Pyrus objects, "And this heat is quite nice."

Mittens chuckles.  "Yeah, I'm particularly interested in your Bogan / Ashlan stuff 'cause I was raised by a Dark Jedi then brainwashed by a regular Jedi.  So I'd love to hear of third option."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:21, Fri 28 Feb 2020.

  "It's more rare than you'd think, at least in my case."  Because if Blake does his job right then there's no reason to call the jedi, thus no reason for the Jedi to turn around and call him.  "Which just means you are extra special to have Yoda ask me 'Around Mittens, Loom sternly you will. It will probably work out'"

  He nods to less than famous no dramatic nickname man.  "She has been good company herself, even if for not very long."

Galen nods. "Thanks. I'll take you up on the offer."

Bethany looks at Pyrus, "I can load up a simulator for spider shooting. And I can give you a radiator coat if you find the inside of my ship too cool."

Bethany leads the way back inside.

Serenity is eyeing Galen. Then Liberty. Then Mittens. Then Nathan. She still isn't sure she believes this wuju stuff is all that, but mostly she is preparing herself for the weirdest version of anti-hero speech from this Galen guy.

Liberty is smiling, as if excited and ready to see her master 'school' everyone.

Pyrus pouts.  "No thanks..."

Its like telling a kid, "We can play duck hunt on the seat screen inside the van," right after arriving at a beach carnival where they hand out giant squirt guns to the attendees.

Still seated on his back, Mits covers Pyrus' eyes and tries to mind-control him to experience what he was wanting to.  Doesn't go quite the way she wanted.

"GAH!"

Pyrus rears back, throwing Mits off.  Easy enough for Blake to catch her before she winds up sprawled on the floor, assuming he chooses to.

"Well I tried..."

Mits looks up at Blake.  "You loom well."

Nathan figures that the experience is lesson enough and he needn't tell her this is why you ask permission first.

To Galen he says, "Thanks for joining.  I kinda get the feeling like your perspective will be key in unraveling the mystery we've been set upon resolving..."

He gives a quick recap of the Yoda Prophecy.  "Before he told us about our possible role in preventing a mysterious calamity, I was already quite interested in what Liberty told us about Ashlan and Bogan.  The discussion ended at around the point we were speculating that the Jedi approach to avoiding the Darkside was probably not perfect for every Force Sensitive in history, yet not without merit.  But though that's where I'd like to focus, how the Ashlan Bogan balance philosophy could be applied to make progress toward preventing the calamity, I'll not presume to insist that we start there."

Mits glances at Serenity and tugs on her.  "To get you caught up, The Jedi believe that "The Force" - the mysterious source of their superpowers - comes in two shades of the same coin: Light Side and Dark Side.  They believe that if you use your superpowers while angry even once, you'll start an avalanche inside your mind that'll turn you into a psycho super villain like my Evil Dad did.  So it's best to spend a lifetime practicing being boring.  Learn how to not be mad even when someone laughs at you while shooting your best friend.

"Liberty and her teacher here have a different theory.  That you should keep Ashlan (Light Side) and Bogan (Dark Side) in balance somehow or you'll risk rubber-banding to the Darkside like my Evil Dad did.  Or maybe just certain people should take that approach, not really sure.  But I'll tell ya right now if someone laughed at me while shooting my bunny I'd chop 'em up with my glow-stick faster than they can say, 'But she's just some punk you met today!'"

  While Mittens would deserve to land on her keys, Blake still saves her from this cruel fate anyways.

  "Also apparently time travel is involved somewhere, but that is a headache to deal with later. Or earlier. It's time travel, after all, could be."

Bethany throws some bread into her multi-toaster, then goes to her fridge, doing a dance as she pulls a container out. As the bread comes out toasted, she spreads some tuna salad on them.

Galen briefly looks at Blake with an expression that says he thinks Blake is joking. But the expression fades as he stares off, pondering.

Galen then looks at Nathan. "Indeed. I'll start with my relationship with Liberty. When I found her, she was a toddler and had tapped into the ability to detect surface thoughts. She has a brilliant mind, but not in the way most people view geniuses. She isn't stronger in the force than the average jedi, but her mind seems to figure out the force rather quickly, particularly when it comes to telekinetic or telepathic powers. She also has a tendency to learn physical activities quickly. So I have had her play with other children to observe this. As a result, she appears to be able to master things like chess as well as things like dancing with relative ease. Personality-wise, however, Liberty has a strong sense of fairness. If someone cheats in a game, they should be ejected from the game, automatically losing. If someone hits someone, that person should be hit back and so on. Although those are oversimplifications of her sense of fair play, Liberty's personality is exactly the kind that would slowly lure her to the dark side if she were raised by the jedi. If she were raised by a dark jedi, she most certainly would become completely dark side."

He looks at Mittens. "The jedi ways have merit. It is much like how many cultures will protect their children from violence, drunkenness, and other such things. Just like with those examples, for the *most* part, it protects children and they grow to be normal, functioning adults. However, in some cases, allowing a child to experience being drunk will prevent that child from ever desiring it in their young adult years. Or better still, if they have been tasting alcohol their whole life, it won't be a new, enticing, interesting thing when they become of age. It is kind of like that with the dark side, but probably more specific to the individual. And even then, depending on the individual, it could be more or less exposure to the dark side that helps them."

Bethany approaches the group with tuna on toast for everyone. "Meat paste!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:58, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

"Now my brain is full of spiders," Pyrus grumbles.

Mits busts out laughing from Beth's outburst.  "That was random!  But thanks, Beth.  Come to think of it, 'meat paste' brings back memories...  That no longer bother me!  Yaay Jedi brainwashing!"

She wolfs down the snack.

Nathan rubs his chin.  "Can you give me an example of how you guide Liberty to correct back to 'balance' when it looks like she's getting too Lightside?  Or does that never happen and you have to always correct back away from the Dark?  And how do you know when she's 'out of balance?'"

"Contact lens effect," Mittens answers with an air of authority, "Going Darkside made Evil Dad's eyes get all creepy looking compared to the pictures of pre-Dark."

  "Pyrus, your brain is full of fire. The spiders won't last long." Unless they are LAVA spiders, but then Pyrus would probably like those.

  'If she were trained by a Sith, she would totally end up a Sith' okay Liberty turning out okay may have little to do with this guy's teaching quality after all.

  "Mittens, this is meat paste designed for taste, not a profit margin bragging about it's nutritional value."

  Not that Blake's own True Facts sound any more eloquent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:24, Fri 06 Mar 2020.

Bethany giggles along with Mittens. To Pyrus, she thinks Blake's comment is the BEST comment! So she leaves that be!

Galen answers Nathan, "Liberty's sense of fairness is such that she actually applies it to herself, so the only reason I could see her drifting too far to the dark without me is if she also grew up without friends or loved ones. Which would drive people without the force to darkness anyways, so... I feel she is an amazingly balanced being to begin with. I do sometimes remind her of the facts of life; that sometimes speaking the truth aloud is not the wise thing to do. Mostly, when she wants to learn a lesson, and I fail to persuade her, I ask her if she wants to learn through experience. Past experience has taught her to be more selective with which lessons she wants to learn through experience and she has been opting for that option less often as she grows older."

He then looks at Mittens. "When the eyecolor changes, that is usually a sign that the person has already gone completely to the darkside. So if Liberty goes that far, I have waited entirely too long."

Galen looks back at Nathan. "The key is moderation. There are times where a Jedi's calm is precisely what you need. And there are times that call for a darksider's passion."

Liberty makes her fingers wiggle around like her hand is a spider and has it crawl on Pyrus.

Beth is correct.  Blake's words were precicely what Pyrus needed to hear.

"Really?  Alright!"

Liberty's tease makes Pyrus giggle and nomf her fingers.  n.n

Nathan kinda feels for Serenity being so out of her depth in this conversation.  So he unfolds his transforming portable electric guitar* and picks a few punk jams for her, leaving it on acoustic sound so it doesn't overwhelm the conversation.

Mits chimes in and says, "Hmm.  Probably right about the eyes.

"But what I'm hearing from your philosophy is, 'Liberty is a one-of-a-kind superhero of the Force (and everything else), so all I have to do is remind her of things she already knows from time to time.  Only the most epic self-correcting Mary Sues need apply to my approach.  (Which isn't really an approach at all.  It's more of a, "Don't be an Evil Dad and she'll be fine.")'"

Nathan shakes his head, still strumming away.  "Nah.  I've been taking a similar approach to teaching you Mittens.  It's quite deliberate and structured, I assure you.  But you're right that it takes a special kind of student for it to work.  I wouldn't use this approach if you were a spoiled brat, for example."

Mittens looks at Nathan skeptically.

*(( Envisioning this: https://playjammy.com/ ))
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Sat 07 Mar 2020.

  "Mittens, you may be eccentric bordering on insane, but you are not spoiled... That said, you've already given plenty of examples for why not being spoiled is hardly a virtue of upbringing."

  Refer back to 'ONLY THE STRONG GET SLICES'

  "On the bright side, you are safe from 'sit back and take credit for my Student teaching themselves' with Nathan."

Galen nods to Nathan. "Thanks."

Galen says, "My approach is moderation. Some people need more of one thing. Others need less of that same thing. Liberty in particular makes it easy on me, but the trick is to know not to push one's dark or light aspects too far. Anyone can apply, just that Liberty is a natural."

Liberty wrestles Pyrus and noms his paws in retaliation, growling and giggling.

Serenity bobs her head to the music and comments, "Do any or all of the beliefs share certain things? Such as how to tell if someone is able to learn magical powers?"

Galen says, "Well... yes, actually. Though there are a few different methods for doing the same thing, there are many things that all three approaches to The Force have in common."

Bethany goes to hug Mittens. "Hug! Spoil!" she goes to stuff cake in Mitts' mouth.

Mits blushes, ragdolling from the Beth hug, then gulps down the bite of cake.  "Mittens is not used to this level of affirmation.  Thank you, everyone."

Pyrus happily plays with Liberty, having a ton of fun.  If he can get his paws on some cake, he'll stuff Lib's mouth with a bite.

Nathan smiles that Serenity digs the music, "What you can do with The Force is apparently universal.  Telepathy and telekinesis."

Mits was about to correct Nathan, but thinks better of it.  Brats correct their teachers.  Good students phrase it as a question.  "So...  When Evil Dad did stuff I've never seen or heard of Jedi doing...  it's not because the Jedi can't light people on fire with magic, just that they choose not to?"

Nathan gives her a puzzled look that makes it clear he's never heard of such a Force power.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:04, Wed 25 Mar 2020.

  "Sith powers are about rubbing it in people's faces you are using the force on them.  Jedi powers are about trying to distance yourself from the fact you are using the force on them.  That's why Sith choke you and make a big speech about the darkside.  While Jedi either drop you off a building, or the building onto you, then play it off like it is gravity's fault... Also, lighting people on fire with your mind still rates 'light side'.  I would assume for those reasons I started giving as a joke, but became a reasonable theory over time."

  Both sides agree on 'stop shooting yourself! Stop shooting yourself! I'm not touching you! Stop shooting yourself'.

Liberty's cheeks puff from Pyrus stuffing her mouth with cake and she blinks a few times. "Mm?"

Bethany keeps Mitts in her arms and finds a place to sit so she can sit Mitts on her lap.

Galen shrugs. "Blake is correct. For the most part. Technically, dropping a building on someone is light while shoving someone off a building is dark. Dark side likes to cause harm to people directly through the force. Light side does not."

Bethany says, "Wow that sounds so... hypocritical?"

Galen nods. "When phrased that way, sure. Think of The Force like any natural phenomenon. The Force itself is uncaring. It is the people who wield it who have motives that drive them. Magnetism has a positive side and a negative side and both sides repel or attract different things, yet both sides belong to one force of nature. So too is it with The Force. The 'light side' is repelled by direct destruction of life and attracted to direct aiding of life. The 'dark side' is repelled by direct aiding of life and attracted to direct destruction of life. But because people have attached feelings to the results of both sides, one is seen as evil and the other good. Neither side is good or evil in and of themselves. In fact, the main reason they are called light and dark is because light is equated to life and dark is equated to death."

Serenity says, "I can understand wanting to have super powers and stuff, but with having to keep track of all this baggage, why bother?"

Galen says, "Good question. And honestly, the answer varies from person to person. Me personally; I bother because it was thrust upon me. Liberty bothers for the same reason. But many bother because they don't care about the negative consequences. While still others bother because they don't want others to suffer the negative consequences. I don't know the jedi as well as I should, but I would like to think that most jedi actually desire to protect everyone from the negative."

Pyrus grins that he successfully emulated Beth by feeding Lib.  He'd copy Beth's putting Mits on her lap too, but his legs don't bend the right way to even have a lap.  So instead he just goes for Liberty cuddles.

"Adolescent Mittens is not a small girl that she can be easily placed upon a young woman's lap, so she's impressed that Bethany made that look easy."

Nathan shakes his head with a look on his face that suggests that it was painful to hear what he just did.  "Going to have to disagree with just about everything just said.  There's nothing inherently light about dropping a building on someone with The Force or by any other means, much less lighting someone on fire, and I'm stunned anyone would suggest such a thing.  Not that there's a single Jedi in this entire Galaxy with that kind of power.  Even Master Yoda, the most experienced living Jedi, only ever moves something as big as a tub full of water during the his rare demonstrations.  The fire thing sounds like something someone made up for a comic book or a novel.  I haven't seen any master so much as light a candle with The Force.

"And surrendering to the temptations of the Darkside is most certainly inherently immoral to the core from every historical record on the topic.  Not once have I read of a moral Darksider.  Your own experience is consistent with this, Mittens.  So I'm beginning to see that what is being labeled 'Bogan' isn't Darkside at all, but rather some misunderstanding resulting from an absence of traditional Jedi training.

"'Why bother' is because to not bother is to surrender to death.  Like the reason a mother bothers breathing.  For herself and for her child.

"To your specific question, Mittens, yes.  You, me, and the other Force Sensitives present can all choke a person with The Force just as easily as Blake could shoot them.  But we choose not to do such terrible things."

Mits looks skeptical.  "Um...  I'm guessing Master Yoda must be acting modest.  'cause even Mittens can handle flinging around a tub of water with her mind.  And deny it if you like, but I know I saw Evil Dad light people on fire a number of times.  Just 'cause you've never read of something, doesn't mean it's impossible."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:01, Mon 01 June 2020.

  Alas, Blake's plausible deniability ways means he has not personally experienced the joys of not looking at a Sith exploding like a power rangers villain behind by karate chopping them with the force.

  "Nathan, the fact you are a reasonable person is a gift.  But never forget how unreasonable the universe around you is.  All the seemingly too cynical to be real commentary made can be true at the same time as your innocent protests.  Because what the universe fears most often seems to be consistency."

Bethany says, "Huh... well... girls take offense when people oof and groan over picking them up, right? So I just made it *look* easy so you wouldn't think I was calling you fat."

Liberty is being cuddled by Pyrus and cuddles him back. She listens to Nathan disagree and says, "Well on the bright side, based on what Nathan said, he at least doesn't think I'm some murdertastic dark-sider. But seriously, Nathan. I'll go with you back to the jedi council if you want more answers. Maybe your masters will say the same things you are saying. Maybe they will say what Galen is saying. Maybe even what Blake is saying. Maybe they will say something entirely different. I dunno. But what's important isn't whether you think Galen and I are in error... but that you don't consider us bad."

Galen nods. "Indeed. Nothing Liberty or I say will change your mind. I am willing to accompany you all back to the temple. So let us all get underway."

Serenity folds her arms and rolls her eyes. "Tsh." and then ruins the tough girl look with a bunny nose wiggle and blowing up on her hair. "Whatever..." she comments to Nathan's answer.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

Pyrus totally agrees.  "Yeah.  Whatever."

"Mittens would like to think that she's not so fragile as to get mad over something so natural..."

Running through the hypothetical, Mittens could see getting offended depending on if she was already in a bad mood.  "...nevertheless, the consideration is most appreciated.

"And if it helps, Mittens is very happy the universe is not the same all the time everywhere.  That would get boring reeeal quick."

Nathan takes a pause to compose himself.  Getting different answers from different masters is so likely that the frustration from just thinking about it was snowballing.

"Please don't take my lack of learning as believing myself to be all-knowing.  Perhaps I over-stated my case.  Thank you all for being willing to take our questions to the Order to be sorted out.  Perhaps some clarity will arise if we recognize a third side of The Force.  One that is neither Light nor Darkside."

Something that his own teachers would skirt around with self-contradictory mumbo-jumbo.

Mittens lights up excitedly.  "Oh yeah!  Master Dentures really hated questions like, 'So, if I use telekinesis to animate puppets to mock a jerkwad who was picking on someone, which is technically not directly harming with The Force, but maybe is still hurting his feelings, yet the goal is to defend the bully's victim, is that Lightside or Darkside?'

"I've come to call it, the fun side."

Her pigtails dance.

  Blake may not be able to physically eye roll, but his expertise on the subject means he is able to sense Nathan's dark desires to do so at the thought of jedi co-workers.

  He nods to Mittens's very smart puppet tactics, "Thus did Mittens save the galaxy by dropping a bannana peel with a puppet held by the force, making the villain trip into an open volcano. Jedi and Sith argued over if that was light side or darkside for centuries."

  Now, if Serenity just kicked the badguy into a volcano, nobody would believe someone so adorable tried to take credit.  But he isn't quite sure if that is the sort of thing tough bunny wants to hear yet.

Serenity gets a smirk from Pyrus agreeing with her, but remains quiet. In her silence, she quietly gets some sense of satisfaction at seeing Nathan pause to calm himself.

Serenity then laughs at Mittens' rhetorical. And then laughs from Joe's add-on to that!

Liberty is giggling, but Galen just raises an eyebrow.

(FAST FORWARD!)

The group makes it back to the main Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Upon landing, the group is met by one of the jedi knights. "Welcome back, Nathan. I trust your mission was fruitful?"

He gives an acknowledging nod to the others as well, but Nathan being the only actual jedi of the group, it is his responsibility to report and introduce any new faces.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:04, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

Pyrus beams that the cool girl smiled at him.  He laughs along with her, loving the mental image of puppet and banana peel based combat.  Mittens grins proudly at Blake's words and takes a bow.

Nathan's mind boggles at both of their statements.  Why didn't I think to ask these sorts of questions?

"I imagine it is not for either the Jedi or the Sith to decide, but The Force itself."

(Fast Forward)

Nathan was familiar with this protocol, so he prepped the group with a request that they be tight-lipped about the details of the mission.

"Mission went well.  This is Serenity and Galen.  Liberty is already known to Master Yoda.  Speaking of whom, we would all like to benefit from his wisdom if he is available."

Mittens has a Yoda puppet somehow.  She has it say, "Sound of one hand clapping, easy to hear, is.  When your face my one hand smack, hear it, you will.  EeeEE-hee-hee-hee-hee!"

Pyrus smiles impishly at her.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:21, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

  The sound of one hand clapping, a philosophical question by those who do not know how snapping your fingers works. All except puppet Yoda.

  "You can tell they are used to Mittens because they are not giggling-gasping in shock at her sacrilege." Used to Yoda as well, when he abandons his paperwork to giggle like a crazed hermit regardless of the timeline.

The jedi who greeted the bunch does not seem amused by Mittens' antics. He has a completely straight face, neither annoyed or otherwise. "Very well. Right this way."

He leads the bunch into the temple and takes them to a room where some younglings are being trained by Yoda.

Yoda says to the younglings, "So. Remember. Yes." and then turns to look at the group. "Ah. Returned, you have. Comecome... things to discuss, we have."

He hobbles off to a different room with the group.

Mits thumbed at the guy as the team passed him by.  "Sir NoEmotion.  The knight whom masters boast is the poster boy for the, 'There is no emotion,' part of the Jedi Code.  I've known furniture with more personality.  What a perfect first impression of the Jedi!"

Nathan thinks, ~No, their first impression would be me, Beth, and Mittens.  By The Force...~

Mittens begins to recount for Yoda the events since departing the temple using puppets.

Blake has noticed that in most case, the more eccentric or melodramatic a Jedi the more important they are in spite of all their teachings about stoic faced blandness.

In most cases, because Nathan is important in spite of being very boring, just like Blake. Boring buddies of the galaxy. In the land of sock puppets Blake and Nathan are popsicle sticks with construction paper cutouts. These metaphors are either getting out of hand or that is about to happen.

Liberty says what Nathan was thinking, "So.. Nathan isn't actually a jedi then, Mittens? 'cause he would have been my first impression of the jedi, I thought...?"

Bethany says, "I have some things to do now that I am back. I'll catch you all later, OK?"

Sernity gives a casual wave. Liberty and her master wave as well.

Once the group is in an enclosed room, Yoda faces the group. "Many questions you have, yes?"

"Meow.  So Mittens misspoke.  Perfect first impression of a normal Jedi.  Nathan's far from normal.  Neither's Yoda.  They have personality.

"Seeya, Bethenstein!  Don't be a stranger!"

Nathan half wonders if any teacher would remain normal after having Mittens for a student.  Probably for the best he's not hearing Blake's thoughts or he'd pout about being made out of construction paper.  Unless someone showed him some construction paper fine art.  (( http://ama-zing-arts.blogspot....struction-paper.html ))

Nathan nods to Yoda.  "Mittens' colorful recount of our tale thus far is actually quite accurate.  Serenity hasn't a clue how she's supposed to help Mittens, but she's graciously agreed to tag along to try and find out.  Galen also kindly agreed to enlighten us with his unique perspective on balancing the two sides of The Force.

"I can't help but feel like his and Liberty's very different view on The Darkside is directly connected to the calamity that we're supposed to avert.  But I'm just a lowly knight and no prophet.  So I suppose my first question, Master Yoda, is where should we even begin?"

Mittens pulls out an Evil Dad puppet, "'Peace is a lie, there is only passion!'  Reject the Light!  Embrace the Darkness!"

She answers the puppet with a Nathan puppet.  "Wrong!  'There is no emotion, there is peace.'  Reject the Darkness!  Embrace the Light!"

Mittens then pulls up a Galen puppet, "Both wrong.  Focus too much on one and you'll rubber-band to the other."

Blake puppet, (Who's of equal quality to the others), "The Force can't be bothered to be consistent, so... kindofa moot point either way."

Mittens has a monopoly (mittenopoly?) on being cartoonish, and yet Blake's player still imagines a slide whistle sound as Bethany is whisked away into the NPC backstage area.

"There is little question that Evil Dad is probably in the wrong, as their way of life has the implication beating up the pizza delivery as a display of might actually happened. Though I am wondering if you have learned anything new while Mittens was out making new friends, Yoda."

Blake doesn't work here, it's not legally disrespectful of he just calls Yoda by his name.

Yoda looks at Mittens's puppet show and laughs the way she depicted earlier.

To Blake's question, Yoda bows his head. "News I have. Yes. You." he points at Mittens and Pyrus. "You." he points at Nathan. "And you." he points at Blake. "You four are the ones who must find the one who altered history. Perhaps, together with the time traveler, you can find a way to halt the Dark Wave. Sense more in Liberty, I do... a part in the final act she will play. What, I know not. Leave Liberty and Galen here. Yes. Study them, I will. Find answers. The Force has guided you to Serenity... with you, she goes."

Yoda fixes his eyes on Nathan. "Humility you have, and suit you well it does, Young Knight Nathan. Remember; submission and humility open the gateway to the Force. Clear blurry vision. See better, you will. Better than jedi master full of hubris. And always. Always... listen for wisdom. In your friends. In your surroundings. Even in what your enemies say. Answers are there. Find them, you must."

Yoda looks at Blake again. "Lost children you have. Mittens. Serenity. Pyrus. A perspective you have that none of them have. Yet, things in common with them you have. Keep them grounded you must. But be careful. And patient. Yes."

Yoda looks at Mittens and Pyrus. "Free spirits you are. But beware. Try to tempt you, the darkness will. With good intentions. Yes. It will tell you true freedom is being allowed to do anything you want. Chain you this lie will." he grips his hand into a fist hard with a hardened expression, his fist shivering. "True freedom; inside you it is. True freedom: Not regretting your actions. Rely on wisdom from those who care for you. Yet, not afraid to speak up when questions you have. Already know these things you do; Deep down! True freedom; inside you it is."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Thu 18 Mar 2021.

If Mits could read Blake's mind she'd be happy to provide slide whistle sound effects.

She blushes from Yoda's praise and hides her face in Pyrus' shoulder.  Pyrus grins proudly at Yoda's words.  "Yeah!  Freedom!  (I don't remember eating any Freedom, so how is it inside me?)"

"It's one of your guts," Mittens explains with a whisper.

Pyrus ohs.

Nathan also blushes at Yoda's words.  ~Humility have I not.~ he thinks, ~Realistic outlook, I have.  Bigger than the Galaxy, I am not.  Nor big enough brain to wrap around even a fraction, have I.~

But he's not about to contradict the Grandmaster.  "Thank you for your wise guidance, Grandmaster.  I regret to say, I have no idea how to even begin to track down a time-traveler nor recognize him should I find him."

Mits hrms.  "As Epic as it is to be a part of saving the Galaxy, I'm gunna need some help with the 'Avoid the sneaky semi-sentient Darkness' when I have no idea how to recognize 'Darkness' if I have to watch out for good intentions turning me into my Evil Dad.  Master Extinct had me thinking that if I use telekinesis to shove a villain into a volcano, that's always bad no matter how many lives it saves.  Especially if I'm frowning at the time.  But if I deadpan while carving off his leg with my lightsaber so that he falls into the volcano, that's good.  And nobody's sure if laughing while using telekinesis to put a banana peel under his foot to make him slip in is good or bad.  So can someone please clear up for me exactly why one way of putting him in the lava to save the Galaxy is good and the other bad?  I'm really liking the Liberty/Galen take that it would be better to do all three at once, but I haven't worked out a frowny deadpan laugh just yet."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:44, Fri 19 Mar 2021.

"They do not seem to be very lost these days, Yoda. But keeping it that way will probably be the hard part"

Yes, be a good influence for the irresponsible force feline-okay we all know where this is going.

"You do it by killing them with a frowny deadpan, then joking about how they died in a polite voice afterwards. At least, that seems to be a popular with Jedi as it is in spy vids. Looks like their Tripical vacation ended with a splash, that sort of thing."

Yoda says, "Simple answer for you I have, Mittens: Direct use of the force to harm is dark side. As for the why; Intent, young Mittens. A person bursts into a home. Messes the place up searching for something. Finds it. Takes it. The owner of the home is helpless. If that person has no legal backing, a criminal that person is. If legal backing? A hero, he is. This is life. Another example for you, I have: Someone takes off your shoes. Tickle your feet, he does. Cause you to laugh. Hm! If doing this to give you joy, good this is. If doing this when you have infection in the lungs and laughter harms you, bad this is. Hm? No matter the method used to kill opponent, if intent is to kill, lost to the dark side you already have. If intent is to STOP... different, that is."

Mits grins at Blake's funny movie quote.

To Yoda's answer she sighs.  "I get that intent matters for much, but I still feel at square one.  'It is Darkside to use The Force to amputate a patient's infected foot with telekinesis, but not Darkside to save the patient if you use a laser sword.'  So says the Jedi Scout manual, anyway.  If intent were the decoder ring, then either way should be fine.  And what insights have you on the Liberty/Galen philosophy?"

Nathan adds, "Specifically if it is something important for us to delve into in order to save the Galaxy.  We can hold off philosophizing till later unless it's actually relevant to our mission."

  "Don't destroy people for beliefs that only make them a brooding shut in rather than actively malevolent shouldn't be a hard lesson, but the track record of the galaxy shows that might actually be what we need to declare is a grand new revelation for the future of the force."

  Well, that and probably tracking down a lot of brooding shut ins who declare how powerful they are then go back to being a brooding shut in because of how powerful they are.

  At least Yoda deals with a day job.

Yoda tilts his head. "A point Blake has... be that way, it very well may." to Nathan he nods, "A time and place, all things have. Off to save the galaxy, but nothing to do when traveling except talk. Yes? Good to feel pressured for time it is. But do not feel like you have NO time, Nathan. Philosophy... important it is. Entire Jedi Order based around it, yes? Whether it will be vital to saving the galaxy, I know not. But experience tells me, all who are involved must be in agreement when the time comes... or precious seconds will be lost."

He looks to Mittens. "True, Mittens. Intent is not the only reason. Light side of the force does not desire the harming or destruction of life. Dark side does. Inherently evil, neither is. But easier to go dark when evil intent comes. To counter with what you said, young Mittens... shows you already *know* the rules. Insights that work for Yoda are not insights that work for Mittens. One who is content with mystery, Yoda is. Mittens is not. New eyes you have... eyes Yoda has not. Ever changing this galaxy is... truth from yesterday may be false today. Mittens find answers. Come back and teach Yoda some day. Hm?"

His smile suggests he isn't teasing.

Mits does a "mind blown" gesture.  http://www.picgifs.com/reactio...nd-blown-1995183.gif

"Me?  Teach 800 year old master?  Puppetry, maybe."

Nathan is frustrated with Yoda's answer, folds his arms, and tries to calm down.  Dodge the question of addressing the Bogan / Ashla philosophy while at the same time shifting the task of addressing it right back to the one without any answers.

"The only recent Darksider I have any knowledge of is Mittens' 'Evil Dad.'  Who matches all the descriptions of the ancient Sith I've been brought up on in the Jedi Temple: completely consumed by violence and hate.  Is the transformation from reasonable person to homicidal maniac a slow process?  Don't know.  Does a person suddenly snap like a rubber band as suggested by Galen?  Don't know.  If their philosophy leads to the Darkside, and thus, suddenly snapping or gradually being consumed by hate, the only proof I have to argue is, 'thousands of years of Jedi tradition says that doing the taboo things will lead to losing your mind.'

"They disagree.  The end.

"I have no more enlightenment to offer them, because I've never witnessed the process of someone fall to the Darkside.  I was expecting you to at least have a hard question or parable for them, Master Yoda.  'Trust in your own experience over the teachings of the Jedi Order, do you?  Well here's a story that explains why your own experience isn't trustworthy, but our traditions are.'  I'm afraid the best I can do is sing a kid's song or two about suppressing your feelings."

Mits snickers.  "Ah.  The rhymes I came up with to mock Evil Dad..."

  Evil dad, he so bad, he dropped his pizza and got mad. Dad is sith, Darkside are fools, because true evil knows Bane rulz. Mittens mittens kitten puppet now you shall be teaching muppet.

  "Nathan, I had no working eyes for most of my time as a child and you still had a more depressing childhood than mine." 'Good night moon' for padawans has seventeen extra pages explaining that you should not feel emotional attachment for an astral body, clearly.

Yoda says, "Worry not yourself with Galen and Liberty. Speak with them, I will. Nine centuries have I held jedi tradition... but see someone fall I have. More than once. See someone skirt the dark side, yet not fall, I have also seen. Dangerous it is. This is why, speak with them I must."

His tone turns sad as he says, "Be not hard on yourself, Nathan. Nine centuries have I, Nathan. And yet, lose a personal apprentice to the dark side I did, just two score years ago. Finding right words for others is a personal matter. Different for everyone. No flat answer. Jedi tradition; worked for the other 20,000 jedi I trained or help train. Yet one in 1,000 turned away. Jedi order; not perfect. Yoda; not perfect. But both... try best they can to help prevent tragedies."

Then his tone becomes stern. "Nathan. Do your best you must. But prepare yourself; some tragedies cannot be stopped. When that happens, as long as you did your best, blame yourself you must not. Needless self blame leads to the dark side."

The universe is sad Blake never shared those rhymes out loud. Alas.

Nathan skews his lips, not sure how to respond to Blake.  He doesn't consider his childhood depressing, but it's not exactly easy to get that across to people who weren't raised Jedi.

Mittens' eyes go wide.  "Oooooooh!  Noooow I get it!  'The more you know, the more you know you don't know.  But because younglings are so easily discouraged, which leads to the Darkside, you can't admit to all the stuff you don't know and must deflect the questions you don't have the answers to!  That explains everything!"

Nathan's words stick in his mouth.  Yoda lost a student to the Darkside?!  Why was I not told of this?!  Is it true that these secrets are kept to protect the easily discouraged?  Or are they sweeping embarrassments under the rug?!  In retrospect, a flawless record with the only Darksider in thousands of years being Mittens' Evil Dad should have been suspect.  Still...  999 for 1,000 is a pretty doggon impressive record considering how 'easy' they say it is to fall.  Do they have to hide that statistic too to keep students from being careless?

Maybe Mits is right.  900 years of wisdom boils down to admitting to yourself you don't have all the answers.  But you can only get away with admitting this fact to others when there's no choice.

Nathan's expression slowly shifts from shock to something more like grim determination.  He bows to Yoda.  "As does shunting responsibility.  I shall heed your warning and strive for balance, Master."

Mits looks at Blake.  "Wait.  You've got cyber eyes?!  AWESOME!"

  It is Blake's burden to keep such galaxy shaking children's rhyme secrets to himself the likes of which no Jedi or Sith could handle. Granted he is hardly a stranger to abusing more serious 'from a certain point of view' facts for his personal amusement and point making at the same time, sorry not sorry Nathan.

  "Yes, Mittens. Your mastery of the force is nothing compared to being able to look at funny cat girls in person and watch funny cat videos at the same time." So many bees. Perhaps one day mittens will be a cat just as powerful.