Clear Choices, Clouded Thoughts

[Estelle Russard]

Moving with sure deliberate steps, Jedi Knight Estelle Russard made her way at a measured pace down the corridor of the Jedi Living Quarters.


She took her time, all the while reminding herself that she was here to teach. That this was not a social visit and that there would be not flirtatious smiles and batting of eyelids like she was so prone to do around Maximas these days. What was wrong with her? What was she thinking?

She passed Max's door once, twice and then once more. This time she stopped infront of it and lifted her hand to tap, to announce her arrival. But she hesitated just a moment, as she put on her best "Jedi Instructor Face" and took a long deep breath.

She tugged at the collar of her Jedi robe, fidgeting with it a moment, then knocked two short sharp taps and waited for the door to open.

[Maximas]

Maximas had had a restless night. He had been in bed for over four hours before he finally managed to drop off. His thoughts lay with various things, but mainly Estelle.

Next morning, the previous night had taken its toll. He'd woken up late and he felt very tired still. Time for a shower, he thought. That would surly wake him up. He made his way over and turned on the water, checking it wasnt too hot before entering. Shower times were good. Nothing like a good shower to wake you up in the morning. After about ten minutes of singing and cleaning he came out. He dried himself off roughly before wrapping a large towel around his lower half. Then a knock at the door.

He glanced over to the door, and huffed.

"Not the best of times!"

He picked up a smaller towel that draped over a chair in the bathroom and made his way to the door. He opened the door while drying his hair with the smaller towel to find his Master.

"Estelle! hehe, im sorry. I wasnt expecting you this early."

His face turned a pretty shade of red as he stood there, embarrased in the doorway semi naked.

"Errrr, come in. Sorry. Im just going to finish up in the bathroom and I'll right with you. Kitchen is just through there on your left if you want to make yourself a drink or what ever. Make yourself at home."

[Estelle Russard]

Her "Instructor Face" went from fixed to frozen as Max opened the door fresh from the shower.

She blinked stupidly and then followed him inside.

Mechanically, almost, she opened the refrigerator unit and took some orange juice that was in there. Pouring a glass, she set it on the counter, not having sipped from it. She could hear Maximas fossicking around in the next room, dressing. She tried not to let her mind follow through on that thought, and snatched up the glass instead.

Gulping the tangy juice down, she placed the glass in the sink, and then Max returned, fully clothed now thankfully, into the room.

"Maximas" she said with as much brevity as she could muster.

"I - that. .. Really, you shouldn't open a door like that!"

[Maximas]

Max had regained some of his composure while he got dressed and so managed a cheeky little smile.

"I am sorry, but I didnt have much of a choice. I couldnt leave you out in the hallway now, could I?"

He asked teasingly in his whiter than white T-shirt and baggy beige trousers. Estelle looked as lovely as ever and Max soon forgot about his tiredness in her pressence.

"I hope I didnt make you feel, uneasy?"

[Estelle Russard]

"You didn't" she answered, too quickly.

"I mean, Im your master, you should atleast be clothed when I come by."

All this while she was intent on picking a non-existend peice of fluff off the shoulder of her jedi robe. Finally she met his gaze and the familiar boyish grin was flashing back at her. She started to laugh.

"...Anyway..." She intoned that enough was said on that matter, "I have brought you a book."

[Maximas]

Maximas's boyish smile changed to a face of interest in a matter of moments.

"A book?"

He questioned. Max was neither a good reader or a bad reader. He could read if and when he had to but he didnt usually do it through choice. This was different though. This was from Estelle and so he couldnt wait to see what the book was.

He tried not to, but his eyes couldnt help but gaze over the beautiful sight before him. Twice his eyes darted to the side in a vein attempt to keep himeself in check.

[Estelle Russard]

"Im sure you'll like this book, Maximas" she held the volume toward him, "It even has pictures." She grinned and allowed him to take the book from her hands.

"Legendary Lightsabers"

Max looked over the title boldy embossed in brilliant blue print on a deep burgundy leather cover.

"It is a background on some powerful Jedi, and their greatest feats - all wrought by their skill in saber dueling..." she paused pointedly, "...and saber making."

[Maximas]

The book was reasonably thick and heavy and somehow managed to look both old and new at the same time. It looked as if it were old, especially with the leather cover but it was in pristine condition. It smelt new too.

Legendary lightsabers. Light sabers were interesting and complex weapons. It was a skill and an art to wield one effectivly. Max had an old one that he carried around with him although he didnt know how to use it properly, not yet anyway.

Maximas was interested in this book from the get go, especially after Estelle mentioned powerfull Jedi and their greatest feats. He flicked through the pages to see some familiar names. Qui Gon Jinn, Obi Wan Kenobi, Dooku, Marcus Q'Dunn, Morgan Evenar plus many many more.

Estelle ended her words seemingly emphasising on "saber making". Max just looked up expectantly, book in hands.

"Wow!"

He really didnt know what else to say. He hoped Estelle might explain why it was she was handing him this book.

[Estelle Russard]

Estelle stood back and watched Maximas smiling broadly. It was nice to see the pleasure her gift had brought him. Even though it was a form of "homework" for him.

"Im glad you like it. It was not easy to come by. There are not many editions like it." she smiled, proud of herself for finding such a treasure for him.

"There is much information in there - both academically and practical. I hope it will inspire you when you decide to construct a lightsaber of your own."

[Maximas]

Max looked up at the mention of making his own lightsaber. It would be nice to get rid of the crappy one he carried around with him at the moment and trade it in for something, more Max's style. Something a little more, "flashy".

"Thank you Estelle. This really is a great gift. Im sure it will help inspire me to construct my saber when the time comes."

He glanced out into the Kitchen to see Estelles empty glass.

"Can I get you anything else to drink, or something to eat perhaps?"

[Estelle Russard]

"No, thankyou, Maximas. I think we should begin."

Estelle kicked off her shoes and walked to the center of the living room.

Glancing over her shoulder, she waved Max to follow.

"C'mon, this will be painless" she smiled "I promise."

[Maximas]

Painless? Max wasnt sure if he liked the sound of this. Still, he nodded and made his way over to the center of the room, setting the book down on one of the tables on the way. He wasnt sure if he was supposed to keep his shoes on or not, so left them on for the time being.

The handsome looking man stood relativly close to Estelle and awaited further instruction of what she wanted him to do.

[Estelle Russard]

"Close your eyes"

Max raised an eyebrow of distrust.

"Go on, it helps to concentrate."

He closed his eyes dutifully and Estelle took the opportunity to look him over closely without him seeing. He towered over her now, seeming she was barefoot and he seemed so very tall.

She smiled - he looked almost "sweet." She decided that his much of his arrogance lay in his eyes, because now he looked much the innocent.

Finally she spoke.

"I would like you to improve on your telekenetic skills. Try to move the book you just put on the table over towards us."

[Maximas]

Max squinted out of one eye in Estelles direction as she asked him to move the book. Very well, he thought to himself. Without a moments hesitation, the booked moved slightly and then lifted a couple of centimeters from the table surface.

Telekenetics seemed to come fairly natural to max for some reason. It was this ability he used to have *most* fun with back home on Htrae. Although he managed to move the book with relative ease, he hadnt moved anything much bigger or heavier than that before, so it was difficult for him to determine jusy how far his natural ability went.

In an attempt to show off a little, he dragged one of Estelles shoes towards the two of them. He couldnt help but smile and as he did so he squinted again to see if Estelle was impressed. As he did he lost his concentration and book landed with a thud back on the table.

"Ooops!"

[Estelle Russard]

"Maximas" Estelle chided, which was hard to do while one is laughing, "you're not concentrating. Here, take a seat."

She then sat, cross-legged on the living room floor, and Maximas did likewise.

"Now, its all about control. And controlling the things about you. Try once more."

The young man did as instructed, with ease, lifting the book up and suspending it in the air. He then directed it towards where they sat, but Estelle, by her own use of the force, turned the tide against it to hinder him.

Her actions were deliberate, and as Maximas tried to evade and dodge, she matched his every move.

[Maximas]

It took a second for Max to figure out what exactly was going on, although it soon dawned on him that Estelle was working against him as some form of test, or to help him improve. Either way, he accepted the challenge.

He tried moving the book from side to side, using less force then more force all of a sudden. Estelle was more that equal to his every move. Almost as if she was anticipating every move he made.

His shoulders dipped and he sighed as if he were about to give up. He broke his concentraition on purpose and the book fell toward the ground. About an inch before it hit the ground, Max came back to life and suddenly moved the book towards the two of them again.

It was a deliberate move to try and get Estelle to think he'd given up and it worked. Well, for at least a split second.

[Estelle Russard]

"Good" Estelle murmured as Max showed increased skill in force control.

He looked at her, perhaps expecting more of a comment, but Estelle knew her padawan's ego was such that too much praise was not a good thing.

She met his gaze and then, without any physical movement from her at all, she began to lift a lamp, the glass on the kitchen counter, one of the small sofa footstools - and move them in a constant encircling of the room.

Max for his part did similarly and soon his living room was alive with moving furnishings.

"Now - to improve control" she smiled faintly.

Suddenly the glass broke from the formation and came hurtling toward Maximas.

Without flinching, Estelle watched and waited for the young jedi's reaction and to see any waiver in his concentration or breaking of the endless rotation of items around the room.

[Maximas]

Max saw the glass come towards him rather than sense it. It was a bit of a shock and instinct took over. He winced slightly and leaned back as he tried to focus on the glass.

The glass managed to stop 6 or 7 inches away from the padawans face. That was the good news. The bad news was that everything else he'd been concentraiting on fell to the floor with a rather large thud all around the room. Thankfully nothing broke. Max grabbed the glass out of the air and looked over to his master with a look of embarasment.

"At least I stopped the glass, right?"

[Estelle Russard]

"And.." she said pointedly, "...You didn't get angry. A big success."

She smiled at him, and he realised she was quite right. Many times when she had tested his reactions to things that he may perceive as unfair or (as in the case of pushing him off a certain pillar) plain mean, he had gotten quite annoyed and showed no restraint in expressing his emotion.

"Resume concentration and lift the items again. Lets see you do some "glass tossing" or whatever at me. Its all about practicing your telekinitc skills to isolate and generate the force to specific targets. If you do a force push..you want it to just effect the person you are targeting and not everybody else that may happen to be standing nearby.

Also, rarely do you get the luxury of one thing happening at a time. Its usually all hell breaking loose and you must be able to ...er...multitask."

She waited for Maximas to return his concentration, and set things in motion once more.

[Maximas]

Max grined proudly as it was pointed out to him that he didnt loose his temper. Then he listend to Estelles next set of instructions.

"Ok."

He focused on all the items he'd been holding in the air a few moments ago and lifted them up again. He decided on one of Estelles shoes to move towards his master. It hardly moved at first, then it shot forward but the other items Max had been concentraiting on fell. He focused on those items again before they hit the deck but then the shoe stopped its advance. He tried again and the same thing happend. He was struggling to move the shoe forward at any sort of pace meanwhile keeping the other items in the air.

[Estelle Russard]

Estelle watched as Maximas struggled. He knew what he wanted to do, but was having trouble seeing it through.

He had improved a great deal in his ability, though he would probably argue that fact.

Estelle kept her voice level, calm and tried to instruct without being intrusive to Max's concentration.

"Feel the force, Maximas. Feel it flowing through you and through the things around you. Visualize it. See what it is in your mind what you want to accomplish."

[Maximas]

Estelle's comments didnt help him any. He WAS trying to feel the force and let it flow through him. He tried again and again and the same thing happend. Then the shoe and the rest of the items fell to the floor along with a plate that smashed across the floor.

"AH HELL!!!"

Max looked angry but tried to contain himslef. His face flushed a shade of red before he breathed very heavily through his nose. His face shook slightly and he gritted his teeth. It took a few moments but his breathing returned to normal and he glanced up at Estelle and then looked back down at the ground. Worried about what she might say.

OOC: Sorry for my absense. Back now though :)

[Estelle Russard]

She jumped a little as the plate smashed, even though she saw it falter and read its inevitable destruction as Maximas lost his control.

She moved her hand outward and by moving her fingers, lifted the peices and with the force put them together in the air as if it was a porcelin puzzle.

Then setting it on the table softly, she released her hold and it dropped once more to its broken form.

She looked at him candidly, evenly - no measure of judgement or condescension in her eyes. Only a hopeful expectation that Maximas would one day have mastered the same degree of control.

"I think we should move to something else."

He was looking away from her now, but Estelle pressed on.

"Is there something you would like to focus on in particular? Anything you feel Im not teaching you?"

[Maximas]

Maximas felt very disheartened. He felt that telekenis was his best skill and he couldnt even get that right. What was the point? Maybe he wasnt cut out for being a Jedi afterall.

He glanced up at Estelle, now knowing she wasnt about to have a go at him for losing his cool again. His eyes met hers and he instantly felt sorry. He was desperate to impress her and he just felt that he was letting her down.

"I need a drink."

He got up and walked out the room. He didnt need a drink at all but decided he needed to get out the room for a second. He poured himself a drink since he was there, guzzled it down and slammed the glass on the side. He stood there for a moment then stormed back into the room where Estelle was with real purpose.

"Im not ready to give up just yet!"

There was a determination on his face now as he focused on the items around the room. They all lifted a few feet off the ground, including the shoe. Then Max tried to move the shoe towards Estelle again. Everything else dropped slightly as had happend before so Max stopped moving the shoe and maintained the control he had on the other items. AGAIN! He said to himself. Same thing. AGAIN! This time it worked. The shoe moved very slowly through the air and Max started to sweat with concentration but it reached Estelle and the other items were still in the air. He set them down gently on the ground and let out a sigh.

[Estelle Russard]

Feeling very pleased for Maximas as she took the shoe when it came to rest gently in her hand, Estelle let laughter creep into her voice.

"Now - was that so hard...?"


His glare was what she expected, and laughed even more.

Oh, he was so easy to rile up.

[Maximas]

Maximas's wondering eyes and straight face reached Estelle. The fact that she laughed harder now helped Max to ease up a bit and he himself smiled and tried not to laugh. "No, I guess that wasnt so hard."

He couldnt hold back any longer and ended up laughing lightly along with his Master.

[Estelle Russard]

"Now you know you can do this" she was back to her serious tone once more, "you must continue to move forward. Build on it. Dont deny yourself success because you have no reason to feel this skill is not within your ability."

Estelle was proud of Max's tenacity. She knew he had the strength of spirit.

[Maximas]

"Thankyou master", he replied. "I guess its just a matter of self control." Maximas though for a moment. "I dont know if youve heard, but there is a padawan exhabition thing starting up. A group of padawans are going to spar with one another and id like to give it a go. Might help me to get to know more people. Only trouble is, we've only fought once. I wouldnt want to be embarased infront of the others..."

[Estelle Russard]

She was surprised that Max had heard about the spar exhibition, though she shouldnt be. News of such a nature always generated excitement and interest among the padawans at the Order and Maximas could have heard about it from many sources.

She had been planning to mention it to him at some point, but she was glad he was already aware, and eager to be involved.

His concerns, while valid to a point, were not something he should be weighted with. Maximas was not a novice when it came to actual one to one fighting, though he was correct that they had only once sparred themselves. His former life had afforded him some sword-fight training. He was strong, fast and intuitive - the things that make a great fighter. But Estelle understood his concern. She didn't want him to feel ill-prepared.

"The object of the exhibition is a learning experience, Maximas. Each padawan involved is at varying stages of development. While of course, one doesnt want to loose, the main purpose is not victory, but growth. If you have this perspecitve, it will help you to gain great benefit from this event.

But, having said that, if you would like to do some work now, I am happy to oblige."


ooc: Happy Birthay for the 24th, Max! :)

[Maximas]

A glint could be seen in the eye of Maximas. "Well, what fun is taking part if your not at least trying to win?".

He smiled. "Your the master. I just thought id mention the exhabition to you to let you know id taken an interest in taking part. I think some light saber training could come in handy. I dont really know any of the others that have put their names down. Maybe you have some inside information? Ive met Sejah in the force class some time ago, other than that though..."

[Estelle Russard]

"I know a few who have expressed their interest in participating. I think you will be among good company, Maximas."

She smiled.

"I know you will do well."

She stood and crossed over to get her shoes.

"So, shall we go to the Training Hall?"

[Maximas]

Maximas smiled, although he wasnt so sure he'd stand up well to fighting other force adepts. He would give it his best shot though.

"Sure, want to lead the way?", he said with a smile.

[Estelle Russard]

She nodded, and then suddenly she was all business.

Using deliberate concentration, Estelle moved each of the articles that had been displaced during their training session, and returned them to their original point.

Her recall for each item was extraordinary and not one article, no matter how small was misplaced.

Except the plate. That, unfortunately remained in several peices.

This she picked up with her fingers and placed on the counter.

"Sorry about your plate, Max. I will replace it for you.'

Slipping back into her shoes, she flashed him a smile that promised mischief.

"Lets go" ("")