When hard work pays off (Lady Vader)

[Maxim Vasilijev]

It was several days after his return from one of the training missions. Dyzm had given him the opportunity to prove himself by leading the first attack on their mission of chaos in Coruscant. He had selected the power source – choosing to leave the city in complete darkness…a foreboding sign of the events to follow. As if to tell them that darkness was descending and there was nothing they could do about it.

This opportunity had had an interesting effect on Maxim. The whole flight over for the mission he had done nothing but study the maps of Coruscant. This was, for anyone who knew Maxim, somewhat out of character. Up until this point in his life he had relied on his athletic abilities to get by. School work he seldom did, because his grades would be passing enough to let him keep playing – the coaches would be sure of it. And he didn’t care all that much for studying, anyway.

But this behavior – actually studying something – doing the work himself and preparing, planning….well, it showed a move in the right direction. The influence of Lady Vader’s careful watch over him and his determination to move up in the ranks of the Sith Order.

When he’d been given the assignment – the opportunity to actually lead an attack – he hadn’t questioned it. He had jumped on it and had for once done his homework. And the results of the attack were a direct result of the effort he had out in. This small event was about to have a very large effect on his life.

Rather than try to float by, he was encouraged by the results of hard work. And he was rapidly turning into a scholar of the dark side. He had tasted the sweetness of efforts rewarded, and now he was prepared to put in all the effort it would take.

And so it was now that he came to his master with a request. It was a request born out of the mission as well – Dyzm had picked up on Maxim’s emotions and thoughts – and though he did not even begin to think himself strong enough to protect these from a master, he did want to begin to learn how to do it. So that one day he would, in fact, be quite capable of such a thing.

His last few visits to her office had been uncomfortable ones – dealing with lawyers and false accusations. And worse, with a surprising result that had added to the darkness within him.

But this time, as he approached it was with some confidence and less concern that she thought him a screw up. He was too concerned about learning to worry about that anymore. And so when she beckoned him in this time, there was a bit of spring in his step, and his scowl had faded enough to almost show an expression of excitement at learning.

[Lady Vader]

*LV opened the door with the Force once the knock came and gestured for Maxim to sit opposite her at the desk.*

And what can I do for you today, Maxim?



(OOC: x_x *Forgets the coffee, and instead takes LOTS of caffiene through an IV.*)

[Maxim Vasilijev]

(ooc: *laughs* Good thing for caffeine IVs..... ;) )

IC:

This apprentice was a bit different from the one she normally saw. He seemed less focused on creating some sort of wall around him, pretending he could hide his fears and more focused on actually learning. Actually excited about learning.

Of course, what he wanted to learn was in effect exactly what he wasnt doing now - how to protect those very thoughts and emotions from others. In essence, how to perfect what he had spent an entire lifetime perfecting - only now with the help of the force.

"Have you ever felt like somone could read your mind? Or...just knew your emotions without you actually expressing them?"

His questions for once seemed to lack his typical reserved attitude and carried with them an enthusiasm that seemed to lift the scowl. Rather, it was a look of determination and curiosity.

"Because I felt like Lord Dyzm did that to me the other day, and it got me thinking about how if he can do it, the jedi can probably do it to and...." He left his words hanging, for there were so very many possibilities.

He shifted his weight.

"Well, I want to know how to prevent that."

[Lady Vader]

In other words, you want to know how to block your thoughts, feelings, even mask your Force signature, from others.

*LV nodded her head slowly.*

You can most certainly start learning the technique now, but that is an ability usually reached after being Knighted.

It takes a lot of time and effort... it won't happen over night.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

You can most certainly start learning the technique now, but that is an ability usually reached after being Knighted. It takes a lot of time and effort... it won't happen over night.

He normally would have scowled at this. But the mission he’d been given a chance to lead gave him some confidence in himself. Until now, it had been mostly a false bravado, an act put on to convince others that he was more than he was. Now that his skills were beginning to truly evolve, the bravado was fading and being replaced by a true sense of confidence, and in turn, a better attitude toward learning.

“I didn’t figure it would happen overnight.” He replied, perhaps even a hint of a shy smile showing.

“But it is going to happen before Im knighted.” This was added with a determined tone. He figured it would be quite some time before he was knighted, and while he wanted it to happen sooner rather than later, he realized that he still had much to prove.

But in that time, he was going to learn. And he was going to be the best apprentice she had ever taken on. He would learn the things she taught him, and he would surprise her with how quickly he learned. Or so he hoped.

He was familiar with reading minds and with projecting upon them. This had been demonstrated in his antics with the Coronet police force the day he’d been transported to the Order. So the other pieces to this, he felt, should come to him perhaps a bit easier.

"Can you at least show me where to start?"

[Lady Vader]

*She smiled. She admired his determination and zeal, though she hoped it wouldn't go straight to his head.*

Of course I'll help you to start.

*She readjusted herself in the seat, getting more comfortable.*

First one must meditate and understand one's thoughts and it's patterns. You can't exactly block something if you don't know what it is or how it works.

The only way to understand your thought process is to go somewhere where there are no distractions and meditate. Sometimes blocking thoughts is as easy as clearing your mind, while other times it's as challenging as actually diverting your thoughts to a region in your brain where it cannot be access by others.

We'll first try with the clearing of the mind technique, and work our way up to full out blocking and transfering of thoughts to another region.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He’d caught her smile, and it gave him hope that she believed in him.

And this hope only added to his determination to succeed.

He listened without interruption to her explanation, and though meditation wasn’t something he thought useful, instead of shrugging it off this time, he prepared to set himself to the task of doing it. To doing whatever she asked of him.

“So….you want me to jus try to clear my mind?” He asked, thinking that this sounded easy, but knowing that nothing, when it came to the force, was as easy as it sounded.

[Lady Vader]

*She nodded her head.*

It's not as easy as it sounds, but just clear your head of all those jumbled thoughts. It's something you have to work towards and have control over.

Once you have mastered not having a sinlge thought in your head, when someone tries to probe you, they will be greeted by a void.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

I didn’t figure it would be easy…. He thought to himself.
This thought was loud enough that his master could likely have heard if she’d tried.

“I started working on it a week or so ago…but I didn’t really have anyone to practice on.” He had apprentice friends, but they were all learning, just as he was, and while he valued any tips they had to give him, he also wanted to make sure he was learning the techniques correctly. And in all honesty, he didn’t exactly want any of them trying to probe his thoughts.

He wasn’t sure he wanted LV doing it either, but she was his master, and if anyone was going to read his thoughts, it was her that he would have preferred.

“I went to the holocron to ask how, and it told me to do what you just said. And so Ive been trying to do that…” Maxim showed a lot of initiative. And it was perhaps the fact that until now, he’d always been considered the screw up. He hadnt been given a reason to work hard or to show initiative until he’d been placed in an environment like the Sith Order. An environment where only the fittest survived. A place where he did have to prove himself.

“But I don’t know how well I’ve actually done in making it work…” He added.

[Lady Vader]

Well, the only way we'll know is if you try it now. Let's see if when I probe your mind, it is empty of thoughts.

*She lifted her hand slightly in a gestured of afterthought.*

Be also aware of your emotions. Emotions can also inform someone of what you may be thinking. It's not a direct mind probe, but it can be enough to lead one into speculations.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Smart aleck- that is was what he was – though Lady Vader likely already knew this. Maxim had been working very hard on his studies and when he was told to clear his mind, to prepare for the exercise, he cleared it of thoughts. And of emotions – as best he could, anyway.

But he did keep one thought there. One thought. And he knew that she likely would not consider him ready, but he wanted her to know how badly he wanted it.

And this thought was of being promoted to knight. It was bold perhaps. But he was an aggressive kid, with his mind set on becoming a great master of the sith.

And the impish smirk on his face made it clear, when she did choose to probe his mind, that he had kept it there quite on purpose.

[Lady Vader]

*Yes, the boy had cleared his mind... save for one blatantly obvious thought. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head.*

*She stopped probing his mind, praising him for his efforts.*

That was a good start. I see you've been studying up on blocking techniques. You were able to clear your mind, and even keep one thought in control without summoning others.

That takes skill.

But the hardest is yet to come.

*She leaned back.*

Clearing your mind of thoughts is one thing... blocking thoughts entirely, even to the point of masking your Force signature is another.

But you are most definitely on the right path, and whatever it is you have been studying or even meditating on, it's working.

*She paused and looked at him.*

As to that one thought you had remaining... not yet. Soon. But not now. Some things need to be accomplished first.

But I will tell you this... you are most definitely close to your goal.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He was beginning to loosen up a bit around her. By now, he’d been in her presence enough to understand her a bit better, and she’d been more than fair with him when trouble had perhaps gotten the best of him. And while he might have grumbled about his lessons, or the lessons she gave him to work on, this grumbling was done as any student would about his professors.

And truly, he admired and respected her. And more than that even, he trusted her. Where his own twin brother had failed him, his master, a woman he had barely known at the time had stood by him. And continued to stand by him. And under her tutelage, he was maturing into a capable student of the dark side.

And her suggestion that he was getting close meant more than anything could have. This was what he wanted. This was what he had set his mind to, and what he had been striving for since he’d arrived.

His gaze flickered to the floor and then back to Lady Vader.

“I know Im not ready yet.” He admitted as he absently adjusted the chrono he wore on his wrist.

“I just wanted you to know that I am serious about my studies here.” A hint of a mildly sheepish expression passed briefly over his tanned face.

“I even went to the library to figure out how to do that.” He added, referring to the blocking technique he had just used and also to the fact that one of their first lessons had taken place in the library – a place he had very clear his distaste for at the time. For him to go there now on his own accord showed motivation and determination to succeed.

“But how much more difficult is it to block thoughts or a signature?”

[Lady Vader]

Normally, those abilities come with maturity. And most noteably, they come when one is a Knight.

*She regarded him.*

But aside from blocking your own thoughts and so forth, you should also practice invading the thoughts of others when they are unaware.

To do this on an Apprentice would be easy enough for you at this stage. But on a Knight it would be more difficult, and on a Master near impossible, as most Masters have perfected the ability to keep a sturdy wall up and around their thoughts.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He nodded.

"I noticed its more difficult." He replied. He gave her an impish grin.

"I knew how to do that sort of thing before I came here." He added, reminding her, perhaps not in his best interest, of his antics at the police station when he'd first arrived. It was something he'd done his entire life, something his father had never approved of him doing. Perhaps this was a reason his brother had been favored..his brother wasnt force sensitive. Wasnt...different.

"What is it I need to master before I can be promoted?" He finally asked, wanting to know so he could begin working on it immediately. He knew it would take time and effort, but he was willing to deal with it if it would get him where he wanted to be.

[Lady Vader]

*She regarded him, smiling.*

Patience would be a start.

*She waved her hand.*

Don't worry about when your promotion will be. It will come in due time.

You should be focusing on your studies and not so much on your coming Knighthood.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

“I am focusing on my studies.” He retorted, his fingers drumming on the arm of the chair in which he sat.

“You said yourself I was making progress…” He added, as if to remind her the way she all too often reminded him.

He ignored the suggestion of patience. Not that he didn’t hear it – he did. But he didn’t see the point of having it just yet.

“When you block your force signature…does that cut you off from the force?” He asked, eager to prove that he was indeed focusing on his studies.

[Lady Vader]

*Her brow furrowed together at his sudden outburst of exasperation, but she ignored his reaction and instead answered his question.*

No. You are not cut off from the Force and can still use it, even to the point of masking what step you are to take next so as to surprise your enemy.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He nodded, thinking about this. It seemed to him that to mask a signature, you'd want to cut yourself off from the flow of the force. If such a thing was possible.

"Are you ever cut off from the force for anything...or...by anything?" He asked.

Though this was something he maybe should have known, it did show that he was thinking ahead - looking to be prepared if and when a time came that he was in such a situation. He was learning to never underestimate an opponent - just as she had suggested in their first lesson.

[Lady Vader]

You can't deliberately cut yourself from the Force. It is a part of you as much as you are a part of it.

*She took a breath.*

But as to having something else cut you from the Force... there is a Force power, a powerful one, that was once used by a Jedi during the great Sith Wars. She used it on a fellow Jedi that had been taken by a Sith amulate. To rid the Jedi of his newly attained dark powers, she used a Jedi mind technique that rendered him blind to the Force... for the rest of his life.

Since that time, that technique has never again been mastered... by either Jedi or Sith.

That, you could say, is an unnatural cut-off from the Force.

*She took another breath.*

A natural cut-off would be made by a ysalimiri, or creatures with similar abilities or cloned DNA. Ysalimiri block the Force naturally as a way of protecting themselves from vornskyrs, their natural enemies. While the vornskyrs cannot use the Force, they can sense it, whether it be from a Force user or just the life around it. The ysalimiri uses it's natural Force-inhibiting bubble to throw the vornskyrs off their trail.

It's not something the ysalimiri can turn on or off... it remains on, in a 10 meter circle around them. getting in this area would disconnect you from the Force.

And I can tell you from experience that it's a very disorienting feeling.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He hadnt been using the force for all that long, but he had been using it enough lately to find concern over ever possibly losing the ability to use it. He was a physical enough kid that he didn’t depend upon it – a good old fistfight was more his style – but the protections and advantages that the force offered was not something he wanted to ever give up.

“So when you’re masking a signature….if you’re not cutting yourself off from the force…how is it being hidden?”

“Is it like covering it up with something else to disguise it?”

He looked so curious at this point, so engaged in learning, that someone could have perhaps mistaken him for his twin. The studious one of the two.

[Lady Vader]

*LV tilted her head on a half-nod.*

In a sense, I guess you could say you're making it look like something else.

The trick is to keep your thoughts in check. Think of it this way: If something moves, it catches your eye and you watch it, but if it stays still, pretty soon you forget all about it.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Well, that made sense enough.

“Oh I get it now…” He replied. This was said with more emotion (besides anger or defensiveness) than Maxim typically used. His head nodded slowly as he let it sink in, her explanation clearing things up.

“Did it take you a long time to master it?” He asked, wanting to know more about his master.

“Do you remember when you first used it?” His questions came one right after the other and his fingers drummed on the arm of the chair in which he sat.

[Lady Vader]

To answer your first question, yes, it took me some time to learn the art of blocking my thoughts and masking my presence.

*She took on a thoughtful look.*

I don't recall when it was I first used it, but I'm sure it had something to do with speaking to someone, possibly another Force user, and not wanting them to know what I was thinking.

*Her face brightened somewhat.*

Ah! Now I remember! Yes, the first time I used it was on my Master... when didn't want him to know I was with child.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

Ah! Now I remember! Yes, the first time I used it was on my Master... when didn't want him to know I was with child

He had given her a look as if to do a double take. His master? Had a kid? This was just about the most he’d ever really learned about her – as a person – not as simply his master.

He wanted to ask the obvious question that would follow – if she had a kid – but was somewhat wary of what the answer might be.

“Why didn’t you want your master to know?” He asked instead, hoping it would give way to more. This was the most animated the boy had looked since his arrival at the order.

[Lady Vader]

*LV smiled. It was a cold smile... remembering times long past.*

Because... the man who had impregnated me was a Jedi.

*If Maxim's jaw would have stretched a few more feet, it would have hit the floor with a thud. As it is, his sudden intake of air in a hushed gasp brought Iesis' head up to look at him questioningly.*

*Seeing that the boy was having trouble finding his voice, LV continued.*

You see... this man had once been a Sith. A powerful one... known simply as the Lounge Lizard.

I did not know him at first and actually fought him on numerous occassions when I was an apprentice of a group called The Sith Council, taught by the infamous Itala Marzullo.

Itala despised LL, and would have nothing to do with the other Sith. Eventually, I became smitten with the blantant direspect and danger LL showed towards everyone.

But something happened to him along the way... a life changing event or some such other, and he defected to the Jedi. It was shortly after he'd turned that I'd gone to him to see if I could seduce him back to the Dark Side.

Alas, it was not to be. But there was another way I had trapped him that he knew nothing about.

And so I kept the pregnancy quiet from both Itala and LL, until a time came when LL left the Jedi and set off as a Rogue Sith. By this time he had revealed himself by his name, Anbira Hicchoru.

After this time, I told him about his infant son, now living in a backwater planet, being raised by some monks I knew. The Calanic Monks of the planet Calan.

Some time went by, and Itala found out about my child. Needless to say, the man flipped. Life suddenly became stiffling at TSC... the leader having become a dictator. So, with the help of Live Wire, my apprentice, and her own apprentice, Lady De'Ville, and all of TSC, save for 1 or 2, mutinied against my former Master, Itala, and created the Sith Order.

Anbira and I could finally be under the same group and help it to prosper, which we did.

*Her face took on a sour look.*

But then my son came of age and he decided to join the Jedi.

*Her face got even more sour.*

And then Anbira threw himself off a cliff, forgetting all he knew. He has since been a part of the Jedi.

*She looked at Maxim, who was completely enthralled with the story. She smiled again.*

To sum this story up, I have a fond saying: "I am the cat that walks by herself."

*She shrugged.*

Of course, then I met Darth Vader and we were wed.

*Both were silent, Maxim still looking as though he were attempting to process words. She regarded Maxim a bit, chuckling somewhat at his prolonged silence, rasing an eyebrow.*

Cat got your tongue?

*The only sound after that was a groan from Iesis as she lay her head back down.*

[Maxim Vasilijev]

His dark eyes blinked and finally he leaned back in his chair and released a loud sigh. A sigh that spoke volumes of his disbelief. Disbelief that she’d revealed such a story to him. And disbelief that his master was…well….somewhat human.

She was wily. There was no doubt about it. She was sneaky and not a woman to be crossed.

Though he did somewhat groan when her last quip sunk in.

“No, I haven’t lost my tongue…” He finally replied.

“I just….” He shrugged.

“Well, you just…I mean I never thought of you as a person before.” He admitted.

“You were just…you know, my master.”

And this was where the similarities between them set in. He too, was one who walked alone. One who had chosen to leave behind his family to pursue a life in the Sith Order.

“Do you ever regret any of it?”

[Lady Vader]

*LV shook her head.*

No. I do not regret anything.

Living in the past is a waste of time. You cannot change it, so why dwell in it?

I look to the present and the future.

[Maxim Vasilijev]

He nodded, easily accepting this. He wasn’t one to be sentimental about much either. And regrets, he’d quickly learned to forget. It was easy to do when you were a kid that had always been in so much trouble. At some point, he’d learned to stop regretting anything.

“So…..” He looked as if he was considering not asking, but finally did.

“Have you seen your son or Anbira since they left to join the jedi?”

[Lady Vader]

*LV's face took on a solemn look.*

Yes, I have seen them. And yes, I have battled with them... or at least with Anbira.

*She didn't think she could possibly get into a battle with her own son. She'd never been confronted with a situation like that... and part of her hoped she never would.*