fandomhigh | Surviving Deep Space - Thursday, Period Two

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deep space survival

Surviving Deep Space - Thursday, Period Two - 8/13

"I'm going to keep the lecture short today because our lesson is practical."

He gestured to the doors that were arrayed behind him.

"Each one of you will be entering a simulated psimoon. Psimoons, as the name might suggest, are planetoids which react to the mind of one person, adapting their terrain to mimic the person's mental state. Your mission, and you're going to accept it if I have to shove you through the door, the lot of you, is to explore your own psimoon and return 'alive' by the end of class.

"If you like it, you can even bring some of your friends to enjoy your psimoon. Once it's locked on an individual, it stays locked."

He beamed brilliantly.

"Good luck."

[ocd up!]

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"Full Knight now, even." Tahiri flashed her a small grin; she was going to be sneaking that into conversations for a while yet, because wow. "Better your head than mine, at any rate."

Karla still wasn't entirely sure what it took to become a knight, but even she could sense that accomplishment and pride Tahiri had for that. "Congratulations!" she said. "Do I have to start using titles then? Full Knight Jedi Tahiri?"

Tahiri offered a slight, self-deprecatory roll of her eyes. "Technically it's Jedi Veila, but please, I'm still just Tahiri." Not Riina. Just to make that distinction. "But thanks."

"Have you celebrated yet?" Karla asked, ignoring the lesson in favor of what was more important. "I don't mean whatever ceremony you got ummm...knighted?...at, but a real celebration. Unless your world's ceremonies are vastly different than mine."

"There was a reception afterward." That's different, Tahiri. "But it was pretty stuffy. After that, there wasn't really any time."

"We should celebrate!" Karla said with a smile, completely unaware of how presumptious that was. She'd be inviting herself along to parties, next. "I'm pretty sure they don't have knightliness out to just anybody, so you deserve a celebration after all your hard work."

"I'm still just doing what I've been doing," Tahiri objected mildly. Presumptuous? Like she knew about presumptuous. Or much about social protocol at all, really. "It shouldn't be a huge deal."

"Did you work hard?" Karla asked, trying to remember what Leto and Arthur had told her about being a knight. "Did you sacrifice? Did you bleed and cry and sweat and feel pain to get where you are?"

These were fairly rhetorical questions. Karla already assumed the answer was yes. "Then you deserve something more than a boring, formal recognition for your work. Something that's yours, not designed and used by other people."

Karla had Opinions about such things, yes.

Tahiri gave her an odd little smile, because yes, at least the last two questions were ones she was sure Karla knew the answer to already. "I'm just an ordinary Jedi. Nothing special." She didn't have a name that would make HoloNet reporters drop everything they were doing to come and get her on camera, she wasn't a big hero, she didn't have a prophecy hanging over her head the way Jaina did. She was fine with all of that.

Karla folded her arms and sniffed. "You're Tahiri. I think that counts as special, dammit. And I'm not saying you have to act like you're the only person who ever made knight and are the unique-est snowflake in Fandom, but there's nothing wrong with saying 'I accomplished something that I am justly proud of' and celebrating a wee bit. It's like being happy when you've done well in all your classes. Sure, you aren't the only one and sure, you're just doing what you ought, but it's still something good." She thought for a moment. "But this is bigger than that."

Sure, make the girl all self-conscious and blushy, why don't you. "Bigger how?"

Karla glanced around the room. "I'm not willing to swear by the Darkness that this class won't be helpful to someone, someday." Her tone was fairly clear what the odds of that were, though. "Getting a good grade might be nice, but ultimately unimportant. What you're doing though...you're trying to serve and protect on a scale I can't entirely comprehend, on behalf of people who probably don't know you exist. Tell me that isn't bigger."

Karla was quiet for a moment, looking inward. "And you deserve a celebration now because this is only going to shovel more responsibility on your plate later." If it hasn't already. "I don't know what being a knight means to you and your people, but I know that being responsible for the lives of others usually brings more worry and guilt than it does happiness. So you ought to get some of that happiness, too."

Projecting much? Nahhh...

It already had, as a matter of fact, and that reflected in the flash of tiredness in Tahiri's eyes. "I suppose I can't argue with your logic there, Karla. But it doesn't need to be a really big thing."

"Course it doesn't have to be a big thing," Karla said, resisting the urge to give Tahiri a friendly poke, like she would one of the coven or the boyos. "It just has to be your thing."

Tahiri wrestled with Firekeeper for fun. Just as long as you weren't poking her in the head, she wouldn't mind.

"You're not going to give up on this idea, are you?" she asked somewhat bemusedly.

Which Karla didn't know, which just goes to prove they needed to hang out more.

She shrugged in response to Tahiri's question. "I would, if you asked me to. Or just seemed really opposed to the idea. But so far, it seems like it's not that you hate the idea of a small party, but that you don't feel like you deserve one. And that's just not true at all. Everyone needs recognition sometime, even if they are just 'doing their duty.' Even Jedis."

Truly. Not like Gabrielle would get jealous or something ~~ahahaha I am so funny no rly~~.

"I haven't done anything to earn one," Tahiri said with a crooked smile.

Her perception of the matter was probably somewhat skewed by the company she tended to keep, granted. How did she end up hanging out so much with some of the biggest Jedi names in her galaxy, anyway? ~~Oh right, being a secondary character in an overly ambitious relaunch series would do that. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS.~~

She pretended to heave a big sigh. "But I can't say I'd mind. Force knows I could stand to have more fun in my life." And okay, maybe she felt a little guilty about celebrating with the pilots she'd lost still on her mind.

Karla grinned. "We can keep arguing about deserve or not later," she said. "But I'm holding you to your agreement. Hmm...you wanted small, right? Maybe a celebratory dinner? Just you and Ben and friends? Maybe with ice cream and cake?" ~~Pardon me while I murder Priestly-mun~~

Karla was liking this plan, though she'd have to figure out how to actually get the meal prepared, since she was no cook. "Just a meal with friends, where your personal goodness and knightliness just happens to be a contributing factor. That's barely even a party!"

And cue going red again, but Tahiri was laughing, at least. "I'd never say no to ice cream and cake," she allowed. "And I know when to concede my battles. ~~Bring your roommate. It'll be fun. It's not a real party until I'm breaking my brain oh god someone stop me.~~"

Pause.

"Being home was a learning experience."

"A learning experience, huh?" Karla asked lightly, though she was watching Tahiri carefully. "I don't know about you, but the phrases 'leaning experience' and 'character-building' make me cringe. They always presage something unpleasant."

She glanced down. "Though my own trip home could be characterised that way, too. So I hear you."

Tahiri gave her a sympathetic look. "Four months in a war zone." It was a fairly succinct statement by her standards, but that about covered it.

Karla winced. "Ouch." She knew far more about warzones than she wanted to, even if the one she was used to wasn't 'official.'

"Politically motivated custody battle," she offered for her own succinct explanation of her visit home.

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Surviving Deep Space - Thursday, Period Two - 8/13

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