uncertain_dume: (Facepalm Forever)
Kanan Jarrus, The Last Padawan ([personal profile] uncertain_dume) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2019-05-27 06:38 am
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Tao of a Silly Old Bear, Monday, Period Two

So... this morning, Kanan had come up with multiple variations of the word 'Sithspit' as he'd arrived at the school and taken a look around. There was no kriffing way he was holding class inside a vault, it gave him all sorts of bad feelings, so help him, and the park?

There was a giant bomb in the park. The park was off-limits today.

And so he'd attempted seeing if maybe his warehouse was at least not too damaged by the water, which had resulted in him having to use a lightsaber to relieve four giant scorpions of most of their extremities, a few more rude words, and a trip back to the school again.

Okay. Just outside the front doors of the school it was. He didn't much trust the inside of the building either, and at least he could use his blaster to take pot-shots at any over-sized cockroaches or horrifying projectile-shooting flies today. And they could get some... uh... sunshine...?

"I'm going to try not to take up too much of your morning," he sighed, practically delivering the first bit of his lecture into the palm of his hand. "It was going to involve something about a bouncy cat in striped pajamas getting stuck in a tree, but we don't seem to have the luxury of trees today. There was something about digging a pit trap for Heffalumps too, but this week I'm not so sure I want to see what it is we'd manage to catch. So it's a lecture class again, and we're going to circle back around to 'inner nature.' This week, we've got a poem. Well. A song. But I'm not singing, you're welcome."

He cleared his throat, looked up from that perpetual facepalm, and recited:

"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can't whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.
"

Kanan shrugged. An entertainer, he was not.

"Each verse has a slightly different interpretation," he explained. "The first, a fly can't bird, means that everything has its own place and function. Knowing one's inner nature is an important step to guiding one to where it is they need to be, and what it is that a person needs to be doing. Not everybody can be an adventurer, and not everybody is at their best when running away from it. Neither is a bad thing. It's important to understand yourself in order to be the best you that you can be."

There was a moment's pause, a squint toward the wall between them and the rest of town, and then Kanan shook his head a little and resumed the lecture.

"The second verse, 'a fish can't whistle,' translates roughly to, 'I have certain limitations, and I know what they are.' That doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for self-improvement. Change is good. Improvement is good. But in order to change, in order to improve oneself, a person needs to understand what it is that they're made of. Needs to know their own limitations so that they can be pushed, instead of ignoring their weaknesses so that they can be held back or hobbled by them when attempting to move forward."

Kanan had... a bit of experience with that. He smiled tightly before continuing on.

"And finally, 'why does a chicken?'" He shrugged. "I'll admit I don't necessarily agree with this bit, that we don't need to ask unnecessary questions only to find meaningless answers. I'll maintain that you never know if an answer is meaningless until you've got it. Questions are good. Ask them. Go looking for your meaningless answers, and you might be surprised by just how many end up having meaning, after all."

So, there you go, Kanan was just about as bad at Tao as he was at Jedi.

"That said," he continued, "we circle around to Inner Nature again from there. The lesson of Cottleston Pie is that Inner Nature isn't something that can be fooled. The danger of not understanding yourself is that you leave yourself open to the influence of others. But, instead of remaining blind to yourself and leaving yourself open to manipulation, you can work with your own characteristics and be in control of your own life. Self Reliance is a big part of Tao as well, and in recognizing who you are, what you've got to work with, and what works for you, you can better decide what it is you need to do with yourself. You might not always like what it is you see when you look at yourself - space, I sure as hell don't when I look at me, anyway - but once you see what's there, you can decide what to do with it. Figure out if you want to get rid of those things, if you want to change them into something else, or figure out how to use those things to your benefit."

There was another momentary pause, before Kanan added, "Not everything you think of as a negative necessarily is. Sometimes, it's a positive that's been misdirected. Consider why some part of you is what it is, and if it's something that needs to go or change, then by all means, get rid of it, turn it into something else. If it's something that could be better put to use elsewhere? Then consider finding a new focus for it. Tap that anxious energy. Use that curious mind to ask those questions."

Stop tamping down the Force entirely and maybe consider joining a movement to overthrow the Empire that would kill you simply for being able to use it?

Well. Not all examples were necessarily for sharing.

Something skittered momentarily against the outside of the wall, and Kanan looked back that way again, hackles up a bit, before shaking his head and looking back to the class.

"It's up to you today if you want to stick around to discuss inner nature some more, or if you want to go do something else with the rest of this hour. Some of you might want to go somewhere that feels a little safer. That's absolutely fine. Some of you might want to go explore the changes outside the walls of the school and the dorms. That's fine too, but I'd suggest you don't go it alone. Anybody who does want to stick around, let's chat. Chat about how to turn a weakness into a strength, perhaps, or anything else that's been on your mind."

And hopefully they wouldn't be attacked by mole rats or something in the process.
unusual_sith: (WTF)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] unusual_sith 2019-05-27 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"What is Cottleston pie, anyway?" Lana asked.
unusual_sith: (studying)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] unusual_sith 2019-05-27 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, Lana was skeptical about that. But still...

"Tapping into nervous energy sounds more Sith than Jedi," she pointed out.
unusual_sith: (thinking)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] unusual_sith 2019-05-27 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Lana shrugged. "But so far this philosophy has seemed to lean a bit of both ways, so I thought it was worth noting."
unusual_sith: (thinking)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] unusual_sith 2019-05-27 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Lana nodded slowly. "It's certainly different."

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bookbeltof_love: (mistakes were made)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-05-27 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"What's wrong with the school???????????????" Nina asked, since well… there was a perfectly good building behind him and yet he was holding class out here?
bookbeltof_love: (mistakes were made)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-05-27 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"I mean, like, the sky is green," Nina pointed out. "I don't think we're supposed to trust anything right now?????????????"
bookbeltof_love: (that doesn't sound right)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-05-27 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"Do you think it might???????????????"

Nina, no. Nina, that was not a reason to look speculatively at the building.
bookbeltof_love: (Default)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-05-27 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's a basement vault??????????"

Oh, but that sounded exciting.

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following_my_fishie: (shock)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] following_my_fishie 2019-05-27 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"But why can't you whistle?" Delirium asked Kanan, concerned, "Are you ok? You don't have a bifurcated tongue or anything do you? That makes whistling hard but you can still do it if you try real hard."

I blame you for zer b-vurd.
following_my_fishie: (Default)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] following_my_fishie 2019-05-27 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh," Delirium said, "but if the part is about improvement, why isn't the bear trying to learn to whistle? That would be good, wouldn't it? For them to learn to whistle? Then they could whistle to let people know they were there so the people could get out of their spaces and not interrupt the bear's walks."

ahahaha
following_my_fishie: (oops)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] following_my_fishie 2019-05-27 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"They could exercise their lips," Del insisted. She gave an example of lip exercises by opening her mouth and scrunching her lips into all sorts of random configurations.

"Barnabas can whistle," she said afterward, "Bears could too if they tried."

Barnabas was just gonna.. lie there with his paws over his eyes.
following_my_fishie: (barnabas licking del)

Re: Discuss!

[personal profile] following_my_fishie 2019-05-28 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Del squinted and peered around as though looking for a bear. Because she was.

She sighed sadly and slumped. "There's one that way," she flung a finger in a northward direction, "but it's really far and it's not coming to the island."

Gnawing her lip, she added softly, "I think it has bigger problems than learning how to whistle. It's one of mine and I don't think it wants to be."

Barnabas went on point like a scent hound and immediately got all up in her face and licked it until she spluttered and laughed again. "Ick! Dog breath!"

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