( video | un: kenobi )

[jedies]

[ there's a house covered in toilet paper with a very tired jedi standing in front of it, just massaging his temple. ]

Is there a reason why my house is covered in paper? I assume there is a purpose to this other than a gross misuse of resources and time. If you have any issues with me, I much prefer a discussion than a clean up job.

[ he swats some of the butterflies away before sighing. ]

I'll be here. Tidying up.

Comments

[jedies]

[ obi-wan shakes his head. ]

I can't think of anyone like that. If I had annoyed someone, well . . . I would know.

[ because he'd sense that. ]

[abornfighter]

Because of some sort of powers thing?

[There's still plenty she doesn't get here, being brand new, but she's seen enough to accept that powers are A Thing here.]

[jedies]

[ the corners of his eyes crinkle slightly. ]

You're very quick on the uptake. Yes, when it comes to heightened emotions, I would be able to notice them.

[abornfighter]

Is it harder to deal with if you're around a lot of people at once? Like being in a crowd where everyone's talking, except it's emotional noise?

[jedies]

Sometimes, yes. But this is a fairly small place. We don't usually have crowds.

[abornfighter]

Was it hard to adjust to?

[jedies]

Not terribly. We receive training at a young age to handle such eventualities.

[abornfighter]

Oh, you had powers before coming here, then. Neat. Is this something that a lot of people have where you come from?

[jedies]

[ he lets out a quiet sigh. ]

Yes and no. There used to be more of us, but our numbers have dwindled over the years.

[abornfighter]

Did you get any new powers to go with the ones you already had after the whole...squid arrival?

[jedies]

I did, yes. I have some elemental powers but I try not to use them too much. I find them a little too destructive for my tastes.

[abornfighter]

Did it take you long to learn how to control them?

[jedies]

It certainly took some time, but it helped that I already have some training to deal with powers.

[abornfighter]

Got any pointers for basic control? Powers aren't a thing where I come from. I'd like mine to become useful rather than a liability sooner rather than later.

[jedies]

[ hmm. ]

The best thing I find is to make sure our emotions don't control us. Emotions are powerful and tapping into them certainly makes us more powerful, but they should be the masters of us.

Breathing techniques in moments where you feel extreme anger or fear also helps into bringing you down from lashing out.

[abornfighter]

Huh. You sound a lot like my therapist.

[Her therapist who she started going to for anger management and making better choices.]

Since you have emotion powers, I guess that would make you a natural at helping people with that kind of stuff.

Video; un: lothrat

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He's right here, and he has a slightly different view point, so-]

In my experience - a little harder when you don't get that training really young. Going places more densely populated have been a headache or two.

[abornfighter]

So the earlier you're trained on how to deal with it, the better. Is there some reason everyone wouldn't just sign up for like...emotion powers kindergarten?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra just...thousand yard stares for a few seconds, before he laughs, very quietly.]

Seems like it should be that simple, doesn't it? I really wish it was.

Short version: When I was growing up, places like where Master Kenobi was raised had been and were being deliberately destroyed, by someone who wanted to use people with abilities like ours. Or kill them if he couldn't recruit them.

But even before then it wasn't quite that simple. It's a rare ability, where we're from. Kids aren't always found young by people who can help them. Or they aren't wanted by their families and communities, for being different, so no one wants to help them. Or, again, they aren't safe from people who'd want to use them.

[abornfighter]

[Open mouth, insert foot.]

Well, I feel like an asshole now. That really sucks. Sorry.

[And it feels like such a small and inadequate thing to say in response, but she does feel bad.]

What happened to the shitbag who was killing people with powers like yours? Did someone kill him?

[ezra_of_lothal]

No. No. Don't feel bad. I'd really never thought about it quite those terms, and that's how it should work. There's lots of kids with powers here and I'm not sure how common early help with them is. I definitely don't think kids at the orphanage get all the education they need.

So, stuff for me to think about.

Well, he was still being a galaxy class jerk when I was last home. Last thing I did was ask giant space whale friends of mine to help break the blockade his minions had on my homeworld, which worked - score one for using emotion powers to make friends, right? And I also ruined his day in a few other ways.

Sadly, I had to tell him off via video call, not in person. [Not that he really thinks he could have killed the Emperor if he tried.]

But people come here from different times, too so...I've heard his rule of terror won't last much longer.

[abornfighter]

Glad he'll get what's coming to him.

[Space whale is not a term she ever expected to hear, but after the arrival here and everything she's learned thus far, she's just going to accept that stuff like that exists somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.

But as for an issue she might be able to help with...]

Do you work at the orphanage?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[And space whale was an attempt to translate! He could have just said Purgill.]

Yeah. A couple of afternoons a week, lately. Not as much as, say, Shiro, who's there nearly every day.

[abornfighter]

Do they need any more people? I'm pretty good with kids.

[That, and she feels weird having so much free time.]

I can only spend so much time in a day training in karate and figuring out these new powers.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Pretty sure the orphanage could always use more people.