Jedi Academy

Corvin had piloted the speeder to the palatial estate the students now found themselves in. Moving away from the landing pad, they had moved into what seemed like a large, well-curated zoo, made up of sealed buildings, each its own biome. One lightly coated with ice could be seen not far from where they walked. Most of it, though, was simply a large forested area; that was where they were now. Animals were in substantial enclosures, sealed with energy fields. From one of them, a vine cat blinked at them, tracking them with its dark eyes as they walked by.

Corvin led the way again, walking with an easy confidence; clearly he knew where he was going. "Almost there." He grunted, not bothering to look back. "Hope you're ready for this. It's a weird experience."

Wide-eyed, Eir followed Corvin, trying to take in all of the sights at once, staring back at the vine cat and exhaling in wonder. Today had been a Good Day™, she'd done well in the knowledge test, she'd gotten to talk - really talk - to the Handsome Knight, who seemed to be walking easier this evening, she noted. She'd even gone out with some of the younglings earlier, and Master Jaric hadn't whomped her across the Temple and back in lightsaber training.

Now, she was surrounded by some of the most wondrous living things; right in the middle of one of the most sterile, plasteel-ist planets in the Republic. Even the Knight's cautions couldn't dim her mood.

Byron finished a snack and said, "So where are we?"

OOC: Assume I should be here if this is for getting the bonus question right.

"Yeah, I'll bet it is."

But Zanja's seen-it-all air was not thoroughly convincing. Anyone who stole a look at her when she wasn't expecting it would see her staring around wide-eyed as a kid at a Republic Day parade.

Corvin grunted. "This is Senator Ilpalazzo's menagerie. The senator's a collector of rare animals." He grunted again, scratching at his short beard. "They're well-cared for, anyway. I guess." It seemed he had slightly mixed feelings about the menagerie.

He went on. "We've got special permission to visit. We're gonna see a ysalamiri up close." Without breaking stride, he cast a glance back. "Think you're ready for it?"

"Yes," Eir chirped, she had no idea what to expect, but believed that Corvin would have warned them if there was any danger to be found from the curious lizard-creatures that the Makashi style had gained its moniker from. Burning with curiosity, the petite Jedi-in-training followed impatiently.

"Why wouldn't we be? They're just animals that make you... like a normal person for a minute." Zanja shrugged.

Billions of sentients went their whole lives without a conscious connection to the Force, after all. How hard could it be?

Corvin snorted, shaking his head. "You'll see." He growled.

He lead them around to the back of an enclosure, with a solid wall and door. As he reached the door, he paused a moment, swaying just a little. "Gets me every damn time." He murmured as he, very carefully, opened the door.

As the students drew even with where he'd stood, each one would suddenly find that they could not feel the Force at all, either in themselves, or around them.

Inside, the enclosure had a number of squat trees. And, not too far up one of the nearer trees, a pair of strange lizards could be seen, blinking at the newcomers.

"Lizards?" Byron asked looking up.

Stepping into the zone of effect from the ysalamiri was like dipping her fingers into icy water, if that water was cold enough to freeze your digits right off, except that it was everything, all at once. Instinctively, she tried to push her senses outwards. She wasn't any good at it normally, but now nothing happened at all. It was like her mind had shifted a quarter-inch to the left, the Force was there, as it always was, but it was just beyond her reach, sight without seeing, sound without hearing. It made her feel slightly off-balance, like the floor had tilted under her feet.

Fighting past the feeling, Eir padded gently closer to where the lizards resided, trying not to disturb them, but feeling a bit like her eyes weren't quite working right. "They're cute," she said of the creatures that were as long as her arm, if not longer.

Zanja wasn't particularly good yet at sensing things deliberately with the Force, but approaching the walled enclosure, she suddenly realized how much she relied on it just the same. It was as if a tinted transparisteel screen had dropped between her and the rest of the world, turning everything a little darker and a little hazier, weighting down her body just enough to notice.

"Whoa."

Zanja followed up this eloquent disquisition by planting her hand on the trunk of a tree. She leaned against it for a few moments, regaining her mental balance.

Eir wrote:Fighting past the feeling, Eir padded gently closer to where the lizards resided, trying not to disturb them, but feeling a bit like her eyes weren't quite working right. "They're cute," she said of the creatures that were as long as her arm, if not longer.

For a moment, the ysalamiri shrunk down a bit, but then seemed to decide that the small Eir wasn't much of a threat. They tilted their heads, each regarding her with one unblinking eye.

Corvin shot Byron a scowl. "It's a ysalamiri. Can't you feel it? The creature that's able to resist the Force."

His voice sounded even rougher than usual. Lips pressing together, he too leaned against a nearby tree.

“Yeah it makes my skin crawl… I feel blind in a way.” He still looked up at it and added, “But for all that it looks just like a lizard thing… a strange lizard thing.”

He shrugged, it was an odd feeling but the creature itself left much to be desired.

Corvin's gravelly tone helped cut through the sorta-lightheaded-sorta-dizzy-but-not sensation. They had crossed some eight or so feet to approach near (but not too near) the ysalamiri, which had simultaneously seemed like A Long Way, and not very far at all. Turning to Corvin, eyes glittering, "how big is the range? are they born like that? can they turn it off? does the range get bigger as they grow?"

The ysalamiri continued to cautiously observe, heads tilting this way and that to watch the assembled Jedi. They seemed to be gripping the tree very tightly. Indeed, on closer inspection, their claws were piercing the outermost layer of the thick bark.

Corvin shrugged, still leaning heavily against the tree. "Yeah, they develop it as they get older. When they're adults, it can get as big as ten meters." His frown deepened. "These don't seem to be as much as that. Couldn't say why. But they don't seem to have a way to turn it off. At least, no one's ever felt them do it."

"They don't move much, do they?" Recovering somewhat, Zanja craned her neck to look up at the nearest critters. She bounced a little on her toes, giving the sense that if no one was there to tell her not to, she'd probably already be shinnying up a tree for a closer look.

“Were they bred here?” Part of her hoped so, though she knew that even captive-breed specimens traced their lineage back to a creature that was captured and forcibly removed from its home.

"No, they don't move much." Corvin answered, his voice slightly strained. "For a couple of reasons. Most of their defenses come from not being noticed. We think that's why they do this thing they do with the Force." He chuckled. "And they dig in real tight to wherever they perch. Can't be moved without hurting something."

He gave Eir a nod. "These ones, yeah. Don't know how they got the parents off-world in the first place. I think the senator got these from a rare dealer." His lips twisted in mild distaste.

Eir’s glowing eyes returned to the lizards, thoughts were piling up in her woozy brain and she felt strangely tired, as if the effort of concentrating was exhausting. “What do they eat? could we feed them?”